Flowing dress, made to impress

Danse fleur de lotus (1897)

Directed by Alice Guy-Blache this is an early short film. We see a woman in a large dress doing a flowery dance.

Very simple in concept this single shot of around a minute captures a portion of a dance performance. There is not a huge amount to this film but it does give an idea of the nature of the act. Similar to a number of other films of the period but not bad.

3/5

Well made but familiar

Overlord (2018)

Directed by Julius Avery this film stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier and John Magaro. On D-day paratroopers find Nazis carrying out terrible experiments and the radio tower they need to blow up.

This World War 2/horror movie mash up is a pretty decent watch even if a little calculated in some of the more obvious jump scares. The plot is decent but I do not think there is anything of great depth going on here. A fun watch but probably forgettable in the long run.

3/5

More like sinking

The Rise of the Vikings (2018)

Directed by Roel Reine this film also known as “Redbad” stars Gijs Naber, Jonathan Banks and Loes Haverkort. Poor innocent Frisians have their human sacrifice ceremony interrupted by evil Christians.

Overly melodramatic and filled with historical inaccuracies there are a lot of problems with this film. Stretching out far too long and with a number of silly action sequences this is more spectacle than story. Maybe impressive for the budget it was made on but that is about all I would say in favour of this film.

2/5

Above us all

The Burglars (1897)

Directed by Alice Guy-Blache this is an early short film. We see burglars chased across roof tops by the police.

What stands out most here are the great sets, the action and plot less so. It is a bit hard to make out exactly what is going on at times and there is not really much of a plot here. I did enjoy the setting if nothing else.

3/5

Not on the side of this one

The Flip Side (2018)

Directed by Marion Pilowsky this film stars Emily Taheny, Eddie Izzard, Luke McKenzie and Vanessa Guide. An Australian woman's boyfriend unwittingly reunites her with her ex-boyfriend who is a major movie star.

As romantic comedies go this one is a little different than the usual formula but still not that great. Obviously the main draw here is Eddie Izzard but he seems out of sorts as an upper class English actor. There is really only one funny line in the whole film, otherwise it is a bit of a mission to get through this film.

2/5

Nothing to obey

Obey (2018)

Written & directed by Jamie Jones this film stars Marcus Rutherford, Sophie Kennedy Clark and Sam Gittins. A 19 year old living with his alcoholic mother struggles to find a path in life.

There is plenty to enjoy about this film set against the back drop of the 2011 riots but I am not sure the story ever really hits a conclusion. In the end our protagonist finds nothing, which may be realistic but is not necessarily very satisfying. I enjoyed the film but I think it needed a little more polish to be really good.

3/5

Little bark, no bite.

Daughter of the Wolf (2019)

Directed by David Hackl this film stars Gina Carano, Brendan Fehr and Richard Dreyfuss. A woman tries to recover her son from kidnappers.

I am all for films set against a snowy back drop but that is about all this film has going for it. Both the script and direction are questionable at times. It is really hard to find anything to like about this film, I have no idea who thought this one was a good idea.

2/5