Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (2018) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written July 24th, 2018*

Call me miserable, call me dead inside, I won't argue, but these Mamma Mia films clearly aren't made for me, a person who is adverse to most musicals and that sense of "Let's just have some clean fun". I don't know why I went to see this. I despised the first, a dire mess of screechy old banshees poorly singing along to Abba. It had a certain novelty of how stupid and tacky it was (Pierce Brosnan's singing voice has to be heard to be believed).

10 years later, the sequel "Here We Go Again", is pretty much exactly what people loved about the first one, it's loud, cringe-worthy and if you have any taste in cinema, it will make you throw up in your mouth. Despite this, I hated this one less than the first. There's a definite improvement in quality overall. Lily James is impossible to hate and has a far better singing voice than the older cast.

There was an interesting idea by going "The Godfather: Part 2" route with this and splitting the film in flashbacks and present day story. The flashbacks with Young Donna (Lily James/Meryl Streep) are far more watchable than the present day sequences, but are still filled with eye-rolling cringe and just awful characters. These characters say and do things that make me want to want to slam my head into a wall. It's painful to watch.

I was actually impressed by some of the casting of the younger characters. They did a great job finding people that emulated a younger Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard and Meryl Streep. It was weird just how little some of the original cast are in it. There's such a strange choice made with Streep's character that is hinted at in the trailers, which may lead to a genuinely emotional scenes if you're into this absolute farce of a musical. 

Despite her prominent role in the trailer, Cher shows up for a generous 5 minutes and manages to ham things up even more, by playing Donna's estranged mother and proceeding to sing Fernando. I have very little memory of the first film, but I felt this was just rehashing a lot of the first films song, which is understandable, as the first more or used all of Abba's most famous songs. Some new stuff here and there might have gone a long way.


Yeah, I hated this, which is no surprise, but I'm far from the target audience from this. I'll also add this was barbarically overlong at nearly 2 hours, there is no reason this had to be over 90 minutes long. If you enjoy this, I get it. I suppose this is a middle aged woman's version of The Expendables, I guess. Whatever, each to their own. I'll still watch a third.

2/10 Dans

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is out now in cinemas in the UK. With a 4K UHD steelbook available to pre-order in the UK from HMV

Watch the trailer below:

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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
Watch the trailer below:

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