NerdConsultant

Let me just say this right now, The Emoji Movie is A DUMPSTER FIRE OF A FILM THAT I NEVER WANT TO SEE EVER AGAIN, and if I ever find any parents that took their kids to see that film, I am going to say that how they turn out is your fault now!!! The Emoji Movie is not a movie, it’s an advert. I am not even kidding, the plot, if you can call it that is interrupted constantly for adverts for products such as Drop Box, Twitter, YouTube and even the Just Dance game. I am not even joking, for no reason, the plot is interrupted for an advert for a mobile version of Just Dance. Everyone in this movie is terrible, they are all giving awful performances, including smug performances from Anna Faris, T J Miller, especially James Corden, who seems to be in every terrible animated film I am watching at the minute, playing the exact same role every time and in this film, he is incredibly annoying. The jokes are never funny, the animation is obnoxious and there is no real message to it whatsoever. Kind of ironic considering it’s a movie about emoji’s. This is one of the most cynical things I have ever seen aimed at children and the fact that this film is aimed at children is the most disgusting part of it. The film also has no original idea whatsoever, ripping off other more successful family films constantly, especially Inside Out, Wreck it Ralph and Toy Story, doing it in a way that required no effort at all. You will want to slap some dignity into Patrick Stewart for playing the pooper emoji and I would like to point out the opening credits say Sir Patrick Stewart, Robbie Collins summed it up better in saying the opening credits might as well have said “yes, we have ruined this man’s career”. Everything about it is everything I despise about cinema: no effort, product based placement throughout the Wazoo, no originality, mugging actors constantly giving off the impression that they know what they are in is terrible but they don’t care as they got an easy pay check and an attitude of “that’s good enough for them”, which cinema should never have!! Before you say anything, the opposite is just as bad, I hate films that go “if you don’t get it you are obviously an idiot”. So don’t accuse me of being elitist for my opinions on this film. It’s just crap and anything in the comments section for this review that have any emoji’s in are getting deleted instantly. I am sick of them now and if I ever see a copy of this film, I am going to set it on fire. I HATED THIS MOVIE!!!

Ghost in the Shell is a film that will play very well to a general audience, though I think long-time fans will find a lot more fault with it. It’s a well told and well executed take on the original film and I must be honest, I kind of liked it, I thought it had a decent running plot, what it recreated it did well and it sold me on the whole thing. The performances from Scarlett Johannson and Michael Pitt really made the film stand out. Its only issue is that it sticks too close to story lines that we have already been told and it doesn’t have enough trust in its audience to not signpost things too much, nor does it have enough of the nuance that the original film had. That being said though, with the bar being set so low for Anime adaptations, this stands head and shoulders above its contemporaries and I hope it is a success because I would like to think it’s a lead to more films like it and I wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel. If you are a fan of Anime then I would say give it a go because it might have something for you,, though I would expect you to be a bit more critical than someone with no prior knowledge. This film is trying to get a balance between the two markets though I suspect it will succeed in one more than the other. In short, I think it’s a good film, but I’m not sure how it will stand up as time goes on, though I think it should be praised a lot more than it’s bashed.

So, where do I stand with Beauty and the Beast, because this is one of the more complicated films of the year for me. Well, on the one hand I like the fact that it’s a nice re-creation of the original film, which I enjoyed. The downside is that that is also its biggest weakness. It doesn’t really feel like a new film, it just feels like a repeat, which would be fine for a stage show, but not an entire movie. Especially considering that Jungle Book and Cinderella did a much better job updating their stories. I get a sense that Beauty and the Beast has not been around long enough to really warrant an update since the original one still holds up, there are not that many issues with it and it narratively is still as relevant now as it was upon its release in the 1990’s and it’s so evident here, every moment you are seeing something that is in the original film, you are getting a sense that it was done much better there and it really makes you feel that the minor changes and additions feel like they detract from the film more than they add. Again, it’s not to say it’s bad. The actors do a decent job, the effects are pretty good and the set design is fantastic, I expect to be seeing this film nominated in several of the technical categories at next year’s Oscars. However, to me, it just feels rather ‘been there, done that, and it was much better the first time’. I don’t hate this movie, in fact, I kind of like it on a few levels and I wouldn’t object to seeing it again as I suspect this is probably going to become a mainstay of British TV at Christmas. However, I can’t fully recommend Beauty and the Best, especially if you enjoyed the first film. It’s worth it for curiosity and you will get a good film for the price value, but you are not getting a great film

Kong Skull Island is a dumb film, but it’s the sort of dumb film I like. It never tries to over stretch it boundaries and gives you exactly what you expect but it is entertaining in that sense, so my predictions of it being a mediocre film feel unjustified. I think this is a good film. It could have used a bit more Kong and the plot doesn’t flow quite as well as it could have, but what it does well it does well. The dialogue is pretty good some of the characters are relatively entertaining, though some of them are not as well written. The acting is fairly decent and the effects hold up alright. Anyone who saw 2014’s Godzilla should check this one out. It’s a very similar film and it almost follows the plot beat for beat. This unfortunately means that you probably won’t enjoy it as much if your problem with the Godzilla film was that they focused too much on the humans at the expense of the monsters. You can probably tell from my brief descriptions whether you are going to like this film or not. I would recommend seeing it at the cinema as I think you won’t get the same effect on the TV screen and it comes with my recommendation. This is a pretty good film. If you are going to see the film, stay until the end of the credits, there’s a post credit scene which sets up future movies and it’s really awesome.

Logan is one brilliant film, it’s an excellent send off to the characters and does a decent job, really bringing finality to the franchise. If 20th Century Fox wants to keep going with the X Men franchise, I think they should just do a total re-boo because this one really should be the last film. It’s well acted, the action scenes are really good and the plot line, while dark and gritty also works very well and the rumours are not true, there is no Deadpool cameo in the film, thank god, because that would have destroyed the tone. It’s not fun and it’s not glamorous, but that does not change the fact that it is readly good. I would really recommend seeing this one, especially if you followed the X Men films, though, be aware, it is a very gory film and it very much deserves its R rating. Don’t stick around for the end credits as there is no post-credit scene.

Your Name was one of the films that I saw at the 2016 London Film Festival and it was the highlight of the festival for me. I absolutely adored this film. Director Makoto Shinkai gives us an excellent movie, that you can probably nit-pick, but I felt the raw power and emotion in this film and you can tell that Shinkai has done a loving job crafting this film. Many people have put a lot of emphasis on the body swapping element of the film, which is very well done, but I think it also has the effect of cheapening the rest of the film which is also done brilliantly, It’s a story of love, regret, and overcoming disaster and adversity and finding the solution when it seems impossible. It’s one brilliant film and if it doesn’t get a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, I will be extremely annoyed. I’m really looking forward to whatever Makoto Shinkai brings out next since this beautiful animated film is easily his best work to date. Oh and the soundtrack released by the band The Radwimps is fantastic. It’s not currently available, but it will be soon. Please, please try to see this film, even if you’re not into anime, because I think it will surprise you

Lego Batman is just the film I needed at just the right time. It’s good, funny and it’s just a plain delight to watch. It has a few issues, mainly to do with the jokes and the plot doesn’t entirely work as a whole and it’s not as creative as the Lego movie. But really, those are nit picks. I actually think this is a good time out and I think kids will enjoy it, their parents will enjoy it and I think comic fans will get something out of it as well. It’s well animated, for the most part well written and it’s very well acted. If you like Batman and you liked Lego Movie, this is one to add to your collection or to try and see when it is out in cinemas.

Now don’t get me wrong on this one. I love the video games, even the plot, which has kind of gotten a bit out of hand at this point is still somewhat enjoyable to me. But the films, oh my god, the films are pretty bad. I could go into detail about what is wrong with all of these films, but I really don’t have the time and I would have to devote a whole other document to it!!! Let’s just say, these films punish you for remembering anything and punish you for having any knowledge of the games. Paul Anderson has basically used these films as a excuse to show off his wife Milla Jovovich in the lead role, who is a complete ‘Mary Sue’ of a character, who can do no wrong and kicks ass without flinching! For goodness sake, I may say every time that there is no way these films can get worse, but somehow it always manages to be the case and this one is the worst to date. Put it this way, if this is not in my ‘Worst Films of 2017 list’ I will have to declare it as being a terrible year for cinema. Do you know how long it took me for this film to p… me off, 1 minute 30 seconds!!! I counted, within a minute and a half they managed to retcon almost half of the series. Half of what had been established was gone and replaced by something else. It’s like they can’t make up their minds what they want to do. I will give the other films credit that at least some of the action was decently shot, but man, the action in this film is almost impossible to see, it’s terribly made, the plot is more asinine than usual and has several signposted twists that make absolutely no sense and actually raise more questions than answers and despite the fact that this is labelled as the final chapter, there is really no finality to the film. Oh, and there’s a million plot holes that were so big the Titanic could fit in them. This is a mess of a movie series and this is the worst one to date. I can’t go into everything I hate about the film because I would have to spoil it rotten and some poor souls will be like me and actually want to see the film, so I had better leave it to them, but trust me, I am so glad this film series is over. Screw these movies and screw Paul W S Anderson. Not only did he manage to ruin the possibility **** Alien versus Predator movie, but he also managed to screw over the Resident Evil series for six movies. I saw it in 2D, for the love of god, do not see this movie in 3D. Some of the scenes are too dark, I imagine it would be literally impossible to see if you are wearing 3D glasses.

. The best way to describe it is that it’s an extraordinary true story of a lost child in India, who, after being adopted by Australian parents, yearns to learn where he came from. He remembers that he fell asleep on a train after being separated from his brother, however, the place where he came from doesn’t exist, according to everyone who he talks to and he searches heavily to find his way home. My description hasn’t really done the story justice, but I didn’t want to go into too much detail since I think it’s best to go in an experience it yourself. The film has an extraordinary first half which feels really organic and really gives the story what it deserves. The second half doesn’t quite match up to that and becomes very ‘Oscar baity’ for a lack of a better term. It does feel like Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman are aiming for those Oscar nominations. They are very good performances and I don’t object to them getting an Oscar nomination, but you know those performances, where you can feel it’s the award season. It’s a very good story and if you don’t want to see the film or the trailer doesn’t appeal to you I would recommend picking up the book, written by the actual person who the film is based on which tells of his story, however, I will not give away the title for this book, since just looking up the title, actually gives away the films ending. I liked Lion, but I think it could have been better. I would say give it a chance, I suspect I am being just a bit too critical of it.

xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, was everything I expected it to be, it’s a terrible waste of time with characters that I didn’t like, a plot that was all over the place and unfocused, terrible dialogue, terrible performances and some terrible action scenes that were shot appallingly. It’s an absolutely terrible film and it shows just how poisonous an effect Michael Bay’s movies and the Fast and Furious films have had on Hollywood as a whole. There is a reason it has come out in January, if it had come out any later it would have been outcompeted by Marvel, every step of the way. Thy could have done an interesting challenge to the current gritty nature of the Bond Films and the original xXx was a challenge to the Bond films. The problem is, Kingsman already did that 2 years ago and it did it so well, so as a result, it had no choice but to make another Fast and Furious film and I didn’t even really like those films to begin with.

John Wick: Chapter 2 complements the first one perfectly. They are both dam good action films that I thoroughly enjoyed and this one is no exception. The plot is really good, the fight scenes are expertly shot and the performances are very good as well. The dialogue can be hokey at times and there are a few plot holes to kind of fill in but they are nothing that break the film as a whole. Honestly, this could already be going into my ‘Best films of 2017” list. On a lot of levels I enjoyed it more than the previous film but on other levels I think the first film did certain aspects of it better. Honestly, I think its best to take the two as a whole, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like this film as an individual. Dam no, this was fantastic. The ending indicates there is going to be a sequel and IMDB and Keanu Reeves are already speculating there will be and I really hope there is because I think they are primed to do it and this could be an excellent film series that I would want to come back to.

If I sound like a fan boy who is going off on one because he’s not entirely satisfied with the adaptation, it’s because I am. Assassins Creed is really the film I expected to be much better than it was, but it really just adds to the list of poor video game adaptations that boast the possibility of sequels but whose which will likely sit in developmental hell for the next few years before being outright cancelled. It’s a real shame because the cast are actually doing a pretty good job but they can’t fix the inane plot which feels underwhelming and incomplete plus some brilliant stunt work has been ruined by incredibly awful editing which never allows you to fully appreciate the effort that has gone into it. There is one thing I will say in its favour, a lot of care and effort has been put in to the costume design and the set design. This really looks like Assassins Creed, the problem is, it doesn’t have the feel of it and it’s not just down to the fact that we have got a new stupid design for the animus which feels completely unnecessary just there to add extra effects. It’s a mess, pure and simple and I am sad to say that because I really wanted to love this film. I think some fans of the game might get something out of it, but I think for most people, this is one they should avoid, trust me, there are a lot better films coming out. I don’t think the 3D will add much so if you do go and see it, check out the 2D version.

I really, really enjoyed this film, Arrival is a very innovative and smart science fiction film. This had some great writing, fantastic cinematography, some really good performances and plot twists that will really warrant repeat viewings. It has been so difficult to talk about this without going into spoilers, but I think this film is coming out at the right time for the right audience and it tells a very interesting story that will resonate with a lot of people. I would say, for the visual flair alone, this is one film to try and see on a cinema screen since I don’t think it will play as well on a Television screen. It’s really cool, really interesting and I don’t think there will be another film like it for the rest of the year. Check this one out.

The big question is though, is Trolls worse than Norm of the North, No. At least this film felt like it had some effort put into it. It has the same sort of idea of, do the kids 3D animated kids film formula and stick it out there that Norm of the North had. This one felt like some effort had been put into it, whereas Norm of the North feels like it was just made to make a buck! Does that make it a good film, hell NO!! If it wasn’t for Norm of the North, Trolls would be the worst animated film I have seen this year. I really didn’t like this film and came out of the cinema extremely annoyed. The plot is all over the place, the characters were annoying and obnoxious, the voice acting was terrible, the writing is god awful, to such an extent, I didn’t even mention that the world has absolutely no concrete plan, since the writers couldn’t be bothered to think that up and the film has absolutely no climax whatsoever, it literally just ends, it couldn’t be bothered. The humour is never funny, and it’s just a lot of constant noise and movement, except for one sad moment(if you can even call it that), which was a welcome bit of relief after spending 1hr 30mins watching a film that was constantly on. I hated this film and I really never want to see it again. This is just a glorified advert for a terrible Soundtrack and if you want a terrible kid bops version of songs that were mostly awful in the first place, with a couple of exceptions, then you are welcome to it, but frankly, I am out, this film was painful.

I was actually kind of into this movie for a large part of it. It’s not a very good movie by any stretch of the imagination, I daresay it’s more of a mediocre film than anything else, but I think that’s because I was expecting too much of it since it’s from the same studio that gave us the Lego movie. That being said, however, there’s genuine times that made me really, really laugh and if you have kids, I definitely recommend you take them to this one over Trolls any day of the week, seriously, this was alright, the only thing that is really vulnerable is that they don’t really do much role building and the story has a lot of narrative issues, but you get extra points for casting Kelsey Grammer, that man is hilarious.

Is Dr Strange good? Yes I would even say that for the most part it is even dam great. It gets its main character down well, the effects are fantastic, the action scenes are really well shot, the cast is really good, the writing is very good, I enjoyed myself from start to finish and it felt like it told a complete, yet contained story, yet fitted in with the Marvel Cinematic Universe really well. The only thing that kind of holds it back is the villains, which I feel is another point where Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t quite got down outside of the NetFlix series, and Loki of course. The film is a really entertaining ride and I would really recommend you check it out, especially at the cinema since I fear some of it won’t play as well on DVD and Blu Ray. It’s a really great film and what really sells it is Cumberbatch in the lead role. Oh, and if you are going to see it, stick around for the credits, once again, there are 2 post credit scenes.

This should be familiar to anyone who has seen the previous Dan Brown adaptations that Ron Howard has directed, especially to anyone who saw the Da Vinci Code and rather like those films, I wasn’t really into this one. It’s a really bland thriller which has some plots that you can see coming a mile away. Anyone that is familiar with Dan Brown will know that his stories tend to have very good build up and promise, but then a poor pay off, and there is no difference here, in fact it almost feels like it’s been taken to the outer degree and once again, the big problem is that the screenplay writers are pretty much forced to make more adaptations than the novel, cutting very little out of it. Expect the characters to talk a lot of exposition in a way that is fine in a novel, but does not work in a screenplay. I would only recommend it if you enjoyed the Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons, if you didn’t skip it, this isn’t going to change your mind.

I am going to be praising this one too, because I really enjoyed this. It’s a French animated film that has sadly gone directly to DVD over here, but it is really worth a watch. Based on a graphic novel of the same name, the best way of describing the film is ‘it’s a steam punk animated film’ that feels like a mix of Tintin and Studio Ghibli. I really enjoyed watching it, it had lovely moments, great characters and a decent plot. Plus the steam punk setting mixed with the really cool French animation lead to some really great imaginative moments, even of a couple of them felt like they were ripping of Howl’s Moving Castle. If you are a fan of Tintin or Studio Ghibli you owe it to yourself to watch this film and it’s another example of the brilliant standard that animated films have had this year.

This was a much better film than I was expecting, in fact I would recommend that you go and see it. The film is a disaster movie dealing with the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that lead to the worst oil disaster in US history. It’s a really, really, good disaster film that has some very good performances from actors like Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell and John bloody Malkovich and I am not editing that, because you can’t say his name without saying that because he is so damn awesome. The film’s biggest strength is that director Peter Bergh who, after watching this, you will never believe directed the abomination Battleship, really put the time and effort into understanding how oil rigs work and even went to an oil rig to learn it himself and as a result he makes some good technical information, without it being boring to the audience, plus his reliance on practical effects over CGI for the most of the film really pays off and makes everything feel more physical and have more weight to it. If I have to have a bit of a nit pic, I do think Mark Wahlberg is slightly mis-cast but I would really recommend you see it especially in cinemas. I saw it in an Imax screening and I think that’s the best way to experience it and I am not sure this film will play too well on DVD and NetFlix.

This is a film that was drastically oversold by the critics. It’s a film where very little to nothing happens. Kate Beckinsale tries her best with it but ultimately it’s a flawed film. There is very little that happens in the film and when things do start getting going, the film ends!!! Admittedly I am not the target audience for this film, I am not a fan of period dramas, especially the Jane Austen period dramas as I think they are often stuck in a formula that is tired and old and they don’t try to do anything contemporary with it, the trailer for this film alluded they were going to to that with this film, however, it doesn’t fully commit to that. The film is not really funny, not very interesting, I would skip it.

If there is one thing I can say about Miss Perigrines Home For Peculiar Children, it’s that I like it. Most of my knowledge of the book is coming from second hand information, so I really can’t judge it as an adaptation, but as it stands, it was pretty good. I had some good characters, good writing for the most part and it had some pretty good effects. It kind of fails at sticking to some of the rules it establishes and it has an ending that I didn’t feel completely worked, but as it stands, those are nit picks and I would really recommend seeing the film. I really hope it gets some sequels based on the rest of the books. This isn’t one of Tim Burton’s classics like Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman, Big Fish, Edward Scissorhands or Beetlejuice but it’s a good film nonetheless. It’s a nice film and I can really see it being a future Halloween classic.

Girl on the Train is a really intriguing thriller with lots of great characters and great moments, it just had a few **** moments where it didn’t quite live up to its potential, but from second hand information, fans of the book will get a lot out of this film. I think that’s its problem though, it makes a better book than a film and it doesn’t quite escape those trappings in the medium transfer. It’s not what I would call a massively flawed film and I think a lot of the critics have been harsh on it, but it does have a few things to nit pic over. Still, if you like good thrillers and a good murder mystery plot, this is one I would recommend and I’m really interested to see if my opinion is affected upon a repeat viewing, though judging by the time of this film’s release, I won’t be able to re-watch it before I do my best and worst of the year list. Make no mistake, I would still recommend you see it, even if you haven’t read the book. So in other words it’s a really good interesting film, with a couple of tiny misses that slightly dampen the film as a whole.

The Magnificent Seven is a remake that almost worked completely, but it is held back by a few elements. The actors are pretty decent, the plot moves at a decent place and the action scenes are very good, plus it does a decent job juggling the characters even though a few don’t get the necessary screen time they need. The film is held back by a really weak villain and a second half that really doesn’t match the tone of the first. I prefer it to the 1960 version because it has a bit more fun and it has fixed a lot of the pacing issues and dropped a lot of the un-necessary sub plots from the original but I would be lying if I said I thought this was a great movie. The first half is genuinely fun and I did enjoy myself watching the film but I am not sure I can entirely recommend it, I don’t think there is enough for fans of the old film to latch on to and I think they will be disappointed by the newer elements bought into the film and I don’t think a younger audience will connect with it as the producers want them to. I suspect this film will find an audience and it is a decent attempt at a remake but I think it needed a little bit more. As it stands, it’s a pretty fun movie if you don’t think about it too much.

in all honesty, I actually thought the film was ok. Maybe my standards are a bit too low, but it really does to me, seem like there was a lot more love and care put into this film. It didn’t feel like a cash grab which I was expecting it to be. The film makers seem to have done their research and whoever designed the sets for this film did an excellent job. To wrap things up, Blair Witch was a better film than I was expecting. There are some decent scares and some alright cinematography, the acting isn’t too bad, some of the effects are downright good and I daresay it feels like the film makers had a lot of love for the original film and wanted to put their spin on it, which I have got to commend them for. It’s not a perfect sell however, the film does suffer from a plot that has some plot holes and there are a couple of really stupid moments and this film tries to get away with a lot of horror tropes that didn’t benefit the film in the end and were entirely absent from the original Blair Witch for a reason. Fans of the original should not pass this up. It is actually worth a watch at least once and if you are curious, I would definitely recommend you check it out. I won’t say rush to see it though I suspect it will have a lengthy run and will probably last until Halloween. You might wish to wait until it comes out on Netflix but I will say on any level, it’s definitely worth a watch.

Kubo and the Two Strings is fantastic. It's animated beautifully, the music score is fantastic, the characters are great, the narrative is really good and the script works well and manages to treat its audience with maturity and respect and gives us a very memorable plot. It does suffer from a couple of plot conveniences and the villain’s motivations could have been explained a bit better but it wasn’t enough to diminish the film for me. This one was such a joy to watch and I highly recommend you go out and see it. I saw the film in 3D and I think it’s a bit of a mixed bag in that format and I wouldn’t assume it is essential, apart from a couple of scenes that are clearly shot with the 3D in mind, but honestly you can take it or leave it. If you have kids, take them to see it, it is an excellent film and judging by the trailers for the upcoming family films, this is the best one you will see for a while. This honestly has the potential to go down as one of the best stop motion films ever, right up there with ParaNorman and The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline.

This has been one of the big surprises of the year. I fully expected not to be impressed by this movie because of the trailers, but if it wasn’t for The Witch, I would say this has been the best horror film of the year (so far). It is very well written. It is based on a short film which you can get on YouTube and I would recommend you do that, but the film makers actually took the original concept and did a decent job with it. I am not going to say it’s a perfect film, there are quite a few plot holes, and inconsistencies and there are a few moments that made me scratch my head, but, my god it is so refreshing to see a horror film where the character’s act intelligently. Seriously this is one of the few horror films where the characters make some decisions that in other horror films they don’t even consider making, there were even characters I had expected to live in the end of the movie that died and characters I expected to die lived at the end. If you are a horror fan, it is a seriously good watch, it’s a good mix of psychological horror and some decent jump scares, that being said, it is reliant on said jump scares, so it isn’t perfect. I still maintain The Witch is the best horror film of 2016 and even the decade, but Lights Out definitely deserves your attention.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

The Purge: Election Year is frankly a sign that the franchise is running low on steam, has got more pretentious and full of itself than it was before. The whole thing feels preachy and unnecessary. The film’s ending suggests that this will be the final film in the franchise with only real possibilities of going forward being prequels and frankly if this is the final one I will be really glad because this franchise has really run thin and its getting annoying now. The first film wasn’t any good, the second didn’t do much to improve and the third makes me wonder why sequels keep coming out for this. The acting is terrible, the dialogue is atrocious and the film goes from being shot well to incredibly poorly. If you liked the Purge films you will probably enjoy this one because it’s more of the same as what we got before, but if you are not a fan and are curious about the franchise, I wouldn’t recommend starting it. There are a lot better film series that deserve your time.

Batman The Killing Joke is one of the best DC animated films to date if you look purely at the second half and overall it’s a mixed bag. It has padded out its source material slightly and I would be lying if I didn’t say that there were parts of this film that bothered me and the flow of the narrative is terrible but I think overall it’s a really great Batman film. Especially if you judge it on its own merits. The animation is great, the fight scenes are good, the dialogue is absolutely fantastic and it tells one of the most iconic Batman stories very well. I don’t think it will do too well at the Box Office considering that it’s coming off the heels of Deadpool which is another R rated comic adaptation, I think people are still in awe of that film, but I think the comparison between the two is a bad idea. Compared to the other DC animated films however it’s not the best of the year but I still think you should add this to your collection. If you like Batman you definitely need to watch it and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who liked the Dark Knight, just don’t buy it for your kids, this is not their Batman movie.

This is a French animated film developed by Netflix that unfortunately has not received a theatrical release over here yet, so if you want to see this you will have to have a Netflix account. I mainly watched this because a lot of the sites are predicting which way the Oscars will go suggests that this film will receive an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, and I wouldn’t be upset if it did. I actually think so far, this has been the best film of August because it was a really nice, charming movie. It has a lovely blend of really good computer generated 3D and beautiful stop motion animation. Honestly this is like a really lovely blend of Pixar, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Studio Ghibli. The cast are terrific, the English dub cast are terrific too and I kind of liked the message of the film even if it is hammered in a bit too much. Also I think the film is a little too long. There are 40 minutes added on that could easily have been done in 20 and feels like a completely different film and I would be lying if I said that didn’t bother me. As family films go I really recommend it if you have a Netflix account. It’s worth a watch.

Now I don’t think this is better than Jungle Book which I have previously reviewed, but like Jungle Book I did think I preferred this to the original movie. However, that doesn’t mean to say I completely loved the film. I just thought it was ok. The big problem is that it is way too predictable and gives you no surprises whatsoever. It kind of feels like one of those environmental films I watched in the 1990’s where even then I knew exactly where it was going, not helped by the fact that Karl Urban plays a really unsubtle villain. I will say though, the CGI of the dragon is very good and the relationship between the boy and the Dragon is the best part of the film, so it’s worth a watch if you have got kids

How do I put this, I think many critics have summed it up pretty well by saying it’s basically 127hrs meets Jaws. It’s actually not a bad Shark movie all things considered. There are some decent shots, the CGI of the Shark looks pretty good and Blake Reilly tries her best with the material she is given. Though, there is a lot of **** and dumb moments that I didn’t buy into and despite the fact that the film runs at a brisk 127 minutes, it still felt very padded and felt like it could have been done in an hour. I can still kind of recommend it. The early portions feel like the writers and directors did their research on shark behavior, it’s just too bad that in the latter half it basically becomes another movie monster. Stick with it though because it has the most hilarious Shark death ever.

Nerve. I was genuinely excited to see this film because it has a very interesting concept and it’s rather interesting that it has coincidentally come out around a similar time that Pokemon Go has become popular, though obviously that is a complete coincidence. Nerve is a great film, provided you don’t think about it in any way whatsoever. The second you do, this is so stupid. The whole point of the film is that it never explains half of what is going on, so as a result we have little or no idea. It’s also really unsubtle in its whole commentary on young people’s use of the internet, including YouTube, GEO cashing and trolling and Facebook. The whole concept of being forced to do dares online for money is actually an interesting idea, but they never really expand upon it and there are a couple of moments which are way too far-fetched and as a result sink the movie. I will say the ending, despite being incredibly abrupt and anti-climatic and didn’t answer half the lingering questions I had left over was at least a lot better than the messages from Friend Request and the god awful Unfriended. But it still did not work and this film annoyed the hell out of me because too many people gave this film a pass. No, it’s a bad film, really stupid and I am going to go against the critical consensus on this one, this is probably one where everyone else likes it and I think it is rubbish for 2016.

Suicide Squad is a film that I think is ok. Not good, not bad, just ok. I think it had a lot of good points and a lot of bad points though I am not sure which one outweighs the other. I have very similar thoughts to this as I do to Batman v Superman. The real strengths, however, are Harley Quinn and Amander Waller who I think were both perfectly captured in this film. It doesn’t spend too much time building up The Justice League movie and told its own plot in a decent way, it just missed the mark on a few occasions, most notably in the fact that there was not nearly enough of the Joker in this film, despite how he had been built up in trailers. If you are a fan of the comics, I would say give it a go although I would sooner recommend seeing Batman Assault on Arkham which is a film that did a much better job with the Suicide Squad. General movie goers and fans of Batman v Superman should probably check it out although I would urge a word of caution, this film is rated 15 for a reason, this is not a film for little kids. It’s other big weakness is the fact that the film is incredibly slow initially and doesn’t pick up the pace until the last minute mark and it still doesn’t feel like there is much back story to this DC Universe, but I think that will be fixed in time.

this whole film collapsed in the first 2 minutes and it only got worse. there are way too many characters and many of them serve no purpose whatsoever and the writing is atrocious since the material has been stretched so thin that it has absolutely nowhere to go. the whole thing is loud, obnoxious and really not funny. the only positive is the animation and even then it still feels underwhelming. please let this be the last one cause there is nowhere else for this tired old franchise that barely resembles itself anymore to go and feels like these sequels only exist to give each of the characters a love interest.

as an adaptation of the book it feels a bit padded given the short length of source material and it suffers from a bit of an anticlimax but this was a really nice, charming family film. Mark Rylance gives a great motion capture performance and it's clear between this and Tintin that Spielberg is a master of directing motion capture. the environments look great, the story is well told and it's really funny. I'm not a fan of the term one for the whole family since i believe it rarely works out however in this case i think it applies because it has a lot of universal appeal

this isn’t that great of a Tarzan film and I think people that are unfamiliar with the extended novels of Tarzan might be a bit surprised to find that they are not getting a Tarzan origin story with this film. It’s got some decent action, some decent performances but I don’t think they got into the psychology of Tarzan well enough. I also felt they tried too hard to turn Tarzan into a super hero movie, not that is necessarily a bad thing, but it you are going to do that it’s got to be well executed.

Absolutely Fabulous The Movie, could be on my worst of the year list. It’s another stifling example of a British television show turning up on the big screen trying to capture the Inbetweeners movie’s massive Box Office success and rather unlike that film, it’s also a truncating mess, it can never pick a plot and stick with it. The comedy is all over the place. If you think the cameos in Ghostbusters are weird and don’t work, try the cameos in Ab Fab the movie, it all feels like the plot is being made to facilitate the cameos rather than the cameos being made to facilitate the plot. There are some bafflingly weird ones, which if I mentioned all of them, we would be here for a long time, and I don’t have enough time for that. I will say at least that Joanna Lumley is good at getting back to her role as Patsy and is easily the funniest person in the cast. Though special props to Rebel Wilson who delivers a decent cameo.

despite my disdain for Kevin Hart, I have to admit this was a surprisingly decent comedy and that is mainly aided by his chemistry with The Rock, who also gets some incredibly funny moments in the film. The only time it fails is when it tries to have too much of a plot which doesn’t quite work, but they could have done a hell of a lot worse and it’s one of the biggest surprises of the year for me, because I also wrote this film off on it’s trailers

Ghostbusters is average, at best, and that is not what I want to say when I see a Ghostbusters movie, I want something great. The first two are great, I will stand by that. There is a reason these films got into geek culture as much as it did. It was down to clever writing, some good comedy and some really cool performances. This film tries to do all that, whilst referencing the original as much as possible, but I feel it backfires. Everyone is trying their hardest but it still doesn’t quite work and the negatives feel like they really out weight the positives. There were some decent comedic performances in the film, the major one being Chris Hemsworth, who finally appears in a comedy where he is actually allowed to be funny. This film would feel a massive disappointment if I hadn’t half written off the film on the trailers alone, but I at least went in giving this film a shot and I can’t act like I am not disappointed on some level. This film doesn’t ****, but it’s not good. It’s not going to make my worst of 2016 list, but I wish this film was better. The ending semi baits for a sequel, and I am fairly certain this will come, but I suspect this film will make a lot of money, especially from the female audience, judging by my screening where the majority of people in the cinema were young to middle age women, however, there needs to be improvement before the next film, though I will say that I think we can get a good film out of this Ghostbusters cast because they can be amusing at times.

I actually thought this was a fairly decent horror film, though it’s not a classic, like The Witch or It Follows. The major reason being that whereas the first film felt like it was using a lot of the horror tropes to it’s advantage, this film feels like it’s using them as a crutch to cover up the cracks in the script, which I was really beginning to notice. The overall performances are pretty good and it’s a decent made horror film, but I really wish the Conjuring films would not market themselves as based on a true story and I hated the treatment of skeptics in the film and I don’t like the fact that these films are perpetuating the idea of exorcisms being true, a lot of people are not seeking medical help because they believe in exorcisms

This one is pointless! This whole film feels pointless, it’s an over CGI’d re-make of Independence Day degassing itself as a sequel with little flair, little originality and is bland and dull. The effects aren’t that good, the acting isn’t that good, the characters are boring and apart from the end, it feels like a shot for shot re-make of Independence Day done by people who that have played too much of the Halo Games. Roland Emmerich is yet another director who has been proven over the years to have been a barely competent director who just happened to get lucky by coming out with Independence Day when he did because it was the right film for the right audience at the right time. This film I don’t think will match any of those. It’s a film 20 years in the making and it wasn’t worth it and please do not make the Independence Day 3 that you alluded to in the final scene, because that sounded even more ridiculous. What can I say it’s just a dumb, dull film. It has all the same problems that the first film had but it’s decided to stop having fun and character so there’s no investment for anyone.

Gods of Egypt, wow, just wow, this was awful on every conceivable level, it gets nothing right. The film cost 140 million dollars and it clearly isn’t showing the effects, which are crap and I am certain for that reason alone it was made with bad money. It was an awful inconsistent plot with a horrible script. The actors give horrid performances and are terribly mis cast and there are a ton of white actors playing Egyptians, aside from that everyone puts on a terrible British accent. The effects are inconsistent from scene to scene, the action is terrible. I hated this film. This is a damming indictment of where Blockbusters are going and the fact that the director of this film, who also directed I Robot, had the nerve to have a go at critics, calling them vultures, for daring to negatively review this film is rich because frankly this film deserves every negative backlash it can get. It is an awful piece of work and Mark Kermode said it best, you have to remember, vultures don’t eat living breathing things, they eat dead rotten things, so yes, for that reason alone, I would be glad to join the vultures on that one. It’s just awful, this is a bomb in every sense of the word

The Boss is from the same team that brought you Tammy, however, this one is not as bad as that film, but again it really doesn’t raise any laughs whatsoever, except a slightly awkward performance from Peter Dinkcavage who really should know better than to be in this sort of a film. It’s not very funny, it’s basically another Melissa McCarthy comedy, but not one of the good ones like Spy or The Heat or Bridesmaids, and thankfully I just didn’t care about this film, it was just boring, drab, the jokes weren’t funny, in fact I found a couple of them hugely offensive and I just wanted to be done with it. Avoid this one

it was that awful. The film has no laughs in it, except for the blooper reel at the end, yes, that’s a good sign, the blooper reel was funnier than the film!!! It was written awfully, conflicts are bought up and then resolved with absolutely no effort whatsoever. The performances are terrible. The cast is completely slumming it and parts that are written so awful, you wouldn’t believe and the plot was agonising. This was an awful film to watch and I think that people will say, you are not the target demographic for it but frankly I think Women should feel insulted that studio executives think this is good enough for them. Women deserve better films marketed for them and I cannot believe in the UK this came out on the same day that When Marnie Was There did, and made more money that week. I hated this movie and if I ever see Jack Whitehall in the street, I am going to make him apologise for it!!! Avoid at all costs!

I’m not going to lie, I think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows is a minor improvement on its predecessor. It’s not a good film but it’s not awful. If you are a Ninja Turtles fan and if the first film put you off I would recommend you give it a go. They get the Turtles down pretty well and there is a decent story here, if a very flawed one at that (especially when the climax rips off the climax of The Avengers). It, however, is not a great movie. The effects aren’t that great and still don’t blend too well with the live action, the actors aren’t giving great performances and the film could never seem to pick a villain and stick with it, having most of the villains feel rather wasted. Not a good film, but I expected worse.

Did I hate Warcraft? No. Did I like it? No. I’m just disappointed in it. This could have been a great film, it had all the potential for that, but it doesn’t work due to its poor pacing, poor characterisation and an ending which had a fight scene that was so laughably boring and it felt like the film ended on a bum note and that the sequel is just going to be rather more of the same rather than expanding the story. The film tries to be an amazing epic but it doesn’t build up its world and characters before it tries to go into that and all the character revelations and twists are really things that the majority of which should have been saved for the 2nd movie of this proposed trilogy. As it stands, however, it’s a bit of a mess. The performances aren’t great with the exception of a couple of the Orc actors, the effects are very good and reflect the video game well but are wasted because they don’t blend well with the live action actors and I just didn’t buy into this story entirely. It’s a real shame because when you take all the Hollywood adaptations of video game movies, this one is still the best, but that’s just because the bar has been set so horribly low. It’s really only there by default. This is the best one and I still don’t think it’s good. I’m certain fans will get something out of this, and just seeing these environments realised on the big screen will probably give them some joy, but I don’t judge a film by its aesthetics. I judge it by the story and the characters it gives me as well and this film wasn’t good enough with the exception of the Orcs who I thought were ok for the most part. It’s so concerned about building up an epic trilogy that it forgets to get its first part down completely.

Me Before You is another film that leaves me with mixed feelings. While it is a cheesy romance story that I am not the target audience for, I at least gave it a good go and I thought it was doing an alright job up until it bought in the euthanasia sub plot that felt incredibly out of place and whilst admirable to try and put in the ‘right to die message’ it didn’t feel like it was handled well and I have to agree with Film Brain’s review of it, like 7 Pounds it does send out an alarming message by the end of the film, which, despite the fact that I believe people should have the right to die when they choose, I wasn’t sure that this film quite got it right.

The Nice Guys, well this is a film I really can recommend. It may lose itself in the 3rd act, but this was a really fun, funny movie and it’s made even better by Ryan Gosling, who I am convinced at to this point can do no wrong, and Russel Crowe who also gives a fantastic performance and their chemistry is fantastic. The film oozes in the 70s and Shane Black who writes and directs the film does an excellent job. It’s everything you would expect of a comedy written by the writer of Lethal Weapon and the director or Iron Man 3.

I loved When Marnie Was There. I loved it so much, this film was so fantastically written, so fantastically animated and it was a joy to experience. I loved the characters, the story line was great and engaging the mood is set perfectly. The characters are designed brilliantly, it’s just an all round excellent film and it doesn’t appear that too much has been lost in translation between Britain and Japan. If this is to be the final film from Studio Ghibli, they are going out on a high because this film was excellent and really should have won the Oscar for Best Animated Film. I liked Inside Out but for goodness sake, this film was way better. This is just a lovely movie, I cannot recommend it enough if it is playing in your area and it doesn’t matter which format you see it in because the dub cast do an excellent job with their performances and I am certain the Japanese cast do an excellent job too from what I have heard. It’s up there with the best Studio Ghibli movies, like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Wind Rises and many others. It really deserves to be in with them. When I left the cinema I was both happy and sad because I knew this was the last time I got to see a new Studio Ghibli film in the cinema and while I am glad to have seen a great movie, I am sad to see this studio go because I know there will probably never be a collective group of creators like them in my lifetime.