Four Brothers: Marky Mark Learns The Importance Of ‘Family’

Four Brothers is an action crime film directed by John Singleton. The plot sees four brothers reunite after their mother is killed seemingly by accident. The brothers decide to investigate for themselves and finding answers in the depths of the local underworld.

So love him or hate him, this is Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg’s film. It rests on his unhinged kind of charm. He goes from very meek and mild to in a fit of murderous rage in a very quick amount of time, whilst also having the character stay likeable. Wahlberg’s character does some quite bad things and by the end of the film is basically the new leader of the underworld, if unofficial, yet you are still rooting for him.

The action is solid and quite intense, the issue on this front though is that the film takes quite a long time to get to this action and drags its feet. The first twenty minutes of the film feel far too long and a bit like filler.

The wider supporting cast were all pitch perfect Terrance Howard captivated my attention whenever he was one screen, though he was killed off without much fan fare and I found that to be disappointing. Tyrese Gibson is good and gives off emotion better than Wahlberg, who seems to constantly just be angry. Chiwetel Ejiofor is a very menacing villain and he plays the calculating gang lord with cold relish.

Overall, an entertaining action film that has it moments, but can never truly be considered great because it mostly wastes its cast and suffers from numerous structural issues.

Pros.

Mark Wahlberg

Tyrese Gibson

The action.

Cons.

The first act is a slog

It wastes the potential of a strong cast

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Spy: Who Knew Jason Statham Was Funny?

Spy is a comedy spy film directed by Paul Feig. The plot sees unlikely spy Susan (Melissa McCarthy), get sent out into the field when it is discovered that the other secret agents’ identities have been compromised. For once her relative obscurity works in her favour.

I have to say when compared to the other Feig/McCarthy collaborations this is most likely the weakest. Bridesmaids and The Heat both had gross out humour and cheap jokes, but they also had more intelligent witty humour that felt well throughout, that worked to balance the film’s comedy. This film however, skews far more towards the crass and the low rent.

Melissa McCarthy does not have funny jokes here, no, her whole bit is deeply over reliant on physical comedy. If you don’t find her falling over funny then she likely won’t make you laugh in this one. Jason Statham on the other hand has a surprisingly strong comedic turn, though he is criminally underused.

The plot feels very familiar, especially to McCarthy, but it helped along greatly by a talented supporting cast with people like Statham and Rose Byrne helping to keep you engaged with the film, even if you don’t find McCarthy at all funny.

Sadly, everyone’s luck has to run out eventually. Feig can’t make McCarthy funny this time, as such the film is centered around a character who only makes you cringe and roll your eyes; talented supporting performances can’t make up for that.

Pros.

Jason Statham

Rose Byrne

Cons.

McCarthy’s slapstick isn’t at all funny

It feels been there done that

It is on for far too long, with really seems to be an issue with Paul Feig’s films overall.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Suicide Squad: ‘What Is This Some Kind Of Suicide Squad’: Solid Foundations With A Rancid Coat Of Paint

Suicide Squad is a superhero action film directed by David Ayer, as part of the DC Cinematic Universe. The plot follows a group of DC comics baddies who get bombs placed in their necks and are then forced to do the bidding of military spook Amanda Waller (Viola Davis).

Yeah this is going to be a controversial one.

I enjoyed this film, yes I know that isn’t the popular opinion and yeah there are a hell of a lot of issues with this film, we will get into that, but personally I found more good than bad here.

I enjoyed the ensemble; I thought the whole group had a great repour and back and forth. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Will Smith’s Deadshot are the obvious standouts, but the wider supporting cast was still good, hell even Jai Courtney had his moments. I personally feel that Robbie’s Harley works better in an ensemble rather than as centre stage, as then she gets a bit grating.

The wider universe stuff this film tries to do, and the things it tries to set up are impressive and I appreciated the world building, but the issue with it was that they tried to do too much, making the film feel overstuffed. Because of all it had going on, a lot of the interesting side characters got pushed to the side.

My main issue with this film was the design of the Joker (Jared Leto), he looked awful and Leto felt like bad casting. I’m not going to get into because people will be like oh if you saw him in the Ayer cut he would be so much better, no he wouldn’t, he would still be the tool with the toothy smile tattooed on his hand.

Overall, I can see why it gets so much hate, but I enjoyed it and think it had potential.

Pros.

Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Smith’s Deadshot

The World Building

The team ensemble and the way the film handled the ‘death’ of El Diablo (Jay Hernandez)

Cons.

There is too much going on

Jared Leto should have never been cast

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Johnny English Reborn: Forget Wick, Hunt, Reacher, Bourne and Eggsy, This Is Bond’s Real Competition

Johnny English Reborn is a comedy spy film directed by Oliver Parker. The plot sees international super spy Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson), come back from disgrace to find the world at the mercy of mysterious evil organisation Vortex, naturally he is the only man who can stop them.

In all honesty this film didn’t need to be made, the first Johnny English works as a perfectly fun standalone adventure, but as the rules of the industry go if something makes a little bit of a profit it must be mined for all it is worth. There is little new here that you haven’t seen before, nor is there any character development or plot intrigue to make it worth your time.

Atkinson is fine here, but again it is nothing you haven’t seen in the previous film. The real star of the show here is Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya), who shines despite only being a glorified side kick. Him and Atkinson have a strong repour that is fun to watch.

The comedy didn’t really do much for me, again it was a retread and a rehash. It was watchable, but it never made me laugh or even smile really, but comedy is subjective. The plot feels like clutching at straws and the big-name actors who are brought in to try and sell more seats, don’t add all that much.

Overall, a deeply needless sequel, that only serves to stretch the jokes and the characters further- breaking both in the process.

Pros.

Daniel Kaluuya

It is very watchable

Cons.

It does not justify its existence

It isn’t funny

The new characters, other than Kaluuya’s Tucker, add nothing

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Venom: Two Poorly Rendered CGI Models Ramming Into One Another

Venom is a superhero action film directed by Ruben Fleischer. The plot follows disgraced reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), as he comes into contact with the extra-terrestrial symbiote called Venom. The two team up to save the world and eat some people.

The best thing about this film is the awkward charm of Tom Hardy’s performance. The man can do a lot with very little and through his facial expressions we get a got sense of who Eddie is before we have even spent much time with him, he is a very versatile performer. I have heard a lot of people criticising Hardy’s accent on this one, and I have to say when I first heard it I thought it was bad too, but as the film went on it felt more and more natural. The rest of the cast’s accents are another story, they ranged from unconvincing to bad.

The CGI here wasn’t great, the bike chase showcase everything wrong with it. However, I thought when Brock turned into Venom that looked okay, not great but better. I thought a lot of the action felt very flat, this is a criticism of not just this film but also a lot of superhero films, a lot of the time it was just one CGI fight after another, and it gets a bit samey after a while.

I enjoyed the ‘buddy cop’ relationship between Brock and Venom and I thought the two had great chemistry together, especially towards the end and would like to see it developed further in future films.

Overall, it is better than average, but an overreliance on poor CGI action scenes ended up hurting the film in a big way, Hardy’s performance is able to improve the film as a whole, but not enough to make it good.

Pros.

Tom Hardy’s performance

The buddy cop relationship between Brock and Venom

She-Venom tease

Cons.

The bad CGI

The battle at the end felt generic and been there done that

The accents aren’t good.

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Peninsula: The Ruins Of A Good Idea

Peninsula is a South Korean Horror film directed by Sang-ho Yeon which serves as a sequel to Train To Busan. The plot this time around see a group of people sent back into South Korea in an effort to retrieve a truck full of money, however once they arrive they realise that zombies aren’t the only thing they need to worry about.

This film is not a horror film, that is a miscategorisation, there is nothing scary about this film even slightly; this is an action film. Gone are the tense claustrophobic moments of the first film, in are car chases and shooting your way through hordes of the undead, and unsurprisingly this takes all of the tension out of the film

This is only made worse by the fact that this film also tries to add jokes into the mix here and there, thankfully sparingly. Which again serve to ruin any kind of tension and drastically change the tone of the film.

Despite this, the film is still worth a watch the world of these films is interesting and this builds on that and adds new wrinkles. Furthermore the action elements aren’t bad, they were just not what I was expecting from a horror film, there are a few good action moments scattered throughout, a few of these reminded me of The Raid, though not nearly so well done.

Overall, a failure of a horror film, but a surprisingly watchable action film. Go in with low expectations and knowing the true genre and there is something to like about this film.

Pros.

Some cool action moments

More world building

Cons.

It is not scary

The action and the awful comedy take away any sense of tension

The CGI is noticeably worse

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Widows: Elizabeth Debicki Out Acts Every Single Person In This Film

Widows is a crime thriller film directed by Steve McQueen. The plot follows a group of women who find out posthumously that their husbands were highly successful thieves, however now with their husbands gone local mobsters are seeking to collect their debts and its up to the widows to pay.

I thought this film was good and well done to a point. I enjoyed seeing the women have to carry out a heist with little experience, it was interesting to see them progress and become stronger together. I thought 2 of the lead actresses gave good performances and that one was underused and maybe even miscast.

Viola Davis was a strong anchor for the film and played the no nonsense with an emotional vulnerability type very well, Michelle Rodriguez was fine, but was certainly the weakest member of the cast, she had very little to do and the film wasted her for the most part. Finally you have Elizabeth Debicki, who for me was the strongest member of the ensemble, her storyline was harrowing and Debicki conveyed that well.

The supporting cast also helped boost this film up, with a lot of the wider talent adding nicely to the central three characters and fleshing out the world as whole. In this regard Daniel Kaluuya was terrific, being a very menacing side villain.

My issue with the film came when it revealed that Davis’s characters husband was still alive. This is a second act twist that I find undermines a lot of the film and takes away from the character motivations. Is the twist shocking? Yes, but does it do anything more than that, no not really.

Overall, a potentially strong crime film that is let down by a miscast and underused Rodriguez and a silly twist that adds very little to the narrative beyond a cheap shock.

Pros.

Debicki

Davis

Kaluuya

The tension and the transformative journey

Cons.

Rodriguez

The twist

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Mulan: Remove The Dragon Remove The Heart, A Superhero Story

Mulan is a fantasy action film directed by Niki Caro. The plot sees young woman Mulan (Yifei Liu), defy Chinese society by riding off to take her fathers place in battle, thereby becoming a solider and later a legend.

So before I get into this I want to again address my bias. The lead actor Yifei Liu defended the police’s brutal response to the Hong Kong protests, which is a sickening fact, but one I nevertheless tried to remove from by mind while watching so I could stay objective.

On the scale of Disney live action remakes this felt comfortably along side the Lion King. The reason for that is though there are a few changes, that are mostly insignificant and hurt the film, it still feels very familiar to the original animated version.

By removing Mushu and the songs from this film, you get a very joyless experience, that tries to go for realism and sticking to the source folk tale, until it gets bored of that and puts in magic and shape shifters just for the hell of it.

Furthermore, the film totally undermines Mulan’s personal journey by having her already be quite competent right from the off. In the original animated version, Mulan was terrible when she started off and got gradually better over the course of the film, here she starts off already quite a good fighter and then becomes a superhero by the end. I am not kidding with the superhero thing, when she becomes herself, she is cutting down groups of men twice her size in seconds and hitting people with arrows who are incredibly far away with ease; it is deeply unbelievable and laughable when you consider the realism angle.

There is also quite a bit of China pandering throughout, where they will randomly say how great the country is and how honourable and proud its ways are. I found this to be as off putting as bad product placement, but I am not hugely surprised Disney did it as they’re clearly aiming this one more at China than anywhere else.

I found Liu to be a likeable enough lead, the jokes they kept in from the original still worked for a laugh and she had enough charisma to keep the film afloat.

Moreover, the villains were improved from the original, we get a new secondary antagonist introduced, who seems very interesting, but the film does very little with her. The reason I say they’re more improved this time around is because they’re far more imposing and threatening.

In that same vein the action is also well done and is easily the standout point of the film, the battle scenes are well done and well-choreographed, with a clear martial arts inspiration. They were the saving grace of the film.

Overall, a deeply needless film that fails at being realistic and ends up as a pandering joyless experience with some cool fight scenes.

Pros.

Yifei Liu is a likeable enough lead

The villains feel more scary

The action is well executed

Cons.

The failure at realism

It is joyless and hard to get through

The pandering

Ruining Mulan’s arc

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

New Mutants: The Poor Man’s Chronicle, Potential We Will Never Get To See

The New Mutants is a superhero horror film directed by Josh Boone. The plot sees a group of young people have to come to terms with their mutant abilities whilst inside a secure facility. Each has emotional scars from their past that they need to overcome in order to move forward.

So before I get into this I will just announce that I may have a slight bit of bias of this one, because Josh Boone has recently revealed himself to be a terrible person, look up his disastrous io9 interview for more information, as such I don’t like him, but I tried my best to stay impartial with the film.

This film is not as terrible as you have heard, it is by no means the worst X-Men film. There are strong parts to it, such as the horror, however there are also a lot of problems. It is a very mixed bag.

First the positive. I thought the horror elements of the film were really compelling and worked well, it was actually scary at times. Personally I thought this film would probably work better as a straight horror film, as when the superhero stuff happened it did not seem to fit with everything else. The CGI battle at the end of the film, is proof of this, it stood out for all the wrong reasons and felt jarring.

I enjoyed seeing each of the characters on screen, I think for the most part they nailed the look and feel of them from the comics, I had never seen anything like it before (in terms of powers). The acting was patchy, as though the characters were enjoyable and fun to watch, for the most part the ones who were doing accents were doing them badly. Charlie Heaton was the only member of the cast who pulled his accent off, Anya Taylor Joy’s Russian accent came and went and was not maintained and Masie Williams’ Scottish accent was awful.

I would like to see more from these characters, sadly we never will.

There is a scene that I would like to talk about that I found to be questionable. The shower scene early on in the film between Masie Williams character and lead Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt), felt a bit icky to me. There was something about it that I didn’t like, and it felt off, especially considering the actors ages when it was shot.

Overall, there is some fun to be had and it is definitely worth a watch, not in cinemas (its not that urgent), however the problems it has are significant. It would have been better as a horror film.

Pros.

The characters are all likeable

It was cool seeing the powers pulled off well

The horror

Cons.

The superhero stuff felt like it clashed

The shower scenes

Taylor-Joy and Williams’ accents

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Iron Man: The One That Started It All

Iron Man is a Marvel Comics superhero film directed by Jon Favreau. The plot sees billionaire weapons dealer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), get captured by terrorists who use his weapons. This leads Stark to rethink his business model, it also leads to him becoming the superhero known as Iron Man.

This is were it all began, this was the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and likely without it, said universe might not have happened at all. This film was responsible for setting up one of the most complex characters in Marvel’s shared universe as well as for setting the tone for future adventures.

Personally, I enjoy that this and other early MCU films, pre full Disney, had more of rough around the edge’s kind of charm. A bit more adult and far less of the incredibly safe content that would come later.

Downey Jr. gives the performance of his life, resurrecting both his career as well as the character of Iron Man who had fallen out of mainstream popularity long ago. The life and energy that Downey Jr. brings to the role is truly extraordinary and would very hard to replicate with a different actor.

Overall, a very enjoyable film, the best Marvel film to some, and in my top 10 for sure.

Pros.

Establishing the world

Robert Downey Jr’s performance

The humour

The rough around the edges feel of it

Cons.

A weak forgettable villain

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke