“THE INCREDIBLES 2”

Yes, I am aware I was supposed to be reviewing Sicario 2, but a combination of scheduling conflicts prevented me from doing this, plus I had no idea that we would be getting Incredibles 2 around this time.

When I was looking at all the Pixar sequels I kept thinking why not Incredibles 2 it makes perfect sense for me and I felt like it had the most material to draw from and most potential in the future. Fourteen years after the fact, and several Pixar movies later, including the cars sequels as well as Monster’s University and the previously reviewed Finding Dory so a mixed bunch, if we are being kind and only because Finding Dory was in the list and I didn’t mention the fantastic Toy Story sequels, it finally come about. The Incredibles 2!!! Brad Bird even returned as writer and director, honestly, I’m amazed Disney were actually allowed him to even come back to this film, considering how badly Tomorrowland tanked.

So, when it comes to Incredibles 2 how did the Pixar sequel I wanted to see come back. Well it takes place after the events of the first movie… literally. Remember that credit scene which lead us into the villain the Underminer drilling up from the car park and the family suiting up? It literally starts from that scene. After that rescue doesn’t quite go according to plan, the intensity against superheroes is beginning to heat up. However, a tycoon named Winston Devour played by Bob Odendirk approaches Bob Parr, aka Mr Incredible, played by Craig T Nelson, Helen Parr, aka Elastigirl played by Holly Hunter and Lucious Best, aka Frozone played by Samuel L Jackson. Along with his tech savvy sister Evelyn, played by Katherine Keener, Winston reckons he can use his technology and business know how to make superheroes legal again, but he needs to strengthen public support using Elastigirl as she will potentially cause less damage and go down better with the public. In order to take this job offer up and make superheroes legal again he agrees to let Helen take up the superhero job, while he takes care of the kids: Dash played by Huck Milner, Violet played by Sarah Vowell and Jack-Jack played by Eli Fucile.

To be honest it feels a bit like a sitcom more than anything else, the domesticity of the scenario is highlighted a lot more. The first film was about a father going through a mid-life crisis, whereas this film is more about the idea of the changing roles in the family. These aren’t necessarily bad things, but it’s actually more interesting overall. There are quite a few gags in this movie, but if you have seen the trailers then the likelihood is you have seen most of them. There’s not much more added to the film than what was in the trailer, which is surprising as this is a 2-hour movie. Now the other factor kept out of the trailers is the villain- a mystery hacker named Screenslaver. The villain actually is alright in this film but not as memorable as Syndrome from the first movie, nor do I think when we find out the villain’s motivation, it doesn’t feel very satisfying. Certainly, it is a lot more difficulty than Syndromes motivation but also kind of complicates the film in some ways. You will have to watch it to see my point.

I don’t think we realised how much the Incredibles matched the time period it came out in. The first movie was about a world rejecting superheroes at the time, it’s quite forgettable now considering how successful the marvel movies have been aswell as Chris Nolan’s, the Dark Night Trilogy, but in 2004 when this film came out superhero movies were considered dead. Thanks to several flops and the idea of doing a superhero movie was an atrocious idea. Comic movies were not being thrown out left right and centre like they are now, so the idea of a super hero movie being made by Pixar was a bit of a gamble and the movies narrative reflected the publics thought on this. The thing is though 14 years later a film with superheroes seems disingenious right now and kind of weird.

The film also hasn’t really done much different in the 14 years. The first movie really was a credit to the golden age and the silver age of comics, the film maintains that futuristic style as imagined in the 1960’s, so its maintaining that sort of pulp an sci-fi feel they had then in superhero films. This is of course the age which gave us a lot of what we know about superman’s modern origins as well as green lanterns. This was rather surprising to me as I thought it would reflect the bronze age of comics this time round given that it was a sequel, considering how polarising the bronze age is I think it might have been a wise bet to just stick to the gold and silver age.

Much of the first film was just Mr Incredible who happened to have a family which appeared half way through the film to team up. This one kind of feels the same, apart from Elastigirl is actually in the front line. The super herop action is actually done really well, incorporating her powers in a lot of inventive ways. I kind of think the film starting off from where it left off is a little bit lazy.

The reason that the Toy Story films did so well, is that they grew up with the audience who saw them the first time round. That’s why Toy Story 3 appeals to the young audience, and the now adults who had grown up with the earlier films. That’s what I was expecting with the Incredibles 2, that they would age up the kids and make them the leads maybe even having children of their own, like I said there has been a 14-year gap between these. Surprisingly that is not the case, as a result it keeps the film on training wheels it doesn’t really need. The Incredibles was a very popular movie, so I’m not surprised they wanted to stick with what worked, theres just not that much new this time round. The characters are not much different to what they were before, which is fine I liked the Incredibles it’s one of my favourite Pixar films. I would just rather it went down a different route as I felt there was a lot to explore with this film. This was a film I found thoroughly entertaining, it has a good pace, consistent plot even if there are a few predictable moments.

A great moment is a fight between Jack-Jack who’s just getting his powers, and a raccoon in the family garden is hilarious and could make for a great short animation in itself. At the time I was thinking this is probably the closest we will get to a super hero vs the guardians of the galaxy. They brought back Edna Mode who is once again played by Brad Bird and again, she is the funniest thing in the movie. I appreciate so much that they did not expand her role any further than necessary. Brad Bird knew she was a cameo and nothing else, over-exposure would have ruined the character.

The acting is pretty decent all round, with Holly Hunter doing a very good job reprising her role, Samuel L Jackson does well to considering he is in a lot more scenes this time, and new comers like Breaking Bads, Bob Odenkirk do well. There are also some very good voice actors such as Sophia Bush, Isabella Rossellini and Phil LaMarr.

As for the animation, Pixar maybe did not receive as much of a budget it does not feel much has changed in the years between now and the first film. The animation just feels like an update of the 2004 like a car just with a repaint of the same colour which was there before. So basically, it’s the exact same thing, but you wouldn’t really have known there had been an update until someone told you.

The action scenes are damn good, although in my screening it felt a lot as though it was made for the 3D conversion which stood out a lot more since I saw the 2D version, again because of scheduling reasons. I normally like to see animated films in 3D as it is one of the formats that works quite well.

While it does feel like it’s kind of treading water with its concept and its story line, I still think it is a pretty good film and sequel to the first film. If you weren’t that impressed the first time you probably won’t really like this film and don’t go in expecting anything new. But as far as a good kid’s superhero movie goes this is pretty good.

Well next week I’m not going to subject myself to the horror of watching the Mamma Mia sequel I will be reviewing Artimus.

“MAQUIA: WHEN THE PROMISED FLOWER BLOOMS”

Maquia is the latest film to be written by Mari Okada, but this also marks her directorial debut. A light novel writer from Japan she has written the scrips to some of my favourite anime over the last few years, including Anohana and more recently Iron-Blooded Orphans which has become one of my favourite Gundam series. Even in some of her scripts which don’t completely work for me for example A Lull in the Sea has some great moments in it, but unfortunately it suffers from a few weird moments and a few script decisions that don’t entirely work, but even then, I still acknowledge some merit to it. So, I was actually interested to see what her directorial debut would be.

If you are planning to see this film, you are probably now going to have to wait until it is officially released on DVD. Since the film was in cinemas it almost certainly had a license, so it will probably be getting released late this year, or early next year. Before you do that, I think you should read this review.

Maquia is essentially a story which follows a race of beings. Most descriptions list them as being immortal, though its more they live 100s of years and retain their youth. After the nation is attacked a girl named Maquia finds a baby of another race after the carnage, and adopts him, naming him Erial. She must come to terms with the fact that despite the fact she has adopted this child she will inevitably outlive him. This sounds like it should be really major drama, which is why I’m really saddened to say Maquia left me feeling very underwhelmed. This is a film that really feels like it really should have been a TV series at least since it feels like the story has been gutted. There are several factors that aren’t addressed, for example the villains are so thinly revealed, I have no idea what they are, a kingdom that wants to seek the immortals blood, but really, I don’t understand what they want to do with them, they want to use them in their weening abilities, maybe to extend their lives. They certainly did explain it in the film, but I really don’t remember.

What’s more I really hated the use of time skips in this film, granted it was going to be necessary to do time skips, but for the love of god there is very little to show the transition of over what time things have actually happened, in one of them a lot has clearly happened which really should have been explained more.
This film is weird in its writing, not only is there tonnes of plot development which has been missed, some of the characters are really lacking in certain departments, the film is so light on its character development, things just kind of happen, the one thing I will say is there is effort to show some emotional weight to these moments. If there is one thing that I will not say against Maquia is that there hasn’t been no effort put into it and the concept of the story is a very good idea, the whole idea of immortality, is a great idea that can be explored. sadly, it doesn’t quite hit the mark. Several stories have done this, and it doesn’t really stand out for the right reasons.

Now it does have some real moments where it tries very hard to create this genuine emotion and genuine ideas, but it doesn’t quite succeed.

There’s certain parts of the ending for example where it should be a big deal but doesn’t quite work. What’s more this film has been phenomenally mis sold to the public, this film is far from its description. I was seriously shocked when I saw the IMDB plot synopsis when I got back from seeing the film, you are going to be going into this thinking you are seeing a completely different film.

Now there is a few areas where I think the film succeeds. Some of the animation is actually quite good, granted it’s not quite as good as some of the other recent Japanese anime that have received a cinema release, in fact I very much noticed this film wasn’t shown in wide screen which is rather worrying. This is actually a film where I think the animation works better at a distance. The background shots are actually done very well, and the location designs are great, the problem I think is with the character designs, they all really blend into one, you can only really identify from hair colour which even then is still a struggle to identify them.

I was also unimpressed with the sound track, which again I am sad to say as it was talented people that worked on this soundtrack. What’s more is this film really is an example of why 3D computer animation doesn’t always work in an anime format.

This is seriously where I think the film does try its best, it fails miserably though in several regards, and it’s really down to the fact that the plot is not quite good enough, just a few extra pieces of information might quite do it. What’s more I think this film would have suited better as an ensemble piece about several characters, rather than focusing on just a couple. In fact, several characters do get that treatment, but they are tossed aside later down the line. There is one character which really builds up to be very important but is then out of the film for long periods of time. There is also another character I was expecting to have a big moment, but it never really happened. It’s just moments like that which take me out of the film as a whole.

The voice actors do a very good job. I saw the original Japanese version, since a dubbed version had not been commissioned at the time of this film’s release however I would say judging by the companies licensing anime at the moment expect there to be a dub in the future, so if you would prefer to see the film in the English language you will probably get one with the DVD.

I hate to criticise this film, I really do, because I am a fan of Mari Okada’s writing, she’s written some amazing scripts, but this just needed a bit more development.

This is kind of the opposite to my view on Lull in the Sea, where although Lull in the Sea had similar issues it ironed these out quite well. Maquia doesn’t quite manage this, and don’t take that to think I really enjoyed Lull in the Sea, I’m actually not a huge fan of that series.

Despite all this, I would say I’m going to watch whatever she writes next.

“OCEAN’S EIGHT”

‘Ocean’s Eight’ is the latest entry in the Ocean’s franchise, which has been rather dormant since ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’. Personally, I didn’t see a reason to continue the franchise since the Ocean’s films have been going downhill and I’ve seen that when I wasn’t really much of a fan, albeit, of ‘Ocean’s Eleven’. It’s a passable film and if you can switch off your brain it’s perfectly fine but that’s about it. It’s not helped by the fact that I’m not the biggest George Clooney fan in the world and I mean, I don’t think these are some of his better roles – nothing against the guy but George Clooney, when he’s directed and has a good script, is generally a good actor. In the Ocean’s films it feels like he’s slumming it.

The film’s directed by Gary Ross, who also did the screen play. Having directed the first of ‘The Hunger Games’ films, which if you recall from my review of ‘Mockingjay Part 2’, I thought that film’s ambitious plot was dragged down by his direction, despite the fact it did stay close to the book’s overall plot. The other announcement was the fact that there would be no cast members returning and this resulted in an all female cast. This obviously got people complaining about social injustice and the so called feminist agenda, which meant that much like the recent ‘Ghostbusters’ movie, I feel that it was going into a no win situation. In fact, I was even considering skipping reviewing ‘Ocean’s Eight’ for that specific reason but I did review’ Ghostbusters’ so I’m going to review ‘Ocean’s Eight’.

So instead of Danny Ocean from the previous films, this time we have his sister, Debbie Ocean – don’t ask. I know as far as my recollection goes, she didn’t appear in any of the other films and she’s a completely invented character for this movie and played by Sandra Bullock. Supposedly, Danny has died between movies off screen – AKA, they don’t know if they can get George Clooney back for any more of these movies so it was probably best to potentially kill him off. Hell, they even make a running gag that Debbie is not entirely convinced that he is actually dead.

Debbie is portrayed as being coerced into a crime by her then boyfriend who throws her under the bus. Then after getting out of prison for good behaviour, she immediately teams up with the rest of a crew of her friends and decides she is going to get back at him by pulling off a heist of her own. They tell you there’s a rare kind of diamond worth millions and they’re going to get it from the necklace of a top celebrity, Daphne Kluger, played by Anne Hathaway. They will then use their connections at an exclusive party to steal it.

‘Ocean’s Eight’ as an all star cast, including Cate Blanchett, Midori Francis, Charlotte Kirk, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Rihanna, Dakota Fanning and Awkwafina, as well as Sarah Paulson. But here’s the thing: Ocean’s Eight is one of the most passable films I’ve seen all year. It is the film I have the least amount of feelings for: I don’t like it enough to really want anything to do with it and I don’t hate it enough to really want to rage against it.

‘Ocean’s Eight’ is virtually identical to its counterparts, which is why I actually said I preferred the recent ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot, since at least that film was trying something new: it actually felt like a new franchise. ‘Ocean’s Eight’ just feels like a gender swapped ‘Ocean’s Eleven’. And the only thing is, I think the emphasis on the gender swap is the marketing department’s biggest failing since it just highlights that that’s the only thing that’s even remotely interesting about the film. This one is so part of the course, that it’s just boring. I was amazed how dull this film was actually. It does pick up by the time it got to the heist but by then it was too little too late. The only thing that surprised me about the film is that Rihanna’s actually doing a decent performance in this movie which is saying a lot considering that I’ve never enjoyed performances in some of her previous films.

The film’s main eight actresses are actually pretty decent, this is especially the case for Sandra Bullock, who is perfectly fine, although again, I think the casting is pretty decent I couldn’t really believe she could be related to George Clooney. Also, don’t expect cast members to return this time; this is pretty much an entirely new cast, which is something I would say it has over the ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot since in that film all three surviving Ghostbusters, as well as Sigourney Weaver, all came back for cameos, which made the film come off as seeming unconfident in its new stars. I do appreciate that this film does have confidence in its new stars and I will say that most of the actresses look like they’re having a really good time. You get a sense that all the main stars were fans of the Ocean’s movies and wanted to do a good performance. Here’s the problem I have: the script. With Ocean’s movies I never feel sympathetic to any of the cast. They always try and make it look like there’s a bigger scumbag out there than them but in heist movies, they’ve really got to have a good reason why they’re stealing shit and I don’t think ‘Ocean’s Eight’ provides a good enough one. Debbie’s old boyfriend is a complete asshole of the highest proportion but I’m not sure it’s to the extent that I want to see him go to prison for his crap. Yeah, they have an idea that they’re going to frame him for the heist so that he does the prison time he should have done, but that’s the thing, that’s an idea that they don’t execute well enough because he’s not in the film long enough to really make much of an impact.

Speaking of no impact, as you will see from the trailer, James Corden has a parti n the film but you pretty much saw all of it from the trailer. He plays an insurance agent who has been trying to investigate the situation after the heist and that’s frankly putting more emphasis on it than necessary. In fact, he only really appears for a minor portion; in fact, most of his dialogue had been in the trailers. Very little of it has not already been seen. I will say that he has the confidence to do well in performing in scenes with actresses like Sandra Bullock ad Anne Hathaway but that’s the thing, he’s just playing James Corden. He’s not really playing a character. James Corden’s a decent enough TV personality but he’s not really a character actor. And don’t take that the wrong way; I’m personally someone who’s rather indifferent towards Corden. I don’t really have much feelings about his show one way or the other and he has done projects that I genuinely liked. I did like his performance in ‘The History Boys’, for example, and his writing in ‘Gavin and Stacey’ was pretty good. I just feel he needs a better project to show off his chops.

Speaking of which, another problem is that all of the actresses are really competing for screen time. Many of them get a lot more scenes than expected, for example, Helena Bonham Carter was in this film a lot more than I was anticipating, which is probably a good thing, considering she has one of the best parts in the film. But some of the more up and coming actresses are downplayed. For example, Mindy Kaling really doesn’t have much of a presence in the film until much later on, which is a shame because she is a decent actress. Similarly, fans of Rihanna will be a bit disappointed that her role has been overplayed in the trailer but at least this time she’s actually giving a good performance.

Sarah Paulson really didn’t leave too much of an impression on me but as for Anne Hathaway, I’ve never really been one to jump on the bandwagon of really hating Anne Hathaway because frankly, I feel it’s not really her fault. She tends to just be given really bad scripts and she tries to make the best of the situation. And when she’s given a good script and good direction, she can give a genuinely good performance. See, her voice acting role in ‘The Cat Returns’ for example, which is probably one of her best performances. And I might rat on’ The Princess Diary’ movies, and frankly they deserve a ribbing considering how awful they are, but in a way you’ll enjoy them in the same way that you’ll watch a video of cat falling down the stairs. You know you shouldn’t enjoy watching it. But to be fair, Anne Hathaway’s performance did help save those films and she did bring life to a character that without a good performance, doesn’t really have much personality. She unfortunately doesn’t bring the same fuel to ‘Ocean’s Eight’. She has been cast as an obnoxious celebrity of some sort whose relevance in the plot goes back and forth. In fact, the writing’s so bad I don’t think I even remember what her profession is. Was she a model? An actress? You tell me.

Also, in ‘Ocean’s Eight’, we’re not surprised in the sense of there are lots of leaps in logic and many cases of, ‘I’m sorry but if you tried that, you’d get caught instantly.’ In fact, I’d even say there are not many parts of this film that I am a fan of. Although, I did say that ‘Eight’ is not a terrible film by any means. When it’s dumb fun, it is enjoyable but as I also said, I am not a fan of the Ocean’s movies and this was nothing different. If you like the Ocean’s movies, ‘Ocean’s Eight’ is more of the same. You’re getting the exact same film, done again, it brings nothing really much better or worse. And that’s it.

Honestly, I was kind of padding this review to make up time because the film gives me nothing to really enjoy about it. Only some of the dumb fun moments. Like the other movies, it’s pretty much just shut off your brain and go along with it but not in a way that I find ultra-fun. And I personally feel that I am kind of done with the Ocean’s movies. I never went to watch one in a cinema and frankly, I’m not sure that I would do it again. The film teases that this could potentially be a new franchise but I’m not sure I’m on board for the idea of a new franchise.

If you like it, go and see it. It’s fine. That’s all I can say about it. It’s okay. Anyone who is not going to see this film because of the all women cast – you’re being a dick. And for the record, anyone who says if you don’t like this film then you’re being a misogynist, you’re also being a dick. There’s plenty to complain about with this film without being sexist. If they’re complaining that it’s because it’s women in the leads then fine. Have a go at them all you want, they deserve it but it’s only legitimate to complain about a film when you address a decent back up argument given, I don’t care. Okay, I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want this to be ‘Ghostbusters’ all over again. Thankfully, nothing like that backlash is happening. It looks like mankind are learning from their mistakes.

Well, that’s it for this week and next week I decided that I’ve not done a lot of Anime reviews for the Society itself so I’m going to get back into an Anime movie that me and my friends, The Anime Amigos, do not have time to review because of a conflicting schedule. Next week, I’ll be reviewing the film Maquia by director Mari Okada.

“HEREDITARY”

Hereditary comes to us at really a time when horror films are very much a mixed bag. We still get a tonne of really bad ones out every year, but at the same time there has been some great ones over the years and there has been a horror film in my top 10 films of the year list.

Now Hereditary was one that I didn’t even consider reviewing for quite some time, it only really ended up on the list because of the schedule, it was really the only film on this week, and I did want to review another horror film. I took one look at the trailer and thought it didn’t really look anything special. Then the reviews from America came forward, I know I’ve always said I’m not really one to check out reviews prior to seeing the film but when it came out in America so much earlier it’s almost impossible to avoid it. It began to get really good reviews, so I actually genuinely went in with some expectation to it.

The film is written and directed by Ari Aster, and I have looked up his previous directorial work prior to Hereditary, however, I haven’t seen any of them, so I do not have an opinion on him as a writer and director.

The question is though has Hereditary lived up to its hype or is it just another case of where the film critics went a little bit over board.

This is normally where I would give a plot synopsis but I’m afraid I’m going to have to take the Infinity War route again and state that I am not planning on giving a plot synopsis. This is not to be lazy, the trailers for this film are actually mis-leading, there is a plot twist at a certain point in the film, quite early on, that changes the entire perspective of the movie. As a result, if you see the trailer, you are not getting the result you expected, and this film will shock you early on. Since this plot twist does happen so early on, I do not think it’s right to give a plot synopsis, and to discuss it would be a spoiler and ruin some of the best moments of the film for you.

The basic synopsis that you can gather from the trailer, is that Annie, played by Toni Collette, mother dies, and shortly after her Daughter Charlie, played by Millie Shapiro, starts to act strange, and strange things keep happening to the rest of the family, including, Brother, Peter, played by Alex Wolff and Husband, Steve, played by Gabriel Byrne. That’s a very basic plot synopsis, but if you think this is just any other horror film DO NOT!! Hereditary is probably the most effective, tightly written and well executed horror film since the Witch.

It’s a film that pulls no punches. It constantly has you tensing and questioning everything, with several very interesting moments. There is a tonne of twists in the story but if you actually look carefully enough there are several clues to them that will warrant repeat viewings to really see how well it’s constructed in hindsight.

The film itself is very much about grieving and the actual grieving process, which adds a sense of real fear to the scenario, since this scenario is exhibited by several people on a daily basis. There is very much a sense of, that it is all potentially in main character, Annie’s, head, but as a result it leads us to question every single moment that happens on screen. This is what good, effective horror does, and the atmosphere builds with the lighting, cinematography and the score are all nominally well done. This film deals with the biggest pet peeve I have in horror films… There are no jump scares! The film gets by without them, and as a result the horror is a lot more shocking and intense, which is also Hereditary’s biggest success, as a result it is a story that’s truly frightening.

It is a film that can feel quite odd at times, but it is still rather effective in those moments, it never forgets that is actually a horror film, it never tries to go into rather comedic moments to appease an audience that have turned horror films into an absolute joke!

The performances are also FANTASTIC! With the various nominations for Get Out at the Oscars, this should definitely mean that many of the acts involved should be considered for Oscar nominations. Toni Collette, who in particular should get a nomination, having previously been nominated in the year 2000 for The Sixth Sense, her performance is phenomenally good in this film! Gabriel Byrne is also excellent, and I keep forgetting that he does a brilliant American Accent. It takes a while for him to really come into his own, but when he does he becomes very believable. Milly Shapiro does excellent in this incredibly creepy performance, this is a person who manages to get a clicking sound to be scary and her performance is really a good part of that. I was also particularly impressed with the performance of Alex Wolff, who I think should be up for best supporting actor. The thing is though, I’m not very sure that they will get those Oscar nominations though, which is a shame. The rest of the performances are actually very different, and the only other one to really mention here is Ann Dowd, who plays Joan, who does a really good performance in this film, actually her performance really aids a couple of the most effective moments of the film.

Now Hereditary has a tonne of plot twists! As a result, it is potentially going to confuse people. I can definitely see having a lot of people look up the ending explained videos on YouTube. While I think this film will benefit from repeat viewings since the actual plot is very well written and when you really sit back and think about it those moments are still effective, it’s not exactly going to all click in the moment, it didn’t really click together for me until I was really thinking about it on the train ride home. But that’s what’s so great about it, it fesses on our fear of the unknown, it gives us just enough, so we know the basis of what’s going on, but not so much that you know way too much, hitting the perfect balance.

There is also a moment early on, which I was going to criticise for being completely pointless and having nothing to do with the plot, but then it comes back at the end and you realise it had been there all along. It’s things like that which make hereditary one of the BEST films I’ve seen in 2018 so far. It’s one hell of an amazing movie! This is a text book of how to do modern horror.

The film is strengthened greatly by the amazing performances of Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff and Milly Shapiro. The film does an excellent job with cinematography and score, making some phenomenal decisions which really lead to an effective horror film. This is one film I really hope stays a solo film, since it’s most effective as is.

I could go over the films best moments, but to avoid spoilers, I’m just going to say get out there and watch this film! If you like horror films this is one you cannot pass up. Just make sure you do not go with an audience that likes terrible horror films because, the audience I was with where some of the BIGGESST JACKASSES I’ve had to deal with, ruining some of the film’s most effective scenes!!!

Well that’s me done for another week, sorry that it’s a shorter review this time round but I really didn’t want to put any spoilers out there. Now it’s time to move on. Next week I’m taking on another all-female reboot, like I did with Ghostbusters, and this time it’s the Ocean’s Eleven that’s getting the job. Next week I review Ocean’s Eight. With all that being said, thanks for reading this review, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.

“JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM”

So here we are three years after we got Jurassic World. Jurassic World was advertised the hell out of and was really heavily promoted given that it had been several years since another one of these films had come out. With the films now coming full circle it meant there was a reason now to keep going with these films, the last one had been a massive success and with that in mind there was a tonne of reasons to keep this franchise going, the ending of the film did hint at a sequel, but that’s is all it was, the thing was I wasn’t actually sure how they were going to do a sequel with the ways the franchise is left it really makes you wonder what the plan. Well fortunately some plan was put in place or unfortunate from a certain perspective, and now we have Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, however we have a new director this time, gone is previous director Colin Trevarrow who was meant to be working on Star Wars episode 9 although has since left the project and in is JA Bayona a director who comes mostly from horror backgrounds, his biggest successes being The Orphanage and the Monster Calls. The fact of the matter is though when I heard he was directing this follow up I actually thought he was an excellent choice since the Jurassic Park films always had a horror element to them and I thought with his work on a Monster Calls he could meet the criteria needed.

I have already gushed about how much I loved the original Jurassic Park and it is in my top ten favourite movies and I even reviewed Jurassic World three years ago for this site so if you want my full thoughts on that film you can check that out. But here is the question how does Fallen Kingdom stack up now that we have had a lot less of a time gap between sequels? With all of the other Jurassic Park films there has always been a considerable gap. Jurassic World – Fallen Kingdom is possibly one of the shortest time lapses between movies and believe me the mere three-year cycle really shows. I feel stupid giving a plot synopsis on Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom given just how much of the plot is actually in the trailers, but basically the plot is that the island from the last movie is about to go up in a volcanic eruption and they have got to get out and how Bryce Dallas Howard’s character is leading an activist group trying to get the dinosaurs off the island into a sanctuary which is being headed by a guy called Eli Mills who is played by Rafe Spall.

They go to the island in the hopes that they save as many species of dinosaur including, but mainly, blue the trained velociraptor who was trained by Owen Grady who was played by Chris Pratt and again if you have seen the trailers you will know their intentions aren’t exactly how should I put this, good intentioned and the dinosaurs end up getting brought back to mainland America for an auction which includes a newly genetically bred dinosaur, the Indoraptor.

Honestly, it may sound like I have described too much of the plot but believe me there is virtually nothing in trailers that wasn’t in the final film. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has to be one of the most painful examples of a film which it told entirely through its trailer, particularly the final one which gives away way too many points of the plot, I was expecting several moments when it would surprise me and show something that wasn’t in the trailer, but it never came. In fact, there is so little of this movie that wasn’t in the trailer I am staggered that no-one has been asking for their money back.

That is not to mention the whole idea of animal activists trying to save dinosaurs is a plot from the Lost World, in fact this film borrows a lot from the Lost World to such an extent majority of the characters are carbon copies of the characters in that film. Rafe Spall’ character is virtually identical to the Ingen’s guy from Lost World and even the hunter is similar but at least in that one he was less of a cartoon character than this guy is.

Now I have commented that Jurassic World was the first where no main cast members return, and you may have seen the trailer where Jeff Goldblum reprises his role as Dr Ian Malcolm, good news you have seen all of it already he is basically wheeled in for that cameo and never moves away from that set. What is more his inclusion his entirely pointless you could have brought Sam Niel in for the exact same part and it would have made very little difference.

Now Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom does start with a very interesting idea per say, the idea is that unlike the Lost World where it was inter corporate and military intervention threatening the dinosaurs, this time it is a volcanic eruption which adds a new extra level. Do we let these creatures that were never supposed to be around in the first place die out from a completely natural idea or do we conserve them and give them the same protections that any normal endangered species would receive, that is genuinely a good idea and has a chance to fix the problem which the Lost World had, although I think the film actually exacerbated it, the hard questions in this film are never treated like hard questions they are treated just like they have clear answers and that flies in the face of the original Jurassic Park.

The original Jurassic Park was about man playing god and the consequences from it, just how far can you go? And even with the best plans in place there is no guarantee that something won’t go wrong. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom doesn’t have that it is simply greedy humans wanting to sell the dinosaurs to anyone who will buy them, and the animal rights activists try to save them and also this film is so long, it comes in at nearly 2 hours and 10 minutes, that is way too long for its length. It is like as a result the film has to pad the run time with some of the most contrived excuses for set pieces. The original Jurassic Park did have to also come up with several reasons for us to see the dinosaurs but they did it in a much more organic way and in that sense it was designed to show off the revolutionary special affects which still hold up to this day, speaking of which the special effects were something I complained about the most when in my Jurassic World review saying that I wished there had been more reliance on practical effects over the CGI and that they had blended the two worlds together like the original film did.

If I am going to say something positive about Fallen Kingdom, at least it doesn’t do that, there are some genuinely quite good practical effects in this film and it is very clear with modern advances in robotics they have been able to really give these things an authentic feel. In fact, I actually think the effects are an upgrade from the original Jurassic World.

The film and the storyline are also phenomenally crap, what’s more the film has an air of a bad fan fiction as well especially with the element of the character of John Hammond who supposedly helped with the genetic research for the original Jurassic Park (who when you look at him is clearly doing an impression of Richard Attenborough and failing miserably). He is not in the film long enough and some of the revelations about him don’t seem to pay off since they don’t really mean anything in the long run. In fact, the plot twist which may seem shocking at first but until you really step back and realise it is absolutely meaningless.

The plot really relies on some of these characters acting in some of the dullest ways fashionable and in some of the most contrite scenarios, the lead auctioneer for example is played by Toby Jones who I am convinced is trying to take over from Alan Rickman as that British actor who always plays the villain stereotype and he fails miserably. What’s more the acting across the board is pretty dire but I think that is more down to the poor direction and the direction of the bad script, though I will say I think Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard still have a very good chemistry together. And also, the only other returning cast member other than Jeff Goldblum is B D Wong who is reprising his role from the last film and whilst his role has been slightly expanded it is not just as much as I was expecting.

I think this film was pretty insulting throughout its run and had a real lack of likeable or even smart characters which the first film did quite well, while the only reason the dinosaur’s got the upper hand in the film is that some people got in way over their head. With this film it is kind of the opposite but what’s more it has outdone the Lost World by having one of the dumbest ending I have ever seen, it actually looked like it was going for a quite mature response to the topical question and I actually thought for a brief moment that it improved my thought of the film and then they “copped out” what’s more the dinosaurs feel like they have been really castrated of their majesty, oh sure, we get more of the T-Rex this time which is brilliant! but the dinosaurs have also had their majesty reduced in similar other ways, what’s more the Indoraptor which had been made from the DNA of the Indominus Rex from the last movie feels even more like a Frankenstein monster than the Rex was, and it does make you wonder why these films need to invent a dinosaur. The worst example is the Velociraptor, these have gone from being one of the most frightening and dominant hunters in all film to your pet dog. I am not joking they really treat the Velociraptors like they are like a viable pet. There is virtually no sense of how dangerous these animals are that the first film gave out, and a lot of their intelligence is squandered.

I am not mincing my words here Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom is by far the contender for the worst Jurassic Park film. The film offers nothing new, doing several homages to previous films which makes you wish you were watching those films instead. In some of the worst examples is actually repeating shots and what’s more although the effects are somewhat improved the story is still written crap and most of the biggest moments are given away in the trailer and many of them are absolutely meaningless. The main point of the film isn’t really there, and the writing is appalling. The film offers a tough question but then proceeds to “chicken out” with it and is just one dull drag. I found the film to be a phenomenally poor film and it feels like the opposite of Jurassic Park.

Jurassic Park is at the end of the day a film about science gone wrong and the risks we take when we try to mess with the world. Fallen Kingdom tries to do the exact same thing but with half the effort, and I don’t want to blame director J A Banaya since I feel he was crippled by the studio process.

The film is set up to be another film to turn into a 2nd trilogy of Jurassic Park films but to this I say maybe it’s time to call it quits. On a plus side if they do go with a planned sequel I would have genuine interest to see where they would go with it, although considering I have not been a complete fan of Jurassic World or Fallen Kingdom I don’t imagine they will do that much with it. I feel that Fallen Kingdom is potentially one of the worst films of the year.

“VOLDEMORT: ORIGINS OF THE HEIR”

OK, there was nothing I wanted to see at the cinema last week, so I decided I would do something that I have wanted to do for a while now, review a fan film.

Fan films are certainly getting more and more prevalent now, this is down to the fact that YouTubers provide a larger audience and the fact of the matter is that there is a lot more technology available to people. It’s very easy to make a film like this. It’s very expensive, but it is still not too difficult. Plus, they guarantee you an audience. The downside is, you can’t make any money off it. This has proven with this project which did gain a viral following after it’s trailer went online. I even kind of fell for it, believing it was genuinely going to be a movie. Although, I did also comment that I thought it was a stupid idea, since I thought we already had well established Voldemort’s back story.

Voldemort Origins of the Heir, I am a bit late to it. It came out on YouTube in January after Warner Bros presented the directors and producers with a seasoned assist letter after the kick start of the project became apparent. A compromise was made so that the film could be produced but only on the proviso that no-one would make any money off of it. Now I am aware that the Dom did review this film very recently and I am going to do my best not to copy what he said in his review, though I do suspect that comparisons will be unavoidable. Also, because this is a fan film, I am probably going to be a little more lenient than normal since they are a big budget studio for this one.

Voldemort Origins of the Heir I should also point out is an Italian production, directed by Gianmaria Pezzato, who also developed the script and as a result, the English actors are dubbed at the end, mostly being played by English actors and I will get it out of the way right now, the dubbing is appalling. In fact, one point which I will agree with the Dom is that I would much rather have seen this film with its original Italian actors with sub-titles, since I reckon they deliver the lines a lot better and it reeks of poor direction.

The film centres around Voldemort during his time at Hogwarts under the name Tom Riddle as he forms a club of heirs with the heirs for Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and the film sort of depicts an outsiders look from the perspective of the other heirs into his rise to prominence and becoming a Death Eater.

OK, straight up, this movie is a fan film and I am going to cut it some slack since the production is quite good for a film of its low budget and I do think on a couple of occasions, they really nailed the look and feel of Harry Potter. An early Wizard battle being a prime example, but man is this film bad. I mean it. I am going to lay off on the failings in continuity with both the books and the film, since the Dom did a much better job of than I ever could, but man, Voldemort Origins of the Heir is bad when it comes to it!! If JK Rowling intended for this to be Voldemort’s back story, I think she would have written it this way. This new version of Voldemort really doesn’t kind of have the sinister nature that the original had. In both the books and particularly the film’s Voldemort in his younger days is a much more cold and calculating figure and he hides his quest for knowledge behind curiosity. This one spouts out that he wants to kill the muggles every five seconds and you wonder how he gets away with it. The heir for Gryffindor, for example is essentially a love sick teen that keeps overlooking his actions, even after he goes full blown evil. Speaking of which, despite the fact that this is called Voldemort Origins of the Heir she is the main character. The film actually starts with her invading a Soviet magical facility, trying to get Tom Riddle’s diary back, which if you recall from the Chamber of Secrets, Half Blood Prince and the Deathly Hallows, was pretty dam important in the long run. The rest of the story is then told in flashback, which is an interesting way of doing it, but then again, this is supposed to be a film about Voldemort and he feels like a secondary player. I get a sense that the film makers were trying to nail what he was like in the first three or four books/films, always in the shadows and seeming like this mythic figure that was both there and not there, but he is in the film too much to have that appeal. Plus, as bad an idea as it is to go further into his back story than necessary, this is supposed to be what the film is meant to be doing and it doesn’t even do that.

I will say that the actor they chose to play Voldemort at least looks similar to the actual younger actors that played him in the film, but that’s all the praise I am really going to be giving and as the Dom pointed out in his video, there are a ton of continuity errors in this, but at the same time, it also feels like they feed a lot of tension to other aspects of continuity. It very much feels like they have cherry picked idea.

The film is fifty-three minutes long, and you can get through it very quickly, but I think you should really only take this as a “what if scenario” at best, since taking this as “can” really wouldn’t work. The film is rather bizarre in its focus, this is one of most unfocused fan films I have ever seen. The best fan films tell short stories that feel very insular and contained but could easily fit in the continuity of their respective franchise, but at the same time don’t rock the boat too much and make the most of their budget. They do manage to make the best of their budget, the sets do at least resemble places in Hogwarts and the uniforms are quite decent replicas, but the rest of it doesn’t quite work. The prime example I always use for a great fan film is Batman City of Scars, which is an excellent fan film and it ticks all of those boxes. Another example would be the Night Wings movies on YouTube, but this, this is just bizarre and it doesn’t quite work and as a result, I really can’t recommend it. There are some good sets, good props and the effects are pretty dam good for the budget they had. However, the film is a really boring mess and definitely one of the weaker fan films I have seen in recent memory.

This might have gained a lot of attention and considering you don’t have to pay for it, it might be worth it as a curiosity, but even then, I think Harry Potter fans should probably not bother, unless out of morbid curiosity and just wait for Fantastic Beasts 2 to come out later this year.

Oh, and before I forget, the film has a final twist, which makes absolutely no sense when you think about it and pretty much ruins most of the film. I am serious, they have completely shot themselves in the foot.

Right, now I have this little break and detour, since I was having a very badly scheduled week, it’s time to get back to proper business. Next week I am checking out the latest entry in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom.

“SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY”

When it comes to the Star Wars we are now beginning to see much more of an expanded Universe emerging with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but there are two things I want to say about that. The first thing is, it seems rather unwarranted and the second is that it seems unnecessary. It’s unnecessary because, well Disney didn’t have to take the action they did. This set of announced movies is mainly in line with the fact that Disney decided to erase virtually all the expanded story lines that had been written over the years, with virtually none of them in continuity, so they could start from scratch. Disney were right because in one sense there was an expanded Universe storyline taking place after Return of the Jedi and it would have made the planned sequel trilogy impossible. However, a lot of really good expanded Universe storylines have been erased. It’s also unwarranted because many of these storylines are stuff that, well I wouldn’t mind a comic or a book about, but I’m not sure I want a full movie, I don’t need to know everything. It certainly isn’t going away any time soon since the weekend of this film’s release, it was announced that there will be a film set around bounty hunter Boba Fett, which seems a completely idiotic idea in my opinion, because most of what made him so interesting is the fact that we didn’t know that much about him.

Now, that’s not to say that I am thinking the new expanded storylines are bad, far from it, some of them have been excellent. Star Wars Rebels, the animated series that Disney XD was running came to its conclusion with its four season run and was actually pretty good, despite the fact that it had made a few hiccups along the way and I wasn’t entirely a fan of the ending of the series. I already reviewed Rogue One, which I said I thought was a pretty good film, but I always said from the start I was never quite sure that I wanted to see a Star Wars film about Han Solo’s younger days, but yet, here we are.

The film has been mired in production troubles, with directors walking off the film in the middle of production and Ron Howard has stepped in to take over the job, which meant the film required several re-shoots. The thing is though, has Ron Howard really made the thing work?

Much like Rogue One, Solo is basically based on one line of dialogue from A New Hope. It’s the story of a young Hans Solo, played by Alden Ehrenreich and his rise to prominence as a top smuggler. He’s brought onto a job by his boss Beckett, played by Woody Harrelson in the hopes that he can earn a quick buck to go back to his home world to rescue his girlfriend Qi’ra played by Emilia Clarke and recruits a team, including the Wooky Chewbacca (yes, the film goes into the origins of how the two first met), played by Joonas Suotamo and a young Lando Calrissian, played by Donald Glover.

The film is essentially the story of Han Solo’s line, that the Millenium Falcon had outrun the Kessel in twelve parsecks. Yep, we actually get the story behind that! This film is a bit weird. That’s not to say it’s bad, far from it, Solo is actually a pretty decent film, all things considered. It has a decent flowing three act structure, the characters are pretty good and for the most part in tuned with the versions of themselves from the original trilogy. We see a lot more into the nature of Harman Lando, we see origins of the Millenium Falcon and if there is one thing they do get right, it’s the relationship between Han and Chewy, which is done expertly well in this film. The thing is though, Solo is a painfully average film. Solo is such a side story that I am amazed it got turned into a film, let alone one that is over two hours long! This film is more something I would expect from a comic or an expanded Universe novel than I would an actual film. Rogue One had a similar issue, but it at least managed to feel a lot more like an epic and a big part of the Star Wars story, in fact, you could even watch it in a marathon between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Solo doesn’t feel like it has any place in a marathon, it’s just kind of there. It’s not really doing anything wrong per say, but it’s not offering much to get over excited about. It’s also painfully obvious to anyone who has any vague history of Star Wars how it’s going to turn out. We know certain characters don’t appear in the trilogy and we know certain characters are going to be in the trilogy, so as a result, there just aren’t as many stakes. With Rogue One, we didn’t know the fates of the rebels that got the Death Star plans, so anything could happen to them, but Solo doesn’t quite work, at least in that regard it doesn’t quite work. It does paint somewhat of a picture of how Han got to where he is today and how it affected his character, especially considering the character is now beginning to come full circle. The thing is though that Solo’s biggest issue is the fact that it has tons of nods and winks to the audience, which is the worst part of any prequel story. This is something that was particularly an issue in the Hobbit trilogy, where they wanted to remind you constantly that it was a prequel to the Lord of the Rings. This one has the same issue, that it is constantly reminding you that it’s a prequel to A New Hope and it throws in tons of references and little nods to the audience, and its actually kind of distracting. It’s a case of “yes, I am a Star Wars fan, I know what this means, I know what is going to happen, please get on with this story”!!

The new characters themselves are actually not too bad. Qi’ra is a bit bland, but she is a cool character overall, the film hints at her having a dark side, but the film never really goes all out with it, which leaves the thing feeling rather weak. It almost wouldn’t have made as much as a difference if they just played her as a straight good guy, though, Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke, at least puts her all into this performance. This also goes to Becket, who is pretty typical of Woody Harrelson’s roles, considering he did remind me a bit of his character in War for the Planet of the Apes. The other characters to really talk about is one of the film’s main villains, Dryden Vos, played by Paul Bettany. Now Paul Bettany is one of the best parts of this film, he is absolutely loving every part of his role. He gives an excellent performance and really just enjoys playing this character. His role has apparently been expanded, no doubt due to Ron Howard’s influence on the film and honestly, it was a pretty good job because if he had been in this film any less, it would have been to the film’s detriment. The big thing to talk about though is Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo. Now I wasn’t that aware of this actor prior to seeing him in the Cohen Brothers film, Hail Caeser, which I reviewed all the way back in 2016 and I haven’t seen him any film since that movie, but man is he good in this role. While he is not constantly doing a Harrison Ford impression, he does get down a lot of the speech patterns and particularly the mannerisms and the fighting style of Han Solo. Just little subtle touches really make you feel that he is a younger version of this character and he has definitely pulled off what Ewan McGregor managed to achieve when playing Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The film aesthetically is very similar to The Force Awakens and Last Jedi, in which is seems to be more similar to the original trilogy, with a slight visual update. It actually works for the most part, many of the areas that say, Lando Calrissian and Han Solo hang out are very similar to the Cantina from A New Hope as well as several other tiny touches. The Millenium Falcon, for example, goes through a bit of a transformation and sever of the scenes are done brilliantly to reflect A New Hope. One of two particular ones for example, feel like they were deleted scenes from those movies.

Now, to give a minor spoiler, which I won’t go into too much detail about, there is a cameo in this film by a famous Star Wars character towards the end of the film. Now, despite the fact that is probably the most awesome moment in the entire film when you first see it, when you really stop and think about it, it doesn’t really do much. At this stage we have no idea what the whole situation means, it doesn’t tie into any of the other films per say and we don’t know where it’s going to lead. Is this going to be a new movie, is it a comic?? Now while the mystery on the other hand does have the ability, there are only so many ways it can be paid off and I am not sure all of them work, so I am very keen to see where it is going, but I am also not holding my breath.

If this is a sign of things to come, I think we might get Star Wars fatigue, similar to how the Superhero films have led to Superhero fatigue. Let’s hope that future films will really nail it.

Well, that’s it for this week and since I have done a few films over the last few weeks that are very action heavy, so next week I’m going to do a review of a Fan film review for the first time ever with Voldemort: Origin of the Heir, yes I do know Dom reviewed it already but I want to throw my opinion in there as well

Thanks a lot for reading my review. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it and they couldn’t release this film on May The 4th, what a rip-off.

“DEADPOOL 2”

Deadpool 2 is now one of the biggest follow ups to a superhero movie considering how high grossing the first one was, and it left a lot for people to want more. Deadpool is worldwide the highest grossing R rated movie and if you check my previous review I thought the film was fantastic and exactly what I wanted out of the film for the characters. Considering prior to that film I wasn’t a big Deadpool fan, that’s saying a lot. Deadpool 2 doesn’t have the surprise factor anymore, everyone’s aware of it and they know what they want from a sequel.

I had no real concerns for Deadpool 2 considering it didn’t feel like it could go wrong, however, I became slightly concerned when director Tim Miller ducked out of the sequel which is unfortunate given that I thought he did a very good job with the first film and unfortunately, he’s not got onto the project that I was hoping he was doing which was rumoured that he would be directing the upcoming sonic the hedgehog movie. In his place is director David Leitch, a former stunt choreographer on a very mixed range of films and hasn’t got much directorial work to his name. He did direct last year’s atomic blonde which I didn’t see unfortunately so I have no opinion on, but he did also direct a Deadpool short and was an uncredited director on John Wick, which is one of my favourite action films. He also doubled up by directing the Celine Dion theme song for this film which is used in a Bond style opening.

Let’s cut to the chase however, did Deadpool 2 follow on from its predecessor very well? Normally I would do a plot synopsis but Deadpool 2 has a massive moment in its first 10 minutes which although shapes the film, is a massive spoiler to anyone who has not seen it so in this instance I will not be doing a plot synopsis, but I will be going over certain plot points in the new characters introduced but this review might be a bit short and a bit vague.

Cable played by Josh Brolin, comes back to our time from the future wanting to kill a young mutant named Russell played by Julian Dennison and from there we get Deadpool trying to rescue him because he thinks there’s a bond there whilst also trying to sort out the terrible chaos that’s going on around it. One thing you will notice about this film is there is a lot more emphasis that Deadpool is part of the X Men stable of characters. The X men were certainly a factor in first film but they were more on the side lines, this film definitely wants to push it more front and centre, we don’t get a lot more x men characters but there is certainly a lot more emphasis on them, in fact quite a few of them form the first film have been reduced, Negasonic teenage warhead isn’t in the film all that much but colossus’ role has been slightly expanded.

Now cable was always going to be a factor in this sequel, it was even teased at in the post credits scene of the original Deadpool, now I was very surprised when Josh Brolin was announced to play the role since he was very tied to the marvel cinematic Universe playing Thannos of all people which means I’ve now seen two superhero films in just a few weeks, both with Josh Brolin in and once again he knocks it out the park. Josh Brolins version of Cable really works in this film, granted he’s not playing a very original character they make tonnes of jokes about it in the film and Josh Brolin isn’t exactly like the character in the comics, where Cable is much taller and bulkier, however Josh Brolin is actually shorter than Ryan Reynolds so it kind of looks weird when the two stand next to each other. Granted however they do a few good camera tricks to disguise that and of course they even poke fun of it at one point.

Everything you liked about the first film was back, most of the characters are all back, most of the jokes are back, there’s tons of fourfold breaking including some absolutely hilarious ones in the post credits scenes, seriously stick around for them and Ryan Reynolds is once again on top form as Deadpool in fact I think in some ways he’s possibly even better this time round. The plot line itself is a much more mature one. Deadpool himself being put in a very different situation to the first film. The trailers haven’t given away a lot of the plot line of this film so as a result a lot of people may go into this film not getting the film they were expecting but damn it I think the films even better for it because that. Deadpool 2 seriously tries to up the ante like a good sequel should and it kind of does succeed on several levels. The film is very well written, some excellent character moments and some hilarious jokes which feel like they’re ripped straight out the comic, some of them however might go over people’s heads. The first film certainly had a lot of jokes that were nods to the comics but this one feels like it’s even more in that role.

They also looked to clearly what was popular in the last film and did it on repeat sometimes to the benefits, like more emphasis on the x men and then you’ve also got the expansion of other characters like weasel who’s played once again by T.J. Miller, but there’s also an attempt to expand the character Dopinder who is once again played by Karan Soni, but his character is a bit more of a one note joke this time around, he wants to be an assassin but he can’t quite do it. He did get a few pay off jokes but I felt there was better ways for his character to be integrated into the film.

Deadpool fans will be happy not just Cable is in the film but domino who’s a real fan favourite from the comic series is in the film. She doesn’t have a lot of the pale make up or blue hair, but Zazie Beetz does a really good job of playing the role and I do like this new design for Domino which is still actually pretty close to her comic counterpart.

There’s also the integration of the idea of bringing X force into the mix a spinoff comic from the x men line of books and it’s certainly better than the first time they tried to make something with X Force. Trust me there’s a shark jumping episode on that attempt on YouTube look it up it’s hilarious how badly Twentieth Century Fox botched their first time to bring X Men to live action. The thing about x force though is it’s not exactly made of popular characters and the ones they chose this time around aren’t exactly great either, but it does lead to a few funny cameos such as such as Terry crews, a hilarious cameo from catastrophe star Rob Delaney as well as Brad Pitt playing the character Vanisher who is completely invisible for the entire time he’s on screen for the most part it’s hilarious. You did not even need to hire Brad Pitt for this role but for some reason he’s playing a character that’s invisible. Luckily, you’ll also like to know that most of the jokes are hits and there’s very few misses. The audience I watched this film with were not particularly enthusiastic compared to when I saw the first film in cinemas with an audience, Although I wasn’t in a particularly crowded cinema, I wasn’t in an empty one either. I’m starting to worry about the state of comedy with what people are finding funny now and what they’re not finding funny. A final thing to note is the fact Deadpool 2 has some amazing action scenes and special effects. These action scenes are choreographed expertly, some of them are even better that than some of the action scenes from Infinity War. If there was an Oscar for stunt choreography and action scenes, this should get a nomination and possibly even win.

Deadpool 2 is amazing! It’s one well done film with excellent performances from Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin and an especially good performance from Julian Dennison who you might recognize from come for the world of people who’s really good making his way up in the world with this role and is a brilliant future star in the making. It had a few niggles here and there but overall, I think it’s one excellent film and can stand alongside the first one pretty well. If you’ve got a chance to see it in cinemas, please do, it’s one excellent piece of work, once again is proof that the first film was not just a piece of luck. As I mentioned stick around until the middle of the credits because there is a bunch of credit scenes after that point, but don’t stick around to the very end of the credits, it doesn’t go any further than that.

Well next week fortunately I don’t have to review show dogs which looks like a terrible film, but instead I’ll be giving my thoughts on the latest in the Star Wars Expanded Universe that’s coming up, its solo a Star Wars story.

With all that being said Thanks for reading this review, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it, and if there’s one reason to stick around to the end credits, it’s for another rendition of the brilliant song used during one of the last fights of the film and another brilliant rap song from team head kick who did the rap song for the first film.

“SHERLOCK GNOMES”

OK, you guys all know that this film is not that good, so you won’t be surprised that this is a shorter than usual review.

Sherlock Gnomes is a follow-up to Gnomeo and Juliet, a film that I am baffled is getting a sequel. Were people really crying out for the Gnomeo and Julie sequel, it’s been seven years since it came out and in that time the target audience for it grew up! Now I am not a big fan of the original, Gnomeo and Juliet, it’s a pretty bad film all things considered. I know a lot of people say it’s a perfectly serviceable film, but for me it is a prime example of a marketing stunt and going with a title over a well done script. Sherlock Gnomes looked like it was going to be very much the same thing, although, having seen some of the trailers for films coming out later this year, I’m not sure it is going to be the worst film I will see this year. God help me if I have to go and see Show Dogs! Do we not learn our lesson from Nine Lives, talking animals is something we all grew out of in the nineties?

Sherlock Gnomes is another film being done through Elton John’s production company, which is one of the reasons I think it is receiving so much of a push. Now the film has been out for quite a while in America and already received a bad press before it got over here.

The plot is very much what you would expect. Taking place years after the events of Gnomeo and Juliet, they are moved to a new garden, which is now going to be led by Gnomeo and Juliet, being reprised by James McAvoy and Emily Blunt and then there are a bunch of filler scenes that do not add much to the plot and supposedly Moriarty, who in this version is a pie mascot, played by James Demetriou, decides to take several gnomes from gardens and it is up to Sherlock Gnomes and Dr Watson, played by Johnny Depp and Chiwetel Ejiofor to get them back, with the help of Gnomeo and Juliet, who are supposedly going through young couple problems. It’s as basic as a kid’s film gets!

Do you know what is amazing about this film? It was so disengaging, I actually guessed the first plot twist in the first two minutes! That’s a record for me!

Sherlock Gnomes if another fine example of what Gnomeo and Juliet had, which was that they came up with a title and then wrote the script around it in which in script writing terms is the equivalent of jumping out a plane without knowing if the parachute actually works. What’s amazing is that it is even worse in this version. I actually listened to Mark Kemode’s review before seeing this one and he described the film as being unengaging, which is the prime word for it. This isn’t even going to hold the attention of its target audience. There were several small children with their parents in my screening and they didn’t even seem like they cared. One kid actually ended up walking up and down the aisles. Great movie guys, you can’t even entertain a five year old, and I have seen what is on Nickleodeon, they are not hard to please. The film plays entirely to children, parents are going to get nothing out of this outside of the very strange cameo’s, most of which are from actors that have been wheeled back in out of contractual obligation. Including, Michael Caine, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson and even James Hong is in here. What’s weird is that Ozzy Osbourne is one of the better performances in the film and he doesn’t even need to try.

The film has a laughably poor script. It has clearly has had little effort put into it. In the last film, the plot actually had some clear ground rules, since it was just the garden ornaments that came to life. This one, goes so far as having tons of things coming to life, including salt shakers and even Gargoyles, one of which is rather weirdly played by Dexter Fletcher, who should know better than to be in this. As for Stephen Merchant, I just think he is trying to outdo Ricky Gervais’s record for terrible films. For god’s sake man, get some dignity, between this movie 43 and Tooth Fairy, are you trying to kill your career? You are a funny man! Mind you, he has probably made enough money of Lip Sync Battle so I know that it’s not his finances that aren’t in order that he is in this.

Again, the actors that are in this really reek of contractual obligations. Julie Walters and Richard Wilson barely have a role this time around. In fact, even Gnomeo and Juliet feel like side characters. The film is trying to parody Sherlock Holmes, which I would have been fine with, a Sherlock Holmes parody would have been great, except it doesn’t fully commit to it and decides it wants to be a straight Sherlock Holmes tale for kids. OK, that’s great, except the entire time I have been saying that there is already a kid’s version of Sherlock Holmes and it is called Basil the Great Mouse Detective. What’s more, it is one of my favourite Disney films. Seriously the Great Mouse Detective is an excellent example of how you take a rather adult story and transfer it to a medium that the entire family can enjoy. It did a good job of taking its literary source and adapting it for its new target audience. It had a really great way of showing how clever the character was and it did it all very well and in a good running time. Plus, the film is entirely worth it just for Vincent Price as the villain. Now Basil the Great Mouse Detective was trying to be very similar to a period drama, similar to the ones that are shown in America and on ITV and did a pretty good job of capturing the look and feel of them. Sherlock Gnomes is trying to half do that! But it’s also trying to add in elements of the BBC version with Bennedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and is clearly banking on that. This is especially evident in Moriarty, which is clearly designed to be a tongue in cheek take on Andrew Scott’s slightly camp version on this one, except in this version, they have dialled it up to eleven, he is of the most annoying characters I have seen all year and is about as threatening as a Chihuahua in a Tutu, except, unlike a Chihuahua in a Tutu, I want to hit him over the head with a baseball bat, several times.

What’s more, the characters have no progression throughout the entire film. Sure, they make out that they have done that, but when you really analyse it, not much has actually changed, so the whole film feels pointless by the end. They try to throw in a few references to previous Sherlock Holmes stories, but I couldn’t spot any in particular other than references to the Reichan Back Falls, which is where Sherlock and Moriarty have their final confrontation. Plus, there is actually a second twist, after the first twist, which renders the entire first twist completely and utterly pointless. You know what was good about the Great Mouse Detective? They actually planned out the plot and everything had meaning! In this one, the first plot twist is so entirely pointless, you could have taken it out of the film, changed it up slightly, and it would have made no difference.

Johnny Depp is clearly doing this because he has realised his career is in decline and after this, I will be amazed if he has a career altogether. He is so half-hearted in this performance it is unbelievable. In fact, he is actually doing a voice similar to his Mordecai voice, which is frankly a film you should not be reminding me of. Chiwetel Ejiofor, what the hell are you doing, you are under no contractual obligation to be in this film and you are a decent actor. For the love of god, you have already done your career obligated appalling film with 2012, you didn’t need to do another one!!

The animation is lazy! You know after you watch the Toy Story films in a row you can really see how the animation has come along nicely and that even though some of the animation in the older films looks a little out of date, it still kind of hold up. Well, there is no real change from Gnomeo and Juliet and that would have been fine if the animation looked OK the first time around, I am not a fan of Gnomeo and Juliet’s animation in the first place, it didn’t look that great the first time and it doesn’t look much better here. In fact, I would actually say it’s worse because of how much technology has moved on.

Sherlock Gnomes may not be as bad as Norm of the North, The Emoji Movie or even Trolls, but it is still another appalling film aimed at children and there is nothing for their parents. In a week when we got the release of Mary and the Witches Flower, this is a film you should not be taking your kids to. For the love of God, take your kids to see Mary and the Witches Flower, it’s not as great as all the other Studio Ghibli films, which many of the animators that worked on that film also worked on, but it will give you something to work with.

For the love of God, do not take them to see this film. The gags are terrible, in fact it would blow a Gnome pun meter within the first three minutes with puns like Game of Gnomes and Spiderman Gnomecoming. These come off more of threats that they are going to make more sequels out of this. Just, NO!! No one asked for this and no one cares. I am hoping this film gets forgotten and dies a horrible death! Children deserve better than this movie.

OK, I need a palate cleanser. Next week, Deadpool 2.

“THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT”

OK, who actually remembers The Strangers? I barely knew about this film, in fact I actually watched the first film two days prior to seeing this one. The Strangers is one of those films that came out in the mid 2000’s, got very good critical acclaim and was told there was going to be a sequel and it never turned up. Yes, the first one came out in 2008, who was asking for a follow-up??

The first one worked so well because it was shot on a limited budget and had a realistic feel to it, it also did the home invasion genre pretty right and actually felt like you could be watching real events. Mind you, it had its own issues because it had serious pacing problems, but overall it was a decent film and it was doing a lot of the stuff that horror films weren’t doing at the time, and this was at a time when horror films were pretty bad. You look up most of the YouTube critics who do comedic reviews and when they talk about bad horror films, a lot of them came from that time period. But still, a decade is a long time, although the way the film is pitched it’s almost as if nothing has happened. The tictular Strangers themselves, being used quite heavily in the marketing department, something the first film didn’t really do, which leads me to the belief that they are trying to turn these characters into a franchise, similar to what has happened with Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees.

Prey at Night also has a change of director from the first film, original director, Bryan Bertino is now in the producers credit, although he did write the original screenplay for this film, though the final screenplay was written by Ben Ketai, who wrote the profoundly boring Japanese horror film, The Forrest. A film with so few scares, I was actually falling asleep in the cinema watching it. In the director’s chair we have Johannes Roberts, a guy who has really not directed many films I have actually liked at all, in fact some of his horror films have just been appalling. These includes Storage 24 which was actually an interesting idea from Noel Clark, which feels hampered by his direction, the terrible Hindu Exorcism film, The Other Side of the Door, which was so profoundly flawed and full of horror clichés, it’s dam near unwatchable and the previously reviewed 47 Metres Down, which has an interesting idea for a shark film but didn’t really capitalise on it and in the process of researching this film I was horrified to find it is getting a sequel next year with the lame sequel title of 48 Metres Down.

Now, The Strangers wasn’t a great horror film but it had some good points, how did Prey at Night do?

A family is travelling to drop off their daughter at a boarding school and they are going to stay the night at a relatives cabin at a trailer park. The family being played by Christina Hendricks, Bailee Madison, Martin Henderson and Lewis Pullman. However, much like the first film, they get a knock at the door from the tictular Strangers who ask if Tamara is home. From there, The Strangers once again try to murder the family before the end of the night. That’s really all there is to it, the film is once again very short, running in at only five minutes longer than the first film, which in itself was only one hour and twenty minutes.

OK, I am going to start with some positives, this film does not feel as padded as the first one and there are a lot less boring moments. The trade-off for that is, well, it’s now a much more generic horror film. The film, fortunately does not rely too much on jump scares in the same way many horror films do, but ultimately the Strangers go from feeling like realistic psychopaths to outright monsters. The thing that made the first one seem real is that they didn’t seem like demons from hell. In fact that was what was scary about them, you don’t know what they are, you don’t know what they look like and they don’t have any reason to kill people, they just do. This feel makes them seem not human. OK, in the first one, they moved ungodly fast and seemed to have the ability to teleport, but for crying out loud, they get away with stuff in this film that seems incredibly unnatural, but they again, at least in this film, they don’t seem to waste time and just actually try to just outright kill them. Seriously, they missed so many opportunities in the first film the kill the couple, I’m astounded it took one hour twenty minutes.

There does seem to be a few changes since the first film, for example, they seem to have an obsession for 80’s music in this film, which was just a minor plot point in the first film and it seems to have been blown up out of proportion in this film. What’s more, they also seem to be on screen a lot more, which is certainly within horror movie traditions, the second film tries to outdo the first one. Some scenes are genuinely inspired. There is an excellent scene involving a swimming pool which is genuinely well choreographed and tense and some of the decisions the characters make are not that dumb. Plus, they give a much better reason in this film for why they just don’t call the police immediately.

The acting is also genuinely solid, across the board, I don’t have any problem with anyone’s performances. My problem is kind of the writing. Some of the characters act dumb as hell in some scenes and some scenes are clearly done just for the trailer and it’s to the expense of the believability. Anyone who is familiar with the Keddie Cabin case will notice some of the similarities, although there is just as many differences that this will not feel disrespectful. The problem is that for every step forward, Prey at Night does take it feels like it takes two steps backwards. Out of all of Johannes Roberts’ films, this is certainly his best one to date, but it’s not really saying much. On the one hand, I feel like he gets a lot of what didn’t work in the first film, but at the same time, he hasn’t really fixed it in the right way. It goes from one moment that really works, to another moment that fails miserably. I just found the film to be rather bland and the problems really arise during the climax, where believability goes completely out of the window and it turns from being a very believable scenario to an “OK, now you are just undermining my intelligence, these people can’t be human”. Also, if the plan was to turn this into a franchise, then some of the decisions made in this film, might put that on hold.

The film’s small cast also does lend credence to some of the film’s strong positives since it does give the film an intimate nature, but I hate to say it, but dull face man in the mask and pin up girl, all get way too much screen time in this film and it almost robs them of their mystique, not that they had too much to begin with.

The Strangers: Prey at Night might have some interesting ideas, but it ultimately doesn’t really fix a lot of problems with the first film and exacerbates itself with its own problems. Whilst not a bad film, and I have certainly seen horror films that are worse, it’s climax is where it seriously lost all believability and the themes it goes for never quite hit the mark. Prey at Night is a valiant attempt to do a sequel to a film that probably could have used a sequel but it’s too little too late and I think if it takes another ten years to make one, I guarantee, no one will care this time. No one struck while the iron was hot, so as a result it seems like they were desperate to get a franchise going, but I think the franchise is dead on arrival.

So, this week started out bad and it’s probably only going to get worse. Next week I review another sequel to a film that no one was asking for a sequel to, it’s the sequel to Gnomeo and Juliet, Sherlock Gnomes and please, if you are going to see an animated film, get in to see Mary and the Witches Flower. It’s not an amazing animated film, but it shows what great animation for kids can be if someone really puts their mind to it, which adults will enjoy as well.

“AVENGERS INFINITY WAR”

Avengers Infinity War is the culmination of ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so may films leading to this one, each one bigging up a different Infinity Stone. Now, Weedon was meant to be directing this film originally, however, Joss Weedon left after the Age of Ultron left him feeling cold on the subject and Captain America Winter Soldier and Civil War directors, the Russo brothers were brought on to replace him. Considering how well both of those films turned out, I was very excited to hear that they were going to be directing the film and what’s more, we have a ton of cast members. The trailers have bigged up just how many cast members there are to a T, seeming like it is going to be a massive event. But enough stalling, how did it turn out?

Avengers Infinity War is going to be one of my shortest reviews in theory, because the trailers really don’t give away too much and there is so much going on in Infinity War that I really, really, do not want to give away any spoilers. Not even in a minor way. So, everything in this review is probably going to be very vague.

The plot synopsis is fairly simple. Thanos, who is played by Josh Brolin wishes to get all six Infinity Stones, finally being built up in all the post-credit scenes in all the Marvel films previously. Now the Infinity Stones each control one aspect of the Universe and if he has the power of all six, he can wipe out half the life in the Universe, thus, pretty much all the Marvel Superhero’s come together for one final charge.

OK, you are probably thinking that with such a large cast, including pretty much all the Avengers from the first film, bar Hawkeye, which feels very missing in the film, all the Guardians of the Galaxy and multiple new hero’s that haven’t been involved in cross-overs returning in this film, including the supporting cast for all of those, you are probably thinking that a few characters get the shaft, far from it!! Everyone gets something to do and no one feels wasted. The Russo brothers really got the hang of this in Civil War and they replicated that with Infinity War. Now, obviously, we know the locations of all the Stones because most of them were revealed in previous films. For example, the last two Avengers films gave away that Loki had one, one of them was revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy, which Thanos sort of got off screen, so god knows what happened there, we know one is in the Vision, Dr Strange has another one, so on and so forth. The problem is that there are a couple of Stones that have not had their locations revealed and the Soul Stone had been particularly allusive with several fan theories about its location and who would possess it at the beginning of this film were persisting. The actual answer to this is both shocking and at least one of the films best moments and in a film full of great moments, that is saying a lot.

I don’t want to go into too many of the performances since I don’t want to reveal too much about which cast members are in the film, who aren’t and a few of the surprises. But let’s just say the performances are all excellent, the Russo brothers direction really suits them. But by far the stand out in the film is Thanos. Thanos will be the MCU villain that no one will complain about. He is an imposing figure and Josh Brolin brings everything about this character to the forefront. I actually wondered if Brolin would be able to deliver everything with this character, but he managed it quite well. I think if anything, I kind of prefer this version of the character to his comic counterpart. Very much of his comic origin in changed for the MCU version, but the character is mostly still intact. Those who have read the event comic Infinity Gauntlet, which is the most famous storyline to involve the character, might be a bit surprised about how many changes have been made. Thanos, however, joins the list of the great MCU villains, because his presence is felt constantly and you genuinely don’t know if it is possible to beat him, but at the same time he doesn’t look unbeatable.

One of the things I also liked about the film is the fact that the film gives some interesting character combinations. One of which leads to new cast member, Peter Dinklage in a rather funny scene. But believe me, the film is full of surprises like that and it certainly feels like this is the final stand. The fact of the matter is though, the film is very complex in how it treats you, with some genuinely great moments, a ton of great action scenes, seriously, the Russo brothers are some of the best directors when it comes to doing action scenes for Superhero’s and an ending that will leave many people with very mixed emotions.

Infinity War, as a result, is one of the best Marvel movies to date and it is seriously staggering that they were able to pull it off. It does feel like everything is aligned in the correct place and what I thought was going to work, but had a few downsides to it, has been pulled off miraculously. This is the Infinity War every fan deserved. The effects are great, the action scenes are amazing, the characterisation is phenomenally well done and the build-up was worth the pay off.

Infinity War is the film you need to see and you need to see it on a cinema screen, and considering how well it turns out, I’ll be very anxiously waiting to see if they can top it with Avengers 4 next year.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe will return later this year with Batman and the Wasp, which will be rather interesting considering how this film ends and we will have one more film prior to Avengers 4 with Captain Marvel. I reckon you should see both films that build up to Avengers 4 since I think both will tie into that film, without giving too much away. Oh, and stick around for the credits, because there is a post-credit scene, though only one at the very end which sets up some of the future films.

Well, that’s it for another week and next week I am going to go back to reviewing a horror film because I am going to review the sequel to The Strangers, The Strangers Pray at Night.