2016 Mini Reviews

There’s more than just a pinch of Rosemary’s Baby in David Farr’s feature debut The Ones Below where a woman (played by Clemence Posey), who has just recently given birth, is convinced that her neighbours are tormenting her, even the film’s 'lala' lullaby soundtrack bares a strong resemblance to the soundtrack in Polanski’s 1968 chiller. Rosemary’s Baby is not the only Polanski work that the film has some similarity, the uncomfortable dinner sequence is like something from Carnage and the London setting matches the setting of his 1965 film Repulsion. Sadly, however, The Ones Below isn’t quite on a par with the previously mentioned Polanski works. It certainly has its chills and tension but the film takes a disappointingly straightforward route with its narrative. Though the performances are good and they’re good enough to make this film chilling and creepy enough to be worth the watch. 

2.5/5

The Shallows

After the death of her mother, Nancy Allen (Blake Lively) is trying to find that special beach that was so important to her mother. With help from a local, Carlos (Óscar Jaenada), she arrives at the secluded beach. It’s a perfect place to surf, beautiful, tropical and almost empty, that is until she’s attacked by a severely pissed off Great White Shark. Unlike The Reef where the shark’s victims are attacked way out to sea, Nancy is tantalising close to shore but between her and the rock she clambered on, there is a shark ready to tear her apart should she swim to safety.

Suicide Squad

For those who haven’t seen Batman vs Superman, I’d take a few careful steps before ploughing on with this review...anyway after the apparent death of Superman, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) sees fit to recruit a group of supervillains to protect the world from future Supermen with far more sinister intentions. These supervillains are Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) and El Diablo (Jay Hernandez).

Jason Bourne

Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) returns from the shadows and once again he is being hunted by the CIA. This time Bourne is trying to find out information on a special Black Ops mission which cost his father’s life. Meanwhile, business tycoon Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed) is about to introduce this super special social media platform which will have over a billion users. Naturally, the CIA see this a valuable resource for gathering intel.

The BFG

The film starts off in London, when in London is not apparent as modern day London seems to merge seamlessly with the cobbled streets that are more suited to Victorian London than the present day. In this timeless version of London, we are quickly introduced to a sleepless Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who captures sight of the dream blowing BFG (Mark Rylance) and is quickly whisked off giant country where the land is populated by, as the name suggests, man eating giants. To defeat them, both Sophie and BFG seek the help of the Queen of England.

Thursday Movie Picks 105: Female ensamble movies

With a female led Ghostbusters out in cinemas it can't be a coincidence that this week's theme is female ensemble movies. To join this weekly blogging event please visit -http://wanderingthroughtheshelves.blogspot.co.uk/

Sadly, it's going to be a short one this week. I've been swamped at work

Ghostbusters (2016)

The misogynistic bile that has followed this movie ever since it's release has been nothing short of disgusting. Yes, fans always kick off when their favourite movie is remade or rebooted but I can't quite remember anything as bad as the reaction to this film for having the audacity to cast women in the leading in a remake of a popular film.