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Showing posts from 2014

(film review) - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

For as far back as I can remember, I was a TMNT's fan. Well to an extent anyway. I don't remember having the toys but I remember which ones were which, which ones I liked and why. I remember my first gaming console, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) had a Turtles game with it I got for my birthday. That game was cool. I remember going to the Arcades at the seaside and playing the 4-Player Turtles game where you had to save April O'Neil from the evil clutches of Shredder. Nearly every little boy had a Turtles T-Shirt and quite possibly, the bumbag and over little kiddie stuff, like Lunch Box etc. In more recent years, I got the 4-Player Turtle game I tried to play in the Arcade when I was younger, on my Xbox360 and I also got some other Turtles game (Turtles in Time) I think it was. So, imagine my excitement, being a slight fan, that they were doing another film. Yes, I was happy. The first film which came out in 1990 is older than dirt now. A reboot was indeed neces

(film review) - Horrible Bosses 2

So I've committed a sin. Well sort of. I went to the cinema to watch this film recently and I hadn't seen the previous film. This is something I don't often do. I don't go into the cinema to watch sequels to a film I have not seen before, but on this one occasion, I made an exception. I didn't know anything about the characters and the roles they may play or how their characters were in this film in comparison to the previous film, but I must say that this film was a good great watch. Having worked previously for horrible bosses (Horrible Bosses), the 3 friends, Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman), Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) decide to come together to own their own business and be their own boss. They think of their own product to sell but do not have the money to fund it. As they are looking for investors for their product, they approach Burt Hanson (Christoph Waltz) and his son Rex (Chris Pine) in which Burt makes a deal with them a

(film review) - Interstellar

Christopher Nolan flew onto the scene for me when he directed Batman Begins.  Who is this guy?  People were talking about Memento, something I had never heard of and how he is a good director.  Up and coming, I think I heard somewhere, "could be the new Spielberg.  Having seen Batman Begins, then The Dark Knight (in which I really enjoyed), then Inception (a film I LO VE!!!), Christopher Nolan was a house hold name at this point and I surely wasn't going to let this film slip by me.  I heard about The Prestige being a great film, but I was already invested with this movie from the moment I saw the trailer.  Space, futuristic space travel, saving humanity or something, vague first initial trailer, but I was going to see it regardless. Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is an ex NASA Pilot and now farmer, living with his two children, daughter Murphy Cooper (Jessica Chastain), son Tom Cooper (Casey Affleck) and father in law Donald (John Lithgow).  As the world is slowly becomi

(film review) - Guardians of the Galaxy vol.1

Marvel Studios took a huge gamble with Guardians of the Galaxy by making this comic into a film. If you did not know, in which you ought to, the over arching storyline regarding the Marvel Cinematic Universe films are, Thanos wants to destroy EVERYTHING! I'm not entirely sure if it is all life on particular planets or all life as we know it, but he wants to destroy EVERYTHING. This is the nature of his character. In order for him to do that, I believe, would be to Ashley Catchem the 6 or so Infinity Gems/Stones, attach them to the Infinite Gauntlet and he would be able to do whatever he pleases. He would be unstoppable. So, to understand this a touch further over the films, Captain America: The First Avenger and Avengers Assemble , deal with the Tessaract which is a Infinity Stone. There are rumours that there is another Infinity Stone in Avengers Assemble, but we will not see that, I'm assuming until Avengers: Age of Ultron. The other Infinity Stone was seen in the Thor:

(film review) - Transformers 4: Age of Extinction

There is a cult following of people who watch Transformers because a) They loved the cartoon series when they were younger and NEED to see the films. B) There are the NEW following of people who either never heard of the Transformers or didn't really follow the cartoons but they do like the new film franchise. And c) The people who have watched the previous Transformers, thought they were good, passable or shiet but keep getting hooked by the new trailers which promote the film and now they have to see the new one. Me?! I'm a little bit of both. I have liked or found the films passable but these films do definitely have their drawbacks. Plus those trailers be catching me EVERY TIME! Michael Bay is a great director, but a lot of people do not like him and I understand why. A lot of people also jump onto the "Michael Bay is a sh*t director" Band Wagon, but often forget the greats. Bad Boys 1 & 2 along with The Rock and more recently, Pain & Gain, just to

(film review) - Edge of Tomorrow

First and foremost, before I get into anything. Whether or not you like Tom Cruise, if you put him aside or don't even factor him in as the star, then you should love this film. I say this because I know some people who don't like him too much and I think he is cool. Maybe I am somewhat a fan and possibly, slightly bias but his films haven't all been poor to me. I've said before that, whenever he does a film, I do not see him as the character, only Tom Cruise in a different role, but with that said, even if it is just another Tom Cruise movie, this one is good. I'd also like to say that the marketing for this film is very poor. It is very confusing and as it seems like it is a futuristic film like Oblivion, some people actually thought this film was a sequel to that movie. No, it isn't, but I totally understand why you would think that. And I will tell you this for free. Although I liked Oblivion, it had a cool concept and the landscapes and scenery and spec

(film review) - 22 Jump Street

So, I remember when my boys first told me about 21 Jump Street. They both went to the cinema to watch it and said to me, well if I can remember the exact verbatim, "Bruv, you really need to see that film, it is soooooo much jokes, too funny" and I instantly thought of the trailer and was like, "ehh" and literally replied, "It just didn't look that funny or that appealing". After they reassured me, some months later I watched the movie and boy was they right. Although I'm not sure if I find it funnier than the Other Guys or maybe the comedy was more consistently laced throughout the movie, where the Other Guys to me, has sections of hilarious comedy, I still felt that 21 Jump Street was hilarious and I would indeed need to watch the sequel when it comes out. And right off the bat, the sequel to 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street is totally BEYOND HILARIOUS!!! As the film starts, it gives you a brief outline of what the first film was about with bo

(film review) - Godzilla

So, when I think of Godzilla, I think of two things; the first Godzilla film I saw which came out in 1998 directed by Roland Emmerich starring Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno; the second being Rush Hour. There is a scene where Chris Tucker mentions Godzilla to Jackie Chan. An honourable thought is, Hip-Hop group Gods'illa. The name says it all. Anyway, let's progress as I digress. A bit of a surprising film as I didn't expect a reboot. However, if I gave it some real thought, it would have came up at some point as Hollywood seem to be running out of ideas. So, this film is somewhat a reboot of the Godzilla film franchise and plays out as Godzilla being a terrifying force of nature. A myth of sorts. Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) a U.S Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer and his nurse of a wife, Elle Brody (Elizabeth Olsen) find themselves caught in the middle of a grand monster fight when Ford's father makes a discovery of the reported seismic activities

(film review) - X-Men: Days Of Future Past

For me, Bryan Singer destroyed X-Men from the very beginning. From when Wolverine was made center of attention, for me, the X-Men film/franchise was just nonsense. I mean EVERYBODY knows Cyclops IS the leader of the X-Men and although this didn't change in the film, having everything center around Wolverine just didn't sit well with me. This is not to say I didn't enjoy the X-Men films, X-Men and X2, but I made do with what Bryan Singer did with the franchise. With that said, X-Men: The Last Stand could not have been any more of a useless mass of mess and Brett Ratner needs to redeem himself with the new Hercules film with Dwayne Johnson. With X-Men: First Class directed by Matthew Vaughn sliding into the X-Men franchise and somewhat saving it, Bryan Singer had a lot to clear up from the mess he started with (although we dealt with it and accepted it), the diabolical nonsense Brett Ratner did and also tidy up a little of First Class. And just before I start the review, I

(film review) - 300: Rise of an Empire

Hindsight is a b*tch and sometimes it is really difficult to have a great idea, work off of it and try and construct a story which will gain praise through all different views or incarnations of said story. So you understand what I mean, I will just dive straight into this. 300: Rise of an Empire is a standalone film which does not need to be seen with the previous 300 movie. It revolves around the story of the Rise of Greece and the parts these characters play which lead into a story interwoven around this film and the previous film. The story is being told from Queen Gorgo of Sparta who tells her Spartan Troops before they join the battle of Salamis, the story thus far of General Themistocles of Athens (Sullivan Stapleton), who in the middle of the Battle of Marathon, kills King Darius in front of his son Xerxes. Darius’ Naval commander, Artemisia tells Xerxes of his dying words who then goes off to walk Barron lands and returns as Xerxes the God-King. As Themis

(film review) - The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro

I chose this title because it made more sense after watching the film. However, before I get into it, I want to point out a few things first. I have been following these comic book movies for a while now. I try to get enough information about these films, their potential storylines, the heroes and the antagonists. Spider-Man's marketing was relentless and barely stopped for a breather. From shooting, set pics, clues, mythos, potential enemies and the future of Spider-Man. With that said, Marc Webb IS directing a trilogy. Spider-Man's universe is going to be dynamic. So dynamic, they have planned future films after the original trilogy when that is complete with two spin off films and Spider-Man 4. Yes, as I said, dynamic. To the average movie-goer, Spider-Man is just going to be another Spider-Man film and people will not understand the contractual agreements these studios who have the rights to Spider-Man and people won't understand why Toby Maguire is not Spider-Man a

(film review) - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

So, I saw this film as an early screening after tons and tons of trailers and clips and EVERYTHING. Needless to say that this was most definitely OVERKILL and although the film looked great, I was pretty much sick and tired of it all. At one stage, I went to see a film and ended up seeing a 10 minute clip of CA:TWS and although it got me interested in the film, I couldn't help but think, "gimme the movie now, alright!". I felt it was totally unnecessary. So, as the film starts, I see the same 10 minute clip at the very beginning of the film that I saw before watching another film and I was upset. I've seen it all before. I was a little annoyed, but to be fair, the clip was excellent, so although I had already seen it, there were some great memorable bits I remembered and bits I didn't see as I was probably laughing too hard. And just like that, the film opens out into greatness! For those who do not know anything about CAP; Steve Rogers aka Captain America

(film review) - Ride Along

Kevin Hart has been doing a lot of films and people have been gravitating to this comedian's films like crazy.  For me it's a matter of, is this Kevin Hart playing a character as Kevin Hart or is this Kevin Hart playing a character as Kevin Hart playing a character in a movie? If that makes any sense.  Yes he is a funny comedian, but is he funny in these films? SHould he be funny in these films? Is he always the same funny guy character in all of these films including this one? Hmmm.... Ride Along is about a detective named James Payton (Ice Cube) who is on a undercover operation only to find that a lot of the crimes he has come across has been orchestrated by a man named Omar who no one has ever seen.  To make matters worse as James is chasing a ghost, James' sister is about to marry her boyfriend, Ben 'Blackhammer' Barber (Kevin Hart), a man he cannot stand and doesn't think he is worthy of her.  To add the salt into the wounds, Ben is a security guard try

(film review) - 12 Years A Slave

It is kind of weird that I am able to write about this film, but I cannot write about Django Unchained. I mean I have no real issues with the film and I have seen both of these films and where this film had basically brought me to tears, you would have thought the Quentin Tarantino one would have done the same, no? Well, I believe I know the reason for this. Quentin Tarintino's film was advertised as a slavery film when it was merely a film with a love and Slavery was a sub theme. With 12 years a slave, this IS in actual fact, a slavery film. You might ask what the difference is, but it is not hard to understand or comprehend that although both men where trying to get back to their beloved partner/wife, Django's story centred more around his wife and his "struggle" in trying to locate her, save her and be back with her. This film on the other hand is centred around the character himself and his struggle in reclaiming his own identity so he can go back to his wife. I

(film review) - 47 Ronin

He has been missing for a little bit, but he is now back. Well I say missing, but what was the last film you remember Keanu Reeves doing? I'll give you a moment. Right, for me it was Street Kings, a film I didn't get to see but if I have a moment today, I will try and watch that tonight. Keanu Reeves is one of a few talented actors who people say he is wooden, but he is quite versatile in my opinion. No, not all of his films have been well received, but Keanu has a fan base who are loyal to him and for me, I would say this; If a Keanu film is out, I wouldn't care about it much, but I would be intrigued and want to watch it. I wouldn't go as far as saying that he is a great actor, but he is a very competent actor who does come across wooden, dry and even monotone and dreary, but the films he choose always seem to "suit" his personality. 47 Ronin to me was a good film, but was lacking a little. I'll go into that later. Kai (Keanu Reeves) is a child without

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