Keith Leon's Film Reviews

⭐⭐⭐ This film starts as it means to go on, with the foot on the throttle. The first scene opens with Van Halen's Jump , where we meet Parzival, the avatar of Wade Watts who is plugged into the OASIS, an online virtual reality world where you do what you want and be who you want. Hence why he's at the race start line, driving a Delorian from Back to the Future and his avatar has silver/blue hair. He, along with everyone would rather live in the VR world than the dilapidated and dingy real one. This film is based on the book of the same name by Ernest Cline - I really enjoyed the book, it was so written by a nerd of the 1980s who was obsessed with arcade games and films. I didn't get all the references but it was fun, unique and bonkers. I'm not sure it was really filmable to be honest, as there is alot to cover in 2 plus hours. Too much perhaps. The premise of the film / book is that James Halliday, the creator of the OASIS (VR world) has died and started an onli...

⭐⭐⭐ An Indian jail scribe from Agra is sent off to England (mainly because he's tall) to present Queen Victoria with a coin (mohur) in honour of her golden jubilee. There begins a relationship like no other and the two become kindred spirits. Abdul teaches her Urdu and Hindi, introducing her to curry, which was a daily item on the royal menu - and eventually he becomes her highly decorated secretary. The Queen became so enamoured with all things indian, she had The Durbar Room in Osborne House created in an Indian style, with a peacock throne and Abdul's portrait hangs there too. All this hugely displeases the Queen's son, Bertie and her household at Osborne House. I did think that perhaps Queen Victoria had lost the plot slightly, knowing Abdul wouldn't be warmly received yet mollycoddled him anyway. Not a huge amount happens in this film as the main focus is on the relationship between the two protagonists, which is very sweet and sincere. Judi Dench plays...