Creed III (2023)

I think the idea of doing a spin-off of the popular Rocky series was always going to be risky given how popular the series was. The first one worked really well as there was a nice dynamic between Sylvester Stallone and Michael B Jordan. The second one was a disappointment because it felt like a mess due to the fact they didn’t seem to know what they wanted the film to be beside Rocky 4.5. 

This instalment is perhaps the most intriguing because not only is it directed by Michael B. Jordan himself but it doesn't feature Rocky. Not only does it not feature him but there is no mention. Nothing. If this was the first film in the series you saw, you wouldn’t know that Rocky was integral to the story. Not sure if there was a falling out somewhere along the process but they could have put in a throw away line to cover his absence. I know that most people might not be too bothered and the plot wasn't affected by his absence but bearing in mind that the series wouldn’t exist without Rocky or that Creed would be in the position without Rocky does seem like a snub that could easily have been put right. 

I don’t know if Michael B. Jordan has directed before but I was impressed with his directing in this. There were a couple of shots that I thought looked really good and were very artistic and perhaps might put some people off but not me. There was one shot where Creed is looking to the right side of the screen and ?? is looking to the left but there is a wall between them and I liked that and thought that some care had been put into shots like that. The boxing scenes are just as impressive and again there are some of those that have had care put into them.

Despite this quite seismic departure from the norm, I still enjoyed the film. The friendship that became a rivalry was done very well and truth be told I wrote this review in May 2024 and so after Jonathan Majors got into his legal troubles so the chances of Jonathan Majors and Creed having a sort of Rocky/Apollo friendship is pretty much dead in the water unless they recast. I thought that this was a marked improvement on the second one and on par with the first one. Hopefully Creed IV continues the trend.

Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantamania (2023)

I think we can all agree that Avengers: Endgame was the perfect ending to the Avengers. It was the perfect way to ride off into the sunset. However, money makes people think that the juggernaut should carry on so after mediocre film after mediocre film, Marvel are back with the first part of the FIFTH phase. 

The first part of the film is as slow as anything and for a film that was a surprisingly short 125 minutes, it felt like a longer film than 125 minutes. Once Kang got mixed into the story properly, then things started to pick up but that's quite a long time into the movie. The final act felt quite brisk and in previous MCU films this would have gone on twice as long but thankfully they reign it in and it didn’t feel like it outlived its welcome. I did like the cameo from Bill Murray because its always good to see Bill Murray although he didn’t seem to really know what sort of film he was in because his performance didn’t match the tone of the scene or film.

Paul Rudd is as good as ever. It’s hard not to like Scott because Paul Rudd has the charm and charisma to pave over the cracks of whatever he is. Evangeline Lilly…..is in this film. That can’t be argued and whilst I am not the biggest fan of The Wasp, if you're going to call a film ‘Ant Man and The Wasp’ then the film should feature a bit more of The Wasp. She doesn't seem to have very much to do in the film which is the same problem that Kathryn Newton has. There was one moment where she saddled with the whiny daughter dialogue which was a bit frustrating but I did have a question and that is ‘Where did she get the suit?’ Now I know the answer because I have a friend who sat through Loki but it highlights a major problem that Marvel finally seems to be addressing and that is there is too much content that you have to see before you can watch a film. You shouldn’t have to do homework before seeing a film.

There is the issue of M.O.D.O.K which as an effect looked awful. I couldn’t help but think of Krang from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon and that isn’t something that you should be thinking of in a $200million film. Also it just seemed like a bit of a random thing to do to bring back Corey Stoll but that’s just a personal choice. There was also a period of the film which looked really dark and I don’t know if that was a creative decision or just something that got missed but it got a bit distracting. Also all this would have been prevented had Janet told about Kang so it's hard to see Janet as anything other than a let-down.

Jonathan Majors is really good as Kang and if handled right, he will be a very good villain for this phase. I think due to Majors’ performance I did find myself sympathising with his character and thinking that wasn’t something that I expected or minded in this film. I also thought that Kathryn Newton was better than the character she was given. Despite some missteps which reduced her character to whiny teenager, she manages to have some good moments in the film and hopefully will feature in more MCU films because she’s a better character than Lilly’s Hope.

Ultimately I enjoyed this film. Once it got going it was enjoyable and I thought it introduced Kang well and provided they don’t rely too much on their TV content then the films in this phase won't have me scratching my head with 101 questions. I think that after the lacklustre feel of the fourth phase, this period of the MCU will have more energy to it and that can only be a good thing. 

The Whale (2022)

Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't have gone to the trouble of seeing The Whale at the cinema but with the awards buzz that the film (in particular Brendan Fraser) has courted, I thought I would give it a go. Going to the cinema on a Saturday morning, the screening was fuller than when I went to see Babylon. Daren Aronofsky did a film in 2009 which saw him basically resurrect Mickey Rourke’s career and from obscurity to winning an Oscar and it looks like he is going to do the same with Brendan Fraser. 

The Whale stars Brendan Fraser who plays Charlie who is a morbidly obese teacher who during the course of the film is trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter as he comes to terms with the fact that he is in fact dying. The film is very light on joyous moments. In fact I would go so far as to say that there are no moments that you could say pause the sad tone that the film has from start to finish. The closest I came to this was when I thought they wouldn't do a joke and then they did. The scene where Charlie is backing into the large wheelchair that Liz has got for him and I thought they wouldn't do the beep-beep of a reversing vehicle and then Liz did that. Some might find the final shot a moment of joy that he is getting that reconnection with his daughter but bearing in mind we don't see it I can't say that it counts. 

There are moments which are quite hard to watch. The scene where Charlie gorges on food after the reaction of the pizza delivery guy almost made me heave which I suspect was the point but it comes from that moment when the Pizza guy is almost disgusted by what he sees as its one of the few relationships that Charlie seems to form and I felt sorry for Charlie because he it's a rare opportunity to interact with someone other than Liz.

The performances are what make this film worth seeing. Fraser is deserving of the plaudits he is getting because it's very hard at times to tell when he is acting and when he is just being himself. His positive stance at several points during the film seem to suggest the character is more Brendan than Charlie. Sadie Sink is also quite good as Ellie. She is just the right amount of angry teen and yet starts to show some personality as the film progresses. I thought that Samantha Morton’s brief scene was powerful but really good and it would be unfair not to mention Hong Chau as Liz who has a no nonsense exterior but has some emotional connection to Charlie and their bond is rather sweet. As much as I think Ty Simpkins is a good actor, I didn't really think that the character had much apart from his scenes with Ellie. 

I like The Whale but I don't love it. Its hard to love this film due to the performances. It is a film that people should see. I think that for a two hour film to take place in one apartment and not feel like its dragging is quite an achievement. It's a rare thing for me nowadays to say that a film has the perfect running time but The Whale is one of those films and whilst the film itself may not win many awards I think the Brendan Fraser will and he deserves it because he seems to be a nice guy and its the sort of ‘back to the top’ stories that people love.

Babylon (2022)

Babylon was a film I had high hopes for when I saw the trailer. It starred Margot Robbie and Brad Pit and was directed by Damien Chazelle who directed Whiplash which is a film I love and La La Land which has got a certain charm that this film was sadly lacking. The film is set in the late 1920s when excess seems to be normalised. The film starts with an elephant taking a dump on the camera which shows what sort of film we are in for.

The problem ultimately with the film is despite the excesses that are shown in painstaking detail, the film never feels like a film. Even the homage at the end feels somewhat forced and so what could have been a fun trip into a bygone period just feels seedy and a bit unnecessary. I had the same feeling when watching ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. I thought the sex and drug taking went on a bit too long and the film suffered (its still awesome by the way). Margot Robbie is fine as Nellie but it would be nice to see her tackle a different accent as all her characters come from New York. Nothing wrong with the by the way but a bit of variety would be nice. Brad Pitt did seem to be a bit on auto pilot throughout this film. He’s still fun but the film could have done with a bit more energy from him. By far the best thing about this film is Tobey Maguire (never thought I would write that). It was this point that the film actually got good and felt like there was a point to the story but before I had time to enjoy what was happening, it was over.

Babylon is one of the more disappointing experiences at the cinema. It’s not terrible by any means but I think that this is a classic example of style over substance. Normally I would say that that's not a problem when the style is so good but in Babylon’s case, the style isn’t as good as it could have been.

Empire of Light (2022)

Empire of Light is the first film that I saw at the cinema in 2023 and part of my ongoing mission to see more films at the cinema. I was a big fan of Sam Mendes as I loved his two Bond films with Skyfall being (in my opinion), the best Bond film ever. I also think that 1917 was a brilliant film that I wanted to see what he would come up with next and its fair to say that Empire of Light is about as different from 1917 as it is possible to get. Empire of Light is about Hilary (Olivia Colman) who gets romantically involved with Stephen (Michael Ward) whilst working in a cinema in the 1980’s. 

The performances in this film are brilliant. The sentence ‘Olivia Colman is really good’ is one that should be expected because I can’t remember the last time I saw her give a bad performance. She comes across as likeable and vulnerable. When she has her breakdown its incredibly sad to watch and it’s because Colman makes you care. Michael Ward is someone that I wasn’t aware of before this film and gives a superb

The cinema is a character and I wanted to spend a lot more time there because the way that it was shot made it feel like it was the sort of cinema that I would want to visit. The cinemas within driving distance of me are nice, clean and comfortable but they never feel like they have a personality. This film shows you how important these cinemas are especially in the post pandemic world. 

See How They Run (2022)

See How They Run is a murder mystery that centres around the long running Agatha Christie stage show The Mouse Trap. The plot sees Inspector Stoppard and Constable Stalker played by Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan try and find out who killed Leo Kopernick played by Adrien Brody whilst dealing with Stoppard’s personal turmoil. 

The whole film follows the well trodden whodunnit format so the film has to work in other ways to make it a success and Tom George manages it. The film works primarily because of Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan. Rockwell is playing a down on his luck constable and it's a very good performance from Rockwell who can always be relied on to give a good performance. Ronan in particular is very funny. I have only really seen her play very serious straight roles so for her to do something like this and be good as well is not what I was expecting.

The supporting cast are all very good and it's always nice as a brit to see familiar faces on the big screen. I thought that Ruth Wilson, Reece Shearsmith, Charlie Cooper, David Oyelowo all gave the sort of performances that they wouldn't normally give but because of the setting it means that they can have fun and help create a great atmosphere. There wasn't a single person that was miscast and that's  a rare thing to have in a movie.

I didn't guess who the one that did it and that's because I didn't really spend too much time trying to work things out. I think that a good story moves along and if you are engaged with what is happening then you don't have time to put things together or at least I think that's the case. I wasn't expecting much from this film because it's more light-hearted than what I am used to watching at the cinema. It’s appropriate that an Agatha Christie play is in the backdrop of this film because with the all star cast and the whodunnit plot, its very much like a Poirot story and whilst this is not on the same level as a Poirot story, it's a lot of fun and an unexpected highlight of the year.

Orphan: First Kill (2022)

I didn't see the first Orphan film until just before seeing this sequel even though I was aware of the twist, I still thought it worked quite well. Whether a film needs a sequel especially when 13 years have passed and horror has moved along a lot since then. Well this film proves that it can be achieved even if its slightly underwhelming. The film sees Isabelle Fuhrman return as Leena with Julia Stiles playing Tricia and Rossif Sutherland playing Allen.

The twist of the first film is that Esther is older than she looks. The thing is that with this being a prequel it means that she has to be even young whilst having grown up in real life which means there are some creative uses to get around the fact that it's not Isabelle Fuhrman. There are some shots where it's clear that its a body double and not Fuhrman. There are other instances where they have used creative angles to help with the illusion but it's a mixed end result.

The film does actually get good around the hour mark when we learn that the real Esther died years earlier and Tricia uses Leena to help continue the deceit and I will admit that I thought this was a creative if convoluted plot twist. It becomes an interesting film but I did find the final 10-15 minutes to be a bit of a letdown because it's clear they didn't quite know how to wrap things up whilst ensuring that Leena makes it to the end of the film so the events of the first film can happen.

Orphan: First Kill is an odd film. It isn't terrible enough to be funny or boring and it's not a great horror film. I think that the fact that it happened so long after the first film hurt it but I think that its worth your time cause there is an interesting 40 minutes or so. It is an underwhelming film but I have seen worse horror films.

Nope (2022)

Being a fan of Jordan Peele meant I was going to see Nope but to try and explain what the film is about is quite tricky. The closest I can manage is that OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) have a ranch when they discover that an alien spaceship or something is above them in the clouds.

I have always been a fan of Kaluuya since I first saw him in an episode of Black Mirror and in Get Out he was amazing. In this there is a hint of just being miserable but given what is happening you can understand why OJ is not exactly a barrel of laughs. I did find Emerald annoying at first but by the second half of the film I thought she had developed into someone who helped to the success of the film instead of being a distraction. She has some smart ideas including letting a balloon rise so it can get the aliens' attention and using a wishing well’s flash to get the attention as well. Normally horror films make people come across as stupid but Peele writes better than that. 

There is a running theme about the love of cinema. There is a thing about OJ and Emerald being the descendants of the rider of a horse on some footage from the dawn of cinema and the second half of the film sees the cinematographer that we meet at the beginning of the film and brings an old style camera to try and capture what is in the clouds. It’s a great moment and the second half of the film is by far the stronger half because it's when things start happening. 

The effects of the alien ship both inside and out are very good. It doesn't look like your typical spaceship and it could only come from someone who didn't want the alien spaceships to look cliched or like anything we had ever seen before. From a cinematography point of view this film is stunning. Pretty much every shot outside is great and the isolated setting helps create the atmosphere. I didn't think it was possible to make brown dust and dirt look amazing but Hoyte Van Hoytema manages it. I really like this film but I think it's largely down to the central performances from Kaluuya, Palmer and Yeun who all help maintain the mystery even if it's unclear really what's happening. I would like to have seen more from Yeun but what we got was I don't think it's the best Jordan Peele but he manages to make confusing stuff seem interesting and entertaining. He doesn't do stupid horror, he does horror films that have an idea about them and is creative with what he does. 

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

I really enjoyed the first Jurassic World film, yes some of the things were a bit silly and it was a bit of fan service but I still enjoyed it and thought it worked quite well. The second one took a bit of a dip in quality and the whole idea that there is a secret lab underneath a massive house did seem a bit silly. It did end with a cliffhanger and the potential for this final could have been about how we were dealing with the dinosaurs. This final part of the trilogy (whether it's the final Jurassic film is doubtful) was delayed because of the pandemic although how much of that is why this film was a huge disappointment is probably going to remain a mystery.

The main problem with the film is that it feels like three movies in one. You have the Claire/Owen storyline then there is the original trio’s storyline with the return of Dodgson and then the meshing of the two. This means that it feels like they are throwing a lot at the wall to see what sticks. Dodgson is portrayed as some sort of Steve Jobs type person but feels a bit half hearted despite the best efforts of Campbell Scott. Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt are ok but after being the lead stars in the previous two films, they do feel like afterthoughts because the return of the trio was more interesting to people like me that wanted to see them back one more time and more Jeff Goldblum that we saw in Fallen Kingdom. Goldblum does feel like he is happy to be there but Sam Neill looks like he wants to be anywhere but in the film. That's a shame but at least Jurassic Park III wouldn't be the final film he would be in.  Isabella Sermon doesn't really add anything to the story apart. She comes across as a whiny teenager and was irritating. I don't know how much of it is Serman’s fault but she was not really needed. DeWanda Wise got the short end of the stick. Despite her best efforts she just gets drowned out and even in the action scenes it does feel like she is going through the motions.

It’s not a bad film by any means but it definitely the weakest of the JW trilogy but it's not the worst of the entire franchise. I think that they didn't know how they were going to end the trilogy which is something that they should have thought about when they wrote the first one even if 100% guaranteed that they would make more than one. It’s directed well enough but the overall feel of the film is that it doesn't quite know what it wants to be and everyone is just running around trying not to get eaten by dinosaurs. 

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Everything Everywhere All at Once was the first film I saw at the cinema this year and I went to see it on my birthday so it was a treat to myself. To try and describe what the plot is quite difficult. To borrow a phrase from Doctor Who, its all a bit timey wimey. Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn who is swept into a plan to try and save the universe. That's about as much of the plot as I can follow because this isn't for the sort of people that like to be spoon fed the plot to them. This requires you to pay attention to the film.

It’s great to see Ke Huy Quan play Waymond Wang. It's just great to see Short Round in anything and he gets to play two versions of Waymond. One is the husband who isn't thought of very highly and is a bit walked on by Evelyn and the other is a Jackie Chan inspired hero. The fight scenes he is involved in are great fun to watch. To be fair the fight scenes that both of them are in are pretty good and it's not surprising that Yeoh is as good as she is. The only thing that was missing from the film was Jackie Chan and then you’ve got the holy trinity and this film would have been epic.

The film has some great supporting cast members. In particular James Hong who plays Evelyn's father Gong and like Quan, he plays the part like an old man and then changes into someone more aware of what is going on. Jamie Lee Curtis who played Deirdre who at one point has sausage fingers in one of many barmy moments in this film. Curtis has come a long way from Halloween and this isn't the sort of role that you would expect someone like her to take but it shows that she was willing to take a risk. 

The editing is superb as it manages to deal with multiverses and all the toing and froing and yet kept me interested in what was happening even though it was difficult to keep track. In fact it is pretty much pointless trying to keep up with what is going on because so much madness happens that it doesnt follow a traditional structure. To be able to somehow make the film work is a credit to the editor for keeping the strangeness in but not alienating a good chunk of the audience.

There are some crazy moments throughout the film including when some of the characters are trying to shove a certain item up their backside and then take part in a fight scene like that. There is no way that this would have been allowed in a Disney or Universal film. Only A24 would allow this to make it into the final story. The second half of the film is very hard to follow but the joy of the film is that it's still entertaining to watch. Things happen and nothing really happens except that by the end, Evelyn has grown as a person. 

Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the weirdest films that I have seen for quite some time. But I was completely engaged by what I was watching. The performances were all really good with Yeoh and Quan being the best but there wasn't a weak link in the film. The only thing that stops this film from being a five star film is that due to me not following what was going on all the time and what it meant means that it just misses out but I think that the fault is with me and not the film. When all we are getting are superhero films it's nice to have a film that tries something different and due to the directors this is a gamble that pays off.