ivington Reviews

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Interesting but flawed story

[6/10 · 4 April 2024]

I am writing this the day after I watched this and have had time to reflect and consider my opinion on it. Indeed I enjoyed the acting and the way the story was told throughout the whole movie with an expectation that, despite the length of the film, there would be a final resolution at the very end when we truly discover what actually took place on that fateful day. Sadly first, that resolution was not provided and I was just left hanging after 150 minutes.

Secondly, on top of that, after some reflection of what I had watched, one plot hole was jarring at my equilibrium, and that was the fact that there was no definitive understanding of how the husband had received his head injury. I mean seriously? The defence hypothesis just made no sense. If he had genuinely received that amount of head trauma, which you get to see by the way during the autopsy, by hitting his head on the way down then without any shadow of a doubt the force created to produce that kind of trauma would have reflected back on the object doing it and there would been signs of that impact somewhere on the wooden balcony or rail that his head impacted. It's all wood, for god's sake. And considering pretty much 2 thirds of the story surrounds the court case and did she, or didn't she, then this detracts from the whole premise of the movie. It's unfortunate that such an obvious omission to provide an adequate counter argument, and that the audience is just expected to accept it on face value that this would work in a real life criminal case just takes us all for fools.

So loved the way the story was told, just it didn't pass the bar when it comes to believability. Hence the rating.

A Dark Path (2020)

Watched up until the flat tyre

[2/10 · 9 March 2024]

Stopped after that. Tried to figure out in this story where on earth the airport could be. In the middle of a forest perhaps? I mean, most airports are located near a major town or city. So, if you have a map, you try to get a general idea of where you are and then head towards the nearest major road, because every airport I've ever known will be signposted from whatever major road leads towards it.

However, apparently to get to this airport you have to get to it via some winding country road. At no time up until the point when they got the puncture did the driver even consider that she might be going wrong.

Time to quit, my tractors just turned up to take me to the airport.

Black Sea (2014)

A bunch of children go to sea

[4/10 · 18 November 2023]

Started well enough. Ok, the acting seemed a little contrived in parts, but the story showed some promise. That was until everyone started behaving like juveniles, getting upset over the slightest provocation and finding everything a reason to provoke someone else. Was that the best the writers could come up with in order to create tension? Just lazy.

After the guy thought it was a good idea to make use of his knife it was time to switch off. I just couldn't stomach this drivel why longer.

A shame because with a bit more thought, who knows. Maybe a decent film could have been the outcome. But for me I decided this film could take an early bath.

A Most Violent Year (2014)

This guy was hard to like

[7/10 · 19 October 2023]

Not sure what the makers of this film were trying to explore with regard to the character of Abel. They appeared to want to project him as some kind of morally superior protagonist amongst all these weaker and amoral others that surrounded him. That he was a kind of beacon of light amidst the darkness.

The more I watched though, the further from the truth these representations became and what bubbled to the surface, in spite of the hard work of the movie creators, was a selfish, self righteous egotist who only cared for himself and his goals and completely disregarded those around him. Sure there were some empty platitudes for others and their situation when Abel would bring forth the usual, I understand, when he was trying to appear empathetic and sympathetic, when in reality those platitudes were always to further his own ends.

Julian, one of his drivers, is expected to be a man and face whatever the current dangers of what is happening as if he's going to war for good against evil. He's not. He's a simple lorry driver being expected to go way beyond what is required for the job and with no thanks from Abel, who seems to believe anyone else would do the same.

Unfortunately, in this movie Abel's misunderstanding of what is acceptable and what is not from his workforce is never examined that closely. There are no drivers saying, tell you what boss, if I see those guys coming for me I'm handing over the keys. You don't pay me enough to put my safety at risk.

There is one moment where his wife points out to him he's an egotistical sob, but it's very short lived and soon forgotten.

And finally, were these just a random couple of guys stealing from him and selling it to whoever they could? Then what's with the sales guy being jumped and beaten up? That side story was thrown in there and never followed up on, so why put it in there in the first place if it had no further relevance to what takes place afterwards.

22 Bullets (2010)

The Ronnie O'Sullivan of the crime world.

[6/10 · 7 September 2023]

It's a Gangland movie set in Marseille and Jean Reno needs to have his revenge on the guys who tried to off him, but came up short despite putting 22 bullets in him. And all this he's going to have to do with his better right arm pretty much useless.

Very much by the numbers and the movie, for me, was about 15 to 20 minutes too long and I started to lose interest in towards the end.

Everything here has been done before and there are no real surprises as Reno always manages to get the better of every situation.

And don't worry about his useless right arm, because he's still able to ride a motorcycle better than you or I could ever do. And it doesn't hamper his ability to shoot straight with his left either.

16 Blocks (2006)

Predictable

[4/10 · 3 September 2023]

This was a struggle to get through almost from the beginning as it became obvious fairly early on that the viewer was not going to get anything original in this film.

The tried and tested technique of having the main characters almost in the bad guy's grasp, only for them to somehow wriggle their way forward, seemed to be the only plot narrative used here.

And, of course, the bad guys are real bad guys who wouldn't stop at anything to ensure that they achieve their goal. Even when there are less brutal options available to them.

I mean, all they had to do was prevent the witness from making the court appearance on time, apparently. Did they really need to kill him. I'm sure even Bruce's character would have been ok with that.

But hey, then we don't have a movie. So let's ignore all the plot problems and get on with the thrills. Except the so called thrills became so repetitive that I was bored within the first 30 minutes or so and just wanted it to end.

Cardboard cut out characters with a by the numbers plot. No thanks.

13 Conversations About One Thing (2001)

Talk about depressing

[5/10 · 1 September 2023]

This film is filled with a whole bunch of characters who do nothing else but feel sorry for themselves as they look for something external, be it status, recognition, money, power etc, that is somehow going to make their lives better. With the one guy who did act happy being looked upon with suspicion, as if he might be hiding something.

I was hoping there might be something that would provide an alternative viewpoint to this self flagellation. Unfortunately, it didn't happen and the film ended as depressingly as it had begun.

I'm sure the film makers would perhaps argue that this was the whole point to the movie. That people go through their lives filled with disappointment. However, these people were practically manic depressives and I've hardly ever come across anyone like this in real life.

If you hope to find anything positive to take away from this movie, you'll be disappointed.

After.Life (2009)

Completely flawed

[3/10 · 28 August 2023]

That was convenient. There's a car accident and the person is declared dead, but somehow they're not. Yes. That's the whole film's premise in order for the story to unfold.

So what part did Neeson's character play in the car accident? Zero, it would seem. That was a stroke of luck for him, considering he likes to get living people in his mortuary so he can mess around with them.

The whole of the movie that lingering question stayed in my mind, ruining any opportunity for this movie to become a worthwhile watch.

I hoped the screen writers were going to provide at least some kind of explanation at some point in the movie, but they were either too lazy or lacked the creative imagination to be able to do so.

Highlander (1986)

Should have left my viewing to only once

[5/10 · 4 May 2022]

I hadn't seen this movie in decades until I decided to give it a revisit after someone told me it was their favourite movie I still remembered the basic premis of the story, but on viewing this time around the plot just seemed so absurd and not fleshed out in any way that what remained just was not enough to sustain any kind of enjoyment through to the end.

Too many questions remained unanswered.

Why did these immortals just seem to pop into existence?

If they were just popping into existence then why has that stopped now and only the Lambert character will remain?

Why, if Sean Connery is an immortal, is he so bloody old?

If the urge to come together at the gathering is so strong then why is Lambert able to resist such a pull?

The list goes on.

So what is left is a basic sword fighting movie which unfortunately even by 80s standards the choreography was average at best. The opening fight scene is cringingly awful with hacks and slashes so obviously meant to miss their target it takes you out of any kind of immersion in the film.

I could go on. The story just drags until the final obvious fight climax. With nothing in the characters, the story or the acting that held my attention.

When it finished, what a relief.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Whole story based on flawed plot

[6/10 · 15 February 2021]

So the guy can read people like a book when it comes to playing cards, but couldn't tell that Harry knew he had the better hand. Took the edge off the rest of the film from that point onwards.

The Climb (2019)

Okish and amusing in places

[5/10 · 7 January 2021]

Movie was ok and there were some amusing bits, but I couldn't class it as a comedy. I even started to get a little bored and lost interest in the 2 main protagonists before the end. The part that made me the happiest was when it had finally finished.

Palm Springs (2020)

Good first half, poor 2nd half

[6/10 · 9 September 2020]

Yes we've seen the premise before, but the 2 main characters had a pretty decent chemistry during the lunacy of the first half and the rom-com genre of the movie was following a logical path. Then all of a sudden the female has a split personality attack and becomes a real party pooper with any connection between her and the guy completely lost from that point. She just behaves like she couldn't give a rat's about him. Then right near the end, split personality flips back and she says she loves him too, but it just doesn't work in the storyline because of her ambivalence towards him in the previous half hour. It just sounds odd. Surely they could have written a better script. Did the writers just run out of ideas?

Dreamcatcher (2003)

Stopped watching when idiot actions began

[5/10 · 18 August 2020]

Was quite enjoyable and intriguing but then became absurd when guy on toilet preferred a toothpick over his own sense of self preservation. At that point I switched it off.

The Game Changers (2018)

Interesting but not convinced

[6/10 · 18 July 2020]

With all the hyperbole that this film generated with regard to having a plant based diet one thought kept nagging me. The sports industry is massive throughout the world. It generates billions with the largest portion of that wealth going to the winners. If having a strict plant based diet gave all athletes an edge the sports industry would have latched on to it years ago purely for the profits it would have created for those doing it. So why haven't they?

Parasite (2019)

Shame, it was going so well

[6/10 · 9 July 2020]

The film was going pretty well and I was enjoying it, but then

Spoiler alert!

Why on earth would they allow the previous housekeeper in at that time of night. Surely the sensible thing to do would have been to tell her to come back in the daytime. But no, in order to further the story they had to crowbar this scenario in.

From that point on the film was ruined for me.

Jexi (2019)

15 rated but with lead who acts like a 12 yo

[4/10 · 31 May 2020]

I was trying to give it some leeway. The comedy was mildly amusing and the premise on the edge of being ridiculous, but how old is this guy supposed to be. Because when he gets a date and acts so excited like he's 12 it was time to stop watching.

Westworld (2016–2022)

Robot Vs robot

[5/10 · 28 April 2020]

So instead of robot Vs humans in a fight to see who gains the upper hand all we seem to get here is robot Vs robot. When did the robots suddenly get a conscience.

Bloodshot (2020)

Good for a couple of minutes

[5/10 · 18 April 2020]

Seemed like the same old cheese. Then about a third of the way in the plot twist woke me out of my slumber in a wasn't expecting that kind of way. However, the novelty soon wore off as the film went back to the usual by the numbers script where you need to disconnect all motor functions in order to keep enjoying what's happening on screen. And what's with London. Seems like it's London, Australia. That's just lazy.

Impossible Monsters (2019)

Nothing to do with sleep paralysis

[4/10 · 26 March 2020]

Very tenuous link to sleep paralysis, which has little to do with the plot of the movie and, at the end, I was left wondering what that had to do, if anything, with the film as a whole. It seems it was put in there just to add an extra layer of suspense in order to spice up what is in essence a rather dull movie. As for the ending. I couldn't even fathom a guess of what that was supposed to mean.

Life Like (2019)

A plot twist that ruins the whole movie

[3/10 · 23 June 2019]

This was quite an intriguing watch, all the way up to the last 10 minutes when the plot twist came. I don't want to say what it was, but I will say it is completely without logic and just made me think, 'are they having a laugh?' it was so ludicrous and makes the previous hour and 15 minutes seem like a waste of time.