As anyone who has seen Movie 43 will tell you , it doesn't matter how many big names you put in a film it doesn't make it any good . This is a mess of a film about a debt ridden gambler who drives a Limo and get's involved in all sorts of crazy ( not ) shenanigans with the police and the mob. Rammed packed full of well known actors , leading man Patrick Wilson is the only one worth watching here. Although Stretch is by no means as bad as Movie 43 it is a stinker and deserves to be confined to the bargain DVD bucket.
I have absolutely no idea how true to life Good Kill is , as i know nothing about the Drone programme in the US but if it is remotely ( no pun intended) like what actually happens then i'm totally gobsmacked . I found this disturbing. Do the American's really recruit people , some for their expertise on the X-Box , to blow up Afghanistan citizens on a probability factor that they may or may not be Taliban ? I Bloody hope not. Ethan Hawke is superb as the troubled Drone Pilot as is the gorgeous January Jones who plays his wife . I think this one is going to stay with me for some time.
8 out of 10
Have a watch of this by John Oliver on the US drone programme. As usual from him it's funny but higlights some frightening stories about the methods.
Yes i'm an avid watcher of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and did see that. It's extremely worrying.
I wonder how program's like this and Jon Stewart (big fan of both by the way) would have dealt with the fire bombing raids we launched against German cities in WW2 killing tens of thousands innocent civilians?
The difference is was that our bombing was fairly justifiable at the time, although it was the Americans putting pressure on us to bomb for terror rather than strategic reasons (even if it was 'strategic terror').
However it has been disclosed that since the war, the Germans had discovered nerve gas and there was pressure on Hitler and the Nazi command to bomb British cities with nerve gas. The only thing that stopped Hitler from allowing this was that they also believed that the British and Americans had nerve gas, however neither country had come close to discovering it. Had Hitler learned this, he would not have hesitated in using nerve gas on British civilians. The Germans got off lightly compared to what we would have suffered in this scenario.
John Wick is basically just another in the long list of revenge action films that have been released in recent times. It's enjoyable , it looks good but lacks any real substance. You can't blame Keanu Reeves for cashing in on the genre and to be fair , he is quite good as the assassin who kills dozens of men because someone killed his puppy! One thing i didn't like was the CGI blood when people got shot . It didn't look right. If you like this sort of thing then i can recommend it but it's nothing you haven't seen many times before.
Right so Avengers Age of Ultron. I won't post spoilers but I'll make reference to actors/characters in the film so just a warning.
Overall I thought it was good. The action sequences as you'd expect are superb, even with so much going on you can see clearly what is happening unlike other action blockbusters like Transformers. At times it did all feel a bit rushed, with so many characters involved (and some who don't appear) it felt crammed at times. A lot of laughs as well, some very funny sequences.
I've seen a few criticisms that it's a bit boring in parts but I liked those, it gave depth to certain characters especially Hawkeye which I enjoyed as it didn't have a big enough role in the first imo. Although maybe it was just me but Jeremy Renner looked particularly old. James Spader voiced Ultron and was excellent, the robot even moved his mouth like Spader and had his mannerisms which at times felt slightly odd.
It does have a few downsides. Quicksilver was good but his accent was awful. Scarlet Witch I thought was awful, just didn't buy the character at all. The plot was a little lacking too. Possibly suffers from the cramming as I've already mentioned but it does set up well for the third phase Marvel movies and the final two Avengers movies in particular.
I'd give it a 7/10, at nearly 2 hours 30 mins I didn't feel bored at all and it flew by, great action but lacking a little in substance.
One final thing, I watched in 3D, now I haven't been to see a 3D film for quite a while but at times during these I noticed frames being a little out of focus and had to blink a few times to correct it. Might just be me but it was a bit annoying so I'd suggest seeing it in 2D, I didn't feel the 3D brought much to it anyway.
Right so Avengers Age of Ultron. I won't post spoilers but I'll make reference to actors/characters in the film so just a warning.
Overall I thought it was good. The action sequences as you'd expect are superb, even with so much going on you can see clearly what is happening unlike other action blockbusters like Transformers. At times it did all feel a bit rushed, with so many characters involved (and some who don't appear) it felt crammed at times. A lot of laughs as well, some very funny sequences.
I've seen a few criticisms that it's a bit boring in parts but I liked those, it gave depth to certain characters especially Hawkeye which I enjoyed as it didn't have a big enough role in the first imo. Although maybe it was just me but Jeremy Renner looked particularly old. James Spader voiced Ultron and was excellent, the robot even moved his mouth like Spader and had his mannerisms which at times felt slightly odd.
It does have a few downsides. Quicksilver was good but his accent was awful. Scarlet Witch I thought was awful, just didn't buy the character at all. The plot was a little lacking too. Possibly suffers from the cramming as I've already mentioned but it does set up well for the third phase Marvel movies and the final two Avengers movies in particular.
I'd give it a 7/10, at nearly 2 hours 30 mins I didn't feel bored at all and it flew by, great action but lacking a little in substance.
One final thing, I watched in 3D, now I haven't been to see a 3D film for quite a while but at times during these I noticed frames being a little out of focus and had to blink a few times to correct it. Might just be me but it was a bit annoying so I'd suggest seeing it in 2D, I didn't feel the 3D brought much to it anyway.
This is a good summary. I enjoyed the introduction of the new characters, particularly The Vision and thought the action sequences were terrific, but similarly to Colthe3rd, found a few of the 3D sequences poor transfers (a bit blurry) and thought that they could have given a bit more back story to Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (as they played major roles). 8/10 still from me, Hulk vs Hulkbuster - great sequence!
Went to see a documentary called (T)ERROR last night. Absolutely brilliant. It follows an FBI informant during an active investigation of a suspected terror suspect. It is very well made and gives a very good insight into the very frightening actions of the US authorities. At times it's very surreal and hard to believe what is going on.
The film's directors won an award at Sundance for best newcomers. BBC Storyville are also behind it and I believe it will be shown on TV early next year but if you get a chance to see it before then then I urge you to.
John Wick is basically just another in the long list of revenge action films that have been released in recent times. It's enjoyable , it looks good but lacks any real substance. You can't blame Keanu Reeves for cashing in on the genre and to be fair , he is quite good as the assassin who kills dozens of men because someone killed his puppy! One thing i didn't like was the CGI blood when people got shot . It didn't look right. If you like this sort of thing then i can recommend it but it's nothing you haven't seen many times before.
Went to see the Avengers last week. Hadn't seen any of the previous films but really enjoyed it. It's not going to change your life but if you're looking to be entertained then give it a go.
I finally saw some movies flying to and from Dubai last week. Interstellar was a bizarre let down, and did'nt grip me much. Ex Machina was interesting, the Wedding Ringer was just awfull, i loved Mr Turner, but in spite of my anger about Peter Jackson constantly meddling with the original plot, the one I liked best was the Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. I think maybe even Tolkien might have liked how he treated Thorin and Fili and Kili.
With the football season over , the next best thing to do on Saturday afternoon is take in a film so the kids dragged me along to see Avengers: Age of Ultron. While i found it entertaining and the special affects were great as usual , this is pretty much just more of the same as the last film. It's funny in parts but nowhere near as much as Guardians of the Galaxy but the thing that really struck me was the product placement. It's staggeringly blatant. My 12 year old son asked me afterwords , "if they are all superheroes and they have all the mind blowing gadgets , why are they driving Audi's and using Samsung tablets?" . He has a point because It did look like one big entertaining commercial. This killed a few hours on a football-less afternoon but it won't stay long in the memory.
This was a real struggle. I don't know how many people find movies that involve tapping at keyboards exciting but i'm not one of them and especially so after watching this. Chris Hemsworth plays an unlikely computer hacker who is out to steal money from the bad guys , for what reason , i'm still not sure ( or care ) and his female accomplice is the the lovely looking but utterly wooden actress Wei Tang. I don't know what's got into director Michael Mann since he made Last of The Mohicans and Heat but his stock has gone way down hill for me. If you thought Miami Vice was a bad film then you ain't seen nothing yet til you see BlackHat. Utter tosh.
On the Avengers product placement. I agree it was extremely blatant, probably because it seemed out of place like Bruce Banner wearing Beats headphones, conveniently some Adidas correct sized trainers just waiting for Quicksilver, pretty much all cars being Audis plus many more. I think done right it's fine for films and TV to use and can help create a more realistic setting but in this instance it is so blatantly driven by profit for a franchise that is worth billions anyway.
Just back from Mad Max: Fury Road and have to say it: all those glowing reviews it's had?... are bang on the money. Absolutely spot on rendition of barking mad chase extravaganza and stunt work, the balance between the sheer nuts of the stunts and the focus of keeping the whole thing moving is extraordinary. There is an argument that slam-bang crash driving-stunt explosions and audacity movies shouldn't be judged as art... this says otherwise. The performances are surprisingly strong if deliberately minimalistic (Max gets maybe 30 lines in the whole film, half of those come in the first five minutes); it's Max's name on the poster but it's Charlize Theron's film and she walks away with it. Fantastic.
Yeah Mad Max is batshit crazy. Very entertaining. I was hoping it wouldn't be one long chase, just to see Max do a bit more than fight. But even still, it's a relentlessly entertaining action movie. Although Max isn't really the protagonist. He takes a backseat to Theron's character but it makes sense really so that's not a major gripe. Some of the stunts are just nuts but you hardly notice they're stunts or effects because the world it's occurring in is very convincing.
I love the originals. I wouldn't say they are dated, the whole look and feel was a post apocalyptic world with battered up old muscle cars and trucks in a wasteland.
Haven't seen the new one but from what I can gather it is quite different from the first, in fact it is intended to be the fourth installment of the series.
Stylistcally Miller hasn't forgotten how to make a Max movie. There's plenty of little touches that remind me of the first three. Crash zooms, nonsense dialogue, midgets. This is by far the biggest budget one though.
Not a huge fan of the first movie but I still thoroughly enjoy part 2 and a lesser extent part 3. The fact that Fury Road only hints at his backstory implied to me that this is a sequel and not a reboot.
I am going on very vague memories but in theory it should be able to fit in anywhere after the first one. Miller leaves it vague on purpose I think, and you don't have to have seen any of the others for this one to make sense.
HIGHLY recommended! "Last Shop Standing" - A wonderful series of interviews that highlight the fall, and now (vinyl) renaissance of British record shops.
The Canal is a genuinely creepy Psychological horror film about a family who moves into a house that has an horrific history and it's past starts to influence their lives in a dramatic way. Not being a great lover of Horror films ( they bore me more than scare me) it's good to come across an independent film like this that actually does the job it's meant to. Sure , it's silly at times and the decision making by the characters is puzzling at best but i found it really watchable and i really liked the ending. The acting from the child , who must be no more than four years old , is really good too.
Comments
Stretch
As anyone who has seen Movie 43 will tell you , it doesn't matter how many big names you put in a film it doesn't make it any good . This is a mess of a film about a debt ridden gambler who drives a Limo and get's involved in all sorts of crazy ( not ) shenanigans with the police and the mob. Rammed packed full of well known actors , leading man Patrick Wilson is the only one worth watching here.
Although Stretch is by no means as bad as Movie 43 it is a stinker and deserves to be confined to the bargain DVD bucket.
3 out of 10
However it has been disclosed that since the war, the Germans had discovered nerve gas and there was pressure on Hitler and the Nazi command to bomb British cities with nerve gas. The only thing that stopped Hitler from allowing this was that they also believed that the British and Americans had nerve gas, however neither country had come close to discovering it. Had Hitler learned this, he would not have hesitated in using nerve gas on British civilians. The Germans got off lightly compared to what we would have suffered in this scenario.
John Wick
John Wick is basically just another in the long list of revenge action films that have been released in recent times. It's enjoyable , it looks good but lacks any real substance.
You can't blame Keanu Reeves for cashing in on the genre and to be fair , he is quite good as the assassin who kills dozens of men because someone killed his puppy!
One thing i didn't like was the CGI blood when people got shot . It didn't look right.
If you like this sort of thing then i can recommend it but it's nothing you haven't seen many times before.
6 out of 10
Overall I thought it was good. The action sequences as you'd expect are superb, even with so much going on you can see clearly what is happening unlike other action blockbusters like Transformers. At times it did all feel a bit rushed, with so many characters involved (and some who don't appear) it felt crammed at times. A lot of laughs as well, some very funny sequences.
I've seen a few criticisms that it's a bit boring in parts but I liked those, it gave depth to certain characters especially Hawkeye which I enjoyed as it didn't have a big enough role in the first imo. Although maybe it was just me but Jeremy Renner looked particularly old. James Spader voiced Ultron and was excellent, the robot even moved his mouth like Spader and had his mannerisms which at times felt slightly odd.
It does have a few downsides. Quicksilver was good but his accent was awful. Scarlet Witch I thought was awful, just didn't buy the character at all. The plot was a little lacking too. Possibly suffers from the cramming as I've already mentioned but it does set up well for the third phase Marvel movies and the final two Avengers movies in particular.
I'd give it a 7/10, at nearly 2 hours 30 mins I didn't feel bored at all and it flew by, great action but lacking a little in substance.
One final thing, I watched in 3D, now I haven't been to see a 3D film for quite a while but at times during these I noticed frames being a little out of focus and had to blink a few times to correct it. Might just be me but it was a bit annoying so I'd suggest seeing it in 2D, I didn't feel the 3D brought much to it anyway.
The film's directors won an award at Sundance for best newcomers. BBC Storyville are also behind it and I believe it will be shown on TV early next year but if you get a chance to see it before then then I urge you to.
Enough of the dystopian future films now.
Thoroughly enjoyed this, good story.
7/10
Avengers: Age of Ultron
With the football season over , the next best thing to do on Saturday afternoon is take in a film so the kids dragged me along to see Avengers: Age of Ultron.
While i found it entertaining and the special affects were great as usual , this is pretty much just more of the same as the last film.
It's funny in parts but nowhere near as much as Guardians of the Galaxy but the thing that really struck me was the product placement. It's staggeringly blatant.
My 12 year old son asked me afterwords , "if they are all superheroes and they have all the mind blowing gadgets , why are they driving Audi's and using Samsung tablets?" . He has a point because It did look like one big entertaining commercial.
This killed a few hours on a football-less afternoon but it won't stay long in the memory.
6 out of 10
Blackhat
This was a real struggle.
I don't know how many people find movies that involve tapping at keyboards exciting but i'm not one of them and especially so after watching this. Chris Hemsworth plays an unlikely computer hacker who is out to steal money from the bad guys , for what reason , i'm still not sure ( or care ) and his female accomplice is the the lovely looking but utterly wooden actress Wei Tang.
I don't know what's got into director Michael Mann since he made Last of The Mohicans and Heat but his stock has gone way down hill for me. If you thought Miami Vice was a bad film then you ain't seen nothing yet til you see BlackHat.
Utter tosh.
3 out of 10.
And is the latest Mad Max film the same as the first original Mad Max film?
Haven't seen the new one but from what I can gather it is quite different from the first, in fact it is intended to be the fourth installment of the series.
Not a huge fan of the first movie but I still thoroughly enjoy part 2 and a lesser extent part 3. The fact that Fury Road only hints at his backstory implied to me that this is a sequel and not a reboot.
The Canal
The Canal is a genuinely creepy Psychological horror film about a family who moves into a house that has an horrific history and it's past starts to influence their lives in a dramatic way.
Not being a great lover of Horror films ( they bore me more than scare me) it's good to come across an independent film like this that actually does the job it's meant to.
Sure , it's silly at times and the decision making by the characters is puzzling at best but i found it really watchable and i really liked the ending.
The acting from the child , who must be no more than four years old , is really good too.
6 out of 10