False Positive: Questionable Taste

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Lucy, Broad City’s Ilana Glazer, becomes convinced that the doctor involved with her artificial insemination has malicious intent.

A lot of the criticism of this film is misguided, I personally applaud the film for its upfront portrayal of the horror’s of motherhood: showing how the male fantasy of child birth and what it entails couldn’t be further from the truth.

That is wear my praise ends.

This film reminds me in many ways of Antebellum. That is not a compliment. Both are more focused on making a social and political point then they are with delivering an entertaining movie. This film feels like preaching, to the point of having a to the audience PSA about the patriarchy and it’s control of pregnancy. I have no issue with the arguments being presented, but I do have an issue with how it is being presented. Many films communicate similar social points in a more tasteful and crucially intelligent way where they blend in with the narrative and don’t threaten to overshadow it; this film goes drastically in the other direction.

Moreover, the films pushes the ideas of good taste in the service of making its points, most of the times it does this strays into incredibly bad taste. For an example of my point, there is a scene towards the end of the film where the lead tries to kill both of her babies by throwing them out the window, but doesn’t in the end, and then lets the dead foetus of the baby she wanted to have suckle on her breast. It made me uncomfortable viewing it. Maybe that was the point.

Also for anyone who has seen the film Rosemary’s Baby there are more than a few similarities here, and that is putting it mildly; though that point of criticism has been done to death here.

Overall, more of a political statement than a film, with questionable taste that will almost certainly make some viewers feel uncomfortable.

Pros.

It is bold, upfront and shocking in its approach to telling a female first horror film

Cons.

The social commentary lacks any subtly

The dead baby scenes

It is too familiar

It thinks it is deeper than it is

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iCarly: iRobot Wedding

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Carly and co head to the wedding of her nemesis. Whilst there Carly becomes convinced that the bride to be is a robot.

I would say barring the first this is the best episode of the revival so far. That is mainly because this episode moves away from mocking internet culture, whilst also in some ways embodying everything it is poking fun at, and instead decides to just tell new stories involving these characters- with only a slight amount of nostalgia baiting.

I enjoyed the robot storyline and the absurdity of it, for a minute I genuinely believed Carly was right and that the bride was in fact a robot. Moreover, I thought Carly was at her most human and most likeable here and the romance they are trying to set up between her and Freddie seems like it will take the show in a wholesome positive direction.

My main complaint of the episode would be all the jokes from Laci Mosley’s Harper, that basically boiled down to ‘straight people are weird right’, not only did they feel out of place and weirdly jarring but if flipped the internet would break out in a huge outcry. As I have said previously you don’t solve issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia etc by just flipping it so its now the other way round. What made these series of jokes worse was that though they were not funny at al the first time around, they are repeated over and over again, which can only make them more funny right?

Overall, a close second best episode of the series so far.

Pros.

Carly, and her robot theory

Carly and Freddie

A few nice human moments

Enough nostalgia to be fondly remembered but not used as a crutch

Cons.

Harper’s straight people are weird jokes

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The Bad Batch: Bounty Lost

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

The episode starts out by ditching Crosshair once again and instead focusing entirely on Omega, a very bad decision. The reason why this is bad is because it loses all the tension and excitement from the previous episode and immediately makes the situation easier for the heroes as now they are just free to track Omega down no bother- which makes it less interesting.

We spend most of the episode with Omega as we find out more about her origins and watch her try and escape from Cad Bane. None of this makes you warm any further to the character, and the point still stands that without Omega the Bad Batch as a show would be much more interesting.

The best thing that comes out of the kidnapped Omega storyline is the bounty hunter fight between Bane and Fennec Shand, which is entertaining to watch as each tries to out do the other with some nice set pieces thrown in for good measure.

The series still seems directionless, yes we know that Omega is wanted and is valuable as she is a perfect clone of Jango Fett, but other than that we have no idea where the series is heading. Are we going back to more villain of the week episodes now that Crosshair has been sent back into the ignored void? Or are we going to get more origin story for Omega? Both prospects seem equally bleak.

Overall, Omega has easily become the worst part of the show and it needs to ditch her as soon as it can- she is no Grogu.

Pros.

The bounty hunter fight

The ending tease of intrigue

Cons.

Omega is a weak character and worse still annoying

They forget about Crosshair once again

The tension and build up from the previous episode is lost almost immediately

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Good On Paper: Films Like This Are Why More And More People Are Cancelling Netflix

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

It has been a while since Netflix has made a truly poor comedy film, there was a small part of me that was hoping that maybe they had learned what audiences want and what they don’t in a comedy film, but no- this film proves they are still as clueless as ever.

So there is an old adage that you may have heard of ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’, growing up I heard it all the time, yet never is it better displayed than in this film. So, there is a scene in the film where the female lead looks over at a would be suitor’s body and says how gross and out of shape he is, in other words she body shames him. She then turns to the camera and justifies her actions by saying men do it all the time so its fine. So yes the moral of the film is not to change problematic sexist behaviour, no rather just gender flip it because that makes it okay.

Yes, the victim of this body shaming does end up being a baddie, but the audience is not aware at the time, and even if they were does that make it okay? Surely this sort of behaviour is never okay, especially not when the lead of the film is supposed to be likeable, and the audience is supposed to root for them.

Moreover, the laugh count for jokes was quite weak. Now, I won’t spend too much time on this point as humour is subjective and what is not very funny to me might be hilarious to you, but I only found a handful of funny moments here, and these were more chuckles then strong belly laughs, for the most part I just found the film’s sense of humour predictable and oddly tame.

Overall, this is exactly the sort of the lame film that you would expect from Netflix and that’s a shame as they are starting to build themselves a negative reputation as pedlars of trash, the Mindhunter days are long gone.

Pros.

One or two good jokes

Cons.

Mostly not funny

Very predictable

A little too safe

The body shaming

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Siberia: The Real Horror Here Is That You Can Never Get Your Time Back From Watching This

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I’m a big fan of Willem Dafoe but this was a miss for sure. The main issue with this film is that without reading several different plot summaries online, you will have no idea what is happening for most of the film. I understand that this is a deliberate choice and the film wants you to the do the work in piecing the events happening together, but it is so poorly constructed that that is almost impossible to do.

Moreover, there is a weirdly large amount of nudity in this film that really servers no purpose. I am no prude, but this just feels voyeuristic and needless. You can show that Dafoe’s character is a letch who abandoned his family for various one night stands without showing them all in graphic detail; it is almost as though this film is one part softcore porn film.

Dafoe makes this film bearable, and some of the conversational scenes where he is talking to others or different versions of himself are interesting and well-acted, yet this loses any impact it might have as you can’t translate this into any form of meaning with regards to the wider story or what is going on.

Overall, I go back and forth on whether this film was pretentiously abstract on purpose, or whether it was just poorly conceived.

Pros.

Dafoe

The premise is interesting

Cons.

It is in no way scary

The nudity is needless

It makes no sense and for large chunks of the film you have no idea what is going on

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The Ice Road: The Most Obvious Conspiracy In Human History

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

The premise of ice road truckers having to carry heavy items over sheets of sheer ice is tense and interesting enough on its own, it doesn’t need to be overly complicated.

Therein lies the problem of this film, Ice Road Truckers proves there is an audience that wants to see big rigs carrying goods over ice that could break any minute. However, this film did not get the memo, or maybe doesn’t care as clearly it does not think this premise is entertaining enough to get people to watch so they have to force in a conspiracy as well. Of course this conspiracy storyline is entirely needless and adds very little.

Liam Neeson and Laurence Fishburne try their best to give this film some soul and personality yet one gets killed off early into the film and the other is mostly side-lined. Yes, even though Neeson features heavily on the posters and the marketing for this film it is really not his.

From a writing perspective this whole film feels very played out and overly familiar. They try to write in twists and turns but it just goes exactly the way you would expect it to, the way it is telegraphed to go from the beginning you know who the actual villain will be because it is all just so obvious.

Overall, Liam Neeson needs a better agent or maybe just to retire from action films as it is starting to reach a point now where even his charm can’t save these films from themselves

Pros.

Neeson

Fishbourne

Cons.

It is incredibly predictable

The villain is obvious

It is overly complicated

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Loki: The Nexus Event

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Loki and Sylvie come face to face with the Time Keepers and Mobius slips into an existential crisis regarding who he is.

This was a big episode of Loki. I think this is a strong episode for sure, though again much like with the previous episode I would say it could have done with being about ten minutes longer. A lot happens in this episode, and a slightly longer run time would have really given these reveals proper time to set themselves up and be impactful- as they are they feel rushed.

That aside, this episode has a lot going for it. Owen Wilson’s Mobius is back and better than ever, some of the scenes between Mobius and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki are incredibly well done and the performances from both men are simply terrific. There is a lot unspoken between the two, but the bond does feel real, and they are easily my favourite duo in the MCU. The ending of the episode broke my heart with regard’s to Wilson’s character, I can only hope he will come back at some point in the future as the mid credits scene seems to imply.

Moreover, Sophia DiMartino’s Sylvie really comes into her own this week as we learn more about her origin. As strange as it might be to say I quite like the relationship between the two versions of Loki in the MCU and I would like to see them get a chance to be together in the MCU. I think the end of the episode really leaves Sylvie in a very interesting position and it will be fascinating to see where she goes next.

The Time Keepers reveal, which I won’t spoil here, feels somewhat of an anticlimactic cop out but it also works for the show and points to an even bigger game/mystery afoot. The mid credits scene is definitely worth sitting through the credits for as it changes how you see the whole show once again and flips it on its head.

Overall, fun and exciting but it could have been longer and better set up.

Pros.

Loki and Sylvie

Loki and Mobius

The return of Lady Sif

The mid credits scene

Cons.

It is too short

The Time Keepers reveal is a little underwhelming

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Gods Of Egypt: I Don’t Remember The Egyptian God’s Having Scottish Accents Coming Up In History Class

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I remember when this came out and instantly joined everyone’s worst of that year lists, I didn’t see it at the time, but now years later I have finally got around to seeing it and it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

So firstly lets get this straight off the bat the film is problematic for a number of reasons. All the Egyptian characters with the exception of a few are white, and to be even more insulting these Egyptian gods are also white for the most part; and in one case Scottish. Moreover, one of the few female characters in the film Elodie Yung’s Hathor is trotted around like a piece of meat barely wearing anything at all. The character even comments on what they are wearing, but that does not make it better or the film any less creepy.

That said, if you view this film more as a comedy than an actual action film then this film is passably watchable. It all makes no sense and the characters themselves are all over the place, but if you turn your brain off it is dumb fun.

I found Nikolaj Coster-Waldu to be as entertaining as ever, and I thought he was easily the high point of the film. The other male lead was widely forgettable, and I can barely remember anything about him to put in this review. Yung has good chemistry with everyone on-screen, but you can’t shake the feeling the film wants her to be ogled in the creepiest way. Butler is just playing his usual on-screen persona now just with more fake tan and eye liner.

Furthermore, a final thing to note, I found the decision to have all the God characters be bigger than their mortal counterparts to be oddly jarring to look at especially when both were on screen together. It did not look right and though I think it is a nifty idea it does not work out well in practice.

Overall, mindless popcorn action weighed down with some troubling production decisions.

Pros.

It is dumb fun

Yung and Coster-Waldu are fun and give good performances

Cons.

Yung’s character is objectified

It is whitewashed to hell

Butler is miscast

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The Birthday Cake: What Is In The Box?

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This film is the best gangster/crime film I have seen in a while. The pacing of this film is terrific, and it takes you on one hell of a ride. There are scenes in this film where I was on the edge of my seat, I know that is a cliché, but for once it accurately describes the situation.

I enjoyed how this film places so much emphasis on its titular cake, always making sure to feature it in every sequence throughout the film. Moreover, the final reveal involving the cake makes the film, or at least it did for me, it was so perfectly built up to and it truly delivers.

Furthermore, the acting is strong across the board with every actor bringing their A game to this project and being memorable as a result. I would be hard pressed to pick a favourite moment from the film as the whole of it is so good and each actor really has their own moment to shine.

My one criticism of this film would be that it could have better used Ewan McGregor, as he is barely in the film though when he does appear he steals the scene. I would have liked the film to further explore the relationship between his character and Gio as clearly he is somewhat of a mentor to him, but we don’t really see this happen on-screen and can only imply it as an explanation.

Overall, perhaps the best gangster film of the year.

Pros.

The cast is terrific

The cake payoff

The tension

The pacing

Cons.

Under-using McGregor

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Downsizing: Shrink Down To Save The Planet?

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This film is really all over the place. It seems to have a lot to say about various different things, it is ruled by its themes. That sounds like a criticism, but it is not. Though I found the film underwritten in a few areas and points it was trying to make, I actually found the wider piece to be surprisingly soulful and reflective.

The concept of turning people into miniature versions of themselves to stave off an oncoming apocalypse is refreshingly original. The entire film is a comment on climate change and man’s response to it, and in this area the writing for the film and the metaphor that holds it all together works well in communicating that relationship.

I thought the performances from all involved were good, with Christoph Waltz being a particular highlight. Though the film may be sold as a comedy I think it is more than that. Truth be told there are few funny moments in this film, but there are a large amount of smile inducing or thought provoking ones instead.

The film almost reads like a dark comedy, and I think it nails that tone perfectly.

Overall, if you go in expecting a silly comedy about Matt Damon being tiny you will be disappointed, however if you go in ready for more of a quasi-conversation about climate change and human impact on the world you will be more than satisfied.

Overall, surprisingly intelligent though not at all funny.

Pros.

The themes and wider comments

The ending

The genuine emotion and feeling

It is smart

Cons.

It is not funny

It tries to comment on too many issues and real world talking points.

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