Shameless Self Expression

Set multiple decades before “X” , Mia Goth stars as Pearl whose husband (Alistair Sewell) is off fighting in WWI. Pearl is stuck doing chores for her humourless mother (Tandi Wright) and tending to her decrepit, disabled father (Matthew Sunderland), whilst dreaming of being a dancer and leaving the family farm. Pearl also starts seeing a projectionist (David Corenswet). Oh, and she’s also coming apart at the seams and on the verge of a homicidal rampage.   You’re either on the same wavelength as director Ti West and co-writer/star Mia Goth or you’re…me. Yeah, I’m gonna annoy you today, apologies in advance. Seriously, I hated this 2022 film before the end of the opening credits. That’s a new record for me. Mr. West needs to learn that if you put ‘starring’ before every actor in the credits, you diminish the meaning of that word. Meanwhile, the colour, font, and music gave off Douglas Sirk vibes a little too much for my palette, and Mia Goth’s performance is far too ‘put-on’. A...

After accidentally killing his best friend in a match, former top MMA fighter Scott Adkins now barely scrapes by fighting in street tussles in Bangkok, Thailand. Rich American Robert Knepper offers Adkins a heck of a sweet deal for one fight: $500,000. He agrees and is soon flown to the Myanmar jungle where he quickly realises Knepper has fed him to the wolves. Knepper is the head of an organised game hunt, where the game being hunted is human! Rhona Mitra and Temuera Morrison are among the other blood-thirsty hunters.   The king of the direct-to-DVD sequel director Roel Reine ( “The Marine 2” , “Death Race 2” , “12 Rounds 2: Reloaded” , “The Man With the Iron Fists 2” , “The Condemned 2” ) collaborates with the king of the direct-to-DVD action movie Scott Adkins for this perfectly fine 2016 sequel to the JCVD/John Woo ‘classic’. To be honest, all this variant of “The Most Dangerous Game” needed to do was be better than “Turkey Shoot” and “The Condemned” , and indeed it does ...