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Reviews
Way of the Wicked (2014)
Some Redeeming Features
Currently showing an IMDb score of 3.8 which I think is about right.
Vinnie Jones plays a prominent role but is merely a failed UK footballer (soccer player) who attempted to launch a movie career and cannot act. Foolishly I did not check the full cast list before selecting this title on a Z-list UK terrestrial TV channel as his name would have saved me tuning in.
Jones is hopeless and wooden (as expected), Christian Slater is clearly hard up for a buck (a shame given his previous work) so it is left to the youthful pseudo-teen school cast to carry this poorly written and directed pap. They don't do too badly so maybe they are worth a look in their future work.
As a B-Movie fan I was able to watch it to the cheesy end but I was surprised to see that it was made in 2014, it felt like a low budget 1990/2000 flick.
Fargo (2014)
Rule no 1 of fight club . . . . .
Rule no 1 of fight club XXXXXXXX sorry IMDb reviews:.
If it's a 9 rated movie then it's been hyped.
With a current overall of 9.0 and an S02E01 rating of 9.2 then this is a prime example.
Setting a series in the past does not mean that the standard of acting should be set back into the cheesy quality of a 50s B movie (that said I love B movies) and re-hashing successful old plots should not be done for the sake of it.
Not clever or ironic, this is a lame and contrived performance of tired subject.
I thought Ted Danson did an excellent job of re-inventing himself in the CSI expansion but he has undone much of that credit in this performance.
Frances McDormand killed the character of Sheriff Marge Gunderson in the 1996 original and no follow-up is necessary other then to line the pockets of greedy producers. Anyone wanting and ongoing taste of excellence should just re-run the original movie once every week or two and you will have a far better feeling then watching these re-hashed series.
Current rating of the Oscar winning 1996 original is 8.2 which is about right. This falls well short of that mark.
Under the Skin (2013)
Laughably amateurish
Look and feel is very much that of an early years student piece.
Drag in a few locals as victims, troll city streets with the camera running for atmosphere on the cheap and there you have it.
Feels as if it was written on the fly in that back of the story centrepiece van with the writers stumbling from one scene to the other, struggling for what to do next, until someone jumps up and shouts, "Oooh, ooh, I know!".
Not clever, not edgy, not artful, just mince, dross, PISH!.
On a positive note, the few effects based scenes were well done.
Oh dear, not enough lines for submission but with this movie so lacking in substance it's difficult to find more to say.
I'll just have to repeat the, "favours must have been owed" gag, perhaps revised to suggest that it must have been something to do with a Community Service punishment order as I don't think anyone could possibly owe a favour that big.
Hanna (2011)
One of my favourite movies
Currently doing the loop again on UK terrestrial TV so I thought I'd give it another spin.
Saoirse Ronan's performance as Hanna is one of those that makes you seek out their other work, consume it hungrily and watch out for what they are doing next. Excellent.
As it turned out I had already seen a lot of what she has done before (and enjoyed it) but her look and delivery in this one was so different that I failed to recognise her (I'll partially blame the white blonde eyebrow tint in this one). Very refreshing for me to see an actor so immersed in a role that they become unrecognisable and not an actor playing themselves (again (& again)) in various set piece roles.
Of course there are holes (Eric Bana crosses arctic in 2 pce suit) but none that I think have detracted from a great story. I could have found the camp Germanic villainry annoying but found them amusing instead.
Great supporting roles too, particularly among the younger cast of her travelling companions.
Favourite quote not on the quotes page: Travelling companion Sophie: "I think I'd quite like to be a lesbian but not one of those fat ones. One who's like a supermodel but we'd only hold hands and I'd probably marry a man" Hanna: "What?" Forget the genre comparisons and just enjoy the movie.
You will believe that a skinny 17 year old could break your neck like a twig but hey, I knew that already.
The Other Guys (2010)
Shameful
Airplane was a spoof, in contrast, this is a cold turd from a very small and insignificant animal, shame on all those concerned with this travesty.
For info, I sampled a range of reviews before viewing this movie on a low grade terrestrial TV channel and seeing disparate comments I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.
I dipped a toe but now feel the need to disinfect that toe as I feel so unclean.
Given the relatively high score I can only assume that the Z grade studios have managed to crack the rating algo to hype their low grade tat.
Avoid.
Ender's Game (2013)
A rushed sound-bite movie - a disappointment
I have no problem with movies based on books if they are done well.
For me, doing them badly involves quoting a couple of pages near verbatim then tearing out and ignoring the next twenty. In my view, this is what has been done in adapting Ender's Game, the remnants have been stacked together as a bunch of sound-bites and run at fast forward speed, leaving no time for character progression and the growth of friendships that is the mainstay to the original story.
It may be that, like Philip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy, this was an unmakeable film so we should perhaps thank them for their brave effort that didn't quite make it.
In failing, the film is a testament to the writing of Card that he could cram so much story into just 350 paperback pages that it couldn't been captured in 2 hours on the screen.
And finally, Ben Kingsley's performance, what a shocker! Think we'll see more of Asa Butterfield though.