Mysteries of the plot

The Mysteries of the Chateau of Dice (1929)

Directed by Man Ray and Jacques-Andre Boiffard this is a silent short film. After rolling some dice a couple head off to explore a weird chateau.

This mix of the bizarre is a little hard to follow in all honesty. I struggled to find what connected the seeming random events of the film. Some of the images are nice but the plot is just too obscure for me.

2/5

How to get young men to go and die for their country

Sergeant York (1941)

Directed by Howard Hawks this film based on real events stars Gary Cooper, Joan Leslie and Walter Brennan. A rural farmer from Tennessee becomes a good Christian and then a war hero in WW1.

Essentially this is a propaganda film released on the eve of the US's entry into WW2 and it is clear the film seeks to wipe out any arguments young men might have about going off to fight. Straying from history to create an idealistic story it does take the film a little too long to get to the meat of the story in my opinion. Sadly for a film with such a big reputation I am not sure this one has aged very well.

2/5

Goodbye to all that

Katie Says Goodbye (2016)

Directed by Wayne Roberts this film stars Olivia Cooke, Christopher Abbott, Mireille Enos and Mary Steenburgen. A 17 year old girl working as a waitress and a prostitute to support her mother falls in love with a mechanic just out of prison.

This tale of small town America is not very original but is well told and comes to the inevitable sad conclusion. Without melodrama the slow moving film rises to a decent climax. There are good performances and decent direction.

3/5

Not playing a blinder

In Darkness (2018)

Directed by Anthony Byrne this film stars Natalie Dormer, Ed Skrein and Emily Ratajkowski. A blind pianist overhears a struggle before her neighbour falls to her death.

For much of this film it is a pretty decent thriller but I think a few too many twists at the end undo a lot of the good work of the early portions of the film. It may be a little bit predictable where the film is going and sadly the ending does not hold together but there is still some enjoyable things here. There is plenty of tension and the direction and performances do a good job of holding the film together.

2/5

Not exactly money

Money Box (2014)

Written & directed by Muzappar Osman this film stars Auro Tosi. A man finds a vending machine gives out more cash than you put in and becomes greedy.

Listed as an award winning short I found the plot of this film rather simple. Decently filmed but really lacking a way of building on the premise this was a bit of a disappointment. There is some potential here but it is kind of wasted.

2/5

Can you hear the bells ring?

The Polar Express (2004)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis this film based on the book of the same name has voices from Tom Hanks, Daryl Sabara and Nona Gaye. A young boy unsure if he believes in Santa or not any more is invited to take a journey on a magic train to the North Pole.

Putting together a simple Christmas movie this film does a good job of layering in some hints of darker stuff under the surface. At times it does feel a little bit like the plot has been padded out to fill the run time but the film does have some charm to it. The computer animation is decent but does show it's age a little bit as techniques have moved on.

3/5

No cure, slight bore

Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)

Directed by Wes Ball this film based on the novel of the same name stars Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Rosa Salazar. Our heroes head towards the last city in the world to find their missing friend.

At times contrived and a little on the bloated side this film is not really for those that were not huge fans of the series. As big budget blockbusters go this is not too bad but the film never connected with me emotionally. With a little work this could have been a better film.

2/5