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Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Music, Romance
My love for Eurovision is as deep as some of the songs in Eurovision attempt to be, I live for ridiculous costumes and dance moves... and I LOVE quips from Graham. I'm glad I didn't have a lot of time to really think about what this film might come out to be, it would definitely have hindered the watching process.

As a child Lars makes a connection with the Eurovision Song Contest that will follow him through his adult life, it will be his obsession, his life, and it will lead him on an adventure he could never imagine. When an unimaginable miracle happens, Fire Saga make their way to the greatest song contest in the world. The competition is fierce and the pair must navigate more than one bump on their road to Eurovision success.

Firstly I want to make a clear point about this film... it's bad, not in a good way, and then it's good, but not in the bad way. When I started watching it I was so very annoyed and then at some point I realised I was enjoying myself. Not unlike watching the actual contest.

Will Ferrell has never particularly been a draw for me and when I tried to bring any Rachel McAdams film to mind I went blank... Together this pairing make an interesting team though, there's a good dynamic and I'm not particularly against anything they do, but there's a certain sloppiness to the story that makes it difficult to root for them. There are a lot of scenes that feel unnecessary or overplay a joke and somehow the film is just over two hours long... this idea definitely would have suited something between 90 and 105 minutes.

The singers mostly make their cameos in a Pitch Perfect-esque sing-off, that was one of the first things I both hated and loved at the same time. Singing in films brings me joy and everybody who participated is very talented... but it was so cheesy. Our other stars are fine, Dan Stevens as Alexander has just the right amount of cliche characteristics and Pierce Brosnan as Lars' father is... I don't know how to describe it really but I was loving the look.

Accents on the actors... they might not necessarily be bad but coming from people that aren't native made it feel like they were over the top. I'm sure this is more to do with the fact that I know what the people should sound like and with acting that isn't convincing enough it all collides into chaos in my brain.

They definitely managed to create some great moments that will put you in a good Eurovision mood. I loved the music video they create right at the beginning, and honestly, if someone doesn't use that for their next entry I really think they're missing out. We've got the bizarre songs and over the top props that make Eurovision such a spectacle. But that's where we have my overall issue with the film.


Eurovision Song Contest started pretty badly (apart from that video) and I was really thinking it was going to be a disaster, once they get to the contest it is so much better. Taking those excess minutes out of the beginning (and removing that final piece of the ending) and rebalancing the film with more contest would have made it better, not that this is a bad film, it just could have been better. There are a lot of flaws throughout but it manages to turn it around and give something charming and entertaining that will appeal to a lot of people, I'd be interested to see how this gets received outside of Europe though.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/06/eurovision-song-contest-movie-review.html
  
Max Winslow and the House of Secrets (2019)
Max Winslow and the House of Secrets (2019)
2019 | Family, Sci-Fi, Thriller
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
An out of the blue watch here, I had my fingers crossed for something a little lighthearted... and that's sort of what I received.

A challenge is issued, a competition that will see the mansion of tech billionaire Atticus Virtue gifted to the lucky winner. Chosen from his old school, five pupils enter to compete for the prize. As the evening goes on the games become increasingly dangerous and they find themselves fighting back against an advanced AI who's out to get them.

Max Winslow And The House Of Secrets feels like the kind of hybrid you'd get from crossing Willy Wonka with Ready Player One. All three films have the same sort of idea to them but convey it in their own quirky ways.

The story isn't the only classic idea the film capitalises on, we've also got your stereotypical group of teens thrown together end up having to work together to solve their problems. As they're introduced to us there was a little eye-roll on my part... we've got the computer nerd, the jock/musician, the social media icon, the gamer and the bully... but despite that eye-roll I quickly got over it as we progressed further in.

All these characters actually give us quite a well-balanced film, their introductions were handled quickly and clearly so it doesn't feel like a slog meeting them all, and jumping between characters/scene helps move the action along and keep you interested.

The acting from the younger members of the cast is pretty good when they're thrown in together, they all work well together and in scenes that could quite easily have become a little cheesy they manage to keep it quite sensible. We're treated to Marina Sirtis playing the AI running the mansion, I was amused by this casting, I don't think my brain could quite comprehend her in this role. The mansion's eccentric owner is played by Chad Michael Murray, I wish I could be a little more excited about him in this film but his brief appearances didn't rate highly with me. There weren't many moments when he was on screen where his performances weren't slightly awkward, at one point it felt like a script issue, but either way I was pleased that the main focus was one the younger actors.

Eye-rolling early on felt like it was becoming a habit, as the main storyline began it happened again. A moment occurs and you know that the information is going to be relevant later, you don't have to wait too long for an initial pay off to it either. I was worried that this would mean the ending of the film would be ruined but the pace from switching up between characters helps to drag you away from it.

Something I was a little surprised about was the tone of some of the scenes. When you start to watch the film it feels very much like a made for TV (that's not a negative comment, you know I love my made for TV movies!) family adventure affair, but some scenes are actually a little darker than would happily fit in that sort of film. Sitting at a 12A seems like the right level, had it been sanitised for younger viewers I think we'd have been left with something too tame to be good. (You could have pushed it further into the 15 and up area, but that would have put it in Escape Room territory and I'm not entirely sure we need more of that.)

Despite my eye-rolling and (many) unanswered questions that come from an adult watching a film not entirely made for them, I really enjoyed Max Winslow And The House Of Secrets. It's a fun watch, with some surprising little additions.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/10/max-winslow-and-house-of-secrets-movie.html