Film Review Club

A group of wealthy elites travel to an island for an exclusive culinary experience where the food is not the only surprises in store.  The Menu is a thought provoking horror experience that ultimately questions the behaviour of the wealthy elite through its murderous antagonist. I admit as the film began and I glimpsed the characters for the first time, I was a little concerned that the film could be a little cliche. After all a man taking it upon himself to punish the rich is an overplayed narrative, especially with those characters being the usual declining movie stars, the cheating millionaire husbands and the cocky and arragant stock brokers etc. However as the film progressed it really showcased its uniqueness, whilst also allowing the real star of the show, Ralph Fiennes, to shine! He was amazing and I’m surprised I haven’t seen more people raving about him throughout the current award season, he definitely gave one of the best performances in 2022, at least in my opinion. The re

A group of criminals, unknown to one and other, are hired for a job to steal diamonds but are ambushed by the police, leading them to believe that someone in the group has betrayed them.  Quentin Tarantino’s feature length debut is no doubt an enjoyable one but is it his best? Obviously not but it’s packed full of the unique trademarks that make his films so popular. The great cast work really well together and I loved the battle of words between the characters, which really highlighted the impressive dialogue. I do believe the pacing wasn’t the best and the storyline itself wasn’t very original, but it’s the way the story is told and cut up across the film, that makes it interesting. It uses a variety of flashbacks to slowly reveal more and more to the audience before finally dropping the twist. In regards to the cinematography, I don’t think there is necessarily anything super technical but for a debut film I wouldn’t expect anything more. The ending was pretty great as well, a fitti

Set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, two best friends lives drastically change due to one of them ending their lifelong friendship.  The Banshees of Inisherin is a hilariously dark comedy drama that excels through its incredible writing and even better acting performances. The film is attracting awards and nominations from absolutely everywhere and it’s thoroughly deserved. Colin Farell, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan, in particular, are just a joy to watch. The chemistry they have together is brilliant and the dialogue just bounces from one character to another in such a natural way, which is incredibly captivating. I only really have one criticism and it’s more of a nit pick than anything else…why on earth is Colm able to just walk around all day, all fingers chopped off, no bandages, no stitches, literally nothing done to stop the bleeding… I understand that the silliness of the situation was intentional but it did annoy me for some reason! Other than that it’s a rema

A few Jewish soldiers are on an undercover mission to bring down the Nazi government and stop Hitler in his tracks. Meanwhile a women pursues her own revenge on the regime that murdered her family. Inglorious Bastards is a fantastic combination of Quentin Tarantino’s filmmaking prowess and world war 2 history, providing an alternative ending to the Second World War. I don’t think it’s Tarantino’s best film but it certainly has a lot to enjoy, his trademark gory action, captivating dialogue and a wonderful cast who deliver strong performances throughout. Some chapters of the film I did find a little slow and uninteresting, specifically chapter three: German Night in Paris. It’s extremely slow paced and usually that’s okay because the dialogue feels you in and keeps you hooked but I don’t think that was the case here. Although I must say, any scene with Christopher Waltz in is always enjoyable, he really does steal the show with his delivery. Finally I want to mention the amazing cinemat

Tales of The Jedi features a collection of shorts centred around two distinctly different Jedi; Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano. The episodes provide context from both of their pasts as well as a number of challenges the pair both faced within the Jedi order. This was one of the best surprises I’ve had in recent years being a Star Wars fan! The show opens with outstanding animation, certainly the best we’ve seen thus far in the franchise and the visuals are mind blowing at times. Nothing hits as hard as a cloaked Ahsoka Tano wide shot! In regards to the central plot, it’s mainly based around Ahsoka and Count Dooku, with brief involvements from other fan favourites such as Obi-Wan, Anakin, Qui-Gon Jinn and Mace Windu. I loved how they selected two characters that are so similar, yet their decisions meant that they are ultimately stark contrasts of one another. Both became disillusioned by the Jedi order, yet one chose to help in the fight against evil and the other found himself tumbling fu

Decadence, depravity and outrageous excess lead to the rise and fall of several ambitious dreamers in 1920’s Hollywood. Babylon certainly lives up to its synopsis, highlighting decadence, depravity and outrageous excess in extreme measure. It’s large set pieces that contained exotic props, hundreds of extras and wild choreography, created a constant sense of fast paced chaos that almost symbolised the main characters rapid rise in Hollywood. The first two acts didn’t give the audience a moments rest and I really enjoyed that, it captured my attention and never let it go thereafter. Meanwhile behind the chaos, it tells a rather sad story of how fast people can rise and fall in Hollywood, with fatal consequences if one loses themselves in the spotlight. It really does feel like trademark Chazelle, using music to evoke an emotional response from the audience and behind that, creative writing that can really pull us into his characters. The acting is also something to behold, as always Mar

Vikings Valhalla season 2 joins us back up with Harold Sigurdson, Freydis and Leif Erikson as they try to find their way back to one another after the events of the first season. When destiny splits them apart once more, they find themselves with another set of obstacles and adversaries to overcome. Vikings Valhalla season 2 was a bit of a disappointment for me, instead of improving on the aspects that worked well for the first season, they done the opposite. Everything seemed to have been scaled down; the stakes for the characters, the battles, the central plot…none of it developed, but actually it regressed! They built up this big love story between Harold and Freydis, only to have them go on their separate ways without a solid reason for doing so. They played the contrasting faiths card but even that reasoning just seemed forced and left me with more questions than anything else. You could see they were pushing the difference in aspirations too but because it jumped from being a hap

Now season 8 is definitely the season fans can all agree on, it’s the weakest season in the show. I don’t actually think the overarching storyline was bad, I appreciated the route they took with the Night King and although I would have loved Jon and Daenerys to end up ruling together, I understand the direction they went in, it made sense! I’ll go more into the writing and the story a little later in the review. My biggest criticism, like many others, is that they simply just rushed the whole thing, reducing the episode count, once again, this time to 6 episodes. I know the episodes were slightly longer but I can’t help but feel like it needed more. George RR Martin himself revealed he asked for at least two more seasons to bring everything to a close, this didn’t happen and that’s why fans were given an abrupt conclusion to a universe that they came to love. The cinematography, for the most part, was amazing! Producing some incredible shots and more than a few amazing set pieces. If o

How I would summarise season 7 is frustratingly good! Now let me explain, I love this season a lot and it had amazing set pieces, combined with interesting character interactions that were just a joy to watch. But the frustrating aspect derives from their decision to opt out of the usual 10 episode format, which has worked so well in the past. I feel like those three extra episodes would have fleshed out this season even more and provided further insight into these characters before the finale season. The consequence of that decision is that it felt like we kept witnessing small time jumps. Not intentionally large ones like House of The Dragon but small subtle ones that were more of an annoyance than anything else. It gave the impression that the show runners were trying to hurry everything along and this continued into season 8, creating my biggest criticism of the final two seasons…rushing!  Despite the need to rush things, there is plenty to enjoy. Episode 6 was amazing, Daenerys fl

Season 6 is arguably the strongest season in the entire show and although my personal favourite does seem to change with every rewatch, it certainly always floated around the top 2 at the least. The build up to the final showdown between Jon Snow and Ramsey Bolton was excellent and finished with the epic ‘The Battle of The Bastards’. The musical score for that particular scene enhanced every aspect and the cinematography itself made the entire confrontation one to remember. It truly highlighted the harshness and the brutality of war, an extremely gritty, chaotic and gruesome battle, even for Game of Thrones. The Daenerys storyline thickened and really started hit its stride, taking back control of her dragons and finally accumulating an army capable of conquering the seven Kingdoms. Bran’s storyline picked up and got a little more exciting, providing context behind the Night King but it still left a lot unexplained. It doesn’t really illustrate the importance of the one eyed raven and

Servant follows a grieving couple who tragically lost their new born baby, the loss created a rift in their marriage but opens the door to a mysterious force to enter their lives. Servant season 3 really is trademark M. Night Shyamalan, with a constant sense of dread that ultimately doesn’t come to fruition until the finale episode. The latest season really focuses on Leanne and her state of mind after the events of season 2 and although it had its slow moments, it certainly highlighted her power. The writing for her character was great and I particularly enjoyed how, by the final episode, she becomes a version of the cult leader that she was so afraid of. The entire cast continue to perform brilliantly, they all help create a sense of unstable chaos in the Turner household and that really unnerves the audience. I always felt uncomfortable and on the edge of my seat, waiting for the final penny to drop and that is definitely intentional from Shyamalan who is famous for that in his proj

Star Wars: Rebels follows an unlikely group of people who unite behind a single cause, to fight back against the Empire. The show fills in the gap between episode three and episode four.  Rebels certainly flies under the radar within the Star Wars community. In terms of the animated side of the franchise, The Clone Wars gets most of the attention and rightly so, it’s amazing! But Rebels deserves to at least be in the conversation, it contains amazing visuals and the art that’s on display is something to behold. There are countless shots that look unbelievable and contribute massively to bringing the huge Star Wars universe to life. It also introduces us to a number of amazing new characters, meanwhile incorporating a number of beloved, existing characters to help link everything together. Ezra and Kanan are an interesting master and apprentice duo and it’s unlike anything we have seen before it. Kanan isn’t an established Jedi Master who sat on the council, he was a Jedi that learned o

Season 5 holds some of the biggest and the best set pieces in the entire show, however it was also the first time I disliked one of the sub plots that were introduced. I’ll begin with the negative, the entire High Septon storyline I found pretty exhausting and the fact that it carried over into season 6 was also disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, I understand its purpose. On one hand it keeps the audience interested with a fresh story for the Kings landing scenes, meanwhile fleshing out Cersei’s character with the loss of yet another child. However on the other hand, the pacing of that story was very slow and compared to everything else going on in Westeros, it was just pretty dull. Luckily there wasn’t too much time dedicated to that portion of the show and the rest was fantastic.  Now onto my favourite aspects! Episode 8 was unbelievable and without a doubt one of my favourite Game of thrones episodes. The cinematography was fantastic and the combat choreography was equally impressiv

Till tells the tragic story of Emmett Till’s murder, from the perspective of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. It follows her relentless pursuit of justice for her son and her work to help combat racism. Till was the first film I got to watch in the theatres in 2023 and it definitely kicked off the year well. The tragic story of Emmett Till is incredibly hard hitting and the film utilised a magnificent musical score to really drive that home. Abel Korzeniowski has created a musical wonder and his composing had you feeling every emotion possible. The tracks made you feel tense, sadness, sorrow, grief, working perfectly alongside the wonderful performances from the cast but especially Danielle Deadwyler who was amazing.  Now the storyline is incredibly captivating, one that fills you with anger the more the plot progresses. Over the years I heard vaguely the story of the young 14 year old boy who was lynched for whistling at a white women, perhaps they skipped over it during a history class

Season 4 definitely ups the stakes across Westeros, we witness the aftermath of King Joffrey’s murder, little finger illustrates his slimy intentions clearer than ever and of course we finally see the battle between the Wildlings and The Nights watch. All in all it was a fantastic season with the perfect blend of violent warfare and political scheming. The cinematography for episode 9: Watchers on the Wall, was amazing and although it was still relatively small in scale, it certainly competes with the battle of Blackwater and in my opinion, bettering it for sure. But it was yet another excellent episode 9! Where in season 3 the character work u-turned Jamie’s character, season 4 done the same with The Hound. His dynamic with Arya was not only entertaining but extremely wholesome. Even Arya herself noticed that despite being a violent man, the hound was honourable, at least for the most part. It’s a shame how their partnership come to an end but ultimately it led to Arya going down an i

Season 3 contains the most individual sub plots that we have seen thus far and although for most other shows this would usually feel like the overarching storyline becomes slightly diluted, It actually doesn’t feel that way here. Granted there are obviously some parts that are less enjoyable than others but nonetheless season 3 is yet another great addition to the franchise. Daenerys Targaryen really is going from stride to stride and I loved how she acquired the unsullied and focuses on freeing slaves before her inevitable departure to Westeros. It serves her character well and builds her up to the audience as the true leader Westeros deserves, ultimately leaving us routing for her victory. One of my favourite aspects of this season is how they completely u-turned with Jamie Lannister’s character, he went from being an insufferable, arrogant Knight to someone who we can genuinely sympathise with and even route for. His dynamic with Brianne was one of the highlights of the season and s

A group of mercenaries break in to a family compound on Christmas Eve and take one of the richest families in the USA hostage. The only one that can stop them now? Santa, a deadly combatant ready to save Christmas! Violent Night was one of the biggest surprises of 2022, I went into it with quite low expectations but I soon found myself having a great time watching it. Who would have thought seeing Santa kill bad guys in the most brutal ways would be so enjoyable? To be honest that does sound quite badass and that is exactly what it was. Especially since they incorporated his viking routes to justify him being such a skilled combatant. David Harbour absolutely kills it as Santa Claus, his humour as well as his impressive combat choreography really lights the film up. There is of course the occasional cringey Christmas dialogue but for the most part you can forgive it because after all it wouldn’t be a Christmas film without it! But one thing I could not get over was the ending, it was b