Film Reviews by LC

Clearly aimed at the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' market, 'Thor Ragnarok' is essentially an outright comedy movie - I've got no real problems with that, other than it's just not very funny. All that leaves is empty spectacle: CGI fight scenes between various cartoonish characters - none of whom have any real character, depth or dramatic weight beyond providing the next gag line, or 'cool fight pose'. There is no threat or dramatic tension here, as nothing about this cartoon world feels even vaguely 'real'. Kids will love the bright colours and action, but this is ultiamtely a completely empty, mindless movie. Not one of Marvel's better efforts.

This is a decent film, but a slightly confusing one in terms of tone. It starts out with a good solid dramatic hook, and looks are though it's going to be a serious thriller. But then both the villains and the music score start playing as though it's a comedy, and as we head towards the final act, events go so over the top it's completely impossible to take seriously, so it loses all dramatic tension. It is entertaining, and has some interesting ideas, so it's certainly watchable - but it seems as though it's neither one thing or the other - it's too knowing and arch to be a great thriller, but neither is it funny enough to be a laugh-out-loud comedy. Possibly it would have been better to just pick one genre, and stick with it - but it does at least achieve a certain unique feel.

It's tough to rate this film, as it's very much a film of two halves. The first half, where a black guy visits his white girlfriend's parents, is a nicely paced slow-burn horror, where everyone he meets is strangely off-kilter, and some mysterious secret lurks below the surface. Unfortunately, once we finally get the big reveal of why everyone's acting so strange, the film shifts into pure hokem, with an outrageously over-the-top finale straight out of a 50's sci-fi B movie. Any sense of realistic character drama goes out the window, and the tone as a whole drifts towards comedy thanks to the increased presence of the hero's sidekick friend. Still - nice photography, and some may be able to ignore the ridiculous plot of the second-half, and just read it as an allegory on race relations. It's audacious enough that it's probably worth watching once, but tonally it's a bit of a mess and impossible to take seriously.

This 2nd seasion has some good moments, with probably the most audacious , amusing and outright gross moment of gore action in the entire franchise when Ash gets into a fight with someone's lower intestine at the morgue, plus Ash meeting his father, the return of Ash's sister from the original 'Evil Dead' film, Ash's car getting possessed and a mental breakdown leading to the introduction of an Ash 'muppet'.

Where it struggles a bit is in the overall storyline - the main characters and their aims aren't always that well-defined or interesting (especially to carry a near five-hour narrative), and the climax ends up being one of the weaker moments - as fun as it always is to revisit the original cabin in the woods, returning yet again this time feels like running out of ideas. The gore, humour and Ash are enough to keep this series ticking over, but it feels a little empty beneath the surface spectacle.

Nice cinematrography, and the cast are decent enough, but this ultimately turns out to be a fairly workmanlike remake of the 1971 Clint Eastwood film (which still holds up pretty well). Solid enough, but it doesn't really offer anything new insights or improvements, so it feels like a slightly pointless exercise.

There is one admittedly good scene in this movie, a 10-minute fight sequence edited to appear as though it's all been filmed in one shot. Aside from that - it's diabolical. Essentially, it's a James Bond film with a female lead - but so over the top and cliched you presume it must be a comedy satire like 'Kingsman' - yet there aren't any jokes. And even the most ridiculous Roger Moore-era Bond film has some exciting action sequences, yet despite being so ridiculous you can't take anything seriously, the plot here is a mundane and boring chase after a list of double agents. One of the worst films I've ever seen.

By no means the worst of the numerous Texas Chainsaw sequels/reboots/prequels (amazingly, this is now the 8th in the series), this is a reasonable enough effort, but fails to develop into anything special. The story of a group of escaped mental patients on the run just about hangs together, but the slight storyline means the pacing drags as it goes on, and crucially the slightly-built lead fails to convince as the hulking Leatherface we've seen in previous films. For fans of the original, this is just about worth watching once, but I can't imagine ever wanting to revisit it.