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Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat
Book
'A magnificent story, brilliantly told. Read it!' Anthony HorowitzSix gentlemen, one goal - the...
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
This one seems to have received a very mixed reception among Trek fans, but I absolutely loved it when it first came out, giving it 4.5/5 in one of my early One Mann’s Movies reviews.
I find the pre-titles sequence on this one a real blast, both thrilling in content and enormously funny with the primitive stone age race trashing their previous relic in favour of their new Enterprise-shaped deity! And then the dramatic pseudo-blackmailing of Harewood, (an impressive Noel Clarke, when he was being given better roles that he is at the moment), to Michael Giacchino’s awesome “London Calling” music, is a truly memorable bit of movie-making.
The cast have all settled into their roles nicely. Chris Pine’s Kirk is still the arrogant ladies man (e.g. bedding twin aliens and chatting up the starfleet totty…. “Hi Ladies… Jim Kirk”), but learning the hard way that with great power comes at least a modicum of responsibility. He actually needs to act in this movie. And I find Scotty (Simon Pegg) slightly less grating in this outing (though his sidekick Keenser (Deep Roy) is still the annoying Jar Jar Binks of these films).
Benedict Cumberbatch adds great gravitas as the arch villain, and his announcement of his name was one of those “I am your father” movie-moments for me on first viewing.
It’s also the last screen appearance of Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime – indeed, his last movie appearance period. A nice and fitting way to bow out.
My rating here is a little lower than my previous OMM rating. It’s attempts to shoehorn-in scenes and dialogue from an earlier Trek movie are a misstep by the writers, and grate on repeat viewing. But it’s still a cracking episode in the Trek saga, and another of my personal favourites.
I find the pre-titles sequence on this one a real blast, both thrilling in content and enormously funny with the primitive stone age race trashing their previous relic in favour of their new Enterprise-shaped deity! And then the dramatic pseudo-blackmailing of Harewood, (an impressive Noel Clarke, when he was being given better roles that he is at the moment), to Michael Giacchino’s awesome “London Calling” music, is a truly memorable bit of movie-making.
The cast have all settled into their roles nicely. Chris Pine’s Kirk is still the arrogant ladies man (e.g. bedding twin aliens and chatting up the starfleet totty…. “Hi Ladies… Jim Kirk”), but learning the hard way that with great power comes at least a modicum of responsibility. He actually needs to act in this movie. And I find Scotty (Simon Pegg) slightly less grating in this outing (though his sidekick Keenser (Deep Roy) is still the annoying Jar Jar Binks of these films).
Benedict Cumberbatch adds great gravitas as the arch villain, and his announcement of his name was one of those “I am your father” movie-moments for me on first viewing.
It’s also the last screen appearance of Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime – indeed, his last movie appearance period. A nice and fitting way to bow out.
My rating here is a little lower than my previous OMM rating. It’s attempts to shoehorn-in scenes and dialogue from an earlier Trek movie are a misstep by the writers, and grate on repeat viewing. But it’s still a cracking episode in the Trek saga, and another of my personal favourites.
A New Book of Middle Eastern Food
Book
Discover Claudia Roden's classic recipes in The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. In 1968, Claudia...
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Last Christmas (2019) in Movies
Dec 8, 2019
I ummed and erred about how to start this review, should I burst into song? Should I be writing it while adorned with fairy lights? None of that is needed though, and I'll tell you why in a moment.
Kate the Christmas elf has lost her Christmas spirit, life just hasn't felt the same recently and it's affecting her friends and family as well as everything in her life. Tensions run high as she takes advantage of her close friends and slowly burns almost all of her bridges.
Then she meets Tom, he's happy-go-lucky and all about something more to life. Where she's single-minded and oblivious he's caring and mindful of everyone, the pair couldn't be more different while still being the perfect match.
So... a Christmas film using the music of George Michael. Christmas probably appears in 95% of the shots and yet at no point did I feel very Christmassy. As for the music, if I hadn't been told they use his tracks in there I would have just said they just used Last Christmas because they thought they should match the title.
A fair bit of the film takes place at night which does allow for some beautiful illuminated shots of London. The settings are all very well suited for this, I always think that Covent Garden looks like the perfect place for a Christmas paradise when it's made up properly... and that Christmas shop! I died and went to heaven!
I've had no real previous experience with Emilia Clarke as an actress, I've never knowingly seen her in anything (yes, I've never watched Game Of Thrones), but I was impressed with her portrayal of Kate. It all felt very natural, there was a lot of sass but she also managed to keep it together during the serious moments. I don't think I'll be going back to watch GoT after this but I may well give some of her other films a go.
Henry Golding plays the perfect gentleman, that might be his niche. There's nothing to object to in his performance at all, I might have some issues with the way he's written in the script but Golding brought Tom to life perfectly on screen.
The best support performance for me was definitely Santa, played by Michelle Yeoh. Santa and Kate playing off against each other was wonderful to see, no matter whether it eas a dramatic moment or a comedy one they bounced back and forth incredibly well. Seeing Yeoh listed for this was a little dubious but it was delightful to see.
Emma Thompson's portrayal was enjoyable, though the accent did change the feel of the humour. I do question why Kate's family needed to be of Croatian descent. I'm not one to say "this was trying to make a statement" but there wasn't anything of any major consequence in the film that required it to be that way. It didn't feel like the film gained anything from this apart from an opportunity to shoehorn in Brexit.
Despite my quibbling, which you know I love to do, Last Christmas was a thoroughly enjoyable film. It is much more drama than it is Christmas film, Christmas honestly feels incidental even though Emilia Clarke is dressed as an elf most of the time. Sure its message might be a little "hidden agenda" and overly sweet but it's a great bit of entertainment. Just remember, don't be the arsehole who spoils it for someone.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2019/11/last-christmas-movie-review.html
Kate the Christmas elf has lost her Christmas spirit, life just hasn't felt the same recently and it's affecting her friends and family as well as everything in her life. Tensions run high as she takes advantage of her close friends and slowly burns almost all of her bridges.
Then she meets Tom, he's happy-go-lucky and all about something more to life. Where she's single-minded and oblivious he's caring and mindful of everyone, the pair couldn't be more different while still being the perfect match.
So... a Christmas film using the music of George Michael. Christmas probably appears in 95% of the shots and yet at no point did I feel very Christmassy. As for the music, if I hadn't been told they use his tracks in there I would have just said they just used Last Christmas because they thought they should match the title.
A fair bit of the film takes place at night which does allow for some beautiful illuminated shots of London. The settings are all very well suited for this, I always think that Covent Garden looks like the perfect place for a Christmas paradise when it's made up properly... and that Christmas shop! I died and went to heaven!
I've had no real previous experience with Emilia Clarke as an actress, I've never knowingly seen her in anything (yes, I've never watched Game Of Thrones), but I was impressed with her portrayal of Kate. It all felt very natural, there was a lot of sass but she also managed to keep it together during the serious moments. I don't think I'll be going back to watch GoT after this but I may well give some of her other films a go.
Henry Golding plays the perfect gentleman, that might be his niche. There's nothing to object to in his performance at all, I might have some issues with the way he's written in the script but Golding brought Tom to life perfectly on screen.
The best support performance for me was definitely Santa, played by Michelle Yeoh. Santa and Kate playing off against each other was wonderful to see, no matter whether it eas a dramatic moment or a comedy one they bounced back and forth incredibly well. Seeing Yeoh listed for this was a little dubious but it was delightful to see.
Emma Thompson's portrayal was enjoyable, though the accent did change the feel of the humour. I do question why Kate's family needed to be of Croatian descent. I'm not one to say "this was trying to make a statement" but there wasn't anything of any major consequence in the film that required it to be that way. It didn't feel like the film gained anything from this apart from an opportunity to shoehorn in Brexit.
Despite my quibbling, which you know I love to do, Last Christmas was a thoroughly enjoyable film. It is much more drama than it is Christmas film, Christmas honestly feels incidental even though Emilia Clarke is dressed as an elf most of the time. Sure its message might be a little "hidden agenda" and overly sweet but it's a great bit of entertainment. Just remember, don't be the arsehole who spoils it for someone.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2019/11/last-christmas-movie-review.html
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Twist (2021) in Movies
Feb 17, 2021
I'm not sure what grabbed me about this one to make me watch... probably the cast. When will I learn?
Twist has been fending for himself for a long time, but when he crosses paths with Dodge and Batesy, he finds himself a family on the wrong side of the law.
The trend for updating stories is one I've enjoyed in the past, but Twist felt like a weird hybrid of a film that... well, let's get into it.
It may have been based on Oliver Twist, but I genuinely don't think they should have made is such a big splash. Yes, there are similarities, but the majority of the time it just felt like it was the character names being thrown in at random to make the connection. And is it the sort of connection you need to exploit? I don't think that you've naturally got a crossover between what the story of Oliver Twist is and what is represented here.
As an ensemble it's got some pretty big names attached. Caine, Clarke and Headey are generally a good call when it comes to picking something to watch... this is definitely how I got tricked into watching Twist.
Caine was... Caine, if you know, you know. Headey was a psycho that came across so excessively over the top, maybe to give the film wider appeal in other markets? I'm not entirely sure to be honest. And Clarke at least made for some enjoyable watching.
Our other, younger cast members, were such a random group. Rafferty Law as Twist didn't give a lot, and I know that by the nature of his character origin and backstory his nature was supposed to be on a different level to the others, but I didn't find it very believable. Dodge and Batesy played by Rita Ora and Franz Drameh fit well together initially, but I quickly found Drameh to be much more skilled as Ora's acting became a little lacklustre.
Overall there's weren't many moments in Twist that worked for me because of this odd mix of cast. The biggest anomaly being Leigh Francis as the traffic warden. Had the tone of the film been different then I absolutely could have seen a place for him in it, but as it was his role stuck out like a sore thumb.
We witness a lot of freerunning (or parkour, I'm not sure which term is more appropriate here) through the film and they used this as an opportunity to fling the camera around too and put in some fancy moves. Generally I'm not a fan, and while they fit in the moment, they seemed out of place given that the rest of the camerawork felt a little more generic. I noted down that it seemed to almost be missing at some points, but I'm not sure if that's because I just sighed and ignored it or if it was only used on certain types of shots... I will not be watching it again to find out.
Twist feels like it's what you would get if you took the TV series Hustle and mixed it with a London gangster movie... but without the same level of finesse. There is definitely something in this film but I think I was severely distracted by the attempt to capitalise on a bizarre reworking of a classic tale.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2021/02/twist-movie-review.html
Twist has been fending for himself for a long time, but when he crosses paths with Dodge and Batesy, he finds himself a family on the wrong side of the law.
The trend for updating stories is one I've enjoyed in the past, but Twist felt like a weird hybrid of a film that... well, let's get into it.
It may have been based on Oliver Twist, but I genuinely don't think they should have made is such a big splash. Yes, there are similarities, but the majority of the time it just felt like it was the character names being thrown in at random to make the connection. And is it the sort of connection you need to exploit? I don't think that you've naturally got a crossover between what the story of Oliver Twist is and what is represented here.
As an ensemble it's got some pretty big names attached. Caine, Clarke and Headey are generally a good call when it comes to picking something to watch... this is definitely how I got tricked into watching Twist.
Caine was... Caine, if you know, you know. Headey was a psycho that came across so excessively over the top, maybe to give the film wider appeal in other markets? I'm not entirely sure to be honest. And Clarke at least made for some enjoyable watching.
Our other, younger cast members, were such a random group. Rafferty Law as Twist didn't give a lot, and I know that by the nature of his character origin and backstory his nature was supposed to be on a different level to the others, but I didn't find it very believable. Dodge and Batesy played by Rita Ora and Franz Drameh fit well together initially, but I quickly found Drameh to be much more skilled as Ora's acting became a little lacklustre.
Overall there's weren't many moments in Twist that worked for me because of this odd mix of cast. The biggest anomaly being Leigh Francis as the traffic warden. Had the tone of the film been different then I absolutely could have seen a place for him in it, but as it was his role stuck out like a sore thumb.
We witness a lot of freerunning (or parkour, I'm not sure which term is more appropriate here) through the film and they used this as an opportunity to fling the camera around too and put in some fancy moves. Generally I'm not a fan, and while they fit in the moment, they seemed out of place given that the rest of the camerawork felt a little more generic. I noted down that it seemed to almost be missing at some points, but I'm not sure if that's because I just sighed and ignored it or if it was only used on certain types of shots... I will not be watching it again to find out.
Twist feels like it's what you would get if you took the TV series Hustle and mixed it with a London gangster movie... but without the same level of finesse. There is definitely something in this film but I think I was severely distracted by the attempt to capitalise on a bizarre reworking of a classic tale.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2021/02/twist-movie-review.html
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Fisherman's Friends (2019) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)
I'm a sucker for this sort of film. There's a soothing consistency to them that makes for an entertaining and wholesome watch.
Daniel Mays as Danny us just adorable, he's always good for an amusing role. If you haven't caught Swimming With Men then you probably should. Danny isn't quite the same as his music exec counterparts, while he has the bullshitting down to a t he also cares much more for others than he does himself. I absolutely love the way he is with Alwyn and her daughter.
One thing that concerns me about this film is that it made me aware that James Purefoy is now old enough to be cast as someone's grandad. When did that happen? Purefoy along with all the other actors in the gang are a vision of camaraderie. There's a great scene where they head out to London, it's funny from start to finish and filled with toe-tapping enjoyment.
As much as I loved Noel Clarke when he was in Doctor Who it can't rescue him from the stereotypical American exec role. That accent was like a punch in the face every time I heard it. Has any American ever genuinely sounded like that or is it just reserved for British actors putting on American accents?
Obviously a lot of this film is dedicated to music, the sea shanties have me goosebumps as soon as they all started singing. It doesn't necessarily matter what they're singing about, the crescendos of it are just so beautiful. I will admit that generally I wouldn't be able to tell you if films had music in the background, unless it's bad or amazing it will largely pass me by, but Fisherman's Friends had one of those rare occasions where I noticed.
There are a lot of things happening in the film, several of the main characters have something going on around them but at no point did it feel like anything was surplus to requirements. In films with a larger cast it can often end up missing or skipping over a storyline but all of them seemed to be tied up neatly at the end of this.
The ending has a very emotional sequence in it, I spent a significant amount of it crying into my cuffs. James Purefoy and Daniel Mays manage to have an incredibly powerful moment together. There was so much emotion in it that just recalling it now is making me well up as I write.
While I might not buy this one I would certainly watch it again. It's a film that I'm certain almost anyone would enjoy, you'll certainly learn a few life lessons while you watch it.
What you should do
Definitely one to see, I know not everyone is a fan of musical numbers but there's plenty to go on to keep you amused.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Where do I get myself a group to sing with? I miss a good old fashioned singalong.
Daniel Mays as Danny us just adorable, he's always good for an amusing role. If you haven't caught Swimming With Men then you probably should. Danny isn't quite the same as his music exec counterparts, while he has the bullshitting down to a t he also cares much more for others than he does himself. I absolutely love the way he is with Alwyn and her daughter.
One thing that concerns me about this film is that it made me aware that James Purefoy is now old enough to be cast as someone's grandad. When did that happen? Purefoy along with all the other actors in the gang are a vision of camaraderie. There's a great scene where they head out to London, it's funny from start to finish and filled with toe-tapping enjoyment.
As much as I loved Noel Clarke when he was in Doctor Who it can't rescue him from the stereotypical American exec role. That accent was like a punch in the face every time I heard it. Has any American ever genuinely sounded like that or is it just reserved for British actors putting on American accents?
Obviously a lot of this film is dedicated to music, the sea shanties have me goosebumps as soon as they all started singing. It doesn't necessarily matter what they're singing about, the crescendos of it are just so beautiful. I will admit that generally I wouldn't be able to tell you if films had music in the background, unless it's bad or amazing it will largely pass me by, but Fisherman's Friends had one of those rare occasions where I noticed.
There are a lot of things happening in the film, several of the main characters have something going on around them but at no point did it feel like anything was surplus to requirements. In films with a larger cast it can often end up missing or skipping over a storyline but all of them seemed to be tied up neatly at the end of this.
The ending has a very emotional sequence in it, I spent a significant amount of it crying into my cuffs. James Purefoy and Daniel Mays manage to have an incredibly powerful moment together. There was so much emotion in it that just recalling it now is making me well up as I write.
While I might not buy this one I would certainly watch it again. It's a film that I'm certain almost anyone would enjoy, you'll certainly learn a few life lessons while you watch it.
What you should do
Definitely one to see, I know not everyone is a fan of musical numbers but there's plenty to go on to keep you amused.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Where do I get myself a group to sing with? I miss a good old fashioned singalong.
Overcome Phobias by Glenn Harrold: Clinical Hypnotherapy for All Phobias
Health & Fitness
App
Glenn Harrold has drawn upon his 20-year experience as a clinical hypnotherapist to produce the two...
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Tomb Raider (2018) in Movies
Mar 22, 2018 (Updated Mar 22, 2018)
An Uninspired Take On the Iconic Character
This is the greatest video game movie ever made.
Now, I know what you are thinking, "Dan, you scored this thing a 6, you can't open your review with a statement like that!" Well the thing is, every other video game movie is so shit, that this mediocre action adventure flick is the gold standard in comparison.
If you played the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot game, then you will see a lot of similarities here, except most of it isn't done as well as it was done in the game. First of all, they spend far too much time following Lara in London before she goes on her adventure. For some reason she lives a poor life as a delivery girl that can't even afford to pay her gym membership, even though she has a massive fortune of inheritance money sitting there, that is hers once she signs off on her father's death certificate. Her dad is played by Dominic West, who is one of my favourite actors, but unfortunately he is kind of wasted here. He went missing seven years ago and is the catalyst for Lara's adventure to begin.
So she goes to Thailand to look for the guy that her dad bought the boat from to go to the remote island with the treasure on it. The guy she finds from Into The Badlands, turns out to be his son and he agrees to help her for some cash. He is actually pretty enjoyable in the movie and probably does a better job selling his character than his Oscar winning co-star, but we will get back to that later. So the two of them go to this remote island and a storm hits the boat, forcing the two of them overboard. Lara wakes up with Walton Goggins' character Mathias holding her at gun point. Mathias is nothing like he was in the game, where he was a mad priest type character, here he is a tired faithless mercenary that just wants to get the job done and go home. Walton Goggins, who again is one of my favourite actors, does his best with the material that he is giving, the issue being that the material is pretty garbage, which is the case for this movie's script in general. From here, Lara goes through the motions of becoming more of a badass survivor. This leads us into some exciting action set pieces that call back to the original game and are probably the best parts of the movie, so I won't spoil them here.
Let's talk about Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. I have liked Alicia Vikander in every other role that I have seen her in and I was looking forward to seeing her performance as this iconic character. However, she just doesn't sell the character for me. I'm not sure if it's the material that the filmmakers gave her to work with, but she is totally underwhelming and never defines the character in any major way or makes it her own. You could have cast any young actress in this role and you would have gotten the same result. The other rumoured names before Vikander was officially cast were Emelia Clarke and Daisey Ridley. Any one of those would yielded the exact same results meaning that while Vikander was perfectly serviceable, she brought nothing special or original to the role.
Next I want to cover some of the movie's technical elements. The special effects were actually pretty impressive overall. The CGI backdrops all looked pretty convincing and even the character animation that was sprinkled in here and there looked pretty good and didn't distract or take me out of the movie too much. However, everything else was totally unremarkable. From the direction, to the lighting, to the cinematography, to the score, it was all just passable and nothing more.
Before I conclude this review, I want to briefly touch on something that this movie does that I hate seeing in movies. For some reason this movie repeatedly shows us flashbacks of something that happened just minutes beforehand. It is so frustrating and totally breaks the pace of the movie. It also feels as if the filmmakers are treating their audience like complete idiots that can't piece their predictable plot together without explicitly spelling it out by showing us the same flashback for the fourth time. Hollywood please stop doing this, it totally breaks any flow that your movie almost had and is so painfully unnecessary it hurts, give us some credit as moviegoers.
Overall, this is a decent action adventure romp that works okay if you don't think about it too much. It isn't anything special in any way and doesn't do anything that hasn't been done better by another franchise before. You will have a decent time with this as long as you don't expect something that is going to bring the video game movie into legendary status.
Now, I know what you are thinking, "Dan, you scored this thing a 6, you can't open your review with a statement like that!" Well the thing is, every other video game movie is so shit, that this mediocre action adventure flick is the gold standard in comparison.
If you played the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot game, then you will see a lot of similarities here, except most of it isn't done as well as it was done in the game. First of all, they spend far too much time following Lara in London before she goes on her adventure. For some reason she lives a poor life as a delivery girl that can't even afford to pay her gym membership, even though she has a massive fortune of inheritance money sitting there, that is hers once she signs off on her father's death certificate. Her dad is played by Dominic West, who is one of my favourite actors, but unfortunately he is kind of wasted here. He went missing seven years ago and is the catalyst for Lara's adventure to begin.
So she goes to Thailand to look for the guy that her dad bought the boat from to go to the remote island with the treasure on it. The guy she finds from Into The Badlands, turns out to be his son and he agrees to help her for some cash. He is actually pretty enjoyable in the movie and probably does a better job selling his character than his Oscar winning co-star, but we will get back to that later. So the two of them go to this remote island and a storm hits the boat, forcing the two of them overboard. Lara wakes up with Walton Goggins' character Mathias holding her at gun point. Mathias is nothing like he was in the game, where he was a mad priest type character, here he is a tired faithless mercenary that just wants to get the job done and go home. Walton Goggins, who again is one of my favourite actors, does his best with the material that he is giving, the issue being that the material is pretty garbage, which is the case for this movie's script in general. From here, Lara goes through the motions of becoming more of a badass survivor. This leads us into some exciting action set pieces that call back to the original game and are probably the best parts of the movie, so I won't spoil them here.
Let's talk about Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. I have liked Alicia Vikander in every other role that I have seen her in and I was looking forward to seeing her performance as this iconic character. However, she just doesn't sell the character for me. I'm not sure if it's the material that the filmmakers gave her to work with, but she is totally underwhelming and never defines the character in any major way or makes it her own. You could have cast any young actress in this role and you would have gotten the same result. The other rumoured names before Vikander was officially cast were Emelia Clarke and Daisey Ridley. Any one of those would yielded the exact same results meaning that while Vikander was perfectly serviceable, she brought nothing special or original to the role.
Next I want to cover some of the movie's technical elements. The special effects were actually pretty impressive overall. The CGI backdrops all looked pretty convincing and even the character animation that was sprinkled in here and there looked pretty good and didn't distract or take me out of the movie too much. However, everything else was totally unremarkable. From the direction, to the lighting, to the cinematography, to the score, it was all just passable and nothing more.
Before I conclude this review, I want to briefly touch on something that this movie does that I hate seeing in movies. For some reason this movie repeatedly shows us flashbacks of something that happened just minutes beforehand. It is so frustrating and totally breaks the pace of the movie. It also feels as if the filmmakers are treating their audience like complete idiots that can't piece their predictable plot together without explicitly spelling it out by showing us the same flashback for the fourth time. Hollywood please stop doing this, it totally breaks any flow that your movie almost had and is so painfully unnecessary it hurts, give us some credit as moviegoers.
Overall, this is a decent action adventure romp that works okay if you don't think about it too much. It isn't anything special in any way and doesn't do anything that hasn't been done better by another franchise before. You will have a decent time with this as long as you don't expect something that is going to bring the video game movie into legendary status.