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denbunn
Reviews
Dune (2021)
Fine I guess
Highly anticipated as this was to me as a big big fan of the extremely flawed original film, I found this film decidedly average in everything but its visuals and casting. It's far too long and strangely lacking in atmosphere. Disappointing.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
Utter Crud
Contemptuous, sentimental nonsense for the lowest common denominator; if you have the luxury of having at least two brain cells to rub together go and watch something else.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Extraordinary
From a purely emotional standpoint, this is quite simply the best film ever made; epic in scope, travelling as it does over many decades of our hero's lives, it does not disappoint in any area.
The two films I return to again and again are this and Blade Runner, and despite their obvious differences, both films share many characteristics: sweeping score, wildly atmospheric, fantastic individual performances and both have aged beautifully.
A resounding, joyful, 10 out of 10 to this phenomenal film.
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
Bonkers
The conundrum with this film is that it draws some good performances from its excellent cast, with strong, scripted dialogue and yet still manages to be thoroughly average as a whole. It doesn't help that after the discovery of the cache of mystery paintings, the plot becomes very predictable; with nothing approaching any kind of twist. It's an interesting depiction of what I can only assume is the vacuous world of high art dealers, critics and their artists in LA, but as a result, Jake G's character aside, we have a collection of highly unpleasant characters, who we neither root for nor care for when their inevitable demise occurs.
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Over hyped
How this could average a score of 8/10 is not beyond me; my opinion is that people have confused strong sentiment for a good movie. Our feelings for Freddie Mercury do not make this movie better and Rami Malek's excellent mimicking of Freddie don't make his acting performance stronger.
The movie's pace is not helped by Malek's rightful devotion to playing a realistic version of Freddie, because Freddie's gauche manner and innate shyness slow down almost every piece of dialogue. The other cast members don't help the pace either, and I never once forgot that I was watching a film, a film with a number of wooden performances: most notably the other band members, with Gwilym Lee about the only one to pull out a good performance. Joseph Mazzello is so annoying as John Deacon that I could barely watch him; admittedly it wasn't a particularly brilliant role in the first place, but he looked like the dictionary definition of 'phoning it in'.
On the plus side, Malek is very good and the recreation of the great live moments in Queen's incredible career are very well done, as are the romantic relationships in Freddie's life; a little coy perhaps, particularly when dealing with his homosexuality, but there does at least appear to be genuine affection and love between him and Mary and him and Jim.
Grease (1978)
Absolute perfection
Impossible to find any flaws in this wonderful film; I mean you could if you really wanted to, but what sort of pedant would you be if you did so?
Just enjoy
Stath Lets Flats (2018)
Gentle, brilliantly written comedy
This is fantastic - such a talented cast and brilliantly observed - a really stand-out sitcom - highly recommended