The 100 Foot Journey

The 100 Journey is not a film to watch on an empty stomach, there are scenes that may be best described as food porn.

As for the film itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Helen Mirren puts in a wonderful performance as Madame Mallory in a tale of cultures colliding. The storyline moves along at a pace that keeps the viewer interested and I found myself caring for these characters.

The opening sequence introducing the Indian Characters at the immigration counter sets up the film really well, I particularly enjoyed the joke about qualifications. Whilst this is not primarily a comedy, it has some fun light hearted moments.

This is one of the best films currently in the cinema, if you are deciding what to watch this week, consider this first 9.5/10

The Boxtrolls

With the postponement of Pixar's The Good Dinosaur it has been a poor summer for Kids Movies, with little of quality on offer. It is, perhaps, a shame therefore that The Boxtrolls was not released a month earlier, as I think it could have done well in the Summer Holidays.

It tells the story of Boxtrolls, inventive and misunderstood creatures that live in cardboard boxes and survive by using things Humans throw away. As family movies go, this is a decent example of good storytelling, with lots of moral lessons embedded within it.

Whilst maybe not being the best animated feature film, it is certainly better than anything else released this summer, and should keep the kids entertained 7/10

Before I go to Sleep

The Amnesiac movie is not new, and variations of this type of film have been done many times before, this particular version sees Nicole Kidman recording her daily thoughts in a video diary in order to try and remember who attacked her and caused the injuries relating to her memory loss.

This is a fast paced thriller and full of plot twists, however it suffers from a distinct lack of suspense as the plot twists are so obviously set-up that when the facts were finally revealed it only confirmed what I had already worked out for myself. For me a good twist needs to come from left field and not be so obvious as to be unsurprising.

This is worth a watch, Kidman puts in a decent performance, but it is largely forgettable and goes firmly in the average bracket 6/10

Sex Tape

I know I have probably said this before but I really should stop judging films based on their trailer. In my review of Lets Be Cops the other day I stated that I didn't think Sex Tape would improve the quality of what has been a poor Summer. I was wrong.

This is one of the surprises of the year, and the hardest I have laughed for quite some time. Regular readers of my blog will know that I am a big fan of realistic observational comedy, and this film has it in spades. Given Jennifer Lawrence's issues with the Cloud in the last few days, the timing of this film could not have been much better, and that adds to the fun of it.

Obviously given the subject matter this is quite crude in places and maybe not to everyones tastes, it contains a lot of swearing and sex, that said, you know what you are expecting just from the title.

This is easily the best comedy the year so far 9/10

Lets Be Cops

It's been a poor Summer for the Movie fan, there has been very little of quality and Lets be Cops is a prime example.

There are several occasions during this movie where you know that things just would not happen like that, especially early on.

The only redeeming feature of this film is the final resolution, which means I left the Cinema with a smile, but the previous 90 minutes are so poor that an uplifting ending is not enough, I had given up with it long before.

Next up is Sex Tape, out on Wednesday, I don't hold out much hope that the quality is going to get much better 3/10

Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For

I just didn't get it, I know it's based on a graphic novel, but that doesn't mean the film needs to look like one. The strange mix of black and white and colour and live action with annimation just doesn't work for me. It only served to take the edge off of much of the violence as it doesn't seem real. Which may actually be a good thing because this film is so casual with it's violence and death that I wonder if the BBFC would pass it in full live action colour.

The Storyline is laughable, and the acting is wooden with lines so cheesy and delivered with no emotion whatsoever.

A good film should show the audience what it wants them to know, the constant exposition via voiceover is really annoying.

All in all I just didn't get it, easily one of the worst films of the year for me 1/10

I'm Back

Apologies for disappearing for a few months, I have still been at the cinema regularly, but commitments and lack of reliable internet access means I didn't get to update this blog. All that is resolved now, so back to posting my reviews, starting with Sin City 2...