mtrburrows Reviews

The Foreboding: Fractured (2024)

An engrossing horror short

[8/10 · 25 January 2024]

Other than a couple of small technical problems (which is to be expected in these low budget indie projects), The Foreboding: Fractured is an extremely solid short that manages to accomplish a surprising amount with its short run time.

Never has a horror short had me this invested in the characters before. The charming cast bring to life the more human, comedic scenes with this group through some really solid chemistry and lively physical performances. It never felt like the script was relying on archetypes or cliches, instead it feels like you're following a genuine group of uni students.

It makes the horror scenes all the more tense once they do kick in, and that paired with the direction and score makes you feel invested in every step of this narrative. If anything, I left the film wishing it was longer, as the atmosphere of the experience is a very compelling one. Very excited to see what this crew do next.

Us (II) (2019)

The Definition of Trusting Your Audience

[8/10 · 21 January 2021]

While many prefer Get Out to Us, I think it's undeniable that in terms of subtle writing and masterful directing, Jordan Peele has progressed from a director to look out for to a master of his craft.

The one flaw with this movie is the nonsensical ending - it's what ruined the film for a lot of people and it's pretty undefendable. However, the plot holes presented in the last 20 minutes didn't distract me at all from the near masterpiece the first hour and 30 minutes gave me.

Peele fixes what were my biggest issues with Get Out - here the dialogue is much more natural and less cliché horror movie, the theme is presented with much more subtlety, and the tone is way more consistent. While everything that was great about Get Out is only expanded on here: Peele REWARDS his audiences time and attention, making sure each line of dialogue either explores the films theme, presents foreshadowing, or tells us something about the characters. In short, Us is so meticulously written and directed in a way that every scene and every shot is riddled with detail, either relating to theme or reflecting duality, while NEVER being too obvious in a way that it's spoon feeding its audience. As a result, the lead up to it and the symbolism of the ending twist overpowers the many plot holes it leaves, and it really didn't brother me at all walking away from the movie.

Great performances, great writing, great direction, this is one of the best that 2019 had to offer!

Uncut Gems (2019)

Simple, but jaw dropping

[8/10 · 29 November 2020]

Uncut Gems is such a unique movie in how it has garnered its fandom & critical success. It's the first film I've watched in a long time that made me forget I was watching a film. The work put in by the Saftie brothers & Adam Sandler to make such an immersive experience should be celebrated in this day and age. Not that cinema is dead, but the films that came out that make you forget you're watching actors play out the work of a director (films like Pulp Fiction, Back to the Future) sometimes feel like films of the past.

Watching Uncut Gems is an anxiety inducing, deeply frustrating experience. But in the best way possible. I didn't see any actors on screen, especially not Adam Sandler, I saw real, grounded people. This is mainly due to the direction, the sound design, the choice to cast first time or lesser know actors, and most importantly, the career-changing performance by Sandler. His character, while seedy and frustrating, maybe even annoying, felt like an honest portrayal of a real life person, and all I wanted to do was reach through the screen and grab him, to stop him on his believable downward spiral.

As the film plays, it's atmosphere washes over you, again, as if you're watching real life. As I watched it, it didn't seem groundbreaking. Partly because it may be a little too long, but mainly down to how engrossed I was. However, by the time the final scene came around, it clicked, and I knew that I had just watched a modern day classic. A film is only as good as its final scene, and Uncut Gems could not have ended in a more perfect place, for its plot, and its character arc. Despite its simplicity, it was jaw dropping.

Hereditary (2018)

Confused but effective

[7/10 · 12 November 2020]

Many people hold up "Hereditary" as the modern day exorcist, and it's easy to see why. With fantastic performances, direction, and cinematography, the film did a perfect job at making me feel unsettled throughout. While the typical Hollywood scares, like seeing a Ghost in the dark, or having a gravity defying antagonist, were really few and far between, what makes Hereditary a film worthy of its spot as a top rated horror is the tension strung throughout as the cast perform (almost) flawlessly the downfall of spirit and hope of the main family.

Every element of filmmaking works completely symbiotically in the first two acts of the film to represent dread, hopelessness, and a continuous fear in the audience that the film is going to take these characters down a very dark path. From the cliché-dodging dialogue that makes these characters feel real, to the Oscar-worthy performance by Toni Colette, and to the ambiguous score.

While the first two acts are nearly flawless, where the film lost some merits for me was in the final act. The reveal at the end is that the family is being manipulated by a demon worshipping cult, and that reveal not only felt underwhelming because this demonic entity has no presence or mention in the first two acts, and we don't even know what it wants or is capable of, but also confusing. The film doesn't seem to be able to decide whether the force to be reckoned with here is a paranormal, or human threat. We see cult members haunt Peter in the final scene, but are these real people, or do they possess some sort of superhuman power that allows them to influence incidents and appear wherever they want? The imagery is undeniably unsettling, but the lack of explanation of what any of it means (which was effective in the first two acts) grew frustrating and tiresome by the end, and the final moment of Peter being crowned fell completely flat for me. What does this mean? What is Peter going to be made to do? What's the goal? Can this entity just do anything it wants? The moment this frustration with wanting to know the rules began was when the father went up in flames with the book - how did that happen? Can the entity just do ANYTHING it wants now? I thought it was only linked with Annie and Peter?

The slow pace only enhanced this frustration in the final 30 minutes. Throughout the film the meandering shots created a feeling of mystery, realism, and therefore tension, but when it boils down to it, the final confrontation consists highly of Peter walking very slowly, seeing something which is very slowly revealed, and very slowly reacting to the horrors around him. It's a great technique when used sparingly, but the final act should have definitely been cut down.

Despite the confused and meandering conclusion, Hereditary should be celebrated highly for its use of psychological horror and character descent into madness. Future horrors could definitely learn something from this!

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

Another frustrating Tarantino entry

[7/10 · 14 June 2020]

Following the frustrating entry to Tarantino's career that was Hateful Eight, the living legend is back with yet another divisive and controversial flick to add to his discography, while carrying over many of the flaws seen with his aforementioned previous film.

An obvious flaw is the length. Even to the most devoted Tarantino fans, it's undeniable that he seems to be getting carried away with his writing following his label as one of the greatest directors of our generation. With now 9 films under his belt, Tarantino seems to have no concept of when to pull back on the running times of his films anymore - with his last 3 films (including this one) being his longest films to date. Whereas with Django unchained it's length was justified, with his previous two entries, the plots are simply far too simplistic to justify nearly 3 hour run times.

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood feels like a spiritual successor to Pulp Fiction, where it's a seemingly plotless film driven by a talented cast, except this time without Tarantino bothering to write anything - a painful amount of this movie feels like it was dedicated to just watching our characters walk or drive around with very little happening - The most frustrating example of which is Margot Robbie's character, who only exists to walk around, speak for once scene, then provide the fake-out ending similar to the one seen in Inglorious Basterds. Only in Inglorious Basterds, the ending was earned after the whole film was building to it, whereas here, the film generally meanders for 2 hours and 20 minutes, with Tarantino abandoning his use of encapsulating dialogue (which made Hateful Eight bareable), only for a final 20 minutes that rushes to an out of nowhere conclusion.

Whats the most annoying is that when the regular Tarantino-isms are at play, the film can be tense, emotional, and satisfying, but far too much of the film is spent meandering for these moments to feel gratifying, and now these tropes are starting to come off as a punchline, with the numerous shots of feet, and Tarantino literally cutting through a conversation with Dicaprio and Olyphant, as if to show awareness of how his dialogue scenes can drag.

The legendary director is still in there, it just requires a stripped back runtime and more time spent with the films characters to feel truly gratifying again.

Jackie Brown (1997)

Underrated Tarantino

[8/10 · 3 June 2020]

Jackie Brown is often considered one of Tarantino's weaker projects. While I believe that this viewpoint does hold some truth, it still doesn't take away from the fact that it's still riddled with his charm, uniqueness, and genius.

Tarantino's usual strengths are here - engrossing, realistic dialogue, interesting presentation & cinematography, amazing score, and entertaining characters. It's these attributes that make sitting through Tarantino run times worth it.

However, for the first, and possibly only time in his career, Tarantino's own style works against him in Jackie Brown. The screenplay is an adaptation of the book "rum punch", which features a story that would benefit from Tarantino breaking away from his usual style at points. The two styles do actually go together pretty flawlessly in roughly the first hour of the film - the characters are all introduced in an entertaining and informative fashion, and they all seemed pretty distinct and memorable, partly due to the spot on acting by everyone involved (although mostly Samuel L Jackson & Robert De Niro). However, once Jackie begins to go rogue and scheme on pretty much everyone else in the film, the film began to lose me a little.

The "one woman against the world" plot presented in Jackie Brown would truly benefit from Tarantino really getting into Brown's head, but his laid back style doesn't quite allow for that, making many of Brown's decisions confuse me just as much as it confused her opponents in the story. As an audience, we can be surprised by our protagonist, but we shouldn't be confused. As a result, the story structure and direction left me questioning most of Jackie's decisions in the second and third act, making me feel detached from her, and her partner Max Cherry - when the film really would have benefitted from making us truly root for Jackie through getting a glimpse into her psyche, not just because she's the title character.

The film is also full of long shots. At best these make the film extremely interesting to watch unfold, but can sometimes leave the film with the feeling that it's meandering a little - the film, much like many other Tarantino films, could lose around 10 minutes.

Despite the slightly lackluster protagonist and meandering moments, Jackie Brown is still definitely another quality film in Tarantino's catalogue, filled to the brim with life and character, and a story that is undeniably interesting once all the pieces fall into place. 7/10.

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

Desperate, rushed, pathetic

[1/10 · 24 December 2019]

The Rise of Skywalker is a rushed, heartless, and desperate attempt to conclude the Skywalker saga in a fashion that will annoy the least fans possible. Say what you want about the Last Jedi, but still least it was a cohesive storyline with fleshed out characters who had clear personalities, and a sense of escalation which resulted in an unforgettable finale, love it or hate it. Episode 9's story is just watching a bloated load of dispensable characters run around the galaxy doing busy work - no sense of tension, no escalation, and a critical lack of character drama.

Pretty much every character in episode 9 could be plucked out of the story and their lack of involvement wouldn't affect the plot at all - whether that's the conflicted and cared Fin, who should have died in order to complete his arc in the Last Jedi as the writers clearly have no idea what to do with him now, or the charismatic, heroic Po, who's character sees a complete 180 this time round - gone are the days of the Force Awakens where Po was the most likeable character to grace the franchise since the originals, and in his place is a moody, argumentative control freak. As a result, seeing the main trio finally together onscreen is massively underwhelming - there's no sense of friendship or bond, just three people obligated to work with one another, with no time to grow as the plot is moving at such a breakneck pace that it has to time to flesh out any of its cast other than Rey and Kylo, who continue to be the trilogy's most intriguing relationship, with Adam Driver definitely being the most charismatic actor throughout the trilogy.

The pace is easily the films biggest flaw - too quickly characters are introduced, brought back, killed off (especially Leia, whos death scene is hugely rushed and out of nowhere), so none of it has any time to sit, make an impact, or feel important - no one was mourning when C3PO lost his memory, because the characters didn't care, and the storyline was completed too quickly to be impactful.

Not to mention the desperate attempts to fix the story changes that Last Jedi made. The decisions made by Johnson were undoubtedly controversial, but JJ Abrams appears doubly as cynical in his intentions as he claws at any opportunity to bring the trilogy back in line with the expectations of the fans, completely ignoring the revelations of episode 8 by rewriting Rey's past in a predictable and pandering twist which does nothing but take away any respect left for this trilogy - if the people behind the scenes can't be confident in the stories they are putting out, how can the fans be?

Joker (I) (2019)

Worthy of all the praise it can get

[10/10 · 12 October 2019]

What is there to say about this movie that hasn't already been said? Joker is a meticulous, expertly crafted piece of art, in terms of writing, direction, cinematography, and especially performance. Every element of this film is a solid piece of the framework and each lends their strengths to each other in a way that hasn't been seen in a comic book movie before.

From Pheonix's heart-wrenching, mesmerizing, and terrifying performance, to the tension building, tragic score, to the harsh depth of field that leaves the viewer in a dream-land, as if everything in the world is an illusion. There isn't a single element of Joker that isn't filled with passion and careful consideration. A week after seeing it and I've done nothing but think about each element more and more - it's a story that begs for repeat viewings, filled to the brim with detail, leaving space for theorizing and conspiring, the perfect way to do a Joker origin movie:

"If I'm going to have a past, I'd rather it be multiple choice"

The only slight downfalls of this near masterpiece is that in some parts it can feel a little repetitive, and it does heavily borrow from Scorcese films such as Taxi Driver & King of Comedy, but ultimately these are minor nitpicks in an unforgettable, unsettling, and thought-provoking narrative that will continue to be discussed and theorised for years.

Filled with quotables, memorable moments, shocking moments, shocking moments with hints of Joker comedy, this is definitely the perfect Joker origin story, as well as an important message/warning to society regarding the 1%.

It Chapter Two (2019)

A flip on everything that made Chapter 1 so entertaining...

[3/10 · 11 September 2019]

It Chapter 2 is one of the most disappointing films of the year - a confused, amateur, meandering mess that drags it's thin plot out for an unnecessary 2 hours and 50 minutes, with pointless characters, beyond predictable twists, and not to mention, the most cliché, uninspired, and ineffective scares I've seen in a while. FYI, loud music, booming sound effects, and an over abundance of CGI aren't chilling, just loud and predictable.

Not one element of this film holds up to the original, with only 3 Pennywise moments standing out as entertaining parts of the movie, and Bill Hader doing a good job as an older version of Richie, even if his younger counterpart is still the funnier of the 2.

Speaking of the characters, their older counterparts are incredibly one note and shells of their original selves - Bill is the guilty hero, Mike is the one with the information, Eddie is the worrier, Richie is the comedian, and as for Ben and Beverly....they weren't given a shred of depth besides "in a love triangle with Bill, who would be cheating on his wife if he were to show any interest in this rushed and bland side plot." It appears the screenwriter has lost his flow with this instalment as even scenes with the younger Losers Club are no where near as charming of hilarious as they were last time, only acting as exposition in repetitive transition moments which are supposed to provide character moments, but instead do nothing but drag out this thin "find your artefact" plot with its tired technique.

The main issue however is just that the movie feels confused - what little horror is actually in this movie is severely overshadowed by forced comedic moments (even within these sequences themselves, seriously, when the Deadpool song began playing in what was meant to be a disturbing moment, it felt completely out of place) and fantasy elements, with an unbearable score that reeked or cliché adventure movie.

In conclusion, It chapter 2 is an uninspired and uninteresting follow up to one of the greatest horror films of the decade with only a few memorable scenes to offer to the story.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season (2018 Video Game)

The best since season 1!

[8/10 · 4 August 2019]

When I finished playing episode 1 my jaw was on the floor. After the disappointing A New Frontier, Telltale had given me interesting and fun, well developed characters, on par with the character time we spent in Season 1 that provided us with moments we still remember 7 years on. Not to mention, the cliffhanger we were left with here was probably the best Telltale has ever given us.

The first thing anyone notices about the Final Season is how much it's a character driven experience. Telltale games had strayed from their initial types of storytelling in which characters and their relationships to the main characters was what fuelled the game, to focus more on action, which was admittedly extremely well choreographed, but shallow at the same time. Here, we are given compelling, and thankfully, LIKEABLE characters that I was completely invested in by the time the final episode rolled around, with AJ, Louis, Violet, and Tenn being the standouts, and the characters that motivated a majority of the decisions this time round.

Then there's the elephant in the room, the return of Lily, which initially disappointed me in Episode 2 when she didn't have much screen-time and appeared quite one dimensional, but her villainous and cold moments in Episode 3 left me intrigued and wowed, especially after the ending that episode leaves us with, and the fist clenching decisions it presents.

Episode 1 and 3 are definitely the standouts, as episode 2 is definitely the slowest episode where the least happens, and what does happen isn't all that interesting, or in the case of the action, well choreographed and tense. This is definitely an episode that was intended to focus on the characters, but good character moments are too far apart with meandering missions and conversations filling the moments between. On the other hand, it appears episode 4 largely fell victim to the troubles Telltale Games was going through during its creation, as it provides a very simplistic "walk in one direction" story, a lack of important choices, a failure to show different paths based on previous choices (especially the choice to shoot Lily at the end of episode 3), and only one ending. The episode does have a couple memorable moments still, like the bridge and barn scene, but ultimately appears very limited in what the developers could do, with even certain voice actors being very noticeably replaced, like Tenn.

The season has a very distinct art style compared to other games produced by telltale, and it allows the game to have it's own gritty identity, which is a well appreciated touch to a very satisfying end to Clementine's story. 8/10.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Tarantino's Top Three

[9/10 · 2 August 2019]

If you love Quentin Tarantino's style, Inglorious Basterds is going to be an absolute treat for you. It's widely considered by many, even Tarantino himself, to be his "masterpiece" or his best since Pulp Fiction, and it is absolutely, undoubtedly worthy of such praise.

The dialogue here is arguably sharper than it has ever been - even Pulp Fiction has a couple minutes worth of conversation within it that aren't particularly entertaining, as only one scene in this film failed to completely hold my interest, and that is quite possibly the shortest scene in here! Every other moment of IB manages to completely hook you and draw you into the world, whether it's the vibrant Brad Pitt making you laugh, or the scene stealer Christoff Waltz making you anxious, with Tarantino crafting some of his most memorable characters and using dialogue in this film to fuel the suspense, making conversations that go on for 20 or 30 minutes worth of screen time a never-ending spiral of anxiety that reaches a satisfying peak each time.

The performances and writing are even more worthy of applause considering a great deal of the movie is spoken in another language, an element of war that other directors choose to ignore, but which Tarantino uses as a tool for suspenseful storytelling and sequences, fixing an issue which we didn't really know we had as an audience. As Tarantino so eloquently put it, other films "have this opportunity for a great scene, but you're pissing it away by having German be English".

It also offers a great deal of memorable Tarantino moments, including a tense 20 minute opening, a baseball bat, quite possibly the longest bar scene known to man, and an ending that doesn't limit itself with what really happened throughout history.

As a result, while Pulp Fiction may be a more iconic and witty flick, IB is the Tarantino film I think about most, from the characters, to the conversations, to the ending, to the direction, if you weren't already obsessed with Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds has a good shot at changing that.

Baby Driver (2017)

It's good, but not Edgar Wright good

[9/10 · 31 July 2019]

Baby Driver turns out to be Edgar Wright's blandest, most forgettable film yet, as much of his directing flare is pushed aside with the main gimmick of the film placed primarily on the notion that the action is edited in time with the music. This is a fun gimmick for sure, but is it enough to keep me invested? Am I going to remember it 10 years from now? Definitely not.

Edgar's normal talent of visual storytelling and progression is nearly gone from this film, as is the memorable, witty, relatable main character, as Baby, apart from having tenitits, and being a remixer, is by far his blandest protagonist yet. In fact, the rest of the characters are bland too, with a cliche group of crooks, with Jamie Foxx's character being the most over the top, predictable, and least interesting of the bunch, and Kevin Spacey being another typical stern mob boss character, who takes a complete 180 in the climax for the sake of the narrative, which there really isn't anything to - the story feels empty. Nothing of note happens here, and that'd be okay if the characters were memorable, but they just aren't. Not to mention the completely undeveloped love story embedded in here.

While I could contently watch it again due to the well edited action, and John Ham's performance, Baby Driver is definitely Edgar Wright's least interesting project yet, and really doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of character or plot.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

An underrated masterpiece

[10/10 · 29 July 2019]

The fact that Shaun of the Dead has gone largely unnoticed by the masses is the biggest sin in the world of cinema to this day. Shaun of the Dead is renowned director Edgar Wright's best film to date - his passion of storytelling, intricate detailing, exciting direction, character building, world building, everything is at its most apparent here.

I think I've seen Shaun of the Dead more than any other movie and I still find things in it that I failed to see on the other viewings every time. Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's screenplay is nothing short of masterful and quite simply one of the best screenplays of all time. Nearly every line of dialogue, every shot, every action, acts as foreshadowing, or as part of a before/after structure that shows character growth and story progression. Every second of film here is put to good use, and there isn't a hair or screen-time you could remove - everything is made integral in the most tight-nit story I've seen to this day. Edgar Wright's direction makes everything fun and entertaining, from his visual comedy, to adding flare to the most mundane tasks such as making toast and tea.

Not to mention, every character is superbly written to be consistent and show growth, or provide the tools for growth in the other characters. Shaun has to be in my top 50 protagonists of all time for being incredibly relateable, likeable, and proactive even while being an Everyman. The performances help so much too, with Nick frost being the standout as he makes a character that could easily be annoying if not played right a charming and hilarious addition to the cast. These aren't your usual zombie movie stereotypes, there are characters the film makes you care and root for.

Speaking of the zombie genre, I believe this film is the best example of how to do a spoof of a genre, as while conventions are somewhat mocked and poked fun at, the story is still intense, the characters are human beings and not over the top caricatures, and most of all the threat is still very real - I first saw this film when I was 7 and some of the zombie moments haunted me for a couple years before I was brave enough to watch it again.

Charming, indescribably clever, and just simply a masterpiece - Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg deserve ALL the oscars for this triumph of film.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

10x better than infinity war

[9/10 · 21 July 2019]

End Game holds the same epic scale as Infinity War but with everything the first part lacked. This time around, the Russo's provide a more personal, character driven-tale filled with important character moments that I felt Infinity War severely lacked. As a result, despite the stakes being lower in this instalment, I was 10x more invested in the story and action and I truly worried for our heroes this time round.

Our two main hero's, Cap and Tony, are definitely at their best here, despite their tensions from Civil war being brushed aside a little too quickly. The two actors are masters of these roles right now and all of their work pays off, with both characters seeing incredibly satisfying ends by the film's climax. Not to mention, other returning hero's also have satisfying, but admittedly controversial arcs, like Banner and Thor (who isn't as interesting as he was in Infinity war, but is still much better than the pre-Ragnarok rendition of the character).

Because of the more personal story, the action feels less noisy and instead more tense and satisfying, with the final battle being by far the best that the series has offered.

While Thanos takes a back seat in this film, he still remains menacing in his moments onscreen and an incredible motivator for our heroes that we've come to love over the years.

Overall, End Game improves every weak aspect of Infinity War, and acts as a perfect conclusion to the Infinity saga.

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (2016 Video Game)

The weakest Walking Dead entry from telltale yet

[5/10 · 20 July 2019]

A New Frontier has a promising start with its first 2 episodes. We get a range of likeable characters, an array of interesting character moments, and the best action the series has seen so far.

While the compelling action continues as the series goes on, the plot gets worse and worse as the episodes go on. Flashbacks and family tensions within the new main character's life grow extremely tiresome, frustrating, and borderline childish the more they happen, especially with Gabe and David - the most unlikeable, annoying, hypocritical telltale characters to date, who the game forces us to spend time with and side with.

Secondary characters that at first seem interesting like Mariana, Francine, Conrad, Tripp, Ava, and Eleanor, don't get any development past the first 2 episode and are therefore uninteresting let downs. Not to mention the completely one dimensional villains like Joan and Clint, who aren't given a shred of depth.

Then there's the crime everyone talks about - making Clementine a secondary character. I wouldn't have minded playing primarily as Javier if the flashback scenes we have with Clementine weren't completely irrelevant and boring, and perhaps if they focused on her journeys with Kenny or Jane, instead of completely throwing them away and completely disregarding the player's emotional choice at the end of series 2.

The best thing about the series other than the action is definitely the choices, as some genuinely had me pulling my hair as I decided what to do. This is definitely the place to go if you want to be completely torn in your RPG experience. Despite this, telltale succumbs to its normal flaws such as ret-conning your decisions by the time the series ends, and having one character who turns against you no matter how many choices you make in their favour - Kenny in series 2, Harvey Dent in Batman are other examples of this.

A New Frontier also has the most lacklustre ending of the series, with episode 5 consisting of the characters walking in a straight line, only taking a break to retcon the extremely hard decision at the end of episode 4 and killing Tripp or Ava in the most out of nowhere, convenient way possible. Plus, a couple of the admittedly varied endings don't pack any emotional punch, leaving the player feeling underwhelmed especially when you compare it to the heartbreaking endings of the last 2 seasons.

In the end, A New Frontier is not without its merits, but it's by far the worst Walking Dead story but Telltale.

Toy Story 4 (2019)

The worst Toy Story...by far

[4/10 · 20 July 2019]

As someone who's grown up with the toy story franchise, Toy Story 4 is an unnecessary entry that ruins the perfect, satisfying, and emotional conclusion of 3, and instead leaving the franchise with an unneeded ending that doesn't feel earned, emotional, or gratifying in the slightest.

Toy Story 4 pushes away a majority of the characters we have grown up with, even Buzz who is given an extremely dumbed down role in the film, in favour of a slew of new characters that aren't given nearly enough time to be new franchise favourites, even if they are entertaining in their short moments onscreen (besides the snooze-inducing villain).

While Woody's journey in this film does have interesting moments, Toy Story 4 feels far more linear and uninspired than any of the other movies, ranging from boring, to frustrating when the film ends on a moment that is meant to be tearjerking and heartbreaking, and is instead incredibly frustrating as it feels like a waste of everything in the series so far, rapidly throwing away the character relationships we've grown up to love and cherish as audiences.

In conclusion, the beautiful animation is not enough to accommodate for the uninteresting story and completely baffling ending.

Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

Mid-tier marvel

[5/10 · 20 July 2019]

While Tom Holland is still the perfect spider-man, clearly possessing all the energy, charisma, and passion possible for this character, the same going for Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio, and Sam Jackson as Nick Fury, the confused screenplay, and uninspired screenplay wastes these incredible talents and performances.

Spiderman: Far From Home is a mid-tier marvel film in the same vain as Ant-Man, in that it's fun and provides some entertaining elements, but lacks any real spark, memorability, or punch. The performances are by far the most entertaining elements, and the comedy is on top form, just like in Homecoming, but the action is uninventive, as is most of the direction, as a majority of the film consists of shot/reverse shot conversations, the special effects have taken a downgrade, especially in the sequence with Peter swinging around without his suit, and the villain and story are especially flimsy, rushed, and not given much thought to.

As soon as Mysterio's plot was revealed, I was ready to see one of the best MCU villains yet, but Gyllenhaal is given nothing to work with as the character is given no motivations to accompany his charisma, resulting in a character that is much less interesting than the trailers suggested. We all knew he'd turn out to be the bad guy, but I never thought it'd be as underwhelming as this.

The film also has a confused message, and journey for our main character. Beats are established and dropped until they're convenient (such as the "Peter tingle") so that they aren't fully fleshed out and satisfying, and the film can't seem to decide whether Peter should follow in Tony's footsteps or not.

In conclusion, there have been much more confused and jumbled spiderman films, but this definitely isn't one of the best, and also not one of the best MCU films, despite having one of the most likeable protagonists the franchise offers.

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

Forgettable fun

[4/10 · 4 January 2019]

Ralph breaks the Internet is a clear step down from the first film, offering so much less impact regarding character development and a memorable story. The audiences main fears ragarding the inclusion of the Internet in this movie came true in my eyes - the story is secondary to the force, easy, and obvious jokes regarding the film's depiction of the Internet, which makes the film appear like it's target audience is an older generation that doesn't understand the World Wide Web, rather than the family audience it's actually going for.

While it can be fun at points, and the animation is spectacular, with each actor still giving it their all, the story is meandering, uninteresting, and the stakes feel relatively low and uninteresting, overall providing a harmless, but forgettable sequel to a great Disney concept.

Bird Box (2018)

Wasted concept

[3/10 · 3 January 2019]

The idea behind the antagonistic force and the political allegory that Bird Box offers is compelling, but neither are expanded upon even remotely enough to provide a satisfying 2 hour experience.

The best word to explain bird box is "confused", with concepts and character arcs that are set up with no interesting exploration or payoff. The rules of the monstorous force are not established or explained, leading to confusing moments regarding how it affects humans differently and what it is actually capable of. The main character is established in an exposition-heavy 10 minute dialogue fest (which I somewhat appreciate for getting to the point, with some decent chemistry with the wasted sister character), but her inner conflicts never come into play to make her interesting until the very end of the 2 hour run time. This character moment is better than nothing, but it undoubtedly required more set up to be powerful in any way. Even the plot device the film is named after - the fact that birds can sense danger, doesn't come into play at all throughout the film, providing only a catchy title.

The characters of the film are mostly unwatchable, with rushed introductions and motivations, no subtlety, and even less originality. Sandra bullock gives the best performance she possibly can with what little character she's given, but none of the other actors stood out to me, all ranging from good to cheesily bad, with John Malkovich giving an awful performance this time round.

Overall, Bird Box is incredibly unsatisfyingly considering it's concept and early reception, which could have worked after a couple more rewrites that fixed issues with the characters, rules, and pacing.

Detroit: Become Human (2018 Video Game)

Hard hitting, memorable fun

[8/10 · 16 November 2018]

DBH is no doubt the best choice based video game yet. With impactful and important choices I felt the gravity and emotion of every single decision that led to a crippling anxiety in the last few hours of the game as I tried my hardest to stop the intriguing and likeable main characters from getting killed.

The three main stories are all unique and interesting (despite the Kara storyline being for me, less interesting that Marcus' and Connor's stories) and despite the lack of development for some important side characters (like a group of rebels, or a helpless child) I still cared about everyone enough that I couldn't wait to continue their story the second one of their chapters ended.

The dialogue is far from perfect, and the plot is far from subtle (which is to be expected of a David Cage game), but overall the plot is definitely not one I'll be forgetting any time soon.

As for the technical side of the game, the score, sound design and graphics are gorgeous - no complaints at all there. However, the game does control a little wonky - abrupt camera angle switches and floaty movements can make controlling the characters a chore at times but overall the game ran very smoothly and provided an addictive, compelling experience!

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

This is what inspired horror? Jheez...

[7/10 · 11 September 2018]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a boring, padded out film with a few good moments sprinkled throughout that are worthy of the "inspirational" title the movie gets. The characters are annoying, unlikeable and underdeveloped, and their deaths aren't all that satisfying either (apart from one or two...one reallllllllly isn't bad at all and is one of the best kills in slasher films). The villains are a cool concept but in the end I couldn't tell you how many they are, what their names are (apart from the obvious leatherface) or what made them different. Sequences are often drawn out and repetitive (seriously, there's a moment where someone escapes by throwing themselves out a window TWICE), and overall I wouldn't say this film is worth its classic status. By far not the worst horror film I've ever seen, but definitely not one of the best. Watch it with a group of friends and that's the most enjoyment you'll get out of it.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Who cares if it's different, this is awesome!

[7/10 · 5 August 2018]

The main aspect that makes this film so good is the tone - Marvel finally decided to make Thor fun to watch and the comedy, the music, the locations, and the characters are some of the best in the MCU.

This is all apparent when the characters are on the vibrant and bursting with energy planet of Saccar. This is truly the highlight of the movie, and what saves it, with Jeff Goldblum giving just...just such a Goldblum performance I miss him every time he's not onscreen.

Basically everything that doesn't take place on Saccar is what brings the movie down. The first 20 minutes or so feels disjointed and uninteresting, and anything with the bland and cliché villain on Asgard is so tiresome.

As a result this is a very mid-tier Marvel movie, it has very high highs but still falls victim to the forgettability and boringness of the Thor franchise (although this is undoubtedly the best of the three). The comedy is very clearly improvised and 90% of the time it works, but some of it can feel awkward, especially between Hemsworth and Ruffalo (although the Thor/Hulk team up is one of the things that makes this movie.

Great comedy, great atmosphere, but weak story. As said before, just a mid-tier marvel movie.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Spectacular and forgettable

[8/10 · 5 August 2018]

It's impossible not to merit Infinity War, the fact that a movie could have this many characters and stay coherant is admirable, and the effects and actors are phenominal throughout - I truly believed I was seeing these heroes fight in these otherworldy locations.

The best parts of the movie are when the characters are just talking to each other - the wit and the charm still shines through in a movie this jam packed.

On the other hand, the action is forgettable and boring, and basically pointless. There's no tension - you as an audience member know that the avengers aren't going to defeat thanos in a fight, so why is so much of the run time devoted to character after character punch him? The final battle is the typical avengers noise fest where you know none of the characters are in danger and nothing of note is going to happen.

As a result, Infinity War fails to get me invested or interested, there's no emotional core to the movie so everything is just noise. The ending is predictable, what will happen in the hopefully better and more focused next movie is predictable, objectively you have to give the movie credit for managing to stay coherant but in the end most of it fell flat to me.

Packed with boring action, writing shortcuts, inconsistencies, emotional moments that fall flat because the film is so desperate to move onto the next plot point, and pushing some of the best characters to the side, I won't be revisiting this one any time soon.

Deadpool 2 (2018)

This movie looks like a meta joke married a vulgar script

[7/10 · 5 August 2018]

The first thing to notice about Deadpool 2 is how much it improves on the first, from the comedy, to the story (which is 10x better than before), to the action, to the direction, to the characters.

Deadpool 2 feels more like a movie than the first, and not a 20 minute storyline painfully stretched out to be feature length. And while the first 30 minutes do become boring, overall this is a much better time than before, it even has some decent emotional moments (which could be completely undercut if the end credits scene is canon).

The story is still nothing special, and still falls into the trap of being exactly like the cliché comic book movies it ridicules, and is no where near as meta as it thinks it is, or needs to be, in order to be something really different, especially when all marvel movies mock themselves anyway. The Deadpool movies simply need to go further as at the moment the meta moments are by far the most forced and unfunny moments in them - why hold back? Why make a joke about there being a big CGI fight, but then have the CGI fight play out like a normal movie? Truly go for it, do something like render the CGI so bad and maybe you could get something more than a cheap laugh.

Speaking of laughs, this is THE definition of 50/50 comedy, and truly is one of the best examples of the writers throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Ryan Reynolds is clearly in love with this character and is a big reason these movies work, and with this being a large step up from the boring, formulaic first instalment, hopefully part 3 will top them both.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

Great action anddd...that's it

[5/10 · 5 August 2018]

The Mission Impossible movies have been renowned for their thrilling and original action set pieces, so how does this one stack up against the others? Fallout delivers some fun moment but ultimately nothing I haven't seen before, a franchise that has hung tom cruise out of planes and had him spider up walls is now only concerned with regular foot chases and car chases.

As said before, the action entertains in the moment but if I were to go back to any Mission Impossible movie I know it wouldn't be this one, as not only is the action less inspired but the story is too, with out of nowhere character moments, and a cliché diffuse the bomb story, and a predictable secret agent betrayal, the story had me snoozing and just checking my watch hoping it would end soon.

The actors are passable, although it seems they're not giving it their all like they have before, Henry Cavill and Simon Pegg give particularly questionable performances. Combine that with bog standard cliché dialogue that had me rolling my eyes at times, and comedy that really didn't land (we're seriously still doing the "character doesn't notice something going on outside the window" gag?), and I feel the movie really isn't worth sitting through for the action sequences (which were well shot might I add) and score.

Tom Cruise is still a legend for everything he puts on the line to make his action scenes believable, but he deserves better material to work with.