Everyone's favourite serial rapist and alcoholic is back, and this time it is his destiny
After the enjoyable Spkyfall, although it's ridiculous Home Alone style ending, and all the hype surrounding Bond's new adventure I was eagerly waiting what lay ahead. Gratuitous product placement, over the top villains and henchmen and frikkin sharks with frikkin laser beams.
The opening scene in Mexico is awesome, straight to the point and with an aerial stunt show that was truly breathtaking....then it all just kind of stopped, slowed right down and then that was it for another 2 hours, just nothing.
The Daniel Craig Bond series has all been leading to this, everything that has happened has been orchestrated by one person. All the villains he has encountered have all been pawns in Blofeld Oberhauser's main plan of revenge. I'm sorry, but what happened to the classic style of Bond going doing a mission with an over the top bad guy and his ridiculous henchmen, elaborate ways of torture and non-connective story lines? Why does it all have to be destiny and foreshadowing? Bond is about a mission to stop world domination from a maniacal badguy that has plans to destroy the world's gold or cornering the market of microchips, with henchmen that are ridiculous yet brilliant, a man with a razor sharp hat, razor teeth, or so little they can hide in boxes.
Dave Bautista henchman enters the room as a formidable force and is quickly subject to a slow/fast car chase scene through the streets of Rome, he then keeps turning up time after time at Bond's heels and offers serious threat. He is underutilised throughout the film, he could have been this series' answer to Odd Job or Jaws.
I was sat in a full audience at Cineworld Leigh and next to me was a pure Bond fan, he whooped at the references to bonds of old and hollered at new gadgets added to the arsenal but when the big reveal happened, the one that no one expected, his gasp of shock and awe could have been heard in cinema's across the land. I felt like turning to him at this point and saying, "You are obviously a Bond fan, was this "reveal" not evident to you from the very beginning, even from the trailer you obviously watched to get you here!?", it is the worst shock reveal since Khan. I laughed at the ridiculousness of it all, I'm sorry, I am a mediocre fan, I have enjoyed Bond through the ages, but I saw that coming months and months ago so it was hardly a shock!
Spectre seems to have all the fanboys and license to kill bias on it's side and I feel that I will be in the minority for not liking this film, but I am happy to stay in this minority. There are far more enjoyable films out there with similar styles that just do it better.
Let me just put this out there, after an opening aerial spectacular our loveable hero must go rogue to stop a rouge nation of criminals from causing destruction around the planet. He must team up with his computer geek and technical wizard colleague and a mysterious women with hidden agenda. All sound a little familiar? The only difference is, this one was a fun and enjoyable romp, whereas Spectre was just a little dull.
It is always a boost of ego when someone else notices a similar trend and reports on it.
I watch a few movie reviewers on youtube and Schmoes Know said pretty much what I said in this review..even including the Mission Impossible connections
I have to admit something, I watched the original Paranormal Activity before all the hype. I watched it alone in my apartment, very late at night and it gave me serious chills. Yes, Katie is a little annoying and not very well acted, but the impact was perfectly fitted to my surroundings.
The subsequent sequels/prequels were not very good at all though - missing the whole idea of the first. The infamous Paranormal Activity Subwoofer tone gives all the weak jump scares less impact, the reasons behind the protagonists desire to keep filming gets ridiculous and the timeline and continuity gets sillier and sillier. Yet, here I am, sat in the cinema waiting for the 5th part of the franchise to begin. I am part of the problem and the reason these films keep getting made, and for that I am truly sorry, and I promise that I will fuel this franchise no more.
It was terrible, the premise is ridiculous, the characters very annoying, the jump scares are weak and obvious, but the main flaw is the over-use of visual effects. The first film in the franchise uses very little visual effects and lets the viewer imagine their own horror. The "Toby" character become more and more computer generated until it became laughable.
At one point at a climactic chase the camera is dropped and one of the fleeing party shouts, "leave the camera, we don't need it". Even then, the gargantuan, "It's so big", camera is picked up and carried again, obviously causing the runner to be slowed down due to it's huge hindrance.
Again, the Horror Season of films is a real let down and the franchise or jump scare films are taking over! Bring back real horror films, please!
It was time to go back, back to 1885, we needed to save the Doc!
I had always considered part three of the time travelling trilogy to be the weaker, but watching as a full marathon I appreciated it a lot more than I remembered. The clever nods to little quips mentioned in the previous two films, like Uncle Joey or the accident with the Rolls Royce and the little homages to the earlier installments such as the repetition of scenes and the railroad model not being to scale. Back to the Future Part III really holds it's own within the franchise, and in some parts it definitely surpasses the futuristic middle sibling.
The soundtrack is obviously a massive part of the trilogy and Alan Silvestri has a definite style. Whilst we were watching the previous two installments it was hard not to get excited at the main theme, but little sections of the tense music sounded far too similar to Predator (also composed by Mr Silvestri). It was great to get a Western twist to the music for the concluding episode, giving the synonymous riffs a Rio Grande composition just added to the style of the film. Also, throwing ZZ Top into the mix as the performing band at the clock tower gig was a little touch I didn't realise as a younger viewer.
There are a few theories out there about the real reasons behind the BTTF trilogy and I had read one of these just before going in to the marathon. This theory has further added fuel to the story and given it even more gravitas in my mind, I think I even added more to the hypothesis.
At the start of the trilogy, Marty is at Doc Brown's house plugging in his guitar to the amplifier. He receives a call from the Doc who indicates that his "experiment worked" as the clocks are 25 minutes slow. This could mean that Doc Brown has used his time travel machine and carried out a similar experiment similar to the one done with Einstien the dog later that evening. In this time travel experiment, Doc Brown travels a day into the future and sees he is married with two children to Clara Clayton, but how does he meet her?
The Doc realises that to meet Clara he must first send Marty back to 1955 to inspire his younger self to create a time machine based on his vision. This would then also allow Marty to break the rules and give him a letter advising to wear a bullet proof vest. He then must take Marty to the future and show him the shop with the Sports Almanac and then lure Marty away from the Delorean for Biff to take it back in time. This timeline encourages Marty to go back to 1955 to steal back and destroy the almanac, and thus knowing when lightning would be present sending the Doc back to 1885 in order to meet Clara. He then needs the components from two time machines to develop the "Time-Train" so sends Marty a message to come back to 1885 with the second Delorean and hoverboard, thus completing the meeting of Clara and giving him the tools to create a vessel to travel beyond.
So, the whole trilogy is a love story about The Doc wanting to meet the love of his life
Heavy!
But one question does remain....how scary is Doc Brown and Clare's son Verne and what is he actually indicating to Marty!!!!
So, the real reason we were all sat in the audience, the reason that Cineworld had opted to show the Back to the Future Trilogy on this specific day. October 21st 2015, where we're going, we don't need roads!
When I watch Back to the Future Part II back in 1989 I would have been 10 years old. The thought of magical 3D cinema was a red and green bespectacled pipe dream, computer tablet devices that fit in your hand and were completely mobile defied all logic against my Commodore 64 behemoth and with a brother actively into the skateboarding scene (although not very good at it), I could not wait till the launch of Matel's own hoverboards.
With the exception of consumer priced pitt-bulls and hover boards, things seem to have caught up rather well. Cinema is flooded with the hunt for the next successful franchise, 3D films are gimmicky and colour drained, and people hardly look up any more as they are glued to their iphones and tablets. The Future depicted in Part II of the trilogy, although it seems pretty wild by today's standards, also looks very familiar.
As we watched the second film unfold and started to notice clever repetitions of scenes and dialogue, hidden gems in the background and foreshadows of what was to come, we could only admire the level of detail Bob Zemeckis, Bob Gale and the supportive team went to in order to create a believable time paradox. I have seen a few films recently that really struggle to tell a cognitive time travel story without serious flaws like Project Almanac or Terminator Genysis.
Back to the Future Part II really starts to shine though when Marty goes back to 1955 in order to change the dystopian Biff controlled 1985. The path crossing, avoiding one's future or past selves and the repetition of scenes from alternate angles is just brilliant. The original film is expertly done, so to go back to this from another perspective whilst everything is playing out as you remember makes you start to question, did this happen in the original as well just we had an alternate camera angle?
We were two films down and one to go, the weaker cousin of the trilogy, but still a strong finish....let's go back to 1885
As part of Back to the Future Day, Bolton Cineworld decided to show the full trilogy in all it's glory on the big screen. As a fan of the films be it nostalgic, sentimental or just because they are great fun, I knew this was something I wanted to be part of. Thankfully, I was joined on this epic journey by my time travelling companion Rosh (Roshtakular).
There is no point me reviewing BTTF on this blog as if you haven't seen Marty and the Doc's adventures then all I can say is you are definitely missing out on something great from film history. If you have seen them before, then you don't need me to tell you about them.
Being a fan of the franchise from an early age, I have always had a fascination with the technology and styles from the films. Notably the Delorean time machine, hover-boards, and multiple Jaws sequels. Recently at a comicon I got to sit in a Delorean whilst wearing a "Life Vest" surrounded by movie memorabilia.
Whilst in Los Angeles, Clare and I went to Universal Studios and in particular the Back Lot Studio Tour. On this tour, we visited Amity Island, The Bates Motel, Wisteria Lane and of course Hill Valley. Driving down the main town street over shadowed by the infamous Clock Tower one could not help but feel a little privileged to be on this special tour (even though thousands do the same every day). Clare has since noticed from watching films that the set is used for multiple scenes from a variety of different view points, but she still refers to them as "ooh look, it is the Back to the Future street".
So as you can probably tell, The Back to the Future franchise holds a dear place in my heart. As a film lover and nostalgia fan, it is something that ticks the right boxes. Thankfully, Mr Zemeckis still holds the rights to this and has refused to ever do a reboot, remake or re-imagining so the films will always remain as a positive nostalgic love rather than a tainted money grab....
Thank you Cineworld for letting our 80's film loving brains be overwhelmed by large silver screened classics such as this and it's sequels and I look forward to the next outing....maybe another marathon from a Galaxy Far Far Away????
The Hermoine School of Acting award being done to perfection by it's founder
Regression starts with a title card stating that the following film is "inspired" by true events, and the closing card says, everything was make believe and nonsense. This is not a plot spoiler as firstly there is no plot to spoil and secondly the dialogue and attempt at a thriller falls short as soon as Emma Watson starts reading her lines (she sure doesn't act)
Ethan Hawk plays the same down beaten detective as we have been accustomed to, and he is dragged into a possible satanical abuse ritualistic case in which a 17 year old girl has been allegedly suspect to foul play. With rising suspicion of everyone and twists and turns a plenty, Regression should have been at least semi interesting...it wasn't
I found myself becoming aware of how uncomfortable seat J14 was, how much vimto I had left in my drink bottle and wondering how many lights were on in the cinema rather than the ridiculous intrigue on screen. I stayed with the film till the conclusion hoping for something that I didn't expect from the start, i could have left after 10 minutes and still have experienced the full film.
At least Hermoine showed us she still has it though, the perfect skill of not bothering to act at all and getting away with it.
I have always been a fan of Monty Python (last year being a real highlight), and The Holy Grail is a highly quoted film within the cousin community (especially with Bro and Cousin Gill), so imagine how happy I was when Cineworld Bolton announced that they would be showing the sing along version of The Holy Grail.
There is no point me reviewing this film as it is a classic comedy that even if you haven't seen it, you will no doubt know some of the quotes from the film, as there are that many.
I was joined in the audience by a select few (about 30 people) of Python Fans, one who had a guffaw laugh and would preempt each scene with a subtle chortle knowing what lay ahead and then a huge belly laugh at every punchline....annoying as this may sound, it purely added to the whole experience. Knowing that the silly humour is still great to this day, even though a little outdated and nostalgic.
There were no audience members under the age of 35 though, which is a sad thing. Are the younger generation discounting Monty Python as just a bunch of fuddy duddy old dudes and regarding them as out-of-touch...or am I reading too much into this?
My one gripe is with Cineworld Bolton themselves. The subtitles and lyrics where not displayed correctly...or at all, as they were cut from the bottom of the screen. I knew they were there because you could just see the tops of the letters, but that was it. One of the initial jokes is to do with the "people responsible for the subtitles being sacked" but as the previous subtitles where not clearly seen this was just a nostalgic giggle for those that remembered what they actually said from previous home viewings.
Everyone's favourite serial rapist and alcoholic is back, and this time it is his destiny
