Film Review- Blair Witch

Sometimes you've got to just judge a film based on the emotions that it evokes in you rather than overanalysing and scrutinising each individual part of its make-up. 

The second half of Blair Witch made me feel one emotion in bucket loads: raw unadulterated fear.

Directed by Adam Wingard, Blair Witch is a follow-up to 1999's "The Blair Witch Project". The plot is very similar to that of its predecessor as is much of its composition. In this film James, the brother of Heather from the first film, goes with a group of friends to the Blair woods in order to look for his missing sibling after footage pops up online which may serve to prove that she is still alive. However once in the woods, the group learn the hard way that there are certain rocks which are better left unturned. 

Like I said, when you break Blair Witch down, there isn't an awful lot to marvel at. The acting isn't top quality, especially in the film's early stages. For a movie who's entire existence relies on the "belief" that it depicts real events, the acting is very pantomime in the first half. James Allen McCune, who plays James, is particularly guilty of this and it is not until the film's climax that he redeems himself a bit in terms of his performance. Also, while the first film popularised the found-footage sub-genre, Blair Witch is now one of many such films to come out in the decade since the initial outing. Because of this, Blair Witch doesn't really feel special from a technical perspective like its predecessor was at the time and therefore can't be considered as "special" a film. Despite this the camera work is very good and the shaky cam style, combined with the low-level lighting, helped to create a particularly realistic feel which other horrors would do well to try to imitate.

However, like I always say, there is only one question that has to be answered in order to judge the quality of a horror film: is it scary? The answer to this question is an extremely firm yes! I've seen mostly every horror film to come out in 2016, but none of them have come close to filling me with the levels of dread that Blair Witch reached in its third act. I was honestly shaking at some points and I will readily admit I had to take a few seconds to steady my breathing before leaving the screen. Yes, the first act is an extremely slow-burner, introducing us to the characters and trying to make us care about them before anything particularly strange happens, but when they do the film goes from 0 to 80 in 2 seconds flat. Eerily atmospheric, filled with scares and featuring a now infamous threat, Blair Witch is by far the scariest horror film to come out this year. 

If you're wanting a good scare, go and see Blair Witch.

Score: 8.5/10

On a side note, what a cracking year this has been for horror movies so far. By far the most consistent genre of 2016.

Film Review- Hell or High Water

Everyone rejoice, the summer is over. The schools are back, the air is getting colder and soon we'll even get an extra hour in bed. But more importantly than that, the films are set to get a whole lot better. 

Awards season is just around the corner, which means that studios will be saving their highest quality of releases so that they will remain in the voters minds when it's time for the Oscar and Golden Globe nominations to begin. There's been a lot of buzz coming out of Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals as to what we should expect the big winners to be come the start of 2017 (with Moonlight, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea and Nocturnal Animals being the most prominent) however after seeing Hell or High Water last week, I would say it has a very good chance of getting some high praise and recognition in a few months time. 

Directed by David Mackenzie and starring Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Gil Birmingham, the film is about two brothers who decide to rob their local banks to take back the money they see as rightfully theirs, while also following two rangers (a soon to be retiree and his successor) who have been tasked with bringing the brothers to justice. 

The first thing that I loved about Hell or High Water was its pacing. It is a very slow and deliberate story, reminiscent of an old style Howard Hawkes film like "Rio Bravo", a filmmaker who I can only gather that Mackenzie is greatly influenced by due to the many similarities I spotted between this film and a lot of Hawkes work. The pacing proves effective as it allows characters to develop in a very organic way and the plot to unveil itself in a profoundly deliberate manner. Linking on to this, "Hell or High Water" explores the intricacies of loving yet platonic male relationships, namely in this case the love and undying loyalty of the brothers and the respect and bond shared by the two rangers. The dialogue and is also very conversational and natural, yet another definitive filmmaking aspect clearly inspired by Hawkes. Despite this, it never comes across as mimicking (this film is considerably less jovial than anything Hawkes made starring The Duke) but it is nice to see these great traditions of the Western genre (in particular Hawkes trilogy) being carried on and updated to reflect where the medium is now in the 21st century. 

The cinematography is brilliant. The framing of every shot is meticulous, and Texas  (or New Mexico where this was actually filmed) is a character in itself, whether it be its beautiful landscape or quaint dusty towns, as the rural setting is what truly brings life to the screen. The lighting is natural and the colour pallet faded, bringing a sense of depressing realism to the screen. The soundtrack is also impeccable, solidifying the tone and working-class centric telling of the story.

It's the outstanding performances the hold everything together here. The two supporting males are absolutely impeccable, showing the sometimes under-appreciated value that a great supporting performances can give a production. Ben Foster has totally redeemed himself in my eyes from the pile of horse-manure that was Warcraft. He is completely encapsulated into this character, giving one of the more exciting yet complete performances I've seen on screen in a long time. His comic timing is impeccable and the simmering undercurrent of the rage felt by this damaged and broken man is both captivating and slightly terrifying in equal measure. Loose cannon characters (ala James Khan in The Godfather or Joe Pesci in Goodfellas) are always bound to be entertaining, but Foster manages to bring an added sense of humanity and child-like vulnerability to his performance which makes me feel he could be a big contender come awards season. Birmingham is the exact opposite, giving a performance so subtle and void of excitement that many might have  glanced over it, but in my opinion his work here is perfect. His expression is wonderful, and the moment he lies tearful in his motel-room bed pulls at the heartstrings because of the quiet and transparent sense of likability he brings to the part. This is a role that should increase Birmingham's stock to no end, and he's definitely earned himself a new fan in me. Pine and Bridges as our two leads are very similar, from my perspective portraying almost two sides of the same coin. They both come from similar social standing, similar areas, share similar views, have both experienced loss in their lives, yet the choices they make are what defines them. When they finally meet in the third act, the tension is palpable, but there is also an innate sense of empathy between the two men. Both are incredibly talented, with each flexing their dramatic muscles here in different ways. Pine's tear-inducing motivations bring understanding to his performance that may at first seem dry, while Bridges coming to terms with his retirement reminds you of the old man he doesn't want to be. Both are leading performances that should be appreciated for their raw presentation and stripped back delivery.

Overall, Hell or High Water is one of the highest quality films I've seen this year. Very artistic without putting off the ordinary viewer, it's a film that I could see becoming a sleeper hit and potential classic due to the universal themes and simple story it aims to present. Smart, classy and elegant, this is a must watch. 

Score: 9.0/10

Film Review- Don't Breathe

I was really looking forward to seeing Don't Breathe. The trailer was strong, the actors involved in the project were all decent and director Fede Alverez was behind the good Evil Dead remake from a couple of years ago. On the surface (and judging from what we'd seen from the trailers) Don't Breathe should have been really quite good. Yet the movie suffers from a serious problem: it's not very scary.

Those are the words no horror or thriller wants to be branded with as it's akin to telling a baker that his bread tastes like crap. The fright factor is the most simple thing a film in this genre should manage to get right and it the most important variable in determining a projects success or failure. Sure, Don't Breathe has some nice moments of tension, but even with all the big reveals and gory moments I was never terrified of the antagonist, mostly because the film never managed to suspend my disbelief and have me belief for even an iota of a second that our main character would meet a gruesome fate. I felt like I telegraphed every turn the film was going to make and this did nothing to heighten my experience of the product. More than this, the flick does borrow certain elements and plot points from 10 Cloverfield Lane which came out earlier this year, except in this film's defence it didn't copy Cloverfield's God awful twist ending.

It didn't help that the acting was a mixed bag either. Jane Levy, who plays our lead character Rocky, is not good. Most of the time her performance is wooden and generic with it genuinely appearing to me like her agent had held a gun to her head and forced her to take the project. There are moments near the film's climax where she seems to try hard or at very least give a damn, but by this point it is too late because I honestly couldn't have cared less about her character anyway. Dylan Minnette who plays Alex (or as he will henceforth be referred, Mr Friendzone) is actually pretty decent. He plays his role a lot more believably than his fellow cast-mates, not subdued per se but far less "screamy" than Levy. To be honest, I would much rather have seen him as the focus of the film as out of all the characters we are presented with, Friendzone comes across as the mots likeable by far. Lastly, I need to mention Stephen Lang who plays our friendly neighbourhood blind psychopath. He's fine, but once again it just felt a bit generic. On a positive note, I felt he took the character in some interesting directions, with his dry and matter-of-fact tone adding a depth of dreaded realism to some of the film's more deplorable moments, but by the same token he was a tad boring. Was he ruthless? Sure. Was he an imposing threat? Yeah. But was I scared of him? Not really, and for me that might have been the film's fatal flaw.

For all its faults, the film did have some really nice touches from a technical perspective. The long shot as the trio of wanna-be burglars enter the house for the first time is really well done, giving us a room-by-room run down of our setting for the next 90 minutes. The sequence where all three of our main characters are engulfed in darkness in the basement is also extremely well-shot, and is by far and away the best five minutes of the entire movie. Yet the biggest compliment I can give to Don't Breathe is that it's audio work was outstanding. Tiny creaks of the floorboards or the sound of someone drawing breath were amplified to build towards the thrills and jump-scares the film provided. It worked well within the context of the plot, and if could separate the quality of this movie's sound and judge it on its own merit away from the final product is give it a very high grade.

Overall, Don't Breathe is a definitive disappointment, albeit a very well-crafted disappointment. The audio and camera-work are impeccable, but unfortunately the story and some of the acting really lets the movie down. It didn't really scare me and as such, in my opinion, it didn't serve its main purpose. Go see Lights Out instead. I really didn't care about this film at all.

Score: 5.9/10

TV Review- Stranger Things

Stranger Things was the best thing to come out of this summer.

Created by The Duffer Brothers, the series takes place in the year 1983 in the town of Hawkins, Indiana and revolves around the disappearance of a young boy named Will Byres and the subsequent efforts of his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder), police Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and Will's friends to locate the boy. Throw an otherworldly monster, a secret government agency and a mysteriously powered girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) into the mix and you have yourself the best sci-fi piece to possibly come out in this decade.

I really can't praise this show enough. It takes a lot to get me hooked to a TV series, but Stranger Things drew me in straight away, with the one key element that immediately impressed me being how effectively the show utilised nostalgia while also setting itself apart as an original property and story. It pays homage to 80's culture, with references to early Spielberg (the kids running away from a secret agency on bikes), Stephen King (the whole tone of the show could have easily have been taken from a King novel) and even George Lucas (the underlying light and hope characterised by the boys) all very clear to see. It's like everything that made 80's media great has been thrown into a melting pot and mixed together with better filmmaking technology to give us this absolute gift of a television show. In saying this, the references aren't necessarily on the nose: they are just below the surface, clear enough to make you feel something but not enough that it makes the story feel like a retread or a parody. It is nostalgia done perfectly. Furthermore, the story is impeccably paced, gripping the viewer with every twist and turn it takes from the opening episode. As you gradually learn more about the mythology of this world and all of the conspiracy going on within it, I can almost guarantee you will not want to stop watching. It is really that good. The tone shifts as you move between plot threads (eg a dark and dreary supernatural mystery with Joyce and Hopper, an ET-like naivety-laced adventure with Will's friends etc) giving the viewer a literal smorgasbord of different emotions and experiences on each watch. Some have said that the series borrows a bit too much from the culture it is trying to emulate, but for me it strikes the balance just right.

Another thing Stranger Things certainly got right is the casting. Winona Ryder gives what might be one of my favourite performances of all time! I'm not gonna lie, I don't know whether her performance was brilliant or whether it was terrible, all I can tell you is that I freakin loved every single moment she was on my screen. Her character, Joyce, is meant to be a bit unhinged, a single mother who is a bit out-of-touch with society due to working full-time to support her children. So when Will goes missing, she goes completely off the edge, and the viewer is unsure if her POV is in-line with the supernatural elements of the show (I'll say no more to try and keep this spoiler-lite) or represent her descent into insanity. Ryder never once breaks character, she is so beautifully consistent throughout and, while admittedly her portrayal is sometimes over-the-top, it remains unfathomably believable throughout. If I could speak to Winona Ryder right now I would give her a sincere "Thank You", no person's acting has brought me greater joy than she did playing Joyce on Stranger Things. David Harbour is also impeccable as Chief Hopper, the troubled hero of the story. His arc is the most intriguing as he goes from a broken man succumbing to addiction to a man who will do anything to reunite this mother and her son. Harbour makes us believe in Hopper as a genuine bad-ass and with Season 2 on the horizon, I can't wait to see how he develops further moving forward. To be honest though, the real stars of this show are the plethora of great child-actors that Stranger Thing's is lucky to have at its disposal. Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalie Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Noah Schnapp and Joe Keery all give strong, consistent performances throughout all of the show's 8 episodes and in any other show at any other time, any one of these guys could have stolen the spotlight. However for me there were two standouts: Gaten Matterazzo who played Dustin and Millie Bobby Brown who played Eleven. Dustin is the moral centre of his group of friends, as well as being the most hilarious. The show does well not to portray these kids as stupid and the dialogue written for them is very natural and flows well, but Dustin stands out because he is the most relatable: he's loyal, level-headed and a bit of a goofball. Probably the most complete character of his group of friends, Dustin's pragmatically functioning brain alongside his natural fun-loving charm makes him a standout in my book. But as good as Matterazzo and his cast mates are, Millie Bobby Brown is simply better. I'm saying this right now, if she doesn't win all the Emmys for this performance then something is seriously messed up with the world. Not once does she break character! Not once! She gives a more nuanced and bleak portrayal than the majority of actors twice her age could even dream of. I won't say much more because her character's arc is pretty vital to the story, but Brown has put herself on the map with a simple yet powerful performance here.

Other things I enjoyed included the CGI used to bring the creature and the "Upside-Down" to life, the technical mastery on display concerning how the show was shot and of course the awesome title sequence. Slight criticisms for me would invoke gaps in character logic relating to their actions (as interesting as the story was, these characters don't take very much convincing to buy into the supernatural events going on in this town) and the lack of a compelling villain, with the secret government agency and the so called "Demagorgin" seemingly having no redeeming attributes between them (although there is a popular theory surrounding the creature's true identity which could create a new wrinkle in the story). On top of this, with the show heading into its second season I feel it is important that the showrunners try and develops the tone, perhaps shifting it in a darker direction. In saying this, The Duffer's have already been quoted as saying that the second season of the show will take inspiration from classic 80s sequels such as Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and The Empire Strikes Back, so my slight apprehension will most likely be put at ease as soon as the next instalment in this saga is released early next year.

Overall, I bloody loved Stranger Things. It was fresh, excellently crafted, passionately made and had me hooked to my TV for several hours at a time. The acting is superb and the story is filled with so many glorious twists and top-notch character arcs that it reaffirmed my belief that TV is giving us a far higher level of quality content than the movie industry nowadays. Probably the most impressive first season of any show since Game of Thrones, Stranger Things never once undersells its mythology and builds on this world with such detail that it is truly hard to criticise the show's execution in any way. 

Stranger Things is the media event of the year so far. If you haven't seen it, please start now.

Watch or Avoid: Watch

Film Review- Sausage Party

It's not uncommon nowadays for trailers to show the best parts of their movie. After all, in an age where less and less people are going to the cinema, studios will do whatever it takes to get people to purchase a ticket to their product. In recent times however, this has created major issues, whether it be that the trailers have spoiled what could have been a truly surprising reveal (eg Spider-Man in Civil War or Wolverine in X-Men: Apocalypse) or have given away their big marquee moments (see the Independence Day: Resurgence trailer as a prime example of this). Yet the most concerning aspect of this trend is that we are now getting trailers that are actually better than the film's for which they are advertising. The Suicide Squad trailers captured the world's imagination, but received lukewarm responses from critics upon release. Warcraft promised to be the fantasy event of this generation, but what we got instead was a steaming pile of excrement which no-one in their right mind should ever consider watching. Which brings me to Sausage Party which, while not a bad movie per se, was no-where near as entertaining as the trailer would have had you believe. 

Written by and starring Seth Rogen alongside Kristen Wigg, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Edward Norton, Michael Cera, Salma Hayek and James Franco, the film is about several supermarket items whose lives revolve around getting to "The Great Beyond", or in simpler terms being purchased. However, over the course of the movie Frank the Sausage (Rogen) begins to discover what getting to The Great Beyond actually entails and thus begins his quest to convince the other food supplies of the truth and to stand up against the humans who consume them. 

The concept of the film is fantastic, but it might have been better as a 15-20 minute short. It struggles to find enough story to justify its 88 minute run-time and there are moments around the middle wherein nothing seems to happen. On top of this, there becomes a point where food related puns and innuendos stop being funny and start becoming grating and for me personally this transition happens quite early on into the movie. This is my major criticism of Sausage Party, but it also did have several other minor issues on top of this. Many of the characters play off of racial or social stereotypes which will either come across as offensive to some or lazy to others (for me it was the latter). It wasn't even as if the filmmakers tried to subvert any expectations in this regard: the tequila was Mexican and untrustworthy, the Firewater was Native-American and mystical etc. This might have worked in the nineties but humour has evolved since then, and Rogen and company should have been aware that they would have had to work harder than this to help this concept reach its full potential. Finally, the main antagonist of Sausage Party (humans aside) is a douche named Douche, who is seeking revenge against Frank for breaking his nozzle, thereby thwarting any hope he had of reaching The Great Beyond. Douche is a completely pointless character and one of the worst villains I've seen in cinema this year. He's just pointless, there is no need for him to be there and he serves as a secondary antagonist anyway as the humans are meant to be the true enemy of the story. A clear indication of the writers trying desperately to fill out the plot, Douche as a character personifies all the problems with Sausage Party as a whole.  

There is a lot of good things about this film though. The animation was great, and I loved the idea of parodying Pixar, which they actually did really well. The story more or less followed the "Pixar formula", and this actually helped the humour as we could view the film through the lens of it's juxtaposition to the traditional family friendly animated product. "The Great Beyond Song" was also very funny and got the film off to an extremely pleasant start. The voice-acting was also very much on-point, particularly from Norton and David Krumholtz, a bagel and a lavash who parodied the conflict between Israel and Palestine in the Middle-East. While some of their material fell into the aforementioned pit-fall of stereotypical writing, these two managed to elevate the material they were given and stole the show anytime they were on screen. Finally I would like to give this film some goodwill and credit. It's been rare this summer to get a truly original concept on-screen and, while the execution wasn't as finessed as one would have hoped, the idea was great and the film did have some strong standouts moments. Despite being given away in the trailer, the moment the food realise their horrible fate still cracked me up in the screening, and the giant food orgy at the film's end was both one of the most amusing and worst things I've seen all year. 

Overall, Sausage Party was a bit of a disappointment but it wasn't a bad film (which seems to be a recurring theme of this year). I'd compare it to Deadpool in a sense due to the fact that it was a movie that took chances but just didn't push the envelope enough for me personally. Some of the humour was lazy and a bit outdated, but by the same token it was a fresh and original concept which is always good to see on-screen. It wasn't amazing, it wasn't terrible, in the end Sausage Party was a very middle of the road movie in what has been a very middle of the road year at the cinema. I can only hope that as we near the awards season we start to see films coming out that will blow audiences away (my money's on Damien Chizelle's La La Land to pull off this feet by the way.)

Score: 6.6/10

Film Review- Lights Out

Even though the summer blockbuster season overall has been a disappointment, the horror genre has managed to thrive in this time of cinematic upheaval. Releases like The Conjuring 2, Don't Breathe, The Witch and The Shallows (though God knows why) have opened to major critical acclaim while also earning back way more than what their respective budgets should have been entitled to. 

Lights Out, helmed by debuting feature director James F Sandberg, continues this trend. The story revolves around Rebecca (Teresa Palmer), whose mother has fallen under the influence of a demonic entity that is now threatening her younger brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) and the rest of her family. Based on a very popular short film that Sandberg and his wife made a few years back, the film is produced by horror legend James Wan and has, as of this point, made a 130 million dollar profit at the world-wide box-office. 

That is a bloody outstanding debut financial performance.

The best part of this film was its gimmick. Essentially this spirit could only be seen or be active in darkened areas and to enter any environment touched by light would cause it physical pain. It is a unique concept that sets rules and limitations on the extent of the (for lack of a better word) antagonist's power and is used effectively to add to the stakes and to create drama throughout the movie. Playing on one of humanity's most instinctive fears (the fear of the dark) may seem like a simple or lazy concept on paper, but the way the concept is executed, with such a graceful yet precise technical style, gives the film its edge and puts it above most films you'll see this year. 

Another positive aspect of Lights Out was the performance given by its leading lady Teresa Palmer. You immediately believe Rebecca to be a tough and hardened character, and Palmer personifies this beautifully early on, giving her looks of sheer and unadulterated fear when coming face-to-face with her families tormentor all the more weight. It is a well-written and competent character (her intelligence is an attribute far too commonly missing from protagonists in horror-films) but Palmer brings Rebecca to life in such an organic way that it is impossible not to root for her by the time the film ends. Also (as I suppose would be very much expected) the lighting is brilliant, and the way Sandberg managed to incorporate both natural and artificial light in his shots is technically excellent. The lighting had to be world-class for the concept to work so thank goodness it was. The movie's key themes are however what will have you leaving the theatre thinking about this further, as the whole film serves as one big metaphor for being in an abusive relationship or suffering from depression. Rebecca's mother (played exceptionally by former ER actress Maria Bello) is coerced by the spirit into becoming dependant on her and begins to push those around her away and falls deeper into the rabbit-hole of insanity as the first act progresses. It is not until her daughter reaches out to her with acts of kindness that the mother is able to begin to disperse herself from the demon and, while the arc may end in tragedy, it is a lesson to be learned of how we should treat people who are enduring personal suffering in their own lives. The film teaches us not to let them push us away but to reach out a hand and help them conquer their demons before it's too late, which is a surprisingly tender concept to be tackled by a horror flick. 

The only thing that really holds this back from getting a higher rating is its fright factor. It's not as scary as The Conjuring 2, and it also doesn't really do anything too different cinematically that's going to change the genre in the years to come in the way that say The Blair Witch Project did in the late-90s. In saying that, it is very good and offers more than a conventional horror-movie. Lights Out is a film with substance and one that I would definitely watch again.

Score: 8.1/10

Film Review- The Purge: Election Year

The Purge: Election Year, directed by James DeMonaco, is the sequel to 2014's The Purge: Anarchy and the third instalment in the franchise overall. It follows Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) a Presidential candidate who tries to survive the attempts made on her life by the current administration on the annual Purge Night with help of her bodyguard, franchise alumni Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo). Now, I'm not particularly well-versed with this series having never seen the second film and falling asleep about three-quarters of the way through the first. What I do remember is how well the advertising for the initial movie had sold this concept to me, but I do also recall feeling that it just didn't flesh this idea out enough. The original story didn't serve the premise well and was surprisingly boring in my humble opinion. Having done my research on Anarchy (I never found the time to watch it) I can see that the mistakes made by the first film seem to have been rectified in the second outing (which encapsulated much more of this universe and gave us a story on a larger scale) giving me some hope that Election Year would at the very least be watchable. 

I didn't go into this film with high expectations and as such I got some enjoyment out of this movie and left the theatre contented. It was a fun time at the cinema and it was thoroughly decent if you take it all with a pinch of salt. In saying this, The Purge: Election Year is a good "B" movie at best.

I liked many things about this film, particularly its themes. The film aims to explore corruption in US politics, the role of hate in the electoral system, class and racial divides in society, as well as asking the question of if it is ever the right decision to put away our morals in order to achieve a greater good. I don't know about you, but in a small-budget thriller/horror movie like this, I think that it's applaudable and very pleasing to see that they did try to give the story some substance, even if the execution was a bit heavy handed. The protagonists of the story, particularly the supporting players, are all captivating characters and as such elevate the material. Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson, Joseph Soria and Betty Gabriel all give strong performances as our main group, forming an emotional connection with the audience and forcing us to care about what was on the screen. Each character is layered, with distinct personalities and history's which helps adds a sense of intrigue to their true motives and plants just small grains of doubt in the head of the viewer.

Yet, the filmmakers do not give us nearly enough organic character moments during the latter stages of the film, possibly due to a very-messy story which substitutes in cheap action for the franchise's famed tense jump scares or gory horror. The dialogue is very on-the-nose and the acting of some of the minor cast (particularly the Reverend and his boss) is laughable at points. The movie also drags a bit during the second act, leaving me looking at my watch as the plot continues to move very slowly on the screen. DeMonaco also fails to create any sense of real and immediate danger, and at no point did I feel that Roan or Barnes were under any real threat of perishing, leading to my boredom as the story progressed. On a final note, the film is also crafted poorly at times, with a particular example being the extreme over-lighting during the daytime scenes in Joe's store.

Overall, The Purge: Election Year is probably a good movie to watch on Netflix one night if there's nothing else on and all your wanting is a fun film that's going to give you a few jump scares, lots of violence and a few terrible moments that will make you chuckle. It's not a film that'll probably watch again in a hurry (and I do hope The Purge franchise calls it a day after this) but it is by no means the worst thing I've seen in the cinema this year and I would give it credit for stretching its 10 million dollar budget as far as it did.

Score: 5.8/10

Film Review- David Brent: Life on the Road

Having not seen any of The Office before entering the theatre, I had very little clue what to expect from David Brent: Life on the Road. The only reason I actually took the time to see this movie was because of the absolutely excellent advertising campaign that had preceded it's release, with the stream of music video's and clips released by the studio making me chuckle every time without fail upon viewing. Written, directed, produced and starring Ricky Gervais in the titular role, the film follows Brent as he takes one last shot at superstardom, organising a "nation-wide" tour for his band around Reading and surrounding areas. Over the course of the tour, Brent has to deal with the intense feelings of dislike directed towards him by his fellow bandmates, the ever-growing cost of the tour, as well as the realisation that he may never make it in the music industry. 

Ironically enough, the music is probably the best aspect of this film. The soundtrack has already climbed to the number 3 position in the UK charts, and it's easy to see why. In an era where The Lonely Island (whose own biographical flick dropped in UK cinemas earlier this week to lukewarm reviews) can sell millions of records with their distinct brand of musical comedy, it's not a stretch to imagine that Gervais could have a rather successful career in this field if he followed a similar path. His bands songs (particularly "Please Don't Make Fun of the Disableds" and "Don't Cry It's Christmas") had me absolutely floored due to their very politically incorrect lyrics and cooky melodic beats. Also great is Ricky Gervais, who once again nails the character of Brent. Having gone back and watched The Office UK after seeing this film, I can see that Gervais has definitely added an extra layer of pitifulness to Brent that wasn't there before, and it actually gives another interesting wrinkle to this character. On one hand he is annoying and delusional, but on the other he is just rather sad and lonely and as the story progresses we as an audience stop laughing at Brent and begin to sympathise with him. There is actually a really lovely moment towards the film's end where Brent's band buy him a pint after the tours final gig and the look of sheer agonising joy in Gervais' eyes at this moment show how talented a dramatic actor he can be when called upon. The supporting players all do a good job in their respective roles, but Gervais is this film's life blood and commands your attention every single time he is on screen.

The biggest issue I had with David Brent: Life on the Road is that it felt like a TV movie. Personally, I would have rather seen this released in a few parts on BBC One or one of its sister channels, due to the somewhat repetitive beats that the comedy tries to hit and the documentary style of filmmaking involved. "Mockumentaries" are hard to get right in a big-screen format, and while I would say that this film does do a very admirable job, it is still hard to tell a satisfying story in this genre in 120 minutes or less. As a result, the conclusion feels rushed and certain plot developments are unearned, causing this effort to slip into the same "so-so" territory of many of its fellow summer-comedy offerings. Also, many of the characters from Brent's new "office" had no business being there, and their inclusion hurt the already slow pacing of this otherwise-competent comedy romp.

Overall, David Brent: Life on the Road is a fun comedy film that left myself and the friends who accompanied me to see it in stitches. Ricky Gervais is excellent, and some of the songs will leave you gasping for breath. It is very bleak and the humour is dryer than the hottest parts of Nevada, so if this type of comedy isn't for you then I would avoid Life on the Road like the plague. Yet, if this is your thing, I would give this film a chance as it is well-worth the price of admission despite its flaws. In saying this, if you don't have time to make it to the cinema to see this flick, just download the soundtrack. It's so bad it's good.

Score: 7.3/10