The Devil’s Hour Season Overview: Life Repeated

Summary

A kidnapping takes a turn for the strange when false memories and alternative timelines begin to intersect.

This show was the first in a long time that I binged all in one go, that speaks for itself in many ways. I thought this show was both clever and intriguing from the off, clearly there is more than meets the eye within the goings on but very much like the first season of Westworld this show gives more questions than answers, which is how you would want it to be especially considering it has been renewed for two more seasons.

I enjoyed the direction the show went in, despite it ending up in being more of a science fiction show than a horror show, which giving the title I was expecting. There are some good scares and supernatural moments, but the show later explains this all away in the final episode wherein the science fiction elements are firmly placed front and centre.

Overall, a terrific first season filled with promise.

Pros.

The acting

The original plot

It takes a lot of turns and you never quite know where it is heading

A number of good scares too

What it sets up for the second season

Cons.

It does lose more of its horror elements as the show progresses

4.5/5

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Wild Men: Haven’t We All Had This Thought Before

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After being caught in a car crash Martin, played by Rasmus Bjerg, begins living out in the wilderness with the police on his trail.

I had been looking forward to this film for a while, but have to say after watching it I feel more than a little bit disappointed with it. Mainly my issue is the same one I have with many dark comedy films and that is that one part of that equation overshadows the other, in this case the dark and more dramatic stuff outweighed the lighter comedic elements and it made the film as a whole quite a depressing watch.

Maybe it is a national sense of humour that I don’t share as this is a Danish film and I am not Danish. I don’t know. I will say that the film made me laugh a few times over the course of its runtime so it was not without laughs simply it was the case wherein most of the jokes fell flat for me.

Overall, an interesting premise but the comedy didn’t connect with me and that meant that the darker dramatic elements took over and made this a depressing watch.

2/5

Pros.

The premise is interesting

The performances are mostly good

Cons.

It is depressing

The jokes don’t land

It has pacing issues

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Vardy V Rooney A Courtroom Drama: Maddeningly Stupid

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Wagatha Christie trial is brought to the screen in all of its stupid splendour.

This may be a very UK centric review, as I don’t know how well the Wagatha Christie trial is known worldwide, basically for ease it is about a defamation trial between the wives of two footballers that captivated people’s attention earlier this year.

I thought this show was terrific, within it’s two episodes it fully encapsulates the maddening stupidity of the whole thing and shows up just how badly Rebekah Vardy misjudged her lawsuit. The dialogue cut with such a fantastic degree that every line either had you gasping or laughing, truly top notch.

Moreover, this represents yet another fantastic turn for Martin Sheen who easily steals the entire show here with his cutthroat lawyer character. Though the actors playing Coleen Rooney, Chanel Cresswell, and Rebekah Vardy, Natalia Tena, are by no means slouches and do both have their moments to shine.

My one criticism of the show would be that it is too short being only two episodes. I feel if it had one or two more episodes the show could have explored things in more depth, or maybe I just want more bafflingly stupid moments from the legal transcripts to get their proper due on TV.

Overall, a fun moment from an otherwise bleak year rendered into a TV program.

4/5

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Uncle Buck: What Is John Hughes’ Problem?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After the parents of a trio of children go out of town in is down to their somewhat alternative Uncle, played by John Candy, to look after them for a few weeks.

I thought this film was a delight, it had a lot of the good wholesome family fun of Home Alone with the added charm of a John Candy at the top of his game. Truly this film reminds you of just how much of a talent Candy was, he was gone far too soon.

The comedy of the film isn’t a hit a minute but far more jokes land than don’t. Moreover, the characters are written in such a way that they are all very easy to root for, I would say that John Candy’s Uncle Buck is the star of the show though he is challenged for top spot by a scene stealing Macaulay Culkin.

My one complaint, and for those of you who have read my reviews for a long time you will know what it is going to be, yes that’s right its is John Hughes obsession with sexual assault. There were many other ways they could have shown that the teen daughter’s, played by Jean Louisa Kelly, boyfriend, played by Jay Underwood, was bad, they didn’t need to have a scene where a girl is repeatedly saying no to his sexual advances. It is both uncomfortable and clashes horribly with the family friendly tone of the rest of the film, what Hughes’ problem was God only knows. This felt like a completely needless addition.

3.5/5

Overall, fun but stained by unnecessary darkness.

Pros.

Candy

The jokes

The wholesome family vibe for the most part

Culkin

Cons.

The deeply unnecessary sexual assault plotline

It has tonal issues

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Rick And Morty: A Rick In King Mortur’s Mort

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Morty becomes a Knight Of The Sun

This was a particularly weak episode of Rick And Morty, I wouldn’t say it was the worst episode of the series so far, but certainly it is up there.

There is very little to be entertained by coming from this episode, the knight plot line gives way to a lot of quickly tiresome fantasy jokes, with Rick not liking the Knights and thinking them lame because they aren’t in his usual science fiction wheelhouse, all fairly predictable stuff.

The joke of the Knights cutting off their genitals becomes repetitive quickly and the threat that Morty might be forced to do that do never really feels like it will materialise as we all know that Rick will save him as such this episode has no stakes.

The emotional through line of Morty rejecting Rick and how that affects him is an interesting proposition, however, the episode really doesn’t capitalise on it in an interesting way.

Overall, clearly a filler episode.

2/5

Pros.

It is watchable

A few funny jokes

Cons.

The storytelling is lazy

The plot lacks any stakes

The majority of the jokes become quickly repetitive

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Rick And Morty: Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

It is Christmas time in the Smith household and Rick builds a robot version of himself to try and give the Smith’s the perfect Christmas.

I think this may have been the best episode of this season simply because of the emotional work it does with Rick’s character and the significance of the ending wherein Rick finally lets Morty in, which in terms of character arcs across the wider show is incredibly important and shows just how much Rick is changing as a character.

I really liked Robot Rick and thought that he had a number of funny lines, but also showed us a very different side of Rick than we normally do one that we all know is there but never see, this is important as towards the end of the episode Robot Rick says he is just behaving as the real Rick would have done which again further softens Rick’s character.

Moreover, I am very excited for the dark turn teased for the next season as it shows a proper return to building the cannon of the show rather than just jokily shutting it down like they did in the Dinosaur episode.

My one criticism of this episode is that they waste the return of the President, voiced by Keith David, and give him a fairly pointless role commenting on the decaying state of modern Hollywood franchises and as a very minor antagonist to the central duo.

Overall, the final five minutes of the episode make the whole season.

4.5/5

Pros.

The emotions

The character growth

What it sets up for next season

The reality of owning a lightsaber

Cons.

It wastes the return of the President

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Glass Onion, A Knives Out Mystery: Returning To Excess

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, goes to a private island to investigate a murder yet to come.

Whilst I still think this film is good, it pales in comparison to the first, not hugely, but certainly to a noticeable degree.

The writing is still sharp and the comedy and commentary is still very much on point, I laughed quite a few times during the film and thought that it had a number of insightful points about modern society.

Moreover, the vistas and the locations are still incredible to look at, and the film does present itself as the child of an Agatha Christie book and the excesses of the modern age.

However, outside of the comedy and the beautiful scenery is where the cracks start to immerge, and the hollowness begins to reveal itself more and more. This hollowness can best be seen in the performances, which do greatly lag behind the first film in that the ensemble never really comes together as well as feeling like each actor is playing a cliché or archetype rather than a real person. It feels like a group of actors acting rather than real characters interacting. The weakest member of the cast is probably Jenelle Monae who struggles to emote and gives an incredibly hammy accent turn midway through the film that simply isn’t believable at all, but this is why often musicians don’t make good actors.

Lastly, the runtime is an issue. At the two and a half hour mark the film quickly starts to develop pacing issues in act one and these get worse as the film progresses, there are many needless asides, flashbacks and so forth which whilst interesting to a degree in flushing out the world these characters inhabit, never really need to be.

Overall, still good but in some ways a little disappointing.

3/5

Pros.

The location

The comedy

Craig

Cons

The pacing issues and unsatisfying nature of the ending

The acting is frequently poor

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Medieval: One Man’s Rise To Greatness

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A band of mercenaries become bound up in the future of Bohemia.

On the one hand I praise this film for telling a new and fresh tale, and one in which many outside of the area, myself included, would have probably never heard of. It is nice to see lesser known historical figures get their screen adaptions over yet another film about Robert The Bruce or some Wild West Outlaw.

However, on the other hand this film is a very cliched sort of historical epic and the way in which the story is told, and more importantly acted, is nothing to write home about and lacks any kind of freshness. Ben Foster is doing his best to try and hold things together, an argument could be made that they should have got a Czech actor to play a famous national figure, but they wanted the star power of Foster to try and boost the profile of the film I’d guess. Michael Caine and Matthew Goode, both have some good moments of scenery chewing, but are used far too infrequently to have any real impact.

Overall, watchable and fresh to a degree but sadly weighed down by epic genre cliches.

Pros.

Showing lesser known historical tales

It is watchable

Foster, Caine and Goode

Cons.

Pacing

It feels very cliched

Some of the cast are very underused

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The Fabelmans: Spielberg Takes On Boyhood

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A semi-autobiographical take on the early years of Steven Spielberg told through a fictional family.

This film had a long way to go to shake off both the idea of it being blatant awards bait, in the insufferable smugness that conjures up, and also the notion of it being a director indulging in a vanity project and I think to a degree it does manage to shake off both of those labels, but not completely.

I found the coming of age angle to be quite effective, I was heavily invested in Sammy’s, played by Gabrielle LaBelle, journey into filmmaking an also adulthood and thought that the whole plot line was anchored by incredibly strong turns from Michelle Williams and Paul Dano. Even Seth Rogen brings his A game in a muted supporting role, which makes a nice change.

My big question for the film and in it my wider criticism is how is this film any different from the million other coming of age films out there? Yes it is somewhat of an origin story for Spielberg, but other than that this is incredibly by the numbers and doesn’t have anything to set it apart. The story as a whole is riddled with cliches and overly familiar plot beats, yes to a degree if this film is trying to be true to life than things were unchangeable but if it isn’t, if it is tenuous, then this needed to be changed as what we get feels like a rehash.

Overall, a compelling coming of age story with good performances, but an over-reliance on worn out cliches holds it back.

3/5

Pros

Strong performances across the board

You care about Sammy’s journey into filmmaking

The David Lynch cameo was nice

Cons.

It feels familiar

It has heavy pacing issues

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High Heat: Life After Miami Vice

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A chef, played by Olga Kurylenko, takes on the mob.

I put this on as the trailer made it look as though it was a relatively fun and silly hour and a half and I went in expecting bad puns and a general tongue in cheek attitudes. However, in all honesty all I was met by was an incredibly generic and forgettable action movie, that struggles to maintain your attention as you are watching it.

This is very much in that subcategory of action films that could be described as a John Wick clone, everything from the way the action is shot and presented to the mysterious past angle of the lead is reminiscent of the Wick films, however, unlike those films this does not have the world building or incredibly strong lead performance from Reeves to prop it up.

In that vein Kurylenko is fine but certainly isn’t breaking the mould. Looking at her recent filmography I worry somewhat that her career might take on a Bruce Willis like quality as she releases film after film like this wherein she gets paid for minimal effort. I suppose everyone needs to take work to keep the lights on, but she is so much better than this, this is a waste of her talents.

Overall, a deeply forgettable action film.

2/5

Pros.

It is watchable

It is unintentionally funny at times

Cons.

It wastes Kurylenko

The action is all very tame

It feels like a bargain basement John Wick clone.

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