Day: March 15, 2021

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Movie Review

Nemesis (2021) Movie Review

Nemesis – Lacks the Final Punch

Director: James Crow

Writer: Adam Stephen Kelly (Screenplay) Adam Stephen Kelly, Jonathan Sothcott (Story)

Starring: Julian Glover, Nick Moran, Bruce Payne, Billy Murray, Frank Harper, Lucy Aarden, Rupert Holliday-Evans

Plot: An underworld kingpin’s past catches up with him when he returns to London, igniting an explosive chain of events which ends in revenge and murder.

Runtime: 1 Hour 22 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Nemesis starts when John Morgan (Murray) returns to London with his wife Sadie (Sothcott) with the simple plan to meet his daughter’s Kate (Moore) new partner. His arrival has seen detective Frank Conway (Moran) come after him, looking to lock him up for good, while rival crime boss Damien Osborne (Payne) gives him a strict warning.

When the past does start to catch up with Frank, he will end up caught up in the middle of revenge and murder, a path he can’t escape from without leaving a few more bodies left around him.

Thoughts on Nemesis

Characters & Performances – John Morgan is the crime boss that has returned to London, his actions have caused many people problems and now his meeting of his daughter’s new girlfriend, will see him facing his past. Billy Murray will always get the crime boss character done well, here is no different. Frank Conway is the cop that saw his childhood ruined by John, he has been waiting for him to return to get his own revenge on him, never wanting to cross the line of the law. Nick Moran strong as the brooding character. When it comes to the other characters, we get the family of John who has lived the life of luxury because of his actions and other people who have been waiting for him to return.

Story – The story here follows a crime boss who returns to London only to find himself getting caught up in the middle of a string of revenge plans against him for his previous actions. This story could very well have been one of the best ones in the gangster, crime boss style ones for years. We end up spending so much time just meeting the crime boss and seeing him try and leave the world behind, by the time we learn about most of the main targets motives, we are a long way into the film. This story does seem to lack the structure to make us care about any of the characters, because with the right build up, we could have given a lot of these characters sympathy and supported their decisions, instead of just ending up watching them make the same basic mistakes, talking too much. The story does try to be so clever with how everything is unfolding, but ends up falling flat because of the lack of interesting characters in the film.

Themes – Nemesis is a crime thriller that takes us into the locations you would expect to see around London, the local pub for the criminals to roam around, nothing that ends up being unique.

 

Nemesis is a movie that has so much potential with a concept, but doesn’t manages to put the pieces together to make it click.

Categories
Movie Review

Original Gangster (2020) Movie Review

Original Gangster – Simple Gangster Film

Director: Savvas D Michael

Writer: Savvas D Michael (Screenplay)

Starring: Alex Mills, Steve Guttenberg, Ian Reddington, Daniel Caltagirone, Vas Blackwood, Adam Deacon, Sean Cronin

Plot: The stoic chronicles of Castor, orphaned as a child, forced to survive in the wild and his colorful journey through the criminal underworld of London.


Tagline – Hero o menace? You decide …

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Original Gangster starts when Castor gets orphaned by criminals, left to fend for himself in the streets of London. Castor (Mills) grows up to know how the survive and when he meets the man Milo (Reddington) who saved his life, he gets introduced into a new world.

Castor gets to work under crime boss Jean-Baptista Philippe (Guttenberg) who runs everything in London, as Castor continues to learn the world, all to impress Milo.

Thoughts on Original Gangster

Characters & Performances – Castor was a young boy when his parents are killed by criminals, he is left to fend for himself by the man that saved him. He grew up to be a streetwise man that isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty leaving bodies in his path. He will need to learn the new world of drug lords when he ends up meeting Milo again. Alex Mills does well in this role, showing us the transformation from tramp to gangster hitman. Jean-Baptiste Philippe is the ruthless crime boss that offers Castor a home and a job, he will expect him to complete the hits no matter what and will looks to talk him into the most difficult one. Steve Guttenberg does give us the over-the-top character which works well for the film, getting moments of humour from his wild behaviour. Milo is the man that spares young Castor’s life and ends up taking him under his wing years later. He helps Castor makes the contacts in the world, but doesn’t want him to get too close. Ian Reddington does bring the tough guy figure to life. The rest of the characters we meet do get fit the world created, adding to the colourful character involved.

Story – The story here follows an orphaned young boy that grows up to enter the same world that saw his parents killed and must navigate the world to survive. This does feel like the typical entry into the criminal underworld story, giving us the person that will guide them into and the boss that will expect them to do whatever they say. It is all told in a narration format showing us that we only get to see Castor point of view of the situation, or have moments told through the stories he was once told, which is kept up throughout the film well. It does seem to want to commit to be wacky, but doesn’t commit to going completely over the top.

Themes – Original Gangster is a crime movie that will take us into the world through London, which will make the backdrop work, with the size of the compound making the crime boss area interesting.

Original Gangster will be available on DVD & Digital Download from 5th April.

Original Gangster is a simple by the book introduction to the crime world without committing to the wacky world the characters seem to imply.

Categories
ABC Film Challenge

ABC Film Challenge – Favourite Films – O – The Orphanage

ABC Film Challenge

Favourite Films

O

The Orphanage

Why I’ve Picked this choice – This Spanish horror follow a mother who returns to a childhood home to opening it up as a orphanage for handicapped children, only her son goes missing with his new invisible friend and it become the desperate search for him. In what is one of the most fascinating horrors you will see that is beautifully shot, we end up getting a horror that will leave you shocked with the turn of events and is one of the most essential horror films out there, the haunting moments being chilling over modern day jump scares.

Categories
Movie Review

Shortcut (2020) Movie Review

Shortcut – Nice Horror

Director: Alessio Liguori

Writer: Daniele Cosci (Screenplay)

Starring: Jack Kane, Zander Emlano, Zak Sutcliffe, Sophie Jane Oliver, Molly Dew, David Keyes, Terence Anderson, Andrei Claude

Plot: A mysterious creature terrorizes five teenage friends after their bus takes a shortcut on a desolate road in the wild.

Runtime: 1 hour 20 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Shortcut starts when five teenage friends Nolan (Kane), Karl (Emlano), Reggie (Sutcliffe), Bess (Oliver) and Queenie ‘IQ’ (Dew) are travelling for an astronomy field trip, when they take a shortcut, leading them to get hijacked by a gun carrying criminal.

When the bus they are travelling on breaks down in a tunnel, the adults get picked off by an unknown creature, leaving the five teenagers to find shelter and safety from the evil waiting for them, looking to hunt them down.

Thoughts on Shortcut

Characters & Performances – We get to meet the five teens, who will be our main characters, we have Nolan who is the quiet, smarter of the three guys, Bess will be the one that must go through the braver moments, leading to the fact the two are potential love interests too. Karl is the joker of the group, who will get the lines that most people are thinking while watching a horror. Reggie is the bad boy tough guy, who isn’t that tough, he is using this as a defence and does care about the group more than he is willing to admit. Queenie is the brains of the act, she will know most answers and will need to use those brains to help the group with their plans. The five young actors do a great job together, showing a natural chemistry which will keep them feeling like classmates, over just best friends.

Story – The story here follows five teenagers that find themselves tacking a shortcut and needing to face a battle against an unknown creature that has been waiting for victims in the darkness. This is a horror story that will show the unity between five classmates, that need to use each other’s strength to fight back against the evil. We get the shared unity that we have come to enjoy in the Stranger Things world, which you could see inspire plenty of this film. When it comes to learning about what the creature is, we get a nice back story that did need investigating, which works well the film, even if we are left with a bigger question about what happens early on in the story.

Themes – Shortcut is a horror that will put the five teenagers in a battle of life and death against an unknown creature, lurking in the darkness, waiting for victims. It will have hints at plenty of different known creatures, which does make it enjoyable to see what we might end up coming up against. The underground tunnel is used for the main location, which will show us just how trapped in enemy territory the characters are. Most of the creature is kept a well placed secret too, which will help make us wonder just what is going on through the film.

 

Shortcut will be available on Digital Download from 29th March

Shortcut is an enjoyable horror that could easily be part of the Stranger Things universe.

Categories
Movie Review

Slaxx (2020) Movie Review

Slaxx – Fun Horror Comedy

Director: Elza Kephart

Writer: Patricia Gomex, Elza Kephart (Screenplay)

Starring: Romane Denis, Brett Donahue, Sehar Bhojani, Kenny Wong, Tianna Nori, Erica Anderson, Stephen Bogaert, Jonathan Emond

Plot: When a possessed pair of jeans begins to kill the staff of a trendy clothing store, it is up to Libby, an idealistic young salesclerk, to stop its bloody rampage.

Runtime: 1 Hour 17 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Slaxx starts when Libby (Denis) gets hired in a trendy store, one that is about to release a brand-new pair of jeans, ones that will shape to the person wearing them. The store goes into lockdown for the overnight preparation with no connection to the outside world with the only person be welcomed in will be social media star Peyton Jules (Anderson).

When it turns out the jeans have a mind of their own, they start killing the employees leaving only Libby to look to put the fight back against them to make it out alive, while the others hide in fear.

Thoughts on Slaxx

Characters & Performances – Libby is the new young shop clerk, with this being her first day, she must get to know the fellow workers, while her boss is expecting her to know everything on her opening night. She does come off like a poorly innocent figure in the cut-throat world of shallow people. She does try to think of a way to deal with the evil jeans, looking for answers and not just being a victim. Romane Denis is great in this role, the innocent petit size of her helps show us just how out of her depth the character looks in this world. Craig is the store manager who is always looking for a promotion, he only cares about his own future, being over demanding of his employees, even looking to cover up deaths. Brett Donahue is fun to watch in the self-centred character. We do get to meet a host of employees along the way, first Shruti who keeps to herself, while we get the self-centred ones and the one that instantly looks down on Libby.

Story – The story here follows the launch of a new pair of jeans which will see the whole team and new employee preparing for the release, only for the jeans to have a mind of their own, a blood hungry mind. When we saw ‘In Fabric’ we thought we might have seen the last killer clothing movie, well this one does bring us a new approach, one that does going in a very different direction, one that will have an important message about consumption and commercial behaviour. The story might well fall into the slasher side once we get the killer side of everything, while seeing the terror unfold through the eyes of Libby only enhances the experience.

Themes – Slaxx is a horror comedy which will play out like a slasher, while giving us the comical versions of shop clerks. The film keeps the single locations of the trendy fashion store, being it the store front or behind the scenes, we get to see how and where people will look to get away from the pressure of the job.

Slaxx will bring us a killer you have never seen before, for a funny look at the trendy fashion stores operation.