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El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
A labor of love with some excellent closure and fan service
Before I get into this review, I would like to say I am very much a Breaking Bad "fanboy" I adore the series and hold it up as the very pinnacle of television. However, when they first announced they were going to make a film about it, I was less than excited, as I thought the film could ruin the legacy the TV show left. But once I saw the trailer and the premise of just following Jesse Pinkman in the events that followed the conclusion of the TV series, I began to be excited, as the idea of a concise narrative surrounding one character could work well and provide good closure.
So, was I right to be excited? Well... yes. As a fan of breaking bad this film delivered everything it could possibly deliver in my eyes, it wraps up both Jesse's story and the franchise as a whole nicely, whilst providing some nice fan service along the way. The story works well, and it answers questions left by the end of the TV show, as it provides a beautiful farewell to Jesse Pinkman in the same way 'Felina' was a farewell to Walter White. My main gripe with this film is that I feel that sacrifices some of the quality of the film for some fan service, I won't say which as not to spoil the film, but I feel on some occasions it can take you away from the action unfolding surrounding Jesse for some fan service, but who am I really kidding as a die-hard Breaking Bad fan the fan service was great and I still loved every bit of it.
You can tell this film was a labor of love for Vince Gilligan and the team with some fantastic nods to the TV show, some more obvious than others. The cinematography was classic Breaking Bad with shots that perfectly resembled the TV shows shots, such as filming from the object's point of view as a character interacts with it and big wide shots of the landscape. Aaron Paul is predictably perfect in the role that made him a household name, along with the supporting cast portraying their characters brilliantly, whilst writing this I've just thought of another problem I have with this film, I can't remember a scene where Jesse utters the word "" and after just moaning about fan service, that would have been some more great fan service.
I can't think of much else to say about this film other than, if you are a fan of the series like me, this film will provide some great closure for you and you will enjoy the ride, as it's basically two good episodes of Breaking Bad played back to back.
8/10
Joker (2019)
Dark, Moving & Beautiful
Before I start this review, I just want to say that I am not very well versed in comic book law or canon, so I will not be reviewing the accuracy of the Jokers origin story in relation to the comics. Now on with the review...
This film is sensational! Everything about this film is brilliant, I can hardly find any fault in it! Joaquin Phoenix is magnificent and is deserving of an Oscar nomination in the very least, and from what I've seen of films this year he should probably win the Oscar at this moment, he is mesmeric every time he is on screen, which is the majority of this film, you cant take your eyes off him. Obviously his performance is going to get compared to Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker and that for me is not unwarranted, I'm not saying it's as good as one of the best performances ever in cinema, but the fact you are able to draw a comparison between the two tells how good Joaquin Phoenix is. The way the character is portrayed and written is very powerful, it's written in such a way that in the beginning you feel sympathy for this character and you almost side with him, meaning when it comes to the end of the film you almost feel personally responsible for the monster he's become.
This movie is very dark and goes to some extremely dark places and really makes you think about our world and our society and for a comic book movie to do that is something special and very refreshing. On to the only fault I could find with this movie and its not even a fault about the film, and that is I cannot believe this film is a 15, for me watching this film the use of violence is very powerful very gory and frequent enough in my eyes to warrant an 18 rating, and that's not to say if your 15 you're not mature enough to watch it, I'm purely comparing it to other 18 rated films and in my eyes it should be an 18.
The score, soundtrack, and cinematography on display in this film is masterful, some of the shots you see are works of art and there's a sequence towards the end of the film that tracks the titular character through Gotham which is particularly beautiful. The score is fantastic, and it does something similar to Into the Spider-verse, whereby it uses the same score throughout, but the score slowly swells and swells to a crescendo at the end of the film which really puts you back into your seat. The soundtrack accompanies the score and the film beautifully and changes with the character's descent into madness.
All in all, believe the hype for this film, you will not be disappointed it truly is a masterpiece and an exceptional piece of film making, which will surely stand the test of time, go and watch this film as soon as you can!
10/10
Ready or Not (2019)
A Self-aware comedy thriller
This film knows exactly what it is, and what I mean by that is, it's not trying to be anything it's not, will it win any major awards? No. Is it trying to? Also no. But, does the film achieve what it sets out to? Yes.
This movie directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet follows the events following a wedding and during the indoctrination of the bride into a rather strange eccentric family, these events culminate in a murderous game of hide and seek. The story and plot are all set out in front of the viewer within the first 20 minutes, not making the audience assume or work anything out. This choice does make the film rather simple, but it is also contributing to the ease in which you can enjoy this film.
There isn't much in the way of character development outside of the two or three main characters, it uses classic horror/comedy movie tropes to get by, but in a film as short as this, that has as many characters as this its easily sacrificed for the sake of the film's momentum. For the most part, the movie is shot pretty well there's nothing outstanding about the camera work, with some nice creative shots here and there, but there's also nothing bad about the film's direction. This movie is also far funnier than id thought it would be, finding humor in some very dark ways, but all its all in keeping with the films tone and certainly makes good use of the films R rating for some over the top blood and violence to get its laughs.
All in all at 1hr and 30 minutes this film is a breeze and barely lets the viewer catch their breath as it throws you right into the story and its all the better for it, because the story and plot aren't amazing and its also rather predictable, but that's the style and tone the directors set out to create when making this film. It uses its R rating well to create some very over-top gory deaths which are all in keeping with the film. My advice for going to watch this film is don't try and place your expectations too high, and just let the film take you through the story, it's a perfectly fine film, that knows exactly what it's trying to be, and over the top action thriller with some dark comic relief.
The Edge (2019)
Powerful insight into the mind of an athlete
After the most exciting and memorable summer of cricket since 2005, I finally got around to watching "The Edge" a documentary directed by Barney Douglas which follows the England cricket team from 2009 to 2013 and the rise to No.1 in the world. This documentary is brilliant, to put it plainly it's one of the best sporting documentaries I've ever seen.
The film its self is shot beautifully with some creative solutions to help the audience visualize what is happening in the mind of the athlete, the documentary also manages to perfectly describe what is happening without alienating viewers new to the sport, but doesn't make it boring for long time fans. What you see during this film is a testament to the work that goes into being a professional athlete, showing grueling scenes of the work they put in to get to where they are. However, this film is far deeper than just showing how hard they work, its an in-depth look into the psychology of sport and the effects that pressure and failure can have on the human brain, it manages to show this through countless revealing interviews with players and coaches about what they went through. In times like these where we are trying to learn more and more about mental health and open ourselves up to the idea that its ok not to be ok, this film is really inciteful and important in helping us understand what it means to fail and to have pressure placed upon yourself.
I would implore a and sport or cricket or anyone that's wants to gain an understanding of what happens in the mind of a professional athlete to watch this film it's hard-hitting revealing, but ultimately its important that films like these are made and its important that people learn as much as they can about mental health.
9/10
It Chapter Two (2019)
Long, Drawn out and Underwhelming
It was always going to be difficult to successfully follow up the 2017 film, but this sequel falls well short of the original. With a massive 2hr 50min runtime this film is 45 minuets longer than the original and it feels every bit longer, this is due to the poor pacing of the film as it insists on visiting each characters fear once again for what feels like 20 minutes each, which gets very repetitive, very quickly, it's because of this pacing I found myself disconnected and often checking my watch. Without trying to spoil anything, the story is incredibly familiar to the first film and gave the feeling of watching a poorly re-hashed version of the 2017 film, but just with adults instead of children. I also failed to find this film particularly scary, its starts out well with some good jump scares, but the movies scares quickly become predictable and lose their effect, and the role of It or Pennywise felt much larger than in the other film and this greater screen time of the titular character led to his presence on screen lose meaning and fail to invoke the same sort of fear.
However, it's not all negative with this film, the casting of this film is outstanding with the adult's likeness to some of the children being almost scary, with Eddie played by James Ransome being the almost the spitting image of his younger counterpart. The acting is also great in this film with all the main cast performing very well, Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise the clown is outstanding again, unfortunately the good acting cannot make up for the poor writing and poor pacing, leading this film to fall very flat.
5/10