Joe Hughes' Film reviews

  All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of April 2023 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #4. Renfield  With the likes of the beautiful 'Pig' and hilarious 'Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent', Nicolas Cage seemed to have had a semi-career resurgence after quite a few years of b-list film mediocrity (excluding Into The Spider-Verse, ofcourse, he was amazing in that!). Cage in this film, is going all out with the campiness, evident by the trailers showing him as Dracula comically hovering sorta akin to 'What We Do In The Shadows' (the Taika film, not Matt Berry show). Cage and Nicholas Hoult reunite theatrically for the first time since 'The Weatherman' The visuals from the trailers were very interesting with the grungy neon colour grading. * This was okay, reminded me alot of last year's 'Violent Night' (perhaps it's set in the same universe?) just somewhat less entertainin...

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of March 2023 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #4: Scream VI Never been a fan of the Scream franchise, I only just last year saw 3 & 5 during October (when Horror films should be released). The only things that drew me to see this was Jenna Ortega, she was great in last year's 'X' and fifth 'Scream' film. Also it being set in NYC. I will admit it was upsetting that Neve Campbell wasn't gonna return in this film. * Man, these films are very full of themselves. In the last 5 months, I must've forgot how overly indulgent they get with the forth wall breaks and self-awareness. This 100% should've released in October! The highlights, for me, was the inclusion of Billie Eilish's "When The Party's Over" and the train sequence with a boat load of film references like Us, Halloween, Elm Street among MANY others. The performan...

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of February 2023 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #3. Cocaine Bear This was my final cinema trip of February 2023. I wasn't particularly hyped to see this in all honesty. The only redeemable part of Elizabeth Banks' previous film, the 2019 Charlies Angels, was Kristen Stewart (as well as Ronda and Hailee showing up during the credits). So when it was revealed she was going to make a film based on a crazy true story, I was quite skeptical. The concept of the story would've made for a brilliant Coen Brothers film, akin to Fargo or The Big Lebowski. Or even Guy Richie, like 'Snatch'. The trailer was somewhat intriguing, showcasing exactly what the title is a 'Cocaine Bear'. I guess the only things that drew me to watch this was Keri Russell's and Isaiah Whitlock Jr.'s involvement as well as this being the late Ray Liotta's final role. * How the ...

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of January 2023 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #4: I Wanna Dance With Somebody I was never much of a Whitney Houston fan, hence why I left quite late into it's theatrical run, the most I've seen from her is 'The Bodyguard' (which I saw for the first time last February) and the iconic accompanying music video 'I will Always Love You'. * This was pretty decent, albeit 20 or so minutes longer than it should've been. The performances were great and Naomi Ackie pulled off Houston's mannerisms with conviction. Her lip syncing of Whitney's legendary and soulful vocals were very chill inducing. I liked that songs were played in full and not cut abruptly. Stanley Tucci had a great supporting role in this film, which isn't that surprising as he's usually been amazing in the films he's in. During the finale, as soon as it faded to February 201...

Hello and welcome to my fourth annual end of year look back at the films I've throughout the year. This year I managed to watch 387 films with 171 of them being from the past 52 weeks, which is what I'll be focusing on and categorisng in this blog post. Like in the previous 3 installments, this is just my opinion. My choices for best or worst will most likely be different to yours. Art is indeed subejctive. With that out of the way, here is my 2022 in film categorised: The Batman by Greig Fraser All Quiet On The Western Front  by James Friend ELVIS by Mandy Walker Everything Everywhere All At Once by Larkin Seiple Living by Jamie Ramsay NOPE  by Hoyte Van Hoytema Day Shift SCREAM Texas Chainsaw Massacre Maidenhead End of The Road Hatching Black Panther: Wakanda Forever by Ludwig Göransson All Quiet On The Western Front by Volker Bertelmann Entergalactic by Kid Cudi Living by Emilie Levienaise-Fa NOPE by Michael Abels The Batman by Michael Giacchino The Sky is...

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of December 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #4. Matilda: The Musical This was my final cinema trip of December 2022 and this year in general. I would've waited until January 2023 to see this on Netflix, but chose the cinema primarily because I wanted to bump the cinema trips of this month to 4...and also I didn't want to see Avatar II, at least until next year. I think the most I've saw of this film prior to release was the clip of the girl with the red cap dancing through a hallway, it was shared relentlessly on Tiktok to the very point of it being tiresome everytime it came on my FYP. * This was surprisingly enjoyable and was a perfect theatrical translation of a stage musical. Definetley worth seeing a cinema before it arrives on Netflix in a couple of weeks. It was surreal seeing a theatrical version of the opening Netflix logo. There was not a single bad perf...

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of November 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 3 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #3. Prey For The Devil I first heard about this at my Superscreen screening of 'NOPE' back in August and dreaded watching it after all the negative reviews came out, which is why I've left until post-October to see it. I guess the only thing about the film that drawn me to it was the lead star, Jacqueline Byers. Everything else about the film look generic and horror-cliche. * 'Prey For The Devil' was mediocre at best. Performances-wise, Jacqueline Byers and Colin Salmon definitely carried the film, for me anyway. I also thought the film itself was shot pretty okay too, nothing groundbreaking or hauntingly beautiful. Out of the dozens of predictable jumpscares, I only jumped at one, the being in the mortuary scene. While I was bored for somewhat most of the film, it definitely needed an extra 30 or so ...

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of October 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #4: Amsterdam This was my first cinema trip of October 2022. To be perfectly honest, outside of Taylor Swift, Anya-Taylor Joy and Zoe Saldana, I had no interest or personal reason in seeing this. Hence why I replaced the poster to Taylor Swift's character on my Letterboxd account, I wish there was a poster with just them 3, that would've been amazing! The 30% on Rotten Tomatoes definitely seemed off-putting, especially when the is just over 2 hours long too. * 'Amsterdam' was okay. Nothing more, nothing less. I usually don't mind Timothy Olyphant film/TV appearances (He's great in Disney+'s The Mandalorian/Book of Boba Fett) but wow, I instantly hated him in this after killing Taylor's character. Straight-up irredeemable. Thank God the film still had Anya and Zoe because I probably would...

All movies I saw in the cinema for first time during the month of September 2022 ranked from worst to best. (SPOILER WARNING FOR ALL 4 FILMS PICTURED ABOVE) #4: Ticket To Paradise  I literally only wanted to see this because of Billie Lourd, everything else about it did not interest me at all (Clooney, Roberts, a "trying to stop a wedding story", etc). * Man, I was insanely glad Billie was in the film for more than 5 scenes because I would've been far more bored than I already was. She truly was the saving grace of the entire dull and unfunny 91+ minute runtime. 4/10 #3: Don't Worry Darling My final cinema trip of September 2022. This was one of my most anticipated films of 2022 up until a couple of weeks ago when all the behind the scenes controversy came to light and the Venice Film Festival fiasco. Even when it was anticipated, I just wanted to see it for Florence Pugh. Now, I'm ONLY doing it for her. * This movie was certainly "a movie". ...