Last Night In Soho

Now I will fully admit I am not the biggest Edgar Wright fan. I love Shaun of the dead but besides that, I haven't been a fan of any film he has made and I wasn't particularly excited. But I heard reviews and really great things about Last night in soho so I felt I had to check it out and whilst I will say there is a lot to appreciate about this film, I feel this is possibly the most overrated film of this year.

Starting with the positives, the best thing about this film for me is the casting. Thomasin McKenzie is fantastic all throughout this film. You absolutely buy her as this brave but shy and naive girl who is excited for her new path but is scared and overwhelmed by everything as well. And as the film goes along, you see her psychology break down and she's got to portray so many emotions and feelings. I've seen her in stuff before but this is my favourite performance of hers.

But this film is packed with great actors. The late fantastic Diana Rigg, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Richard Madden and Sam Claflin in very small roles, Terence Stamp who looks unrecognizable. This film also has unknown stars who I can see becoming bigger actors in the future so the cast overall is fantastic.

Another great thing about this film are the aesthetics. This film is just gorgeous to look at. From the colour correction to the lighting, it's just beautifully made and filmed. The cinematography is also handled really well and smartly used. There's a sequence where Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin McKenzie have to perform a filming technique called the Texas Switch where two actors perform the same scene but the camera has to transition from actor to actor and it must have been so hard to film.

It's also very impressive to see the film transition from present day to the 1960s and it very much feels like a 1960s era. The production for it is just incredible.

I also admire Edgar Wrights style and approach to the story. If you break it down, it's a familiar story but because of who Edgar Wright is, he's able to turn it into something visually original so I do have to applaud him for what he was able to do. He's even able to take familiar horror film tropes and visualize them into his style to make them feel current.

And finally I loved the 1960s soundtrack to this film. So many songs from the 1960s converted into present day sounds amazing and it's used very well to the tone of the film. Even in the 60s era, the soundtrack is used very efficiently.

However whilst there is so much to admire and appreciate about this film, I did have a few problems so time to move onto the negatives. Now as I go into this, I just want to say there will be people who watch this film and will love it. They will say it's one of the best films of the year and and that is fine. I have a feeling I will be very much in the minority when I talk about how I felt about the film and I'm fine with that.

Now for my issues and really there's only one but it's quite significant, this film felt very much like style over substance. Yes I love the style of the film but there's time where scenes feel too stylized and what affected it more for me was the story. Edgar Wright feels more invested in styling his scenes and because of that, it makes the story feel incomprehensible and it's all throughout the film so it made me struggle to enjoy it.

This film is an example how a film can have so many things right with it but it's enjoyment is down to whether it's the film for you and if you're the target audience for Edgar Wrights style of films and I feel that I am not. Whilst I appreciated and loved so much about the film, I just didn't enjoy it that much. I felt it was massively overhyped and very overrated.

⭐⭐⭐

Halloween kills

I was a big fan of Halloween 2018 and have been really excited for this film ever since. In fact, I decided to watch the entire franchise for the first time in anticipation and it definitely got me more excited for the film and as a result, I thought this was a good but flawed film.

Starting with the positives, just like the first film, the best thing about this film is james Jude Courtney as Michael Myers. He is fantastic in portraying this evil killer. The way he walks, his presence, his brute force, he is the best portrayal of Michael Myers and seeing Michael Myers causing chaos and mayhem is such a delight. I also like his burnt disfigured mask.

The overall performances of the rest of the cast are really good as well. Now with how some of their characters are utilized, I will talk about that is a different section but the actors give a standout job. I also appreciate that this film brings back several original characters into the franchise.

Now there's one character I really want to talk about and that is Dylan Arnolds character Cameron. Now before in the last film he felt like a pretty meh character who I didn't care about and for whatever reason, the moment he appears in this film, he feels like better, more established character with a bit of an arc and that made me care about his character. He knew he did wrong in the last film and in this film, this is sort of like his redemption story and I enjoyed it. I'm not sure if I'm on an island with this thought but we'll see.

There's also several great flashback sequences that take place 40 years ago and it feels like it. The aesthetics, the camerawork, the way the characters talk and look, it feels like a sequence that was made in the 70s and part of me wonders of it was deleted footage from the original film. I don't know but if it's not, they did a great job at making that sequence.

Now let's talk about the big one. The kills!!! This film has some of the most creative and best kills I have seen in any slasher film but what I loved most about the kills is that it made me fear Michael Myers. I've never found Michael that scary of a character but after this film, I definitely fear him now. These kills are brutal and gory and make michael a force to be reckoned with.

And finally I do like the setup for the 3rd film and the possible direction they could take Michael in.

Moving onto the mixed aspects now and the big thing is this is Michaels movie. He gets the most screen time and is this films main focus. Now whilst I enjoyed that side of it, Michael isn't really an interesting character to watch for an entire film. We're just watching him kill people. Literally that's it. He's not got much of an arc, if he is with other people, it's not for long because they're dead after ten seconds so as this films main lead, he's more of an exciting villain than lead character.

Also I avoided all the trailers for this film and was surprised by a lot of what happened but I know some of the trailers revealed quite a lot so a lot of people may be disappointed or may find this film predictable.

Now let's talk about the negatives, the big problem with this film is ultimately it's a filler film. There's no overall story. There are plotlines and subplots but unlike the first film, there's no story or progression of plot. Instead it's essentially Michael stalking the streets killing people and yes you can argue it's a slasher film and whilst I did enjoy the slasher element, what made me love the first film was the story and this film has no story.

Another way the last film was so good was the characters. They helped the story and plot progress and unfortunately the characters in this film either barely any further development or are really badly utilized. Even the characters who are brought back are not used to the best they could have been. Instead they either have nothing to do or they make really bad decisions.

And that will bring us to my next negative: the decisions the characters make are incredibly frustrating to the point where you think they want Michael to kill them. Have these people never seen a horror film before? It really bugged me that so many characters decided one of the best to do is to split up. Even the characters who live together.

And finally the mob subplot I think was very poorly executed. I love the idea of it but execution is a big deal and it comes off as very cartoonish and goes in a direction that felt completely unnecessary but also has a big plothole within the plot.

But overall, I did enjoy this film. I heard reactions that this is one of or the worst Halloween film (clearly no one has seen Resurrection) and one of the worst films of the year and I think those claims are very exaggerated. For me, this is a middle of the road Halloween film that is not the best nor the worst. Just in the middle.

⭐⭐⭐

No Time To Die

I'm gonna confess, I am not a bond fan at all. In fact before I had no interest in seeing this film but I decided to eventually just for how hyped up it was so I watched all the Daniel Craig films to prepare for it and I'm gonna say it right now, I loved this film.

Kicking off with the positives, the best thing about this film is you feel it's a massive blockbuster spectacle filled with size and scope. This also feels like the blockbuster we have waited for this entire year and I kind of feel all the delays and anticipation worked in this film favour as it felt needed for the cinematic experience.

Moving right along, we've got to talk about Daniel Craigs performance and I think this is his best performance as James Bond. It's well documented Daniel Craig wasn't happy with the final result of Spectre which he originally intended to be his last film and I think you feel it in this film. He feels more committed to the role and more determined to appeal to the fans and within that, he gives his best and most versatile performance probably since Casino Royale.

The rest of the cast are really good. Rami Malek is a welcome addition to the franchise though I will have some further thoughts with his character, Lashana Lynch and Ana De Armas are also great additions to the cast and even some of the returning cast members are still as great and memorable as they were before.

As this is a james bond film, you've got to talk about the action and for me, I thought the action was fantastic and extremely versatile throughout the film. There's fights, gunfire, car chases and explosions all throughout and its great to watch. There's also a great one shot sequence during the 3rd act and that was impressive to watch. Some of the aesthetics during the action is also really well done. One scene has Bond surrounded by fog and avoiding gun shots and that scene was probably the most atmospheric sequence. Not only did you feel the tension but whilst being a wide open space, it feels very claustrophobic.

I also liked the location settings throughout the film as well. Not only are they beautiful to look at, they feel environmentally fitted for the action especially for the opening action sequence.

And for something different, I really liked some of the sound mixing for the film. An explosion happens and you hear muffled sound and ringing, you hear characters on coms with each other and you hear how distorted their voices are. It makes it more realistic for the context of the film.

There's also some nicely added humour that felt organic and never felt forced. This is probably the funniest of the Daniel Craig Bond films.

But finally what I feel is this films biggest strength is it's reliability on previous films to complete this films story and how it ties it's central theme of humanity to James Bonds character arc. By the end of the film, how Bonds arc and culmination of his series comes to an end, you feel emotion and it feels like an earned conclusion. In fact, I don't think there was any other way to end his era during this film.

However this film isn't perfect so let's move onto the mixed aspects of the film and these aren't necessarily good or bad, these are things to keep in mind. First this is a very long film, 163 minutes so if you can handle this runtime, absolutely see it in the cinema but if not, maybe wait til it's available to stream.

Second thing is despite this being a nearly 3 hour film, some characters don't appear as frequently or as much as you may like. In particular, there were at least two characters for me I would have liked to have seen more of.

Lastly is the films central villain. Now I enjoyed Rami Malek and the villain in general I felt was good but at the same time, I felt some more development was needed to make him more memorable.

Moving onto the negatives, the main thing is the pacing. After the opening sequence, the films slows to a halt and drags quite a bit during the first act so I wish they found a way to speed things up a bit.

And as a final nitpick, one minor character felt very out of place tonally within the film to the point where I found the character to be very annoying.

However despite those two negatives, I honestly loved this film and it was a complete surprise for me. I've seen it twice now and I think this is my favourite film of the year so far. That's how much I loved it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Sorry for how late this review is. I had a lot on when Shang Chi came out and when I finally had time to review it, I couldn't remember much about it so I watched it yesterday to refresh my mind and now I'm glad I did because now I'm certain it's a great film but slightly flawed.

Starting with the positives, the best thing about this film is the action. This film probably has the most versatile action in any MCU film. There's hand to hand combat, martial arts, CGI fights and it's all filmed so well. You can see some actors are doing their own stunts and it's really impressive to watch.

I also really enjoyed the cast. Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Michelle Yeoh, Tony Leung and more, they all play great roles and all have standout moments, especially Simu Liu. I'd never heard of him before he was cast and now I'm excited to see him carry on the character of Shang Chi. And how can you forget Ben Kingsley. This man is fantastic and a true breath of fresh air and I want him to be in more MCU films.

I also love, despite the MCU being around for over a decade, there's still room for world building with other heroes and there's plenty with Shang Chi especially when we get to a section of the film where we see the exploration of the East Asian culture and how they fight and survive. It's a part of the film i'd like to explore more in the future if Shang Chi is lucky to get his own franchise.

Now let's talk about the villain, The real Mandarin or just Wenwu to make it easier. What a strong and complex character he is. He has a really strong character arc and is developed really well. You can sympathise with him and while you don't agree with his motivations, you believe that he believes what he's doing is right and how they conclude his arc ultimately feels like the best way to do it.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of slow motion because of how goofy it can look at times but this film has one of my favourite uses of multiple slow motion scenes as it helps us see how the featured characters are feeling, the emphasis portrayed on their face and I thought that was a really good touch.

And finally I loved the 3rd act, the final battle. Without going into spoilers, the final battle goes from small stakes to high stakes the moment the big threat is realized, our characters achieve their goals and realize their destinies and it features one of my favourite team up tropes.

Moving into the mixed aspects and the only thing is the humour. Now this is a very funny film and I was laughing an awful lot. But the reason it's mixed for me and this is actually a mixed negative is whilst a lot of it works, it causes the film to become inconsistent with the pre established tone. This film works better as a dark character study and I'd rather see a version of this film where there's no humour and is instead played all serious throughout the entire duration.

Now moving onto the negatives and staying in line with the humour, whilst it does land a lot, there are certainly moments where it feels really forced and is misplaced at times. There's at least two moments where there's really interesting exposition being given and it gets cut off for humour and it just doesn't feel right.

And along those same lines, the film does suffer with some familiar MCU tropes and whilst I do love these tropes, once again they feel forced.

Also what was Abomination doing in this film? He had no purpose at all. I wouldn't mind if he was a different character but considering he was established before and is set to reappear in the future She Hulk series, I expected him to have a bigger role and you can literally edit his scene out and it wouldn't affect the film at all. His appearance feels like a gimmick for the trailer to bring in audiences if I'm perfectly honest.

Finally and this is a nitpick, there seemed to be a script issue with the continuity of the film. What I mean by this is Awkwafina's character on two occasions struggles to understand Chinese but then there's other moments where she's spoken to in Chinese and she seems to understand what's said to her. It's a small thing but it did bother me.

But besides that, I did love this film and I'd love to see a sequel made which I'm sure will be done and this is a film that MCU fans will really enjoy.

⭐⭐⭐

The Green Knight

Now if I'm honest I wasn't sure if I was going to watch this film because I have a mixed relationship with A24. I like some of their films but others are just not my sort of thing and A24 are known for making artisticly styled and prestige type films but the one thing that did make me think I'd like it was I enjoy adventure and fantasy films and this seemed like an interesting one.

Starting off the positives, as always with most A24 films, the cinematography is just fantastic and how some scenes are framed, it makes the scenery really beautiful to look at. This is probably one of the best looking films of the year.

This is also a very well produced film. As well as location based scenes, the set design is really impressive and very believable. I also really like the look of Ralph Inesons character as it has quite a distinct and mythological design to it.

And like I said before, although period pieces aren't really my thing, I do like the premise and appreciate the genre blending of period drama, fantasy and adventure. It's quite a consistent mix.

And finally I really like the cast and performances. Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Ralph Ineson they are just some of the actors in this film and they fit their roles quite nicely and I like seeing them onscreen.

However my suspected fears came true regarding my enjoyment of this film so let's move onto the mixed aspects of the film and this is neither good or bad, this is just to say A24 do their usual niche of mismarketing the trailers. They portray this film as a fantasy film filled with interesting world-building when in reality and without going into spoilers, this is nothing like that. It's a much more slower paced character study and I feel whoever the target demographic are for this film will be divisive.

And this will transition into my overall negatives for this film and this film just wasn't for me, I wasn't the target audience at all. I found myself getting very bored to the point where I almost fell asleep at one point and ended up getting my phone out. I tried to stay interested but I couldn't wait for it to be over. This is probably the most boring film I've seen this year.

And whilst this has a straightforward premise, like a lot of A24 films, I found it very incomprehensible at times at the themes and character motivations. I couldn't even connect with the characters at all because I was struggling with the following with the plot.

And please understand that I am not saying this film did anything bad, I just didn't connect with it or fine it interesting. It's not my sort of film at all or where my interests  lie in.

So overall I would only recommend this film for people who are big fans of A24 and if you are, I do respect you and if you get something out of this film, I'm happy. I just didn't get anything out of it besides boredom.

⭐⭐

Malignant

This film has been my most anticipated horror film of this whole year. James Wan is my favourite director of all time, I love all of his films and I wanted to make sure I went into this film blind. I avoided all the trailers, only saw the poster and cast and that was it and I knew with all this hype, this film would be either my biggest disappointment or my biggest surprise and wow, surprised is just scraping the barrel of how I felt about this film.

Let's just get the negatives out the way now. For me, this films story lacked focus on what it really was because when it starts, it's like a haunted house film then it starts to feel like a slasher then it goes in a totally different direction so it felt like James Wan couldn't decide what specific horror trope he wanted to focus on.

And whilst this is a horror film, the scares a very limited and James Wan is always good when it comes to scares and tension so that was slightly disappointing that there wasn't more of that.

Finally and this is a nitpick, it began to bother me how often Annabelle Wallis would scream at something. There's a section in the film where something happens, everyone is in shock and Annabelle Wallis just starts screaming and it did get on my nerves a bit.

As for mixed feelings, this film has one of the darkest opening acts in any film I've seen and there will be people who will struggle with the opening act so without spoiler it, be sure to prepare yourself if you see it.

I've also seen people say this is a very campy film and I don't know if it's just me but I never felt that way at all. Dark, yes. Intense yes. Campy? Not at all but that's just me.

Now from here on out, it's all positives and I'll start small and work on to the best of the film. So first of all, the cast is fantastic in this film. I've seen Annabelle Wallis in plenty of projects so it's nice to see her in another horror film and she doesn't disappoint. The rest of the cast I'm unfamiliar with but they are all great.

Like a lot of James Wans films, the use of camerawork is remarkably impressive. How the camera moves, the wide angle shots, the dark lighting and even a grainy colour filter, it's all used very efficiently and it makes this film really nice to look at.

Another James Wan trademark that gets felt amongst the film is atmosphere. Multiple set pieces are so atmospherically felt and even in crowded scenes, mixed with the dark tone, there's no feeling of safety or peacefulness. You always feel the danger of the situation.

But you also feel this film is building towards something but you're not sure what and that is this film biggest achievement. The payoff and shocking twist it has feels 100% earned and within that, we get the best part of the film. A completely bonkers, OTT but badass and awesome third act that doesn't hold back. Pure carnage is unleashed, it's gruesome, it's stomach churning and I loved every bloody minute of it.

And because of the third act and how the story unfolds, it baffles me how the hell anyone could have come up with this sort of twist and even fact checked it. This film also has the potential to age incredibly well because it is pure practical effects. There's moments where I have no idea how these scenes were even filmable with how impressive these effects are and whilst CGI may have been used, I say May because I could not see it anywhere but that just be me.

And finally and I'll keep this very brief, this is a film that has potential for a franchise and unlike previous times where I have said, I do not want a sequel made to precious films, I DO want a sequel to this film and would be interested to see this films premise explored further.

So overall I loved this film. It's so memorable and I'll be raving about it for the next few days. It may not be James Wans best film but it's definitely his most insane film to date and I can't wait to see his next project.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Night House

When I first heard about this film, it was not on my radar at all but then I saw parts of the trailer and thought it looked interesting so I decided to go on a whim and check it out and I'm not even going to attempt to hide it, I bloody loved this film.

Kicking right off with the positives, without question, the best thing about this film is Rebecca Halls performance. This woman delivers not only one of the best performances I've seen this year but without doubt, the performance of her whole career. She portrays a woman who is so filled with grief and feels like she's got the weight of the world on her shoulders but she's also very charismatic in the role and also has some nice dark humour. I'll elaborate more on the progression of this scene later but there's one scene where she has to break down and it is performed so so beautifully.

I also loved the storytelling for this film. Once you understand the story for his film, what we watch is such a realistic take on grief and of a woman who is just trying to get her life back on track but is constantly struggling and who is also finding out secrets about her past. What also impressed me as well was this film is in a way setting up the build up to Rebecca Halls big break down scene and my god, the progression and execution to that moment feels so earned.

This film also has a great amount of foreshadowing that once again has great payoff and like all great moments of foreshadowing, it doesn't come off as predictable. Instead it's used subtlety enough as hints as what's to come and it's easy to miss if you're not paying close attention.

Now let's talk about the one thing that could have been this films downfall; the scares. Now I do have some thoughts regarding these when we get to the negatives of this review but like everything else I've mentioned, the scares are executed really well. Yes there are jump scares but instead of being used as gimmicks and using cheap editing tricks, this film builds up the tension for the scares and that is how you correctly utilize a jump scares. But that's not all. This film has some genuinely creepy moments that unnerved me in places and the use of the clever camera work and perfect camera angles just make the scares more unnerving.

And once we get to the 3rd act of the film, it does not hold back. There's a lot of hard hitting scenes as all the pieces come into place that tie into the themes of the film, what was pre-established during the first act, features fantastic editing and beautiful colour correction.

Unfortunately it's not perfect, I did have some issues so let's move onto the mixed aspects and first this is just to say this film is marketed as a horror film but the horror side is pretty much on the back burner as the main story is pretty much a psychological drama that focuses on Rebecca Hall's characters grief so just bare in mind when you do see it, expect around 60% drama, 40% horror. That's my estimation.

Also this is a film that does warrant a rewatch, especially when the ending gets a little confusing to the point during my first watch, I had to read the ending just to understand what happened but during my second watch, it did help me understand the film a lot more.

Now let's move onto the bad parts of the film and this won't take long at all. I only have two main issues. First one is i felt there was a bit too much exposition during the 3rd act and felt there could have been a way to resolve things without overexplaining everything.

And my only other issue isn't about the film itself, it's the marketing. After my first viewing of this film, I wanted to check out the trailer and I'm so glad I didn't watch it beforehand because it highly markets itself as a horror film to the point where it reveals almost all the crucial scare points during the film. So I would advice you to go in blind and not watch any trailer before seeing this film.

But besides that, I think this film is fantastic, I loved it and it's currently residing as my 3rd favourite film of the year thus far. I highly recommend it and I really want people to see this film as I fear in years to come, it may become an underseen and underappreciated horror film.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Candyman 2021

I have been excited for this film for so long. The week it was released, I watched the original film for the first time and I loved it, the sequels I knew wouldn't be necessary to watch but I decided to watch them anyway and although they're not as strong as the first film, I found them very entertaining to watch.

But as for this new direct sequel to the original Candyman, I avoided as many trailers as possible so I could be surprised and I'm not even going to hide it, I loved this film.

Kicking off with the positives, the best thing about this film is it finds a way to expand on the mythology of the Candyman, explore the world building and create new lore whilst staying faithful to the original film. This makes me dislike the sequels more because this feels like the most logical step and direction to take with Candyman but that franchise just wanted a new slasher icon.

The cast is also really good. Yahya Abdul Mateen ll gives a great performance, I've always liked him as an actor and I've never seen him give a bad performance. I also like Teyonah Paris in this film and I can't wait to see what she goes next. The rest of the cast all do a stellar job.

Also we see plenty of the Candyman and you do feel his presence in this film even when you don't actually see him and what this film does wisely is not have him compete with Tony Todd and have him just appear when he needs to.

But the films main asset is the woman of the hour, Nia DaCosta. I am now excited for The Marvels because this woman is a talented director. She has a keen eye when it comes to subtlety which is how I would describe the scares in this film; subtle. They're not in your face, there's no annoying jump scares, in fact I would say they are utilized very well.

I also need to praise John Guleserian for his fantastic use of cinematography because it is an essential key for the kills in this film. First, the use of mirrors mixed with the cinematography is really good and clever at times. It helps enhance the Candymans presence in the film but another way the camerawork is used well is for the kills. Now I love my gore and carnage candy and there's a brutal kill with plenty of that in this film but the way some of the shots are framed and mixed with sound design, it's a rare example of how hearing the kills and seeing them off screen is just as brutal as actually watching them.  There's one kill where the camera pans out more and more into the distance and just the framing of that shot is just visually incredible.

And my final positive is the ending. Without giving spoilers, the ending feels like a worthy and earned ending that is on par and faithful to the original film and also there's one twist in this film that I didn't see coming and it helped me buy into the sequel, why it warranted a sequel and not a remake and it felt very clever as it ties everything together.

With all that said, let's move onto the mixed aspects of the film and the only thing that comes to mind is the actor who portrays The Candyman. Now since he's taking over Tony Todd who is one of the greatest horror icons of all time, it's natural that he would have a difficult role to love up to and I liked him in this film but he didn't do anything that made him pop out to me or do anything more distinct to make the role his own.

Moving onto the negatives now and I did have some issues with this film. First big problem is the pacing and I will blame this on the runtime. Now I get why it was 91 minutes since the franchise has films that are around the 90 minute mark but this feels like a film that need to be at least 2 hours because it has a slow start which I was okay with but as the film goes on, there's scenes that feels like they were edited out and the 3rd act feels very rushed and some characters feel very underdeveloped by the end of the film.

And finally, speaking of characters, there's some characters who feel tonally out of place with the film and have some forced humour which this film did not need.

But besides that, so far this is my favourite horror film of the year and one of my favourite films. It's currently in my top 5 but if the script had a longer runtime, it could have been a bit higher but overall I would highly recommend this film.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Don't Breathe 2

Don't Breathe was one of my biggest surprises and favourite films when it came out. I didn't watch a trailer, I didn't read a plot synopsis, all I did was look at a poster and decided I wanted to see it and excuse the pun but I went in blind and I loved it but when I heard a sequel was being made, I tried to ignore it because a sequel just felt unnecessary.

Starting with the positives, the best thing about this film was Stephen Langs performance. This guy is a great action star who can probably carry his own franchise let alone film. Just like the first film, he's menancing, he's brutal but he's also very human and more vulnerable now that he has something to lose. The actress who plays his daughter is also very good and I can see a big future for her.

The action within this film is really really good also. Great brutal killings, fight scenes that aren't heavily edited and what I like about certain scenes was there was no moment of safety. Even when someone is winning, there's always a dilemma or someone is in danger. It's all very visceral and tense at times.

There's also some nice foreshowing for what events are in store for the film and in particular, how the film ends. It ends on a  very satisfying note. Also there's never a boring moment during this film and especially gets very entertaining during the 3rd act.

However it's not perfect so let's move onto the mixed aspects. And the big thing to talk about is this film doesn't feel like a direct sequel to Don't Breathe. This film feels like a revenge action film starring Stephen Lang as the blind man. There's no direct link to the first film and though there's references to his past, in all honesty, he may as well be playing a different character.

Now moving onto my negatives, my biggest is this film suffers without Fede Alvarez directing. This film is directed by Rodo Sayagues and he does a good job but not as good as Fede Alvarez. In the first film, you could cut the tension with a knife and in this film, you barely feel it. Another aspect of the weaker direction is Sayageus relies on apsects of the previous film to tell the story he's telling and that hurts it a bit.

This film basically rehashes the plot of the first film which doesn't feel as strong as it was and it gets very annoying and feels lazy when it directly copies scenes that were a lot better in the first film.

Another aspect that really hurts the film is the predictability. Whilst this film has good foreshadowing, there's also some massive predictable moments that was not present during the first film especially when you get to the 3rd.

And speaking of the 3rd act, as entertaining as it is, it is incredibly far fetched and requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. From the action, to the injury detail and one plot twist that I cannot believe actually made it to the final draft of the script because it has so many plot holes.

But in general, I did enjoy this film and can definitely rewatch it so I would recommend it to fans of the first film. It's not as strong but definitely has great moments in it.

⭐⭐⭐

Space Jam: A New Legacy

Now in all honesty, I have no past history with Space Jam. I watched it for the first time ever yesterday a couple of hours before I saw Space Jam 2 but I wanted to watch it because it was a sequel to a 90s classic and I did enjoy the first film. I had plenty of nostalgia for the Looney tunes characters and that was my most anticipated moment for this film.

And pretty easily, the Looney Tunes characters and animated segments were my favourite moments. There was plenty of laugh out loud moments and I found them very very funny and the animation for them and the animation throughout the film is really great.

Also this is a film that has a well meaning message that I thought was really nice and will connect with plenty of people.

And finally the performances are really good. LeBron James is very charming throughout the film and Don Cheadle is very entertaining as well. 

Unfortunately that was all I enjoyed of this film so now we need to move onto the negatives. And the big problem with this film is it doesn't feel like a film made by a director with a clear vision. It feels like a studio product taking what was built from the foundation of the first Space Jam film and used to feature previous film adaptations as a meaning to remind audiences of their acclaimed properties and given the history of Warner Bros and the issues and treatment of previous directors and their films, this is a really gross and distasteful idea that I cannot believe this studio has the audacity to do.

Now I could respect this idea if Warner Bros would do this to apologize for their actions and attempt to make amends but instead it feels like they have no consideration or remorse for what they did and instead made a film that feels self-indulgent, pretentious and has studio interference written all over it.

And it doesn't help that they only reference their acclaimed and successful properties. Now yes you could argue that many studios can reference their past work in other films but all that matters with the writing and the writing for these references are just so in your face like they're forcing you to admire their work and with doing that, they're sacrificing a film that could have had a cohesive story and instead gives us a film that feels like a gimmick.

Now moving over from this, this is a film that also suffers from a distinct target demographic. Because they're referencing their past properties and placing them in a film filled with Looney Tunes characters, this begins the question of who this film is targeted to, who would want to watch this film, who is the target audience? And I really don't see a coherent audience being targeted for this film. Some adults may find the Looney tunes segments amusing but overall I don't believe they're not going out of their way to see Space Jam 2 and the children who do see this film are not going to understand all the precious products that are in this film.

Game of thrones scenes are replicated in this film that even if you ignore the fact that Game of thrones ended years ago, children aren't exactly familiar with the characters of that show. The Matrix is featured as well and yes it's a well known film franchise but are children really going to understand the references? Pennywise the Clown is even featured and many children would not be familiar with It. And yes adults would be familiar with these products but Looney Tunes is all through the marketing of this film so they're not going to be interested.

And finally the 3rd act is just too long. Its entertaining at first but it seriously outstays its welcome and eventually becomes a very confusing messy finale.

So overall whilst there are indeed films that's have been released this year that are indeed worse, this is probably the most distasteful film of the year with few redeeming qualities and is not going to age well at all in years to come. I have never said this before about a film but I do hope this film bombs because Warner Bros need to have their eyes opened about how they have treated directors and audiences and choosing to do this as their next film is just a really distasteful thing to do.

⭐⭐

The Suicide Squad

Once this film was announced, I was a little sceptical due to the previous Suicide Squad adaptation and the history of that film. But then James Gunn was announced as the director and then I was all for it. It sounded like the perfect film for him for his sense of humour and he always seems to do a great job at bringing together huge ensemble casts and using them really well.

Starting with the positives for this film, easily the best thing about The Suicide Squad is it is not your everyday traditional superhero film. There's no sentimentality, no hard hitting speeches about family, there's betrayals and back stabbing, this film basically avoids almost every superhero cliche there is. This film also earns its R rating with how brutal, graphic, gory and unapologetically crass it can be and I love it for that. This is how the Suicide Squad should be.

The cast here is really strong. There's too many cast members to mention but all of them feel perfectly cast, get their chance in the spotlight and not one actor gives a bad performance. Their characters are also more fleshed out and developed as the film goes on.

James Gunn does a really good job at directing the action as it is handled and choreographed really well whether that's the fight sequences or the stunt work and alongside that, the production is just incredible especially in the 3rd act where I just started thinking how they possibly filmed it. I love it when I watch a film, I don't see actors on a set or behind a green screen. I see characters in believable environments.

James Gunn also does something that I love that directors are able to do; make me fall in love with animals no matter how small their screen time is. I feel in love with a rat and I never thought I'd say that in a film review.

And finally this is a very funny film. I laughed at almost every single punchline, comedy moment and one liner.

However it's not perfect and I did have some issues so let's move onto the mixed aspects and the first thing is I struggled to feel the chemistry from the group when they were together. By the end of the film, I finally did but the characters seemed to work better on their own or with other characters than the team they're supposed to be.

Next mixed aspect is the main villain of Starro. Now on one hand, you feel this villains presence and what a threat it can be and that is the best thing about this villain. It's also nice to just have a villain that is just there as a threat. No hard hitting motivations, no deep backstory, it's just there to serve a purpose. However, it's a very odd choice to adapt into film and looks very goofy when the 3rd act plays out.

And finally the 3rd act itself I feel will divide viewers because it becomes intense and gripping to watch but then at the same time, it feels extremely cartoonish and goofy to watch. I enjoyed it for what it was but I do feel some viewers will feel how absurd it is.

Onto my main negatives now and first of all, this film never lives up past its opening 10/15 minutes. It feels like James Gunn throws everything at the opening sequence then the rest of the film never feels as exciting as it should be until we get to the 3rd act but that also feels a little lacklustre in comparison to the opening act.

There's also one character I never felt connected to and that is King Shark. Now I don't know what it is about this character but I never liked or cared for him as much as I wanted to and that is very disappointing to me.

Finally there's one action sequence that I thought looked awful. It's all light filtered, has a huge contrivance to make it work and just looks bad to watch.

So overall I don't think it's as good as so many people have made out it is but at the same time, I do think this is a very good film with great performances, good characters, and a great example of a R rated non traditional superhero film.

⭐⭐⭐

Old

M Night Shyamalan always leaves me interested when he has a new movie announcement and I always have a deep respect for him as a filmmaker for always coming up with a original idea.

And that's actually where I'll start with my positives of the film. The concept is actually really interesting and engaging. All the way through the film I was always engaged with the story and never felt bored.

Next I really liked the location setting. Whilst set almost entirely during the day, it's nice for a film to feel atmospherically eerie without having to go dark or have dark settings. The beach was also very creepy at times and like Jaws made people afraid to go in the water, Old has the potential to make people feel afraid of the beach.

I also admire M Night Shyamalan respect for the audience. There's times where something is happening to people and instead of the characters addressing what is happening, it feels like he wants the audience to work out what is happening and for my experience, I found it easy to work out what was happening to the characters. I always like it when films don't overexplain current events. Now soon I'll have something that will compromise that but on this section, I truly admired it.

Unfortunately this film couldn't stick the landing to its premise so we need to move onto the negatives and I'll be honest, I had a lot of issues with this film. Now I'm going to start small and work my way to the big issues.

So first, the camerawork was really distracting because there's multiple times where a scene is framed but some characters are cropped out and whilst that may not sound particularly bad, when you watch it, it feels like a really odd choice. There's one scene where characters are grouped together but the camera is sinking into the water and the group become out of focus or another scene where the group are in a circle and the camera starts turning but it's so fast, the scene becomes blurry and characters talk out of focus. At one point, I started questioning if the cameraman was drunk or something because it began to really annoy me.

Whilst staying onto the technical aspects, the editing is also very frustrating because scenes are cut out at annoying moments. For example, one character is killed off but when they die, the scene cuts their death scene and we don't even get to see their body. Considering this is from the director of the sixth sense that features multiple scary and gory scenes, it confuses me why this decision was even made.

Now I am a big defender of actors because I know how hard it is but there was some really bad acting from several actors. Some were good but others were very bad, especially when it came to their line delivery like the actors didn't really know what they were saying and just went with it.

But the biggest problem with the film is the resolution of the concept. All the negatives I have up above, I could overlook if this film had a way of ending things on a positive note and help me buy the answers that are given to me to the concept and once this film starts giving answers, that is when it started to fall apart for me.

That is when I started noticing multiple plot holes and had more questions than answers towards the end. It starts to get really convoluted to where I couldn't even summarise the answers given to me in a simple sentence. I feel like I need someone to explain to the ending to me in case I missed something.

But my final issue is whilst this is an interesting concept and is the films strongest value, it also becomes the films major flaw as it can't stick to its own rules and at one point, cheats its own story to create new plotlines. This really feels like M Night Shyamalan created the concept, started filming but didn't have a plan for the rest of the film so made everything up as he went along.

So overall, whilst I would say this is not the worst film of the year and is certainly worth a least one watch to experience it, this is probably the most flawed film of the year and it's a real shame. I really wanted to be more positive.

⭐⭐

Black Widow

I'm a big MCU fan and since Black Widow was announced, I've always looked forward to it but I was a bit sceptical about it. Because this is a prequel, it felt a bit odd to be coming out now but I always going to give it a chance.

Starting with the positives, the best thing about this film is the action. It is handled so so well, choreographed fantastically and very creative at times. What makes it even better though surprisingly is the editing. Films these days always seem to mess up action when it comes to editing it but this film find a way to have great action but edited really well so it's not all over the place.

I also really enjoyed the cast for this film. Scarlett Johansson is as always fantastic as Black Widow, Florence Pugh is a welcome addition to this franchise and I can see a long future for her, David Harbour shows how versatile he is as an actor with his goofy comedic performance as Red Guardian and Rachel Weisz is really charming as Natasha's mother and all four of these actors have great chemistry upon one another.

I also really liked Ray Winstones character. I was surprised to hear he would be in this film. He didn't strike me as someone who'd ever do a superhero movie but I did enjoy his performance. His character felt like a respected homage to Marlon Brandos Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather.

Now the MCU is known for its grand use of green screen and sometimes I feel it overdoes that a bit and I could be wrong but this film seemed to be more location based. Now yes some green screen is obviously used but a lot of the time, it feels like they're filming on location and I always enjoy it when films do that.

It's also one of the most thematic MCU films as it focuses on the themes of family and whilst this is a theme that does feel overused, I feel it works well for what this film establishes for its plot and characters.

And my final positive is the humour. This film is very funny and there are some really funny one liners and the banter amongst the cast is great as well.

Now as a mixed thought, it's only the timeline. Now this film takes place between Captain America: civil war and Avengers Infinity war but I feel this could have taken place anywhere within the MCU continuity and if it wants to match with its themes, maybe it would make more sense for it to take place between infinity war and Endgame after Thanos's snap.

Now onto my negatives. Let's gets the obvious one out of the way. This film admittedly feels inconsequential because we know what happens to Black Widow and because everything takes place in the past, nothing shocking happens. Besides a post credit scene, nothing sets up for the future so yes this does feel inconsequential and also feels like it should have come out years ago.

But my biggest issue with this film is there are several plot points that feel very derivative of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Especially the villain of Taskmaster, I liked this character at first but as the film went on, it turns out to be a less interesting version of Bucky and without going into spoilers, the 3rd act has some strong similarities to the 3rd act in The Winter Soldier.

Finally and this is a nitpick, some of the accents in this film are very dodgy especially Ray Winstone. You can hear his normal London based accent whilst he performs a Russian accent.

However, this is still a solid good MCU film and the solo Black widow movie that we have wanted for so long. Don't let the fact we should have got this years ago stop you from enjoying it because you will.

⭐⭐⭐

Fast and furious 9

I always knew this would be an interesting watch. Since fast and furious 8, I accepted these films would be dumb fun films and after this film, it's gonna get a lot dumber and more fun.

Starting with the positives, for me the best thing about this film are the stunts. I really feel the amount of stunt work that goes into these films have become underappreciated. I really admired how much work had clearly gone into creating these stunts and even better, I could not work out how much was practical and how much was CGI but clearly a lot of it was practical.

I also enjoy the big ensemble cast that we got in this film. Obviously we've followed a lot of these cast members from the beginning and this is another thing that isn't noticed upon but I feel these films have cast members who have such great chemistry amongst each other, they all make each other better actors, better performers.

And finally this is probably the most rewatchable film of the year. It's so much fun, never slows down, never drags on and with how much escapism you get, you can put this on and easily get a good time watching it.

Onto the mixed elements now and let's get the big one out of the way, this film takes what the previous instalments had, times it all by 100, adds a load of hot sauce and that's the film you get. This will probably be the make or break moment for fans and for some, this will be too much but for others it will be what they expected. I tend to be in the latter and I do feel these films get a bit too much hate but I do get why some fans may lose interest after this instalment.

Next is John Cena's casting. Now I've never had an issue with John Cena as an actor. He's never done anything to make me dislike him but I've never been insanely impressed. I'm just in the middle and I think he does well in this film. Now I have more thoughts with his character but I don't have any issue with him in this film.

Finally the humour is very hit n miss. Some moments are very very funny, especially a sequence involving Nathalie Emmanuel but other elements for me fell very flat. There's also an odd use of metahumour in the film that I'm still a bit unsure on.

Onto the negatives now and this is gonna be fun. First big issue and this is my biggest issue, the film was marketed horribly. Please Universal, sack your marketing team and get better ones because my god this film reveals too much of the film and even reveals two major plot details that would have been good for shock value. Unfortunately because of how much that was revealed, nothing ever shocked me.

Now onto the film issues, this film shows it's running out of ideas. I don't want to go to much onto this section for spoiler reasons but I never liked the idea of Doms brother or Han coming back from the dead and this film confirmed it for me. The character arc for John Cena's characters is extremely predictable and by the end feels unearned and I just never bought Hans return.

Next is the tone, this is probably the film in the Fast franchise with the most inconsistent tone. It's all over the place. It goes from dumb fun action and comedy to melodramatic to philosophical to even at one point Sci Fi.

I wasn't a fan of Charlize Theron screentime in this film either because all her scenes felt like late reshoots edited it and considering how much I loved her character in the previous film, this was a major downgrade for me.

And finally I feel the production team ran out of budget because they do go to space and the space scenes look very fake. Not only that, it feels really gimmicky like the production team saw the space speculation and just went with it, forgetting the logics and time differences between earth and space.

However despite this sounding like a negative review, I would actually recommend this film for the fans who have followed this series from the beginning and people who just want some fun and escapism. I did enjoy this film but I just can't forget the major flaws.

⭐⭐⭐

Fatherhood

This film was not on my radar at all when I first heard about it but the one thing that made it interesting to me was Kevin Hart was in the lead and it was NOT a comedy and I love it when comedic actors do non comedic roles so I had to check this film out.

Starting with the positives and this is easy, Kevin Hart is fantastic in this film. He is like a completely different person in this film. He doesn't overcook his performance, in fact he manages to keep it really subtle and serious and he proves he is a genuine actor who has plenty of versatility. I love his comedy work but I would like to see him do more work like this.

I also really liked the story for this film. Watching this man struggle to cope and raise his child all on his own made this a very compelling watch and I'm going to try and word this carefully but whilst I understand that many women struggle to singlehandedly raise their children, I really liked that it explore how men can struggle as well. There's one scene where Kevin Harts character goes to a woman's children group meet to seek advice and they remind him that the group is for women only. It's makes it so true that the man side of this story is really under seen.

This is also a film that is trying to send out multiple messages out and without going into spoilers, I think it does a really good job at doing that.

Unfortunately it's not a perfect film so let's move onto the negatives. And the big thing that comes to mind is this is a film we have all seen before in some form or another so it doesn't do anything different or new to reinvent this type of story. We've seen plenty of films do this story a bit better if I'm honest.

And finally besides Kevin Harts character, the rest of the characters can be very annoying to the point of being unbearable.

Overall whilst there's a few kinks, this is a really good film with a fantastic performance from Kevin Hart that has the potential to rejuvenate his career.

⭐⭐⭐

The Father

When I heard about this film, I really wanted to see it. It's not my typical go to watch but I was interested in the main topic because it's such a sensitive story to tackle. I heard a lot of Oscar buzz and did worry I wouldn't enjoy it as much. A bit like the film Nomadland. I liked it but it was overhyped for me and I didn't think it was as good as everyone said it was.

However this is far from the case for The Father and I'm just going to say it; I absolutely loved this film. This film is incredible. I'm not going to do this review by a my usual structure because this is a film that needs to be seen and talked about.

What makes this such a special film is how the topic of Dementia is explored. How the film is paced, structured and edited can appear a bit confusing but upon rewatch, you realize how realistic dementia is explored in this film. It isn't overblown or given the Hollywood treatment. It feels like the writers and director actually researched this serious issue and had medical experts on set.

Each scene we see is so thorough and really explores the condition with ease. Some scenes are out of place, some scenes are repeated, others don't even happen in reality and it will play with the audiences mind but that's the reality with dementia. What we see is now dementia affects the mind.

But the secret ingredient to this film is Mr Anthony Hopkins himself. This man is amazing in this film and gives one of the most versatile performance I have ever seen. He is charming, charismatic, funny, scary, intimidating and sympathetic in just over 90 minutes and he just makes it look so easy when acting is one of the hardest jobs in the world. This man deserved his Oscar win. 

This film is not an easy watch and I strongly advice those to know who you are before you see it. This is not a rewatchable film either and even that I'll say is a positive. Dementia is a condition that will resonate with so many people and one watch of this film will be enough to win their hearts over.

On a very rare occasion, I have no negatives for this film at all. The Father is a masterpiece and whilst this is not my sort of film at all, I will always appreciate the experience of seeing it.

Sensitively and realistically explored, incredibly acted and beautifully made, I can't say this enough, this is an incredible film and easily my favourite film of the year. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The conjuring 3

I was so excited for this film to come out when it was announced but later developments worried me. The Conjuring is my favourite horror film of all time and I love the second film just as much so to learn that James Wan would not be returning as director was my biggest worry.

Then Michael Chaves was announced as the director and I feared this film wouldn't be as good since his last horror film was The Curse of La Llorona and although I like that film, it relies too much on jump scares than atmosphere.

But now that I've seen the film, I'm so pleased to say I really enjoyed it. So before I go on, I'm gonna change things up a bit. I'm going to talk about my negatives first, then my positives and then an element that I was mixed over regarding the film.

So for negatives, I only have three. Easily first is the name of the film. I hate the title. It sounds like a really bad punchline to an even worse joke and I want to know who came up with that name.

Second, you can feel James Wans absence during this film. From the execution of scares to the imagery, it has a very different feeling to it. And when the previous films had entities that were creepy, this film has entities that feel generic and a couple were very gross and unintentionally funny to look at.

Finally the main villain of the film is extremely forgettable, bland and boring and I never felt interested in it whereas the previous films had villains who were memorable, scary to look at and interesting.

Now that's the negatives out of the way, let's talk about the positives. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are the heart and soul of this film. Their portrayals of Ed and Lorraine Warren is so captivating and beautiful to watch. It doesn't feel like we're watching movie characters. It feels like we're watching real people tell their life story in these films.

Along the same line, this film has the most heart of the entire franchise because as well as Ed and Lorraine Warren, there are other characters who are actually really good and really likable due to the amount of heart they express.

Something else I was really impressed with was the story. This film goes for a more investigation story and tone and it seriously works. I felt invested, interested and was even trying to it work out at times and that is what an investigation film is supposed to do.

Michael Chaves also does a much better job than his last horror venture. I still would have preferred James Wan to return but I would prefer this film over La Llorona. He sets up the scares of the films very very well.

This film uses its budget very well because some of the set designs looks so real. That's always impressed me how we're probably looking at film sets yet it feels like we're looking at real locations.

And finally Joseph Barbaras score is once again so eerie and very underrated. No one ever talks about how good the score to the Conjuring films are.

Now I want to talk about a segment of this film that I feel will be divisive and also how I really felt about this film. I left the cinema feeling disappointed but that doesn't mean I didn't like it. I really enjoyed it, I am giving this a positive review but this film is not scary at all and that is what was disappointing about it.

Yes a horror film doesn't have to be scary to be good. There's a lot of people who don't get scared by horror films but can still enjoy them. But what made The Conjuring my favourite horror film of all? Because it was my scariest cinema experience. Why do I love the The Conjuring 2? Because I found it scary. This film didn't scare me at all and I was really disappointed by that.

However whilst I would say this is certainly the weakest of the three films, this is still a very solid and very good film that I would recommend.

⭐⭐⭐

A Quiet Place Part 2

When it was announced A Quiet Place was getting a sequel, I was really sceptical. I truly loved the first film, I felt it really worked as a standalone and a sequel just sounded like a cash grab.

However I am willing to admit that I was wrong. This film is awesome. Kicking off with the positives, easily the best thing about this film is the acting. There is not a bad performance in this film. Emily Blunt is amazing as this broken woman who recently lost her husband and is trying to protect her family, Cillain Murphy is a great addition and plays a very interesting character with a good arc but the kids are the standout. They are given more to do and they pull it off with ease. By the end of the film, their characters are given more development and really good character arcs.

I also really liked the story. What made this sequel work so well is it feels like you can watch the first film then this and it will feel like a semi complete story. The first film builds the foundation, the world building and the sequel continues off of that and expands on it where it makes sense to have a sequel and with the recent announcement of a 3rd film, I think all three films will feel like one whole film broken up into three. That is how you do a sequel and potential trilogy right.

John Krasinski really shows what a talent he has for directing. He's able to capture the same tension from the first film and just build it up even more. There is two moments in this film where multiple sequences are happening and you feel the tension building, you cannot predict where these sequences are going to go and with fantastic editing and Krasinskis master directing, these sequences have fantastic pay off.

I was also impressed that Krasinski didn't forget one of his other talents from the first film and that is foreshadowing. There is a brilliant amount of foreshadowing and setup of sequences. The writing for the film is also really good and luckily this film is still as memorable as the first film. I'm still thinking about it now as I write this.

And lastly, I really like the design of the aliens and the CGI for them looks really suited.

However unfortunately it's not perfect and it does have some flaws so let's move onto the mixed aspects and first it's just to say this is a more dialogue based film. It still contains a lot of sign language but when the first film was extremely minimal of dialogue, this film has a lot of dialogue and I didn't mind it at all but I feel people will have different feelings about what made the first film so special.

Now as we saw in the trailers, there is a flashback sequence and honestly, it doesn't feel needed. It's a great scene, very tense and great to watch but if you edit it out, it doesn't effect the movie that much. It feels like it only exists to give John Krasinski more screen time.

Finally there's one character who is put in a situation and they need to make a decision but I feel the decision he makes will anger a lot of people. I personally think this character was put in an impossible situation but at the same time, I would get why certain fans would be angry with this character.

Now let's move onto the negatives and I only have two; first the films second half is a lot better than the first half. The first half is more character focused but it also drags an awful lot to the point where I wasn't feeling how I felt about the first film. Then the second half kicked in and there's so much to keep the viewers engaged.

There's also a subplot that explores a section of survivors who go to extreme lengths and it feels underdeveloped. I felt a bit more interested in that section of the story a bit more than the aliens themselves and I feel if the film had a longer runtime, we could have got that.

Finally and this is a little nitpick but I didn't really feel as much emotional depth than I did from the first film.

But besides all that and despite I do feel the first film is better, has a more special meaning and placement, this is a great film worthy sequel that sets up a 3rd film and I'm saying this now: The Quiet Place trilogy has the potential to be one of the best horror trilogies out there. Fingers crossed.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spiral: From the Book of Saw

Once I learned about this film and Chris Rock not only came up with the story but was also starring in it, I was excited. I love it when known comedic actors do serious roles because then it shows how versatile they can be. But there was one problem. I was and still am not a big fan of the Saw franchise but decided to watch the whole thing in preparation for it which took me two months to get through.

So first I'll give a little review of the franchise; I mainly enjoyed the first three films. Afterwards I felt like each film started getting more complicated, kept using screenwriter trickery to retcon the series and strained too much credibility for me with Jigsaws legacy.

Now starting with the positives for the film, for me the best thing about Spiral was that this film takes place in its own contained world in the Saw universe. I think the biggest Saw fan will admit the timeline is very complicated so this film wisely acknowledges the previous films without trying to change the events or delve too much into them.

Chris Rock is also really good in this film. Now I will say I felt he had a dodgy start but as he went on, he got better as the film progressed and by the end of it, I'd like to see him lead his own detective series or do another cop film.

Also I really liked the story and setting of the film. This for me is the first film that feels like a detective story and was a nice change in direction for the franchise. I also like the location setting as it allows the feeling that even though you're in this massive city, you're never safe from Jigsaw. Saw has always been a very grounded franchise so it's nice to have a film with more space to move.

And as this is a saw film, you have to talk about the traps and they are very creative and make great use of the practical effects. There's plenty of gore and really yucky moments so Saw fans will really appreciate that.

And finally, this is easily the most thematic of the Saw films which becomes more relatable and timely due to events that occurred last year and also fits with the story being told so I think this is a necessary update to the Saw formula.

Moving onto the mixed aspects and it's just to mention a few things. First, you probably worked this out but Tobin Bell is not in this film and I'm unsure how long term Saw fans will feel about this. Me personally, it didn't bother me because I mainly enjoyed John Kramer in the first 3 films. After that when his origins started getting explored, he became less interesting and his screentime became so limited, I like that we have a new jigsaw killer (that will be the closest I get to spoilers).

Also, for the new jigsaw killer, I really like them and I will argue that their motivations is stronger than John Kramers but they never feel fully fleshed out and I feel with more screentime or with a sequel, they could become better.

Unfortunately I did have some big problems with this film so now we've got to move onto the negatives. First things first, the new recording voice for jigsaw is awful. It doesn't sound scary or unnerving, it sounds silly. The voice sounds like Kermit the frog.

The next big problem is the runtime. Now each Saw film has always had a closely short runtime that never lasted to the 2 hour mark but this film is too short for the story it's telling. It's only 90 minutes and I feel this film would have warranted more if it was an extra half hour longer.

And unfortunately, the short runtime affects the story because it becomes rushed so despite this being a detective story, it never feels fully fleshed out. The new jigsaw killer doesn't fully feel developed and as a result, as much as this film does so much better than other Saw films, I would say this is the most forgettable Saw film.

And my final negative is the identity of the new jigsaw killer is just too predictable. If you haven't worked out who it is before it's revealed, you deserve to be held captive in Jigsaws traps because it is so transparent.

Overall, this is a very frustrating film because it does so much that is great but also has some major flaws. It leaves room for a sequel and I really hope Chris Rock reprises his role for it.

⭐⭐⭐

The Mitchells vs the Machines

When this film was first announced and I saw the trailer, I was convinced it would be a failure. I wasn't a fan of the trailers and the character designs just looked weird. Then Netflix bought the film and I wasn't planning to watch it but I saw the reviews and reactions and decided to give it a shot and wow was I was wrong about the film.

Starting with the positives, I just loved this families dynamic and chemistry upon one another. They're marketed as the world most dysfunctional family but they feel like a real life family who are working through their differences and have their own uniqueness about each other.

I also really liked the voice cast. I'm not a Danny McBride or Maya Rudolph but they did really well in their voice roles as did the actors who played the children of the film.

And as this is an animated film, it would be a crime not to mention the animation and it is just beautiful to look at. The use of colour in this film is just gorgeous and is used very efficiently in the film especially with some action sequences and although I didn't like how the family were designed in the trailer, it worked for the film because it helped signify who they were and how they were developed.

But the thing that makes this film absolutely work on a story level and character level is the theme. This film follows the theme of family and although you can argue that theme has been used for a lot of films, this film finds a way to use that theme to tell a different kind of story. A story that a lot of people can relate to and story that will hit home for a lot of people. This is ultimately a story about reconnecting with family and rediscovering your love for them and prior to the events of last year, I think this story will emotionally connect with viewers.

And finally, despite people assuming this will be your everyday kids film, the theme and story makes this film suitable for the general target demographic. This is a film that knows its target audience and yes while generally being a kids film, I believe this film will be liked, possibly loved by people of ages but most importantly by families.

But despite all my positives and appreciation for this film, I did have some problems so let's move onto the negatives. First things first and this is purely a nitpick, I don't like the title of the film. I preferred the original title of Connected because it kind of connects with the themes of film. The Mitchells vs the machines just sounds too on the nose.

But to be honest, my only real negative is there are certain moments in this film that are extremely predictable and you can see coming a mile away.

That's it. That's all my issues. I really enjoyed this film and I will be looking forward to rewatching it. This is a near perfect film and I highly recommend it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thunder Force

I had no idea what to expect from this film because I love superhero films but I'm not a Melissa McCarthy fan. Unpopular opinion I know but I have never once found her funny or liked any of her comedies and I'm afraid that is still the case.

Starting with the positives and believe me there's no many, I really like the concept to this film and with the beginnings elaborate backstory, there's some interesting world building that could potentially be explored with a sequel or a remake.

Also I like the costumes both our leads wear, nothing major but the costumes just look cool and Octavia Spencer has a couple of one liners that made me smirk.

Well that's the positives out of the way. Now it's time for the negatives and the biggest problem with this film is it is not as fun as it should be. With the team and lead actresses, I'm wondering if there was any behind the scenes issues because for whatever reason, the cast feel like they're holding back a lot and it just doesn't feel as fun as it could or should be.

And once again, I didn't enjoy Melissa McCarthy in this film. I just don't think she's a funny actress. She's a good actress when it comes to dramatic performances but just not when it comes to comedic. But to my surprise, despite her funny one liners, I didn't think Octavia Spencer was that good in this film either and it fuels my suspicions that there were behind the scenes issues and maybe McCarthy and Spencer didn't get along because I didn't feel any comedic chemistry between them, Octavia Spencer doesn't look like she's enjoying herself in the film. You can't even buy them as friends and if there weren't any issues, then I don't know whether to blame their performances or the director.

But what absolutely kills this film and puts in my bottom 5 of the year is the horrific excuse for comedy. This film is not funny in the slightest. All it has is cliched jokes we've seen before done better in other films or really disgusting overused running gags like McCarthys character being forced to eat raw chicken which is just a ridiculous excuse for so called comedy.

This film would have benefited much more if it was a comedy spoof on the superhero genre where it makes fun of the cliches and trademarks of the superhero genre but does it in a respectful way and instead we get lazy comedy executed even worse.

Also the action in this film is very bland and whenever we see hand to hand combat, it's horribly edited. Again this would have been good as a spoof and had a great opportunity for comedy but it really misses the mark.

Unfortunately, this is not a good film at all. I really didn't like it, it's not funny and it's a waste of your time so I really wouldn't recommend it. I do hope Melissa McCarthy does more dramatic roles in the future because I think she's good in those roles. Just not comedies.

⭐

Godzilla Vs Kong

This was my most anticipated movies of the year because I just loved the idea of Godzilla and King Kong fighting one another filmed with modern day CGI and technology. I did have some worries but at the same time, I wanted to stay positive.  Now as I go into this, I'm not sure if there's any way I can be completely spoiler free, particularly when I get to the negatives but I'll try my best not to reveal too much.

Starting with the positives, easily the best thing about this film is action itself. The action scenes are absolutely mesmerizing to watch and so creative at times. It's so fun seeing Kong swinging around big citys and see these two icons just smashing each other and causing destruction.

This film is also a technical achievement with pretty much anything else throughout it's runtime. The production is outstanding, the CGI and visuals are incredible and look so real, this film even features a lot of colour correcting which is used very well and very efficiently. It must have been so hard for the creative team to create all of these visuals and not once does it all look fake.

The creature designs as well are fantastic to look at. Obviously Godzilla and King but there are some other creatures in this film and they look incredible. This film really knows how to use its budget to its advantage.

And finally the cast are really great in this film. Now the characters I'll be talking about later on but the cast do a fantastic job with what they are given.

Moving onto the mixed aspect now and the only thing that comes to mind is I think this film would have warranted better if there was a Kong sequel made before this film. The opening 30 minutes has a lot of gap and details to fill in and I feel if a sequel to the first Kong film was made and this film starts where that film ended, it would have made this film a lot better.

Also the ending may strike up some debate; some people may feel satisfied by the end of the film whereas others may feel disappointed and feel the film went for a safe ending.

Now we have to move onto the negatives now and unfortunately I did have some issues with this film and I will try my best to refrain from spoiler territory. Now Godzilla and King Kong get plenty of screen time individually, but together they only have like a limited amount of screentime and I blame that on the script. The script to this film features more of the human characters screentime than Godzilla and Kong combined and that is frustrating when you want to see Godzilla and Kong beating the crap out of each other. The final half an hour is when this is peak Godzilla Vs Kong and for me, that should have been a lot earlier.

This film also follows the same template to Batman v superman to a certain degree, especially when you get the to the 3rd act and it's very transparent at how similar it feels.

Another big issue I had, and this will not be very surprising either, are the human characters. As much as I love and enjoy the cast to this film, their characters are not as entertaining. In fact when they appear, it makes the film feel like it's dragging on. They are either boring and one dimensional or just under developed and not interesting at all.

And finally this film feels like it forgets what happened during the past couple of films as certain previous plot elements are completely ignored and characters from another certain film aren't even mentioned or brought into this film.

So overall, whilst this film is easily the best technical film of the year so far, on a script and characters based story, I found it to be a bit of a disappointment.

⭐⭐⭐

Cherry

Considering this is the Russo Brothers post Endgame movie which stars Tom Holland, one of the youngest A list actors in Hollywood today, this was one of my most anticipated movies of the year.

Kicking off with the positives, Tom Holland just steals the show with his performance. He's able to bring up so many different emotions during this film whilst keeping his natural charisma and it's just impressive with how he does this. He's really proving He is a very versatile actor and I'm excited to see his future projects.

I also really like the concept of the story. It's a story that feels like an obvious Oscar pick but is also a very character driven story and those are usually my favourite types of stories in films.

Finally I really appreciate that whilst this is a more smaller scale film, it's also feels as ambitious as their previous projects. 

But unfortunately I was massively disappointed in this film so it's time to move onto the negatives and the biggest problem with this film is the execution of its story. As I said before, this feels like an obvious Oscar pick but I doubt it will even be considered now and it breaks my heart to say this but I have to put it down to the Russo Brothers direction.

This is basically a simple tragic character story that should be easy to follow but it feels like the Russo Brothers want it to be more than that. It feels like they want to separate themselves from their previous MCU ventures whilst keeping the ambitious feelings in their movies and I can appreciate and respect that but this film is simply too ambitious. It should be a more grounded, independent feeling film and the films story execution suffers as a result as it gets too drawn out and at times the storytelling feels very messy due to its stylistic tone.

That's another issue with the film. It's stylistic tone is again too much. The Russo Brothers don't seem to know what kind of aesthetic to use for the film so they just use a whole bunch of them. There's different visual cues, cinematography changes, there's a couple of times Tom Hollands character breaks the 4th wall and unfortunately these aesthetics never seem to suit this film at any point.

Finally and this really bugged me but this film is overbundled with narration to the point where it just gets annoying. I don't mind narration in films but not to the point where it treating the audience like idiots and explaining every little detail to them.

Overall this is easily the most disappointing film of the year for me so far. I really wanted to enjoy it but I just didn't. It's simply too much for how little the story is and I do blame the Russos for this films faults.

⭐⭐

Zack Snyders Justice League

This film I have been curious about but was never fully excited until it's final couple of months before release. I always felt it would be better than the monstrous justice league we got before but I wasn't sure how much better it would be.

But to my surprise and to kick off the positives, this is so much better than I expected it to be. It exceeded all my expectations. Every scene we get, even the ones I wasn't a fan of which I will elaborate on later, is so much better than the 2017 version. I truly love that we got Zack Snyders true vision for what he wanted his fans to see.

My next positives have to go to the characterisations for the entire justice league. Watching this film just showed how much was cut from the 2017 version and that costed characterisation and development but this film makes up for it with big spoonfuls and the cast make up for it for their fantastic performances. Bruce Waynes character arc is just fantastic going from the cynical old man Batman, who was against alien life to the man who forms the Justice League to make up for his mistakes.

Victor Stone/Cyborg gets the best development however as we learn how he became Cyborg, what his life was like before, how much he is struggling with his new life and anger toward his father and eventually accepts his new life. Ray Fisher plays him brilliantly and after everything that happened to him with Warner bros, I hope this helps kick start his career again.

Ezra Miller as Barry Allen also improves amongst this film. I have always liked him in this role but his utilisation was really off. He is used much better and seems to have a place within the team. He gets some good action scenes and again some good character development. Wonder woman and Aquaman are also fantastic in this film. They help fill in the teams dynamic. I also just loved how this film seemed to give homage to Man of Steel with Superman flying for the first time in his black costume with that powerful Han Zimmer Man of Steel score.

The team undergoes so major and much improved development as a whole since in the 2017 version, I never felt any chemistry amongst the members in that film. This film feels like a three act structure where the team form their alliance, the cracks eventually start to show during the middle of the film and eventually form a plan and work as a team to defeat the main antagonist. The team earns their chemistry and have some great moments during the final battle.

And what an improved score this film has. The Justice League 2017 was just dull and forgettable even when the film was playing. This one is so much better and feels more powerful especially during the final battle and when a major character appears who I'll talk about in the next section.

Now let's talk about the man himself. Darkseid. Yes he appears in this film and his presence is severely felt despite his limited screentime. You just feel how intimidating this character is and why the characters should fear him. Where the MCU had Thanos, the DCEU has Darkseid. Now I don't know if Darkseid will be as brilliant as Thanos but this is one hell of an impressive start.

And finally I just loved how much effort Zack Snyder put into this to make this the film of his career. You feel his stylistic direction, the tone fits his creative style and his precious two films, there are some fantastic and incentive action sequences, the conclusion to the final fight is so much more satisfying and after the ending we get, I want the films that are set up after this. I want a Ben Affleck Batman film or series, I want Justice League sequels especially after what I heard about what Zack Snyders plans are. It makes me excited just thinking about it.

Oh and just some minor praises but the green screen is so much better in this film. All the environments looks so much more real than the previous film. Also I loved the Joker and Batman confrontation scene. Such powerful dialogue between these two and that one scene just shows what a complex relationship they have. And speaking of the dialogue, we get some fantastic and badass lines from our characters.

Moving onto the mixed aspect now and there's a few things. First let's talk about the obvious one. The 4 hour runtime. This is a widely debated runtime that has had praise and criticism all over the reviews I've seen. Now I had no issue with the runtime. Despite it being a 4 hour film it seemed to go really fast and move at a really nice pace. It never felt like it was dragging on. I think the best way to go into this film is to know what genre fan you are. For example the Irishman a couple of years ago is a three hour and a half long film and I couldn't watch that because I'm not a gangster/mob film fan. But because I love superhero films, I could watch a three hour long avengers film or a 4 hour long Justice League film so just know who you are before watching.

My next mixed thought is the main villain for this film Stepponwolf. Now I didn't think I'd ever say this but he is a much better villain than he was before. He gets some decent development and motivation and I love his cooler design. Unfortunately he still felt like a generic and forgettable villain. I saw tweets from people saying he's one of the best villains now and I just don't agree with that. He's much better but not fantastic.

My final mixed thought is the 4.3 aspect ratio. Now I understand Zack Snyder used Imax cameras which means the aspects ratio shows at the side of the screens instead of top and bottom. Now at first it really bugged me but as the film went on, I got used to it and it didn't affect my thoughts on the film but at times I noticed some characters faces were cut off because of it and it just looked odd to me.

Onto the negatives and there are a few things. First I never liked Supermans resurrection storyline in the previous film and whilst he obviously gets resurrected in this film, for those who haven't seen it yet I won't spoil it but I didn't like how he resurrected in this version either. Its just very uninteresting to me. I would have preferred a fan theory that I read online which feels interesting and also fits in with that final scene in Batman v Superman. And we get that awful 'You smell nice! Did I not before?' line and I really hated that line in the previous film.

Also I really wish they changed The Flashs suit design because again I never like it before and I still don't like it now. It looks too overdesigned in my opinion. We also get Barry and Iris's romance setup during this film and it felt so awkward and forced for me. I'm not going into spoilers but you'll know what I mean when you see it.

My final negative is for the marketing because some characters are heavily marketed for the film and have very little screentime. I also avoided almost all the trailers and it shocked me how many trailers were released for this film. Because I didn't watch them all, I can't comment on what was in them but it's like Snyder didn't think anyone would watch this film so he decided to show as much as possible to the audience.

Despite these negatives, this is a film that was wanted by so many fans and could have failed but luckily was a massive success for me personally. I loved watching this film and is officially my favourite film of the year. Everything in this film felt earned in a lot of ways and this could be my favourite film in the DCEU.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Raya and the last Dragon

Now I'll be honest. If this film had come out in the cinema, I probably wouldn't have watched it but since cinemas are still closed, I just figured why not and I've paid for premier access with Mulan so it made no difference to me.

Starting with the positives, I'll just say right now I really really enjoyed this film. This was a fresh, exciting and fun film to watch that I think a lot of people will enjoy as well.

What I loved most though is how creative and imaginative this film is. While there are aspects to it that aren't entirely original, there's plenty of moments that feels new and has fresh ideas to explore. This also feels like an ambitious which you don't really get from animated features.

At the beginning, we learn about what this film is about, there's plenty of interesting worldbuilding and it just feels like the writers knew what they were making, like they really thought this film through and had a clear vision. There's clear motivations, a straightforward story and it all feels like one whole cohesive and a well crafted story.

The characters are fantastic and fun to watch. Raya herself gets some strong character development which I'll elaborate on more later but you understand why she is the way she is and she is voiced greatly by Kelly Marie Tran who I hope gets more roles in the future. She was unfairly treated during her star wars days and the trolls who horribly abused her the way they did should be ashamed of themselves.

Awkwafina is just flawless as Sisu and really steals the screen. She's just so likable and charming to watch and I loved her characters design. I don't know why but there's just something about the way her character looked that always made me laugh but not only that, her characters naivety just helps make her cute and even more likeable. That's probably the best thing about the characters. They're all just so likable and get their moment to shine. Even the minor characters and also the villain of the film get a some great development so they don't feel one dimensional or forgettable.

But the one thing that I noticed and what made me grow enjoy this film even more was that this is a thematically rich film as it focuses on the theme of Trust and that is references at so many points throughout the film and helps with the development of characters. It's how you understand Raya, it's how it makes Sisu a more fun character to watch, it even drives the story forward at times and makes the films conclusions more ballsy and ambitious. That is how you have a great usage of a films main theme.

This film is also beautiful to look at. The animation is gorgeous to watch and has a nice aesthetic to it. This is probably one of the best looking animated films and there's different types of animation used throughout which makes sense storyline wise.

Finally I was very impressed with the marketing as it hides a major plot point of the story that I didn't see in the trailer I watched. I even watched one of the other trailers to it and it hid that main segment to the story really well. I love that we can still get trailers that don't spoil the film.

As we get to the negatives, honestly I only have one and that is the story can feel predictable at times. The first 25% of the film is where you feel it's predictability the most but it also happens frequently throughout the film.

Overall this was a nice surprise and fun film to watch. It has great characters, a great story, beautiful animation and a theme that helps tie it all together.

⭐⭐⭐⭐