Humane: A True COVID Commentary

The idea of social conformity is put under pressure.

Whilst I admire Caitlyn Cronenberg for what she is trying to do here, I think she may be laying it on just a bit too thick. The idea is that the population is too large and people are volunteering to die, and when two people in this rich family volunteer and then one runs away they need to find someone else to kill otherwise they all die. Whilst this idea of state overreach and ridiculous responses to problems, a nod to covid, is interesting I find things quickly devolve into a cartoon.

The idea that the whole family turns on one member because they are a drug addict and not really part anyway, and then tries to kill him themselves so they can all go free makes them all intensely unlikeable. If the film had them all die then it would not be such a sticking point for me but it allows a number of them to live. We return to the notion of the cartoon.

Moreover, in the central scenario itself there are a number of ways in which they could try and escape it and get away, and yet they never seem to think to do that. Dumb writing at its extreme, I don’t mind dumb characters but when it gets to a point where you are sat there physically saying aloud why are you doing that you know something is wrong.

Overall, a good concept with poor execution.

2.5/5

Pros

The idea

The commentary

The world

Cons.

The dumb writing

The ending

The family themselves

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The Last Of Us Season Two Overview: The Flaws Of Bella Ramsey

Summary

We return to the fungal zombie apocalypse.

So as someone who has played the games I knew what was coming and I will give the show props from not shying away from it. The death of Joel, Pedro Pascal, was controversial when the games came out and I knew it would be just the same here. Looking at the shows plunging ratings it is pretty clear that a number of people have checked out but I think if the show had saved it for the end of the season it would only have been worse.

I think the thing that has become glaringly clear in this second season is that Bella Ramsey is not a very strong actress and is struggling to carry the show on her own. They are becoming more and more reliant on Joel flashbacks and will no doubt have him appear as sort of grief induced visions over the third season to keep Pedro around. I think last season Ramsey’s inabilities were not so on view as they are here, but it is becoming ever more clear she was the wrong choice to play the character.

Moreover, I feel the pacing this time around feels slow, in many senses it feels like they are trying to stretch out the second game into three seasons to try and take it for all it is worth. I understand the idea to have one season from each of the girl’s points of view, but it does reek of filler. I wonder what the ratings will be like when it does come back.

Overall, very much like the game it started off well and then fell off a cliff.

2/5

Pros.

A few good scenes

It is interesting to learn more about the world

Cons.

Ramsey

It is using Joel too much as a crutch

The pacing

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The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes: Rachel Zegler Before She Imploded Her Career

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A franchise that ran out of steam a decade ago is brought back because Hollywood is creatively bankrupt.

Why do we need to know more about the world of the Hunger Games it was a ripped off western Battle Royale with some added dystopian ideas. Honestly, I thought when they ended that franchise after its two part finale that it was dead, evidently not.

Where I think this film suffers when compared to the main saga is in the acting, on the one side you have a dude so bland and forgettable that you will find it hard to remember his face scene to scene let alone when the film ends. On the other hand you have the internet’s darling Rachel Zegler doing her best girl boss impression, by looking smug in every scene even when she is in danger. Clearly she was remembering how she alone is updating and bringing about world wide change with her new Snow White film and that is why she looks like that.

They name drop characters and ideas from the main series of films here, and you just feel like cool okay do you have anything else. Throwing a few oh remember this person or thing from the other films isn’t a substitute for good story telling or worldbuilding.

Overall, a pointless unneeded film.

2/5

Pros.

An interesting idea

It is relatively short

Cons.

The acting is awful

It is unnecessary

It uses cameos in place of world building

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Fallout: Good Actors Locked Underground In A Vault Of Bad Writing

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Lucy, Ella Purnell, emerges from an underground vault to find the world is quite different after a nuclear apocalypse.

For the record I have played several of the Fallout games over the years, so I am very familiar with the franchise. Whilst I wouldn’t consider myself a massive fan I do have some regard for the game series, and so went into this sceptically.

In many senses this is an Amazon series in everything you would think that entails, you have the tokenistic diversity, which could add an interesting lens if it was not just done to tick off a box, the overtly left wing political themes, and of course the quasi feminist stans of the lead with elements of all the modern tropes of both the quirky girl and also the girl boss. It goes without saying that you can have a compelling lead in a TV series that is empowered and a feminist without having to use these tropes see Delores in Nolan’s other show Westworld. No in contemporary Hollywood there are pre-sets for a feminist and empowered woman, and they can only be that and if they aren’t then its sexist. It’s dumb.

It is a shame as Lucy is an interesting character who you do care about and want to go on this journey with, however, her characterisation is just widely off as she flits back and forth between the girl boss trope and the quirky I am so random girl trope as well. In many senses I view this writing as a disservice to Purnell who was great on Yellowjackets, but here she is reduced to acting out tropes. Not too go too off topic but have you noticed that when female directors and writers handle empowered female leads there is much more nuance to them they aren’t tropes, at least not often, and they are allowed to exist as they are. Whereas when its men writing them or directing them no no they can only be girl bosses or quirky I am so random type of girls, not always but most of the time, it is almost as though they are worried if they don’t show women in what they view a correct light they will be called sexist and cancelled. However, by reducing female characters to tropes they are still being sexist without wanting to appear sexist as they don’t take proper time to write them.Apparently a female writer handled some of the episodes but if that is the case then she again is propagating outdated tropes and cliches and limiting her own female lead, perhaps suggesting she has some internal sexism going on.

Anyway moving on, Walton Goggins is also terrific as the rodeo star turned ghoul who has lost his family, you really buy his lack of humanity and how this world has shaped him. As always Goggins does a great job with the material and brings a certain level of gravitas to the role that is sorely needed across the board here. The Brotherhood of Steel guy, Aaron Clifford Moten, is weak and feminised to such a point that at times he seems kind of pathetic, I understand the show wants us to root for him so it has to present him as being someone you root for but this isn’t the way. They try and be like oh what are his motivations what does he want and set up some moral ambiguity there but there really isn’t, it is perfectly clear the character is just self-serving. The key difference between him and Goggin’s character is that Goggin’s character is bad morally as he has been corrupted by the world, however, due to the opening sequence you can still see his humanity and root for him, whereas with Moten’s character there is never a scene that makes you root for or care for the character in anyway.

Finally, if you are a fan of the games then don’t watch this. It is at times wildly out of synch with any of the lore, and it doesn’t care about that which in an off itself is a problem. Many praise this show for caring so much about the games but if it did then it would have stuck to the lore, it has set dressing to pay lip service to the games and to get that praise but where it counts this series doesn’t care about them at all. The general road movie let’s explore the world style plot to the series narrative is fine it goes exactly how you would expect it too and unlike the first season of Westworld there are no real twists, there are a few things that it thinks are twists such as the raiders leader actually being misunderstood, but in contemporary Hollywood you could see those sort of reveals coming from the opening minutes of the series.

Overall, Purnell and Goggin’s try their best to elevate what is otherwise a very hollow adaption of a game series. For season two they need new writers.

1.5/5

Pros.

Purnell

Goggins

Cons.

It is preachy

Maximus is awful

The plot is stupid and obvious

It doesn’t care about the lore

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Black Mirror: Season Six Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A new season of Black Mirror presents itself, dare you step inside this modern day Twilight Zone.

I thought this season as a whole was fantastic, easily the best season of Black Mirror in years and certainly the best since Netflix took over the show. There were no bad episodes each episode both fit within the mould of the wider season whilst also doing something new and fun, this is highlighted perfectly by the two episodes that book end the season one is an inception like science fiction and the other an end times disaster romp through south Yorkshire.

As I have said in a number of reviews over the years when it comes to anthology shows and films it is very easy for one bad segment to hold back the wider whole of the season or film, however that definitely isn’t the case here. I also liked that though this season had Black Mirror’s sense of dark humour there were enough jokes and lighter moments scattered over the episodes to keep you watching whilst also perfectly balancing the tone.

Overall, this is a season of Black Mirror that pretty much anyone could enjoy.

4.5/5

Pros.

The tone of the episode

The way the episodes play with and interact with each other on a subtextual level

The acting is great

The concepts really come together

The twists and turns

Cons.

There were a few minor pacing issues within some of the episodes.

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Ghost In The Shell: Is Scarlett Johansson A Believable Action Star?

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The popular anime series of the same name is brought to life with Major, played by Scarlett Johansson, a part human part cyborg investigating her past.

I understand many people didn’t like this film because they perceived it as whitewashing the source material and I respect that, however for the purpose of this review I aim to look beyond that.

I actually enjoyed this film when I saw it in cinemas and then when I rewatched it again recently. I thought Johansson was good in the role and brought a lot to it, she was good in both the action set pieces as well as the more emotional and philosophical scenes. Her performance can’t be faulted.

Furthermore, I thought the world of the film was dripping with potential for interesting storytelling. Honestly, I think if this film had been better received we would have gotten numerous spin offs and sequels which would have given us a better look into the world which could have been really interesting, alas such a thing was not meant to be.

My main issue with the film was that it tried to do too much. It crammed a lot of story in a relatively short runtime and as such a lot came off as underdeveloped or even confusing. Even upon rewatching it there are still moments in the films narrative that don’t make any sense to me at all.

Furthermore, Michael Pitt as the film’s villain was deeply miscast.

Overall, a film that is better than a lot make it out to be, but one that still has some major issues.

Pros.

Johannsson

The world

The visual style and the composition

Cons.

Michael Pitt

It needed further expanding

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Possessor: A Very Different 2008 To The One I Remember

Possessor is a science fiction horror film directed by Brandon Cronenberg. The plot imagines a different 2008 wherein people have the technology to project their consciousness into your brain through and implant thereby taking over control of your body and forcing it to abide by their will. This technology is often used by high profile assassins.

This film felt like a feature length Black Mirror episode and I am not saying that as an inherent criticism, rather a note on the tone and generally aesthetic.

I will give this film props for its visuals and its concept, both were deeply unnerving in both a very real way and also in more of an existential way. The premise of the film itself is so deeply fascinating that you can’t help but think about it once the film has ended. There are sights within this film that you will not see anywhere else within the genre, such is its creativity: one of these shots is the opening when they are putting in one of the implants and it is visceral and sickening and honestly quite frightening when considering the implications.

The performances were all very strong, and I enjoyed the notion of how much of your own actions are really you if you are facing off against someone else’s consciousness. A lot of the things in this film are deep and wider reaching then your standard horror themes, and as such this might not be for everyone.

My one point of criticism would be the end. I disliked how messy and rushed it felt, it seems very much that the film is going a certain way throughout and then bang you just get a whole bunch of stuff thrown at you in the final few minutes and you are left to pick up the pieces and make sense of it. I truly do believe if this film was given even just another 15 minutes it would have fixed the ending.

Overall, very strong and very unique, a bleak look at a potential future where not even our own minds are safe from attack.

Pros.

The performances

The visuals

The concept and the execution

The horror and the existentialism

Cons.

The ending is a mess

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

High Rise: Anarchy In The Flat Block

High Rise is a British Dystopian film directed by Ben Wheatley. The plot follows the goings on in a high-rise tower block that has become dived along class lines. We see Laing (Tom Hiddleston), try to adjust to life here and he becomes wrapped up in the class conflict.

So yes, the political and social commentary are very on the nose, there is no subtly here. Though usually I find this to be a sign of poor writing I go the other way here, as I believe it was Wheatly’s intent all along to be very blunt and in the audiences face with the film’s themes and messages. Furthermore, I find the points drawn therein to be well thought out and have surprising depth.

I enjoyed the absurdist nature, that is very present in the beginning, that quickly turns to a more threatening and violent edge. I find this film, much like a lot of Wheatley’s other work, straddles the black comedy line so well. At first these ideas might seem funny, but you quickly become aware of the bite behind them.

I think Hiddleston does well in the lead, he is a very serviceable stand in for the audience. That said he is blown out of the water by Luke Evans. Evan’s Wilder goes through an entire mental break over the course of the film and becomes a man possessed by the end in what can only be called a tour de force performance.

Elizabeth Moss is also in this film and she pulls off a pretty convincing accent, so props there to.

Pros.

The in your face messages

The black comedy/ dystopian mixture

Luke Evans

Elizabeth Moss

Cons.

It might be too absurdist at times, it can be confusing

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Lobster: To Love Or To Transform?

The Lobster is an absurdist dystopian dark comedy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The plot follows David (Colin Farrell), a man who moves to a special singles hotel once he finds out that his wife is cheating on him. Said hotel gives singles a set amount of time to find ‘the one’ or face being killed and turned into an animal.

This is truly a bizarre sort of film and I mean that as a compliment. The dystopian ideas herein, I have never seen imagined before and as a result of that this film feels wholly fresh and original, praise that I can’t give to many films these days.

This film has a wonderfully off-kilter sense of tension and threat that seems to reveal itself at the most unexpected of times. It can be quite a mild breakfast scene, that yes is a little strange but is not that out of the ordinary, but then someone gets their hand burnt in a toaster for touching themselves, just out of nowhere.

Farrell is strong here his performance easily makes the film. His David is a character who is hard to form a mind on, sometimes he is the stereotypical protagonist, a rootable figure that you want to see do well, but then sometimes he seems to far darker and more loathsome than that.

My one complaint of this film would be that the second act, when David runs away, stretches out for a bit too much and feels poorly paced. This isn’t helped by the fact the second act of the film also stuffs in a lot of information that somewhat ruins the genius simple premise.

Overall, a must watch for the sheer originality alone.

Pros.

Colin Farrell

The premise

The originality

Olivia Coleman

Cons.

The second act has far too much going on and also far too much bloat.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke