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Reviews
Murder Mystery 2 (2023)
It's similar to the last one, which is no bad thing
It's very similar to the last one, it's great fun, silly with lots of twists and turns and quite a few laughs. It made me laugh out loud on more than a few occasions. It's a good sequel, at least as good as the original with a feel good ending as you would expect. OK it's very ticky boxy, it's full of cliches but thats not a bad thind at all.
Sandler and Aniston look like they get along and are having fun, all the character interactions are believable and the characters are good if a little silly at times.
The script is pretty sharp and it's nice to see some characters film the first film make a return. At the end it leaves you with a smile and wanting them to return for another. It's no masterpiece, it's not a patch on something like Red Notice. But if you liked the first one, this is worth spending your time on.
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Bored on the 4th of july
This film suffers from trying to cram too much in rather then building character. It suffers from being too sickly nationalistic. It suffers from playing the same but of music in every triumphant moment. It suffers from a lack of character development and focus. Tom Cruise is fine in the lead, but the story jumps around so much you never get a sense of any relationships he has with anyone, it all feels very clumsy and clunky in it's story telling. Scenes don't seem to relate to one another. The whole episode in Mexico gets in the way, you never feel what kovic feels, you don't feel his pain or share his journey.
Great films don't do this. You are always a spectator.
The beginning of the film is pretty cheesy. Good old American boy, loves his country, loves a girl, goes to war, sees a bad thing, ends up in a battle, gets shot, goes through hell in hospital, goes home, everything is ok, then they aren't ok, he's pro the war, then he's not, then he's drunk, then he's in Mexico, then he's back in the USA, protests a nixon convention and then he's honoured at the end. There is no real transition between each event, it feels rushed, like the storyboard came to life rather than the characters.
If you are a huge Oliver Stone fan, I'm sure you will like this movie. Tom Cruise puts in a good performance too although Daniel Defoe shows him up when the share the screen together. He's just in a different class in this movie.
While I totally applaud the anti-war message of any war movie (No movie should glorify war), and admire Kovic, this film seems like a bit of a waste. It hasn't aged well and now feels cliched and dated.
Films like this should make you feel angry and frustrated, horrified and empathetic and finally uplifted.
This doesn't do it. It doesn't make you feel anything.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
The Universe has lost its way
How all the Marvel films linked together, even when out of sync was an amazing feat. Each one built on deeply fleshed out and defined characters that had story arcs. Recent offerings since the end of the the iron Man Era have been poor, the last decent film being the surprisingly excellent Black Widow and Spiderman 3. The series have been more interesting, such as Loki, Moon Knight and Wandavision. They have done something different and crafted interesting stories that are still true to the characters.
How can you continue with the heroes defeat bad guys stick when it's been done time and time again across dozens of films and series?
I don't think you can.
Wakanda Forever doesn't have a really interesting character at its heart, the baddies aren't really defined, you don't really care about anything or anyone. Would it have been more interesting to go back and fill in timeline gaps rather than carrying on?
This may have been a better way to deal with the sad death of Chadwick Boseman. He is sadly missed and carried the first film. But going back in the timeline, like Black Window or some of the excellent animated series in Star Wars, the Manalorian or the excellent Rogue One has been proven to work.
These are stories that, if done well (Not you SOLO), work and add stories that engage and make sense. What if they had done the story of the previous Black Panther or go back even further to the origin of discovering Vibranium.
Wakanda Forever feels tired, the universe has gone on too long. She Hulk, Dr Strange Into the Multiverse, 10 rings etc were all sub par.
It's time for something new. But with Disney digging up ever more remakes and sequels in all of it's brands, they are in danger of forgetting what made all of these brands great in the first place.
They were creative, unusual stories that did something new. They were created with passion and vision without an eye for merchandising or the ability to turn bits into games.
I think Marvel need to go back to the comics and source material.
This Is Going to Hurt (2022)
Grim
The book was funny.
The series is just grim. Green tinged lighting, everything seems bleak, not funny, no-one seems to have any empathy.
It's a world away from my experiences with the NHS.
Ben Whiteshaw gives another dead eyed, Charlotte Rampling style performance of miserable grimness. There is no light in his eyes, no sense of compassion or what is going on behind the mask. So you have little empathy for the main character, or in fact any of them which isn't the case with the book.
I felt depressed after watching it and trying to give it a chance after a couple of episodes, but I can't carry on. It's just too bleak. A horrible series.