Central Intelligence

I promised that I would let my brother watch this film with me so after weeks of arguing and debating we finally sat down to watch it. He's a massive fan of 'The Rock' so seeing it without him was out of the question.

Dwayne Johnson can only be in action films because no one would believe that he was capable of staring in anything else. Vin Diesel like, meaning really well built and looking like he would rather punch you than look at you again. Unlike Diesel he has not convinced himself that he can pull off the romantic hero because he can't. What he can do is play the really stupid character, which is his character here and a nice change but not one that you cant see or one that he can't pull off.

Central Intelligence is about a guy who is framed and then gets his friend in to trouble in order to clear his name and stop the CIA from coming after him. Reading the description tells you exactly what you are going to get- Dwayne Johnson beating up a lot of people and it's worth it every time. Moments of laughter and moments of 'You didn't see that coming?' but nothing makes it more worth it than understanding the John Hughes movie references and the Patrick Swayze references. The choice of film quotes was superb and you have to hand it to the writers and producers. The film is stunning for those moments.

It's not the best film brought out this year but it is good enough to take it to a high rating. There will be better action films and better comedy films and this film is not as good as 'Welcome To The Jungle' but this is still a good film, not everyone makes a super film every time that they try, everyone has peaks.

Jason Bateman is a stunning asshole in this film. You can see it coming but the way that he pulls it off is a marvel- not what we have come to expect of Jason Bateman but on this blog surprising is welcome and one of the best forms of present. Kevin Hart sets the stage for him- his list of films on IMDB isn't particularly impressive so I hope very much that he can make good of his career and not make anymore films with Will Ferrell or the likes because he can do better than that.

Captain America Civil War.

This is one film that I am glad I didn't bother going to the cinema to see. Critical reception claimed that it was mostly just another Avengers film without Hulk and Thor and having watched it we would have to agree with them.

Chris Evans returns as Captain Rodgers to try and help his friend Buckey (anyone read this before?) Whilst on a mission to retrieve a biological weapon some damage is done to a building and the Avengers take the blame for it. This film is the split between the Avengers. At the end of 'Age of Ultron' most of the original avengers retire or head off for better things leaving only the Capt, Sam, crimson witch and Scarlett Johansson to stay on and fight. In this film Johansson changes allegiance and goes with Stark, Vision, Spider-man and a few others against Ant-Man, America, Hawk-eye, Sam and Crimson Witch. By doing this Marvel have shot themselves in the foot, they cannot make any more Avengers films because they have destroyed the avengers. Anyone that goes to watch another film titled 'Avengers' in anyway is stupid. Captain America 2 was barely acceptable, Thor 2 was shocking, Iron Man 2 was Rubbish, Iron Man 3 was a little better and Captain America Civil War is complete crap. Do not waste anymore money on going to the cinema, wait until you can find it on amazon for under £1/ $1/ whatever currency you use- it will not be worth paying the ridiculous amount of money to see this film when you could spend £16 on a theatre ticket in the west end.


Moving on, the introduction of Black Panther was fine, a good idea and hopefully, after we have suffered another  Thor film, may not have to continue suffering watching this rubbish because they will make Black Panther films and they might actually be good. Chadwick Boseman has potential and should go on to make a lot of decent films so long as he is selective about his films and doesn't go for the team that pay him the most. What we are in danger of is good actors ruining their career and Marvel turning in to DC- making crap films constantly. There is no limit on the films that they make so long as they belong to their select universe. We know that they are building to X-men Vs Avengers but they don't have the cast and build up for that yet so they have a license to keep making terrible films to introduce more characters. New films for new characters are being made and that is the way forward, give everyone their own movie, keep it good and don't try and play it out for too long.

Sebastian Stan is superb as Bucky. Consistently he has been the saving grace of these films and this is no exception. A shame because someone like him should really stop being in these films and start making some better films- he's great, his film choice is a little rubbish. Captain America was great, in the sequel he gets to be a leading character but this film is one he should have turned down and he should turn down anymore.

If you haven't seen this film then don't bother watching it. Wait and watch the films like Wonder Woman, Spider-man, Deadpool and Black Panther.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lGoQhFb4NM

Milk.

These films are turned in to a list and then selected randomly so if you're wondering why two films about homosexuality ended up so close to each other it is because they were randomly picked and we knew nothing about them before selecting them to be on the list.

Milk is a biographical drama about gay rights activist Harvey Milk, staring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk and James Franco as Scott. Most notably about this film is that it was written by Dustin Lance Black who is the fiancee of Britain's diver Tom Daley. Support Gay rights or don't, that's up to you but you can't change the fact that this film is educational and a part of world history. Gay people share your world, they didn't ask to be gay, they were born that way and they have to deal with it, learn to accept themselves and so do you- hating them wont do any good to anyone, it's not their fault that they are like that and they deserve to be happy so accept it and open your eyes.

Milk is one of those films that reaches in to your heart and slowly starts to push against it, as it speeds up your heart rate increases because for many people it is something close to their hearts, we can remember these events taking place or we grew up learning about it. You probably know someone that is a homosexual, even if you aren't aware that you do it is highly likely that you do, so watch this film and be prepared to learn things and become more accepting of us.

James Franco is probably the pick of the group. With everyone staring at Sean Penn it is James Franco who delivers the performance of his life. So often it is not the star of the film that actually is the star of this film. You can't necessarily say that the acting was out of this world, films like this win the awards that they win because they are historical and real. Seeing everyone rally behind this guy is incredible, we all know that it can happen- it happened with people rallying behind Nelson Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King JR but for it to be happening years after that, behind a white man who is making the run as a politician, trying to achieve things differently and for someone who appears to be much older than his other followers- this is different, this is special. Watch it, learn from it.

The Notebook

Another Ryan Gosling film, apologies if you are not a fan of his, it's not done intentionally. I met someone who said that this film was their favourite film, until then I had heard negative feedback of it so I became more interested in watching it- hence the post today.

James Marsden, Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling stake their claim for being the names on the posters but the name that stole the show, should have been on every poster and the face that should have gone with it was that of Gena Rowlands. I recognised that face instantly from NCIS (Gibbs' mother in-law) and Numbers. Her face is recognisable, there can be no doubt about it, if you have seen her in something then you will know that face anywhere. For all the top class displays from the names mentioned above there was no one better in the film than Gena Rowlands.

The Notebook takes that approach that so many films now do where they start towards the end and then use the older characters to explain how they reached that point with flashbacks. Gena Rowlands is the much older Allie Calhoun and Rachel McAdams is the younger Allie Calhoun, the woman who falls in love with a young man called Noah (Gosling), a young man from the wrong area compared to the very upper class Calhoun family.

I don't know how appropriate or socially acceptable it is to make a woman go out with you by hanging off the edge of a building until she says yes- I would like to think that it is completely unacceptable and that the woman would then later be able to reject the man if she did not want to go out with him and that would be okay. Needless to say that is how Noah convinces Allie to go out with him and then when she tries to turn him down later well it's too late and they end up going out anyway. Kids don't try that at home, it wont do you any favours and will only make the woman less interested in you.

Parents don't like Noah so they do whatever it will take to break up Noah and Allie including move out of the state. For a year their lives are far away and separate and then Allie meets an officer (Marsden) and the become engaged. We all know what will happen- she loves Noah so she spends a couple of days with him, they have sex and then she goes to talk to her fiancee, telling Noah that she is going back to her other life only to come back a few days later after talking to Marsden about things.

The film has one of the most beautiful spins and happy endings ever. It's not my favourite film but it is worth watching and a brilliant piece of work.

The Conjuring

Horror! Those that have followed this blog over the years will know that I am not good with horror so there are only a few films in that genre on the blog every year. Compared to the amount of action films that feature on this blog per year there is hardly any horror films- I don't think that we go past five a year. I know that you have waited a long time for another film like this and we apologise for it taking so long.

The Conjuring is about paranormal investigators that are brought in to look at a house that is haunted. We've seen films like this before- ;The Ring' and 'The Shining' but this film is different, this isn't about a film that you saw or a child talking to himself and hearing things, this is about a small child that haunts a house, who was hung on the tree outside the house. The child and the spirit attach themselves to the family that moved in, one child sleepwalks and another sees a friend that she calls 'Rory' when she spins her jack-in-a-box music toy around. What makes this film different is the clairvoyant. The investigators that actually believe in these things. In today's world there are people who are trained to perform exorcisms- they are quiet about this responsibility but this world very much believes in spirits, demons and other such paranormal things. Normally in these types of films it's all a rumour, often a joke started by a few friends and about a serial killer. Having people that actually believe you instantly makes a nice change and makes a better than decent film.

Vera Farmiga (Up In The Air, The Departed, Source Code) and Patrick Wilson ( Watchmen, The A- Team) are brilliant. Special credit should go to Vera Farmiga because not only does she pull off clairvoyant but she plays it so convincingly that she could actually turn every viewer in to a believer by the end of the film. It's the way that everything is so normal for her. No weird transformation or possession, she moves around the space like she is completely normal and then when she explains things you realise that she has been seeing things the whole time, it's normal for her to see shadows, spirits or other things. I can't imagine what it would be like to live as someone like that but I know from seeing this film that I am thankful that I don't live like that.

This film is completely different to any horror film that I have ever seen before. I don't think it is one that I will ever forget- it felt real- the exorcisms, the process, they had clearly done their research because it was accurate. This film is memorable and that is always good.

Smokey and The Bandits.

Trying to bring back some older action from the 70's. Smokey and the Bandits is a well known film for its theme of being all about a race. This is what Burt Reynolds is known for and what helped Sally Fields to make her name. Released in the same year as Star Wars (77) Smokey and the Bandit played second fiddle to Star Wars in terms of success when the movie was first released. As the second highest grossing film of that year it can be considered very successful.

The race is just a cover for the actual theme which was trying to smuggle the most popular beer from one state in America to another (where it was illegal). The race uses lorries to block off the road so that the police can't get to them. Bandit is a driver, one of the best and Smokey (has to be), a cop. The journey is fine, he transports all the beer but when he starts his return journey he picks up a run away called Carry (Sally Field) and there the problems start. Now he is being chased by both Smokey and the sheriff from the state he has just left. The job description for Sally Field is to spend the entire film looking good, which she manages to the best of her ability.

This film is kinda boring, for half the film there is hardly any action. Stick with it, endure the boredom until the action starts. Burt Reynolds is always worth it, he is the 70's version of Daniel Craig. There are moments of pleasure and laughter, it's not particularly comical but it has its moments to add to the action.
I think that it probably is a must see if you haven't already but it's not the best film in the world.

Anatomy of a Love Seen.

So if you hadn't worked out from some of the comments during yesterdays post we welcome the first lesbian film to the blog. It's not for everyone and if you don't want to read about it then just stop reading right now. Don't post negative or hurtful comments on this page- we welcome everything except porn on this blog and that includes gay films.

Anatomy of a love scene does not actually have lesbian sex in it. Foreplay, naked women and a lot of kissing but no actual sex. Another film that starts at the end and works backwards so that in the last 2 minutes you get to see the shot that started the film. Sometimes in society it is about embracing others, their differences and their cultures. Sex is a part of human life and a much more normal and frequent activity for the younger people reading this than the older. See two relatives young woman kissing is fine- it's a part of life and that is the view of the blogger so gay films are welcome on this blog, we just stumble upon them by chance rather than picking them out.

It's a fantastic directorial debut. A well thought out way to get two women who met on set, had sex for a film, fell in love and then the relationship ended badly to come back, see each other and talk about things. I'm always amazed at how many heterosexual people opt to make gay films ( Lea Seydoux, Matt Damon, Heath Ledger etc). Sharon Hinnendael and Jill Evyn take the lead roles and at times were very convincing as actresses, at times, not so much. It is really hard to try and play something that you are not and these two women had to spend half the film pretending that they were ex lovers trying to pretend that they were lovers (it sounds very complicated) and at times as a heterosexual person you can try too hard to be a homosexual person and ruin the illusion. There were moments in this film that were fantastic (if you're a lesbian), that were rough looking enough to actually pass as something real that was happening at the time.

In order to keep everyone happy on this blog we try to have a bit of everything but we don't specifically target one genre so this isn't going to become a blog dedicated to gay and lesbian films, it's a blog dedicated to all film (excluding porn) and appreciating all film genres and their work of art (porn excluded).

The Spirit

This is another film noir type, sin city film. It's the same director as sin city (Frank Miller) and has the same plot that most super hero films follow- a dead cop comes back from the dead as The spirit' and the film is about his attempts to clean up the city.

The spirit boasts a few names such as Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes and that is what helps to sell this film. Many have probably watched this film and decided that it I far too similar to Sin City for comfort and for that reason are less likely to like it but on this blog we believe in giving everything a chance, nk matter what the genre is or how well it has done in the past. Fooltheeye attempts to be as equal as possible, whilst drawing the line at porn, porn is not watched by the bloggers on this blog and will not be reviewed but apart from that we will watch most things including lesbian and gay films, horror, action, sci-fi, romance, romcoms, chick flicks, silent movies and black and white films/ classics. We don't read the reviews before selecting them, we randomly pick the films.

The Spirit shows Samuel L Jackson being a bad ass and doing what he does best- being evil and cool at the same time. We love him on this film blog and have probably said all that can be said about him. He is superb as the octopus, he is one of the best villains without an evil sounding voice I world cinema today.


The Spirit is enjoyable. I love it because of the way it was filmed, its intriguing and pleasant.

Now You See Me

The sequel is currently showing in cinema's across London (which is where we are currently based). I want to see the second because I want to see what Daniel Radcliffe can add to the film so I am now watching the first film an reviewing it.

Now You See Me boats a stellar cast including Mark Ruffalo (Hulk, Begin Again), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Batman Vs Superman), Michael Caine (Alfie, The Italian Job), Dave Franco (Nerve) and Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption, Driving Miss Daisy). These are only the names that jump out at you. Woody Harrelson ( No Country for Old Men) and Isla Fisher ( The Wedding Crashers, Rango) make up the rest of the team in the one step further than Ocean's Eleven could go type robbery.

Ocean's Eleven was fantastic and I don't think that there is anyone out there who has seen that film and didn't like it. If you are working on making a film like that, sticking to the simple plot of robbing banks then you can't really go wrong, this time they have just combined the prestige and the illusionists with Ocean's Eleven. Most of us don't believe in magic but we probably all have to admit that it would be kind of cool if it was real. The tricks shown in this film are cool and it's great to see someone putting their imagination to good use and combining it with our favourite things.

This film is very enjoyable and very worth seeing. It you get a chance to watch and then watch the sequel I would recommend it. It's not every day that you see Michael Caine get robbed and it's not every day that you see him face off against Morgan Freeman as they are both going to become legends of film when they hang up their boots. Two guns going off against each other and their causes to be against each other keeping changing, the tables keep turning and yet somehow they end up constantly sitting on opposite sides of the table. The intelligence to play them off against each other and write the script so that no matter what they always end up against each other is a stroke of genius.

If you haven't see it then you definitely should!

Blue Valentine

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in a very weird film. Blue Valentine explains in flashbacks how it reached the point at which the films starts. Yes, that sounds weird and it kind of is a weird film. You start at, from what I can work out, the end and then you work your way backwards in random pieces until you have enough pieces of the puzzles to make a beautiful puzzle of the film.

I say beautiful because that is what normally happens, in this case I am not sure that all the pieces were given for this puzzle and the film can't actually be described as a thing of beauty but the image was nice. Blue Valentine is a simple idea, one that is so simple that it has to be chopped up and made a mess out of to make it appear a complex film. Mixed emotions for this film. Ryan Gosling is superb but the film itself is a let down. A simple film isn't a bad thing so long as it is directed properly and has that something special about it. Unfortunately this film doesn't have that special something. Not from a lack of trying but from a lack of quality and thought.

Cindy has a messed up family and that reflects in some of her decisions. She dates a guy that is not the best for her and then meets Dean who is a bit of an unsure character. He never seems clear on who he is or what he is doing or how to really be a functional person, in fact, neither of them do and this film is sort of just unsure about marriage and everything. I need another opinion on this- someone else watch it and then help me make up my mind about it? It's not the greatest film in the world but it is, in it's own way, a good enough film but don't feel a need to add it to your list.

AVP 2

The plot is back. They are back and they are looking for humans. They are back and this time they are taking a slightly weirder form, a form that appears to be mostly mist and not entirely solid but the mission is the same- take over the earth. Negative reviews when it was released but climbed up massively in sales of DVD's- Aliens Vs Predator 2 (Requiem) is a hard one to call.

AVP was in itself quite a good film. You don't have to think too hard about the plot, you can just sit back and enjoy what you know is coming.This was very much the same and therefore something that if it was the first of the series would have been quite successful upon release instead of being received badly.
The main problem with this film is that the main evil character is called Scar and those of us that grew up with 'The Lion King' will only be able to associate Jeremy Iron and a rather dark and somewhat mean looking lion with the role. To take an association like that and try to give it a different meaning is a ni-on impossible task as the human mind struggles to prioritise and remember too many things associated with the same word. We can associate many different things such as a facial scar and the lion character or any other characters with the word 'Scar' in their name but we will probably always associate the evil character 'Scar' with 'The Lion King'.

There have been a lot of films like this and there really is only space for one AVP film in your film collection. You don't need both and you would think that after the first attack the country had started to prepare themselves for another attack and look at ways to defend themselves but apparently not. There just wasn't enough in this film to make it good enough to want to watch again or keep.