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Reviews
Immaculate (2024)
Hail Sydney, full of grace.
This is a well paced, no holds barred horror fest that isn't ashamed of what it is and what it ultimately delivers. There's no Megan-type winks to the audience, instead it's decidedly Barbarian in style. Also, it's more of an Italian film than anything else, with at least half the dialogue and nearly all of the production crew being Italian - which I see as a good thing.
The cinematography was excellent as was music and sound, but what really made it work and hang together was a top draw performance from Ms Sweeney. In just 89 minutes you'll have the divine pleasure of seeing her transform from angelic novice to... well, you'll have to see for yourself.
House of the Dragon: The Lord of the Tides (2022)
Found it hard to concentrate
My mind started to wander watching this episode. Who are all these people exactly? What do they want? When will they go away? It felt like the inevitable culmination of all the previous episodes which failed, one after the other, to create a world I could believe in (dragons and all) or characters I could care about. Tell me fair lady, who amongst the riot of faces am I supposed to love? And whom, my lord, should I love to hate? To be honest, the whole cast feel like a bunch of extras filling in time till the real actors playing the interesting characters turn up. Shame, shame. That said, nice sets and fab costumes.
Alien: Covenant (2017)
Anything with David the not-so-paranoid android gets my vote
A film with some cracking ideas, decent effects, interesting characters and a plot that moves at a good pace.
Yes, our space pioneers make a wealth of poor decisions (as in Prometheus), but I prefer to see this as an arch critique of the many tropes of the sci-fi genre rather than, ahem, weak writing.
And then there's David, the ultimate anti-hero you can't help loving. He gets all the best lines, delivered in his trademark Lawrence of Arabia voice, and plenty of action. Fab ending too, which left me keyed up for a final instalment, though I fear that may never come to pass.
Ignore the negative reviews and give it a try.
Xx.
The Reason I Jump (2020)
Not convinced
The quotes from the book on which the film is based give the impression that locked within every autistic is a literary genius waiting to get out. But the moment author David Mitchell made an appearance it was difficult not to see the whole thing as a middle class fantasy of what it is like to be autistic.
Indeed, a little research shows that there is scepticism amongst medical professionals over the authenticity of the original text. Perhaps if there had been less style and more content we could have more easily decided for ourselves. As it was I felt more manipulated than informed.
BigBug (2022)
Charming enough
Quite entertaining to watch and some good ideas in the design department. But ultimately it's cliché characters doing cliche things with a throw away ending.
Reminiscence (2021)
Greatly exceeds expectations
One of the most poignant and affecting films I've seen in decades. A totally absorbing experience that you'll have trouble shaking yourself from when you leave the cinema. Don't be misled by the reviews and even the trailer. This is not a rehash of Inception or Bladerunner. It's far closer to classics like Vertigo. So good.
Breach (2020)
Curiously engaging
Having read the many neg reviews here I was full prepared to watch this 'gem' for five minutes then give up and watch Nomadland. But having the expectation that I was going to be watching 'the worst film ever' meant that I was, ironically, more readily accepting of its many flaws. In fact I found the Red Dwarf-style FX quite endearing and even found myself routing for some of the characters. I'd say this film shows how poor a film can be, and still be quite watchable.