scottishgeekguy

This is a BONKERS, BONKERS movie, and its got the funniest line of year, possibly the decade....

Peter Dinklage stars in this remake / reboot of the 80s 'classic' the Toxic Avenger

Dinklage plays Waylon Gooze, a single step parent trying to do his best realising his teenage stepson while working as a janitor at Kevin Bacons Toxic Waste plant.

Meanwhile Taylour Paige plays JJ, a reporter / investigator trying to blew the whistle on corporate bad guy Kevin Bacon and his nefarious company and toxic waste dumping shenanigans (theres also a sub plot involving Kavin BAcons character owing money to the mob)

Waylon sees some stuff he shouldn't, he ends up falling / being pushed in a vat of toxic waste and he becomes, the TOXIC AVENGER.

Opens with a fun tongue in cheek smash cut montage with voice over from Peter DInklage, that goes some way to set the tone for the type of movie we're in for

Elijah Wood as Bacon's right hand man / brother is kind of a mix between The Penguin and his version of Gollum.

When he's on screen its great, but it feels like he's underused in this movie

Bacon is the one who steals the show, It felt like he was the only one who 100% got the tone of the movie.

Dinklage isn't bad, far from it, but it did kinda feel like he was acting in a different movie that everyone else at times, felt that way with Jacob Tremblay & Tsylour Paige.

The Killer NUTZ (the gang of thugs who also happen to be a band) who carry out the dirty work for BAcon / Wood, look like they wandered off the set of a Purge movie onto the Toxic Avenger set.....

Tone wise, for the most part it confidently has in tingue in its cheek, but at times that tone seems to falter a nit and some elements feel like they're from a different movie.

Once the first act is done and dusted, its feels like the movie settles in to itself and is comfortable in its own skin, and then we as the audience settle in and enjoy the ride.

And it is a BONKER ride. Its also bloody HILARIOUS at times. There's more than one laugh out loud moment, and, one moment in particual is the funniest thing I've seen in the cinema this year (let me know in the comments which bit you think I'm talking about

Its ultra violent (the word UNCUT was literally in the title card)

There's location text on screen like 'yonder spooky woods' and things like that, wo yeah, very much tongue in cheek and fun in that sense

I don't have the affinity to the original that many people do, I've seen the original but It wasn't a staple of my childhood or anything so I've not overwhelming connection to it,

So I'm ok with the story changes, with the fact they've rebooted and remade it.

Its not Dinklage in the Toxie suit, its Luisa Guerreiro. While she does a great job with the physicality of the role, the reality is all of Dinklage's lines were dubbed in after the fact, and it shows on more than one occasion, when that happens, it takes you out of the movie a little. It does feel like theres a disconnect between the physical role and the voice.

I saw it at 9am at a press screening at the Edinburgh Film Festival, so not quite the time or the crowd to fully embrace it. Speaking of embracing it,,,, why don't you go ahead and ... ahem... EMBRACE that SUBSCRIBE button.....THANK YOU

It was then shown to the public at midnight as part of the 'Midnight Madness' line up, I image the atmosphere at that screening was a little more.... lively.

-- On that not, my good friend Cinephile Mike was at both the 9am press screening AND the midnight madness screening, so I'm gonna pass you over to him for a brief moment as he tells what that was like, take it away Mike --

6/10 for the Toxic Avenger, totally bonkers, ultra violent at times, very much tongue in cheek if a little unsure of itself tonally at times.

There IS an end credits scene so be sure toi stick around for that, and If you wanna see my thoughts on other films from the Edinburgh film festival, you can click here.

Expectations for this one were pretty low.

Trailer didn't do much for me.

I was still not ready to let go of Henry Cavil as Superman.....

But I'm happy to say, my low expectations were surpassed with James Gunns SUPERMAN.

Written and directed by James Gunn, Superman stars David Cornswet as the main man, Clark Kent, Kal El.... SUPERMAN

The Movie opens with some expositional text that takes care of both superman's origin story as well as meta humans in general, so it gets that stuff out of the way literally in the first minute. That allows this movie to hit the ground running

Superman exists, the world knows about him.

The movie starts mid battle and , off we go.

Plot wise theres Nicholas Holt's Lex Luthor and his plan to take care of Supes (with the help of his 2 super powered goons)

There's an ongoing plot thread about one fictional country invading another and whether or not superman should get involved. (And what should the US government do about superman?)

Clark and Lois (played by Rachel Brosnahan) are dating in secret but she knows he's superman.

There's 'justice gang' (green lantern hawk girl and mr terrific) are staples of every day life in metropolis.

Throw all these things together and....you've got James Gunns Superman.

Story wise we'll leave it there I think. So Let's talk about the good and the bad of this latest iteration of Superman.

Script wise, it's a bit on the nose at times, some expositiony dialogue heavy especially in the first act..

But the story makes sense and characters do and say believable things (more or less).

Cornswet is really brilliant in the role, he makes it his own.

Theres a shot towards the end of the movie, hero style shot during or just post battle....the lighting the costume, the framing... The actor... In that moment I did think to myself 'damn, he IS Superman'

The scene in the trailer where lois interviews Clark / Superman, is actually the best scene in the movie.

Even though it's in the trailer, seeing the full scene play out, in context, it's brilliant. So well written, so well acted.

Cornswet really does do a good job as both Clark Kent and Superman ( although there's not much Clark Kent tbf)

Let me know in the comments below how you thought Cornswet did as Superman.

Holt as Lex, I'm more look warm towards his Lex, I think he's given some clunky dialogue at times to chew through but there was something about his Lex that just felt like he was in a different movie , borderline cartoonish portrayal. Can't quite put my finger on it.

Don't get me wrong I think Holt is a good actor , but is Lex wasn't quite for me.

Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, quite like her portrayal she seemed to be more 'in the know' and less naive than other Lois lanes.

Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardiner Green Lantern almost steels the movie.

The suit. When I saw the first pics of the suit I was a hit like 'ooohh don't think I like that , looks a bit goofy' but honestly watching the movie the suit fits the tone perfectly.

Score is REALLY good also..

I had a feeling I was gonna like the score as soon as heard snippets of it in the first teaser and motion poster..

John Murphy ( who's been on score duties for James Gunn in the Guardians movies) does a VERY VERY good job of paying respect to John Williams original theme, but making it something of his own also.

It's a little on the nose at times....but just go with it and let yourself enjoy it.

And speaking of just goin with it.... Why not go ahead and sub to the channel....that would....ahem....super....man.... 👀

Tonally this one skewes quite heavily on lighter side (both figuratively and literally). Other than world politics plot thread it's fairly light and mass audience friendly.

Krypto the dog. Dog lovers will LOVE this. Me....not so much. Felt like they went back to that particular well a little too often in the movie

My 8 year old however, the dog was her favourite part BY FAR.

So on the one hand, the movie seems to cater for and aim for a fairly young audience. But on the other, the geopolitical element is quite well done and well written (again goin back to the interview scene from the trailer)

Cinematography

It's a very bright and colourful movie. Can be a little cgi heavy at times (some scenes it feels like 2 video game characters battling it out) but it's not TOO distracting

Some of the flying scenes either that close up wide lens that distorts his face.... Yeah. It's a little distracting. But I can only assume Gunn was goin for that specific look.

Sound Design stood out as Well, blending the real world sounds with the more fantastical elements.

It's well paced, clock in at 2 hours and 9 mins, so if you remove the credits ite probably a sub 2 hour superhero movie, and that is a welcome change of pace.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room.

An elephant in the shape of Henry Cavil.

I was a BIG fan of both Man of Steel and Cavil ( and the Snyder verse in general)

After the black adam cameo I was looking forward to seeing Cavil return....then that got swiped from us and the news that Gunn was rebooting the dc cinematic universe..

A LOT of people had the knives out for this superman due to that fact.

I'm not one of those people.

I'll admit my expectations were low for Gunns Superman man, but I wasn't pre judging it.

I'm happy to say my low expectations were surpassed

James Gunns Superman is a perfectly enjoyable movie.

Much like Snyder's Man of Steel, this superman is launching the cinematic universe in which it belongs.

Where that universe goes... Where it ends up, I'm keen to see. There's a couple of blink and you'll miss them character cameos that hint at things in this new dcu , but I'm not gonna spoiler them here.

Younger audiences (kids under 12) will probably enjoy this much more than they would man of Steel.

It's ok to like both Zack Snyder's Man of Steel and also like James Gunns SUPERMAN.

7/10 for Superman. Perfectly enjoyable movie

(My 11 year old gave it an 8/10 and my 8 year old gave it an oddly specific 8.9/10 ( i suspect the extra 0.9 was for the dog )

There is a mid credits scene and an end credits scene

Both are pretty throwaway they don't set up future movies or anything, so don't let fomo get the better of you if you need to go pee

There's some superman related videos linked at the side there if you wanna check em out, and I'll catch you in the next video

Jimmy

Scottish Geek Guy.

28 years later, the sequel to 28 days later from 2002 (and 28 weeks later from 2007, but less so that... more on that later) takes place, well, 28 years later.

The UK has been quarantined from the rest of the world, (cough, brexit) the virus has been contained to our fair land and the rest of the world (as far we can tell) has gone on as normal

The story follows a family from an island community, their island (Holy Island I think) is somewhat protected from the mainland in that there's a causeway thats only passable during low tide.

We follow the son (Spike, played by Alfie Williams), his Dad (played by Aaron Taylor Johnson) and the mum played by Jodie Comer)

Alfie has come of age, its time for him to make his first trip to the mainland and get his first Zombie Kill.

Thats pretty much the setup for the story, won't say much more on that for spoiler protection. Ralph Feinnes shows up as an important character but I can't really say anything about his character as

Right off the bat, I'll say I think this movie is going to be pretty divisive, both in where it takes its own lore, and the ending.

I actiually held off for a few days before I wrote this review as I wasn't really sure how much I liked or disliked it.... (I did like it, but its NOT what I expected it to be).

For example, there are some super emotional moments in this, that really got me in the feels, but the zombie action wasn't as zombie ish or actiony as I thought / wanted it to be.

This is both a blessing and a curse , as , on the one hand, it's a very well acted,well written scene that got me in the feels. On the other's hand, I want my zombie movie to be more zombie movie!

It's also very much a movie of 2 distinct halves, but those 2 halves feel like act 1 and act 2, and it almost feels like it's missing an act 3 (there is a sequel, 'The Bone Temple' that's already been shot in comes out in January, with a 3rd '28 years later movie planned but not shot yet). So that might account for the lack of a 3rd act.

There's a melancholic atmosphere throughout the movie that, at times, slows the pace, but is needed for the (very good) emotional scenes

KES with zombies I think James Dyer from the Empire Podcast said, yeah that's actually a pretty accurate description.

Cinematography

iPhones are the camcorders of the modern age

Anthony Dod Mantle returns as cinematographer and carries on the tradition of down and dirty low fi visuals by using iPhones to shoot this movie. While that might be headline grabbing , it's kinda irrelevant?

It works for it's intended purpose, keeping the low fi aesthetic of the first one but modernising it so it didn't look BAD

Speaking of lore, it kinda felt like they retconned a bit of their own lore when it comes to the specifics, like they ignored some of the lore from 28 weeks, they don't follow on from weeks at all in that regard

Unlike 28 days later, the best parts of 28 years are the scenes that don't involve the infected/ zombies.

Definitely suffers from the whole 'it's the first of a new trilogy' , as a standalone movie it feels incomplete in that way ( but I am excited to see the next one , so maybe that's VERY intentional by the filmmakers)

Good to see Taylor Johnson post Kraven, hopefully he'll do more projects like this.

Comer is great as always, and Alfie Williams does a VERY GOOD job as he is essentially the lead job, but Ralph Fienes steals the movie imho

He's not in it much, but when his character shows up, let's just say it's not what you might expect and he plays it brilliantly.

The score this time isn't John Murphy but by Young Fathers, a Scottish progressive hip hop group. It's an interesting choice for the score, and while they do good job, you definitely miss that iconic John Murphy 28 Days theme.

Essentially, this is a coming of age movie about a 12 year old, coming of age in a post apocalypse zombie infested world (well, island). And that's where this movie shines brightest. There's a genuinely gut wrenching emotional scene half way through the movie that's got nothing to do with the infected or the way of this new world.

7.5/10 for 28 years later

It doesn't come close to the visceral shock and awe of 28 Days , its not a 'mainstream' as 28 weeks, it stands alone in the franchise, which is both a good thing, and a bad thing.

But as I said..... I am very much looking forward to the next instalment

Let me know in the comments what you thought of 28 years later, and I'll cacth you in the next video.