Welcome to FilmFridays.com – This is an independant, completely impartial film review site founded by a couple of Brits who have no professional connections with the movie industry (We wish!). And being British we are also proud of our polite if blunt way with words. Yes, this is definitely the place to be if you’re looking for frank, brutally honest reviews without the pseudo intelligentsia drivel or the “we’re not biased, but they did give us hospitality on a yacht and threatened to end our careers if we didn’t write something favourable!” reviews.It’s not just the latest releases in the cinema we’ll be reviewing but also DVD’s and classic movies! And we won’t be aiming our guns at just the movie makers! Cinemas themselves throughout the UK will be up for scrutiny, both independents and chains. And we’ll be doing all of this in our spare time, because spare time is something we value and despite the fact that we have enough of it to be able to sit around and watch lots of films including a trip to see the new releases at the cinema most Fridays (hence the name of the blog), we will also let you know if we feel something could be a waste of your time.
Fancy becoming a reviewer?
If you’d like to join us as a reviewer send a sample review to reviewer@filmfridays.com and if we like it we’ll be in touch.
How do we choose what films we review?
Our rules are simple. It must be a film we’ve never seen before and must be reviewed within a week of watching. That’s it!
Ok so forget Halloween's 2-5, The Curse Of Michael Myers, H2O, Resurrection and the two Rob Zombie versions. This one is the real, actual, genuine sequel. Of course timed to coincide with the original's 40th anniversary and therefore the 50th anniversary of original slaughter of his sister. Who's sister? Why the infamous Michael Myers (of Wayne's World fame - joke) He with the darkest eyes, the devils eyes - as Donald Pleasance put it so chillingly.
The film doesn't just give [more]
In a post apocalyptic world, a family is forced to live in total silence to hide from monsters with ultra sensitive hearing. It's ok for one of them who is already deaf but not so much for their youngest who, as a demonstration of how dangerous this world is, gets eaten in the first 5 minutes of the film. Hardly a spoiler as this clip was shown in all the promos. But what a promo! Start a story like that [more]
I've always been a bit of an astronut and so it was a no brainer to check out the film that is one of this years Academy contenders. Based on a true story, Hidden Figures tells the story of three scientists - Katherine Johnson (Taraji P Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe). They work at NASA and the former Johnson is a "computer" who backs up and check data of a highly mathematical nature. Vaughn is [more]
Ever since Metropolis, a great Hollywood mainstay has been aliens from another planet. There are films like ET, Men In Black or Super8 that see it naively with a child's perspective. There are the sinister visitations such as Independence Day or War Of The Worlds which have a more apocalyptic, threatening feel. And there are those films that inspire awe with the transcendentalism of two alien species, the human being one. And it is this category, along with Close Encounters [more]
Yes, it's been more than a while since the last film review. I haven't been to the cinema since the new Star Wars last December. So I was hoping for a treat when I booked to see the new Jason Bourne film titled..."Jason Bourne"
After the Bourne trilogy, Damon famously stated he would not return as Bourne saying "We have ridden that horse as far as we can." Anyway, that wasn't to be and he's back. We join Bourne who's still [more]
Anyone who is old enough to remember life before the internet can probably remember a time when James Bond films were fairly formulaic (as I explained in my review of Skyfall) But of late, the movies have matured and become more complex, leaving some pining for the good old days.
Enter Kingsmen The Secret Service - a fairly camp rendition of the romantic MI5 we all wished did exist. Kingsmen is a tailors on Savile Row, but enter the right dressing [more]
I can't believe it was just over 3 years ago when I reviewed the first Inbetweeners movie. It appeared to be a suitable finale to what was a very popular TV series on UK's Channel 4. And the film had been a huge success. Then there was rumour and speculation - there was going to be another? But surely they'd have graduated from Uni by now? (Thankfully, the "gap year" saves the mathematical dilemma here) Would it be a sequel [more]
These days when you watch a trailer you more or less see a mini version of the whole film. Indeed the trailer for this film makes the film look rather plain and I was in two minds whether to go and see it. (After all, you may have noticed that since fatherhood at the start of the year reviews have been few and scarce and there's a good reason for that - ask any new parent, they'll tell you. Needless [more]
There has been a fashion, which has recently spiked in popularity, of mixing what would otherwise seem odd combinations into winning (and therefore original) formulas. Last year for my birthday I enjoyed the signature dish at Londons "Duck And Waffle" which was precisely that plus a fried egg and maple syrup. It sounds wrong but it was delicious. One can't help thinking about all the disastrous combinations that may have been tried and never made it past the test stage. [more]
This Oscar winner from 1954 is set in the docks near Manhattan and tells the story of Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), a dockworker who lives a humdrum existence accepting casual low paid work at the docks and spending the rest of his time keeping [more]
Disney brings us this film about the making of its film Mary Poppins. The story, presumably based on anecdotal and early spooled recordings of the early development stages depicted in the film, tells of the hot cold relationship between Walt Disney himself (Tom Hanks) and the writer of Mary Poppins Pamela L Travers (Emma Thompson), a woman more English and stern sounding than the original voice of the speaking clock or indeed the woman who voices the elevator at Belsize [more]
Based on a true story published in the book "A Captain's Duty:Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS and Dangerous Days At Sea" by Captain Richard Phillips, the film tells the account of how his cargo ship, the US Maersk Alabama was hijacked in 2009 by a handful of Somali pirates and he himself later kidnapped by them in a emergency lifeboat and held hostage whilst the US Navy pursued. Tom Hanks plays our eponymous hero whom isn't too romantically portrayed. Indeed, you [more]
Gary King (Simon Pegg) has been unable to move on in life since he was in his late teens - the glory years! He still drives his car, The Beast, still listens to the same cassette compilation tape and still lives in his home village of New Haven. During a group therapy session, he becomes convinced that the root to his troubles was his inability to complete "the golden mile" - an epic pub crawl which appears to be [more]
If you've never seen a horror film in your life then I'd say give this one a whirl. But horror connoisseurs will find this film frustratingly predictable as it appears to feast off every cliche in the [more]
