Update 19/01/2022

Posted on January 19, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Happy Wednesday everyone, I hope you’ve all had an excellent week so far. The weekend isn’t far away. Film-wise, I’ve not got that much planned. It’s Nightmare Alley and A Journal for Jordan in the cinema, both of which I’m planning to watch on Saturday. Other than that it’s catching up on some older films and filling in some gaps to try and get ahead on reviews.

The good news on that front is that I’ve got 4 full reviews written and ready to go, giving me a bit of breathing room if I don’t have time to watch something. I’m still working on getting more and more ready in advance. It means that I will never miss a post, and at the same time hopefully mean they’re better written since I have more time to write them and go over them.

I haven’t read anything since last week, which is frustrating, because I really wanted to start the year strong on the reading front. I just need to sit down and do it, but I’m focusing on getting ahead on the films at the moment. When I’m not working, I’m watching films and writing about them. I also have a plan for a new type of post that I can put up at some point. I’m still working on it, but something new will be coming at some point.

For the fitness update, I’ve kept up my walking pretty nicely. My watch has upped the challenge again to 13,000 steps a day and I haven’t missed a target in a few weeks now. I feel like I’m getting fitter, though maybe not visibly slimmer. It’s slow progress, but I’m feeling the benefits. At the start of the year I went for a walk that was around 6 miles, and by the end of it, I was dead on my feet. I walked 5 and a half miles yesterday and could have continued without any problem. Most of it’s indoors on the treadmill, but I’m trying to do one longer outdoor walk each week as well.

What’s everyone else’s plans for the week? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

Posted in Updates | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Confession – Film Review

Posted on January 18, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: David Beton

Writer: David Beton

Starring: Stephen Moyer, Colm Meaney, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Kris Johnson, Sadie Jean Shirley

Rating: ★★½

Stephen Moyer stars as Victor Strong, who barges into a church and holds Father Peter (Colm Meaney) at gunpoint, telling him to lock the doors. Victor is clearly hurt, and Father Peter wants to care for him and tend to his wounds. Victor is reluctant to talk about what’s happened and why he’s in the church, while Peter is looking for a way to escape.

The film is staged like a play, with most of the action taking place within the church and the characters kept to a minimum. It’s also incredibly dialogue heavy, with most of the story playing out as part of conversations between Victor and Peter. You must make your mind up with what’s the truth. Victor will give detail some events and you feel like you can trust him, but halfway through the film, Willow (Clare-Hope Ashitey) arrives and turns everything upside down. You’re left not knowing which character you can trust. There are very few flashbacks with the character development and the past being explored through dialogue and monologues. It’s an interesting way to do something.

There’s an engaging power dynamic between the two main characters. When Victor first arrives, he’s in control, holding Peter at gunpoint and ordering him around. When it’s clear that Victor is injured, the power starts to shift as he has to rely on Peter to heal his wounds. There’s a mutual respect that grows between them as they learn more about each other. It’s the heart and soul of the film and the best thing about it.

Going back to how Confession feels like a play, it is absolutely something that would fit perfectly on a stage, and you can even imagine how the stage would be laid out while you’re watching it. The way the film is shot also gives the impression that everything is happening in real time, which disguises the incredibly slow-moving pace throughout the film. It’s a really interesting premise, but it doesn’t know what to do with it.

The story gets ridiculous towards the end, as it tries to shoe-horn in a big finale into the church setting. It’s beyond unbelievable what happens, it’s just downright stupid. Everything comes together with a neat little bowed tied on top, and it would only make sense in a comedy. Without spoiling it, the ending is very far-fetched and a little convenient that all the pieces fit together so well.

Confession is a real missed opportunity. It could have been very good with some interesting plot devices and the way that you don’t know what’s the truth, and what’s lies. The characters are interesting and there are some solid performances from the cast. It just could have been so much better.

Signature Entertainment presents Confession on Digital Platforms 31st January

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

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

The Last Thing Mary Saw – Film Review

Posted on January 17, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter
Stefanie Scott as Mary, Isabelle Fuhrman as Eleanor – The Last Thing Mary Saw – Photo Credit: Shudder

Director: Edoardo Vitaletti

Writer: Edoardo Vitaletti

Starring: Stefanie Scott, Isabelle Fuhrman, Carolyn McCormick, Michael Laurence, Judith Roberts, Shane Coffey, Dawn McGee, P.J. Sosko, Tommy Buck, Elijah Rayman, and Rory Culkin

Rating: ★★★

The latest Shudder original, The Last Thing Mary Saw, is a period horror that’s filled with a dark atmosphere, and strong performances. It doesn’t quite come together in the end, but the moments when it does click, are really great.

Set in the 1800s, the film is about Mary (Stefanie Scott) who is in a romantic relationship with her family’s maid, Eleanor (Isabelle Fuhrman). Their relationship has caused a lot of anger throughout her family, who believe they are committing a sin. The family’s matriarch (Judith Roberts) punishes them and when she dies suspicion is cast upon the young couple.  

Judith Roberts as The Matriarch – The Last Thing Mary Saw – Photo Credit: Shudder

The film starts and ends with scenes of Mary, wearing a bloody blindfold, as she’s telling an investigator about the events leading up the matriarch’s death, and the events that immediately followed. You know that Mary has to escape the main events, and that the people investigating it are highly suspicious of her, believing her words are from the devil himself. The story is then split into three chapters, leading up to the big moment and coming back around to the opening scene.

The cast are all great, especially Judith Roberts who delivers a sinister and otherworldly performance as the matriarch of the family. Everything about her gives off a creepy vibe, and Roberts does an excellent job at bringing the terror whenever she’s on screen. There’s an excellent scene where she makes Mary and Eleanor kneel on rice as a punishment, each sound of their movements echoing out of the screen, and you feel their pain. Rory Culkin, who plays a smaller part as an intruder, also heightens the unsettling atmosphere of the film. The score is absolutely chilling. It works so well throughout the entire film, perfectly complimenting every scene.

While there are a lot of good things about the film, it does at points feel very aimless. The first chapter, leading up to the death of the matriarch feels incredibly long, and you’re not quite sure where the film is going. It feels like this is about forbidden love, not a murder, for most of the film, and then it changes massively. It feels a little padded out to get to a reasonable length of time. It’s a shame that the opening is so drawn out, because the ending feels a little rushed in comparison, more time could have been spent there. The dinner sequence towards the end is really tense and that could have been longer.

Writer and director Edoardo Vitaletti does a great job at creating a genuinely unsettling and creepy atmosphere. It’s a really solid chilling film. Nothing spectacular, but definitely enjoyable while it’s on.

– The Last Thing Mary Saw – Photo Credit: Shudder

The Last Thing Mary Saw will be available on Shudder from 20th January 2022

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

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

Gamera vs Guiron – Monster Mondays

Posted on January 17, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter
Watch Gamera vs. Guiron | Prime Video

The fifth entry to the Gamera series continues the space theme of the previous film. It involves three children seeing a spaceship through a telescope and going out to investigate. Two boys end up on the spaceship, which then returns them to the planet Terra, which is in the same orbit of the sun to Earth, but on the other side of the sun so we can never see it. Gamera follows them through space to save them.

The child who is left behind, goes back and tells her mother that her brother and cousin are taken in a spaceship, but no one believes her. No one remembers the events of the previous film, even though there’s a flashback at one point. They also literally shot Gamera into space at the end of the first one, but spaceships are too far fetched. No one believes her when she’s trying to convince people that the others were kidnapped.

Gamera vs. Guiron (1969) - IMDb

The plot on Earth, once the two boys are in the ship is pretty much just there to pad the run time to eighty minutes. There’s also a lot of reused footage again of the previous films. Overall it’s the poorest entry to the series so far, it feels cheaply made and a cash-grab all the way through. There’s some horrendous rear-projection effects that are some of the worst of the series. It also feels like a full on children’s TV show at points with Gamera’s theme song playing space.

The new monster, Guiron, is pretty epic though. He’s beyond brutal. When we first get to Terra, Guiron fights Space Gyaos, a slightly altered version of Gyaos from the earlier film. He slices his foot off, then one of his wings, before cutting his head off and slicing his body up. It’s ruthless. Guiron looks like a dinosaur with a giant knife for a nose, it also has shuriken that it can project at things, which causes Gamera a fair bit of issues. The fight between Gamera and Guiron is pretty good, but it’s not as good as the fight in the previous film.

Gamera vs. Guiron (1969) directed by Noriaki Yuasa • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

The fifth entry of the Gamera series isn’t as goofy as the previous one, but it’s still fun. It doesn’t have the same charm as the earlier films in the series, but it’s not the worst thing in the world, not by a long shot.

Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please subscribe to never miss another one:

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

The Tragedy of Macbeth – Film Review

Posted on January 16, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) - IMDb

Director: Joel Coen

Writer: Joel Coen

Starring: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Bertie Carvel, Alex Hassell, Corey Hawkins, Harry Melling, and Brendan Gleeson

Rating: ★★★★

Joel Coen’s first film without his brother Ethan, The Tragedy of Macbeth, is a truly unique and striking adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic play. It’s been over 400 years since the play was first staged, and Coen manages to bring something new to the table. It’s the most deliberate and stylish film in Joel Coen’s career, which is really saying something when you look at the varied films he’s been involved with.

The story is so well known, telling the story of a prophecy from three witches and the murder and betrayal that follows. It’s one of Shakespeare’s most studied tragedies in schools around the world. What Coen brings to the film is pure style and atmosphere. The film is shot in black and white, with every set created on a sound stage. It looks like something that could have been made a hundred years ago as part of the German expressionism movement, and it’s gorgeous. The film creates this otherworldly effect that transfixes you through the story, whether you’ve seen/read it countless times, or this is your first introduction to the timeless classic tragedy.  

Each scene’s set is minimalist, and bare, but at the same time eye catching and striking to look at. From the hazy and foggy battlegrounds in the early moments to the unbelievable scale of Macbeth’s castle, it reflects that this was originally written to be performed on a stage, while at the same time capturing the story in a way that can on be done on the screen. The way scenes move from one to another, sometimes layered on top and at other points changing through fog, it’s pure cinematic genius all the way through. Joel Coen and cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel have done an exceptional job at creating something that is completely unique to look at while steeped in the history of not only Macbeth, but cinema itself.

It’s not just technically where the film excels, the cast are unbelievably fantastic. Denzel Washington brings a gravitas to the character Macbeth through his delivery that commands the screen. Frances McDormand is great in everything she’s in and gives one of the best performances of her career. They both work so well together, and you can feel the connection between them. Everyone who steps onto the screen makes Shakespeare’s language sound so natural, even if you’ve not experienced the story before. It’s not the most accessible way to see the story, but the poetry of the language will seep over you and you’ll be completely absorbed into a world that you don’t want to leave when the ending arrives. On a side note, I’m not very familiar with the play Macbeth, although I’ve studied a fair few of Shakespeare’s plays and read others in my own time. I did find it easier to put the subtitles on to ease me into everything, but I was completely involved very quickly.

Kathryn Hunter Steals The Show as All Three Witches in 'The Tragedy of Macbeth' | Decider

Joel Coen’s take on Macbeth absolutely excels in creating a dreamlike otherworldly atmosphere and is one of the best visual experiences in film in recent memory. The minimalist sets are striking and the sense of scale at the end during the climactic fight scenes is simply stunning. There are also some excellent fight scenes, that are tense and thrilling. This is something that will stay with you well after the film finishes and the dark gothic visuals will haunt you.

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

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