No surprises

Split (2016)

Written & directed by M. Night Shyamalan this film stars James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Betty Buckley. A man with multiple personality disorder kidnaps three teenage girls and holds them hostage awaiting the arrival of “the beast”.

There are plenty of films about dissociative identity disorder knocking about and like many of them this film uses it as a crutch. Hardly revolutionary in any aspect this is still a decent, if unremarkable genre effort that has a few nice touches that are unfortunately not properly expanded on. James McAvoy gets to show off his range but otherwise there is not a lot to comment on.

3/5

A city awakes

A Bronx Morning (1931)

Directed by Jay Leyda this is a short film. We see the Bronx in New York as it comes to life in the morning.

Not entirely original this is still a solid example of the city scape genre or “city symphony”. Fitting in well with other genre examples this film is not Man with a Movie Camera (1929), lacking some of the more playful elements of that film, but still a decent watch. As a historical record no doubt this is a note worthy film but in my opinion not for much more than that.

3/5

Crime eventually pays?

The Lesson (2014)

Directed by Kristina Grozeca & Petar Valchanov this film stars Margita Gosheva and Ivan Barnev. A school teacher has to deal with finding out which of her students is a thief as well as trying to cover the mortgage her husband has left unpaid on her house.

It is a nice change to see a film like this where the female protagonist is so pro-active compared to her passive husband. The plot is fairly a fairly grounded, simple tale but very watchable. There are decent performances from the cast and the direction is solid, overall this is a decent film.

3/5

Interlude in being entertained

Interlude in Prague (2017)

Directed by John Stephenson this film stars Aneurin Barnard, James Purefoy, Morfydd Clark and Samantha Barks. In 1788 Mozart travels to Prague where he becomes involved in the relationship between a young singer and a baron while writing Don Giovanni.

Trudging through a hum-drum plot this is both a disappointing look at Mozart and his work. The plot stumbles along through predictable events and barely holds your attention. I suppose the performances are not too bad but the script is limp at best.

2/5

The good books justifications

The Birth of a Nation (2016)

Directed by and staring co-writer Nate Parker this film based on real events also features Armie Hammer, Aja Naomi King and Mark Boone Junior. A slave is taught to read the bible and becomes a preacher.

Unfortunately for this film it will always be compared to 12 Years a Slave (2013) and it does come off as inferior to that film. This film does a good job of showing the evils of slavery but does not necessarily stick strictly to events of Nat Turner's life and has too much religion without being critical of religion for my liking. There are decent performances and direction but the film is always in the shadow of 12 Years a Slave.

4/5

Buzz off

Weatherbeaten Melody (1943)

Directed by Hans Fischerkosen this animated short was written by Horst von Mollendorff with music from Lothar Bruhne. A bee finds an abandoned record player and uses it's stinger to play the record.

Made in Nazi Germany during the Second World War thankfully this cartoon is devoid of the ugly ideas of the period. It is suggested that the use of jazz music and the mixing of different species of bugs in the cartoon makes this an anti Nazi film, that seems a little too subtle or simplistic to me but is probably the only way you could safely criticise the regime from inside. The animation style is decent but not remarkable, roughly on par with what Disney were putting out at the time.

3/5

Who the fuck is Alice?

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson this 6^th instalment in the franchise stars Mila Jovovich, Ali Later, Iain Glen and Shawn Roberts. With only a handful of human survivors left Alice is tasked by the Red Queen with releasing an airborne anti virus to kill all the t-virus infected monsters.

I suppose the best thing that you can say about this film is that it is not weighed down as much by events of previous films as you might suspect. There are a few nice references to the first film but over all the plot of this film is fairly bland. Where the film is at it's weakest is in the editing which is so fast it often loses geography and coherence of the action sequences which are the only reason for watching this film.

2/5