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It's What's Inside (2024)
Very slick grounded thriller\angst movie
Some young people spend the night in a kooky mansion to party and swap bodies.
It might sound like it but this is not a horror or really a sci-fi
Obviously the fun and games don't go according to plan and things escalate quickly.
Now, not a load of stuff happens here and I am sure some people got bored - but I think this is the movies biggest strength and I argue that this is really, really well made.
It is 100 minutes flat which is great for this type of movie.
The action starts 30minutes giving you a chance to get to know everyone but without dragging.
The actors are young but competent - and do really well with the body swapping.
The characters are grounded and stay true to themselves - you don't get the bookworm suddenly going berserk with a meat cleaver because someone made fun of her.
The filming is dynamic with some funky effects and cut sequences that makes it feel fresh.
The only real criticism I have is the ending feels a bit..... feminine for my personal tastes.
Just because someone acts a bit sleazy I don't think they deserve purgatory - but maybe that is the point.
This is a light movie that won't give you nightmares but plays with some interesting ideas - you will need to put your phone down to keep track of who is in who's body.
El hoyo 2 (2024)
Has some new ideas - still as grim and pretentious as the first
We are back in the tower of misery - but it is better ordered than the world we saw in Platform 1 - it seems we are in a prequal.
There are some interesting ideas here about rules and how they keep us safe from chaos, but also how they need to be interpreted and enforced and this is where it can all fall down.
This has great production, despite the same, limited stage as the first film but there is some new ideas to play with here.
This retains the dark and violent vibe of the first and you might want to chase it with something light.
I don't think it is a spoiler to say that the ending is a bit vague and pretentious - I never expected a door to open into an office load of guys running the tower.
This is the problem though - although I enjoyed what was going on most of the time getting another ending full of symbolism and metaphor made me regret my time.
When the inevitable third movie comes out I will probably give it a miss.
Freaky Friday (2003)
Rewatch 2024 - still a really good time
Mum and daughter switch places due to a spell and are forced to (literally) walk a mile in the other persons shoes.
This is a classic film and it deserves to be.
So much relies on the leads here and they both smash it out the park. Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan are so good at replicating each other that I totally brought into the mind swap.
This has great writing too.
The characters are relatable but have enough distinct attributes to give the actresses something to work with.
The stakes are small scale (a wedding rehearsal and a band audition) but the writing gets yo invested into the characters so you do actually care.
There are some cheesy lines and some performances that are a bit goofy, but this is a light-hearted teen movie and is not afraid to have a bit of fun.
This has a fun soundtrack and high production with some really big actors popping in.
The Wild Robot (2024)
Marvellously fresh and good fun - great world logic
As you can tell from the poster a robot ends up stranded on an island looking after a duck.
We meet the robot as it tries desperately to find a function and how to interact with this new environment and the creatures that live in it.
This is the majority of the fun and it has some great ideas going.
What is really well done here is the world building and the logic of the world.
The robot can repair itself and take some serious knocks, but she can become damaged and even killed - this is demonstrated and gives the story some tension.
The writers really made sure that the world made sense. Rather than just waving off troublesome issues, like how a robot can talk to a squirrel, it not only addresses them it embraces them.
With a little bit of imagination the majority of events in the movie are at least plausible.
This has good imagination, great voice acting and an engaging story.
I thought this was a little long and a chunk could have been chipped off the end.
But in all this is a great film!
Wolfs (2024)
Feels very different
This is about a couple of "cleaners" who bump into one another whilst on a job.
I was drawn to this as I loved Brad and George in Oceans 11 and their witty banter.
There is plenty of that here - with George looking indigent and Brad kicking the ground - and it works really well.
There is some action but this is mostly talking and travelling.
The characters are few but very interesting and this feels very different in some subtle ways.
Near the end things start to wear a little thin but the film has the good grace to make its exit before it becomes an issue.
This is not a classic and it will be a few years before I watch it again - but I highly recommend this for a watch.
Breathe (2024)
Clumsy and predictable
We are told that all the trees suddenly died so there is no air.
Ok I am not going to dwell on that and forge forward.
There is a period of family setup which should have been great but the characters are so bland it really drags.
There is some heavy symbolism that all feels a bit redundant at the end of the world and felt a bit flag-wavy.
The second quarter of the film is quite engaging and some tension is built up.
But it is quite obvious what is going to happen and all the characters fall in to their neat little stereotypes and people suddenly act differently to how they were earlier.
Every event of the film is explained courtesy of an Alexa type system that gets really annoying:
"You are running out of oxygen!" "The door is open!" "Power failure!"
This isn't awful but it feels like with a little more care and talent this could have been a classic.
Jackpot! (2024)
I wanted to like this - but it is just falls flat
This is a fairly simple premise with lots of excuses for action and crazy stunts.
It makes it clear from the start that this doesn't take itself seriously and you shouldn't either.
The characters are fun and there is a lot of action with some great stunt work.
I liked John and Awkwafina together - in theory.
That is the problem, this works great in theory.
I remember thinking that a lot of the jokes in the movie were funny but I didn't laugh at any of them - it just doesn't work somehow.
To keep it light the violence is kept cartoony which works for a while but after a while it feels like you are watching a 90 minute Roadrunner cartoon.
After seeing Awkwafina get hoofed in the stomach for about the fifteenth time it becomes apparent that nothing really matters here and it gets tired quickly.
The stunts for the most part are great, but a few times they are not, and it really drags you out of the moment.
This is not a bad film - but it feels it should have been much better and by the end I had lost interest and I didn't really care how it ended.
Chef (2014)
How on Earth did I enjoy this?
A chef in a restaurant cooks some food has a Twitter fight with a critic then gets a food truck and spends some time with his son.
This is a character study...
It is hard to know what to say about this film.
To be honest I am not sure this is even a film.
Nothing really happens there is no attempt to delve that deep into the characters and watching people cook and eat food is inherently boring.
Yet (somehow) I really enjoyed this.
I waited with baited breath for the inevitable phone call that would bring on a cancer diagnosis or a loan shark who wants his money back.
But it never came.
So I relaxed a bit.
I can't explain why I enjoyed watching some guy cook stuff and hang out with his kid.
I just did.
The performances are good on the most but sometimes the script fails miserably - some of the scenes with the critic are painfully hammy.
Give this ten minutes if you are hooked you will have a good time and chill out- but heed my words when I say that nothing happens in this movie - literally nothing.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Some fun, but bloated and overly silly
Furiosa's story is so convoluted, she floats around shifting from one place to another without actually going anywhere.
If you were to trace the path Furiosa takes to get to the climax of the film it would look like a dropped bowl of spaghetti.
On the way she ploughs through one-dimensional NPCs none of which stick out or really do anything.
Although Hemsworth is entertaining his character is just silly, I think you are meant to hate him but he is by far the brightest thing in this movie.
Although Mad Max should be a bit silly this one just gets annoying.
The endless sniper head-shots get tedious and a lot of the action is messy with subpar effects.
This feels very long and mostly filled with ridiculous people talking.
Oh, how they talk and talk but all to no end.
Not a single conversation gets anyone anywhere.
What is worse is we know this is all pointless.
Furiosa is never going to run off home or kill this or that character as we know they are in the next movie.
There is some fun to be had here but I found myself reaching for the fast forward button as this trudges on and on and on.
Twisters (2024)
Solid enough popcorn flick - but bites off too much
This follows on from the first and starts with some young people chasing twisters around - it is clear from the framing that something is going to go wrong.
Roll on x amount of years and we are back at it as grownups.
This is good enough fun with people tearing around cornfields and farmhouses getting blown away.
The issue here is that it tries to cram in too much.
The original was fairly simplistic with a small cast of recognisable characters.
The cast is too big and there are some definite hangers-on who are clearly only there to add some colour.
The film tries to do that thing where when the good-guys do a thing it is fun and anarchic but when the bad-guys do the exact same thing it is shown as despicable.
There is good fun here but threads of rather lame stories get wrapped around the action and just slow things down.
When the big reveal(s) happen it is rather anti-climatic.
A solid but forgettable action flick.
Despicable Me 4 (2024)
Great for kids but not for me
I am not the target audience for this and lots of grown-ups like it too.
But for me this feels like butter that has been spread way too thin.
There is lots for kids to like: fast moving action and silly capers.
But for me it felt very vapid - where as the first one has a point to it this is just a collection of fast moving, loud, events that race across the screen.
Although you always know nothing is going to happen to anyone, the action has just become too slap-stick - like watching a 90 minutes long Bugs Bunny cartoon.
This is well animated and voiced and for fans there is a scene at the end that they will love.
But without any poignancy or risk this just felt very long and I could never get invested enough to follow what was going on.
Great for kids and fans of the franchise.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)
Amateurish and sloppy addition to a classic
I was looking forward to this but was very disappointed.
This is just poorly made.
The filming is strange with lots of distant slow zoom shots and everyone has a plastic sheen to their faces.
The editing is bad, people are looking on one direction in the close up but a different direction in the next.
The dialogue is atrocious, everything is stilted, sounding like everyone shot their parts separately.
The script is really dumb, often characters go right out and explain what just happened for the benefit of especially slow viewers.
There is a real sense of inevitableity with this. You know exactly what is coming next, they even try to make a joke out of it - but still it plays out the same.
Some good action but it just made me want to watch the original.
The Legend of Tarzan (2016)
A silly superhero fantasy that takes itself a little too seriously
This starts of with Tarzan already in London.
I thought this was a good idea as we don't have to go through the tiresome story we all know - except we do: through the medium of flashback.
Tarzan can pretty much fly, has super human strength and talks to animals.
This is all very silly and there is nothing wrong with that.
But it has moments where it tries to get above its station and make bigger points - these are mainly fleeting but drain the fun feel of the movie.
The story is ludicrous, which is fine for a fantasy movie, but unnecessarily convoluted.
What really put me off this is how tedious the action is.
Some enemy is declared to be big and unstoppable but then is immediately defeated - normally by punching it or running it over with an animal.
There are a lot of enemies to overcome and they don't escalate.
Once you have seen Tarzan beat up a gorilla it is hard to get excited about him fight some Belgian conscript.
I have a feeling a lot of the core audience is here to see Alexander Skarsgård run around half naked - and again that is fine - but not for me.
By the time Tarzan got around to punching the final bad guy I was quite sleepy and had forgotten what the point of this whole thing was.
Slow Horses (2022)
It is hard to say what this is - apart from very, very good
Ever wondered what happens to spies when they screw up?
They end at Slough House.
These are not your "James Bond" type spies but a collection of pen-pushers, surveillance operators and analysts - all headed up by a burnt-out "proper" espionage agent.
The casting and performances are absolutely amazing!
Gary Oldman is perfect as the foul-mouthed straight-shooting disgraced agent who has zero f's to give.
The scenes where he tells (to their faces) how much he despises his co-workers and how useless they are, are pure gold.
Kristin Scott Thomas is the foil to Gary Oldman and is outstanding! She totally holds the show together.
The kidnappers are also very, very good in rather unpleasant ways.
This has gritty moments, funny moments, shocks that will make you spill your tea and heart warming moments that will make you reach for the tissues.
I found the first half of the first episode quite boring - I am not a massive fan of spy films and I would have turned it off if I had something better to do - it is worth sticking with it.
IF (2024)
Only for young kids -a slog for adults
First off this is very well produced and the lead actress is absolutely fantastic.
The effects are impressive and younger children will marvel at the bright characters bumbling around screen.
It does tug at your heart strings near the end quite effectively.
The problem with this movie is that the premise it stretched too far.
Yes, this is all about suspending belief and getting back to childlike naivety but as an adult I could only go so far before my brain started nagging me.
How does this work? Do the Ifs really affect the world or is that just an illusion? Is this girl really wandering around New York or is this in her imagination? What happens when an adult gets their IF back? Does it sit awkwardly in the corner whilst you are having sex?
It sounds mean of me to prod at plot points but none of this film has any rhyme or reason.
None of the events in this film actually matter and it is hard to tell if most of the characters even exist.
As nothing makes sense there is a lot of padding with people tripping over or running around screaming as there is nothing really to do.
Ryan Reynolds seems uncomfortable and distracted the whole time, like he really wished he was somewhere else.
Not a bad movie and young kids will probably love it - but I was hoping for a fun family movie we could all enjoy but all the adults were really bored.
First Daughter (2004)
A surprisingly tight movie
Katie Holmes plays the president's daughter who decides to go to a normal college to have a normal college experience.
There she has to contend with room mates, drink, overly tight security, her father's presidential campaign and, of course, a boy.
As you probably expect this is wholesome light weight fodder with not too many shocks.
What is unusual is the amount of love and professionalism put into this.
Despite its rather whimsical premise the story is very lean and structured - performances are good and production is solid.
Nobody working on this expected it to win any Oscars but it is nice to see people put the effort in.
The result is a charming, fun Sunday afternoon movie that is much better than a lot of the other grandiose movies surrounding it on Netflix.
Abigail (2024)
A great old fashion final-girl movie - with a twist
A ragtag bunch of bad guys has to babysit a young girl they have abducted until the ransom money shows up.
They are in a big old creepy house, the details of the job are very vague, and there is something off about their hostage - what could possibly go wrong.
This is an old-school horror/action movie with a lick of fresh paint on it.
It has quite a slow build up and you get quite q bit of time with the characters before things start to heat up.
There are mysteries here but they are only half-cloaked and it is no big surprise when they come to fruition.
Normally child actors are the weakest link in these types of movies but Alisha Weir does an amazing job and really sells are character on multiple levels.
There is some cheesy dialogue, silly actions and lots of swaggering around - but that is necessary.
This is violent but in a very cartoonish kind of a way with severed limbs strewn floating around in pools of bright red blood.
This film isn't scary but it is interesting and, most of all, a lot of fun.
The characters are intriguing and quippy and there are some great set pieces.
The Fall Guy (2024)
Good fun but too much action
There is a lot to like here both Emily and Ryan are great and they have some good chemistry.
The bits between them are funny and charming.
The action set-pieces are exhilarating and inventive and are great fun.
The problem with this film is it doesn't get the comedy/action/romance balance right for me.
This is very action heavy, eclipsing the other elements of the film.
Ryan will go on a wild car chase with explosions and mayhem, then dust him self off and go back to the set to explain to Emily why he missed lunch - who cares?
It just felt like I was just waiting for the next car chase which became more outlandish and tedious as they went on.
There is lots of fun to have here but I can't see me returning to it.
What's Your Number? (2011)
2024 re-watch - middling RomCom
A woman feels her life is running away with her and recruits the hunk next-door to help her track down her ex-lovers to find the one that got away.
You don't need to be a genius to work out where this is heading.
This is light, bouncy and good fun.
Anna Faris is good game here (although her character from Scary Movie is entrenched in my mind) and Evans does what is needed - mostly raising his eyebrow and walking about naked.
There are all the usual jokes you would expect and this is well executed with good supporting performances and a wealth of talent - the ex-lovers is a shopping list of minor movie/TV stars
I had good fun with this but I think it sits further down my list of Romcoms.
This Means War (2012)
2024 rewatch - good fun
Two spies fall for the same girl and compete to win her affections.
From that one line you can pretty much guess what is going to happen - and the film doesn't disappoint in that respect.
A lot rellies on the relationship between the two male leads and how their growing competition unfolds.
Pine and Hardy are great here - things escalate by logical and believable stages - sure Reaper drones are misappropriated and the two men break about every law going but this shouldn't be taken too seriously.
Witherspoon makes an excellent prize for the two men and plays it really well when things inevitably go wrong.
Good fun, lots of light action, a splash of romance and some funny moments.
This is perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Fallout (2024)
Totally Surprised
Having hundreds of hours playing the 5 (true) Fallout Games I was not looking forward to this - as a TV show cannot match the fun I had exploring this world.
Well, the people behind this have managed it somehow.
This doesn't have total fidelity to the game lore but I think that was needed to make the transition between medias.
This pushes the comedy element quite hard but it worked for me.
The production is great and the characters are amazing. Ella Purnell is perfect as is Walton Goggins and Aaron Moten - but everyone is great.
The only gripe I had was that the end battle was a little lacklustre.
But overall I really enjoyed this and are anticipating the next season
.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
A dull mess -but looks pretty
I expected Ghostbusters to be a family film - but this really is for kids.
Not much of it makes much sense and nothing really happens - it is a showcase for some good effects.
The Ghostbusters are broke - not even the windup windows on their car works - for some reason they still tear up the town busting ghosts, possibly for money but mostly for kicks - I think?
The action is slapstick and it is made abundantly clear from the start that nobody is ever going to get hurt, no matter how many cars crash or icicles shoot through the floor everybody is going to be fine.
The Ghostbusters are useless at what they do - they have no expertise or skill and really anyone else would be better to take over their business.
Then it turns out that the old Ghostbusters are still around and they do have money and aren't quite as useless as the new Ghostbusters.
The cast wander around town triggering hat tips to the older films - oh the nostalgia!
Then the bad guy is here then someone does a thing and he isn't - the end.
This is ok to put on whilst you are doing something more interesting on your phone - James Acaster is surprisingly good and the highlight of the show.
The effects are great and it doesn't hang around too long - but even a day latter I am struggling to remember what actually happened - it turns out not much.
Arthur the King (2024)
I really wanrted to like this
This is a great story and I was looking forward to watch this - but it has too many technical issues for me to really enjoy it.
The pace is really bad - I love a lead up to a movie but this is just too much with nothing getting done.
We don't start racing for what seems like ages but in that time we don't learn much about the sport of the characters. Really important aspects are just blurted out rather than shown.
This makes the characters really flat as they have just one characteristic to define them - you get the ego one, the pushy one, the bad knee guy and the daddy's girl - nothing more.
Despite tracking through some of the most beautiful countryside on the planet the film looks very dark and colourless.
It is also rare for the camera to actually be on a tripod and even scenes in a cafe feel like they were shot from a dingy floating on a pond.
The acting also is quote stilted where every line feels like a quip.
The dog parts also aren't great - a chase scene with just dogs is a brave thing to try but very hard to do.
I feel really mean talking so badly about t a film that was obviously made with a lot of love but just didn't do it for me.
My wife really enjoyed it and there is fun to be had here but I couldn't get in to it.
Unfrosted (2024)
Silly, very tedious, not sure who this is for.
I thought this was about the origin of the poptart but is actually a two hour long sketch about corporations run by Edith Blyton characters.
A lot of the comedy relies on dad jokes and slapstick.
There are lots of silly voices, people getting hit in the nuts and painfully unfunny stereotypes.
It feels like this is made for 8 year olds but a lot of the "jokes" rely on knowledge of inflation, Argentina's acceptance of war criminals, the advancement of technology and U. S history.
There are lots of familiar talent here.
Amy Shimmer plays protagonist and if you are a fan of her work you will probably love this.
This is jarringly puerile and has no plot, just random things happening.
It probably looked funny on paper but I found this impossible to watch.
The Portable Door (2023)
Starts off a little sharp but quickly becomes more fluffy
This starts off feeling like an adult surreal, mind-bending, possibly psychotropic kind of affair - but quickly changes into something more family friendly.
After about fifteen minutes we are made aware that the world contains all sorts of fantasy type characters and it gets a bit more fluffy - the Jim Henderson tag should be a give away.
The main character is very good and not your typical hero and the supporting cast all do a great job - Sam Neil is obviously having a lot of fun here.
The story unfolds and interesting stuff happens until it all ends. Pretty much what a film should do.
As I was watching interesting characters stepped from behind the curtain then dash off again.
It gave me the sneaking feeling that this is actually a part of a series of books?
I was spot on - it looks like there are eight of them at time of writing.
This means that if you like this there are likely to be more on the way but it does mean this isn't a film that stands solely on its own and some scenes are clearly foreshadowing.
A good fun family film with some silly fantasy elements that kids will love and adults can relax to.