It's all fake

Wrestling (1961)

Directed by Michel Brault, Claude Fournier, Claude Jutra and Mracel Carriere this is a short documentary. We see professional wrestling from Montreal.

Taking a reverent look at the sport of pro wrestling this short documentary aims to celebrate rather than deride. Personally I have never been a fan of this sort of entertainment but the film makes have enough skill to highlight what the audience gets from wrestling. Decently made and a good watch.

3/5

Living in a Watson shaped shadow

Beauty and the Beast (2014)

Directed by Christophe Gans this film stars Lea Seydoux and Vincent Cassel. Following the bankruptcy of her family and her father stealing a rose a young woman ends up prisoner of a beast.

Unfortunately about 10 minutes into watching this film I realised that having recently seen the Emma Watson version I was really not in the mood to see another bland version of this fairy tale. The visuals here are nice but the story telling is pretty weak, the script feels very bare bones and the romance not convincing. Maybe it is unfair for this adaptation to live in the shadow of the more recent Hollywood one but that is how it breaks.

2/5

No rules

The Exception (2016)

Directed by David Leveuax this film based on the novel “The Kaiser's Last Kiss” stars Lily James, Jai Courtney, Christopher Plummer and Janet McTeer. In 1940 a German officer is sent to guard the Kaiser living in exile and root out a British spy in his household.

Playing fast and loose with both history and accents this is somewhat of a questionable film. Given there is some decent acting talent in this film the outcome is fairly disappointing. Some of the character actions also left me scratching my head as they seemed rather forced.

2/5

To infinity AND beyond

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo this film has a huge cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans and many others. Intergalactic warlord Thanos searches for the infinity stones and comes up against our heroes.

In the past I have criticised Marvel for being more interested in what they were building up to rather than some of the films they were currently putting out but on the results of this film it was all worth it. Capturing the essential of a comic book crossover event and balancing so many moving parts is in no way easy but it is carried off here really well. The film does a great job of bringing both some heart and a ton of great action to the screen.

5/5

Love and chess

Chess Fever (1925)

Directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin & Mykola Shpikovsky this film stars Vladimir Fogel and Anna Zemtsova. A young man obsessed with chess finds it getting in the way of his relationship with the woman he loves.

A fairly simple comedy looking at the Russian obsession with chess I found the ending of the film a slight disappointment but otherwise not a bad watch. Maybe not as funny as it could be the film certainly captures something of the chess fever though. Decently made and acted this is worth a watch.

3/5

Best not to look too deeply

Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

Directed by Robin Swicord this film based on the novel of the same name stars Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman and Hugh Dancy. Six people struggling with their love lives get together to read all Jane Austen's books.

On the surface this is a pretty generic romantic comedy with some light Jane Austen references. Underneath this film has kind of a lot of characters that are not that nice and do some really questionable things which are never properly addressed. I am sure there is a really decent version of this film in there somewhere but this script is just a bit too light for my taste.

2/5

Woman meets fishman

The Shape of Water (2017)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro this film stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones and Octavia Spencer. In 1962 a mute cleaning lady falls in love with a sea monster being experimented on in a government facility.

Bizarre to say the least this is probably the oddest love story you will ever see and while not as good as Pan's Labyrinth (2006) it is a good example of del Toro's aesthetic. Ultimately this is a story of a group of social outcasts finding solace in each other at a time of repression. Well made and well acted this is well worth a watch for its uniqueness if nothing else.

4/5