King Arthur: The Legend Of The Double Edged Sword

King Arthur, Legend Of The Sword is a fantasy action film directed by Guy Ritchie. The film serves as a reimagining of classic Arthurian lore and envisions the Once and Future King as a street tough raised in a brothel destined to overthrow the evil king.

This film is a mixed bag, there was some stuff I really enjoyed and some stuff I thought was outright bad.

I enjoyed the world and the mythology this film sets up, it does not shy away from magic and shows off magical powers in quite a few sequences. Sadly the time slowing effect of when Excalibur is used in battle looks awful and like something out of a video game cut scene, so again very much hit and miss.

Moreover, Charlie Hunnam makes for a great King Arthur and has a lot of great lines and moments, his is easily the best performance in this film, but that is because pretty much everyone else isn’t trying; here’s looking at you Jude Law. I would like to see Hunnam in more of these sort of leading man roles in the future I do believe in the right hands he has a lot of potential to be explored.

This is very much a Guy Ritchie movie it has his style and fingerprints all over it, if you have ever seen one of his films before you know exactly what I mean. Very much like a lot of things in this film this too proves to be a double-edged sword. In the early parts of the film where Arthur runs a street gang it works very well and fits together, however as the story becomes more in line with the traditional depiction and more fantastical it starts to stand out for all the wrong reasons, proving to be quite out of place and jarring to watch.

Overall, a valiant effort to try something new, but only parts of it work out, incredibly hit or miss at the best of times.

Pros.

The world/ worldbuilding

Hunnam

The Ritchie tone in the first act.

Cons.

The terrible sword effects

Most of the cast are not even bothering to try

The Ritchie tone in the second and third acts

The fact that it doesn’t come together very well at all.

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Kung Fu Panda 3: Mastering Your Craft

Kung Fu Panda 3 is an animated martial arts film directed by Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh Nelson. The plot sees ancient bad guy Kai (J.K Simmons), break free of the spirt world and return to the mortal plane hell bent on stealing the chi of every Kung Fu Master thereby destroying his old nemesis Oogway’s (Randall Duk Kim) legacy once and for all. There is only one Panda who can stop him.

I enjoyed this film quite a bit, it might have been my favourite since the first. I enjoyed the intensely personal journey at the heart of the story. Though you have all this end of the world end of kung fu stuff going on all around, the heart of the film is Po (Jack Black), coming to terms with you he is and finding his place in the world.

I think the journey that Po goes on, the inspiration for the series, is masterfully done and is a true achievement for the creatives involved. The progression feels natural and earned, when Po meets his birth dad Li (Bryan Cranston), it feels earned after all the soul searching he did in the second film. Truly his is a masterpiece of storytelling across multiple films and a beacon for how to do sequels.

I also enjoyed that the focus was not souly on Po, yes, he is the main focus, but this film gave those around him the chance to shine as well and shine they do.

Overall, this is the perfect end to the trilogy and feels like a much-deserved end, the character work and development is nothing sort of a master class and Black nails the emotion.

Pros.

The journey

The ending

The emotional heart at the core of the film

Giving the side characters a chance to shine

The voice acting

Cons

The villain is a bit weak, but it is such a minor issue.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Monsters Vs Aliens: Who Cares? Clearly Not Dreamworks

Monsters Vs Aliens is an animated action film directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon. The plot sees aliens attack Earth and the only people who can turn the tide and save the planet are a group of government sponsored monsters.

I had been looking forward to watching this film for some time, saving it if you will, but my oh my was I disappointed when I put this on. Other than the clearly 50’s inspired premise and design which I enjoyed and appreciated; I thought this film was aggressively average.

Nothing about this film stands out, the premise is played out you have seen it before and better. The character arcs are a retread of the same old tired clichés, there is nothing new to them. The cast though star studded does very little to leave an impression and the roles feel like they could be played by anyone.

Another thing that bothered me about this film was the animation. I have been watching a lot of animated films recently, so maybe I am hyper focused, but there is something off about the backgrounds in this film. They look bad unrendered or out of focus or something, I can’t quite describe it but they are noticeably bad and they really bring you out of some scenes; especially in the opening 10 minutes.

Overall, you will lose nothing if you don’t watch this film and you will gain nothing if you do, so don’t bother.

Pros.

I enjoyed the 50s theme

Cons

The cast is wasted

The jokes aren’t funny

The bad backgrounds are distracting

You have seen it before

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Underwater: The Threat Came From Beneath The Waves

Underwater is a science fiction film directed William Eubank. The plot sees an underwater research centre become under attack by a strange unknown type of sea life.

I go back and forth on Kristen Stewart as an actress, sometimes I think she is good and worthy of all the praise she gets; other times I think she struggles with even basic emoting and can’t convince me of anything. However, I will give her praise here, she commands this film, her performance is striking and in some ways very reminiscent of Sigourney Weaver in Alien. This film would be far less good without Stewart in it.

Despite, feeling a little too overly familiar this film managed to keep me engaged throughout. It used the environment and tension to great effect and had a few great sequences that will stuck in my mind long after the film has ended. My one critique in this regard is the way some of these high-tension kinetic scenes are shot. The cinematography of these scenes makes them hard to see; which therefore makes it hard to tell what is going on. An example of my point is midway through the film one of the team is pulled out of their suit, but you don’t realise that you just see a lot of blood, you don’t realise what happened until one of the characters tells you. That is a big problem in my book.

Also T.J Miller is in this and he is every bit as grating as you are imagining. Horror/ dark science fiction films don’t need comedic relief.

Overall, a solid disaster film boosted tremendously by a great performance by Kristen Stewart.

Pros.

Stewart

The tension

Keeping me engaged in a played-out idea

Cons.

The characters outside of Stewart’s lead are one note

It is hard to tell what is going on

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Wasp Network: A Strange Message

The Wasp Network is a thriller film directed by Olivier Assayas. The plot sees a group of Cuban defectors, who aren’t actually defectors, infiltrate multiple anti-Castro group to destroy them from within.

This film is confusing. Until the last 20 minutes I had no idea what was going on, the film does not explain what is happening very well and the characters go from anti-Castro to Cuban patriots in a heartbeat. It needs to be explained better.

What’s more the film feels strangely pro Castro as a piece of art and almost seems to say that these people were heroes for what they did, it makes Cuba look like the victim and ignore a lot of the terrible things the regime did. It is very murky as to who if anyone was in the right in the situation and the issue as a whole was far more complex than this film makes out.

Another thing I disliked about this film was how long it was. This film is on for just over two hours, but it feels like double that as it stretches on and on and on. Furthermore a lot of what is happening on screen isn’t interesting, so it is very hard to pay attention to it. There are vast sections of this film that could easily have been cut out, to make it work well and feel less self-indulgent.

Overall, a boring slog that has a very strange message.

Pros.

The acting especially Cruz and Ramirez.

Cons.

It is hard to tell what is going on

It far exceeds its welcome

It omits key details

It is incredibly boring

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Rhythm Section: A New Low

The Rhythm Section is an action thriller film directed by Reed Monaro. The plot follows Stephanie (Blake Lively), a woman whose whole life fell apart after the death of her parents. When she learns that the circumstances around her family’s death are more malicious then they first appeared she sets out to find those responsible and kill them.

This film was one of the biggest box office bombs of all time and for good reason. It is god awful. Let’s take it apart.

The worst thing about this film is how familiar it feels, it has been there done that written on every frame there is nothing new to it. It reminded me in many ways of something like American Assassin and had a wannbe John Wick vibe to it, it was so keen to try and replicate those films that it failed to do anything to set itself apart.

Another major problem is the cast. Lively is miscast badly, she isn’t convincing as an action star, even when the film makes a point to highlight her lack of fighting ability; she is still unconvincing. She struggles to sell the dramatic scenes either and I felt nothing for her character, I just didn’t care. Furthermore, this film casts Jude Law to play Stephanie’s mentor/ trainer, which in and of itself isn’t a bad move, the issue comes from the fact that they give him nothing to do and waste him at every available opportunity.

Overall, this film is worse than bad it is boring and generic, that is all that needs to be said.

Pros.

They play into the fact that she can’t fight well

Cons.

You’ve seen it done better before

The characters are awful

It is boring

The action is weak

0.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Pirates Of The Caribbean, Curse Of The Black Pearl: Yo Ho

Pirates Of The Caribbean, Curse Of The Black Pearl is an action adventure film directed by Gore Verbinski. The plot sees a ghostly pirate crew go searching for the key to remove their curses, the only things standing in their way are a blacksmith, a lady of means and a dazzling pirate captain.

I have been a fan of the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies since I was young, I saw all the films from 2 onwards in the cinema, they were a big part of my early life. Yes, they dipped in quality after 3, rather dramatically so, but there is still a lot of quality to be found in the early entries of the franchise. I decided to rewatch the very first film and see if it still holds up; conclusion, it does.

The reason this film works so well is twofold, firstly the writing is sharp and well thought-out. Things are mentioned early on that come to be important later on and on repeat viewing this becomes all the clearer and you see the merit more. The character dialogue sparkles and the chemistry between the three leads is really built on and developed.

The other part of the reason is the scene stealing performance by Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Sparrow for better or for worse is one of the most significant pop culture characters of the last 20 years, he has appeared everywhere from spoof movies to videogames and it is all because of the fact that Depp’s’ performance stole our hearts and captivated our imaginations.

Overall, this is a great adventure film that stands the test of time, my one complaint is that there is no reason it should be as long as it is, and it really should have been cut down in editing.

Pros.

The sense of fun/mischief

Depp’s performance

It makes pirates cool again

The trio work well together

Cons.

It is way too long

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Da 5 Bloods: Never Forget

Da 5 Bloods is a war epic directed by Spike Lee. The plot sees a group of Vietnam Veterans return to the country to find some gold they stashed away years earlier, as well as to find the body of their lost comrade and bring him home.

Before I get into it all I just want to say this is an incredibly powerful film on multiple different levels, especially in the current climate. Some of the points raised in the film hit very close to home and will affect you. I recommend taking some time at the end of the film to just sit and think about it, there is a lot to unpack.

The main foursome is made up of Paul (Delroy Lindo), Eddie (Norm Lewis), Otis (Clarke Peters), and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr). Each man gives a stellar performance and the chemistry between the four goes past believable to enthralling. You can genuinely see them all being old army buddies.

I think Paul is the most layered and interesting character of the group as he is a broken man. He highlights the effects of war that stay with a person long after the fighting has ended; he sees visons of his dead best friend and squad leader that haunt him. Also the dynamic between him and his son David (Jonathan Majors), is very nuanced and well developed.

This comes very close to being a perfect film, however there is one thing that drags it back: the fourth wall breaking. There are a couple of scenes towards the end of the film where Paul talks directly to the camera and recites a monologue to us the audience, the issue with these scenes is that they break the flow of the film. They take us out of the action and feel oddly jarring.

Overall, a masterpiece with only a few slight faults. A must watch.

Pros.

The themes.

The characters.

The bonds.

The impact.

Cons.

Addressing the audience.

4.5./5

Reviewed by Luke

My Spy: Child Actors Are The Worst

My Spy is an action comedy film directed by Peter Segal. The plot follows tough, manly CIA agent JJ (Dave Bautista), as he is sent to investigate the family of a potential nation threat. However, him and his partner get rumbled by Sophie (Chole Coleman), a young girl who runs circles around the two agents. The two then strike up at deal that basically ends in JJ becoming her new father.

Let’s get one thing straight: this is not an action movie. Other than the opening sequence there is no action in this film until the last ten minutes. To call it an action film is laughable, as SpongeBob probably has more of a right to call itself one over this film. Secondly when we do get action, the film seems to think it is better and cooler action than it actually is; what we get is boring at best.

Where this film shines is in the comedy of Dave Bautista. The man’s transition to comedy is one of the best things to happen to cinema in the last 10 years. He was very funny in this film and had a lot of great lines as did his partner Bobbi (Kristen Schaal). The little girl however was not funny. Now I am not going to say too many negative things about her performance as child actors are easy targets, but I will say she was incredibly annoying right from the off, not only that but the way she was hell bent on setting up JJ with her mum was bordering on obsessive and it was weird.

Obviously, the whole plot makes no sense, so I won’t even bother trying to explain it. I will say it is aggressively dumb though.

Overall, despite some highpoints like the comedy as well as great prop choices, this film is cringey and feels about 20 years too late. It is not an action film and despite a valiant effort from Bautista and Schaal it is not much of a comedy film either.

Pros.

Dave Bautista.

Kristen Schaal.
Cons.

The kid.

The dumbness of it all.

The weird way the kid went about setting up JJ with her mum.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Mulan: Every Animated Film Needs Eddie Murphy

Mulan is an animated action and adventure film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. The classic Disney plotline see resilient character Mulan (Ming-Na Wen), take up her family’s mantle of fighting in the Imperial Army, so that her elder father doesn’t get drafted. The only issue is that women are not allowed in the Imperial Army, so she must pretend to be a man, a feat she manages while accompanied by a wise-cracking dragon and a lucky bug.

I fondly remember watching this film when I was young, and I enjoyed it even more when I rewatched it. This is to me the perfect example of ‘Disney Magic’, there is something about the songs and the hand drawn animation that calls to me and makes me smile. However, it also makes me worry about the new remake coming out; as I strongly believe that it will be losing its’ heart.

I think the songs make this film, again another reason the song less remake troubles me. ‘Make A Man Out Of You’ to paraphrase, is one of my favourite Disney songs of all time and I think it perfectly captures the spirit of the film and is catchy and memorable.

I also enjoyed the characters Eddie Murphy as Mushu is perfect casting he manages to make the character immediately likable whilst also endearing and funny. Mulan herself is inspiring and shows that we can all be a little bit bravery and that we can all be heroes; I think she is one of Disney’s best role models. Finally, I enjoyed the villain Shan Yu (Miguel Ferrer), I thought he was everything a good villain should be, intimidating, menacing and memorable.

Overall, a Disney Classic that still has a place in 2020. It more than holds up and is still a lot of fun to watch!

Pros.

The humour.

Mulan herself.

The action.

The villain.

The songs.

Cons.

None

5/5

Reviewed by Luke