Wild Rose: Three chords and the truth.

It’s date night and I walk out the cinema after seeing this film and I ask my girlfriend what she thought of it. “I don’t know, I liked it but I just wished there was more” she sighed with mild disappointment, to which I said “ isn’t that the sign of a great movie?” The discussion continued with Niamh making the very good point of now that we're in the age of "the binge watch"something as character driven as this with so much to explore would work very well as a four part BBC type drama, which was something I really couldn't disagree with.  

Now something you should know about me before reading my possibly biased review of this film is that I’m a HUGE country music fan. The main reason I saw this film was because of its country music theme and for ages I’ve been looking for another film I love as much as Country Strong and spoiler alert, I think I may have found it.  

Jessie Buckley .... wow wow wow WOW what a performance! Saw her in 'Beast' last year with Johnny Flynn, who is also a folk singer, and she was brilliant in that so I was looking forward to seeing her in this. In the first scene she walks out of prison where you get a devil may care/outlaw attitude from the character and from seeing her in 'Beast' where she plays a much more introverted timid character very well, I was worried that a loud mouthed "cowboy" wasn’t her casting, but 2 minutes later I’d already forgotten my misplaced preconceptions as I was utterly absorbed by her truly stunning performance. 

This film tells the story of an aggressively Scottish ex-con fresh out of the joint selfishly hellbent on realising her dream of becoming a country music star out in Nashville. She’s got to raise the money, make the connections and hone her craft whilst parrying off her mother, the magnificent Julie Walters, for neglecting the singers two adorable children to achieve her ‘soul purpose in life.’ 

The relationships between the characters and the beautiful soundtrack are what drive this film so powerfully. Jessie and Julie are a match made in heaven and have scenes that will melt your heart and tear you apart. Constantly caught between her passion for music and her duties of being a mother you really engage with Jessie’s dilemma and feel every decision she makes. 

I don’t want to give too much else away about the film but I urge everyone to see this film as soon as humanly possible. This film gets my highest RATING SO FAR OF 9.2/10 so don’t mess around with any of this super hero shit (I’m joking of course I've already booked my midnight ticket for Endgame) and get your arse to the cinema for 'Wild Rose.' 

 I’ve been Christopher Whitmore, thanks for reading. 

Us : In competition with The Favourite for “who can have the most bunnies on set” award. 🐰 

First off, I just want to say at the beginning of this review that I did very much enjoy 'Us', and it's a testament to the film that I'm being a tad harsh for the sake of a balanced argument.

The acting was incredible, the film was excruciatingly tense and suspenseful with genuinely scary moments whilst at the same time having wonderful lighthearted and comedic sequences that broke the film up very well and very cleverly. I did prefer this to ‘Get Out’ and it’s nice to see writer/director Jordan Peele going from strength to strength, smashing out these brilliantly popular films that bridge many cultures, revolutionising the horror genre. 

Lupita Nyong’o was absolutely bloody brilliant playing both the worried, protective, mother Adelaide Wilson  and her sinister, "tethered", shadow world doppelgänger in two opposing, unrecognisable character performances. Jordan Peele’s character work really shone through in this film, most noticeably in the scene when we first meet the Wilson family's identical selves at the house. Winston Duke as the slightly ineffectual father, Gabe Wilson, sparks hilarity when he goes outside to ward off the four ominous, statuesque figures in the drive way, playing the middle class man turning up the “ghetto” with each unheeded threat. The sinister score suddenly changes in a very Kubrick “Shining” homage and each figure springs into life moving in different, creepy, animalistic ways (some off camera) and the shadow world father coming straight for the audience. This was equally masterful as it was terrifying to watch and one of my favourite moments in the film; an example of many such exquisite scenes that I can’t go into in order not to spoil the film for you all.

Another great tension device by Peele was when the Wilson family escape to their friend's house for safety. Inevitably, brand new mayhem ensues but in the back of the audience's mind we know these shadow selves are still on the hunt, minutes away and could pounce at any moment. This unyielding tension rarely lets up and was most enjoyable to be in the throngs of as the film progresses. 

However, a large flaw in this movie, for me, was the ending which I thought was too obvious and the reveal given far too much exposition. I’m a big advocate of “show don’t tell” in a film and lazy film makers tend to just write large amounts of clunky dialogue to explain plots rather than taking the audience through it as a journey. In 'Us', however, we got both which was just overkill in my opinion and I left feeling mildly patronised that the filmmaker thought perhaps I wouldn’t have understood the implications of the plot without lengthy explanations and flashbacks. 

Having said all this I still loved this movie and would give it a RATING OF 8.6/10 with a firm recommendation of seeing it in the cinema AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!

Episode four of our podcast should be out soon so keep your ears peeled for that. And if you have any questions or opinions you want to share with me please don’t hesitate message me on Twitter @thereeleasyrev1, Facebook: The Reel Easy Review or Instagram: The_reel_easy. 

I’ve been Christopher Whitmore and thanks for reading.