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Bad Moms - Rating: *

8/29/2016

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Dumpster Fire......This could basically be my review for this piece of shite film, but a two word review isn't acceptable in the world of reviewing so lets get this over and done with shall we.

Mila Kunis (Family Guy, Ted) stars as a Mom who is having a bad time of it. Her kids have a million different after school activities, she works part time for a coffee company and her husband is having an affair with a woman online with a really hairy bush. To top it all off the dreaded PTA meetings, which seems like some kind of cult mixed with a college sorority, is telling all the moms and dads how to live and be the perfect parents. So she finally snaps, kicks her husband out (and rightfully so), tells the PTA she quits and teams up with two parents to live life and be 'BAD' Moms (which apparently means getting shit faced and destroying a supermarket and being utter horrid human beings). The film goes downhill from there with jokes and scenes not even the Bad Neighbors film could pull off.

This is the thing with this film, it is trying too hard to be rude and outrageous. It is trying to be The Hangover and Bad Neighbors but it fails, and fails hard. The jokes were not funny, the acting was awful and the only real saving grace of the film was Kathryn Hahn's Carla, who at the very least got a few titters from me.

If I could give a plus it would be that not everyone is going to hate this as much as I did. There were alot of laughs coming from the younger members of the audience, so maybe it is a better film for a younger teen audience, but this film could have been done so much better.
I HATED this film. Bad Moms has no redeeming features in any form aside from the Carla character. You may love it, you may hate it but I would suggest Sex Tape, Bad Teacher, Bad Neighbors 2 and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates if you are looking for a good comedy.
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Matinee - Rating: * * *

8/28/2016

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Joe Dante is a legend in the film business but there are a few titles I have not heard of, Matinee is one of these films. Matinee was released in 1993, placing the film after Dante's huge hits with Gremlins and Gremlins 2 however this film slipped under the radar a little.

Matinee is Dante's homage to the B-Movie genre and follows the preview screening of Mant! from horror director Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman - Monsters INC, Rosanne) at a costal town cinema during the Cuban missile crisis. the films follows military teen Gene (Simon Fenton - Grange Hill) and his little brother who are huge fans of the work of Woolsey. Gene and his friends pile into the screening but a series for unfortunate events aim the bring down the evening.

This is the perfect homage to the low budget horror films of yesteryear but this isn't a horror film, so if you go into the film wanting that you may be a little disappointed. Matinee is a celebration of cinema's secret child, the type of films Trumbo made when he was black listed. John Goodman was great as the Hitchcock wannabe Lawrence Woolsey, a nice guy wanting to make scary movies. The film Mant! is also very funny, with intentional bad acting and an over the top story which, thanks to the special features on this Blu-ray, you get to watch. It is crazy this film came out in the early 90's, the film as an 80's edge about it visually even though the film is set in the 60's. The film also stars Lisa Jakub, who made her name in the 1993, the same year as this film was release funnily enough, in Mrs Doubtfire.

Matinee was a fun little film which would be a great watch for all the family. This version has some great special features including Mant! with a forward from Joe Dante, some behind the scenes features, deleted and extended scenes and more from Dante. A must buy.
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Hell Town - Rating: * * (Reviewed by Louis Stephenson)

8/25/2016

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​THE STORY:
These are the days of teens’ lives as someone is killing off high school seniors…  Like, oh my god!
 
Spoofing teenybopper soap operas with a dash and a slash of horror sounds like a terrific idea, in theory.  Unfortunately, in Hell Town’s case, the end result is a bunch of bad actors trying to be funny, only with very little effort and failing miserably.  We get what they give, and it ain’t much!  Ironically, it’s the same collectively dismal performance you’d expect to see from a production of this calibre if this weren’t a spoof.
 
Amanda Deibert as Chanel Manley, however, is a revelation, as her character does battle with not one, but two bitter female rivalries.  The standout of Hell Town, her relish at hurling Dynasty-style “bitch” insults left and right makes for the soap’s sole source of entertainment.  Sadly, she doesn’t grace every scene, so the rest we are left with is just joyless tripe.
 
On the upside it’s not as bad as films like Disaster Movie.  But on the downside, at least the sheer lameness of films like Disaster Movie gave you something to do, such as knuckle-chewing, practising your impulse control or praying for death – not necessarily your own.  This shit is just plain boring, completely lacking that addictive moreish quality that all soaps have.  You’ll find yourself thanking god every time an episode ends and cursing the devil every time another begins.
 
LAST WORDS:
It’s bad enough when you have shit actors trying to do horror.  But comedy?  Oh good god, no!  And not just comedy, but a spoof?  Bitch, are you outta your damn mind?!  The skills needed to pull it off are far beyond the reach of nearly everyone involved.  Just because something isn’t meant to be taken seriously doesn’t mean that it isn’t still a giant pile of cow shit.  What kind of excuse is that?  Movies in general aren’t to be taken seriously.

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David Brent: Life on the Road - Rating: * * * *

8/23/2016

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A spin off of the classic BBC comedy The Office, David Brent: Life on the Road follows David Brent who is now working as a Rep...and he's in a band. The film follows Brent's self funded tour of local venues with his band Foregone Conclusion but not everything goes the way Brent thought it would.

David Brent: Life on the Road is one of those films which is both funny and touching at the same time. Brent's journey is a long one, which doesn't really go far. He is a character you just have to feel for , he puts all his money into a music tour only to book gigs in a small london area. He pays for a band who hate him and has a bunch of songs which are all pretty racist, sexist or insulting. This is what makes the film so funny though, the tracks in this film are halarious but crazily play really well. I loved Lady Gypsy before I even saw the film and there are some balls out funny songs like Native American, Don't Make Fun of the Disabelds and my favorite Equality Street. The story does however have a touching side we see Brent realize about his life, his need to be popular and his drive to keep going right to the very end even when people put you down. 

Life on the Road is a very funny film, a dry humor but very funny.  I was never a massive fan of The Office, this wasn't really a show I bothered with in my younger days, however I do find Ricky Gervais very funny from his stand up and films like Ghost Town. What got me excited for the film was the music video Lady Gypsy, which is a very catchy song and to be fair Gervais has a very good singing voice. You don't need to be a fan of The Office to enjoy this film. I would even suggest listening to the album as well, it is HILARIOUS.
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Ghosts in the Machine (House of VHS) - Rating * (Reviewed by Louis Stephenson)

8/23/2016

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​THE STORY:
An eclectic gang of young’uns decide to spend their summer holiday in a deserted house, despite there being no power or water.  There they happen across a bunch of VHS tapes and a working VCR.  But there is more to this machine, as they will soon discover…
 
So basically it’s Ab Fab’s ‘France’ episode meets V/H/S (2012).  Except it’s not funny…or scary…
 
Originally titled House of VHS (2016), Ghosts has a score of 7.2 out of 10 on IMDb.com.  If you’ve frequented the site enough times you’ll have learned by now that this score is better than most other horror movies.  Other entirely superior horror movies…  So what’s happened here then?  Ah-hah!  It has but only 16 votes to its name.  Let’s take a wild guess and say that the votes came from the cast & crew, the director’s girlfriend, his best mate and his mum.
 
Almost everything about this movie is juvenile.  From the acting to the writing, even the music.  It all feels so ludicrous that it’s as if the film was literally made for toddlers.  The worst of the bunch are Isabel McCann and Petur Oskar Sigurdsson, simply credited as The British Girl and The American Guy.  Isabel acts like that highly-annoying, pig-tailed, crazy-eyed, bouncy blonde kids’ TV presenter that haunts every child’s Saturday morning with Petur as her dumb-as-a-rock, ill-timed sidekick.
 
The music is just as irksome as it bips and bops along with the sickeningly sugar-sweet light-heartedness of a bad Disney movie, or one of those shitty Christmas movies you find on Channel 5.
 
LAST WORDS
An actual reviewer/blogger from the movie’s UK DVD cover states that this movie is “what horror fans have been waiting for”.  For their sake, we can only pray they were misquoted…
 
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Looking: The Movie - Rating: * * * * (Reviewed by Louis Stephenson)

8/23/2016

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THE STORY:

Patrick Murray (Jonathan Groff) returns to San Francisco for the wedding of best friend Augustine, played by Frankie J. Alvarez, to his partner Eddie (Daniel Franzese).  While in town he questions why he left and what it means to be happy.  After some harsh truths from former boss and ex- lover Kevin (Russell Tovey), will Patrick finally learn what it takes to love and truly commit to ex-boyfriend Richie (Raul Castillo), the love of his life?
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This one-off TV special brings the ground-breaking U.S series, Looking (2014), about three gay men looking for love in San Francisco to a satisfactory close.  Helmed by executive producer Andrew Haigh, writer and director of indie tear-jerker, Weekend (2011), who also wrote and directed several of the 18 episodes of the show’s 2-season run, naturally Haigh was the man to help Looking take its final bow.
 
Lead Jonathan Groff is terrific as lonely heart Patrick Murray, and those long and pained moments of silent yearning are when this gifted actor’s talent shines at its brightest.  His quiet sadness overflows with the heart-breaking emptiness aching within every soul that can only be filled by the unconditional love of another human being.  That special someone to grow old and gay with.
 
Daniel Franzese of Mean Girls (2004) fame delivers some great comedic bursts in the frantic approach to his own wedding.  Meanwhile, the gang’s token straight chick Doris, played by the wonderful Lauren Weedman, is as magnetic and hilarious as ever as she simultaneously complains and gushes about descending further into her own heterosexuality.
 
A surprise performance comes from Tovey, who I’ve never really cared for, but here he nails the emotion of the scene as he and Patrick part ways for the last time.  Unfortunately, things just don’t feel quite as resolved for Dom, a series mainstay, but I guess both the show and this movie wouldn’t be what they are if someone wasn’t still looking.
 
LAST WORDS:

Looking: The Movie was commissioned by HBO as a means of resolution, to tie up all the loose ends left hanging from the season 2 finale.  Thankfully, Haigh’s film does so much more than that.  It helps the loyal, the invested, the hard-journeyed fans say goodbye to characters that felt like the most genuine representation of who they are.  And seen as the end is nigh, it brings the drama!  We do love a bit of that.  Naturally…
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The Shallows - Rating: * *

8/18/2016

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When surfer girl Nancy decided to find the beach her mother once went to when she was pregnant with her, the last thing she thought she would be doing is fighting off a great white shark. While surfing near a dead whale carcass Nancy is attacked and injured by the great white and finds her self stranded on a rock which will soon be submerged. With only a seagull for company Nancy must either risk her life or wait to die.

AHHHHH I am so torn about this film, part of me wants to say it is a good film but 90% of me really didn't like it. I wasn't really that impressed with Lively and the film had more shots of her arse than the shark throughout and this was a major downfall from the outset, the film was trying to make itself seem sexy. I imagine the director and writer talking it though "i know lets do slow motion shots of Nancy's arse. No No slower okay now slowly do up your wetsuit" and this cheapens the film in a way and this is the first thing we get. The rest of the film doesn't fair much better really, the tension wasn't there and I didn't really feel like I cared about the character in the slightest, although a few people have disagreed with me on this over on Facebook but this isn't anything new.

There are few moments where the film does well, I thought the placement of the rock was perfect distance from the shore, I liked the spiky corral surrounding the rock and I thought the setting was beautiful....and that's about it.

I may be being a little harsh on the film, Lively wasn't terrible for example but I found it boring, lacking any tension and annoying at points i.e the end of the showdown with the shark. 

There is a group of horror fans who will love this film, and I very much know this due to some long conversations with a few people, but we were not the only ones who left the cinema disappointed on this night.
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Finding Dory - Rating: * * * *

8/14/2016

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"Hi i'm Dory, i suffer from short-term remembery loss" and from the moment you see those big cute eyes for baby Dory Pixar melts the heart of every man, woman and child around the world. Finding Dory hit cinemas a few weeks back (this review is a little late...sorry about that) but if i'm honest I was starting to have my doubts about this one. I love Finding Nemo, it will forever belong in my top 10 films of all time but on watching the trailers for Dory nearly every time I went to the cinema over the last few months It was actually starting to grate on me a little. Oh was I wrong, this is a really fun movie full of new hilarious characters, and some familiar faces too.

Finding Dory follows Dory's story from her childhood in series of flashbacks as adult Dory, along with Nemo and Marvin head the California to find Dory's parents. Dory finds herself separated from the the father and and end up in a fish hospital where see meets a grouchy Octopus who reluctantly helps her to find her family in return for a re-homing tag. Along the way we have Marvin and Nemo's attempts to find Dory but the main route follows our forgetful hero.

Finding Dory is a sweet little film but it is also a story about friendship and celebrating differences. Nearly all the characters in the film have some kind of health problem or disability which is such a fresh thing in animated films. It is a lesson in acceptance and believing in yourself no matter what, a little bit like the Paralympic adverts on C4 that tell the world "Yes I Can"

The stand out moments in Finding Dory are without a shadow of a doubt the Baby Dory scenes. This will be a top selling toy at Christmas this year I will put money on it! but man are these emotional scenes, I teared up several times during these scenes, especially the one heart wrenching line "What if I forget you? Would you ever forget me?" KNIFE IN THE HEART!!!!!!! 

Finding dory is a beautiful film. A great cast of characters with some funny newcomers to the franchise. Is it a good as Finding Nemo? Not quite but it sure is up there with films like Toy Story 2 when it comes to sequels. You MUST take your kids to see this and if you don't have kids....go see it yourself!

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Southbound - Rating: * * *

8/14/2016

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THE STORY:
Two blood-stained criminals on the run from a crime they have just committed.  A 3-piece girl rock band on tour break down and take refuge with members of a cult.  A man trying to find his way home runs over a stranger and tries to save their life with the help of some strange voices.  A desperate brother braves a demon infested bar looking for his missing sister.  And a family are set upon by a trio of masked intruders out for blood.  Watch as these 5 tales weaves together in a web of terror…

What fell short for me about this anthology of 5 interwoven horror stories is that they don’t even fully commit to this concept.  Whilst segments such as the cult initiation, the abandoned hospital and the demon bar entwine effectively enough, the home invasion storyline is introduced almost with a shrug.  Like a child’s relay race on sports day, “Okay, it’s your turn.  Now run!”  The characters from the 1st and 2nd narratives don’t even cross paths at all.

Being a fan of the V/H/S series, I wanted to enjoy this movie wholeheartedly.  In the case of V/H/S, each chapter had its own strength – not including Ti West’s contribution – but at least you felt like they were all on the same level.  This is most definitely not the case for Southbound, sadly.  There’s an undeniable odour of predictability to segments such as the cult initiation and the demon bar that just reeks of been-there, done-that.

The abandoned hospital segment, entitled The Accident, is miles ahead of the other stops on this highway to hell in terms of  atmosphere, direction and acting.  Mather Zickel gives the standout performance of the movie as Lucas, a careless driver who must perform life-saving surgery in a deserted operating room on the very soul he has just ran over.  This one strikes a cord because it touches upon the moral and spiritual dilemmas that can plague an actual surgeon’s mind, at some point in their career.  David Bruckner directs here, which comes as no surprise as he helmed the terrifying opener to V/H/S, Amateur Night.  So far the only V/H/S short to earn itself a feature-length spin-off.  ‘Nuff said!

LAST WORDS:
It lacks both the cohesiveness and the consistency of superior horror anthologies such as Trick’r Treat (2007), but this one is still worth a peek.  



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Suicide Squad *Spoiler Review*  - Rating: * * * *

8/12/2016

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So Suicide Squad has finally hit the big screen and the critics have been panning it to the extreme. However i'm not one to listen to these big time critics, I would rather give a film a shot for myself and this time around I am so glad I did. I LOVE this film, Suicide Squad has taken, what seems to be a lack luster end of the summer film run, and turned in on the road to recovery. I just don't get the hate for this film, yes it may not be a perfect film but what they HAVE brought to the table is so very well done.
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Now first off I have never really delved into the world of DC much comic book wise, I tend to stick more to Marvel so before anyone starts trying to call me a major DC fan boy, I'm not one. I hated Man of Steel and still can't be bothered to see Batman V Superman but on say that I'm more likely to see Batman v Superman off the back of watching Suicide Squad....Crazy right? 

Let u start with The Joker, A HUGE gripe with some people, who I thought was used just enough, and here is why. Joker was never a major part in the film even being teased in the trailer, however if you see the trailers he was never said to be the villain and he was never pictured really as a major part of the film. Thing is story wise he WAS a major part of the film but being a major part of the film doesn't mean you have to be in the film throughout. The joker character is set to be Harley's motivation, it is her addiction to be with him and is what is driving her character throughout the film. The Joker is Harley's reason for being in the film, she is how she is because of him and it is her trying to get back to her Pudding who will in the save her. Look at Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal Lecter, we saw very little of him during this film yet he was the main focus due to the Manhunt film and the Red Dragon book which came before. Yet he was in the film just enough and anymore could have ruined it. There was no need for more Joker and even though we would all love to see more of him it is a brilliant prelude to his appearance in either Justice League or the solo Batman film.

The Squad as a whole worked pretty well together. Sure there may not have been alot of compatibility between some of them but there wouldn't be. These are BAD GUYS they are pretty much the scum of the earth, well aside from Deadshoot and kind of Diablo who want to atone for their crimes. Harley's connection with Deadshoot could see a future story arch in a sequel, you could tell he started to warm to her a little as the film continued. Will Smith stole the show in this film, his portrayal of Deadshoot wasn't called in either. We saw a Will Smith from his hayday and he looked like he was having a hell of a lot of fun with the character. I personally could see a solo film in the character's future. Diablo was a haunted soul, he killed his family and turned himself in. This is a man who doesn't want to hurt anyone else with his powers, refusing to use them through most of the film. He was a well fleshed out member of team who could have easily been turned into a secondary character like Captain Boomerang and Katana.

Was Suicide Squad a perfect film? Nope. Was the Enchantress a god awful villain? Yes but so are alot of the villains in the marvel films but for some reason this is the be all and end all for a DC film. End of the day Suicide Squad was a bloody fun film, a film I would happily choose over Captain America: Winter Soldier or Iron Man 2. It was action packed with laughs and a brilliant cast. It may have been cut to hell thanks to the dire reviews of BvS but lets just hope and extended edition comes out on Blu-Ray. One of my top films of the summer without a doubt.

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