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Reviews
Civil War (2024)
Disappointing.
I walked into the cinema expecting something of an epic scale of conflict as seen through the eyes of a journalist ... but left feeling all it delivered was a plodding pace through what seemed more like glimpses of civil unrest that added up to a siege. The film doesn't really give any sense of grand scale conflict typical of what one would expect from a civil war in a well armed population of modern day America. The only real plus I felt was that the idea of throwing a young and inexperienced journalist into the deep end realities of conflict journalism was a great idea. Other than that the film is easily forgettable, underwhelming and very much the sort of thing you'd find parked on Netflix.
Masters of the Air: Part Four (2024)
Pointless episode.
This episode is just pointless filler and a bad sign this series just isn't going to cut it. You see nothing of the second attack on Bremen and the only thing it really gives in terms of interest is about 10 mins of the progress of the two downed airmen making their way to Spain through Nazi occupied territory. This is nowhere near what one would expect from veterans like Spielberg and Hanks. The characters continue to lack any sort of substance and they are a pole opposite from those in Band of Brothers and the excellent Generation War. Masters of the Air looks set to become a wasted opportunity.
Masters of the Air (2024)
Masters of Mediocrity
Based on the first two episodes:
I've waited years for this and no sooner has the series finally managed to get off the runway I feel that two of its nine engines are already struggling - and the mission to deliver a solid series worthy of standing beside Band of Brothers is veering south. The production quality delivers what one would expect from reliable veterans Spielberg and Hanks, but that's all that really shines so far. The acting seems average and meandering plot is an unimaginative tapestry of cliches with characters led by a guy who seems he was poured out of a blender that James Dean, Elvis and Nicholas Cage all got squeezed into.
With seven episodes still to go, I'm hoping this is all just a wobbly start - but it's taking some heavy demand of faith.
Nope (2022)
Nah, watch something else.
Disappointing to say the least. I watched it hoping for a well paced and intriguing dose of sci-fi horror mystery - but instead sat through some drawn out tensionless yawn about a Chinese Lantern thingy hiding in a cloud occasionally menacing horses and local folk until the eventual standard finale that one would expect. Daniel Kaluuya doesn't get any opportunity to particularly shine as an actor and Keke Palmer's character seems largely pointless doing nothing but irritate and represent black culture in a trashy way. A very unremarkable film that brings nothing new and ultimately just feels like a handful of half developed ideas bundled into one. Skyline (2010) honestly seems like a masterpiece compared to this lukewarm offering.
Prey (2022)
Wasted opportunity.
This could have been The Revenant-with-a-Predator .... but falls way short. The first half of the film dwells too much on the girl wanting to be outside of her gender role in her tribe of characters that struggled come across as anything more than 21st Century but in 18th Century costume. The Predator itself looked a bit "meh" and would have been better off sticking to its more traditional appearance - but granted that's just my personal taste and it was probably altered for fanboy merch reasons or something. I give this one an average 5 because the cinematography was on point. Apart from that it's just another instalment of a now lacklustre franchise.
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
Boring and hugely overrated.
First watched this damp firework back in the early videocassette days and struggled to pick out anything to love about it. I put its strangely lauded regard down to "Belushi fans just love anything Belushi".
Dýrið (2021)
Slow pacing around untapped potential.
This film will only be remembered for two things: Ada's reveal and the folklore ending. Other than that it's just a minimal script plod-a-thon polished with decent production value to make it seem like something more than it actually is.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Cult gem!
Sure this one stretches into silly in places but it's well paced, delivers a genuinely loathsome villain and holds the viewer with a grim intrigue as the gruesome plan gradually reveals ahead of the memorable finale. Reliably decent performance by Tom Atkins.
King Frat (1979)
Trash comedy at its best.
A masterpiece in trash rip-off comedy. You can laugh with it, or laugh at it. Either way you are laughing. If only National Lampoons Animal House was this funny.