Okay it’s Wednesday and we know what that means, time to tease the next film! I promised you some fluff after three weeks of (mostly) straight-faced explosion/ murder flix and BY GOD I MEANT IT- though I have a feeling this one still features some gunplay… Maybe I crave vicarious violence? I should tell my therapist!
Here’s your tease:
That being said, this film does star an Oscar-Winning lead- but as Morgan Freeman’s presence in Hard Rain showed, that alone does not a good film make. It is a kind of buddy-film with two mismatched leads learning to work together against the odds and (stop me if you’ve heard this one) perhaps even respect each other despite their differing worldviews!
The film sits at 7% on Rotten Tomatoes, gets 2 Stars from Glenn Kenny over at Roger Ebert, and, bizarrely, was reviewed at 3 stars by The Guardian.com in May 2015, and then reviewed again on the same site in July 2015 and given 1 star. Some choice review quotes:
‘(the film is) slackly constructed, unattractively shot, indifferently edited’- Roger Ebert
‘This (film) is a real crime against comedy’- Evening Standard
‘Boring’- Common Sense Media
So this should be a barrel of laughs! Any guesses on the film or the actresses in the pic? Comment!
For now though, something a little different. I’ve been wrangling with the question of whether to give the films I watch star ratings. The basic argument against it was: it will be hard. But I actually quite like the idea of challenging myself to make a decision. So I’m going to start! The system will be 0-5 stars, no halves or .5s. The decisions won’t be popular with everyone, but that’s sort of the point- to think about and discuss these films and how I/ we feel about them!
So the last three films:
Hard Rain- 2 stars: Not devoid of quality or redeeming features, just very patchy.
Dark Crimes- 1 star: A hard watch, and not in a good way.
Ronin- 3 stars. Probably would have been four stars had I seen it on release (and been an adult at the time); competent and enjoyable but feels a little aged in places.
There we go! Ronin was easily the hardest decision there. Could easily have been four. If I was doing halves it would be 3.5. Let me know what you think, and I’ll see you again this coming Sunday!
-Tom
Pound Shop Flix 