Author: Daniel Simms

TV and movie reviewer.

Unchosen — Season 1 Review

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The premise of The Unchosen and casting of Christopher Eccleston created great hope. A cross between The Handmaid’s Tale and The Leftovers. The idea of a closed-off cult receiving an unexpected visitor. It even started with that potential being met. Partially deaf child Grace is saved from drowning by a mysterious man who suddenly disappears. Is he Jesus?

No. He’s a cross between the lead singer for Pearl Jam and Jon Snow. He also happens to be an escaped convict. The closed-off Christian community has strict rules around contact. No phones. No internet. No TV. And for Grace’s mum, no qualms about jumping into bed with the newcomer, Sam.

The strong start loses steam when the writers stop building suspense, drop impressive characters once they have been used as plot devices (Grace), and ask the audience not to apply logic or reason. It’s the same formula used for cheap, easy-to-read Kindle novellas.

People ask: who watches soaps nowadays? It must be the viewers who will find The Unchosen highbrow.

If it was genuinely trying to raise debate or awareness of any number of serious issues it touches upon, it fails in the cheap execution.

It has been set up for a second season. I have unchosen it from Netflix’s My List.

4/10 

Superman Returns — Review

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Today we review a simple proposition: the idea that a man returns to a world he has left behind. Since he’s been gone, that world has learned to live without him. It has even reached the conclusion that the world doesn’t need him back. We’ll also consider Superman Returns.

The 2006 film was Warner Bros. attempting to relaunch its Superman franchise. The route taken meant the third and fourth Christopher Reeve films were gently redacted. In this universe, Superman went AWOL following the events of Superman II. Brandon Routh revives the Man of Steel, and despite a strong performance, it proved to be career kryptonite.  His channelling of Reeve was more homage than bad impression. The lack of acceptance is confusing to this day.

Maybe his muted costume dampened the nostalgia. Gone was the bright red and blue, replaced with a maroon cape and dark blue suit, which brings back memories of Reeve’s Superman fighting a dirtied evil version of himself in Superman III (it’s still canon to me). The symbol was shrunken down. Maybe deep space searches for lost home planets is a dirty business and shrinks your clothes in the same way leaving them in the tumble dryer does.

Kevin Spacey does a solid job as Lex Luthor. No one will ever be able to top Gene Hackman but this is as close as we’ll likely get. His sidekick – Kitty Kowalski, played by Parker Posey – is the casting issue that highlights where the film fell apart. Visually, the movie works. Even the addition of a potential Superboy, Lois Lane’s son whose date of conception aligns with their love affair from Superman II, works. But the main dynamic in a Superman story is between Lois and Clark. In Superman Returns, Kate Bosworth does not have the presence or chemistry to carry that role.

Sadly, we are reminded throughout the movie of what Lois should (and could) have been like every time Parker Posey is on the screen. She has the sass we expect from Lois.

The flat Lois is something the movie never recovers from. You almost realise why Kal-El decided to disappear for five years. Bryan Singer, after the success of his X-Men movies, understood the assignment. He tailored this film for a DC audience and played to the strengths of the universe it inhabits, but he couldn’t save the disconnect from fans once the key chemistry was missing. A weak Lois is like relaunching the Batman franchise and making David Schwimmer the Joker. Sure, it may make sense on paper to someone stuck in an office. But it won’t work. In Bosworth’s case, it didn’t work.

It’s a shame, because that muted, muddied suit looks more inviting than David Corenswet’s version. The smaller symbol beats James Gunn’s use of the Kingdom Come variant. It’s a better movie too (but we can discuss that another day). For now, we look back on Routh as the man who followed Reeve and never got the chance to make us believe a man could fly again.

6/10

(It’s also good to be returning to the site after a lengthy lay-off.)

Justice League – Review

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“You can’t save the world alone.” Great tagline. You might not be able to save the world alone, but you can destroy the universe (in this case, the DC Extended) by not having a singular vision.

DC’s problem with this shared movie experiment has been having the confidence to stick to its guns. Batman v Superman wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Fine, that’s what makes the world go ‘round – differences.

Marvel has its successful onscreen identify, DC used to have one too.

Justice League begins with the promise that Zack Snyder has mastered the darker but deeper roots of his characters. The Batman scenes work especially well and when the team are finally assembled there’s a Watchmen feel, which is no bad thing.

But there’s no getting away from the cut-and-shut feel of having two directors helm the movie. It’d be unfair to assume Joss Whedon tried to shoehorn his Avengers style on a near-finished product. The meddling obviously came from the studio.

We’re left with an opening that retains the best parts of Dawn of Justice, with the new members adding the correct amount of light. Ezra Miller’s Flash being the standout find. His humour is always on point, his quirkiness the balance the squad needs. Wonder Woman has been the world’s favourite new hero this year – Flash is the best.

It all starts well, from recruiting a reluctant Cyborg (Ray Fisher has his work cut out bringing this character to life), to the grisly and instantly at ease Aquaman. His backstory is teased in preparation for the solo movie and Jason Momoa looks more than capable of carrying that flick.

Gal Gadot is excellent again and acts as the light to Batman’s darkness (a role usually reserved for Superman). She’s the heart in what becomes a big soulless action mess.

The plot is Wonder Woman in style. We’re dealing with hidden boxes of godlike power that are being targeted by intergalactic CGI-baddie Steppenwolf. It’s pretty weak and lacking depth for a DC movie, and the CGI is terrible, but it’s okay. It’s all okay, until…

Superman returns. This is when a great movie with seeds planted in Batman v Superman (remember that Bruce Wayne/Flash “dream” sequence where he saw the world run by an evil Superman?) absolutely bottles it.

A hint of the Superman befitting with the plot is quickly discarded, the rewrites harder to hide than the poor CGI.

Cinematographer Fabian Wagner has admitted he even filmed shots with Henry Cavill in the famous black Supes outfit. It should have been a different return to the blue suit than a quick tantrum and a creepy scene with Lois Lane in a field.

If Superman was unlikable compared to Ben Affleck’s Batman in the previous meeting, he’s a complete turnoff now. The movie sinks the second he appears.

After a good build, fans are left with a sham of a movie. Neither taking the best of the previous instalments or becoming a copy of its rival.

This should have been a part one of two and was silently cut down to one movie. At this rate, Warner Bros. will call time on the whole botched affair and return to making successful and critically acclaimed stand-alone movies.

That’s if there’s any justice in the world.

5/10

The Mummy (2017) – Review

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If we gave awards out for trailers, Logan would win an Oscar, The Mummy wouldn’t even get a Golden Raspberry. Those responsible would be on criminal charges. The misrepresentation has doomed the franchise launch of Universal’s Dark Universe before it had chance to gain traction.

As we’ve said before here, these days you need a shared universe. You’ll be forgiven for missing the fact that The Mummy is a way to bring the classic monsters of the golden age of cinema back to life. Had this been pressed in the build-up to the release, people wouldn’t have written this movie off as Tom Cruise trying to reboot an average Brendan Fraser flick.

It couldn’t be further removed from 1999’s The Mummy. And there’s no danger of the next Dwayne Johnson pitching up in a sequel as the Scorpion King.

Before writing this review, a consideration was given as to mention the “reveals.” Failure to talk candidly would make Simms View as guilty as the poor marketing team. So, no secrets to be held back. Like: Russell Crowe is in the movie playing Dr Jekyll and – yes! –  Mr Hyde.

Full props to Universal, too. In this age of everything needing to be bigger to the point of ridiculous, and CGI’d to within an inch of its life (but beyond all credibility), his Hyde is how the character initially was conceived. Strong but still a man. Not some beast or monster.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We get to Dr Jekyll ­– who happens to running a modern-day London facility that captures, contains and studies the paranormal, bizarre creations and the facts within ancient mythology – by way of his assistant.

She is tracking Tom Cruise, known as Nick Morton, an American soldier in Iraq. On the side he is looking for buried treasures to capture in the war torn country and sell on the black market. He has a trusty sidekick, Jake Johnson’s Corporal Chris Vail.

Together they happen across a buried pyramid, we already know to be the tomb of Princess Ahmanet, who killed her own father and attempted to bring the spirit of Death alive in human form. A living god was her idea.

Thousands of miles away from Egypt, disposed of in Persia, the idea was to keep her buried. Instead Jekyll’s assistant Jenny Halsey – annoyed that Cruise seduced her and then stole the map to the location – decrees the mummy of the hidden princess is be brought home to London.

Cue massive plane crash, one that kills Morton but he somehow finds himself alive afterwards. As for the Princesses, her body goes missing . . . then walkabout.

Morton is conflicted about his perceived role. He has become the Princess’s new chosen one but this means he’ll be killed during a ritual. After which, he’ll have powers of a deity but be something else altogether – potentially the thing that ends mankind.

There are obvious jokes to make here how Tom Cruise started a franchise to reaffirm his position as a box office god. As if being an actual one within Scientology wasn’t enough.

He holds the movie together though, and deserves to head the new Dark Universe.

Universal have managed to tap into the spirit of the classic monster movies and still modernise them. There is a casual humour throughout and some people in the cinema even jumped in parts. It ticked all the boxes set out before it.

Bad press, which led to less word-of-mouth, has doomed The Mummy at the box office but it should, over time, garner enough praise and interest to keep the larger concept of the Dark Universe alive.

Worth checking out…

7/10

47 Metres Down – Review

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Bit of confusion to clear up with this title’s title before we begin. Being English, it’s Metres, other territories have named it 47 Meters Down, and some of you purchased leaked DVDs with the title In the Deep. Maybe that name was dropped to avoid puns about the movie being shallow?

They needn’t have worried on that score. Okay, it’s played pretty simple on the emotional stakes – cheesy, even. But it’s a movie that wants to rely on the visual treats rather than build a character study with sharks in the background.

Jaws did that decades ago and it’ll never be surpassed.

Obligatory mention of Spielberg’s classic, because this is a killer shark movie, taken care of, let us take a look at Johannes Roberts’ attempt at a claustrophobic thriller.

It’s been billed as a horror but it really isn’t. Sure, there’s blood and some gore but the threat of not surviving is more psychological than monster lurking in the darkness chills.

The story centres (centers) around two sisters, Lisa and Kate. Lisa, played by Mandy Moore, is the dark-haired conservative type. They’re holidaying (vacation) in Mexico, Lisa is hiding a recent break up but finally confides in Kate.

Believing she was dumped for being boring, adventurous younger sis convinces her to kiss some Mexican boys and go cage diving with sharks. Like you do. Kate is played here by Claire Holt, proving to Maggie Grace that her younger self has been replaced.

Hopefully, Holt will go on to make more than a fleeting appearance in this generation’s Lost and Taken.

Obviously, the cage snaps with the two girls inside, otherwise the movie would be called 5 Metres Down (or 5 Meters Down, or In the First Bit of the Sea where You Can Still See the Boat’s Reflection).

Lisa’s fear of taking the dive is played up well and the director does will to avoid playing for lots of cheap jumps once they become stranded. This makes up for the dialogue that plays as poorly hidden commentary. However, towards the end, the sense of actual peril fades.

The girls are also told facts that we know must come into play or they wouldn’t get a mention. Hence, the penultimate scene could be seen by some as Jumping the Shark (see what I did there?).

Roberts can be forgiven for this. It still manages to work as a whole and with a movie clearly reliant on (subpar?) CGI, he appears to have made an effort to use tension rather than a series of further farfetched shark attacks.

Overall, a decent movie. The scale and budget means it was never aiming to be a massive blockbuster but it has already turned a tidy profit. It’s a top-level TV movie that deserves the chance to be seen in cinemas.

6/10