Blade – Franchise Catch Up

Posted on November 11, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Before the MCU, before X-Men and Spider-Man there was Blade. I was too young when the films came out, and even though I read a lot of comics, I’ve never gotten around to them. The first one has been re-released in 4K at the cinema, so I thought it was a great opportunity to make it the next Franchise Catch Up.

For those that are new, Franchise Catch Up is where I take a series of films (of at least 3 or more) and binge watch them, writing a initial thoughts for each one shortly after watching it. If you haven’t seen the Blade trilogy and are curious, or you love the franchise and want to see what a newbie thinks, I hope you enjoy.

Blade (1998) - IMDb

Blade – ★★★★

I really enjoyed this, a lot more than I thought I would. It was stylish, funny, and the action was great. Wesley Snipes is fantastic as Blade. There’s a great energy to the action, especially in the first scene in the nightclub. The effects are great, the plot’s interesting. It’s an all round great comic book film. At least I’ve finally gotten around to the film now.

Blade II – ★★

I can’t believe how disappointing this is compared to the first one. The action is still good, but the plot is just so bad. There are so many plot holes and it’s really slow. A wasted sequel. The best thing about it is the effects, they are extremely good, some of the best effects I’ve seen in a film like this. Especially considering the age of the film. I liked the opening sequence, but after that it was a let down. Very low hopes for Blade Trinity

Blade Trinity – ★★

Ryan Reynolds is absolutely fantastic in this. He’s pretty much doing what he does best, with snarky humour and his normal general charm. Beyond that this film is dull and a little boring. I honestly don’t know how the sequels are this bad, when the first film was so great. They’re all written by David S. Goyer. The action is pretty bland, the effects are a lot worse than the second one. Pretty much the only redeeming thing about it is Reynolds.

Blade: Trinity (2004) - IMDb

Final Thoughts

I really liked the first one, a lot more than I thought I would, but beyond that this series is pretty bad. I hope the new MCU reboot does the character justice. I think the best one is the first one, followed by Trinity and then the second one as the worst. But to be honest only the first one is worth watching.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

Posted in Franchise Catch Up | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Passing – Film Review

Posted on November 10, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter
Passing (2021) - IMDb

Director: Rebecca Hall

Writer: Rebecca Hall

Starring: Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Bill Camp, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, Ashly Ware Jenkins, and Alexander Skarsgård

Rating: ★★★½

After being warmly received at Sundance and London Film Festival, Passing has been released on Netflix. The story is a period drama about race relations in America in the 1920s and is based on a book by Nella Larsen from 1929. It’s a story that is sadly still relevant in 2021.

Irene (Tessa Thompson) runs into an old friend from school, Clare (Ruth Negga). While they are both black women, they have pale enough skin that they can pass as white. Irene uses this to shop in white-only shops or drink tea at nice cafes, Clare goes further and is married to John (Alexander Skarsgård), a wealthy and bigoted man. The differences in their lives shocks Irene and Clare sees a way to reconnect with who she really is and starts to push herself into Irene’s personal life.

While the film is set when the book was written, almost a hundred years ago, the story still feels very relevant. It’s genuinely sad that people feel the need to hide who they are to avoid any judgement. At first that is what Passing is dealing with, the rampant racism in America at the time and how people had to survive through it. There’s a dark moment where Irene’s husband is trying to warn his children about the horrors that happen to black people, like lynching. He feels that he has to warn them of the dangers, based purely because of how they look.

Another shocking moment comes very early in the film when Irene meets John, who has no idea of his own wife’s past and family. He throws casual racism about as if it’s meaningless. Alexander SkarsgÃ¥rd is really well cast as John, he’s capable of being so charming that when he turns nasty you don’t really see it coming. It’s similar to the abusive character he played in the first season of Big Little Lies.  

There is a darker layer to the film that is slowly revealed. Clare starts to envy Irene’s life and starts to try and take over. She becomes friends with Irene’s friends, starts to get a little too friendly with her husband and invites herself to events. There’s a moment where she ominously warns Irene by saying that whatever happens, she’s still grateful for Irene. That’s the main driving force behind the plot. It’s an unsettling feeling that builds throughout until its inevitable tragic ending.

The film is shot in black and white, adding a colour-blind veil to everything, and is presented in 4:3 aspect ratio. It makes it feel like a classic film from the time. At the same time it reinforces how relevant the theme of race relations are at the moment, in that as far as we’ve come there’s still a way to go. The piano-based score from Dev Hynes is gorgeous and really feels like it comes from the era the film is set in.

Passing is an interesting and thought provoking film. It’s a slow-burn drama that really hooks you, but it just feels like there’s not enough. There is a lot more room to really get into the plot that isn’t fully explored. Without giving spoilers there are moments where it feels like it’s jumped forward and we’re missing something. It’s a shame, because it does undercut the powerful message underneath. It is still a good film and worth more of your time than a lot of the rubbish that Netflix releases weekly.

Liked my review? Please subscribe below to never miss a post:

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

10th November Update

Posted on November 10, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

It hit me yesterday how close to the end of the year we are. I saw the date written down, and couldn’t believe we are in month 11. I know I say this a lot, but this year has flown by. This weekend I’m going to see Cry Macho. I’ve been really looking forward to this one, so I’m sure it will be good. It’s the only cinema release near me, so the other things I will be watching are the new releases on Netflix, Passing and on Friday, Red Notice. Reviews for all of them will be up as soon as possible. Happiness Ever After is also out today on Netflix, but I’ve not seen the first one, which isn’t on Netflix so may not get round to that one.

Tomorrow is the next Franchise Catch Up, a much smaller one after the mammoth of the Halloween series. This time is Blade. I’ve just got Blade Trinity to go, which I will be watching this afternoon after work.

The other thing I’m hoping of doing is more reading. I need to just sit down and read, my to-read pile is ever growing. That’s my plan for this week, is to set aside half an hour or so a day just to read.

This Saturday, Tabby’s car is getting its MOT, so the plan will be to drop the car off, then walk home, it’s about an hour walk there and back. That’s the exorcise for the weekend. We’ve been trying to do at least 7 miles of walking every weekend, it’s been going well so far. We’re also going to be doing a major clear-out this weekend. Getting rid of old books, games and DVDs that we have no use for.

That’s it for the update this week, hope you all have a great week! Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

A Bird Flew In – An Inevitable Film About Lockdown – Film Review

Posted on November 9, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Kirsty Bell

Writers: Elizabeth Morris and Dominic Wells

Starring: Sadie Frost, Jeff Fahey, Derek Jacobi, Bill Fellows, Frances Barber, Morgana Robinson, Julie Dray, Sophie Kennedy Clark, and Daniel Ward

Rating: ★★★

At this point ‘lockdown’ is a genre all by itself. In the next few years there will be a wave of films about lockdown, either directly or indirectly. It’s inevitable that artists will try to capture the last two years in some form or other. That’s exactly what A Bird Flew In is doing. Several interwoven stories of people stuck in lockdown while the film they were working on is shut down due to the pandemic.

The stories feel very familiar to what we’ve all seen on the news and social media during the pandemic. People struggling, family members dying, mental illnesses growing. It’s a bleak and sombre film that’s very reflective of what we’ve all experienced, even if the characters are in much nicer houses and flats. It’s something that has brought most of us together.

One of the things the film does really well is give you a muddled sense of time. Early in the film, Diane (Sadie Frost) tells her teddy bear that no one really knows what day or time it is. Time skips through in the film, and before you know it someone is referring to weeks, rather than days. It’s exactly how the pandemic has felt like, the longest and short years of our lives.

The hardest hitting stories in the film is where Lucy (Morgana Robinson) is struggling with her mother being diagnosed with Coronavirus and her slow decline, while Lucy can’t see her or say goodbye. There’s a harrowing phone call where Lucy is being told her mother is being taken off the ventilator but isn’t allowed to see her. It’s a scene that will give you chills and is all too real for a lot of people. Morgana Robinson carries the weight of the scene perfectly and it’s something that will echo throughout your mind as the rest of the film plays.

Sadly, a lot of the other characters aren’t as interesting. They seem exaggerated characters rather than real people, and some of the acting is very stilted, sometimes even grating to watch. There’s a husband stuck in Australia, who blames his wife for everything, while at the same time is cheating on her and doesn’t take the flight back to the UK when offered. He even forgets her birthday. The whole thing feels a little over the top and doesn’t feel real.

There’s another character who is spying on his ex, watching her struggle in her own isolation, by using the cameras in her flat. It’s really strange and uncomfortable to watch. The film doesn’t really tackle it in any meaningful way, it just kind of happens.

A Bird Flew In captures the madness and absurdity of the last two years. Despite it’s flaws it still gives a gut punch. When it works it really works, and when it doesn’t it exhausting.

Liked my review? Please subscribe below to never miss a post:

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

London, McCartney and Third Man Records

Posted on November 9, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Last week my weekend started early. On Friday morning I was on the train to London for the third time in a month. I’ve missed travelling and it’s great to be able to get back out there and do stuff. This time it was to see Paul McCartney in conversation with Paul Muldoon and Samira Ahmed, to celebrate the release of The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, the almost 1000 pages deep-dive into McCartney’s songs. I’m a big Beatles fan and of McCartney’s post-Beatles music. The second tickets went on sale I jumped at the chance.

Coinciding with the event is an exhibition at the British Library, featuring some hand-written lyrics from McCartney and some unseen photos spanning his career. That was our first stop, a short walk from Euston station. I’ve always wanted to go to the British Library, but never had the excuse. Now that I’ve been, I want to go back to fully explore it.

No description available.
The banner outside the British Library

The exhibition itself was quite small, I wouldn’t say it was worth the trip by itself. There were the original lyrics to ‘Yesterday’, ‘Here There and Everywhere’, ‘Hey Jude’ and the much more recent ‘Kiss of Venus’. It was interesting to see them, and the words that were crossed out and replaced. The whole thing probably takes around ten minutes to look at and read all the plaques. When I finished reading, I turned around and someone was dressed up in the Sgt. Pepper outfit, which was strange to see someone dressing up to go to something like that.

There was a note to say there were more Beatles items in the Treasures room, so we headed over to a map to find it. Funnily enough the room was literally next to the map, but it took us a minute to figure out where we were. The Beatles stuff inside there was even smaller, the stand out being the original lyrics to ‘Hard Day’s Night’, which were written scruffily on the back of a birthday card for Julian Lennon.

No description available.
Shakespeare’s First Folio – The First Collection of his Plays

We did look at everything else in the Treasure room, and it’s really worth checking out if you’re ever in London. I knew they had a copy of the First Folio, but I didn’t think they would have it on display. I find stuff like this fascinating so spent a long time reading all of the information they had about it.

They also had Jane Austin’s writing desk, with a letter she had written to her brother on top of it. The desk was brought for her by her father.

One of the other items on display was one of the four known remaining official copies of the Magna Carta, the foundation of modern laws in the UK. Something else I was surprised was on display. The history geek inside me was very excited to see it. It mentions on the card next to it that it was due to the Baron’s rebelling again the King. It doesn’t mention that the rebellion started in Northampton castle, which is where the train station now stands in Northampton and where our day out began.

No description available.
Magna Carta, which was next to a papal bull from the pope to condemn it, that I didn’t take a photo of.

After the British Library we walked through Soho, Trafalgar Square, across the Thames and to our hotel. I really like walking through London, we used to get the underground everywhere but most things are quite close. It takes longer to walk, but I like walking. We walked down Goodge Street to try and find the room where Eloise stayed in Last Night in Soho, but wasn’t sure where it was. Found out later it was actually on Goodge Place, not Street. Only a small detour.

No description available.

The actual event was really good. We had really good seats and could see perfectly. It was interesting to see and listen to McCartney speak for an hour and a half. It was mostly about The Beatles, with almost no time to anything that came afterwards. We weren’t allowed to take photos of the actual event, so beforehand is the best we could get. After that it was back to the hotel to watch Love Hard on Netflix.

The next morning on the walk back to Euston, we took a detour back through Soho to find Third Man Records. Which is Jack White’s shop, that sells a lot of White Stripes memorabilia as well as vinyl from White’s record label. Jack White is one of Tabby’s favourite musicians, so it was a must that we made out way there. She got a keyring and a vinyl single of ‘Connected by Love’. The store looks pretty stylish, even from the outside.

No description available.

And that was the end of the trip, from there it was a walk back to Euston and back to Northampton by dinner time. It was a pretty great weekend and not one I’m going to forget anytime soon.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

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