Stuff I’m Looking Forward To

Posted on June 21, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

It’s been a little while since I’ve written a post about the books, films, and TV shows that I’m looking forward to, and there’s a lot I’m excited about. Tomorrow is the launch of Paramount+ in the UK, which means that I can finally watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. I’ve heard very good things about it, and I will be starting it as soon as I’ve finished work tomorrow. I’ll also be catching up on Star Trek: Discovery, as I missed season 4 when that was airing. I’m not sure what else will be on the service, but there’s hopefully some good stuff on there. Before that though, I will be finishing off the Kenobi series, which I’ve really enjoyed so far.

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is also out on Friday, which I’m really looking forward to. I’m out Friday, so won’t be seeing it until Saturday morning, but I have high hopes. The trailer looks great, and I’ve really enjoyed everything else I’ve seen of Luhrmann. Shortly after that Thor: Love and Thunder is just around the corner, and I’m really excited for this one. I thought Ragnarok was okay, but it wasn’t brilliant. This time around though, I think the trailer looks great and have high hopes. The God butcherer storyline is also my favourite story line out of the Thor comics I’ve read.

Next week there’s a new Star Wars book, Shadow of the Sith, which I’m really looking forward to. I’ve fell a little behind with reading all the new Star Wars books, but the premise for this book means that I have to read it. The story follows Luke and Lando as they uncover the secrets of Exegol, something that was first hinted at in Rise of Skywalker. Very excited to read the story.

So that’s what I’m most excited about for the next few weeks. What about you? Is there anything you’re looking forward to watching, playing, reading or listening to? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

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The Craft: Legacy – Film Review

Posted on June 20, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Zoe Lister-Jones

Writer: Zoe Lister-Jones

Starring: Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, Zoey Luna, Michelle Monaghan, David Duchovny

Rating: ★★★

It took a quarter of a century for cult classic The Craft to get a sequel, and it’s surprisingly good, even if it probably wasn’t needed. The original film completely stands by itself, and there’s no real loose ends for a sequel. Thankfully, The Craft: Legacy, which is written and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones, does a really good job at re-capturing the magic of the original.

This time around the film focuses on Lily, who is brought to life by Cailee Spaeny with an incredible performance that steals most scenes. After moving to a new town Lily is instantly the victim of bullies at school, and because of that ends up attracting the attention of three other outcasts, who also happen to be witches looking for a fourth member of their coven. Lilly joins them and together they start to have fun discovering their new powers.

The sequel follows a very similar structure to the original film, with a teenage girl moving to a new town and trying to fit in at school. She then finds a group of witches and starts to learn about herself and powers. They mess around, not fully realising the consequences, which is when the to films start to differ and the new one gets really interesting. Not that the first half is bad either, it just gets a lot better the further it goes on.

It may be familiar territory, but it’s a well told story and the characters are good. Lily is a good main character, and the rest of the coven are good as well. David Duchovny plays Lily’s soon to be stepfather, and for the most part you don’t quite get a hold on who he is. There’s something sinister about him, and it seems like he’s just an overbearing parent, but there’s more behind that.

One of the best things about the film is it’s pacing. It’s the kind of film that feels like no time at all has passed when it’s over. It absolutely flies by. When you know the climactic conflict is coming, it’s genuinely a surprise how close to the end it is. It’s ninetyish minutes long but feels like an episode of a TV show. There’s also a good amount of humour, especially with one of the bullies, Timmy (Nicholas Galitzine). The coven put a spell on him to be nicer, and it’s a funny to watch his transformation, and there’s a surprising amount of depth to his character hidden beneath the bully.

The Craft: Legacy is a decent sequel, and a lot better than you’d expect. It doesn’t stray to far away from the groundwork of the original, but it’s an entertaining and each-watching film. There’s talk of a third film really joining the first two together, and that would be good to see.  

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The Black Phone – Film Review

Posted on June 19, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Scott Derrickson

Writers: Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill

Starring: Mason Thames, Madeline McGraw, Jeremy Davies, James Ranson, and Ethan Hawke

Rating:  â˜…★★★½

The Black Phone is based on the short story of the same name by the great Joe Hill. The adaptation is co-written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, with Derrickson also directing. It’s a brutal and intense horror. In 1978 children are being kidnapped by someone commonly known as The Grabber (Ethan Hawke). Finney (Mason Thames) becomes a victim and is taken to a basement dungeon where there is an unconnected phone on the wall. By using the phone he’s able to speak to the previous children who were kidnapped and starts to find a way to escape.

There is a lot of brutality in this film from before Finney is even kidnapped, and it’s tough to watch. There’s a scene early on where Finney’s friend stands up to a bully and beats him up, which is horrific to watch. It’s very real and you can feel every punch. Similarly, there’s a scene of domestic violence a little later which is also stomach-churning. The horror of real life is so much scarier and hard hitting than the main part of the film, which is still incredibly unsettling and creepy. The film perfectly balances the real and supernatural and emphasises what people are capable of.

Everyone in the film is perfectly cast. Ethan Hawke is genuinely scary and creepy as the kidnapper and you never really get a good sense of what’s going on in his head. Mason Thames is really good as Finney, and you’re completely invested in his character. He has to learn to stand up for himself throughout the story in order to survive. Madeline McGraw is one of the best things in the film as Gwen, Finney’s sister. She’s forced to be mature to navigate her home life and to try and protect her brother from bullies, at the same time she also has psychic dreams that help her search for her brother. Gwen is one of the best characters in the film and is very funny throughout.

There are points in the film that feel like they’re from the 1970s, with that grainy quality to the visuals. All the costumes and sets look great as well, and authentic to the era. To add to it is a stellar rock soundtrack, that is just great song after great song. At the centre of everything is a mystery that feels like it’s barely scratched. Both Finney and Gwen have an ability to experience things, that feels almost like The Shining. The Grabber seems to have the same ability and doesn’t understand it. Most of it goes unexplained but there’s enough there to make you think after the film ends and put the pieces together. Something that really stands out is the previous children tell Finney how they attempted to escape, such as digging a hole, but Finney must start the hole again, with no signs that there was one previously. Similarly, one of them tells him about a cable they ripped out of the wall, and Finney finds it in the same place in the wall. It’s like the whole dungeon is a test The Grabber is forcing children to participate in, resetting it after each one fails.

If there’s a fault to this film, and it’s really just nit-picking, it’s that it never reaches true terror and once things go supernatural there’s an overreliance on jump-scares. The scariest parts are what normal people are capable of, and when Finney is kidnapped and the supernatural element is introduced fully it’s not all-out-terrifying, just very creepy and unsettling. Saying that, the atmosphere is really great throughout and there are so many moments of pure tension that work really well.

The Black Phone is an excellent horror film. It may not be the scariest thing ever made, but it’s filled with nail biting tension that builds all the way through, the jump scares work, and the characters are really well written. It’s very creepy and really worth watching for any horror fan.  

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Lightyear – Film Review

Posted on June 18, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Angus MacLane

Writers: Jason Headley and Angus MacLane

Starring: Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, James Brolin, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, Uzo Abuda, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.

Rating: ★★★★ 

The latest Pixar film, Lightyear, is a meta spin-off from the Toy Story franchise. It is co-written by Jason Headley and Angus MacLane, who’s also in the director’s chair. The idea was sparked with MacLane wondering what made Andy want the Buzz Lightyear toy in the first place. Lightyear follows Galactic Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) and his best friend and co-ranger Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Abuda) are exploring the planet T’kani Prime, when everything goes wrong, and the entire crew is stranded. In a desperate attempt to escape Buzz tests fuel in the hopes of reaching hyperspace, with each attempt letting him skip four years on the planet.  

The film starts with a few lines on screen explaining that in 1995 Andy saw this Buzz Lightyear film and it became his favourite film, leading him to get his own Buzz Lightyear toy. This is the strongest connection the film gets to the main series. There’s also a few classic lines delivered by Buzz throughout, but beyond that it doesn’t feel like a Toy Story film in the slightest. Maybe it should have just been its own thing in the first place. That being said, the film is so charming and lovable that it doesn’t detract that much. As you’d expect from Pixar the animation style looks really great, with a much more realistic tone than the rest of the franchise.

Chris Evans has taken over the role of Buzz Lightyear from Tim Allen. The recasting was done to separate this version of Buzz from the one we all know and love, with Evans making the character feel much more grounded and serious. Evans does a really good job, and you can completely believe that Andy would become obsessed with the character. The real star of the film is Sox (Peter Sohn), Buzz’s robotic cat. He’s hilarious and the best part of the film by far. Every line out of Sox’s mouth is brilliant, and he’s definitely one of the better Disney/Pixar side-kicks from recent years. He’s goofy, lovable, and everyone will want one.

The first act of the film, showing Buzz’s repeated attempts to reach hyper-speed has that melancholic tone that Pixar has managed to perfect. With each attempt, Buzz loses four years, and he’s so determined to succeed he doesn’t truly recognise the things he’s missing out on. His friends finding happiness in their new lives, growing older, and then dying. Every time he fails, he tries again as soon as possible, and then he doesn’t really know anyone around him. It doesn’t hit as hard as Up, but it’s still surprisingly moving.

After that the film does become a more standard ‘heroes save the day’ story, with Buzz and his new friends taking down the Zurg ship. The only reason everyone is stuck on the planet is because Buzz doesn’t like to admit that he needs help from others, not even the auto-pilot system. Along the way he has to learn to work with others and see the strength of working in a team.  

Lightyear is surprisingly better than it should be. It probably could drop the Toy Story connection completely and wouldn’t lose anything because of it. Pixar just continue to knock it out of the park with another gem.

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Spiderhead – Film Review

Posted on June 17, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Writers: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and Jurnee Smollett

Rating: ★★★

Netflix’s Spiderhead is a thriller based on the short story ‘Escape from Spiderhead’ by George Saunders. The film is directed by Joseph Kosinski, who also directed Top Gun: Maverick, with a script from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. It’s a story that plays around with the ideas of free-will, control, and regret, but frustratingly doesn’t fully explore its own ideas.

Chris Hemsworth stars as Steve Abnesti, who runs an island prison where the prisoners are allowed to live relatively free and happy lives, with more luxuries than they’d get in a normal prison. In return they become part of Steve’s experiments, where he is testing chemicals that can alter people’s mood and emotions. One of the prisoners, Jeff (Miles Teller) starts to suspect that there’s more going on than Steve is letting on and starts to fight back from the experiments.

The premise of Spiderhead is really interesting, with Jeff slowly discovering what’s going on around him. At the start you’re not really sure what’s happening, and while the reveals are satisfying it does feel like they don’t go far enough. It only focuses on the experiments that are completed, but it feels really predictable. There’s also a few moments that feel forced, especially since Steve is using the chemicals himself and you know that will lead to his own downfall. The film leaves you thinking about how else the idea of controlling people through drugs could be used and that the film is just filled with wasted potential.

Chris Hemsworth is really good as the villain of the story. He’s naturally charming as always, but there’s a deeply sinister side to him that is hinted at throughout the story. Miles Teller does a good job as Jeff, as does Jurnee Smollett as Lizzy, Jeff’s love interest. Both Jeff and Lizzy are struggling with their past and why they’re in the prison. All of the characters are really well-written and engaging.  

Spiderhead is a decent thriller, is just doesn’t live up to the full potential of the premise. It’s still better than a lot of the weekly Netflix films, with some good performances, interesting ideas, and some moments of true tension.  

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