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The French Dispatch, You Cannot Get Any More Wes Anderson Than This Flick

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

I absolutely love Wes Anderson, his style of filmmaking is fantastic, the symmetrical shots, the colour pallets he uses, it’s a treat for the eyes that is for sure.

The French Dispatch is an homage to the world of journalism and journalists, each of the characters you meet is based off of real journalists who worked at the company The New Yorker, a rather popular weekly magazine that covers a whole variety of topics, from politics to the fine arts and culture, even works of fiction, poetry and cartoons have appeared in the magazine.

The readership for this magazine are diverse but mostly they’re affluent and culturally savvy people.

What I love about this film is it definitely feels like a Wes Anderson movie, it has the trademarks seen in most of his films, the perfect symmetrical scenes that are just so satisfying in a rather odd way, it’s dare I say it but… an OCD sufferers dream.

Let me explain.

Everything in the shot fits like a glove, perfect… in fact so practically perfect you see everything that’s going on in the scene, it’s so organised that it’s a treat not only for your eyes but for your brain as well, everything works so well that… there’s no need to nitpick at all.

The plots to his films are absurd but again they work so well, The Life Aquatic, Bill Murray’s character Steve Zissou goes after the shark that killed his best mate and partner, it’s a revenge story but done in the most Wes Anderson style way.

The Grand Budapest, Ralph Fiennes plays a famed concierge named Mr. Gustave who is framed for the murder of a rich widower played by Tilda Swinton, again it’s practically perfect.

What I find baffling is… he has never ever won an Oscar… sure they have been nominated but he’s never won, which in my eyes is criminal, he brings such a quirky take to making films, I think that is why I am such a fan of his, because his films are so pleasing to watch, so eye catching, so… perfect.

The French Dispatch is really good, I really recommend it, if your a fan already of his work your in for treat, if it’s your first film by him… well then you are also in for a treat, a solid 10/10 for me.

Until next time… catch ya later 🙂

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Avatar, Are The Sequels Really Needed

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

Avatar: The Way Of The Water has hit theatres, twelve years after the first film was released, we’re expected to get not one more, no not two more, definitely not three more… five more Avatar movies!

Yes ladies and gentlemen five Avatar movies are being made, we have the first two done and dusted we just need the other three to wrap things up.

This brings me on to entire point of this post, are the sequels really needed.

No.

Avatar saw groundbreaking CGI, no one had ever seen CGI like it in 2009 and critics loved it, just look at the consensus on Rotten Tomatoes

“It might be more impressive on a technical level than as a piece of storytelling, but Avatar reaffirms James Cameron’s singular gift for imaginative, absorbing filmmaking”

The film was hailed as a new way to see CGI in movies, it was as I said groundbreaking, it did usher in 3D cinema (look how long that lasted)

3D cinema died a slow painful death, it was expensive to shoot in 3D and those glasses… expensive as well.

Now of course we still have 3D movies in the form of 4DX, yes while that is still relatively expensive it is definitely worth the price of admission.

But I digress, let’s get back to Avatar.

The way the first film ended, Jake as we remember became one with his avatar, the humans failed to achieve what they set out to do, which was as we know to mine unobtainium, the villain died, so he’s not coming back after getting shot by two arrows, he practically ceases to exist anymore.

They bought him back! Yes ladies and gentlemen Stephen Lang’s character is back, why you may ask, well your guess is as good as mine and that is… I don’t know.

He’s now an AI sending the humans back to Pandora! (Because it worked so well first time round for them didn’t it) seriously I don’t get it either but James “money bags” Cameron certainly gets it.

As I’ve stated before, the way the first film ended there was no need for a sequel, let alone five more.

The box office well let’s just say it was below expectations, that’s a big oh dear as they were hoping for big numbers, it’s tenth in the highest grossing movies of this year and Cameron came out and estimated that due to the films near record breaking budget, it would have to be in the top eight highest grossing films in history, and that’s just to break even.

So in answer to this question and that is are the sequels needed, the answer as I have stated is a simple resounding… no… they are not needed at all.

Anyway guys as always catch ya later 🙂

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Tourette’s And I, Quite Possibly One Of The Most Eye Opening Short Films I Have Seen

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

I love a good short film, it always astounds me how directors can cram so much story in to a twenty-thirty minute timeframe, you get short comedy films, short documentary films even short horror films (there is a dozen on YouTube that are well worth a look at)

I want to talk about a little film called Tourette’s And I, it’s a film about yes you guessed it Tourette’s syndrome and how it effects one man’s day to day life.

I have known people with this, I went to school with a boy who had Tourette’s, we still talk to this day believe it or not.

Tourette’s and I follows the story of a man who attempts to go for a job interview but is quickly overcome by a bout of tics, he quickly leaves the interview.

It’s possibly one of the most eye opening short films I’ve seen, Children Of Leningradsky was the most hard hitting short film but Tourette’s and I is the most eye opening.

It highlights a disability that people don’t really understand, people who have Tourette’s are constantly bullied and mocked for their tics, it’s sad but it happens.

There is another film that highlights Tourette’s syndrome titled Front Of The Class, again well worth a look as it’s a true story, once again it highlights how one child is bullied because of his tics and how his school principal helps him.

I do think people need to understand a bit more about Tourette’s, at the end of the day they are still people too, they have jobs like what we have, I mean some have families, they are normal people like you and me, but the whole bullying aspect it really needs to stop.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, as I have said countless upon countless of times, it’s eye opening, as it highlights a disability that people need to understand better.

10/10 for this one, the acting is brilliant and the story will indeed make you cry.

As always guys until next time… catch ya later 🙂

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Nope, Jordan Peele Knocks It Out Of The Park Again!

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

Jordan Peele is slowly but surely becoming one of my all time favourite directors, from his debut smash Get Out (which won an Oscar for best original screenplay) to his sophomore smash Us.

His movies are like a breath of fresh air, sure we’ve seen plot lines like Get Out before and yes we have seen UFO movies before, but Peele adds his own twist to it, I think that’s why I like him, he brings something new to a plot we’ve seen time and time again and they all have these underlying themes to them.

With Us it was about the Tethered, and how we as humans are our own worst enemy, it’s clever, it’s… fantastic.

But alas we are not here talking about Us, nor are we here talking about Get Out (if you haven’t seen both of those then… stop reading! Go watch them, get out from under that rock) no we are here to talk about Nope.

Nope follows the story of brother and sister duo OJ and Emerald Haywood (trust me there’s a joke in there about the name OJ and it is actually really funny)

They along with their father played briefly by Keith David run a horse ranch where they enter said horses in to film and tv productions such as commercials, after their father mysteriously dies by having a nickel impale him through his eye they are running on hard times.

One horse reacts violently when a crew member working on a project startles the horse so they end up selling a few horses to rival ranch and theme park owner Ricky “Jupe” Park who owns the western themed ranch Jupiters Claim.

Jupe uses his theme park to exploit his tales of when he was a child actor, basically long story short Ricky was a child actor on a sitcom called Gordy’s Home, the titular chimpanzee Gordy gets startled when a helium balloon pops, he then goes and maims three of his co-stars.

That is one of the most disturbing scenes in this movie, you don’t see anything but you do see it from Ricky’s point of view (he hid underneath a table) but you hear everything, it’s grim, really grim.

Anyway, Jupe decides to buy OJ and Emeralds ranch off of them which obviously Em thinks is a great idea and tries to encourage OJ to accept the offer.

They then discover that a UFO has made itself at home above their ranch, horses disappear and electricity starts playing up, they soon discover the cause of the horses disappearances, the UFO is scooping them up and spitting out inorganic matter from the ship.

Wanting to cash in and attempt to get wealthy the Haywoods decide to document the UFO.

Jupe however decides to cash in a different way, by having a paying audience see the UFO in what I like to call “the most disturbing scene from a horror movie” the paying audience which includes children… oh yeah this movie goes there, they get sucked up in to this rather claustrophobic tube and are then dismembered, the Haywoods then get a rather bloody rainstorm (I’ll let your mind guess whose blood it is) I’ll give you a hint… it’s not horses blood.

I won’t say anymore about the plot but just know this, it gets better.

I honestly do think this is Jordan Peele’s best work, it is terrifying to say the least I was on the edge of my seat watching this, disturbing yes, funny… there were a few funny moments granted but I don’t think it was as funny as Get Out and Us, it was more dark… really dark and those two scenes I have mentioned above show just how truly disturbing this film is.

Would I see it again… yes. Yes I would, I enjoyed it, it was a really good film, as I said it has to be Peele’s best work by far it was amazing.

Definitely gets a solid 10/10 from me, it’s brilliant it’s everything you could ask for from a Jordan Peele movie, honestly you won’t be disappointed!

As always guys catch ya later 🙂

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Is The Jurassic Park Franchise Dying?

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

Jurassic Park not only ushered in a new era of filmmaking, it ushered in a new way we saw special effects in cinema.

Stan Winston with his animatronic dinos were something no person had ever seen on the big screen, paving a new way as to how we saw creatures on the big screen.

Gone were the days of the stop motion era, from Jason and The Argonauts to Clash Of The Titans, the Harryhausen era was over and animatronic creatures were in, believe it or not but Spielberg cited Harryhausen as one of his inspirations.

The first Jurassic Park which was released way back in 1993 was groundbreaking, it paved a new way for how we saw creatures and monsters, as I said before gone was the stop motion era.

The film was released to widespread critical acclaim, the Rotten Tomatoes consensus states “Jurassic Park is a spectacle of special effects and life-like animatronics, with some of Spielberg’s best sequences of sustained awe and sheer terror since Jaws”

It was so popular with audiences and critics that it spawned a sequel titled The Lost World, albeit it wasn’t well received, the consensus on Rotten Tomatoes states “The Lost World demonstrates how far CG effects have come in the four years since Jurassic Park; unfortunately, it also proves how difficult it can be to put together a truly compelling sequel” it earned a 53 percent rating by critics.

The film is… dare I say it but, okay.

It’s silly, granted, but where else are you going to see a T. rex rampage through San Diego.

The third instalment was… yeah let’s not dive in to that one, granted I enjoyed it as a kid but now I just think it’s stupid.

After years of waiting we finally got a new look at Jurassic World, and what a movie that was… I reviewed it years back when it first came out, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Then we got Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom… I can’t even begin to explain how poor this movie was, with the whole cloning the little girl to the auction, yeah I really hated this one.

Now the third instalment, going by the consensus on this one it’s bad “Jurassic World Dominion might be a bit of an improvement over its immediate predecessors in some respects, but this franchise has lumbered a long way down from its classic start”

This now brings me on to the whole point of this post, and that is… is this franchise dying, should it just die and become a prehistoric fossil.

Jurassic World was a step in the right direction, Hammonds dream had been made, and people were flocking to the park in their dozens.

In my honest opinion it should have ended there.

The rise and fall of Hammond’s vision would have worked wonders as a one off movie rather than three.

Understandably they wanted to make sequels but the way Jurassic World ended they didn’t warrant the need for any sequels to be made.

Dominion was so misleading with marketing, they released a prologue, a T. rex rampaging through a drive in cinema, it’s not even in the film.

The trailer made it look amazing, dinosaurs on the loose in various cities across the world, but instead we got a mission impossible type movie.

It’s certainly not the best entry that much is true, it was however great seeing Laura Dern and Sam Neill back.

Sadly it does fall flat, and it’s definitely one of if not the worst in the Jurassic Park series.

In my honest opinion it does need to die, this last one has perfectly shown that, it needs to become a prehistoric fossil, especially after this one.

As always guys catch ya later 🙂

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C’mon C’mon, heartfelt, funny and a definite Oscar contender

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

Two amazing films have come out in the last few months, we’ve had Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical drama Belfast, and we have Mike Mills with C’mon C’mon.

What can I say about this movie that hasn’t already been said by various critics and audiences alike, it’s not only a great film it’s a fantastic one at that, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix as John, a documentary maker travelling various cities such as Detroit, New York City and New Orleans.

Tagging along is John’s nephew Jesse, now I’m going to stop right here and talk about this particular character because critics have been raving about this kid, “future star in the making” “he’s going to be big” “remember this name because he is going to be taking over Hollywood”

Jesse is played by newcomer child actor Woody Norman in quite possibly one of the best acting gigs he’s done (being it’s his debut) his character is played so well that during the 108 minute runtime, you sympathise a lot with this nine year old.

Basically his father is suffering from bipolar disorder and is receiving treatment for it, hence why he’s tagging along with John helping interview kids.

Now these segments involving these children are nothing short of remarkable because these children are not actors… they are real ordinary children which I have not seen done in a movie before… ever. Some of these questions and answers that are given is quite honestly very intriguing, such as “what do you think the future will look like”

It’s a fantastic movie that I predict should do quite well at this years awards season, from BAFTAs to Oscars and SAG Awards, you name it it’ll be a massive awards contender.

10/10 for this one, it’s a great movie, acting is brilliant specially from the young actor, Joaquin Phoenix does a really good job as well here too, cinematography is brilliant I should also mention too.

Until next time catch ya later 🙂

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Silent Night, Not Your Average Festive Christmas Movie

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

Tis the season to be jolly, at least that’s not what happens in Silent Night.

Now your probably wondering why that is, well let me tell you, a family of five that consist of mum (played by Keira Knightly) dad (played by Matthew Goode) and their three sons (played by Roman Griffin Davies and his younger brothers)

They invite friends and family for Christmas dinner and drinks, now again your probably wondering what’s wrong with that, well… here we are.

A toxic cloud of noxious gas is covering the Earth, and if your caught in said cloud you start bleeding from every and I mean every orifice on your body, really unpleasant if you ask me.

So the government have issued what’s called an Exit Pill, a suicide pill if you will, and everyone excluding illegal immigrants and the homeless have access to these death pills.

Yeah I did say it’s not jolly about two paragraphs back now you know, by the way side note, did I mention this is a black comedy, no? Well it’s a black comedy, there…. Now you know.

So, what happens during the final night on earth well secrets are revealed and home truths are said drinks are drunk and food is eaten.

That’s it, I’m not going to tell you the ending because let’s face it we all know what happens and it’s bleak, like really bleak.

Now, I want to mention one thing, the acting, especially by young Roman Griffin Davis star of the absolutely brilliant JoJo Rabbit, well he plays Art a boy who is fed up by the adults and how they’ve treated this planet, he references Greta Thunberg and the things she’s done as well.

Everything comes to a head around the table, and let me tell you this is the best part of the movie by a clear mile, you relate to this kid and it speaks volumes about the world we’re currently living in.

It also asks the question of what would you do.

What would you do if you was in this situation, how would you tell your kids that they have to take a pill that’ll kill them, painlessly and with dignity, after all the governments slogan for the pill is “die with dignity” or something along those lines.

It’s a rather thought provoking movie, and director Camille Griffin nails this, it does exactly what it says on the tin because it does make you think.

Camille Griffin pulls the rug out from underneath you during the second half of the movie, because what starts off as a Christmas movie quickly descends in to complete horror, and… I’m not going to lie but… it’s… it’s brilliant, fantastic even.

Now when I say bleak I’m talking about the final scenes, we see a family including a baby dead in a car, next thing you know families are having heart to hearts and taking the pill, it’s a very depressing ending to a film that I’ve seen since watching Fail Safe for the very first time.

Silent Night isn’t your standard festive Christmas movie for sure, but is it a good movie…

Yes… yes it is.

10/10 for sure, the acting is brilliant specially during the dinner table scene.

As always catch ya later 🙂

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Fail Safe, If Dr Strangelove Wasn’t A Comedy

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

Nuclear war is always very frightening to even think about, we’ve seen so many films portray nuclear war, from Threads to the States version The Day After, we’ve seen a made for TV movie called Special Bulletin, but let’s talk about a movie called Fail Safe.

Fail Safe follows several departments, the pilots, the men on the ground in the war room, and the President of the United States, a computer error triggers a fail safe command ordering a group of pilots to bomb Russia.

What follows is arguably the most tense edge of your seat rollercoaster, as not only the men in the war room try to stop the pilots from reaching Moscow but the President as well, directed by Sydney Lumet (who gave us the courtroom drama 12 Angry Men) and starring Henry Fonda as the President and Walter Mathau who plays a political theorist.

The film itself is fantastic, it was a blind buy for me as I saw it in the Criterion Collection, bought it and watched it the minute I got home, let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised by this film.

It’s a stark reminder as to how the Cold War was and just how close we come to nuclear war, but I want to discuss the ending.

Basically everything that can go wrong does go wrong, plans to shoot down the pilots fail as they enter Russian airspace, the President tries his best to talk to said pilots, but turns out the Russians can duplicate the Presidents voice, he then tries to get the main pilots wife to talk him out of it, which is arguably the most tense moment of the film.

The men in the war room then discuss what happens next, the President makes the Russian ambassador an offer, “if the bombers reach Moscow and drop the nuke I will get my pilots to bomb New York”

Not only is that the toughest decision for any President to make it’s a scary one at that, the pilots bomb Moscow in possibly one of the most eeriest scenes in cinema, we hear the Russian ambassador say “the sky, it’s so bright” followed by a a loud shrieking sound, Moscow is now gone.

The President then orders a good friend of his to head up to the skies and head to New York.

The plane flies over New York and uses the Empire State Building as ground zero, we then see the people of New York, men women and children go about their day unaware of what is about to happen.

The eerie part of this is the cinematography that follows, freeze frame and closeups, it’s a great technique especially for the year this film was released, the film then cuts to a title card followed by the end credits.

And that’s Fail Safe, as the title suggests its like if Dr Strangelove wasn’t satire and a comedy, it makes a great companion piece I must admit.

The acting is phenomenal and so is the plot of the film, the pacing is great, at 117 minutes boy does that fly by, trust me you’ll be on the edge of your seat by the half hour mark.

I give this film a ten out of ten, it’s tense and a stark reminder of the Cold War era, as always catch ya later 🙂

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The Movie Theatre Industry Is Not Dying

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

I have been using a website called Quora since 2016, I have been requested questions a lot and one question that keeps getting me is questions like this.

“Is the movie theatre industry dying” “are cinemas going to die out because of sites like Netflix and Disney+”

Let me tell you something… come closer… that’s it a little closer… closer than that come on… there we go… MOVIE THEATRES ARE NOT GOING TO DIE!!!!

Why do we think this, why do we ingrain this in to our minds that cinemas are dying, let me tell you.

Yes granted we have Netflix and Hulu and Disney+ yes okay they offer great prices and great content but! And this is a big but, people still want to see movies on the big screen, cinemas have been around since forever, from the very first time talking was heard, they were actually dubbed the talkies.

Back in 1927 the Jazz Singer ushered in a new era of film dubbed “the talkies” it was the first time sound was heard on the big screen.

Since then everyone and I mean everyone has flocked to the cinemas to see their favourite actors on the big screen.

It’s the same with this whole Covid-19 pandemic, we want to get to a state of normalcy don’t we? Yes, yes we do so people more than ever head to the cinemas, specially in this particular period.

Okay movies aren’t making a heck of a lot of money granted but! People still attend cinemas, so to all those people asking and wondering “what is the fate of cinemas” here’s my answer… they are here to stay, no matter what.

Stop worrying, go out and see A Quiet Place 2, go and see Black Widow for crying out loud it’s been delayed more times than I’ve had hot dinners.

That’s my rant over as always catch ya later 🙂

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The Children Of Leningradsky, Hard Hitting, Emotional And Boy Does It Pack A Punch

Posted on by jadedsteelereviews

Documentary films, I haven’t seen a lot of them but I do love them, from ones like Bowling For Columbine and An Inconvenient Truth.

Not only do they teach you, but you learn a few things from them. That’s exactly what this short documentary film does.

Released in 2005 by a polish filmmaker The Children Of Leningradsky follows several homeless children… yeah I’m going to stop right here and throw a little disclaimer at ya, the details I’m about to launch in to are not pretty, they are not pleasant nor are they easy for me to type… that being said you’ve been warned.

We follow several homeless children around Leningradsky train station, we hear from four of them as they tell us their story on how they became homeless, one boy stabbed his abusive father while he was in a drunken fit of rage, one boys father at the age of two denied that he was his son, and another child was raped and the mum accepted a wad of cash instead of going to court.

For the winter months the children go underground where the pipes are to keep warm, they laugh, they play with one another, they argue and they fight, they also drink vodka, smoke and sniff glue.

Other times they are fighting with older homeless people (adults rather) but I think the real kicker comes from what the police do to them, I’m talking beating them, pouring glue over one boys head, we hear that a boy was raped and strangled to death and the police beat some kids and held them for as long as 48 hours… even though these kids had nothing to do with said crime.

It really isn’t a pleasant documentary at all and I’m still trying to process it, the final kicker comes at the end of the film as one poor thirteen year old girl sadly overdoses on glue and loses her life, the children hold a funeral for her as well.

Like I said it’s a really hard hitting documentary and one that is very hard to watch at times specially certain scenes involving the children sniffing glue.

I can’t say I enjoyed watching it I found it really hard to watch, but that doesn’t mean to say that it wasn’t interesting no, it was more eye opening, and eye opening thirty minutes to say the least.

10/10 mainly because it was so hard hitting and so gut wrenchingly sad, but again it was eye opening.

As always guys… catch ya later 🙂

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