Spider-Man: No Way Home – Film Review

Posted on December 16, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
Spider-Man: No Way Home': A Universe of Villains Arrive in the New Trailer | Marvel

Director: Jon Watts

Writers: Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers

Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Beneditct Wong, Tony Revolori, and Marisa Tomei

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Spider-Man: No Way Home has definitely been one of the most anticipated films of all time, and now it’s finally here. That incredible cliff-hanger from the ending of Far From Home was the biggest tease to Marvel fans around the world and it feels like an eternity has passed since then. Not only does No Way Home live up to the hype, but it also has some genuinely surprising and touching moments. Don’t worry, there will be absolutely no spoilers going forward.

Picking up exactly where the previous film left off No Way Home doesn’t waste any time in getting going. It starts at full speed and doesn’t let up at throughout it’s almost two and a half hour run time. It’s pure adrenaline action that’s entertaining and thrilling with plenty of moments that will have you on the edge of your seat. It’s also surprising how emotional the film is. It’s been a little under six years since Tom Holland made his first appearance as Spider-Man and his sixth film in the role to date, we’ve spent so much time with him and there are some heart-breaking and tragic moments.

It’s a Marvel film, so it obviously has some incredible production values. The effects are genius, the action looks incredible. There’s not one moment where you’re aware that almost everything you’re watching is filled with special effects and CGI. It looks real and you’re completely sucked into the world again. The action is incredibly shot as well, it just looks so great to watch. It’s funny and thrilling all the way through.

Tom Holland is a really good Peter Parker/Spider-Man, and he does have some great moments in No Way Home, there are some emotional moments at points that really work because of the strength of his performance. Despite this, Holland is outshined by some of his co-stars. Benedict Cumberbatch has never felt more in character as Doctor Strange and it just intensifies the excitement for the Sam Raimi directed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that’s due out next year. Another highlight is Zendaya who is perfect as M.J., stealing almost every scene she’s in.

One of the main reasons why this film has been so anticipated is the return of legacy characters from the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb The Amazing Spider-Man duology. Willem Dafoe is incredible, just as he is in everything. Jamie Foxx really gets to shine as Electro. J.K. Simmons appearing as J. Jonah. Jameson is funny the first time he appears, but he does feel unnecessary as it goes on. Overall, the returning cast is a real treat for all of us who grew up watching these films.

No Way Home is the perfect reason to return to the cinemas and judging by how full the screening was a lot of people agree. Its action packed, a fun thrill-ride from start to finish and the perfect ending to the Spider-Man trilogy that started with Homecoming. It’s a hard film to really dissect without going into spoilers and this is one that you don’t want spoiled.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Citizen Kane 4K Collector’s Edition – Review

Posted on December 15, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
Citizen Kane 80th Anniversary Collector's Edition | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray | Free shipping over £20 | HMV Store

Director: Orson Welles

Writers: Herman Mankiewicz

Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Agnes Moorehead, Paul Stewart, Ruth Warrick, Erskine Sanford, William Alland

Film Rating: ★★★★★

Blu Ray Rating: ★★★

Often called the greatest film of all time, Citizen Kane has just received an 80th anniversary ‘collector’s edition’ released in the UK. The film is included on both a 4K disc and a standard Blu-ray disc, along with a few extras and some physical goodies. Sadly, this doesn’t feel like the prestige edition that a film like Citizen Kane really deserves. The extras are bare and it’s a real shame that the features on the Criterion edition didn’t make it over to the UK.

There really isn’t much to say about the film that hasn’t been said before. It’s one of the most spoken of and written about film of all time. Even when it was first released there were reviews claiming it to be the ‘best picture ever made’, and modern appraisals haven’t changed much. Having such a reputation, obviously means that it can’t live up to it. Watching it isn’t a life changing event. It’s still an incredibly important moment in film history and there should be more extras on the ‘collector’s edition’ to really drive that point home.

There are so many innovative ideas that stem from Citizen Kane. The way the narrative is told, primarily through flashbacks and from different points of view, the incredible and very convincing make up that allows the same actors play the same characters over a span of fifty or so years, the effects to allow focus on both the foreground and the background of the screen, which was completely revolutionary at the time. There’s a reason why this is considered by many to be the greatest film ever made.

Welles was a first-time director and it’s his first starring role in front of the camera, with only a couple of false starts beforehand. He was given something that so many other directors have been denied, the holy grail of the final cut. There was so much interest in what he would create, especially since he was behind the legendary and iconic 1938 radio drama adaptation of War of the Worlds that had caused a frenzied panic on a few years before Kane was first released. His lack of experience behind the camera helped lead to the innovations. There was nothing holding him back and joining that with creative and stunning cinematography by Gregg Toland and incredible editing from Robert Wise, and you have one of the best films ever made.

The 4K edition does look great, the restoration is perfect, and this is the definitive way to watch the film, it’s just the extras where it is lacking. The ‘collector’s edition’ does contain a really nice book, that details the creation of Citizen Kane, it’s not really an essay, more of a brief history on the project. There are also some really nice postcards, and a facsimile of the original press release. It’s the extras on the disc where it is really let down. There’s some behind the scenes stills, very very short interviews with a member of the cast and a member of the crew. The best extra is a ten-minute featurette that is just stills with Roger Ebert talking over them, explaining why the film is so important. It’s interesting, but the recent Criterion edition in America has so many more features, including feature length documentaries. Why aren’t they included in the UK? It’s a real shame.

The 80th anniversary collector’s edition of Citizen Kane is a really nice set and it’s the best way to see the film today, but the extras really should have been better. The box is beautiful and what’s included is great, but there’s just not enough.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe below to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reviews and it’s almost Christmas

Posted on December 15, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

So today I’m going to see the new Spider-Man film, which may be the most anticipated film of the year. The screen looks like it’s already full on the cinema website and there are screenings like every 10 minutes all day. I’m excited to see it, and I’m sure it’ll be entertaining. Most of the Marvel films are. I’ve not read that much about it and I’ve mostly avoided spoilers and information online, so I’m going in pretty much blind.

It’s such a big film that nothing else new is being shown near me and it’s the same next week as well. It’s all Spider-Man and then you add The Matrix into that as well next Wednesday and there’s no choice. At least there’s streaming sites with The Hand of God out today on Netflix, which I’ve been looking forward to. At least I’m going to have time to catch up on some of the DVDs I’ve had sitting on the shelf for a little while now. It feels like most of my upcoming reviews will be filling in gaps that I’ve never seen before.

Last Friday I went to see West Side Story with Tabby and we were the only two people in the entire screening and it wasn’t a small screen either. It felt a little awkward to be honest, because it was the last showing of the night and the staff clearly had to wait for us before they could go home. I chose that one because it was the only showing that started after my shift ended. It was good to see it with no distractions but a little strange to see an epic musical in a big room completely alone. It’s not the only showings we’ve done alone this year. Earwig and the Witch and Blu Bayou were both completely empty as well, but they were much smaller rooms so it felt cosy.

I’m hoping to get ahead on everything over the next week or so, and then I can continue putting up reviews without a break over Christmas. I don’t know if anyone will want film reviews over Christmas, but my plan is to still put them up as normal. I’ll probably be watching films over Christmas anyway.

With exercising and fitness, it’s been slow going. Last week I was on my late week at work and due to a lack of sleep it was pretty much get up just before work started, work, then go to bed and not sleep. I still managed to get around half of my needed steps each day, but not as many as I’d like to. I’m hoping to get back into the habit of things and hopefully catch up on sleep soon.

That’s my update for the week, not much to talk about at the moment as my main focus is to try and get ahead on everything to start the new year in a good place.

Thanks for reading, and until next time,

Ashley

Posted in Updates | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Encounter – Film Review

Posted on December 14, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
Encounter (2021) - IMDb

Director: Michael Pearce

Writer: Michael Pearce and Joe Barton

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Janina Gavankar, Rory Cochrane, Lucian-River Chauhan, Aditya Geddada

Rating: ★★★

The latest film from Amazon Studios is a sci-fi thriller that explores mental illness and the lengths someone would go to protect their family. Malik Khan (Riz Ahmed) is a US marine, who finds out that aliens have attacked Earth. Little parasites that root themselves into humans and take over, killing anyone who stops them. Khan picks up his children from his ex’s house in the middle of the night taking them on a road trip to keep them safe and protect them the invasion.  

The first half of Encounter is brilliant. It hooks you almost instantly with some great effects and a compelling lead character. It then reveals its full hand way too early, and feels like a bad trick has been played. Almost instantly the tension that’s been built up is just gone. It’s a twist you can almost see coming, but it’s so badly executed. Maybe if it was left to the end, so we have more time to get there ourselves, or if everything was laid out at the beginning so we are all on the same page and it didn’t spend so long building up a fake narrative to hide everything under, then it wouldn’t be an issue. The second half feels really dragged out as it tries to keep you engaged, and while there are a few great moments, especially the shoot out and final scene, it’s just not enough to reclaim the greatness of the opening act.

Riz Ahmed, as always, is excellent as Malik Khan. He’s one of the most consistent actors around at the moment and his performance in Encounter is no exception. He’s a step above everyone else in the film. One the big reveal happens, and all the acceleration in suspense is lost, Ahmed is the only reason to carry on. The best parts of this film are Khan playing with his two sons. There’s a real connection between them and it would be just as entertaining if it was just a road trip drama about a dad who see’s his children for the weekend. It’s easy to connect with the characters through Ahmed’s performance.

The cinematography by Benjamin Kracun is incredible. There’s lots of close-up shots at the beginning of insects and creepy crawlies that look great, the dessert that Khan and his children play in looks beautiful. In the same way that the effects are spectacular. There’s a moment early on where a cop pulls Khan over and you can see the parasite in the cop’s eye as it moves around. It’s looks great and will have your skin crawling. There’s also a scene reminiscent of the scarab scene in The Mummy, that will have you scratching yourself.

Encounter is hard to talk about without spoiling anything. The twist happens way to early in the film, with no build up. By trying to be two different types of film, it fails at being either. You get invested in the story being told, and then it changes gears and takes way too long to pick speed back up. It’s a real shame because Ahmed is brilliant and just deserves a better script.

It’s still has some great moments and the final half hour or so is excellent, it’s just a shame that the film is paced so poorly up to that point.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe below to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Zom 100: Volume 2 – Manga Review

Posted on December 14, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Vol. 2 (2): Aso, Haro, Takata, Kotaro: 9781974720668: Amazon.com: Books

Volume 2 of Zom 100 collects the next four chapters of the ongoing satirical zombie apocalypse. Picking up exactly where the first volume left of with Akira and Kencho working together to finish the bucket list of what to do before they’re turned into zombies. Since Akira didn’t write 100 things on the list, Kencho adds his own to the list, including become a comedian.

While there are four chapters in this volume, it’s only two events. Each event is split into two, and both are one thing off the list. The first story is wining and dining an air stewardess, that happens accidentally when Akira and Kencho are out looking for a widescreen TV. It’s still silly and over the top, but there is something almost poignant when Akira is talking to the stewardess about his dreams and what he wanted to be when growing up.

The horror also completely destroys the fun in this section. It’s funny and jokey until it’s not. The zombies full on attack at one point, which is the first time it really felt like this was a zombie story. It’s only a brief moment, but a reminder for Akira that his bucket list isn’t a guarantee.

The last two chapters feature Akira becoming a superhero. They both go to the aquarium to try out a shark resistant suit, thinking that if it can stop sharks biting through it, then it can stop zombies. It does work, but Akira can still feel the pressure when they bite so it hurts. There’s also a zombie shark, that uses the legs of the humans it ate to run around on (It makes no sense here or in the manga, just go with it). These chapters feel really close to a Shonen manga. It’s lots of action and quick fun.

Overall the same tone as the first volume is kept up. There’s not really a lot of high stakes so far, it seems to be mostly stand alone stories, which I’m fine with since it’s really fun to read. I like the manic craziness of it all and it’s really simple and easy to read through, which is perfect for after work or just before bed. I can see this manga becoming one of my favourites. I have book three and four ready to go and will be reading them very soon.

Thanks for reading! If you liked this review, please consider subscribing to never miss a post:

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment