Daily Archives: June 22, 2019

Jun 22 2019

Meryl Streep Weekend – Suffragette (2015)

Director: Sarah Gavron

Writer: Abi Morgan (Screenplay)

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Anne-Marie Duff, Meryl Streep

 

Plot: The foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.


Tagline – Mothers. Daughters. Rebels.

Runtime: 1 Hour 46 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Brave & Important Story

 

Story: Suffragette starts in 1912, woman still don’t have the right to vote, but the battle for equality continues to wage on with Emmeline Pankhurst (Streep) pushes the campaign through. We follow Maud Watts (Mulligan) who finds herself witnessing one of the campaigns with Violet Miller (Duff) bringing her into their movement.

When the latest campaign gets rejected scenes get violent and Maud finds herself in the middle of the fight, facing time in jail, forced to give up campaigning for equal rights. Now the movement is stronger than ever will look to get the equality for women through.

 

Thoughts on Suffragette

 

Characters – Maud Watts is a quiet laundry employee, married with a child, she gets caught in the middle of one of the campaigns for equal rights, she ends up joining the movement as a foot soldier knowing what is right for women everywhere. Violet Miller is one of the foot soldiers that recruits Maud, she has been fight for a while now and knows that she wants the best for her daughter. Edith Ellyn offers a cover for the meetings to make things right for women, she has been campaigning for years next to the leader, Emmeline Pankhurst has been in hiding for years as she keeps the movement going strong to make sure women can get the right to vote. Inspector Arthur Steed is trying to stop the movement from taking over, he puts the women to the test to see who the strong ones are.

Performances – Carey Mulligan is great in the leading role, we see her confliction with Maud’s decisions being made. Helena Bonham Carter is great too which puts her in a supportive role. Anne-Marie Duff is the actress I hadn’t heard of before and she goes toe to toe with the bigger names. Meryl Streep does have a small role in this film, but that doesn’t hide her importance to the story. Brendan Gleeson makes for a good law man in any movie, this is no different.

Story – The story shows the struggles British women had to get the chance to vote, just vote something men had been doing for years. It leaves you to wonder just how this took such a long time to change in a world where we are all meant to be equal. The bravery these women showed shines through because they faced being shamed by their families, the main story follows how Maud Watts went into the world and how it affected her life. While I do understand this is looking at the women’s battle, you do feel like there would have been male supporters in this fight too and them speaking up would have been just as taboo to the ones who wouldn’t look down on them.

Biopic/History – This is a moment, a movement in history that should never have had to happen, but the importance to what it achieved is remarkable.

Settings – The settings show how the everyday location were important to make this movement happen, we feel like we are in 1912 London.


Scene of the Movie – The speech.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – You would think men would have supported this too.

Final Thoughts – This is a look at an important moment in time, it shows how women worked, fought and battled to get equality in Britain.

 

Overall: Important look at history.

Rating

 

 

Jun 22 2019

ABC Film Challenge – World Cinema – V – Viking (2016)

Director: Andrey Kravchuk

Writer: Andrey Kravchuk, Johan Melin, Andrey Rubanov, Viktor Smirnov (Screenplay)

Starring: Danila Kozlovsky, Aleksandr Ustyugov, Kirill Pletnyov, Maksim Sukhanov

 

Plot: Kievan Rus, late 10th century. After the death of his father, the young Viking prince Vladimir of Novgorod is forced into exile across the frozen sea.


Tagline – “Istoriya eto simptom. Diagnoz eto my” (“History is a symptom. The diagnosis is us”)

Runtime: 2 Hours 22 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Too Much to Process

 

Story: Viking starts as three brothers rule different kingdoms under the Russia we follow the youngest Vladimir (Kozlovsky) who is trying to end the war between them after being exiled to the frozen land of Novgorod. Completing his quest, he will need to come across new enemies, while old enemies are waiting in the wings for his weaknesses to be exposed.

 

Thoughts on Viking

 

Characters – Vladimir is the youngster son of the king, he gets the weakest area to rule, but isn’t going to let that stop him taking control of the area, he proves to be a strong leader one that is fair and will look after his people. When it comes to the rest of the characters it was hard to figure out who to focus on, because as soon as one looked like they were going to be important, they seemed to get killed.

Performances – The performances suffer because of the issues with the characters not being given the focus they require in the film, it is too hard for the audience to know who they should be following in this film.

Story – The story seems to focus on Vladimir the youngest son of the rule of Russia, whom after his death gets given part of the land to defend, we watch his rise to try and claim his crown as the rule of Russia as he takes on enemies from all over the land including his own blood. The story telling process is difficult to keep up with as we do seem to meet group one get slightly invested in these character, but nope they get killed leaving us wondering just who we are meant to be supporting through the film.

Action/History/War – The action is plenty of battle sequences, each one getting bigger, bloodier and deadlier as the film unfolds. The history, well I don’t know how accurate any of it is, most of that would involve research and the war side of the film shows us the different strategies adopted during the 10th century.

Settings – The film shows us the settings that will keep us believing we are in the time the film is set, it keeps the battles feeling down and dirty which is how you would imagine them happening.


Scene of the Movie – The hiding escape.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many characters introduced for nothing.

Final Thoughts – This is an overly complicated movie that is trying to tell a massive story only for it to end up not given enough time for most of the characters to develop or unfold.

 

Overall: Too long and dull

Rating

 

 

Jun 22 2019

Smashbomb – Social Media

I have recently joined Smashbomb social media, which can be found here. This social media is designed for entertainment and of course my main focus will be the movies.

I created a new profile, which has once again seen Movie Reviews 101 spread to another social media site, you can see my profile here.

I am only on the early first steps into this new social media and just like anything new it will take time for me to learn everything about it, remember I am still trying to understand the hashtags on Twitter. From what I can see we get movies that we can add our own reviews to, which will be what will be happening from me.

What is Smashbomb?

This is going to be the question to many of you,

1.     we get to operate in a follow and following process, much like twitter, this is the easiest part to pick up.

2.    We are operating with the main focus on, Apps, Books, Movies, Music, Podcasts, Tabletop Games, Tech, TV, Video Games and Videos, one thing you will notice missing from this is sport, which can see the very toxic fans, just head to Twitter during a football match to see the reactions people put out there.

3.    Focusing on the movie side of everything, each movie does get its own profile, I am using Brightburn for most of this description as it was my most recent cinema trip. On the movie side of the pages, we get the information, photos, trailer and chance to rate the film itself or even add a review (this is where I will be working most).

4.    Each film has a rating out of ten (there are no halves) each rating will contain different symbol of how well it is rated by the users, see the picture on the left to understand a little bit more.

5.    Each film does have the option to ask questions about the film, which should help people with unanswered questions about what they have just seen.

6.    Outside of the movies side of things, we do get chances for Giveaways that you can enter using Kudos points, which are earnt by doing different tasks, these Kudos points will also give yourself more attention on the site, with your reviews reaching the higher levels for people to read first.

7.    Kudos points are a unique way to gain a following who like your work, everything you get a like it is a Kudos point which will see you become more of a trusted member of the community (think like EBAY).

There are of course a couple of sides that I am still learning, knowing me it will be one click away otherwise they are things I would like to see added.

1.    Indie movies, they don’t seem to have pages, they can be created and it will need time to line up the details for somebody else’s work, you don’t want to set it up wrong and upset the people behind the movie in my case.

2.    I am struggling to find a way to see if my Twitter followers are using the site, it would be nice to be able to see or have an easy link so I can follow them and vise-verse. This is just because I am starting off though, it is always hard to figure out who or who not to follow on social media.

My early steps on this site have been positive, I am looking forward to keep moving forward with additional reviews and believe we could have a community that does support friendly conversations and opinions about movies.

Jun 22 2019

Toy Story 4 (2019)

Director: Josh Cooley

Writer: Andrew Stanton, Stephany Folsom (Screenplay) John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Josh Cooley, Valerie LaPointe, Rashida Jones, Will McCormack, Martin Hynes, Stephany Folsom (Story)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Keanu Reeves, Annie Potts, Joan Cusack, Tony Hale, Madeleine McGraw

 

Plot: When a new toy called “Forky” joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.


Tagline – On The Road Of Life, There Are Old Friends, New Friends, And Stories That Change You

Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Cash Grab Sequel

 

Story: Toy Story 4 starts as we see how the toys are now living with Bonnie, Woody is starting to get ignored more with her enjoyment of Jessie getting stronger, with Bonnie starting Kindergarten Woody goes against orders of the room to help her in class, where she builds a new toy called Forky out of trash.

Forky becomes her favourite toy and Woody wants to do everything he can to stop him running away, when the family goes on a road trip, Forky escapes forcing Woody to rescue him once again, on the rescue attempt Woody finds himself investigating an antique store which could have an old friend in Bo Peep in, only to find the toy living in the store Gabby Gabby searching for something, forcing Woody to team up with Bo and new friends to save Forky and get back to Bonnie in time.

 

Thoughts on Toy Story 4

 

Characters – Woody is struggling with not being in control of the room anymore, he still wants to help make Bonnie happy, which sees him acting selfishly, he does try to fix his own mistakes which will see him facing a second chance, meeting an old friend and distancing himself from his current friends. Woody is the key figure in this film, this is very much his story. Forky is the newly created toy out of a spork and is learning everything as it unfolds even though he believes he is trash. Buzz Lightyear is trying to step up when Woody goes off, he does feel like a bigger idiot than we are used to, using his voice commands to help him, which seems like a huge step back on his character. Bo Peep coming back to the franchise is fun, she shows Woody a new life away from kids, where she helps toys, she is Woody’s big love in life too, kick ass fighter too. Gabby Gabby is an older toy like Woody, she has been damaged and is searching for something to hope she can be taken home one day, she is painted as the villain, though she is the weakest villain in the franchise. Duke Caboom is the best addition to the film a stuntman that has failed as a toy, he is always up for trying something new and is filled with confidence.

Story – The story here follows Woody trying to find himself a place in the world after becoming a smaller part in the life of his new owner Bonnie, he gets too involved and spends most of the story trying to make up for his mistake of letting Bonnie create a new toy, caught in the middle saving the day or breaking free. Now this is the 4th part of the franchise which did tie up nicely after the third one. The supporting characters do take a big back burner in the story which even sees Buzz getting less screen time, this is a full Woody story trying to figure out where his life is going on next. We do try to play on the heart strings, though it just doesn’t get to the levels it could have and has been there before. The new characters to bring the bright spark to the story, but we do end up going down the road, where this is becoming too unbelievable that these toys are acting like this.

Adventure/Comedy – The adventure side of this film comes from the idea that Woody will need to go on a new adventure to save Forky, only to see Buzz on his own adventure which does cross paths with Woody, only his feels like a simple side to everything. the comedy from the new characters hits very well, its just old character seem to fall short.

Settings – Having the film use an Antique story is great idea because we get to see known toys that could add comedy in places, the carnival also adds potential new characters too.

Animation – The animation is Pixar at its very best, it looks perfect like we know they are used to bring us, bringing us larger scale environment to everything going on.


Scene of the Movie – Duke Caboom.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Buzz seems to be dumber.

Final Thoughts – This does end up feeling like a cash grab sequel, it doesn’t have the heart the previous films do and fails to use the original characters well enough.

 

Overall: By the books sequel.

Rating

 

 

Jun 22 2019

Child’s Play (2019)

Director: Lars Klevberg

Writer: Tyler Burton Smith (Screenplay) Don Mancini (Characters)

Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Brian Tyree Henry, Gabriel Bateman, Tim Matheson, David Lewis, Beatrice Kitsos, (Voice Talent) Mark Hamill

 

Plot: A mother gives her son a toy doll for his birthday, unaware of its more sinister nature.


Tagline – A Boy’s Best Friend.

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Fun Horror

 

Story: Child’s Play starts by taking us to a world with Kaslan Enterprise releasing a new doll called Buddi, this doll can connect to all the technology around the house, learning as it gets to know the family dynamic. Karen a single mother has just moved to a new city and works in a shopping centre, she receives a default Buddi doll and decides to give it to her son Andy (Bateman).

When Andy boots up the Buddi doll, it names itself Chucky (Voiced by Hamill) and starts to learn like all do, it soon becomes clear that this doll isn’t going to be like the others, it has had its safety restrictions switched off. Chucky soon starts reading situations wrong and doing on a killing rampage, using the technology he can connect to his advantage.

 

Thoughts on Child’s Play

 

Characters – Andy is a young teenager that has just moved to a new city with his mother, he hasn’t made any friends, turning to his phone to keep him busy, he does have a hearing aid, but it is never clear how bad his hearing is, he gets a Buddi doll that will keep him company as he starts to become friends with the doll. Once he learns of the evil inside the doll, he does all he can to make sure his loved ones are safe, as he starts to make friends away from the doll, he never seems to go to school though. Karen is the single mother that is working double shifts to keep Andy happy, she starts dating a new man, which doesn’t please Andy and does all she can to put Andy first when things start getting out of hand. Chucky is the Buddi doll that has been unleashed from his safety restrictions, he is constantly learning from watching people, which brings out his violent side, which will see him going on a killing spree targeting anyone that hurts or tries to replace him as a friend to Andy. Detective Norris visits the apartment building where his mother lives for dinner once a week, he does notice Andy around the apartment building making sure he is safe.

Performances – Aubrey Plaza as the single mother is strong in her role, she does bring added character to a character that could have come off plain. Gabriel Bateman is great too because he shows us the isolation that he is going through during the film. Mark Hamill does voice the character of Chucky well giving us an entertaining character that get plenty of laughs. Brian Tyree Henry does bring comedy to his role, which is usually a more uptight figure in the film.

Story – The story here follows a boy that given a Buddi doll which soon starts to go on a killing rampage after learning from the technology around him. I do have conflicting feelings about this story, on one side I am disappointed we have scrapped the serial killer trying to get his soul into another body, which I feel is the main part of the franchise. On the positive side we do get to dive into the world where people are letting themselves are being controlled by technology, connecting everything to one source where an error could break everything. seeing Chucky learn is interesting to see too because we see how he processing each clip, line and environmental side of the world. it does borrow from a lot of different films from the past which can be picked up on. This des come off very fun, only it could have been its own new doll instead of just using Chucky showing the lack of originality coming out of the Hollywood.

Horror – The horror in the film is mostly slasher material, we see Chucky getting kills with plenty of blood splatter, with some original kills along the way.

Settings – The film keeps the settings looking very similar with the apartment building showing how hard up the family is, the department store does bring us a great showdown location too.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are strong with the Chucky doll being both creepy and moving in a robotic motion which seems nature.


Scene of the Movie – Chucky has a present for Andy.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – No Serial Killer side.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun horror that does get laughs and blood splatter, it does frustrate though by having to use the Chucky doll for what is a completely original idea.

 

Overall: Blood Splattering fun.

Rating