Day: August 19, 2022

Categories
Movie Review

So Vam (2021) Movie Review

So Vam – Movie Review

So Vam

Director: Alice Maio Mackay

Writer: Alice Maio Mackay, Benjamin Pahl Robinson (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Xai
  • Grace Hyland
  • Chris Asimos
  • Erin Paterson
  • Patty Glavieux (Mortal Kombat)

Plot: After being kidnapped by a predatory old vampire, Kurt becomes part of a gang of rebellious vampires who feed on bigots and abusers.

Runtime: 1 Hour 13 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: So Vam starts as a bullied homosexual high school student Kurt (Xai) finds himself struggling through each day. Constantly bullied, he only has one friend Katie (Paterson). This changes when a predatory vampire bites Kurt before April (Hyland) saves him by turning him into a vampire.

April takes Kurt under her wing, teaching him how to survive as a vampire and the target for feeding. They target abusers and bigots, trying to clean up the world as they get through the problems they see.

Verdict on So Vam

Characters

Kurt is a bullied homosexual high school student. He gets tormented in and out of school and never gets support from his father. He has one friend in the world until he is attacked by a vampire. This turns Kurt into a vampire who must learn to navigate the streets in his new form, giving him a stronger fight back against the bullies.

Katie is Kurt’s best friend, the one person that defends him at school and is there to talk to.  She sees the change and starts feeling more distant from the one friend she had in life too.

April is the vampire that saved Kurt, teaching him how to survive as a vampire in modern society. She is the strongest in her group and the one that will explain the biggest problems Kurt will face.

Landon is a rival vampire; he hunts for anyone having no morals on who he targets to feed on. He is widely considered the most dangerous vampire in the area.

Performances

Xai takes the leading role, showing how his character deals with bullying and the change he goes through. One that shows a stronger side to him, one he never knew he had.

Erin Paterson does a great job in the best friend role, one that shows her character supporting, but also feeling left out in.

Grace Hyland brings the confident calm vampire to life in the movie. She will demand the screen as the mentor to survive.

Story

The story follows a bullied high school student that gets transformed into a vampire. He joins a group that looks to feed on abusive bigots to clean up the streets. Finding himself in the middle of a battle between two sides, as he discovers himself.

This story is a new twist on the vampire sub-genre of horror, leaning towards comedy more than anything else. It will highlight how growing up bullied for being yourself can push people over the limit. The story doesn’t back down on showing the abuse homosexual people go through on a daily basis. At the core, it will have the battle between two different types of vampires to continue living in the world.

Themes

So Vam is a horror comedy that tackles the serious issue of abuse. It will show the good vampires taking out the problems in the world in a battle against the bad vampires who will feed on anyone. The comedy is from how Kurt sees the changes, as well as poking fun at the older vampire traits. When it comes to the special effects, it is the biggest weakness in the movie, because they look very low-budget and CGI.

Where to Watch:  So Vam is going to be available on Shudder.

Final Thoughts – So Vam is a fun enough vampire comedy, having its own unique style throughout.

Categories
Movie Review

The Assistant (2022) Movie Review

The Assistant – Movie Review

The Assistant Poster

Director: Adrian Teh

Writer: Chi-Ren Choong, Adrian Teh (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Iedil Dzuhrie Alaudin
  • Hairul Azreen
  • Kin Wah Chew
  • Coby Chong
  • Tony Eusoff

Plot: Zafik is unjustly imprisoned and is not pleased about it. When he is released, he gets the help of the unhinged Feroz to get revenge.

Runtime: 2 Horus 4 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Assistant starts as Zafik (Alaudin) gets released from prison, after getting locked up for a planted offence. His family have been killed while he was locked away and the unhinged Feroz (Azreen) offers to help him locate the killers.

As Zafik finds himself getting in deeper with Feroz, he starts learning how the crime world operates. This puts him in a difficult position of wanting to truth and being violent for the sake of it.

Verdict on The Assistant

The Assistant is an action thriller that dives into the Malaysian criminal underworld. It brings us a typical revenge arc for a man that lost his family and will do anything to get the people behind it. even if he isn’t from the criminal world he is thrown into for answers.

This does contain plenty of twists along the way, as to who is behind everything that will leave you shocked too. The performances of the lead two actors are great, being very different to each other, making them both stand out. When it comes to the action, we have great fight sequences, and shootouts, with a final showdown giving us a relentless experience.

Where to Watch: The Assistant is available on Netflix now.

Final Thoughts – The Assistant has plenty of action and a shocking reveal.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Romance – S – The Souvenir (2019) Movie Review

Director: Joanna Hogg

Writer: Joanna Hogg (Screenplay)

Starring: Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, Tilda Swinton

Plot: A young film student in the early ’80s becomes romantically involved with a complicated and untrustworthy man.


Tagline – The Past Never Stays in Focus.

Runtime: 2 Hours

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Souvenir starts as we meet the young film student Julie (Byrne) who is planning her first project, when she meets Anthony (Burke) an employee for the foreign office. The two start a relationship, where Anthony’s mystery will only make Julie’s dreams more difficult with his behaviour towards her.

As the relationship continues to unfold, Julie gets more distant from the controlling figure, causing her more pain, with his lies, putting her own future at risk.

Thoughts on The Souvenir

Thoughts – The Souvenir will show us the difficulties that come from an abusive relationship, where one person is making the other one’s hell with their addiction, which will leave them in a position of needing to support or face their own future. It will highlight that it can come from any background in society, showing that even the upper-class part of society has the problems. The Souvenir shows the view of an addict from a loved one, rather than the addict’s point of view, which is different to what we see more often, but it doesn’t stop the fact we are witnessing to painful relationship unfold. The performances are strong from both Honor Swinton Byrne and Tom Burke. The Souvenir does come off like a very stuck-up movie though, where the characters give the feeling that they are looking down on everyone else in their world, which doesn’t make this as enjoyable watching.

Final Thoughts – The Souvenir is a stuck-up version of a bad relationship.

Categories
Movie Review

Dwindle (2021) Movie Review

Dwindle – Movie Review

Dwindle Poster

Director: Kayode Kasum, Dare Olaitan

Writer: Isaac Ayodeji, Taiwo Egunjobi, Dare Olaitan (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Broda Shaggi
  • Jide Kene Achufusi
  • Bisola Aiyeola
  • Funke Akindele
  • Uzor Arukwe

Plot: Dwindle is a film based on the story of Sogo and Buta, two friends who hijack a car and venture into cabbing and how their lives take a drastic turn when their path runs into assassins who have just kidnapped the state governor.

Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Dwindle starts as two female police officers Tolani (Akindele) and Juliet (Aiyeola) are assigned to go undercover to protect the Governor (Dabo). When the mission goes wrong, the Governor is kidnapped. Elsewhere, Chinedu (Achufusi) and his roommate Buta (Shaggi) are struggling to pay rent. This leads to the tension growing between the two.

As Chinedu needs to pay off a debt, he and Buta stumble upon the kidnapped Governor, sending them into a wacky idea to make money. Despite having Tolani And Juliet right on their tails, looking to fix the mistake they have made.

Verdict on Dwindle

Dwindle is a crime comedy, seeing a pair of friends getting caught up in the middle of a bigger conspiracy to recover a missing Governor. It sees the different pairs trying to solve the problems they face, with them often getting into more trouble than they started in.

This comes off like a fun crime comedy that could easily be compared to many others like ‘Get Shorty’. Where things just escalate as things unfold causing everyone involved more problems.

The performances in the film are strong, which continues to show the rise in cinema coming out of Nigeria.

Where to Watch: Dwindle is available on Netflix now.

Final Thoughts –Dwindle is a fun crime caper, seeing things getting out of hand.