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The King's Man: Disney+ Review

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The King's Man: Disney+ Review The Kingsman prequel steps away from the Savile Row trappings and OTT violence of the Golden Circle and the first film, of Eggsy and Harry, and plants itself firmly in World War I territory. Following the death of his wife at the hands of a Boer insurrection, Ralph Fiennes' Duke of Oxford swears off violence into a life of pacifism. But with the war's storm clouds brewing, the Duke of Oxford struggles to win over his son Conrad's desire to do his duty and sign up. Revealing that he has helped set up a secret organisation with moles all around the world, Oxford takes Conrad (Dickinson) into the shadowy world, showing him there are other ways to do your duty. However, at the same time, a mysterious cabal, headed up by a vengeful Scot, begins pulling the strings and manufacturing a global conflict that will become World War I.... The King's Man is an odd mix of tonal changes, of drama and comedy, of hyper-kinetic violence and incredible s...

Lamb: DVD Review

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Lamb: DVD Review Maria and Ingvar (Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær   Guðnason) live in the isolated hills of Iceland, on a farm, far away from anyone. A place where the mist rolls in a haunting fashion, where whiteouts clear to show formless shapes trudging through the wilds hills of Iceland's rugged bleak mountains. It's Christmas, but you wouldn't know to look around Maria and Ingvar's farm - even though their animals' pen has Radio Rekjavik declaring the best of the season, there's no sign of festivities anywhere else. Outside the pen there's a brutish breathing prowling creature, that causes all the sheep and rams to move uneasily and shuffle for safety before one of their number is singled out. This is the start of Lamb, a film that holds its cards close to its chest, one which toys with folklore, but has at its core a tale of family loss, gradually unveiled as the movie begins to unspool. Elements of the film are teased out from beginning to end, graduall...

The County: DVD Review

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The County: DVD Review Mustering as much fire and brimstone as a story of the little people can, Rams director Grímur Hákonarson delivers a quietly empowering tale. It's the story of Inga (a fire-in-her-belly Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) a farmer in the Nordic lands, whose life is overturned when her husband dies driving a truck. With the farm owned by the Co-operative run in the region and with outside trade stifled by the organisation, Inga starts a rebellion when she likens the group to the Mafia. As the one-person-against-the-machine battle intensifies, Hákonarson chooses to centre the fight on the dignified but indignant Inga as she takes on the Co-op and its apparently corrupt CEO. But this is no all-guns-blazing kind of affair. Instead, as with Rams, Hákonarson elects to slowly build the tension and seeds the story of dissent from within long slow scenes that are character-led and predominantly revealing by their subtleties. Egilsdóttir may be older and ravaged by time and trib...

The Worst Person in the World: Movie Review

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The Worst Person in the World: Movie Review Cast: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum Director: Joachim Trier Divided up into a series of chapters, and with an effervescent lead heading proceedings, The Worst Person in the World is a film that's been steeped with praise, and lavished with potential awards' talk. But yet, it remains strangely aloof as a character piece, a film that barely takes you into the life of its lead Julie (Reinsve) other than to see her react in a series of circumstances and no further. In The Worst Person in the World, Reinsve is Julie, a woman turning 30 in Oslo, who rambles as much from one set of studies to another as she bounces between from relationships. When she meets graphic novelist Aksel (Lie), she seems to settle down into a relationship, despite the age difference between them. However, the relationship eventually comes under strain after she randomly meets Nordrum's Eivind and they connect on an emotional level one nig...

Uncharted: Movie Review

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Uncharted: Movie Review Cast: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle Director: Ruben Fleischer The Uncharted games on PlayStation are iconic. Naughty Dog's cinematically-led adventure series traverses the world, essentially creating an Indiana Jones style video game that mines both the emotion and the depth of a character that's gripped a generation of gamers. By contrast, the Uncharted movie seems to tick some of the game's boxes, but does it in a soulless way that betrays some of the talent involved, and despite a cliffhanger post credits scene, seems to be in uncharted waters for any potential sequel. Tom Holland is Nathan Drake, a bartender blessed with plenty of historical knowledge and who crosses paths with Mark Wahlberg's Victor "Sully" Sullivan who entices him into an adventure that hints at revealing something of his long-missing brother, Sam. However, as Nate and Sully head off to find the truth about Magellan's...

C'Mon C'mon: Movie Review

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C'Mon C'mon: Movie Review Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffman, Woody Norman, Scoot McNairy Director: Mike Mills There's an interesting dichotomy at the heart of C'Mon C'Mon, Mike Mills' paean to childhoods lost, and futures hoped for. Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny, an interviewer who trudges around the country talking to kids about their hopes and dreams for the future, while trying to reconcile his own past fractious relationship with his sister, Viv (Gaby Hoffmann). When Viv has to leave to take care of her son's father's mental issues, Johnny naively offers to take her kid Jesse (Woody Norman) under his wing, believing it will be easy to do. However, as Johnny reconnects with his sister over their difficult relationship with their once-ailing mother, he finds Jesse challenging him at every turn, forcing a re-examination of his own beliefs. Occasionally meandering, and a little overlong for nothing more than a 3-hander film, C'Mon C'Mon, shot in...

Horizon Forbidden West: PS5 Review

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Horizon Forbidden West: PS5 Review Developed by Guerrilla Games Platform: PS5 Published by Sony Interactive Games Five years ago, PlayStation gamers were introduced to new IP in the form of Horizon Zero Dawn and its female protagonist, Aloy.  A coming-of-age tale set against a futuristic world where machine animals roamed as prehistoric hunters fought to survive, Horizon Zero Dawn was an impressively well-constructed game that had an extremely playable hook in among its mythology and world-building. Suffice to say Horizon Forbidden West builds on the formula and then massively expands the game and its map - and that's putting it mildly. The latest is a veritable onion of a game - each adventure and quest opens up a branching network of other avenues to explore, ensuring that you remain in Aloy's world for a long time.  This time around Aloy is prompted back into action as the world around her is suffering from an illness called the Blight, a red plant whose appearance is choki...