jboothmillard Reviews

IF (I) (2024)

IF (Imaginary Friend)

[4/10 · 30 May 2024]

Only a few months before this was released, I watched the scary movie Imaginary, which also involved imaginary friends, but it was crap, I hoped this movie with the same theme would be much better, produced, written, and directed by John Krasinski (A Quiet Place). Basically, twelve-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) has moved into the New York apartment of her grandmother Margaret (Fiona Shaw) while her father (John Krasinski) is in hospital awaiting heart surgery. Her mother (Catharine Daddario) died of cancer a few years earlier in the same hospital. One day, while visiting her dad, Bea meets and befriends young Asian boy Benjamin (Alan Kim) who makes jokes about being in the hospital. One night, Bea finds her mother's old camcorder in the closet and goes out to buy a charger for it. On the way, she sees an unfamiliar creature on the street, and she follows it back to her grandmother's building. The following day, she sees the creature again, accompanied by a man. Bea follows them to a nearby house where the man, Cal (Ryan Reynolds), retrieves a large furry purple creature. She also sees another creature, a butterfly-like being, and she faints. When she wakes in Cal's apartment, the purple creature, Blue (Steve Carell) (named Blue because his child was colourblind), and the butterfly type creature named Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) introduce themselves. Bea learns that Cal has been working with imaginary friends, nicknamed IFs, to find new children for them, as their original children have grown up and forgotten them. As the only other person to see the creatures, Bea is reluctant when they ask for her help, but she decides to do so. The following day, Cal takes Bea to an abandoned Coney Island fairground where hidden beneath one of the attractions is the Memory Lane Retirement Home, a retirement community for Ifs. There, he introduces Bea to elderly teddy bear Lewis (Louis Gossett Jr., posthumous), the head of the facility. She is introduced to many interesting IFs, including the cuddly Unicorn (Emily Blunt), houseplant Sunny (Matt Damon), alligator Ally (Maya Rudolph), giant jelly bear Gummy Bear (Amy Schumer), octopus costumed cat Octopuss (Blake Lively), living bedsheet Ghost (Matthew Rhys), cold glass of water Ice (Bradley Cooper), green mucus Slime (Keegan Michael-Key), animated private detective Cosmo (Christopher Meloni), and poseable wooden figure Art Teacher (Richard Jenkins). Lewis inspires Bea to use her imagination to redesign the facility, which really annoys Cal who goes all over the place. Bea returns to the hospital to see her father and encounters Benjamin again. He motivates her to try and match one of the IFs with him. She, Cal, and Lewis audition the IFs, including droid Robot (Jon Stewart), canine superhero Guardian Dog (Sam Rockwell), smiley ball of floating froth Bubble (Awkwafina), astronaut Spaceman (George Clooney), rodent Magician Mouse (Sebastian Maniscalco), and hot melting confectionery Marshmallow Man (John Krasinski). But when she brings them to the hospital, Benjamin cannot see any of them. Feeling unmotivated, Bea talks with Lewis on the Coney Island pier. He tells her that maybe the IFs do not need new kids, perhaps they should try to reunite them with their old ones who have grown up. Talking with her grandmother, she sees a picture of her as a young dancer and recognised Blossom in the background of the picture. Bea realises Blossom is her grandmother's IF, and she decides to test Lewis's idea. Bea plays one of her grandmother's records and Margaret is inspired to dance, and she remembers Blossom, instilling Bea with hope. Following this, Bea, Cal, and Blue find Blue's original grown-up kid, Jeremy (Bobby Moynihan), who is trying to launch a business. Their initial attempt to help him remember Blue fails, but Bea realises that Jeremy's parents had a bakery and he would be reminded of Blue with the smells of a pastry. The smell of a croissant helps Jeremy to remember Blue, and he is given the confidence he needs for his business presentation. After saying goodbye to Blue, Bea returns home that evening, but Margaret is upset because something went wrong with her father's operation. Bea rushes upstairs to Cal, who comforts her. When Bea says she does not want to say goodbye to her father, Cal advises her to tell him a story instead. At the hospital, Bea tells her father about her efforts to be a grownup and she still needs him to bring fun into her life, and he eventually wakes up. Bea goes to tell her grandmother the good news, but she notices that the IFs have vanished. Bea goes upstairs to thank Cal, but when no -one answers, the landlady (Barbara Andres) reveals that the door opens into an old storage room. After her dad is released from the hospital, they pack up his belongings to go home. While packing her things in the car, Bea finds an old picture she painted. The picture sees Bea with her parents, and a clown named Calvin; she realises that Cal is her own IF, forgotten after the death of her mother. She closes her eyes and remembers, restoring her ability to see IFs, and reuniting with Cal. After they leave, Margaret speaks to Blossom, and she realises that Margaret can see her. Sometime later, Cal reunites many of the other IFs with their original kids who have grown up. Benjamin meets his IF, a cartoonish dragon with glasses. Bea and her father return home, where he trips over his invisible imaginary friend Keith. Also starring Liza Colón-Zayas as Janet, and Audrey Hoffman as Bea (Ages 3 & 5), with the voices of Bill Hader as Banana, Allyson Seeger as Viola, and Brad Pitt as Keith (this is an in-joke referencing Deadpool 2, he does not actually feature). Fleming is cute, Reynolds is likeable, and Carell and Waller-Bridge are good leading an all-star cast of talents voicing the animated companions. From the trailer it looked like it could be fun; the animation for the various characters is well done, and the fast-paced song and dance sequence with the scenery changing is memorable. The problem is it lacks any feeling of magic or heart, there are obvious slightly exploitative scenes designed to make you cry, I only tittered in moments as well, the younger audience might get something out of it, but I found it a slightly disappointing average live-action computer-animated fantasy comedy. Okay!

The Garfield Movie (2024)

The Garfield Movie

[5/10 · 24 May 2024]

When I was a kid, I watched the 1984 cartoon Garfield in the Rough, and I used to watch the TV show Garfield and Friends on CITV, I've seen the comic strip in the Daily Mail now and then as well. Obviously, there were two Bill Murray live-action/CGI movies that were below average, and then came this new fully animated big-screen outing, directed by Mark Dindal (Cats Don't Dance, The Emperor's New Groove, Chicken Little). Basically, when Garfield was a kitten, he was seemingly abandoned by his father in an alley on a dark and rainy night. Scared, wet, and hungry, he followed the scent of delicious food in an Italian restaurant. Jon Arbuckle (Nicholas Hoult) is lonely and finds the kitten at the window, offers him pepperoni from his pizza, and the kitten gorges the whole thing, and goes around the restaurant eating many other tasty treats. Now grown up, Garfield (Chris Pratt) claims he adopted Jon (as opposed to the other way around). He is a fat, lazy, and greedy tabby cat, ordering takeaway food, including lasagne and pizza, whenever he feels like it. Fellow household pet Odie the yellow beagle dog (Harvey Guillén) is his friend and his sidekick. One night, whilst looking for a midnight snack from leftovers in the fridge, Garfield and Odie are kidnapped by tiny whippet Nolan (Bowen Yang) and huge wrinkly Shar Pei Roland (Brett Goldstein). The dogs take them to a secret lair before being rescued by Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), Garfield's biological and estranged father. Garfield is understandably bitter towards his father for abandoning him when he was younger, his father insists it was not like that, but Garfield doesn't want to hear it. Soon enough, Vic encounters his former acquaintance, diva Persian show cat and criminal master Jinx (Hannah Waddingham). Jinx and Vic go way back; he double-crossed her years ago, and she went to the pound for five years. She got her scary dog henchmen to kidnap Garfield and Odie because she knew it would lure Vic to her. Jinx wants payback, demanding 1,672 bottles of milk, one for every day she was incarcerated, and they have 72 hours to get it. If they fail, she will sick Roland and Nolan on them. The only way to do it is to break into Lactose Farms, which is protected by high-security systems. To help them get inside, Garfield, Vic, and Odie ask the farm's former mascot, gloomy Scottish Highland bull Otto (Ving Rhames), for his knowledge of the security systems. Otto eventually agrees to help them, on the condition that they help him reunite with his true love, his fellow female cow mascot and girlfriend. Jon realises Garfield and Odie are missing and tries to call a missing pets hotline, but he is continually put on hold waiting to speak to someone. Otto trains Garfield and Vic to work together because they will have no success if they cannot cooperate and put the past behind them. When they are tied up together by Otto, Garfield finally listens to his father who explains that he did not abandon him, he simply left him for a few moments while he wanted to find him food, his son went missing when he returned. It is revealed that Vic followed Garfield and decided he had a good life with Jon, but he continued to watch Garfield from a tree outside the home. Otto is satisfied that they have put their differences aside and releases them as they discuss their plan for the heist. Jinx intends for them to get caught during the heist and sends an anonymous tip-off to Lactose Farm's head of security and Animal Control officer Marge (Cecily Strong). Garfield, Vic, and Odie start their journey to the farm by jumping onto a speeding train, and Garfield and his father bond more. The trio manages to get through the various obstacles, including an electric fence, a massive cheese shredder, and scary security guards. They successfully get the milk, steal a truck, and drive away with it. But Jinx intervenes, revealing it was never about the milk, she was setting them up so that Vic would be incarcerated. The trio is taken to the pound, where many of the other animals, including eyepatch-wearing blue cat Snoop Catt (Snoop Dogg), have been double-crossed by Jinx. Garfield, Vic, and Odie manage to break out of the pound and escape on the moving train. Jinx tries to stop them, but Garfield's instant fast food delivery service drones come to the rescue, and Jinx's henchmen have a change of heart and assist them in defeating her. In the end, Garfield and Odie return home to Jon, Vic initially refuses the invitation to come inside but is eventually welcomed and becomes part of Garfield's family. Also starring Janelle James as Olivia, a green cat, Dev Joshi as Liz, Luke Cinque-White as Vito, Lynsey Murrell as Tour Guide Tracy, and Alicia Grace Turrell as Ethel. Pratt is a good choice as the sarcastic fat cat, Jackson is likeable as his long-lost dad who wants to make amends, Waddingham is obviously having fun as the prima donna villain, and Dogg playing a cat is an amusing in-joke. It starts out with the usual establishing scenes of Garfield being gluttonous and slothful before it moves into an elabororate plot with an attempted robbery and good and evil animal characters, it is very well animated, and there are some amusing jokes and slapstick, it is not the simplistic movie you may have expected, but it is relatively good entertainment and kids will enjoy it, a fun computer-animated comedy adventure. Worth watching!

Soylent Green (1973)

Soylent Green

[5/10 · 23 May 2024]

It is slightly annoying that I already knew the twist ending, having heard its famous catchphrase, but I was always curious about this film, I was always going to watch this, directed by Richard Fleischer (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Vikings, Doctor Dolittle, 10 Rillington Place, Red Sonja). Basically, in the year 2022, overpopulation, global warming, and pollution has created worldwide food shortages, bringing human civilisation to the brink of collapse. New York City has a population of over 40 million, and while the elite can afford luxurious spacious apartments, clean water, and natural food, the majority of the poorer people live in squalor, poverty-stricken, and starving. The people on the streets survive on synthetic processed foods produced and supplied by the Soylent Corporation. Their mainstay products Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow are a staple food, and the latest product, Soylent Green, apparently created from plankton, is more nutritious and flavourful but in short supply due to its popularity. NYPD Detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) lives in a cramped apartment with his elderly co-worker and friend Solomon 'Sol' Roth (Edward G. Robinson), a brilliant former college professor and police researcher who helps him with his cases. The wealthy and influential William R. Simonson (The Third Man's Joseph Cotten), a member of the Soylent Corporation's board, is murdered at his apartment in Chelsea Towers West. Thorn is called to investigate, he questions Simonson's attractive concubine, known as "furniture", Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young), and Simonson's former bodyguard Tab Fielding (Chuck Connors). Returning to his apartment, Thorn gives Roth the Soylent Oceanographic Survey Report, 2015 to 2019. The following day, Thorn returns to work, where hundreds of people are lined up to collect death benefit money from recently diseased friends and family members. Thorn tells his superior officer, Lieutenant Hatcher (Brock Peters) he suspects the Simonson homicide may have been an assassination. Thorn stakes out Fielding's apartment building, meeting his live-in "furniture", Martha (Paula Kelly), whom he questions about Fielding's work with Simonson. Thorn later returns to his own apartment to eat an evening meal of non-synthetic food, including vegetables and meat, which Sol has prepared for them, and Thorn stole a jar of strawberry jam from Simonson's apartment. Sol is one of the few people remaining in the world who remembers the taste of real food. That evening, Thorn returns to the Chelsea Towers West to question Shirl, she reveals Simonson was troubled before his death. She holds a party at the apartment, with other "furniture" girls invited, but it is interrupted by the building superintendent Charles (Leonard Stone) who hurts many of them. Thorn arrives to stop him, sending Charles and the other girls away, and he and Shirl sleep together. Thorn's investigation leads to a Priest (Lincoln Kilpatrick) who was visited by Simonson shortly before his death. The priest's sanctity of the confessional means he cannot reveal anything, but he hints at what Simonson may have told him. Soon after, the priest is murdered in the confessional by Fielding. Thorn's superiors, including the department's director, Governor Henry C. Santini (Whit Bissell), order him to end the investigation. Although he fears losing his job if files a false report, Thorn continues with the case. He soon becomes aware that there is a stalker following him. As Thorn tries to control a violent crowd of people during a Soylent Green shortage riot, he is attacked by the assassin who killed Simonson, Gilbert (Stephen Young). The killer shoots three times at Thorn but misses, accidentally striking several innocent bystanders in the crowd. Thorn manages to locate Gilbert and throw him to the ground. Gilbert manages to wound Thorn, shooting him in the leg before being crushed by the hydraulic shovel of a police riot-control vehicle. After reading the oceanographic survey report books, Roth concludes that the oceans are dying and cannot actually produce the plankton from which Soylent Green is allegedly made. Roth confirms that Simonson was murdered by his fellow Soylent Corporation board members who feared that he would expose the real food ingredients to the public. Roth is so shaken by the truth that he decides to "return to the home of God" and seeks assisted suicide at a government clinic. He is taken into a private room where he lies down as screens display beautiful scenery pictures and classical music: "Pastoral" by Ludwig van Beethoven, "Pathetique" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, "Morning from Peer Gynt" by Edvard Grieg, and "Adante" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is played for him. Thorn discovers this and rushes to stop him, but he arrives too late. Before dying, Roth whispers his discovery to Thorn, who is horrified. Thorn moves to uncover proof of crimes against humanity and report back to the Supreme Exchange so they can take the information to the Council of Nations to take action. Thorn sneaks into the basement of the assisted suicide facility, where he sees corpses being loaded onto waste disposal trucks. Boarding a truck, he sees the bodies of euthanised people being driven to a heavily guarded waste disposal plant just outside the city. Once inside the plant, Thorn sees how the corpses are processed into Soylent Green wafers. Thorn is spotted by two plant workers and is chased, and the alarm is sounded as he tries to escape. Returning to the Supreme Exchange, he is ambushed by Fielding and his men. Thorn manages to get to a police payphone and calls Shirl to tell her he loves her and to go to Simonson's empty apartment. He then calls Hatcher at the 14th Precinct to tell him where he is and that he is being attacked but is cut off as the assassins get closer. Running through the empty streets, cleared by a government-imposed curfew, Thorn manages to kill all the gunmen chasing him except for Fielding who shoots Thorn in the back. He retreats into a cathedral filled with homeless people and Fielding follows him before Thorn manages to kill him with a rusted kitchen knife. As the police and paramedics arrive, Thorn is seriously wounded and almost hysterical; he urges Hatcher to spread the truth about Soylent Green. As Thorn is being carried away to the hospital on a stretcher, Thorn shouts to the surrounding crowd, "Soylent Green is people!" Also starring Mike Henry as Kulozik, Roy Jenson as Donovan, Celia Lovsky as The Exchange Leader, Forrest Wood as Attendant, Faith Quabius as Attendant, and Jane Dulo as Mrs. Santini. Heston as always is reliable as the cop who uncovers the nasty cannibalistic crimes, and Robinson (in his final role) makes an impression as his friend who helps him; Robinson's scene where he is helped to die with classic pieces of music is most memorable. I will admit it can be slow at times, but there are some tense moments, the dystopian future vision is well crafted, and the twist ending just about stands the test of time, it is an interesting science-fiction thriller. "Soylent Green is people!" was number 77 on 100 Years, 100 Quotes. Worth watching!

Tarot (I) (2024)

Tarot

[3/10 · 23 May 2024]

I had mixed feelings about the movie when I saw the trailer, I could just tell it was either going to be something average or rubbish, but I was prepared to go and see it anyway. Basically, a group of friends have rented a mansion in the Catskill Mountains for a birthday weekend. There is tension in the group when it is revealed that Haley (Harriet Slater) and Grant (Adain Bradley) have recently broken up. Looking for more alcohol, they break into the basement and discover several artifacts, including a box containing strange Tarot cards. Birthday girl Elise (Larsen Thompson) requests that Haley, who has astrological knowledge, read their horoscopes. Although Haley warns them that using someone else's deck violates a sacred rule, but they decide to proceed. Elise receives The High Priestess and Lucas (Wolfgang Novogratz) receives The Hermit. Madeline (Humberly González) gets The Hanged Man, Paige (Avantika) gets The Magician, and Paxton (Spider-Man: No Way Home's Jacob Batalon) gets The Fool. Hayley reveals Grant has The Devil card, causing an argument between them. Finally, Haley reads her own horoscope and gets the Death card. The next day, the group returns to campus. Elise is alone at her dorm, and that night, she investigates strange noises in the attic. Elise is attacked by a monstrous version of The High Priestess (Lucy Ridley), and she is bludgeoned to death with the attic ladder. The others are shocked, but her death is considered an accident by the authorities. Haley reveals she began tarot card reading while her mother (Visnja Obradovic) was fighting illness, but the cards always foretold her death. At night, Lucas is walking home in a New York train station when he is frightened by The Hermit (James Swanton). Lucas tries to flee, running through a restricted derelict area, but he is killed by a speeding train. Haley notices each death corresponds to the tarot readings and the group suspects something is wrong with the deck; only Grant is sceptical and dismisses the deaths as coincidence. Elise searches the internet about the occult and tarot readings and finds Alma Astryn (The Tourist's Olwen Fouéré) who has been connected to related deaths. The group visits Alma and they tell her about the cards, and she identifies that they belonged to an Astrologer (Suncica Milanovic) from the late 18th century. The astrologer served a Hungarian Baron, or Count (Vahidin Prelic), and would predict the future for him. After a reading that predicted the Baron's pregnant wife (Stanislava Nikolic) would die in childbirth came true, the grief-stricken Baron ordered his men to kill the Astrologer's daughter (Dunja Pavlovic). The enraged astrologer did a reading on the Baron and his close friends, dooming them to death, then killed herself and cursed the deck to kill anyone who used the cards. Alma reveals the cursed cards are responsible for several tarot reading group massacres, including an incident in London that she narrowly survived. Alma urges the group to return to the mansion to get the cards and to burn them. While driving there, their car breaks down and they are attacked by The Hanged Man (Felix Leech), who kills Madeline. Elise insists the group should stick together, but Paxton is terrified and leaves the others to return to campus. But Paxton is stalked by The Fool (Felix Leech) and eventually cornered in an elevator with his fate unknown. Meanwhile, Haley, Grant, and Paige return to the mansion but are unable to destroy the cards and request Alma's assistance. Alma tries to contact the astrologer's spirit. Despite successfully summoning her, the astrologer gains the upper hand, performing a reading on Alma and she is killed by the Six of Swords, stabbed in the back. During their escape, Paige accidentally breaks off from Grant and Haley and is lured into the basement. There, she is captured by The Magician (James Swanton) who kills her, sawing her in half in a coffin. Upstairs, Grant and Haley are attacked by The Devil (Joss Carter) and Death (Cavin Cornwall) respectively. As Grant is dragged away by The Devil, Haley gives the astrologer a reading with her deck, giving her Death. Haley lets go of her mother's grief and the astrologer's spirit is burnt, along with the cards. Haley and Grant having survived their ordeal reconcile and start to make their way home. On the way, they reunite with Paxton, who had survived his ordeal after his roommate, Todd, opened the elevator door at the last second, which made The Fool disappear. Also starring Alan Wells as Hanson, and Anna Halberg as Wells. Slater is alright, Batalon is likeable being sarcastic, and Fouéré is reliable being the expert character. It is a simple concept, a cursed deck of cards played with by teenagers, and they are all killed one by one by evil spirits, but it is let down by a silly script, several predictable moments, below average special effects, and jump scares that don't work, it is a rather dull unscary supernatural horror. Adequate!

How I Won the War (1967)

How I Won the War

[4/10 · 19 May 2024]

I only found out about this film when it was broadcast on television, it was made during Beatlemania, and it was the casting of a member of the "Fab Four" taking a break from the band that made the headlines, I was curious to see how he would be as an actor, produced and directed by Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night, Robin and Marian, Superman III). Basically, taking place at the end of the Second World War British Lieutenant Ernest Goodbody (Michael Crawford) is an inept, idealistic, naïve, and almost relentlessly patriotic officer. It is told in flashback as he tells his story of how he won the war to a German officer. His primary mission was leading the Musketeers, and they were tasked with constructing a cricket field behind enemy lines in North Africa. His troop members, many dead and speaking from beyond the grave, tell their own stories about Goodbody's ineptitude and what they feel prevented them from being the best of soldiers. Goodbody was often a hindrance to one of his superiors, Colonel Grapple (Sir Michael Hordern), and his troops lament they could have killed him when they had the chance. The soldiers include the Lieutenant's batman and personal assistant Gripweed (John Lennon), hard-working second-in-command Transom (Lee Montague), struggling and realist Clapper (Roy Kinnear), crusty old veteran and the would-be comedian Juniper (Jack MacGowran), the resident coward of the group the Melancholy Musketeer (For Your Eyes Only's Jack Hedley), and the bravest member Drogue (The Man with the Golden Gun's James Cossins). Goodbody's troops were caught in a precarious situation in the Rhine Valley, and his clumsiness led to the gradual demise of the unit. Goodbody made his way out successfully, while one member was a deserter, one was confined to psychiatric care, and the rest were killed in action. The characters who are dead and speaking are seen played by other actors in bright red, blue, or green coloured uniforms. The film is mostly characters chatting, training, playing cricket, and occasionally on the battlefield. Also starring Karl Michael Vogler as Odlebog, Raiders of the Lost Ark's Ronald Lacey as Spool, Ewan Hooper as Dooley, Alexander Knox as American General, Robert Hardy as British General, and Sheila Hancock as Mrs. Clapper's Friend. Crawford (best known as Frank Spencer in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em) does his hapless character fine, Lennon is relatively good if not onscreen very much, Kinnear is amusing falling about, and I recognised other faces in the cast who are alright. It is a mix of surrealist humour and obvious slapstick, but I will be honest, I found it too odd most of the time and I didn't find myself laughing very much, some of the wartime material was relatively interesting, but I don't know why critics give it such praise, it is really overrated, I just found it a dull only just watchable black comedy. Okay!

Let Him Go (2020)

Let Him Go

[6/10 · 19 May 2024]

The lead stars acted together as Clark Kent's adoptive parents in Man of Steel, they were brought together again for this film which I had only heard about when it was on television, a good rating by critics made it appealing as well, written and directed by Thomas Bezucha (The Family Stone). Basically, in Montana, in 1961, retired sheriff George Blackledge (Kevin Costner, also producing) lives on a ranch with his wife Margaret (Diane Lane), their son James (Ryan Bruce), James's wife Lorna (Kayli Carter) and infant son Jimmy (twins Otto and Bram Hornung). One afternoon, James goes horse riding, but Margaret later sees his horse wandering on its own. George goes out to the woods and finds James dead by the creek; he had fallen off his horse and broken his neck. Two years later, Lorna marries her new boyfriend, Donnie Weboy (Will Brittain); it is obvious Lorna has only married Donnie to support Jimmy and not for love. One afternoon while out shopping, Margaret sees Lorna, Donnie and Jimmy getting ice cream. She witnesses Jimmy drop his ice cream, to which Donnie forcefully grabs him, and when Lorna intervenes, he strikes her without any remorse. Margaret later visits Lorna at their home to check on her, but the Landlady (Heather Lea MacCallum) tells her that the family has left town. Margaret goes home and packs her bags, intending to go searching for them and rescue Jimmy. George is reluctant and refuses to let her go alone, so he joins her. George and Margaret speak to Sheriff Nevelson (Bradley Stryker) who gives them a lead in Forsyth, Montana. There, a shop owner who is related to the Weboys tells them to look in Gladstone, North Dakota. George is startled to discover that Margaret brought his gun with her, but she strongly feels she will need it. Outside of Gladstone, they encounter young Native American Peter Dragswolf (The Twilight Saga's Booboo Stewart) who provides them with some food and warmth for the evening. Peter tells them to look for Bill Weboy (Jeffrey Donovan), who turns out to be Donnie's uncle. The following morning, George and Margaret travel and meet Bill, who calls Donnie's mother, Blanche (Lesley Manville), who wants to meet them. At her house, Blanche initially appears pleasant, but when Lorna and Jimmy arrive, she starts to show her true colours. She makes rude comments toward the Blackledges and speaks sternly toward Lorna. The following day, George and Margaret visit Lorna at her workplace and take her for lunch. They plead with her to return home to Montana with Jimmy, but she is worried about what Donnie will do if she tries to leave. But Lorna is convinced and sneaks out later while the Weboys are asleep. Later that night, Blanche, Donnie, and Bill, along with Blanche's two other sons Marvin (Adam Stafford) and Elton (Connor Mackay), break into the Blackledges' motel room. Margaret tells Blanche that Donnie struck Lorna and Jimmy. Blanche asks Donnie if it is true, slapping him, and then asks Margaret how hard he hit Lorna. When she orders him to hit Margaret, George grabs his gun and points it at them. The men overpower him, and Blanche has Donnie chop off his fingers from his right hand with a hatchet. When they leave, Margaret takes George to the hospital. The Gladstone Sheriff (Greg Lawson) visits and tells them that the Weboys claimed that George attacked first and that he and Margaret were reported to be planning to abduct Jimmy. The sheriff tells them that Jimmy is a Weboy now and suggests that the Blackledges should leave town. Defeated, George and Margaret make their way back to Montana, but George has become weakened, and they return to Peter's to rest. Peter talks to Margaret and tells her about how men once stormed his village, took children away from their families, and then tried to "wash the Indian" out of them. When he returned to his grandmother, they couldn't understand each other anymore. Margaret asks George if they can move closer to the family, but George is ready to give up. Margaret breaks down, devastated that they have lost both James and Jimmy. During the night, George sneaks out and goes back to the Weboy house. George finds a shotgun and replaces its shells, then he sets a fire outside as a distraction. Making his way into Donnie and Lorna's room, he holds Donnie at gunpoint while Lorna leaves. Meanwhile, Margaret notices George has gone and rushes with Peter to find him. George knocks Donnie unconscious when he tries to alert the others. Blanche wakes up while George fights with Bill, and Lorna tumbles down the stairs. Blanche aims her gun at George as he gets Jimmy back, but she accidentally shoots Bill in the face and kills him. George throws the baby over the balcony to Lorna, and she catches him. Blanche shoots George in the chest. But he has enough strength to fight her for the gun as Marvin and Elton run upstairs. The scuffle causes Blanche to shoot both Marvin and Elton dead. Margaret and Peter find Lorna and Jimmy outside. Margaret rushes to help George, but Blanche corners them, she shoots and kills George. Margaret then grabs the shotgun and shoots Blanche dead. Peter gets her out as the Weboy house burns down. In the morning, Margaret bids farewell to Peter and drives home with Lorna and Jimmy. She cries for the loss of George, but looks over at Jimmy, knowing that he is finally safe. Also starring Will Hochman as Tucker, John Treleaven as Justice of the Peace, Ryan Northcott as Doctor, and Ravonna Dow as Nurse. Lane as the concerned and gritty mother-in-law is great, and Costner is reliable as the craggy former law enforcer, but it is Manville that stands out in her slightly short time onscreen as the outspoken, cunning, and unshakeable grandmother. The first half of the film is a bit sluggish, as the in-laws search for their endangered relative and the baby, it gets interesting in the second half when they meet the nasty matriarch and her sons, it is tense and emotional when it needs to be, it is a slow burner that I personally think is a little overrated, but certainly a worthwhile western crime drama. Good!

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

[6/10 · 15 May 2024]

The original series (Planet of the Apes, Beneath, Escape, Conquest and Battle) was a huge success between the late 60s and 70s, the 2001 remake by Tim Burton was fine, and the reboot trilogy (Rise, Dawn, and War) was fantastic, I was most excited when the franchise returned for another sequel in the reboot series, directed by Wes Ball (The Maze Runner Trilogy). Basically, taking place many generations (300 years) after the reign of Caesar, apes are the dominant species with many societies and clans established. The human race has diminished, their cities have overgrown, and any remaining humans have been reduced to mute feral beings. Living in the ruins of Los Angeles is an ape society that practices falconry. Noa (Owen Teague), a chimpanzee, prepares for a coming-of-age ceremony by collecting eagle eggs with his friends Anaya (Travis Jeffery) and Soona (Lydia Peckham). However, a human scavenger (Freya Allan) follows Noa home and inadvertently cracks his egg during a scuffle before fleeing. Noa searches for a replacement egg during the night and witnesses a group of ape raiders using electric weapons. Hiding from them, the apes follow Noa's horse back to his clan. Upon returning home, Noa finds his village burning, the leader of the raiders, Sylva (Eka Darville), kills Noa's father, Koro (Neil Sandilands), and Noa is knocked unconscious. When Noa wakes, the village has been reduced to ashes, and his tribe has been abducted. He buries his father and sets out to rescue his clan. On his journey, Noa meets Bornean orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) who tells him about Caesar, his teachings, and the world when apes and humans co-existed together. The two apes notice they are being followed by the human scavenger. Raka offers her food and a blanket and names her Nova. Continuing their journey, Noa, Raka, and the human encounter a group of feral humans. They are suddenly attacked by Sylva's raiders, and when the apes rescue their human companion, they are surprised she can speak. She reveals her name is Mae and she knows that Noa's clan has been taken to a beachfront settlement outside an ancient human facility. Whilst heading to the settlement, they are ambushed by Sylva while crossing a bridge. In the ensuing fight, Raka saves Mae from drowning but is swept away by the rapids. Noa and Mae are captured and taken to the settlement, and Noa is reunited with his clan. Noa is introduced to the apes' self-proclaimed king, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), who has enslaved Noa's clan. The king is forcing them to try and open the vault of the facility to access human technology locked inside. Mae meanwhile meets with human prisoner Trevathan (William H. Macy), he speaks and is teaching Proximus about the old human world. Proximus invites Noa to dinner along with Mae and Trevathan; Proximus believes that Noa knows how to open the vault and warns him that Mae only has her own interests in mind. Noa confronts Mae, demanding the truth and offering to help her. Mae knows of a hidden entrance to the vault and says it contains a mysterious "book" capable of restoring speech to humanity. Noa agrees to help her enter the vault, hoping to destroy Proximus' settlement and help his clan return home. Noa, Mae, Soona, and Anaya secretly plant explosives around the embankment surrounding the settlement. Trevathan catches them and intends to warn Proximus, but Mae kills him. Climbing the cliffs from behind it, the group reaches the vault, which is revealed to be a military bunker containing a stockpile of weapons, including the "book," which is a deciphering key for a satellite. Meanwhile, the apes find a children's picture book, which depicts humans as the once-dominant species and apes in cages at a zoo. The group finds the entrance to the bunker which the apes have been trying to open and make their way out. They are confronted by Proximus and his tribe, who threaten to kill Soona if they do not allow them to enter. They are stopped when Mae shoots a gun and kills one of Proximus's apes. Proximus agrees to let Mae leave if she tells them where the other weapons are. Mae refuses and the explosives are triggered, flooding the bunker with the apes still inside. Mae flees the settlement while the apes travel through the bunker to find higher ground. Noa is pursued by Sylva, but he is trapped by Noa as the water rises and he drowns. Noa and his clan escape the bunker, but he is attacked by Proximus, who demands that Noa kneel before him. Noa leads his clan in summoning their eagles to attack Proximus, resulting in him falling off a cliff to his apparent death. Noa's clan returns to rebuild their home, and Mae bids Noa farewell. She explains that humans deserve another chance since they were once the dominant species, but Noa questions if apes and humans can coexist peacefully. As Noa shows Soona a telescope he discovered at an observatory, Mae travels to a human settlement. It is revealed that several humans with the ability to speak have been quarantined from the outside world. Mae delivers the decipher key, allowing the humans to reactivate the satellites and successfully contact other humans across the world. Also starring Ras-Samuel as Lightning, Sara Wiseman as Dar, Kaden Hartcher as Oda / Rust, Andy McPhee as Honored Elder, Karin Konoval as Maurice, Zay Domo Artist as Milo, and Dichen Lachman as Korina. I will admit the first half of the film is a little slow as it re-establishes things, by the second half it gets interesting, as apes discover the secrets of the past and have their beliefs of ape history questioned, and choices could determine the future. Borrowing elements of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, this is the first in a new trilogy, it has decent performances, the CGI special effects for the characters and landscapes have evolved and are superb, and it is exciting at the right moments, it'll be interesting to see where it goes next, this is a worthwhile science-fiction action. Good!

Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

Love Lies Bleeding

[7/10 · 15 May 2024]

The trailer for this grungy-style film looked interesting and good, especially with the cast, and it was getting positive reviews from critics, including Mark Kermode, I was glad when I got the opportunity to see it on the big screen, co-written and directed by Rose Glass (Saint Maud). Basically, set in New Mexico in 1989, Louise "Lou" Langston (Kristen Stewart) is the manager of a gymnasium often pressured by her obsessive lesbian friend Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov) to go on a date. Jaqueline "Jackie" Cleaver (Katy O'Brian) is a bodybuilder who arrives in town and has sex with JJ (Dave Franco) to secure a job at a gun range. Lou visits her sister, Beth (Jena Malone), who has children and suffers domestic abuse from her husband, JJ. Jackie is taken by JJ to the gun range and meets the owner, Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), accepting a job as a waitress. Jackie comes to work out at the gym, and Lou is immediately smitten by her. Jackie tells Lou about the job she has at the shooting range, unaware that the owner is Lou's estranged father. Jackie also tells her that she is making her way to Las Vegas for a bodybuilding competition. Lou offers her steroids, which Jackie initially hesitates but ends up using. The two soon have sex and Jackie asks to stay at Lou's apartment. The pair have dinner with JJ and Beth, and Lou is aware of the abuse. She defends Beth and threatens JJ. In return, JJ tells her that he had sex with Jackie, which angers her. While driving home, Lou forces Jackie out of the car, mentioning she wants JJ dead, but quickly lets her back in when she sees two FBI agents. She is aware that they may be investigating her father who is connected to criminal activities in town. The next day, Beth is hospitalised after JJ has severely beaten her. Lou Sr. Arrives and promises to care for Beth. Jackie has become emotionally unstable from spontaneous substance abuse; she breaks into JJ's home and brutally beats him to death. Lou arrives and is shaken, admitting she did not actually want JJ dead. They roll his corpse into a carpet and drive to the ravine out of town, where Lou used to help her father dispose of the bodies of business rivals. On the way there, Daisy spots them and recognises Jackie is driving Lou's truck. After disposing of the body in the trick and setting it on fire, Lou cleans up evidence of the murder. Jackie continues her steroid addiction and grows more agitated. Following an argument, Jackie hurts Lou headbutting her, then leaves and hitchhikes to Las Vegas. While her individual performance at the competition starts well, Jackie in her steroid-induced psychosis has a panic attack and hallucinates vomiting a fully grown Lou. In reality, she vomits on the stage and runs off in humiliation. When she sees other competitors laughing at her, she viciously attacks them and is arrested. Meanwhile, JJ's truck is found in the ravine, along with several bodies from previous bodies. When Lou arrives home, she runs into Daisy who asks several about Jackie driving JJ's truck. To keep her silent, Lou has sex with Daisy, and they apparently begin a relationship. Lou Sr. Bails Jackie out of jail and coerces her to kill Daisy, the only witness to the murder, giving her a gun. Lou and Daisy are just arriving at her apartment when Jackie shoots Daisy from behind and runs away. Before Lou can do anything, she is forced to hide her body behind the sofa when FBI agents come to question her about JJ. Jackie returns to Lou Sr., only to be knocked unconscious. He calls Lou saying he has Jackie and plans to pin the double homicide on her. Lou threatens to expose her father's operation if he does so, causing him to hang up in a rage. Lou is cleaning up Daisy's body when Lou Sr. Has sent corrupt cop Officer Mike (David DeLao) on his payroll to attack her, but after fighting she manages to shoot him dead. Realising her father wants to kill her, Lou bludgeons the officer with a gun and makes her way to his manor. There, she encounters Beth who has learned about Lou's involvement with JJ's death and attacks her. Lou allows Beth to beat her before Beth stops and gives her Jackie's location. Lou frees Jackie and they embrace and make up. Lou tells her to run while she goes to confront her before he shoots her in the leg. Lou Sr. Reveals to his daughter that her mother is not dead but left due to them, Lou Sr. For his criminal business and Lou for helping him. Jackie arrives, having grown to a gigantic size, being enraged and empowered by her love for Lou. She pins Lou Sr. To the ground and Lou puts a gun in his mouth but she does not fire, leaving him to be arrested by the incoming police. The two girls grow into giants and run together through the clouds in the sky. The next morning, after returning to normal size, Lou and Jackie have hit the road and are driving through the desert. They hear a thumping from the back of the truck, and Lou realises Daisy is still alive. Lou drags her into a nearby field to strangle her to death while Jackie sleeps. Also starring Orion Carrington as O'Riley, Matthew Blood-Smyth as Dave, Keith Jardine as Chester, Jerry G. Angelo as Mikey, Mikandrew as Stoney Owen, and Hilary Fleming as Sharon. Stewart is terrific as the woman at the centre of everything, O'Brian is magnetic as the muscly drifter who falls in love with her, they have fantastic chemistry together, Harris (with his scary hair) is terrific as the creepy criminal father, there is good support from Franco, Malone and Baryshnikov, and director Glass is a great upcoming talent. It is a sizzling story of passion and a gritty drama, the bodybuilding and exercise scenes, as well as the lovemaking moments, are steamy and stylish, and the period detail is splendid, I will admit I found the ending (combining The Incredible Hulk and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman) rather strange, but as an overall film, it is a most watchable romantic crime thriller. Very good!

The Fall Guy (2024)

The Fall Guy

[8/10 · 14 May 2024]

I had seen three or four different trailers of this big-budget movie, it certainly looked promising, it was only later I realised it was loosely based on the TV show of the 1980s, I just hoped it would be as good as I hoped, directed by David Leitch (Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Bullet Train). Basically, Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is a Hollywood stunt performer and is the official stunt double for famous action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). He is on set for his latest movie production, alongside his camera operator girlfriend Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) who longs to become a director. Colt is required to perform a big fall stunt with a safety harness. But the stunt goes wrong, he is severely injured and taken to hospital. He abandons his stunt career and does not stay in contact with Jody. Eighteen months later, Colt has become a valet for a small Mexican restaurant. He is contacted by Tom's film producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham). She tells him that Jody is directing her first film, a science fiction epic titled Metalstorm, and has personally asked for Colt. Arriving on set in Sydney, Australia, Colt reunites with his friend, stunt coordinator Dan Tucker (Winston Duke). Colt is dismayed that his first major stunt back is a cannon roll because he worries about screwing up, but he goes ahead, and it is successful. But he learns afterward that Jody never asked for him and is still angry about their breakup. For his next stunt, he is set on fire and blown against a wall. Colt asks her to explain the plot of the film, which she uses to covertly discuss their relationship in front of the crew. In his trailer, Gail reveals to Colt that Tom has disappeared after getting involved with drugs. She wants Colt to find Tom before his absence causes production of the film to be shut down. Not wanting Jody's directorial debut to be ruined, Colt starts to track down Tom. He goes to Tom's apartment to try and find him, but he is attacked by Tom's girlfriend Iggy Starr (Teresa Palmer). When their fighting settles down, Iggy tells him to go to a nightclub. Colt gets into the club by dressing flashy, mistaken for Tom, and meets drug dealer Doone (Matuse). He is tricked into drinking a cocktail laced with hallucinogenic drugs. He gets into a fight with the Doone's goons, but whilst tripping, he manages to stop the drug dealer from getting away. He tells Colt that he was paid to drug him and directs him to a hotel. At the hotel, Colt runs into Jody, who discusses her displeasure at the producers changing the love story of her movie. Colt then meets the concierge, Kevin (Ben Gerrard), who gives him the key to Tom's room. Colt breaks into the room by knocking the door down, and Jody calls to discuss ideas for the film, including the use of split screen, and they have some banter. After the call ends, Colt finds the corpse of another stuntman, Henry Herrera, dead in the bathtub filled with ice. Colt calls Gail, who advises him not to talk to the police, but when he does report it, they return to the room and the body has disappeared. Meanwhile, as production of Metalstorm continues, Dan complains that Jody has bigger and more complicated ideas for the shoot. Colt and Jody begin to rekindle their relationship and she invites him to a karaoke night. But Gail abruptly informs him that he must return to the United States. He ignores this and makes his way to karaoke and happens to run into personal assistant Alma Milan (Stephanie Hsu). She tells him that when she last saw Tom it was at a crazy party. She has Tom's phone in her possession, and at the party, his head of security Dressler (Ben Knight) was trying to get it. Alma knows there is something incriminating on the phone but will only hand it over if she gets a producer credit on the movie. Then they are both attacked by people looking for the phone and there is an extended chase involving a rubbish truck across a bridge. Jody is upset when Colt has not shown up at karaoke, she performs "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" by Phil Collins while he is fighting against more goons. After surviving a crash through the windshield and defeating the goons, Colt does make it to the bar, but Jody is long gone. Colt and Dan give Tom's phone to fellow crew member Venti (Zara Michales) who is a hacker, but they need to find its password. Returning to Tom's apartment and finding the password to unlock the phone, Colt and Dan discover a video of an intoxicated Tom accidentally killing his previous stuntman, Henry. Moments later, Venti calls Dan to tell them that news reports are covering Henry's death but has been named as the prime suspect. Before they can take the phone to the police, more goons show up to attack them, and the phone is destroyed by shotgun pellets. Dan escapes, but Colt is captured and knocked out. He is brought face-to-face with Tom, who has been instructed by Gail to hide out on a yacht. Tom tells Colt he has been framed by Gail as "the fall guy" for the crime, using deepfake technology to replace Tom's face with Colt's on the incriminating video. Tom also confesses that he was responsible for the safety harness accident, as he purposely caused him to fall and get injured as he felt he was stealing his thunder. Henry's body is discovered, and the altered video is released on news media, while Gail tries to convince Jody that Colt is guilty. Colt is drenched in fuel and to be set alight, but he manages to escape in a speed boat. When he gets the opportunity, Colt calls Jody wanting to explain himself and his feelings. But the goons catch up to him again, and he performs a jump through an explosion; he is presumed dead, but he managed to swim to safety. The next day, Tom arrives at the Metalstorm set with his goons and the production continues. Colt secretly returns to the set, disguised as an alien, and convinces Jody of his innocence. They are interrupted by Gail who comes to talk about Colt's presumed death. After she leaves, Colt and Jody plan to trick Tom into confessing to the murder while he is wearing a wired microphone, as he is often heard saying things unfiltered whilst miked. The crew gets ready for the biggest scene of the film, with Tom asked to perform a close-up monologue in a car. Colt reveals himself and begins to drive the car away, prompting Dressler and his goons to go after him. The rest of the crew hold off the goons long enough for Colt to confess to killing Henry and that Gail framed Colt with movie technology. Colt pulls off an epic jump across a canyon, resulting in Tom being knocked unconscious. Gail steals the recording at gunpoint and tries to escape in a helicopter with Tom. Jody helps Colt leap onto the helicopter in mid-air, he gets the recording back and falls onto a crash mat prepared below. Colt and Jody celebrate their victory with a kiss. Metalstorm eventually premieres at San Diego Comic-Con, with Jason Momoa (as himself) replacing Tom as the lead. It becomes a major blockbuster hit movie, Colt has been exonerated, and he and Jody are back together. Tom and Gail are revealed to have survived the helicopter crash, police officers (The Fall Guy original stars Lee Majors and Heather Thomas) arrive to arrest them, but Tom accidentally kills himself in an area with explosives. The end credits feature a montage of all the stunts performed in the film. Also starring Adam Dunn as Nigel, Ioane Saula as Birdie the PA, and Gregory J. Fryer as Rush McCabe. Gosling is tough but vulnerable, Blunt is feisty and sweet, they have great chemistry together, Waddingham has fun being a no-nonsense mogul, and Taylor-Johnson and Duke provide good support as well. Director Leitch was a former stunt double himself; stunt performers have been rather unappreciated over the years (there have been campaigns for there to be an Oscar to recognise their work), and this movie makes you realise what they go through. There is something of a romantic element, a funny murder mystery plot, criminal activities with twisty moments, and a witty script with lots of savvy dialogue. But for me, it was all about the explosive set pieces, the vehicles jumping, rolling, and crashing (setting a new Guinness World Record for eight and a half barrel rolls by a car, beating Casino Royale), and the general behind-the-scenes insight into the world of moviemaking, a most enjoyable action comedy. Very good!

Boy Kills World (2023)

Boy Kills World

[7/10 · 6 May 2024]

It was a combination of the cool title, the good people in the cast (especially the star of It who was also going to be The Crow), and the revenge plot that attracted me to this movie, and I was happy Mark Kermode and other critics' reviews were positive, so I couldn't wait to see it, produced by Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Evil Dead Rise). Basically, a young child known only as Boy (twins Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti) lives in a city with his mother (Rolanda Marais) and younger sister Mina (Quinn Copeland). Boy and Mina are best friends and often play arcade games together and draw illustrations of their future. The city is ruled by the Van Der Koy family, headed by the matriarch Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen), with siblings Gideon (Brett Gelman) and Melanie (Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery), along with Melanie's husband Glen (District 9's Sharlto Copley). Once every year, twelve people are gathered from the city by Hilda to participate in The Culling, an event where all twelve are killed on live television. In preparation, Hilda gathers Boy, Mina, and their mother and shoots Mina and their mother. Boy is spared, but he is tortured, having his tongue cut out and his ears charred by a hot poker. He is left for dead in the wilderness but is found by a mysterious Shaman (The Raid's Yayan Ruhian, voiced by François Chau) who nurses him back to health. He constantly trains with the Shaman in hand combat, sword skills, strength, and coordination until he is fully grown, in the hope of getting revenge against the Van Der Koys. Being mute and deaf, Boy (Bill Skarsgård) has forgotten the sound of his own voice, and imagines his inner monologue (H. Jon Benjamin) to be the voice from his favourite video game with Mina, Super Dragon Punch Force 3. Over the years, he has been constantly hallucinating Mina being by his side and speaking to him. While heading into the city to sell flowers, Boy sees Glen and Gideon arrive to round up the victims for that year's Culling. A woman (Frances Sholto-Douglas) in the crowd heckles Glen, he threatens to shoot her and accidentally shoots a random civilian. This causes a large fight with Boy watching, during which the Van Der Koy's enforcer, June 27 (Happy Death Day's Jessica Rothe), massacres many people, leaving only six alive who are captured by Gideon. Deciding to follow them, Boy hides in the boot of Gideon's car. Boy ends up at a warehouse and lip reads a conversation between Glen, Gideon, and Melanie. Then he is attacked by Glen and several of his men as Gideon leaves with Melanie. Boy brutally kills the men and befriends a captive named Basho (Bullet Train's Andrew Koji). Basho helps Boy interrogate Glen for information; he reveals that Hilda hosts a party before The Culling every year. Glen offers to help them, saying he wants to escape the family, but Basho accidentally crushes his head, dropping a bench press he is holding onto it. Basho takes Boy to meet the Resistance but discovers that everybody has been killed by the Van Der Koys. The only member remaining is Benny (It Chapter Two's Isaiah Mustafa), who Boy finds it difficult to lipread because of his thick beard. Boy, Basho, and Benny sneak into the manor, with Boy disguising himself as a member of catering. He makes his way into Hilda's dining room, where he decapitates her, only to realise she is a decoy, and the dinner is a rehearsal. Gideon orders June 27 to fight Boy, he nearly beats her but has a moment of weakness and is knocked out. Boy is tied up and Gideon gets ready to torture him, but he instead reveals that he wishes to help him. Gideon explains Hilda created The Culling to protect herself from the Shaman and has been living in a bunker for years; all the criminals have been killed years ago and many innocent people have been massacred during the annual Culling. Melanie takes Boy to The Culling, where there are several costumed performers, including one dressed as the pirate from his favourite childhood breakfast cereal. Hilda unexpectedly makes an appearance but ignores the script provided. She is forced off the stage by Melanie after she mistakenly spots the Shaman and nearly fires a gun. The Culling begins as Boy uses a scalpel given to him by Gideon in secret to free himself, reuniting with Basho and Benny who have sneaked in. Melanie furiously confronts Gideon in the control room and points a gun at his back. After killing most of the executioners, Boy is almost shot by Melanie, but Benny jumps in front of him, being shot and killed instead. Melanie shoots Basho but is knocked out by Boy. He waits for her to wake up before impaling her face with the camera dolly broadcasting live. Boy and a mortally wounded Basho go through the hallways leading to Hilda's bunker. Boy is so focused on killing the guards that he misses Basho dying from his wounds. Boy finds Gideon, who was shot by Melanie; he gives him a key card to the elevator down to the bunker. The hallucination of Mina begs Boy not to kill Gideon, but Boy does not listen and kills him, causing the hallucination to disappear. In the elevator, Hilda speaks to Boy through a camera/microphone, asking if what he's doing is worth it. When he shows Hilda a drawing drawn by Mina, she becomes horrified and orders the guards outside to stand down. June 27 takes Boy to Hilda in a large room, which has paintings of the Van Der Koy, which include him and Mina. It is revealed that Boy is Hilda's son and that the Shaman's entire family were killed in The Culling. Boy actively participated in killing dissidents, but he refused to shoot the Shaman which led to his escape. This incident led to Boy running away into the woods, he was found by the Shaman, who almost killed him, but instead muted and deafened him. Using LSD and psychological torture, the Shaman warped Boy's mind, making him believe that Hilda killed his family as he trained him to become a weapon. Boy has actually been murdering his real family while June 27 is revealed to be Mina, who is alive and has grown up. In shock, Boy cannot give Hilda any signs of affection and she orders June 27/Mina to kill him. But June 27 instead stabs Hilda in the head with one of her hatchets. Reuniting with his sister, Boy and June 27 make their way out of the bunker, violently killing the remaining guards who threaten them. The two enter the elevator but it suddenly descends, where they are met by the Shaman. He says he is proud of Boy, but orders him to kill June 27 as the last Van Der Koy. The three have a lengthy and brutal fight, where the Shaman and Boy are evenly matched, but the Shaman repeatedly gets the upper hand, nearly crushing June 27's head and slicing open Boy's forearms, wrists, and legs with his sharpened necklace. Despite his wounds, Boy manages to force the necklace back into the Shaman's neck, slitting his throat and killing him. Boy and June 27, both bleeding heavily, exit the bunker as they make their way to their new future. A flashback shows the two playing the arcade game, where the voice announces "Player 2 Has Entered the Game". Also starring Zainab Azizi as Melanie's Executive, and Ashley Dowds as Boy's Imaginary Father. Skarsgård's performance is all in his facial expressions and he is good, Copley, Dockery, and Gelman are all equally devious villains, Koji and Janssen are good support, Rothe is fine, Ruhian is suitably menacing, and I loved the inner voice by Benjamin. A mission of revenge by a martial artist against a criminal dynasty is an engaging story filled with mayhem, the fast-paced pace and style are well executed, and the over-the-top comic gore and violence are fantastic, an entertaining action comedy thriller. Very good!

Challengers (2024)

Challengers

[7/10 · 6 May 2024]

I know next to nothing about tennis, the only thing that gets my attention is the stupid grunting and screaming of players, but I don't mind watching a movie about it now and then, directed by Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash, Call Me by Your Name). Basically, (in linear order) in 2006, high school students and childhood best friends Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) win the boys' junior doubles title at the US Open. Afterwards, they meet up-and-coming talented young tennis prospect Tashi Duncan (Zendaya, also producing), and Patrick and Art are both attracted. The three of them meet in a hotel room, and in the ensuing encounter, the two boys kiss both Tashi and each other, but Tashi ends their passion before it escalates to sex. Patrick and Art are playing each other in the junior singles final the following day, and Tashi says she will give her phone number to whoever wins. Patrick wins the match and later hints to Art that he had sex with Tashi during a casual game they play together. Tashi and Art go on to play college tennis at Stanford University, while Patrick turns professional and begins a long-distance relationship with Tashi while on tour. Art has a private encounter with Tashi and suggests that Patrick doesn't really love her. When he visits Stanford, Patrick sees that Art is jealous, and playfully reassures him he cares for her. Patrick and Tashi fight when she gives him uninvited tennis advice during sex; he says he sees her as a peer, not his coach. In the match immediately after, which Patrick does not attend following the fight, Tashi suffers a severe knee injury. Patrick returns to comfort Tashi, but she is furious and demands him to leave, and Art sits beside her. Art helps Tashi through her recovery, but she is unsuccessful in resuming her tennis career. A few years later, in 2009, Tashi reconnects with Art and becomes his coach, and they begin a romantic relationship. He reveals that he and Patrick have not spoken since Tashi's injury. In 2011, Tashi and Art are now engaged, and Art's career is on the rise. Tashi and Patrick run into each other at the Atlanta Open, Art secretly notices them together, and they have a one-night stand. In 2019, Tashi and Art are a married, wealthy power couple with a young daughter Lily (A. J. Lister). Under Tashi's coaching, Art has become a top professional tennis player. He has been struggling after recovering from an injury and is one US Open title away from a Career Grand Slam. Tashi enters Art as a wild card in a Challenger event in New Rochelle, New York, in the hope he can boost his confidence and return to form by beating lower-level opponents. Patrick is now an unknown player living out of his car, scraping by on winnings from the lower circuits, and happens to also enter the New Rochelle event. Art and Patrick advance through their games until they find themselves facing each other in the final. The day before the match, Patrick tries to reconnect with Art while they are in a sauna together. But Art rejects Patrick, saying that his career is over and that he himself will be remembered in tennis history. Sensing that Tashi is unhappy with Art and that Art is tired of playing, Patrick secretly asks Tashi to coach him, but she rejects him. The night before the final, Art tells Tashi he plans to retire at the end of the season whether he wins the Open or not. He is aware that Tashi is vicariously living her tennis career through his success. She responds with silence, causing Art to beg for reassurance that she will still love him. She half-heartedly claims she accepts him quitting, but Art refuses to believe this. To motivate him, Tashi tells Art that if he loses to Patrick, she will leave him. Afterward, Tashi secretly meets with Patrick to ask him to throw the match to Art. Patrick reluctantly agrees, and then they have sex inside his car. On the day of the final, Tashi watches from the crowd as Art and Patrick play each other. Patrick wins the first set, and Art wins the second. During the match, they are agitated by each and are both penalised by the Umpire (Darnell Appling) for swearing and damaging rackets. As Art takes the lead late in the final game, Patrick begins to throw the match through double faults. However, Patrick stops short of losing and signals to Art that he and Tashi slept together. Stunned, Art allows Patrick to score until they are again tied. During the tie break, Art and Patrick furiously trade turns. The rally intensifies until both jump for a volley at the net. As Art begins to slam the ball, he collides with Patrick over the net, and the two tightly embrace. Tashi cheers from the stands but it is unclear who won the match. Also starring Nada Despotovich as Tashi's Mother, Naheem Garcia as Tashi's Father, Hailey Gates as Helen (Patrick's Date), Jake Jensen as Finn Larsen, and Bryan Doo as Art's Physiotherapist. Zendaya is terrific as the talented tennis player turned coach who is lusted after by the two blokes, and O'Connor as the successful player and Faist as the failed player give equally good performances battling against each other emotionally and physically for her affections. It is ultimately a love triangle with friendship, jealousy, and tennis at the forefront, it has a good fizzy script, it cleverly goes backwards and forwards in time to flesh out the relationships, and the tennis games (with camera shots from beneath the court and on the ball and rackets) are fast-paced and genuinely exciting, so it all adds up to a worthwhile romantic sports drama. Very good!

Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (1993 TV Movie)

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman

[2/10 · 27 April 2024]

The original 1958 cult classic is a silly movie, I didn't have high hopes for this made-for-TV remake either, directed by Christopher Guest (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind). Basically, Nancy Archer (Daryl Hannah) is a wealthy socialite who inherited her fortune from her late mother, and her father Hamilton Cobb (William Windom) hopes to use the money to gain control over their town. Nancy has been seeing psychiatrist Dr. Theodora Cushing (Titanic's Frances Fisher) to talk about her low self-esteem and bad marriage with her husband Harry (Stephen Baldwin). She is unaware he is having an affair with town beautician Louise "Honey" Parker (Batman Returns' Cristi Conaway), and together they discuss plans to steal the family's business away from Nancy's father. Despite her attempts to confront Harry, Nancy cannot healthily express her anger, allowing both her husband and father to take advantage of her. Nancy is driving in the desert at night when she sees a UFO that crash-lands on the deserted highway in front of her, causing her to veer off the road. After driving away, she decides to keep it to herself, concerned she will not be believed. Eventually, she tells Harry about what she saw and convinces him to accompany her to drive back to the desert and find the flying saucer. They drive around for some time with no hope, but then as night falls, Nancy is excited when the spaceship appears, and she is proven right. Getting out of the car to investigate, Nancy is trapped by a bright light. Harry runs away and Nancy disappears along with the UFO. Returning to town, Harry does not report what happened to the local authorities, Sheriff Denby (O'Neal Compton) and Deputy Charlotte "Charlie" Spooner (Victoria Haas). A dazed Nancy is later found on the roof of Honey's salon and is brought home. Hamilton is suspicious that Harry left her out in the desert, but he denies any wrongdoing. Harry accuses Hamilton of neglecting his own wife after she was locked away at an institution, which he ironically considered for Nancy after she told him about the UFO. As the two men argue, Nancy loses her temper, shouting that she can speak for herself and her mother. Suddenly, she starts growing to a gigantic size, her clothes are torn and her head smashes through the ceiling into the attic. The next morning, Nancy has been taken to a large stable. Specialist scientist Dr. Victor Loeb (Paul Benedict) is brought to observe Nancy, he deduces that a hormonal surge caused her growth. Nancy is scared and wants to find a cure, but the doctors have no idea how to treat their giant patient. Dr. Loeb tells Harry he is convinced that her increased size and anything that could cause stress is too dangerous. As she grows, Nancy becomes more self-confident and strong-willed, and she invites Harry to dinner to discuss the situation. Nancy believes her growth can make their marriage stronger. But Harry, who intends to get rid of her, speculates that stress will overload her heart and blood pressure and kill her, leaving the family business and its money to him. Harry pretends to be angered by Nancy's suggestions and reveals his affair with Honey and being with other women. He deliberately insults and angers her so much that she faints from the stress, and she falls, crashing into the stable. Believing she is dead, Harry goes to see Honey to celebrate, offering her Nancy's diamond necklace. But Nancy wakes up and walks through the town searching for Harry. She passes a drive-through cinema showing a classic movie (the original Attack of the 50 Foot Woman). Finding Honey and Harry, she grabs Honey but decides to spare her. Harry hides under a desk in fear and tries to crawl away. But Nancy, seeking revenge for his infidelity, follows him to his car. Capturing Harry, she flees into the desert with National Guard helicopters pursuing her. Stopping next to a high-voltage power mast, she is confronted by her father, the authorities, and Dr. Cushing. She asserts herself and tells everyone she knows her father's ambitions to buy out the town using her money. The sheriff tries to speak to the sniper in the helicopter, causing a miscommunication. The sniper shoots Nancy, directly hitting her, and she falls into the power cables, but she is rescued and taken away, along with Harry, in the UFO. As people gathered walk away, Honey and Hamilton decide to make a business agreement. Dr. Cushing remarks that "She finally got Harry all to herself". Inside the UFO, Harry is forced to undergo therapy with two other men, watched over by the giant Nancy and two other giantesses (Berta Waagfjord and Kye Benson), and the spaceship flies away into the night. Also starring Lewis Arquette as Mr. Ingersol, Xander Berkeley as Second Man, and Hamilton Camp as Prospector Eddie. Hannah is reasonable as the unhappy wife growing into a confident vengeful woman, Baldwin is lame as the unfaithful husband, and although she tries Fisher cannot be taken seriously. This is just as laughably terrible as the original film, in terms of some of the script of silly dialogue and half-hearted direction by Guest. On the positive side, the plot involving female empowerment is interesting enough, and the special effects, especially the UFO and Hannah looking oversized, sexy, and stomping through the streets is much better, overall though, it is a pointless, silly science-fiction comedy horror. Pretty poor!

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman

[2/10 · 27 April 2024]

I remember when I was a kid seeing the poster for this classic 50s movie on the wall in a KFC restaurant in Basingstoke loads of times, I knew I was going to watch it one day, so I did when I got the opportunity, directed by Nathan Juran (as Nathan Hertz) (20 Million Miles to Earth, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, First Men in the Moon). Basically, on KRKR-TV, an announcer (Dale Tate) reports sightings of a red fireball around the world. It has been calculated to be on a path to land in California. Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes) is a troubled wealthy socialite with a history of mental issues and alcoholism. She is unhappily married to Harry (William Hudson) who is having an affair with town floozy Honey Parker (Yvette Vickers). He pretends to be a good husband but hopes that Nancy will have a mental breakdown and return to an institute, leaving him in control of her $50 million estate. Nancy is driving in the desert at night when a glowing sphere satellite crash-lands on the deserted highway in front of her. After veering off the road, she gets out of the car to investigate the object, and a large creature's hand reaches for her. Nancy escapes and runs back to town, but she does not make sense, and nobody believes her because of her drinking problem and previously being in an institution. Nancy bargains with Harry, asking him to go back to the desert to find the "flying satellite", agreeing to a voluntary return to the institution if they find nothing. They drive around for some time with no hope, but then as night falls, Nancy is excited when the object appears, and she is proven right. A giant bald human (Michael Ross) emerges from the spacecraft. Harry fires his gun at the alien creature, but it causes it no harm. Harry flees, leaving Nancy behind. She is later discovered on the roof of her pool house in a delirious state. She is sedated by physician Dr. Isaac Cushing (Roy Gordon). The doctor mentions scratches found on Nancy's neck and theorises that she was exposed to radiation. Honey encourages Harry to inject Nancy with a lethal dose of her sedative to kill her. Returning home, Nancy's faithful butler Jess Stout (Ken Terrell) realises Harry's intentions and they fight, but Harry overpowers him and knocks him unconscious. When Harry enters Nancy's bedroom, he discovers that she has grown to a giant size. Like the earlier close encounter, only her enormous hand is seen as Harry reacts in horror. Dr. Cushing and specialist scientist Dr. Heinrich Von Loeb (Otto Waldis) have no idea how to treat their giant patient. They keep her in a morphine-induced coma and restrain her with chains while waiting for the authorities to arrive. Sheriff Dubbitt (George Douglas) and Jess decide to find the alien spacecraft themselves, tracking enormous footprints leading away from the estate. Finding the alien satellite, they find Nancy's diamond necklace (containing the largest diamond in the world) and other large diamonds. They speculate that the jewels are being used as a power source for the alien ship. The giant man reappears, and the sheriff and Jess flee, but it re-enters the craft and departs Earth. Meanwhile, Nancy wakes up and breaks free of her restraints. She tears off the mansion roof and, clothed bed linens arranged like a bikini, she heads to town to get revenge on her unfaithful husband. Reaching the local bar, she rips off the roof and Honey is killed during the collapse. Harry panics, grabbing the pistol of Deputy Charlie (Frank Chase) and shooting at Nancy. The gunshots are ineffective, and Nancy picks up Harry and walks away. As she is standing by a power mast, the sheriff fires a shotgun at her, causing the mast to explode, killing Nancy. The doctors find Harry lying dead in Nancy's hand. One of them remarks "She finally got Harry all to herself". Also starring Eileen Stevens as Nurse, Michael Ross as Tony the Bartender, and Nelson Leigh as Carl Duey. This is one of those low-budget independent movies you wonder why the filmmakers bothered making. The special effects are laughably terrible, from the faded attempts to make Hayes and the bald bloke look like giants, to the cheap large rubber hands; the crashing noises and camera shaking are not convincing either. Only some close-ups of power masts and hotel fronts are sort of charming, and the score by Ronald Stein is not bad, but the acting is lame and the narrative is absurd. The over-sized voluptuous woman going on a mad rampage must have been a bit of a turn-on back in the day, but it's hardly worth watching, and the Daryl Hannah TV remake is just as pointless, a silly cult science-fiction horror. Pretty poor!

Abigail (2024)

Abigail

[7/10 · 27 April 2024]

From the trailers I'd seen, this looked like a fun tongue-in-cheek scary movie, descriptions online described it as a reimagining of Dracula's Daughter, featuring a vampire ballerina it certainly got my attention, from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Ready or Not, Scream VI). Basically, Abigail (Matilda: The Musical's Alisha Weir) is the young ballet dancer daughter of a powerful underworld figure in New York City. Six criminals capture Abigail and bring her to a secluded mansion upstate. Shady but well-dressed ring-leader Lambert (Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito) tells the group they are not to use real names or disclose personal details. He gives them aliases derived from the Rat Pack: Joey (Scream VI's Melissa Barrera) is a former Army medic and recovering drug addict, backup leader Frank (Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens) is a former NYPD detective, Sammy (Freaky's Kathryn Newton) is a bratty electronics hacker, Dean (Angus Cloud, posthumous) is a drug-addicted sociopathic driver, Rickles (William Catlett) is a former Marine sniper, and Peter (Kevin Durand) is a dim-witted Canadian mob enforcer. They have kidnapped Abigail for ransom, demanding $50 million from her father, and they have twenty-four hours to keep her safe. Joey, the only person allowed in the room upstairs, is tasked to watch over her. Joey breaks a rule and reveals to a scared Abigail that she has a son. When Joey leaves, Abigail says she is sorry about what will happen to them all during the night. Downstairs, the group pays Joey who reveals what she knows about their backgrounds. Dean unsuccessfully flirts with Sammy and goes into the basement to investigate noises. Sammy hears him screaming as he is dragged away by an unseen assailant. She investigates only to find Dean's headless corpse. Petrified by this, Frank inadvertently enters her room without a mask and demands to know who Abigail's father is. It turns out her father is feared powerful crime lord Kristof Lazar who has a reputation for brutally killing those who cross him. When Rickles decides to drop out and tries to leave, the house security system activates, and they are trapped inside. While they try to find a way out, Rickles is mauled to death. Joey intervenes when Frank tells Peter to kill Abigail. During the altercation, Abigail suddenly transforms into a vampire, causing the group to flee in terror. The group has seen that gunshots are useless and they discuss how to kill a vampire, with mentions of stakes, garlic, crosses, holy water, and sunlight. Frank, Peter, and Sammy find Abigail dancing with Dean's body and have found garlic, formed stakes, and crosses, but defending themselves with these proves unsuccessful. Regrouping again, Joey says that the tranquiliser used when kidnapping Abigail was effective. Fighting against Abigail, they manage to corner and tranquilise her, but not before she bites Sammy on the arm. Abigail wakes as the group has locked her in an elevator. She reveals she knows all their real identities and that Lambert set them up because they have all previously wronged Kristof. Joey deduces Abigail has been eliminating her father's enemies in an attempt to win his love. They leave Frank to watch over her, and she tries bargaining with him to release her in exchange for finding the way out and letting him live. But Abigail easily breaks out of the makeshift cage and starts strangling him. Joey uncovers planks from a window and exposes Abigail to the sunlight, which turns out to be her only weakness. With only hours left before nightfall, the group splits up to find a way out. However, Sammy suddenly turns into a vampire under Abigail's control and feeds on Peter before killing him. Abigail then controls Sammy to attack Frank and Joey, forcing Joey to destroy Sammy with reflected sunlight. Hoping to deactivate the security systems, Joey and Frank find the mansion's control room. They run into Lambert, who is revealed as a vampire. He explains that Abigail turned him into a vampire for betraying her father. Lambert offers to turn Frank into a vampire in order to kill Abigail, and he accepts. But after being turned, Frank kills Lambert with a stake. He then overpowers Abigail before drinking her blood, enhancing his new abilities. Frank then bites Joey, intending to control her after she turns. But Abigail rescues Joey and the two team up to fight against Frank. Eventually, they manage to stake the inexperienced Frank, and his death means Joey is freed from the vampire's curse. Before she can leave, Abigail's father (Matthew Goode) arrives and threatens her. Abigail manages to stand up to her father and reveals that Joey saved her life. He relents and, with the security systems deactivated, Joey is allowed to leave. Joy gets into the car and intends to reunite with her son, and she treats herself to a lollipop. Barrera as the reluctant gang member, Stevens as the wise-cracking sweary ex-cop, Newton as the whiny crook, and Durand as the unintelligent beefy guy are all good, and Weir stands out as the devious child blood-sucking monster. There are funny one-liners (Abigail saying "What can I say? I like playing with my food.") and the constant foul language adds to the humour, it cleverly mocks and celebrates all vampire legends, and the over-the-top gore is comical, a satisfactory vampire horror comedy. Very good!

Mothers' Instinct (2024)

Mothers' Instinct

[5/10 · 26 April 2024]

I watched the trailer for this film a couple of times in the cinema, I didn't realise it was a remake of a Belgian film, which I was unable to find to watch before; Mark Kermode gave this film a relatively positive review while the Radio Times which gave it 2 out of 5, I decided to watch it and make my own mind up. Basically, set in the 1960s, in the American suburbs, Alice (Jessica Chastain, also producing) and Celine (Anne Hathaway, also producing) are next-door neighbours and mothers with sons of a similar age. Alice and Celine's friends and family stage a surprise birthday party for her. There are tensions between Alice and her husband Simon (Anders Danielsen Lie) during the party, and that night, she tells him she wants to go back to work as a journalist. She also suggests that they should have another child together; Celine cannot have any more children. The next day, Celine's son Max (Baylen D. Bielitz) is unwell and stays home from school. Alice is pruning the roses in the garden when she sees Max in a precarious position on the balustrade of the upper balcony trying to reach a birdhouse. Alice tries to crawl through the hedge but is forced to run around it to alert Celine of the danger. Alice runs upstairs, but neither she nor Celine get there quick enough, and Max falls off the balcony to his death. Alice feels guilty for not saving Max, and Celine appears to be distancing herself from her, perhaps blaming her for the accident. Alice notices Celine growing closer to her son Theo (Eamon Patrick O'Connell), who feels lost without his friend to play with. Alice finds solace in spending time with Theo, while her husband Damien (Josh Charles) has become depressed. At Max's funeral, Theo notices his treasured bunny rabbit toy has been placed in Max's coffin and lashes out. Celine apologises to Theo for taking the toy, and although she returns it, Alice has suspicions about her actions. A month later, Celine returns from an unknown location (possibly a mental hospital) and reconciles with Alice. Theo grows even closer to Celine. One day, Alice panics when she sees Theo on the same balcony next-door but manages to crawl through the hedge. Celine appears up there with him but is confused by Alice's reaction, and Alice is shocked and angered by her calmness. The following day, Alice questions Celine if she was testing her, but Celine makes her feel guilty for insinuating this. Theo has become so close to Celine that he invites her to his birthday party, much to Alice's disdain. The party goes normally, but Simon's mother Jean (Caroline Lagerfelt) talks to Celine, suggesting she should avoid anything that might remind her of Max. When Jean next visits, she suddenly collapses and dies of a heart attack. Paranoid that Celine was present at the time of death, she requests an autopsy from Dr. Wallace (Alexander Blaise), without Damien's knowledge. The autopsy reveals that there was no heart medication in Jean's system. Alice suspects that Celine tampered with Jean's medication but cannot find proof. Alice's suspicions increase when Theo is taken to hospital after a severe allergic reaction at Celine's house. Alice believes that Celine deliberately encouraged Theo to eat cookies, which he is allergic to. When Alice sees Celine leaving her house, she decides to sneak in to try to find evidence of her tampering with the drugs, but Celine catches her and orders her to leave. Alice tells Simon about everything she has noticed and mentions the autopsy without his permission. But Alice has had mental issues in the past, Simon is convinced that these issues are resurfacing, he does not believe her and suggests she should see a psychiatrist. Alice tells Simon that she wants to move away, after everything that has happened surrounding Celine. But Theo threatens to take his own life in response to their arguing and they try to reconcile as Alice admits she must be imagining things. However, later that night, Celine is seen killing her own husband, sedating him with chloroform, and slicing his wrist, making it look like a suicide. Despite the tension between them, Alice and Simon allow a seemingly distraught Celine to stay with them. Alice and Celine appear to reconcile talking things through. But when Alice decides to go next door to gather Celine's belongings, Celine sedates Simon and Theo. Alice finds evidence of Celine's twisted motives, including the chloroform, and races back. She and Celine fight, with Celine overpowering Alice and sedating her. Alice and Simon are killed when Celine disconnects a boiler to make it look like an accidental gas leak. She avoids the gas herself and spares Theo by barricading herself in his bedroom with the window open. In the end, Celine adopts Theo, and the two are happy together spending a fay at the beach. Also starring T. L. Flint as Officer, Steve Routman as Medical Examiner, Joel Nagle as Attorney, Scott Robertson as Judge, and Larry Petersen as Pastor. Chastain as the highly paranoid neighbour and Hathaway as the obsessive woman with a warped mind both give credible performances, I can see the comparison to a Hitchcockian psychodrama, with emotions running high and the "potboiler" plot building up with paranoia, anxiety and silent hatred increasing between the two women, I agree it gets a bit too ludicrous by the end, but you cannot help but want to know where it is going, and the costumes and period detail is terrific, it is a glossy and tense enough psychological thriller. Worth watching!

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Judgment at Nuremberg

[8/10 · 22 April 2024]

This film was listed numerous times in the IMDb Top 250 movies, and it has a great ensemble cast, I was hoping it would be a long film I wouldn't get bored by, produced and directed by Golden Globe winning, and Oscar nominated Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner). Basically, in 1948, Nuremberg, Germany, a military tribunal is taking place, where four German judges and prosecutors stand accused of crimes against humanity for their involvement in atrocities committed under the Nazi regime. The tribunal is overseen by Chief Judge Dan Haywood (Oscar nominated Spencer Tracy) with a -judge panel of Allied jurists who will hear and decide the case against the defendants. Haywood is most interested in respected jurist and legal scholar Dr. Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster) and learning how he could have committed the atrocities he is accused of, including sentencing innocent people to death. Haywood wants to understand how German citizens could have possibly been unaware of or ignored the Nazi regime's crimes. During the tribunal, he befriends Mrs. Bertholt (Marlene Dietrich), the widow of a Nazi army officer executed by the Allies. He talks with other Germans who have different perspectives on the Second World War. US Army Captain Harrison Byers (William Shatner) is assigned to assist the American judges hearing the case. A reluctant witness of the atrocities is Irene Hoffmann (Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Judy Garland), who is afraid to provide testimony that may strengthen the prosecution's case against the judges. Rudolph Petersen (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Montgomery Clift also testifies that his parents were Communists and suffered in the concentration camps. German defence attorney Hans Rolfe (Oscar and Golden Globe winning, and BAFTA nominated Maximilian Schell) argues that the defendants were not the only ones to aid or ignore the Nazi regime. He claims the United States has committed acts just as bad or worse than the Nazis, including the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 which removed the last major obstacle allowing Germany to invade and occupy Poland, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Meanwhile, Janning refuses to testify or participate, keeping quiet for the majority. But as the proceeding becomes more and more intolerable to him, he dramatically breaks his silence. He chooses to testify before the Tribunal as a witness for the prosecution, admitting he is guilty of condemning to death a Jewish man on charges of having a sixteen-year-old girl when he knew there was no evidence to support such a verdict. Janning explains that well-meaning people such as him helped Adolf Hitler's antisemitic, racist policies out of patriotism despite being aware it was wrong and that all of Germany is partly responsible for the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. Haywood must weigh and consider many elements against his own ideals of justice. The trial is set against the background of the Berlin Blockade, and there is pressure to give the German defendants a lighter sentence to gain German support in the growing Cold War against the Soviet Union. While the four defendants maintain their pleas of "not guilty" in their closing statements, Janning and fellow defendant, Werner Lampe (Torben Meyer), show clear remorse for their actions. The third defendant, Friedrich Hofstetter (Martin Brandt), claims he had no choice but to follow the laws of Hitler's government. Only the fourth defendant, Emil Hahn (Werner Klemperer), shows no remorse for his actions, saying that the Americans live to regret not allying with the Nazis against the Soviet Union. Ultimately, Haywood cannot ignore their wrongful actions and all four defendants are found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Haywood visits Janning in his cell. Janning agrees with Haywood that his verdict was correct, but asks him to believe that, regarding the mass murder of innocents, he never knew that it would come to that. Judge Haywood replies it came to that the first time Janning condemned a man he knew to be innocent. An epilogue details that 99 defendants were sentenced to prison during the Nuremberg trials, and that (in 1961) none of them are serving their sentence. Also starring Richard Widmark as Colonel Tad Lawson, Edward Binns as Senator Burkette, Kenneth MacKenna as Judge Kenneth Norris, Joseph Bernard as Major Abe Radnitz, Alan Baxter as Brigadier General Matt Merrin, Virginia Christine as Mrs. Halbestadt, The Sword in the Stone's Karl Swenson as Dr. Heinrich Geuter, Ray Teal as Judge Curtiss Ives, and Ben Wright as Halbestadt. Tracy as the leading judge, Lancaster as the intellectual, Schell as the determined defence attorney, and the cameos of Garland and Clift as victims all give fantastic performances. I thought it being three hours I would likely fall asleep (or watching on DVD I'd have to rewind it), but the script is brilliantly engaging, the direction by Kramer is terrific, and the all-star cast is superb. I wasn't expecting footage included of the thousands of bodies from the holocaust, it is horrendous but powerful, I can see why it is considered the Schindler's List of its day, a must-see epic historical courtroom drama. It won the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Abby Mann, and it nominated for Best Picture for Stanley Kramer, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, and Best Film Editing, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film from any Source, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama, and Best Film Promoting International Understanding. Very good!

Howards End (1992)

Howards End

[7/10 · 21 April 2024]

I had heard the title of this film a number of times, I didn't know what it was about, only some of the acting talent in it, so I hoped it would be worthwhile, based on the book by E. M. Forster, directed by Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated James Ivory (A Room with a View, The Remains of the Day). Basically, set in Edwardian Britain, whilst staying at the country home, Howards End, owned by the Wilcox family, Helen Schlegel (BAFTA nominated Helena Bonham Carter) becomes engaged to Paul Wilcox (Joseph Bennett) during a moment of passion. While the Schlegels are a family of middle-class Anglo-German intellectuals, the Wilcoxes are conservative and wealthy. Helen and Paul quickly decide against the engagement, but she has already sent a telegram to her sister Margaret (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe winning Emma Thompson) informing her. This causes an uproar after Helen and Margaret's Aunt Juley (Fawlty Towers' Prunella Scales) arrives and causes a scene. In London months later, the Wilcoxes take a flat across the street from the Schlegels. Margaret resumes her acquaintance with Ruth Wilcox (Oscar nominated Vanessa Redgrave), the wife of the hard-headed businessman Henry (Anthony Hopkins), the head of the family. It is through Ruth's family background that the Wilcoxes have come to own her beloved Howards End. Margaret and Ruth become close friends, but Ruth's health declines, and unknown to Margaret, she changes her will. Following Ruth's death, Margaret has been bequeathed Howards End, but the Wilcoxes refuse to believe Ruth would leave the house to a relative stranger and burn her written bequest. Henry becomes attracted to Margaret and helps her to find a new home. Henry eventually proposes marriage and Margaret accepts. The Schlegels befriend self-improving young clerk Leonard Bast (BAFTA nominated Samuel West, son of Prunella Scales and Timothy West), who lives with Jacky (Nicola Duffett), a woman of dubious origins. Henry realises that the insurance company Leonard works for is heading for bankruptcy, and the sisters pass on his advice. Leonard quits, settling for a much lower-paying job. But Helen is angered when Henry's advice turns out to be wrong, Leonard's employer was fine, but he will not reemploy him. Months later, Henry and Margaret host the wedding of his daughter Evie (Jemma Redgrave, Vanessa's niece) at his Shropshire estate. Margaret is shocked when Helen arrives with Leonard and Jacky who have become poor. Considering Henry responsible for this, Helen demands his help, but Jacky drunkenly exposes Henry as her former lover from years ago. Henry is ashamed to be revealed as an adulterer, but Margaret forgives him and agrees to send the Basts away. Helen is upset with Margaret marrying a man she hates and leaves for Germany. Before leaving, she gives in to her attraction for Leonard and they have sex on a boating trip. Fearing the Basts will remain poor, Helen asks her brother Tibby (Adrian Ross Magenty) to give them over £5000 of her own money, but Leonard does not cash the cheque out of pride. Margaret and Henry get married, arranging to use Howards End as storage for the belongings of Margaret and her siblings. Margaret becomes concerned, after only hearing from Helen for months through postcards. Helen returns to England when Aunt Juley falls ill but avoids seeing her family. Believing Helen is mentally unstable, Margaret lures her to Howards End to collect her belongings. Margaret arrives with Henry and a Doctor (Peter Darling), and it is revealed that Helen is pregnant. Insisting on returning to Germany to raise her baby alone, Helen asks to stay the night at Howards End but Henry refuses, leading to an argument with Margaret. The next day, Leonard is still unhappy in poverty with Jacky; they travel to Howards End to visit the Schlegel sisters. They arrive to find Helen, Margaret, and Henry's beastly eldest son, Charles (James Wilby). Realising Leonard is the father of the baby, Charles assaults him for "dishonouring" Helen. This causes a bookcase to collapse on Leonard, who dies of a heart attack. Margaret tells Henry that she is leaving him to help Helen raise her baby. Henry breaks down, telling her he will be charged with manslaughter for Charles's death. A year later, Paul, Evie, and Charles's wife, Dolly (Susie Lindeman), gather at Howards End. Henry and Margaret are still together, living with Helen and her young son. Henry tells the others that when he dies, Margaret will inherit Howards End and leave it to her nephew. But Margaret does not want any of Henry's money and intends to split it among his children. She overhears Dolly pointing out the irony of Margaret inheriting the house, revealing Ruth's dying wish to leave it to her. Henry tells Margaret he did what he thought was right, but she says nothing. Also starring Jo Kendall as Annie, Mark Payton as Percy Cahill, Barbara Hicks as Miss Avery, Crispin Bonham Carter (Helena's cousin) as Albert Fussell, and Simon Callow as the Music and Meaning Lecturer. Thompson, Carter, Hopkins, West, Scales and Redgrave all give terrific performances, I will be honest in saying that I couldn't understand everything going on in terms of the estate ownership and the relationships between characters, I just enjoyed the performances, the historical detail, and the costumes, it is a pleasant period romantic drama. It won the Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, and it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score for Richard Robbins, it won the BAFTA for Best Film, and it was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Make Up Artist, and Best Production Design, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama, and Best Screenplay. Very good!

Civil War (2024)

Civil War

[8/10 · 21 April 2024]

There were plenty of reasons I was looking forward to seeing this film, it had a good ensemble cast, it was made by independent studio A24, and it was written and directed by Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later, Ex Machina, Annihilation). Basically, in a non-specific dystopian future, tensions between an authoritarian United States government and various regional factions have caused a civil war to break out across America. The FBI has been disbanded, and the President of the United States (Nick Offerman) is serving his third term. In Brooklyn, civilians and military personnel are battling each other, and renowned war photographer Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) is there to capture the images. During a suicide bombing, she saves the life of young aspiring photojournalist Jessie (Priscilla's Cailee Spaeny). Following a presidential announcement on television, with the President claiming that victory is close at hand, Lee and her colleague Joel (Wagner Moura) have a discussion. Wanting to get to the truth, Lee wants to travel to Washington, D. C., to interview and photograph the president before the city falls. Lee's mentor Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) asks to accompany them as far as Charlottesville, where the "WF" (Western Forces) of Texas and California are gathering. Jessie joins them and hears about their intentions. Lee is hesitant when Jessie convinces Joel to take her with them as well. After leaving the city, the group drives on several empty roads, with many abandoned vehicles en route. They stop at a rural gas station for fuel, with three armed men guarding it. Lee successfully negotiates to buy fuel with Canadian dollars. Meanwhile, Jessie wanders off to a nearby car wash and finds two men chained upside down. One of the men following her claims they are being tortured because they are looters. Lee defuses the situation by asking the man to pose for a photograph with his victims. After leaving, Jessie puts herself down for being too scared to take photos. The group stops outside a combat zone overnight, where gunfire and gunshots can be seen and overheard. They document the combat the next day as there is a military assault on a building held by loyalists. Jessie shows potential as a war photographer capturing some great images as the military opens fire and captures loyalist soldiers. Continuing their journey, the group spend the night at a refugee camp, a sporting stadium overtaken by hundreds of people camping and avoiding the warfare. Jessie asks Lee about her history as a photographer in warzones; rather than what she has read about her in articles she wants to get her point of view. They next pass through a small town where life appears civilised and peaceful. They visit a local shop where Jessie encourages Lee to try on some clothes and they grow closer. The shop assistant (Melissa Saint-Amand) explains that the townspeople live in blissful ignorance of the war. However, before leaving, they witness that there are guards on the rooftops. Later, they are about to pass through the remains of a Christmas fair. They are fired at by a sniper from a large estate house in the distance, and a sniper (Karl Glusman) and his spotter (Karl Glusman) are hiding behind the fair structures to locate and kill the unseen shooter. The snipers mock Joel's attempts to see which side they are fighting for or against, they only tell him that they are simply engaged in a struggle for survival. After the snipers kill the shooter, Lee sees Jessie's nerve building and her photography skills improving as she witnesses several deaths. Jessie develops a mentorship under Lee; she asks if Lee would photograph her if she was killed, and Lee implies she might. While driving, the foursome encounters a vehicle coming up fast behind them, revealed to be two other reporters Joel knows, Tony (Nelson Lee) and Bohai (Evan Lai). Tony and Jessie playfully switch vehicles, only for Bohai and Jessie to disappear. The rest of the group searches for the vehicle and finds Bohai and Jessie have been captured by militants who are dumping civilian corpses in a large open grave. After Bohai is killed, Lee and Joel try to intervene with the xenophobic ultranationalist militant (Jesse Plemons, Dunst's husband), who questions where each of them is from. The unnamed soldier is satisfied with Jessie being from Missouri and Joel being from Florida, but he kills Tony when he says Hong Kong. Sammy saves the group by running over the soldier and his cohort, killing them both. A third militant fires at their vehicle as they escape. Joel and Jessie are panicked, and they all realise that Sammy has been fatally wounded. Sammy dies from his injuries after they arrive at the Western Forces military camp in Charlottesville. The group grieves in different ways; Lee takes a photo of Sammy's dead body but deletes it shortly after. Joel gets drunk and begins to become hysterical. Jessie floats around the campsite. Two fellow reporters inform the group that defenders outside the White House have mostly surrendered, leaving Washington largely unprotected. They follow the WF as Jessie's photography becomes increasingly risky. Lee suffers a brief post-traumatic stress disorder episode enroute and cannot take any pictures. In the besieged capital, the president's limousine and its escort unsuccessfully try to leave the grounds of the White House. But Lee determines that the President is still in the building and leads her group inside. The WF follows and battles against the remaining Secret Service agents. In the White House and during the ensuing shootout, trying to get a photo, Jessie exposes herself to gunfire. When she is about to be shot in the crossfire, Lee pushes Jessie to safety and she is killed. Jessie is tearful but photographs her mentor's corpse. The WF soldiers capture the President in the Oval Office. Joel tells them to stop so that he can get a quote. The President begs Joel for mercy, "Please, don't let them kill me". Satisfied to get a statement, Joel steps back as the President is executed. Jessie takes a photo of the smiling WF soldiers posing with the President's corpse. Also starring Sonoya Mizuno as British reporter Anya, and Jefferson White as cameraman Dave. Dunst gives a splendid performance as the photojournalist, Spaeny is not bad as the young wannabe photographer taken under her wing, Moura does well, Henderson is likeable, and Plemons with his few minutes onscreen steals the show as the terrifying prejudiced soldier. This is an ambitious film that is somewhere between 28 Days Later and the final scenes of Full Metal Jacket, it is between political and apolitical (neutral) in its approach to a war-torn America, not anti-Trump or anti-woke, for all political persuasions. It never reveals or explains what states are at war with each other, whose side to be on, and who committed what atrocities seen or mentioned only that the President has essentially become the enemy, which makes it clever in its design and script. The first half is more about character development and establishing the wartime scenario, it is by the building invasion and the Plemons scene that it properly kicks in and becomes the uncertain tense thrill ride it should be, overall, it is a fantastically executed and engaging dystopian war thriller. Very good!

Annihilation (I) (2018)

Annihilation

[6/10 · 18 April 2024]

I heard a lot about this film a couple of years after it came out, although it never got a cinema release, made by Netflix and going straight onto the streaming service, I was looking forward to watching it, written and directed by Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later, Ex Machina, Men). Starring, cellular biology professor and former U. S. Army soldier Lena (Natalie Portman) is being interrogated by a security force, led by Lomax (Benedict Wong). She was the only person to return from an expedition to a mysterious zone called "Shimmer", where the laws of nature don't apply. The Shimmer emerged three years prior from a meteor that landed in the St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, and it has gradually expanded and increased its boundaries. Many expeditions of exploration were organised, Lena's husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) was away for a year before returning home from one of them. Kane cannot explain where he was and how he came back, and his condition quickly deteriorates. Lena calls an ambulance, but government agents sedate them and take them to a secret facility. While Kane is put in intensive care, psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is preparing a new secret scientific expedition into the Shimmer. She will be joined by physicist Josie Radek (Thor: Ragnarok's Tessa Thompson), anthropologist Cassie "Cass" Sheppard (Tuva Novotny), and paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez). Wanting answers to Kane's condition and not revealing she is married to him, Lena volunteers to accompany them as well. In the Shimmer, the landscape and objects are slightly altered, communication equipment does not function, and there are several unusually mutated plants and animals. Josie is attacked by an albino alligator with several concentric rows of teeth. The group finds an abandoned military base and a video message from Kane's expedition. The footage shows Kane cutting open another soldier's abdomen with a knife to reveal slithering intestines. The group finds the corpse of this soldier, which has turned into overgrown lichen, a combination of a fungus and an alga. During the night, Lena and Ventress are on watch and reflect on humanity's strange instinct to destabilise and destroy itself. After Cassie joins the watch, the base is attacked by a mutant bear, and she is dragged away. Her mutilated corpse is found later by Lena. The group finds an abandoned village and several plants that have taken on a humanoid form. Josie theorises that the Shimmer is a prism, distorting and transforming everything that enters it, and the explorers themselves may have their DNA altered also. Anya is highly paranoid after seeing her fingerprints change; she takes the weapons of the other team members and ties them up. Anya accuses Lena of murdering Cassie, but then the mutant bear returns. Anya is lured away by the bear which emits a cry for help in Cassie's voice. Anya is killed by the bear, while Josie frees herself and then kills it. Ventress leaves the group and heads for the lighthouse at the centre of the Shimmer. Josie believes Cassie's dying mind was "refracted" into the bear, saying that all that remained of Cassie was her fear and suffering when being killed. Not wanting to suffer a similar fate, she allows herself to succumb to the influence of the Shimmer and is "refracted" to become a humanoid plant. Lena follows Ventress to the lighthouse, where she discovers the remains of Kane. She also finds a videotape with footage of Kane speaking to Lena with the instruction to find her. In the footage, after Kane kills himself with a chemical explosive, a doppelgänger of Kane steps into the frame. Within the hole created by the meteor, Lena finds Ventress, who explains that the Shimmer will eventually swallow everything. Ventress then disintegrates into a shimmering cloud. Then something absorbs a drop of blood from Lena's face and changes into a faceless, shimmering, humanoid being that mimics Lena's movements. Unable to escape the creature, Lena tricks it into exploding one of Kane's remaining grenades as it transforms into her doppelgänger. Lena flees the burning lighthouse, and the Shimmer dissipates, destroying itself as it mindlessly mimics the explosion. Back in the present, Lena's interrogation ends, and she learns after the Shimmer fell that Kane's condition began to improve. Lena visits the Kane doppelgänger, and asks if he is really Kane, which he doubts. He asks if she is Lena, but she does not answer. They embrace and their eyes are seen shimmering, meaning that their DNA has been altered by the exposure. Also starring David Gyasi as Daniel, Kola Bokinni (Yinka's brother), and Hiten Patel as Scientist. Portman as the ex-army biologist does well in the lead role, Isaac is interesting with his time onscreen, and there is good support from Leigh, Thompson, Novotny, and Rodriguez. The story of a world behind an invisible forcefield is often interesting, it is a beautiful nightmare with dreamy colourful visuals and strange special effects, with the themes of corruption and fear being the strongest, I just found it an unusual atmospheric film with some weird but fascinating ideas and a few decent thrills, a worthwhile science-fiction psychological fantasy horror. Good!

The First Omen (2024)

The First Omen

[3/10 · 18 April 2024]

With popular scary movie franchises including Halloween, Scream, The Conjuring, Saw, and The Exorcist all getting follow-ups in recent years, it was almost no surprise to see another instalment in The Omen series, but this one was a prequel. Basically, in Italy, the shaken Father Harris (Charles Dance) is in a confession box with Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson) talking about an occult conspiracy. Harris seeks forgiveness and gives Brennan a photograph of a baby with the name "Scianna" written on it. After leaving the church, a lightning bolt suddenly strikes the spire above, falling and smashing a stained-glass window. It looks as though Harris avoids it, but turning his head, the falling pipe has split his head open, and he smiles before dying. In Rome, in 1971, during left-wing protests, American novice Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) arrives at the Vizzardeli Orphanage. She meets with Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), Father Gabriel (Tawfeek Barhom), Abess Sister Silvia (Sônia Braga), her roommate and fellow novice Luz (Maria Caballero), and nun Sister Anjelica (Ishtar Currie Wilson). Luz invites Margaret to a disco, where she dances with a man named Paolo (Andrea Arcangeli) before blacking out. When she wakes up the following day, she has no memory of what happened. Margaret bonds with the mistreated orphan Carlita (Nicole Sorace), who has been having bad visions. Father Brennan warns her about Carlita, saying "evil things" have happened around her. Margaret sees Carlita showing Anjelica a drawing of a pregnant woman being restrained. Moments later, Anjelica is seen committing suicide, first setting herself alight and then hanging herself. Brennan explains that fundamentalists within the church, desperate to regain power against the rise of political ideology, seek to bring about the Antichrist to create fear and drive people back to the church, with Carlita intended to be the mother. During a field trip, a riot breaks out and Margaret experiences demonic hallucinations. Sister Silvia postpones Margaret's vows and orders her to distance herself from Carlita. She is horrified to encounter Paolo again. He tells her to "look for the mark" before he is fatally impaled by an oncoming truck. Margaret sneaks into Sister Silvia's office. She uncovers a hidden, underground chamber and a series of subject files, all labeled "Scianna". Each file contains a photo of a disfigured baby with a birthmark in the shape of three sixes, and Carlita is seemingly the only survivor. Margaret is intercepted and locates the birthmark on the roof of Carlita's mouth before she is caught and imprisoned. Father Gabriel frees Margaret, and they examine the files further; they discover that another baby had survived. Margaret is frightened to discover a birthmark on her own scalp. She suddenly remembers that she was forcefully impregnated the night of the disco during a satanic ritual whilst she was blacked out. Margaret realises The Devil will need to mate with his own spawn for the Antichrist to be conceived; Margaret was brought to Rome as Carlita is too young. The group drives off to have the pregnancy aborted, but another car crashes into theirs on the way and Margaret's womb suddenly fills. She wakes up strapped to a hospital bed and is greeted by Cardinal Lawrence, the head of the conspiracy. She gives birth to two children, a girl and a boy; the boy is hailed as the Antichrist. She stabs Lawrence but cannot bring herself to kill her newborn son. Luz stabs Margaret as the conspirators escape with the boy and set fire to the chamber to cover their tracks. Carlita saves Margaret and her daughter and Margaret sees her assaulter, a demonic jackal in the flames. The baby boy is handed to American diplomat Robert Thorn to secretly replace his wife Katherine's child who supposedly died in childbirth (but was actually murdered). Years later, Margaret is in seclusion in the mountains with Carlita and her daughter, and they have become a happy family. Brennan appears and warns that the conspirators will be hunting her, and that her son has been named Damien. Also starring Guido Quaglione as Alfonzo, Dora Romano as Sister Romano, Anton Alexander as Father Spiletto, Mario Opinato as Doctor, and Rachel Hurd-Wood as Katherine Thorn. Free is pretty solid in the lead role, Ineson (as the Patrick Troughton character) as the troubled priest does fine, Nighy is always reliable, but Dance only onscreen for less than five minutes is almost pointless. The biggest problem is that it ignores key facts about the original, specifically the jackal in the grave and the lead character becomes the biological mother, it doesn't fully make sense, and with two children born it only adds to the confusion for me, and God forbid there will be a follow-up. I don't know why the critics gave this film average reviews, as a slow burner it was too slow, the religious stuff is okay, it is atmospheric but the scary moments only work at times, I just found it rather dull, a fairly rubbish supernatural horror. Adequate, in my opinion!

Omen IV: The Awakening (1991 TV Movie)

Omen IV: The Awakening

[2/10 · 14 April 2024]

The original 1976 scary movie is fantastic, the second film was quite good, and The Final Conflict was silly, this was the only one in the franchise I had yet to see, I knew being made for TV it was going to be the worst one, directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard (Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers) and Jorge Montesi. Basically, Virginia congressman Gene York (Michael Woods) and his attorney wife Karen (Faye Grant), have tried and failed numerous times to have a child. They decide to adopt, visiting a nun-owned orphanage where they meet Sister Yvonne (Megan Leitch) and adopt a baby girl whom they name Delia. Apart from baby Delia scratching Karen and panicking when being baptised, everything seems fine. Following the attempted baptism, Father Hayes (David Cameron) suffers a fatal heart attack. Aged 3, Delia (Brianne Harrett) runs out into the road chasing a rottweiler and is almost by an oncoming truck. Following this, the Yorks adopt the dog as protection for their daughter, naming it Ryder. At age 7, it becomes clear there is something wrong with Delia (introducing Asia Vieira), as she displays a sociopathic personality with violent and manipulative traits. Soon, strange events begin to occur around Delia. Morris Creighton (Serge Houde), the father of a boy who was bullying Delia, is killed in a bizarre car accident. While horse riding, Delia scares several of the animals and her horse suddenly bolts and throws her to the ground. She is taken to the hospital and seems fine, but the family doctor Dr. Lou Hastings (Madison Mason) reveals that Delia is already going through puberty, she is menstruating. Jo Thueson (Ann Hearn), a New Age practitioner, is hired as a nanny for Delia. She may have psychic powers, wears healing crystals, and is highly suspicious of Delia. Jo's friend Noah (Jim Byrnes), an aura reader, suggests she takes Delia to a fair to meet with other psychics, who all sense a feeling of unease around the girl. Jo manages to get Noah to take a photograph of Delia before she storms off. As Noah sees the photograph showing very dark colours, Delia causes a fire that sets the entire fairground ablaze. Though Noah warns her to leave after showing her the photo, Jo tries to confront Delia about her negative energy. She discovers Delia's true identity, as being a spawn of the Devil. But before she can share this information with anyone, Ryder attacks her, and she is sent plummeting out of a window to her death. Karen, who witnesses the fall, faints from shock and is taken to the hospital, where she learns that she is pregnant. Becoming increasingly alarmed and paranoid of her adoptive daughter, Karen turns to her preacher, Father James Mattson (Duncan Fraser). He tells her about the prophecy of the Antichrist, and she becomes concerned for the safety of her unborn baby. Karen decides to find out more about Delia and returns to the orphanage, learning that Sister Yvonne mysteriously left after Delia was adopted. Karen hires private investigator Earl Knight (Michael Lerner) to find Delia's biological parents. Knight's search takes him to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he locates Sister Yvonne, now going by the name Felicity. Karen is terrified by Delia during the night, then goes into labour, giving birth to a healthy baby boy. Knight finds Felicity taking part in a bizarre snake-handling ceremony, standing in a circle surrounded by venomous rattlesnakes in a display of divinity. Earl shows Felicity a recent photograph of Delia and unintentionally causes her to be bitten numerous times by snakes. After speaking to her in her dying moments, Knight finds clippings in Felicity's trailer relating to Gene. Unable to return to Virginia due to winter conditions, Knight sends Karen a letter of his findings in the mail. After doing so, he looks in a toy shop window of a toy crane. Shortly after, this premonition comes true, when a construction crane nearby bizarrely swings itself and crashes through a building, the impact of the hook kills Knight. After returning home with her baby son, Alexander, Karen finds out about Yvonne and Knight's deaths. Karen receives Knight's letter that details Damien Thorn, the previous Antichrist. She then goes to see Dr. Hastings, revealed to a Satanic disciple; she tortures him to get answers and he confirms Damien Thorn is Delia's biological father. He also reveals that Alexander is Delia's twin brother, his embryo was carried inside Delia before being implanted into Karen by Hastings. Karen kills Hastings with a scalpel before returning home armed with his gun. She kills the new nanny, Lisa Roselli (Andrea Mann), also a disciple of Hell, only to find Delia waiting for her. Delia is holding Alexander and draws attention to the baby's birthmark, the number of the beast "666" on the palm of his hand. Influenced by the baby's power, Karen ends up shooting herself. Afterward, Gene, Delia, and Alexander attend her funeral and walk home together; it is unclear if Gene was also a disciple. Also starring Don S. Davis as Jake Madison, Joy Coghill as Sister Francesca, and Susan Chapple as Mother Superior. Grant and Lerner are okay as the adoptive parents, Vieira is reasonable as the Devil's daughter, and Lerner does alright as the detective. The story is unoriginal, changing the antagonist into a little girl makes no difference, you can tell the production is television budget, the attempts to be scary are pointless, the "coincidental" deaths are lame, and the Bible references are tiresome, easily the worst in the series, a dull supernatural horror. Pretty poor!

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

[5/10 · 13 April 2024]

Only a few months before, Godzilla Minus One gained praise and accolades, this fifth film in the MonsterVerse franchise perhaps got less favourable reviews, I knew exactly what I was in for, but I was prepared to see it on the big screen, directed by Adam Wingard (You're Next, The Guest, Blair Witch, Godzilla vs. Kong). Basically, three years after Mechagodzilla was defeated, Kong has settled into his new environment in the Hollow Earth but longs for more of his kind. On Earth's surface, Godzilla continues to fight against "Titans", other giant monsters who threaten humanity. After killing Scylla in Rome, Italy, he rests in the Colosseum. An unidentified signal is picked up by a Monarch observation outpost stationed in the Hollow Earth. On the surface, the signal causes Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last known survivor of the Iwi tribe from Skull Island, to experience hallucinations and visions. Her adoptive mother, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), who communicates with her by sign language, is concerned because she feels she does not belong on Earth. Godzilla also senses the signal, leaves Rome, and attacks a nuclear plant in France to absorb the radiation. Godzilla then heads to the lair of the Titan Tiamat in the Arctic. Monarch believes Godzilla is strengthening himself for an oncoming threat. A sinkhole opens near Kong's home, he discovers a tribe of his species has survived in an uncharted region. He encounters a juvenile named Suko, they have an initial confrontation, but they bond after Suko leads Kong to the tribe's lair. The tribe's tyrannical leader, the Skar King, battles Kong with help from the ancient ice-powered Titan, Shimo, controlled by the Skar King with pain using a crystal. Kong's right arm is injured by frostbite from Shimo's ice breath, but he escapes with help from Suko, although he loses his axe in the process. Led by mercenary Mikael (Alex Ferns), Andrews and Jia, alongside Titan veterinarian Trapper (Dan Stevens) and conspiracy podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), travel to the Hollow Earth to locate the source of the signal. They find the Monarch outpost destroyed. After Mikael is killed by a carnivorous tree, the group ventures forward and discovers a temple that leads them to a subterranean section. The group discovers a surviving Iwi tribe, who communicate telepathically with each other. Inspecting some ruins, they deduce that the signal was a telepathic distress call sent by the tribe. While observing Jia socialising with the Iwi, Andrews tells Trapper her fear that Jia may choose to stay with her people and leave her. Andrews uncovers hieroglyphics inside a temple displaying the past and future: the Skar King previously attempted to conquer the surface world and waged war against Godzilla's species, but Godzilla defeated him and trapped him and his tribe deep within the Hollow Earth. A prophecy indicates that Jia is the key to reawakening Mothra, a colossal sentient flighted insect. Kong is found to be injured after he locates the temple, when he is sedated, Trapper equips a prototype exoskeletal arm brace to strengthen and heal his damaged arm. Unbeknownst to them, one of the Skar King's loyalists has followed them and informs the Skar King of what is going on, and he assembles an army to invade Earth. Jia successfully wakes up the reborn Mothra. Godzilla kills Tiamat and absorbs cosmic radiation from her lair, evolving him and turning his dorsal plates magenta. Kong surfaces in Cairo and calls out to Godzilla, hoping to lure him to the Hollow Earth to assist him. Godzilla is angered and attacks him, despite Kong attempting to communicate with him. They have a brief fight before Mothra arrives with Jia and convinces Godzilla to help Kong. Godzilla, Kong and Mothra then head back to Hollow Earth to face the Skar King, Shimo and the army. The fight takes Godzilla, Kong, Shimo and the Skar King to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Skar King forces Shimo to breathe his cold breath and induce another ice age. Both sides are evenly matched until Suko arrives with Kong's axe and the crystal controlling Shimo is destroyed. Shimo and Kong then freeze and shatter the Skar King. Godzilla uses his atomic breath to thaw Shimo's ice age, and he returns to rest in the Colosseum. Jia reunites with Andrews and assures her that she is choosing to stay with her adoptive mother. Mothra restores the barrier protecting the Iwi's home and then leaves. Shimo and Suko return to Hollow Earth, and Kong becomes the new leader of the ape tribe. Also starring Fala Chen as the Iwi Queen, Rachel House as Hampton, Kevin Copeland as Submarine Commander, and Anthony Brandon Wong as Talk Show Anchor. Hall, Stevens, and Henry give reasonable performances, but it is the giant gorilla and the king-sized reptilian that are the stars as they both clash with each other and then work together, along with recognisable movie creature Mothra. It is nothing we haven't seen before, two giant creatures destroying large cities across the world and roaming about in landscapes in parallel universes, but the special effects are well done, and you can just sit back and enjoy the carnage, a silly but not boring science-fiction monster action. Worth watching!

Monkey Man (2024)

Monkey Man

[7/10 · 13 April 2024]

Dev Patel has come a long way since his career started with television drama Skins, this film was his passion project as well as his directorial debut, I was looking forward to a good gritty film. Basically, an anonymous young man, known only as Kid (Dev Patel), earns a living in the city of Yatana, India, as a fighter, wearing a monkey mask, at the underground boxing club "Tiger's Temple". He is encouraged by ringmaster Tiger (District 9's Sharlto Copley) to lose fights while shedding blood. A series of flashbacks reveal that young Kid lived (Jatin Malik) in an Indian forest village with his mother Neela (Adithi Kalkunte), who inspired him with tales of Hanuman. Baba Shakti (Makrand Deshpande), a ruthless spiritual guru in Yatana, sends corrupt police chief Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher) to force out the villagers and acquire their land. The village was massacred, but Neela managed to hide Kid. Rana finds, rapes and kills Neela, and Kid witnessed her death. Neela's house is set on fire, Kid was trapped inside before managing to escape, leaving his hands badly scarred after the house was burned down. Years later, Kid wants vengeance for the death of his mother. Baba continues to gain followers and political influence, and Rana, who often visits the luxury brothel "Kings", run by Queenie Kapoor (Ashwini Kalsekar), who provides drugs and prostitutes to wealthy clients. To infiltrate Kings, Kid has Queenie's wallet stolen and returns it, and he asks for a job in the kitchen as a reward. Kid takes the alias "Bobby" from a cleaning product and befriends fellow kitchen worker Alphonso (Pitobash). Revealing his life as a fighter, Kid helps Alphonso win a large bet on a bout in exchange for a promotion. Kid is promoted to being a waiter and is able to access the VIP floor to reach Rana. Among Queenie's prostitutes is Sita (Sobhita Dhulipala), who advises Kid to give up working in such a place. Kid buys a gun and finds a stray dog who he cares for. Over time, he trains the dog and practises firing the weapon. The dog is trained to carry the weapon past security, and he spikes Rana's cocaine with powdered bleach to disorientate him. Confronting Rana in the bathroom, Kid tries to shoot him dead but is foiled and forced to fight his way out of the building. Fleeing in Alphonso's supercharged tuk-tuk, Kid crashes and is arrested, but escapes through the city. Nearly killed by an axe-wielding pimp, Kid is shot by the police during a rooftop chase and falls into a lake. He is rescued by Alpha (Vipin Sharma), the keeper of a local temple of Ardhanarishvara. Alpha's hijra community is being targeted by Baba's growing political movement. Alpha guides Kid through a hallucinogenic experience to confront the trauma of his mother's death. He is encouraged to train himself in combat, including a drummer (Zakir Hussain) who plays to increase his drive, and it gives him a newfound purpose. When their sanctuary is threatened, Kid returns to fight at Tiger's Temple again. He places a large bet on himself, and he wins the fight, gaining the support of Alphonso and the crowd, and emerging victorious with enough money to save the temple. During Diwali, Baba's candidate for the Sovereign Party, Adesh Joshi (Láng Balázs), is elected and they celebrate their victory at King's. Kid fights his way inside, surrounded by Queenie's men, defeating them with improvised weapons and fireworks. There is a point when Kid may be overwhelmed by the men, but Alpha and her warriors arrive to help. Queenie tries to shoot Kid, but she is killed by Sita. Kid severs Queenie's thumb to use her fingerprint to access the penthouse. Kid confronts Rana for a brutal rematch fistfight and beats him to death. Following this, Kid finally reaches Baba, who mortally wounds him with blades hidden in his footwear. Kid manages to kill Baba using the same blades, finally avenging his mother's death. Kid collapses from his injuries and reminisces about Neela and his devotion to Hanuman. Also starring Brahim Chab as King Kobra, and Joseph J. U. Taylor as Gerrard the Australian businessman. Patel gives a solid performance as the young man on a one-man revenge mission, and he proves himself a credible director as well with a good sense of pace, the performances of Copley and Pitobash are good as well. It is a film of two halves, the first being a slow burner to establish the character as he infiltrates the criminal underworld, and the second half is a bonkers John Wick (who is mentioned) style punch-up and gunfight, it is brutally violent and the Indian culture incorporated is well done, it is an impressive action thriller. Very good!

20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

20 Days in Mariupol

[10/10 · 13 April 2024]

I heard the title of this documentary film numerous times, more so when Awards Season came around, and when I found out what it was about, I was not surprised hearing about the accolades it was receiving. Basically, it is about a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol at the beginning of the Russian invasion and war, 22 February 2022. Veteran war correspondent Mstyslav Chernov from The Associated Press (AP) and his fellow international reporters remained in the city and captured several atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only journalists who remained, they capture what later became defining images of the war: maimed and dying children, several dead bodies, many bombings, including a maternity hospital, and all the medical professionals who stayed and tried to save those injured. This footage was passed onto news studios across the world, but President Vladimir Putin and the Russian press denied these horrific images, claiming them to be false with actors in studios. The journalists stayed for twenty days and managed to leave with the help of military personnel when it became too dangerous. It is a harrowing but important film, the filmmakers risked their lives to expose the truth about the shocking events in Ukraine for historical posterity and to raise awareness in the present. The horrible imagery of bloodshed, the attacks and all atrocities of war are disturbing, but it cannot be ignored. There has been huge support for Ukraine since the war began, including victory for the country at Eurovision, and there is huge hatred for Putin and his evil crimes against humanity. It is a gruesome film obviously difficult to watch, but its unflinching insight into the first threw weeks of this ongoing conflict is remarkable, a must-see documentary. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film, and it won the BAFTA for Best Documentary. Outstanding!

Rampage (2018)

Rampage

[4/10 · 13 April 2024]

I remember seeing clips of this King Kong style film during its cinema release, I had no idea it was based on a video game series, I eventually watched it hoping it would be quite fun, directed by Brad Peyton (Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, San Andreas). Basically, gene-manipulation company Energyne owns the space station Athena-1, which is destroyed after a mutated laboratory rat wreaks havoc. Crew member Dr. Kerry Atkins (Marley Shelton) is the lone survivor and is ordered by Energyne CEO Claire Wyden (The Heartbreak Kid's Malin Akerman) to retrieve the pathogen canisters. She gets away in the escape pod before the station implodes, but she is killed as the pod disintegrates upon re-entry, and a trail of debris falls to Earth. One canister is swallowed by a crocodile in the Everglades, and another is found by a wolf in a Wyoming forest that is exposed to the pathogen. Former Special Forces soldier Davis Okoye (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) is a primatologist and member of an anti-poaching unit who works at the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary. In the past, he saved a rare albino western lowland gorilla baby from poachers who killed his mother. This gorilla, George, has grown up and is cared for by Davis who communicates with him using sign language. One of the canisters crash-lands in George's habitat and he is exposed to the pathogen. It causes George to grow considerably larger and he becomes more aggressive. Following this, Davis is contacted by genetic engineer Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris), who explains that the pathogen was developed by Energyne to rewrite genes on a massive scale. She had hoped to advance research on the pathogen, CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats), to potentially cure numerous diseases. But she was falsely incarcerated after discovering Energyne's plans to use it as a biological weapon, during which her terminally ill brother died. George escapes from captivity and goes on a rampage at the preserve. George calms down but is soon captured by a government team led by Agent Harvey Russell (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and is taken aboard a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III airplane. Meanwhile, a private military group led by Burke (Joe Manganiello) attempts to capture the mutated wolf, Ralph, but it goes awry, and the entire team is slaughtered. Claire and her brother Brett (Jake Lacy) were overseeing the mercenaries. Claire reveals to Brett her plan to capture Ralph and use George to cover up her plot. She has built a massive transmitter on top of Willis Tower to lure the animals, using a certain radio frequency, to Chicago, and has no concern about the risks and endangerment to civilians. When the transmitter is activated, George reacts violently to the sound, causing damage to the aircraft. As the plane descends, Kate Davis, and Russell escape with parachutes; Davis saves Russell who is unconscious. After Russell recovers, they find the wreckage and find that George survived the crash and escaped. George joins Ralph as they make their way to Willis Tower, lured by the radio signal. Davis and Kate are brought in by the military who are trying to defuse the situation. But Russell, in gratitude for saving his life, helps them to escape the base, and they steal a military helicopter to pursue the animals. Arriving in Chicago, they see George and Ralph rampaging through the city as the military struggles to contain them. It gets worse when the mutated crocodile, Lizzie, also arrives and causes further destruction and casualties. Davis and Kate infiltrate Energyne's base of operations at the tower, planning to steal an antidote to turn the animals back to normal. They take several vials of it but are caught by the Wydens. Claire reveals that the antidote only eliminates the animals' enhanced aggressiveness rather than reversing the other effects and shoots Davis. George starts climbing the tower, Davis appears after surviving the gunshot, and Claire orders him to distract the gorilla while she tries to escape with Kate at gunpoint. Kate slips a vial into Claire's handbag and pushes her toward George, who swallows her whole along with the vial. At ground level in the tower, Russell persuades Brett to give him incriminating evidence of the scheme. Russell allows Brett to leave the building, but he is crushed to death by falling debris. As the damaged tower topples, Davis and Kate survive by crash-landing a helicopter on the Federal Plaza. They find George on the ground who has returned to his original personality. Davis stays to help George defeat the other animals, while Kate and Russell rush to prevent the military from dropping a large-yield bomb. George battles against Ralph, who is tricked by Davis into advancing towards Lizzie, who decapitates the wolf using her jaws. Lizzie chases Davis, but George intervenes in time for Davis to fire grenades at the crocodile. Lizzie survives the explosions and overpowers George, who is impaled by a reinforced steel bar. Davis fires at Lizzie with weapons in a fallen Apache attack helicopter. He is nearly killed before George pierces Lizzie through the eye with the steel bar, killing her. With the threat neutralized, the airstrike is aborted. George appears to die from his injuries, but with his dark sense of humour, he tricks Davis who is relieved he is alive. In the aftermath, George and Davis, joined by Kate and Russell, help clear the city of debris and rescue civilians. Also starring P. J. Byrne as Nelson, Demetrius Grosse as Colonel Blake, Jack Quaid as Connor, Breanne Hill as Amy, Matt Gerald as Zammit, Die Another Day's Will Yun Lee as Agent Park, Urijah Faber as Garrick, and Jason Liles as George. Johnson is likeable as the scientist hero with former military experience and some one-liners ("Of course the wolf flies."), Harris is fine, and Morgan as the shadowy government enforcer is good, but Akerman and Jake Lacy are too hammy as the sibling industrialist villains. It can be compared to Kong vs. Godzilla movies, it has predictable dialogue and relies heavily on explosive stuff, but the battle sequences, set pieces and violence make it engaging and exciting, and it does have impressive CGI special effects, a slightly silly but not terrible science-fiction monster action. Okay!