(film review) - Bastille Day

When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I couldn't get my head past the annoying accents.  It looked like another British made film where the plot was half-hearted, pitched to be something Hollywood worthy but the budget always said otherwise and frankly, a pile of sh*t.  Although most of these ran true, I must admit, it wasn't a pile of sh*t.  I have seen worst, trust me.

A con-artist, Micahel Mason (Richard Madden) who comits different types of frauds and is also a specialist at picking pockets, is currently living in France and one night he purposely pinches a bag with a bomb in it belong to a woman named Zoe (Charlotte Le Bon).  Unknowing of the bomb and the danger, after not finding anything of any value or interest to him, Michael disgards the bag but unfortunately blows up an area in France.  Whilst activists and terrorist groups are plotting attacks on the city and with an upcoming protest on Bastille Day, Michael gets caught in the middle of it all as the CIA believe he is the bomber and call Sean Briar (Idris Elba) an Ex-CIA agent to help capture Michael before the French authority find him and before the situation escalates further than it already has.

As I said earlier, the accents were very unnecessary, but I believe I understand why they did it.  If Idris spoke normally, he would probably be seen as John Luther and if Richard Madden spoke normally, I guess everyone would just see him as Rob Stark from Game of Thrones.  So like I said, I get it but I didn't welcome it and it did leave me slightly unhinged throughout the entire movie.  There were a few twists here and there which were predictable for me, but all in all, along with the jokes littered throughout the movie and the action, I felt that this film was Idris' audition to become the next Daniel Craig in the Bond Franchise.  The fighting was really good and gritty. With a big hulking man like Idris, he isn't quite, The Rock, but looks as though he could throw down with the team in the Fast & Furious franchise.  Richard didn't offer much to be honest, but as I stated, this film wasn't quite the pile of sh*t I thought it was going to be.  So enjoy.

(film review) - Friend Request

There are plenty of horror movies out there and to me, they are all basically crap.  I've never really cared for these small movies as they are a run-of-the-mill and are never really anything great, but a few sneaky ones do slip through.  Do you remember Saw? It came out in 2004 and made for $1.2m and made a Box Office of $103.9m.  Do you remember The Grudge? Also 2004 and made for $10m and made a Box Office of $187.2m.  Do you remember The Ring? A little further back, 2002 and made for $48m and made a Box Office of $249.3m.  In case you do not see it, the point I am making is that, these type of films are made for a little bit of money and can make soo much money back, hence the reason why we get soo many of these films.

Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is a very popular girl at college she has 800 friends on Facebook and she enjoys life with her friends and family.  However, one day, a girl named Marina (Liesl Ahlers) sends her a friend request on Facebook in hopes to becoming best friends.  Not knowing anything about Marina, Laura accepts the request and becomes friendly with her, but when Laura does not invite Marina to her Birthday dinner, Marina becomes upset when she sees pictures posted on Facebook and angrily confronts Laura in college, publicly the following day.  In the confrontation, Marina states she will seek revenge on Laura and when Laura unfriends Marina, Marina commits suicide via webcam video and sends it to her.  After that Laura finds herself being stalked and harassed by Marina's demonic spirit.

This film was interesting.  I enjoyed it although it was predictable.  There were a few jump scares involved and a few things that creeped me out a little, but nothing to really write home about.  The film was most likely made for the price of a boneless bargain bucket from KFC and is likely to make soo much more money back as these films do well in the cinema, but with that said, we will see what it does and if it becomes the new SAW series and spawns countless more other films.  Watch if it is your thing or want to know how not to treat others.

(film review) - 10 Cloverfield Lane

The word Cloverfield packs quite a punch.  I mean, a film produced by J.J. Abrams in which, for the most part, not a single person knew what the film was about and I remember when I first saw it in the cinema, I was still confused at the end.  I hadn't a clue as to what was going on, how it happened and why.  That was 8 years ago.  Now, we have another film with the word 'Cloverfield' in it and AGAIN, once I left the cinema, I hadn't a clue as to what was going on, how it happened and why.  Is tis great directing or sloppiness?

10 Cloverfield Lane revolves around a woman, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winestead) who gets into an accident and wakes up in an underground bunker.  She is joined by Emmett (John Gallagher, Jr.) and the owner of the bunker, Howard (John Goodman).  The world outside the bunker is believed to be unsafe, told through stories told by Howard and Emmett and although Howard is holding these two people in his bunker to help keep them safe from the outside world, Michelle becomes reluctant to stay as she believes there is more at play and maybe the world isn't what she has been told to believe.  With that said, she is faced with endangering herself or her co-habitors in order to seek the truth.

This film is creepy.  It has tension and you never really know what the characters motives are.  Emmett, what is his deal? Howard, is he just crazy and insane or is he telling the truth and the world outside really is a mess.  Until the very end of the film, you never really get an understanding of what is going on and as soon as you do, you are thrown through a loop as things become even more unclear.

This film was good.  I'm guessing a lot more could have been done with a slightly bigger bunker and bigger cast, at least that way, there would be more people to trust, not trust and would have raised that suspense and tension a little more.  The acting from these characters were great and there are some comedic elements to it, but deep down, this film is a thriller.  A scary film where something sinister is lurking and monsters can come in different forms.  The only thing I would say is that, the ending of the film could have been a little better, but it is not certain that when the film is over, if this film is connected to the previous Cloverfield or not. Bizarre but worth the watch.  Nice popcorn flick.