Film Review Club

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is directed by Gore Verbinski and follows Captain Jack Sparrow, a quirky Pirate who teams up with blacksmith Will Turner to win back the Black Pearl and defeat the cursed pirates who man the ship.  CAST & THE ACTING  Johnny Depp plays the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow and it’s arguably his most iconic role, which he absolutely nails. I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing half as good as he did, which is why I am not looking forward to the reboot that he won’t be apart of. Orlando Bloom plays Will Turner and also delivers a strong, charismatic performance which is a strong contrast to Depp’s character but creates a nice chemistry on screen between the pair. Keira Knightley plays Elizabeth Swan, the daughter of a governor in the East India Trading company and love interest of Will Turner. She completes the trio and together they work really well on screen, similarly to Bloom she brings something different to the film, having come

The Imitation Game is directed by Morten Tyldum and is based on the true story of British mathematician Alan Turing as he joins the cryptography team to decipher the German enigma code during World War 2. With the help of his fellow Mathematicians, he builds a machine that will crack the codes and turn the tide in the war. CAST & THE ACTING  Benedict Cumberbatch leads the cast as Alan Turing, a genius who comes up with the idea of building the machine that cracks the enigma code. He is also a homosexual man at a time where it was illegal to be. Despite helping to win the war he is chemically castrated and it’s side effects ultimately drive Turing into Madness and cause him to take his own life. Cumberbatch plays every aspect of Turing perfectly, his genius and his depression, which created such an emotional ending that really shocks the audience. Keira Knightley plays Joan Clarke a female mathematician recruited by Turing for the cryptography team. She portrays a smart and strong w

Sweet Girl, directed by Brian Mendoza is the latest film from Netflix about Cooper a man who has lost his wife to cancer. A death that could have been prevented by a new trial drug that was shelved as a result of bribes from a larger bio company. Having vowed to get justice for his wife Cooper and his daughter Rachel are now the target themselves.  CAST & THE ACTING  Jason Momoa leads the film as Cooper, the family man who tragically loses his wife and vows to take down the CEO of the bio company responsible. I think Momoa done well to portray the shear contrast in emotion, within ten minutes there’s scenes showing his character at his happiest on a camping trip with his wife and daughter to then losing his wife where he must reflect that true pain that comes with losing a loved one. He also performed well in the action sequences that were choreographed well and looked quite fluid on screen. His daughter Rachel was played by Isabela Merced who I felt done really well. She matched h

The Morning show created by Jay Carson for Apple TV follows a morning news show in New York just as one of their lead anchors Mitch Kessler is fired for sexual misconduct. It is set during the 2nd wave of the me too movement, where so many brave victims come forward to tell their story of sexual abuse or misconduct. We see the fall out within the news studio and the hunt for Mitch’s replacement. CAST & THE ACTING  The acting is something that really stood out for me in this series, each of the characters seems to be having a personal battle with themselves and those battles are personified on screen really well. Jennifer Anniston plays Alex Levy one of the lead anchors on The Morning Show and best friend of the fired Mitch Kessler. She finds herself having to deal with the fact that he’s gone and she is now alone and also the guilt and perhaps denial that she could have done something to stop him. Anniston does brilliantly in this role and it’s probably one of her best performances

This is the US adaptation of the popular sitcom The Office. Set at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton USA, the employees and upper management are subject to filming for 8 years, having every aspect of their lives captured on camera. It shows their working life and their personal lives whilst showing what working in an office looks like. CAST & THE ACTING  Steve Carrel plays the regional manager Michael Scott and it’s fair to say he is absolutely brilliant, injecting so much comedy into every scene he is in. The ultra offensive and terrible boss that ultimately just wants to be friends with his employees having been an outsider for most of his life. Rainn Wilson plays Dwight Schrute and is arguably my favourite character on the show, his quirkiness delivers so many laughs and his relationship with both Michael and Jim leads to so many hilarious scenes. Jim is actually played by John Krasinski who helps create that wonderful pairing between himself and Dwight. Less quirky b

Free Guy, directed by Shawn Levy is an action comedy that follows Guy, a bank teller who discovers he is a non player character (NPC) in an open world video game. He decides to venture away from his scripted life and level up to impress the girl of his dreams but soon realises he needs to be a hero to more then just his love interest! CAST & THE ACTING  Ryan Reynolds leads the cast playing Guy and you can always guarantee his films will get the audience laughing. He is hilarious and creates such a funny and entertaining character and what I appreciate the most is how he always seems to have such great chemistry with his co stars, which is so important to portray genuine relationships on screen. Jodie Comer plays Millie/Molotov girl and she delivers a strong performance creating such an interesting contrast between her ‘badass’ gamer avatar, Molotov Girl and her real life game developer character Millie. Joe Keery is Keys, an employee for Soonami, the company which creates the game

Peaky Blinders is set in Birmingham just after World War 1 and follows Tommy Shelby the leader of the Peaky Blinders Gang. Starting out with small town organised crime, through the seasons they progress into big players around the country taking on outfits from London and New York before entering politics and infiltrating the British Government.  CAST & THE ACTING  I think the casting for Peaky Blinders is actually one of the best I’ve seen from any series! Cillian Murphy plays Tommy Shelby and to say that he does brilliantly would be an understatement, this character has to be one of my favourite protagonists across film and TV. The late Helen McCrory played Polly Gray, the auntie of the Shelby Brothers and she also delivers a great performance. Polly’s character goes through so much during the 5 seasons, being one of the leaders of the criminal organisation but also having a wide variety of personal issues that Helen portrayed brilliantly, showing a real range in her acting abili

The Tomorrow War, directed by Chris McKay, follows Dan Forester as he is drafted into a war 30 years in the future. A group of soldiers travel back in time to recruit new soldiers for a war against an alien race that they are currently losing. Unable to defeat the enemy in normal combat they must race to find a chemical agent that can wipe them out for good. CAST & THE ACTING  Chris Pratt leads the ensemble as Dan Forester and at first glance I just expected it to be an all action role with no real substance to the character. However there was actually a lot of depth to the character as he struggles with his working life prior to the war and the personal battles he has with his father and his own daughter at points in the film. Do I think Chris pulled those more emotional moments off well? I’m actually 50/50 because there were some moments that really stirred up a lot of emotions as I watched it but there were other moments where he just didn’t deliver and was outdone by his costar

The Suicide Squad is directed by James Gunn and introduces a bunch of new characters into the team of misfits. Tasked with discovering and destroying operation star fish, they must infiltrate Corto Maltese and work their way through the thick jungle with only Col. Rick Flag to keep them in check. CAST & THE ACTING  A number of actors returned from the first film such as Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. I was a little disappointed that Will Smith didn’t return as Deadshot due to scheduling issues but James Gunn brought in Idris Elba’s Bloodsport as a worthy replacement leader. Some other new faces include John Cena, Peter Capaldi, Pete Davidson, Michael Rooker and many more. It was clear right from the start that this would be an all action comedy and the entire cast done brilliantly to deliver that comedy effectively. The action choreography was pulled off really well by the actors and we

Jungle Cruise is the latest Disney release based upon the popular ride at the Disney Land parks. Dr Lily Houghton and her brother McGregor travel to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil in search of the ‘Tears of the Moon’ an ancient tree with petals that hold the ultimate healing power. They recruit boat skipper Frank to guide them deep into the rainforest. CAST & THE ACTING  The casting for Jungle Cruise is brilliant, Lily Houghton is played by the brilliant Emily Blunt who brings determination, courage and intelligence to her character. During the press junket for the film I have seen many comparisons to Indiana Jones and I think that’s fair but I believe Emily makes this character much more likeable, humorous and relatable. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is Frank the skipper for the Journey and as always, he delivers a fantastic performance. The chemistry between himself and Emily Blunt is great and that is reflected on screen, I have watched quite a few interviews with them both discuss