Friday 19 June 2020

Happy Death Day 2U (2019)

Jessica Rothe returns for the second instalment of the 2017 teen-horror-comedy, and with a bit more kitschy humour and bad science thrown in, this too is a fun film to watch. The premise remains the same, most of the characters return but the focus shifts to another angle of why the days keep resetting. Even with a far more kooky story, and far more silliness, the writing and editing remains compelling.

If you enjoyed Happy Death Day then this is a worthy follow-up.

Tuesday 16 June 2020

Happy Death Day (2017)

A bit Groundhog Day, a bit Tru Calling, the film opens with a college student waking up one morning, living through a day of minor events, and getting killed by a masked assailant at the end of the day. But then her day resets and she finds herself waking up to the same day. Despite making some different choices, she still gets killed by a masked assailant at the end of the day, albeit in a different scenario. And then, the day resets yet again. And so on and forth till she finally figures out the mystery of the masked assailant and manages to 'save the day', find love and become a better person.

For a teen-horror-comedy-flick this is actually quite fun to watch. It has a very simple story, but with some decent writing, directing, editing and acting, it stays interesting from beginning to end. Jessica Rothe as the selfish, unlikeable teen is a compelling watch, and very quickly grows on you, just as her character grows into a more likeable human.

Saturday 9 May 2020

Nosferatu (1922)

I finally watched this classic!

And as far as silent films go, it's perfectly creepy, atmospheric and 'scary'. Not for a moment does Count Orlok look enticing or charming, as future generations of Count Draculas do. Everything from his appearance, to his words, to his behaviour, shows him to be the blood-thirsty fiend that he is. Everyone else is also overly dramatic and extreme, just as you would expect from a 1920s silent film.

Worth a watch for all film lovers.

Motherless Brooklyn (2019)

One of my favourite genres - noir - delivered charmlessly.

A wonderful cast - Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe - wasted.

The opportunity to deliver an offbeat gem - thwarted.

This is a fairly forgettable modern noir, a mystery that keeps getting more and more complicated, while the main characters keep getting less and less interesting.

21 Bridges (2019)

There is nothing here that has not been seen before in multitudes of American cop dramas.

A robbery gone wrong, a criminal stuck in a deal much larger than anticipated, a cop with a conscience, institutional corruption, conspiracies galore, etc.

And yet, the film is oddly gripping and entertaining, and not a bad specimen of its genre.

Chadwick Boseman, JK Simmons and Sienna Miller, all deliver decent performances and the film is perfectly average.

Monday 2 March 2020

Dark Waters (2019)

Mark Ruffalo has come a long way in my books. From the guy who did bad rom coms, to the guy who made it big (rightly so, and no pun intended) as the Hulk. But it is his 'acting films' (Spotlight, Foxcatcher) that have really made me stop and notice him. Plus he appears to be a nice guy, which always helps.

Dark Waters is a really important film, on a really important topic, one that doesn't just affect the Americans or the people living close to the DuPont factories. It affects pretty much everyone in the world today, anyone who has ever used non-stick pans or clothes or products. As Rob Bilott (the real-life lawyer that Mark Ruffalo is playing in the film) said with confidence to the audience at the Graham Norton Show in February 2020, "it's in the water everywhere, it's in everyone's blood in this room, everyone's blood in the whole planet".

The story is shocking, disturbing, and it's the truth for all of us, so even more impactful. And yet, the film is not very compelling. It drags, it bores, it doesn't keep you engaged.

Still, I would recommend - because it is that important.

Sunday 2 February 2020

The Lighthouse (2019)

Excellent acting by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe.

And really the biggest waste of my time this year in every way.

Sunday 19 January 2020

Bombshell (2019)

From the very start, this film reminded of the Big Short. It is not as good, but it's pretty damn good.

The story of Fox News female presenters, and the sexual harassment case they brought against their CEO, a story that is not from the 1960s but sickeningly from 2016, blew my mind. How Charlize Theron transformed herself (looks, gait, speech), how Margot Robbie used her face like a canvas to paint so many pictures, how Nicole Kidman walked the line between shrill and sensitive, these women were a marvel to watch. And the story was, as said before, just sickening to watch.

I have reservations about what these Fox News women presented to the world, and what this vile channel and its affiliates continue to present, but my politics aside, these are women who were treated like commodities, and when they finally rose against that, they were almost wiped out.

To think that this happened/happens in this century and in this decade, in this world and in that country, and is not only tolerated but also protected, it is terrifying to think what the women in the rest of the world go through.

Great performances, good film, important to watch.

Tuesday 14 January 2020

The Gentlemen (2019)

If you like Guy Ritchie's style of film-making, this film will hit all the right notes with you.

There's style, there's smart dialogue, there's an awesome cast, there's a complicated plot that gets unravelled layer by layer, there's brutal violence, there's fun, there's dark humour...and did I mention the style already? Let's say it again for good measure.

I enjoyed this film from beginning till end, with all its twists and turns and predictability. It just made me smile.

Plus there's Matthew McConnaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Jeremy Strong, Colin Farrell, Eddie Marsan, Henry Golding, Tom Wu, Michelle Dockery and a whole host of others to make you smile. But above all, above them all, there is Hugh Grant in the best role of his life, one that he clearly relished doing.

I loved this film. That's all.

Thursday 9 January 2020

Little Women (2019)

I know my opinion completely goes against the grain on this one, but this film was a complete disappointment to me. Yes, it's a host of female characters, in a story written by a female author, and a film directed by a female, which is all reason to rejoice - but no, I did not like this at all.

I have grown up reading Little Women from the age of 10 all the way through my late teens, over and over again. I love the characters - Jo and Laurie more than anyone else - and I feel that I know their souls. I have seen this novel filmed badly enough times to be used to that. But somehow this version offended me most because I expect better in this day and age. Plus it got hyped as a great adaptation and got Oscar glory and so much good press that I guess I hated its shortcomings even more.

The acting is so unconvincing, it is like watching a high school play. Most of the filming is suffocatingly chaotic. I would've enjoyed the stylisation, and the jumping through time, if I had connected with any of the characters, but that didn't happen.

So, I am fine being the odd one out here, as I just cannot like this film.