Film Reviews by HM

Welcome to HM's film reviews page. HM has written 222 reviews and rated 235 films.

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Sator

Rubblish

(Edit) 11/08/2021

A minimum budget can be just fine with a good idea, an excellent script, quality direction and nailed it acting. Unfortunately this movie has none of these ingredients. Don't waste you life watching this hogwash. Boring, none-sensical codswallop. Go for a walk instead.

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Laputa: Castle in the Sky

Not up to scratch

(Edit) 06/07/2021

Despite eminating from the esteemed studio of Chibli this is a rather unsubtle contribution to their otherwise high standard of excellence in both story telling and execution. Constant over the top action sequences bash the viewer over the head, noisey and rude it lacks the charm of their usual produce. Too much for me I am afraid and overlong at 2 hours!

A crude baddies and goodies plot leave little room for character development that the studio is so admired for. The end result is low level buffoonery which feels like being in an amusement arcade. A dissapointment frankly.

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Hereditary

Tingles but formulaic

(Edit) 06/07/2021

This did make the hairs on my body stand up now and again. However, the innocents drawn into witchy goings on is standard horror stuff by now. The ending is pretty much what you would expect except a bit silly, corpses don't behave with any discipline at all when headless!

A big problem is its length, it drags on somewhat, despite this, the plot doesn't really develop very convincingly. To be fair I am not a horror fan so it was so, so, entertainment but may be 'we have seen it all before' for true horror fans.

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Valhalla Rising

ugh?

(Edit) 27/05/2021

No budget, no plot, no sense. What was the point? Graphic violence with no purpose. A pagan accompanies a group of Christian warriors to the Holy Land for no particular reason (he cannot talk) and they proceed to fall out or fall victim to natives (they improbably end up in Americas - a bit of a journey) so pagans triumph in the end, but so what? Avoid a boring 90 minutes and don't bother.

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Defendor

Good fun

(Edit) 27/05/2021

A naive individual takes up arms against crime trying to eradicate the person at the centre of evil. Deluded up to his eyeballs he forms a relationship with a druggy girl who knows where crime is at. Brave but not entirely competent, we follow his struggles with the police and criminals. Harrelson plays the part with the comic timing we have seen in Zombieland and the movie rests on him to give it allure. Seen 'Super'? The same mix of deluded hero, violence and humour is going on here. It works as a thriller and as a comic drama, very entertaining; you will be watching with interest. A little gem really.

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Saint Maud

Mental health exploitation

(Edit) 20/05/2021

Eternal Beauty was about a girl suffering Schizophrenia but the film lacked a storyline of any interest and seemed pointless. This film is more engaging, but is Schizophrenia a fit subject for exploitation? Not for me. The film doesn't shine any light on the condition, just uses it as a means of telling a horror story of a girl's descent into self deluded madness. Voices in her head convince her of her need to please 'God'. Schizophrenia is an illness deserving better treatment than this. It puts a sufferer into a horror genre for shocks rather than exploration. A shallow motive for a film really, so 'exploitation' is the way I read it. However, if you like sadistic films about medical conditions, go ahead!

Having said all that it has momentum and is well constructed. Up to you if you want to risk this unpleasent treatment of the subject

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Archenemy

Intriguing idea

(Edit) 20/05/2021

A look at what happens when a supethero form another planet/dimension turens up powerless on Earth. however, the battle from his home turns up here. Is he a superhero or a deluded drunk? We find out of course in an engaging conflict between alien forces in volving befuddled humans. Not a blockbuster, but a good idea played out at Dr Who level theatrics and budget.

Entertaining and worth a view. I got fed up with superhero blockbusters covering the same old territory so this, Brightburn and similar explorations of the genre woke me up to a more interesting slant on a tired genre.

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On Body and Soul

Dull

(Edit) 05/05/2021

An unlikely romance blossoms between an ugly disabled man and a much younger woman who is pretty but has a mental health condition. Lingering shock moments in the slaughterhouse where they work seem irrelevant and a bit East Europeon (Hungarian film so to be expected) which distract from the story line of these two people sharing the same dream. Interesting idea. Interesting film? No, very dull and at times boring. Could have been a 1960/70s Russian film e.g. little attempt made to capture an audience just eat your cabbage and behave citizens!

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Eternal Beauty

Dull

(Edit) 24/04/2021

My heart sank when I saw National Lottery funded and that the Welsh film industry (?) was involved. A TV drama slot would have been better for this really, not much life in it or movie craftmanship. A repetative 'she's bonkers' theme carries on with little development of it. Repetative and dull, it drags on. A movie has to be entertaining and this certainly isn't. The subject may be serious but so would a movie about gardening at my place.

The irish subsidised industry does a little better and let's not discuss the Australian attempts at film making. I turned this dross off after 40 minutes, I was in a state of depression having started Friday night off so badly!

Risk boredom if you dare.....

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Bacurau

Weird and clunky

(Edit) 24/04/2021

This is a kind of Magnificent 7 without the 7. A village in Brazil is under siege from a bunch of Sacarios seemingly hired by a corrupt politician. The villagers fight back. That is about it really. Attempts at Tarantino dialogue between the Sicarios or groups of village folk don't really work (subtitles don't help to be fair). A lot of padding makes for dull moments, but the action springs the movie to life but doesn't deliver scenes for the squeamish!

Ecentric moments of nudity surprised this viewer, not least because the bodies are not ones you relly want to see! Overall a bit of a mish mash of ideas and unclear motives, so not the most skillful scripting, but you will forget that as the tale keeps you guessing what the hell is going on.

Entertaining? Mostly, yes. Worth seeing? Yes, but not with your granny.

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Wonder Woman 1984

Frothy and silly

(Edit) 13/04/2021

OK I admit it, I am fed up with superhero films, but I did think this may have had more about it. Thinly disguised Trump baddy steals the equivelant of Aladin's Lamp and becomes the granter of wishes to the world for no particular reason. Plot creaks and is very childish; meantime her dead boyfriend (see previous film) comes back and inhabits someone elses body! No discussion about the killing of the original occupier's mind, so shallow from the outset.

Action? Yes. Intelligence? No. Frankly apart from looking at Gadot, there isn't much to recommend this dull film. Wished Ihadn't bothered.

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Greed

Funny and topical

(Edit) 13/04/2021

Coogan is a talented chap and carries off the Phillip Green impression very well, a selfish go getting barrow boy. However, he understands the art of the deal. The driven go getting nasty personality is in your face from minute one. Plenty of laughs, based mainly around Greedy McCreedy's explosive put downs of those around him over whom he has hire and fire power.

His mother is a horrible but entertaining leprechaen of an Irish woman, given to put downs her son would have been proud of. The film revolves the arrangement of his ludicrous birthday party and flashbacks as to how he got where he is.

All in all, entertaining fun. However, at the end of the film we get a scolled lecture on the evils of the fashion industry; how much money fashion houses turn over and the low wages of workers in Sri Lanker and other third world economies. So what is suppose to happen? Tell factories in the rag trade to double their wages? All MrCreedy does is offer a price and sweat shop owners agree or not, it isn't the fashion houses, or any other industries job to establish the general wage rates in other countries. In any case everybody gets, what by our standards are low wages in these countries so they pay 10p for a coffee costing us £3.50 in the west, comparing service prices in one country with another is all about what you have to spend outside your own economy not the value of your wages in your own. I could have done without this sanctimonious nensense.

The film is entertaining and amusing. Iexpect Phillip Green won't want to see it!

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An American Pickle

Mushy

(Edit) 29/03/2021

A few early laughs then a sentimental soap. Goes downhill from about 40 minutes in and never recovers. Give it a miss.

1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.

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Akira

Earache

(Edit) 29/03/2021

A none stop shoot out, not a single scene where people are not screaming at the top of their voice. Worn out plot and a million miles from studio Ghibli quality in animation and humanity. Too much violence for a young audience and too stupid for adults. An ordeal watching it.

1 out of 3 members found this review helpful.

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Ghost in the Shell 2.0

Poor follow up

(Edit) 16/03/2021

Had to check it was GITS 2 as it looked like the same story and a slight rehash of previous original film scenes. Felt cheated really. It could stand up on is own if you haven't seen the original, which is better than the none animi version. But why would you not see the original first? Avoid this if you have seen first version and skip to watch original if you haven't, so basically don't bother with this rip-off.

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