Reviews

Saturday afternoon.

I want something to watch that won't make me think and I can just zone out to.

I started watching the babysitter thinking I would be turning it off within a few minutes and putting some other low rated b movie on.

Well, I've been treated to a stylish, fun, funny, silly, but well written horror comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously but still knocks it out of the park.

It's like a modern, 18 rated Home Alone with sexier villains.

You really can't go wrong with this movie. A true popcorn flick for a Saturday.

I would still recommend seeing it at night with a date. Just remember to keep your tongue in your cheek and your logic locked away for 90 minutes.

Boring!

Well it wasn't all that bad but I can assure you there are better films out there to waste your time on. This just isn't worth the effort.

It's slow burner, and I mean realllyyyy slow, but it never really ignites.

All opportunity for conflict or tension is muffled out like they wanted to see what shooting a gun through a pillow could look like symbolically as a feature length film.

The plot is deep and dark but way too dark and deep for this film to deal with.

We only find out in the second act that there's a huge conspiracy involving high level officials and by that time it's already too late to explore it properly. So, the ending is rushed; seems pointless and feels really nihilistic.

I wasn't expecting a happy ever after but it's could be good to have a realistic ending at least. I can't quite figure out exactly what's happening at the end. There should have been a better choice by the anti-hero given his dilemma.

What a shame. It could have been so wild, but it ended up being so tame.

This is a must see. I've been binge watching Ben Channan productions at the moment after watching The Capture I'm sensing a theme: technology, and more specifically: cameras.

What this particular TV movie does so well is to keep you guessing from start to finish about who the nightmare neighbours really are.

It goes deeper with the invasion of privacy and the study of possible paranoia by never offering satisfaction to the protagonists(?) or the viewer.

I was impressed by how easily I was able to relate to all of the characters on multiple levels.

It's not often I watch something so tense that I can't stop thinking about even after the credits roll, but this review tells you I'm still thinking about this and I probably won't sleep tonight because of it.

I will be honest, I liked this film. I'm a big fan of suspense thrillers and 'The Invitation' served its genre well.

The movie is like creeping death, slowing moving, introducing new characters and unreeling plot line ever so carefully.

There were some amazing moments of both cinematography, one in particular where dialogue between two female characters can be heard as they discuss the main protagonist as he moves through the gardens.

I also enjoyed the creepy, suspenseful moments of the protagonist trying to work out what is going on at his former residence. Are his suspicions founded, or are the hosts really just wanting to bring his friend group closer together.

The pace of the film, however, was a little too slow. It seemed to drag from time to time, and there were a number of red herrings that seemed to go absolutely nowhere. An incident involving a coyote at the beginning seems to serve no purpose in the plot, and character who turns up half way through the movie seems to arrive at such a convenient time.

These are small issues, though. Once the suspense finally ends and the plot starts to unravel, you are left with a true sense of dread that would have made any horror movie worth watching.

You really feel for the characters during the third act, and there are so many antagonists in the house, you genuinely feel they could be anywhere at any time.

The ending was a little unsatisfactory. The number of people left standing at the end just seemed unnecessary with a loose end really sticking out like a sore thumb, and the final twist, although intriguing, begs more questions than provides answers.

Like I said, I did like it. It had terrific acting, a steady plot, and it was set in one location which I always find interesting as the story needs to be super strong.

Its main flaws could quite easily have been ironed out with a final draft, but it's definitely worth a watch. I could probably watch it again.

This movie did two things completely right that most movies don't.

I'm not a fan of time travel movies.

Usually, I sit gritting my teeth at the sheer audacity of the writers as they attempt to suspend my disbelief to the point that I would have to just accept anything they throw at me.

Unfortunately, time travel is a sticky subject that is so hard to get right, but so beautiful to watch and immerse yourself in when it succeeds.

About time got it right. This is the first of two things it does very well.

From the very beginning, this treasure of a tale does not try to blind you with science, nor use you as some instant stooge to work its lame magic tricks. Instead, it comes right out with the plot at a very early stage when the amazing Bill Nighy just outright tells his son that he can time travel, and that's that.

Sure, this is ludicrous in its own right, but it's done in such a playful and self-aware way, that you can't help but chuckle and go along for the ride.

I loved the idea that there are rules to this incredibly simple method of time travel. Never forwards, only backwards; and the true dangers of what might happen are laid bare in a very intelligent and heartfelt way.

The second thing that it did well was the theme. The subtle message that we receive at the end of this movie can be found in every book on mindfulness, Buddhism, religion, self-help book, and basically anywhere else where someone claims to know the meaning of true happiness.

In a movie about time travel, you would expect there to be many selfish attempts to attain wealth, fame, and sex (although there is one scene where this is used to great effect). About time, however, doesn't bash you over the head with the cliché boy-talk idea of what time travel is for. It approaches it in a mature, and yet intriguing way where on occasion you are unsure where the path will lead, but when you arrive you realise you probably should have trusted the main character a little more.

I won't reveal what the theme was or how it affects those who witness it on quite a deep level, but I will say that you will have heard it before from someone, and thought 'well everyone knows that', but we just forget, every time that is how we should be living our lives.

There are parts where the plot could have used more work and the movie seemed to stagnate. The sub-plot with the protagonist's sister, for instance, was a little stale and I didn't really feel as sorry for her as the writers wanted me to. I was also not really conflicted at all throughout the plot to the degree where I was squirming in my seat, or really gulping for fear of the unknown.

These are not major criticisms, though, the movie played it safe and I was a happy observer. I felt the tone was soft and fluffy, the characters were animated and interesting: my favourite has to be the uncle who I felt stole the show whenever he had screen time, great character.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2 hour run time, and I would definitely do it again with close friends just to show them what a gem it is and discuss what they felt about the interwoven message.

I love Black Mirror; I have since the day I first watched "The Entire History of You" (2011). Never, since the Twilight Zone had I felt so creeped out by a dystopian vision so Raw and Real.

That's why, when I heard that Black Mirror, Season 3 was on the way, I was swept away on one of my optimistic waves, unfortunately crashing back down to earth while watching "Nosedive".

The episode wouldn't be too bad, if it were made for an audience of Bridget Jones fans, but I don't think it fits into the Black Mirror category, that has proved it has substance every time (except "Fifteen Million Merits", that was insanely boring).

To give you a bit of a high-level overview of why this episode doesn't work, we have a shallow protagonist, who is unlikeable from the start, through the second and third acts and ends with her being even less likable.

Yes, I realise that Black Mirror's subject matter does usually point to the modern world's obsession with social media and "likes" and "shares" as being shallow, but it has previously been done in an environment where the audience don't immediately feel creeped out by the main character, nor want her to fail at every hurdle. I found myself wanting her to flounder at every turn. That's not what I want as an audience member. I want to root for her, even if she does fail at the end.

Her outcome is already telegraphed in the title of the show. We know where it is heading, and there is nothing but a linear path to walk. I felt like my hand was being held through the whole journey. I'm not a child; I'm a grown man: let my mind wander to what might happen.

I have seen the two episodes that follow this one already, and I have to say that they are far superior. I just hope that Charlie Brooker keeps creative control of the rest of the franchise, as handing off the steering wheel to others seems to end up in an absolute car wreck, and I would hate for there to be a pile up.

Southpaw is a lucky film. Lucky in the same way that Fast and the Furious is lucky. It will make money, no matter how great, mediocre, or truly terrible it is. Luckily it isn't all that bad.

Personally I don't feel the world needed another generic fighting movie. Mark Wahlberg's "The Fighter" excelled at this formula very recently, but that was mainly due to Christian Bale's Oscar winning performance. Southpaw, unfortunately, did not have it's own Christian Bale.

Sure, Forrest Whitaker appears half way through the second act, but his character is not all that memorable, and the dialogue between his character and Gyllenhaal's seems clumsy and forced. It's almost like they needed to add more to the movie and just plonked in all of Whitaker's scenes to beef it up. There is an emotional part attached to the training sequence, which again, just feels like they wanted to add extra emotion and sadness and just thought "Ahh let's make the audience feel more misery here, we just haven't made them feel miserable enough yet".

The story itself is linear and requires no thought or reasoning. It is not engaging or intriguing. There are no twists or turns to watch out for, but it does stick to the hero's journey quite well. The fall from grace of the main protagonist does require an immense suspension of disbelief, for the financial questions it raises alone.

I felt that the exposition was jammed into my face on several occasions. An announcer stating that both the protagonist and his wife were both orphans, during a boxing match is just not sensible script writing.

Yes the story made me feel emotion for the character, but I pitied him. I genuinely despised him at times too. I don't believe that his redemption was hard fought enough and his self revelation was practically none existent. He is practically the same character at the end of the fight as he was at the beginning. He really doesn't learn all that much. The daughter character actually has a real self revelation and grows through the story, which I'm sure was not the writer's intention.

Finally, the term Southpaw is a misnomer and again, I feel it was jammed in at the end, when they couldn't think of a catchy enough soundbite. I'll be honest, it did work on me, but it was a very orthodox movie in every way and apart from the impressive physical transformation that Jake Gyllenhall went through; there wasn't much to take notice of.

It kept my attention for the timespan barely, but this was not the knockout I was looking for unfortunately.

It's been a while since I saw a movie (yes I know it was a book originally) from the drama genre, that actually had me guessing right until the very end.

This movie is difficult to categorise into just the drama genre anyhow. It is a mystery, thriller, detective, and to some degree: a love story. Albeit, not your conventional love story.

From the very beginning of the story, we set out on a journey to discover what has happened to the protagonist, Christine; why it has happened; and who among the few people she interacts with is trying to help her, or hurt her.

I know when I am watching or reading a good story, as I tend to become upset about two thirds the way through, when I feel I am just about getting to truth, but I can't quite point the finger. I don't want the story to end as I want the satisfaction of figuring out exactly what happened before it is revealed me, but I can't stop it because of just how good it is.

In the very best stories, all of my assumptions are wrong, but I don't feel foolish when I realise I was wrong. This is one of those stories.

As far as the acting is concerned, I believe it is a stellar cast. It's great to see Nicole Kidman and her tight behind on screen again. I am still wondering when it is going to lose its battle to gravity.

Colin Firth is a sublime actor who never fails to impress with his natural style.

My gold star goes to Mark Strong who I have seen a little more of recently, most notably in the recent Kingsman, where he played the James Bond equivalent of Q, but was nowhere near as annoying or old. He looks fantastic with a bald head.

Finally Anne-Marie Duff is a great addition to the cast. She is one of very few British women actors who keep pushing to the front, and I'm glad. She was great in shameless and she adds real depth to her role in this movie too.

I would say, if I were a critic, that there are a few gaffs in the movie that were sadly overlooked. Plot points that really don't add up sometimes, and also attention to detail; such as driving on the right hand side in a right hand drive vehicle while in Britain. We are one of the few countries in the world that do drive on the left, so this is a glaring error and really should have been addressed.

The gaffs and trips were few and far between, however. The enjoyment factor due to the pace and intrigue of the movie kept it flowing throughout. The fact that the story was based on great source material helped a lot, but not all great premises turn into big hits. Look at "In Time", for instance. That was a great premise, with terrible execution.

The producers and director in this movie have made sure that the movie built securely on its solid foundation, to ensure it would weather the storm. They succeeded

This is definitely not one for all the family, and there are a couple of real "Oh my god moments", but it is must see viewing.

Watch it alone ideally, but if you watch it with your friend, spouse, or significant other; be warned: this movie will test your trust for the people around you, and with its shocking twist and finale, you might not even be able to go to sleep.

I saw somebody say that this is Nolan's first true masterpiece. That might be true, but I believe this is only his second original work. Therefore, I think it is not so bold to say there is room for many more.

When I saw Memento, I knew that I was experiencing a whole new kind of director. One that was not only brilliant, skilled, original, and stylish; but also British. I love it when a director is British as it helps me to believe that one day it could be me.

Inception is so dense in plot; so wrapped in layers that will only become apparent with multiple watches; and so visually well presented, I am in no way surprised it tops the list of greatest movies of all time.

For some reason I tend to feel as though no modern movie should ever be awarded with such an honour: but it should, because every movie was modern once, and Christopher Nolan is a director who should be celebrated on every level. For what the man has done for batman alone he should be knighted.

Well done Christopher Nolan, you amaze me with everything you do, please continue to delve into my mind and make me like you as much as you wish. Well... steady how you go.

If we are to understand that all movies that follow the Hollywood formula are split into three acts then Looper is missing an act. I'm not saying that there should be an investigation into a missing act, I am merely pointing out that as strong as Act 1 and 3 were, the second act was poor.

The beginning was good, and so was the end, but the middle just seemed to be confused and shaky, much like this review.

The story that takes place in the second act doesn't really fit with the rest of the story. I don't want to go into too much because I want to write a review for a change without pressing the spoiler button.

The movie is watch-able, but I just feel as though I was short changed on such a promising idea. This could have been a top time travel story; however, it settled for mediocre. Sorry Looper, but 7 is generous seeing as you robbed me of 33.3333 % of a film.

I had somewhat high hopes for this movie. Not for it to be the sickfest that Tom Six promised in the early teaser trailer, but for Tom Six to actually create something lasting with the infamy he gained through the previous film.

The Human Centipede itself wasn't all that bad I thought personally. Twisted sure, outlandish definitely. However, aside from the poor show of acting from the American student girls early on in the film, the standard of acting was good. The plot was linear, shocking, and kept you gripped to your seat, or the toilet bowl for as long as the movie was running. The film itself also came in under the radar. My friend came home once and said he had just watched a movie called 'The Human Centipede.' He then asked me to imagine what comes to mind when I think of those words. Of course I was way off, but by this point I just had to watch it out of intrigue alone.

The second film is none of the above. Indeed, it is sick, twisted, and outlandish; and then some. But it just isn't original, clever, or even remotely logical.

I don't want to go into the plot and explain who does what, aside to say that there is no real protagonist, and pretty much everybody in the film is either an antagonist, or deserves to die. There is a moment where you think that one woman will come through as some sort of hero, but then she does the most insane thing I have ever seen in a film. You'll know it when you see it: if you see the uncut version.

Tom Six is taking his audience for a ride, and not a good one. He's laughing at the people paying the ticket price and stupid they were to trust him and his film making ability.

The majority of the movie is shot entirely in black and white except for one part of the movie that has touchings of brown, in a similar fashion to the way blood is portrayed in Frank Millar's Sin City: have a quick guess which part that is. Note: that same scene that lasted a minute in the original lasts for ten whole minutes in this laughable sequel.

I said to my housemate after the credits rolled that watching this movie was like eating an insanely hot curry, or camping out at a festival; neither are particularly enjoyable by the end, but at least you can tell all of your friends you did it.

Cheap scares, Swiss cheese plot. I really can't say anything good about this movie. The jokes were not funny, the acting was though. Why does every curse movie never address the fact that if these gypsy people could throw curses around willy nilly they wouldn't need bank loans as they could easily hold the world to ransom?

This doesn't even fall closely into the category of black comedy, because after the first hour and a half I was bored to tears. Utterly ridiculous gross out moments don't make a film good, good script and plot design do. I gave this a 2 being generous. I have no idea how this film has managed to hit 7.2 on the IMDb score. I can only imagine that the majority of people voting are as unhappy as me with the calibre of horror that has been available over the last few years and got a bit itchy with their rating trigger.

If you want my advice then stop watching American horrors. The big budgets destroy any feel of real horror that remains in a story. CGI has ruined the world of film with super graphical scenes. The films that really do scare; such as The Wicker Man (1973) and Psycho (1960) didn't have so much as a dancing puppet, and yet still terrify me if I watch them today.

I believe there needs to be an overhaul when it comes to the horror genre, because if crap like this is passing the threshold at the end of first decade of the non-believing millennium, then we are in serious trouble for what the future has to offer.