Writer: Brock Norman Brock, Martin Stellman (Screenplay) Victor Headley (Novel)
Starring: Aml Ameen, Everaldo Creary, Stephen Graham, Shantol Jackson, Sheldon Shepherd
Plot: British crime drama film directed by Idris Elba based on the novel of the same name by Jamaican-born writer Victor Headley.
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Yardie starts when D growing up in Kingston Jamaica, who gets caught up in the middle of the drug war on the island, seeing his brother killed. D (Ameen) grows up working under King Fox (Shepherd) and marries the love of his life Yvonne (Jackson).
Yvonne does move to London to escape this life with the couple daughter, while D finds himself getting into trouble, forcing him to go on a trafficking job to London to deliver to Rico (Graham), which will see him get caught up in learning the truth of just how difficult the life in this world can be for the young men who are given no options.
Thoughts on Yardie
Thoughts – Yardie brings us a crime movie from a different background, seeing as the characters are from Jamaica, but only end up getting caught up in the middle of the same drugs battles in London, it shows us how the cultures might well be different, but the greed will still be the same between the people in this world. Showing us how trying to escape is just as difficult and holding onto a grudge will cause even more damage the ones you love. The performances in the film are strong throughout and play into everything we are seeing without being anything in the world that we haven’t seen before and by the end of the film, you will be left thinking we could have had a lot more from the film as for intensity levels.
Final Thoughts – Yardie is a great directional debut from Idris Elba, bringing us a crime film with plenty of punch and a different prospective.
Starring: RJ Mitte, Terrence Howard, Colton Haynes, Johnathon Schaech, Grace Victoria Cox, Michael D Coffey
Plot: Inspired by a real story, a determined high school senior strives to be a wrestler one last time despite having cerebral palsy and goes to extreme lengths, crushing obstacles and inspiring others along his journey to prove his abilities.
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Triumph starts when Mike (Mitte) a high school student with cerebral palsy looks to continue his dreams of becoming a wrestler, trying out for the team under Coach Cutting (Howard), Jeff (Haynes) sees the determination he is showing, offering him friendship, while others look down on him, including his father Doug (Schaech).
Once Mike makes the wrestling team, his father starts supporting him, after seeing just how much this means to him, as he looks to fight against the odds.
Thoughts on Triumph
Characters & Performances – Mike is a high school student that has cerebral palsy, when he was younger, he tried wrestling, only to get injured, but in a new school, he looks to try once more, where he will show more determination than most of the team. He will look to define all the odds to make sure he doesn’t get left behind, never letting his disability get in his way. RJ Mitte does a solid job in the leading role, even if it will spark a debate about these roles going to disabled actors or not. Coach Cutting is the man that will give Mike the chance, having moments of inspiration to the young man. Terrence Howard might well be the biggest name in the film, but he doesn’t seem to be an inspirational as he truly should be. The rest of the characters we meet are the people that will look to overcome their feelings to show Mike what he needs in life, support.
Story – The story here follows a high school student with cerebral palsy who wants to try out for the wrestling team, where he will need to overcome the odds to make the team and prove everyone wrong, based on the real story of the athlete. This is a story that is looking at how difficult the life would have been for Mike, the inspiration of never giving up and being given chances for hard work is important, because sports isn’t always about ability and can be about heart. When we look to dive into the heart and soul moments, we do see certain parts feel like they might fall shorter than they should, which is disappointing, making everything feel like a standard made for TV movie.
Themes – Triumph is a sports drama focusing on amateur level wrestling, it will show that no matter what disabilities you might have, understand the fundamentals will give you a chance to compete in the sport.
Signature Entertainment presents Triumph on Digital Platforms from 28th June
Final Thoughts – Triumph is a by the book inspirational sports drama.
This is under X because it is dealing with an ex that gets into somebody’s life.
Director: David Chirchirillo
Writer: David Chirchirillo (Screenplay)
Starring: Lili Simmons, Brandon Scott, Noureen DeWulf, Kahyun Kim, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Christine Donlon
Plot: An internet-dating playboy’s life spirals out of control after meeting a woman online.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Dating Nightmares
Story: Bad Match starts when internet-dating playboy Harris (Cutmore-Scott) meets his latest target, Riley (Simmons) a woman, like most others, he wants to use for a one night stand, before moving onto the next one.
Only his latest pick, sees Riley turn the tables on him, manipulating him and his life, to an extent that he starts suffering nightmares about her, being forced to the extremes to get her out of his life.
Thoughts on Bad Match
Characters – Harris has been spending his time using internet-dating apps for one night stands, he spends the night with the girls before taking them out of his life, he continues to do this until he finds one person that turns the tables on him. He must see his life spiral out of control before facing serious criminal charges, needing to prove he is innocent of a crime. Riley is the latest woman Harris is targeting, she seems like all the rest, only she doesn’t accept the being ghosted well, she pushes Harris to the limits with how she is dealing with the decision to not continue seeing each other. We do meet the generic friends, only we don’t meet them for long enough to learn about them.
Performances – Jack Cutmore-Scott and Lili Simmons in the leading roles show us just how dating will push people to the extremes, they bring both characters, that are both, not the most likeable either.
Story – The story here follows an internet-dating playboy who finds a new girl, only for his latest woman, to turn into a stalker that isn’t going to let him walk away from her so easily, turning his life into a nightmare. This is a story that easily makes us not like the characters involved, the idea of an internet-dating playboy is something that will make people turn their heads on him with how he goes about dating, part of the film does make us believe he deserve to get what he gets, almost karma, before it does go too far. This does show how if you treat somebody badly, it will catch up with you eventually, only it does feel like this got well out of control and could have portrayed one of the two characters in a better light.
Thriller – This does try to keep us on the edge of our seats, only it does seem to end up not becoming as intense as it could well be.
Settings – The film uses the settings to show the routine of everyday life Harris has and has been using, along with how easily it can spin out of control for him.
Scene of the Movie – The creation of Robbie.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The final phone call.
Final Thoughts – This is a thriller that is trying to play on the ideas of internet dating becoming more dangerous to the people involved in it, we have an interesting idea of a playboy having his style turned on its head, only to end up getting caught between going too far and not getting us to support either character.
Writer: Chris Gilmore, Anthony J Sands (Screenplay)
Starring: Stephen Baldwin, Snoop Dogg, Danielle C Ryan, Beverley Mitchell, Matthew Marsden, David Chokachi, Ted Lange, Christina DeRosa, Ellia English, Joanna De Castro, Julianna Destefano, Steve Spiro, Gayle Gaston, Michael Collins
Plot: What began as a million-dollar reality show competition between seven beautiful women turns into a battle for life itself when one contestant uses black magic to gain an edge over the competition. An ancient curse dating back to the Salem Witch Trials is unleashed and the competition becomes a Blood Pageant of death, destruction, and evil forces. Forget about who will win… who will survive?
Tagline – Meet your new Queen… and die.
Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Blood Pageant starts when seven beautiful women Crystal (Castro), Amy (Destefano), Chloe (Chen), Mocha (Cortez), Lucie (Savostikova), Peyton (Day) and Isabella (Adams) enter the latest edition of American Dream, hosted by Barry (Chokachi) a scripted reality show.
With Barry always looking to create extra drama in the show, Amy has her own plans for winning the competition, looking to make sure the other contestants are going to get in her way for victory, as a set of paranormal events start happening around the set.
Thoughts on Blood Pageant
Characters & Performances – Crystal is the religious school teacher that is willing to risk a chance to win the competition, as well as wanting to hold onto her beliefs, she doesn’t like lying and isn’t willing to fold in the same way the other women in the competition will. She is one of the few people that will have the strength to fight back against the evil in the house. JoAnna De Castro is solid enough in her role, she makes her character feel different to the rest of the women in the home. Amy is the contestant that has been working with the s life coach to make sure she wins, while trying to fighting the typical figures in these competitions. Julianna Destefano also makes her character standout from the rest of the crowd, which will give the pair an edge of over the rest of the cast. The other women in the competition are largely forgettable, with just being what we have seen before and what you would expect in the beauty competition. When it comes to the people behind the scenes, we get the loud mouth director, the presenter who thinks he is the most important part of the show, all of them becoming the over top figures you could see in the world. We do get appearances from big names who are mostly here more for cameo like performances for important sequences in the film.
Story – The story here follows a new series of America Dream a reality show where seven contestants battle it out in a scripted reality show to see who will win one million dollar prize, only for an evil presence to make itself known on set, targeting anyone that gets in its way. This is a story that will look to poke a bit of fun at the scripted reality show world, by adding the supernatural feel to it, in a similar way that Dead Set did years ago. The story gives us the characters you would expect and would expect to be picked off in horror films, with one of the biggest weakness in this film being the runtime, this is a slasher like horror movie that could easily have been an hour and half and still got the same message over. The battle between good and evil works well enough, with the sleezy figures getting what is coming to them, we could have had more focus on the horror side of the story, with most of the final act being rushed to fill in the gaps rather than slowly letting everything that has happened unfold, as well as the missing contestants never getting the true attention required for what was at stake.
Themes – Blood Pageant is a horror film that likes to poke fun at scripted reality shows, which will hold back the scares, despite there being an interesting idea behind what is causing the supernatural events on the set to happen. The singular big house location for the show does help, but doesn’t answer the questions about why contestants would just vanish, with the effects showing the low budget behind everything we see.
Final Thoughts – Blood Pageant is an easy watch horror that doesn’t hit any of the scares it wants to, focusing more on poking fun at the reality tv world.
Writer: Mark Kruger (Screenplay) Shirley Jackson (Novel)
Starring: Taissa Farmiga, Alexandra Daddario, Crispin Glover, Sebastian Stan, Paula Malcomson, Peter Coonan, Ian Toner
Plot: Merricat, Constance and their Uncle Julian live in isolation after experiencing a family tragedy six years earlier. When cousin Charles arrives to steal the family fortune, he also threatens a dark secret they’ve been hiding.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Mostly Forgettable
Story: We Have Always Lived in the Castle starts as we meet Merricat (Farmiga) and her older sister Constance (Daddario) Blackwood who continue to live in the family mansion under the care of Uncle Julian (Glover), they are not welcomed around town, with the mystery of what happened to their father still hanging over their heads.
Merricat has always been trying to keep Constance in the house, but when their cousin Charles (Stan) arrives it does make a mess of her plans and she must go to extreme lengths to keep her family together.
Thoughts on We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Characters – Merricat is the youngest member of the house, she looks after her older sister that is still scared to leave the house after the incident, she goes into town where she knows the people don’t like her and will do anything to keep the family together. Constance was once the outgoing of the sisters, she lost that when she was involved in an incident, which now keeps her housebound in fear of what people will say, this is until her cousin arrives, which sees her wanting to go out in the world again, even if she isn’t stable enough for this. Uncle Julian acts like the caretaker who has been looking to make a book of the events, always looking to create the next chapter. Charles is the cousin that arrives at the house, which sees everything start to spiral out of control with how he clashes with Merricat.
Performances – Taissa Farmiga and Alexandra Daddario are both strong in the film, they show how the characters do feel isolated in their world, with the troubles they have been through. Crispin Glover is entertaining when he is let loose, while Sebastian Stan does seem weird, but doesn’t make the bigger enough of effect.
Story – The story follows two sisters living outside of a small town, they live away from the rest of the town often seen as outsiders, with their peace being shattered by a distant relative. This story doesn’t seem to get going, which ends up just following the characters around the house, trying to rebuild their own reputations with what they once had or losing everything they once had.
Mystery – The mystery is meant to be about what is happened in the mansion before, leading to the mentality of the characters.
Settings – Most of the film is set in the mansion, which shows the life of luxury the sisters have been living in.
Scene of the Movie – The fire.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The mystery seems flat.
Final Thoughts – This is forgettable drama mystery that just doesn’t seem to get going on the levels it could do or tries to give us to work with.
Plot: A fracking horror story, “Unearth” follows two neighboring farm families whose relationships are strained when one of them chooses to lease their land to an oil and gas company. In the midst of growing tension, the land is drilled, and something long dormant and terrifying, deep beneath the earth’s surface is released. “Unearth” is about the horrifying repercussions sown by shortsighted decisions, and what our children reap from our actions.
Tagline – A sacrifice must be made.
Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Unearth starts as we meet the two farming families. The Dolan’s with Kathryn (Barbeau) still trying to maintain the traditions of the family with Christina (McAtee) wanting away, Tom (Marshall) and Aubrey (Wyche), while the Lomacks, George (Blucas) a car mechanic who would rather not get involved in the farming side, is forced into making money, leasing the land to an oil and gas company.
As the drilling starts, the families do find themselves pushed further apart, but the worst is yet to come, as the strange condition starts to infect the families.
Thoughts on Unearth
Characters & Performances – Kathryn Dolan is the owner of one of the farms, she has kept the business going for her family and wants to see both farms continue to work together to help each other thrive in the future, she is pushing for her children to want to do the right thing on her side, despite knowing they have their own dreams, trying to hold them back from them. Adrienne Barbeau is the horror icon that takes the centre stage here, where she brings the mature figure in the changing world to life. George Lomack is the widowed father that was left the farm, he isn’t interested in running it as farmland, keeping to his garage business, even though he needs money, which he will take where he can from a company that will start digging on his land. Marc Blucas is fine in his role, only he is just the beginning of what is a series of bland characters that don’t make an impact on the bigger story. The two families have their minor events going on, only they don’t seem to have that much making anything seem interesting enough for the grander side of the film.
Story – The story here follows to neighbouring families that start to clash when one of them decides to lease their land to a gas and oil company, against the wishes of the other, leading to a strange series of events to turn the friendship into a rivalry filled with horror. This is a story that shows us the generations of change going on within the farming community, it will give us the ideas that money is becoming difficult and they will need to go against everything they were once taught. This side of the bigger conversation going forward, but the strange events are filled with the unexplained, which will leave us wanting to know more, instead of just getting a few shocking images.
Themes – Unearth uses the locations of the two farms to show us just how away from the busy world the two families are, which will play into the friendship turned sour. The horror side of the film comes more from what is happening when things start going wrong, leading to the big shock moments, despite not giving us any real information about what is happening.
Signature Entertainment presents Unearth on DVD and Digital Platforms 28th June
Plot: After escaping her violent husband, Sadie makes it her life’s mission to help free others in danger. After months of rigorous training in survival skills, boxing, and lethal martial arts, she is back with a vengeance.
Tagline – She fights so you don’t have to.
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Message Lost In Translation
Story: A Vigilante starts as we meet Sadie (Wilde) who is a specialist at dealing with husbands that abuse their partners, she will offer her services to make the man vanish to help the woman a chance to move on with life.
Each job Sadie does puts her through horrendous nightmares of her own experiences, though she doesn’t stop at just abuse to women, she will help children in need too, doing everything she can to help people who are left helpless.
Thoughts on A Vigilante
Characters – Sadie has been abused by her husband in the past, left her broken and their son dead, she has gone onto train herself to defend herself from ever being in this position again, helping other victims of abuse, by punishing the people that have caused the pain. We don’t meet anybody else enough to learn much about them, we hear about the abusers and each victim has their own story, but we only focus on Sadie.
Performances – Olivia Wilde does do everything right in the film, she is head and shoulders above the rest of the cast, with the pain her character is going through.
Story – The story here follows one woman who fights back against abusers in the world after surviving her own ordeal under a former partner. The story does have a clear message about how difficult spotting abuse can be and how people need to face the consequences of what they did. Where the story falls short is with how everything is handled, it tries to make it look like Sadie is a secret fighter, only it doesn’t seem to show enough of her planning or her action. The pace is all over the place and by the end you haven’t missed too much with the story.
Crime/Mystery – The crime follows the actions of Sadie taking the law into her own hands, with the mystery being more about what has happened in the past with Sadie.
Settings – The film uses the isolated settings to show how Sadie could get away with what she is planning to do.
Scene of the Movie – The showdown.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The messy plot.
Final Thoughts – This is a simple crime thriller that doesn’t seem to put the plot in any order to make everything overly interesting, despite having a key message they want to send.
Writer: Isabel Bassett, M.J. Bassett (Screenplay) Paul Chronnell (Story)
Starring: Rebecca Romijn, Philip Winchester, Isabel Bassett, Michael Johnston, Chris Fisher, Jerry O’Connell
Plot: a wealthy American family who travel to the vast African wilderness of Kenya hoping for a dream vacation filled with excitement, bonding and a chance to fix the growing rifts within their family. But when their safari vehicle is attacked by a rhino protecting her calf, the family is left stranded miles from help and their dream vacation turns into a nightmarish struggle for survival in a world where they are the bottom of the food chain.
Tagline – Far from home. Far from safety. Far from over.
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Endangered Species starts when a family Lauren (Romijn), Jack (Winchester), Zoe (Bassett), Noah (Johnston) and Zoe’s boyfriend Billy (Fisher) arrive in Africa for a safari holiday, they get into the beauty of the location, while getting prepared for an adventure of a lifetime.
As the family look to explore the safari themselves, they stumble upon a rhino family which will flip their vehicle, leaving them stranded in the middle of the safari, injured, helpless and prime for the picking for the wildlife.
Thoughts on Endangered Species
Characters & Performances – Jack is the father of the household, he has used his money from his luxury job to pay for his holiday as a treat, he is struggling to connect with his son, he wants to make sure this holiday is better than they expect, only his head strong attitude will find them in more trouble. Philip Winchester does give us the character that is conflicted with love and unable to change. Lauren is the wife and mother who is diabetic, which will cause another problem in the battle to survive the situation they find themselves in. Rebecca Romijn might well be the biggest name in this film and she does everything well, it is more that she doesn’t have much to do. Zoe and Noah are the children that are both finding themselves feeling distant from Jack, with them both getting a chance to win his approval on the trip, despite knowing he doesn’t believe everything they want from life. Both Isabel Bassett and Michael Johnston give us performances that will make us believe the insecurities in their characters.
Story – The story here follows a wealthy American family that are on a safari in Africa, only for the trip to turn into a nightmare when they become stranded with the wildlife waiting for a chance to hunt them down, needing to find a way to survive. This story is one that we have seen before with a different environment, a family in need of help, stranded, needing to weight up their options for survival. The obstacles they come across will see them tested and will let them deal with the problems between them too. The story does have a deeper message about poaching, as well as showing us the African animals in their natural environment.
Themes – Endangered Species is an action thriller that will see man versus the wild, seeing how the group must figure out how to survive different encounters. The African backdrop is stunningly beautiful to see, even if the CGI on the animals doesn’t feel as smooth as it could do.
Endangered Species which is on digital 28 June and DVD 5 July
