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I really do not understand the hype and fervour surrounding Past Lives. As someone who is nominally a fan of K-drama film and television, I felt that it fell flat even in comparison to others who have tried to tell the same story in recent years, and those accomplished it in a far more interesting and memorable fashion.

In a general sense, this felt like 90+ minutes of two (and then three) people standing around, whilst nothing of note happens until the end credits roll. There is a sense of anticipation that is never realised, which led to me feeling underwhelmed after it was over. Perhaps that is the point because the film is all about the importance of moving on, but it still dreary when a movie decides to plod along meaninglessly.

I have seen other reviewers, both casual and professional alike, praise the feeling of love and the strong sensations it emblazons in the viewers, but I did not see one iota of this after the characters grew into adults, except for one brief scene at the very end of the film, although even this led to nothing but the end credits. It is not romantic to have one of the main characters promise to wait for the other and then immediately hook up with someone they just met, and it actually left a very bad taste in my mouth.

The performances are fine, the music is pretty good and the direction itself isn't awful, so I will give some praise for those, but this is still one of the most disappointing films I have seen all year. Based on expectation and its average rating on IMDB, I have no problem saying that it is massively overrated. It is competent, not horrible, and probably deserves a 6 just for that, but I am being generous.

Do yourself a favour and save your money. Watch it for free if it ever comes to streaming. Anything beyond that, I cannot recommend.

The Black Phone was a reasonably bizarre, if underwhelming, horror film. There weren't many genuine scares in the movie, and some of the acting & dialogue was extremely cringeworthy where the younger actors were concerned, but for the most part this was tolerable and balanced by good performances from Ethan Hawke and Mason Thames in particular.

In terms of plot, the film felt like a mishmash of ideas that didn't really blend together well, for the most part. It took a while for the plot to really kick off. It was jarring to learn about the backstories of characters I'd never seen before through an assortment of flashbacks, and the whole premise of the phone itself is never explained. We're expected to believe that the children have inherited some type of paranormal ability to communicate with the dead from their mother, but this concept isn't fleshed-out to a meaningful extent. Gwen has dreams that are convoluted but informative, just as her mother did. Why it manifests in Finney (and The Grabber) being able to hear a "ghost phone" is completely unexplained. In fact, everything about The Grabber is left to the imagination, so I know nothing about him other than the fact that he is a psychopath in a mask, who apparently doesn't like it when said mask is removed. I had initially thought we would see his origins in one of the aforementioned flashbacks, but that does not happen. This was a fairly disappointing lack of motive that isn't covered by Ethan Hawke's good performance. In general, it feels as if there are ideas for two separate movies blended together in here and it's a bit messy in places. Without getting into spoilers, I deeply disliked the investigation/police scenes in this film and found everything with Max to be contrived.

On the other hand, the film has great set design, lighting and sound. The basement is appropriately creepy and it's easy to see everything that's happening in spite of the murkiness. That's a very positive aspect of any horror film. There are some great moments of tension, accentuated by the performances, and these are enough to make the film enjoyable. Even though it isn't particularly scary, the very concept of a child murderer is disturbing enough that many viewers will really feel that tension deep down.

All in all, it's not perfect, but it's still a decent horror film.

I've given this movie half its maximum rating because I see it for what it is - mindless action told as a rollicking adventure that is not meant to be taken seriously. The one-liners are proof of this.

Vin Diesel is Vin Diesel, and does what he does best - growls into the camera, adapts an imposing countenance, and unleashes action- based fury upon those who dare defy his majestic bald persona. But in all seriousness, I'm just a bit of a fan, and I've never thought his stand-out movies (the Riddick and FF series) have been amazing. I enjoyed Pitch Black and Riddick, but none of the others in either franchise.

So I went into the cinema to watch this movie with not an air of trepidation, but a feeling that I knew what to expect - something that's mindless fantasy action and which will not be remembered a year from today. That's exactly what I got, and so my expectations weren't raised enough to be dashed. What you see is what you get. I enjoyed the spectacle, even if I think the visuals could have been handled a little better. I thought Diesel was entertaining, even if his dialogue wasn't unique to the role. And I thought the plot was familiar and basic, yet not overtly terrible. It was watchable, and in a movie like this, that's about all one can hope for.

The supporting cast weren't helped by some poorly-written and flatly-delivered lines, but Michael Caine did what he could, Rose Leslie will either be loved or hated based on the viewer's discretion, and Elijah Wood seemed a little miscast to my eyes. But like the plot, the acting isn't what we focus on. If it were, Vin Diesel would not have the hardcore fans he does, because we all know what type of character he's suited to, and Kaulder is it, just like Riddick. Viewers don't WANT Vin Diesel to be someone given subtle, sensitive or even smart dialogue, because he's just so enjoyable beating people to death that you find yourself throwing your arms up, laughing and saying, "to hell with dialogue".

One more thing I'll say is that the run-time for this movie is about right, even if the build-up is a little slow. Any longer and I would have lowered this rating to 3 or 4, simply because the tension to action ratio is already about 70:30, and any less than that would have been a huge issue. After Sicario last week, it would have really annoyed me to suffer through such tediousness again. At least The Last Witch Hunter is entertaining.

If you're a Vin Diesel/action/fantasy/Gothic fan who doesn't care about substance, go see it. If not... maybe don't.