Fat Freddy's Reviews

My first Netflix film, and a good way to start it off. As I get older, I find it more and more difficult to watch movies where people are abused, discriminated against, bullied etc. because once you become a parent, your whole perception of life changes and you want your children to be treated decently. In this context, I hate seeing how African Americans were discriminated against not too long ago – and some would argue this is still the case.

So, although it was hard to watch some parts of this movie, it is a very well made and acted movie that made me feel uncomfortable most of the way through. In fact, we had to pause it halfway through to put kids to bed, and I seriously considered calling it quits, as this happened just after the scene where Hap (Rob Morgan), who has an unhealed broken leg, gets out of bed to help out on his farm after he’s threatened with eviction by Henry McAllan (Jason Clarke) and re-breaks the leg when he stands on it – I just winced and cringed and had a horrible feeling inside me and just wanted to stop the misery.

But I’m glad I stuck it out because I think it was a beautiful film amongst the depressing muddy setting and the suffering families had to go through in the Louisiana Delta region just to scrape a living.

But amongst all that misery and suffering there was always hope and love and optimism that things would get better with hard work. There was a lot of humanity amongst a lot of miserable people (namely Papi - a usually strong Jonathan Banks) such as Laura McAllan (an always excellent Carey Mulligan) and Jamie McAllan (Garret Hedlum, who I had never seen in a movie before, the guy can act) who befriends the black people on their land and help them through some tough times.

Then you have Henry, who shows glimpses of a nice person, but doesn’t always treat his sharecroppers very well, but doesn’t seem aware that what he’s doing is wrong. Hard to believe that someone would swap the comforts of a life in the city to move to the back waters of Louisiana and try to make a living off that farm and live in the shack they ended up living, especially with a curmudgeon like his father, but that’s what the book said, so it had to be done.

I can’t say that I enjoyed the movie, but I appreciate the performances and the story was very compelling, but I don’t think I have another 2-odd hours of this type of suffering in me.

Genre: Drama/War

Watchability factor: 4/5 – very good movie but a hard watch at times.

Standout performance: Very good performances from a very fine cast.

This is one of those films that promised so much but ultimately disappointed. I watched the whole thing but there were a number of times when I was tempted to cut my losses and stop, but I have been known to be stubborn. The premise is really good, a group of Texans want to secede from the Union, and part of the plan is to take some cities through rapid guerrilla warfare – good idea in principle but they didn’t count on the bolshiness of Bushwick, Queens residents and the “number of guns people had”! We know from several war-related movies that intelligence is key to successful warfare but rarely is it right.

The first scene is a good start, a couple are walking on a subway platform on the way to visit her grandmother and surprised why it’s so deserted, then as they’re exiting they hear gunfire and screams – the boyfriend tells the girl to wait while he goes to see what’s happening (she wisely tells him not to go, but do men ever listen) - and as soon as he walks up the exit stairs, an explosion is seen and he comes back down the stairs burnt to a crisp, so that relationship is toast!! And that’s about the best scene is the movie, as the girl (X) panics and recklessly towards her grandmother’s house, only to be almost shot, raped and killed a number of times until saved by Stupe (Dave Bautista, who almost saves this movie and is the best actor here by a country mile), who’s an ex-combat soldier and helps her out. If it wasn’t for the script telling him to help her, I’m sure he would have dumped her after 5 minutes, as she was written as a bleating and useless character, so well played by Brittany Snow.

The rest of the movie is kind of The Warriors plight of trying to get back to Coney Island, only this time there are semi-automatic guns and rockets trying to kill them, as well as a heavily armed militia instead of baseball-wielding Furies, and these guys are trying to make it to an army extraction point – other than that it’s pretty much the same.

Genre: Action/Thriller

Watchability factor: 2/5 – no way I would ever watch this again

Standout performance: None really, although Dave Bautista is good and believable.

I’ve long been a fan of Gary Oldman, I think he’s a great actor and played some great roles over his career. And this is perhaps his greatest role ever, for which he won the Golden Globe and the Oscar.

The Darkest Hours tells the story of Winston Churchill’s appointment as Prime Minister of Britain following the no-confidence motion against Neville Chamberlain, who had haplessly led Britain into World War 2 when his policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler backfired terribly.

Churchill was no-one’s first choice, as he was a controversial character with a bit of baggage as a Minister in previous government, and the Gallipoli affair in the First War was squarely blamed on him. However, as we well know, his dogged determination to not surrender and to fight to the end was what helped the nation overcome the adversity it faced at the time to not only hang on, but to eventually win the war alongside its allies.

Oldman’s performance captures Churchill’s aggressive and combative nature, as well as the soft side he shared with his family, making him the complex character that history has shown us. He was a brilliant yet eccentric man, who was a great orator and certainly a master motivator. Some of his speeches have become legendary and I remember memorising some snippets for history lessons at school in England.

The production is excellent, as it captures the mood and the tone of Britain’s ‘Darkest Hours’ very well. The greyness of a city under siege and the recreation of the House of Commons and the debates held therein look to be very accurate. This is something I think only the English can do to this level of quality, they excel in these period pieces, so this just adds to the quality of the movie.

Kristen Scott Thomas also excels as Clementine, Churchill’s rock and support when everything else is hard going. She’s his confidant and biggest cheerleader, and he certainly needs this support as he almost single-handedly refuses to even consider peace talks with Hitler, let alone surrender.

Many of the prominent Tory leaders suggest negotiating for peace, as their army is close to being wiped out in Dunkirk, and if they lose them, Britain has no more army. But in a daring move, Churchill moves to rescue the 300,000 odd troops stranded across the Channel with the help of the largest ever civilian fleet, who are conscripted to help rescue the troops (which is the subject of the great Christopher Nolan directed movie – Dunkirk). Which allows Britain to fight another day. It helped that Churchill ended up having the support of King George V, who was initially reluctant to have him as his PM, he instead wanted his friend Lord Halifax, who was the main proponent of a negotiated peace. However, Churchill’s courage and determination won over the sovereign, and they had a strong working relationship throughout the rest of the war.

This all happens within a 40-day period, and the stress and pressures faced by the War Cabinet are well-reflected in the movie.

Genre: Biography/Drama/History

Watchability factor: 4.5/5

Standout performance: Clearly Gary Oldman, who won every award on offer for this performance, Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Writers’ Guild, etc. However, all performances are pretty solid, making this a classic film.

Vince Vaughan had already made a bit of a switch from his usual goofy-comedy-slacker persona to the tough guy one in the second season of True Detective (and he played Norman Bates in the remake of Psycho, which I haven’t watched), but his turn as Bradley Thomas in Cell Block 99 is brilliant. I thought he did a great job in portraying this very violent and angry man with some sympathy, as he does what he does to save his wife and unborn child.

He’s clearly not a good guy, as he’s a drug runner and apparently has previously had some trouble with the law (he works some low-level jobs so I assume he has a criminal record) and has worked running drugs previously and he goes back to that when he loses his job towing trucks.

A year or so later we see him driving a fancy car and living in a luxurious house, and his wife is pregnant, so things are looking up for him. That is, until his boss asks him to work with a big Mexican dealer, which Bradley isn’t too pleased about. He and 2 of the Mexican’s men carry out a late night pick up on the ocean, and all goes well until they get back to land and the authorities are waiting for them. They have a chance to get away, but the Mexicans want a fight and consequently have a big shootout. Bradley again has a chance to get away but decides to help the authorities and take out the Mexicans, killing one in the process, who happens to be the big dealer’s brother-in-law. Bradley is arrested, put on trial and given 17 years in prison.

Like the stand-up guy he is, he doesn’t rat out his boss and does the time in a medium security jail, which looks like it will be easy work as long as he doesn’t get into any trouble. However, on his second day there he gets a mysterious visitor, who tells him he has to get transferred to a maximum security prison and on top of that, to the notorious Cell Block 99, where he has to kill a specific prisoner. Not an easy thing to accomplish, and he sets out to achieve this the only way he knows how – to beat the crap out of anyone who he comes across!!

He first takes out the guard that tries to convince him to do so boxing in the gym, and just wipes the floor with him, then some of the other guards that come to rescue their colleague. This gets him sent to the maximum security prison, where he’s welcomed by the cigar-smoking Warden, played by an excellent Don Johnson. The Warden warns him that this prison will be a lot tougher than the previous one and that his guards are not the ‘pussies’ in the other prison. He takes this introduction very stoically, but he still needs to get to Cell Block 99. How does he go about doing that? You guessed it; he beats up some tough guys in the prison yard, and breaks one of the guard’s arms just for fun. This finally gets him to Cell Block 99 and the full wrath of the Warden and the other guards.

Cell Block 99 is hidden away in the bowels of the prison where these sadistic guards can essentially do what they want with prisoners. He’s hooked up to an electric shock harness that allows the guards to shock him whenever they want, and they do it quite a bit. Bradley is shocked and beaten to unconsciousness and when we wakes, he starts asking about the prisoner he has to kill, but there is no such person housed there. And then the penny drops, as he’s taken away to a special room where the Mexican Drug Lord is being kept, along with the other guy he did the pickup with. So, they’re going to beat the crap out of him and kill his wife and unborn child, who they have as a hostage and have a sadistic Korean doctor on hand who can cut off the unborn child’s limbs – lovely!

The only way for Bradley to win is to take out the guy, so he pads his kidneys with the insoles of this prison shoes to mitigate the electric shock effects and then proceeds to take out a couple of guards and the Mexicans, and turns the table on the Drug Lord as he now holds the cards and tortures him until the order is given to release his wife to his boss, who kills sniper-shoots the Drug Lord’s rep and the doctor once she’s safely in his custody – good riddance to both.

While this is going on, the rest of the Warden’s team has arrived and are ready to storm the place, but cannot do so because Bradley still has one captive guard, Bradley promises to give himself up once his wife is safe, and there is a bit of light humour as the Warden constantly asks Bradley when they can come in. once his wife is safe, he kills the Drug Lord, releases the prisoner and gives himself up, but we know this isn’t going to end well for him.

This is a no-holds barred movie, there is constant action and lots and lots of really violent scenes, certainly not for the faint hearted. I really enjoyed it as it’s quite an original plot and carried out by some really good performance, especially Vince Vaughan and a really mean and tough Don Johnson.

Genre: Action/Crime/Drama

Watchability factor: 4/5 - I would certainly watch this again

Standout performance: Vince Vaughan is quite amazing here, he’s in just about every scene in the movie and although he’s pretty much a scum bag, he does what he does for his wife and unborn child.

Now this was an unusual movie about a Marvel character I knew nothing about. I vaguely knew of its existence but had never read a comic and had only watched the trailer and I think one interview with Benedict Cumberbatch, so this was all new to me. My main criticism of the movie is the convoluted plot and backstory to the Masters or sorcerers. As with most Marvel plots, there’s another being intent on destroying our little planet and turning it into the Darkness (similar to Star Wars I hear you say?), and there are always those drawn to the dark side and we have a few of those here.

I sometimes dislike movies that rely too much on CGI and special effects, but I suppose that it would be very hard to tell this story without all that magic, as the movie is all based on the magic that the sorcerers can produce. Having said that, the quality of the special effects is extraordinary, especially the changing shapes of buildings and rooms, which reminded me a lot of Christopher Nolan’s Inception.

I really like Cumberbatch as an actor, I think he has great screen presence and clear movie star charisma, but I found his American accent a bit off-putting, which is unusual as I think he did a great job with his Boston accent for Black Mass. Maybe it was just me, but I thought he was off the pace here with his accent. I did like how he moved from the horribly arrogant and condescending neurosurgeon to the broken, shell of a man he became following his accident and his inability to operate again, to the supremely confident Dr Strange – Sorcerer who saves the world from Kaecilius (another fine, evil performance from Mads Mikkelsen).

After watching this movie his cameo in Thor Ragnarok is much more relevant and it was nice to see a short clip of this at the end of the movie. It will be interesting to see what role Dr Strange has to play in Infinity War so hopefully it meshes in well. Although I liked it more than I was expecting, I don’t think this will be part of my Marvel collection of movies, and I don’t think I’ll watch this movie again but you never know.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy

Watchability factor: 3/5 – it was entertaining but not at the top of my MCU viewing list

Standout performance: everyone was good but not one performance over the others.

I finally got around to watching this movie, I’ve had it for ages but just never got myself organised and I wanted to watch it with the kids, etc., etc. Long story short, I finally watched it and really enjoyed it. It’s got a lot of the elements from the first movie but Volume 2 gives us a few more insights into Star Lord’s past and how he ended up with Youndu.

A recurring theme amongst MCU movies is the constant threat of being outside our universe trying to conquer or destroy either our little Earth or other planets or systems, and Volume 2 is no different (nor is the premise behind Dr Strange, which I also managed to watch straight after Guardians).

What makes this set of Marvel movies are the characters and how well they’re interpreted by the actors. Chris Pratt is a bone fide star, as I’ve said in previous reviews, and although he’s the leading man, he’s very ably supported by the rest of the cast. Dave Bautista as Drax gets more screen time in this movie and he’s excellent as the literal alien who lacks the ‘filter’ from what he thinks to what he says. He’s quite hilarious in his lines (he has sensitive nipples) and Bradley Cooper is once again outstanding as the obnoxious yet lovable Rocket Racoon. He’s a pain in the arse but he’s a loyal friend and will fight to the end with you, and he’s got the best one-line put downs since Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop. And Baby Groot, who without speaking anything other than “I am Groot”, manages to convey a very funny, heartfelt performance so hats off to the CGI/graphics experts.

Then we have the complicated sibling relationship between Gamora and Nebula, and we can understand now the hatred Nebula has for her sister. Thanos, who I believe we will see quite a lot of in the upcoming Infinity War, made them fight as children and every time Nebula lost to Gamora, a bodily part would be taken as punishment, leaving her half robot and with a lot of pent up anger.

And this leads us to another sociopathic, megalomaniac madman that wants to rule the universe, Kurt Russell’s Ego, who we find out his Peter Quill’s long-lost father. However, it turns out he had quite a few children with a lot of different women across the galaxies, all in the hope that they would have the celestiality he required to dominate all the worlds and planets where he’s sown his seeds – literally not metaphorically.

This was a very enjoyable film from every aspect, it was funny, had a good plot, enough action to keep fans like me happy and although the ending was a bit sad, it was uplifting because Youndu gave the ultimate sacrifice a parent would make for their ‘child’.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy

Watchability factor: 4/5 – it’s a really entertaining movie, but not as good as the first one.

Standout performance: All the cast is really good I thought, no one stands out over the others.

Just when I thought the MCU output couldn’t get any better after watching Thor Ragnarok, out comes Black Panther to prove me wrong. As much as I loved Thor, I think Black Panther was that smidgen better but it’s hard to place my finger on the why. Perhaps the villain is more human and less theatrical than Cate Blanchet’s Hela in Thor, but don’t get me wrong, she was a pretty good villain but Michael B. Jordan’s Killgore really had me hating him in the movie, which I didn’t experience in Thor.

We got an early glimpse into the wonders of the Kingdom of Wakanda in Captain America: Civil War and arguably Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther was the breakout star of the movie (although Tom Hollander’s Spiderman gives him a run for his money, albeit with far less screen time), so this movie gives us a far more detailed backstory as to why it is so rich and technologically advanced, and the role played by the Panther. It’s quite fascinating to think what good a country could do with the riches and technology Wakanda has, and this is what gets T’Chaili in trouble, as many in his kingdom want to continue playing it low-profile and fool the world that they are one of the poorest countries in the world.

And herein lies the problem with being so rich and hiding it from the rest of the world, somehow this will be found out and in the case of Wakanda, the unscrupulous mercenary Ulyses Klaue (once again brilliant Andy Serkis with a South African accent this time) and the mysterious Killgore, who we find out is T’Chaili’s long-lost first cousin who he didn’t know existed. He knows all about the riches of his homeland but he wants to use these riches for arguably the right reasons (the liberation of all African descendants from their oppressors) through the wrong medium – guns and violence. I guess it’s all he knows as all he’s trained for all his life is to gain what the thinks is his right – the Kingdom of Wakanda.

In a sense, the story isn’t original as there have been movies based on this premise, someone has lost their birth right and work towards achieving this no matter what. However, there are so many other aspects around this movie that doesn’t just make it a revenge movie, perhaps because Killgore’s motives only arise towards the middle of the movie and catches everyone unawares.

There’s plenty of action and humour in this movie so it covers a wide range of themes or genres. The fight sequences are great and it doesn’t rely so much on CGI, as other superhero movies do, fortunately because it doesn’t need to as the fights are pretty in-your-face and they don’t require as much CGI. This isn’t a criticism of CGI sequences, as some of them have been quite spectacular, but if you don’t need them as much, don’t use them for the sake of using them.

I liked that females are at the forefront of the movie and not there to be just the romantic interest, T’Chaili’s warriors are badass and as skilful fighters as any other characters in movies, and they don’t take no crap from anyone, this is great and we should see more of this in movies.

Watchability factor: 5/5- fantastic movie, will definitely buy the DVD when it comes out and watch this movie many times again

Standout performances: all the performance are great, but I guess you have to highlight Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan, they really do standout because the plot revolves around them and their relationship. Lupita N’Young is also great as the tough spy and King’s girlfriend. Martin Freeman reprises his role of CIA agent Everett Ross and as always, he’s spot on.

I remember very well the events that this movie is based on, the taking of the Iranian Embassy in London and the holding of a number of hostages, as I was living in London at the time and it happened on my birthday. It was all over the news and I vividly remember the images of the siege by the SAS, stuff of legend. What I didn’t remember was the motive behind the act, which was the release of prisoners held by the Iranian Government.

One of the many things that I liked about this movie was that it showed the terrorists as humans rather than the monsters that they are normally shown as in movies. They had a genuine cause they were willing to give their lives for, and they mostly showed some compassion to their hostages, especially the leader of the gang.

The other movie that had elements of this event was the dire Who Dares Wins, which was more about the SAS than the event at Kensington Gardens, but it did culminate in the siege. Because of this, it didn’t have the human element of 6 Days nor drama and the events that build-up to the siege. This is a movie that is centred on these events and all the participants that were involved, so it was good to see how this all unfolded, from the terrorists entering the Embassy, to the BBC reporter who becomes the face of the crisis, to the Policy negotiator (brilliantly played by the always excellent Mark Strong), to the political ass-covering in Parliament and finally to the SAS squad who’s tasked with entering the Embassy, led by the impressive Jaime Bell (he’s come a long way from Billy Elliott!!).

The film also gave a probably more realistic insight as to what the SAS is really like – they’re humans who although highly trained, they also make mistakes and need to train as much if not more than others to get to their level of expertise. Their training runs weren’t flash and they had to repeatedly rehearse until they got it right, as errors will lead to loss of SAS lives and civilian lives.

Central to the film is the relationship between Mark Strong’s character and the terrorist leader. This relationship, driven by Strong’s empathy with him and his willingness to make concessions to get him to release some hostages makes it crucial to building the trust that will hopefully see a peaceful resolution to this crisis. However, since the British Government has a strong stance against terrorism, it’s unlikely that this was ever going to end well, and of course we know for a fact that it doesn’t, with the SAS bursting in and killing all but one of the terrorists, with no loss of civilian life.

A very good movie, with good performances from all (although I thought Abby Cornish’s reporter was slightly bland) and very well-paced and structured, as it slowly builds up the characters, relationships and actions to the final, explosive taking of the building, all captured on film by the many reporters present on the day.

Genre: Action/Drama/History

Watchability factor: 4/5 -it’s a well put together movie based on real events and real people.

Standout performance: Mark Strong

This one of those rare movies that have everything, humour, action and drama all in equal measures of amount and quality. You could characterise this movie in any one of those ways and you would be spot on, as it’s very funny, it has tons of action and fight scenes and has the necessary drama you would expect from a Thor movie. So how would I characterise this movie: as a comedy/action/drama masterpiece!

I loved it, and so did my 12 and 9 year-olds who watched it with me. This was funnier than most movies that label themselves as comedies, we had one guy sitting near us who laughed very loudly – and a lot. The dialogue was excellent, you can’t make people laugh if the lines ain’t funny, and you also need the actors who can deliver those lines, and the movie certainly has those. I just love the scene where he’s about to fight gladiator-style and rejoices when his opponent is The Hulk, and he calls him ‘his friend from work’, I still think that’s brilliant. If this action/drama thing doesn’t work out for Chris Hemsworth, he certainly has a future in comedies, as he was hilarious. His one-liners were excellently timed and he isn’t afraid of making Thor a little less cool than we’re used to.

Tom Hiddleston has played Loki tongue-in-cheek for large portions of the Marvel movies, but here he’s allowed a lot more latitude and it pays off. Even Mark Ruffalo plays his Bruce Banner a lot lighter than anyone has in the past, it’s kind of the Arnie/Danny DeVitto partnership from twins, they are very good together. Jeff Goldblum is a funny guy and he’s done funny before and he’s great here as the Grandmaster, and our own Rachel Hope plays a similar role to the one she played in ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’, very deadpan but funny. To top it off, Taika Waititi voices perhaps the funniest character of all, Korg, a stone-figure that’s a warrior but doesn’t like fighting and speaks like a Maori cuzzie‘bro. This will be funnier for Kiwis than other countries but I thought it was genius.

The story is really quite simple, Thor and Loki have a sister they never knew about – Hela (played excellently, of course, by Cate Blanchett) who, loves to reap destruction and did so very effectively with her father Odin until either she got too psycho or he got too soft – either way she was banished by Odin but makes her way back to Asgaard seeking her revenge. Since Odin has died, it’s up to the brothers to stop the older sister, but she’s far too powerful and destroys Thor’s hammer in the fight that cements her place in her home planet while managing to send the brothers flying off into the universe, where they both land in X, and Thor is a prisoner.

His imprisonment makes him realise his power and his leadership qualities that he’s perhaps not showed so much in previous outings. He not only manages to escape from his imprisonment, but he manages to convince a more relaxed Bruce Banner to follow him, as well as the disillusioned Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) who is the person who originally captured him. She is the last of the Valkyries, who were all destroyed by Hella many years ago, so although there’s a certain amount of fear for Hella’s power, revenge is a more motivating emotion. Thor also gives the stone guy and many of his fellow gladiators the opportunity to break the shackles of slavery and they follow him on his quest.

Meanwhile, all Hella has broken loose (see what I did there) and Asgaard and its people are being systematically destroyed so Thor needs to return to save his planet. However, Thor thinks Hella is far too strong for him especially as he’s lost his hammer, but in a transcendental conversation with his father, Odin makes him see that his power comes not from the hammer, but from thunder, as he’s the God of Thunder. This power allows him to defeat Hella with the help of Loki and Korg, as well as Heimdall (Idris Elba) and a remorseful Skurge (Karl Urban) and the resurrection of the Fire Demon Surtue (voice by Clancy Brown, one of favourite ‘evil’ actors), who prophesised the Ragnarok, the destruction of Asgaard, which is the only way to defeat Hela. However, the heroes manage to save the people of Asgaard, as this is what makes Asgaard what it is, the people, not the planet.

Very exciting final battles where the CGI is quite spectacular but not over the top and certainly doesn’t take away from the story or the characters.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy

Watchability factor: 5/5 have watched this a number of times since, it’s got everything I want to see in a movie.

Standout performance: I think everyone is good here but since it’s a Thor movie, Chris Hemsworth edges out the other great performances, even Taika’s voicing of Korg.

I’ve been a big fan of the Mitch Rapp series of books written by the late, great Vince Flynn. I’ve read all the books and re-read all of them many times. Obviously, I really enjoy them and for years I wondered why a movie had never been made based on this character. If ever a series of books were apt for movie adaptation, this was the one. So, imagine my excitement when I found out that finally an agreement had been reached to actually make a movie, and even more excitement when I saw the trailer a few months ago.

I have been counting down the weeks and days until I could go and watch this movie, and I finally did with my eldest boy, as my wife didn’t show that much interest. I was cautiously optimistic that the movie would live up to the books and to my long-awaited wish to see Mitch on the silver screen. And it didn’t disappoint, as has happened with so many great books that result in average movies. It’s certainly not a great or classic film but it has most of the elements that you want in an action movie and builds a strong platform for future Rapp movies.

American Assassin is loosely based on the book with the same name, which is a prequel to how Mitch Rapp joined the CIA and what his main role is – hunt down terrorists and kill them, or as he says, he wants them to lie awake knowing he’s coming for them. There were a number of books before this one that showcased Rapp’s unique skills. The books showed why he became the killing machine he is, but American Assassin showed his path to acquiring these skills and brought out the Stan Hurley character for the first time (very well played, as always, by Michael Keaton).

Rapp is an irreverent, maverick character, and this does come through in Dylan O’Brien portrayal of Rapp. And this is an important characteristic of the Rapp character, that ability and need to operate alone for extended periods of time, generally behind enemy lines and with no support in his quest to kill terrorists. Hopefully there will be new movies to bring out this fantastic fictional character, that long deserved to be on the silver screen.

As much as I enjoyed the movie, and there were some great moments in there, something didn’t quite click with me, and I’m struggling to understand what this is, which may be the difference between a good movie and a great one in my book. Perhaps it’s the casting of Rapp, as Adrian Grenier (from Entourage) was the face I always associated with Rapp and who I would have cast had I been a producer or director. Don’t get me wrong, Dylan is good and I’m not sure that’s the reason. Perhaps it was the plot, which had some confusing twists at times or perhaps it was Taylor Kitch’s character, Ghost, who seemed just a bit over the top as the psychotic terrorist – really nothing we haven’t seen thousands of times before but done better.

Genre: Action/Thriller

Watchability factor: 2.5/5 – It was good but not great and I think an opportunity was lost to create a franchise around this character, much like the series of books that has millions of fans around the world.

Standout performance: Michael Keaton, he was great and was the closest to nailing the fictional literary character.

This is the movie that Star Wars: The Force Awakens should have been, not what it ended up being, almost a copy and paste of A New Hope. Although there is a lot happening across the movie with characters spread out all over the place, I felt that Rian Johnson did a good job of keeping all the disparate plots within the overarching storyline, humming along and it all made sense.

I found it very disappointing that Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) only got a couple of minutes of screen time in the Force Awakens, so it was great to see him one of the main characters in this movie. A significant part of the plot centres around Luke and his failure to train Kylo Ren in the ways of the Jedi. His failure and the virtual eradication of the Jedi weighs heavily on his weary shoulders, much like it did for his mentor, Obi Wan Kenobi. There are similarities between the two, as they both ended up living as hermits shunning interactions with others. And it’s in this state of mind that he meets Rey, who clearly has The Force running strongly in her but he’s reluctant to get involved with her and train her as a Jedi.

In some ways, nothing changes in the Star Wars world, as the Resistance is still being hounded by the First Order and the Supreme Leader (unsurprisingly played by Andy Serkis) and his evil plans. You’d think Princess Leah (the late and great Carrie Fisher) would be sick and tired of being persecuted across the galaxies but she keeps going and drawing rebels to her cause. Leah is also weary from the years of struggle and the loss of her husband and son, Kylo Ren.

Which leads me on to Mr Kylo, who I was very critical of in my review last year but who I think has redeemed himself somewhat in this version. He’s still a child in a man’s body, one who has some pretty amazing powers. I think he reflects his conflict between good and evil much better this time and you believe that at some point, through his relationship with Rey, he might come back to the good side, but he’s too far gone and not even the prospect of being with the beautiful Rey will make him deviate from his path. It’s an interesting relationship, it’s not clear to me whether there is a romantic connection (I would say there is) or whether it’s the connection from The Force, but this is a key component of the story line and it works very well, there is certainly chemistry there or something.

Daisy Ridley gets better and more comfortable in her role and does a great job in interpreting the intrepid, morally strong and feisty Rey. She’s certainly growing in her role and you could read from the way the story line is moving ahead, she will be the main protagonist being the one remaining person that can harness The Force, although she isn’t officially a Jedi.

The shift from the original cast to the new and younger one will continue focusing on the very charismatic John Boyega, who also has an important role in this movie and he gets a lot of the more humorous lines. He gets to do a lot of the action scenes after he wakes up from what I assume was a coma at the end of the previous film. He develops an unlikely friendship and partnership with Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), who’s a bit of a techno-geek, who’s in awe of Finn, as he’s seen as a hero of the resistance. He almost gets killed off a few times in this version, so hopefully he doesn’t get himself in these situations too much in the future.

I really enjoyed this movie, I think it was exactly what the franchise needed after Episodes 1 to 3 and The Force Awakens (although I know a lot of people liked it, I found it unoriginal and preferred Rogue One), it had a good, solid plot with good acting, good characters and lots of really good action and special effects. My one criticism and it’s probably quite pedantic, is the franchise’s need to have “lovable’ creatures involved. We first saw this with the Ewoks, then the reprehensible Jar Jar and now we have Porgs. Yes, they’re cute but what do they add to the story? Having said that, my 10-year-old was quite drawn to them and thought they were so cute, so perhaps it’s me who’s out of touch with the thinking behind these creatures.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy

Watchability factor: 4/5 – I would definitely watch this movie again and probably should, as there are a number of things happening that I may need to watch again to fully understand.

Outstanding performance: I don’t think there’s one particular one that stands out, there are many very good ones that bring the whole movie together/

I never intended to watch this movie, I had read favourable reviews in movie magazines about it but it just didn’t seem like the type of movie I wanted to watch, one man alone (even if it’s Robert Redford, one of my favourite all time actors) on a sinking boat against all the elements. The concept is hardly new, it’s been done in different ways a number of times, but in spite of that I was channel surfing late one night after just having watched another movie, and we started watching and literally couldn’t stop watching it.

This is as enthralling and gripping as a movie gets. You know only bad things are going to happen to the poor dude but you don’t know what they will be and what I loved was the ingenuity and resilience he shows when faced with every new challenge he faces once the first hole is made in his yacht. I think what really makes this disaster movie stand out is that there is no dialogue whatsoever, apart from his unsuccessful mayday calls and then when he’s at the end of his tether because everything has gone wrong and I think he swears, but that’s it.

I think Redford is a great actor, I love many of his early movies and I particularly love 3 Days of the Condor and All the President’s Men amongst my highest rated movies (it’s too easy to say Butch Cassidy and The Sting, great films but loved by everyone) so he really has to act in this movie, as there is no dialogue and we can only perceive his emotions by his corporal expressions, and he makes it very clear how he’s feeling every time something goes wrong. One of the things I do like about films like these is that they show the human spirit and its willingness to go to any lengths to survive. I had watched the Walking Dead for years and always marveled at the resilience to continue fighting when everything is against you. I wonder whether I’d have that strength and determination to keep going when giving up is the easier option. I do hope I’m never tested but if I am, I do hope I show the same determination.

Anyway, he uses ingenuity and amazing improvisational skills to overcome all the situations he’s faced with, and when the sea is against you, there’s really nothing you can do but hunker down and pray things get better. For Redford’s character, they rarely do. It’s one storm after another until he has to abandon ship and keep going in the life raft, but even in the life raft things don’t go that well.

I normally don’t have the patience to watch movies on free-to-air channels because of the commercials but at this time of night the commercials are shorter and the movie was so good and gripping I just had to find how it ends, and it’s a really well done ending and the lead up to the end keeps you sucked in even more, as you really want him to make it but you know that the odds of him actually making it are minuscule. If you haven’t seen it, I really recommend watching it but only if you’re in a good space mentally.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama

Watchability factor: 4.5/5 – gripping, compelling, enthralling, exciting, nervy-wracking, etc., this will keep you glued to the screen until you find out his fate. Redford is superb, conveying his feelings only through his expressions, superb acting in my view.

I’ve been thinking about writing this review for over a week and still not completely sure how it’s going to go. I’d been looking forward to watching this movie for quite a while, especially after recently watching Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Dr. Strange and Guardians 2. I felt I would have been at a loss has I not watched these latest Marvel films to figure out how they all fit into this mammoth movie, and I’m glad I did, especially Black Panther and Dr Strange, as I wouldn’t have gotten the roles they played here.

After much deliberation, it wasn’t disappointment at the ending, it was surprising, unexpected, brave (or silly), confusing and provocative, which I think has made the MCU even more powerful and new movies and this sequel even more of an anticipatory event. It’s hard to imagine where the MCU and its many characters stand following the event of Infinity War, as it can potentially be the end of the road, but that’s hard to imagine given their popularity and money making potential. I guess like Game of Thrones, we’ll just have to wait until next year to find out what will happen. I realise I’m being quite cryptic here, but in case anyone ever reads this post, I don’t want to ruin the ending if someone hasn’t watched this movie.

After that ramble, I must say that this is a great movie – despite the surprising and unexpected ending – as it brings together all our favourite and popular Marvel characters from the last 10 years. It’s a long movie but it must be to weave all the different characters into the storyline so that they all get a fair share of screen time, although not all get as much as others. I don’t think anyone got short-changed in terms of what their character contributes to the overarching movie, as all the characters working together will theoretically save the day. I was surprised not to see Hawkeye, who has been such an important character over the years, and although Ant-Man has only appeared in 2 movies, Paul Rudd’s interpretation has certainly made a big impact, for such a small character.

Even though there’s lots of superheroes, they’re going up against the evilest and strongest character they have so far faced. However, Thanos isn’t a new character in the MCU, he’s been around since the first Thor movie and he’s the mastermind behind the alien invasion of Manhattan, and the father of Gamora and Nebula from the Guardians, so we’ve been getting insights into his plan for universe domination for a few years now. I guess we weren’t quite sure how he was going to achieve this, but now we know that by collecting a range of superpower stones, he will be the most powerful in the universe. Sounds like a megalomaniac, narcissistic psychopath, right? Well, you’d think so but Josh Brolin’s characterisation makes him relatively sympathetic and there’s a reason for the madness – the survival of the universe through the destruction of many of its species. If you think about it, it makes sense what he’s trying to achieve but genocide is never a good solution to any problem. We can now understand what he’s trying to achieve and why, but I’m still rooting for the Avengers to kick his butt!!

And this will be their toughest mission to date because he’s big, he’s bad, he’s strong, he’s determined and he’s got a big as army of wolf-like alien creatures that are pretty nasty themselves, and the Avengers are numbered and they’re fighting on different fronts and in different universes, so they’re not physically all fighting together as they have in previous installments. And given this separation of characters, the Russo brothers do a great job of maintaining the link to the story even when there are a number of side stories to the main story – if that makes any sense.

Ironman, Spiderman, Dr Strange and the Guardians minus Rocket (or rabbit as Thor calls him) and Groot, are fighting Thanos on Planet Knowhere, and are really close to besting him, but emotions win the day and he survives; Thor together with Rocket and Groot seek a weapon to replace his hammer, which was destroyed in Rangarok, so must visit Nidavellir to work with Eitri (Peter Dinkalege, who is a giant here) a master blacksmith to create something that is strong enough to destroy Thanos, and Captain America heads to Wakanda with Black Widow, Vision and Scarlet Witch to get the stone out of Vision, using Wakanda’s advanced technology, and destroy it before Thanos gets his hands on it. They enlist the help of his oldest friend, Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier, who is hiding out there following the events of Captain America: Civil War.

All of the action and fight sequences are huge, spectacular and epic, and heaps other adjectives. As with recent MCU movies, the dialogue is smart and witty and very character-driven rather than relying on the action and special effects. I love the humour in these movies and Rocket again has some great one-liners (telling Star Lord that he’s one sandwich away from being fat – genius!) and Star Lord and Thor have some great exchanges, so it’s not just about the action. As I said earlier, even Thanos’ character is very nuanced and the more we learn about him the more we understand him, and that’s due to the character that’s built around him and Brolin’s interpretation. They could have easily just made him batshit crazy, but that’s too easy, making him complex and deep is so much more interesting.

Genre: Action/adventure/fantasy

Watchability factor: 5/5 – Brilliant, one of the best of the year and I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD to purchase it.

Standout performance: It’s hard to point out one performance amongst so many good ones, also limited by the time each character gets in this massive plot, but as I’ve said in my narrative, I was very impressed with Josh Brolin’s performance as Thanos. He could have easily done over the top nasty, but the way he played doesn’t quite make him likable, but certainly sympathetic.

Even though I’ve said in other reviews, and most recently in my review of Murder on the Orient Express, that I’m not a big fan of remakes, especially when the original was great – I must retract this view to a certain extent, as this remake was really well done and very faithful to the original. I think Robin is looking down from Comedy Heaven and applauding the humour and action in this one. The premise is very similar to the original but updated from a board game to video game to keep up with the times. This time it’s four unlikely companions who end up in the Jumanji world and they chose their avatar personalities prior to playing, and that’s a great part of what makes the movie and humour work, as Spencer the Nerd becomes Spencer (via The Rock) the Adventurous, as he has super powers and is fearless, everything he’s not in the real world. The same goes for Fridge, who’s the Super Jock – athletic and tall – and turns into the opposite, courtesy of Kevin Hart, who does a great job and shows off his comic chops. The other two are Bethany (hilariously played by Jack Black) who’s formerly the Prom Queen and now is a middle-aged fat man and finally the Nerdy X, who’s now a hot, martial-arts expert, also well played by Karen Gillan. The four play really well off each other and it’s this relationship which mainly ensures the gags play out and there’s enough action and fights to keep people like me happy. Like the previous version, the idea is that the players have to achieve some challenges to make it through the different stages of the game, and they use their avatar skills to achieve this. And that’s part of the fun, like when Kevin Hart’s character de-fangs a Black Mamba snake, as he’s a zoologist and this is the only way to deal with it. The de-fanging is done with humour, as are most of the scenes in the movie. I like that they do pay homage to the original with a carving on a tree that said : “Alan Parish was here” in reference to Robin Williams’ character, nice touch guys. Great movie with a great cast and it was thoroughly enjoyed by the family as we watched it together.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy

Watchability factor: 4/5 – very entertaining and definitely worth another go at some stage

Standout performance: I think they were all good but perhaps the most difficult character to play was Jack Black’s Bethany, who was a hot young woman, and Jack black is not that, but he makes us think there is a woman in a man’s body, if that makes sense.

Talk about underwhelming, this should have been a slam dunk given the great Agatha Christie book, the great cast and the director, who has made some pretty good movies in the pst. I don’t know quite how to describe why this movie didn’t work for me, and it really has nothing to do that it has been done before and better, especially the Albert Finney version from 1974. For those who love Agatha Christie’s books, which I do, you know that Branagh’s interpretation of Poirot bears little resemblance to the literary character, in both appearance and personality. This isn’t the biggest issue I have with the movie, you don’t always want the character to be played the same way everyone else has done in multiple interpretations, so I applaud him for trying to do something different for this iconic character - what he didn’t just didn’t work. There’s little evidence of the ‘little grey cells’ at work or the intellectual elitism, he’s more of a clichéd version of the character lacking the depth to make him memorable. The rest of the cast don’t fare much better and they’re given little time to bring their respective characters out. Perhaps Johnny Depp is the only one who manages to bring out the nastiness of his character, the reason for which all the apparently disparate people are brought together and why they carry out the crime they did (it’s probably a well-known ending as there have been multiple adaptations of this book, so there’s probably no risk in me saying this, and probably very few people read this blog anyway, so should be ok). Ultimately, what’s normally gripped me about Christie’s novels is the mystery surrounding the crime and whole ‘whodunnit’ element that normally keeps you guessing to the end and it’s rarely who you think did it. This version does little gripping and Poirot begins to give some clues away and the finale is less compelling than it could/should have been, lacking the incredulous gasp when the culprits are finally revealed. I compare this with the relatively recent TV adaptation of “And Then There Were None”, where even though I knew who committed the murders and why, it was done in such a way that I was doubting if I remembered the plot correctly. This is what I think is mostly missing from this movie, the mystery and doubt about who could have done this. I’ve given my views in previous posts regarding remakes, especially when they got it right the first time. In this case, they didn’t quite capture the essence of a Christie mystery. On the positives are the production, which was really top notch, as was the period setting. The cast is one of the best ensembles you are likely to ever see but I felt none were really given the chance to truly show what they can do. Michelle Pfeiffer, who I think is a great actress, had perhaps the biggest chance to bring her character out, but I think the way the character was written didn’t allow her to flourish.

Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery

Watchability factor: 2/5 – this movie will be gone from my collection ipso facto, and I must find the 1974 version to reacquaint myself with quality Agatha Christie

Standout performance: none

As I said the in the Batman versus Superman review, the Justice League was a favourite comic growing up, so I really wanted to watch this movie but was held back a bit by the reviews I’d read, and the fact I hadn’t seen Batman vs. Superman. So, after watching BvS, I decided to watch Justice League. Much like my reaction to BvS, I thought it was much better than what I expected, but then my expectations were pretty low. One of the positives was that it gave a lot of the backstory of how the Amazons were born, as well as the Atlantians, as I never really knew how they came about. As with the other DC movies, I feel there’s far too much destruction going on, at this rate Gotham and Metropolis will cease to exist, so this a particular criticism from me. I don’t know why it bothers me so much, but it does, so I guess it’s quite a pedantic criticism. I certainly liked the introduction of new characters to the mix, The Flash (Ezra Miller) and Aquaman (Jason Mamoa), who added a good sense of humour and superhero grunt. I loved The Flash when I was a kid, I read the comics and watched the latest TV series and really enjoyed it. Of course, there’s an evil God out to conquer the universe, isn’t there always (and I believe that’s the premise for the new Avengers movie) and there’s a lot of destruction of cities and property and our motley crew are unable to deal with Steppenwolf (as an aside, I saw this rock group live many years ago, and other than born to be Wild, tjey don’t have many other good songs) on their own, so the only way they can defeat him is by raising Superman from the dead. Is this really a good idea? Perhaps not, but this is really the only option as Steppenwolf is far too powerful, especially as he’s acquired the three boxes (can’t remember their significance, I think I was far too confused by then) but by having these he’s near-on invincible, that is, unless they have Superman’s powers. The special effects are an essential part of telling this story, they must be to replicate the concept behind the comics, so I have no issues with the role played by CGI, but perhaps a bit over the top here? Anyway, overall I again found this movie better than I expected and having watched it with two 11 and one 13-year-old, it was certainly pitched at this audience, as they loved it. There’s a reason it made as much money as it did, people still went to watch it and no doubt more money was made on DVD sales. I don’t think I’ll watch this movie again but I’m glad I did watch it as it was entertaining and not a bad way to spend 2 and a bit hours, especially as we had Butter Lovers popcorn to keep us fueled.

Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy

Watchability factor: 3/5 – much like Batman versus Superman, this was better than expected but still not a classic in the ay most of the recent Marvel ones are.

Standout performance: none really although the addition of The Flash and Aquaman was a really good idea

I hadn’t been able to bring myself to watching this movie for a number of reasons, such as the negative reviews I had read about, the fact that two of the greatest superheroes of my youth were fighting to the death (this didn’t sit well with me) and I wasn’t quite sure about Ben Affleck as Batman, although I think he’s a very good actor and I didn’t have the allergic reaction many others did, I just didn’t see him as the Caped Crusader. So, what changed my mind? A mixture of things, such really wanting to see Justice League (this was one of my favourite cartoon series growing up, I remember getting up on Saturday mornings to watch the latest instalment and being fascinated with what these heroes could do, but Superman and Batman always worked together) and having loved Wonder Woman, so I finally put aside all my doubts and hunkered down to watch it. And …… it was much better than I expected and wasn’t as terrible as many fellow reviewers wrote. It’s certainly not a great movie and I felt it relied far too much on special effects rather than an actual plot or storyline, and I just didn’t get Lex Luthor’s thirst for revenge (Jesse Eisenberg is creepily and psychotically good in this role) and the Kryptonic monster I felt was way over the top. I also thought Affleck was much better than his critics gave him credit for, but it was probably the same critics that tore him apart when he dated JeLo. It seemed a bit hypocritical to me that both these superheroes were at odds with what the others did, i.e. fight crime, just in different ways. This was the whole point of their rivalry, Superman didn’t like how Batman carried out his brand of vigilante justice and Batman was concerned that, although Superman was saving lives and battling crime, there was the risk that he could wipe out mankind if he so chose. What about having a meeting to discuss things rather than kill each other?? In a straight fight, there’s no contest, Superman would annihilate Batman, so Batman must use his smarts, technology and chequebook to defeat Superman, and he just about did, the latter only saved by uttering the name ‘Martha’ which just happened to be both Superman’s Earth mother’s name, and Bruce Wayne’s mother tragically murdered before his eyes. This stops Batman and gives him pause for thought, that there’s a more dangerous enemy out there, and that Martha Kent needs to be saved from the clutches of Luthor, who’s kidnapped her to ensure Superman kills Batman. They then join forces to fight Luthor’s monster, together with Wonder Woman, who has been keeping tabs on both throughout this adventure. The ending was too destructive for me, much like the final fight in Man of Steel. It seems like the fight could go on for years, as both Superman and Wonder Woman are gods, as is the monster in a way as its been created using Kryptonic material. Anyway, I guess everyone knows that Superman dies saving the world, but it’s not the end for the Man of Steel.