Baghead: Pubs Are Bad Investments

Summary

A young woman, Freya Allen, inherits a pub with a witch living in the basement.

This film has a number of things going for it in my mind, firstly the lore surrounding the witch and how she came to be there and the secret society around it is interesting, secondly the witch does manage to have some good scary moments that aren’t reliant on jump scares and finally that they stick to a dark and troubling ending. I think all three of these things make this film feel fresh and draw you in, which is a strong pro for an early in the year horror film.

However, where this film is hurt is in it’s casting. So before I go on to slate Allen I want to state that the script doesn’t give her much to work with and that her character has a terrible backstory, with the film itself making no effort to make her seem like an actual person or get you to care about her. Now with that said her performance is bad, in many senses it feels like a film project you might see out of a film school rather than an actual production, the acting feels like students who are just trying it for the first time and so have no presence. What makes matters worse is that she has a private school esque British accent despite supposedly growing up in care and having a hard knock life, either the script neglected to mention that her foster parents sent her to private school or Allen can’t do another accent as The Witcher also proved.

Overall, I am left thinking what this film could have been if they had cast someone else who was better at acting, it has good ideas and could really have been something.

3/5

Pros.

The ending

The scares

The mythology of the world

Cons.

Allen is awful

The pacing is off

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Poor Things: A Pearl Clutchers Worst Nightmare

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A woman, Emma Stone, with a child like mind is reintroduced to the world and to herself.

This may easily be one of the best films of 2024 so far. Now you have to separate out the fact that if you think about the brass tax of some of the things that happen in this movie there is quite a gross undertone to it, these elements can prove problematic if you can’t separate yourself from it. Essentially this woman with the mind of a child is sexual, this is more as her mind moves into adolescence and her teen years but still she is not fully with it and some of the sexual engagements that happen early on in the movie feel a bit distasteful to say the least. Now as she ages mentally throughout the film this ceases to be an issue.

A wider argument and one that our American friends will surely have a problem with is that this film is very graphic sexually, it is purpose built to be challenging in that regard as to what audiences are comfortable with however it may be too much for some. Again the argument becomes were is the line between empowerment and exploitation and I for one am not going to wade into that quagmire this particular evening.

I think outside of the broader social aspects of the film, the idea of this woman rediscovering the world is a fascinating ride to go on and the world which looks a little like something you would expect from a Tim Burton film is so well realised that you could easily look at it for hours.

Emma Stone does an amazing job here and I would argue should be rewarded with awards, Bella is multilayered and as she advances throughout the film it is almost like Stone has to give multiple different performances all within the remit of the character. Likewise the supporting cast is strong Will Dafoe as always is fantastic as is Mark Ruffalo and Christopher Abbot.

Something that I haven’t seen talked much about with this film is that it is funny, the film has a very keen sense of humour and is quite amusing.

Overall, easily one of the better films of 2024 thus far.

4.5/5

Pros.

Stone

The wider cast

The world

Seeing Bella develop

The humour

Cons.

Sometimes it feels a bit icky

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Sous Le Courant: An Emotionally Harrowing Trip To Brighton

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

An escapist weekend away to Brighton becomes the start of a powerful emotional journey for two friends.

The French New Wave lives strong within the bones of this short, if that is your kind of thing then you will find a lot to enjoy here. It highlights the fleeting nature of life and the human condition and how one can never run too far away from their troubles before they come back to them. It has a perhaps downbeat feel to it though I would say ultimately there is a hopefulness there even if it is one that is born from the grim.

The acting from the two main characters is very powerful and I think both leave quite the impression. They feel real in a way that a lot of characters in films never do, they feel like people you could meet, people who you might see out and about, there is no element of Hollywoodization here.

My main critique of this film would be that it is not for everyone, for some who like moody reflective pieces then this will have an appeal but for others then they will be put off by the gritty realism at times. Also for me I would have liked a little more detail plot wise I understand it is a short but I would have liked to have gotten to know the characters more.

3/5

Pros.

The realism

The emotions

The ending.

Cons.

It is quite grim

It will not be for everyone

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Polite Society: Martial Arts And Uncomfortable Relationships

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A wannbe stuntwoman, played by Priya Kansara, becomes convinced her sister, played by Ritu Arya, is marrying a baddie.

In a sense I really wanted to connect with this film as I often do try to give British films the benefit of the doubt, but in all honesty this film just didn’t jive with me.

I think there are certainly some entertaining parts to it, and the fight scenes are impressive for what they are but I do think in the end the issues outweigh the positives.

The main issue I had with this film is that tonally it is two separate films. The first half is much more of a comedy about a girl struggling to accept that her sister is moving on with her life and then the second half is full of vaguely incestuous clones and kidnapping scenes, they don’t align at any point and at others feels very much at odds with one another.

To make matters worse the lead character isn’t likeable. Throughout most of the film the character comes off as incredibly possessive towards her sister, and thinks that it is okay for her to interfere and mess with her life doing worse and worse things to try and get the outcome she wants. The film justifies this in the end by having her being proven right to be so involved in her sister’s life, but throughout the film she just comes across as a busy body.

Moreover, I don’t know if it is just how I red it but there is a subtext to this film that is quite depressing and sad. In a sense the second half of the film could be read as a metaphor for mental illness and the sister fully falling into delusion, as the film likes to remind us she has an overactive imagination. In this sense the ending then develops something of an uncanny and almost unsettling quality but perhaps that was just how I made sense of the two drastically different tones within the film.

Overall, the tone of this film was all wrong and the main character was unlikeable.

2.5/5

Pros.

The fight scenes were good

It was nice to see a British film in the multiplex

It has a charm to it.

Cons.

It has pacing issues

It is tonally a mess

The main character has a God complex

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Rye Lane: Finding Love In Modern Britain

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Two recently dumped individuals, played by Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson, meet randomly one day and find that they have a connection.

This isn’t a new film, the idea has been done in hundreds of films before especially within British rom-coms. However what this film does is update some of the older tired cliches and to produce something modern to a reasonable effect.

I don’t think this film reinvents the form but it is a nice wholesome watch. Jonsson and Oparah have great chemistry and both are charming in different ways. The way their characters interact with each other on screen instantly makes you root for them and want them to be together, this is helped by the fact that for once the relationship shown to us in a rom-com doesn’t seem incredibly toxic.

I also liked some of the more surreal shot choices and story telling frames this film used, it was a nice break from the genre but also from within the film itself it helped to shake things up and keep them fresh,

My highlight of the film was the Colin Firth cameo as the burrito chef, which I thought was hilarious and well placed. It was nice to see a genre mainstay like Firth show up for a film like this and give his blessing to a new generation, it rooted the film so easily within this very British tradition and created an unforgettable moment.

Overall, a nice happy watch but not one that will blow you away.

3.5/5

Pros.

The leads have good chemistry

It is fun

It makes you care about the characters

The Colin Firth cameo

Cons.

It is very familiar

The conflict towards the end of the film feels forced in rather than organic to the story

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Operation Fortune Ruse De Guerre: The Incredibly Eccentric World Of International Espionage

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Guy Ritchie teams up with Jason Statham yet again, this time to tell a spy story.

I had been looking forward to this film for so long, but with the delays I was beginning to question if I was ever going to see this film and now that I have I can say it was mostly worth the wait.

The main thing I enjoyed about this film was its sense of humour. This film can and does at times have an incredibly eccentric sense of humour, some of the lines of dialogue feel like improv on top of improv but in a good way. The spy story being told is strange enough that the fact that Statham’s character needs a private plane and certain vintages of wine to calm down seem to fit within this world well.

Moreover, the supporting cast are excellent. Hugh Grant, Josh Hartnett, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone and Aubrey Plaza each have their moment to shine and come together to really make this film something special. I would say the character I liked the most was Plaza’s Fidel mainly because she had a lot of the funniest lines and was the most entertaining to watch.

My two issues with the film, which admittedly are each fairly small, are that having Ukrainians be the baddy in the current climate is a bad look, they should have changed that in reshoots, and also that the pacing of the film is atrocious, it feels like it is on for double its runtime and though most of the time is fun to watch I still wouldn’t want to watch 4 hours of it.

Overall, fun but with terrible pacing.

4/5

Pros.

Plaza

Statham

The eccentricity

It is fun

Cons.

Framing Ukrainians as the villain in the current year is a bad look

The pace

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What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A documentary filmmaker, played by Lilly James, makes a film about her childhood friend’s, played by Shazad Latif, arranged marriage.

The romantic set-up in this film is incredibly obvious to the point where it crosses over into cliché, everyone knows going in that James’s character is going to fall for Latif’s that is part of the unspoken agreement of the film. However, what isn’t known is that this film is worlds away from other rom-coms such as Love Actually, Crazy Rich Asians, Boxing Day etc by the fact that it is not a comedy at all.

I would argue that this film is not a rom-com, more so a romantic drama film with a schmaltzy ending that tries to undo a lot of its more depressing aspects but doesn’t really come anywhere near close enough. This film is depressing at times manically so, and that really is its greatest fault. Whether it is Lilly James saying how all the Disney princesses were depressed, her incredibly toxic relationship with her mum, played by Emma Thompson, or the fact that the arranged marriage actually happens although you knowing the genre think it won’t, this film knows how to upset you. There were multiple moments in the film where I found myself wanting to leave as it was so depressing I was no longer having fun at the cinema.

I think the great bane of this film is that despite James and Latif giving reasonably serviceable performances this rom-com lacks any kind of warmth or charm at all and that makes the film off-putting.

Overall, this film does the one thing a rom-com never should do, be depressing.

1/5

Pros.

James and Latif try their best to save this film

Cons.

It is depressing

It is not by any means a fun watch

The ending feels like it is over compensating

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The Awakening: The Horrors Of A British Boarding School

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The film follows ghost hunter Florence Cathcart, played by Rebecca Hall, as she travels to an all-boys boarding school to investigate otherworldly goings on.

I think this is very much the quintessential British ghost story, and I mean that both as a compliment and also as a criticism. In many sense this delivers as you would want it to, there is a ghostly mystery and a few good scares, and a key element of the horror comes from the atmosphere and location. So far so good.

However, the issues become apparent when you have watched at least one other British ghost story horror film before as it becomes all very predictable quickly. Nothing that happens really catches you by surprise, the twist of the film I guessed early into the first act because it seemed so obvious. Perhaps this is a case of me watching too many horror films, as I both watch them for pleasure and also for an academic interest and as such I can see all the twists and turns coming but maybe also there is an element of weak writing here as well.

I think the two central performances from Dominic West and Rebecca Hall are both strong, I would say Hall is a the stronger of the two and her ghostly lost demeanour throughout the whole film only adds to the scare factor. I think the scene with Hall’s character down by the body of water where she looks as though she might throw herself in is truly haunting.

Overall, a good creepy ghost story if one that is also a little on the obvious side.

3/5

Pros.

The atmosphere

West and Hall

The scares

Cons.

It is a little obvious

Pacing issues

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Papadopoulos And Sons: The Chip Shop At The Beating Heart Of The Family

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A Greek Business titan, played by Stephen Dillane, is brought low and must go back to his roots and in doing so he finds his spark for life all over again.

I thought that this film did what British films do best it brought out both the pains and the triumphs of everyday life and reflected that on screen. There is something very human in British cinema that American cinema often lacks for one reason or another, it dwells more in the overly fantastic than the real for one.

I also thought that Dillane and Georges Corraface were both fantastic and played off each other well. I thought they were very believable as brothers, especially as estranged brothers, and I thought the final scene towards the end of the film hit with a hell of a punch because of this.

The one thing I will say of the film that maybe could be viewed as a criticism is that it struggles to match the comedy with the drama and leans far more into the latter. The final third of the film is quite the gut punch and the laughs here and there aren’t really enough to balance it out, so tonally things start to come unstuck by the end.

Overall, a bittersweet film that hits mostly all the right cords.

4/5

Pros.

The emotion

Dillane

Corraface

The message of the film

Cons.

A little light on laughs and at times fairly depressing

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Enys Men: Can You Make Meaning Out Of The Meaningless?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A woman, played by Mary Woodvine, begins to experience breaks with reality whilst living on a remote Cornish island.

I haven’t been so disappointed with a film in a long, long time. What was this film? It didn’t even feel like a film in the sense that it had a narrative and characters and really just anything that you could follow. It had minimal to no dialogue, no discernible story or plot and seemingly was just a series of random shots stuck together, it was the height of pretentious art house garbage.

Two other issues that go along with this are firstly that the pace is awful and the film as a whole quickly becomes tedious, in all honesty I disliked this film so much I would have got up and left if it were not for being bunched in by people on either side. This film is a chore to get through that is the easiest way to describe it. Secondly, the film seems to like piercing random loud noises and uses them again and again, for what reason we will never know but no doubt it is pretentious in reality all this does is leave you with a splitting headache.

The only thing positive I have to say about this film is that it has some interesting folk horror aesthetics but really this is barely even a film.

Overall, a tedious painful film to get through that feels more like a live art performance you have been forced to sit through rather than anything even remotely resembling a film. Easily my worst of the year so far.

0.5/5

Pros.

I liked some of the visuals

Cons.

It has no narrative

It uses loud noises constantly and again for no reason

It is tedious

It is incredibly pretentious

It never made a lick of sense

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