Film Reviews by LC

Was terribly disappointed by this, and only ended up sitting through the final hour as I'd already wasted the first hour on it. Full of frantic but meaningless CGI action scenes, Spielberg at his most saccharine and schmaltzy, cheesy cliché-spouting characters, and a film who's ultimate message is 'nothing is as real as reality' - well, duh, thanks for that revelation! Younger children will find enough cartoonish spectacle and comfort to enjoy this as a mindless action romp, but confusingly it also seems to be stuffed full of 80's nostalgia aimed at 40-somethings, with a completely out of place detour into the world of Kubrick's 'The Shining', of all things? If you are older than about 14, avoid this.

It seems a real shame for all involved that the real-life controversy surrounding Woody Allen ended up making this a box-office bomb, with not even a UK blu ray release available, as I found it a surprisingly solid drama. It's not perfect - it's a little on the melodramatic side, and it feels quite 'stagey', but the central human drama is very engaging with a real mess of tangled love lives, and the acting is solid. I'm not a huge Woody Allen fan, so haven't seen huge swathes of his work, but I found this an interesting and worthwhile watch - even on slightly fuzzy low-definition DVD.

I was completely fine with the idea of casting a female Doctor, but sadly this series is a crushing disappointment. The source of the problem is new lead writer Chris Chibnall's scripts. Gone is the wit, invention and fun of previous series, replaced by a series of dull scenarios and dull dialogue. The Doctor shows none of the depth of previous incarnations, but seems to be stuck in 'cheerful mum' mode throughout, and the stories never examine the consequences of her pacifist philosophy (some of the ramifications of which are huge, and seemingly ripe for dramatic exploration). The crowded TARDIS doesn't work - of the three companions only Graham (a nice performance by Bradley Walsh) gets any emotional development, with Ryan (wooden, suffers from dyspraxia for a couple of scripts before this is forgotten about) and particularly Yaz (supposedly a policewoman, but essentially invisible for most of the series) barely making any impact. The cinematography looks nice, as the production team have splashed out on new lenses, but otherwise the sets feel mostly large and empty, making everything look a bit cheap and underpopulated (have there been budget cuts again?). Even the new TARDIS interior looks like cheap plastic.

Things do improve slightly in the middle the season, when we get a few episodes by other writers - Alan Cumming in particular is a hoot as King James in 'The Witchfinders', and 'Demons of the Punjab' is a sensitive take on the partition of India - but then Chibnall returns for the most underwhelming series finale ever, and puts the final nail in the coffin. What a shame.

I found this a frustrating experience. Divided into three clear sections, this film follows the effects of a love triangle throughout the years. The first two parts set in China are wonderful - moving, subtle human drama, well acted and with gorgeous cinematography. Sadly however, the final segment sees a switch to English language as we jump to near-future Australia, and suddenly it's all awkward, stilted dialogue, bad acting and unconvincing aging makeup. What a shame.

Doubtless the real life historical story is an important one, but sadly that doesn't mean it's going to make a great film. The first half is worthy but ultimately a talky and rather dull cinematic experience. However things actually get worse in the second half, with some hideously scripted moments of mawkish 'underdog makes good' and 'female empowerment' - neither of which are inherently bad things, but are handled so obviously they just seem like Hollywood clichés. Not entirely awful, but a disappointment.

There is a reasonably interesting set-up here, with the technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda, and the dilemma between isolationism and opening the country up to outsiders. Sadly however, this soon gets side-lined in favour of bog-standard superhero action, with CGI cartoon figures punching each other, posturing and the usual cheesy dialogue. It's reasonably well-made, looks nice, has a few exciting action scenes, but it's essentially exactly the same cookie-cutter Marvel movie you've already seen a dozen times before - the only difference is most of the cast are black.

I was stunned at how inept this movie was, and only kept watching to the end to see what new depths would be plumbed. The plot is utterly ludicrous and unbelievable on any level, the dialogue frequently painful and cheesy, and the acting by the two leads is completely wooden. It's impossible to take seriously as a thriller, my only thought is that it must be some knowingly awful parody of the worst throw-away TV movies in the genre. Obviously, these things are subjective, but I'm seriously baffled as to why this appealed to anyone.

The set-up is very 'Twin Peaks', with a murder mystery uncovering dark secrets beneath the surface of a small US town. Ultimately however, this doesn't have any of 'Twin Peaks' depth or weirdness, but is played as a fairly straight teen melodrama/soap opera. It works OK for what it is, and some of the cast are attractive enough to hold the interest when nothing else is happening, but don't expect anything beyond surface melodrama.

Clearly aimed at the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' market, 'Thor Ragnarok' is essentially an outright comedy movie - I've got no real problems with that, other than it's just not very funny. All that leaves is empty spectacle: CGI fight scenes between various cartoonish characters - none of whom have any real character, depth or dramatic weight beyond providing the next gag line, or 'cool fight pose'. There is no threat or dramatic tension here, as nothing about this cartoon world feels even vaguely 'real'. Kids will love the bright colours and action, but this is ultiamtely a completely empty, mindless movie. Not one of Marvel's better efforts.

This is a decent film, but a slightly confusing one in terms of tone. It starts out with a good solid dramatic hook, and looks are though it's going to be a serious thriller. But then both the villains and the music score start playing as though it's a comedy, and as we head towards the final act, events go so over the top it's completely impossible to take seriously, so it loses all dramatic tension. It is entertaining, and has some interesting ideas, so it's certainly watchable - but it seems as though it's neither one thing or the other - it's too knowing and arch to be a great thriller, but neither is it funny enough to be a laugh-out-loud comedy. Possibly it would have been better to just pick one genre, and stick with it - but it does at least achieve a certain unique feel.

It's tough to rate this film, as it's very much a film of two halves. The first half, where a black guy visits his white girlfriend's parents, is a nicely paced slow-burn horror, where everyone he meets is strangely off-kilter, and some mysterious secret lurks below the surface. Unfortunately, once we finally get the big reveal of why everyone's acting so strange, the film shifts into pure hokem, with an outrageously over-the-top finale straight out of a 50's sci-fi B movie. Any sense of realistic character drama goes out the window, and the tone as a whole drifts towards comedy thanks to the increased presence of the hero's sidekick friend. Still - nice photography, and some may be able to ignore the ridiculous plot of the second-half, and just read it as an allegory on race relations. It's audacious enough that it's probably worth watching once, but tonally it's a bit of a mess and impossible to take seriously.

This 2nd seasion has some good moments, with probably the most audacious , amusing and outright gross moment of gore action in the entire franchise when Ash gets into a fight with someone's lower intestine at the morgue, plus Ash meeting his father, the return of Ash's sister from the original 'Evil Dead' film, Ash's car getting possessed and a mental breakdown leading to the introduction of an Ash 'muppet'.

Where it struggles a bit is in the overall storyline - the main characters and their aims aren't always that well-defined or interesting (especially to carry a near five-hour narrative), and the climax ends up being one of the weaker moments - as fun as it always is to revisit the original cabin in the woods, returning yet again this time feels like running out of ideas. The gore, humour and Ash are enough to keep this series ticking over, but it feels a little empty beneath the surface spectacle.

Nice cinematrography, and the cast are decent enough, but this ultimately turns out to be a fairly workmanlike remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood film (which still holds up pretty well). Solid enough, but it doesn't really offer anything new insights or improvements, so it feels like a slightly pointless exercise.

There is one admittedly good scene in this movie, a 10-minute fight sequence edited to appear as though it's all been filmed in one shot. Aside from that - it's diabolical. Essentially, it's a James Bond film with a female lead - but so over the top and cliched you presume it must be a comedy satire like 'Kingsman' - yet there aren't any jokes. And even the most ridiculous Roger Moore-era Bond film has some exciting action sequences, yet despite being so ridiculous you can't take anything seriously, the plot here is a mundane and boring chase after a list of double agents. One of the worst films I've ever seen.

By no means the worst of the numerous Texas Chainsaw sequels/reboots/prequels (amazingly, this is now the 8th in the series), this is a reasonable enough effort, but fails to develop into anything special. The story of a group of escaped mental patients on the run just about hangs together, but the slight storyline means the pacing drags as it goes on, and crucially the slightly-built lead fails to convince as the hulking Leatherface we've seen in previous films. For fans of the original, this is just about worth watching once, but I can't imagine ever wanting to revisit it.