White Tiger: America Is The Past

The White Tiger is a drama film directed by Ramin Bahrani, based on the novel of the same name written by Aravind Adiga. The plot tells the life story of Balram (Adarsh Gourav), as he goes from a lowly slum dweller to king of the business jungle.

On my shortlist for best films of 2021 this along with Shadow In The Clouds and Spree are up near the top. There is something wonderfully fresh about this film, that I just can’t put my finger on. I think my favourite part of the film is the fourth wall breaking dialogue, wherein the narrator asked us to not judge him harshly for the life he has led: throughout the film whilst doing this is he making wonderfully quippy but also insightful statements that stay with you after the film.

The narrative takes you on an emotional roller coaster as you go from cheering, to crying, to being infuriated and then back again. The film really understands how to play with the audiences’ emotions to make us really care about Balram and his struggle, this in turn makes the pay off at the end feel all the more deserved.

Moreover, and I don’t talk about this enough in these reviews, the soundtrack is absolutely first class. Not only does the score perfectly reflect the emotion and the sense of place on screen but it also gives a vibrancy and liveliness to the film that really helps to keep you engaged throughout.

Overall, one of the best films I have seen so far this year, don’t sleep on it.

Pros.

The soundtrack

The fourth wall breaking asides

The emotion

The performances

The ending feeling earnt

Cons.

None

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Jack Reacher: Closer To The Real Tom Cruise

Jack Reacher Never Go Back is an action film directed by Edward Zwick, based on the novel series by Lee Child. The plot this time around sees Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise), become wanted for murder after a military contractor betrays his employer. Furthermore, a young woman called Samantha (Danika Yarosh), appears on the scene who has a personal connection to Reacher thereby making her a target.

This film is just plain boring, there is no other way to describe it. The coolest bit of the film is the dinner fight scene in the first five minutes after that it quickly plunges off a cliff, do yourself a favour and turn this off after the five-minute mark.

The action is all very humdrum nothing special or memorable as we have come to expect of Cruise in recent years, all the stunts and fight scenes seem very tame and safe and fail to illicit anything more than an uninterested shrug from you.

Cruise’s performance here lacks all of the charm that made the first film so good, the character seems aloof at best and cold and almost sociopathic at worst. The character is given an emotional journey, but he seems no different at the end to how he was at the start. It is very underwhelming.

Overall, deeply generic, and not worth your time.

Pros.

Cobie Smulders has a very good scenes, sadly she is wasted for the rest of the film

Cons.

It has been done better before

The action is not exciting

Cruise seems bored

The film is badly paced, and you lose interest quickly

0.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bridget Jones, The Edge of Reason: The Horrors Of A Thai Prison

Bridget Jones, The Edge Of Reason is a British romantic comedy film directed by Beeban Kidron, serving as a sequel to The Bridget Jones Diaries. The plot this time around see Bridget (Renee Zellweger), in a happy relationship. Though for one reason or another she suspects her boyfriend Mark (Colin Firth), is cheating on her and they break up and then through a series of comedic misunderstanding and lapses in judgment they end up back together again.

This is by far a lesser film than the first. It is still funny and charming, but not nearly as much as the first film. Also the humour here seems far more intent on laughing at Bridget rather than with her, I noticed quite a mean streak to the humour that I found to be quite off putting.

Moreover, the plot of this film is basically just a rehash of the first. It spends almost 99% of its runtime covering old ground and repeating plot points from the first film; it is almost as though there didn’t need to be a sequel. Right from the off you know where the plot is going and can guess the resolution because you have seen it before, in the previous film.

Also the film was made infinitely worse by bringing back Hugh Grant’s character rather than introducing a new character.

Overall, though there is still some fun moments and enjoyment to be had this is a lesser sequel in almost everyway and pales in the light of the first film.

Pros.

A few funny moments

Zellweger is still very charming in the role

It is cheering

Cons.

It brings nothing new to the table

Hugh Grant should not have come back

The humour seems more mean spirited

It is entirely predictable

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bridget Jones’s Baby: 2 Different Baby Daddies

Bridget Jones’s Baby is a romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire. The plot follows on from the events of the previous films and shows an older version of Bridget (Renee Zellweger), who is still unlucky in love and is seemingly repeating the same mistakes as she was in the events of the first film only now older.

I would say of the three Bridget Jones films this is probably second best, behind the original but ahead of the sequel. This film regains more of the originals charm and loses the more mean-spirited humour of the second film, both of which help it immensely.

The one negatively I will say of this film is that it feels needless. The character arcs and progressions are nothing new in the series, it very much does repeat arcs from the previous films to form a narrative here, you can predict what will happen and when because it has already. The will they won’t they stuff between Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), and Bridget makes less and less sense as at the end of each subsequent film they end up together and say how much they love each other, only to have that undone by the start of the next film. It makes the whole thing feel futile.

Patrick Dempsey has a very moments to shine throughout the film as the new love interest for Bridget and one of the suspected fathers of the baby, however he is very much living in the shadow of Hugh Grant and can’t hope to compete.

The other new characters such as Miranda (Sarah Solemani), Bridget’s younger friend and work college fare far better and add to the film. I would dare say Solemani stole most of the scenes she was in and I would watch a spin off dedicated entirely to her character.

Overall, a nice final note that returns to form even if it struggles to explain why it exists.

Pros.

Sarah Solemani

It is charming

It is funny

Renee Zellweger

Cons.

It has no need to exist and does not justify it.

4/5

The Bridget Jones Diary: How Non-Londoners View London

The Bridget Jones Diary is a romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire. The plot sees 30 something single woman Bridget (Renee Zellweger), have to navigate the worlds of career and romantic success. It is based on the book of the same name written by Helen Fielding.

This is one of the quintessentially British rom coms, up there with Christmas classic Love Actually and Notting Hill (review coming soon). Funnily enough all 3 of these films share Richard Curtis as a writer, clearly he is the modern-day master of the British romantic comedy.

There is something effortlessly charming about this film, so much so that I would even recommend it to people who don’t like romantic comedies. It feels deeply personable and relatable, we have all been were Bridget is before in some form or another and we can all relate.

Zellweger is perfectly cast as Bridget and has great on-screen chemistry with her fellow leads Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. As far as interpretations of Austin’s Pride and Prejudice go this is probably by favourite, and I have seen quite a few at this point.

This film is also incredibly funny and has a number of lines that instantly become iconic, at least in my circles. I often found myself laughing at a joke or a punchy bit of dialogue.

Overall, one of the few romantic comedies that does not suffer from troublesome undertones, fun and very enjoyable even for people who don’t like the genre normally.

Pros.

Zellweger

Grant and Firth

It is funny

It is genuine and relatable

Cons.

Sometimes a bit too faithful of an adaption

4.5/5

A Street Cat Named Bob: One For The Cat Lovers

A Street Cat Named Bob is a biopic, drama film directed by Roger Spottiswoode. The plot tells the real-life story of recovering homeless drug addict James (Luke Treadaway), and the cat that gave him a new lease on life.

I loved the book this was based on, so I went into the film with high expectations. The film seems far more down beat than the book, though the friendship and eventually turn around is inspiring and uplifting a lot of the moments along the way are deeply, deeply depressing. I have to say when the film ended I was left feeling bummed out.

I enjoyed seeing the bond between James and Bob (the titular street cat), I thought their relationship was very endearing, as someone who has had many cats over the years I can say that it is very effecting and will strike a cord with any cat owners.

Treadaway seemed convincing in the role, I enjoyed him and his characters emotional arc. However, I would say his Australian accent was inconsistent, it came and went sometimes you could hear it and it was believable but other times he seemed to forget to do it.

Overall, this film packs an emotional punch, if you can bare some of the more intense moments of despair then there is a beautiful film here.

Pros.

The James/Bob relationship

The ending

The emotion

As a cat lover I found it even more impactful

Cons.
It is very sad

Treadaway accent comes and goes

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Castle Freak: A Collection Of The Most Unlikable Characters Ever Put To Film

Castle Freak is a horror film directed by Tate Steinsiek based on the H.P Lovecraft short story The Outsider. The plot follows Rebecca (Clair Catherine), a recently blind girl who travels to Albania after learning that her birth mother, who has recently died, has left her a castle. Naturally the circumstance around the mother’s death are shrouded in mystery and inferences of the supernatural.

Horror is my favourite genre; I have watched a lot of horror films in my time which makes what I am about to say all the more impactful: the characters in this film might be some of the most unlikeable and unpleasant protagonists in the history of the genre. Even the lead Rebecca is at best irritating, the cast for the most part seem to be a reflection on the worst parts of society, and I don’t know if this was done by choice, but I will assume not. It would make no sense if this was deliberate as you would and do end up feeling nothing when the characters are slaughtered later in the film, quite a large flaw.

Moreover, I am no prude when it comes to nudity, but I think this was a tad excessive. There is nothing wrong with a tastefully done nude scene, but here we have scenes that serve no narrative purpose other than to show off the bodies of the female stars, which frankly feels more than a little exploitative to me.

The gore and the kills are serviceable to good, but that is not enough to make up for the films many other shortcomings.

Pros.

The gore and the kills

Cons.

The characters are unlikeable

The first act is incredibly slow

They just dump a bunch of Old Gods information through exposition on the audience at the start of the second act, I found this confusing

The nudity seems a bit much

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Hippopotamus: A Special Kind Of Miracle

Hippopotamus is a British film directed by John Jencks. The plot follows jaded writer/ poet Ted Wallace (Roger Allam), as he is payed to go and investigate claims of a miracle healer that can cure people of any disease with just a touch.

This is a mixed bag, Allam is strong and makes for a likeable protagonist, but his character is nothing new. In the leagues of jaded detective characters that have come before him Ted just can’t hope to match up. He is a walking cliché.

The mystery itself is fun, part of you wants to believe that their really is a faith healer, but another part of you knows it is all fake. When the reveal scene finally comes and Ted lays everything out, it all makes sense and feels incredibly satisfying.

My main issue with this film is that it has incredibly bad pacing. There are parts of this film that are almost unwatchable because of how slow they are, by the time the film graces us with an ending you have long since stopped caring.

Overall, though it has a intriguing premise that lends itself well to investigation and mystery the film is far too long and the pacing issue destroy the film and make it borderline unwatchable.

Pros.

The mystery and reveal

Wallace is likeable enough

Cons.

The pacing issues

Wallace despite being likeable is incredibly generic

You stop caring at all by the end

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Nutcracker And The Four Realms: Stay In The Uncanny Valley, Please

The Nutcracker And The Four Realms is a fantasy adventure film directed by Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnson. The plot sees troubled outsider Clara (Mackenzie Foy), venture into a strange world in search of a key to one of her late mother’s possessions.

This film is bizarre, it is like it too a good look at Alice In Wonderland and decided to copy it but make it even more convoluted and odd. There is an underlying sinisterness to this world and this film in generally that I can’t quite put my finger on, but there is definitely something off about it.

The CGI does not help the film at all, it ends up looking all a bit too obviously fake and the uncanniness of it all becomes jarring and off-putting the more you are exposed to it.

The only positive I have for the film is that its basic premise and world feel interesting, like there is a fascinating tale to tell there. However, the film as a whole fails to delivery on this and instead churns out yet another mindless, soulless, big-screen CGI fest. The acting is likewise as wooden, with several big-name actors clearly only here for the money.

The big third act twist where one of the key characters turns out to be evil is one of the most obvious reveals I have ever seen in all my years watching films, and I understand the audience for this would be mostly children but come on Disney have some respect for your audience. They are not all mindless and as the final numbers show they refuse to eat your off brand, out of date, cliché riddled, fantasy slop anymore. Do better!

Overall, though there is a sliver of promise here, it is quickly crushed under a mountain of awful CGI, pay check performances and disturbing feeling. Utter trash.

Pros.

There is some promise

It is watchable

Cons.

There is something wrong with it

The CGI is overused and off-putting

The performances are awful

The plot assumes that the audience are brain dead

The twist

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Horns: Where Brooding Meets Teen Angst

Horns is a fantasy horror romance film directed by Alexandre Aja, based on the Joe Hill book of the same name. The plot sees Ig (Daniel Radcliffe), have to clear his name after the brutal death of his girlfriend, aiding him in that effect is the fact that he has started to grow horns. These horns allow people to be completely honest with Ig and tell him their darkest thoughts and desires.

Having for once read the book, before viewing, I can honestly say that this film is a pale imitation. In the process of turning a novel into a film obviously a lot of things will be left out, there has to be some degree of translation, but this film misses out keys themes and plot lines from the book whilst also shoe horning in moments to act as a kind of fan service to book readers.

The obvious demonic metaphor is more easily conveyed here, as we can see his transformation. Though said change is interesting initially, it soon becomes a bit repetitive. Ig is surprised that people don’t seem bothered by his horns, this makes sense the first time not the 30^th. The final devil design is okay it is a little underwhelming as I was hoping for something grander.

The acting is okay, Radcliffe manages just about to keep an accent for the entirety of the runtime, but he is not as strong an actor here as he is today. For me this film just felt a bit too teen angsty, trying too hard to be edgy, I don’t know maybe I have just outgrown it.

Overall, it is perfectly serviceable, but it does not fully embrace the concept of the book and it feels too broody which becomes cringey the longer the film goes on.

Pros.

A few strong moments

The transformation

Cons.

It beats plot points over the head

It leaves key details out

It feels very teen angsty

2/5

Reviewed by Luke