He said wherever i went, he would find me...and I wouldn't be able to see him (The Invisible Man 2020)

258.

The Invisible Man

7/10

Back onto the horror route and The Invisible Man was intended to be part of the Dark Universe that was being set up and ultimately failed with Tom Cruise's The Mummy and everything was forgotten about. This is a remake from the movies in the '30s where a scientist finds a way to become invisible and goes on a murderous rampage. I actually remember watching them years and years ago but can only remember who the invisible man himself was depicted. Our damsel in distress is called Cecilia Kass, played by Elisabeth Moss, who I have witnessed in Us but would be recognisable for a lot of others from The Handmaiden's tale. Who we are looking at as the main perpetrator is going to be played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, called Adrian Griffin and if it wasn't for me recently watching The Haunting of Hill House, I would have no idea who he is. Let's get into the movie and hope this isn't just a no show for the Monster Universe.
The movie starts in the middle of the night. Cecilia is sneaking about, bagging some items and ultimately trying to escape the house of Adrian, who she is in an abusive relationship with. She has set up the escape with her sister who comes to pick her up in the middle of the woods and even with a last-ditch attempt by Adrian, Cecelia is away.

 Hiding out with her childhood friend James, who is a detective and his daughter, she is seemingly safe, even if she doesn't feel it. Months later, Adrian commits suicide and leaves millions to Cecelia in a will that is handled by the lawyer who is also Adrian's brother. As time moves on, Cecelia is trying to move forward but with some unexplained events, she feels that there is an unknown presence in the house. She has a job interview, but collapses and the doctors find a high amount of substance in her system. This is the same substance she used the night she escaped from Adrian and one returning home, she finds the same bottle on her bathroom countertop. She had left the bottle behind during that last-ditch attempt to stop her by Adrian.
After having enough, Cecelia sets up a meeting with her friend James and the brother of Adrian, Tom. Passing across her concerns, she is put in her place and made to sound like a crazy woman. She believes that Adrian faked his death, used her expertise in science and optics and is now tormenting her. Instead, Cecelia now turns to his sister, who isn't best pleased as seemingly, Cecelia has emailed her abuse and saying that she never wants to see her again. Back home, Cecelia is talking to Sydney, James' daughter, until she is hit with an unseen force and James, along with Sydney thinks it was Cecelia with her spiralling craziness. The father and daughter combo leave as Cecelia tries several tactics to capture this figure and after finding Adrian's old phone in her attic, she covers the figure in paint and escapes with her life.

 Heading to Adrian's old home, she works her way down to his secret basement and finally finds the suit that makes someone invisible. She once again gets to meet with her sister Emily at a restaurant to explain her findings. Doesn't go to plan though as Mr. Invisable slits Emily's throat and places the knife in Cecelia's hand. Before we know it, she's in the nuthouse.
The doctors have confirmed to Cecelia that she is, in fact, pregnant, to her shock as whilst she was with Adrian, she would take contraception tablets. This means that it has happened since she escaped. Tom turns up with a plan, but it's not a plan that Cecelia would like to hear. He will get her charges dropped if she returns to Adrian and raises the baby. To her shock of maybe that fact that she was right, or that Tom was in on it all along, she still rejects the deal but manages to steal a pen from Tom. That night, she uses the pen to falsely attempt suicide to draw the invisible figure out and when the figure tries to stop her, she stabs it enough times to cause a malfunction. As the security team shows up, this invisible figure turns into some sort of beast. That's just a description though, what I mean is that he takes everyone on, killing or incapacitating everyone that it comes up against and escapes, closely followed by Cecelia. The figure actually speaks and says that it doesn't want to hurt Cecelia due to the baby but is happy to harm the ones she loves. This surely means James and Sydney. She arrives to find the attack has already begun, she sprays a fire extinguisher and shoots the attacker a couple of times. Unvailing the mask, it turns out to be the brother Tom! Maybe it's some sort of revenge for her making Adrian kill himself. On a police investigation at Adrian's they actually find him tied up in a hidden room within the basement. Cecelia once again ain't too happy with the outcome. She thinks they were in on it together and Adrian sent the brother to the house knowing that death was coming.
Once Adrian has settled back into his house, Cecelia agrees to meet with him there over dinner, but she has an ulterior motive.

She wants him to confess that it was him that was behind it all but once again he is adamant that he got kidnapped and that it gave him a new perspective on life and how he had treated her. He then starts to use the same phrasing as the invisible figure. Keeping quiet and smiling, Cecelia excuses herself and heads to the restroom, knowing the secret basement, where the suit is and using it, she slices the throat of Adrian, which doesn't show up on any of the house's security cameras. She returns onscreen and acts in surprise to the apparent suicide that has taken place. Calling the cops, James moves in first as he was outside waiting for the confession on tape. She even taunts his body of camera before James races in to find out what happened. She explains what could be seen on camera and he even notices the suit in her bag before leaving her go. Could this lead to another installment?
I really enjoyed this movie. I wouldn't exactly call it a horror, maybe a psychological one but I'd edge towards a triller. It had a couple of jump scares, which were also shown in the trailer so I'm not too sure they had the same impact if you'd seen the trailers floating about. The storyline itself was very clever. There was never a sure thing with the storyline as we followed it piece by piece. Which brother would it be, how much was she exaggerating on each occasion and would people end up believing her? All of these were answered as we continued on the story. The answers were never obvious as in some other movies of this type.
Our cast was well suited for the movie in my opinion. We had Moss as the female lead and her attitude would have to change quite often due to the circumstances. She went from a conflicted and scared lady to the lowest of the low and then onto a raging lunatic and finally a conspiring female with the confidence to kill at will. The transgression may have been a little fast-moving but it did actually work well and wasn't too overboard for a woman pushed to such lengths. As for the role of Adrian, the actor had the same look about him in The Haunting of Hill House. A creepy bloke who you'd wouldn't trust in any shape or form. Although we would only see this guy play the role at the start and end of this movie, he would still pull off being the main protagonist. Other side characters played their roles well and all added another dimension to the storyline, whether that be on the good side or the bad side such as the brother of Adrian.
This was a very compelling movie and even if some parts were a little more humourous than they were intended to be, some may have only got past the creepiness of what was happening by giving a little giggle. The part of being locked in the mental institution reminded me of the film Unsane, where once again the female is locked away against her will and not being taken seriously. Out of the three movies considered to be within the dreaded and failing 'Dark Universe', which already includes 'Dracula Untold' and 'The Mummy', this would be in the first place, followed by Dracula and Tom Cruise's failure at the bottom rather than counting it as the third. If you fancied a bit of suspense on your Saturday night, look no further, even if you're not a fan of horror, this isn't one than would be a concern. 

Magic is alluring. Without you, she may lose herself to it (Frozen 2 2020)

257.

Frozen 2



5/10

It's safe to say the first Frozen movie was a complete phenomenon and to get into the mood for writing my opinion on the sequel, I'm going to stick the first one back on the TV thanks to Disney+. Six years the world has had to wait for this sequel and as soon as the news dropped, everyone was in wait and that goes for all ages. The original gang is back, such as Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel and Josh Gad, added to with a few other voice actors and actresses for the new characters of course in events that take place 3 years after the first movie was set. From what the trailer is showing us, we are about to venture outside of their home of Arendelle to discover the source of Elsa's powers. Let's get into the unknown.
The movie begins many years ago with a young Anna and Elsa being told a bedtime story by their father and mother.

He explains how his father created a treaty with the nearing tribe by building them a dam at their Enchanted Forest. However, at the twelfth hour, a fight starts and the King at the time is killed. This then enrages the elemental spirits of Earth, Fire, Water and Air. They block off the forest with a magical mist and the girl's father escapes with his life with the help of an unknown stranger.
Now we switch to three years after the first movie and although things seem to be going well at home, Elsa hears a mysterious voice calling out to her and after following it, she unintentionally wakes up the elemental spirits which forces the kingdom to evacuate. The trolls are the next characters to return and Pabbie, leader of the trolls, know that they must discover the history of the kingdom to save it.

The usual gang set off into the mist and tackle the elements one by one, each one revealing something else about the fight that once happened and why everyone was trapped behind the mist. They even encounter the soldiers and tribesmen who have not aged a day since being trapped. It turns out that the little tribe's girl who saved their father was their future mother and this would be a common body that would help with this new truth. As for saving their kingdom, it turns out that there is indeed a fifth spirit that can unite people and magic. From here on out, Elsa, Anna and Olaf journey on alone until they find their parents crashed ship and a map of where the next important location is, which Elsa ends up travelling alone for safety reasons. Finding a glacier which holds images of the past, the voice calling her was a young version of her mother, leading her to this place so that she can find out that she was given her powers by nature. This was down the selfless act of her mother all those years ago when she put her life on the line to save Elsa's father. Elsa is the fifth spirit.

Then we see the dark side of the story. Her Grandfather built the dam to decrease the tribe's sources. He wasn't best pleased with the tribe's relationship with magic. He started this conflict by cutting down their unarmed leader. Elsa sends this information to Anna before becoming Frozen in the most dangerous part of the glacier. Olaf, in turn, fades away. It is now up to Anna to actually save the day. She awakens some giants, pisses them off and gets them to launch some rocks in her direction, smashing open the dam and causing Elsa to thaw out. Elsa heads to Arendelle just in time to stop the tidal wave from destroying the kingdom.

Watching the closing scenes, I'm pretty sure the older audience can tell what's coming. Other than Kristoff asking Anna about marriage, Elsa explains that the sisters are now the bridge between magic and people. Elsa can no longer stay in Arendelle and will protect the Enchanted Forest as Anna takes the role of Queen. The will obviously stay in touch and visit each other as much as possible so this isn't a goodbye in any way, it's more of a see you later. We do get an after credits for the movie, not that it leads on to anything else. It is just Olaf reciting the experiences with some of the other snow characters.
This movie was six years after the first and it seemed to mature with its audience. This can be seen as a good or bad thing, depending on who you would ask. For myself, I wasn't blown away by the movie. The dialogue and storyline fell a little short with me at times, either being very predictable or a bit of a mish-mish, as things would always be explained by the characters, just so they would make sense. There wasn't the fun aspect that the first brought and therefore, it was a lot more serious, which ties up the case for the movie being a little more mature.
The characters that we would usually talk about are already well-known for anyone that sits down to watch this. Kristoff has become a bit more of a nervous fella, wanting to get the proposal of marriage out of the way and we follow this until the end, even with a song along the way. Elsa once again gets some 'cold feet' and Olaf is along for the slapstick comedy for the youngsters who may have been lost in the storyline. As for the songs, absolutely nothing stuck in my mind with the same effect as the first movie. I maybe need to rewatch the movie but I still think that would be the case compared to the songs of movies like Frozen and Moana. Into the Unknown is arguably the biggest song from the movie and that's been easily forgotten too. Once again, the graphics and visual effects were smashed out of the park, especially the scenes that would include water. The took a step up from the first movie, with time passing between the two movies and techniques improving, this was always going to happen but it making the movie a little darker was a nice turn of pace.
After this movie falling flat for me, I'm not sure whether thinking a third would be in motion, would actually set the fires burning. A few scenes from the movie could have been cut out and it would have been at the same level but a little shorter. The ending was too quick and the movie was made off the back of the success from the first, but that would just be my opinion. The animators should be commended but I wouldn't say the same for the writers. 

Maybe people will stop trying to kill us once they realise how charming we are (Just Mercy 2020)

256.

Just Mercy



8/10

Odeon has started to strong together their Screen Unseen installments once again and there was a big stir on Twitter saying that this was going to be Just Mercy. A movie I was far than familiar with and hadn't even seen a trailer for. Having a little look into what to expect, but not wanting to give too much away for me, Michael B. Jordan is going to be playing the world-renowned civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson. Bryan is going to be faced with the daunting task of working to free a wrongly accused death-row prisoner in a highly racist state of America. Starring Jamie Foxx as that prisoner and a little help from Brie Larson, this should be a great account of another true story. I have to be honest, if it wasn't for setting up this Screen Unseen, it would be highly likely that this movie wouldn't have made it to my local Odeon for a chance to see it. Let's see if this movie can be free of any criticism.
The storyline seems a pretty simple one with a linear narrative of the beginning, middle and end with no major changes coming in that way as we have a true story with the setting based around homes, town halls and the courthouse and jail. Straight out of Law school, Bryan knows exactly where he'd like to head. We all know the bad image that Alabama has had, even all the way over here in the UK when it comes to racism, etc. This was going to be shown within this movie so if you do struggle to watch some of these attitudes, this movie can either be something you may not want to watch, or one that you'll be glad you did. Bryan moves down to Alabama and immediately sets up legal representation for anyone who cannot afford proper services. We can already see the struggles he'll have as the landlords who own the office spaces, aren't willing to rent out their space for the cause Brian is trying to set up. Finally finding a place, Bryan's next stop is to death row to speak to anyone that he feels hasn't had proper representation and has the potential to be wrongfully imprisoned. Meeting Walter MacMillian, played by Jamie Foxx, he finds out that he was imprisoned for murdering a white girl in 1986. Looking over the case, he realises that it all hinders on one man's testimony and he wasn't even a witness. This guy only stated his contradictory facts to reduce his sentence.

The next step would be asking Tommy Chapman to look over the case. Chapman, played by Rafe Spall, is a prosecutor still looking to make his name and move higher up within the court. He instantly dismisses the case without even looking any further into it. Next, Bryan speaks to a family friend who was with Macmillian on the day of the murder and can testify for him and agrees to give a statement. After doing so, he is arrested for perjury and even though Bryan gets this guy freed, he no longer wants to give any sort of statement in a court environment. The third and possibly best option is to approach Myers, the criminal who stated for a shorter time in prison. He openly admits that he was coerced as the police played to his fear of being burned and even threatened him with the electric chair. With this new evidence and convincing Myers to stand up in court and state that his comments were false, Bryan heads to court for a retrial but is once again turned away. Disheartened and angry and chats with Ansley, played by Brie Larson and knows that it's time to go public.

 Appearing on 60 Minutes, he asks for the public to rally. He heads to the Supreme Court and they overrule the circuit court, setting up the retrial or the case and Bryan immediately asks for the release of his client. Knowing that this is going to be something that everyone needs to get on board with, Bryan even turns up at Chapman's house to gain his support but is promptly asked to leave his property.
The movie draws to a close with the motion of dismissal coming, Chapman even agrees to join the case in the courtroom and MacMillian is reunited with his family. An epilogue finishes us off with information about the case. The main point is that it remains unsolved. As for Bryan and MacMillian, they remained friends, fighting for other cases until MacMillian's death in 2013.

This was a true story that the audience could get invested in. Although I'm not sure how popular this movie was within the UK, I'm glad that Odeon made sure we could get a viewing, even for a limited time. A true story always has the potential to be powerful and this followed those exact lines. Just as we are taught, nothing comes easy and for free and we have to see the failures before we get the ending we want and although Bryan was there to free the wronged, this was not always the case. We did see the struggle of starting, the trials of failing to stop the execution on another inmate and then finally the conclusion that we did get for the story. We can always come to expect this kind of journey, whether it be through a fictional or true story and although the audience would be willing the right outcome, with a moment like this and after watching 'Making a Murderer' on Netflix, I've come not to expect the norm at times. I didn't expect Rafe Spall's character to switch sides at the end though, I have to say that.
Speaking of Spall, that can lead us nicely onto my opinions of the cast. Starting at the top with Michael B. Jordan, I have quite recently seen him in a vast amount of roles. Villian in Black Panther, a cocky kid in Fantastic 4, serious and troubled sportsman in Creed II and finally the level headed serious lawyer in this installment. Showcasing his many talents, it's nice to see he's carried on with the roles since the disaster that was Fantastic 4. This movie gave him a bit more of a mature role from the other movies listed. He always has a confidence about him on the screen which would never boil over into a cocky attitude or overconfidence in any way and it would be great to find out whether this was a good account given of the actual Bryan Stevenson. Rafe Spall is another who can play the good and bad. Once again I have watched a movie recently called The Ritual, in which he plays the one remaining survivor in the horror movie and is portrayed as one of the good lads. In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, he is back to the main protagonist and plays the role well as a slimy bastard. This movie is a leaf out of that guy's book. This dismissive character was fast becoming the villain from the first encounter that we have but this then flips on its head at the depth, even to the surprise of Bryan, as he finally realises the right thing to do. Jamie Foxx also gave a great account of Walter MacMillian. A man who was given no hope and accepted that, changed his attitude as the story progressed towards his freedom. Many other side characters ranged from good to OK but when it comes to Brie Larson's character, I honestly feel that it could have been played by any female and had the same impact on me. That role was not one that has stuck with me afterward.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this movie and once again it gave me the urge to look into the story a little further once leaving the big screen, just to find out where Bryan is now with his career. It showed the justice system for what it was at the time and although it may seem as though this could be a biased account of the situation, it was far from the case. There is a book surrounding this case and it seems as though the movie didn't touch on how bad this truly was at the time. It should be a film that you put on your list for some future viewing and hopefully, that will be the case.

I hoped today would be a good day. Hope is a dangerous thing (1917 2010)

255.

1917

8.5/10

This movie had seen to take an age to be released. I think I remember seeing a trailer for this back in August for the first time and it wasn't coming our way until January. There was never really a new trailer, but instead, the same one repeated for nearly 5 months of cinema-going. The good thing though, it never really got boring and instead just added as a type of count down to the release of a movie I would end up seeing twice. The first time visiting with my father and the second with a mate who is into the history of the Wars. Other than knowing the theme of the movie from the trailers, the main point I would be interested in is if they had truly made this movie look like it was two continuous shots. Let's go to war.

Our two main characters are Lance Corporal William Schofield, played by George MacKay and Lance Corporal Thomas Blake played by Dean-Charles Chapman.

They are called from their rest to meet with their General and we can already see how this movie is mostly going to be filmed in this clever style. We are constantly ahead of the lads, moving through the trenches and then, at a turn, we let them overtake and follow them into their meeting. The General, with a little role by Colin Firth, lets the Lance Corporals into some intelligence. Their aerial recon has shown that the Germans are pushing back but for a reason. There is a trap lying in wait for the British and with the telephone lines being cut, these two young soldiers are the ones to deliver the warning and message to pull back. The reason Thomas Blake was chosen was that his brother is one of the 1,600 lives at risk. He then proceeded to chose William to come to the meeting with him. We see them make their way through no man's land, some booby-trapped abandoned trenches, which nearly kills Schofield until Blake saves him from the rubble and finally make their way to an abandoned farmhouse. In the distance, they notice a 'dogfight' in the sky and a German is shot down, landing right on top of them and as he burns, they try to save him, Schofield runs off for water and leaves Blake calming the German down.

 In the last stand, the German stabs Blake and gets shot by Schofield. Blake is left bleeding out in a scared state as Schofield has to take his map and once Blake dies, Scholfield takes his rings and any other family belongings before sitting back to soak it in. In the background, we see some soldiers walking around and I'm already thinking the worst. Turns out it's some more Brits, lead by Mark Strong's character and with the promise made by Schofield to Blake that he would carry on with the mission, this unit will give him a lift as far as they can. 

We get to a bombed bridge and Schofield must go on alone, tackled with a sniper, he manages to get the kill but again the last stand leaves the sniper shooting Schofield in the helmet and sending him back down the stairs and knocking him out. This gives us our first significant cut in the movie as the timelapse means that Schofield awakens in the middle of the night, as gunfight lights up the nearby town. Encountering Germans, he runs and hides in a basement where he finds a young French female, who herself has found a baby and is looking after it. She is worried at first but then tends to his wounds before its time once again for him to leave. Bumping into some drunk Germans, he kills one and runs from the many others, jumping a bridge and following the river like Frenchie advised. This lad is on his last legs and now he's floating down a river holding onto some driftwood and trying to stay awake so he doesn't bob under the water. Hitting the dam full of dead bodies, he climbs them to the bank and finds a gang of soldiers sitting in the forest, listen to a fellow soldier singing before they head to the front line. They notice that Schofield isn't part of their troop, notice that he is soaking and in his few words left to him, he tells them that he is looking for D company and once he knows that he has found them, he is once again full of life. Racing to find Mckenzie, he hits the front line trenches but can't get past due to the overcrowding. As the waves are waiting to go over the top, Scholfield knows he must do this and run across the front of the trenches and jump back down nearer to where Mckenzie would be stationed.

Bombs going off, bullets flying, soldiers falling and Schofield finally makes it down, wrestling his way past other soldiers who don't want him entering the tent. MacKenzie is played by Benedict Cumberbatch and he isn't one to listen, which the lads were warned about at the start but he does take heed, stops the attacks and tells Schofield to f**k off for his troubles. Schofield is thanked by another superior and is told to go and have his wounds seen too at the hospital tents.

 All that remains on Schofield's mind is to find his downed friend's brother. Joseph was in the first wave meaning that there is a good chance that he is either dead or lying in one of the beds in the hospital tent. Schofield doesn't give out hope and after searching, he hears a familiar accent and he heads over to investigate. Finding a fella helping out the wounded, it's still clear he's been in a fight but it's Joseph. Obviously upset at hearing the news about his brother, he thanks Schofield for being there with him and he is given his brother's rings and dog tags before heading off for some much needed and deserved rest next to a tree, pretty much mirroring the tree the lads were lying next to at the start of the movie. Now he doesn't have his friend but he's now looking at some pictures of his wife and kids. The movie actually finishes with some text from Sam Mendes, the director, stating that the story came from a relative who was in the trenches. 

Twice I visited the cinema for this movie and twice I extremely enjoyed it. The cinematography was unlike a movie I had seen before. The second viewing allowed me to take a closer look at this and try to spot the moments that they actually would cut each scene. Every now and again the characters would walk behind a tree, through an archway and so on, giving the chance for a scene to be carried on after a short break for the cast. With the illusion that this is still all in one/two long takes, it truly was remarkable. The imagery throughout the movie, at times was breathtaking. From the lads walking through no mans land as corpses of humans and horse lay side by side This took us on the journey with the soldiers and maybe it would be wrong to say that we experienced what they did but we certainly felt the suspense and wanted them to succeed. The storyline helped in every way with this. Not only did we have the action of the war, but we could also feel the sympathy shown when it came to the female hiding, the loss of a friend and even the frustration of not knowing whether Cumberbatch's character will actually stop the attack. A very strong mission gave a very gripping storyline. 

Our two main characters bounced off each other pretty well. Schofield has already seen enough of the war and is forever going to be the pessimist about anything upcoming. Blake is the opposite, ready to take on any task thrown at him and especially more so when he knows it could mean the life of his brother. I had seen Mackay in The Secret of Marrowbone and this seemed to be the same characteristics to an extent. The grumpy and at times, protective type once put under pressure, can become a hero when needed. MacKay once again excels. Chapman, I had only witnessed in A Game of Thrones as Tommen, which he was pretty much a pushover for a pretty face and ended up ending his own life for trying to be too nice. Spoiler if you're never seen it. This guy kept going until his untimely end and played the role well, trying his best to lift the spirits of his compatriot and rubbed off on him so much that Schofield would go on to complete the mission, tell his brother and the write to Blake's mother regarding her son's heroics. Bravo. All of the other familiar faces came and went pretty quickly, which either giving orders, receiving them or helping where they could, we would quickly forget about the side characters and focus back on to the main pair, which then became a solo effort. 

I think going in to the movie, we were always going to have that predictability, to an extent, of how the movie would end. The mission would be completed but it's the journey that we go through to get to the end which is were the surprises are stored. It may not be a movie for everyone and maybe is drawn towards the male crowd due to the amount of male characters but we need to realise that this has to be realistic. It can't be frowned upon for not involving more females as the audience wants the true facts, not something that is going to try and please the feminists out there. 

I know that most movies based on wars have to have some truth behind them, which may be altered for the big screen or even the rumours that passed through the trenches at the time could have been a bad game of Chinese whispers but I doubt there was much missing from this one. I'm always one for something based on real events, but mostly the horror or supernatural rather than war movies. Recently and with the help of this installment, they have been brought to my attention a lot more. From watching Hacksaw Ridge, through to finally watching Saving Private Ryan, maybe it's about time I gave some others the attention they may deserve.