Film Reviews by PV

I had no idea what to expect when I started watching this. I soon realised we were entering the metaphysical world of fantasy, however, though some viewers may be lost - being familiar with this sort of thing from novels and sometimes films I am attuned to spot it early!

It actually reminds me a bit of all those old portmanteau Hammer Horror films where a group of people sitting on a train or whatever tell each other their life stories but do not realise they are actually all dead and off to the next place...

I thought this could have been based on a stage play as it would work well as such with a small cast, but it's actually based on a 1988 Japanese novel which was made into a film that year called The Disincarnates there that year too.

One thing I like from a personal perspective is how all the characters in this story are like people I know and have known - both the city dwellers, alone but apart at their central new tower block, but also the parents in semi-detached suburbia which sprawls for miles and miles on every side of London. The forty-something man alone, and lonely, haunted by his past, in stasis due to trauma and disconnected to the wider world. The younger gay man, lost too in another way - the drink, the drugs, the sexual hedonism.

I really liked the '1980s' throwbacks and fashions of the suburban semi, and of course the music, the great POWER OF LOVE by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is a perfect slice of 1984/5. I loved the way the Whitgift Centre gets a mention and some shots too - it is in Croydon where the director is from. And Captain Sensible... I know it well.

Not so sure about the spiritual/magical/fantasy stuff but then I dislike fantasy usually. The ending (no spoilers) may have inspired the rather limp Christmas 2024 Dr Who ending too - and it all started in that 1988 Japanese novel.

And I actively disliked the Irish accent of the main character played by Andrew Scott who is Irish, sure, but so is the 20-years-younger Paul Mescal who manages to do an English accent,. Surely a suburban estuary English accent for Adam would have been better and possible? The Irish accent is explained by a line shoe-horned into the script in the middle somewhere, but I am not buying it. A pity as that annoyed needlessly. It seemed deliberate, pointless, out of place.

And yes, it can meander a little, but not a lot, So 4 stars.

Anyway, it is still a decent, heart-warming, sad-happy watch. And loved THE POWER OF LOVE over the end credits too.

This is VERY loosely based on the real-life story of Rafael Padilla, born a slave to slaves in Spanish colony Cuba which only ended slavery in 1886! It states in the credits that it is 'loosely based' on a book of the clown Chocolat's life, so much here is fiction.

For example, Chocolate would have had a Spanish accent, and the 'white' clown Footit was in real life BRITISH, who went to live in France - here he is shown as French.

However, it is all highly enjoyable, interesting, entertaining, tragic and comic, a decent biopic and one which does not preach, sermonise or lecture about race/racism as so many films about similar subject matter do. It wisely lets the story be character-led, and shows the performances.

I wanted a bit more - esp re the back story of the English clown Footit and his hinted-at sexuality and where the money went. But maybe that would be another film. Just a tad more would have sorted that, a scene or two.

Watch to the end to see real footage of the clown duo Footit and Chocolat. Taken by Lumiere Brothers.

4.5 stars rounded up.

This starts well. It was genuinely tense and mysterious. Act One promised a lot. Sadly the later acts, esp the final one disappoint.

NO SPOILERS but the ending makes this a real B-Movie. Just silly, mad scientist territory. Almost Frankenstein. But less scary or meaningful.

Just not scary enough to be honest. I liked the sound effects and visual trickery, but it;s never really explained. Another poster is correct - the trailer makes this film look excellent and very creepy/scary. It is not though and loses momentum a lot when it gets very silly in Act 2.

Influenced by all those films about aliens/monsters/viruses possessing people or zombies - THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is the best of them.

Influenced by A QUIET PLACE too for sure. And maybe films like MIDSOMMAR. Even the classic THE OMEN. even ALIEN.

And it has been done way better in THE VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960) the first and best film version of the novel THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS (1957) by John Wyndham.

So 3 stars - just. Maybe 2.5 rounded up

This is a superb adaptation with a top cast. Daniel Radcliffe is great as a 10 year old actor in part 1.

I almost cried in joy at seeing NO colourblind casting in this drama. Just shows the sad decline of UK TV drama in the last 25 years. It is NOT progress to cast BAME as white characters in period drama when hardly any black/brown people lived in the UK (only 6000 in 1939!). It is racism. AND double standards - whenever there is an Asian/African story the demand is AUTHENTIC CASTING and never colourblind casting.

I demand AUTHENTIC CASTING again in UK TV drama, to, to cleanse it of the curse of colourblind casting. I refuse to watch modern drama with it. Just that. As do many seeing the plummeting TV drama ratings and all the woke metoo box office fails too.

It makes me so sad to see what has happened in just 25 years BUT we still have the archive such as this superb adaptation.

Watch this, not the dreadful boring 2019 film which casts an Asian actor of colour as David Copperfield/Charles Dickens. Like casting Ed Sheeran as Nelson Mandela or Tony Hopkins as Gandhi,. NO NO NO!

5 stars for this one.

Martyr (Märtyrer) is a German play by Marius von Mayenburg from 2015, here translated into Russian and realised by an openly gay director as a critique of Russian society and government. Sadly his latest films have not been released, maybe because of sanctions due to conflict with Russia?

I found the tone inconsistent and mixed, and sometimes the story meandered and lacked focus. Better than the Russian films which ape action movies though - much.

The acting is superb, esp the main character Pyotr Skvortsov who plays his role to perfection.

Subtitles are small and fast, so rewinding sometimes was required. The script is full of biblical quotes for those who are interested.

Not the first film about a religious conversion or someone thinking they are a prophet, but a decent effort.

4 stars

Watch MIDSOMMAR for a great film about a weird isolated community. Or maybe BRIGADOON. Not this dross.

It seems someone has decided to write a feminist pity party fantasy, a la Handmaid's Tale, in which all males are portrayed as nasty evil monsters and all women as innocent wickle girls (which is actually deep misogyny, infantilising adult women).

It seems the writers tried to rip off rumours Jeffrey Epstein in this.

The movie thinks it is SO clever and radical but it is neither. It does not have the style of the albeit flawed GET OUT. In a word, it's BORING.

And the ending. Why, this is metooboo feminist emoporn I think, complete with a manhating starter kit.

For anyone disagreeing with my take on this, JUST REVERSE the genders - and then ask yourself if you'd consider that sexist.

This is a silly girl fantasy, which I'd classify as porn really. And the TRIGGER WARNING before it thanks to AMAZON MGM studios made me realise the horror to come.

No stars

I see lots of people crediting this 'passing on a curse' trope to IT FOLLOWS as if that movie created it! Nope. This is an OLD idea, centuries old in fact in literature and myth.

I would highly recommend everyone to watch one of the top 50 films of all time, the 1957 British horror THE NIGHT OF THE DEMON (U.S. title: Curse of the Demon) which Kate Bush sampled for her track HOUNDS OF LOVE ('It's in the trees, it's coming) and which stars the actor Brian Wilde later famous as the wet Mr Barrowclough from TV sitcom Porridge and Foggy from LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE (it doesn't end well for him). It was adapted from the 1911 M. R. James story "Casting the Runes".

If you have not seen that, WATCH IT. More than once. It is sublime, a top 10 horror film of all time.

M.R. James is the master of creepy ghostly short stories of late 19th and early 20th C, often 'folk horror' or antiquarian. UK TV makes adaptations of them every Christmas now too though there are many old film versions. Worth reading for those who can appreciate the written word. James as a massive influence on Stephen King.

So no spoilers BUT I liked this film though its trope is old, it's well-directed and paced, acts one and two anyway. Sadly the last act lets it down with as other reviews say a full-on CGI-fest. I prefer the psychological horror and felt the film would have worked just with that. BUT audiences these days demand it maybe.

I liked the dream sequences and flashbacks, all the waking dreams kept me on my toes - it is not a predictable plot anyway. Reminds me of an old Hammer horror films set in psychiatric hospitals too.

I see at the end the credits boast re DIVERSITY IN MOVIES - maybe that is why the mixed-race relationship of the main character with a man of colour seems so unrealistic, almost as absurd as so many TV advert unrealistic couples. It just felt so fake, there to tick the DEI box. Shame.

4 stars anyway, just. Now to the sequel which someone told me is better...

First let's get this out of the way: it is not as good as FOUR LIONS. What could be? That is one of the best ever satirical movies, up there with DR STRANGELOVE.

So this will pale by comparison, pardon the pun. It's a short film with some cracking scenes.

I could have done with subtitles and did rewind sometimes to try and catch all of the fast fizzing paradoxical CATCH-22-style dialogue. Some could compare it to MASH or in brits terms THE THICK OF IT, or THE WEST WING/VEEP.

Due to the madness of 2020, Covid and BLM take the knee stuff which was satire made real, I doubt this could have been made only 2 years later and that is probably why it has not been released on DVD.

The religious satire was fun, taking aim at all cults and the black power fanatics like Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Elijah Mohammed etc. Plus of course Santa and superheroes.

AND it dares tackle the faith connection with mental illness psychosis (very common symptom of mental disorders is thinking you are god or can talk to god/s and are a prophet, seeing things others cannot and being able to cause events - this was shown in Samuel Johnson's 1759 novel RASSELAS which features with a man who thinks he can control the weather).

3.5 stars

Want a horror film with a sinister sense of place in the British countryside? Watch THE WICKER MAN. or IN THE EARTH. Or MIDSOMMAR the 2019 Swedish folk horror film. Or 1970s TV series for kids CHILREN OF THE STONES.

But this is better than the same director's AWFUL debut BAIT which I gave 1 star. That as this is funded by public funds, FILM4 and others. This is the sort of arty film that gets our cash, and I suppose the claim is made it reflects the region of Cornwall so ticks that box. I am SURE there are better writers/directors in that region and others, so WHY does public money always go to arty pretentious self-absorbed stuff like this? Or the endless tickbox BAME/metoo stories.

As per usual these days, the main character is a woman and it is very female-focused like every other state-funded British film made in the last decade. Token male characters. But really these are 2D cartoon characters.

Pretentious, pointless and simply not coherent - a bit like conceptual art which needs a long label to explain WHT IT MEANS because the artwork itself gives no clear. I hate that.

And as for the plot - well, where is it? I literally did not have a clue what was going on here. And did not care.

And how long was the script for this? 3 pages?

I just watched the pretty shots of Cornwall and enjoyed the sea - why this gets 1.5 stars and not 1.

This is based on a stage play, unsurprisingly - its attempt to use fantasy elements cannot get away from the wordy stagey origins.

Thing is, this is what I call IMAGINED REALITY. at the end the captions tell us about Freud and CS Lewis, and then state an unknown Oxford Don visited Freud in 1939 - from that, this was constructed by a playwright Mark St Germain to debate faith and belief really. All fine for what it is but probably more suited to the theatre actually.

Tony Hopkins cruises and never quite convinces as Freud - maybe someone could have taught him how to pronounce German words authentically.

It is what it is. I have no idea if the female characters, daughter etc, feature a lot in the stage play, but it seems this is an attempt to woke up the film, as with SO many these days that shoehorn women characters into plots, always as 'strong and independent' women of course... And we even have here one of the 6000 black people who lived in the UK in 1939. What a coincidence.

A rainy afternoon film, not offensive in the least to me but then I am not a worshipper of any religion so even the nonsense woowoo of the Da Vinci Code does not trigger me.

Passable, so 3 stars.

The Battle for Warsaw. Warsaw 1944 and Warsaw Uprising are arguably better movies which deal with the same events. WALKING WITH THE ENEMY (2014) is great.

This pretends to be a true story, a bit like the excellent 1989 film THE MUSIC BOX, which is way better and also had a WWII Hungarian setting. Son of Saul also and the documentaries The Last Days and Hungarian Corridor will explain the context.

However, as a film it's a bit unfocused, bitty, meandering, partly set in the present or maybe 1980s/90s. Not sure how true much of it is, but it has exciting moments and the main character is great - though the ending if for me predictable.

A small modest film worth watching however. 3 stars

I hated THE WONDERS by the same director but loved HAPPY AS LAZZARO by her. To be honest, she seems to have benefited greatly from being female in an age chucking funding at female and BAME directors/writers (and discriminating against white males loads). She has a posh German-Italian background...who also gave her actress sister a role here. How cosy.

The main actor Josh O'Connor is not Irish - he is deep English from Newbury with illustrious ancestors too.

This has been called 'magic realism'. I hate that term and books/films which claim the label - usually they are silly self-indulgent incoherent whimsical woowoo and that is the case here. If this film were in English, critics would call it drivel, I am sure.

Meandering, unfocused nonsense. Far better to watch Indiana Jones movies if you want archaeology, or maybe Gladiator, or The Mummy...

The non-plot annoyed, and what plot exists is more nonsensical and unbelievable than Indiana Jones or even The Mummy.

The fastforwarding of segments shows desperation in a director craving for comedy. And the idea pots and statues remain so intact after 2500 years is just clueless.

I did not laugh or smile. I yawned. I love archaeology, Etruscan and Roman, and Italy too - watch the great film REALITY (2012), the best ever take on reality TV. I do like some Italian films, though their comedy leaves me cold.

Almost 1 star, but 1.5 rounded up to 2. Some pretty scenery and I practised my Italian...

I was transfixed by this. The writer/director Eksil Vogt also wrote the best ever film about drug abuse OSLO 31 August and also THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, and often screenplays about disability and blindness.

OK so it is overlong, and another fault is some random events, acts and characters. They could've been cut imho. Some seem just so random (no spoilers), just added to make the film longer, pad it out. It makes the film sag a bit - there is enough mysterious power misery and gruesome violence without that random stuff.

No explanation is ever given for the mysterious powers and the supernatural thing, so it lacks logic there in a way the MIDWICH CUCKOOS (original 1960 version) does not. I found that frustrating.

The child actors are brilliant here, esp the main girl, and the entire thing is SO Scandinavian with a collective block of flats. Just about gets away with tickboxing ethnic characters too, though some boyblaming & manbashing maybe.

Very gruesome rather than scary, and some may dislike that; I find it brave and no doubt UK TV would give it a big trigger warning. It is a film, so fiction and no animals or children were harmed SO it is fine. Some may think the violence too extreme or gratuitious.

BUT Was was transfixed by it and genuinely did not know how it would end. LOVED the soundtrack too, the use of silence.

4 stars

This starts slowly but wow, what a film!

The hate drips of the envious bitter local Spanish Galician hilltop peasant farmer villagers like vinegar, or maybe battery acid. A bit like a realistic WRONG TURN. or DELIVERANCE.

It is really racism against the wealthier, educated 'hobbyist' organic farmer French couple. Bigotry, bullying, but utterly believable. A nice irony with a proposed windfarm plot strand, with the green incomers opposed and locals there generations keen. So who is green then?

Yes it drags a bit towards the end and is maybe a tad long, but European films often are, and travel at a slower pace.

One of the best Spanish films I have seen, way more watchable and interesting than the perpetually over-rated Pedro Almodovar.

4 stars

OK first thing to say is 90% sharks have GONE from the world's oceans in the last 30 years thanks to the disgusting shark fin demand from China and the Far East - shameful. These status symbols used for soup BUT just cartilage so taste of NOTHING - they are boiled in chicken broth. So barbaric and this vile Chinese habit is making sharks extinct! And the rest - elephants, tigers, pangolin, lions, the lot. SO I am with the sharks always.

Second, this is a move made to pander to the #MeToo movement clearly - the whole thing is almost man-free. THIS I think is the reason it was made in these wokeworld diversity tickbox days. No doubt all involved believe they are stunning and brave, esp with the LGB theme. Ironic it's the silly young women's fault they end up in the drink...

Sadly, the film itself is utter drivel though it starts well, in London... Clearly made on the cheap as we hardly see a shark and a small cast with a group of girls bobbing the the sea nattering and gossiping is most of the movie.

THE REEF is a way better film this borrows from - but that is intelligent, scary, tense and based on a true story, Watch that.

Or the best shark movies, the master - JAWS (1975) of course, but recent female-cast film The Shallows is watchable as is Open Water.

Less good are 47 Metres Down, a modern #MeToo movie too, and CGI-fests like Deep Blue Sea.

And then we scrape the bottom of the chum barrel with The Meg and the absurd Meg 2, the so-bad-it-sells franchise Sharknado, and the 2 or 3 or 5 headed Shark Attack, Ghost Shark, Sand Sharks, SO much shoddy shark nonsense.

1.5 stars rounded up