Fantasy Island (2020)

Fantasy Island or Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island as the BBFC Certificate has it sees a group of irritating people arrive on an island where their fantasy comes true and after a while things go wrong. The rules are stated at the beginning which is that people are only allowed one fantasy and it must be seen to the end. 

The problem isn’t that all the characters are extremely irritating even though they are. It took me five minutes to come to that conclusion and that I wanted them all to meet a grizzly death. The fact that three of them didn’t was a source of annoyance for me. The problem isnt that despite setting out the rules, the film decides to change the rules. Even though they were told that once a fantasy starts it can’t be stopped, Gwen gets to change her fantasy when it turns out to be too good. Another convenient change comes right at the end when Brax is told that the fantasy he went through was his brother’s and that he gets his fantasy which is to bring his brother back. 

The main problem is that its very dull. I was waiting for something to happen and for people to get killed off but the film doesn’t do that and instead takes a very long time to set up the main twist of the film that everyone bar Melanie who brings everyone to the island to exact revenge because they were involved in her boyfriends death. That would have been a much reveal had it happened 30-40 minutes earlier. At 1 hour and 49 minutes long, its way too long and suffers from a lot of padding. Even with multiple characters the film doesn’t seem to know how make it all work. All the performances are fairly wooden even when Melanie’s true identity is revealed I didn’t care because the film had long past point of me caring. Roarke spent 95% of the film playing the villain and refusing to disobey the island and then he gets one speech from Gwen and five seconds later he decides to change his mind. That’s the quickest character change I can recall. 

Fantasy Island is one of the worst movies I have seen for a while and the worst I have seen at the cinema for many years. Even Cats was more entertaining and the flaws with the film kept my attention. Fantasy Island is just a mess from start to finish and even Michael Rooker cant save this turkey.

Brahms: The Boy II (2020)

Brahms: The Boy II is the most recent example of a film that shouldn’t really exist. The first one was a decent horror film that was trying to cash in on the popularity of the Annabelle films but managed to make something that was good enough on it own merits. What it wasn’t was asking for a sequel however money will dictate whether something will have a sequel or not. The set up of the film is that after a home invasion where Liza gets attacked and the son Jude becomes mute, they move to the country into the guest house next door to the house used in the first film. Jude finds the boy and as the film then becomes a battle to separate Brahms from Jude.

Lets start with the positives. The performances are good. Katie Holmes does well as Liza. I haven’t actually seen her in a film since Batman Begins 15 years ago. I know she’s been in films since then but just not in one I have seen. I thought that once the story moved to the guest house, she got a bit better and stronger. Christopher Convery is also good as Jude. He to convey quite a lot of emotion without speaking and he manages it well. It’s difficult for child actors to be taken seriously but I have noticed recently that they are casting some good young actors like Roman Griffin Davis in Jojo Rabbit and Jackson Robert Scott in The Prodigy. I thought the best performance came from Ralph Ineson who is one of those actors who appears in everything. He plays Joseph who at first seems like he is just there to deliver exposition but its revealed that he is a sort of minder for Brahms. Its also well directed. I thought the some of the shots were quite nice and they made the house seem a nice if slightly creepy place to live. It does rely on some jump scares but there were a couple of red herrings where you think there is going to be a jump scare but there isn’t so I liked that.

The main problem that I have with this film is that it completely ruins all the good things from the first one. In the first film the doll is just a creepy doll and the truth of the boy being in the walls of the house was a nice twist. In this film they decide that the doll has a soul and chooses people that are damaged. When the dad smashes the head of Brahms, there is this weird alien looking thing which doesn’t make any sense to me.  Another thing was when it was revealed about Joseph’s true identity, I didn’t really care I just thought it was a fairly clichéd plot twist. Then there is the cousins that pop up for about five minutes that don’t really add anything to the story. Jude has a nephew who keeps calling him mental and when he get skewed by the broken crocket stick, I thought that he deserved it because he was being horrible. Also at the end there is a moment where Jude has the mask on and its clear they are going to make a third one which is even less necessary than this film. One final issue is that Liza finds a code on Brahms is foot and enters into a website and it doesn’t work. Most people would try and reverse the code but for narrative reasons, she doesn’t do this until the final act of the film. I don’t spot these things but even I wondered why she didn’t try it the other way. Had she done that then the film would have been over 40 minutes early. 

On its own merits, Brahms is fine. It looks nice and has good performances but if you question why it exists and compare it to the first Boy film then it completely falls apart. If it’s on Netflix or on TV then watch it but don’t seek it out because you aren’t really missing anything.

Greed (2019)

Greed is comedy which tells the fictional story of a billionaire who is trying to throw a ridiculous party to show how wealthy he is. The story is told partly in flashback building up how Richard McCreadle (Coogan) goes from public schoolboy to King of the High Street. The film was suppose to be a comedy but NOBODY laughed and the week before I saw Parasite and people laughed multiple times and there were more people in this screening.

There is a thread where one of the children is in a reality TV programme. The fact it’s in the film shows that it’s current because reality shows are popular but I don’t think it will age well. The only good part about this particular thread is that former Doctor Who companion Pearl Mackie appears in this which got my attention.

I thought that Steve Coogan was quite good as Sir Richard McCreadle who is playing a charicature of a certain billionaire and there is quite a lot of Coogan’s other characters in the movie but I just didn’t connect to the character. When McCreadle got killed by a lion, I found it amusing but not much beyond that. I was distracted by Coogan’s teeth. I thought that David Mitchell was quite good in this. He plays the person who is writing the book on McCreadle and he seems like the most normal person in the entire film. He is tasked with making someone loathsome seem like a nice guy. 

I haven’t seen any films featuring Isla Fisher. She appears in films that I don’t really have any interest in seeing but I have to say that I thought she was quite good as the wife/ex-wife of McCreadle. She seems to like him but they aren’t in love and she gets to make a few digs about Richard. She does provide the right kind of humour. The film features a lot of people from the British comedy world so its an interesting query about how well this film will do out of the UK. 

It turns into a PowerPoint presentation at the end which felt like I was being lectured at. I understand why they put the stats in and they are shocking but I think that it wasn’t done in the right way and that’s my overall issue with this film. It felt it could have been handle a bit better. I was surprised that the people playing the refugees on the beach were actual refugees but by the end of the film I just found myself being slightly numbed by it. It’s not terrible but it lacks the killer punch that this film should have had.

Parasite (2019)

I went in to the screening of Parasite wanting to dislike it because I thought that 1917 should have won the best Picture Oscar and also because it felt like people were hyping it way too much and I thought that all it was going to do was disappoint. What I felt 2 hours and 12 minutes later was pretty much the exact opposite. I don’t think I have seen a film that bonkers for a very long time. I knew that I loved this film but it took me a while to figure out why.

The set-up of the film is that a family that are fairly poor and they integrate themselves into a wealthy family and each family member has a role. The film has a lot of comedic moments in the first two thirds of the movie. In the screening that I was in, there was several moments where people were laughing and its not hard to see why and I was chuckling with them. All the actors playing them are perfect. They are treated as quite smart and they have to come up with a plausible plan to get rid of people who they are working for them. 

The final 15-20 minutes is bonkers because it just comes out of nowhere. People are getting stabbed and skewed and bashed over the head with rocks and the reality of what becomes of the father is quite sad and it shows how much they have fallen is quite remarkable. It ended in a perfect way and as the credits played, I sat there for a few moments to try and take in what I saw. This is a film that didn’t drag at any point from the very beginning to the very end. The humour is well placed and when it turns, its does so in such as way that you don’t really notice it until its happened and by then the film is moving along towards the end.

If I had to nit-pick then I would say that there were a couple of moments when I was worried that the characters were going to be too unlikable but Bong Joon Ho managed to pull it back. I hear there is a black and white version and I hope to see that film because I think that this will only enhance my enjoyment. Parasite thoroughly deserved its Oscar. I love 1917 but I think that I love this film more. A film that is as close to perfection as its possible to get.

Underwater (2020)

Underwater is a film that is an unwanted movie. It was made by 20th Century Fox and when Disney brought Fox, this film got pushed back (it was filmed in 2017).  This film invokes several films such as Alien, Cloverfield, Event Horizon and Poseidon. The set-up of the film is that Kristen Stewart plays Norah where she and a band of fellow researchers have to get from A to B whilst trying to avoid some buggy parasites. 

I don’t quite know what to do with Stewart. On the one hand I don’t believe her as a leading lady. It’s a shame really because she really throws herself into the movie and she gets thrown about a lot (sometimes quite literally). Vincent Cassel is quite good as Captain. It’s clear that he’s been told not to outshine Stewart but he gets by far the best death. T.J Miller is the comic relief and to be honest he was a distracting influence and I wasn’t bothered by his death. 

There are some issues for me in this film. Firstly the camerawork is terrible. There were times where the camera was shaking so much that it became quite difficult to follow what was going on and who was in peril. Then there is the fact that the characters all have character traits and that is who they are such as Kristen Stewart who is suppose to be Ripley from Alien, Cassel is the European, Miller is the comedian, Jessia Henwick as Emily is the scared one who has to overcome her fears. Mamoudou Athie as Rodrigo’s character trait is that he’s the first to die. I called it when he first appeared and I was proved right. The thing about a film like Alien is that even though they all have their own lives, you believe that they a crew whereas because this film gets going from the very beginning, there is no time for much character development which is a shame really. 

The film’s monster is quite good and they do a good job in hiding it for quite a while. Due to the fact its set on the bottom of the ocean, there is very little light so its not easy to see what the crew are trying to avoid. There are things that I like about this film so its not as terrible as you might think. I don’t think that it’s the best film in the world and its way better than The Meg because its got better acting and better effects. It’s also only 95 minutes long which is quite a good running time and didn’t last longer than it needed to.

The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)

The Personal History of David Copperfield is based on the story by Charles Dickens but is given a twist by Armando Iannucci. To be honest I haven’t read David Copperfield and have no desire to do so but I have seen several versions of this story and its only because that Iannucci is involved is the reason why I went to the cinema. It took me about 30 seconds to start laughing because with an Iannucci and Simon Blackwell script, what you do get is plenty of humour and it runs through this film from start to finish. 

As there has been several thousand (slight exaggeration) versions of this story I wont really spend any time talking about it as the film is more interesting for the performances. Dev Patel is very good as David Copperfield. His younger self was also interesting but Patel brings a likeable quality to the character and despite all the horrible things that happen to him during the course of the film but he still maintains a calm point of view. Peter Capaldi is very funny as Mr. Micawber. I’m a huge Doctor Who fan so found Capaldi fun to watch. Hugh Laurie is always dependable but as Mr Dick he makes perfect use of his comedic skills to bring us a slightly bonkers guy. I couldn’t help but think of his performance as Prince George in Blackadder 3. Other notable performances include Daisy May Cooper as Peggotty who is the first friendly face that Copperfield sees and becomes the anchor for most of the action in the film. 

The directing is quite good during this film. It’s nothing special by any means but there are a couple of instances where it has to show something or shift to a different scene and does so by changing the background to a drape and having the drape then rise or sink and then there are a couple of moments where images are projected onto a background which I thought worked quite well. 

I really liked this film. I don’t think its quite as good as some of Iannucci’s other films but to be honest he has managed to do something different and put a new spin on a story that has been done some many times. In fact in the trailers there was a new version of Emma which seems like it is the same as every other version of the story. If you want something game changing then I wouldn’t go and see this film but if you want something that’s enjoyable and can just submerse yourself in this world then this film is worth a go.

1917 (2019)

There aren’t many films in recent years that I have been looking forward to see. 1917 is one of those films largely because of a video I saw on YouTube and that one shot of George Mackay running towards the camera. This film is directed by Sam Mendes who attempted a similar thing in Spectre a few years ago. In that case it was only a few minutes and in this film it's just over two hours long. In short, 1917 is a superb film. 

The set-up of the film is that Lance Corporal Blake (played by Dean-Charles Chapman) has to deliver a message to Colonel MacKenzie (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) calling off an attack which will kill 1600 men including his brother. The key selling point is that the film is shot as one continuous shot. I thought that this helped add to the drama and tension. It was quite clever how they managed to make things flow and keep the low key moments interesting enough. 

The central performances are really good although I was surprised that Blake died so early in the film. It’s his brother that is driving him through this terror but in the end it makes sense why they did this. I thought the scene where Schofield meets Blake’s brother and tells him he has died was a really sad moment and despite being a downbeat way to end the film I thought it was the best way to end it. In fact the final shot mirrors the opening shot which I appreciated.

If I had one issue with the film is that the gap in time when Schofield is knocked out is a bit of a cheat. Ok so they only did it once but its something that bothers me. I am a bit pedantic in that way but it is what it is. Another slight thing that could be filed under nit-picking is one bit when after Blake has died we learn that there is a whole convoy of vehicles that somehow managed to go right by them without making a sound. I just thought it was a bit strange. Apart from those two things, I thought it was everything I hoped it would be. It would have been nice if they had found a way of getting around it so they whole film is one long shot but I suppose they only did it the once so it could be forgiven.

There is very little blood yet it manages to convey the horrors of war yet never feels like it's being preachy or self righteous. There is one moment when Schofield is swimming through bodies that had become bloated by being in the water so long which was quite grim. The big scene where Schofield is running towards the camera is as close to iconic as it's possible to get. I don’t know if it was planned that he ran collided with other soldiers but it helped add to the realism and he did well to maintain his focus.

It never stops at any point in the film which for something with a two hour running time is quite impressive. 1917 deserves all the praise it is getting and is one of my highlights of the year and if it's not in my top 3 then I will be surprised. Sam Mendes has directed a film that is just as good if not better than Skyfall. I came out of the screening and was stunned and was so glad that I saw this on the big screen instead of my TV at home. A gem of a movie.