Tag: 2020

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Movie Review

23 Walks (2020) Movie Review

23 Walks – Sweet & Charming

Director: Paul Morrison

Writer: Paul Morrison (Screenplay)

Starring: Dave Johns, Alison Steadman, Oliver Powell, Natalie Simpson, Vivienne Soan

Plot: A gentle, sweet, funny, romantic story of love in later life following a couple in their sixties, Dave and Fern, who get to know one another over the course of 23 dog walks.

Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: 23 Walks starts when Dave (Johns) and his German Shepard Tilly, meet Fern (Steadman) and her little Yorkshire Terrier Henry on their daily walk, the two start to learn they have more in common, with Dave being widowed and Fern dealing with her marriage ending.

As the two start to get closer, they start to reveal the secrets in their lives, some secrets which could ruin the friendship the two have created to help them through their own difficult times.

Thoughts on 23 Walks

Characters & Performances – Dave is a former nurse that takes his German Shepard on daily walks in the local park, he is facing a difficult future with the council wanting to take him home back and when he meets Fern, the two becomes friends, sharing life stories, giving him some company for the first time in years. He is a very friendly person who you can see is only interested in having people in his life, with her daughter having her own family, he does get time with the grandkids. Dave Johns brings this everyday man to life with ease, we see the struggles he is going through and despite his purely positive nature, we see how lonely he is feeling. Fern is the woman that walks her Yorkshire Terrier, she is going through a divorce after years of marriage, she does clearly have a secret she is keeping from Dave and fast becoming the friend Dave needs, with him becoming the friend she needs. Alison Steadman does an excellent job keep her characters struggles deep down, showing how to bring her character needing to be free of the grief she has been through.

Story – The story follows two people in their sixties that meet walking their dogs, become friends and start to help each other out of the struggles they are facing, finally finding the person that will help them move on with life. This story gets to put the highlights on people in their sixties that could be going through a hard time, which will give them the chance to meet people who could help turn their lives in friendship in the later stages of life. We get to see how certain people will have secrets, they aren’t always going to be giving away their biggest secrets in life. The pace of the story does start well, but we do get a slower stage in the middle, but we finish strong giving us the outcome the characters deserve.

Themes – 23 Walks is a romantic comedy which focuses more on the dramas of life, seeing how people have been through in life, we get to see the beauty in the big city from the walks, with the dogs having their own characters with the importance to the owners.

23 Walks is a sweet, charming and caring movie that brings to life the importance of friendship in life.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Catch Up 2020 – W – The Warrant (2020) Movie Review

Director: Brent Christy

Writer: Shea Sizemore (Screenplay)

Starring: Neal McDonough, Steven R McQueen, Casper Van Dien, Annabeth Gish, Gregory Cruz, Greg Perrow

Plot: After fighting in the Civil War, two Union Army buddies find themselves on opposite sides of the law with the post-war peace at risk.

Runtime: 1 Hour 24 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Dull Western

Story: The Warrant starts in 1864 during the Civil War, John Breaker (McDonough) and his son Cal (McQueen) fought on the union side, next to a more aggressive soldier The Saint (Van Dien). After the war in 1869, John is a sheriff in a small town, where his ways have caused problems in the past.

When Cal now a US Marshal comes back to his father for help in tracking down The Saint, the memories of the war come back, with the need to stop the deadly outlaw before they get caught in the crossfire.

Thoughts on The Warrant

Characters – John Breaker was one of the best soldiers in the Civil War, he fought with honour, becoming an example to his son, who fought next to him, he has become a local sheriff post-war and now he must work with his son again to track down a deadly outlaw and former friend. Cal is John’s son, he is a US Marshall, travelling around hunting down the outlaws of America, turning to his father for the latest bounty. The Saint is notorious outlaw that once fought alongside the Breakers, he has built a gang which is now caught the attention of the government and needs to be stopped once and for all.

Performances – Neal McDonough does struggle in the leading role, a position he would normal perform with ease in, it is in fact Casper Van Dien you want to watch the most, with his scenery chewing performance.

Story – The story here follows a father and son who fought together in the civil war now needing to work together to hunt down a fellow soldier who has become a notorious outlaw. When you type in western story in google, you will without any doubt find this generic idea for a story, offering nothing fresh and ending up feeling flat and uninspiring, we get nothing we haven’t seen before and a story that feels more like a stronger episode of a western TV show.

Western – This is everything western without being anything we haven’t seen before.

Settings – The film uses the post-war landscape to show how the rebuilding had happened, but the actions were still violent, it could have been any woodland area.


Scene of the Movie – The Saint getting what he wants.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The flat story.

Final Thoughts – This is a flat western that brings nothing new to the table and ends up feeling flat throughout the film.

Overall: Flat Western.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Catch-Up 2020 – V – Antebellum (2020) Movie Thoughts

This is under V because of the lead character Veronica.

Director: Gerard Bush, Christopher Renz

Writer: Gerard Bush, Christopher Renz (Screenplay)

Starring: Janelle Monae, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons, Jena Malone, Tongayi Chirisa, Gabourey Sidibe, Marque Richardson

Plot: Successful author Veronica Henley finds herself trapped in a horrifying reality and must uncover the mind-bending mystery before it’s too late.

Runtime: 1 Hour 45 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Antebellum starts as Eden (Monae) one of the many slaves working under Captain Jasper (Huston), being sold to Elizabeth (Malone) where one of her few friends in Julia (Clemons) another woman left with no option to work.

We jump to the modern era with Veronica (Monae) a successful author that has been having the nightmares of her past on the plantation and on a night out with her girlfriends, she learns the truth about this reality.

Thoughts on Antebellum

Final Thoughts – Antebellum is a movie that is very difficult to talk about without giving away too many spoilers, while the two different time periods show the different times for the people involved, from slaves to modern day icons of industries. The story does feel like it does have too much going on, because when you put together the truth, it would impossible to see how certain moments would be happening all together. The acting in the film is strong throughout, with Janelle Monae being great to watch through both sides of everything. It is the story that is the biggest weakness, because it just ends up not connecting in a way which would make sense.



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Movie Review

12 Hour Shift (2020) Movie Review

12 Hour Shift – Deviously Dark

Director: Brea Grant

Writer: Brea Grant (Screenplay)

Starring: Angela Bettis, David Arquette, Chloe Farnworth, Mick Foley, Kit Williamson, Nikea Gamby-Turner

Plot: Bodies start to pile up when a drug-user nurse and her cousin try to find a replacement kidney for an organ trafficker.

Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: 12 Hour Shift starts as Mandy (Bettis) is starting her 12-hour-shift as a nurse, she takes a couple of drugs to keep her going, while preparing the deal with her cousin Regina (Farnworth) to transfer organs to an organ dealer Nicholas (Foley).

When the exchange doesn’t go as planned, Regina turns to Mandy to get another kidney, which will se the pair looking to create a number of potential victims, before the bodies start piling up.

Thoughts on 12 Hour Shift

Characters & Performances – Mandy is a drug abusing nurse that has been transporting organs with her cousin on a side business for a while, her latest deal seems to be done, with her usual cold personality coming off with the patients, she is forced into getting another kidney when her cousin messes up, leading to her needing to work around the hospital in search for someone about to die, cleaning up the mess left in her way. Angela Bettis does bring this constantly busy character to life with ease. Jefferson is a convict bought into the hospital, he is the prime suspect when the bodies start turning up, always in the shadows of Mandy’s night. David Arquette looks like he has fun with this supporting character, though we don’t see enough of what he could have bought to this film. Regina the cousin who transports the organs, she does get easily distracted and becomes dumb character through the events. She is trying to fix the error she has made which sees her only making more. Chloe Farnworth plays this role well, keeping everything together, not hitting the over the top silly, hitting the dumb role well. The rest of the supporting characters are fun through the film, each offer something different, the odd laugh along the way.

Story – The story here follows the 12-hour-shift for a drug abusing, organ dealing nurse after the deal goes wrong and people start dying in the hospital. This is a story that does take place over one night which does show us the chaos involved in the story, it does cram plenty into the night, with lots of mystery, comedy and will get us wondering who will make it through the night alive. Most of the story does follow Mandy needing to keep everything under control, while Regina just makes things more complicated for her, which will add to the humour in the film.

Themes – 12 Hour Shift does give us a very dark tone of comedy, with how certain scenes unfold, with colourful characters that show us just how many different people you might well be working with. We don’t dive into enough horror, even if we have the mystery about the bodies piling up, turning more into an action film about getting out alive. The film is mostly set inside the hospital, which will contain the action going on through the film, within the contain corridors and different patients ‘s rooms.

Final Thoughts – 12 Hour Shift is a dark comedy that will get laughs to cover up the chaos going on through the film.

FrightFest Presents and Signature Entertainment present 12 Hour Shift on Digital Platforms 25th January 2021

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Catch Up 2020 – U – Underwater (2020) Movie Review

Director: William Eubank

Writer: Brian Duffield, Adam Cozad (Screenplay) Brian Duffield (Story)

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Jessica Henwick, T.J. Miller, Vincent Cassel, John Gallagher Jr, Mamoudou Athie, Fiona Rene, Amanda Troop, Gunner Wright

Plot: A crew of aquatic researchers work to get to safety after an earthquake devastates their subterranean laboratory. But the crew has more than the ocean seabed to fear.


Tagline – 7 Miles Below the Ocean Surface Something Has Awakened

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Nice Underwater Horror

Story: Underwater starts when the underwater research facility is hit by an earthquake, compromising the whole station, Norah (Stewart), Captain (Cassel) Paul (Miller), Emily (Henwick), Smith (Gallagher Jr) and Rodrigo (Athie) are left stranded after the escape pods are used, leading to them needing to make a daring journey across the ocean floor to their own option for rescue.

With the journey already facing obstacles, the crew find themselves facing up against an unknown creature from deep, one that will hunt anything in their territory.

Thoughts on Underwater

Characters – Norah takes centre stage of this story, she is an engineer on the facility, she knows how to deal with crisis, needing to take on difficult decisions along the way, she will dive in head force to make sure other could make it and will use her knowledge to stay ahead of the problems that might come her way. Captain takes the lead with the plan, he gives the crew two options, neither of them is letting them die, he remains the leader through the problems they are facing. Emily is the youngster member of the team trying to get out, she is the least experience when it comes to diving with the rest of the team needing to give her more time, while still rushing her.

Performances – Kristen Stewart does standout in this role, giving us a strong leading performance as the tough smart character, we see everything from her point of view. When we go into the supporting Jessica Henwick, Vincent Cassel, T.J. Miller and John Gallagher Jr all give performances that play to the strengths of the characters in the film.

Story – The story here follows the crew of an underwater research facility needing to fight to survive after an Earthquake destroys part of their base, with a new unknown threat from the deep looking to hunt them down too. This story does get straight into the action with the incident starting the film, which does help us get right into wanting to know how they will survive, without needing to get too involved with the backstory behind the characters, as they wouldn’t need to discuss this as part of their everyday routine. This could easily be compared to many films, while it still gives us something fresh with the approach to how they look to escape, it shows the calm required and how the plan could work to survive, the pace keeps things flowing nicely is everything needed for the story to keep us engaged.

Action/Horror – The action in the film does follow the destruction happening around them with the race against time, add in the creatures which give us a horror inclusion to the story which plays into not knowing what is in the dark or the bottom of ocean.

Settings – The film remains at the bottom of the oceans which shows us how the team must stay calm to escape, with the unknown out there waiting for them.

Special Effects – The effects are used to show the destruction which looks wonderful, with the creatures looking good even though they remain in the dark.


Scene of the Movie – The earthquake.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Getting to know people too much.

Final Thoughts – This is a nice little action horror, it flows nicely and doesn’t want to stop once the early action starts, even if it might have a couple of traits borrowed from other successful franchises.

Overall: Enjoyable Horror.

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Movie Review

Rattlers 2 (2020) Movie Review

Director: Dustin Ferguson

Writer: Josh Price, Lee Turner (Screenplay)

Starring: Mel Novak, Brinke Stevens, Dawna Lee Heising, Jennifer Nangle, Shawn C Phillips, Julie Anna Prescott, Peter Stickles, Mercedes Peterson

Plot: A series of fatal rattlesnake attacks in the California desert re-opens an investigation that began 45 years ago.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Rattlers 2 starts when a small desert town and surrounding area starts to see a fresh set of fatal rattlesnake attacks, with large numbers striking the local area and Sheriff Wilson (Carney) looking to protect the area before the body count adds up.

As the body do sadly pile up, the snakes start to take over the town with the battle to save the people before it is too late.

Thoughts on Rattlers 2

Thoughts – Rattlers 2 is a film that is paying full-blown respect to the 1970’s B-movie that knows they don’t have the money to go big, but do end up have a big body count to give us screams coming from each corner of the film. This is going to be one film that is only going to be enjoyed by the fans of the B-movie fans, it doesn’t give us enough time to get invested in the characters with most characters we meet are being used as disposable to create the big body count. This will go down as a film you could easily watch late at night and will give us entertainment.

Final Thoughts – Rattlers 2 is a late-night horror treat.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Catch-Up 2020 – T – Apocalypse of Ice (2020) Movie Thoughts

This is going un T because of the star Tom Sizemore.

Director: Maximilian Elfeldt

Writer: Ryan Ebert (Screenplay)

Starring: Tom Sizemore, Emily Killian, Ramiro Leal, Torrey Richardson, Jake Holley, Tania Fox

Plot: Already in the throes of a viral pandemic, a massive polar vortex threatens to cover nearly all of Earth in ice. When it’s discovered the only chance of survival from the cold is a 100-mile temperate zone near the equator, a virologist, with the pandemic’s only cure, must reach the safe zone within 24 hours if humanity is to have any hope of survival.


Tagline – In the heart of a pandemic, a new disaster appears.

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Apocalypse of Ice starts with the world dealing with a virus that has forced social distancing across the globe with scientists desperately working on a cure, with Jill (Killian) leading the best hope. Reggie (Sizemore) has his partner discover a potential new ice age coming, which will see the connection needing to figure out how to save the lives of everyone on the planet.

Jill looks to gather her family and head to Ecuador on the equator which see believes is going to be the only safe place from the threat coming their way.

Thoughts on Apocalypse of Ice

Final Thoughts – Apocalypse of Ice continues Asylum’s dive into disaster movies where they have a concept which could be very entertaining, a race to the equator before an ice age storm hits the population. It seems like a fun idea, but it is all executed in a set of simple events, drive down an icy road, escape an icy prison, we just don’t get the urgency of what is going on, even though it is complete time based. The acting in the film isn’t very good which doesn’t help with the poor special effects, leading to the whole film not hitting any of the marks it could have with what we had to play with. The only redeeming quality we have in this film comes from the fact the women are made out to be the strong characters with the men looking like the idiots who need saving.



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Movie Review

The Doorman (2020) Movie Review

The Doorman – Die Hard in a Hotel

Director: Ryuhei Kitamura

Writer: Loir Chefetz, Joe Swanson (Screenplay) Greg Williams, Matt McAllester (Story)

Starring: Ruby Rose, Jena Reno, Aksel Hennie, rupert Evans, Julian Feder, Kila Lord Cassidy

Plot: A woman returns from combat and befriends a family in NYC. A gang of thieves plot to take the family’s valuables, and she is all that stands between them and their lives.


Tagline – Her Second chance is their Last Hope
Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Doorman starts as we see how Ali (Rose) gets caught up in an ambush in her military service, being the lone survivor, Ali is trying to put her life back together in New York when Uncle Pat (Whitchurch) gets her a job as the Doorman in the Carrington hotel, the same hotel where her late sister’s family live.

With hotel is coming up for renovation, which the lead doorman Borz (Hennie) has been planning for with Victor Dubois (Reno) looking for his fortune in the hotel, it just so happens to be in the same room as Ali’s family Jon Stanton (Evans) and his kids, Max (Feder) and Lily (Cassidy), which will see her needing to use her skills to save her family.

Thoughts on The Doorman

Characters & Performances – Ali is a former decorated soldier who was left traumatised by her last mission leading her to return home to New York City, she is given help from family in the form of a job opportunity, one which will keep her calm and helping people as a doorman. She is given a chance to reconnect with her family, which will become easier when she needs to use all her military skills to save them from criminals that hold them hostage. Ruby Rose does get to show us her action chops here, taking this role and letting it make her one of the strongest action heroines of the year. Victor Dubois is the man behind the criminal action, he has put a team together and believes he will be doing everything for a better cause, to make himself richer, he will get frustrated that the people around him aren’t as smart as he is though. Borz is the doorman that hires Ali, he is however the person that has arranged the operation, he has planted himself in deep, which will give him the connection to the residents in the hotel. Jean Reno is entertaining as the posh villain, while Aksel Hennie is the one who is more of a loose cannon, goes against him well, showing the clash in styles we see. The rest of the cast include the men in the criminal group, who are mostly disposable for Ali to pick off, we also get the family who have been through a tragedy that are falling apart, but this event will start to bring them closer.

Story – The story here follows a former soldier that takes a small job role as a doorman to get her feet back on the ground, reconnect with her family, until she needs to step up and fight to save them from a group of criminals holing them hostage. If you are going to break this story down, there is no easier way than to say it is like Die Hard, it is a lone fighter, fighting back against a group of criminals in a tower building, this time a hotel, that must use their skills to pick them off, one by one. This is a formula that has worked well before and this story does nothing wrong to make this an enjoyable experience. It isn’t difficult to watch, it doesn’t offend, it keeps everything simple and effective.

Themes – The Doorman brings us a broken soldier into an action situation, one where they will need to look to fight back to save loved ones and stop criminals. The action sequences are designed to show off Ruby Rose’s fighting abilities, trying to create a new action star here, which does work for the most part. The singular location shows us how a building being worked on could easily turn into a battleground even in the middle of New York City.

Final Thoughts – The Doorman is a fun action movie, that uses the Die Hard formula well to create a Ruby Rose action character.

The Doorman is available on Digital Download 18 January and DVD 25 January 2021 from Lionsgate UK

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Catch-Up 2020 – R – Greenland (2020) Movie Review

This is under R because of director Ric Roman Waugh.

Director: Ric Roman Waugh

Writer: Chris Sparling (Screenplay)

Starring: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roger Dale Floyd, Scott Glenn, Randal Gonzalez, Rick Pasqualone

Plot: A family struggles for survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster.

Runtime: 1 Hour 59 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Greenland starts as we meet John Garrity (Butler) and his family, wife Allison (Baccarin) and son Nathan (Floyd) who are going about their everyday life, knowing a comet known as Clark is passing by being a major event for a party, only when the first part of the asteroid hits, the shockwave hits John’s neighbourhood.

When John gets a message to inform him, he has been selected for shelter re-location, he must travel with his family to this location to survive a potential global killer coming to Earth, only not everything goes as planned and now John must locate his family and save them before it is too late.

Thoughts on Greenland

Characters – John has a career in building skyscrapers with his reputation being one of the best in the country, he is selected with his family for a re-location shelter when a asteroid is heading towards Earth, he needs to make difficult decisions, but when the plan goes wrong, he must first find his family if he is to have any chance of saving them. Allison is John’s wife, who is left with their son after they are rejected from the plane, she needs to keep his health up as she looks for the next best place to go for safety, believing John is killed in an incident at the airbase. Nathan is the diabetic son that stops the family getting on the plane because they will not accept anyone with an illness, he is put through a series of traumatic experiences looking for safety. We do meet different people that will get involved in helping or hindering the family’s attempts to escape the impending doom.

Performances – Gerard Butler does everything we would expect in the film, having a few glimpses of action, not doing anything wrong in the film, Morena Baccarin works well in her role, with neither needing to do that much work in the film. The support cast is fine, with the surprise actions of certain supporting characters getting more chance to shine.

Story – The story here follows a family as they looks to find safety after an asteroid is going to hit the Earth and destroy a large part of it, if not most of the surface, this does take on what feels like just one chapter of ‘Deep Impact’ with the idea of following an impossible journey to safety, which will see the most unlikely events happen along the way. It could have been a lot more intense or shocking, but by the end we are left with one that doesn’t do anything new, feels safe, even with the peril and fails to give us enough shocking action moments.

Action – The action disappoints more than anything, if you have seen the trailer, you have seen all the best parts, with more focus on the drama over the action.

Settings – The film takes us across America as we look to see how the family is going to find safety, starting in Florida, heading to Greenland, we don’t seem to get any iconic settings being used.


Scene of the Movie – The landing is a beautiful set of shots.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough action.

Final Thoughts – Greenland is a disaster movie that doesn’t seem to pack enough punches for everything it is trying to sell us on, despite the large scale destruction involved.