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Reviews
Paprika (2006)
Poignant, charming and intelligent
Set in a contemporary Japan Paprika follows dream researchers as they try to solve a mystery where dreams manipulate conscious victims.
Paprika has a lucid and intelligent narrative wrapped in eerily reminiscent dream sequences that culminate into a satisfying crescendo. A repeated parade sequence increasingly insinuates with a perfect music score that absorbs you and stays with you long after the film has ended.
Paprika is a beautiful and intelligent SF anime centred around high concepts of personal autonomy and privacy. The anime poses whether our dreams should be observed even if this may prove medically beneficial if it steals our privacy leaving us open to manipulation.
Blood Cell (2019)
Intelligent micro budget ghost tale
Set in a woman's prison Blood cell depicts murderer Barbara's experience coming to terms with incarceration. She encounters ghosts that help narrate her torment, conscience and sense of loss. It is an intelligent film with strong characterisation that could easily be a two person play. Be warned in has a micro budget (though that is irrelevant) and is set in one room I.E. the cell; so know what you are letting yourself in for. The low IMDB score is absurd and clearly provided by people with limited appreciative abilities lets say who were expecting something less intelligent and more visceral. It's not brilliant but it's an entertaining diversion with a strong script, good direction and acting.
Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun (2020)
Nuts
Surreal, original and laugh out loud funny. Nuff said.
Polednice (2016)
Excellent tale well acted and scripted
A mother and daughter move to the childhood village of her dead husband. What follows is an intelligent portrayal of how the mother and daughter cope with the loss. This is set against the backdrop of a tale of supernatural stealing of children. The characterisation is strong and script well written.
This is not a gore fest. It has subtitles. If this sort of film is something you just don't get, fair enough, but please don't post poor reviews that might put off us grownups.
Host (2020)
Creepy jumps
An atmospheric chiller with believable natural characters that draw you in to their joint Zoom séance. The movies low budget was rendered irrelevant due to the good timing and imagination of the director. However it's weakness was the lack of narrative and short running time; the film was more an episode in a horror TV show and so should be watched in that light to enjoy an hour's creepiness.
The Trap (2015)
Fun horror comedy
The film starts off like a lame low budget horror but slowing the characterisation and humour insinuates itself and becomes genuinely funny. The characters are deliberately silly stereotypes but oddly charming and engaging. The movie is coherent, funny and entertaining. A fun hour and a half.
Viking Siege (2017)
Vikings, monsters, babes and comedy
A medieval romp with a posse of vengeful women (from a statistically unlikely village that contains only gorgeous females) planning to kill the monks who enslaved their relatives. Throw in the local Lord in the wrong place at the wrong time, Kung Foo and some double hard Vikings with a mysterious secret and you have the ingredients of a belter of a movie.
The effects are average but its a humorous and well paced film able to keep you engrossed throughout. Its not thought provoking, have a subtle script or give strong characterisation but its does not mean to. Its provides enjoyable escapism and it would be pretentious to compare it to some art house play. People who value this sort of film will have fun and those who do not shouldn't watch.
Its not great but with a bigger budget it might have been and it is most certainly not a waste of time.
Bright (2017)
Magical entertainment
An entertaining action film but with fantasy characters. Standard sort of Will Smith fare; not overly deep or complex but diverting fun. There wasn't much character exposition or background to this parallel universe where modern L A contains a mixture of fantasy creatures with Elves at the top and downtrodden Orcs at the bottom. However we didn't need a backstory, that can be developed in the forthcoming sequels I hope to see.
Apparently critics have slated the film, I can't think why unless it's just an anti-Netflix agenda. Yes the film deserves a big screen outing but good for Netflix for making it!
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
A more grown up Star Trek
I am enjoying this incarnation of Star Trek and hope it lasts. It has more believable characters than the usual sanctimonious 1D types found in most Star Trek TV series. Also I hated what J J Adrams did; destroy Vulcan and Romulus, so any fidelity to a so called cannon I can do without. Anal Trekies please do grow up and stop trying to destroy an entertaining series that could go from strength to strength- you'll miss it when it's gone!