The Commuter (2018) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 31st, 2017*

For better or worse, The Commuter is exactly what you'd expect from a Liam Neeson action-thriller directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Their previous collaborations Unknown, Non-Stop and Run All Night have all been perfectly serviceable genre films that entertain and deliver exactly what they're meant to, which is not a bad thing. The Commuter is a blast.

Liam Neeson plays an ex-cop shoved in an extreme situation involving his daily commute on the train. After a woman offers him a large some of money to point out who on the train doesn't belong, he's pitted in a conspiracy with twists and turns that just don't stop till the end.

This is hardly high-art, it's essentially fast-food cinema, you enjoy it a hell of a lot, but you feel it dumbs you down. There are obvious comparisons to a previous film Neeson and this director did, this is pretty much Non-Stop, but on a train. Collet-Serra has definitely improved as a director with each film he's done with Neeson. While Run All Night is probably my favourite of their films, this is a close second.

It opens with a really cool and visually interesting montage of Neeson's daily routine done in a very impressive style. It's much more than I expected from a film like this. It sets everything all up very well, Neeson noticing the regular commuters before things kick-in, building his motivation to take the money and go along with the offer. It all works.

There are extreme lacks in logic, as one would expect and the film very literally goes off the rails in the final act, but I'd be lying if I couldn't overlook these things, as I was having so much fun with it. The twists are mostly obvious and telegraphed very early, that said, I was still very much into the mystery and got wrapped up in the whole thing. There is some some very awful dialogue here and there, to the point where I laughed out loud at the cheesiness of it all and Patrick Wilson's character is named 'Alex Murphy' for some reason and he doesn't even turn out to be Robocop.

Even at the age of 65, Neeson still kicks ass in a lot of great action scenes littered throughout. The action is pretty quick and brutal, edited nicely and packs a punch. A far cry from the incoherent mess of Taken 3's choppy action. I feel I need to mention Liam Neeson smashes a man's head with a guitar. What more could you want?


The Commuter is exactly what you'd want and expect from a Liam Neeson action film, which is no bad thing. Whether you're laughing with it or at it, there is so much fun to be had with this. I hope Collet-Serra and Neeson continue to work together for a long time.

7/10 Dans

The Commuter is out now in cinemas in the UK
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Downsizing (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 31st, 2018*

What a waste of potential. Downsizing has a unique and original idea behind, but one that is squandered after a promising first act. Things quickly go downhill as the characters get more annoying and the situations become more aimless and boring.

I never would have thought a film about shrinking humans to try and save the planet could be see bland. The jokes are exactly what you'd expect and it's brutal. After Matt Damon gets shrunk he checks his penis to make sure it's in proportion to his body, it's that sort of thing. All the real jokes are in the trailer and the film is played straight for the most part, apart from bizarre and unfunny jokes about the word "Fucking" instead, most of the film is played relatively straight. 

Most of the time I was just annoyed about the quirkiness of it all and the film is nowhere near as smart as it believes it is. There's a few lines about the humans impact on the environment, immigration and if little people should have the same rights as fully grown human beings. Any potentially interesting story-line is wasted in place of a boring romance that descends into a grating final act. If I had the choice, I probably would have walked out. 

I need to get my biggest gripe out the way, Hong Chau's character, a Vietnamese woman with one leg who becomes Matt Damon's love interest for the remaining two acts of the film. She is brutal. What shocked me is that the actress was actually Vietnamese and she took this role, as she's written as this frankly tasteless and annoying character that comes off as just a huge bit racist. It feels like a Team America archetype brought to life. 

It's not all bad though, there are some things to like, Christoph Waltz is fun in his role as a party hard European and has a lot of likeable charm. Then there is a lot of creativity on display here, we've come a long way from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids in the ability to create convincing effects for shrinking people and in all honesty, it looks pretty good. That's it though, the rest of the film is garbage. Matt Damon is fine I will say, completely fine, nothing special, but he does okay.


Downsizing is a complete waste of potential, a fascinating sci-fi premise that starts well but ends up as one of the worst films I've seen so far this year. A huge misfire from Alexander Payne.

3/10 Dans

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Ratchet and Clank (2016) - Film review

Review:

*Originally written May 3rd, 2016*

I was fairly excited for Ratchet and Clank when it was first announced back at E3 a few years ago, I'm a huge fan of the video games, so I was praying to god that they could make a good film out of it. With the creative team behind the video games working on the film, I was hoping that this could be the adaptations that breaking video game movie curse. It sadly wasn't.

Based on the first game in the series, Ratchet and Clank tells the story of Ratchet, a mechanic and last of his species who dreams of bigger things and wants to join the Space Rangers, a universe defending team. He gets his chance at this when he meets Clank, a small robot with information about an insane villain who wants to destroy the universe or something.

This franchise was always Pixar brought to life in video game form, so it was pretty ripe for an animated film. So it is such a shame that this fails to capture that magic that Pixar usually conjure. The look of game is captured pretty well. The animation does look pretty and the characters and design all look excellent.

Maybe I'm just getting old and cynical, but this was just a pretty run of the mill kids film filled with lame humour and childish gags. I know this is a kids film, but in all honesty, the target audience is people my age (18-20) who grew up playing the games. I'm not saying that it needed to be full of swearing and violence. I just expected funnier jokes than the cheap slapstick we got here.

It tells the same story the first game and the new one (Which is much better than the film). The voice cast from the game all the return, which was nice, including some voice work from Sylvester Stallone and John Goodman. 

The characters are the only real thing that saves the film from utter garbage. Ratchet and Clank are likeable as ever and Captain Qwark is still hilarious and everything that comes out of his mouth is gold, he's basically Zapp Brannigan from Futurama. 

This whole thing just felt like a cheap and cynical ploy to promote the new game. There's no heart or soul to this film at all. It runs at 90 minutes, but still feels so much longer. I wanted it to end so many times throughout.

One of the things that makes Ratchet and Clank so great is the creativity of the weapons, but there is nothing here apart from some guns that make no more than a cameo. All the action itself is flat and uninventive with no emotional weight either. It was all just so bland.


Ratchet and Clank isn't the video game movie adaptation you were hoping for, which is just a shame. It's just a cheap and cynical cash-in to promote the new game. The director of this is also directing the Sly Cooper film, my faith in that has dwindled.

4/10 Dans

Ratchet and Clank is out now on DVD in the UK

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Edge of Tomorrow (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 13th, 2015*

Edge of Tomorrow always surprises me with each watch. I doubt many people asked "What would Groundhog Day be like as a sci-fi action film?". But amazingly, the concept works far better than it should.

It's insanely entertaining and a brisk 2 hour watch with an excellent performance from Tom Cruise who plays against type here as a coward Major who is forced into a battle and obtains the ability to repeat the day every time he dies after an encounter with an "Alpha Mimic". I was surprised at just how funny this was too, Cruise manages to balance both comedy and bad-ass action hero both effortlessly.

Cruises character builds more as the film goes on, going from an incompetent soldier who doesn't even know how to turn the safety of his weapon to a bad-ass who doesn't even have to look when killing an alien. It's almost like a video game, it even feels like a video game at times. It'd probably go as far as saying this is the best video game movie ever made, except it's not based on a video game.

The design of the mech-suits and aliens are really creative and so much better than alien designs we've had from recent films (Battle: Los Angeles). The action is inventive and fun, the opening scene that was very reminiscent of D-Day, but with aliens and soldiers in mech-suits. The whole dying and coming back to life thing could have made for some very repetitive action and scenes, but they manage to keep it interesting all the way through from beginning to end.

Emily Blunt provides the highlight of the film as the 'Full Metal Bitch' a hardened soldier who helps Cruise as she went through what he did at some point. She manages to outshine Cruise at points, making for a compelling co-lead, delivering some great action too.


The only thing that lets Edge of Tomorrow down is its ending, which in all honesty doesn't make much sense. That aside, It is one of the best and most enjoyable blockbusters of recent years. A sequel has also been announced, but I'm not entirely sure what the point would be?

9/10 Dans

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Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 15th, 2015*

Some background with me and the Mad Max films: I had never previously seen a Mad Max film before December last year, I picked up the Blu-ray box-set and cracked on the first one. I was vastly disappointed, it was an ugly, incoherent mess of a film. The car chases and action were excellent for its day, especially taking into account the shoe-string budget, but the story was muddled and disjointed to the point where we had to check Wikipedia to see what had happened.

Thankfully Road Warrior was a vast improvement, with a story that you could actually follow and action scenes that were some of the best for its time, It still had it's problems but it was very watchable. It kinda felt like Evil Dead, the first was messy, but the sequel allowed the director to create the vision he wanted with a bigger budget. Now the last entry, Beyond Thunderdome was another mess, but it had its moments, it starts of all well, but eventually went to this strange family-friendly place that felt like Spielberg meets Lord of the Flies, which created a weird film that was tonally disjointed from the previous two.

Now after 30 years, Mad Max is back with Tom Hardy in Mel Gibson's seat as the titular anti-hero and the results are the birth of one of the best action films made in the past decade or so.
While not a reboot or remake of the first, Fury Road is a hybrid of a sequel and reboot, the past events of the last 3 films are all canon, but it feels like a completely new story and you really don't need to watch the first 3 to understand.

Fury Road places a reluctant Mad Max helping Furiosa (Charlize Theron) get Immortan Joe's (Hugh Keays-Byrne) sex slaves away from him and to the safety of the 'Green Land'. This is essentially the whole story that's told over a 2-hour chase scene.

It works perfectly. The action scenes are some of the most perfect I've ever seen on film. Apart from some weather effects (Which does look incredible) there is an outstanding reliance on practical effects and a very minimum and restrained use of CGI. I was amazed at how they filmed a lot of this, there are cars and trucks being totaled and blown up with the actors clearly in a close proximity. This film is true film-making at its finest.

The action scenes are accompanied by an excellent score which was composed by 'XL Junkie' (Yep). The music works its way into the film through a guy playing a guitar that's part flamethrower on top of one of the vehicles. Fury Road is filled with demented genius like this, the character and set designs are all excellent. The idea of having Mad Max as a human blood-bag for Nicholas Hoult for the first 40 minutes or so of the film was a risky idea that payed off.

Surprisingly, for a film called 'Mad Max' the lead character does not say much and spends a third of the film tied to a car with a muzzle attached to him. Which works fine, as Charlize Theron's character was great to watch, an amputee with a robot hand steals the show more than Tom Hardy, that's an achievement right there.


Perfectly paced, easy to follow and featuring some of the best action ever put on screen, Mad Max: Fury Road is a strange masterpiece in creative film-making that is so unique and different from anything that is released these days, that it has to be seen. 

10/10 Dans

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In Bruges (2008) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 26th, 2018*

It's been a while since I've seen In Bruges and when I last saw it, I was far too young to appreciate how truly great this hilarious, violent and horrific crime-comedy was. After seeing Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri recently, I knew the time was right to finally revisit this.

And it was worth it, this was far better, meaningful and more funny than ever remember it being. Yes, it's violent, foul-mouthed and mean-spirited at times, but it does have a beating heart at the centre of it with the two lead, morally confused hit-men played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. 

After two hit-men fail a job due to the accidental death of a bystander, they are ordered to lay low in the Belgium city of Bruges. Much of the film is just these two characters exploring the city while discussing their feelings of regret and guilt surrounding their work, and it works very well. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Colin Farrell as an actor overall, but he nails it here as the conflicted hitman who caused the death of a child. Brendan Gleeson is also great here as the more focused and more member as the duo, which surprises me as Gleeson is an actor I usually associate with atrocious British crime films, so it was nice to see him pop up one one that was actually good.

By far the most memorable performance was Ralph Fiennes as the boss of the two hit-men, he plays it utterly psychotic and it is just a pure joy to watch every scene he's in. He reminded me a lot of Ben Kingsley's character in Sexy Beast. There's something about his performance that adds a lot to what could have been a one-note psychopath, but Fiennes really manages to bring complexity to the character.

The titular city of Bruges is actually a really gorgeous place too and made for some gorgeous cinematography. The city in surreal and fairy tale like. I always appreciate a film that takes place in a sleepy town that mixes chaotic, extreme violence and bizarre scenes that include a dwarf on ketamine. I'd forgot just how violent this film was too, there is some really extreme stuff here, especially in the last act, which it builds to perfectly.

Even with its dark subject matter, it's extremely funny too and filled with a ton of memorable lines and jokes. There are some fantastic pay-offs to throwaway scenes that are there if you pay enough attention to the dialogue, it almost reminded me of Edgar Wright. I'm sure I'll find even more to love on rewatches with In Bruges. 


Martin McDonagh's debut film is a triumph and so far, the strongest film in his career, a darkly funny, brutal and often touching story of two hit-men in Bruges. I can't wait to watch this again.

10/10 Dans

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Loving (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written February 8th, 2017*

I wasn't massively excited for Loving, the trailers made it seem very Oscar baitey, but I did love Jeff Nichol's other film from 2016 'Midnight Special' so I went in with some expectations. And Loving was far more meaningful and heartfelt that I imagined it would be.

It tells the story of a shameful time in American history. An interracial couple are treated awfully, arrested even purely for the fact they of a different race. It is disgusting and blood boiling seeing and knowing people who love each other were treated like this for such nonsensical reasons.

One of my worries about this is how unsubtle I thought it would be. I imagined the audience would be beaten over the head with the theme of this, but it didn't. It all felt real and the opposite of flashy. It's engaging and meaningful, but quiet and poignant at the same time.

This is mostly due to Joel Edgerton's performance, who was great. He was really quiet, mumbled and subdued. There's no moments of over the top rage and anger, it's all restrained and made it far more believable. Ruth Negga was also fantastic as the wife, really earning her nomination with her sad and strong performance.

I really wish the film dedicated more time to developing the couples relationship. There are some really strong and genuinely moving moments, like a brief scene with them sat on the sofa together laughing at the TV that really got me invested in their love, but there's not a lot of this and most of the film focuses on the variety of different obstacles they have to go through in order to make their marriage legal with the help of a lawyer who takes their case for free.

What I really loved is how unsentimental and unmanipulative this felt. Films like this tend to bash you over the head with big emotional moments, but here it all felt earned and natural. The end is a real gut-punch that I didn't see coming and just a sad bit of reality added to what this couple had to endure. It just left me feeling dead inside.


Loving is a powerful and understated drama with fantastic lead performances and real emotional weight. A really pleasant surprise I didn't see coming.

8/10 Dans

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The Lego Batman Movie (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written February 14th, 2017*

Batman films have had a rocky road these last few years. I wasn't a big fan of The Dark Knight Rises, Batman V Superman was a mess and the recent animated films weren't great. 2014's Lego Movie on the other hand was a pleasant surprise in a way no one expected and Will Arnett's Batman stole the show, so it was inevitable he would get his own film. I wasn't the most keen on this idea, but somehow they not only topped The Lego Movie, they also managed to make the best Batman film since The Dark Knight.

The story starts The Dark Knight in an interesting place. In denial about his loneliness, he raises an orphan he accidentally adopts at a charity auction and has to stop The Joker from releasing all the villains from 'The Phantom Zone'. It's an incredibly simple concept, which lasted a breezy 100 minutes (Beautiful).

This really captured what made The Lego Movie truly great. It has a heart and all the characters are great. We really care about this Bruce Wayne/Batman who has vulnerability and humanity under his snarky ego and obnoxiousness, far more to root for than Ben Affleck's psychotic kill crazy Batman. Will Arnett is also great as the voice, I'm not entirely sure how to judge voice acting, but I'd say Arnett bought a lot to the role.

Michael Cera also made for a wonderful Robin, who was adorable and annoying in an endearing and lovable way. Cera's voice captures that always at 11 optimism personality of the character. The animation of his facial expressions were great, especially the way his eyes enlarged behind his glasses. It made it impossible not to love this character.

I won't list every cast member, because the array of voice actors on display here is insane. I will say that Zach Galifinakis wasn't the most memorable as The Joker, I liked the design of his character, but he did not leave as much of a lasting impact. The cameos from the other villains were much more enjoyable. The spoof of Dark Knight Rises Bane was particularly inspired, complete with mocking Sean Connery like accent. 

There is an outrageous amount of villains here, nearly every single Batman nemesis you can name is here, and even a display of Warner Bros. characters make appearances from the 'Phantom Zone'. I won't spoil them, but think in the vain of The Lego Movie, I was not expecting any of the out of DC villains to show up here. 

As self-referential and meta as the humour is, they make every prior Batman film canon in Lego Batman's universe. There is an insane amount of references to other Batman films and DC in general. There was always so much on display with all the gorgeous stop-motion animation going on, so it was hard to digest it all in a single viewing. They even go as far as mocking the critically panned Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman in a few quick throwaway gags.

The animation itself really is beautiful. It does a lot of creative and inventive things. Warner Bros really are doing an incredible job with their Lego universe right now, and as great as it was, it was really depressing to see that a Lego Batman film is far better than anything they're trying to do with their actual DC films universe. I wish Zack Snyder had half the creative talent of the guys working on the Lego movies.


Lego Batman is pure joy. Fast, inventive, extremely funny and heartfelt. One of the best on-screen outings for Batman ever.

9/10 Dans

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The Post (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 24th, 2018*

Let's be honest, Steven Spielberg is not the filmmaker he used to be, his glory days of Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Schindler's List, Jaws and Saving Private Ryan are long behind him. He nearly managed to achieve that level again with  the excellent Bridge of Spies, but most of his recent output have been duds like Lincoln, War Horse and The BFG. 

The Post is sadly another dud and misfire from the once great director. Everything about this film is just a mess. A lot of this i felt was similar to Darkest Hour, another piece of dull Oscar Bait for 2018 awards. You have a potentially tense and engaging story wasted in such a by the numbers and bland drama.

The performances are fine for the most part, although a lot of the supporting cast (Made up entirely of actors from the best TV shows of the last few years) are completely wasted with thankless roles. Tom Hanks is completely fine and comfortable in the role, it's not entirely memorable and his character isn't very interesting, but he's fine. Meryl Streep however, I found to be terrible, almost borderline school play acting. It didn't help that the female characters were so underwritten, despite the prominence in the story and place in history.

A story like this could have been full of tension, instead it's just 
 painfully dull and a chore to get through. Spielberg does actually use some very interesting camera work throughout the film, which shows me there's still a bit of greatness in him, but he just seems to have faded in talent with his old age, much like Clint Eastwood. 

There are moments towards the end where things could have got interesting or had some tension, but instead succumb to the worst of Spielberg's traits. Characters overact and do stupid stuff like drop everything on the floor while they make a phone call because they're so under pressure, it just felt ridiculous and drama for the sake of drama. I also wish we'd actually seen the courtrooms scenes at the end and seen the reporters defend themselves, instead it just... ends.


There's an important message of freedom speech for the press (Which I agree with), but sadly it's buried under a workman like dull drama that's desperate to hit those sweet spots for Oscar voters. Based on yesterday's nominations, it sadly worked. Spielberg has Ready Player One later this year and I really hope that captures the Spielberg magic and wonder that has been so desperately missing for as long as I can remember.

4/10 Dans

The Post is out now in cinemas in the UK
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Coco (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 23rd, 2018*

I really wasn't sure what to expect with Coco, none of the trailers really grabbed me and Pixar's output has been very hit and miss for the past few years, even their last one (Cars 3) was a real dud, but Coco shows Pixar are really in their element when they're creating new stories rather than sequels. (Aside from Toy Story) Which, in all honesty, gets me a tiny bit worried for The Incredibles 2. 

Coco follows the story of Miguel, a young boy in Mexico who is forbidden to play music, despite his skill and passion due to a family descendant who was a musician and abandoned them. He eventually finds himself in the Land of the Dead on an adventure to get the blessing of following his dreams.

I'll get the obvious out the way, Coco is a gorgeous, gorgeous achievement in animation. The designs of the characters are vibrant, colourful and infinitely interesting to look at. So much time, effort and care was obviously put into this, and it pays off wonderfully. I'm always surprised at how Pixar manage to top themselves visually with each film, but they pull it off.

While pulled along by its incredible visuals, the story is also a classic Pixar affair and so insanely is to like and root for. Miguel is so easy to sympathize with and his journey to self-acceptance and the importance of family is done very well. I'd argue that the first hour is a bit done before, but it's not offensive and the last half hour manages to hit you right in the feels with unexpected revelations and a ton of heart and emotion.

I also have a soft-spot for films about music or musicians, this was no different. It's not a musical, but the songs in Coco are catchy and heartfelt. If the final use of "Remember Me" doesn't make you a little emotional, well, then you are are dead inside and you're a garbage human being. I'm amazed at how Pixar manage to make me so emotionally attached to its characters. 

It's so nice to see a film set in Mexico too without the looming doom of the Cartel trying to kill Emily Blunt. It actually turns Mexico into a vibrant happy place full of charm and wonder. The complete opposite of what Trump says about these "Shithole" countries. If Pixar continue to expand like this and explore different concepts and settings as they did here, then they'll continue to make classics for years to come.

Disney seem to have a running theme that I've noticed for the past couple of years. And yes, you guessed it: Their frequent use of mentally challenged animals. Honestly, think about it, the bird in Finding Dory, the Chicken in Moana and now the dog in Coco. What is Disney's deal with shoving in mentally impaired animals? 

We'll see how The Incredibles 2 turns out in the year, but for now, Disney and Pixar have started of 2018 strong with Coco, a gorgeous, emotionally resonate piece of art that's for kids and adults. 

9/10 Dans

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London Has Fallen (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written March 4th, 2016*

Olympus Has Fallen was a surprise hit back in 2013 and one of two 'Die Hard in the White House' films, it was also the better of the two, and the best 'Die Hard' film of that year. It wasn't high art, it was a fun, trashy and violent '90s throwback that served its purpose.

I don't think anyone expected a sequel to happen, but lo and behold, 3 years later, London Has Fallen. It's more or less the same, but bigger and better than I expected. Again, not saying it was great, it just served that gap of high-budget violent action that seems to have died with the '90s.

This time the action moves to London after the death of the Prime Minister, bringing all the world leaders to the city for the funeral. But the whole thing is a trap set by an arms dealer looking for revenge, leaving Secret Service agent Mike Banning and the president on the run for safety on the streets of London.

Its absurd and insane, none of it makes sense if you think about it for more than 4 seconds. The plot is paper thin and the film embraces that, it just takes the excuse for action and runs with it. 

Gerard Butler is reliable as ever as the arguably sociopathic and psychotic Secret Service agent Mike Banning. Honestly, this guy is our hero and he is one sadistic motherfucker, he seems to genuinely take pleasure from killing and torturing faceless Middle Eastern's. That said, he is a lot of fun in the role and has some solid one liners and chemistry with Aaron Eckhart's president. This are the sort of roles Butler is best at, not stuff like 'Gods of Egypt', which comes out next month in the UK and I will most likely end up seeing, but let's be honest, it looks garbage.

In terms of action, I think I might have preferred this to Olympus, the elaborate opening attack was pretty spectacular in terms of scale and destruction and it all runs at beautifully paced 90 minutes. They even did the whole long take thing with the last action scene, which everyone seems to do these days, it was impressive and far above what these films usually do, so I gotta give it that.

The weirdest thing about this sequel is that the events of the first film were never acknowledged. The president acts like this was the first time he's been around violence when Banning chokes a man in front of him, which was strange considering he saw people get executed right in front of him a few years before. Whatever, I guess this isn't really the film series for character development.


Urm yeah, London Has Fallen is pretty much what you would expect, a violent and fun action film that was stolen from the '90s at feels in the wrong era, but still just a blast. They leave the door open for a third too, and I wouldn't say no to more adventures of Mike Banning.

7/10 Dans

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Darkest Hour (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*January 19th, 2017*

Darkest Hour doesn't feel like a film. It feels like a desperate display of everything wrong with biopic films in hopes of winning that sweet, sweet Oscar. Painfully dull, ugly and overlong, Darkest Hour makes me question why I even like films.

There's nothing genuine or sincere about this film, it's a collection of scenes following Winston Churchill's first days as Prime Minister during World War 2 and leading up to the evacuation of Dunkirk. I appreciated trying to focus on a small time period of Churchill's time in office, but there was never any urgency or anything grab you. For a film about a larger than life character, it's a painful chore to get through.

There's a lot of talk about Gary Oldman's performance and potential Oscar gold. Which is a great shame, I'm not saying his performance was bad at all, the complete opposite, he's the only thing that makes this tedious bore worth sitting through to an extent, it's that he's delivered much better performances in much better films, so if he bags an Oscar for this, then that is everything wrong with film awards. 

Oldman is definitely committed to his role, there's no denying that. The job on the prosthetics make Oldman near unrecognisable in the role. He brings a lot of humour to the even out the dryness of the film too, I was surprised at some of the funnier moments that actually made me laugh. I will say that Oldman's performance does get a little much at times, to the point he was borderline Anime if you know what I mean.

While I'm sure most of the smaller details of the film are based on real life accounts, I could not help but cringe at some of the more laughably bad and embarrassing scenes. In particular, one at the end involving Churchill on the tube is some of the most brutal and pathetic displays of audience pleasing patriotism I've ever seen. 

What's disappointing is just how little there is to this film is how little there is to digest here aside from Oldman's performance. The supporting cast are wasted, especially Lily James, who is reduced to such a pointless role that could have been played by anyone. Ben Mendelssohn is also wasted with his brief few scenes in the film.

I know this is set in London in WW2 too, but did it have to be so drab and ugly? Joe Wright's direction is bland and by the numbers, leaving no kind of distinctive visual style. It felt like a BBC miniseries at some points, just with a bigger actor in the lead role. This might have worked better as a miniseries actually, and a better writer too in all honesty. 


Darkest Hour might bag Gary Oldman his first Oscar, it's just a shame that it would be for this, a bland, forgettable and boring war time drama that's more obsessed with winning awards than telling an involving and interesting story. Cinema is dead.

4/10 Dans

Darkest Hour is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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Requiem for a Dream (2000) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 3rd, 2016*

This is the first time watching this since I saw it on TV late one night when I was about 7. Yeah.... I was way too young to have watched something like this, but hey, whatever, that was my childhood, a mismatch of images I remember from films far too graphic. At least a lot of Requiem for a Dream stuck with me for 12 years now, the disturbing imagery, the ass-to-ass dildo scene, the arm being cut off. It all stayed in my brain for many, many years.

I'm not sure what took me so long to rewatch this, it's something I've wanted to watch as an adult for a long time now and for whatever reason I never got round to buying the Blu-ray (still haven't), but I saw it was added on Netflix and knew it was time.

This interwoven tale of 4 different drug addicts is harsh, brutal and really not for the faint of heart. Honestly, I was a little disappointed, while effective and disturbing, it kinda came off as the worlds longest anti-drug advert. It feels very heavy handed at times, kinda like what 'Flight' did for alcohol.

 I was interesting in exploring some of Jared Leto's earlier acting roles as his debut as The Joker in 'Suicide Squad' gets closer and closer. He is pretty damn good here, his character is probably the most unlikable out of the four leads, but he's good.

Darren Aronofsky (A director I really admire) creates a dirty, disgusting world where all these characters go on a journey into the heart of darkness. This is one of the bleakest films I've ever seen, not a single character ends up in a good place by the end of this. Strangely enough, the editing style of this is something that Edgar Wright later uses in his films, which took my by surprise. It's filmed in that grimy '90s music video aesthetic that works and makes for a visually unique film. 

I did like the balance of all the characters and the journey they do all go on, each going to different and horrific places. One losing their arm to infection, another ending up in prison, another ending up selling her body to pay for drugs in the sleaziest orgies imaginable and finally one ending up in a mental facility. 

I guess that's why this is a hard watch for a lot of people and a hard films to recommend to anybody. While I did like it and it does work as a great anti-drugs films that should probably be played in schools. It does at times feel like a 100 minute equivalent of Mr. Mackey from South Park telling you "Drugs are bad. M'kay?"


For better or worse, Requiem for a Dream is a powerful, depressing and stylish look at the effects of drugs and an important film, but it's heavy-handed message keeps it from truly being amazing.

7/10 Dans

Requiem for a Dream is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written October 21st, 2016*

Wow. That was not good. While the first Jack Reacher is hardly a masterpiece, it was at least fun, had some decent action and an engaging story. Never Go Back has none of that. It's a bland, boring and forgettable thriller that barely goes above the level of straight-to-DVD fodder.

Nothing about this film is above mediocre. Sure, Tom Cruise does his usual thing, but something feels off about his performance. He's nowhere near as commanding as he was in the first. All the detective work and mystery elements are gone in a favour of a boring "Go here, fight people" loop until the story fizzled out and ended. 

I really expect more from Edward Zwick, who has made some really great stuff, but this feels like it was a made by anybody. None of the action had any lasting effect. I saw this an hour ago and I honestly cannot recall any of the action.

The story is pretty straight-forward, lacking any real surprises compared to the twisty fun of the first. There's also a completely tacked on sub-plot involving Jack Reacher's maybe daughter that could have been cut completely. It felt long and boring at 2 hours, maybe cutting out this 20 minutes could have improved things. I'm not sure what the point of her was, especially considering the ending.

Werner Herzog might not have been an amazing villain, but he at least had a memorable presence. No one here had an impact. There was a guy from Prison Break and some henchman who seems to have a complete hatred for Reacher and I'm not entirely sure why?


The biggest problem with Never Go Back is that it just feels formulaic. If Jack Reacher was a TV show, then Never Go Back would be a forgettable episode that you won't remember after you watch it. A complete shame and the probable nail in the coffin for the potential Jack Reacher franchise, but then again, who knows. Maybe this'll do big business at the box-office and we get a director who does something interesting for a third.

4/10 Dans

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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