Blade Runner 2049
At first I thought of this film as an unwanted nostalgia trip in the 80s which never seems to end (when is the 90s nostalgia trip going to start?) but after seeing more of the trailers, it seemed like a familiar world with new stories to tell. With the stark landscape and scarce amount of characters, it felt like the original but from a new perspective. With two previous phenomenal movies (Sicario, Arrival) under his belt, director Denis Villeneuve has an eye for visual beauty as well as dramatic intense bulid up, be it a feeling of danger or something profound, he knows how to steer his story. 30 years after Deckard and replicant Rachel met and fell in love, times have changed. New replicants have been made, advanced, more human like than ever. Agent K (Ryan Gosling) is a replicant, working for the 'police' finding and disposing of retired replicants, but when a a beyond amazing discovery is found, the police, the new Tyrell on the block, weird inventor Wallace, want this new information buried and all evidence with it. But curiosity gets the better of K who goes looking for his own answers to a conspiracy that could change everything. I loved this slow paced mystery science fiction story. The protests after I saw it about how female characters are treated in this film is rather obvious and hard to miss but within the story, it doesn't matter so much at least not to me. I just wanted to enojoy the amazing film in front of me. 4/5
All I Wanna Do
This sometimes silly story from the late 90s starring all your favourite 2000's actresses about a group of girls at prestigious boarding school for girls set in the 60s scratches the surface of bigger issues and wishes to dig deeper than it does. I rather enjoyed their weird insults and clapped with glee at some of the girls' ambitions as well as their group name, D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Ravioli). The recommendation came from my favourite zine of all time 'Filmme Fatales' and they always know where to steer me. 3/5
Thor: Ragnarok
I was sceptical at first because I felt precious about Taika Waititi (director of my favourite film last year) and worried that he was too good for the big bad blockbuster BUT he proved me wrong magnificently. The film is almost laugh a minute after from two rather emotional moments (Odin saying goodbye and near the end) but even these had comedy injected into them. With a host of new characters, new revelations, new effects, new arcs we probably didn't need, the film packs a massive techni-coloured punch of engery into the Marvel universe. As Guardians of the Galaxy had some more emotional issues to deal with the laughs were left up to Thor and the new gang and oh my it paid off. With Thor (newly broken up from Jane (remember her?)) he has been having visisons of Ragnarok and goes on a quest to stop it. On his way he exposes his brother Loki pretending to be Odin, crash lands on a planet run by The Gamesmaster (an excellent Jeff Goldblum). He meets fellow Asguardian, the tough former Valkyrie warrior (an excellent Tessa Thompson) and gets to fight an old friend from work. Not only that, but he gets to find out about his deadly deranged sister, Hela, Goddess of Death. Its a whirlwind of a film that pokes fun at itself and more the better for it. Its about damn time this happened. 4/5
Murder on the Orient Express
Lets get this straight, Kenneth Branagh is NOT Hercule Poirot, he will never be able to out Poirot David Suchet. That aside, he is a good director. The story is not so simple murder mystery. A murder on a train in the middle of the night, 12 passengers, all suspects, only Poirot can save the day. The film has been accused of being the Branagh show and it is. He manages to insert himself everywhere, exaggerating Poirot's characteristics and spouting word-y speeches that doesn't suit the moment or the actual character. He plays him very theatrically, which is shame as everyone else is brilliant even in the smallest of ways. The passengers on the train are given their time to shine in several ways, mostly during questioning, showing vulnerability as well as cold hearted exteriors. The story, is actually rather tragic, with the murder connected to another story about a family's destruction torn apart, affecting more people than is considered. It is an overwhelming revelation no matter if you know the story well (loved the TV episode, much dark than this adaptation) or if you are brand new to it. Poirot, known to keep his emotions in check and quite reserved cannot comprehend at first but this is what saves the film from becoming just like any other murder mystery. This is a famous story for a reason and worth the pain of Branagh looking at himself in the mirror several times. 3/5
The Death of Stalin
In all honesty, I never watched much of 'The Thick of It' and I only saw some of 'In the Loop'. Political orientated shows sometimes go over my head in that I get bored. But what I did see was funny. It was the cast and hilarious trailer that made me want to watch the latest from Armando Iannucci more than anything. Big fan of Steve Buscemi so couldn't say no to it. Whilst there were a great amount of dark comedy jokes happening, I found at times I couldn't laugh, mostly at insinuations about women and jokes at women's expense or at the sheer horror of the situation. Apart from these scenes, I could see the ridiculous side of things and enjoyed the film for the slapstick, insults and the fact everyone has theie own or exaggerated accent. 3/5
