What I’m Watching and Reading This Week

Posted on September 13, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Hi, it’s Monday evening again, and I wanted to write a short post about what I’ll be watching and reading this week.

Film wise, I’m watching the Taken series, for the next Franchise Catch Up post. I’ve never seen them before and looking forward to watching them. I’m also planning on watching The Last Airbender, to finish off watching M. Night Shyamalan’s films.

This weekend I have both days off, which happens 1 out of 3 weekends so me and Tabby will be going to the cinema to catch a few of the new releases. Respect is the first one we will be watching. It’s receiving poor reviews, but hopefully it will still be alright. Ghost in the Shell, the original anime, is also getting a re-release, so I may be going to see that. I’ve seen it a couple of times a long time ago, so it would be good to see in IMAX.

Book wise I’m hoping to read 2 books this week. I’m currently reading Alejandro’s Lie by Bob Van Laerhoven. I’m about a third of the way through it and absolutely loving it so far. I’m hoping to get that read and reviewed this week. The next book on my reading list is Are We Monsters? by Rollin Miller.

What are you going to be watching and reading this week? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

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Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead – Film Review

Posted on September 13, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Gary Fleder

Writer: Scott Rodenberg

Starring: Andy Garcia, Christopher Lloyd, William Forsythe, Bill Nunn, Treat Williams, Jack Warden, Steve Buscemi and Christopher Walken

Rating: ★★½

Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead is a crime thriller that could only have come form the 1990s, it feels like an imitation of a Tarantino film, with stylised dialogue, a bunch of oddball characters and a tragic ending. The script was written before Reservoir Dogs (1992) was released, although the film wasn’t made and released until after Pulp Fiction (1994) in 1995. It wouldn’t be a surprise if some of the script was reworked to mimic Tarantino’s hits.

It’s most likely that Scott Rodenberg (who has gone on to co-write the two recent Jumanji films and Venom) had similar inspirations to Tarantino. There’s a lot of similarity here with wise cracking characters talking in unnatural ways. There is literally a character called The Man With The Plan. Things to Do in Denver isn’t as well remembered because its script isn’t as tight as a Tarantino one. The film is really baggy with too many characters, too many threads and a tone that says it’s all style over substance.

There are loads of great moments and character traits that should make this film stand out. There’s a character who to get away from fighting people, works in a morgue and gets rid of his violent urges by hanging up corpses and using them like punching bag. Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future) plays Pieces, an aging projectionist at an adult theatre who is falling apart. He is introduced by saying that he lost his toe the other day, as if it’s nothing. There’s a specialist hitman, called Mr Shhh who specialises in making his hits feel as much pain as possible, played very unconvincingly by Steve Buscemi. The characters are all great on paper but fall flat on the screen.

Andy Garcia plays the main character, Jimmy the Saint, who is given the chance to have his debt wiped by The Man With The Plan. All he has to do is make Bruce break up with Meg, so she will continue to date Man With The Plan’s son. The plan goes wrong and Mr Shhh is brought in to take out those involved.

There are too many characters involved with the plan to intimidate Bruce. It’s not clear why so many are there, but it feels like it’s just so Mr Shhh has more to work through. The characters feel like they are little more than the quirky traits they have and when they start to die, you just don’t care.

The film spends too much time getting to the main plot. There is a lot of wasted time before the plan goes wrong and then the later half is too long in general. It’s just impossible to take Buscemi seriously as a hitman, there’s nothing menacing about him in the film and there’s a moment that he manages to kill everyone in a room with a pistol that has unlimited ammo. It’s a miscast character and the film suffers for it massively.

The music is great, but that doesn’t save the film. The dialogue is great, the characters should be great but aren’t. The story plods along at a very slow pace. This film has mostly been left in the 90s and that’s where it belongs.

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Wide Awake – Film Review

Posted on September 12, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Writer: M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: Denis Leary, Dana Delany, Robert Loggia, Joseph Cross, Timothy Reifsnyder and Rosie O’Donnell

Rating: ★★★½

In 1991, a full eight years before M. Night Shyamalan made The Sixth Sense and became one of the world’s most recognisable directors he wrote the script to Wide Awake. In 1995 the film was shot and completed and then it finally saw a release in 1998, the year before The Sixth Sense, to very little acclaim or reception. It’s largely been forgotten now, to the point that if you look up rankings of Shyamalan’s films you’ll find most of them ignore his two films from before The Sixth Sense. It’s a shame that Wide Awake has gone under the radar since its release. It’s a really good comedy and it deals with a lot of the things that Shyamalan would tackle again in later films.

Wide Awake is about ten year old Joshua Beal (Joseph Cross, Running with Scissors), whose grandfather dies and it leads him to question his own faith and he goes on a mission to find God and get some answers about death.

Much like Shyamalan’s later film Signs, Wide Awake is a character study into existentialism and a loss of faith. Instead of being put against the backdrop of an alien invasion, it’s a child learning to come to terms with the world around him and most importantly the death of a loved one. The film is mostly a comedy, but it does deal with some dark themes and has some heart-breaking moments. Joshua Beal goes to a Catholic school but can’t find the answers to his questions there.  

Joseph Cross does an excellent job at carrying the film. His performances is moving and one of the best parts of the film. The rest of the cast is also great, especially Joshua’s classmates. They are funny and all play off each other.

There is a twist towards the end, which would go on to become the most recognisable aspect of Shyamalan’s work. It’s not his best twist and does push the film into a realm of over-sentimentalism but it’s still a good ending. It brings together everything the film has gives it a nice conclusion. It does end on a lighter note, which will be off-putting for some.

Shyamalan set out to write a comedy that would also make some people cry. It isn’t going to bring tears to your face, but it is a touching comedy with some great characters and definitely deserves more recognition than it receives. It’s funny and sentimental, but maybe a little too much at the end.

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Kate – Film Review

Posted on September 12, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan

Writer:  Umair Aleem

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Miku Martineau, Woody Harrelson, Muchiel Huisman and Tadanaobu Asano

Rating: ★★★

Kate is the latest revenge action film, that’s just been released on Netflix. Is stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim) as Kate, an assassin who is poisoned with only a day left to live and starts down a trail of revenge to find out why she was poisoned and kill those responsible. The story feels fairly standard and there aren’t any surprises in store. There’s still a decent amount of action and the film is entertaining enough.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who was last seen in Birds of Prey, gives a great performance as Kate. She’s completely believable as an assassin. The action looks great, and the film only works because she is so good in her role. Miku Martineau is also great as Ani, the teenager caught up in everything with a life that is starting to mirror Kate’s. Their bonding is on of the highlights of the film. Woody Harrelson is good in his limited role but is barely in the film and it feels like it’s more of a payday for him than anything else.

One of the best things about Kate is a the amount of great energy and stylish flairs throughout the story. The colours and neon lights look great, and the action is incredibly well shot. This doesn’t feel like a cheap action film, it’s clear that a lot of effort went into the choreography, and it really paid off. The fight sequences are tense and look incredible. Saying this, Kate does feel invincible at points, which is a problem with most one-person action films. The yakuza are really bad shots and she barely gets hit, and even when something does connect her handy adrenaline shot keeps her going as if nothing’s happened.

There’s a pulsating soundtrack that adds to the octane action, with a blend of and Japanese rock and idol music. Band-Maid also make an appearance at one pivotal moment in the plot. It’s a great soundtrack and there are a few songs that’ll be added to my playlist in the near future.

There isn’t really anything in this film that’s new. It feels like a mishmash of things you’ve seen before. There’s a lot of John Wick here and the ‘twist’ at the end is so obvious from almost the first second. The story is full of cliches and plot beats that you’re just waiting to happen. Thankfully the energy of the film makes this bearable.  

Kate is a stylish action film that borrows a lot of elements from films before. The visuals pop on the screen, the choreography for the fight scenes is excellent and Winstead gives a great performance. The film does feel overdone by the final sequence and there’s no real twists, but there’s still some fun to be had.

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Copshop – Film Review

Posted on September 11, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Joe Carnahan

Writers: Kurt McLeod and Joe Carnahan

Starring: Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, Alexis Louder, Toby Huss and Ryan O’Nan

Rating: ★★★

Copshop has a great set up. There’s a criminal in a jail cell, an assassin that’s chasing him in another, a rookie cop and a psycho who is running wild through the police station. The film is full of great comedy and there is a lot of fun to be had in this often great, yet ultimately flawed comedy/thriller.

This is a film all about characters and it has a lot of great ones. Teddy (Frank Grillo) is a slimy character; from the way he dresses to the way he acts. Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler) is a cold and calculating assassin. He claims he’s not a psycho, but there are moments later that say others wise. Anthony Lamb (Toby Huss) is a genuine psycho and doesn’t shy away from showing it. Valerie Young (Alexis Louder) is an overachieving rookie who doesn’t let anything stand in the way of her ambitions. The performances are all excellent and make even the most over the top moments feel believable enough to stay invested.

There is a lot of laughs to be found in Copshop. The characters are strange, the premise is great and when Anthony gets involved there is a lot of laugh out loud moments. His character walks a fine line between being funny and annoying, but always seems to stay on the right side of the line.

The violence in this is film is terrific. The deaths are quick and extreme. The bullet wounds are visible, and the deaths happen quickly. There are no drawn-out moments, just quick deaths with a lot of blood splattering. It’s also light-hearted violence. Anthony says to a cop he shoots in the head, I wonder what’s going through your head right now, as the cop falls to the floor. It’s not a film that takes itself seriously and that’s one of the best things about it.

The film does drag on way too long. The set-up, with almost everything being set in the police station, means that it runs out of steam towards the end. There are loads of moments where you feel it’s going to end, but then it doesn’t. Without spoiling anything, there’s some loose twists that keep the plot moving, but it really should have ended a lot sooner. The punchy energetic first half is weighed down by a baggy second half.

Copshop is still worth watching if you like oddball comedies. It feels very similar to Bad Times at the El Royale, in that it has a single setting, a group of strong odd characters, a quirky sense of humour to everything and a run time that should have been about twenty minutes shorter. The action is great, the characters are interesting and it’s a lot of fun. It’s just a shame that it outstays its welcome.

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