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HIM | Film Review

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  Injured quarterback Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers) receives the opportunity of a lifetime when his hero, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) offers to train him at his isolated compound. This film was heavily marketed as a Jordan Peele movie, obviously in the hopes of getting people to connect it to his other movies. This marketing didn’t really work for me due to me not being a huge fan of Peele’s movies post Get Out, but even with that it’s an absolute disservice to connect this film with Peele’s previous works. This movie wasn’t for me at all. It took a really long time to have any idea of what this was about or what was happening. It doesn’t let the audience get to know the character as well as we need to to really care about the story and what happens to Cade. None of the characters felt authentic or realistic, but the story isn’t fantastical enough for this to be a filmmaking choice. So again, this is another thing that makes you not really care about them. Speaking of the character...
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Shelby Oaks | Film Review

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  A woman (Camille Sullivan) becomes obsessed with finding her missing sister (Sarah Durn), leading her to uncover a horrifying secret. The only thing I knew about this film was that it was a debut movie by a director who is also a movie critic that I’d heard of. I didn’t have any thoughts about this in terms of the perceived quality of the movie, but it did make me more interested to see it. I didn’t love this one unfortunately. The concept was really interesting, though when it starts it has a really similar feel to The Blair Witch Project, which makes it feel a bit less original than it probably should. It would have been nice to get to know the characters outside of Mia (Sullivan) and her sister, as I never really connected with either of them. And as much as you don’t need to care about them for the film to work, it would help. It probably would have been better to see this story from someone else’s point of view. I don’t think Mia brought much to the story. If we saw this fro...
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Wicked: For Good | Film Review

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  As Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) fights for the people and animals of Oz after being branded the Wicked Witch of the West, she realises that she needs to reconnect with her best friend Glinda (Ariana Grande) to truly change Oz for good. This was one of my most highly anticipated films of the year. I absolutely loved the first movie, and being familiar with the theatre show, I really wanted to see how they’d translate the second part of the story to film. I loved this film. I went in with low expectations due to some negative reviews, but it was exactly what I wanted – the conclusion to this story with some songs that I’ve been waiting to hear! There has been a lot said about the casting choices, and I have to agree in some respects. There were a few people that were miscast, and a few instances where the singing could have been stronger, but for me this didn’t matter too much because when the casting works, it’s amazing. There is great chemistry in every corner of the film – particular...
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The Masque of the Red Death | 100 Movies Bucket List

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  This is a random one to start off the 100 horror movies bucket list! I picked it more due to availability than anything else. I didn't know what it was about so it was really interesting to go in blind. I really like this film! It starts in a fascinating place - giving us a villain from the outset and having the viewer follow him rather than the victims of his tyranny is a really great way to start things because we get to see the full spectrum of character development. He's also the most interesting character, and played so well by Vincent Price. Though in saying that, Francesca ( played by Jane Asher ) is also a really great character, and gets some great development. She is a completely different character from the beginning to the end. The story is really engaging from the very beginning, long before we truly get into the horror. The more characters we meet, the better the film gets. There are a really eclectic group of well written people who may not always feel authenti...
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After The Hunt | Film Review

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  College professor Alma (Julia Roberts) faces internal conflict when one of her students (Ayo Edebiri) makes an accusation against her colleague (Andrew Garfield). I was apprehensive about this one. I started off excited but as the negative reviews started coming in, this seemed like one that was universally disliked. But because I really liked the premise I tried not to let it cloud my judgement too much. So I was surprised to find that I actually liked it more than I expected! Unfortunately it starts unbelievably slowly. I was interested to see where it would go so this didn’t bother me too much, but I was watching it at home and everyone I was watching it with gave up after less than 20 minutes, so I think it’s really easy to lose interest at this early stage. Not enough is done to grab the audience. One of the other reasons you might give up early is because the environment of this world just isn’t accessible, which makes the story really hard to get into. The actors are great...
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The Long Walk | Film Review

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  A group of teenage boys participate in a gruelling competition, being forced to walk continuously or face deadly consequences. I had heard so many great things about this film, but because the idea of the story didn’t completely appeal to me, I was a bit apprehensive going in about whether or not I’d like it. Thankfully I loved the film. For a start, as much as I didn’t love the premise, I do love Stephen King stories, and this is so undeniably King, while also throwing in a sprinkle of The Hunger Games. As most of the film is dialogue-based, you have to have great actors and characters to make this work, and these actors and their characters are the best thing about the film. The characters are interesting for so many reasons, not least because they’re in this competition in the first place, so you want to find out as much about them as possible. They’re all really different, they have such interesting interactions with each other, and they’re what keep you watching. The actors ...
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The Smashing Machine | Film Review

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  Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) is an MMA and UFC champion. When he has the chance to become a legend, he risks everything to achieve greatness. I’d heard a lot about this film in the lead-up to it being released, some good things and some bad things, so it’s not one that I rushed out to go and watch. I also didn’t really know what it was about until I watched it. This one pleasantly surprised me. It wasn’t amazing, but I liked it more than I thought I would. For a start, I liked that we really got to know the characters. They were likeable, and you want to root for them and follow their story. I liked Kerr in particular, and felt a connection with him from really early on. I was sceptical about Johnson going in but I think he did a great job in this role, as did all of the actors. Speaking of Johnson, he and Blunt have great chemistry and work really well together. I know they’ve worked together before, but this is the first thing I’ve seen them in, and I liked them together. As impo...
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