At the Cinemas: Nov '21

Shall we go to the pictures? - Me, all the time.

Okay, with my accent, that word comes out as 'pick-chas' instead, but it's all the same. I'm trying to start off this thing where I tell you at the end of each month or so what I have watched in the cinema and give you a quick run-down of what I think of it. I'll trial it for this month and see how it goes - we will be back in January for the next one if it goes well enough and I get a generally good response. (If you want to respond, then please contact me via @annieapproximately on Instagram. And please actually drop the message, don't just say 'hi' and expect me to respond, it comes across quite weird and I get a ton of messages so you'll probably get lost in the blur if you do that).

The rating system will stay the same with the films getting a score out of five. They are in the order I watched them in the cinema. Forgive me if you enjoyed a movie on here that I gave a bad rating, it is simply an opinion on the movie itself and is in no way a reflection of the people in the movie or the director/producers unless explicitly stated.

At the Cinemas: November '21

Halloween Kills

• Rating: 3.5/5

I'm not going to lie to you, I love the Halloween movie series so I'm biased when it comes to reviewing them. I went to watch the previous movie entitled Halloween on the night of Halloween 2018 in the cinemas and this one being the follow up to that did not really disappoint. However, I would have liked to see more of Jamie Lee Curtis's character Laurie Strode because her lying half dead in a hospital bed is not really conducive to the storyline. When it comes to the ending (which I will not reveal) I think it is simple to say that though it felt rushed and out of order - it was still entertaining. All in all, I enjoyed this entertaining ride of murder, gore and rampaging silliness. Maybe not the deepest movie, but definitely a very good watch that I would willingly watch again.

Dune

• Rating: 3/5

Cinematic excellence, this film demonstrates what happens when you have great cinematography in a Science Fiction movie. This is unfortunately also where the problem lies for me: Sci-Fi movies really are not my thing. Throughout the film, I could see why it was entertaining (mainly as well because I had read the book about a decade earlier) and I could see why people would want to watch it. Unfortunately, it did let me down a bit with all of the heavy Sci-Fi language and the lazy philosophy which kind of made me feel like I was back in Jupiter Ascending. However, saying this - it's great to see Javier Bardem again - he was brilliant, he always is. Am I going to watch the next one when it comes out? Of course I am. I'll try not to judge it purely on the fact that it is a Sci-Fi movie.

The French Dispatch

• Rating: 3/5

A love letter to The New Yorker and the dying medium of print journalism are heavily explored in Wes Anderson's newest movie. I have to say, even though I thought I was being promised more Benicio Del Toro, there are other members of the cast I enjoyed as well. I'm glad to see Adrien Brody has still got a sense of humour and Frances McDormand does brilliantly in her role. I have to say, Owen Wilson never fails to make me laugh and even though Edward Norton hardly did anything, he was still brilliant. Though the movie gave me a bit of a headache with all of its colours changing all the time, I did think that the style of the movie was very well done, especially how it moved from one section of the magazine to the next. Definitely worth re-watching some time soon.

Eternals

• Rating: 1/5

A huge disappointment from Marvel here. A film with so much potential given the fact that Angelina Jolie was in the film and Chloe Zhao was directing, the movie fell flat with its narcissism getting in the way of the story and its evolution. There were far more special effects than I was hoping for with many feeling like they were shoehorned in for the sake of it, there was a massive concentration on the superpowers and not nearly enough focus on the actual story (the story development didn't do well because of the sheer amount of exposition and explaining) and yet, there were very few scenes where there was any sort of character development whatsoever. Though I was impressed by some of the scenery, especially the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (which I really enjoyed), I couldn't get into the story and before I knew it, there were tons of flashing lights and colours - then it was over. Marvel needs to rethink their stance on special effects if they are to continue like this. I look forward to a different approach in The Black Knight series they will undoubtedly do.

Last Night in Soho

• Rating: 5/5

I absolutely adore this film. A thrilling and chilling dance through 1960s London with different side entrances at every turn. By the end of the movie you are left with serious moral questions and thought-provoking ideas swirling around in your brain. The costumes were not over-the-top, the characters had a ton of development and there was ample room for the actors to really embody the roles, which brings me to say that the casting was perfect. The atmosphere comes across brilliantly with an almost sixth-sense-like approach to the main character, the city of London in the 1960s is blended in well with the story and accurately portrayed and the cinematography is excellent. If anything has changed my mind about my previous dislike for Edgar Wright, then it is this movie. A truly great film. In the future, I can see it becoming some sort of cult classic.

When it comes out on Apple Movies, I will definitely be buying this and rewatching it for analysis.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

• Rating: 3/5

I love the original 1984 Ghostbusters film and well, I think that this one was a discussion for a long time amongst the team - actually it took so long that my favourite Ghostbuster actually died. When this movie came out, I was expectant and I was not disappointed. Though it is heavy on the nostalgia and probably could've been far better written - it was still fun and hilarious. One thing I loved about the original 1984 movie is that it didn't take itself too seriously - it was just a bit of fun. The place where the new one probably let me down is mainly with the writing and story - there was just too much story, which took away from it being a movie you shouldn't need to think about while you're watching it. All in all though, a really fun film that probably required some better, more insightful writing.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

• Rating: 2/5

I won't lie to you, I didn't think much of the first one and I was not going to the cinema to think much of the second though I had heard it was better than the first. A movie which, for the most part, is about nothing really happening, I do like the fact it doesn't take itself too seriously. However, I do think that characters such as Carnage could have been seen more in the movie. There is quite a bit of the film where we just see people investigating things and thus, the ending to the film feels very rushed as if someone was pressed for run time. It does set up a lot of things (that I will not say) but I'm still glad I watched it.

Spencer

• Rating: 2/5

This movie was polarising. Of course, I went in already knowing what was going to happen because of the fact it's based on a true story that is still widely discussed to this day: the disillusion of the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. However, I don't think that the performance of Princess Diana was really any good at all. First of all, the accent was really far off. Kristen Stewart sounded like she constantly had something stuck in her throat whereas, Princess Diana didn't sound like that - she was a very eloquent woman. Secondly, the man who played Prince Charles looks too young to be Prince Charles at that time - I mean he doesn't look much older than me - this made it difficult to get into the film. I do think most of all, the shoddy performance of Princess Diana by Kristen Stewart really did let the film down. I preferred it when Naomi Watts played her, it was far more accurate.

House of Gucci

• Rating: 3/5

The first thing I thought about when I was watching this film is how much Adam Driver looks like the guy he's actually playing - like that was actually pretty uncanny. Apart from that, Adam Driver's acting was brilliant and so was the acting by the greats: Jeremy Irons and Al Pacino. I have little knowledge of what Jared Leto was trying to achieve but Lady Gaga was very good when she was being all malevolent. But when they turned her into the post-breakup woman, it became a little shaky for me. Honestly, the best thing about this film was the fact that Adam Driver was pretty much holding it together - he deserves the Academy Award for Best Actor for this one.