The New Mutants

This is the film nobody thought would ever come out. It's had more release dates than I've had roast dinners and multiple production issues so I honestly didn't think it would ever come out. And after seeing it, I kind of feel that would be best for the film.

Let's start with the positives however, the best thing about this film is Anya Taylor-Joy. She has the strongest screen presence, the most interesting character and is the strongest actor in this film. She has some really great moments throughout the film and I really look forward to seeing her in the future. The rest of the cast are really good but Anya is by far the best.

Also the CGI are very good and very effective in some scenes. Now I will be calling this back in the negative but from what we get of the visuals, it's really good.

There's also some really nice call backs to the x men continuity and I really appreciated that so this doesn't feel insignificant to the rest of the films.

Unfortunately we need to get into the negatives and this film is a complete mess. I am struggling to believe there was no studio interference because when you get to the 3rd act, it feels like a different film.

This film just cannot decide what it wants to be. It jumps from being a character study, to a horror film, to a generic superhero film. And even when it works well as a character study, it's incredibly reminiscent to Glass. Yes this film was already made before Glass but play these two films together, they are very similar films.

On another level, the film logically makes no sense. This one woman played by Alice Braga is in charge of a big facility, in charge of these powerful mutants and not one of them tries to overpower her and escape. It's just her and although she has powers, she is not as powerful as any other of the mutants. I noticed it pretty much as soon as the facility was established into the film and as it went along, my point just kept getting proven more and more.

Speaking of Alice Braga, she is seriously miscast in this film. She gives a good performance but I really don't think she fits the role at all. There's one scene where there's an incident, she's running towards the incident but the way she runs is so comedic, it feels like an unintentional comedy. I also think Maisie Williams was miscast as well. She loses her Scottish accent in places and when she transitions into her abilities, she feels like a screaming child; once again, making this film into an unintentional comedy.

This film also has some serious pacing issues. Once we get to the facility, there's so much dialogue and exposition, the main plotline doesn't start until it feels around halfway through the film. Speaking of the dialogue, it is either very predictable or weirdly cringeworthy.

Once we get to the 3rd act, this is when it feels like a very different film because it goes from being very confined to portal jumping and very CGI heavy. This is when I wonder if this whole sequence was a studio produced reshoot because I did read there was studio interference although I could have read wrong. There's also not a lot of chemistry between any of the new mutants, there isn't any team dynamics between them.

Finally and whilst this is a nitpick, it did bug me that they were watching Buffy the vampire slayer and it spoiled it for me a little. I'm halfway through season 2 and I didn't appreciate the spoilers in the upcoming seasons.

Overall, whilst I do appreciate Fox trying something different, this is a really dull, messy film that just failed to live up to the hype and it's really disappointing to me.

⭐⭐

Mulan

I wasn't really sure if I was actually going to watch this film because I'm not a fan of the Disney live action remakes but since it was released on Disney plus, I figured why not and I really really liked this one. Now before I go on, I just want to clarify something; I have never seen any adaptation of Mulan. This is the first time i have watched a Mulan film, I am aware of certain aspects of the original Mulan but I've never watched it so I basing this review on my watch right here.

Onto the positives and the best thing about this film is the production. Now I don't know if this was filmed in a studio but it really looks like it was filmed in actual locations. You believe this is a Chinese community at war and it all looks brilliantly realistic. It even looks like they used practical stunts rather than CGI and they did not waste their budget. I thought this film just looked brilliant and beautiful at times.

Speaking of how it looks, the cinematography captures the action scenes perfectly, particularly that war sequence in the middle of the film. It reminded me of a PG-13 battle version of game of thrones and for Mulan, it actually worked. There's other places in the film where the cinematography just looks really impressive but that war sequence was just incredible.

Speaking of the action sequences, the action is also handled pretty well. Especially for the actress who plays Mulan, it doesn't look like they used stunt actors. (although they may have done) From what I saw, the actors actually used hand to hand combat which I always love when actors do that and the final battle between Mulan and Bori Khan is staged and handled really well.

The lead actress who plays Mulan gives a very impressive performance. With everything Mulan has to go through to prove herself and how she develops along the way, I thought she handled the role really really well. The rest of the cast are also really good and some of them have very good development arcs which surprised me a little.

And finally there's quite an emotional weight to this film. I won't reveal where but there are places in this film where you really feel the emotion between certain characters. Also this may be an unpopular opinion but there's certain changes that I'm aware of from the original version that I think worked really well. Again I won't reveal what the changes are but for the type of film this is, for the genre and how realistic it looks and is, the changes made I feel were the right ones.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and it's the main plot for me. Again I am aware of the main story in the original version and it worried me. The story of Mulan changing her appearance to look like a boy just sounded so dated and watching it, I still felt the same way. Now I appreciate the film for sticking to its source material but with all the changes it made, I felt that's the one change I would have liked to have seen. I just don't like the idea or story of a woman having to change her appearance to fit in.

Onto the negatives and I'll be honest, there's not a lot. I really enjoyed this film but there were some things holding it back. First, I didn't care much for the love story for Mulan and Honghui. For the film I was watching, it just didn't seem necessary adding the love story in it and I just didn't think there was much chemistry between them.

Finally and this is a nitpick but with how beautiful this film looks, there's one scene where it looks really bad. It looks overlyprocessed and CGI heavy and looks out of place with the rest of the film.

Besides those two, this is a brilliantly made remake of a beloved Disney remake and this is how these remakes should be made. I really enjoyed this film.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Unhinged

I actually had no idea about this film until a couple of days ago. I didn't watch a trailer, I read a little of the premise and I only knew Russell Crowe was in it so I pretty much went in blind and it's very entertaining.

To start off the positives, the best thing about this film is it knows what it wants to be. It doesn't overcomplex it's main plotline, it doesn't overstay it's welcome, it wants to entertain and deliver thrills and it does that.

The acting is also pretty good. Carin Pistorius delivers a intensely great performance and Gabriel Bateman is another standout. He's one of my favourite rising stars right now and I look forward to everything he's in. Russell Crowe gives an intimidating performance as Tom Hooper but I'll get back to him soon enough.

And finally, this film doesn't feel generic. It feels like a thriller that intends to avoid typical cliches and there's times where it can surprise us so I appreciated that.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film is the messaging in the film. When the film starts off, it feels like it's sending out a message about dangerous drivers and that's how the main plot starts off and it does that to an extent but it doesn't fully commit to it. Tom Cooper is pretty much the cause of the films events for being an idiot and when the film does focus on dangerous drivers, it's completely irrelevant to the story.

Onto the negatives now and there's quite a few. I'm not sure if this will be a hot take but whilst Russell Crowe gives a good performance, he feels a bit miscast in this film for a few reasons:

1. His character is completely one dimensional and underdeveloped. He has a really weak motivation for targeting the main character in this film and whilst you could argue his mental state could be sufficient to his motive, the film doesn't explore his character enough and his character is irredeemable when he's willing to murder a child in this film.

2. Tom Cooper is very overpowered in this film. I just struggle to believe overweight Russell Crowe can beat people up easily, overpower younger fitter people, can survive car crashes that kill other people easily as the plot goes along.

3. Russell Crowes casting ultimately feels like a safe route to market the film to bring in more people. I would have preferred it if they casted a more unknown and physically capable actor rather than overweight cranky Russell Crowe.

Finally, this film just relies on suspending your disbelief. Now in places, there is some clever writing in this film but other times, there's some frustrating moments that can easily be called our. For example, Tom brutally beats up someone in a diner and no one pulls him away or stops him. There's a lot of people in that diner and everyone is scared of an overweight cranky old man. Or the amount of car chases in this film and no speed cameras catch them and no police attempt to pull them over. That really got to me whilst watching this film.

Overall whilst it has a lot of flaws, this is an enjoyable film that delivers the thrills that you want from this genre.

⭐⭐⭐