December 2019

#11: Stardog and TurboCat

I only found out about this in late October/Early November. Looked quite cheap in terms of production. 

Back when I wanted to Queen's Corgi during August, I only wanted to see that because Sheridan Smith voiced one of the characters. 

For this film, I had no reason to watch this other than pushing the 9 films to 11.

This was below average.

Throughout the film was a inconsistent use of the microphone. One moment the voice actors would sound decent and clear. The next, they'd sound like they were talking through a literal phone/Skype-ing in their lines.

That happened through THE whole film.

Apart from the textures and lighting being greater than QC. This film was abysmal.

4/10

#10: Cats

I was really mainly interested in this because of Taylor Swift.

Cats is 104 minutes too long. That is the whole runtime.

It bored me to death.

Not even Taylor Swift could save it and she was the one reason I actually wanted to see that.

She was a glorified cameo, one song and 2-4 lines, that's it. 

I did enjoy Taylor's performance and what was visible from her actual face.

She was the one thing of this film I liked, I smiled when she came on the screen. That was nearly 70-90 minutes in.

The CG was still terrible, if not worse. They pretty much just deepfaked a couple of A-List stars' faces onto CG fur-filled bodies. Hideous.

It looked passable when there were close-ups that featured shadows or a dimmly lit area as you could see the details and dimensions in the faces.

The "best" looking Cat was Ian Mckellen as fur was around the face instead of away like all the rest.

I think Gemini Man might've just slipped away from the #1 worst movie of the year this, but it's not by much.

I will say, besides Taylor being the part enjoyed. The set design was excellent, very broadway-esque like the original stage musical. 

They definitely put the majority of the budget on the set and stars than the CG studio.

All the the actors definitely put their all in. 

Jennifer Hudson's 'Memory' although her vocals were superb during that song, it just didn't do anything to me for the narrative. 

This would've possibly been better if it was an animated film, no live-action faces. Universal would've alot of money doing that.

2/10

#9: Spies In Disguise

I wasn't too enticed to watch this. It just seemed like more gloating from Will Smith. Or he just wants people to forget about his first major voice acting role(Shark Tale).

This was my final film of the month and the final film of 2019.

It was okay, mediocre at best.

My favourite scene was probably the breadcrumb scene where millions popped their heads up at the same time.

5/10

#8: Motherless Brooklyn

Mainly wanted to see this because it was set in New York.

This was okay, dragged immensely.

Excellent exterior shots of New York during the course of this with 1940 Jazz music playing in the background.

The latter half of this is when it starts getting great.

Amazing performance by Edward Norton. Playing the remorseful detective who suffers from turrets.

I do wish I came out of this loving it. But, with the long runtime, it did bore me.

6.5/10

#7: Frozen II

I did not want to see this in the slightest. Just to push the 9 films to 11.

I've never saw the first film from 2013. Just didn't not get the hype and prestige it was getting.

This was mediocre. The songs were okay, a little boring at times. Kristoph's song about being Lost in The Woods was decent, probably the most enjoyable one.

Olaf's recap of the original film was quite funny.

I was expecting Elsa and Anna's parents to be at the ice temple, but nope. They're completely dead, apparently.

I did like how Disney acknowledged Let It Go being quite cringey/overplayed during the moving snow statues segment with Elsa shuddering at the sight of her singing the song.

5/10

#6: Little Women

(This was my first Unlimited Screening/New film at the new Cineworld in Warrington.)

I've been anticipating this for quite a while because it starred Florence Pugh and Emma Watson. They were the main reasons I wanted to see this.

This was reasonably good.

By far my favourite highlight of the film was everytime Emma and Florence were soley on screen during scenes together, which was quite a limited amount. 

There was only 2 times they only shared the screen. One that was in the trailer and the other was during a emotional point in the story.

I didn't cry for the story, just more of the fact that in the 2 hours and 10 minutes. They were only on screen together for less than 10-20 minutes.

I did tear up on the other hand when they were on screen perfectly closer to the end of the film

Every other scene did bore me a little as I was more interested with what Emma's and Florence's characters were doing.

6/10

#5: Playing With Fire

I mainy wanted to see this because of Briannna Hildebrand.

This seemed like a Nickelodeon TV film that just so happened to get theatrical release on the same day.

This reminded me alot of The Pacifier (starring Vin Diesel) and The Game Plan (starring Dwayne Johnson), a story about a mature and strict guy that slowly becomes a caring father-figure. 

Only this had a heavy amount of My Little Pony and Kleenex product placement.

Brianna was excellent.

The twist about their parents being dead was handled very seriously.

This was surprisingly really hilarious. The trailers definitely weren't.

7.5/10

#4: Black Christmas

I've been interested in this for a few months. 

I have saw quite a few Blumhouse films just this year(Us, both Happy Death Days, Ma, etc.). Blumhouse are great in terms of making horror/thriller movies.

This was good.

It did seem alot more jump-scare heavy than the previous BH films.

The segment in the trailer where one of the killers gets unmasked to reveal the college statue's head in it's place was not in the final edit.

The action/kill scenes were great.

Overall, I was interested prior to watching it and still enjoyed it. Though it was the weaker BH film I have saw.

6.7/10

#3: Blue Story

This film has been riddled with controversy ever since it was released late last month. 

I personally wasn't too hyped to see this but I wanted to push my 9 films upto 12 just for this month considering it is the end of 2019.

This was surprisingly good. 

Great story about friendship, betrayal and ultimately murder. 

I loved the montage that played right before Marko killed Timmy. Showing how they went from being best friends to bitter enemies is just a few years. 

Great acting by the guy who played Marko. During that scene, his feelings were immensely visible. 

He didn't want to murder him due to the history they had together but for the unforeseen circumstances that recently occurred, he needed to in an act of vengenance.

The frequent narration through rap was a pretty decent concept. It furthered the story along quite nicely.

In my opinion, it should've ended when Leah died trying to save Timmy from an ambush. Would've been the perfect ending, honestly. 

Having Marko killing his mate's girlfriend and "supposedly" killing his mate in the process. 

But there was still 20-15 minutes left.

All in all, I didn't expect to like this one bit but I came out enjoying it.

7/10

#2: Jumanji: The Next Level

I have saw both previous films. They were equally great. Hoping this lives up to the 2017 film.

This was my first 3D film since Angry Birds 2 back in August. Also, my first-ever 3D Unlimited screening.

This was really great. Arguably better than the one from 2 years ago.

The set pieces were awesome and it had a better story.

I loved how the relationship between Milo and Eddie went from not liking each over things happening in the past to Eddie and Milo sadly saying goodbye to each other for the final time as Milo was diagnosed with an uncurable disease.

For a film that is all about respawns, it does deal with mortality and death maturely. Especially in the scene where Milo confesses about his illness to Eddie.

Superb acting by Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson who portrayed more characters than they did in the previous film.

All in all, this was a really fun with alot of heart.

9.5/10

#1: Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

I have went to every opening day of the sequel trilogy as well as the spinoffs(Rogue One in 2016 and Solo in 2018). 

This has been my most anticipated film of 2019 for 2 years.

I hope that this does excel as it is the final chapter in the Skywalker Saga. 

I do hope Daisy does return to do future Star Wars projects(video games, tv shows, cameos in other SW movies).

This was fucking amazing! It reminded me alot of Endgame/Infinity War for some reason.

Daisy was incredible, loved every scene she was in. There's nothing than I can say besides, she was absolutely fantastic.

My favourite scene by far was the Dark Rey segment. Although immensely short, I was very happy seeing two Daisys interacting with each other. Grinning ear to ear. It reminded me a lot of the Cap v Cap from Endgame.

I'd have preferred if they had Daisy play Rey's mother in the flashback, just with a few prosthetics to make her seem older and much different.

Hux should've just betrayed The First Order, similar to how Agent Kallus betrayed The Empire in Star Wars: Rebels(TV Show). He died in a very shitty way too. 

From someone who done a passionate evil speech on Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens to getting killed by a fellow First Order general. 

He deserved more than that.

The opening scene was excellent. Kylo Ren moving like an unstoppable Sith Lord, mowing down everyone with his cross-guard saber in the search for The Emperor.

JJ managed the passing of Carrie Fisher so well, with the limited resources he had. 

A true shame that she could not be physically there instead of old footage from The Force Awakens.

Kylo's redemption was great, a very fitting send off for the Supreme Leader. Reviving Rey with the force like Rey did after she stabbed him on the destroyed Death Star.

I did love the moment Leia faded away. Captured perfectly. With Rey and Kylo having a moment of mourning. Ben lost his mother and Rey lost her mentor.

The CG during the flashback between Luke and Leia training was amazing especially the de-aging of Mark Hamill.

Babu Frik was hilarious, he re-introduced himself to C3-PO immediately after he wiped his memory as if nothing happened. I hope he comes back in a future Star Wars film/series.

I was a little confused as they hyped up the C3-PO memory wipe during the trailers as this last hurrah for the Anthony Daniels in the SW Universe. In the final edit, it was portrayed as a joke which was a little fucked up for a character that has lasted all this time.

The set pieces were amazing. The new planets looked incredible.

The victory celebration although immensely similar to the one in Return Of The Jedi was still great.

I'd have honestly preferred if Rey's own saber colour was green instead of orange, but that's just my preference.

Overall, this was a nice bookend to a 42 year saga with a few flaws. 

10/10