Film Review Club

The Maze Runner trilogy consists of three films; The Maze Runner, Maze Runner: The Scortch Trials and finally Maze Runner: The Death Cure. All three films are directed by Wes Ball and are based on the novels of the same name, written by James Dashner. It follows Thomas as he wakes up in a maze with no recollection of his past life, as he tries to recover his memory and help the others escape the maze to uncover who really put them there. CAST & THE ACTING (8/10) The lead Thomas is played by Dylan O’Brien an actor I have credited in a previous review. His acting skills continue to shine and he does well in the lead role throughout all three films. Other cast members you may recognise are Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Will Poulter, with other well known actors popping up throughout the trilogy. I think the acting as a whole was pretty good across the three films, they perform very well in the action sequences but also display a great dynamic as a cast which only emphasises

The Irregulars is a new TV series now on Netflix, which is a supernatural twist in the classic Sherlock Holmes world! The series follows a group of young people trying to fend for themselves in Victoria London when Dr Watson hires them to investigate the supernatural phenomenons happening around the city.  CAST & THE ACTING (8/10) The Irregulars doesn’t include any household names across its cast but a few faces you may recognise from British television. Royce Pierreson who plays Dr Watson is probably the most well known actor having had roles in Thor: The Dark World and The Witcher and Sherlock is played by Henry Lloyd Hughes who you may recognise from The Inbetweeners. However this series is more about the group of misfits hired by Dr Watson, which consist of Harrison Osterfield who plays Leo, Thaddea Graham playing Bea, Darcie Shaw playing Jessie, Jojo Macari as Billy and finally Mckell David playing spike! I think the acting was pretty good for a relatively less experienced cas

So Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 7 is out on Netflix now, so I thought it was about time I reviewed it! For those of you who don’t know the show, this is a comedy sitcom set within the 99th precinct in New York. This hilarious comedy series mainly follows Jake Peralta a detective within the NYPD and the rest of his quirky colleagues as they solve crimes across New York. CAST & THE ACTING (9/10) I think I have to give a good score here because the entire cast are excellent comedic actors. Andy Samberg plays the lead Jake Paralta but the other cast members include Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Stephanie Beatriz and Andra Braugher. I think this score is well justified, these characters will have you laughing from season 1 all the way through to season 7 and each actor is perfectly suited to their role. I believe the character Terry Jeffords was specifically written for Terry Crews (hence the name) so you can tell a lot of thought went into the casting.  PLOT & THE STORY

Life in a year is a drama directed by Mitt Okorn, following Daryn as he is distracted from his strict, regime lifestyle by a young girl named Isabelle. As we see their love story unfold, Daryn finds out that Isabelle is terminally ill and only has a year to live. So he starts planning a life full of milestones, in just a year. CAST & THE ACTING (8.5/10) I think this film got it spot on here, Jaden Smith plays Daryn and Cara Delevinge delivers a fantastic performance as Isabelle. Her acting was brilliant, from the more vulnerable scenes where Isabelle is struggling with her illness, to the overwhelming joy she has in those special moments with Daryn. What really made this a good film for me was the dynamic between these two actors, it seemed so authentic and so natural which really got you invested in their relationship. Cuba Gooding Junior plays Daryn’s father and he also provides a strong performance as the strict, controlling father. This tough relationship between a father and s

Molly’s Game is a film directed by Aaron Sorkin, based on the true events detailed in the 2014 memoir of the same name by Molly Bloom. The film follows Molly as she is targeted by the FBI for the high stakes underground poker empire that she had run for a number of years which included some of the most famous, richest and dangerous men in the world. CAST & THE ACTING (8.5/10) Molly is played by Jessica Chastain and she delivers a very strong performance, portraying this extremely smart, driven and calculated women as she struggles with the risks that come with her line of work. Other cast members include Idris Elba who plays her lawyer Charlie Jaffey, Michael Cera as the infamous ‘Player X’ and Kevin Costner as Mollys father Larry Bloom. I think the entire cast done really well! Cera really showed the vindictive, cruel nature of ‘Player X’ which was very different to the usual roles I have seen him in, so I was pleasantly surprised there. So a strong score for a strong cast and per

The tax collector is a crime/thriller film directed by David Ayer following David Cuevas who works as a tax collector for one of the biggest gangs in LA. There is a fight for power as both sides do their best to wipe out the rival gang, whilst one man just tries to protect his family. CAST & THE ACTING (7.5/10) Shia LaBeouf is the biggest name in this film, he plays the role of Creeper, David’s right hand man and executor. Other than that there wasn’t any names or faces I recognised but the acting was good and there wasn’t anything to criticise there. You could tell Shia was extremely committed to this role, he really brought this character to life. He plays this ruthless killer and you could almost tell that just by his facial expressions in some scenes. Bobby Soto who plays David also delivers a strong performance, we see him transition from a position of power and confidence to someone scared for his and his family’s safety and he portrays the range of emotion very well. The act

Servant is a psychological horror television series directed by M. Night Shyamalan which follows Sean and Dorothy Turner as as they deal with their grief after an awful tragedy hits the couple. The family soon witness strange forces effecting their lives, testing their marriage and their sanity. CAST & THE ACTING (9/10) I think the acting in this series is brilliant, each character has so much depth and layers of emotion that are portrayed so well by the actors. Especially Lauren Ambrose who plays Dorothy Turner, she does amazingly well and showing the different stages of grief. Toby Kebbel plays Sean Turner and Rupert Grint plays Dorothy’s brother Julian Pearce. The pair brilliantly portray this brother in law relationship between the two characters which ignited the series with comedy, horror and emotion throughout the two seasons. Nell Tiger Free plays the nanny Leanne, whose innocence and faith is extremely frightening and times and Nell does well to get this across to the audi

It’s finally landed! Justice League The Snyder Cut is Zack Snyder’s version of the 2017 film, which was as a result of a fan frenzy campaign to bring the true version of this film to the screen after a failed attempt by Joss Whedon.   Bruce Wayne (Batman) recruits a team to protect the earth in response to a message from a future Barry Allen warning him of a doomed world to come. Formed in the honour of the late Clark Kent, AKA Superman, the team work tirelessly to stop the newly awakened threat. The film features heroes such as Batman, Wonder Women, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg and Superman, even including a sneak peak at another original justice league member from the comics!  CAST & THE ACTING  The cast includes Ben Affleck as The Batman, Gal Gadot portraying Wonder Women, Jason Momoa playing Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg and Ezra Miller as The Flash. I think each actor is perfectly casted to each of their characters and that’s why I have given such a high score. I have seen a lot

Tropic Thunder is directed by Ben stiller and follows a group of spoilt actors as they attempt to film a high budget war film but before they know it they are thrown into the very real action they were trying to recreate. They work their way through the Vietnamese jungle fighting notorious drug dealers, trying to determine what’s real and what’s not. CAST & THE ACTING (8.5/10) This cast is full of big names; Ben Stiller, Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Junior, Jack Black, Brandon T Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Matthew McConaughey, Bill Hader, Danny Mcbride... there is just so much talent in this film. The reason I have given a pretty high score is because in order to make this film as funny as it is, these actors have to play the most stupid characters with the silliest storyline but that requires good acting to make sure the comedy comes through. So I believe the high score is justified because the cast and the performances are so aligned with the genre. Also to see Tom Cruise playing a chara

Chernobyl (2019) is based on one of the worst nuclear disasters in the history of the world. On the 26th of April 1986 the 4th reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear Power Plant exploded and this series tells the stories of how this occurred and the first responders who tried to deal with it. From the initial firefighters to the miners who helped stopped the situation from getting much worse, saving millions of lives. CAST & THE ACTING Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson and Paul Ritter lead the cast. they all delivered strong performances over the 5 episodes and done well bringing substance to each of their characters. The arrogance and denial of Ritters character Anatoly as he tried to deny the severity of the situation contrasted well with Harris’ and Emily’s characters who worked tirelessly to convince officials just how dangerous this disaster was. The contrast worked well in emphasising the true reaction from the people involved and this could not have been done with poor

This highly anticipated film directed by the Russo Brothers, follows Cherry a young man who meets the love of his life Emily whilst studying and on the news of her sudden departure agrees to join the United States Military. His experiences scar him with PTSD and we see him and Emily struggle with their mental health as they turn to a life of crime and drugs. CAST & THE ACTING  Tom Holland plays the lead role of Cherry and delivers a great performance as we see him transition from a quiet, shy student into a man crippled by his time in the army. Ciara Bravo also delivers a strong performance as Emily who suffers as a result of her husbands mental determination. There aren’t many other key characters to mention here but those two performance help justify the overall score. THE PLOT & THE STORYLINE  I was expecting a lot more from this storyline here, it’s very predictable! Man goes into the army comes home scarred and effectively ruins his life as a result of it. It pretty much m

The first 10 out of 10 for Film Review Club! Inception is a film directed by Christopher Nolan following Cobb a thief who specialises in using dream sharing technology to extract secret information from his victims subconscious. Desperate to return to his family he commits to a high stakes job, where him and his team must plant an idea into the mind of a billionaire CEO.  CAST & THE ACTING (10/10)  This cast is full of huge names and acting talent, including; Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard, Elliott Page and Michael Caine. This is as good as your going to get in terms of casting and they do not disappoint. DiCaprio delivers his usual high standard performance, showing an emotionally traumatised man trying to escape the guilt he carries from his wife’s suicide. The rest of the cast deliver very strong performances and I feel like this perfect 10 score is completely justified. PLOT & THE STORYLINE (10/10) The plot in my opinion

The first Sky original series on the Film Review Club blog! A Discovery of Witches is a fantasy series based on the ‘All souls’ novels written by Deborah Harkness. The series follows Diana Bishop a historian who is thrown into a dangerous world full of Witches, Vampires and Daemons as she attempts to uncover the secrets of a bewitched manuscript. CAST & THE ACTING  Diana is played by Teresa Palmer who does very well in bringing the character to life as she discovers more and more about the creatures living among her and how she struggles in coming to terms with her own past, that up until now, she was unaware of. The supporting cast consists of Matthew Goode, Owen Teale and Alex Kingston. I think the acting was pretty good across the two seasons, each character brought something different to the series, from the light hearted comedic side of Edward Bluemel’s character Marcus, to the more vindictive and spiteful portrayal of Owen Teale’s Peter. There was a nice balance across the ar

Another Apple TV series review today! Ted Lasso follows a small time American Football coach who is hired as the manager for a Premier League football team in England. As a manager with no knowledge about the game, we follow him as he tries to win over his critics and help the team avoid relegation. CAST & THE ACTING  I think everyone will know the lead actor in this series, Jason Sudeikis (Horrible Bosses, We’re the Millers). He has a track record for hilariously funny films and the production team clearly wanted to take advantage of that and inject this series with the same kind of energy. The rest of the cast is made up of relatively lesser known English actors such as Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein and Nick Mohammed. Ted Lasso rather surprised me, after reading the description of the series I was expecting a goofy, silly football ‘spoof’ with little substance at all and although I was half right, this series did have it’s moments where it showed real depth and emotion. The

Teen wolf is a supernatural teen drama, revolving around werewolves and in particular Scott McCall and his group of friends as they protect their home town of beacon hills from all kinds of supernatural threats. The series is loosely based on the 1985 film of the same name. CAST & THE ACTING  I think the cast is actually really good in this series, the lead, Scott, is played by Tyler Posey but the most well known actor in this series is probably the lead’s best friend Stiles who is played by Dylan O’Brien (face of the Maze runner franchise). Some of the other cast are actors such as Tyler Hoechlin, who you may know as Superman in the new Superman and Lois series, Holland Roden and Crystal Reed. The acting is good in general across the 6 seasons, understandably there is moments at the start where some of the acting is questionable but these were young actors learning their craft and they certainly grow into their roles as they go on. Dylan O’Brien is consistently good throughout whi

I think most of you will know this film but for those who don’t... The hunger games is a film directed by Gary Ross based on the novels written by Suzanne Collins. The story follows Katniss Everdeen as she is thrown into The Hunger games after volunteering to take her younger sisters place. It is then a fight to the death with contestants from all 12 districts, some of which have trained their whole lives for this moment. CAST & THE ACTING  Katniss Everdeen is played by Jennifer Lawrence who gives a fantastic performance, she is supported by a number of big names such as Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks. I think the performance from everyone in this film is really strong, the class inequality comes through very well in the characters. The wealthy elitists who see these barbaric games as perfect entertainment, in contrast to the working class minors who fight against the dictatorship and corruption in the capital. I think the casting was spot on b

The Accountant is a film directed by Gavin O’Connor following the life of an accountant with high functioning autism. His extremely high attention attention to detail allows him to aid criminal organisations in ‘uncooking’ their books. The nature of his profession leaves him as a target for many of his clients and trouble soon arises when he takes up a legitimate client to fool the FBI. CAST & THE ACTING  I really liked the ensemble in this film, with Ben Affleck taking the lead role and Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal and JK Simmons supporting. There are also plenty of other familiar faces that play a role in the film. I thought the acting was pretty decent throughout and I particularly enjoyed Ben Afflecks performance because his autistic character really had so many layers. He helped show the issues those with autism face in normal life but also showed how in many scenarios they can excel. The social complexity behind the character combined with his troubled childhood would make thi

Escape from Pretoria is a film directed by Francis Annan following three anti-apartheid political prisoners; Tim Jenkin, Leonard Fontaine and Stephen Lee as they escape Pretoria prison in South Africa. They were originally convicted for working on behalf of the African National Congress at a time where institutional racial segregation flooded South African and South West Africa.  CAST & THE ACTING  The performances from the three leading actors were good, capturing a real bond between the three men as they worked tirelessly to escape. Daniel Radcliffe played Tim Jenkin, Mark Leonard Winter played Leonard Fontaine and Daniel Webber played Stephen Lee. Ian Hart also took up the role of the famous Denis Goldberg. Considering the majority of the cast was English, I think the accents weren’t too bad and you didn’t notice them to much once the film got going. I am a big fan of Daniel Radcliffe and the type of films he has been cast in since Harry Potter. I think they have required real s

The first marvel review! Hello people, I have been wanting to do a marvel review for some time now because like most people I am a huge fan and I thought the new series Wandavision would be the perfect start. The series follows Wanda Maximoff after the events of endgame as she battles her personal demons and those trying to destroy her new life. I will try not to give anything away, so don’t worry about any spoilers! CAST & THE ACTING  Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their roles of Wanda and Vision and also included in the cast are Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings and Evan Peters. I think the series has the perfect combination of existing MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) characters and new ones, who we will certainly see again in future projects. The acting for me was very good, the characters showed range with comedy, darkness and at times really deep emotion that comes across well from episode 1. I want to highlight Elizabeth Olsen especially because she portray