The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) – A Quick Capsule Review

The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) – A Quick Capsule Review

by Phil Hobden Quick Review

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review:
The Man Who Invented Christmas is both a look at how Dickens created one of his most enduring tales as well as itself being somewhat of a retelling of the story about the writer himself.  It’s well put together, interesting and entertaining without ever tipping into essential.  The cast are good (Steven’s once again shines… please make this guy the next Bond) and the direction filmic enough but to be honest Scrooged still remains the definitive Christmas Carol retelling for me.

Best Bit: The Ghosts of…

Buy, Stream, Avoid: Stream

If You Liked this Try: Scrooged, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Scrooge (1970)

★★★★★★★★★★

 

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Phil’s Quick Capsule Review & Friends: The 36 Must See Films Of The Decade (2010-2019)

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review & Friends: The 36 Must See Films Of The Decade (2010-2019)

by Phil's Quick Review 2019: In Review Other Cr*p Quick Review Year In Review

So this is it: Phil’s Quick Capsule Review & Guests (including podcasters Mike Parkin & Josh Morris, Filmmaker Ross Boyask and Phil’s Quick Capsule Review writers Will Strong & Matt Duddy) LONG list of the 36 must see films of the Decade (2010-2019)

This list will also form the basis of our vote for the Essential Films of the Decade (2010-2019)

So how many have YOU seen?

Avengers Assemble
Avengers Endgame
Avengers Infinity War
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Winter Soilder
Deadpool
Ex Machina
Green Room
Happy Death Day
How To Train Yoru Dragon 
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Inception
John Wick
Kings Of Summer
Kubo and the Two Strings
Mad Max Fury Road
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation
Misson Impossible: Fall Out
Nightshooters
Operation Red Sea
Pitch Perfect
Skyfall
Social Network
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Star Wars: Rogue One
Super 8
T2 Trainspotting
The Greatest Showman
The Signal
The Way Way Back
The Wolf Of Wall Street
Toy Story 3
Warrior
What We Do in the Shadows
Whiplash
Guardians of the Galaxy

 

Check back in the next few days for our final list or take the QUIZ HERE  to see how many you have seen!

Phil’s Best & Worst Films Of… The Decade (2010-2019)

Phil’s Best & Worst Films Of… The Decade (2010-2019)

by Phil Hobden Quick Review Year In Review

So this is a look back at all the films I gave the coveted Best & Worst awards each year to from the previous decade, as we look back at the previous 10 years of movies.  Have opinions changed?  Actually on a few… yes.

All in my very humble opinion…

 

BEST Films Of The Decade… (By Year)

2010 – The Social Network
2011 – Hugo 
2012 – Argo (Should have been: Skyfall)
2013 – Rush
2014 – The Wolf Of Wall Street
2015 – Whiplash (Should have been: Mad Max: Fury Road)
2016 – The Nice Guys (Should have been: Kubo And The Two Strings)
2017 – Baby Driver (Should have been: T2 Trainspotting)
2018 – Coco (Should have been TIED with: Mission Impossible: Fallout)
2019 – Joker

BEST FILM Of the Decade: Mad Max: Fury Road


Honourable Mentions: American: the Bill Hicks Story, Senna, Skyfall, Zero Dark Thirty, Life Itself, Inside Out, Kubo And The Two Strings, T2 Trainspotting, Mission Impossible: Fallout

 

WORST Films Of The Decade… (By Year)

2010 – Skyline
2011 – Transformers 3: Dark Of The Moon
2012 – Ghost Rider 2: Spirit Of Vengeance
2013 – The Host
2014 – Transformers 4: Age Of Extinction 
2015 – Fifty Shades Of Grey
2016 – Point Break (2016)
2017 – Fifty Shades Darker
2018 – The Cloverfield Paradox (Should have been Holmes & Watson)
2019 – The Dead Don’t Die 

WORST FILM Of the Decade: Transformers 4: Age Of Extinction 

 

Dis-Honourable Mentions: 44 Inch Chest, Sucker Punch, Cold Light of Day, The Worlds End, Sex Tape, He Who Dares 2: Downing Street Down, Central Intelligence, Transformers The Last Knight, Fifty Shades Freed

 

 

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2 Lava 2 Lantula (2017) – A Revisited Quick Capsule Review

2 Lava 2 Lantula (2017) – A Revisited Quick Capsule Review

by Phil Hobden Quick Review

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review:
It’s not winning any Academy Awards but 2 Lava 2 Lantula is fun, silly and hilarious with a surprisingly knowing script that manages to comically reference a host of 80’s and 90’s films and TV shows with style and charm.  Guttenberg is terrible, the cast seem lost half the time and the effects are shoddy.  BUT it’s more fun than the last 3 Transformers movies combined and if you are in that kind of mood few films will hit the spot better.  Enjoy with curry and beer.  

Best Bit: Police Academy reunion!

Buy, Stream, Avoid: Stream

If You Liked this Try: Lavalantula, Sharknado, Sharnkdao The Fourth Awakens

★★★★★★★★★★

 

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The Greatest Showman (2017) – A Revisited Quick Capsule Review

The Greatest Showman (2017) – A Revisited Quick Capsule Review

by Phil Hobden Quick Review

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review:
I’m always undecided with Hugh Jackman.  For every Logan, there’s been a Wolverine or Les Mis.  This in mind (and many other factors) it’s fair to say that The Greatest Showman wasn’t top of my list but dragged on a Sunday afternoon I thought I’d give it a chance.  I hated it.  For the first ten minutes at least.  Then something happened.  It’s positive message, uplifting songs, striking photography and committed performance by Jackman (and an roundly excellent cast) bowled me over.  Much like he did for the crowds that came to his shows, the film got me. It has issues (the start is pretty dire and teh CGI lacking) but damn I was surprised just how much I enjoyed it.

Best Bit: This Is Me

Cinema, Stream, Avoid: Cinema

If You Liked this Try: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Little Shop of Horrors, LA LA Land

★★★★★★★★★★

 

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Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017) – A Revisited Quick Capsule Review

Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (2017) – A Revisited Quick Capsule Review

by Phil Hobden Quick Review

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review:
Yup it’s back and this time it’s travelling across the Globe. It’s as insane as you’d imagine and oddly the rather bad Katie Price cameo isn’t the worst acting in it (Tara Reid who once shone in American Pie is beyond phoning it in these days).  Yup each country has it’s own unique set of cameos as the film goes from one set piece to the next, in one country to the next, with zero logic or story effort.  But who cares when it’s this fun. And it IS fun, probably the fact the most fun since the second Sharkndao film all those years ago.  It wont convert new fans for sure but as a piece of forgettable fun the Sharknado films always deliver.

Best Bit: Sidney Opera house

Buy, Stream, Avoid: Stream

If You Liked this Try: Sharknado, Lavalantula, Sharknado 2: The Second One

Sharknado Rating ★★★★★★★★★★

 

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Author: Phil Hobden

Raw (2017) – A ’31 Films Of Halloween’ Quick Capsule Review

Raw (2017) – A ’31 Films Of Halloween’ Quick Capsule Review

by Phil Hobden Quick Review

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review:
Raw is a visceral, bloody, hardcore look at family, desire and, er, cannibalism.  Arriving on a sea of hype – people walking out of screenings, vomiting, fainting and everything in between it’s a film that has a lot of live up to.   And for once it does.   One of the most intimate looks on film at the taboo of eating  human flesh, it’s a film that lives and dies on it’s central performance by Garance Marillier .  Which is lucky because she delivers.   In spades.  I can’t say enough good things about Raw.  It’s a hard watch but one WELL worth it.  Believe the hype.

Best Bit: Waking up…

Buy, Stream, Avoid: Buy

If You Liked this Try: Cannibal Holocaust, Ravenous, Alive

★★★★★★★★★★

 

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Justice League (2017) – A Revisited Quick Capsule Review

Justice League (2017) – A Revisited Quick Capsule Review

by Phil Hobden Quick Review

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review:
Justice League isn’t the worst film ever as some critics will have you believe.  BUT it’s also a long way from being good.  DC’s Sniderverse continues it’s desire to make some of the best superhero of all time as dull as possible with the introductions of the latest batch – Aquaman (Underdeveloped), Cyborg (Terrible design & CGI) and The Flash (Not a patch on the TV version) along side an increasingly bored Batfleck, Sulky Superman and the actually still good Wonder Woman.  They team up, they fight CGI things and little else happens.  Nothing has weight, people com back from the dead (and we don’t really get to see the wider implications of this, despite it being a major story point) and SuperJoss crash lands Snider’s film with the help of a script polish (you know its him as the moments stand out like a sore thumb) and CGI moustache removal (it’s as bad as it sounds).  For me it’s the weakest of the DCEU (but the margins between this, Man Of Steel and Suicide Squad are VERY slim) and pretty much kills any further spin off’s dead.

Best Bit: Wonder Woman. Again.

Buy, Stream, Avoid: Stream

If You Liked this Try: Wonder Woman, Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Dark Knight 

★★★★★★★★★★

 

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Flatliners (2017) – A ’31 Films Of Halloween’ Quick Capsule Review

Flatliners (2017) – A ’31 Films Of Halloween’ Quick Capsule Review

by Phil Hobden Quick Review

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review:
The misnomer here is that Flatliners 2017 is a worse film that the star packed original.  It’s not.  That one was pretty rubbish as well. This said there was an opportunity here to do something interesting with the tale of a group of medical students who mess with nature to find out if there really was an ‘afterlife’.  This wasn’t that film.  Look it’s far from terrible (well maybe a few times) but a hokey script, an unconvincing cast and a run time that doesn’t justify itself just makes you realise life is too short to be watching films like this.  Sadly to be labelled with a Do Not Resuscitate.

Best Bit: Dr Sutherland!

Buy, Stream, Avoid: Avoid

If You Liked this Try: Flatliners (1990), A Cure For Wellness, Jacobs Ladder

★★★★★★★★★★

 

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Cult of Chucky (2017) – A ’31 Films Of Halloween’ Quick Capsule Review

Cult of Chucky (2017) – A ’31 Films Of Halloween’ Quick Capsule Review

by Phil Hobden Quick Review

Phil’s Quick Capsule Review:
Cult of Chucky is a fun 7th entry into the never ending Child’s Play/ Chucky series, working as a direct sequel to 2013’s Curse Of Chucky but revisiting characters from the original Childs Play all those years ago.   Set most in an asylum and focusing on Fiona Dourif’s Nica it’s pretty much more of the same with Chucky offing people one by one.  Tilly is fun, both Dourif’s are great and the gore, whilst not plentiful, does eventually come. Wont make new fans for sure BUT it’s one of the better entry’s.

Best Bit: Dourif once again

Buy, Stream, Avoid: Stream

If You Liked this Try: Bride Of Chucky, Child’s Play, Child’s Play 3

★★★★★★★★★★

 

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