The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: Find Yourself An Indian Lover

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a comedy drama film directed by John Madden. The plot follows an eclectic group of pensioners as they go to India to retire. They each go for their own reasons and they each find India touch their lives in one way or another.

This film features almost all of the famous older British faces that audiences would be familiar with, you have Bill Nighy, Judie Dench, Maggie Smith and more; it really is like a who’s who of elderly British talent. It is a very wholesome watch as it feels like you know these people, they’re almost like your grandparents, so it is nice to see them falling in love and having fun.

I found this film to be far better than the other older romance films like Finding Your Feet, that would follow it, in many ways these sort of films are a genre all their own and maybe one day I will write about it in more detail. With that said you can imagine what the story is like, it is all fairly predicatable.

My issue with this film is the pacing. There were parts of it I really enjoyed, I thought they were snappy and done well, however, there were also bits that dragged; to an almost painfully extent. These issues are not just in one part of the film that I can point to, they’re throughout. It could greatly benefit from a tighter edit.

Overall, a very safe comforting film that is boosted with standout performances from Dev Patel, Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy, if it had been condensed down a bit more it could have been something special.

Pros.

The performances

Comforting to watch

Very wholesome

Cons.

Predictable

Parts of it badly drag on.

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

An American Pickle: How Our Ancestors Would View Us

An American Pickle is a comedy drama film directed by Brandon Trost. The plot sees a Herschel (Seth Rogen), fall into a pickle briner and be trapped there for a few hundred years, he awakens in a different time, our present, and tries to see what has become of his family.

I don’t know if this film is supposed to be a comedy film, yes it has a wacky premise and yes it stars Seth Rogen in a double role, but at the same time it seems to have a lot of subtle subtext about identity and family that it seems far more concerned about rather than focusing on being funny. It didn’t make the laugh once, but it did make me think and feel, so in a way it is a triumph.

Seth Rogen has made a name for himself as a comedic actor, but here he brings much more to the table. Rogen plays Herschel as a man out of time, obviously, as someone who is trying to adapt to the world around him and find a reason to carry on, hence why bonding with his only living family member Ben (also Rogen), is so important to him. Ben on the other hand is a loner who can’t seem to deal with emotion or process the grief in his life, he has lost any form of his identity, but with the help of Herschel learns to regain it.

Overall, if you’re looking for the usual Rogen comedy film you won’t enjoy this, if you’re looking for something a bit deeper and more nuanced than this is for you. Be warned it can be quite depressing at times.

Pros.

Rogen as a dramatic actor

Rogen plays both roles well and crucially differently

It has a good heart

Cons.

It is not funny

It can be depressing at times

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Brittany Runs A Marathon: Everything I Feel Pretty Does Wrong

Brittany Runs A Marathon is a comedy drama film directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo. The plot follows Brittany (Jillian Bell), a young women whose life has got out of control. She finds it hard to leave the house, she hates the way she looks, she is surrounded by bad friends, and her body is failing her, medically. Just when things seem their bleakest Brittiany decides to go for a run, she then dedicates herself to training for a marathon and things start to change.

I thought this was just going to be a dumb comedy film, but boy was I wrong. This is far more of a commentary on body positivity and being okay with yourself, this film hits some very dark very personal areas and handles the subject matter beautifully.

So yeah this film isn’t funny, as a comedy film it fails, but as a nuanced drama film with an eye on body image, self esteem and learning to love yourself this film is simply a triumph. Bell takes us on a journey with this character and we feel her pain, we want to see her win, and the moment we see her hurt her leg and not be able to race, the first time, we feel as devastated as she does. This film makes me want to see Bell cast her more dramatic roles as I think she has a real talent.

Overall, this film is what I Feel Pretty should have been, its body positivity message is something that everyone can get behind and honestly it is kind of inspiring. I highly recommend.

Pros.

The message

The well rounded, fleshed out, real character

Bell’s performance

The heart

Cons.

It is not a comedy in any way

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Grand Budapest Hotel: Disrepair

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a comedy drama film directed by Wes Anderson. The plot sees the current owner of the titular hotel Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham), recount the story of how he came to own it, telling how his predecessor (Ralph Fiennes) was accused of a murder he didn’t commit.

I have recently become a Wes Anderson convert, quickly burning my way through his filmography. I love Anderson unique take on cinema and the charmingly eccentric feel of it, however I feel he has hits and misses, this to be would be one of the latter.

Unlike something like Rushmore or The Darjeeling Limited I did not find myself particularly caring for any of the characters, other than the minute-long cameo of Bill Murray, I also found the story to be surprisingly dull. The quirkiness that I have mentioned before is the only thing that saved this film from mediocrity and was the only reason I didn’t turn it off midway through.

I don’t quite know what it was but there is something lacking from this film, something central and critical. It felt all over the place in a lot of different ways and seemed to lack any kind of singular focus outside of just being odd.

Overall, this is the weakest Anderson film that I have seen yet, it lacked engaging characters and that spark that the rest of his films have, very disappointing.

Pros.

The uniqueness

There are a few good memorable moments

Cons.

It is forgettable

The soundtrack is not up to usual Wes Anderson standards

The story and characters failed to engage me

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Behind The Candelabra: Leaving Liberace

Behind The Candelabra is a biographic drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The plot covers the last years of Liberace’s (Michael Douglas) life and his highly troublesome romance with Scott Thorson (Matt Damon).

So, my takeaway from this film was ‘damn wasn’t Liberace a bad guy’.

As far as biopics go this was incredibly well done, it was very engaging, and the train wreck worth of drama made it very hard to look away even for a second. I applaud it forgiving us a look at Liberace the person in a very enclosed time period rather than just giving a brief overview of his career. I also applaud it for showing the good and the bad, something modern biopics have struggled to do, thought I probably does help that the subject is dead and that his friends didn’t have huge involvement with the project.

Douglas and Damon both gave terrific performances and drifted into their characters; they were entirely convincing.

My one issue with this film is that it has a tendency to verge on melodrama. There are multiple scenes in this film that would not be amiss in a reality tv show, and yes, I understand that Liberace was a very larger than life type of figure, but it became a bit much at times.

Overall, this was captivating and held my attention well for the almost two hours’ worth of runtime.

Pros.

Showing the good and the bad

A shorter focus

Great performances and cameos

Hard to look away

Cons.

A bit too much like reality tv at times

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Lost City Of Z: Madness Under The Sun

The Lost City Of Z is a historical biopic directed by James Gray based on the book of the same name by David Grann. The plot follows the life of legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), as he searches for what he calls ‘Z’, a lost civilisation located somewhere in the Amazon.

I had high expectations going into this, I have read the book and I enjoyed it. This film very much captures the spirit of the book whilst also changing key parts. An example of such a change is the ending, in the book Grann concludes that Fawcett and his son Jack (Tom Holland in the film), were killed by native tribes. Whereas the film ends on a happier note and suggests that they might still be alive living amongst the natives.

For the most part I enjoyed this film, I think it told the story of Fawcett’s life and disappearance well. I thought Hunnam was a solid leading man, he convincingly pulled off the soldier turned explorer look and never broke my belief. He was however upstaged in the acting department by Robert Pattinson who played Fawcett’s faithful right-hand man Henry Costin. Pattinson clearly lost himself in the role and was borderline unrecognisable, another great performance by the young actor.

My main issue with the film was how long it was, at almost two and a half hours this film feels like a slog. It frequently lost my interest and felt incredibly self-indulgent.

Overall, a solid adaptation that has a very issue.

Pros.

A faithful recreation

The performances

The twist on the ending

Cons.

It is too long

It is badly paced and therefore boring

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Maleficent, Mistress Of Evil: Hang Up The Horns

Maleficent 2 is a family fantasy film directed by Joachim Ronning. The plot follows an evil ruler go to war, wanting to wipe out supernatural creatures using a misunderstanding as justification to do so. Wait a minute, I am getting déjà vu, isn’t that basically the same premise as the first film?

If there was ever a needless sequel this is it. The plot rethreads most of the same beats of the first film, very little of substance is established and overall it feels hollow and made for the money. That would be my two-sentence description of this film.

The main issue with this film is its tone. The first half and hour and the last fifteen minutes of this film seem to think it is a light breezy affair where nothing it taken too seriously, however the rest of the film seems to be direly serious and bleak; did someone not get the memo? This tonal mismatch makes the film feel very jarring and hard to watch.

A lot of the new elements introduced to this film leave you feeling meh. This film introduces a lot of things to this world and this story and a lot of these things you’re supposed to care about, but the film in no way makes you care about them and makes most of them appear flat and boring which is a bafflingly stupid decision.

Jolie is okay here, she is a lot better than in the previous film and actually has some funny lines, sadly however she is kept away from the action for the most part and underused in her own film. Michelle Pfeiffer gets a lot of screen time as the new evil queen, but she is so one note and cartoonishly evil that her character sticks out for all the wrong reasons; clearly the writers don’t understand subtly or nuance.

Overall, this is generic, it adds nothing to the first film and might even undone some of the good things about the first film. Hopefully Disney doesn’t curse us with a third film.

Pros.

Jolie is better

Cons

The one note villain

The weird tone

Nothing new of substance added

Doesn’t justify its own existence.

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Gentlemen: Ritchie Is Back

The Gentlemen is a crime film directed by Guy Ritchie. The plot details the British criminal underworld and one man’s fight to stay on top of it against rising factions.

I enjoyed Ritchie’s foray into blockbusters, they were enjoyable enough, but I am glad that he has returned to his roots in the crime genre. No one and I mean no one makes a stylised crime drama film like Guy Ritchie and this film proves that.

My one issue with the film is the way it is structured, there is a lot of jumping around in the timeline and a lot of the film is set to a conversation between gangster Ray (Charlie Hunnam) and tabloid creep Fletcher (Hugh Grant). Now all this jumping around does have a great pay off at the end that brings everything together nicely, the time jumping is not my issue. What I think the problem is, is that the interacts between Ray and Fletcher get boring after a point and feel repetitive, they weigh the film down.

Fletcher is by all means the worst character in the film, incredibly one note and annoying and Grant is given the least to work with of all the cast.

However, this is offset by the fact that most of the other characters are great and leap off the screen at you. Hunnam is magnificent and has a few very memorable scenes, but the two that really steal the show here are Matthew McConaughey as the man who has it all Michael and Colin Farrell as Coach. Farrell’s performance is easily the highlight of the film and he is the most interesting and intriguing character by far; his fight scene in the kabab shop is also fantastic.

Overall, this is a return to form for Ritchie in a big way. The pay off makes the film and solid performances from most of the cast back it up. A must watch for genre fans!

Pros

Farrell, Hunnam, McConaughey

The style of it

The pay off

The kebab shop scene

Cons.

It doesn’t make the most of all of its characters as Grant and Golding’s characters are cut short.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The High Note: That Is Inaccurate

High Note is a music romance film directed by Nisha Ganatra. The plot follows Maggie (Dakota Johnson), a personal assistant to a former worldwide star who dreams of more. Then one day she meets David (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a young talented musician who might be her big break. A romance follows.

To me this is A Star Is Born but without the chemistry. We have seen this before, similar films that show a romance blossoming to the backdrop of the music industry and I don’t know why, but I expected more from this film, the first half an hour told me to expect it, but it just feel apart.

The only two good things about this film, that I almost turned off three times, are Johnson and a rare great performance from Ice Cube. Johnson and Ice Cube are both trying to make something out of what they have been given, but they can’t change the fact that what they have is cliché tripe that is so laughably predicatable you can turn it off after 15 minutes and know the ending.

It gets worse, this is one of the most melodramatic, overly mushy films I have ever seen. The filmmaker and writer seem quite set on making every little thing into a huge dramatic event, in such a way that it would put the finest soap opera to shame.

Overall, this is contrived and overly familiar with no charm or chemistry to make it worthwhile. Much like Johnson’s 50 Shades films there is no chemistry here and the romance and plot fall apart.

Pros.

Johnson

Ice Cube

Cons.

It is too mushy

It is too melodramatic

The leads have no chemistry

It feels like a retread of about 100 different rom-coms

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Peanut Butter Falcon: The Next Champion Of The World

The Peanut Butter Falcon is an adventure film directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz. The plot follows Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a young boy with down syndrome who dreams of becoming a professional wrestler just like his hero. However, in order to do that he needs to escape from the old people’s home that he has been forced into and venture into the great unknown on a voyage of self-discovery.

This is one of the most touching films I have ever seen, I kid you not there were a good few time when I had a tear in my eye. This one will hit you right in the feels. I think part of what makes this film so easy to connect to is its characters. They’re unlikely heroes, in a more simplified sense underdog.

I think Gottsagen was great throughout, he was easily the most loveable character and you will want to see him become a wrestler so much. I also thought this fatherly connection with Shia LaBeoufs’ character of Tyler was also incredibly well done. The two make a great pair and are incredibly endearing together. This was the film that made me stand up and take notice of LaBeouf as a serious actor.

Overall, I think this is a very lovely film and is the sort of film we need right now when times seem so dark. It will have you smiling and cheering throughout. A must watch for sure.

Pros.

Gottsagen

LaBeouf

Johnson

The relationships between the 3

A small appearance by Yelawolf

Cons

None

5/5

Reviewed by Luke