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duncan-beagley
Reviews
Cry Macho (2021)
Jarringly clunky, cliché riddled Eastwood ego trip
On paper, this should work. But it's dreadful. Badly acted, yes even Clint, and the dialogue is perfunctory twaddle that jars and grates throughout. This combination of the acting and dialogue means that you never believe any of the characters, most of whom are so one dimensional it's unreal. The clichés keep coming and are the only thing driving this series of set-plays strung together into what feels like an eternity of wasted opportunity. It took me five sittings to get through and I bitterly regret each and every one of them.
Oh, and the best actor was the chicken who was beak and wings above all of the mannequins staccato-ing and dibbling through this. Please do yourself a favour and avoid this at all costs.
Don't Worry Darling (2022)
It's perfect for an hour but...then...not as clever as it seems
That this film has a twist, is no secret. It paints a perfect picture of late 50s America utopia that is impossibly perfect. It's beautiful, and the set up is good, a really compelling and intriguing conundrum from the off: you are really asking, why is this too good to be true? Even the central relationship is an impossibly perfect male chauvinist take on the world, with the women apparently happy in their roles. This adds to the delight of the opening hour or so, the film feels like it is making a statement, like we are on the cusp of feminism, a glorious revolt in the belly, waiting to be born, something that will shatter this perfection.
So, you know there is a twist. When it arrives, you're instant feeling is, "Ok, so that explains it....how is this going to play out, what else do you have to say?"
Nothing, it turns out.
If this review seems overladen with detail on the intro and short on detail on the rest, abruptly ending...well, that's the way the film leaves you. The overall feeling is that this film feels like a wasted opportunity and, like the facade of the early perfection depicted, once you scratch at the surface and the conceit is revealed, it's all a bit lazy and shallow.
The Green Knight (2021)
A Middle English road movie - awesome
This is not a swashbuckling knights tale, nor is it a battle strewn epic. It is a thought provoking, deep and metaphor-laden study of mortality, ambition, morality and honour.
Just beautiful: impeccably acted, great score, with stunning cinematography. It sat with me for days after I saw it and I constantly think of it's lessons and soulful, pagan heart.
Dev Patel is perfectly cast: troubled, conflicted, naive and lost; eager to redeem himself but blindly directionless in good measure.
If you want a film that makes you think, celebrates life and the hacking away of humanity's vanities, then it's is this.
Deep Water (2022)
Decent film, wrongly maligned but does suffer from being mislabelled as a psychological thriller
I think the poor reviews from this are down to it being mislabelled: it is not a psychological thriller in the way we have come to expect.
No. It is more a story of control, of being trapped, of a doomed marriage and two protagonists desperately and stubbornly asserting their will over the other. A game of cat and mouse, maybe, but that's as close as it gets to falling into the psycho thriller genre. Really, at the heart of this is a study of modern lust, modern monogamy, modern marriage and age old control.
I don't want to spoil this, so I'll just say that the two central characters are played impeccably, and that it really enhances the experience. In lesser hands this film could have degenerated into cliché: the pain is etched on Afflek's face and Ana de Armas infuriates and captivates in equal measure. You feel his angst, you feel her frustration. I was genuinely drawn by her carefree and alcoholically playful tendencies but at the same time I wallowed in his stubborn refusal to let go and his determination to exert control over the woman who was ruining his life and threatening the family life he so craved.
There are episodes of violence, people are killed, there is tension. But these are devices, they are there to demonstrate the power and depth of feeling, the lengths people go to. There is little suspense or mystery surrounding these. In that way, it falls short of what we've come to call a psychological thriller, but it really need not be marked down because of this.
I liked this film a lot.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Ridiculously good fun - a mash up of modern alien/space classics
Basically, Alien had a kid with Armageddon with a massive splattering of Starship Troopers. Some great one-liners, Pratt is solid and it's always good to see JK Simmons. Suspend belief, don't overthink it and just enjoy the ride. Yes, it's mostly predictable but there's a nice twist just when you're wondering where the remaining minutes are going to take you and it's phenomenally good fun if you just go with it.
Jolt (2021)
Really great fun
Snappy, funny, good performances and a good revenge-led storyline. Kate Beckinsale and Stanley Tucci scenes are cracking, there are several laugh out loud moments and Lindy feels like a super positive feminist hero: the geezers in this film are saps and villains; she's knowing and pure class. Don't understand the bad reviews. Really good fun.
Time (2020)
Lacks empathy; sad and jarring. Well edited and good soundtrack though.
Hmm. Odd. Whether you agree or disagree with the sentiment or the narrative, this film deserves to be judged on its merit. The editing and sound is superb. It is a well told story. I liked the camera work and the intimacy of the pieces.
But....(you knew it was coming), all I'm left with is that someone decided to document 20 years of their lives, whilst their quite shocking nativity / twisting of the truth shone through. Clearly Fox Rich sees herself through the lens of several civil rights activists, and her composure and articulate patience is utterly breathtaking at times. But the camera is on her. She knew this. And you never quite shake the feeling that this is not a victim. This is someone playing the victim.
And I just couldn't get through this; I felt I was being spun a yarn. I had no sympathy at all with Fox or her husband. I felt for the children. I truly admired her for bringing up those kids. But when Mahlik Rich starts saying things like "it's almost like slavery, the white man keep you there..." just after Fox has explained that they were well aware that armed robbery carried a sentence of up to 99 years...you lose the empathetic link that the cinematography and editing is pushing you. You're left feeling that you are an outsider, that the schemas you've learned are askew, that it's somehow ok to reach out and endanger lives and take what is not yours because you "did not want to fail". And the shots of her "rallies", where she is crying out for an "amen" and literally preaching about black rights and the dehumanising experience of jail.... I just felt sad and wondered why the camera was not showing more of the audience. What few audience shots I saw seemed to show people of her similar race staring blankly back. No real empathy or nodding support. So, short of inspiring, it felt sad. Like Alan Partridge flogging shop soiled Terry Chocolate Orange.
Is it a good film? It's well filmed but not a good film. Someone happened to film their life whilst they went through what was clearly a tough time for them. It is well edited. The soundtrack is awesome. Did I feel anything other than unease at the fact that I disagreed with their plight? No. Would I recommend it? Not really.
Stowaway (2021)
Really quite something
Utterly loved this film. The characters all felt as real as you or I, and you genuinely feel that you'd behave the same. Refreshing lack of baddies, aliens or stupid plot twists. But that's not to say that it doesn't pack a dramatic punch. Far from it, this film had me riveted from the off and I felt like a fifth (non oxygen consuming) crew member. More than anything though, this is a space movie with a human heart: a human drama, set in space, expertly played by a great cast, exploring themes of mortality, ambition, destiny, hope, futility and the delicate miniature of our view of ourselves and our place in the universe.
Made in Italy (2020)
Cliché upon cliché
So dispiritingly regular and on time are the clichés, you could set your watch by them. I audibly groaned throughout, much to my wife's annoyance, as she had fallen asleep inside the first 15 minutes. Its my own fault: I think this film would have been aided by watching it whilst hammered, like I do when I watch all of Neeson's other (and considerably better) films.
Hard Kill (2020)
Director: "Gather around please, average cast, around Willis and just make it up as we go along"
I don't know where to start but that's ok, because neither did the writer. The set up is hurried and before you have time to think, you are plunged into an 80 minute shoot at a disused factory that just loses all sense and structure. There is nothing good in this film. Nothing. What there IS, is endless poorly timed and misjudged cliches piled on top the last, plot holes all over the place and the most one dimensional characters imaginable. The bad guy was clearly excited by the idea of playing opposite Willis and did his best attempt at being all Alan Rickman, minus the charm, screen presence, sneer or any kind of acting skills to draw upon. The lead guy was clearly excited to be playing alongside Willis and spent most of the film dragging up pastiche takes on McLean from Die Hard...except you just don't care. At some point someone asks, "Have finished making your funny little speeches?" and you have to wonder if this was actually a comment from a passing screenwriter horrified at what was clearly wasted studio time. Willis himself flitted between tired and bewildered to flattered and ego-massaged that a film could be entirely devoted to attempting to (and failing to) emulate any number of his 80s and 90s films. That the film felt overlong at 90 mins tells you all you need to know.
This Beautiful Fantastic (2016)
Ignore the warning signs at your peril
This cliche-ridden tosh is so predictable that halfway through it gives up trying to entertain and almost wilfully disappoints at nearly every turn. Until that point, when it's really clear that there is utterly nothing stopping this tick-boxing it's way to the credits, you had kind of wondered if perhaps the ladles of kookiness would repay with at least a smidgen of insight or some lighthearted whimsy of an actual joke or two. But no, it really is going to be a rom-com minus the comedy, and the romance, aiming to be a kind of British Amelie. I don't know what they were thinking, maybe aiming for the American market with overtly English country-garden-meets-best-exotic-marigold-meets-oh-look-its-Tom Wilkinson from those gangster films? But the warning signs were there at the start, the moment the bumbling "love interest" (think Frank Spencer had a kid with Harry Potter and decided to try and be Hugh Grant but with none of the wit or the charm and ALL of the annoying clunk) comes crashing into the film, in the process kicking off the longest and unfunniest running joke which unfolds every single library based pun/set piece you could ever conceive (that runs the entire film). That the film is utterly predictable doesn't help, and the one saving grace is the aforementioned Tom Wilkinson who, I'm sorry to say, can only drag the film up from a 1 to a 3 out of 10, and even then there were times he looked like he could smell the stench. He was the wild strawberry in the manure of this shambles.
A Ghost Story (2017)
Gorgeous and heartstoppingly moving film
Just go with it, feel it. It's an odd film, it has almost no dialogue and is driven by ideas and philosophy rather than a strong narrative. But it touches and moves, stirs and wakens you. I still can't get this film out of my head. Well acted too, beautifully shot and a lovely soundtrack.