Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (3404)

Content

Lee (2222 KP) rated Midsommar (2019) in Movies

Mar 19, 2020

Midsommar (2019)

2019 | Drama, Horror, Mystery

6.8

(43 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

I haven’t seen such complete and utter nonsense since Hereditary.

The bitter disappointment in Hereditary still lingers to this day. The build up, and all of the hype on film Twitter, got me so excited to see it. And then, I ended up in a cinema full of people, all laughing at the ridiculousness of it all and all coming out saying how truly bad it was.

So when Midsommar came along, and everyone online started reacting in exactly the same way as they did for Hereditary, I wasn’t having any of it. The trailer looked OK, but I didn’t want to waste my time being like the person in the story of the emperors new clothes who pipes up and says “hang on a minute, this is actually complete crap”. So I didn’t bother with it.

But now it’s on Amazon Prime, and cinemas are closed. It’s desperate times, so I gave it a try.

And for the first half, it was OK. But by the end of it, I was disappointed again and I really do feel that it actually does follow the same Hereditary formula, only delivered slightly better -

A first half which plays like a beautifully shot drama.

A gruesome shock during this first half.

A beautifully shot, but ultimately dull, second half which struggles to deliver on the initial setup, decides to descend into a ridiculous and laughable mess instead.

A standout performance (Toni Collette then, Florence Pugh now).

Kudos

Sarah (7800 KP) rated Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) in Movies

Mar 30, 2020

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

2016 | Action, Comedy

9.0

(8 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Wonderfully quirky drama

I'd heard so many good things about this film, and I was so happy to see it finally pop up to watch on Amazon Prime. And I'm glad to say it was everything I hoped it would be.

Taika Waititi is probably one of my favourite current directors. Not my all time favourite, that accolade belongs to Christopher Nolan, but he's not far behind and until I turned this on, I'd completely forgotten this was even one of his films. But as soon as the film starts, it's so obviously Waititi and that's before the man himself turns up in a rather wacky and wonderful cameo.

This is a rather wonderful coming of age type drama. It's completely bonkers yet full of heart and a decent amount of laughs. Yet still doesnt shy away from the more serious topics that underpin the entire story. It's quirky yet so much fun, and also full of a decent amount of pop culture references that cant help make you laugh out loud. Sam Neill is great as grouchy uncle Hector, and Julian Dennison is a riot as Ricky. The cinematography too is marvellous, this is a beautifully made and stunning looking film and altogether just a delight to watch.

The story might get a little ridiculous at times, but this is easy to ignore when the rest of it is so fun and heart warming.