The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is unfortunately still not up to the par of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The good news is that it is a lot better film than the first one.

My rating is somewhat biased as the film is really not as good as some other 8/10 ones of this year, but to be frank and honest I'm happy about giving it some extra merit. Its my type of thing. I love the LOTR movies and would in fact class them in second place, as one long movie, right behind the good ol Goonies in my list of favourite movies ever.

Continuiing my frankness and honesty, the movie has some problems. Its probably the worst edited Peter Jackson film I've yet seen and is still too bloated. The editing, Im sure, comes down to the fact that it would have started life as the ending film in a two part series, and was then hastily re-cut into a middle of three part series. Its most evident towards the end where Smaug and the Dwarves are doing their thing, and the people back in Lake Town are doing their own thing. For some reason the editing keeps cutting back and forth between these two very removed points of action and it spoils the single best part of the movie: the dragon!

SMAUG, Wow! He is perfect. The style of him, the way he moves, the way he talks, the way he breathes fire, the way he sleeps under his gold, the way he smiles, all of it is perfect. And if there was one thing to get right in this movie it was Smaug. Thats where I get disappointed, because I can see in the first movie and in this one what the important parts of the story were which received the time and attention to detail they needed: The Trolls, The Riddles in The Dark, The Dwarven banter, Bilbo, Gandalf, The Ring, Smaug, Lake Town, The Elves, Mirkwood, are all LOTR qualtiy or better. There is just so much other crap stuck in between these moments that it detracts from them and makes the two movies feel flatter, less emotional, more plastic.

With the LOTR there was too much source material and so the writers and PJ had to trim down the fat and make it as good as it could be, which was near perfect. With the Hobbit they intentionally went in and added fat which is just plain disappointing, obvious and quality detracting. I really cant wait until a Fan Edit is made of the three films cut down to one or two combining the key moments and getting rid of the unnecessary stuff, but ultimately wish the series was one stellar 3 hour movie, or maybe two 2 hour movies. Not three 3 hour ones, its almost silly.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a bit bloated and its badly edited as a result of this, but at its core its a funny, beautiful, dark, impressive, action adventure fantasy movie of the type that rarely gets greenlit. For that I love it and will watch it over and over. Ill grumble at the stupid scenes and the bad editing (or maybe Ill do my own Fan Edit), but I'll also suck my breath in awe at other times. I saw this film in a packed cinema in HFR 3D and recommend you do the same. Its that kind of movie. And in that setting you can forgive the bad parts and just enjoy the ride, which is one hell of an adventure!

SCORE: 8/10

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Hours

Hours is an low budget indy (4 million) starring Paul Walker and directed by Eric Heisserer (The Thing 2011, Final Destination 5).  It is set within a hospital during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Nolan (Walker) has just lost his wife in child birth and his very premature baby girl is placed in a ventilator to aid breathing.  The hospital is evacuated as the city is flooded and Nolan is left behind to care for his daughter as conditions go from bad to worse.

There was a lot I appreciated about this movie.  Being low budget you need to be clever about things and as the entire story was set within the hospital it was not only a great way to reduce set & location costs but created a nice claustrophobic feel.  Walker showed a lot of depth in this role - I think I would say it's the best performance I have ever seen from him. (R.I.P)   With the power out he must keep the ventilator going with a crank generator and dying backup battery which becomes one of the main elements of the story as he can only leave the room for minutes at a time before having to return to re-charge.

Despite the above positives I found myself getting a little bored at times.  The generator was a realistic and interesting element but it almost became the entire movie.  A few other things were thrown in the mix - a stray dog, some violent looters but that's about everything.  I'm not sure if this was based on a true story, nothing was noted at the start or end of the film.  If it was I can understand sticking to the truth, but if not some extra story elements would have kept up the pace and cured the boredom.

I wouldn't rush out to see this one unless you're a big Walker fan.  If there's nothing else on the cards give it a go, it's not terrible.

6/10

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10 Favourite Christmas Movies

1. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
Drum roll please ..... Ah, this is such great movie for when the season is a bit nipply. Did I say nipple? Oh, well, there is a nip in the air. Chevy Chase at his absolute best and my role model as a Dad. Seriously.

2. Home Alone
The opening music plays and you are hooked. This movie is perfect. Its funny, sad, scary, adventurous, has a great lead actor and scuplted a whole generation of younguns wanting to be left alone for just one Christmas! And it has the best scream this side of the Wilhelm.

3. Love Actually
Shhhh.... Mike and I both secretly love this movie. But, because its essentially a Rom Com we tend to hide our true feelings. Sexist? No, just insecurity. The main draw for this movie is its stunning writing in being able to weave so many differing story lines together on the beautiful backdrop of Keira Knightley London.

4. Die Hard
Maybe the best action movie ever, is also one of the best Christmas movies ever. How awesome is that?!? Ho Ho Ho.

5. Leathal Weapon
C'mon! It opens with Jingle Bell Rock, has a simply fantastic scene in a Christmas Tree yard and its worth being in this list just because its friggin awesome!

6. Santa Claus
The movie I watch each and every year at Christmas time. Its old school with Dudley Moore and John Lithgow and that sweet and wonderous 80' feel, comparing the excesses of the time with ancient morals. I love it. It has problems and its not perfect, but to me its sincere and captures that warm Christmas Spirit better than any other Christmas movie.

7. Gremlins!
Ah, those disgusting Gremlins, so perfectly counter balanced by Gizmo and set at the most wonderful time of the year. A precious mix of childlike horror, gross out comedy and sweetness only the 80's can produce.

8. Bad Santa
I must confess to never having seen this movie but Mike rated it highly so I will have to bump it up my list.

9. Polar Express
The only factor that makes this movie short of an all time great is the uncanny valley. That term refers to that weird vacant and uncanny expression the somewhat realistic human characters have. Avatar dimished that substantially but this film suffer from it unfortunately.

10. Rare Export
Another I had not heard about until creating this list with Mike, but another going straight to the top! Check out this trailer:
 
Mike and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Next on our movie watching list at the cinema is The Hobbit so look out for a review shortly.
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Prisoners

How far would you go to find your kidnapped daughter?

Prisoners would have to be one of the most polished films of the year.  I was completely engrossed in every shot of the movie just loving the unique positioning of the camera, the clarity, the beauty.  Director Denis Villeneuve and his team capture the tone of the dark subject perfectly.

Then combine this with an incredible cast. Hugh Jackman,  Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard and Paul Dano amongst others not so well known yet still great actors/actresses.  Jackman is very convincing playing the desperate father who in his own mind is forced to cross the line and take matters into his own hands.  Howard is good as the father of the other victim - acting almost as a voice of reason to the out of control Jackman. 

My favourite performance though was Jake Gyllenhaal playing the obsessed detective Loki.  A man who has solved every case he has been assigned.  Although as the story played out it felt he was always a step or two behind, his persistence never wavered and we can see the reasons for that perfect record.   My only complaint with Loki is we are given very little, if any background on him.  He is obviously a dark and complicated man but any cause or reason for this is left up to our imagination.  I'm sure the name 'Loki' (The father of Hel in Norse mythology) is deliberate... I just would have liked to see a bit more fleshing out here.

Dano is worth a mention as well playing the simpleton Alex Jones.  With an IQ of 10, Jones becomes a very interesting character as you're never quite sure if there is more to him or if he is just a diversion.   Prisoners is one of those thrillers with many suspects and as the movie plays out you will change your mind a number of times.  I wouldn't rave that the ending is going to blow any minds however it very deliberately challenges the previous actions of the characters and further blurs the lines of right and wrong.  Hard to say more on this without giving too much away.

I highly recommend checking this thoughtful drama/thriller out.   For me I don't think the re-watch value is super high but for a first watch it was a damn good ride.

8/10

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#Tropfest


So last night was Tropfest 2013 and Mike and I caught up to watch it with a mate and live tweet our reactions to all of the shorts as we watched them. I will embed our tweets below for all to see. Amazingly one of them even made it onto the TV and we both chuckled that it was like in Speed: "Interactive TV, Jack. Wave of the future!" Love Dennis Hopper.

Our thoughts for the festival as a whole are that this was a particularly great year. The entries were varied in genre, scope, budget and style and that is exactly what we want from such a festival. We took a fairly hard stance on our scores for the films as we needed to differentiate them from one another, so we were not all that lenient in that if there was an issue or two, it lowered the score significantly. We ended up with all but two of the sixteen films getting a 5/10 or better and three of them scoring a 7 and another three an 8. Hopefully we get one of our films up there one day and some of you can score us and give us feedback too!

Refreshingly the film we thought was best was the one that actually won and also snagged the best actor award, so our thoughts around what type of short films to make and how to work them seem to be in line with this particular festival.

The two negatives from the festival as a whole are that there is nowhere to watch it live in Adelaide, on a big screen in amongst an audience which we feel is a tad unfair. And the second is almost all of the finalists came from NSW. We don’t quite know why. Is it just more entries from there, more people or what? But it would be nice to see other states show up.

Our thanks to the team who put on the festival for making it so polished and professional and our congratulations to all of the finalists! Mike and I are incredibly envious and even though we are putting a rating on your work we know how hard it is to even get a finished product, let along become a finalist in a festival. Well done, we cannot wait to see what each of you accomplishes next. We also cannot wait to see what the other 600 plus entrants come up with next year.

Finally, thanks to SBS 2 for at least giving us Adelaidians a way to see it. Maybe if the broadcast could be live next year instead of half an hour behind, or even better, if there was a live outdoor location to go to that would be brilliant!
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All The Boys Love Mandy Lane


Goddamn this is a good movie! I was sitting there watching what was going on, enjoying the first 10 minutes or so and trying to think why it all felt so familiar, so comforting (as much as a horror film can be comforting). It started to dawn on me that All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is kind of a throwback to the 'fun' slashers of the 90's. Things like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream and even Can't Hardly Wait (which I know isn’t a slasher) instantly started springing to mind.

I fondly remember watching those movies and realising very quickly that they were not realistic portrayals of life, nor were they designed to be. They were simply what they were: a bunch of beautiful people put into a situation that causes them to be methodically and slowly murdered over a 90 minute period of time. And there is something refreshing about a movie with such a simple goal to achieve, that you as the viewer are happy to buy into. Some of my problems with modern horror is either its attempt to be super realistic or its attempt to be some extravagant complex beast that you get lost in. Something simple and upfront is much easier to get involved in and appreciate it’s just a story.

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a perfect example of being clear and concise. It uses the clichés perfectly without hiding from them, but it has enough of its own personality to be able to stand on its own two feet. It’s not hard to see where it’s all going but there are enough characters and options that you are not 100% sure what is going on until the very end, even if you think you know, and that’s the sign of a great movie.

I can see this as the benchmark for what Mike and I would like to achieve on our debut feature length movie. It’s the type of thing we always talk about but done as perfectly as it could be given the constraints of a debut feature horror flick. If I had made this film I can imagine sitting back in my chair after the final edit is done and feel a deep satisfying excitement come over me, which is exactly what happened to me as the viewer of this movie, and which is exactly the goal I would be going for making a horror film like this.

SCORE: 8/10

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Red Obsession


Red Obsession is a documentary about wine. This is a website about movies. Mike and I like movies, and we like wine, so this review is totally going to be biased. Aside from that fact, however, you should still go out and watch this doco.

Why? Well, my wife doesn't like movies much, nor wine for that matter, but she did enjoy this documentary a lot. It focuses primarily on the changing wine industry and how globalisation is causing a real shift in who is buying the wine, where the buzz is and how the industry is coping with this change.

It mainly focuses on the French region of Bordeaux which by default is the most famous of wine regions. It does this because China in its dramatic climb up the money ladder over the past few decades has become rather fond of a drop or two of a nice Bordeaux. Infact it has been enjoying it so much that the average bottle prices have gone up 1000's of percent. We are talking $25,000 for a single bottle of wine. We are talking auctions where people are literally spending millions of dollars buying cases of wine. It’s insane.

And it’s a real contrast to what used to be the classic, romantic, la société d'appréciation du vin. Instead of French and European people getting together all toffee like and sipping on their wines in their gardens and being a big haughty taughty, you now have these billionaire Chinese people ringing up on the phone saying they want to buy every single bottle of the 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild left in the cellar at the Chateaux. To put it simply the French said "I fart in your general direction."

If you like your wine and you like your documentaries, you will be hard pressed (pun intended) to go past this little gem. It’s beautifully filmed and I had no idea that Bordeaux looked like this causing it to go high on the list of places I want to visit. It’s entertaining with the crazy Asian richies and their eccentric nature and it’s narrated by Russel Crowe.

Go get a red, open it, sit back and enjoy the film. SCORE: 8/10

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The World's End

A lot of anticipation coming into this one.  Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, the legends who brought us Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz now give us "The World's End" to complete their trilogy.

On the acting side though, Pegg and Frost are just absolutely brilliant.  There's only two of them but they kind of feel like the U.K 'Frat Pack'...

I loved Shaun of the Dead, thought Hot Fuzz wasn't quite up to scratch and am very disappointed to report that The World's End was also a bit of a let down.   It's frustrating though as all of the ingredients were there for a top movie.   The story is great and within the first 20 minutes I felt like ringing up the old crew and seeing who was keen for an old fashioned pub crawl.   Also loved the 'turns' in the story and was keen to see it through until the end.

The problem is it just wasn't funny enough.   Generally I find U.K humor a hell of a more entertaining that any other but I wanted more out of these guy's third attempt.  There were definitely laughs to be had and some quite clever humor, but it felt too long between drinks (not for the characters though, hah).

The last few scene's were awesome when the guys confront 'The Network'.  If they could have kept that level throughout I would be giving it a huge score.   Definitely give this one a watch, it's clever and it has it's moments...  I just wanted more.  Maybe I'm too greedy.

6/10

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The River

This 8 episode T.V series aired last year however I only heard about it a couple of weeks ago stumbling across a trailer.  The show was created by Oren Peli and Michael Perry of Paranormal Activity fame and co-produced by Steven Spielberg (amongst others).   Looking back a few years, about the closest thing I can remember to a horror series was the X-Files but we seem to be getting quite spoiled with shows like 'The Walking Dead', 'American Horror Story' and now out of the blue this single season of 'The River'!

The show follows a search & rescue team led by Tess Cole up the Amazon river attempting to find her husband, Dr Emmet Cole who went missing while shooting the families adventure T.V show - The Undiscovered Country.  The producer of the show is happy to pay for the trip provided he can film everything.  The boat is hooked up with a large number of mounted camera's plus two dedicated camera men following the action and it is through this footage that the entire story is told.

'The River' has so much potential.  The amazon river and jungle is such an interesting, unknown and creepy setting for a horror story that it does half the work for you.  Unfortunately after the final episode I couldn't help but think about all of the things these guys could have done to turn a good show into a great one.

Let's concentrate on the positives first.  Firstly as you probably know by now I am a big fan of the found footage style when it is done right (well edited and not too much shaky cam).   The style worked really well for this show contrasting the claustrophobic feeling on the boat with the huge unknown jungle.  The combination of the mounted and held camera's was great to provide more shot variety and also allow the story to move out into the jungle.  I felt it was slightly over edited but generally production was pretty damn well done.

I really enjoyed the core story and character development as well.  There was a lot of history given to the characters within each episode and by the end a full picture had been painted.   The tone is set about 20 minutes into the first episode going straight into a supernatural encounter and showing that basically anything goes.  To help track down Emmet they must search through a lot of recorded footage from the missing crew and I felt this added a nice element being able to build tension from watching the prior events unfolding whilst experiencing the current as well.

This could have been such an incredible show but unfortunately a few things really let it down.  Firstly and very importantly was the acting.   It wasn't terrible, but I think it's safe to say that no one is winning any awards.   When considering each character separately, nobody really stuck out too bad, just as a whole there were parts it detracted from the experience. Bigger budget there and who knows.

The other main issue is I feel they went too over the top with the variety of horror 'encounters'.  The core story was excellent and would have easily provided 8 episodes of content.  Instead they tried to pack too much in and make each episode into it's own unique segment.  (The zombies were the last straw).   There were some fantastic scene's in the jungle with the native tribesman and local legends & ghost stories - I would have just loved to see the entire 8 episodes really flesh this out and link it all back to the Dr.

If I was to rate this on quality alone it would probably get a 7 however given the incredible potential of the story and setting I can't help feel they didn't really do it justice in the end.   That said though, if you're a horror fan definitely check it out.

6/10

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The Hunger Games

So I haven't read these books and am not on the hype wagon of the Hunger Games phenomenon, therefore, didn't really know anything about this movie going into it. I chose to watch it as the sequel is coming out soon and the entire world seems to be going nuts for it like it’s a Harry Potter or something and so it seemed I had better catch up.

Given this green point of view I only have one question: WTF? I don’t get it. It’s like a new genre of fiction has been created: kiddie horror. I mean the plot as I understand it, is that a tournament exists in which kids, underage kids, are supposed to maim, decapitate, burn or rip apart with their bare hands all of the other kids before it happens to them. But, it’s like a PG movie in America? Kids love it and want to be Katniss and like I said before, WTF? I understand censorship is there to "protect" bad ideas from being presented to kids before they age a bit more and can safely realise it’s all fiction, but just removing the site of blood and stopping them from swearing doesn’t mean you can still have horrific visions of a young black girl dying in the arms of Katniss after being brutally murdered by a strong young teenager glorifying in the act. I have serious problems with how censorship is governed anyway but this is a whole new level of craziness.

It seems that these types of movies are representing a young generation rebelling out at the confusion in the world taken to a whole new level. For my generation it was movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Predator or Jaws that you got your fix of scary death and killing, and these were obviously not targeted at the age group I was in then. You had to sneak in a VHS tape owned by an older brother of a friend and watch it with the sound turned down, shitting your pants in the living room, hoping your mates Mum wouldn't walk in and catch you.

Now its gone mainstream, removed the actual entertaining parts of the gore and scare, targeted it at younger audiences and added much harsher themes of rejection, destroyed families, bullying, exclusion and grief. I mean again, WTF? I would much prefer to watch a straight up horror with people eating monkey brains and all the silly over the top special effects that goes along with that and know it’s not real and only feel that strange excitement of seeing something totally unrealistic yet horrifying. But, broken families, bullying and grief are all too real and shouldn’t be glorified in this way.

This movie really shook me up the wrong way. I don’t understand why it’s so popular and it concerns me. If it was a straight up adventure game or a fun take on a tournament like this where the kids are all simulations and not actually dying then I think it would be fantastic. The filming and acting and effects and sets were all really well put together, but why are we introducing and celebrating all of these moral hardships to young minds as if they are normal? I find it totally weird and unsettling, unless I’m missing something?

SCORE: 5/10

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Die Hard

Ok, so everyone has seen Die Hard. I know that, but how many of you have seen it recently? If you have then you will know what Im on about here, if you haven't it might just cause you to go check it out again.

This is a 10/10 movie, lets start right there. And there are a million reviews and everyone has seen it a million times so Im just going to pick 3 things I love about the movie and focus on why they make it such an iconic, lasting, amazing moment in cinema history.

1. John McLane is such an awesome 'Hero'

John McClane, oh how I love you and your machoism, your arrogance, your disregard for authority and for your ability to just stay alive. At first glance it looks like you should really dislike John. He seems to be a self centred, macho, divorcee who abhors excess and success and likes to dwell in the simple life of catching bad guys and feeling like shit.

By the end of Die Hard he is a full blown hero. He has successfully navigated throughout an incredible building, constructing a picture of who the bad guys are, how to handle them, contacted the police to get involved, actually killed most of the bad guys himself and saved all but one hostage from the terrorists. Meanwhile the completely inept police force have been outside trying to get in and in doing so made decisions that kills many of their team members.

While John is running around manipulating and protecting everyone he acts as a brutish, manly man and you as the viewer completely belive he is capable of doing what he does. The movie is actually an amazing character piece all around this complex, rich, clever character of John McClane being tested in the most extreme of circumstances. Its just dressed up in machine guns, bloody feet, hostages and dead bodies saying 'Ho Ho Ho' to make you think otherwise, and thats what makes it so good. Its a thrill ride with a master at the helm.

2. Mainstream appeal didnt mean you had to dumb down a movie in the 80's

A little tidbit I had not picked up on before is about two thirds through the movie. John McClane runs out of an air-conditioning duct and into a little room obviously occupied by the engineers and builders at work on construction. On the wall are the 80's obligatory Playboy centrefolds posters on full display (could you even do this on a 2013 construction site?!?) and even though John is fleeing for his life he still takes the time to check out the boobies as he runs past.

Cut to 15 minutes later in the film and dead bodies litter the roof of the building, thanks to John's rapid fire machine gun bullets slashing through the bad guys and he finds himself, battered, bloody, but alive and back in that same engineers office. So, this is 15 minuts later in the movie. He is still running for his life but now the bad guys are only a few metres away with their own machine guns. I ask you now, Dear Readers, what would you do when confronted with those same set of boobies back in that room after nearly being blasted into the next life? Thats right. I would kiss my hand too and touch those wonderful life saving 80's fun bags and thank God I am still alive - just like John does.

It's such a small character moment that has transcended to depict such a different time and place than that which we live in today. Which can kind of be said for the movie as a whole. Watch the opening scene with people smoking on a plane and John carrying a gun under his jacket!

3. Hans. Gruber.

Goddamn. And you thought John McClane was a badass. Screenwriters have wet dreams about being able to create a villain as cool as Hans Gruber. Its all they wish for in their lives. A great villain is everything to a movie, and is far more powerful and hard to conjur than a perfect hero. Think about it: Darth Vader, The Joker, The Fratelli's, Kronk. You need the perfect villain to make the story work. Creating a Luke Skywalker, a Batman, a Chunk or a Pacha is easy, but putting them up against the perfect villain is hard.

But writing and creating the villain is only half the game, then you need an actor who can pull it off. Enter: Alan Rickman. How the casting agents saw through his boring everyday British appearance to see this evil genius, German terrorist is beyond me. But can you imagine anyone else playing him? No. Its impossible. Hans Gruber is Alan Rickman. Snape: eat your heart out.

I hope you have enjoyed this trip down memory lane, and if you haven't seen the movie recently go and get it and watch it. Its brilliant. Its brilliantly simple, its brilliantly executed and all the characters are brilliant. As I said at the beginning its a 10/10 movie.

SCORE: 10/10

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The Way Way Back

The Way Way Back is, I think, supposed to be an uplifting coming of age story that makes you feel inspired and happy to be alive. Some of the film definitely hits that home but for me the extremely dark undertones of guilt, ignorance, mysogny and discrimination turned this from being an enjoyable uplifting film into a kind of disconcerting study of a troubled boy.

Part of the problem for me was watching Steve Carrell bring out his dark side. Boy did he nail his role! It almost seems like the comedic side in real life is just there so that this seething, angry side is kept under control in how he plays his part so convincingly. His character is one of the worst on screen portrayals of a father I’ve ever seen yet, he never physically hurts any one, it’s all just emotional mind games. Ergh, he made me shiver.

Then you have the wonderful Toni Collette, whom I love, playing this shrivelled up excuse for a mother. All defeated and down trodden who no longer cares enough for her geeky son nor stands up for him. She doesn't even stand up for herself and is too scared to make any life changing decisions going forward incase they backfire.

In the middle is Liam James' character Duncan: a shy teenager who is awkward and geeky. Liam's acting is superb and definitely holds the films story together. The thing is, his character is so affected by these trashed up humans who are supposed to be his Mum and her Boyfriend that it made me feel uncomfortable to watch. I know he was supposed to have a story arc of growing up and getting on top of things, but his portrayal of being so badly mind-fucked by his so called parents is something I don’t think he can ever truly get away from and ultimately means that the movies story is impossible to believe.

Next to the misery of the dysfunctional family there is a very light hearted and joyful angle given to the film by the sensational Sam Rockwell and a charmingly over the top Allison Janney. Sam's character is the owner of a nearby water park who employs and looks after Duncan and Allison’s character is the zany next door neighbour who is always drunk. I know these two are supposed to balance out the misery of Duncan's life, and they help, but to me it wasn’t enough.

The story is actually great fun (thankfully!) when it’s taking place in the water park and Sam Rockwell is just an absolute legend. With how much sadness I felt for Duncan the character, the hope that Sam's character imparts on him gave me butterflies. I just wish I could believe that was enough for Duncan to break away by from the evil clutches of his useless mother and Evil Steve.

Overall it’s a pretty in-depth emotional study and a well-made flick. I've never seen a film quite hit all the beats like this one does and the acting is brilliant by the whole cast. I guess in parting I don’t think Duncan will survive and the ending was unclear as to his fate, which is disappointing and possibly reflects a bit of a hole in the script or story for me personally.

SCORE: 6/10

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How To Make Money Selling Drugs (Documentary)

I really enjoyed this one.  It plays out like a video game and how to level up through the different levels of the drug chain from street dealer all the way to Cartel boss.   It's quite entertaining with a lot of interviews with interesting people ranging from the famous e.g Eminem and 50 cent to former drug kings.

Behind the fun though is a very clear message about the stupidity of minimum sentencing and no tolerance laws relating to drugs in the United States.  Most of you guys would already be familiar with this crazy political rubbish.   Imagine getting caught with a bag of weed and being told you would go to prison for a minimum of 25 years unless you became an informant and dobbed in your dealer.  Sentences for drugs are often worse than murder and rape.  America's incarceration rate is 5 times higher than the rest of the world, and growing.  Police agencies are funded by how many drug arrest they make, not by how many fucking crimes they solve.  *sigh*  Anyway, you've heard it all before.  Politics eh?

Although there's nothing really 'new' shown here it was a very interesting style and covered the subject in great detail.  The end was quite inspiring as well with some quick footage of the current American 'Drug Czar' admitting that the system was not working.  Hopefully the people in power have the balls to make the changes required.

Enjoy :)

8/10

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We're the Millers

These types of Hollywood comedies tend to be fairly hit and miss.... in fact more miss.  They rely on a well written script and casting suitable actors who can deliver the comedy in the style intended.  A lot of movies pull this off for bits here and there but end up being too long between laughs.  I'm pleased to report that Guy and I watched We're the Millers together with our wives and we all laughed our asses off!

The movie is genuinely funny from start to finish.  If one of the jokes wasn't quite to your taste you could relax knowing there's another coming straight after.  They just absolutely nailed it.  The perfect casting was a huge part of this...

We have Rose (Jennifer Aniston), the middle-aged stripper who teams up with David Clark (Jason Sudeikis) pretending to be his wife as they smuggle drugs from Mexico into the U.S in a huge R.V.   Also along for the ride are the 'kids' , Kenny (Will Poulter) and Casey (Emma Roberts).

All the actors are brilliant - wouldn't change a thing.  They are all quite funny in their own right but it's together where they really shine.   The drug dealer trying to save his life, the hardened stripper out to make a buck, the innocent weird and nerdy neighbor and of course the teenage runaway with matching attitude.  These different personalities really bounce off each other really well.

Special mention has to be made to Will Poulter and his eyebrows though.  I reckon he looked in the mirror one day and thought "This face has no choice but to do comedy".  And boy was he was right.   The lucky bastard even gets it on with Aniston!!  She is still crazy hot as well and we are treated to some nice scantily clad dancing scene's.  Bet it costs a bit extra for that!

This is definitely one to watch with friends.  It's rocking a pretty solid 7.1/10 on IMDB at the moment which is pretty damn good for a modern comedy.   I'm going to go a bit higher though, I think it deserves it.

8/10

IMDB Info

P.S - we all enjoyed this with some of Kristin's famous chocolate mousse followed by some of Arnott's new Chocolicious Biscuits/Chocolates.  If you haven't tried them give em a go they are awesome and also made in Adelaide so support local!   I'm leaning towards chocolate over biscuit!  (Note: this is not advertising, just spreading the word of tasty movie snacks!)


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The Great Gatsby

Baz Lurhmann is a divisive director. People tend to really dislike or love his works and I am happy to report that I tend to love his films. I know they are over the top, flashy, gaudy even, but he is a bit like Tarantino to me in that he has his own style. In 5 minutes I could tell you I was watching a Baz movie and I love that.

 The Great Gatsby is of course an adaptation of the extremely famous book by F Scott Fitzgerald and Im sure many of you have read it. Its an iconic book for its style, its tone and its capturing of a unique time in U.S. history. One of my criticisms of the film is that Baz has completely ignored this, or maybe, just translated this into his own style so much that it has lost that amazing allure. The film was fairly good but overall I found it to be more of an effort to watch than I wanted it to be. The flashy sequences in Gatsby's house didn't quite gel for me, which may have been intentional, and the overuse of spectacle and strange composition and glaring colours in quieter scenes pulled me from the film.

 Leo DiCaprio is typically brilliant as Gatsby but he seemed to struggle when portraying his emotional fault and unfortunately the chemistry between himself and Carey Mulligan was naught. Tobey McGuire was really great as Nick Carraway and played off the mystery and power of Gatsby beautifully. Joel Edgerton was probably the stand out of the main cast, playing a really different sort of antagonist in a role that shows he really can act. And, Carey Mulligan was her typical wonderful self. She has that amazing capability of being stunningly beautiful and hauntingly humble.

 I would recommend seeing this movie at least once for its pinpoint perfect creation of sets, scenery, digital effects, costumes & for the story. But unfortunately I have to say this isn't Baz's finest hour. I know a lot of people had problems with his Australia but I actually quite like that movie, and in my opinion that is a better film that Gatsby.

 My favourite scene of the whole movie was actually the last shot, where the title of the book is displayed and it simply says 'Gatsby' then our narrator comes back and writes in handwriting 'The Great' in front of it. This seems to me an unintentionally ironic ending as Baz obviously focused too much on 'The Great' and not enough on the 'Gatsby' when making this film.

 SCORE: 5/10

 IMDB Info for The Great Gatsby
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Europa Report

Europa Report is a pretty damn good movie.  I would say it's a must see for any Sci-Fi lovers who enjoyed films such as Sunshine or Moon.  The production information wasn't available online but I guess it to be quite low-mid budget, yet it's so cleverly shot/edited it's barely noticable.

The film follows the first manned space exploration flight to travel farther than the Moon. Its destination is Europa, one of Jupiter's moons believed to potentially contain traces of life after water is discovered under the icy surface.  Nearly the entire movie consists of footage edited together from the ship and astronaut camera's.   Don't be put off if you're not a fan of the 'found footage' genre, this one plays out quite differently and with virtually zero 'shaky cam'.

I'm no expert on the intricacies of space but to me the entire film feels quite realistic.  The tag line for the film is "Fear. Sacrifice. Contact." so I won't be giving anything away by saying there is an element of alien discovery here, however it is not over done or cheesy and becomes just part of a number of challenges faced by the crew. 

There's a couple of actors in it you might have seen around the place. Probably the most recognizable for me is Sharlto Copley who played Wikus in District 9.  Quite interesting seeing him hiding his quite distinct South African accent but he does a good job actually.

One other thing worth noting is the very clever use of sets and special effects.   They created a few very detailed and beautiful looking sets to represent the inside of the ship and combined these with some quite static yet crisp special effects for outside.  It worked well throughout and presented the effect of a larger budget film.

This movie has made very little revenue so if you get a chance to go see it, hire or stream it I highly recommend giving it a chance.

8/10

 IMDB Info


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Flashback: Turner and Hooch

Awwww, young Tom Hanks is so adorable. Take that idea and throw in a dog you hate at first then learn to love, a little fling with a veterinarian and a homicide mystery to solve in a sleepy lakeside town and hey presto! You have a warm, fun, endearing and funny movie. It must have been made in the 80's!!

Goddamn I'm glad the 80's did for movies what they did. How refreshing it is to watch a movie like this and find yourself smiling, laughing, putting up with the bad bits without worry, glossing over the editing, seeing straight through the plot, and the whole time just thoroughly enjoying yourself. The 80's had a special quality of film making, something earnest, they were there to allow you to enjoy them. They weren't perfect but perfect was never the goal. Enjoyment was the goal. Marvel, DC, Disney you could take a note out of the books of films of the 80's.

Im sure everyone reading this has already seen Turner and Hootch. Maybe more than once. But I bet many of you haven't seen it in years. Go and get yourself a copy, sit down, crack open a beautiful rich loving bottle of red and have a special someone sit next to you and just enjoy this movie.

Hooch will have you laughing. Turner will have you smiling. The setting and the plot will have you knowingly glance at your special someone and then the movie will end. You and your partner will feel refreshed, happy, like you spent that last 90 minutes on something worthwhile. You feel you are more like a loveable Tom Hanks than you were before, you are more the everyday person you always want to be and the world somehow seems a better place to be.

Awwww, I wish movies were still made like this today.

*sigh*

SCORE: 7/10

IMDB Info for Turnet and Hooch
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Now You See Me

Now You See Me is a brilliant idea for a movie. It centres around the idea of four magicians utilising their skills to rob money from different places and share it with their audiences. It all hinges on the four main characters played by Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fischer and Dave Franco, who I am happy to report are the best thing about this movie.

 Woody Harrelson is a stand out. You can see how much fun he is having with this role, and its amazingly entertaining and somewhat believable. The way he spouts his 'mentalism' and the way he bounces off the other actors as he does it was my favourite thing about the movie. Not far behind him is the very intriguing Jesse Eisenberg who has that fast talking, magician like face and again is somewhat believable in being the smartest guy in the room (the first rule of being a magician). Isla Fischer plays a great character who started as a lowly assistant but is now right up there with the others, but Dave Franco has to be one of the most underused characters Ive ever seen in a film? He is obviously just a plot device and it was a bit disappointing to see. How about we throw in some smaller roles for Sir Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman and we are on the way to a stellar cast!

 Aside from the cast the opening of this movie is excellent. It builds intrigue, introduces the characters and has a great time doing it. I was sitting there with a big smile on my face totally engrossed. Then comes the first big show and the alarm bells started ringing. They use CGI for most of the tricks. And bad CGI. I mean, if you are trying to do a movie about tricking the audience, how can you cop out and use obvious fakery such as CGI? It was the start of growing disappointment as the movie wore on.

 You see, the whole film is setup for a payoff at the end. You as the audience is sitting there in expectation awaiting the reveal to hopefully squeal with delight and clap you hands together. But if you set a movie up like that, you HAVE to deliver. You cant have half a great movie and be done with it. Im not sure if its a casting issue, a script issue, an editing issue or a little bit of everything but by the end (even though I didn't guess the right twist) I was just left feeling flat.

 SCORE: 5/10

 IMDB Info for Now You See Me
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White House Downnnn!!!

Mutha Fucka!!!!!

This should have been called Die Hard:  White House Mother Fucking Down... Bitch.

I'm not even going to try and compare Channing Tatum (man his parents must have hated him) to the legendary Bruce Willis... but hey... you gotta give him points for trying.  This definitely has a similar feel to the franchise.

As Human Traffic would say... Absolute cheese on toast BOLLOCKS but goddamn I hate to admit it was bit of fun.   Directed by Roland Emmerich who gave us that beautiful piece of cinema - Independence Day but since then has been pretty disappointing with shit like Day After Tomorrow and 2012... bleahhh..

I hate to admit it but as my tastes 'mature' and I enjoy more artsy stuff... I still get sucked into action porn like this.  If  I was to go in blind I would have said directed by Michael 'The Mother Fucking' Bay for sure...

Don't really know what else to say about it really.  The usual story, the usual characters, huuuuuge mother fucking special effects budget.   The best acting award goes to the young daughter... Tatum and Foxx take notes boys.  (Just kidding Jamie.. you were a'ight in Ray and definitely Unchained)

Can't forget Maggie Gyllenhaal though...anyone who has seen Secretary will know what I'm talking about.  Yizzles.

Anyway, as far as big budget action goes this certainly does the trick.  It doesn't belong with the greats but it's definitely a decent bit of eye candy.

7/10

IMDB Info


P.S - Wine intake was quite high for this one so sober viewers maybe take a point or three off :)

P.P.S - Apologies for all the 'Mother Fuckers'...  I think I just really wanted Jamie Foxx playing the President to spout it off a few times.  Never happened by my count :(  What is the world coming to?

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#AdlFF: Particle Fever

Particle Fever is a documentary that seems to have been created over the last 5 years or so around the creation of the Large Hadron Collider for CERN in Switzerland. If you have not heard of the LHC it is the single biggest science experiment mankind has ever undertaken costing $6 Billion Euro's, taking over 20 years from concept to go live and using one third of Switzerland's entire power consumption when its running.

 When its switched on, its also the coldest known thing in the universe running at close to minus 200 kelvin. This is cooled by liquid helium running around its 27Km circumference in pipes surrounding tubes with protons flying through them at nearly the speed of light.

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Gravity


What is going on here? Three 9/10 movies in a week .. what a week of movie watching! I was struggling to decide whether or not this was an 8 or a 9 which might sound worrying but the thing is, if I'd seen it during any other week other than the one I saw Rush in, it would have been a no brainer. It's just such a different flick that I felt confused about my feelings at the end. Plus I felt like running screaming from the theatre and throwing myself on the ground and just gripping handfuls of dirt, squeezing them through my fingers and feeling them fall to the ground so close to my face!
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The Conjuring

The Conjuring is a damn good horror movie.  Flawless filming and production help create a perfect combination of tension, creep and scares further supported by some really interesting characters and locations. Some might argue this is just another haunted house tale however when it's done well ... who cares! 

What makes this film even more interesting is that it's based on real people - Lorraine and Ed Warren. Real life paranormal/demon hunters associated with such cases as Amityville and Haunting in Connecticut (both of which also made it to film).  Reading up on them after the movie I was surprised to find they were quite respected and are reported to have helped many people over the years with 'supernatural' problems.  I'm a sucker I know, but I love seeing 'Based on real events' at the beginning of a horror - it just makes it easier to relate to the story...  Horror is no place for skeptics.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are brilliant playing the Warren's.   Their chemistry on screen is great.  Lorraine is the medium and Ed is the warrior and together they make a powerful team.  If the movie is accurate Ed was the only non-ordained person authorized by the Catholic Church to perform exorcisms.

I also want to make reference to the audio.  It is always one of the most important factors in a good horror film and The Conjuring absolutely nails it.  The key tension sounds were just so clear and defined - for example a simple loud knock on the door almost made me double check someone wasn't knocking on mine. 

Oh, and then there's the doll.  If your creep-o-meter doesn't spike to max when this damn thing comes on screen, there's something wrong with you.  *shudder*


Give me this over the modern torture porn any day.

My only criticism with this movie is it made me break one of my good wine glasses.  Watching horror in pitch black is a must however next time I must remember to pause it on a light frame when needing a loo break.  The walk back was trecherous!

If you're a fan of haunted house style horror then definitely give this a go.  I would compare it to movies such as Poltergeist, Insidious and maybe even The Others.  Like all good horror, watch it alone and in the dark.

9/10

IMDB Info
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Rush


Rush is a simply brilliant movie. Ron Howard has been one of my favourite directors since A Beautiful Mind, he has a distinctive style that resonates extremely well for drama and emotional stories, so to go on an action packed, Formula One racing movie was an interesting move.

However, if Ron has shown one thing its that he really knows how to handle an epic production. I can feel how much fun he must have had putting this movie together. The research and planning is phenomenal! I was lucky enough to see this with a mate who is an F-1 fanatic and he was filling me in on all these little details that were in the background and how important they were in real life (thankfully they weren't necessary to know to move the story along) and my mind was blown. Apparently there was a six wheeled F-1 car in the 70's! WTF?!?! And its in this movie. Apparently sponsorship wasn't really done before this period of time and all of the sponsorship thats in the movie is as real as it was in the day. You will see Marlboro, Heuer, Texaco and all of the real brands splashed across the cars and the outfits which makes the whole deal feel real.

More than the research and attention to detail though is the attention to the acting of the main characters. Daniel Brühl looks just like Niki Lauda. Its mesmerising. His performance is spectacular and the makeup after his accident is spot on. When you see some of the real footage your mind does a bit of a double turn as you can realise how closely matched he was. I think Chris Hemsworth was supposed to be the 'main' character but for me Daniel Brühl stole the show.

Thats not to say that Chris's performance is lacking. He is a really beautiful man and its put on full display here with his charisma dialled up 13 notches, his million dollar smile flashing everywhere and his very convincing explanation of why racing car drivers are so idolised by us mere mortals. Its because they live so close to death, and that is what makes us shiver as we see them, see them truly living and living more than we ever will when on the track. The beauty in that statement is that Daniel's portrayal of Niki Lauda is the complete opposite. He is the German who calculates the percentages and anything over 20% danger to life is unacceptable. The simple beauty in these two very opposing, but realistic ways to live life and drive a Formula One car is what drives (no pun intended) this movie along. Without top tier performances from these two lead actors it would fall in a heap, but on the shoulders of Daniel Brühl and Chris Hemsworth it shines!

I really can't recommend this movie enough. And I really can't stress enough it should be seen on the big screen. There were only 5 people in the cinema tonight, on late night shopping, at a blockbuster movie. I know its been out a couple of weeks, but come on people. If we don't keep going to see these amazing films, we are going to be lumbered with Transformers 57, Avengers 35 and some other Marvel retread, DC Comics cross over crap every year and nothing as special as this will ever be made again.

Ron Howard is amazing, but he is only a mortal and wont be able to make movies one day. Once he is gone, the list of people capable of creating films like this will dwindle by one and I can't think of many non Zack Snider-esque big budget directors left who will take these risks. If we don't show the money people we want them, we wont get them, so get out and see this beauty of a film and sit back and relish that these super heroes were real people with real skills and could still capture the imagination of the world without needing a brand and a toy catalogue to make them exist.

SCORE: 9/10

IMDB Info for: Rush

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Where are you?

Just a quick post to apologise for the lack of posts.   Guy and I are still trying to pick up our lives since the final episode of Breaking Bad.   Trying to answer such questions as

- What to look forward to with no new season of Breaking Bad?
- How long will it be until someone can create such a masterpiece?
- What can fill the void?

I think the answer for me is Game of Thrones but the new season is still a while off.  Walking Dead?  Yeah not bad.  Dexter?  Not hearing good things about this last series which is a shame to wrap up a decent show poorly.  

Recently started Californication which is a good choice after Breaking Bad.  Its lightheartedness is good contrast to the BB intensity.

Also watched the first episode of 'News room' which was pretty great actually.  There's also the new Kevin Spacey show house of cards.   Oh and Homeland Season 3.    

Looks like we will be ok after all however it's hard to go back to speed when you have tried cocaine.

Not much to report on the movie front.  Have watched a few over the past weeks:

Disconnect
An interesting film about modern life with a bunch of intertwining story lines.  Very similar to 'Crash'.  Worth a watch and great different very serious role for Jason Bateman.  7/10

IMDB Info


Pacific Rim
This was a pretty entertaining film.  Big budget, simple but satisfying story and some interesting characters.  It also has the colourful flare that Del Toro brings to all his films.   Don't expect anything too deep but just enjoy the cheese. 7/10

IMDB Info


Curse of Chucky
Was looking forward to this one as I had heard it felt more like the Chucky films of old rather than the more recent Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky etc.    I have to admit it was decent, but unfortunately didn't quite have the charm of the originals.   I guess its hard to compete with childhood memories.   6/10

IMDB Info


There's been a few more but I can't think of em... so couldn't be that great :)
Anyway, back to Californication... 
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Trance


Danny Boyle is a master filmmaker! Think about his show reel: Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, The Olympic Opening Ceremony, 127 Hours & Slumdog Millionaire. What the hell was he thinking when he made Trance? It is honestly just a plain out terrible movie. It’s supposed to be about hypnotics, and an art theft, and forgetting where the loot was hidden and therefore using hypnotics to remember, but it gets lost in this mess of badly directed action, over the top cinematics and weird locations and out of order events. None of it makes sense.

In a post Inception world, making something like this is tricky to begin with, but that’s still no excuse for having absolutely no story line or reason for any of the events that happen in the movie to happen. It’s a total mess. I think he was trying to play with the timeline and put events out of order and out of sequence but unless you have that magical coming together of events like the car falling in Inception , while the hotel world was spinning around and the music was playing at different speeds to tie it all together, the audience doesn’t know where the events are actually taking place. It’s like watching a band play without instruments.

The single most amazing part of this film, though, is that Danny Boyle somehow made a naked Rosario Dawson unattractive. Rosario Dawson is a beautiful lady and even Kevin Smith was able to amp up her sex appeal in Clerks II, but somehow in amongst all the slick, shiny lights, heist wannabe film, he turns her into the most wooden, boring character I may have ever seen on the screen. The 'love triangle' between her, James McAvoy's character and Vincent Cassel's character that is apparently meant to tie this movie together (I don’t fully understand it as it’s never explained) is about as believable as Padme and Anakin in The Clone Wars. I'm amazed at how badly its done to be honest and how completely unbelievable it is. I almost laughed at the reveal of Ms Dawson walking down the corridor to James's character, and then later on in the film it tries to pay off the imagery as a reference of 'pure' art form. It was cringe inducing.

Not to mention the never explained relationships of James McAvoy and Vincent Cassels characters. I mean, they are in essence the main leads who are responsible for the art theft, the memory loss and every resulting action that takes place. But I couldn’t tell you a single thing about them. I don’t know how they are related to each other, why they were working together, why one of them seems to die and be reborn multiple times, and why only one of them gets a secret message (full of exposition to explain the whole movie you just watched) at the end of the movie? Its just .. I’m speechless. Those two characters are as one dimensional as can be, and unrelated to each other as R2D2 is to Spock, and they are the whole reason the events in the movie take place!

I hope this film is just a result of being spread too thin as Danny was working on this during the Olympic Opening Ceremony and I can’t imagine the stress and work required for creating something like that. That opening ceremony was a masterpiece in direction and style and conveyed a real and clear message. Trance is the opposite. If all of his efforts were going into making the ceremony over this movie then that makes perfect sense and what he achieved there was simply stunning. Let’s just forget this film was ever made, and leave it to Mr Skin to bury the nudity shots into their archives as it’s the only part of this film that will grab anyone’s attention, even if it’s from a small and morally dubious place.

SCORE: 3/10

IMDB Info for Trance

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Movies to watch out for

There's always some really good releases coming up to Christmas so thought I would run up a list of the one's I'm looking forward to!  Click on the IMDB links for a synopsis.

Gravity
Although the trailer is incredible the most exciting thing about this movie for me is that it's directed by Alfonso Cuaron who was the genius who gave us Children of Men.   Stars Sandra Bullock and Mr Clooney.    Definitely one for the cinema methinks to help drown in the infinite of space.
IMDB



12 Years A Slave
Steve McQueen's next directorial installment!  I have really enjoyed his raw and simplistic style in his previous movies 'Hunger' and 'Shame' and can only assume he will continue this quality here.  Absolutely massive cast - Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men), plus more.  This will be a huge Oscar contender. 
IMDB



The Counselor
Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender are together again in this one backed up by Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz.  Directed by our main man Ridley Scott I think this will prove to be a  great ride - has he ever done a bad film?
IMDB



All is Lost
I have to admit I'm a sucker for survival stuff.  Loved movies like 'Survive the Savage Sea', Castaway, 'Lord of the Flies' and so on.  'All is Lost' looks to be another I can add to this list.  Headed by Robert Redford who is actually the only actor credited in the entire movie.  The success of it will obviously be based on his performance but I think it's in fairly safe hands.
IMDB



Out of the Furnace
Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker,  Willem Dafoe, Zoe Saldana, Sam Sheppard directed by Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart).... no point saying any more!  Looks incredible.
IMDB




Grown Ups 2
The first was so refreshing after the crap Sandler had been putting out.  I love the guy and his style of comedy which produced a number of all time classics so it was great to add another one to that list.  I think all of the guys just meshed really well and the result was some genuinely funny moments.  The scene that comes to mind is when they are taking it in turns perving on the girls.. "Switch"... and "Switch"...
Anyway I'm sure we will get a bit more of that in the second!
IMDB



Captain Phillips
Any movie with Tom Hanks is a must to watch in my book.  This one follows the story of an American cargo boat hijacked by Somali pirates.  Directed by Paul Greengrass who is probably most famous for the Bourne movies.  He's a bit of shaky cam man so hopefully doesn't go too over the top in this one.
IMDB



The Wolf of Wall Street
Sir Leo stars in this true story directed by the one and only Martin Scorsese.   Obviously Scorsese has a massive man-crush on Leo as this is his 5th(??) movie with him. Normally Wall Street would bore the pants off me but with these two gentlemen I think we can say it's going to be decent.
IMDB



Delivery Man
Good ole Vince Vaughn always cracks me up with his unique dry style.  Love the description for this movie - "An affable underachiever finds out he's fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago. Now he must decide whether or not to come forward when 142 of them file a lawsuit to reveal his identity."
How can that not be good?
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Escape from Tomorrow
This movie looks like a complete trip out.  Filmed on location (without permission) in Disneyworld and Disneyland - "In a world of fake castles and anthropomorphic rodents, an epic battle begins when an unemployed father's sanity is challenged by a chance encounter with two underage girls on holiday."
Looks like a first attempt for writer and director Randy Moore (sounds like a fake name!) this one could go either way methinks.  I will enjoy the setting though bringing back good memories of the happiest place on Earth!
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Rush
Above we have had movies from Scott, Cuaron, Scorsese, Mcqueen ... and now we get another great- Ron Howard.  I don't know much about F1, nor have much interest in watching the actual races, but this movie looks fantastic.  Chris Hemsworth is the biggest name in the cast but I also notice it has Olivia Wilde whom I was recently impressed with in "Drinking Buddies"
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Insidious: Chapter 2
Absolutely loved the first one so can't wait for the second installment.  Same director as the first - James Wan - who also directed Saw and more recently The Conjuring amongst others.  Most of the original cast looks the same too so with any luck we get similar quality to the first.
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If I've missed any good ones please post in the comments so I can check them out!
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