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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
The greatest Gladiator match in the history of the world.. sort of
So first things first i am not a fan of Man of Steel, i really didn't like it. But also bear in mind that i was excited as hell when this film got announced. So Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice, how could you not be excited by that name? But like many i have some strong feelings on the film that need to be addressed and i will dive straight into them.
The film follows on directly from Man of Steel and the opening is very cool. We are shown the destruction of Metropolis and it was quite an interesting take on what most people hated from MoS. We are introduced to Bruce Wayne who was there when things were going down with Superman and Zod and straight off the bat (no pun intended) Ben Affleck was incredible. He gives what is in my opinion the most accurate and raw performance as Bruce Wayne and Batman yet, as one of the few people that was on board with Batfleck from the beginning that makes me happy. Jeremy Irons as Alfred i also liked a lot, but he wasn't in it enough and instead the focus is on less interesting characters such as Amy Adams' Lois Lane, who did nothing in this film and bored me.
So overall the Batman element was very cool and it was great getting to see him do some real detective work. Ben Affleck's take from that to the fighting style was very similar to the Arkham games but take that as a huge positive. Anyway, that being said the rest of the film just comes across in one word as Sloppily edited. Scenes will be taking place and then completely change into another scene that feels out of place and has no context. This happens a hell of a lot of times. I have no problem with Henry Cavill but in this film Superman is one of the least interesting parts. At first it is interesting to see him in the courthouse and he is on trial, people are trying to figure out whether he is a hero or a threat. I liked that, but i feel it is something that maybe should have been addressed in Man of Steel and not here because honestly it takes up most of the film and just comes across as boring after a while, especially when the film focuses on Clark and Lois for long periods of time.
So already it feels like a lot is going on, but there is more. My biggest worry was Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, i felt he was a miscast and guess what, i've seen the film and i still feel like he is a miscast. Lex only speaks in one liners for this entire film and it did not feel like the character although he was playing Lex Luthor Jr. It was nice to see Jesse put his own stamp in the character but ultimately it didn't work because as i was watching the film i was thinking "this guy would be great as The Riddler". So we have the subplot of Lex obtaining Kryptonite in order to take out Superman as well as creating Doomsday for no reason. Then we have Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman. I'll be honest, i thought she was awesome but the film would have been the same film without her. I feel she was used to shoehorn in other members of the Justice League who are all introduced, my favourite of which was Cyborg, but we do see Aquaman and the Flash too. Anyway, when Wonder Woman turns up it was an awesome moment, she had her own really cool theme song and the Trinity standing together was such a wow moment and it made me crack a huge smile. But yeah, she has her own plot so already we are getting ahead of ourselves and haven't even spoken about the main event.
So the fight happens towards the end of the movie and is resolved in about 10 minutes. The fight itself was really cool, Batman and Superman clashing was awesome and the dialogue between them was great, i like how they made Superman more human because you actually see him get hurt. The fight is so brutal but the way the two of them resolve it, well it was just ridiculous. And then we have Doomsday, who for one thing was spoiled in the trailer, but he didn't need to be here at all. He was like the love child of a 2012 Ninja Turtle and the troll from Harry Potter, but he was literally just a plot point to bring the Trinity together and to see them fight on the big screen for the first time which admittedly was cool to see.
In the end, i can't help but feel disappointed by Dawn of Justice. Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot are going to make great additions to the DCU and there are a lot of cool things to like. But the pacing is terrible, the CGI completely took me out of it especially during the weird dream sequence. The villain had no motivation and i forgot why he was after Superman and most of the characters, besides Batman and Wonder Woman, were uninteresting. Is it worth seeing? Well, sure but i know you will be seeing it anyway. Is the pay off enough? No it really isn't. It was cool to see the characters together but the film could have been so much more. I am however excited for the Wonder Woman movie and excited to see how they move things forward in later films so if the film was trying to be a tease for things to come in the future then yes it did succeed, even if in the end all we get is something that is 100% average.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
this is how you do tension..
10 Cloverfield Lane is 2016's biggest surprise, nobody knew we were getting a sequel to Cloverfield, but really we never were. This film carries the Cloverfield name but it actually has nothing to do with Cloverfield. None of it is filmed with hand-held cameras and honestly i found myself a lot more entertained by this one. I like the first film a lot, but this is a different film entirely and it really benefits from it too.
The film follows Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character who is involved in a terrible accident, but is "rescued" and finds herself captive in a bunker with Emmett played by John Gallager Jr. And Howard, a man who doesn't seem like the person he says he is, played by a creepy but incredibly well acted John Goodman. He tells her that she can't leave the bunker because the air outside is toxic and that they will all die, but is this as accurate as he says? Honestly the cast in this film is great. John Goodman has done some brilliant films and i love him as an actor, but i have NEVER seen him like this before. There are scenes where you feel bad for him and you want to really like him and then he does something where you're thinking "who the hell is this guy?!" There was more than one occasion where i jumped out of my seat and the tension really had me gripping the sides of my seat because it was so well done. There is a scene quite near the end where something happened and my hand instantly went to cover my mouth and i stayed like that for at least 5 minutes because it shocked me so much, there is no build up, it just happened.
Most of the scenes that take place in this bunker have an air of tension to them, even when John Goodman is wiggling his backside to music on his jukebox i thought, man this guy is hiding something. It is really easy to put yourself in the shoes of Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character because it almost makes you feel like you are trapped in this bunker with the three characters not knowing who to trust. A lot of people have issues with the ending of this film and yeah, i don't really know how to feel about it either. It happens, the film ends and you're sort of sat there like "hmm.. okay", i don't hate it like a lot of people do, but i see what they're getting at and it could have been handled a little better. But all in all, this is one of the best films of 2016 so far. The last 15-20 minutes are straight up tension fuelled madness and my heart was racing. I'd say watch it a few times because the ending may make more sense which is why i am going to see it again, but this is a highly enjoyable, intense thrill ride which needs to be seen
Fifty Shades of Black (2016)
a film that is a parody of a film that is a fan fiction of a film that already got a parody.. EUGH!
Here is my review in short. DO NOT SEE THIS FILM. It sucks worse than fifty shades of grey.. which is an absolute trainwreck. I didn't pay, but feel bad for giving any of my time to the film and as well as being unfunny it is incredibly boring, racist and horrendus. I chuckled about twice and one of those times was coz fifty shades of grey was read as a torture technique.. so well played. There was a skit involving whiplash which may have been bearable on SNL but not here.
All i will say is save your time and oxygen. Go and be with your family, be anywhere but here. Quite frankly i saw 10 Cloverfield Lane today and i'd rather talk about that so.. see ya.
The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)
the most unnerving cinematic experience in a very long time.
I've heard a lot about this film prior to going in. It is the sort of film that you either really like or really dislike and it is clear why. The Witch is a 1630s English folktale and it doesn't shy away from showing that. Things get very real very fast and i can easily say this is the most unnerving films i have been to see for quite some time.
By that i don't mean it is a jump scare fest. I've seen a fair share of horror movies this year and all of them have been complete tripe, with countless jumpscares and a put you to sleep kind of vibe. The Witch features my favourite type of horror, the psychological type, and with that it provided something truly unique. The plot is simple, a 1630s family is torn apart and plagued by witchcraft and terrible unsettling things happen. Of course a lot more does happen, and over the course of the film i felt more and more uneasy. I have heard people complain the 1630s feel makes it boring, but never once was i bored. I was transported straight to this time period and i was transfixed to the screen for the entire duration. This is very much a family film and every member of the family does such an amazing job. The father of the family plays his role so well and you are constantly guessing what he is possibly hiding. This film will keep you guessing the whole way through, but does a stellar job at getting right inside your head and under your skin.
The first scene where the witch was introduced to the audience happens quite early on, it genuinely terrified me. Not to the point i was screaming aloud and jumping out of my seat, it was a different type of terrified. I was glued to my seat, not able to take my eyes off the screen as the sounds from the speakers were ringing through my ears getting louder and louder until the scene changed and put me back into reality. All of the scenes like this were the same, they would consume and take you out of reality for a bit to remind you that what you are watching is something that could have easily happened. It was terrifying also how realistic this film actually was, i know it was only filmed over a course of 25 days but it feels like the camera crew literally went out to film a 1630s family suffering from the threat of witchcraft and put it into a 90 minute film. I love when a 90 minute film can pull you in so much that it feels like a lot longer.
I hope psychological horror makes a huge comeback, i said this when i reviewed It Follows and until now, nothing had quite compared, but The Witch does. It is the best horror for a very long time and is one that i will honestly be thinking about for well over a week because that is what this genre of film does for me. Go and see it in cinemas.. but if you are faint hearted then beware because it will keep you up at night, in the best possible way.
Anomalisa (2015)
one of the most beautiful, heartfelt, human pieces of cinematic art i have ever seen.. with no actual humans
Anomalisa, this film itself is a bit of an anomaly. Something that could have easily been done with two live actors is translated perfectly into a stop motion animation that looks and feels so wonderful. I swear halfway through i forgot i was even watching an animated film, i was so enthralled and mesmerised by what was going on in the film itself and it really is something that begs to be seen to be believed.
The film follows Michael Stone, who is such an interesting and complex character to begin with. He is voiced wonderfully by David Thewlis who gives this character such raw emotion and throughout this character is unpredictable. He sees everyone as looking and sounding the same (Tom Noonan voices all secondary characters in a creepy yet mesmerising fashion) and is fed up with his mundane life as he is lonely and depressed. He then meets Lisa who is incredibly different to him, voiced again perfectly by Jennifer Jason Leigh. He believes Lisa is the person to turn his life around and she is seemingly perfect to him, but by the end there is a shocking revelation but i won't spoil this for you.
Animated films are a great way to show raw emotion from a character, but never has it been done so perfectly. These characters are flawed and have deep desires and when they meet each other you feel nothing could be more perfect. I won't lie though by the end i was looking at my own life and thinking about all the flaws etc. I have because Charlie Kaufman is just so good at doing this. The relationship between the two characters are like a cross between Lost in Translation and Eternal Sunshine, the latter because at times this film gets VERY surreal. As a result, this film won't be for everyone, but it really helped me to connect to it. You will walk out wondering what is real, or what is a depression induced nightmare. But at the same time it is bittersweet, you look back and feel pretty good about this film but then you think to the core of it and it makes you sad you even thought that. So at the end of it all, it is an interesting Marvel to behold.
Please, see this film. It won't be out for long. Don't let a hard R animation put you off.. because yeah this film gets graphic and has probably the most realistic sex scene I've seen in forever. But i really hope people go to see this one, it won't be out for long, but like Lost in Translation i feel that Anomalisa deserves to be called a modern masterpiece. I hope it garners a cult following in years to come, because it would be much deserved.
The Other Side of the Door (2016)
what is it with horror movies and lost potential?!
Like, seriously. Here we have a film with a plot that genuinely sounds decent but the filmmakers are incapable of pulling off. Sound familiar? Well that is because this has happened already this year with The Forest.. but The other side of the Door manages to be even worse. Horror films used to be inventive and fun in a twisted way, but is that now impossible to pull off?!
The plot involves a woman who's son is killed in a terrible and tragic accident, she discovers she can communicate again with him through an ancient Indian temple, but is warned to never open the door. Of course, if you warn somebody in a cliché horror movie not to do something they are totally gonna do it and she does which brings all the spirits into the world of the living. It could have been done so well.. but i put emphasis on the COULD. First of all the son is evil now. Literally a line of dialogue is "he is evil". Now, correct me if I'm wrong but this was never explained.. ever. Are we supposed to just look at him and say "yeah that makes sense considering he's dead". There was no hint to this when he was alive and no back story.
Unexplained things like this happened a lot in this film and it really bugged me. Nothing was ever scary, not even the jump scares made me jump, which is a bad sign to begin with. Not to mention i drifted off many times for a few seconds over the course of the film.. which should never happen if i am enjoying something. By that i mean i did not enjoy any of this film. The premise is great but the way it was executed just felt so wrong. So in the end, this film is just another cliché horror garbage fest that i will end up forgetting about by the end of the week probably. I really hope i get the horror i crave by the end of the year, 10 Cloverfield Lane is why i remain hopeful.
London Has Fallen (2016)
chances are.. you have already seen this film.
And by that title i don't mean you have all flocked to see it on opening weekend, i mean as far as action movies go it is so bland and forgettable that it just feels like we have already seen it. I give London has Fallen a 5 however because i do not remember sitting in the cinema hating this film.. but i definitely don't remember liking it so much either.
So Gerard Butler returns as right hand man to Aaron Eckhart's president as they go to London after the prime minister has been killed. It started quite interesting really, all the world leaders were conviniently there but i thought maybe they will go all out this time and put all the world leaders at risk.. because at least then it adds something more for the audience. Nope, they are never seen again after things start to blow up. So yeah, throw in Morgan Freeman in a control room and we have our movie. The action itself was cool i wont lie, i was engrossed into it.. but then after an action scene had ended i would think oh yeah.. that happened in every other action film ever. So in that sense London has Fallen doesn't really have much of a reason to exist at all.
The friendship between Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart is very believable which i guess is a nice little bonus and Butler is pretty badass. The third act though.. it was nonsense. The CGI was just bad. For example a huge CGI flame chases the leads down a hallway. How they don't look like Anakin Skywalker from Episode 3 i don't know because i swear it went straight through them. But here's the thing.. i switched my brain off and if you quite literally do too then you won't have a terrible time probably. I don't hate the film, i don't really like the film.. i have no feeling towards it which is why i gave it the average rating of 5.
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
another solid Coens brothers effort.. just not quite a classic yet
I love the Coen brothers. They are responsible for some of my favourite comedy films including The Big Lebowski and Fargo so naturally i had high hopes for Hail, Caeser! Amazing star studded cast, interesting premise and a brilliant trailer. The film isn't quite to scale of those classics but it is a very solid film and i did have a lot of fun watching it.
Hail, Caeser! Is the name of a film within a film that provides the backbone of the movie. Josh Brolin is a top Hollywood screenwriter, Ed Mannix and George Clooney plays his leading man Baird Whitlock. When Baird is kidnapped from the set Ed wonders to himself why?! And that is about all i can say because the trailers are vague and i want everyone to go into this film not knowing too much because i guarantee you will have a better time. Now i did mention the cast is star-studded but by that i mean they all have very small roles. Clooney and Brolin are the only characters who get a huge amount of screen time and the story very much revolves around them, which is fine because they both shine. Especially Clooney walkibg around in an amusing roman get up. Scarlett Johansson shows up and does well as always but for a very limited and almost pointless time. Jonah Hill, he is just a cameo. I was excited to see how Jonah Hill would fare in a Coens brothers film but he appears for probably 30 seconds or less. Channing Tatum is great too though, he adds comedic flair but also has a big role to play in the main storyline.
Can i recommend Hail Caeser to a variety of audiences? Yes i can. Fans of the Coens will have a good time, media students like myself and screenwriters will have a good time and i believe general moviegoers will enjoy themselves too. There are a good few laugh out loud moments and it is a lot of fun unravelling the bigger picture. Like i said, not quite a classic yet, but maybe it can reach cult status in years to come.
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
awesomeness achieved
Kung fu panda is a concept so ridiculous that we think to ourselves.. it is actually genius. Jack Black returns as the lovable Po, and shows us just why we missed him so much in the years we had to wait. These films always deal with acceptance and Kung Fu Panda 3 is no exception, with an added family element. I give praise for this for the simple reason that Bryan Cranston is AWESOME and really stands out in a movie that already has some brilliant stars, he was so funny and heartwarming as Po's biological father and makes a welcome addition to the cast.
The story follows Po as he is asked to teach the furious 5 so Shifu can retire and master 'Chi'. After a bad session he meets his father by chance and finds out about a new supernatural threat from the spirit realm, played by the brilliant J.K Simmons. He adds his own stamp to this character and gives us a badass villain, like Cranston becoming a welcome edition. Po embarks on a journey to a secret panda village to himself master 'Chi' and take out Kai for good. So for a start the story is brilliant, it keeps everyone entertained and never lingers on for too long. The members of the furious 5 however do get less screen time, even Angelina Jolie's Tigress although she does play the biggest role of the 5. The standout for the limited screen time he has is Seth Rogen's Mantis. I don't know what it is but i love this character and wanted more of him.
If you are a fan of the other films in the Kung Fu Panda franchise like i am then you won't be disappointed. The film manages to stay on par with both previous films and has all the humour and kung fu action you can expect from it. If the franchise ended here i would be happy, i would love more from the characters and the world built around them, but i really don't want the franchise to outstay it's welcome at the same time. But anyway, go see Kung Fu Panda 3. It is much better than the forgettable London has Fallen and you won't regret it!
The Forest (2016)
great premise... strays from the path it encourages you to stay on
Like a lot of people, the overwhelmingly negative reception for The Forest didn't really put me off. I mean, sure i looked at the 10% rotten tomatoes score and thought "that many people surely cant be wrong?" But the film has a great premise which intrigued me, the problem is that it never managed to pull off what so easily could have made one of the better horror films in recent times. I mean, a few tweaks and this film could have been a psychological nightmare and a modern horror classic.. which is why it sucks that the film never managed to do that.
The film follows typical horror movie hot blonde Sarah (Natalie Dormer) as she embarks on a journey into the suicide forests of Japan to find her twin sister who is believed to have killed herself (also Natalie Dormer). What was interesting though is the underlying themes of madness within the forest. They were definitely there, but where they tried with the surreal imagery and the plot twists involving Sarah's overtaking madness, all it came across as was bizarre and not in a good way. Like the male character in the film, can't remember his name, but he was sort of a shifty character all of a sudden. There was no hint to it and then suddenly it is like "is he as bad as we are being led to believe?" Which again is a cool premise, but we needed to be slowly introduced to that from the beginning, not because the plot calls for it to suddenly happen. My theory is that he may have been that way because of her imagination and how the forest messes with her head, but it wasn't even made clear whether we were even supposed to speculate this, so he probably was just that way for the sake of it.
The setting looks great and creepy and could have had some real dark, psychological moments for us to be thinking about. What the film does is what most horrors do, which is rely on jump scares to lazily scare us. It doesn't work. The film wasn't scary and i really wanted it to be with such a premise. From the beginning creepy imagery and jumpscares are what we are spoon fed to be scared. The film did try i think, it had things there which worked, but as a whole it let me down. But Natalie Dormer does her best and shines as the lead and i have seen horror much worse than this before. In the end The Forest comes off as mediocre at best and i would only recommend if there is nothing to do and you happen to catch it on TV.