mnugent-74580 Reviews

Angel Has Fallen (2019)

Honourable Chicken

[2/10 · 28 August 2019]

I'm surprised that the Gerard Butler fan club had the concentration levels to write so many positive reviews. This film is not good, please don't be hoodwinked. The start is predictable and slow, and then it deteriorates.

Nick Nolte is the only saving grace by virtue of being the only actor in the film. The fight scene at the end was agonising. The two pseudo special forces hard men had too much misplaced honour to fight each other with big guns, so opted for handguns. When that proved not tough enough they opted for knives. I was hoping that the antagonist next pulled out a rubber chicken just so we could see GB save the President, and his honour, with a rubber chicken all of his own.

If DT wasn't president this film would seem far fetched.

Tin Star (2017–2020)

Playing Messi in Goal

[4/10 · 1 August 2019]

It is difficult to pin point exactly when the writers stopped trying and when they actually went home. I'm guessing around episode 2 season 2. The first season was very good. The second, very bad.

Season 2 loiters on every scene. There is zero urgency in everything that happens, and the camera just loves to sit there watching, and watching, as it captures the same scene developing into nothing. Sheer self indulgence.

Allied to this there are tens of minutes when nothing is said, and there are half hours when nothing of substance is said. There is a character that never speaks due to an earlier trauma - let's just say I'm glad they pointed that out. The collective vow of silence is beyond frustrating.

They had Tim Roth at their disposal, a terrific actor, why give him no lines? It is like having Messi in your team and playing him in goal. Have they finally lost the art of storytelling?

A tin star to all those responsible for season 2.

Escape at Dannemora (2018)

Long Stretch With Benefits

[7/10 · 29 July 2019]

Thankfully I'm unfamiliar with the American prison system so I don't know whether the extensive prison scenes are genuine or not. However, if it was the intention to depict the repetition of prison life this 8 part drama achieved it - 2 episodes too long.

Arquette, Dano and in particular, Lange, are excellent. Not that del Toro wasn't, although his character became far too annoying in the final episode. His complete lack of control was contrary to his patient and calm prison persona - I preferred him institutionalised.

It would have been interesting to hear more from Dano's character once he had been recaptured - the brief one to one from his hospital bed was all we got - perhaps that's all he gave.

Worth a watch.

Midsommar (2019)

Swedish House Massacre

[6/10 · 24 July 2019]

Bonkers. Swedish bonkers. Bonkers with a chance of meatballs. Beware the woman scorned. Pube soup? Enjoy!

Knightfall (2017–2019)

Medieval Wrestling

[5/10 · 21 July 2019]

I'm at S2 ep3 and I'm still not sure what to make of this show. You don't need a big budget to make good tv, but you do need a good script if you don't have one. Landry's advice to the raw recruits is a mixed bag. It is fair to say he has good and bad days. This episodes' advice was 'never look to another man for guidance" - one of his bad days.

And what about the fighting tactics of the Luciferians - the 13th century satanic wrestlers? If they had not chosen to fight as tag team wrestlers they may have got some more worshiping in.

I'm struggling with King Philip and his tantrums, he has to get over his wife's betrayal and his murder of her - he should perhaps seek someone's counsel, although not from Landry, for so many reasons.

I'll soldier on and hope things improve.

Siberia (2018)

Get Your Lumber Here

[1/10 · 17 July 2019]

Buying a ticket for a Keanu Reeves movie is like buying a Pot Noodle, you don't quite know what's motivating you, you know you'll be bitterly disappointed, and you swear minutes in that you'll never be so stupid again. But once every couple of years you do it - as if to commemorate that life could be so much worse.

KR could not be more wooden if he came packaged two by four. His ageing face contains no wrinkles, they are merely knots and growth rings. I've read that he is a charming man. Fine. Just don't act. Play to your strengths - whatever they may be.

Siberia is dreadful. You'd be better off eating dehydrated food from a Pot.

Yesterday (III) (2019)

No Coke No Oasis

[7/10 · 17 July 2019]

This is not my type of movie, and had pretty much written it off before I sat down. But thankfully I take little heed in many of my first thoughts. This is a simple but well scripted movie with a convivial cast. Lily James is excellent. Go along and watch it, you will enjoy it. Will it make you want to hug a Liverpudlian? Of course not. But it is good, I promise.

The Crew (2015)

More Thrills Than Frills

[6/10 · 14 July 2019]

This film rattles along at a good pace and doesn't feel the need to extend its 80 minutes running time with unnecessary backstories. It doesn't ask us to like the characters or feel any sympathy for them - they are what they are, take them or leave them. Ten minutes shorter than any premier league match with a lot more action and better French acting to boot.

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Scooby-Doo After Dark

[5/10 · 14 July 2019]

This film is not nearly as clever as it wants to be, with a number of its characters superfluous. Casey Affleck's character is somewhat disjointed - the tough guy approach is lazy and is used to replace the lack of more creative writing.

And Casey must learn to enunciate properly, the slightly tipsy drawl is frustrating. The film tries to pose a moral dilemma that wouldn't be a dilemma to anyone with morals. It's a pity that the ending was written on a late Friday afternoon - could have done with more thought.

Atomic Blonde (2017)

Cat People Behind The Wheel

[7/10 · 12 July 2019]

This is a sassy fun action movie with a relevant and kicking soundtrack. You put Bowie's 'Cat People' alongside Depeche Mode's 'Behind the Wheel' and you deserve 7/10 for sheer style.

Okay, the fight scenes are many and ask us to accept the impossible, but no different from any other movie. And movie viewers should not go searching for the deep and meaningful behind titles such as 'Atomic Blonde'.

Sit back, leave your brain in its box, and just enjoy the great cast fighting, spying and smoking their way through a devilishly good Anglo-German playlist. Berlin Rock!

Robert the Bruce (2019)

Painfully Poetic

[2/10 · 11 July 2019]

This is a surprisingly awful movie. It is no more than a month in the life of Robert the Bruce. A month in which he doesn't do very much. Every character at some point recites poetry, and when not playing the bard they speak in melodramatic statements in secondhand Scottish accents.

The dialogue was clearly written but a tourist who had spent a fortnight in Scotland, being force fed shortbread haggis on a permanent Highland Bus Tour. Nearly every word that was said by the loyal family left The Bruce staring into the heather wondering whether these were the exact words that would reenergise his fight for Freedom!

If David Brent was a 14th century freedom fighting Scot, he would be hard pushed to come up with a more uncomfortable rallying speech that battered us all at the end.

The Bruce The Bruce The Pub The Pub!