Jul 26 2021

The True Don Quixote (2019) Movie Review

The True Don Quixote – Quirky

Director: Chris Poche

Writer: Chris Poche (Screenplay) Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra (Novel)

Starring: Tim Blake Nelson, Jacob Batalon, Ann Mahoney, Morgan Roberts, Brandon Stacy, Lucy Faust

Plot: Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) is a man who’s safe and comfortable and bored to death with his life. In his state of despair, he looks to classic stories for inspiration. Awakened by the tales of yore, he anoints himself as Don Quixote to find adventure, fame and glory that will make his life worthwhile – all while never leaving his one-mile square neighborhood.

Runtime: 1 Hour 24 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The True Don Quixote starts when mild-mannered man who sees everything he loves taken away, which will see him have a break while reading believing he is in fact the real Don Quixote (Nelson) who roams his neighbourhood looking for a squire in Sancho Panza (Batalon) as the pair get caught up in the middle of misadventures.

Thoughts on The True Don Quixote

Thoughts – The True Don Quixote is a quirky comedy drama about a man that is broken in life, turning to a fictional figure to help him through the events filled with the denial of what this is doing to him. The story does turn the different stories of the legendary Don Quixote into the modern world, one that could be everyday life situations. The reality of this story does show how people will be let go down a road that seems unstable, which will also show how some people will come to help them. Tim Blake Nelson does fully commit to this role, which is the highlight of the film, despite the fact it is over the top as it is intended to be. The weakness in the film does come from not knowing anything from the real Don Quixote and the stories the figure might well have been through.

Signature Entertainment presents The True Don Quixote on Digital Platforms 2nd August

Final Thoughts – The True Don Quixote is an extremely quirky movie.

Jul 22 2021

Luz: The Flower of Evil (2019) Movie Review

Director: Juan Diego Escobar Alzate

Writer: Juan Diego Escobar Alzate (Screenplay)

Starring: Yuri Vargas, Jim Munoz, Sharon Guzman, Conrado Osorio, Daniel Paez, Marcela Robledo

Plot: An atmospheric Jodorowskian trip that portraits the real horrors of faith and men.

Tagline – Good and Evil are the same being.

Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Luz the Flower of Evil starts as we follow a community led by a preacher El Senor (Osorio) who believes the community has discovered the new messiah in a young boy, but as El Senor’s three daughters Uma (Vargas), Laila (Esquivel) and Zion (Guzman) soon start questioning more about the God they following, leading them down a dangerous path, one El Senor can’t control.

Thoughts on Luz: The Flower of Evil

Thoughts – Luz: The Flower of Evil is a film that will put up the big question about how people will see a God like figure in their world. It will follow the community with their beliefs and does make the point of showing us that we are in a modernish world with a tape recorder in the film, without going into true details. How everything unfolds is how you would imagine when questions come to discuss how the world might be bigger. This might not be the biggest movie, with how deep everything goes, but the unsettling nature of the events will leave the more to what could have been. The settings being used are great with how the isolated the community is with the beauty of nature being involved.

Luz: The Flower of Evil is on digital 26 July and Blu-ray 23 August from Fractured Visions

Final Thoughts – Luz: The Flower of Evil is a spacey God fearing creation.

Jul 22 2021

ABC Film Challenge – Comedy – V – Stuber (2019) Movie Review

This is under V because of main character Vic Manning.

Director: Michael Dowse

Writer: Tripper Clancy (Screenplay)

Starring: Dave Bautista, Kumail Nanjiani, Mira Sorvino, Natalie Moraels, Iko Uwais, Betty Gilpin, Karen Gillan

Plot: A detective recruits his Uber driver into an unexpected night of adventure.

Tagline – A little driver with a huge cop.

Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Bautista & Nanjiani Are Excellent

Story: Stuber starts as Vic Manning (Bautista) is trying to take down Oka Tedjo (Uwais) a known criminal, which sees him losing his partner, 6 months later Vic needs laser eye surgery and on this day, he receives information on Tedjo whereabouts. Needing an Uber, Vic finds himself being picked up by Stu (Nanjiani) an over friendly nervous uber driver.

The unlikely pair need to travel around the city to locate Tedjo before his latest deal, the one that could finally bring closure for Vic, even if this ends up letting his own daughter Nicole’s (Moraels) big moment.

Thoughts on Stuber

Characters – Vic Manning is a detective that has been tracking criminals for years, he loses his partner which has made him dive into his work more than ever, becoming distant from his daughter, risking his career, he uses his connection to try and take down the man that killed his partner, despite having laser eye surgery the same day. Vic will run into problems head first, use force instead of brains when dealing with criminals, which often leaves him in more trouble than it starts with. Stu is the nervous overly friendly uber driver that is trying to make ends meet, tell the woman he loves how he feels about her and dealing with troublesome passengers. He is reluctant to help Vic, but offers him a chance to become a better man, while learning to stand up for himself during their time together. Oka Tedjo is the criminal that Vic has been tracking, deadly in combat ruthless in his action. We have Stu’s love interest in Becca, who spends most of the film on the phone to him, not sure what she wants in life. Nicole is Vic’s daughter who has always been left disappointed with his actions and not supporting her art projects.

Performances – Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani are excellent together they bring both their comedic chops to the table here and never make a single scene feel awkward. While these two are excellent together, with a villain in Iko Uwais, we barely get to see this ultra-talent martial artist have great scenes, only we don’t get to see enough from him. This also affects the rest of the cast, who simply don’t get enough time to shine.

Story – The story here follows a cop that must turn to an uber driver to crack the case he has been working on for years, one that took his partner’s life, the two are completely different and working together will see them go on a wild adventure around LA to take down the criminal once and for all. This is the old buddy comedy storyline, which does get everything right when it comes to the odd couple, while the villains feel lacklustre. Everything is highly entertaining and told in a way that gets to poke fun at uber and overly masculine men.

Action/Comedy – The action in the film is held up for a couple of notable fight scenes, with the opening one being the best of the lot, showing Iko Uwais full abilities. The comedy comes from the excellent chemistry Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani have to get all the laughs away from the action.

Settings – The film uses LA as the settings, which does take us around the city for different moments of the film.

Scene of the Movie – The opening action sequence, which does highlight Iko Uwais.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough Iko Uwais.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun action comedy that has two leads that show excellent chemistry, even if we don’t get enough of the villains, we can still have a lot of fun with this film.

Overall: Highly Enjoyable.

Jul 18 2021

Rialto (2019) Movie Review

Director: Peter Mackie Burns

Writer: Mark O’Halloran (Screenplay)

Starring: Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Tom Glynn-Carney, Monica Dolan, Sophie Jo Wasson, Scott Graham, Michael Smiley

Plot: Colm is in his mid-forties, married, with two teenage children. Still grieving the death of his father, a destructive gure in his life, Colm struggles with his relationship to his own son, whilst at work a recent takeover threatens his job. Unable to share his vulnerability with his wife, Colm’s world is falling apart around him. In the midst of this crisis, Colm solicits sex from a young man called Jay. This encounter and his growing infatuation has a deep effect on Colm. He finds a comfort in Jay that no one else can provide.

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Rialto starts when Colm (Vaughan-Lawlor) starts going through a mid-life crisis, his father has just passed away, his is becoming distant from his wife and kids and he is about to lose his job at the docks where he has worked his whole life.

As Colm starts to struggle with putting his own life together he finds a young man Jay (Glynn-Carney) who are first is just offering him a different sexual experience, before becoming the only person he can turn to when his life starts falling apart even more.

Thoughts on Rialto

Characters & Performances – Colm is a man in his mid-40s, he has a family, job, home, everything you could want at his age. His life does start to take a downward spiral when his father dies, he starts to realize he has become distant from his family and then he loses his job. He doesn’t know who to turn to for help, finding himself drawn towards a gay hooker who he pays for company, find peace in an unlikely place. This character shows us just how hard life can become suddenly on people without seeing it coming. Tom Vaughan-Lawlor is brilliant in this leading role, showing all the pain his character is going through, mixed with the confusion of how life has suddenly caught up with him. Jay is the gay hooker that Colm meets, he is defensive with his aggression in the world, being involved as a way to help raise his own child, he needs help but knows this is the only way he can make sure he can keep his baby safe. Tom Glynn-Carney plays this character very well too, giving us the character that is willing to be in a world where he knows it is for a bigger purpose. When it comes to the supporting characters we meet the family that don’t want much to do with Colm and his co-workers that are trying to be there for him.

Story – The story here follows a middle-aged man that starts seeing his life falling apart around him, losing the stability he has built up and turning to a young man for help, the only place where he can start to feel comfortable in life. This is a story where we get to see how a normal working class person can see themselves fall into a routine, one that is comfortable and safe, which doesn’t prepare them for the changes that might hit suddenly. We see how people might have to turn to a place they would never have imagined for the comfort they need, showing us a mid-life crisis happening to the unsuspecting Colm.

Themes – Rialto has us in Dublin, showing us the changes in area is going through, cutting back on jobs, seeing the unemployment going up to levels which can cause the strain on people, which is used as the backdrop to show us the struggles the character is going through.

Rialto is a powerful drama showing the harsh reality of a sudden mid-life crisis on the working class man.

Jul 7 2021

ABC Film Challenge – Comedy – G – Good Boys (2019) Movie Review

Director: Gene Stupnitsky

Writer: Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg (Screenplay)

Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Keith L Williams, Brady Noon, Molly Gordon, Midori Francis, Izaac Wang, Millie Davis

Plot: Three 6th grade boys ditch school and embark on an epic journey while carrying accidentally stolen drugs, being hunted by teenage girls, and trying to make their way home in time for a long-awaited party.

Tagline – You Must Be This Tall to See This Movie

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Has the Heart, Lacks the Humour

Story: Good Boys starts as we meet three 6^th graders Max (Tremblay), Lucas (Williams) and Thor (Noon) who are prepared to make the next steps in their school career with Max looking to join the popular kids which will bring him close to the girl of his dreams, with the three getting invited to a kissing party.

One problem for the boys, they don’t know how to kiss, which sees them get into a serious a mischievous adventure trying to learn, involving a drone, drugs and skipping school.

Thoughts on Good Boys

Characters – Max is the leader of the group, he is always looking to break out of the younger child stage of his life, which sees him getting the big invitation to the popular kids party, only he needs the help of his friends to prepare for this night, even if his friends aren’t invited. Lucas is going through the toughest time, with his parents just going through a divorce, he doesn’t want to tell his friends, though he struggles to deal with keeping a secret in his life never getting to boy sin more trouble than normal. Thor is a singer that becomes the target of most of the bullying, he always wants to prove himself to people, but not always going through with it, needing to learn about following his own dreams. Hannah and Lily are two older teenage girls that the three looking to learn about kissing, only to find themselves in the middle of wanting their drugs back.

Performances – Jacob Tremblay is the biggest draw in the three leading boys, though all three Keith L Williams and Brady Noon are all fantastic together, they do show us just how the different problems they are coming through, but have chemistry together that shows friendship.

Story – The story here follows three 6^th graders who are reaching the point where they might go their separate directions and spend the day on an adventure to prepare getting to their first kissing party. This story does have a big heart, because at the ag of the boys, life will change very quickly and this does get put through clearly with the heart it deserves, only it does get held up by a completely over the top comical side line, which doesn’t hit home as much as it would like. If we had kept some of the comedy a lot calmer or more natural, we could have had one of the best coming of age films for years.

Comedy – The comedy is in this film is the weakest part, you might get a few laughs, here and there, with an on running joke about not being able to get into a childproof bottle.

Settings – The film does give us the everyday life of the boys to start with, before throwing them into a world they wouldn’t ever be close too.

Scene of the Movie – The frat house.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Most of the comedy.

Final Thoughts – This is a film that has all the heart it needs, only it gets buried by the lazy comedy that just seem to hit hard enough.

Overall: Life Lesson 101.