Search

Search only in certain items:

Honest Thief (2020)
Honest Thief (2020)
2020 | Action, Crime, Drama
Chemistry between Neeson and Walsh (1 more)
Great cinematography around a scenic Boston
As discussed in my One Mann's Movies review of "Cold Pursuit", Liam Neeson has had a rather rocky PR road of late. But - unlike Kevin Spacey - he is clearly not being put on the naughty step by Hollywood, since he is filming/announced for five other features at the time of writing. His latest release - "Honest Thief" - has Mark Williams directing and co-writing (with Steve Allrich), and sees Neeson back on VERY familiar territory in an exciting and sometimes violent thriller.

The nice concept behind the story sees Tom (Liam Neeson) as a hugely successful bank robber meeting the love of his life in Annie (Kate Walsh) and committing to jack it all in for love. Furthermore, not wishing to have to live with the deception and guilt of his hidden life, he determines to hand himself over to the FBI, along with the $9 million stolen cash, in return for a lenient sentence.

There's a problem though: he's about the fifteenth person calling the FBI claiming to be the "In and Out burgler", so no-one wants to take him seriously. Boston area chief Sam Baker (Robert Patrick - the "Terminator" cop!) and his deputy Meyers (Jeffrey Donovan) casually put it on the "to-do" pile of agents Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Hall (Anthony Ramos).

The best laid plans run off the rails in a big way though when Nivens and Hall investigate and find that Tom is the real deal.

The concept here works nicely for a thriller, but the rest of the script is so formulaic that it's fairly and squarely a 'park your brain in the foyer' movie. For several of the actions and motives going on here, suspension of disbelief was required . Even given the limited competition in 2020, the script is in no way going to trouble the Academy.

All that being said, Mark Williams has put together a tight and well-executed movie, not outstaying its welcome at only 99 minutes long. Even with the 15 year age difference, Neeson and Walsh make a believable couple (given that Neeson looks pretty good for his 68 years) and the chemistry between them is great. And for a pretty 'small' movie, the supporting cast is pretty impressive.

Another standout for me was the cinematography by Shelly Johnson (whose had a busy year with the latest "Bill and Ted" and "Greyhound" under his belt). Boston - always a great movie location - looks spectacular, and the framing of the car chase action impressed me.

For me, there was only one really dodgy element of the movie: the special effects used in a house explosion/fire. The budget clearly didn't stretch to using practical effects! More work on Adobe "After Effects" (or similar) was required here!

Is Honest Thief worth seeing? - My expectations for this movie were pretty low. But I'm pleased to say that they were exceeded. Is it a masterpiece? No. Will I readily remember much about it in six month's time? No. But in rather a desert of new releases, this one was at least entertaining and I think it's worth the ticket price for a long overdue night out at the flicks. I'm willing to guess that my feelings were partially influenced by the sheer joy of being back in a cinema again... so I will temper my rating perhaps by a star here.

(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies here - https://rb.gy/9kcnr5. Thanks.)
  
Warsaw 44 (2014)
Warsaw 44 (2014)
2014 |
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: Warsaw 44 starts as we meet Stefan (Pawlowski) a young man living in Warsaw in 1944 during the war, he lives with his mother and younger brother bring the money back to the home, this changes when he meets a group of people similar to his age, they offer him a chance to go into the Polish army as they plan to fight back against the Germans.

As the Uprising starts to attack the Nazi’s Stefan learns the harsh reality of war up close and personal, with the love of his life Biedronka (Wichlacz) being the only one that will help him through the destruction.

 

Thoughts on Warsaw 44

 

Characters – Stefan is the honest hard working young man, he supports his family, protects his brother from the horrors of war, he is however led to join the Uprising in Warsaw against the Nazi’s, a move which will change his life, he will learn love and heartache as the war comes closer than he would imagine. Biedronka is the woman that Stefan falls for in the uprising, she fights alongside the men and will do everything to save lives. Kama is another woman in the uprising that shows love towards Stefan, we get plenty of characters in this film that are mostly following the ones in the uprising that will do anything to get their freedom back.

Performances – Jozef Pawlowski is good in the leading role, the charm he shows saying goodbye to his little brother could melt a heart and seeing his reaction to the war side of the film shows us how any young man would have been going through during the time. The rest of the cast is good, getting their moments to shine with the desperation needed through the war.

Story – The story follows the young people of Poland setting up an uprising to take on the Nazis during World War II, it starts as a small fight and soon throws them into the true harsh reality of war. While seeing the realities of war isn’t anything new, we do know how destruction, devasting and brutal war is on the people involved and World War II could well have been the worse in modern history, these people didn’t have any hope and only wanted freedom, they were willing to lay die their lives to do so. The characters however are fictional which could hold back being truly connected to the real people that would have suffered through the events. The story isn’t an easy watch and does have parts we don’t need to see, mostly the romance.

History/Romance/War – The history behind this film is true, we knew how bad the war was on the people and just how fighting back was the only way, these two parts of the film are shown near perfectly for what it could have cost people. The romance however just feels tacked on and unneeded for most of the film.

Settings – The film makes us feel like we are there, feeling each explosion, moment of destruction with hauntingly created settings.


Scene of the Movie – The graveyard battle, because it shows us what they will truly be battling.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The romance side of the film.

Final Thoughts – This is a hard hitting war drama, it shows us just what people were willing to do through the war through the eyes of the young adults.

 

Overall: Hard-hitting war drama

https://moviesreview101.com/2019/06/23/abc-film-challenge-world-cinema-w-warsaw-44-2014/
  
The Fractured Empire
The Fractured Empire
Robin Mahle | 2019 | Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Fractured Empire is the first in the Worlds Apart series and takes place on the fifth anniversary of The Silent Explosion when Adelaide lost her mother and sister and Clark lost his father.

“Clark and Adelaide think their lives can’t get any worse. Until they meet each other.”
The style of this book is distinctly steampunk rather than the medieval style that I am used to with ElBin books. I was nervous about this as I generally don’t read books in a steampunk setting but I did find I really enjoyed it. To me the world building wasn’t quite as clear in my mind but I’m not sure if this was because I wasn’t reading a physical book.
Despite this, The Fractured Empire met all my expectations and more! How can it not when it includes all my favourite tropes such as enemies to lovers and, of course, the old forced shared-bed situation.
“who kidnapped someone and then introduced themselves? Yet here we were”
The characters are amazing, of course they are! There isn’t an underdeveloped or “2D” character in sight as we follow Addie, Clark and his 2 brothers around the Ceithren Empire, desperately seeking answers … and finding some that they didn’t expect!
Clark and Addie’s relationship is a rollercoaster! The term enemies-to-lovers does not do this pair justice, it’s more like enemies-to-almost lovers-to- definite enemies- to- begrudging colleagues. There is a definite attraction though and it is very physical to begin with: there are a lot of references to Clark’s muscles, Addie’s dress slipping down etc. I have read other reviews where they use this to say that the romance relationship is shallow but I don’t believe this is the case, they are both quite young as characters and it merely demonstrates, in my opinion, how they are constantly drawn to each other.
The best thing about Clark and Addie’s dynamic is 100% the amount of bickering and sarcasm. Oh the amount of sarcasm in this book speaks to my soul and it is here where I think the audiobook may have been better than a physical book (I know, I know! Don’t shoot!) The narrators for Clark and Addie really captured the personalities of the characters, even down to the pacing of their reading and, in Addie’s case, the haughty tones.
From the mysterious best friend Nell (who I’m still not sure if I trust or not) to Addie’s oppressive Director father to the playboy prince: the cast of supporting characters deserves an honourable mention, particularly Gunther. If you aren’t in love with Gunther we can’t be friends – it’s as simple as that!
“I gave them a mocking salute before I turned and jumped, right out the hundredth story window”
The Fractured Empire presents twists upon twists and constantly changes who you can trust but still manages to flow really well and keep the reader engaged. This is a testament to the writing of Robin but also to the narrators of the audiobook, Cris Dukehart and Graham Halstead. Some small snippets felt like they were recorded in sections and sounded out of place but on the whole the pair really embodied the characters and kept me hooked.
Thank you to Robin Mahle for providing a free copy of the audiobook of The Fractured Empire. My TBR list however, does not thank you as it now has 3 more additions to it! (*Edit* 4! I found out about the prequel!)
  
No Man's Sky
No Man's Sky
2016 | Action/Adventure
Such a let down. (0 more)
Hyped Up Nonsense
Earlier this month No Man’s Sky was released, a game that had been hyped and anticipated by so many. Unfortunately, it has failed to live up to the expectations that gamers had for it, however in the eyes of many this isn’t due to the faults or shortcomings of the actual game itself, but is rather due to the way that Sony marketed the game, (this game is technically an indie title, yet Sony treated it as a 1st party exclusive,) and the gaming media blowing expectations insanely out of proportion. Personally, I have only played the game for a couple of hours, but I feel that I have already seen everything there is to see, in that I know that if I play for longer all I will come across is the same things with different skins and textures and that is okay, if that is all that you are looking for. The reason that I stole the phrase, “a mile wide and an inch deep,” from Colin Moriarty and used it as the headline to this article, is because I feel that it is the most accurate description that I have heard of this game to date. However, if the game was marketed as an exploratory crafting game with very light story elements and no real characters, it would have been received a lot better. The point of this paper isn’t to insult No Man’s Sky, I am simply using it as an example as that game is currently at the forefront of the gaming zeitgeist. I don’t think that the gaming community’s disappointment in No Man’s Sky is down to the developers of the game, I believe that it was Sony’s treatment, as well as the gaming press’ treatment of the game that caused the hype train to come to a crash.

This isn’t the first time that this has happened, it happened last year with The Phantom Pain, that game took over three years to come out after it was officially announced and it was still an unfinished mess. The example that always comes up when discussing games stuck in development hell for years is Duke Nukem Forever, which was objectively a bad game, but even if it was more competent, in the leagues of Halo or COD, it would still be considered a failure. Final Fantasy 15 and The Last Guardian are also going to suffer for these reasons, too much time has been spent, reporting development news and hyping up the release that feels like it will never arrive and both of those games could be stellar masterpieces and they still wouldn’t reach anywhere near the payoff that is expected of them due to all of this overhyping and false hope that has been created by the gaming press. Lastly, even if Half Life 3 ever does release and against all odds does meet the standard of the previous games in the series, that still won’t be enough for die hard fans, due to the vast amount of time between now and the previous entry and the unrealistically high standards that this has caused gamers to expect.

I am fed up of this occurring, but the press isn’t going to stop reporting any news on these projects as its released, that’s their job. The only way that I can see to get around this issue is for developers to use the Fallout 4 method and release their game with 6 months of announcing it, quelling the inevitable explosion of hype that is created if the game takes any longer than that to release. The old saying goes that, ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity,’ but if the developer has any integrity and tact and isn’t just making something for the sake of a cash grab, perhaps they would do well to think of the No Man’s Sky release saga as a cautionary tale.
  
Justice League (2017)
Justice League (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Ezra Miller as The Flash Jason Momoa as Aquaman The Action scenes The team (0 more)
Steppenwolf Character & Cgi Cgi lips Joss Whedon Too short The use of Batman in the film (0 more)
"They said the age of heroes would never come again."
As a huge fan of Zack Snyder's first two efforts inside the DCEU and Patty Jenkins wonderful Wonder Woman, my expectations for Justice League were pretty much through the roof. After the mediocre buzz that it got and all the stuff that happened behind the scenes, I was a little skeptical but still very excited, but after getting out of the theater, one word really just describes how I felt; disappointed.

One of the most wonderful things about the huge explosion of comic book movies has brought, to me personally, is being able to see the comics/cartoons that I grew up on, be brought to life on the big screen. The Justice League animated series was my one of my favorite shows as a kid and seeing seeing them come to screen brought joy to my eyes, and was something of a dream come true and that's the one major point I can give to the film as a whole.

My biggest disappointment in the film is actually Warner Brothers. They are a big bunch of idiots, to be honest. If they would've left Snyder to take his time and actually hired someone who Snyder wanted, the film would've been so much better. It's a sad fact when you can obviously tell which scenes were Snyder's and which were Whedon's. I actually loved every part of the film that you could tell was Zack's; it felt passionate and like it was coming from a fan. Whedon gave shitty one-liners and basically made me feel like I was watching a TV-movie.

A major component to why I actually liked the film was the action. It left me satisfied and I was rooting for them to just kickass and look cool doing it, because when you look at the classic "Justice League" stories, that's basically what it was. But even though the action was pretty stellar; I'm so mad at the fact of Steppenwolf looked so fake and like some of the worst CGI I've ever seen; so it mad the fights a little weak when it looks like the team is fighting a green screen. Also, the last 30-ish minutes kinda saved it for me. It was really "epic" and it felt really pure, I guess is the right word.

The cast. Oh my god the cast was so freaking good. Marvel Studios gets it right a lot of the time, but damn DC you won this one. Ezra Miller & Jason Momoa stood out like a sore thumb at how much better they were. They were so charismatic, yet intense, and altogether just right at place in their characters. Ben Affleck I'm so sorry that Whedon choose to mess you up. Affleck was stellar in BvS yet here, he felt dull and not the Batman I know he could be. Gal Gadot & Ray Fisher were both pretty good, but Gadot felt a little like she was but in the backseat, for sure reason. Henry Cavill though, he was kinda good? I couldn't really tell because half the time he looked like CGI, but I'm sure I'll get over it.

Even though there are some major problems I have with the film; Whedon, crappy CGI, and easily way too short for it too work, Zack Snyder's Justice League still works its way into my enjoyment field and I can see myself watching it further down the line. I definitely hope WB can release a longer, and more put together version, because what we got didn't live up to the hype I had for it.
  
FUSE
FUSE
2015 | Action, Dice Game, Real-time
One of the best parts of the board gaming experience is finding a fun group of people with whom to play! Sometimes, though, coordinating a game night is easier said than done. We all must occasionally forego the group experience and face the world as the Lonely Only. But fear not! The world of solo-play is a vast and exciting realm! What follows is a chronicle of my journey into the solo-playing world – notes on gameplay, mechanics, rules, difficulty, and overall experience with solo variations of commonly multiplayer games! I hope this will provide some insight as you continue to grow your collection, or explore your already owned games!

FUSE is a fast-paced game where a bomb squad is working against the clock to diffuse a number of bombs discovered on their ship! The goal is simple: diffuse all of the bombs before they explode. The gameplay, however, is a little bit more complicated. While there are a few minor differences between group- and solo-play, the basics of the game are unchanged – players roll and place dice in unique combinations to ‘diffuse’ each card. If all cards are diffused in the 10-minute time limit, then the game is won! And if not…then I think you know what that means. BOOOOOOOOOM!

Having played and enjoyed FUSE in both a group and solo setting, I think I can honestly say that I miiiight like it a little more as a solo game. My main reason is purely selfish – playing alone means that I don’t have to share dice. In a group game, the dice are rolled and divvied up between all of the players. Playing solo means that I can keep all of the dice for myself! And, theoretically, that means that I should be able to diffuse my bomb cards more quickly since I have more dice with which to work! Gone is the agony associated with sacrificing dice to other players – they’re all mine! Yeah, I have to deal with all of the bombs by myself too, but not having to share my materials makes the job seem easier even though it might not necessarily be any easier.

For me, one of the most challenging parts of playing FUSE solo is the real-time countdown. I know, I know, the timer is one of the most integral parts of this entire game. However, the pressure of a time limit is stressful and it makes me a sloppy player – dropping dice, knocking over towers, etc. Some lucky people have been blessed with the ability to remain calm under pressure, but unfortunately I am not one of them. I hope you don’t misunderstand my grievance with the timer for disliking the overall game, though. Having a timer adds an element of excitement that creates such a high-energy atmosphere, even when playing solo. I’m literally just rolling and placing dice, but with a ticking clock, I’m on the edge of my seat with adrenaline pumping as I try to complete my cards as quickly as possible! With every play, I’d like to think that I have gotten better at managing the pressure of the timer, even though that may not necessarily be true…

I do thoroughly enjoy playing FUSE as a solo game. Since time is of the essence, the game forces me to be creative with my dice placement and I must constantly be changing my strategy based on which dice I draw and what cards I have before me at any given time. If you are looking for a high-energy game, even when playing solo, look no further than FUSE. It will certainly keep you on the edge of your seat and will keep you engaged in the action until the game ends – either in celebration of success or a fiery explosion!

https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/02/18/solo-chronicles-fuse/
  
MW
Making Waves (League of 7, #1)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
As a first erotic novel, I believe this was a great choice. I bought this book years ago when I was still young and terrified about my parents finding out. I was just a freshman in high school looking for something that normal romance novels couldn’t give me. I was so tired of all the sugary innuendoes. If I am going to read about people having sex, I want clear descriptions about what is going on or nothing at all. Innuendoes that compare a lady’s part to food just grosses me out; and comparing an orgasm to an explosion of stars is just silly. Of course, I thought all this before I lost my
virginity at the ripe old age of 19 (yay for beating teen pregnancy?) And, I still think this today.

But I digress. This book is actually an anthology of two stories by different authors, both stories water related. Thus, the title.

The first story is titled Liquid Dreams by Cathryn Fox. From the very first page, Fox jumps right into the sex. When I first read it, I felt so scandalous that I knew my cheeks were red from embarrassment. Now, looking back, I realize how silly I was considering I have read much more graphic scenes since. Liquid Dreams does not want of sex scene. In fact, I am pretty sure that 85% of the novel is about the main characters partaking in foreplay. Another 10% is devoted to sex.

The plot consists of a young woman, Katrina, who keeps having dreams about a man that comes to her out of the sea. He pleases her, she pleases him. And then, by swallowing his semen, she starts regaining memories from a past life. Eventually, she figures out that the man, Ranek, is her lover from that. She also gradually realizes that she has been horribly miserable with her life because it is not her true life. The only problem is Ranek’s brother is hell-bent on seeing them both suffer.

A pretty straight forward plot with no twists or surprises and plenty of steamy sex scenes to call it erotic. The only problem I had with this novel was the way she covered her memories. Everything else was pretty believable for a fantasy erotic novel except that. In fact, it was pretty weird.

The second novel is called Dolphin’s Playground by Jaci Burton. At first, I was a little hesitant to read it just because of the title, but I sucked it up and read on. Unlike Fox, Burton is more about the plot-line than sex. This short story is about a marine biologist, Jasmine, who would rather spend her time with dolphins than people, especially her big wig boss who cares more about than living things. When she finds some sick dolphins, she decides to take them in much to the chagrin of her soon to be lover, Triton. Triton just so happens to be able to turn into a dolphin and is able to communicate with them. In fact, the dolphins that are now in Jasmine’s custody actually belong to Triton, who is also trying to find a cure with the diseased dolphins.

Since he can’t get the dolphins out of the facility, Triton decides to use it, and Jasmine, to his advantage in his search for the cure. They, of course, hook up during this search and do end up having a happy ending.

The writing was pretty simple in terms of vocabulary and biology terms. However, I really enjoyed Triton and Jasmine’s witty banter and that the you could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife. It was the characters that made this story, honestly.
  
The Aeronaut's Windlass
The Aeronaut's Windlass
Jim Butcher | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.6 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
5 Stars - fabulously steampunk novel set high in the sky

The Aeronaut’s Windlass has been something I’ve had for a few months but I’ve been putting it off and putting it off as I didn’t like the authors other first book Storm Front, book 1 of the The Dresden Files. My fiancé has been telling me to read it over and over again and I’ve always put it off after a bad start to Dresden, however, a Facebook group I’m part of told me to read it and gave me several reasons why.

First and foremost, The Aeronaut’s Windlass is steampunk!

Secondly, cats. Talking cats.

And finally there’s aeronauts.

The book opens in what, at first glance, appears to be a regency novel – cue derision and disbelief – until one of the main characters Gwen Lancaster threatens a warrior born with an etheric gauntlet.

Ether is something that is mentioned often in this book and during the various trips of the main characters, it is shown in various forms.

Our main characters revolve around the following:

Gwen Lancaster – heir to the Lancaster fortune and crystal factory. Guard in the Spirearch’s Guard.
Benedict Sorellion-Lancaster – warrior born guard in the Spirearch’s Guard.
Bridget Tagwynn – cat girl and only child of the head of the Tagwynn family.
Captain Francis Madison Grimm – disgraced Fleet officer and captain of the merchant class ship AMS Predator an aeronautical ship.
Rowl – kit to Maul of the Silent Paws.
The premise of The Aeronaut’s Windlass is the aeronautical prowess of the Spires, a tall building that towers above the surface of Earth, designed in a general diamond shape with the key head houses at each compass point and the Spirearch smack in the middle. The Spires in focus are Spire Albion and Spire Aurora; a rival Spire with a penchant for warmongering. The book follows Gwen and Bridget as they train to become members of the Spirearch’s Guard, with Benedict – Gwen’s cousin – doing some extra training on the side. There’s an accidental duel and it’s from here that our story really starts; there’s an explosion and the Spire starts to collapse around them. Our intrepid heroes work together to save a fellow trainee and end up on the wrong end of a potentially deadly situation and the war starts.

The rest of the book is wonderfully described and there’s plenty of sky time for the pilot-at-heart in us all. There’s talking cats that are so well written you can plainly imagine your pet cat having that much disdain for you but really loving you with his whole heart; Rowl, in particular gives off the standard cat disdain but he’s also amazingly human in an odd way. There’s a few odd main secondary characters – Master Ferus and Folly – both of whom are integral to the story as a whole and both of whom are etheralists and a little odd.

There’s war, battles in the sky and dire situations, there’s treachery secrets and death galore; and there’s a history between a lot of the characters to make your eyebrows raise and your brain twitch in disbelief.

As originally stated I was quite reluctant to read Windlass but I really enjoyed the storyline as a whole, the characters were amazingly human/humanised – even the ones who aren’t – Bridget was my favourite, she was so unbelievably awkward in everything that she did but she was so sweetly written that she was entirely relatable.

I see sometimes that steampunk novels are written with the wrong tone of voice – when you hear steampunk you think Victorian and I’ve read sometime books classified as steampunk that weren’t in any way. Windlass didn’t have this issue and it was written perfectly for the genre.

Brilliantly done and I look forward to the sequel <i>The Olympian Affair.</i>
  
Aftermath (2014)
Aftermath (2014)
2014 | Action, Mystery
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: Aftermath starts by showing us a man struggling to walk through an abandoned landscape. We then flash back to one month earlier where we learn about an ongoing war between America and Israel. We meet or protagonist Hunter (Thomason) as he listens to the ongoing war before nuclear explosion hit leading him to rescue a young family. The group also meet another survivor in the road but find a place to stay underground in a farmhouse with another small group of survivors. Hunter explains they will need to spend at least a month underground while the fall out of the nuclear attack settles. We follow the group through the month as tension rise over time.

When I saw this and the title I was actually looking to settle down and watch a horror like film, but what we got was so much more. First off there is no horror involved, it is all tension building character development. We see the group over 30 days and how their situation gets worse as each day goes by, with only the radio to update them. We get to see how the radiation slowly changes and infects them while others try to get in. it plays on a range of emotions and comes off very bleak. This is a great story of the struggle to survive after a nuclear attack from the point of view of the innocent victims. (7/10)

 

Actor Review

 

C.J. Thomason: Hunter doctor and survivalist who leads the group of survivors as they try to make it through the attack in a farm basement. He tries to treat everyone who has issues but even with his skills he can’t save everyone from the situation. C.J. gives a good performance as a reluctant leader. (7/10)

 hunter

Monica Keena: Elizabeth stranger picked up on the side of the road, she stays with the group and sometimes looks out for younger members by her calm nature. Monica gives a solid performance but sometimes struggles in the action scenes. (6/10)

monica

Edward Furlong: Brad over protective redneck who doesn’t want to let the group in and is always against the decision to let them in. he is a hot head but as the time goes by he wants to look after the group as much as the rest. Edward gives a good performance and does a good job with the only character that shows full emotion. (7/10)

 ed

Support Cast: Aftermath’s supporting cast is mainly extra people in the basement who go through the struggles but also includes the people outside who are too far gone to let in.

 

Director Review: Peter Engert – Peter does a good job directing Aftermath creating genuine tension throughout. (8/10)

 

Action: Aftermath only has a few action scenes and they are quick, but each comes off desperate like the situation the people are in. (7/10)

Thriller: Aftermath really pulls you in as you want to know what happens to the group and feel for them when things start to get worse. (8/10)

Settings: Aftermath uses its isolation setting that the group creates for themselves to survive really well, as it keeps us unaware of what is going on outside. (9/10)

Suggestion: Aftermath is worth watching, but I do feel like the casual fan might not enjoy this, it really will appeal to those who enjoy a solid drama about survival. (Try It)

 

Best Part: The bleakness that surrounds the story.

Worst Part: Aftermath can come off feeling a little bit slow.

 

Believability: Aftermath tackles a potential real problem the world could face. (7/10)

Chances of Tears: No (0/10)

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene: No

 

Oscar Chances: No

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes

 

Overall: A Great Unwatched Thriller

https://moviesreview101.com/2015/03/24/aftermath-2012/
  
40x40

Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Aquaman (2018) in Movies

Jan 8, 2019 (Updated Jan 8, 2019)  
Aquaman (2018)
Aquaman (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
Opening Sequence (0 more)
Pretty much everything afterwards (0 more)
Wishy Washy
I was excited to see this movie after hearing the glowing reviews and praise it was getting. I am also a fan of Jason Momoa and James Wan, so I was really hoping for this to be at least as good as Wonder Woman. Also, being a long time fan of DC Comics, I really want to see them find their footing cinematically and I thought that this could finally be the start of that. Unfortunately I left the cinema feeling pretty underwhelmed.

The movie opens by telling the story of how Aquaman's parents came to meet and fall in love, even though they are from vastly different worlds. This whole sequence is brilliant and I was totally on-board for what was to come afterwards. Sadly, this opening sequence is by far the best part of the entire movie. From this point on it descends into a mediocre action adventure flick with story elements very reminiscent of Thor and Black Panther, (two movies that are vastly superior to this one.)

From a direction standpoint, it is clear that James Wan knows how to visually capture a scene in the most beautiful and intriguing way possible, which is especially evident during the trench sequence. His direction during all of the action sequences is great, with Nicole Kidman's trident work in the opening scene and the rooftop sequence with Black Manta, Mera and Aquaman being the highlights. I don't think that my issue with this movie is due to the direction lacking in any aspect. The only questionable choice in my opinion, was the choice to shoot the big Black Manta scene in broad daylight. It just looked slightly naff and would have came across much better if shot in darker conditions at night.

Nor do I think that it is the fault of any of the cast members. I think that Momoa does a great job in the title role and he looks incredible in the full on Aquaman suit, (which I don't think many other actors could legitimately pull off.) I think that Patrick Wilson did a decent job as the evil slightly cheesy power hungry half brother of Aquaman. I also enjoyed Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren and Nicole Kidman in each of their scenes.

I think that the major culprit in this movie feeling a bit forced at times, is the lazy script that the actors had to work with. Almost every scene plays out in the exact same way; with the characters that we are following turning up to a new location, meeting up with a character, (usually Willem Dafoe,) listening to them spout a bunch of expositional dialogue and then mid sentence bad guys will attack and an explosion will go off cutting the conversation short. Then we will get a well shot action sequence with super dynamic cinematography, then the characters will figure out where they need to go next, they will go to the next location and the process will be rinsed and repeated for the duration of the movie.

Overall, Aquaman is not a bad superhero movie, there is a lot of fun to be had here with the badass action sequences. Unfortunately the lazy script holds the movie back from being as good as the glowing reviews told me it would be and out of the DC solo movies, - this, Man of Steel and Wonder Woman, - this is probably the worst of the three.

PS. Although I don't think that the movie in general was up to the highest level of quality, the CGI is objectively breath-taking in every scene and I totally agree with James Wan that it is nothing short of an atrocity that the SFX team on this movie have been snubbed for this year's Oscars ceremony.