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greenwardsuzy
Reviews
Inception (2010)
Brilliant on every level
Boring of me to say but this is one of my favourite movies of all time. Stellar performances, great plot and an ending that keeps you guessing. The CGI is exceptional and I think it's arguably one of Nolan's best films.
Cursed (2020)
Yikes
For the budget, this is pretty shocking. I was so excited by the thought of a Frank Miller tv show but the casting is boring, everything looks too clean and like a kid's game show and I just didn't care for any of the characters. Nice twist at the end of the season but I can see why it got canned. Poorly directed.
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
A courtroom drama that stands the rest of time
What a fabulous, timeless film this is. A twist that still shocks, a flow of storytelling that is compelling and marvellously done-I could watch it over and over.
Game of Thrones (2011)
What is there to be said?
I'm not sure if I have anything new I can add here-the show is brilliant, the cast is spectacular but what a shame the last episode is. I'm looking forward to seeing the next step with this universe (and hopefully it will fix my heartbreak over the ending!)
Cornered (2021)
Poorly edited, terrible sound and dire script
I watched this because I'd seen Aislinn De'Ath was in it and had just discovered her from her brilliant performance in horror movie, Lair and wanted to see more.
Unfortunately, I cannot say that this indie flick matched up to the great film that Lair is.
The script was poorly written, the acting was for the most part hammy and it had far too much shovelled into it. This was in desperate need of a good editor both for script and screen. The sound was also all over the place, going from clear to far too quiet in the blink of an eye.
The female actors are about the only thing worth watching in this mess. Both De'Ath and the Sarah Leigh do good jobs, making sense of poorly written dialogue and acting everyone else off screen. It's like watching two seasoned professionals in a cast of am-dram.
Which leads me to ask, why does this script not favour women at all? Every female role is written to further the male narrative and they seem to exist purely to ask questions. There is even a scene with a beautiful Frenchwoman who is sat while two men do all the talking and she barely gets a line. And having De'Ath's character be instantly attracted to the male lead feels far fetched. He's not charming, he's sleazy, he doesn't seem to have any interest in who she is and is instantly hitting on her. Even in film world it feels far fetched that she would instantly suggest a date to a park. De'Ath plays the attraction believably, but it's a stretch. I was also left wondering what happened to his girlfriend back home as this is never tied up-it doesn't feel like this was done on purpose but almost like the writer forgot to cover this because he doesn't seem to think the female characters are important-or maybe this scene got cut for some reason?
I am confused by the brilliant other reviews on here-it feels like we watched two entirely different films. On the plus side, I was impressed by the cinematography which was disproportionately good.
Lair (2021)
Unexpected treat of a film
As a Brit in the US I'm always happy to watch UK indie productions and this one was such an unexpected gem.
The horror revolves largely around a man trying to prove (or disprove) the existence of paranormal objects in the wake of his friend's murder trial (who is claiming to have been possessed) then changes focus to the family unknowingly bearing the brunt of these paranormal experiments.
I think what was particularly skilfully done was that at the beginning of the story we see this normal family, stressed mum in a new relationship, sarcastic teen and cute little one and the new girlfriend who feels displaced - slowly, almost without us realising their own tensions get worse and worse and it's only really at the end that I realised those emotions were being made worse by the objects Caramore was placing In their apartment. Maybe this could have Been more clearly done but I enjoyed the subtlety.
It was nice to see Oded Fehr in a film again, but he mumbles his way through his lines and honestly I felt he wasn't the strongest cast member. Corey Johnson gives a brilliantly repellent performance, some of his lines felt out of place and written for shock rather than realism though which was a shame.
The real stars of the show here are the family. Great chemistry and Anya Newall has real star potential. Aislinn De'Ath I felt I'd seen somewhere before but this may have more to do with how engaging she is as an actor. Every time she was on screen I found my eyes drifted to her because she was always giving the most realistic, authentic performance. She makes the script sound completely believable and spur of the moment, whereas often her scene partners sound a little stilted. I always think it must be quite hard to play characters your audience are supposed to find flawed but I was so impressed with what she did and despite all Maria's flaws I still felt so much for her. I will be looking out for her in films in the future!
The direction was marvellous, my only real criticism is that I would have liked more focus on the family and that the story was slightly over complicated. But for a low budget horror, what a spectacular job.
No Time to Die (2021)
Beautiful but a shame about the lack of motive
I'm a fair weather Bond viewer-I like the humour and action of the films and Craig is always wonderful on the big screen, so this film didn't have to do much to get me on side. Saying that I was disappointed with Rami's story. His motivation for being a wrong'un is met barely a third of the way into the story and from there on out there's no real explanation on why he's doing what he is. I thought perhaps they could have gone down a bit more of the route of his obsession with Madeline and unfortunately this made the final act feel a bit woolly. But Lena was much improved in this film and it's unarguably a beautiful production.