2 Guns - Movie Review

"A DEA agent and a naval intelligence officer find themselves on the run after a botched attempt to infiltrate a drug cartel. While fleeing, they learn the secret of their shaky alliance: Neither knew that the other was an undercover agent."

I was going into this film more or less oblivious to everything related to it. I had seen about 30 seconds of the trailer from what I can remember, I had not looked up the synopsis or any information for the film. I simply knew that it was Baltasar Kormakur's next feature film and that we were going to be getting a Wahlberg/Washington team up.

As you would expect, this is the main aspect that the film really has going for it. But I have to say, that isn't a problem at all because it works damn well. Now the plot for 2 Guns is more or less your average action film narrative. Mixed together with a couple of minor twists and turns along the way, I can safely say that everything in relation to this department was expected by everybody prior to seeing the film. I thought the writers did a fine job of making sure that there was enough for the actors to work with in order to get the best out of them and really excel in what was otherwise a merely average film. What I can appreciate though is that they really knew their strengths. They knew that they weren't reinventing anything by creating this film but that it could be a complete fun time at the cinemas. That it certainly was as there is enough action and mayhem to shake a stick at. These sequences were well shot I have to say, which tends to be something that directors don't get the grasp of these days, at least for action sequences. How hard is it to understand that putting a camera on a tripod or at least filming these scenes by handheld well will go a long way with audiences. Less is definitely not more in this type of situation as the case sometimes becomes that you can't even tell what is going on. It's become such a popular trend nowadays because it means that it cuts some costs along the way for effects and what not, by making it seem that more is happening than actually is. I'm glad that Kormakur didn't cop out and go for the much easier option, something that I certainly appreciated with his approach to this film. The writers did a good job overall of including enough comedy and moments where the two leading men could play off one another. It made for an overly entertaining time at the cinemas as it meant that they were the centre of attention at all times which had to be the case for the film to be able to work.

Cramming in as many of these high octane sequences as possible was certainly a great choice as it really gave that sense of receiving exactly what you came for. It relates back to my praise of how the filmmakers knew exactly what the film had going for it and played to these strengths. They were on all sorts of scales, they were completely ludicrous at times and over the top and I absolutely loved it. I thought it was a solid throwback to the classic action films of the 70's, 80's and 90's. Such films as Lethal Weapon had clearly had a major influence for 2 Guns and it was nice to see a similar format for today's generation done right. It knew that it didn't take itself seriously at times, and was able to do its number one purpose: entertain. It had many moments that did take me back to watching Lethal Weapon for the first time and many of this was implemented into the wacky action sequences that took place. Random explosions, over the top fighting and action and comic relief, I was a huge fan of it all.

What I will have to comment on which I can quite wrap my head around whether I liked it or not was the tonal shifts the film had. One minute we would be laughing and joking in a scene and the next we were supposed to be taking everything serious and feeling sympathy for characters that hadn't received much of a background or depth. I'm fine with a film going for the more serious moments even when it is supposed to be taken as a summer popcorn flick and nothing more, but for me this just didn't work. It was setting itself up to be an absolute blast and then it would completely shift to wanting to evoke an emotional response which felt like the wrong approach.

I didn't let this hinder my enjoyment too much as the real stars of the show here (literally) are the on screen duo of Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington. As previously mentioned and as you'll already know, these were the main attraction to what otherwise was a very generic action movie and they knock it out of the park. Solid performances from these two yet again as you would fully expect, they were what made this film as enjoyable as it was. As I said to someone when I left the screening, I simply felt that the film for me at least, wouldn't have worked had it not been for these two. I would not have been as interested or had as good of a time had it not been for these two just chewing up the scenery at every possible chance. Everything from the delivery of their lines to facial expressions was perfect for what the film wanted to be and it worked on every level in my opinion. As for other members of the cast, Bill Paxton was yet another great addition. His role as one of the villains yet again felt like another homage to previous action films as an outrageously unfeasible villain was thrust into what was set up to be this somewhat realistic setting. Whenever he was on screen, he made it feel like there was something on the line for these two characters and that he posed a real threat. It gave the film some lee way to be able to try and throw more elements of the story in there which can never hurt for a film like this. James Marsden was good too as usual and offers quite an unusual role to anything that I've certainly seen him in before which was a nice surprise.

Overall, 2 Guns was somewhat of a surprise for me in general, despite going in more or less blind about the film, I had my suspicions as I had a vague idea of the plot and it could have easily failed. This wasn't the case as it stuck to what it knew it had to in order to be able to hit the right notes. The leading men in Wahlberg and Washington really helped this film excel as expected and were the main reason that I had such a blast while watching this film. Had it not been for them, I know for a fact that I wouldn't have liked it anywhere near as much. Heck, I may not have even liked it at all. Luckily, the filmmakers utilized what they had to work with and for me, it certainly paid off.

Kick-Ass 2 - Movie Review

"The costumed high-school hero Kick-ass joins with a group of normal citizens who have been inspired to fight crime in costume. Meanwhile, the Red Mist plots an act of revenge that will affect everyone Kick-Ass knows."

Jeff Wadlow this time takes the helm of the surprisingly well titled 2010 comic book adaptation "Kick-Ass" that arrived on the scene by storm. The film was generally well received by critics but hailed by general movie goers to a high regard, including myself, which meant when discussions of a sequel were being thrown around, I was immediately intrigued. While I had my doubts to whether it would really happen or not considering that Matthew Vaughan had moved on to do other projects, finally here it is.

Kick-Ass 2 picks up a short while after the events of the first film ended, super heroes almost now seem part of day to day life in this universe. Its popularity has increased and more and more people are deciding to join this elite group of people standing up for justice and fighting crime. I have to hail the film first off by saying despite my doubts about Jeff Wadlow directing this much anticipated sequel, I thought he did a great job. His resume beforehand was filled with films that many weren't aware of, or had boycotted due to having no interest in them whatsoever. I was certainly in this group of people until I left the screening of Kick-Ass 2. He does a fantastic job of re-immersing us into this world that was so well set up in the first film. It truly feels like a continuation which can be hard for a sequel to capture the same spirit and tone of the first film, certainly to the extent that this film did. I thought his overall direction for the film was good, he certainly knew the strengths of the first film and played off them to make this one work so well.

As for the story, nothing particularly spectacular in this department but I thought there was enough content and material to help push the film along and give some backbone to everything that was going on. The theme it explored was basically comparing how difficult high school life and growing up can be to how much of a struggle being a superhero is, within this non-fictional world of course. I felt that they could have included more towards dealing with this superhero life that Dave was and focused less on Mindy's coming of age storyline. They've obviously made Chloe Grace Moretz's character more integral to the film's narrative this time around due to the overwhelming success of her character in the first film. They are playing to their strengths and what works well which I can fully understand but I didn't really care for this particular segment to be perfectly honest.

Wadlow also earns another credit as the writer for the film which I can certainly see where the problems could lie for many people in whether they like this film or not. The script was nowhere near as solid as the first film, not to say that Kick-Ass' script wasn't flawed because it was, but in that film I thought everything was much more neatly tied together and flowed more naturally. There is a few poorly written scenes and just general 'filler' content included that I would have much preferred someone else to have come on board for this particular aspect of the film. It seems that Wadlow was a little in over his head being that the whole film's success in terms of response from critics and audiences was resting on Wadlow's shoulders. While the cheesy dialogue and overshadowing of certain elements was present, it didn't take me out of the film that much that it hindered my enjoyment, just enough to know that it was definitely there. I must say that although I have some criticism about the writing not being as strong for this film, I almost contradict myself by saying that I loved his implementation of more comedy in this installment. That's what I felt was truly lacking from making the first film from being just good, to brilliant. At times it took itself a little to seriously but then compared to the tone it was setting up, didn't make sense in some areas. This is an aspect that I have a huge amount of credit for this film and was one of the more key reasons why I had such a good time with this film, and why I enjoyed it as much as I did.

This film has been the subject of much heated debates and controversy in recent weeks due to Jim Carrey deciding not to promote the film because of recent tragic events that have surrounded the news; which Kick-Ass 2 contains excessive amounts of violence. While that is a whole other discussion on its own, I really don't have a problem with violence in films - if it serves a purpose, which in both Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2 it does. In fact, the violence and action sequences are incredible yet again. Hats off to Jeff Wadlow yet again for writing some extremely memorable and well thought out action scenes for this sequel. It honestly felt like they upped the ante for this film which was the best possible mentality and direction they could have taken in my opinion. Things felt on a bigger scale while still not feeling too large and underwhelming. Despite the first couple of action scenes, which there was plenty of, I thought for the most part they were well shot. This trend of the 'shaky-cam' is growing ever increasingly annoying and is failing to do the very job it sets out to do. It doesn't make it look like there is more intensity, or that more is happening than actually is, it just seems to completely take me out of a scene and have me confused to what is really going on. This could be why I was never a huge fan of the Bourne trilogy, their over usage of this method of shooting was borderline ridiculous. I thought it managed to clean this up to a point as things picked up in the further acts and despite still using this method, they certainly seemed more prepared for shooting these action scenes. Extremely well choreographed and some of the most inventive fighting I've seen since last year's 'The Raid: Redemption'.

A quick mention to some of the acting in the film, which on the whole was pretty damn solid. All of the major players return and put in good performances but there is a few that really steal the show here. It's a given that Hit-Girl is front and centre after her popularity escalated beyond belief after the first film's release and she really does put a solid performance in yet again. While I felt at times that her character was being played on a little too much as previously mentioned, and the fact that there was too many moments of dialogue that were well and truly shoehorned in to make her seem as rebellious as the first film did, that is more so in the writing than in her performance. She certainly has a bright career ahead of her as just at sixteen she has already put in an array of good performances in some decent films which gives her somewhat of a stepping stone to really further her career and keep this strong momentum going. Christopher Mintz-Plasse has never made me laugh as much as he did in this film which is a credit to both the writing and his performance for sure. His delivery is pitch perfect and his character plays off as a comic relief for the more tenser moments, which he nails perfectly. The last mention that I deem worthy is Jim Carrey who despite all of the controversy surrounding decisions he's made about promoting the film, yet again puts in another great performance to add to his collection. While not featuring in the film as much as I had hoped so, I thoroughly enjoyed the character he played and was unbelievably entertained every time he was on screen.

Overall, Kick-Ass 2 in my eyes was a worthy sequel to the original film that was so well hailed back in 2010. Despite all of my concerns that I had going in, I had a blast watching this and to be perfectly honest, I have left the cinemas wanting to watch it again. This is rarely my feeling for a lot of films that I watch at the cinemas so to say that this was value for money would be an understatement personally. Undeniably this film had flaws but I was willing to almost switch off and forgive these because of just how god damn entertaining and fun Kick-Ass 2 really is. There was some well thought out action sequences that far surpassed that of the original as the stakes felt much higher this time round. While the writing was lacking a little flair at times, I thought it was a very well paced movie that kept you hooked right from the get go. If you enjoyed Kick-Ass, then I have a strong feeling you won't be disappointed by this.

The Wolverine - Movie Review

"Wolverine, in the midst of a mid-life crisis, pays a visit to an old comrade in Japan and finds himself in the midst of a power struggle."

The second solo venture for Hugh Jackman was an idea that many were skeptical about given the previous attempt back in 2009 which was the travesty known as 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'. I myself was included in this array of people that didn't quite know what to make of this film before going into it. I can certainly say that I was in no way reassured when the trailer came round, nonetheless I was willing to give the film a fair shot, and I'm glad that I did.

The Wolverine is a continuation of the events from X-Men: The Last Stand and picks up sometime after all of that happened. We see Logan in a deteriorated state, downbeat about his life and not living with any purpose whatsoever. As time goes on, he meets a young Japanese woman named Yukio who has been sent to track him and down and help a friend thank Logan one final time for saving his life before he seemingly dies. Now for me, I thought this was quite a solid direction to take in terms of the narrative for this lone venture. If a solo Wolverine film is going to be made, I think the best possible action that can be taken in regards to the story is to go down a route that is so drastically different to anything we've seen before. One of my main concerns about the film was that it was going to be too 'been there, done that' but I'm glad to say that this is about as different as it gets. I'm not trying to say that it doesn't follow a similar format to comic book films or films in general, but The Wolverine has a much stronger direction than plenty. We've not quite seen anything like this within this type of film which is quite refreshing to see. What I mean is that it brought new challenges and a completely fresh arc for Hugh Jackman's character to face which I can certainly appreciate both the writers and James Mangold for bringing to this movie.

As for the story on a whole, I thought that it was good enough for what the film was. While it did feel from the trailers that the element of Wolverine wanting to step away from the life he lives and losing his 'powers' was cliched, it didn't come across that way in the film for sure. I thought the way that James Mangold presented it was in such a crisp, neatly wrapped way that it definitely had my attention for the most part. I enjoyed seeing a vulnerable side to an otherwise indestructible character which falls into my previous comments about the direction that the film took in relation to the narrative. It felt that we were being thrust into this completely unfamiliar environment of Tokyo alongside Logan and were just as in awe of the whole situation as he was. I would say this was down to the tone that the film set up which again, James Mangold did a great job of implementing into the film. Everything felt very authentic and natural, despite being out of the ordinary to what we expect from a comic book film, it still managed to not feel too strikingly diverse that it would be distracting or uninteresting.

Which leads me into more depth about the direction the story took, and I can safely praise yet again how much more layered this story was. Full credit to the screenwriters the clearly apparent job they did at giving us a much deeper side to this well known character that we've never seen before. It was almost as if a different shade of the character we have known for so long came out and offered us another perspective to who he truly is and how he feels. I didn't expect this at all, even from the trailers we got when footage was shown of some of these scenes. Maybe it was due to the expectations that I had which gave me the sense that it was going to be a simple, paper thin plotted film with no heart to it. I'm not saying that I was completely wrong because it doesn't offer tons and tons of depth and development but definitely a whole lot more than I was expecting that's for sure. Like I said, we see this new side to Logan/Wolverine that hasn't been uncovered or explored up until now and I liked what they were going for. You see Wolverine at the lowest point in his life, with no will to live and no purpose in the life he leads before then he is suddenly given the one thing that he wants; mortality. It made for some pretty strong scenes involving him and Jean Grey who appears within his dreams. I honestly believe that without this going for it, I for one would certainly have not been remotely interested in this film because without giving us this unseen side to Logan, there isn't much else that would have had me invested enough to have cared what was going on.

Something that no matter how good or bad a film with Wolverine is, you can never come away disappointed with the performance that Hugh Jackman gives. This time around I thought he stepped everything up and gave his best performance as Wolverine to date. Not only was he in the best physical shape that I think I've ever seen him in, he brought real emotion and sympathy to his character in scenes that I previously mentioned where it required a more 'human' touch to them. As for the newer additions to the cast, I thought there wasn't any particular standouts but they were fine for the job they were given to do. One thing I will mention though is more towards a certain character rather than the way they were portrayed. The villain in this film "Viper" was just about all of the stereotypical traits a villain could have, rolled into one. I almost expected with how the film was panning out as it progressed that a half decent villain wouldn't be something too much to ask for but it seems that it was. She was a completely 1 dimensional character that was given the cliched background story of what she wanted to do and why. As well as the lack of development for her character, I just thought she ruined the tone and atmosphere that the film was going for/had. She didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the story and was simply there to serve as both a throwaway villain for the singular film and another character from the comic books shoehorned in.

Both the visuals of The Wolverine and the fight scenes that it included were immaculate. This is a visually stunning film it has to be said. Again, James Mangold did an excellent job along with the DP of making this film look so captivating. The locations within Tokyo that we are given are incredible and it's a real joy to watch a film within this environment. As for the fight scenes, expertly choreographed it has to be said. I have to credit the camerawork for them because despite being shot by handheld for the most part, I had a clear sense of what was going on. This will have been because of the PG-13 rating that the film wanted which meant that they had to leave the true violence in terms of blood and gore, to the viewer's imagination which I can admire the way in which they did so. My favourite which I can say was different from what we were given prior was the train sequence. Ironically, this was the sequence from the trailer that I was probably dreading to see the most. The CGI effects in the trailer for this sequence looked really poor, you could clearly tell that a green screen effect was used. This isn't the case at all in the film where it is more than the most intriguing and well executed action sequence that The Wolverine had to offer. The problem that I had with them though was that after one or two, they did seem to become a little repetitive. Almost as if the people working on them became either lazy or simply ran out of ideas as they had the same look and feel as previous ones. This was up until the climax of the film where the fight scenes, in particular the final fight were for lack of a better word dull, I shall say. It had the feel of a 'final boss battle' from a video game when this 20 foot giant mechanized Samurai was the foe that Logan had to face. Albeit different from the previous sequences we had been given, I couldn't help but be completely taken out of the final 20 minutes by this. Up until then I was entertained by what I was seeing but I didn't care for this final fight one bit. Probably due to the quick shake of tone that it took; gone from being a somewhat grounded comic book film to a ludicrous, outrageously over the top mess by the end. Even before this fight scene occurred, I could slowly feel the film losing sight of where it was going and heading towards a generic climax much to my disappointment. When Viper's plans were revealed and Logan was making his way to their location was about the mark that I switched off and lost most of my interest in what was going on.

Overall, The Wolverine was definitely better than I was expecting it to be, a both decent action film and comic book film. It gave us some more insight into a character that has featured in 5 films (including the small cameo in FC) and managed to seem somewhat refreshing even after all this time. Do I think this film would have been a lot better as R-rated and with Darren Aronofsky directing? Damn right I do, I can only wish that we would have an idea of how that final product would have been. Was the film we got good enough? Yeah, I'd have to say for what it's worth, The Wolverine serves as a pretty good standalone film. Something more than can be said about X-Men Origins: Wolverine anyway.

The Conjuring - Movie Review

"Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse."

The first of what could be a momentous year for Australian born director James Wan who attempts to tackle the summer movie season with The Conjuring before bringing Insidious: Part 2 to the screens in October. I'll start things off by saying that I'm a fan of James Wan's previous work. I love the original Saw, enjoyed Death Sentence but didn't care for Dead Silence. I'm also yet to see Insidious. All of this and a somewhat seemingly scary and well put together trailer with some haunting imagery gave me fairly high expectations for The Conjuring.

Centered around a families torturous events that are deemed 'based on a true story', I thought the film excelled on this aspect. It seemed like despite creating many things to make for an entertaining popcorn flick, plenty of it was true to life and taken straight from the cases that were explored all of those years back. Both the writers and director did a great job of transitioning this on screen with Wan's know how approach making for some stomach knottingly tense sequences and an intricate, layered story and script to help back this up. James Wan does a formidable job of driving home every set piece to its maximum potential and bringing the over exaggerated saying of having audience's 'on the edge of their seat' true for once. I felt myself completely compelled in the film straight from the get go and a large chunk of this does go down to how Wan tackles the material he's been given; mixed with his expertise in this particular genre of filmmaking. His skill set comes into full force as he makes plenty of rehashed ideas and scares become fresh and innovative once again. Plenty of times did I feel myself thinking "I'm sure I've seen something like this before?" yet when the scene or moment would end, I would completely change my opinion on the matter. The film oozes with a man that is indefinitely passionate about the line of work that he is operating in.

Drawn out moments of suspense and sheer terror is what you can expect The Conjuring to bring to the table for the horror genre. Undoubtedly one of the main faults with modern horror films are that they are filled with dull, cheap and more than definitely predictable 'jump scares'. While I'm not saying The Conjuring was home free from including these, I can safely say it would be difficult to pick out more than a few. For what felt like a fleshed out film while never truly stopping to give the audience any track of time or what was going on outside of the movie, this is a solid achievement. Again credit is due to the writer's for this who produced a script with some overly confident scenes and scares that were truly horrifying. These are the exact things that I was hoping I would take away from this film when I saw the first trailer for it. I wanted to be scared while watching it, but the horror films that are considered the classics are the ones that stay with you after you've left the cinema; for plenty of time to come. I believe this is well the case with The Conjuring as I attended a Saturday night screening of the film and it has been playing on my mind ever since it finished. The haunting images that this film included was masterful, done in such a beautifully crafted way while keeping the audience oblivious to what was going to happen next in a story that many of them are already aware of. Only a handful of horror filmmakers possess such a talent and it's one of the reasons why I believe Wan is aboard the success train in the industry from here on out. He has shown signs of what he can do over the years but I don't think we have been truly given everything he can do up until now.

In more detail, the scares of this film were much more moments of pure adrenaline boosted shock and tense filled scenes rather than things popping out and looking to cheaply make viewers jump, gaining an nice, easy, simple reaction from them. As I mentioned before, I'm overly glad that this was not what The Conjuring was going for and it headed in all of the right directions on this level that I was hoping it would. It reminded me of films like The Others, The Exorcist and Poltergeist - films that are memorable, remaining in people's thoughts and lives for years down the line which is exactly what I think The Conjuring could well achieve. I don't like trying to compare this to other horror films because it is different in so many ways and deserves to stand on its own two feet. I can't help but see the comparisons and similarities between the afore mentioned and Wan's latest picture as they tick all of the right boxes on what I at least look for in horror films. I think the real key here is to identify the film as creepy and tense rather than scary, that's my feelings on it. This is a far better response that a film such as The Conjuring can give off to audience's because these are the sort of things that help latch memories and images into people's heads and maintain that long lasting stance with them.

Something else that needs to be mentioned in regards to both how the film was approached in terms of how it wanted to scare audiences and the look/feel of the film was it screamed a 70's/80's horror film vibe. Set in this era from when the Warrens were actively investigating paranormal cases, The Conjuring does an impressive job of fully immersing the audience into this world and especially the home being looked into. As soon as we meet up with the family moving into the home, we get glimpses of just about every nook and cranny in the entire home by the end and it honestly makes you feel like you've been experiencing these horrific occurrences with this family the entire time. The wardrobe and make up departments can take a well earned bow as they did a fine job on bringing that realistic look in what the characters were wearing and looked like which was vital to selling this treacherous tale to audiences worldwide. Right down from the settings used, right down to the grain of the film was extremely well done and also carefully chosen to accurately depict the events that took place from which the film is based off of. Where I'd say it more than pushes the classic horror vibe for myself is the approach and direction it takes. A combination of Wan's illustrious eye for gripping and wowing audiences with a balance of solid writing with character's that felt natural and were more than likable, making the story and events even more compelling were the tell tale signs of this. So many horror films are too centered around aspects that have no purpose such as the later 'Saw' films with their over focusing on the much coveted traps and games that the victims would have to play. Here, James Wan and the Hayes brothers know exactly what is important to making this an over effective horror film and all of the right chords are struck in relation to it having a long lasting effect. That's another area in which modern horrors fail to deliver, as time and time again they remain unforgettable instantly after watching them. An example for myself of this from 2013 is Mama. It had all of the makings for a great horror film but took too many wrong turns and decisions that in the end, I didn't care what was going on and haven't really thought about the film since.

Arguably my greatest praise for the film lies with its pacing. I was shocked at the momentum it carried right from the opening shot till the very end. I'm not sure what others felt about this but at least for me, not a moment of the film let up. I was literally invested and hooked from beginning to end. There wasn't a dull moment whether it was scenes that just had the Warrens discussing something between one another or the events themselves taking place; there always felt like there was something huge happening. That even in the smaller scenes, where a conversation would be taking place, it was building up to something much more and that they were one small piece of the larger scale jigsaw that was this family's terrifying experience. Maybe it was due to my interest in both this particular case that the Warrens investigated and their experiences in general; the huge debate on whether they are legitimate or not that spurred my investment into the film and made the 1 hour 54 minute running time fly by but I more than feel I'm not the only one flying this particular flag.

A couple of finer details that are worth pointing out includes how well they tied in a few of the cases that this couple of paranormal investigators have taken on over their years of work. The Hayes brothers incorporated vast amounts of information over the entirety of the movie to the central storyline while branching off from this every once in a while to give us couple more insights into other cases that had been dipped into. It helped keep what was going on seem refreshing and made returning to the Perron family exciting once again. A little side note that I feel necessary to mention was just how creepy the film adapted "Annabelle" doll was. When it comes to dolls, let's say I'm not the biggest fan of them but this was just on another level. Despite barring no resemblance whatsoever to the real life raggedy Ann doll, James Wan sure knows how to create one creepy looking doll.

Where to start with the array of talent on show in yes, a horror film! Never did I think I'd see the day that a horror film in 2013 would bring some heavy hitters to the table and blow me away with the performances they delivered. Not to say that there hasn't been good performances in horror films to date, I'm merely talking about in recent years. It's become some what of a tradition for cheesy horror flicks to just about nail terrible acting from the whole cast but in this there is something special to behold. Vera Farmiga tops the list for me, not only was she frighteningly convincing, but she brought just about every credential that was needed for her part. The amount of emotions and feelings her character was going through and had to produce left her with an enormous task on her hands and boy did she deliver. Then you have another admirable mention in other leading lady Lilli Taylor. An sympathetic, deeply explored character that Taylor fit the casting for perfectly. Then you have other names such as Patrick Wilson and Ron Livingston bringing solid performances to the screen. Honestly, I would say for the most part the whole cast delivered all round fine performances which was refreshing to say the least. My only gripe would be was one particular scene with one of the child actors, maybe for people who have seen the film you know which scene I mean but it was cringe worthy in my opinion.

(STAY AWAY FROM THIS PARAGRAPH IF YOU'VE YET TO SEE THE FILM)

I will finish off by expressing the only problem that I can think that is worth discussing about The Conjuring. The over obvious happy ending was a given by the anti climatic finale was a completely letdown. I expected much more from a film that was hitting home on every level up until then which made the disappointment feel even more weighted. Let's just say that this was an area that left me quite annoyed that a more satisfying ending wasn't given to us. I'm all fine with everything being wrapped up nice and neatly but it all just seemed to happen in a flash. One minute the mother of these five children was threatening to murder her youngest children meaning an exorcism was performed on her then the next minute it's all smiles and even jokes were being thrown around?! I couldn't quite wrap my head around that sudden change of tone and heart but I didn't dwell on it too much, certainly not letting it hinder my enjoyment of the film too drastically.

Overall, The Conjuring was an extremely satisfying and refreshing horror film that was everything I was expecting/hoping it would be and more. It was a perfect homage to the classic horror films that I didn't have the satisfaction of growing up on but have seen in my more recent years. It had some stunning visuals and scenes/images that will remain with me for a very long time. A brutally tense and stomach churningly roller coaster ride of a film that has steered it's way in as my second favourite of the year so far. Deservedly so.

The World's End - Movie Review

"Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival."

If you've seen the entry from my blog of my most anticipated films of 2013, you'll know this one was right up there with them. If you haven't, then let me tell you now that I'm a huge fan of these guys. Not only their work together from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz but projects that they have worked on without one another. To say I was excited for The World's End would be a sheer understatement, the closure to the infamous Cornetto trilogy was finally here and I couldn't be more pumped. After seeing it there must be many questions people are wondering; was it as good as I expected? Does it live up to a fitting "finale"? Was it as funny as the other films we've gotten from these people? Find out.

So The World's End follows five guys who return to their hometown after distancing from each other after a failed attempt of completing a famous pub crawl in which they must make their way to twelve different pubs before the night ends. I will start out with the plot and will say that it's pretty simple. What you see is what you get to be honest. If you've seen the trailers then you know exactly what to expect and there won't be anything in there that will shock you in terms of where the story is heading because you'll know exactly what this film will follow. Did I have a problem with this story? No not particularly. Right from when I first saw the trailer I thought it sounded like it could make for a pretty solid film and a fitting end to this trilogy of films that the trio had given us. However I will mention that a massive problem I had with the film and the route that it took in its third act was that I felt it became too much orientated towards the story and the comedy was then well and truly pushed aside. This is the first time that I have felt in any of these films that Edgar, Simon or Nick have created that this was the case and it was a huge factor in my disappointment with the film overall. I guess I could say that this was the clearest of the points in which this happened but I would say it's quite a regular occurrence in The World's End. It gets caught up with the several genres that it tries to balance which I would say more so lies within the writing and directing. Unlike the other two films where the humour flowed naturally and came from the central plot, this wasn't the case here. I have narrowed it down to a couple of things, one being the much higher budget this film had. I'm not particularly sure what the costs for both SOTD and Hot Fuzz were but I know this was almost double, if not more, of what Hot Fuzz cost. That is of course expected with a sci-fi film but this felt like much more explanation and depth was needed to be explained/shown. This meant that the comedy was frozen out in my opinion and made for a much less funnier film than was expected and hoped. Another was that it was on a much grander scale which meant that it was always going to be more action based than previous installments. I expected it to counter balance the comedy with or at least within these action scenes but for the most part it wasn't done.

Now Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg once again teamed up to write the script for their newest flick. I can't quite put my finger on it, maybe it was the fact that these people have been away for much longer than the gap between SOTD and HF but something didn't quite seem the same. The writing wasn't as quirky, sassy or clever as the previous two films, at least not for me anyway. There was so many times where after a joke or line was delivered, I felt like giving myself a good ol' facepalm. Too many times did jokes not only with myself, but friends and the rest of the cinema fail to deliver that I believe I'm not the only one in saying The World's End was nowhere near as funny as it's to predecessors within the 'Cornetto trilogy'. Maybe it is because they have become much more popular over the years and working on other projects in the longer absence has given them more influences or a different way of approaching films that had changed which meant they carried out the creation of The World's End differently than before. This was how I felt walking out of the film anyway, the solid and silky smooth writing that the previous two films had was just not there for me. Another thing I will mention in regards to the writing was the winks and nods to ongoing jokes from this 'mini series' of films that the trio have given us. Again this could just be me but I couldn't help but not really find them funny or relevant for the most part. I can think of one or two that fit in quite nicely and I appreciated but the rest just seemed like they got to a stage where they were shoe horning them in just for the sake of it and it didn't feel natural to what was going on in this particular story/universe.

Onto something a little more positive was the action sequences that the film contained. I will get out of the way firsthand a minor problem that drew me out a couple of times while watching them was that they came across a little obviously choreographed. That is the key to creating a great looking fight scene, having the ability to hide or cover up the fights being choreographed. I think as the film progressed and the filmmakers more than likely became much more confident with what they were doing, I either didn't notice or they did a great job of covering it up. Put that little problem aside and there was some fascinating stuff to behold! A really great job by everyone involved with these scenes whether it be the stunt doubles, choreographers, director, actors involved etc because they made for some entertaining, almost mind-blowing stuff at times. I was seriously impressed with the job that they did on this particular aspect of the film and was completely engaged every time a battle or action scene ensued. There was plenty of things that I'd never seen in a fight or action scene before and plenty of moments where I was in complete awe of what was going on and I can say Pacific Rim is the only other film to give me these experiences too so credit is certainly due in this department.

Another thing that overly impressed me was the amount of cameos that the film contained. I was in shock while watching with the amount of actors that I both noticed from previous work the guys had done whether it be Spaced, SOTD or HF or just Hollywood names that we've grown to love over the years being included. I won't spoil any because it is a great experience sitting back, watching the film and being genuinely surprised by the actors and actresses you are seeing on screen. This leads me into the main cast of the film and the performances that they delivered. I won't go overly into detail about each and every member of the cast but I will say overall I thought everyone did a good job. Now here's a problem that took me out of the film and hindered my enjoyment yet again which was Gary King, the protagonist of the film. I know that he was supposed to be stubborn, obnoxious, extremely annoying and unlikable; it was the whole point of his character. But it didn't make for good viewing for most of the film, it was just extremely uncomfortable and excessively irritating to watch an unfunny, and pretty bland character lead the line of such a talented array of actors. Don't get me wrong, I love Simon Pegg and I thought he did a great job portraying the character but Gary King just wasn't for me, not one bit.

Just a quick mention about the special effects that the film used, which I thought weren't half bad. Now this is a borderline £40 million budgeted film, which being a sci-fi movie was of course going to somewhat heavily rely on the use of special effects. We saw a substantial amount in the trailer and from the synopsis alone were to expect this department to be included a great deal. For the part that they had to play, I didn't have a problem. I know a few people who did, saying that they were too cheap looking and didn't really fit in but I feel that this was the whole desired effect of having it in there.

The last little thing that I will mention before giving my verdict for the film is another little piece of praise I have for the film and that is the editing. Not many films do I take massive notice of the editing because it is there to piece together the film, present a clear and free flowing story to the audience and determine the pacing of the film. In an Edgar Wright film, especially one from Wright, Pegg and Frost it is much more than that. The quirky, fast paced, quick cutting, juxtaposed, hip hop montage editing that is included is an absolute joy to watch. It does make for a much more entertaining film as it brings back great memories from the earlier work of the three. As well as this, it does help set certain scenes or moments of the film as well as cutting down unnecessary time spent on things that at least need to be shown for the audience to understand what is taking place. Huge praise to this department once again as this was something that I felt was definitely kept onto from the previous two films despite feeling that some things were lacking from this 'finale'.

Overall, I don't think there is a great deal to say about The World's End despite my disappointment with it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not denying the talents that this trio possesses or how well made the film is. I merely feel it wasn't anywhere near as funny as I was expecting the film to be or as funny as it should be judging from the filmmakers involved, the story it was following etc. You might get the feeling that I didn't like the film, I did. What I'm saying is that it just sadly didn't live up to the expectations that I was hoping it would. Was it ever going to? Who knows. I've been waiting for this film for many years now and was expecting it to deliver a great deal. I just feel the longer absence and branching off from projects together may have had more of an effect on the final product of The World's End than people will think.

Pacific Rim - Movie Review

"As a war between humankind and monstrous sea creatures wages on, a former pilot and a trainee are paired up to drive a seemingly obsolete weapon in a desperate effort to save the world from the apocalypse."

As you can imagine, myself and plenty of others have been waiting for this one for quite some time now, so tonight was an exciting night to finally be able to sit down and get to watch Pacific Rim. The film comes from Mexican born visionary director Guillermo Del Toro who has brought such movies as Hellboy I & II, Pan's Labyrinth and many others. I'm a fan of the man's work so put that and the concept of giant robots vs giant monsters and I was sold from the start. How was Pacific Rim? Did it have great action? Did it meet my expectations? Find out.

In terms of the story and the writing, what you see is what you get. If you were expecting a layered, emotional roller coaster that would deeply invest you in all of the characters and help attach depth and emotion into each and every action they take, you've come into the wrong film. I do believe however, that there is more than enough featured in both the opening 10 minutes of the film as well as throughout its duration to invest the audience into what's going on and gives us some insight into these people's lives. It suffices for just about as much as you would expect from a summer blockbuster, which it is. I've seen a couple of reviews for the film which have sort of bashed it in this respect and I don't necessarily deem it fair. Like I said, if you were expecting much more in this department then you really didn't grasp what the filmmakers were going for. As for the writing, I'd say it is similar to what you would expect from Del Toro's American films. Not to say this is bad because it works for the style, tone and setting that is creating/implementing but it's nothing new. Plenty of cheesy one liners and campy dialogue from characters so if that is right down your street then you'll have a field day with Pacific Rim!

Now I'm going to jump straight into what you all want to here, how was the action. Would calling it f*cking awesome do it justice? I'm not sure it would. This film did an excellent job of really immersing you into the set pieces and action taking place which hands down credit goes down to Mr Del Toro who did a grand job. You really got the sense that these attacks were on a global scale and felt the full verocity of each one. If you are going to watch the film, do it right and watch it in IMAX 3D, it will enhance each and every moment of this joy ride. For me, that is the only true way to watch it, either that or normal 3D due to it being how Guillermo wanted audiences to see the film. He isn't one of these directors who will just shoehorn the experience in for extra money or as a gimmick, he truly wants the audience to feel something and for the whole experience to be enhanced as a result. It sure does it's job in the action scenes as it comes into full play. Whether it be in the control rooms of these Jaegers or outside watching them smash monsters to death, it's a sight to behold put it that way. There was some innovative sequences and fight scenes that this film had to offer which makes it a thoroughly enjoyable experience as was expected from all of the trailers we have been given. It does well and truly live up to the expectations that I had set beforehand, and definitely in this department does it deliver.

Something that must be mentioned and praised for this film is both the use of practical and CGI effects. It's a trademark of Del Toro and he more than sticks to his guns in this huge, Hollywood epic. It's something I definitely admire about him, that despite taking advantage of all of the new, innovative technology available he still wants to take the time to make the possible things look great and has them made practically. Take the control rooms of the machines that are being piloted, this could have easily been green screened and edited in. Instead the director took the time out to build a real set, have the actors come to grips with what they were working in, and had many functioning parts. This spells someone who is passionate and committed to the line of work he's in and it sure as hell depicts that on screen. He obviously couldn't have built these giant robots and monsters so special effects were indeed needed but he more than held his own by using a great blend of the two. All of the monsters looked great, I liked that they weren't really anything we'd seen before. I'd say the closest monster in a film that was similar to the ones from Pacific Rim was probably Cloverfield, and even then it's quite far off. As well I appreciated that they were somewhat similar to one another while having characteristics and features that helped strand away from the previous monster we'd seen. It seems like they had a great time coming up with these monsters and a lot of effort and thought was gone into them. This mirrors my thoughts about the Jaegers that were being used to fight the monsters. I thought they were really well done and I'm extremely glad that the idea to have humans piloting them was used. I know we knew this prior to watching the film but it would have made for such a bland, uninteresting movie in my opinion had it not been done in this way.

This leads me onto my next point which I will talk about the characters in the film, as well as mentioning the acting by the people playing them and tie this in with the universe Del Toro and Beacham created. I was truly invested with the characters for the most part within the film, which I was quite surprised about. This doesn't always have to be the case to enjoy a film, being that it is a summer blockbuster. But I did, I thought they had a decent amount of depth and likability to them which brought a whole lot more to the film than I could have imagined. I thought all of the acting was fine for what the film was worth, it definitely wasn't bad. I think they stuck to the style and tone that was expected and asked of them which Del Toro chooses to implement in all his films. It's fine, I don't think it was bad but what I will say for this particular aspect of the film was that there was some very poor accents being thrown around. Ones that I will point out that sort of distracted me throughout, maybe this is just more of a personal thing for these two actors but Idris Elba and Charlie Hunnam. I couldn't get past the American accents they were trying to put on, I don't believe it's just the fact that I know they're two British actors, I genuinely believe they just can't portray convincing American accents.

The world that was created by the writers was excellent and completely convincing at least for me. There was many things that had to be believed for the film to work to a certain degree, they weren't going to change your outcome of the film completely but for the build up and details of the plot they were necessary. These included the technology being used, the year the film was set etc it all had to be nailed in order to convince the audience and I thought they did a great job with it. When I first saw that the film was set in 2020 and I was supposed to believe that giant robots were to be built by that year I thought it was going to spoil some of the fun of the film. Luckily it didn't and I genuinely felt that the world Gulliermo Del Toro had created was a truly real one that could well be what it turns out to be 7 years down the line.

Overall, I don't have anything negative to say about Pacific Rim because it was exactly everything I was expecting it to be. You could even say it exceeded my expectations because it had a little more development and tiny details that I didn't expect including characters I really liked to watch. The action and spectacle of the film was something I would recommend for everyone to see and the true way to watch such a glorified, immaculate piece of cinema is on the big screen where it belongs.

World War Z - Movie Review

"United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself."

Possibly the largest budgeted film ever made due to all of the re shoots that it entailed so after all of this and the controversy of the film being in no way shape or form similar to the source material it claims to be based on, was it worth it? Find out.

I will start out by saying that I've never gotten round to reading the book. Although I have heard many good things about it and know the brief structure and narrative that it follows, after watching the film I know it has absolutely zero relevance to the novel. I'm not sure whether the filmmakers have actually come out and said this themselves because seeing the opening credits sure sends the message to me that they are under the influence of what they have produced does in fact stick to the source material. They couldn't be any more wrong. Having not read the book though, it didn't all that bother me until I finally saw the film. I couldn't help but think that it might have stood a chance of actually being a good or at least decent film had it been on a much smaller scale. World War Z was going for the grand scale and this is the reason it dove away from the source material. It transformed into a summer blockbuster, got Marc Forster and Brad Pitt on board and set sail to try and be an epic zombie flick. I think I could be in a small minority when saying this but it just didn't work for me. Based on all of the positive reviews and feedback the film has been getting, I went into it having some hope after seeing the atrocious trailers that were being pumped out and was under the belief that it could end up genuinely surprising me. Boy was I wrong.

Starting out with the plot, where the hell was it?! To call World War Z's plot 'paper thin' would be a sheer understatement. I think it was destined to fail after I was under the assumption that the little hints and details to what was truly going on were revealed to be about as much as we would get. Right from the get go, there is no mention or depth to what is going on, we are just shoehorned into a random family's life and end up experiencing what they are. I'd much rather have it take place a little bit beforehand and there are some tell tale signs or clues to this demise occurring rather than the family being in the car and suddenly mayhem ensues for no apparent reason. It seemed so nonsensical that I couldn't get my head around why this was the approach taken by the writers. It all makes sense when you look at the tone and style of film that they were going for. They wanted a laid back zombie action film that was going to be easily accessible and maybe be a cut above the average summer flicks that are being pumped out nowadays. I wouldn't even say it achieved that status in my eyes. There needs to be some depth and emotion going into this story for me to even care what's going on, let alone be invested in the characters we are scaling across the world with. That comes down to the writing which seems where the problems are lying. Minimal effort comes to mind when describing how the writers approached World War Z. It all seems lazy, bland work on their part and it was more or less the main reason why the film didn't work. Besides all of the rushed introductions and poor character development, there was never any true uncovering of the virus. We know that it came from around South Africa if I remember correctly but that's about the extent that I would tell you.

Before I go off on another tangent I will praise the film by saying that I liked how it didn't just stick to one place. While I have my complaints about it being on a large scale, I appreciated that they sort of put it to good use and had Gerry travelling across the globe in search of a cure and to uncover what was truly going on. It's much bigger than any other zombie flick I've seen before which I both liked and didn't like aspects about it. Like I said, travelling to these different countries gave us an insight into the global scale of this pandemic which allowed the action set pieces to flow nicely into. What it also allowed which was far more interesting was how other civilizations were dealing with this zombie attack. When Gerry was moving from country to country we got glimpses of how different cultures and people were managing to survive and their beliefs on what was happening. I found these little segments to be the most intriguing especially in Jerusalem when Gerry discovers arguably his most vital piece of information.

For those of you who haven't seen the movie, I can indeed confirm the CGI zombies are as bad as they look in the trailers. I get that for some of the scenes there is no way they could have gone practical but surely for the budget they had, they could have drafted in a team that could create some decent looking zombies in after effects. Apart from those, I actually really liked the zombies that were just people dressed up. I thought they did a good job of making them look and feel somewhat grounded and the make up work done on them was really good, credit must go to that department for their hard work.

A minuscule detail that I will touch upon was finally a zombie film has mentioned the word zombie! How simple but effective it felt to finally be heard on screen. Why filmmakers seemingly avoid the use of this word I don't know but it was somewhat refreshing to hear characters reacting to what was going on naturally. If this sort of scenario played out in real life, you would get hordes of people questioning what was going on and they would put 2 + 2 together, realizing that it might well be a zombie apocalypse. It was mentioned a few times and as soon as I heard it I was thankful that finally somebody wasn't afraid to give some life to this situation in the film industry.

Besides the story and the writing for the movie, the biggest problem for me lied within the third act. I was completely uninterested and bored with this extremely outrageous situation that the characters find themselves in (this paragraph could contain spoilers so if you haven't seen the film, skip the rest of this paragraph or be warned). After the plane that Gerry and his newly appointed partner are aboard crashes, they land in the destination they were in fact trying to get to, coincidence? Then after leaving the wreckage more or less unscathed, they turn a couple of corners and BAM, they're suddenly right where they need to be at a research facility, another coincidence? After the people inside discover who Gerry is, they all come together and try to find a cure. A plan is then devised but a swarm of zombies in the West Wing stands in their way of achieving their goal. Instantly I knew that this was the dreaded reshoots that were being heavily discussed. It feels crammed into the film and is no fit to anything that has taken place so far. The event goes from being on a global scale to the protagonist secluded in a small facility in Wales. There was much debate on the ending between the people involved and I even heard Pitt and Forster fell out over the talks for some time. Well I think the final product is just about as bad as what we were previously going to be given, maybe even worse by the sounds of things. It had no place being in the film and it just made a bland, lifeless film even worse in my opinion.

I will end in a more respectable manner than World War Z did as I'm not quite sure what to make of its abrupt finale. Was it setting itself up for a sequel? Even so, a sequel is a completely seperate piece of work from its predecessor so things should have been somewhat wrapped up or concluded with enough to touch upon in later films if this was the case. That was the feeling that I got anyway because we never truly discover whether all is fine and dandy. Not that I care as such to be perfectly honest because at that point I just wanted the film to end but for people that did enjoy the film, I've heard many complaining about this. I understand why they are annoyed as they have every right to be. It seemed like such a half-arsed attempt to quickly wrap things up that it leads me to believe it got caught up in all the reshoot business and was a last minute job to map out how it would all wrap up.

Overall, World War Z was just a lifeless summer blockbuster that I couldn't really sink my teeth into because it had the potential to be so much more. When both an idea and talent like that are put to waste it shames me to think that what these people were doing, they honestly believed was the best possible way to convert the film from the book. The majority of the film I had no care for because nothing was explained or developed which meant my interest was at ground zero and anything taking place was just dull to me. The action sequences weren't bad but it all seemed a little 'been there, done that' especially at a PG-13 rating, there wasn't much they could show. I really get the idea they approached this in the poorest way possible. Of course, they were going for the big bucks option but with the source material and general idea the film followed, a smaller scoped film with an 18 rating would be the clear approach that I would take that's for sure. Well their money making scheme seems to have failed in the midst of everything because it has seen a poor return at the box office so their choice to turn the plot into a much larger scale production has clearly backfired.

White House Down - Movie Review

"While on a tour of the White House with his young daughter, a Capitol policeman springs into action to save his child and protect the president from a heavily armed group of paramilitary invaders."

Roland Emmerich, the master of disaster, he returns to the place that truly started his career and easily the scene of his most iconic triumph; the White House. To say I've not been a fan of Emmerich's films over the years has been an understatement, he is much more orientated towards the spectacle rather than including some much needed substance which I understand is intended to be the appeal for his films. For me though, it just isn't enough. Was White House Down any different? Find out.

If you go to into a Roland Emmerich film expecting a firmly layered and intricate plot waiting for you, you've been sadly mistaken. This is the recurring case which leads into White House Down as there isn't really much there. Thankfully I've grown to understand this so it is always there for me to remember if I ever do come across one of his films. Sometimes this can work don't get me wrong. If a film is entertaining enough and offers something else in another department then it can easily account for the lack of a detailed plot. I would say for the most part, the film manages to do so. We have a 20-30 minute intro where the build up to the big action set piece is taking place. Character development and mini backgrounds to the protagonists and major players in the game are included which attempts to convince the audience to later invest emotions into these characters. I wouldn't say I did and to be perfectly honest, this was without doubt the worst part of the film for me. If I'm going into a summer action blockbuster such as White House Down, then I want to be amazed by the action sequences and visuals as opposed to trying to give depth to a story about the White House being taken over and destroyed. It could sound like I'm actually contradicting myself here but with a Roland Emmerich movie, I don't expect this and I am more than happy for him to blow my mind with the gun fights, hand to hand combat and sheer destruction taking place. If he's never included this in his latter films, why start now?!

This partially leads me into my next point of the pacing of the film. I will first mention that this opening of attempted development was extremely slow. What was around 20-30 minutes felt like an extended period of time for me personally, I was on edge waiting for something to be destroyed or someone to be shot. It's actually an aspect of the earlier released and strangely similar 'Olympus Has Fallen' that I can appreciate - the fact that it more or less got straight into what the trailers, photos and synopsis were depicting what the film would be - sheer mayhem. For the duration, it had the generic pacing of action set piece, slow moment of characters recovering etc, followed by action set piece, etc, etc. It followed a pretty standard format and I didn't have a problem with it because again, this was something that I was expecting the film to do.

A little pet hate that this film fell into the trap of several times was including these lighter hearted moments and gags that  modern day action films feel the need to implement. They were thrown in left, right and centre and I couldn't stress how out of place they felt at times. I'll admit, a couple of times some of them made me laugh but I'm left constantly thinking to myself even after these moments "Why was that in there?". They're of course trying to appeal to more mass audiences, making it more suitable and less full on for families, making the stretch of drawing in children much wider. I don't mind them doing that but surely there are simpler, more effective ways of doing so. It feels like a really picky thing to attack the film on but it's just something I'm getting quite frankly sick to death of in films nowadays.

An aspect that Emmerich can more than outmatch many directors are the effects that he incorporates into his films. Even in the utterly abysmal '2012' there was great visual and special effects in that film that was probably worth at least sitting through it once just getting to see the sheer spectacle the man had to offer us. It's something that he very rarely fails on and I'd have to say he delivered once again. Now I've seen some people saying they thought the effects were terrible. I can vouch for them not being perfect by a long shot, in moments they had some cartoony look to them but you're bound to get that in places. I will definitely say they were leaps and bounds above that of Olympus Has Fallen in which I thought for the most part they were absolutely terrible. Even if they weren't the best effects, I certainly didn't have a problem with them and they sure as hell didn't take me out of the movie.

Emmerich has an easily recognizable signature style that each of his films have stamped on them; this is no different. I instantly knew I was watching a Roland Emmerich film from just the way it is shot. The sweeping shot following the helicopters carrying the president to the White House was symmetrical to that of The Day After Tomorrow's opening sequence where the camera swoops through the glaciers in the Antarctica. Others include his constant destruction of the American flag, over exaggeration and usage of politics to his central plot and not to mention his love of the mass destruction of America in general. If you are a fan of the man and have enjoyed all or some of his previous work, I have no doubt in saying you'll love this film and that it is right down your alley as he more than shows it is a piece of his filmmaking.

What is with the choppy, cutaway editing that films through in these days too? I'm getting sick of them trying to throw away a perfectly intriguing action sequence and attempting to make it seem much grander and hectic than it really is. It's just a cheap tool to try and trick the audience in to thinking more is happening than it actually is. Nobody is fooled or wowed by this, not to my knowledge anyway. All this does is just confuses and disorientate people, while the editor is clearly thinking they are drawing in the audience, they are in fact just uninteresting them in such an ineffective way. Since it was more or less a recurring thing throughout the action sequences, more so the outdoor ones involving Tatum and Foxx trying to escape from the mercenaries; on a whole I have to say that it was poor editing I'm afraid.

I will however praise the editing and potentially contradict myself yet again by saying the combination of that, the visuals and sound did a good job of upping the intensity and making a gripping finale. Normally for any film if you've not been wowed throughout, then the ending sequence will not do all that much for you but this wasn't the case for me. Overall, I had a good time with the film and was fairly entertained but the final sequence was great I thought. I got the real sense of the stakes being high and that everything really did come down to this, the whole fate of potentially the world in Channing Tatum's character's hands. A well executed final action sequence that left me pretty satisfied until of course the ending. If you haven't seen the film then just skip the rest of this paragraph while I get this off my chest. Another reason why trying to make it light hearted and fit for all is a ridiculous waste of time. "Mr President wants to do the thing" What an utterly disgraceful line and attempt a final gag from the writer which left me with a fairly sour taste in my mouth. Not to say that the rest of the film was a masterpiece but I wasn't bored like I felt I might have been from the initial trailers.

I think a couple of things that I will quickly cover includes the acting. All in all it was pretty bog standard, what you would expect from this type of flick. Nobody was particularly bad, but there won't be any Academy Award nominations for these guys. Channing Tatum was a good 'bad-ass' and maintains to be in my good books for the time being after his roles in Side Effects and 21 Jump Street. Jamie Foxx was decent, far away from many of the great performances he's given over the years but I didn't have a problem with him.  I feel by saying this I'm going to get abuse or told I'm wrong but I actually thought Joey King was quite good. She could have easily been one of the annoying child actresses that we so long for avoiding these days but she was more than bearable, in fact displayed some pretty good chops if you ask me.

Another is a minor gripe that I had which completely unsettled me throughout and was part of the reasoning that my score may seem a little harsh in the end. Now I'm not one to nit pick with films like so many do. Take The Dark Knight Rises for example, I thought it was a solid film, I picked out a few problems that it had but I certainly didn't think it was infested with problems and hiccups like so many did. I couldn't help but point out irrational decisions, reactions, and just general flaws with the movie. Some that I had included how did these mercenaries gain access into the White House? If it the most protected location in the world, how did a group of invaders manage to fool the heavily trained guards? A simple check from a worker later on revealed all of the identities and records for these people so how they could slip past so easily is beyond me. Another was how did Emily last as long as she did roaming around, remaining undetected by the invaders? Hiding behind curtains around corners that this highly trained team would not check doesn't seem like the perfect hide and seek spot to me. There are so many others I could touch upon such as the generic twist of both *spoiler alert* James Woods and Richard Jenkins being in on the act and revealing they were bad guys all along. Or that the authorities took an awfully long time to at least devise a plan or attempt to breach the White House considering that it was the biggest attack the US had ever seen and the current President was trapped inside. But who cares ay? I guess it's one of those films where you REALLY have to suspend your disbelief. Like seriously, throw it completely out of the window. Otherwise you'll be out of the cinema within the first 10 minutes.

Overall, I can't say White House Down was terrible but it just wasn't good by any means. Don't get me wrong, I was entertained while watching it but it won't last very long in my memory that's for sure. Some cool, exciting action sequences is what you were expecting, and that is exactly what you'll get. Was it too long? Definitely. Was there some dull, drawn out scenes that could have easily been cut? Sure. Was it fun to see Tatum and Foxx take these mercenaries out and have over 2 hours of explosions? Damn right. While it was about what I was expecting on terms of quality, I had a decent time watching it while it was on so for that, it earns it's 2 stars.

At least it was better than 2012.

Monsters University - Movie Review

"A look at the relationship between Mike and Sulley during their days at Monsters University - when they weren't necessarily the best of friends."

A rather daunting upcoming film for Pixar as its release date neared because the company hasn't been on the best of form in recent years. The two disappointments of Cars 2 in 2011 and Brave last year meant that many people, including myself, were skeptical about how this movie would turned out. Granted at least for myself, I was never a fan of the first Cars so that sequel never interested me and Brave was a completely fresh title which meant that there was always that chance of not being as good as the other films the company has produced. Is Monsters University as good as other Pixar films? Does it live up to the expectations that audiences have had? Find out.

Starting with the plot, it was a very ballsy move for them to take from the get go. Pixar's first ever prequel and I would say it was probably the most suited for one out of the films we have previously been given by them. It totally works and I was along for the ride every step of the way, having a great time which is exactly what I expected from Monsters University. It of course centres around Mike and Sulley, the two protagonists from the first film, giving us an insight into their earlier days while attending University. It is a perfect way to re introduce these characters to audiences and give us enough of a plot with substance that was relevant and entertaining that would make for a good film. It sure did I can safely say and I loved the way that the University environment was handled. This ties more into the writing I suppose but they did a great job of including many references and jokes towards University life which helped to make it suitable for all ages. Some jokes were aimed towards children that adults could still appreciate and vice versa. Something that Pixar has handled ever so well in almost each film that they have made and is one of many reasons why they are so beloved by many.

I will get more in detail with the writing for the film and reiterate a point previously made that they do an excellent job of varying the appeal to mass audiences. It is a family film and they do an exceptional job of making it translate to a variety of age groups and keeping them entertained throughout. I've seen many complaints that say Pixar doesn't stick to its true fashion in doing so but I would say Monsters University is a prime example of the company doing so. It has many jokes that are clearly aimed at children which keeps them satisfied but this is counter balanced with things that the older viewers can enjoy which makes it such a great experience. While talking about the writing, I must say this film is actually hilarious. I honestly can't remember, aside from maybe the Toy Story trilogy, another Pixar film that has made me laugh so much. I could see this being another point that many would argue against and say that it shoehorns a little too much humour into the mix. While I could slightly agree that sometimes it does come across as forced and maybe too often are they trying to search for laughs, but you have to take into account that it is a lighthearted family film so these sorts of things are expected which makes me completely fine with the matter.

Just a small point that is essential when reviewing the film for me anyway is how well of an atmosphere and tone the film had. It had a gentle, warm hearted spirit to everything that it was just a great film to watch. It certainly helps on how much you liked the film because it definitely made me feel like a kid again for the duration. An element that Pixar time and time again captures so well in truly immersing the audience into the experience and the viewers like myself really feel young again which is an amazing feeling for 1 hour 30 minutes - 2 hour 30 minutes of running time that these films usually play for. It had the look and feel of the first film which ties into the tone because it felt like the first one was just a continuation of what we were seeing now. That when this film ended, you could stick Monsters Inc into the Blu-Ray player and it would be like we never left these characters. Kudos to Pixar for this on doing such a magnificent job of keeping the raw spirit and emotion that goes into these films and makes them as appreciated as they are.

It wouldn't be a Pixar review if the animation wasn't mentioned. The sheer time and effort that goes into this work at least makes it worthy of a mention but for how truly spectacular it looks, it makes crediting it all that bit more special. They didn't of course let down on this front which none of us thought they would as every fine detail was covered ever so well. The bright, crisp colours looked immaculate and really sharp, probably one of the better looking Pixar films that I've seen too. And that is one of the best complements this film could be given, to say that it is one of the best looking Pixar films for me means that this film looked absolutely flawless. The animators did a sparkling job of touching up locations and characters that we'd previously seen, making them feel as fresh and unscathed as the first film did. It really does have that feeling of having never left these character's lives and experiences which is just the highest honor to everybody working on this project. Making Mike, Sulley and Randall all look like younger versions of themselves was well handled and something that without the finest of details and touch ups, could have made it gone wrong and killed the effect they were trying to achieve. Thankfully Pixar delivered yet again which I expected them to and just from the trailers you get the sense that this element is in safe hands.

The pacing of the film was extremely good in my opinion, I don't think anybody can have a fault with this aspect. It never let up for a second, never gave any slow moments or stopped for anybody to catch up, it just kept on going. I thought it was probably the only way to do it, or at least the best way to handle what the film was trying to be. If Monsters University did have the slower moments, I think it could have quite easily become quite dull and uninteresting so I appreciate Pixar really going for this movie and attempting to try something a little different to the usual formula that they partake with.

Just a quick mention of the voice acting which was well done just like in most animated films, including Pixar ones. John Goodman and Billy Crystal were great once again, as was Steve Buscemi who despite not having as big of a part to play in this film as Monsters Inc, I would say I actually preferred both his work and his character Randall this time round. Some new additions that I feel are worth mentioning is definitely my favourite addition which is Charlie Day's Art. Charlie Day is a hilarious actor and his character certainly shows the talent that he has. I was laughing hysterically throughout the many funny moments and lines that his character had and by far was he the best of the new bunch for me. Others include Johnny Worthington voiced by Nathan Fillion who I thought served as a pretty decent 'villain'. The last that I will say is Dean Hardscrabble who Helen Mirren lent her voice too. I thought she did a fine job but my problem was that I really didn't like her character. I understand that she wasn't supposed to be liked by the audience, she served as another character that was getting in the way of the character's ambitions and dreams but I didn't see her serving much of a purpose to the integral story. She just seemed to randomly pop up her and then and despite her power as the Dean of the University, not particularly offer much more than that.

Overall, I'm not sure whether I really got the point across in my review but I loved this film. I had a really fun, enjoyable time watching it and I will certainly remember it for a long time to come. It served laughs, emotion, ups and downs and really steered home the point that Pixar well and truly still has got it. Monsters University I would say is without doubt in my top three films of the year so far. Will it be there at the end of the year? Only time will tell.

This Is the End - Movie Review

"While attending a party at James Franco's house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, and many other celebrities are faced with the apocalypse."

I think the first thing that should be mentioned about this film is that if you aren't a fan of these actors and their previous work, this film certainly isn't for you. I've had people asking me whether they would like it or not when they didn't like previous films such as Pineapple Express, Knocked Up, Superbad etc and This is the End follows that exact style of comedy yet again. For me, this was the perfect comedy as I loved all of the actors that the story centered around including their previous work and the type of comedy that they consistently go for so I was certainly not let down because it is what it says on the tin.

To get a little more in depth with the film, I will start with the writing. Now for a comedy, this is the department that is going to be the most heavily judged because a comedy has to be funny which comes from the writing, otherwise it has failed at carrying out its job. I can safely say this film is extremely hilarious and is one of few films that I've ever watched that has had me constantly laughing from start to finish. Gag after gag is included and I would honestly say that about 95% of the material that was included had me laughing which is an unbelievable percentage. That pretty much says to you how much I liked this film and how well written it was. Rogen and Goldberg as well as co-directing the picture both co-wrote it too and it definitely shows as their subtle touches and implementations can be clearly depicted from the film throughout.

As well as heavily laughing throughout the 1 hour 47 minute running time, I sat there with a huge smile on my face. I had an absolute blast with the film and I can definitely say it's both one of the best cinema experiences I've had in many years as well as one of the funniest comedies I've seen in years. This is a credit to just everyone involved as these returning actors and crew hit home yet again with an entertaining roller coaster ride of laughter.

An aspect of not necessarily the writing, but the dialogue in the film that audience's could have a problem with is the improvisation used. Now I'm sure most who watch these films know that many of the scenes, even some of the higher regarded ones between fans are heavily improvised which makes us love these films even more because of the actors being naturally funny rather than just having a good delivery of the lines that are put in front of them. There are many moments in this film that I could pin point as being improvised and while like I said, I have no problem with this because I find it to actually enhance some scenes but I could see why people may not enjoy it as much or at all. It's more just a heads up if you haven't seen the film, it's quite noticeable in some scenes but I thought it completely worked and I don't mind the sort of thing if it's done well anyway so I lapped it up.

Before I talk about some more elements of the movie that I appreciated/loved I well mention one thing that I was slightly disappointed with. I would have to say that this is the only gripe I could take away from the film and even then it could be called nit picking. I felt there was a mass shortage of cameos as the film went on. Since the film centered around these actors playing themselves and the hysteria began with a party at James Franco's home, I expected many more treats to be in store for us. Despite the opening 20 minutes at the party, there really is only 2 or 3 after this and don't get me wrong, they were brilliant and had me in stitches, but I just felt there wasn't enough for what the film was selling itself as. This didn't really take anything away from my enjoyment of the movie but was just something I felt needed to be mentioned and would actually hope that anybody who agrees with me would leave a comment to let me know I'm not the only one who thought this.

The amount of pop culture references and gags poking fun at bad films/acting that some of these actors had done was genius. Now I'm not saying it's not been done before but when you stick 6 actors that many of us love and find hilarious, in a house condemned inside by the apocalypse and have them rip on each other for that it was just completely brilliant and I loved every time that one of them mentioned it. It was an aspect that could have easily flopped and let the film down massively but it was done in such a way that it didn't feel like it was being shoehorned into the film and was something that the actors would rip on each other for in real life.

Acting is always a bare essential that needs to be picked upon within a film review and I would say more so in this film is it essential to the film working. Each one of these guys from Seth Rogen right down to Danny McBride is outrageously funny and they are an absolute pleasure to watch on screen. I honestly was upset when the film ended because the whole experience seemed to fly by so fast going through the situations that these characters were and laughing every step of the way. To break it down, these actors were playing exaggerated versions of themselves within an apocalyptic environment. All of their deliveries were great, their over the top reactions to events and just the general way they approached what was expected of them was really well done. This was another thing that if done wrong, could have completely tarnished whether the film was good or not. Having the actors seem too extreme and their performances as themselves a little too outrageous then the whole film would have bombed but thankfully this wasn't the case.

The last thing I will say is that if you've seen the trailer or the film itself, there was A LOT of special effects used. It's expected of course being an end of the world type film but for a comedy of a budget of around $30 million, I thought they did a really good job. For the most part, the effects of the destruction of Los Angeles looked good which for a comedy you wouldn't necessarily hang all your hopes on but it does help immerse you more into the film which I can appreciate that effort went into this department. On the other hand, I have to say that some of them including the demon/monsters that were roaming the streets looked terrible. Whether this was intentional or not, which I would say it was, it was absolutely hysterical and I would more than bet that this was the effect they were going for but even if it wasn't; it was insanely funny and worked for the film yet again.

Overall, This is the End is without doubt one of the funniest films that I've seen in years and not for one second was I surprised that this was the outcome I left with. The trailers, footage, news and information about the film all had the potential to achieve this goal and for me, I have to say it certainly did. I highly recommend watching this film with a group of friends at the cinema because you'll get a bundle of laughs, have a great time and get to see a film that you'll most certainly remember for a long time to come.

V/H/S 2 - Movie Review

"Searching for a missing student, two private investigators break into his house and find collection of VHS tapes. Viewing the horrific contents of each cassette, they realize there may be dark motives behind the student's disappearance."

I have not seen the first V/H/S film but I had read reviews and seen that it had mixed reactions. When reviews and word about its sequel came rushing in, they were slightly better and I thought it was finally time for me to give this horror film a chance.

I will start out by talking about the film as a whole before I break down each individual short story and I will say that I thought they did a pretty good job of implementing the camera into the entire film. Since it's a low budget found footage horror film, it could have easily have felt forced and out of place to have this hand held camera perspective pushed in front of you. I can safely say this wasn't the case and I thought there were actually some innovative usages of it. These are more segmented into the shorts themselves so I won't go into great details about them just yet. 

Starting off with the first short story which was named "Phase l Clinical Trials". This followed the story of a man involved in a car accident who was blinded by the event and is part of an experiment where he has an artificial eye inserted to replace his sight. Now this had some elements to it which were great but also some that I thought were quite poor and lacking the zest that I was looking for. I will mention firstly that how they implemented the low budget camera style into this short was brilliant and such a creative way to make the style feel natural while successfully still engaging the audience. The overall direction that the story seemed to take however was something I felt that wasn't quite right. You have these dead people who can only be seen by this protagonist through his implant and I didn't really feel all that interested by this. I loved the general concept of having us see it from the perspective of his artificial eye, and would have much preferred the filmmakers to have come up with a much better story to use this for. I will say that this was probably the most scary of all four which at least I can give it credit for on this level.

The second short was called "A Ride In The Park" and I think just edged it for me as my favourite out of the four. This story followed a man who just happened to be riding his bike through the park one day when suddenly a woman who has sustained unknown injuries stumbles across him and screams for help. Trying to help, he comes across another man whom he believes to be her attacker, confronts him only to find out that he is a zombie, becomes infected through a bite and turns into a zombie himself. You had another unique idea for implementing the style of filming the short through the use of a go-pro camera which again I really liked how they did this. Now I say that this was probably the most entertaining of the four shorts. Something about seeing the perspective of a zombie was so intriguing that I was deeply disappointed when it ended. I could have literally watched a full length feature film just based on that very idea and would have been overly satisfied with what was given to me. I think something that is worth a mention for this short was the make up that was used. I thought who ever created the make up effects did a fantastic job at really convincing me. From all of the blood, wounds and general image of the zombie I thought they completely nailed it in this department which was truly impressive to see. 

"Safe Haven" was the short that just finished behind the second short in the list of my favourites. This followed the documentation of a crew who step inside a building that is inhabited by a cult like group. This one is quite difficult to describe in fact but that very reason is one of the many reasons why it was so damn good. Co-directed and co-written by Gareth Evans who some of you may know from 2012's The Raid did a fantastic job of yet again providing us with heaps of over the top violence and memorable sequences. As this particular short was running I did not expect it to take the direction that it did. Not to say that I was let down by this, because I certainly wasn't, it was amazing, but I don't think I could have even conjured anything similar to what we were given. I was constantly second guessing and left pondering what was really going on which was extremely entertaining. While it wasn't really scary, it certainly didn't feel out of place for an anthology horror film and the ambiguity of the whole short made the atmosphere and tone fit in with what the movie was trying to achieve immaculately. Again I think a notable mention for the make up effects and minimal use of CGI in this short are worth mentioning. Another great job well done in this department and even for the monster that was shown I thought it actually looked surprisingly good. It could have completely destroyed the effect that the short was trying to have had it looked terrible but I was fine with how they created it.

And finally, the last short was definitely the worst in my opinion which was "Slumber Party Alien Abduction". This followed a group of teenagers who as the title suggests, are victims to an alien abduction while their parents leave town for the weekend. While I mentioned that "Safe Haven" could have easily felt out of place due to its subject matter but thankfully didn't, this one sadly did. I had not in fact seen any trailers, footage etc for this film so I really had no clue in what to expect so that could well have had an impact on my viewing of this particular short. I just felt with what the film was trying to be it didn't really settle in with that. While all of the other shorts were outrageous in some way or another, this was just completely ludicrous and it hindered my enjoyment massively. As well as this, I couldn't really follow entirely what was going on. This was just the presentation of the short as well as the convoluted editing that it had. It felt like them trying to give the perspective sometimes of the dog was a bit confusing too. The story had nothing to do with the dog at all so the only reason I could think that they included this was to try and give us a 'unique' view of the events unfolding. 

As for the story that was connecting all of these tapes together, I didn't particularly care for that either. Not that I thought it was bad or anything along those lines, but it was sort of just something that was present in order to connect the dots together and give some context to these short films that we are shown. It is of course the details that are in the synopsis I included at the start of this review and something that I enjoyed about this at least was the tension that it created. As the break between each shorts went on, I felt more and more unnerved by what these two private detectives were going through. It provided me with a few tense moments and scares which I can at least say it had some purpose in relation the overall film.

Before I give my verdict I will just mention one or two very minor gripes that I had with the film. One is being that I expected it to be a lot more scarier than it actually was. Like I said, maybe this is just because I went into watching it completely blind eyed and hadn't seen anything in relation to the stories. I think I'll probably be in the minority because of this reason but if I'm not and you actually agree, please let me know because I couldn't help but keep thinking that it didn't unsettle me as much as I was hoping.

Another little problem was in relation to the two private detectives watching the same tapes that we are seeing. For starters, why did they seem so comfortable and natural with coming across multiple TVs set up in an organised fashion as well as dozens of VHS tapes scattered across a secluded house at night? Something about their reaction to the whole situation they were coming across was just completely fake and wasn't half what I was expecting them to be like dealing with it all. As well as this, their reactions for after watching the tapes and when the man comes across the woman unconscious were just ridiculous too. Of course, I'm undeniably nitpicking here and even for a larger budget horror film, the level of acting isn't particularly something I should be worrying about. It was just something about these minor moments that had me baffled as to why they couldn't just give some form of a normal reaction the these horrifying situations they were being put in.

Overall, I'd recommend watching V/H/S 2 because I certainly had a good time with it. There are a few laughs, a few scares and some great moments in some extremely creative shorts from some talented directors and writers. I'm not sure how it compares to the first film as I haven't seen it but I definitely intend to check it out now after watching the more than satisfying sequel.