Kingsman

Yes! For all those viewers in England... I did in fact go and see it last night when it was released for general viewing and it is amazing!
The graphics are fantastic, the film opens with Money for Nothing and from then on it couldn't go wrong. I don't want to spoil anything for those that haven't had a chance to see the film yet so I will just skip ahead to discuss the acting.
Colin Firth- Fabulous and stunning as always. He has a great line which is one to remember when around Jehovas' Witnesses. The suit really works for him and his entire mannerism is well suited to his character. Likewise, Jack Davenport manages to match his upper class approach with a stunning performance that really accents his accent.

Now we come to the master... Samuel L Jackson. I have seen him in many films playing many different roles but this is a role that i have not seen him take on before. This time he plays a hilarious yet somewhat typical and certainly necessary to add to his CV of characters spanned over his many years in this profession. I do think that he deserves an award for his portrayal of a megalomania that can't stand the sight of blood.
Let's move on to Mark Strong and Michael Cain. We all know about both of these guys but it is nice to see Mark Strong taking on the less familiar role as one of the good guys instead of one of the bad guys. Upper Class society really does suit him. There was a hint of nasty in his character but nothing malicious, in fact, it was quite refreshing to see him have a complete role reversal.
Michael Cain was of course awesome. We know that he can play the high class from watching Legally Blond, however, it is a rarity that he ditches his normal cockney accent that we have grown accustom to seeing in The Italian Job, Educating Rita, Batman and Harry Brown.
It's really hard to say anything about this film without giving away everything.
There is of course a rising star in Taron Egerton. The what we would probably now call 'CHAVY' accent suits him well and makes the character all the better (if not slightly predictable). I didn't detect even a hint of a welsh accent and that makes me very pleased.

I loved everything about it.
Watch it, love it, comment!

Here's the trailer for anyone that hasn't seen it or heard about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4NCribDx4U

Ray

I have to admit that i hadn't heard of this film until i was given it for Christmas.
Ray is about Ray Charles, the genius that created a fusion to make new soul music. We think of Ray as more of swing but he merged jazz with gospel and blues to create popular soul music.

Jamie Foxx stars as Ray Charles in this film. I had seen him in Dream Girls so I knew that he had a background in this stuff and could pull it off but i had no idea that he could sing like that! The performance is out of this world! I kinda wanna ask Sir Tom Jones just how accurate the portrayal is because i am not old enough to know what Ray Charles was like but a certain Sir Jones performed with Ray Charles and could tell us instantly how close Jamie Foxx's depiction of him is.

I am watching the extended edition which is something that i wouldn't advise to anyone if they haven't already seen the film. I am use to watching extended editions that flow smoothly between the cut scenes and the actual used footage but this doesn't. It seems like the disk is skipping every time the film cuts into one of the deleted scenes. It's frustrating to have the flow of the film disrupted and at times hard to follow the plot because the cut scenes aren't necessarily corresponding with what is going on, they are flashbacks but the previous scene hasn't necessarily given any indication of a flashback happening.

I know that Jamie Foxx won the academy award for best actor but the leading women also deserves an award. A magnificent performance throughout from her, moving and emotional.
Terrence Howard is also in this film and of course we all know him from Iron Man where he is awesome. His character is a miser and not particularly well liked but he plays it well. It's good to see him in something that probably made less money that Iron Man.

Thoroughly enjoyed and definitely something to watch over and over again!

Inglorious Basterds

Tarantino comes back for possibly the only one of his films that i have yet to see- Inglorious Basterds.
a film about the Germans (again).
I particularly loved the young private explaining to this beautiful French Woman about how he was a war hero and stared in a film about himself and then she just sounded disgusted and left the cafe. There's such a thing as called trying to hard at the start. Then again they say that if at first you don't succeed try and try again, so he does and he manages it very well.
Who should walk in but Christoph Waltz who we should all know from his amazing role in Django Unchained with a horse that bows!
To put it in to context, he was the guy that killed this woman's entire family years ago and so she fled.
I am a huge fan of Christoph Waltz, i think that he is marvelous in anything he is in.

Next we come to Brad Pitt. His outrageous American accent whilst speaking Italian just gives the game away really. His companions are caught out by speaking very little Italian in a France that is dominated by German officers who you can guarantee will not only speak French and German but Italian as well. I am also a huge fan of the talented actress that goes mountain climbing in the obvious mountains in France a day before she appears in the cinema with all the important Nazi officials in a obvious fresh Cast for her leg (which got shot). The plot is somewhat ridiculous. Needless to say they get caught out, just as all the imposters do.

Watch it- all Tarantino is worth watching!

A highly overrated film

There are many things that this could relate to but today's chosen topic is 'The Forbidden Kingdom'.
I had high hopes for this film considering that it had Jackie Chan and Jet Li in it but it just went to the dogs from the start. The role of the monkey warrior is purely aweful- it's like the guy just smoked too much all the time. The special stuff that they did with the effects was just aweful. Is it too much to ask that I can just watch a film about kung fu without any of the extra crap? I want to see fighting without technical effects and a decent film about kung fu with reasonable characters. Bullet Proof Monk is a much better film because it teaches kung fu and has a decent plot without all this extra rubbish-y effects in the middle.

Rant over.
Jackie Chan's display of martial arts was once again top class and i simply loved his character that couldn't function without wine.
It's also good to see the kid from sky high progress (even if it is in small steps) to something ever so slightly more real.
I loved the scenery. I liked a lot of things about this film and I am sure that had this film have had a decent plot then i would've loved it a lot more than tolerating it in extreme parts.

WHAT DID YOU THINK?

North by Northwest

Hitchcock returns with the case of mistaken identity about a man who doesn't exist- North by Northwest.
Cary Grant stars as the unfortunate man who is mistaken for George Caplin. After seeing some of  his other classic films such as Psycho and Vertigo I couldn't wait for the end of the last film challenge and for the new year so that i could watch some more hitchcock films.
I guess that what  makes hitchcock films so brilliant is that they are all completely different. I think that i have now seen six of his films and none of them are the same in any way. I marvel at the simplicity of his story lines that seem to make truly excellent and critically acclaimed films.
Cary Grant is fantastic and even has slight moments of Sean Connery about his performance. The final cut scene is just something unreal. I stared at it and just kinda went... what? A time slide is a cool way to end the film and beats having an epilogue. Hitchcock knew how to do it all in style!
Sorry about the delay in getting this post up, because of work etc i am struggling for the moment to find the time to watch the films when it isn't the weekend so you will have to bear with me.

Dark Shadows

If i recall correctly there were some slightly sceptical reviews on this film.
Once again it is a different role for Johnny Depp and he pulls it splendidly, unfortunately it is not the type of role that really makes a film like the character Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.
I can't fault the actors but the story was weak. Vampires that can't be killed and a family that is cursed is almost like Van Helsing and then you add in the witch and Michelle Pfeiffer and you've got Stardust so what Dark Shadows really is Van Helsing and Stardust combined which isn't the greatest combination that the world has ever seen.
Some lovely shots of a beautifully architectured gothic style mansion and some decent tunes in the form of Megadeth's 'No More Mr Nice Guy' couldn't help this film fall to the levels of acceptable but definitely not at his best films. I feel that i have to say that Depp's career is stumbling to an end the way that it began. I'm not saying that he was bad in it, not at all, just that the film itself wasn't very good and this is like all those films that no one really watches such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Nick of Time etc. There are worse films that he has made than this but whilst i take my hat off to him for trying something new i kinda wish that he would turn down the bad films and pick only the decent ones because there comes a point when you have played every character possible and cannot keep on pulling along mediocre films by your name alone, it drags you through the mud as well and then people start comparing your roles.. not good.
Easy enough to watch with a few slightly unnecessary scenes.
Back next time with Hitchcock's North by Northwest.

Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood returns in Gran Torino.
I remember saying that once you had seen one Clint Eastwood film then you had seen them all after watching Dirty Harry but I was very wrong.
Years later Clint Eastwood returns in Gran Torino as the guy that fought in the war against the Koreans. He hates the neighbours who (I believe) are Chinese until the guy from next door tries to steal his Gran Torino, gets into a fight on the lawn and then ends up paying off his debt working for Eastwood. 
This is a magnificent display of talent by Eastwood, a portrayal that has managed to convince many non-believers like me of his true talent.
His death is equally as heroic and moving as it brings about the arrest and end of the brutal gang that are the neighbors of the boy next door.
Definitely something to re-watch and something to raise a glass to, Clint Eastwood is in fact a master actor and with the support of a young ginger priest and a young teenage boy (or there abouts) a truly incredible film has been made.
Watch it and hit me back with your thoughts!

Sin City

We have returned with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino to bring you a film that i am still confused by- it is of course Sin City.
Filmed in black and white with a bit of colour to scream Tarantino, Bruce Willis stars to bring you a typically violent and gory film with a kinda drug feel. I wasn't ever sure if i was following the plot or just hallucinating.
I feel like it's hard to really review it when i haven't really understood it but then i guess that would miss the point of the blog. At least i can say that this film ticks the criteria of films that i would watch again because i need to in order to understand the film.
Not a film that dragged on but then again i guess that Tarantino films don't ever really drag on, you fail to notice the time at all with them.
Weird in places but i'm more interested to know if there is anyone following this blog that can really explain sin city to me?
Feel free to take the reigns on this one!
Leave a comment!

The last Samurai

So for those who have spotted a pattern in my choice of director- yes i did do it intentionally. Blood Diamond and the last samurai are in fact directed by the same man.
Two contrastingly different films which is what i like to see from a director. I remember saying that Blood Diamond was a very good film but not a film that i would watch again. I can't decide if the last samurai is a film that i would watch again but i will say that i probably wouldn't watch it on loop. It is of course a fantastic film and Tom Cruise is perfect in the role of american captain in Japan.
Every quality about good and evil that is essential to make a film better than good and turn it in to truly genius is in this film. The deaths are moving, the character downfalls are surrounded by the rising of other characters and every sad moment is matched by just as strong happy moments.
I said that i wouldn't watch it on loop and some of you may be thinking how that is possible when i have just said all those thins about it so i will explain. It is a long film, 2hrs 27 mins and it feels long. It is not a film that drags on but at the same time there are parts of the film that feel long, it doesn't always flow and that can really be the difference between a short film and a long film. The longer that films drag on for, the harder they are to follow and it is harder to truly appreciate them.

I don't want to take anything away from this film and certainly not from the role of Timothy Spall who was magnificent and his character really swelled as the film developed.
The shots of the blossom on the tree were beautiful and the director did everything right with this film, i can't fault it for anything- it just didn't have the feel of something like bullet proof monk or crouching tiger hidden dragon. The mood was more serious and it was dealing with something more serious and for that i commend it but i think that that was the reason as to why i would not add it to my collection of films. It is a film that you may watch on the odd occasion where you really feel like watching it but i don't think that i will have that desire regularly.

Blood Diamon

A sensitive topic that brought out an exceptionally good film.
Blood Diamonds revitalized Leonardo DiCaprio's career after it had been epic-ly destroyed by Titanic. Yeah i know that this was made in 2006 and so he had made other films by that point but this is a turning point in his career after Titanic- no i've not seen catch me if you can.
Jenifer Connelly who we should all know from the film Labyrinth shows the world of her true abilities by staring as a journalist. Her role is sublime and she draws out the nature of a journalist but also shows the good side to them to.
Djimmon Hounsou is someone that i can't compare because i've not seen another film that he has been in but i can say that he was excellent. The man who has lost his family will do anything to get it back but understands clearly that working for the wrong people will only lead to death. No double crossing, just a desire to get what he wants in the best and most honest way possible. Determination and bravery make him on a level with Don Cheadle in Hotel Rowanda, moving and always swaying the audience.

Not a film that i would watch again but a film that was truly moving and thoroughly deserving of the five academy award nominations that it received.
I think that out of choice I probably wouldn't watch it again but it is a film that everyone should watch. Filmed to perfection with music that complimented it, there is nothing bad about this film.

RED 2

Kicking off the year with a bit of pure comedy.

The first one was on the challenge last year and this year I decided to kick things off with RED 2 to make me laugh.
With the acquisition of Anthony Hopkins, who is of course an acting legend and genius and the rather sad loss of Karl Urban things looked perfectly balanced for another hilarious film. That was what i was expecting and I wasn't let down.
Needless to say, I loved it!
I laughed a lot.
The plot was a little obvious but i guess that's what you expect when you put a bunch of actors such as Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis and John Malkovic together with a somewhat silly plot to work with.

Speed driving and some awesome stunts just reminded me of how things can still be done in film. Not overdone with technology and not loads of prancing and spinning, just pure martial arts and some great driving scenes. It would be far-fetched to state that there was nothing slightly unrealistic about it but everyone knows that with machine guns you just have to take the chance and have overkill on them before anyone gets hit, if anyone gets hit. We'll give them that one as it seems to be a law in film making.
Katherine Zeta Jones stepped up trying to play a russian but that was never really going to work, fortunately for her she wasn't a major role. Likeable and minor enough to pull it off. Of course the show was really stolen by the headlining cast and Mr Hopkins but I will hand it to the latest addition in the cast who was a contract killer. I haven't written his name because I can't spell it and I would love to mention the man that starred in V for Vendetta as Mr Creedy. Although we don't always realise it, films like this are cast full of famous people that we kinder recognise without realising.
Not the film of the year but a lovely one nonetheless and definitely a family film for all.

Lovely way to start off the year.
Back soon!