Pete Messum Reviews...

It's April 1917, and Lance Corporal Tom Blake ( Dean-Charles Chapman ) Lance Corporal Will Schofield ( George MacKay ) are sent on a mission by their commanding officer General Erinmore ( Colin Firth ) to prevent an attack on the German forces by the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, as what at first seemed to be the enemy on the run seems to be the enemy laying a trap. The two Lance Corporals have only a matter of hours to get across the trenches, over enemy lines and all the way to where the 2nd Battalion are posted before a massacre ensues. In fact, it'd take about two hours, as 1917 plays out (almost) in real-time. Right from the off, director Sam Mendes and his cinematographer Roger Deakins endeavour to tell the whole story of 1917 in what appears to be one, continuous shot. There are of course a number of hidden edits throughout the film, and there's a very obvious cut at a crucial moment, but nevertheless the film sticks to this format, and works all the ...

US Poster for Jojo Rabbit. © Fox Searchlight There is certainly an interesting, complex and thoughtful discussion to be had regarding the portrayal of Nazis, the Second World War, and other real-life horrors in a humorous context. There is, however, also the superb comic talents of particular filmmakers bringing to the screen brilliant mockeries of the Nazis, whether it be the spoof 'Springtime for Hitler' stage show in Mel Brooks' The Producers , or in this case, Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit - in which Waititi plays Adolf Hitler. Because of course he does. Based upon the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, Jojo Rabbit follows Jojo ( Roman Griffin Davis ), a 10-year-old in 1945 Germany. Like many children his age, Jojo is part of the Hitler Youth, run by Captain Klenzendorf ( Sam Rockwell ), and is caught up in the Nazi propaganda, ideologies and naivete. He can't understand why his mother ( Scarlett Johansson ) doesn't love Hitler as much as he doe...

Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock seem to be the main influences behind Rian Johnson 's "whodunnit" Knives Out , starring Daniel Craig as an eccentric private detective Benoit Blanc - Johnson's American version of Hercule Poirot. Complete with a southern accent, Craig investigates the death of acclaimed crime novelist Harlan Thrombey ( Christopher Plummer ), narrowing down the suspects across his entire family of wealthy caricatures. Rian Johnson shot to fame as the writer/director behind the controversial Star Wars: The Last Jedi , which was attacked on everything from its characterisation to its political subtext, the latter of which plays a key role in Knives Out as Johnson's screenplay tears into the wealthy upper-class of the United States with an expected savagery. The characters range from the Nazi/online troll grandson ( Jaeden Martell ) to the slightly unhinged, limping son as played by Michael Shannon (whose walking stick becomes particularly t...

I'm not sure if there's a right way to begin a review of ' Gemini Man ' - the latest Ang Lee-directed, Will Smith-starring sci-fi blockbuster out in cinemas. The most intriguing twist in the film has rather naturally been spoiled on every posted, trailer and plot synopsis for the film - that being that Will Smith is hunted down by an assassin who is in fact his younger self in clone form - and beyond that, there's not really too much to say. As much as this has been sold as an Ang Lee / Will Smith film, ' Gemini Man ' doesn't really show-off the talents of either its director or its lead star, and ultimately feels like a paint-by-numbers action thriller with a surprising caliber of talent behind it. ' Gemini Man ' sees Will Smith as a generic, retired assassin, who quickly realises that he might have uncovered some kind of secret, and thus works with generic love interest / action heroine / exposition-dumper Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Bened...

To say that those who made ' Joker ' had the best of intentions feels like a somewhat disingenuous statement given exactly who made this film. Its director Todd Phillips previously directed such classic comedies as ' The Hangover ' trilogies and ' Due Date ', and when people stopped laughing at his films, he decided to go for an Oscar and make a serious awards-bait comic book superhero spin-off film. His ambitions for awards glory led him to attain Joaquin Phoenix , renowned for his interests in art-house cinema and lack thereof in mainstream, as well as getting Martin Scorsese's name in the credits - no doubt as a means of silencing the claims that ' Joker ' is trying to be like Scorsese's own filmography (see ' Taxi Driver ', ' The King of Comedy ', etc.). Phoenix wants to take the Oscar-worthy role of the Joker of course - Heath Ledger posthumously received a Best Supporting Actor award for his role as the clown prince of cr...

Taken from the Latin phrase for "to the stars", 'Ad Astra' seeks to journey back into the deep unknown of space in an existential story that ultimately unravels itself to be much more down-to-Earth and human than one might expect. That's not to say that the film avoids its space setting, or the assortment of creative world/Solar System-building that comes with it, but that it avoids venturing too far into the more fantastical elements of science-fiction. 'Ad Astra' seems to be at one point referencing 'Gravity' , and at others '2001: A Space Odyssey' . It's more of a thought-provoking science-fiction film that builds a very believable future into the background of its central human narrative. Set in the near future, 'Ad Astra' follows Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) as he is sent into space to investigate mysterious "surges" emitting from a space station orbiting Neptune. SpaceComm - an organisation interested in ex...

The ninth (apparently) film from Quentin Tarantino , ' Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood ' is the legendary writer/director's tribute to late 60's Hollywood, from television to cinema, 160 minutes of call-backs, tributes and references, that also revolve around the murder of actress Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie here). Naturally, being a Quentin Tarantino film, the story doesn't play out quite as one would expect, and the potential criticisms with Tarantino turning a real-life tragedy into one of his films is certainly something the man himself tries to overcome with the finished film. Set in 1969, ' Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood ' follows ageing cowboy legend Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggling to propel himself back into stardom. Known for his turn as a classic cowboy in western series ' Bounty Law ', Dalton has struggled to keep his career going beyond that, and with the help of his stuntman/driver Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), tries...

With the sudden surge in popularity for the ' Fast and Furious ' films in recent years, it's no surprise to see the franchise spin-off two of its most popular leads into a film. ' Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw ' (alternatively titled ' Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw ') stars Dwayne Johnson and Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, with Vanessa Kirby playing Shaw's sister and Idris Elba playing a one-off villain. The plot is rather confused and never fully established, starting off with Vanessa Kirby stealing a mysterious virus from a van, and somehow linking this all into Idris Elba as a cyborg mercenary working for a shadowy organisation (named sequel set-up). The CIA and MI6 have to work together to send in Hobbs and Shaw to find Shaw's sister and stop whatever Idris Elba is up to...which is never entirely clear. Elba's motivations are a bit odd at best, and there's something about the virus murdering everyone on the...

In an era of shared-universe mega-franchises, it's difficult not to distinguish the finished film ' Dracula Untold ' from it's clear cynical, money-grabbing ambitions. Universal once had a success franchise with their Universal Monster movies, including ' Dracula ', ' Frankenstein ', ' Creature from the Black Lagoon ' and more, and in a post-Marvel Studios era, they want to try again - properly this time. Everything is connected, and one day Dracula will team-up with the Wolf-Man and Frankenstein to fight the Mummy. But not today. ' Dracula Untold ' was released in 2014, and was set to start what was later dubbed as the "Dark Universe". Despite making a fair $217 million against its $70 million budget, the franchise was rebooted in 2017 with ' The Mummy ', a $190/345 million flop that turned in $407 million, but not any profit for the studio. Alas, neither started the Dark Universe that Universal had been hoping for,...

I'm not entirely sure how ' Men in Black: International ' came to fruition. Originally it was supposedly a crossover with Sony Pictures' own ' 21 Jump Street ' franchise - which is baffling in itself - and clearly there was some debate as whether to make a sequel or straight-up reboot. The angle that ' International ' goes for is that of a spin-off to the Men in Black trilogy with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, focusing instead on new agents M and H, played by Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth respectively. Emma Thompson returns from ' Men in Black 3 ' as Agent O to bridge the gap between the series', but this film is very much focused on its new cast. Tessa Thompson plays Molly, who after befriending an alien and witnessing a Men in Black encounter endeavours to find out exactly who MIB are, and how to work for them. Twenty years later, Molly finally encounters MIB again, and is recruited on a probationary basis by Agent O (Emma Th...

Whilst many large-scale film franchises have flopped recently (' The Mummy ' (2017) didn't start its Dark Universe series, ' Pacific Rim: Uprising ' is still without a sequel, ' Hellboy ' (2019) bombed quite spectacularly, among many others), it's surprising to see one succeed that isn't a superhero franchise. ' Godzilla ' (2014) was an interesting film in that it had spectacular trailers and a rather boring end product. Nevertheless, it made $500 million and thus it started the MonsterVerse , followed by ' Kong: Skull Island ' - a considerable improvement, and another moderate hit. Now though, the Monsterverse is going for the top spot with two new entries - first, ' Godzilla: King of the Monsters ' , and the next year ' Godzilla vs. Kong '. It's a risky move for Warner Bros Picture, but they clearly have confidence in the franchise to produce two entries back-to-back. ' Godzilla: King of the Monsters ...

A mere four years after ' Terminator: Genysis ' - the previous attempt to revive the Terminator franchise - original director James Cameron has returned (and just in case you didn't know, the poster and trailer make sure you do) to produce a new trilogy of films starting with ' Terminator: Dark Fate ' , directed by Tim Miller (director of ' Deadpool '). ' Dark Fate ' has a lot riding on its shoulders, being the first sequel since ' Terminator 2: Judgment Day ' to have Cameron actively involved, as well as also being yet another sequel desiring to set-up a new trilogy. Whilst ' Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ' technically received a sequel with ' Terminator: Salvation ', it was re-cast and re-framed as a prequel, intending to set-up two further prequels. That didn't go according to plan and thus ' Terminator: Genisys ' was produced to set-up two further sequels (set for release in 2017 and 2018). And then th...

I don't think anyone was quite expecting to see 2014's ' John Wick ' become the start of a successful franchise, but somehow Chad Stahelski managed to not only make a great standalone revenge film, but also a fantastic action-packed follow-up with 2017's ' John Wick: Chapter 2 ' (which earned double the first film's gross). With plans afoot for a spin-off film and television series, it was very much up to ' John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum ' to keep the franchise strong, and frankly, I don't see this series going away any time soon. Not only is ' Parabellum ' a masterclass of action cinema, but it has already grossed nearly $100 million on it's mere $55 million budget. The audience is here for John Wick, and we're thinking he's back. Former hit-man John Wick ( Keanu Reeves ) has been through a lot recently. He finally escaped a life of murder to live with his wife, but then his wife died, leaving him only with a sma...

The Pokémon franchise very much passed me by growing up, so finally seeing a live-action adaptation of the card game - in the form of a new feature film - doesn't instantly form any particular nostalgic connection with me (as I'm sure it will for some people). I was simply someone who watched the trailer to ' Pokémon Detective Pikachu ' and thought it looked quite entertaining. The end result is...perfectly adequate, but I can't help but wonder if everyone involved was playing it a little too safe. The story follows Tim Goodman ( Justice Smith ), a man who's cut himself off from the world of Pokémon (small adorable creatures who roam the planet, waiting to be caught in a ball and partnered-with) until he is sent to Rhyme City in the wake of his distant father's untimely death. Rhyme City is the creation of Howard Clifford ( Bill Nighy ), who desires to maintain harmony between humans and Pokémon, but as Tim arrives, a mystery begins to unfold, and he mus...

' Crimson Peak ' is the most gothic film Guillermo del Toro has ever made. It's brimming with the tropes and clichés of gothic literature, and it's no real wonder that the film didn't quite have the wide audience appeal needed to be a box office hit - it only made $74 million against its $55 million production budget. Ultimately, ' Crimson Peak ' represents a different kind of horror from what audiences typically expect now, and whilst I can imagine this doesn't appeal to some, this very much appealed to me. The story follows Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), who is trying to write a novel when she meets the enigmatic Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston). As the two fall in love, mysterious circumstances lead Edith to live with Thomas and his rather unsettling sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) at Allerdale Hall, where the mysteries begin to unfold... Del Toro isn't exactly subtle with what the film is actually about. Earlier on in ' Crimson Peak...

I'm honestly amazed that 'Alita: Battle Angel' has even been released. It's a huge, $200 million blockbuster adapting an admittedly niche Manga novel that makes very little effort to "dumb-down" the story or characters for mainstream audiences. As someone unfamiliar with Alita outside of this film, I certainly appreciated how weird and hyper-stylised so many aspects of the film were. The general design work is fantastic all-round, and the story takes some interesting turns as it gradually unfolds. This is definitely an American version of 'Alita', and I'd be interested to know how this compares to the Manga, but it doesn't seem as out-of-place as, say, Scarlett Johansson in 'Ghost in the Shell' (2017). There are a variety of different characters played by a variety of different actors, and nothing at least feels too out-of-place to the uninitiated. 20th Century Fox have been hoping to sell this film as "James Cameron's nex...

Somewhere between 'Aquaman', 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse', 'Mary Poppins Returns' and...the rest, I feel like 'Bumblebee' has been pushed to the side out of all of this year's Christmas releases. The film is *gradually* making money, but I think the lack of interest stems from the quality of the previous films; I think once people realise that 'Bumblebee' is a genuinely great film, it will actually find greater success. The new posters I've seen for it have emphasised its positive reviews, but here I am to tell you that yes, 'Bumblebee' is really, really good and you should go and see it - especially if you have kids. The story opens with a prologue on Cybertron, introducing us to the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. With flowing camerawork, slightly clunky 80's-style designs and bright, vivid colours, this sequence alone stands out from Michael Bay's five (how on earth are there five?) films. Bumb...

I'm struggling to work out how to start this review of 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse', because not only is it the best Spider-Man film in 14 years, but it's also one of the best films I've seen this year. No, seriously. This is an incredible piece of cinema that I highly recommend watching if you have any interest in it whatsoever, and I am really hoping that there's a big IMAX 3D screening somewhere near me soon - 'Into the Spider-Verse' deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Whilst I enjoyed 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' last year, I felt that the screenplay could've been tightened and that six films later, Jon Watts has produced the least visually interesting Spider-Man film of the lot. Funny how 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' improves on every problem I had with that film. This is a gorgeous film to look at, with absolutely incredible animation that is directed with a sense of energy, artistic flair but also...