Reviews

Brilliant character study.

Tone, pacing and direction were spot on - honestly didn't expect much at all, just stuck this on one night, on my partner's recommendation - and was gripped the entire time.

I love a story that isn't cheap, or that leans on clichés - and what I took away from this film was that it genuinely was fresh and unique.

Will Wheaton crushed it, his performance was wildly unsettling, striking the perfect balance between friendly and creepy.

Brian and Amy both gave stellar performances as well as Kathleen.

One thing I didn't expect from this film was the overwhelming emotion, scenes that brought a tear to my eye as the film tackles the subject of dementia, a theme expertly woven into this tale of isolation and psychosis.

Honestly I could rant all day - this film is a hidden gem and if you're into good indie thrillers, definitely don't sleep on Rent-A-Pal.

Back when this aired, I was admittedly, a much younger, more hot-tempered, boisterous person in his early twenties. I hated the episode, felt a lack of substance and thought it wasted time with so much nonsense.

Revisiting it many years later whilst killing time on a flight, having matured and developed a more steady and level headed manner, I realise now how subtle and well crafted this mystery is.

The "case" so to speak, is expertly interwoven throughout the whole episode, right under our very noses - which makes this episode an all the more rewarding experience upon a rewatch.

I used to think Sherlock was flawless as a series, but having grown out of it a little with age, a lot of the episodes have fallen quite short in terms of their string of logic justifying the actions of either the villain, or Sherlock himself.

So you can imagine my surprise when the one episode I was adamant remained a terrible instalment, has managed to subvert all my former opinions with its brilliance.

The format of the episode is what lends itself well to this one, instead of events unfolding before our very eyes, the clues and reveals of the case are kept as a secondary nerve to the events we are presented with at face value - nevertheless, these events are but a red herring to distract the audience from the well hidden facts of the case which we are presented with, but cannot spot as they slip by you in you aren't paying the utmost attention.

Overall, the case builds itself well, and holds together very soundly, all the while we are given some excellent character development and dynamic interaction

The only part it falls short is the way Sherlock is just "able to figure it out" because "it matters now" - but this is exactly the plot element that is so prevalent in many other episodes, less so in The Sign of Three.

Pleasantly surprised with this outing after the hugely disappointing Raya and the Last Dragon.

Had a lot of heart and left me teary eyed at the end. They focus a lot on character building and relationship development in this film which makes for a wonderful payoff.

I'll probably put this on my list of films to watch again.

As a VERY pessimistic cinema goer who is more often than not put off by the prospect of sequels - I was left dumbfounded at how amazingly perfect this was.

THIS is how you do a sequel - Kick Ass 2 is more uncompromising, more cut-throat and more serious in terms of the consequences that Dave has to face with every action he takes in his fight against The Mother F*cker and his evil forces. The whole plot of the movie shows how the three main characters have broken away from their original lifestyles all because of the events of the first film. Dave is taking his superhero lifestyle further, Mindy is trying to give it up, and Chris (MP) gives an explosive performance as Frank Damico's son who is now going slowly insane following the death of his father.

Hit Girl's conflicting identity was a fantastic nod to the superhero genre - as the first sequel of any superhero movie always involves this storyline one way or another. We really see Mindy's maturity in this film, as she comes to terms with who she really is and tries to fit in to a normal environment in high school. The scenes involving Mindy and the popular girls at her school didn't take away from the experience whatsoever - I was initially worried that there was going to be gratuitous amours of "Mean Girls" chick flick type scenes - but the writers and the directors kept this to a minimal, and it played out very well as Chlöe Grace- Moretz displays a wonderful performance as a girl out of her natural element.

The actor who replaced Marcus did an incredible job of transferring the persona from the original actor - the same cant be said for Todd's new actor unfortunately, as I really found myself hating Todd throughout the entire movie due to the actor's lack of likability. The old Todd we knew didn't exist and this new persona the actor portrayed kind of sucked to be honest.

All in all, the separate storyline's of each character broke off cleanly from one another before neatly coming back together for a brutal final half of the film. Kick Ass 2 is shocking, hilarious and heart-wrenchingly gripping. So much takes place in just an hour and 45 minutes that it felt much longer, yet never once dragged.

I loved Kick Ass 2. Every minute of it. And after this year's failure that was Iron Man 3, I'm glad that THIS was the film which restored my faith in the Superhero genre of film.

Bring on Kick Ass 3 !!

First of all, the plot of this film was so jumpy - didn't know who was where due to bad pacing. One minute he's in Rose Hill - next he's in Miami. Way too disconnected,an unbalanced time frame which failed to suck me in.

In regards to the Mandarin plot twist - well that was just a downright insult to both Iron Man fans and Non-fans alike. WHO in their right mind allowed Shane Black to take the reigns on this one?

Plus the plot twist was revealed way too early, and the fact that they used a terrible comedy scene to reveal it was not the best way to get me drawn into the story. I was instead sat there with a blank expression - I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Tony's resourcefulness I will agree on though - he had various tricks up his sleeve and that's what did it for me, it was one of the few things that kept me interested and one of the only parts of the film that felt like a true Iron Man movie.

The little kid Harley was so generic, I felt like I was watching family home alone movie again. He mainly existed to set Stark up for terrible one liners and did little else except deter the plot awfully.

Maya, Aldridge's assistant, could have been a much more crucial role too - the film spent half the time building her up to become a crucial element to the plot - only to throw her away after her sudden change of heart (you know, after 12+ years working for Aldridge.)

I understand she had become corrupted over a period of time getting lost in her work. So how can the film justify her sudden change of heart after a two sentence speech from Tony? Completely bad plot device and not useful.

The one liners in the film started off as funny, but soon became painfully unfunny and repetitive. It no longer felt like Stark had that classy sarcastic wit - instead he was just throwing out joke after joke which devalued his character we all grew to know and love.

There was so much room for deep, genuine heartfelt scripting and the film just passed these moments up to get a few cheap shock laughs from the audience - most of which didn't even have an impact.

They screwed this one up and I'm glad they aren't doing another one - I was happy with the ending though, it was the only way to truly finish Iron Man in style.

Marvel always has me leaving the cinema with an expression of awe.

But not this time, and for good reason.