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Reviews
The Favourite (2018)
Very average
A good cast with good performances, but there aren't any award-winning performances here. The film looks good, but that's purely because of the locations and costumes. The wide camera becomes tedious after a very short time. The story isn't anywhere near good enough to stop you looking at your watch every few minutes-not even the covert lesbian relationships or modern 'edgy' language can help elevate the tedium. I can only assume that it's the politics within the film industry that was responsible for the multiple nominations and accolades it received. There are far better films out there. It's a pity Ken Russell wasn't alive to take on this project.
Harry & Meghan (2022)
Delusional and empty fairytale
The series references itself as a fairytale and a love story, but there's no real sense of passion or connection between "H" and "M" (as they insist on referring to each other throughout it), moreso a dispassionately scripted, overtly sentimental dramedy, featuring a cast of cold, blank, unlikeable attention-seeking characters. It's clearly been developed with the aim of garnering sympathy for their being hard done by, by both the press and the royal family, but all it manages to do is paint a flat, empty picture of a couple living in a bubble of privilege, who, despite their claims of wanting truth and privacy, sign a £112m deal with the world's largest streaming service to tell a story devoid of any integrity whatsoever. The constant parallels drawn between Diana and "M" are forced and sickening. The endless romantic piano music. The insincerity of Megan's emotional interludes takes away from any sense that Harry might actually be trying to reconcile something in his own feelings towards his family and his mother's death. The entire effort reeks of cynicism and narcissism.
Aliens (1986)
Nail biting stuff!
Arguably the best sequel of the eighties. The last hour is about as edge-of-the-seat, toe curlingly tense as you will see. You'll need a stiff drink or a holiday.
No Offence (2015)
Blindingly brilliant British crime drama
The Brits excel at crime drama, and this is one of the best. Dark, rude, crude, un-PC (there's irony in the title), funny, and with a lot of heart. Great cast, characters and stories. Can't fault it at all, I hope they make more.
The Evil Dead (1981)
Viva Sam Raimi
One the goriest, funniest and most entertaining horror films ever made. A must-see for anyone remotely interested in film or horror. One could easily put together a list of flaws, but that would be pointless. The film makers clearly revelled in their ideas, humour and fake blood.
Top Gun (1986)
Top Gun shouldn't be a film I like.
It's full to the brim of all the Americanisms I abhor culturally, but after thirty-six years I still find myself coming back to it.
It's an amalgamation of all the eighties cheese and clichés-in the plot, the script, the characters, the cinematography, and the soundtrack. It's got everything an all-American film would have in 1986: military, uniforms, upturned collars, tapered back and sides, hand signals, Ray-Ban Aviators, machoism, slang, catchphrases, acronyms, fist pumping, high-fives, six packs, tans, sweat-glistening hard bodies, men hugging other men through gritted white teeth while fighting back tears. It's got those shallow, easily memorable quotes that you just know the script writer thought were unbelievably clever at the time. It's got a soundtrack of anthemic, middle-of-the-road synth-laden AOR. And it's got endless layers of saccharine-sweet sentimentality. It's like an ad, or a militaristic and cultural propaganda film.
And it's an incredible watch. All those unbearable clichés are carefully placed around each other to create a film that is utterly satisfying at almost every level. Despite the complete lack of chemistry between Cruise and McGillis, and overlooking the cardboard-cut-out nature of the film's characters in general, the cast is eminently watchable in their own right--some already had a pedigree, others were building one. Also keep in mind that Cruise's breakout film, Risky Business, was less than three years before this, and his immediate predecessor to Top Gun-Legend-was a huge flop that he was trying to salvage a reputation from. And he nails it. With his twenty-four-year-old charm, I've-got-everything-to-prove arrogance, and smart-arse pearly smile.
The cinematography is eighties, ethereal heaven. Filmed in perpetual twilight, there are lots of coloured (mostly blue and yellow) graduates and sunset filters. Jets and pilots in silhouette against graduated sky, long back-lit shots of Cruise on his bike on a treelined avenue, and lots of hazy heat shimmer. The aerial sequences are totally captivating, despite how difficult they were to film, given the cumbersome nature of camera technology in 1986. There's a uniquely fine grain throughout. A beautiful film to watch even without sound, the ethereal visual quality in enhanced by the synth-heavy soundtrack.
I've lost count of how many times I've watched Top Gun, and every time I do sit down to watch it, I expect the gloss to have worn a little thin. But it doesn't.
Kill Thy Neighbour (2021)
The return of Monty Python
I didn't make it to the end of the first episode. It's like an extended Monty Python sketch. The tone of the presenters has the earnestness and dimwittedness of the Piranha Brothers sketch, and is made even better because it's set on an allotment. As sad as it is that an old lady is killed, the story is about as intriguing as someone popping out for a pint of milk and losing their wallet.
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
The only MCU film to see, if you're not really a fan of MCU...
I got tired of comic book films over a decade ago. Shallow writing, unnecessary, irritating one-liners, and lack-lustre directing, all held together with overblown CGI. This film, however, has everything that MCU should have kept for its superhero franchise---serious writing, a stellar cast of straight actors, a depth and adult-like darkness to the story, very intelligent use of CGI with well choreographed, underplayed action sequences, and ALL the heart of the original seventies TV series. Not entirely a candy floss film for kids.