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. 

Monkey Man (2024)

This is a more in depth review. The trailers made this film look like the Bollywood John Wick. I think that this film is Bollywood John Wick but that isn’t a bad thing. The plot sees Dev Patel plays Kid who loses his mother who is killed by an army guy who wants to turn the land that Kid and his mother are on into some holy ground which is basically a scam as its really more of a cult. 

The film sees Kid take part in fights wearing a monkey mask. The thing that works for John Wick are th fight scenes and this film manages the fight scenes really well. I would say that the fight scenes are on par with what i saw in ‘The Iron Claw’. I also like that Kid isn’t the perfect fighter from the very beginning, he starts off ok but as the film progresses his skills get better and he becomes a better fighter so come the final scene you feel he’s earned the right to be that good. It’s good character development which a lot of characters in movies don’t seem to go through. 

This is a classic example of Army of One where its Kid against the people responsible for his mother’s death. I don’t think that Kid says that much in the film but then he doesnt need to. His fighting does the talking and Patel is believable as a tough guy. I hadn’t seen Patel in a film since ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’ and that is a very different performance but shows that he can do very different characters very well. 

The film isn’t perfect and one problem there is with the film is perhaps the most important. The shaky cam shots are distracting and there was at least two instances where it was shaking so much that I actually could see what was going on. Shaky cam has its purpose but if you can’t see what’s going on then how are you suppose to be emotionally connected with what’s happening. Another issue that the close ups are bad. Literally the first shot of the film is of Kid’s mother and all we see are her eyes, nose and face. It was too close and there more instances where the camera work let the film down. I’m not sure whether this was because they didn’t have time to set things up better or whether they chose to do it like this but i think this was definitely in the minus column. 

Monkey Man is a good film that’s only let down by technical issues. I think the performances are all really good and it clear from start to finish that Dev Patel cares about the film and also about the story. Hopefully he continues to direct because I think that he has a good eye for this sort of thing. He just needs to control the shaky cam shots and learn that cameras have zooms on them.

Civil War (2024)

Civil War is set in the near future where the U.S is at war with itself and some of the states have seceded from the union. Kirsten Dunst plays Lee who is a war photographer who along with Joel (Wagner Moura), Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) try to go to the White House to interview the President and that’s the plot with the characters encountering people along the way. 

I like these type of stories. I’m not sure when they are done well then they work really well and you end up feeling like you know these characters which is a really weird thing to write but bearing in mind connecting with characters is part of the point of films, it perhaps shouldn’t feel weird writing it. There is something weary about Lee as she feels like she has seen too much of it and almost looks at Jessie with envy and jealousy at the same time. I always get distracted when Wagner Moura is on screen because when I see him he reminds me of Narcos when he played Pablo Escobar (brilliantly I might add) but that’s not really his fault and Joel is perhaps the nice character that Lee needs in her life. Cailee Spaeny does well with what is a rather flat character. I think she has her moments but I always found the dynamic between Lee and Joel to be more interesting even though there was a passing of the torch thing going on with Lee and Jessie. Stephen McKinley Henderson is as dependable as ever and his death scene was sad to watch. It did seem like mobility was an issue as all his scenes involved him sitting down or standing still.

Jesse Plemons did steal the show even though he was only in it for about 10 minutes. He’s such a good actor that he only needs 10 minutes to show how good he is. That scene was probably the best in the movie and was by far the most dramatic and tense. According to trivia I have read, Plemons’ involvement was last minute as another actually had to pull out and being married to Dunst meant that he was able to jump in at the last minute and deliver a film stealing performance.

The final 10-15 minutes let this film down badly. It feels extremely rushed and when Lee is killed, there is zero time given for her death. We have just spent over an hour with her and got to know what she is like and dare I say it, care for her and yet she is treated like she is a background extra who doesnt matter to the story. 

Also the showdown with the President is thrown away like it didn’t matter even though it's the motivation for the entire movie. I usually over play what the scene might be like in my head but there can’t be anyone who thought that this was how the final scene was going to end. It felt like a waste of time.

Despite Alex Garland not sure how he was going to end his own film. I still enjoy everything up until the White House stuff. I thought that the film was tense and despite it being essentially a road trip movie, the characters all feel genuine and the whole feel of the film feels real especially with the chaos the world seems to be in at the moment. I think that Civil War is definitely worth seeing but don’t go in with hopes of a satisfying resolution.