The First Purge Review

The First Purge (5/10)

Director: Gerard McMurray

Runtime: 97 Minutes

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I'm finally able to finish writing reviews for this franchise. Some of them were a chore to sit through, whilst Anarchy was a pleasant surprise. Going into The First Purge I was thinking only one thing, will this be another Election Year or Anarchy? I'm happy to say that this was yet another pleasant surprise, being just as good Anarchy but still retaining a lot of the same issues that have been plaguing this franchise since day one.

As the title suggests this is the very beginning of the purge, showing to its audience how everything began. The New Founding Fathers set Staten Island as the first ever place for this new experimental procedure called the purge. Drug lord Dmitri seeks to protect his turf on the night of the purge, while his ex-girlfriend Nya holds up in a church and her younger brother Isaiah seeks revenge on a violent junkie who scared his face.

The films first Act is where this movie shines best, they gather all these people who have pent-up aggression and sit them down one by one. Asking if they would participate in this experiment and whether they would actively kill someone, or stay in their homes for the night. Even the beginning of the purge itself is really well done. I really liked how it wasn't a straight-up bloodbath, most people just took it as a night to steal and only a few killed, especially compared to the other movies where its pretty much all killing and no stealing. This is the first Purge movie that doesn't give us bland characters, for the most part anyway. Dmitri is someone I actually wanted to root for, he only wanted to see the night through and have none of his gang kill anyone for the sake of killing. In the end, Dmitri is forced to enter the streets of the Purge with a few of his armed men and help the people in his community. He doesn't have a selfish goal he's working towards like Leo had, for me this makes him much more likeable. He's also a badass which is entertaining to watch. The rest of the cast are pretty bland and their moments of stardom are far between.

The rest of the purge is pretty much the worst part of the movie, with only a few good moments. The jump scares are extremely thin and unscary, lack of consideration in the characters decisions. There's also a ridiculous element of the movie, where it gets its participants to wear light up contact lenses that gives everyone a glow in the dark glare. It's such a stupid looking gimmick. A lot of this movie feels very handed, we have Nazi Fetish villains, KKK members, hired mercenaries, it does become a bit much to handle.

Overall, the premise of each Purge movie never changes and still doesn't surprise me. It's never as interesting as it should be. I do enjoy how this movie tackles race issues and talks about a lot of current problems in America. Finally having a good lead and some cool action sequences makes for one of the more entertaining Purge movies. Maybe the next one should completely focus on the purgers, now that would be interesting.

Tag Review

Tag (7/10)

Director: Jeff Tomsic

Runtime: 100 Minutes

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When you watch this movie you have to keep reminding yourself that this is all based on actual events. Though the movie does stretch the facts just a little bit for entertainment value. Most of all that is the best way to describe Tag, it's extremely entertaining by being absolutely ridiculous.

For one month every year, five highly competitive friends hit the ground running in a no-holds-barred game of tag they've been playing since the first grade--risking their necks, their jobs and their relationships to take each other down with the battle cry "You're It!" This year, they're determined to tag their friend Jerry, who after 30 years has never been "It".

Everyone in this movie looks like they're having so much fun, which is great because the chemistry between these five friends is undeniably perfection. You can feel that these characters have been friends by the way their dialogue rolls off each other and has a natural flow to it. Tag takes this bond between friends, which we see in countless movies such as "The Hangover" and makes it new and interesting by basing the whole thing around a game of tag. Everyone from Jon Hamm to Ed Helms, and even Helms wife Isla Fisher all share such a great bond that brings the movie together. Speaking of Fisher, she is extremely entertaining. She plays Helms wife and is extremely competitive and takes things way to intense. As constantly referenced by Jake Johnson who is also brilliant in this movie. I really can't give the cast enough credit, they play their roles perfectly and look like they're all having the time of their lives. Which makes the audience feel the same way.

The movie is surprisingly quite stylish with the way it choreographs all the tag moments. It slows most of it down and allows us to hear the thoughts going through Jerry's head as he pinpoints everyone's actions. At times this is very unrealistic but as mentioned its so ridiculous that its downright hilarious to watch his friends go to all this effort, just to put their hand on him and say "You're it". There's a lot of humour in this movie that I loved and personally, Tag nailed the comedy. However, there is a little bit of dark humour regarding abortions that I can see upsetting a few people. It's rare when you can say that a comedy script is on point, Blockers is the best comedy this year so far because of how funny and smart its script was. Tag is much the same, nothing ever feels forced and all the set pieces have a reason for them rather than simply being a series of cliche tropes.

The only big issue Tag has is much like with many other comedies, they simply gave too much away in the trailer. As the set pieces were lining up, I sadly already knew what the final punchline was going to be because they showed it in the trailer. Thankfully, these are very far between and there is still a lot of new gags that will keep you laughing.

Overall, Tag is so utterly bizarre and ridiculous that it's incredibly entertaining. By no means is this a comedy classic, but if you're looking for a fun movie to go see in the cinema. Then you'll certainly have a fun time watching Tag.

The Only Living Boy In New York Review

The Only Living Boy In New York (4/10)

Director: Marc Webb

Runtime: 88 Minutes

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This is a coming of age movie that doesn't do much in the way of showing the character coming of age. It borrows from a slew of other cliche themed works such as The Graduate, Wonder Boys and Igby Goes Down but does nothing to separate itself from other similar works. Them movies are much more interesting and satisfying to watch, it seems as the writers were barely even trying when they wrote the screenplay for this movie as the dialogue feels so lazy and barebone.

Thomas Webb (Callum Turner), the son of a publisher and his artistic wife, has just graduated from college and is trying to find his place in the world. Moving from his parents' Upper West Side apartment to the Lower East Side, he befriends his neighbour W.F. (Jeff Bridges), a shambling alcoholic writer who dispenses worldly wisdom alongside healthy shots of whiskey. Thomas' world begins to shift when he discovers that his long-married father (Pierce Brosnan) is having an affair with a seductive younger woman (Kate Beckinsale). Determined to break up the relationship, Thomas ends up sleeping with his father's mistress, launching a chain of events that will change everything he thinks he knows about himself and his family.

Usually, in a coming of age movie, you don't really like the main character at the beginning of the movie and you slowly start to like them as they learn their wrongdoings throughout the movie. The biggest problem this movie has is making its main lead so unlikable, I hated how smug and confident he was with all of his actions. You're meant to dislike him at the beginning, but you're not meant to hate him so bad that you want to throw him out of a window. I never recovered from this feeling and unfortunately felt it throughout the whole movie. Everything seems so familiar, nothing feels original. Tone, dialogue, setting, music, plot, it all seems taken from better coming of age movies. Why does Jeff Bridges play the most cliche idea of a writer ever put to film, an alcoholic writer who seems to sit around every day waiting to give the main character some new advice. Because he plays such a cliche character, he's completely unrecognizable as a real individual. Despite all this, he is one of the few (maybe the only) characters that have a shred of emotion to them.

Clocking in at a short 88 minutes. The Only Living Boy In New York is as thin as it gets. None of the characters are developed beyond the script, and are downright lazy. The song selections don't help either, there never seems to be any real choice in using them beyond the sake of pulling at the audience's heartstrings. For example, The Graduate did this extremely well with the music starting chilly and adding layers of depth to make everything feel regretful.

"There's no such sophistication here, as confirmed when Bob Dylan's "Visions of Johanna" comes on the soundtrack after, ahem, Johanna starts seeing Thomas on the sly. That's The Only Living Boy in New York in a nutshell: high-quality parts recycled into a derivative whole that lands squarely on the nose". Quoted from The Hollywood Reporter which perfectly sums up the music in the movie perfectly. It's hard for me to really find anything good about this movie, the movie does look really nice. Although cliche, New York does make for a beautiful location to film at.

Overall, The Only Living Boy In New York isn't a good movie. It does nothing new to stand out in an already overflowing genre, barebone characters and a poor script does nothing to elevate this movie to at least average status. Jeff Bridges is entertaining but extremely unnecessary, the music feels cheap and slapped on, never truly following the flow of the movie. It does at least contain some good imagery and thankfully is only 88 minutes, so you won't be waiting long for the credits to roll.

The Disaster Artist Review

The Disaster Artist (9/10)

Director: James Franco

Runtime: 105 Minutes

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This is my second time watching The Disaster Artist. The first being in my local cinema where I had one of the best experiences i’ve ever had going there. Everyone was howling with laughter and even the most subtle of things that you'd only understand if you’ve seen The Room still got a laugh out of the audience. and it’s still as good as when I saw it in cinema. It’s a movie about the making of one of the worst movies of all time. The Room is without question one of the worst movies ever made, is it the worst is a matter of taste. In my opinion it really isn't, maybe from a technical standpoint it could be considered one of the worst but I have seen many more bad movies than The Room. As mentioned at the beginning of this movie by famous actors, The Room is a movie with heart, you can see Tommy Wiseau put his heart and soul into making it. James Franco set out to make The Disaster Artist, a movie that faithfully adapts the events written up by Greg Sestero who plays Mark in The Room. It’s strange to think all the events seen in the film actually happened, what’s better is that James Franco treats it all with such respect and still manages to make it extremely funny.

Greg Sestero is a struggling actor (Dave Franco) who befriends Tommy Wiseau (James Franco). They move to Hollywood to follow their dreams and soon start to get rejected by every casting agency. They eventually decide to make their own movie, that movie being The Room. It’s a crime that James Franco didn't win an Oscar for his role here, as personally I believe it to be one of the best from 2017. Putting Wiseau and Franco side by side he has simply nailed the look and feel of the man. This definitely shouldn't overshadow Dave Franco who looks uncanny as Greg Sestero, overall everyone does a great job in looking the part of their counterparts. Even a small role like Zac Efron in the movie, he does a good job and looks just like the character from the actual movie. There’s so much in this movie that you question, like why did Tommy carry on making this movie even though it was clear he should stop? At the heart of this movie it’s about showing that Hollywood is full of dreamers, just because you want it doesnt mean it will happen. Wiseau is definitely a weird and mysterious guy, the movie constantly has us questioning everything about him. Even Greg eventually asks him out of anger where does all the money come from and how old he really is. We never get any answers to these questions and as the movie tells us at the end, we still don't.

Looking back now it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Tommy Wiseau making The Room, much like how it’s hard to imagine anyone but James Franco playing Tommy Wiseau. The Disaster Artist is a brilliant movie that’s as funny as it is sad. It’s hard to say if you haven't seen The Room if you’ll enjoy The Disaster Artist, my guess is they’ll be certain aspects you won't understand and that might stop you from enjoying it at its fullest. However this is all the more reason to watch The Room, grab a few friends and watch one of the worst (best) movies of all time.

Halloween 2 Review

Halloween 2 (4/10)

Director: Rick Rosenthal

Runtime: 92 Minutes

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As mentioned in my review 2 weeks ago, I will be reviewing all the Halloween movies every 2 weeks to coincide with the release of the new Halloween movie coming out this October. As promised, today I will be reviewing Halloween 2. The sequel to arguably one of the greatest horror movies of all time. The movie begins just as any sequel should, continuing directly after the events of the first. There's not too much to say about the plot as the movie follows straight after the first. We again see Jamie Lee Curtis as she gets wheeled away to the hospital, little does she know that Michael Myers is hot on her tail. Killing many people along the way, and just like the first Doctor Loomis is back on the search to find Michael and stop him for good.

My god, how the mighty have fallen. I used to like Halloween 2 as a kid but now watching it as an adult I have no idea why. John Carpenters original Halloween is one of the best and most effective horror movies of all time. This movie takes everything that the first did so well and ruins pretty much every aspect of it. Halloween 2 does do a lot of things well, it amps up the body count which can either be a good thing or bad depending on how you look at it. Michael has more screentime this time around, which might satisfy some people but it does take away a lot of the mystery surrounding the character. Personally, I don't find this that bad to the narrative as this is the sequel and I would expect to see more of him. Although it does make Michael a less menacing figure, id go so far to argue this movie steals every ounce of scare factor that Michael ever had and makes him feel like a cliche slasher villian than the troubled man hiding behind a mask of bloodshed that truly he is.

This movie has none of the artistry or the imagination of the original. However, despite all the hate that I'm giving the movie, it did entertain me enough for the length of its runtime. Sadly this was more down to some absolutely, ridiculous moments, that made me laugh so hard that for a second I forgot I was watching a horror movie. It was enjoyable for completely the wrong reasons. It does have some memorable kills though, seeing Michael disfiguring the face of a beautiful woman by plunging her repeatedly into scalding water of a whirlpool bath, was original and entertaining. A minor thing, I can't seem to get over how much I disliked the remixed version of the Halloween theme. It sounded like John Carpenter put over a techno 80's beat over the original music, it wasn't at all scary and I have no idea why they changed such a perfect and iconic song.

If you can look past all the idiotic choices that the characters make then you might find something enjoyable here. If anyone used just an ounce of common sense then this movie wouldn't even be half as long as it is. Then again, it wouldn't really be a slasher then would it.

I really didn't like Halloween 2, it tried to copy everything the original did but fails miserably. Michael is no longer scary or a menacing figure lurking in the darkness. Some unique kills and an always enjoyable performance by Donald Pleasence stops this movie from being terrible. I'm really happy that the new Halloween is forgetting the sequels ever existed. Maybe this will be the true sequel the original finally deserves.

Halloween (1978) Review

Halloween 1978 (9/10)

Director: John Carpenter

Runtime: 91 minutes

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With the trailer just dropping and a new Halloween movie coming this October I figured what better time than now to start reviewing the entire franchise. So starting from today I'm going to be reviewing each Halloween movie every 2 weeks, starting with John Carpenters original classic and working my way up to Halloween 2 by Rob Zombie. Safe to say these reviews are going to get more painful to write as the movies go on.

On Halloween night of 1963, a young Michael Myers murders his older sister. 15 years later, Myers escapes the institution he's in and goes back to his old town searching for people to kill. This was back when slashers meant something, before Ghost face, before Freddy, even before Jason. There was Michael Myers. There had been prior slashers to Halloween but it was the first to revolutionise the genre. I hadn't watched Halloween prior to this review for years, the movie was released in 1978, that's 40 years ago and it still holds up surprisingly really well. It's a feat to be able to say that after 40 years it's still one of the greatest Horror movies ever made. The Horror genre most likely wouldn't be what it is today without the influence of Halloween.

The film triumphs greatly over its narrative, little is explained to the audience and we're left to piece together the parts ourselves. On the surface this is a story about the Boogeyman, Carpenter takes this tale and squeezes everything out he can for his audience. The brilliance of this movie lies within it's main centre piece, we know little to nothing about Michael Myers and although the sequels tried to add more and more layers of backstory to the character and give him a reason for killing. I prefer the simple fact that he's just plain crazy. This movie is really, really dark, but in a good way because it was shot on a small budget Carpenter knows how to utilise his lighting to create and dark and menacing figure. Michael materializes in and out of shadows, you're never quite sure where he is or where he's going to pop out. I've always loved just seeing his white pale face slowly peaking it's way through the darkness.

The movie also has one of the greatest opening scenes ever. It's one extremely long take as we witness a murder through the eyes of a killer. As it progresses we realise this killer is a little boy and is a young Michael Myers. It must have took them ages to get everything just right in that one scene. Halloween also has one of the greatest, and my personal favourite horror theme of all time. It's so scary and memorable, it's played to highlight something the audience should be paying attention to, whether this be Myers car or Michael standing watching someone. As much as I love the theme, 're watching the movie did make me think that in the first half it's way to over played. I absolutely love the theme but there's literally a theme playing every 5 mintues or so and I just felt that it became to much and slightly overpowering at times.

Halloween is an absolute classic, if you haven't seen it then definetely do yourself a favour and do. It paved the way for all the slashers to come and is still one of the best in its genre. Although many slashers came after him, Michael Myers is still an extremely effective and creepy villian. The theme is downright amazing, even if played a little too much throughout the film. Overall I think Halloween is an amazing movie that deserves all the love and attention that it gets.

Hereditary Review

Hereditary (5/10)

Director: Ari Aster

Runtime: 127 Minutes

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Why are people calling this the scariest movie in years? Why is it being marketed as a horror? These are questions I left asking myself at the end of Hereditary. The debut movie by Ari Aster, Hereditary tries to be grisly and genuinely frightening and for me it never was. I'm not the biggest fan of subtle horror, nor am I a big fan of arthousr horror. This movie never had me on edge, even though the trailers leads you to believe it'll be extremely intense and have a grim atmosphere but it never does. This is where my biggest issue with the movie lies, there was a never a moment that I felt scared and all the moments that should have been intense weren't because I never felt like there was something to be afraid off. Maybe some people might consider this a good thing as the story keeps you guessing, I personally never got invested in the story enough to care.

I've heard this from a lot of other critics and I completely agree with them, the marketing for this movie was awful. It leads you to believe you're going into an intense horror movie. When in actuality you're walking into a drama, and a slow burner one at that. A lot of people might consider this off putting and I can definetely see why. Going into this movie I pretty much knew I wasn't going to like it, I really did want to but I knew it didn't look like my type of horror movie. It reminded me a lot of The Witch and The Babadook, both movies that I really didn't like but the majority of critics loved. Give credit where it's due, the performances in this movie are outstanding. Toni Collette is brilliant as the mom stricken with grief at the death of her own mother. Alex Wolff gives his break out performance here and I truly do hope he starts to get recognised as an actor to be reckoned with. I hated his crying in the movie as it sounded ridiculous but the rest of the movie he is top notch. The movie also goes on for far to long, clocking in at a little over 2 hours it drags during act 2 and there were many scenes that lingered for far to long, not adding anything to the overall plot and could easily have been cut.

Overall I haven't got a whole lot to say about Hereditary. I feel people who like subtle horror, movies like The Babadook and The Witch then you'll definetely like this. Personally I don't think it's a great movie and if it wasn't for the stellar performances then I'd probably give it lower than a 5. I went with two people who loved this movie so I might just be on my own when saying if wasn't a great movie. I'd definetley say give it a watch but be prepared that you're going into a drama/thriller and not a horror.