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The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019)
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Animation
The first Angry Birds movie is one of my favourites, it's light-hearted fun that I can just put on if I need some distraction, so I was just a little excited for this coming out.

The fight against the pigs is much more of a game than an all-out war these days. Red is living the life of a hero, but he worries that one day the inhabitants of the island won't need him.

Over on Piggy Island their attention is drawn to an uncharted part of the world when a large ice ball falls from the sky. Leonard raises the white flag to ask Red to join him in defending their island against this new frosty neighbour.

Red is very relatable in this one and it's nice that he's come on a bit since the first film. They've given him a lot of anxiety that the audience will be able to identify with, and he definitely holds my same views on speed dating.

Hatchlings have always been the cutest things in Angry Birds and these three are a brilliant part of this one. Their reactions to everything that happens with the eggs is hilarious. There's one troubling incident with a snake that makes them less cute... but the less said about that the better. [Although it's in the trailer above if you want to see it.]

I have to say that out of the new characters I found it very difficult to recognise them. Everyone did a great job though and the new faces were always what they needed to be. There was just one confusing thing for me, Leslie Jones and Tiffany Haddish. I think they're both great actresses and I particularly like Haddish's voice work, but... I feel like they were cast in the wrong roles. I don't know why I think that, perhaps because I associate Haddish with larger than life bossy characters? I'm genuinely not sure.

It's a fun addition to the universe but I don't think it was better than the first. It was nice seeing the birds and pigs working together in a sort of Mission: Impossible/James Bond style infiltration piece but I wasn't excited about the story that gets them there. This mystery island that no one knows about has appeared like a bonus level in a game but you've skipped the intro. We're left with lots of questions but not enough fun to cover them up. I can't say I was happy about the ending either, there was a very quick resolution to it. It was still untaxing entertainment though and sometimes that's just what you need.

Side note: Something you'll notice is that there's a lot of music to recognise, some real bangers, but when they keep coming it begins to get rather tiring. I attempted to make a list but it became such an effort that I gave up.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-angry-birds-movie-2-movie-review.html
  
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
2014 | Drama, Sci-Fi
Hits You From Jump and Keeps Rolling
Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) finds himself thrust into a war he wanted no part of against an enemy that gains the advantage by rewinding time. After he gains their power, he has to figure out a way to stop them and end their terror for good.

Acting: 10

Beginning: 10
Edge of Tomorrow grabs your attention from the opening credits. The screen starts to crackle and break up as we’re placed right in the middle of a number of news reports describing the current situation. It’s a clever way to get you caught up to speed without starting slow.

Characters: 10

Cinematography/Visuals: 10
Science fiction movies and war movies have some of the greatest cinematic scenes in film history. You combine the two genres and you’re left with pure gold. Edge of Tomorrow has a way of capturing grit, ugliness, and beauty at the same time. As you’re watching the alien creatures tear through things like it’s paper, you’re also marveling at everything director Doug Liman is capturing on the screen at once. It was a pleasure watching the mech suits in action, a mixture of old-school tech and advanced weaponry. The attention to detail throughout is to be applauded. The aliens alone are incredibly creative and intriguing to see on the battlefield.

Conflict: 10
Oftentimes, when I watch a film like this, I wonder how they’re able to still squeeze a story in when there is so much action. The battles are consistent and take you across a number of different landscapes as Cage has to keep reliving the day. It’s seriously badass once Cage has started to perfect the day enough where he’s killing the enemy left and right.

Although the action is amazing, that isn’t the sole thing carrying the conflict as Cage and Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) are trying to figure out what exactly they need to do bring the nightmare to an end. They are at ends throughout the movie, even to the point where Cage wants to throw in the towel a number of times. It feels very real.

Genre: 10

Memorability: 10

Pace: 10

Plot: 10
Very solid storyline that manages to stay out of its own way by not overcomplicating things. I appreciated the fact that the screenwriters (and there are multiple) didn’t try and cut any corners, but looked for proper ways to advance the story. And that ending…

Resolution: 10
Just perfect. Ends right were it needs to with you wanting more, but knowing you don’t really need it. The closure is spot on. Well done.

Overall: 10
Chalk one up for the blockbusters, Edge of Tomorrow stands on my Top Ten list all-time as of today. It keeps you guessing, but most importantly, it keeps you entertained. I won’t apologize for the high rating as this film checks all the boxes.
  
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The Fate of the Furious (2017)
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
2017 | Action
Blood is thicker than Diesel.
All work and no play makes bob-the-movie-man a tardy reviewer. Still, what better way to break the fast than with “Fast and Furious 8” (aka “The Fate of the Furious”)?

Well, quite a lot of things actually!

Now, I have a confession to make (and I know for some this will be the equivalent of an appalling statement like “I’ve never seen Star Wars”). I have actually never ever seen Fast and Furious 1 through 7! (If it’s any mitigation to this cinematic crime, I did see the F-and-F wannabe “Need for Speed“).

So I was going to be completely lost with the “plot” right? Well actually, no. It was pretty easy to jump in and follow as a piece of popcorn nonsense.


The M25 water main burst was a real bitch for the Monday morning rush-hour.

For nonsense it is (hence the “rabbit ears” round the word “plot” above). The story isn’t just a bit far-fetched. It’s bat-shit crazy where the bat in question has downed a questionable vindaloo two hours earlier!
Dom (Vin Diesel) has turned on his “family”, including his squeeze, the lovely Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), and Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson, “San Andreas“), to team with the above-the-law (and above the clouds) cyber-super-terrorist Cipher (Charlize Theron, “Mad Max: Fury Road“). They have teamed up, apparently, for no other reason than to allow Cipher to ‘kick some global ass’ with a nuclear threat. But given his caring and sharing side, why the sudden betrayal of his nearest and dearest by Dom?


Ice Queen Metallica fan Theron, showing off her hardware.

Where do you begin with the nonsensical story? Jumping from Cuba (with some admittedly fun scenes, but shamelessly objectifying scantily-clad women) via Berlin and New York to the icy wastes of Siberia, it’s just an excuse to show fast cars doing ludicrously unlikely things. There is zero logic within any of the script. Here are just a handful of examples:

the team know (through enormous jumps of speculation) to be present at a particular location in the world and at exactly the time that Dom is there (arrive, look through binoculars, “Oh, there he is”!);
all cars can be automatically hijacked and remotely driven (who knew), but NOT those of the team (obviously);
fast cars/tanks/etc can be magicked from New York to Siberia (wot, no Hertz Siberia available?);
Russian nuclear codes are stolen, so obviously they can’t be changed?
a nuclear submarine is out of the water on wooden blocks, but spin the propeller really REALLY fast and it can suddenly be sailing away.

Muscle for muscle it never looked like being a fair fight.

I appreciate I am being enormously po-faced about this, and this is designed as pure escapism. But is there REALLY any need for this to be such mindless escapism? The director (Gary Gray, “The Italian Job”) and writer (Chris Morgan, responsible for parts 6 and 7) should credit their audience with rather more in the way of intelligence.

Diesel and Johnson are never going to set the acting ablaze, but Rodriquez (“Lost”) is as watchable as ever. Theron has fun with her villainy and the supporting turns by Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris are enjoyable. Nathalie Emmanuel though as Ramsey seems as uncomfortable with her “sexy English” stereotype as she should be.


A long way from Brookside. Nathalie Emmanuel uncomfortable as “the sexy one”.

Luke Evans (“The Hobbit“), Kurt Russell (“Deepwater Horizon“) and Helen Mirren (“Eye in the Sky“) turn up in entertaining but underused cameos, but it is Jason Statham as Deckard that has the most fun in the whole film, and his scenes – done largely for comic effect – are the best part of the movie. (But “math” Jason? “MATH”?? I hope your old maths teacher back in London doesn’t get to see this film).


Parking enforcement by the City Council was getting more and more stringent.

If you’re willing to park your brain at the door for two hours then it has some fun moments. But I felt the damage to my IQ might not have been worth the risk, and this really didn’t fill my cinematic tank.