TheFilmThoughtsBlog

Released: 10th January 2020 BBFC rating: 15 Directed by: Sam Mendes Cast: George Mackay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Colin Firth. The hardest movies to make have always been known to be one shot films and world war one movies. Sam Mendes expertly manages to combine both the genres together to create a masterpiece of movie-making which revolutionises war movies as well as film in itself. The story follows the two soldiers as they rush to warn a battalion of soldiers across France to halt their attack as they wander into a trap. The story for me was one of the strongest part of the film, as in one shot movies the time jumps can often be sacrificed for artistic plot lines, however it very much fits what Mendes wants style wise and very rarely do you find yourself lost. While the one shot gimmick can a some points seem quite distracting it does still look brilliant, especially in the cinema, and does well to emphasises the horror of the war as well as the exhau...

Released: 5th April 2019 BBFC Rating: 12 Directed by: David F.Sandberg Cast: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou The DCEU movies have been very hit or miss since Man of Steel first started these all off, with some great entries with Wonder Woman in 2017, and some not so great ones with Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad. Shazam finds itself at the upper end of the DC scale, with the film managing to find originality in such a saturated and repeating genre. Shazam focuses around Billy Batson, who after gaining the power to turn into an adult superhero from a wizard has to work out how to deal with his power as well as hide it from his foster family. It was interesting to see a new superhero find his way in a universe with well established ones already built in, as well as give a backstory to a type of character we may not have necessarily seen before. The whole relationship between Batson and his foster brother is what really made this film ...

Released: 6th September 2019 BBFC Rating: 15 Directed By: Andy Muscheitti Cast: James Macavoy, Bill Skarsgård, Bill Hader, Isiah Mustafa, Jessica Chastain It chapter 1 blew audiences away when it was released in 2017, being a horror film that appealed to a wider range of audiences than ones previous, probably due to the whole killer clown craze which had only just gone past. It however  did not leave too much of an impression on me, with it feeling like most other horror movies: too many jump scares which are loosely connected by a thin plot which doesn't appeal. By contrast, It chapter two is much more interesting and all round better than the first one, with characters which are more detailed , and a story which wasn't just driving towards the next predictable jump scare. The story line is much more detailed than the last, diving more into the back story of IT, and creating a more tense film as a result, as the characters become more human than the child ones, with m...

Released: 18th December 2019 (United Kingdom ) BBFC Rating: 12A Directed by: J.J Abrams Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels. Before starting there are potential spoilers in this review. The saga which has defined the last couple of decades of cinema has come to a close in the form of the Rise of Skywalker. While the last Jedi seemed to divide fans like never before, with people like me caught in the middle of it thinking it was good but made questionable decisions for the mythos, the Rise of skywalker activity aims to try and take it all back within the first couple of scenes, on the offset showing itself to be a completely different movie. It aims to more woo fans over with a lot of fan service, right from the start quoting the prequels and bringing back fan favourite characters like Palpatine and Lando Calrissian. On the whole though, I found it enjoyable, with a lot in the film for Star Wars fans such as myself, and off...