Frozen

Let it go- let it go- can't hold it back anymore...

I tried really hard to not watch this film when it came out just because i didn't want to have endless conversations about Frozen with a bunch of children. So then my friend made me watch it anyway just to spoil the hard earned reputation that I had received.

So what was my verdict?? I couldn't see what the hype as about. Yes, at times it was funny and had everything there to make it a good film. The music was good and they didn't try to make anything too ridiculous which is always great but for me it just wasn't as good as The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast which are and always will be classics. There is so much more that they can do with technology now then what they could do then and at times i feel like directors and producers get too carried away with it instead of going for the thing that makes a fantastic movie which is a great script. Unfortunately the story of the ice queen is actually really boring and predictable. Yes- you will all tell me that it is a kids film for kids and that all children loved this film. It did it's job but it wont have what other classics such as those mentioned above and Peter Pan have which is the ability to make adults cry and love them as well. I'm not a parent, so it is not a film that I am going to watch over and over again on loop and to  be honest that is kind of a shame because some of the best Disney films are films that anyone of any age group can watch time and time again.

The best thing that they did was getting Idina Menzel to voice Elsa and sing Let It Go. The Original that was written for Demi Lovato is actually a huge pile of rubbish and they made the best call of the film by allowing Menzel to sing it in the film.

I think that I will have sparked some controversy with this post and that makes me happy. I just wanted to do it to end the year because in the two years that I have been writing this blog I have had one comment and I kinda want more from the people that read this blog. It makes it easier to write if I know that someone else is going to share their views and maybe disagree with what I have said.

I haven't finished compiling a list for next year so if you have a favourite film that wasn't on either of the previous challenge lists (all lists are at the bottom of the blog) then please comment on this post of message me either on facebook or twitter (all links are on the blog somewhere).

See you next year!

Tangled

I know- it's a crime that it has taken me that long to actually watch this film.

What can I say about this film? I actually really enjoyed it from start to finish. It had a very Shrek feel to it which was kinda good but in a way it was much better.

I think that the best of the film was the horse (although the frying pan's came very close). I loved the horse from start to finish and it just made me laugh all the way through. I want a horse like that!

There were some great moments but this film still couldn't reach the heights of MegaMind and despicable me which were both possibly the two best animated films created to date.

Music was good and story was good but i had a serious problem with not singing songs from into the woods all the way through just because of character and word association. Nothing really beats having someone moaning from the top of the tower but this is a good alternative.

Inside Out

Psychological interpretation of this film is going to be the basis of this blog.

For all intensive purposes it was a kinda depressing film with this idea that for the most part you can't have any sadness and that change destroys everything.

The psychological theory behind this film was the best part of the film. The concept and idea that we have different emotions that control us and help to keep us balanced is a very clever idea. For those with depression sadness would have almost completely destroyed joy. What the film suggests is that we cannot function properly without all these emotions and that if we remove joy and sadness then we struggle and get fixed on certain ideas that in the long run become very bad and destroy our world and our memories.

I found this film on the list of best pixar or disney films ever made and what's more- it was towards the top of the list! I would not have put this there at all. It was okay and don't get me wrong , there are a lot of disney films that have been made that were a lot worse than this.

I did love the idea that sadness and laziness go hand in hand. This means that if i am sad then i just have to lie on the floor all day long.

Tangled will be up next and then Frozen tomorrow to end the year!

See you all in a few hours!

District 13

This is the last adult film that I will post about this year. I have a few marathon days coming up but they are Pixar or Harry Potter days so there is hardly any reason to post about them.

I wouldn't be surprised if no one that reads this blog actually knew what District 13 was. It is very similar to 'The Raid' but in French and with more free running stunts.

I actually really enjoyed this film. I wasn't sure that I was going to at first because it just looked like the same film done 100x over but in French. This was different, there was more than just one person taking over an area and someone else trying to regain their turf- there was a plot and character development.

The music was fitting and even though it was in french and I couldn't understand any of it, it was the sort of music that would not have been out of place in a Vin Diesel film.  Team work (something Vin Diesel is not widely known for managing) was excellent and at times almost unbelievable but even so it made the film a little different from some of the others like it.

Next year I will watch the sequel and post about it as well.

Oh Captain My Captain.

The film that everyone should watch and has taken me twenty years to watch!

I had forgotten how much I love and appreciate Robin Williams. This guy is not typically up there at the top of your list when you try to name the best actors in the world at the moment but he really should be. Alongside Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen and Dustin Hoffman should always feature Robin Williams.

Dead Poets Society is something completely different to what was on offer at the time. It gives me a feel of The Freedom Writers (Hillary Swank, Imelda Staunton) crossed with Good Will Hunting (Matt Damon, Robin Williams) and at times Educating Rita (Michael Caine, Julie Walters). The story is inspiring and at the same time very moving and startling.

Many people of a slightly older generation to mine can probably remember living in a time where you always felt that you had to do and become what your parents wanted. I find it startling to see the amount of control that parents had over their children and how pathetic people were in accepting and appreciating change and differences. I am a rebel and always be, if i don't agree with something then I just don't conform to it, even if it means walking out or making people despise me.

The plot of this film, the way that it was written and has been performed is truly a work of art and should and always will be for me, something that inspires me and it should be an inspiration for other people out there trying to make a film. This is the way that films should be made, a great plot that has been very well written and then one big name who carries the film with a few unknown people that really grab at their opportunity.

I felt the call to rally next to Robin Williams in this film and I am so thankful that I finally got the chance to watch this film and be reminded of just how good movies can be when they are done well. This film and the actors mentioned above should be the role models for every young person trying to make their way in the world of film because this film underlines quality and is a fine example of true talent and real art work.

Ip Man 2

I have completed the film challenge for this year. I think that there were a few remakes that I said I would watch the original of so I will try and do that before the new year. After watching the first film I acquired both the first and second Ip Man film and added Ip Man 2 on to the end of the list so that if i got time i could watch it.

With talk of an Ip Man 3 being made I had to watch the second film and it was definitely worth the time spent on watching it. There's a skill to making a super martial arts film. To get the balance of story and martial arts perfect is very difficult but it is something that Ip Man always manages. Ip Man is probably the best martial arts film in the world and in the second film it shows you why. There isn't one skill that is better or stronger than the others, Boxing isn't better than Wing  Chun- it is a different type of application to the body and mind. Fighting always has been about managing your emotions and understanding. We all learnt in the Karate Kid that people who bully others and think that they are better than others always, in the end, lose and lose spectacularly.

Ip Man 2 is just as good as I remember Ip Man being and that made me happy. The quality of the martial arts was at the same level (not surprising seeing as Donnie Yen did all his own stunts). I think that what i probably liked the most was how they were all brought together by Ip Man at the end in an unexpected way. 

There were moments when i found myself getting a little upset by the development of the plot but not in a bad way. It was a moving film, almost coming close to a Spielberg film and that really makes the difference in a martial arts film.

I can't wait for the third one to be released.

Blackhat

Chis Hemsworth stars as the hacker that is released from prison to track down a cyber network reaching from the states to Hong Kong.

I was very impressed with Hemsworth in this film. I have got used to seeing him as Thor and at times I have wondered if he was acting or not just because of his attitude. I can say that he definitely was acting because he is a complete contrast in this film.

Everything about his character was perfect in this film. He easily looked like a guy that had been imprisoned for hacking- he was calm and composed in prison but clearly not a complete thug.

What can I say about this film? I really liked it, I found it fluent and at times almost perfect. I have recently been watching Mr. Robot and it is of course, about a hacker so I was kinda in the mood for this film and I think that it was made better by that. Sometimes it's great to get into the mind of hackers and understand why they do what they do and how they do it.

Two thumbs way up for this film.

The Equalizer

Denzel Washington is back.... with a bang (as always).

I struggle a lot because I watched Taken before watching any Denzel Washington films so I have trouble not comparing his action films to Taken. So putting all that aside let's take time to review 'The Equalizer'.

There was a story to it and I actually really liked the film. The mystery behind it remained a mystery throughout and just set up the door for another film about his past. Denzel Washington plays secretive very well. He has that stare which doesn't give anything away. It's not an angry stare, just a blank stare that shows absolutely no expression whatsoever and it's almost intimidating without it really trying to be so.

This guy is as terrifying as Liam Neeson but in a completely different way. You can see the anger in Neeson's eyes but Washington makes you instantly feel fear. I don't want to spend the entire post talking about Denzel Washington because it was another masterclass performance from Marton Csokas (Kingdom of Heaven, Aeon Flux, XXX, Lord of The Rings). There's something about him that thoroughly convinces you that he is evil, even when he isn't. Not in the same way as Sir Christopher Lee who because of his voice and slightly sunken in eyes always appeared to be evil regardless of if he was or wasn't playing the bad guy. Marton Csokas is different. He is thoroughly believable as the bad guy but equally believable as the good guy- kinda like Sir Ian McKellen. I love him in everything that I have seen him in (and that's quite a lot from his IMDB list).

So back to the film. The film was done as if it was showing a double life. There was a clear split between what he did with his evenings and his work. I loved the separation because it showed that he wasn't a special ops guy that was undercover or he wasn't actually an agent, he was just a guy with training (and probably trained in the forces) that was making his way in the world by working in a store.

The way it was filmed, when it went through his eyes so that you could see what he was seeing was a stroke of genius. Sherlock almost managed it when you get his analysis but this just took it one step closer and actually went back through his eyes before turning so that you were looking out of Denzel Washington's eyes.

A very well done film in all aspects but at times perhaps a little too bloody. Could have got away with a 15 rating if they had toned down on some of the violence.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

As a fan of the cartoon series I was really excited to see this film. I missed it in the cinemas for whatever reason and so I manage to catch it on sky.
I was super disappointed by it- I just found it a massive let down. The plot was so boring and nothing particularly convinced me. I remember loving the cartoon series and thinking that there was so much to offer but this film just became another X-men 3 type film... a waste of time, effort and money.

You know that feeling you got with Spider-man? It was like that. I want to watch it again and just be able to watch it as a random film instead of a TMNT film having loved the cartoons. Sometimes it's hard to not just compare with the others that you have seen and I think that I did that this time around so I would like to see it again and write a better post about it.

I was sorta impressed with Megan Fox... in a weird way. I wasn't particularly convinced by her but i didn't hate her half as much as I have done in other things and that made me happier.

The Lady in the van

When it has Maggie Smith in it, it has to be worth watching. She never disappoints either.

I do love a film in which you kinda have to work out what had happened before the end- like with Poirot but this wasn't meant to be a detective film. The film itself just flowed really nicely with the plot unraveling as the film went by in a somewhat carefree manner. The advantage that this film had was that it really didn't have a huge cast and so the smaller characters were being played by well known people like James Corden.

This film was thoroughly entertaining. I laughed throughout. I was slightly expecting a keeping mum like film and although it wasn't quite like that and perhaps not as funny it was still great. I admire this woman so much because she has spent the last x amount of years filming downton abbey and in the meantime making fabulous films such as The Quartet and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. From the way that she was playing the piano in the film it is clear that she could really play the piano but where she got the time to practice in between filming all the films and series that she has been a part of I have absolutely no idea.

I salute this woman and have enjoyed every role that she has ever taken on. This woman should be given an award for achieving everything that she has achieved in her career. It is extraordinary and something that every actor should aspire to imitate.

Light humor and very easy going. Easy to watch and the kind of film that makes you come out of the cinema with a grin on your face knowing that you just had a very pleasant and enjoyable afternoon watching one of the greats at her best.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Hey all, I know that things are kinda going slowly on the blog but i don't have many films left to watch and I don't want to end it with like a month of nothing so i'm taking my time about posting. There should be two other posts following this, one in mid week and the other next weekend.

So I've been working my way through and I've come to the latest Jack Ryan film. For those of you that know a thing or two about it then you will know that this is kinda a latest addition to the character that was made so famous by Alec Baldwin. It's more of a reboot of the franchise and very different from all the other films.

Starring Chris Pine and Keira Knightley. I am not Chris Pine's biggest fan. Seeing him in Star Trek was great, i thought that he could act after i had seen those films but after seeing a few others such as Into the Woods and a few other things I realised that he couldn't act, he just used his eyebrows and looks to pretend that he could act.
I felt that he was different in this film. I was happier with his performance, it was almost worthy of high praise and certainly worthy of praise. Next to him was Keira Knightley who was surprisingly good, so good that i almost couldn't tell that it was her. I normally think that she can't act and is fairly rubbish but she was really good in this film. I think that when she isn't playing someone that every man is after then she gets to showcase some talent. She has come a long way in this film.

There were some great scenes and I think that what i liked the best was that the fight scenes weren't overdone and weren't too long. I didn't feel like he was taking too much damage for it to be real and i didn't feel like he was being completely overpowered. Everything about it was fairly solid and I'm kinda glad that they made the film in the way that they did.

300: Rise of an Empire

Where to start?

Everyone told me that this film wasn't very good. Compared to the first one it was absolutely shocking. They were correct. There was eight years between these films and it really showed. People have forgotten 300, it is one of those films that we all remember and yell SPARTA but hardly every sit down and watch it- it wasn't particularly 'classic' or funny or even moving like Gladiator but Gerard Butler made it something better than it otherwise would have been.

I found everything about it boring. I expected more from this film and it failed to deliver. Gerard Butler was a huge presence and with the lack of his character they needed someone to step up and create another character like that who would drag the film along and set the standards.
Lena Headey was impressive. Since first seeing her in 300 she has just continued to amaze me with her different characters in St. Trinian's and Dredd. I know that she has been in both 300 films but she was kinda a supporting role in the first film cos we were all watching it for Gerard Butler. She was allowed to rise as her own star this time around and over the years she has just got better and better.

The only thing that I will say for this film is that the lack of Butler gave room for the female characters to show us a little of what they can do. Feminists would be slightly happier with the characters in this film and the roles that the women got to take on. Strong characters that didn't need a man to protect them and this would make a lot of women in the world very happy.

Lost in Translation.

Had a copy of this film in my house for years and never watched it.

It's a little weird, kinda like... what's the point? It doesn't come across as a pointless film. I didn't sit there going WTF? But I still had to think back at the end and go... well okay, it's over, what was the actual point of that film?

Scarlet Johansson does not look good with pink hair.

The whole point of it is that going to a different country and not speaking the language makes everything difficult but I personally don't feel that that idea is enough to make a film on.
I liked Bill Murray in Ghostbusters and that really was his breaking moment, nothing he has done since then has been as good and he just doesn't have it. I don't know what it is that he doesn't have exactly, I don't get the same feeling about him as i do about Pierce Brosnan or Johnny Depp if they were to play his part in this film. The lonely older man takes a certain quality to produce and he just doesn't have it.

The scenery is wonderful but location isn't enough to make it a good film. I would suggest that it isn't something that you must see. It is not likely to impact your life in one way or another by watching this film so don't bother wasting the time.

SPECTRE

Massive Bond fan, really looking to forward to watching my first bond film in cinema.... disappointed.

The theme is the worst theme yet- there are no elements of the original theme in it and it's so waily. Sam Smith was always going to be a terrible choice for it but i can see why they chose him- he's a rising star in the pop world and that would attract people. If you actually love Bond films as a work of art then this theme is disgusting!

The opening sequence is the worst opening sequence yet. Normally opening sequences are giving you a hint of what the film is about- if that is the case with this one then just stop watching the film there.

When you watch this film you have to think of it as the fourth in the series (Casino, Quantum, Skyfall and this) because trying to think of it as 24 in the series just doesn't work at all. They attempted too much with this film. SPECTRE attempts to link this film with DR. NO but anyone that has read the books knows that Casino Royale is the first book and SMERSH are bonds enemies for the most part. Dr. No introduces SPECTRE to the attention of James Bond. If you remember, Sean Connery has no idea what SPECTRE is until Julian No informs him.

By making this film they have almost tried to get rid of Dr. No, an act that just irritates bond fans that love the books. There was no real point in making this film, except that they had given him a history in skyfall so they felt the need to keep going with it.

It is good to see that after almost 40 years of films, the bond women are all the same. The wardrobe for them has not changed one bit and that really says something. Although I loved what was worn all the time, it really hasn't moved with the times and that is almost disrespectful of women. Gadgets update and chases become more expensive and classier but the women all get to dress from the 50's.

Saying that, there were some great lines and the female characters have become a lot stronger since their pathetic role in Dr. No. Christoph Waltz is fantastic as the villain but i was a little let down that he didn't have a horse that bowed every time. I also believe that he should keep a beard at all times- it makes him look much better.

Ralph Fiennes has done a remarkable job as M since taking over from Judi Dench and was thoroughly impressive. Mr, Moriarty (who will always be known as Moriarty), unfortunately it was slightly obvious because he is Moriarty, you expect him to be evil.

As a film of 4 it was very good but as part of the franchise it was another like quantum- don't mention it again.

Blue Velvet

Something that starts off as a bit of a mystery turns into something even more difficult for my brain to comprehend.
This film was two hours long but it felt a lot shorter, I honestly felt like I had missed half of the film when i was watching it. Yes I am tired and probably missed some crucial development in the plot but i still can't work out what really happened in the film.

None of the cast was well known and I liked that. In a way I felt like this film was on a par with The Graduate. I don't know which one came first and I know that the graduate really doesn't have much of a plot to it but i remember it and that is more than i can say about Blue Velvet. I felt like this probably should have been a break through moment for the people in this cast but I don't recognise their names so I would bet that actually it didn't have the desired effect.

I get the feeling that sometimes people make films for the sake of making a film. There was a good idea and don't mistake me, Dennis Hopper was a good find- I was impressed with him but not with the film overall, I was kinda let down because the synopsis made it out to be something much better than what was produced.

I don't know if this is something that would benefit from getting a second watch so in a years time i will watch it again and see if i can understand it a little more than i did this time.

House of Wax

There was a time when I was a little bit of a supernatural fan and after watching the house of wax episode I had a craving to watch house of wax. I couldn't find a way of sneaking it on to last years challenge but since Esther dropped out and left me to do it all by my lonesome, I got to cement it's place on this years challenge.

After watching this you will never feel comfortable with wax dolls again. An entire village with wax people in is f'***ing terrifying! The way Paris Hilton dies was kinda cool and generally speaking it only got creepy when the lights went out. A Nightmare on Elm Street was more terrifying than this film but this film had its moments.

Death by Javelin throw is a great way to die! 

I hate horror films and I am not enjoying them any more than I was before I had seen any of them. Chad Michael Murray was kinda the saving grace in the film. Jared Padalecki died early (ish) on in the film and that kinda left a platform for the guy that made his name playing the heartthrob in cheesy romcoms and teenage sitcoms to prove that he could do something more than smile and be (apparently) good looking.
The last ten or twenty minutes were the best parts of the film! Seeing Elisha Cuthbert beat up some guy was kinda kick-ass. For ages I thought that she was just another one of those stupidly irritating women that had to be annoying and couldn't actually act... oh how wrong I was.

The Blair Witch Project

Hopefully this is the last documentary on the list because I really don't like documentaries. The Blair Witch Project is boring. Mostly I find that documentaries are boring but I still try and convince myself that there could be some action in one of them.

The thing about this documentary is that it is clearly filmed by a hand held camera. The shots keep moving up and down and around so one of the guys doing the documentary is holding a video camera and moving it towards whoever is speaking. There is no acting in this as it is a documentary and these guys thought that they would come back from their adventure in to the Blair Witch.

There's a line in it 'think of the joy of being in a really good film' and it's kinda ironic and made me laugh because this is not a really good film, it's not even a good film. I understand that it was made in to a film to honour the memory of the people in this documentary that disappeared but even so, they could have used bits of the real footage and then got some actors to do other bits of the film and actually turned it into a film instead of a documentary. People watch documentaries to learn things and I struggled to even do that with this film.

A stand by me feel to it but Stand by Me was much, much better.

Persona

This is another film that was entirely in Swedish, so very difficult for me to understand and follow.

If we take away the fact that it was in another language then i can happily say that I enjoyed the film. A more psychological film that focused on what happens when you have two people, one that doesn't talk at all and one that talks all the time. This is a common issue that we face with most teenagers and although this film shows the extreme effects of what can happen, it is good to have a reminder of that.

The belief that you can lose yourself when you spend your entire talking to someone and getting no response is strong. The way that this film was set out- a nurse and a patient helped to make it feel more real. When you spend all your time talking to yourself then you do start to feel as if you are going insane, as if you are trapped in a mental assylum with no one but yourself as company.
This is another film that so much of it was dependent on the character that doesn't talk. The genius of her character was how silent she was and the mastermind behind that. I often feel that it takes a great actor to pull of delivery of speech efficiently but an even greater actor to master the silent character perfectly. It is not easy to sit on set for hours on end and not say anything without looking incredibly bored and fed up. To maintain that level of intensity was something else and I feel that she should have won an award just for that!

This film's initial release was in Sweden and so far I have only seen one other film that was filmed in Sweden and that was The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo. This film is very Swedish.

Famed stage stress Elisabeth Vogler (Liv Ullmann) suffers a moment of blankness during a performance and the next day lapses into total silence. Advised by her doctor to take time off to recover from what appears to be an emotional breakdown, Elisabeth goes to a beach house on the Baltic Sea with only Anna (Bibi Andersson), a nurse, as company. Over the next several weeks, as Anna struggles to reach her mute patient, the two women find themselves experiencing a strange emotional convergence.

The Wrestler

I thought that this film would be more like Rocky- more fighting scenes and more about what it's like to wrestle but it wasn't.
This film was about a guy that was past his prime and was still trying to make it as a wrestler. In the mean time he worked in a food store, spent his time having sex with numerous strippers or hookers and attempted to get his daughter that he had abandoned to like him.

It was a good film but it didn't have the passion or the soundtrack that i had been expecting. I just kinda got bored of it before the end. I know that some people end up living that life but i get bored with the idea that that is how everyone's life ends up when they are past something. It's kinda like 'same old' and it just bores me.

I liked that he wasn't a guy that was trying to play on his previous slight fame and that he wasn't refusing to accept that he had to do other things with his life- that concept was really good and an important theme to try and incorporate into films.
Mickey Rourke is Mickey Rourke, he's kinda how he always is but that was perfect for his role. I wouldn't really believe that anyone else could pull off that role but i guess that is why he was chosen for it.

Cube

If you didn't work it out from the title, this film is about six people that awake to find themselves trapped in a cube.
This entire film is kinda like what happens when you take drugs and get weird side effects. The principle behind it was sound but actually trying to execute a one and a half hour long film about how six people work together to get out of a cube and discover the truth just seems like an impossible task to pull off.

I found the film boring. It lacked any sense of real purpose, for me the dramatic parts weren't dramatic enough and the soundtrack was rubbish. It had the feeling of a really dated film but yet was less entertaining than most of the dated films that i have seen (it was also in colour).

I am not sure how this film made it on to my list, it didn't have anyone that I instantly recognised in the cast and I can't think that it would have appeared on someone's top 100 film list. I really have no idea but i would not recognise watching it, it's nothing special or entertaining.

The Ghost

This years Roman Polanski film to keep the blog happy. Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan star in this film. 

Ewan McGregor was strong in this film, he carried the film well and played the character well but I didn't find the accent very becoming of him. As a ghost writer he plays his part sublimely, blending in to the background and sneaking about just as well. You kinda don't see how his character is going to go until it happens. 

Pierce Brosnan was always one that you could see as the calm presidential character that seems so perfect for him in this film. Although the character doesn't stand out alone, the way in which his character is presented is so different from typical presidents that you could almost become convinced that this was all real. When he gets angry he is terrifying and when he chills, he has that James Bond presence that we became so accustomed to seeing from him.

In comes Tom Wilkinson. I have got so used to watching the best exotic marigold hotel that I had got used to him with a British accent and therefore struggled to adapt to the american accent that he had in this film. His character spells trouble from his first introduction but actually, he has surprisingly little to do with it except for attempting to scare off McGregor. I didn't feel that this character particularly suited him but at the same time i didn't feel that it was a complete clash either.

As a supporting actor he is always a valuable asset to have on your team.

A surprisingly good film, a film that captured my undivided attention for the duration and was actually quite absorbing. All Roman Polanski films have meaning in a touching way and are not just action packed, however they manage to poses a superior air of balance around them and always manage it, making them a delight to watch and enjoy.

J.F.K

After 14 minutes of this documentary like thing i was really really bored and very unimpressed with it. I know that they are telling the assassination of Kennedy but they could do something more to make it dramatic and interesting.

This is a three hour long film and given that it took me a lot of effort to get past the first fourteen minutes i would suggest that you don't bother to watch it unless you are at university studying american political history. There is real footage from the actual assassination but the bits that aren't in black and white are just rubbish. If you are looking for a film to watch about politicians then watch 'The Iron Lady' because it was absolutely fantastic and is the example and standard set for anyone now wanting to make a film about a political leader.

Kevin Costner stars and so one would expect this film to be good but the start was so dreadful that I couldn't watch any more of it so I have no idea if he is good or bad in it.

Next up is The Ghost.

Swordfish

John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Don Cheadle and Halle Berry star in this film.
Where to start?
John Travolta has developed a reputation as being a good gangster and even a good criminal bad guy. In this film, for a change he actually got to be the main guy instead of something similar to his role in Pulp Fiction. I have seen him as Chilly Palmer and in Pulp Fiction but this is a completely different side to him. Part of Chilly Palmer came out in this film but not the whole of it, this was more controlled, very believable.

Hugh Jackman, the man that we have become accustomed to seeing growl at people and beat everyone up shirtless. This role for him was more of a hacker and less like Wolverine. It really made a pleasant change to see him as a man that didn't like violence and didn't hit first and ask questions later. The character was very predictable but that didn't make it a bad portrayal, that was just the way in which the character was written. I actually enjoyed seeing him as someone completely different. I enjoyed seeing the compassion that is mostly lost in X-Men.

Don Cheadle, the man who has contreversial performances. Made his name with Hotel Rwanda and was absolutely outstanding in that film. The next thing that I saw him in was Ocean's Eleven and I think that people thought that Cockney didn't really work for him and weren't very convinced. I quiet liked him in it. Then came his taking over from Terrence Howard, which wasn't easy and try his best, it wasn't enough to match Terrence Howard. He probably would have been brilliant in the role if he hadn't have taken over from someone who had set the standard so high.
This was a change of character for him, sorta more relaxed and only a supporting cast in this film, featuring at the start and end of the film for the most part. I think that he was good enough. Not enough opportunities to showcase the talent that we know is there but he did the best with what he was given.

Halle Berry... actually impressed with her. I always think that she is very overrated but I will give it to her in this film. she was actually good in this film. Her character probably had the most detail and development and it actually really suited her. It's just a shame that she doesn't do more of it.

A kinda different crime thriller movie but still a good film.

Whiplash

I don't remember this film being released in the cinema, I don't remember any adverts for it but I saw it at the BAFTA's and added it to the list this year.
Whiplash is another insight into what it takes to become a top musician. The stress, the physical pain that you have to put yourself through and the transformation from nice person into completely self obsessed jerk.

This time it isn't classical music, it's jazz. Jazz is a completely different style of drumming and Whiplash is about one kid at the best musical school for jazz in the country and how he lets a guy get the better of him for ages until he gets him back on the big stage.
People think that if they practice every day then they will transform themselves into another Louis Armstrong or Mozart and they wont necessarily do it, it has to be your life, you have to be better than good and you always have to push yourself to be better.

There were times when i was like, 'well i kinda can see why i don't remember anything about it'. At the time of it's release there were other films like 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' being released and they were films that were absorbing and very well written. With this film, if you don't appreciate jazz or just aren't that interested in the academic side of music then this film was never going to appeal to you.

From the moment that J.K. Simmons walked in I was unsure about his character, I was sitting there saying to myself 'there has to be a twist in his character' and I kept telling myself that all the way to the end of the film. Maybe there was and maybe there wasn't but he was a completely different guy to the dude that we saw in Juno and the guy that we loved in Juno. I guess that is what earned him his awards though, because of the transformation and the portrayal is accurate. I can imagine myself sitting at the royal school of music, having things thrown at my head and being told that i wasn't good enough because i can't read lots of notes together- that's just how it is, you have to be perfect to reach the top. Ok, maybe not perfect but you gotta keep pushing yourself all the time and you get stuck with the meanest critics of all in the forms of mentors and lecturers. This guy was as convincing as I would ever see, one of the best conductors because i knew what he was doing (therefore probably slightly unrealistic) and the attitude was spot on.

The only criticism that I have of the film is the way that it ended. It didn't feel like it had ended, it didn't end in the way that most people would have thought that it should have. Not a disappointment but just unpredictable.

Mortdecai

Weirdly enough, when the adverts first starting popping up in London for this film I had just finished writing a musical based on a story from the bible and my lead male protagonist was called Mordecai. The similarity between these two names caught my attention and this film made its way on to the list for this year.

I feel like it would be a waste of time to talk about Johnny Depp because I have already spent so much time on the blog talking about him in other films and what a fantastic actor he is, how he manages to change roles convincingly in everything that he does etc.
There are a few names that I feel I should spend my time talking about. Paul Bettany, his performance is superb. Two thumbs way up for that man because this role is not one that i have seen from him before. I wont pretend to be a expert on him and I certainly haven't seen tons of his films but from the characters that spring to mind, this is just something completely different. I was really encouraged by his performance, the voice changed and everything about him changed, if it didn't look like Betany then I probably would have struggled to pin it down to him.
Gwyneth Paltrow was another that i was impressed with. I had kinda become accustomed to seeing her in Glee and lets be honest, that is not an accurate representation of her abilities. In this film she got to show what she was made of. Strong and willing, showing who was really running things and I loved her from start to finish.

The film itself wasn't actually funny as such but it had a very pleasant feel to it that just made it really easy to watch and enjoy. It wasn't trying to be too clever with the plot, it had almost stripped everything back to the core and just embraced the idea and the vision that went with the script writing. The settings were fabulous and I particularly loved the feature of the Rolls Royce in the film. Every English Gentlemen should own and drive a Rolls Royce. 

La Dolce Vita

How good is your Italian? Mine isn't good enough to fluently understand this film but I understood enough. I will copy the description from IMDB to help you guys out just in case your Italian is not particularly great.
In Federico Fellini's lauded Italian film, restless reporter Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni) drifts through life in Rome. While Marcello contends with the overdose taken by his girlfriend, Emma (Yvonne Furneaux), he also pursues heiress Maddalena (Anouk Aimée) and movie star Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), embracing a carefree approach to living. Despite his hedonistic attitude, Marcello does have moments of quiet reflection, resulting in an intriguing cinematic character study.

This is a typical 1960's film. I am getting a breakfast at Tiffany's feel from it. I wasn't particularly inspired by the acting from anyone in the film and I know that it is a black and white so less acting is required but even so, there have been better films. Those that have seen Breakfast at Tiffany's and like it will probably like this film. The music gives a sorta, nothing to it feel, very similar to Tiffany's. 
Some of the scenery was quite dazzling though and I was impressed by the lead woman. Filmed Simply with fades out to end scenes, this film is a classic icon of a lack of money or technology and even at parts a lack of imagination. What it does have is simplicity that makes it easy to watch (even if it is in Italian). All I will say against it is that it is too long. Adopting the carefree approach is fine but not for three hours, half it and it would be totally acceptable.

Magnum Force

In the sequel to Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood returns to carry on in the same fashion.
There is more to this film than the one line that returned throughout Dirty Harry so that is a positive and as we all know, it is good to start with the positives. I thought that there was more plot to this film and that actually the entire film was better than the first one. Clint Eastwood convinced me more in this film than he did in the previous film and that made me happy because he can act, as shown in Gran Torino.
At times i felt that the plot was predictable, especially towards the end when you just felt like it had to be a certain character and that you knew what was going to happen.
I liked the way that this one was filmed, instead of a lot of panoramic shots like they used in Dirty Harry, they filmed it more as if the camera was only a few feet away from the action, the camera followed the character and the characters were always near each other so there were a lot less of the distance shots that we became accustomed to seeing during Dirty Harry.
I am happy that there was more development and that clearly a lot more thought went into this film because i actually quite enjoyed it and don't regret watching it on my afternoon off. It wasn't funny but it wasn't too serious either so in a way it was close to being perfect. The acting wasn't the best thing on the planet but I have seen a lot worse, it was pleasant in every way.

Runaway Train

Most of this film is set on a train that is out of control... and that ladies and gentlemen is almost the entire film summed up in one sentence. There's a little bit more to the plot- two guys escape from prison and sneak on to a train that is out of control.

This film manages to succeed quite well for not having very little to work with. It wasn't a master class in anything with this film but it was how a lesson in how to succeed without really having anything to work with. Everything about it was ok and nothing more and nothing less than that. There was a moment towards the end when there is a shot of this woman attempting to be really stunned and it's hilarious because she is really awful at looking surprised and I mean, really dreadful at it.
I'll admit that it had a cool sounding soundtrack and that the scripting was good but the best film of that kinda theme and genre is The Shawshank Redemption and that is what everyone should be watching if they want a fantastic prison break style film!

Dredd

Sylvester Stallone set the standards and most people felt that he didn't do it very well. I haven't read the comics so I have nothing to compare it to. I liked the original movie with Sylvester Stallone but then I acquired the Karl Urban film Dredd and realised that Stallone made a lot of mistakes.

Karl Urban is the master class on 'don't mess with me'. Only Liam Neeson poses more of a threat than Karl Urban on the streets and it would be very interesting to see them both in a battle, I wouldn't want to call the shots on that one!

I loved that he didn't take off his mask, ever, it made the character more threatening and the voice of Karl Urban really worked wonders.
The film had a very similar feel to that of 'The Raid', although I think that this was made first so I guess that we could say that this set the standard for other films of this genre.

Lena Headey (300, St Trinians) was solid, unquestionably fluent in her character as Ma-ma and there was even a brief moment where you thought that she might even hold her own against Karl Urban. I was actually overwhelmed by her performance, a complete transformation from her character in St. Trinians and the character really showed her versatility.

Olivia Thirlby was superly awesome as Anderson. Often when a Psychic is in a film they are portrayed really badly but this was not the case, she was perfect and her character was perfect. I was really convinced by her, more convinced that i was by the woman in the original Judge Dredd film and I can't tell you how happy I am that there was a strong female character that wasn't the evil character.

A Passage to India

This ended up on my list because it starred Alec Guinness and he is totally awesome in everything but even so, my heart did sink slightly when I read the synopsis and discovered what it was about. This film was very surprisingly good. The synopsis gives off the impression that it is something else completely, another boring war film kinda like kingdom of heaven or all's quiet on the western front but it wasn't.
I see this film as the foundations for the making of the best exotic marigold hotel. The locations are lovely and the plot is actually a work of art instead of something that was stolen from another film and adapted ever so slightly. The other thing that I liked about this film was that it wasn't out-dated. I don't feel that this film is particular to the period, even though it is set when England occupied India. This film is something that could quite easily be remade and not have anything in the script altered. The language isn't dated, it's just old because of the equipment and the actors, if you stuck a couple of new faces in it and took new equipment to the place it would look as if it wasn't written twenty years later and would still be a very good film.

I think that what I liked best was that it had a happy ending but that there were several twists and turns in the plot to get there. Nothing started off negative and nothing was ridiculous, it was all real and very accurate.

I spent the entire film trying to work out which character was being played by Alec Guinness so I am happy that he wasn't obvious, very happy that i still don't know which character he was playing!

The Theory of Everything.

'A Physicist can't allow his calculations to be muddled by a supernatural creation'. Probably one of the best quotes in the entire film and very accurate for most top class physicists out there.

When I saw Les Miserables (the film with Hugh Jackman), I wasn't sure about Eddie Redmayne. I liked his voice but i wasn't convinced by his acting as Marius, now I am thoroughly convinced by him as an actor and I am slightly happy that he won the award for best actor. There will always be a debate about whether he deserved it more than Benedict Cumberbatch for his role as Alan Turing in 'The Imitation Game'. I loved Benedict Cumberbatch in that role and just because this film took home all the awards that the Imitation game would have otherwise won, I had to determine for myself whether it was justly done. I think that in the end, overall, it was a fair result. Redmayne really showcased his talent in this film, he produced something of a ridiculously high standard for upcoming actors to reach. It was like he took the high jump world record and moved it two meters higher, the Imitation game was close but not close enough.
This was a really moving performance from Redmayne that really cut into you and made me have to fight to hold back a tear at times. It was almost perfect on every level.

Felicity Jones was sensational! Previously I had only seen her in Chalet Girl and although I loved that film, her role in this film was utterly different to the one in Chalet Girl, more elegant and in a way a stronger character. I think that what I liked the most was that she got a chance to become emotional and show some characteristics of her side of the story. I am not a expert on the Hawking's family life but I know that they divorced each other and that in the end it was too much for her and they had to separate. I really don't understand why she didn't win the award for this film, she was strong, moving, captivating, she was everything that you wanted to see and I feel for her because really, in all the hype and build up to this film and awards, she was hardly mentioned. Stephen Hawking would not have lived this long without her and her determination.

I know that there are people that I haven't mentioned and I am sorry for that. I have said that the film was almost perfect on ever level and I don't believe that anything can be perfect so this is the highest praise that any film will ever get from me. Everyone was fantastic and really helped to make this film worthy of every award that it received. There is no film without the help and foundations from the supporting actors and cast.

Lone Star

Wasn't sure what to make of this one. When it started off I was worried that it was going to become one of those typically american sheriff gang films but it turned out not to be.

I like the idea that the sheriff didn't like his father and was trying to discover the truth about his father who had previously been the sheriff but apart from that i found it very boring. There was nothing in it to really keep me interested. I think that this film must have been on empires top 500 films because i can't think why i would have put it on the list otherwise.

The plot itself has potential, it was just driven in a way that made it boring and kinda the same thing that you've seen at least ten times before. There was nothing in this film that made it stand out and feel different or special, the acting was mind blowing and the music wasn't great. This was another mediocre film, good enough and probably at the time considered to be very good and make a lot of money but now it can be considered as nothing more than ok.

Vicious

Yes- this is a TV show but i've just discovered it and have become obsessed with it so I thought that i would post about it. 

This kind of humour is not for everyone. I know that there were a fair amount of critics out there that didn't like the show and didn't find it funny but i found it absolutely hilarious. I am watching because I love to watch Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. The insults are exactly the kind of insults that take place in my family and it's so easy to watch. A similar humour to Yes Minister or Rumpole of the Bailey, an educated sense of humour that is hard to pick up on a lot of the time.

I have not laughed so much at something since watching all of Yes Minister and Yes Prime minister and I love that i found something as good that was made slightly more modernly than the series that was made in the eighties, if not before. This TV Series was purely made for sunday evening entertainment when we just want to sit their with our toast and hot chocolate and laugh a lot. It's not hard to follow and for a lot of people it isn't funny but in my opinion it is one of the best things that british tv has made in a long time!

Body of Lies

As I said, a bit of Russel Crowe thing so if you're not a fan of his then just grin and bear it for the next post and after that it should all be okay.

I am not a fan of the topic but i was blown away by Mark Strong. I spent a lot of time staring at his character and thinking that he looked kinda vaguely familiar and only after a while did I realise that it was Mark Strong. His performance stole the movie, it was a stunning performance from him and something that should never be taken away from him. I don't know if he was good or bad, maybe a little bit of both but nonetheless he was fantastic to watch.

Russel Crowe took me a while to figure out as well. I was sitting there running through the list of actors that it could be and wondering when I was going to see Russel Crowe make a appearance in this film and all that time he was on the screen in front of me. I guess I had expected him to look younger. I love it when i have to spend time thinking about the actor because it means that they aren't being obvious about who they are. Russel wasn't the star of the show but he was fabulous alongside Leonardo Di Caprio anyway.

Di Caprio played a similar role to the one that he played in Blood Diamond, alongside Jennifer Connelly. He wasn't outstanding. The best performance that I have ever seen from him came in Whats Eating Gilbert Grape and probably his best performance recently has been in The Great Gatsby. I'm not particularly convinced by him as a CIA operative and leader. He can kill people convincingly but he doesn't have that rallying leadership quality that you would look for in some of the characters that he has played. Not exceptional, but good enough from him.

The film itself was good enough overall. Films of that topic, unless they are very moving or very real (like Munich) tend to just fit along the same kinda 'it was quite good' feel and never really achieve that outstanding role that most of us want them to achieve and this was no exception.

No Way Back

So this is the Russel Crowe movies part of the list. When i compile these lists I often find it very difficult to find films that attract me and to get the balance right. I try to go through lists of best ever films but obviously i don't just want to take the top 100 off of them so i compile lists and then go through new releases or films that i may have missed. I always find that after all that I am about twenty films short so then i pick an actor and IMDB them and randomly pick some of the films that come up. This is why there have been several Liam Neeson films in quick succession and several Morgan Freeman films as well.

This is another typical kinda Federal action based films. I felt that the plot was predictable and as Russel Crowe says in that film, the female character is really annoying.
Russel Crowe was quite good in this film. He was convincing as a farther and even mostly convincing as a FBI officer but i didn't get that cutting edge from him. There are very few actors that give that cutting edge and the best example that i can think of is Mark Harmon who, of course, stars in NCIS. Anyone wanting to undertake a role of a federal officer should watch a couple of series of NCIS and learn from Mark Harmon because as shown by him, the Liam Neeson approach of pointing a gun and being aggressive doesn't always work. I guess I just don't see Russel Crowe as intimidating, he isn't obviously muscular, he has a very soft and melodic voice which in this type of film doesn't help him out and I wasn't convinced when he was doing some of those scenes that he was the right man for the job, but, this film was made in 1995 so there have been massive changes and a lot of new actors have emerged since then and made those kind of roles their own.

The film was good but very predictable and the star of the film was probably the kid.