Month: February 2017

Lion

On By cwhitehouse13In Film Review, Picture House ScreeningLeave a comment

This is the tale of a 5 year old child in India who gets lost one evening from his elder brother as they try to work to get money to survive. This is a true story. Young Saroo sleeps in a stationery train carriage till his brother returns. Unfortunately when Saroo wakes up he finds that the train is on a two day journey and he can’t get off. When he gets off the train he just gets lost further because no one seems to have heard of the village he is from. 

He somehow survives until he gets into the foster system where he ends up in Australia, for 25 Years! 

His separation haunts him every day and he searches as best he can to get back to his distraught family. 
This doesn’t sound very uplifting I admit but it’s actually oddly life affirming. This resilient child turns into a wonderful man with a huge heart and his journey is beyond remarkable. 

Nicole Kidman plays his adoptive mother and Rooney Mara is his girlfriend and with Dev Patel as Saroo in his thirties, it’s a high caliber of acting. But it’s young Sunny Pawar as the delightful lead boy who captures your heart. 

It sad and happy at the same time and is a bitter sweet amazing tale. 

This film has stayed with me. 

Fifty Shades Duller 

On By cwhitehouse13In Film Review, Picture House ScreeningLeave a comment

Fifty Shades Darker presents itself or more accurately Christian Grey as ‘kinky’. This film is simply neither kinky nor anything other than vanilla, which is what Ana wants from their relationship. Or so she says. One minute she’s saying she wants a nice relationship with him putting ‘all that’ behind him and yet she’s the one asking to have him do his kinky stuff. 

But putting on wrist cuffs for less than 60 seconds and then taking them off for normal sex isn’t the stuff I’d label kinky. 

If you find a couple of spanks or baby oil edgy then I’ve got news for you, it isn’t. It’s like saying having a cuddle while wearing wellies is kinky. 

This movie meanders through scenes finding a couple of women from Grey’s past crossing paths with Ana to

Show him for the horrid possessive spoilt brat he is. 

But still she looks at him with loving eyes moments later. 

This film isn’t particularly interesting and simply serves to slightly flesh out one small step further in their relationship. I find both lead characters to be unlikable and the new boss who makes a pass at Ana was like something out if a bad soa Opera. 

Just totally vanilla. 

Being rich must be cool though I admit but both Grey himself and Ana both treat that as boring. 

Under The Shadow 

On By cwhitehouse13In Film ReviewLeave a comment

A mother and daughter in Tehran are pestered by a djinn which is kind of like a genie in eastern folklore but often gets characterised as a demon. 

Either way, the mother of her young girl is left believing the things her daughter says are happening. 

It’s always refreshing to see a foreign country’s version of the supernatural because you’re not used to the ‘beats’ which you’ve seen time and time again in Hollywood horror. 

The film caught me off guard a couple of times and I’m grateful for that after becoming immune to the standard techniques.
Low key often works the best. 

Rings

On By cwhitehouse13In Film ReviewLeave a comment

Ringu, the original Ring movie and then even the American rehash The Ring was creepy and well executed. Anything after that was a watered down attempt to recapture the fear. 

By 2017 the whole king black haired creepy ghost thing is old. I did however look forward to be in Samara’s company again for this sequel.

Just like the recent Blair Witch Project addition, it’s great to be back on the familiar ground and while both franchise sequels give 50% of the fun again, the other 50% just falls flat. 

Rings shows the originals most creepy effect at the start of the film which subsequently kills the reveal with no build up. 
The film begins with a bunch of people forming a sort of club who have all seen the movie and have done sort of help group at passing the curse on. This is all led by a student teacher who is running The Samara Expetiment. 

 

The film plays close to the original in the quest to uncover Samaras troubled past to quieten her spirit.
Unfortunately I didn’t find this scary AT ALL. But I admit I enjoyed it all the same. 
A totally averagely entertaining horror which may make you revisit the original. 

The Lego Batman Movie 

On By cwhitehouse13In Film Review, Picture House ScreeningLeave a comment

Too good for adults and too good for kids- is what I thought at the opening of this movie. The Lego Movie was also top class for any age. Batman was arguably the best character in that movie and so him getting his own film was a no brainer. 

Lord and Miller seem to have the golden touch with their releases and as I expressed, this Batman outing is first class. 
Sooo many Injokes and background visual gags that one viewing only scratches the surface. Oh the humour at batman’s gloominess and lonely existence in his billionaires cave is hilarious. There is a wealth of extra characters from other franchises too which take a ribbing. It’s a visual feast which is almost too much as is the slightly long running time, especially for the little ones. But it’s such fun. And yes there’s a catchy earworm of a song at the end. 

The Midas touch has worked again.