Intrusion: Are Netflix Even Trying Anymore

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The film follows a couple in the aftermath of a home invasion, focusing on how it affected each personally.

My, my we are back to the boring era of Netflix thrillers. This film was so dull and hard to get through. Indeed many times I almost turned it off. I found there to be nothing new about this film during its runtime and everything it said or was trying to say had been said better elsewhere.

The emotional impact it was trying to put across again feel puddle deep. The film seems to think it is a lot deeper and more intelligent in its observations than it actually is, try as it might it can’t seem to come up with anything interesting or fresh to say.

Furthermore, the acting was also very mediocre. Normally I find Logan Marshall-Green can do no wrong, but he was just given nothing to work with here and it really shows in his performance, in truth his character is little more than a cliché. Freida Pinto’s lead is likewise uninspired, her character reads as a discount version of various other better written characters over the years which is a shame as Pinto is a very good performer normally.

Overall, uninspired.

Pros.

It is watchable

It is short

Cons.

It is dull

It is predictable

The performances are weak

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Nightbooks: We Need More Of Krysten Ritter In This Role

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A young boy, Winslow Fegley, obsessed with all things horror is kidnapped by an evil witch, Krysten Ritter, and forced to write her scary stories.

I enjoyed this film quite a lot, it turned out to be much more narly and hardcore than I was expecting it to be, and it managed to create some great horror visuals over the course of its runtime. In some ways this was more scary than a lot of the adult horrors out there.

The best thing about this film is easily the performance given by Ritter. By now you should all know that Ritter is an incredible talent, but if you didn’t know it for some reason this film proves it to you. She manages to pull off so many different emotions with just her face alone without even the need for words. She captures comedy, sadness and intense anger and rage completely, and manages to make her character both sympathetic and loathsome.

Even the child actors were fairly good, that in and off itself is a big deal as child actors are never good.

Overall, a lot of fun.

Pros.

Ritter

The scares

The ending

The characters

Cons.

The Hansel and Gretel twist was a bit too obvious

The Obscure Life Of The Grand Duke Of Corsica: Madness Made Manifest

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

An off kilter architect, Timothy Spall, begins working for an eccentric rich man, Peter Stormare, who calls himself The Grand Duke of Corsica.

I enjoyed this film far more than I thought I was going to. Yes, there are moments of abstractness that are so seemingly random and out of place that they don’t fit into the sequence, which becomes jarring, but on the whole the strangeness of the film really works and helps it to become something truly unique.

Both Spall and Stormare bring their A game thought I would say Stormare slightly pips it. Both men bring a lot of depth and nuance to their characters and explore them in interesting ways that makes you question your preconceived notions.

The flashback subplot, or was it a film, didn’t really work for me. I understand the parallel they were trying to create but there was not enough connective tissue there to really bring it together into a meaningful whole.

Overall, an interesting strange film that for the most part gets it right, though it does cross the line a few times.

Pros.
Spall

Stormare

The strangeness

The ending

Cons.

The flashback subplot

Occasionally the film felt like it was being strange for the sake of it

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Best Sellers: Urinating On Books, The Hallmark Of A Good Writer

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A publishing house on the edge of ruin finds solace in an anarchistic old writer, Michael Cain, can his new book be the thing to save them?

I find this film has moments of heart and genuine emotion but then it pushes too far into oversentimental territory. When the film becomes overly sentimental the problems with the script become increasingly apparent to a point where it almost feels emotionally manipulative.

However, the film does have its moments and I think Caine does a very good job here, his character is layered and multifaceted and grows on you over the course of the film. He has a good amount of on screen chemistry with Aubrey Plaza’s character and the two have excellent rapport. Plaza is as always very good; she does a lot with the little she is given, and she makes for a very relatable and likeable lead.

Overall, though this film wanders into the realm of the cliched and overly sentimental it still has enough heart and warmth to keep it on track.

Pros.

Plaza

Caine

The emotion for the most part

Cons.

The over sentimentality

A weak script

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Comes A Day: Never Go To A Jewellery Shop They Just Aren’t Safe, Learn From Films

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of people become trapped in a jewellery shop during a robbery.

This film doesn’t seem to quite know what it wants to be, on the one hand it wants to be a dark comedy and on the other a pure crime film. However, the film brings over elements of each which end up complimenting each other nicely to produce a comedy crime film that will bring a smile to your face.

I have been a big fan of Craig Roberts for a while now, ever since I first watched Young Dracula on CBBC, and he continues to impress me across his career. I found his lead to be likeable and more than a little relatable, he feels human and reflects how most would be in that situation: I thought it was a masterstroke to have him not be the action hero sort as it would have thrown off the whole vibe of the film.

Furthermore, he is also supported by a very strong cast with Imogen Poots and Timothy Spall shining in every second of screen time. I appreciated the amount of character development Roberts’ and Spall’s characters get and think it was well done, however, it needed to be applied to Poots’ character who remained underdeveloped throughout. The same can also be said for the villains.

I think this films greatest weakness is that it is overly ambitious: it starts a lot of ideas and themes that it then doesn’t finish which cheapens the impact.

Overall, a very enjoyable crime film that could have just done with stronger villains and more development for Poots’ character.

Pros.

Spall

Roberts

The ending

Cons.

Poots is underserved

The villains need more personality

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Anchorman: Wearing Underpants To Work Before It Was Fashionable

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The world of early morning news is thrown into disarray by the arrival of a female reporter.

I find something about early to mid-noughties Will Ferrell films oddly calming, they are very easy to watch and switch off to. This belief stems from the fact that this was before the shouty era of Ferrell wherein every line was made funnier by him screaming them a second time.

The humour of this film was very hit or miss for me, there were a few jokes that made me laugh but for the most part they left me cold. Of course there are a lot of off colour jokes in here where the characters make troublesome comments, but I didn’t find it to be done maliciously or with such vulgar unpleasantness as to take me out of it.

Christina Applegate is the real star of the show here and her character of Veronica Corningstone is terrific. She gets all the best lines, and plays off Ferrell’s Burgundy well, often matching him in terms of energy and heart.

Overall, despite some problematic lines this is still watchable, and Applegate makes it better.

Pros.

Applegate

Ferrell

A few funny jokes

Cons.

Not all the jokes land

A few troublesome comments

A lot of the side characters are deeply unlikeable

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My Son: James McAvoy Doesn’t Need A Script

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A man, James McAvoy, goes on the hunt for answers after his son goes missing. Based on the French film Mon garcon.

My, my this is a bleak film. This is certainly one that you will need to watch something happy after to wash away that sense of despair and hopelessness.

I enjoyed my time with this film, maybe enjoyed is the wrong word. McAvoy was magnificent here truly. Rumour has it that for the shooting of this film McAvoy did not have any lines and instead just responded to the other characters on screen, if this is true it is a testament to McAvoy’s skills as a performer as you truly believe him as this manic, panicked father who would move heaven and earth to see his son home safely.

I found the final reveal, which I won’t spoil here, to be chilling and frightening in a very real way which stayed with me for days after watching it. I think what makes the reveal so impactful is the truth of it and how that kind of thing probably does happen in our world under our noses.

Overall, not a film for everyone the subject matter and the reveal will make this one hard to watch for some but if you do find yourself watching it you will be rewarded with a masterclass in acting from McAvoy.

Pros.

McAvoy

The ending

The reveal

The tension

Cons.

The bleakness

Clare Foy should have been given more to do

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Four Weddings And A Funeral: The Funeral Would Be More Fun Than This Charmless Affair

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The film revolves around Charles, Hugh Grant, and his circle of friends as they navigate love and life during a number of social occasions.

This one might be an upset, however this film did nothing for me.

Though I like the other Grant films from this era there was just something about this that didn’t quite work for me. I found the central romance to be clunky and not make a whole lot of sense narratively: having Grant’s character end up with his friend, who clearly has a crush on him, played by Kristen Scott Thomas would have made much more sense and yet they didn’t go with it.

Moreover, unlike Notting Hill I did not find any of the characters particularly likeable or charming. As the film progressed if anything I found myself becoming more and more uninterested in the characters and I cared less about what was happening to them as a result. Likewise the humour here also missed the mark for me, maybe making me laugh once or twice throughout but for the most part it left me cold.

Overall, though for many this is a classic it did nothing for me.

Pros.

Grant

One or two funny jokes

It is watchable

Cons.

The characters aren’t likeable

It is boring

The central romance is flawed

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The Card Counter: Scorsese Was Too Busy Watching Marvel Films To Help This Film Be Good

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

William Tell, Oscar Isaac, is a man fresh out of prison. In a past life he had been a torture specialist in the armed services and now he counts cards and is a fairly successful gambler.

That premise drips with promise, couple that with the fact that Martin Scorsese himself has taken a minute from attacking superhero movies to be involved with this film and you have me intrigued. However, sadly despite all that seems to be in this film’s favour it ends up as a classic case of style over substance.

Oscar Isaac does his best and tries to give the character an air of mystery, but it just doesn’t come together. Fundamentally this film is ruined on a script and plot level early on. You don’t care about the characters or their journey because they don’t really seem to have one. There is some back ground noise about Isaac’s character killing his former torture instructor but that feels as though it has come from nowhere.

Furthermore, the supporting cast also help to hold back any potential this film could have had, with Miles Teller wannabe Tye Sheridan and Tiffany Haddish impeding the film at every turn. Haddish is painfully miscast and then given nothing to do. I don’t buy her in a serious dramatic role, and her romance with Isaac’s lead is painful to watch. Sheridan on the otherhand is a nothingburger and fails to start.

Overall, I find it surprising that a film with this premise, with Scorsese’s involvement and Isaac in the lead could be this much of a disappointment- yet here we are.

Pros.

Isaac is trying

Aesthetically this film is interesting

Cons.

Haddish

Sheridan

It is hollow

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Bad Candy: Forget Razor Blades In Your Treats It Is Far Worse Than That

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A myriad of scary stories happening around a small town on Halloween.

I have mixed feelings about anthologies very often they turn out to not be very good and one particularly poor segment can easily ruin the whole thing. However, here I found the good to outweigh the bad and the wider creepy atmosphere to bring all of the film’s parts together in a nice cohesive way, even the weaker parts.

Now, I won’t say every part of this film is great there are several earlier segments that are incredibly forgettable. Moreover, the effects are never very good, but in that lies a certain B movie esque charm, you can tell they are trying there best with what they have available.

The best thing for me about this film was the imagery that it creates, whether it is the detailed segment on the man that stuffs razor blades into kids Halloween treats or the vampire/ demon creature that along with his army buddies hunts down wrongdoers over the course of the evening. The film manages to make both original and classic concepts feel fresh and interesting, the segment about the old man lacing chocolate with chemicals was particularly effective, as was his punishment.

Overall, a surprisingly strong horror anthology that holds up despite some weaker elements.

Pros.

A few good memorable scares

Most of the segments work

The performances are good

Cons.

A few of the segments are on the weaker side

The effects look rough

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