Terminator Dark Fate

Back in the 80’s and early 90’s Arnie and Sly were the giants of action films Rambo, Rocky, Terminator and Predator all of which in one form or another have made comebacks including potential final outings. Now it’s the turn of Arnies Terminator to make a return hot on the heels of the frankly dreadful Rambo Last Blood, is Terminator Dark Fate.

In my opinion one of the big differences between Stallone and Schwarzenegger is their on-screen personas, Stallone’s characters more serious while Arnie’s had a lighter touch and he was always happy to have a quip and a gag in the middle of the killings and violence .

That difference is evident in spades in Dark Fate. It is a bit of a film of two halves, an intense first were we meet our new Terminator prey Dani with her super human protector Grace, much of what we see from the first film is here as a young woman is hunted by a relentless killing machine. In the second we see the return of the T-101 Schwarzenegger model a wise cracking killer robot and family man all rolled into one and although it changes the tone of the film the action doesn’t slow down.

I’ve never been hugely invested in Terminator and i’m sure there has been a host of films in the last 20 years I’ve never watched and there maybe plot holes all over but, to be honest, I didn’t care. I really enjoyed this, in comparison to the dreadful plodding nonsense of Rambo, this was action packed, well paced and with a lovely “buddy” movie turn from Arnie and Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor, well supported by Mackenzie Davies and Natalia Reyes.

If Arnie is never too “be back” in this role then it seemed a pretty fitting and enjoyable farewell.

10th Nov 2019 0

Stuber

Comedy is a very subjective thing, one persons comic genius is another’s laugh vacuum, I’m sure then somebody out there thinks this is comedy gold, for me I’m pretty sure 90 minutes in an Uber would have been funnier.

The film fails on pretty much every level, the normally reliable Kumail Najiani doesnt have a hope of rescuing it, there’s a bizarrely short cameo from Karen Gillan, doing a favour for Dave Bautista I guess, who himself fails to bring any of his Guardians of the Galaxy wit and warmth.

It really fails from the outset with a ridiculous premise that brings our two central characters together and it never really recovers. The action scenes seem overly violent and misjudged and the comic scenes are few and far between.

There were one or two wry smiles but no more than that. I did watch it on a long haul flight so maybe thin air dulled my comedy senses, or maybe it was just a bit rubbish!

I’ll get an Uber when I land and imagine it will be more fun (It was).

29th Oct 2019

The Old Man and The Gun

I’m a real fan of a melodically told story that moves at a steady pace and this certainly fits the bill.

Based on the true story of Forrest Tucker, a serial criminal who continued to rob banks well into his 70’s. The film is also reported to be the last outing of screen legend Robert Redford.

The story revolves around the elderly Tucker and his attempt to escape the attention of weary cop, John Hunt (nobody does weary like Casey Affleck) but it’s not really a story about cops and robbers, it’s much more about finding a zest for life and living for the things you love, the crime or in Affleck’s case the thrill of the chase.

The film moves steadily through the story and is full of charm and wit, nobody encapsulates that more than Redford.

For me it’s a lovely watch, full of heart and with a beautifully subtle central performance from Redford, which is at its charming best when he spends time with Jewel (Sissy Spacek).

It’s certainly not an action adventure or thriller, but if you like a well told, well performed story, delivered with wit charm and a light touch, you’ll enjoy this too.

23rd Oct 2019 0

Zombieland: Double Tap

Let’s begin with a quick confession, I’d not seen Zombieland before watching Double Tap (I put that right and watched it afterwards). That said, if you’ve not seen Zombieland it doesn’t really matter, you’ll still be able to get along just fine with the zombie based fun that ensues.

For me the main criticism of Double Tap is that it lacks some of the heart and story of the first film. That said it still provides 90 minutes of Zombie slaying humour and Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg are as watchable as ever.

There’s regular laughs to be had and a wide range of entertaining Zombie deaths.

Overall it was fine while it lasted, but that’s it, it’s really no more than a bunch of zombie killing set pieces with not much of a story arc.

That’s Ok though as it was entertaining enough to fill it’s shortish run time, but it’s not going to rock anyone’s world and you’ll probably have forgotten much of it by the time you get home.

20th Oct 2019 0

Gemini Man

Ang Lee, double Will Smith, what’s not going to be great about that? Well Gemini Man it would seem!

Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t terrible and Will Smith continues to be an engaging screen presence, but this was a film that never really got beyond an average action adventure.

It really felt more of an excuse to show off the technology behind recreating an early 20’s Will Smith, a Fresh Prince after a few workouts and a slightly less comfortable up bringing!

This technology is moving on really quickly, if we compare it to the slightly jarring recreation of Carrie Fisher in Force Awakens, you can see its clear evolution. It works pretty much all of the way through, there are a couple of scenes that struck me as very CGI, especially the final one, but beyond that you don’t get overly caught up in admiring it.

However, maybe that’s the films problem, you don’t get overly caught up in any of it, it’s pretty standard a film you’ve seen a hundred times before, the plot, the villains and ultimately the outcome are all pretty obvious and generic and Will isn’t surprising (in either guise) he’s standard Will Smith, likable with the occasional quip.

Enjoyable enough, but beyond the technology, nothing ground breaking or original. If you’re happy to leave your critical brain at the door, crack open the popcorn and not expect too much, you should be just fine.

14th Oct 2019 0

Hotel Mumbai

Sky’s record of making their own films has been mixed, however Hotel Mumbai is a step up.

Based on the real life, horrific terror attacks in 2008 the film focuses on the siege at the Hotel Taj.

This is not an easy watch, but of course it’s not meant to be, as it attempts to capture not only the terror and tension, but also both sides of humanity, one with a complete disregard for life, while the other has a complete disregard for their safety to save the lives of others.

Dev Patel as always is hugely watchable in the lead role and provides our bridge between the local population and the opulence, wealth and of course terror at the Hotel Taj.

He’s well supported by Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Anupam Kher and Jason Issacs.

It’s a well told, if shocking story, which kept me invested from start to finish showing humanity at it’s very best and worst.

13th Oct 2019 0

Joker

One of the problems of films that come with a lot of hype is the inevitable disappointment when you finally see them. It’s the reason I try to avoid reviews until I’ve seen a film. However, the buzz around Joker has been tricky to miss and most of that has hyped this up into something special.

Inevitable disappointment then? Not a bit of it, what an incredible film this is. If you are expecting a comic book film then that’s not really what you get, instead you get a dark and brooding portrayal of a man on the edge, desperate, depressed, deluded and as he pointedly says later “what do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that doesn’t care?”.

It’s fantastically shot, with a brilliant musical score, well paced and well timed at 2 hours, never letting itself get distracted by long ponderous diversions and although it has graphic violence, it is limited to moments.

But most of all what it is, is an incredible performance by Joaquin Phoenix constantly and menacingly close to the edge, as life persistently chips away at him, one crushing disappointment at a time. His balance between control and unhinged madness is fantastic, delivering a film that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

While some critics seem to have taken this film as some kind of cynical and manipulative exercise, for me it’s an incredible piece of work which owes a bit of a debt to American Psycho. It is not a comic book origins film, but a really well made portrait of someone descending into psychotic madness, an incredible film with an outstanding central performance.

6th Oct 2019 0

Booksmart

Finally caught up with this last night, really enjoyed it, smart, funny and offered some nice twists on the well trodden high school high jinks genre (may have just invented that genre!).

Carried along by two smart and charming central performances from Kaitlyn Dever (Amy) and Beanie Feldstein (Molly). The story centres around two girls who ditched high school fun for hard work and study to ensure they get into their chosen colleges, but when they find that other kids who’d partied also got into those colleges they decide they need to have some fun the night before graduation.

As you can imagine American Pie style fun ensues. But to its credit it offers more than that and for me it focussed on the problems of pre-judging those we don’t really know, across the film not only do we discover different sides to everyone but also we see how others don’t percieve Amy and Molly in the way they assume they do.

While it’s not earth shatteringly original, it provides some nice twists on the formula and it is packed with humour, charm and plenty of heart.

6th Oct 2019 0

Judy

I think it’s easy to take against this film, it doesn’t really explore anything different and if like me you don’t know much about Judy Garland, it’s hard to judge whether it’s an accurate reflection of the end of Garlands life.

But that said, what this film has is a wonderful central performance by Renee Zellweger, she dominates the screen with a powerful and nuanced portrayal of Garland.

The film shows the sadness of Garlands life from young star through to troubled superstar where years of drink and drugs have taken a heavy toll, a life of broken marriages, hangers on and people keen to hang their hat from Garlands star.

There’s plenty of touching moments in her performance, sadness, loneliness and maybe most touching of all those little bits of happiness that come when she performs and moments she gets to live a normal life.

While the film is no earth shattering expose and treads a well warn path of movie of a tragic star (dying at just 47) it is definitely elevated by a captivating performance by Zellweger and well supported especially by the increasingly watchable Jessie Buckely. There’s also a lovely final moment, when she sings.. well you know what she sings…

Won’t rock everybody’s world, but if you’re like me and get drawn into the central performance you’ll go with it and find a touching and tragic story.

5th Oct 2019 0

Rambo:Last Blood

On my way to see this I was hoping for more of a First Blood, which I always felt was a decent film, looking at the isolation of someone who was mentally scarred by what he’d seen in the armed forces. The problem with the Rambo films was that they became increasingly ridiculous as the series progressed, taking on tanks with a crossbow by the time 3 rolled around.

The other hope was that Rambo would be treated to the kind of send off Rocky is getting, especially in the excellent Creed films, sadly what we got was Rambo jumping a Rambo sized shark!

I didn’t hate this film, I enjoy Stallone on screen and of course there is the pleasant feeling that comes with some 80’s nostalgia, but that said, Rambo deserved better than this. The plot has more holes than the bad guys when John finishes with them, the premise makes no sense even though the whole story is signposted in 25ft high letters from the start.

It’s a predictable, plodding story that exists only as the platform for the last 30 minutes of full on insanely graphic Rambo revenge action, which introduces a range of new and intriguing killing methods that makes Tarantino look like Walt Disney.

If this is to be the last outing of John Rambo it’s a disappointing one, a bit of a mess, with a ridiculous plot, but not without a splash of full on Rambo for good measure and it is only 89 minutes long!

20th Sep 2019 0