The Guard

The Guard

When a local murder is part of an FBI drug bust, a big shot agent must team up with the local slacker officer in order to solve the case.

I don't think there is much that Brendan Gleeson has done that I haven't enjoyed in some way. This is no exception. He takes the lead role as Boyle: the slacker member of the Irish Guard. In typical film style the slacker also turns out to be quite intelligent just lazy. Gleeson is fantastic, he's got perfect comedy timing and he's perfect for the lead. Don Cheadle, still good in his own way, but easily shadowed in every scene by Gleeson. Bringing up the supporting cast includes Mark Strong. He went from a terrible big budget blockbuster(Green Lantern) to this; a fantastic little film. He brings the British element to the Irish vs American bit.

The film itself is a little slow, but for the content of the film it all makes sense. What redeems it is all the witty humour that's used. So many one liners that left me in stitches at times.
The only critisicm i'll make is that with all the thick irish accents in the film it is a little hard to hear some of the standard dialogue at times. Oh and not to ruin it, but the half cliffhanger ending should have either been full cliffhanger or just explained.

Recommend: definitely!
Overall: 9/10

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The Inbetweeners Movie

The Inbetweeners Movie

Carrying on from Season 3 of the TV show the lads have finished collage/6^th form and go on a holiday before they have to go to uni. It’s then hilarity in the sun for the whole week.

Loved it. The plot is rather simple and obvious but they pull it off and its so funny. I loved the inclusion of Will’s dad, in the form of Anthony Head (real life father to the actress who plays Carley) There was also a really big camera moment, usually in films that its through a really big tense scene, but in this it just swooped through an estate in the burbs: I liked it. There was a nice short opening with them pre-holiday and nice moment to see all the original actors who play their parents. Then the jokes are just one after another when they get to Malia. I’m not going to list off all my favourite funny points, but from sun creme drawings to “stylish” dance moves it’s a hysterical movie.

I do have two gripes with the film though. The female nudity to male nudity was a little swinging in the wrong direction, for me personally, they were funny moments, but it did seem every 10mins in the film, there was a penis or some form of excessive male nudity going on. The second is that the character of Simon’s sub plot seemed too over the top. Even if he is still infatuated over his ex, there some times that just seemed over the top.

Definitely contender for funniest movie of the year.

Recommend: Yes, but better to have seen the all three seasons of the TV show first, but not essential.

Overall: 9.5/10

Cowboys and Aliens

Cowboys and Aliens

Just as the title says, a spaceship interrupts life in a western and starts stealing people and its up to a rag tag group to rescue them.

My quick review of this film was: “A good western film with an average scifi sub-plot”. This is primarily a western with a scifi element.

Harrison Ford, always a pleasure to see in films, he was very good in this film, a little “Ralph Garman- Esq” mumble at the beginning, but got better. His character however was a let down. He is opened as the bad guy of the town, the mob boss as it were and yet 20mins into the film aliens arrive and suddenly he’s fighting for the greater good of getting the aliens. It seemed a little weird that he did that. Daniel Craig’s mysterious Jake the outlaw has the right motive to get the aliens to find out about the contraption on his arm (which eventually is just a big “I win” button in the end) It’s also like he watched Clint Eastwood do the Dollars trilogy before doing that and decided to do his Man With No Name Who Gets Named In The First Thirty Minutes. I like Olivia Wilde and her character was a twist I didn’t see coming. Sam Rockwell also on top form.

The aliens themselves were a little generic. Not quite generic with ET and Paul, but more Alien meets Predator with two extra little T-Rex eating arms.

Recommend: If there is nothing else or its like £5 on DVD sure

Overall: 7/10

Star Trek Nemesis

Star Trek Nemesis

Picard finds he has a clone who cannot live with more of his DNA, and is willing to do anything to get it.

Short review this one. As usual all cast on top form, quick mention to Tom Hardy for a good performance as the troublesome clone. The story was all little meh and the ending really annoyed me with Data.

Best part of the film was the opening with Riker and Troi’s wedding.

Recommend: Every Star Trek fan has already seen it and if you don’t like Star Trek then this isn’t for you, but this is my second least favourite out of them all, just behind The Final Frontier, where they meet god.

Overall: 5/10

Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: Insurrection

The second Next Gen film. When Data malfunctions and poses a threat to a colony on a planet that the Federation is keen on acquiring, Picard is summoned to help.

I’ll skip the usual cast breakdown, to just say that all cast were on usual expected top form.

Several moments to point out in this film, though. First; it seems weird that Worf keeps flitting between serving on The Enterprise just for the movies then back to DS9, but more on this might be explained after I watch all of them. I loved the whole capturing data/Gilbert and Sullivan part of the film. Not only can all the actors sing well, but my favourite line of “Sing Worf sing!” is not met well by Worf. Its nice after the weird ending to Season 7 that Riker and Troi finally get back together, it was building up for nearly fifteen years. Another personal few favourite moments were Data explaining that he can be used as a floatation device and the boob conversation he overhears and tries on Worf.

This is definitely a more Next Generation movie compared to First Contact.

Recommend: Every Star Trek fan has already seen it and if you don’t like Star Trek then this isn’t for you.

Overall: 9/10

Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: First Contact

The proper first Next Generations movie. Picard and the NCC-1701-E crew follow a rogue borg ship into the past to stop them from altering the First Contact of the human race to alien life.

Yes, I finally finished watching Next Generation so it was time to re-watch the movies and we start with First Contact. One of my rules is: Time travel in a film is usually a clear sign of awesomeness, and this follows that rule rather well. Probably my favourite of the Next Gen movies.

First off I loved the split plot. Data, Worf, Beverley and Picard on The Enterprise with the Borg and Riker, LaForge and Troi on Earth helping Zefram Cochrane, played brilliantly by Star Trek veteran, James Cromwell.

Now with the Borg plot line, I loved the scenes with Data (Brent Spiner) and the Borg Queen, the chemistry between the two characters and their similarities was nice to see. Patrick Stewart’s Picard as awesome as ever.

Down on the planet I liked everything between the crew members and Cochrane. James Cromwell just knocked out a perfect performance. There was a nice moment when LaForge is explaining to him about his effect on the future and Reg Barckley comes up to him all giddy. It was fun moment, especially to see Barckley again. Everyone in the film had a nice role to play, except for Troi. She has one bar scene where she gets drunk and passes out but other than that she does nothing for the film.

The gripe I have with the story is that I didn’t believe they would risk going against the Prime Directive so easily. I would have thought that they would have figured out a way to explain their presence rather than tell him straight out everything.

Recommend: Every Star Trek fan has already seen it and if you don’t like Star Trek then this isn’t for you.

Overall: 9/10

Sixteen Candles

Sixteen Candles

Typical 80’s high school film: Girl wants boy, boy doesn’t know she exists, geeky friend intervenes and then boy and girl go out.

This is the film that Pretty in Pink had to live up to and failed. This is a much better film with very similar stories (as John Hughes wrote them both) Molly Ringwald, who plays the same, ish, character in every film I’ve seen her in, actually works in this one. She’s the ignored sibling and ignored classmate. Anthony Michael Hall, although occasionally too over the top, played a very good part, although he or his character seemed far too young to hanging around with his two very borg friends (one of which a very young John Cusack) who were both very funny. I loved the cheesy sound effects when things were happening or reactions to things, cheesy but fun. As mentioned in my review of The Blues Brothers, any film with the Peter Gunn theme tune in is an instant like in my book, love that tune. The one other thing I remember loving about the movie is that the car that Long Puck Dong/the Chinese exchange guy is driving has a food tray attached to the wing mirror: loved it and when I get a car: WANT! A good typical 80’s film.

Recommend: If you don’t mind watching 80’s movies then yes.

Overall: 7/10

Batman: Live!

Batman: Live!

Ok special review this one, not a film. Yes The Dark Knight himself shows Spiderman that you don't have to break a couple of cast members to perform a comic book story live.

Ive come to the defense of Batman and Robin with the statement "Any Batman is good Batman". After seeing a few out of context clips online before hand it looked very Joel Schumacher, some would say too much. So very unsure what to expect we took our seats ready with our opinions sheathed.
OMG it was sooo good. It was rather Schumacher throughout but live, it worked so well.

Right first off the cast. They were perfect. All the actors got the personalities, posture and voice of all the characters, with Commissioner Gordon more Pat Hingle than Gary Oldman. I did have slight issue with Harley Quinn's costume, although nothing technically wrong with it, something just looked amiss, but I loved her proper queens accent. Not in it as much as i would have liked are: The Riddler; dropped his cane after spinning it once but flawless incarnation as the brains behind the main scheme, The Penguin: loved his 'wark wark' laugh, Two-Face: got the schizophrenia just right, Poison Ivy; not on for long but got her trademark paralysis kiss in there and The Scarecrow; again not on long but teamed up with Poison Ivy with his fear gas in order to stop our hero. This show also has my favourite incarnation of Catwoman. The actress got the right balance between "Purrrrfect" and sexy. Robin wasn't as annoying as Chris O'Donnall was and Alfred was done right too. Now the big two: The Batman. Didn't do a Christian Bale and adapted a more Adam West approach to not see the need to change voices to distinguish between Bruce Wayne and Batman. He was great he had the right badass-ness of The Dark Knight with the sophistication of Bruce. His costume, thank god, was free of bat-nipples. Now stealing the show, as any incarnation of him does, was The Joker. In my eyes this Joker was more Mark Hamil than that of the any of the live action film versions (Caesar Romaro, Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger) which is personally the best version. He got the moves, the voice and the laugh all pitch perfect. His purple jacket was equally as spot on. The Joker needs to be played with total madness, and this one was.

When writing the story to this, the writers clearly had just watched the Tim Burton Batman films and finished playing Arkham Asylum. Act One focuses around the origins of both Batman and Robin. Now Batman's is standard Zorro watching then mugged and the Flying Grayson's death also the origin of Robin. The second act is The Joker has taken control of Arkham Asylum and teamed up with the other rogues in Batman's history. The story features a catwoman karma turn-around at the end where she helps Batman defeat her former friends. One of the best parts was when Bruce tells Dick that he is Batman; there is a nice long pause and he clearly says "I'm Batman". Well rightfully so the entire audience erupted in applause and cheers.
The sets were all great, although the giant chair in Wayne Manor still confuses me. At the back of the stage was a huge screen that showed backdrops and other useful images, turning pages of a comic book to represent a scene change or the showing the bat-mobile driving through Gotham, being Bruce's Bat-Computer screen (Nerdy appreciation to the "Bat-OS" logo in the corner, to showing close ups during fight scenes all drawn by the genius that is Jim Lee. During the fight scenes it was hard to choose where to look; the stage or the screen, but everywhere was good.

I loved it. Not much else i can say other than if your a bat-fan and get a chance to see this: Do So. I saw it opening night at the Sheffield Arena and there was a technical fault, but there was an announcement that apologised and 5mins later the action started up again.

Overall: 9.5/10 (only because i wanted more)

The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

A re-imagining of the origins of the original classic film Planet Of The Apes. When apes are tested with a "cure-all" drug, one is left to be raised by humans, to which sparks the conquest for supreme being.

I liked it. Ok cast: James Franco is good. Might be the best film he's been in since Pineapple Express (didn't see 127 hours). It's always nice to see John Lithgow in things and he gives a knock out performance in this as Franco's dad. Other mentionable cast include Brian Cox as a primate enclosure manager and his son played by Tom Felton, proving that he can play another role other than brat teenager...oh wait. Sarcasm aside he did good, his accent sounded a little off in places but Draco is the first of the Potter lot to have a good role in another movie (Rupert Grint in Thunderballs doesn't count).
No cast mentions would be complete without Andy Serkis (although IMDB would have you believe he wasn't in the film) Just like in King Kong Serkis donned the motion capture suit and monkeyed around. Without looking into too much how they captured him, if it's anything like the L.A Noire capturing, Serkis did an awesome job at all the movement and especially the facial expressions of the lead ape, Caesar.

*Spoilers*

There are some really good moments in this film, that are very emotional and you are drawn into the film. There are several moments with Caesar and Charles (Lithgow). The big two are in the trailer with the turning the fork the right way and the way he comes to his rescue when Charles sits in someone else's car. The other emotional moment is when Charles eventually dies. You see this character at their lowest with Alzheimer's, then they get temporarily cured only to have them pass away is a high roller-coaster for both character and audience. Other more non-depressing moments are when Caesar finds a circus Orangutan that can also sign language, when he climbs a tree for the first time and (again spoilers) the final moment when he speaks to James Franco.

True to its original roots there are several references to the original film. Caesar's mother is named Bright Eyes, which is the name that Charlton Heston's Taylor is named in the first film. There is clip of Charlton Heston in a film being played on the monitors in the Ape area. There is also many Tv news and newspaper references to a failed mission to Mars which is how the first film started. In the second Apes film we are told that the first word an ape said was "no", this is also Caesar's first word, which is said after Tom Felton delivers the most famous line from the apes film: "GET YOUR STINKING PAW OF ME YOU DAMN DIRTY APE!"

Recommend: Yes.
Overall: 8/10

A League Of Their Own.

A League Of Their Own.

Set during the war and whilst the men are off fighting, it is decided that a women’s baseball league is set up. The story follows two sisters who are talent scouted to join the teams.

I liked it, although so far, apart from “Mazes And Monsters” (which I never finished), I have found it impossible to hate a film that Tom Hanks is in. He’s on his usual top high form and might even have played the first Hanks character that I didn’t particular like, but that didn’t stop him from being awesome. And speaking of awesome he may have only been in the first 20/15 mins of the film but Jon Lovitz proves why he is one of my favourite comedians. The rest of the cast were equally as good, (after a quick glance at the back of the DVD cover) Geena Davis and Lori Petty in the two lead roles with Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna bringing up the supporting cast. Also hiding at the back end of the movie in a small role is current Torchwood baddie Bill Pullman.

There is a lot to like in this film. I myself have never played baseball, but have learned so much simply by watching films like this, The Benchwarmers, The Natural and The Longest Yard. All, in essence the same film, but each really good. It’s clear why Americans make such a fuss over it (and apple pie…mmmmm) There are a couple of nice scenes I want to mention; like the dance hall scene. What energy and perfection in that dance sequence, made me out of breath watching it. There was a really nice little moment when one of the girls admits she cant read the board to know if she’s on the team and someone walks up and helps her. Only like 30secs long but a memorable moment none the less.
The one and only flaw in this film I found was Hanks’ fault. His character has a broken knee and it’s only about half way through the film does he remember this and starts limping for a scene. Other than I have no memorable faults, other than it might have been maybe 15/20 mins longer than necessary.

Recommend: Yes
Overall: 8/10

Tangled

Tangled

Disney's take on the classic tale of Rapunzel, a young girl who has long magical hair, and a shrouded past.

Now I was pestered into watching this movie by Rachael, a friend at work and Iv put off watching it for a while now as Star Trek was always an easier option to watch. Its now that i wish i hadn't and had seen this film sooner.

Its a beautiful recapturing of classic Disney. The art work is beautiful from the get go, it might be cgi but it has all the classic look from the Disney films of my childhood (Lion King, Robin Hood, Hercules) that recent Disney films have lacked (Bolt, Chicken Little). All the voice cast sounded right, but the only voice i could pick out and asign to was Brad Garrett. This film also brings back Disney's musical talents and is filled with songs that tell plot points and emotions throughout the film and are all catchy and fun. Now i watching this film with two of my other friends and the humour of the film transfers to three kids in our early twenties. The biggest laughs were without a doubt all down to Maximus the horse. My favourite character by far, second only to the chameleon. Curiously both these characters not having voices, which for a disney film a curious choice, but one that pays off in bucket loads. The physical comedy of the horse and the facial expressions of the chameleon are fantasic.

Recommend: Yes, it is still a Disney film, but no less fun.
Overall: 8/10

EDIT: Just re-listened to the soundtrack and i can also tell that Jeffrey Tabor aswell as Brad Garett, is one of the pirates in the bar.

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