Jackie

History and Natalie Portman come together in this film. A woman of many talents and so far the only woman to look really good with really short hair. Jacky is all about Jacky Kennedy, wife of John F Kennedy and how she handled with his death, holding part of his skull and the funeral arrangements.

The accent is really different. Jackie is someone that English people don't learn about in history lessons so for me this film is an education. Watching her go through her mood changes after his death, first the determination with the funeral arrangements, then the changes at the second last minute, only to change them completely again at the last minute. The strength and character of her to know exactly what she wants, insist on it to be done and then to enter in to talks with a priest (John Hurt), listen to him, change her mind and then change them back again- watching the change is wonderful. She basically told everyone to go to hell in this movie.

Unlike 'The Iron Lady' when they do the flashbacks they don't use original footage (if there was any), they film in black and white but with Natalie Portman in the shot and her voice in the shot so that it is her all the way throughout this movie. She pulls off any colour that she has to wear, even pink and she has her moments of breaking down. Jackie is a masterclass of Portman in  a very serious and controlled way. Probably the most controlled performance I have ever seen from her. So different from anything that she has done before and a good step for her career. She doesn't look like she has aged in the last ten years. She looks good, she still is good.

Learn from it.

Passengers

Long overdue and I apologise for that because this was my third attempt to go and see it. Passengers could have been on the end of last years blog but I never got round to seeing it in December.

Jenifer Lawrence is enough to make me go and see a film. I've not disliked her in anything I have seen her in and she is really attractive. Chris Pratt is an added bonus because you know that there aren't going to be an sex scenes- makes for nicer viewing.

5,000 passengers and crew members are asleep in hibernation for 120 years on a space ship journey from Earth to Homestead 2, a new life on a planet which is still being built. It costs a lot to get on the ship unless you are in a desirable trade such as mechanic, engineer, plumber etc and can contribute structurally to the development of Homestead 2. Jim Preston is a mechanic and Aurora Lane is a writer. Preston boards the ship so that he can build his own life and home on a new planet while Lane boards the ship so that she can write about her journey to and from Homestead 2. Here's the issue, you're supposed to sleep in hibernation for 119 years, 11 months and then just wake up for the last month but the ship malfunctions, it is damaged by huge rocks in space and Preston wakes up 90 years early. Only Arthur (Michael Sheen), an android is around for him to talk to but he starts to build things and look around the ship, trying to work out why he woke up so early and is going to die on the ship.

A year on and bored of being alone he examines the pods and finds Aurora, accesses her file and decides to wake her up. He does and after a while they fall in love because they are going to die before anyone wakes up and then of course she finds out that he woke her up, condemning her to death with him instead of letting her sleep. Plot thickens when Laurence Fishburne also wakes up. As deck captain his access codes allow over rides to take place and when he accesses all the files he learns that the ship is malfunctioning on a catastrophic level but he dies before he can help so he hands over his access code and leaves it to Preston and Lane to fix the ship, which they do so that the other 5000 people can live and make it to Homestead 2.

The ship is something to be envious of. The swimming pool, the basketball pitch, the dance off's- even though I would be bored within a year there are still things to do and it is a nice ship. There's a nice balance between passion/emotion and control. When you could get angry and scream it's in the face and the control is enough to sound angry and even at times act aggressively but not enough to make you go all out.

Chris Pratt is good but Lawrence is better. The character of Preston is a determined man who often displays emotions of sadness but the character of Lane gets to experience and express emotions of happiness, love, desire, determination, heroism, sadness and anger. She gets to express and do so much more with her character than he does with his. What makes it so good is the music behind it. The score is fascinating. When stuck in space there can be a tendency to not do much with the score but the music is expressive, it matches the action and the on screen action in every way. The last scene is the scene to beat. That moment of waking up, walking out on deck and seeing what they see, hearing the explanation and just staring- like 'what the hell has gone on here'. It's fantastic.

This film received mixed reviews but I can't see why. You kind of get the happy ending but you also don't and that is wonderful. You know what has to happen but instead of feeling sad about it you smile at the end. The wardrobe is wonderful, especially her dresses. Watching Jenifer Lawrence take a sledge hammer to the door and continually hit it, watching her lift Chris Pratt is also something to admire. This isn't a woman for show, it's a woman who is strong and can show that physically.

I've talked a lot about Jenifer Lawrence but I feel that this was more her film than his. His character was a little selfish and had to be the heroic one and true almost everything he did was for her but she had to become so much stronger knowing that she had to live with the person who stole her life away from her. The guidance comes from Lawrence Fishburne and his character is one of the best supporting actors with about three scenes in the entire film that I have ever seen.

I am so glad that I have managed to see it, everything about it was spectacular and it deserves more than it will receive, a lot more.

Stranger Than Fiction

Not originally on the list but every time I saw the advert for it there was an overwhelming desire to watch it and I didn't own it so now I do and it features here.

Not a Will Ferrell fan having previously stated that his only decent film was 'Blades of Glory' however, having watched this film, which also starts Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaall, Dustin Hoffman, Linda Hunt and Queen Latifa, I have to retract that statement and say that this is probably his best film.

With such a small cast and simple plot it is easy to watch this film and let the standout moments slip past you. For me the standout scene was when we first actually meet Emma Thompson in this film. It looks like she is standing on the edge of a building getting ready to kill herself but when you actually see the scene she is just standing in a very shiny white room. The point is that her artistic license is taking over and as she is trying to kill off the character in her novel we can see her actually exploring the methods of death available to her.

The entire point of this film is that a writer starts to realise that her characters are probably a real person making their way in the world, it's just that she doesn't know it. Once she meets one of her characters she starts to ask herself how many others has she killed? When we write we have no idea that we may actually be writing the life of someone else that we haven't met in the world yet, we don't give it a single moment of thought, we just write until we get a block. Upon realisation she knows that she has to change the ending, she can't kill this person because she has now met that person. How easy it is to kill someone that you don't know.

For writers or people with boring lives it's actually quite an interesting film to watch and it teaches you about living your life.

Ip Man 3

So every year an Ip Man film features on the blog. Last year, Ip Man 2 was the feature and that film seemed to be about him establishing a new life for himself and taking on this boxing champion from the west. In this film, with the introduction of Mike Tyson it seemed to be a similar theme.

Was the featuring of Mike Tyson really necessary? I guess the answer is up to you but his inclusion wasn't particularly bad. As the ring leader of a lot of people in China the only time his fists really mattered was in the three minute duel with Master Ip. The deal was that if Ip could keep up his Win Chung for three minutes then he would be left alone. As always, Donnie Yen and Ip Man are unstoppable and honourable so not only did he fight off hundreds of people within the first half of the film but he held his own against Tyson and then didn't fight for the right to be known as the best teacher of Win Chung, instead choosing to spend time with his wife.

Tyson was actually really good in this film, honourable and not just punching everything that moved. The fight with Ip Man was very well choreographed and they were for all intensive purposes equals in the fight. He didn't carry the same swagger and arrogance that was found in the boxer in the previous film. Ip Man stands up for everything right in his world, is a leader and a great man (or was) and each film is as good as the other ones. There is no issue with watching all three films after each other, it's not like Mission Impossible where once you have seen one you have seem them all, you are watching three martial arts films based primarily on Win Chung and in that way they are similar but they all have a different plot and different fights.

There aren't many martial arts films on this years blog with a few Bruce Lee films on the list and that is about it but at least we have already had one!

The Bourne Legacy

Having missed Jason Bourne in the cinemas in September 2016 it is time to catch up with the Bourne series.

The Bourne legacy is supposedly set at the same time as 'The Bourne Ultimatum' but does not feature Matt Damon or Jason Bourne because Damon wouldn't come back for this film which is a lot of a disappointment but something that they had to get over. So in comes Jeremy Renner to take on the role of Aaron Cross, a soldier in a program like 'blackbriar' but a program that is being shut down because of what is going on with Jason Bourne. So this is going on simultaneously as Jason Bourne is destroying the program in America, meaning that they can have an entirely different cast if they want. Ed Norton comes in as the project leader and is responsible for killing off all the agents apart from Renner and one doctor (Rachel Weisz)

There is no real ending to this film which is a massive let down. Considering that until Jason Bourne there was no hint of another film being made and considering that this one is on it's own there has been no hint of them continuing the story with Cross. Cross is no Bourne. His physicality is similar but he has to keep taking pills to keep his intelligence up whereas Bourne had it all but forgot who he was- Cross knows exactly who he is.

Jason Bourne is not a follow on from this film, it is a follow on from 'The Bourne Ultimatum' and is set a decade after the end of 'The Bourne Supremacy' which makes the lack of ending or talk of another film a little disappointing. Now the agencies have two rogue agents and a rogue doctor and yet they are happy to just let one of them wander off and do whatever he wants? Doesn't really make any logical sense but there you have it.

Everything changed for this film including the director and it showed. Greengrass has a very distinctive 'shaky' way of filming and this film lacked it. The style of filming in the other films worked really well for the amnesia feel to the films and as there was no amnesia in this film there was no need for the same style but it did make this film seem even less like a Jason Bourne film than before. The film itself is very good and follows the same kind of story and logic as the other films but there is nothing really in it to call it a Bourne film. As a stand alone film they should have called it something else. Yes, it was based on one of the books and it is very similar to Jason Bourne movies but without Bourne and with no intention of carrying on this side of the franchise they might as well disown it and call it something else.

Don't take anything away from Jeremy Renner's performance. Matt Damon is starting to get old but Renner is waiting in the wings to take over. With the physique for the role and the looks he could quite easily make a few more 'Bourne' films whereas Damon is reaching the end. Looking as if he is reaching his fifties is making all this action work and killing people quite difficult and very unrealistic. In a few years no one will believe that he can outrun younger CIA agents and no one will believe that no one can track him down, however, were it Renner it would still be believable.

The Mikado

Years of doing this blog now means that readers of it should start to pickup certain likes or dislikes. Those of you that actually know me know that I have been part of Gilbert and Sullivan musicals but was not familiar with 'The Mikado'. Family looked to set that right and my Christmas present was a film version of 'The Mikado'. Even though Moana featured on the blog and I said that it was the first musical of the year it was the first kids film of the year with typical Disney music in it and doesn't entirely count as a musical. This is the first real musical of the year!

Kenny Baker and Jean Colin take on the roles of Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum in the 1939 D'oyly Carte film of the hit musical by WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. The music is very catchy and in many ways absolutely typical of Arthur Sullivan. Just listening to it you will be able to tell instantly that this is G&S music. Anyone that has seen the film 'Quartet' will now understand about flowers that bloom in the spring and a lot of tralalaing.

A few years ago, on the very first film challenge blog I watched the film 'Topsy Turvy' starring Jim Broadbent as WS Gilbert. The film focused on The Mikado because G&S were starting to become unpopular as their plots were all very much the same and the audience, not to mention Arthur Sullivan himself, were starting to notice it. The revival of their success came from 'The Mikado', which is set in Japan and therefore features a different style of costume, dance and characterisation than any other G&S musical.

The singing is fantastic, the costumes and makeup are dated but then this was almost 80 years ago! The Mikado, like all G&S musicals is very enjoyable and quite silly! I hope to be able to see a stage production of it soon!

Moana

First kid's film of the blog and a good way to start. This year I've decided to not upload the film list and just keep it as a surprise and that way I have some flexibility on the list if I miss a film or add in another one somewhere along the way.

Dwayne Johnson taking on possibility his first character in a kids film and certainly his first singing role. So obvious the animated character needs to be a God or something like that because the character needs to be bigger than the normal man. With legs in proportion (roughly) to body animation techniques have clearly now caught up with the rest of the world. So the story goes like this- anyone familiar with the New Zealand legend Mawii? If you are then you'll know the story line of the film fairly well and if you're not (like me) then you'll learn a little and enjoy the film a lot.

It's a light cast including Alan Tudyk, Nicole Scherzinger and Jermaine Clement. I don't know if this is just me but I find voice acting a lot harder to judge than when you can see the actor on the screen as well (unless they are saying everything in a monotone). There are some dark parts in this film and by dark I don't mean the characters or something disturbing in the film i just mean that there are some dark clouds so children under 6 probably shouldn't watch this film (although in the day and age where parents take their 7 year olds to see Assassins Creed and The Dark Knight kids aged about 3 will be taken to see anything that isn't 15 or 18 rated).

Auli'i Cravalho is starting off her career by being a strong woman in a child's film. Some would argue that Disney films are the way to start a career because tons of people, of all ages come and see these films. I wish her the best and hope that her career really kicks off after this film.

The best thing about this film is that the animations actually look like the actors. Sometimes animated characters look nothing like the person playing them but in this instance they really resemble the person voicing them. Make sure that you do go and see the film at some point.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

With the world exploding upon the arrival of another Star Wars film, as much as we may not have really wanted to watch this film, to please the world we had to.

The good news is that this is not going to be a rant about how rubbish it was. With this film being set in between 'Revenge of the Sith' and 'A New Hope' there was more of a story line and a more reason to like this film. Felicity Jones taking on the leading lady role was probably the best decision they have made regarding women in Star Wars. Tying in nicely to the start of ' A New Hope' there is no happy ending and that makes everything a lot easier.

So the bad bit is that there is no Star Wars opening credits theme start which makes all Star Wars films Star Wars films. That was a disappointment and one that should not be forgotten. 

Forrest Whitacker and Donnie Yen joined the crew and stole the show. With Forrest Whitacker playing an integral part to the main story line once he was gone it was over to Donnie Yen. Yen had all the humour and the skills. As a blind temple man he dodged many Storm Troopers and cross fires. Who needs Jedi's when you have a blind man who can do a lot better than Luke ever did? Surprisingly I actually enjoyed this film. There was more comedy in it than all the other Star Wars films put together. Mads Mikkelsen had a solid performance as the portrayed enemy of them all who showed compassion and died a heroes death. I've become so used to seeing him as the bad guy but this was a character change for him and he was impressive.

Don't get ripped off by prices, when I first originally tried to book they wanted to charge me £18- it is not worth paying £18 to see. Having said all that, it was a lot better than the previous film.

A Monster Calls

With the many films currently available at the cinema there have been a few selected to be the first features of the blog for different reasons.

A Monster Calls was selected because of Liam Neeson. A man who has done many different roles in his career but has in recent years become associated with a violent shooting up type of film. In this film he is the voice of the monster and because this is a film aimed at older children it was different enough to warrant a trip to the cinema.

So time to get on with it. This is a slightly upsetting story. It's not a happily ever after type of story, it's a real type of story. A young boy is bullied and beaten up every day at school. His mum is dying of cancer, his dad is in Los Angeles and he doesn't get on with his grandmother. Life sucks. Every night he wakes up at 12:07 from a nightmare in which his mum is at the cemetery, it all falls down and his mum falls to her death. So he draws and he is a fantastic artist. Like clockwork he is awake at 12:07 when the lovely tree that he draws, the Yew tree, turns into a monster. Only he can see it but the monster helps him a lot.

A common theme in this film is the idea of crime and punishment. When Connor (Lewis MacDougall)finally lets out his anger in his grandmother's (Sigourney Weaver) house and smashes up an entire room he is not punished because what would be the point? When he finally attacks his bullies and sends one of them to hospital he is not punished- what would be the point? He is a young man struggling with the death of his mother (Felicity Jones), the only relative present in his life that he loves, and the monster encourages him to act out.

The lesson you can learn from this film is that you can't pretend that you are fine all the time. You need to talk, you need to let people in, let your emotions out and let go of the things that you can't change. We've all been through difficult times in our life, some at an earlier age than others but this film helps and talks to you in a way that I can't put into words. You wont come out of it feeling really happy but you wont feel depressed- you just need to remember the message, remember the film because the only time you will need to see it again is when Connor's reality becomes yours.

The animation, the design, the screenplay in this film is fantastic. Forget 3D and Imax filming when with a bit of imagination and talent you can make something as beautiful as what you see when the monster tells the story. A slight Kung Fu Panda feel in terms of artwork but always something to be admired.

Next week will be Rogue One!

Assassins Creed

Really excited about this one. A little disappointed that it didn't make it to release last year as it was on the blog list for last year but not a bad way to kickstart the 117 films to be reviewed this year on the blog.


I'm guessing that loads of us reading this review are die hard Assassins Creed fans, have played every version of the game franchise multiple times and were actually really excited for this film. Those of you who are just getting in to AC may be wondering which game it was a film of- it wasn't. In order to make a successful film out of this, and there was so much potential to go wrong, they had to make another instalment of the franchise. The film of Assassins Creed starring Michael Fassbender, Marion Cottilard and Jeremy Irons follows the same philosophy and theory of all the games- the Templars finding a descendent of an assassin and using him in the animus to try and recover the lost apple. Feeling familiar? The plot is the same, Michael Fassbender is descendent from the assassins in Spain/ Mexico but his father murders his mother when he is very young. His mother was an assassin and therefore the blood runs within him but as he has no parents because his father (Brendan Gleeson) was sentenced to death but is captured by the Templars and his mother is dead. Turning to a life of crime he himself ends us facing the death penalty and being killed, except that he isn't because there would be no story- he is captured by the Templars and forced to go in to the animus.

A combination of trickery by showing him his father convinces Callum (Fassbender) to willingly enter the animus, locate the apple and almost ruin everything. Claiming that he is nothing to do with the Assassins, in the end he ends up becoming one and the apple is safely restored to a hiding place but it was a close call. With help from a few other Assassins that were also captured by the Templar there is a lot of fighting, with action in the animus almost exactly as if it were a cut scene from one of the games. Any AC fan should love this film. It's a new approach and interpretation of where AC can go and because it was never a game it opens up another set of games and room for more films. Fassbender is a good choice because they re-do the setting so that it ends up in America and Fassbender can hold an American accent and let's face it, the accent isn't that important because the character isn't Italian and he is only descendent from a Spanish assassin.

I get the feeling that this film was cause controversy within the AC fans but then again Star Wars manages that every time in that people don't really know what to make of it, they kind of love it or hate it or worse, a small percentage of them aren't sure if they do or don't like the new films. This isn't a film that you should be unsure about, you'll either like it a lot or you wont like it at all but either way, as a gaming fan you should go and see the film if only as an excuse to go and play all the games again!

Very happy to start the new year with this film, next up will be 'A Monster Calls', followed by 'Rogue One' and then 'Passenger'. Keep watching this space.