Reviews

A lot of people are commenting on how poorly the film was marketed as it was made out to be a big budget, action packed war film. In some ways it is however this is not like any movie you will have seen before and whether you think that's a good or a bad thing then that is up to you, however one thing is undeniable and that is how important this film is.

America (and let's be honest, a majority of the world) has glorified war and violence for as long as we can remember all under the idea of "fighting for what you believe". While I agree with that statement it creates a lot of divide as everybody in the world have their own beliefs whether they be political, religious, etc. A majority of films that depict war will always make a clear line between who's fighting what side, who we should be rooting for, what it is they are actually fighting for and why. These films typically wind up being very one sided and pushes a very specific narrative (most of the time political). Alex Garland has done the exact opposite for this film.

This film dosen't give you a side to root for because you aren't really offered any information on who's fighting who, why they are fighting, how it started or when, etc. You are instantly dropped straight into a war torn america with no idea of what's actually going on and all you are shown is just how far people are willing to go to fight for what they believe in. You follow Lee and a few of her colleagues who are war photographers/press. Clearly adrenaline junkies who also have a passion for showing the world the real brutality of war and how vicious it can be. I believe Alex Garland purposefully chose these characters for us to follow because a major element of their job is to be completely neutral to either side. You can tell Alex Garland specifically does not want you to pick a side to fight for because that is not the point of the film (hence why you are offered very little information about the warring factions).

The point of the film I believe is to show you the true brutality of war if it were to happen as depicted in this film. War and violence have been glorified massively thanks to a number of different things and a lot of people aren't clued up to just how ruthless it would be if a civil war like this were to truly take place in the real world America. This film sets it straight and it is borderline nightmare fuel. Alex Garlands films always had prominent horror elements and I wondered how they would be implemented here and it truly terrifies purely because of how real it is.

You're not supposed to enjoy this film, this film is a brutal reminder of what true war looks like. A realistic neutral view of a war torn America with some of the most gruesome and ruthless scenes you will see put to film from the perspective of a team of press photographers making their way to DC.

But the real question, is this a good film? Depends how you look at it.

If you look at it from the perspective of it being a dark reminder of war and how brutal it is, it is a masterpiece. However, if you look at it from the perspective of it being a film that's supposed to have a full plot, character development, beginning-middle-end structure, etc. You will not find that here.

Because of the intention behind the film I mentioned above, there really is not much to latch on to in terms of plot or characters, so instead of having anybody to root for or any plot details to keep you intrigued, all you have is "so here's these press photographers heading to DC to try interview the president" and thats it really. They stay neutral, take shots along the way, every now and then get into some trouble and then the film ends.

The main characters continuously make the point that they need to remove emotion from the situation and basically be soulless, they take the shots so that the people who view them can do the feeling and getting emotional on the job leads to failure in any number of different ways. But again, this dosent really make for compelling characters. They're not wrong, as proven by something else that happens later in the film that I won't mention cause you know, spoilers.

So you have a bunch of emotionless characters in a film that basically just consists of them travelling from point A to point B. They are neutral to any side and stop every now and then to take shots of people fighting.

That's basically the film in a nut shell.

There's not much of a plot to speak of because again, the point of the film is not about the actual war, who's fighting who and why, etc. Its about how savage it can get and its supposed to be an outside perspective (like how people would view the shots the press have taken in the film). That's just my take on it anyway.

The film has some incredible visuals and some very striking images, it does a great job at conveying just how much people would lose their humanity if it came to a real civil war like shown in the film. The acting is top notch, directing, etc. However like I mentioned, your feelings towards this film massively depend on what context you view it in and if you view it like any of other film with a fully structured plot and story, it's going to fall massively short (especially with how the trailers and promo material convey the film). Leaving a lot up to interpretation can benefit some films however this one for me personally left a little too much and just didn't give me enough to chew on as an actual story.

So to cap things off I'll say this. It is a very important film. Arguably one of the most important in recent years. Its a dark reminder for people who entertain the ideas presented throughout the runtime. However you will also purely feel like an observer and its very hard to attach yourself to this film. There's nothing really in there to make us feel anything for the characters we're following. Again, yes that was probably intentional because of the themes its presenting but does that make for an entertaining watch? Debatable.

Love Alex Garland, love his films and do think this is a technically great film and appreciate it massively for the message it is trying to push however its not exactly something I'll be rushing to rewatch.

Absolutely wicked. Took a few episodes to properly catch my interest but once it kicks in and the plot starts moving I couldn't stop watching.

Top performances from everybody but gotta shout out Walton Goggins because he smashed it the most by miles. Great direction, cinematography, special effects, music, etc.

Obviously with a show like this you need to use CGI to create certain visuals however for the most part the CGI is actually great and they didn't just use CGI to create everything they needed. You can tell they took the time to use as much practical effects as they needed to create the right aesthetic.

Never played the game myself but have a fair few mates I've seen playing it and I've watched plenty of clips online and from what I can see here they have nailed the look and feel of the world too.

I also very much appreciated that they didn't ease up on the horror/gore elements and the attention to detail with a lot of things was fantastic.

Very excited for season 2 and where they go with it!

Was honestly excited to watch this film as I am huge fan of "the witch" and "the lighthouse". However I have only now watched it because a friend of mine who loves all of Eggers other films as well went to see it and told me it's not worth watching in cinema and to wait until it comes to streaming. I was surprised and still intended to watch but wound up waiting for the home release. Now I understand what he meant and am glad I didn't watch in the cinema.

To start, obviously the visuals are fantastic, the scenery is great, the acting is top notch, the music is incredible and the tone that Eggers creates is all there. He has an incredible talent for bringing different time periods to life with authentic dialogue and themes. Everything was there to make this another potential cult classic to add to his filmography. However there is an enormous gaping hole of a problem with this film that just lost me completely about half way through... The screenplay.

To keep this spoiler free i will be as vague as possible. The first act kept me engaged, showing the life of the main character and the moments that lead him to the man he would become. We flash forward to where he is now and the plot begins to kick in with a fantasticly directed action scene but as soon as he finds out what his family member is doing now and where he must go, the story becomes unbelievably tedious.

This film does have action don't get me wrong but this is not by any means an action film. Once he travels to the location of where he needs to go and act 2 kicks in, the plot feels like it moves at an absolute snails pace. I'd find myself checking how far I am into the film and checking the time to see how long I've got left because I kept waiting for something to happen. Later on in the film it picks up a bit but not by much and definitely not enough to capture the intrigue I had at the beginning of the film. It had already lost my attention.

As I mentioned earlier the dialogue is great and true to the time period however the substance is barely there and not enough to hold my interest. The film is just over 2 hours long but began to feel like 3 or even 4 because everything feels like it slows right down especially with what the main character is trying to accomplish and how quickly it could realistically be done. There are elements of the script that basically tell you the reason the story can't move along quicker is because of fortunes and prophecies etc etc, but not only does that just wind up feeling like an excuse to long the film out but because you then know how things need to play out and what is supposed to happen you feel like you're just sat around waiting for this thing to come around.

Robert Eggers two previous films "the witch" and "the lighthouse" both had the benefit of not only being lower budget but also having a better sense of what you're in for going into the film. They were both mostly horror films that build off tension and suspense which is what made them so great along with all the other details that elevated them to what they were. This film has all those elements too however they are not as prevalent because this film isn't supposed to be like those ones. It was presented as a big budget viking action flick. It is not. It starts off that way which is what grabs your attention immediately and pulls you in but then the actual film starts. You're left waiting around for an hour and a half for things you've already been told will happen... well... to happen.

There are moments that bring you back in a bit don't get me wrong but they are all minor story beats that grab your interest for a moment and then we continue back to the snooze fest. If we didn't have the big act 1 and this film was promoted as it actually is, a period piece with moments of action and gore every now and then, I imagine it would have been recieved a lot better. This film just didn't pick a lane. Big high budget epic? Nowhere near enough in the 2nd and 3rd acts. Standard Eggers suspense/horror? Again, nowhere near enough to bring it to those heights.

Genuinely really disappointed. I was rooting for this film and again the first act pulled me in and set the film up to be this grand epic but instead of a major revenge plot that kicks off and takes us down all kinds of different and exciting avenues we then go and spend the rest of the film on a farm essentially playing hide and seek with the odd trippy nordic vision every now and then.

Literally could have changed nothing in the first act but switched up where the rest of the films leads, kept the same ending and it could have been one of the greats but instead we got this. Still a good film and worth the watch for the acting, visuals, music, etc again literally everything else is fantastic but the plot basically feels like it grinds to a halt. Despite everything I've mentioned here I still have very high hopes for Nosferatu (Eggers next film). Horror/Mystery. Perfect set up for an Eggers film.

Just to add, I do fully believe Eggers is capable of making an epic of what people expected out of this film however something went wrong here and it went from extremely enticing and interesting to wondering whether I should set an alarm in case I fell asleep.

5/10.

If this dosen't get renewed for a season 2 myself and I imagine plenty of other people will riot. A majority of the stuff netflix puts out is mediocre at best and most of it you forget after watching because its just mush. Most of it feels like it's purely just to keep the content machine flowing. The gentlemen feels totally different and might actually be one of the greatest shows I've seen and it's only the first season.

Top acting, top direction, top writing, top everything basically. Guy Ritchie is absolutely on form here. Had me right on the edge of my seat for a majority of the show trying to work out all the angles, agendas, schemes going on between the multiple calculated characters through out the show and on so many occasions I thought I had it worked out until a few moments later I'd be proven wrong again with another brilliantly executed twist.

The gentlemen (2019) was already a fantastic film but what limited it was the time it had to tell its story however giving Guy Ritchie and his team a full 8 episodes to play with to fully pad out this story was very clearly an excellent choice and I truly hope this show takes off in a big way not only because it deserves it but because Netflix will hopefully realise what a treat this show is and give us more seasons.

I could go on for ages about this show but I'd rather leave as much detail out of this review as possible because I went into this series essentially blind and I absolutely loved it however I imagine knowing more of the details before hand wouldn't have had the same impact so if you can, watch this before you learn any more about it, trust me.

So in short, watch this show. As soon as possible. Its fantastic.

Very rare I hand out a 10/10 but honestly I can't find a single fault with this film, every aspect top to bottom is perfect. I could sit here for ages telling you about all the things that came together to make this film as great as it however I think I would be wasting your time. Instead all I am going to do is tell you to watch it because I can guarantee you this film will blow you away. My expectations going in were already really high and somehow this film exceeded them far behind I could even comprehend.

Denis Villeneuve has just reached God level and I can very confidential sit him in the same category with the likes of Christopher Nolan, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, etc. Easily best film of the year and I will be extremely surprised if this one gets topped by end of the year.

Usually write a big long review with all the pro's and con's of whatever I've watched however I won't waste your time here because there are very few con's to be seen.

Fantastic acting, fantastic direction, fantastic music, fantastic story, fantastic everything. At times the story can take some what of a stretch in terms of believability however with the tone of this show being a drama/comedy it fits right in and was never an issue for me. It's hilarious at the right times but more importantly it knows when to take a more serious tone. Respect's it's characters but more importantly it respect's its audience.

Feels like so long since I've watched a new movie or tv show and genuinely cared about the characters on screen. Plenty of moments where I laughed however that Jurassic Park reference had me in absolute stitches (If you know you know)

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and if you're reading this I highly recommend you watch this show. Netflix, if you don't green light a second season I'm hiring Charles Sun and sending him to your head office.

I am one of the people who considers "The Boys" to be one of the greatest television shows running today. I obviously don't need to go into detail into how fantastic that show is not just in terms of its writing, acting, direction, etc etc but in terms of its social commentary and how it shines a harsh light on both sides of the political spectrum without it being "preachy", how it takes one of the most popular forms of media, flips it on its head and uses it as a mirror to reflect how dodgy and corrupt our own society operates. "The Boys" is a one in a million hit and so far has been fantastic all the way from the first season to now, so when I heard there was a spin-off about a supe college with all new characters I was cautiously optimistic.

To my knowledge "Gen V" isn't based of any pre-existing story or characters from the established "The Boys" comic or universe and with what I had seen about it before the show aired my first thought was that Amazon Prime saw how popular "The Boys" had become and decided to cash in with a spin-off, seening how popular teen drama shows are they must have thought about combining the two. The original show has strayed a bit away from the original comics story and in some ways has made some improvements so when this spin off was announced my personal thoughts were that it could go either way and to wait and see what they had in store.

The first 3 episodes dropped all at once and after watching them back to back I was extremely excited to see where this show would lead, all the characters were engaging, the story had set up some very interesting threads to follow and not only did it look like it was going to be amping up nicely but it also didnt shy away from all of the nastiness that "The Boys" has been supplying us with over the years. However week after week of new episodes and it started to feel like it was losing steam. By the time the finale came out I went from rushing to get the newest episode watched to remembering "oh yeah the new episode came out yesterday" because I saw a spoiler show up on YouTube the day after the release. Couldn't tell you what it was exactly but every episode seemed to get less and less interesting, all of the plotlines they set up seemed to thin out and become really obvious and even some of the twists and side plots that happened didn't grab me as much as I thought they would.

Don't get me wrong this show did have some excellent moments in it but typically every episode towards the end of the show felt like I was just waiting for those moments to happen and then pass by. The direction, acting, etc were all standard with what we have come to expect from the creators of "The Boys" and there weren't any major issues with the plot however I feel the story started getting a bit weak towards the end and lost the momentum in the last few episodes.

Despite what I've said this is still a good show and I would advise watching (especially if you're watching "The Boys") however don't expect this show to be as engaging as the show it is spinning off from. Maybe give it another season or 2 to develop and see where it goes however I do hope to see more life pumped into this one. Hopefully the next season can carry not only the same energy the first few episodes of season 1 had but build from that energy through til the finale instead of letting it simmer.

Watched the original Japanese version and then Romesh and Tom's voice-over for UK viewers, both are thoroughly entertaining and hope to see the same set up for season 2 (if there is one). At first I had an issue with how difficult some of the stages were and how mental they got with the rules making it impossible for some contestants and then giving other ones a pass seemingly at random but after a while you get used to it and realise its just the spirit of the show, you obviously aren't meant to take anything seriously its all just for a fun!

Everybody bashing Romesh and Tom's commentary were obviously either expecting the original commentator or just don't have a sense of humour as these two were brilliant and had me creasing through out! Top show very glad to have Takeshi's Castle back on TV!

My review of this movie I'll get to in a moment but first I feel like i have to clarify something. Bit of a lengthy review this one so strap in.

Since Endgame there have been 18 movies and TV shows (almost as many as there were movies between Iron Man 2008 and Endgame 2019). I've watched everything MCU related and the only MCU content I can reference that was either good or just half decent is Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and Moon Knight. Each of these still obviously have their own problems but these problems personally aren't big enough that it weighs down the rest of the story for me. Everything else has been soiled by completely incompetent writing and just feels like corporate, lifeless, monotonous sludge pushed out by the colossal rectum that is Walt Disney Studio's to keep content and money flowing.

I have been a solid fan of Marvel Studios for over a decade now and after Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness I had mentally checked out entirely. The writing for these movies/tv shows has become so ridiculously lazy and convoluted that its impossible to follow logically. They are treating the concept of the multiverse like its this sacred thing that can't be altered and they can't interact or merge but also that you can do anything what so ever with zero consequences because there's an infinite amount of other universes so who cares. Why should we as an audience care about your universe when you very blatantly don't care about it yourself.

The multiverse can be an incredible story telling device if utilised properly and with meaning behind it, but they've instead decided to go down the Rick and Morty route and make it so nothing matters. Its entertaining for a moment but also loses all meaning when the stakes you set can be nullified completely at any moment. (Dosent surprise me that my friend mentioned after watching the movie that it felt like an episode of Rick and Morty, especially with some of the comedy, themes and the fact that marvel has now hired a multitude of writers from that show to head multiple different projects, including this one.)

There is so much to say about how little there is to say about everything Marvel has released the past 4 years. The formula has been abused so hard that I can do a description of virtually everything they've put out the past few years in one go:

Hero and friends are all in a great position, Hero accidentally discovers something, world/universe is in danger, comedy, action, comedy, action, one or two big subverted twists that makes no sense, means nothing and pleases nobody, comedy, action, big CGI fight and then the Hero and their friends are right back where they started. Throw in a few 'woke' wins/ideologies/issues to please the woke crowd and keep them defending any criticism of your films, kick your feet up and call it a day.

(For context, the comment on the inclusion of 'woke' ideologies in these films isn't a comment on whether its good or bad, whether you should agree or disagree or whether it should or shouldn't even be in the movie, everybody has their own opinions and everybody is entitled to them. This is a comment on the fact that Disney very clearly dosent actually care about these issues they portray and instead uses these as some what of a shield against valid criticism of their films online.)

Of course each new movie/show they put out they have to dangle a carrot in front of you in the form of some major marvel character/actor who is going to show up, and then of course by the end of the movie/show, that character/actor will have been retconned, killed off or just straight up revealed to not be the character you thought it was because "hey we gotcha again didn't we lol look how clever and funny we are". They want to use all of these crazy characters and properties they now own to entice people to come see their films but either don't have the balls to commit to any of them or dont have the talent/creativity to bring them to life, so they "subvert" our expectations, do something nobody wants and then call it clever. It's borderline false advertising at this point. Its like variations of groundhog day, especially now that I've just watched Bill Murray walk in and out of this movie so quickly I forgot he was even in the film until writing this review.

Even without all the multiverse stuff almost every movie/TV show has been made to look so important and game changing yet felt so inconsistent and inconsequential that by the end you could completely remove it and it would make virtually no difference to the overall story. I'm not saying every movie has to have some next level, world changing thing that completely switches everything up but to have everything that has been released feel this lifeless really is a killer expecially when the MCU felt truly incredible at one point. Now its this dead husk being puppeted and milked for every penny by Disney.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is no exception. The concept for what this movie was about is actually great material however it is constantly bogged down by plot holes, terrible comedy and some questionable CGI. Don't get me wrong there were a few genuinely funny moments and for the most part the visuals are fantastic and the artists who brought this world to life should be proud of themselves. Infact everybody involved in the making of this movie should be proud because you can tell pretty much everybody brought it. However this movies suffers enormously from what everything else in Phase 4 of the MCU has suffered from.

Horrendously incompetent writing.

The overall story and concepts for these movies aren't the problem, its the lack of respect for the characters and source material and the attention to detail that these hack writers seem to not even remotely care about. Its gotten so bad that to even enjoy some of these movies you need to switch the thinking part of your brain off completely. I feel genuinely sorry for some of the highly talented actors in this film that had to regurgitate some of the most incomprehensibly insane dialogue I've ever heard in a movie.

"But hey these are just stupid superhero movies for kids you're not supposed to think too deep into it"

Some of the greatest movies I've seen are very much family friendly. Implying that because children's brains aren't as fully developed as adults its ok to phone it in and make everything braindead is whats killing cinema and empowering these lazy writers to not care what they put to paper. What made these movies and this universe so herculean now is the attention to detail and the respect they had for the characters, the story and the fans who got them to this point. The overall writing and story for a film should never be sacrificed for the sake of spectacle and subversion yet the writers of these movies and shows seem to think that's now compulsory.

This movie has some quality moments, the acting is overall good with some being exceptional (Jonathan Majors as Kang being the standout), some of the comedy definately got a good laugh and some of the creative elements they did with the world and the action set pieces was next level. However, all this really is the icing on the cake with the overall cake being the story you're telling and the cake was so flavourless and inconsistent its impossible to go a few minutes without questioning everything that's happening.

Characters being shown in one situation then magically being in a different one next time they're on screen, the most unbelievably convenient, infinitely impossible moments just landing right in the characters laps like magic, gaping plot holes that completely break the universe and immersion, terrible comedy usually at the expense and detriment of the script/story, clunky/rushed CGI, main characters being completely forgotten about and sidelined for the whole movie (Feeling very sorry for Evangeline Lilly, The Wasp is completely underutilised and has been turned from a character into a cog to keep the other characters moving along. The fact that this movie is called "Ant-Man and the Wasp is quite frankly a joke.), subverted, meaningless plot twists that make zero sense and of course... mcguffins.

Marvel... This is really your big kick off for Phase 5?

This is obviously a spoiler-free review but the tricky thing about these reviews (which I think Disney also likes to bank on) is obviously a majority of people who haven't seen the movie will be avoiding any reviews with spoilers but without going into the spoilers its impossible to describe just how meaningless this movie and so many other MCU movies have been recently.

If you go to these movies to switch your brain off completely and enjoy the comedy and visuals then you'll have a great time however if thats what you're paying disney and these hack writers for then I suggest either waiting until it releases on streaming services or putting on a comedy podcast and finding a few different 4K youtube visualiser's to stare at for 2 hours instead. You might save some money and also hit Disney's pockets just enough they decide to actually start caring about the content they put out.

If you're going to these movies to follow the stories and the characters you've cared about for well over a decade you will leave feeling deflated and confused, only feeling more deflated and confused the more time passes by and you chew on what you just watched.

Fully done with the MCU now as are a plethora of other people, the universe is so broken and messy that Marvel might as well reboot the whole universe and start from scratch now that they've acquired all the properties that they have.

If you still want to watch this movie just wait until its out on streaming, as I mentioned this movie has some redeeming qualities but nowhere near enough to make it worth your money. The writing weighs this film down like a dingy loaded with a ton of lead.

Not one to usually leave reviews on here but this show has just blown every other TV show (and let's be honest movies as well) out the water. Perfect on every front. Acting, direction, cinematography, effects, etc but the main standout is the quality writing which every major league super hero/action/sci fi show show seems to be missing at the moment. Every character has their own agenda and a massive majority of them you can't really say are good or evil at this point they're all in a very murky grey area and this episode crashed them all together beautifully.

Hats off to the creators and everyone involved in the creation of not only this episode but the show in general. If the rest of the boys is as good as this all the way to the final episode then it could potentially dethrone breaking bad as my favourite TV show and I'm sure a lot of other people are the same after this one. Quality entertainment.

Gave up on big mouth after season 3, first two seasons blended comedy and relatable situations pretty well and was actually a good show but after a while the concept got stale and it stopped being "educational" and got too preachy/political, what started out an actually smart well written show presented as a dumb comedy stopped being smart and just got dumb. Thought I'd give this show a go because the two best characters from big mouth (Maury and Connie) were both in this and maybe could be a fresh start/new concept.

Think I laughed once through out all ten episodes, felt like the whole time I was waiting for it to pick up or even just get funny. What made big mouth funny/interesting was watching how peoples emotion monsters reacted to situations and convinced characters on how to respond which usually resulted in some stupid or funny shit. Taking that element away almost entirely and basing the whole show on just the monsters kinda removes the point of the show, yeah they included that element with the married couple and did some semi interesting stuff with that and some others but that was mostly based on the love bug character working out how to do her job and not actually the human characters.

It feels disconnected and now the only thing that's left is the crude humour which can be entertaining at times but the reason it was entertaining in big mouth was because crude stuff was usually a result of the monsters affecting the characters but now you're just watching the monsters so you kinda know what to expect. Episode 9 with the grief monster was decent but the rest just started boring me after a while because I didn't even really care about any of the characters.

2/10, big mouth i think has taken a nose dive and i reckon this show is evidence that they're running out of ideas. Big mouth was a great concept for a show initially but think they need to call it a day now.