Movie Review - Those Who Wish Me Dead

Director: Taylor Sheridan
Genre: Action/ Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Jon Bernthal, Aidan Gillen, Nicholas Hoult, Jake Weber, Tyler Perry

Description: A teenage murder witness finds himself pursued by two assassins (Nicholas Hoult, Aidan Gillen) in the Montana wilderness with a survival expert (Angelina Jolie) tasked with protecting him – and a forest fire threatening to consume them all.

Review: It’s been quiet around Angelina Jolie for a while now, but in “Those Who Wish Me Dead”, sje takes on the role of the tough Hannah Faber. Hannah suffered quite a trauma while working as a firefighter, where she witnessed a number of people being consumed by flames. As a result, she is, to say the least, a bit destructive: a real adrenaline junkie who performs all kinds of stunts to get a kick out of it and consumes large amounts of alcohol. During the new ‘fire season’ in the vast American forest, firefighters are each assigned their own lookout, in order to assess whether a fire is about to break out somewhere.
Meanwhile, you see how two men break into a house and coldly kill the family living there and blow up their house. Owen sees the images on television ans is shocked. He immediately leaves the house with his son Connor for the only man he trusts, the sheriff in Hannah’s town: his brother-in-law Ethan. But he will never arrive, because the same two killers are after him now. His son Connor manages to escape and ends up finding Hannah, who will do anything to save this boy.
It all sounds exciting, but unfortunately nothing really comes off well. Yes, Angelina Jolie does a great job of portraying the role of the hurt power woman. And Finn Little, who plays Connor does a fine job as well. However, the film jumps around so much that none of the storylines are given time to develop properly. Hannah gets a little background, but that’s it. And the story of Ethan and his pregnant wife is overshadowed too. I would have liked to know more about them.
“Those Who Wish Me Dead” is a film hard to put in one genre. It is a thriller, certainly, but also has characteristics of a disaster movie, as well as a drama piece. Angelina Jolie plays her role with total dedication, but it’s the script that fails. The movie is fairly short for the story they want to tell and the characters they want us to relate to. It is still entertaining in a way, but leaves you with a lot of unanswered questions.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

TV Show Review - Peaky Blinders (Season 5)

Season: 5
Genre: Thriller/ Drama/ Crime
Number of episodes: 6
Year: 2019
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, Joe Cole, Tom Hardy, Sam Claflin, Natasha O’Keefe, Packy Lee, Finn Cole, Kate Phillips, Aidan Gillen

Description: In the wake of the Wall Street Crash, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) faces new dangers from unexpected quarters.

Review: The fifth season of “Peaky Blinders” is one to remember. In these six episodes, we see Thomas Shelby slowly slide down, barely sleeping and his alcohol and drug abuse is excessively high. And brother Arthur also gets deeper into misery.
This season mainly evolves around those two, where Polly plays the incredible role of the dame that can not be messed with. The Peaky Blinders, and Tommy especially, are attacked from all corners. Danger is everywhere, even within their own group.
Tommy is ambitious. He becomes a member of the parliament, proofs to be an outstanding spokesman and stands out. But there is another man that does this: Oswald Mosley. He is the devil himself and he easily gives viewers chills. We see the rise of his fascism.
Tommy wants to do something good for a change, but will he succeed? The wives of Tommy, Arthur and Michael all play an important role, besides Polly, in this fifth season. The downward spiral that starts in the first episode, eventually becomes a slide which seemingly has no end. The story is well told and all actors have become their characters, which make them extremely believable and somewhat frightening.
The last three episodes are all some to look forward to, but that final episode will leave you breathless. With an ending that will make you want more. Season 5 of “Peaky Blinders” is one of the best. Especially for the character of Tommy Shelby: we see his demolition as a leader, husband, father, brother, but most of all as a man. That downward spiral will definitely be something to build on in the next season.
“Peaky Blinders”, after 5 seasons still a show that manages to make their characters vulnerable and touches you as an audience.

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 101: Sing Street

Director: John Carney
Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 106 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Kelly Thornton, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jack Reynor, Aidan Gillen, Ian Kenny, Ben Carolan, Percy Chamburuka, Mark McKenna, Don Wycherley, Des Keogh, Kian Murphy, Dolores Mullally, Lucy Boynton, Marcella Plunkett, Vera Nwabuwe, Conor Hamilton, Karl Rice

Description: A boy growing up in Dublin during the 1980s escapes his strained family life by starting a band to impress the mysterious girl he likes.

Review: “Sing Street” is a film that flew under the radar in 2016. I even missed it. Which is a shame, because it’s definitely one of the best films of that year. I loved “Sing Street”.
Director John Carney previously made “Begin Again”, which is also a favorite of mine. In “Sing Street” we meet Conor. His life is tough. His parents are constantly fighting, because of money problems he is send to a strict boarding school and his role model (his brother) is about to walk away from home. Set in Ireland in the eighties, we get a great coming of age story which starts out really sad.
After meeting Raphina and falling head over heels in love with her, he decides to start a band. And she has to star in their videos. And Conor is really good at it.
The songs in “Sing Street” are fantastic. You feel that the band is influenced by other artists and the songs that follow have a good eighties feel.
The cast, mostly unknown for the big audience, is amazing. It’s really hard to dislike any of the characters. And they all look like they were supposed to be in this film. The film feels authentic and it’s clearly Carney’s love letter to eighties music. It’s beyond me why this movie was so overlooked. So overlooked that even I missed it. It’s a fantastic film.

Rating: 5/ 5