Shadow in the cloud

When I heard about this film, it immediately made me excited and intrigued. I love creature features and this sounded just the film for me. I was down for some dumb fun and as a result, I certainly got the dumb part.

Starting with the positives, when we get them, the creature scenes are good to watch and I like how they are designed. This film is only an hour and 23 minutes so its very short and doesn't outstay it's welcome and Chloe Grace Moretz is fantastic as well. She could have chosen a better film but I really like her as an actress and hopefully it won't be too long before we see her next project.

Yeah I wasn't going to be too long on the positives because I had a lot of problems with this film so we need to move onto the bad and the big problem with this film is its a complete mess and doesn't know what it wants to be. It tries to be a social commentary film, a war film and a creature feature and those three genres do not mix well at all. It wouldn't surprise me if there was some studio interference either because the creature feature scenes felt like reshoots on an already complete story.

Another really bad thing about this film is the characters. They are terrible, one dimensional, extremely forgettable and unlikable. Even with chloe Grace Moretz's character, she starts off ok but something happens at the end of the film that's makes you question her entire character development.

But the one thing that bugged me the most is the social commentary in this film. Now this film tackles sexism and I understand it's a relatable topic but I've always felt the best way to approach it is subtlety. Don't make it so obvious. Take a film like The Assistant. A film that explores sexism extremely realistic and in a captivating way. Tell the story visually.

This film spend the first 20-30 minutes with the characters making cruel and misogynistic comments towards this one girl and the more you hear it, the more it feels like the film is forcing it in your face like you're stupid or incompetent. This film tackles the subject all wrong and that is its biggest sin.

Also there are some big plot twists in the film that feel like ideas are being thrown at you but when you think about them, they make no logical sense at all.

Overall this is a terrible film and easily the worst film of the year so far for me with very few redeemable qualities. I cannot recommend it and it's a disappointing experience for creature feature fans.

⭐

Greenland

I've known about this film coming out for a good while but it was always frustrating me when I could never find a release date. Luckily it was released on Amazon prime and I had a lot of fun with it.

Starting with the positives, this is easily the most enjoyable film I've seen this year so far. One of the things I enjoyed most about this film is how fast paced it is. The main story kicks off after around 10 minutes into the film and never seems to slow down. As the film goes on, you feel the metaphorical ticking clock as our characters have to get to a destination and that latches onto the viewers captivity to the film.

Something that really surprised me with the film is even though it's a disaster film, it doesn't focus too much the special effects. It relys on the characters to carry this film and tell the story and explores what the characters are willing to do to survive. The special effects are great but they're not high budget effects and they're not all over the screen and in your face which makes the film better.

The cast are also great. I really like Gerard butler and I'm a big Morena Baccarin fan and they give some fantastic performances. Whilst this shares some common tropes with other disaster films which I'll elaborate more in the negatives, one trope it executes so well is the meaning of family. You feel the theme of family throughout the film as the characters desperately try to survive and you can buy our lead stars as a family. The child actor cast in this film is also really good.

Finally I was really impressed with the marketing for this film. The trailer hides certain plot points unlike a lot of trailers and I was certainly grateful for that. There's a lot of unexpected moments in this film and it's nice to be surprised without everything being spoiled.

Unfortunately this film isn't perfect so let's move onto the negatives. Now I really enjoyed this film and I didn't have any specific issues but there were a few things I wasn't a fan of. First of all, I'm going to start off with a nitpick. I swear Gerard butler had two different accents in this film. One minute he's Scottish then he's American and when he's trying to be American, it sounds really bad. Either get the man A dialect coach or let him use his natural accent.

Also I stated this earlier but this film shares a lot of tropes with other disaster films. Two people having relationship troubles are forced to band together to try and survive a natural disaster. They even get separated at one point and have to find each other to continue their journey. We've seen these tropes in so many disaster films. The day after tomorrow, 2012, San Andreas etc.

Finally whilst this is a face paced film, the film seems to run out of steam towards the 3rd act. The first two acts are gripping and captivating but once we get to the 3rd act, it feels like the weakest part of the film. It's still good but just not as gripping or memorable.

But overall this is the most enjoyable film I've seen this year and it delivered the escapism I look for in disaster films. It's got good effects, good actors and good characters and I would highly recommend this film.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Malcolm and Marie

I haven't exactly been anticipating this film but was built with a lot of curiosity. With a bit of a backstory, this was the first film made since lockdown last year and was even made during the pandemic. There was a limited film crew and only two actors who were in each others bubble; John David Washington and Zendaya. Both had to prepare on their own and filming only last a month I believe but I could be wrong with the last one. That's all I knew going into this film

Starting with the positives, Zendaya and John David Washington completely hold their own in this film. I was nervous about watching a film with just two actors because that can bore a viewer very easily but that was not the case. These two have great chemistry amongst each other and are able to carry this film from start to finish.

And whilst I'll have more to say about Washington later on, Zendaya is just outstanding. She's able to be funny, sarcastic, emotional and vulnerable all the way through this film and she just pulls it off whilst making it look so so easy.

This is also a very dialogue heavy film and the dialogue is very powerful and hard hitting at times. Now a lot of films can have unnecessary exposition that can become a bit of a drag unless the film is dialogue based and this film 100% fits in that category. With the dialogue, we're able to understand who our characters, learn all about them and with that, they feel like fully developed characters.

Moving onto the mixed aspect of the film, the first thing I want to talk about is John David Washingtons performance. Now he gives a good performance but he also unnecessarily overacts throughout the entire film like he drank a whole case of energy drinks before shooting his scenes. In fact when he needed to be serious, it came off as very comedic so I wish he had contained his performance like Zendaya did.

Also now this is from a viewer perspective and I wasn't sure whether to mention this but watching this, this film covers emotional abuse in these characters relationship but the reason it's mixed for me is because I found it unclear who the main abuser was because both these characters are completely toxic towards each other and have emotionally abusive characteristics so it was hard to teĺl if one or both were abusive to each other. 

Onto the negatives now and before i go on, I just want to say this film did nothing wrong. This is just how I felt watching this film. The biggest thing that comes to mind is the cinematography. I have never enjoyed black and white films and this film is no exception. I appreciated the craft that went into this film but I really wish they had filmed it in colour because there were times I struggled to get into it.

This is also a film I don't think is rewatchable because of the films nature. I feel if I watch this film a second time, knowing what happens I would get bored after maybe 20 minutes. As a one time experience, it's fine but more than that, I would need to be in a very specific mood.

Overall this is a well made film that has so much to appreciate and will appeal to others differently. This isn't bad film but just not a film I'm likely to watch again.

⭐⭐⭐