Iestyn Dallimore

Spoilers in this review! Whilst slow paced to start, Bugonia picked up the pace and had me utterly captivated for pretty much all of the second half of the film. Filled with brilliant acting performances all around, this film had all the makings of one of my personal favourites over the past few years. And then the ending happened, and to be honest I can't quite decide what about the ending annoyed me the most. Was it the incredibly predictable nature of it from the very beginning? Was it the honestly rather awful execution of the scene in general? Was it the fact that there were several better moments where the film could have ended and still portrayed a similar if not the same message? Ultimately I think it falls mostly on the latter - the need to force a visual ending when in this instance I truly believe it wasn't needed. The whole buildup to the scene in Michelle's office closet was perhaps my standout moment of the film, with so much being revealed and so many assumptions of the characters being challenged, and come the end of that closet scene I was convinced that we had just ended a film with quite a strong socio-political message. I was already preparing to rave about it to friends and discuss the deeper meanings of the film, only for Michelle to inadvertently start running back from the ambulance. Concerned but still curious I watched on, assuming the worst for the ending but also aware that it could end in several ways. Her return to the closet worried me more, and following the flash of the light, I was instantly let down to find her emerging from the pool seconds later. The last chance to avoid a disappointment gone. The alien ending scene is not even well done, perhaps on purpose, but it all detracts further from what is already a seriously underwhelming ending. The costumes are awful, the language unnecessary and distracting, and the flat earth pointless. Even the ending scene, which should feel poignant, is overshadowed by this mess. Ultimately it's a shame to see, as I think the performances all around were brilliant - especially from Plemons who conveyed his character brilliantly. I would still encourage people to watch this, but personally, I'll try and forget that the final 5-10 mins ever existed!

S1: 9/10 S2: 7.5/10 S3: 2/10 This review will primarily cover S3 - as this is the season that prompted me to write this. S1 and S2 are generally really enjoyable, S1 particular is written with some serious passion that makes its success so understandable. S2 feels a bit unnecessary but generally continues the positives of the original games, albeit a bit lacking in some areas. S3 finds the series struggling big time. There are some areas it continues to do well - the acting is still decent particularly from the main character(s), the general premise stays solid (more on this later though), and the games continue to highlight the worst in humanity. Outside of this though, there are some serious problems with this season. Firstly, the storyline - so much of it makes no sense or feels unnecessary. The plotline with player 246 feels completely out of place and is not beneficial to the general feel of Squid Game at all, it feels rushed and essentially serves as filler. The detective's storyline is incredibly lazily written too, with some pretty major oversights/plotholes. The writing of the VIP's is painfully poor, albeit understandable to an extent given the international audience - however S1 excelled due to their mysterious nature. They provide no benefit in S3 and instead serve as a serious annoyance throughout. Another serious gripe I have with the third season is the absolute lack of authenticity that made the original season so enjoyable. Whilst CGI was certainly used in S1, it's FAR more noticeable in this season and takes away from the authentic, immersive feel of the first season. Things like the CGI dog, baby, and even some of the games feel either unnecessary or poorly done, really detracting from the viewing experience (particularly the dog, why was this CGI or even included at all?!). I understand that game ideas may be limited, but the feel of them in S1 was so much more engaging! There are also far too many characters in S3. Having so many storylines mean you have 3x the characters to track, and far less time to connect with any of the main characters. In theory, the scene with the mother and son should have felt similar to the marble scene in S1, but I found myself feeling hardly anything for them due to the fact we'd not really developed a connection with them in the same way as we had the characters in S1. Instead most characters feel disposable and hollow. Ultimately, S3 sees the soul ripped out of Squid Game. No longer a new, novel show that critiques so much that is wrong with the current world, it has almost become a tool of the very thing it critiques. The upcoming USA version is so hilariously out of touch that it may well serve as the final nail in the coffin for the show, which would be a real shame as I genuinely believe the director has a true passion for the show, but has been handcuffed by Netflix and co to produce a product he isn't truly happy with. Nonetheless, it's a sorry downturn for what promised to be an incredible show.

A poorly aged 'classic'! With the recent release of 28 Years Later, I figured I'd check the original film out to see what all the fuss is about. Sadly, to say this film has not aged well would be a serious understatement - and there are several additional flaws that make this quite an underwhelming watch. Firstly the cinematography - the choice to use a regular handheld camera may have made sense at the time, but the 2025 experience really suffers as a result! There are so many scenes that are basically indeschiperable due to their fuzzy, dark nature that you find yourself struggling to keep up with the film as you're figuring out what you're even looking at! Boyle's style also screams 2000's in the least exciting way - and actually becomes quite distracting in the end. The storyline in all honesty kinda sucks, which is a real shame since I do feel like there was a ton of potential here. There are so many questionable decisions, loopholes, and moments of lazy writing that pull you out of the movie altogether! Things like Jim going into the cheeseburger stop for no reason for example serve no benefit to the storyline and just exist for the sake of it! So many characters are completely forgettable, and the zombies themselves seem incredibly inconsistent! I found the acting to be mostly OK from the limitations of the writing, but at the same time it was far from strong. The pacing is really strange with far too much happening in the last 20 mins or so, and the movie definitely drags once it loses you. Ultimately, worth watching simply just to say you've watched it - other than that it isn't worth your time!

Well acted and quite intense at times, but as another review has mentioned it doesn't actually feel like there's a plot - it just kinda ends suddenly with very little actually having happened. What is included in the film is really good, but with the benefit of hindsight it feels like this concept may have thrived as a multi-part series rather than a single movie, so as to let everything really flesh out and a storyline to properly develop. Saying all that though, this is still one of the underrated war movies out there, it's an enjoyable watch

This had the potential to be brilliant - it's gripping and has a mostly unique plotline with plenty of twists. However, there are so many egregious potholes and unbelievable moments that you just can't overlook, and they overshadow the whole series.

EEOAT is a 'Marmite' film - you'll either absolutely love it, or think it's a waste of time. I find that so many of the messages in here are targeted at a certain type of person that a large proportion of the film will actually go over the heads of others, through no fault of their own at that too. For those who 'get it', this is an eye-opening, mesmerising film that brings everything all together at once into one beautiful bombardment of emotions. For those who don't, it's a mis-mash of weird concepts, strange visuals, and strange acting. For what it's worth, the cinematography throughout is spectacular, the strange FX also playing into the world that's created. The acting is mostly superb - Jamie Lee Curtis puts on one of the best support acts I've seen in a long time, and the whole thing comes together beautifully. The writing is a bit cheesy at times, but it's forgivable as it plays into the whole concept of the movie. Overall, you should absolutely check out EEOAT - as noted earlier it may not be the film for you, but at it's worst it's about a 6/10 film. If you do 'get it', this film will become an unforgettable experience, and leave you feeling emotions that you may not have felt in a long time. It just makes sense.

A pretty solid concept that is really let down by a few really poor episodes and inconsistencies between writers. (5/10) *CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS* To start on a positive note, I enjoyed most of Kaleidoscope. The concept of a 'random order' story is pretty neat, and the order I got actually played out really enjoyably. (I got YGBOVRP between the constant Black and White) I thought the acting was on the whole pretty decent, and the general mystery to be pretty engaging especially in the early stages of the series. The cinematography is also pretty decent throughout, with a noticeable focus on the colour of the episode which is a nice extra detail that could have been overlooked. Music choices did not detract at all either, although I think more could have been done at times to really help build the scenes. Characters are kinda hit and miss in Kaleidoscope. Some people aren't a fan of Giancarlo Esposito's character, but I found him to be a fairly decent lead with some differences to set him aside from your stereotypical protagonist. The rest of the gang bar Bob and RJ were pretty decent too - Bob let down by awful character writing and seemingly endless life, and RJ just left abandoned altogether (I don't blame RJ's actor for the poor performance when his character was so empty - he contributes nothing to the series)! Hannah and Roger put in decent if not great performances - they got the job done. The FBI agents are awful, and are a detriment to every single scene they are in sadly - nothing good to say here unfortunately. My main issue with Kaleidoscope, and the thing that let it down the most, is the writing. The episodes are written by different writers, with different directors for each episode too. This leads to some serious inconsistency from episode to episode, with the entire feel of episodes changing as you go from one to the next. I personally think the mix of writers led to the story being quite disjointed and at times directionless, and would have served far better with a single writer. Funnily enough, the two episodes which pretty much ruined the series for me happened to come at the very end, these being Pink and White. Pink is some awful indirect spin on Home Alone, with two overly goofy goons hired by Bob and painfully unfunny jokes attempted throughout their time on screen. The chronological ending of the series is also incredibly weak - it feels as if they ran out of times and ideas and figured that this was the only way to end it. At least with the ending they chose, they won't have to make a Kaleidoscope 2! Realistically, you could skip Pink as you don't actually learn much from it. White was just pretty poor in its whole execution, with decisions not making any sense and the whole thing feeling too clever for its own good. I think a child could realistically have come up with a better ending than the one they used. RJ's final line is also laughably bad. TL;DR Ultimately, Kaleidoscope is a series that takes a great concept and fumbles it pretty badly. Too many writers, poor execution, and a seeming lack of an overall coherent plan lead to this being a messy, almost disappointing watch. Some episodes are decent, and I hope new ideas like this are explored, but Kaleidoscope unfortunately missed the mark in the end. (This would have been about a 7/10 if White and especially Pink were somewhat decent episodes)