Tag: 2021

The Year the Film Was Released

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Movie Review

HellKat (2021) Movie Review

Director: Scott Jeffrey, Rebecca Matthews, Michael Hoad

Writer: Michele Pacitto, Jordan Rockwell (Screenplay)

Starring: Sarah T Cohen, Abi Casson Thompson, Frances Katz, Ricardo Freitas, Ryan Davies, Serhat Metin

Plot: A fallen MMA fighter must win a netherworld no-holds-barred death tournament against man, beast and demon to save her soul.

Runtime: 1 Hour 18 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: HellKat starts when Katrina ‘HellKat’ Bash (Cohen) loses her latest MMA fight, leaving to go on a soul-searching trip. Katrina doesn’t realize she has made it to the netherworld, seeking a bar for answers, she learns the reality of the situation she is in.

Katrina is in the middle of the road to hell, needing to fight to escape, not just people, but monsters and creatures a like, each one becoming more deadly as she reaches the end, if she can make it.

Thoughts on HellKat

Characters & Performances – Katrina Bash is an MMA fighter who has lost her latest fight, putting her star status down the drain, losing the creditability her name once had. She finds herself in a bar, cleaning for tequila, before she learns that she is in the netherworld forced to fight for a chance to make it out of her destination. Sarah T Cohen is the strongest of the performers in this film, she is the most grounded of the characters we meet here. We do end up meeting a lot of different colourful characters here, be it the man running the fights, the all-knowing barkeep or the creatures we meet setting up the fights. The problem with most of these characters it that we just don’t get to see how deadly they can be, we tend to see the big bad creatures defeated too easily, not giving us a person we want to see Katrina get her hands on.

Story – The story follows a fallen MMA star who finds herself in the netherworld, needing to fight her way through the different amounts of enemies placed on front of her to escape. This story could well have been massively entertaining, we know the fights could be massive, entertaining everything, while the tagged idea of escape the netherworld would be the stepping stones to escape. This is the reason why so many fighting movies work, we know the basics, each fight offers a different more deadly challenge, but this doesn’t deliver that factor. We start slowly with too much time in the bar, dealing with Katrina learning where she is before we get into the combat ready area. This story ends up being easy enough to watch, but you feel it could have been so much more.

Themes – HellKat gives us a fighting movie that doesn’t hit the full heights of the wild over the top concept, it never commits to going big, trying to have the fights in a ground environment, which is often lite badly for the most part again holding back the full concept.

Final Thoughts – HellKat is a film with so much potential that only ends up not living up to the potential it could have shown.

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Movie Review

Paradise Cove (2021) Movie Review

Director: Martin Guigui

Writer: Sherry Klein (Screenplay)

Starring: Todd Grinnell, Mena Suvari, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Eddie Goines, Krista Allen, Horacio Galaviz

Plot: A contractor and his wife move to Malibu to flip his mother’s beach house and are terrorized by the deranged homeless lady living under the house.

Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Paradise Cove starts as Knox (Grinnell) and Tracey (Suravi) are looking to flip the Malibu home of Knox’s mother, which will see them getting the frowns by the neighbours, but it is the homeless lady Bree (Straten) who lives under the beach house that is causing more problems.

As the development starts hitting problems, Tracey is still trying to get pregnant, but it has the nightmares of the Bree is making their lives a living hell.

Thoughts on Paradise Cove

Characters & Performances – Knox is the husband who is looking to develop his mother’s home after her death, he has big plans for the home, to flip it to give his wife a future that is secure, he has to overcome a few legal issues with permits and then a homeless lady he can move out, he is trying to hold everything together despite everything falling apart around him. Todd Grinnell does give us a role which will see him dealing with everything and holding it together, but never looking the confident guy it seems like the character wants to be. Tracey is the wife of Knox who has been trying to have their first child, dealing with the procedures to make it happen, she sees the added stress in her life with the homeless women messing up the plans, even if it means she might learn more about her husband’s family. Mena Suvari might well be the draw for this film, only she seems to be just the ‘partner’ role in the film, not getting enough screen time. Bree is the homeless woman living below the home, she believes the home is hers and will not be bought off, looking to make the lives of the couple a nightmare, she is a lot more calculated than first thought. She is a clear case that shows that trauma will always cause problems with someone’s mental health. Kristin Bauer van Straten brings us this unstable performance, which despite being the villainous role, we do get to feel sympathy about what has happened to her.

Story – The story here follows a couple that are looking to flip a family home only to find themselves dealing with problems including a homeless woman who claims the home is hers. This is a story that does start off well, showing how things could be going better, with the homeless mentally unstable woman causing problems for the dream project. If we kept everything as it was, it would all come off as an easy watch, which could have a mixture of Cape Fear and Fatal Attraction with how the couple are pestered. We do end up diving into the idea that she does believe she has a right to the home, which we get moments of investigation, but we just don’t go deep enough into it, which leaves us feeling like we could have had much more.

Themes – Paradise Cove is a thriller showing a couple dealing with the nightmares thrown at them by their homeless woman who believes she should have, we get creepy moments, but never becomes as intense as it could have been.

Final Thoughts – Paradise Cove is a tidy thriller that gets the everything right, just not everything on a truly intense level.

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Movie Review

The Dig (2021) Movie Review

Director: Simon Stone

Writer: Moira Buffini (Screenplay) John Preston (Novel)

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn

Plot: An archaeologist embarks on the historically important excavation of Sutton Hoo in 1938.


Tagline – Nothing stays lost forever.

Runtime: 1 Hour 52 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Dig starts as Edith Pretty (Mulligan) hires Basil Brown (Fiennes) to excavate the mounds in Sutton Hoo. Basil isn’t qualified as an archaeologist, but his has the experience in excavating, his skills have drawn Edith to want him to work on the dig.

When the team finds the beginnings of a boat, it draws everyone into the search, seeing Basil needing to decide if he just wants to be part of the discovery or not. Before the team discover one of the most famous discoveries of the century.

Thoughts on The Dig

Characters & Performances – Edith Pretty is the land owner that has been looking for someone to complete the work her and her husband looked to do, excavate the mounds on her land. She is sick, which is starting to catch up with her, looking to get the right person involved in the dig. She watches over what is being discovered, using the law to make sure the right thing is done. Carey Mulligan is having a great year, with another brilliant performance after Promising Young Woman. Basil Brown is the excavator hired by Edith to help her with the dig, he has worked around the world bringing a calming presence to the dig. He becomes a positive role model on Edith son, Robert and is looking for a chance to have credit for his work. Ralph Fiennes is wonderful to watch here, he brings us a man that will always be searching to find something more from his life. We do get a host of people are end up getting involved in the dig, each with a different level of ability which will guide them and teach them about what they can discover by working together.

Story – The story here follows a widowed mother that hires an excavator to help her with a dig involving a series of mounds on her land, which will lead to one of the biggest discoveries of the century. This is a story that is here to show how important certain discoveries are in the world, there is no doubt this was a huge moment in history. The problem with this story is that is gets side tracked with a romantic angle involved two people we barely to get know, leaving the main characters to either spend time digging or watching digging, nothing else. When we have a more serious side happen, we get the big conversations, which are the best part of the film, but this gets bogged down by a side of the story we don’t need.

Themes – The Dig is a drama that showed two people Edith Pretty and Basil Brown who were the first two people to discover a part of history, it will show how they would go down in history with what they found, but does seem to skip over the side of the story, which revolved around getting one of the names seen. The settings take us to a place where we can fully believe what would be going on in the background of the impending war, showing the new dangers that might come this way.

The Dig is a slow moving drama about one of the biggest discoveries of all time, which gets caught up in a romantic subplot, which goes nowhere.

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Movie Review

Journey to Royal: A WWII Rescue Mission (2021) Movie Review

Director: Christopher Johnson

Plot: WWII hero with the 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron, Lt. Royal Stratton, leads a deadly mission to save the lives of nine downed airmen adrift in enemy waters of a war-torn South Pacific. Immersive cinematography and gripping action, mixed with firsthand accounts and historical images, showcase the valor of this squadron who faced overwhelming odds to bring their brothers home.

Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Journey to Royal: A WWII Rescue Mission starts as we learn about the 4th Emergency Rescue Squadron that during World War II, helped search the open waters for down aircrafts, risking their lives in the rescues in the open water, which could be filled with enemies.

We learn about the different rescues from the survivors, who recount their experiences and from the relatives that have heard the stories from their loved ones, showing how important these rescues were to the soldiers & pilots.

Thoughts on Journey to Royal: A WWII Rescue Mission

Thoughts – Journey to Royal: A WWII Rescue Mission is a documentary that highlights the amazing efforts these brave men did rescuing the pilots from World War II missions, with daring open water rescues. We get a mix of the recounting the stories from the survivors to the recreations of those events, that do hold back on the horrors, but show us the situations that the rescue crews found themselves in. in a time when history is so important to remember, this will go down as one of the more unknown stories, which shows us just how important it was to get the heroic events out there for the world to see. Each personal story adds a new layer to what we are learning, showing they generations after will stand proud of the efforts shown by their ancestors. 

Final Thoughts – Journey to Royal: A WWII Rescue Mission highlights to true heroics soldiers, pilots and many others showed during World War II.



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Movie Review

The White Tiger (2021) Movie Review

The White Tiger – A Brilliant Examination of Class in India

Director: Ramin Bahrani

Writer: Ramin Bahrini (Screenplay) Aravind Adiga (Book)

Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Rajkummar Rao, Adarsh Gourav, Mahesh Manjrekar, Perrie Kapernaros

Plot: The epic journey of a poor Indian driver who must use his wit and cunning to break free from servitude to his rich masters and rise to the top of the heap.

Runtime: 2 Hours 5 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The White Tiger starts as we meet Balram (Gourav) a young man from India that grew up in the poor part of the country, known as the darkness, he knows he wants better only he believes he will only ever be a servant, finding a role as a driver for Ashok (Rao) and his wife Pinky (Chopra).

As the three become friends, despite Balram still working for them, they show him respect as an employee, rather than seeing as a servant, an incident changes everything, with the elders looking for Balram to take the fall, this is when he decides he needs to stop letting the rich take advantage of the poor.

Thoughts on The White Tiger

Characters & Performances – Balram grew up in the poorest part of India, he never got an education or facing much of a future, until he takes a job as a driver, seeing himself as a servant, working for one of the richest families around, he is treated badly until he starts working for the son of the family who has seen more of the world, places where servants are treated with respect, he sees the good in him and his wife, but always finds himself back at the bottom of the food chain. He is our narrator and we learn from the opening that he has made it rich, we are learning how this happened and how he refused to let the rich walk over the poor. Adarsh Gourav gives us the strongest performance in the film, seeing the moments where he is breaking down are the most powerful moments in the film. Ashok is the son of the family that give Balram the job, he has spent time in America, which has seen him open his eyes to treating people more equally, sticking up for Balram, but always being in his father shadow of traditions. Rajkummar Rao does everything very well through the film, showing the difficulties of being from power, wanting to be more accepting, but not understanding the divide. Pinky is the wife of Ashok who has always pushed him to treat people better, she is sick of the divides in the country and pushes for the family to treat Balram with respect, challenging the traditions of class in the country. Priyanka Chopra does bring us a strong character one we would have liked to have seen more off in the film. We do get a host of elders who all are looking at different people through different eyes who could both make a break the careers, caught up in the traditions instead of forward thinking.

Story – The story here follows the life of a young man who grew up in the poor side of India to become a driver for a powerful family, giving him a chance to learn about the world and put himself into a position of power, a place where he is telling the story of how he got there. The story will give us an examination of class in India, seeing how the poor are never given much of a chance to make it in life, expected to work for the rich as servants, not employees, we focus on how one man looked to break the traditions in the culture after learning from everything that he sees as wrong in the previous methods. The one big weakness does come from the narration meaning we know success is going to happen, so anything truly bad is only a stepping stone or learning curve for the man.

Themes – The White Tiger is a slick crime drama that shows how one man started at the bottom and worked his way up from servant to business man who never imagined making the money he could have in life, we are focused more on the cultural change happening in India, moving away from masters and slaves and more into the business world of opportunities and business.

The White Tiger is a smart, slick and stylish crime drama bringing to light the culture change in India.

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Movie Review

Outside the Wire (2021) Movie Review

Outside the Wire – Standard War Movie

Director: Mikael Hafstrom

Writer: Rowan Athale, Rob Yescombe (Screenplay)

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Damson Idris, Pilou Asbaek, Michael Kelly, Kristina Tonteri-Young, Brady Dowad, Henry Garrett

Plot: In the near future, a drone pilot sent into a war zone finds himself paired with a top-secret android officer on a mission to stop a nuclear attack.


Tagline – Defiant by design.

Runtime: 1 Hour 54 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Outside the Wire starts when Lieutenant Thomas Harp (Idris) a drone pilot goes against orders to hit a missile strike, which will see two marines killed, instead of being court marshalled, he is sent into combat in the Ukraine to work with Leo (Mackie) a top-secret android officer that has intelligence on the warlord leading the battle against Victor Koval (Asbaek) who is leading the war to take Ukraine back into Russia.

Working with Leo taking Harp on his mission, which will see him needing to go head to head with the warlord on a mission where Leo has put himself into a position where he is willing to help more than any human soldier could, teaching Harp the reason why he was redeployed here.

Thoughts on Outside the Wire

Characters & Performances – Lieutenant Thomas Harp is a drone pilot who has an excellent record until he goes against orders to try and save as many members as possible of a unit ends up seeing two marines killed, his punishment is to get sent to the ground to experience active combat under an android soldier, where he will get to see the effects of his work from the sky on the local population and learn the fight isn’t just on the computer screens. Damson Idris does a great job in this film. Captain Leo is an android that has been collecting intel for the military in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with the Americans trying to keep the peace, he shows Harp around, showing him the consequences of war, where he does end up learning more about what could be the right thing. Anthony Mackie in the leading role is the most entertaining part of the film, with his charisma being the part of the film which keeps everything flowing nicely. We get to meet a lot of military figures that all have their own opinion on Harp, which will show how he needs to prove himself to them, while also meeting the residents that are involved in the war, the warlord striking fear in the people.

Story – The story here follows a drone pilot whose mistake leaves him being sent to conflict zone to learn about the consequences of his action, only to find himself in the middle of a battle which could bring about the start of the next world war. This story does show us how war has been getting fought in different ways, without a soldier ever needing to leave his own country, while the ground will still have the same problems of consequences which will cause people to go in different directions with who to blame, we get to see how a man-made intelligence system will study the problem and look to see what the best solution would be to save more people.

Themes – Outside the Wire does bring us plenty of war action which will have plenty of cuts to chop up the action and not make anything as smooth as it could be, while the fights Leo gets involved in looks more like a superhero movie that an android fight, the settings do show us just how difficult the environment would be for the victims and we do get some great special effects, which include seeing the body Leo has, which is shocking to see first, but looks amazing.

Outside the Wire is a war movie that might well ask a bigger question, but gets caught up in the action, which has way too many fast cuts.

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Movie Review

The Legend of Santa (2021) Short Movie Review

Director: Andrew de Burgh

Writer: Daniel Colyer (Screenplay)

Plot: When a compassionate bishop sees that his woodcarving hobby has the ability to brighten a poor girl’s life, he sets out on a journey to see that children everywhere have the same opportunity.

Runtime: 6 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Legend of Santa starts as we see how a kind-hearted Bishop Saint Nicholas used his woodcarving hobby to help put a smile on a young girls face, seeing the delight on her face, he decides to help his whole city, before going on his own journey to help children around the world.

Thoughts on The Legend of Santa

Final Thoughts – The Legend of Santa is a short animated movie that does rely on the music to move the story along, we get to see one man who wanted to make a difference with a good gesture rather than for their own benefit. The animation technique is different to most you would have seen, which helps make what looks like a tale told through generations that would slowly start to lose part of its reality helping with the faded animation vision. Like I always do with short movie, is ask the question, could this be a full feature and the simple answer is yes, this could tell the same story with a bigger emotional impact. We could easily watch this before a full feature too, with the calming presence before the big story.