Alita Battle Angel: Trapped In The Uncanny Valley

Alita Battle Angel is a cyberpunk action film directed by Robert Rodriguez; based on 1993 Japanese anime series Battle Angel. The plot follows Alita (Rosa Salazar), a cyborg girl with a mysterious past who is rebuilt by roboticist Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz), she tries to adapt to life as a normal teenage girl but her past gets in the way. She is hunted down by a series of other cyborgs and must defeat them all to keep those she loves alive.

For a long time I have been meaning to watch this film, I know a lot of people love it, so I decided to check it out. I enjoyed it, it has a series of issues that stopped it from being a perfect film for me, but as an overall film I think it worked well and I would like to see a sequel to this film.

I think the strongest thing about this film is its world, it is dense and well explored, the lore never feels forced it feels natural and becomes something you want to learn more about. It is also left ambiguous enough that there is plenty of room for further exploration if I sequel does come out. The performances are all also excellent especially Salazar, she does a lot with a character that is mostly CGI she gives her a warmth and a personality that makes her instantly likeable.

However, I think ultimately what harms this film is it’s CGI. Sometimes, albeit rarely, the CGI is impressive and does standout, it is not Avatar level, but it is impressive. For the most part however, the CGI is poor and video game esque. This is mostly true of the faces of other cyborgs especially the ones she fights throughout the film. What’s more the CGI on Alita’s eyes bothered me throughout much of the film they are weird looking and are trapped in the uncanny valley, it was only midway through the film that I got use to them and even then I had to try not to look at them.

Another thing I didn’t like about the film was the angsty teen romance. This is only a brief subplot, but whenever the plot deviates to it, it slows down. There really is no need for it as it adds very little to the film overall.

Overall, this is a strong science fiction film that has a great world and characters, what lets it down is poor CGI and a needless romantic subplot.

Pros.

Rosa Salazar.

The characters.

The world.

Cons.

The bad CGI.

The romance subplot.

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Adventures In Babysitting: One Hell Of A Bad Night

Adventures In Babysitting is a comedy adventure film directed Chris Columbus. The plot sees babysitter Chris (Elisabeth Shue), looking after three kids, however her night soon takes a turn for the extreme when she takes said kids to the city to pick up her friend. From there a series of things go wrong and things go from bad to worse; leading to a comedic misadventure.

Some much of this film rests on the performance given by Shue, if she was bad it would turn out like the god-awful Disney Channel remake, however her performance is in my opinion one of the best of the decade. Shue manages to do kind and compassionate well, you can tell her character cares about the kids, she also manages to be a lot of fun and give you a sense that she is enjoying every single second of being on screen. An example of this would be the blues singing scene, which is a masterpiece in and off itself, plus Shue is actually quite a good singer.

Fun is the word I would use to describe this film, a lot of films are funny or charming, but only a few are fun. This film almost seems like an expertly crafted series of skits that are each great and then stitched together to form one hell of a film. This can be seen with the often-hilarious pop culture themed homages, by favourite was The Warriors esque scene on the train.

Another thing I will give this film credit for is that the child actors are actually tolerable in this film. Normally when a film has child actors, hell even teens, they are annoying, they don’t perform well, they’re distracting, and you can understand why Hollywood gets 30-year olds to pretend to be teens in films. However, Brad (Keith Coogan), Daryl (Antony Rapp) and especially Sara (Maia Brewton), are not only good, but crucially loveable, you warm to them over the course of the film and by the end, you realise that you have enjoyed the time you have spent with these characters.

My one critique of the film would be that some of the humour feels dated and a little out of touch with our modern sensibilities, however on the sliding scale of 80’s offensiveness this film is pretty mild, so that shouldn’t put you off!

Overall, an 80’s classic for a good reason, effortlessly charming and watchable and a guaranteed good time for all!

Pros.

It is fun.

The homages and references.

Elisabeth Shue.

The child stars are actually tolerable.

Cons.

Some of the humour has aged poorly.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Aeronauts: Life In The Outer-Atmosphere

Aeronauts is a biographical adventure film directed by Tom Harper. The plot follows a pilot Amelia (Felicity Jones), and a scientist, James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne), who try and go higher in the air than anyone has ever done before, in doing this they hope to prove that the Earth’s atmosphere and layers and that the weather can be predicted.

Even thought this film isn’t a horror film it scared me more than a lot of horror films I have seen recently. The reason for this is because I have a huge fear of heights and every time, they were hanging off the balloon, with just a bit of rope stopping them from falling to their deaths, it gave me sweaty palms and a keen sense of anxiety.

Both of the leads do a good job, Jones is the better of the two, her sub-plot about her husband who died is well done and all of the flashbacks feel relevant. Redmayne is serviceable and doesn’t really do much to impress, the only scene that made me feel something is when he talks to his father who has dementia; it is sweet and well done.

This film actively made me scared to got in a hot air balloon, as it seems like dangerous business, so if it was going for a thriller angel it did that well. I think it had a palpable sense of dread throughout, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time; I actively wanted both characters to survive until they made it back and that is a testament to the film.

Overall, I think this film is a great one-time watch, it is thrilling and more than a little bit informative, there are sense that will have you sweaty and wincing; especially if like me you have a fear of heights. However, it is not something that I would watch again as it doesn’t have any re-watchability.

Pros.

The thrills.

The sub-plot about Amelia’s dead husband.

The scene between James and his dad.

Cons.

It is forgettable.

None of the performances blow you away.

3/5.

Reviewed by Luke

Shazam: Big 2.0

Shazam is a superhero film directed by David F. Sandberg, it is the 7^th instalment in the DCEU. The plot follows Billy Batson (Asher Angel), a young foster kid who has spent most of his life trying to find his biological mum after she abandoned him at a fair. One day an old wizard calls upon Billy to take up the mantel of Shazam (Zachery Levi), and stop the evil that the 7 Deadly Sins have bought into the world, as well as defeat evil scientist Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).

Of all the DC Comics heroes Shazam is probably the one that I am the least familiar with, as such it was neat to learn his origin story. I think the story choice of having Billy be a foster kid that constantly runs away from foster homes to look for his mum, who he believes is the only family he needs, only to have it turn out that his mum deliberately abandoned him is an inspired choice. This choice was surprisingly dark for a family film and I appreciated that. What’s more this gave the moment when Billy finally excepts his foster family far more emotional weight.

As anyone who has ever seen Chuck can tell you Zachery Levi might be the most charming man on the planet, he was great in the Thor films though he only had a small part and he is terrific here in a larger superhero role. He perfectly captures the Big mentality, being a kid’s brain in the body of a grown man, as he plays the character with a healthy does of innocence and naivety. When his big hero moment finally comes it feels earned.

Furthermore, Mark Strong does a great turn as the villain, his character is threatening and menacing and dominates the screen every time he appears. Strong proves once again that he is one of the most versatile actors currently working. The boardroom scene is one of my favourites of last year, you will know why when you watch it.

I think this might be the most underrated and perhaps the best DCEU film. The emotional stakes are pitch perfect, Zachery Levi is magnificent, and the film isn’t afraid to get dark, which it does several times to great effect.

Pros.

Zachery Levi.

The darkness.

The humour.

The emotional stakes.

The wider universe.

Cons.

None, I have seen this several times and it holds up each watch.

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Walking Dead:When A Show Lives Long Enough To Become A Zombie

The Walking Dead is a horror television series developed by Frank Darabont, based on the Robert Kirkman comic series. The plot sees a group of survivors lead by Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who spend their days fighting for survival in a world that has sunk into a zombie apocalypse; they must do whatever it takes to survive, no matter the cost.

I am a big fan of the Walking Dead comic, as well as Robert Kirkman’s other series Outcast. Invincible let me cold, but that is personal taste. As such when the Walking Dead series was announced I was excited, when Andrew Lincoln was cast, I was even more so.

The first few seasons were good, strong, must watch TV. However, when they got to the prison things changed, I don’t know what it was, maybe it was the shift in the behind the scenes creatives, but something changed, and it was very much for the worse. Season’s started to feel more dragged out, more and more episodes felt like filler and less and less happened, which is a shame as this was the same season that had introduced David Morris as the Governor.

From there things got worse, as well as the pacing issues and the season by season increase of filler episodes, the show started doing something else that ruined the quality, I am of course taking about the fake outs. In the promos for coming episodes of the show, we saw characters in situations where it looked like they were going to die, this got taken to an extreme when Glenn looked all, but dead and then a few episodes later it turned out he was alive; then he died at the end of the season. The issue with this is that it makes the actual character death have less impact, it also feels like a direct effort to manipulate fans.

Now we are at a point the show, where it has lost a lot of its core audience, I personally tuned out at the start of season 6, I saw the stuff they did with Negan, I didn’t like it. It has killed off a lot of the main characters and the ones we have left are less interesting. I am sorry but, Darryl is not a good character. All the issues that I have mentioned before are still there, and now they try and include direct adaption of scenes from the comic to try and lure fans back in but guess what they aren’t coming.

It has reached a point where the show needs to end, unless they want to drive it into the ground. They could focus on the spin-off shows if they wanted to carry on the universe, but the main show should end.

Torchwood: Doctor Who After Dark

Torchwood is a science fiction TV series created by Russel T. Davis, the show acts as a spin-off to Doctor Who. The show follows a group of agents led by Captain Jack (John Barrowman), who fight to protect the human race from extra-terrestrial threats as well as paranormal ones.

This show is the anthesis of Doctor Who, for all that show is about exploring other worlds, in a family friendly manor, this show is Earth based and very much not fit for child viewing. To that extent there are moments in each episode that seems to push the boundaries of what they can show on television, or at least what the BBC will let them show. There are many quite gratuitous sex scenes and lots of over the top swearing and violence. Normally, this wouldn’t bother me, because normally it is done in a tasteful way, but here it really isn’t.

Another issue with this show is that unlike Doctor Who, classic Who not the current bastard version of the show, and even the other spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood does not have any memorable monsters. A lot of them are just fairly generic and don’t leave much of an impression on you, it is to that regard that I think this is the weakest of the 3 shows; as I am not even going to acknowledge Class.

Captain Jack is easily the one of the best characters Doctor Who ever created, he is both charming, funny and carefree, but also troubled and brooding; Barrowman can pull of both emotional ranges with ease. The episodes that focus on him are easily the best in the shows run, however, these are few and far between. Mostly we get episodes devoted to the other members of the agency, with Jack only playing a very small part in their adventures and most of these other characters are dull and uninspired. Moreover, the characters often do things that are morally reprehensible, Gwen (Eve Myles), and Owen (Burn Gorman), are both examples of this and yet we are supposed to cheer for them? I think not.

I think the later season of this show are far better than the early seasons as it very much finds itself somewhere during its second season. I think that this show tries too hard to be an adult version of Doctor Who, it loses sight of what it was originally intended to be, of all the shows in the Doctor Who Universe the only show worse than this was Class, and that is saying something.

With Captain Jack coming back to current Doctor Who I wouldn’t be surprised if Torchwood did as well, hopefully time will gift this show with a fresh and less unnecessary take.

Hellboy: Hell On Earth

Hellboy (2019) is a superhero film directed by Neil Marshall, based on the Dark Horse comic character of the same name. This film entirely ignores the Del Toro films that came before it and instead acts as a reboot of the series, moving away from family friendly territory and into Deadpool esque R-rated waters. The plot sees Hellboy, (David Harbour), try and stop a centuries old witch Vivienne Nimue (Mila Jovovich) from unleashing Hell on Earth.

I know this film was a bomb and a lot of people didn’t like it and the Del Toro films are better in a lot of ways, but I actually enjoyed this film; controversial I know. Before I get into why I liked it, I just want to say yeah I know this film has a lot of problems, the CGI ghost people that come out of Alice’s (Sasha Lane), throat are terrible and look like a child made them on After Effects and yes the plot line that Hellboy knew Alice as a child, but now she is kind of like his love interest for some reason, is creepy. That aside this is why I liked the film.

I like how this film sets up a larger world, you feel like there is more at play here than meets the eye, I like how it brings fantasy to a 21^st century version of London. I am also a massive Hellboy comics fan as well as the B.P.R.D so to see characters and elements of that world that the Del Toro films didn’t cover on screen was a blast for me.

I liked the fact that we got new characters rather than seeing the same team from the previous films, made up of Liz, Hellboy and Abe Saipan. Daniel Day Kim’s Ben Daimio is so cool, and the scene when he turns into a Werejugar is easily my favourite scene of the whole film, Alice is also a cool character, even if her powers look terrible.

Moreover, though it might sound heretical to say I like David Harbour as Hellboy. I think the film overdoes it with the jokes and the quips, trying far too hard to be like Deadpool, just like a certain superhero film that came out in 2020, despite this I like his take on the character and I would have liked to see more of him. Harbour plays the character with a lot of charm and warmth, he isn’t as brooding as Pearlman was with the character, but I think it is a good thing that this film tried to take the character in a new direction.

Finally, the practical effects on Baba Yaga were great, this was another highlight of the film for me. I am not going to get into the Pig monster thing: because I think the whole character was needless and the film could have done without that sub-plot.

Overall, this film is nothing like the Del Toro films, but I think that’s the point. If you can appreciate it for the dumb, schlocky fun that it is then there is a lot to like about this film. If not, you can take comfort in the fact their most certainly won’t be a sequel.

Pros.

Fresh take.

David Harbour.

New team with a tease of the old.

The practical effect on Baba Yaga.

Cons.

Terrible visual effects/icky subplots.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Onward: A Tale Of Two Brothers

Onward is a computer animated urban fantasy film directed by Dan Scanlon. The plot sees two elf brothers Ian (Tom Holland), and Barley (Chris Pratt), go on a mythical quest to find a rare gem that can bring their dead father back to Earth for one day. The themes of this film are family and being proud of who you are as a person/ being more confident.

On the surface this seems like just another fantasy animated film, the themes and motivations feel samey, but the emotional impact of the film as a whole is what elevates it over mediocrity. I don’t have any siblings, but even I was feeling something when at the end of the film Ian went without his chance to meet his father so Barley could say a proper goodbye to him instead; I can only imagine how impactful this scene would be if you actually had siblings to draw parallels with.

I think Ian and Barley as characters are perfectly fine, they’re serviceable enough, they won’t join Pixar’s pantheon of beloved animated characters, that’s for sure. Pratt seems to be doing his best Jack Black circa 2005 impression, which is okay, and he is probably the character I like the most. I like the energy and good nature the character has; he is the only character I was invested in.

Ian on the other hand I found annoying, I don’t know if it was the writing or Tom Holland’s performance, but I never warmed to his character, even by the end of the film I still felt very little for him. To me, the character seemed overly whiny, he complained and bitched and moaned at every turn, I get that his character is supposed to be sad, but he sucked the fun out of every scene he was in. What’s more Ian treats his brother like dirt for a good 3 quarters of the film, he doesn’t care about his brother getting to see their dad, no he never considers that, just what he wants and his time with their dad, moreover he openly calls his brother a screw up, even though all his brother has done up until that point is try and help him. So yeah in a film about brotherhood and brotherly love, to have your main character treat his well-intentioned brother, as a moron he would rather not have to deal with is a weird character decision.

Overall, this is not a great film, nor is it a terrible one, it is just fine. There are some neat Shrek esque ideas of display here, but they are never really tapped into, the emotional impact is good, but Ian and the side characters aren’t, it is a textbook example of a mid-tier Pixar film.

Pros.

The emotional impact/ wholesomeness

Chris Pratt’s Jack Black impression.

Neat fantasy elements.

Cons.

Ian is whiny and annoying.

I was never really blown away by any of it.

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Stuber: The Adventures Of Whiny And Dave Bautista

Stuber is a buddy cop action film directed by Michael Dowse. The plot follows timid Uber driver Stu (Kumail Nanjaini), a man who is obsessed with achieving two goals in life, convincing his friend Becca (Betty Gilpin), to go out with him as well as getting a 5-star rating on Uber. All of this is turned upside down and thrown out of the window however, as veteran detective Vic (Dave Bautista), get into Stu’s car on morning and then fate takes both men on a journey to bring down vicious drug lord Oka Tedjo (Iko Uwais), whether they like it or not.

When I first saw this film, I didn’t really like it. Then I watched it for a second time, and it was a little better, the jokes between Nanjaini and Bautista are by far the best thing about the film. This film feels to me, very much like it is trying to recapture the spirit of films like Rush Hour, and I don’t think it does it. Bautista is as hilarious as always, his turn as a comic actor is great and he has been funny in near every film he has been in. However, the weak link in the buddy cop chain is Nanjaini, he is far less funny than Batista, there is only so many times you can watch someone freak out before it becomes repetitive. What’s more a lot of Nanjaini’s jokes in this film feel as though he is reading out new paper headlines and talking points, as the films says to itself aren’t I so trendy and current; even when you watch it a few months later it appears dated.

What’s more the decision to have the storyline between Stu and Becca is baffling. We can see from a variety of other things in his life that Stu is a passive person who needs to become more assertive, so we don’t really need a storyline about him liking a girl who only wants to have sex with him because her current boyfriend annoyed her. The film devotes a weird amount of time to this sub-plot that takes away from the main story, moreover, this sub-plot doesn’t add much to Stu as a character and when he finally decides to cut her out of his life, it just leaves you thinking ‘finally’.

Overall, despite Bautista being funny and the banter being okay, Stuber feels like a poor imitation of buddy cop films of old, as it is too concerned with being trendy and bombarding you with sub-plots that take you out of the film. Another bomb Fox left on Disney’s doorstep.

Pros.

Dave Bautista.

The pair have some good moments.

Cons.

The sub-plot with Becca and Becca herself.

The references to current affairs.

Nanjaini is just a little bit too whiny.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Men In Black, International: Erase Your Mind If You Have Seen This Film.

Men In Black: International is a science fiction action film directed by F. Gary Gray, it serves as the 4^th instalment in the franchise, also being the worst, it is notable for being the first Men In Black film to not feature Will Smith, or Tommy Lee Jones. The plot follows new duo Henry (Chris Hemsworth), and Molly (Tessa Thompson), as they try and stop an alien invasion.

This film came out with a thud, it was dead on arrival. The Men In Black franchise has been continually on the decline since the second film, the first two films were good, mainly because Jones and Smith had great on-screen chemistry together and were likable. The third film was fine, it wasn’t bad, it just left very little impression, the only notable good thing about it was that it featured Jeamaine Clement. However, Men In Black International dives even further still and is aggressively bad. There is not one reason why this film is bad, sure it is bland as hell, the plot feels like a rehash of other better science fiction films, the jokes like ‘oh Men In Black isn’t very inclusive we should change the name to Humans In Black’ are cringey and take you out of the film, but it is hard to point to any one thing.

I think the reason why this film is so bad is because there is no chemistry between Hemsworth and Thompson, unlike in Thor Ragnarök where the two had great on-screen chemistry, thanks in no small part to Taika Waititi, here it is cold and flat. Hemsworth just plays a caricature of the character he normally plays, the good-looking dummy who gets all the girls and saves the day and I don’t know about you, but I am starting to get bored of it. He has had no luck as a leading man outside the MCU and I think that is proven here. Thompson on the other hand is the more likable of the two, her character actually made me laugh, but even she wasn’t on top form, she seemed uninterested and as though she was just doing it for the paycheck.

The only good thing I will say about this film is that the side characters are great. Rebecca Ferguson as arms dealer and Henry’s ex Riza is a cool character and has an interesting fight scene later on in the film. Kumail Nanjiani is terrific as Pawnee and I could easily watch a whole film focusing on him, but these two characters are barely used.

I’m not even going to get into the ridiculously obvious twist about Liam Neeson’s character, which would be harder to miss if it was running down the street, towards you, wrapped in meat eating a can of dog food.

Overall, this film proves that the series has no where else to go and that it can’t work without Jones and Smith, so they should stop trying. It is aggressively bad and boring, and the thought that Sony was stupid enough to think this stinker could restart the franchise is in and of itself hilarious.

Pros.

The side characters are cool, too bad they are barely used.

Cons.

The “jokes” are cringe.

Thompson doesn’t really care, and Hemsworth is playing himself, but with a weird inconsistent accent.

The plot is utter garbage.

The CGI use is bordering on obscene.

1/5

Reviewed by Luke