Abigail (2024)

From the directors of ‘Ready or Not’ and ‘Scream 5’ (let’s just pretend the sixth one didn’t happen. The premise seemed to be a lot more like ‘Ready or Not’ so I was intrigued to see what was going to happen.

The film centres around a bunch of kidnappers who snatch a little girl after she has come home from dance class. The kidnappers are led by Lambert (played by Giancarlo Esposito) and also include Kathryn Newton as Sammy and Dan Stevens as Frank so it has a pretty good cast. All the gang seem to have enough to make their characters seem different and less generic. Joey (played by Melissa Barrera) is the one that seems to have something approaching compassion as she forms a motherly connection with Abigail.

After the kidnapping, they are left with Abigail in a massive country mansion with a fully stocked bar and time to kill. It’s at this stage things seems to just going through the motions until the inevitable happens and it comes when Joey and Abigail are bonding and Abigail apologies for what is going to happen. This is when the jump scares start and we are primed to start expecting things to go BANG quite loud. We start seeing camera angles which are supposed to draw our attention and sometimes it leads to something and sometimes it doesn’t.

I do like the house setting. It worked well in ‘Ready or Not’ because it means you have just the one location but many rooms to do scenes in so you don’t feel like you’re stuck in a restricted setting. It is quite sometime before one of them tries to think to leave but realise that they have been locked in. It seems a little odd that with so many in the group that not one of them thought to try the door sooner or question why so many need to stay at the house. From a plot point of view it makes sense because it keeps the characters in the house so they can be picked off later on. When things do start going crazy then that is when the fun starts.

Sadly the twist was spoilt for me because I saw a picture somewhere which showed that she was indeed a vampire. I think that this film would have worked a lot better had I not known the twist although there is a chance that I may have figured it out relatively quickly. What I didn’t or couldn’t have guessed is that Abigail came up with the plan to get them all together because they have all got a connection to Abigail’s family. At first I thought it was a bit of a lame twist but as the scene unfolded I found myself enjoying it and thinking it worked quite well.

The cast is a bit hit and miss. Dan Stevens is always dependable and the last time I saw him was in ‘Godzilla x Kong’ but despite this being a very different role from that film. There is still something likeable about him and that might be because of Stevens’ personality. There is something about Kathryn Newton that means her performances are wildly inconsistent. One minute she is really good in ‘Freaky’ and then she is just bland in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania’. Here she is suppose to be a tattooed covered rebellious tech obsesses woman and I just didn’t buy it. I did think that Alisha Weir was very good as Abigail. The last thing I saw her in was ‘Wicked Little Letters’ earlier in the year and this is a very different performance and she is as impressive in this as she was that film. It can be hit and miss with child actors but Weir is in the good category.

It is hard to not keep referencing ‘Ready or Not’ with this film. Not just cause of the house but also because the gore is the same and there is another scene where a blonde finds herself in a gross pit. This one is arguably more grosser than in ‘Ready or Not’ but it’s still pretty bad and the humour is about the same. There is also the idea of what is happening involving a game. In ‘Ready or Not’ it’s the obvious game and in this it’s all just a game to amuse Abigail. There is also the extreme body explosions which were excellent in both films. They did seem a little cheap in ‘Ready or Not’ but that isn’t something that could be said here. It was gruesome but also seemed like it was done in camera. As the film progressed it did start resembling ‘Ready or Not’ more than it probably should have done.

It’s been a pretty weak year so far for horror with ‘Late Night with the Devil’ being the best so far but I have to admit that this film is much better. Whilst it might have a more straight forward narrative, the gore is pretty good. Not excessive but still nasty and it know what it is and does it well. I am always a fan of isolated settings and apart from the beginning, the house is a character on its own and they make good use of it. Abigail is a very good film and it would have been nice for this film to be released closer to Halloween.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

I really enjoyed Fury Road when that came out in 2015. The film felt like being shouted at for two hours but not only was it a well directed film but it was well acted, a good plot and felt like a Mad Max film some 20 years after the last Mad Max film. It was strongly hinted in that film that there would be a Furiosa spin off but with each passing year that seemed less likely. Now, 9 years after Fury Road we finally get our Furiosa spin-off except we don’t have Charlize Theron but Anya Taylor-Joy who despite being a big fan, isn’t someone that I have considered for this role. 

This film tells how Furiosa became the Furiosa that we saw in Fury Road and this means that we get to see Immortan Joe again and he was one of the best things about Fury Road. It’s always a danger doing prequel stories because if a character appears and you know they are going to be in the original film then any peril or tension goes out of the window but thankfully they don’t really do that in this film. The main set up of the film is a civil war of sorts between Dementus and Immortan Joe but really is a vehicle to allow Furiosa to get revenge on Dementus. This leads to some really impressive action scenes which this franchise has become known for. I suppose the advantage of filming in Australia is that there are miles and miles of desert roads where you can do this sort of thing and not worry about running out of road.  

I mentioned how I wouldn’t have cast Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa and how wrong I would have been. She is amazing despite not having much to say (which before anyone starts typing a response is something I know that is common in Mad Max films). She is one of those people that can say a lot with just her eyes and every time she is on screen she manages to show broodiness and anger at….well mainly at Dementus really. Dementus is a very good character just as good as Immortan Joe was in Fury Road. The only real issue I have with the film is with Chris Hemsworth’s accent. Despite being Australian, he comes across as someone who isn’t Australian trying to do an Aussie accent. It’s what Dick van Dyke would have done if he hadn’t done a cockney accent in Mary Poppins. His performance is really good and when he finally meets his end, then I found myself satisfied with the story and thats because I was engaged with the story and the characters and Hemsworth deserves as much credit as George Miller. 

Speaking of George Miller, can we take a moment to appreciate how someone who is nearly 80 is producing a film to this standard where people half his age are more concerned with making films that have messages that feel like you're being lectured at. Miller knows what works and I honestly don’t know if he will direct any more Mad Max films but if he doesn't then this is a very good way to sign off. 

I really enjoyed Furiosa. I don’t think that its up there with Fury Road but I wasn't expecting it to be and I am fine with that. A film should really only be as good as it can be instead of being made to just be as good or better than what came before it in a particular franchise.

The Warriors (1979)

The Warriors is considered to be a cult classic directed by Walter Hill and sees a group of gangs attend a meeting helmed by Cyrus who is then shot dead and his murdered is falsely accused to be a member of The Warriors and the rest of the film sees the gang try and get back to Coney Island whilst avoiding the gangs and the cops.

Its a simple premise and it’s effectively done. This was made at just the right time. The streets look run down and probably required little to no dressing up in the same way that ‘Escape from New York’ did. The incidental music was excellent and added to the atmosphere of the film. There is something about music from this period that I feel is superb.

The gang’s are a bit cartoonish but I think that its probably an attempt to not make the film feel too gritty and off putting. There are several gangs that are trying to stop the Warriors from getting home and that includes the Orphans who are so far down the L chain of importance they weren’t invited to the meeting. Then there were the Baseball Furies who for some reason had face paint but seemed to be effective up to a point. Then there were Roller skating gang and that leads to what I think is the best fight in the movie which takes place in the toilets and I think that due to the confined nature of the room, its more fun. 

The film’s not perfect and its mainly because of the decisions that the gangs make. I think there are times when they clearly decide to make stupid decisions. Ajax deciding to chat up a woman on a bench in the middle of the night all alone does not ring alarm bells and to add the fact they are supposedly on the run does make him being caught by the police to be the thing he deserves. Also when the sub members come across the Lizzies and go back to their apartment for a party and they seem to have forgotten that they people are on the run and a group of women doesn't ring any alarm bells but mercifully one of them does and they are able to get out alive.

I really liked this film. It was one of those films that people talked about as being a great film and I was always meaning to watch it but when a showing appeared then I had to take advantage of this and I was glad I did. I thought the central performances were really good, the directing was equally as good and the soundtrack was amazing and made me go out and buy it. The Warriors is every bit as good as people say it is.

Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event (2024)

I learnt a valuable lesson with this ‘film’ and that is to make sure I read the title and synopsis to see what I am buying. I bought the ticket thinking that I was watching the 1986 animated movie, having never seen it on the big screen. What I got was the four episode first series that aired in 1984. ‘More Than Meets the Eye Parts 1-3’ and ‘Transport to Oblivion’.

The first episode was different to the rest in that they went to the trouble of bringing back all the surviving original cast members and had them read the script on one side of the screen and showed the episode on the left. It was quite fun seeing the actors read the same lines that they did 40 years ago. Once that episode was over the rest of the story was told and this was slightly distracting because the image isn't the full screen. It was slightly reduced and also there was a constant caption explaining the episode name and title number. 

Once I got over the bitter disappointment of this not being the 1986 movie, I actually enjoyed the experience. There were about a dozen people in the theatre and I would be surprised if I was the only one that made this mistake.

Challengers (2024)

I think that Challengers may go down as my most disappointing film of the year. It’s not terrible but it was so frustrating that I can’t actually remember the last thing I felt like this. The film sees Tashi (Zendaya), Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist) engage in a weird love triangle with the backdrop of tennis just there to add some ‘excitement’.

There are many problems with the film. Mainly that I didn’t care about who won or lost in the love stakes as all three seemed horrible people that probably do exist in the tennis world but that would be another reason why I am glad I am not a tennis player. The performances are good but I just found all three loathsome. Art was the least terrible but that was more out of the fact someone has to be the least worst. Despite giving a great performance, there isn’t very much to the character of Tashi despite the best efforts of Zendaya (who is also a producer).  

Other problems include the dance music; they use the same 10 seconds of dance music throughout the entire movie no matter what context the scene was in. There was one point where art and Patrick were in the sauna where the dance music was playing so loud that I could just about hear what Mike Faist was saying. I was never a fan of dance music to begin with but this film has given me a new level of hatred. However the final scene was just about the most infuriating that I felt. So there was one shot which must have taken about 2 minutes to take place. There comes a point where slow motion loses any tension any for me that's about 20-30 in, this went on for at least another minute so i had to summon all my energy not to shout ‘TAKE THE F*****G SHOT’. Somehow I don’t think that was the director’s intention. 

Despite this being one of the most frustrating films I can remember seeing. I don’t regret seeing it. I think that the central performances are at least interesting even if its for the wrong reason. I can’t blame Trent Reznor or Atticus Ross because they were probably just doing what they were told and I have liked their work in the past so its down to the director who seems to think that the same dance track needs to be played repeatedly and at a distracting high volume. 

On the plus side….well Luca Guadagnino did make me find tennis enjoyable even if it was just for two hours.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

This is the fourth film in a franchise I think has been weird overlooked. The three films that have come before have ranged from very good (Dawn) to slightly overlong (War) to ok (Rise). This is the start of a new trilogy which I didn't realise until after the film although it makes a lot of sense because there are plot points that wont be answered until later down the line.

The story takes place 'many generations' after Caesar dies although his shadow does linger throughout the film as Noa (played brilliantly by Owen Teague) who attempts to rescue his tribe/clan after there is an attack on it which leads to the death of his father. Along the way he comes across a human called Mae (Freya Allan) that can speak and she is of great interest to Proximus Caesar who is trying to get through a vault door because he believes he is entitled to it. William H Macy plays Trevathan who is the only other human in the main story although he seems to be unwilling to let Mae and Noa go through with their plan although I think that there was a large chunk of his story missing which would have fleshed out because we get a through away line from him but  that was in and I felt a little short changed from the character. It does feel like the apes are quite stupid because Mae and Noa seem to get into the compound with relative ease and not once did Proximus Caesar think about seeing if there was another way in.

Despite some slight mis-steps the film is an enjoyable one. The second half is where the story really picks up and I like how it feels like the human race is starting to get back on its feet again and this could potentially lead to another battle between humans and apes. The film finds the right balance of having the end of the world feeling that War and Dawn have and yet not as heavy like Rise. There is some more to Mae's story which will hopefully be explored further and Noa is a likeable leader.  

In my opinion, this is the strongest of the reboot series. I think that moving the story on from Caesar was a the smart thing as there was very little that could be done in that time period and moving things along makes the franchise feel fresher than most franchises that are four films in. 

The Fall Guy (2024)

I will admit that I wasn’t sure that I wanted to see this film from the trailers. It looked like it was a goofy comedy that seemed to be capitalising on the continuing popularity of Ryan Gosling fresh off his Oscar nomination. There were two things that made me take a more serious approach to this film. Firstly its based on the 1970’s US TV show which I remember being shown on ITV on a Saturday during the 1990’s. Another reason is because it was directed by David Leitch who is a director I like. I’m a big fan of Bullet Train & Atomic Blonde

The plot sees Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) taking part in a stunt for a movie whilst flirting with Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt)  when it goes wrong. The story moves forward when he asked by Gail Meyer (played in scene chewing form by Hannah Waddingham) to try and track him down. What the film ends up becoming about is Colt being framed for a death that the actor is is stunting for is responsible for. 

I really enjoyed this film. Not just because the stunts are amazing from the cars/trucks on the beach to the garbage truck tracking a skip along the streets of Sydney. All these action scenes look amazing and I would imagine most of the action was done in camera (meaning no CGI) but even after hearing ‘I was made for Loving You’ for what felt like the 100th time,  I still enjoyed the chaos that was on screen. 

The plot does take a bit of time to get going and also  at times come close to being convoluted but it manages to work. I think that this would have worked much better with a stripped down plot and let the stunts and the chemistry of Blunt and Gosling keep people engaged. The main reason why the film works is because of Gosling and Blunt. Blunt’s character isn’t the strongest but works when she is with Gosling’s Seavers. It doesnt feel like Gosling is acting as he natural personality seems to come through the rather normal character. 

I was genuinely impressed with The Fall Guy. I thought that it worked really well and was a rare thing in modern day movies in that it wasnt too long. It was just the right running time.