Rare Beasts: A Takedown Of The Romantic Comedy?

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This film was hectic, all over the place and oddly enthralling, there was something about this clear art piece that stopped you from being able to look away, even if you couldn’t tell what was going on.

Before, making further comments about the film I want to state and acknowledge for the record my place of male privilege. I think for me one of the biggest issues with this film is the fact that it too comes from a place of privilege, the tale of the character featured herein is not one that everyone can relate to, but rather one of a financially comfortable, professional. There is a huge degree of middle class privilege to this film that I think renders it out of touch before it even gets going.

Moreover, there are also a lot of first time director issues with this film too, such as audio issues and camera choices that not only prove distracting, but also make the film hard to follow. Whilst watching this I had to activity try and make sense out of some of the scenes that just didn’t, and also strain to hear important dialogue that is obscured over odd sound choices.

In terms of performances I think Billie Piper is strong I think is manages to capture a sense of manic energy that propels the film forward whilst also tapping into a deep well of pain and self-hate to pass comment on it. I thought the film as a whole felt very real and raw which was refreshing even if it was tinged with an unrealistic world view.

The humour for me was hit or miss, there were a few times I found myself laughing, but on the whole I was mostly unmoved by the humour of the film. Though as I often say humour is subjective.

Overall, an interesting conversation starter, but one that feels more and more hollow the further you look beneath the surface.

Pros.

Piper

The premise and the comment on rom-coms

A few funny jokes

Cons.

Clear middle class privilege

Odd framing and music choices

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The Banishing: Wait What?

The Banishing

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

When I saw the trailer for this film I was intrigued. I viewed it in a similar vein as The Woman In Black, a damn fine British horror film, with the added bonus of Sean Harris, one of the best actors you have never heard of. So I went into this with fairly high expectations, and they were not met.

The issue with this film is very simple, it is too ambitious. This film tries to pull off a lot over its short runtime and it collapses in on itself as it goes along; reaching a point where the film becomes so convoluted that you have no real idea what is going on.

Sean Harris is a delight and sell his manic scenes well. Seeing Harris perform so well, almost makes you wish he was cast as the lead rather than as a supporting character, as he out performs everyone on screen.

The horror is mixed, the atmospheric haunted house scares unsettle you more than frighten, and then when the film tries to make you jump it often fails as it is very predictable in these moments.

Overall, this film is crushed under its own weight.

Pros.

The concept

Harris

Cons.

The leads have zero impact

The horror doesn’t always land

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Pride: Fight For The Change You Want To See In The World

Pride

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This film made me both happy and sad, as paradoxical as that might be. On the one hand it was hopeful to see the miners embrace the LGBTQ+ activists, but on the other, seeing the horrible homophobia made me sad. I left the film feeling conflicted towards humanity.

This film can beautifully play with your emotions, as it did to me, and that is a testament to the writing, but also the real events that inspired the film. The film feels empowering to watch, inspiring you to make a change for the betterment of society.

The acting talent on display here is undeniable, Joe Gilgun, Dominic West, Andrew Scott and an always reliable Paddy Considine all perform well and leave an impression long after the film ends. George McKay is a little less strong and does drag down some of the scenes he is in, but thankfully he is not given much of the heavy lifting to do.

Furthermore, Pride does struggle with pacing and ends up feeling overly long and a little indulgent, by the time we reach the end the film is already starting to outstay its welcome.

A final note before concluding, Faye Marsay is terrific and should be cast in more films- a staggering young talent.

Overall, a good film that suffers with pace.

Pros.

The acting, bare McKay

The message

The empowering tone

Cons.

The Pace

George McKay

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Last Chancers: Even The Countryside Is Rife With Gangsters

Written by Luke Barnes

Last Chancers is a British crime comedy film directed by Phil Stubbs. The plot sees two friend Flynn (Ellis J. Wells) and Aiden (Harry Dyer) become indebted to an old school nasty after a hapless mistake, together they must come up with a way out of their situation.

There is something of an early Guy Ritchie with this film, though obviously with more of a comedic leaning, it is a stylistic decision that greatly helps this film and allows it to feel snappy and sharp and more importantly slick.

Though the premise was nothing new, I though it was done well, and it served to be quite entertaining. The film wasn’t a laugh out loud, laugh a minute kind of film but it did have more than enough moments that made me chuckle or at least smile.

I think the film mainly gets its tone right, managing to mix dramatic tension with levity. The tone does skew to one extreme a few times at the expense of the other, which hurts the film, but does not happen often.

My main issue with this film is that I think it needs to be tighter. This is a good film, by and large however, it really suffers from bloat and quite a few scenes could do with being chopped down to better add to the flow.

Overall, despite a few structural problems there is a lot of promise to this film, and I would be excited to see what the filmmaker does next.

Pros.

The comedy, for the most part works

The premise is well executed

Moments of early Guy Ritchie

Cons.

Slight tonal issues

Pacing problems

4/5

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SAS Red Notice: Ruby Rose Finally Gives A Good Performance

Written by Luke Barnes

SAS: Red Notice is a British action thriller film directed by Magnus Martens, based on the book of the same name by Andy McNab. The plot sees the British government turn on a family of mercenaries in their employ when one of the many atrocities committed runs the risk of being traced back to senior figures. A cat and mouse game ensues.

This seems to be a week of humility for me, first I was wrong about the Snydercut and now I am wrong about Ruby Rose- well partially. So, as some of you may know I have strong doubts about Rose as an actor, in that she can’t act or emote with her face. However, the one thing she can do is be a convincing action star and this film proves that. She commands the screen as the unhinged psychopathic villain intent on making the world pay and manages to sell herself as an action presence.

However, Rose is easily out acted by veteran performers such as Noel Clarke and Andy Serkis. By and large the acting in this film is good. The lead performance from Sam Heughan is a little weak, but maybe that was on purpose as the film reveals his character to also be a psychopath and to struggle with emotions.

The film does focus a lot of its time and energy especially in the third act on psychopaths and how they differ from everyone else, and whilst I think it is a fascinating aside that I would love to see more explored elsewhere, it does steal focus away from the film and derail it a little bit.

Though for the most part I enjoyed this film my main issue with it would be that it reduced Hannah John- Karmen, a very gifted actor (who has appeared in Netflix’s The Stranger, as well as playing Ghost in Antman And The Wasp), down to basically a damsel in distress/ girlfriend character, which feels incredibly reductive.

Overall, a strong action film with a few interesting asides, sadly these asides derail the plot and from that position the poor performances are even more visible.

Pros.

Rose as an action star and not as an actor

Some good action/ thrills

Clarke and Serkis

The ending

Cons.

Derailment

Poor acting from some of the cast

4/5

Devil In The Woods: A Film Studies Project Brings More Kids To The Woods

Devil In The Woods is a British horror film directed by Terence Elliot. The plot sees several film studies students go out into the woods to shoot a project however, as they go about their business they soon realise that they are not alone, and that something other worldly is in their too.

An aside, this film takes me back to my days as a film studies student in college, though I am still one now at University level, when I would be doing very similar things to the characters in this film- the only difference is that no monsters were stalking me. Still, there was a lot of fun reminders of my own experiences in this film.

Setting to one side my own life experience this film reminded me quite a bit of films like The Blair Witch Project and another British horror film The Borderlands, I saw this as a compliment as not only does this film manage to live up to those, in some ways it improves on them.

The acting from across the cast is quite strong, you believe these are real people, real students and as such you become that bit more engaged in the film. Likewise, as things start to turn sinister you can’t help but root for the characters to survive as they feel like you’re friends.

Personally, I have always found woods creepy, and this film manages to perfectly capture that as it brings to the forefront that quiet feeling of dread and silence that is never too far away on any visit to the woods, or maybe that is just me.

I applaud this film for building its scares through atmosphere rather than forcing in jump scares, it is always more effective, and that is shown here. I think the quietly increasing oppressive nature of the atmosphere is what makes this film unsettling.

Overall, a strong effort that highlights a primordial horror in nature through an oppressive atmosphere that never lets up.

Pros.

A strong cast

A relatability, especially if you are a film student

Good scares

Well-paced

Tapping into the horror of nature, the silent unease

Cons.

None

5/5

Nest Of Vampires: Sucking Blood In The UK

Nest Of Vampires is a British action horror film directed by Chris Sanders. The plot sees an MI5 officer become wrapped up in the affairs of a vampiric cult after trying to find the people responsible for the death of his wife and the disappearance of his daughter.

There is something of an early Neil Marshall here, still rough but full of promise.

I enjoy British horror quite a lot, not knocking anywhere else’s horror, but there has always been something special to me about homegrown horror; there is just a certain edge to it that I haven’t seen elsewhere. The last Marshal comparison I will make today, in Dog Soldiers you can see what I mean about this edge, the dark countryside area, the rough practical effects, the gore- there is just something to it.

That is very much the case here as well, there is a grime to it all- I think that is the best word for that special British something that I am talking about. The grime makes everything just pop that little bit more. The violence stands out and becomes even more visceral, and the characters and the world feel real and lived in.

I enjoyed the plot of the film for the most part, there were a few pacing issues here and there, but I thought it worked well and I have not seen a vampire film like this in a while and it had almost a retro like appeal to it that I enjoyed.

I thought the horror of the film was strong, I wouldn’t call it scary rather oppressive as the action elements often stop there from being jump scares and that sort of thing. However, I do think the action and the horror work well together to create almost a dark fantasy film, which again is an under represented genre in current cinema.

Overall, a very entertaining watch, more so perhaps if you are already a fan of British horror cinema.

Pros.

That special something

The action

The horror elements

A strong villain

Cons.

A few light pacing problems

The lead could do with more development

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Football Factory: Hooligans In The UK

Football Factory is a British sports drama film directed by Nick Love. The plot examines the rise in football hooliganism, examining the lives of those who live to fight. We follow Tommy Johnson (Danny Dyer), one such hooligan as he gets caught up in a feud between two sects of fans and is forced to revaluate his life.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this in my reviews before, but I am a huge Danny Dyer fan and have been for a while: Dog House, The Business, Severance, Human Traffic all classic Dyer fare, and this fits in amongst that pantheon, though it doesn’t have as much charm as some of the others and is definitely rougher around the edges.

It is kind of crazy how badly this film wants to be Trainspotting, there are multiple moments in this film that feel almost shot for shot the same, with slight tweaks to avoid being called out. The difference of course is one is a British classic and the other is a blatant rip-off; I’ll let you figure out which is which.

Danny Dyer has his usual laddish charm and is okay here, though this does feel very safe for him. I would dare say that Dyer is upstaged by Neil Maskell, who plays his on-screen best friend and who also has some of the best scenes in the film, managing to inject a bit more soul into the film than Dyer seems capable off.

There are several moments in this film that are clearly supposed to be funny or sad, but in both cases the film struggles to achieve either. The first death doesn’t feel hugely impactful as we don’t really know the character, and the final death doesn’t bare weight as the film has done little to make us care about the character. The humour is far weaker, and the film tries less hard at this aim; those who the film is based on might find it funny, but anyone outside of that small group would probably be hard pushed to find a laugh here.

Overall, it is passable Dyer content, no The Business, in fact don’t watch this film at and just check out The Business it is a much better.

Pros.

Dyer and his roughish ways

Neil Maskell is trying

Cons.

The characters aren’t likeable and that limits the films emotional impact

The humour doesn’t work

It drags in parts

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Reckoning: A New Action Hero Is Born

The Reckoning is a adventure horror film directed by Neil Marshall. The plot sees Grace (Charlotte Kirk) be accused of witchcraft after she turns down the sexual advances of her landlord, following her husband’s death. Needless to say she is horribly and violently tortured by the local Witch Finder General (Sean Pertwee), but Grace stays strong and refuses to confess.

I think the story is well done and fits nicely into the genre. It won’t win any prizes for writing though, as the Me Too metaphor is a little too on the nose and has about as much subtly as a Michael Bay explosion. I understand that Marshall and Kirk wanted to use this film to take aim at some of their Hollywood enemies, and that is far enough, but don’t claim that is has nothing to do with that when it very clearly does.

The costume design is strongly done and the scenes with the Devil in them, yes that’s right whilst on the inside Grace is tormented every night by the Devil demanding her soul, are easily the strongest from a design perspective of the film. Looking at the Devil character here reminds me that Marshal has always handled creature design well: with some of the best examples of my point being Baba Yaga (Hellboy), and the werewolves in Dog Soldiers.

Kirk is a strong lead, and a believable ass kicker. I thought from an empowerment perspective, that she was yet another sorely needed female action hero, with the final scene of this film begging for the sequel treatment. We need to see Grace reunited with her kid after all, or maybe just hunting down some more evil doers- I’d happily watch either.

Overall, top tier Marshal even if the metaphor is a little too on the nose. Marshal really is one of the most underrated directors working today.

Pros.

Kirk

The creature design

The ending and the sequel set up

Sean Pertwee

It is more of Marshal doing what he does best

Cons.

The Me-Too Stuff is way too on the nose, and obviously inspired.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Brotherhood: Nudity Over Transformative Life Experiences, How To Cheapen A Series With The Final Installment

Brotherhood is a crime film directed by Noel Clarke. The plot serves as a continuation of the previous films Kidulthood and Adulthood serving to be the final film in the series. The plot sees Sam (Clarke), brough back into the game for one final showdown after his brother gets shot.

So this film pushed things a bit too far, by that I mean the running theme throughout this series is how bad this life is serving to discourage people who want to pursuit this kind of lifestyle, however this film glorifies a life of crime and undermines the whole series.

Moreover, this film moves fully away from the drama genre and tries hard to become an action film, which it does well, but it just shows how far this film has moved away from its roots. Personally, I enjoyed the gritty violence and one-upmanship in this film, it reminded me of great 00s crime films like The Business which is a pro for sure.

Likewise, I thought the ending of the film felt satisfying both as an ending to this film and as an ending to the series as a whole: it felt very much like Sam’s Character arc from the first film had gone full circle in a very real and believable way which was nice to see.

A final note about this film is that I felt the level of nudity in it felt too much at times, maybe even slightly exploitative. Clarke really does distract from the good points and clever writing of this film by having naked women constantly on-screen to keep the attention of every teenage boy in the audience, and honestly it really does cheapen the film.

Overall, a flawed but fitting end to the series.

Pros.

The ending

Closing the arc

The gritty violence

Clarke

Cons.

It glorifies while seeking to dissuade

The nudity

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke