Black Friday – Film Review

Posted on February 8, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Casey Tebo

Writer: Andy Greskoviak

Starring: Devon Sawa, Ivana Baquero, Ryan Lee, Stephen Peck, Michael Jai White, and Bruce Campbell

Rating: ★★★

Black Friday is a horror/comedy about a parasite that infects the shoppers of We Love Toys on Black Friday (or Green Friday, as the company prefers to call it), the busiest shopping day of the year. The dwindling staff in store, led by their store manager Jonathan (Bruce Campbell, who also serves as producer), try to survive the night.

Black Friday is known as a day for savings by most and a day to dread for anyone working behind the counter, as the mass amounts of shoppers turn feral to find the best deal possible. That’s what this film captures perfectly. The sense of dread amongst the staff of the store as they wait for opening is tangible, they know it’s going to be a bad night, even before the customers turn into literal monsters.

The difference between the management who are only looking to maximise profits and the rest of the staff is brilliant. Bruce Campbell’s Jonathan hides away in his office, talking to people over the speakers, giving them bad news as their shifts are due to start. All he’s thinking of is the money, while the staff must work in the madness.

When things do kick off, it’s funny and ridiculous. Similar to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, Black Friday, takes the ideas of customers and turn them into monsters, which anyone who has worked in retail or hospitality can attest to. They swarm the place looking for deals, banging on the window before the store opens, fighting over items, and being rude to the staff. Before they start to mutate it’s hard to see who’s infected and who’s not.

Sadly, the joke does wear thin as the film progresses. Even though it’s only eighty minutes, by the time the ending comes around the humour has all but left the building and the credits can’t come soon enough. These aren’t characters that you care about, which isn’t knocking any of the performances. The cast are all great, and work well off each other. The first half is still funny and enjoyable, but this is something best watched with a group of friends on a movie night with pizza and drinks.

Black Friday is pretty much exactly what you’d expect it to be. It passes the time, does nothing spectacular and offers a few laughs along the way.

Signature Entertainment presents Black Friday on Digital Platforms 11th February

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Help – Film Review

Posted on February 7, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Blake Ridder

Writer: Blake Ridder

Starring: Emily Redpath, Sarah Alexandra Marks, Louis James, and Blake Ridder

Rating: ★★★★

Blake Ridder’s feature debut, Help, is a creepy psychological thriller that’s all about building an unsettling atmosphere. After making more shorts than ever before during the pandemic, Blake Ridder started work on his first feature length film, which was shot in twelve days, with a restricted cast and crew of twenty people due to lockdown restrictions in the UK.

After a rough break-up, Grace (Emily Redpath) decides to visit her old friend Liv (Sarah Alexandra Marks), who lives with her boyfriend Edward (Louis James) in the countryside. The couple are surprised at Grace’s visit, but invite her in. While the visit starts out nicely, everyone has their secrets and once they’re revealed all hell breaks loose.

Help spends the first hour of the film setting up characters, putting pieces in play and keeping you out of the loop for most of it. You know there’s something off about the visit based purely on Liv and Edward’s reactions to Grace when she first appears. The feeling that there’s something unspoken between them perfectly builds the tension and unsettling atmosphere in the countryside house. Their house is gorgeous, with a modern design, large rooms, and a massive garden. Never has a such a nice, bright, and big house felt so unwelcoming. That’s without mentioning the warning that Grace receives from one of the couple’s neighbour, David (Blake Ridder), when she first arrives. There’s something uncanny about everything and you’re just waiting for something bad to happen.

When everything is revealed the pay off is great. You spend a lot of time with the characters, getting to know them, and at the same time there are glances between Grace and Edward that seem to hint at something. There’s a strange tension between everyone when Grace firsts arrives, and then there are also strange moments that feel completely out of place, like they’re flashbacks or dreams. It’s disorientating in a way that keeps you engaged until the big reveal.

Running at a little over ninety minutes the film does struggle a little with pacing in the middle. Once you get to know the characters you just want secrets to be revealed, and it does start to drag when the film delays that. There is also some very unnatural dialogue and delivery at points. For the most part the central cast are great, but there are moments where they don’t shine as much. It’s not the biggest issue, but it’s still noticeable.

Help is a great film, and one where the unsettling atmosphere and terrific final twenty minutes makes you forget about the sluggish middle and bad acting. Once the finale kicks into gear it really gets going and doesn’t slow down again until the credits roll. It’s something that gets under your skin and will leave you thinking about it for hours after watching.  

HELP will be coming to Digital Download from 15th February 2022

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The Parts You Lose – Film Review

Posted on February 6, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter
The Parts You Lose (2019) - IMDb

Director: Christopher Cantwell

Writer: Darren Lemke

Starring: Aaron Paul, Scoot McNairy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Danny Murphy

Rating: ★★★½

The Parts You Lose, which is directed by Christopher Cantwell and written by Darren Lemke, is a drama/thriller about growing up and loyalty. It’s a short and understated film that puts the action on the back burner to make room for the characters and their bonds with each other. 

It’s all about the bond between Wesley (Danny Murphy) and the unnamed man (Aaron Paul) that Wesley finds after school one day injured in the middle of the road. Their chemistry feels realistic and believable on screen. Wesley doesn’t have a good relationship with his father (Scoot McNairy), so he turns to the man as a father figure, and the man in turn takes Wesley under his wing, teaching him how to stand up for himself and guide him in life.

Wesley brings the man back to the barn on the farm that he lives on and helps him get back to full strength. They grow closer until a detective drops by one day to ask if Wesley had seen the man, who was actually involved in a robbery, and the last one of the gang on the run. To Wesley the man has been nothing but kind, and that causes a lot of conflict within him. 

The Parts You Lose is a really nice and sweet understated film. It’s doesn’t delve deep into the man’s past, not even giving him a name, but instead focuses on the relationship between him and Wesley. Watching Wesley become more confident in himself is a heart-warming experience. When he does get questioned by the police, you don’t want him to lie, because you know it will end badly, but at the same time you completely understand why he does.

The film is about parenting. Wesley’s mother (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and father both have completely different ways of raising their son, with his mother being more patient and caring, while his father wants to prepare him for the harshness of the world he will grow into. There’s a great family dynamic.

It’s also really refreshing to see disabilities being shown, but not being the defining point of the character. Wesley, like Danny Murphy, is deaf and while that’s a vital part of his character, it’s not there just to serve as a plot point. Wesley is a fully realised character and writer Darren Lemke does a great job at incorporating his disability while also giving him other attributes and not making the plot revolve around it.

The Parts You Lose, doesn’t re-invent the wheel. Parts of the story feel very familiar, but it’s still an engaging and engrossing story, which is mainly down to the strong performances from Aaron Paul and Danny Murphy. It’s well worth seeking out, you won’t regret it.

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Belle – Film Review

Posted on February 5, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter
Belle (2021) - IMDb

Director: Mamoru Hosoda

Writer: Mamoru Hododa

Starring: Kaho Nakamura, Takeru Satoh, Kōji Yakusho, Lilas Ikuta, Ryo Narita, Shota Sometani, Tina Tamashiro

Rating: ★★★★

The latest film from Mamoru Hosoda, writer and director of Wolf Children and The Boy and the Beast, is Belle, a modern interpretation of the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast for the digital age. Hododa takes the fairy tale, removes the Stockholm Syndrome, and replaces it with social media.

Suzu Naito (Kaho Nakamura) is a shy and quiet teenager. At an early age she lost her mother, who she was very close too, and hasn’t been able to sing like she used to since. She feels like an outcast at school, never being part of the popular group. In an online virtual reality, known as U, Suzu has the chance to reinvent herself as Belle, a virtual singer with nothing holding her back. At one of her virtual concerts another avatar on U, known as The Beast (Takeru Satoh) barges in, bringing a battle along with him. Outside of the virtual world Suzu starts to become obsessed with finding out who the real person behind The Beast is, as the world inside U starts to hunt him down.

Belle is simply a gorgeous film. The animation is absolutely stunning all the way through. The real-world segments are shown in a more traditional hand-drawn style reflecting the slice of life anime tone, while the world of U is computer generated. There are also other styles that pop up, including a moment that looks like a mobile phone game as Suzu and her friend try to calm down a brewing war at school.

While there are elements of the story, including the ballroom dance scene, that are familiar, it’s a completely new interpretation of the classic story. It goes off in a completely new direction, updating it with the online virtual world, as well as the story focusing on the grief of Suzu’s mother and domestic violence. There are moments of this film towards the end, where it feels like a gut punch. It may be a fantastical adventure of music and gaming, but when it gets grounded and real, it’s chilling. It would be going too deep into spoiler territory to say anything more.

The film is filled with music, to the point that it’s a borderline musical. Each song is catchy and the score between them is fantastic. It completely absorbs you into the story. The soundtrack combined with the beautiful visuals makes a great pairing.

Running at a little over two hours, the film does feel a little too long. You feel like it’s coming to an end, with a goosebump inducing song, and then there’s still a little while to go. It doesn’t feel like there is a real conclusion to one of the plot threads either, it just feels a little rushed despite how long it also feels. It’s not the biggest issue and easy to overlook with everything else the film is doing.

Belle is part fairy tale, part coming-of-age, and all stunning animation. It’s mesmerising to watch. The music is fantastic. An essential watch for anime fans.

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Caught in Time – Film Review

Posted on February 4, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Lau-Ho-Leung

Writer: Lau-Ho-Leung

Starring: Wang Qianyuan, Daniel Wu, Jessie Li, Michelle Wai

Rating: ★★★½

Based on the murders and robberies committed by Zhang Jun, Caught in Time, is a Hong Kong/Chinese crime thriller that shows the police and Eagle Gang in a game of cat and mouse. On his first day since being transferred, Police Captain Zhong Cheng (Wang Qianquan) is kidnapped by Zhang Sun (Daniel Wu) while trying to stop a robbery. In the struggle in a van Zhong bites into Zhang’s ear and is thrown out, leading them to have a bitter rivalry, as Zhong makes it his sole mission to capture Zhang and his gang.

Caught in Time is one hell of a tense film. The robberies are brutal with the Eagle Gang not holding back, there’s no remorse when they shoot civilians or security at the banks and jewellery stores. It’s almost refreshing to not have a plot point where one of the gang members feels guilty for doing it. The shoot outs with the police are tense and well shot, with a real sense of risk. It all builds up to a fist fight where you feel every punch connect, in a ruthless stand-off.

There’s a really great sequence where the gang is so sure of itself, they go to a local restaurant to order noodles, then commit the crime to make it back before their order is served. They then watch the police try to investigate the crime and even leave enough money behind the counter to pay for the police’s meals. The mind games between Zhong and Zhang are great.

The only real issue with the film is the large amounts of in your face propaganda that’s splattered throughout. All the police are presented as perfect, their biggest flaw is one of them being scolded for not wearing a bullet-proof jacket when rescuing a child from a car being shot at. There are propaganda posters in the film, and as the film is closing with some text on screen explaining the fallout of the real-life events it claims that China’s tough gun laws has made it one of the safest countries in the world since the 1990s, a strange claim.

Despite that Caught in Time is still a fantastic thriller. Every shoot-out is tense and will have you biting your nails at what’s going to happen. Both Wang Qianyian and Daniel Wu are brilliant, and their final fight is brilliantly choreographed. It’s a gripping and entertaining film, that flies by without a single moment dragging.

Signature Entertainment presents Caught in Time on Digital Platforms 7th February

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