A Field In England: Taking Drugs In A Field

Summary

An alchemist’s assistant, played by Reece Shearsmith , and a group of deserters try and navigate the battlefields of the English Civil War.

I like the films of Ben Wheatley for the most part even though sometimes they miss the mark. However, this film I think may be his worst and misses the mark by a large degree boiling down into pretentious nonsense that feels like the sort of thing a first year film student might make if they couldn’t decide on a narrative direction for their film and instead decided to throw everything at the wall.

This is clearly most experimental work but that isn’t a good thing as it makes the film feel far too art house for its own good, coming across as an effort in pretention. Additionally, this decision to be experimental means there are big sections of the narrative that make little to no sense and don’t really fit with the tone of the rest of the film, this doesn’t come across as some brave stylistic decision but rather a lack of ability to write narrative and an attempt to disguise lazy writing by being pretentious.

The only thing that really gripped me about this film is the occult focus which I enjoyed and which did deliver some good scares, we could have done with more of this and less silly art house nonsense.

Overall, Wheatley pushes the boundary into how art house he can be and still maintain audience interest and arguably goes too far.

2/5

Pros.

A few good scares

The occult stuff later into the film

Cons.

It is pretentious

Some sections of the film don’t fit

It has awful pacing

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Toga: A Return

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A videographer, played by Shaun Rose, begins scouting new locations for a filmmaker only to be brought back to his home town, going on an emotional journey in process.

I will open this review by saying that I haven’t seen Upstate Story which serves, I am lead to believe, as a part one of sorts to this story. As such I may not fully comprehend the character journey between films and my review can be seen as solely reflective of this film and not relating to the wider series or quasi saga.

I found this film to be quite effecting, something about the idea of home towns can and often do stir up both a sense of nostalgia but also haunting and as such returning to them after a long absence can be a very mixed experience. I found that this film really captured the emotional nuance of that, and had the home town itself almost function as a narrative act centre piece.

Additionally, I found the performance by Rose himself was simply captivating, throughout the run of the film I couldn’t look away in many senses I was transfixed by his life and journey, not necessarily because they were in any way fantastical but rather because they were so relatable and human. The writing of this film is truly magnificent.

Overall, very much an enriching watch.

4/5

Pros.

The emotional nuance

The writing

Rose’s fantastic performance

The pacing

Cons.

I felt like I was missing something, but likely that is because I jumped in at the sequel

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M3GAN: Chucky’s Competition?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A new evil doll is born, Chucky has competition.

I went into this film with high expectations, after hearing all the praise for the film and seeing al of the decorated reviews I was expecting this film to be good and honestly, it was just okay.

I think the strengths of the film are M3GAN herself, she is both sassy and scary in equal measure, and the fact that the film doesn’t take itself too seriously and that there is a good amount of tongue in cheek humour throughout the film that will likely make you laugh.

However, my issue with the film is that the tone never really feels quite right, it wants to be scary, but also wants to keep the jokes in, but then also doesn’t want to fully abandon the scares and go full comedy either. In my mind if the film had committed more to being silly and had gone even more over the top then it would have been better, we have enough spooky doll films something more in line with Bride Of, Seed Of Chucky would have played better in my mind.

Another thing that bothered me was that it all felt very played out, and by that I mean that this film did not surprise me in anyway everything that I thought was going to happen did and it happened when I thought it would. Maybe this stems from the fact that I watch a lot of horror films and for someone who watches less they might not find it so familiar, but for me it was an issue.

Overall, certainly watchable and with potential if they ramp up the satire and silliness for the next film then I could easily see a new horror franchise be born, but as it stands it feels too derivative.

3/5

Pros.

M3GAN herself is quite funny

I enjoyed the comedy for the most part

It was very watchable

Cons.

The humour doesn’t go far enough and there are tonal issues

It felt very familiar

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Nanny: The American Dream Is Dead

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

An undocumented Senegalese immigrant, played by Anna Diop, works hard to try and bring her young son to the US, but all the while something seems amiss.

I will say quite upfront this is not a horror film, there are vague supernatural elements that really never amount to much at all, but this is in fact a drama film concerned with notions of trauma and mental health rather than anything else. As such if you go in expecting scares, as I did, you will be disappointed as this film isn’t scary but is instead manically depressing.

I enjoyed the film for what it did with time, often moving around and back and forth between things without any notice to the audience, and also for the use of African themes and mythologies in its horror, often the genre gets very bogged down with western Christian themes and monsters and it is nice to see something else for a change.

I also thought the performances were strong across the board with Diop and Michelle Monaghan being particularly fantastic, both convey the darker aspects of motherhood well and bring a wide emotional range to their respective performances.

Overall, strong performances and fresh mythology clash against a deeply predictable twist and a lack of scares.

2.5/5

Pros.

Diop and Monaghan

The focus on African mythology

It tries to do something fresh

Cons.

The twist is incredibly obvious

It is depressing

There are no scares

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Unbreakable: Ageing Poorly

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A train crash survivor, played by Bruce Willis, realises that he has superhuman powers and then enters into a twisted power game with a disabled comic store owner, played by Samuel L. Jackson.

This is one of those films that a lot of people really like but that I have never been able to get into. When looking at Shyamalan’s wider body of work it is his forays into superhumans that really lose me, with the exception of Split, that and his dreadful After Earth.

My biggest issue with this film has always been that the characters don’t feel fully realised, in many senses they feel like someone has read a comic book and seen Batman, a purely random example, and has only understood one very basic aspect of his character and then has used that to create an inferior rip off character. To me the characters don’t feel in any way relatable and that is a big issue.

I also think the deeper question of do these people actually have powers, which gets turned up throughout the film and a lot going into Glass, is not actually as interesting as Shyamalan seems to think it is. Honestly after having the question asked for the hundredth time during the subtext of the film I begin to stop caring.

There are other avenues I could point to in my criticism of this film such as Bruce Willis being incredibly miscast but they are low hanging fruit and I won’t take them.

Overall, some of the worst aspects of Shyamalan as a filmmaker.

1/5

Pros.

It’s hard to not like a Samuel L. Jackson performance, he is a redeeming factor of the film.

Cons.

The characters are entirely unrelatable and feel alien in the worst way

It is far too long

Willis is incredibly miscast

It is not as deep as it thinks it is

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Puss In Boots The Last Witch: Don’t Fear The Reaper Fight Him

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Puss In Boots, voiced by Antonio Banderas, is back after a long wait and is facing the end of his life, is retirement on the cards or one last tale of glory?

I was very pleasantly surprised by this film, the first Puss In Boots was very much meh and on the duller side of meh at that and lived firmly in the shadow of Shrek. However, this film has so much going for it, whether it is the genuinely quite stunning at times animation, or the character of the Wolf/Death, voiced by Wagner Moura, who is downright menacing and is also a fantastic on-screen presence.

I thought the story did justify the need to come back and revisit these characters and that the tale on the whole was surprisingly mature and sombre, it was a reflection on life, love and making the most out of the time you have left. The ending was basically just a massive tag for Shrek 5 Now With Teenager Ogres, and though I should be angrier about how blatantly this is done I think I am fine with it.

The main area where for me this film let itself down is with the supporting cast, they bring back Selma Hayek as Kitty Softpaws, Puss’s partner in crime and love interest, but they give her little new to do and that is without getting into Florence Pugh’s Goldie and the massively wasted opportunity that was. In my mind a lot of the backstory and dynamic between Goldie and her Bear family was most likely left on the cutting room floor and that is a shame, no one would begrudge this film being a few minutes longer.

Overall, a surprisingly needed sequel that does some really interesting things with its animation.

4/5

Pros.

Death

The surprisingly adult tone

Puss’s arc and journey throughout the film

The ending

Cons.

The side characters are wasted

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The Pale Blue Eye: Satan Riding Large In Rural New York

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A man, played by Christian Bale, investigating a string of grisly murders finds unlikely assistance from a young Edgar Allen Poe, played by Harry Melling.

There is plenty to enjoy about this gothic mystery film though I don’t think anyone would call it perfect by any means either. The atmosphere and central two lead performances certainly create an engaging world, and Bale as always delivers masterfully, however it is with the mystery that things begin to come unstuck.

The mystery itself is not bad, I didn’t see it coming and the twist did feel satisfying at the time it was revealed, however, since then the twist has started to feel far too familiar it is a twist common to this sort of film and narrative and though it does work within the context of the film I criticise it for its over familiarity.

Moreover, I think as with many films the greatest thing going against this picture is its pacing which is nothing short of abominable. The film feels very exciting in the first and third acts but the second feels like an incredibly long slog and becomes more of an endurance test than anything else. Though I will say you should stick it out as the third act is quite lively.

Overall, the cast, atmosphere and mystery do bring something special to this film, however, the familiarity of the twist and the awful pacing make it a taxing watch.

3/5

Pros.

Bale and Melling

The atmosphere

The mystery

Cons.

Though the twist works it feels far too overly familiar and lazy

The pacing is simply awful

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The Craft: Hormones And Magic

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of teenage witches go to war after a new girl, played by Robin Tunney, enters their number and begins to clash with the power structure.

I think this film is in many senses a classic, and an underrated one at that. The tone is just right as it feels frightening at times and there definitely are proper horror moments here but there is also the teen aspect of it all and the coming of age stuff, which do blend well. The worry would be that the film would lean far too heavily into teen issues and be like a supernatural mean girls and lose its horror credentials, but in actuality the film manages to do both.

I think the performances are strong across the board, though I would say if I was forced to pick that Fairuza Balk probably gives the best performance as she plays Nancy with such maliciousness, but at the same times keeps her as a somewhat pitiable figure, at the end of the film we are both relieved that she is locked away, but also saddened by it. That speaks to the power of the performance that she is able to illicit two completely separate feelings from the audience.

I think the main issue with the film is how dated it feels and in the same breath how bad the CGI is, both do hold the film back to a degree and could have been done better, but hey it is still a hell of a lot better than the terrible sequel that we got in recent years.

Overall, a strong teen horror film.

4/5

Pros.

The horror

The teen issues angle

The performances

Balk specifically

Cons.

It feels incredibly dated and the CGI isn’t good

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The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty: Jumping On A Fish Boat And Heading Out To Parts Unknown

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Walter Mitty, played by Ben Stiller, is a boring office drone, who spends half his life in a day dream until one day adventure comes calling.

I enjoyed this film quite a bit, I found it to be uplifting and an incredible force for positivity which in these dark days we all need. It certainly isn’t an original premise, both because it is based on a book, and also because the idea of the stiff finding his spirit of adventure has been so done to death over the years, though Stiller certainly tries to put his own spin on it.

Having watched many, and I do mean many, of Ben Stiller’s films over the years I have to say this is one of his best and certainly more nuanced: think The Royal Tenenbaums Stiller. There is a certain degree of emotion to his performance that will make many people sit and reflect on their own lives, Walter Mitty feels like the ultimate everyman but that is the point. I also thought that Sean Penn was great even though he only had an incredibly small role.

I will say that this film leans more towards being an earnest yet uplifting drama and take on human life and the spirit of adventure rather than a Ben Stiller comedy film. It really isn’t goofy and the laughs are not forthcoming a lot of the time and that is okay, in a sense stupid dumb jokes would break the wholesomeness of the film in a sense.

Overall, a sweet life affirming film that is only let down by a fairly generic plot.

4 /5

Pros.

It is truly feel good

It reminds you of the good in the world

Stiller is fantastic

It is paced to perfection

Cons.

The plot does feel a little familiar to a lot of other projects

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The Jonestown Haunting: The Title Speaks For Itself

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Jonestown, a terrible real world tragedy is exploited for a lazy supernatural horror film.

I have watched quite a few of Andrew Jones low budget horror efforts and I question who is funding him to carry on making these films, whoever it is is wasting their money.

Honestly for me I found it very hard to get past the premise, its feels incredibly exploitative and in bad taste. I know there are films made about the Nazi’s that again trivialise the evil they committed by adding in ghosts and ghouls but that feels further back in the past and more remote, moreover in many of those films it is not as blatantly tasteless and badly handled as it is here.

Worse yet the horror is a mixture of deeply obvious jump scares and scenes that are just dark enough that one of the production team moving can be mistaken for a ghost, that is the level of budget clearly given to this project.

Overall, this film disgraces low budget horror by not doing something new or inventive, but rather exploiting a real world tragedy in the most tasteless way possible.

0.5/5

Pros.

It is mercifully short.

Cons.

It feels exploitative

The scares are awful

The acting is dire

It is so unoriginal

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