Film Reviews by DC

It's pretty rare when I can't manage to watch a film all or most of the way through but this was one such occasion. Initial critic reviews seemed promising but when I saw a viewer review mentioning Wes Anderson it flagged up a warning sign for me as I am not a fan of any single one of his films as I find them just irritating as hell. Anyway so was this effort - well the 30 minutes I could stand of it. Everything was so mannered and false and unbelievable for no justifiable reason I could see. There are so many great, low budget British films and absolutely anything by Ken Loach is light years better. Poor....very poor.

My initial thought when hearing a fourth Toy Story film was being made was one of why? You've made a trilogy and a story arc that had reached a satisfactory conclusion for all the characters - nothing more required - move on. Then I read all the 5 stars reviews of the film critics and started to look forward to watching it. I watched it. I'm afraid I had to revert back to my initial thought - why!?

It's not a bad film by any means and it's worth a watch but falls way behind in comparison to previous Toy Story films especially 2. It had some good moments but it just wasn't very funny and there was nothing really new - just a rehash of previous plots. I think I've watched all Pixar films over the years and the standard has been at times incredibly high - Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, Up, Wall-E, Inside Out, Finding Nemo etc. Toy Story 4 feels at lot closer to something like Cars than those marvelous films and that's a real shame.

It shouldn't really be part of the 'Girl..' series - she's now saving the world! It doesn't compare against the original films but as an entertaining thriller I thought it was very good - looks very impressive, acting OK (so that's what the Queen gets up to at the weekend!), exciting action sequences. I wasn't sure about watching it as the reviews were fairly poor but as long as you totally suspend belief in what Lisbeth is capable of doing I have no problem with it .

Well, this films certainly looks fantastic and there are some really exciting well made sequences particularly early on but it definitely runs out of steam (punk) in the second half when it basically rips off bringing down the Death Star and becomes boringly predictable and just a bit silly (or sillier). There's probably a much fuller story to be told (I've not read the books) but this feels like too much is skimmed over to have any emotional attachment to or interest in the characters as you don't really get to know them. I like Hugo Weaving as an actor and he has provided some great performances in other sci-fi/fantasy films but he just not convincing in this and maybe was helping his friend Peter Jackson out. Overall, then, yes it was fairly enjoyable but I'd wait for it to turn up on TV.

Almost lost for words about this film - truly appalling. Through contractual reasons (i.e my girlfriend wanted to see it) I had already suffered the first Kingsman which I thought was just a nasty, crude, cynical film and for the same reasons had to endure watching this one. It's just soulless and considering a reasonably high calibre cast (excluding Taron Egerton obvs) a shocking waste of their efforts. And...there's Elton John. I thought at first it would be a short cameo appearance but no, he kept appearing over and over and over again getting worse each time until I thought my head would explode. A genius songwriter of course but please, I beg you - no more 'acting/mugging' appearances.

There's really no need to mention anything about the plot of course. I suppose some of the action scenes are well handled in a cartoon like way. The dialogue is overly course and humorless as you'd expect and it's well over 2 hours long but feels much, much longer.

I came out of watching this film feeling angry about having wasted time watching it.

I believe there's going to be a third film. I wont be fooled again!

I'd read some reviews by actual film critics saying this film wasn't too bad and in one case saying it improved on the original, which is why I rented this sequel. Well, they were wrong, very wrong. It's clunky is every respect and resembles a sub Transformers film, which I didn't think was possible! It just panders to every type of cliche for films of this genre - from the story, to the script and the paper thin characters and is ultimately just annoying. I think maybe I'm over analyzing it really for what it is, but there are far better sci fi monster films out there. Don't waste your time with this.

I can't comment on the supposed cultural significance of this film ( and the obvious shoe in for the new Oscar 'Outstanding Popular Film' category) but I pretty much agree with all the less than positive reviews so far written here. I think there's definitely a case of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' as far as professional film critics are concerned with their gushing reviews. This is easily the worse Marvel film I've seen. It's a pity because the Black Panther character is great and is good as part of the Avengers Team but as a standalone episode the whole concept just doesn't work. I know it's not a documentary but Wakanda - really!? I suppose Marvel set such high standards of entertainment that it's bound to come a cropper sooner or later and this is it. Thank the Lord I did not pay £15 at the cinema to see this.

I recently visited Dingle on the west coast of Ireland where this film was mainly shot so thought I would have another go at watching it all the way through (after a number of failed attempts in the past). It hasn't aged well. Yes, the scenery i.e all the stuff that's in the background, is absolutely stunning and brilliantly filmed - there's even a nod to the match scene in Lawrence of Arabia. As to the rest it's very turgid fare and miscast in a lot of roles - Robert Mitchum looks totally uncomfortable despite a reasonable Irish accent. There are no Irish actors at all as leads and the depiction of the locals is so stereotypical and at best insulting to Irish people. Trevor Howard (as a prototype Father Jack?) is good as the priest, however. Leo McKern is always reliable and I suppose John Mills should get some credit for his 'theatrical' performance of the village idiot. Sir David Lean was justifiably renowned as a visionary film director but he should have steered clear of sex scenes. Deary me! And, it's a long, long, long film! 3 hours, 24 mins the version I watched.

I think this film got some appalling reviews when it came out in 1970 and I'm afraid most are still merited. When you think of the absolute majesty of Lawrence of Arabia, Ryan's Daughter is a travesty. So, unless you're a film school student or just like the scenery on the west coast of Ireland and you can't get there to see it in person, then avoid, avoid, avoid!

Implant some new memories please so I can forget the time I watched this film! A shame as I think Denis Villeneuve has done some great films recently and I hoped he could have done something interesting with this sequel but alas not for me ( I wasn't that overwhelmed by the original Bladerunner to be honest). As already said it's way too long for what it is and this dystopian future look, though well realised, is getting a bit samey now. Give me Brazil any day.

I don’t really understand why this film gets such poor critical reviews but it seems a bit of a Marmite one. It’s a ‘movie’ not a documentary and in my view an astonishingly well crafted one at that. There are plenty of other sources to watch/read if you need to know about absolutely everything that happened during that week but as a snapshot of some events during that period, whether fictional or not, it captures the spirit and atmosphere of it brilliantly (both visually and aurally). It’s not flawless. People have commented about Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack which I found a little irritating at times even though I could see what he was trying to do but ending with Elgar was perfection. Yes, it could have been much more graphic in its depiction of war but why? It wants to reach as big a market as possible – you don’t need to see someones guts hanging out or face sliced off to appreciate what goes on in war but my stomach was still in knots watching what these young men were going through. And yes, the concluding section of the pilot’s story was a bit fanciful but it didn’t stop me getting all ‘emotional’ and I am the least patriotic person I know. As an ‘experience’ this film is deeply rewarding and the skill and effort of everybody involved in making it of such high quality should be applauded (and not overly nit-picked!)

Yes, it was OK. Some funny bits definitely. Totally unoriginal and in parts a rerun of Alan Partridge Papa Alpha ( another one of Coogan's 'Baby Cow' productions). In fact the main character is a Partridge trope really but there's still scope to have some fun with this type of delusional character. Not sure it will do much for Isle of Man tourism mind. Wouldn't have dashed to the cinema to see it but worth a rental if you like Partridge/David Brent style of humour.

Pretty poor to be honest. I may have missed the political references but as a 'monster' movie I couldn't see much of the budget on screen. It was made in 2006 so I guess the level of special effects have moved on. I watched the dubbed version and the sound quality was totally flat - not even sure it was 5.1 sound. One to avoid, for me.