15 Minutes Of Film

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Big Hero 6

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?"

With an advance weekend screening, we just had to check out 'Big Hero 6'. The film was released in the US a couple of months ago and since seeing the trailer we have been itching to see it. Its official UK release isn't until 30th January so I'll try not to ruin it with my advance review below.

'Big Hero 6' is an American animated movie by none other than Walt Disney Animation Studios. The film follows Hiro Hamada, a young inventor living in the futuristic city of San Fransokyo. Hiro spends his time earning money by participating in back-alley robot wars. His brother Tadashi is worried his little brother is wasting his potential so takes Hiro to his lab at the university to show him what he could do with his talent. At the lab Hiro meets Tadashi's fellow lab buddies and his latest invention Baymax, an inflatable personal healthcare assistant. Amazed at the lab, Hiro decides to apply for a place at the university. In a bid to win a place at the school, Hiro showcases his latest invention; Microbots. These tiny robots can link together using telekinesis with the user to create whatever said user can imagine. Shortly after showcasing his invention, a fire breaks out at the event and tragedy strikes. Hiro's invention is ruined minus the tiny Microbot he still has which leads him to a warehouse. It turns out that someone has stolen Hiro's idea and is using it for the forces of evil. With the help of the other university students and Baymax, the team must solve the mystery and put an end to these evil-doings before it is too late.

Although entirely predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The story itself wasn't boring at any point but it's just that it's all been done before. I feel the superhero genre has been overdone lately to the point where they are so predictable. Due to its predictability, the plot for this film didn't quite reach the greatness of the completely original 'The Incredibles'. Having said that, this film is much funnier. Saving the day, and the film, is the cute and entirely lovable Baymax who is undoubtedly the star of the show. With brilliant one liners, and not relying entirely on slapstick, this film receives top marks in the comedy department. I found myself genuinely laughing throughout almost the entire film. It was very enjoyable as an adult and the children in the packed cinema absolutely loved this movie too. It just falls short on the predictable unoriginal plot and, minus Baymax, boring characters!

8/10 for 'Big Hero 6'. Great fun for the entire family and one I'll be watching again someday I'm sure.

Sunday, 11 January 2015

The 1st Roscar Awards

So 2014 is over and done with. How about a little award ceremony to acknowledge the greatest triumphs and defeats in film this year? With 70 films viewed, this was not an easy task but here are the categories, the nominees and the winners in bold...

2014 Movie Of The Year

12 Years a Slave

Pride

Lone Survivor

Gone Girl

Best Adaptation

12 Years a Slave
Gone Girl
Edge of Tomorrow
Lone Survivor

Best Male Performance

Jack O'Connell - '71

Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game

Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler

Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave

Ben Schnetzer - Pride

Best Female Performance

Jennifer Lawrence - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl

Rene Russo - Nightcrawler

Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game

Angelina Jolie - Maleficent

Young Actor Of The Year

Mackenzie Foy - Interstellar

Quvenzhané Wallis - Annie

Sophie Nelisse - The Book Thief
Emma Tremblay - The Judge

Comedy Of The Year

The Lego Movie
22 Jump Street
The Other Woman
A Million Ways To Die In The West

Best Comedy Performance

Imelda Staunton - Pride
Jim Carrey - Dumb and Dumber To
Charlize Theron - A Million Ways To Die In The West
Leslie Mann - The Other Woman

Best Animated Movie

The Lego Movie
How To Train Your Dragon 2
The Boxtrolls

Best Animated Character

Toothless - How To Train Your Dragon 2
Emmet - The Lego Movie
Batman - The Lego Movie
Bad Cop/Good Cop - The Lego Movie

Best Horror Flick

Oculus
The Purge: Anarchy
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
The Quiet Ones

Best Film From A Series

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Divergent
The Maze Runner

2014 Worst Film Of The Year

Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie
I, Frankenstein
August: Osage County
Last Vegas

Saturday, 10 January 2015

The Theory of Everything

"There should be no boundaries to human endeavor. We are all different. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there's life, there is hope."

Fresh New Year, fresh new films to see! 2015 promises to be a great year for film so we thought we would start off with a potential great, 'The Theory of Everything'.

'The Theory of Everything' is a British biographical film following the life of Stephen Hawking. In the 1960's at Cambridge University lived a man named Stephen Hawking. Still undecided on what field to focus his PhD on, Hawking meets a lovely young lady named Jane Wilde. The two spend much of their time together and subsequently fall in love. Life then throws Stephen a massive curve ball. He collapses in the middle of the university grounds and is rushed to hospital where he finds out that he has Motor Neurone Disease. Stephen is given two years to live. Distraught at this devastating news, Hawking locks himself away from the world and pushes Jane away. Jane however isn't giving up that easily on the man she loves and though despite warning from Stephen's dad she decides to stick by Stephen. As his condition gets progressively worse, and the family grows, Jane reaches breaking point and decides she needs help.

This film was truly breath taking. I found myself upset, happy, appalled, angry, and I had a tear to the eye on more than one occasion. The acting was of the highest calibre. Eddie Redmayne was truly magnificent as the man himself. It must have been a very daunting and difficult task but he nailed it. As for Felicity Jones as Jane Wilde Hawking, she portrayed the angst, happiness, pretty much everything spot on. Such great casting, I could feel the love this couple had oozing out of the screen, it was so so believable. The cinematography was also spot on with some amazing shots and different filming styles all thrown in. I particularly loved the rewind at the end which brought me to tears for the fifth or sixth time in one film. Some scenes were completely dialog-free but so well written and acted that they were almost more powerful than if they had have had dialog. I could have done with a bit more about how the disease affects people as this was only lightly touched on. I would highly recommend viewing this film. Not only is it a lovely love story which is brilliantly shot and acted, but it also tells the story of the genius of Stephen Hawking and his awful condition.

9/10 for 'The Theory of Everything'. I have a feeling this film is going to stay high in my 2015 league table. Now go see it!

My 2015 League Table

No	Film	Rating	Directed by

1	The Theory of Everything	9/10	James Marsh
2	Big Hero 6	8/10	Don Hall/Chris Williams

Sunday, 4 January 2015

Dumb and Dumber To

"Come on, Lloyd. You gotta get over her. Mary Samsonite was just a girl."

What better way to end a great year of film than with 'Dumb and Dumber To'. I love the original, so much so that it currently sits at number 16 on my Top 20 of all time. What could possibly go wrong!?

'Dumb and Dumber To' is an American comedy and serves as the follow-up to the 20 year-old original 'Dumb and Dumber'. 20 years on, Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) has spent his time withering away in a mental institution. He is distraught due to losing the love of his life Mary Swanson (Samsonite). His best buddy old pal Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) has been visiting every week for 2 decades in the hope that he can help his friend get over his lost love. It turns out that the whole thing was just a prank and Lloyd is just having him on. Once the catheter is removed Lloyd is ready to re-join his buddy back at their old apartment. He learns that Harry is suffering from kidney failure and he doesn't have long to live. They decide to go to see Harry's parents, a sure kidney match, to see about getting a kidney. Harry's parents are clearly not a match (I won't spoil the surprise) but while visiting them, Harry picks up his old mail containing a postcard from Fraida Felcher (Kathleen Turner) revealing that Harry has an estranged daughter; the perfect kidney match for Harry. After a visit with Fraida, it turns out that she gave her daughter Fanny Felcher (Rachel Melvin) up for adoption. With Lloyd's help, and a hearse loaned from Fraida, the pair must find Harry's daughter in a bid to save his life. Fanny however is away for the weekend and her adoptive parents have other plans which may just throw a spanner in the works for the idiotic-yet-lovable duo.

As previously stated, the original is one of my favourite films, so it was a massive task for the sequel to live up to it. In short, 'Dumber To' didn't quite do it for me. Don't get me wrong, I was expecting a car crash due to what I had previously heard but it wasn't that bad. I found it had a very shaky start, mostly due to over watching the trailer so it was hard to find these parts funny. Twenty minutes in and I started to feel the Carrey/Daniels magic again. This helped restore my almost broken faith in the franchise. As with the first film, Carrey completely overshadowed a good performance by Daniels, no shock there. It was funny as it was silly, as per the first film, with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments but never quite as clever as the previous instalment. Other good points for the length of the movie, it didn't drag on at all. I found the acting to be rather impressive as Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels have managed to sustain the personalities of the two main characters impeccably. The main problem was the plot. Although zany and ridiculous like the original, I had no interest whatsoever in what was actually happening. The sometimes funny scenes didn't quite meld together with a big pay-off and some were completely pointless thrown in for not very funny effect.

7/10 for 'Dumb and Dumber To'. It's a shame it didn't live up to the original but I'm so pleased it didn't turn out as bad as it could have or as bad as people are saying.

Saturday, 3 January 2015

Annie

"It's a hard knock life for us"

Probably our last trip to the cinema this year saw us cramming in another few films. We began our day at the cinema by seeing what the reboot of 'Annie' was all about.

'Annie' is the latest adaptation of the 1977 Broadway musical of the same name. A modern twist on the classic film sees Annie (Quvenzhané Wallis), the foster child from Harlem, in a desperate search for her birth parents. Annie is living with her foster parent Colleen Hannigan, an alcoholic washed-up pop star who has taken a group of foster children under her wings in order to earn money from the state. Due to a note left with her when she was born, Annie believes her parents are coming back for her any day soon. One day, when trying to stop a group of boys from chasing a stray dog, Annie is saved from being hit by a car by Mr Stacks (Jamie Foxx). Mr Stacks is a billionaire mobile phone creator who is currently running a very unsuccessful presidential campaign. With help from his spin doctor, and after being filmed saving Annie from the car, Mr Stacks spends more time with Annie to improve his public perception. Annie's presence in Mr Stacks life proves to be an eventful one as he learns what is actually important in life.

Shamelessly I have to admit that I loved this film. I must have been in a good mood, as reading other reviews; I think I'm one of only a few who think the same. Yes it was quite over indulgent, yes it has children singing (one of the most annoying sounds ever!), but it brought a tear to my on more than one occasion. The relationship between Annie and Mr Stacks' associate (played by Rose Byrne) was lovely to watch, as was the friendship between her and Mr Stacks. The plot was cleverly brought into the 21st century with mobile phones, a smart-penthouse that was frankly ridiculous, and of course an over-produced updated soundtrack. Regarding the music, there is a mix of old and new with cleverly updated Annie classics such as, 'Tomorrow', 'Hard-knock life', 'You're Never Fully Dressed without a Smile' etc. plus some new songs (all pretty awful!). The acting wasn't the best I'd seen but also not the worst. Cameron Diaz, although quite poor in this movie, did bring the comedic aspect to the role of the awful Miss Hannigan. I'm surprised to see how great she is in these nasty roles (see 'Bad Teacher'). Jamie Foxx and his male associate (Bobby Cannavale) were painfully awful to watch but I got over that soon enough. Hats off again to the youngest actor Quvenzhané Wallis, she really shows the adults how it's done. Young actors in movies this year have been very well cast in almost every film I have seen. The plot didn't really do it for me. Although it's cleverly been brought up-to-date, I did prefer the original, though it did retain the bare bones of the Annie story so of course it wasn't all bad.

7.5/10 for 'Annie'. The fact that this film is well paced, the music is mostly enjoyable and the fab acting from the young lady in the main role make this an entirely watchable and at some points smile-inducing musical. Definitely worthy of another viewing.

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

The Imitation Game

"Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."

Third and final film to complete our three-film marathon saw us sitting down to watch 'The Imitation Game'. Being a real sucker for films based on true stories, I was quite intrigued to see what this movie had to offer.

'The Imitation Game' is a British/American thriller based on the life of mathematician Allen Turing portrayed here by Benedict Cumberbatch. Turing has been hired by the government to find a way to crack Nazi German messages encrypted by 'Enigma'. This being an almost impossible task, the main problem is that the code changes daily and there are millions of different combinations. Turing, along with a group of other scholars, must race against the clock each day to find a way to understand these messages. Turing believes he can create a machine which will crack the daily code and help allies to understand German moves to end WW2. With insight into Turing's past, it becomes evident as to why he is so determined to create this code-cracking machine.

After all the hype and recommendations I was expecting this movie to be outstanding. To a degree, this was the case. The acting is almost flawless with another fab performance from Cumberbatch and a near perfect performance from Knightley. The rest of the cast were solid and the young actors were as great as you would hope from a Hollywood Blockbuster. I was expecting the film to concentrate on the task at hand of cracking the Nazi code but so often we almost get there and we are given scenes of Turing's life at the time along with flashbacks from his school days. The scenes were dramatic and moving with a particularly powerful final scene which did bring a tear to my eye. My problem with this film, as is the case with a lot of films these days, is that it was too drawn out. I just wanted to get back to the main plot without all these deviations. Also the main point of the film is actually not about this group of scholars trying to break 'Enigma' but more focussed on Turing's life. Maybe I have had enough of these 'it was awful to be gay back then' films. This for me is where 'The Imitation Game' loses points, otherwise an amazing film with moving scenes and Oscar-worthy performances.

7/10 for 'The Imitation Game'. Some may think that's harsh but I just feel it was 20 minutes too long.

Saturday, 20 December 2014

Horrible Bosses 2

"We're not going to see Mother-Fucker Jones because we're not going to kidnap anyone."

Second movie in our three-movie marathon saw us sitting down to watch 'Horrible Bosses 2'. Having thoroughly enjoyed the first 'Horrible Bosses', I was expecting a hoot and a half!

'Horrible Bosses 2' is an American comedy and the follow-up to 2011's 'Horrible Bosses'. Done with working for other people, Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day), and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) have decided to set up their own company manufacturing their new invention 'The Shower Buddy'. After receiving an investment to produce hundreds of unit, it turns out that their investor is just as horrible as their previous bosses. Nick, Kurt and Dale are left stuck so decide to meet up with Mother-Fucker Jones (Jamie Foxx) once again for advice on how to deal with the latest horrible boss. After yet another bizarre discussion, they decide they need to kidnap the boss's son Rex (Chris Pine) and force a ransom in order to ensure their business doesn't go under.

The film start off as mad and unrealistic as its predecessor with a touch of the magic that I found to be rather enjoyable first time round. The problem I found is that they try so hard to replicate and improve on the first film that it just feels like a slightly less funny, much more misogynistic, even more far-fetched plot than the first film. It was a well-paced film as I found myself watching the whole affair without wondering what I wanted for dinner. However the comedy between these guys felt done and dusted, I think they shouldn't have bothered. They are all solid comedy actors but once again Jennifer Aniston stole the show completely. I loved her in 'Horrible Bosses' so much that I would have actually liked this film more if the sequel was mainly based around her character. All in all it was ok but I could have lived without seeing this movie.

6/10 for 'Horrible Bosses 2' which is rather generous. Higher score than it deserved mostly due to the fact that they kept the film at a watchable length and of course Jennifer Aniston in her best comedy role since Friends.

Friday, 19 December 2014

Black Sea

"What happens when one of them figures out that their share gets bigger when there are less people to share it with?"

Three film Saturday was on the cards. We were in desperate need of some movie time so we decided to see 'Black Sea' to start our movie marathon!

'Black Sea' is a 2014 British Thriller directed by Kevin Macdonald starring Jude Law as the main character Captain Robinson. Having been made redundant, Robinson, along with some of his former co-workers decide to investigate a missing submarine filled with millions of pounds worth of Nazi gold. With the backing of an investor the hunt gets underway. Joining Robinson and his former colleagues are a team of Russians and a young homeless guy brought on board by Robinson in a bid to help him out. As the submarine goes further and further into darkness as does the cabin-fevered crew who don't quite agree that everyone deserves a fair share of the potential gold.

I found this movie quite thrilling actually. The production team did a marvellous job by making you feel as if you were actually in deep water yourself. I found at times feeling like I couldn't breathe, which is the sign of any good film that it controls you so much you lose your senses. One down side is that I feel the budget was tight as there weren't so many great shots of the actual submarine. Still, the film was scored perfectly, something I cannot fault. The plot was well thought out with minor side stories but main focus on the task at hand which is always a winner for me. I did feel the film lagging at points which meant it probably could have been shortened a tad. The acting was almost spot on. It was strange to see Jude Law but hear a Scottish accent coming out of him but I got used it after a while. Great film, shame about the pace and production value.

A solid 7/10 for 'Black Sea' placing it at number 32 of 67 films so far in my almost complete 2014 League Table.

Tuesday, 25 November 2014

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

"If we burn, you burn with us"

It's the most magical time of the year... again. No I'm not talking about Christmas yet. It's November; which means a brand new installment in 'The Hunger Games' trilogy! Actually, the book series is a trilogy, the film series however somehow miraculously managed to become a quadrilogy. Along with the hype the series has gained and the fact that I managed to actually read them all, I was wholeheartedly, completely, 100%, without a shadow of doubt... nervous about the release of this film. Did seeing this movie continue to nurture my love for the dystopian series, or did Mockingjay Part 1 diminish the fire in my heart?

'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1' is the third installment of the story centred around Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence); the girl on fire. So far we have seen Katniss survive the 74th and 75th Hunger Games and now it's time to see what happens as a result of her defiance against the Capitol. Katniss has been rescued and brought to District 13, previously thought to have been destroyed in a past rebellion against the Capitol. She must now live alongside them with the surviving inhabitants of the newly destroyed District 12. Due to the capture of Peeta (Josh Hutchinson), Katniss is reluctant to trust anyone, particularly District 13's President, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore). After refusing to play the Mockingjay, President Coin's idea of the symbol of the rebellion, Katniss is sent to see the burning remains of her former district. This trip, along with TV broadcast showing Peeta alive and being used as the Capitol's symbol against the rebellion, convinces Katniss that she must become the beacon of hope for the rebelling districts of Panem in the fight against the Capitol.

Having read and loved the books and the previous two movies, I was very worried about how this book would translate onto the big screen. The fact that this book has been split into two films had me convinced that I was going into a car crash of a movie. However, the first half of this story held its own and I found my love for the series growing once again. In all honesty, I think the story could have been kept as one long film rather than this drawn out hell I am experiencing waiting for the conclusion (even though I do already know mostly what is going to happen) but I also understand that this golden chicken of a series simply can't stop laying these golden eggs quite yet. The bigger budget means even better production than we saw in 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' with some truly breath-taking scenes of the rebellion. These scenes, along with the quality fitting score you would expect from this brilliant series, make this installment as epic as the previous two. The acting gets better and better with each film. Jennifer Lawrence has built upon the character, even though Katniss has mostly fallen to pieces since the events of the previous film. Her delivery of the line, "If we burn, you burn with us" has to be a personal highlight. Another highlight is the brief moment we learn that J-Law can also sing and quite well too. Hats off to all the equally great actors, in particular Julianne Moore who plays the part of President Coin better than I could have imagined. Also Elizabeth Banks gives another outstanding performance as my favourite Hunger Games character Effy Trinket. So all in all another great installment in this phenomenal series but it does lose a few points for the pace and plot, largely due to being torn in two for monetary gain.

8.5/10 for 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1' placing it number 7 of 64 on my 2014 league table. Great film but didn't quite get to me as much as 'Catching Fire'.

Wednesday, 19 November 2014

Interstellar

'Interstellar' was the next film to take my fancy. After reading about this movie online a couple of months ago, and after the amazingness that was 'Gravity', I was very much looking forward to getting lost in space once again. Did it live up to my expectations?

'Interstellar' is an American science fiction film starring Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine and Anne Hathaway. Blight has occurred on planet Earth causing many of our crops to die out. The only crop currently surviving is corn which seems to be on its way out shortly. Widowed Cooper, a former NASA pilot, now runs a family farm presumably in the south of the United States with his father-in-law, son, and 10-year-old daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy - Breaking Dawn Part 2). Cooper's daughter Murphy believes her room is being haunted by a ghost seemingly trying to communicate to her via Morse code. After a particularly dusty storm, Murphy discovered a pattern in the dust on her bedroom floor. Cooper realises that gravity has part to play and works out that this code is actually a set of coordinates. These coordinates lead Cooper, and his stowaway daughter, to a secret NASA headquarters run by Professor Brand (Caine). It turns out that a wormhole has been created by 'Them' situated just off the rings of Saturn. The wormhole can be used to travel through the universe to a very distant galaxy with multiple Earth-like planets that are possibly capable of sustaining human life. Cooper must make the decision to leave his family behind in search of a new home to solve the ever growing problem on Earth and save mankind. Much to his daughters despair, Cooper sets off on this mission with no idea of if/when he will return. Along with Professor Brand's daughter Amelia (Hathaway), he must travel through the wormhole and find a new home before it's too late.

So I went into the movie theatre rather naively looking for a film to best my favourite film of all time 'Gravity'. Instead what I found was 3 hours of mostly weirdness held together by a plot more similar to the 1997 film 'Contact'. The movie is very much one of two halves. The first being the depressing and lifeless world our planet has become due to the dusty blight. Humans are barely surviving with a rather bleak future. As for the second half, it focuses more on the weirdness of this film. The weirdness being the wormhole and how it got there, massive waves on a planet covered in water and a hard to grasp fifth dimension theory. For all of its efforts this film never quite reaches the emotion or epic scenes like those in 'Gravity'. Also this films score is all over the place where with 'Gravity' it could not be faulted. Anyway I'll stop comparing the two now as I feel my need for another believable, realistic, emotion-packed space adventure is clouding my judgment a touch! 'Interstellar' kept up the pace and didn't drag as much as it could have with its lengthy duration. The acting ability in this film was also one of two halves. I didn't feel like Matthew McConaughey was at his best, not like how we saw him earlier in the year in the amazing 'Dallas Buyers Club'. To go with that Anne Hathaway could have been replaced by a number of better actors. However, hats off to Mackenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain who shine bright as a star in the role of the younger and older incarnation of Murphy. This character and the actors playing her provide pretty much all of the much needed emotion in this film. The production of the film was great with some epic shots of outer space and some equally amazing shots of the other worlds within the alternative galaxy. The bad points are the mish-mash, ill-fitting score and the zero gravity shots. I just felt that they weren't as fluid as in other space films I have seen.

So it's a 7.5/10 for 'Interstellar' placing it at number 25 of 63 so far on the league table. Not bad but not quite 'Gravity'!

Saturday, 15 November 2014

Fury

To finish our two film Saturday afternoon, Mr B and I went to see 'Fury'. Not my usual type of film but did it convert me...

'Fury' is an American war film set during World War II. It's 1945; allies are making their final push through Nazi Germany. The film follows Norman, an army typist thrown into the battlefield to take over as assistant driver/gunner on board the tank known as 'Fury'. This tank is commanded by 'Wardaddy' (played by Brad Pitt) and his fellow band of soldiers. Norman has never seen the inside of tank let alone driven one. As the film progresses you see how little Norman knows about war on the front line, but with no time to lose he must learn as the tank advances into the final stage of this war.

Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower) really acts his ass off in the role of Norman. This is easily the best acting we have seen from this young future megastar. Brad Pitt is solid as usual, although I can't help never being that impressed by him. The rest of the crew provide the vulgar and humorous side of how these men could have been. Shia LaBeouf could have been a cardboard cut-out for most of this film. He had a couple of glassy-eyed moments but other than that we could have easily lost him. The plot of the film isn't necessary anything amazing but that could just be my minor disinterest of war films. Also I didn't get the feeling that these men were close like family which is what I'm sure was intended. There are some great shots, superb explosions and laser-like shooting scenes which, with the acting of most of the cast, make this film a worthy watch.

Friday, 14 November 2014

Nightcrawler

Off we went to Milton Keynes on Saturday to catch up on some much needed movie time. To start our two film Saturday afternoon we decided to see what 'Nightcrawler' had to offer.

'Nightcrawler' is an American action thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain, Donnie Darko, The Good Girl - we all know who I'm on about right!?) who plays the dark and devious Lou Bloom. Lou is a young determined criminal trying his best to land a legitimate job however he can. Following a night of thieving, Lou accidently stumbles across a car crash being filmed by a local amateur film crew. After hearing how much cash can be made in this line of work, he trades a recently stolen bicycle for a camcorder and police radio and decides to go on the hunt for a crime scene worthy of filming. A few botched attempts later, Lou captures some fairly graphic scenes and heads to the local TV station to see what his footage is worth. Here he meets Nina, the hard faced, quick talking news director played by Rene Russo (Lethal Weapon 3+4, Thor) who sees potential in him and encourages him to pursue a filming career. As Lou continues trying to find more and more shocking, graphically upsetting scenes in this intrusive line of work, things get darker and more dangerous leading to an explosive final scene.

Wow, what a film! Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic in the role of Lou. It took me a while to get used to the extreme quirkiness of the character but once I got it, it was a thrill to watch. You won't finish this movie liking Lou but there is a touch of admiration for his hard working, never quitting, determined character. The rest of the cast are almost as interesting to watch especially Rene Russo as Nina. Such believable characters in this film are part of what holds it all together. The other part is the story itself. The tension is held for almost the entire film with the final scene grabbing 100% of my attention during the whole affair. Dazzling filming, brilliant acting and explosive scenes make it hard to fault this film. However, it did start off slow and the character of Lou was hard to get into and ultimately unlikable so there are points lost there. That being said, I highly recommend seeing this film.

8/10 for 'Nightcrawler' placing it at number 17 just below the equally awesome 'Lego Movie'.

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

The Equalizer

Wednesday night and what better way to spend it than with a packed lunch and an action type thriller film. This evening we went to see what 'The Equalizer' was all about...

'The Equalizer' ('The Equaliser' if you want it the British way) is an American Thriller film based on the TV series of the same name. Denzel Washington takes on the role of Robert McCall, a retired government agent currently working in a homeware/hardware store. Since working in the store McCall has befriended and is rather popular amongst his fellow colleagues. He is helping one particular colleague, Ralphie, as he tries to train himself up to become a security guard at the store. Robert seems to be a perfectly normal old guy working in a hardware store but behind the scenes he is a meticulous planner capable of serving justice to wronged innocent people. Robert spends his evenings reading in a café close to where he lives. He is on a mission to complete the '100 books to read before you die' as homage to his late wife who was recently trying the feat. Over time Robert has grown to know some of the customers, in particular a young Russian prostitute named Alina. She is being mistreated by her pimp and after one near fatal incident Robert decides to ditch the vow he had made to his wife and seek vengeance on behalf of Alina. As Robert gets deeper and deeper into the web of criminals how far will he go to 'Equalize' the score?

Again I'm not a huge fan of action thriller, they either grab my attention and hold it, or I end up sleeping through the second half. This film had me hooked from the first action scene. Washington was sensational as Robert. He held my attention as he gave me genuine belief in this Robin Hood type guy. The film was well paced with just enough content and no long drawn out fight scenes. Speaking of fight scenes, good god the scenes in this were incredible, something I'm not usually a fan of. My only criticism with this film would be the lack of back story. It is briefly brushed over here and there but it is so few and far between. I would have liked a scene, possibly a flashback, looking into what Robert was like in the past. Shout out to Chloë Grace Moretz who played Alina so well. It's hard to make you root for a prostitute usually but I felt for this girl and found her character very likeable. Again though it's a shame we didn't see much of her back story. Having said all of this negative about back stories, I did love this film and will definitely watch it again in the future.

7.5/10 for 'The Equalizer' which places it at number 22 currently on the 2014 League Table placing it just below '22 Jump Street'. It could easily have earned a higher spot on the league, if only the main character's back story had been explored in more depth. Possibly in the potential sequel? Go see this if you liked Taken, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit or The Sweeney.