Looper

Just got out of watching Looper, and I’ve never walked out of a cinema feeling quite so stunned or speechless before!

And in Hein-sight maybe dragging my little wife along with me was a mistake? her words are that it was “Awesome, but emotionally scarring.”

The thing which my hat comes off for the most is that it takes a whole host of themes done before; Themes like telekinesis, time travel, loops, the power of choices and so many more. But chooses not to dwell on them in too much depth and instead makes everything it’s own. You can make comparison's to Twelve Monkey's and the Terminator's et al, but It is its own Film!
The film moves at such a marvellous pace, theres no time to dwell on many of the themes, but you enjoy it for the ride that it is (cliche?) Completely not what we expected, but it was so much more than we expected too.

But maybe they could of used Paul Dano a little bit more?

Prometheus

I am very much looking forward to get married this month, and that is why I did not take my fiancé along to see Prometheus!

I know that if I made her watch the second half of this film in particular, the event may just be cancelled...

The first hour of the film, in which it presents us with some amazing landscapes, universes and starts to raise questions was really engrossing, like eating a really delicious steak. But then the steak went cold, but I felt like I had to reluctantly continue eating, since it is Ridley Scott, and it does have no end of nods to the original films.

There were moments in the second half that were indeed bonkers, and one in particular that made me sigh.

It is however an above average sci fi film, but with the heritage behind it, still needed to be stronger.

The Dictator

...

A couple of reviews on The Dictator, the first coming from my Fiance'...

"It was vulgar, utterly ridiculous and not funny except for the Krocs joke, which shouldnt have been in this film"

Meine own...

Sasha clearly went for the most common/gross out toilet humour, but he remains for the most part, a master at comic timing. I must admit however a lot of the time I did find myself disparing and covering my eyes and flinching at some of the things him and his surrounding ensemble of characters were coming up with.

The political speech at the end, though well presented and certainly clever, did feel a bit like a tag on the end and the film was definetly lacking in the clever political satire that was prevelant in his earlier film, Borat.

The film itself felt rushed, but the jokes which required a set peice, were well paced; like I said, comic timing... Perhaps it was more like Monty Python and the holy Grail in structure, but not at all in quality...

On Five Live on 01.06.2012

Avengers, Assemble?

Avengers, Assemble?

There were loads of moments and laughs which kept me entertained, but there felt like there was no substance or depth to it. The plot seemed like nothing but a vehicle to allow those moments to happen. It was perhaps like eating a shared starter platter at a restaurant, lots of little bits of everything; Hulk Humour, Evil Loki, Shakespearian Thor, Stella Stellan Skarsgård but no main course to really get your teeth into...That sounds oddly familiar.

Good action film, but maybe its bitter sweet since only this week have they released a quite interesting trailer for The Dark Knight, Rises?

and Why, Why oh Why, did half way through the film, did the girl to my right have to check her phone? Was that really needed?


(Got on Five Live: 04.05.2012)

Salmon fishing in the Yemen.

It was a bit like eating a sharing starter platter at a restaurant. Lots of little bits of everything but too much bruschetta...

By little bits of everything I mean a touch of religion vs, science. A little taste of a different culture. A little sprinkling of political satire. A hint of why I love Ewan so...

And by bruschetta I mean too much focus on the love story.

A film that could have been braver and dealt with huge issues, but chose a safer option.


(Got on Five Live: 27.04.2012 )

Man or a Muppet

Its seems every review I send brings me closer to my date of wedding. The two seem intrisickly linked now. Gradually getting closer and closer.

Anyway

Two cents on The Muppets:

The Musical numbers were completely Genious and Amy Adams is wonderful but the ending still left me a little deflated. The build up of the 'show' designed to save the muppets theatre (spoiler?) seemed to rely heavily on Jack Black's mockery of their age and being there against his will, and then the worse sin: The Singing Chickens covering a song which made me think of the adverts I had seen for Alvin and the Chipmonk movies... There didnt seem to be any orginal content in the production they were relying on so heavily....

Final bit of praise to Chris Cooper's 30 seconds moment which induced both side splitting laughter and cringes!

And one more thing: Cars 2... I did not appreciate seeing on two ocasions the poster for it! uncalled for Product placement, and with the style of the film and the numerous references the fact we were watching a film  (Amy Adams states early on that this "will be a very short movie") they could of easily made this another 'injoke'...

Anyway, as always, Wish us luck on the wedding thing!

Chronicle VS District 9

My fiance and I went to see this film, both not to sure on what to expect. Having heard your glowing review and seen an interesting trailer I told her simply, "it was about three adolescent boys who may or may not get super powers".

When leaving the screening upon reflection I can easily compare it to when we watched District Nine. D9 was the first film we ever saw together as a couple and I described it to her then as "a film about refugees in South Africa", omitting the Aliens and Sharlto Copley. On both occasions my fiance has then informed me that I am never allowed to choose a film to watch ever again.

Chronicle had moments of genius, in particular the Spider moment and Father/Son interactions, and like District Nine, the main charachter at the start transforms throughout the film in such a subtle and dramatic way, that by the end they are almost unrecognisable.

We both agreed however that the ending was completely fine (except the music at the start of the end credits) and that the D9/Cloverfield-esk filming style worked really well.

Four months today we shall be married... Please wish us luck!

(Got on Five Live: 24.02.2012)

MI:4, S:H2 and War Horse

Three films in three weeks:

Thanks to a miracle that happens every Wednesday Myself and my fiancé (wish me luck) have been able to view some films of late. Here's my two cents...

Mission Impossible 4:

Something which hasn’t been brought up whilst the films been in the top 10 is the matter of the trailer, the appallingly made trailers that when both watched every single potential cliff hanger is revealed... But never mind; still a great action romp, even if the ending was a bit cheesey...*MISSION ACCOMPLISHED* (Spoiler Alert)

Sherlock Holmes 2:

Great fun, but a Naked Steven Fry (Hello to...) and Shetland Pony steal the show!

War Horse:

My pet hate could not be escaped: No subtitles. I know its a film and shouldn't be taken seriously, extend disbelief and so forth but when a German grand father speaks to his German grand-daughter in English with a German accent; a sigh could not be repressed, but worse still, when German soldiers are merrily in conversation in English with German accents and the German behind them is barking orders in German "Bewegen sich entlang" etc it just sucked me out of the movie and made me think appreciatively of Tarentinos Inglorious *Mild Cough*. On the whole though it did what I expected, heart strings torn at, shock was absorbed and tears even fell a couple of times.

Thanks guys and please wish us both luck as we have less than five months until wedding bells ring out

Twiglet: Broken Dawn - Quick Review

my last review was for another book-to-film attempt, HP7.2, which I thought ended with a whimper rather than the  Bang the book held.

 

This time around, as a labour of love, I took my fiancé to watch Twiglet Broken Dawn of an orange Wednesday...

 

Never being able to get through the first film, mainly because of my love of the first Lost Boys and the Blade films, (excluding the third) and having never read the book, I thought this would be a struggle... And it was...

 

The first 3/4s of the film feeling like back to back insufferable music videos being stapled together in succession when ever something seemed to happen...

 

Then the much anticipated Werewolf scene occoured, to which I gave a silent high five to my betrothed, making sure it did not interfere with the cinema Code... The scene was out of place, and hearing Darth Vader's voice bellow through the speakers was of course Bonkers, but it marked a turning point in the film and I started to get involved from that scene on... I hesitate to say I enjoyed it... The last 1/4 of the film was a lot better than the first parts, but something terrible happened... The insufferable music choice for the end credits, completely put a stake through the heart of my involvement in this film... But moments later Michael Sheen brought it back!

 

I understand I am not the target audience for this film, as being pretty much the only male, and the only male over 21 in the screening kind of showed, nevertheless, I expected to hate it, so to not hate the last 10 minutes or so was a sign of relief.