It Chapter Two – Movie Review

This movie is kind of special to me. If you scroll down all the way to the first review I posted on this blog, you’ll see that it was a review of It (2017). Two years later, this blog is still up and I’m reviewing the ending. I was at the cinema last night, at the UK premiere of the movie.

However, I’m afraid I have to be the bearer of bad news. It Chapter Two isn’t as good as the first movie. This seems to ring true for most sequels, and most adaptations of Stephen King’s It. There’s even a running joke that none of Bill’s books have good endings in this movie, which is ironic, seeing as the ending of this film is kind of bad too.

As everyone probably already knows by this point, this film is set 27 years after the events of the first movie and the losers are all grown up now. Mike finds out that Pennywise is back, and calls everyone back to Derry to stop It.

It turns out that nobody really remembers what happened in the events of the first film. Apparently, when you leave Derry, you forget everything that happened there. This is probably a result of Pennywise’s powers. Because of this, all of the losers have to go through their own individual trials to remember what happened with Pennywise.

But this is also where it gets weird. Most people already know that there’s a lot of lore behind the story of It. Apparently some of this is hinted at in King’s The Dark Tower; but, as somebody who hasn’t read The Dark Tower books or all of It, I can’t really comment too much on that.

Mike tells the rest of the losers that they have to complete a Native American ritual to capture It. That’s why they have to get their memories back. I would say this seems strange and out of place compared to the first film, but apparently this is actually part of the book. I’d also like to remind any readers of this review that Stephen King was on all the drugs when he was writing It. All of them.

That’s basically the whole plot. At least, everything I can talk about without spoiling the film. And this film is definitely too long for a plot that simple.

Also, the trailers completely catfished us with those scenes of Pennywise as a human. That only adds up to one scene in the movie and doesn’t really go anywhere.

As always, Bill Skarsgard is amazing as Pennywise, and was definitely the best choice for the role. There’s one particular scene at the start of the film where Pennywise lures in a young girl by acting like a stereotypical circus clown. It definitely shows how terrifying he really is and why the children fall for his clown act.

However, Bill Haden definitely steals the show as Richie. He really does look like an adult version of Finn Wolfhard and his acting is amazing. He’s completely aware that he’s in a horror movie that’s kind of funny, and he uses that to his advantage throughout the entire film.

The casting for this film was great overall. Although some of the acting was better in the first movie, you can definitely tell that these are the exact same characters.

The ending of this film is rather disappointing though. I can’t give much away without spoiling the movie, but it comes across as very underwhelming and almost childish (although I suppose the childish part was intentional).

It Chapter Two also takes itself a bit too seriously for a story that’s this ridiculous. Stephen King fans have acknowledged that the ending of the book and the 1990 mini-series has been a bit ridiculous for years now, and so it’s a bit strange that the director decided to go down the serious route. Admittedly, it is difficult to make the ending funny whilst also keeping the horror themes alive, but there is a certain balance that has to be found in order to make the ending successful.

So, my final verdict for It Chapter Two is… it’s ok. I actually rewatched the frst movie a few weeks before this one came out, so perhaps I’m just disappointed that it isn’t as good. It’s not the worst horror movie I’ve ever seen, but it’s also not the best. The run time is also way too long for a story as simple as “the losers need to find some things and then defeat Pennywise”. If I ever feel like rewatching an adaption of It, I’ll probably go to the 2017 movie instead of this one (unless I decide to marathon the whole story). The acting from the children is better and more authentic than the acting from some of the adults in It Chapter Two, and the overall feeling of the film is much closer to what I would expect from a Stephen King movie. Although this film definitely isn’t bad per se, it’s a bit disappointing as a conclusion and misses the mark when it comes to its target audience. I would still suggest watching it just to see the ending, or if you’re a Stephen King fan in general. Just go into the cinema with the knowledge that it’s kind of a dumb movie, and you’ll probably enjoy it a lot more than I did.

6/10

 

 

 

Once Upon a Time In Hollywood – Movie Review

Quentin Tarantino’s latest (and apparently final) movie focuses on some lesser-known names in 1969 Hollywood. Ironically, these characters are played by some extremely well-known actors, which was undoubtedly intentional.

The main characters are Rick Dalton – a Western actor who’s only famous for doing one older Cowboy show;

Cliff Booth, Dalton’s stunt double;

 

And Sharon Tate, an actress who’s only famous because she was murdered by the Manson Family.

 

It’s probably safe to say that these celebrities are D-listers, or maybe C-listers at best. People vaguely know who they are, but can’t name anything that they’ve been in. This movie is about the brutality of Hollywood and how lesser-known celebrities are treated when trying to find a new gig.

All of these actors are down on their luck in this movie. Everyone is constantly telling them that they won’t make it in the film industry unless they do that one movie, or unless they talk to that one director. It’s brutal, and you can definitely see it getting to all of the characters involved.

As far as most Tarantino films go, this one is pretty tame. Until the final scene, that is. But I can’t talk about that, for obvious reasons. It’s safe to say that although this is a great movie and extremely entertaining to watch, it is missing some classic Tarantino trademarks, from the action scenes right down to the editing. There were some post-production choices that came across as a bit unusual – there was a scene where a few jump-cuts were used, but it wasn’t entirely clear whether it was intentional or not because they weren’t used again at all in the rest of the movie.

 

The style of this film is closer to Pulp Fiction as opposed to the Kill Bill movies. There isn’t as much stylised editing and fantasy fight scenes in this film. That’s probably been used to add to the realism of the story.

I would recommend this movie if you’re a fan of film, filmmaking and old Hollywood. This definitely isn’t Tarantino’s best movie, but it’s still a solid film and definitely worth the watch.

8/10

Steven Universe: The Movie – Movie Review (SPOILERS!!!!)

THIS REVIEW HAS MAJOR SPOILERS!!!! PLEASE DO NOT READ FURTHER UNLESS YOU’VE ALREADY SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!

Only six months after the release of the game-changing Steven Universe episode Change Your Mind, we already have another installation to the story. Steven’s all grown up now, and he’s established peace across the galaxy.

But this wouldn’t be a Steven Universe story if somebody didn’t come along and ruin everything almost immediately. I don’t think we even get 10 minutes of peacefulness before the villain of the piece comes in with her massive injector and starts playing around with the Crystal Gems to a catchy electro-swing song.

Oh, also, in case I didn’t already mention…

Before you read any further, I think it’s quite difficult to review this movie without giving away some pretty major spoilers because it’s just so fast-paced. So, here’s the final spoiler warning:

Alright. So, for those of us who have seen the movie already, you’ll already know that the villain of this movie is called Spinel. And when she launches her brutal attack on the Crystal Gems, she factory resets them and messes up Steven’s gem powers. Then Steven slices her with the reset scythe and brings everyone back home.

This brings up a lot of interesting questions about Pink Diamond’s rebellion. Apparently the scythe was a weapon used on the Diamonds’ side to bring rebellious gems back to their original roles. How many other things do we not know about the gem war? This means that all of the Crystal Gems have amnesia, and Steven and the remaining gems (Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth) have to bring everyone back to normal.

There is a vague silver lining to this situation though. Since Steven attacked Spinel with the scythe, she’s been reset too. We learn through Pearl’s explanatory song, system/BOOT.PearlFinal(3).Info (yes, that’s actually the name of the song), that Spinel was designed to be a best friend. Basically, the complete opposite of what we saw earlier.

On a side note, Spinel is such eye-candy in terms of animation. She’s obviously been modelled after vintage cartoons like Mickey Mouse and Looney Tunes, which gives us some great moments like this:

So, the rest of the movie is basically just Steven and the other gems trying to bring everyone’s memories back. This can be a little slow at times, but it also brings us some really beautiful moments. One noteworthy scene is the part where Ruby and Sapphire fuse again, mimicking their first fusion in The Answer.

We also see a Steven/Greg fusion, which I don’t think any of us were ready for. They completely tanked the name though. His name is Steg. Steg.

With all of the other Crystal Gems getting their memories back, it’s only inevitable that Spinel eventually remembers everything too. She brings Steven to the garden that she shared with Pink Diamond. That place was their playground. In a heartbreaking musical number, she reveals that Pink abandoned her there for six thousand years. She found out about Steven and the Crystal Gems through a broadcast from homeworld. That was when she learned that Pink Diamond had abandoned her and is now dead.

 

That’s why Spinel is the villain. Pink betrayed her and broke her heart. If anything, this just gives us yet another reason to hate Pink Diamond.

Spinel’s incredibly unstable for the rest of the movie thanks to her traumatic memories of being abandoned. We see her offering to help Steven, then suddenly reverting back to the furious gem that we saw at the start of the film, then to questioning why she’s even attacking him. This is actually a very accurate representation of depression and abandonment issues. Spinel doesn’t immediately accept that everything can be ok, and that’s the most realistic reaction for her to have in this situation.

Also, the Crewniverse probably had to fit in the obligatory fight scene between Spinel and Steven and the whole pacifism message to fit the show’s message of acceptance and healing. I’m not mad about it though. It’s a great scene.

The only real issue I had with the movie is the ending. The Diamonds come down to Earth at the wrong moment and find everything in ruins. They see Spinel and immediately recognise her as “Pink’s plaything”. They essentially adopt her and bring her back to Homeworld.

So, here’s why I don’t like this ending. By giving Spinel to the Diamonds, she’s essentially reverted back to being a plaything for Pink. The Diamonds only see Spinel as Pink’s toy, and will probably only keep her around as a memento for their lost Diamond. Although their intentions are good and it’s a sweet moment, it probably won’t be best for any of them overall, because Spinel has been so traumatised by Pink that she might not be able to carry out her best friend role properly; and the other Diamonds probably won’t understand that thanks to the Homeworld mentality of “you were made for this purpose, so you should do that and only that”.

Overall, this movie was a lot better than I expected. I was afraid that it wouldn’t live up to the great writing that we’ve seen in other episodes of the show because quite a few other movies based on TV shows have a reputation of being too drawn-out and tending to miss the mark with the writing. Steven Universe: The Movie thankfully doesn’t have this issue. Setting it two years after Change Your Mind was a good move as well, because it gives all of the characters enough time to move on from the events in Homeworld.

I would definitely recommend this movie if you’re a fan of the show. Although there were a few issues with the ending, it’s still worth a watch.

8/10

 

 

 

100 Movies List: 11. E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial

E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial is possibly one of the most iconic movies of the 20th Century. Not only is it a sci-fi movie about a group of kids who find an alien in the forest, it’s also a coming of age movie about growing up and saying goodbye.

E.T. is certainly a product of its time. With multiple references to Star Wars and Star Trek, and with a soundtrack written by John Williams, it’s hard not to imagine this being shown in picture houses and on TV sets in the early 80s.

At its core, this movie really is a story about making and losing friends. Elliot finds E.T. at the start of the film and immediately forms a bond with him. Elliot feels E.T.’s feelings.  At first, this is something new and exciting, opening up a whole new world of possibilities unexplored by mankind. E.T. is something completely new and… well. Alien.

This proves to be problematic as the story goes on, though. Elliot feels all of E.T.’s feelings – the good and the bad. Not only can Elliot feel wonder and curiosity, he can also feel sickness, pain and death. He doesn’t know how to handle these feelings, and he almost loses his life as a result of them. They are forced apart in a desperate attempt to save Elliot.

Of course, like any other 80’s family movie, this film has to have a happy ending. E.T. recovers and comes back to life in an almost messianic plot twist. Everyone is overjoyed, but it becomes clear that E.T. can’t stay on Earth anymore.

Elliot and his friends risk their own safety to bring E.T. back home. His spaceship arrives in the forest, and E.T. and Elliot say their final farewells. Although their friendship is truly something special, it’s impossible for it to continue. E.T. doesn’t belong on Earth, and Earth is Elliot’s home. They have to be separated for their own wellbeing. And so, their friendship and the movie come to a close.

Sometimes friendships are torn apart because of unfortunate circumstances, through no fault of either party. It isn’t Elliot’s fault that E.T. can’t survive on Earth, and it isn’t E.T.’s fault that Elliot feels all of his feelings. This is one of the main messages that I believe Steven Spielberg and Melissa Mathison were trying to get across when they wrote this film. E.T. is a family movie disguised as a sci-fi. The themes of space and the unknown only add to the themes of growing up and moving on with life.

E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial is a worldwide family favourite and one of Spielberg’s most famous movies. If that isn’t enough to persuade you to watch it, it’s incredibly important in terms of modern pop culture and has been referenced over and over and over again by multiple other movies, books, TV shows, etc. Everyone should watch E.T. at least once, even if it’s just to say that you’ve seen it. It’s so important in film history and definitely worth the two hours it’ll take to watch it.

9/10

Spider-Man: Far From Home – Movie Review

SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME!!! DO NOT KEEP READING IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET!!!

Far From Home is the most recent instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and, by the looks of it, we probably won’t see much more of Spider-Man for a while after this.

I actually liked Far From Home more than Spider-Man: Homecoming, and that’s saying something because Homecoming was received extremely well by audiences when it came out. Far From Home has better pacing and a much more interesting storyline (in my opinion).

The aftermath of Infinity War and Endgame are mentioned as soon as the film starts, and people are already asking Spider-Man if he’s going to be the next Iron Man. This is all too overwhelming for Peter, which is why he’s just trying to enjoy his holiday without having to do any hero work.

Unfortunately for him, Nick Fury and the intergalactic hero Mysterio follow him on his school trip and pretty much force him into fighting two elemental giants.

Of course it was inevitable that Peter would be forced back into his Spider-Man suit, seeing as this is a Spider-Man movie; but it is quite heartbreaking to see Peter missing out on a fun holiday with his friends and the girl he likes because of it.

The impact that his hero work has on his social life is explored in much more detail here, as we see his classmates spreading rumours and talking about Peter behind his back while he’s saving their lives as Spider-Man.

There’s a lot more that I want to talk about, but I can’t because of spoilers. What I can say is that there’s a massive plot twist halfway through the movie, and you should definitely stay right until the end of the credits because there are two post-credits scenes that are totally worth the wait.

Far From Home is definitely worth watching, and it’s one of my favourite Spider-Man movies to date.

8/10

 

 

 

Midsommar – Movie Review

So, I saw Midsommar last night.

Midsommar is Ari Aster’s second movie (he’s the guy that directed Hereditary). It follows four American students going on a vacation/study break to see a 9-day-long Swedish midsummer festival.

Dani, the main character, has just gone through a family tragedy and is now traumatised because of it. Her boyfriend invited her to the trip two weeks before him and his friends left, much to his friends’ dismay.

Dani’s boyfriend’s friends all seem to be very self-centred and extremely apathetic. Their reaction to her joining them on the trip is basically “aaaww man, she’s so depressed, she’s going to be such a drag”. They peer pressure her into doing drugs, pretty much force her into staying after the first horrific event of the movie happens, and then wonder why she acts so anxious and depressed all the time.

This is a very slow-paced movie. It takes about an hour for the first properly horrible thing to happen. I do feel like a good 40 minutes of this film could have been edited out and it would have been fine, as this movie does feel extremely self-indulgent at certain points.

I honestly felt that this film was more gory than scary. A lot of graphic things happen to a lot of characters, and they were obviously put in there to add to the shock factor of the film. But I didn’t really leave the film scared or traumatised. Maybe that’s just the cynical side of me talking, but I personally just don’t really get scared by stuff like that.

There were a lot of mass hysteria scenes in this film, particularly towards the end. The villagers seemed to join in with other people’s emotional experiences. All I can really say without spoiling everything is that there’s one especially striking scene where all of the younger women from the village join in with Dani when she starts crying, and it was one of the strangest scenes I’ve ever seen in a horror film so far.

Obviously, it must be noted that there are other films like this already out there. The Wicker Man is probably the most well-known out of all of them, both the original and the Nicholas Cage remake. I like to think that Ari Aster added some specific scenes as references to these other films (but I really can’t mention them without spoiling the movie, sorry). While there are other movies that explore the topic of midsummer rituals, this is definitely the first one that I’ve seen take it to this level of gore and insanity.

Midsommar is a visually striking masterpiece of a movie, but it’s one of those Marmite movies. You’re either going to love it or hate it. Chances are, if you didn’t like Hereditary, you’re not going to like this. I’d definitely recommend every horror fan to at least check it out, even if you don’t like Aster’s other work. Midsommer feels more like an experience as opposed to a movie, and I think it’s something that everyone should experience at least once.

7/10

100 Movies List: 10. Casablanca

Casablanca is the film industry’s response to WWII. Set in Nazi-occupied France, Casablanca follows the story of multiple immigrants using Casablanca as a stop in their journey from Europe to America in an attempt to escape from the Nazis.

Rick Blaine owns a cafe in Casablanca. This cafe becomes the setting for the majority of the movie, as it becomes a waiting place for many immigrants trying to get travel papers. One day Victor Laszlo, an escaped concentration camp prisoner, walks into the cafe with his wife. This is a problem, as Rick’s cafe is riddled with Nazis.

Another problem arises when we find out that Ilsa, Laszlo’s wife, is actually Rick’s ex-girlfriend. Rick is forced into a situation where he has to choose between his feelings and the right thing to do.

As soon as the Nazis find out that Laszlo is in Casablanca, they try to track him and Ilsa down. This concern turns into a mission to recapture Laszlo and put him back into a concentration camp when Laszlo orders the band to play the French national anthem over a group of Germans singing the German national anthem. Not only is this humiliating for the Nazis in the cafe, it’s also a great visual metaphor for the French people in Casablanca rising up against the Nazi occupation in France.

As many of us know, Rick does eventually give Laszlo and Ilsa the travel papers to escape to America. Casablanca is arguably a character study in this regard, as it follows the story of a man changing from an incredibly selfish character to an incredibly selfless one.

Rick loses so much by saving Laszlo and Ilsa. He loses his cafe and he loses the woman he loves. He also risks being sent to a concentration camp just by giving them the papers.

 

Rick’s friend, Captain Renault, is a very hypocritical character. He double-crosses Rick over and over again. First by closing down his cafe, then by trying to arrest him for giving Laszlo and Ilsa the travel papers and telling the other Nazis where Laszlo will be before they leave for the airport. However, he decides to save Rick at the last second by throwing the Nazis off his track. This is just another example of how people can be affected by desperate situations.

Casablanca is a great movie about the second world war and how it affected everyone living in Europe at the time. It makes the audience question what is the right thing to do in terrible situations. The fact that this film was released in 1943, two years before the end of the war, certainly shouldn’t be ignored either. Casablanca is so important historically and culturally and is truly a product of its time.

9/10

Dark Phoenix – Movie Review

The critics warned us, but we all went to see Dark Phoenix anyway. So is it really any surprise that most, if not all Marvel fans left disappointed?

Dark Phoenix is pretty much a remake of X-Men: Last Stand, following the storyline of Jean Grey’s powers taking over and turning her into an unstoppable god-like mutant. It’s been so long since I last saw Last Stand, so it’s difficult to compare the two – but I think it’s safe to say that Dark Phoenix is just as underwhelming as Last Stand was.

It’s quite obvious that the crew working on this probably wanted to get it over and done with. The writing’s lazy and the action is dull. The acting is also a bit strange – all of the actors in this film talk in a tone of voice that’s slightly above monotone, but only just. Overall, this film has such low energy that it’s actually tiring to get through it all.

I’ve heard a lot of people saying that this X-Men storyline should have ended with Logan, and I can’t help but agree. I’m actually struggling to write any more about this film and I think that says a lot. The two movies are polar opposites – Dark Phoenix could never live up to the story-rich and exceptionally acted Logan. Logan was also Hugh Jackman’s last role as Wolverine, so surely that would have been more fitting as the final instalment?

I will admit, you do have to give Dark Phoenix credit for competent filmmaking and good special effects. It is interesting to watch in that sense, at least. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t a good film overall.

4/10

Firecrackers – Edinburgh Film Festival Movie Review

For the final day of the 2019 Edinburgh Film Festival, I saw Firecrackers, a story of two girls who want to move out to New York after high school

Lou and Chantal already have plans to move from the start of the movie. But Chantal’s ex-boyfriend manages to worm his way into Chantal’s life again and mess everything up. Lou finds Chantal fully dressed and shivering in the shower after this encounter and it is very heavily implied that he raped her. He also stole their friend who was going to drive them to New York the day before the journey. In a fit of anger, Lou trashes his car.

Firecrackers really explores the differences between the treatment of men vs. the treatment of women in modern society. Lou and Chantal are given a severe punishment for trashing the car, but Chantal’s ex-boyfriend gets away with raping her. The way the men in this film talk to Lou and Chantal is also very sexist and disgusting. Firecrackers is mostly about what it’s like to be a woman in a world run by men and the experiences Lou and Chantal have to go through are very messed up as a result of it.

Firecrackers is a coming of age film about growing up and getting away from bad people. It definitely struck a chord with me and reminded me a lot of what it was like to finally leave high school.

7/10

Aleksi – Edinburgh Film Festival Movie Review

Aleksi is a Croatian coming of age film about a 28 year old woman who has never graduated from university or had a job. At the start of the film, she has a possible offer for an internship in Berlin, so she stays with her parents while waiting to hear if she got it or not.

There isn’t too much that I can say about this film without completely ruining it, so I’ll keep it simple. She has a fling with three guys at the same time. The entire film boils down to who she’ll choose.

The problem is, Aleksi just isn’t a very likeable character. She steals from market stalls, cheated on her ex-boyfriend with his friend and doesn’t seem to care about anyone other than herself. If anything, Aleksi is a story of self-destruction disguised as a romcom.

It’s such a shame to see Aleksi lying to her parents and herself throughout the course of the movie. She chases the dream of being a photographer in a big city, but forgets to live in the moment and appreciate what she already has. She has two parents, lives in a big house and has a family vineyard. But it’s just not good enough for her.

I wish I could say that Aleksi becomes a better person as a result of the events in the film, but it’s honestly difficult to tell. The ending is left somewhat ambiguous and we aren’t shown enough of her behaviour to see if any character development has happened or not.

Aleksi is the classic case of the woman-child who doesn’t want to grow up. It becomes increasingly clear throughout the movie that Aleksi just needs to wake up and smell the coffee. If not, there are going to be dire consequences for her.

7/10