Change Your Image
jius
Reviews
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
THE Spiderman Film to Watch!
Don't write many reviews, but this film deserves every bit of it's 10/10 score. The film pulls you in with the crispiest animation images I've seen on the big screen - you seriously cannot watch this on a home TV screen to give it justice. Beautiful colours and sequences it leaves you in awe. The score and soundtrack is amazing and is like the glue that binds the images together and feels very much part of the feel and story - not just some random celeb hits added as an afterthought.
The excellent script with its qwerks, twists, jokes and heart felt moments just capture you attention non-stop, that you don't have time to even contemplate how time has passed in the real world. I've watch Disney and other animation stuff checking watch or phone waiting for the end, but not one bit in this movie. It truly captures your attention from beginning to end.
The cast are very well put together with each voice and actor just giving fantastically to the story in their unique ways.
I went to watch on a non-cheap night at the cinema with the whole family and it's the first film in a long long time that I didn't feel a bit robbed and actually came out so glad my little monetary contribution has gone into the film for cast and crew. They have done a fantastic job. It is by far the best Spiderman film in all areas.
It seriously is a must watch!
The Crown (2016)
The West Wing of the Royal Family
Great show with good acting and everything that makes for a great watchable series. It's of great quality and very much like a series that gets you hooked and doesn't treat you like some dumb idiot for having watched. Just as many have commented it's very much like the West Wing kind of series. It's one to watch and won't disappoint.
Odd Squad (2014)
Fun entertainment with Maths undertones
Good family fun entertainment with a little maths undertones running as the on going theme. The Concept of the show is like a more mature version of The Numberjacks TV show, where numbers go missing or numbers with a relationship. So anyone familiar with that TV series will find this very familiar territory in terms of concepts and math problems, just made with a higher budget and slightly older audience in mind. If The Numberjacks and SpyKids had a baby, this would be the resulting show. Whilst it's no super groundbreaking in originality it is still a great show for keeping kids interested and gets them to think about maths and numbers and just how much we rely on them every day, which this show fulfils this aim marvellously.
Unbroken (2014)
Somewhat pointless, somewhat 'is that it?', somewhat Stockholm syndrome
This is not a truly bad film, so wont leave you feeling like you just lost two years of your life you will never get back, but you do leave with a sense of "pointless" coming to your mind.
The movie does not have any big hitting names that will instantly grap the attention of cinema goers, but the acting, although not Oscar winning, was probably the best thing of this film by far. You do get little taste of what could become of some of the actors, so ones to look out for in the future, especially the lead.
What lets this film down seems to be the script and direction. Yes the movie may be based on an interesting tale of an Airman and PoW in WW2, but excluding the part of being an Olympian, its really a tale heard many a time from the many grandfathers of my generation who likewise were maltreated PoW to the Japanese.
The movie tries to focus in on the fighting spirit and determination of the human soul, however following a lost at sea fight, it seems it just tries to show these aspects from the various facial expressings during physical beatings. There does not seem any depth to the characters true emotion and feelings, other than a one liner "I want to kill him".
As the film progresses you just instantly know that another beating is coming, and you so eagerly want to just get it over with so you can move on in the hopes that something further will unfold. However as an audience it's like you are just experiencing some sort of Stockholm syndrome and you just come to expect the beatings - feel nothing - and just want to wait for the next one.
As time further progresses the only thing that starts to come to mind are the various ways you feel for the character and how you would like to kill the Japanese camp leader who has obvious spoilt-child / father issues and just wants to make everyone as miserable as he is. You keep wanting something more to happen, thinking "this is the time the camp will be liberated" and wanting to hear the crack of a snipers bullet flying towards Birdman's head, bringing the roar of sound as the karma balance begins in the universe. But nothing! It's like the paper ran out so the last page read "War ends".
The real story here, despite it being a film so keen to show the spirit of humanity, is that NOTHING happens to make amends. The war ends, PoWs return home, suffer PTSD and the only hope of lasting justice in the good vs evil / Kharma balance is that the Birdman hides for a few years only to be later "Let off" scott free in the interest of American / Japan relations! And after all its the beaten up runner who has to do all the forgiving. So you leave the cinema thinking "whats the point!". Its not a bad way to pass 2 hours, but you could better spend your time reading a whole range of accounts from PoWs who had things just as bad, if not worse, but unfortunately did not have the privilege of being a "non-champion, but good participant Olympian"
Apocalypto (2006)
An interesting idea but rather a little disappointing
An interesting film in that it is trying to go against the Hollywood grain, but the films downfall is the way in which it tries to be different. The film is a typical Mel Gibson film in that the core "doctrine" of the film is never accurate, even going back to Braveheart this is very evident in his films.
In this film Gibson would have us believe that the Maya empire is collapsing and their crops are failing all as the Spanish are about to arrive. It's a shame that the Maya Empire collapsed in the 8th - 9th Century. So perhaps it is the fall of the Aztec empire then in the film...but then shouldn't they be speaking in Nahuatl? Rather confusing as to what is going on.
This aside using Maya as the language was a good way to give the film a cultural flavour, but again its rather funny that despite there still being many Mayan language variations the different tribes could communicate with ease. I would have been nice if he had used real Maya people as the actors speaking Maya for real. It was funny to hear hits of US and Native American accents in the obvious non-speakers Maya. Perhaps the acting talent is not quite there in Mayan communities, but Gibson at least could have used Mexican main actors that would have looked more believable as Mayan's than using State-side actors.
I guess if you take out all the Mel Gibson hype and some of the gore and action...this would have been one foreign language film that would have failed a lot less at the cinema. But a good indicator of a film's success is to go a few days later than its premier and see how many people are still going. I did and found the cinema about 1/12th full...if that, and with an average age of 40.
Overall it was an interesting film...but you do feel a little disappointed after watching it and feels like it lacked just that little bit extra depth to it. But if you want to see a Pre-Hispanic Rambo jumping off cliffs and attacking his predators...then you will enjoy the final 1/2 hour or so.
The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey (2003)
Not all LDS are brain dead when it comes to Films
This movie was very much hyped up on the internet and is a great story that could be told. So like many I looked forward to this with great enthusiasm. But after the wait I was really disappointed. In all fairness this was not a Lord of the Rings budget to get the best actors and best effects, but 'cheap' doesn't have to be nasty - just look at what Robert Rodriguez does on a low budget. A lot of Mormon families will claim this is a great film, but not all Mormons are brain-dead when it comes to films and their short comings.
So what made this film a poor story of the Book of Mormon?: Here are some reasons: 1) The actors seemed to look just like American tourists dressed up in 'authentic' period costumes, rather than people that would seem naturally to be from Israel. All their mannerisms just seemed to appear American no matter how hard they tried.
2) The costumes look very cheap and very false. The wardrobe or costume crew just don't seem to have realised the story telling power in just clothes alone. In one scene they have been in the desert for a period of time away from their homes, just you see them walking around with clean clothes that would pass any doorstep challenge for soap powder and their detergent would be a wonder product for P&G.
3) Continuity and scenes - There are some little things that make the story less believable. These are not things that cost anything, but by not doing them makes the film out to be funny where it should not. An example is that they reach the Promised Land after weeks at sea. However you see the family members walking on the beach after leaving their ship, out towards the horizon, but they are walking from the sea towards the land, but with perfectly dry clothes (not even their feet are wet).
OVERALL it would say this film made me laugh more than anything. All through the film it just seemed so ridiculous that we just seemed to laugh at everything. It seemed so poorly done that rather than keep it simple and let the excellent story tell itself, it seemed to be butchered and battered into shape with no real feel of a great film. If you want to get an insight into the Book of Mormon story, you are better off just reading the Book of Mormon itself. It will give you all the story without the 'cheese' and laughs caused by a poorly made film.
Dark Water (2005)
I lost 2 hours of my life!!
One of the worst films I have ever seen. Everyone should have been on edge and wriggling about in their seat with fear, instead everyone was moving around with sheer boredom. I have not been in a film where over half the audience went to the toilet during the film.
The film had no foul language, but after this film and during you could hear more 18/R rated words and foul language than any Mafia films combined coming from the audience and not the film.
You don't jump once, there are no spooky shocks in the film. So its no thriller or horror or anything anywhere near come to think of it.
*Possibly a spoiler* (depends on your own opinion of a spoiler) During the film she takes a pill and wakes up 24 hours later losing a whole day. I wish they have served these type of pills with the popcorn then I could have woke up and lost 2 hours of my life in a less painful manner.
If you want an film where you can sit on the back row with your girlfriend/boyfriend and get some kissing action without worrying you will miss a good film. Then this is the perfect film for you!
Just keep repeating this film over and over in any terrorist interrogation and they will be talking in minutes.