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Darren (1599 KP) rated Queen and Country (2015) in Movies

Sep 2, 2019

Queen and Country (2015)

2015 | Comedy, Drama

4.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Thoughts on Queen & Country

Characters – Bill lives on an island in the middle of the Thames, he is drafted the army which gets him to see more of the world, meet a mysterious woman and learn to stand up for himself. Percy is the loud best friend of Bill, who has done everything, he is the one that wants to get ahead of Bradley. Ophelia is the mysterious woman that comes into Bill’s life, she draws him but is keeping her secrets safe.

Performances – Callum Turner is fine in this leading role but just doesn’t capture the levels to make us want to see his character too often. Caleb Landry Jones is the one we want to see the most, he is fun to watch but not the most interesting. The cast are fine but they just come off like posh Brits in roles.

Story – The story is a sequel to a movie, I have never heard off, which is guess doesn’t help too much. We get to see a young man that goes into the armed forces that challenges his superiors while dealing with his own personal problems when it comes to tracking down a mysterious woman that can’t be with him. Nothing that interesting happens in this movie in the way you care enough to see where things go.

Settings – The film takes us from the basic location which show the training camp, but it has our characters coming from the posh backgrounds.

Scene of the Movie – Hard to find one.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – That clock storyline.

Final Thoughts – This is a boring movie that the more I think about things, the more I get bored about what I am thinking about it.

Overall: Nothing interesting happening here.

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated The Walking Dead - Season 4 in TV

Sep 22, 2019 (Updated Oct 25, 2019)

A season of two halves

Contains spoilers, click to show

Season 4 of The Walking Dead is honestly a mixed bag.

The first half is pretty damn solid, wrapping up the Prison and Governor storyline nicely.
It shows off just how strong the cast is here - the characters we have come to know and love are stronger than ever, and a lot of new faces are welcome. I really liked how we got to know Tyrese more throughout this season.
As the group deals with a deadly flu outbreak within the prison walls, the show does a really good job of making you feel the claustrophobia.
I also really enjoyed the flashback Governor episodes - although these episodes introduced us to Tara - a character who I warmed to slowly later on, but in this season, damn she's annoying (nothing against Alanna Masterson just FYI)

The first half climaxes astonishingly with the episode "Too Far Gone" - possibly the best episode of TWD ever. It's sooooo tense. It's violent. It's upsetting. It's masterful. TWD at it's soaring best (although I don't think I'll ever get over what happened to my beloved Hershel)

Then the back half of the season is where it's loses its footing a bit. The group is scattered after the events of "Too Far Gone" and it really shows how TWD fares much better when everyone is together. It's just becomes a bit....boring, and it struggled to hold my attention.
There are still some great parts though - the sweet relationship between Daryl and Beth, the introduction of Abraham, the BRUTAL scene where Rick defends Carl from a truly disturbing fate in the finale...
And of course "The Grove" - another stellar episode.

Season 4 is the first season that became a little bit filler-infused for me but those stand out episodes elevate it and then some.

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated The Predator (2018) in Movies

Oct 15, 2019 (Updated Dec 4, 2019)

The Predator (2018)

2018 | Action, Horror

6.1

(47 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

A pretty shoddy sequel with some good moments here and there

There a lot of issues that kept The Predator from being a decent movie...

The special effects are a big one. A lot of the CGI in this is pretty dodgy. Especially for gore moments. It boggles my mind why a lot of horror films these days favour CGI over practical effects. Films like Alien, and The Thing (80s) stand as a testament to how practical horror work can be truly memorable.
In The Predator however, it's looks cartoony and fake - at one point I had to check I was watching a movie from 2018!
The dog creatures also look horrible - just bland and dark grey CGI blobs with teeth.
The 'classic' Predator that we see throughout this film is for the most part a guy in a suit, and it looks way better.

The characters are also an issue. They're not on the same level as awful as the characters from Predators, but they're all just unfunny walking cliches, which is a shame as there are some talented actors involved, trying to do the best with what they've been given.
The script attempts to shoehorn in plot strands that are not particularly relative to the overall narrative, including a complete tone deaf side plot about autism, which drags down what should be a pretty straightforward story.

The action isn't too bad, pretty entertaining as far as popcorn horror blockbusters go, with some creative deaths thrown in, but once again, the films over reliance on average CGI sours it all somewhat.

The Predator is not the awful film I had heard about, but it's predictably not a scratch on the original. Maybe it's time for the franchise to wrap it up.