Category: Film Review

A Cure For Wellness

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As I watched this movie with its young male lead entering a creepy institution up on a hillside, I thought of Shutter Island. Dane Dehaan is a b list leonardo de caprio in many ways and this film is a b rate Shutter Island from start to finish. But I adore Shutter Island so the fact that I merely loved this is still high praise. 

Jason Isaacs is the main runner of the institution and he has Celia Imrie and Mia Goth among his customers who are dosed up on the water which comes down from the Alps themselves, cleansing the body and mind. 

Dehaan has an accident which is filmed in a glorious way by Gore Verbinski and that’s when our lead finds himself holed up at the institution and drinking this mysterious elixer. As the film title suggests, maybe the water is one thing to be avoided. Cue drug like hallucinations (or are they real?) scenes where our hero searches behind the scenes in order to seek out the truth. 

It’s a long film and I was on board right up until late in the running time when a white hooded coven scene began and I thought all was lost but I was wrong. I’ve seen a handful of films which don’t know how to wrap things up and always seem to go to the crowd of people in robes holding candles. It could be accused of going a bit far in its closing moments but I just about held on enough to stay with it. 

Not wholly original then but something to seek out if you did enjoy Shutter Island. And I certainly did enjoy both. 

Kong: Skull Island(or Apocalypse Park) 

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Let me start with saying that I’m not a big King Kong fan. I really don’t care about the black and white original and although I reasonably enjoyed the overlong Peter Jackson (2005) version, it made little lasting impact on me. He’s just a Gorilla… but bigger. I have the same issue with Godzilla except I put Godzilla above Kong due to the fact he’s a monster and that makes him cooler. 
The opening scene of Kong: Skull Island caught me off guard. Even my son asked ‘is this the film?’ . 

We see Kong in these first few minutes rather than the drip feed of the usual monster kind. It’s breathtaking in its delivery and you soon realise this is a fresh approach to an old idea. 
It takes a very Jurassic Park approach, with John Goodman as a kind of John Hammond character who gets helecoptered on by soldier Samuel L Jackson who himself plays Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now during the Vietnam war. That’s how much of a fresh mix it is. 

The wonderful Brie Larson is a photographer -(Julianne Moore in Jurassic Park 2 a-like) who is brought along to document whatever the hell is making ships and planes go missing on this mysterious island which by the way, is surrounded by a perpetual storm of ferocious intent. 

There are other incidental characters filling out the soldiers outfit but they are filler for the lead actor. That being Tom Hiddleston. In a King Kong movie? Are you sure? 
Well yes, since this is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts who directed Kings Of Summer, which is great by the way. 

There’s so many directorial choices such as slow motion and audio silences plus snazzily written location titles in between scenes. It all looks so fresh. 

But Kong himself isn’t all that lurks on the island. There are some wonderful other giant bugs and oddities which even best Avatar in their amazingness. The huge beasts are an amazing sight for cast and audience alike. 

That’s not all. There’s an islander played by John C Reilly who is nutty due to being (sort of) alone for ‘some’ time. 

This whole concoction makes for a feast of entertainment which blew my socks off. 
But! And it’s only fair to explain this. I did think to myself on many occasions “it’s like a Michael Bay Kong movie!”. 

That is a very divisive statement. 

I enjoy dumb loud films such as Transformers and Battleship and that kind of thing, but for many, that is awful. 

But I advise you to go see Kong:Skull Island and see if it’s possible to watch the POST CREDIT SCENE and not tremble with excitement!!! 

Sing!

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Sing is moderately entertaining as an X Factor with animals animation. Toe tapping animation with a bunch of characters who come together to do a talent contest. The cast is full of famous voices but having Matthew Mcconaughey as your lead is a coo. 

There’s little new here really but it has a good message about following your dreams and it’s sound track is pleasant enough. 

There are chucklesome moments throughout but it’s not all that high grade. 

Think FAME done with animals. 

Sufferable but not fresh. 

The Girl With All The Gifts

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The movie centres around a group of children in a soldier run medical centre where the kids are strapped down and seem like they are a threat. That’s because these are zombies but the fungus which made them the undead gives them the appearance of ‘normal’.

Gemma Arterton, Glen Close and Paddy Considine star as the humans who hope to get the cure out of these new species of undead. 

It’s a good discussion starter but is sprinkled with moments and details which take you out of the movie and at times you can easily spot actors acting. A good idea on paper but just another Walking Dead runaround spin off too. Sennia Nanua plays the most intelligent child/zombie who tries to get the confidence of the living. She’s a little annoying in parts and the rules of her zombieism keeps changing. 

A good idea dropped on its head. 

Lion

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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 

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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 

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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

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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 

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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. 

La La Land

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I don’t like musicals. But I like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone so I had to witness La La Land for myself. Gosling plays the jazz piano player hoping to open his own jazz club and Stone plays aspiring actress list in the audition process and cafe work.  

The movie features all the stuff about musicals which make my skin crawl, such as sudden singing and dancing, swinging round lampposts and synchronised footwork whilst sitting in a bench. 

And yet, I found this film so warm and charming that none of it bothers me. Like sitting in a warm bath of emotion. 

Stone shows her remarkable acting abilities as she auditions, turning from happy to upset in a fraction of moments. Gosling simmers with charisma as he follows his dream. 

The two don’t necessarily convince me as a couple to look at but again, none of that spoilt my enjoyment. Many of the scenes backdrops are picture postcard worthy and even the music actually had me getting swept along with them. 
I loved the ending too, although some audience members seemed perplexed. 

Life doesn’t always wrap up neatly and neither should movies. 
A success on my eyes.   

C Whitehouse 2017