Film Reviews by Champ

I'm a bit of a geek, and am interested in space flight, ever since my dad woke me up, at 6 years old, to watch Armstrong step onto the moon.

I know this was about Armstrong, not the moon landings themselves. And I know it's not a documentary. But there was no sense of the momentousness of these events, and Armstrong was presented as just morose and completely unengaging. And, a bit more explanation of 'why' things were happening would have been useful - this is recent history now, and I found myself explaining to my partner what the LEM was, and why it had to undock and re-dock with the command module before heading to the moon.

There's a great movie to be made about the moon landings, but this isn't it

This film is well made, very well acted, and tells an important story. But I didn't enjoy it that much. While it was set back in the 90s, so-called "conversion therapy" still goes on, and it just made me angry. I had hoped that the kids reaction would be a bit more subversive and confrontational, but mostly acted as victims in the awful situation they had been placed in.

This is one of those oddities - a film that Mark Kermode liked a lot, and I didn't :-)

I love Aaron Sorkin's work, and have done ever since the West Wing. This has smart, sassy characters, saying smart sassy things, and weaves a complex plot in and out and around, keeping the viewer engaged and intrigued

I was keen to see this after reading the book, which I thought was very good indeed. I'm surprised by the number of negative views on here, as I really enjoyed the film, and in fact watched it twice in a week before I sent the disk back. I'm slightly too old to be of the computer gaming 80s generation, and know absolutely nothing about gaming, but that wasn't an issue at all.

I really enjoyed the conceptual ideas, and about people retreating from the real world by losing themselves in an online world, which I think is very relevant to today. I generally don't like CGI heavy films at all, but because the CGI in this was actually part of the plot of the film, again, I was fine with that part of it.

Speilberg is such a master storyteller, and even on my 2nd viewing I was on the edge of my seat. Very happy to give this 4 stars

This is a well made film, with great performances throughout. However, I had not the slightest interest in any of the characters, or anything they did, and came to actively dislike them all by the end of the film. I can understand that some might enjoy it, but the Daniel Day Lewis character is so appalling, and not remotely sympathetic, that I actively wanted him to die (spoiler: he doesn't; I was dissappointed).

I enjoyed this film a lot more than I expected (and I did expect to enjoy it, else I wouldn't have had it on my list!)

My first impression was how amazing it looked. We're all used to amazing screen realisations of SF stories, but the ship looked incredibly believable, and the first 10 minutes almost took my breath away. And then the film did what great SF usually does, and made us focus about the inner psychological state of it protagonist. This only intensified when Jennifer Lawrence joined the story.

My interest waned slightly when the third act turned into a more traditional "peril in space" story, but it did act as a believable catalyst for the reconciliation of the two main characters, and I found the final ending really touching.

And Martin Sheen play a brilliant robot barman :-)

The Incredibles is my favourite animated movie of the modern era - above any of the Toy Stories, the Shreks, Monsters Inc, etc. So while I was really looking forward to the sequel, I had some trepidation, in case it sullied the first one.

I needn't have worried - the new film is very good indeed. In some ways, it's better - the story genuinely kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what was next. The animation was right up at the level we expect from Pixar, and I particularly liked the fact that Elastagirl took the lead in much of the story.

The first film is still my favourite, because...well, it's the first. But this one is a very worthy sequel.

I'm now old enough to be watching historical films about events that I actually lived through! But I was a boy when these events happened, and didn't fully realise the terrible treatment that women athletes suffered at the time. The acting, especially from Emma Stone, as Billie Jean King, and Steve Carrel, as Bobby Riggs, is exceptional, and all the supporting cast are very good too. Even if you don't know the story, it's clear how it's going to pan out, but despite that, it kept my attention to the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film - the era was brilliantly evoked, for better and worse, and it does show how far we have moved towards gender equality, even though it's been a very slow journey - the films events took place in 1973, and Wimbledon finally paid equal prize money to men and women in 2007.

On the surface, this was a fairly outlandish romp, with Cruise perfectly cast as the pilot with the million dollar smile and negotiable morals.

But the laughter freezes a little when you realise that most of this actually happened! The killer moment for me was seeing Nancy Reagan on TV with her "Just say no" message, while her husband's government is actually helping import cocaine.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, and rate it nearly has highly as The Big Short, which made me feel much the same.

I loved this film. While the Pooh books are a part of my childhood, I don't feel any tremendous affection for them, so it's not down to that. I think the film does a great job of capturing the stilted and frozen emotions of the English upper classes of the time, and how that was passed on down the generations by the use of nannies. Christopher Robin clearly loved his nanny "Nou" much more than his mother, who was more interested in being a socialite in London. The film captured this very well, and also how the mother's distance allowed a closeness to develop between the child and his father, that eventually led to the Winnie the Pooh books. It doesn't shy away from the exposure and impact that being the inspiration for the books had on the young boy either, and his determination to break away from that and join the army and fight in WW2. The film takes some liberties with the truth on what happens next (no plot spoilers here), but CR's rapprochemont with his father at the end of the film is incredibly moving - or it was for this viewer, anyway.

Highly recommended.

PS: if you want to see how brilliant and versatile an actress Margot Robbie is, watch her in I, Tonya (also extremely good) the night after watching her play CR's uptight mother in this film.

There's nothing groundbreaking or new about this film, and in many ways it is a very typical British comedy-drama. But it does have a great cast, and they are all at the top of their game, managing to turn in very good performances with a somewhat variable script. The humour was laugh-out-loud funny, and the sad parts were sad enough to elicit a tear from this viewer.

This film fits the audience demopgraphic establised by Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and if you liked that you will definitely like this. I did.

The synopsis of this film would put most people off - a man is paralysed from the next down after contracting polio, and then lives with it for 30 years. But in fact, the film is wonderfully uplifting and inspiring, and great illustration of the tenacity of the human spirit. Of course, the tragedy of the story is very tragic indeed, and the tears definitely flowed at some points of the film, but the was lots and lots of laughter too.

The cast is excellent throughout, but Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy deserve to be singled out for portraying what is essentially a deep and moving love story. The phrase "love conquers all" is the sort of cliche that would normally make me gag, but in this case it damn well did!

I had two distinct experiences with this film

While watching it, I can't say I enjoyed it. None of the adult characters were people I could identify or empathise with, and this just made me feel sorry for the young children who are running around and making play, oblivious to the poor environment they are in, and the choices their parents have made. But it did engage me, I wanted to see what happened, and the atmosphere of the protagonists environment, and even the heat, was palpable.

But when it finished I didn't think I'd enjoyed it.

But then it stayed with me. And stayed with me. And, a week later, I'm still thinking about it. The acting and evocation of the characters, some desparate, some trying to do their best under dificult circumstances, is superb. And the kids, especially Moonee (played by as Brooklynn Kimberly Prince), is incredible. So now I think this was a genuinely great film. But it gave me something different than I expected, or even realised at the time

I saw this film at the cinema when first released in 2015, and loved it. Since then I have read the book, which is also excellent, and I was interested to see how the movie stood up a few years later.

And the answer is - it stands up very well indeed. There's some very good hard science in it, which it revels in instead of dumbing down. Sure it, takes some dramatic licence - after a character says that each message takes minutes to round-trip, people are then seen communicating as if in real time. But I can forgive it that.

Matt Damon is truly excellent, and I love the way he, and the film, play some scenes for laughs. The rest of the cast is a little mixed - while some of the supporting characters are excellent (Benedict Wong and Chiwetel Ejiofor stand out), others, such a Sean Bean, are more than a little wooden. But the film is good enough overall that it can stand a few lines of stilted dialogue, poorly delivered.

I also have to mention the movie makes Mars looks. This is reason alone to watch this on blu-ray! I never wondered how they did it, I just marvelled that it genuinely felt like Matt Damon was on Mars.

And if you really like the science in this movie, then I can highly recommend the book :-)

I don't like horror, so was pleased that this didn't turn out to be one. I did watch a couple of bits through my fingers, but that's more about me being a wuss than any real gore in the movie.

And what an enjoyable movie! The performances were all great - Bill Nighy was his usual reliably brilliant self, but new to me were Douglas Booth and Olivia Cook, who were just as good. The plot genuinely kept me guessing, as a good whodunnit should.