Brightburn – Film Review

Posted on May 3, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: David Yarovesky

Writers: Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn

Starring: Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones, and Meredith Hagner

Rating: ★★★

Brightburn asks the question of what if Superman was evil? It follows the basic set up of the Superman story, a married couple who own a farm in Kansas are struggling to have a child, one night a spaceship crashes nearby with a lone baby on board. They adopt the child, and as he grows up, he discovers he has powers. The only difference is that in Brightburn the alien child, this time named Brandon Breyer (Jackson A. Dunn) instead of Clark Kent, is pure evil.

The concept feels like something that would arise from a comic book debate, that it would be more realistic if Clark Kent used his powers for his own gain. The similarities aren’t subtle, from the setting and plot to the powers that Brightburn has. It feels a little like an alternative reality comic featuring Superman, and that’s meant as a compliment, and it does succeed in making the point that this is a more plausible way for the situation to happen.

One of the best things about this film is how hard it leans into the horror genre. The first time that Brandon really uses his powers, in the diner scene, it does feel tense and starts to feel scary. Brandon is creepy and sinister. Jackson A. Dunn does a great job playing Brandon and really is both an innocent twelve-year-old and a villain. Elizabeth Banks is also great as Tori, Brandon’s adoptive mother. She sees the beginnings of his powers but doesn’t want to believe what’s happening. She wants to protect him at whatever cost.

When the film does get going it shows its major weakness. It’s essentially Brandon doesn’t like someone and then kills them in a horrific way, before moving on to the next one. The writing feels very repetitive, as if this was supposed to be part one of a series and this is just setting up the character. As the plot moves along it’s a little sad when it dawns on you that this is all it is.  

Ultimately, Brightburn feels like a set up for future films, which we will have to wait and see if they happen or not. It’s an origin story for a villain, and the final moments hints at what’s to come. It doesn’t feel like the idea is being pushed as far as it could be, but it’s still entertaining. There are some nice moments of horror, but as its own film it does feel a little wasted.

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

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

The Wind Rises – Film Review

Posted on May 2, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Writer: Hayao Miyazaki

Starring in the English dub: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Martin Short, Werner Herzog, William H. Macy

Rating: ★★★★½

The Wind Rises is the most recent film from legendary director Hayao Miyazaki, and was at one point going to be his final film before he came out retirement for the upcoming How Do You Live?. The Wind Rises is based on Miyazaki’s manga that he loosely adapted from the 1937 novel The Wind Has Risen, and tells a fictionalised history of Jiro Horikoshi, an aircraft designer who designed the Mitsubishi A5M.

Jiro Horikoshi (who is voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an adult and Zach Callison as a child) has dreamed of designing airplanes since he found out that his poor eyesight would mean he can’t be a pilot. While he is travelling to Tokyo Imperial University by train, an earthquake hits stopping the train. Trying to help out other passengers he meets Naoko and ends up carrying Naoko’s maid back to her home, as she’s injured her leg. He leaves without giving his name. Years later after he’s graduated and is promoted to chief designer, he bumps into Naoko again and a romance between the pair starts to blossom.

Miyazaki’s film mixes true history, fantasy and dramatization together throughout it’s story. Jiro Horikoshi is a real person, who did design airplanes, but Naoko isn’t. She’s completely fictional, even though their relationship feels incredibly real and transcends the screen. Less surprisingly are the dreams that Jiro has where he meets and gets to know Giovanni Battista Caproni, an Italian designer who Jiro looks up to. Over the course of years Giovanni gives Jiro the motivation he needs. It’s that perfect blend of fantasy and grounded storytelling that Studio Ghibli has always made work so well.

Both sides of this story are engrossing and very well told. Both the designing of the planes as well as the relationship between Jiro and Naoko are engaging. Their relationship is tragic and heart-breaking. Even if you’re not interested in planes, that side of the story is still entertaining. You can feel Jiro’s passion for his designs and the backdrop of the looming war makes things feel a little tense at points.

The animation, as you’d expect from Studio Ghibli, is stunning. It always looks beautiful to watch, especially the dream sequences and parts of nature that look vibrant and colourful. It’s the kind of world that you just want to escape into. The perfect setting for a story that is pure escapism that’s easy to watch. Even with Jiro himself, who designed planes that were used for the second World War, while this is mentioned it’s not the focus on the film. Besides the last few moments, the film is more about the planes themselves than what they are used for. Which is probably what we would all expect from Miyazaki, who is a pacifist himself.

The Wind Rises is a spellbinding film. Through telling the story of Jiro Horijoshi, it becomes a love letter to aviation, with a small undercurrent of anti-war. While it’s departure from the truth may put some people off, if you can get over that then the film is a magical masterpiece that’s captivating from start to finish.

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

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Twin – Film Review

Posted on May 1, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Taneli Mustonen

Writers: Aleksi Hyvärinen and Taneli Mustonen

Starring: Teresa Palmer, Steven Cree, Barbara Marten, and Tristan Ruggeri

Rating: ★★★

Taneli Mustonen’s latest film is The Twin, a psychological horror as well as Mustonen’s first English language film. It stars Teresa Palmer as Rachel and Steven Cree as Anthony, a married couple who lose one of their son, Nathan, in a car crash and end up moving to Finland for a fresh start. As they start to settle in, Nathan’s twin, Elliot (both twins are played by Tristan Ruggeri) starts to act stranger and stranger, claiming that he is speaking to his brother.  

This is a film about grief, mental illness, and the occult. As Elliot starts to act stranger, Rachel suspects that there’s more going on. Her fears are made worse by a local, Helen (Barbara Marten) who tells her the story of her own husband, who was possessed several years ago. Helen fulfils the role of someone who drip feeds information to Rachel about what’s going on, telling her just enough to keep the plot moving, until everything is revealed at the end. When that reveal does happen, even though you can see it coming from the start, it’s still well delivered and really works. The ending doesn’t disappoint at all, and the film goes out on a real strong note.

Teresa Palmer is great as Rachel. She’s struggling with the grief of her dead son while also trying to be there for Elliot. She’s completely believable in the role and you instantly feel connected to her. Steven Cree is also great. At first, he seems a lot more distant, dealing with grief in his own way, but as Rachel’s paranoia starts to grow, she starts to suspect there’s more to it than simple grief.

The film’s biggest strength is the constantly rising atmosphere. At first it feels more like a drama, but as the family move to Finland things start to change and feel more sinister. Taneli Mustonen perfectly creates an unsettling nature to everything and while the film is never close to being scary, there is a really creepy feel to a lot of it. There are a few moments that’ll start to make your skin crawl. The perfect kind of film to watch alone on a dark night, to really add to everything.

A real let down is just how cliched most of it feels. There’s all the usual tropes you’d expect from something like this and very little of it feels fresh. Also, while the ending is great, it does feel like too much time is taken to get there. Some of the tension built is lost as the plot starts to lose its way. Thankfully when the final act gets going everything comes together.  

The Twin is a decent horror film, although not completely original it’s still solidly entertaining. If you’ve seen something like the A Tale of Two Sisters, then you’ll see where this is going almost straight away. It’s essentially a more accessible version of that film. If you have a Shudder subscription, it’s worth watching.

The Twin will be available on Shudder from 6th May 2022

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

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

Assault on Precinct 13 – Film Review

Posted on April 30, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: John Carpenter

Writer: John Carpenter

Starring: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laure Zimmer, Martin West, Tony Burton, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Loomis

Rating: ★★★★

John Carpenter’s second film, Assault on Precinct 13, was released in 1976 to a poor box office and a disappointing critical reception. It wasn’t until the following year at the London Film Festival that it found critical acclaim. Inspired by both Rio Bravo and Night of the Living Dead, the film is about the siege of an almost closed police precinct. Despite the title, the film actually takes place in precinct 9, division 13, but the title was changed from the original The Anderson Alamo to make is seem more ominous.

A collection of assault rifles has been stolen by a gang in a poor area of Los Angeles, leading to clashes between the police and gangs over the weapons. Members of the gang are gunned down by police in the search for the weapons. At the same time the local precinct is closing down and newly promoted First, Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) is assigned to the precinct for it’s last few hours. When a man runs in off the street, unable to explain what’s happened to him, the local gang puts the precinct under siege.

Assault on Precinct 13 is a really solid thriller, it ramps up the tension all the way through with the stakes getting higher and higher. It starts with the first half hour following different stories that ultimately come together with the siege. It shows Ethan arriving at the precinct and finding it almost empty and ready to close. At the same time the gang is setting out with weapons aiming them at people through their car windows, a group of prisoners are being transported and have to make a stop at the precinct due to illness, and most importantly Lawson (Martin West) and his daughter Kathy (Kim Richards) are lost and stop so Lawson can make a phone call. While he’s on the phone his daughter goes to buy ice cream and is murdered by one of the gang members. Lawson follows the gang, killing one in return and then runs away to the precinct setting the siege in motion as the gang follows him there.

Even though not much really happens in the first act of the film, it’s setting everything in place for the ramped-up action to come. It gives you just the right amount of time to understand the characters and become invested in them. When everything really gets going it’s incredibly tense, and that only works because of how well everything is set up in the first place. It’s has your heart racing waiting to see what happens next as you want everyone to survive. It’s essentially the small group of survivors holding out against the never-ending horde of zombie like gang members, who don’t feat death. They relentlessly try to get in, getting mowed down by the mix of police and prisoner survivors.

All of the characters are fully realised and well written, as well as brought to life by some great performances. Austin Stoker is great as Ethan Bishop, an instantly likable character that doesn’t take the easy way out. He’s also treats the prisoners as human beings after the siege starts, making sure they are taken out of the prion cells and not left to die. He also trusts them to do the right thing, and there’s a great moment when he first gives Wilson (Darwin Joston) a gun, and their eyes meet, both knowing that the power has shifted. Wilson is an interesting character, a murderer who’s heading to death row, even though you don’t really get to know why he killed people. The other inmate who survives the initial attack, Wells (Tony Burton), is a good addition to the main characters. In a contrasting moment with Wilson, when Wells first picks up the gun there’s a look of unrivalled joy on his face as he turns round to shoot the gang members. As always with his films, John Carpenter also created the score for Assault on Precinct 13. It’s a catchy synth soundtrack that’s instantly recognisable as something from Carpenter.  

The only downside to the film now, coming at it almost half a century later, is that there are a few moments that show the film’s age. Some blood that doesn’t look real, and some outdated effects when the place is being shot up. It’s easy to overcome though, and the film is still a tense thriller. It’s really worth watching if you’re a fan of thrillers, or want to see a pre-Halloween film from Carpenter.

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

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

False Positive – Film Review

Posted on April 29, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: John Lee

Writers: John Lee and Ilana Glazer

Starring: Ilana Glazer, Justin Theroux, Pierce Brosnan, Sophia Bush

Rating: ★★½

False Positive is a thriller directed by John Lee, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ilana Glazer. It’s very similar to Rosemary’s Baby, without the satanic side. Glazer stars as Lucy, who has been trying to have a child with her husband, Adrian (Justin Theroux) for two years without success. As a last resort they go to Adrian’s old medical teacher Dr Hindle (Pierce Brosnan), who helps them get pregnant. Lucy starts to feel strange and suspicious of her doctor and husband and starts to suspect that not everything is as it seems.

If you’re familiar with Rosemary’s Baby, then this is pretty much exactly what you’re expecting. Even if you’ve never heard of it, it won’t take long for False Positive to become very predictable. It’s a story about Lucy feeling paranoid, and you know that she has to be on the right lines because the film exists and it’s not really that daring to do something different. Right from the beginning with the opening titles, that feels like they belong in a film from the 90s, it feels like it goes through the motions.

For the most part the film is decent enough to keep it entertaining. The performances are good and there’s some tension that builds up as things move forward. Pierce Brosnan is surprisingly good as the evil the doctor. He has a fake charm about him, that comes across sinister. Then when the film reaches the final act things start to go off the rails. It feels like a desperate attempt to ground the film and make it different from what’s come before. The final ten minutes get stranger and stranger until it becomes laughable. It’s still entertaining though.

Overall False Positive is a largely forgettable film. It’s very predictable and there’s nothing really unique about it. It’s easy to watch as braindead entertainment but is nothing more than that. Definitely not worth going out of your way to watch.

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

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