Review: Brigsby Bear

There are plenty of films that come out of Sundance Film Festival that I would never usually go out and see. This particular film must be the very definition of a festival film.

This passion project by director Dave McCary and leading actor Kyle Mooney, have moved on from their adventures on Saturday Night Live, and have made something that is getting nothing but high praise throughout the festival circuit this year.

The beginning of the movie is hard to work out what is going on and is almost surreal. I was seeing comparisons to Room or 10 Cloverfield Lane early on, and was fearing this would be too strange and quirky for its own good.
But when events started unfolding and you start to work out the situation, you managed to be embraced with the story at the same time. Once that is settled, you are along for such a memorable ride and one highly enjoyable viewing experience.

The cast all contribute beautifully to the cause, but it is the lead Kyle Mooney that is dominating the screen. It is easy to forget that a lot of comedic actors can play drama really well. The best example has always been Jim Carrey, whose best work for me is in two dramas 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind' and 'The Truman Show' despite being associated more with this comedies such as 'Dumb & Dumber', 'Ace Venture: Pet Detective', 'Liar Liar' and many more.
Mooney's performances was so genuine that you almost that what we're seeing is a real-world situation unfolding right in front of us. I hope this gives him the breakthrough into many more film roles.
While I think everyone in their supporting and minor roles were great, I wouldn't say there were any particular stand-outs. The strongest and most memorable one probably came from Greg Kinnear. He's given enough content and conjure up scene-stealing moments.
It was also great seeing Mark Hamill in something outside of Star Wars. If people know about Hamill's amazing voice-work in various animations, then you'll be please to know that they make clever use of those skills that he possesses.

The films strengths are definitely in its originality, which is enhanced by its strong writing. It instantly reminded me of how important your upbringing and influences define you as a person.

I don't even have negatives to mention. So it's all about the strength of the story and how much it affected me.

So while the story is so strange, it ends up being so sweet, charming and utterly wonderful. It is film that wonderfully portrays the art of film-making, story-telling, imagination, creativity and that is well-written, and told at such a gentle and jolly pace. Mooney is just brilliant and gives us one of the most delightful and sincere performances I have seen for years. There are plenty of laughs to be head. They might not be clever on like an Edgar Wright level, but it works every time.
If you think there is a lack of refreshing new stories, this will bring back your love of cinema.

I strongly recommend you go out of your way and check this out, as its films like this that deserve a strong box-office. Plus, I think maybe the less you know about it, the better. You won't instantly get into the story, but when you do, just can't help but smile and laugh along with these wonderful character. You see this phrase on umpteen posters, but I truly think this could be the feel-good film of the year.

Rating: 9/10

Review: Justice League

Despite the success of Wonder Woman, a new DC film string brings a whole heap of nerves from me, the audience and its hardcore fans.
It's safe to say that the road to getting to this point has been pretty bumpy.

A lot of studio executive power has forced changes into the majority of their films, that it has completed ruined the viewing experience.
We started with Man Of Steel, and while it was not exceptional, it was still good enough I felt.

Then came 'Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice'. Some nice action, but a story that was incredibly messy and went off down strange tangents that virtually made no sense. 'Suicide Squad' was a big let down. I saw so much potential in this, and yet it managed to inflict itself and become a disappointment. 'Wonder Woman' came out earlier this year, and it is universally seen as DC's best film. It is well told story with many interesting and well-written characters, and it became a pretty action-packed and fun viewing experience.

Now we come to the franchises first team-up feature that is supposed to be a culmination of the studios first phase. Fellow superhero franchise studio Marvel did a great job in 2012 with 'Avengers Assemble'. I'm afraid, the the errors of 'BvS' and 'SS' have returned.

It's a great big rush at the start trying to fit everything in. Thankfully, the fun value keeps this moving despite the obvious problems this has with its telling of the story and its editing.
The action set-pieces were fun to watch, especially one halfway through. The team comradery was working enough for me and despite many forced jokes that on the whole fell flat, it ended up being passable entertainment.

The ratio of good performances from bad from the cast, managed to get a positive out of me. Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck remain to be the great choices as Wonder Woman and Batman.
Gadot shows great leadership in this, and it will take quite an effort to topple her performances in any future DC films.
Affleck is doing some solid work in this and his chemistry with Jeremy Irons as Alfred is still fun to watch.

I was pleasantly surprised by what they did Ray Fisher's character Cyborg. Going into this, he was easily the least known superhero and therefore the one we cared the least. Plus the CGI on him looked awful in the clips building up to this. But not only did the design of him looked better, the character was given some good development and came off as fairly interesting and pretty integral to the team.
I was not impressed by Jason Mamoa's efforts with Aquaman. We got very little about the reasoning for him being there, his history and the character came off as a bit of a dick. An under developed dick may I add.
Ezra Miller as The Flash was incredibly annoying by the end. His introduction gave some promise. But every gag fell so flat and his general creepy presence might it either comfortably or annoying when another forced comedic moment was cringe worthy. Dare I say it was almost on a JarJar Binks annoyance level?
The villain voiced by Ciaran Hinds was very forgettable, non-threatening and even more disposable then most of Marvels antagonists.
Amy Adams and Diane Lane were pretty irrelevant, and while it was nice to see J.K. Simmons in this as Commissioner Gordon, he was also given very little to do.

There is an appearance of one character that I won't mention to avoid spoilers. But all I'll say this, their entrance and opening exchanges were extremely odd and creepy. But on the whole, it was ok at best. There is been a fair amount of discussion on CGI on this particular character. It certainly looked noticeable for the most, and it did look great. It reminded me of the mouth movement of youn-Jeff Bridges in 'Tron: Legacy'.

I noticed in the credits that Danny Elfman did the score for this. You can certainly hear hints of the his 1989 Batman theme, which was cool to notice. I also heard bits of John Williams' Superman theme done differently. As for the score on the whole, it was romping, pretty enjoyable and it might be the films strongest aspect.

I wasn't too impressed however by the visual effects. There is a high amount of CGI infested scenes, and too much of it looked cartoony in its look and sub-standard.
I always go back to Jurassic Park. That came out in 1993, and that will forever looks as real as practical effects. How can some studios show that we're going backwards with this technology?

So while it is clearly as messy in its attempt to make a coherent story as 'Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice' and 'Suicide Squad', the fun value and memorable enough characters makes this a better viewing then those two.
I just want the studios to stop messing with every directors vision and quit rushing everything to get us into the landmark team-up features. I know this one had some changes that were highly unfortunate and out of their hands. But it still had too many high-powered people poking their opinions in to add or remove certain things that just ruined the flow of the story. It might not matter to the people that have read the comics and are aware of the graphic novel. But how are you supposed to introduce these characters to the general audience and make us care for them?
If I see more and more the same mistakes, then I can see this franchise die sooner than you think. Don't be surprised if we see an 'X-Men: Days Of Future Past' type of movie where everything is erased and we begin a re-boot.

As expected, DC have given in and basically copied Marvel's way of post credit scenes. There is one early on in the credits that supposed to be funny, but isn't. However, I was intrigued by the one at the very end of the credits. I'll be intrigued to see where that goes.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Since debuting at the Venice Film Festival, the amount of buzz and praise for this has made this the Oscar front-runner.
From the last few years, the first film labelled as the favourite to win Best Picture usually does not win as the level of hype surrounding eventually wears off.

That being said, I was still hugely excited to see Martin McDonagh's newest feature.

Ever since seeing the brilliant dark comedy 'In Bruges', I have been highly impressed by his tone and style of entertainment. The next film he did was 'Seven Psycopaths' and while it didn't match my love for his previous work, it was still a brilliantly written and entertaining film.

His newest feature is a wonderful piece of work. While understanding early on that the story is sad and depressing, you just can't help yourself laugh at the dark gags that are taking place.
You get instantly invested with the characters and they all have a such a strong presence. The gags keep working, the story is developing so well, and there are even some of the most shocking imagery you will see in any film this year as well.

The acting across the board is phenomenal. Give Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell the Oscar for Best Leading Actress and Best Supporting Actor respectively. McDormand is an absolute bad-ass in her role. It is no-nonsense, gets straight to the point and is right up there with the strongest female characters of all-time. As for Sam Rockwell, he has always been seen as one of the best supporting actors of our generation, and I think this could very well be his crowning achievement. The development that his character has in this film to wonderful to see and the end product is the films shining star.
Woody Harrelson is having quite a surge in bringing his A-game in the last few years, and this is another memorable outing for his Hollywood legend. There are plenty of other memorable performances in the minor roles. One huge stand-out was Peter Dinklage. Every thing he did stole the show in whatever scene he was in.
It was great to see Caleb Landry Jones in another big project. Since his breakthrough in X-Men: First Class, he has been appearing in big projects on a more consistent basis this year.
Other notable performances came from Lucas Hedges, John Hawkes, Samara Weaving and McDonagh regular Zeljko Ivanek.

Despite the film concentrating more on the performances and writing, a fair amount of the technical side is noticeably strong. The cinematography by Ben Davis is really well done, especially at the time when there is some long-tracking shots.
I was really surprised by the score by Carter Burwell. It almost plays out like a western in certain scenes and felt like a welcomed addition to enhancing certain scenes.

I don't have any major negatives. However, I wasn't too hot about the ending. I have warmed to it eventually and understood what the director was going for. But in the moment of watching it, it kind of disappointed me.

But as I have come to terms with it, I feel that it is wonderfully crazy. McDonagh is a master of balancing the tones of hilarious comedy with lots of clever uses of swearing as well as dark and shocking drama. He pulls off the timing of the transition between those emotions perfectly. It's mad to think how much and enjoyment you can get out of a story that is actually rather dark and depressing.

I can definitely see winning a healthy amount of major awards, and this could be the film I'll be supporting during awards season.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Wonderstruck

Since I saw 'Carol', I have always been keeping an eye on any of director Todd Haynes' future projects.

His style of directing really appealed to me and I would happily check out what projects he wants to explore next.

This particular one I noticed was based on a novel from the same author that wrote 'The Invention Of Hugo Cabret', which was made into a film by Martin Scorsese called 'Hugo', which is one of my favourites of this current decade.

While it is sadly massively inferior to Hugo, I felt pretty entertained by it. When you look at Scorsese's 'Hugo', you can see if directed the wrong way, it could have been far too melodramatic and over-sentimental. Sadly, the director seems to concentrate more on the schmaltz when it comes to the story.
But from a technical side, it is very impressive. The film splits off it two completely different genres to fit into its respective time period. I makes great use of silent cinema story-telling in one half of the story. There were some strangely powerful scenes in that portion of the tale.
There is also a funky and yet dirty look in the other, and it felt far too accurate to be true.
The story does move along pretty well and it kept me interested throughout, despite it almost touching the same amount over-sentimentality of something like August Rush towards the end.

I thought the performances by the kids especially were really good. Millicent Simmonds was the stand-out. She perfectly fitted into the period her character was in and was a delightful screen presence. Simmonds could be a land-mark breakthrough in the acting profession. Once you see the film, you'll know why.
Oakes Fegley gave a strong and heart-felt contribution in his role and was impressive for his age. His chemistry with fellow youngster Jaden Michael was enjoyable to see develop.

Despite Julianne Moore being the biggest name in the cast list, she did not have much to do and was perfectly fine and yet unremarkable at the same time in her role.
There's not many other performances to speak of, apart from that I noticed Cory Michael Smith have a small role in this. You may know him from playing Edward Nygma in the Gotham TV series.

Haynes designs technically brilliant films, and this one is no different. The level of detail, the mechanics and delicate style of editing of his films are fantastic to watch.
There is a use of models in certain scenes towards the end, and it looks impressive in its creation.

Sadly, it's weakest department is its story, and that brings my rating for it down as that usually a films most integral aspect. As I said before, Haynes and his team do go for a more schmaltzy approach. It's not totally sugar-coated. It's not at the end, where its at its most melodramatic.
It's also a bit on-the-nose at times, which is why it was obvious how it was going to end early on.

Even though you I could see where it was going, the adventure and journey getting there is fairly enjoyable, sweet and heart-warming for the most part.
It's a film where its craft and technical achievements are superior to the story. So there is a lot to like. But sadly, the story is nothing exceptional. But the other things happening around are really good to watch.
One thing I noticed is that I think kids can get really into this. It's definitely suitable for family viewing, and this would be a great way to open their eyes into other ways of telling stories in films rather than being a loud and bright feature with simple messages.

Rating: 7/10

Review: You Were Never Really Here

Outside of the hype this was getting from other film festivals, I was also intrigued by this feature as it stars Joaquin Phoenix.

The 3-time Oscar nominee is definitely one of the most talented actors around right now.
I like it that he seems to pick and choose his projects and seeing him feels like a treat.

I think that's enough of a briefing. I'm just going to go straight into the film, and I think this is what we call in the industry, a 'hot mess'.

It took a while for me to fully get what was going on. By the time I could tell how this story was being told, I was beginning to appreciate it a lot more. But it's slow-pacing and minimalist style in telling its story frustrated me and made this annoying to watch.

Joaquin Phoenix is doing his damnedest to makes this an interesting watch. He is clearly playing a much troubled character with a dark past and seeing his mental breakdowns was certainly presented in unique way. While I think it was as good as it could have been, it was not captivating enough to soften the blow.
That's really all I can say about the performances, as the rest of the cast had very little contribution. I did like the small moments involving Ekaterina Samsonov and Judith Roberts. But this film is all about Phoenix.

There were some good action scenes that varied in its approach in regards to the camerawork. That included one stand-out scene in a motel room that certainly gripped me.
It is also well shot throughout, and I liked the general shock value at various times.

I'm glad I found some good aspects, otherwise this would have been a disaster. I'm afraid I felt it was dull for the most part despite only being 1hr 25mins long.
The story has potential to be interesting. But it's as if it was trying to confuse itself and it felt like I was a watching a badly executed Nicolas Winding Refn feature or a self indulgent version of Taxi Driver.
The director has gone for a minimalist approach to the dialogue as well as telling what's going on. When this type of story-telling works, it's great to watch. But for me, the atmospheric tone did not work for me. Not even the unnecessarily over-emphasizing score could help improve my opinion of this.

Despite this strong negativity, there is just enough good content to barely give this a pass rating and Phoenix's performance is pretty good.

But this also felt like a big disappointment. It had lots of content that could have been gripping and exciting. Instead, whilst I did appreciate what they were trying to do, it frustrated me.

There is definitely an audience for this. But I'm most certainly not one of them.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Blade Of The Immortal

This is being billed as the 100th film by legendary Japanese director Takashi Miike. I technically see it as his 91st, as the marketing department seem to have included his TV work, and anything where he has only directed a segment in a film.

Either way, this has been getting quite some buzz just from the action-packed trailer alone.

I have only seen two of Miike's back catalogue, but both have been great. My first experience of his works was the disturbing slow-paced horror Audition, followed by the enjoyable 13 Assassins.

Now that I have made this a third Miike viewing, this could very well be my favourite of the three. In a nutshell, this is the directors vision of True Grit but in the style of those samurai films from back in the day such as 'The One Armed Swordsman' and 'The 8 Diagram Pole-Fighter'.
While I did a see lot of True Grit in here, it was originally a manga comic.

If you are aware of the classic western story of True Grit, then you will be aware of the set-up. If not, then I would recommend checking out the John Wayne version before seeing this to understand the influences this film and the manga comics had.

Despite the story being a familiar one, it still felt refreshing as the fun and exciting action and characters with a cartoon sensibility gave the story a great samurai edge to it.
The set-pieces kept growing and the body count kept climbing, and the epic showdown had me thoroughly entertained.

While there was no real depth to any characters, they certainly looked as if they had jumped out of a comic. So I assume they are keeping to the source material rather well.
Takuya Kimura did a great job as the central male character. His bad-ass no-nonsense style his character gave him freedom to just own his scenes, and his multiple comedic one-liners would have made Arnold Schwarzenegger proud.
Hana Sugisaki did a good job as the leading female. However, her character seem develop in reverse. We see her at first being a strong-willed female doing things that normal Japanese girls shouldn't do. Then as the story moves along, she seems to be unsure of herself. I can sort of see a reason as to why the character seemed to back-track her determination. But I think maybe going in a positive direction would have better enhanced her character.
As for their chemistry, it was great. It felt like a big brother, little sister relationship.

All of the other performances, are pretty much physical based. So in terms of the execution of their action choreography, Sota Fukushi, Hayato Ichihara, Erika Toda, Kazuki Kitamura and the many extras did everything that was expected of them.
I also noticed Chiaki Kuriyama have a minor role in this. Some people may know her from Battle Royale, and most notably as Gogo Yubari from 'Kill Bill Vol. 1'.

It's biggest positive is most definitely the action. When samurai set-pieces work, they are cinematic magic. From the choreography to the cinematography, the execution of these scenes were spot on. While it is over-the-top, it was supposed to be, and with the amount of extras in this, Miike and his team gave this film a great amount of scale that gave the film such realism.
With lots of action comes a high body count and it never got boring or tiring.

A couple of minor problems I noticed. The first was the sound timing issues and continuity it had in its action scenes. But with everything going at break-necked speed, you can sort of let this go.
Also, there were are a lot of condensed sub-plots that were quickly introduced as well as ended.
It is always going to fit everything from something that was originally a novel of any kind. So I think maybe making this a 3-hour film might have enhanced this story developments and made them feel more important and necessary.

Despite those setbacks, I had a great watching this. It sets you up perfectly in a dramatic opening scene for what type of film you are going to get.
The action is strong, the characters are fun and the script is similar to a mindless action blockbuster. That just gave it a nice fun element and I felt it never de-graded this story filled with bloody samurai violence.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Fixed: The Science/Fiction Of Human Enhancement

Despite being released in 2013, this film documentary could only be seen at three festivals since its release, as it has never had a distributed release.
The high praise and synopsis made me want to make the most of this rare screening.

Sadly, while it did cover some interesting topics, most of it was something I was already aware of. To be honest, it was content that I think most of society is already aware of.

They do expand there initial discussion by asking some well thought out questions. But they were never fully explored, and only touched upon.

There were some recurring characters that had a story to tell and were pretty engaging. On the surface I was willing for it to develop. But it never really did.

For something to be an hour long, you would expect it to get it's point across, hard and thorough. But the only thing that blew me away was the opening and ending image of a child in a wheelchair scuba-diving by themselves. The image of someone in a wheelchair basically swimming in this coral full of various species was quite captivating.

Apart from that, it just felt like a mildly interesting video that would be better suited to being shown to a high school or college class.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Brimstone & Glory

When you think of a film documentary, you expect a lot of narration, people being interviewed and either lots of still images or reconstruction sequences.

With this particular one, there is very little conversation with the people involved and it is just a serious of images and you are along for the ride.

However, the imagery is spectacular, the music is rompy and the scale of the event is impressive.

There are regular usages of head-cams which give you a great perspective on the dangers involved and it could greatly effect people with fear of heights in certain sequences.

As for the danger and risk involved in the event that this film is focusing on, let's just say this a film that health & safety officers were hate and it would never take get passed in this country. The stuff that people do in this film takes that line of either being incredibly brave or stupid.
Those feelings coming from this preventing me from giving it an exceptional score.

I also would've liked to have seen them get more in depth with the people involved.

A great example is a similar film called 'TT: Closer To The Edge' which is about the motorbike races on the Isle Of Man. They talk to a lot of the people asking them why they love watching an event that people have died or been seriously injured at. Their general consensus as to why, was that for them living on the edge is best way of living.
This film does explain, but not in nearly as much depth or heart.

That being said, it still looks like the type of festival you have to experience, but from afar to avoid risking your own life and making this as a film documentary might be the safest way to watch this.

Rating: 7/10

Review: It's Not Yet Dark

I'm not sure, but I think this might be my first review for a film documentary.

If it is, then I'm surprised it's taken me this long. The documentary genre has now become part of every other film category. They have become very cinematic and get regular theatrical releases.

With this documentary, it is quite the story and it is executed really well whilst being brilliantly narrated by Colin Farrell.

I think what made this film documentary exceptional, gripping and emotional was that the people involved with this terrible disease were educated in the art of either film-making or story-telling and they knew the best way to express their feelings. With the right words, you can tell that it came from the heart.
The determination of the central character reminded me of a similar film documentary called 'The Ecstasy Of Wilko Johnson’. That never-say-die attitude that gave it that feel-good vibe despite covering a serious matter.

Some documentaries can have inspiring stories, but are never told in the right way. This had it all. It excellently portrayed what they were truly feeling and that just enhanced the astonishing achievement at the end.

It's stories like this that make want to live your life, because if they can do what they did with their boundaries, then I can with my fully abled body.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Bad Genius

I can't recall seeing a film from Thailand before. So here's another box being ticked off.
It's already been released throughout Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand. It's now been doing the festival circuit across several festivals in Europe and America.

Based on its reviews alone, I wanted to check this out and obviously went in pretty cold knowing very little about and not seeing a single second of content from its trailers.

Oh my! What a fun film and such a refreshing take on the heist genre. I was instantly seeing similarities to 21, with the feel-good vibe of Ocean's Eleven and a touch of comedy similar to an Edgar Wright feature. But obviously not as clever as the man himself.
I even noticed the editing was very ‘Wright-esque’ with its particular brand of sharpness within its cuts. Another similarity was the score. It reminded me of a much more heightened version of the music from The Social Network.
As I was understanding its concept, I was just loving how they were executing it. What was making it even more impressive, was that the film was managing to up itself three times over. Ironically, it felt genius every time they pulled it off in telling this story.
To further add my love for this was the great characters. Two really well developed leads and plenty of supporting acts that felt integral, highly memorable and scene-stealing.
Sadly after all the excitement, gripping tension, many laugh-out-loud moments, I did not like the ending.

It's amazing to found out that this was inspired by many true stories of similar incidents. It really makes you think about how the education system is run, and I felt it was pretty accurate from an international students perspective. The pressure from their parents, and the lengths people will go to get the right grades.

The cast were tip-top and with the actor playing the central character being a fashion model and that this is her first film role, I was even more impressed at how she performed. Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying looked as if she had been doing this for years. She was very believable, was given lots of development and became a fully-fledged character. Chanon Santinatornkul really shone in the second half and competed well with Chuengcharoensukying for the lead.
The comedic support by Eisaya Hosuwan and Teeradon Supapunpinyo were great value, got a lot of laughs out of me and were consistent throughout. There were a couple of minor roles that stole a few scenes. Pasin Kuansataporn was a memorable minor character that just further enhanced the comedy.
As for Thaneth Warakulnukroh, he gave the film some necessary dramatic moments and became a much more important character that initially thought.

Despite having so much fun with this, I did mention that I was into the ending at all. I didn't see the point of it and it just felt like it contradicted everything that happened in the rest of the film. But I can see why some people might like how it finished. So it is not completely irredeemable.

While the pay-off prevented me from giving it a spectacularly high score, I had a great time with this. I loved how they constructed the story and the execution brought out lots of laughs and terrific excitement in its tense scenes. I was never bored and the dramatic and emotional moments never felt out of place and were as integral as every other part of the story.
It currently does not have any general release dates in the western world. But surely, it's only a matter of time?

Rating: 8/10

Review: Only The Brave

True story disaster films have been doing rather well lately.

Films like Everest, and the Peter Berg trilogy of Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day have been critical successes and highly praised by audiences.

Like Deepwater Horizon, this one explores a profession I know very little about. As I live in a country that as far as I can remember, has never had a forest fire. However in America, it can be fairly common in certain states. This film centres on a group within a fire department, whose primary function is to prevent wild fires from spreading.

If you had not told who directed this, I would have instantly said this was another instalment from Berg. Instead, it is from Joseph Kosinski. I don't mind him as a director. While his debut with 'Tron: Legacy lacked in a coherent story, it is fantastic from a technical standpoint. His only other directed feature was Oblivion. Despite this bringing nothing new to the sci-fi genre, it was a lot of fun and very well executed.

This one can definitely feel at home with the rest of the aforementioned films, as this is a pretty good piece of work. The aspects that work are the similar ones that made the others highly memorable. That sense of brotherhood, a family connection and strong teamwork that makes you really care for these characters.
As we get to know them, we are also experiencing the real danger of this profession and as far as I could tell it looked real. But if it is visual effects, then that is some impressive CGI.
The finale is very well deserved. The development got us the investment to feel how the real people felt after those events.

It's quite an ensemble cast and they were all great. Josh Brolin is front and centre and plays that commanding leader and father figure-esque character really well. Miles Teller plays the relatable character that is developed nicely and helped us a viewer understand the training required in this work.
Taylor Kitsch is becoming a regular in these types of films and was a great support. He plays really memorable characters, had good enough comedic relief and felt genuine. Another performance I could fit into that category is James Badge Gale, who like Kitsch seems to be making quite a living with similar stories to this one.
Jennifer Connelly gave the film a nice balance of drama and her chemistry with Brolin gave the film its heart and passion.
While Jeff Bridges and Andie McDowell had little to contribute, they had enough execution of their star-power to make their appearance in this mean something.

There were moments of melodrama that slightly down-graded it. But there was reasoning it for those scenes to take place, and I was fine with them.

It was scenes like that that made me think it was as strong or effective as similar films that I mentioned earlier in this review, but it is still a welcomed addition to this genre that is having quite a surge in quality story-telling.
This movie did a lot of things right. What makes this film succeed, is the strong character development and the comradery between our ensemble cast that keeps your investment in the story and makes quite a memorable experience. It gives you a great insight into the work and training that is required for a job like this and how it effects their personal lives.

But on a fitting final thought on this is how inspiring it is. It shows you who the true heroes are around the world and it showed off the true dangers of this job and how scary wild fires can be.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Journeyman

Boxing is a very well decorated sports sub-genre. You can list off a number of high-quality films from this category that have received high praise from the audience and been given a number of major awards. Two of them have even won Best Picture at the Oscars, Rocky and Million Dollar Baby. But nowadays, I think it's tough to make a really good one now. I feel it as a bit of a worn-out genre. There's not much else you can do different with it.

Now that I've seen Paddy Considine make and star in his own Boxing drama, the story certainly concentrates outside of the ring rather than in it. That's definitely a root that might refresh this genre.

But I felt to be really torn with this one in the end. It starts off with some potential. But I think the pacing of it and general look to it made it look pretty ordinary and dare I say more of a TV drama.
The second half does get better and by the end of it it was a heart-wrenching finale and that was all thanks to Considine.

Paddy Considine was great. It's hard to know what to think of his performance at first. But by the turn of the second half, that's when he truly shines and we get a couple of really emotional moments that did not have a dry eye in the house by the end of it.
Jodie Whittaker was a solid support and had great chemistry with Considine. But sadly, like with a lot of this film, her performance felt better suited to TV.

I've briefly mentioned this already, but the major problem I had with this film was that none of it felt cinematic. It felt more like an excellent one-off TV drama that would win many National TV awards. The story does fall into the trap of a what you expect in a TV movie, the forced themes and melodramatic presentation.

It is a real shame, because Considine's performance comes out really strong by the end of it and enhances everything around him.

Despite the high praise for his acting, there was very little exceptional content outside of that I'm afraid to say. After his incredibly powerful directing in Tyrannosaur, it pains me to say that this did feel disappointing. It's certainly made with good intentions and I think it is still worth seeing for Considine's acting. But maybe wait until you can access it from your home, as that seems to be where you get the best viewing experience.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Arcadia

This was my shot-in-the-dark purchase at the Leeds International Film Festival.
From what I read on the synopsis, it sounded like a documentary. But it was more like a feature film using lots of unseen archive footage.

It's only 1hr 18mins long and it was fascinating watching lots of old footage of various British activities such as farming, celebrating some of more obscure hobbies or festivals such as Morris dancing, maypole, the famous cheese roll at Coopers Hill. But was most fascinating, was the directors presentation.

To me, it felt like the director was showing the different sides of British society through the ages with religious tones told in a way similar to a fever dream. Seeing it done in that way makes me think that this director needs to collaborate with Darren Aronofsky in future projects as the aggressive nature to this reminded of things like ‘Requiem For A Dream’ and ‘Mother!’.

But I think the main theme was showing how our society has treated are landscape and rural areas over time, which was book-ended by a character witnessing all of this from afar.

Whilst showing signs of some of Aronofsky's previous works, it also reminded of a film called Baraka that is a collection of clips showing human life and religion around the world.

While that was a more impressive presentation, this was still a enjoyable yet unique experience. I liked it's almost haunting way of showing its images with the accompanying score. It was presented in an almost aggressive manner, which could put people off as the director seems to be shoving his message down our threats.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Battle Of The Sexes

I follow a lot of sport, and Tennis is the one I follow in most detail. With that, and seeing the 2013 film documentary of these events, I was pretty excited to see how this would turn out as a feature film.

The story of this match from 1973 is so historic and pivotal that it really elevated women in sport and make Tennis the premier women's sport that it is today.

I was loving the casting choices of Emma Stone and Steve Carrell as our two leads, and with Stone collecting an Best Actress Oscar earlier this year, I was hoping her hot-streak would continue in this.
Also, in terms of the timing of this release, it is spot on. Given whats been going lately in the media in regards to equality, this could not have been any more perfect.

I felt pretty satisfied with this in the end. It touched on all the correct things that happened during that time. So I was happy that it will make people understand all the critical moments that got us to where we are today. I was enjoying Stone and Carrrell perfectly personifying the characters personalities.
The second half of the film starts to show you that it's the type of story that you would not believe was true. I had forgotten so much of the general circus-esque antics in the build-up to the match itself.
Then as we get to the match, it really transported you to that time period. From the costumes, sets and even the way it was shot looked like genuine archive footage. It was almost scary how exact they got everything to look how it did back then.

While Billie Jean King is the central character, it was Steve Carrell who was the stand-out as Bobby Riggs. He showed the true spirit of Riggs. While he purposely came across as a chauvinist of the highest order, it was purposely emphasized to put on a show, and that's what he did well, and Billi Jean knew that. That's what made them great together, especially in the press conferences.

Emma Stone was good as Billie Jean. It's not going to win her any awards. But I was happy the way it turned out. It showed her characters intent on what she wanted out of this event really well and I think the real Billie Jean would be happy with this.
There were a few very pleasing supporting performances. Particularly by Sarah Silverman, Alan Cumming, Bill Pullman and Elizabeth Shue.

I'm going to harsh now in this portion of the review. While I did enjoy it, I think it did play this rather safe. I think people might have problems with it. I can see people going into this expecting a serious drama giving what's been going on lately. While it does have moments of that, it does come off as being a bit fluffy in its presentation. I think what people need to understand, is that the true events had a big 'show' element to it and the two people at the forefront of this, especially Riggs, embraced it. The dark side of this match-up were the people behind all this razzmatazz.

There was also an interesting side-story happening behind closed doors involving Billie Jean and her personal life. I think if it delved a bit deeper in that aspect, then maybe this would have been a bit spikier in its themes.

Also, I think the Tennis scenes might not feel gripping enough to non-followers of the sport. It is documented perfectly and looked exact to the real match itself. But in terms of being cinematic, I don't feel it worked. I think it would have been tough to make it work on both sides. So at least, the route they went down looked as good as it could have been.

Despite all that, I enjoyed it and I was happy with the execution. Stone and Carrell were great together and were the top choices for playing King and Riggs.
I hope a lot go and see it and not just to be entertained by it, but to understand the history around it.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool

I had not heard anything about this film until the buzz it was getting from Telluride Film Festival.
Also as a Merseysider, I was intrigued to see a film that would heavily feature the city of Liverpool.

Also, the cast featured many safe pairs of hands that you can always get strong performances out of.

I liked the structure it was going for at the start, and even the impressively slick editing did make it hard to adjust at first as to what was a flashback and what was present. The romance, comedy and drama was developing nicely throughout, and it ended with a fairly strong and well deserved tear-jerker.

It was great seeing late 70's/early 80's Liverpool being portrayed on screen. From the dress-sense to the outrageously low prices for a pint, it was a very well executed portrayal of the city at that time.

Annette Bening was top dollar in the leading role. It has been a bit of a resurgence in the last few years for Bening. Her character showed a great mix of Hollywood showbiz, but also having a mysterious persona. She made me smile, laugh, sad and feel huge sympathy for her. There were many aspects to her character to get invested with.

This is the best I've seen of Jamie Bell in years. While it's partly to do with being given a much more prominent role then he has had in recent years, his chemistry with Benning was also particularly strong throughout.

While those two could have easily carried the film by themselves, there were a couple of notable supports. Julie Walters is always good value and has many crowd-pleasing and laugh-out-loud moments. It just further labels her as a national treasure. Stephen Graham is also worth watching, just for the hair-piece alone.

I don't often mention this particular department when reviewing, but I was pretty impressed with the editing. It was a very inventive way of transitioning from its flashbacks to its present. The last film I can think of that did a similar style was last years 'Hunt For The Wilderpeople'.

It might not have quite matched my excitement for it. But I still felt pretty entertained by it. Bening and Bell's chemistry was great to watch and never made this film boring. It looks great and the pacing was spot on. 
Sadly, I don't think the story was strong or memorable enough to be seen as one of the year's best or an awards contender. If it did, then I would say Bening's performance or maybe the editing would be its best chance.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Florida Project

After the critical success with director Sean Baker's breakthrough feature 'Tangerine’ that was shot entirely on an iPhone, many indie film fans were anxious to see what his next project would be.
I heard the amount of buzz this was getting since it debuted at Cannes, and this became a dead-cert for checking out on general release. 

The trailer does suggest those type of indie dramas that the major awards usually nominate and general audiences don't care for. I honestly had subconsciously thought that as well. But I have taught myself to look beyond the trailer and always go in with an open mind, and what I saw was very powerful viewing.

It's a story told from a children's prospective. You get introduced to characters that at first seem totally brattish, mischievous and sometimes utterly despicable. But as the film goes on, you feel a sweetness about them, the stuff they say is absolutely hilarious and there is a real sense of community in an environment that America tries to un-see and not mention to tourists.
All of that gives you enough sympathy to make you get heavily invested in these characters.
As for the story, you can tell from the very first scene and general pacing of the film that it something bad is going to come out of this. It's as if was slowly boiling up to something tragic or unspeakable. Then we get to the end, and........well, we'll get to the ending later.

The performances are fantastic. Everyone plays their part perfectly and there were three major stand-outs. The star of the show from minute one is youngster Brooklynn Prince. Aged at just 7-years old, she is an absolute revelation. To be honest, the kids on the whole are wonderful, but Prince is the star. The director really humanises the cast, and Prince's character is leading the way. Yes, she may come off as a major trouble-maker. But she street-smart sense of living and hilarious dialogue she is given makes you just warm to her and make extremely watchable. The stuff her character comes out may end up being the funniest lines in any movie this year.
Playing the role of her mother is Bria Vinaite in her first feature role. A bit like with Prince, she is the type of person that would feel insulted by their behaviour in real-life. However, unlike her characters daughter, Vinaite's is just the worst. But while you get disgusted with her characters behaviour, I never ignored the strong and raw performance she was giving. It is the personification of the society in America living in the slums and desperate for money to keep moving on in life.
A third stand-out is Willem Dafoe, who gives a career-best performance. His character is almost like the guardian angel to all of this community and while he is doing his job of authority, there is that sympathy that he has for these people and wants to help at the same time without showing true emotion.
These three performance are certainly worthy of any major awards nominations.

There's not much to talk about outside of the script and cast. It is shot beautifully. If you have seen Tangerine, then you are aware of the directors quality of camerawork with the smallest amount of recording equipment. The Florida skyline and the brightly coloured architecture really gave you a sense of the world these people live in, especially one the many gloriously tracked wide shots.

Now we come to the ending as I mentioned before. While I'm giving this a high amount of strong positives, I was put off by the very final scene. The build-up was leading us to something I could sense throughout the entire duration. There was a strong moment that made me and pretty much the entire audience I was with overwhelming and then suddenly we get was something completely out of tone in every department. Even the camera work and use of score was like this came from a completely different film. I guarantee when you see this, you will say something along the lines of "is that it, is it over?". It's clear to see that this was purposely done. So I don't know what made the director do this. I'm sure I'll find out in the end.

It is a real shame the very final scene left a bitter taste. The pay-off needs to be pretty strong as that will be the moment you'll be thinking of the most when leaving the screening. While everything before it was of the highest quality of story-telling, that ending really changed my mood.

Despite that disappointing ending, I felt the film to be very impressive. This part of society definitely seems to be the directors wheelhouse in getting their point across with such rich characters and sharp dialogue. Baker also shows great metaphor and contrast between the rich and poor due to its location.

I hope to see success for this film in the awards I look forward to see what Baker and his team do next as he will probably continue to get more money for the budget of his future projects.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Oh Lucy!

With this film doings its rounds across several film festivals in 2017 and not looking like there will be any general release until next year, I was fortunate enough to check this out before the end of the year at the Leeds International Film Festival.

I knew very little about this going into this screening. But what I did know, was that this was a feature directorial debut for Atsuko Hirayanagi. Also, following in the footsteps of Damien Chazelle, this story was original a short.

It starts out as a strange quirky comedy and I was fearing the gags would not suit well to a Western audience. But the more I absorbed it and gave it a chance, the more endearing the story and the characters were getting.
Then the second half, becomes a fun and surprisingly emotional road-movie that gave this film some depth and enhanced all the performances to a much greater level.

Props to the cast for their work as not only were they great performances, but I felt they all transitioned well when the tone shifted. Shinobu Terajima is brilliant in this. It is a proper fully-fledged character that goes quite a journey. You feel sympathy for her, you laugh with her and even root for her at times, despite some of her decision might sit well in the real world.
Kaho Minami and Koji Yakusho were top supports and had strong noticeable chemistry with Terajima. It was to see a familiar face in the form of Josh Hartnett. I felt he gave the film a nice Western edge to it and I think it helped made the film a bit more accessible as the story moved along.

There isn't much else outside of the story and characters that is worth mentioning. However, it was shot really well, especially in the many evening scenes.

As for the negatives, the story does make sudden and dramatic tangents that felt unexpected and almost out of place. It was like it was trying to expand its themes. But it didn't quite work for me. Those moments do make a bit more sense towards the end. But not completely, and therefore effected my overall views.

So while the story felt a bit strange at first, if you give it a chance, this ends up being a really charming comedy drama with top performances from many well developed characters.

Shinobu Terajima is great throughout and carries the film so well, especially in the second half. Kaho Minami, Josh Hartnett and Koji Yakusho are top supports that made it a surprisingly enjoyable experience.

Some of the comedic moments might not transcend well in general audiences. But I think the charm of the story should win people over enough and become a little gem.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Big Fish & Begonia

While China is slowly becoming the next big market in the film industry regarding box office sales, they are still developing when it comes to making films. Particularly in the animation genre.

Well now, here is my first experience of watching a Chinese animation. Technically, Kung Fu Panda 3 is a Chinese co-production with America. But this particular new release in 100% pure Chinese.

I was going into this pretty cold. All I knew is that it did pretty well in China last year and it has been doing the rounds at various film festivals this year. Now that I've seen it, may I be the first say that China could now be the next player in the animation industry.

My first thoughts whilst watching it was the animation looked very similar to Studio Ghibli. Even the story was starting to fit into what you might expect to come from the highly successful Japanese animation studio. It particularly resembled Spirited Away, one of the very few films that I gave a 10/10 rating.
Thankfully, it did not come off as a re-hash as the pacing of the story felt far off from Studio Ghibli's much gentler speed.
The story was doing enough to make it feel like its own thing. The emotions of the story was executed well and by the end of it, I was pretty satisfied with what they did.

Easily its biggest positive is the animation, both on a design and imagination perspective. It's strong in its detail and has a wonderful use of colour that is pleasing to the eye. That aspect was also helped by its level of world-building. It's vast in its imagination and I felt the over-exposition felt necessary enough to at least introduce us to this world.
Another positive was the characters. They were easy to root for and their design of them looked great both in its detail and its design.

I did have some minor problems with it. The pacing was a bit jumpy at times that for me ruined the flow of the story. I had also small gripes with the main story. There were two romances going on that had me feeling conflicted in which one I'm supporting to care for as the main one.
Also the ending seemed to take forever to get sorted. They lingered on for far too long on certain moments that could have been executed much swifter and that would have kept emotion of the final act moving along at the right pace.

I could be cruel and say this is trying to be too much like a Hayao Miyazaki. But how can that be a bad thing? Also, it has plenty of traditional Chinese imagery that it does enough to make its own product. As well as comparisons to Spirited Away, I also saw a bit of The Little Mermaid and The Last Airbender in this as well.

In the end, I really liked this. I felt it to be moving, inspiring and wonderful in its imagery.
The level of imagination and variety of character designs are as strong as Studio Ghibli's best fantasy features. However, the characters, strength of the story and general pacing was not as high quality. However, the whole experience was highly enjoyable and I was impressed with what came out of this.
If you like Studio Ghibli and similar films, then definitely check this one out. It might need some improvement on the pacing and story-telling. But seeing this shows that China could give us some of the best animations for the next decade.

Rating: 8/10

Review: The Breadwinner

With this film coming from the same company that produced the strangely brilliant 'A Town Called Panic' and the sweet and lovely 'Song Of The Sea', I had fairly high expectations of this.

While it is certainly different in its tone then the other two, the level of enjoyment and strength in its story is still the same. It covers quite a serious subject and yet makes it work as suitable family viewing. It also manages to be educational at the same time. So I can see this type of film being shown in school in the future.

Whilst absorbing the gorgeous animation, the heart-wrenching story is executed so beautifully and makes it effortless with its gentle pacing.
They introduce you to the Afghan landscape really well and the simple understanding how the country lives. It also incorporates native traditions in the animation which was great to see.
There are fantasy moments in a side-story that accompanies the main story which has really nice comedic value that added extra strength in my investment to the central plot. It also reminded me a lot of Kubo And The Two Strings.

There are so many great characters that you can easily root for and wonderfully gutsy protagonist. I also noticed all the voice actors seemed to be all from the films native setting of Afghanistan or at least have roots there.

So while I think the fantasy part looked to be director Nora Twomey strongest suit, the main part of the film is still a very moving and dramatic story that shows life in that part of the world so well that it manages to suitable for family viewing.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Lu Over The Wall

I am always slightly nervous as to what I'm getting myself in for with any Japanese animation that isn't Studio Ghibli.

The style of story-telling in most Japanese would feel so bizarre to a generic Western audience.

But like with anything, if you watch enough, you can gradually be accustomed to their style and fall in love with it. I have had that when discovering Studio Ghibli and have now seen all of their feature films. I have also discovered other major Japanese animations such as Ghost In The Shell, Akira, Paprika, Perfect Blue, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and most recently Your Name.

I have loved almost all of the ones I have mentioned and now I am delving into more and more new releases from this wonderful film-making country.

First and foremost, this particular feature is completely bonkers in both its presentation and pacing. There is dazzling bright colours in its animation that was like watching a living rainbow dance. It moves along at such a speed at times that they quickly covered certain parts of the story in a split second and it takes you a while to understand what just happened.
Even with the film going like a freight train, I thought it was thorough in its detail and sweet and funny in its tone. It explains the history rather well and gives the film great depth and made me further enjoy this world the director has dropped us into.

The story felt like a mix of Ponyo, E.T., Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and even The BFG and My Neighbor Totoro in small doses.

As mentioned, it's pacing is hard to keep up with especially in the final act. It seems to be cramming so much in and wrapping up everything little sub-plot that it loses its heart and soul and prevents me from calling this great.

Despite the craziness, I still managed to enjoy it. I liked the story and the history they gave it. You can see the heart and passion they've put into a sweet and funny story with such striking animation.
There are some cheesy moments. But the way it was delivered still maintains that high level of fun and enjoyment.

It is always a refreshing change to see something like this and I continue to be amazed at the variety of stories and mad animation films that the far East are conjuring up.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Thelma

I don't know enough about Joachim Trier. However, I have enjoyed what I have seen of his work so far. My first experience was Louder Than Bombs which covered very topical subject matters, executed them pretty well and got great performances out of his strong cast.

The other was 'Oslo, August 31st’ which was very good simple and grounded story with some great performances that made it a heart-breaking viewing experience.

With Thelma, it looked like another project that was completely different to the rest. One thing I was enjoying straight away was the concept. It is the type of story that I can definitely get on board with. After that acknowledgement, I was intrigued as to how they would explore this idea. There was some cool imagery with some occasional religious metaphors taking place that I enjoyed seeing.
But as we got towards the end, I could see that there were not going to be much more opportunities left to go an more intriguing path, and before you knew, it was over.

As soon as I understood the concept, I was immediately calling it 'Carrie: The College Years' and its very similar to the 1976 supernatural horror. I saw comparisons to other films like 'Raw' in regards to the coming of age aspects and 'The Neon Demon'.

Most of the performances were fine but not exceptional except for Eili Harboe who plays the central character. Her performance alone I feel is worth the admission. I thought she committed to her character really well, especially from the physical side of her performance. The young Norwegian actor certainly carried the film and made me believe in the concept.

As mentioned before, while it had an interesting concept, for me I felt was never fully explored. They only seemed to scratch the surface. Plus, the weak ending gave me of a disappointing feeling when leaving the screening. I thought the final act was treading over old ground that was covered earlier in the film.

They never seemed to take much risk except in a few scenes including one brutal scene towards the end. But I think the ideas alone makes it enjoyable enough.  I also liked the mysterious score. It worked really well throughout and enhanced the mystery surrounding the story. However, the missed opportunities prevented this from being highly memorable.

A word of warning, this does contain pretty frenetic flashing images that may effect you if you have in the past.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Happy End

While I know there is an audience for Michael Haneke's films, I wouldn't call myself one of them.

I have seen a few of his works in the past such as Benny's Video, Hidden and Amour. But most of the time I can never get into them. I do appreciate the craft of them, but apart from the latter thanks to their strong performances, I just can't give his films the same praise as the critics do.

I'm afraid this is more of the same. It does have a lot of the usual tropes that Haneke has. One that bugs me the most is the lingering shots that to me feel pretty meaningless.
It starts off with some interesting uses of modern technology. It dips into that every so often and does touch on some interesting subjects. But I think the main story at first did not feel that engaging.
It does get better and more intriguing in the second half. Towards the end, I was at peak interest and just when it was bringing me in, the credits rolled unexpectedly. It almost felt as if I was watching a cut of the film that hadn't finished the ending yet.

There were some good performances to speak of. The one I felt the most engaging was 12-year old Fantine Harduin. Her characters story-arch was by far the most interesting and her performance was a big help in making her the most gripping part of the story.
Jean-Louis Trintignant had his moments and great some nice chemistry with Harduin in the few scenes they had together.
It was great to see Isabelle Huppert as she is a terrific actor. While she did not feel much of a stand-out, she did a good enough job to be memorable.
From the minor roles, I liked Franz Rogowski's involvement despite it not being a regular occurrence.

I think the films biggest strength is the usual aspects that I find in other Haneke features, the cinematography and production design. It's shot really well, there's lots of striking imagery and his camera team makes the most of its landscape.
As mentioned before, I did like the use of modern technology and that was portrayed. Annoyingly, the way did the subtitles was done in those scenes was hard to read at times.

I think this just about warrants a pass. There is enough things in here to appreciate whether you get the story or not.
For me, it was hard to pin down the theme and main message. When I read the plot synopsis afterwards, half of it I got but the other I completely did not. Apparently, it's supposed to have the European immigration problem as the backdrop. Only in two, maybe three scenes did it have that, and they only mildly covered it.
I will keep seeking out other Haneke features to see if I can find other an exceptional piece of work other than Amour.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Killing Of A Sacred Deer

Ever since The Lobster, director Yorgos Lanthimos has been seen as the best thing to happen to independent cinema. He is probably the most original director working today, and there is a crowd for his work that is slowly growing.

He has had other critically successful films in the past such as Dogtooth. But it was The Lobster that saw him breakthrough into a much wider audience.

Now with the foundations laid, a lot of people have been eagerly waiting for his next project. This one sees Colin Farrell return as the lead after his fantastic work in The Lobster.

I must mention that when you go into a Lathimos film now, you expect strange and absurd storylines, but also meaning to them. He makes films that are designed to challenge you, and this definitely fits the bill.
This is being billed as a psychological horror, I saw more of a slow-burning thriller from this. It is definitely psychological and it made me really tense and feeling that I should have a shower straight after seeing this.

It's more about its absurd nature then anything else. You could almost see it as a fairy tale. While the content I was seeing on screen might not have made much logical sense, it still remained strangely captivating.

I had a feeling throughout that something was always not quite right, and this absurd story gets dark, had moments of comedy that managed to work and it will probably be the most unique film of this year.

I had a big change of heart during the film when it came to the performances. The delivery of the dialogue by everyone is done in a purposeful deadpan fashion. It was hard for me to get into it. But thankfully, a lot of the performances managed to convert me enough to get on board with it.
Colin Farrell I think has upped his game in this one from The Lobster. He was simply terrific in this one. While he is seen as a Hollywood A-lister, I still don't think he gets the credit he deserves. Just check out his performance in Saving Mr. Banks and tell me he doesn't deserve at least an Oscar nomination?

I think I've said in the past that I rarely go nuts for Nicole Kidman. But I thought she did a good job in this one. I must mention she shows her body off a lot in this one, and she's still got quite a impressive physique for someone who recently turned 50.

While I wasn't drawn too much to his deadpan style of delivery, I still think Barry Keoghan was great and committed to the cause. He has an impressive year with his work in this and Dunkirk now in his CV. I will be excited to see what he does next.

It was great to finally see Raffey Cassidy back in a big project. I remember her being great in ‘Tomorrowland: A World Beyond’ a few years ago and I'm so happy that Lanthimos put her talent to good use.
Despite playing a pivotal role in one scene, I had no idea until afterwards that Alicia Silverstone was in this. She certainly has changed a lot since her Clueless and Batman & Robin days.

As briefly mentioned before, I had a few problems with the film. I wasn't totally into a lot of the deadpan tone, both from a verbal and a physical standpoint. For the most part, it felt alienating to me and I struggled to feel strongly invested with what was going on.

There were also moments where the score romped along at moments that felt unnecessary to do so. I'm not sure if the point was to unsettle you. If it did, then it didn't quite work for me. It did at times when I did feel the tension. But sadly no on the whole.

My favourite part however was the cinematography. I was enjoying the long tracking shots they were doing at certain moments. The movement reminded me of The Shining. But what made it different, was the change of elevation to where the camera was which was exciting to watch.

So in conclusion, while it might not be as strong in its content as The Lobster, there's plenty of interesting and well executed aspects that makes it as good as Lanthimos' predecessor. I liked the performances, the way it was the shot, its general look and even though it is an odd story in its tone, but it managed to keep me interested to gripped as to how it was going to end up.

I must mention that this is definitely not for general or mainstream audiences. If you still feel intrigued to check this out, then maybe check watch The Lobster first as I feel that is more approachable of the two. If you enjoyed it, then I would recommend giving this a go.

Rating: 7/10