Thor: The Dark World

I seem to spend a lot of time reviewing sequels having not seen the first movie, So I took opportunity of the Thor & Thor: The Dark World double bill to ensure that I have seen both.

The other thing I tend to say a lot when reviewing sequels when I have seen the original is that it's not as good as the first film. Thor is perhaps one of those exceptions where the sequel is better than the original.

With a lot of the soul searching and character building done and out of the way in Thor. The Dark World is a much more set piece superhero action movie, and more what you expect when watching a Marvel Movie, with an increase of threat and tension than the original, this feels like a proper superhero film.

Performances in both movies from Hemsworth and Portman are excellent, the storyline is great, some amusing jokes littered throughout and with a closing line that poses far more questions than it answers, the franchise is nicely set up for Thor 3 and/or Avengers 2.

If you are a Marvel Fan, then I probably don't need to say you will enjoy this, but even if you are not a huge superhero fan, this is still a very good watch 9/10

One Chance

One Chance is a biopic of Paul Potts, the opera singer who won the first series of Britain's Got Talent. Starring James Corden as Paul, it tells his story from childhood through opera school in Venice up to winning BGT in 2007.

This film has many flaws, Corden's central performance is lacking that extra something and at times is quite wooden, and Colm Meaney (an Irishman) attempting a Welsh accent is at times annoying. The highlight for me is Julie Walters as Paul's mum Yvonne, who is superb as ever.

The storyline is interesting, clearly most of the audience will know the end of the story, but the first 3/4 of this film are interesting and new. However the thing that ruined the whole movie for me was the BGT Audition sequence.  I appreciate that they have edited together original tv footage of Judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan, with new footage of Corden as Potts, but it just does not work for me, it doesn't quite hang together. Also I understand that in any "based on a true story" film some dramatic licence is required, but the idea that the BGT auditions are broadcast live is patently ridiculous. 

An interesting story, but let down by average acting and by its finale. 4/10

UPDATE: Watching the original Paul Potts BGT audition on Youtube has only added to the sense that they have taken what was a superb bit of television and ruined it.

Enders Game

Enders Game, based on the novel by Orson Scott Card, stars Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggan, a shy but brilliant teenage boy who is being trained up to command earths army against an alien race. General Graff (Harrison Ford) is convined that Ender is the boy who will save humanity. 

I found Enders Game to be a very interesting story, with Asa Butterfield putting in a superb performance as Ender, the shy awkward kid, who is a master tactician, Harrison Ford also is superb.

The storyline is interesting, and the characters have a lot of depth, although I did spot the twist on the end coming quite early on, but was never bored as the film held the attention well throughout.

My only issue with this movie is Hailee Steinfeld, who's performance is about as wooden as her portrayal of Juliet.

Something for everyone, Sci-Fi fans will enjoy it, and those who like stories with lots of human emotion will also find lots of things to like in it. A great watch 9/10

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

My reviews of animation on here are getting fairly repetitive, because I enjoyed Wreck it Ralph and The Croods so much earlier this year, it is they that I end up comparing to, and once again this film is not up to the standard.

I have not seen the first film, so I don't have a basis of comparison, but I get the feeling this is a poor sequel. The Characters have little depth, as probably a lot of that was contained in the first film.

The food/animal jokes are funny at first but very quickly become repetitive and boring, and towards the end are met with groans rather than laughter.

It might be a useful half term movie for the kids, but only if they have seen Turbo first 5/10

UPDATE: I have just caught the first film on tv, and the original is much better than the sequel.

Captain Phillips

Based on a true story, Captain Phillips stars Tom Hanks as Captain Richard Phillips, the captain of a container ship that was boarded by Somali Pirates in 2009.

The story was not reported widely in the UK so although I had some idea of the outcome, not knowing exactly how the story ends was helpful.

It would be very easy to make this movie entirely from Richard Phillips point of view, and portray the Pirates as the "bad guys" so it is a massive credit to Paul Greengrass that the pirates are significant characters in the story, and you feel for them as victims as much as Richard Phillips.

You really feel for Phillips who is clearly concerned with the fate of his captors, and the way in which Hanks portrays his caring nature and desire to keep everyone safe, including the Somalis is a superb piece of acting, especially in the closing scenes once the ordeal is over.

Although over two hours long, the film holds the attention throughout, with gripping tension and drama.

This is a great piece of story telling, topped with an excellent lead performance by Hanks, tense and gritty and difficult to watch in places, and the fact that you feel an emotional connection to the Pirates is a massive credit to the Director, a must see movie.  10/10

Turbo

Turbo is an animated film about a garden snail who dreams of becoming a racer, through a freak accident he is exposed to nitrous oxide and is suddenly blessed with super fast speed, using this new gift he enters the Indy 500.

In a year of some great, and some not so great, animation, this fits somewhere in between the two. In the end I left the cinema with a huge smile, but getting to that point felt fairly torturous.

The concept is a great one, and the eventual outcome is brilliantly arrived at, had this been a 15 minute short, then I would perhaps be hailing it as a master piece, but there is not enough in the concept to keep you interested for a whole movie. There is very little in the way of sub plot, so you ultimately know where the film is going almost right from the start.

The characters are great and the ultimate end of the film is superb, but there is not enough of a storyline to make a feature film 6/10

Le Week-end

Le Week-end stars Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan as Nick and Meg a couple who head to Paris for the weekend for their 30th Wedding Anniversary, their marriage is clearly in trouble from the start, and as the Kids have now left home they attempt to find their feelings for each other.

This is a film with a lot of issues, firstly it goes nowhere, the relationship between Nick and Meg is as unresolved at the end of the Movie as it is in the beginning. Secondly it is far from original, it has been done many times before, and a lot better. Hope Springs from this time last year is a much funnier film, with much the same storyline.

There are a few good laughs along the way, mostly at the expense of Birmingham, and perhaps this wants to be a more serious piece than I am giving it credit for. Broadbent's speech at the dinner party is very good, with an honesty about it, and the characters of Nick and Meg are very well drawn with lots of issues. The Jeff Goldblum Character however is just stereotypically Jeff Goldblum, I'm not sure he knows how to play anything else.

I may not be the target audience demographic for this movie, but I struggled to enjoy it. If you want a older married couple discovering their love for each other movie, I suggest you fire up Netflix and watch Hope Springs 3/10

Romeo & Juliet

This adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with screenplay written by Julian Fellowes is the classic love story, where previous adaptations have sought to update the language to more modern English, Fellowes sticks to the original Shakespeare play, which in some ways is great, but it does not aid the understanding when you have to think about and sometimes decipher what was said.

The seasoned actors in supporting roles, such as Damien Lewis and Paul Giamatti put in much better performances than Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth in the title roles. Both the leads look beautiful but the chemistry between them is lacking. There is no spark or passion and that, unfortunately is the main downfall of this movie.

On the plus side, I'm not really a connoisseur of music in film, so the fact that I am even noticed the score enough to mention it means it must have made an impression, so credit to Abel Korzeniowski for his music.

There are much better versions of Romeo and Juliet, this suffers from a lack of spark and believable romance 4/10

The Fifth Estate

The Fifth Estate is a film about the rise of Wikileaks, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange and Daniel Brúhl as Daniel Berg. It is based on the Novel by Daniel Berg, and is quite clearly told from his point of view. Assange himself has said that the film is untrue and biased. At the end of the film, there is a short clip from an interview with cumberbatch playing Assange where he emplores the viewer to seek out truth, and not to accept everything you are told, this almost seems to be a bit of a concession to Assange, and can be taken as don't except everything your Governments tell you, but also don't believe everything you have just seen in this film.

Assange is portrayed as an uncaring, egotistical man, Who is driven by self promotion and self interest. Whilst I'm sure a lot of this is based on some understanding of the man himself, It is clearly a very biased viewpoint.

The performances of Cumberbatch and Brúhl are great, with the latter adding to his rising stock after a fine performance as Niki Lauda in Rush.

The main issue with this film is it's plot, there does not seem to be any great sense of Momentum, with much of the plot played out in irc chat rooms and no real tension, it lacks the sense of threat and danger that is really needed to get the audience to engage with the plot.

The US government discussion scenes are not nearly strong enough, I can't believe that the conversations around the table when the War Logs and cables were leaked were that calm.

Great performances, but failed by a poor script, the film never feels like it is going anywhere 6/10

Filth

Filth, Starring James McAvoy, is an adaptation of a novel by Irving Welsh.

Regular readers of my blog will know my views on sex and violence in film, but with Irving Welsh you know what to expect before you enter the cinema. I had considered adding Filth to my growing boycott list, for that reason, but it has had so many great reviews, that I felt I had to see it and make up my own mind.

Set in Edinburgh, it tracks the fall of Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson, who is in line for a promotion to Inspector, and will do anything to eliminate the competition.

McAvoy is superb as Robertson, as he goes about ruining his own life, and many of those around him, with descent into Drug, Alcohol, and sexual pleasure addiction.

The screenplay is great, with some very crude jokes along the way, It is a very difficult novel to film, as parts of the book are narrated by a tapeworm, and the way in which that is used in the film is interesting.

I also enjoyed the fact that the film leaves you guessing right up to the last second as to the eventual outcome, right up until the closing credits I didn't know if he would get the help he needed, or if his lifestyle would eventually destroy him.

However, I did feel that there is something missing that turns a good film into a great film. It is certainly not as good as Trainspotting, some of the minor characters are not very well drawn after the opening scenes where we are introduced to them, and the twist/reveal regarding Robertson's wife was just a little bit off the wall, I have not read the book so don't know how that is handled in the Novel, but I'm not sure about the way it is revealed in the screenplay.

If you enjoyed Trainspotting you will definitely enjoy this, but its just lacking that little extra something 8/10

Sunshine on Leith

Sunshine on Leith is a musical based on the Songs of The Proclaimers. It follows Davy and Ally, 2 Scottish soldiers returning home to Edinburgh after a tour of Afghanistan. It follows their relationships with Girlfriends and parents and siblings etc.

This is a film with many issues, the singing is very poor, and autotuned to within an inch of its life, and the acting between songs is almost as bad, and the plot is contrived in order to meet the demands of the songbook.

However, it is so rubbish that actually it is brilliantly entertaining, my head was telling me it is all wrong, but my heart went with it. despite not being a huge fan of the Proclaimers, and therefore not knowing some of the songs.

If you are a Proclaimers fan, you will enjoy this immensely, If you loved Mamma Mia I'm sure you will enjoy this too. For film making 4/10 for Entertainment 10/10

How I Live Now

Saoirse Ronan stars as Daisy, an American teenager sent to live with her cousins on a farm in Rural England, just as War breaks out and London is hit by a nuclear bomb. The cousins are then split up during an evacuation and we follow Daisy as she attempts to get herself and her young cousin Piper back home to the farm.

Whilst this film is quite harrowing in places, and deals with some tough subject matter of how civilians would be treated in a war situation, you have to be quite forgiving to follow the plot, lots of things are left unexplained, we are given no information about the "war" apart from the fact it is happening, so is it world war 3 or just internal terrorism? It is very confusing as to the nature of the threat, although the opposing forces seem to have a highly organised army.

The opening sequence of Daisy arriving at the airport is almost deliberately amateurism, the opening credits do not befit a film dealing with complex issues of death and destruction, and initially the terse set-up with Daisy not wanting to be there is extremely off-putting.

As the film goes through and once the plot gets going post nuclear bomb, the acting improves, and the film begins to show its true potential.

There are still a few niggles, such as Daisy leaving Piper on her own out in the open when there are plenty of places to tell her to hide, and the Hawk is just an unnecessary addition that adds little other than a convenient contrivance.

Worth a watch, stick with it through the opening half hour of setup because it does improve 7/10

Runner Runner

Justine Timberlake stars as Ritchie in Runner Runner, a modern take on a old story. When he loses thousands of Dollars on online poker he realises he has been cheated, and travels to Costa Rica to draw it to the attention of the Website owner Ivan Block, played by Ben Affleck. Block takes Ritchie under his wing and gives him a Job, but everything is not as it seems.

Runner Runner is an engaging gritty movie that moves along at pace and holds the attention throughout, however it suffers from a degree of predictability, so I found myself often one step ahead of the movie, and I'm not usually the most observant cinema goer.

The storyline is interesting, and keeps the right side of believability, with decent performances from Timberlake and, in particular, Gemma Arterton, this is a a decent film, but lacks that little extra that turns a good film into a great one 8/10