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A Town Called Malice (2023)
Retro Fun
A really good violent crime family story with the best of 80's nostalgia smacking you in the face. It's a camped up London Gangland, Costa del Sol and retro, yellow Rolls Royce ride. It's not particularly realistic or completely believable and it's not supposed to be. That doesn't mean it isn't gritty or a high quality production.
The acting is top drawer - Jason Flemyng particularly puts in an exceptional performance.
The show is full of twists and turns and I found it thoroughly entertaining and managed to binge watch it in a weekend.
The sound track is phenomenal so get that sound bar plugged in.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Thank You!
Thank you for not ruining something as awesome as the original
Thank you for not just using CGI, therefore providing some of the greatest action ever to grace the screen
Thank you for making a sequel that didn't let me down
Thank you for showing Hollywood how to make a real movie again
... this is what happens when actors and producers really care about the original film showing it the respect it deserves instead of just raping it and the fans to make fast money.
One word final word - EPIC!
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part II (2022)
The Force is not strong with this one
Personally I find the child playing Leia really precocious. She's supposed to be 10, yet speaks like a know it all self righteous teenager, and looks like a 6 year old.
Ewan / Obi and the cinematography crew are top drawer but this episode in particular has an air of blade runner about it.
The storyline and drama isn't particularly compelling for the simple reason that we already know Ben Kenobi, Leia, Luke, Owen, and Darth will all make it through the series alive.
For the record I really enjoyed The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get into this if the screen time continues to be taken up by quite and irritating child character.
No Time to Die (2021)
A film of two halves
This is by no means a bad film. The problem for me was that the first half was up there with the best of bond movies, the second half while a decent movie was not really what I would consider to be a bond film.
The first half had the exotic locations, cool cars, exceptional stunts and action, a low humming of bond music excellently mixed into the scenes. The scene at the spectre "party" in particular with the addition of Ana De Armas was stellar bond action with swagger, humour, and pizazz. It lead onto a fine sequence on the boat with the fantastic character of Felix Lighter and at the end of that sequence, I felt the film gave the promise of bond on a mission of vengeance and I was really anticipating the remainder of the film.
Unfortunately the film then becomes something else, almost lazy, like written by someone who hadn't watched a bond film before. Malik for example, we know he can act but his character as the main villain had no depth to it, it was poor character development for any film never mind a bond. The film never bothered to explain who he was targeting or why he was actually trying to commit genocide - from what I could gather he had already achieved his goal an hour into the film. The villains lair - acid water, poison garden - we are told they are harvesting for the biological weapon but how does that harvest nanobots (let's just stick some acid water in for no reason)?
The finale, oh the finale. Well I'm just baffled to be honest, *Malik* he has the girl hostage and then just lets her go. He wants to let bond go, then he wants to kill bond, he then wants bond to suffer by not being able to go near his loved ones. He's selling the weapon to other "baddies" but he's about to wipe out half the world with a virus that is contagious from his missile silo, so why would he be bothering to sell it? Or are there no missiles and he plans on selling it to spread it, in which case why don't they just blow the boats up instead of the base? The action is decent but there's no big over the top action sequence where the audience clap or the John Barry bond theme smacks you in the face, despite having been teased with this for nearly two and half hours - where's the finale you expect when you go to see a bond movie? Then what? Bond for all intents and purposes gives up and martyrs himself in a rather glum, depressing, and out of character end to his run.
Another few niggling issues I have:
The new 007 character is a black female - does that matter? No absolutely not and why shouldn't there be a black female 00 agent? But what was the point of the character when we already had a much better agent in the film that got far too little screen time, other than to squeeze in a way to tick boxes? Ultimately it did her a disservice because there was no real screen time or character development (why not involve her in the off road car chase scene instead of just turning up to give bond a lift for example). Other characters that were done a disservice - M and Blofeld. Why would you waste Christopher Waltz like that?
The kid - yeah she's supposed to be an integral part of the plot but the kid was given too much actual acting time. Bond and kids don't mix.
Q's ugly cat - creepy.
Bad guys all must have a facial disfigurement - use some imagination guys!
Lastly - I love an Aston Martin but how many do you need to see conveniently popping up in one movie?
Loki (2021)
Watchable but underwhelming
I'm not a hardcore MCU fan but like many people I have watched most of the films etc and usually enjoyed them.
This series starts off moderately intriguing and well acted. It then becomes tangled up in its own web on confusion and becomes almost stupid and yet overly complicated at the same time. It's very easy to lose interest, the only saving grace is the acting in the later stages of the season.
One of my issues with this show is that Loki is effectively just a human in this, he has very little super human / godlike ability. The, for lack of a better word, "enemies" in the show also don't really seem to have all that much super human ability. So what exactly is the show trying to be? It just seems a little bit pointless.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Pretty Damn Mega
I'm giving it a 10/10 for what the film it trying to be and how it delivers on that.
This is a well paced, well acted, popcorn sci-fi / action flick. The action sequences and CGI are exceptional. The plot? Well it's good enough to relatively original but they haven't reinvented the wheel. There's plenty of action but not to the point of it getting tedious with enough background story and character development to make you invested in the storyline and characters.
If you are looking for a film that is throughly entertaining and keeps you glued to the screen then this is that film. I was not expecting a lot for a straight to Amazon film that has been slated on many of the reviews on here but time and time again during this film I was thinking to myself "wow this is awesome".
This film is what it is and I've got to say - I loved it.
Gangs of London (2020)
Utter Carnage!!
If you have ever watched The Raid you will know what I mean, a high octane, ultra violent, thrill ride, with some Incredible fight scenes. All rammed down your throat for the main course and then a slice of "what have I just watched" for desert.
The best I could liken this show to is the secret love child of Layer Cake and John Wick, adopted by Guy Ritchie.
Some top drawer acting, a real gritty, dark, thrilling aura, and really good production values; it feels expensive. It's got the binge factor that's for sure, I was hooked from the first major action scene.
They've really raised the bar on this in terms of British action / drama.
To pre warn people - if you don't like drawn out, viciously violent fight scenes, this won't be for you, it's graphic.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
A Short Honest Review
The film is entertaining in terms of action, visual effects, humour, and scenery etc. Where it becomes confusing is due to it's target market; it's too dark for really young children - I couldn't watch it with my 6 year old like the old Star Wars movies. Yet the story line is too predictable, simplistic, rushed, very lazy, and full of plot holes for adults to appreciate. It feels like a young teenager wrote it; I took my 10 year old son to watch it and he thought it was the best Star Wars yet.
What Disney have effectively done is alienated the original Star Wars fans (not all, many think it's fantastic) but also made a Disney film that the whole family can't watch. In favour of picking up the Fortnite generation, fitting in marketing and merchandising opportunities.
I personally thought it was the better of the latest trilogy and I certainly wasn't bored watching it, it has some really good moments, and some very nostalgic moments for fans to appreciate. Unfortunately a classic it is not and as a film on it's own I would say it's pretty forgettable.
The Expendables 3 (2014)
Sly what were you thinking???!!!!
I will keep this brief -
I was lucky enough to "go to the premier" as i'm sure many other people writing reviews did (i went to a normal cinema viewing for EXP 1 and 2 and own both on blu-ray, not sure i would buy this one).
The things I liked: Banderas was great Snipes was great Mel Gibson was great Harrison Ford was a solid addition as the CIA man Kelsey Grammar was exceptional
Now the things I didn't like: 4 new young expendables were added to the cast - Victor Ortiz who isn't that greater boxer and has quit on his stool in 2 of his fights also can't act, Rowdy Ronda who can't act but can fight, some other guy i've never seen before, and some other guy i've also never seen before. I don't remember the characters names i hope they get killed at the start of next film and just so Sly knows - nobody goes to watch the Expendables to watch 4 new people take up the screen time of the action legends they did go to see.
Jet Li is billed but is in the film for maybe 30 seconds and doesn't fight.
The end fight ended in about 20 seconds with no real climax.
Apart from the first action sequence non of the original expendable team get any decent screen time i don't recall Dolph or Randy even getting a fight scene.
Its a PG 13 so just imagine Rambo, Predator and Total recall with the blood taken out.
There were so many members of the expendable team in the end they could have invaded Iraq; 11 or 12 if you count Arnie.
This is not a bad film and worth a watch but not really an expendables film. I was under the impression the expendables movies were about getting action movie legends together and having them blow things up and crack one liners. Not a bunch of kids who aren't even famous trying to have attitude.
He Who Dares (2014)
Probably the best lead villain in a British film for a long time!!!
I don't review films often but felt I had to due to the number of negative reviews with 1/10 ratings.
Look this film is flawed in ways too numerous to count but it is not without its good points.
First the bad points: # It uses the SAS name which is a big no no unless you are doing them some level of justice. # The fight scenes (bar the first one) are poorly choreographed, slow, lacking technical skill. # Some very mediocre acting as standard. # Fairly week plot. # Action scenes seem to have pacing problems. # Annoying flashy light effects when changing scene.
Now the good points: # The lead villain has great screen presence, he is psychotic, ruthless, humorous, witty, at times likable, unpredictable, and for his part the acting was excellent; the film is well worth a watch just for this character alone i rate the performance very highly. # Some of the film is deliberately tongue in cheek. # There's a fairly decent fight scene and at parts watchable action. # Its never boring.
If you're expecting The Raid or Die Hard (as it's billed), its not either or even close to either. However it is a half decent popcorn flick and despite its flaws I found it enjoyable. The film tries, it tries to be better than a B-Movie and that's the right direction for small budget British movies, if this film had got a few more of the action elements right (maybe 3 really good fight scenes)it could have really been onto a cult following, but there's no saying the director wont get those elements right next time.
Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)
Online Gameplay as good as MW2 ? Not IMO.
I love the campaign mode, there a few areas where you don't feel you're doing anything apart from going along a conveyor belt and pressing X when your told to, but thats only now and again. However i wanted to review the online aspect.
I've been having a blast online on the xbox and personally i don't think the game play is as good as it was on MW2.
The customisation features are great, also like the wager matches and the numerous types of online games there are.
Where i find the game falls down are - The guns have such a massive distinction from each other - The Ak74u is far to good imo. You can shoot someone with the Enfield be hitting them, and if that person has the AK74u they start shooting back and still kill you with body shots from mid range. Obviously a difference between weapons is required but there's taking it too far some guns are just useless and unfortunately they're the ones you start with.
The maps are too small there's people everywhere you can spawn and be shot straight away, sometimes you cant even move without being shot, most games you end up with 20 plus kills, and for me a whole lot more deaths lol.
A lot of the maps seem to be centred around an area which has nothing in it, you go into that area and get shot from every single direction, i don't see the point.
I felt with MW2 if you played tactically, sneaking around, camping when necessary and playing as "dare i say it" it was real, you could do really well it was more of a tactical game. Where as i feel with this game tactics are out of the window, its the more fire power and a lot of the times how lucky you are as to how well you do, its more of an arcade shooter.
If they had taken MW2 added the new customisable features and game types it would have been a far far superior game.
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Worth the ticket price but not as good as the first!
The film was entertaining and i felt like i'd got decent value for my cinema ticket.
Downy was great as usual, Rourke was excellent, and Don Cheadle was very good however i would have preferred Howard had reprise his role, he just added that little bit of extra grit to the character.
The special effects were amazing, the humour was there, and the action scenes were on the whole excellent.
There were two main downsides to the movie that stopped it being an all time great - Scarlett Johansson: a completely pointless role, apart from shots of her in her bra she didn't offer anything to the character, her fight scenes were annoyingly unrealistic and far fetched, and at one point she managed to change her hairstyle for a fight. She was clearly added for sex appeal for the fan boys but surprisingly didn't look as hot as usual.
The end fight: the fight between Rourkes character and Ironman lasted about 30 seconds and without spoiling the film for people who haven't scene it had more than a predictable ending.
Well worth a watch but it didn't have the wow factor of the original.
Ticker (2001)
Don't Let Your Deamons Defeat You!
This film was so bad that it was worth watching just to see how bad it could get! Seemed like it was going to be alright until Nas a.k.a. Det Fuzzy Rice dies, i thought maybe he was deliberately making his acting horrendous in order to trick Steven Segals character into thinking he was about to dye, BUT then he died!!! His last words i believe were "i'm so cold, cough cough, don't let your daemons defeat you! errrrrrrrrrk!".
The "Don't let your daemons defeat you" line comes up a few times in the film but not much is done explain what these daemons are, why Steven Segal has them, or to push the fact that he is supposed to be a man suffering emotionally. It's all just mentioned in passing, so the lines just seem over-dramatic! I cant really remember what goes on in the rest of the film because the story line is muddled and i lost interest.
What saves this film is the state of the art cutting edge special effects. ha ha no not really the effects are absolutely chronic too!! I especially like the bit when the car brakes and the blue screen background stops instantly, that was a corker, look out for that bit!!
The director was terrible, the action wasn't worth remembering and the script was pants. The only reason it didn't get a 1 is because it was so bad it was comical! Think Segal should go back to big budget movies like Exit wounds and if he's getting to old or out of shape to fight as much, add a sidekick who can to his films to increase the action.
Waterborne (2005)
Them Crazy Yanks!!!!
Not a bad movie overall, very B-moveish the colour was terrible and camera wouldn't stay still! The plot raised some interesting points and showed some good character motivation. However a lot of things that were going on didn't have much to do with anything e.g. the lad beating up his mate, it wasn't anything to do with the water, but a comment about him being a mummies boy, we later find out his mother killed herself (who cares what did it have to do with the rest of the story?). Also why was the guy out of Malcolm in the middle at the Sikh ceremony at the end wearing a bandanna?
The interracial relationship was interesting but i don't think British audiences will get what the fuss is considering there's about 7 million Sikhs, Indians and Pakhistani's here (about 10% of the population). And i didn't even realise the soldiers wife was mixed until i read someone else's comment about it!
I do have a few cultural questions about the American social structure -
Why did the soldier feel he had to shoot the guy in the truck when his life wasn't in danger (more gun hoe tactics)?
Why did the soldier hate the people who were trying to take some water from the aqueduct so much?
Why did the soldier think that he would be of benefit in Iraq after he had made racist comments at the start of the film, killed someone for no good reason, and scared some thirsty hillbillies senseless?
Why if only 23 people had died in the whole of LA (considering everyone must have drank the water) did the entire population of the city go mental and start acting like scared paranoid idiots?
Why didn't anyone just go to a Pepsi machine?
why weren't more people being supplied with water, it seems strange that the government would issue a statement saying not to drink the water then not supply enough to the population (is this a real concern in America?).
Why did the other soldier shoot the lad at the end instead of attempting talking him down?
If this is how Americans act in Iraq then no wonder the British have lost so many soldiers to friendly fire!
This film i think showed a lot about American social culture, how easily the people become scared of something relatively small, how racially segregated they are, and how that fear and misunderstanding of other people leads them into shooting or assaulting everything that moves! more people died from acting crazy and not drinking the water than if they had carried on drinking the actual water.
They should make an English version where nobody cares, they all sit around drinking tea made with water the government has supplied, or drinking in the pub, or probably just still drink the so called contaminated water, then three days later its over nobody's been shot and the bad guys been caught.
Gangs of New York (2002)
Good Start, Big Long Build Up, Pants Ending!
This film starts with an awesome gang fight between the Irish Gangs and the American Gangs which instantly drawers you into the film. It then goes on to tell the story of the gangs, the history and politics of New York, in a very historically accurate and educational way! the plot is excellent and is everything you expect from a Scorsese film with a dramatic epic scale set.
The downfall of this movie is the end, the film is very long but not boring, the plot builds up suspense right from the outset and gets you involved with the characters, you are led to believe that there is going to be a huge Gang fight (Irish VS American) at the end which i eagerly anticipated, but what happens?.........
All the gangs march to the battle ground to fight (with an immense build up in atmosphere) in the midst of a city wide riot, get there, are just about to fight and then get individually killed by rioters, soldiers or cannon's from the American Navy.
It left me feeling cheated and disappointed what type of film starts better than it ends and yet is still very long? If the ending had been good this film would have gone down as an all time classic, and i would have even been able to ignore the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio looks about as hard as a hamster with dysentery. But it wasn't so i couldn't!!! Unfortunately!
The New World (2005)
This film made me kill my girlfriend, and some nuns, and now I'm going to start a Jehad against the director and i ain't even Muslim!
I went to see this film with my late girlfriend! after watching this film for 2.5 hours it ended and i suddenly realised that nothing had actually happened throughout!
All those people who rated this film as a 10 are pompous, elitist, lier's. They want you to think that you didn't get the film but really there was nothing to get! I'm all for artsy movies but make the scenic shots breath taking and give it some historical merit. I can look at grass puddles and English country manor gardens at home! I went to Queen Elizabeths Grammar school in Alford, Lincolnshire, the same one as Captain John Smith went to, so i know a lot about his life. Pocahontas was just a 10 year old Native Indian Princess who he befriended briefly. And he was not Irish I'm sure of that!!!!
This film is just drivel i was so angry that my girlfriend had made me go to watch it, i strangled her in the cinema to kill some time, the nuns were unfortunate witnesses! (its a metaphor don't worry)!
Nothing happens at all, the characters don't speak just narrate their thoughts, which are dull. The imagery is just stuff you would see on a documentary about site seeing in Wales. The cinematography was muddled and confusing! AND most of all it was LONG, VERY NEEDLESSLY LONG!
I feel dumber since watching The New World i think it destroyed some of my brain cells. To be fair at least 50 people walked out as soon as they realised the whole first half of the film was just going to be repeated in the second half, only set in Britain! I should have left then!!!! Please god why didn't i leave then!!!!