Annette: The Strangest Musical You Will Ever Watch

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The film charts the life of a stand up comedian, Adam Driver, and an opera singer, Marion Cotillard, after the birth of their first child.

I will say this for the film, I take my hat off to it for committing to being strange, quirky and unique.

Personally, this film wasn’t to my taste. Though I enjoy Sparks I thought the music in this film was a bit overdone. I understand that the film views itself as a rock opera type musical, and that really isn’t my problem with it, my problem is that nearly every line is sung. This reaches such a point where you just want it to stop, and then the film just keeps going.

This film is on for far, far too long.

Moreover, though I admire the quirky elements of the film I find some of them to be clashing, and sometimes off-putting. Maybe it is my sensibilities, but there were certain more interpretive scenes where I had no idea what was going on or how it fit into the story in any real way, yes they were singing about how it fit in no doubt, but by that point my mind had found a way to drown out the singing.

The performances were all fine, though I would say they didn’t feel like real people or characters rather they felt like some sort of twisted, warped idea of what humans are like as viewed by aliens. However, I am sure that was a deliberate choice.

Overall, it was not to my taste.

Pros.

I enjoyed the strangeness

You have got to love Sparks

Cons.

Too much singing, that often isn’t very good

Some of the elements clash

The characters didn’t feel like real people

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Our Ladies: Life In A Small Scottish Town

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of Scottish school girls head up to the big city, in this case Edinburgh, for a school choir competition, however they are far more interested in drinking, partying and hooking up.

Damn this one is an unexpected punch in the feels, get ready so it doesn’t take you by surprise as it did me. You have been warned.

The premise as I described it to you above seems pretty breezy and fun, and though the film has elements of that there is far more going on below the surface. The plot of this film is far deeper than you might give it credit for and it runs the gambit of commenting on such issues as terminal disease, inequality, homophobia and many more. In many ways, this film tackles both the high points and the low points of life and doesn’t shy away from either.

I found this film to be depressing, but maybe that was the point, maybe you were supposed to leave it reflecting on how these girls have less life opportunities than other people based on their location, gender and class background. However, that is not to say I didn’t find any moments of enjoyment in the film, I did. There are several moments in the film that are not only enjoyable but cheer worthy.

I thought all the performers herein were entertaining and endearing and by the end of the film I cared enough about the characters that I wanted them to have a happy ending, sadly that is not how it pans out.

Overall, a surprisingly dark tale of teenage angst, love and life.

Pros.

A few funny moments

Likeable characters

Well-paced

Cons.

It is too dark

It leaves you feeling depressed

Father Of The Year: Join The Army Today, A Propaganda Film

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Two young men try to find out which of their fathers would win in a fight.

Yes, this is lowest common denominator stuff, it is a post-Netflix deal Happy Madison production after all. However, unlike some of the more Sandler centric fare I found myself laughing.

I think a big part of this is due to David Spade who does a good job here, he is the right amount of stupid, annoying and endearing to create a character that works across multiple levels as the film progresses. In the beginning there is something funny about watching him fall naked out of a truck pool into the street, at this point you are decidedly laughing at him not with him, and then as the film progresses you find yourself warming to his stupid brand of comedy and by the end you actually like him, or at least I did. There is a whole audience/character journey there.

I thought the relationship herein were sweet and gave the film a nice sentimental edge that makes up for some of the more mean spirited gags. I thought the father son relationship between Ben, Joey Bragg, and Spade’s father character was actually quite well done and heart-warming over the course of the film. I also thought Ben’s relationship with Meredith, Bridgit Mendler, was sweet. Mendler has a lot of fun when she is on-screen and often ends up stealing the scene, however it would have been nice if the film had given her more to do beyond just being Ben’s love interest.

Furthermore, this film has a weird fascination with the American Armed Forces that I didn’t care for, this is not just a little aside but instead becomes a whole B plot. It feels at best like a paid advert at worst like propaganda. Stop trying to condition people to join the army. Moreover, and this might just be my interpretation, but have you ever noticed in how a lot of Sandler related films he casts his real life wife in negative roles. Yes, if you watch a lot of these films she is usually given the domineering, mean or controlling roles, just look at her character here, a wife who treats her husband awfully until the moment he swears at her kid. I won’t make any comments on this trend, but I will ask this, is Sandler and Co trying to tell us something here?

Overall, at times a funny and endearing film however some of the more overt themes drag it down.

Pros

Spade

The jokes

The relationships

Cons.

The army propaganda

The female characterisation

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Candyman: Watch Out For Bee Stings

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Years after the events of the previous films Anthony McCoy, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, learns the legend of Candyman. As the struggling artist learns more about the figure he suddenly finds inspiration, however, he also starts to become haunted by the spector- with Candyman himself having a dark purpose for Anthony.

As I tweeted after I saw this, I think this might be the horror film of the summer. Throughout the entire time I was watching this I had a smile on my face. I loved how this film explored the world and lore of Candyman and expanded upon what we had got from previous movies and furthered this idea of possession. I thought the transformation, was also done really well and I think the make up effects that are used are done in a very convincing way, the wounds look painful.

Moreover, I think DaCosta perfectly manages to capture elements of social commentary and weave them into the horror in such a way that the two feel intimately linked together. The horror certainly works on two levels, both of which propagate the other. I thought the final scene in the police car was particularly effecting and powerful. After seeing this I am very, very excited to see what DaCosta does with the Marvels.

It goes without saying, but those that don’t like films that have political messages and who often complain about things being ‘too woke’ should stay far, far away from this film and let the rest of us enjoy it.

I think the performances across the cast were terrific with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Colman Domingo and Teyonah Parris each giving magnificent turns and really proving what they can do. Each member of the cast brings something different to the table here, but each are valuable and important in their own way.

My one complaint and it is only a small one, as I think this film is pretty marvellous, is that I wish we got more Tony Todd. Todd is a favourite of mine in the horror genre, and we don’t see anywhere as much of him anymore as we used to and that is a crying shame. We only get a brief tease of him here, but his scene is memorable. Maybe he can come back more if this film gets a sequel.

Overall, simply fantastic, this film restores my hope in these long running horror sagas that we might have another golden age ahead of us rather than the glory days being behind us.

Pros.

The horror

The lore and world building

The message and the emotion

The physical make-up effects

The acting

Cons.

I wish we had more Tony Todd

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Vendetta: Pulling Silly Faces As You Torture People

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A special forces interrogator, played by Danny Dyer, returns back to the country to track down and punish the gangland thugs that murdered his parents.

Dyer is a British national treasure, that simply is a fact.

This film is hard to watch, yet it is impossible to look away from. There is something horrifically fascinating about watching Dyer’s character dispatch all of these troubled youths whilst pulling silly faces, which he does surprisingly often.

Moreover, I thought the army backstory that Dyer’s character has was intriguing and also laughably far fetch. I liked how all of these senior army people seem to think he is some sort of unkillable warrior god. Moreover, the armed response police officers find him just so charming that they just let him go at the end of the film, despite the fact that he could have killed a police officer.

I do think this film revels in its violence a bit too much, perhaps even to an unpleasant degree. Some have labelled this film ‘torture porn’ and there is a good reason for that. I have no issue with some gore, but this film takes it a bit too far an in my opinion enters the realm of bad taste.

Overall, a grizzly film to watch that whilst satisfying at times is also laughable and iffy taste wise.

Pros.

Dyer

Hard to look away from

The ending and how laughable it all is

Cons.

Bad taste

It tries to hard to make Dyer’s character a hero, when he is more likely a psychopath

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Demonic: The Fight Against Demons Has Evolved

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Carly, Carly Pope, has to meet her mum after years of cutting her out after she committed a series of murders. As she enters her mum’s mind, literally, she begins to see things were far darker and more supernatural than they first appeared. A battle for Carly’s soul soon follows.

For full disclosure here, I am a big fan of Neill Blomkamp so bare that in mind throughout this review.

After Chappie, which I have a soft spot for, but a lot of people didn’t like, Neill Blomkamp had a lot of bad luck. Both his Alien and Robocop projects were passed on and it wasn’t clear what was next for the director. However, then I saw the first trailer for this and knew he was back.

There is a lot of demonic possession films out there, I have seen, and reviewed for this blog tons and tons of them. After a point all of these films start to feel similar and you start looking for something new and different enough to bring you back to the genre again, this film did that. Whether it is the black ops army of priests hunting demons, or the new tech that allows said priests and others to venture into the mind of the possessed to fight demons in cyberspace, there are a lot of new ideas here and they mostly work.

Moreover, I enjoyed that the demon looked distinctly different from what we usually see in these type of films, which is either a human with glowing eyes or a red skinned horned entity. I thought the look of the demon with the bird head was distinct enough to be memorable and crucially scary.

In terms of scares this isn’t the scariest film in the world, but it did give me a few good scares throughout.

Overall, it is nice to see Blomkamp back in the game and bringing something new to the genre.

Pros.

The demon costume design

The new tech focus

The army of black ops exorcists

A few good scares

Cons.

It could do with being scarier

A few pacing issues

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Sweet Girl: Netflix Has Given Up Trying To Make Good Films

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A father daughter duo, played by Jason Mamoa and Isabela Merced, decide to take on big pharma after they raise the price of a lifesaving drug which leads to the death of the family matriarch.

All of Netflix’s action thrillers are the same. Bland confused and poorly written: it almost feels at this point like they are allowing a machine to write these films using a very basic formula for inspiration. Needless to say it is holding these films back.

I didn’t really feel any sort of emotional connection to the characters, though I did feel the film going out of its way to try and make me care. If anything I would say we don’t get enough time with the happy family unit to grow attached to it before it gets ripped apart.

As a thriller or ‘statement film’ this film has nothing new to say. The message of ‘geez isn’t big pharma bad’ has been one that is often spouted and less often used in an interesting and crucially fresh way. The whole conflict of the film feels played out before it has even begun.

Mamoa is playing the same character he always does, and Merced adds nothing and is simply along for the ride.

Overall, this is so by the numbers it becomes irritating.

Pros.

It is watchable

The opening is mildly interesting

Cons.

The acting isn’t very good

The story feels incredibly generic

It has nothing to say

It is boring

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Attack The Block: Aliens Should Have Thought Better Than To Attack Inner-City London

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Aliens land in a London council estate during Bonfire Night, a gang of youths are the only thing standing in their way to world domination.

Personally, I think this film is a little overrated. It is a mostly good film sure, but it is not a classic as some seem to view it as.

I dislike the way the characters in this film talk, the street slang sort of language is quickly overdone, and worse yet it perpetuates stereotypes about the youth of the working class; there will be plenty of people in the same situation that don’t talk like that and that aren’t in gangs. So presenting the majority of the tower block being criminal in some fashion feels a little off to me.

Moreover, the film lacks the charm of an Edgar Wright picture, if you will pardon the comparison. The characters feel hard to root for or care about because they don’t really do or say anything to make you like them. The only two that I felt any kind of positive feeling towards are Luke Treadway’s Brewis and Nick Frosts Ron, the latter of whom I only really like because Wright has conditioned me to always find him charming whenever he is on screen.

The thing I will give this film credit for is the scale and spectacle of it. For a modestly budgeted film they do a lot with the effects and the way they build tension. So much so that even though you only ever see the aliens for a moment here and there it feels like more, and enough is left to the imagination to make it interesting.

Overall, as a one off I think this film is a fine watch, it doesn’t need a sequel though, however.

Pros.

The scale and spectacle

Treadaway and Frost

The aliens

Cons.

None of the characters are particularly likeable

How it portrays working class youths

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Stillwater: Intro To How To Ruin Character Drama

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Bill Baker, Matt Damon, goes to inner city France to try and get his daughter, Abigail Breslin, released from prison after she is accused of a crime she did not commit.

So, I hated the twist ending, I hated what the film did to the Bill character- I thought it ruined the character for the sake of more drama.

Against the real life basis, which this film throws out the window, this film has Bill kidnap and torture the real murderer so that he can get his daughter off, only for it to turn out she was actually guilty all along simply she had hired someone to kill the person rather than do it herself.

The reason why I hate this was because up until that point I was enjoying the film. It was a personal drama about a man trying to reconnect with his daughter and finding his place in a new land. I thought all the scenes were Damon’s character got to be a family man were sweet and I really wish the film had not had him throw it all away in the end.

Honestly, the twist ending made me feel like my emotions had been played with by the filmmakers and not in a good way.

I think Breslin is never given enough screen time to make a big impact, though she does shine in her limited number of scenes. Damon is also on strong form here and has a lot of good strong emotional moments, sadly his turn towards action at the end of the film ruins it though.

Overall, what could have been a strong drama film is instead ruined by unnecessary action.

Pros.

The character drama

Damon

Breslin

Cons.

The twist

Everything about the ending

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The Wedding Guest: Nobody Needs That Many Cars

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

We see a mysterious man, Dev Patel, arrive at a wedding for an unknown aim. That aim turns out to be to kidnap the bride and to bring her to his benefactor.

I will applaud this film for giving Patel and action leading role, he really nails it. Patel is easily the best thing about this film and he actually plays a professional killer quite well, I don’t understand why up to the point of this film’s release he hadn’t been cast in more leading man action type roles before, certainly after this he has proven he should be cast more for that type of role.

With that aside my praise for this film runs out. That is not to say it is a bad film, it isn’t, but it is deeply generic. Honestly bar the setting this film has been done so many times before. There is nothing fresh about the story at all, instead it is all too familiar even having the kidnapper turn out to not be a villain and for him and the victim to end up getting together.

Every step of the way you know where this film is going, and it is about as surprising as seeing the sun rise every day. I do think with a better script this could have been really something, Patel is a good actor, but he is only as good as the material he is given to work with.

Overall, a generic action thriller that wastes Patel’s talents.

Pros

Patel

It is watchable

Cons

It is generic

It is incredibly obvious

It is far too familiar

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