Resident Evil: Extinction

More vampires and more killing. We're halfway there in this series but I have not, as of yet, acquired the other half of the series to watch so they will have to patiently wait their turn on the blog list but I am sure that they will feature sporadically over the next few months.

Resident Evil have managed to make five films out of the same story but I have to accept that it was first a game and that it probably had more plot than has been shown in the films. If we think back to the second film, she makes it to the center of the base after the population of the city have been exposed to the virus which turns them in to Zombies and then she destroys that base but is permitted to escape by the Doctor who is responsible for making her the way that she is. In this film she is going after the doctor (Ian Glenn) who himself becomes infected with the virus and turns in to a horrible monster so as to create the epic confrontation at the end of the film between the heroine and the villain.

Extinction leaves it open for the fourth film and from what I remember of the fourth film that is just a lot of her killing a lot of people/ zombies. Extinction focuses on her enemy and her sole purpose of getting to him and destroying him but at the end she awakes all the other attempted clones of her and decides to team up with them to take down the organisation responsible for making her the way that she is.

What can I say about this film? Milla Jovovich is sexy and fantastic with a gun. Everything that I said about her in the previous film review is true for this film. She can kill someone using only one foot and that is terrifying but what is even more terrifying is that she is the female equivalent of Christian Bale in 'Equilibrium', less emotional, more controlled and generally better than everyone else. Her team are losing battles and members until she decides to team up with them again and take on everyone single handedly. The film is exactly what I was expecting and longing for after watching the first two films.

A Few Good Men

Another Tom Cruise film and I apologise for there being so many on the blog this year but he has made a lot of films and I haven't seen that many of them so over the next few years they are going to feature a lot. The same thing goes with Tom Hanks and Matt Damon.

A few good men stars Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore. For me this is only the second film with Demi Moore in that I have seen, with the other film being 'Ghost'. This film is still when Tom Cruise was young and cementing his name in the film industry and this time he plays a Navy JAG lawyer. He is known for never having been in a courtroom because he is assigned to people who are innocent and cuts deals so that he doesn't have to go to court but this time, after a large bulk of the film he decides that his clients are innocent and he gets to see the inside of a courtroom. Demi Moore is a commanding officer responsible for the two officers in custody and she is also assigned by the family of one of the accused as his attorney. The two of them argue a lot but she drives him on in all the right ways and gets the best out of him.

On the other side there is Jack Nicholson who somehow always manages to look a little psychotic and is a commander in Cuba. He is rigorous and believes very much in the code that they have in which the unit comes first. One member of that unit attempts to get NIS involved and in doing so is accidentally murdered after a 'code red' was authorised by the commander. This case and this film is always intriguing to watch because you often think that a man like Jack Nicholson can't be broken in a court room by someone like Tom Cruise but the passion, the risks taken and the determination brings out the character of Nicholson and he plays it so well that you actually fear for the life of Dan Cathy, who is standing in front of him. Watching Kevin Bacon attempt to do all that he can do to win a case which he doesn't want to win and go punch for punch with Tom Cruise is also worth the watch and the wait.

A few good men is actually a good insight in to what the code and honour mean to the people who protect our country and it is also a good insight in to how graduating from law school doesn't necessarily mean that you are a good lawyer. Dan Cathy was convinced that his clients were guilty before he met the commander and that is when it all changed. He had resigned himself to losing and was at the point of giving up when everything changed.
Watch the film because this is another good film and I was impressed with all of them.

Ong-Bak

Thai martial arts film and once again the first to feature on the blog. Experiencing the different type of martial arts is brilliant. Once you watch them you start to realise the different training and techniques that are used, which is why no type of martial arts is the same as any other.

This film made Tony Jaa's career but even so I still can't think of another film that he has been in. Martial arts are selective to a culture and unfortunately it isn't a culture that has truly taken off in this country yet. There are some absolutely genius martial arts films that are well known such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but there really aren't that many unless you are a fan of them and by a fan I mean that you actually regularly watch them.

Ong-Bak is a Buddha statue that gets deformed and decapitated when thieves cut off the head of the statue. A villager called Ting (Tony Jaa) attempts to relocate the statue and bring it back to his village by travelling to Bangkok, beating the underground fighting king and working for a crime lord. Don't question the methods, only question the martial arts, choreography and relentlessness of Ting to get back the Buddha statue. Muay Tai is a specific type of martial arts that is subjective to Thailand, you wont find it anywhere else in the world and you are unlikely to see a lot of films with this type of martial arts in it.

I would assume that those who have kept reading to this point are serious fans of martial arts and actually know a lot about this film. This is another film that you have to watch subbed and please don't watch it dubbed because dubbed is painful for everyone. So if you are a fan of martial arts films then watching this is essential to help you distinguish between martial arts from different cultures and countries. It's not just the name but actually knowing what they look like and how to recognise them. There is always a twist in the plot and nothing can go smoothly because there are always more enemies to fight and more people who are convinced that one style of fighting is better than the other, however, if you are looking for a reason to watch this film then watch it for the perseverance of Ting and just witnessing how important that statue of the Buddha is to him and his village.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

The much anticipated and long time coming new Spider-Man film. Andrew Garfield was okay as Spider-Man but the second film was so rubbish and they turned his character in to one that felt like 'Sam' from 'Transformers' i.e a sweaty teenage boy who was a little egotistical. Glad to say that because of the way that the marvel universe is going, this film was never intended to be part of a stand alone series like the other Spider-Man films and therefore there is less focus on Peter Parker and his ego and more focus on Spider-Man and his development with the assistance of Tony Stark.

Tom Holland looks like he could be the face of Spider-Man for a while. His body is one of someone who is not 14 (obviously) but his face looks  young enough for them to get by and to suggest that he has a few films ahead of him if they so wish to include his character in more films. Everything in this film is a slight twist on any other Spider-Man film and I did leave the room grinning at the end of the film because of the twist. M.J is probably the best character in the entire film and it is so nice to see that films are actually trying to be ethnically diverse.

I have to get this rant out there now. I do object a little to the suit that he has. At the end of the film we do see signs that he has natural powers and he does talk about being bitten by a spider in the film but most of the emphasis was on this suit that Stark gave him which enabled him to do so much more with his webs but again, the webs were something that we see him making in school lessons and so I wonder if they are implying that the only power he was given from the spider was strength and weird grip. In a world full of powers we really don't need another terrible Batman film by emphasising the technology too much and ignoring the powers. Iron Man doesn't have any powers and he is almost the marvel equivalent of Batman but every team has one and no one needs another on their team.

Apart from all that it was a very good film. I liked it a lot more than I was expecting to but I was told that it was the bets film that had been released this year and in my opinion it is not better than Wonder Woman. I look forward to seeing Spider-Man feature a lot more in the marvel universe as there could be a bright future for this character. Probably the best marvel film released this year but I didn't see 'Logan' so I cannot compare it to anything.

Gentlemen Prefer Bondes

Marilyn Monroe stars as though of us who are familiar with the film 'Moulin Rouge' start to understand the basis of Nicole Kidman's character and the importance of the song 'Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend'.

My issue with this film is that is that Monroe is playing a very stupid character- probably bringing up the stereotype of 'Dumb Blonde'. This character plays so much on her looks that it irritates me a little, well, more than a little, enough to settle on a lot. Monroe is attractive, she always was. She can sing, she can dance and she can act so why she has starred in a film in which she plays a stupid and somewhat naive women is beyond my ability to comprehend. Monroe is an icon and the music, dancing, fashion, looks etc are there for a reason. She is the hype of this film and way the hype of the time but next to her stands a brunette who is intelligent, attractive, can sing and can also dance so who is this film about men- men at the time or a woman's idea of men at the time?

This film has humour and some ridiculous moments when I spent time staring at what i was seeing on the screen and actually asking myself if what she was doing was ever possible. The answer is that I don't know if you can fit through a window on a cruise ship but I get the feeling that the answer is probably no and that those windows are probably half the size of a size 2 women and really weren't designed for Marilyn Monroe to attempt to squeeze through. Monroe is a Grace Kelly, or rather- Grace Kelly was probably a Monroe. I see so much talent in them, so much passion and skill and I wonder where it all went wrong for them and the answer is in marriage choice (probably).

I loved the dancing and the outfits in this film but my favourite part of this film was when she told her future father in-law that she wasn't marrying his son because of his money, she was marrying her son because she wanted her future father in-law's money. It's nice to be truthful but there is a time and place for it and maybe admitting that you are a gold digger and only after the money before you have got your hands on it possibly isn't the best way to go but it did seem to work for her as she ended the film in a wedding dress and a diamond ring about to walk down the aisle.

Monroe films and a bottle of wine are the best combination for a Sunday evening and luckily for me I have at least another four Monroe films currently sitting on my desk which should see me comfortably through the summer.

The Jazz Singer

As always, I have to start by promoting http://www.ninjabookbox.com and provide the discount code CLARE15.

Now that the business is done I can get down to doing my voluntary job of reviewing an old almost silent classic called 'The Jazz Singer'. This is a film about a man who is the son of a cantor, who in turn is the son of a cantor etc. The family is Jewish and this boy was destined to be a cantor in the eyes of his father. The son decides that he doesn't want to be a cantor and instead wants to be a jazz singer his father beats him and the boy runs away. Many years later the boy has become a famous jazz singer and is performing across the world with his act but he goes back to see his parents. His relationship with his mother has always been good and he plays the piano and sings to his mother before his father comes in and tells him that if he is not going to be a cantor then there is no place for him. Months later some members of the synagogue come to see the jazz singer and ask him to sing for his father because his father is sick. Initially he says no but at the end of the film he goes back to the synagogue and performs as a cantor before going back to his show and keeping up the life that he had and enjoyed.

There is a random part in this film where there is suddenly sound for no reason and then after a few minutes it goes back to being a silent movie. The rest of the film is decent. The plot is very simple and it is all about a man who pursues his dreams, places his happiness before acceptance from his father and makes a life for himself that he enjoys. Al Johnson is no Charlie Chaplin but this is a 1927 film that made history for being the first film with a synchronised score and lip synchronisation when singing. In 1927 this film made history. In Singing In The Rain we learn this myth that silent actors make up whatever they want to say because the subtitles show what should be said and they don't think that anyone will be watching but what makes this film a little bit more special is that in this film you have to be able to remember your lines and act them out. It isn't a case of being told to look angry and then having that shot filmed before changing to a different look, it is a case of actually having to act as if you would in a colour and sound film which makes Al Johnson and the cast so much more impressive.

There is a remake of this film with Neil Diamond in and I do fully intend to watch it. Being able to hear the sound that should accompany this film will help me to draw comparison and better appreciate this film. If you consider yourself a film buff but haven't seen this film then you know what you need to do- watch it and further your screen education. Appreciate what it did, what it meant and the triumph it made in 1927 by giving up 90 mins to watch this film.

Despicable Me 3

People of all ages love these films. They are silly without being too silly. The plot flows naturally without anything being ridiculous and the ideas are, at times, ingenious.

Gru gets married and this film is him understanding that his family is the most important thing to him. After loosing his job he discovers that he has a rich twin brother and that his dad was a super villain. Gru goes back to being a villain but only so that he can return to being a good guy again. That sounds weird but the enemy in this film is called Balthazar Brat, a child actor who got upset when he hit puberty and his tv series was cut by Hollywood. He is exactly the type of villain that you would expect to find in one of these films- ridiculous shoulder pads and hair, dancing to Michael Jackson and blowing gum.

A blonde, slightly more camp Gru is called Dru (Drew) and definitely not as good a villain as Gru- so if you thought that Gru was a terrible villain in the first film then you are mistaken. The minions rebel and take control of the prison after wining a singing competition. Of course, in the end they break out of prison to help Gru and Dru save Hollywood from giant Balthazar Brat and of course, save the girls who were once again kidnapped by the villain of the film.

The gadgets are cool, the car is cool and the soundtrack is brilliant. Gru being a villain is fantastic and having the golden car and other things at his disposal means that he gets to show what he could have been like had he not have been raised by his mother and left to work with someone who managed to freeze themselves in carbonite. Everything that you enjoyed about each of the films before this one is shown in this film. I wouldn't say that it is the best film because I still feel like the first one was the best but they have all been good and enjoyable. Gru is the best thing that Steve Carrel has ever done with his career.

Now You See Me 2

The first film was incredible. The second film should be just as good because it still has most of the previous cast but adds in a small part for Daniel Radcliffe which is always nice.

The first film was about magicians but this film seems to be more about the group and their leader trying to make a living for themselves and sorting out how to stop Morgan Freeman from getting his own back on them. I have to say this up front- some of the stunts, especially with the card, is just ridiculous and not physically possible and yes I mean the laws of physics.

I am just loving watching Mark Ruffalo's career unfold. In the last 5+ years he has done a phenomenal amount of good films and I often wonder how he manages to pull it off each year. He's been around for a while and been in known films such as 'Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind' made in 2004 but his career really took off after taking on 'Bruce Banner', 'Begin again' and 'Now You See Me'. He is still, probably the standout performer in this film. Watching Daniel Radcliffe attempt to beat up Mark Ruffalo was never going to work because Daniel Radcliffe isn't threatening but full credit for trying.

Michael Caine in a little cameo towards the end was another fantastic twist in this film. I actually love these films. Like Ocean's Eleven, this film has the sort of magical feel and will have a special place in my heart for when I needed an excuse to watch films and eat cake. You think that you know this film, that you have it worked out but you don't. If you take that attitude and stop paying attention you will have no idea when it ends or why it ends. Now You See Me 2 is so well written. It's not as spectacular on the eyes as the first film was but that was what attracted you to the film in the first place. Now you have watched the first film you need a clever plot and some more development in these films to make it all better and help you to really get in to the feel of these films. If you are going to make a sequel then this is how it should be!

Going Postal

A few of us with different blogs are joining together for a Terry Pratchett year. Bex with her Armchair by the sea blog has organised a discworld readathon throughout the entire year. Tame the boardgame are supposed to have been posting about the games such as Ankh Morporkh, Witches and Thud.

Going Postal is one of the better Discworld films and the first one to be reviewed on this blog. I have already seen this film many times but have never sat down to review a discworld film. Charles Dance is a much better Lord Vetinari than Jeremy Irons was in 'the colour of magic/ the light fantastic'. David Suchet is fantastically short and a wonderful villain. Watching him try and square up to Charles Dance is always humorous.

I've never read this book but watching this film is as enjoyable as watching 'Hogfather', which will be reviewed at Christmas. Sometimes, with discworld films they get the casting all wrong but not with this film. Everyone I know who has watched this film has enjoyed it and said that it was much better than the two films combined (which were not good). Going Postal introduces the game 'Thud' and also introduces the Golems and some key characters of the watch.

If you are new to Pratchett's Discworld then you have to try and understand that of the 30-40 + novels in this series they are split into sections. Some are about the Wizards (most of them) and that is why they made the colour of magic and light fantastic, then you have some about the witches and the tv series witches to go with that, then there are those about the watch- soul music and most of the novels that go with Lord Vetinari and the running of Ankh Morporkh and then those that are about death which would be Hogfather. Some of the TV series are good and hopefully they will be reviewed later on in this blog.

For all the women out there wondering why they should watch this film I will now tell them the answer to their question. The answer is that you get to watch a woman with a four inch stiletto heel push it in to the foot of a man who deserved it and watch her get the better of him many times over!

If you are a Poirot fan then watch this film. Being able to watch David Suchet as someone other than Poirot in film is always a joy and a rare thing to behold. If you are a black books fan then there is a reason to watch this film.

Just watch it. Don't argue- watch it and then get back to me and tell me what you thought of it.

Allegiant

The final instalment in this series and probably the worst one of the entire series (in my opinion).

Tris, Four and the others who escaped in the previous film finally make it out of the new revolution and over the fence, in to a new world. Tris is 'the chosen one' ( que star wars moment) and everyone else suffers from not being as wanted as she is. Jacob doesn't feature at all in the book but he features a lot in the film by being able to see what is going on inside the fence.

As always the main good guy- David is actually the bad guy and the entire story that they feed Tris about going and making things better is just a complete lie. You can't save everyone and you can't destroy an entire race just because some people are stronger than others. You shouldn't get to chose who lives and who dies and that is what this film is about. In a way it is a nice ending to the trilogy because Tris once again shows how useless and pathetic she is without Four there to make her better. Considering that they already changed so much of the story to accommodate Jacob, they could have just changed her character a little to make her less pathetic and someone actually worth watching but then again they were competing with 'The Hunger Games' which makes everything a lot harder.

Having watched the second and third film together I can say that I actually felt that this was the worst film and a bit of a let down. When the plot for two films is to get outside the fence, to overthrow the woman in charge completely and having done that it would have been better to leave it like that and let everyone read the book of Allegiance instead of making a film. It's a little anti-climatic in this film. So much build up towards the end of the second film for nothing to have been achieved and them to have to start almost everything again with a different enemy.

Four's mother is probably one of the worst characters in this film but I can see why they spent so much time making Jacobs role a lot bigger. Tris saves Jacob and takes him with her (even though he is a total idiot and should have died in the first or second book), even when he can't run or fight and generally is fairly useless. That sort of family relationship is what most siblings or families have but not Four and his mother. Four fights against his mother who is being a complete idiot and I really feel for this guy because his father beat him and his mother is attempting to execute people- what a family to have.

Probably one of the worst endings to a trilogy I have experienced and I definitely preferred the second film to this. The first one- Divergent, was the best and it went in order after that.

Back to the future 3

Don't take money, don't take fame. The song is back but you have to get through the entire film to hear it again!

According to popular vote this is the favourite of the Back To The Future series and it is a huge step up from the previous film. The name of this film is probably a little inaccurate as 'Back to the past' probably would have been better suited with a trip of something like 100 years in the past for Marty to find his ancestor, who is of course Michael J Fox with a ginger wig and an acceptable Irish accent.

Cowboys, horses, fights, bars and a new time machine in the form of a train- this film has everything worthy of an action film and Marty finally gets over his insane desire to fight people when they call him a coward. Every time he fights he looks at this picture of a tombstone which says 'Clint Eastwood' (being from the future he takes on the name of Clint Eastwood) and realises that he has to change something so that he doesn't die and therefore have never lived.

There are many memorable scenes- Doc dancing with his woman, Doc saving the woman from the bridge (which is altering the past) and Marty fighting the ancestor of Biff. The villain always stays the same in the same way that the plot always stays the same. Marty's family is threatened by the family of Biff and Marty has to save his family, be that his father, son or ancestors. The failure from the second film of stopping Biff meant that they had to go back in time a lot more to prevent things from happening. Once you get used to the cowboys and the music returning to 'the future' seems really weird.

So much more enjoyable than the previous film and more memorable. I can understand why this is most people's favourite film out of the three. The scenery was lovely and there is absolutely no possibility of another film. The series has ended. Michael J Fox didn't need to go on and make another hit film because he will always be known as Marty McFly.

Knight and Day

Tom Cruise is featuring a lot recently but I promise that he will not be featuring again for a while. Cameron Diaz also makes a rare appearance on this blog and I can honestly say that this film was never intended to feature on this blog because I dislike both Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz as actors.

Knight and Day plays on Cameron Diaz being a 'dumb blonde' and Tom Cruise playing himself. It is funny but sometimes her character is so stupid that it is slightly unrealistic. Tom Cruise takes the guns and the enemies and actually manages to produce some clever stunts with a relatively decent plot line but he is still just being the same guy that we have become accustomed to seeing. So why should you watch this film? It's funny, at times. The driving is ridiculous and very unrealistic but apart from that it could become a possible situation except that they would be a lot more subtle about it and if she had really panicked that much then he would have smashed her phone and left her in a different country after drugging her instead of returning her to her house.

The plot isn't entirely predictable and she does turn in to something of a cool and strong character at the end but it takes her the entire film to stop being useless and pathetic which is a lot of a let down considering the time in which this film was released. All that I can say about this film is that I did actually enjoy it and I liked the scenery, which is more than I had intended to do. I want for Tom Cruise to stop playing action characters or himself and do something a lot better and stronger with his career but that seems a little unlikely. I also wish for Cameron Diaz to go out there and do a film which is surprising and is totally different to anything that we have seen from her because she is another who plays on her looks and generally is herself from start to finish.

All that I have learnt from this film is that when federal agents come to the door and use words such as 'safe' and 'secure' it means that they are going to kill me. However, having seen so many of these films I either must have a good understanding of how secret services operate (which is highly unlikely) or I have no idea at all and just assume them to be like how they are portrayed in films which would make these key words complete and utter nonsense.

Next up is Back to the Future 3, followed by Allegiant.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge.

The team are back but without director Jerry Bruckheimer. Instead they took a very Spanish approach to it, focusing on a Spanish Captain effectively being the equivalent of Davy Jones, with a ship that has a similar feel to it as The Flying Dutchman.

This film should have been called 'Dead Men Tell No Tales' and that probably would have been a better option than calling it 'Salazars Revenge' and that says a lot about the film. They went with the wrong name and the wrong idea for the plot. This is sort of a back story in to the character development of Jack Sparrow but it also includes the son of Will and Elizabeth and another woman. This film feels like a remake of the second film with a less terrifying and thought out enemy.

Less action and a lot less comedy. Not a bad way to end the series but they really do have to end the series because another film will kill it. They tried to make it funny but without the classic action and the classic almost 'we just let the make it up' feel that goes with the original three films there is nothing that really makes you want to watch this film.

Javier Bardem keeps up his record of playing really weird characters but he was not as good as Ian McShane in the last film. They haven't had a real enemy since Davy Jones and no one has been as good as Bill Nighy. David Whenam takes over from Jack Davenport and the character is not quite as good but he still gives it his all and can pass for a naval officer. A different part of the Caribbean, which is always nice but apart from that there is nothing to really make you want to watch this film again. If you are doing a Pirates marathon I would still be inclined to tell you to scrap the last two films and just stick to the three.

The Mummy

This is the latest release of this film and the first in part of a universe that seems to be building up to a remake of 'Van Helsing'.

The reviews of this film are not good and that generally sums up what this film is. It was boring, not as scary as it should be and the Mummy wasn't actually that bad or evil as a character. You could see the writing on the wall from the start of the film and this film just started off badly and didn't get any better.

The light in all this darkness is Russel Crowe and Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde. He is probably the best Jekyll/ Hyde ever seen in film and if 'Van Helsing' is just a remake of the film then Jekyll's inclusion in this film is probably to try and help explain the start of Van Helsing. With the next film in the universe scheduled to be one about Frankenstein it all makes sense that they are building up to Van Helsing as the inclusion of the monster is also in that film but needs to be introduced before the film so that you can truly understand how Frankenstein ended up with Dracula to start with.

There is no real plot to this film. They dragged out the end because they ran out of any plot that would make the ending work and most of us almost fell asleep and ate a lot of popcorn out of boredom. Tom Cruise is just himself again. Not really threatening and there was no real explanation to the ending of the film and why he leaves in the way that he does or even what the hell actually happens at the end. If you are familiar with Egyptian Gods then you will be able to piece the pieces together and form a possible conclusion but if you are not then you are clueless at the end.

It's expensive to see this film and not worth the money. Give it a miss.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E (2015)

Was this ever planned to be reviewed? No. In the evenings we have movie time where we just pick a random film available to us in the action category and we watch it. I wasn't in charge of the choosing this time so we ended up watching this film but it was a lot better than I had been led to believe that it would be.

Henry Cavil (Superman: Man of Steel) and Armie Hammer (The Social Network) team up as a very American CIA agent and a KGB operative. They hate each other and have contradicting styles of, well, everything which makes partnerships very difficult. This is more a comedy rather than a serious film and if I were to place it somewhere it would go in between a Roger Moore James Bond film and Spy. Not as funny as Spy but not even as serious as a Roger Moore Bond film, which unfortunately, was probably the least serious set of Bond films.

It's a lot of fun and generally entertaining but it is not a serious film and should not be taken as such. I don't want to go in to the bad bits because this film was clearly made with a sense of humour and a directing and writing team who were trying to have a laugh and make something enjoyable instead of making something serious. If anyone is familiar with 'The Saint' then this gives off a similar feel to that. Lovely scenery and even some historically somewhat relevant characters and moments. It's not rubbish, it's exactly what it is trying to be which is some entertainment for most people and good fun to make.

My only real criticism with this film is the casting of Hugh Grant. This man only ever plays himself and I am fed up with seeing him in films as I personally feel that he actually ruins films by being in them. If there is quality in acting then it all vanishes when he walks on screen. I would like to see this guy play a totally different character to himself all the time but that isn't going to happen.

The film ends with a suggestion of there being another film but I doubt somewhat that there will be many more because I don't remember it doing that well in the cinemas. Next up is 'The Mummy' and then 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge'.

Wonder Woman

Tagged as the best superhero film of the year and so far they are not wrong- it is.
Try not to follow the comics or, if you are like me and you follow the comics then distance yourself from the comics when you are watching the film so that you can enjoy this film. There is only one problem with it and that is that it seems like a difficult task to make a sequel but I am sure that that wont stop them from trying and succeeding!

This film just takes you quickly through the development of Wonder Woman (Diana) from a small child on the amazon island to her introduction in to the human world during world war 2. She possesses great strength, agility, fighting abilities and the ability to stop bullets using her wrist guards but the amazons with their bows an shields are a little outnumbered and outmatched in terms of technology. Wonder Woman made her film debut in that really terrible Batman Vs Superman film which seemed to destroy Superman as Henry Cavil and was seriously rubbish. The start and end of the film link her cameo in Batman Vs Superman to this film and also continue to link her to 'Justice League' which will be one of the next DC films released. As far as DC go, this is probably one of the best that they have ever made and the best since Superman: Man of Steel.

David Thewlis reverts back to a similar type of role that I saw from him in the first film that I ever saw with him in which was called 'Dragon heart'. This time his character has more of a 'Gustav Graves' feel from 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' which is probably the biggest spoiler I could give at the this time to ruin the entire film for you. I was very impressed with him and genuinely believed that he couldn't give a performance like he did anymore.

Chris Pine did more than rely on his eyebrows, although, someone needs to point out to him that he is American, sounded American throughout the entire film and therefore should stop trying to claim to be a British spy. His character had it's strengths and its weaknesses but was a very different character to the ones normally associated with him and showed a completely different side to him. Knowing that he wont be back for another film makes it a little better as the more of a presence that he has in a franchise the more you realise how bad his acting is. In this film he was very good and I was told that he was good before I went to see it, didn't believe them and now I know that they were right. This has been the performance of his career.

Gal Gadot. If you are like me and haven't seen 'Fast Five' or any of the ones that follow then you probably wont recognise her and I certainly didn't so I treated this as her screen debut and was very impressed with it. Probably one of the best debuts seen and by far the best superhero woman ever to have been on screen. Some things looked unreal but she looked really good and as a martial artist these stunts would have been easy for her. She has made Wonder Woman her own and is the equivalent of Michelle Pfeiffer as Cat Woman. Wonder Woman is probably my favourite superhero film ever made and she is Wonder Woman.

Hitman

Jason Bourne except that he has no issues with killing anyone. All assassins are trained to kill from birth and have to wear black suits. There are currently two 'Hitman' films and they make the Jason Bourne trilogy look pathetic. 'Hitman' is a huge franchise with games and various other things coming up when you type it in to google so now I will have to play the games to compare them with the film.

Dougray Scott (Ever After, Mission Impossible 2) was the only name that I knew before watching this film and watching him play another totally different character was impressive. 'Hitman' has all the action that any action film could desire and the attention to detail. Think back to what makes you enjoy the 'James Bond' movies, for me it is the action, the somewhat stupid stunts that aren't realistic and as we move more in to the Daniel Craig era the serious stunts and car chases with the attention to detail. What 'Hitman' doesn't have is the misogynistic attitude that has become a problem for 'James Bond' moving forward.

Timothy Olyphant is one of the most convincing assassins I have seen on screen. Better than Michael Fassbender, Matt Damon, Antonio Banderas or Tom Cruise and those are all films that I have watched within the last year. The escape routes are planned, everything is planned in this film and is realistic. When he jumps out of a window in to the river we know that someone could actually do that. When he kills the other assassins using two blades we know that he could do that. The choreography is realistic and unlike that scene in Equilibrium we don't have shots randomly being fired or not reaching the target when they clearly would have. It's not the lack of hair or the bar code on the back of his head (which makes you think of the TV series Dark Angel from years ago) which makes it fantastic, it's the clarity and the logic. This is someone who knows what they are doing. Every character has a back story and that is slowly explored. The girl (Olga Kurylenko) is more than just a girl and she isn't a weakness to him but we do get to understand why she makes the decisions that she makes.

Everyone in this film was fantastic and this is probably the best action film I have watched on this years blog.

Jerry Maguire

Probably known for some of the worst on-screen romantic lines to have ever been written such as: 'you had me at hello' and 'you complete me'. Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger team up as a sports agent and an accountant.

There have been many films on sport, how to buy in sports (Moneyball), playing for pride (Invictus) or what happens when the door seems closed to you (The cutting edge) but this is probably the best one about sports agents. In today's world agents seldom work for a company, preferring to work from home and earn more money without a company taking a percentage off the top. This is the (possibly made up) story of an agent who is works specifically for a company, is very successful, makes a lot of money and then has a breakdown, writes down what everyone is thinking but no one in the business is allowed to say and a week later gets fired. Upon being fired and loosing most of his clients he takes an accountant with him and also looses his intimate partner but he ends up married to the accountant and becoming a super agent but only after almost losing everything.

I think what this film has that makes it so good is Jerry Maguire finally understanding that he needs to get more from his client and that he needs to have those open discussions with his clients about their marriages and their lives as well. They get the best out of each and make things work. He was broke and Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr) wasn't as big as he wanted to be and wasn't happy and neither was his wife. Often we read about agents making a ridiculous amount of millions for being the agent of a footballer but this film shows how much they depend on their clients to earn them that money. If your client isn't attracting customers then you aren't going to make any money off of them so you need them just as much as they need you and no matter how good you are your career is dependent on other people entirely.

Yes, it has a happy ending and that is often what people look for in these films and yes, both are relatively attractively so it is ticking all the boxes.

Often films (**cough lego batman**) rip off this film but I personally felt like those criticisms are unfair.

Ocean's Thirteen

Loved Ocean's Eleven, used to sit there eating cake and watching it on a Friday evening regularly because of the genius of eleven men robbing a casino and actually pulling it off. Then Ocean's Twelve was released and it was fairly pathetic as far as films went and there was a lot less action and someone playing on the idea that Julia Roberts looked like Julia Roberts which was just very stupid and hardly worth the effort. In that film we met Linus' (Matt Damon) mother so what better than to meet his father in this film?

This time it isn't about revenge as such, it is because Reuben is sick. He is sick because he partners with a guy known in the casino business for being a double crosser and then he gets double crossed and loses all his money so the team come together to rob this new casino before it has even actually opened, to get it bad reviews by buying a few of the staff and treating the real inspectors like rubbish while Sol posses as an inspector. As always, the team is still the team with the same kind of skills and this seems like an impossible job but Danny has a plan. The two brothers are actually the worst type of siblings I have ever seen where almost all that they do is argue with each other, to the point of barely completing their jobs because they are arguing and don't have their heads in the right place.

If you are after the action and then typical ending sequence then you've got it. Thirteen hasn't quite captured the feeling of Eleven but it is a lot better than Twelve was. Everyone has a part to play as a con man in this film and the introduction of Eddie Izzard and Al Pacino help to keep the film rolling. Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) is not the enemy but does try to double cross them when they run away with the diamonds, only to discover that they were expecting him to double cross them and so they made the switch before his man could rob them of the diamonds.  No one can rob a casino like these guys and it isn't even about the women this time. Making a natural disaster happen like a mini earth quake? Maybe a little unrealistic but I applaud the effort. I enjoyed this film and didn't sit there rolling my eyes or complaining about things that wouldn't happen in real life.

Forget all about the second film and just go straight to the third film.

Mary and Max

After watching 'Oldboy' and not really liking it I was told that this film would be more to my liking and it is with great excitement that I announce the very first Stop Motion film on my blog to be 'Mary and Max'! There are so many different types of film that should be making it on to this blog and aren't because I am unfamiliar with the genre. Think of Stop Motion and what do you come up with? For me it is 'Wallace and Grommet' and 'Chicken Run' (which I really didn't like). After that some Tim Burton films may pop up like 'The Corpse Bride' but hardly any compared to the five hundred off films I could think of if you said 'action' to me.

The small country (probably bigger than the UK but I failed Geography so I am just guessing) of Australia produced this film and it is about the correspondence between an obese man (Max) in Australia and a very young girl in America (Mary). They have never met and Mary's mother is not fond of her daughter talking to an obese man whom she considers to be ugly but Mary and Max keep up this correspondence throughout Mary's life until she is an adult, has graduated from college and has done well until she writes a book about Max's autism, which he doesn't like and he stops talking to her. She sinks into depression and her lover leaves her. She sends Max a cup which says 'I'm sorry' and after a long time Max sends her something back. It has been a long time since she heard from Max and Mary has become suicidal, taking some Valium and attempting to hang herself before she is interrupted by the neighbour across the road drawing her attention to the package that has been on her doorstep for a while and he saves her life. Mary goes to see Max but by the time that she gets there he has died.

I enjoyed this film until Mary attempted to kill herself and then I started to question it a little but as Francis rightly pointed out this film shows the circle of life, the good, the bad and everything else that comes with it. No matter how good your life is there will always be a bad to it and the better your life is the worse that bad is. Mary experienced the bad when everything fell apart but everything fell apart because of her mistake with Max. Max had a difficult life and he needed to let go but you can't judge how someone is going to react and if we were being critical then we would say that she should have asked Max before writing the book but she didn't so instead of going on to be a bestseller she destroys all the books and is left with nothing,
This is another reminder that life can be truly awful without friends or anyone to love you.

This film is also in black and white which can, at times, make it a little harder to appreciate or understand because there is a limited amount that you can do with the film and lot of it is totally dependent on your imagination and mine isn't that good. Stop Motion is a skill. To make a 90 min film out something in black and white which doesn't actually involve any humans being shown on screen is a difficult task. This film would have slipped past me for that reason. Wallace and Grommet only has the audience that it did because of it being a TV series. People got used to the idea of Wallace and Grommet and then they took to the film. Even though it had the names of Barry Humphreys and Phillip Seymour Hoffman on it this film still struggled. It was around the same time as Tim Burton was producing some of his films and I can't think of why this film has been so overlooked but it has and Francis is right, it is an underrated movie. I hadn't heard of this film before Francis recommended it to me and I think that a lot of  people haven't heard of this film. So if you haven't heard of this film and want to appreciate all types of film then go and watch this film and experience the circle of life.