Quick Reviews #15

Quite a few short reviews in this post here but I've seen quite a lot of new films recently so I thought you guys would like to read my thoughts. Enjoy!

Kubo and the Two Strings

A really beautiful stop motion fable that oozes creativeness and originality. Very refreshing to see in a year full of sequels, adaptations and reboots. I do worry that a younger audience may not fall in love with the strange mythology, or at times quite slow pace, but for now I’m just happy that it’s here. It also makes me feel very bad for not seeing any of the company’s previous work, time to change that…

4/5

Warcraft

Not as bad or as confusing as everyone has been banging on about. I quite enjoyed this one, it’s far from perfect but I had a good time in this world. I’ve never played the game, everything I know has been from the trailers and although I’m still not 100% clued up on everything that happened, I think I got the general gist of things pretty easily. I mean it’s messy in parts, drags near the end and could’ve been streamlined to maybe two or three main characters but overall I had fun and for the most part the effects were pretty darn impressive. If they make more, then I look forward to seeing where the story goes next.

3/5

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

I really enjoyed the first film, it was stupid yet a lot of fun, this one however, not so much. I didn’t really get that hooked with the story, barely any of the jokes landed and the action sequences just blurred into one by the end. The turtles themselves still look great and I like the fact that they went deeper into the source material, making thus truly feel like a Saturday morning cartoon brought to life, only not as well done as the previous film.

2/5

The Neon Demon

Okay, I think it’s time to say that Nicolas Winding Refn has gotten too big for his boots. Every times he makes a new film I hope that we get another Drive or Bronson, two of his films that I adore, but we’re not getting that, we’re getting just weirder and less coherent films that are only designed to shock the audience and it’s just getting tacky. It’s not that I didn’t get this film either, I got it, it pretty much hits you over the head with its ‘themes’ and ‘metaphors’. I feel like this film has a very narrow minded and stereotypical view of the modelling industry, like Refn wrote it without doing any research but went in with the same pre-conceptions that most of the public have about the industry, it says absolutely nothing new. Cinematography wise, yeah it still looks great, you can’t fault that, but I guess I was just hoping for more. The worst thing is that I will keep getting sucked into watching his films in the hope that any one of them may be his next Drive. People may laugh at me for rating this lower than some of the other films on this list but there’s nothing worse than a bad film which you had high expectations for…

1.5/5

Finding Dory

Not a scrap on the original but still fun. It really doubled down on the disability metaphor which meant for some interesting new characters. This was a nice sequel but there is no need for a threequel.

3.5/5

The Shallows

Simple yet sweet, a brilliant self-contained shark thriller that looks great and keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. I really wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did. Also the Shark CG looks great!

4/5

Keanu

I laughed a lot at this. I feel like it’s been a while since I saw a really good comedy and this just felt refreshing. Key and Peele are hilarious, it’s not a joke a minute but it’s so stupidly funny when they do land, I had a blast.

4/5

Sing Street

I love films that have music intertwined so romantically with them, this is one of those films. It’s charming, it’s funny, it’s the right amount of happy and sad and most of all, it’s inspiring. There are some aspects that I feel could have been more fleshed out but I don’t care that much because overall it was brilliant. One of the best films of the year so far.

4.5/5

Well I hope you enjoyed that slightly longer version of 'Quick Reviews'. Work has been pretty busy recently so I haven't had much time for film viewing, however I did just go to see The Girl with All the Gifts, so I hope to be able to review that one for you guys soon because it was great!

You can read even more reviews from me and check out some of my watching habits over on Letterboxd.

Thanks for reading!

Lets Talk About The Oscar Nominations...

It's Like Fast & Furious But Good!

I am of course talking about the sensation which is Drive. Drive is one of those word of mouth films which critics and the public have both loved, Total Film named it their film of 2011. So obviously I thought that I must check this film out! And after a long wait I finally got round to seeing it and I was amazed!

I do not always agree with the critics but on this occasion I do! Drive is one of those films which is incredibly cool and no matter what situation the main character is in you want to be him! The main character is played by Ryan Gosling who is personally one of the best actors around at the moment. And his performance as the driver is one of his best. And he was brilliantly partnered with actress Carey Mulligan who is also at the top of her game at the moment!

The plot goes like this; A Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.

That sounds familiar, almost like the plot of Fast & Furious movie. If you sit down expecting one of those monstrosities of a film you will be deeply disappointed. This is a driving movie for film buffs. It takes its style from films of the 1970's and 80's. The soundtrack is uber-cool and will send shivers down your spine whilst you watch the masterpiece.

It is quite violent in places and sometimes you have to watch through your fingers. It seems 2011 was the year of the hammer for movie deaths as it was used once again in this film. I think I am actually starting to develop a phobia of hammers after the amount of pain I have seen them inflict on the big screen! Thor, Kill List and now Drive when will hammers be banned!

But I haven't talked about the cars yet which are obviously a big part of the film. The cars are super cool and the chases in which they are involved are too cool to handle. The opening sequence is one of the best getaway car chases I think I have ever seen!

I have never seen a film by Nicolas Winding Refn but after watching this I will definitely see more! I hear Bronson is a good film and I need to catch up on Tom Hardy's films before I see him in The Dark Knight Rises!

The film is superb and I just can't get enough of Ryan Gosling at the moment! I'm off to see War Horse at the weekend so I will post a review of that on the blog soon!