Film Reviews

Have you ever seen a film in which an excessively flatulent corpse falls in love? Unless you've already seen Swiss Army Man, I'm guessing you won't have done. It's almost as if someone in Hollywood has actually been listening to everyone complaining, “Every film is a sequel! There's nothing original anymore! Stop remaking things that are already good!”. At the absolute most you could compare Swiss Army Man to Castaway, in so much as it does involve a castaway. And...

“I’m not the girl I used to be - I think people can see that on my face,” confesses Emily Blunt’s character, Rachel, in the opening scene of The Girl on The Train. Finally, Paula Hawkins’ bestselling thriller has transferred to our screens - and it doesn’t disappoint. Refreshingly, the plot stays faithful to the book - bar ditching London for New York as the location. Rachel is the alcoholic narrator who is obsessed with her ex-husband Tom (Justin Theroux)...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer When we consider early Wes Craven films, it is Last House on the Left (1972) which often grabs the plaudits for the way it helped redefine the horror genre with its grimness. While this is true, in terms of craft, The Hills Have Eyes is far more accomplished in executing the same ideas. Last House’s grimness made it stand out, but The Hills Have Eyes’ central conflict is realised with far more confidence. Now with...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer It’s hard to say too much about Fight Valley. It’s very hard to say anything particularly pleasant. There’s nothing more painful for a film writer, than viewing a film that doesn’t emit any pleasure in any moment of its running time. You don’t watch a b-movie like this looking for a film that defines a generation, but you expect it to at least have a decent ass kicking. Using popular UFC stars to try and...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer Money Monster comes in at a lean 90 minutes and only flounders once or twice. Partly because it’s a film with a fair amount of moving parts. But also because it pulls a few of its punches. It becomes clear that director Jodie Foster doesn’t want to leave the audience too disheartened. The film steers away at any true cynicism about its subjects. It wishes to entertain and does so with a sufficient amount of...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer When you see the words Jane Austin Adaptation, it's hard not to think of direct Whit Stillman. In fact, it's surprising that we'd not seen a Stillman interpretation of Austin’s work until now. The writer-director’s particular brand of waspy angst, snappy quips and social mores fall pretty comfortably into Austin's work with ease. After the rather disappointing Damsels in Distress, which had the filmmaker making no real leaps from his past works. Love and Friendship;...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer A fellow writer once nailed an aspect about movies that some secretly (some not so secretly) enjoy in one sentence when in debate with an associate: “Movies are often at their most interesting when they are problematic”. Granted, this was caught by me on a social networking thread, but I feel the statement stands pretty true. When a film is spiky, or jars with a viewer in a way that’s not completely comfortable with them,...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afrofilmviewer Ten minutes into Level Up, you can already feel the threads unravel from its tapestry. Anyone with a toe in the waters of pop culture can already see the similarities of Level Up with recent feature Nerve (2016). In fact, the film doesn’t feel too dissimilar from half-forgotten Shia LaBeouf vehicle Eagle Eye (2008), while the film’s overall redemptive lessons learnt lie in the same bed as David Fincher’s The Game (1997). This isn’t a...

Review by Leslie Byron Pitt/@Afroilmviewer Despite featuring the ever affable Tom Hanks and adapted from a well-known and enjoyed author, A Hologram for the King (novel by Dave Eggers) received a rather muted reception when realised earlier this year. The film was only really rivalled by Sing Street in the U.K and received a limited release in the U.S. Even in his lesser noted films, the appearance of Hanks on the poster has often been enough reassurance to get at...