TheCity

Tag: movie

  • Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters Afterlife movie review

    Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters Afterlife movie review

    By Christopher O’Flaherty

    Image via Flickr

    Ghostbusters afterlife is a mix between 1980’s nostalgia and the power of modern cinema. The director Jason Reitman lives up to his father’s original 1984 Ghostbusters movie with this soon to be classic nostalgia trip down memory lane. McKenna Grace steals the show as Phoebe — a young aspiring scientist, the granddaughter of one of the original ghostbusters, Dr Egon Spengler. McKenna Grace does a fantastic job portraying a young child who is not too sure what to do with herself.

    The movie starts off at an excellent pace. Throws you right into the deep end and immediately introduces us to the incredible technology that we will be seeing a lot of in this movie. By the time the first 30 minutes of this movie are up. We have been introduced to all the main characters and developed their relationships with each other. A very hard thing to accomplish but Jason Reitman does a fantastic job not boring us with unnecessary nonsense. We want to see some ghosts being busted. That is what we are here for.

    Now let’s talk about the casting. Logan Kim as Podcast was excellent casting. He’s funny, he’s different all while not being annoying. He has a love for conspiracy theories and mysteries, so it makes him quite the character and he grew to be one of my favourites throughout the film. Podcast and Phoebes friendship is one you love to see blossom through the movie.

    Gary Grooberson, played by Paul Rudd, plays the teacher that teaches summer school. He acts as a sort of help tool for the audience as he explains all the past Ghostbuster tech to the kids, this helps people who have never seen Ghostbusters before understand all the references to the past films. Paul Rudd played the part very well and I only wish I saw more of him in the movie. 

    Trevor was played by The Stranger Things star, Finn Wolfhard. Finn did a fantastic t job playing the teenage brother to Phoebe. He’s embarrassed by his mother, he gets into a little bit of trouble and would do a little too much to impress a girl. 

    Speaking of the teenage girl. Lucky played by Celeste O’Connor is quite frankly. A boring character. Her dad is a cop but there’s never any story there and doesn’t play any major part in the plot. She kind of feels like she’s there so that Finn Wolfhard’s character has a love interest. She’s just very one dimensional. Celeste O’Connor did the best she could with the script she was given. Just comes down to a poorly written character.

     Another poorly written character was Carrie Coon as the mother, Callie. A character with so much potential, but the writing just falls short. Callie is quite frankly dull. She pretends to not know anything about her father for the majority of the film as if she never knew who he even was. She knew exactly who he was but just decided to lie to her kids and have absolutely no idea what’s going on. It’s weird writing and a character with so much potential was wasted.

    Now, the absolute star of the show who really makes this film shine. McKenna Grace as Phoebe. Oh, my days she smashed it. She stole the show with every scene she was in. Her hyper-intelligence really portrays how brilliant she is, but it never comes across as a know-it-all or at all annoying. She was funny, relatable and just amazing. No complaints there, what an amazing actress.

    One of the most loved parts of the original Ghostbusters movies from the ’80s was the action scenes. They were cool, fun and creative. Ghostbusters Afterlife delivers this in spades. Action scenes are exciting and well-directed and incredibly fun to watch. The action starts pretty early on in the movie, at about the 30-45 minutes mark. The best part? The action does not slow down. There is this amazing car chase scene with ECTO-1 that is by far the best action scene in the movie. It is fantastic to see the Ghostbusters with modern-day CGI.

    Ghostbusters is notorious for also being very funny. Ghostbusters Afterlife has its moments. Paul Rudd kills it every time he is on screen with his witty retorts and smart attitude. Logan Kim as Podcast is by far the funniest character. Although comedy is frequent it does leave room for the spookier and more serious side of Ghostbusters.

    I wouldn’t say this movie is scary, but I also wouldn’t say the original Ghostbusters is scary. This movie has more of a creepiness to it. Object floating around the air. Chess pieces move by themselves. Small things that make the movie better while also making sure it’s not pretending to be a horror movie.

    Overall, I loved this movie. I walked out of the theatre only wanting more. It’s a fun, humorous, exciting Ghostbuster’s movie and I cannot wait to see what will be done in the future. If you liked the original Ghostbuster movie from 1984, you’ll love this. If you’ve never seen Ghostbusters before, you will also love it. 

    Final Rating: 8.5/10

  • Overlord is a ghoulish Nazi horror but feels undercooked

    Overlord is a ghoulish Nazi horror but feels undercooked

    Overlord: a decent action-based horror; a bad horror; an okay movie. It’s exceptionally average in many respects. A soldier named Boyce, portrayed by Jovan Adepo, finds himself a soldier in Operation Overlord and, more specifically, the D-Day landings of World War II. After becoming separated from his fellow troops after parachuting from a flaming plane, Boyce makes contact with three others who had jumped alongside him. One of them is Corporal Ford, played by Wyat Russell. Ford promptly takes control of the situation and the small group are soon being led to a nearby French village by a young French woman named Chloe (who is played by Mathilde Ollivier).

    The central characters mentioned above don’t contribute much more than who they might be described as on paper, Overlord seldom delivers a moment that can be taken very seriously. A plot can be flawed but augmented by interesting characters. However, this isn’t the case in Overlord. Wyatt Russell cast as some kind of commanding force with a touch of rogue just isn’t a good fit. It feels downright contrived every time he attempts to convey stoic heroism.

    Russell might have been suited to the more similar personality of Boyce rather than the Corporal. Having said that, Jovan Adepo did a good job as the innocent Boyce and was probably the most believable character, so realistically, Russell probably just shouldn’t be in this movie.

    MV5BMTg4NzM0OTkxNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTkyMTkzNjM@._V1_SX1500_CR0,0,1500,999_AL_
    Boyce is the young, earnest protagonist who stumbles across the sadistic Nazi experiments // IMDb

    The plot surrounds a subject no one in the world isn’t familiar with: the Nazis are conducting secret, inhumane experiments. And apparently, they’re also doing this near an incredibly obvious point of invasion for the allies. Not that there was any kind of method to gauge the timescale of the movie, but unless the audience was being heavily led astray, the main protagonist jumped from a plane, met three other people and was led to the location of sadistic experiments, which absolutely would hold the potential for turning the tide of the entire war, all on the same night. There’s a thin line for the Nazis between high levels of confidence and stupidity being very fast breached by the front line of the allied forces in this movie.

    Another major quarrel with this film is that as a horror movie, it simply isn’t scary. There’s rarely a moment of tension during any attempt to set up even the most predictable of jump scares, which are usually a poor excuse for not having something scary to begin with. Horror movies are unique in that they can be, in probably too many cases, stripped back to reveal an absurd plot line and sometimes the actors aren’t all that they should be, but given the genre, sometimes people don’t really care about those things because it’s just a thrill to feel freaked out, and that’s fine. The glaring problem here is presenting none of the above, and then failing to do what it says on the spooky tin.

    MV5BMjE5Nzc0NDcyMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDEzMTkzNjM@._V1_SX1500_CR0,0,1500,999_AL_
    Wyatt Russell plays the often cliched Corporal Ford, showing glimpses of his father during the more action-packed scenes // IMDb

    There is definitely some gruesome, unsettling imagery, and this is especially true for the horrific creatures which are seen all too briefly towards the end of the film. But the movie’s failure to capitalise on the creepiest elements is frustrating. It’s a waste of time if the main premise of the film is almost ignored entirely. To top this off, Overlord has too many moments that can only be described as comedy relief. But there is no relief if the audience isn’t tense to begin with. It actually borders on being annoying and ultimately portrays the characters as being less serious. If done right, comedy can be a great way to control the pace of a horror movie and allow the audience a moment to breathe in between scares; it can lure the viewer into a false sense of security only to pay it off by exploiting that feeling later on.

    There’s nothing wrong with simplicity. In fact, it might be an underrated virtue in cinema, but Overlord is a boring movie because it doesn’t cover what makes even a simple story interesting or unique. It takes its time in all the wrong places and, as a result, doesn’t really keep the audience on the edge of their seats long enough to be let down by the horror that never quite makes it onto the big screen by the end.

    MV5BMTk1ODUzMTk2M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODkyMTkzNjM@._V1_SX1500_CR0,0,1500,999_AL_
    Game of Thrones’ Pilou Asbæk continues his impressive knack of truly immersing himself as a hideous villain // IMDb

     

  • Suspiria remake has flashes of brilliance but feels like a missed opportunity

    Suspiria remake has flashes of brilliance but feels like a missed opportunity

    Remakes tend to be emblematic of Hollywood’s general creative malaise. Some hot shot, studio hack director is brought in to regurgitate an old franchise you never much liked in the first place. That’s the pessimist’s view. But if you have a capacity for hope, you could view remakes as an opportunity for reinvention. Especially if they are filtered through the perspective of an exciting cinematic voice.

    With that in mind, we come to director Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 Giallo horror, Suspiria. The original, and this new version, both tell the story of a young woman, Susie Bannion, who is accepted into a dance academy in West Berlin. A skilled dancer, she wins over the academy director, Madame Blanc, and is welcomed into a new, darkly seductive world. But there is danger lurking just beneath the surface at the academy, and a previous student, who has recently gone missing, had been raving about a dark conspiracy involving a coven of witches …

    Argento’s original was notable for its distinctive visual flair, as well as its striking scenes of violence, and has been hailed as an influential film within the horror canon. But the original’s style is noticeably dated, and Guadignino, the director of this new iteration, is hot off a career-high success – his last film, Call Me by Your Name was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one for best screenplay. So surely, this 2018 reimagining of Suspiria has the necessary ingredients to be the optimist’s idea of a remake.

    MV5BMTcwMDk2OTM4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDg4ODI2NjM@._V1_
    Suspiria’s sharp, emphatic dances are some of the film’s most satisfying scenes // IMDb

    Well, yes and no. As a director, Guadignino has recurring motifs that he likes to explore in his films, namely relationships, intimacy and the human body. These were explored in both Call Me by Your Name, and his previous effort, A Bigger Splash. And in his version of Suspiria, he stays true to form, for better or worse.

    Suspiria’s effective moments come from scenes involving the human body in movement. There are some great, visually arresting scenes featuring the academy’s dancers at work. The camera and the sounds chop and snap with the dancer’s movements, vividly bringing the scenes to life. This visual flair is also present for the film’s supernatural violence. The gore isn’t constant in this version, but when it strikes, it strikes hard. One particular scene is so remorselessly bone twisting, it will have the most grizzled horror veteran wincing.

    The film’s presentation is generally impeccable. There are some nightmare sequences dotted through the film, and they are perfect dread-inducing nightmare fuel. Even little touches like the film’s evolving act cards add to the film’s generally pristine visual quality. The performances – notably the film’s two main characters, played by previous Guadagnino collaborators Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton – are all excellent to a person.

    MV5BMjI3NjQ5MTA1MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzg4ODI2NjM@._V1_
    Dakota Johnson’s plays Susie Bannion, a talented, ingénue dancer // IMDb

    But while the film has plenty of style and pedigree, it suffers from a general lack of focus. Unless you’re telling a sprawling story, horror should be lean and direct, and the scares and violence should serve a story. This version of Suspiria feels meandering. In fairness, that’s the director’s style; he likes his stories to have a naturalistic, freewheeling quality. But for horror, concision is key. The film also tries to add unnecessary subtext – detailing the wider situation in Germany at the time of the narrative – and a needless subplot involving a character’s tragic romantic past. A historical romance subplot, no matter how expertly crafted, just feels odd in a film like this. Add this to the inflated run time, and the overall experience suffers greatly.

    Suspiria’s qualities, and its problems, seem like a byproduct of the director’s creative vision meshing with the content and style of the original film. In other words, Guadagnino’s eye for effective visuals and stirring moments are let down by his preoccupation with human relationships, worsened by lethargic and unfocused pacing. This creative disconnect weighs down an already bloated experience. And while there is a lot to like in this new take on Suspiria, it lacks the merciless bite of a truly great horror.

  • ‘One Million Dubliners’ Review

    ‘One Million Dubliners’ Review


    Aoife Kelleher’s One Million Dubliners is a beautiful homage to the people of Glasnevin Cemetery – living and dead.

    Resident historian Shane MacThomáis, the obvious star of the show, is our guide throughout the documentary.

    With great wit, he tells the stories of Parnell, de Valera, Collins, Markievicz, Behan and the many other 19th and 20th century heroes buried here. He recalls the stories of ordinary Dubliners too, with equal charisma and passion.

    There are more people under the ground at Glasnevin than walking the streets of Dublin today. That neat little sum is plugged throughout the film as proof that the cemetery serves as Ireland’s national burial grounds; modern Irish history can be mapped out simply by the names and ailments listed on the death register.

    As we quickly learn, Michael Collins’ grave draws the most interest from visitors. He gets flowers for Valentine’s Day (while de Valera gets none).

    We meet the “mysterious” Frenchwoman who regularly visits to place roses by Collins’ graveside. She has fallen in love with him (or rather, Liam Neeson’s portrayal of him in the eponymous biopic). She vows never to marry because no man can live up to Collins.

    Far from being the oddball we might expect, the woman actually offers a unique insight into our devotion to heroes and how we celebrate the lives of the dead.

    Her Vietnamese friend offers the best quote of the film: People are not truly dead “until the day I forget them”.

    What really makes the film is the chirpy cast of characters: the florists; the gravediggers; the funeral director. They guide us through the history of the cemetery, with MacThomáis at the helm.

    Kelleher beautifully captures the spirit of Dublin and explores the mysteries and sadness of death without being over sentimental.

    Footage of the Angels Memory Garden, the resting place of thousands of stillborn infants, makes for the most difficult viewing. Such tragedies have affected many families in Ireland and Kelleher handles this sensitive topic with such care.

    One Million Dubliners is naturally very moving and emotive, but it also bluntly answers some unspoken questions: What happens to the body when it is cremated? How does a gravedigger go about his work? Do funeral directors harden to death?

    A must-see, One Million Dubliners will get you thinking about the big questions — and it will lift your spirits

    One Million Dubliners is showing at the Light House Cinema until November 27 or catch it on the RTÉ Player

  • Nightcrawler Movie Review

    Nightcrawler Movie Review

    NIGHTCRAWLER is a well directed, heart-pounding, pulse-throbbing crime thriller that’s storyline is the first of its kind to be transformed into a blockbuster movie.

    The suspenseful story acts as a mirror to what’s happening in reality in the realm of broadcast media and freelance journalism, with individuals stepping up to the mark and providing self-generated content.

    Set in downtown Los Angeles, the film centres on a ruthless thief named Louis ‘Lou’ Bloom who is desperate for a job and who is tremendously tired of showcasing his worth only to be rejected by potential employees.

    Deciding that a path of self-employment is the better option, Bloom sets out to stand on his own two feet and so he turns his hand to freelance journalism.

    Capturing the horrifying scenes of barbaric crimes committed in the heart of LA is no reason for Bloom to bat an eye-lid and soon the social outsider looks at his new interest as a calling and works towards being the epitome of success.

    With an impressive bank account and a bulging contacts book in sight, Bloom befriends as many people as possible to help reach the top of his game and he has no remorse in trampling on those who have aided his progress.

    Lou shows no empathy towards victims of terrible acts of violence or road traffic collisions and hijackings. For Lou, these people are merely objects he can cash in on.

    Rated 16 and lasting a total of 117 minutes, Jake Gyllenhaal plays the character of Louis Bloom and delivers a killer performance. Gyllenhaal effortlessly illustrates how adaptable he is as an actor as he performs his role as a sociopath to perfection.

    Directed by American screenwriter Dan Gilroy, best known for The Bourne Legacy (2012), this drama contains scenes of violence but nothing that is worthy of cringing at with your parents.

    Though the movie succeeded in entertaining the viewer and showcases one of Hollywood’s ‘beauts’, it is slightly dragged out with unnecessary scenes that could have been left for the blubbers or deleted scenes of the DVD set.

  • The Drop Movie Review

    The Drop is a thriller set in Brooklyn, which sees Tom Hardy play the role of Bob the barkeeper alongside his cousin Marv, played by James Gandolfini, who owns the bar. We learn from bitter conversations that the bar has now changed ownership to the Cechen gangsters of the neighbourhood, who took the bar over to act as a “drop bar.” This means that the bar is used as a location to drop and exchange dirty money out of sight of policemen.

    Hardy proves himself to be an extremely versatile actor, starring alongside the late James Gandolfini, in Dennis Lehane’s first adaption of his very own short story. As we are brought into a spiralling world of crime and violence, we learn that Marv seems to fancy himself as a tough guy while Bob is more the unwilling partner. But as they say blood is thicker than water and Bob stays beside his cousin but isn’t as innocent as he seems. He attends the local church, but never takes communion, letting on that there is more to his story then just being a simple barkeep.

    As the characters’ own stories begin to unfold, a robbery takes place at the bar. And Chovka, the leading gangster, is not happy. He wants his money back immediately, and indicates that the responsibility of this stolen cash is now on the two cousin’s heads.

    Whilst all this sets up the main action plot, another sub plot unfolds.  Bob finds a beaten-up pit-bull puppy in a woman’s trash can. Bob and this woman, Nadia, played by Noomi Rapace, strike up a friendship. As he learns about the animal and begins to love it, the original owner shows up and demands his dog back, but Bob refuses. The stranger starts harassing Bob, pranking him and threatening him, leaving Bob in a fragile and watchful state.

    As all these different plots begin to thicken and all the characters begin to tell their own stories, we learn that everything is not as it seems. Some things are connected in unexpected ways and Hardy, in probably one of his best roles to date, has no problem keeping the audience guessing. As Bob’s character begins to darken Hardy’s performance is captivating.

    The Drop gives the audience a strong, gritty, dark atmosphere where a sense of dread is felt at all times. This is a film that where the plot twists and turns in unforeseen ways. As for James Gandolfini, plays Marv, the man who feels he had his big dreams ripped away, perfectly. As Gandolfini’s last acting role before his death it he showcases his pinnacle of talent when it comes to playing what he knows best as the misunderstood tough guy who will keep you on your toes. The combination of Hardy and Gandolfini together brings nothing but pure movie magic.

     

  • Dracula Untold Movie Review

     

    IT’S that time of the year again when a whack of horror movies appear in cinemas nationwide, delivering graphic images of blood-thirsty creatures, possessed individuals, and dark magic.

    Image: Alvaro Tapia http://bit.ly/1tX9P1v
    Image: Alvaro Tapia http://bit.ly/1tX9P1v

    Dracula Untold is a ‘spook-tacular’ film that sets the ‘stakes’ high in the lead up to Halloween with its ability to both haunt and entertain the anxious viewer.

    The dark fantasy re-introduces the history and origins of Dracula and Vlad the Impaler. Its modern take alongside the use of state-of-the-art costumes and props, crafts this movie into the success that it is.

    However, at some points, the supposedly spine-chilling vampires end up looking like disturbed zombies.

    Dracula Untold tells the tale of a strong prince named Vlad the Impaler who rules over a small Transylvania kingdom with his wife and son and who allows no harm to come to his district and its inhabitants.

    However, the peace is short-lived when a warlord called Mehmed, the Sultan of Turkey, demands 1000 Transylvanian boys including the prince’s son. Mehmed sees it as an obligation and has strict plans for the boys.

    Vlad quickly realises that the only way to protect his people is by defeating Mehmed and his army of men. The clock is ticking and Vlad does not have the powers and resources he needs. That is, until he comes face to face with the monster every man fears.

    The casting of Dracula Untold seems to have been done with precision as Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, and Dominic Cooper are superb for their roles and play their characters to perfection.

    Lasting a total of 92 minutes, Dracula Untold is not the lengthiest film to be released this year but, in this case, any longer and the movie would have been dragged out.

    Rated 15a and directed by Irishman and Dubliner Gary Shore, this is the perfect movie for those seeking a bit of horror without the usual jumpy and frightfully sinister insertions.