Iron Sky: They’re Back

Iron Sky is a Finnish German-Austrian comic science fiction action film directed by Timo Vuorensola. The plot reveals that the Nazi’s were not defeated in World War 2 rather they fled to a base on the Moon to plan a counterattack. We follow Renate (Julia Dietze) and Klaus (Gotz Otto), two of the Moon Nazi’s who are tasked with going back to Earth to prepare for an impending invasion.

I really enjoy this film; I have been meaning to watch it for a while and finally did, and I have to say it lived up to what I hoped it would be. The film fully executes the comedic nature of its premise, it is not afraid to get silly with it. The sense of humour of the film is quite zany and dark, but I have to say it kept me very entertained.

Easily the best character in the film is James Washington (Christopher Kirby), the model turned astronaut who unwittingly discovers the Nazi’s hidden fortress. He has a lot of the best lines in the film and made me laugh a lot.

This film does something I thought was impossible, it makes spoof movies good again. The spoof as a genre has had some great success, but in recent years it seemed to be dead after a lot of misfires in the early to mid 2000’s. However, this film and its well-done spoof elements prove there is still some life in the genre yet.

Overall, a wonderfully wacky good time, I whole heartedly recommend.

Pros.

Not afraid to get silly

Fully lives up to the premise

Christopher Kirby

The space battle at the end

Cons.

It becomes a little repetitive towards the end and some of the jokes don’t land.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

TMNT: The Horrors Of CGI

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a science fiction action film directed by Jonathan Liebesman. The film reintroduces us to our favourite sewer dwellers, and gives a fresh take on their origin story, showing them as April O’ Neil’s (Megan Fox), pets that were used for genetic experiments, who escaped during a lab fire and fled underground.

So I had heard bad things about this film, and I have to say it is not as bad as people make it out to be. It is a passable enough endeavour.

My first point of contention with the film is the design of the Turtles themselves, they’re ugly and the CGI doesn’t do them any favours. I am not saying people in monster costumes would be better, but maybe there is something to it. I think the film was very wise to not show them off until a good ways into the film, naturally the tease was better than the revel. However, the CGI Turtles did grow on me over time

Another thing I didn’t like was the relationship between Michelangelo (Noel Fisher) and April. I get that of the mutant brothers Mikey is the fun jokey one, but right from the off he was creepy towards April. A lot of the remakes he made felt a bit off especially considering it is a kids film, I don’t remember this side to the character from the cartoon.

Overall, despite the fact that I have talked about the negatives, the film is quite watchable it has its moments and the characters for the most part are done well.

Pros.

A fresh start

Splinter

The action

Cons.

The humour

The design of the Turtles

Mikey’s creepiness

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Geostorm: The Government Controls The Weather, No Really

Geostorm is an action film directed by Dean Devlin. The plot sees rogue weather patterns start springing up all over the planet after a space station that is supposed to control the weather goes faulty. A conspiracy is at hand and there is only one man for the job.
So, I put this on the other night because I was looking for some fun mindless action that I could tune out to. There are plenty of films that fit this bill and sometimes, silly action movies can provide some entertainment, look at the success of the Furious series for proof of that, but this is not a good ride, nor is it silly, it is simply boring.

The key issue with this film is despite the premise being ridiculous it takes itself far too seriously. This film tries to be dramatic and serious and fails spectacularly, it needs the fun that it denies itself.

The odd thing is, there are moments of light comedy relief scattered here and there within the film, but because the film has committed to this very serious tone, they just feel out of place.

I am not going to harp on about how dumb this film is because anyone considering watching it already knows. What I will say is watching this has made me miss the days of smart action films, smart blockbuster when things didn’t feel dumbed down.

Overall, this film is bad because it doesn’t embrace the silliness that is innate to the premise.

Pros.

The premise is good

Cons.

They then utterly waste said premise

It is no fun

It is too dumb

The acting is non existent

It is dull.

0.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Greyhound: Yet Another Tom Hanks WW2 Movie

Greyhound is a war film directed by Aaron Schneider. The plot follows an inexperienced Naval Captain, Captain Krause (Tom Hanks), as he attempts to lead an Allied convey across the North Atlantic while being hunted by a pack of German U-Boats.

I will admit, this film has its moments and I can see what it was trying to do, but it falls short of being a good movie for me because of the incredibly, shockingly so for a big budget movie, bad CGI. The film is admirable for trying the way it does, but it just can’t escape the poor effects.

So, this film is set at sea, yet clearly not shot at sea. So therefore the water is CGI, this could be done in such a way as to be believable, other films have done it well enough before. In stark contrast to that the water effects in this film look like something out of a video game from about 15 years ago. They are so unrelentingly bad that they take you out of the film and become all you can see.

That said, the film outside of these poor effects is quite good. The tense hunting sequence where it looks for quite a while like Krause and his fellow seamen are going to die is well executed and captures your interest without having to try. My particular favourite scenes of the film are when the U-Boat commander calls Krause to taunt him, it reminds me of something from Silence Of The Lambs.

Hanks as Krause is fine, he is serviceable, but his character does not have much of a personality, the same can be said of the rest of the cast who are basically just set dressing. This is a shame as the film wastes the talents of the phenomenally talented Stephen Graham.

Pros.

Tense

It has you on the edge of your seat.

Hanks is serviceable

Cons.

It wastes most of the cast including Stephen Graham

The utterly horrific CGI

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Triple Frontier: Money As A Motivator

Triple Frontier is an action film directed by J.C Chandor. The plot sees a group of former soldiers who are hard up for cash, head down to Brazil where they plan to rob and kill a local drug lord that one of their member has spent years tracking.

Netflix’s action films are a mixed bag, with more bad than good, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this. The thing I liked most was the classic rock soundtrack, right from the off when I heard it I knew what I was in for and I think it was a great accompaniment.

The performances are all faultless, Oscar Issac, Ben Affleck and Charlie Hunnam all do a great job and are convincing soldiers. Affleck is probably the weakest of the main trio, as there are moments where he looks like he is just there to get paid, however when it gets to the more emotional moments he shines. There is a scene when they’re trying to escape by helicopter, but the cash is going to weigh down the chopper, so they need to ditch and Ben Affleck’s character won’t give up even a single dollar, the emotion in this scene made me stand up and take notice.

The action was all fairly standard there was nothing that blew me away or really impressed me hugely.

Overall, a surprisingly strong action film with great performances from its trio of leads.

Pros.

The soundtrack

The leads

Ben Affleck’s helicopter scene

The tension

Cons.

The action itself was very by the numbers

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Old Guard: Missing Something

The Old Guard is an action fantasy film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. The plot sees a group of immortal warriors get a new member. However, at the same time sinister forces gather to expose their existence to the world and use them for evil experiments.

I had such high hopes for this film, I had it on a few minutes after it dropped on Netflix and I have to say I have not been this disappointed for a film in a long time.

There were cool aspects to the film don’t get me wrong, but my issue with it is that it does not capitalise on these in any meaningful way and instead uses them for style over substance thrills. A good example of what I am talking about is the central mythology of these immortal beings, there are so many questions, so many implications and the explanation we get is incredibly lacklustre. This is most likely set up for a sequel.

Moreover, I enjoy seeing Charlize Theron in these very action heavy roles, she has a great physicality and is a very believable ass kicker, however I would have liked something more from her performance here. Much like a lot of other things in this film, it doesn’t matter if the character has motivation or is interesting as long as they’re constantly doing and saying cool things. It gets boring and repetitive fast.

Overall, this film let me down in a lot of different ways, it has its moments, but is severely missing something.

Pros.

Theron’s fighting prowess

It has interesting ideas

Cons.

It never builds on or does anything interesting with these ideas

Theron’s character lacks any kind of personality

It gets boring and samey quickly

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Anna: A New Start For Luc Besson

Anna is a spy film directed by Luc Besson. The plot sees Anna (Sasha Luss), forced into a world of calculating intelligence officers and kill or be killed mentalities.

The first half an hour of this film is brutal to sit through, honestly I need to say that now because if I didn’t and you went straight into it then you might turn it off before it gets good. Yes, that is right despite an incredibly dull opening half hour the other hour and a half is surprisingly strong.

The plot jumps around a lot in time which is normally a problem for me, but here I enjoyed it. Besson uses the time jumping narrative to show all of the backstabbing and double dealing, which builds a nice sense of tension and suspense throughout the film that expertly comes to a head in the film’s final act.

Luss is a memorable lead, she nails the physicality maybe even better than Theron in Atomic Blond and is a very believable assassin. However, where her character suffers is in the personality department, in that she doesn’t really have one she is quite bland and charmless. In terms of charm her performance is blown out of the water without question by Cillian Murphy as the charismatic head of the CIA. Murphy as well as Helen Mirren make this film what is it.

Overall, if you can get past a diabolical first half an hour you will find a very enjoyable spy thriller that has no reason to be as good as it is.

Pros.

Sasha Luss

Cillian Murphy

The time jumps

The action

Cons.

The awful first half hour

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Last Boy Scout: Back When Bruce Willis Cared

The Last Boy Scout is an action movie directed by Tony Scott. The plot follows disgraced secret serviceman Joe (Bruce Willis), as he uncovers a conspiracy that covers everything from professional football to the Government.

This film reminded me what a Bruce Willis action movie could be, he has such a great presence and can play the hardboiled hero character better than anyone else. The amount of chemistry he has with Damon Wayne’s cant be stressed enough either, they’re a great duo. The sad thing is though that this film reminded me just how far Willis has fallen.

Outside of the acting this film is a mixed bag for me, there are plenty of great action moments that are super cool and instantly epic, but there are also a lot of moments that just come across as needless, vulgar and frankly off-putting. I won’t harp on about it for too long as I know the 90’s was a different time, but there is some quite unpleasant stuff in this.

Overall, if dumb action is what you want then look no further, it is a spectacle of explosions, loud noises and witty one liners, I was entertained for the most part and I am sure you will be too. However, if you’re looking for something deeper this film won’t be for you, I only watched it a few nights ago and the plot is so weak I have almost entirely forgotten it, also the language used is quite tasteless at times so if you’re easy offended then again look away.

Pros.

Great action

The Willis Wayne dynamic

The one liners

Cons.

Very outdated

The plot is non-existent

2.5/5

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

How To Train Your Dragon 2: Hiccup The Horrible

How To Train Your Dragons 2 is an animated action and adventure film directed by Dean DeBlois. The plot sees Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), and the rest of Berk come under attack by a man who styles himself as the one true dragon master who sets his sights on taming an ancient all-powerful dragon and conquering the world.

I really enjoyed the first How To Train Your Dragons, I thought it had great emotional beats and set up a dense world. However, to me this film is a step backwards in a lot of ways. The emotional beats don’t hit as hard as they did in the first film, the death of Hiccup’s father does not make you emote as much as the almost death of Toothless in the first film, which says all you need to know.

Another thing I didn’t like about this film was the characterization of Hiccup, he goes from an unsure kid with a good heart in the first film, to a cocky, know it all, who blatantly thinks he knows better than everyone else and whose bad actions leads to terrible outcomes.

Moreover, this film makes the world feel far less big than it did in the last film, the villain and the new characters introduced in this film make the world seem to be only as big as the Viking territories. If the villain came from somewhere else entirely in the world that maybe had other fantasy beasts then they could have successfully built on the worldbuilding of the first.

Overall, this film is disappointing.

Pros.

I liked some of the new characters

It furthered the first films story

Cons.

The emotional beats weren’t as strong

The world feels very small

Hiccup is unlikable

2/5

Reviewed by Luke