I genuinely thought I’d seen this film but watching it recently proved I hadn’t. But I’m pleased I have finally seen it!!!

Released in 2011, directed by J. J. Abrams and with Spielberg on the production team you almost know what this film is going to be like right from the start, but instead of being a lazy, by the numbers sci-fi film that we’ve all seen before, this feels fresh and new and exciting.

Theres no denying that the clichés are all there, to the point you can play cliché bingo. Broken family? Check. Shady military unit? Check. Troubled only child? Check. Parent and child reconciliation? Check. Geeky group of friends? Check. Small American town? Check.

But in this case these aren’t bad things, and considering the films that you feel this is a love letter to, they make you happy rather than grind your teeth.

Set in 1979 the film follows a group of friends as they try to make a super 8 film for a competition at school. One night while filming at a train station they see a train crash as it goes past them, releasing something dangerous into the town and this sets in motion the story of the film.

The action sequences as you’d expect with Abrams are big and loud and spectacular, the emotional side is perfect and you can feel the Spielberg influence in those moments, especially when the military take over the town there’s a felling of losing control that echos back to E.T all those years ago.

As I said before the films that have influenced this all have a presence, The Goonies, Stand By Me, E.T, Cloverfield, Explorers all can be felt but not to the point they feel like they’re taking over and you can also see where and this film has become an influence itself in things like Stranger Things.

Overall this a great way to spend a couple of hours, especially if like me you’re around the 35-40 mark. Some people didn’t like the ending, I didn’t mind it, yes it’s kind of abrupt but the story is over and anything else after it would really just be filler. Also, if you do watch it, let the end credits play as the super 8 film that our gang were making is shown and I have to say it’s brilliant!!

9/10

Despite being a huge film fan, and films being the primary topic of the podcast, I do really enjoy reading. I don’t read half as much as I probably should, but still, when the chance comes along I’m more than happy to disappear into a book.

Like most of the world I absolutely love the Millennium trilogy, starting with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and followed superbly by The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest, all written by Stieg Larsson who sadly passed away before he could see the global phenomenon that his books would become. In Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomqvist he has created two incredibly detailed and often tragic protagonists as well as a worthy supporting cast.

There had always been rumors that Larsson had early, unfinished drafts of more stories, but his widow had made the decision that they would not be released. A new author was found and in 2015 we had The Girl In The Spiders web, written by Lagercrantz.

Right from the start it does feel different, it’s hard to explain how, but I found myself having to remind myself that this was a different author. The story really starts with computer scientist Frans Balder, a genius really, who has left his job in America to return to Sweden to look after his autistic son August. Then we find that Balder has been targeted by a criminal organization called the Spiders, it’s this chain of events that lead us to finally meeting Lisbeths twin sister Camilla.

Camilla was oddly absent from the original trilogy, we knew she existed but that was all. I always found her absence to be deliberate, as if Larsson had plans for her at some point. I don’t know if she is what Larsson imagined, but she is absolute evil. The polar opposite to Lisbeth, who can be hard, but not without reason. Camilla is beautiful, seductive, manipulative and totally without remorse as she now heads up her fathers empire, now rebranded as The Spiders.

Caught up in all of this (as always) is Mikael Blomqvist. As much as I like him in the other books, here I find him a bit wet. In the original trilogy he and Salander were different, but equals. In this book he is outshone by her almost from the start. It’s a shame, but as she is “The Girl” in the titles of this series it’s nothing that can really be complained about.

The story falls into a traditional cat and mouse format, which again isn’t a bad thing really, it keeps the pace of the story high, which probably is the best thing that could be done to follow Hornets nest, which was a great read, but was largely a courtroom drama of sorts.

The one complaint I have is that Lisbeth and Camilla don’t meet face to face, the closest we get is that they see each other from a distance. Lagercrantz has written two more books to follow this, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye and The Girl Who Lived Twice, so I’m sure we will get that showdown at some point, I’m looking forward to seeing how these characters develop with Lagercrantz, even though he has said he won’t be writing a forth book.

Over all I found this book to be very respectful, almost affectionate to the original trilogy and that bodes well for the next two books.

One thing I think I should say is the book is totally different to the film that came out in 2018. I found it funny that even though I’d seen the film of this book, I still imagined Lisbeth looking like Rooney Mara, or Noomi Rapace. Trying to picture her as looking like Claire Foy just didn’t work for me.

A worthy read and a solid first entry into a new trilogy 8.5/10

This is one of those films that kind of appears from nowhere then promptly blows everyone away. It was nominated for 6 academy awards, winning 2, including best actor for Anthony Hopkins who at 83 became the oldest winner of that award.

Adapted from a play called La Père, also written by director Florian Zellor, the story follows Anthony (played by Hopkins), his struggle with dementia and the effect that has on his daughter Anne, played by the ever brilliant Olivia Colman.

This film is clever, incredibly clever, in that it’s told almost entirely from Anthony’s point of view, we as the audience feel his frustration and confusion as faces change, the lay out and decoration of his flat changes and time appears to loop, all done very purposefully to give the viewer a feel of how people with dementia start to lose track and indeed trust in what they see and remember.

For me this did echo ever so slightly of Joker, in that our narrator is unreliable at best and like Joker, the idea, the technique is executed beautifully.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Hopkins and Colman can give performances this good, they’re 2 of the very best, but here they are absolutely incredible and perhaps the biggest surprise is that Colman didn’t win any kind of award for her role. Her performance as long suffering daughter Anne is a painful reminder that this awful disease doesn’t just affect the person with it, but those around them as well.

I think I’ll struggle to see a better film this year, yes there will be ones I enjoy more or are more traditional blockbuster types, but I can’t imagine any of them will be like this.

A perfect 10/10

https://youtu.be/60wDuQMJl2Q

Back in 2013, director James Wan introduced us to Ed and Lorraine Warren, played brilliantly by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, in The Conjuring. A loosely true ish story about possession, hauntings and everything in between. It was a huge success and for me, one of the best horror films I’d seen for quite some time, going back to an old fashioned style of creating an atmosphere for the viewer instead of just resorting to blood and guts.

A sequel was inevitable, but we got far more than that, with spin offs, stand alone films, prequels all happening to create the so called “conjuringverse”

So here we are, with the 8th film in this shared universe and I have to say it’s one of the more enjoyable and better executed. I own all of these films and love them all, but I will say that some are very definitely not as good as others. This film takes place in 1981, 10 years after the events of the first Conjuring film and is really the first time in this series that we think about the fact our protagonists are aging, it’s clear in this film that time and lifestyle (if you’ve seen the other films you’ll understand) are starting to catch up with Ed and Lorraine.

The story once again has one foot loosely in reality (or at the very least in history) and follows the story of the exorcism of David Glatzel and then Arne Johnson, a man who stabbed his landlord to death and used possession as his defense. The Glatzel setting is really well done, we meet them just before the exorcism takes place and what I really liked was seeing the state of the house, broken glass, smashed furniture, claw marks on the walls all point to hell having broken loose, but never explained. I found it nice that the film trusts the viewer to imagine what happened rather than having to explain it all. In the case of Johnson I would have liked to see some of the court case, but these are paranormal films, not courtroom dramas.

I’m aware this is still a very recent release so I won’t go too much into the story so I don’t spoil it for anyone, but I will say I had a very enjoyable 2 hours. All the good stuff from these films is present, including the traditional long sweeping shot through a building, in this case the dog kennels where Johnson lives with his girlfriend (I think my favorite is the shot through the Hodgson house in the Conjuring 2). Another high point for me is where Ed and Lorraine help solve a case of one dead girl and one missing, seeing the emotional strain on Lorraine as she experiences the events almost first hand is almost as upsetting for the viewer as it is for her, and a reminder that this isn’t the same Lorraine we met back in 2013.

The biggest highlight for me though is seeing Wilson and Farmiga as the Warrens again, I love their chemistry and dynamics, you genuinely believe that they would both pay the ultimate price so that the other could live.

We’ll undoubtedly get more films in this shared universe and hopefully more Ed and Lorraine, this film is set in 1981, Ed Warren passed away in 2006 so there’s still plenty of time and more stories to tell. It’ll be interesting if they can ever hit the heights of the first Conjuring movie, or Annabelle: creation (the best 2 in my opinion), but I’ll look forward to any and all future releases regardless.

A solid 8.5/10

W

I have to admit, despite some great reviews that this film got on its release in 2019 I never quite got interested enough to make the effort to see it. But I came across it on Netflix the other night and thought I’d give it a go. And I’m damn pleased I did!!

Staring the ever brilliant Octavia Spencer as the title character Sue Ann “Ma” Ellington, Luke Evans as Ben Hawkins, Juliette Lewis as Erica Thompson and Diana Silvers as Maggie Thompson, the film really starts with Maggie and her new classmates being befriended by the seemingly kind but lonely Ma. Ma allows the youngsters to drink and party in her basement, even buying them the drink and providing them with snacks. It’s a weird mix to watch, sort of 50% kind, 50% unnerving.

Eventually more and more youngsters are hanging out at Ma’s, but this coincides with Ma’s obsession with her young friends getting darker and darker, with many of them reporting missing jewelry. Our group of youngsters decide that they will no longer go to Ma’s and to cut off all contact with her, but she gets them to meet her, explaining that her odd behavior is down to medication for prostate cancer. Now, I’m not a doctor, or an expert on human anatomy, but……..

(I like to think this is just Ma playing on the naivety of her young friends and not a mistake in the writing)

The final act is pretty graphic in how it shows just how damaged Ma is. I should mention that there are flashbacks threaded throughout this film that show Ma as a young teen and how she was treated by her schoolmates and it’s these moments that change the feel of the film from fatal attraction-esq to almost a anti bullying message, all wrapped up in a traditional thriller.

All in all what director Tate Taylor has created is a very clever film that moves at a fair pace, but doesn’t feel rushed or stretched and, most importantly, is entertaining. Taylor’s high point for me so far is 2016’s The girl on the train, but this is right up there I think, helped by a great showing by Spencer as our protagonist.

A solid effort by all involved 8.5/10

Welcome to my first blog type thing!!

You’ll have to be patient with me, this is the first thing I’ve done like this!!

So, I thought I’d start this blog to chat about things that might not always make it on to the podcast. Bear in mind I’m not an expert or professional reviewer, I just call out things I’ve enjoyed or thought could be better.

Finger crossed it’s not too long till my first review on here, got plenty of ideas on what I want to cover!

Stay safe guys, speak soon!!!

In 2017 we had the cinematic release of DCs Justice League, featuring an ensemble cast of super heroes that was supposed to really get the so called DCU rolling. Unfortunately it was plagued by problems, with original director Zack Snyder leaving the project and being replaced by Joss Whedon, resulting in endless re-shoots and who knows what else. Predictably the film wasn’t great and was panned by critics and fans alike and while I admit I do kind of enjoy it when I watch it, I often found myself wondering about what could have been.

The call for the Snyder cut to be released began almost immediately, it had its own hashtag and had support from Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot and the rest of the cast. I genuinely didn’t think it would happen, why would Warner Bros and DC put time, money and effort into finishing and releasing something that undermines what was released and was canon to films released before and after it?

But #releasethesnydercut gathered momentum and in February 2020 Warner Bros decided they would go ahead with it, with initial reports of it being a mini series giving way to confirmation from Snyder himself that it would be an eye watering 4 hour film to be released March 2021.

So. Was it worth the wait? The time? The hype? For me, no. Not really. The run time is daunting, but not really a problem as the film is nicely broken down into easier to digest chapters. As for the story? It’s really not that different to what was released in 2017, yes some scenes are different, more detailed, arguably better, but the end product is the same and the areas that did need work and improvement, like the CGI (cartoonish at best) weren’t touched. There also seems to be a lot of sequences in this film that just don’t matter, the one that springs to mind is a sequence where Barry Allen (the Flash) saves Iris West from a car crash. It’s visually stunning, it really is, but it has no impact on the story whatsoever and isn’t mentioned or alluded to again once it’s done. My other main problem with this version is the slow motion sequences, I genuinely think that if they were all played at real speed then this film would be under 2 hours.

For me the biggest highlight of this version was Cyborg, played by the amazing Ray Fisher. I admit I don’t know much about the character and didn’t learn that much about him in the 2017 version, but here his story is beautifully told and creates a character that is the heart of the Justice League. After seeing this it was much easier to see why Fisher felt so aggrieved by Warner Bros after the 2017 release.

Speaking of characters I don’t know, I found it really interesting to get to see Darkseid, he really is impressive, sadly for him and this film we meet him post Infinity War/End Game and he just comes across as a knock off version of Thanos. I liked seeing more story behind Steppenwolf, who cuts quite a tragic and desperate character in this version as well as being an absolute beast. I don’t know what it is with Steppenwolf, but I don’t get what I want from villains from him and I can’t not see him as a low-key Loki from Avengers Assemble.

Despite the epic runtime, this version feels no more finished that what we saw in 2017 and I’d argue it feels even less finished. This is probably down to the original plan for this story was for a trilogy, or at the very least 2 films, which possibly explains some of the scenes in this that don’t go anywhere. There is a “nightmare” scene at the end of this film which suggests Snyder had/has big plans and for me it’s the best part of this film. Unfortunately it’s followed by a scene featuring the Martian Manhunter which feels so clunky I can actually feel my teeth grinding at the thought of it!!

#restorethesnyderverse is already trending and while this didn’t exactly blow my mind, there was enough there to keep me interested. I even watched it in one sitting! (Go me!). The worry is that I don’t think Warner Bros could get this cast together again. Cavill is annoyingly quiet on his future as Superman. Ben Affleck is almost certainly finished as Batman. I can’t see Ray Fisher returning as Cyborg. Ezra Miller has his stand alone Flash movie and I’m sure there will be future Wonder Woman and Aquaman films, so Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa are likely to be secure. But a Justice League movie with no Superman or Batman?? Not for me I’m afraid.

I guess only time will tell…..