r96sk

'After Yang' is a good movie, plain and simple. My only negative would be how slow paced it is, like I definitely get why it is portrayed the way it is and it has its benefits in certain moments. However, it did take me out of events onscreen here and there.

That aside, it's a well made film; there's plenty to chew on in terms of what it's attempting to tell. Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja and Justin H. Min all do good work on the cast, while both the futuristic setting and the editing are further positives for this flick.

I won't lie and say I loved it, because I didn't, but I'm glad I watched it.

'National Security' isn't terribly adrift from being a standard Martin Lawrence flick, which would be a compliment as he is an actor I've mildly enjoyed in said sorta roles down the years. This one just doesn't work, which is a shame as I also like co-star Steve Zahn in other films too.

Zahn feels miscast, Lawrence is the one that stops this from truly falling through the floor. There are good jokes in there, albeit via the overly relied upon race humour, and it features some solid practical effects/stunts. I just never really got into it, nor did I sense that the leads were a satisfactory match for each other.

'The Hand of Fate' is obviously low quality and low budget, but to be honest I minorly enjoyed it, relatively speaking. The message of the film is positive and the story is told in a narrowly interesting enough way. Based on the opening scenes I was expecting this to be bad, though by the credits I was content with what I had just watched.

The actors aren't the best, but again kind of make it work. Cornelius Gomez, despite playing an unlikeable character, gives a serviceable performance, he has a voice that is made for acting. Mariama Colley in the hallucination scene is exceptionally convincing. The film does fall off a bit at the end with a rogue chat show segment, c'est la vie.

I'm probably being too generous with my rating, especially given the state of the audio quality (or lack thereof), but it is what it is. I genuinely had a fine time with it and I wouldn't even be against watching it again, so that's a pass in my books.