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Reviews
ID2: Shadwell Army (2016)
Possibly the worst screenplay of all time
The performances are actually reasonably strong apart from the monotone lead. The cinematography is passable given the no doubt restrictive budget. What lets the whole thing down is quite possibly the worst, meandering, irrelevant screenplay ever put to film. This genre is not rocket science and has a reasonable tribe of bloodlust wannabe hooligans ready to spend 90 mins to be entertained. What they don't want to watch is some convoluted, political, unrealistic mess. Hooligans giving up there tickets to a home Euro tie? One bus of rival fans that looked to have women and children aboard? Pity as there are some good performances.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
About an hour longer than it should be
You know a film has missed the mark when you are pleading for it to end. At almost 2.5 hours, too many silly and unnecessary character turns. I'm no gun nut but 20k rounds were fired in this film with zero casualties. Why have any weapons? Other than some neat visuals, there is no connection to characters and only Bugs gives a performance of any note. May appeal to Matrix romantics, but it really doesn't offer anything new.
The Last Duel (2021)
Miscast and unnecessarily long
Does this film take you back to 14th century France? In some parts yes, but I just can't accept Matt Damon and Ben Affleck playing French chivalry. Completely miscast. Entire scenes are unnecessarily duplicated and when the opening scene is the 2 protagonists preparing to duel then you know what the outcome of the trial is going to be!! Ridley should have passed on this one.
Dune (2021)
Lots of other films rolled into one
This is a visually impressive film but it seems to be a collection of ideas we have already seen before. Evil Emperor, supernatural powers, warring clans, harsh sandscapes. Or maybe Dune was first? Unimpressed with the moody male lead. Not a patch on Blade Runner 2049.
Wrath of Man (2021)
Action yes but multiple plot holes
To be honest I still don't know who the lead character was? Good guy? Bad guy? Action sequences ok but just a truck load of plot holes and not believable scenarios. Leave your brain at home for this one.
1917 (2019)
Takes you into trenches but doesn't drag you in.
This is a good film. Visually excellent and gives you a real feel of what it would have been like on the front line WW1. There is a feeling of haven't we been here before referring to Saving Private Ryan and a little Gallipoli at the end. There is terrific tension and drama. However the leads are miscast. They came across as a couple of Eton boys. Perhaps that was the intent, that war heros are not necessarily all tough alpha males, but it detracts from the film. Don't mean Jason Statham or the Rock, but more presence needed.
Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019)
So incredibly disappointing.
Like most of the feee world, I love QT, but it pains me to say he has almost completely lost the plot. Firstly this is not a movie. It is pieces and scenes muddled together with an almost scrambled last 10 minutes attempting to validate the previous 2 hours 30 (err Quentin you forgot the plot part?). Acting, music, style yes, you can get that in a documentary. QT has forsaken the art of story telling and replaced it with art behind the art of story telling, in this film he has left out the story bit. This is his 9th, I don't know where to from here. He mastered story telling and building character through cool and cutting dialogue/scenes, clever interplays and cruel, shocking twists. I waited 150 minutes any of this in this movie and it never came. I thought Hateful 8 was a blown out, self indulgent one off, but OUATIH continues the slide. Wanted, scriptwriter and an editor if there is a 10.
Wild Hogs (2007)
Hogwash
I'm not sure who or what market this film was aimed at, if it was for mid life crisis types, their crisis can only have worsened. Films like this I can only question how it got past the early production stage, and why the actors and producers might have thought that cutting their losses is a better option than having this stain on their careers. This stinker may even have had an effect on sending Harley purchases the wrong way down the highway. Don't waste your time.