Forsaken – Film Review

Posted on June 28, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Jon Cassar

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland and Brian Cox

Rating: 3/5

It seems like every actor must make a western at some point, it’s the genre that has never gone away and probably never will. Kiefer Sutherland (Probably most well-known at this point for the long running TV series, 24) previously made Young Guns in the 1980s, but returned to the western genre in 2015 for Forsaken, this time bringing his father Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games, Don’t Look Now) along for the ride. While the two Sutherland’s have made a couple of films together in the past, Forsaken was the first time they shared scenes together. It is also directed by Jon Cassar who had previously directed 59 episodes of 24 with Kiefer Sutherland

It’s not really a shock that in Forsaken, Donald and Kiefer play father and son. John Henry Clayton returns to his childhood home, to find that his mother has passed and his father, Reverend Samuel Clayton on the verge of trouble. A local landowner, James McCurdy played by Brian Cox (Hannibal in Manhunter, An Adventure in Time and Space) is buying out the local farms at any costs, monetary or violence. The elder Clayton owns land that McCurdy wants. Wanting to fix his relationship with his father and stray away from the violence that has ruled his life the younger Clayton decides it’s not his place to step in and stop McCurdy and his thugs.

It’s pretty easy to figure out where this film is going to end up and even sums itself up in a line of dialogue, If you hit a dog enough, eventually he’ll bite. You’ve seen the story before, but that doesn’t really matter. It’s still enjoyable and by the end of the film, you’ll be glade that he bites. It’s not even hard to imagine what the final straw is, that makes him bite. Even though it is predictable it’s an enjoyable film.

Both Sutherlands give pretty great performances. Which is vital to a character driven film like this, if the two leads were played by lesser actors, then this would be a rather forgettable film. You can feel their estranged relationship as it is slowly repaired. There’s one scene in the church, where you get to the heart of their pasts and what has brought them to this point. It’s an emotional scene and both deliver their parts well.

Another big plus is the costumes and set design. This film looks great. The small town looks real and it’s easy to get swept up in the story. The costumes are well designed and don’t feel off at all. A lot of effort has been put into making this look authentic. The effects look good as well. When the violence does kick off, the bullet wounds look horrific.

It would be easy for Forsaken to be dismissed. It’s a cliched story with nothing you haven’t seen before. Through great performances by father and son, a perfect run time of 90 minutes and some great costumes and effects, Forsaken is an enjoyable film. It’s nothing spectacular or mind blowing, but if you like westerns then this is a decent addition to the genre.  

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Mandy – Film Review

Posted on June 27, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Panos Cosmatos

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy and Richard Brake

Rating: ★★★

There are not a lot of recent films starring Nicolas Cage that have received critical acclaim. Most of his recent outings have been strange, independent films that have received at best a mixed response. Always looking for something different Cage has starred in a wide range of films. Mandy, released in 2018, is something different and has also won Cage a lot of acclaim and recognition.  

Mandy is a slow-burn horror film, about Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough, The Death of Stalin, Birdman and Oblivion) and her partner Red Miller (Cage, Leaving Las Vegas, National Treasure and Vampire’s Kiss). After being spotted by a cult leader, Mandy is kidnapped and burned alive in front of a bound Red. This in turn leads to a revenge story, where Red fuelled by the anger of his dead girlfriend hunts down the cult and kills them. It’s not an original story in any sense and has been told in many variations. What makes Mandy unique is the way it’s presented.

Panos Cosmatos has created a visually stunning version of this time old revenge tale. It’s a dream-like, drug induced trip of a film and the cinematography by Benjamin Loeb deserves a lot of praise. This film is a masterpiece to look at. The colours are bright and vivid, there is beautiful animation spliced in throughout. Most frames can be singled out as a work of art.

The problem with Mandy is that below this incredibly stylish front is a very cliched story that is stretched out at least half an hour too long. Running at almost exactly 2 hours, Mandy feels a lot longer. It takes an hour to really get going and even when it does, you’ve seen it before and it’s not exciting. It looks nice while it’s on, but there isn’t anything beyond that. It’s slow and the film really suffers for it. It’s completely style over substance and unfortunately the style, while greatly presented, isn’t enough to carry the film and make this a must see.

On top of the amazing visuals is a great score, beating away in the background. It feels very unsettling and adds to the visuals to create an unhinged film. At times this works well, and while it never reaches high it is creepy and weird enough to at least have moments of tense scares. The effects are also great, adding to the great visuals. The scene where Mandy is burned alive, inside a flailing bag, is horrific and you can see the pain on Cage’s face. He is giving one hell of a performance here. There is no phoning it in, he is on full force. It may not be the craziest Cage performance ever, but it’s entertaining and at least does something to keep the run time interesting.

You can’t help but appreciate Mandy for being an ambitious film, it’s really stylised with a dark retro-neon look. The music and performances are all great. The gore effects look brilliant. It’s just that the thin plot and the way too long run time makes this hard to properly engage with. Even with Cage’s great performance you’ll leave this film feeling cold and disinterested in the characters. There is a chainsaw duel, which is probably better than the one in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, but there’s not enough fun in the action to keep it exciting. It’s not strange enough to really make you think twice about what you’re seeing, like a David Lynch film would.

It boils down to a story you’ve probably seen quite a few times before, told in a very unique and stylised way. It’s artsy and ambitious, but ultimately hollow and boring. If it was cut by half an hour and believe me there is at least half an hour that can be cut, then this would be a lot better.  

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Night of the Comet – Film Review

Posted on June 26, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Thom Eberhardt

Starring: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney and Robert Beltran

Ratting: ★★★★

The 1980s was a decade of horror movies and teen movies. Night of the Comet is a mix of a George A. Romero film plus a John Hughes film. It’s about two sisters who survive the deadly effects of a passing comet, where the Earth goes through the tail of the comet. The majority of people have been turned to dust, and those who weren’t exposed completely are slowly decaying, resembling something close to zombies.

While Night of the Comet is billed as a comedy-horror film, it isn’t scary, and it isn’t really trying to be. There are moments of tension and terror, but most of the film is about the 2 sisters and their reaction to the apocalyptic world around them. It is also really refreshing to find a horror film from the 1980s that has 2 strong female leads without any exploitation to be seen. They aren’t damsels in distress, but strong characters that adapt to their situation. A lot of otherwise good films from that period feel dated when compared to modern horror films, mostly because of the way they treat their female characters and it’s nice to find one that doesn’t fall into this pit.

The cast is great in their roles. Catherine Mary Stewart plays Reggie, the older of the sisters and Kelli Maroney plays Sam, the younger sister. They are polar opposites in personality and play off each other well. Sam is actually the inspiration for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They are both well written characters brought to life by great performances. Joining them is a very young Robert Beltran (In the 90s Beltran would go on to be one of the leads from Star Trek Voyager), who plays Hector a truck driver who also survives the effects. He is a good addition to the cast, a gentleman whose main focus is making sure his mum is still alive. He also wears an array of costumes, for seemingly no reason other than he can. There’s a light-hearted tone to the film, which makes the tense moments that much better and the respite in between fun and jovial.

The effects of the comet can take a while to come to the surface, and this is shown through various stages of make up for the soon to be zombies. All of the make-up and prosthetics looks great and help bring the terror where it needs to be. On top of that the soundtrack is catchy and compliments the film in every way. It’s typical 1980s and the film feels like a time capsule, with the fashion, hair and music, as well as a great sequence set in a mall, that feels like an update of Dawn of the Dead from a teenager perspective.

Night of the Comet is a fun, upbeat movie. It may be light on scares, but it has a great set of characters and is an entertaining take on the zombie franchise. It has mostly been forgotten in the legions of 1980s horror films and deserves to be noticed more.

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F9 – Film Review

Posted on June 25, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Charlize Theron and John Cena

Rating: 4/5

There aren’t many film series that last over 20 years, especially with a regular output and the same returning cast members. With 9 instalments so far, plus a spin off, Fast and Furious is still going strong. The gang are back in F9, to stop a global terrorist attack from Dom Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) brother Jacob, played by series newcomer John Cena.

As with all of the sequels in this series, the craziness is ramped up even further. The Fast and Furious series, much like the Mission: Impossible series, is designed around always showing bigger, more extreme stunts. Sure there may not be real life danger to the cast, such as with Cruise in the MI franchise, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t entertaining. This time the stunts and spectacle are beyond over the top. A car swings across a chasm by rope; Indiana Jones style, a car makes a jump and attaches to a magnet on the bottom of a plane and we get to see a car launched into orbit. It’s insane, dumb and extremely entertaining.

All of this without any of the main cast getting so much as a scratch. It’s even a running joke/plot point from Roman (Gibson) that they are invincible. With all of the crazy stuff they’ve gone through over the course of 9 movies and the fake deaths of a couple of characters, it’s easy enough to agree with him. These films are like roller coasters, thrilling in the moment and not much more than that, and they aren’t trying to be anything but. That’s what makes them so great. F9 is unapologetically silly, over the top nonsense and that’s why it’s so entertaining. If you don’t like the series or action-comedy films then this isn’t for you and F9 is in no way trying to win anybody over who isn’t already in their lane. With how extreme it is, God knows how they are going to top it in the sequel.

On top of the thrilling stunts, car chases and shoot outs we do have a core group of characters that we’ve grown to love over the course of 9 movies. The lives of Dom and Letty have moved forward, and they start F9 living on a farm, with Dom teaching his son how to fix a tractor. There are loads of character driven moments throughout that will be rewarding for long time fans of the series. We also get a series of flash-backs throughout that go deeper into Dom’s past showing a scene that was first referenced way back in the first film. It’s nice to see it and there is a real great touch that when we are in the 1980s there is a grainy tint to the screen and subtitles, making the footage look older.

F9 has also received a 4DX release, which is where the seats move during the film to match the action, along side smoke machines, rain and flashing lights. This is the way to see something like this. It makes a thrilling film even more fun. If you have a 4DX screen near you, then it’s worth the price to go and see it. It feels like a theme park attraction, and I mean that as the biggest compliment.

Justin Lin perfectly directs F9, making every action sequence feel real and thrilling on the big screen. This is a masterclass action film. It’s fun, tense, thrilling and the effects are so great. Lin has managed, once again, to add another excellent sequel to the Fast and Furious franchise. It’s hard to imagine how we got here from such humble and small-scale beginnings and it’s even harder to imagine where Lin is going to take us next.

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Supernova – Film Review

Posted on June 24, 2021 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Harry Macqueen

Starring: Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci.

Rating: 3.5/5

Supernova is a deeply emotional story about dementia and the end of a life. Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth both give incredible performances as a couple, whose relationship is coming to an end due to Tusker (Tucci) suffering from dementia. They both know it’s getting worse, even though they aren’t speaking about it. The film follows them on a holiday through the Lake District, stopping at a campsite they visited years ago, Sam’s (Firth) childhood home and ending at a Piano concert that Sam is performing.

Not a lot really happens in Supernova, but that doesn’t matter because the film is really about the two characters and their undying love towards each other. This film wouldn’t work if it weren’t for the powerful and poignant performances from both actors. There is so much chemistry between them, that it’s easy to believe that they have loved each other for decades. The love is in their eyes and so is the fear and anger at what is coming.

The film really shines when it is just the two of them on screen. The middle part features a party, where all their friends and family join together for one last time. It’s a really nice sequence and has one of the most heart-breaking scenes of the entire film, where Sam reads the speech that Tusker wrote but can no longer read, but it is when the two share the screen alone together that the magic really shines.

There are a lot of moments of quiet reflection, looking up at the stars, emphasizing how small we all really are. Shots of the English countryside that captures the beauty of the Lake District. Dick Pope deserves a lot of praise for his cinematography on the film. It’s beautiful to watch and captures not only the wide open spaces but the intimacy of the couple’s campervan that they are holidaying in.

Even though this film is dealing with death and the final days of life, there is still room for some humour. Tusker clearly has a wicked sense of humour that is felt throughout the film. His mind is slowly going, but his sharp wit is still there. The mix of humour and sadness blend so well together that you will be laughing one second and crying the next.

The only downside is that there are moments when the dialogue doesn’t feel completely natural, especially with the swearing. It feels strange to hear them both swear when they do. It’s not that they’re not allowed to, but it’s not seamlessly written in, and it can feel a little distracting at points. None of that really matters though.

It’s strange that this film has been released, at least in the UK, so soon after The Father. There aren’t many films that tackle dementia in such a direct way, and both do it very differently. While I found The Father a very cold film, the same can not be said about Supernova. This is a film full of love and warmth. Their relationship feels very real and watching them together, in their final days is incredibly moving and sad. All of this is carried by the performances of Firth and Tucci, both are on top form throughout. Just don’t forget the tissues. 

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