West Is West: Cultural Identity

West Is West is a British comedy drama film directed by Andy DeEmmoney. The plot follows up on the events of East Is East several years later with Sajid (Aqib Khan), now fully grown and in a full-on rebellion against his and his father’s culture. So in an effort to straighten out his final son George (Om Puri), takes Sajid to Pakistan with him, to try and get his son to embrace the culture and become what he wants him to be.

So, normally I am adamantly opposed to belated sequels I find them to be needless and serve no purpose beyond exploiting a vaguely known IP for some quick cash. That, I am happy to report is not the case here. This film feels like a genuine follow up to the first film that furthers the characters and the arcs set up, allowing us to see these characters more clearly.

I found this film to be quite touching at times. I liked that it explored George’s two identities, showing how both can’t exist and that he is basically a man of two lives or two worlds. I thought George having to confront the family that he has left for thirty years made for a genuinely brilliant emotional scene that worked on multiple levels. Puri of course shines in the role.

I think this film does really interesting things with the idea of cultural identity. Suggesting that it might not be a fixed concept, more so an adaptable ideal.

Overall, a very worthy follow up that carries the first one on nicely

Pros.

The focus on George

Showing George’s first wife and the emotion of their scenes together

A legacy sequel that justifies it existence

A beautiful concept and message

Cons.

A large amount of George’s family from the first film do not return for this.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bottle Rocket: Anderson Before He Became His Quirky Self

Bottle-Rocket is a comedy crime film directed by Wes Anderson. The plot follows a trio of Texan friends who try to pull of a series of crimes to disastrous all-around results.

I find Wes Anderson films are at their best when they full embrace the kitsch eccentric Anderson aesthetic, and this one doesn’t do that. It is by far the most straight lace of all of Anderson’s filmography thus far. I found it to be a little rough around the edges, though I did find that added to the charm as the film progressed.

The Wilson Brothers were on top form here and I found them both to be quite compelling, I thought the interplay their characters had added nicely to the film and created a believable bond. Of the two I would say that Luke outperformed Owen, as Owen’s character is a little overdone, he is played up to a ridiculous extreme.

I thought the side stuff and world building elements were used well, and clearly set a pace for what we come to see of Anderson in the future. I enjoyed the romance between Luke Wilson’s character and Lumi Cavazos’ Inez, I found it to be a good emotional core for the film as well as his character. The two had believable chemistry and you want to see them end up together.

Overall, it is a rough start, but still a film that shows a lot of promise

Pros.

The Wilson Brothers

The world and the dialogue

The romance

Cons.

Lacking the Anderson eccentric

Owen Wilson’s character is a little overplayed

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

On The Rocks: The Most Bill Murray

On The Rocks is a comedy drama film directed by Sofia Coppola. The plot follows Laura (Rashida Jones), a woman going into midlife who begins to think that her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans), might be cheating on her. She recruits her philandering father Felix (Bill Murray), to help her get some answers: the investigation is on.

This might be the most Bill Murray film ever made, if you have ever seen any of Murray’s films or are a fan of him generally then you will know what I mean. The eccentricities that normally colour Murray’s various performances are turned up to eleven here, resulting in a glorious performance.

The film has a lot to say about aging gracefully, finding new drive in life, and asking for forgiveness all of which are touched on and beautifully developed over the course of the narrative. The relationship between Laura and her father, who left when she was young after cheating on her mum, is strained and turbulent and their arc together is beautifully resolved.

My two complaints with this film are both of a similar vein. This film is far more into the drama aspect then it is the comedy aspect of its premise. Yes, it has a few jokes and comedic situations, but the drama and the comments on life take centre stage. As a result of that we see more of Jones’ dramatic chops which are strong, but we don’t get to see much of her comedic side. Which is a real shame as Jones can be and has been very funny in things in the past before, sadly here she is playing the straight woman to a zany Murray. Moreover, Jenny Slate also features in this film, more as a recurring bit than a characters, and is also underused.

Overall, not a film that is going to set the world on fire, but a very enjoyable film with a surprisingly large amount to say.

Pros.

Bill Murray

Marlon Wayans

Rashida Jones (In a dramatic sense)

The comments on life and parent child bonds

Cons.

It doesn’t let Jones be funny

It underutilised Jenny Slate

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Wolf Creek 2: Making A Hero Out Of A Cold Blooded Serial Killer

Wolf Creek 2 is an Australian horror film directed by Greg McLean. We again follow Mick Taylor (John Jarrett), the tourist killer extraordinaire as he cleans up his part of Australia once again from those evil invading backpackers. This is vaguely based on a true story, incredibly loosely though.

So yeah basically this time around Mick is the hero, or at least the main focus of the film. We don’t really get a protagonist (maybe the English dude), we just get a series of characters for Mick to pick off over the course of the film. None of them seem to have any shred of personality or character development, but I’ll get to that.

Maybe the executives realised that no one really cared about the boring vanilla survivor characters from the first film hence the Mick focus this time around. Also this film plays up Mick’s craziness a lot more, making him way more manic and almost strangely a lot more comedic too. Though I didn’t like the first film, at least the way it portrayed Mick was accurate to the cold-blooded killers that his character is based on, here he is a one liner cracking, goofy, pain sponge that can get up from any hit with minimal damage. They turned their villain into somewhat of a joke.

Jarrett is again the best part of this film and is clearly having fun and you can tell that throughout, sadly it does not translate to audience enjoyment.

Pros.

Jarrett is having fun

Cons.

Sadly it is not fun to watch

They don’t have characters just victims

They make Taylor less scary

The jokes don’t work

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

All Joking Aside: Finding Your Start

All Joking Aside is a comedy drama film directed by Shannon Kohli. The plot follows young stand up comic Charlene (Raylene Harewood), who has repeat run ins with faded former comic Bob (Brain Markinson), leading to an emotional journey.

This film feels very raw, it knows what it is and what is trying to do, and it achieves that. We see Charlene as she struggled to survive in this new big bad world of comedy and comes out kicking on the other side. Charlene might be my favourite lead character of a 2020 film so far, as she is so incredibly relatable. Everyone has been in her position at some point in their life, starting something new, being unsure of yourself, she is a good audience standin.

This film feels very similar to Funny People. Which is both a compliment and a critique. The critique I would hope is fairly obvious, similarity is not a sign of originality. Though the compliment is a little more abstract, I found the balance between comedy and drama to be managed to a perfect degree much like the aforementioned Adam Sandler film. It has a tragic sense of whimsy to it that really leaves and impact on you as you watch it and that stays with you long after.

Overall, though this film might feel a little over familiar at times it is also funny, touching and crucially well done. Well worth a watch.

Pros.

The heart

The comedy

The journey

Harewood

Cons.

A little too similar to other films

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Intrusion: Disconnected: The Final Girl After The Final Showdown

Intrusion: Disconnected is a horror thriller film directed by Kyle Cates. The plot sees Holly (Katie Stewart), a survivor of horrific violence, become convinced that the man who tried to kill her has returned from beyond the grave as the local unexplained death toll starts to rise around her.

This is an unsettling watch, there is just something about it that made me uneasy. We are never quite sure as to Holly’s mental state, and as such we get sucked up in her own paranoia with her. The killer almost becomes a mythical figure as he stalks her every waking moment, very much like a more real version of Freddy or Jason.

I thought Stewart did a great job here. She was a very rootable lead, she was easy to cheer for and it was an inspired choice to focus on what happens to ‘the final girl’ after the showdown; with regard to the mental tole and effect that has on their life. We see Laurie Strode after Halloween, but her mental state and the effect her life or death confrontation had on her life going forward is glossed over.

I found this to be a harrowing watch through and through.

Overall, I enjoyed the performances and the very real threat of the killer that also felt somewhat mythic. It is unsettling to watch; My only issue is that this film has some pacing issues and some parts of it drag on and on and make you lose interest.

Pros.

Katie Stewart

The real sense of threat

It is unsettling

I enjoyed the mental health focus

Cons.

It has pacing issues throughout; it could have been structured a lot better

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Juliet, Naked: Always Check Your Email Because A Famous Singer Might Have Emailed You

Juliet, Naked is a romantic comedy film directed by Jesse Peretez. The plot follows Annie (Rose Byrne), a woman who is in an unhappy marriage and who is bored with her life. Her husband Duncan (Chris O’ Dowd), spends every waking minute obsessing over a has been singer from decades prior.

One day after commenting on her husband’s blog, Annie receives an email from said has been singer Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke), and he and Annie strike up and unlikely romance.

I have seen a lot of romantic comedy films in my time and I have to say that this was on the better end of that scale. It has no icky or troublesome moments; it had good wholesome themes and ideas and was underpinned by a sweet starting over again romance that you couldn’t help but cheer on at every turn.

Byrne had the right amount of Bridget Jones in her performance to make her be instantly rootable and loveable to the audience. I thought the narration of the emails was a nice touch as it allowed us more access into both Annie and Tucker’s headspaces, it was very You’ve Got Mail.

O’Dowd has the right amount of pompous annoyance as to pull off the obsessed fanboy well. Right from the off we know that he and Annie are poorly suited, to put it mildly, and it is plain to see he neglects her making him a very easy to hate antagonist. O’Dowd is really coming into his own playing petty jerk villains in British films.

Overall, a sweet wholesome romance film that is destined to become a classic of the genre.

Pros.

The romance

The wholesomeness

Rose Byrne

Ethan Hawke

Cons.

O’ Dowd is a bit too annoying

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Host: Elbow Bumps Might Be Able To Stop The Virus, But They Can’t Stop Demons

Host is a found footage screen set horror film directed by Rob Savage. The plot sees a group of friends conduct a séance over zoom/ or an equivalent during the 2020 Covid19 lockdown, as things progress they release the spirit they have summoned is in fact demonic and wants to see them all dead.

So, to me this film was boosted by the novelty factor of having it take place during lockdown; specifically the UK’s interpretation of that. I enjoyed see people bump elbows as a form of greeting, it made me laugh. No doubt this will be the first of many films to take this format and no doubt it will get repetitive quickly, but for now, as this is the first, I found a novelty to it.

This film reminded me in a lot of ways of Unfriended and its sequel, it used a lot of the same tricks and turns. Though I did enjoy the ending of this more as we get to see the demon (though invisible), pick of each character in a horrific fashion, I thought these supernatural elements added nicely to the technology and isolation horror aspects.

This film has a strong atmosphere that it uses for most of it scares effectively. However, there is one jump scare right near the end that really got me as I was not expecting it. Normally I would be dead against the use of jump scares, but here they actually pull it off well.

Overall, a fun lockdown themed horror film. That is good for a one time viewing.

Pros.

The lockdown setting

The performances were quite good

The kills

The ending scare

Cons.

It is quite familiar

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

American Mary: The Horrors Of Body Modification

American Mary is a Canadian horror film directed by the Soska Sisters. The plot follows young surgeon Mary (Katherine Isabelle), who turns to performing extreme body modification surgery as a side hustle to make extra money.

This feels very much more exploitation esque than The Sisters other work, before or after, and as a result it feels harder to swallow. The premise is basically a rape revenge film, though done through a slightly different lens.

Your enjoyment of this film will come down to how squeamish you are, if you can stand live surgery and enjoy seeing people sliced into and stuff like that then you will enjoy it, as it is a very engaging watch. However, if you fall into the other side and find such subject matter hard to watch then you will be put off. I fall into the latter category.

Katherine Isabelle is a strong lead, we buy her turn to the dark side, even as it extends beyond torturing her attacker. Even though she arguably lives long enough to be the villain of her own story, she is still very rootable and crucially she is fascinating to watch develop and go on that journey.

Overall, there is a lot of good here, but because I can’t stand live surgery and that sort of subject matter I was off put, but that is a personal preference on my part. If you that doesn’t bother you and you like grindhouse exploitation style films then you will enjoy this too

Pros.

Katherine Isabelle

An interesting character arc

Darkly funny

Cons.

It is hard to watch

The subject matter will be divisive to some

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Villianess: Raised To Kill

The Villainess is a South Korean action film directed by Byung- Gil Jung. The plot follows assassin Sook- hee (Ok-Bin Kim), as she joins up with the South Korean intelligence service to order to hunt her husbands’ killer.

The action is well done, I especially enjoyed the first-person action sequence at the start of the film. I thought the brutality of the film added to its overall feel, it gave the film a gritty take no prisoners sort of attitude that really helps to define it.

The plot keeps you guessing it is full of twists and turns, however I would say that it is overstuffed. There is so much exposition, back story, and flash backs which are all pivotal to the narrative, it is a lot, also if you lose track you will be lost.

I enjoyed the lead performance I thought OK-Bin Kim did a good job, she was cool and badass, whilst also having a vulnerable streak that makes her very easy to root for and cheer on.

My main issue with this film is that it has major pacing issues, parts of it drag and feel like they’re overdone for the stake of being stylised. I feel It could do with being about half an hour shorter as it stands it feels like it has a lot of bloat.

You can see how this film has inspired others that have come after it (John Wick 3), and how it has been inspired by other classic action films (Old Boy, The Raid, Leon).

Overall, this is a nicely stylised action film that has a few pacing issues but is still well worth the watch.

Pros.

Good action

A homage to other classic action films

A strong lead

Cons.

Pacing issues

The story has a bit too much going on and is often confusing.

3/5