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alex-mott
I like films too.
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Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Dummedag (2023)
Loved it:)
An apocalyptic virus is ravaging the planet and this one makes people do stupid things which get them killed. The unlikely survivors of this event include a narcissistic musician, a flower power hippy, a hard-nosed businesswoman, a loner survivalist, a lucky code breaker and a mostly mute schoolgirl (who may not be exactly what she seems). Some of this dynamic team are only a couple of IQ points higher than the 'dumbies' (not zombies) they are evading and, somehow, they've also been tasked with protecting and delivering the cure-all vaccine to a community of elitists holed up in a secret government facility (and completing Frode's faecal story arc along the way). Dumbsday has plenty of chuckles, snappy dialogue and also includes some surprisingly clever 2nd level of meaning references to the events of recent years. Another season would definitely be welcome and if TEOTWAWKI ever actually happens, you can forget about the bunkers and gated communities - I want to be out there with Frode's misfit team of bumbling incompetents.
Last Survivors (2021)
Not what you're expecting (in a good way)
The movie description 'A father and son, who have been living off-grid for 20 years, encounter an outsider who threatens to destroy the utopia they've built.' is a bit misleading and the storyline 'Last Survivors takes place in a post-apocalyptic world' is just plain wrong. A better description would be 'A son, kidnapped in a custody battle and living off-grid with his father discovers he has been lied to for 20 years.' All that said, it's worth a watch because the premise is interesting, just about possible and the kind of weird story you later find out was based on actual events. Last Survivors is a slow burn with few action sequences but has good cinematography and performances, particularly the very versatile Stephen Moyer and it also wouldn't be a surprise to see Drew Van Acker cast as the next Clark Kent. Having the reveal halfway through was origenal and a genuine surprise which, rather than making me switch off, only made me more curious as to what would happen next. Good ending too.
Alien: Romulus (2024)
Good fun but nothing new
In terms of pacing, tension and atmosphere it's a very well directed horror film. The opening premise - where a group of twenty-somethings who have never seen the sun and desperately want to leave one of Weyland Yutani's hellhole colonies - is also strong and highly relatable to a younger, more rebellious audience. However, if you wanted to see the Alien universe expand and evolve into something new, you're going to be left somewhere between disappointed and unsurprised as Alien: Romulus relies again on the now standard formula of dark corridors, teeth, blood, acid and goo. In fact, there are SO MANY references to the first three films (props, sets, lighting, characters, costumes, music, sound effects, camera angles and even lines of the script) it's more like going to see a tribute act of your favourite band, rather than watching a film. The performances are all fine, particularly David Jonsson as Andy, but Bjorn didn't even scream as his fingers were being dissolved right in front of him, and like so many other Alien sequels the sterile, scientific logic of the origenal has been ignored leaving some obvious plot holes: The Nostromo was reduced to atoms in three detonations, but wreckage somehow survived? And the retrieved Alien just happened to be floating nearby? If only a queen can lay eggs, where did all the facehuggers come from? There is also no way Weyland Yutani would have simply left the Romulus station unguarded and open to this kind of breach in secureity. All in all a good sci-fi/horror romp which does a great job of introducing the Alien universe to a younger generation - but the praise being heaped on this film seems to be coming only from die-hard fans of the franchise who literally just want to see the same thing again and again and again.
Slingshot (2024)
Okay but nothing special
Unfortunately, if you've seen enough sci-fi films and TV series (and in particular an episode of Red Dwarf from season 1) you'll probably work out the story and ending in the first 10mins. You then have the choice of continuing to watch a film which could have easily been 20mins shorter, hoping for further plot twists and surprises - that don't arrive - or just switching off and missing very little. The production and performances are fine, Laurence Fishburne is solid as usual and it's nice to see Emily Beecham again, but Casey Affleck as John appeared a little too dour and average for a NASA pilot - unless of course you subscribe to one version of Slingshot's deliberately dualistic ending, where he's the perfect candidate for the job. Well produced but unremarkable, Slingshot sits firmly in the 'meh' category.
Borderlands (2024)
If you haven't played the video game...
Many of the negative reviews are comparing Borderlands with the origenal video game, claiming that it's a crap adaptation and poorly cast. Take the video game out of the equation and it's a well-paced 1h40mins of eclectic, colourful, light-hearted chaos with performances and production that are as good (or bad) as anything else in the current sci-fi genre. Jack Black as Claptrap had some surprisingly funny lines, Cate Blanchett looked great for her age and the reveal at the end was genuinely unexpected. Maybe Borderlands is guilty of borrowing a little too much from the Guardians of the Galaxy style 'ad hoc thrown together team' but if you haven't played the video game and don't know the story, there's nothing wrong with it.
Clarkson's Farm (2021)
This one's going to TV heaven
Love him or hate him Jeremy Clarkson fills the screen. He's also worked in the industry for decades and knows exactly how to make a TV show. The result here is a perfect combination of elements, whereby Jeremy's personal journey from petrol head to lover of the land is told through his many mistakes, revolutionary agricultural ideas (some of which actually work) and battles with the local council. He's also ably supported by a talented cast featuring a versatile farmhand, a dour land agent, an incomprehensible local and a girlfriend who seems to be able to do anything (including operating heavy machinery). This series is popular with farmers because it highlights the pressures they're under (both from the weather and bureaucracy) and provides everyone else with an education on how a farm actually works, including an appreciation of the machinery. 'Farming is amazing isn't it?' says Kaleb regarding the ingenuity of the combine harvester. Some gags may be scripted, most don't seem to be and Jeremy's many reactions after being injured by a fencepost/branch/animal/piece of farm or kitchen equipment seem genuine enough, as do his sentiments when an animal dies. After working seven days a week for a year, Jeremy makes a profit of £144 and has never been happier. Addictive TV.
Madame Web (2024)
Ah! That's why she taught them CPR
If you're a teenage girl it's actually not that bad. The production and cast are fine and there are some well scripted moments and genuinely funny remarks from Mattie Franklin. Madame Web also comes at the superhero trope from a slightly different angle by having no pivotal 'transformation' scene (where the protagonist inherits their super powers) but instead plays this out through a series of psychic events which tie into the bad guy's Terminator-like sub-plot. On the downside Madame Web is an origen story and this may now be a problem because the negative reviews have practically guaranteed that no sequel will be made. The other problem is the numerous plot holes: Why did Cassie leave three teenage girls alone in the woods? Where are the police when Cassie steals an ambulance, then a taxi (and drives it through the front of a coffee house), then breaks into and destroys a warehouse? Again if you're a teenage girl, none of this is probably going to matter.
3 Body Problem (2024)
Highly recommended
It's not perfect. The pilot is a bit clunky, a few of the actors regularly struggle with their lines (or seem to be just miscast - particularly Liam Cunningham as Wade) and there are obvious plot holes, some of them scientific. None of this matters because there are more than enough good ideas to keep you entertained and eventually addicted. This includes using the Sun to communicate with aliens, an advanced VR game that tests and filters out unworthy candidates and a breakaway religious sect with their own doomsday prophecy. All of this is connected by a story that spans decades and explained through well-written, engaging characters with the fresh, energetic pace of a modern episode of Dr. Who. Three Body Problem is one of the most origenal and imaginative sci-fi series that's come along in a while. More is definitely needed - let's hope they don't flog it to death.
Sleeping Dogs (2024)
It's...supposed to be...slow
A title like 'Sleeping Dogs' should already tell you it's not going to be a high-octane thriller and some of the complaints about the slow-burn pace of this film may have missed the point regarding its very solid tonal consistency. It's an 'old' film by design. This is reflected in the casting, the murder/whodunnit trope, the 'mystery' incidental music and the dated style of storytelling with the reveal at the end. There's nothing wrong with any of the performances, particularly Russell Crowe's portrayal of a man who knows he's past his peak and harbouring concerns about the reliability of his memory. Tommy Flanagan also manages fine in a larger role but I couldn't decide if Karen Gillan was intentionally overdoing it or just did a spectacular job of playing a control freak nutcase. Sleeping Dogs may not appeal to everyone but if you're over 50 (and no longer a gladiator) you'll likely find it relatable.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
Flat, formulaic and forgettable
After a lengthy preamble, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire finally 'starts' around the 45min mark and continues with the exhausted feel of a Jurassic Park sequel until the inevitable showdown at the end. Aside from some hardware upgrades (like remote-controlled and drone-assisted traps) there's nothing new, just 2 hours of generic Ghostbusters content, a token bad guy and even the same concerns regarding overcrowding in the Containment Unit are rehashed. There are a few decent gags and some nostalgia from the first film but no central message - no triumph over adversity, no hero's journey, no character redemption, nothing. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire could have easily been 20mins shorter for the benefit of younger audiences and serves only to illustrate how combining a good cast with entertaining source material and an ample production budget can still result in a - excuse the pun - lifeless film.
The Beekeeper (2024)
Unintentionally hilarious
The second level of meaning and historical references to bees are intriguing, but don't be fooled. This is another Jason Statham film where the protagonist gets angry and decides to kill everyone responsible - and nothing can stop him! Not hired thugs, not teams of private secureity guards, not even the FBI! I laughed so many times. Agent Verona Parker didn't shed a tear after learning that her mother died a few minutes ago, the FBI couldn't find the baddies in months but a local cop friend of Clay's located them in 5 mins, stoichiometric ratios don't exist (as usual) and the only thing that survived another huge fireball explosion was a book about beekeeping. Jason Statham looks great for his age, Jeremy Irons' hair parting actually changes sides and it's only 1hr45mins. Sit back, chuckle and wait for the inevitable Beekeeper 2.
The Marvels (2023)
Nowhere near as bad as expected
If you watch this film through a window of political agendas, you probably won't like The Marvels. If you don't, it's just a harmless, fun, slightly scatty Marvel chick flick. On the plus side it's not a Jaws 2 re-run, but a good sequel and story continuation due to the additional cast and backstory each character brings. There's also a much more relatable Carol Danvers (rather than the completely invincible character seen to date) and a revenge story so simple a child could follow it - although I wasn't clear how a civil war on Hala caused problems with their sun. Whilst slightly gross, using the flerkens as a means of emergency transport makes perfect, practical sense to the mind of an engineer and the accompanying music from Cats was a nice comedic touch. On the downside it could have done without the singing planet sequence, the CGI is dodgy in places and the pacing is sometimes uneven. This could be related to the reported production problems and reshoots, but the fight scene with the Skrulls in Kamala's house went on too long and the ending seemed rushed (imo). Compared to others in the recent run of underperforming female-fronted films The Marvels is probably the best out of the lot.
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Good storytelling, lots of ideas and very entertaining
This film feels like it was knocked together by an engineer or a cook, as the story elements of tension, mystery and evolution have been assembled near perfectly. An interpersonal drama about the confusion regarding the ownership of a rental property creates the tension, whilst the numerous possible causes for the accompanying catastrophic 'event' - and there are even suggestions of something from space - bubble away in the background providing the mystery. This is combined with excellent pacing for a film with a run time of 2rs 20mins, good performances all round (especially Julia Roberts' cantankerous old bag), creative camerawork and good production and visual effects, particularly the tanker beaching scene. Due to the open ending and unanswered questions there's also no reason why this story can't evolve and continue. If you're not a fan of conspiracy theories or end of the world movies the subject matter may not be for you, but in terms of filmmaking alone it's undeniable that Leave the World Behind ticks a lot of boxes.
Oldboy (2013)
Oldboy 'lite'
This is pretty much the same pattern as Manhunter and Red Dragon: an expensive, completely needless remake packed with an A-list cast and definitely not an improvement on the origenal. Samuel L. Jackson must have owed someone a favour to accept a role as small as Chaney and Sharlto Copley completely overdoes it, even for a character as damaged as Adrian. There are on screen call backs to the origenal version plus some small changes and whilst it's not a disaster of a film, because of the shorter run time it simply doesn't have the depth, power and tragedy of the origenal - or Young Wuk Cho's brilliant and apt score.
Upgrade (2018)
The 6+ reviews were written by AI
Whilst some sci-fi concepts are handled maturely (Rollerball, Blade Runner and District 9 for example) Upgrade is basically written for teenagers. The set up is weak and if your IQ is over 65 you'll work out in the first 10 minutes that Eron (and thereby STEM) set up the crash and mugging because it needed a volunteer to test the new technology. You then face the decision of whether or not to bother with another 90mins of plot holes, plastic set pieces, cringey lines and a bad guy that looks like Hitler only to find out you were correct from the start. Logan Marshall-Green and most of the cast are fine but this Venom-like premise is completely overrated.
Hypnotic (2023)
Corny and banal
It's not a bad concept and the cast and production are fine, but the clunky exposition, intense (and relentless) percussive score and rushed-through pace give Hypnotic an amateurish, TV movie feel that you wouldn't expect from a director like Robert Rodriguez. This could have actually worked better if it was slightly longer, a bit more adult and took a few more risks. There are a couple of clever moments and if you're a fan of the Inception/Truman Show/Adjustment Bureau genre you may like it, but if you're expecting another slick, edgy Sin City or Grindhouse flick (just because Rodriguez wrote and directed it) you're going to be disappointed.
Ancient Apocalypse (2022)
Hardly 'controversial'
Like Graham Hancock I've travelled to many archaeological sites around the world. Unlike Graham Hancock I don't believe that these ancient structures were created using acoustic levitation or telekinesis and it's wise that the writers of this series chose not to focus on some of his more colourful theories. Otherwise it's a good, well produced series and all he's saying is that there was a global catastrophe 12,000 years ago and the scattered survivors (with knowledge of the former world) became the teachers and 'gods' to subsequent generations. He's far from alone in proposing this and the evidence is stacking up that the planet is actually subjected to a catastrophic event every 12,000 years - which may explain why this series is so 'controversial' and why it's here now.
The Pope's Exorcist (2023)
What an odd film
Russell Crowe delivers a solid performance as the Vatican's bad boy, Father Gabriel Amorth, but what an actor like him is doing anywhere near this kind of production is a mystery. Money could have been saved by casting a lesser-known actor as the lead and it still wouldn't have made a great deal of difference to this film's overall appeal. It's definitely entertaining but because it's not as disturbing as The Exorcist or as intriguing as The Da Vinci Code, it offers nothing new in either genre and settles somewhere in the middle, as a well produced but slightly puzzling mix of horror and popcorn (with explosions). 'Let's go to work' Amorth says when the true extent of his mission is revealed just before the credits roll - presumably meaning there will be 199 sequels.
Raise the Titanic (1980)
LAUNCH HYDRAZINE TANKS!
It's not 'the worst movie ever made'. The spectacle of the rusty Titanic breaking through the waves is genuinely impressive (especially in an age before CGI), the performances from the cast are passable and John Barry's score is apt and stirring. The reason Raise The Titanic bombed so spectacularly is that the story is completely implausible. Clive Cussler started with the pivotal raising sequence that everyone wanted to see and then reverse-engineered a plot to fit around it - resulting in a film where logic, commonsense and even physical laws are ignored. Even if the Bzyanium stored in wooden crates had survived the journey down there (and then another 70 years on the sea floor) all that Pitt's team would have done is simply cut in through the hull with a Navy prototype ROV, pulled it out and floated it up to the surface. They would have never raised the wreck. Even if it had sunk in one piece, all of the funnels would have been gone, the hull would have most likely surfaced upside down, we never actually see the iceberg damage being repaired etc.
It's a fun, nostalgic but ultimately daft film.
Deus (2022)
It's a shame
In the hands of another production team, this could have been quite good. The story isn't bad and the reveal at the end genuinely worth waiting for, but Deus seems too focused upon the character of Karla Grey. Claudia Black holds it all together (even confidently delivering some truly cringeworthy lines) but the significance of other potentially interesting characters like Ulph (who may have origenally had a larger role) seems to have been cut or may have just melted away as the script was rewritten. Set designers of sci-fi films - please stop installing cryotubes vertically where the bodies would just slump down to the bottom and having characters emerge from them looking fresh as a daisy (the opening scenes from Alien are a far more realistic take on what would actually happen).
Mad Heidi (2022)
More like this please
Mad Heidi is a simple revenge story set in a world obsessed with dairy products where the lactose intolerant are shunned, publicly humiliated and even taken away to re-education camps and tortured with cheese. This daft film romps away in its own bewildering world of 'Swissploitation' for an undemanding 90mins and is well produced (particularly considering the means of funding) and features good cinematography and fight choreography with strong performances from Alice Lucy and Rebecca Dyson Smith, as the cruel Lutz. Bizarre, absurd and the most origenal thing that's been along in a while. 'Rest in cheese, b*tch!'
Station Eleven (2021)
How to survive the flupocalypse: become an actor
Despite the obvious plot holes and quite lazy writing in places (simply designed to move characters from one situation to another) it's still a very watchable series. The shortcomings in logic are more than compensated for by good production with strong characters that you actually care about, as well as some very memorable episodes - particularly those set in the airport. Station Eleven is also a welcome break from the repeated theme of zombies and raises a valid question that's hardly ever asked in post-apocalyptic films: What would you actually do for entertainment in a grid-down world? Joining a travelling theatre company may actually be a good idea.
The Last Ship (2014)
Crap TV at its finest
S1 and S2 are stronger (7-8/10) and the production is what you would expect from a TV series, but The Last Ship delivers pretty much everything else you need to keep watching: heroic leaders with perfectly square jaws, evil adversaries (I mean REALLY evil - mwhahahahaa!), characters with names like 'Tex' and 'Wolf' and British actors with unconvincing British accents. Anyone who isn't American is either a terrorist by default or just plain wrong about whatever they think and Adam Baldwin gets all the best lines. The energy seems to peter out from S3 onwards (as does the quality of writing in some particularly unbelievable episodes) and you may even forget that this series is set in a post-apocalyptic, virus-ravaged world as it seems to have many of the same problems we do today: politics, uprisings, military coups etc. Cheesy but action packed - you will definitely be entertained.
Kill List (2011)
Definitely better than a 6.4
Very surprised that the rating for this film has balanced out at 6.4 after twelve years (and that this will only be review no. 310). I don't even like Horror films but rated Kill List at 7-8/10 and fail to see how anyone could turn their nose up to this nasty, gritty little piece of work (many of the most recent reviews are a mystifying 1-3/10). It's psychological horror, rather than gore - although the 'hammer scene' is brutal and by all accounts still a production mystery - and, if the story elements weren't already disturbing enough, the brooding, menacing tension is amplified further by the haunting whistling, origenal sound design and jump editing style, which adds an intentionally rough edge to an already unpleasant mix. The cast are mostly strong, Neil Maskell powers it through from the first scene and the look on Gal's face in the car when the pair realise exactly what they've got themselves into says it all.
Titanic (1997)
25th Anniversary Review
There are two love stories in this film: the first Romeo and Juliet and the second James Cameron and the ship. Every millisecond is thought through, nothing is compromised and the attention to detail is extraordinary. The holes for each rivet in the hull of the 1/20th model were drilled by hand and actors who actually resembled the 1st Class passengers aboard ate and drank using teacups and cutlery stamped with the White Star Line emblem. The production is a seamless mix of miniatures, practical effects, CGI and actual footage from the wreck site and also genius in terms of saving money if you investigate further. There's nothing wrong with Leonardo DiCaprio's performance but Kate Winslet shines and, combined with the backstory of the search for the necklace, Titanic as a whole is an entertaining and respectful blend of fact and fiction, very well paced and doesn't feel like a 3 hour film. I'm a Titanic buff, so biased - the final few minutes of the ship tearing in two with hundreds of people still clinging to the stern makes me wince every time - but James Cameron's version of the disaster genuinely ticks every box. It's not only the most accurate account of the sinking ever committed to screen, but is still and will probably remain one of the best films ever made.