Summary Stranger Things begins its final season. Really, I think this should have been released all at once rather than in parts, the issue with this approach is I can’t really feel favourably to the first batch of episodes, as it feels like they are building to something that never comes. The Vecna fight is cool I guess when he destroys the military, but it also makes how easily the gang beat him in season four seem incredibly poorly conceived.

Summary Stranger Things is often held up as one of the great modern series, but upon watching it back a second time you see the power of Netflix and the hype people, to really overblow something to the nth degree. The conspiracy ideas of the show are interesting, however, it is far too derivative, concepts like how Vecna kills people in season four, or the entire mystery of the first season feel like carbon copies of other things from the period such as the works of Stephen King and The Nightmare on Elm Street films.

Summary A classic doesn’t hold up. I recently watched this film after not having watched it in years, it was not a great experience. Some films from the Eighties hold up and pass the test of time and some don’t I would argue this is the latter. Firstly, the stuff with Marty and his mother which is played for laughs is really quite an odd choice and is creepy.

Summary I returned to the Disney version of the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid franchise and was a bit sick. So lets get one thing very clear, Greg is a good kid but also a fundamentally flawed one with his schemes often getting him into trouble, he is not the sort of kid to give away the present he most wants to help those in need, the idea was so American and sickening that I almost turned it off.

Summary Raj from the Big Bang Theory gets political. So this was the first film I have ever watched on Plex and I have to say it was a good system, better than some streaming services for sure. I am glad this did not come out in the cinemas where I am, as I cannot imagine sitting there and watching it all in one go.

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about the MCU and how we got here. So firstly lets take stock, the MCU has this year put out three films that all failed to break even, released a few tv series no one talked about, Born Again had worse ratings than Agatha, and moved the big prize of an Avengers film further and further away.

Summary Disney Animation could not get more generic if it tried. The first film felt paper thin with the idea of the predators vs the prey metaphor working as a stand-in for race relations, everyone could see the very obvious message of not judging others by what they are but rather the content of their character. Yet this film feels the need to push a worn out and frankly reductive metaphor further forward as it has nothing to say otherwise.

Summary Pooh and friends celebrate the holidays. I needed a pallet cleanser after all of the horrible three dimensional animation I have seen recently for a project I was helping a friend with, so I thought some classic hand drawn animation was just the ticket. Seeing this makes me think about what we have lost, hand drawn animation has so much more heart and soul, even when it combines with three dimensional characters or elements.

Summary The murders trio are back. I have to say whilst very watchable I think this season was weaker than some of the others and had a number of needless asides and B stories. Straight off the bat the focus on Lester the doorman was a bit bland, the murder itself wasn’t all that interesting. The mobster stuff was always reliable throughout the season and could perk up any episode.

Summary Sisu, Jorma Tommila, is back and this time it’s all about lumber. I enjoyed this film it was more of the same, the action was as you would expect it to be brutal and violent, but it was widely a step back from the first film. I think the first film played up the over the top force of nature a bit more, there were those elements here but I would say by and large the film was softened and he was shown to be more human.

Summary The real life story of a man who lived in a Toys R Us after breaking out of prison, and then becoming infatuated with one of the workers there. It is very hard to give this film a coherent review, there are aspects about it that work: the lead character is very likable and you do root for them and want to see them reunited with their daughter, in this respect Channing Tatum does a good job.

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about actors running their mouths in Hollywood and coming break point between activism and actors in general. As many of you who read my reviews know there is nothing worse than an actor who feels the need to lecture you on politics from their mansion, many times this is also followed with a comment about if you disagree with me you’re evil and you shouldn’t watch my work.

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about the red flags surrounding Millie Bobby Brown and the increasing risk that she will be a child star who goes down the path of many other child stars, which is to say growing into broken adults, with serious issues. This post is intended to draw attention and raise awareness rather than being critical of her, and that is the spirit this is being written in.

Summary Jennifer Lawrence gets nude for attention. So this is a Lynn Ramsey film and people need to understand what that means, a lot of the negative reviews coming out of this film don’t seem to be familiar with her or her work, and seemed to expect something different out of this film than clearly what it was promising. This film is black-pilled to the core and suggests that some people cannot be saved, no matter how much you or they may want to be.

Summary Dorothy shows up and the Wizard Wins. Now technically, the witch, Cynthia Erivo, wins as she isn’t really dead at the end, and Jeff Goldblum goes back to the real world in a ballon, but who’s counting. Now this film struck me immediately as being dumb, characters will sing about how they are feeling when we can already infer that based on what is going on, on screen, they are feeling the need to explain very basic things through song.

Summary An oddball who wins the lottery, invites his favourite pop duo to his private island for a show after they have long since broken up. This was quite a heart warming film and it doesn’t go the way you expect it to, you imagine the duo are going to get back together, musically and romantically, but in the end they don’t and that is presented as okay and a healthy step forward.

Summary The horse-people are back. So it was nice to see this franchise return and to see Jessie Eisenburg star in something again it has been too long. This was as you would expect it to be a passing of the torch movie, they brought in a new team of next generation horse-people, I won’t say horsemen it is just not inclusive enough, I’m joking.

Summary Osgood Perkins goes back to his art house roots. So this is exactly what you would expect from art house horror, a lack of cohesive narrative, dressed up as surrealism, things randomly happening without any prior set up, presented as shocks or scares, deeply unlikeable characters, explained no doubt to represent the human amorality, very obvious themes once again masquerading as ‘oh what does he mean’.

Summary The age of Hammer Horror begins. This is one of my holdovers from the Halloween period, that I am slotting in here in between major releases. I thought this film had a cool vibe, and I liked that it did something different with the source material and though exploring Frankenstein’s madness, here played by Peter Cushing, was an interesting road to walk down.

Summary A kernel of punk rock wrapped in layers of modern day progressive nonsense. This was a weird one for me to see, that being because I was unsure when it was coming out for me, you see as I have said elsewhere I have moved to Belgium, and unlike other things that mostly come out around the same time as they do in other territories, this film had a split release date.

Summary Bruce Springsteen is depressed. That description sums up the entire two hour plus runtime of the film. You don’t need to watch it or read up any further that sums it up. It was always going to be difficult to do a drama biopic of the life of The Boss, as unlike someone like Kurt Cobain, or Amy Winehouse he did not have the same level of demons.

Summary Emma Stone and Jessie Plemons team back up. So this was a better film than Kinds Of Kindness I can tell you that, I would argue the main way that is true is the fact that it had a coherent story structure and tried to tell a linear start to finish narrative. There were elements that were surreal but for the most part it was all very straightforward.

Summary A documentary about a murder in rural England and its connections to the folk horror boom of the Seventies. I had been interested in this documentary for some time, so to my delight when I looked and saw it had come out on digital I immediately gave it a watch. I have to say I was disappointed with it, there are some interesting insights presented, and the final story about how the Teletubbies was connected to it is funny, but the documentary just doesn’t go deep enough for me.

Summary A dog watches the haunting of its master. This film is truly horrible, in many ways. The dog is mistreated by the owner and is in peril from the supernatural entity as well, whilst you could argue that the owner only does this as he knows he is getting sicker and sicker and is lashing out at the things around him, it is hard to watch.