Horror Bites - Mirror Mirror

PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987)

I suppose it's not a big stretch to consider this one of John Carpenter's less seen movies, at least with general audiences. Maybe that's because it's a fairly ideas heavy film about science fiction and religious mythology clashing together. Or maybe it's just because a team of physicists and a priest have to join forces to fight a big glass tube full of green goop. There are no iconic villains here or heroes, it's all far more eerie and ambiguous. Even the typical Carpenter and Howarth score swaps out the memorable keyboard tunes for something purely atmospheric. But this is still worth examining; a sinister film full of smaller moments that still make a lasting impact. It's how these pieces come together as a whole that make this less favoured with genre fans.

Review Roundup - One More Bout

2019 CATCHUP - MARTIAL ARTS MIX

Previously I talked about John Wick 3 in the sequels portion of this catch up, but now it's time to look closer at some of the more action centric releases from the year. I haven't had time to see everything of course, and it's been a fairly busy year for the genre. There was even a documentary on the rise of kung fu cinema called Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks not so long ago, which is pretty uneven but well worth a look. I don't often talk about non-fiction here but it fits well with the theme of 2019 in action. For anyone looking for a bit of a history lesson it's essential, but overall it skips a lot when discussing the last couple of decades. So let's talk about a few of the those newer releases.

HCF Review - He's Coming to Town

CHRISTMAS BLOOD (2017)

Well I guess it is the season (of evil) so let’s take a look at what sort of blood soaked stocking fillers are on offer. As you might have noticed the low rent horror film listings are chock full of evil Santa movies, whether it’s the likes of Krampus in various guises or simply a lot of killers dressed in red and white. This Norwegian effort falls into the latter category, and so there have to be comparisons drawn with festive favourites like Christmas Evil and Silent Night, Deadly Night. Personally I’m all about that opening chapter of Tales from Crypt – it’s got brevity. Unfortunately this is mostly inspired by a different kind of seasonal slasher.

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Review Roundup - Star Crash

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (2019)

As a returning character once said '...only now at the end do you understand.' And for better or worse this is the end. But it's also just another J.J. Abrams film. Star Wars is back, again, and the results are erratic, messy and often badly edited. The plot threads he follows are cherry picked, new ideas are plucked our of thin air (sometimes literally) and there's a lot of rushing, shooting and yelling. Overall though it's just so hard to be that disappointed, in a world where the love or hate of a series like this is now an entire online industry. Some of it is a fine action adventure story, one last hurrah for various cast members. Some of it is hilarious laugh out loud schlock. Some of it's just overtly stupid. And yet it's hard for me to feel strongly about it either way.

HCF Review - Skin Deep

REPLACE (2017)

Time for a bit of good old fashioned body horror, a sub-genre which is often employed to get both the brain cells and the stomach juices swirling once the credits roll. Norbert Keil’s feature debut certainly includes this sort of material from the gruesome to the thought provoking, in a story which includes plenty of inspirations from stories about lost time, lost identities and everyday people find themselves the centre of a Metamorphosis. There also seems to be some connecting tissue with a monster of the week X-Files story called ‘2Shy’ for those who remember that classic season. But any good idea is only as good as its execution, and like the protagonist of this story it’s all a bit cracked and broken when put under the microscope.

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Scorecard

NOVEMBER

FILM OF THE MONTH - Silent Running ☆☆☆☆

Review Roundup - Get Hoffa

THE IRISHMAN (2019)

It's been a long time since Martin Scorsese has done a film like this. Or has it? In terms of this style and subject matter there have been many glimpses of it since Casino, most notably in narration driven stories like The Wolf of Wall Street. Many of his films are less about crime and more about the characters after all, even when extortion and violence is placed front and centre. They often mix a variety of tones and a confessional perspective to deliver relatable human drama. But it has been long time since this director and these actors have been together, and as a result this could just be one last hurrah for his decade spanning stories as well as one last team up with Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci. The interesting part is how all the intervening years have affected his approach.

Review Roundup - It Happened Again

2019 CATCHUP - SEQUEL-A-THON

Another year, another bunch of sequels. And they're all... fine? Just fine. At least from the selection I'll cover here. Nobody dropping the ball or outdoing themselves, just more of the same for better or worse. There's really not that much to say in most cases which is why I've left them to this round-up at the end of the summer. The results just feel like an extension of things that don't feel essential, and in the case of one in particular could have been missed entirely. You get just about everything that's to be expected all over again and nothing breaks the mould. Even this intro is starting to feel recycled so enough beating around the bush, let's go down the only road we've ever known.

HCF Review - Abduction

DEVIL'S GATE (2017)

A creepy old farmhouse covered in metal trinkets, a car that has broken down at just the wrong moment… and a backyard full of booby traps. Not the usual ingredients for a science fiction movie about alien visitors, but hey why not throw in some of this horror stuff in too I guess. Although this may have been intended as a kind of Dusk ’til Dawn style bait and switch, there’s no real way of keeping the sudden change of events here a secret. The first act of the story does at least keep things going in a fairly realistic direction with a suspicious disappearance in a rural town, however this is mostly a tale of sinister intruders from other worlds. It might be set on a farm for the most part, but it’s not crops that are being harvested.

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Scorecard

OCTOBER

FILM OF THE MONTH: M ☆☆☆☆

HCF Review - King of Death

DER TODESKING (1989)

It’s an odd phenomenon, but for various reasons just describing something like this as a series of events doesn’t really seem appropriate. Maybe it’s because that by simply giving a synopsis so many things are left missing from the experience. On the surface this is a series of seven vignettes, one for each day of the week. On each there’s an unconnected incident involving depression and suicide; with the framing device being a rotting corpse and a child drawing the titular character. Less a horror movie and more a meditation on death and those drawn to the end of their own lives, there’s less to be said about the content than there is about the overall mood and atmosphere.

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Horror Bites - Claws Out

KURONEKO (1968)

While it's debatable whether Kaneto Shindo's 1964 masterpiece Onibaba is truly a horror film, this later effort has one foot (or claw) firmly planted in the realm of the supernatural. There similarities of course with the casting and the similar rural locations hiding characters during times of war, and many of the thematic elements are just as interesting, adding layers of (incredibly bitter) food for thought as things unfold. However it's the way the history based daytime of the storyline dissolves into the underworld of the night-time that lends this all a nightmarish quality. It's certainly a tragic tale but it's far more theatrical and ghostly.

Review Roundup - Electric Dreams

SHAZAM! (2019)

So here's where I talk about that whole comic-book movie fatigue thing again, you know the drill. Origin stories, underdogs, unlikely heroes, that whole problem. But in a shocking twist it looks like Warner Bros have finally gone and pulled off that whole awkward course correction they tried to force with Aquaman. After that bizarre and overblown Atlantean adventure almost-mostly kind of working, they've actually gone at beaten Disney at their own game with a story that out-Marvels Captain Marvel. You see Shazam was once called Captain Marvel and there were rights issues... it's like a whole thing. It's not important, what matters is the resulting film isn't dull and badly structured. Instead it's irreverent, heartfelt and weirdly satisfying.

Review Roundup - The Man Who Laughs

JOKER (2019)

When this was announced my initial feelings were pretty cynical. After all there are certain things that really shouldn't be done, and an origin story for Batman's arch-nemesis is one of them. With Sony recently scrambling to put together a solo Venom story without Spider-Man, it seemed at the time as though they were racing with Warner Bros to see who could miss the point hardest. After all, these sorts of characters are usually dark reflections of their opponents and work best as foils. It also felt as though these studios were under the impression that dark and edgy meant profitable and they needed their own Logan or another Deadpool. Fortunately however in this case my concerns were not warranted, and the result is an engaging if predictable Elseworlds style tale.

Scorecard

SEPTEMBER

FILM OF THE MONTH Mulholland Drive ☆☆☆☆

Review Roundup - Neptune's Bounty

AD ASTRA (2019)

Time for a good old space movie. Which means plenty of cosmic big screen vistas, fiery launch sequences and people losing their tiny minds. This is simultaneously a film packed with ideas and events, while still still being strangely desolate and cold feeling. Which is about right for the genre. It's also a story full of ideas cribbed from other sources whether it's 2001 or Apocalypse Now. Does it manage to reach the lofty heights of these inspirations? Well, no. But it does manage to be occasionally thought provoking and hypnotic even if the plot is sometimes about as bumpy as the lunar surface. There are certainly some memorable moments along the way and it's an entertaining ride, but just how much of this all holds together as a singular voyage of discovery is debatable.

Monster Bites - Signal of Distress

GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002)
GODZILLA TOKYO S.O.S. (2003)

So this is a weird one, or a weird pairing at least. Of course it's clear that these are the only two films from the Millennium Godzilla series that fit together as one whole story. On the other hand they feel like the same movie being made twice. It's fun that they exist in a world in which the 1954 film events exist alongside various other Toho monsters. But then several characters established in the first story are jettisoned for the second resulting in a weird disconnect, making the goals of this combined narrative feel a little confused. I guess this sort of repeating cycle is to be expected with the studio still using the '60s and '70s for it's inspiration rather than introducing any original monsters.

Horror Bites - Brain Storm

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (1958)

This is certainly another case where the crazy name can't possibly live up to the film it's headlining, but as 1950s B-movies go this isn't too bad overall. Even the title card is super dramatic with exaggerated lighting bolt letters on the screen, desperately trying to sell the electrifying premise. But how to actually describe this? There's more than one fiend for a start, if you can describe them as such. I guess I'll just say it, since for better or worse this one sits under the dubious category of ... killer brain stories. Even within this decade of genre movies where scientific experiments often run amok, it's pretty silly. But that's okay too.

Review Roundup - California Dreamin'

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)

Quentin Tarantino's films generally fall into a few specific categories whether they're crime thrillers or Westerns, but his latest effort feels broader and less self contained. For better or worse this is an everything but the kitchen sink style effort, it's long and meandering, it's part comedy and part fiction meets period recreation. There may be some through-lines about washed up actors and real life celebrities at the end of an era but it's more of a patchwork of vignettes than any sort of lean narrative. Which means while his previous efforts may have felt loose and in need of a more ruthless editor this is by far his most sprawling tale. But how much of this really matters in terms of the overall entertainment factor is debatable.

Scorecard

AUGUST

FILM OF THE MONTH Escape From New York ☆☆☆☆

HCF Review - Warriors of the Wind

DETECTIVE DEE: FOUR HEAVENLY KINGS (2018)

If you like a mixture of Sherlock style detective work and effects fuelled wuxia action, then this is probably the series for you. Despite the ‘young’ part of the title being dropped this is actually a second prequel to the original Detective Dee adventure which means Mark Chao is back in place of the original version of the character portrayed by Andy Lau. But the title isn’t the strongest lead into this tale of magical assassins, a mystical weapons and mind control. The ‘Four Kings’ aren’t really part of the story at all, and feature as a backdrop during one brief action sequence.

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HCF Review - Back to Reality

I KILL GIANTS (2017)

Those looking for something a little different from the usual comic book movie fare look no further. This adaptation of Joe Kelly’s 2008 coming of age drama might still contain the kinds of magic spells, giant hammers and monolithic creatures you’re expecting, but make no mistake this is a far more grounded and melancholy tale. It does still boast a few intricate visual effects moments, however despite the mentions of Harry Potter producers as an advertising hook this isn’t another family friendly romp. While the movie does contain both fantasy spectacle sequences and a positive message for younger viewers, this is a harsh real life drama first and a monster slaying escapist fantasy second.

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HCF Review - Dimension Jump

ASH VS EVIL DEAD S3 (2018)

There we were… now here we are. After a few short years the entirety of Bruce and Sam’s return to the world of deadite decapitations and gushing blood geysers has come to an end once more. For a while it felt like everything was new again. Well as much as it can do for a show that went back to the past and dug up a few old favourites once last time. But ultimately after three fun seasons it’s somehow ended up the way things were in 1992… a post apocalypse finale that nobody wants to follow up on.

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Scorecard

JULY

FILM OF THE MONTH The Matrix ☆☆☆☆

Review Roundup - Mimic

CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019)

There's a lot to be said for franchise fatigue a decade into the Marvel Studios film run. Films that seem to have the same tone, the same visual effects and the same cinematography can be... exhausting. But since many of them are at least above average I can often let it slide. There's a lot to be said for simple and effective hero's journey style adventures; stories that are often both fun and satisfying to watch. But what happens when structure is lacking and the pacing leaves a lot to be desired? Unfortunately in what should have been a heightened cosmic adventure this instalment often feels flat and incredibly bland, settling for dry deserts and grey concrete instead of having otherworldly aspirations.

Monster Bits - Gas Panic

THE HUMAN VAPOR (1960)

If there are any recurring ideas in the classic Ishiro Honda back catalogue, it's that he loves to mix crime thrillers with science fiction. Whether it's Godzilla movies that use assassins like Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster or the jewellery heist meets creature feature Dogora, this sort of mix and match approach appears fairly often. He might enjoy international co-operation and relatable human struggles, but there are also a lot of crooks with sunglasses. This is a prime example of these two worlds colliding as a man subject to a shady experiment becomes an unstoppable bank robbing murderer called 'the gas-man'. It might be a well worn idea but it's execution is very solid.

HCF Review - The Orphanage

DREAM NO EVIL (1970)

Time for some more weird super ’70s stuff courtesy of Arrow’s American Horror Project, a series in which a variety of strange and obscure features have been curated for your viewing pleasure. In this instalment I’ll be covering the sinister fantasies of an orphaned girl with Dream No Evil. Perhaps not the most original idea ever to be put into a screenplay, but an adequate starting place for plenty of odd goings on. I suppose the inclusion of a travelling faith healer and a lot of bizarre moments along the way help. If only the rest of the plot wasn’t so very familiar, even before an intrusive narrator spells out every plot twist ahead of time…

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HCF Review - The Net

DEMONLOVER (2002)

The internet, like most aspects of computer technology, is always a problem for film makers in one way or another. Whether it’s the hardware itself being laughable or online services looking more like those obnoxious ‘you wouldn’t steal a car’ DVD warnings they rarely resemble real life. So while a corporate thriller depicting a business trading in adult entertainment might seem edgy and modern, there’s always a kind of artificial and dated vibe to the whole story. Still, leaving aside questions about how these increasingly fantastic websites actual operate this is a fairly engaging story about cut throat executives vying for authority. At least until its sense of reality starts to crumble elsewhere in the narrative.

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Scorecard

JUNE

FILM OF THE MONTH: Carry on Screaming ☆☆☆☆

Horror Bites - Stone Cold

THE GORGON (1964)

 
Part of the 2nd Great Cinematic Catharsis Hammer-Amicus Blogathon

After watching so many of these releases from Hammer over the years I've never really stopped to think why so many of them are set in a vaguely Victorian time period. Their attempts at depicting actual history and those films set in the modern day not withstanding of course. I guess it's just visual shorthand for spooky goings on and it probably saves money. Gothic scenery and fancy threads are always nice to see, don't get me wrong I'm not complaining. But this is a story about Greek mythology right? At least on the surface. Maybe a more ancient location would have made it stand out from the crowd, after all the studio had a hand in making at least a few fantasy films.

Monster Bites - ゴジラ

GODZILLA (1954)

So I guess it goes without saying, but the original Godzilla is a wholly different beast from anything that came before, or anything that would follow. As someone who usually writes about his later adventures and the many other colourful science fiction films from Toho in the 1960s, it's a viewing experience like no other. Even knowing what's to come on a re-watch it's never an entertaining film in the usual sense. It remains a down beat shock to the system after so many films about giant sea monsters versus giant space aliens. Even without looking at the real life tragedy of the crew of the Lucky Dragon No.5 there's something sombre about the whole film. On the surface it might resemble The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms in many ways, but it never feels the same for a variety of reasons.

Review Roundup - Sound and Fury

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019)

So here we are another year, another attempt to further a cinematic universe. And yet another attempt by Hollywood to make a Godzilla film. Things seemed to be on the right track when Kong: Skull Island injecting a much improved boost of visual clarity and style to the proceedings, and despite some dud performances it had a lot of character in all the other places that mattered. By combing the sense of scale brought to table by Gareth Edwards with the kind of monster mayhem Jordan Vogt-Roberts confidently delivered, surely this had to be a winner? Well there are certainly more creatures in the roster, but whether any of it comes together to be compelling is another question.

Review Roundup - Z-Day

OVERLORD (2018)

There are a lot of dubious movies out there mixing Second World War images with science fiction, whether the Third Reich is depicted building moon bases or zombie stormtroopers. There's a lot to choose from but very little in terms of quality, with most of it being firmly rooted in direct to video cheapness. Many other examples exist in the realms of electronic entertainment. But what can usually be achieved in a low budget film and what can be done with the latest Id Software game engine is usually leagues apart, and while I may enjoy an occasional blast through Castle Wolfenstein it's not really something that translates to the big screen. However in the right hands this all has potential for both horror thrills and action schlock, so let's take a look at how it fares.

Monster Bites - Monster Island

GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972)

AKA Earth Destruction Directive: Godzilla vs. Gigan. So it's been said that the movie prior to this was considered too weird and outlandish? Maybe it was all the disco dancing and animation in Godzilla vs Hedorah that made the studio suits at Toho think twice, but at least it was something different. Casual viewers could never say that it was another formulaic release at any rate, a complaint that is certainly true here. Despite a few odd moments this is about as cheap and by the numbers as it gets, with yet more aliens, and several monsters that have been on screen so often they're falling to pieces. In this case they're flogging not a dead horse, but poor old King Ghidorah.

Monster Bites - Fuel My Fire

GAMERA THE GIANT MONSTER (1965)

Gamera gets a bad rap in terms of movie monsters, particularly in the original run. I can't imagine why... but maybe it's something about all the cheaply produced sequels. Or the way they're aimed squarely at children. Or the dozens of videos and images available, mocking everything from the theme tune to his acrobatic antics. But surely the debut film avoids a lot of this at least? Well yes and no. This is a more sombre and destructive monster movie overall, but it does have a few questionable inclusions that stop it from being a true classic. But let's take things back to the start, to the Cold War, to a time before flying turtles shot across the big screen.

Horror Bites - Monster Mash

WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966)

AKA Frankenstein’s Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira. In the grand scheme of things this is a minor foot note in the Toho back catalogue; a weird pseudo sequel without any big name monsters. Sure it says 'Frankenstein' up there, but how it actually works as a follow up to Frankenstein vs Baragon is never clear since the idea of a direct follow up was dropped somewhere during production. There are only a few vague hints this is a continuation of a previous story but nothing solid is ever set out. Like Godzilla being resurrected through lighting in Ebirah or King Kong gaining electrical powers it's a weird situation, and that's without going into all the strange titles these films were given for the German market. But as ever it's not really that important as the results are fun anyway.

Horror Bites - Turtle Power

GAMERA 2: ADVENT OF LEGION (1996)

If I had to take a guess I'd say that the Biblical excerpt in the title might just be misquoted. Maybe that whole 'we are many' line refers to an actual horde, since it's one of those clichés that must be out of context most of the time when it appears on film... but it's probably not referring to a swarm of giant bugs. From space. But I digress, let's get to the second outing of Gamera in the reboot trilogy. Out of the three this is probably the best of them and for the genre it definitely holds up well. That is considering it's another story about a giant turtle with super powers which involves the staple ingredients of rubber suits, a lot of collateral damage, and a few ecological messages.

Scorecard

MAY

FILM OF THE MONTH: Southern Comfort ☆☆☆☆

HCF Review - Vice Makes a Visit

THE COMING OF SIN (1978)

Time for a bit of super-seventies euro-nonsense in the third part of Arrow’s José Larraz collection, a film which has many lurid titles to advise you of the narrative contents. In this instalment the excuse for all the skin on show isn’t psycho-thriller or vampire related but instead the occult, or at least I think that’s the idea. However for exploitation genre fans looking to pick up the trilogy this is probably the most lethargic and tepid inclusion despite a story of tarot, doomed romances and sinister uninvited guests. There’s a lot of talk about nightmares and the hands fate but there’s also a whole lot of melodrama.

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Monster Bites - Zero Hour

INVASION OF THE ASTRO-MONSTER (1964)

Okay now we're really starting to push things along at full throttle, right into the kitsch zone. If the Godzilla series hadn't already become pretty silly in the 1960s with cross-over movies and storylines about monsters from outer space, then this is where it all kind of solidifies. It's cheaper and it's gaudier and in a lot of ways this is a pretty redundant film. But it's still pretty entertaining for the most part and it has a lot of fans out there. Probably because it's full of UFOs and aliens wearing sunglasses. Or maybe it's just because it includes that part where Godzilla does a victory dance.

Horror Bites - Hollow Earth

X THE UNKNOWN (1956)

While Hammer would eventually make an official third entry in the Quatermass series, it's interesting that they had ideas of their own and tried to write another instalment themselves. The idea didn't pan out of course but the story is a spiritual successor in many ways, as well as being another clear sign of their movement towards horror films. It's not concerned with threats from outer space this time, but instead another story that leans into that other 1950s movie trend - atomic energy. The results perhaps still lack the kind of pacing and impact of their later technicolour efforts but it's still pretty entertaining stuff. The film might be a little dry but it still offers some B-movie fun and occasional shock value.

Horror Bites - Mother of Sighs

SUSPIRIA (2018)

It's an odd thing to be excited to see a remake, particularly when the excitement is coming from me and the remake is a beloved classic I hold dear to my heart. Or something like that. But why mess with perfection just to use an existing name? Particularly when the original isn't a mainstream horror icon in the usual sense. Dario Argento and John Carpenter might go hand in hand in the dark corners of the world of horror cinema fans but there's a reason only one of them suffers frequent remakes. Still, the buzz was strangely positive and the details, while seeming very familiar, were being mixed with fresh ideas. At least on the outside. Under the surface things are far less interesting.

Scorecard

APRIL

FILM OF THE MONTH Finally, Sunday! ☆☆☆☆

Review Roundup - Stone Protectors

AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)

To paraphrase Commando... this was the last time. Until next time? Well I'd hardly say no chance since Marvel Studios has however many decades of material lined up, but this really is an ending of sorts. Not to the entire franchise, but a nice satisfying conclusion to just about everything from Iron Man in 2008 up to now. It's also a three hour movie about heroes dealing with loss, heroes having their resolves tested and of course heroes making quips and punching things. It's certainly an action packed bonanza of epic proportions that will leave fans satisfied, but at the same time it's a monolithic film with a lot of shifts in tone and a lot of characters to cover. Like the previous chapter in the story it's one big balancing act, and with a few exceptions it generally succeeds.

Monster Bites - Mysterious Islands

SON OF GODZILLA (1967)

Okay here we go... time for some absurd noise. In more ways than one. Of course not many releases in this series, or the Toho line-up as a whole, are particularly sombre. But your mileage may vary here depending on your thoughts about the classic Godzilla franchise and whether you think making light of the title character is a big deal or not. For all those fans who want to debate whether the big guy is a father, a mother, or just an adoptive parent, there will be others who see this purely as a lurid monster comedy. Some get pretty defensive about it all, as if they need to defend Godzilla's stoicism for some reason, but personally I'm of the mindset that this is complete nonsense and should be treated as such.

Monster Bites - The Ominous Star

GORATH (1962)

Time to take a trip into science fiction b-movie madness with yet another Ishiro Honda film. This one might be more along the lines of When Worlds Collide than anything else, but I still have to cover it here. They do manage to sneak in a hilarious arctic creature feature moment during the third act, because why wouldn't they, but this is more of an Earth versus outer space itself kind of story. A story in which they decide that to avoid a rogue planet destroying humankind they have to... move the Earth out of the way. But the tone isn't entirely ludicrous by any means and this is generally a sombre effort that is often concerned with collecting together scientific minds and making noble sacrifices for the good the world.

Monster Bites - New Mutants

GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE (1989)

For a change of pace (well in terms of approach rather than subject matter) I thought it was time to return to monster mayhem, but also to reappraise a few entries in the Godzilla series. You see these are films that I was pretty lukewarm about initially when viewing them several years prior to this. But they're instalments that fans often bring up when talking about their favourites in the franchise. So I thought what the hell, why not do a double bill of sci-fi nonsense and see if I was more invested than I remember being in the past. To cut a long story short... a good time was had by all.

Review Roundup - Warlords of Atlantis

AQUAMAN (2018)

Time for a superhero movie, just for a change. In this case everyone's least remembered barbarian Jason Momoa as Aquaman, or Arthur to his friends. See this is what I would classify as an exercise in over-indulgence. Not in the dark and grey Man of Steel sense but in a wild and ridiculous adventure sense. It's bloated and messy and often contains way too many neon laser blasting armour costumes, but at the same time this feels like an all or nothing effort with a lot of creative energy. There's also a lot of cheese. It's not a film that I would really call good... but one that I still found myself enjoying for one reason or another.

Review Roundup - Annual Thing

2018 CATCH UP - PART FOUR

So this late entry to the annual review catchup comes at a stage when I've kind of become tired with keeping tabs of all the newer releases and yet somehow I still feel the need to push forward. Which is kind of appropriate since all of these are sequels, with some starting to feel unwarranted. Some are definitely more tired and embarrassing than others. They're all follow ups to releases that I've enjoyed which fuels a certain level of bias but at the same time it's fair to consider how much they stand alone and work in their own right as entertainment. As someone once said it's not over 'til it's over...