Redemption/Hummingbird: Jason Statham The Sensitive Soul

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Ex-special forces soldier Joey, Jason Statham, is on the run from a dishonourable discharge and has become a homeless drug addict wondering the streets of London. This all changes when he finds his way into an apartment where the tenant is away for several months, so Joey stays and assumes this other person’s identity and begins to recover himself.

Let it be said to anyone, who like I has ever doubted Jason Statham’s ability as a dramatic actor that this film proves he has chops. Yes, there are some punchy punchy scenes but for the most part this film is about addiction, recover and the ability to return from the darkness. Rather surprisingly Statham really shines here and gives quite a well emoted, resonating performance that actually has you feeling things for the character.

Steven Knight continues to prove his fantastic dramatic sensibilities here and crafts an incredibly effecting film. This film is at times hard to watch, I did find myself becoming depressed whilst watching it, however if you stick with it you find an enriching experience that makes you question what is really important to you and provides a very nuanced take on a return from war.

Overall, a surprising turn from Statham makes this one to watch, however it won’t be to everyone’s tastes and can be incredibly depressing.

Pros.

Statham

The conversation it starts about returning from war

The message and the themes

Cons.

It is hard to watch

The ending becomes a brawl at times, and I don’t feel like this fit the film

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Rick and Morty: Rickmurai Jack

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rick and Morty reunite after Rick learns empathy and the two form a partnership, finally.

To all those who were hoping for big cannon reveals this season you got exactly what you wished for, and then some. This finale answered a lot of fan questions such as Rick’s origins, Evil Morty’s plans and why Ricks always rule there Morty’s. The answers we get blow the series into a whole new direction.

I enjoyed the ending wherein Rick and Morty become partners after years of Morty taking Rick’s abuse. This character development feels earned, and I hope it is paid off next season in a big way. I think it is important for the show to move past its status quo and finally pay off the character development.

I thought the return of Evil Morty was a nice touch as he has become a fan favourite. They have nearly endless possibilities for what they can do with that character going forward now as the ending of the episode brought everything to the table.

I would say of all the Rick and Morty finales so far this was the most impactful.

Overall, the threshold for this series has now been expanded to crazy new heights.

Pros.

The ending

Evil Morty

Rick and Morty finally becoming equal partners

Where the series can go from here

Cons.

The reunion of the duo seems a bit rushed

Pacing issues

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Rick and Morty: Forgetting Sarick Mortshall

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rick and Morty finally break up. Rick replaces Morty with two crows and Morty replaces Rick with a man called Nick. Both new partnerships teach each of our titular duo a lesson.

I thought the finale was going to be one big feature length episode. No? Did I imagine that? I thought that was why it was being delayed.

The days of Rick and Morty where the show was a comedy seem to be over, and now the show almost plays like an animated science fiction drama series. I think the uncoupling of Rick and Morty needed to happen, the relationship was so toxic, and something needed to be done to shift the status quo and to teach Rick a lesson- if nothing else this episode does that.

The Rick story line about him learning empathy from the crows seemed a bit too random for me and simply like they were trying to be different and out there with it but not for any reason other than because they could. The Morty storyline is slightly better, I enjoyed seeing the devolution of Nick and see the mask slowly start to slip.

I thought the ending of the episode was heart-breaking but needed, I thought it was done perfectly with the music during this scene being pitch perfect, pardon the pun, and I like that things ended on somewhat of a healthy amicable note.

Overall, an important episode of the show but not one that will make people laugh or enjoy themselves.

Pros.

Nick

The ending

The duo breaking up

Cons.

Rick’s story with the two crows seems pointlessly random

It is sad and depressing

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Spectre: Bond Defeats His Targets By Putting Them To Sleep

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Bond, Daniel Craig, is back to uncover and defeat a conspiracy close to home and one that links all the Craig era bad guys.

So I will open this by saying I am not a big Bond fan, I have seen a fair few of them and they have their moments, but to me they were never as good as the Bourne films.

This film was painful to get through, whoever edited it should be fired. An opening that drags on and on before anything even remotely interesting happens, followed by a story that meanders at nearly every turn seems almost like it is going out of its way to bore audiences. Self-indulgent would be the word I would use for it.

Moreover, it is painfully clear to see that Craig does not want to be there. He has the dead-eyed stare of a man who deeply regrets signing a contract but must now follow through. When you compare how he is in this film to the other Craig era bond films, or any of his other performances he just seems so turned off, so disengaged which almost becomes infectious as the film progresses.

The mystery is painfully dull and seems to add more complexions to itself simply to pad out the runtime. The villains are generic and are nothing we haven’t seen time and again before in previous films. The only character that actually got my attention was Dave Bautista’s Mr Hinx, he was an interesting character that could have been an intimidating villain for Bond, but no they killed him off.

Overall, this is why the series needs to retire.

Pros.

It is watchable

A few neat visuals

Cons.

It badly paced

The mystery is awful

No one bar Bautista looks like they want to be there

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Hacksaw Ridge: Mel Gibson Should Make Films For PureFlix.

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

This film follows the life of army combat medic Desmond Doss, Andrew Garfield, as he serves during World War II without ever using a gun.

This was an incredibly uplifting film. Yes the violence and the death of war are grizzly and are on full display here, but underneath that is a story about a young man just doing what he thinks is right and saving lives, even when those same people call him names and abuse him for his beliefs.

I could have done without the constant religious framing of everything in the film, but hey it is a Mel Gibson picture so what do you expect? I understand the real life person this was based on was deeply religious and it is fundamental to the story, that is not what I am complaining about. What I am complaining about is the use of shots, to give an example the final shot of the film before it cuts to credits sees Doss being carried away on a stretcher, the camera is below and zooming out giving the impression that the stretcher is rising into the heavens- a saint ascending. This bothered me for two reasons one, the character doesn’t die and two, it is far too on the nose.

Moreover, the writing in this film is not good at all. The opening scenes, not the ones when they are children but the ones which show Doss’s early courtship before he went overseas, are so painfully cringe that I almost had to skip through them. The line delivery is off by such a huge margin that I can’t place the blame solely at Garfield’s feet clearly something must have been bad in the script or even the direction.

That aside the performances for the most part were great across the board. I enjoyed Vince Vaughn as a drill sergeant and I thought once again Andrew Garfield shone brightly, proving his clear talent with ease.

Overall, a solid and uplifting war film.

Pros.

Garfield

It is inspiring

It doesn’t shy away from showing you the horrors of war

The ending

Cons.

The heavy handed religious metaphors

The dialogue and line delivery during the courtship scenes

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American Horror Story: Thirst

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Harry Gardner’s, Finn Wittrock, daughter turns out to have an insatiable desire for blood which becomes troublesome quickly. This is compounded by threats from the other vampires/sea monsters, the police chief, Adina Porter, showing up unannounced and Harry’s agent, Leslie Grossman, coming to investigate.

This episode was the worst so far by quite a large margin. It shows a lot of the issues with the show with striking accuracy and precision, almost as though the creatives are trying to physically show us how far the show has fallen from grace.

There are a lot of needless scenes here, and in the series as a whole. An example of this is the scene where Harry goes to get some blood for his daughter and his victims turn out to be rapist murderers who try to rape Harry. Now, the fact that the victims are this adds nothing to the episode as a whole, Harry kills them and moves on and I was left wondering why include them in the plot at all why not just have it be a random person? Yes there is the argument of oh he is only killing bad people so maybe he can still be redeemed, but in the same episode he kills another man/group of people who have done no wrong, thus defeating that argument. To me if feels like it was chosen for shock value, to be edgy because they could, not because it improved the episode at all.

Another big glaring issue this episode highlights is the fact that we are three episodes into the series and there is yet to be a single likeable character. Many people had issues with the last season, but at least it gave us characters to care about, here most of the characters are either written to be unlikable or are so bland, stupid and dull that you find yourself growing to dislike them. Even Evan Peters is not hugely charming here, his character just comes off as a dick and not an interesting one at that.

Overall, this was a poor episode, and the second half of the season is going to need to work very hard to bring this show back to form.

Pros.

It was watchable

Leslie Grossman is a delight

Cons.

The rape subplot

None of the characters are likeable

A lot of it feels just done because they could and not because they should

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Old School: Turns Out Todd Phillips Wasn’t Funny Even Before Woke Culture Made Him Quit Comedy

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Three middle aged men decide to relive their youth and go back to their partying days before they had kids- shockingly original I know.

Much like with my Wedding Crashers review where I pointed out how the film liked to make fun and trivialise male rape, I know this one is also going to be controversial. As you can see from my score I did not enjoy this film very much at all, it was charmless and worse still not even slightly funny.

Now before I get into it I just want to say comedy is subjective so what makes me laugh might not be the same for you.

Within the first ten minutes of this film you had a random character busting out the F slur because it was the early noughties so why not right? It is disgusting and clearly just used to be edgy. This film is made by the same man who said you can’t do comedy anymore because everyone is too PC and it shows in nearly every scene. Not only does this film have a particularly strong homophobic undertone, but it also views all of its female characters as either nagging wives or sexual objects and nothing more.

I like Vince Vaughn so I gave the film an extra half a point, but even he can’t save this film. None of the characters are particularly likeable and each ‘comedian’ is doing the worst version of their usual shtick, Ferrell is screaming rather than talking, Wilson is melancholy and broody, and Vaughn is a sleezy party boy- which of those sound likeable? I’ll answer for you, none.

We also get a supporting performance from alleged sexual predator Jeremy Piven, which almost made me turn the film off.

Overall, maybe the reason Todd Phillips stopped doing comedy is because no one finds his sexist, creepy, homophobic jokes funny anymore.

Pros.

Vaughn is trying

Snoop Dogg

Cons.

The jokes

The homophobic comments

It is wildly sexist

None of the characters are likeable

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Vacation Friends: Crashing A Boat Isn’t A Big Deal

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Whilst on holiday in Mexico Marcus, Lil Rel Howery, and Emily, Yvonne Ori, meet a strange eccentric couple, played by John Cena and Meredith Hagner who end up changing their whole outlook on life.

I want to preface this review by saying that though personally I dislike John Cena for saying Taiwan isn’t a country and grovelling to the despotic Chinese government, he is actually funny here. I struggled with it a lot whilst watching, but I managed to put my feelings about Cena to one side and enjoy his performance in the film without reflecting on him as a person. Cena does do comedy really well, and here is no exception he gets a lot of funny lines.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film as I thought it was going to be a silly crude comedy, but in actuality there is a lot of heart, warmth and genuine human emotion to be found here. I found myself becoming sentimental at several scenes, said scenes do not feel forced in but rather organic and well used. I particularly like Cena in this aspect.

I think my issue with this film is that it does not give Ori’ Emily much to do at all and she is just the caricature of the girlfriend/wife stereotype. This is not true for all the female characters in the film as Hagner’s Kyla gets to have a lot of fun and break from traditional gender roles.

Overall, a sweet comedy film boosted by John Cena.

Pros.

Cena

Lil Rel Howery

It is sweet

It is funny

Cons.

Ori’s Emily is given nothing to do

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What If: Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Stephen Strange, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, goes on a hunt for answers after the death of his love Christina Palmer, voiced by Rachel McAdams, and what starts out with good intentions quickly morphs into something perverse.

I think this was a very high calibre episode, certainly up there with the murder mystery one and Captain Carter; maybe better. What I think this episode does so well is that it tells a very personal story but incorporates a lot of big themes and concepts into it, so as we focus our attention souly on the life and loves of Stephen Strange the MCU is also expanding all around us.

Another thing I enjoyed about this episode was that it finally gave Jeffery Wright’s Uatu something to do. I understand he is a Watcher and is forbidden to get involved with the events he sees, but they could at least give him something. Other than the narration each episode and maybe a shot of him watching he is basically absent from the show. This is rectified here as Uatu shows up during the events of the episode and talks to Strange as the episode ends, it finally gives him an active role.

Moreover, I also enjoyed the further exploration of the magical side of the MCU, and I thought the conjuring/consumption scenes during the episode were intriguing, especially as it pertains to the supernatural within the MCU, maybe Mephisto can appear yet.

My one complaint of the episode would be that it ends on rather a down note and that it leaves you feeling depressed, but I suppose that was the point.

Overall, a deeply personal look into the mystical side of the MCU

Pros.

Expanding the mystical side of the MCU

Making Doctor Strange feel more human

The emotion

Finally giving Uatu something to do

Cons.

The ending is depressing

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Shang Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings: Now We Have Dragons In The MCU

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Shang Chi, Simu Liu, must confront his past and his family in order to save the planet. A world of martial arts, dragons and family drama is explored.

Sadly Fin Fang Foom is not in this movie, I even waited till the very end to see if we were going to get a tease, we don’t. However, that is not to say their aren’t any dragons in this film we get two: The Great Protector and The One Who Dwells In Darkness, or something like that. Can I just pause for a moment and say how cool it is that the Marvel Cinematic Universe now has dragons in it. I very much enjoyed seeing this new magical world being explored and opened up, I can’t wait to explore it more in a sequel.

In terms of acting I think Simu Liu makes for a very capable leading man being both funny and charming throughout. Ben Kingsley returns to reprise his role of Trevor Slattery from the third Iron Man film and easily makes up for the sins of that film and lands some of the best jokes in the entire MCU. Continuing on that note this is easily one of the funniest films in the MCU and the comedy really enhances the film and adds a lot to it.

My one complaint of the film would be that the fight scenes aren’t very impressive. Watched in a vacuum without other films, without all the hype, someone might think these fight scenes were cool and impressive. However, in context of the genre, or at least the genre they are trying to emulate they are about five years out of date. Whilst the fight scenes are more intense and better structured than most in the MCU, when compared to something like the IP Man films, The Raid or even John Wick they feel like poor copies of other fight scenes done better elsewhere, and that is a big disappointment.

The breakout star of this film is easily Meng’er Zhang, she manages to out-badass Shang Chi himself and the final post credits scene promises something very exciting for the characters future. I personally found myself connecting more with her emotional journey and family baggage than I did with Shang Chi but that is not to say both weren’t well done.

Overall, a good Marvel film but an average martial arts film.

Pros.

The mystical side of the MCU is expanded further

Meng’er Zhang

Simu Liu

The comedy

Cons.

Pacing issues

Average fight scenes

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