Film Review Club

King Arthur’s nephew sets out on a journey to find the Green Knight in an attempt to prove himself and bring glory to his name. Risking his head to find the giant that wondered into Camelot. The Green Knight is a majestic combination of cinema and art, with illustrious cinematography that captivates audiences. Its narrative certainly asks a lot of the viewer, requiring patience and an open mind to feel the true effect of the movies themes. Granted that can be a lot at times but if you push through until the very end you certainly reap the rewards. Reminiscent of similar films from A24 studios like The Witch, Midsommar and The Lighthouse, The Green Knight switches horror for fantasy but Lowry still achieves a feeling of discomfort and unease, especially during the middle act where we are faced with all kinds of oddities. The cinematography was my favourite aspect of the film, the colour grading switches with every chapter and works hand in hand with the beautiful scenery to provide the

Clarksons Farm is a documentary series from Amazon Prime, following Jeremy Clarkson as he navigates farm life on his Diddly Squat Farm.  I don’t usually review documentary type shows or films but I want to make an exception for Clarkson’s Farm. It’s by far my favourite and it’ll have you laughing non stop as Jeremy Clarkson tries to navigate farm life! As funny as the show is, it actually highlights the incredible hardships that farmers in Britain are facing today, both financially and agriculturally. Despite those hardships, living on a farm still looks so appealing to me and they certainly don’t glamorise it either! Yes he has faced a lot of controversy as of late and I do not agree with his comments made about Meghan Markle but I do think that the work he is doing on this show transcends him, he is bringing a much needed light to the industry and hopefully a lot more will be done to make it more sustainable as a result of this documentary. Definitely give it a go if you can, I’m sur

You season 4 follows serial killer Joe Goldberg as he flees  to London to start a new life. But soon his past catches up to him as he can’t seem to escape death that seems to follow him wherever he goes. Season 4: Part 1 ironically takes a ‘who done it’ approach, ironic because it’s that exact genre of books Joe uses to try and discover the killer that is haunting his life in London. Now there is a lot to digest, firstly it’s crazy how many silly plot points are added in order to justify the setting of the latest season. Joe having suddenly emptied Love’s HUGE bank account before killing her in season 3, that wouldn’t look suspicious at all… Then you have the fact that the hitman hired to find and kill Joe, suddenly has a change of heart and not only doesn’t go through with it, but actually creates an entirely new identity for him, accompanied by the necessary paperwork! This was all so they could portray the luxurious Kensington lifestyle. However, despite that, it’s actually hard not

The Rig follows a group of oil rig workers stranded out at seas as a mysterious fog halts any route home. Supernatural forces begin to take hold as an unknown entity starts effecting the workers. This Amazon Prime series certainly isn’t a bad watch, but I will admit that it’s rather forgettable. It has an impressive cast of talented British actors, some you will know from Game of Thrones and Line of Duty. They all perform pretty well and I wouldn’t say there is anything to criticise on that aspect of the show. The storyline itself is an intriguing one but it failed to keep me hooked, the pacing seemed to be all over the place and consequently, I kept losing interest. Whilst I usually really enjoy a good supernatural inspired thriller, I think it struggled to find its feet in any specific genre. At times it attempted to incorporate a few horror aspects, which worked okay but I think they could have leaned into that a lot more. The cinematography was actually not too bad, I wasn’t expect

1883 is a prequel series to Yellowstone, showing the Dutton families final journey as they pursue a place to call home. James Dutton leads his family and his companions north, through dangerous territory. 1883 takes the Wild West and utilises amazing writing to create a captivating and impressive story, that has you gripped from start to finish! It’s up there with some of the best debut seasons I’ve seen, granted it’s built upon the success of Yellowstone but the only real thing the two share is the Dutton family name and a whole lot of cowboys. The best aspect of this show is its characters, they are written wonderfully and there isn’t only one or two that the audience can fall in love with, in fact there are several of them! James, the lead protagonist and his daughter Elsa, in particular are my two favourites and that should come as no surprise to fans of the show. That father and daughter bond was such a wholesome thing to witness and as individuals, these are two very badass peopl

After gaining superpowers from a spider bite, Miles Morales finds himself thrusted into the life of a hero, just like his favourite superhero Spider-Man. Luckily he has plenty of mentors because soon after, he meets several alternative versions of the webbed hero. Into the Spider-Verse is peak animation, it’s the pages of a comic book erupting to life on your screen! The beautiful art feels unique and separates itself from the usual designs that you have seen previously, at least in my case anyway. It’s accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack that not only suits the story and the characters perfectly but the sounds play in time to every animation that flashes on screen. Into the Spider-verse is a perfect multiversal story that’s simple yet effective, it doesn’t try to over complicate things and that works wonderfully. We are presented with not only a wide variety of classic Spider-Man villains, from Kingpin to Scorpion, but we also have a plethora of webbed heroes, ranging from Spider-Gw

Ant-man and The Wasp find themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on new adventures…until they meet Marvels deadliest villain yet! The third instalment in the Ant-Man film trilogy is one that has me completely torn, more so than any other MCU film to date. At times we witness some of the best performances and the most spectacular world building thus far in the franchise, but it was a roll of the dice as to the quality of the next scene. Sometimes the shots were reminiscent of what I watched in Spy Kids 4… I can’t help but think how such contrasting scenes can exist in the same film, it’s like they were made by completely different studios. That being said I do think it was a great introduction to Kang, a dominantly powerful Kang anyway! Jonathan majors completely knocked it out of the park, oozing excellence in every scene he was in. He also brought out the best in Paul Rudd who proved that he could compete with the best when it come

Yellowstone follows John Dutton and his family who are 6th generation owners of the largest ranch in Montana, The Yellowstone Ranch. The Duttons face a fight against everyone who wants to take their land from them, with shifting alliances, unsolved murders and political affairs all threatening their legacy.  The best way I could describe Yellowstone is Peaky Blinders meets Cowboys in the modern Wild West. Its array of compelling characters immediately hooks you into its wonderfully written storyline and to top everything off, we witness beautiful organic visuals captured on a real ranch in Montana. What I loved about this show is that they never glamorise any of their characters, yet you fall in love with them nonetheless. These aren’t heroes, the majority all partake in some really dark acts, yet the writing almost makes you believe in their cause and route for them no matter what they do. Perhaps it’s the theme of family and protecting them no matter what, that audiences find relatab

Charlie, an overweight recluse who is eating himself to death, spends his last few days desperately trying to reconnect with his daughter for his last shot at redemption. The Whale is a beautifully written film that relies upon its ability to instigate a feeling of sadness and empathy in the audience, which it certainly achieves. It’s a rollercoaster of emotion, that constantly dragged me from one feeling to another. At first you have that overwhelming burst of empathy for Charlie and you’re almost angry for the way Ellie is treating him. But you soon come to a place of understanding for Sadie Sink’s character, as her fathers past mistakes begin to reveal themselves. The duologues between Fraser and Sink are outstanding, they play tug of war on the audiences heartstrings and it creates the most heartbreaking scenes. That being said, you can say that about all of the duologues in the film, each actor performs brilliantly and a special shout out for Hong Chau who I feel has flew under th

A family on vacation are taken hostage and forced to make an impossible choice, save their family or save the world. M Night Shyamalan has created a pretty solid take on the four horseman of the apocalypse, illustrating his common themes of bringing the unexplainable to life. The talented cast are definitely the best aspect of the film, each actor performs well and they each give life to the stressful storyline. I do think Shyamalan could have gone a bit darker with the tone. I understand the fact that these ‘antagonists’ so to speak, had to come across as normal everyday people, which obviously limits how dark they could go, but I think a tone similar to that of his TV show Servant would have worked well. The cinematography was okay, the shots worked nicely, with bursts of natural light contrasting against the darkness within the cabin. The musical score was good enough to create the eeriness that was required for a film of this type but again, they could have gone a lot darker with i

A new couple and their families reckon amid new love, culture clashes, societal expectations and generational differences. Unfortunately You People under-utilised the amazing talents of both Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy, where the pair were partnered with predictable plots and cheesy dialogue. Yes the film certainly has heart and you can actually picture culture clashes like this happening in the modern world, even if the stereotypes are played up to the extreme. It has its moments of humour but I can’t help but feel like Jonah’s character Ezra was just a gimmick character. There were a couple of times where I felt he may be drifting into a more serious take on the role, which Jonah is certainly capable of, but then it would be ruined with terrible dialogue. It’s not an awful watch don’t get me wrong and I don’t particularly regret watching it, but it’s certainly forgettable and with its talented cast, I expected a lot more.  Overall (5/10) Thanks for reading. Callan

An all too familiar evil returns and The Alpha Scott McCall is forced to get the band back together, whilst also recruiting new allies to fight what could be their deadliest enemy yet. The Teen Wolf Movie managed to take everything good about the show and put and incredibly cringe worthy and forced spin on it. There wasn’t a single aspect of this film that was original, it was a reused antagonist and I think they managed to bring back every single character except from Stiles, the only one fans truly wanted to see! I’d imagine Dylan O’Brien took one look at the script and didn’t want to go anywhere near it. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t good to see the characters I once loved back again, especially with an R rating but they even missed the mark in that department. They could have gone a whole lot darker. Then to top it off, the visual effects were absolutely terrible too! I am so disappointed because I was so excited for this movie… Overall (3.5/10) Thanks for reading.