Author: Darren Lucas

Big Film fan and general entertainment fan

Categories
Movie Review

An American Pickle (2020) Movie Review

Director: Brandon Trost

Writer: Simon Rich (Screenplay)

Starring: Seth Rogen, Sarah Snook, Molly Evensen, Eliot Glazer, Kalen Allen, Kevin O’Rourke, Sean Whalen

Plot: An immigrant worker at a pickle factory is accidentally preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern-day Brooklyn.

Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: An American Pickle starts when immigrant Herschel (Rogen) has started a new life in American with his wife Sarah (Snook) when he gets involved in an accident, which will see him preserved in a pickle factor for 100 years.

When Herschel wakes up, he is thrown into modern-day Brooklyn, learning his family is gone, with his only living relative Ben (Rogen) takes him, as the two clash about the changes they have been through, as they end up in a battle to be success in New York.

Thoughts on An American Pickle

Thoughts – An American Pickle is a comedy that will see one man moved 100 years into the future, struggling to fit into the modern world, despite having the work ethic, not understand the different way people look at the world, while his only living relative doesn’t do much to make it easier, as he is dealing with his own grief. An Americna Pickle does go to the more extreme lengths of rivalry between the two, which only seems to be a direct attack on each other, rather than learning to teach and show the new world, which would be how nearly everyone would want to act towards a new person to the era. It will get to the point later, but goes for the comedic value for the extra attempts at laughs, which don’t always come off in the right way. Seth Rogen does well in the dualling roles, which will bring the laughs along the way for the film, but if you are not into his style of comedy, you might feel distant to his characters in the film. New York being the setting does help because it will show how people from different backgrounds can make an impact with a crowd that is always looking to be accepting to something different.

Final Thoughts – An American Pickle is an easy to watch comedy, where Seth Rogen carries the film.

Categories
Movie Review

Breath (2022) Movie Review

Breath (2022) Movie Review

Breath is a Solid Survival Thriller Drama

Director: John Real

Writer: Adriana Marzagalli, John Real (Screenplay)

Starring: James Cosmo, Rachel Daigh, Ned Chupin

Plot: Lara Winslet is an expert geologist in volcanology. She is together with her team of work on a volcano to conduct surveys. At the end of a working day, Lara decides to stay a little longer to finish an exam and she remains so alone. Returning, she has an accident, falling inside a hole in the ground and remains blocked inside there. Where no one can neither see nor hear her. This experience will lead her to take an examination of her whole life and to think of her daughter.

Runtime: 1 Hour 46 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Breath starts when expert geologist in volcanology Lara (Daigh) looks to finish off her work on a volcano alone before moving onto her next project. An accident will see her getting trapped within one of the holes in the volcano, without an escape.

As Lara tries to figure out if she could escape, she starts to look back on her life and what it meant. Trying to stay a strong as possible for the most important member of her family, her daughter.

Thoughts on Breath

Breath is a survival drama thriller, which will look to capture the less graphic horrors of 127 hours. Where one person will need to figure out how to survive in an environment where nobody is going to come and help them.

Breath does use the searching through the past to give the motivation to keep fighting well, without needing to break new ground in this side of the film. Breath does seem to have one bigger weakness, that being the runtime. Which doesn’t need to be as long as it is given, because the story gets caught up dragging along through parts. Which is doesn’t need to, never hitting the intensity the survival situation could do. There doesn’t seem to be a strong enough pull in this story to make it reach the potential. Even though the performance from Rachel Daigh is strong.

Categories
Movie Review

The Adventures of Maid Marian (2022) Movie Review ‘Fun Adventure’

The Adventures of Maid Marian – Fun Adventure

 

Director: Bill Thomas

Writer: Bill Thomas (Screenplay)

Starring: Sophie Craig, Bob Cryer, Jennifer Matter, Lainy Boyle, Dominic Andersen, James Groom

Plot: After three years of hiding in a remote priory, news reaches Marian that King Richard the Lionheart is dead. Her lover Robin Hood is returning from the wars. Leaving her sanctuary she hurries to meet him but they discover all is not as it seems. William De Wendenal, the disgraced Sheriff of Nottingham, has returned from exile and is out for revenge. Ambushed, Marian and Robin fight for their lives and escape, but Robin is badly injured. Deep in the forest and miles from help and hounded by ruthless mercenaries, Marian must use all the skills at her disposal to keep Robin alive and get him to safety.

Runtime: 1 Hour 22 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Adventures of Maid Marian starts in the aftermath of Robin Hood (Andersen) Marian (Craig) seeing The Sheriff of Nottingham (Cryer) defeat, with Robin heading to war and Marian remaining behind in hiding.

When the war is over Marian can come out of hiding, in hopes of finding Robin again, only for them to find themselves facing up against a vengeful Sheriff who wants to make them pay for taking his life, leading the mercenaries down to hunt them down.

Thoughts on The Adventures of Maid Marian

Characters & Performances – Marian has been in hiding while King Richard leads the war in France, living in a monastery among the nuns, sneaking out to keep her fight together, helping the needy where she can. With Robin returning, she can come out of hiding, taking over the fight after Robin becomes injured, against an enemy. Marian takes centre stage for one of the first times in the Robin Hood stories, made to be just as skilled as he is, never being the damsel in distress, many other versions can paint her out to be. The Sheriff of Nottingham has been waiting for his chance to get revenge on Robin and anyone who helped him, being fuelled by vengeance over anything else before. Robin Hood does return from war, fighting with King Richard, looking to start a fresh life with Marian, he still has the connections in Nottingham, but his return has seen the Sheriff come back for more, despite him getting injured, he will trust the people around him to do the right thing. We do meet other familiar names in the stories of Robin Hood, with their own versions of the characters. The performances in the film are good with Sophie Craig in the role of Marian making her character standout, as the strongest character in the film.

Story – The story here will bring another spin on the legacy of the Robin Hood stories, this time making Maid Marian the focus of the adventure, being the one that needs to do the most fighting back against a familiar enemy. When it comes to the Robin Hood stories, we seem to get a different idea behind them every year, this one does feel fresher by focusing on Marian, showing her double life, as well as taking everything back into the forest for the adventures. It will play out like you imagine, with the small group needing to fight back a larger group who want to use their power to take advantage of the less fortunate in life.

Themes – The Adventures of Maid Marian is an adventure movie that will include plenty of sword swinging, arrow fizzing and traps as the two sides battle to stay ahead of each other, using the forest for the main location, showing how people can find hiding spots in this environment.

Signature Entertainment present The Adventures of Maid Marian on Digital Platforms 9th May.

Final Thoughts – The Adventures of Maid Marian is a fun adventure showing Maid Marian to be just as much of a fighter as Robin Hood.

Categories
Movie Review

Bottom of the 9th (2019) Movie Review

Director: Raymond De Felitta

Writer: Robert Bruzio (Screenplay)

Starring: Sofia Vergara, Joe Manganiello, Denis O’Hare, Burt Young, James Madio, Michael Rispoli, Xavier Scott Evans

Plot: After serving 17 years in prison for a violent mistake he made in his youth, a once-aspiring baseball player returns to his Bronx neighborhood.

Runtime: 1 Hour 51 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Bottom of the 9th starts when Sonny Stano (Manganiello) gets released from prison after a mistake in his youth, now he sees the world has changed. His parole officer Lonergan (O’Hare) puts him in a job, sets the rules for him to start a fresh, but Sonny’s love of baseball draws him towards his old life.

Sonny gets offered a chance to help his former team from Coach Hannis (Rispoli) to help rookie player Manny (Evans) get focused, but he will need to earn his respect before Manny will listen to anything he says, before he gets the chance to relive the chance he never got.

Thoughts on Bottom of the 9th

Thoughts – Bottom of the 9th is a sports drama showing that people will make mistakes in life, but sport can be around to help give people another chance, even if people aren’t so forgiving. This story will put a focus on Sonny trying to put his life back on track, as well as becoming a mentor for a hot-headed young player. Now all of the basics for a sports drama are in here and they are done well, but we could easily have dived down some of these ideas to a deeper level, to make certain moments have a bigger impact. The mentor side of things doesn’t go into enough, it should have gone a lot deeper, the revenge from the brother of his victim is always in the background, but never addressed in a strong enough manner. While the second chance is left in a position where it was always going to end one way, it could have been stronger to go in a different direction. This is a story that had so much more potential, it ends up checking the basics only. The performances are strong in the film with Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara both doing a great job. If you are looking for a basic sports drama, this is an easy watch to make it through.

Final Thoughts – Bottom of the 9th is a by the book easy to follow sports drama.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Action – # – 5-Headed Shark Attack (2017) Movie Review

Director: Nico De Leon, Jose Montesinos

Writer: Stephen Meier, Daniel Lawlor, Sean P Hale (Screenplay) Jacob Cooney, Bill Hanstock (Story)

Starring: Chris Bruno, Nikki Howard, Londsay Sawyer, Jeffrey Holsman, Chris Costanz, Amanada Mendez

Plot: Shaped like a demented starfish, a monster 5-headed shark terrorizes the open ocean before invading the beaches of Puerto Rico, endangering the once peaceful island paradise.


Tagline – You can’t survive the five!

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: 5 Headed Shark Attack starts after an unusual shark attack in Puerta Rico, which will see the aquarium owner Thaddeus Marshall (Holsman) want to use his team, marine biologist Dr Angie Yost (Howard) and the employees to capture the shark.

After learning the shark has 4 heads, they know they need to study it, turning to hunter Red (Bruno) to try and capture the shark before it kills more, only for it starting to get deadlier and a threat to anything in the ocean.

Thoughts on 5 Headed Shark Attack

Thoughts – 5 Headed Shark Attack is one of the many attempts to make a wildly over the top shark attack movie, following in the footsteps of the previous 2 and 3 Headed Shark Attack movies. This film does take the film to a new location, one surrounded water, which will work, along with it being a place where shark attacks rarely happen. The story will give us the greedy aquarium owner that is willing to put his own profit ahead of human life, as well as having a preachy message about humans destroying the world by using plastic. Where this film does feel like part of false advertisement is with the shark only have 4 heads for most of the film and the 5th one barely being used other than a shock value moment later in the film. The effects are the cheap CGI ones you have come to expect from this style of movie, leaving most of the film being comical for all the wrong reasons. This is yet another trash action shark movie that doesn’t do anything fresh, falls apart on the CGI and ends up feeling flat by the end.

Final Thoughts – 5 Headed Shark Attack is the typical sloppy shark sequel that knows it isn’t going to be great, but doesn’t fall into the so bad it is fun.

Categories
Movie Review

Bluff (2022) Movie Review ‘Raw Experience’

Bluff – Raw Experience

 

Director: Sheikh Shahnawaz

Writer: Sheikh Shahnawaz (Screenplay)

Starring: Gurj Gill, Jason Adam, Nisaro Karim, James Jaysen Bryhan, Joe Egan, Lisa Blissitt

Plot: A London police officer goes undercover as a heroin addict in a small English town and manipulates an unsuspecting local junkie into working with him for a dangerous drug dealer.

Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Bluff starts when a London Police officer Danny Miller (Gill) accepts an offer to go undercover in the heroin world in a small town, making friends with addict Cooks (Adam), to learn about the other connections within the area.

As Miller learns about the operations, he gets close to drug lord Imran (Karim), as he looks to end the source and clean the streets up once and for all.

Thoughts on Bluff

Characters & Performances – Miller is a police officer that gets an new assignment going undercover to get a drug lord, learning how the operation is run, he becomes best friends with a drug addicted, as he learns how everything works. He gets close to the drug lord, but shows the consequences of going undercover, without having the training to do so. Cooks is the drug addict that Miller becomes best friends with, both need a friend in this world, with Cooks innocent side, showing how he is left with nothing anymore, willing to let Miller into his life. Imran is the drug lord that has been running the operations in the small town, he is smooth with his operation and ruthless when it comes to getting revenge on people who cross him. The performances from Gurj Gill, Jason Adam and Nisaro Karim are great showing the impact getting into this world would have on everyone involved.

Story – The story here follows an undercover police officer who is leading an investigation into a drug lord’s operations, where he must learn about the cause and effect of being in this world. The story will jump between a few timelines, with one being the first entry, another looking back on everything that happened, another with him reaching the higher point beside the drug lord. Each of these timelines will offer up a different look at how this world has changed him, made him regret certain decisions he has made along the way. The way the three stories come together will give us a thriller that keeps us guessing, while making a point that addicts are the victims in everything within this world.

Themes – Bluff is a crime thriller that will dive into the raw, gritty world of drug addicts, showing the difficult lives of the victims and the luxury lives of the dealers, taking advantage of them. The movie will leave you wondering what will happen if Miller gets caught in this world.

Final Thoughts – Bluff is a raw dive into the drug underworld through the eyes of addicts.

Bluff
Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Action – Z – Cut Throat City (2020) Movie Review

Director: RZA

Writer: P.G. Cuschieri (Screenplay)

Starring: Shameik Moore, Demetrius Shipp Jr, Denzel Whitaker, Keena Johnson, Kat Graham, T.I. Terrence Howard, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Eiza Gonzalez

Plot: Set after Hurricane Katrina, four boyhood friends out of options reluctantly accept an offer to pull off a dangerous heist in the heart of New Orleans.


Tagline – Desperate times. Dangerous measures.

Runtime: 2 Hours 3 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Cut Throat City starts follows four boyhood friends Blink (Moore), Miracle (Shipp Jr), Andre (Whitaker) and Junior (Johnson) who are living in the shadows of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, trying to make something for themselves, they must turn to a dangerous heist for Lorenzo Bass (T.I.) which goes wrong.

Once the job has gone bad, Blink, Miracle and Junior must work together to clear their debts, while detective Lucinda Benoit (Gonzalez) is trying to get to the bottom of the robbery.

Thoughts on Cut Throat City

Thoughts – Cut Throat City follows the four friends that are all looking to make something of their lives, with Blink being the one that has the most potential in the world with his artistic abilities. To make it in the city the guys will need to turn to crime, being the only way to make money, which will see them caught up in the middle of heist gone wrong, with the law and the gangsters looking to track them down. This does have strong performances throughout, with a young leading cast, filled with the experienced stars around them for the impact scenes. This does have the clear message about the divide between people in New Orleans, with the black poor neighbourhood not getting the supplies to make a fresh start in life after the disaster, being forced into crime to make ends meet. The location is so important for this film and the different locations tell us the stories of the characters and just what has been going on in their lives. The big negative in this film is going to be the length, as it does feel longer than it needs to be.

Final Thoughts –Great look at the impact of disaster on the recovery process not given to all.

Categories
Movie Review

Gazza (2022) Movie Review ‘Eye Opening’

Gazza – Eye Opening

 

Director: Sam Collins

Plot: The story of a footballing genius, Paul Gascoigne, whose on-field brilliance is matched by a troubled private life and a media mania that spirals out of control.

Runtime: 2 Hours 4 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Thoughts on Gazza

Thoughts – Gazza is the latest documentary exploring the life and career of footballing icon Paul Gascoigne. In this documentary, we get the quick glimpse of his early career before, where he was best friends with the press, seeing his friendly banter as part of who is was, before the first injuries started plaguing his on pitch career. Where Gazza shows another side to the man, is seeing how he was one of the many victims of the battle between the tabloids always wanting to make a new headline at someone else’s expense, even if they created the story. Gazza will show us how despite being famous, celebrities are still human, they should be allowed to live their lives without being hounded. Even with the media being shown in a bad light, there is a bigger side to Gazza that could have seen his career go in a different direction. Gazza will end up being one of the more important sporting documentaries, that doesn’t spend too much time on his playing career, putting focal point on the behind-the-scenes life that was affected by the media.

GAZZA will be available on Digital Download from 2nd May and Blu-ray & DVD from 9th May

Final Thoughts – Gazza is an eye opening documentary showing the downfall of one of England’s greatest football talents.

Categories
Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Action – Y – Sniper: Assassin’s End (2020) Movie Review

This is under Y because of the Japanese assassin Yuki.

Director: Kaare Andrews

Writer: Oliver Thompson (Screenplay) Michael Frost Beckner, Crash Leyland (Characters)

Starring: Chad Michael Collins, Sayaka Akimoto, Tom Berenger, Ryan Robbins, Lochlyn Munro, Emily Tennant

Plot: Legendary sniper Thomas Beckett and his son, Special Ops Sniper Brandon Beckett, are on the run from the CIA, Russian Mercenaries, and a Yakuza-trained assassin with sniper skills that rival both legendary sharp shooters.


Tagline – Trust only blood

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Sniper: Assassin’s End starts when Special Ops Sniper Brandon Beckett (Collins) gets framed for a public assassination, with FBI Agent John Franklin (Munro) leading the investigation. Zero (Robbins) is leading his own investigation, knowing Brandon is innocent, which will see him dive into the bigger conspiracy going on.

Brandon searches out his legendary sniper father Thomas (Berenger) to help him stay hidden, waiting for the answers, but his own side isn’t the only ones hunting him down, with Yakuza trained assassin Yuki Mifune (Akimoto) searching for him too.

Thoughts on Sniper: Assassin’s End

Thoughts – Sniper: Assassin’s End is the 8th film in the Sniper franchise (wow), the first I have seen, so any back story that might get mentioned or connections are nowhere to be seen for me. If we break down just the core story in this film, we get to see how a solider is wrongfully accused of performing an assassination, which will see him need to go on the run, while an agent friend looks for the answers. This is an entertaining action movie, one that will keep you on edge, with the tension involved in the stand-off between the three snipers. We get the memory lane discussion about whether somebody can still be as good as they once were too, which you would expect to see in the latter stages of a franchise. The performances are strong throughout, with everyone looking the part, with the only questionable part of the film being the character’s name Drake Phoenix, which clearly feels like it would have been a fake name.

Final Thoughts – Sniper: Assassin’s End is a surprisingly entertaining 8th instalment in a franchise.