filmexperienced

As that glitters is not gold....and there was an awful lot of bling in Ocean's Eight. Unapologetically leeching onto the Ocean's franchise, as a means to appear of a piece rather than just a rip-off, this sadly derivative offering couldn't quite match the cool of the 2001 original, however it packs a lot of charm to try and paper over the cracks. Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, sister to, you guessed it, Daniel Ocean. Not that he appears, nor do any of the 'main' players from the previous trilogy. The brand new all-female eight vary from classy (Cate Blanchett) to quirky (Helena Bonham Carter) to personality-free (Rihanna). Most are watchable, and they need you to in order to get you to invest in a plot with mostly predictable twists and turns that make for a very pedestrian heist, with little to no sense of danger. By the time very poor excuse for an adversary James Corden shows up, you'll care little that he has no impact other than to annoy. This is versus the originals pretty damn scary Andy Garcia. Whilst this might be a remake / reimagining car crash, it's like flipping an Aston Martin or Lamborghini at high speed - looks amazing, whizzes along but it's not until you reach the end you realise it was all for nothing.

Sometimes, your head tells you that a film is mediocre at best, not one that is going to spark off a debate or be in the critical argument for the near future. Sometimes, your heart tells you that despite that, you are enjoying the film on some level - and whilst I hate to use the phrase 'switch your brain off entertainment', I just did. It might be the well-curated soundtrack, appropriate for the story of a young group of friends and the central characters DJ aspirations. It might be the often-likeable Zac Efron as Cole, whose slightly lower key Star Is Born trajectory is complicated by romantic entanglements and that aforementioned group of friends. It might even be the predictable plotting - spiked with occasional off-kilter moments such as a memorable art gallery trip. Whatever magic makes We Are Your Friends work for me is not easily explainable - so hopefully it'll be seen by a few more people who might be able to enlighten me as to why I keep watching it.

It's often said that how you end your film is how people remember it - the last point of contact being the most memorable. 'In Darkness' then - poisons what was a mostly bland thriller, with an interesting cast, by a horrific ending. Natalie Dormer plays a blind pianist, dour and serious who become involved in 'dark' goings on. Her job, working on film scores, allows for some interesting self-referential and appropriate music cues for the first part of the movie, leading up to the first and focal unfortunate event. Things spiral from there, never straying from a wholly predictable path, made easier to walk by a low-key performance from the previously smug Ed Skrein, plus the always gruff and warm James Cosmo, and a spiky Joely Richardson. Some kind of release valve from the over-serious drama might have helped, a little humour or lightness could have worked to make Dormer's central protagonist more likeable. The direction on the whole is decent, including some well choreographed and edited action scenes, and a love scene that whilst it creaks the seams of believability narratively, works as a standalone change of pace. Ultimately however, any and all good work is jettisoned at the conclusion, which leaves viewers scratching their heads, and second-guessing any enjoyment they may have been getting from the movie. Best advice - turn off 5 minutes from the end and make up your own ending.