SilentLuminary Reviews

  Genre: Action/Drama               Time: 1h 50mins               Director:  Anna Foerster Quick Summary:  A young girl is kidnapped during a powerful storm. Her mother joins forces with her mysterious neighbour to set off in pursuit of the kidnapper. Their journey will test their limits and expose the dark secrets of their past. One of the things that stood out to me with Lou was just how gritty  the film looks. Even though the film is set in the 1980s, the film wisely avoids becoming a blast of nostalgia and really only uses 80s iconography when appropriate and in context rather than reminding you every few minutes as some films set in the decade have been guilty of. This was honestly really refreshing as it gets rather tiring when films constantly direct your attention to something from a previous decade to say, "hey you remember this right???"   Allison Janney is really good as L...

  Genre: Horror/Thriller                    Time: 1h 51mins               Director:  David Gordon Green Quick Summary:  This is Laurie Strode's last stand. After 45 years, the most acclaimed, revered horror franchise in film history reaches its epic, terrifying conclusion as Laurie Strode faces off for the last time against the embodiment of evil, Michael Myers, in a final confrontation unlike any captured on-screen before. Only one of them will survive. I'm so glad it ended. This movie is not about Michael, nor is it about Laurie. Instead, this movie is about Corey Cunningham, a babysitter accused of murdering a child he babysat. The people of Haddonfield have cast him out, and a lot of this movie is about him and his struggles. He strikes up a romantic relationship with Laurie’s granddaughter Allyson, and somehow, he feels like the protagonist for a while. It was interesting I...

  Genre: Horror/Sc-fi                         Time: 2h 10mins                         Director:  Jordan Peele Quick Summary:  Two siblings running a horse ranch in California discover something wonderful and sinister in the skies above, while the owner of an adjacent theme park tries to profit from the mysterious, otherworldly phenomenon. Nope places emphasis on smart camerawork over quick, witty dialogue in its bid to make audiences fear what lurks in the dark.  Not only does this give the film its main theme, but feels like Jordan Peele is telling us what we are in store for immediatly.  Daniel Kaluuya has been one of the most fascinating and entraining actors of the last few years and yet again he is given the opportunity to show his range. His previous performance in Jordan Peele’s debut film Get Out put him on the map a...

  Genre: Action/Horror               Time: 2hours               Director:  Stephen Norrington Quick summary:  Blade, who is part vampire and part mortal, becomes a vampire hunter to protect human beings. He prevents vampires from taking control over the human race. Full of hyper-action from start to finish, this is a kinetic mix of impressive stunts and inventive shots. This really set the bar high straight away. Even over twenty years later, the film has a lot of energy and a story that keeps moving.  The movie plays fast and loose with “infected” vs. “born” vampires and how the virus is passed etc., but largely it just keeps it fun and full of martial arts action and shooting.     The acting is very comic book-like.  All the characters are bigger than life.  Wesley Snipes plays stunningly and delivers his lines with bravado but that is how many of the goofy lines nee...

  Genre: Action/Sc-fi                Time: 1h 52mins               Director:  Louis Leterrier Quick Summary: Dr Bruce Banner subjects himself to high levels of gamma radiation which triggers his transformation into a huge green creature, the Hulk, whenever he experiences negative emotions such as anger. Structurally, The Incredible Hulk is a fairly straightforward superhero movie. While it is not an "origin story" in the strictest sense, it functions as one in the way it must introduce characters, establish situations and relationships, and open a series. As a result of so much backstory, there's not a lot of room for a complex plot. So the principal villain remains half-formed and the storyline as a whole revolves around three confrontations between the Hulk and this nemesis. Acting is generally strong. Norton plays a likeable, down-to-earth Bruce Banner, with Liv Tyler portraying cellul...

  Genre: Drama/Music                    Time: 1h 47mins                Director:  Damien Chazelle Quick summary: Andrew enrols in a music conservatory to become a drummer. But he is mentored by Terence Fletcher, whose unconventional training methods push him beyond the boundaries of reason and sensibility. Whiplash covers all the bases of dedication and ambition. Still, it blurs the line between humiliation and idolization through a long-term battle of mutual and self-respect between teacher and student.  All throughout the film, there is so much heavy tension and you really feel that as the camera chooses to get up close shots of the actors so they feel in your own personal space, and suffocated by them. This is a little different because it doesn’t have sub-plots like most films. It’s a film primarily about drumming. The narrative is very clear from the outset, this ...

  Genre: Action/ Superhero               Time: 2h 5mins               Director:  Jon Favreau Quick Summary: Tony Stark is under pressure from various sources, including the government, to share his technology with the world. He must find a way to fight them while also tackling his other enemies. It’s safe to say that Robert Downey Jr. didn’t somehow lose his touch with the character in the two years between films and is once again the star shining brightly. His snark in the movie was great, and the dialogue is what made this film semi-watchable. Along with the introduction of both Black Widow and War Machine, Iron Man 2’s narrative feels bloated, with an awful lot going on. For most of the film, the three separate stories are interwoven nicely together, although the final fight with Vanko feels a little predictable and cliched.  If I’m honest, Black Widow is a little under-utilized here a...

  Genre: Horror/ Comedy               Time: 1h 25mins               Director:  McG Quick Summary: A 12-year-old Cole finds out his beloved babysitter belongs to a murderous satanic cult of teenagers. Cole must put his crush for his baby sitter aside and escape their grasp before they sacrifice him for personal gain. In this movie, the attempts at humour and horror alike were a hit in the 80s but lands with a deadly thud. The Script is so dull and kinda cringe it is hard to want to focus, with it constantly slapping you with what is going on and the  dialogue never exceeds the awful half-hearted actors that don't seem that engaged either.  The characters start sounding fake and this only worsens as the movie goes on. It’s difficult at times to put your finger on exactly what type of film this wants to be because it’s all over the place, but at least it doesn't take itself seriously. T...

  Genre: Action/Superhero          Time: 1h 50mins               Director:  Cathy Yan Quick summary:  After being thrown out in the streets by Joker, Harley struggles to pick herself up. However, Harley teams up with Huntress, Black Canary and Renee Montoya to defeat a gangster and protect a girl. This is a wild pinball nature of a ride narrated by the wacky Harley Quinn and man it works so well.  First of all Margot Robbie as Harley was the best choice they could have ever made. She gives you a crazy, fun and brilliant performance as she captures Harley's nature. She works well with other characters whilst being the main focus in every scene she is in, never falling into the background. Every time she is on screen something funny happens and it always lands. Something else I really liked is that they showed Harley isn't dumb, she is still mentally as smart as she was before she met Joker way back when ...

  Genre: Crime/ Thriller               Time: 1h 32mins          Director:  Charlie McDowell Quick Summary: A man breaks into a tech billionaire's empty vacation home, but things go sideways when the arrogant mogul and his wife arrive for a last-minute getaway. This is a beautifully shot film that is very inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, but sadly it falls flat by being too dialogue driven. There are relatively few big confrontation scenes, nearly no attempts at escape, and at no point is there any action. Some of Windfall’s earlier parts are played almost for comedy. I didn't really care for that too much if I'm honest. I liked the suspense parts but they really dragged on sometimes. It was just suspense on top of suspense that added more suspense which doesn't really lead to anything.  Nobody is named either, but they manage to get through it as it never creates confusion and is very clever with how it wo...

  Genre: Thriller/Mystery /Horror            Time: 1h 36mins               Director: David Koepp Quick Summary: A writer moves to his lakeside cabin to find solitude. However, a psychotic stalker blames him for plagiarising his work and refuses to leave him alone. This film is absolutely CARRIED by Johnny Depp, the rest of it is alright.  The film starts off very strong and sets the bar a bit too high for the rest of it to follow. The film’s opening shot is brilliant, with the camera travelling up to the main character's lonely cabin in the woods and entering a second-floor window before passing through a full-length mirror, making it seem like we are looking directly at them, before panning and settling effortlessly on our protagonist fully.  It kinda drags for the first half of the film if I'm honest, you're waiting for something to happen. When the story kicks in somewhere at the ...

  Genre: Musical/Family               Time: 1hr 38mins          Director: Jim Henson Quick summary:  When Lady Holiday's invaluable diamond necklace gets stolen, Kermit and Fozzie are sent to London to interview her and find the culprit. But Kermit falls in love with the accused. As much as I love the muppets, this one kinda missed the mark a bit but I still find it very enjoyable. The Great Muppet Caper is a true sequel, in that it really attempts to build on what came before. The musical numbers are more significant, the story is more ambitious, and the technological sleight-of-hand is even more advanced (Kermit and Miss Piggy ride bikes together and this is captured in a medium shot in which you can see their whole bodies pedalling the bikes along! It’s even longer than the bike scene in The Muppet Movie!) I love the plot structure in this and how meta the characters are. It isn't simply a case of puppeteers p...