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When watching "Ouija: Origin of Evil it is easy to say that it lacks any "real scares". The jump scares are Predictable, and you leave the cinema feeling at a loss. But it wasn't until it turned dark last night, and I hopped into bed, that I realised how scary this film is. The haunting images of the slick, black demon, and the fear of the concept of possession riddled my sleepless night. So in the morning, I could definitely and conclusively say this was a scary horror film. But I still couldn't find how I really felt about it. And then it came to me. I actually enjoyed the vintage, classic film feel about the film. And that was what I loved about it. The whole feel of the film is, classic. And it isn't just the Universal Title Card or the vintage filming look, but in the narrative and characters itself. The film homages such "demonic" films of the 70's and 80's, such as "The Exorcist, "The Omen" and "The Poltergeist")with a classic plot trope of using a creepy little girl (Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Shining) in a creepy little house doing creepy little things. And, as all great homage films do, they put their own spin on it. The backstory behind the house itself is sensationally creepy(and slightly cliché) and adds a creepy atmosphere to the film. The film also successfully captures the 60's culture, and the craze revolving around the "Ouija Board Game".

And, as you can see by my rating, there were a few flaws in this film. First off all, I felt like they were really hamming up the creepiness of the little girl, and made the film feel a little conventional. The acting, at times, was a bit bland, and felt quite weak and conviction less. The acting does, however, pick up in the second half. The scares could also be considered "Cheap", but nonetheless, do their job with startling the audience.

Overall, Ouija is a fantastic Halloween movie, and is a classic embedding of what horror is all about.

"Hell or High Water" is the greatest film of the last 5 years. It succeeds in making the audience laugh, cry and thrill while telling a relatable and gripping story of friendship, sacrifice and crime.

From the get go, "Hell or High Water" ensures the audience that they are in the solid hands of the craftsman, David Mackenzie. The film opens with a long take, and is probably the best long take since Goodfellas. The take isn't only successful because of the action, composition and color that's in the frame, etc, but its element of surprise, setting and framing that engages the audience at the very beginning of the film. This quality of opening shot is repeated throughout the whole film, and if this doesn't even get nominated for best cinematography at the Oscars, I think I'l cry. All the other technical stuff is amazing as well- special effects, Music, acting and so on.

My favourite part of the film, however, is its violence pacing(yet another film term I've made up). In "Hell or High Water", David Mackenzie teases the audience with little glimpses of unsatisfying violence, and builds up the tension and pacing until an explosive finale. I am a self confessed gore hound(to an extent), so when I see blood squibs bursting, I get quite excited, especially when I'm in a cinema. Not because I'm a sadistic, person hating emo ( in fact, I'm the first person in the world against real life violence), but rather I can engage in spectacular art that I personally enjoy, so when the bombastic conclusion to the film was unfolding before my eyes, I reveled in David Mackenzies' control throughout the film. It is a really rewarding payoff, and I could sit through and through this film again just for the last 30 minutes.

To say that this film is all art and no narrative would be an injustice to its greatness. The story delves deep into the human soul, and investigates morals and values in our society that have been previously neglected. The characters are developed through the wittiy and revealing dialogue in the film, and the use of dialogue to create character is the best seen on the silver screen since Pulp Fiction(or any Tarantino film for that fact). The dialogue never feels dull for a moment, and keeps the audience laughing and engaged with the film for its duration.

"Hell or High Water" is a cinematic gem, and will be revealed to be a classic of this generation of filmmakers.

First off, I want to give my condolences to the families and the people affected by this disaster.

Alright, now for my review:

I honestly walked into this film expecting to rate it a 4 or even 5 stars. The trailer promised everything that a good disaster film would have. It seemed to me that Peter Berg's "Deepwater Horizon" would be this generations "Poseidon's Adventure". And while the film did promise in the technical area, with visual and audio effects, it lacked in almost everything else,from characters we can connect to, to the basic form of entertainment.

Now, as i said before, the technical and special effects in this film are fantastic, and could possibly(and should) receive an Oscar nomination for them. But for all the awesome effects,there is a less then awesome counterpart. The first half of the film is extremely slow, and attempts to allow the audience to get to know the characters and the situation. I've never disliked slow starts to films like these, because i often know that there will be a rewarding payoff. But there was no payoff. After the disaster begins to unfold, the film turns to mindless action and effects to tell the story. It becomes very boring because the amount of action portrayed on the screen is of sloppy quality and lazy film making. It all too much felt like a Michael Bay film. Explosions and disasters are going off at a rapid pace, and without time to either empathize with the characters or to even care about them.

The poor juggling of multiple stories of the different characters is one of the major downfalls to this picture. There are far too many "in depth" characters to actually understand any of them. And, when there is far too much of something, we seem to not care as much. The success of any Disaster film(such as "Poseidon's Adventure", "Titanic" or even "Independence Day") doesn't only lie in the disaster itself, but in the development and connection of the characters experiencing that disaster. And the situation in "Deepwater Horizon" is all but worsened when you realize that the characters portrayed aren't just characters, but real people. In seems to make "entertainment" out of these real people's death, and attempts to cover up this with an admittingly emotional funeral like tribute at the end of the film, with the real peoples faces and names on the screen.

Before i wrap this review up, i realised that i never acknowledged the actors in this film. The cast was stunning, and they live up to their reputations, and the likes of Mark Whalberg, Dylan O'Brien, John Malkovich, and an all time favourite of mine, Kurt Russell, help make this film more enjoyable.

In the end, "Deepwater Horizon" fails to create any emotion or entertainment, and tries to cover up its shallow characters and "entertainment" out of real peoples depth with special effects and a somewhat patronizing funeral tribute. If there was any justice, "Deepwater Horizon" would sink to the bottom of the box office.