Review: The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Director: Peter Jackson

Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage

UK Release Date: 13th December 2012

Now i must say now that the Lord of the Rings trilogy are the films that really started my love of film so i had high expectations for the film we've being waiting almost a decade for. Well An Unexpected Journey isn't as good as those films, but it gives it a pretty goddamn good try. And the film manages to joyfully return us to middle-earth and me to the magic of the originals. Much has being said about the pacing issue due to the fact that this film is adapted from a little over 100 pages of the novel but for me the pace was no slower then in The Fellowship of the Ring. Once again the casting of film has being done just right, although with such a large cast of dwarves only a few make an impact. Among those standing out are British talents Richard Armitage, James Nesbet, Ken Scott and Aidan Turner. The old cast are all back at their superb best and it is a joy to see Christopher Lee and Ian McKellan share the screen again, and Andy Serkis's Gollum is his usual best. But the star of the film truly is Martin Freeman in the role he was surely born to play. New Zealand  looks fantastic in it's supporting role. Add to this the joy of Howard Shore's score and you've got the ingredients for a successful and brilliant return to Middle-Earth. Oh how we've missed you!!

Review: Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Director: Martin McDonagh

Starring: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson

UK Release Date: 5th December 2012

Now Seven Psychopaths may not be a bad film, but after watching it with knowledge of the fact it's meant to be a comedy and that it's made by the same guy who brought us the brilliant In Bruges i can't help thinking that it is quite a bad film ... The problem is the film is just not funny!! You can see where the laughs are meant to be but  there just not there!! The strong cast just seems to be on auto-act and even the usually splendid Woody Harrelson doesn't make an impact. There is a few clever plot twists but unfortunately these twists are not enough to make up for the lack of jokes. Another problem is that the film seems to believe that it is a superb laugh a minute romp and as Film 2012's Danny Leigh said 'If the film was even half as good as it thinks it is then it would be the film of the year' - yeah that's right i've run out of things to say so i'm stealing someone elses words!! You can't get away from the feeling though that this film could of being great if it had aimed not to be a comedy and maybe if their were a few decent roles for women in the film.

Is 2013 Going to be a Dark Year for Cinema?

Now if you've being keeping an eye on trailers for next years releases i think it's there to say you'll be able to see the influences of Christopher's Nolan's Dark Knight series on cinema and that can be seen in the darkness of the look  of two of the teaser/announcement/what ever the hell their calling them now trailers for two of next summers early big blockbusters.

A few weeks ago we got this rather Nolanesk look Iron Man 3:

And then just today we got our first look at JJ Abrams Star Trek Into Darkness:

 
It's obvious from the look of these trailers that both films are going to be a tab bit darker then what has gone before. And it cannot be doubted in my view that they both look like their going to be bloody good!! But when you look at the films been released it does seem that 2013 may be the darkest year in cinema history with Zack Synder's Superman reboot Man of Steel, Hugh Jackman's next bout as The Wolverine, The long Muted Sin City 2, The darkest sounding installment in Peter Jackson's new middle-earth trilogy The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and an even darker test for Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen in Catching Fire.

So you can see from that list that it may not be the happiest year for film but it does seem like it might be pretty awesome all the same and i can guarantee you that i would personally be queuing up to see all of these films. It does seem though that dark story-lines might be the newest trend in Hollywood and it's pretty clear Chris Nolan is probably responsible for this!! And don't worry if your not a fan of darker cinema there's still some great looking happier films coming out this year (if you don't mind going to see a kids film). I mean who isn't looking forward to The Smurfs 2?? Sadly i actually am....

Review: The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption (1995)

Director: Frank Darabont

Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton

UK Release Date: 17th February 1995

Have i mentioned before i'm not a good film student? Well because i've not seen many of the film 'classics' i'm often faced with the issue that when i come to view theses films they fail to live up with the high expectations people created for them. So how was the film that is the highest rated film on IMDb going to cope under the mountain of pressure put on it to be amazing? Well, i LOVED it!! Shawshank is a true Hollywood story of friendship in the face of adversity. It also manages to break one of the biggest film conventions and not feature a romantic subplot. Yes, it's a long film but still manages to hold your attention for its entire run. The entirely engaging way it looks at a setting that many of us will never set foot in is true cinematic brilliance and Darabont manages to get the audience to engage with characters that in any other film would be treated as villainous. At the heart of this is possibly the most likable and lovable actor of all time, Morgan Freeman, who is at the height of his talents here and is the actor who manages to hold the whole film together, surrounded of course by dozens of great performances. The Shawshank Redemption will go down in history as one of the greatest works of film of all time and quite frankly it deserves too. Utter Brilliance.

Review: Brave

Brave (2012)

Directors: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly

UK Release Date: 13th August 2012

Why did i ever doubt Pixar? Ok it's not their best film, but that would need an extremely good film to beat!! Brave is what a family film should be, serious issues wrapped up in a wonderfully visual world and with plenty of visual gags to keep you entertained. The film is based around a not so classic mother daughter relationship set in medieval Scotland and is Pixar's second venture into the real world, after the splendid Up. Of course the setting in Scotland means a stellar British cast including Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Cultrane and Billy Connolly. The core story line is nothing new but is still rather heartwarming and thankfully the main (and superb) twist was somehow not ruined by the promotional material released for the film. The final third of the film is made all the better for this twist (which i will absolutely not ruin!!) and is by far the most entertaining portion of the film and the ending will guarantee you'll leave the film with your heart warmed. So while nothing spectacular in terms of innovation Brave is still a lovely family film, would suggest watching with parents, and maybe even a good idea for a Christmas gift ;)

Review: The Thing

The Thing (1982)

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David

UK Release Date: 26th August 1962

Is it just me or are Horror films a bit crap at the moment? So i decided to go a little bit retro and before you start going on about how can a film student not of seen this film, trust me there's other films you'd be rather angry that i haven't seen (I never did say i was a good films student). So onto the film itself, as i mentioned horror films recently aren't really that scary, but thankfully films like The Thing still exist. Although not featuring a whole bunch of jumpy moments for a first time watcher you just can't get away from the tension that Carpenter manages to create right from the get go. At the core of the film is a human drama of who do you trust when you can't trust anyone. This of course means that the film has manage to age extremely well, and even when the titular thing appears it stands up extremely well when its on screen and is a heck of a lot scarier then some of the shit horror antagonists you get nowadays (here's looking at you guy from House At The End Of The Street). It's easy to see why John Carpenter's remake (yeah its a remake!!) is considered one of the best horror films!

Is It Just Me Or Is The Walking Dead Freaking Awesome Again!?!?

Now in recent weeks I've got to admit I've being a little bit disappointed with the standard of TV (I have being streaming stuff from America BTW). Big Bang Theory is just standard, How I Met Your Mother has had some good character stuff but seems to of lost a bit of it's comic edge, Doctor Who promised much but failed to deliver and the less said about Glee season 4 the better. But there has being one thing that's kept my hopes up that maybe TV isn't dead in the form of The Walking Dead season 3.

Season 1 was good, but it did have the standard struggle to balance introducing characters, i didn't find season 2 as bad as everyone else, but have to admit it does seem quite slow now thinking back. But now that the gang are back on our screens with season 3 they seemed to have upped the anti. Now it's kind of a given that the show isn't exactly what you'd call a happy hour of your life, but so far this season with had 4 thrilling episodes and one that was most simply one of the most superb and enthralling hours of TV ever (you must now i'm talking about episode 4!!)

Right lets straight down to talking about that episode!!! In case you haven't seen it i think i should really say Spoiler Alert - i think that should be big enough to warn away any walkers who don't know. The main reason i can think of for the success of the episode of the fact that it was so unexpected that in an episode that you wouldn't expect to have so many major events in it! I think we all knew that Lori was going to end up biting the dust this season but i never for a moment that she would end up giving birth so early on in the shows run. And not only that, but the fact that it came just minutes after we saw the death of another of the original characters. You've got to feel sorry for T-Dog he spends two years doing nothing other than being clumsy and then just as he started to become cool he's zombie bate. Oh and did i mention that another of the original characters could be dead as well and that the central character has gone a little bit crazy....

OK this post was really just to talk about how amazing that episode was but this season is shaping up extremely nicely. The addition of David Morrissey as the Governor has being a master stroke managing to be the perfect blend of nasty, nice and intriguing. Merle's return has being every thing we wanted and more and even Carl isn't really that annoying anymore THANK THE LORD. So in general TV at the moment is disappointing but The Walking Dead is defiantly the best show on at the moment and if it continues this way will be the best show on TV until it has to fight against Game of Thrones when it returns for it's third season!!

Review: Fast Girls

Fast Girls (2012)

Director: Regan Hall

Starring: Lenora Crichlow, Lily James, Noel Clarke

UK Release Date: 15th June 2012

Well some of you may have noticed that Britain sort of went a bit Olympic crazy this summer so it's only to be expected that we were going to get several films based around the event (OK so the main event in Fast Girls is the World Championship in London but we know its about the Olympics!!). I'm guessing you've seen a sports film before so i'm betting you can guess the major plot lines of the film and yep there's no real surprises there!! One of the main problems that i faced with the film was that i was going into it thinking it was directed by Noel Clarke, who created one of my favorite British films 4,3,2,1 and unfortunately Fast Girls suffers in comparison. The talented young British cast do the best with what little they are given from a poor screenplay. Yet despite this the film does manage to at least do what any sport film should do, I've got to admit it even though i wasn't a particular fan of the film it still managed to bring a lump to my throat in the triumphant ending. Shame the rest of the film couldn't quite manage to keep that sort of emotional attachment throughout....

We Need To Talk About Star Wars

Well i know you've being expecting this but it's time for me to talk about what is probably the biggest news of the year in film, maybe even longer. So in case you've been living with your head in the sand (of Tatooine) then you may have heard that Disney have bought Lucas Arts and thus the rights to not one but two of the greatest film series of all time, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and as soon as the deal was announced we got the news that there will be another Star Wars trilogy. Eeek!!

Now my theory about this news was that it is actually George Lucas's revenge for all the fanboys and girls who have had a go at him for the changes he made to his films!! See what you've done now!! Of course in 3 years time i may be eating my words when Star Wars Episode 7 ends up being a timeless classic! But for now i'm a little bit pissed off that the film world can't just leave classics to be just that, OK the prequel trilogy might not be up to the standard of the originals but they were always going to happen but another trilogy really? There are several ideas flying around that sounds promising but i just wish they would learn to leave things alone. There are several problems one being that if the new film continues the story line of the original trilogy Mark Hamill isn't really in a fit state to continue playing Skywalker the younger and they really cannot recast the original cast!! PLEASE GOD NO!! Also Star Wars without Darth Vader, that's got to be a big no go!!

I must mention that i really have no problem with Disney and when looking at what they've done with Marvels comic book heroes then it could actually be quite an exciting prospect. Also you can't forget Mr Jones who's got rather a bit of stick for his last outing, but it seems that Disney will want to cash in on the franchise before Harrison Ford gets a bit too old to pull on his hat, as i can't really imagine a lot of people will be happy to see a certain Transformers  star becoming the center of that particular franchise... So to sum up if it had to be someone i'm glad it's Disney but i really cannot imagine Star Wars or Indy for that matter without probably the most hated genius in Hollywood George Lucas!!

Review: Contagion

Contagion (2011)

Director: Steve Soderbergh

Starring: Matt Demon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet

UK Release Date: 21st October 2011

The idea behind Contagion is a rather good one; take a bunch of A-list actors, add a killer disease, see who dies and lives. It's a great idea and within the first 10 minutes Soderbergh kills of one of the stars, not giving anything away but they were in the highest grossing film of this year so far (if you've seen the trailer you'll know who i mean). Now i love disaster films were loads of people die and it's quite nice having a more intellectual one is a nice change. It's also nice to see Laurence Fishburne get a main role in a film, i know he does a TV show but i don't watch it. The one problem is that with the huge a-list cast no one really gets a chance to have much character developmental  so much so instead of using their character names all I called the character were by the actors names, never a good sign but i get the feeling that that might have being the point of the film. While watching the film you really do wonder who will survive and who will die and that helps to keep the interest going. The other problem you get the feeling that the happish ending doesn't fit in with the rest of the film and could be the difference between a good film and a great film.

Review: The Mist

The Mist (2008)

Director: Frank Darabont

Starring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden

UK Release Date: 4th July 2008

WARNING you must know before watching this film that it is, well, rather grim. The best way to really describe how grim the film is by pointing out that the TV show Darabont was responsible for creating and was briefly producer of, The Walking Dead looks like a happy walk in the park compared to The Mist. OK warning over, it must be stated that just because it's a little bit grim it doesn't mean that it's a bad film, in fact like the aforementioned TV show is a gripping look at a world ending event that instead of looking into the nature of the world ending event instead uses it as a way of being a study of human nature. This is anchored in an incredibly creepy performance by Marcia Gay Harden who is completely terrifying and utterly despicable. Darabont manages to balance the human drama with some jumpy action scenes that manages to keep you from getting bored. And that brings us to the end, an ending that will manage to drain all happiness from the world for at least a few hours but thankfully the film is of enough quality that it's almost worth it.

  

Review: Skyfall

Skyfall (2012)

Director: Sam Mendes

Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench

UK Release Date: 26 October 2012

Happy 50th Birthday Mr Bond!! We all knew we needed something very special for his birthday and thankfully Sam Mendes has managed to deliver with Skyfall. It's been a long wait for Craig's third film as Bond and thankfully Skyfall is closer to Casino Royale then Quantum of Solace. Not only does the film have excellent additions to the cast with Ralph Fiennes a particular highlight but it also uses the established pair of Craig and Dench, the latter finally getting her chance to shine after 17 years playing M, with Skyfall her M's seventh outing. But what really makes Skyfall a success is the way that Mendes and his crew have treated the film as a real love letter to the Bond films of the past, with the return of Q and a old classic beauty (and i ain't talking about a woman ;P) and even a love story to Britain itself with London and Scotland fantastically slotted into a story that is possibly the most British Bond film of them all. The Bond franchise has always being a franchise that is more about fun then any particular substance but thanks to the talents of Mr Sam Mendes, behind the fantastic American Beauty, Skyfall combines both fun and substance and is defiantly the most enjoyable of the Craig era and maybe of the whole series. Happy Birthday Mr Bond!!

Review: House At The End Of The Street

House At The End Of The Street (2012)

Director: Mark Tonderai

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Elisabeth Shue, Max Thieriot

UK Release Date: 21st September 2012

It was going to happen eventually but finally a Jennifer Lawrence film has let me down. OK so i know i shouldn't really be surprised that a B-movie horror film is a disappointment but the trailer for this one looked like it could actually be a little bit different from the trend. In fact the film is actually let down most by it's attempts to be ascetically different from the rest of the stuff out there. Another fatal lack is the fact that is meant to be a mix of horror, but surely you need to be at least jumpy to be a horror film, and thriller, again kinda needs to be at least a little bit thrilling. The mystery that runs through the film is just uninteresting and too ridiculous to make any lasting impact so defiantly don't believe the TV spot that claims 'you won't stop thinking about it for weeks' in fact i stopped thinking about it shortly after the 15 minute long conversation we had about the films flaws, well really more about how the film itself was a flaw. So my suggestion is stay well away from this film and if your a Jennifer Lawrence fan just think of it as the Attack of the Clones of her film career and just try to shove it too the back of your mind. 

Finally Some News

Now I know i've been a bit quiet recently but i've been very busy i swear, and i have been working on something for you although that is coming along quite slowly...

Anyway i actually do have some news i want to share with you. Ever since The Descendants was released at the start of the year i've known that Shailene Woodley has the potential to be the next big star, however there's been a bit of a problem; she hadn't even earned herself a major role. It must be said that she does have a TV program that will be taking up most of her time but finally there's news of a film role that has the potential to really kick start her career.

Well the news today has broken that she is apparently in talks to play MJ in the sequel to Mark Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man. Of course this could just be a rumor but i do trust Total Film's (http://www.totalfilm.com/news/shailene-woodley-to-play-mj-in-the-amazing-spider-man-2) judgement. Now to a certain generation of films fans, which includes myself, MJ will be known as the main love interest of Sam Remi's Spider-man trilogy were she was played by Kirsten Dunst. For me her exclusion from The Amazing Spider-Man was one of the few things that made the reboot different from the 2002 film, but her inclusion in the new film is an intriguing prospect with the almost inevitable creation of a Spidey love triangle. Hopefully without having a first half that we've pretty much all seen before will help the sequel to emerge from the shadow of Toby Maguire's bug man. There was already a great cast in place with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and the addition of Woodley is another step forward that could see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (working title) be the superhero film of 2014. Of course no Avengers Assemble or Dark Knight Rises will help that!

Best Birthday Ever!!

I'm going to point this out right at the start, this is just me showing off!! If you were a fan of my previous blog or actually know me you may of noticed that i'm a little bit of a massive Harry Potter fan and for my birthday this year my very lovely parents excelled themselves by letting me spent my 20th birthday here:

Yeah i was a little bit excited!! Well wouldn't you be? So as you might expect it was one of the best places i have ever been. Basically you get to go and have a looked around two studio lots filled with quite a few sets and props from the Harry Potter film series, you no the highest grossing British film series of all time!! You know sets like these:

So i'm not quite sure what else to say, as i mentioned earlier this is only for me to brag about having being to the Harry Potter Studios moohaha!! But if i'm being serious for a moment anyone who is either a film student or a Harry Potter fan (or both like me) this is a must see and i'm not going to give anything away in words but lets just say there's something rather special waiting for you at the end of the tour.

Review: Looper

Looper (2012)

Director: Rian Johnson

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt

UK Release Date: 28th September 2012

After a quiet 2011 it's fair to say that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has returned to the spotlight this summer, after his major role in The Dark Knight Rises and now clocking up two starring roles in quick succession in Premium Rush and Looper. It's fair to say that with the critics Looper has been a huge hit with the critics but for me that may just be the problem with it. When a film is built up as much as this has been in the Media, i read both Empire and Total Film so have been looking forward to this film for a while, it's very rare that you don't come out of the cinema a little disappointed. Maybe i would of been best waiting for the hype to die down before watching, and maybe I will watch it later and fall in love but for now Looper is just another Sci-Fi film. Don't get me wrong there's not a lot wrong with the film and i did enjoy it but for some reason i just couldn't fall in love with the film. The one superb point about the film was the work done by the make-up team in transforming Gordon-Levitt into a young Bruce Willis. Levitt himself is a perfectly adequate lead but the performance lacks some of the joy of his other performances. Maybe that's the problem of a very dark film, there's very little enjoyment that came out of watching the film for me. So to conclude a film that had so much potential comes up a little short but maybe would be best after the hype has had a little bit of time to calm down.

Welcome All

Hello All,

I would like to welcome you to my new blog. Now many of you will have joined having been fans of my previous blog which has unfortunately run its course and will no longer be updated. Now this decision was made because i was unhappy about several aspects of the previous blog and have decided a new start for a new year (I am talking about the academic year not the actual year i'm not a crazy person).

I have also decided that this blog may actually try to be a little bit more analytic and maybe a bit more intellectual (yeah i know fat chance). This is in order to help me improve my skills about writing about films, which is kinda what i'm meant to do be doing with my life.

OK so now i really should explain what i will be doing on this blog although i know you already now the basic format. This will mainly be used for reviewing films, talking about films and doing little features about films. Well i might occasionally talk about football and TV but probably not much more. Oh and instead of rating films out of 10 i will be introducing a new rating system which will see films given between one and five stars, it's going to be fun!!