film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Category: REVIEWS

Here is where you would find our film reviews on BRWC.  We look at on trailers, shorts, indies and mainstream.  We love movies!

  • Rape Card: Final Girls Berlin Review

    Rape Card: Final Girls Berlin Review

    I not entirely sure I understand what point Rape Card is trying to make. It’s not that I don’t get the metaphor, and it’s not that I don’t disagree with the point that it’s all pretty horrible that women walk around constantly in threat of these men who feel entitled to them. From that regard the short very well made and really does highlight the rotten, toxic nature of the way society views rape, rapists, and rape victims.

    However, looking at this from a purely cinematic standpoint… eh? What was the point here? I really don’t get it. I’m pretty sure I’m the wrong audience, and so maybe I shouldn’t really be offering up my opinion on it, but for me it just seemed a little… confused.

    As a premise the idea of world in which a rape card exists is a rather curious one. There are many places one could go with this particular concept, and all of them could lead to interesting real-world parallels, and yet the one the short chooses to head down wound up feeling a little… well, it just felt dull. And I don’t mean because nothing happened, I mean it just felt too normal.

    Perhaps, then, that’s the point. And if so, that highlights the truly horrific terror of the life women must live that men are simply unaware of and incapable of fully understanding.

    But, if it is the point, then the film did a bad job of illustrating to me, as a viewer, that it is the point. And then I come back to the whole “I’m probably the wrong audience for this anyway” view, and we’re off back round in a circle. I don’t know where I’m supposed to be with this short. Let’s approach this from a different place, shall we?

    Visually Rape Card looks like it wants to be Black Mirror but can’t manage the edge or the grime lots of a Netflix dollars can, so instead looks more like a BBC attempt at Netflix edge and grime. There’s something glossy about those high-end productions that the low budget productions can’t quite muster, and short of going full Shane Meadows there’s no other way to really deal with this issue. What Rape Card does is manages to work around it by almost feeding into that normalcy.

    Everything in Rape Card is far more normal than it should be. Whether it’s picking up the titular card to watching the horror of the card unfold through your kitchen window, to staring into the mirror and trying to figure out the best way to get yourself raped, everything is so uncomfortably, horrifically normal. It’s all presented as if it were a matter-of-fact, boring drama about nothing.

    And it’s this aspect of the film that manages to pull it back from being totally pointless because, see, while I didn’t get the point or what it was trying to say (outside of the obvious, anyway), I did feel incredibly awkward of slightly ill through most of its short runtime. When it came to the ending, at first I was left feeling oddly cold. What was it trying to suggest? Dare I say I felt slightly offended?

    And then I remembered that there was something more going on here. I was bringing my own experiences to this film, and as a man I have little to no experiences of rape outside of it being something horrific that has happened to people I know. I can’t appreciate this movie on its full level, beyond the realization that I can’t appreciate it.

    That realization might have been the key part of Rape Card, for me. Not that I wasn’t the person who should be watching it, who should be reviewing it, but that I should know I’m not the person. And I should be aware that my view is going to be marred by my experiences (or rather lack thereof) when it comes to the subject matter.

    So, here’s my final thoughts. A confusing, somewhat dull, bland to look at and frustratingly vague yet somehow simultaneously obvious and on the nose allegory that doesn’t seem to offer up anything new nor do much with its admittedly interesting premise but that does, however, highlight the discomforting normalcy of the entire situation. That a film dealing with such horrific subject matter can be a confusing, somewhat dull, bland to look at and frustratingly vague yet somehow simultaneously obvious and on the nose allegory that doesn’t seem to offer up anything new nor do much with its admittedly interesting premise is kind of the point. And that… well, that’s really messed up.

  • Last Seen: Final Girls Berlin Review

    Last Seen: Final Girls Berlin Review

    Last Seen: Final Girls Berlin Review. Full disclosure: I really, really enjoyed this. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, that when it ended, I was left wondering what had happened to the rest of the movie. I knew going in that it was only going to be around 15 minutes long, but those 15 minutes flew by, and I really wanted more. Like… actually, I’m kind of annoyed. Where’s the rest of this movie? What happened? I got the set-up. In fact, no, I got the set-up to the set-up, and then I got nothing else. What the hell? Give me the other 90 minutes, guys!!! C’mon! Where is it?

    Telling the story of a wannabe crime journalist who takes matters into her own hands in order to be taken seriously in her field, it’s an intriguing premise. Our heroine kicks off the film by killing someone, and then, as the plot unfolds, we begin to understand that she is now the host of a successful true crime podcast (the titular Last Seen) in which she attempts to “solve” the murder she committed in the opening moments.

    That’s the sort of Hitchcockian premise that immediately grips. It certainly gripped me. And the smart move to modernize such a premise with the use of a podcast makes the content feel fresh and entertaining in a way so few modern thrillers can claim to. And the flashy visuals, which utilize certain expected true crime tropes, leaping around like it’s part true crime documentary and part genuinely thrilling and suspenseful thriller, only furthers the engagement and the excitement.

    This is a damn good film. Well made, well-acted, well directed, well written… and then it abruptly, frustratingly, infuriatingly stops just when it’s getting going.

    I don’t think I’ve ever been so annoyed as I was when the credits to this one rolled. See, what the filmmakers have here is a fantastically smart, expertly crafted, unique and modern premise, but nothing else to build on. It’s like we’ve just watched the prologue to a longer story and, without the longer story for context, I have little to nothing to say about it beyond how damned frustrating it is that there isn’t more.

    When it comes to short films you have to expect a certain level of what one might call ambiguity. Short films tend to hinge on one of two things; either there’s a stereotypical set-up and then a subversion or twist in the final moments, or they work more like a sort of hint at wider things, almost as if they’re like the back story to some supervillain who will show up later to fight Batman or whatever. Either of those two approaches work when it comes to shorter narratives because you have just enough time to engage and to set-up, but very little time to payoff, so utilizing a quick payoff based on the audiences pre-existing knowledge (a twist or a hint of things to come) works.

    Last Seen: Final Girls Berlin Review
    Last Seen

    See, the audience brings their own expectations to things. It works almost like cinematic shorthand. We all understand certain things and so we’ll be able to extrapolate from what the film is giving us.

    Last Seen, however, doesn’t do that. It has ambiguity, but that ambiguity doesn’t seem to hint toward an inevitable outcome or any kind of outcome we can understand. How does this story end? I don’t know, and since I didn’t write this movie, I’m not in a position to really guess, either. It’s not like I can imagine it turns into anything else. It’s nothing. It’s a unique premise, one that I was really enjoying. One that I would like to know the ending to. Give me the ending!

    To say this flaw makes me dislike the film would be a disservice to how much I was enjoying it. This isn’t Lost, I didn’t wind up in the final moments furious and annoyed I’d just wasted the last seven years of my life on J J Abrams’ bullshit mystery box, but it also isn’t wholly satisfying. I was genuinely hoping there would be more on offer.

    As the film was playing out, I was gripped, watching eagerly to see where this all went. I found myself trying to solve the mystery – not of who the killer is, obviously, because we already know that, but rather of how this was all going to resolve. Ultimately, I’m left wondering whether the filmmakers found themselves equally as gripped, and equally as unable to extrapolate an answer. Perhaps that’s why it ends in such a frustrating and abrupt manner. Maybe there isn’t a conclusion that would satisfy? Still, I’d rather they tried, because this has real promise.

  • Birds Of Prey: Another Look

    Birds Of Prey: Another Look

    I have a love/hate relationship with the DC Extended Universe. By which I mean I hated Justice League and every film before it (I thought Wonder Woman was mediocre at best), and I loved Aquaman and everything after it. DC has learned a valuable lesson that has saved their films – while before they were simply about undeveloped characters (because why develop them when some people have read a comic or two) taking part in the biggest, most convoluted plots, now they are about well developed characters, with simple goals in very low-key stories. Well, okay maybe not Aquaman but that film was just bonkers. But, something about Birds of Prey worried me.

    Birds of Prey is a follow-on from Suicide Squad. Suicide Squad being the worst of the bunch so far was enough of a turn off for me. I don’t think that trailer helped either – being unfunny and having some very uncomfortable Michael Bay-ish vibes. Everything about the advertisement felt a bit poor to me. So, no I am not surprised that the film is apparently underperforming at the box office.

    Honestly though, it is a shame because I came out of Birds of Prey having really enjoyed it. It was far from perfect but there was a great sense of energy to the film. Instead of falling in line with a Michael Bay production, I got more of a Guy Richie sense from it. The film plays out as if it was really narrated by Harley Quinn – the film’s main character. It feels disjointed.

    There is a moment where, after a really fun action scene involving a gun that fires confetti, bean bags and paint, where the film pauses and we hear Harley say “Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me explain how I got here.” We then proceed to spend a good chunk of time seeing the events that led us here. I feel that, in any other film, this gimmick would have fallen flat and felt annoying. But considering that the story is so tied in with that character, it feels strangely natural.

    Director Cathy Yan does a great job with the film’s visuals and seemingly uncontainable energy. Whether the film is going for a rough, urban feel or, well, confetti and paint being shot out of a gun, the film is lovely to look at. It gets more and more crazy as it goes on – ending, literally, as a fair ground of colours and acrobatics. Just from the film’s opening – an animated segment that looked like the style of Chuck Jones – I knew that this would at least be a visual treat.

    At the center of all of this is Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. One of the biggest shames of Suicide Squad is how it wasted Robbie’s talent as an actress and her casting as Quinn. Here, we get to see it all. And, honestly, I can’t think of a better actress for the job. Robbie loses herself in the role, becoming almost unrecognizable (outside of a pretty weak Bostonian accent that is) and is easily the standout performance of the bunch. Although, actors like Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ewan McGregor certainly add their own flare to the mix. McGregor in particular is a treat to watch as he chews the scenery. He’s detestable in every way, and it’s hard to not love him for it.

    But, for all the films performance and flare, it can’t cover a script that has little meat on its bones. From the writer of Bumblebee, I wasn’t expecting Shakespeare, but even Bumblebee had a cheesy, Saturday-morning-cartoon feel to it. Birds of Prey does have that feel to it, but its darker and viler than that tone suggests. I was a little surprised with the violence – there is plenty of messy shootings and cracking bones on display. There are scenes where a villain literally peals off people’s faces.

    I don’t mind violence like this, and I feel it added to the visuals. But for the tone they were going for, it probably wasn’t the best call. The story is also criminally simple – it’s literally about Harley having to find a diamond for the villains. As, unfortunately, are the characters. Quinn is very well developed. Everyone else…not so much. The villain enjoys killing people and getting away with it, as well as being a misogynist. The Birds of Prey have one quirk each. Everyone else is just there. It’s a good thing that the actors playing them are as talented as they are.

    This film shouldn’t have been called Birds of Prey – they’re hardly in it. They should have just called in Harley Quinn, because that’s the focus here. And as a Quinn film, I could have had better, but I did enjoy it. I really enjoyed it actually. I would say it was the worst one since Aquaman. But I loved it for its talent, its mad craft and above all its personality. The script is underdeveloped in places – and is probably a little too trigger happy with the man-shaming thing that the likes of Ghostbusters 2016 and Captain Marvel flaunt.

    But the directing and acting do manage to find some gold here and there. It’s worth a watch, although most will probably wait for the rental price.

  • Greed: The BRWC Review

    Greed: The BRWC Review

    Greed tells the story of self-made British billionaire Sir Richard McCreadie (Steve Coogan), whose retail empire is in crisis. For 30 years he has ruled the world of retail fashion, bringing the high street to the catwalk and the catwalk to the high street. But after a damaging public inquiry, his image is tarnished. To save his reputation, he decides to bounce back with a highly publicised and extravagant party celebrating his 60th birthday on the Greek island of Mykonos.

    Michael Winterbottom is a director that has plenty of great ideas up his sleeve, and has impressed me on numerous occassions with his previous films, especially The Trip series, The Emperor’s New Clothes, and Everyday. My family has always greatly enjoyed The Trip the most, though. It’s kind of a favorite in our household.

    Since I do quite enjoy his filmography, I was excited to see what his latest feature Greed would have to offer. Something that is instantly noticeable about Winterbottom’s movies is that a lot of them star Steve Coogan in the leading role. It’s not hard to see why, either. He is an actor with a great amount of range and can pull off a large variety of characters. While Greed is not one of  my all-time favorite Winterbottom movies, Coogan’s portrayal of eccentric billionaire Sir Richard McCreadie is among one of his most wild and devilishly entertaining to date.

    Right from the opening few scenes alone, we can tell that McCreadie is a highly cocky and greedy man. A lot of people even refer to him as “Greedy McCreadie”. He is always trying to find a way to make money and he doesn’t want to give any of it away. His money is his money, and nobody else’s. Watching a character like this would usually be infuriating because they are just so annoying and it is hard to root for somebody like that. But with a funny and likeable actor portraying said character, it becomes easier to sit back and laugh at all the insane things that he does.

    This is a satire film, and that is nothing new or original. How you execute any film in any given genre is what makes it new or original. Winterbottom’s script is quite good for the most part, although it does suffer from some issues. One of the biggest issues with it is that it does somewhat feel like other movies. Not necessarily the story, but how it was written. Some parts of it reminded me of Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and the way that movie portrayed its protagonist.

    Sometimes, the screenplay is a bit uneven. The first act takes a while to get going, and a lot of it is because it is almost all setup. We ease into the life of McCreadie and we see his life play out starting from when he was in school. I appreciated the fact that we got to see how this larger than life presence came to be, but there was just too much exposition in the bunch.

    Similarly, a lot of the humor did not land during that first act. Some jokes would go by and fall completely flat. Gratefully though, the humor and really, the movie as a whole, does improve after a rocky first act. From that point onward, it becomes a massively entertaining satire that has a lot to say.

    It’s a film that talks about social class and how our lead protagonist handles his wealth and it takes us on a journey with this man as we get to learn more about him. Like I said, it is nowhere near perfect. It’s not a satire that is as good as other satires such as The Death of Stalin or Jojo Rabbit or anything like that. But Greed is incredibly different from those movies. It’s a comedy that has some dramatic elements sprinkled throughout, and also doubles as a commentary on social class.

    It is often times too long, especially the first act, some of the jokes don’t work that well early on, and some of the characters (except for McCreadie) don’t get too much to do. Yes, it does improve later on which is a great thing, I just wish that the preceding parts of the movie were just as entertaining.

    But perhaps my favorite aspect of Greed is none other than Coogan as the lead protagonist. He is such an interesting character to follow here, as we get to see how cocky this man truly is. Watching his life play out was a series of baffling moments but in all the right ways. Seeing him earn his money and interact with other people around him was a treat. The film does have its problems, but this is an amusing enough movie that doesn’t always work in its execution, but when it does get going, it never lets up.

    Greed‘s satirical and wacky script feels bizarre in the first act, but it improves later on and offers some humorous moments and an entertaining performance from Steve Coogan.

  • How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – The BRWC Review

    How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – The BRWC Review

    The How to Train Your Dragon series has been one of the greatest in modern animation. It is impossible to describe in words how breath-taking all three of the film are. They boast some of the greatest, state-of-the-art animation and eye-popping 3D of any film I have ever seen. To quickly sum up my thoughts on the previous two films, I think they’re both fantastic. The first film I found to be almost perfect and it remains one of the most pleasant surprises of my film-going life.

    The second one I like almost as much, but I always thought that it ended about ten minutes later than it should – the battle at the end is inferior to the battle literally just before it. So naturally I was excited to see How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – to a pretty unfair degree. I had the highest hopes, so it was a lot to live up to.

    The story this time is that a vicious dragon hunter is coming to Burk. His goal is to kill the last of the nightfurys – which is main character Hiccup’s pet dragon, Toothless. But it won’t stop there, any other dragon is up for the slaughter. The people and dragons of Burk move to find a new home, the Hidden World – a sheltered place where dragons rule and can live in safety. The hunt is on! Complicating matters is the arrival of a female nightfury. Toothless is now in love and Hiccup must face the fact that it may be time for his dragon to move on.

    How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a wonderful film. What we have come to expect from the series is back in full force here. The excellent 3D effects that make the film literally leap off the screen – 3D being something I have little care for outside of a handful of films. The animation is vibrant and beautiful, making you feel as though you are flying through the air with these fantastic beasts. The designs of the dragons are unique and impressive – some beautiful, some cool, some just cute and others terrifying. The music is fantastic. The characters are fun. The comedy hits more than it misses. Director Dean Deblois keeps a steady hand while he excellently crafts a world that will entertain adults and capture the imaginations of children.

    Story-wise, the series hasn’t exactly been unpredictable. But it has always felt new. It’s a strange talent that Deblois has, where he takes a tired formula and makes it new and enjoyable again. This film deals with themes of self-doubt and empty next syndrome. We’ve seen it before – a beloved character finds a reason to move on, love as always, and our main character is afraid to let it happen.

    Been there, done that. But the plot and theme are so in touch with Hiccup as a character that it all feels organic. Nothing done feels like a betrayal or a breaking of character for anyone in the film. This is helped by performances and animation of course, but we can’t ignore the script either.

    One thing that always got me down about the previous films were the villains. In the first, it was just a big dragon – it roared, breathed fire and was a general annoyance. And that was it. The second film had a villain who was so over-the-top that he was too silly to feel like a threat, in both performance and writing. This time though, we have a good villain. He is cold, vicious and cunning. He is also terrifically portrayed by F Murray Abraham – although the Transylvanian accent is a little strange at times. But best of all, he has been bored and this hunt is fun for him. He will not stop or slow down because of how much he enjoys this. He is the perfect villain to send Hiccup and the gang out with.

    But I do have my griped here and there. Despite fantastic colours and breathtaking visuals, The Hidden World is easily the most visually ugly of the three. The flying and the titular hidden world look great, but there are extended periods when we are looking at rotten interiors with all the shades of brown and grey out there. I found the misses in comedy to be the most wince-inducing here as well. There also pretty major characters who feel sidelined for the sake of other, far less important or interesting characters. These issues are a shame, but they are far from deal-breakers.

    I’m certain that anyone who has seen the other films – that being most people – have probably made time to see this one too. And why shouldn’t they? I am glad that it is over. This is a wonderful place to end the trilogy. It’s better to go out fresh and early than to keep on going until you turn stale. I can give out far too many examples of that happening so I’m not going to bother listing them. It’s another How to Train Your Dragon film – that alone is great reason to see it. It has all the strengths of the others and, while it has new issues of its own, it does sort out issues from before.

    It’s better put together than the second one, but it also lacks the emotional heights of it too. Personally, I still prefer the first film. But it truly is a pick your poison deal. Simply put it on and get swept away.