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Reviews
Totenfrau (2022)
At last, a worthy successor to Dexter.
Remember the crushing disappointment of Dexter:New Blood? Remember how the writers took the twisted but lovable character and turned him into a shadow of his former self? Remember how they introduced Dexter's son, an anaemic emo type with zero charisma, unworthy of the Dexter heritage? Well now we have a female protagonist worthy of the Dexter mantle.
Anna Maria Muhe as Frau Blum seems clearly based on the Dexter character and is more than worthy of succeeding him. Her cold-blooded murder of the killers who killed her husband is both satisfying and justified and she is amply supported by members of her extended family. She has the back story and the guts to carry out her revenge on those who wronged her and easily garners the sympathy of the viewer. This fast paced series does not put a foot wrong and I eagerly await the sequel.
The Batman (2022)
Three hours too long
Quite an impressive achievement seeing as it's only 2 hours and 56 minutes long. Every incarnation of Batman you've ever seen is better than this. Even Ben Affleck's Batman is better. Even the old Adam West TV Batman is better. I can say definitively that even the Joel Schumacher Batman films are better and I haven't even seen them. To put it another way; nothing could possibly be worse than this film. You can't see what's happening, you can't hear what anyone's saying, Robert Pattinson is more unsuited to the role of Batman than Tom Cruise was to Jack Reacher. They even manage to make the Batmobile look rubbish.
You have been warned.
Dune: Part One (2021)
Bring your night vision goggles
What most people fail to realise is that this is a specialist film made for troglodytes and people who like wearing night vision goggles. It is entirely constructed of CGI and scenes copied from other films. Hans Zimmer has cleverly fashioned the music to incorporate samples of Bulgarian Women's choir singing, so popular last century, and bagpipes.
Everyone else will almost certainly find the dark scenes impenetrable and everything else in the film sleep-inducing. David Lynch's 1984 version of Dune had its problems, mostly due to budget restrictions and studio interference, but it's a masterpiece compared to this dreck.
Doctor Sleep (2019)
Too long and poor CGI
Like so many modern films this is just too long. Ninety minutes would have done nicely. I mean take the long section in the Overlook Hotel just to get to an underwhelming ending and an embarrassingly poor CGI fire - could have been done in a fraction of the time and been more exciting. I had no problem with the acting overall though Rebecca Ferguson's scenes were also far too long and drawn out. I'm not a fan of Kubrick's The Shining though it's much better than this sequel. Physical effects always win out over computer generated ones and it was clear how badly Doctor Sleep compared with The Shining in this department.
Der Boden unter den Füßen (2019)
Interesting but lacks focus
If you like female nudity, lesbian sex scenes and high heels then this film is for you. If you want a clear narrative and satisfying ending then perhaps not. Early on I suspected I was watching a Hitchcock influenced tale and the set up suggested there was a mystery to be solved. I was wrong. Overall I enjoyed this film, thought it was well shot in a Michael Haneke sort of way and the acting was compelling. I just felt the narrative lacked focus (is it a thriller, is it a lesbian love story, is it a critique of corporate life, is it a comment on mental health issues?) and the ending felt somewhat flat.
It Chapter Two (2019)
Half a good film and proof that fx have gotten worse
A good cast and a script that was a sensible interpretation of the original book made for an entertaining couple of hours. Then it went wrong in the last hour.
Unfortunately there seems to be a belief that the last act of every blockbuster film has to have half an hour of murky CGI where people and entities fight each other and you can't tell who is who and who is winning or losing. This has now spread from superhero movies to many other movies including this one. You can safely stop watching this movie after the protagonists enter the haunted house and fast forward to the denouement because you won't have missed anything.
A measure of how poor modern fx have become is to compare this to John Carpenter's The Thing. Anyone who has seen both It Chapter 2 and The Thing will know the scene I'm talking about which was presumably included in It as a homage. Go back to The Thing and you will see that the scene was part of a sequence that lasted a few minutes whereas in It, it becomes lost in a sea of CGI and fx that add nothing to the film and go on for ever. It is notable that the fx in The Thing are far superior to those in It and a comparison of the crew on It and The Thing proves that today it takes many more people to produce worse fx than a film made forty years ago.
I liked It Chapter 2 quite a lot until that final hour and the director even managed to coax James McAvoy to do some acting. 8 out of 10 for the first two thirds fell to 2 out of 10 for the last third.
A Quiet Place Part II (2020)
Even Cillian Murphy Can't Rescue This
The opening sequence, where we are taken back to Day 1, is very effective and I was looking forward to what new things we would see when we returned to "present" time. Unfortunately we then settled into a series of long and boring scenes in which we are asked to believe that humanity had failed to work out how to deal with the aliens and our protagonists consistently choose to do stupid and illogical things. Unfortunately it looks as though there will be yet another sequel as the film ends at a random point with many unresolved questions. Questions for which I do not care to know the answer.
American Utopia (2020)
Talking Heads tribute band seeks decent choreographer
I was looking forward to this but came away very disappointed. I'm a fan of David Byrne and Talking Heads. I saw him play during his Rei Momo phase and he was amazing and so was his backing band.
All I could think of when watching this film was how inferior it was to Stop Making Sense, still the best concert movie ever made. Even with all the amazing musicians present for American Utopia they can play a facsimile of Talking Heads music but they never hit the groove of the originals.
As for the choreography it was just poor. The two principal dancers were embarrassing to watch and the rest of the backwards and forwards movements grew tedious after the first couple of numbers. I kept thinking of Christine and the Queens and how superior their dance moves are.
It pains me to say it but American Utopia comes over as a decent but not quite good enough Talking Heads tribute band with rubbish choreography.
The Boys from Brazil (1978)
'Allo', 'Allo!' : The Missing Episode
The most hilarious collection of fake accents you're ever likely to come across outside of an episode of 'Allo', 'Allo!' It's impossible to think anything other than Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier were competing to have the most ridiculous accent and the most unbelievable acting styles. If they weren't then they've been seriously over-rated as dramatic actors.
The film itself has a plot as ridiculous as the accents though it is well shot and paced with plenty of action. I admit I enjoyed it but for all the wrong reasons.
Spenser Confidential (2020)
Confusing
I have never read any of the Spenser books written by Ace Atkins but I have read all of the Robert B Parker books and, as a result, found this film very confusing. It seems to be an origin story taking place before Spenser becomes a PI proper. Mark Wahlberg makes for a good Spenser and all the wisecracks are in place. Winston Duke is also good as Hawk but not quite as cool as I expected. Overall I liked a lot of the movie, especially Wahlberg's portrayal but I missed Susan, an important character in the books.
I don't believe films have to slavishly follow the books they are based on but in this case it seems they just used an approximation of Spenser and Hawk then threw in Pearl the dog. This did not need to be a Spenser film and they could have given the characters different names and we would never have known what they were based on. As such it would just be a fun action film.
Despite my carping I did enjoy the film except for the hideous music soundtrack which was cranked up so loud that I had to constantly change volume - up to hear the dialogue then down for the ear-splitting music whenever there was any action. I would have preferred them to use a jazz-inflected score which would have suited the mood better but that might just be my age showing.
StartUp (2016)
What went wrong with Season 3?
I have no hesitation in saying that Startup Seasons 1 and 2 were the greatest TV series I've watched over the last couple of years. The only thing that came anywhere near was Halt and Catch Fire. So what went wrong with season 3?
Season 3 was that difficult Getting the Band Back Together storyline, except nothing ever goes to plan for the protagonists so we should have expected plenty of drama. The first problem for me was how weak and helpless Izzy was this time around. Understandably she was overwhelmed by her family tragedy but there were several opportunities for her to use her IT skills to solve problems but they were never invoked. She spent nearly the whole series being a victim. The best hacker in the world can't track down the background of a rogue NSA agent or solve the problems of the system she built? Doesn't compute (pun intended). Ronnie also often seemed out of character. As the head of a ruthless gang, even given he wants to get out, he suddenly develops a conscience over Araknet being used by terrorists. Really?
Then there's the storyline about a terrorist attack. There's a really worthwhile story to be told about the dilemma this poses and how everyone reacts but the characters reactions seemed out of keeping with the origins and aims of Araknet that they all signed up to. If I was into conspiracy theories I might think the NSA for real approached the programme makers and told them they were being irresponsible and would close down production unless they portrayed the evils of secure and private internet connections.
At least the ending was good and we can only hope there'll be a season 4.
If I was assessing the first two seasons then my score would be 10 out of 10. Season three was more like a 7. I still loved it but it was also disappointing in some respects. On average then it's a 9.
Britannia (2017)
When reviewers can't tell the difference between their Cantii and their Regni
My goodness what a lot of negative reviews this show has generated though I can't understand why. Seldom have I seen such a fun programme. Yes, fun. This was funny, sexy, violent, bonkers and emotionally truthful in a way that other series fail to achieve.
To think that this was aiming for any kind of historical accuracy is mad. It was made as an entertainment riffing on possible historical events. The use of modern language, initially jarring, ends up working to its advantage. There's no more reason to dislike modern usage than there is to dislike cod medieval or cod turn of the millennia language. Any language choice is going to be inauthentic so you might as well go for modern vernacular which has the side effect of milking the dialogue for humour. Using Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man for the theme tune is as inspired as using Nick Cave for the theme tune of Peaky Blinders.
You might also like to note the satirical reference to other well-known franchises and the use of Shakespearian minor characters. The two centurions sampling the "stash" of the witch doctor was comedy gold.
Yes, how we all hunger for the certainty of the old days when you knew where you were. When Loved It or Hated It reviews could be searched on and all TV programmes followed the same rules and were as bland as each other. Now all we have left is "helpful" so please regard this review as a provocative Loved It review. No, seriously, I really loved this series and can't wait for the next and I hope I've been really unhelpful in my review.
I, Daniel Blake (2016)
I, Katie would have been the better film
There's a good film to be made about austerity Britain and the injustices of the benefits system but sadly this isn't it. I was disappointed in the rather loaded structure of this film because it discredited the messages that I think Ken Loach was trying to get across.
Daniel Blake is an angry older man unjustly denied his benefit payments. What does he do? He starts off in a belligerent mood which does him no favours, he spends days moaning about how he can't use computers when the lads next door are clearly computer wizards who help him fill in the form in minutes once he gets around to asking for help. Basically he goes out of his way to make things even more difficult than they need to be. In the dying minutes of the film we discover he has actually contacted a claimant's union or benefits lawyer when this should have been one of the first things he should have done. He's portrayed as an articulate and social man so it makes little sense that he spends his time being angry with the system instead of fighting it. All the benefits workers, save one, are portrayed as heartless bastards even though they too are working people living on low wages. It's mostly not their fault, it's the fault of the system, yet they constantly get blamed.
I can't help noticing in passing that Daniel Blake has extraordinary skills in woodworking and we see him make a top notch bookcase and exquisite hand-chiselled toys. Clearly he could start making bespoke furniture for toffs and sell his toys at craft fairs and make a small fortune. OK, I'm being facetious but it seriously struck me that that was what he should do.
As for the ending it's just a massive cop out.
This is a well-made and watchable film with outstanding performances from Dave Johns and Hayley Squires but as an indictment of a rotten and degrading system it tries too hard to make Daniel Blake a victim and almost everyone else a pantomime baddie. I suspect this would have been a better film if it had been called I, Katie and followed her story with Daniel Blake as the minor character.
Green Room (2015)
I neither knew nor cared what was happening
So there's this punk band who get a gig at a club for white supremacists and Nazis. After one of them witnesses a murder the whole band is locked in a room and have to survive attacks from lunatics led by Patrick Stewart. There are several members of this group and sundry others who are locked in with them. One by one they are bludgeoned, hacked, disembowelled etc often more than once each.
Other ex-members of the band may be joining them from time to time. This bit is unclear but there does seem to be more bludgeoned bodies than band members so I think that has to be the explanation.
Rather than do something simple to cover up the initial murder, the Nazis decide to make everything worse by killing everyone and, just to be sporting, they set about this in the most inefficient way possible. Despite having the opportunity to kill everyone easily at the outset they instead opt for a series of increasingly byzantine attacks giving everyone in their gang the opportunity to do more bludgeoning etc before having their heads shot off.
In the end two people and a dog survive. They may have been members of the band but by this time I neither knew nor cared. I may have missed something in the middle when I dozed off but there was still bludgeoning, faulty decision making and people who may or may not have been in the band running around the screen when I came to.
You might like it if you are a fan of a good bludgeoning and hacking. If not you will come away confused as to why anyone could think the plot was believable or indeed whether the film made any sense whatsoever. (Hint: it didn't).
Dunkirk (2017)
Once I grasped it was a metaphor about events in Dunkirk
I initially had reservations about Dunkirk. My first reservation was that the beach looked empty with only handfuls of soldiers visible. You never got the impression that there were 400000 soldiers trapped on the beach. Secondly this must be one of the most bloodless war films ever made and, whilst it's easy for directors to slip into war porn these days, men just falling over when shot is utterly unconvincing.
Despite these misgivings I found the film gripping from beginning to end. The aerial scenes in particular were outstanding. The score and sound design were also outstanding ensuring that tension and was maintained and built upon throughout the film. I was also impressed by the mixing of the three timelines and points of view. Going in it seemed impossible for anyone to weave the three together but it works to perfection.
Ultimately my take on the film is that Nolan has created a film that is a series of metaphors about what happened at Dunkirk and not a depiction of the reality of what happened at Dunkirk. The combination of the cinematography, score and fractured timelines give an impression of the horrors of waiting on the beach to be rescued that a more conventional approach could probably never achieve. Another director could have produced an effects heavy movie which lumbered on forever with saccharine character backstories and a linear chronology and it would not be nearly so effective.
I may be wrong but I think Dunkirk is one giant metaphor. And it works
Alien: Covenant (2017)
An improvement but same faults as Prometheus
On reviewing Prometheus in 2012 I said it "is a very good film which has been folded inside an exceedingly bad film." I could say exactly the same about Covenant. In fact this Alien prequel suffers from almost exactly the same faults as Prometheus. It's overlong, has too much mystical mumbo-jumbo that adds nothing to the plot and the dialogue is awful.
Without giving anything away you could immediately improve the film by cutting out the prologue, the flute scene and at least half of what happens on the planet. I have nothing against philosophical musings in films but that's not we expect in an Alien movie. We want the visceral and pulse-pounding moments building up to a crescendo without any baggage to slow down the action.
Ridley Scott has said he wants to build a franchise out of Alien to rival Star Wars. I believe he could do it if he'd ditch all the nonsense and find some better scripts. I really enjoyed Alien: Covenant for the most part but I'm really frustrated by the bits that apply the brakes when we want the action to keep building.
You Are Wanted (2017)
Slow to start but worth sticking with it
A well-acted cyber-thriller. Nice to see some unfamiliar faces and that the makers didn't feel the need to make it a beauty contest.The plot isn't novel but it's well constructed and doesn't hand out the answers on a plate.
I did find the first 2 episodes rather slow but then it picked up the pace and I had to binge watch the rest. At a total of 6 episodes it doesn't overstay its welcome like most American dramas. It won't change your life but is an easy watch if you're in the mood for a thriller.
BTW I don't understand reviewers whinging about bad overdubs. If you can't be bothered reading subtitles then why bother watching anything not made in the English language?
Peur de rien (2015)
Who wouldn't want to spend two hours looking at Manil Issa?
Who wouldn't want to spend two hours looking at Manil Issa? That's also the problem with this film – she's so beautiful that you're never surprised that she survives all the difficulties she encounters as an immigrant in Paris. You can't help thinking that if she were a man, if she didn't have those looks, if she wasn't so accommodating to all the people she meets, the outcomes would have been very different.
Nevertheless this is an enjoyable film. I particularly liked the portrayal of Paris life and all the different type of people and groups who co-exist there. It was also refreshing to see the snippets of the lectures in the university and realise that there is still room for the intellectual life and that the director wasn't afraid to portray this.
A film that I couldn't help liking but it could have done with a greater sense of jeopardy throughout and a more considered ending.
Doctor Strange (2016)
Near perfect interpretation but with minor problems
This is as near to being a match to how I imagined the film should be as it's ever going to get. It isn't perfect but then nothing ever is, given that it's someone's interpretation of a work of art from a different medium. In the canon of Marvel films I rank this as number one but it's probably because Doctor Strange was always my favourite Marvel comic back in the sixties and the film captures the psychedelic aspects of the original perfectly even down to using Interstellar Overdrive on the soundtrack.
My first minor dislike is that the Ancient One is played by a white woman. Actually I think that changing the Ancient One's gender is inspired and Tilda Swinton is brilliant in the role. But it's hard to see why an Asian actor wasn't chosen for the role. My other dislike was the opening sequence. It seems all films have to start with some big action sequence these days but when you don't yet know its connection to the main story it has little impact except to impress you with the CGI. I would far rather this opening sequence was left on the cutting room floor and the film started with the next scene with Stephen Strange in the hospital.
Opening sequence apart, I felt that for once the CGI earned its place in Doctor Strange and was perfectly integrated into the story. The visuals often reflected Steve Ditko's style, further adding to my enjoyment of the film. I hope Marvel make some more standalone Doctor Strange movies because I can't help but feel he will be ill-served as a mere team member in one of their ensemble efforts.
Don't Breathe (2016)
At last – a film that doesn't outstay its welcome or bombard with FX
I seldom venture out to the theatre to see films anymore, not because I don't enjoy going but because there's seldom anything on I want to see. I'm not interested in films for children, chick flicks or films that have to go BOOM every two minutes. I used to enjoy superhero films but lately they are just an excuse for loud pointless fights and bad CGI.
The only reason I went to the cinema is that my wife had friends visiting and I wanted to keep out of their way (in the nicest possible way.) Don't Breathe was the only film showing at any of the local cinemas that was remotely of interest to me. I had no great expectations but I was pleasantly surprised.
This is not a big budget movie and it depends heavily on the skill of the actors to engage the audience and on the skill of the film crew to make the most of claustrophobic spaces in the house where most of the action takes place. The plot is pretty thin but serves its purpose. The score is never overpowering and the effects do not look like they needed a Cray supercomputer (do they still exist?) to render crude visuals that take you out of the action. Oh yes, and at 88 minutes you can be assured the time is used to good effect and not just to add bloat.
A good efficient thriller with strong horror elements. Tense enough to keep you gripped and short enough not to let you dwell on the plot holes. Give me this any day over the tedious blockbusters that currently monopolise the cinemas.
The Duke of Burgundy (2014)
Mysterious, Beautiful, Erotic, Memorable
I was unimpressed by Peter Stickland's previous film Berberian Sound Studio so the only reason I wanted to see this film was because it starred Sidse Babett Knudson. So let me be honest and get this point out of the way – despite the fact this film features no nudity, I found it very erotic. I then asked myself how would a female viewer assess this film and went looking for an answer. Checking the linked critics review on IMDb revealed that there are very few reviews by female critics (that applies to all films not just this one) which certainly gives pause for thought in itself. Of those female critics most gave it an average to excellent rating and did not on the whole consider the film to be exploitative. Jennifer Drewett from I'm With Geek raised the question "how can a lesbian film directed by a man come out without pandering to the male gaze?" before going on to praise the film.
My view is that this film does in part pander to the male gaze and indeed it should given the director set out to make a homage to 1970s Euro-sleaze films albeit filtered through an artistic aesthetic. In fact it's more effective than modern porn because, as in a good horror film, the more explicit material is only implied and occurs off screen. I don't want to labour the point but I do think some other writers have avoided the question of its eroticism or, in some cases, even denied that it is erotic at all.
Putting the question of eroticism to bed (pun intended), how about the other elements of the film? The homage/pastiche elements of the film are done perfectly – anyone who has ever seen a 70s European sexploitation film will immediately recognise the stylised titles, the breathy soundtrack, the use of smoke and mirrors to imply you are seeing more than is actually displayed on screen. But deeper than this is a vision that incorporates these techniques into a beautifully realised and exquisitely lit and filmed world of its own which is internally consistent and appealing. The music and sound design are outstanding, the acting is excellent, the dream sequences better realised than almost anything you could compare them with.
The other thing about the film is that it is often laugh out loud funny. Some of the musings and the meetings of the entomological society are absurd and hilarious. The end credits are particularly funny. The humour ensures a good balance of light and shade throughout the film.
Some viewers will, I am sure, find this film pretentious in the way that I found Berberian Sound Studio to be pretentious. For me though Strickland has here found a perfect balance of the mysterious, the beautiful and the erotic. It also passes the test of being a film that I keep thinking about days later, unlike most modern films whose details I forget the minute I leave the cinema.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Stay at home and watch Daredevil instead
We open with a battle in a forest and a castle. The action in the forest is similar to a scene in one of the early Star Wars films. The combination of live action characters, CGI and what may or may not be partially real locations looks like a very well rendered video game. In other words it looks fake and for me has the immediate effect of taking me out of the action. The CGI throughout the film is often very clunky. The mania for 3D is dying down now but it's about time that overuse of CGI went the same way. There's nothing wrong with CGI per se but when a film relies so extensively on it, you can't help but notice it.
The film is nearly two and a half hours in length, though it feels a lot longer. It would have been a much better, tighter film at ninety minutes. Basically you get overlong pieces of exposition followed by some sub-Transformers crash, bang, blow stuff up scenes – again and again and again and again. The one liners that frequent this film are a Joss Whedon trademark but the rest of the dialogue seldom rises above the jokes. The plot is barely comprehensible and certainly makes little sense.
It gives me no pleasure to criticise Whedon's work and I can't help but wonder how much of this film is really what he wanted to see on screen and how much of it was mandated by the studio. He's a big earner now but this is miles away from the excellent work he has done in the past. I can only hope he returns to more creative projects sometime in the near future. The work being done on the new Daredevil series by some of his former collaborators such as Doug Petrie and Drew Goddard shows how you can do justice to a Marvel superhero without compromising your principles.
It Follows (2014)
Good but not that good
Peter Bradshaw, Danny Leigh and Claudia Winkleman are all critics whose judgements I trust and they all raved about how good this film was. As a result I was really expecting something out of the ordinary when I went to see it. However I have to say that I came out of the cinema somewhat disappointed. It's not that It Follows is a terrible film. It's actually good but it's not good enough to merit the five and ten star reviews (depending on the system used) that it's received. It's the sort of film that deserves to be discovered as a minor cult film several years after its release.
I'm also puzzled by the fact so many reviewers have said it's one of the few films that they have found genuinely frightening. I wanted to be scared, I really did, but all I experienced was a minor frisson. Several things mitigated against this film working for me. There's a lot of shaky cam and it doesn't work in all films. Sometimes it does work in favour of It Follows but there are several 360 degree pans which are so out of focus as to take you out of the film. Blurring can work quite well in horror but here it would have been more effective to be in focus more often. It's the same story with the music, an electronic soundtrack that sometimes works well but at other times is just plain annoying and distracting.
Homage is paid to several other films and often to the detriment of It Follows. There's a very clear reference to Halloween in the setting and the music. There's a pivotal scene set in a swimming pool at night which puts you in mind of Let the Right One In. This, above all, lets the film down. Where the pool scene in Let the Right One In is dazzlingly disorienting and genuinely frightening, the one we get here is rather pedestrian both in concept and execution.
It's a pity this film has got such good reviews because it deserves to be seen as a minor horror that tries for something different and often achieves it. A more modest reception is what it really deserves. The way it plays with time so that you can never be sure when it's supposed to be set is quite brilliant and really adds to the unsettling atmosphere throughout. Often the look and feel of the film reminded me of David Lynch and I spent a lot of my time wishing Lynch had been the director because I'm sure he could make something really frightening of this material.
A good film and worth seeing but my advice is to lower your expectations if you've been reading the better reviews it has been given.
Europa Report (2013)
Europa Report Report
I have come to hate shaky cam and found footage films, not that I ever liked them much in the first place. Take the Blair Witch Project - please take it because it was largely responsible for starting the trend for unwatchable dreck. I mean Blair Witch – my cat is scarier. Come to think of it she's a better film director than whoever was responsible for Blair Witch. (I used to know but I erased it from my memory).
I digress but only because this film seems to have been unfairly compared with Blair Witch in terms of its direction and style. I nearly didn't watch it because of the comparisons. The film is actually made up various interviews, shots from the ship's cameras and video diaries and reports from the crew. These segments are sometimes shaky and sometimes lower quality but there are plenty of high quality scenes and the whole enterprise is woven together with considerable skill. The sequencing of the timeline of events in the film also seems to have caused some viewers brain strain but it makes perfect dramatic sense. The sequencing of the EVA on the journey so that it runs as a flashback before the EVA on Europa works brilliantly on an emotional level.
This film works more on a psychological level than the average science fiction film and often put me in mind of Solaris in tone, if not execution. (I mean Tarkovsky's original, not the Soderbergh snoozefest). If you're expecting some high octane Hollywood blockbuster you will be sadly disappointed. If you like a plot that gets you thinking and is obviously made by people who get the excitement of space exploration then you will most likely enjoy Europa Report.
Pacific Rim (2013)
Cthulu v Transformers
It took two sessions for me to watch this drivel. I fell asleep about half way through and had to see part two the following day.
As far as I can make out this is about giant sea monsters vs transformers. Charlie Day and Burn Gorman play the gravediggers from Hamlet, badly. The two stars of Sons of Anarchy prove that they can't act their way out of a paper bag.
Meanwhile Idris Elba puts in an embarrassingly bad performance ( Imagine the key speech from Gladiator written and delivered by Worzel Gummidge.) Action has been replaced by acres of CGI that might satisfy an eight year old but will fail to impress sentient beings evolved beyond the level of igneous rocks.
The only redeeming feature of this film is that it is, at least, better than the pretentious and unoriginal nonsense that was Pan's Labyrinth.