Review: It: Chapter Two

I was happy to see the 'It' do well financially as it a mainstream horror that was not about jump scares. The story was interesting, I liked the characters and the scares were more about disturbing imagery then a loud noise, which is easily more effective.

Having the 90's TV mini-series version, I am aware that chapter two doesn't match the quality of chapter one. But I remained confident going into this, that they could do something interesting with this final installment and give us something that was worth making.

It ended up being a hard one to fully get on board with. The introduction and build-up to our characters reuniting was nice. There were some well executed horror sequences in the chapter's most iconic scene, which I was happy to see.
Then after that, it was a series of solid individual scenes that never felt part of one story. Then once we got to the finale, I felt a bit exhausted. That wasn't helped with the unnecessary duration of 2hrs 49mins. It had no right to be that length and that ended up being the films biggest negative.

Another drawback was I wasn't that into the forced bits of comedy being the end-note of almost every moment of horror. It either felt forced to lighten the mood or to make the most of the actor delivering those lines as he is seen more as a comedic actor.

I honestly didn't think the performances were that great except for Bill Skarsgard, who continues to show his impressive transformation into his iconic character. I didn't feel the major casting chocies of Jessica Chastain and/or James McAvoy elevated the level of acting. The use of the kid actors from chapter one were much more endearing then the adults.
There was nothing bad about the acting. There was very little to shout about. It ended up being rather ordrinary.

While there were a good amount of noticeable drawbacks to grind my enjoyment down, there was also enough creativity in the horror sequences that made me enjoy enough of it to make this a good enough feature.
If they were a bit more active in the editing in certain aspects, this could have been 2hr film with much more fluid pacing and less moments of drag.
But with the original and past portrayals never matching the content of the first chapter, I guess I'll settle with what we got.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Once Upon A Time ... In Hollywood

Our first Quentin Tarantino film for four years and our Leonardi DiCaprio acting appearance since in four years where he finally won his first Oscar award.

Seeing these two cinematic juggernauts not only return, but together in a project was enough to go and check this out with much anticipation.

I know Tarantino can be an acquired taste. But you cannot deny his talent and passion for film-making. I will still  never forget my first Tarantino experience, which was Kill Bill Vol. 1. It certainly introduced me to my next step in film watching and discover more mature films. Oh, and of course with a little bit of heavy violence along the way.

As for his latest project, I really enjoyed it. But the path that got me to that conclusion was one that I don't often take as it gradually snuck up on me.
From the get go, I could already feel Tarantino's hand-prints all over this. It was shot immaculately, the time period looked incredibly authentic, the choice of music in the soundtrack and use of the radio in a lot of scenes really felt you had been transported to Hollywood in the late 1960's. Plus, the Tarantino style of dialogue continues to be alive and well and very effective in many memorable scenes.

One thing that was missing from me to match the rest of the other high-quality aspects, was the story. There definitely was a story in there. It just got lost in the many strong individual scenes that did not quite help develop the main story.
While a lot of those scenes were really good and vintage Tarantino, not many of them seemed to connect and feel like one story with a beginning, middle and end.
It didn't help that there was a sub-plot going on that felt unnecessary and a waste of time if I was brutally honest. With the duration being 2hrs 40mins, that sub-plot amongst other things could have made the film flow much better at a more suitable 2hr duration.

The performances on the whole were very good. It was great seeing Leonardo DiCaprio back in the saddle and boy did he give a strong performance. If you remember the fire he showed in his character in Django Unchained, it's more of the same and it was glorious to watch.
Same goes for Brad Pitt as his smooth talking bad-assery felt like an enhanced of his character from Inglourious Basterds.
For Margot Robbie, while her performance was perfectly fine, it was her story that was the aforementioned sub-plot that I would happily to get rid of. Her character sadly did not seem necessary to the story.
It was great seeing Emile Hirsch and Timothy Olyphant be part of a Tarantino film and they both did a good job, especially Olyphant as he has a terrific segment with DiCaprio at one point.
It was also a wonderful surprise seeing Dakota Fanning, who I only remember as a kid in War Of The Worlds. Her performance was surprisingly chilling and it showed me a much different side to the younger of the Fanning sisters.
Despite there also being other big names such as Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, I didn't feel they needed to be there except for maybe just to say that they have now been in a Tarantino film.

I feel that despite its clear problems, there was plenty in there to make it a highly enjoyable experience and really liking the film on the whole.
I wasn't sure what to make of it for the most part. But as the film went on, the world that Tarantino replicated of Hollywod in the late 1960's gradually absorbed into me. Once it completely got me, I was just loving seeing this time period with the soundtrack in the background and making me feel like I was cruising down Sunset Boulevard, with the top down and embracing the California sunshine.

I can't see this pleasing the majority of general audiences. It might divide fans of Tarantino. I feel the hardcore ones like myself will love this. The casual fans might see this as a bit of slog but ending with a memorable final scene that contains many aspects that reminds of why they love Tarantino.
But I feel whether you end up liking this or not, the best experience possible is on the big screen.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Yesterday

The first things I heard of this was the concept. It sounded totally bonkers to me.
But then hearing it was being directed by Danny Boyle and written by Richard Curtis, it got me in.

Boyle is a strong director, and Curtis' writing in the past has made me discover some of my favourite rom-coms and worked for even the strangest of stories.

Everything about this was pretty solid and enjoyable from start to finish. It moves along like many solid and successful British comedies. The characters were introduced and developed well and were very easy to relate to. Also, I liked how they played around with the concept by expanding to what was being billed in the marketing.

Himesh Patel played the lead really well despite 99% of his back catalogue being television based. I always love seeing Lily James and her screen presence really enhanced my experience of seeing this and she supported Patel really well.
Joel Fry did a solid job as the comedic relief. It's not as strong as some of Richard Curtis' past scene-stealing supporting characters in the past, but there were enough laughs for Fry's character to be essential enough.
There are also a couple of celebrity cameos playing themselves and thankfully I felt their involvement never devalued the quality of the film.

I think it's only negative aspect for me was the ending. It wasn't bad. It just seemed to lose its way a bit, went a bit generic at times and felt unclear how it wanted to conclude the story.

Overall, I had a good time with this. Nothing about it was great, but everything about was solid at worst and my enjoyment level never really budged throughout the runtime.
There are enough laughs, British tropes that managed to still feel refreshing and have many feel-good moments which was helped by the choice of songs for the film.
I feel this will be a good crowd-pleaser for many demographics and could be a good way for the younger generation to discover classic rock 'n' roll.

Rating: 7/10

My Top 10: Keanu Reeves Films

For someone who has been part of the film industry for over 30 years, Keanu Reeves is currently having a bit rise back into stardom by involved in a few very popular franchises.

From his breakthrough in the late 80's with Dangerous Liaisons and Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure, Reeves has been part of many pivotal films that have inspired many generations since. The Lebanese born Canadian actor has also been part of one of the best action films of the 1990's, a 90's ground-breaker that is seen as one of the best films of all-time and is currently leading the way in one of the best action franchises of this current decade.

Known mainly for his action films, Reeves is definitely one of the go-to actors to guarantee a fun viewing experience within this genre.
Not only that, his love for film, his contribution behind the camera and being well known as one of the kindest and nicest celebrities, Reeves is a just highly talented and all-round nice guy that is certainly making the most of his time.

One honorable mention just missing out on my top 10, is a film documentary called Side By Side. A bit of an odd choice, but one that is allowed on this list.
This insightful film documentary shows Reeves interview many iconic film-makers investigating the history of celluloid and its transition into digital. A must for any budding film-maker.

Out of his 66 films, I have only seen 26 of them. I will rank all of the films that I have seen, and give a short review of each of my top 10:

26) 47 Ronin
25) The Day The Earth Stood Still
24) Chain Reaction
23) The Lake House
22) Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
21) A Walk In The Clouds
20) Street Kings
19) A Scanner Darkly
18) The Devil's Advocate
17) Bram Stoker's Dracula
16) Bill & Ted's Excellant Adventure

15) Constantine
14) Point Break
13) John Wick: Chapter 2
12) John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
11) Side By Side

10) Something's Gotta Give - A well-written rom-com that is certainly more than just your bog-standard installment.

It sees a gentleman on the verge of becoming a senior citizen who prefers the company of younger women fall in love with someone closer to his age.

While the film is mainly about Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves gives a solid support as an accomplished doctor.

9) John Wick - A really fun action film that sees Reeves in his most bad-ass performance ever.

It sees an ex-hitman come out of retirement to track down gangsters that took everything from him.

This ended up revitalising a once tired genre with high-quality, brutal and imaginative hand-to-hand combat sequences.

8) The Neon Demon - A strange film, but one that I have been obsessing over since its release in 2016. It sees an aspiring young model take the LA fashion industry by storm, to the jealous of her fellow models.

While Reeves is not in the film for that long. His performance as this sleazy motel manager is memorable enough to be seen as an important contribution to the film.

7) The Matrix Revolutions - The third installment in the Matrix trilogy.

While the city if Zion is defending itself from the machines, Neo is in looking to end the war and taking on Agent Smith one last time.

While I may be in the minority, the strong action and twists this movie takes makes a memorable conclusion to this trilogy.

6) Parenthood - A late 80's comedy drama classic that sees a ensemble cast portray the joys and struggles of parenting and living with a large family of relatives.

Reeves plays Tod, the boyfriend and expected father of Julie, the daughter of main character Gil Buckman, played by Steve Martin.

5) Dangerous Liaisons - Winner of 3 Oscars, this wonderfully executed period drama sees a lot of devious schemes as a widow and her ex-lover make a bet on ruining young love.
But when actual love begins to blossom elsewhere, their games begin to take a more treacherous turn.

Reeves plays music teacher Raphael Danceny, who is part of the bet.

4) The Matrix Reloaded - The long awaited sequel to the iconic 1999 predecessor, Reeves returns as Neo.

With the machines moving closer to discovering the last human city of Zion, Neo, Morpheus and Trinity are instructed by the Oracle to locate the Source Of The Matrix that may help them win the war against the machines.

I'm in the minority, but the thrilling action is gripping viewing and it is an exciting sequel that expands the world of The Matrix.

3) Speed - A 90's action classic that is still thrilling to watch today.

Reeves plays a young police officer who must prevent a bomb exploding on a bus by keeping its speed at over 50mph.

With a strong cast and wonderful action, this has all the right ingredients for a successful action film.

2) Toy Story 4 - Despite Reeves not being known for his voice-work, his character of Duke Caboom steals the second half of the fourth chapter of the Toy Story franchise.

Despite this franchise being going for 25 years, they still produce wonderful stories that push all emotions to its highest level and Reeves was a big contributor to many memorable scenes.

1) The Matrix - The 1999 summer hit that not only became many peoples favourite film of the 1990's, but of all-time.
It's my favourite of the 90's and 5th in my all-time list.

Reeves plays a computer hacker who learns from a group of rebels of the truth about the world he is living in.
With ground-breaking action and a story full of large scale ideas, the Wachowski's have created a world that will forever be remembered in pop culture.

Review: The Lion King (2019)

The third Disney live-action re-make of 2019, and it's one that while some people may not call live-action, it involves one of Disney's most successful animated features.

The Lion King has become one of the most highly praised films of all-time, not just within the animation genre. It's broadway musical has become a worldwide phenomenon and it is back on the big screens.

I was somewhat excited for this as despite me not thinking that it needed a re-make, it had Jon Favreau as director,who gave us the best Disney live-action re-make to date in the form of, The Jungle Book.

I avoided all the trailers as it didn't need anything for me to want to see it. So I went in knowing very little except what I imagined in my head. I knew I was expecting the visual effects of animals to be as real as possible. But I did not expect the entire world to be so worryingly authentic.
Now that I've seen it, I truly that if it wasn't for the animals talking and singing, it would look more like a David Attenborough documentary.

This film has shown that we have gone beyond the world of CGI, it is now photo-realism that has taken its place within the visual effects department of film-making.
In terms of the story, there is very little difference between this and the 1994 animation. In fact, this is probably the least changed out of all of the Disney live-action re-makes to date. There was one small difference in one scene which was very funny and unexpected.

You would think that would mean that that would make it as great as the original. However, it seemed the films biggest strength, also prevents it from being a great film.
With the animals being as real as possible, the expressions animals give are restricted and down-grade the emotions that they give off in their face. So during some of the films most iconic and pivotal scenes, the characters don't seem to be expressing their faces enough to relate to what's just happened. Unlike the animation, where they can express their characters to a more human quality that makes the audience relate to the emotions of the characters.

I have to keep echoing the visual effects department, because they have created a world that is as real as it can get for CGI. The design of the animals is spot on and the level of detail is unmatched. I especially liked the design of Scar. That torn and withered look was there for all to see and it was great to see in its completion. If they don't win every major award going for Best Visual Effects, then there is something wrong there.

The voice work was very good overall. JD McCrary and Donald Glover were great as Simba, Chiwitel Ejiofor maintain Scar's reputation as the best character of the story, Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen were great scene-stealers as Timon and Pumba and it was great hearing James Earl Jones again as Mufasa. I didn't feel the need of casting Beyonce as Nala, except to just use his singing to enhance sales in the soundtrack. To be honest, I didn't feel her versions of certain songs bettered the originals. The modern style and edge to them didn't necessary in my opinion.
Elsewhere, I felt John Oliver was basically doing a Rowan Atkinson impression as Zazu instead making it his own.

Despite enjoying it, there were a fair amount of problems with it that just made it a solid film and nothing more. In a nutshell, I could call this film an oxymoron as like I said earlier, it's biggest strength down-graded the quality.
But thankfully there's plenty to enjoy and enough well executed moments to take you back to those days as a kid of constantly watching the animated original.

As usual, I am going to end with the one question I always leave myself with after each Disney live-action re-make, did this need to be re-made? In my opinion, not quite. I felt that this films existence was basically to showcase the technology they had. Favreau and his team showed where this technology can go in The Jungle Book and it has been fully realised in this latest feature.

So far, the Disney live-action re-makes have been solid overall. We have two left in the form of Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil and Lady And The Tramp. I'll be particularly interested to see if this technology is used in a similar way in the latter of the two.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Midsommar

Despite not going nuts for his previous film Hereditary compared to some people, I did however appreciate many things by director Ari Aster's psychological horror from last year.

I always look out for a director that is known for being a visionary, whether I end up liking it or not. These types of directors usually produce the most interesting as they produce a style that you never get from a widespread mainstream release.

The trailer for Aster's latest project had me interested and the cast had many strong young hopefuls that I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing in the past.

After seeing the film, I certainly had similar feelings after I saw Hereditary. However, there was more in here for me that may warrant multiple viewings. Early on, you can already see Aster's style put to use with many impressively executed sequences that I will certainly not forget anytime soon.
Also, the deception of the trailers billing Aster's films as a straight horror with jump scares strikes again. This is definitely more like another psychological horror with the central story being more about the development of a relationship covered over by a lot of disturbing pagan-esque rituals that will have everyone relating this to The Wicker Man.

As mentioned before, the cast has many rising stars and they all pretty much delivered in this. Florence Pugh was a terrific lead and carried the film as well as the main plot well with a strong and committed performance. Pugh has had quite a couple of years breaking through into the film industry. She has given plenty of evidence to prove that she can take on bigger projects. I look forward to see what projects are lined up in the future.
Jack Reynor and Will Poulter might not have given a carrer best performance. But there was enough memorable moments in here, especially by Reynor to show that they were solid supports.
I also have to give props to to the largely Swedish cast for portraying a part of their culture with such authenticity.

The biggest strength of this film seems to be a common theme within Aster's films, and that is the cinematography and the production design. Everything about it looks great, especially within the Swedish landscape and the camerawork showcases it beautifully. Just letting the camera pan back, having lots of wide shots and just letting the content to the talking just enhances the look of the film so well. I cannot see anything else surpasses this aspect of any Aster film in the future.

While everything looks great, I think the strength of the story is not quite strong for me to give an exceptional rating. While the themes and arch of the story I felt was stronger in this then in Hereditary, the general strangeness of the imagery only had me intrigued and not often gripped.

There is plenty of disturbing and unsettling imagery, good performances and a solid story to keep you entertained. But I felt the final act, much like Hereditary, ends up being strangeness for strangeness sake. I'm afraid I'm still just appreciating Aster's work instead going nuts for the story and the characters.
It's most definitely a good viewing experience and worth watching, especially for something different outside of the mainstream formula.

Ari Aster definitely has the makings of being a masterful director. I'm just still waiting for something that I can go nuts for, champion and recommend to anyone.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Spider-Man: Far From Home

It's been another historic year for Marvel and it's Cinematic Universe. Its previous film Avengers: Endgame now becoming the highest grossing film of all-time, and we have its 23rd installment being released.

Never an easy task to follow. Not only to maintain the quality of their films, but to still get positive reviews from its devoted audience. I was fairly excited for this one, as I feel with the right approach, this could be another entertaining blockbuster, despite not being nowhere near as a big of a story as Endgame.

It's up to Spider-Man to achieve this task and after giving us a very entertaining first outing in Homecoming a couple of years ago, I felt this was probably the right Avenger to concentrate on for its next chapter.

For what it was, it was another enjoyable and solid outing. Dealing with the aftermath of the events of Endgame was well handled and at the same time, it was setting us up nicely for the story that we were about to see take place.
After that, there was a really nice mix of high-school styl humor and vintage MCU action. In the middle of this, there were some impressive fantasy sequences that was helped by the villain of Mysterio, a villain that I've been waiting to see on the big screen for some time.
This particular villain was a favourite of mine during the 90's animated series. The design and powers that he has was certainly one that I enjoyed watching compared to others. The way they portrayed him was spot on.
There were several clever twists and turns that fully utilised the character of Mysterio and made quite the formidable foe for Spider-Man, and made it an even more satisfying watch knowing that the execution of character could not have been bettered.

Tom Holland remains a good Spider-Man. I like the social awkwardness he gives off and he perfectly fits the tone of the Spider-Man films. Samuel L. Jackson is as bad-ass as ever, Jake Gyllenhaal was a wonderful addition in his MCU debut and Jon Favreau had a number of scene-stealing moments as the comedic relief.
I still  enjoy the relationship Holland has with Jacob Batalon's character and I enjoyed the sub-plot with Martin Starr and J.B. Smoove's characters.
I don't think Zendaya did as well as she did in Homecoming. Some of her scenes and vital moments during the film did not feel believable to me. I will expand on this later on when I speak about my main negatives of the film.

From a technical standpoint, it is as you were for a Marvel film. All of those imaginative fantasy sequences just enhanced the top visual effects as you expect with every Marvel film these days. Everything else from a production design was of course fairly strong as they always spare no expense on the look of their films.

No major negatives to speak of. However, I felt some aspects of the writing and acting within the development between Tom Holland and Zendaya's characters felt forced more than authetic. It was an aspect of the film that I never felt interested in and it's a portrayal of these two characters relationships that is just not working for me. It's more like "these two actors are popular at the moment, let's cast them as the two characters that are scheduled to have a relationship according to the source material". It reminded me of another character played by Zendaya in The Greatest Showman.

Also, the small scale and grounded nature of the story won't blow peoples minds compared to some of their best ones. It's perfectly fine. But it just can't compete with some other films in this franchise.

So it still gets a solid rating from me, as it was another enjoyable and satisfying viewing experience. The laughs are consistent for the most part, the visual effects were well utilised with the story and characters that they had and the pacing never had me feeling bored or a sense of a lull within the film.

As for any bonus scenes during the credits, there is one halfway through that pleased me and will to fans of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films. There is also a post-credit scene that was fine, but not as well executed as I think it should have been.

Rating: 7/10