Change Your Image
languidMandala
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Dark: Enden und Anfänge (2019)
Could've been the perfect 2 season show
Season 2 deals with the origin of the time loops uncovered by season 1 and it does so brilliantly without adding extra characters. We are then lead by the hand towards the point at which Anakin becomes Darth Vader, sorry Jonas becomes Adam, and just as that story approaches resolution we get a bizarre Deus Ex Machina moment and are hurtled toward a completely different storyline. We'll need to wait until season 3 before we see if this is a brilliant or cheesy move. Wrapping up this season with a resolution would have been a guaranteed way of assuring this show's reputation as a classic.
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
Hugely disappointing
It's good to know that Disney can still do the live action/animation combination so well. The royal doulton scene is fantastic to see. Sadly, it's a very lonely island in a sea of pointlessness. Mary Poppins has a key role in the original film. Here she could be completely edited out and it would make no difference to the movie except for the loss of the above mentioned scene and some musical/dancing interludes. In fact, we learn at the end of the movie that the entire enterprise was completely pointless through the appearance of Dick Van Dyke. Even though he is truly excellent, the fact remains that his Deus Ex Machina appearance just rendered the entire movie pointless in one fell swoop.
Perhaps if the film makers had focussed on the plot rather than the production we would have had a good film. But then again, we would have lost some amazing animation. Oh well
Hereditary (2018)
WTF
The family possession story is well worn and has its classics and failures but this movie adds a new low. As a huge horror film fan and regular attender of film festivals I was looking forward to two actors I admire (Collette and Byrne) getting further into genre film making. Oh dear. What they serve up is a horror genre tale slowed to about one quarter pace and devoid of any sense of menace, fear or even mild trepidation. It's literally a horror film with no horror and if you haven't looked at your watch at least 4 times before the first very long hour is up you're probably asleep.
The 5th Wave (2016)
SO bad it's actually fun to watch
Here's how you write a movie like The 5th Wave in 7 easy steps:
1/ Start from an engaging movie about an alien invasion - say Independence Day
2/ Throw in a twist nicked from elsewhere to make it appear progressive - say phases of collapse like in The Day of the Triffids
3/ Make it a young adult movie by killing off all the grown ups
4/ Pick up the "How to write a young adult movie screenplay" Idiots Guide from the local bookstore
5/ Follow the Idiots Guide slavishly, scene by scene, character by character, trope by trope
6/ Cast some pretty actors and add some collapse of civilisation CGI to distract the audience
7/ Appoint a director who thinks the audience are as stupid as the main characters
There you go, easy. The side effect of this approach is that it's unexpectedly entertaining to accurately predict the next scene/line of dialogue/character to appear before it happens. It's a strange mix of precognition and pantomime.
And pantomimes are always fun.
Sunset Song (2015)
Disjointed and dislocated
I suspect this movie will review better the further away from its location you go. If you live close by you'll despise it, if you live in Scotland you'll hate it. It probably gets better as you go further away.
The problem is that it's just not Scottish in any sense at all. This is especially true in the wedding scene which is so dull and depressing it's almost offensive to the people of the area. The whole movie lacks any kind of energy or dynamics. Yes, strictly speaking the accents are all completely wrong because everyone seems to be from the west coast but that's not such a big deal for me. I thought Agyness Deyn's on- screen accent was OK but they obviously recorded the voice-over later because she is truly horrendous at that - think Dick Van Dyke and cockney. She utterly fails with the classic shibboleth "loch".
In general Deyn's lack of training and experience undoes her here - she looks like she's acting. That combined with the overwhelming lethargy undermines the performances of the rest of the cast which are well delivered. Peter Mullan as usual shines with authenticity. So go and see it if you are in California and want a gentle breeze of early 20th century rural life in Europe. If you are in Scotland don't go without your headphones and blindfold - a nice two hour sleep in a comfy seat will be better than watching this dreary annihilation of a much loved book.
Joy (2015)
When David met David & Wes & Charlie
From its squirmingly funny opening scene we know that this will be something of a soap opera but not viewed from the conventional angle. It's Wes Anderson characters with occasional flirtation into the world of Charlie Kaufman and even David Lynch and not a conventional biopic. At its heart we have the wonderful Jennifer Lawrence, everyday superwoman, who is a complete failure at everything except domestic maintenance, child rearing and holding down a lame job. Finally, suffocating under the weight of her self-imposed obligations, she decides to throw off those shackles and become who she dreamt of being all along. In her way are cartoon businessmen/gangsters, inept salesmen and scheming, jealous relations. Overcoming these challenges will require all her skills but even more so, her steely-eyed determination. It's a grand pantomime Mr O'Russell is attempting here and it almost comes off. The characters are quirky and comedic, the bad guys are charcoal bad, the factory that makes parts is empty and the product is drearily dull. It's just not quite quirky or funny or heart- warming enough. Yes, the entire affair hangs on the eponymous heroine but when you have an Academy Award winning actress at the top of her form that's no criticism at all.