Tag: Godzilla Vs Kong

2021 In Film: Day Four (The “Not For Me”)

On By troubledproductionsIn Year round upLeave a comment

This is a lot more subjective. This is basically “I recognise these films are good, but they’re just not for me”. Basically, this would be where Nolan films would end up if he made any this year.

12 Hour Shift

I probably will watch this again someday, just not for a while, and I wouldn’t pay for it. I think my main issue is tone. The script is dark and intense, but it’s filmed like a teen slasher. It also doesn’t make the most of the setting and situation for scares. Hospitals are terrifying places at night, and this doesn’t do a good job of showing it. The soul-less lighting and blank-walled corridors should be used for better visuals than we get. There is a good washed-out look to the whole thing but it could be better.

+ Good story, great performances.

-Feels too polished for such a dirty story.

Best Moment: The character taking a pepsi instead of a kidney is very funny.

Worst moment: The ending feels a little too convenient.

Best Performer: Mick Foley, although it’s still weird seeing him swear.

Original review here

Black Widow

Yeah I’m putting this here. A lot of people loved this but it did nothing for me. It felt completely pointless. We have had five films since End Game and we’re still no closer to having a clue where it’s going from here. By this point in phase 1 we’d reached Captain America, and was just about to have the first Avengers movie. Is there even a connective story anymore? This has been the most pointless of all the Phase Four ones though. All it did was introduce a few characters who could have been better introduced (it also didn’t explain where they were during End Game). The best way for this to have purpose is for the released Black Widows to form a team and have a t-show based on them, so basically an espionage thriller on disney+ with an ensemble cast. That has potential, but I think Marvel are just going to forget them.

+ Looks slick, good action scenes.

– Adds nothing to the MCU

Best Moment: The opening credits. Perfect.

Worst moment: Prison break scene. Nothing inherently wrong with it, but you’d think the release of all those prisoners would be an important moment. Nope.

Best Performer: David Harbour. I wish his character was introduced earlier as he’s a lot of fun, and he’s played perfectly.

Worst Performer: Ray Winstone, his accent is awful.

Best Line: When Yelena makes fun of Natasha’s “superhero landing” pose.

Original review here

Godzilla Vs. Kong

This film is BIG. I feel you’ve already missed out on the optimum way to watch this. The best way is definitely on a screen bigger than you. You need to look up and be in awe of what you see. This series has been the best at scale and spectacle. The scripts have always been lacking though. That’s definitely the case here, a film this visually impressive should not be as dull as this is. This franchise has been too heavily weighted in Godzillas favour, of the three movies to set this one up, Kongs was the shortest. He was already at a disadvantage due to seeming underpowered in comparison to Godzilla, so the whole thing doesn’t feel as much “Unstoppable Force Vs. The Immovable Object” as it should. Feels more like “Superman Vs. Incredible Hulk”

Really this needed another movie. The section where Kong was in the Hollow Earth could have been a solo movie for him. Set him up in that universe as a force to be reckoned with, build up the Kong side characters more too (since the first one was set in 1973, none of the human characters return, bit of a waste).

+ It looks incredible.

– A lot of the time is wasted.

Best Moment: The Hollow Earth. Creative, great action set pieces, and it looks great.

Worst moment: The final fight. It’s mostly shot from high up so it doesn’t look as good as it should. Low angle shots would have been more expensive, but would have let us really feel the damage.

Best Performer: Kaylee Hottle. Doesn’t say a word but is the emotional core of the movie.

Best Line: If this wasn’t contributing to world destruction, this would be a great DJ booth.

Original review here

Jungle Cruise

You don’t get films like this anymore. Fun adventure films that a family can sit down and watch together on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a fun throwback and I wish more films came out which were like this. Would prefer them to be better though. As fun as this is, it’s not fun enough to cover up some of its flaws. I know it is a throwback, but it still feels dated. Especially in how it treats Jack Whitehall’s character. He’s obviously gay, and there is a nice moment where The Rock’s character responds positively (well, in a “don’t care, love who you love” way). But his character is played like that character would have been played in the 80s.

+ Very fun, good way to kill time.

– The CGI animals. They’re woefully bad.

Best Moment: When The Rock makes a hurricane of puns to a tourist group. Funny in a terrible way. And a small child begs his mum to make him stop.

Worst moment: Not much, but that’s the problem. In terms of excitement, it’s very flat.

Best Performer: The Rock. He’s perfect for things like this.

Worst Performer: Jack Whitehall.

Best Line: “If I wanted to go to a primitive backwater where I couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying, I’d visit our relatives in Scotland”

Original review here

Rons Gone Wrong

A lot of people really liked this, and I just don’t get it. It doesn’t seem to be doing anything new. There’s nothing bad about it, but it’s not doing anything I haven’t seen before, and seen done better. It’s nowhere near as bad as Emoji movie or Ralph Breaks The Internet, but it’s nowhere near as good as The Mitchells Vs. The Machines. It even has similarities to Free Guy. It’s bad enough being compared to one film released the same year, two is just unfortunate.

+Looks fantastic

-Can’t help but be compared to better films.

Best Moment: When Ron fights back against the bullies. Deeply satisfying.

Worst moment: The “we were friends all along” moment between the kids feels incredibly forced and unnatural.

Best Line: Old women. Not trending. Widowed dads, downer! Enhance and post!

Original review here

Surge

The kind of film which you don’t want to watch, but when you start watching you can’t turn away. For the soundtrack of Dark Knight, Hans Zimmer created some of the music for the Joker by striking razor blades against piano strings, creating a creepy sense of unease and dread. That’s what this film is like, constant dread and unease and a feeling of uncertainty and uncleanliness. It’s not something you will enjoy watching, but it is fascinating to see.

+ Fascinating character study.

-Script is kind of dull at parts

Best Performer: I mean, obviously Ben Whishaw

Original review here

The Night House (2020)

On By troubledproductionsIn ReviewLeave a comment

Quick Synopsis: Beth (Rebecca Hall) is trying to recover from her husband’s suicide but her progress is halted by discovering thousands of images on his phone of women who look like her, and that he built an exact copy of their house.

This is an interesting film. In some films, you’re a passive viewer, aware that you’re watching films on a two-dimensional screen. Then there are films like this, films which feel like they surround you like you’re a part of the world the film takes place in, making you feel like you’ve been sucked into the screen. Part of that is the sound, the mixing job for this is superb, it really helps place you in the world.

The script itself is pretty intense too. It’s one of those films where even if I didn’t watch the film I’d want to know the story. So like if it turned out that the director was actually a terrible person and I couldn’t justify paying to watch the film, I would still read the story synopsis to see what happens. The trailer was just that intriguing. I was curious as to how it would end and what would happen. Thankfully it doesn’t disappoint. The way you see it unravel is marvellous and you’re hooked from the first moment. It’s a satisfying mystery, one that you as an audience member WANT to get to the bottom of, one that actively engages you. It helps that the conclusion is satisfying, it’s something that’s hinted at so makes sense, and also redeems someone but not really.

On the downside, it is all predicated on deliberately vague instructions. When her husband committed suicide he left a note that said “There is nothing. Nothing is after you”. Now, spoilers, “nothing” is the name of a demon that is after the main character. There must have been a clearer way of saying that and it feels like it was only written for the “reveal”. I mean, it is still satisfying to watch but it is a bit weird.

There are two people responsible for this film working. The first one is obviously Rebecca Hall, who has always had a lot of promise but somehow manages to find slightly disappointing roles (Iron Man 3, Godzilla Vs. Kong, Dorian Gray), in this she lives up to the potential you always knew she had. She plays a character dealing with intense personal loss, and that loss is written through every fibre of her performance. So even in the horror moments, you are always fully aware that this is a character tinged with sadness and regret. It’s the kind of performance that would be talked about for oscar nominations if they didn’t hate horror movies for some reason.

The other person: David Bruckner. He’s mainly known for doing segments in films such as VHS (where he directed Amateur Night), The Signal, and Southbound. This is actually only his second feature-length. His first was The Ritual, which was a cracking piece of cinema and I always assumed was directed by a Brit. His directing carries the air of someone who has been doing this for decades. The wonderful thing about his style is he doesn’t direct them through the frame of traditional horror with the focus on scares, he treats them first and foremost as cinema. So he uses colours and shapes to create shots which are basically paintings, using space and darkness not to create fear, but to tell you a story about the characters. His films are the kind of ones you want to pause and analyse and discuss every detail. This means that when he does get to the horror moments, they’re impactful because they don’t feel like they take place in a horror movie, they feel like they take place in a standard drama, so the horror has kind of invaded the drama universe. This is how horror works in reality, scary things happen in ordinary lives, and it’s the ordinary which makes the horror scarier.

So yeah, I would highly recommend watching this film. I sadly missed the chance to see this at the cinema, but it is available on Disney+ weirdly enough and is well worth checking out.