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
IMDB Info
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
IMDB Info
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
IMDB Info
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
IMDB Info for The Hunger Games
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
IMDB Info for The Hunger Games
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
IMDB Info for Die Hard
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
IMDB Info for Die Hard
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
IMDB Info for The Way Way Back
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
IMDB Info for The Way Way Back
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
IMDB Info
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
IMDB Info
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!)
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!)
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
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
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
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
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
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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