Star Wars: The Force Awakens (spoiler-free!)

A New Hope?

Since I'm in the middle of my Top 50 of 2015 countdown, I tried to tell myself that I wouldn't review films I watched in December, and save them for January.  They could last a few more weeks without me writing down my opinions on them.


I just couldn't do it.


Last night, my childhood was reawakened as I finally witnessed my heroes back on the big screen.  None of this Qui-Gon/Dooku/Grievous nonsense; Han, Leia, Chewie, they were reunited and it felt so good!  Even iconic and yet background characters like Admiral Ackbar and Nien Numb got a smile out of me just by appearing on screen.


Finally I was back in the universe that I spent so much time when I was a child.

So what has been happening since the Luke, Han and Leia were partying with Ewoks at the end of Return of the Jedi? 


To avoid some spoilers, let's just say a new evil organisation has risen and the Rebel Alliance is needed just as much as it ever has been.  But in order to make an difference, the Alliance need some plans that are hidden with a droid, BB-8.  The plot ringing any bells so far?


What follows is a beautiful, emotional and exhilarating adventure crossing planets, starships and iconic Corellian freighters. 


It might come across like a checklist of every Star Wars nerd's ideal sequel, but it's necessary to restart this sleeping giant of a franchise.

We are reacquainted with old faces, with the reappearance of Han, Chewie and Leia providing a weight of familiarity and love from the audience that truly is hard to replicate. 


There is the feeling of unspoken hardships and battles in the past in their muted and effortless performances, which honestly brought a tear to this film critic's eye.

We are also introduced to new heroes; the AWOL stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley) making sure BB-8 doesn't fall into the wrong hands, and daring pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) leading the X-Wings in battle whenever they are needed. 


Boyega brings an intensity and earnest nature to the character of Finn as well as a surprisingly comic timing, whilst Ridley initially struggles with the role but eventually settles into her role as the new female protagonist with a lot of potential hidden for the future.


The real surprise comes in Oscar Isaac.  Having never impressed me before in roles such as SuckerPunch and The Bourne Legacy, Isaac appears to be incredibly at home in the Star Wars Universe, bringing an air of cool not seen since a young Han Solo shot Greedo first.

But heroes such as these are only as compelling as the villain facing them and one of the most intriguing parts of The Force Awakens is the guy plastered all over cereal boxes and pencil cases worldwide; Kylo Ren. 


Ren is possibly the most interesting villain the franchise has produced since Darth Vader, and whether it is his petulant and unpredictable attitude or his unique and dramatic background, his story is the most I am most looking forward to watching.

The effects are brilliant and won't be outdone for a long time, as finally seeing the Millennium Falcon diving and swooping will certainly make you feel like you are finally in the dogfights among the TIE Fighters and X-Wings. 


Again, it's like the director J.J. Abrams has asked the fans what they want and just given it to them, all the while making sure there are compelling storylines with fascinating characters at the heart of them.

This isn't to try and say it's perfect as that isn't the case at all.  But it is the film that the fans, and the franchise, have needed since the failures of the prequels.  Once the cobwebs have been shaken loose, it's clear that this is simply a breath of fresh air into a Universe of infinite possibilities.  One that I am eagerly waiting to visit again.

Star Wars is back, ladies and gentlemen, and it's packing a punch.  Like a lightsaber being passed from father to son, it is a film that will be cherished and viewed for years to come.

Rating - 9/10

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Spectre

Skyfallen From Grace

INTRODUCTION

You know what was fantastic about Skyfall?  It didn’t feel like a Bond film.  It was just a fantastically-shot, incredibly-acted, interesting, equally mature and silly spy film.

It didn’t rely on misogyny, fast cars and one-liners to appeal to audiences.  It was an enthralling, intriguing and exciting story of betrayal, honour and retribution, focussed on three very credible actors (Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Javier Bardem) and all thanks to one fantastic director (Sam Mendes).

Despite the fact that owning GoldenEye64 was the pinnacle of coolness growing up in North West England, the Bond films never really enthralled me as I felt they took themselves way too seriously and I couldn't really differentiate between them all.  However I saw the start of the Daniel Craig-era as the perfect time to try again.

Casino Royale grabbed my attention, Quantum of Solace nearly lost it, but Skyfall was easily one of my favourite films of 2012.  It felt like the Bond franchise had grown up.  It was ready to present itself as this new gritty entity, not reliant on campy megalomaniacal villains, silly throw-away gadgets and an overall outdated attitude.

Three years pass and here comes Bond 24, otherwise known as Spectre.  The same cast as Skyfall, the same crew as Skyfall, the same director as Skyfall.  What could go wrong?  Sigh.

PLOT

Spectre takes place in the fallout of Skyfall.  Bond is taking orders from the new M (Ralph Fiennes), trying to uncover the shady operations of the titular 'Spectre' organisation, whilst still saving damsels-in-distress, taking down world-dominating bad guys and… Wait a minute…  I thought we were past this?  I thought Skyfall showed audiences that a Bond film didn’t have to rely so much on the typical 'Bond formula' to be entertaining?

“Nope!  Instead we’re going to revert back to the old method!  Now give us your money!”

ANALYSIS

If the 'Blonde Bond' films have proven anything, it’s that inserting respectable and talented actors into these ridiculous films still achieves impressive performances.  

Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Javier Bardem; all of them credible actors who gave memorable performances.  

So when I heard that Monica Bellucci, Léa Seydoux and mainly Christoph (freaking) Waltz were going to be in Spectre, my expectations rose very high!  But they are given nothing to work with! 

The script is poor, the plot twists are tired ideas that can be seen in other films and the actors are so annoyingly wasted in their roles, especially Monica Bellucci!  At least Seydoux stars in most of the film, and Waltz gets the early creepy and seemingly-omnipotent scenes under his belt before they ruin him, but the incredibly talented and beautiful Bellucci is hardly in the damn film!  

Two scenes and that’s her lot!  She’s just used by Bond for get important information (but not before he beds her first, hours after her husband’s funeral!... The husband that Bond killed by the way!)

The fantastic and versatile Léa Seydoux is unfortunately shelved and used as window-dressing.  Not to be glib but her iconic Spectre moment is walking down the middle of a train’s dinner carriage in a silver dress.  All before falling madly in love with the man who hasn't given her any reason to do so.  It’s just so flimsy.

And that leads me to the man of the hour, Christoph Waltz, the man who we all expect to be Hans Landa, but hasn’t met that standard since he broke onto the scene in Inglorious Basterds and stole our hearts.  Similar to Landa, Waltz’s villainous Franz Oberhauser successfully captivates the audience and appears very much in control of events early on, but just falls flat when it comes to providing genuine menace and a worthy adversary to the world’s number one spy.

That goes double for Dave Bautista’s Mr. Hinx.  Fresh off his amazing portrayal as Drax The Destroyer in Marvel’s off-beat gem Guardians Of The Galaxy, and being a huge WWE fan myself, I was eagerly anticipating Hinx kicking Bond’s ass all over Spectre.  

His size and surprisingly comedic timing, twinned with Hinx’s apparently-signature silver-spiked thumbnails made me excited for the possibility of Hinx going down in Bond-lore as an iconic henchman similar to Jaws or Oddjob.  

However he is given so little to do, it perfectly sums up the problems I had with the film.  There is so much potential in its components and the result is so much more disappointing because of it.

Returning to Waltz’s Oberhauser, his motive is so flimsy and stupid that it just lost all credibility for me.  His methods of torture were ineffective and pointless, his main goal is a petty and immature one; certainly one that doesn’t effectively explain the events of the three previous films and he just doesn't come across like much of an obstacle for Bond to overcome.

Oberhauser confidently explains that he is ‘the author to all [Bond’s] pain’, but it never explains this or goes into detail, and seemingly never will.  There are mentions to the plotpoints of Casino Royale and Skyfall (making sure not to mention the rather mediocre Question of Sport ... Quantum of Solace) but only as pointless nods to the audience.  I’d expect much more detail explaining just a small fraction of his actions when it is apparently Bond’s Big Bad we’re talking about.

COMPARISON

Such failure just shows how Spectre falls short in nearly every area Skyfall flourished.  It disregards all the hard work and effort spent by its previous instalments trying to present the Blonde Bond era as a gritty, realistic and Jason Bourne-like modern spy epic.  I hate to use an example from another franchise, but it felt like The Dark Knight Rises after the brilliance that was The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight struck a certain chord due to the film’s message that sometimes an honourable lie is better than the disappointing truth, when it’s all for ‘the greater good’.  An interesting concept for a blockbuster comic-book adaptation to champion.

However during Bane’s takeover of Gotham in The Dark Knight Rises, he reveals the disappointing truth of Harvey Dent's downfall, causing outrage from the public who are not interested in why they were lied to and all the benefits gained from it.  And then they just move on to trying to defuse a nuclear bomb.  That’s it.  That’s all that’s mentioned of it.

All the good that The Dark Knight did to discuss moral ambiguity and question what is allowed for the sake of the greater good.  Nope, not for The Dark Knight Rises.  Now it’s just “Don’t tell lies! Never ever!” and the poignancy of the ethical quandary just disappears.

Whilst The Dark Knight managed to use a vigilante billionaire and a sociopathic clown to discuss questionable morality and the fairness of chaos, The Dark Knight Rises resorted unnecessary comic-book tropes like a masked maniac holding a city to ransom with a nuclear device.  Not really that ground-breaking or memorable.

WRAP IT UP

That’s how it felt watching Spectre.  Everything that Skyfall did well, Spectre threw it away.  The goodwill a non-fan like me earned, gone in a 120-minute-long instant.  I was left with a very bad taste in my mouth and felt like all my preconceptions about Bond from my youth had returned.

I understand why fans of Bond may adore Spectre and see it as a return to form, but in my opinion, Bond didn’t need to return to anything, it was doing great as it was.  However now with Spectre tying up all it's loose ends, here's hoping that this will be Daniel Craig’s final Bond film, as I feel the franchise needs to be shaken.  Not stirred.

Rating - 3/10

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Fantastic Four

Fantastic For Insomnia

BACKGROUND

The history of the Fantastic Four movies is a long and complicated thing.  But I'll try to be brief...

The Cowlick hairdo was all the rage back then...

Back in 1986, the Constantin Film company bought the movie rights to adapt the comic book supergroup to the big screen.  

However with nothing happening in the eight years after, Roger Corman was hired in 1994 to produce a low-budget film so that the company could retain the rights and not have them revert back to Marvel.  

The Fantastic Four had a trailer and a promotional tour, and even the cast were excited for it's upcoming release, but nothing ever happened... With the film inexplicably shelved, the movie rights were bought by 20th Century Fox.

2005 comes around and the Jessica Alba/Chris Evans-version of Fantastic 4 is released to mediocre reviews but box-office success, resulting in the sequel Fantastic 4: Rise Of The Silver Surfer two years later.  

But since audiences weren't clamouring for a three-quel to this underwhelming super-hero franchise, things then went dark for a few years.

Slowly but surely, the rapidly-expiring movie rights came into contention again.

I can only imagine a shareholder meeting went something like this...

"If another Fantastic Four movie doesn't get made soon, the rights will revert back to Marvel!  You know, those guys who are killing the box-office with their massively impressive and coherent Cinematic Universe!  

We can't let them get their hands on some superheroes who could be included in the next Avengers film!  That'd be terrible for us!  Let's do what we did with those god-awful Amazing Spider-Man films and just throw one together!"

And here we find 2015's Fantastic Four, or FantFourStic as the poster would have you believe...

"PLOT"

When they're freaking ten years old, Reed Richards (Miles Teller) and Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) manage to crack teleportation.  Seriously.  But no one believes them... despite the overwhelming evidence they can produce.

Cut to a few years later, and Dr Franklin Storm recruits Reed to work in his laboratory trying to crack inter-dimensional teleportation.  There he meet the reckless technician Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan), his adopted scientist sister Sue Storm (Kate Mara) and the loner genius Victor Von Doom (Toby Kebbell) who has a crush on Sue.

After figuring out how they can cross into another dimension within days of Reed's arrival, they are told they can't travel though (rightfully, since they're nerds, not astronauts).  So Reed and his team get drunk, behave like idiots and go through anyway!

Whilst there, they get touched by mysterious goop, blah blah blah, Victor gets covered in the stuff, blah blah blah, they come back and they have super-powers! What a shocker, you get the idea...

OPINIONS

Oh my God, this film.  Where to begin...?

This film made me legitimately angry.  Seriously.  At one point I got so frustrated with the confusing mess on screen, I shouted out "DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON?!" quite late on into the film.  

Thankfully I was sat with friends in an empty screening so it was answered with equally confused shakes of the head, and not in my removal from the screen.

The entire film feels like a 100 minute long trailer for another film that never happens.  There are hints at potential tension that never occurs, ruined friendships that just get fixed in an instant and romance triangles that spectacularly never get touched upon.

Remember when things were fun and light-hearted? *sigh*

The main problem stems from the fact the director Josh Trank (director of semi-superhero film Chronicle) wanted to take the film in a realistic and gritty direction, similar to The Dark Knight or Man of Steel, and treating the super-abilities like deformities or illnesses. 

Admittedly, that is an interesting approach to the subject of super-powers, especially in the scene where Reed is just getting used to his stretching ability and you can hear bones crack as they grow and shrink in size.

However, the Fantastic Four as a group have always been a light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek style of superhero.  The problem with FantFourStic is by taking out all the fun of the powers and portraying them as freaks or social outcasts, you drape a black cloud over all the action and drama. 

You feel like it's a chore to be in their company, something that is the complete opposite with any film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially Ant-Man, released only a few weeks prior to FantFourStic.

Another issue the film suffers from is that none of the main four characters are interesting, or even likeable. 

Reed is a power-hungry narcissist who abandons his friends at the first sign of trouble.  

Ben is hardly in the damn film, and yet when he turns into The Thing, he just becomes a Hulk-For-Hire, sitting miserably in his room, unhappy with his mere existence.  

Sue is just boring and has no personality, other than Daddy's Girl.  

And I know the character of Johnny Storm is a 'hot-head' with a heart of gold, but damn I never realised how perfect Chris Evans was in the role before I saw someone else try to portray him. Nothing against Michael B. Jordan, but his cocky and arrogant Human Torch has no endearing qualities at all.

All of that is before we even touch on Victor Von Doom.

This is Doom by the way.
You'll see him for all of ten minutes,

Toby Kebbell is SUCH an amazing talent, and yet in FantFourStic, he is given nothing to work with.  

He starts off as a wayward protégé of Dr Storm's, hating the world and playing video games (which was a persona I was willing to go along with).  

When he is brought onto the team, he becomes a standard boring scientist, jealous of Reed and Sue's growing 'relationship'.  

A year after his abandonment on Planet Zero (or wherever they got sent to), he ultimately becomes a crazed and maniacal psychopath fused with a mysterious and unexplained green goo.

Dr. Doom is considered to be one of the greatest supervillains of all time, and he is given around 10-15 minutes of screen time!  And in those short few minutes, he manages to rack up an impressive and unnecessary kill-count for a 12A-rated film.  All killed by squeezing people's heads until they break using his, again unexplained, telekinetic abilities.  Yay!  Happy! Fun! Superheros for kids!

LET'S WRAP IT UP

God, I could carry on for a whole other article about what is wrong with FantFourStic, but you get the picture.  It's just such a mess.  All soulless and empty, with the main goal to just keep the movie rights in the greedy hands of 20th Century Fox.

The film disappoints on nearly every level, but coming from such a promising director and with the initial scenes having some degree of potential, it's just even more of a let-down.

Hopefully Marvel/Disney will see the damage that their child's guardian is doing to it and step in before another reboot is shoved down our throats in ten years time.  They've managed to successfully negotiate a deal for joint custody of Spider-Man, hopefully they can do the same with the Fantastic Four.

I would call this film the worst of the year so far, but I know a film that is worse... and that's getting reviewed next...

Rating - 2/10

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Jurassic World

Spared No Expense

Expectations

You can find no bigger fan of Jurassic Park than me.

You think you can?

Come at me, bro!

You've read the IMDb trivia page, both Michael Crichton books and even had the Jurassic Park lunchbox?!

Dinosaurs were my 'thing' in my pre-teens, like many young boys growing up in the 1990s.  To this day, there are rarely weeks when the DVD doesn't get a viewing in my apartment.

I had been eagerly listening to the development hell of Jurassic Park IV since the disappointment of Jurassic Park III, praying that the proposed storyline of half-human/half-velociraptor hybrids would never see the light of day.

So when the trailer for Jurassic World emerged, despite not loving the guard-dog velociraptors, I'll be honest, a little excited 'Yes!' came out of my mouth...  The film seemed actually fun and interesting, rather than various treks through jungles like the two previous films had been.

Plot

So here we are.  22 years after the original, Jurassic Park is finally open.

John Hammond has entrusted his vision of a dinosaur-themed amusement park to another wealthy and eccentric businessman, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) before popping his own eccentric clogs.

Jurassic World has been open for ten years without any incidents and is still hugely popular. However the stockholders want larger audiences and the scientists, led by the returning Henry Wu (B.D. Wong) create a brand-new dinosaur; the Indominus Rex - based on a T-Rex but with added predator DNA thrown in, just to make things extra hardcore.

However, since this is a Jurassic Park film, obviously things go awry... In fact, how's best to put it...

Well said, Ian...

So it is up to velociraptor-trainer, and overall bad-ass, Owen Grady (played by the future-Indiana Jones, Chris Pratt) to hunt down the escaped Indominus Rex with his pack of 'raptors, as well as save the nephews of Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), operations manager of Jurassic World, who are lost somewhere on the island.

Simple enough, right?

Opinions

Where to start?!... Well firstly, move over Avengers: Age of Ultron, step aside Mad Max: Fury Road, this is the blockbuster of the summer.

From the get-go, we head straight into the park, possibly sacrificing some potential character development for the impressive visuals, but you're not here for Shakespeare; you're here for the dinos!

As soon as we enter the park, the film tries to tug on every nostalgic memory possible; that famous score of John Williams' (now being overseen by Oscar-winner Michael Giacchino), Mr DNA continues to explain the science of cloning to visiting children, and a statue of John Hammond presides over his life's work, in a touching tribute to Richard Attenborough.

It's obvious that the director Colin Trevorrow wants to remind you of why you fell in love with Jurassic Park in the first place and he does an effective job; to quote my sister after watching it: "I felt like I was 7 years old again!"

The writers did a fantastic job of echoing certain aspects of the original and I would even go to say Jurassic World was a 'soft reboot' of Jurassic Park; one for the current generation.

But a Jurassic Park film is only as good as it's overblown, out-of-their-depth situation and this one is a doozy.  I really enjoyed the idea of the Indominus Rex, as a satire of today's over-the-top, Greed-Is-Good culture, and as a movie monster in itself.

As a Frankenstein's Clone of different dinosaurs, it gave the film a new and fresh approach, as we have become used to seeing the T-Rex and velociraptors (...and I don't think anyone wanted to see the Spinosaurus make a reappearance).  It's unpredictability, plus it's ever-growing list of talents, always kept the story interesting and inventive.

Chris Pratt is just The Man right now.  From his fantastic but brief appearance in her. last year, as well as his star turn in Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy, I'm really high on Pratt at the minute.  His cocky attitude plus his earnest and innocent appearance just mix together to make an ideal leading man.

I believe Pratt has the potential to become the action movie star of this generation, as Bruce Willis and Harrison Ford have done before him, especially with the Indiana Jones reboot potentially ahead of him.  His humour and common-sense slightly combat Jurassic World's ridiculous lack of Ian Malcolm.

Well Yeah, But...

I have read several opinions of this film constantly comparing it to Jurassic Park, calling World 'abysmal' and 'a disaster' as a result, which makes no sense to me.

I can't have been the only person who loved seeing the park finally open to the public, especially in such an inventive and realistic way (in today's society, they would put baby triceratops and apatasaurs in a petting zoo, as well as have Starbucks and Pandora retail stores everywhere).

Whilst Claire's nephews aren't the best actors in the world, and it's a stretch to believe they are capable of fixing decrepit jeep engines, Jurassic Park's Tim and Lex weren't Oscar-winners themselves and we were forced to believe Lex was a talented 'hacker' because she dragged and dropped a few files in a Unix system.

Similarly, Claire running around a park in high heels and not having much of a character arc isn't that misogynistic or backwards-thinking.  Her character goes from being distant to her family to being determined to keep them safe.  Isn't that enough?  Plus Jurassic Park's Ellie Satler (Laura Dern) was hardly the most three-dimensional woman in all of fiction.

However, there is an underlying storyline surrounding the Indominus Rex's true origins, with Vincent D'Onofrio tenting his fingers in the background and I could have easily done without it.  But this will surely be developed in the upcoming sequels and I truly hope they treat it with care.

Wrap It Up...

In this reviewer's opinion, Jurassic World is a very worthy sequel to Jurassic Park, and whilst it may not contend with Spielberg's original for it's crown, it supplies more than enough edge-of-your-seat thrills, mind-blowing special effects and honest-to-God entertainment that you want from your summer blockbusters.  It is by no means a perfect film, but what is?  Well, Jurassic Park comes close...

If you disagree, we can compare Lost World sticker albums to decide...  All I need is a shiny Ian Malcolm...

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Mad Max: Fury Road

Hell Hath No Fury

Mad Max: Fury Road (not to be mistaken with Furry Road; a completely different film) takes place in a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland where water, petrol and bullets are the three most precious commodities. Everyone now is either a poor, flea-bitten and mutated hermit, or an absolutely crazy person hell-bent on death, destruction and driving really, really fast!

However there are still police, or 'Road Warriors', and one is Tom Hardy's Max Rockatansky.  Max has some demons in his past but we find him a bit busy being kidnapped by the warrior tribe of the tyrannical warlord Immortan Joe.  Whilst kidnapped, Max gets involved in a family squabble between Immortan Joe and Charlize Theron's (amazingly named) Imperator Furiosa, and that's where the fun begins.

Now admittedly, I have never seen the first three Mad Max films that shot Mel Gibson to international fame.  Not even the Tina Turner one.  I know that many people will now be thinking 'Oh My God!  How has he never...?!  They're CLASSICS!!!" etc. but they never really appealed to me.  I have heard they were incredibly ambitious and truly iconic, which I appreciate but still the appeal was just never there.

However now with $150 million behind the project, the director George Miller has finally been able to make the film he always wanted to make in 1979, and I was in such awe by the sheer production value of this film alone.  The entire film is gorgeous from start to finish.

I think I blinked twice during the entire 120 minutes.  Maybe three times.

Oh What A Lovely Day!

Miller was called a 'visionary director' by the teaser trailers, which I thought to be quite big-headed of him, but seeing what he can produce with a bigger budget behind him, I'm truly shocked that this is the same eye behind Babe: Pig In The City and both Happy Feet films.  Really.

I don't want to spoil any of the film's plot but when Immortan Joe assembles his posse to take revenge on Charlize Theron, his band of miscreants are completely bat-shit crazy, focussed on a glorious Viking-style death due to their overall radiation-poisoned existence.  Due to this, they pull off some of the most incredibly inventive stunts and just jaw-droppingly amazing action that I have seen in a film for a few years.

I mean, one of the big rigs is just a gigantic wall of speakers with drummers and a flame-throwing electric guitarist strapped to them.  Why?  Because.  That's why.

See?  Told you.  Because.

I really cannot stress how fantastic the film is from a creative viewpoint, especially how colourful and vibrant it is.  The African landscapes that have been used to replace the post-apocalyptic wastelands are filled with natural beauty and Miller has definitely used them to the best of their ability.  Special effects were only used when they had to be, to emphasise how real the Dead World feels, and it definitely works  Everything feels so raw and authentic, from The War Boys' modified war-cars to the boggy marshes past the desert wasteland, and every bone-crunching fight scene in between.

Notice how I'm not speaking about Max himself much in this review so far? That's because I don't really have to. Tom Hardy is a decent enough casting for the lead, but he is a lead in titular name only.  The film definitely belongs to Charlize Theron's Furiosa and her struggle against Immortan Joe.  Max simply stumbles upon this fight and decides to help, despite his quiet loner nature.  He is the calm at the centre of this mad world, having his actions speak louder than his words.  Which is helpful because when he did speak, I truly could not decipher his accent (in true Tom Hardy form!)

Oh, and, on a final note, some critics of the film have downplayed the movie as having an unwelcome 'feminist agenda' which is simply ridiculous.  The film advocates freedom from tyrannical rule for all, not just simply female freedom.

I truly recommend watching Max Mad: Fury Road, and if you can, on the biggest IMAX screen you can find.  Because you just can't beat Mad IMAX.  Ha!  See what I did there?!

Rating - 8/10

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Avengers: Age Of Ultron

PHASE THREE: BEGIN

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the blockbuster season of 2015!

And what a better way to start it, than with Marvel/Disney's newest instalment into their own cinematic universe, the sequel to the third highest-grossing film of all time, Avengers: Age of Ultron!

These days, it almost seems like there is no real point in writing a review about the newest Marvel film, since they continue to pull off this mind-blowing winning-streak.  They create such fantastic narratives, craft interesting and three-dimensional characters, and with the help of talented cinematographers and directors, keep the audience's attention glued to the screen and their butts firmly in their seats.

But does Age of Ultron manage to carry the heavy burden given to it by its predecessors?

The plot of Age of Ultron follows the team back together a few years after The Battle Of New York. They have become known throughout the world as "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" and they are constantly fighting the re-emerged H.Y.D.R.A..  However when a chance falls to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) to kick-start a long-dormant global peacekeeping program, he takes the opportunity. This unwittingly awakens Ultron, an artificial intelligence designed to protect the planet. In Ultron's opinion, the best way to save the planet is by killing those who damage it the most; humans.  With the help of two genetically-altered twins with long-held grudges against a certain Avenger, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen), Ultron begins his plot to save the Earth by destroying it.

The Avengers (titled Avengers Assemble in the UK) managed to successfully balance an entire film evenly between it's six main leads.  But now, not only do those six return, but now there is one main villain, two supporting-villains, dozens of supporting characters, the odd cameo from side-characters in different story-lines, hints at upcoming solo projects, shock twists, laugh out loud moments, heartbreaking romances, and even a mid-credits scene sure to make the fan-boys salivate. Director Joss Whedon manages to do ALL THIS without seemingly breaking a sweat, and no one comes across as underdeveloped or underused.  Everyone plays their part well and no one gets left behind.  It's remarkable.  There is even time to discover the much-needed backgrounds of Hawkeye and Black Widow, since the rest of the Avengers had their own movies to showcase theirs.

However a hero, or six of them, are only as good as the villain they face, and they meet an incredbily well-realised creation in Ultron (played by the magnificent James Spader).  He personifies and updates the very concept of a Frankenstein's Monster, (or should I say FrankenStark's Monster? Thank you very much!), hell-bent on destroying his creator.  His hypnotic voice oozes charisma, wit and intelligence but also demented psychological problems, making him eccentric enough to be likeable, but damaged enough to be imposing and terrifying.  In fact there are some scenes where little kids watching might be too scared of him, which isn't a bad thing.  Loki might have been mischievous and tyrannical, but he was human and never truly insane, instead now viewed as 'one of the hottest/coolest movie villains of all time'.  But Ultron is incredibly imposing and frightening from his very arrival into the film, giving The Avengers a true obstacle to overcome.

Despite its achievements, there are a few flaws to Joss Whedon's latest epic. A film such as this is mostly judged on its action scenes and whilst there are some fantastic car chases (similar to those of Captain America: The Winter Soldier), a few of the large-scale action scenes tend to endure for a little too long and the pace starts to suffer.  Similarly, whilst I understand the need to sow seeds into other side-projects and stand-alone Marvel films, some of the tangents the film goes on mildly disrupt the flow of the action and do it harm.

However, these are mere quibbles in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful juggernaut that is Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Watching a film as well-crafted as this, suitably darker in its tone than its predecessors with the correct amount of emotion mixed with action, just makes me worried for DCs attempt to bring The Justice League to the screen.  Can it match the level that has been set by these films?  Only time will tell.  Until then, it really is a golden-age for superhero movies and here's hoping Marvel can continue their golden run.

Rating - 9/10

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

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Interstellar

There was no doubt in my mind when I was coming up with the list of 2014's Best Films.  No doubt at all that this film would be at the top.  The film just blew me away.  Completely and utterly amazed me.  I don't know what individual aspect was so overwhelming, maybe it was the music, maybe it was the imagery, but one thing was for certain, all the aspects together created a spectacle that I had rarely experienced in a cinema auditorium.

I, of course, am talking about Christopher Nolan's science-fiction, space exploration opus....

#1 - Interstellar

For those of you who didn't manage to watch Interstellar, it takes place in the near future, in which the planet is slowly producing less and less food for the population to eat.  This begins a worldwide 'dust bowl' effect, and NASA start to wonder if another world is our best bet at a potential future. Enter Matthew McConaughey, fresh off his Best Actor Academy Award win for The Dallas Buyers Club, who is just the spaceship pilot NASA have been looking for.  Alongside Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine's help, McConaughey must leave behind his two children in order to potentially extend humanity's last chance for a future.

The film is such a technical marvel, I was lost for words at its culmination.  The neighbouring couple of people seemingly disagreed, as they exclaimed: "Nolan has lost it! He can only do Batman!"  I nearly punched that man.  It is so obvious that Nolan has put so much effort into creating a science-fiction masterpiece that seemingly marries the theoretical story of Contact (which also starred McConaughey), with the visuals and imagination of 2001: A Space Odyssey as well as the action and drama of recent films such as last year's Gravity.  The end result is a thrill-ride that shocks, marvels and awes you with its grandiose, as well as its visual splendour.

A massive part of that is down to Hans Zimmer's wonderful and powerful score.  It has been known to reduce some audience members to tears in American cinemas, and rightfully so.  He has truly gone all out on this score, seemingly trying to match the grand scale with the film's ideas and visuals and it works perfectly.

The acting is top class too.  The McConaugha-sance (said like 'Renaissance') continues with everything this man touching turning to gold.  Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine and David Gyasi all provide top-notch performances.  However the plaudits have to go to two unpredicted sources, a child and a CGI robot.  The robot, TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin), is the source of most of the film's humour and has some witty dialogues with his human counter-parts.  However his design is just beautiful, being a Space Odyssey-style monolith but with the capability of being a Transformers-esque multi-legged transportation device; an inspired creation.  The child actress, Mackenzie Foy, playing Coop's daughter Murphy, provides an excellent performance as a girl who is devastated to lose her father at such a young age.  She provides wit and charm not-often-seen in a actress so young.

The film potentially could have fallen into two dreaded categories; too highbrow and technical that audiences would be uninterested, or painfully over-explaining every bit of information.  Thankfully, it treads this line perfectly.  Information is doled out by the bucket load about what McConaughey et al plan to achieve on these potential livable "new worlds", but time is spent explaining only the essential information rather than everything, leaving the audience informed and comfortable, rather than patronised or confused.

Admittedly, the film slightly over-reaches when it comes to the film's final third, with McConaughey entering unknown territory, but it is typical Christopher Nolan to aspire to pushing boundaries and I, for one, always admire him for that.  However, there is a problem when it comes to Nolan's technical achievements.  He seems so focused on providing such a visual marvel that he sometimes forgets what else cinema is known for; emotion.

Upon doing some research, I found that Interstellar was originally going to be directed by Steven Spielberg, and that was not really a shock.  With his past work with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Spielberg is no stranger to emotion-driven, thought-provoking science-fiction.  Spielberg brought Jonathan Nolan on board to write Interstellar's script, but then left the project some years later.  This allowed Jonathan to bring his brother Christopher on board and the rest is history.  However Nolan is fantastic for his technical precision and keen eye for visuals, but when it comes to the emotional core, the film feels like it doesn't know what to do with it.

All the way through, Coop (Matthew McConaughey) regrets leaving his daughter Murphy on Earth, and they grow further and further apart.  However, the film begins to argue (in typical Hollywood fashion) that love can transcend the boundaries of space-time and that it can reach further than we think.  However such an argument would have felt fine within a Spielberg film, but within the constraints of a Nolan film, it feels artificial and unnecessary. Like a robot finding out what human emotions are, you get the feeling Nolan simply said, "What is this thing you call 'love'?" and tried his best to convey it, but it ended up failing.

However, these things are trivial when it comes to the film overall.  It may fall down slightly on the emotional level, but it is right on cue with everything else.  The visuals will astound, the acting will entertain, and the music may leave a tear in your eye.  The IMAX presentation was especially incredible.

Interstellar definitely left me with the conclusion that Christopher Nolan can do no wrong.

Except poetry...

...and Superman films.

Now, bring on 2015!  Happy New Year Everyone!

Guardians of the Galaxy

#7 - Guardians Of The Galaxy

I was so nervous when I saw the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy.  Nervous and excited.  How could Marvel, and especially Disney, bet so much money and reputation on this story of relatively-unknown alien mercenaries, battling in galaxies far, far away?  It was either insanity or genius.

Turns out both.

This was such a crazy and wild adventure, it just made me want to watch it again and again.  The story follows Peter Quill, AKA StarLord, a human abducted as a child and raised by a bunch of renegade alien pirate smugglers.  The self-titled StarLord (Chris Pratt) quickly finds himself enthralled in a struggle between powerful warlords over a mysterious orb.  He teams up with a green-skinned assassin (Zoe Saldana), a tattooed headcase (Dave Bautista), a giant humanoid walking tree (voiced by Vin Diesel) and a talking raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper).

See what I mean by possible insanity?  But it completely works.  The director James Gunn has history with the surreal, working on films such as Slither and Super, so he manages to create such a believable world that the crazy hijinx that follow feel possible.  The characters are truly three-dimensional, even if the walking tree-man can only say "I. Am. Groot." and every other character's middle name is 'The' (Korath The Pursuer/Drax The Destroyer etc.)  They have back-stories, aims, dreams, flaws, and therefore feel like real people.  The most surprising thing about this film is former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista, who has the most impressive screen-presence of the central five and delivers a very unexpected, and fantastic performance.

Additionally, Lee Pace performing as the quasi-Marilyn Manson villain Ronan The Accuser is actually terrifying.  Full plaudits to the man as he could have hammed up the performance and delivered one akin to a pantomime villain, but he truly gets under your skin as a malevolent force and a formidable opponent to the titular Guardians.  This was definitely the blockbuster of the summer.