Timmsy's Flicks Movie Reviews

01/03/2024

30/10/2023

was alright…I guess. 🤷‍♂️

11/10/2023

👎

29/09/2023

Is Saw X a return to form or is this one another misstep?

23/09/2023

Mid-tier modern Neeson fare 🎬

14/09/2023

06/09/2023

My man Denzel is back in but is the third time the charm?

24/08/2023

👎

20/08/2023

A solid movie about the phone before the IPhone and friendship

11/08/2023

Is the new Grab Turismo movie solid or is this Blomkamp’s dud?

06/08/2023

I just found the coolest shop. Leading Edge Video Birkdale, the last video store in Queensland, and NSW that offer rentals and sales. These guys have Blu-ray’s, dvd and vhs. Such a cool shop 🙂

04/08/2023

Worse than the first movie or did it go a little deeper to entertain this time around? Let's discuss

30/07/2023

Remember to keep stocking up on physical media guys. Who knows how much longer we can still get it?

27/07/2023

I finally finished ! Was another “Hollywoke” watch or was it just a great film? Let’s discuss!

23/07/2023

is here. Nolan’s masterpiece or a ”bomb?” Let’s discuss!

20/07/2023

Talk to me is here! Best horror film of 2023 or overrated? Find out below

13/07/2023

I caught Jennifer Lawrence’a new comedy “No Hard Feelings” last night. Here’s my thoughts!

09/07/2023

My mission was to come back after all this time and do a review on Dead reckoning Part 1. I chose to accept!

12/06/2023

My early birthday present. The Peanuts 70th anniversary bluray collection

26/03/2023

John Wick Chapter 4
Directed by Chad Stahelski

We are now 4 chapters in on what started as a simple revenge story; a hitman has his dog murdered and goes after those responsible. The Wick series was a breath of fresh air in a somewhat dying genre (outside of superhero movies) which were mostly offering shaky cam, badly edited and choreographed action in front of a green screen. Wick got its points on being none of those things.

The 4th entry offers a whopping near 3-hour runtime and tries to up what we loved about the other entries. Stahelski steers the ship first into familiar territory, the action sequences which are always a main attraction, are as inspired as they’ve ever been. The traffic-heavy streets of Paris are particularly thrilling and just one of many jaw-dropping sequences.

The introduction of veterans Hiroyuki Sanada and Donnie Yen brings some unfamiliar territory, not in their well-established martial arts skills by this point in their respective careers but by giving some unexpected depth to their characters. Aimee Kwan, a menacing Bill Skarsgard, Clancy Brown, and an unrecognizable Scott Atkins are great newcomers and acting veterans Ian Mcshane and Lawrence Fishburne return. There's no hating this cast but Wick 4 on paper does seem like it’s all a bit too much.

This is Wick 4s problem amongst so many things it gets right. Stahelski is obviously a gifted action director but he doesn’t believe in less is more. It's through doing more that a few cracks are inevitably going to appear at a 4th movie. The length does hurt the storytelling that doesn’t need any more than 2 and a half hours tops. It’s still mostly shot slick but the natural lighting in the sequence at Hiroyuki’s hotel isn't a great choice in a franchise known for its normally stellar cinematography. My favorite thing about the Wick series is its simplicity and realism, but that is starting to disappear. Reeves is great in this role and pushing near 60 still sells the action well. The vulnerability factor however is missing here. Wick falls down multiple flights of stairs and into cars and barely shows a scratch in this outing. You get the feeling John from the first movie would be in hospital or dead.

It’s still a fun ride overall and Wick 4 delivers the goods (and then more) but if there’s a 5th entry, it’d be great to see this character stripped back down to the basics again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

02/03/2023

🤔 The layers of this movie run deep!

19/02/2023

SKINAMARINK REVIEW

The uniquely titled Skinamarink is not a name you’ll confuse with another film anytime soon, Ball reportedly took inspiration from a kid's singalong which I guess is appropriately titled given the film's premise, which follows two young kids who are awoken in the night to find their parents gone.

I knew very little going into the screening of this other than the popularity of the film online and the cinema's staff giving a high recommendation on its uniqueness. The film works best going in fresh, suffice to say that most of the film’s uniqueness is not really in the story but in ex*****on which will be applauded by some and will frustrate others.

We get a lot of interior shots of a house with characters out of frame amongst excessive film grain and noise. Some sequences were hard to make out, and I was confused about whether I was witnessing a POV of a character or it was a “fly on the wall” moment at times. But to wish for a clean shot, some would say, would break the tension the film builds through these stylistic choices. Look, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wanted just the odd standard medium shot with a character in frame. even if it doesn’t all work 100 percent of the time, there are some genuinely frightening moments, sound design really dares to complement the film grain with excessive atmospheric audio.

Ball asks for a lot in the film's look, editing, and sound and the ambiguity of the ending will have audience members talking about what they’ve just watched in a passionate group discussion or they’ll head to the ticket bar to demand a refund.

But I like movies that dare to try a fresh approach, in an age where so many movies are playing it safe. It’s not a crowd pleaser and it doesn’t try to be.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

11/01/2023

THE FABELMANS
Directed by Steven Spielberg

Call it a hunch but a Steven Spielberg biopic would probably not sit well with the gifted filmmaker, but it's ok, we have the next best thing- and it's pretty darn special. It's said that artists always leave a piece of themselves in their work, well, The Fabelmans may just be Spielberg's most personal film to date in a glorious decades-spanning career.

Instantly transporting us back in time to a young Sam witnessing his very first motion picture. As his Dad (played by Paul Dano) explains to Sam the technical aspects of how a film is presented to us, Spielberg single-handedly establishes an important trait of the character. and breaks the fourth wall to us about what we are experiencing here and now and what we've enjoyed for over 100 years. It's here in this scene, most importantly, young Sam is exposed to a new world in watching “The greatest show on Earth” There’s so much to already unpack in a few short minutes and the film is 150 minutes in length.

The Fabelmans' production value is on point, recreating the look and feel of the 50s and 60s, it's technically masterful in the ways we are delivered footage of Sam's early ”hobby” based films on 8mm, (reportedly close recreations of Steven’s home movies) and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski is to be commended, but also? The cast is amazing. This is Sam's story but Sam doesn't like the camera on him instead sharing the spotlight in its runtime. There's no single performance that stands out, The Fabelmans feels like an ensemble piece, which helps in depicting that real family from the 60s, that grew up on your neighborhood block.

Spielberg easily translates his personal story to the big screen in an entertaining, and quite moving way, but I think The Fabelmans succeeds in doing something even greater. Something I think Tarantino didn't quite get there with ”Once upon a time in Hollywood”, it's a wonderful celebration of film and the importance of treasuring art and the artists that dare to keep dreaming.

Don't miss it

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Fabelmans

23/12/2022

Krusty nails it 👌

12/10/2022

I got to meet one of my favorite comedians the genius, Shaun Micallef Shaun Micallef's MAD AS HELL , I've been a fan of his work ever since I was a kid. I told him about my introduction to him in the hilarious Full Frontal tv show and how every Thursday night I'd be howling with laughter. My friends and I would talk about nothing else on Fridays in the school yard, instead of focusing on our studies. He simply replied with
”Oh well my work is done. Your education is complete”

Thanks for the fantastic show Shaun. I forgot to pitch my idea for your next project. Think Milo Kerrigan’s comeback movie- Using Rocky Balboa for inspiration. Call me.

06/10/2022

Don’t worry Darling
Directed by Olivia Wilde

I seem to remember the trailer for this dropping a while ago. Because it was rolling before everything I was watching at the cinema, I was beginning to suspect months down the track, I’d never actually see this.

But here we are.

I gotta say, props to the studio for a decent trailer that comes from a forgotten time. Nowadays many trailers give away the plot in under 2 minutes. Don’t worry darling is wrapped in mystery (trailer and movie).

And that’s its major selling point, so in keeping with in line with that, the less I reveal re-plot, the better. While there is a mystery surrounding the exceptionally talented Florence Pugh’s character Alice, and her life in this “ perfect town” after a great first act, it’s in the middle where the pacing almost stalls in spots, and the mystery element begins to work against the film- we get little advancement for around 30 mins with some scenes that just repeat earlier scenes.
Pugh, Styles, and Pine all bring gravitas (sometimes Styles is a little outmatched with Pugh) but the scenes where Alice is questioning her sanity, could have been ramped up a notch to build more tension. This is where Wilde's directing gets shaky and there could have been a lot more done with the material instead, it’s simply a half-hearted effort as Wilde banks on the 3rd act reveal to save it. Which isn’t fair to the screenplay.

If the rumors of trouble on this set are true and Wilde was leaving mid-shoot then that would explain some of the film's shortcomings but I think the payoff has a lot to say about the cost of staying in a toxic relationship within a neat reveal. I ultimately had a good time with it by the credits

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

30/09/2022

SMILE
Directed by Parker Finn

I saw the trailer for this not long after it dropped and found it rather unappealing to me; thinking this movie was just this year's Countdown or Truth or Dare, ya know, a low-budget jumpscare fest that you'd immediately forget on the ride home from the theater.

Director Parker Finn executes some great work in this his first feature, getting creative with the camera; the overhead angles with the car on a winding road, the closeups of Sosie Bacon, and her increasingly anxious performance, suggest the film early on is made with real artistry. Parker is also aware that the way to craft an effective horror film is to generate an element sorely missing from a lot of modern horror: tension. It's right there from the opening and the film does well to maintain and heighten appropriately through the technical aspects and performances, its pacing is great too. It doesn’t cater to the Tik Tok crowd addicted to ADD style of content, no cut, and paste editing, the film breathes.

Unfortunately, the movie can’t entirely escape what’s embedded in its DNA. The 3rd act wavers into been there done that territory, and doesn't quite have the creativity that propelled the movie earlier. You’ll know where it's heading. Bad? Not by any stretch, I was just hoping that we’d have something fresh to cap off the good filmmaking that came before.

Still, Parker is a filmmaker to keep an eye on and I also learned to not judge a movie by its trailer. It’s better than you think it’s going to be.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

27/09/2022

Fall movie review- ⭐️⭐️⭐️

18/09/2022

⭐️ out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

30/06/2022

DASH CAM

Look I’m gonna call it ; every found footage movie post The Blair Witch Project has just not worked (exception of maybe Cloverfield) But it hasn't stopped studios for years trying to cash in on the genre....

I don't know if I'm getting more frustrated with this film style or it's just that this movie has the audacity to add insult by dragging the pandemic into it's setting.

There’s about 10 minutes of coherent shots in this. Unfortunately what was being filmed wasn’t exactly dynamite. I’d settle for remotely interesting but instead we are treated to an annoying girl who improvises raps for her livestream audience. She travels to England to break into her friends pad, she gives some dated commentary on covid and lockdowns and then steals her friends car, then it turnes into a jumbled mess of shakiness and incomprehensible editing for an hour. Something bad was happening, but the film just wants to tease you about it through characters screaming and throwing a camera around.

So I have no idea what this it’s about. Wishful thinking that the film would explore the dangers that live-streamers could find themselves in by committing immoral or illegal activity to keep their audience or the long term psychological damaging effect on somebody playing a character for their audience. Maybe it's a solid tutorial on how to get more followers for your live stream? Annie had like 4000 at one point in the movie! Whoa man….

Alas, it’ll clear out patrons from the movie theatre pretty quickly who want to ya know....watch a movie

⭐️