What have you watched recently? 3D!

Agree great little movie agree with movies like The Decent and Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibes from it. Great performances from Georgina Campbell, Justin Long and Bill Skarsgård.

A solid 7/10

'Trees Lounge'

A 1996 film written by, directed by and starring Steve Buscemi about an aimless out of work mechanic who spends all his time at a dead end bar that is the title of the movie. 'Trees Lounge' is one of those low budget American slice-of-life films that are a rare treat these days and features a ton of familiar faced non-stars mixed in with soon to be big names like Samuel L. Jackson.

Buscemi's character, Tommy, drifts around his dead end suburban Long Island town hopelessly looking for another mechanic's job and lamenting his current situation, which he salves by drinking. He eventually takes up driving his uncles ice cream truck after the old guy dies, but his future looks bleak.

Buscemi's movie is pretty dark, while not depressing, and has at its centre a humour and a heart that most people will recognise. However, Tommy's situation is not one that anyone would envy. His worsening alcoholism and unemployment is augmented by the fact that his girlfriend of 8 years, Teresa, recently left him for the boss who fired him and she may also be pregnant with his baby. But Tommy remains a relatively charming figure, even if he's destined to live out his years in self destruction.

'Trees Lounge' was a very personal film for Buscemi, who the main character is a reflection of. Before taking up acting full time, Buscemi was Tommy, and his life was on course for the same direction. So the film has an authenticity about burgeoning alcoholics that other stories may lack. This keeps things on an even keel and while there's an underlying bleakness, Tommy's tale never veers into the hysterical.

8/10

'Gerald's Game'

One of the more successful movie adaptations of a Stephen King novel, albeit a lesser title, 'Gerald's Game' takes place almost entirely in one room and in one woman's head. Echoing shades of the bed bound author in 'Misery', another successful adaptation from the "master of horror", the tale focuses on a middle aged couple who take a few days out in a remote cabin in the country to spice up their love life. Although, it's clear that it's Gerald (Bruce Greenwood) who is more interested in a particular kind of spice than his wife Jessie (Carla Gugino). Gerald's particular penchant is for a bit of light BDSM restraint, which ends up making Jessie very uncomfortable and during a bout of a few uttered home truths about her husband's newly discovered rape fantasies, Gerald suffers a heart attack leaving Jessie handcuffed to the bed and at the mercy of elements beyond her control.

Unfortunately, 'Gerald's Game' is not as entertaining as 'Misery' and comes off as trying to stuff too much into a story that may have been better off more streamlined. It bounces all over the place from childhood abuse trauma, to martial revelations, to grave robbing necrophiliacs, and while a person's mind may indeed wander in an aimless manner while having many hours to use, it doesn't necessarily make for a completely satisfying story.

But 'Gerald's Game' is no dud either and the two leads put in a pretty good and convincing performance, especially Gugino who goes from mousey, to wreck, to heroine while mostly lying on a king sized mattress. However, the film could have definitely used a few slices here and there even if it is well made.

6/10

'See How they Run'

A Wes Anderson movie that wasn't directed by Wes Anderson, 'See how they Run' seeks to channel that instantly recognisable Anderson touch and couple it with that distinctly British air that is abundant in numerous whodunit efforts, especially those of Agatha Christie who's, probably, the genre's most famous participant. Set during the first year of 'The Mousetrap', the longest running play in the history of theatre, the film tells the story of the murder of an obnoxious American movie director who is bumped off while in the middle of trying to secure the film rights to the play and the subsequent efforts to solve the case by a jaded Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell), and his overly enthusiastic assistant, Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan).

'See how they Run' is littered with references, homages, nods, and winks to the audience that will resonate best with people who are drawn to that type of homely British murder mystery. But knowledge of either the genre or the names associated with it are not necessary requirements for enjoyment, and someone who is blissfully ignorant of either will get something out of it. It's also helped immensely by two great performances by Rockwell and Ronan, the latter giving a subtly humorous turn that should put a smile on most people's faces.

If the movie has any drawbacks, though, it's the fact that the mystery itself is quite a lacklustre one and the last third of the film cannot compete with the first two. But over all, it's funny and well worth the time, even if it won't have you in a laughing fit.

7/10

Ambulance – Horrendous flick, lot of fancy quick camera shots. Idiotic script, Gyllenhaal in awful actor.  

Morbius – **** shite.

On the scenes with Erzberger...sure there's obviously the intent on behalf of the film makers to show a kind of tense countdown to the 11th hour 11/11/18. But those scenes halt the the movie dead in its tracks and, to me, feel like they're too much of an afterthought and, almost, shipped in from another movie. But then, I've been reading about the world wars since I was a young boy, so I'm probably not the intended audience for that particular thrust of the film and maybe the film makers felt that not having the railcar armistice negotiations in the story would somehow leave some people in some confusion as to how WWI came to its whimpering close*. To me, they (and the kinda absurd final battle scene) just don't need to be in the movie and in any case Paul dies, unceremoniously, on a quiet day in October in book and in the other movie versions. WWI is still going when he is killed. To me, that will always be the better, and sadder, ending.

Also, as Pix says, there was probably a desire (ill conceived IMO) to link the end of the Great War with the coming one twenty years later. That's certainly the point of the General Friedrichs character, another entirely made up addition to the list of people in the story. Clearly he's a link, and an extremely blunt one at that, to Germany's right wing who would be responsible for the rise of Hitler and the "stab in the back" theory that fuelled their early political machinations. But he never comes off as anything but a clumsy addition.

But they're relatively minor slip ups in a generally good film that's well worth watching and it's absolutely the most visceral and striking depiction of the First World War that I've seen.

*As an aside, Hitler had the same railcar shipped to Compiegne, again, and made the French delegates sign their surrender document in June 1940.

'The English'

Amazon's 6 part revenge western, starring Emily Blunt, is one of the most beautifully shot television series that I have ever seen. In fact it's so absorbing from an aesthetic point of view that there's a real danger that the viewer can get distracted completely with the visuals and easily miss the fluctuations in the story, of which there are a number. 'The English' jumps all over the place and looking away from the screen for even a moment could spell confusion as to what's happening on it, which is where the show lets itself down. In the blink of an eye, we can go from 1875 to 1890 and the jerk from the flash forwards and backwards can be extremely jarring indeed. Plus, characters are introduced and dispatched in very short order, so just as we are getting to, at least, understand someone they can be gone.

In addition, the interconnecting storylines are awkwardly explored. So we end up bouncing uncomfortably from one situation to the next whilst trying to piece together the entanglements that each has. All of which leads one to think that a more straight forward narrative might have served the series better over all.

But if there's a narrative flux going on in the show, the same cannot be said for the acting, especially from Emily Blunt, Chaske Spencer and Rafe Spall, who are uniformly excellent and the general level of grittiness that prevails throughout keeps things interesting. 'The English' is a nasty story about nasty people and one where few hands, or souls, are kept clean. From the first episode to the last we are witnesses to the actions of some truly reprehensible folk, who are abhorrent, yet terribly fascinating. The make up on several characters is an absolute triumph, as well, with a couple of them sporting truly hideous visages.

Unfortunately, it's a story that lacks a satisfactory ending and the show doesn't seem pleased with it itself. But it still remains a yarn that's well worth checking out, even with its obvious downsides.

6/10

I think most people enjoyed 'Prey' because it didn't totally suck. So it gets more kudos than it really deserves. But it's really just an ok movie at the end of the day.

But 'Predator' is one of those 80's lightening in a bottle things that, no matter how hard they try, will never be captured again.

If you liked Arbitrage then I'd highly recommend 'Margin Call', if you haven't seen it already.

Don't Worry, Darling

Visually and stylistically, this is a dream. A lot of Mad Men vibes off it and also reminded me of Edward Scissorhands to some extent.

Florence Pugh was brilliant but Harry Styles was fairly wooden, not to mention his character being British as his American accent wasn't up to it. Chris Pine was a scene stealer but he could have been used more.

I won't go too much into the plot so as to avoid giving away a big spoiler but it was interesting. It had a message and a target and executed it fairly well without being too repetitive. It also offered quite a few viewpoints, instead of having all the characters banging the same drum.

That said, the final act was a bit rushed and I wasn't entirely sure what the ending meant (given this is a film that clearly wants to say something beyond the ins and outs of its story).