Florence Foster Jenkins

You may remember the name of this film as the film that won Meryl Streep an award, causing her to and Donald Trump to have a bit of a verbal battle, which was won more elegantly by Streep.

Since making 'Mama Mia' years ago (almost ten years ago) Meryl Streep has done more with her voice, including have vocal lessons to strengthen and preserve the voice and take on more singing roles. Florence Foster Jenkins is another singing role. In real life Foster Jenkins was acclaimed to be the worst singer (amateur soprano) ever as she often would go flat without realising, completely miss the note she was aiming for and change key and was fairly extravagant in her performances. It is hard not to life when watching this film because the character is so egotistical and the character of St.Claire (Hugh Grant) refuses to let her know that she can't really sing and that people laugh at her. He pays off reporters so that they will write a good report for her to read in the papers.

The talent is not in Hugh Grant (we all knew that) but in Meryl Streeps ability to sound like she can't sing. Underneath we can hear her voice, we can hear that there is quality of a specific nature but she actually can miss the note so badly, can make herself sound so bad that if we didn't know better we would say that she didn't know how to sing. It's the look on her face and the belief that we see in the character that tells us that she isn't trying to be bad, the character genuinely believes that she can sing. As a singer, trying to sound bad is much harder than trying to get better. There is nothing more uncomfortable than trying to hit all the wrong notes and not instantly correct yourself. This character must have been one of the hardest that she has ever had to play.

With the costume and time period adding much to the film, giving it elegance and flair that gives a 'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a day' feel this film is very enjoyable. For fans of 'The Big Bang Theory' Howard is the pianist who has to regularly make adjustments to his playing to accommodate her change of key and other such things. Most of the applause is given for him rather than her singing but she continues to perform, to pay her pianist and keep her name going by having a lot of money and connections. Friends of hers actually liked to listen to her and supported her whilst others bought her record to laugh at it. Have a cocktail and enjoy this film one evening or on a sunny afternoon. With no specific audience in mind you can watch it with anyone.

The BFG (Mark Rylance)

Live action remake of this film because live action is becoming the thing to do. Roald Dahl's classic 'children's' book that can easily scare any child younger than nine or ten years old (including yours truly when she was a child). Like all Disney films, even though there is a part of the film that is a little dark and threatening as a child the songs and fantasy moments help to get you through it. Seeing as this is Spielberg and not Disney it is safe to assume that there will be no fizz pop and wizz banging in this movie!

Mark Rylance claimed the Oscar two years ago for 'Bridge of Spies'- another Spielberg film and then made this film. Being what it was and also being that he had just won critical acclaim there was a lot of build up to this film but when Spielberg is directing something then you can expect the best from his chosen cast and his production team. As much as possible he looks like the original BFG (David Jason) but with some of his own features which helps to make it that little bit more real. In 'Bridge of Spies' Rylance was quite a silent and controlled character but this character is equally as dependent on Sophie as she is on him and he gets to show all the emotions, to do more with his face in one scene than he did in the entire of 'Bridge of Spies'. Every child wants to relate to the BFG because he is a friendly, almost father like figure and when we watch this film we think of our own father or someone who takes on that type of role. He is brilliant. I think that the best fantasy character for children will forever be Robin Williams as 'The Genie' in 'Aladdin' but Mark Rylance as 'The BFG' is close and will probably be the best BFG for the next twenty or thirty years.

This film allowed my mind to travel to another world in a way that I longed for it to do so years ago. I think that this version is actually better suited for adults. Let the original version take your child's mind to as far as it can go when you are that age and let this version take your adult mind to a completely different place, to a place that you are more suited to travel to and understand as an adult and only as an adult. The detail of the giant world makes it a little more real than the other version was and so you lose a little of that fantasy which you need when you are younger. Spielberg has not added anything to make the film any longer than the original, he has just used the extra minutes from the sons wisely.

I loved this film a little more than the original and I didn't feel that the live action took anything away from the film. Ruby Barnhill as Sophie was almost exactly as I remember the animated character and I can't give any higher praise than that to a girl who took a character so close to so many children's hearts and didn't try to change the character, she just became 'Sophie'.

Lassie Come Home

Time to take a break from the recent overload of action based films. Lassie Come Home is one of the first Elizabeth Taylor films ever made, if not the first. At only eleven years old she stars in this film about the dog 'Lassie' and how important the dog is to the family. They made another six films featuring the character Lassie after we witness the remarkable struggles that the dog goes through to return home in Yorkshire after its family were forced to sell Lassie during tough times.
At 1hr 29 mins it flows nicely and is easy to schedule in to your day. The reason for making sure that older films are on the list is because they are all the typical length of one and a half hours, which is the proper length for a film. Two hours is acceptable but anything longer really is pushing it and even though the film industry seem to think that the appropriate length for a movie is at least two hours, they are wrong, we all want to do other things with our day and put off watching films that are too long.

if you consider yourself to be a film nerd (and there is nothing wrong with that) then you need to watch this film. This is when Elizabeth Taylor became earmarked for game and greatness and she was such a successful contributor to the industry. Like. Grace Kelly, a woman to be admired and an important figure in the world of film. If you haven't seen a film with her in then you should watch her first film. (this one) and then pock a familiar title. They are good films, they show the quality that was available and that no amount of technology and effects can makeup for proper acting quality.

As a film for dog lovers or people attempting to understand why dogs are so important, the bond between the boy and the dog is something that many companions of dogs will have and be able to relate to. A film like this is special for the sentimental value and not because the actors were fantastic. I want to rave about Elizabeth Taylor but it wouldn't be fair. In a supporting role she made a name for herself with a decent performance but she wasn't the star of the show and she didn't need to be.

important for film history, pleasantly enjoyable.

Insurgent

Part two of three in the Divergent series. The review for the first film 'Divergent' was less than a month ago so it should be fresh in our memories but in case it isn't I'll just bring you up to speed. Tris (Jailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) attacked Jeanine (Kate Winslet) to prevent her from making all the Dauntless soldiers attack the Abnegation faction. Now they are factionless and wanted for attacking Jeanine. Taking shelter in a few other factions, when they are chased out of Amity by Eric (Jai Courtney) and a lot of other top Dauntless soldiers, they end up in Candice and face a Candice trial. Four is cleared from any guilt but Tris cannot be cleared for her part in the event as she was never under the same implant that Four was.

Caleb, who has no staminer, no spine, no courage or no real use in this film decides that he can't keep up with Tris and Four so he goes back to Eredite and works with Jeanine. His betrayal is just stupid and irritating. Even Peter (Miles Teller) has more of a role to play in this film and is more likeable than Caleb and considering that Miles Teller only ever plays the slightly arrogant character that is saying a lot. Tris eventually hands herself in when it becomes clear that Jeanine has implanted lots of people and is making them kill themselves every day until Tris comes forward. The focus of this film is on a box that Tris' mother was keeping from Jeanine. This box is never mentioned in the first film so it must be something that features in the book. Only a divergent can complete all the levels in the simulation and open the message of the box. Typically, Tris is the only one who can open the box. When she does, the message isn't what Jeanine was after and she intends to kill Tris and Four, bury the bodies and hide the message but she is overthrown by the Factionless, led by Four's mother and the remaining Dauntless. Evelyn (Four's mother) shoots Jeanine and the message is broadcasted. This would have been the ideal place to stop making films.

The star award still goes to Winslet because her character gets a lot more development and she gets to show stronger distress in this film and also a much more cruel-hearted nature that was slightly lacking in the first film. Peter redeems himself a little by making Tris look dead so that she wouldn't unlock the message in the box but Tris insists upon completing the box tasks before escaping with Four and so Peter's effort was wasted. Caleb does nothing to redeem himself and is just an accessory to murder. Chicago should get better after this revolution but they made a third film so it is safe to assume that it doesn't. Eric dies and Jai Courtney continues his stunning role as one of the most hated characters in this series but spares us from having to suffer him and Peter in the final film (probably so that he could focus on Terminator Genisys).

Shailene Woodley is not convincing as Tris at all. Not enough emotion or determination. If the character in the book is pathetic and totally dependent on Four then fine, she is doing a good job but then the character is rubbish and if she isn't then Woodley is just doing a bad job at playing the part. Four does all the work and she just stands there and attempts to look pretty. Having changed so much from the books to ensure that the movie would stand alone they had the license to develop the character of Tris and I can't believe that she is so emotionless and rubbish because of the changes. It is okay to have a woman who can think for themselves, fight and show emotion but she doesn't really show any of those qualities. Whatever she had in the first film she lost. The first film was the best and this was still good but they didn't need to make it, they could have stopped at the end of the first film and they certainly should have stopped after this film. It had a nice ending to it and didn't need to be continued.

Beauty and the Beast

The Disney film was done so well. The reviews were negative and made this film out to be something that it wasn't. This film is better than any review has ever made it out to be. A few extra songs and some more back story is all that has been added so where the rants and reviews came from I have no idea unless they were watching a totally different version of the film that I didn't get to see.

With all the reviews focusing on Emma Watson I want to start off talking about the other Emma. I will review Watson's performance but first I want to talk about Emma Thompson as Mrs. Pot. It was always going to be hard replacing Angela Lansbury because even though the voice of Mrs. Pot was in many ways her voice it still takes a lot to pull it off convincingly and sing with that accent. We knew that Thompson could sing because she sings a little in 'Saving Mr. Banks' but I didn't know that she could sing like that. Underneath the accent was a very good voice that she was trying to conceal a little. With three different versions of Tale as old as time being played in the film I don't really understand why she was trying to conceal how good her voice was but it is the mark of a true singer when they can still sound really good underneath an accent like that. Only when she turned back into a person did I realise who it was, I was clueless until that point and normally I don't have a problem with recognising her in any film.

Ewan McGregor was another one that I didn't recognise. Singing in a French accent was even more impressive than singing in a lower class English accent. I know that he can sing, i've seen Moulin Rouge but I didn't know he could hold that accent whilst singing and furthermore, I had no idea who it was until the credits came up. Alongside Ian McKellen, as the candlestick he was superb. Everything that made the Disney film magical was still there but with better technology and skills and the addition of McKellen, who is superb in everything that he does, the film that so many people fell in love with as a child just became a film that adults can fall in love with as adults. This film is one step more than the Disney.

Emma Watson was obviously Emma Watson but she played the part well and it suited her. Her voice was so surprisingly good that I actually believed that she was lip singing for a while until she sang something that just sounded like her speaking voice. People that felt like there was a feministic twist on this character are mostly wrong. She is learning from her father and she is slightly stronger than the original character but she isn't any stronger than the original character could have been. Her Belle is perfect. The emotion is so much stronger in this film than before and instead of looking pretty and not doing much else she is the complete package. I wouldn't give her an Oscar for it but I will give her the praise that she deserves because she deserves to be making a lot more films and she needs to make good decisions over films and roles because she can act and sing- it's all there for her if she wants it.

Luke Evans... he is starting to make a name for himself and his voice was equally surprising. I would be amazed if he hadn't had some form of vocal training in his past because there was vibrato in his voice but not enough to sound totally operatic. The Girl on the train was released in November and his character had a darker side than the character of 'Bard' but we can't say that we didn't see him taking on an evil role at some point and he was superb. Again, I don't think that he would win an award for his performance but I don't think that it is the right character to earn an award. He is another one who should only go up and make a huge name for himself.

The rants about Lefou being gay- we disagree and as we review gay films on this blog it's not a homophobic disagreement. The character doesn't know who he is, he is in awe of Gaston and doesn't truly believe in himself. He wants to be as good as Gaston but doesn't feel like he ever will be and he is loyal to Gaston. It isn't until the end that he realises who he is and what he wants. If you want to see his character as gay then feel free but I think that it was fairly clear which two men were the gay couple at the end. If the film is trying to embrace equality then they did it and they did it in the best way and that is by not making a huge controversial statement. Yes, they could have had a different ethnicity for any of the main characters but it wasn't like there were only 'white' actors in the cast. Whatever reason you think that you have to not go and see this film you're probably mistaken and will only understand that or receive clarity when you see it for yourself.

Beauty and the Beast is magical. I think that some people were put off by 'The Jungle Book' because this film was labelled as 'live action' but that was only true for the beast and it made it more real and more magical. Seeing the hall come to life, the dresses, hearing the music, it took you to a different place that many films fail to do. For a while you could forget that you were in the cinema and you could actually believe that you were a spectator. For the people with childish imaginations that always wanted to be Belle you could actually see yourself in that golden dress with Emma Thompson singing and you dancing. More than two thumbs way up for this film. I've learn a lot abut the characters and appreciated the magic that was always there.
Watch out for Dan Stevens (the beast) (A walk among the tombstones, the fifth estate) it was hard to judge his performance because of him being a beast but he was still as good as the original beast.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Years ago, possibly on the first blog the first film was reviewed. I honestly have to say that I have no memory of it but I am getting to the point that unless I watch a film regularly or find it funny or memorable then I completely forget it and wont remember it until I watch it again. I was hoping that by watching the second film I would start to remember what had happened in the first film.

Just in case someone has opened up this review without having seen the first film- these films are about zombies. There's a limited amount of room for films with zombies because they all end up being action films in one way or another but think of this series as Aeon Flux meets 28 days later. If you don't know what Aeon Flux is then go and watch it so that you understand the reference. These films made Milla Jovovich and there are six science fiction Resident Evil films (I have seen in this order, 4, 1  and 2) and they are all scheduled for this year so let's try and make these reviews more interesting than die hard or MI reviews.

The Fifth Element is the only film of hers that I have seen so I can safely say that this series made her name and I want to take a look at why that is. When this film hit UK cinemas it was 2004 and there was the likes of Harry Potter, The Bourne Supremacy, Van Helsing, Kill Bill 2, I Robot, Million Dollar Baby, AVP, The Day After Tomorrow, Hellboy, The Butterfly effect, Troy, Saw and The Chronicles of Riddick that all would have been competing for money and the top box office spot that cinematic year so it really is no surprise that this film didn't do as well as the first film did. There were a lot of things that were similar or would attract the same audience. This made her name because even though Ian Glenn features sporadically until the end of the film she really was the character in the movie. Not the main character- she was but the cast was so small in terms of main characters that she was the sole focus for most of the film. Milla Jovovich has an Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider feel to her. She looks great when she is holding the gun and I don't mean her face or body- she looks serious, she looks like she knows what she is doing and you would back her in a gun fight.

Men are often preferred to women in action films as the main character because they are physically of a stronger build and have always been associated with the military or lifting weights and working out because for a woman, to have massive shoulders or a lot of muscle in the same way that men can is not attractive and wouldn't make for an attractive film but then Tomb Raider came along and just changed all of that. Suddenly the world kicked off with finding a woman to take the lead but for some reason, of all the films that they made with leading woman she is the strongest to Jolie. She doesn't say much but she doesn't need to- the character isn't a talkative character- she's intelligent and understands what she needs to do in order to survive. If she were a man she would be Wesley Snipes- this is the female version of Blade.

This film was criticised because of its plot or slight lack of strong plot but she stuck with it, they all have and they have made another four films because of it so I don't think that it can continually be flopping, meaning that this film wasn't enough to put them off making more and they didn't financially need to drop the series after the next film meaning that she isn't rubbish in those films, meaning that I can write a positive review about the next film and hopefully have more characters to focus on.

Clear and Present Danger

The final Jack Ryan film left for me to watch and the third in the series of 5. The correct order for lets say historical accuracy of this film franchise would go (Shadow Recruit, The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears) but that isn't the order in which they were made. The Sum of all Fears and Shadow Recruit were made as reboots to the franchise but with such a huge gap between sum of all fears and shadow recruit being made we can just scrap The Sum of All Fears as a Jack Ryan film. The Trilogy should start with Patriot Games but actually starts with The Hunt for Red October and ends with Clear and Present Danger before Shadow Recruit was made, which is the start of Jack Ryan as a CIA agent.

Harrison Ford reprises his role as Jack Ryan as his last surrender to the inevitable downhill of Jack Ryan and Ben Affleck. Ford as Ryan looks old in this movie and the character has been around for a while now but I still prefer Ford as Ryan to Affleck or Baldwin. With Ford ageing noticeably he takes on a slightly different role as Ryan and with the CIA head (James Earl Jones) dying of Cancer, Ryan takes over as acting head of the CIA. He has enemies and there are people who don't want him to know what is going on so this film isn't so much about the mistakes that he makes but how he takes huge risks to do what he needs to do in order to make things right, all of which could end his career.

Willem Defoe is weirdly enough not the bad guy in this film. If you are looking at the name and it means nothing to you or you don't know why you know it, he was the Green Goblin in the Tobey Maguire Spider-man. It seems like he is going to be the bad guy and he sort of has the face for it but as he wasn't the bad guy in the previous film (Patriot Games) then it could be assumed that he wasn't going to suddenly become so in this film. He is just hired help and his character is probably the most complex because he switches from just being a soldier doing his job to turning against his employers and doing the right thing. He is always loyal but sometimes loyal to the wrong people. Looking young in this film meant that had they chosen to make more films that followed on from this film he could have become an important character. Arguably he is better than Harrison Ford in this film but then Harrison Ford never was the worlds best actor, he was just once young and attractive who looked good in action movies. Defoe doesn't suit that criteria so he actually relies on his abilities which gives him the edge in this film.

Clear and Present Danger is the unexplained end to the franchise and the ending is one of the worst. It doesn't actually end- it was as if they were planning to make another follow on movie and then just never got round to it but seeing as they made two attempts at rebooting this franchise that can't seriously be the case.

Every Jack Ryan film is enjoyable and they have peaked with Kenneth Brannagh directing and staring alongside Chris Pine and Keira Knightley. It's no James Bond or Jack Reacher but it still makes a very good cinema screening.

Back To The Future 2

Most people's least favourite film of the trilogy. Back To the future and the third one are the best. The first film received a positive review from this blog and now we take a look at the second film. The previous film ends with Doc getting out of his car outside of Marty's house and saying 'Marty you have to come with me, your kids are horrible' (or something along those lines) and we know how the second film will start.

Doc takes us to back to the future so that Marty can stop his son from getting imprisoned for falling in with Grip, Biff's grandson. So he's gone back but now Jenifer has been taken with them, except that it isn't the Jenifer from the first film because Crispin Glover did not return for this or the third film and sued Robert Zemeckis over the character being re-casted. So in this film Marty gets to play his son and Grandfather Biff steals the Delorean, goes back in time and makes himself wealthy. Marty gets to go on a hoverboard and continue his downfall weakness of getting upset when someone suggests that he is a coward.

You cannot create the perfect history or future. These films attempt to do so and as proven by this film you just can't manage it successfully. Maybe the reason why people actually forget that this film exists is because there isn't anything as memorable in this film as there are in the first and third films. Everyone remembers the first film because it introduces everything and has Johnny Be Good in it. People remember the third film because it is set in the wild wild wood but this film is the same sort of idea as the first film but just not as good. With Michael J Fox playing every version of himself in this franchise and his father's role reduced to a minimal spot we have to give him credit. At times it was obvious that it was just Michael J Fox but he did play his ancestors and descendants very effectively.

It's a good filler. It's actually a lot better as a second film than The Two Towers in 'The Lord Of The Rings' trilogy and it is a lot better than the third Hobbit film. In many ways, what we witness in this film is just the first film in twenty years or less. Marty goes to the dance again and it is the same diner. The reason why we like the third film so much is because it is a completely different setting. I am still going to say that everyone should watch the entire trilogy but only this film to complete the trilogy.

Divergent

First things first- it is SO good to be back. I was able to watch a new film or two in Austria but not able to write the review until I got back home so expect a few posts to be appearing over the week.

Divergent- my brother-in-law was insistent that we watched something that we hadn't seen before so my sister put this on. There are four books and currently (i think) three films. Similar to 'The Hunger Games' or 'The Maze Runner' this film's budget was actually dependent on the reception of 'The Hunger Games'. The film focuses on Beatrice 'Tris' Prior and Four, who are both divergent and Dauntless. The idea is that at a certain age you take an aptitude test to determine which faction you should join and then you attend the choosing ceremony, join that faction and leave your family behind. This is another film where you are not allowed out of the fence because you wont be protected and the government are trying to take over everyone's minds.

Dauntless are soldiers and Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) are some of the best in the faction but are both divergent. Times are changing and with Peter (Miles Teller) and Eric (Jai Courtney) being total idiots and evil you have a fairly obvious enemy for both of them. Kate Winslet makes a career change by taking on the real bad character.

Once you know that Alex Pettyfer was considered for the role of Four you start to appreciate just how good Theo James is. The character should be attractive but also strong, not just physically but strong willed as well and clever. Alex Pettyfer was never a soldier but Theo James delivers the perfect Four. Shailene Woodley is a new name to me and I spent the entire film thinking of her as a younger Lindsay Lohan from Freaky Friday. She was very good and even though the character was slightly different from the books and her romance with Four was way too obvious from the start she did a good job but I just don't get the feel that from this film or franchise she is going to dominate the screens in the same way that Jenifer Lawrence has done. Having seen Miles Teller in Whiplash, seeing him in this really makes you start to change your opinion of him and start to question everything that you remember of Whiplash. J.K. Simmons was supposed to be unpleasant in that role, he was supposed to push people past their breaking point but Miles Teller was the one who managed to push most of his family away- I no longer sympathise with his characters as much because in this film he is arrogant and quite evil. I look at actors who take on the same type of characters and if they don't have something distinguishable such as a voice that lends itself to evil then generally speaking they aren't acting, they are just being themselves. Miles Teller now needs to take on a completely different role to prove that he isn't just like Tom Felton.

I have reserved this entire paragraph just for Kate Winslet. It's said that she is always a nice character and her character in 'the reader' wasn't evil but also wasn't particularly nice. If we think of the films that she has been in she has always been a lead, beautiful and generally lovely. This is the first real evil character that she has played and instead of trying to be evil outright she just tried to be manipulative. It worked very well because we all know her as the complete opposite- to try and be evil and kill everyone with her bare hands would not convince us because of the character profile we have built up in our minds but to be manipulative, to be a believer but to not hit anyone is quite a skill and she was exceptional. She would have raised eyebrows when the casting was announced but once you have seen it you can agree that there is no better cast for this role.

The film differs a bit from the book and I suspect that they wanted to make it a stand alone film in case it didn't get a good reception but with the changes that they made it does make it a little harder to understand why they have made two other films. There are 4 books but this film changed the ending so the next film will not follow the next book to start with. I am tempted to put the next film on the list as well but i quite like it as a stand alone movie.

Clerks 2

It was years ago that the low budget movie of Clerks came to this blog. Clerks is a movie with one of the lowest budgets I have ever seen and I have to admit that I don't really remember the plot of it so I will have to go back and re-watch it just to familiarise myself with the plot.

Clerks 2 starts  off with the burning down of the shop from the first film. Randall left something on that managed to catch fire and send the entire building up in flames. So it's not the same setting as they all have to move to working in some burger king like place in America. Randall seems to be the same as ever- making general mistakes with people's names and offending people. The part where he kicks the ass of two LOTR fans was genius (even if I am more of a rings fan than a star wars fan).

I don't really remember Dante ever having a fiancee in the first film so If she doesn't feature in that film then this is a cast addition but otherwise it is the same main cast of 5/6 and the same low budget style. I can't help but get the feeling that they spent the budget on the Jackson 5 Dance sequence that takes place towards the end of the movie. What seems like a simple plot is not entirely as simple as it appears but we all like a twist and a positive ending. Ben Affleck's cameo was also nice.

The soundtrack is great and the entire thinking behind it of you don't need a lot of money or a star to make a good movie is entirely fulled by these films but they don't work for everyone. Watch works for Clerks and the sequel is that most of us have worked in a shop at some point and the smaller the shop the less staff there are so you do have conversations of a similar nature in your shop while you are working. It's not completely unrealistic but there are things that Randal says when you just think that whoever was hiring them would have fired them for saying something like that.

I actually felt that this film was better than the first film but I may be the only one who felt that way.

Unfortunately I don't have anything scheduled while I am away so I may surprise you with one post but there wont be frequent posts for the next two weeks.

Smiley's people

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was reviewed last year on the blog. It was of course actually a tv episode feature that was made many years back starring Sir Alec Guinnes and Richard Harris and is the only episode feature to feature on the blog in any year. Smiley's people, for anyone familiar with John Le Carre's books is the third and final instalment in the series against Karla. With the second feature being 'The honourable schoolboys' and not turned into a tv work one can only assume that they have taken any relevant information and placed it somewhere in these episodes so that the audience can continue to follow the plot.

Sir Alec Guiness returns to finish his mission against Karla and most of the previous cast are now long gone out of the circus, retired or dead. There is no real spy to this, no real shooting because it is just another 'non-existent' mission that Smiley has to undertake in order to finish what he started. Karla is starting to leave a trail of evidence carelessly behind him as he goes around and this will end up being his downfall.

You are looking up spending more than 4 hours watching these episodes just to discover who Karla actually is (Patrick Stewart) and what he looks like. You aren't watching it for the action, you are watching it either because you have followed it this far and want to see it concluded or because you are a lover of Alec Guinness. I am both so I enjoyed it greatly.

As always, the character of Smiley doesn't actually give that much away and with Alec Guinness playing a similar character to that of Ben Kenobi from his acclaimed performance in 'Star Wars', the emotionally controlled performance is exactly what the character in the book always has. There is no humour in this series and not really a masterclass performance but just a nice ending to the story that we all wanted. I haven't read this book but I will add that in this novel from the wikipedia quick search I did George Smiley isn't really looking for any friends and isn't making any effort to make any more so there are a lot less characters in this series.

All the struggle, all the dodging of people's company and attempting to show no emotion comes down to hardly being able to face his enemy once his enemy is in custody. There is symbolism at the end of the final episode but I don't really understand it and can't explain it so I wont. For the simplicity of watching a genius at work in an old film and admiring the way that the world of film used to work this is an excellent series to apply four hours of your time to. Never pass off any chance you get to watch Alec Guinness.

I am going to try and watch a few films before going away at the end of the week so as to keep the blog going but otherwise just bare with me because I am taking the first holiday I have had in five years abroad and wont have any internet access to write about anything new I may watch.

Cowboys & Aliens

When Daniel Craig was making two or three movies a year, just after becoming James Bond this was another one of the films that he made. It coincided with Harrison Ford becoming slightly big again so this was more 2008/9 and possibly more 'Quantum of Solace' than 'Casino Royale' time.

Much more of the focus will have been on Harrison Ford as he had made that terrible fourth Indiana Jones movie and it wasn't considered to be a particularly good film. It wasn't spectacular from him but he played it nicely. With him not being the main character there was a lot more freedom from him but he did spend one entire scene just looking worried- did anyone teach him to do something other than look worried or have that Indi smerk??

After more than an hour we welcome the first 'Alien' to the movie. With a weird bracelet until that point being the most alien like feature of the film and immediately after the introduction of the alien the woman being on the verge of death, after one hour the movie gets interesting. Even a top class performance from Daniel Craig doesn't make this a particularly interesting film. For the most part this plot just seems to go round in circles and rarely differentiates from other cowboy films. No one part stood out from the rest of the film and no one character stood out from the others. Daniel Craig had the most screen time so it looked like he was the best actor but he wasn't as good as he has been as James Bond.

Olivia Wilde was probably the best of the bunch and having more of 'Zoe' from 'Firefly' feel to her than of a typical woman in the west. She was strong and emotional but she wasn't the strongest character. That's not her fault and she did the best that she could with the character but her role was really to be the love interest of Daniel Craig, to die and come back to life and to just guide him along in the movie.

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I am and of this film. It's weird, the play is weird, everything about it is weird.

The play is three hours long and seems to be one big game between two characters. They invite this couple that they have only just met over for drinks. This is very late on in the evening and the couple are younger. Manners seem to go out the window and they just creep out this couple in a bad way, in an uncomfortable way. I would hate to be in that situation and would look for a way to escape from that environment.

Elizabeth Taylor (National Velvet, Lassie Come Home) and Richard Burton (1984, Hamlet, Alexander the Great) take on the lead couple but it is not the best performance from Elizabeth Taylor, more of a different performance. The character is weird and as I haven't read the play or seen the play (not that I want to) I can't say that she isn't doing a good job of portraying the character but there have been more convincing performances from Elizabeth Taylor or at least character better suited to her that allow her to shine a little more.

Even though the movie was made only 8 years after 'Cat on a hot tin roof' Elizabeth Taylor looks a lot older and they obviously chose to shoot this film in black and white. I don't know if she put on weight for this film or they just upped the makeup and effects for this film because I would have sworn that there was something like twenty years in between those two films. Both actors looked a lot older than they actually were for those films. Knowing that Imelda Staunton is playing this role gives an idea of the age range of the character and I am surprised that these actors pulled off the age of these characters so that is an extra thumbs up for them.

The film manages to cut off almost an hour from the stage production so thanks for that because most of this film is a lot of shouting, screaming wildly or generally being a little crazy and three hours is far too much to endure if that is all that it is going to be. With hardly anything in the setting- just the interior of the house and the exterior of the house there is nothing to contribute to the scenery or set expenses so it is safe to assume that the movie was low budget because they spent the budget on their stars. Having watched the film I am not particularly inspired to go and see the stage production. Maybe the play is just like that, just that weird with the only memorable moments coming from them jumping around the house singing 'Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?' and it's not a bad adaptation of the play but either way it isn't selling the play very well.

Fist of Fury

There aren't many martial arts film on the blog this year and it is very difficult to space them out preferably so I apologise for that because it is likely to be months until the next martial arts film features unless I manage to acquire a few more.

Fist of Fury is a Bruce Lee film- not Bruce Li. This is the Bruce Lee who died at the age of 32 and was a Hong-Kong and American martial artist. He is not the father of Jet Li and is not Bruce Li who became an impersonator of Bruce Lee after his death. Enter the Dragon is another Bruce Lee film which hopefully will feature on this blog later on in the year.

Fist of Fury is a little confusing at the start. The version I have is already dubbed in English and yet my media player attempted to sub it as well which made no sense because the subtitles weren't even close to what was being said. If you don't understand the language then learn a few word to try and pick up as the film goes on and appreciate the work of the film without the terrible subtitles that are hardly ever accurate or the irritating American voice overs (no offence meant to any Americans reading this- i'm sure you find British voice overs just as irritating). This film is similar to Ip Man. Japanese and Chinese martial arts schools end up fighting against each other to prove which one is better, or rather, the Japanese school has the teacher of the Chinese school poisoned and then the entire Japanese school looses a fight to Bruce Lee.

No one type of martial art is better that the other. Some people are better suited to one thing than the other and sometimes a school just has a better fighter than the opposing schools but that doesn't actually mean that the martial art is better than another and yet the have made at least four martial arts films based on this theory- which was probably a huge cultural argument. This film is rather more dated than Ip Man and so there is less actual action in it, the fight scenes look a little slower or less impressive but that is technology and evolution for you. Bruce Lee cemented his place in history with his impressive skills, no question about that at all so let's not waste too much time talking about those fights scenes in this film.

In Fist of Fury he is known as the 'boxer' and when you watch him fight you can see why. He doesn't box but his style of fighting certainly isn't what we have typically come to associate with Wing Chun. Lee learnt under Yip Man and because of the films Ip Man and watching Donnie Yen perform different moves to Bruce Lee it is interesting to know if Bruce Lee adapted Wing Chun or if he just stuck to what he was taught and Wing Chun has advanced since he was learning and fighting. From reading up about him I can see that in school he was mentored a little by a boxer so that would explain why his style looks different from typical Wing Chun.

What I don't understand about this film is why he is so much better than everyone else in the film. Even in his school, he is not head of his school and yet he is the only one who can defeat those that fight against him. It's a combination of arrogance from his character but also supreme strength and skill that surely must be found in at least one other student in the school. Yes, everyone has a theory about there always being a 'chosen one' and Lee's character in this film was probably the 'chosen one' but even so, from the start he skill is far greater than anyone else's.

Watching Lee fight in this film is watching a work of art. His style is so different that you will only find it in Bruce Lee films.

The Pink Panther Strikes Again.

Last year I watched two of them and this year I will watch the other three films. Understanding the plot of the first film properly helps to understand how they can make so many films which are still funny. Peter Sellers is Clouseau and no one else will ever be because no one else will be as funny as him in this role. It's scripted, natural humour and it shows the genius of a good scriptwriter.

This one is about the attempted revenge of the former chief inspector who in the previous film was committed to an asylum for the insane. After years of treatment and having to brutally attack a figure of Clouseau he is about to be released from the asylum when Clouseau turns up to say some good words on his behalf, which ends up with Clouseau knocking the man into the water at least two if not three times. He attempts to kill Clouseau and is denied release so he escapes and plots his destruction of Clouseau.

Some typically bad police work from Clouseau shows the entire of England that he is an awful policeman as well as France. However, it is hilarious and good to see some genuinely funny moments and script writing. Some times you can see what is going to happen before it does and you star laughing before the event has even taken place but for other moments, because it is so stupid you know that something is going to happen but you can't guess what is going to happen because there are too many possibilities.

With Herbert Lom as the crazy evil Dracula like villain playing the organ in a castle and the focus just around these two characters from the start until the end there is nothing more enjoyable. The plan was thought out except that they can never predict exactly what he will do because he will always do the unexpected, even if it is incredibly stupid. He is not overly crazy or evil, the character has a really nice balance of evil schemes and pleasantness.

Burt Kwouk reprising his role as 'Cato', the butler like sparing partner of Clouseau who hides in bizarre places like on top of the bed, waiting for Clouseau to come back, settle down and be off his guard. Consequently the bed breaks and everything in the appartment gets smashed as they turn to Kendo sticks and other weapons. It's hilarious and 'Cato' is probably the best character in the series. Every time I finish one of these films I have to fight to stop myself from just loading up the next film. No remake of these films will ever be as good as the original.

The Expendables 3

So by this point we've worked out exactly what to expect from these films. The third film doesn't quite have the same stellar name cast that hit the first film so spectacularly because by this point half the team are dead.

With Schwarzenegger taking on his normal cameo roles where he sort of just features in a few scenes and the same being said for Harrison Ford there was a need to take on a few other new members to make the team the same size that they were originally. Antonio Banderas spent at least half of the film trying to get Barney (Stallone) to accept his non-stop talking character who can free run and shoot a lot as part of his team and he had his uses but if it were my team I would not be taking on someone who talked that much! We've seen already from that terrible film X-men Origins: Wolverine that perfect soldiers are ones who don't talk all the time.

Wesley Snipes was also a new addition to the team with him taking a break from starring in the 'Blade films'. The reprise of only wearing black was nice to see. Take the Batman approach and just stick to one colour. Glen Powell is making his second feature on the blog within the space of a week and that has to say a lot because I haven't actually seen many of his films. A different role to his character in 'Hidden Figures' and good to see him doing something a little different. He can pull off action films but equally can pull of being in most other films.

Unfortunately, what this film highlights is the serious lack of ability to act by Stallone. There is more than one scene which seriously focuses on him in a close up and he just has no facial expressions. Action films are definitely his thing but that doesn't mean that he can act. In order to stop these rants I am going to start selectively not watching films which star him in because I can't bear watching more films in which he just does the exact same thing. He has two ways of delivering a line- aggressively or slightly less aggressively and it is really puzzling to try and understand why he has been in so many films when his acting is fairly one dimensional.

You know what you get with these films. Some great action scenes, lots of shooting and some brilliant music. When you are having a classic action movie night these films have to make the list because they are exactly what the genre should be.

Hidden Figures

I'm not sure how these films were selected for release but they certainly made sure that there was a nice selection of diversity for the Oscars this year so that we didn't have a repeat of the 'whiteoscars' that we had last year.

Hidden Figures, like Fences, deals with this idea of Racism but instead of accepting that your world is different from the 'white people' this film challenges that view and instead says 'if you're good enough we'll change things'. This time we are thinking of highly intelligent women working in NASA, all be it in a completely different part of the NASA complex who are hardly considered to be worth anything until they need someone really good with numbers and a woman who is great as an un qualified mechanic. Three women win their battles. One woman, Katherine Johnson becomes the woman whose maths are needed before a man can take off for space. She corrected the maths of the entire mechanic team, changed their thinking and found out the formulas to make the mission to orbit the earth possible. She goes on to be part of the team responsible for sending a man to moon and her name is no longer missed off of reports that contain entirely her work.

The two other woman go on to take control of their own destiny as well. One becomes the only 'coloured' woman to go to a 'white only' night class to complete mechanic training to become a qualified NASA mechanic. She wins her court case to enable her the right to go to them and then she goes on to make history. The other woman goes on to be the supervisor of thirty other 'coloured' women operating a system that was going to replace them all. She was denied the role of supervisor even though she was already doing that job without being given the pay or the title. She's one step ahead of them and learns how to operate the machines so that when the IBM screws up she can sort it all out. She single-handedly secures the jobs of thirty people.

Kevin Costner in his role removes segregation and treats Katherine with respect. He is the standout character- his is the strongest character. The stories of these women's lives are so important because I know nothing about NASA and learning that actually her research was so important is fantastic. Watching 'Sheldon Cooper' be a similar character and watching him get his ass kicked by those women is fantastic, better than fantastic because Jim Parsons is so 'Sheldon', which means that he is probably just being himself that watching his arrogance take a serious kick is just really enjoyable.

Hidden figures is powerful and everyone should take the time to watch this film.

The Green Mile

Tom Hanks is a rare feature on this blog because I am not the biggest fan of his but this film has been recommended to me by numerous people.

The Green Mile has a very Shawshank Redemption feel to it. The Shawshank Redemption featured on the first year of the blog and hopefully that was long enough for me to be able to make the odd comparison here and there and get away with it.

It's a three hour long film which was slightly unusual for that time and at times felt a little bit lethargic. With the same sort of feel as 'The Silence of the Lambs' because most of the scenes are done in prison it is easy to find it a little boring. I haven't read the Stephen King book that this was adapted from so I don't know how accurate this film is but I would love for anyone who has read the book to comment and let me know if it is anything like the film or vice-versa.

The wardens (or whatever they really are) were probably the best pick of the cast. They had all the laughs and some of the best lines. They were easily the best characters in terms of development and expression. Although the focus was really on 'John' and his weird powers his character was a solom (spelling) one and when that was added to the giant of a man that he was the character was intimidating but not crazy or anything like that, just intimidating. Watching him bring the mouse back to life was lovely. They captured the emotion of the other guards with the serious nature of it all.

The villain was deserving of everything that came his way. Yes, there were some moments when he was made to look like an idiot by the crazy guy in the cell but that doesn't excuse his behaviour and he deserved to look like a fool. The other guys were the ones who showed control, restraint, humour- everything needed to make a complete character and they controlled the prison- this guy didn't control anything or have anything that was needed to make him a complete character.

Good film but i've now seen it so I don't need to see it again.

Lion

Dev Patel picked up the BAFTA for supporting actor but did not manage to take the Oscar as well. His Australian accent is very impressive and Lion deals with this idea of adoption and feeling lost. Based on a true story, it comes with a happy ending which makes for good watching.

The real star of this film is Sunny Pawar. Perhaps a little too young to be picking up the Academy awards for best actor, the picture posted by Samuel L Jackson of him with Sunny stating 'the real winner for best leading actor' is more than accurate. I haven't seen 'Manchester By The Sea' and I am told that it is really good, it's just not my sort of film, there are parts of it from reading the synopsis that I wouldn't like to watch. I'm not stating that Casey Afflect doesn't deserve his awards because he probably does but this kid has such a bright future! They sold this film on the names of Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and David Wenham because no one knew who this boy was but they really should have been selling it on the name of Sunny Pawar. He could not have a better introduction to a career in film than what he has just given on that screen. Everyone that has seen 'Lion' takes their hat off to him and looks forward to seeing him in a lot more films.

Lion is emotional and Dev Patel doesn't even make his screen entrance until halfway through. Sunny Pawar is the lead until he is adopted by an Australian couple. As stated at the start this film is based on a true story- the character of the film did lose his family in India one night, ended up on a train to Calcutta, ran away from a woman attempting to pass him off to bad people and eventually get adopted by an Australian couple, who in this film are played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham. Those two characters are special because they try their hardest to be the best parents possible and only towards the end of the film do they explain that they can have children but chose to give a better life to children with a tough past than to bring another child in to the world and only be able to give them an okay life. That is an important message because we assume that couples who adopt do so because they are unable to have their own children but that isn't always the case.

Nicole Kidman was stunning, both her and David Wenham were fantastic but Kidman's character had more screen time and her emotionally display was perfect. I don't know the exact events of this true story but Dev Patel was convincing with his accent and even more so of being a adult who has a really decent life until he moves to Melbourne to complete a course and meets a few other Indians. The memories of his time in India makes him spend a lot of time on Google Earth trying to find his home town and find a way back to his mother. It is a painful trip and his relationship starts to dissolve because of it but it is important to him and even though he pushes everyone away they all stand by him so that when he does find his family again and his mum accepts that he has a life and a family in Australia he still has something to return to.

Rooney Mara makes another appearance on the blog (and I didn't even know who she was until I watched Carol) in another supporting role. Only because I had seen the name did I know in the back of my mind that it was her. I didn't recognise her in this role and I think that she played the best kind of girlfriend anyone could want. Hurt by the separation but not giving up on him and never stopped caring. We all make mistakes and have difficult moments in life but we need someone to not run away from us or let us push them away and she was that character. She was fantastic and hopefully she will be another one who makes headlines very soon if she chooses the right films.

The message at the end of the emotional train ride we all take while watching this film is that 80,000 children go missing in India every year and that this film is working in partnership with organisations to reduce that amount. In every country people go missing and there are organisations all over the world trying to reduce the number of disappearances to zero.

There was no way that this film would win 'best film' or expect to pick up many awards because of the nature of the film but Dev Patel would have been worthy of the supporting award and had Pawar been a lot older he could have picked up an award for his performance as well. 

La la land

It was nominated for just about everything and even though it didn't win everything that it was nominated for it still did really well in the BAFTA's.

Yes, it is the first proper musical that has been made for a while but there was a lack of music in it. Something like four songs in the entire film and I was expecting something with about ten songs in it to make it a real musical. Even Hairspray has more songs than La la land has in it. The music is catchy and the opening song sets the feel for a typical musical- dancing all around a standstill motorway in bright colours that can't pass for a random costume selection. You do find yourself starting to dance a lot with that song and there are great singers in the first number but my sceptical brain was questioning the reality of it. There's no way in any musical that when you are dancing down the middle of the street everyone will join in with you but I have been known to dance down the street- I have yet to know of someone who has decided to get out of their car on the motorway and get everyone else to dance with them. It's a great concept but make it a little more real.

Emma Stone rightly picked up the 'best female actor' award at the BAFTA's and she was deserving of it. The character was complex and being able to portray it in the way that she did was fantastic. The character in every way was balanced and that I liked about it. I saw 'La la land' on the same day that I saw 'Fences' and the emotional outburst from Viola Davis meant that I got to see everything from an acting point of view. Emma Stone was a controlled emotional outburst and Viola Davis wasn't. Her voice has potential, a lot of potential but it isn't strong enough, she needs to spend some time with a vocal coach before her next singing role because she has a great voice that needs some strength to it.

Ryan Gosling- where to start. I just am not convinced by him in anyway. Action or Romantic roles, he just is not convincing. Having said all that, he can sing- has a great voice (albeit rather limited in range) that was strong and worked really well for the songs and the three months that they spent in choreography rehearsals really paid off as they had a range of dancing that made everything look really good. Piano lessons for three months also paid off because it is always his hands on the keys that you see and he can actually play the piano but when you hear all the songs being played with other instruments it isn't him playing- what you see is him playing but what you hear is someone else unless it is a slow song. Jazz is really difficult to play at speed. It's probably the hardest form of music to just play because of all the accidentals involved and the rhythm. Slow jazz is okay once you get your head around it but to just pull it out like his character does requires some serious work that three months doesn't quite cover but we applaud the effort from everyone and the decision to go with his hands and not someone else's.

Watching a character who thought so much of himself playing the keytar and keyboard for the songs 'Take on Me' and 'I Ran' was comical, especially when he follows it up with his comment to her about asking serious musicians to play songs like that. Personally I really like those songs and I also like Jazz, they are different skills and different styles but it doesn't mean that someone playing those songs isn't as good as someone playing jazz it's just that jazz predominately features a piano in most work and rock music is selective over when they use it with Bon Jovi being one of the few bands that automatically spring to mind as having a keys player. Don't knock the music and don't think that you are above what anyone else wants you to play. I guess what I am trying to say is that the character of 'Seb' is weak. At times the character was brilliant and strong but at times he just didn't know what to do or who to be and it didn't say much for him at all.

John Legend's slight cameo as 'Keith' was really nice. I don't know if he can actually play the guitar but listening to him sing was relaxing and I am all for current charts musicians taking on roles in musicals so as to show that they can do other things.

Some of the scenes were a little unreal. The walking in the air springs to mind as something that was just ridiculous. We all love some fantasy moments with good music but make it real. If it's just a dream then do whatever you want but it was never supposed to be a dream and that bothered me a little. Look at old movies- when they dance on ice it is because they were already ice skating. If you are going to walk in the air then at least make out like you are playing with wires somewhere where you would expect wires.

Okay, the worst part and most confusing part was the end of the film. Until this point I thought that it was a really good film with a few flaws but actually doing really well. They do the epilogue thing of 'five years later' which kinda didn't go as expected but once you get to that point you know that it wont end the way that you want it to but when they go back and show an alternate ending you are a little confused by the entire thing. Which way did it actually end? I know that showing both endings meant that they both got what they wanted but it wasn't half confusing! I wouldn't say that it was a happy ending but when there clearly is no proposal for a sequel wrap the ending up nicely one way or the other but don't leave everyone feeling really confused by it.

We expect to see more from Emma Stone, a lot more and have high hopes for her future. Ryan Gosling will still be considered attractive by some and be cast in similar films as he is considered the 'hottest' thing in film at the moment but that will pass unless he starts stepping up his game a little but he can sing, dance and play the piano so he has all the tools to make something really good of his future. Maybe he can be like Keira Knightley who learnt how to be good in films with age.