Tomb Raider

Lara Croft is back in the form of Alicia Vikander. I am and have always been a huge fan of hers and I was really excited for this movie. Tomb Raider needs a reboot and this movie has done it so well.

When Angelina Jolie made these movies I loved them and I think that most people did but we were always a little curious as to why, in the first movie, an American was playing a Brit while a Brit was playing and American. Maybe they haven't quite got round to casting a Brit in this role but at least we didn't have the same problem this time around.

There have been many questions going through my head since those movies were made. How did she maintain her money when she seemed to not really do any work? Why are the games SO different from the two movies that were made? I guess the idea is that they took a concept and made it work but as the games got more popular and started to develop back stories and more of a plot we as an audience started demanding more from our movies and so they decided to reboot the movies and draw on the games a little more.

This movie is like a prequel to the Jolie movies. This film explains what happens when her father goes missing and how she continues to live. Then she finds her father and has a bit of an adventure with him and manages to be like a female 'Indiana Jones' as well which means that we got a feeling of watching two movies at the same time! When this movie ends we know what she is going to do with her time, what happened to her father and what to expect from the next movie. The use of a bow and arrow reflects on the game character and also explains to us that being rich didn't mean that she grew up running around with guns. She only transfers to guns at the end and always prefers the bow and arrow. Everything about this setting has more reflection on some of the games and whatever people thought of the film wont seriously hinder the development of these movies because the games are so successful.

I really enjoyed this movie. I enjoyed the £2.50 I spent on it, the company of Bekah and the overall feel of the movie. I enjoyed Dominic West as her father and spent most of the movie staring at him asking myself where I knew him from (The Affair). Kristen Scott-Thomas was superb and her character is going to be one to watch with slight enjoyment. The same can be said for Derek Jacobi because I have many suspicions about his character role and I am waiting for the next movie to confirm or deny my suspicions.

Next up is Close Encounters of the Third Kind and then Ready Player One.

I, Tonya

This movie is half a documentary and half a movie. This makes it a good thing because if it were entirely a documentary I would not have watched it.

Margot Robbie stars as Tonya Harding who, if any of you remember was a figure skater, a very good one but one who never got the scores that she deserved. Tonya Harding was the first woman to land a triple in a competition and that should have earned her great fame but it didn't because she was disliked by the American judges and there was a lot of controversy over her landing a place at the Olympics.

I didn't know the story because I don't even remember Torvile and Dean winning their gold medals at that Olympics so I have no chance of knowing anything about this woman. She was correct, she didn't get the scores that she deserved because her skating was fantastic and her presentation was also exceptionally good. She just came from a family where her mother was crazy and just insulted her, told her that she was no good and threw knives at her. Her father left when she was a child and her mother had to raise her whilst working, which is always difficult.

To work out the actual events of this story is fairly hard because what they say in the documentary and what they say in the acted parts of the movie are totally different and contradict each other; meaning that you came out of the movie still a little confused as to what was the actual truth and what was made up. In the end, her husband was an idiot who tried to scare off other competitors with a well thought out plan and let it be executed by a total idiot. Tonya knew about it, didn't stop the plot to send death threats but didn't actually get involved in any of it and she was given a lifetime ban from skating which was stupid and unfair because the others received minor prison sentences for their part in the attack on another world class skater and yet she had her life ruined for not actually being involved in anything.


For me that was the worst part, the unfair system and a life that was ruined by an idiot. In the movie he is made out to abuse her and his friend was a total idiot. She was a victim her entire life and got treated like rubbish for it.

The soundtrack was fantastic. Fleetwood Mac and some other old school rock songs just summed up why she wasn't liked. It should have been okay to be different and the country should have been embracing it but they weren't and they didn't. She worked hard to get to her level and she deserved more than what she got. I learnt from this movie but I can fully see why it wasn't really pushing for any awards. I felt like Alison Janey was playing a similar character to one that I have become accustomed to seeing her take on and for me that was why I wasn't convinced that she was the outright winner of the award for best female actor in a supporting role. The movie is good enough but not a movie that I will add to my collection.

Black Panther

The most hyped marvel movie for a long time. I heard both positive and negative opinions about this movie.
The introduction of Black Panther in Avengers was much better than the introduction of Wonder woman in Batman vs Superman or Spiderman in Avengers. This is a superhero who only cares to protect his people. He doesn't use his powers to fight every evil that comes his way but only the ones that threaten his life and his world which in some ways could make him a little self centred but most superheroes are underneath it all.

Black Panther is a family affair. It takes you through a brief history and then moves to the current affairs of Wakanda. It is full of action, conflict, technology, compassion and morals. None of the stunts looked unreal and they resisted the temptation to go overboard with the technology or the sequencing which made it feel more real.


In this movie there is an obvious villain who at times is a little unnecessary but is probably one of the most controlled villains portrayed in a movie for a long time. What I liked the  most about him was that you could understand why he was doing what he was doing but you could also see that it was wrong and was not going to do any good. This is more than a battle of good and evil and that makes it a lot easier to watch.

This was better than Spiderman and Wonder woman. This is better than any superhero movie that has ever been  made. Black Panther is incredible and if they can continue to make exceptional stand alone movies then Black Panther will have the longest screen time of any hero in the cinematic universe. There is so much potential for crossovers within the cinematic universe as long as they do them properly. So many people got a chance to shine in this movie with stars like Forest Whitaker and Martin Freeman leading the line there was space for new stars and for old names like Andy Serkis to take on a different role.

I saw this movie with my brother and he was happy with the movie. He said that it followed the story of the comics and that it was true to itself. This movie was about putting Wakanda on the map and giving us a taste of what could be done and now it is time for the creators and cast to rise up, make more of these movies to this high standard and go also take the time to make a few different movies and show us what they can really do. Daniel Kuwayla has already done a few things such as 'Black Mirror' and 'Get Out'. This movie will help further his career but he needs to build on it and expand the platform that he has created for himself.

Everyone involved in this movie should be proud of themselves.

Finding your feet.

Finding your feet is a movie that you probably watch with your parents. I certainly did. On a freezing, icy cold day I took my mother to see it and we both really enjoyed it. When it comes to movies you shouldn't disregard any because of the target audience. This movie had a fantastic cast. If you liked 'Bridget Jones's Diary' then you like Celia Imrie and if you liked Harry Potter 5 then you know who Imelda Staunton is. I loved her so much in the West end production of 'Gypsy' that I now just watch any movie that she is in.

Finding your feet is about dealing with divorce. It's about learning how to live again  after your life has fallen apart. You don't need money or a title to have a good time and see the world, or even to do things that you enjoy and this film shows it in so many different ways.

There were a lot of laughs in this movie and a lot of fantastic and hilarious moments but there was also a plot, a story that was told and it done in the right amount of time as well. Finding your feet has taken the problems that we are more likely to face as we get older and shown us to go back to our roots and what we are good at. To not be afraid of what others might think and to live our life because we only have one and the do need to make sure that we use the time that is given to us.

In this movie I witnessed a different Imelda Staunton to the one that I most recently saw. I even enjoyed Timothy Spall,whom cannot change the way that he looks so often finds it hard to blend in. Even though it will not be taking home any awards, it was probably as much fun to make as it was to watch and it is certainly a movie to watch when things aren't going your way.

The Post

This seems to be something of a remake of the movie 'All The President's Men' but I haven't seen it so I will take the word of others.

Meryl Streep stared in this movie alongside Tom Hanks. I honestly am starting to grow a little bit of admiration for Tom Hanks but I still wont list him as a great actor because it is only his more recent movies that I have actually enjoyed. I struggle now to know when he is acting and when he isn't but that doesn't bother me so much anymore. There comes a time in your career when you been in so many movies that you cannot take on another role properly anymore. It happened with Johnny Depp; the last role that he successfully created was John Dillinger in the movie 'Public Enemies'. No disrespect to Depp but now almost every role that he plays turns in to Jack Sparrow. Before Jack Sparrow and whilst those movies were picking up he could make other movies and change characters successfully but now he can't and he has to start to accept that he can't because his movies are proving that and this is the same for Tom Hanks. I liked his role in this movie and I liked him a lot in it but I do see Tom Hanks, rather than a character in these movies.

Rant aside, this movie is about the newspaper leaks concerning the information on the Vietnam War. It was scandalous and the newspaper in question actually leaked more than other newspapers and like the other newspapers, they went to court and eventually won. The point of this movie is to focus on the character of Streep. She owns the newspaper and she inherited it from her father. Throughout the movie she is portrayed as a weak and indecisive character who is selling the company and not sure what she should do. Should she publish these reports and risk being taken to court, which will in turn greatly impact the value of her company in the stock market? Should she sell the company at all? Should she fight with Bob over this? She never seems to make a decision, always sticking to what the lawyer advises until at the last moment she has the courage to ignore everyone else and make her own decision which leads to all the other papers publishing some of the leaks and a revolution for the freedom of the press.

Again, this is another slice of history that I was never really taught about so it was another educational visit to the cinema for me and one that I enjoyed. There was no real drama so it didn't make me emotional which in turn then didn't impact my decisions emotionally. I liked everyone in this movie, I enjoyed this movie and I learned a lot from it. I would like to encourage anyone who like me, was never taught anything about the Vietnam War to watch this movie.

Darkest Hour

This has become more of a hobby and less of a weekly/daily activity that drives my life. I still spend time in the cinema but I am no longer actively watching older movies that I may have missed along the way.

Darkest Hour is a film about Churchill and as I know nothing about Churchill because I studied WW2 I knew that I had to watch this film. Gary Oldman won the BAFTA and OSCAR for this movie and he thoroughly deserved it. The makeup department won a BAFTA and their work was so incredible that when you were watching the movie you couldn't tell from the face or voice who it was which made it so easy to just sit back and enjoy the movie. I didn't have to try and assess an actors performance because I knew in the back of my head who it was but it wasn't glaring at me.

The contents of this film picks on Churchill taking over, the evacuation of Dunkirk and eventually winning over the people with one of the greatest speeches in time. He was phenomenal and I learned so much from this movie. These types of movies are some of the best types of movies because I can get emotional and know that it actually happened. For some people watching this movie it's like they were reliving history. What they were watching on screen actually happened in their life time and it wasn't just a movie to them but they came out of the cinema screen talking about what a fantastic film it was, how accurate it was and how similar to Churchill Oldman's portrayal was.

Another massive shout out to Kristen Scott- Thomas as Mrs. Churchill. He was a difficult character and that made her life difficult as well but she knew that and she married him anyway. She struggled to live with the pressure that was on his shoulders and equally on hers but in this movie she was so strong and determined. Having seen I, Tonya I still feel that Scott- Thomas was better than Alison Janney. My disappointment is that she didn't win any awards for her performance in this movie because she truly did deserve them and even though there were a lot of good movies last year and there have already been a lot of good movies this year she has been the strongest supporting lady in a movie that I have seen (I haven't seen 'The Shape of Water').

Churchill is a phenomenal movie and if you haven't seen it then you should make sure that you do.

Pitch Perfect 3

The final instalment in this series and after the second movie we were all thankful that they were going to end it. The first movie was so good and it ended in a way that almost left it perfectly for another movie to guide them through the next year but when the second movie didn't pick up from the end of the first movie we all knew that there were going to be problems. There were huge problems so it pleases me to say that this movie is ten times better than the second one!

The song choice is better, the plot is better, everything is better. There is still the comedy but they go back to where they are and this movie is just about each of them working out who they want to be and where they want to go. There is a lot more focus on 'Fat Amy' (Rebel Wilson) which is nice because she really was fighting with 'Becca' (Anna Kendrick) for the spotlight. They worked hard on this movie and the compilation of songs is brilliant. It kinda went a way that I wasn't expecting but the film felt finished and we enjoyed it a lot more than the previous movie.

It is fitting that they managed to get in 'Zombie' by 'The Cranberries' because for those of you who aren't rock fans, you probably wont know that the singer died a few weeks ago. I enjoyed their version of it and I was very impressed and excited by it. DJ Khaled was himself because he was supposed to be himself. I didn't really know who he was until watching this movie and even though I hate that he ripped off 'Maria Maria' which features Carlos Santana on the guitar I can learn his other music and I quite like that he is a DJ and a producer rather than attempting to sing or rap. Anyone that can make Justin Bieber sound slightly bearable deserves a lot of credit. It's all about your taste in music but he was solid in this movie and that can only help to promote his music.

The one thing that I did like a lot was the British love interest for Becca. The character of 'Theo' was actually very good and he did everything that he needed to do in order to bring Becca to a new level. The Jesse love interest is over and done with and there wasn't anywhere else they could go with it so giving her a new life and a new interest has actually worked out very well for this movie.

There is class to this movie. If you enjoyed the first movie then you should enjoy this movie.

The Greatest Showman

So much better than La La Land. Probably the best musical that has been released in the last five years. Every single song in this movie is really good.

The Greatest Showman is about the Barnem circus. Some characters are fictional, such as the character of Zac Effron but others, such as the Character of P.T Barnem are actually real and based on the man who ran the circus. This film is about the appreciation of everyone. Everyone is equal and should be appreciated for who they are. I don't like circus' and I wouldn't say that putting someone who is different in a circus is really appreciating them in todays world but at that time it was the only way to give them a career and I have no problem with that at all.

We all know that Hugh Jackman can sing because if we didn't already know it before Les Miserables then we discovered it from that movie. The good news is that this part was better for him and his solos didn't just focus on his face. We all kind of new that Zac Effron could sing but it has been a long time since his terrible 'High School Musical' days where he didn't even necessarily sing and played on his looks. He was surprisingly good in this movie and the character that he played still had the same feel of 'popular' that he normally takes on and 'dating below class' which is also another characteristic of his characters but this character was different because he did end up taking on the circus and funding it and ditching his money and status to do something good with his life. The love interest was fictional but that was okay.

All the voices were great, except for Michelle Williams because she didn't actually sing which is a HUGE letdown. If you can't sing then don't take on a role in a musical that has to sing! I hate someone else taking the credit for another persons' work and this irritates me especially because I do not know who sang her part. While I am busy complaining about it I might as well mention that her opera singer character does not actually sing any opera in this movie. The song that she sings is good and she acts it like it is opera but it isn't and that is a huge let down. Loads or rich people dressed in evening where going to see Adele? I doubt it. What the character of Jenny Lind actually sung was a pop style song, hence my reference to Adele.

The music is fantastic. The choreography is fantastic and the design of the film has that 'wow' feel to it which is why the movie should win more awards than La La Land but there is still room for improvement in the musical front. The music is going in the write direction and having decent stability to every song is a huge improvement from that dreadful musical released last year but there is still work to be done on the plot and the way in which they film the songs.

I was very happy with this movie. We enjoyed it a lot. Much better than Star Wars.

Star Wars: The last Jedi

This is much better than ' The force awakens. Miriam and I could not have made a better version of this movie in our non existent garden. I have to get the disappointments out of the way first so that I can focus on the good bits.

Mark Hamil was disappointing. Luke was rubbish in this film but then again so is Kylo-ren so there is nothing to live up to. Luke does very little and Ray is pathetic  which means that half of the film was a waste of time.

Next criticism is that there was not enough action in this movie and too much complexity. Too much of this movie was split across worlds and it just didn't help me to enjoy the movie at all. I will say it now, it wasn't a bad movie but it wasn't a good one either.

Snoke I just don't understand at all. I don't understand where he came from, why be can use the force or who he is and most of all his death was a huge disappointment and very pathetic. He is no emperor and Ren is no Vader so there was no way that this movie could live up to any of the original trilogy.

Carrie Fischer was actually good. Her character had more to it than the normal  arrogant and stuck up Princess Lea that we have come to know. She should compassion and understood a lot more about herself and was not totally reliant upon the Jedi. She was probably the pick of them in second place and there wasn't much competition for it. Po is probably the only competitor for second place and first place was obviously taken by BB8. Finn didn't have enough involvement in this movie to be competing and everyone else was rubbish.

Domhall Gleeson was strong in his role but he isn't general Tarkoon and as impressive as he is, he won't quite get there but he was the best evil character that there was. The only issue I have is this entire 'Tracking thorough light speed thing. If you can do that then light speed is worthless and does not need to feature in any more movies and it just seemed like a pathetic excuse to have another attempt to go to the enemy and take down the death star or whatever the evil thing is this time. For me it just didn't really fit with Star Wars and seemed to be a filler for a serious lack of ideas.

Of all the bad and rubbish that has come out of this reboot, BB8 is fantastic and should take his place in history next to R2D2. I will remember this character as the best thing about the reboot and only hope that this was the end because Ray is rubbish and hasn't learned to be a Jedi at all.

Happy New Year everyone.

High Rise

This is a British film about a man who has worked his way to the top of his life and wants to be left alone but isn't. This British young man is played by Tom Hiddlestone and this movie was made before he made his name playing the character 'Loki' but it was always going to be difficult to watch this film after seeing him as 'Loki'.

Hiddlestone is Hiddlestone in this film. He is remotely attractive, physically fit, young and he just plays off of it. He was this character before he was 'Loki' but there is very little difference between his performance in this movie and his performance as 'Loki'. This movie is like Wolf of Wall Street meets American Hustle. I found it really boring and completely uninspiring. I found myself longing for a star performance and there wasn't one. There was nothing special about this movie. I spent 50p on it and now it is going back to a charity shop because I will never watch it again and it isn't worth a place in my movie collection.

Even Luke Evans is starting to take on characters that all have a similar personality. He needs to think about what they all have in common and then take on a role that is totally different because otherwise he is going to be like Tom Felton and become not only stereotyped but totally unable to be anything else than his typical character and therefore ruin his career before it has really started.

Murder on the Orient Express

I am a huge lover of Poirot, not just the books but also of David Suchet which made it an agonising choice for me to go and see this film. Kenneth Brannagh is not and will never be as good as David Suchet but he tried to play the character differently, his French accent was acceptable but needs work and his moustache is disgraceful but all in all, once you accept that any new Poirot is unlikely to be better than Suchet then you can move on to attempt to enjoy the film.

I did enjoy it. My one criticism is that Poirot is not as athletic as he was made out to be in this film. The overall portrayal of Poirot was good and fairly accurate but the script writing wasn't anywhere near as good as the scripts written for television. Murder on the Orient Express is the one that David Suchet left to last because it was going to be the strongest test of his role as 'Poirot'. This book in itself is the strongest test of Poirot's character. Nothing about it is easy and nothing becomes clear until Poirot explains it all to you. When reading the book I felt like maybe Poirot had met his match, maybe he didn't solve this one or maybe he caught the wrong person but then once he figured it out (and that took most of the book to do) it made sense and it was an extremely complicated murder. When I watched this film, my companions and I felt that they had explained everything to early. This murder stopped being complicated the moment that he revealed the true name and started asking questions and making obvious assumptions. Branagah's Poirot gave away the missing piece of the puzzle that made it easy for everyone to solve the case. Halfway through the film we all knew and it shouldn't be like that. The book is more complicated, the characters are more complicated and this film didn't really do it justice.

Johnny Depp as Mr. Ratchet was fantastic and the most unlike Johnny Depp I have seen for a while. He wasn't as horrible and disgusting as the previous portrayals of this character have been but he still managed to make it clear that he was going to be murdered without really having to try which made his portrayal almost perfect. Michelle Pfeiffer was also fantastic and I spent most of the film thinking long and hard about who she was. Derek Jacobi cannot change his face so he changed his manner and became a totally different character. Even Daisy Riddley was strong in this movie. Everyone was strong in this movie and if Brannagh had a different moustache and they created a better script than this film would be almost fantastic.

They have set it up to make another film and make some of the books in to movies and that is okay but there are things that they need to work on. The script writer needs to improve and the accent needs a bit of work. The study of the character of Poirot requires further improvement and you can't make the argument of wanting to play the character differently because you have to be true to the character otherwise you end up like Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore- destroying the character entirely. Change other things about the movie, focus on other things that are in the books but don't make the character do a lot of running and hitting people because that's not who the character ever was, you need to be cleverer. Not a bad movie, I expected a lot worse but work to be done.

My Blueberry Nights.

Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman and Norah Jones all star in one of the weirdest and yet most fantastic movies I have ever watched.

This movie was made in 2007 and is filmed in a weird colour filter. It gives the impression of being entirely a memory but then within that, each character also has memories that speed up and slow down. This movie is like 'Begin Again' but before that movie was ever made. Director Kar-Wai Wong made the jump to making a film entirely in English and it really paid off. I don't think that I have ever seen a film of his before but this is a fantastic movie and one of the most 'different' movies that I have ever seen and it wasn't originally on the list because I had never heard of it but it came in to the shop in which I work and I took a chance on it because it was something entirely different.

The reviews stated that this film had 'thin material' but I don't see how that matters at all. The cinematography for this film is fantastic, Jude Law is fantastic and Norah Jones is stunning. The soundtrack is incredible and this film is just amazing. I had to watch the entire movie, I couldn't miss a second of it and it made me feel good. It wasn't intended to make me feel good and it mostly just shows how life goes round in circles, you meet people, you try to make different decisions and you run away from things but in the end, life either gets better or it gets worse. Some of the people you meet leave your life, some stay and some wait for you but that is how life is. You have to look past the material and see it as a film that wasn't trying to be too complicated or too long. It focused on executing the plot that they had to the best of their abilities.

I've asked for a second opinion on this movie because I want to review it better. It has a certain quality to it that I haven't managed to find in any other movie and I would love it if someone else could suggest a film to compare it to.

An no, I haven't forgotten, a huge cry out to Natalie Portman who is always incredible in every movie that she makes. As a gambler who never trusts anyone she is fantastic and she learns something from 'Beth' and 'Beth' learns something from her as well. Even though she wasn't the main star in this movie she did her job really well and played her part almost to perfection. She is one of the best actresses out there who is not aged 70-90.

Dick Tracy

Warren Beatty. Maybe the first time ever on this blog but a pleasure to be experiencing new things and reviewing some of the great movies from every generation. I do have to take this time to announce that sadly I will not be continuing the blog next year as I have a full time job and am studying part time and have found it too difficult to keep watching movies or really do anything with my not so frequent days off. Many things have to give and this is one of then. Any movies that I did not manage to watch this year will be watched and reviewed next year and any films that I see in the cinema or watch randomly will be but there will be nothing frequent.

Dick Tracy is the ultimate cop movie made before the millennium. Even though Clint Eastwood is known for making cop movies such as 'Dirty Harry' he has nothing on this guy. Beatty is faster and doesn't have to pull off the stupid limes that Eastwood uses to try and evoke fear because he is more threatening as a cop through the use of non conventional, or legal methods. What makes a good cop is his ability to use his team and even though the scrip for this movie is obviously better than the script for 'Dirty Harry', Dick Tracy does something that is never done in the Eastwood film, which is, use a small kid that you have taken from the streets as a part of your team. This kid is fantastic. He has an 'Oliver' feel to him because he steals from someone and is chased by Tracy all the way black to his falling down house and his abusive father, who is then beaten up by Dick Tracy for being abusive and Tracy intends to send the kid to an orphanage but the kid saves his life.

Warren Beatty is fantastic. This movie is fantastic and I liked it a lot. It has all the right ingredients. Hopefully it won't ever die out completely.

Sing

The animated children's movie about a singing competition and not the My Chemical Romance song. I have read a few mixed reviews on this movie and I don't understand why because it is a kids movie which means that it doesn't have to have a complicated plot because Children's films have to be simple enough for children to understand and a feel good movie.

Sing is fantastic. Watching all the characters sing and reveal their singing pasts is fantastic. Singing along to the songs that you know and hearing how they work within the scene and plot is a lot of fun. When you come home from work or school and you want to let go of your stress then you can do that, or certainly, I can do that with this film.

Weirdly, when I don't have to look at Matthew Mcconaughey and only have to listen to his voice as a koala I find him much more enjoyable to watch. There is no shame in being a good actor but a terrible actor non-animated movies. Taron Eggerton as a Gorilla is also fantastic and the fact that he reconciles with his dad, who breaks out of prison to reconcile with him and then there is a happy ending just gives it a double feel food factor at the end which really helps you to reflect positively on the film. I do  think that the people who negatively reviewed this film don't really understand  what a children's movie is about. Yes, 'Trolls' and 'Moana' where better movies than this film but they weren't as feel good as this film was and I can't say that their plots were anymore complicated than this movie.

A pig singing Katy Perry and a Gorilla singing John Legend is entertainment for anyone. Reece Witherspoon can sing and she is fantastic. She alone could be a reason for watching the movie. J just appreciate it for what it is, a feel good, animated, children's movie, with stars such as Reece Witherspoon and Scarlett Johansen, that did very well at the box office. Expecting too much from a film can cause you to suffer severe disappointment and failing to appreciate the intended audience can also do the same thing.

They are making a sequel and even though I can't quite see it doing particularly well, it just might do so.

3:10 to Yuma

Russel Crowe, Alan Tudyk and Christian Bale all in the same film. The quote on the front claims that it is the best Western since 'Unforgiven' and I have to agree with it simply because of the character of Russel Crowe.

When I see the names on paper and then think about Crowe lining up on the opposite side of the field to Bale I will back Bale every time but Crowe was the star for a reason. His character, along with 'The Hand of God' (his pistol) was a strong and yet, at times a compassionate character. He didn't kill if he didn't have to but he also was never held to ransom. He knew how to value life, what was worth fighting for and he tried his hardest not to kill a person with a good heart but at the end of the day, he was a cowboy leader and he had a job and a reputation to uphold.

He is calm and you always feel like he is playing everyone until the end of the film when he turns on his own man, gets revenge for the death of Christian Bale's character and then willingly gets in a cell on the 3:10 to Yuma train. Normally these movies are boring and lacking a real plot but this film wasn't. This film was so planned out that you couldn't predict what was coming and that made it even more enjoyable.

Logan Lerman also manages to hold his own in a film where he could have gone completely unnoticed. He wasn't a standout performer but he was solid and played the part well. Being diverse is something that we need to see more of from Lerman and watching him take on a supporting role is a lot better than seeing him take center stage. Being the focus point and the guy that all the girls love just doesn't work out for him. He was great in 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' but that is because even though he was the lead, he was sharing his screen time with Emma Watson and Ezra Miller, who were both fantastic in that movie.

Ben Foster as Charlie was incredible. I have never seen someone murder in such an emotionless way. This character has no conscience and there was no pain or emotion when he pulled out his pistol and went around killing people. He had brains but it didn't occur to him that his boss had had a change of heart and had partnered up with Christian Bale. He doesn't realise that for killing Bale's character he is going to be killed until he sees the look in Crowe's eyes.

There is something magical about this film. If I ever want to watch a Western this is going to be the top of the list.

Thor: Ragnarock

Thor: The Dark World was terrible. When I heard that they were making another 'Thor' film I responded to it about as well as I responded to the third 'Captain America' film, which was not well at all because I thought that the second 'Captain America' film was dreadful and that the third film was just as bad. Having said that, the second 'Iron Man' film was awful but the third was so much better so I still had hope that this film would follow the 'Iron Man' path rather than the 'Captain America' path and I am glad that I did have this hope because this film was possibly even better than the first film.

This film has a plot, humour and not the same repeated idea of trusting Loki and then being betrayed by him. Following on quite nicely from the end of 'Age of Ultron' and as you have probably seen from the adverts, Thor, in his quest to save his father and protect Azgard, finds himself on a planet, fighting as a gladiator against 'The Hulk'. Typically, he can't spend the entire film just fighting so there is a lot more thought that goes in to how he is going to save Azgard from the sister that he didn't know that he had. It does seem like it is always a family affair in this franchise but I actually liked the way that this film went. They have taken Thor from a different realm and planet and moved him to link up more and more with 'The Avengers' on Earth which makes more sense if he is going to keep featuring in other movies.

Cate Blanchett taking on the role of the goddess of death. When I watched 'Doctor Strange' I thought for a long time that it was Cate Blanchett and not Tilda Swinton and when I realised that it wasn't her I was asking everyone why it wasn't her because it seemed like a role that she would have been ideal for but now it makes a lot more sense. She can't be the villain or slightly questionable woman in every marvel movie because no one would believe her and this was probably a better choice of role for her. She was fantastic and really helped to move the film along because she showed the darker side to Odin, which was true but also why she was doing what she did and it made sense instead of being the rambling of a crazy person.

The cameo of Anthony Hopkins was decent. I am glad that he went in this film because he finally helped Thor to realise his full potential. This is the God of Lightning and yet he seems pathetic without his hammer until he realises that he can control the lighting and is more powerful than his hammer. The time has come for Thor to stop relying on Odin to fix his problems and likewise, the time has come for Loki to realise that he can't do much that he hasn't already done many times.

Both Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddlestone were fantastic in this film but you expect them to be because this is their film. Mark Ruffalo almost stole the show as 'Hulk'. His character was entertaining and also very composed throughout the entire movie. There is a worry about 'Banna' constantly changing in to 'The Hulk' and they highlighted it, which mainly suggests that we are going to see more of 'Banna' and less of 'Hulk' in future movies because otherwise he wont be with Nat.

My personal favourite was 'Skurge' played by Karl Urban. He was entertaining and somewhat reminded me of the character of 'Alfred' in 'The Hobbit' series but at the end he gets his dying wish and dies a hero and one that may be remembered. Heimdall (Idris Elba) was much better in this film and teaming up with Thor was a sight to see. Theresa Tompson (Creed, Grey's Anatomy, Veronica Mars) was also fantastic. I hope that she does a lot more with her career than she has already done because her character was as entertaining as it was strong and brave. They are going the right way with women in films now. They can do more than just look pretty. This is an exciting time where men and women can be as entertaining and strong as each other in terms of character and we can start to see a lot more equality in the division of characters. I'm not saying that all historically male characters should become women but when you write in a character, it can be strong and a woman.

This was a really enjoyable film and worth the wait (the soundtrack is also fantastic). It helps to make a bit more excited for 'Black Panther' and 'Infinity War'.

Jurassic Park 2

I struggled with the previous review because I am not a big fan of Dinosaurs. These films are classics so they should be on any film list, which is why they are on mine, even though I really don't like Dinosaurs.

The first film was all about Richard Attenborough (for me anyway). This film features him less and i more about the common and frequent stupidity of America, as such is a popular theme to display in movies. The same guy who suffered on the lost Island 4 years prior now how to return because a small team have already been sent over to the Island and he cares about the woman who has been sent. Of course, when InGen soldiers come to storm the Island they threaten the Dinosaurs who were quite peaceful until the invasion but when you pick on something bigger than you, you are, as every child knows, likely to loose.

This time around they decide that it would be a really good idea to take a T-Rex back to America and let it storm San Diego. The film is old, it's 20 years old and you can see it in the quality of film. It's Spielberg and so the film is always going to be good, the quality, for the time in which the film was made is always going to be good but it is starting to get a little dated. We have to appreciate it for what it is and that does help people who are afraid of Dinosaurs because it looks like the Dinosaurs are robotic, which makes them less scary (and me very happy).

As of the end of this film I can't find a reason to make another film. It's another chaotic situation in America using non-human life forms, the film world of America should be used to it by now. After the first film we all wanted to see how things would develop but what are they really going to do in the next film? Storm the Island again fight with Dinosaurs again? There are five of these films and I feel like they may be turning in to another 'Die Hard' or 'Mission Impossible' series where the first one or two films are good and then the rest are just remakes of the previous films. I hope not because I like Spielberg and Richard Attenborough. I enjoyed this film more than the first film.

The Smurfs

Little Blue Men running around the streets of New York City. This film was released before 'Trolls' and because of that I need to judge this film as something that probably contributed to the plot and inspiration for 'Trolls' and not the other way around.

There was a period of time when they weren't managing to make decent kids films and then they started with 'Megamind' and 'Despicable Me' along with 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' and a few others. 'The Smurfs' is a nice, happy film without any singing and the adult character who was played by a guy who is really popular thanks to his role in 'How I Met Your Mother' (Neil Patrick Harris). Neil is a really attractive guy and his character in the tv sitcom was one of the better characters in the series which meant that he had a really good audience of teenagers and young adults who would watch this film because he stars in it.

What is good about this film is that it isn't cheesy. For an adult to watch it of their own accord it needs to be enjoyable. It isn't as enjoyable as 'Despicable Me' but then most kids films aren't because those films are genius. For small kids it will be easy to get emotionally involved in this film, especially towards the end of the movie because there are moments where if you are still new to the world of films then you may not be expecting the Smurfs to win. Of course, as adults we all know what will happen and we aren't ever worried about the outcome because we know that every Smurf will get back to Smurf village again and that the evil wizard will be dealt with to a varying degree in this movie.

Probably my favourite scene in this movie was when the Smurfs were being taught how to play guitar hero to Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way', which is a fantastic song. When a movie has Aerosmith in the soundtrack it is destined to be a good movie. If the plot is rubbish it doesn't matter because I will pay attention to the scene that has good music accompanying it.

No one in this movie should be ashamed of this movie. This is a good step in developing their careers and it was good to see Jayma Mays (Glee) do something other than Glee. She was a stronger character in this movie and she could have a good career if she wishes to progress in movies.

Pacific Rim

Giant fighting machines fighting against other, bigger fighting machines... sound familiar? Real Steel, Iron Man and Avengers are a few movies that instantly spring to mind when I was watching this film.

Guillermo Del Torro. Hellboy. Loved it. Hellboy 2. Liked it a lot. Pans Labyrinth. Loved it. Blade 2. Enjoyed it a lot. Screenplay for 'The Hobbit' trilogy? Hell yes! He isn't a Spielberg, his IMDB credits don't make you scroll down multiple times. This time it is different. Each of his previous films dabbles with an idea loosely based on history and a fictional, science fiction/ fantasy solution to the problem. I say that this film is different because I felt that it is probably his worst film to date.

For me the name 'Guillermo Del Torro' is equivalent to a very good movie that is either based on a graphic novel or has a strong sense of Historical relevance with a solution that has been hidden from us. Essentially what I am trying to say is that the solutions and heroes that feature in his films could actually be possible. Maybe not the heroes in this film but previously, the idea of secret agents that possess weird and slightly abnormal abilities is becoming more and more possible. The idea of people teaming up in giant suits and protecting us from alien creatures that are bigger than these heroes in giant suits does not, yet, seem realistic. This film is the least 'Del Torro' movie that I have watched and that is probably the reason why I will not be adding it to my collection and re-watching it.

It seemed scripted from start to finish. In this world it is very difficult to create an original screenplay. Every idea that you have is loosely, or not so loosely, based upon a story that you heard or a film that you watched, a book that you read etc. There is almost nothing original about any film, song, book or play anymore. The problem with this film is that- if it had been the first of this type of movie that I had seen I would be thinking that it was a fantastic film., however, it wasn't and I don't because the other films that I listed at the start of the movie were so much better. 'Pacific Rim' has potential but not enough for a series. The action was good but the filler in between was, at times, lacking. When there weren't giant monsters to fight there wasn't really anything to capture your attention and keep you interested. The movies flows but it felt short and this is never a good thing. This is a fairly recent movie (by recent /I mean with the last 10-15 years) and that signals the two hour mark (which in a boring film can feel way too long) and this just seemed to fly though the movie without really taking that much needed pause.

I can't say much about the leads. The acting wasn't bad, it wasn't particularly great either and Idris Elba was not good in his role. This guy is great with anger and not so great with anything else. When he isn't angry he turns in to an emotionless robot. The hair cut and the moustache did not work for him either. This wasn't a good fit for him and he in turn needs to look at his character here and work out how to draw things from it. Even when he was supposed to be emotional in a controlled way the look wasn't there, the eyes that normally accompany were missing. He can do better.

I haven't even heard of Charlie Hunnam which is saying a lot because even if I don't recognise the name I can normally associate the face with a movie. I couldn't. Judging from his performance in this movie I can see why I don't know his name. It's not one that I am likely to remember. If I were playing his character I would be more stubborn and more emotional than he was. He was destined to be the hero and at times he acted like it but he acted too much like a soldier and not enough like a guy who considers himself responsible for his brothers death. This character did not exist. In a movie, for the audience to be unable to connect to the character is a sign of a bad movie. Sometimes, if the character is poorly written then you as the actor need to take more responsibility for the character, like Johnny Depp and Captain Jack Sparrow. They hated the way that he played the role but the rest of the world loved it. Be brave- even good directors can be wrong.

Rocky 2

This is when the famous 'Gotta Fly Now' by Bill Conti starts to feature in the movies. Stallone looks a few years older but nothing about the film has changed.

Rocky 2 is a repeat of Rocky 1. He has moved on with his life, married the girl and is having a child. He agreed to a rematch with Apollo Creed immediately after winning the first fight but nothing really motivates him for most of the film because everyone knows his name. He does eventually start to work out and train for his rematch but throughout the film he never really looks like he will win it, except that he is Rocky so he is destined to win it so that the films can continue.

I have probably more criticisms than likes about this film. I felt like this film was just a filler for another movie. Certainly this film has not helped to develop Stallone's non existent ability to act or his barely recognisable speech. He's not bad on the directing part but I really struggled to make out anything that he was saying and he wasn't particularly great at showing emotion either. There are a lot of people out there who like him for these movies and maybe they see other things that I don't but I can't see why he made so many of these films as the star.

My next criticism is that the sequences are slow that even I would be able to beat him in a fight. He doesn't block, he stands there and lets someone else hit him. In today's world and even in the time that this film was made that was criminal. He's no longer an amateur, Rocky Ballboa is a household name and everyone pays to watch this fight. They pay to watch him get beaten to shreds by a guy who actually trained and at times looks to be a really good boxer but even Apollo Creed could have beaten Rocky because he also stood there and let Rocky hit him for most of the scene. Watching this film was disappointing in so many ways and I can imagine that I would have been disappointed if I were watching it on release day as well. Rocky and Rocky 2 have a similar to the Sean Connery 'James Bond' movies but without the comedy. The fight scenes were ridiculous in those movies as well but there was a comical element to it that was lacking in this film.

Kinda still want to watch all the other Rocky films just to see if the standards raise at any point.