Film Review Club

Maverick returns for the highly anticipated sequel 36 years after the first film. After breaking the rules yet again, Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is ordered to return to Top Gun to teach the country’s elite graduates for a special, highly complicated operation. Forced to confront his past, it’s a fight against time to ensure his students make it out of the missions alive.  Sequels tend to get a bad reputation in Hollywood, with very few films matching their predecessors, never mind surpassing them in quality. However Top Gun Maverick carries all of the charm from the first film, adds in some extraordinary character development and blends that with an incredible soundtrack and amazing action sequences. I had so much fun watching this sequel, the entire cinema did! We was all laughing and gasping together throughout the duration of the film. In my opinion it manages to improve upon every aspect of the original and that’s some task in itself. The only thing we didn’t have was a shock as big

When an inter-dimensional rupture unravels reality, an unlikely hero is forced to use her newfound powers to fight bizarre and bewildering threats from the multiverse. The fate of the world is in the balance!  Everything Everywhere All At Once used the chaos, the silliness and the creativity of the Multiverse theory to disguise a core story about love, family and the problems we all face in life. This elegant sci-fi adventure was edited to perfection and they created beautiful visuals to match the craziness of the storyline. I went into the film on the back of seeing numerous high 9’s or 10 out of 10 ratings from my fellow film reviewers and I was almost hesitant to believe that the film could be this good. However I was happy to be proven wrong, yes the film is incredibly silly at times but that absolutely works in its favour because after all, how can you do a multiverse film without being silly at times? The core characters deliver the wholesome and heart warming content, especially

Desperate parents try to keep their daughter Charlie hidden from a secret federal agency who are desperate to harness her extraordinary powers. As Charlie begins to lose control of her powers, keeping her hidden becomes even harder and they soon find themselves on the run. Firestarter has all of the foundations to be a film I would usually enjoy, unfortunately it wasn’t executed well at all. The storyline is awfully cliche, I’ve seen it countless times before, a film or tv show where a super powerful child is on the run from a sketchy federal agency. However even a storyline as over done as that one can be turned into a good film but this Blumhouse production missed the mark significantly. The trailer gives the impression of a fast paced, exciting, ‘on the run’ flick yet it was incredibly slow. Now I can forgive the slow pace if the performances we’re excellent and the plot full of substance but both were pretty uninteresting. Ryan Kiera Armstrong had periods where she stole the show b

Top Gun follows pilot Maverick and his best friend Goose as they join the Navy’s most elite piloting programme, Top Gun. They are competing for the prestigious trophy which would make them the best pilots in the academy, but tragedy hits and Maverick finds himself struggling to finish.  I will admit straight from the off that I was extremely late to watching this classic and the only reason I watched it was because Top Gun: Maverick is releasing soon and it peaked my interest. That being said I should have watched this film years ago, I understand why it has a bit of a cult following despite its poor critic reviews. Tom Cruise brings his charm, delivering humour and emotion from start to finish. Yes it has some cheesy dialogue but I kind of think that helps the film. Top Gun takes the audience on a journey of emotions because it could have you laughing one moment and all emotional the next. The cinematography is fantastic! Tony Scott’s decision to create the fighter jet scenes organica

How I Met Your Father is the spin off to the popular show How I Met Your Mother. It follows a new group of characters living in New York, narrated by an older version of Sophie, the lead character, as she tells her son the story of how she met his father.  This spin off, for want of a better word, had very large boots to fill. It was always going to receive some negative criticism because it’s predecessor was so beloved but it still manages to deliver its own unique charm. The lead character Sophie is played by Hilary Duff, a smart choice from the producers because she will bring a lot of eyes to the show and she’s reliable in terms of likability for sure. In regards to the storyline, it’s not to dissimilar from the original, this time a mother telling her son the story of how she met his father. However this time, the flashback is set in 2022 so we have modern influences like dating apps imbedded into the story, which is a nice touch. I will say they have gone out of their way to make

Goodfellas is a crime drama directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese. Based on a true story, the film follows a young Henry Hill as he rises from a petty criminal to a high ranking mobster on the streets of New York.  CAST & THE ACTING  The usual Scorsese favourites return for another one of the directors crime dramas and once again they do not disappoint. Helmed by Ray Liotta who plays Henry Hill, supported by Hollywood icons Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci who play Jimmy Conway and Vinny DeVito respectively. My favourite performance comes from Ray Liotta and that’s because of the versatility he displays throughout the film. He plays the rising mobster well but how he executed the downfall of his character is what impressed me the most. The body language, facial expressions and his verbal ques personified a man struggling with addiction and that authenticity tied into the ending of the film extremely well. De Niro and Pesci also impressed and no matter what film they’re in together

The Bubble is a Netflix original film directed by Judd Apatow. Set during the pandemic, the cast and crew of a huge blockbuster franchise attempt to make a sequel whilst quarantining at a posh hotel in London.  CAST & THE ACTING  It’s fair to say The Bubble has an incredibly stacked cast, which helps contribute to the ironic humour that the film relies upon. Some of the stars include Leslie Mann, Iris Apatow, Karen Gillan, Pedro Pascal, David Duchovny, Keegan Michael-Key and Guz Khan. There are even more that I haven’t mentioned and a whole host of cameos from A list stars too! In a way the acting is good but incredibly awful at the same time, it’s talented actors portraying entitled and talentless actors and that’s where the movie derives most of its comedy from. Unfortunately that charade loses its charm pretty early on and some of the performances go from funny to annoying quite quickly. But others such as Michael-Key and Iris Apatow manage to maintain their humour throughout. D

Set during the mid 2000’s a group of financial experts predict the collapse of the financial market, discovering the vulnerability of the subprime mortgage system and the corruption behind them. Hedging their bets, shorting the market in the build up to the late 2007 financial crash. Adam McKay created the perfect blend of informative storytelling and entertainment with The Big Short, leaving me seriously impressed. Although very factual the lead characters, based on very real people, were seriously entertaining. With a cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt and Jeremy Strong I knew that I was going to see impressive performances but they surpassed my expectations with such captivating portrayals of their real life counterparts. What I loved about The Big Short was that, although it was humorous at times, the comedy never felt forced, the jokes weren’t cringeworthy and there were no ironic parody’s unlike Don’t Look Up. I found the storyline incredibly

The Multiverse of Madness sees Doctor Strange encounter America Chavez, a young girl who has the powers to travel to different universes. This encounter leads to Strange teaming up with the rest of the Sanctum Sanctorum to stop a powerful force hunting her.  This highly anticipated sequel delivered some of the best scenes in the MCU so far! If you have read my previous reviews on Marvel projects my wish has always been to have darker tones and themes run through an otherwise lighthearted and fun universe. The Multiverse of Madness shows signs of this slowly happening at Marvel, it has the most brutal scene in the MCU as well as multiple scenes that incorporated horror like influences that worked incredibly well. I think the first act was definitely the weakest part of the film, the first scene kicked off the film with a bang but for about half an hour after it was a little uninteresting. However the final two acts were great and that’s where everything really kicked off, it was constan

Moon Knight is the latest Marvel character to get the Disney+ treatment. The series focuses on Steven Grant and Marc Spectre, both happen to be the same man who suffers from a multiple personality disorder. Struggling to come to terms with his condition, Steven is thrusted into a world of Egyptian mythology and finds out he is cursed with powers bestowed upon him by the Egyptian god Khonsu.  Moon Knight is another strong addition to the MCU and the central protagonist is arguably the most complex character yet! The multiple personality disorder provides a unique storyline that Marvel has handled tremendously well, particularly in episode 5. However that level of storytelling wouldn’t have been possible without Oscar Isaac, who simply blew me away with his performance. His ability to transition between different characters, with different accents and mannerisms is fantastic and combined with the spectacular editing, it honestly looks like Isaac has an identical twin performing next to h

The Strain is a horror/drama series set in a New York that is under threat from a new parasite turning citizens into blood thirsty vampires. A bunch of unlikely companions band together to take the fight to ‘The Master’ the central being in control of the hoards of infected people.  The Strain is so underrated, it’s virtually unknown amongst most people and considering it’s respectable cast and dramatic storyline, I’m surprised it hasn’t received more love and notoriety. With the likes of Corey Stoll, Kevin Durand and David Bradley leading the cast, it’s full of familiar faces that can reel audiences in. I just want to make one thing clear, this depiction of Vampires couldn’t be any further from the likes of Twilight and Vampire Diaries. The infected victims are grotesque parasites, with a really freaky design that makes the entire storyline pack a more menacing punch. The series is based on the novels of the same name, written by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, most of you will kn