Fences

The BAFTA's have been and gone just recently and Viola Davis won the award for supporting female actor. Knowing that she had won it we had to go and check it out.

Fences is a memorable film because of the topic. It's not really about racism or about abuse it's just about a man who sort of loses his way in his life but isn't the worlds best father to his children. It's a serious film about a world that for most people no longer exists, in a time that was more prejudice and difficult than now. Now it is easy to look on this film, to look on the character that Denzel Washington plays with condemning eyes from the present and no understanding of the times back then. As his character develops you start to understand some of the pain that he has experienced in his life but that doesn't mean that he should let himself become more like the person that he didn't want to be. 

The character isn't a likeable character but he is a character that you find yourself wanting to help. You watch the entire film with not so much eagerness but hope that the character will get better, will turn things around, that there will be a happy ending and there sort of is but there also isn't a happy ending. I spent a lot of time before watching the film asking myself why Denzel Washington wasn't a serious contender for 'best lead actor' but when I saw this film I understood why. He was good but he was so overshadowed by Viola Davis it was almost unreal. When she stepped up her game we expected his level to go up but it kinda stayed where it was and maybe that was how the character was supposed to be played but after watching this film no one should question why she won the supporting actor award.

Fences is a strong film with a simple plot and it does seem to focus a lot on the role of the woman at his side, standing there with him wherever he has been, through all his mistakes, showing compassion and mercy and defending her son. She didn't turn away his son that wasn't hers, she tried to hold the family together at all times and she should have actually been the strongest focus of the film.

Great to see Russell Hornsby in a film. Having seen him in Grim for five seasons seeing him make a name for himself in a film with Viola Davis and Denzel Washington. He's a bit of a mixed character, strong and determined to do what makes him feel good, to pursue the career that he wants instead of getting a job that he doesn't like and I can salute the character for that. There comes a time in life when you do need to take a job that you don't like to support your family but until that time comes you should keep trying to do what makes you happy, what helps get you up in the morning and give you some excitement. Apart from Viola Davis what makes this film are the characters, the ones trying to do what they want and live the life that they want and those who do what they have to do and what is right. The combination of both to show all the values that you need and the transgression between the old world and the new world is something fantastic and no one can fault Denzel Washington and his directing ability for this film.

John Wick

With the second one reaching UK cinema's it was time to watch the first one. Keanu Reeves was actually surprisingly good in 'Constantine' and we had a lot of excitement for this film but did it pay off?

Not really. We expected more from him in this film. The best part of the film was probably the ending because it is such a 'Scorpia' style ending. Keanu Reeves doesn't fill me with fear in the same way that watching Liam Neeson walk towards someone with a serious look on his face does. When Neeson walks towards you or walks towards a character on screen you start to fear for that character, you know that he isn't going to be making it to tomorrow unless Neeson wants him to. When Reeves walks towards you dressed as John Wick you want to laugh and tell him to 'jog on'. There's no fear, there's no way that he could really win that battle as John Wick because he looks like a guy who hasn't been home in months. He doesn't look crazy but somehow his homeless look takes away the intent that might otherwise be seen in his eyes. Whatever he managed in 'Constantine' he completely lost in this film.

A contract killer who refuses to die and takes out a lot of people- we've seen it before in one way or another but not from this guy. The stunts look real, they are well choreographed as it is believable that Reeves could be doing them. They aren't crazy or make you think 'no way can he do that' and they aren't something that shows off the lack of physique that he has. They have sat down and thought about what each character can or can't do depending on the actor and then worked something out. Because the stunts are real the film holds it own. It is dependant on Keanu Reeves name (or lack of one) but it knows its own strengths and works to them. What bothers me the most is that he gets shot more than once and yet he still isn't dead. He's no Luke Cage, he's not bulletproof and he is clearly bleeding out so how he can just get up and carry on is a little beyond me but then this is an action film.

Taking down a Russian mob family- we've seen that before. Why is it always Russians or Italians? I'm up for a good action/gangster film but stop picking on the same people and stereotyping them.

What can we expect from the next film? I'll know in a few days and will post about it in a weeks time!

Carol

This film contains homosexual sex.

I didn't know that about this film, I didn't know anything about the film but i'm not bothered by films of a homosexual nature. Some people that will read this review will be bothered by it and that is why I have drawn your attention to it immediately. It is good to be open minded about things but I appreciate that some people will not want to watch this film.

Cate Blanchett received a lot of attention for this film. Her character (Carol Aird) is a woman with a child who is going through a divorce. She is actually a homosexual who has had an affair with a friend a years before meeting Therese ( Rooney Mara) who is a younger, aspiring photographer. After  a while they spend News Years Eve together and have sex. Their night is taped by someone sent by Carol's husband and Carol goes back to her home to try and settle her divorce. She admits her homosexuality and attempts to fix things with Therese.

This is a romantic film but not with the comical element. It's a passionate and moving film but also a serious film and a very sensitive one. Cate Blanchett is surprisingly good in her role as Carol. There is the temptation to become wild, crazy and horrible when things start to get bad but she keeps everything under control at all times. In her divorce scene she shows more strength that I could have imagined. Integrity is a huge part of this character and it's either something that as a person you have or you don't- you can't really act it, you just have to have it and she definitely has it.  Both her and Rooney Mara have it. They are both strong characters, which is even more surprising given that Mara's character (Therese) is a lot younger than Carol. Often in movies we see the younger character being manipulated by the older woman, who was only using her and never had any intention of leaving their husband. This is not the case, even though she gets a little hurt she doesn't cry or feel manipulated by Carol. There is nothing weak about her character and both Blanchett and Mara were nominated for best leading actress in multiple awards.

What was noted about this film is that neither of these woman are particularly thinking of men and neither of them need a man in their life. Carol is going through a divorce and Therese and her boyfriend split up. They aren't playing with fire, trying to work out who they are because they know who they are. Carol is thinking about her daughter, she has little thought for her husband and Therese rejects every approach from a man and from any other woman. It's not a 'gay phase', it's the real thing.

We wont judge you for not wanting to watch this film but we wont judge the film either for being what it is. It's a powerful and extremely good film.

Hairspray

Remember that time when musicals were being released all the time? Remember when Zac Efron was big? This was way better than highschool musical but I was put off from seeing it because I had seen highschool musical.

With key songs such as 'You can't stop the beat' and 'Good Morning Baltimore' and staring the likes of Queen Latifah, James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer, John Travolta and Christopher Walken, along with Chloe from Pitch Perfect (Brittany Snow), Alison Janney, Elijah Kelley and Zac Efron it had every reason to attract musical lovers and a new audience. The songs are catchy and 'I Know Where I'm Going' performed by Queen Latifah is something to seriously be admired.

From the opening song and watching Nikki Blonsky perform that song on top of a van you get the feeling that it is going to be a very good musical. Without the spotlight being on Zac Efron in the same way that it was a few years prior for 'Highschool Musical' and with him being able to sing his own parts this time, the dancing and singing was much better for him, everything felt a lot better.

Hairspray is everything that you want from a teen musical. Cool music, great singing and dancing and overcoming oppression. Watching the typically blonde, really pretty girl lose to a fat girl and watching segregation be overcome on a musical show is worth it. There is no musical like this out there and even though I didn't realise that it was set in the 60's and found bits of it weird, once I had realised that it was set then everything made sense. The first time watching it you are surprised but it is a musical that gets better with watching. Nikki Blonsky was fantastic in this film and considering that it was a career platform for the younger cast in this film it is a shame that she hasn't gone on to be a household name and global star.

The Hundred-foot journey.

Recommended by my sister, 'The Hundred-foot journey' is a film about cooking. An Indian family move from India to start up a restaurant but it doesn't really work out for them and so they move to France. They start up a restaurant 100 feet away from a very successful restaurant which already has one Michelin star to its name.

Selling the film on the name of Helen Mirren and don't take anything away from her, as the head of the opposing restaurant she was fantastic, both as being a horrible person to play against and then having a change of heart and appreciating good food. The rest of the cast were all people that I have not heard of but I am told have been on TV shows that were popular before I was born. If you know the names Om Puri and Manish Dayal then you know what to expect from this film but if you don't then this is a chance to learn a few new names. Om Puri is the dad, who is ever trying to bargain so as to get it at a lower or higher price. He is genius and generally correct in his decisions but he does need an eye opener from the character played by Helen Mirren. Manish Dayal is the main man, the chef and who the film is really about. He masters french cuisine and combines it with Indian spices and soon becomes one of the best chef's in France and well known in other countries.

His love works off for the other restaurant and at first there is no issues between them as they are rivals but she is just working in the kitchen and is not the chef. She is knowledgeable and works hard but she hasn't made it to the top yet. Once Hassan's restaurant gets set on fire but some of the opposition and his hands get burnt he is forced to come and work in the kitchen of the restaurant one hundred feet away and this becomes an issue as they are now directly competing with each other but even after the restaurant has gained another star and he has gone on to be a big name and the chef in a restaurant he still can't replicate as well the meal that he cooked with his love, he forgets his roots and has to go back. The ending is beautiful.

This film is beautiful. The scenery and the selection is lovely. Creating the Indian palace really makes a night in France in the Summer look like a brilliant and exciting place to be. Once you've watched this film you crave Indian food. We all certainly did and that craving hasn't gone away.

The Lego Batman Movie

The tagline is 'always be yourself, unless you can be Batman'. Batman works alone but that doesn't always work out for him. He's not a superhero and he's not a villain, as proven by this film but what we do know is that Lego make great games and great films so it is going to be enjoyable.

Combining all the evil characters from the Lego Batman game and bringing in a little of Batman and Robin so as to introduce the character of Robin there is no way that this film isn't going to be good. With Batman pulling out all the stunts to a hard rock like anthem you have to just sit back and enjoy the amount of fun that they must have had with this film. The stunts are ridiculously good, as can only be done with a Lego film and the creativity behind it all is something to be admired. Beat boxing when you are stressed is a genius idea and the use of a 'nine-pack' set of abs to unite the entire of Gotham is also a stroke of genius.

People of all ages can enjoy this film and if you don't enjoy it then you clearly aren't a Lego fan! Appreciating that Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' can fill you with rage and learning how to use that rage in a good way to defeat Lord Voldemort was another laughing point. Most of us find that song really irritating! They have a solution for everything in this film and this film is exactly why we love Batman.

Michael Cera doing the voice of Robin actually worked really well because when you can't see him you would probably mistake him for being about 12! Ralph Fiennes not as Voldemort but as Albert was a little interesting. He was great as the voice and the character of Albert was fantastic, as always but when the credits came up at the end I was expecting to see his name next to Voldemort and not Albert! Maybe after watching this film you would rather be yourself than be Batman but Batman learns a lot about being Batman as well!

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

For most people this title will mean nothing. It is a film staring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman and it is the first of three Elizabeth Taylor films to feature on this blog with the others being: Who's afraid of Virgina Woolf? and Lassie Come Home.

With her character this time being more of a 'bitch' in manner and her having marital problems with her husband, who got drunk and broke his foot hurdling in the club sports ground, she is in for a tough ride against her brother in law and his wife who seem to be in the business of knowing everything about them. Sucking up to 'big daddy' because they think that he is dying and want his money when he dies it is anybody's game but makes for good watching. The first thing she does is insult one of the girls, who promptly throws ice cream at her, so she throws some back. The next thing that she does is spend most of the film fighting with her husband.

Paul Newman doesn't have much to do except drink a lot and act angry for most of the time. His eyes are apparently what made him attractive, with them having that intense blue feel that Daniel Craig and Frank Sinatra have/had. There are two great lines in this film, with the first coming from Paul Newman 'Why don't you just kill yourself? Because I like to drink' and the second coming from Taylor 'I am going to spit in your eye and then punch it black and blue'. I do love some of the clever remarks people can make in awkward conversations and the remarks people make in bitch conversation.

The worst thing about this film is character names. 'Big Daddy', 'Big Mummy', 'Grooper' and 'Brick'. I mean, seriously? I've heard of many stupid names but this bunch tops the lot! If I was called 'Brick' I would probably have a drinking problem as well. However, the point of this film is that love is more important than money. With a guy being left nothing by his father and having to make his fortune for himself, he then doesn't learn to love his family and only has a family so that his legacy will live on but when he wants to leave it to the son he likes best, Brick turns it all down because all he wanted was to be loved by his father. It's a complicated ending with a lot of shouting at each other but a nice final shot.

Back to the Future

It it a crime that it has taken me this long to watch this film! Back to the Future is a classic and should be a part of every child's film upbringing!

Huey Lewis and The News quick off this film with 'The Power of Love' which is a blues rocking song, very feel good and great as an opening song to the soundtrack. This is the film in which Marty McFly plays Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B Good' so already it has a fantastic soundtrack to it.

The Doc creates a time machine which can send people back in time, it's a car but after he gets shot by Libyans Marty drives off in the car which can do a record breaking 80 mph in order to escape from the gunmen and once he reaches 80 mph he ends up going back thirty years and interfering with his parents meeting and few other things in the past, meaning that when he eventually gets back to the future things aren't the same so he is going to have to go back to the past in the next film and set things right.

I love the fact that Marty tries out in a band contest and plays a heavy metal of 'The Power of Love' and Huey Lewis tells him that are 'too loud'. Rock and Roll is moving on, by the nineties you have the likes of 'Nirvana', 'Oasis', 'Metallica' and 'ACDC' so there is so much prospect for rock and roll. Seeing Marty play the guitar (even though it isn't James L Fox) is lovely, especially as he is actually playing recognised chords- when he is playing Chuck Berry he is playing it exactly the way that it should be played so even though it isn't him he has at least learnt to make it look real which is always good. A solid soundtrack always makes out for a really decent film. No exceptions.

Back to the Future is a great film in every way. Seeing some of the faces and recognising them from other films is wonderful. People that I thought did nothing with their career after their breakthrough went on to work with Steven Spielberg! Gotta love it. Excited for the second film but it will be a few months until it features as there are a lot of other films that also need to feature and I don't want to write the same review on repeat like I almost did with Mission Impossible.

xXx The Return of Xander Cage.

Sometime after making the first film very successfully they decided to make another film but this time without Vin Diesel. XXX was released in 2002 by Columbia pictures, had a fantastic plot and soundtrack and got everyone crazy about cars, bikes, boards and heavy metal music (most notably Ramsmstein). The film ends with Xander taking some holiday time in Borra Borra with Yuri's sister. Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen both dropped out from the second film because Diesel disliked the script and Cohen was directing something else. Ice Cube took over as the newest XXX recruit. He features at the end of this film as well.

So we are more than 10 years on from the original XXX franchise and no one was going to watch this film if it didn't star Vin Diesel in it. From the moment he climbs a satelite tower, skis off of it before switching to some really cool skateboarding stunts and then back in time to help everyone to watch the world cup you know that you are back where you started with the original films! Remember the line 'Cars, Bikes, Boards, I like anything fast enough to do something stupid with'? that pretty much sums up the first bit of Xander Cage action you see. With Gibbons trying to recruit Neymar Jr as the latest addition to the XXX programme and him dying in Brazil you just get the feeling that it may be a little faked, after all, a film of this calibre without Samuel L Jackson being a constant theme would be very difficult.

The first thing you will notice is that they have taken a sort of Deadpool attitude on the captions, claiming that Neymar thought he was being recruited to join the Avengers team. There is almost definitely going to be a fourth film. Now that we've laughed over the captions we can move on to laughing at how Xander is always smarter than the CIA. So somewhere along the line you know that the CIA are probably going to double cross Cage but then seeing as how he did attach a lead to his soldier team and send them parachuting over the middle east without their consent and then draft in his own team which includes a guy who loves to crash cars, a really hot girl as a sniper and a DJ let's just say he has pissed off most of the people he is working for before even starting- sound familiar?

This time, no cars- it's not the Fast and the Furious. The plan is easy enough, they've tracked the team of ghosts, led by Donnie Yen to the Philippines. Some juggling with Grenades and some dancing involves a water speed chase on motorbikes. Everything that you loved about the first film is in this film but the 'dope' attitude is there as well. The use of 'read between the lines' to kill someone and a few other comments make for a good laugh, also the girls teaming up in one scene to kill a lot of people before Ice Cube makes his introduction and destroys the other enemies in the building. This film has almost everything in it. Donnie Yen beating everyone up without guns and then doing the same with guns in great, the stunts are there and clearly not done by stunt doubles.

On this blog I have been guilty of at times only looking at the headlining cast but not with this film! Deepika Padukone is the most mysterious character. Landed with the job of soldering and welding along with doing the splits for her first couple of scenes it seems this woman is not the normal action woman- doing the splits yes but welding is not. Her dead shot type of personality and the controlled thinker makes her a woman not to be reckoned with. Given the guns as backup, her standoff scene with Ruby Rose (who really owns the blue hair!) is exquisite, similar to Christian Bale's standoff fight in Equilibrium. Ruby Rose is fantastic, I look forward to seeing her because not only is she really attractive but she has that Lara Croft feel about her thinking and actions. She's in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, John Wick 2 (which hasn't been released yet) and Pitch Perfect 3 (another one for the blog) so she has an exciting future and remember to look out for her. Deepika Padukone is apparently known over the other side of the world but this is the film which should make her in Europe and America so I would suggest watching out for her as well, although I don't know of any upcoming film with her in.

Kris Wu is Canadian-Chinese and relatively big in China but not here. He is apparently a singer but he really owns the DJ scene and is quite good with a gun. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a few more films as well. Once he puts the hood on he is a really cool character in this film and also not crazy, which makes him more of the Morgan Freeman type character from RED.

Tony Jaa from Ong-Bak, Fast and Furious 7 and The Bodyguard is already making a name for himself. More with the fist fighting martial arts and the dancing than anything else but he also proved to be okay with a machine gun. Along with Michael Bisping, they make up the team of fist fighters with Yen who steal Pandora's box (could they not come up with an original name?). Some of these guys have a bright future and others seem to get type cast a little and that will effect their future in film. With Rory McCann making up the addition to Xander's team and playing the slightly more John Malcovitch role of crazy this guy is already known for Hot Fuzz, Game of Thrones and Clash of The Titans- he already has the career and by playing crazy in this way he is doing something different.

This cast is not one that screams stars but one that screams of stars to be. With names that we already know and names to look out for and the possibility of another film, with this film being almost as good as the first film there is a bright future for this team and I look forward to following this future.

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.

Meet Me In St Louis

Judy Garland stars in the Christmas musical 'Meet Me In St Louis'. A nice big family in the American town of St. Louis living a normal life and getting by with the oldest children in their teenage/ young adult phase trying to get over who they fancy but wont go out with.
Then the dad tells them that they are going to move to New York or somewhere much bigger than where they are now so that he can continue to provide for the family which means that they all have to say goodbye to the people that they fancy but not before they have been to the last dance.

It's one of those films which reminds you of the importance of family. When your date can't get his suit cleaned or your date is unavailable you can always rely on your brother and grandfather to take you to the dance. If you really want to go to the dance and don't care about the appearance or what other people will think because you are just there to have a good time then it doesn't matter who you go with and this film shows you that much.

It is a musical, it does have a hit song 'Meet me in St. Louis' which is rather catchy but I can't remember all the words so I just have the chorus part stuck in my head all the time. A lot of old fashioned musicals only really have one hit song in them but they have a simple plot and some great moments and that is what musicals are about, the dancing, the singing and the story in itself, one part is not more important that the other parts.

Hopefully the last Christmas film 'The shop Around the Corner' will feature in a few days, after the wedding has passed and I have time to do important things like read back over my essays and watch more films.

If you are a lover of musicals then you should be watching this one as well. I have a nice collection of musicals but there aren't as many as I would like and there are always so many better than decent old musicals out there to be found.