The Happening (2008) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 11th, 2017*

 "It was the fucking plants, man"

While entertaining and watchable, there's no denying that The Happening is a laughably bad film. I saw this nearly 10 years ago and hadn't seen it since. Wow. I forgot how bad it is.

The script is garbage. The performances are god-awful (Zooey Deschanel in particular) and the whole film is nonsense. This could have been a fun B-movie if it didn't take itself so seriously, despite being so unintentionally funny. Characters jump to and make conclusions out of nowhere in the silliest ways possible. I think the funniest part of this whole ordeal is seeing Wahlberg play against type and being a school teacher rather than a criminal or cop.

I think it funny that this was billed as M. Night Shyamalan's first "R" rated film, but in the UK, has the same age rating as most of his other films due to our retarded censorship on tame horror films. The Sixth Sense is rated 15. Fucking LOL. That said, this is easily the most violent and grizzly out of all of M. Night's films.

The bursts of gore and variety of suicide scenes keeps The Happening watchable, but frustrating as it creates an interesting idea that nature turns against humanity after all we've done to it. Which is what I assume the message and point of the film is?

That's The Happening, a film deservedly ridiculed because of how bad it is. A film that Mark Wahlberg publicly mocked because "It was the fucking plants, man". I agree, it was the fucking plants. What nonsense this was. At least M. Night's career has picked up again after this and a couple more duds.

3/10 Dans

The Happening is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Split (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 16th, 2017*

"Unleash the beast"

I had high hopes for Split. I am a fan of Shyamalan, despite this triple whammy of garbage in the form of The Happening, Avatar: The Last Airbender and After Earth. He luckily made a comeback in 2015 with The Visit, so I was expecting this to be another part of his comeback, which it was. Split is not what I expected, I was expecting a more "fun" film, but instead it's a slow-burning and tense film that explodes into utter nonsense and chaos. Which I loved.

A lot has been said about James McAvoy's performance as someone split personality disorder who kidnaps 3 teenage girls and keeps them locked up until he's ready to unleash his final personality 'The Beast'. It's clearly evident that McAvoy is having the time of his life. The focus is on a few of his 23 personalities, each creepy, unsettling and at times funny, in their own way. This is also the second time McAvoy has performed in drag since 2013's excellent 'Filth'. I've got a soft spot for seeing actors in drag, so this was a joy.

Split is at its most entertaining when we see McAvoy having fun with his different roles. At some point in the film I realized, this wasn't to be taken seriously and enjoyed it all the more for it. Despite that, there are some genuine moments of tension and unsettling scenes. I was suprised at some of the uncomfortable places they go with these young girls.

Out the young girls that are kidnapped, the only one who leaves an impression is Anya Taylor-Joy who I only really know from The Witch, but she's great here. I'm not entirely sure what her arc or what we were meant to take from it. There's some self-harm in there that in the end, might send the wrong message. There's also interment flashbacks where we learn about her childhood and why she's the way she is. I'm not entirely sure about some of M. Night's earlier work, but his last film had similar themes to do with daddy issues. So that seems to be popping up in his films lately.

With the direction, M. Night has made a gorgeous film filled with tons of beautiful shots and camera work. The disgusting factory the girls are kept in is visually interesting and led way for some very unsettling and claustraphobic scenes. The score is also really good and elevated the feeling. It reminded me a little of Sicario.

M. Night is a man known mostly for his twists. Some good (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) and some downright moronic (The Happening). I won't spoil it, but in the chaotic final scenes things get a little silly, weird and supernatural, which I'm not too sure how I feel about. But the final twist is definitely one I didn't see coming and makes me very excited for Shyamalan's future films. I'd also recommend watching some of his earlier films to understand the twist. That's all I'll say.

Split is another film to add to M. Night Shyamalan's comeback, and to be honest, I might even go as far to say that M. Night is competely back. A tense, fun, beautifully shot thriller that features two great performances from James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy.
  
8/10 Dans

Split is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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The World's End (2013) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 7th, 2017*

"Ever have one of those nights that starts out like any other but ends up being the best night of your life?"

He we are, the end of Edgar Wright's unofficial 'Three Flavors: Cornetto' trilogy. While the last two were a horror film and an action film, this time we get sci-fi, and it is another masterpiece that feels far more mature than the two previous films.

Simon Pegg once again plays the lead, Gary King, a loser in his early 40's who still strives to live for those glory days as a teen, and decides to get his old friends back together and return to their home town to complete the pub crawl they tried and failed to complete as a teen, but the town isn't how they remember it and most of the inhabitants have been replaced with robots.

It's easily the most ambitious and different of the trilogy, and even though none of the events or characters are connected, it still feels like a climactic end, literally and thematically. There's a sense of finality about moving on and growing up that feels real, despite the madness of the events around the characters. One of the final scenes between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost really feels genuinely emotional and it's kind of heartbreaking to see the Pegg play such a desperately pathetic man-child who has nothing. What is amazing is just how good of a dramatic actor Pegg has become, I saw some of it shine through in Shaun of the Dead, but he truly has come a long way from that. This is easily the best performance of Pegg's career.

While it lacks the joke a minute laughs from Shaun of the dead and Hot Fuzz, it more than makes up for this with its dramatic elements. That's not to say The World's End wasn't funny, it's really funny, but nearly all the best jokes come at the first act of film, and all the stuff from that is complete genius. It has the same feel of Shaun and Hot Fuzz where there's the minor lines and recurring gags that pop up throughout, but The World's End really is a mature film about a man child who struggles to let go of his teenage years, as it was the peak of his life compared to all his friends who have moved on. Much like I related to Shaun, I feel that same attachment to Gary King. I can easily see myself being like him in my late 30's, struggling to hang on to my youth while all my friends have grown up.

Edgar Wright once again directs some really kinetic and frantic action that is extremely well choreographed. It's always nice to see action without shakey-cam bullshit that is well staged and easy to follow, yet still feels frantic. Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were tributes to the horror and action genres, while The World's End is a love letter to sci-fi films. It strangely enough feels like a mix of Wright's previous two films with elements of The Invasion of Body Snatchers thrown in for good effect.

The Sci-fi elements work well. There is a genuinely interesting mystery here as to what's happening. Rewatching it, I always forget all the subtle hints the film gives us to the events that will occur later in the film. Like all of Wright's films, it is more rewarding with each watch. He really is a master of subtlety.

I hope Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright work together again in the future, but for now, The World's End is a perfect, mature and fitting end to their adventures that grows on me with every watch. Edgar Wright is easily one of the best filmmakers currently working.

10/10 Dans

The World's End is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Hot Fuzz (2007) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 5th, 2017*

"It's just the one killer actually..."

While is Shaun of the Dead was a homage to zombie and horror films, Edgar Wright's follow up Hot Fuzz is a tribute to the action films of the 80's and 90's. The results aren't as masterful as Shaun of the Dead, but this is still amazing piece of entertainment.

Simon Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, a London cop who puts all the rest to shame, once he is forced to move to the sleepy town of Sandford, a seemingly perfect village with no crime, he uncovers that frequent deaths that are deemed "accidents" are far from what they seem.

You know what to expect with the trio of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Nearly every scene references some sort of film, it is insane and there are so many subtle jokes that I am still catching for the first time even though I've watched it several times already.

The cast are all fantastic. It was nice seeing Simon Pegg doing a role that was a complete 180 from Shaun, he plays a straight-headed and dedicated to the job rather than the loser. While he plays it fairly straight, he still shines for the comedic moments and works so fantastically with Nick Frost's bumbling action film fan cop who lives for something to happen.

There is a huge supporting cast here too, I can't list everyone but we get the vastly underrated James Bond, Timothy Dalton as the head of the local supermarket, who is just so fantastically slimy and wonderful.

Hot Fuzz has this gorgeous look to it that mimics a Tony Scott film, although it was filmed on a micro-budget compared to his films, it still looks really cinematic and just great. The last act when the action explodes is just amazing, Edgar Wright really is a truly great director when it comes to visceral set-pieces. I love the idea itself of setting a big action film in a small countryside village in the middle of nowhere within England. It's an odd mash-up that works far better than it should.

There are so many funny big and small running gags throughout the runtime. One of my favorites is the swear jar in the station which has all the swear words censored on it... apart from "cunt". It's small stuff like this that makes Hot Fuzz amazing.

Hot Fuzz is another hit from the trio of Edgar Wright, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, while it doesn't hit the same height that Shaun of the Dead set, it still comes pretty damn close with this homage to the action genre.

9/10 Dans

Hot Fuzz is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Shaun of the Dead (2004) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 5th, 2017*

"You've got red on you...."

Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead is one of those films I have seen dozens of times since its release in 2004 and I still love it as much as I did when I first watched. It is quite possibly my favorite comedy of all time and easily my favorite zombie film.

Shaun of the Dead follows Simon Pegg's Shaun, a loser in his late 20's with a dead end job in an electrical store, a relationship that is crumbling and a housemate who is a complete slob. On top of all this, there's a zombie invasion in London.

What works so well with Shaun of the Dead is how it combines all three if its genres perfectly, horror, comedy and romance. At the same time it is also a genius love letter to horror cinema, filled with lots of references and homages to George Romero's work.

Nick Frost and Simon Pegg

The comedic duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are so great here and believable, probably due to the fact they were real housemates before they worked on the fantastic and underrated cult-comedy Spaced on Channel 4. In fact, all the comedy here is just top-notch, it is filled to the brim with small and subtle jokes you only notice on multiple viewings.

There is something endearing about Simon Pegg's character that gives the film a huge heart. It still surprises me how good of a dramatic performance he can give, especially in the last act of the film where things just get worse and worse for him and the characters. I really do relate to Shaun in ways I didn't expect.

Watching this again, I didn't expect Shaun's journey to hit me this hard. Despite obvious differences, Shaun is a character that's very much like me. Lazy, scared of changing and going outside his comfort zone and smokes. All things I'm trying to change right now. Shaun is someone who is a young adult in his 20's desperately trying to change, as am I. Maybe all I need is a zombie invasion to sort me out too?

Nick Frost's Ed is fantastic too, just a weed dealing slob and all around loser that spends all his days playing Timesplitters on PS2 on the sofa. Frost is also part of the central core that provides the heart in Shaun of the Dead. His friendship with Shaun is one that's very real and likeable, despite being a deadbeat. He's makes way for some hilarious and even heartbreaking scenes towards the end.

As a horror film it also works so incredibly well. Even though it is a comedy first, there are some really disturbing and grotesque moments where the film seems to go full on horror. This jarring change of tone could be seen as messy at the hands of a different director, but Edgar Wright's grasp and hold of the film is so perfect that every moment just works.

With Wright's directing you get some really great and stylish set-pieces, most memorable of which is the finale that takes place in the pub. A scene where the cast beat an old zombie to death while Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' is still one of the best scenes of demented genius I have ever seen in film. I'm always constantly impressed at how wonderful Wright's editing is, making the whole film move quickly and is a breeze of an easy watch. It's 90 minutes that flyby no matter how many times I've seen it.

Kate Ashfield, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

For such a low-budget film, I was also surprised at the amount of excellent licensed music they could get hold of that includes Queen, The Special and Chicago. The film even opens to the music from Dawn of the Dead, which was a nice touch. The score (Which is impossible to get hold of) is also great, fittingly eerie at times and works perfectly within the scene.

Shaun of the Dead is one of those rare films where everything just clicks perfectly thanks to its perfect cast, stylish directing, graphic horror and memorable lines. My favourite comedy and zombie film of all-time.

10/10 Dans

Shaun of the Dead is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK 
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Hell or High Water (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 3rd, 2017*

Hell or High Water blew me away with its release last year and it still has that effect on me rewatching it nearly a year later on Blu-ray. A modern masterpiece of a neo-western. A gorgeous, emotional and smart thriller that's as entertaining as it is meaningful.

This is a hard-boiled, no-nonsense 100 minute bank heist thriller about two brothers robbing banks to raise money to save their farm while they have an ageing cop on their trail who is on the verge of retirement. It's a simple "Cops and Robbers" story that works far better than it had any right to.

Chris Pine

It's beautifully shot, invoking other contempary westens like the Coen Brothers No Country for Old Men with some shades of humour that reminded me of the criminally underrated TV show Justified.

There's tons of gorgeous landscape shots of Texas and its surrounding barren areas. The colour palet is vibrant with strong yellows and oranges. I loved the use of country music too, although I would have liked to have seen at least one Johnny Cash song used, but hey, that's just me being an asshole.

Chris Pine and Ben Foster give the performance of their careers as the two brothers working their way through Texas banks. Foster does his usual "crazy" thing, but it counterbalanced by Pine's subdued and more subtle performance. The two bring genuine heart and emotion to the story, which is amazing considering it's only 100 minutes long. Jeff Bridges is also excellent as the cop on their tale and on the verge of retirement. I remember it being a little rough to understand his accent at the cinema, so I'm glad I got to rewatch it with subtitles. It really helped.

Ben Foster

David McKenzie's direction is masterful. Perfectly mixing Heat style set-pieces with small-scale family drama. There really is an incredible balance to Hell or High Water's pacing. The action is violent, sometimes grotesque, but never fun and everything has consequences. It's also all very small in scale, which is some I always appreciate and hits a lot of western tropes that mix perfectly into a modern day crime story. This could have taken place in the 1800's and aside from some obvious aesthetics, the story would have played out the same.

Hell or High Water is a modern masterpiece. Strong in character, tone, action and just a damn good time. 100 minutes of no-nonsense, straight to the point brilliance. I cannot recommend Hell or High Water enough.

10/10 Dans

Hell or High Water is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Wonder Woman (2017) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 1st, 2017*
 
While I think I definitely preferred Man of Steel (Really need to revisit it), I see the criticism's of the DC EU and why people hate them, but fear no more. DC are finally on the right track with Wonder Woman and finally earned the critical acclaim the've been wanting since 2013 and they also have made the first truly good female led superhero film. I also have to point out how disgusting it is that Marvel have had 10 years to make a female led film and still haven't. Shame on you, Disney.

Wonder Woman isn't perfect though. While it avoids the grey pitfalls of DC's films so far, they suffer from the same problems a lot of Marvel's films do, and I think you can guess what that is. That's right, a piss-poor villain and an overly CGI and bombastic finale that feels out of place from the excellent two hours that preceeded it.

I'll get it out the way that Gal Gadot is fantastic as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince. I wasn't massively impressed by her debut in Batman v Superman, but she really proved herself in leading a film by being a fun, charismatic and strong lead. There are some early moments that feel like we've seen them before, but once Wonder Woman is off her home island and experiencing the real world, she really gets to shine. It was fascinating to see her character experience the world and its absurdities, including how silly war is and how unhonourable and cowardly generals are. So she takes her naive charm and thinks she can stop the war by killing the German leader who she believes to be the God of War.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman

What Wonder Woman reminds me most of is Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger, due to its war setting and tone. While I wasn't a big fan of The First Avenger, I do feel like a human war is a great setting for a superhero film. Despite being set during World War 1 and being a DC film, Wonder Woman is a actually a vibrant, bright and colourful adventure and beautifully shot. aside from the excellent theme song, Rupert Gregson-Williams score is sadly forgettable.


The action is fluid and exciting, it might indulge in a bit too much at times in slow-mo and the last fight is CGI shit, but there is something genuinely fun about seeing Wonder Woman fight Germans in the trenches of World War One. There's also fun use of Wonder Woman's variety of different fantastical equipment like her lasso, sword and shield as she leaps around, destroying Germans. We don't get to see her invisible jet though, which is probably for the best.

I was surprised at just how much heart the supporting cast brought to the film. Chris Pine's American Spy brings laughs and emotion, which makes way for a surprisingly touching end. Lucy Davis is fun as Pine's assistant, as is Ewen Bremner's Scottish marksman, who is essentially just playing his character Spud from Trainspotting. It was weird to see Robin Wright as Diana's aunt who trains her to be a warrior, she did a good job, but it was hard not to see Claire Underwood. 

Chris Pine as WW1 spy Chris Trevor

Like I mentioned earlier, the villain is poor. I can't say who the main villain is without spoilers, but once you find out, he turns into some lame giant CGI Skyrim character it feels like a huge mess. There was an interesting visual design to the side villain, but shes' not got a lot of screentime to make an impact, despite how deadly the weapon she makes is. Although I do love the campy name "Doctor Poison".

What I really loved about Wonder Woman is how stand-alone it is. It's not interested in connected to other films. It tells its own story and its refreshing. There's no abhorrent cameos shoehorned in like with the Justice League in Batman v Superman. You can watch Wonder Woman without feeling like its a puzzle piece in a bigger picture.

Wonder Woman isn't a masterpiece by any means, it suffers from a boring villain and bombastic third act finale, but it is a huge step in the right direction for the DCEU thanks to its excellent lead, heart humour, colour and sense of fun that has been missing from DC's films. More of this. 

7/10 Dans
Wonder Woman is out now in cinemas in the UK
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