Reviews

This film had potential to be an ok teen scream flick. The story has a little bit more depth than you might at first expect. It's not scary or suspenseful though. There are no real jump scares. And they didn't lean much into the comedic moments which could have made it at least a comedy.

The list of negatives is rather long:

The acting is terrible. Just terrible.

The special effects are awful. The lowest quality CGI you are likely to see.

Stock footage in movies is always poor but this film keeps reusing the same footage. Several of the outdoors shots were used over and over again.

The video had serious frame rate issues causing the film to have constant very slight but noticeable stutters in playback. I suspect it had been badly converted from 24fps to 25fps for UK.

Tells the story of a pandemic that wipes out much of the population. Steers clear of the tired zombie story and goes for more of a how quick do people become feral when the world falls apart story. Set in a private school, there are definite modern day Lord of the Flies vibe.

The main characters are well played as their characters change drastically in response to events. Sebastian Croft obviously hadn't reached his current stardom as his part was miniscule.

There are moments where you will laugh and then wonder if you were meant to. I couldn't quite suss if this was pure drama or if black humour was the aim.

The many many deaths are suitably gruesome and just keep coming as the film builds to a satisfying end.

Worth a watch.

You really need to push through the first 20 minutes of this film. Some of the most contrived, pointless, and badly acted scenes you're likely to see. Had a daytime TV vibe to it with lots of long camera holds and lines delivered with wooden flare. I came very close to turning off as it really was quite painful to watch.

Once we reach the bank heist part of the film things do pick up a lot. It's nothing original but there's lots of action, mayhem, violence and explosions. This was entirely more watchable.

If you like Cage then it's an ok watch. Just don't expect too much. There's definitely better action films.

Filmed almost entirely in what looked to be a real plane cabin and a 'command centre' set there was no massive spend on location shoots, that's for sure.

There was certainly a story here. A few good twists in the plot too. I suspect those absolutely panning the film might have not watched to the end. It was perfectly watchable.

As is so often the case with this type of film, there was a big cameo, on this occasion Alec Baldwin. I suspect much of the meager $7m budget was eaten up by that one actor.

So what let the film down? There was very little character development at the outset. You just seemed to be thrown straight into the story. This is partly excusable as it makes sense as the story goes along to find out more, and some flashbacks help further that understanding. But it did still feel a little like part of this was down to not wanting preamble of airport or boarding as that would have driven up costs. The acting is verging on wooden. A terrorist story with zero terror. Some of the scenes were just absurd with things happening unseen that could not possibly be missed. The director really needed to get more from the actors and setup.

My biggest grumble though is one of bad editing. The continuity in several scenes was laughable. Audio not matching video: Reading pressure gauges where the numbers being said don't match what is visible on screen, entering a code where the person is pressing the keys a second before being told what key to press. Mismatched acting: the plane is depressurising with windows cracking, metal buckling, and passengers in agony but we keep cutting back to the leads who seem barely affected. Set design: the monitors in the command centre have cables when you see them front on powered up but in reverse angle shots there are magically no cables plugged in at all.

And I know I won't be the only one to think it. This film is called 97 minutes and runs for 93 minutes. Come on. Surely you could have found an extra four minutes!

This was my first venture into the Sharknado universe. Apparently there were four films before this one but I doubt that matters much to the story.

This was just a wonderfully silly film. It knew it was silly, and it leaned into the fact fully. I was reminded of 80s nonsense like Naked Gun/Top Secret. It wasn't as full of puns but it was funny for the sheer stupidity.

There wasn't much of a story, just enough to be completely preposterous. It did fair jump about the globe for no obvious reason, much like a James Bond movie. The CGI was appalling. The acting was wooden. The cameos were spectacularly bonkers.

I don't think this will win an Oscar but it made me properly laugh from beginning to end so I can't not recommend it.

Not much happening here. The story was kind of a very watered down Total Recall just without any of the suspense, fun, or interest. Humans on Mars under big domes. Sand storms might kill them all if the ONE expert can't save the day à la every other bargain basement sci-fi movie ever made.

The entire budget must have gone on buying the CGI which was for the most part ok. The sets, costumes, and props on the other hand were embarrassingly bad! Wet suits for space suits, toy plastic masks painted silver for helmets, black pallets screwed to every wall to make them look all space shippy. It was so hilariously bad you wouldn't have noticed from laughing if the story had secretly been brilliant, which it wasn't!

I'd give this one a miss.

E. L. E. Is one of those short-lived series that were going to be the next big thing. A couple of ten minute short episodes to consume on your phone. But like the rest of them they all crop up now as 'movies' on Prime and the like. Stuck together this one added up to 43 minutes which is very short by any standard for a movie.

All that said, the premise is quite clever. It is filmed in one continuous take. Like 1917 there might be some clever edit cuts in there somewhere but they weren't obvious. That makes me rate the actors as their performance was decent anyway but doing it under that additional pressure is impressive.

The location plays the part of a military base well. Wouldn't be surprised if it was a disused base. The set decoration in the command centre is very cheap looking sadly which detracts from the authenticity. Shop-bought laptops and yellow walkie talkies that looked like toys.

The story had legs but too many plot holes. The end was a bit disappointing as it didn't explain or conclude much.

Another half hour, a stronger script with an ending, and a bigger set budget and this could have been really good.

This film looks good. Largely filmed in the wilderness it's nice enough to look at. When the aliens arrive the ship hangs in the sky like an updated V. The advertising for the film focused on these impressive images which is what caught my eye.

Being positive, the idea is ok, the acting is ok, and the sfx and makeup is ok.

BUT it is just so dull. After a promising first 15 minutes it loses all its steam.

First up, this is really a zombie film and not aliens. The afore mentioned ship in the sky scene is as close to aliens as it gets.

Very little happens and what does happen makes little sense. Think a very long uneventful episode of The Walking Dead.

By the ending I had really lost all interest and any understanding of what was going on. In the closing scenes I couldn't tell if there was even a conclusion.

In a quality bit of writing, a full on argument about not using a flare as it would give away their location is followed seconds later with them all carrying flaming torches.

A good little bit of silly to pass some time.

This is one os those comedies that if you went to see it in cinema you might feel a little cheated by there not being enough full on belly laughs, but as a straight-to-streamer it is definitely above average on quality and fun.

There's plenty of actors you'll recognise and they get into their roles and don't take themselves too serious. Which is good in a day and age where too many 'big' names take on such roles and just phone in the acting.

There's really not much of a storyline so it's a great film to watch when you just want something warm, light-hearted and not too demanding of brain power.

There was potential here but the end result was just a bit all over the place. It really wanted to be a full on comedy with the cast it had but for some reason it never quite got there. Some of the scenes were really quite dark as it flirted with serious drama. The writer and director really should have picked a lane.

Kaley looked awful which never seemed to quite fit the role. Turns out she was pregnant and was in reality ill during filming so this was maybe making it onto screen. I wonder if this may even have led to some changes during filming that might explain the mish mash the film is?

The film is watchable. The acting is ok. Bill Nighy is a stand out as always. Production values are good. Just a shame about the script.

My first test for any film is do I watch it to the end? And with this one I have to admit it was enjoyable enough to stick it out so hammering it with a one star rating would seem harsh.

So starting with the bad:

The storyline. It is so silly it's beyond words. Some shadowy world government is coming to take over America. Bizarrely they are operating as the UN which just ups the silly. Red Dawn took plausibility and stretched it to the absolute limits. This film snaps it in half then slaps you about the face with it like a wet kipper. There are some weird tropes like a 'crisis actor' thrown in for good measure along with a strangely forced conversation about GMO crops. Writer obviously had a point they were determined to shoehorn in there.

The budget. This was clearly made on the stringiest of shoe string budgets. I've put up bigger tents at a weekend of camping than the 'military base' in the early scenes. And the cast for a film like this needs to be huge. It was tiny. To the point where they had to try and explain it away in the dialogue 'a good small squad is better than a big squad'.

The acting. With the exception of the lead, Spencer Neville, who I've never heard of before, the rest of the cast were as wooden as wood can be. There were moments when you could believe they were actually reading cue cards. Neville actually improved as the film went on and was one of the saving graces.

The audio. What was wrong with the sound in this film? It was so hard to hear what people were saying in the first half of film. Levels were all wrong.

The good:

When the action kicked in it was actually not bad. The CGI explosions were better than some low budget horrors I've seen.

There was occasional humour so at least the makers mustn't have taken this nonsense too seriously.

There was accidental humour too. Just watch for the UN helicopter that looks more like a traffic copter that fires missiles out of nowhere. Made me giggle.

I went into this one expected it to be a cheap knock-off of Air Force One. It's really not, beyond the title and protagonist being a war criminal orchestrating release from prison. The rest of the story is very different. Significantly it's not set on board a plane. I think the book this is based on pre-dates the Hollywood movie.

This is also not a film. It's a TV miniseries. So that makes me manage my expectations a bit om the budget.

With both these things in mind I actually think this is not a bad show. The acting is for the most part decent. There are one or two 'baddies' who are silly cliches. The Serb captain who is smoking the stub of a cigar in every scene is just bad direction. The actor is actually ok when he gets some lines. His female companion is very wooden. Don't think the director can be blamed for her poor acting though. It's just bad! She also smokes constantly. Must be a bad guy thing.

The three heroes of the story are an Irish UN soldier, a British diplomat, and an American journalist. Bit of a far fetched mix but hey it's fiction, we'll let it slide. Linda Hamilton gets a few cameos as the star name actor for the show playing the president.

Refreshingly there are a lot of location shoots in this show rather than cheap set-filming that low budget shows are guilty of. The special effects are not dreadful.

The story is a bit silly in places but overall it's an enjoyable watch. There are enough twists and turns to keep you engaged.

Shown on Amazon in UK as "Final Days".

This was a surprisingly good film. Gets off to a fast start setting up the zombie apocalypse story nicely. Nothing new here and doesn't dwell on the why or how - just the bleakness of it all.

Tyler Posey portrays his character well and carries much of the movie with the camera focused on him. He brings just the right level of fear, sadness, and even humour to the role. There are only three significant characters in total so not unfair to say this was very much his movie.

I'm guessing not a huge budget but the makeup and violence for the zombie scenes was solid. The run length is just right.

As my title suggested, this was no simple survive the zombies movie. The main storyline running through the horror was actually a love story. The main character Aidan has a loving family but no real love with a significant other. The apocalypse brings with it an unexpected chance of happiness.

A definite recommend from me.

Follows the very standard format of the show as shown in other countries.

The comedians are good but I was disappointed by the lack of variety. Seems to be the same few people over and over in different combinations. If you need to reuse the same person twice in a single short-run season then that's a bit dire. Not Canadian so I can't say if this is a lack of talent to choose from or just a lack of talent wanting to participate.

My only harsh criticism for the show would be the presenter. He's just not funny enough to be a host on a show like this. Compare to someone like Jimmy Carr on the UK version and this becomes even more apparent.

I really don't know why I'm bothering. The producers, directors, writers, and show-runners on The Rookie obviously don't care what viewers think. They obviously don't read reviews. They obviously don't test episodes. Time and time again the overwhelming outcry has been STOP making these garbage documentary episodes. But here we go again. Another one!

It is BORING!

It is NOT FUNNY!

If the actors on this show had one ounce of integrity or credibility they would actually straight up refuse to be involved in such poorly scripted, lazy, excuses for episodes.

Sadly, if they can't be bothered making a full season and just want to pad out with rubbish then I think it's time to cancel the show and put the actors out of their misery.

I wish I could give zero stars!

This is another one of those shows you've never heard of then stumble on it by accident on Prime. They can be really hit and miss, to the point I've stopped watching many before episode 1 is done.

This one did something unexpected. Despite obvious low(ish) budget production values - they're hard to deny - the story was genuinely immediately interesting. I wanted to see what happened next. The lead actor James DeWitt is an absolute unknown to me, but I found him very endearing. He is for the most part very deadpan and unemotional. This could just be a lack of acting range but it really suited this character perfectly so I'm going to be kind and really rate him. And I honestly felt the production got increasingly better as the episodes progressed.

Ten episodes was just the right side of stretching it. They could probably have got away with 8 but it definitely benefited from TV form rather than a rushed movie. Be warned though, it is a 'stuck in a time loop' story so it gets increasingly confusing towards the end as you try to remember what has and has not happened. Not a show to watch if you're only half paying attention.

Overall this is not a big commitment in terms of time and well worth a watch. It does a sci-fi repeated time story without the deep science of something like Looper. And it touches on some religious vibes without the heaviness of something like Left Behind.

They have tried this interview style episode a few times on the main Rookie show. And, I'm pretty sure they were the worst rated episodes ever. Yet here we go again. No new ideas, no lessons learned, and not one ounce of writing talent it seems.

I wanted to like this series as the original is good chewing gum telly. But the characters are so poorly written. The stories are going nowhere. The main character is soooooo far from believable as an agent it's painful. The droning voice and how every criminal can be compared to some school boy she counseled. There's a difference between suspending disbelief for to enjoy a piece of fiction and accepting outright nonsense.

This episode was pathetic and if this show gets renewed then the world truly has gond mad.

Just when I thought Lionsgate were becoming a bit of a reliable player for good films - along comes this rather disappointing entry.

This film wanted to be really dark like Seven but pulled its punches as if it still wanted to be ok for daytime TV. As others have said there were more than nods to other films of the genre too. Silence of the Lambs and Fallen being two obvious ones.

The story was too pedestrian and by the 'big reveal' at the end I honestly didn't care. The acting was weak and although there are several known-name actors they were all either completely miscast or just phoning in their performances.

The production values screamed low budget and 70s B movie. Green-screening interior car scenes and speeding up playback to make things look faster in modern films is simply criminal.

Overall, I made it to the end, so it's not the worst film. But I won't be recommending it to friends!

I stumbled on this by accident and would have been tempted to skip with all the negative reviews. But I know Lonsdale from his small roles in Love Simon and Love Victor where he was good so gave it a shot. I think the negative reviews are nothing to do with honest reviews of a comedy film.

This was a genuinely silly and funny film. The characters were all so OTT and ridiculous. That was the point! It's not bad acting, it's brilliant acting.

I initially thought we might be heading for a bad Weird Science rip off when Sprouse announced he was going to create a boyfriend but the social media twist was clever and had some serious undertones if you want to look for any depth.

The biggest point that the haters seem to have missed is that this film was funny. I was laughing all the way through and when so many comedies fail on that simple point I give it the credit it is due.

I look forward to seeing Lonsdale front and centre in more movies. Keep it up young man and ignore the negativity. It's a thumbs up from me!