Film Round-Up: Space Jam: A New Legacy, Stillwater and Reminiscence
Time to do more reviews!
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Lebron James is pulled into the serververse and is forced to play a game of basketball in order to save his son. This has been one of the most requested sequels of recent times and unfortunately it ends up disappointing. The reason the first one worked, and some would argue it didn’t, was because it was Michael Jordan was dropped into a Looney Tunes cartoon. It wasn’t complicated, it just made the most of a fish out of water joke. But this is just a way for Warner Bros to show off all the properties it owns. This dilutes the Looney Tunes who never really get a chance to shine and be well, the Looney Tunes. Instead, it’s all reference humour which can work, but mostly doesn’t. And when it does, it’s just the weirdness like when Rick and Morty show up. Explain to the kids why they can’t watch that show parents! It has a few moments, but it’s rather rubbish.
Stillwater
Matt Damon travels to Marseille in order to exonerate his daughter who has been in prison for five years for allegedly killing her girlfriend. For a while, this seems like it’s going to be very good. It has a truly brilliant performance from Matt Damon in the centre and balances a story of a father seeking justice plus said father also having personal growth and trying be a better person while in another country. The addition of political stuff is unnecessary, I swear the scene where Damon’s character says he didn’t vote for Trump was just so Oscar voters can rest in peace knowing they weren’t rewarding a Republican in some way, but it’s definitely looking like a great film. Then it takes a turn. A turn that changes the movie and makes it feel very wrong and made me very disappointed in it. I won’t spoil, but it turned a great movie into a meh movie for me. A shame.
Reminiscence
Hugh Jackman uses a machine which allows people to relive their memories in order to find his girlfriend who disappeared mysteriously. I find it interesting we don’t get many Christopher Nolan rip-offs but then again, not many can demand the budget for an original high concept film like does. But e have one here as it definitely feels like it could be a Nolan film. And I have to respect the attempt as it looks fantastic. I like the partially flooded world and the way something as miraculous as reliving your memories in vivid detail becomes a business like going to get your nails done. What I don’t like is a fairly unengaging story which yes, keeps the movie chugging on but never really hooks you. I also don’t like the fact Hugh Jackman is constantly narrating over it, blowing any chance of subtlety. It is though fairly unique and I want films like this to continue to be made, so I’m happy it exists even if I’m not a fan.
