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Copycat (2016)
Awful acting, terrible script
When I watched this there was one very positive review which I now know was probably written by one of the crew.
I have to confess I didn't make it past half way, it was awful. The acting from Wostal and in particular Machate was diabolical - wooden and lifeless. It's a budget flick and that doesn't normally bother me, but in this instance it really felt like I was watching a school play, to the point that when actors were in their own in shot it felt like someone off camera was holding up their lines.
The only half decent actors in this was the Indian guy and the two girls.
The story isn't much good either. Nothing really happens, there's no subtext or depth, and certainly no effort to help you empathise with the characters.
A pretty poor effort all round. One star from me.
Jason Bourne (2016)
If you are a Bourne fan you won't be satisfied
* Although this is marked as spoilers I have tried to keep any movie info very vague *
I am a slightly obsessive Bourne fan. I have probably watched Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum more than 10 times each over the years, and the void left since 2007 lead me to read the books, first by Ludlum then by Lustbader. I'm obviously choosing to ignore Legacy.
Although the plots are actually quite different, the books make you realise why we all loved Identity most of all and why Supremacy and Ultimatum were a good follow up story. Unfortunately this is where version falls down in a major way - the writing. In particular the depth of the story and Bourne's personal connections were missing leading to a lack of empathy with Damon's character. In a way its ironic that they haven't really learned from Legacy.
The books also give you a more engaging picture of Bourne's various struggles, locations that aren't the usual used in most action movies and strengths and weaknesses of his friends and foes.
The end of the film leads us to believe there may be more to the Bourne story and I'm sure most Bourne fans out there would like to see something more like the books, a more pensive tense thriller rather than constantly slamming you with over intensive action sequences.
I'm hoping that the success of this movie, encourages Ludlum or Lustbader to write another book, which Greengrass and Damon turn into a movie.
Unlikely though I fear.
Club Life (2015)
Engaging film, shame about the the EDM soundtrack
I was sceptical about watching this movie but was pleasantly surprised . I like Joseph Ferrara from Entourage, his slightly shy acting style worked well in this movie.
The problem which may cause many seasoned clubbers turn off, pretty much from the beginning, is the use of what's known as EDM as the club's choice of dance music. For the unaware this is the sort of music they play in venues that teenagers going out for the first time frequent rather than somewhere an established 'scene' would go on a regular basis. Ask anyone who has enjoyed themselves in the 90s and 00s and they will tell you what a poor genre of music EDM represents. A good selection of house music tracks would have set a much more convincing musical backdrop, instead it made me think the film was the brainchild of a public school teen with no clubbing experience rather than a true story of those with genuine influence in the New York club scene.
The fact that it was a true story made me persevere and it was worth it. The story moves forward to show hard work pays off and goes into just enough depth of the main character's struggles to keep your attention whilst keeping the flow.
In short worth a watch although it's a good candidate for a re-score
Prometheus (2012)
Sack the writer!!
I hadn't heard much about this movie when I saw it at the cinema, and only realised towards the end that it was the prequel to Alien so my expectations weren't artificially raised.
In my humble opinion there are four key areas where the writing of this film fails:
Believability: I expected the usual blockbuster continuity errors and lack of logic however the amount in this film was so significant it became irritating, and I'm normally a lot more patient with bad films at the cinema. I'm not going to go into each one but believe me there were many. Also there seemed to be very little 'science' involved in this 'science' fiction flick.
Character empathy: There was absolutely none, even less than Alien. So when characters were killed, you didn't really care either way.
Story pace: Very erratic, seemed almost unplanned.
Film Empathy: (**Spoiler Alert**)With this sort of film I feel the audience should be given what they want as the story unfolds. I'm all for twist or two in the story, but telling us at the beginning of a film you are going to explain how we are all created and then move the story on to a pathetic slimy unseen enemy which has nothing to do with the former seems a real let down.
In short this is not a film for anyone with any intelligence. You'll just get angry with it.
Apparently Jon Spaihts was originally asked to write two Alien prequels by Ridley Scott, lets hope Ridley chooses someone else instead!