Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

Distribution companies are slowly but surely growing in assurances that with the cinema’s reopened, the viewers will come. Not wanting to do a few sparing reviews, I decided to chunk together my thoughts of everything I’ve been lucky enough to see in cinema over the last three months.

Judas and The Black Messiah

I didn’t love this one – the main issue being that we all knew how it was going to end. Yes that’s the case in a biographical movie, but it left little to the experience of movie watching itself. The standout element and character was LaKeith Stanfield’s, Bill O’Neil – Black Panther by day and FBI informant by night.

I found myself a lot more interested in why Bill O’Neil continued to betray the Black Panthers. Stanfield did a fantastic job of portraying O’Neil’s duplicitous emotions and was intriguing as he left us with so many unanswered questions.

Lastly, I find it bizarre that both Kaluuya and Stanfield were nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ during award season – if anyone knows why please tell me!

Mortal Kombat

Was the concept of ‘Outworld’ defeating ‘Earthrealm’ in it’s tenth consecutive ‘Mortal Kombat’ tournament resulting in the latter being conquered by the former completely ridiculous? Yes. – Did I love every second Lewis Tan was on my screen – also yes.

As far as video game adaptation movies go this one is definitely up there as passable. Good storyline, good graphics and amazing fight scenes. I found myself getting attached to the characters incredibly quickly and genuinely routing for them to win, rather than passively watching and knowing it was inevitable.

Raya and the Last Dragon

What stuck with me most was how mature this movie was… you know, for a Disney movie about Dragons. Raya was fearless, determined, kind and flawed all of which made her feel so human – it was kind of eerie.

The movie had a lot of incredibly sweet moments and the moral of the story wasn’t as cliché as you’d expect it to be (think Anna saves Elsa vibes). It’s definitely one that I’d watch again cosied up at home.

Finally I loved that you could tell straight away in a few cases who some of the characters were being voiced by, for me that was 100% Daniel Dae Kim and Awkwafina.

A Quiet Place II

I will always give a sequel a chance. I don’t have high hopes but I’ll give it chance. A Quiet Place II is a testament to why I do, because it’s one of the best movie sequels to exist.

The movie both builds on and picks up right where the story left off with the Abbotts in search of new lodgings, with baby in tow. Fantastically directed too with some amazing transitionary shots, organic parallels with the first movie and the creation of tension in the smallest of acts.

Finally, shout out to both Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe who play Regan and Marcus Abbott respectively – some phenomenal acting from the both of them.

Not sure how I feel about the door they left open to make the series into a trilogy, but you know me… I’ll give it a chance.

The Father

I’m not one for trailers so had no clue what this was about as I bounded blindly into the cinema to watch The Father. It was an incredibly trippy and authentic ride about dementia, told through the deteriorating mind of Anthony Hopkins, Anthony.

What got me was how much I kept trying to keep up and piece together truths, from believed truths – and how impossible it was to do. It’s not meant to be rationalised and therefore creates an immersive experience for the audience into what the characters’ were going through.

Exceptional performance from Hopkins – to the point where I wasn’t even sure if he was acting.

In The Heights

Just thinking about this movie is already making me want to get up and start moving. The experience was akin to being in a theatre and I had to refrain from clapping between numbers (though I didn’t stop myself from indulging in some chair salsa).

A buoyant cast and a fun vibe all around with a realistic and relatable wash of the lives and dreams and thoughts of the diaspora.

My only qualm was the with the character of Benny (Corey Hawkins) who seemed to be the only ensemble on the block without a ‘dream’ for viewers to follow… direct sources say he had one in the original West End production.

F9

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more unbelievable – it does.

I’ve always liked the Fast and Furious franchise, but F9 was not as fast nor as furious as the movies before. It also has to be said that these characters/actors are getting older and so the way in which they’ve slowed down on screen didn’t go unnoticed.

Wasn’t a fan of John Cena’s inclusion – not because he didn’t do a good job, but because if felt like they were replacing one wrestler with another, and let’s face it – who really believed him as Dom’s ‘little brother’?

All that being said it was a crazy ride that had me engrossed for the most part, and I’m much to invested to stop now, so roll on Cntrl+Shft F10.

Side note: I had a great time with all the meme’s featuring Dominic Toretto and his die hard belief that family fixeth all problems.

Black Widow

Natasha Romanov was back on form and I was here for it.

As part of an ensemble within the Avengers, Black Widow went from Badass to Background, but Natasha finally got her groove back and reminded us all why she wasn’t to be messed with.

Black Widow began to fill gaps in Natasha’s history that had so far been skipped over or alluded too, and it was done in a way that left us thirsty for more. The fight sequences were creative and brutal and I need more from the other Black Widow’s.

A surprising mix to the movie was the comedic elements that came from Yelena (Florence Pugh)… as well as the rest of Natasha’s family. It was the perfect blend to the direness and often uncomfortable nature of their histories and circumstances.