Reviews

Cruella (2021) - Action, Comedy, Crime - Disney + I went into this with exceedingly low expectations, I mean how can you make a film about Cruella de Vil and get the audience to actually invest in the character. We're talking about one of the, if no the most dislikeable characters ever to hit film. As a child, she gave me nightmares - then again, as a child King Rollo gave me nightmares! This is a woman whose main role in film is to hunt down Dalmatians and puppy Dalmatians at that and kidnap them so that she can kill and skin them, maybe in that order! Who treats the human heroes with distaste and scorn and bullies her employees into committing these dastardly deeds.

Fair play to Disney, they did it. They turned Cruella into a multidimensional character, a woman with a history that helps you understand, if not how she became a puppy murderer but how this persona develops. A woman wronged from birth. A woman who slowly turns from the heroine to the villain back to a character you are rooting for. I hated myself at this moment!

You can see how her relationship with Jasper and Horace turns from friendship to fear to something else. And how and why they all care for each other.

Emma Stone is perfect casting as the young Cruella, she is a likeable actress but can also give you the edge you need and by edge, I mean psychopathic tendencies creeping through! Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser bring Jasper and Horace into the hero category, I want to see how them and their relationship deteriorate so much, but you are rooting for these lads during this film. Joel Fry is especially good. Mark Strong remains a stalwart, an actor you can always rely on and Emma Thompson channels her inner Meryl Streep to full effect.

This is a back story with huge character development but in the opposite way, normally you get a story of someone doing the right thing and redeeming themselves, this flips it up and turns it backwards but also twists it both ways. Well worth a watch.

How 'How it Ends' ends is absolutely shocking!

Okay, back to the beginning, Will (Divergent's Theo James) is on the phone to his girlfriend in Seattle when something off screen and off phone happens and the phone goes dead. The next day all flights are cancelled from Chicago. So, Will teams up with Sam's Dad - Forest Whitaker to go on a trek across country to save his girl friends from the unknown.

There's jet planes criss crossing across the sky, the roads are closed by army roadblock and Forest Whitaker doesn't particularly like his daughter's future fiancée, to the point of being an absolute idiot to him at the previous night's dinner when Will was aiming to ask for his permission to marry Sam, generally pointing out that this lawyer is inadequate in an emergency situation involving the unknown and guns - well so would the majority of us be to be honest, but Forest is ex-military so he has the right to be a muppet in this unknown, dangerous situation!

Cue everybody they meet pretty much being fuel stealing, gun wielding plot devices, I mean we all know that America has a gun problem but seriously everyone on the road has at least one. Cue the rare good people they find, panicking and not being very much help at all. Cue future father-in-law and son in law finding common ground and the lawyer turning into an action hero. Cue finding Sam but her having an obsessive neighbour who thought in this time of the unknown that now he appears to be the last man on earth, he might actually have a shot with Sam.

Cue, me using the word unknown constantly as you never, ever find out what the flip has happened and the ending is a lame leave them on the edge of their seat attempt at a cliff hanger, whereas it just leaves you going - have a I wasted the last 113 minutes just for this complete lack of information and payoff.

Special Bonus Round

Things you can do in 113 minutes that isn't watch this film.

1. Sleep 2. Read 3. Clean 4. Play Xbox 5. Organize your fridge 6. Give yourself a mani-pedi 7. Watch two episode's of your favorite show 8. Bake something 9. Take a bath 10. Scrapbook 11. Do a craft 12. Take a walk 13. Go shopping 14. Practice your instrument 15. Write 16. Catch up on your emails 17. Volunteer 18. Go for a drive 19. Read a magazine cover to cover 20. Clean out your inbox 21. Balance your balance account 22. Go to church 23. Look through old photo albums 24. Try a new recipe 25. Take family pictures 26. Go for a run 27. Play a board game 28. Rearrange the furniture in a room 29. Take pictures of the beauty around you 30. Teach your dog a new trick 31. Call a friend you haven't talked to in a while 32. Write a letter to someone you care about 33. Take a hike 34. Go for a bike ride 35. Learn a magic trick 36. Perfect your elevator pitch 37. DO some mindfulness colouring 38. Play in the leaves 39. Listen to a whole album 40. Try a new hair style 41. Give yourself a facial 42. Check something off your to-do list 43. Make something from scratch 44. Hang pictures 45. Go out to eat 46. Visit a friend 47. Work out 48. Gather items to donate to charity 49. Read a magazine 50. Write this script and still have change from an hour!

Jennifer Garner is a very underused actress, Jennifer Garner is an incredibly underused family comedy actress! She is perfect for this role as a Mum who is no longer considered cool by her elder children and has turned from a daredevil twentysomething into an overprotective parent and I suddenly realising this. Edgar Ramirez is her husband who gets to be the good cop and fun Dad, which understandably is pissing Garner's Allison off.

After an incident at school, a plot device, sorry guidance counsellor, mentions the idea of a Yes Day - a day when the parents have to say yes to the children, within a legal and non-life-threatening reason. Allison wants to be the fun Mum, so is talked into and carnage ensues.

Actually, this is a good fun family films, Garner is immensely likeable and engaging lead. The kids aren't too annoying. Jenna Ortega, who voices one of the characters in Netflix's Jurassic Park - Camp Cretaceous, is maybe a bit old for the 14-year-old role but is showing signs of being a future lead.

Expect lots of parents being children and children trying to get one over on parents, there's also plenty of silliness for the kids (and big kids) and laughs as well as a good moral compass and code.

With a cast including Jessica Chastian, John Malkovich, Geena Davis, Colin Farrell, Ioan Gruffudd and Diane Silvers, this movie about an assassin who travels the world taking out targets whilst kicking butt and looking great in heels, should be a fun, thrill ride.

Ava is the go to assassin of Colin Farrell's crew and trained by John Malkovich but she is asking questions, to be fair there not questions which should worry the bosses more questioning folks before she kills them as to why they think she's there - think Grosse Point Blank but without the self-doubt and humour and great writing!

Anyway, Farrell has enough as he's only interested in mindless killers, so he plans to off her without Malkovich finding out - well it all goes pear shaped in a number of ways and the body counts mounts and then they throw in a love triangle between Chastian's Ava and her sister and her sister's fella, who happens to be Ava's ex. What a pile of convoluted toss!

What should be a great film, is just a bit pants to be honest.

Okay, so I've watched this many, many times and each time I remember how much I love it. Yep, there are first year uni students drinking in bars that are younger than the effects but you'd still brick yourself if you met one of the wolves walking down the street on a dark night.

Neil Marshall's Debut film is simply awesome in every way, and the talk of a trilogy which have been around for the last nineteen years needs to come to fruition.

Sgt, Well and Pvt, Cooper - Sean Pertwee and Kevin McKidd lead a squad of soldiers on a training mission, up against Liam Cunningham's Capt. Ryan, who's a bit of a muppet and has previous issues with Cooper. He also has an ulterior motive for getting these men into the field.

On a dark, moonlit night, the poop hits the fan and the wolves start to howl and the panicked soldiers meet up with Megan, who lives in the forest near another family, who just happen to be elsewhere, she saves their butts and we have a Rourke's Drift situation.

What follows, is loud brash, violent (and that is just Spoon, who is probably one of the best film creations ever!) and funny. With some of the most quotable lines put on paper and film.

I honestly could add so many more, this film is cheap and cheerful, gutsy and guts filled and just a great mind-numbing way to spend 90 minutes. It'll always be one of my favourites.

I made the mistake of being excited about this one last night, at last I thought a big Blockbuster, which though I might not be able to see at the cinema, I can rent and turn my lounge into our own cinema. I loved Kong: Skull Island and through Godzilla: King of the monsters wasn't a bad film.

Both Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown Chandler reprise there father and daughter roles as Mark and Madison Russell, they're joined by Alexander Skarsgard's researcher and author Nathan Lind, Rebecca Hall's, Kong specialist Ilene Andrews and Eiza Gonzalez's boss Mya Simmons.

The film picks up a few years after Godzilla and 50 odd years after Kong. Godzilla is rampaging for some unknown reason and by Kong leading a team of scientists and researchers to the Hollow Earth, they might be able to find a way to stop him and save humanity, thus begins the Godzilla Vs. Kong of the title - like any good championship, there can be only one title holder.

Though, herein also begins the nonsense involving Apex Cybernetics and their quest to use the power of these beasties to create something which gives mankind the upper hand and Monarch's inability to be anything other than a name that links to Skull Island.

The Hollow Earth is criminally underused and the films writers missed a trick of setting the whole film here, with its vast array of new and dangerous creatures and landscapes and brining in a whole bunch of expendable grunts to be eaten in variously horrible ways. Instead, the whole Godzilla Vs. Kong debacle doesn't work. It looks like two fellas' in fancy dress outfits having a punch up on a drunken night out in Liverpool!

The film isn't bad, the actors are very good, including the young Kaylee Hottle as Jia, though Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler, really collected a pay check for doing absolutely nothing - but good to see Kyle Chandler back in a better Kong film. The effects when the two title contenders weren't fighting against each other were very good, The Hollow Erath scenes were great, it just isn't the film I personally think should've been made.

Hopefully, the ending sets up a new film in the Hollow Earth and things can get back on track.

During World War II, five American Soldiers take up their posts in a High Castle, the previous soldiers, seeming far too keen to hand over the castle and get the heck on the road. I wonder what they know? On the way, the soldiers have bumped into and bumped off a bunch of German Soldiers including one very famous 90's actor.

During their stay at the castle, strange things start to happen, which then turn pretty horrific and ends with them really, really wanting to get back to the front lines. They have some soldiering action but even that gets quite jumpy! More German soldiers meet their grizzly end via the Castle's original occupants than by Allied Fire.

All pretty standard fair so far, it is a jumpy film, there is some gruesome bits, the soldiers have distinct personalities and you do worry about some of them, but it is the last twenty minutes which make this stand out in the genre. What could've been a bog-standard War Horror film, soldiers v Ghosts, goes a bit deeper and takes a turn.

Brenton Thwaites does an excellent job as the group's de facto leader and decision maker. It is good to see Skylar Astin take on a very different role than his Pitch Perfect/Zoey's Playlist romantic lead9though I like him in both of them as well). Theo Rossi (Son's of Anarchy) continues to build up his hard as nails CV, Kyle Gallner's Tappert is played with a scary intensity, though again, all may not be as it seems and Alan Ritchson get to play fisty cuffs with a very famous actor and his character has the heart of the group.

It is not going to terrify you but may well unnerve you, it has enough jumps and storyline to keep your interest up and as mentioned earlier the ending stands out as a very intelligent and story altering piece of writing and acting.

Chaos Walking (2021) - Adventure, Sci-Fi Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley lead this Sci-Fi adventure about a colony of men who are happily living their lives on a far away planet, only suffering from the occasional argument because their thoughts manifest aloud and in the form of pictures. Now that's a scary thought for anyone! Daisy Ridley's Viola crash lands in the forest near by and is found by Tom Holland's Todd.

The introduction of a women into the community brings about some issues, especially as all the previous women were killed by the original inhabitants of the planet, or at least that's the tale that the town's Mayor -David - a brilliantly malicious Mads Mikkelsen, weaves. It just so happens that the planet does not affect women in the same way as their thoughts cannot be seen or heard. They have no 'noise'.

Cue, an escape across the planet, pursued by menfolk on horses and a religious nutter, David Olelowo's Aaron, whose thoughts manifest as fire, well he is a bit hot under the collar about women! The finding of other settlements and ships and a whole lot of Tom Holland being charmingly awkward.

The film is a very good action, film and the two leads are completely likeable and both very funny in an understated way. It is based on Patrick Ness' Young Adult trilogy's first book - The Knife of Letting Go. It hopefully will get a second film as it deserves it, the critics didn't like it though, but we really enjoyed it. One of the best films that I have seen in a long, long time.

Well worth your time, even just to delight at Tom Holland's thoughts about spending time with a female for the first time and his completely embarrassed reactions, when Daisy Ridley hears and sees his thoughts.

An Australian film about five friends exploring a caving system and being hunted by a bliming big crocodile. - not sure if there's much more you need to know to be honest. Not all five of them are coming out, a couple deserve to get eaten, some don't, the one who doesn't, is going to, someone is saved by a baby but really should be eaten. The crocodile isn't as big as the one in Lake Placid or Rogue but seems a lot more annoyed. Worth a watch if you're bored and fancy watching a film with a crocodile eating some Aussies.

Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin lead the cast in this explosive, world ending, comet crashing apocalyptic drama. The end of the world is nigh and John Garrity and his wife Allison and son Nathan are chosen to go underground with the lucky few thousand to survive the Apocalypse and restart society. He's a structural engineer so would be pretty useful.

Unfortunately, his son has diabetes and that won't be considered an optimal survival characteristic by those in charge and he also has a lousy memory and leaves his Insulin in his car just as their boarding the plan to safety, cue parents being split up, concerned citizens storming the planes and things blowing up, cue people out for themselves and trying to take the wrist bands of survival, cue Gerard chasing his wife and son cross country, getting into scrapes and avoiding bits of comet!

Cue a mad dash to Greenland before the largest bit hits Western Europe (I think Europe always gets hit as it has so many recognisable landmarks that can be blown up.

It sounds like a run of the mill disaster movie, but this one shows how people would react in much more realistic fashion, pretty scary actually. Gerard Butler is a very good action star and Morena Baccarin has been a favourite since her days as Inara in Firefly. The effects are very good, the story gripping and all sewn together by well-chosen actors.

Finding Ohana, advertised as The Goonies for the 21st Century and it has all the elements you'd want. It has the dysfunctional brother and sister, the good-looking friend that the elder brother fancies, the geeky sidekick. It has caves and traps and over complicated rocks pulley systems, it has pirates and treasure and needing money to save their Granddad's land and it has Data, well Key Hu Quan playing a family friend, but it's a Goonies link the Producers obviously wanted to help us all associate the film with the legendary classic.

It has the beautiful Hawaiian scenery and link after link to Hawaiian culture. It has a trailer that makes it look like an amazing film.

What it doesn't have are leads you are invested in, Ioane the older brother is too much of a self-obsessed idiot and it's highly unlikely that Hana will ever have any reason to fall for him. Pili and Casper are entertaining enough, but how they see the history of the pirates, much as it might be 21st century cool, is just really, really annoying - I honestly can't explain how them putting words into the mouths of actors and using modern terms really peeved me. Yes, it can be argued that I'm much older than the intended audience but it was incredibly irritating.

And, all the opportunities for good old-fashioned pirate and cave adventures are not fully exploited. It's a Goonies Lite film with wasted potential. But hey I reckon children will love it.

In the not to distant future, there is some severe trouble on the Russian/Ukraine border, luckily there's drones, robot soldiers, marines and Anthony Mackie there to sort it out.

Drone Pilot, Lt. Harp goes against orders but listens to his inner Spock and realises the good of the many out way the good of the few but in doing so he kills a couple of Marines and earns the enmity of the rest of the platoon. He is sent to be retrained by Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie) who has a little secret and a big secret mission.

Harp and Leo end up behind enemy lines, searching for the codes to Nuclear Weapons, aided by Emily Beecham's Sofiya and the occasional Robot Marine. This is the story of a war-torn country, the story of collateral damage (try playing a drinking game that with every mention you have to have a shot and by the end of this 115 minutes film, you'll be three sheets to the wind! A story of friendship, betrayal and Anthony Mackie taking his Falcon Armour a bit too seriously! There are plenty of bad guys and girls, the good guys aren't particularly good, the heroes are arrogant and the explosions big.

In fact, this is one of Netflix's better offerings recently, right up until the last 25 minutes, when it has a twist, which to be honest is quite a good twist but the characters motivations seem like an afterthought.

For Diana Prince AKA Wonder Woman, the world has gone round the Sun forty odd times, she is now working at the Smithsonian Museum, she also looks exactly the same, with the blessed Amazonian anti-aging genes. Other than that, she is out and about helping out. Putting petty criminals to the long lasso of the law.

As the title suggests, it is now 1984 and bliming heck does this film get the 80's spot on. From the outset of Diana's current life (we do have a flashback to a little Diana at the start), you get blasted with neon, leggings, Miami Vice collars and illuminous socks. WW84 gets the 80's exactly right and unfortunately that's where it stops getting things exactly right.

Let me say, firstly, it is not a bad film, it is an enjoyable film, it has all the fun elements of a Wonder Woman film and Gal Gadot is DC's shining light and a beacon for young girls everywhere. She is a superb as Wonder Woman and the film has lots of action and fun and bright sequences. But it just doesn't gel as well as the first film and I put that down to two reasons.

Firstly, Chris Pine is back as Steve Trevor. I'm not going to go into how as that is an integral part of the plot and Diana's journey. But that is also the problem. Why did she need to have this journey with the love of her life? He was a great character and Chris Pine will always be a fantastic actor, but the character completed his arc in the first film, his sacrifice meant so much and set Wonder Woman on her path as a hero, I think it's lazy to have him back again.

Secondly, Kristen Wiig pops up as the mild-mannered zoologist Barbara Minerva, who through no fault of her own get tricked by Pedro Pascal's Max Lord and goes all catty (literally). Pedro Pascal's intentions and reasons for wanting the Dreamstone are all a bit contrived and Barbara though now physically a challenge for Wonder Woman is again a bit of a tick box villain.

So, we have at least four great actors, lots of 80's fun, lasso's and claws, action sequences and heart-rending moments, journey's and endings and new beginnings. Like I said, not a bad film but it just didn't work for me (or for a lot of people). I'm hoping the next outing just focuses on Wonder Woman being Wonder Woman.

Unpopular opinion alert!

I was really excited about this film and lots of people I know watched it and loved it. I was very underwhelmed by it.

Soul is a story of life, redemption, finding a path and jazz music, through a series of mismatches and mistakes, Joe finds himself mentoring new souls on their way to their loves and ends up with one who just does not want to play ball! However, the lead - Joe is pretty unlikeable for most of the movie, 22 is pretty much annoying and apart from a few funny moments it is far too preachy for my liking.

Personally, I think it is too deep for most children and not funny enough for adults, but I'm going to be told how wrong I am about it so bring it on!

Pixar works well when they have a large dose of comedy and heart with a touch of making you cry but lately, they seem to be going for the water works above all else and that makes me sad as they aren't doing their extraordinary writers and animators justice.

Sorry, I wish I didn't have to be bothered to give this a score, I mean if they can't be bothered to give me a good film!

I'm not sure you can call this a 2020 film, it was originally filmed in 2017, the Disney takeover of 20th Century Fox and planned reshoots, which didn't actually happen meant that this was released three years after it was filmed.

It had a bit of a panning critically and as someone who loves The New Mutants, I went in apprehensively and for the first half I was a bit put out with the changes to the origin story and the characterisation, however, by the end of the film it all makes sense and comes together and it ended up quite an entertaining film. All the leads are very good, young actors who are already carving out careers.

The characters don't always match the originals, Dani lacks the leadership qualities, Berto, the humour, Sam is a bit all over the place and Illyana, actually she's the right amount of nuts! Rahne is pretty spot on but the writers have introduced a new character trait to both her and Dani which I personally didn't think as necessary, if they wanted that trait, they should've used Karma or Rictor instead.

The film tries to be a horror and apart from the rejects from the episode 'Hush' of Buffy, it's not a horror, but it could be a good action film, if the story actually brought in any action apart from the last 20 minutes or so. It falls down by spending too much time faffing about and not enough doing what The New Mutants do best and that is working together.

It's not as bad as you might have heard but can be considered the X-Men's poorer cousin, which is a shame as the comics have tried their hardest to get away from that moniker.

Before I start, let me just say, watch this film! If you have a family, watch this film, if you're on your own, watch this film, if you fancy an enjoyable Sunday afternoon watch this film. It's not going to win any Oscars, but it's a fun, bright, amusing ride into Superheroes. The perfect way to spend a cold Sunday afternoon, curled up on the sofa.

I'm not going to go into the story, just watch it and find out, but you have good guys, bad guys, twists and a whole group of kids who are the offspring of a legendary Superhero group.

Actos, such as Priyanka Chopra, Pedro Pascal, Boyd Holbrook and Christian Slater of all people pop up. It's directed by Robert Rodriguez of Desperado, From Dusk to Dawn and Sin City fame, oh yeah and ALL the Spy Kids films, so he has previous! The young actors range from brilliant to a little bit school play but they do carry off their characters and YaYa Gosselin, Lyon Daniels and Vivien Lyra Blair (as the awesome Guppy) stand out.

Oh yeah and if you ever watched The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl back in 2005, this is set in that world and even has Taylor Dooley reprising her role as Lava Girl - Guppy's Mum.

Well done Netflix. A really enjoyable family frolic,

The world is not as we know it, giant bugs have taken over and the survivors live underground and attempt to not become bug food.

Dylan O'Brien is Joel and once again proves that he is an extremely likeable hero. Joel isn't your heroic type, he's like any normal person, dealing with things as best as he can and occasionally freezing up when bad things happen!

But he's a man in love and he sets off on a mission to reunite with his high school girlfriend, unfortunately for him, this means crossing 80 miles of large bugs filled countryside.

Along the way, he teams up with some survival experts, meets some friends for life, crosses paths with some rather slimy and disgusting creatures and finds out what really is important to him.

Mr O'Brien is absolutely superb, Michael Rooker continues to be the grizzled hero we all want in our life, Jessica Henwick is going to be a great actress and is building a very good CV, with Godzilla V Kong and Matrix 4 coming up she is definitely one to watch. Youngster Ariana Greenblatt brings the heart and humour to her role as Minnow.

This is fun and funny, action filled and unlike most films, it is kind of how any normal person would cope. Mr O'Brien's narration is refreshingly amusing and the whole thing is an enjoyable 110 minutes. Great fun but if you're not a fan of creepy crawlies, I wouldn't go into your garden for a couple of days after!

Bill & Ted are old! As someone who has grown up with them, I now realise that I am old as well! Thanks guys! They have marital problems and teenage daughters; our excellent heroes have fallen into middle aged life! I don't need to see this - I live this! They are also out B&T'd by their own daughters, who have the fun adventures much more in tune with the original films, though Ted's daughter has obviously studied Keanu Reeves in minute detail and acts like a female version of him rather than her own character. Our heroes go on an adventure but it's a bit confusing to be honest and not in keeping with the style of their characters. However, the finale and when they all team up brings the good feelings and you can't help but smile and reminisce back to the good old days when I could grow hair (sorry I think that's just my problem). Dennis Caleb McCoy is a brilliantly funny new character, Miss Weaving hits all the right notes, Alex Winter falls back into Bill quickly, Mr Reeves takes more getting used to. Bill & Ted is a funny flashback to days gone by, but I think they need to finish it there now.

Based on a true story about an Australian Company fighting the North Vietnamese in 1966 - which came as a huge surprise to me, I never knew the Aussie's were involved. I love my history and I love finding out new history, so I was hooked. Travis Fimmel, Ragnor from Vikings, plays Major Harry Smith, the company commander, who volunteers his unit for what is to become an incredibly costly and dangerous missions. Luke Bracey, who you might have seen in Netflix's Holidate, is his reliable and hard as nails Sergeant. This tells the story of sacrifice and bravery and refusing to leave men behind. Its action packed, it's gruesome, it brings the company together and it is a true story. The ends credits, where you get to see the photos of the real soldiers is heart-breaking. The Aussie's make very good films, they just don't always get recognised. If you have Netflix, give this a go.

Jennifer and Aidan are game creators who end up working together but also in competition with each other to create this Christmas's must do scavenger hunt as well as earn the promotion they both need.

Of course they're both single and good people, so we all know where this is going to lead.

Tyler Hynes is a Hallmark stalwart and Mallory Jansen is hopefully now going to be yearly Christmas addition. She was brilliant and her character pure fun.

A lovely bit of Christmas in November, fun and festive.

Ooooookaaaaaaay, before I get into this and believe me, I'm going to get into it, let me set the scene. I love Roald Dahl, I love The Witches, I'm currently reading it to my class at the end of the day (my Grand High Witch would fit right at home as Herr Flick's eviller other half from Allo Allo) and I love the 1990 film. Now normally I'd be a bit wary of Roald Dahl remakes, but after watching the trailer, the change on location and era seemed to work and the cast of Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci is incredibly strong, so we thought why no give it go.

And it just goes to show, that you should stick to your instincts and the people who make trailers are veil geniuses.

Adventure - I'll give you that, Comedy - not so much, Family - are you kidding me?

The story changes from London to 1960s Alabama, from a Norwegian Grandma to a Deep South one, with a history from the turn of the century with Witches and in fact these changes fit in with the story and style of a Roald Dahl book, it maintains the creepiness of The Witches by giving them a believable backstory.

However, when Hero Boy and Grandma(they're not given names in this film - which is a bit odd) check into a nearby hotel - again a diversion from the original for the reason, things go a bit, well rubbish really. For me it loses its Roald Dahl quality, its scariness mixed with fantasy and humour. It just goes a bit horrible really. The Witches, who by rights, have no toes, are bald with itchy heads, huge nostrils and claws amongst others are turned into demons from your nightmares. I totally agree with those who got offended by their hands, which should be claws but not look like really long three-fingered things and I use the words things, even though I hate using that word in writing, they don't look like claws, they look like someone has had a bad accident. If I was someone who had Ectrodactyly, a limb abnormality, I'd look at it and think they were taking the mick!

On top of that, the Witches mouths open up like something out of a nightmare I had after watching several Vampire series in one night, it's something out of V Wars or Van Helsing, not a family film. You've got it very wrong there Mr Zemeckis.

And, my final point - to be fair I'm holding back as there is so much more, I could go on about, is the inclusion of the wonderful Kristen Chenoweth as the voice of a child who has been turned into a mouse, WHY? All other children whether real or mouse like are played by and voiced by children, why do they need the voice of a woman. It is just odd and takes away from the character, a character who by the way doesn't exist in the book.

You can see the influence of Mr Zemeckis and Guillermo del Toro and if it wasn't changing such a huge part of not only my childhood but also my adulthood as a teacher then I might, nah who am I kidding, I'm regretting renting this, I could've spent my money on something I'd have enjoyed more instead - like dental surgery!

I'm not going to score this as I don't think it would be fair to the very talented people involved and to be honest, I reckon children would probably really enjoy it, but adults if you've grown up with the original - swerve this please!

Well I can honestly say I didn't expect ANYTHING that happened in this film to happen, it throughs curve balls at you left, right and centre, takes you down one path but ends up going down another, brings you into a maze with walls of ferns but walks you through a maze with walls of stone, gives you answers and then adds more questions. In short I bliming well loved it!

Hopper, an archaeology professor goes caving looking for some missing hippies from the 1970's, after a few days he doesn't return so two of his students(Taylor and Jackie) take it upon themselves to go search for him, they bring along their friend Cara, who has to drag along her little sister Veeves and her best friend Furby -the writers obviously has reasons for these two names but they sound like a children's cartoon series to me - The Adventures of Furby and the Veeves!

From the moment they enter the cave, then things don't go as you think, even when you have it figured out, a new twist happens, there's hippies, cavemen, cowboys, time travel, death, life and some very, very confused teenagers!

I can't tell you more because I don't want to ruin it, I went into this, thinking it will kill 90 minutes on a Sunday night and came out of it absolutely loving 95% of the film - I say 95% as the last five minutes left me and Shell opened mouthed and with more questions than answers - which was really frustrating! Reiley McClendon, Cassidy Gifford and Brianne Howey are superb as the three older teenagers, who carry most of the film and it is shame they are still waiting for something bigger to come along - though Brianne Howey is starting to get the recognition she deserves with roles in the superb and sadly cut short The Passage and Batwoman.

If you've got 90 minutes spare and want your mind occasionally blown, then give this a go. Even Shell really enjoyed it and she normally hates these type of films I choose! A 16/20 from me, it would've been more apart from the questions left by the last 5 minutes.

Honestly, this isn't a bad film, it's not a good one either and I wouldn't recommend logging onto Amazon Prime right away to get a look, but if you fancy a film about a bunch of actors you've seen before somewhere being hunted by a big Grizzly, who is actually played by a big Grizzly and knowing that most of the people you meet upon the way are going to end up as meat for the Grizzly, then why not waste ninety minutes, I did - but hey this could also be one of those films that I've watched so you don't have to - seems like I did it for the rest of the population as well though!

Tricia Helfer and Eric Mabius are Hallmark regulars and are both excellent actors in their own right but also perfect for Hallmark movies and a great combi8nation. East and West Riverton are competitors in the annual Christmas decorating competition, Sarah and Liam are the two towns Mayors and both single, both being too busy to find love.

We all know where this is going and we're all happy to go along for the ride as they find each other and the two towns find a common goal.

Perfect Christmas loveliness.

A Wedding Planner has to travel to Alaska to gather a rare flower for her client, a promotion is on the line and her client's happiness.

Of course going to Alaska means there is going to be weather problems and our heroine has to stay a few days in the local town, which also has its annual Christmas Pageant on at the same time.

Julie Gonzalo is always good value for money and is definitely suited to Hallmark films and Ronnie Rowe, who I have most recently seen in Star Trek: Discovery is also a very likeable lead.

It is also nice to see a mixed heritage couple in a Hallmark movie, which is quite a rare occurrence.