The Imitation Game

At its heart is The Imitation Game a very powerful film about a man who gave everything to his country and a country that took everything from one man. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, a genius mathematician and cryptanalyst who leads a team in a race against time to decode a captured Enigma machine at the top secret base at Bletchley Park. His team which includes Keira Knightley playing Joan Clarke, Mathew Goode as Huge Alexander, Mathew beard as Peter Hilton and Allen Leech as John Cairncross and they are responsible for the Allies wining the Second World War and can be best described as ‘The Tweed Avengers’.

This misfit group of socially inept & highly intelligent introverts is put together by the British government under the watchful eye of Charles Dance's Commander Denniston. Turing’s problem comes in the fact that Denniston does not suffer fools gladly. He expects results and he expects results quickly. Turing doesn't get off to the best of starts as he manages to alienate not only Denniston but the rest of his code breaking team as well. Just to add insult to injury Turing writes a letter to Churchill himself asking for one hundred thousand pounds to build his code breaking machine (this was back when one hundred thousand pounds was a lot of money) and to be put in charge. To Denniston's disgust both requests are granted and he is forced, at least temporarily, to watch Turing and company from the shadows.

Once Turing receives his funds he sets about building a 'thinking machine' which he calls Christopher. This machine is basically ground zero for what now has become the modern day computer. The reason Turing decides to build Christopher is fundamental one. The Enigma machine is capable of offering up north of one hundred million combinations and the code key changes every twenty four hours.
The key to cracking the messages comes when they discover one of the older messages they have on file ends with the phrase 'Heil Hitler'. From that simple premise the instruct Christopher to only work on a small part of the messages they deal with on a daily basis. Thus drastically reducing its thinking time and also the amount of combinations it has to work through.
Christopher cracks the message and ultimately wins Britain and its allies the war. It's been estimated that Turing’s work, along with his colleagues, shortened the Second World War by more than two years and saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the process. Winston Churchill is quoted as saying 'Alan Turing contributed more than any individual to winning the war'.
However once the Enigma machine had been cracked it presented the team with a new problem. They had to limit the amount of decoded messages they could act upon. If Hitler had thought for even just an instant that Enigma had been compromised then he'd have ordered it to be replaced with something else and the allies would have been back to square one again.

The film itself also deals with the personal relationship between Cumberbatch's Turing and Knightly's Clarke as they work together. The two become close and in an attempt to stop Clarke's father removing her from Bletchley he proposes to her. Knowing that ultimately he that cares for her but could never love her and give Clarke due to his own sexuality.

The film is split over three timelines. When it starts in the mid nineteen fifties we find Turing sitting in a police interview room, having been arrested for being caught with a man whilst committing homosexual acts in public. During the course of the police investigation we then move back to Turing as a young man as he struggles to fit in at boarding school. It's worth pointing out that the actor Alex Lawther who plays the young Turing is nothing short of exceptional. He's compelling and emotionally vulnerable and I suspect he'll become a household name in the not too distant future. The main section of the film centres on his work during the Second World War and it’s this story that the rest of the film is hung from. Cutting back and forth you start to understand he is, what he did for his fellow man and what would ultimately be his undoing. Turing is found guilty of indecent behaviour and is given the option of two years in prison or chemical castration. He opts for the latter as he knows he'd never survive in prison and as he tells Knightly's Clarke, he couldn't bear to be split from his computer, which has now taken residency in the front room of his house. Turning suffers a great deal from the chemicals he is forced to take and during his second year of punishment he takes his own life.

This is the English-language debut of Norwegian director Morten Tyldum and it has to be said as debuts go it’s astonishing. Having cut his teeth in television miniseries and one Norwegian film called Headhunters he shows a level of understanding in the subject matter that is second to none and directs the film with a level of confidence that is almost comparable with Turing’s intelligence and egotism. I suspect that Tyldum will be fielding a lot of calls from Hollywood over the coming months and will be able to pick and choose is upcoming projects with a lot more freedom than he is used to. He’s only just past his mid-forties and I wouldn’t mind betting that his best work is still untapped and waiting to be unleashed.

The Imitation game may not make it onto a lot of peoples ‘must see’ lists and that’s a shame. There may be better films that have been released this year like Boyhood, Nightcrawler and the soon to be seen Birdman but of all the films i've  had the pleasure of watching over the course of twenty fourteen The Imitation Game towers head and shoulders above them all. I cannot commend this film enough. I hope it gets the recognition it so thoroughly deserves in during the upcoming awards season and Benedict gets the Best Actor nod at the Oscars he so absolutely warrants. It should also be mentioned that this is the first film I can think of where Keira Knightly has actually been given a script that allows her to act. She is every bit Cumberbatch’s equal in this and would also be worthy of any and all praise coming her way.


Twitter Review:
Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.
#Powerful&ThoughtProvoking

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084970/?ref_=nv_sr_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5CjKEFb-sM
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=138404

Interstellar

So where to start with Interstellar? Well, firstly it needs to be pointed out that when you pays your money and puts your bums down in either the local multiplex or sofa of your choice Interstellar isn't the film that's been advertised. When you sit down and start to watch Mr Nolan's grand old space opera you also get a ghost story with a bit of a time travel shenanigans thrown in for good measure. From the start to the finish of its one hundred and sixty nine minute journey you are taken on a joyride of stunning visuals, complex acting and a screenplay that never lets you get complacent and demands your complete and full attention. This coupled with a few emotional gut punches and the possibility of sometime paradoxes that would even have Dr Who scratching his head, it is safe to say that this is a 'thinking person’s' science fiction film.

Having just finished directing his third Batman film and completing the trilogy in style, Christopher Nolan went looking for his next challenge. He found it in a script that had been floating around Hollywood for over the last ten years. Written by his brother Jonathan and good enough to have Steven Spielberg attached to direct back in 2006, it was a tale of a doomed earth and its quest for humanity to survive. The Nolan brothers then joined forces once Christopher signed on to helm the project and they then went back and tweaked the story and made it more about character and less about special effects.
On the subject of special effects it does also need to be pointed out that Christopher Nolan doesn't like having to use CGI if the shot can be done practically. He is not a fan of having to use green screens. The best example I can give of this is from The Dark Knight. When you see the truck flip over in the middle of downtown Gotham you're actually watching a truck being flipped over. No computer effects. No camera trickery. It’s just a very heavy truck going base over apex and being executed flawlessly. It's also worth pointing out for the record that you are not likely to ever see a Nolan film in 3D. He's not a fan on the genre at all. He'd far rather put his visual 'bang for your buck' into filming with IMAX. So when you watch Interstellar remember that although some of what you see and take in will have to have had some computer wizardry behind it but it won't be anywhere near as much as you think.

So back to the plot. The story of Interstellar is set in the not too distant future. A ‘blight’ has systematically wiped out all but one of the Earths crops, corn, and decimated the world’s population. With no known cure it's only a matter of time before corn fell victim to the same 'blight'.
Humanity has also rejected technology and all the evils that come with it. So much so that the NASA Moon landings from the sixties and seventies are now taught as being fake propaganda. Government money as far as the public are concerned is now spent on the plain and simple things. Making sure that the day to day life of what's left of the population isn't overly complicated and that survival is everyone's top priority.

The hero of our piece is Mathew McConaughay's 'Cooper'. He's an ex NASA pilot, one of those dying breed of men carved out of 'the right stuff' and would happily fly anything he could get his hands on until the wings fell off. Cooper, who has turned his hand to being a farmer since the space program has long since been shut down, lives with his son & daughter, who at the start of the film are played by Mackenize Foy and Timothee Chalamet respectively. Rounding out this family foursome is the father of his now departed wife who just happens to be played by John Lithgow. Just a quick aside here. Interstellar has a lot of what I like to call 'Snuck in a real actor syndrome' when it comes to the smaller parts or S.I.A.R.A.S. for short when it comes to the supporting cast and smaller roles.
Together they survive dirt and dust storms. The trials and tribulations of being potentially one of the last generations to live on earth and the unspoken heartache of the ticking clock of fate.

Now Interstellar is another one of those films it's impossible to talk about without going into spoiler territory. But as a lot of what happens is to do with time travel I thought I'd put the 'spoiler alert' at the end. And if you don't think that makes sense, go see the film!

So once the pleasantries of the first fifteen or so minutes of the film have passed, everyone has been introduced and we find strange things happening in the Cooper household. Coop's daughter Murph is experiencing strange going ones in her bedroom. Loud bangs, books falling of her bookshelves. Murph, who is her father’s daughter, tries to record these strange happening’s and get some concrete evidence of the phenomenon. This is all brought to a head during a particularly nasty dust storm Murph realises she's left her bedroom window open. When Coop and co get up there they find that the dust is falling into patterns on the floor. Cue a bit of deductive logic and Coop realises that these are map coordinates. And as luck would have it they only happen to for a location in the middle of nowhere, a couple of hours drive from their home. So Coop hops into his truck with Murph as a hidden stowaway and before you can say 'oh look we appear to have stumbled across a secret base of some kind' they stumble across a secret base of some kind.
Now from here on in you do need your wits about you to keep up with what's going on. I'll try and keep it relatively simple but basically this is what happens...

It turns out that the government of the good old U S of A have been secretly funding the supposedly defunct NASA so they can go and find other planets for the remainder of the human population to go live on. This 'Plan A' has a backup 'Plan B' which is basically a very select few find a planet to go and live on and then with the help of a few thousand frozen embryos 'make with the babies'. Both plans happen to be possible due to the mysterious discovery of a stable wormhole next to that there Saturn. Now the fact that it's stable and also doesn't move leads NASA to the conclusion that it must have been placed there deliberately by an alien race in order to help us. The whole operation 'bugger off and go and live somewhere else' is being run by Professor Brand, played by Michael Caine (S.I.A.R.A.S.) and assisted by his daughter, known for the most part as Brand, played by Cat Fantine, sorry Ann Hathaway. Between the two of them they tell Coop about their mission to try and colonise other worlds. They brief him about a secret mission launched ten years ago, which took twelve people and sent each of them through the wormhole on what effectively was a recon mission, to search for planets on the other side.
This twelve man team was led by the mysterious Dr. Mann (S.I.A.R.A.S.) who gets described as the best of us.

Everyone still with me? Good, I'll carry on. So they convince Coop to be the pilot of the follow up mission and along with Ann Hathaway's Brand and a couple of other mission specialist who would be wearing red if this was a Star Trek film.
Along with the human crew they are also accompanied by two robots called Case and Tars. These robots without giving too much away are set up as potentially being bad. At times they are almost like mobile versions of HAL from 2001, which isn't the only comparison you can draw from Mr Kubrick's science fiction classic. Case and Tars monolithic in shape, have quiet soothing voices and must do what they are instructed.

Coop goes back home and breaks the news to this family that he's leaving. Despite another coded message from the books in Murph’s bedroom which turns out to say 'Stay'. Now as I said before you do need to concentrate on what happens after Coop and co blast off and a lot of what you see needs to be experienced first-hand and not read about. Coop and his team spend a couple of hours on a planet’s surface and then once they get back to their main ship they have to deal with the fact that over twenty three years will have passed on Earth, Due to there being a black hole on the other side of the wormhole and the wibbly wobbly timey winey issues that come with that. This leads to some very powerful scenes where Coop has to watch twenty three years of video messages from his son and daughter, now played by Casey Affleck and Jessica Chastain (S.I.A.R.A.S.)

In closing I’ll say this. Interstellar is an astonishingly well-made film. I found the science side of the story hard to follow at times and I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that gravity is now the fifth dimension, time being the forth. There are also so parts of the film where I sat there thinking to myself ‘really?’ but the script and set pieces more than make up for the any misgivings I have.  I think that there’s also a possibility that there could be sequels to Interstellar in the not too distant future, or should that be in the not too distant past. But I think that will be dependent on the studio bean counters being happy with their lot and keeping shareholders happy. Oh and if you like the occasional use of church organs in your film scores then Hans Zimmer’s musical arrangement’s my  just be right up your alley!

Spoiler Alert…

Twitter Review:
Interstellar should get a best picture nod but i doubt it will. Visceral & compelling. Hard to watch at times but a must see.
#GhostParadox

Useful links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSWdZVtXT7E
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=138121

What We Do in the Shadows

For those of you not in the know What We Do in the Shadows is a bat on the wall (see what I did there) mockumentary that pokes fun at Vampires and all the inherent problems that tag along with these particular creatures of the night. The film is written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taikia Waititi, who also star in the movie as well. This duo is also joined by Jonathan Brugh and Ben Fransham. These four play Vampires called Vladislav, Viago, Deacon and Petyr respectively and are the core of the film. As the months the film covers unfurl, we get to watch them as they deal with the mundane issues of having to cope with a world that isn’t quite ready for them.

The plot, such that it is, revolves around a film crew from the New Zealand tourist board following a quartet of Vampires that live in Wellington during the build up to the year’s big 'undead' social event 'The Unholy Masquerade'.
The film crew, who by the way have been given crucifixes and a promise that they will not be harmed, get complete and unrestricted access to their entire lives. They follow the four as they deal with the undead day to day or should that be night to night, realities that being an immortal blood sucker brings. The ‘chore wheel’ and why the dishes haven’t been done in the last five years, trying to get a nightclub doorman to ‘invite’ them in and getting dressed to go out without the aid of a mirror are just some of the challenges they deal with.

With the exception of Petyr, who is over eight thousand years old and lives in the basement. Who for all intents and purposes may as well walk around with a t-shirt on that says ‘for copyright reasons, please don’t call me Nosferatu’ they are all fairly immature.  At best they could be described as ‘Man Children’. They act on impulse and its only really Taikia Watiti’s ‘Viago’ that even shows the slightest tinges of guilt and remorse at having to kill people to get access to the blood they need to survive. They throw dinner parties at which unsuspecting ‘human’ guests are invited over by Vladislav’s minion Jackie. She does whatever he asks her to do as he has promised to turn her into a vampire at some point in the future. The downside to this relationship is that Jackie must do whatever her master bids. Shopping, picking up the dry cleaning and cleaning up after when the walls, floors and in some cases ceilings are covered in blood.
It is at one of these parties that we meet Nick. A largely hapless twenty something nobody that they have some fun with. Hypnotising him into thinking he’s eating worms instead of ‘sketi’ and that he has a ‘snake’ where there shouldn’t be a snake. After Nick realises whats going on he tries to escape the house and what follows is best described as a slapstick chase montage. Door after door is locked, running down corridors with Vampires at either end and cliché upon ‘I want to drink your blood’ cliché. This of course is all captured perfectly by the documentary film crew, who by the way do nothing to try and help. Nick does manage to escape and just as he thinks he’s in the clear he runs straight into Petyr in the garden and before you can say ‘would you mind awfully not biting me on the neck’ he gets bitten on the neck.

Nick doesn’t initially cope well with becoming a Vampire and has a hard time keeping it quiet. So much so that after a night out drinking in one of the local downtown bars he tells everyone that will listen that he is a now a member of the non-daylight club. He also tries using ‘I am Twilight’ as a chat up line.  After a while though he starts finding his feet and along with his still human friend Stu, Nick tries to make the best of the hand he’s been dealt.

One of the highlights of the film comes when the collective vampire gang stumble across the path of the local Werewolves. It’s played like it’s the Sharks Vs The Jets from Westside Story. Very confrontational in a ‘my dad’s bigger than your dad’ kind of way. The leader of the Werewolves, being a sensible chap, tries very hard to de-escalate the situation and calm his guys down. ‘We’re Werewolves, not Swearwolves’ comes one of the best quotes of the film.


What We Do in the Shadows is the best horror comedy to come along since Shaun of the Dead. Its only eighty nine minutes long but is pretty much perfect from start to finish. The comedy never feels forced or jaded. I think this movie belongs in the same category as This is Spinal Tap.
It references pretty much any Vampire film you could care to mention. Lost Boys to Blade are thrown into the mix for comic effect.

Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement seem to appreciate eccentrics. Waititi explored them in his first two films, Eagle vs Shark and Boy, and Clement's alliance with Bret McKenzie as Flight of the Conchords was an object lesson in not fitting in. Their early works were loved both here and abroad. Between them, Waititi and Clement have been nominated at the Grammys, the Emmys and the Oscars, hardly a pedigree to be sniffed at and on top of all of that it has the best tag line I’ve seen for a film in a very long time 'Some interviews with some Vampires'.
I suspect that given the way the film has been received that somewhere in the not too distant future a studio exec will enquire about the possibility of a sequel and start throwing money at it to make it happen. I’d just like to state for the record that I think that maybe a bad idea. Trying to catch lightning in a bottle again could possibly be a ‘fang too far’ but I do think there could be possibilities to follow up on the Werewolves. ‘What We Do in the Moonlight’ anyone???

Twitter review:
1 part Mockumentary, 2 parts Horror and a light sprinkling of the red stuff.
#FunFangs&Farce

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3416742/?ref_=nv_sr_2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAZEWtyhpes
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=138869

Gone Girl

So it’s that time again movie fans. It’s the 27th time I’ve offered an opinion on my cinema habit and it’s been over two and a half years since I first commented on a poorly received and badly made film that included a God with a big Hammer, a scientist with anger management issues and a Billionaire Playboy philanthropist who’s personal wealth is only surpassed by the size of his ego. There have been highs. There have been lows. For every ‘Gravity’ and ’12 Years a Slave’ there have been clangers like ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ and ‘Prometheus’.  So that said it’s time to let my fingers run amuck across my keyboard to bring you my thoughts about David Fincher’s ‘Gone Girl’.

Firstly I should say that IMDb thinks that ‘Gone Girl’ is a drama, mystery and a thriller. But that doesn’t really even begin to cover it. It could also be argued that it falls under the black comedy banner and I’d even go so far to say that this will probably be the closet that David Fincher ever gets to making a romantic comedy. That isn’t to say this is a light and fluffy film or even warm and fuzzy to extend the analogy. It doesn’t come close on either of those fronts. Mr Fincher doesn’t do leave your brain at the door, switch off and enjoy cinema and I suspect he never will. Some of the issues raised in this film need to be taken very seriously and in the same way that ’12 Years a Slave’ was uncomfortable to watch at times ‘Gone Girl’ covers some subjects that leave you with thinking I wish I hadn’t seen that. Domestic violence and sexual assault being just two of the topics that this film needs you to digest.

Now given the nature of the film and its structure it’s almost impossible to discuss it without going into spoiler territory. So if you plan to go and see it please do so before reading any further. Its ok, I can wait……………………..

Seen it yet?

Ok I’ll carry on. ‘Gone Girl’ is the tenth Studio film that David Fincher has directed, the first being Alien3 back in 1992. Since then he’s covered a wide range of stories that have included serial killers, corporate birthday presents, home invasions and even social media. With the exception of serial killers (Seven and Zodiac) he’s never repeated or returned to the same themes and even that is an unfair comparison as ‘Seven’ is a work of fiction, whereas ‘Zodiac’ is based on real events that occurred in San Francisco.
‘Gone Girl’ is a film adapted from the bestselling novel written by Gillian Flynn. It tells the story of Nick Dunne and Amy Dunne, played by Ben Afleck and Rosamund Pike respectively. A married couple who have had to move back to Nick’s home town to look after his ailing father. On the morning of their fifth wedding anniversary Amy disappears and over the course of the ensuing investigation the evidence keeps leading back to Nick and incriminating him as the prime suspect.
What follows is the story of a nation that seems to feed itself on the media frenzy that’s generated around Amy’s disappearance. A disappearance that will be tried, convicted and executed in the court of public opinion.
Now back to those troublesome spoilers. The story, for the most part, is told via flash black. It’s done so mostly from Amy’s point of view and paints Nick out to be anything but the perfect Husband. Now I should say for the record that for the first act most people will be ‘Team Amy’. It turns out that Nick is having an affair with a twenty year old student that he’s teaching, he has money problems and that he’s not very motivated and a bit of an under achiever. The Money matter is further compounded by the fact that Amy and her parents are Rich. Amy has a trust fund that’s come from her parents writing a very popular and successful series of children’s books called ‘Amazing Amy’, based loosely around Amy’s life growing up.  A diary, written by Amy, is discovered that also paints Nick as a controlling and sometimes violent Husband and has and entry in which Amy states that she worries that her husband may kill her. This diary also contradicts some of the previous statements that Nick has made to the police and makes it look like he’s not being completely honest with them. It’s very much a ‘He said, she said’ situation but prompts the two investigating officers to dig a lot deeper into what’s going on.
Just as things look like they can’t get any worse for Nick the second act of the film starts with the revelation that not only Amy alive but she planned her disappearance meticulously. Planting evidence at every available opportunity and generally trying to punish him for not being the man she thought she’d married. Now from here on in the film starts leading you towards rooting for ‘Team Nick’. So much so that by the end of the film it’s almost impossible not to be a fully paid up member of the Nick Dunne club.
By the third act Amy’s plan has gone somewhat awry. The trailer park that she’s chosen to hide out at has resulted in her being mugged and losing all of her money. This forces Amy into having to come up with a plan b and in doing so she resorts to involving a rich ex-boyfriend, played by Neil Patrick Harris that still has feeling for her. This doesn’t end up going too well for the boyfriend and after he’s been dispatched Amy then turns up back at her own house covered in blood.
Amy’s explanation for what has occurred and how she went missing has so many plots holes in it its almost laughable. It’s the only real flaw as the screenplay is well written and the characters make you want to emotionally invest in them. Like a sore tooth you keep prodding with your tongue, they can’t be ignored. It’s safe to say that Amy is a card carrying and fully paid up member of the ‘Sociopath’ club. She manipulates and plays everyone as she sees fit. The only problem I have with her character is that at times she almost borders cartoon evil. You’re expected to feel sorry for her and that doesn’t always work.
So to summarise, Act 1: Amy disappears, Nick looks more and more likely that he’s the culprit. Act 2: Turns out Amy isn’t dead and on top of that she’s orchestrated the whole thing from the beginning and Act 3: Thinking on the go or if you prefer ‘Are you f#@king kidding me!’
In closing I’ll say this. At one hundred and forty nine minutes it’s about half an hour too long. It has a very good musical score co-wrote by Atticus Ross and Trent Razor and although it’s not up in the same league as say ‘Seven’ or ‘The Social Network’ I would recommend you watch it at some point. That said it needs to be pointed out that this is NOT, repeat NOT a date movie.

Twitter Review:
If blood, affairs, double cross and wacky wives is your bag, this is your film. Possible Oscars nods too
#DoogieHowserDies

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2267998/?ref_=nm_knf_i4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esGn-xKFZdU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXaBGuoSrSc

The Edge of Tomorrow, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy

Hello dear reader. It has been a while since my last post and for that I can only apologise. The summer is traditionally when the big ‘Tent Pole’ or if you will ‘Blockbuster’ films get released. A four month period that for a lot of Studios is the culmination of teaser trailers, viral campaigns and an advertising budget that could fund a military coup in South America and still have enough money left for a ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ weekend, Penn & Teller tickets included. All this just so we will part with our hard earned money and help massage the egos of Hollywood’s elite.
And what has there been in the way of blogs from me during this? Zip, zero, nada comes the deafening response. Now before I regale you with excuses that would convince even the most cynical amongst you I will just say sorry and try to move on. Sure I could mention exotic trips to far flung locations like Berlin. I could also entertain you with lavish chronicles of ‘Awesome BBQs’ that would seem too good to be true or even try and divert your attention with yarns about slaving over a keyboard day and night, as and when free time was available, to try and complete an Open University course in creative writing but you’re all far to intelligent to buy into any of that mumbo jumbo. I dropped the ball and I’m sorry…
What follows are three daring and noble accounts of the films I have seen since I last blogged about ‘Godzilla’ or if you want me to put my newly acquired creative writing skills into practice ‘Films that I wented to see by Stjon Bavin aged forty two and a little bit.’

The first of my trio to get the ‘Bav’s Celluloid Musing’s’ treatment is the Tom Cruise sci-fi action thingy ‘The Edge of Tomorrow’. Now first of all I should say that this film doesn’t really know what it wants to be. This problem is further compounded by the fact that the studio who made it can’t seem to decided what they want to call it either. When the film was in pre-production it was called ‘All You Need is Kill’. This was the original name of the manga graphic novel written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, on which this film is based. Then about three months before it was released it had its name changed to ‘The Edge of Tomorrow’. Now just when you thought that this name changing nonsense couldn’t get more complicated Warners pulled the rug out from everyone again when it released the art work for its state side DVD release. It would now seem to be called ‘Live, Die, Repeat.’ Now setting aside these issues the film itself isn’t that bad. It does have its problems. The third act is a little weak, the main female lead, played by Emily Blunt, has the nickname ‘Full Metal Bitch’ (which I shall just file over there in the corner under ‘charming’) and the sword that she wields is lifted lock, stock and barrel straight out of Final Fantasy VII.
The plot of the film basically see’s Tom Cruises character ‘Cage’, who is an officer who’s never seen a day’s combat, dropped into what he sees as a suicide mission. Faced against overwhelming odds and an unrelenting alien force, that never seem to make mistakes, Cage finds himself stuck in a time loop. Living the same battles over and over till he finds a way to win. The fact that the Edge of Tomorrow has Cruise in it will put a lot of people off from wanting to see it but if you find yourself in the not too distant future with one hundred and thirteen minutes to spare and you feel inclined to watch a film, avoid ‘Muppets Most Wanted’, hide from ‘Three Days to Kill’ and give this little unappreciated piece of moviedom a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Twitter Review: It’s Groundhog Day with guns
#CruiseBlunt&ALotOfGrunt

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867/?ref_=nv_sr_18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUmSVcttXnI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bydHcLDfWuY

Next on my hit list is the seventh, yes seventh, movie in the ever unstoppable motion picture juggernaut that is The X-Men. ‘Days of Future Past’ is another story that has been transferred onto the big screen from a previously released graphic novel. It also marks the first time that the cast from the Mathew Vaughan’s ‘X-Men: First Class’ have shared screen time with their older selves. Now trying to explain the intricacies of the plot maybe a little difficult as someone would need to explain a few of them to me first. I’ll start with my first ‘huh, how did that happen?’ moment. ‘Days of Future Past’ has both James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart playing ‘Charles Xavier’. Now I have no issue with Mr McAvoy gracing the screen as his Charles isn’t dead, whereas Mr Stewart’s Charles had hopped the twig, bitten the bullet, breathed his last and if you’ll permit me, kicked the bucket back in the third film ‘The Last Stand.’ Now I’ve never claimed to be an expert when it comes to the X-Men nor would I begin to even try and understand the particulars of how this complex time travel yarn works but at no point during the entire film is there even an attempt to explain how the older Charles just happens to be rolling around, ready to help save the day as and when required.
My second grumble with this charming tale of cause and effect is that (as expected) Wolverine is once again the main centre of attention. I haven’t read the graphic novel that the film takes its title from but I am lead to believe that Wolverine isn’t the X-Men Character that’s sent back in time to fight the good fight and generally help fix the future.
If ever there was a collection of individuals from a Superhero universe that had roughly a fifty fifty male and female spilt and that also had some very strong feminine leads that could have been utilised, then this would have been it. But I fear that Twentieth Century Fox and their bean counters may have had I very large part in guiding this screenplay into existence.
The film itself I would give a solid three out of five. But it had the potential so much more though. When you bring talent together like Ian McKellen, Ellen Page, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Hale Berry, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Peter Dinklage, to name but a few, onto the big screen you’d think that it would be hard to get it wrong. Its problem is that it never quite delivers on the sum of its parts. There are some great set pieces including one of the finest prison breaks you’re ever likely to see but it all just feels a little unbalanced. Joss Whedon may have raised the bar a little too high for other screenwriters when it comes to ensemble superhero films and this just feels like Simon Kinberg thought you’d be so busy leaning over to say to your friend in the cinema ‘Oh look that’s such and such from the last film’ or ‘Isn’t she the actress from The Hunger Games?’ that it wasn’t really necessary to burden you with anything resembling an admirable script.
And let’s not forget that this is a Marvel film after and that means a credit stinger. For those of you who don’t want to know what it revealed, look away now. For those that do I shall disclose the following. Film number eight ‘Apocalypse’ will be gracing multiplexes up and down the country in May of 2016. You have been warned….

Twitter Review:
Time travel with Adamantium. Lots of excess baggage and too complex
#MoreIsLess

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1877832/?ref_=nv_sr_1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK2zYHWDZKo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6acRHWnfZAE

Well, dear reader, you’ve made it. We are now at the third and dare I say it best of the three films I needed to play catch up with. A film that has a lot to offer. A film that has a talking tree, a racoon with a gun fetish, blue and green sisters that get on as well as North and South Korea, a charming muscle bound destroyer who takes everything literally and a male lead that is one part Han Solo, one part Indiana Jones and has just a dash of Malcom Reynolds from Firefly thrown in for good measure. The film is of course ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’.
For Marvel to consider adapting this comic was a risk and a long way out of there comfort zone. Although they do have an excellent track record with films, there has been the odd dud released into the world. Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk spring to mind. So I suspect that Marvel’s CEO Kevin Feige must have thought long and hard before he gave the green light for this film.
Fitting this film into the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ became the responsibility of director James Gunn. A man that, by Hollywood standards, didn’t have a proven track record with big summer blockbusters. This didn’t seem to faze him at all and he has managed to serve up a very large slice of fun and entertainment. The script, which Mr Gunn also helped sculpt, is full of humour, great action and characters that aren’t one dimensional or clichéd. The leader of the pack is Peter Quill or ‘Starlord’ as he insists on being called. Peter is played by the American actor Chirs Pratt, who’s best known role to date is the TV show ‘Parks and Recreation’. Pratt has had a number of small roles in the past, ‘Money Ball, Zero Dark Thirty and Her’ but has never been asked to play the linchpin and be the emotional core in a big film. However his charisma, and dancing for that matter, in this role practically leaps through the screen and has helped in land the lead role part in next years ‘Jurassic World’ reboot/sequel.
As I’m late to the party with this review (again sorry!) and I suspect most people will have seen this film already, and judging from its box office take most have, I won’t bore you with the plot I will just leave you with a couple of observations.
Marvel seem to be stuck on repeat when it comes to its third act ‘defeat the bad guys’ set pieces and resolutions. Since ‘Avengers Assemble’ Marvel have had the good guys win with what is basically a big battle in the Sky. There are obviously differences from film to film but ‘Avengers’ has a huge battle that takes place over New York. Next is ‘Iron Man 3’, big airborne battle set above some docks. In ‘Thor: The Dark World’, Christopher Eccleston parks his rather large Dark Elves spaceship over downtown Greenwich before suffering from a rather large case of hammer envy. ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ has, yep you guessed it, a very large skirmish above the skies of that there Washington involving some Helicarrier’s that lose a fight with gravity. And that brings us back to ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Its third act big action ‘good triumphs over evil’ set piece is once again set above a city on the planet Nova.
There won’t be another Marvel film until next Summer’s ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things will change but there’s a nagging doubt that I just can’t shake off.  I hope that Joss Whedon’s script will be as good as his last and be inventive and innovative but I think I’m going to be disappointed. Only time will tell.
My other observation is short and to the point. There have now been ten Marvel films released since the first Iron Man film in 2008 and of those ten not one has had a female screenwriting credit and not one of them has had a female director. That needs to change and change quickly….

Twitter Review:
An absolute blast. Sci-fi action, comedy and brains rolled into one.
#AKillerGunnShot

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2015381/?ref_=nv_sr_1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9vypfwbvk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CqymRQ1uUU

Godzilla

Up from the depths, 

Thirty stories high, 

Breathing fire, 

His head in the sky, 

Godzilla! Godzilla! Godzilla and…………………………Walter White.

For those of you old enough, or young enough for that matter, to remember the Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the late seventies and early eighties, you will of course remember the above lyrics (Replace Walter White with the lesser spotted Godzooky). The cartoon in question ran for twenty six half hour episodes and basically ran along the same premise of bad guy/bad thing would turn up and create havoc. The captain of the boat, or should that be Hydrofoil, the Calico would press a little red button on his “Summon Godzilla Utility Belt” and hay presto, one green thirty story high lizard would turn up, breath fire, occasionally shoot lasers from his eyes because you know, large lizards can do that (jumping on the Superman bandwagon if you ask me) and generally save the day before disappearing back into whatever ocean they happened to be floating through at the time. 

Now I can happily report that the new incarnation of Japans very own Incredible Hulk directed by the more than competent Brit Gareth Edwards is to the old cartoon what Ronald Emmerich’s 1998 Godzilla is to highbrow, Oscar winning entertainment. 

Now I have a problem and before anyone else says it, yes I have more than one. However this particular problem centres on how to tell you about Godzilla without venturing into major spoiler territory. This problem is further compounded by Warner Brothers marketing of the film and also all of its trailers. So if you plan on seeing this film please don’t read any further until you have. 

(Waits for everyone to come back………. So how about that local sports team then?............Ok, I’m not lingering around this keyboard any longer, this blog wont write itself)

Right, there really is now way of getting around this so I’m just going to state for the record that the titular big G of this film is actually the good guy. That’s right, the good guy. In a move that I never saw coming they’ve taken Godzilla and turned him into the hero of the piece. I haven’t felt this disappointed or lied too since I found out that naked Wednesdays weren’t compulsory. 

The problem is that ever since the first trailers were released, we the public have been duped into thinking that Godzilla was hell bent on mass destruction and had to be stopped at all costs, because you know, that’s what he does!

Having just re-watched the last trailer that was released earlier this year, it is my sad duty to report that nearly every shot of city damage, planes being knocked out of the sky and the armed forces basically having their bottoms handed to them is a result of the films real bad guys. Two other rather large monsters that are called MUTO’s. Which as far as I can recall stands for “Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism”. 

These two monsters, which buy the way look like giant staple extractors with legs, thrive on nuclear energy and also happen to be very much in love. The female MUTO, the larger of the two, has some real anger management issues and isn’t a big fan of being told no. However I am getting ahead of myself here and I need to go back to the beginning to start this story properly.

Our story starts in Japan, Joe and Sandra brody played by Bryan Cranston and Juliette Binoche respectively, are happily married with a son, Ford Brody. Ford who for most of the film played by the currently much in demand Aaron Taylor-Johnson (He’s rumoured to be in next year’s 50 Shades of Grey and will be in next year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, playing Quicksilver). It’s just a normal day at the home of the Brody’s apart from it being Joe’s birthday, which he seems to have forgotten. However because of a strange set of seismic readings that seems to be getting closer to the nuclear power plant where they both work, they trundle off to their place of employment , leaving number one son at home and before you can say “by jingo, I think that’s a major nuclear disaster” there’s a major nuclear disaster. 

This leaves one of Ford’s parents dead. Spoiler alert: It isn’t Bryan Cranston.

The story the jumps forward fifteen years and we find Ford currently serving in the American armed forces and as luck would have it his primary job is to do with the disposal of bombs in one form or another. This just happens to come in handy in the climax of the film, but before you can say that’s a tad convenient I’ll say it for you, “That’s a tad convenient….” The film does suffer a lot from these types of “Oh really???” moments. A child rescued by Ford in a MUTO attack in Hawaii is reunited with his parents the day after as they just happen to be walking past at the right time. Another Father and daughter manage to evade an incoming Tsunami and all the destruction that comes along with it by running into a local shop that seems to have been fitted with the latest and greatest in Tsunami proof shop front glass. 

Having returned home on leave after a year away from his wife and child Ford receives a phone call that his Dad has been arrested entering the exclusion zone that has been set up around the decimated nuclear plant. Ford hops on the first available plane, with some persuasion form his wife, and heads of to Tokyo to find out what’s going on. Once there Joe manages to, and I’m not really sure how, convince Ford that he needs answers about his wife’s death and the only way to get these answers is heading back into the exclusion zone once again. 

What follows is the discovery of the first MUTO, the male. It’s been feeding of the damaged reactor and growing in a cocoon of sorts over the previous fifteen years and as luck would have it just happens to hatch as Joe and Ford get there. It promptly escapes from and makes a beeline for the water…… 

No I’m going to stop with the plot breakdown, partly because I never normally give everything away when I’m writing these blogs but I think mostly just down to the fact that what follows makes about as much sense as cheese socks. Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t hate this film. I do think that it does suffer a lot from a poor script and there’s so much going on at times that it feels a bit bloated. In the same way that 2007’s Spiderman 3 had too many villains on the screen for its own good Godzilla relies far too much on its visuals. Again don’t get me wrong, some of the CGI in this film is spectacular but it seems to be at the expense of other key elements like character depth and Logic. Ken Watanabe plays a scientist that never really has that much to do and is largely wasted as an actor. What also doesn’t help is having the emotional peek of the film on ten minutes in. It’s almost an uphill battle to get the film to engage with the audience after that. 

As for Godzilla himself I’ll say this. He’s not on screen anywhere near as much as he should be and at times it feels like he’s treated like a background extra. It’s only when he gets to slug it out with the MUTO’s that he really comes into his own. As with the cartoon from the eighties his reincarnation of Godzilla also breaths fire or if you prefer, has atomic breath, and it what is another very cool visual his tail lights up internally when he’s about to let loose with the blue flames. 

I’ll finish by saying this. Godzilla is a flawed film. At times you struggle to work out why certain characters do what they do. Reasoning and understanding from the viewer does not seem to be required for the 123 minutes you’ll be sat in front of the screen. 

At the end of the film most of San Francisco is levelled by the big three-way fight to the finish. Godzilla must kill hundreds if not thousands of people during this fight but is still hailed as the hero.  It’s also worth noting that if you were to remove the human element from this film it wouldn’t change its outcome one little bit. There will almost certainly be a sequel to Godzilla and when that magnificent day does occur I really hope they’ll have spent some of its budget on a screenplay that doesn’t make me leave the cinema confused and disappointed. 

Twitter Review:

An odd film with a sting in its tail. No sense of a real story or character arc. No humans required in it or to watch it. 

#MonstersLostAtSea

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0831387/?ref_=nv_sr_1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIu85WQTPRc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBwsUD7jYCI

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Roll up, roll up. Come one, come all. Marvel (see what I did there) at the old age pensioner with the astounding strength. He knows no fear, he jumps from aircraft without the aid of a parachute and he also never seen without the world’s largest pizza tray. 

The Winter Soldier marks the third outing for Captain America on the silver screen and it could be argued that this is also his finest too. Chris Evans (no not that one) seems to be getting very good at playing old Cappy. In the same way that it's now impossible to see anyone playing Iron Man other than Robert Downey Jr. It's almost unthinkable that the red white and blue uniform of Marvels ultimate Boy Scout could be filled by anyone other than Mr Evans. 

The plot of The Winter Soldier is roughly one part political thriller, one part action movie and two parts entertainment. Hydra is the big bad again and seemed to have infiltrated SHIELD. From every department to every rank, there's nowhere their agenda isn't felt. 

The script, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is very good. Witty when it needs to be and not long winded when it comes to moving the plot forward. The directing reigns are handled by Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe. This is their first foray into the world of the movie blockbuster, having amassed most of their CV back catalogue work on TV series including Arrested Development and Community. However the real coup of The Winter soldier was getting Robert Redford to sign on the dotted line to play Alexander Pierce. And it's not just a blink or you'll miss it cameo either. Pierce is a pivotal role in the film and just goes to show how seriously Marvel treats its product. 

With Redford playing the linchpin of the story and given its political and conspiracy overtones at times it feels like you’re watching a seventies movie in the spirit of The Parallax View or Three days of the Condor. Motives and trust are the key issues here. Who is pulling who's strings and why. Without giving to many spoilers away I can tell you the The Winter Soldier just happens to be the captains best friend Bucky Barnes, last seen falling off a train in the first film. Bucky is played again by Sebastian Stan, who incidentally only found out he was going to be in this film when a friend of his who was at Comic Con in 2012 called him up and told him that Marvel have just announced the title of the next Captain America movie and you're in it! 

Now they don't really go into that much detail but apparently Hydra's experiments on Bucky are what have kept him alive this long and what are also responsible for him having a new shiny metal arm!  Bucky gets his brain washed and is sent to eliminate Hydra's problems, the first if which is Samuel L Jacksons Nick Fury. 

In a big set piece involving a car chase and a SHEILD vehicle that has a gadget list that would make Q from James Bond whimper. The best way I can describe what happens to Fury is to say that he gets "decommissioned". Once Fury has been put on the shelf Bucky then sets his sights on the captain himself. They have several "aggressive" meetings during the course of the film culminating in a fight that almost gets a little farfetched in the believability stakes. If any of you have seen Day 8 of 24 you'll understand what I mean. But I guess if Jack Bauer can be shot, stabbed and tortured and still do his duty and save the day then I guess good old Captain America can too.

There are other characters from the Marvel universe that return in this film. The biggest being Scarlet Johansson's Black Widow. As with The Avengers the character isn't there just for geek eye candy. She's just as tough as ever, intelligent too and unless my memory is playing tricks on me, only has one excessive cleavage shot during her entire time on screen. Apart from the strength issue The Black Widow is very much cappy's equal in every department and in a nice touch that will probably go unnoticed by most she spends the entire film wearing a necklace with an arrow pendant on it.

Another returning character from the first film is Dr Arnim Zola played by Toby Jones. Now his "performance" for the want of a better word is unusual to say the least. It will leave some cinema goers with a rather odd taste in their mouths. Just think Skynet meets early Amstrad and you won't be too far off the mark. I personally didn't really buy into it but again it does help move the story forward. 

A new to Marvel film is the character "Falcon". He's played by Anthony Mackie and is thrown into the mix right from the get go. Falcon is basically one of those "does exactly what it says on the tin" type of superheroes. He has a jetpack with retractable wings (I've checked, they're not available on Amazon). He's one of the good guys and will hopefully return in future instalments further down the line although as far as I can tell he won't be in next year’s Avengers movie. 

The Winter Soldier is a great film. There are some innovative action set pieces including the best fight in a lift you're ever likely to see. There's also a scene early on where Captain pulls out a notepad. In it he has a list of cultural bits and bobs he needs to catch up on. I've done some checking up and depending on where in the world you're watching the movie depends on what appears on the list (there are ten different versions apparently). On our list we get gems like The Beatles, the 1966 World Cup and right at the top of the page the TV show Sherlock. The American list contains Steve Jobs, The Moon Landing and I Love Lucy.  

As good as the film is I do have a couple of issues with it. Firstly the film ends with SHIELD having basically been disbanded. Now they must have had a Winter Soldier script locked in place before Marvel launched Agents of Shield late last year and it's made me feel like the program is now redundant. Not sure how they'll get around that particular bump in the road when season two hits our screens but I'm sure they'll come up with something. My other gripe is that as much as I like the fact that Marvel likes to mix it up when picking directors for their films the actual films themselves are becoming a little bit formulaic. They all seem to have these massive fight sequences as their third act finale. Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and now The Winter Soldier all end with huge battles. Now I know that you have to go into these big tent pole films with certain expectations but there are other ways of creating spectacle and tension. The pay off at the end doesn't always need to be physical. 

I'll finish off by saying (and it really pains me to do so) that Marvel are now miles ahead of DC in terms of what they're bringing to the table. The Batman vs Superman film has been put back a year and now won't grace our screens until the summer of 2016. By then Marvel will have finished "phase 2" of their story arc and will be well and truly full steam ahead into "phase 3" with films like Ant Man, Dr Strange and Iron Man 4. If further proof were needed of Marvels superiority over DC when it comes to transporting comic book characters to the big screen, let me offer the following as evidence. It was reported last year that a Warner Bothers executive when being questioned as to why Wonder Woman was not being given a standalone film before she appears in the Batman vs Superman film, the response given was "the world isn't ready for a Wonder Woman movie". I would like to point out the Marvels next film The Guardians of the Galaxy has a talking racoon with a propensity for firearms violence... Your move DC, your move. 

Oh and before I forget make sure you stay for the credits. This is a Marvel film after all.

Twitter Review:

Steve Rogers, a man out of time. With his #SHIELD crumbling and best friends turning against him, trust is a high value commodity.

#Fearless

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843866/?ref_=nv_sr_1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SlILk2WMTI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_-xjmJl-bI

300: Rise of an Empire

Hello readers, it's that time again. No, not worrying if you've left it too late to get your body in shape for the beach this summer or why if the universe is indeed infinite we're stuck with Jedward. No it's fun film blog time and the Hollywood distraction that I'm about to set the crosshairs on is 300: Rise of an Empire. 

The film in question, for those not in the know, is the follow up to 300. This was a "swords and sandals" movie released back in 2006 and was adapted and directed by Zack "Man of Steel" Snyder from the graphic novel written by Frank Miller. I will start off by saying I really liked 300. It was a very special effects heavy piece of entertainment that managed to convey the feeling of actually watching a comic strip come to life. It clocks in at just less than two hours long and is perfect way to kill a couple of hours on a wet Sunday afternoon. 
It was also the film that gave Gerrard Butler his immortal and often parodied quote "THIS IS SPARTA!" It also has a long haired Michael Fassbender sounding off about fighting in the shade, which I should point out has nothing to do with spending a Saturday afternoon on Brighton’s seafront on a bank holiday weekend. 

So back to Rise of an Empire. It's a tale that is set before, during and after the events of its predecessor. It follows the Greek admiral Themistocles, played by Australian Sullivan Stapleton and his attempts to thwart the advancing Persian forces, led by the God King Xerxes and leader of his navy Artemisia, played by Rodrigo Santoro and Eva Green respectively.  
Now the main problem I found with this film is it has violence in spades but never really delivers when it comes to passion and emotion. It's almost as if the makers of the film sat around a table and decided that what this film could really use is lots of 3D blood splatters. And after that they played it safe and added some more. If you were so inclined to do so you could sit down in the comfort of your own front room, watch all eight series of Dexter and you still wouldn't even come close to the levels of blood splatter found in the one hundred and two minutes that Rise of an Empire graces the screen.
If the red overload wasn't enough to be going on with there's also a lot off issues to be had with the films physics. Now I know it's not a documentary and it's not supposed to be treated as gospel but there are problems with a couple of the big action set pieces. When the Themistocles led Greek navy first encounters the Persian fleet they enter the fray and charge into battle on what seems to be a very localised tidal wave, which disappears as quickly as it arrives. The other problem I had with it and I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong on his as ancient history isn't my strong point, is that the Greeks seem to have access to flame proof horses. Not only flame proof but horses that seem to have no problem jumping from one sinking ship to the other in the middle of a major aquatic battle. 

What about the plot I hear you ask? Well let’s start with the basics. The plot is at best patchy and at worst is incoherent. This goes back to the heart of this films problems, its lack of passion. Apart from Eva Green who is magnificent as Artemisia you get the feeling that everyone else is just acting by numbers. Lena Headley returns as Queen Gorgo and is underused for an actor of her talents. Headley gets a few key scenes that try to move the story on and also some exposition voice overs that wouldn't be missed if they weren't there. Also returning from the first film is David Wenham as Dilios. His contribution to the story seems like they really didn't know what to do with him. His dialogue is clumsy and as with Headley he is massively underused. I wouldn't have been at all surprised if he'd just been listed in the credits as "Warrior with eye patch."
There are also a couple of key speeches given by Themistocles where you’re left thinking that he has a spin doctor writing for him. No passion, no desire, no point. 
You really get the feeling that some studio pen pusher at Warners gave this film the green light purely down to the bums on seats and financial “Cha-ching” of the first flick. The problem with that is that given the first film is now over seven years old it’s a bit too late to strike whilst the iron is hot and ride on the coattails of its success.

Now it’s time to get controversial folks. Because I had trouble with this film holding my attention, my mind started to wander and by the hour mark that wandering had turned into a full blown ramble.  Every time I heard someone mention Themistocles on screen I kept thinking that it sounded like one of the names that would made it onto the short list when they were trying to name Cillit Bang. It got to the point that every time Thermy popped up on screen the phrase “Hi, I’m Barry Scott” ran from one side of my brain to the other like some unstoppable screen saver, hell bent on making me chuckle whilst I tried to maintain what little dignity I had left underneath my 3D glasses. I mention this not because I want to offend anyone from that part of the world. More to point out how my mind works when it’s not being stimulated properly. Further evidence of this can be given by stating for the record that each time there was a battle scene on the rolling oceans surrounding Greece I kept thinking that any minute now The Village people were going to turn up and burst into a rendition of “In the Navy.”

So in summing up I’ll just say this. 300 entertains and engages, whereas Rise of an Empire is definitely stuck on a sand bank somewhere. I don't know where it all went wrong. At the end of 300 they set up the premise for a great sequel. A battle that's about to involve ten thousand Spartans and the ever advancing Persian forces. That’s the film I wanted them to make. A film with action sequences to rival the battle of helms deep. A film with a script as sharp as the first and a film that doesn't miss fire as much as this one does. 
What I will take away from my time spent watching Rise of an Empire on the big screen is as follows. 
The first ten minutes of the new Captain America film are really good.
Secondly, Godzilla has the potential to blow all of the other summer blockbusters out of the water. 

Twitter Review: 
Rise of the Empire is as wet on land as it on the sea. Nothing close to the sum of its parts and the lifeboats are on standby 
#LostAtSea

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1253863/?ref_=nv_sr_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zqy21Z29ps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Rzy7YqUVU

The Wolf of Wall Street

Hello dear reader, I am pleased to announce that after the sombre and thought provoking subject matter of the last blog for 12 Years a Slave normal service has well and truly been resumed. I would like to promise you that without too much fear of contradiction the following will contain mischief, mirth and merriment, wine women and song (delete where appropriate.)

However before I start to take you through the three hour debauchery ride that is The Wolf of Wall Street I do feel I need to start with a confession. Martin Scorsese films tend to completely unfloat my boat. They normally do nothing for me. Apart from, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver I've never found his films that enjoyable. Yes that's right, I don't like Goodfellas, Casino or Gangs of New York. Now I'm completely aware that I'm probably in the minority here but that's ok, I’m quirky! 

I offer the following as evidence of my quirkiness. I seem to be the only person on the planet that thinks Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back isn’t the greatest film from the series. I genuinely don't get why people bang on about it being the best. Let me some up in a nutshell is how I'd describe Empire.

"Snow, battle, exposition, exposition, exposition, exposition, hi dad, end credits." 

It's a boring film, FACT.

But I'm getting distracted by the Dark Side here. I'll put Mr Lucas back in his box and deal with him another time and another blog. However I do have a feeling that it may take more than one to do him (and his extravagant plan to take over the world through the medium of merchandising) justice.

I should get back to why I even wanted to watch The Wolf of Wall Street in the first place. In its simplest form the reason was two words and those two words are Mathew McConaughey. From the very first teaser trailer that was released for TWOWS in the early 2013 I was hooked. It was a scene between him and Leonardo Dicaprio. In it McConaughy's Mark Hanna mentors Decaprio's Jordan Belfort on the do's and don’ts of the stock market and Wall Street.  Hanna's very own personal set of golden rules to reach the top and not look down at who you're stepping on while you do it. McConaughy is quite simply brilliant in it. His chest beating and humming mantra is worth the price of admission on its own. Unfortunately he's only on for about the first twenty minutes but he does set the tone for the rest film and if it wasn't for the presence of Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, Belfort’s right hand man, I'm sure Mathew would currently be in contention for a best supporting actor. 

The film itself tells the tale of the aforementioned Jordan Belfort, who is basically a real life Gordon Gekko. Belfort takes Gekko’s “greed is good, greed works” philosophy and turns it up to eleven. He becomes obsessed with power and the privileges that come with it. 

In the same way that most people see computers and phones as necessary tools to do their jobs, Belfort sees drugs as giving him his competitive edge over his rivals. They become essential to his everyday life too. Uppers, downers, coke, pills & potions, there's nothing he won't do or take to help perpetuate the fantasy land he feels safe in and calls home. His attitude to money also beggars belief at times. He thinks he can buy anything. Love, women and even the FBI are all at some point found on his expansive shopping list. 

This is the ultimate story of excess. A rise and fall fable of such astonishment that you have to keep telling yourself that this actually happened. Such is the mental state of Belfort that you start to think that this is a fictional character that couldn't possibly exist in the real world but exist he does, whilst throwing up his middle fingers to those who dare to tell him no. 

There's a scene about halfway through the film set in their company boardroom, where there's a completely serious discussion about "dwarf throwing etiquette." It's not played for laughs in any way. It's held to establish what is regarded as acceptable behaviour and how to treat dwarfs when they're wearing Velcro suits and be propelling towards a large round dartboard target by drunken traders. Belfort believes he's untouchable. He surrounds himself with people he knows he can trust and that would never roll over on him. 

The fall of the Belfort Empire comes when his company Stratford-Oakmont starts drawing attention from other Wall Street companies. Their reputation starts to precede them. Stories of lavish office parties, strippers even marching bands parading through the offices starts to raise their profile from a little fish to a predatory shark. This then leads to Belfort being interviewed and featured on the front cover of Forbes Magazine with the now infamous moniker "The Wolf of Wall Street."

His stellar rise from running a twenty man operation to a company that employs over two hundred and fifty capitalist brings him to the attention of the FBI. Such is Belfort’s ego that during his initial meeting held on board his yacht with the investigating officer he offers to bribe him. When this offer is turned down by FBI Agent Patrick Denham, played by Kyle Chandler Belfort takes out a roll of bills and throws “fun vouchers” at him as he leaves. With the FBI watching everything Belfort does he has to come up with more elaborate ways to keep his money hidden. Swiss bank accounts are used and millions in cash, usually strapped to the courier’s body, are smuggled through customs from America.  This system of moving money is overseen by Belfort’s Aunt Emma, played faultlessly by Joanna Lumley. 

With the net closing in on him and his drug addiction escalating to new height’s it’s only a matter of time before he implodes and gets caught. Forced to wear a wire as part of the deal he cuts to keep his jail time to a minimum he turns snitch on his colleagues and incriminate them. 

This is an astonishing film at times. It doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to what it’s willing to show you and if you don’t like swearing then this may not be the film for you. The real Jordan Belfort makes a small cameo at the end of the film and you get the impression that he’s still really quite proud of what he did and how he did it. With the likes of Gravity and 12 Years a Slave to contend with it’s very unlikely that TWOWS will win best film or best director at the upcoming Oscars but it’s definitely worth your attention and I would happily place it in the top five films I’ve seen in the last twelve months. 

Twitter Review:

The best cast and chemicals assembled this side of a Hunter S Thompson Novel. Powerful and thought provoking.

#SellMeThisPen

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993846/?ref_=nv_sr_3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAhIg5Dy3uA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pabEtIERlic

12 Years a Slave

Usually these quirky little blogs I write are meant to raise a smile and if I've done my job properly, entertain. They may even on rare occasions commit you, the reader, to the odd chuckle. However what you're about to read will contain no jest, merriment or light hearted fun poked at its actors or subject matter. 12 Years a Slave is not a film to be ridiculed. Nor is it a movie that should have cheap shots fired at it, just to raise a second-rate laugh. This is a serious film that deserves and demands attention. And as I'm sure the Oscars and Baftas are about to prove, it will draw attention to some remarkable acting, writing and directing.

12 Years a Slave tells the real life story of Solomon Northup, played superbly by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and his fight for survival, dignity and ultimately his freedom in a pre-civil war United States.  A free black man who is adducted in upstate New York and then sold into slavery. When the film starts we are introduced to Solomon as a devoted family man. A Father, a husband and a man of many talents including playing music. It is this gift of music that brings him to the attention of two men who enquire about hiring his services while his wife and children are out of town. Things go well at first but Solomon wakes up one morning, after having been plied with liquor the night before, in chains and his long dark journey begins.

The director of 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen, in what is only his third Hollywood film, has managed to deliver a raw and powerful film that at times is very hard to watch. The only other film that I can compare it to is Steven Spielberg’s “Schindlers List”. The subject matter for 12 Years is equally as powerful but has the added component of being graphic in what it shows you. There are three scenes that stand out in this regard. Scenes that I found myself wanting to look away from and wait until they were over. I forced myself to watch these images, not because I enjoyed them but I felt I had to. The first of these three takes place the morning after his abduction and it’s where Solomon is beaten, whilst manacled in chains, with a wooden paddle across his back. The camera is placed almost at ground zero the brutality of his is beating is forced directly at you. The second comes the repercussions of Solomon’s actions against a racist worker on a plantation in Louisiana. He has a noose placed around his neck and he is hung from a tree just high enough so that he can only just balance on his toes. This harrowing landscape is made all the more difficult due to his ground his feet can touch is nothing more than soft mud. Again the camera is used to pull the audience in and make you feel what’s being portrayed on the screen. To further the intensity of what you are obligated to observe there is no dialogue, no dramatic score just a single shot of Solomon struggling against the rope. The camera stays on this struggle against gravity longer than anyone will feel comfortable with and that may well be the point for doing so. The third and probably hardest of all to watch is towards the end of the film and comes in the form of Michael Fassbender’s sadistic Edwin Epps. Epps is the owner of a cotton plantation who uses the Bible and scripture as a way of justifying his merciless behaviour towards the slaves that he “owns”. One such slave, Patsy, played by Lupita Noyng’o seems to not only garner more attention from Epps but also has to suffer his all-consuming sexual brutality as well. This ultimately leads to Patsy’s destruction against the post. Being the coward that Epps is, he forces Solomon to start whipping her. Solomon has to reluctantly agree. Not only for his own safety but also for the safety and wellbeing of the other slaves. Solomon tries to inflict as little damage as he can but this only lasts temporarily as Epps takes over and begins to quench his blood lust. What follows is nothing short of harrowing and distressing. The viewer is given a front row seat to Epps violence, strength and ferocity. The screen bleeds red at times and the incisions the leather whip leave upon Patsy’s back leave a scar on the eyes.
Solomon’s salvation comes in the form of a chance meeting with Brad Pitts “Bass” who happens to be under the employ of Epps to help build a rotunda within the grounds of his plantation. Bass, a white man from Canada, believes that all men, regardless of race, creed or culture should be treated as equals. After some soul searching and the realisation that by doing so he could be endangering his own life Bass agrees to inform Solomon’s family in New York of his location so they may send papers down to free him. The film ends with a very emotional reunion with his with wife and children. His daughter, now married, presents with his first grandchild and he then starts the very long healing process towards leading a normal family life….

Along with the aforementioned Chitewel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Noyng’o, whom I suspect will all win Oscars the respective categories that their nominated in, this film also boasts other great actors, some of which aren’t afford much screen time but still leave thinking about their performance long after the film has finished. These include Paul Giamatti playing “Freeman”. An ironic name given that he’s responsible for the selling of slaves onto their respective new owners. Theres also Benedict Cumberbatch playing “Ford”. A plantation owner who actually shows Solomon great kindness at times, protecting him from a lynch mob and also rewarding him with a fiddle after Solomon helps increase working efficiency on Ford’s estate.

Everyone should make the time to watch 12 Years a Slave. Some of you won’t enjoy it and I suspect some of you may not make it through to the end. As I said earlier it is a hard watch at times but what it lacks in subtlety and visual shyness it makes up for as an ensemble piece of film making that is beautifully acted by its entire cast. Its cinematography is also one of 12 years stand out components. That coupled with powerful direction and a screenplay written by John Ridley that doesn’t pull any punches means 12 years will stay with you long after its credits roll and so it should.

Twitter Review:
12 Years a Slave is a hard film to watch but a necessary requirement. Thought provoking and graphic, chilling and bold. Must see.
#Oscars

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024544/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUQNjfhlREk

The Desolation Of Smaug

Hello dear reader, a couple of Saturdays before the Yuletide festivities kicked in and certain shops, who will remain nameless, started putting Easter eggs on their shelves I went and saw the new Hobbit film. Now for lots of different reasons I shan't bore you with, including one about a Microsoft windows update that made my keyboard ornamental as opposed to functional and another that centered around me ridding the world of dark chocolate and beer, I have been unable to commit pen to paper or in this case, fingers to keys and jot down what I thought of the film. I will now remedy this alarming oversight with a short, concise and as ever entertaining review of said film.

It starts unusually, not where we left off but with a flash back to Bree and a meeting in the prancing pony about six months before the start of the first film "An Unexpected Journey". This powwow takes place between Magneto & the Vicar of Dibleys hubby, sorry Gandalf and Thorin. They are discussing what to do about the pesky dragon that's taken up residence at Erebor and how, if ever, the dwarves will ever get to go and home. Apparently the metropolitan line just doesn't go that far. During this meeting the Arkenstone is brought up. This unique gem, that either runs on Duracell batteries or Magic (it's never really made clear in the film) will help the dwarves reclaim their home. I’m not sure how it’s supposed to work but I think it’s along the same principles as the "one ring." You know, whoever holds the stone, with great power comes great responsibility, greedo shot first, put your hand against the screen, we're not in Kanas anymore, gas mark 6, he's not the messiah he's a very naughty boy kind of deals. 
It’s during this meeting that it’s decided that a thief will be required to help get this gem back, which is where Bilbo comes in.
Just a quick aside. As and when you watch this film keep your eyes peeled as the very first person you see on screen, doing a splendid impression of bugs bunny, is the one and only director of the piece Peter Jackson. 

The film then takes us back to Bilbo "The Burglar" and this company of twelve dwarves. The bakers dirty dozen of Middle Earth if you will, still heading towards what can only described as the biggest branch of Ernest Jones I've ever seen. 
For those of you who haven't read the Hobbit I can say only this. You need to stop whatever you're doing and fix this literary omission right now. It belongs up there with the classics like Hamlet, A tale of two cities and the majestic George's marvellous medicine. 
For those of you who have you'll know what's coming. This includes (spoiler alert) a bear that's a man, who happens to hate Dwarves but hates Orcs even more. A wood that even Gandalf thinks twice about entering. A necromancer, which as far as I can tell is the equivalent of a Middle Earth Sith Lord. Also on display is Stephen Fry playing the Lord of Laketown. A role he plays to perfection.

This film seems to flow a lot more smoothly than its predecessor. There was a lot of talk, when the announcement came that Peter Jackson was taking a three hundred and thirty'ish page novel and then stretching out over three instalments, that it would make it very thin on the ground when it came to plot and story but with the inclusion of the appendices from other Tolkien books thrown in for good measure Mr Jackson seems to have pulled it off. Even bringing some characters back from The Lord of the Rings trilogy has paid off. It's a credit to the screenplay and its direction that a film that clocks in at two hours and 40 minutes feels like a movie half its length. In fact when the credits started to roll I had to look at my watch to double check the time. 

Now I can and will say that you get a lot more bang for your buck in the way of action with The Desolation of Smaug. There are some truly amazing set pieces here, including an arachnophobics worst nightmare brought to life. Made even more jolting if there happens to be a set of 3D glasses perched across your nose. An escape from the elves in barrels that puts any ride at Chessington World of Adventures or Alton Park to shame and a battle under the mountain that involves one of the biggest games of side and seek you're ever likely to see. 
My biggest issue with the film and I am really “nit picking” here is that Smaug doesn’t really get desolated at all. In fact the film ends with him basically getting the upper hand over everyone. I suspect given the effort that’s been put in to bring him to life, and I’ll be honest here you won’t see a better CGI dragon this side of the trilogies conclusion, Smaug will have a big part to play in the last film “There and Back Again.” This would be a big departure from the book as he kicks the bucket, hops the twig, expires, sleeps with the fishes, has bought the farm, gone belly up and also died about two thirds of the way through the novel. It’s actually Smaugs death causes the fight for the treasure and the battle of the five armies.  In closing I’ll say this. If the first film put you off and you felt disappointed (I know I did) this one redeems the franchise very well and would definitely be worth your time, money and trouble to go and see it.   

Twitter Review:
Smaug plays it smug. Watson plays with his ring and the mountain has more gold than Big Mac has Calories in it
#DragonsBarrels&Burglars

Useful Links:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001392/?ref_=tt_ov_dr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPVWy1tFXuc