Shazam Fury Of The Gods: Gal Gadot’s Best Performance Yet

Summary

Billy Batson, played by Asher Angel, and his family do battle with evil Greek Gods.

So this film has got quite a mixed response from audiences but honestly I don’t think it is all that bad. Yes there are some obvious issues with the film such as the dialogue, which is nothing short of appalling at times, and of course the skittles product placement sequence, but there are also things to enjoy.

I liked the wider moral lesson of letting go that this film went for, I thought it was quite deep and inspired. Moreover, though this film didn’t tug on my heartstrings in the same way the first film did there was a number of moments wherein I found myself caring about these characters and feeling things.

The cast across the board was very good, Zachery Levi was a clear standout for praise as he once again manages to capture that childhood naivety whilst also seemingly like a capable superhero force. However, I would say he is outshined very, very surprisingly by Gal Gadot. Now you all know my thoughts on Gadot’s acting ability, she can’t, but here her brief scene at the end of the film is a complete scene stealer and quite probably the best of the film.

One thing I will note is that this film much like Ant-Man last month made me miss street level heroes and superhero films that weren’t so CGI heavy. There were a number of moments in this film that reminded me of the classic early Raimi Spider-Man films, which whilst having CGI in them, were no where near the total CGI overload of today’s superhero films and therein lies the problem, I was being reminded of these better less CGI heavy films whilst watching and that went against the film.

Overall, fun but certainly not a must see.

3/5

Pros.

It’s fun

A few good jokes

Gadot

Cons.

The dialogue

Too much CGI

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Interview With Director/Writer Jamison M. LoCascio: 7×7

Written by Luke Barnes

I recently had the chance to interview Writer/ Director Jamison M. LoCascio about their new anthology film 7×7, which depicts a series of disasters and dark moments and the tales of survival and hope which exist within them. In this interview we discuss, the human spirit, hopefulness and the genuine sense of panic that comes about when you think you might miss your train.I hope you enjoy.

What was the thought behind making this film?

JML: We had done 8-12 years of short film work and we were starting to see a striking similarity between the headlines of today and the work we had done years ago. We realize that sometimes the short film format can be limited so we decided to bring them together into one feature length (82 minute) collection called 7×7, the unifying element being the human condition or connection between these characters in crisis.

What was the message you wanted to get across?

JML: Each film has its own message but mainly it was to try to tell a truthful story about normal people in difficult and sometimes unbelievable circumstances.

When focusing on such dark events how do you manage tone to not have the film feel bleak or depressing?

JML: It is ultimately up to you as a filmmaker to leave people satisfied and entertained, in the end every single audience member sees the story differently so you cannot hope to have everyone on the same page. The idea then is to try to tell a story that feels satisfying from start to finish for you as the filmmaker and people will join the camp of supporting that feeling or not.

Your film suggests that even in the darkest of times there is always some form of hope, do you agree with that and would you describe this film as fundamentally optimistic?

JML: I think there is always a sense of hope in our films though sometimes it is harder to define but we feel that is true to life.

How did you decide on the anthology approach?

JML: It was the hard work of many people over 12 years, these short films specifically needed to be further seen. Now, with a company called FILM HUB, who encouraged us to make 7×7, they had that new opportunity to be seen by people-so we delivered them!

Do you have any funny stories from production?

JML: There are tons but the best one is probably on “Track 3” the entire shoot was done in between people rushing to their trains and with announcements coming over the loudspeaker- every 20 minutes or less! Wow! Some people out of focus in the background look like they are panicking due to the scripted Pandemic in the film but the true story…they were just late for their trains!

What is your favorite moment from the film?

JML: The resolution at the end of Midnight Catch is an important moment in the movie and my favorite in some ways because it was my first film and it is the last film in this anthology. I am proud it was chosen to be there in that final position after all the years since I have made and learned to make better films. It was kind of like the producers had decided that I was on “the right track” all along and in the filmmaking business of insanity and uncertainty, those little things add up to be positive moments for you as a filmmaker.

8. Future plans/ what comes next for you?

JML: We are already working on a new feature film screenplay in the horror genre and Adam Ambrosio and myself are about to release a book called “The Script is Not Enough” about how we made our first four feature films and the lessons new filmmakers can take from them, I hope it can help somebody!

9. Do you have any words for aspiring filmmakers who might be reading this?

JML: Stay with it and don’t get too caught up on one “big” movie idea, it is easier to wait too long and fail this way. Instead, make as many films as possible and learn from each one, even if you fail along the way, people will admire your courage to persist onwards in your craft. After that, people will graciously lend you a hand and want to be a part of your momentum forward, making that process easier and ultimately closer to what you originally wanted it to be. One day, suddenly your body of work becomes “valuable” or maybe even “inspiring” to some as tough, painful, and slow as it may be, but really your expectations mainly need adjustment, always be grateful you have the opportunity to make any film ever, it is a rare gift and I’ve decided to never lose sight of that fact myself. The truth is that you can always take a blank page and write/finance/shoot/deliver a feature film that is well within anyone’s budget – just look at things differently, don’t worry about Hollywood’s rules but instead make the best films you can with the hand you’ve been given. Study the craft, study films you love, try to find the joy in every bit of it because it is at the end of the day, it is very challenging but worthwhile in the end. It is important to remember that no one will hand you anything. You must go out and create the films you want to make and see for yourself, you need to find a way to make your films come into existence or develop the kinds of films that can be more easily made, stop worrying about how you are perceived in terms of budget, cast, etc and instead – make the best damn film you can. People will notice this type of passionate work much more so, you can feel a person’s passion for something translate to their results, I believe especially in filmmaking.

If you would like to check out 7X7 for yourself it is currently out now on Tubi https://tubitv.com/movies/722406/7×7

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7X7: Tales From The Darkness

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Stories of survival told during some of the darkest times imaginable.

As many of you will know, my thoughts on anthology films are often mixed, when the narrative is split between a lot of different stories and characters there tends to be an issue with over stretching and becoming convoluted, this is coupled with the fact that one bad story can sink an anthology easily. I want to say that these issues don’t happen here but that would be untrue, at least to a small degree.

The latter doesn’t occur, all of the stories are good and make you feel deeply but when looked at more closely even some of the best stories start to become increasingly hollow with too many characters that you know very little about. This creates quite a catch 22 as though the emotional writing is good it is offset by a dull and sparse feeling world.

The actors do there best to try and breathe some life into these rather shallow characters, and for the most part do manage to improve them with their performances but I think it still isn’t enough.

Overall, not a bad film by any means and with a strong core of emotional writing, however by trying to be everywhere and tell every story the film quickly begins neglecting its characters which feel at best like an afterthought.

3.5/5

Pros.

The premise

The emotions

The actors are trying their best

The pacing is okay

Cons.

The characters and world feel undeveloped

It tries to do too much

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Cocaine Bear: Animal Abuse?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A bear does cocaine.

I had very low expectations going into this and to be frank with you it met them.

Now this isn’t the worst film I have ever seen by any means it was just incredibly dull and forgettable. If you compare it to another recent creature feature like Crawl or Beast then this film looks far worse by comparison.

The main reason for this is that the film doesn’t know what it wants to be between a goofy comedy and a grizzly creature feature. The tone is all over the place in one frame you will have the characters saying something dumb and goofy and then in the next the bear will be tearing off one of their arms, these two tones don’t go together well. There is no sense of tension or danger because the comedy ruins any chance of it and likewise the overly serious bear scenes take away from any kind of goofy charm the film could have.

Additionally, the characters are written to be so forgettable and shallow that really all they become is bear chow and the film wants you to see them that way not as people. I would say that Keri Russell and O’Shea Jackson Jr are trying to prop this film up with their sheer magnetisms alone but they are both clearly struggling to hold this film together. The Florida Project’s Brooklyn Prince has a strong showing as well but sadly the film just forgets about her for most of its runtime.

Overall, incredibly by the numbers but hey at least it isn’t as bad as Elizabeth Bank’s last directorial effort.

2.5/5

Pros.

It is better than Charlie’s Angels a small mercy

It is watchable

Russell and Jackson Jr are doing their best

Cons.

The tone is all wrong

A lot of the cast are wasted

The pacing is harsh even at a relatively short runtime

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The Ridiculous Six: Not Even Trying To Hide The Racism

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Adam Sandler plays a Native American.

Yikes. There was a time when I considered myself a Sandler die hard, I watched all of his films and thought he could do no wrong, then came Jack and Jill and his move to Netflix.

This film feels like it is trying to be edgy, not because the film thinks it is funny, or to own the libs or any other whiney platitude, but rather as a last gasp, as these old timers know that if they aren’t making gross out jokes and objectifying women then people might realise they are wasted up and not funny anymore. Many people can already see that.

I won’t rant at you about the meanspirited nature of this film, or the racial lines it crosses, and believe me this film could easily be labelled racist, but I will say that it is sad to see Sandler and co relegated to this. To me it screams of a group of guys who have given up on themselves and their careers and have realised that their heyday is long since over. It is sad.

I can’t see why anyone would find this film funny, it is just pathetic. It makes even the worst most lazy jokes on current year Family Guy look like comedy masterstrokes, it is just bad. However, maybe that is the point, maybe Sandler and co are just trying to ride the gravy train until they hit forgotten relic status. Sandler at least can save himself with some of the more dramatic work he is doing recently, but some of these guys like Anti-Vaxx ranter Rob Schneider are done.

Overall, Netflix never did get the memo on quality over quantity.

1/5

Pros.

It makes for a good way to entertain your pets when you have to go out for a bit.

Cons.

It is deeply not funny

It is sad to see Sandler reduced so low

It is quite creepy at times, and also racist

It is pathetic in more ways than one

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Operation Fortune Ruse De Guerre: The Incredibly Eccentric World Of International Espionage

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Guy Ritchie teams up with Jason Statham yet again, this time to tell a spy story.

I had been looking forward to this film for so long, but with the delays I was beginning to question if I was ever going to see this film and now that I have I can say it was mostly worth the wait.

The main thing I enjoyed about this film was its sense of humour. This film can and does at times have an incredibly eccentric sense of humour, some of the lines of dialogue feel like improv on top of improv but in a good way. The spy story being told is strange enough that the fact that Statham’s character needs a private plane and certain vintages of wine to calm down seem to fit within this world well.

Moreover, the supporting cast are excellent. Hugh Grant, Josh Hartnett, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone and Aubrey Plaza each have their moment to shine and come together to really make this film something special. I would say the character I liked the most was Plaza’s Fidel mainly because she had a lot of the funniest lines and was the most entertaining to watch.

My two issues with the film, which admittedly are each fairly small, are that having Ukrainians be the baddy in the current climate is a bad look, they should have changed that in reshoots, and also that the pacing of the film is atrocious, it feels like it is on for double its runtime and though most of the time is fun to watch I still wouldn’t want to watch 4 hours of it.

Overall, fun but with terrible pacing.

4/5

Pros.

Plaza

Statham

The eccentricity

It is fun

Cons.

Framing Ukrainians as the villain in the current year is a bad look

The pace

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Godfather Part III: The Odd One Out

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, dies.

Many people have a real sour taste in their mouths when it comes to this film and to an extent that is understandable as this is definitely the worst film of the trilogy, however, I also think it isn’t terrible and in some ways I actually liked the film.

Let’s get my most controversial opinion on the film right out of the way now, I thought Sofia Coppola was good in this and I liked her romance with Andy Garcia’s character. I thought they had good chemistry together and I was hit emotionally somewhat as her character died.

However, I think the issue with Coppola’s character and Garcia’s is that they are underdeveloped. They could have done with having been introduced in the second film maybe as an epilogue, as it stands we don’t feel like we know them very much at all. This is especially troubling as Michael hands over the family to Garcia’s character, this should be a big moment but instead feels rushed and underwhelming.

I also thought though the international Vatican murder plot had a few interesting moments, the film gets bogged down far too much in this idea of Michael seeking forgiveness and redemption. In many senses the heavy religiosity of this film only serves to slow it down, which in turn creates pacing issues. This is the only one of the trilogy that I found to be dragging on, which is saying something as I think it is shorter than the others.

Overall, not terrible by any means but certainly not in the same league as the other films that came before it.

3.5/5

Pros.

Garcia

A few interesting twists and turns

It is nice to see Michael’s story wrapped up

Coppola

Cons.

Pacing issues

Underdeveloped characters

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The Oscars 2023: The Good, The Bad And The Misguided

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about this year’s Oscars and the winners and losers from it, as well as some of the online responses to the results and how the latter reflects the messy and unpleasant current state of film discourse in the current year.

Straight off the bat I want to say Angela Bassett wasn’t robbed, her performance in Wakanda Forever was fine and the film itself was aggressively mediocre. With the current declining quality of MCU films they really shouldn’t be nominated for Oscars as they simply aren’t worthy of it, and probably only get the nominations because Disney get all the voters some really nice gifts and own the telecast. The response to Jaime Lee Curtis winning over Bassett was equally toxic. Many people only took to verbally abusing the actor and calling her and the Oscars racist because there preferred winner didn’t win, not only does that dilute the term incredibly, it also highlights where the discourse is at these days when it comes to cinema, it something happens that you don’t like then the people have to be ists and phobes because God forbid you can’t have your way. I don’t want to be the person ranting about kids today, but people need to realise that they can’t tantrum something into being and abusing a good actor because you don’t like that she won over someone else just makes you look bad. For what it is worth I didn’t think she should have won for the film she did and would have probably given it to Kerry Condon myself, but it was clearly a lifetime achievement award for Curtis and that is okay, the Oscars does that kind of thing.

Outside of the Best Supporting Actress drama I quite liked the results, I am glad Everything Everywhere All At Once got a lot of love, though I do think that maybe it is becoming a little overhyped and I thought it was nothing short of amazing that Brendan Fraser could comeback after all the horrible things that have happened to him over the years and win Best Actor, it truly was an inspiring moment and one that I doubt anyone could not find moving.

My one complaint on the way out would be that The Banshees Of Inisherin didn’t win at all, as I thought it deserved at least some Oscars love, but ah well.

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The Old Way: Cage Goes Guns Blazing

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Nicolas Cage breaks into the western.

Honestly, I would say that Cage has already been in a western before, with Ghost Rider, there are a lot of western elements to that film when you next watch it you will see what I mean, but I suppose in a classic sense then yes this is the actors first foray into the genre.

I think if this film had come out a few decades ago it would have been better received, when in contemporary times you are having excellent westerns like Hostiles and The Harder They Fall something like this comes out and just seems a bit lacking. Yes, Nicolas Cage as ever jazzes up a turd and his performance is certainly a highlight of the film, perhaps the only one, however the rest of it is so average and boring that it is hard not to want to turn it off.

The real failing of this film is just how afraid it is to try and do something new rather than telling the same sort of story we have seen time and again. It was so predictable and boring that I was struggling to keep my eyes open whilst watching it.

Overall, I get what Cage was trying to do but this was a swing and a miss.

1/5

Pros.

Cage is as charming as ever

Cons.

It is predictable

It is generic

It goes out of its way to stop itself from being original in anyway

It has horrible pacing

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The Mandalorian: The Mines Of Mandalore

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal, returns to Mandalore.

I would say that this is a slight step back from the first episode, there were two things that I particularly didn’t like about this episode, but don’t get me wrong this was a good episode. The first was how easily Din was K.O in the mines by the monster and how he didn’t even try and get out of the cage, and the second was the incredibly long and drawn out opening scene with Din trying to find a new droid, this should have been cut down.

With the bad stuff out of the way let’s get into what really worked in this episode. The best part of this episode I would say was seeing more of Bo-Katan, played by Katee Sackoff, not only did she have a fantastic action scene, but this episode dived further into her backstory and expanded on her a bit more as a character. I think her and Din have an interesting dynamic and represent two very different ideas of what it means to be a Mandalorian so it would be nice to see that further flushed out in later episodes. For what it is worth I hope the show keeps them together for a while.

A close second to that is the arc that Grogu gets in this episode, not only being as cute as ever, but also demonstrating his further developed force powers and resourcefulness when he is on his own. I also liked his and Bo-Katan’s interactions I thought she gave some great responses to his gibberish.

Finally, I think it can’t be overstated how cool it is to see Din and co back on Mandalore. Exploring the planet in its wrecked state is interesting, and I hope there is more to it then just him needing to have a wash to regain his standing in the community.

Overall, a good episode made all the stronger by Sackoff.

4/5

Pros.

The Mandalorian on Mandalore

Grogu

Bo-Katan and her character growth

Seeing and exploring Mandalore

Cons.

The needlessly drawn out opening

The plot contrivances with Din being captured

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