God will not punish those who tell the truth (The Last Duel 2021)

301.

The Last Duel

6/10

It had been a while since a good medieval movie had made it to the big screen and I immediately fancied giving it a watch. The Last Duel sprung to my attention as the trailer hit and we saw the list of talent involved. Ridley Scott was about to direct a screenplay which Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, along with Nicole Holofcener had written, with the gents previously having success together. Damon and Affleck were also both starring in the movie alongside Adam Driver, Jody Comer and a handful of smaller names. A movie set around 'true' historical events and a book named 'The Last Duel: A true story of Crime, Scandal and Trial by Combat' by Eric Jagar, I'm glad they shortened the name. The movie revolves around 3 main characters, played by Damon, Driver and Comer. Damon plays Jean De Carrouges, Drive plays Jacques Le Gris and Comer plays De Carrouges' wife, Marguerite. The main event of the movie is Marguerite accusing Le Gris of raping her whilst De Carrouges was away at war. This leads to a judicial duel, in which the winner would be right due to a lack of witnesses and no confessions to the crime. 

Getting into the movie itself, it was told interestingly as we get three accounts of the time period in mention. Before we get to the accounts, we learn about the male characters and how Le Gris and De Carrouges know each other before the main body of the story. They are both swearing allegiance to Count Pierre d'Alecon who is played by a bleach-blonde Affleck. This Count will be De Carrouges' overlord, on behalf of King Charles IV. This starts tension as Le Gris begins to work with the Count and oversees De Carrouges' estate to make sure the Count is paid, which is really the King collecting taxes. To get some dosh, De Carrouges marries into a wealthy family to Marguerite but her father owes the Count money and his estates are suddenly taken away to pay his way. The Count gives the estates to Le Gris as payment and now the once friends are even more strained at friendship. 

We now suddenly have the story split into three accounts. De Carrouges is up first. The pair reconcile for a while at a party whilst Marguerite introduces herself to Le Gris to gain favour for her husband, or so she thought. This was taken as an advance on Le Gris, which more will follow soon enough. One more attempt by De Carrouges to gain coin is heading to Scotland to fight for the King. Whilst we have De Carrouges' state of events, a war in Scotland and a massive struggle, he returns home to be told by his wife that she was raped by Le Gris. After being quite violent in making sure she wasn't lying, De Carrouges beds his wife to make sure he was the last to sleep with her.

Secondly, we have Le Gris and his account. We head back to when he first meets this woman and the encounter is a lot more flirtatious. Le Gris falls in love with her and on the night in question, tricks his way into her house and declares his love. She demands he leaves but he chases her into her chamber and has rough sex with her but insists that it was consensual. He asks her not to tell her husband and after a while, the Count tells Le Gris that he is being accused of rape and it's going to be contested in front of the King. 

Our final account is that of Marguerite. Obviously, we expect this to be on a different end of the spectrum than what Le Gris has said happened. This time around, the first time they met was subdued. It shows her husband as more of a demanding figure, telling her not to leave the castle and the relationship is strained as she cannot bear him a child. The night in question did begin with a declaration of love from Le Gris but what followed was a lot more aggressive. She tells her husband only for her mother-in-law to advise her to drop it for the sake of her son.

The movie finally draws to a close as a duel is accepted by the King. Marguerite is now heavily pregnant and is advised that if her husband loses this duel, she is to be burnt at the stake for purgery. A bloody fight ensues with Le Gris getting the upper hand only for Da Carrouges to fight back and pin Le Gris to the ground. Demanding an apology and the truth which never comes, Da Carrouges kills his former friend but not before the beaten man sticks to his story of being innocent of any wrongdoing. The movie ends pretty sharpish after Le Gris is killed. We are treated to an epilogue which tells us that Da Carrouges dies a few years later in the Crusades and Marguerite lives the rest of her life in peace, never marrying again.

At the end of the movie I wasn;t really satisfied that I knew the truth. The story depicated and carried the female version of events as the true narrative but was this just a story told so that a wife would not be in the wrong or was it actually the truth. The body language and stance of Marguerite at the end didn't give too much away but she was very subdued compared to her husband. But I suppose he did just come out on top from a fight to the death. It is a very interesting take on a movie which is set up quite slow and like something the audience may have seen before but then questions are asked on who we should be believing. Da Carrougues isn't seen as the hero that we thought he might have been from the start and Le Gris side of the story makes the audience question who they should actually be routing for. This ambiguity is ended when the female story is told and the 'truth' is told. This actually ends any mystery that may have been left lingering within the movie and I wonder if that came a little too early. The duel at the end is exactly what we wanted with some brutality and the actions of two desperate men but I'll be honest it didnt last two long and the main story was not really depeitive of the movie's name.

All there main performanes were great. We don't see Damon as a gritty sort of character too often but this showed his range was ticking boxes as he took this up a notch from his usual. Adam Driver is moving on up in some serious roles as he comes out of the shadow of Disney's Star Wars in order to elevate into working under someone like Scott. Finally, Comer smashes yet another out of the park. I really enjoyed her on the other end of the spectrum in Fall Guy but this movie had me questioning whether her character's story was one of truth or deception. This is all down to the work of the cast.

The movie did seem a little long and it's hard to watch a movie of this type without thinking that it's a little too repretitive but at the same time, as the third version of event unfolded, I felt myself sitting a little further forward in my chair because we knew this was going to the truth to how the events unfolded. Being based on a book, it would be hard to change the story of this movie because it needs to follow exactly as the book tells in order to deliver on the dramatic effect as the two and a half hours carry us through. Ridley Scott, who has in the past delievered Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, has made us go back to those movies for another watch. I can't ever see myself going back to this in order to enjoy another few hours of screen time. Although when we got a bit of action, he was bloody and top bill but the rest was a bit of a trudge and not one I'm willingly wanting to do again. 

You have all the time in the world (No Time to Die 2021)

 300.

No Time to Die

8.5/10

I'll be as honest as possible and I'm not a massive James Bond fan. I've never got into the franchise, haven't been going out of  my way to watch the Daniel Craig lead films and Pierce Brosnan is proper my favourite in the role, which says a lot. This movie was highly publicised as being Daniel Craig's last out so understandably there was a lot of hype around how he was going to bow out and what or who comes next. I also remember a stir being caused as it was confirmed that the new 007 was a black female but we'll address that is good time. I hadn't seen the movie that preceeded this one and the name almost escaped me but this is a follow on from events of Spectre. Some of the cast are back from that stroy line such as Christophe Waltz and Lea Seydoux but we also bring in Ana De Armas and Rami Malek plays our main villain. I'm going to try and cut down these reviews but not going so deep into the story but let's tackle some.

The movie begins as a flash back stage with a young Madeline witnessing her mother being killed by a guy named Safin. She fires at him and tries to escape but falls through ice and instead is saved by this masked man. The movie now comes to present time with Bond and Madeleine on a holiday together to celebrate his retirement but the quiet doesn't last as Bond is nearly killed in an assassination attempt and he believes his new lady has betrayed him. 

He leaves her on a train and disappears. Five years pass and shit hits the fan with bioweapons being stolen from London which can be programmed to certain targets and therefore be harmless to everyone else. Bond is tracked down by the CIA to help but refused and the new 007 agent also tracks him to ask for help. Played by Lashana Lynch, Nomi seems to have only taken the codename 007 rather than leading the movies for the future. She seems to be a little more to the book than Bond. 

The mission moves to Cuba and a birthday party for Waltz's character who is still in prison but he leads the party in an interesting way. He knows Bond is there and orders everyone to kill him with the Nanobots but instead its been programmed to kill the remaining Spectre members and Safin has made his mark once again with some double agents. Bond ends up working a little more than he wanted to and after meeting with Q, a meeting is set up with Blofield, played by Waltz, to track down who is behind the nanobot killings. In the mean time, Madeleine is in a meeting with Safin and he attaches the nanobots to her, this passes onto Bond and Blofield is killed in a roundabout way. He dies but not before admitting to the attempt on Bond's life at the beginning and doing his best to make it look like Madeleine was involved. 

Bond now tracks Madeleine down to the home she grew up in from the beginning of the movie and learns that she has a daughter now. Bit weird that shes around 5 years old. We can guess where this is off, even with the bright blue eyes, there's little chance she jumped straight into bed with someone after splitting from Bond. She admits that her father killed Safin's parents when he was just a boy and he will not stop with his revenge on the world. His team are moving in to capture our new trio and after some great action scenes in a forest, the mother and daughter are caught.

Safin is hiding out on an old miltary island between Russia and Japan, because why wouldn't they be. The place is a nanobot factory and they have plans to kill millions to establish a new world order. Q send out Bond and Nomi to end the wrath and Nomi asks for Bond to be reinstated as 007, which was a nice touch. The mother and daugther are rescued and sent with Nomi whilst Bond stays behind to finish the job. He needs to open the old missle silos so that the HMS Dragon which is sailing the ocean can pepper the island with missles and end all threat. Bond has faught his way through many a guard and comes face to face with Safin. Bit of a sadistic character to say the least and Bond is shot but eventually gets the upper hand and kills Safin. The kicker is that Safin, in a last gasp effort, infects Bond with nanobots that are designed to kill Madeleine and Mathilde. Bond knows he can't leave the island and after opening the silos, heading to the edge of the island and finds a nice quiet area to speak to Madeleine who admits what we already knew, that Bond has a daughter. He tells her to move on without him and with his love she turns away as the missles hit is location in a pretty sad scene for a Bond movie. 

The movie ends with our remaning M16 characters having a toast to James Bond and the mother and daughter on a road trip as Madeleine starts telling her daughter about a man named Bond.

I tell you what. This was a cracking little send off for Daniel Craig. I enjoyed watching Spectre to catch up on some of the storyline and character and glad that I gave it the chance so that I could watch this movie. The story was very well thought out and I had no idea that it would include so much from the previous movie considering the Bond movies that I had seen in the past were seemingly stand alones. It was quite a long movie looking at the run time but I have seen this movie on a flight since and wasn't put off by knowing how long I'd have to invest into the movie again. This is because the movie was full of action, twists and ultimately the end of an era which audiences want to be part of. 

I hadn't been fond of Craig as Bond but this movie won me over and I don't know if once again it was due to this one being the last or everything coming together and the way that he acted out the final scene. A lot of the cast were seen in the previous movie so Rami Malek starring in this one is really the only one worth going into length about. I found it very interesting to find him cast in the role of the main villain when previously I had seen him in the total opposite character placement. This wasn't a villain who threw his weight around but instead used his powerful ideas to wreak havoc. Even as he state in silence, he had a presence in this movie that always seemed malicious and that's once again down to the good work of Malek. 

I think I have now seen each Daniel Craig movie where he is playing Bond and although some were a struggle, such as Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, Casino Royale and this instalment were 100% the strongest. I went to the cinema to watch it, I watched it a couple of months later on a flight to NYC and enjoyed it just as much the second time if not more. The ending just proved that Bond is a character that they may never find happy ending for and with this being the first real death of Bond on screen it felt a much more powerful ending than any of the other movies. I wonder where they go from here. Rumour has it, Henry Cavill is in talks. That would be a larger figure of a spy than we've been used to. 

Pain comes from always wanting things (The Many Saints of Newark 2021)

299.

The Many Saints of Newark

6.5/10

This movie wasn't really one I had planned to see straight away but the lads fancied it and as a gang, we booked our seats. Now they have either seen The Sopranos TV series in its entirety or were working through it at the time of watching this movie. I on the other hand had never seen an episode and still haven't. The TV shows I believe revolve around Tony Soprano and his mafia family. This movie will be set before that time, as Tony is a kid. The lads were excited, I had no idea what to expect but enjoy movies such as Scarface and Goodfellas, and I knew that I at least enjoyed the crime genre.

So the movie follows a crime family member named Dickie Moltisanti played by Alessandro Nivola, who is the mentor to a young Tony Soprano. They both travel to welcome home Dickie's father and his new young bride and are joined by many other family members who feature in the TV series but are obviously played by younger cast members. The year is 1967 and a black man is killed by some cops causing riots throughout Newark. Harold, one of Dickie's men, kills a white guy who is trying to loot his shop and quickly moves away before he is caught and locked up.

 The time passes and the family starts to crack a little as Dickie's old man pushes the wife down the stairs and Dickie ends up accidentally killing his old man for this before dumping his body in one of his businesses and burning it down, acting as it all happened during the riots. This leads him into sleeping with his, at the time, step-mom and Tony is suspended from school for starting a gambling ring. Dickie loves the promise in the kid but at the same time, needs him to follow the rules for a while.

Years pass now and we are in 1972, some family get out of prison, Harold returns to Newark looking to start black-led crime operations and the actor playing Tony is now Michael Gandolfini, the son of the later James Gandolfini who played Tony in the TV series. 

Dickie's lady has an affair with Harold and a little war is raged as Dickie kills one of Harold's men and Harold retaliates with the life of one of Dickie's family. Dickie's life is starting to fall apart now as Tony's mother warns him about being around her son as everyone seems to die. After a funeral, a family member falls down the stairs and Dickie laughs in front of a lot of people. Dickie finds out about his missis's affair in full and drowns her and everyone's suspicions are finally up. Tony is infuriated that his uncle has been ignoring him and tracks him down. The end doesn't end well as he refuses to meet his nephew. The night and movie draw to a close as Dickie is shot in the back of the head on the orders of Junior, the guy that fell down the stairs after the funeral. This apparently was a bombshell in the tv show as the audience didn't find out for a long time who actually ordered the hit. The movie finally ends with Tony standing at the coffin at the funeral and Harold moving into a white neighbour, seemingly flourishing with his new business venture. 

I'll be honest and say I think this story was a little lost on me. It relied quite heavily on the characters that proceeded this movie and even with some of the storylines such as the killing at the end, it had no relevance to me and each link to the series was completely lost on me. This would have had a massive impact on me because unlike something like Goodfellas, some aspects of the movie were completely lost on me. Knowing that I hadn't seen The Sopranos this movie did nothing for me to go and immediately watch the series. It didn't really drive forward the rise of Tony which I expected it to but that isn't something I then drew to expect as I realised how young Tony was in the movie. Instead, the story focused on an uninspiring character who had his moments but didn't really lead a dominating crime family as I loved in Goodfellas. 

The character development in the movie was way below par and rather than leading the line in crime, it seemed like a family and their tantrums. Alessandro Nivola has been in a couple of movies that I have been through. Goal! Face/Off and Jurassic Park III to name a few. A different role played in each, the guy 100% has range. In this movie I didn't feel he was a mob boss, I didn't watch the movie thinking this guy is a badass, even when killing, the character seemed very subdued and I'm not sure the writing did him justice. I'm not under the impression that this was the actors' fault. If you looked at a cast listing featuring Ray Liotta, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga and Corey Stroll, you'd be an idiot to not be impressed. When you watch the movie as a stand-alone, you would be right to not be impressed. The one part I did think was a cool addition would be Michael Gandolfini. It was a very interesting idea to bring him in to play the young version of a character that his dad made extremely famous within one of the biggest TV shows of all time. He gave a good account for someone who hasn't been acting too long but who am I to judge. 

I've typed it once and I'll type it again. This movie did not make me want to go home and start watching The Sopranos for the first time. I haven't really asked how the fans of the TV shows found this movie but from the reviews, it looks like they ended it as much as the ending of the final episode. A boring, uninteresting crime movie that could have been so much more if it just looked into how the other feature movies of the same genre went about their business. Even I doubt that this movie did the series any sort of justice.

It's time to cut out the cancer (Malignant 2021)

 298.

Malignant

7/10

I am a big fan of James Wan's work since he created my favourite horror universe revolving around The Conjuring movies. Over the past few years, Wan has put his name to things without being at the forefront of directing or writing. This time he is the lead name in both as he looks to bring a unique movie to the cinema. Too many times do we see the same formula of horror movies come about, same beginning, middle and end leaving the audience with the enjoyment of the horror but not really making them think. This movie was the complete opposite. The storyline was completely off the chain and will 100% be too much for some people but going in a brand new direction was a point of the board for me. There is only one cast member that I recognised and that is Annabelle Wallis in the lead role of Madison. Let's try this a new way and not give too much away in the story.

The movie starts in the early 90s as a character called Gabriel is in a psychiatric hospital receiving treatment from a couple of doctors. Gabriel has special powers in which he can control electricity and communicate via nearby speakers. One night, during some routine examinations, he decides it's time to kill a few people, just before the timeline gets to 27 years later and we meet Madison. The movie will now take us on a quick journey to learn about Madison and her abusive relationship, the fact she's pregnant and before she locks herself in the bathroom to get away from the husband. Falling asleep, she dreams that her husband is murdered but this isn't a dream and the attacker is still in her home. She is once again attacked, this woman can't catch a break and it's lights out once again for Madison. 

Madison wakes in a hospital with her sister at her side. She finds out that her baby didn't survive the attack and after the police ask a few questions, she returns home. Her sister Sydney stays for a while and Madison reveals to her that she was actually adopted into Sydney's family at 8. After another sleep, Madison has another vision of the killer kidnapping a woman in the Seattle underground, only to find out it is a Dr Weaver who, during an investigation is found to be a child reconstructive surgeon. The detectives find a picture of Madison in the Doctor's office. The police are contacted by Madison and Sydney after yet another vision of a Doctor getting killed. The killer gets in touch with Madison, and revealed himself to be Gabriel which Madison believed was her childhood imaginary friend. They visit mom, find out that Gabriel was actually real and are both led to a string of doctors linked to Madison and yet another body. 

Madison is hooked up with a psychic of sorts and her memories are unlocked to an extent. She remembers her birth name, the fact that Gabriel wanted her to kill her unborn sister and she came very close but thankfully was able to stop herself. Randomly, a woman that has been kidnapped falls through her ceiling and it turns out that Gabriel had been living in the attic all along. This doesn't look good for Madison and she is arrested. This woman is Madison's birth mother, Serena May. Whilst Madison is locked up, Sydney heads to the old Hospital where her sister and the dead doctors met when she was younger. She finds out that Gabriel is actually Madison's twin brother that is an extreme version of teratoma. If you don't know what that is, it's a very rare form of tumour and can be thought to be a person's twin. It instantly reminded me of the fella who had a face on the back of his head who apparently told him to do evil things. This story is instantly thrust in that direction. The doctors hacked away at the twin and pushed it back into Madison's brain, sewing the back of her head up. Yeah I know, as far-fetched as shit from China but at the same time, very unique as a villain. They share a brain and when you look back at the attacks, Madison's body is walking and used backwards, so that Gabriel has the view out of the back of her head. He had laid dormant for a long time but when the ex-boyfriend smashed Madison's head against the wall, the tumour was woken up. 

Gabriel is provoked whilst locked up and attacks the other inmates, leaving none alive. With some super-human strength, he works through the police station until he comes across Sydney and one of the detectives. They don't last long as the detective is injured and Sydney is pinned against a wall but a hospital bed. Sydney tries to wake Madison back up by telling her that the brother is the reason for her miscarriages because he was feeding off them through her body. This wakes Madison back up and she takes control of her body once again. She enters her own mind to lock Gabriel behind some metaphorical bars, before proclaiming that her body is now hers along with the powers that Gabriel has. Gabriel finishes by saying he will be back one day to terrorise her. Madison claims she will be ready and leaves her mind to return to the scene in the police station's med ward. She lifts the bed with her newfound strength to release her sister before they embrace as a happy family, even if not by blood. As they embrace, a light bulb in the corner flickers, which has been a sign for Gabriel taking over.

This movie will very much split opinions. There are going to be some audiences that think this movie went too far and the story was a little crazy and this movie will never be successful. Then there are the opposite viewpoints who will think that this movie was something very different and loved it for that. I really enjoyed that this movie didn't go down the conventional route and didn't play it safe. The point of a horror movie is to make you feel very uneasy. We have all seen movies with a slow-walking killer following a bunch of teens. We've seen those stories of a house-haunting building to a climax. This movie was very different and with James Wan at the helm, I had every bit of confidence that this would be an interesting watch. The twists and turns weren't expected for a little while but I did start to notice that Gabriel was turned backwards and although it still wasn't completely transparent what was happening, it did start to unravel. 

There is a handful of supporting cast who are ok with helping the story along but the main success of the group has to be Annabelle Wallis as Madison. Wallis has been in a couple of movies that I have seen. The Mummy with Tom Cruise is a flop and she is also part of the Conjuring Universe, which I am a big fan of. Wan must have known her potential and drafted her in again. Wallis drove forward a character who was packed with emotion and mystery whilst also trying to be as normal and relatable as possible. The whole movie relied on her performance and it did not disappoint. It got a little crazy towards the end as she challenged her inner demon and the scenes were very expressive but nothing other than some kudos to our lead actress. 

The movie got dark, gruesome and out of hand real quick and I was all for it. There is no reason we need slow burners and longer-running horror movies. Give us action-packed and keep us gripped and Wan is becoming a master of doing just that.  It was very refreshing not to get another sequel, prequel or re-run of the same old horror movie and have a stand-alone which may gather up a little cult following within the audience who like the outrageously absurd. The third act of this movie completely opens up the gore-fest and it is welcomed with open arms as it emerges from a dark, mystery into an all-out, off-the-chain ending sequence. Years ago this would have been straight to DVD but thankfully it's getting some time in the cinema and I'm all for it.

You can't outrun who you really are (Shang-chi 2021)

 297.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

8/10

Marvel needs to pick itself up after the events of End Game and introduce us to a new set of characters due to the losses that the MCU has had in recent years. A movie directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who I have only seen one other movie of his on the big screen which was 'Just Mercy', a film that I really enjoyed. After watching that, this movie is quite far apart in terms of genre for me. Simu Liu is going to bring Shang-Chi to life, a hero that I have never heard and also an actor who has been given a chance at the big time. For me, there was going to be no expectation. Going in with a blank canvas on not knowing where this character and story is going to be wedged into the MCU is going to be an interesting factor. I also expect a lot of great martial art scenes as from what I'm hearing, Disney has made a major coup by signing Tony Leung to the cast.  A man who is seen as one of the most successful actors from Asia. 

The movie is going to begin with a voiceover and a little bit of history regarding the Ten Rings. We have already heard about them in Iron Man 3 as a terrorist organisation led by Ben Kingsley's characters, which turned out to be a front. We won't delve into that as it's a little long-winded. This movie will follow the actual Ten Rings, found by Xu Wenwu.

 The rings give him godly power and grant immortality. Toppling governments and going through history dictating his way through major world events, the Ten Rings organisation is set up until he looks for a village called Ta Lo in a magical forest and this place house magical creatures. He is stopped by a guardian called Ying Li, with the two falling in love and kicked out by the villagers as Wenwu is from the outside. They marry, have two sprogs named Shang-Chi and Xialing and Wenwu looks away the rings.

When Shang-Chi is 7, is mother is murdered and Wenwu brings the rings back out as vengeance. Shang-Chi is put through brutal training and his sister is cast aside as she secretly teaches herself. Wenwu sends his son, now at 14 years old, to complete the assassination on the gang that killed his mother. After completing this, is comes home, only to leave for San Francisco, leaving his sister behind.

We are now in the 'present day' and Shang-Chi has renamed himself Shuan. Working as a valet with his best mate Katy, played by Awkwafina. He receives a letter from his sister, fills Katy in on his history and heads to Macau with Katy in tow to find Xialing. This is all after he is attacked by henchmen on a bus who are after the necklace his mother gave him.

 Xialing is running a fight club and there we see Wong fighting Abomination from The Hulk movie, an interesting little cameo and someone who will return in the She-Hulk tv show on Disney+. The club is attacked by the Ten Rings and Wenwu shows up before taking the trio to his compound where the kids grew up. He explains that he has heard his wife calling him from beyond the forest and believes her old village is holding her hostage. He plans to destroy them all unless she is released and when our trio object, he locks them away. All of a sudden, a bit more comic relief is added to the movie as, within their cell, they bump into Trevor Slattery. For those who need a refresher, Trevor played the figure of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. He has been locked away for impersonating Wenwu and has befriended a little magical creature named Morris, who is from the village and guides the trio to his home. 

They travel to another dimension to Ta Lo and explain what has happened so far. They meet their aunt who explains the history of the village, the fact that their mother is not there and they are there to guard a dark gate. Previously a soul-consuming Dweller in Darkness had attacked the village but they were saved by a Chinese dragon named the great protector. They closed the gate and now that evil dweller has been contacting Wenwu, pretending to be his late wife so that Wenwu will open the gate with his Ten Rings. Our trio join the village ranks in training, preparing for their father and his army. 

The battle begins and Shang-Chi is beaten by his father who makes his way to the gate. Shang-Chi is hit into a lake and disappears into the depths with some bubbles. With the gate starting to break, some of the smaller soul-eaters escape and start an attack on both armies who are still fighting in the village. The Great Protector revives Shang-Chi and the fight once again starts between himself and Wenwu.

 There is a new confidence in the son now and he gets the upper hand over his father before sparing his life. The battle takes a turn as the Dweller breaks free from behind the gate and heads straight for Shang-Chi. Wenwu steps in and saves his son before the Dweller grabs him. He gives control of the rings to his son before being killed and the final battle is one between Xialing and Shang-Chi riding the Great Protector and the Dweller in Darkness.

 As the battle hits, the Dweller is getting the upper hand, taking the soul from the dragon but all is saved by our comic relief Katy. She fires an arrow through the Dweller's throat and the Great Protector now in the ascendancy and Shang-Chi strikes the final blow. The movie draws to a close with Shang-Chi and Katy returning home to San Fran and whilst in a pub with mates, Wong appears through a ring and summons them both to Kamar-Taj. 

There are a couple of scenes left as our mid-credit scene is set in Kamar-Taj whilst Wong is checking out the rings. He introduces the duo to Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers whilst they all discuss the origin of the rings. Finally, there is an after-credits scene which sees Xialing take the throne at the Ten Rings, which she promised her brother she would disband. She is training women amongst the men and a couple of her lead henchmen are passing around some pictures but I couldn't make out who they were or if they are going to be targeted. 

I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I didn't know what to expect as it wasn't a well-known character, I don't watch too many martial arts movies if any at all and I can't even remember seeing the trailers for this movie looking back. MCU movies at the moment need to make a big impact with the loss of so many massive characters but onwards and upwards and I hope this movie was well received. 

The storyline was really interesting as it took a turn halfway through that I had no idea that it would take. I came in with the notion that it would be based around martial arts and maybe that was a bit naive of me but also excited me when we suddenly had these massive mythical creatures fighting rather than just another movie of human combat. For me, the downside was actually having Katy save the day to an extent and I think this was a step too far for her character. I enjoyed her as comic relief, to have her fighting was also a good thing but that's where it should have stopped for her. The show then should have been run by Shang-Chi and any final assistance from his sister Xialing. This would have been the main arch as the siblings save the day from fighting each other earlier in the movie. 

The cast for me was very unknown. I didn't know Ben Kingsley was going to be in the movie but picked up where he left off at the end of Iron Man 3 with a comedic performance and was a breath of fresh air. I had seen Awkwakina in Jumanji: The Next Level and she was OK in there, again some more of a comedic in this one and someone who seems will be returning as she was summoned by Wong. Meng'er Zhang who played Xialing and Tony Leung playing Wenwu were both great in their roles. The fight scenes were impressive, imposed the scenes when needed and both had arches that also showed their good sides by the end of the story. The stand out performance was always going to come from Simu Liu. His first major role and a huge step up to be in the MCU which is easily one of the most successful franchises of all time. Without knowing the actor and without knowing the role, I was left with a blank canvas on what to expect. I was impressed as his character was very ranged, popping a joke or two with Katy and then taking a serious side when it came to his father and sister. Simu Liu had the qualities to deliver on all fronts and I look forward to seeing what the future brings. 

Because a movie doesn't have too much pressure to deliver to its audience and me personally, it is easier to go into the cinema with a more open mind. This allows you to be less critical of the movie in all aspects and just enjoy it for what it is. It looked really nice at times, especially when entering the other dimension as special effects took over and helped to take this movie over the finishing line. It is a mid-card MCU movie, I'm not going to lie to you but at the same time with it being so different compared to the other movies and it wasn't copying a storyline from something we may have seen before, it felt like it could rank a little higher. I have no idea where the character goes next, no idea if there is a sequel lined up or if he now joins the Avengers. Only time will tell

Black people don't need to be summoning shit! (Candyman 2021)

 296.

Candyman

6/10

The Candyman franchise never really hit the heights like Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th, but it wasn't through a lack of trying. Tony Todd is famous for his role as the Candyman during the 90s' and it's time to revive the franchise with a sequel to the 1992 movie. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II fresh off some success as Manta from the Aquaman movie leads the way in a movie written by Jordan Peele who has taken the horror genre in a new direction over the past decade. In my eyes, some of Peele's have been hits, some misses but this one is directed by Nia DaCosta who is new to me. Yet another movie which was delayed significantly, I am always ready for a horror movie, no matter the time of year that it hits the screen. With a new age of horror fans, it'll be interesting to see how they look to revive the story and hook the audience. 

The movie begins with a little back story, taking us back to the 70s' and the police searching for a homeless man with a hook for a hand. He was suspected of putting razor blades in candy that ended up in the hands of a white girl over Halloween. Sherman Fields then offers move candy to a lad in the laundry room at the base of a block of flats. The kid is scared of this hook-handed man and screams, alerting the police who then beat the man to death. Two weeks later he is declared innocent after all as more razor blades show up.

42 years later and we meet our main character Anthony McCoy, played by  Yahya. McCoy is an artist, living in Chicago with his art gallery director girlfriend Brianna. McCoy ahs been struggling for a vision recently and no better way is there to find one by a legend of gruesome events. He's told the story of a girl who went on a killing spree before kidnapping a baby, offering it as sacrifice. The situation escalated further as she tried to jump into a bonfire with the child, who was rescued, but the woman perished.

 McCoy heads to the area to gain further inspiration and bumps into a laundrette owner named Burke. This guy gives him another story regarding Sherman Fields and the killing which we witnessed at the beginning. He reveals that if you mention Candyman five times in the mirror, the spirit of Sherman will appear and kill the summoner. Burke was the child in the beginning who actually witnessed Sherman being beaten to death.

Finally McCoy has the full inspiration that he needs, creating a piece named 'Say My Name' to display at his girlfriend's exhibit. The painting is shunned by almost everyone and McCoy storms off in a drunken rage. That night, a critic and his girlfriend are killed gruesomely after saying Candyman whilst Anthony McCoy is at home compulsively painting unknown portraits. He becomes more and more obsessed with the legend of the Candyman, finding it relates back over a hundred years to a black man who was killed for having an interracial relationship. The legend then lives on through each murdered black, who all form a hive for the Candyman. The faces are the faces of Anthony's portraits. More and more people hear of the legend and begin to summon the Candyman. As this continues, Anthony realises that he is starting to transform as a bee sting starts to spread across his body. He heads to the hospital for treatment and on giving his information, he realises that his mother lied about his past. He was the baby saved from the bonfire in the 70s'. He finds out from his mother that the Candyman was responsible for the killings all those years ago and he was planned to be sacrificed too. The community declared that they would hide the events and the legend as best they could but now Anthony is totally blown away, wondering through the abandoned area of Cabrini-Green, where the events took place. 

Brianna gradually becomes concerned for her partner through the movie, leaving him to his own devices at times but with Anthony missing, she sets out to track him down. She now bumps into Burke who kidnaps her and takes her to Cabrini-Green, where she wakes to find Anthony in a fugue state, not knowing who he is, no memories, nothing. Burke plans on having the police kill Anthony so that the Candyman legend can live on further. At the moment the community sees the legend as an instrument of suffering but Burke wants the symbol to be of vengeance. He cuts of Anthony's hand and replaces it with a make shift hook. He then turns his attention to Brianna, chasing her through the houses before she turns the tables and kills him with a pen. Anthony appears and collapses in her arms as the police walk in and don't listen to reason before shooting him dead. 

Outside the movie draws to a close as the police force Brianna onto their reasoning, wanting her to admit that Anthony provoked them. She knows what she must do and summons the Candyman in the rear-view window whilst sat in the police car. The Candyman appears in Anthony's body, killing cops and once the final one is dropped, he walks over to Brianna with a hive of bees surrounding his torso and head. The movie ends with the Candyman turning into Daniel Robitaille, Tony Todd's character form the originals. He wants Brianne to tell everyone what she witnessed that night and the movie's credits begin to role with animations of the story and legends that have come from the Candyman as the montage ends with Anthony himself.

It was good to get another horror on the menu and it has been a long long time since I'd seen the original Candyman, possibly around 16 years ago personally to see a little revival was going to be a must see for me. Too many horrors at the moment follow the same principals. As with many sequels, the story is already there to help the movie on its way but because there is such a long time between this movie and the original, it was also important to set the scene. I think the storyling for this movie worked well in ticking the boxes. In order to fill the new viewers in, the movie started with some background and filled in the audience with past events so that they were quickly caught up. The storyline itself was a little bit of a slow burn and the transformation at the end thankfully saving the slower parts. It didn't come across as a slasher by any means and that in my opinion is once again down to how slow the movie became in the second act. 

There is only one cast member that I recognised in the movie and that was Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and this watching this movie, he has impressed me with some other roles, but we'll get to those in time. He carried the movie well and it isn't going to be easy to replace Tony Todd as the franchise leader but if this does carry on, he more than made a statement in his quality of being able to carry this slightly iconic role into the next era. The rest of the cast were a first viewing for me, not really centered around but helped the story progress and were pretty ample.

It would be good to see this franchise finally get the recognition that it deserves just like Freddy and Jason, the Candyman can definitely being a character to strike fear into the viewer. I would have like this movie to possibly be a little more gruesome and hold a little more horror but it may just be setting the scene for what's to come. There were some underlying tones reagarding police brutality, white supremacey and political aspects which aren't really wanted within a horror and a since of 'being woke' spoilt the potential. I've said it already that there isn't enough horror aspect to the movie and standing in front of the mirror saying 'Candyman' five times without a worry will always be proof.

It's not about justice Dad, it's about finding peace (Stillwater 2021)

 295.

Stillwater 

6.5/10

Stillwater is a crime drama and stars Matt Damon and an unemployed oil-rig worker who is on a path to free his daughter, who is convicted of a murder that she pleads her innocence. This movie looks extremely gritty and low budget so to find out that the money spent was $20 million, most of that is surely paying Damon's wage. If you're unaware of the Amanda Knox story, I suggest having a quick read as this movie is loosely based around those true events. Safe to say Know wasn't happy about this movie and denounced it through her Twitter account regarding the fact that they profiteered from her experiences, but we'll touch on that towards the end. 

The movie begins and revolves mostly around Bill Baker, played by Matt Damon who is heading out to Marseille to visit his daughter who is halfway through her prison sentence for murdering her roommate and unfaithful partner. During his first visit, she asks him to deliver a letter to her defence lawyer. The letter suggests that her old professor heard about a man who claimed to be the actual killer. 

The lawyer refuses an attempt to reopen the case on hearsay but Bill lies to his daughter Allison and says there will be an attempt. At his hotel, he meets a French lady and her daughter who helps in translating the letter. He visits the professor who sends him on a goose chase with a phone number for someone who claims to know the killer. They set up a meeting with the French lady in tow to help translate the conversation. The girl is very nervous and brings a friend and with a lack of patience, the meeting comes to an end. They do get a name though, Akim.

Scouring through social media, the French lady, named Virgine and her friend find a number of pictures of Allison at parties and print them for Bill to take to the prison on his next visit. He then heads to track him down but is found by his friends first and is given a beating. He comes clean to Allison that there is no further case to be opened by the judge and he himself has found Akim but hasn't told the police. Allison hits the roof and asks him never to return and he has now damaged her one chance of getting out.

Four months pass and Bill has moved in the Virgine and her daughter. Renting a room, he has also found a job on a construction site. He has reconnected with his daughter and is now just waiting for her to get out. In the meantime, Virgine's daughter and Bill have also connected and he takes her to a football game. In some strange turn of events, he sees Akim at the game and follows him in his van, knocking him out and hiding him in a room at the base of the flats he now lives at with the mother and daughter.

 He begs the little girl Maya to keep a secret which she does. Akim actually tells Bill that Allison hired him to kill the two in the flat and she paid him with a gold necklace which said 'Stillwater'. He hires a private detective to have a lock of Akim's hair tested against the crime scene. The detective agrees but is also a little intrigued by how Bill managed to get his hands on the hair. He ends up disguising himself as a building inspector to have a look around the apartment, asking Virgine strange questions about the basement. Once he leaves, she heads down herself for a look. The police are called anyway and detain Bill whilst they have a look at the apartment's basement, finding it empty. Once they leave, a relationship that was blossoming between Bill and Virgine comes to an abrupt end as she admits to finding Akim in the basement and releasing him before the police arrived. She tells Bill to move out and he heads back to the hotel that he was staying at the beginning of his journey. 

The defence lawyer finally meets back up with Bill telling him that the case will be reopened as new evidence has come to light. It's shocking to see that Bill doesn't really have a reaction to this. After everything that has gone on, the breakdown in his relationship with Virgine and Akim saying that he was hired, he's a broken man. Allison is released and welcomed back home to the States by a rather large crowd. Sitting at the airport, Bill asks Allison about the necklace. She breaks down and admits to hiring Akim but only to evict the couple, not kill them. The movie ends with them both sitting at their porch, as Allison notices that nothing has changed in Stillwater but her father recognises that everything has changed for him.

It's not hard to see why Knox wouldn't be happy with this movie. She has always tried to plead her innocence of everything around her own murder case. This movie takes a twist that some may not have seen coming as Allison actually did hire the guy to do a deed but only she will know whether the intention was to kill or if she is trying to pull the wool over her father's eyes once again. I remember leaving the cinema a little angry because of the ending and that the girl ended up getting released when she was actually at fault and I think her Bill would have had a little regret in how things turned out on his pursuit for the truth also. The story was very well-paced and although there was a run time of 140 minutes, it felt a lot shorter as there was never really any downtime. Even looking back now, I can't believe it was that long of a movie. I didn't see Allison admitting to what she did come the end of the movie, I fully expected it just to be left and the audience wondering but at the same time, we are left with a question of whether she did hire a hitman or just a bailiff. 

Matt Damon puts his name to several interesting projects and this one is no different. Giving a character who can come across as very determined but also a little vulnerable in a foreign land, hoping for the help of strangers in order to achieve his goal. The guy finally catches a break as he meets a woman that he grows closer and closer to, including her daughter, only for it to come crashing down with the knee-jerking decisions that he's made. Bill is seen as the main character throughout this movie, which can be seen as a little strange when the story that it is loosely based around would put Allison obviously at the forefront. This was another reason why Amanda Knox was unhappy about this movie. The character of Allison was but on the back burner at times whilst also movie towards a less innocent narrative towards the ending of the movie. Moving into the supports, Camille Cottin as Virgine could actually be seen as a stronger female character than Abigail Breslin as Allison. She helps to give a steady build of the story, also needing her own 'win' with being a single mother and budding actress, all for it to come crashing down. 

This isn't a movie that I would be looking to go back around and watch again. It was a strong storyline that wanted to touch on a story of real-life drama but at the same time, set up in such a way to make things a little more gripping in terms of abduction and a father that would do anything for his daughter. At the same time, it did have some flaws as it came across from the start pushing Allison as an unlikeable character for myself so I was caught in two minds as to whether I even wanted Damon's character to succeed in what he was aiming to do. The length of the movie may have helped give this story time to breathe after each sequence. The movie is nothing remarkable and highly ordinary and a change of pace from what Matt Damon usually signs up for.

Don't have a good day, have a great day! (Free Guy 2021)

 294.

Free Guy

8.5/10

Ryan Reynolds is big news in Wales at the moment with his joint venture of purchasing Wrexham Football Club but at the same time, the guy is never out of work. I had gone to my first screen unseen in a long while and after the past 2 years, I was really hoping that it wasn't going to be a movie, which I'd waste my time watching. With the clues that Odeon had released, a lot of people speculated that it was actually going to be Free Guy which seemed a little too big of a movie for me. Low and behold, as the movie began a little cheer arose as it was revealed to be Free Guy. I had seen a couple of trailers as Reynolds would be playing a computer game avatar that breaks the mould of the game they are inside. The computer world is free to roam for its gamers as Reynolds plays a character named Guy, who literally frees himself from his normal NPC job within the game. His usual role is to be robbed as a bank teller every day. 

We are going to be following two storylines throughout the movie, the first being inside the game as we follow Guy and his mind opening up to his possibilities as well as the outside world with the creators of the idea of this world versus the company that now owns the system. The two worlds collide as one of the creators has a character within the game that she uses to search for proof that her idea of the free world within games and NPC's becoming their own people was actually stolen by a major corporation. Millie in the real world and Molotovgirl in Free City bumps into Guy who instantly becomes infatuated with her. Played by Jodie Comer, we know she's going to have some range. 

Guy wants to help her on her mission and Millie believes this is another online player at level 1 in experience. Her partner at the time of creating the idea of this world, Keys, now works inside the corporation. He is just going along with his asshole of a boss until Millie steps up and asks him for help. She lets him know about Guy but as they are on a mission, Keys, who is now infiltrating the company realises that Guy is actually an NPC. He's been the good guy around the city in order to level up but has no idea that he is actually a character in a game. All along he thought that Guy was being played by a hacker. Instead, this is proof that the programme that Millie and Keys created is still within this game and it was stolen by Antwas who runs Soonami Games. Antwas is pushing for a sequel which means it will delete the proof that our duo needs. Their AI engine allowed people to simply watch characters evolve and grow without having to actually play themselves. Free City is now pretty much Gran Theft Auto with a Truman Show vibe for Guy, who has no idea. 

The movie rushes through as Millie breaks the news to Guy about the game and her true intentions as Antwan sets about to launch the new game. Society is now in love with Guy, also known as 'Blue Shirt Guy'. They love his take on being a hero rather than a villain like everyone else. In what is now a race against time to save Free City, Guy and get the evidence to prove who created the game, our trio takes one last action and that's telling the other NPC's the truth about their lives. We get one final fight scene between Guy and a villain created by Antwan. As Antwan is destroying the city, all that is left are the NPC's and this new villain. The fight scene contains all sorts of homages to games and movies, which is probably the best scene I've seen in a movie in a long while. The beach on the map has always been off-limits and no one knows why. Guy makes his way to the border and jumps through, finding the original AI engine that Millie and Keys created, being hidden by Antwan. The world sees everything go down and Antwan is ruined. 

The movie ends with Millie and Keys now running their own game, Guy is given free roam but the truth comes out about the way Guy was created. He likes his coffee the same way Millie does, their favourite ice-cream flavour is the same, Mariah Carey songs on their playlist. The character was created by Keys as a homage to Millie as he is secretly in love with her. He couldn't admit it and created Guy to express what he felt. The movie finally ends as the two embrace and Millie heads back into the game one more time to give her goodbyes to Guy as Mariah Carey music hits and the credits begin to roll.

This movie, as I have already mentioned is kind of a mix between Grand Theft Auto the computer game and The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey. A character that everyone comes to know, that doesn't know the truth until it's almost too late. With a strange sense of seriousness regarding the storyline which revolves around Guy is literally life or death. The story for Millie and Keys is a little less dramatic but the two tie in together very nicely. Of course, the story was only going to end in one way, with an addition of a love story between slightly unlikely characters but with some tiny cliffhangers and close calls, we get to our final destination. The story was very enjoyable as the added comedic aspects and references to well know computer games and movies only brought about a positive spin on some worrying moments. As the movie develops, so do the characters and the storyline until we hit the final showdown and the ending that we have come to expect. This was never going to be a movie where Guy was going to lose. The ending almost mirrored the ending of The Truman Show as both characters needed to head over the water to reveal the truth to themselves and the world. 

Ryan Reynolds was easily back to his best as he needed his own range of acting talent to change as the movie went on. Short and snappy jokes, a clueless character who soon becomes an action hero and smitten for a girl, Reynolds shines throughout. This is the first time I have seen Jodie Comer in action after hearing how successful Killing Eve has been. She is renowned at the moment for the roles she can play no matter the accent that she needs to provide. This was no different as she needed to play herself and her gaming character which, other than their face, had different personalities. Online, she was a confident British girl whilst away from the keyboard, a shy but determined American. Some honourable mentions need to go the way of Joe Keery playing Keys. Known for his role in Stranger things as he plays Steve 'The Hair' Harrington, a good character that has come successful within the series. The other mention needs to be Taika Waititi who plays the main villain Antwan. A bit more of crude and dry comedy from this character which is delivered exceptionally if not a little over the top by Waititi but it really works this time around. 

Some movies can capture pop culture to a degree that doesn't overwhelm the audience and this was one of those. Just the right amount of references means the movie didn't feel as if it was relying on something else and bringing in the references to Star Wars, Marvel and other games at the end gave a great climax to an already very good movie. There were a couple of slip-ups with aspects of the story, such as the 'button to kiss' which you may notice yourself and the fact that no one really flipped out once they realised that they weren't real people but maybe that's just to stop too much going on. The movie itself had plenty of special effects and was never boring for a moment. Constantly moving at a speed that never made the movie feel like a trial to watch. It's definitely a popcorn movie for a night in that a lot of people can enjoy for a number of reasons. Keep a keen ear out for some character's voices as there are some big players in the movie acting as cameos which is a little insane.