The Shining: Movie Review

Overview

After hearing almost everyone praising this film and seeing a few clips online (“Here’s Johnny!” to be precise), I just had to see this film. This film seemed to have the reputation of one of the best horrors of all time and having just seen A Clockwork Orange, I was dying to see more of Stanley Kubrick’s work. If you read my review of IT, you’ll know I loved it so the fact this is also another Stephen King adaptation just got me even more excited to see this film so I grabbed it on Blu-ray at the closest opportunity and sat down to experience this film. And again with The Shining, I hadn’t read the book or knew how it had ended so I was going in completely fresh. Did it live up to the hype? Did it live up to my own personal hype? In simple terms, yes. Yes it did.

Nutshell

The Shining is the 1980 adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name and is directed by none other than Stanley Kubrick. It stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duval and Danny Lloyd with Stanley Kubrick also producing and writing the screenplay. It follows the story of Jack Torrance, a man who accepts the position of a winter caretaker at an isolated holiday lodge and to live there for 5 months with his family. The job seems to be perfect for the aspiring writer to get some peace and quiet but the quiet seems to start taking its toll on Jack as strange goings on around the hotel start affecting him and his family.

Plot

Now first of all, I can’t compare this to the book for the simple reason I haven’t read the book even though I do know there are some differences but for the purpose of this review, it will be solely on the film. And I love the plot of this film! On the surface it seems like your typical horror with some people trapped in a haunted hotel but once the plot starts to delve deeper into the history of the building and the characters, you will soon start to realise it’s much, much more. I don’t want to go into spoilers here but the build up and pacing of this film is literally perfect for the events that occur and Kubrick’s directing just makes it impossible to switch off the film or switch off from the film, you just want to know more and see more and hear more. The theme of isolation is the essential centre to this film and through the acting, set design and cinematography it is explored beautifully and the effects are displayed for us all to witness and enjoy.

Characters

Now the acting in this film is what is going to keep it together so how does it fare? Pretty damn fucking good! Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance is absolutely incredible and probably one of the best performances in any horror film EVER! His portrayal of this man, plagued with guilts of his past and then his slow descent into madness is utterly captivating. Shelley Duval is great as well, even though her character does come across as annoying, that is how the producers and Kubrick himself wanted her to play the character. It is a nice contrast to Nicholson as his character is almost tolerating his wife the entire time and helps with the progression of his madness. Then of course we have Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance, the child with mysterious abilities and for some reason talks to his finger (no spoilers). He is amazing in this! One of the best child performances I think I have ever seen. I watched the behind the scenes of this film and for every scene in the film, Kubrick would do about 60-80 takes to get all the actors into character to get them to do things that they necessarily wouldn’t have done. The tiredness of each actor would cause them to pull weird faces during their takes and deliver lines in different ways and when watching the film, you can see this clearly worked. It is genius directing with genius acting. Of course, the characterisation of these characters is greatly due to Stephen King’s novel but I can’t help but wonder, would these characters have been even half as good in the film without Nicholson, Duval and Lloyd?

Editing

The first praise I thought for this film when I was watching it is the insane score behind it. The music behind this film just adds to every scene, whether it’s a chase scene or Jack staring at himself in a mirror. The score successfully builds the tension and horror behind every scene to absolute perfection with the droning high pitched notes, almost as if we are in Jack’s head experiencing his madness. One of the reasons why this film is infamous amongst film critics and lovers is its pioneering use of the steadicam for those long tracking shots of Danny riding his tricycle through the hotel to get the low angle shots of him. Kubrick even went as far as bringing the creator of the steadicam onto the set to experiment the best uses of it. And it shows because the cinematography in this film is gloriously complex but simple with such an ease that only Kubrick could bring to a film. With that comes the sets, the intricate but bold details that help to make this hotel feel truly alive. It makes the hotel feel like another character within the film, it makes the film feel truly alive.

Overall

I adore this film, both as film lover and as a fan of Kubrick. Everything about it screams tension, horror but with a unique view. I do believe this is one of the finest horrors ever made, if not the finest. Kubrick has crafted a film that you immediately become engrossed in and never want to turn off.

Rating

10 out of 10

IT: Movie Review

Overview

IT is the latest Stephen King adaptation written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman. It is directed by Andy Muschietti, best known for the 2013 horror Mama. It stars Jaeden Lieberher, Bill Skarsgård and Finn Wolfhard. In the town of Derry, children are disappearing at a rapid rate with no explanation whilst 7 kids band together to investigate it under one similarity: they are all being terrorised by a clown.

Nutshell

Even though I don’t really watch horror movies, I was excited for this film despite knowing nothing about the story or characters in the book. As soon as that first picture released showing Pennywise then the first trailer dropping, I knew this would be a film to catch. I know a lot of people set the original adaptation with Tim Curry as Pennywise as a gold standard adaptation in terms of horror and creepiness. I hadn’t seen this adaptation or read the book so I was quite glad to be going into this one fresh with no outside knowledge. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see it in cinemas but I managed to get it on Blu-ray on its release day. I was slightly skeptical going into this film due to it being primarily led by child actors which normally doesn’t bode well for most films, never mind a horror film. I am wholeheartedly pleased to say that they didn’t disappoint. Not a single actor.

Plot

As I said before, I was going into this completely fresh as I hadn’t read the book or seen the TV mini-series adaptation so I can’t compare it to how faithful it is to the original source materials, even though I have heard it’s pretty damn faithful, but even so, this plot surprised me. It surprised me with how much depth there was to the story and not just the story on screen but the hinted backstory to the town and characters. It was very unique for a horror to have a plot that is actually this interesting as I found myself wanting to know more, whether it was the explosion in 1908 or why Michael has that particular fear. I was hungry for more story. And the great directing from Muschietti didn’t fail as telling this plot very well. This to me is how a horror should be instead of just the normal “Ooooo it’s haunted, lets wander into this decrepit, old house with no safety precautions”. Every plot point had a purpose in this film and very little of it actually felt like filler and if they had the opportunity, I bet this film could easily have been a full 3 hours long. This horror actually had depth in its story! How often do we actually get that! One thing I will fault though is the sub-plot of the bully in the third act because that just fucking comes out of nowhere and I wasn’t too sure how I felt about it. But in all fairness, it helped keep me on my toes, furthermore showing this plot is unpredictable. There is one scene in particular where the kids are all chatting and coming up with theories as to what IT can do and wants but we never have any clarification on it and we, as an audience, just have to take it as fact as to that’s the truth.

Characters

I love every character in this film! They all play their own part and all have something unique to add to the table from the kids to the parents to IT. Let’s start with the main cast, the kids. Like I say, all unique and each with their own depth. Not every character has as much depth as the others but that’s understandable when you have 7 main characters and a 2 hour slot. What also helps with these kids is that the actors do such a damn good job of portraying their own character in their own way, it makes each one feel relatable. You will relate to at least one of these kids at some point in the film. Even the secondary characters, mainly the bullies, have depth! They managed to create such great characters in just 2 hours, and keep the plot and pacing ticking along. Now the main star of the show, IT or Pennywise. Bill Skarsgård absolutely nails it. A truly terrifying performance where you could tell he took it extremely seriously and into his heart to do such an amazing job. What helped his performance massively was also the design and structure to Pennywise, whether it was the unnatural amount of drool coming out of his mouth or his left eye that would sometimes go wonky so it would be staring right at the camera or the dirty costume. All these factors helped Skarsgård be Pennywise to great effect. The amount of energy that he had to throw into being this character as well for all the movement and fast paced charges he had to do must have been exhausting but he makes it look so easy, which also adds to the unnatural image of IT as you never see him out of breath, despite chasing down a bunch of kids. I maybe would liked to have seen more of Pennywise just to enjoy Skarsgård’s performance even more but then I’m being greedy.

Editing

I must admit, this is a smooth flowing movie and doesn’t feel choppy in the slightest. The pacing works so well for this film however, I did notice that you would have like a rapid fire of scary scenes one after another then a break then rapid fire again the break etc for a lot of the film, whereas I feel this film may have benefitted more of those scenes got spread out just a little more so then the audience would constantly have been on edge instead of all at once. There is some good use of cinematography here to help give the film just that little more edge, great use of light and even the dark scenes you’re able to see everything you need without it being too over exposed. I love the added sound effects in post production though! Whether it’s the circus sounds, the creepy laughter or the children chanting a creepy song that sounds like a lullaby. It’s also the use of no sound at parts that adds tension to certain scenes. This film is unlike other horror in that it is unpredictable in a lot of circumstances. With a lot of horror films, when a character does something or the camera starts filming from a certain angle you can immediately start to predict what’s going to happen just because you’ve probably seen about 5 films do exactly the same thing but what I found with IT was that this wasn’t the case. I found myself predicting something to happen due to cliches but they didn’t happen the way I predicted and it made the film very unsettling and creepy and unpredictable, which I loved!

Downfalls

I only have a few downfalls for this film due to the fact I pretty much loved it. As I haven’t read the book, I don’t think Pennywise’s abilities or purpose was explained properly due to a revelation near the end of the film where something is revealed in his lair to do with the children. Just some of that didn’t make sense and maybe would have liked some more clarification, even though I was able to guess why he was doing what he did. There were a few deleted scenes I saw that maybe should have been left in the film, or scenes that had an extra 10-20 seconds at the end which they easily could have left in as a number of them did add to the film as a whole. I think one of my biggest gripes with the film is that I think they could have maybe gone further with the gore and scares. This film is only a 15 on Blu-ray, which says to me they easily could have taken it that one step further and I would love to have seen that. I know that sounds quite grim me asking for more gore in a film with kids but the film is about a clown creature that eats kids so yeah I would love to have had more gore and scares. Despite these downfalls, none of these distract from the film as a whole.

Overall

I loved this film. For me, this felt like a great character film set within a horror genre that then made for a great horror film. The acting was brilliant, the editing was amazing and the horror elements were really strong. Just a shame some minor details let this film down in some aspects but not to the point were it distracts from the experience as a whole.

Rating

8 out of 10

Blade Runner: 2049 Movie Review

One of the best sequels of all time. Ever. 
Overview

Blade Runner: 2049 is the sequel to the cult classic Blade Runner, directed by Dennis Villeneuve. It stars Ryan Gosling as K and Harrison Ford returning as Officer Deckard. This is the sequel that no one asked for as sequels have a reputation to be generally bad, or at least worse than the original, so when the news broke that they were creating a sequel to the brilliant Blade Runner, no one gave it a chance. Oh how wrong we were but more on this later. I only recently watched the original Blade Runner and enjoyed it thoroughly and Blade Runner: 2049 is the first film I have seen with Ryan Gosling since Gangster Squad and my first Dennis Villeneuve film so I wasn’t too sure what I was expecting. Now I am going to watch every movie directed by Dennis Villeneuve and every film with Ryan Gosling in.

Plot

Now the plot of this film does feel natural and in line with the tone of the original. The plot just expands on the originals whilst not copying directly from it. I will not be spoiling this film in anyway shape or form as I believe everyone needs to experience this film but let me put it this way, going from the trailers you really have no idea what the plot of this film is as the trailers and the marketing did a fucking unreal job of getting everyone hyped for this film without giving too much away. FUCKING HALLELUJAH!

Characters/ Acting

Let’s talk Ryan Gosling and his character, K. No not the agent from Men In Black. Gosling kills it in this film. I don’t want to give too much away about his character, but once you have an understanding of his character you really understand everything that Gosling does, down from his body language to his delivery of lines to his facial expressions. Like I say Harrison Ford is back in this movie and in full form. He isn’t in the film for long but that, for me anyways, was great. It felt natural for Deckard to be back in this film and the way he was utilised was extremely fun, especially his first scene (no spoilers). The rest of the cast do a fantastic job as well, especially Sylvia Hoeks as Luv. Holy shit this woman was incredible. The only issue I have with characters in this film is Jared Leto’s character who is barely in this film, which is a shame as I was extremely intrigued by his character but didn’t have enough time to really expand on his character other than “oh he is the bad guy…for some reason”.

Editing/ Action

Let’s talk about my favourite part of this whole movie: the cinematography. HOLY. SHIT. This movie is gorgeous! Straight from the opening shot, you are engrossed in this film and the whole film just has shot after shot after that entices you and sucks you in, down from the movement of the camera to the colour to the architecture. I love films that look good and I haven’t seen a film look this good since Mad Max: Fury Road. This film is masterful at visual storytelling through these techniques instead of the film being dumbed down with over exposition, the visual elements allow for the audience to think for themselves. Also, along with gorgeous cinematography comes great sound design. The sound of the ship flying through the air and landing is orgasmic. I aren’t kidding, the production value of this film is unbelievable. The editing and action has great pacing just like the original, it is slow paced but it helps the audience breath and enjoy the plot and film as a whole. But even though it is slow paced, there is not a moment of dullness in this film. Every second is intriguing whether it’s the action, plot or acting that keeps you focused and engrossed. Also, the reason why the slow paced plot is incredible is because this film could easily have been a cheap cash in on the Blade Runner name for a mindless action movie with no depth but you can tell that Villeneuve took time, effort and patience when creating this movie to make it feel like a genuine Blade Runner film.

Overall

I cannot explain my love for this film fully without spoiling this film. This is without doubt one of the best Sci-Fi films in a very long time. It’s got deep characters, a fantastic plot, amazing acting, GORGEOUS cinematography and special effects. Villeneuve really delivered with this film and created a true masterpiece.

Rating

9.5 out of 10

Saw: Movie Review

Re-defining or re-destroying horror?

Overview
With Jigsaw, the 8th instalment of the Saw series, hitting cinemas on the 27th of October I thought it was quite a good idea to review the first Saw film often referred to as the best one. The issue I had when I saw Saw for the first time, I had already seen 2, 3 and 4 so a lot of the story in the number had already been spoiled but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the fuck out of this film.
In a nutshell…

Saw is a 2004 horror film, directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannel. The story is also designed and developed by the pair as well as the two were at film school together. After finishing film school, the pair wanted to make a low-budget film and thus Saw was born.

Plot

The basic premise of Saw is two men wake up, chained to a pipe in an abandoned bathroom with no memory of how they got there and a dead body in the middle of the room between the two. The two then have to work together, navigating clues and their own past to get to the solution before time runs out. I will not be spoiling anything about the plot to the film if you haven’t seen it as the whole point of this film is the plot. I know everyone knows the Saw franchise as “torture porn” films but in actual fact there is a deep and satisfying story behind it all. In actual fact, the Saw films didn’t really focus on the torture parts until number 2. The first Saw is more of a mystery-thriller-horror. 

Characters/ acting

There is wonderful character development between the two main characters, Adam and Doctor Gordon. Leigh Whannel and Cary Elwes do a wonderful job as their respective parts, working off each other and staying in true character throughout making the development feel natural and right. There are other characters in the film that do a good job when they are on the screen and give a good performance all round but nothing that takes the attention of Whannel and Elwes.

Editing/ action

This film has soon of the finest editing I have ever seen in a horror movie. The quick paced flashes when shit is going down really adds to the tension and the excitement. The pacing is excellent as well with not a single moment of boredom in this film except for maybe the first 5 minutes where it takes a little time for it to all kick in. The action is fresh and feels extremely realistic when it happens but like I say this film is a thriller/horror so it needs to help make the audience feel engrossed into the film. The practical effects that accompany the film also make this extremely engrossing and because this film was done on a low budget that adds to the real ness of the practical effects. God, I would love to have been able to go to cinema to experience this.

Overall

In total guys, Saw is a great film. It’s an engrossing, on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller with good characters and an exciting plot. Rewatching this did really hype me up for Jigsaw so I do hope it is good. Fingers crossed. There are a few moments in the film where you do ask yourself “Hm, would he really have survived that?” But I do love this film and the Saw franchise, except for 7. Fuck 7. 

Rating

8 out of 10

John Wick: Review

Is Keanu back to his old self with amazing action? 

Overview
John wick is underdog action film of 2014, starring Keanu Reeves and directed by (insert here). Now, I didn’t see John Wick until late 2016 as I decided to watch it after hearing all the hype and, well, I enjoyed it. A lot. A lot a lot.

In a nutshell…
So John Wick is an all out action film starring Keanu Reeves as the titular character, who is a retired hitman for hire but is then forced out of retirement to get revenge when someone steals his car and kills his puppy. That’s the basic premise of the film and you’ve seen a revenge film thousands of times in films but my god they pull it off incredibly well.

Plot
Like I say the plot is very basic overall but it’s when you delve deeper into the details of the characters and the world that this film really impresses. The plot naturally allows the audience to gain a greater understanding of the hitman/assassins world, especially with the hotel and the manager (no spoilers). I have to give credit to the director for making what could have been a dull, overused plot into a unique experience for the audience and making it feel fresh and original.

Characters/ actors
Keanu Reeves back in an amazing action film? Hell yeah! This man knows how to kick ass in his films (most notably The Matrix trilogy) and there’s no exception here. You can immediately tell from the first action sequence that Reeves has been training and putting everything he has into this role as Reeves is known to do most, if not all, of his own stunts. Another performance that I thoroughly enjoyed throughout the movie was Ian McShane as the manager of the hotel. McShane just seems to add a certain flair of charisma and charm to any role he plays and it seems to fit the role of the manager in John Wick and is a true presence in any scene that he is in. The villain of the film does feel a little under developed throughout the film but this is due to the film concentrating mainly on developing John Wick and the assassins world, plainly setting up for future films and even spinoffs.

Editing/ action
Now here comes the exciting bit… the action of the action film. It is truly exhilarating when the action happens because when it goes down in this film it goes all the way fucking down! Not to give away too many spoilers, as this is a film to be enjoyed without too much detail being given away, but the action set pieces and Reeves’ acting make you soon realise that this is a man you don’t fuck with. The pacing in this film doesn’t necessarily slow down but that doesn’t mean it it’s just action piece after action piece. There are moments where the film does slow down slightly just to give us some characterisation and story development but not to the point where it drags on and hinders the movie. There is a stand out scene that I just have to discuss and it’s not even an action sequence completely but it does involve the main villain giving some exposition of the plot and character of John Wick with a monologue. It is an incredible and beautifully acted scene that then further gives you the impression to not fuck with John Wick.

Overall
John Wick has the same plot that you will have seen a thousand times, just with better developed characters, better acting, believable action and a unique feel to the entire film that will leave you gasping for more. The only downfall is that, at its core, it’s a familiar premise and the villain is slightly underdeveloped but don’t let that distract you from this film.

Rating
7.5 out of 10

War For The Planet Of Apes: Review

Does this film finish a trilogy on a high or a low?

Overview

War For The Planet Of The Apes (fuck these titles) is the finale of the latest Planet Of The Apes trilogy with Matt Reeves returning to direct. I was extremely pumped for this film because Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (fuck these titles) is probably one of the best films from 2014.

In a nutshell…

WFTPOTA continues the tale of Caesar trying to lead the apes to peace whilst humans hunt them down for control over the planet. With a new military leader (Woody Harrelson), Caesar must fight harder than before to save the future of his species.

Plot

The plot of this film does two things extremely well. It feels like a continuation of the series whilst being its own thing naturally and it characterizes ALL of the main characters, and some secondary characters, so goddamn well. You have a connection to all the characters, whether you like them or hate them, it just works. Straight away this film doesn’t delay with getting into the action and characterisation. Within the first 20 minutes of this movie, there’s a battle and development within the humans and apes. There has been a two-year gap between the end of the previous movie and the beginning of this one, which doesn’t really matter a lot except that Caesar’s family has grown. The stakes in this movie are a lot more personal, for both human and ape, instead of just being a general “survive or die” which adds a lot of gravity to the situation as you do flip from side to side with understanding both sides for doing what they do which is a lot more evident in this film than the previous ones. I do believe that this is the perfect way to leave these films now and be grateful for the quality that this trilogy has provided.

Characters/ Actors

Okay Mr Andy Serkis, who is Caesar through motion capture, deserves an Oscar nomination or at least an honorable mention because his performance as Caesar is utterly incredible and continues his reign as motion capture God. I know a lot of people will say that Caesar is CGI but without Serkis providing the base for the CGI to work, such as tracking his facial and body movements, it wouldn’t give us the same feel to the character. Serkis provides so much emotional depth to Caesar to make him a character and seeing as though this whole trilogy rests on Serkis’s shoulders, he has done it with great ability. Woody Harrelson plays The Colonel as only Harrelson could. It’s a standard performance but does so with such ease, it’s almost like he dances through each scene he’s in. I can’t say too much about the characters in this film without going into spoiler territory but every performance in this film is good and not a bad one. There are a few characters that I feel were given a little more time than I would have liked but that’s just me being a picky bastard.

Script

The script is an interesting topic in this film because the way this film is written and directed, it’s almost like a silent movie for the most part. This is due to the fact that the script is focused more on the apes and is not like the previous film where there’s a group of humans with the apes. Caesar is the only ape that can talk as all the others talk through sign language so when the script focuses on a group where most of them can’t talk, it does have its challenges. It reminds me slightly of Mad Max: Fury Road in the fact that you could still follow the events of this film, mostly, without sound. I think the directing of Matt Reeves has got to be admired because he seems to have mastered the art of saying a lot without the use of speech, like you can tell what characters are feeling, thinking and even “saying” to each other just by body language and facial expressions. Reeves utilized his actors to make the story flow naturally without them necessarily having to talk. Bravo Matt Reeves, fucking bravo.

Editing/ Action

When action goes down in this, it fucking goes down! No spoilers, but the ending battle is such a spectacle and a joy to watch it’s incredible. Also, a huge fan that the action scenes don’t need like 100 cuts a second, you can actually see the action. It’s also quite brutal as well. However, don’t go into this movie expecting lots of action throughout. This film does focus more on character than action which I enjoyed however, I can see why some people may find it boring.

Overall

This is a great film to be enjoyed at any time, but try to see it in cinema because the design of characters, set pieces, and the sound is brilliant. This film is a welcome finale to what has been a quality trilogy. It may be a little longer than I would have liked with a few unnecessary scenes or scenes that could have been cut down, but don’t let that distract you from this film.

Rating

8 out of 10

The 13th Doctor: My Thoughts

“Is the future going to be all female?”

“We can only hope.”

So the much anticipated 13th Doctor has been announced to the world with the first female Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, a choice that no one saw coming AT ALL. And with the first female Doctor comes an internet implosion.

Who is the new Doctor?

Jodie Whittaker is an actor who is most recently known for her role as Beth Latimer in Broadchurch and as Samantha in Attack The Block. I have seen both of these and she is great in both. Honestly, if you haven’t seen Broadchurch… watch it. Her acting in that is incredible as she is the Mother of the child that got killed.

Why this person?

There are three reasons why I believe Whittaker was cast as The Doctor. The first reason is that she is a great actor and this should be the first reason! She can act and you see that in Broadchurch and an episode of Black Mirror (another show I highly recommend). She plays such a broken character so well and intelligently and I feel that would be the perfect direction for the Doctor to go now after seeing the first part of Capaldi’s regeneration where he is refusing to change again, claiming he can’t go on being someone else. The Doctor is a broken character from all the things he/ she has seen and lost and Whittaker could easily pull this off.

The second reason will be that the creator of Broadchurch, Chris Chibnall, is taking over as lead writer for Doctor Who after Steven Moffat leaves after this Christmas episode. Whittaker must have left a lasting impression on Chibnall as I’m sure he will have had a massive say into who got cast to portray what will be his interpretation of The Doctor and who can add to that experience for the audience. With her being quite an experienced actor as well, she can be trusted.

The third and final reason is that it is time to change Doctor Who up a bit and what better way to do that than having our very first female Doctor! This has also been heavily hinted at for soooo long that we will be getting a female Doctor and why the fuck not?! We have seen that Time Lords can change gender when they regenerate with The Master changing into Missy and the General in Hell Bent. As long as the BBC just chose Jodie Whittaker because they believe to be the best actor going forward that auditioned then I for one am excited.

Going forward…

People need to let Jodie Whittaker get on the screen and give us her performance and interpretation of The Doctor. Obviously, I highly doubt we are going to get much of her in the Christmas Special when Capaldi regenerates, probably about 2-5 minutes maximum at the end so we will have to wait until the next season for our best look at her in action. Before judging it, let’s see what happens. Personally, it’s just the same as whenever anyone gets cast as the Doctor, you just have to wait and see what they will bring to the table and give the fans.

One thing I would love to see throughout the Christmas Special would be Whittakers Doctor make brief appearances throughout as if Capaldi’s regeneration lasts the full episode but keeps pushing it back whenever number 13 starts to take over. It would be an interesting regeneration considering how we last saw him saying that he will “not change”. So like Capaldi could scream in pain from trying to prevent his regeneration and Whittaker’s face could appear in place of Capaldi’s surrounded by regeneration energy then snaps back to Capaldi. Then at the end of the episode, he accepts his regeneration because he has no choice and then BOOM Whittaker takes the stage and to bring more timey wimey adventures.

Spider-Man Homecoming: Review

Is it spectacular or is it two hours of a teenage boy in red and blue pyjamas?

Overview

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the 6th Spider-Man movie (not including his appearance in Civil War) with Tom Holland as the titular character. As a huge Marvel and Spider-Man fan, I was looking forward to seeing how the new partnership between Sony and Marvel Studios would work as a solo film, especially with the appearance of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau).

In a nutshell…

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the first solo film with Tom Holland as Peter Parker/ Spider-Man, trying to prove himself to Tony Stark as a valuable asset to the Avengers. As a new villain (Michael Keaton) emerges out of the rubble of all the mess the Avengers have left behind, Peter takes this opportunity with both hands.

Plot

One of the best parts of this film is how the director, Jon Watts, has provided an original look, feel and take on handling this live-action Spider-Man film whilst keeping it strangely familiar. The plot ultimately revolves around Peter trying to prove himself to his mentor, and friend, Tony Stark which straight away is fresh for any marvel film and gives us an alternative look at Tony Stark’s character and how RDJ handles this. I won’t spoil anything about the plot but we do get a good look at how Peter has to balance his school and social life whilst trying to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Whilst being a huge Spider-Man fan, I was worried that we would be getting a very familiar story but we get a lovely, fresh feeling film. The film does slow down slightly at certain parts just to expand on the plot and characters but not enough to fault the movie and make it seem dragged out, slow or boring.

Characters/ Actors

Before I begin, can I just say what an absolute delight it is to have a fun, young Spider-Man interacting with Iron Man and watching RDJ and Holland develop this relationship from Civil War into the bond seen in this film. RDJ handles a very human side to Tony in this film by acting as Peter’s mentor/ father figure trying to guide him in the right direction to be better than himself. It’s a nice setup to the future of Spider-Man and Iron Man and how they will interact in Civil War. Now onto Michael Keaton’s character, Adrian Toomes otherwise known as Vulture in the comics. Again, another very human character in this film help makes this film feel very grounded. And I have to say Keaton’s performance as Toomes provides us with one of the more memorable Marvel villains, if not one of the best ones on the big screen so far. There is one scene in particular where Keaton actually is terrifying and proves himself to be worthy of being in the Marvel universe as one of the more popular and iconic villains from the Marvel universe. And finally… Holland’s Spider-Man. Best. Spider-Man. Yet. Seriously. Holland nails this performance and does an excellent job carrying this film as the main protagonist. His Peter was geeky, awkward and shy whilst his Spider-Man was fun, charming and hilarious. It is so much fun to watch his Spider-Man swing, fight and talk in any situation and try to balance school life with being a hero in his spare time whilst trying to have a social life with his best mate, and “sidekick”, Ned. If anyone had any doubts about Holland’s interpretation of Spider-Man after Civil War, thinking that was just a one off, think again, Imagine his humor and one-liners whilst fighting Bucky and Falcon but for a full movie with Miles more Morales and humanity.

Script

The script ultimately makes this film. As I said before, this feels very grounded and human for a film about a crime fighting teenager with the abilities of a spider. Spidey’s quick wit and humor is exactly what this film needed to help separate it from Maguire’s and Garfield’s films with their Spideys being much more serious and darker. What I do like is that this film isn’t a direct origin story (again) for the character but it is at the same time as it is a coming of age story telling of Peter trying to progress from being called Spider-Man to actually earning the title as the hero Spider-Man. Can’t mention too much here without spoilers so I’ll shut up now.

Editing/ Action

Now, this is where I have a few gripes with the film. There a few scenes where the CGI on Spider-Man is completely unnecessary like for example if Spider-Man is stood there it’s clear when Holland was using a motion capture suit but then there are other scenes where he is stood there and it’s clear he is actually wearing the suit. It’s a bit confusing why the didn’t just use the practical suit as much as they could especially on non-action scenes. It just looks a little fake at times. However, that being said the rest of the CGI and editing is pretty damn good. Vulture looks awesome! I seriously liked his design and expanding his abilities from the comics with his suit and how it comes about (no spoilers). The action set pieces are beautifully filmed and edited and I remember sat there at one point during the film thinking “This is THE Spider-Man”.

Overall

This film exceeded my expectations and provided us with a fresh look at my favorite Marvel hero with plenty of humor, action and character development. Imagine if John Hughes had directed a Spider-Man film then this would be it.

Rating

8 out of 10

Baby Driver Review

Major excitement or major bore?

Overview

Baby Driver is the 6th movie written and directed by Edgar Wright. I am a huge fan of Edgar Wright and his work with one of my favorite zombie movies being Shaun of the Dead so I was extremely excited for Baby Driver, especially after seeing the trailers and then the reviews all being 5-star. So how did I find it?

In a nutshell…

Baby Driver is about a getaway driver called Baby (Ansel Elgort), who clearly doesn’t belong in the criminal world, and he has a humming in his ears so he listens to music 24/7 on his iPod to help drown out the humming. Then one day he meets a girl so he desperately tries to leave this world but that doesn’t go down too well with his current crew.

Plot

Right from the get go you can immediately tell this has a FEEL of Edgard Wright, the quirky characters, quick editing, great action etc. The plot is no exception. However, this plot drags on for too long. This movie could easily have been cut down by 30 minutes, maybe even 40. The problem for me was pacing. When the action goes down (it’s amazing) it’s over in like 5-10 minutes whereas the slow plot points, the conversations etc, last for about, what felt like, 20 minutes. For example, there’s a scene right at the beginning where Baby goes to get coffee and it’s one, long continuous shot whilst he listens, dances and sings along to the song on his iPod (keep an eye on the background details more than anything). This sounds like a cool scene, and it is quite cool BUT it lasts for about 4 minutes! This doesn’t sound like a long time but when all you’re watching is a dude walk down the street, grab a coffee and walk back exactly the same way just lip syncing to a song, it gets boring very quickly. This happens quite a few times throughout the movie where a scene just goes on for too long and it’s usually the scenes that you don’t want to be dragged out, such as getting the coffee.

Characters/ Actors

I have no problem with any of the actors in this film as the cast, on paper, is amazing. I mean Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal, Jon Hamm and others, is pretty damn good. However, Jamie Foxx didn’t need to be in this film and his character easily could have been Jon Bernthal’s character and kept Bernthal for the full film instead of just having him for 5 minutes and then having to introduce another character with Foxx. There we go, save another 5-10 minutes of the movie or use that time to improve and develop the characters a little bit more. Also, there’s a bit where Kevin Spacey’s character (can’t remember his name) explains to Baby that he doesn’t use the same crew twice on a job, except for Baby. WAIT A MINUTE! Foxx, Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez do 2 out of 3 of the heists, further showing they really didn’t need Foxx or Bernthal in this film as that could have just been one character played by one of them. My favorite performance in this film by far was Jon Hamm as Buddy. Frightening and deadly but with a hint of a dangerous romantic about him, he stole every scene for me. There’s a good bit of character development with Baby, which is nice, and the scenes explaining his backstory are really nicely done, helping us to understand his character just that little bit more and why he does what he does.

Editing

The scenes that are edited to the background music, which is 2 or 3 of them, are brilliant. Honestly, when the action goes down in this film it is very entertaining to watch, especially the last two sequences. Mainly because it goes in time with the music, like in the trailer and the Bohemian Rapsody Suicide Squad trailer, and I have to tip my hat off to Wright and the editor for that.

Overall

Overall, I was extremely disappointed with Baby Driver as from the trailer I wanted to sit down and have fun with the film and experience fast, paced action throughout. However, for a vast majority of the movie I was extremely bored and no amount of action sequences (by the way there’s only 3/4 car chases in a film about car chases) can make up for the unnecessary dragged out scenes. That’s not to say this film doesn’t have enjoyable moments, just a shame they’re so few and sparse.

Rate

4 out of 10