Film Fight 2019: May

#FF19 The Wandering Earth is attempting to be a blockbuster through scale, but lacks the stakes.

The film is spectacle first, plot second, characters… eventually.

It’s a light enough watch but not terribly entertaining. Looks cheap. Feels underwritten.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) May 7, 2019

#FF19 Prospect is indie sci-fi done very well.

The premise and stakes are clear, but rarely do we get an exposition dump.

It looks gorgeous. The old west prospecting future is somewhere I’d gladly revisit, with lots of weird wrinkles.

An excellent, tight movie. See it.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) May 7, 2019

#FF19 Long Shot is a so-so comedy. It's got some great moments, but not particularly well-linked. Charlize Theron is excellent in it, and Seth Rogen is... well, Seth Rogen.

Not a terrible film, but not particularly memorable.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) May 13, 2019

#FF19 Wine Country is a little flatter than the cast suggests. Trying to give every cast member an arc is admirable, but means none of them really get the time they need to stretch.

Funny moments, but rarely laugh out loud. Watchable.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) May 13, 2019

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum has fewer big action sequences, and a lot more up-close combat. From the early library fight to the ending, there's little room to breath. The action is excellent.

If you like the earlier films, this is more of the same in the best possible way.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) May 18, 2019

#FF19 Maria is a poor martial arts film. The plot is paper thin, the acting seems pretty bad, and the characters and their motivations seem to be whatever will get the plot moving.

Some of the action sequences are cleanly executed and edited. Others have too many cuts. Skip.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) May 23, 2019

#FF19 Knock Down the House is an inspirational, but somewhat dry, documentary on the movement to improve candidates to the senate.

With common knowledge, it's robbed of its dramatic beats, but still shows us the ups and downs of several important campaigns. Decent.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) May 29, 2019

#FF19 The Perfection is... not good in the most bizarre car crash fashion. Beautifully shot, but a mess of themes and messages. Some things that happen are problematic, some are bizarre, whilst others are plain funny.

It's a 90 minute mess. Decide for yourself.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) May 29, 2019

#FF19 The Furie is slow to get started, and has a few dreary sections in the middle, with a somewhat generic plot.

That said, the martial arts work, and the accompanying camera moves are excellent. Kinetic, motived, interesting. Better than most fighting films.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) May 31, 2019

#FF19 Rim of the World is a bit of a mess. At times it's a YA drama about an alien invasion, at others it's making crude yet cliched jokes; with all the character development of a kids film.

I've no idea who this is for. That said, it's somewhat entertaining in places. Meh.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) June 1, 2019