I am not a massive fan of the hangover movies, and this really emphasises why, this is hangover light. Its a hangover movie without the hangover.
The storyline as ever relies on Alan and Chow doing increasingly stupid and largely unfunny things, with the other 3 characters largely redundant.
If you have not seen the previous hangover films, I suggest you do watch them first, for 2 reasons: 1. This movie makes many backwards references that you will miss half of what is going on. 2. It may be enough to stop you wasting your money going to see this.
The funniest thing in this movie is when they wake up with a hangover, unfortunately that scene is after the credits 3/10
Monday 27 May 2013
Friday 24 May 2013
Epic
There has been some great animation so far this year, from Wreck It Ralph and the Croods, and the promise of plenty more to come from Dispicable Me 2 and Monsters University. Unfortunately Epic is not in the same league, I guess I probably should have worked that out when I realised it is by the same people that bought us Ice Age.
This is a terribly predictable film, with the major plot developments signposted incredibly early in the movie, so you can see where the final scene is going long before we get there.
Part of the character arc has been taken from a book, and the rest bolted on alongside. And it is all a bit confused.
There are some good jokes, especially from Nod and Mub the Slig and Snail, but they are the only highlight in an otherwise fairly drab animation, In a year of great animation this is a disappointment. 4/10
This is a terribly predictable film, with the major plot developments signposted incredibly early in the movie, so you can see where the final scene is going long before we get there.
Part of the character arc has been taken from a book, and the rest bolted on alongside. And it is all a bit confused.
There are some good jokes, especially from Nod and Mub the Slig and Snail, but they are the only highlight in an otherwise fairly drab animation, In a year of great animation this is a disappointment. 4/10
Tuesday 21 May 2013
The Great Gatsby
I guess I should start this review by saying that I have never read the book, so went into this movie not really knowing the story.
That said I understand from others that this movie sticks very closely to the novel, and it's easy to see why, with source material this good why would you want to alter it?
Di Caprio and Maguire are superb as Gatsby and Carraway and compliment each other superbly.
My only issue with this movie is the use of modern music in some scenes where 1920's music might have been a better option.
There is so much to take in from this movie, it is a very long film, with its 2 and a half hour run time seeming longer, not on a sense of the film dragging, but I left feeling like I had been in the cinema all day.
I think I might go and read the book 9/10
That said I understand from others that this movie sticks very closely to the novel, and it's easy to see why, with source material this good why would you want to alter it?
Di Caprio and Maguire are superb as Gatsby and Carraway and compliment each other superbly.
My only issue with this movie is the use of modern music in some scenes where 1920's music might have been a better option.
There is so much to take in from this movie, it is a very long film, with its 2 and a half hour run time seeming longer, not on a sense of the film dragging, but I left feeling like I had been in the cinema all day.
I think I might go and read the book 9/10
The Big Wedding
When I first saw the trailer for The Big Wedding I thought it might go the way of several recent comedies, where all the best jokes are all in the trailer, and even those are not funny. However I was pleasantly surprised, this was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Not all of the jokes work and it is terribly predictable, with most of the later plot telegraphed very early on in the film, if you don't know what is coming then you clearly were not paying attention.
That said there are some very funny moments, particularly the dinner party scene, and a few of the language barrier jokes are quite funny.
This film is very hit and miss, perhaps a little more miss than hit, but actually a lot funnier than I thought it might be, and a couple of scenes that are hilarious made me forgive some of its faults.
6/10
Not all of the jokes work and it is terribly predictable, with most of the later plot telegraphed very early on in the film, if you don't know what is coming then you clearly were not paying attention.
That said there are some very funny moments, particularly the dinner party scene, and a few of the language barrier jokes are quite funny.
This film is very hit and miss, perhaps a little more miss than hit, but actually a lot funnier than I thought it might be, and a couple of scenes that are hilarious made me forgive some of its faults.
6/10
Monday 20 May 2013
Fast and Furious 6
Before I post this I should point out that I have never been a fan of the fast and furious franchise, so much so that I have not watched the previous 5 films, so I kind of went into this a bit blind and not knowing too much about the characters, however as it has been heavily trailered, and there was a five minute preview on my showing of Iron Man 3, I knew what to expect from the story line.
On the Subject of the trailer, the idea of a trailer is to draw you into the movie and make you want to see it, without giving away crucial parts of the story. Having now seen the film, the trailer for Fast and Furious 6 includes the end of the film, in fact even though I have not seen the previous 5 films, I almost knew too much about what was happening.
You have to suspend a bit of belief in reality, would you really be able to race cars that fast in London Traffic? and just how long is that runway? but on the whole the plot is good and keeps moving quickly, from one car chase to another, the emphasis of this movie when not on the cars is very much on "we are a family" so much so that it must be mentioned about half a dozen times in between car chases.
A reasonably enjoyable couple of hours, the acting is passable, and as long as you leave your brain at the door and don't question it too much then this is a decent film, although clearly designed just to make as much money as possible rather than make any statement about the world we live in.
Judging by the scene just after the closing credit Jason Statham is already lined up for F&F 7 I'll leave it up to you to decide if that is a good or bad thing, my only major issue with this is that If you have seen the trailer then you probably don't need to see the film 7.5/10
On the Subject of the trailer, the idea of a trailer is to draw you into the movie and make you want to see it, without giving away crucial parts of the story. Having now seen the film, the trailer for Fast and Furious 6 includes the end of the film, in fact even though I have not seen the previous 5 films, I almost knew too much about what was happening.
You have to suspend a bit of belief in reality, would you really be able to race cars that fast in London Traffic? and just how long is that runway? but on the whole the plot is good and keeps moving quickly, from one car chase to another, the emphasis of this movie when not on the cars is very much on "we are a family" so much so that it must be mentioned about half a dozen times in between car chases.
A reasonably enjoyable couple of hours, the acting is passable, and as long as you leave your brain at the door and don't question it too much then this is a decent film, although clearly designed just to make as much money as possible rather than make any statement about the world we live in.
Judging by the scene just after the closing credit Jason Statham is already lined up for F&F 7 I'll leave it up to you to decide if that is a good or bad thing, my only major issue with this is that If you have seen the trailer then you probably don't need to see the film 7.5/10
Thursday 9 May 2013
Star Trek Into Darkness
Ever since I saw the first trailer for Star Trek into Darkness I have been looking forward to this one. So much so that I went to the midnight screening last night. I was hoping to come away from it praising J J Abrams on his fine work, but actually find that I can't
If you have seen the trailers, you will know that the film opens with a superb cliff hanger where half the senior staff of Star Fleet are wiped out by a terrorist, and Kirk and the enterprise are sent after him, at this point however the film falls apart, without going into lots of detail and posting lots of spoilers, what follows plot wise will upset a lot of fans of the original Star Trek Movies. In an attempt to pay homage to the original movies, the screenwriter has just gone way to far, and almost ruined it. I really want to explain, but can't without posting major spoilers and ruining the plot for those of you who have not seen it.
I did have a couple of other niggles, particularly in the London sequence at the start, by the time of world and intergalactic government I'm pretty sure the Union Jack will not be flying from buildings, and also a sequence later on in the film where the laws of physics are basically ignored.
On the plus side, Benedict Cumberbatch is superb as John Harrison, as Villains go, its probably the best performance since Javier Bardem in Skyfall.
If you have never seen the Original Movies and your knowledge of Star Trek starts with the 2009 movie, then I'm sure you will enjoy this immensely, The acting is good and the action comes thick and fast, but for any true Star Trek fans the storyline will just annoy you, which is a shame because this really could have been a great movie 6/10
If you have seen the trailers, you will know that the film opens with a superb cliff hanger where half the senior staff of Star Fleet are wiped out by a terrorist, and Kirk and the enterprise are sent after him, at this point however the film falls apart, without going into lots of detail and posting lots of spoilers, what follows plot wise will upset a lot of fans of the original Star Trek Movies. In an attempt to pay homage to the original movies, the screenwriter has just gone way to far, and almost ruined it. I really want to explain, but can't without posting major spoilers and ruining the plot for those of you who have not seen it.
I did have a couple of other niggles, particularly in the London sequence at the start, by the time of world and intergalactic government I'm pretty sure the Union Jack will not be flying from buildings, and also a sequence later on in the film where the laws of physics are basically ignored.
On the plus side, Benedict Cumberbatch is superb as John Harrison, as Villains go, its probably the best performance since Javier Bardem in Skyfall.
If you have never seen the Original Movies and your knowledge of Star Trek starts with the 2009 movie, then I'm sure you will enjoy this immensely, The acting is good and the action comes thick and fast, but for any true Star Trek fans the storyline will just annoy you, which is a shame because this really could have been a great movie 6/10
Saturday 4 May 2013
The Place Beyond The Pines
It is extremely unusual for a film to open in my local small cinema 3 weeks after its UK release, the fact that cineworld schedulers saw fit to put this on in Southampton is a testament to how well it has done at the box office in the larger multiplex cinemas. considering this film had little media and trailer coverage its success has been from word of mouth and the draw of it 2 lead actors and rightly so with superb performances from Ryan Gosling for the first hour and Bradley Cooper for the 2nd half. Following his performance in Silver Linings playbook the latter is fast becoming one of my favorite actors.
The performances of the two younger actors, Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen are also exceptional.
This is a very raw and emotional movie, It is much less pleasing on the eye than other films one for the purists to enjoy the acting ability of its stars. The best film currently in the Cinema 9/10
The performances of the two younger actors, Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen are also exceptional.
This is a very raw and emotional movie, It is much less pleasing on the eye than other films one for the purists to enjoy the acting ability of its stars. The best film currently in the Cinema 9/10
All Stars
All Stars is one of the latest crop of streetdance type movies. The trouble with this genre of film is that they are terribly predictable, The Youth club is under threat, throw in a love interest sub.plot and you probably know where this is going.
If you enjoy this type of movie, then this is a decent example, The dancing is good, particularly the special effects during the daydream sequences. However like all movies of this genre acting ability is sacrificed for dancing ability.
On the whole despite its failings this is fairly easy on the eye and a pretty decent watch 7.5/10
If you enjoy this type of movie, then this is a decent example, The dancing is good, particularly the special effects during the daydream sequences. However like all movies of this genre acting ability is sacrificed for dancing ability.
On the whole despite its failings this is fairly easy on the eye and a pretty decent watch 7.5/10
21 & Over
I have not really enjoyed the Hangover movies, so when I saw the trailer for 21 & over I really didn't think it would be any good. However O was pleasantly surprised.
The narrative arc of the film works quite well and keeps you interested, some of the jokes are funny without being cringeworthy in the same way as the Hangover films.
This does have its problems, the acting is pretty wooden in places, but on the whole its worth a watch, I particularly enjoyed the closing scene 7/10
The narrative arc of the film works quite well and keeps you interested, some of the jokes are funny without being cringeworthy in the same way as the Hangover films.
This does have its problems, the acting is pretty wooden in places, but on the whole its worth a watch, I particularly enjoyed the closing scene 7/10
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