Film Reviews by TH

Unmistakable Guy Ritchie...characters that are blasé, understated, eccentric or down right devious fill the movie which at times cracks over a fairly basic plot which makes you think to try and follow every word which really isn't needed. Dialogue at times is pushed to the fancy extreme and the usual attention to detail another trait, saying that though The Gentlemen is still better than the majority of films you experience now days and this is entertaining but with its limits. I've always judged a film by if I want to watch it again either to sort out a convoluted plot or just the sheer enjoyment of it...not sure about this one. Snatch / Lock Stock both better in my opinion.

Spoilers alert!

Silly lazy plot about a daughter rescuing her dad beneath a crawl space below his house that he's decided to do some maintenance on with an impending category 5 hurricane bearing down knowing the possibility of the worlds biggest and most agile alligators could be lurking. Cue other people dying quite rapidly other than the 2 main characters (1 which is the known actor Barry Pepper, what's he doing in this?)...a crawl space which fills quickly with rainwater that seemed at first no higher than 5 feet but then with feet to spare above their heads still is easily enough for Haley (the daughter) to swim in, by the way she's an aspiring swimmer not making the grade (you know how the film will end up). Great escapes ensue from the mouths of the gators with just flesh wounds (chuckle) and the father missing an arm and that after being given mouth to mouth and eventually a copter coming in to save them in a hurricane (chuckle). Sorry for all the spoilers but the above just touches on how bad this film is!

Just a rehashed plot - throw in an ageing Arnie and Sarah Connor together again, a part human part borg and another person who must not die otherwise humankind will be extinct and a 'baddy' terminator which simply cannot be destroyed and the cat and mouse chasing and fighting goes on for 2 hours and gets more than a bit tedious bar a few calmer dialogue interludes. CGI effects are hit and miss and if you're into non'stop action then it might be for you, personally it wasn't for me and about time this Hollywood franchise finished.

Focuses again on the same characters as the first movie but 27 years later as Pennywise the clown comes back to ravage more kids in Derry City and again turns his attentions on the losers club. A lot of the movie appears more on the characters and the past rather than the fear factor or any factor in the town of kids disappearing again. Beverly, Richie, Bill and co. don't seem to have gotten over their fear of situations years ago which Pennywise plays on, and as mentioned too long and not really any jump out of the seat moments and the climax a hurried mess of running about before finally remembering as in the first movie they need not be scared of the white faced big headed clown to finally literally bring him down - duh! Stick to the first!

Trying to think how this movie was actually released as this was really the 'long shot' in my mind. Script is pretty basic and contains the usual crass American themes of swearing and sex and jokes that just don't hit, Seth Rogan playing the self-deprecating nerd that some how gets into a relationship with someone well above him - ring any bells? (Knocked Up). Lost interest half way through and trying to think if I laughed once.

Nothing memorable...not hugely funny or cohesive storyline and at times very low IQ entertainment though both Wilson and Hathaway do their 'things' in conning wealthy men out of money. The screen writing is average and half of the 'con' scenes are forgettable If you want to watch a film of this ilk turn to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or Heartbreakers.

Fairly low budget 'turf' war film based in London before the outbreak of WW2 and after until the mid-fifties between Billy Hill and Jack 'the spot' corner gangs. Expect lots of punch ups, stabbings and robberies between rival gangs clambering to be the top of the London underworld. Actors which appear are the ones familiar in football gang films or Essex boys (Terry Stone etc.) the film incoherent was the poor editing and jumping from scene to scene but other than that the film was more or less as expected.

Fantastic acting by both Reilly (Hardy) and Coogan (Laurel) on there farewell tour of the British Isles and then Ireland in 1953. It really is uncanny how much they look and sound like them. Film really encompasses the couples or mainly Laurels fall out with Hal Roach their main film producer back in their hay day from the silents of the 1920's and the 1930's through to the fall out in 1937 and then the film largely focused on the tour of Britain in 1953 to be joined by their wives (forget how many they both had) and then sadly the failing health of Hardy towards the end. A real must for any fan...probably the best film I've watched in 2019.

Can't disagree with the other reviews...this is far from Step Brothers territory. It's a take and a bit of a mickey take on Guy Ritchie's 'Sherlock Holmes'...the plot is pretty thin and the laughs few and far between. A lot of the dialogue between Farrell (Holmes) and Reilly (Watson) is sketchy and at times a bit too quick and incoherent to follow and usually ends with some unfunny slapstick moments or silly mimicking. I really wanted to like this but it just didn't get going, certainly disappointing considering Etan Cohen was directing. Give it a miss...

More realistic than the 2014 version without the cliched missiles fired and army attacking every five seconds or following a solitary hero doing his best to bring down Godzilla, yes this does look at the political ramifications for a reasonable part of the film but wouldn't that be the case if somehow a mythological beast did start to rampage through a city?...discussions would need to take place between leaders on repercussions of such actions and the collateral damage. This movie actually makes you feel your on the precipice of something unholy if you were living in Japan.

Read a few good reviews regarding this so decided to view - the film is based around a hotel set on the California/Nevada state border which has seen better days, a group of characters stay in separate rooms all with a secret to hide or a past life connected to the hotel. A sequence of events bring them together regarding a heist, FBI intelligence and a sister being kidnapped by her older sister (I won't give anymore away). It has an old style feel about the thriller (certainly at first), rather slow paced with plenty of dialogue and the ambience of the hotel set probably in the late 60's or early 70's of a nostalgic theme and the performances from Hamm (Broadbeck), Bridges (Priest Flynn), Erivo (Darlene Sweet), Hemsworth (Billy Lee) and Pullman (Miller) were all spot on but unfortunately there were red herrings a plenty in the writing and some unanswered questions, you never get the feeling of any tension and the climax a little contrived for my liking, and parts left hanging in the wind i.e. who shot the fella at the start of the film?...unlike some of the above reviews I was hoping to see a decent twist relating to the hotel or even the concierge who was basically running the hotel by himself but it never really came and just ended up in a shoot up, felt a bit of a let down after the character development. 3/5

Disappointing sequel (forgotten how many there have been)...although the first 10 minutes or so starts okay the film soon goes down hill with many questionable scenes (without trying to give too much away) how Michael Myers escapes?, how he coincidentally bumps into certain characters? (does he have a sixth sense alongside his psychopathic one)? and continues onto a very very similar rampage to 40 years ago and yes all on Halloween!...the script writing is lazy and most of the characters you don't care about other than Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie who plays the over top ex-escapee of Michael from the original and now has a house prepared for his return stocked with ammunition to take on North Korea. This slasher type of film was okay back in the day of the late 70's early 80's but now feels old hat and one question keeps calling how does Michael kill so many people including Police when he moves as quick as an asthmatic ant with a ball and chain?

Going by the above views you'd think this was the film of 2018...it's okay and watchable but the plot isn't that exciting and based on true events (Hollywood often overly dramatises them) about a black cop behind a police under cover operation in Colorado Springs (possibly late 60's early 70') and a fellow Jewish officer playing the same person 'Ron Stallworth' (one from the office the other in practice) to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan and it's members. Generally slow in nature until towards the end when the Klan acts on a civil rights march.

Okay but not a 5/5 film.

Poor script (not sure there is one) - University fall out with girlfriend so Nick (Thomas) goes with friend to a festival who then meets up with old Uni pals and not surprisingly his ex, then drugs, some sex, some fall outs etc.etc. - the jokes fall short and some of the dialogue at the beginning just time filling. Aspects taken from the Inbetweeners (the embarrassing father in law) and Joe Thomas can't escape being Simon and some actors in this have appeared in the fore-mentioned...go into this with low expectations because it really is poor!

Lacks the menace and desperation of the Mexican state through drug cartels and there dealings...the plot is underwhelming where it switches more from drug dealing to human trafficking crossing the border into the States. The overall plot for the CIA to kidnap a cartels daughter and then leave her in another cartels land to create an all out war and not at any point can the CIA be connected even through the elimination of it's own operatives seemed a bit far fetched. As expected well acted from Brolin and Del Torro with his usual sinister emotionless features as the Colombian operative and still laying it on thick about his past...watchable but not up to the first film even through it's cinematography.