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22nd March 2015 20:00

Dreamworks....I expect better!

Tip 1: When giving your film a title, do not call it something where people would rather be that watching your film

Tip 2: When filling the trailer with all the bits that made you giggle, make sure there is something left for the film

Tip 3: Don't just think, "Well it is only for kids, so we don't need to try too hard"

I am a fan of Dreamworks, and they have had some great animated films recently, but Home just felt lazy, disjointed, scatty and very, very dull despite it's colourful palette.

When a cowardly alien race, The Boov, invade earth and move all of it's inhabitants to Australia whilst they are cowardly running away from another destructive, more powerful race, Oh befriends a human "survivor" called Tip.  The two find themselves on a similar quest of discovery.  

Oh is voiced by Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory fame, and is the same annoying character, only with broken English phrases.  Talking as disjointedly as the plot, "Can I come into the Out now" when trapped in a freezer or "I'm waving my hands in the air like I just don't care" whilst listening to  Rhianna.  These all start with a smile at the beginning of the film but then just get annoying as it progresses

My main issue with Home is how misaligned and scatty is actually is, it seems like there have been massive scenes cut for length, or because they were even more unfunny than the rest of the released article.

Both Clare and I left really disappointed with the film

One reason we chose the 8 o'clock showing on a Sunday night was to get a better experience from the film without hundreds of hyped up children running amok, we were amazed when a family with two children came into the audience.  The film would finish just past 10 on a Sunday night! why oh why were these children in the showing? - Sorry, that is a little rant for me!

Still Alice

20th March 2015 20:40 Bolton

With quite a full audience and tissues at the ready, Clare and I were under prepared for an Oscar winning performance, and it turns out Kirsten Stewart can do some acting as well!

Learning that she has an early form of familial Alzheimer disease, Alice,  a linguistic professor slowly deteriorates whilst trying to hold on to the things that make her life worth living.  With three grown children and happily married for years, the relationships are tested as the degenerative disease becomes more and more relentless.

Julianne Moore plays the role of Alice perfectly.  I luckily have not experienced this disease within the family and hope I never get to.  Watching her slowly lose significant pieces of her life, personality and meaning was just heartbreaking.  The strong bond with her daughters and son kept her going and the relationship with Alec Baldwin, her husband, was played perfectly.  Wanting to offer support, but watching his wife slowly lose everything that is important to her.

A couple of scenes really stand out, whilst Alice is presenting a speech to the Alzheimer's group broke my heart, the moisture in the cinema really went up at this point, not a dry eye in the place, and backstage at her daughters performance onstage just ripped at the heart strings again.

I can fully agree with Julianne Moore's Oscar award for best actress from her portray as Alice, but think the Kirsten Stewart deserves a little nod as well.  When she first came on screen as the delinquent daughter, I was ready for wooden acting, but I think working with talent such as JM, something must have rubbed off.

Great film, but don't go to watch if you are feeling extra emotional

Run All Night

13th March 2015 18:10 Bolton

With the recent bombardment of Liam Neeson films all following the same "Taken" premise, we went into Run All Night expecting nothing much more than a particular set of skills and someone being boshed by a geriatric specialist.

Run all night portrays our Liam as a retired mob hitman with a number of kills under his belt that are haunting him, a family (son) that wants nothing to do with him and a mob boss that respects him and loves him like a brother.  When a drug deal goes awry, Liam's son gets dragged into the mix and a hit put on his head, he must turn to his father for help to survive the night.

I actually enjoyed Run All Night, it didn't seem as daft as the Taken franchise or Non-Stop, Walk Amongst the Tombstones films have gone.  It actually seemed to care about the dynamics between characters.  With Liam having to kill his best friend's son to protect his own raises a good amount of tension, and Ed Harris is great as usual as the mob boss.  I would have loved a little more on the professional hitman Price, as he seemed to appear and disappear as the film needed him, but the story flowed well and the tension mounted.

A pre-finale showdown similar to Heat, but replacing the planes with trains and a tense cabin in the woods finish kept the momentum going for the run time.  I wasn't bored at any point, was interested to know where the film was going, and wondering where Price got his nightvision Google Glasses from?

It is definitely an improvement over the last batch of Brian Mills films, and a good night's entertainment.

Liam's son is likable to the point you actually care about what happens to him and the cameo from Nick Nolte playing the same role as he did in the awesome film "Warrior", and Liam is not as invincible as Brian Mills which makes a welcome change

Chappie

6th March 2015: 20:00 Bolton

A futuristic Jeremy Kyle show

I went into Chappie expecting a rip off of the classic (but not that good) Short Circuit.  Chappie is alive, so is Johnny 5!  I watched District 9 as part of my IMDB 250 film challenge, and recently endured through Elysium but I still had high hopes for Chappie.

Set in a very near future, Robots have joined the police force to tackle the increasing crime rate in South Africa and young developer (Dev Patel) is working on making the "Robocop's" fully AI. Wanting to test his new found programme he steals a rejected broken droid.  Unfortunately on his way home he himself is kidnapped by a gang of criminals who learn of his robot passenger.  Forcing him to input his new programme and create Chappie.

This is were the social aspect comes in, the new born Chappie needs to learn (similar to Johnny 5's input!), he is like a new born child, learning from his "parents".  The only thing is, his parents are criminals with no social skills, he is raised in a chavvy, Jeremy Kyle reject family.  Mummy wants the best for him, but is not strong enough to teach him right from wrong, and Daddy uses him to better his life of crime.  When Dev Patel returns to teach Chappie the better things in life, he has already taken a downward spiral, swearing, showing little respect and adopting the style of the gangsters he is living with.

Chappie has some great moments and he is really endearing to watch as he "grows", but as the main cast are a bunch of criminals who you don't really like and they are facing off against a gang that you like even less there is not much connection with the characters.  Don't even get me started on Hugh Jackman, who did not belong in this film, he was a constant distraction and I could never take someone serious in a management position who came to work in shorts and socks pulled up to the knees.

The CGI of Chappie is fantastic, I was convinced that he was real and Sharlto Copley voiced and acted him perfectly.  There are some very funny moments throughout the film

With Niell Blomkamp rumoured to be directing the next alien film in the franchise I am still a little apprehensive, Chappie was good ,but nowhere near the brilliance of District 9

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

01 March 2015 - 11:15 Bolton

With the smell of Wintergreen, Werther's Originals and Old Spice, Clare and I, definitely the younger of the audience by far, sat in the excessively large cinema eagerly awaiting the continued adventures of the decaying cast.

The day before we had watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel from a recording on Film 4 and thoroughly enjoyed it.  A group of aged individuals decide to pack up their lives in the UK and move to a "retirement village" in Jaipur, India.  Although the plans are in a very early stage and the young hotel manager has serious delusions of grandeur the gaggle of grannies decide to stay on and make a new life at the hotel.  Distinguished gentleman find their charms work at a local social club, Cultural learnings are matched in call centres and Dame Maggie Smith's skills with working the books is fruitful for the hotel in the long run.  Not really much happens in the film, but we both thoroughly enjoyed it and the characters were all completely lovable (except Bill Nighy's wife)

With most of the cast back for the second outing, and new comers like the Silver Fox Richard Gere, our favourite over ambitious Hotelier is looking to expand his business and buy a second hotel, also he is trying to plan his wedding to the beautiful Sunaina.  Throw into the mix the Hotel Inspector plot from Faulty Towers and chaos will ensue.  

Whereas the first film seemed to be about finding life at an older age, the 2nd best seemed to try and put more story, rivalry and threat into the film as well as the usual Maggie Smith complaining (which is just brilliant).  I was happy to spend time with Judi, Bill, Ronald, Celia and Sonny, but the story seemed a little too chaotic at some points.

I think the original film worked because of the lack of major plot points, twists and turns and just that it was a nice, feel good film.  The Second outing seemed to try really hard, and sometime fell flat.  I must say, I came out of this film with a real urge to go to India, and with Clare already having been and wishing to go back, I know this is a destination that will be on the cards soon.