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Reviews by: @the_owlseyes @starwards1 @thefilmobservatory “Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life” Bob Marley PLOT "A teenage boy with a sex therapist mother teams up with a high school classmate to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school" or "A celebration of sexuality and personality". SCRIPT This series is able to make you love each character. Almost everyone get an arch and the show knows how to develop even the minor ones. I also like how the series deals with sexual and social taboos with humour and sharpness. It uses a mix of ingenuity and shamelessness. But limiting it to sex would be unfair. Because the show is also about frienship, love, family, life and death, divorce,...a lot to unpack. Now, the characters. Otis has a wonderful arch but it falls short during the third season. Eric and especially Maeve aren't well written, because they don't present a notable growth. The best side characters are Adam, Lily and Jackson. The best character is Ruby and I don't like the fact that the screenwriter wasted her relationship with Otis to make him kiss Maeve, who is a bit toxic and manipulative. She evolved, she had a great development and she is wasted for no reason. I know that this is a spoiler but this is what I didn't like about the third installment. I hope that the producers will listen to the fan and solve this error because Otis and Ruby are more than shipped, they're loved. Obviously there're some cliches but overall it's pretty engaging and entertaining. Script: 9/10 ACTING All the actors are well cast and they all put a lot of effort in their performances. Asa Butterfly and Gillian Anderson are the MVP of this show and they're able to carry it on their shoulder with ease. I think that Ncuti Gatwa and Mimi Keen are the most entertaining performers, especially Ncuti, who's pretty charismatic. Emma Mackey and Connor Swindells are okay. I think that this show is able to allow all the actors to shine in their own way. I want to be sincere with you. I want to see more of Mimi Keen, because she's more potential than the others and his character has been set up for an interesting arch. Acting: 8/10 PHOTOGRAPHY Light is mostly flat but colours are used to perfection. Some episodes display good looking scenes. I think that it could've been better if they went all in with originality but they prefered to use it only in certain moments. It's a pity, because this series could've aspired for more. Photography: 7/10 EDITING Sometimes it is remarkable, sometimes is just mediocre. I think that the first season has the best kind of editing and this fades away afterwards. Slow Motion isn't used a lot. The series prefers to use fast cuts in a comedic way and, sometimes, tilted shots. This isn't the best aspect of this series but it works. Editing: 6/10 SPECIAL EFFECTS They're imperceptible. There's just one episode where they're heavily employed, and it's one made of an animated prologue. Not much to say. Fortunately they've been able to keep it as realistic as possible. As it should be. Special Effects: 6/10 SOUNDTRACK Most of it is made of pop music. I find it particularly fitting and the instrumental parts are well done, because they're able to enhance the quirkiness or the drama on screen. It feels uplifting. It isn't the best I've ever heard but it works well, because it defines the show's tone and style. Soundtrack: 7/10 COSTUMES Didn't expect that. The costumes are bright and colourful and are used as an expression of every character's personality. They're relevant to the point that the third season go against it and change it, to show how its relevant to wear what you like. Usually teen dramas are a bit uninspired and formulaic in this section. Costumes: 7/10 CONCLUSION Script: 9/10 Acting: 8/10 Photography: 7/10 Editing: 6/10 Special Effects: 6/10 Soundtrack: 7/10 Costumes: 7/10 AVERAGE: 7,14 An amazing series about growing up, relationships, sex and more. Check it out because it's better than most teen dramas on the market. Director: Ben Taylor, Kate Herron Screenplay: Laurie Nunn Cast: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey, Connor Swindells, Kedar Williams-Stirling, Alistair Petrie, Mimi Keene, Aimee Lou Wood, Chaneil Kular, Simone Ashley, Tanya Reynolds, Mikael Persbrandt, Patricia Allison, Anne-Marie Duff, Rakhee Thakrar, Jemima Kirke Soundtrack: Matt Biffa, Ciara Elwis Cinematography: Jamie Cairney, Oli Russell Running Time: minutes Budget: $ million By @the_owlseyes So the third season of Sex Education dropped after what felt like forever and just like everyone else I pretty much dropped everything and binged all eight episodes of it. And in short, I really, really loved it! I genuinely think Sex Education is one of the best shows running today and boy, talk about not judging a book by its cover. Or, well, a show by its title. I watched the first two seasons when I was pretty bored and I didn’t know anything about it. I also didn’t have any expectations going in, but MAN was I blown away. The first two seasons were really deep and actually thoughtful, and did so much more than they needed to. Now coming to season 3, I did have fairly high expectations, season 2 left on a pretty big cliffhanger and I was really excited to see where they took the story further. And did it disappoint? Not at all! There were a couple of things that did bother me and I totally get why some people were disgruntled by this season, but personally I really think they stuck the landing. One of the reasons why I love this show so much is because it does an excellent job at getting you very invested in its characters, and I mean like VERY invested. It’s very natural and organic so everything feels very real, and raw. Above everything, Sex Education is honest. It’s so refreshing to see a show about teenagers where the kids actually look and talk like teenagers. It’s modern but also timeless, a show that is unquestionably relatable for pretty much every young person. You can ‘probably’ relate to at least one of the characters in this show. And it’s really all about these people and their relationships. The character work is simply brilliant and they’re all very unique. It just blows my mind how the show deals with so many characters and keeps them all interesting and makes you care about all of them. It really goes to show how much they care about their characters as well, no one is sidelined. And I think I connected to the characters the most, this season. Maeve had always been my favourite, and she still is. I love Emma Mackey as her, and I love how they broke many tropes to create this strong female character but by season 3, we get to know her really well. Yes, there is the usual love triangle to create a tension between Maeve, Isaac and Otis but I think it’s handled beautifully. Otis too, is a great character this season, I think this is Asa Butterfield’s best performance yet. The complicated relationship between Maeve and Otis is probably my favourite part of the show. Sex Education has this amazing way of making us like characters we hated at first. It’s full of redemption arcs and I’m all for it. They somehow made me care so much about Ruby. I adored the relationship between Ruby and Otis, it shouldn’t have worked on paper but something about it is really perfect. Headmaster Groff as well went from a character I had a strong dislike for, to one I actually sympathized with a lot. Same goes for Isaac. Adam should get a special mention for being the most interesting character by far, his arc was surprisingly wholesome. I also loved what they did with Jean this season but no spoilers. Honestly if I sit here and ramble about EVERY character on the show this would be a million pages long. They were all great, no surprises. I loved Eric, Rahim, Jackson, Lilly and almost everyone. Every character has something that’s flawed about them but it makes the show more realistic. Now, the new characters… Wellll I think they could’ve been handled better. Cal is great, and I’m glad they’re in the show but some times, it kind of just feels like they were only in the show for tokenism, so that they could say ‘we have a non-binary character in our show’ And I’m all for representation, I just wish they did more with Cal so it didn’t feel like tokenism. Which by the way, I’m pretty sure was unintentional. Sex Education is all about being open minded and progressive, it’s part of why it’s so popular. Hope’s character arc left a sour taste in my mouth, something about her part in all this felt weird, and it’s probably why some people feel like there’s something ‘off’ about this season, and I get it. And I also didn’t love how heavy handed it was at times? Some of the dialogue seems too on the nose, or too perfect, like we’re watching the show with rose-tinted glasses. I’ve got some other minor nitpicks about character decisions and stuff but since you read the title, you know that I just honestly do not care. This may not be the ‘best’ season per se, but it is my favourite. And I don’t usually make a distinction between best and favourite but for this season, some of it definitely doesn’t work but the parts that do, I live for them. The writing is just incredible, I still can't believe it's this good. And the cinematography too, is beautiful. It's the best looking season yet. It’s hard to describe what this season made me feel, but it’s very emotionally satisfying. It breaks your heart but heals it as well. The ending felt very bittersweet and overall, it’s just so profound and poignant. It makes you cry with its rare, genuine moments but also laugh a lot, because the comedy is wondrous. Not everyone gets a happy ending and I think just like real life, it’s a mixed-bag of emotions. Beautiful but heart-wrenching. I’m very excited to see where this show is going to go in season 4, which is coming to Netflix by September 2022 at the earliest. By @starwards1 5/5 Dramedy/Teen SPOILER WARNING Introverted late-bloomer Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) teams up with tough-skinned outcast Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey) to run an underground sexual health therapy clinic, helping the students of Moordale to understand and cope with their emerging desires and frustrations. It wouldn’t be possible to overstate how much love I have for Sex Education. Ever since Laurie Nunn’s wonderful creation first graced the small screen in January 2019, audiences have slowly become apparent to the fact that this series is undoubtedly one of Netflix’s best. Part of what makes it so special is Nunn and the writing team’s ability to transcend and subvert the expectations of the already fun and unique concept. It’s all about introducing frequent teen stereotypes and then subverting them to round out each of the characters as entirely three-dimensional – the rebel girl’s hard exterior comes from trauma caused by her toxic and unsupportive family situation, the popular mean girl doesn’t live the spoilt and easy life that many might assume, the gay best friend isn’t there to solely crack a few jokes and be awkwardly shoehorned into a love triangle with the main protagonist, but goes on a compelling journey of self-acceptance and discovering their identity, possibly becoming the best character of the show. Practically everybody with lines gets some time in the spotlight, leaving no character bland or unexplored. However, while the subversion is an important element, the series also sincerely deals with an impressive number of heavy subjects, such as abortion, divorce, LGBTQ+ rights, sexual assault, anxiety, and self-harm, and it strikes a perfect balance between the drama and comedy when showcasing storylines about these things. And yes, there is a lot of sex, but it’s never done in a gratuitous manner, rather just honest portrayals of the greatness and the awkwardness that can come with it. It’s a testament to Sex Education’s ability to be so much more than the racy romp that the title suggests it to be that I took so long to address this aspect, as the series is so much about the nuanced characters, and both heart-warming and heart-wrenching drama – overall, there is evidently a lot of ‘heart’, and I find the series absolutely irresistible. For this review, I’m going to largely walk through season 1 in open detail, so if you haven’t seen it and ignored my spoiler warning, I’d strongly recommend you stop reading from here. Season 1 unsurprisingly begins with a… sex scene! I always advise people teetering on the edge to not get the wrong idea of what the show is about from its opening, but the sequence is funny and does give a good impression of the witty case-of-the-week style that the series uses to great effect. Adam Groff (Connor Swindells) and Aimee Gibbs (Aimee Lou Wood) are having bedroom troubles leading to the former becoming Otis’s first unofficial client. Off the bat, we already get a look into the life of gruff bully Adam, who has always lacked a supportive father, and is the victim of personally invasive rumours regarding his “big, massive elephant’s” phallus. Not that this excuses his abusive behaviour, but we already get to understand a bit about why he is the way he is, leading to his fantastic eventual redemption arc in the following season. Aimee is somebody who’s always ‘fake’ due to her compulsive people-pleasing, and she hasn’t really found herself. She’s in with the popular clique but isn’t treated kindly by her friends, and Adam isn’t a particularly thoughtful boyfriend (these things may not sound important, but they all result in significant moments and character development for her). Though this is the central plot of episode 1, what steals the show is the introduction to one of the best friendships on TV: Otis and Eric (Ncuti Gatwa). We quickly hear Ezra Furman’s upbeat teen anthem ‘Love You So Bad’ playing over a hilarious conversation about Otis’ inability to ‘get it on’, as they ride their bikes to school, past the luscious woodlands of what I’m pretty sure is South Wales (where a lot of the series’ filming has taken place). The main other introductions of the important characters for season 1: Jean (the wonderful Gillian Anderson), as Otis’ loving and outrageously open mother, Head Boy Jackson Marchetti (Kedar Williams-Stirling), as the determined swimmer and popular, initially-seeming-to-be-a jock, oddball outsider Lily (Tanya Reynolds), the legendary Jakob (Mikael Persbrandt), Jean’s plumber-turned-love interest with a heart of gold, Jakob’s daughter Ola (Patricia Allison), who’s thrown into the mix mainly as another love interest for Otis before later coming into her own, Mr Groff (Alistair Petrie), as Adam’s father and the stern and rigid headmaster of Moordale, the rest of Aimee’s group, Ruby (Mimi Keene), Olivia (Simone Ashley) and Anwar (Chaneil Kular), ruling the students’ social hierarchy with an “iron fist”, as the ‘Untouchables’. Smaller supporting characters introduced this season include the chipper and nerdy Steve (Chris Jenks, “built like a Chupa Chup”), Eric’s caring but traditional parents, Mr Effiong (DeObia Oparei) and Mrs Effiong (Doreene Blackstock), Jackson’s mothers Sofia (Hannah Waddingham) and Roz (Sharon Duncan-Brewster), the maritally neglected Mrs Groff (Samantha Spiro), the Dahl-esque English teacher Miss Sands (Rakhee Thakrar) and the hilarious music enthusiast Mr Hendricks (Jim Howick). Wow, that took a while. It’ll be a helpful reference point though because now I don’t need to introduce each of those characters separately when they are featured in a prominent arc! Now, back to the story. Aimee and Adam break-up, when the former realises that that he’s a toxic person to be with, but more importantly, after witnessing Otis’ impressive knack for therapy, Maeve proposes that the pair set up an entrepreneurial sex clinic for the students of Moordale to come to booked sessions with their quandaries and questions alike, setting up the backbone of the whole series. Sex Education quickly establishes its fast and funny tone, while also working to erase many different taboos that have led to so much misinformation and invalidation surrounding sexual health in the past. It’s the most honest teen dramedy on modern TV, making for perfectly balanced moments of hilarity and heart that allow audiences to connect with it so quickly. Episode 2 is also entertaining and engaging but it was the third that fully captured me; the storyline of Maeve’s abortion is handled phenomenally, serving as a wonderful example of female empowerment and solidarity, while also massively furthering her character. Episode 3 also beholds our first major instance of Otis and Maeve bonding (apart from a brief hint of what they have in common in the previous episode) as we get to see the latter’s tough exterior being temporarily deconstructed and these two uniquely clicking, not to mention the classic and tender, “You waited”, “Of course”, exchange. The following episode sees our lead protagonist faced with an uncomfortable dilemma, as Jackson is eager to take his casual relationship with Maeve to the next level, and goes to Otis for personal advice, who’s in denial of his romantic feelings towards her. Despite the oh-so-honourable Otis’ attempts to avoid assisting or interfering with Jackson’s advances, the latter ends up committing to a ‘grand gesture’ that our knight in shining armour intended to fail. However, to Otis and the audience’s surprise, it doesn’t, and Jackson’s iconic rendition of Billy Ocean’s Love Really Hurts Without You seemingly seals the deal for a conflicted Maeve. I’m not really a fan of love triangles, however, I think that Sex Education gets away with them, as the consistent message is that love is messy, which is something that teenage romance is especially notorious for. The series is subversive in its manner of making all characters involved in them actually likeable and sympathetic in their own rights, and even the supporting ones get to be in the spotlight and stay on in the show after initial introductions as solely being love interests. We also meet Jakob this episode, who’s the plumber fixing Jean’s sink, leading to the pair’s unique relationship that begins with their ‘compatible pheromones’ and continues to be potentially the most unconventional one on the show (“Jean, you have to stop breaking things when you want sex”). Moving onto possibly the strongest entry of season 1 – episode 5 – which nicely demonstrates the series’ fantastic ability to intertwine storylines, while simultaneously giving mature insight to its characters. The setup is that the sharing of an explicit picture threatens to humiliate a mean girl, Ruby, and ruin her life, leading Maeve on an urgent mission to find and stop the person behind the mask. She understandably enlists Otis to help but he’s meant to be celebrating Eric’s birthday with him, so he’s torn and unsure about which is the morally best option. What episode 5 does so cleverly is perfectly balance character development and arcs by displaying Otis’ selfishness, generating sympathy for the previously unlikeable Ruby, offering a sadly authentic background to Maeve’s trauma, and depicting the terrifying reality of homophobia that Eric becomes a victim of, all in about 46 minutes. It’s heavy stuff but this episode is particularly exemplary of Sex Education’s impressive ability at handling it, while maintaining the light touch that the genuinely funny comedy brings. Final note: the ending of that episode is one of my favourite moments in the series, as the students of Moordale stand in solidarity against the shaming and show that there is hope yet for positive social change. After Otis and Eric’s inevitable falling out, Episode 6 is what I consider to be downtime for season 1 but not necessarily in the best way. We see some of our favourite protagonists at their lowest and unfortunately this makes the enjoyability of season 1 also reach a lower point, as the narrative here dictates a lack in the usual, charming interactions between the main characters. Eric is channelling his anger from the violence he suffered through lashing out towards others, as he’s frustrated with the injustice of the world and the way that he’s treated. Episodes 6 and 7 overall form fantastic and character work for Eric, but in the former, he isn’t acting like himself and is downwards spiralling. It’s obviously a deliberate decision from the writers but, when you isolate Episode 6, that doesn’t change the fact that the vibrant and hilarious energy that Eric usually brings to the show is missing. Meanwhile, Otis tries but fails to hook up with the impatient Lily, leading us to delve into Otis’ past and understand the stem of his sexual repression caused by the disgusting infidelity of his father, Remi (James Purefoy). We also meet Sean (Edward Bluemel), Maeve’s unreliable and problematic brother, the storyline involving which is executed very well but this episode is partly a set-up for the prominent elements of this arc. The penultimate chapter of season 1 is another great one, as Eric’s arc of finding himself comes to a satisfying and heartfelt conclusion, when he reconnects with his religion, family, and inner self. One of my favourite scenes here takes place when Eric meets an eccentrically dressed man with painted nails on the road, just asking him for directions, reminding him that there are others in the world like him, who feel free to be expressive and bold. Other touching moments include Eric’s mother simply telling him “Everybody loves you”, his mass in the church, with the priest similarly informing him that the people there are his family, and his heart-to-heart with his overprotective father. It’s beautiful and hits all the right notes, ultimately leaving Eric as a major standout of the show. We also get the ‘Happily Ever After Ball’, which Otis and Maeve hilariously agree is an “appropriated American tradition that celebrates sexism and peddles an unrealistic portrayal of romantic love” before each being dragged into it by their less cynical respective dates, Ola and Jackson. The potential for Otis and Maeve to get together is heating up this episode, and reaches a climax during the former’s speech to save a fellow student from hurting himself, after they were rejected by their crush (that part’s a long story), when he states that “You can’t choose who you’re attracted to” and that relationships can sprout from finding the right person by “dumb-luck”, clearly being poignant for and relevant to the pair’s history and status. However, this is all goes down the drain when Maeve finds out about Jackson’s payment to Otis in exchange for advice and causes a lapse in trust between them. At least this is positively contrasted by Otis’ apology to Eric and their subsequent reunion, which leads to a heart-warming (and very unprofessional) dance between the two best friends in front of everyone in the hall. As for the rest of the ensemble, Adam has a climactic standoff with his bully of a father, Jean and Jakob hook up, Sean slyly pretends to the customers of a shopping centre that him and Maeve are orphans, to evoke pity and consequent money that they can use to afford a dress for her. Maeve isn’t happy about it so Sean explains his mentality, which is that they were left alone and will die alone, showcasing the kind of isolated attitude that she’s struggling to avoid possessing, due to all of the darkness in her familial and social history. Episode 7 smoothly branches into the season 1 finale, as every major storyline comes to a satisfying and/or cliffhanging conclusion. Otis makes a kind-hearted gesture to apologise to Maeve, who understands and accepts but the potential for them to get together is foiled when she goes to his house only to see him with Ola, who’s now his girlfriend. You can’t help but feel for the charming Jackson Marchetti when he realises that his love for Maeve is unrequited and the two break up. They also started to tackle Jackson’s ongoing struggles with anxiety earlier in season 1, which later becomes one of the best storylines of season 2. Jean and Jakob are secretly having an affair, making things very awkward for Otis, who’s obviously dating his mother’s partner’s daughter! A rift is caused in Otis and Jean’s relationship when he discovers that she’s been writing a personally invasive book about him but her later apology and a mature conversation and understanding rounds out the overall relatable arc of a parent’s difficulties in navigating a relationship with their teenager. We also get an… ummm… interesting development in the dynamic between Eric and Adam, which is to be explored in much depth in the following season. And finally, Maeve shows her true selflessness when she unfairly takes the blame for Sean’s drug-dealing on the school campus. It’s heart-breaking to see how intellectual and capable Maeve really is but how her getting “unlucky in the family department” has dictated so much of her life and happiness. Sean then leaves without warning, continuing the tragic trend of rejection and abandonment in Maeve’s life, and making it all the more clear why she struggles to hope and trust others. Overall, it isn’t just Butterfield and Mackey that inject so much chemistry into Otis and Maeve’s relationship, but largely the writing; the two share a rare understanding of each other, and while he can be a total arsehole due to ignorance and accidental insensitivity, he’s shown to unconditionally care for her and be eager to stick around, therefore serving as a foil to her difficult family. The contemporary tone and expression are nostalgically imbued with the verisimilitude and charm of John Hughes, complete with an energetic soundtrack, composed largely of Ezra Furman’s catalogue of original guitar-focused tunes written for the show and hits from the 80s and 90s, as well as fashion choices inspired by that era. It’s also well-shot and makes you wish that you could live in South Wales so props to the team literally behind the camera and those that handled location scouting during pre-production. Through Sex Education’s combining of the star power of Butterfield and Anderson with the unprecedented talent of newer performers like Mackey and Gatwa, this is the best cast for a teen film or series that I’ve ever seen, and I’d like to clarify that there are no weak links. I think I’ve covered everything so there you have it: my complete thoughts on season 1 of one of my favourite TV shows, Sex Education. (I’m likely going to post this and then be kicking myself after about 5 minutes when I realise that I missed something crucial that I wanted to talk about but I hope you enjoyed this review/breakdown nonetheless). I would highly recommend Sex Education to anybody with Netflix who’s getting bored with the oversaturation of uninspired mainstream content, and is looking for something refreshing and creative, but can also handle the raunch! By @thefilmobservatory

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon Wow what a masterpiece of an album. This might well be CHVRCHES’s strongest album to date. The through line of the whole album and themes it conveys is definitely their strongest. Focusing on admitting your wrongs in a relationship and owning up to your mistakes. It was a refreshing twist on albums with themes like this and felt very reflective which I loved. I also thought that this album proves that CHVRCHES have truly found their sound as a band. The alt pop sound really works for them. The songs vary in length which I really enjoy as it gives more layers to particular songs, and the album tells a story. Its very rare when an album has no skips, but this is one of those situations. My favourite songs ranked: He said She said Final Girl Violent delights California How not to drown with Robert Smith Lullabies Nightmares Good Girls Better if you don't Asking for a friend Overall, CHVRCHES execute their strongest album to date. They have truly found their sound. Whilst also having their most in depth and lyrically deep album that offers an interesting reflection and a different perspective to how relationships are viewed. Overall score 10/10 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @movieframes777 @culturevulture221 V for Vendetta is a political action thriller film directed by James McTeigue.Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving star in the much acclaimed V for Vendetta, a film with vengeance and revolution at its heart. The story is set in the near future in an England controlled by a fascist government that came to power in the aftermath of a horrible biological contamination. A masked figure, known as V is determined to overthrow the political system in the country through Inciting the people to take a revolutionary stand against the regime and its corruption.V works with a young woman, Evey, who joins V’s fight after truly understanding the pain he has suffered. The movie is a very good looking one with powerful script,solid acting, great action, and spectacular cinematography.The movie is multiple layered, filled with symbolism and deeper meanings. By @movieframes777 This is one of the few films that comes to mind when one thinks of anarchism in popular culture. Although the political philosophy is not as nuanced here as in Alan Moore’s graphic novel from which it is adapted, this is a powerful and even cathartic movie which highlights the power of ideas. According to V (Hugo Weaving), the anarchist vigilante and swashbuckling anti-hero of this tale, we need to rid ourselves of fear, for the government utilizes fear as the ultimate tool. "People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people". So we can only attain liberty by vanquishing this fear, as his protégé Evey (Natalie Portman) harrowingly discovers. It reminds one of Frank Herbert’s constant refrain in Dune: fear is the mind-killer. My only complaint is with the concept of anarchism in the movie. In the film, it primarily revolves around thwarting the fascist Norsefire Party. The comic’s conceptualization, on the other hand, involves individual and collective efforts to dismantle the state apparatus and not just some abhorrent individuals. A positive difference is the development of Evey’s character in the film as she is given more agency- while V was purged in the fires of Larkhill, Evey is baptized in the rain. All in all, V for Vendetta is a dramatic, poignant and particularly relevant film. As V seeks to destroy the symbols of fascist power, the establishment seeks to undermine his efforts with the help of newspeak, only admitting the potency of those same ideas. Hugo Weaving is a force of nature– rare is the actor who can emote without a mask let alone in full Guy Fawkes regalia. Natalie Portman’s transformation, both physical and psychological, is iconic, dramatic and compelling (although her English accent is a bit dodgy). It also features indie darling Imogen Poots in one of her first roles! And the soundtrack is the masterstroke, as would be any soundtrack that features @catpowerofficial . By @culturevulture221

Reviews by: @flix_n_dawn Genre: Thriller/Drama Introduction I seldom watch Indian films because I find them lengthy and I am not fond of song and dance insertions which are most of the time out of context. This film is highly recommended by a friend because it is India’s official entry for 93rd Academy Awards. It premiered in 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was showcased at the 24th Busan International Film Festival. Among its accolades include Best Director for 50th International Film Festival of India, Best Sound Mixing and Best Director during the 50th Kerala State Film Awards, and Best Cinematography during the 67th National Film Awards. Story & Screenplay The story revolves around a bull that escapes from a slaughterhouse in a hilly remote village and the entire village men gathering to hunt down the animal. At first, I was wondering why it's a thriller? What could a Jallikattu turn into for it to become a good thriller? The story is one hell of a roller coaster ride. The narrative style is exquisite. How it transcends the story from one genre to another is intelligently done. On the opening is the mundane day-to-day life of the villagers. Then it gradually shifted to the comical chase of the bull. And when night fell, the story had a major turning point making it dark, blood and gore, seat-edge thriller. The screenplay is taut and does not deviate away from the plot which manifested a powerful combination of R. Jayakumar and S. Hareesh. Dialogues are sharp and hard-hitting and had delivered substantial messages to the audience. With slick editing of Deepu Joseph enables a smooth genre transition and plot development that is free from unnecessary scenes. Music & Frame I was lazily watching it at first but when the opening frame started, I was mesmerized. That first 5 seconds really captured my interest especially the score. And I decided I had to watch it with a headset on. I have fallen in love with the score (music, sound) as a whole. It intensifies the scenes, excites the audience, and changes the tone of the movie from light to dark. Prashant Pillai is able to make the simple frame magical (river flow was like a musical ensemble). That tic sound, in the beginning, crawls deep into my senses and the music coming from the ancient musical instrument is indeed majestic. The cinematography is unbelievably good. With that opening scene, I knew already that this movie will be a feast-in-the-eye. The camera angles, close-up, wide-angle, and some random shots are all brilliant. It is astonishing how detailed are some frames in the first half while some are blurry in the second half. I love movies shot in the dark, at night, and under the rain and this movie gives me all that. The night shots using only torch lights, the jaw-dropping long shots during the bull chase, the astonishing rain shots, and the out-of-this-world climax scene are all framed with utmost authenticity. I highly admire Girish Gangadharan for such delicate cinematography. The film uses mechanical bull but it looks real at all times and the artificial rain looks authentic, kudos to the visual effects department for that. Characters & Performances This is a plot-driven narrative and did not focus so much on one specific character. As a matter of fact, the bull here is the protagonist and everyone else are antagonists. However, the characters are well developed and had given appropriate side stories. Acting performances are spot-on. The main characters compellingly portray their characters especially Antony Varghese, and Sabumon Abdusamad. Supporting roles also deliver unforgettable performances despite limited screen time. Direction I admire Sir Lijo Jose Pellissery's unique and non-linear narrative style. His integration of social commentary in the film is commendable. He turns a simple plot into an out-of-this-world, and unimaginable climax. He casts so many amateur actors and makes them execute the acts needed in the story. That is a clear manifestation of craftsmanship. Social commentary is the aspect that I usually look for in a film to say it is good. When a film delivers a message to the audience then that movie could be really something. The film is an allegory of sensitive social issues like domestic violence, discrimination among women, corruption, selfishness, man's cruelty, ego, and deconstruction of male id. The line "They may move around on two legs but they are beast" really hit me hard, it resonates and leave me with deep contemplation even after the credits had finished rolling. Conclusion This film had not only thrilled me but moved me and made me realized I was such a fool for stereotyping Indian cinema. I'm so ashamed of myself. After watching this, I realized that there are many cinema industries in India that I am now starting to explore. This film made me fall in love at the first watch with Indian cinema. And sir LJP will always be among my favorite Indian filmmakers. By @flix_n_dawn

Reviews by: @solemnreads 9/10 Another Madeline Miller book I swore couldn’t possibly live up to my expectations, and yet it wound up far exceeding them. The prose was eloquent and vividly enticing without drowning the reader in descriptions, the characterisations were flawless. Miller truly does a fantastic job of weaving separate accounts into a single narrative, all to create an authentic perspective of a character who is often overlooked in mythological adaptations. How she managed to twist the perspective so perfectly to create a believable motivation for a woman who has so long been considered a villain, I will truly never know. I can’t wait to see what she writes next. By @solemnreads

Reviews by: @journeywithacinephile Film: Skinwalker: The Howl of the Rougarou Year: 2021 Director: Seth Breedlove Writer: Seth Breedlove and Heather Moser Starring: Lyle Blackburn This is another documentary that was sent over to me as a screener from Justin Cook. He has sent over two others from Seth Breedlove, the co-writer/director here, that have dealt with other cryptid lore. When I saw the title for this one and knowing that it dealt with skinwalkers, I was intrigued. Coming in, I knew that this is the name for werewolves among Native American tribes here in the United States. To get into this documentary, the synopsis is do real werewolves exist? In the American south, legends tell of encounters with a creature that stalks the swamps and bayous. An ancient evil called the Rougarou. Where I would like to start breaking this movie down is giving a bit of the back-story that kicks off us. We learn how this lore dates all the way back to Native American days. There was a tribe that practiced a ritual that was considered forbidden and involved eating the flesh of your victims. By doing so, it would make you stronger. The moment I heard this, it made me start to think of the Wendingo, which is an evil entity that roams the woods. This documentary actually references it as well. From this opening introduction to this lore, what I like is that we then get interviews of people’s stories to correlate to the different chapters that the movie is giving us. Going along with this, we get cave drawings, paintings and other art that gives us a visual of what they’re saying. I think there is an added element here as well showing how far this goes back as well. Something else that is added in is re-enactments. For me this adds tension. I know what we are seeing isn’t real, but much like you’d get with Unsolved Mysteries. Hearing these people’s stories is one thing, but seeing it play out how they said adds an element. I like that this documentary tries to pull in as many variations of this creature as they can. There were a lot of people from different places moving to Louisiana, where this is focusing. It is an interesting land. The northern part is prairies and normal land you would associate with the American south. The southern part though is unique with the swamps and the bayous. This movie even seems to consider how the environment is changing and I got a vibe a bit that man is partially to blame. There is a section of land that needs the Mississippi to overflow for the nutrients, but due to building levees, it cannot anymore. There is also the fear of the swamp disappearing as the salt water from the gulf overtakes the fresh water areas. To circle back to something that was stated, there are a variety of people moving to Louisiana and bringing their lore with them. The rougarou is believed to be a variation on the French term for werewolf of loupgarou. This makes sense as how deep the French roots are in the area. We also get stories of this being a curse like in many werewolf movies of today and the past. Changeling lore is also another take on it and wayward spirits that protect the forest. There are even tales here of how rougarous aren’t necessarily evil, but they’re protectors of the land. It would seem to me there was a lot of research done here and people were sought out to give the deepest look. Since I don’t want to spoil this and break down each story individually, I will say that much like the other documentaries from Breedlove, I enjoyed this. He has an interesting take on exploring these legends. There is a connection that I make as these are urban legends in the area and we all have stories like this growing up. Do I fully believe that everyone here that was interviewed saw what they did? Not necessarily, but I do believe they saw something they can’t fully explain. I like the re-enactments that are added along with the older drawings and art used to correlate back. This is another well done documentary. If you are into cryptids and want to learn more of this creature, I’d recommend this for sure. My Rating: 7.5 out of 10 Skinwalker: The Howl of the Rougarou will be available to purchase or rent on September 14th on a number of platforms from 1091 Pictures, including iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu and FandangoNOW. Small Town Monsters will also release a special edition Blu-ray ($18.99) and DVD ($14.99) from their official store. By @journeywithacinephile

Reviews by: @theofficialreviewer Rating: PG-13 Starring: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Elizabeth Marvel 9/10 Five years after the Civil War’s end, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels around Texas dispersing the most recent news. After giving a news reading in one area, he crosses paths with a 10 year old girl who was taken by the Kiowa people. Captain Kidd offers to take her to an aunt and uncle who live across Texas. However, the long journey across the unforgiving plains turns into a fight for survival as they face danger at every turn, both human and natural. Such a good movie. I loved almost everything about it. Very original concept and probably one of the best movies I’ve seen to come out of 2020. Tom Hanks is one of my favorite actors and this just proves that point. He becomes completely synchronized with his character in whatever movie he’s in, and that doesn’t exclude this role of Captain Kidd. Helena Zengel is a 13 year old German actress who is just getting into big production movies. She’s a good little actress with some real talent. I couldn’t believe that she was an actress and not her character in real life, she was so convincing. In fact the whole movie was just so realistic. The camera shots were gorgeous, showing the what the Texas landscape might have looked like. The scenes here were done really well. Paul Greengrass directed this and he also did the Bourne movies, so he knows what he’s doing. The ending also is unexpected, which provided for a nice twist with a happy ending as a result. The only thing I didn’t like about this movie was a bit too much exposition in the first act. Overall almost perfect movie, just a little slow early on but the rest makes up for it. By @theofficialreviewer

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon This is a fantastic debut album. Au/Ra is a very talented artist. What I find refreshing is the way she can create a song not only with a very catchy chorus. But turn simple and generic lyrics about topics on relationships and turn them on there head with the use of metaphors and imagery. It adds such an interesting and unique dynamic to the songs that really makes Au/Ra stand out as an artist. I also loved the blending of pop, dance and Alternative. Despite being three genres, they blended together on different songs excellently. With some inventive choruses that built layers to its production well. My only slight criticism would be that certain songs try to do a bit too much production wise, but this was only for a few songs and the production worked most of the time. My favourite songs ranked: 1. Bite Marks 2. Heavy 3. Screw Feelings 4. No Future 5. Dead Girl! (Shake my head) 6. Soundtrack to an Existential Crisis 7. U 8. Hush 9. Young Giants Overall, Soundtrack to an existential crisis is a fantastic debut album for Au/Ra with her creative writing and mixing of genres being a big standout. And despite some songs having a bit messy production, it still makes her stand out as an artist, I look forward to her future projects. Overall score 9/10 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @mind_of_a_nerd @thefilmobservatory I think this movie confirms one thing if everyone did not already know it. Never take Wolverine's kid or kill his dog. So Prisoners is Directed by Dennis Villeneuve and tells the story of a father and a police officer both trying to find two children that have been kidnapped. So here begins my short review series of reviews featuring most of the films directed by Dennis Villeneuve leading up to Dune in October. I have never seen most of his films. I think the only one I have seen is Blade Runner 2049. So this review series is going to be interesting to see how I view all of his movies on first time watches and if they are all as good as this, I think I’m going to be just fine. Prisoners is an absolutely amazing movie. It is excellently crafted, emotionally investing and overall just fantastic. The vibe of the movie is a lot like Zodiac and I honestly loved it. The acting in this movie is so good that you have to see it to believe it. Hugh Jackman is absolutely incredible in this movie. This might be my favorite performance of his other than Logan. He is just phenomenal. Jake Gyllenhaal as well is phenomenal. Both of these leads keep this movie as interesting as it is. The rest of the cast is great as well. Viola Davis as usual is great. Terrance Howard was also a standout as well as Maria Bello. The movie is shot wonderfully and you always feel like you are there with the characters. The story is also very engaging and unpredictable. I legit was surprised by the ending and where everything concluded. Lastly I want to talk about the title Prisoners. I love that it actually means something and what it does end up meaning is really dark and twisted and I love that. My only real negative with this movie is the pacing in spots. I don’t think the movie has bad pacing but at times I was getting a little restless. Other than that guys I love Prisoners. I think this is an excellent movie from start to finish and I am going to give Prisoners a 9.5/10 By @mind_of_a_nerd 4.5/5 Thriller/Mystery After the abduction of his daughter and his friends’ daughter, strong-willed Keller Dover’s (Hugh Jackman) darker sides emerge more apparent, as he joins the hunt to rescue them and bring the kidnapper responsible to cold justice. French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve burst onto the scene in 2013 with his first English-language picture, and the result was quite remarkable. The greatest strength of Prisoners is that it does not let up – my heart was constantly racing, and Villeneuve’s demonstrates a relentless ability to build up tension, and make the audience feel uncomfortable. Prisoners is a thematically dark film, exploring how far a kind parent can go in such a psychologically stressful and intense situation. While Dover’s quest takes dark turns for his personality and morality, the film really makes the viewer wonder if they could go to the same lengths in a similar extremity. I’m not sure if anybody in this film is a purely good person; everybody has flaws that are amplified by the horrifying events, making Prisoners feel more like a character study than just an abduction thriller. While both Villeneuve’s Prisoners and Blade Runner 2049 are good films, the distinctive director’s focus on character and the building of tension, in the former, are the qualities that have led to me personally preferring it. (I bring up Blade Runner 2049 as it’s the last film that I’ve reviewed before this). Since the exploration of characters is one of the best parts of this movie, I’ll start by discussing the performances. JAKE GYLLENHAAL… he never turns in a bad performance. While the narrative focus is perhaps more on Dover, Gyllenhaal’s Detective Loki steals the show for me. He’s the one who has supposedly solved every single case he’s ever had. The film also follows his emotional journey, as he becomes more determined and crazed to find the abducted girls and arrest their captors. However, the case becomes more complicated when a conspiracy seems to emerge about the bigger picture in the kidnapper’s mind. Gyllenhaal is fantastic, striking a line of slightly ambiguous morality mixed in with his general professionalism. Loki largely seems in control but he’s nonetheless prone to his anger taking over, adding an element of erratic unpredictability. By the end of the film, he acts as an anchor of good in this world of anti-heroes and evil, and the climax of Prisoners… it absolutely keeps your heart racing and Loki’s unbreakable resilience to save everybody that he can makes him somebody that the audience will easily root for. Hugh Jackman is also pretty good, in a more extreme type of role than his usual. As he pushes the boundaries, via both legal and illegal means, he brings a dangerous presence to the film, as it becomes more and more difficult to root for our primary protagonist. The title of the movie is a particularly interesting one, as there is effectively imprisonment on both sides, making the viewer question why one instance may be justified but not the other. Especially when it ends and the plot twists have been revealed, Dover’s actions appear even worse, despite those actions possessing ‘altruistic’ intentions earlier on, at least from his perspective. You see a man cease to sleep and probably eat properly, drowning himself in the drink and becoming a near-monster himself, and by the end of Prisoners, there’s a twisted notion that the villain may have gotten what they wanted in turning Dover into this. Other than maybe his performance as Wolverine, especially in Logan, I personally believe this to be Jackman’s best work. However, Gyllenhaal and Jackman aren’t the only standouts. Paul Dano is amazing as usual, in an intense role where the audience is constantly left in the dark about the true intentions of his mentally challenged character and doesn’t know for most of the film whether he’s even responsible for the accusations and suggested acts of abuse or not. This makes the audience feel very uncomfortable about Dover’s actions in particular, as they would seem less evil if it was known if he was guilty, but the ambiguity surrounding this… you don’t quite feel in control, when watching Prisoners. The good guys do bad, and the bad guys do worse: it’s largely a paradoxical question of which character fits into which category. And does sympathy towards our protagonists in their situation allow for justification and forgiveness? The religious imagery present is another interesting aspect, relating to Dover’s beliefs. While the film begins with Dover praying, Prisoners could be interpreted as a story of a man losing focus of his faith, and his moral compass along with it. He doesn’t leave it up to that which he believes in, but rather takes things into his own hands, and those things, as could be expected, just get messier from there. Terence Howard and Viola Davis, as the distressed parents of one of the kidnapped girls, are both on form but their fame doesn’t become distracting. Howard and Davis are slightly underused, as they aren’t given as much screentime as Jackman but their talent shines through and they fit into the dark tone, giving realistic portrayals of the anxiety and emotional chaos that any parents would be experiencing. David Dastmalchian continues his trend of playing psychologically disturbed characters, and gives a good performance, despite a short amount of screen-time. I do worry a bit about Dastmalchian getting typecast because he’s a strong performer but only seems to get granted these kinds of minor roles, aside from his recent appearance as Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad. He brings an interesting, alternative presence to Hollywood that deserves further recognition and commendation. Villeneuve is also a master of subtlety: he treats his audience with respect and doesn’t act like they’re stupid. The effect of this can be cast by the smallest details, like a scene where there are some pills lying at the bedside of the mother of Dover’s daughter, presumably for sleeping or treating anxiety. It may not sound important but the camera fixates on the pills enough for the audience to then understand (MINOR SPOILER) the police’s thinking when she reports a minor disturbance but no evidence of it is found. A less competent director may have whacked their audience over the head by directing referencing the pills in a section of dialogue. These kinds of small details are things that directors must think carefully about, and they can build up to be surprisingly significant in the success of a film. (TO SAY THAT IT EVEN COUNTS AS A MINOR SPOILER WOULD BE THE OVERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR BUT BE WARNED THAT THE FOLLOWING FEW LINES REFERENCE THE ENDING SCENE). The final scene is another jaw-dropping example of Villeneuve’s genius, and an unforgettable one, because of how magnificently crafted it is; the stakes have built up to the moment, and it pays off earlier scenes that introduced something that seemed initially insignificant (Chekhov’s Gun Theory), while also forcing the viewer right to the edge of their seats, as they impatiently wait for a character to notice something extremely vital, ending on that iconic shot of Gyllenhaal’s Loki. Be prepared for goosebumps galore. Jóhann Jóhannsson delivers a swooping, sombre score that induces a constant feeling of uneasiness. Reflective of the dread felt by characters in each scene, it always conveys the dark tone of the film, due to the horrifying subject matter but also the creeping fears of futility that the protagonists become prey too. As much as I love Hans Zimmer, it’s great to see such an impressive score from a different, less-established composer, so as to allow newer talent to grow and thrive. Roger Deakins’ cinematography is another highlight, as usual, and displays dramatic use of lighting to heighten tension and add to uneasy, ambiguous atmospheres. Certain shots are particularly haunting, and others cleverly represent the different power dynamics between characters. When Paul Dano’s character (MINOR SPOILER) is trapped, there seems to only be a small sliver of light shining through to him, as Dover is literally and metaphorically blocking out the rest for him, and consequently his freedom and rights. Other smart tactics from Deakins include the low-key lighting often being contrasted with harsh flood-lights, to represent the lack of calm and comfortability for the protagonists. Prisoners is a well-crafted film, but there is unfortunately one significant flaw, for me. Despite Prisoners largely being a character piece, I felt that we didn’t get the fullest picture of Gyllenhaal’s Loki that could’ve been portrayed. As his determination became fervent, it felt as though there must have been a traumatic past that meant that this case was striking a chord for our detective protagonist. While Gyllenhaal’s performance does more than enough to ignore this, there could have been more backstory given to explain why he is the way he is. However, Loki isn’t necessarily meant to be the ‘main character’ so perhaps this problem is ironically derived from the fact that Gyllenhaal possesses such immense talent and eats up every scene, ultimately stealing a show that isn’t supposed to be predominantly dedicated to him. Prisoners is a very good film but there could have been more background and earlier points of development for our protagonists, so as to fully sympathise with and understand their actions, good or bad. There are some qualities to be refined but Prisoners is a great film, with a story that Villeneuve takes to another level. Its central mystery sustains the thrills, while the simple plot packs deceptively complicated themes, and the film showcases some powerhouse performances. I would highly recommend Prisoners to fans of thrillers and character pieces, and also to Gyllenhaal’s stans. By @thefilmobservatory

Reviews by: @tvnerdaran Once Upon a Time in America is one of my favourite films of all time. It’s a deeply moving, elegiac and boldly poetic yet brutal tale of crime, gangsters, politics and history, as it tells the tale of two childhood friends David “Noodles” Aaronson (played by Robert De Niro), and Maximilian “Max” Bercovicz (played by James Woods) who rise to power during the Prohibition era and amidst the rise of gangsters and organised crime in America. The film has everything that a great film should have. It has amazing writing, directing, acting, music, cinematography, editing, production design... the film has it all. But most importantly, it has deep and underlying themes of life, death, love, lust, friendship, betrayal, loss, grief, regret, mourning, greed and violence. I love gangster films, with many classics of the genre such as The Godfather, The Godfather Part II and Goodfellas being amongst my all time favourite films. But this film is different from all of them. Unlike the former three, this film does not seek to glorify gangsters or sugarcoat their behaviour in any way. Whereas The Godfather films depicted them as respectful, almost aristocratic men of honour, and Goodfellas glamourised their lifestyle as cool, Once Upon a Time in America on the other hand, is a bleak, mournful and haunting tale of the true ugliness of these people and their lifestyle. In this film, gangsters are depicted as vicious and violent scumbags, killing people and abusing women as they please without a second thought. This film is the only gangster film I know of that shows them and their lifestyle for what they truly are, and in all of its sheer ugliness and brutality. This film also examines morality and regret, as the evil deeds that these gangsters commit haunt their conscience and result in them living in pain and torment for the rest of their lives. It’s one of the few gangster films that associate regret and mourning with this wretched lifestyle. It is perhaps the most honest gangster film I’ve ever seen. There is something truly special about this film. It has career-best performances from both Robert De Niro and James Woods, stunning direction from Sergio Leone, a poetic and haunting score from Ennio Morricone, and gorgeous and lush cinematography from Tonino Delli Colli. It is one of the most moving and powerful films I’ve ever seen. It uses all elements of the cinematic language to create a stunning masterpiece, and because of that, Once Upon a Time in America is in my opinion, one of the greatest pieces of cinematic art ever produced. By @tvnerdaran

Reviews by: @the_owlseyes “There is a distinct evolutionary advantage to being fuzzy, as much of the mammal kingdom had discovered, particularly when you wanted a human to scratch your back. The dwarven evolutionary tree had embraced this concept wholeheartedly only to discover that once you started talking and expressing opinions a human's desire to scratch your back became directly inverse to how fuzzy it was” Jeffery Russell, The Dungeoneers PLOT "A short film that follows a father that was attacked and robbed as he hunts down the robbers for the most significant thing to him" or "A guy kills people but he's not John Wick". SCRIPT The plot is pretty simple and it isn't the first time that it's adapted. The problem is that the script is a bit sloppy and a lot of things seems random. We don't know much about the protagonist, even less about the other characters. The protagonist doesn't even have an arch, which makes the short a bit pointless. I think that the screenwriter should've made it more focused and streamlined the characters, because a lot of them are out of place. I'm a bit disappointed, considering the good premise. Script: 5/10 ACTING It's acceptable, not the best but it works. Considering that most of the actors, I think, are amateurs, it's more than enough. Not much to say. Acting: 6/10 PHOTOGRAPHY It's alright considering the budget, nothing remarkable. There aren't beautiful shots and most of it is shooted in a simple and uninspired way. It works but I can't give it more than a stretched 6. Photography: 6/10 EDITING There're a lot of jump cuts and most of the time the movie's rythm is off thanks to this sloppy editing. It's probably the worst aspect of this short. I don't want to say more because I'm kinda disappointed. Editing: 4/10 SPECIAL EFFECTS Practical effects are cheap (scars look like paint's stain) and in a scene the VFX are missing, I'm talking about the gun which doesn't fire a shot, not once. It doesn't help the audience and hurts the short, which seems fake. I think that the production should've used the budget in a more efficient way. Special Effects: 5/10 SOUNDTRACK Probably the best aspect of this short. It fits the narration and makes the movie more interesting to watch. Sure, not always it's integrated in the best way possible and sometimes it sounds sloppy but it works and elevate the overall quality of this flick. Soundtrack: 6/10 COSTUMES They look cheap and some of them don't fit the setting of this movie. I don't understand if it's a western set in the present or there're just some continuity errors due to the budget. It's a bit upsetting and could confuse the audience. Costumes: 5/10 CONCLUSION Script: 5/10 Acting: 6/10 Photography: 6/10 Editing: 4/10 Special Effects: 5/10 Soundtrack: 6/10 Costumes: 5/10 AVERAGE: 5,28 This short has a lot of flaws and they don't help the movie, which suffers a lot in terms of overall quality. The main idea is interesting but the execution is a bit poor. By @the_owlseyes

Reviews by: @jasmynreviewsstuff @deralthoff "The Hunt" (2020) is a Blumhouse Production which I should have paid more attention to when I thought this could be a decent movie (does anyone truly like the purge movies??). IMDb lists this movie as an action/horror/thriller and it's mediocre in all 3 of those. If anything the absolutely ridiculous killings in this movie are more comedic than anything else (i.e at about 40 minutes in Usman Ally dies when someone puts a live grenade down his pants). The fact that you’re supposed to take it seriously completely ruins its many goofy moments. The acting is actually ok but the writing is cheesy and predictable. One thing I really liked was that you can't really tell who the main character is. Yeah I know Betty Gilpin is on the cover but I forgot about her when Emma Roberts seemed to be taking center stage. Then she gets blown up and you think it’s the next guy who also gets blown up. It goes on like that until we get to Betty Gilpin’s character. Anyone who knows me knows I don't do horror/gorey movies but I decided to give this one a try because of the short story it's very loosely based on. I read "The Most Dangerous Game" in 10th grade English class. I'd rather read the 1924 story by Richard Connell than watch this again. If I have to grasp at straws, sure, it's a metaphor for classism but it's so out there and unbelievable. I'm bummed I wasted my time. 4/10 By @jasmynreviewsstuff Jason Blum und seine Produktionsfirma Blumhouse sind dafür bekannt, mit kleinem Budget Filme zu produzieren, die an den Kinokassen meist ziemlich erfolgreich sind. THE HUNT scheint wieder so ein Projekt gewesen zu sein, bei dem versucht wurde mit wenig Mitteln einen Erfolg zu zaubern. 15 Millionen Dollar hat der Film gerade mal gekostet und ich finde, dass sieht man ihm in einigen Teilen auch an. Gerade die oft billig wirkenden CGI-Effekte spiegeln die Finanzen wieder. Trotzdem muss ich sagen, hat mir der Film auf irgendeine Art gefallen, wenn man einige Dinge vielleicht anders betrachtet. Direkt relativ zu Beginn, wird mit den Erwartungen des Zuschauers gespielt und man bekommt nicht das, was man zuerst glaubt zu bekommen. Diesen kleinen Twist empfand ich zumindest als unterhaltsam. Die Brutalität an sich ist natürlich schon sehr explizit. Aber wie schon erwähnt, machen es die recht billigen Effekte etwas kaputt. Aber an Body-Counts wurde auf jeden Fall nicht gespart. Die schauspielerische Leistung war durchschnittlich bis teilweise schlecht. Tiefgründige Charaktere sucht man hier natürlich vergebens. Die Protagonistin hat mir hier noch am besten gefallen, wobei ich auch ihr Spiel manchmal nicht richtig einordnen konnte und seltsam fand. Der Satire-Faktor der auf Verschwörungstheorien, politische Rollen und Moralvorstellungen anspielt, wird einem zu sehr auf die Nase gebunden und bei jeder Möglichkeit ziemlich offensichtlich angesprochen, sodass man kaum noch Interpretationsraum hat. Vielmehr wird der Subtext einem hier regelrecht um die Ohren gehauen. Das Ende war auf der einen Seite nett anzusehen und hat zum Teil etwas an Kill Bill erinnert. Auf der anderen Seite hat es mich aber nicht zufrieden gestellt. THE HUNT ist insgesamt unterhaltsam und einfach wegzuschauen. Die 1,5 Std vergingen wie im Flug und man kann an der einen oder anderen Stelle lachen, meistens dann wenn jemand in die Luft fliegt. By @deralthoff

Reviews by: @thefilmobservatory 4.5/5 Drama/Period Epic Relentless oil tycoon Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) will stop at nothing to achieve his goals and expand his business, butting heads with locals and representatives of the large industry alike. There Will Be Blood (TWBB) is nearly a flawless film. It’s loosely based off of ‘Oil!’, a novel first published in 1926-1927, but Paul Thomas Anderson takes it into his own, and the results are incredible. All of the performances are fantastic, even the actor of H.W. (Daniel Plainview’s son), Dillon Freasier, who was 11 years old when the film released. Anderson’s direction sustains a gripping intensity to the film, despite the extreme violence and physical threat being infrequent. The cinematography, which Robert Elswit won an Oscar for, is stunning. The music perfectly suits the atmosphere, and it never distracts during scenes but enhances them. The rich narrative presents interesting themes of greed, American capitalism, and ambition leading to downfall. There are only two noticeable flaws in the whole movie for me, but other than these things, TWBB is a true cinematic experience that ought not to be missed. Daniel Day-Lewis is absolutely magnetising in the role, displaying charisma and charm, while employing his subtle yet effective persuasive techniques, causing a constant uneasiness for the audience as to his true intentions in a scene. It feels impossible to look away from his monologues; he grasps the attention of the viewer as much as his onscreen audience. Like the rest of the film, Day-Lewis, in the part, is brilliantly understated and compelling: his Oscar win was inevitable and so very well deserved. Usually, you’d expect a wealthy, power-hungry businessman like the central character to be constantly dismissive and selfish, without a care for anyone or anything around him, but what makes this film so interesting is that he doesn’t seem to be that way. At least not on the surface. Initially. However, because of this well-known character archetype, the audience spends much of the film waiting for him to act this way, adding an element of unpredictability to Daniel, as he acts happy to bargain and do things to satisfy those ‘in his way’, but we are quite aware of his unabating ambition. We start TWBB in 1898, when Daniel is mining for silver with a small amount of tools, by himself. He trips down the mine and is badly injured, but he gets back up, pulls himself out of the mine, and survives. After a time jump, he’s working with a small crew to collect oil, however, he still works alongside them and doesn’t just give the orders from afar. His willingness to get his own hands dirty makes him more sympathetic, and his resilience and growth from one man mining alone for silver to this makes him seem genuinely self-made, an often self-proclaimed but exaggerated or false quality of American businessmen at the time. This setup is crucial for the rest of the film because it means that Daniel began as a modest, hard-working underdog that the audience will willingly root for, but by the end of the film, it’s difficult to discern whether he fell into the corruption, selfishness, and greed that he eventually evokes, or if it was in him all along but he was willing to hold it back to achieve his means. Day-Lewis flawlessly conveys all of these things, and this role wholly demonstrates his immense devotion and prowess as an actor. Acting largely opposite Day-Lewis, Paul Dano is phenomenal as usual. Here, he plays the part of an enigmatic preacher of the ‘Church of the Third Revelation’, named Eli Sunday, who is supposedly the brother of the young man who originally enticed Daniel with the opportunity of oil by his family ranch, Paul (also played by Dano). There’s a deliberate ambiguity as to whether there are two brothers, or whether the young man is playing games with Daniel, making it difficult to figure out ‘Eli’s’ true motives for the vain oil prospector, as well as the audience. Dano is a chameleon: he completely blends into his roles, and he gives no exception in TWBB. At first, Eli seems harmless but the fact that he has the locals under his thumb, with his speeches and practices at the church, gets on Daniel’s nerves, and the two’s rivalry grows over the film. As each of them try to humiliate the other, Daniel’s malicious pride becomes evident, and the climax of their feud makes it all feel drastic and unnecessary but I think that that’s the point. About halfway through the film, Daniel states that he hates “most people” and that he wants nobody else to succeed. Therefore, he can’t handle those like Eli who believe in a higher power because he wants to be that higher power. TWBB presents conflict between money and religion. Obviously, Daniel’s strong capitalist beliefs make him to think that the former drives the world around, so these fundamentally opposite ideals of him and Eli present an interesting cause for competition and hatred. One of the best parts of the film is Daniel’s well-known confession scene in Eli’s church. It’s so rich in its dialogue, especially when Eli gets Daniel to “Beg for the blood”. The guilt that’s built up inside Daniel is released and he feels unhinged. Or is he completely in control here, and doing it to achieve his ultimate goals? The likelihood is that it’s a twisted mix, flawlessly conveyed by the masterful Day-Lewis. Eli strikes Daniel in his face, a practice of the young preacher that supposedly ‘casts away the devil’. However, more importantly, this is reminiscent of an earlier scene when Daniel let out his anger by striking Eli, after a serious incident at the oil drilling rig. There’s a constant power play between the two, and both highly competent actors give some of their best work in TWBB. Another fantastic character interaction in TWBB is between Daniel and his son, played for the majority of the film by Dillon Freasier. The brilliance he demonstrates is often through silence, as his relationship with his father is complicated to say the least. Both actors spend a lot of time communicating meaning through their expressions here. H.W. becomes almost like his right-hand man and because he is always there, Daniel potentially feels judged for his mistakes. He could be trying to keep it in the family or he might not know how to raise a child. Either way, Daniel seems to mainly treat him with respect but the film takes a major turn, and his selfishness severely gets the better of him. This dynamic adds depth to Daniel, as we watch a man who hates “most people” attempt to raise a child – it gets messy, and we get to see how far he’ll go in his manipulative tactics to achieve what he wants. Elswit’s cinematography is breath-taking. The natural environment of the time is used to spectacular effect. Stunning sunsets, gorgeous greenery, and ferocious flames all give TWBB a visual flair unlike anything I’ve possibly ever seen. We get to see the grimy stuff too, like how messy it gets when mining for oil. The film doesn’t shy away these kinds of things – it feels like it’s finding beauty derived from the raw wilderness. The camerawork is also varied and skilled, showing much variation, allowing the environment to breathe in long shots, and for the actors to do their incredible work in medium shots. Jonny Greenwood’s (yes, that is the Jonny Greenwood, lead guitarist and keyboardist of Radiohead) score complements the visuals very well. Parts of the film sound like they’re accompanied by a droning, fluctuating orchestra, and use of dissonance helps the music to create a lot of tension here. Other music sounds more graceful, perhaps conveying the beauty that Daniel finds to be seething from money and his plans working like clockwork. However, the standout piece for me is the one from the scene with the oil drilling rig incident. The timbre feels mechanical, with all of the clanging, but the piece feels largely offbeat and unpredictable. It’s a genius blend of industrial sounds with the chaos of the situation, and it heightens the tension of the scene. My only two criticisms of TWBB are quite simple, and fortunately don’t have a major impact on enjoyment or the quality of the film overall. Firstly, I felt that Paul Dano was slightly underused. He’s such a good actor and shines, even opposite a legend like Day-Lewis himself. Eli’s character was interesting but the frequency of his appearances felt a little bit erratic; sometimes he’d be a central figure who’s evidently integral to the story, and sometimes he wouldn’t show up for a prolonged amount of time. TWBB definitely doesn’t waste Dano per se, but I felt that the film could’ve been more consistent with when he showed up and it would’ve consequently been clearer how important he was to the story. My other small issue with TWBB is that there’s a time jump towards the end that felt a bit jarring. It absolutely didn’t ruin the film, but it felt to me like it lost a bit of its steam when they made the decision to do such a big jump in Daniel’s story, after such an intense and gripping focus on it, without really cutting away, prior. I won’t go down the spoiler route but I can say that the final scenes and dialogue of the film are fantastic, and Day-Lewis and Dano are mesmerising at the end. The last scenes are all still very strong, I just felt that the time jump was a bit much. Its lack of positive morals and messaging means that TWBB may not appeal to everybody but this expertly crafted tale of greed, capitalism, and a descent into selfish madness is essential for all cinema lovers. There’s plenty to impress in this film, and it reinforces how formidable a force both Anderson and Day-Lewis can be. I would recommend TWBB to fans of slow-burn character pieces, focused and ambitious dramas, and to anybody else with a passion for cinema. Because There Will Be Blood is glorious, untamed cinema, in its purest form. By @thefilmobservatory

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon Wow, for me this has to be Halsey’s strongest album to date. The amount of lyrical growth in their song writing and the themes of this album is incredibly deep and well structured. This album tackles the deepest fears of motherhood and reflects on Halsey’s flaws and tells a story. Whilst also highlighting things on what is viewed as the proper way to raise a child in today’s society. It has both a political message, but also feels deeply personal to Halsey at the same time. I think their sound is also evolving excellently, still having that essence of Halsey with the alternative sound, but I also think this album brings more of a more of a mix of grounded production and more alternative rock which I loved. It gave the songs so much atmosphere and impact, and I hope going forward Halsey continues with this sound. My Favourite songs ranked: 1. Girl is a gun 2. I am not a woman, I’m a God 3. Whispers 4. The tradition 5. Lilith 6. Darling 7. Easier than lying 8. You asked for this 9. Honey 10. Bells in Santa Fe 11. 1121 12. The Lighthouse 13. Ya’aburnee Overall, If I can’t have love, I want Power is Halsey’s strongest album to date. Showing a growth in their sound, but also it is the most lyrically deep albums I have heard in a while. Really showing a lot of growth from Halsey. Delivering both a strong political message on motherhood, as well as feeling very personal to Halsey as an artist. Overall score 9.5/10 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @bearfilmreviews At the beginning of this rewatch I was prepared to say things like "why is the saturation so high?" and "why the CGI gophers?" which are both still complaints that I have. But I actually kinda liked this overall. It's got a very different feel to it than the original trilogy (which is obviously a lot better), but the feel this film has I found still really enjoyable. This still feels like an Indy movie, if a slightly different one. It still has great gags and fun action. I really like the Area 51 warehouse scene. It's a cool setting, I really like the gag where Indy swings backwards into a truck, that's classic Indy, it's great. And the little mini-boss fight with the rocket is really good too. I love Nuketown in this film. The setup is so creepy and ominous, realising the mannequins aren't people. And yeah, surviving in a fridge doesn't make sense, he would be dead either in the explosion, from tumbling to the ground, or from radiation poisoning. But I don't care to be honest. I love it. It's illogical, but I find it really really fun. The motorcycle chase is also a really fun sequence, I like the little jocks versus greasers gag to start it. Also the gag where a student casually asks Indy a question when he slides in on a motorcycle. I don't mind Mutt, I kinda like him actually. And Marion is nice to see again, I like Indy's reaction to seeing her, and the son dynamic is fun. John Williams' score for this film is really nice, but only for the returning motifs. I don't remember any new music for this film. But the reused music is really good. The love theme from Raiders, the family theme from Crusade, just lovely. The film has its flaws, Mac is a dick and I don't know why they trust him again after he's shown his true nature. Mutt swinging with monkeys and then having the monkeys attack Spalko is incredibly silly, made me laugh a lot. The main characters are invincible. They don't struggle in fighting people nearly enough. They survive some insane things, but ah well. Very flawed film. Easily the weakest Indiana Jones film. Still liked it though. A lot of fun was had. By @bearfilmreviews

Reviews by: @jasmynreviewsstuff ”Jurassic Park” is one of my all-time favorite movies. From the story to the acting to the awesome dinosaur effects it’s just *chef’s kiss*. In this classic film, John Hammond invites paleontologists Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler along with mathematician Ian Malcolm to Isla Nublar to consult on and endorse his new theme park that has lawyers unsure of its merit and safety. Meanwhile, computer wizard in charge of the park’s security, Nedry, has sold out Hammond and the park and plans to steal the dino DNA to sell to the highest bidder. Chaos ensues as Hammond’s grandchildren along with Grant, Sattler, Malcolm and “blood sucking lawyer” Gennaro tour the incredible park full of genetically modified and allegedly all female dinosaurs. The story itself is absolutely awesome. What little kid didn’t love learning about dinosaurs as a kid? The visuals are stunning and you can almost forget that dinosaurs are extinct. Also as an adult it makes you think, is it actually possible for scientists to do this? We can clone sheep, why not recreate the lost species. Clearly a bad idea but it’s a fun thought. My favorite character of the movie is Ian Malcolm played by Jeff Goldblum. He’s the voice of reason from the start with his famous line, “life finds a way,” which ultimately ends up being true. I think Jeff Goldblum is a fantastic actor and Ian just seems to be an extension of Goldblum’s silly and quirky character. Overall "Jurassic Park" is such a fun movie to watch. It brings every kid's fantasy to life in a visually stunning way. The acting is fantastic from each and every character. It's got comedy, action, suspense and I can watch it 100 times over and still be entertained. 10/10 By @jasmynreviewsstuff

Reviews by: @beyondfandom1 Back at it again with another Valiant Entertainment review! I jumped on the hype train last week of Ninjak and here I am reviewing issue #2! Written by Jeff Parker and art is done by Javier Pulido, this book got me hyped for future issues and now that issue #2 is out, let's review! Before we start, another shoutout to Valiant Entertainment for sending me this issue! In my last review of "Ninjak #1", I was fully introduced to the hype around this title and it did not disappoint! Now, issue #2 is great and had a bit of action, comedy and Ninjak just being a beast but I do has some minor complaints but let's talk about this book. We continue with Myna and Ninjak after the train crash they were in and we find out that the three monster looking things were in fact trying to hunt him down and Myna would be a bonus for them. I actually laughed at when Ninjak found out their names which are: Gale, Giant, and Growler. Each have different unique powers like Gale has elemental-powers, Giant is a metal giant and just like any other huge character he is super strong, and then Growler was an experiment where multiple animal genes were spliced into one and he has super speed and rapid cellular recovery. I did enjoy in one of the panels in this issue it had a computer looking screen up with all three villains on their and it told us a short backstory of them, a very nice touch. Ninjak defeats Gale and Giant but Growler gets away. The way the two were defeated was actually really smart and cool. Gale chased Ninjak into a electrical current where he threw a live wire at her that stunned her. Ninjak lunged towards her and chopped her hands clean off! That was a really smart move, something a trained assassin/spy would do. Next is the defeat of Giant which was weird but hey, it is what it is. Giant takes capture of Myna and tells Ninjak that he either turns himself in or the girl dies. Ninjak tells Myna in their earpiece to throw a pill into Giant's mouth when he opens up and that's exactly what she did. What was the pill you may be asking, well it was mini-charges that detonate when they get warm and before she threw the charges she threw another pill that eats through metal. I felt like I was in science class when that scene happened. Now, the issue could've ended after that but they continue with how the MI-6 got leaked and that storyline. I honestly don't care for this story, but I do get why they need to continue with it. The next time we see Ninjak and Myna was when they were flying a stolen airplane heading to find Neville Alcott in a mysterious island. Myna sees troopers and what does Ninjak do? He just casually jumps out of the airplane with a line attached to it. This dude is crazy! On to what I didn't like. I think this issue fell into the category of "we need to cram two stories into one book" when they didn't need to. I felt like after the fight with the three villains the story could've gone to them stealing the plane and then heading to Alcott. Then in issue #3, they focus more on the MI-6 storyline. I understand that all of this is connected and I know that have a certain amount of issue to publish, but this one felt a little long. I also am still getting used to the artwork but Pulido's work is slowly growing on me! Overall, I really enjoyed this issue. It's a great story and I like the character Ninjak. I think I enjoyed issue #1 a little better, but it was still good! "Ninjak #2" gets a 3.5/5! By @beyondfandom1

Reviews by: @_pilots_on_the_ground_ Scrap mechanic is a game of which makes u feel like the most dumbass person in the world, but when you get something right the gratification is more than anything you can imagine. It is a game that does not shy away from making you feel like a nerd with no friends. This is enforced when you and your friends have aneurysms for its shit multiplayer. When in the realm of aids, it makes you focus on your creativity, and your problem solving skills. This makes the game feel like you have infinite ways to play. This is an amazing thing; however, it is also a detriment. As the name suggests ‘mechanic’ it is a game where you build contraptions, these can be anything from cars to cars, to cars, to different types of cars… you spend a lot making different types of cars. Apart from cars there are actually almost anything u could ever imagine; functioning plans is a negative though. You can make them look like they work with thrusters, but that takes a very large brain. If you want a plane making experience, I recommend you fuck off... or install mods… there are a lot of mods. In the recent times of several months ago, they added a survival mode. Ignoring the obviously wrong order of the additions of gamemodes, it gives more of a sense of urgency and need to build what you build, which I really enjoy. The goal is to explore the world, take down warehouses, and farm. While you do this, angry robots come and mess with your crap, run em over its fine. In conclusion, Its an incredibly rewarding game when you execute your imagination. However, (I know I use however a lot but this is a big however rn) the game – in my opinion – has some major flaws. Once you spend a few dozen hours making the things that spring to mind, it limits what you can build, not by design, but the need TO build stuff is outweighed but why do I need to. My motivation to build new things is crushed by the needn’t to. The survival mode also does not escape this eventuality. In summary, great game but a few flaws in how I can play. By @_pilots_on_the_ground_

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon This is a very strong debut EP. Nessa for me is one of the strongest people from Tik Tok to do music. The EP tackles a lot of themes and different parts of Nessa’s life, including escaping an emotionally abusive relationship and the effect it had on her mental health afterwards. I think the structure of the EP is linear and stays consistent throughout, offering a hopeful sign of her mental health getting better towards the end coming full circle from the start of the EP. I also think that in terms of production Nessa has already found her sound which is rare for her first project. The dark and edgy lyrics, and the alternative rock sound really suits her voice well, I also liked that every song sounded different to one another and focused on a different element of the main themes. It didn’t feel repetitive and didn’t go stale like a lot of albums and projects do about halfway through. Each song had a purpose. My Favourite songs ranked: 1. I hope ur miserable until ur dead 2. Scare Myself 3. Pretty Poison 4. I wanna Die 5. Keep me afraid 6. Grave 7. Sincerely Overall, Nessa Barrett makes her transition from Tik Tok to music and does so successfully. With a coherent and thought-provoking EP that tells a great story about her mental health. Nessa has found her sound and I can see myself enjoying her future projects. Overall score 9/10 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @guimondreviews This was definitely a good example of a turn-your-brain-off film for me to watch. The moment I heard about this I wanted to watch it, partly because of Nic Cage and also because it draws strong comparisons to Five Nights at Freddy's, even though it claims not to be based on it. Willy's Wonderland follows a man (Cage) who agrees to work a night at Willy's Wonderland, home of killer animatronic robots, in order to get his car back after breaking down. This film is as mindless in fun as its main character is. Cage's character doesn't say a word throughout the film, which I don't know if this has ever been done with a main character in a movie. He only grunts, sighs, and says the word "ah". This often plays well with the film's simple premise, and when Cage is alone with the animatronics, but is often a detriment when we learn more about the history behind Willy's, as well as getting any chance to understand the way Cage's character thinks and feels. Maybe he understands the history behind these things, or maybe he's just a guy with a strong will to survive. Max in Mad Max: Fury Road comes close to this, but even he speaks a few times where it felt valuable. The supporting cast that surround him allow us to uncover some fascinating history behind Willy's, with some of it feeling a little out there to buy into. Much of the plot including character deaths is fairly predictable, though at the same time I can't be too upset at this, given the movie I was watching. There are plenty of great hilarious moments throughout, along with the fun blood and gore (animatronics bleed?) that ensues with Cage and the animatronics. The film also shows a lot of creepy imagery and a song that may stick with you, depending on how creeped out you get. Willy's Wonderland is great if you're looking for some mindless fun of Cage beating up robots, despite its predictable plot and underdeveloped main character. Rating 7.9/10 By @guimondreviews

Paul Thomas Anderson is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Los Angeles, he developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age. He made his feature-film debut with Hard Eight (1996). He found critical and commercial success with Boogie Nights (1997) Paul Thomas Anderson is a Director who knows his stuff. He focuses more on Characters rather than the plot and while giving his characters depth he beautifully rotates the plot around perfectly crafted characters... For most of the times I've seen PTA hit the mark perfectly and the way he focuses on relationships in his movies is beyond perfect. Here is a Ranking of Paul Thomas Anderson's Filmography according to my understanding and taste 8- Hard Eight PTA's Earliest Feature Length tries to explore the Life of Sydney but remains quite surface level with the approach and rather than having a true meaning this movie feels shallow PTA wanted to go with the name sydney at first and I would say that both of the titles have a different meaning to them.. be it Hard Eight or Sydney... But the point of view title Hard Eight provides does not quite live upto the Character study nature of the movie as Sydney does... although Hard Eight quite depicts the point where sydney has lost his prime but the title sydney actually works beyond that, it actually talks about sydney in all his ranges be it prime or his fall (somewhat) cause it is just the character's name, nothing more, Hard Eight on the other side is just an incident in entire run... So it being a proper character study, I would side with the title "Sydney" But then again PTA was forced to have the name to Hard Eight. And Although the name doesn't translate into movie being good or bad but it does enhance the feeling of viewer attached with the movie So the Hard Eight stays at Last because of not being as well made as PTA's others 7- Inherent Vice As Nolan says for his movie tenet "Don't try to understand it, feel it" fits cleverly for this movie. Although the main actor Joaquin himself feels confused at moments, Inherent Vice turns out to be an extremely fun adventure To be honest, When I was introduced to this movie I watched this 3times in a row... i couldnt guess what the actual plot was.... In first two watches, I was finding the plot, but in the third watch I followed the character (as guided by some cinema mates) and I would say I really enjoyed it in the third time Its a comedy mainly and it does justice to its genre, most of the jokes landed for me, especially the Photo one or the last Josh Brolin scene This movie does have a story or a plot but that is so vague that if someone tries to understand it he might get a stroke So as an advice I can only say that follow the character of Joaquin and you are in for a crazy crazy ride 6- Phantom Thread A movie exploring a toxic relationship with beautiful Cinematography and perfect performances This movie marks retirement of DDL and crashes my dream of watching him on big screen at least once... DDL as always is immersed in his character so much that you cant really say that he is acting or is he for real like that... Vicky Kreips as Alma really does a commendable job in what she is given, poisoning her husband, she really does great in her role, I'd kill the person trying to poison DDL but here if he himself doesnt have any problem what can we say PTA writes his characters in such depth that it feels like they are real people and not just some characters written on paper.. PTA gives importance to the characters and in term makes a really compelling story around them PTA explores the relations beautifully and shows us how a Toxic Relationship was beneficial for a Couple that in normal circumstances would've parted ways 5- The Master More than anything else this movie features 3 Legends and 3 Legendary performances namely PSH, Joaquin and Amy Adams. This movie talks about a religion, submission, puppetry, past, love, exhaustion, therapies, alcohol and many more subjects and does that in a great manner.... I love how PTA showed Master Sentimental for his religion and I loved how puppetry was shown throughout, Every master is a puppet to some other master... and I love how PTA connected the dots between Love and that therapy... I loved How PTA kept it as realistic as possible.... I loved how he showed that no one waits long enough People usually just praise Joaquin for what he did in this movie and Although i do agree that this was his finest work but according to me PSH's performance was far more composed and he leveled Joaquin in every way possible And that's not even the worst twist... Most of the eople who praise PSH forget that Amy Adams existed in this movie while according to me she nailed her role and her acting even tho wasn't as great as the other two but still was subtle worthy enough to be called Perfection 4- Magnolia Its rain Frogs. Keeping that aside this movie really well explores the relations and it surprisingly has the best Tom Cruise Performance The movie talks about past, regrets, relations, reservations, traumas, and things that actually happened... I mean really it did happen, There are sequences where you question yourself that is it for real but at the same time you get you answers that really, it is real.. at points you think that this is fiction, how can this be true then after a bit of research you'll come to conclusion that really it did happen and it is strange but it did happen My Favorite thing about this movie is the efforts PTA put in developing the characters, each and every character was well written and well developed as well as perfectly directed... PTA is a genius in case of writing characters and directing his characters... And I love the way they all land at their places The story doesn't feel connected but it surely is connected in the fact that everyone is dealing with some kind of regrets but crazily enough it taught me something that text books never did that it rains Frogs. It does and I know it, know it because of Magnolia 3- Boogie Nights In short words, if I had to explain this movie, it would be Goodfellas but instead of Mob we got P*rn Industry This movie shows how chaotic lives can be, it talks about how high a person can go, it talks about relations, it talks about struggles, it talks about backstage lives of cast and crew members, it talks about how low a person can go, It talks about evolution in industry, this talks about Karma... This movie talks about all that along with many more things in great manner that you actually will symphathize with all of them at points I would say PTA hits it out of the park with his direction with this one, every decision he took was on point.... I love how he goes after characters rather than following the plot strictly but following the characters in terms glorifies the plot itself.. and that is the beauty of PTA's writing, everything fits in perfectly. 2- Punch Drunk Love The most Visually Rich movie of PTA with beautiful Sandler Performance and a Perfect Mattress Man cameo. It feels like every frame talks with you This one defines Masterpiece... Punch Drunk Love is actually definition of "A-R-T".... Each and every aspect is sheer perfection and is an epitome of brilliance... After seeing this movie you get to know the brilliance of PTA's decision making sound and clear... The subtely is evident in each and every frame of this one This one talks about Love, power of love, awkwardness, oppressive nature of relations, how the oppressiveness can turn a sane person socially awkward... This one goes beyond a romantic movie and dives into being a character study as well, that too is done in a great manner Costume, props and set designs needs a special mention before anything else, how well a director can talk with audience with help of designs, contrasts, sets, colors can be seen here evidently... Each and every thing talks and gives out information about either the character or the scene or the situation... This one is by far Visual Storytelling at its peak 1- There will be Blood What happens when PTA gets his hands on a great script with perfectly written characters and a perfect plot, he creates a Giant out of it. With the best performance of all time from Daniel Day Lewis and another Brilliant performance by Paul Dano, This movie becomes one of the best movies of all time and by far the peak of both PTA and DDL. This movie sheds the light on relations, search of relations, greediness, business booms, revenge, hard work, business and many more subjects... PTA really puts forward this in a kind of serious mode, although there are a few joyous sequences but it has kind of serious tone as compared to his previous works which all have somewhat of slight comical relief too but this one seems strict in nature and that is what makes it different and intense (Although every other PTA movie is intense too but this one is on another level of intensity) Story is really well written and is compact in nature... It is very profound and got true representation of many morals like "Greed is Curse", "Happiness is only real when shared", "Pride hath a fall" and several others... Screenplay was great, every scene was given good space and every scene was well edited. So What is your favorite PTA movie? By @cinemaa.wiz

Reviews by: _pilots_on_the_ground_ Castle Crashers is a 2 dimensional indie game developed by The Behemoth, it was released August 27th 2008. This game is stupid but that's what's so good about it, it's such a fun game to play and it doesn't require masses of attention, I've had many a late night laugh playing this game, it's just so fun. Unlike other games it's not immersive, but that's the charm of it, you aren't supposed to be submerged into the character, it's a light-hearted game where you hack and slash a bunch of comically animated enemies. This game has a simple plot, the king's crystal is stolen and you must embark on a mission to retrieve it, somehow this game is actually quite difficult near the end, however you get to make out with some princesses throughout the game which is cool I guess. You unlock new characters as you progress and can play with up to 4 friends, and kick the shit out of each other if you want to. It's £15.99 so like it's quite expensive really but it's worth the money I'd say but just be sure you want it because I think it's one of those games where you think you'll like it and then just hate it. It's good though, would recommend. By @_pilots_on_the_ground_

Reviews by: @theofficialreviewer Rating: PG-13 Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King 9.7/10 This is the Oscar winning biopic of legendary soul musician Ray Charles. Young Ray watches helplessly as his little brother drowns at the age of 7. When he loses his sight at the age of 9, his hardworking mother urges him to not feel sorry for himself. He eventually rises through the ranks of the Seattle jazz scene, struggling with drug addiction and infidelity while on tour. Supported by his loving wife, Ray redefines soul music and inspires a generation. This was so good! An almost perfect biopic of a very famous musician. I couldn’t have been more impressed with this movie. Jamie Foxx was literally the best part, I loved him in this role! He obviously knows what he’s doing and makes a full effort to “become” Ray Charles. I haven’t seen Kerry Washington in much so I can’t give a very detailed opinion of her acting skills in general, but she did good too. The story of Ray Charles’s life is shown here in great detail. The film really dives deep into who he was, not just as a musician, but as a person. I love it when this happens in a movie like this. It helps you relate to and understand the topic of the biopic more. Even though he was blind, Ray overcame the difficulty because of his mother’s teachings, and went on to become hugely successful. However, Ray Charles did suffer from heroin addiction, and the film focuses partly on that. It shows the withdrawal symptoms he went through and also while he was on heroin how that affected both his music and his personal life. He had to learn how to push past those obstacles that were holding him back, and that’s a good message and very inspirational of a story. Another thing that haunted Ray later in life and really influenced some of his later decisions, was the death of his little brother. This is the saddest thing in the movie. You hate to see Ray suffer from the painful memories of his past, but he can’t help it. The saddest part is near the end, it literally made me cry. I cry during movies few and very far between, but this got me. The best part of this movie, for me, was the message(s). Never give up even in your current circumstances, and always know that you can do whatever you want in your life as long as you believe in yourself. A very beautiful film, to say the least. By @theofficialreviewer

Reviews by: @filmography007 10/10 Brilliantly heartwarming movie about a girl who, along with her parents, gets lost in an abandoned amusement park. The parents unfortunately get turned into pigs leaving the girl on her own. The young girl proceeds to try to escape the amusement park once realising that it is full of ghosts but can't seem to leave her parents behind. She proceeds to meet many characters who work at the bath house, she gets a job there as that is the only way she can get her parents back. She meets no face outside the bathhouse and mistakes no face as a good ghost and allows him into which noface feeds on the greed of all those in the bathhouse and has to be stopped by Chihiro (the girl). But she stumbles onto a dark secret, and has to go on a journey by herself to save Haku. At the end of the journey she finds out that the so-called evil twin sister is not evil at all and gives no face a home and helps save hakus life. Chihiro finally returns to the bathhouse but faces one more challenge in order to get her parents back. She passes this challenge and Chihior and her parents are free to leave the amusement park. Going into this I had never seen a Studio Ghibli film before so had no expectations as to what I was watching. The first thing that drew me to this film was the animation, and no face. But what kept me watching the film was the incredible cinematography, the film was very colourful and bright, there was always something going on so the film never felt boring or long. I noticed the soundtrack in the film was very well thought out, you could always tell the emotions of the characters or the emotions that the director wanted the viewers to feel because the soundtrack helped amplify that. Finally, the character development in this film was impeccable. You could really tell that Chihiro had changed by the end of the film, she had become less lazy, self-centered and had become more confident. Haku had cut his ties with the toxic old lady and had learnt to stand up for himself and care for other people. All in all this was an amazing film that I’d happily watch again and again. By @filmography007

Reviews by: @solemnreads 7/10 It's been a while since I've read something worth posting about, but this book came very highly recommended and did not disappoint! Seemed to gain a fair bit of attention last year and I can absolutely see why. Mermaid's have a lot of potential in horror, but it's still rare to see them done justice. This is definitely the kind of book that will come back to haunt you when you find yourself in deep water. I found the pacing a little off at times, and in places it definitely crossed the line from theme exploration into outright preaching, but overall a very enjoyable read. Its diverse cast of characters and deep-dives into the world of marine biology kept me hooked from start to finish. Well worth the investment for any fan of oceanic horror. By @solemnreads

Reviews by: @somuchlovecinema @starwards1 @blog.cinema.coin A Path-Breaking Masterpiece In The History Of Noir Genre. Se7en is a 1995 psychological crime thriller directed by David Fincher and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and Gwyneth Paltrow. Written for the screen by Andrew Kevin Walker, it's about two detectives trying to track down a killer who uses seven deadly sins as motives for his murders. My Favourite Fincher Film To Date. To make something gritty and dark with a potential that is so artistic and still scary takes INTELLIGENCE. The way this film constructed was literally a chef's kiss. The atmosphere this film was made in was utterly disturbing and cold-blooded and it always feels gory and appalling when you think about it. Fincher pulled out a Hitchcock out of this film and it really sticks to the plot without unnecessary points bothering it. This film has suspense written all over it.. and it's bone-chilling at it's core. Pitt, Paltrow and Freeman were phenomenal as always... But Kevin Spacey is the heart of this film. His performance was terrific and the casting was ideal. The screenplay is intense and the direction is poetic and it's one of the best thrillers ever to be made. This film is brutal and gruesome and it's breathtaking... and it's truly amazing. See this film if you haven't guys... By @somuchlovecinema David Fincher’s Se7en is of course, nothing short of a masterpiece, widely regarded as one of the greatest films of the 1990s and possibly the magnum opus of his career, it is in my mind the defining film of the entire thriller genre. It is two hours of pure ‘lightning in a bottle’ cinema, a film that heightens your senses and shocks you to the core. Se7en follows a pair of detectives - Mills and Somerset that investigate a series of murders based on the seven sins. The film has a tense, dark, atmosphere. It’s mysterious and heart-racing, a more effective film than ninety percent of horror movies out there. Se7en has a distinctly procedural feel in terms of the plot, the film is grounded in realism and evokes a certain chilling dread to that regard as there is nothing supernaturally scary about it. A film that relies on less is more to give the audience the most petrifying experience of their lives. And yet the style of this film brings out its many layers and is the very thing that immerses us in this sadistic, creative yet disturbing story. One that’s timeless and universal. There is an air of nihilism in Se7en, illustrated in some very intelligent ways. Fincher invites us to ponder the meaning of a world gone callous and indifferent. As Detective Somerset says “Apathy is a solution. It’s easier to lose yourself in drugs than it is to cope with life”. And yet in this hopelessness I think the film’s eventual message is summed up in the quote that says - “The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for. I agree with the second part”. The story of the preaching serial killer is used to debate worldviews, and show different solutions. Both Somerset and John Doe have eerily similar takes on things but the attitude they have towards life couldn’t be more different. If there was someone close to an audience surrogate it would be Mills. Someone who still has compassion and a compulsive need for the world to make sense. It’s only all the more devastating that this man, while he may not have been ‘a great man’ suffered the most. Se7en is arguably the greatest serial killer movie of all time and a vicious entrapping screenplay is most of the reason why. Perhaps it’s the ending as well. An ending so bold that only Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman’s combined Hollywood clout was able to keep it in the final cut. It is the most shocking scene in the same film that has the ‘Sloth victim’. There are very few Climaxes that can top the ‘what’s in the box scene’ from Se7en. Let’s leave it at that. But so are the characters. Kevin Spacey as John Doe is one of the most fascinating and terrifying villains of all time. A man who believes he is saving the world by committing such acts, not because he is a ‘lunatic’ but a cold and calculating genius with a rotten heart, and no hope in humanity. One of the major themes of the film is how it really shows us just how far our fellow human beings will go, (because in the end, that’s what’s scariest isn’t it?) and John Doe is the representation of the worst of humanity. Mills and Somerset’s relationship and differences really make this film stand tall amongst others of its kind. The film is just really well fucking acted, from everyone. Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, they all give excellent performances. Everything comes together perfectly, and it’s satisfying to see a film made by people who know exactly what they’re doing. It rains a lot in Se7en. The constant downpour is one of the few things that sets the bleak tone for the film. The electric editing, the sleek direction, the gripping score and dark cinematography, everything. Se7en is simply one of the most impactful and genius films I have ever seen but honestly that’s kinda obvious isn’t it. I mean, it’s Se7en. By @starwards1 Se7en is the perfect film due to the performance of a great Brad Pitt, consolidating in this film as one of the best Hollywood actors of the time, on the other hand accompanying him in the leading cast is a Morgan Freeman already established in the industry and with a great reputation. These two have a great chemistry in the film, forming a duo of detectives already mythical in the history of cinema. The third actor in discord is Kevin Spacey, this actor asked not to appear in the promotional posters to keep the mystery about who would be the antagonist. Finally, Gwyneth Paltrow plays the wife of Brad Pitt's character, which at first does not have a great weight in the plot but then as the film progresses will acquire greater prominence. This film belongs to the thriller genre, considered by many critics as the best thriller of all time, due to the pressure that the continuous search for the serial killer puts on the viewer. The story takes the viewer through an adventure in which the end will leave you stunned and thinking for several hours. Considered one of the best endings in the history of cinema and implementing the so-called plot twist. Regarding the technical aspects of the film, visually it is a spectacle, photography and production design makes the viewer believe that he is immersed in that era and the music accompanies to generate a high tension. It is a movie that will keep you in suspense during the 2 hours and 7 minutes that lasts this great work of art directed by one of the best film directors in history, Mr. David Fincher. By @blog.cinema.coin

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon 2021 12A director: Mark Waters starring: Addison Rae, Tanner Buchanan, Madison Pettis, Rachel Leigh Cook, Mathew Lillard, Peyton Meyer, Isabella Crovetti, Annie Jacob, Myra Molloy etc A teenage girl sets out to give a nebbish classmate the ultimate high school makeover. An updated remake of the 1999 film, She's All That. This film really wasn’t that bad at all, people are being way too harsh. I think certain people who review it need to realise the target audience for the film. My first few positives would be the performances, likeable characters, and humour. As well as the chemistry between the cast and the fun cameo. The performances in this film were pretty good. Tanner Buchanan did a great job here, his performance was charming and the character he portrayed was relatable and funny and he stole the show. And I have to say Addison Rae did a good job here. She has got unnecessary hate. For her first big acting role she showed a lot of charm and promise, there are obviously a few things to work on, but respect to her for doing a solid job. The film was also funny, at least in my case it was occasionally for the wrong reasons. But the film was funny due to its extreme self-awareness, and the chemistry between the cast members. There were also some pretty funny lines from Tanner’s character. The cast also had fantastic chemistry here. Addison and Tanner had great chemistry with each other. They worked together well, and their romance was sweet and charming as they grew as characters. I also liked the chemistry between Addison and Rachel Cook, their mother and daughter relationship was sweet. The cameo from Kourtney Kardashian was also funny as well, it was very cringy, but I found it entertaining that she used a different name for the film. My first few negatives would be the script and dialogue. As well as how generic and predictable the film is. Also, the odd main concept. The script was extremely poorly written, adding absolutely nothing new to genre and following every genre trope you can think of it was very generic, formulaic, and safe which is fine as long as you know what to expect. The film was also painfully predictable. You could tell how the film was going to play out and predict the different plot points before they even happened, it’s a shame as they could have tried something a little out of the box. But once again this was expected, but it was still poorly handled. The Dialogue was also extremely corny and eye rolling. There were certain lines that have been used in countless other teen rom coms and it made me want to vomit slightly in parts. I also found the main concept strange. Tanner was already attractive before he had his makeover for the film, all they did was cut his hair and make him dress smarter. However, the bare minimum was done in the original film as well. My next few positives would be the decent set up for the main plot point, as well as the great set locations and character development. As well as the charming tone and fun scenes. I thought the set up for Padgett and Cameron meeting was a decent way to set up the main plot point of the bet for prom king and to have Padgett develop as a character. I thought the film had great set locations. The films sets were beautiful and set the mood for some fun scenes with the different events and parties and it helped with the films visual appeal. The film had decent character development. Padgett really grew as a character as her relationship with Cameron grew. She became a lot less self-obsessed and a lot more thoughtful and started living her life as herself instead of a fake personality for social media. And Cameron really grew and came out of his shell, Padgett made him be himself more. And the development about his family and his mum was sweet and gave him some decent character depth. I also thought the film had a harmless and fun charming tone, it didn’t take itself too seriously, it knew what kind of movie it was, and the cast had good chemistry, so I found it very charming a lot of the time. There were some fun and entertaining scenes with the different parties that despite being very cheesy were sweet and fun to watch. My final few negatives would be the corny set up, lack of character background and unlikeable character decisions. The whole set up with Padgett losing her followers and popularity was extremely corny and just lazily set up. The set up for her redemption was good enough but this was poor. I also thought there was a lack of character depth and background to most of the characters. The supporting cast was likeable, but they were all very one dimensional and didn’t deliver too much to the story. I also thought there was some unlikeable character decisions. It just felt a bit strange that Padgett was still going with the bet with Cameron for so long even when she grew feelings for him. I get the needed conflict, but it was oddly structured for me, and it made her character unlikeable for parts of the film. My final few positives would be the villains, good LGBT representation. As well as the fun final act, good themes, and uplifting ending. I thought the film did a good job with its villains. Both villains were very unlikeable and did their roles well. And when they eventually got what they deserved it was satisfying. I also liked the good LGBT representation. The film didn’t shy away from having LGBT supporting characters which is great to see, Annie Jacob and Myra Molloy actually got their own storyline in the film, and it was a nice little bit of representation. The final act was also fun. It was entertaining and completely harmless. I was smiling so it did its job at having solid character arcs and good themes on accepting yourself, and not being fake on social media. The ending was also uplifting, due to being party invested in the main characters relationship them getting together was satisfying and very corny but it was a good cheesy ending. Overall, He’s all that is far from a masterpiece. But nowhere near as bad as what people are saying. Despite being painfully predictable and generic, and adding nothing new to the genre. It is surprisingly watchable. Due to the films charm, chemistry between the leads and its self-awareness. I watched the film knowing exactly what it was going to be and who its target audience was, so I enjoyed it a lot more. Overall score 58/100 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon 2021 15 director: Nia Da Costa Starring: Yahya Abdul Mateen the second, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Jarrett, Colman Domingo, Kyle Kaminsky, Vanessa Williams, Brian King, Michael Hargroves. In present day, many years after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, Anthony and his partner move into a loft in the now gentrified Cabrini. A chance encounter with an old-timer exposes Anthony to the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to use these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, he unknowingly opens a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifying wave of violence. I thought Candyman was very good, But I had some issues that bought the film down a bit for me. My first few positives would be the fantastic cinematography, visual style, and soundtrack. As well as the great set up, character background and uncomfortable tone. This film had an incredible visual style and cinematography. This film was so beautifully artistic, and I can’t compare it to anything else I have seen. With some amazing tracking shots of the city landscape but everything was upside down. The film paid a lot of detail to its shots, often zooming out of a scene but still allowing the audience to know exactly what’s going on. I also thought the use of shadow puppets was a fantastic visual style to use. It was inventive, unique, and was a fascinating way to tell some of the story and was surprisingly frightening in parts. I also thought the soundtrack and the sound design was very good. The jarring and intense soundtrack really elevated a lot of the scenes and made them really fascinating and intense to watch. The sound design for the hook of Candyman and the dropping of bits of candy was excellently used to build tension and was very uncomfortable. The film executed a very frightening and intense tone. With the killing scenes really sticking with me, they were shot beautifully, and the sound design was just insane with the constant use of deep humming and Candyman was Scary. I thought the set up was effective, having Anthony (Yahya Abdul Mateen) struggle with his art career and discovering the mythology of Candyman really set up his character and his obsession with the legend very well. I also really liked the character background they gave to the mythology of Candyman and the different characters experiences with the legend. It had purpose and linked with the characters in the present so it was very well written. My next few positives would be the humour and chemistry between the cast. The fantastic performances. As well as the use of art, slow building of tension and clever characters. The cast had excellent chemistry here. I think Yahya, Teyonnah and Nathan in particular had fantastic natural chemistry with each other, their relationships were fun, and it looks like they worked well together. Nathan Jarrett was great, not only offering refreshing LGBTQ+ representation by being a proper character but also providing some great humour to some scenes, the dialogue was a big help playing against a lot of stereotypes for black or gay characters in horror that worked really well. The performances here were also brilliant. Yahya Abdul, Teyonah Parris and Colman Domingo in particular did fantastic jobs. Their roles were very challenging, but they all stepped up. Their performances were intense, uncomfortable, and powerful. Particularly Yahya who was incredible here, I look forward to seeing his future work. I also really liked that the film really incorporated the art industry into the idea. It was fascinating to see how the art industry worked and seeing different art displays and how it all works with promoting yourself as an artist was a great part of the film which I am glad they added in such detail. I also liked the slow building of tension, the film did a fantastic job at slowly getting darker and more uncomfortable as the film developed, it took its time with its scares and building its atmosphere which for me really paid off. Finally, I also thought the characters were actually clever. In so many horror movies the characters are dumb and just follow every noise they here or they are stereotypical and go down into basements. But in this film the characters felt like humans and thought for themselves, going against genre stereotypes and it was refreshing. I did, however have a few issues with the film, particularly with the script. There was a lot of lapses in the logic and underused characters. As well as underdeveloped characters and forced dialogue and themes. I thought that the film had a lot of cases where certain plot points didn’t make sense, in particular when Anthony started have his skin change and his behaviour became more erratic, for a long time the characters didn’t really do anything and just acted normal, I also would have like to have seen more of Teyonah Parris’s character as I thought she could of had a bigger role in terms of developing her relationship with Anthony. Because of this the characters felt underdeveloped. I understood their connections to the Candyman and what career they had but nothing much else, so I could never fully connect with the main characters relationship due to the lack of attention to their characters. My biggest issue was with the forced dialogue and themes. I respect the film for the themes it put across about racism, but I thought the execution of them was bad. The dialogue felt very forced and clunky constantly mentioning all of these things but never really incorporating them into the plot. A lot of the dialogue was so harsh that it almost felt anti-white in parts. My final few positives would be the development to the plot and the plot twists. As well as the use of gore, some good themes, and a great final act. The plot development was excellent, Anthony slowly losing his mind and morphing into Candyman was handled excellently in order to build the tension and it really gave the film some room to breathe and make it a slow and frightening descent into madness. I also thought the plot twists were very strong. Particularly with Anthony and his origins with the Candyman. The twists were dark and gave the plot more depth. I also really liked the use of gore in the death scenes. They really added a lot more impact to them with the large amounts of blood used combining slasher and horror very well. I also appreciate some of the themes the film expressed. Despite me not liking the execution the film raised some important issues on police brutality and gentrification that are linked to a lot of issues still embedded in society, so I still had some form of respect for what they were going for. Finally, the final act for me was very strong. Some people have criticised it. But for me it was intense and frightening and the tension that was being built so well all came together here for a very well-crafted and written final act that concluded the story well. Overall, Candyman is elevated by Nia Da Costa’s beautiful and inventive creative vision. And is one of the most stylistic and creative horrors I have seen, with incredible performances. And has some of the best use of tension and sound design I have seen in a horror. But the script was not up to the standard of the creative vision, and the bigger and deeper themes are lost due to the execution. Overall rating 82/100 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon This is such a strong debut album. I love that each song offers a different concept or viewpoint on a relationship or longing for a relationship. Each song represents a different character of personality of Baby Queen that is reflected in the album cover. The production is incredibly catchy and offers a blend of pop with alternative undertones. Baby queen tackles some interesting topics within a lot of her songs. This album is more about longing for a relationship with someone and wishing they were there in the amazing moments then actually reflecting on a relationship which I found interesting, she also touches on interesting topics of how woman are supposed to look based on societies pressures of them and unrealistic expectations through things like social media, and Baby queen basically says screw all those expectations or presumptions she is going to be her own artist and be herself, and I have huge respect for the message she delivers here. My favourite songs ranked: 1. American Dream 2. Narcissist 3. Dover beach 4. You Shaped Hole 5. These Drugs 6. Raw Thoughts 7. Fake Believe 8. I’m a mess 9. Baby Kingdom 10. Dover Beach part 2 Overall, Baby Queen offers something unique and interesting with her debut album. Tackling some interesting and important subjects. And the effort and passion that has been put into the project is on full display, a very clever concept and she is an artist to look out for. Overall score 9.5/10 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @starwards1 Spring Breakers is an interesting case. I expected a fairly dumb but occasionally fun exploitive crime flick and nothing more. But honestly Spring Breakers is one of the most controversial films that I've seen recently, the general consensus seems to be 'you either hate it or you love it' and I'm in the middle. I think there's a lot of stuff to like, and definitely some stuff I enjoyed but it's far from a great film. First off, the cinematography is fucking out of this world. Benoit Debie who is Gaspar Noe's cinematographer shot this film, so yeah it's full of vibrant neon colours, fluorescent lighting and psychedelic shots throughout. The visual style and aesthetic is probably what the film has going for it, the narrative is fluid, and it's mostly the atmosphere that carries the film. It's not completely joyous, but it lets you have a fun time. Spring Breakers is like the final boss of every film of its type. And by its type, well you can tell by the poster. It's very self indulgent but I liked it. I liked what it was going for, it may be mostly just drugs, partying, sex and violence but I feel like Harmony Korine was aiming for a sort of condemning cautionary tale of just some girls going on Spring Break which ties into the American dream and stuff. To some people, the film is about existential dread, and while I don't think it's as deep as people think it is, there is something to be found in the exaggerated vileness of this movie. And yeah, it is fun. James Franco is legitimately great, even though half of his lines were just 'spring break', the style carries the film but it does have some scenes with weight and characters that were decent. Unfortunately for Spring Breakers it's also exactly what you expect it to be. Completely self-indulgent, not even nearly as deep as it could've or should've. It is literally the definition of the word 'crass' it's loud, and stupid, it stumbles through what feels like the first draft of a screenplay written by someone who was on some drugs for sure. The plot is vague, and the dialogue almost laughable. At one point the incessant and gratuitous partying (along with other acts) simply becomes uninteresting. Sloppy and obnoxious, the film also randomly switches from interesting concept to another, not giving time for anything that could've made this film a memorable one. Unfortunately I probably won't remember most of this film. Except for the sunset scene on the beach where James Franco plays a Britney Spears song on the piano while surrounded by 3 girls in ski-masks brandishing AK-47s. By @starwards1

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon Jungle Cruise 2021 12A Director: Jaume Collet Serra starring: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Jack Whitehall, Edgar Ramirez, Jesse Plemons, Paul Giamatti etc Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) enlists the aid of wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) to take her down the Amazon in his ramshackle boat. Together, they search for an ancient tree that holds the power to heal a discovery that will change the future of medicine. I was incredibly disappointed with this film, and it was for me one of Disney’s weakest entries in their live action cannon. My first few positives would be the cinematography, background to the plot and fun set up. As well as the charming tone and chemistry between the leads. The film was visually stunning. With some beautiful cinematography and the scope of the film was fantastic. The shots built such a rich and colourful world and was one of the films strongest elements. I liked the background given to the plot, the details about why the ancient tree was so important and setting up a lot of the film’s mythology was a really great element. Leading to a fun set up when Lily and Frank met that introduced the characters well and was a solid way to develop the plot into the second act. The film did also have a lot of charm in places. This was mostly due to the lead performances from Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson. Their characters were so likeable and charming that it really made the scenes work a lot better. The chemistry from Emily and Dwayne was also excellent, they worked excellently together. They bounced off each other very well, with some fantastic banter and even well written romantic chemistry between them both that worked so well. However, my first few negatives would be how generic and corny the film was. The lack of set up. The messy first act and the poor villains. The film was unfortunately very unoriginal. Following far too many tropes from this kind of genre. And borrowing far too heavily off other better films before it. It felt like a rehash of other films and didn’t do enough to carve its own brand and product. The film was also extremely corny, the dialogue was very poor and so by the books and it just didn’t work. This film just went to over the top and corny and it really made it awkward to watch. There was also a lack of set up to the main plot point. It felt like they did only half the job with the set up. Setting up the main two characters on their journey well. But almost forgetting about the actual threat to their journey and not setting up the villains properly. There true intentions were shown too late within the first act. The first act in general was very messy. It felt rushed and unfocused and did a mediocre job with setting up the main plot point and needed a lot of refining. The villains were also poor. One was way too over the top and campy and didn’t pose enough of a threat for me too care. And the other more interesting villains were extremely underused and were a missed opportunity. My next few positives would be the humour and fun scenes. The connection between the villains. As well as the action and great worldbuilding. I thought some of the humour really worked. The jokes between Lily and Frank worked very well, and some of the corny puns from Frank also worked very well mostly due to Dwayne Johnson’s comedic timing but also reflecting what the ride is like in real life. There were also some fun scenes with the boat that worked well, seeing how Frank did his tours on his boat was incredibly entertaining, and a lot of the scenes with just the characters travelling on the boat were also fun and thrilling to watch. I also liked the connection between the villains. I liked that the film connected the two villains. I think it would have been even more messy if they had two separate villains with different goals. But the film did a good job at connecting them both and having both characters have a similar goal. The action was also a lot of fun. It was entertaining, funny and well-choreographed. Emily Blunt especially did a fantastic job with her action scenes that really made her character stand out. I also thought the worldbuilding with the film was excellent. The film went into good amounts of details of the curse with the villains and really expanded the story world of the film excellently. It left it open for more to be explored and added more layers to the film that was needed. My next few negatives would be the terrible CGI. Most of the humour falling flat, the pacing issues. As well as the bad queerbaiting and annoying character moments. The CGI within this film was poor in places. Considering its 200million budget, you could tell when green screen was being used. And so many of the animals looked laughably unrealistic. Most of the humour in the film fell completely flat. It was awkward to watch. The film was trying way too hard to make the jokes land and it achieved the complete opposite. With jokes that didn’t even really work the first time repeated constantly to the point where it got annoying and tedious. The film had so many pacing issues. I honestly got bored through a lot of the second act. The pacing was so inconsistent, ranging from completely rushing over scenes to just dragging along without much happening in the plot. There were also some annoying character moments. Frank would often trick Lily into certain scenes, were it would appear something was happening but then it turned out to be planned. This made the pacing extremely clunky. And it just meant the plot wasn’t really going anywhere and it completely ruined any form of tension that was created. One of my biggest issues with the film was the Queerbaiting. Disney keep on doing this. Where they have an obviously gay character, but never mention anything about it apart from one copout scene that fell flat, and Disney achieved nothing apart from making themselves appear diverse when they weren’t. My final few positives would be the fun character designs, the great plot twist and character depth. And the fun final act. I thought the character designs for the cursed soldiers were great. They were inventive and fun, and all the different crew had their own distinct design, and their powers were interesting and dark in places. I also thought the plot twist was excellent. I didn’t see it coming at all. It added a much-needed twist to the film. Frank being immortal really added so much more depth to his character and raised the stakes due to the connection with the villains. Finally, the final act was also entertaining. The action was fun, the tension between Frank and the villains was well developed. And it was fun to watch. My final few negatives would be how predictable the film was as well as the odd creative decisions. The film was painfully predictable, especially in the final act. This was disappointing because so many elements were entertaining. But I could see the twists and certain plot points happening from a mile off. They were corny and caused a massive eye roll. I also thought that there were just some bad creative decisions with certain characters in the final act, where they would just go off randomly with another character for no reason and it felt very out of place to me. Overall, Jungle Cruise is held together by the charms of its leads. It had its charms and was entertaining. But borrows too heavily from other films and fails to carve its own path. In an unoriginal, predictable and dull film that unfortunately falls flat. And is sadly one of Disney’s weakest live actions. Overall rating 54/100 By @ryan_the_nixon

"Have you ever heard the term "bootstrap paradox"? Well, in a bootstrap paradox an artifact, or any information, is sent back to the past from the future. And this, in turn, creates an infinite cycle in which the artifact doesn't have a real origin anymore. It exists without ever having been created. To put it simply, this book has traveled back through time. It found me before I even wrote it. It's all a question of origin. Where is the beginning? When is the beginning? Is there a beginning at all? The world is full of such paradoxes" H.G. Tannhaus 1987, Dark PLOT "A man is caught in a time loop after a mysterious package arrives, sender unknown. The man is forced into reliving the same events over and over again after being shot in the head. He has no memory or prior knowledge of the events that led him there. But things have a habit of repeating themselves" or "How to torture a man for eternity". SCRIPT This is the main strength of this movie. Sure, this kind of paradox has appeared in other movies and series before, like Predestination and I would say Tenet, but it's fascinating and well written nonetheless. The dialogues are carefully crafted and well placed. This is a movie which has a strong plot and weak characters. We should consider that they're like that because this is a short. Overall is a satisfying script. Script: 7/10 ACTING The lead isn't good at acting but the other one is a bit better. It's a shame, because the script is good and the dialogues are well written. Diction is the main problem. Acting: 5/10 PHOTOGRAPHY It isn't particularly interesting. Colours, Lights and Shadows are used in a boring way. Nothing more to say about it. Photography: 5/10 EDITING I find it a bit clunky and, sometimes, off putting. There's one scene where the slow motion is used well. There're also some jump cuts which fragment a bit the movie's flow. Probably it's intended to represent the movie's loop. Editing: 5/10 SPECIAL EFFECTS There are just a few, most of them are SFX, like the protagonist scar, which is cheap, sometimes it looks fake, but it does its job. There isn't cgi and I think that it's a good choice because it could've hurted the experience and lower the movie's overall quality. Special Effects: 6/10 SOUNDTRACK It's good but I find the last track a bit boring and predictable. It's mediocre but it isn't bad. Overall it doesn't go beyond a six. Soundtrack: 6/10 COSTUMES They aren't remarkable but they fits the characters. Considering that this movie wants to look as realistic as possible, there isn't anything more to ask. Sure, they look a bit cheap but this isn't relevant, because this movie is all about the plot. Costumes: 6/10 CONCLUSION Script: 7/10 Acting: 5/10 Photography: 5/10 Editing: 5/10 Special Effects: 6/10 Soundtrack: 6/10 Costumes: 6/10 AVERAGE: 5,71 An interesting movie with a remarkable plot which presents some flaws in terms of acting, photography and editing. Give it a try, it could impress you.

Reviews by: @somuchlovecinema Sarinui Chueok ( Literal Translation being Murder's Memories), Internationally Known as Memories Of Murder is a 2003 South-Korean Psychological Crime Thriller Directed By Bong Joon-ho, Who Wrote The Screenplay With Shim Sung-bo. The Film Stars Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Roi-ha & Park Hae-il and the story is set in 1986 where two detectives with completely different instincts are hired to solve crimes of a psychopathic serial killer. You know films with crime, violence, suspense, detectives and all that stuff... yeah this is the king of those films. My favourite film from the master of classics Bong Joon-ho, this film never EVER stops to amaze me. The writers wrote the screenplay in such a way as we audience are inside the story, explained in tiny situations like breaking of the fourth-walls. This film is both cinematic and accurate, and the depictions crime scenes with even tiny details are on point. The movie, at every aspect, is perfectly balanced. It's dark, violent, disturbing and yet humorous at appropriate times. And the fact that it's based on real life incidents makes it utterly scary. And the technical part of this film is out of the world. The Cinematography, The Music, The Single-shot Stunts.. all of them never get out of our minds. With a spectacular writing and direction, this stays as one of the finest thrillers of the 21st century. Guys if you are trying watch International films most importantly South-Korean Ones.. Start With This and let me tell you... you will not be disappointed. By @somuchlovecinema

Reviews by: @beyondfandom1 Finally we are back with issue #2 of "Deadpool: Black, White and Blood"! Last issue was a really fun read and his one was just the same! Like issue #1, we have three stories in this one book and they are: "Purple Craze" written by David and Maria Lapham and art done by Pete Woods, "Deadpool Party" written by Karla Pacheco with art done by Leonard Kirk and last but not least, "Pool of Death??" written and art done by Daniel Warren Johnson. Each story was unique and fun, but again like issue #1 review I will review the book as a whole and not the individual stories. Let's review! This run of stories and issues have really made me laugh and feel good. Deadpool is obviously this goofy, witty and funny character that loves to break the fourth wall. In movies, it's great but I truly find it better when that wall is broken in comics simply because I feel like the writer is talking directly to me. I especially felt that in "Deadpool Party" where Deadpool was telling the reader all about the plot and what's gonna happen in the story. Then you get into the emotional/real aspect of this book in "Pool of Death??" as you get to see the writer is struggling to come up with a new and unique Deadpool story. All these stories are wild and funny, but to me the most wild is "Purple Craze" as Deadpool is under the control of Killgrave to kill Daredevil. I also need to point out that the art work in each story is amazing and makes the pages pop! Each story represented the colors on the title, black, white and blood! Each issue bring something different to the table and that's another aspect I really enjoy. The one negative I would give is that each story is really short and I wish they were longer because I start to really get into them! If you can find comic that makes you laugh out loud, talk out loud and even freak out then you've found a great book and that's exactly what this issue did for me! Overall, this issue was great and the stories were fantastic. I would say my favorite would have to be "Pool of Death??" simply because we got to see the more emotional and real side of the writer and of Deadpool! "Deadpool: Black, White and Blood #2" gets a 4.5/5! By @beyondfandom1

Reviews by: @starwarsd1 There are no laws in Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant, a film in simple terms about a man left to die in the harsh, cold forest of 1820s America where danger lurks in every corner. It's the ultimate test of survival and it is a blazingly gripping journey. Brutal, exciting and a realistic adventure, it is a marvelous cinematic experience with a lot of narrative and thematic meat to offer. I praise movies for being an immersive experience quite often, but I think cinematic immersion has reached a new height with this film, from the very first opening battle that is a long one take spanning across the scene to the frightening and cathartic ending, I was hooked. It really felt like I was there, The Revenant makes you literally feel cold, the locations are so well filmed, they're in your face, this movie is hyper-realistic, you can almost smell every human being or animal in the film. This film demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. The Revenant is a filmmaking miracle, there's no doubt about it. Very rarely do we see every aspect of filmmaking come together perfectly to produce an unforgettable result that is much more than the sum of its parts, an experience to remind us what cinema can be, and what a truly amazing artform it is. The Revenant boasts some of the best visuals of the 2010s, nearly every frame of this movie could be a painting, which is pretty much what I expected from Emmanuel Lubezki. The use of wide angle lenses really provide a medium to take in EVERYTHING that goes down in the movie. It's glorious. The cinematography and direction are truly incredible, they led to some of VERY well crafted scenes, with long takes that immerse you even more in the action. The bear scene is definitely a highlight of the film, and the third act overall is just mind-blowing. In fact, every scene in this film was really hard to pull off, and the cast and crew's commitment to the film really paid off. And I somehow haven't mentioned Leonardo Dicaprio's breathtaking performance, he melts into this role and he two hundred percent deserved that Oscar he got, especially considering how physically demanding the role was. Tom Hardy also gives a brilliant performance. The film is a visual experience but it does not lack in the writing department. The story of survival and revenge is riveting and astonishing and on top of thatIñárritu touches upon themes of revenge, and it's not all black and white, revenge isn't just a bad thing, but the movie plays on the effect it has on people. I love what the movie had to say on nature and the fairness of it all, if you notice, none of the deaths in the film were really caused by the harshness of nature, but other human beings. It's a statement, maybe not a bold one but it was cool. The Revenant is an authentic and gritty film with a stirring screenplay and an amazing visual style that is elevated further by one of the best performances of the past decade. Absolutely essential. By @starwarsd1

Reviews by: @reelworld_reviews Director: Stanley Kubrick Starring: Ryan O'Neal, Maria Berenson, Patrick Magee Year: 1975 Barry Lyndon recounts the life of Irishman Redmond Barry, including his exploits in the army during the Seven Years War, work as a professional gambler across Europe, his marriage to a wealthy countess, and his eventual fall from his lofty place in high society. A period piece set in 18th century Europe with a runtime of just over three hours is certainly not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but as for me it is right up my alley. I was absolutely in love with this film from start to finish. The title card and ominous orchestral music which starts the film had me hooked. Based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray, the film is almost like an epic poem of old with our protagonist stumbling into incredible circumstances. But instead of the noble Greek heroes, Barry is quite unlikeable and sometimes downright cruel. I've heard some people say that Ryan O'Neal was miscast and too wooden in this role, but I disagree. While his Irish accent isn't perfect, he gives a subtle performance that I think captures the character well. Barry isn't intriguing because he has a particularly magnetic personality, but more because he simply stumbles into extraordinary circumstances either through sheer luck or imitating the attitudes and behaviors of others. The scenes with Barry's son are genuinely moving, and I think O'Neal plays the part well. The supporting cast really shines in this film as well. Patrick Magee and Godfrey Quigley are very enjoyable to watch, and Philip Stone is great as the Lyndons' nervous accountant (all three also appeared in A Clockwork Orange). Marisa Berenson as Lady Lyndon does not speak much in the film, but her face alone conveys all the suffering she endures in the film. Leon Vitali, who later became a close colleague and friend of Kubrick's, is also excellent as Barry's stepson, Lord Bullingdon, with whom he has a violent and turbulent relationship with. As with all Kubrick films, the camera work is top-notch; the massive zooms out of a troop of soldiers, gorgeous candlelit scenes requiring custom lenses, and the attention to framing and balance makes for shots that are some of the best in the history of film. Every frame really does resemble an 18th century painting. The locations are lovely as well, with sweeping vistas of the Irish and English countryside, and lavish manor houses. The costumes and makeup is also excellent, very accurate to the period and not distracting. Something I really like about this film is that many of the actors seem to have been chosen because they fit well in the period, and not simply because they're attractive by modern standards (even though some of them are). Even the minor and background characters look so comfortable in the dress and makeup. Kubrick films are often said to have a cold and distant feeling to them, and this film does have many cold moments accompanied by a melancholic score. But in contrast, there are a lot of very warm and sentimental moments with beautiful traditional Irish melodies. It's a long watch for sure, but it is a film unlike any other. By @reelworld_reviews

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon This album does its job well, it’s filled with feel good club bangers that will solidify Becky as an artist. Her voice has always been a key standout for me, and this album allows her to explore her voice well. The songs on the album are undeniably catchy and make me want to dance. However, where this album falters is with its lyrical content and how limiting it is for Becky. This album does its job like I said of being filled with club bangers that will make people dance, but it fails to be much more than that. The songs for the most part are generic and the lyrical content is bland and lacks a personal touch from Becky. Now there are moments where there are slower songs and Becky gets to show more of her vulnerable side which is amazing. But we are talking about 2 songs. I fear Becky has put herself in a box where she is safe and comfortable, and I want to see her try more with a more personal album and experiment with different genres. My favourite songs ranked: Perfect people Better off without you with Shift Key Heaven on my mind with Sigala Remember with David Guetta Distance My Heart goes (La Di Da) with Topic Business with Ella Eyre Last Time Make it hard to love you Is anybody There I got You Lessons with Banx and Ranx Through the Night with 220 Kid Waiting not looking Could be my somebody with Simba Overall, Becky Hill delivers a solid debut album. Which does its job well. Her amazing voice is on full display here and there are plenty of catchy club bangers to enjoy. But Becky fails to go deeper, and this makes the album lack a personal touch and I feel will get stale over time. I Hope Becky tries something with a bit more to it for her sophomore album. Overall score 7/10 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @mind_of_a_nerd @ryan_the_nixon @deralthoff I’ll tell you one thing…M.Night Shyamalan looks like a total clown after the quality of this movie. So Malignant was directed by James Wan and tells the story of a woman who can see murders happening right before her eyes and soon finds out that there is a very dark and twisted reason behind it. I was pumped out of my mind for this movie. James Wan is a great director and the horror movies that I’ve seen from him are all near perfect. I haven’t seen Dead Silence or Insidious chapter 2 so I don’t speak for those. Also Saw isn’t in that category but the two conjuring movies he directed and the first Insidious are. The trailer for this movie was honestly perfect. It didn’t give anything away except hints at the plot. And walking out I have to say…I have a new horror movie for 2021 and I JUST SAW Candyman. Malignant is an absolutely amazing horror film with an absolutely amazing twist that legit had my jaw on the floor. The acting is really good from Annabelle Wallis. She does a really good job in the movie and sells her role great. Her sister in the movie played by Maddie Hasson I thought did a good job as well. George Young while looking insanely like Keanu Reeves did a really good job as well and I really liked his character. The direction of this movie is just insane. I love it when you watch movies from a director that are older and then watch their newer stuff and see how they’ve evolved as a director. James Wan is so great behind the camera. There are so many amazingly crafted sequences and that’s mainly due to the way Wan shoots the scenes. There’s one sequence where I believe it was a one shot take but at the same time it’s an overhead shot of someone in a house and it was brilliant. Let’s talk about our killer in this movie. Jesus Christ I loved him. He is brutal and vicious and honestly reminded me of Ghostface but if he wasn’t trying to be funny. I don’t know who did the voice but it was a great job. Also the kills are BUSINESS. It’s funny I was just talking with my buddy AJ about how there haven’t been many memorable kills in horror this year. Yea Um I’m here to say James Wan has us covered. The kills in this movie are so great, in particular this sequence in the third act. It was just BRUTAL and I loved every second of it. The story here I also think is very well done. It takes its time telling the story and the whole movie you’re not quite sure where it’s going but when it reveals itself it is awesome. The twists in the movie are really interesting and they honestly just snowball on top of each other. One twist just builds on top of the last one and I really liked that. Finally the third act I thought was really great. I legit was smiling the whole time. James Wan has just proved that after doing superhero movies and action movies that he isn’t going anywhere in terms of the horror genre. Malignant is an absolutely amazing movie from start to end that I honestly loved and cannot wait to see again. If you don’t want to go out to see it that’s okay because it’s on HBO max right there for your viewing pleasure. But I'll tell you this much, if you do watch it on HBO max, you’re going to wish you saw it in a theater. I’m going to give Malignant a 10/10 By @mind_of_a_nerd 2021 18 director: James Wan starring: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White, Ray Chase. Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities. What an absolutely insane experience Malignant was, I loved it! My first few positives would be the cinematography, gore, and sound design. As well as the creative idea and fantastic set locations. And also, the great building of tension and Jumpscares. This film was one of the most visually creative things I have seen. The use of red was excellent. And the camera angles were unique and used well to create tension or a different perspective to the scarier scenes. High angle shots and panning especially was used very effectively and it felt very immersive. The film was incredibly gory, and I loved it. It was very over the top which was the films intension and even I had to look away in parts where the film dialled the gore up to a one hundred, but it added a lot more impact to the scenes and James Wan wasn’t afraid to go all out. What I also really liked was the films sound design, the film really went all out with grossing out the audience, with bones cracking and the brutal stabbing noises whenever a kill happened, I also thought the soundtrack itself really added a great cinematic and different feel to the film and was a great asset. the idea itself was also very clever, it took inspiration from campy 80’s horror but the film had a modern twist to it. I have never experienced a film like this before, so I must tip my hat to James Wan as this film was unique and not like anything else. I also thought the set locations for this film was incredible. This film really built its story world excellently with some creative sets that were perfect for the desired tone and for the jump-scare scenes and they were really incorporated into the film. I also thought the building of tension and Jumpscares were so well done. James Wan is the master of crafting intense scenes for Jumpscares, he plays cleverly with genre tropes and always builds the tension to the max and teases the audience to keep you on edge for as long as possible. My next few positives would be the balance of tones, character depth and emotional weight. As well as the good mystery and development to the plot. I loved how Malignant managed to balance its different tones excellently. The film often had a very dark and gruesome tone and went to some messed up and sinister places, but the film balanced this with a fun, campy and silly tone that worked excellently, I could really see what James Wan was trying to do and for me it worked brilliantly. I also think this film had a surprisingly strong amount of character depth and emotional weight in parts. The main character Madison (Annabelle Wallis) went through a lot of trauma with losing her baby multiple times, and how her partner treated her and blamed her for losing the baby gave her as a character a great amount of depth and sympathy for her. And the emotional weight the film achieved with the more grounded and personal scenes between Madison and her sister was a great element. I also really liked the great mystery and development to the plot. This film had such a great mystery surrounding Gabriel and his origins, it took the film down and unexpected path and always kept me guessing what was going to happen, it certainly wasn’t predictable, and I loved the murder mystery side to it as well. The plot also developed really well from the mystery, the film was really well written, and everything slowly started to make more sense as things were revealed, with the connected deaths and Madison’s past starting to connect with each other. My only slight negative would be that it was slightly too over the top in places. I fully embraced how campy and over the top the film was, and it was a strong element to the film. However, there were a couple of scenes that felt too over the top and dramatic without needing to be and felt more forced than a lot of the film. My final few positives would be the performances, humour, insane plot twists and excellent final act. As well as the great character design for Gabriel. I thought the performances here were strong. Were they over the top and silly yes, but that’s what they were supposed to be so the whole cast did a great job. Especially Annabelle Wallis who did a fantastic job with a very demanding role. I also liked the humour in the film. It was very self-aware and made fun of itself in particular scenes which I found refreshing. I also loved the character design for Gabriel. The design was genuinely disturbing but very inventive. He had hair similar hair to Madison’s and the grotesque face was very graphic, and the way Gabriel moved backwards and in reverse for everything was a mixture of terrifying and creative when it came to the action. I thought the plot twist in the final act was one of the most insane things I have ever seen. It connected everything together and took the film in a crazy and unpredictable direction. Having Gabriel be a parasite attached to Madison that controls her was very messed up but lead to one of the most gruesome and entertaining final acts I have ever seen, and it was an experience I won’t be forgetting. Overall, James wan asserts himself as one of the greats. Malignant is a silly, campy and over the top masterpiece of horror, that is very reminiscent of the 80’s. This was one of the most inventive and unique horrors I have seen and an experience I won’t be forgetting for a very long time. Overall score 98/100 By @ryan_the_nixon Wenn James Wan drauf steht, ist es gerade für eingefleischte Horrorfans, eigentlich Pflicht, mal zu schauen, was der Regisseur und Produzent mal wieder gezaubert hat. Dass Wan aber auch ein Talent dafür hat, doch immer nur Horrorklischees in dem jeweiligen Subgenre zu bedienen, zeigten die ausgeschlachteten Franchises, die er in den letzten Jahren geschaffen hat. Oft nichts neues und oft nichts besonderes. Mit dieser Erwartungshaltung bin ich auch in MALIGNANT gegangen. Doch ich muss sagen, dass Wan mich in diesem Fall etwas überrascht hat. Gefühlt ist MALIGNANT ein Mix aus verschiedenen Subgenre des Horrors. Zu Beginn fühlt er sich wie ein klassischer Haunted-House Streifen an, bei dem James Wan sein Können aus Filmen wie CONJURING präsentiert, was flackernde Lichter und sich von alleine öffnende Türen angeht. Dann wird der Film plötzlich zu einem Slasher, mit blutigen und teils ziemlich brutalen Kills. Eine Kampfszene, die gegen Ende in einem Polizeirevier stattfand, war visuell und kameratechnisch echt gut inszeniert. Hat mich aber etwas an KINGSMAN erinnert. Gerade die erste Hälfte war recht langatmig. Die zweite hingegen empfand ich um einiges stärker und die Handlung beschleunigte etwas. Trotzdem hätte man den Film hier und da durchaus kürzer halten können. Die Geschichte folgt durchaus einer internen Logik. Aber man kann relativ früh erahnen, wo der Film hinsteuert. Jedoch blieben noch Fragen für mich offen, die zwar nicht wichtig für die Handlung an sich gewesen wären, mich die Erklärung aber interessiert hätte. Die Idee des Plots ist etwas erfrischender, im Vergleich zu dem, was Wan sonst so in den letzten Jahren gemacht hat. Trotzdem hat er sich auch hier an vielem bedient, was in der Vergangenheit bereits funktionierte. Mal mehr, mal weniger. Wenn man über schauspielerische Leistungen, wie eine etwas nervige Hauptdarstellerin, die gefühlt in jeder Situation, die sie schockiert, da steht und schreit und manch mittelmäßigen CGI-Effekt hinwegsehen kann, ist MALIGNANT ein sehenswerter Horrorfilm, der zwar nichts so wirklich neu erfindet, aber sich trotzdem wie eine Abwechslung anfühlt. By @deralthoff

Reviews by: @somuchlovecinema Long Story Short... It Was Christmas And It Was My Birthday And I Was At A Church. It Was Obviously Midnight, I Was Alone But There Were A Lot Of Kids.. And They Played This Movie Because Someone Requested... I Left The Church With A Biggest Smile On My Face. Ratatouille is a 2007 American Computer-Animated Fantasy Comedy Adventure Film written and directed by Brad Bird... Starring the voices of Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Janeane Garofalo and Brad Garrett. The plot is about Remy, an anthropomorphic rat who aspires to be a chef, and the story goes an as a life-changing moment when he accidentally reaches Paris. I can't get enough of this film. First of all... it's a Pixar film. So the experiment of imagination in this film is explicit (obviously). Secondly it's incredibly and I mean INCREDIBLY French. You can just analyze how beautiful the animation and visuals are. To be honest I thought it was weird when I read that it was a story about a rat who wants to cook. But when you see the film, it hits you right on the heart. The film has such an interesting way of dealing the problems that are in reality. The aspects they used in this film... the goal of the rat, the psychological analyzation on humanity, the impact of criticism, the beauty of a love, and most importantly the power of passion everything is perfectly delivered into a charming story and an iconic animation. It has both mature and childish concepts. It's just unapologetic in delivering the truth and doesn't divert in what it intends to teach the world. It's smart and creative and gives us unique experience of wittyness. Guys I Love This Film. I Know You'll Love It Too. So See It Okay. By @somuchlovecinema

Reviews by: @art_fanatic_313 This chapter finds Rick, Glenn and Michonne still imprisoned in Woodbury by the Governor, but with the help of a guy named Martinez they escape and they take with them the doctor and his female assistant. The doctor tho doesn’t make it. He gets bitten by zombies while exiting the city. The rest of them arrive to the prison just fine, but before they do so, Michonne stayed behind for a bit to brutally torture the Governor. When they arrive at they prison they find out that it’s filled with zombies and that one of the group got bitten. All together kill the zombies and clean out the prison. After they do so Martinez leaves to go tell the people at Woodbury about the prison, but Rick catches up to him and kills him. Almost at the same time Glenn proposes to his girlfriend who agrees to marry him. This was by far the chapter with the most action and violence so far. There were many fights with zombies and a lot of running and killing. The scene where Michonne tortures the Governor is extremely graphic and hard to watch. I think that that’s the main reason why Kirkman made the Governor so hateable. So that when people read this they don’t feel at all sorry for him, something that’d also make them dislike Michonne. That being said, while I’m not at all a fan of violence, I hate to admit that I kinda enjoyed this scene, because as I said, Kirkman made the Governor as hateable as possible, so it was a true pleasure to see him getting brutally tortured. After all the torture she went through and after she herself tortured the Governor, Michonne is very psychologically unstable. She talked to herself before, but now she seems to be doing it more often and she’s closing up to herself. Also, she seems to be more disturbed by what she did, than by what was done to her, which I find very interesting. Another character who goes through a lot emotionally and psychologically in this chapter is Rick. He seems to be very worried about how this whole situation has changed him and he’s scared from how easy it is for him now to kill another living human. Also, his son is very worried that he doesn’t love him, because he’s constantly leaving. All these things are very depressing and pessimistic, but fortunately there’s a more optimistic part in this chapter. Glenn’s relationship is very fan to read and compared to everything else, it’s also very heartwarming. It’s a little spark of hope in this dark sadness that fills this chapter. My biggest problem with this chapter tho isn’t the sadness, nor how pessimistic it is, I have no problem with any of that. My biggest problem is that the dialogues aren’t very well written. Most dialogues are very cheesy, contain a lot of exposition and honestly they just feel unnatural and unrealistic. I have a feeling that Kirkman at that point started focusing more on the action than on the dialogues. The artwork is very good in this chapter. The action is all very exciting and the characters’ faces are very expressive and easy to tell apart. Also, I really love the way the zombies are drawn. They are a bit disgusting, but I think that’s appropriate. Overall, this was a good chapter, but it’s probably my least favorite so far. All that violence just isn’t for me and the unrealistic dialogues annoyed me a lot. ù 8/10 By @art_fanatic_313

Reviews by: @movieframes777 The final outing of Wolverine by Hugh Jackman is one unforgettable ride and one of the best comic-book movies ever created. The acting, action and story of Logan are one-of-a-kinds in the superhero genre. The year is 2029 and mutants seemed to have been wiped out entirely. Hiding in the desert are Logan (Hugh Jackman) and Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) who look to survive in this newly evolved world. A young mutant girl crosses the path of the former X-Men which brings trouble as a new threat looks to use young mutants as weapons. Together, Logan and Charles will travel across the country in order to keep the child Laura (Dafne Keen) safe. Logan at it’s heart is a family road trip film, soaked in blood and bad language, but still at its core a story of redemption and love and the importance of both. Hugh Jackman has portrayed Wolverine for over seventeen years and this is by far his most powerful performance.Logan is One of the best superhero movies of all time and unique in its own way which makes it stand out. By @movieframes777

Reviews by: @bearfilmreviews There's so much in this show. Some of it is honestly terrible. Entire episodes and arcs dedicated to Jar Jar Binks, and stupid droid hijinx. BUT there's also a lot of stuff that is purely fantastic. I love the animation, it's so unique and it feels really Star Wars-y. Really often I felt the weight of random clones dying, the galaxy just lost a good soldier, and a good man. It really feels like a war in a lot of ways. Some episodes are just war tactics, and some are based solely on political beliefs. It's really great. Background Jedi from the prequels are given personalities, stories, characters. I actually know things about them now, rather than just being cool looking aliens. And Jedi we already know, such as Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, etc. are all given more layers as characters. It shows a side of them not seen in the films. And Anakin and Obi-Wan's banter is just as great as it is in Revenge of the Sith. Almost all of the new characters introduced are done so well. Ahsoka has become one of my favourite Star Wars characters so quickly. Her gradual maturity is so great to watch, she fights in such a unique, cool way, and she's also just really hot. I cried a lot during her framed arc. I cried during a good bit of the show. About 7-ish times. I wish classic Star Wars music played more often, and for longer. At powerful, important character moments, iconic themes start playing but they often get cut short, or don't fully project themselves. S7 is better at this I think. In earlier seasons it's almost trying to hide itself, rather than let it fully burst out in a powerful scene, which is what I wish it did. Some of my favourite arcs from the show include: Clone Conspiracy, Ahsoka Framed, Siege of Mandalore, Battle of Umbara, Yoda Learns, Obi-Wan and Satine. To name just a few. These are all phenomenal, so interesting, so emotional, and just so good. This show just has so much to love. Some of it is bad, but that stuff can be ignored. The good stuff is truly some of the best in Star Wars. Each arc can be watched/rewatched as essentially its own film. So many loveable characters are introduced, so many existing ones expanded upon, and so much maturity and death make this show so damn good. I'm eager to rewatch a lot of it already now that I've settled into these characters more. Such great Star Wars. By @bearfilmreviews

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon This is a great collaborative album. Blending R&B and Hip hop excellently. They both have voices that compliment each other well their smooth and rich vocals blend with the production excellently. With some fantastic use of harmonies within the production that are satisfying t listen to, the production definitely being some of the strongest elements of the album . The album doesn’t stay fully consistent with this sound, and I find some of the songs tend to be overproduced, with too many layering of vocals or use of voice alteration that becomes slightly frustrating to listen to, as it doesn't compliment the album well. The lyrics do feel fairly self explanatory and simple but that doesn't stop the songs from being good. There are hints at having more to say but it doesn't fully tap into that potential. My favourite songs: Memories Outside Can you take it (Interlude) Wedding cake Don' say a word Better yet (Dvsn interlude) Can't tell (Ft YG) I believed it ( Ft Mac Miller Fight Club Rude (Ty Dolla Sign interlude) Somebody that you don't know (Rauw Alejandro) Overall, Dvsn and Ty Dolla Sign have produced a very solid collaboration here. With an amazing blend of R&B and Hip hop, and both their voices compliment each other excellently. With some very strong production to back them up. The lyrics had the potential to be stronger and a few songs fell into being overproduced, but still a very solid effort. Overall rating 8/10 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @journeywithacinephile @ryan_the_nixon Film: The Night House Year: 2020 Director: David Bruckner Writer: Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski Starring: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg and Vondie Curtis-Hall This was a movie that was getting quite the push. I’ve been going to the theater a lot as of late and both I go to were showing the trailer. It was even popping up on streaming services with commercials as well. Jaime and I got the chance to see this when the Gateway Film Center had an advanced screening to which we were able to get passes. To get into the movie itself, a widow begins to uncover her recently deceased husband’s disturbing secrets. We start after the funeral of Owen (Evan Jonigkeit). He was married to Beth (Rebecca Hall) and she returns to the house they shared. It is even more interesting that he built the house as well. As someone who just lost their spouse, she is struggling. She has a restless night. There is a knock at the door and when she looks out, she thinks she sees someone. The problem is that there is no one there. Beth is a teacher and she shows up late to meeting. Her best friend is also a teacher in Claire (Sarah Goldberg). She is shocked to see Beth, but Claire is glad she is keeping busy. We get an interesting scene from here where Beth is looking at things on her computer, glances at the clock and then shocked by a knock at her classroom door. She lost time and there’s a search for handguns on the screen of her laptop. She has a testy talk with the mother of one of her students from there. More creepy things happen to her as well. She finds a watery footprint on the stairs up from their dock. Music turns on in the middle of the night. She also gets a phone call from her dead husband’s phone. When she looks out to the lake, she believes she sees him standing there, naked. This causes her to find his phone in the items she is getting rid of, but there isn’t a text or call from him. What she does find though is a picture of a woman that looks a lot like her. This causes her to look more into things where Claire tells her not to. She believes that Beth should just let sleeping dogs lie. Things get quite weird when one night she gets into the boat and sees a house much like hers across the lake. The problem is we’ve seen earlier there is no house over there, just woods. The more she digs, the darker things become and her husband might not have been the man she originally thought. That is where I’m going to leave my recap as I don’t want to spoil this movie. I also believe that people should seek this out. I had quite the experience in seeing this movie. If you know me, I’m sucked into the story. This movie pulls us in at first with the emotion. We have Beth who thought things were good between her and Owen. He was the rock. She was the one who dealt with depression, but he is the one who killed himself. Plus, there is a line in the trailer that he did it with a gun she didn’t know he had. There is more to this story though. There are elements here of the supernatural. Owen has a sketchbook for plans as it seems like he was a foreman or worked construction or he was an architect, something along those lines. As Beth goes through it, it seems normal. The deeper she goes though she finds plans like their house, just a mirror to it. She also finds that he had books about the occult. This is something else she didn’t know her husband was into. What I like is that there is a way to look at this as a supernatural thing. We could be dealing with a mirror of our own world where we have our characters, but just a darker version of them. This could be parallel worlds as well here. Another thing is that there could be a darker entity that Beth fears is after her. There is another way to look at this movie as well. The other way would be that this movie is an allegory for depression. Beth admits that she deals with this. Owen was her rock, but I could see that her condition could have worn on him. There is also the idea that the things he is doing could also have weighed on him, leading him to do what he did. This dark entity that Beth believes she sees could be her depression as a manifestation. All the supernatural things happen to her only. At the end of the movie, this is what I told Jaime where she believes it is the other explanation that it is supernatural. What I like here is that the movie allows you to decide. What I think makes this movie work though is the performance from Hall. She does great at being this character that just has had her world shattered. She is trying to hold things together. In dealing with her grief we see her get angry and then depressed. It is things I’ve gone through myself and it makes it more believable. Goldberg is solid as her friend who wants to be there for her, but Beth isn’t ready. The same can be said for Vondie Curtis-Hall who is taking on the character of Mel, a family friend. Jonigkiet is interesting as Owen. He is dead at the beginning, but we see things play out with him. He has an intense look. Aside from that, I thought the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed. Next, I’ll go to the cinematography, effects and the soundtrack. For the former, they do some good things with the atmosphere. The framing works for things and part of the effects come into play there as well. We are getting dream sequences or hallucinates that made for some creepy imaginary we see. I think both of these aspects work together and are effective. The atmosphere is also built by the soundtrack and sound design. There is a jump-scare in this movie that got me. It made my chest hurt actually. This made me think back to the last time one worked this well and it happened with After Midnight when I saw that in the theater. They are much different in what they did, but still were effective. So then in conclusion here, I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. We have an interesting story here of dealing with a realistic tragedy. It is then being taken into a potential supernatural way of looking at things. I like the commentary here regardless of how you read the movie. The acting from Hall is great and the rest of the cast helps direct her to where she ends up. The atmosphere is solid with how things are framed, the effects used and the soundtrack to build on that. This has been one of the better movies from this year. I’d rate this as a good movie that is bordering on being great. My Rating: 8.5 out of 10 By @journeywithacinephile 2021 15 director: David Bruckner starring: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis Hall, Evan JonigKeit, Stacy Martin etc A widow begins to uncover her recently deceased husband’s disturbing secrets. The night house was very good and a pleasant surprise. My first few positives would be the cinematography, character background and connecting with the main character. As well as the tense tone and building of tension and the Jumpscares. The film was visually fantastic. The setting of the house was perfect for this movie and provided an excellent tone and visual appeal. But the use of fog and the fascinating use of red was a fantastic and creative element to the film that was amazing to look at. I also thought the character background was great. The film went into a great amount of detail into the main characters past and her relationship with her husband, she seemed genuinely happy and because of this attention to detail it made it so much easier to connect with her as a character. The film did such an excellent job at focusing on its main character and making you sympathise with her situation and understand what she was going through. It was well written and hit good emotional beats. The film did such a good job at building its tension throughout and delivering a very tense tone. Playing on the fear of the unknown excellently, and the scenes slowly got more and more intense and frightening increasing the fear and tension for the main character. The tone and atmosphere were the main focus and I loved that. The Jump scares were also excellent but never overused. They were very sudden and excellently timed to really startle you. This wasn’t the main focus which I loved, and they were unpredictable. I only had a few negatives for the film. The pacing in the first act was fairly bland with a lack of set up. Some overly awkward dialogue. And the tension and high concept was inconsistent. The film did take a while to get going. With some very slow pacing in the beginning without any form of horror introduced for a little while, also with a lack of set up, with a series of normal day to day scenes and just photos of her ex without any full explanation or development into the next act of the film. Some of the dialogue was overly awkward as well. I think it was for the most part intentional showing how people react with alcohol to a death. But some of the dialogue that the characters were saying was very blunt and awkward to watch and was slightly too awkward and for me didn’t come across too well. Finally, I felt like the films high concept and tension was slightly inconsistent throughout. The tension that the film built strongly did stop and start on a fair number of occasions making the pacing clunky in places. And the high concept of the film didn’t really kick in fully until the third act making parts of the second and first act seem more simplistic then perhaps was intended. My final positives would be the excellent sound design and performances. The deep themes portrayed. The interesting concept and strong supporting cast. As well as an inventive final act with some strong twists. The sound design was used very effectively here. With the creaking of footsteps or certain situations repeated with the same sound really created a more intense and mysterious atmosphere. The performance from Rebecca Hall was also very strong. Her performance was moving, powerful and authentic and I think she deserves a lot of work from this. The high concept of the film was fascinating. Having a house that looks exactly the same to the house the main character was living in and having woman that looker exactly like her was a great concept for a horror and was executed really well. The film also handled some deep themes cleverly. The themes of grief and how people cope with it as well as people’s perceptions and ideas on death and life after death were told through imagery and dialogue and it was a unique and excellent element to the film. The Night house also had a very strong supporting cast. Sarah Goldberg and Vondie Curtis Hall were brilliant here. Their performances were strong, their characters likeable and they had a purpose to the plot. The twist in the final act was very creative and unexpected. Having the man Beth was seeing not actually be her husband but a visual representation of nothing which was what was viewed as life after death was a deep and fascinating twist that led to a very inventive final act. The visual style and creativity as well as the powerful imagery and intensity of the final act really stuck with me and was unique and powerfully done. Overall, despite not executing its deep concept to its full potential. The Night house is an intense and fascinating horror. That manages to connect intellectually and emotionally. Whilst also delivering tension and atmosphere that was excellently executed. With a fantastic lead performance from Rebecca Hall. Overall rating 81/100 By @ryan_the_nixon

Reviews by: @beyondfandom1 This issue of What If is very simple and not complex at all so it's easy to understand. Written by Don Glut and art done by Alan Kupperberg and Bill Black, this What If was one that made me think about how things could've been and what changes would be made for the rest of our beloved characters! Let's review! Now, everyone knows who The Avengers are but some might not know that there are many adaptations of this team. In this issue we see new faces and names be brought together to fight evil just like every Avengers team does. We start off be seeing Iron Man showing the other members (Captain America, The Vision, Thor and Beast) a different world that is set in the 1950's and how The Avengers were formed then by F.B.I Agent Jimmy Woo. Upon reading, I found it interesting that Jimmy Woo was the one to start The Avengers and not Nick Fury or whoever else gets them together. Jimmy Woo just doesn't come off as a boss/leader type to me so that threw me off. Agent Woo assembles his team of 3-D Man, Marvel Boy, The Human Robot, Venus, and Gorilla-Man. Now, I know what you're thinking and yes, those names are ridiculous but hey, its the 50's so they fit. The Avengers are here to stop the evil Yellow Claw who is becoming stronger and stronger. Yellow Claw isn't alone as he has his own supervillain team that consists of The Great Video, Skull-Face, The Russian Assassin Electro and the Cold Warrior. Yes I know, the names but this is what we're dealing with. The rest of the story is simple and goes like this; the good beats the evil and the president is happy with the group and everyone wins... wooo! I do find it interesting that The Avengers from the 50's mirror The Avengers we know about now. 3-D Man is like Captain America, Marvel Boy is Iron Man, Gorilla-Man is Beast, Human Robot is The Vision and Venus is Thor. Both teams are different yet very similar in specific ways. It made it easier to read once you see that the 50's Avengers are just like the original. The only real issue I had with this story was how bland it was. Yes, we got new characters that form a famous team but it is essentially like replacing what you already had wit something new. It honestly reminded me of the first episode in the Disney+ animated series "What If..?". Overall, I enjoyed the book and I think the idea of What If is fascinating to say the least. I would only change a few things with the story to make it more suspenseful, but that's it. The character names are kind of ridiculous but it's Marvel and we know some names can be that way. "What If the Avengers Had Fought Evil During the 1950's?" gets a 3/5! By @beyondfandom1

Reviews by: @movie_maniac5 @lemmiblog Damien Chazelle couldn't get off with a better start with his filmmaking career than with this masterpiece. It has amazing acting, a masterful direction and a great music score that really helps the audience set up in the mood for jazz. J K Simmon's performance is terrific and makes his character scary, but also Miles Teller's performance is one we shouldn't forget. He really portraits amazingly a man who's obsessed with his biggest dream. The movie's story is very engaging from beggining to ending, and it's really cool to see Andrew and Terence's competition to see who wins the battle. Honeslty it seems like Chazelle already did some movies before this, because this is a very mature movie. As the film advances, Andrew's obsession with becoming the best is clearly rising. But the real reason is Terrence, who is a very demanding and extreme teacher that brings everyone to their limits, and Andrew's no exception. He breaks up with his girlfriend, doesn't go out with friends, and doesn't do a lot with his dad anymore. All he cares about are the drums. It's so good for a person to persue their dreams and make tim for what they love, but there are certain limits and there's a point it isn't even sane to spend too much time doing a thing. After all what he did, Andrew gets fired from the music school after a big incident with Terrence, and he gives up drums for some time, because he's aware of the harm they did to him (indirectly). Terrence is a very complicated person. He can come to you in a very friendly way asking you how are you, and then yell at you in class and humiliating you. He doesn't much tolerate errors that can be made while rehearsing either. He pushes his students to the extreme and, later in the movie, we know that the student he says died in an accident actually commited suicide because of Terence's extremes. But he also seems to have a good and human side. Even though it was later deleted, there's a scene where Terence stares at an old photo of him, his wife and what seems to be their daughter (both presumably dead) while listening to some jazz. He may transform into a different person once out of the school, and he maybe just takes it too seriously with his students. For me, this movie is one of those where the villain wins the battle, and that's because Terence got Andrew all for himself, and its proved in the final sequence. Andrew's still got a bittersweet taste about how things ended in the music school, and he feels he's got more to give. So, when Terence gives Andrew the opportunity to play with his band in a festival, he accepts. In the concert, Andrew gives the best performance in his life, and also gets his revenge for what Terence did to him (he doesn't stop playing when he's supposed to). But the performance he gives proves he hasn't done anything more than play the drums in the past months, which means he ultimately fell into Terence's methods. A prove of this is the face Andrew's father makes when he sees his son playing. It's not his son anymore, it's just the monster Terence created. By @movie_maniac5 Geliehen auf @primevideode Andrew Neimans Leidenschaft ist bereits seit Kindertagen das Schlagzeug spielen. Er möchte mal einer der größten und bekanntesten Musiker der Welt werden. Dafür ist er am besten Musikcollage der ganzen USA und an diesem Ort ist Terence Fletscher der zuständige Dirigent den es zu überzeugen gilt. Andrew schafft es in die Band, doch was er nicht weiß ist das Terence ein Choleriker ist wie er im Buche steht. Er erniedrigt und schlägt seine Schüler, um aus ihnen das höhst mögliche rauszuholen. Dabei bleiben die meisten auf der Strecke, auch Andrew ist diese Methode nicht geheuer doch der Drang sich beweisen zu wollen ist so stark wie nie zu vor. Dieser Film von 2014 geht ca. 106 Minuten und ist ab 12 Jahren freigegeben. Wir haben hier Miles Teller und J.K.Simmons in einem Drama das uns zeigt das man ohne Training und Fleiß es nicht weit bringt. Positiv fand ich J.K.Simmons, seine Figur erinnerte mich an meinen alten Hauptfeldwebel der uns seelisch und psychisch an die Grenzen bringen wollte um das maximale zu erreichen und dabei bleiben eben die Leute auf der Strecke die nicht bereit sind diesen Weg zu gehen. Mit seinen Sprüchen erinnert er stark an Sgt. Hartmann aus Full Metal Jackett. Die Geschichte ist toll erzählt und es gibt keine Langeweile. Das Finale ist wahrlich beeindruckend und fesselt einen in seinen Bann. Negativ ist das ich mit Jazz persönlich nichts anfangen kann und bei der Musik etwas abschweifte. Am Ende bleibt aber ein dramaturgisch spannendes Werk das uns mit nimmt auf eine Reise durch Verzweiflung und Selbstreflexion hin zu einem Punkt der völligen Extase. Von mir bekommt der Film 9/10 Punkten. Warum hat Andrew kein Handtuch dabei, der schwitzt mehr wie ein Marathonläufer. By @lemmiblog

Reviews by: _pilots_on_the_ground_ This game smells like my childhood, I had a great time as a kid playing this non stop with my good homie @bearfilmreviews. Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare or PVZ Garden Warfare or simply PVZGW, is a 2014 multiplayer third person shooter game developed by PopCap Games and published by EA. It is the third installment in the Plants vs. Zombies franchise. The game offers only 4 plants and 4 zombies, but they all have multiple variations, all with unique abilities, for example the plasma pea, a variation of the peashooter, fires a high damage plasma ball instead of typical ammunition, this allows for a versatile gameplay and each match is interesting with mix and match character variations. The game also offers a multitude of different game modes, such as gardens and graveyards, which is essentially capture the point, garden ops, which is just a wave mode where the zombies are AI, and vanquish confirmed, which is just deathmatch. Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare is an incredibly fun game to play, and the levels of fun increase tenfold with friends, it's a shame that it's not as popular anymore because it really is a great game, I've heard that Garden Warfare 2 is good but I've not played it, however I'd recommend this game and it's definitely worth every penny. By @_pilots_on_the_ground_

Reviews by: @theplokoonyreviews For the good, occasionally there’s an alright effort at executing concepts behind scenes and some of the actors are decent. For the negatives, the acting and dialogue is horrendously stale, the characters themselves are as shallow and uninteresting as possible, scenes are boringly drawn out, while all cinematography is incredibly lazy and amateurish. Positive: The Occasional Interesting Idea Buried within some scenes there are interesting ideas, the director never really brought them to light but they’re still noticeable and kind of interesting. The relationship between Lindsay and Jenny is horribly acted but when they’re in the centipede they do have moments together which show a bond and a very human response to the situation. It would nicely contrast the first half where they bickered which each other, this contrast isn’t effective because the acting was originally so hollow but it’s still somewhat present. Also, it’s interesting how it tries to explore a state where the body has died but the mind still is conscious. It’s an effective and uncomfortable idea to explore for horror, and even though the delivery of this idea is skewed with its incoherently artsy presentation, it still is present. Lastly, (SPOILERS) there is a really fascinating idea explored in the moments where Lindsay tries to escape from the doctor and when she’s stitched into the centipede. When she’s trying to escape she goes to the bedroom, backyard, and even the indoor pool, when she’s stuck in the middle of the centipede she revisits all these places. It’s a very bleak contrast, her ability to make decisions and run has been stripped and she’s a prisoner in her own body. This is a horrifying concept that deserved so much more attention, unfortunately it’s incredibly muted in the film, if this was ever emphasized at all it would greatly increase the score. Positive: Some of the acting While there are distractingly bad performances and even the good moments have many problems, there is some decent acting to be found. On paper, the Doctor is a very shallow antagonist but the actor gives him an undeniably sinister presence. He commands attention through his uneasy demeanour, which makes what he’s saying all the more impactful and creepy. The line delivery itself is very stoic and blunt, he’s impossible to be reasoned with which makes the situation all the more hopeless. The Japanese man as well is very effective at expressing his characters turmoil through body expression. He only speaks Japanese however, he never creates a dynamic with the other victims and it limits the understanding of the him. As for the acting however, he does the best he can with the material he’s given and this ends in a pretty believable performance. He mainly screams and snarls at the doctor, however behind this a passionate, animalistic hatred for the Doctor. His mannerisms are obvious enough to pick up on, but also have a subtle, muted quality which just makes it all the more interesting. As for the two actresses, their acting is pretty awful but during the actual horror scenes they delivered convincingly terrified performances which did help with the creepy atmosphere. Overall some of the performances are decent, unfortunately the script doesn’t give much for the actors to work with, but they try their best and the end result can be decent. Negative: Acting and Dialogue While the Doctor and Japanese man turn in overall solid performances, the same can’t be said for the two actresses who play Lindsay and Jenny. During the car scene they exaggerate everything they say, even if it just feels like a small detail and it makes the whole scene ridiculously funny to watch, but critically a disaster which takes any weight away from what they’re discussing. The time spent developing these characters is wasted since they actually seem more shallow after delivering their lines in the most preppy and amateurish way possible. The Japanese man only speaks Japanese which makes it hard for him to make a connection or create a basic dynamic between him and the other victims. It’s obvious he hates the Doctor and they share a basic dynamic, but this dynamic just goes in a circle where the The Doctor gets mad and then stops being mad, there isn’t any evolution or nuance to it at all. Also, the version I watched didn’t come with subtitles for these parts, so all his yelling didn’t have much weight to it and listening to him go off on tangents was more boring than anything. As for the dialogue, it seems as if the writer/directors Tom Six doesn’t know how regular people talk. The dialogue for The Evil Doctor is decent, it’s detached and horrifying enough to fit with his character. However, the dialogue for the regular people sounds like a parody of a high school comedy. It’s hard to relate to or get invested in them (these are adults as well) when their dialogue is this shallow and whiny. Also, the way these lines bounce back and forth from characters is either funnily or awkwardly unrealistic. They both are complaining about the situation, but they don’t really acknowledge each other’s feelings and just to complain about how bad their life is to themselves, which is then passed off as a conversation. Maybe it was good that I couldn’t understand half the dialogue in this film due to it being Japanese or German, the English dialogue is unbearable and The Doctor is the only person who ever finds a balance between good dialogue and line delivery. Negative: Horrifyingly Bad Characterization The characters are remarkably uninteresting, none of them have any distinguishable traits and they all suffer from a lack of effective or meaningful development, or any development at all. Lindsay and Jenny couldn’t feel more like stock horror victims if the writer tried, Jenny especially she often appears in the film but all she does is bicker and scream, there’s nothing beyond this her entire presence consists of nagging the audience. Lindsay is most like the protagonist of the film, unfortunately she’s a very bland protagonist with confusing character development. This is where the lack of varied characterization majorly hurts the film, the audience is mostly exposed to the characters in a horrible situation, so it’s hard to attach or understand anything about them since all they really do is beg and scream. This wouldn’t be a bad thing, in fact it does help the bleak atmosphere but without properly relating to or understanding the characters, this screaming doesn’t affect the viewer in nearly the same way, in fact it more so becomes obnoxious. The viewer barely knows anything about Lindsay and the only time her and Jenny had a conversation, it was one where they bickered at each other. So, when Lindsay tries to show much she cares about Jenny later on, it doesn’t feel natural since from our limited exposure to them didn’t reflect any mutual compassion. It speaks to the quality of the characters when it’s hard to believe that two friends actually care about each other, these people feel more like tools to scare the audience and that’s an incredibly cheap way to handle the complexities of developing people. As for the Japanese Man, It seems like he’s going through a character journey, but his response to the situation changes so dramatically over the film and the audience has no prior knowledge (or any knowledge) to base these developments off of, his responses are very dramatic and they also shift dramatically so seeing him change is very apparent, but the reason given for why isn’t very apparent. This is the same with Lindsay, these characters will do something out of character, and while this decision could very well be backed up by their past experiences and their own personality, our understanding of them is so limited that we have no idea if this is the case and it ends up just feeling unnatural. The Doctors motive for doing what he does is barely delved into and the silly reason why (he used to take things apart and now he wants to put things together)is much too abstract to work as only excuse the film uses through its entire duration. Negative: Annoyingly drawn out scenes. This film doesn’t even reach an hour and 30 minutes but it’s still painfully boring to get through, inside this film is the material for something that should be a 15 minute short film, and trying to reach feature length with this very sparse amount of content does not lead to a very interactive experience. Before getting into the artificially elongated quality of scenes, it’s also important to note a lot of scenes are also completely pointless and carry no impact to the overall goal of the story or effect on character development, rather just being there to get to be feature length. (Minor spoilers) The very first scene is the Doctor watching someone from his car, then going out to capture him. This sequence just echoed things that would be focused on later, it doesn’t feel like an introduction, nothing actually gets introduced to the audience it’s just shown briefly while nothing actually feels important, the scene just plays out and ends with no new information learned and foreshadowing which wasn’t actually necessary for the Doctors proper introduction later. Also, the scene where the creepy guy tries to hit on Lindsay and Jenny was awkward, lasted too long and wasn’t brought up again for the rest of the film. It seemed as if it was trying to say something about objectification, but not even the theme this scene acknowledged was mentioned again and carried no excuse for why it needed to be there. (Spoilers end) The movie also tends to have things go on for much longer than they need to, this could be considered an artistic decision but it’s still executed in a remarkably boring way. The goal of the scenes is usually very simple, there aren’t any character challenges to overcome and it plays out very simply, the plan is to capture people and create a centipede and this is what happens, so scenes have to find something else to fill that gap. Unfortunately, this is typically either with lots of screaming or having scenes become repetitive so something is still happening on screen. The screaming doesn’t hold much weight to it, the characters who are screaming don’t have very interesting personalities, so it was hard to care if they were in pain since Tom Six never spent the time to make them sympathetic or at the very least moderately interesting. As for the repetitive nature of scenes, it’s easy to see that they’re becoming repetitive since scenes just keep on going for no other reason than maybe building atmosphere, when atmosphere is the only thing being built on and all the other elements stagnate and their lazy and unpolished nature becomes even more apparent, it leads to a very boring experience. Negative: Cinematography The cinematography is consistently low quality and effort, 90% of the time it just settled for the easiest shot possible while the quality of the video is remarkably low for a film from 2009. There are times when I even thought of all the other angles (I never do this) that could help give more personality and an enriched understanding of the scene. This is another reason why the drawn out nature of these scenes is so annoying, it just stays on the same angle as well it’s too lazy to even switch views. For this film camerawork feels like a matter of convenience, the easiest shot won’t always be the most effective shot for what needs to be depicted, but this film doesn’t seem to care and consistently takes the easy way out, leaving it devoid of any creativity or passion. At least In the writing, there was an effort made to be interesting but there isn’t even a noticeable one with the cinematography, never before has looking at a movie been so boring especially since nearly the entire film takes place in the same house. It’s consistently ugly to look at, it seems as if no lighting equipment was used and there was barely any refinements in post editing. There’s a dark tone (literally) which awkwardly mixes with the bright colours and makes the entire experience incredibly drab, this may have been a purposeful artistic decision but that doesn’t stop it from being an ugly eyesore which kills any interest to be had in its lifeless environment. Overall, this is a standard, kidnap based horror movie that has barely anything else to offer other than its especially twisted concept. The execution of every element in this film reeks of a lack of interest, what makes this all the more disappointing is that inside this film is actually a pretty interesting one. Unfortunately, everyone involved in production shows a lack of care in actually taking the time to understand the characters they were acting as, further exploring the ideas it touches on in the script, and actually making the film look palatable with its cinematography. Entertainment rating: 3/10 Critical rating: 4/10 Final rating: 3.5/10 By @theplokoonyreviews

Reviews by: @solemnreads 8.5/10 It's rare to find a book that feels equal parts high-stake sci-fi adventure and grounded scientific speculation. I was curious to see if Project Hail Mary would follow in the footsteps of Weir's densely scientific yet delightfully comedic novel The Martian, or if he would continue to explore the more flashy side of sci-fi he explored in Artemis. In my opinion, he really did capture the best of both worlds in Project Hail Mary. It's fast paced and meticulous. It's fantastically imaginative and rationalised to the point of plausibility. Its engaging protagonist shares a lot of common traits with the loveable Mark Watney while still setting himself apart from the crowd. There's enough quick wit and open questions to keep you glued to the page, and a mystery with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing till the end. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Absolute must-read for any fans of The Martian out there. By @solemnreads

Reviews by: @ryan_the_nixon Jake Bugg returns to form with a fantastic blend of folk rock that brings him back to what made him so popular. It felt like he was slowly losing his sound as he released more albums, but this feels more linear and a more cohesive and consistent sound that really suits his voice perfectly. It’s his most diverse and experimental sound yet and a risk that has payed off well, playing more with guitars and drums and more catchy and recognisable hooks. The Album reflects on living you life to its fullest and making memories. Whilst also reflecting on himself as an artist. And that's a good way to describe this album, It's Jake's way of reflecting on his success and what he has achieved along the way. This album feel like it has something to say which I feel like he struggled to do this with his previous couple of albums. My favourite songs: All I need Lost Rabbit Hole Downtown Screaming About last night Hold Tight Scene Kiss Like the Sun Lonely Hours Maybe It's today Overall, Saturday Night, Sunday Morning marks a return to form for Jake Bugg. In one of his most cohesive and experimental albums yet. He is back to what made his music so well loved when he first started. Rating: 9/10 By @ryan_the_nixon