Room

THESE FOUR WALLS...

Do you know what's depressing for a guy who's had around five years of acting training?

The fact that no matter how many performances I may give in the future, I'll never be as good as Jacob Tremblay in Room.

He's seven.  Seven years old.  And he is just perfect in this film.  In fact, there isn't much about the film that isn't perfect.  It just hits every single target it aims for.

Brie Larson is as equally brilliant as Tremblay, but all the praise will be heaped upon this little star-in-the-making, and justifiably so.  But before I go on about how fantastic a film this is, let me just clarify the story for you in case you have heard about this film and its subject matter...

PLOT

Room begins on Jack's fifth birthday.  All he knows is the world that he inhabits.  One tiny box space that he calls 'Room'.  Jack lives in 'Room' with Ma, his mother, who was kidnapped by a man known simply as 'Old Nick' and locked away in 'Room' seven years earlier.

Jack spends his day watching the magic fantasy tales on TV and reading Alice In Wonderland, but Ma decides it's time to tell Jack the truth about their situation and try and find a way to escape 'Room' together.

Note: The film never shows Ma's kidnapping, or the subsequent seven years; the film is told through Jack's eyes so innocence is preserved.  Ma's journey to 'Room' is purely anecdotal, but still chilling when being recounted.

OPINION

Firstly, I urge you to see this film.

Secondly, Good God, I hope you bring tissues with you when you do.  I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house when the lights came up.  People were just sat in their seats, trying to comprehend what they had just seen.  They needed a moment to compose themselves, and I can't blame them for their reaction.

When you hear the plot or set-up of a film like Room's, you second-guess yourself and hesitate.  It's only human to worry about subjecting yourself to experiences that we wish we never go through ourselves.

But I assure you that whilst the initial set-up is horrendous from our perspective, the film is all set through Jack's eyes.  Like Ma's struggle throughout the film, we are kept going by Jack's enthusiasm and strength despite their horrible living conditions.  

The film focuses on the bond between mother and son rather than the struggle they have to overcome and that's where Room stands apart from your standard kidnap-film.

It is heart-warming and yet heart-breaking, tense and yet serene, depressing and yet life-affirming.

The real beauty and truth from this film is definitely found in the smaller details, and thanks to director Lenny Abrahamson and director of photography Danny Cohen nothing is missed and every aspect of their life within Room is captured.  For better or for worse.  Twin that with the brilliantly-understated score by Jóhann Jóhannsson, and get ready to look at the dust in a sunray in a whole new way.

First coming to my attention in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, I'm glad that Brie Larson is building on the critical acclaim that she received for Short Term 12 a few years ago.  

Her role in Room is a thankless one as Ma suffers throughout the first half of the film, dealing with her own imprisonment as well as her child's, and thanks to Larson's effortless delivery, you feel every emotion she experiences.  

Her performance is incredibly strong and relatable, reacting to the situation like a real person and not a movie heroine.  She is flawed and damaged by the events, her hidden struggle pushed aside for the sake of her son.

The ever dependable Joan Allen and William H. Macy provide solid performances as Ma's parents, but it is relatively unknown Tom McCamus who steals the parental show as Ma's new step-father.  His character is so enjoyable and relatable, he is one of my favourite characters in a film in some time, a credit to McCamus and screenwriter Emma Donaghue.

But returning to Tremblay again, his performance is so honest, truthful and believable that you believe every emotion he goes through.  You travel alongside him on this emotional rollercoaster, despite you obviously knowing there is a world outside of those four walls.

It really is a credit that an ordeal as horrible as the one depicted in Room is never too much for the audience to handle, mainly because Tremblay's Jack keeps us going.  Like with Ma, Jack propels us forward and fully gains our attention, distracting us from the horrible conditions.

I should probably stop now before I go into too much detail about the story, but if you are interested, check out the trailer at the bottom of the review.

Definitely one of the films of the year and it only was released in the first few weeks.  

If 2016 continues this trend, then we are in for a fantastic year ahead of us.

Rating - 9/10

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The Hateful Eight

Say the name 'Quentin Tarantino', and you usually get one of two responses:

"Ahhhh! The voice of a generation! One of the greatest auteur directors of our time!  Constantly reinventing and imitating the film genres he loves because he's a film fan, just like us!"

or

"Oh, that overrated guy who just makes every actor speak like him?  He had one good film back in the early 90s and been riding that ever since?"

Since I would find myself more in the former camp than the latter one, I was cautiously anticipating his newest release The Hateful Eight / The Hateful 8 / The H8ful Eight / Da H8fl 8.

However since QT's recent flicks have been best described as 'revenge porn', such as Inglorious Basterds' exuberant murder of Adolf Hitler from a tommy gun to the face, wielded by the soldier known as The Bear Jew, or Django Unchained's black protagonist shooting white slave owners with rightful justice in his eyes, I couldn't see how The Hateful Eight could contain such over-the-top nonsense. 

It was just eight horrible people stuck in a cabin, right?  Well, yes and no.

PLOT

To shelter during a blizzard, eight people find themselves sharing a little haberdashery in the snowy forests of Wyoming.  All eyes are on bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell), known as The Hangman, and his captured bounty, the despicable Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is worth $10,000 dead or alive.

Joining Daisy and The Hangman are fellow bounty hunter, Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson); the new sheriff in town, Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins); Daisy's court-ordered executioner, Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth); mother-loving cow-puncher Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), the haberdashery's Mexican caretaker Senor Bob (Demian Bichir) and an elderly Confederate Civil War General "Sandy" Smithers (Bruce Dern).

John Ruth believes that the scenario is far too convenient, and at least one of these strangers is in cahoots with Domergue to free her before her execution.  But who can be trusted?

OPINIONS

Now one piece of information about The Hateful Eight that you already may have heard is it's running time. 

Whilst you may hear that the film is over 3 hours long, that is just the version with an intermission shown at roadshows across America.  The film on general release is instead 2 hour 45 minutes long. 

Whilst 20 minutes might not seem a big difference, that's the point at the heart of it.

The film's running time shouldn't put you off from visiting the cinema to watch it this weekend.  Whilst Tarantino is usually best when reigned in and not allowed to wander off on tangents, the film's relatively lengthy duration doesn't make the experience boring or tedious, rather the opposite.

Whilst all of these characters are truly despicable heels, Tarantino's fantastic screenplay is allowed the time to develop the titular eight hateful people into believable and complex characters, through sharing their stories and opinions in a steady and patient way.  No information is just shouted out in an expositional diatribe; everything is said for a reason.

If you plan on seeing this film (and I do encourage you to do so), try and watch it on the biggest screen you can.  Tarantino has utilised the beautiful mountainous landscapes of Colorado and captured them all in stunning detail. 

Combine that with the beautiful score by Ennio Morricone and you have one of Quentin Tarantino's most visually-captivating films.  And not just in the sweeping vistas of mountainside snow drifts, but also the interior shots.

With the film essentially being a stage play for the last two hours or so, you'd imagine Tarantino being quite restricted in the angles and shots he's allowed to make within this single location. 

However he manages to create a compelling and visually striking film regardless of the cramped space the eight characters inhabit.  Every single nook and cranny of Minnie's Haberdashery is utilised during the course of the film and you find yourself immersed in that world.

Let's just say if you were a fan of the claustrophobic and paranoid qualities of films like John Carpenter's The Thing or Tarantino's own Reservoir Dogs, The Hateful Eight will be right up your alley.

ON THE OTHER HAND...

I'm not trying to say that The Hateful Eight is perfect.  Far from it.  Similar to there are some fantastic high points, there are some disappointing low points.  Mainly how everything seems to be style over substance.

Not to take anything away from the amount of effort Tarantino has put into making the film look as beautiful as it can be, but without any heart or soul at the centre, the film just leaves the audience feeling pretty empty.  Impressed with the technical side, but disappointed with what Tarantino is trying to say.

Whilst Basterds made fascism it's target and Django was focussed on America's history of slave-owning, what is The Hateful Eight satirising? 

Some have criticised the way that men of all colours and creeds apparently can put aside their differences and become closer than most brothers when it comes to committing a heinous assault or verbally abusing a woman, even if that woman is a murdering psychopath like Daisy Domergue, but I don't see it that way.

Every time Daisy is elbowed in the face or shot in the foot, it is done with sincere realism and the film almost pauses to let the audience contemplate the violence they've just seen, and not in an exploitative way.  Tarantino might be a fan of a lot of things, but violence against women is not one.

LET'S WRAP IT UP!

With brilliant performances from a completely stellar cast, a powerful and evocative score twinned with majestic and stunning landscapes, The Hateful Eight is one of Tarantino's strongest films in a long time.

Whilst the running time might put off a lot of people, it is still an entertaining ride that might take a while to get going, but is worth it when the credits roll.

The film might be a bit self-serving and self-referential but it's a Quentin Tarantino film at the end of the day, you should expect that going into the auditorium by now. 

Finally giving time for his script to create a fully-formed and three-dimensional world, filled with realistic and horrible characters, it's a world in which you might lose yourself, even if you wouldn't want to.

Rating - 8/10

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

But wait... what's that Mr. L. Jackson?

GOOD QUESTION SAMUEL!

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Child 44

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

Never has the phrase "The whole is less than the sum of its parts" been more apt.

Child 44 is set in Stalin-era Soviet Russia where Leo Demidov, a World War Two hero played by Tom Hardy, now works as an agent within the Soviet secret police.  After an investigation into a criminal spy ring, his wife (played by Noomi Rapace) is named as a potential conspirator.  Instead of renouncing his wife, the Demidovs are banished to a freezing, horrible part of the country, where Leo stumbles upon a serial killer preying upon young boys, having killed 44 in the recent past.  But in the supposed-paradise of Stalin's Soviet Russia, there is no such thing as murder, so Leo must do his own secret investigation into who the serial killer is without the help of his former comrades.

Despite my best efforts to jazz up the main storyline, the true selling point of Child 44 is undoubtedly the cast.  It's plastered over every poster, billboard and standee that you see, and for good reason:

Tom Hardy,
      Gary Oldman, 
              Noomi Rapace,
                       Paddy Considine,
                                   Jason Clarke,
                                            Vincent Cassel,
                                                        Charles Dance.

That is a cast list that any film would be lucky to feature.  And any ordinary film would probably use these actors to the best of their ability; but Child 44 is no ordinary film.  Due to the grim subject matter, as well as the harsh time and setting, the film has an overwhelming bleak narrative that never really eases up.  It's running time of 137 minutes is way too long as I was finding myself wishing for the film to be over before it was. Whole sections of the film could have been easily taken out and the overall narrative would not have been affected.

Whilst the adapted book may handle the several other plots well and balance them evenly, the film seems to jumble them up into a bit of a confusing mess; a romance sub-plot gets touched upon and then is never resolved, leaving the viewer unfulfilled and whilst Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace get most of the screen time, I was praying for more Oldman, Considine, Clarke and Dance.  Their presence would have easily brightened up the dull, brown, murky boredom that is Child 44.

Whilst watching Child 44, I was reminded of The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), a German film most famous for shocking most of the world and beating Pan's Labyrinth to the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2006.  The Lives of Others told a similarly paranoid and depressing story of an agent of the East German Secret Police in the 1980s.  It mainly takes place in an apartment building as the agent overhears the lives of a couple he suspects are spies.  Yet despite the restricted locations and budget of the film, it painted a much larger and entertaining world than Child 44.  It allowed you to connect with the protagonist and feel his internal struggle dealing with an oppressive and tyrannical leadership.  I felt no sympathy towards Leo Demidov.  I felt no connection to his plight or no understanding of why he loved his wife.  I was just simply told he does.  It left me annoyed and unsatisfied, wanting to go home and watch The Lives Of Others instead.

Whilst Child 44 does attempt to take potshots at Stalin's Soviet Russia and the hypocritical dystopia it became, they are such safe shots; there is no attempt to be memorable or particularly vocal.  "Yeah, we know that the communist society broke down into a paranoid, depressing time! Thanks for reminding us!"  After a while, especially towards the end, Child 44 just becomes one big disappointment and one that is currently tanking at the box-office and I fully understand why.

I wouldn't waste your time with Child 44, especially if you want to just for the cast.  Ocean's Eleven has a great cast, go watch that instead!  You'll have a much better time, I promise!

Rating - 4/10

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed what you read and you'd like to be kept more up to date with my posts, I can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Dunn-Reviews and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeDunnReviews - if you want to help the site grow, give them a 'Like' or a 'Share'!

John Wick

ONE MAN AND HIS DOG

Despite John Wick being released back in October last year back in the States, all I was hearing was positive opinions and glowing reviews.  So when I sat down in the movie theatre, I was definitely ready for some mind-blowing revenge and I was not disappointed,

The plot of John Wick is so simple, it borders on fantastic. The son of a mob boss gets a bit too big for his boots and decides to steal the car of a random stranger he meets at a petrol station. Whilst he robs him, the mob son figures that he should kill the stranger's dog too (just because he can).  But it turns out that this stranger is actually John Wick (played by Keanu Reeves), an incredibly bad-ass retired hitman who now has a score to settle. Wick returns to the life he once left to enact revenge on those that were in the wrong place, messing with the wrong man.

It's so refreshing to just see an honest-to-God revenge film nowadays.  Not only that, but one that creates such a three-dimensional criminal world without spoon-feeding information to the viewer.  Everything we learn about John Wick and the organisations for which he used to work is told through the film's storyline and the interactions John encounters through his revenge.  Usually the hype around an imposing and capable character such as Wick is hyperbole and we never see anything to back up these opinions, but Reeves' demeanour and 'all-for-broke' attitude more than back up the legends of Wick's past ("He killed three men... with a pencil!").  The Continental Hotel in which John stays during his revenge is an especially fantastically-realised idea within the history of movie crime-underworlds.

Speaking of realistic, Keanu Reeves usually gets stick for his acting (or lack thereof) and I can't say I've not criticised him a few times for some wooden performances, but as John Wick, his icy demeanour throughout the incredibly-choreographed fight scenes matches the legend of 'the ultimate hitman' perfectly.  He constantly reminds the audience that this is a man that you should not f##k with.  Plus the connection he establishes with his pet dog Daisy in the opening few scenes is quite visible and allows the audience to connect to Wick before his whole world breaks down.

Reeves more than holds his own alongside the fantastic character actors that populate the film, such as Michael Nyqvist, Ian McShane, Willem Dafoe and Lance Reddick.  The only unfortunate stand-out is Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones' Theon Greyjoy) who still appears to be visibly acting and not just embodying his character, a problem he too often encounters in Game of Thrones too.  Any time he was on screen, I was reminded I was watching a film and it was an unwanted and constant distraction.

Whilst it won't be winning any Academy Awards, I thoroughly enjoyed the roller-coaster thrill-ride that was John Wick.  It doesn't take itself too seriously, has fun in the meantime and leaves you more than happy for the amount of money you paid to watch it.  I highly recommend checking it out.

Rating - 8/10

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed what you read and you'd like to be kept more up to date with my posts, I can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Dunn-Reviews and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeDunnReviews - if you want to help the site grow, give them a 'Like' or a 'Share'!

You Don't Know What You Got Til It's...

#2 - Gone Girl

Every so often a film is released that has a plot quite difficult to explain to others. But I'll give it a go...

Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, who on his fifth anniversary to his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) discovers she has disappeared in suspicious circumstances.  Since Amy is a celebrity due to her successful child-author parents, media attention begins to grow around her disappearance and slowly Nick becomes the main suspect.

Now I reiterate, I am going to attempt to not reveal any details about what happens later in the story, but all I can tell you is that Gone Girl is a fantastically crafted, suspenseful thriller that keeps you guessing all the way along.  Similar to Se7en, Zodiac and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl's plot is slowly revealed, like a child opening a Wonka chocolate bar and it is obvious that Fincher's masterful hand has been hard at work creating a recognisable and yet hyperbolic world.

I know what you're thinking... But bear with me...

Ben Affleck plays his part well of the not-so-perfect husband at the centre of a media scrutiny, who alongside relative-newcomer Carrie Coon impressively performing as Nick's twin sister Margot attempt to clear Nick's name.  However the plaudits all belong to Rosamund Pike in a career-redefining performance as the titular 'Gone Girl'. I have never seen Pike act this well. Honestly she steals this film and if she consistently performs in these sorts of roles, then I see a very different career ahead as opposed to the one where she has been restrained to 'blonde eye-candy'.  But whilst I feel like Pike needs singling out, every single actor and actress delivers an impressive performance, even Tyler freaking Perry outperforms as the dry-witted Defence Attorney Tanner Bolt.  Yeah, the guy who dresses up as the old woman.  Him, he's really good in this!

The director Fincher reunites with Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and his producing partner Atticus Ross who scored The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network, of which they won the Academy Award for Best Score, and they have created another atmospheric and subtle musical accompaniment that assists in the mysterious and suspenseful plot throughout.  Like their scores before, I have bought it and have chilled out to the ambient and peaceful tunes in my spare time.

I hate it when my missing wife photobombs me...

The score is just one way that is evident that Fincher has crafted a fantastic film. Everything in the film looks pristine and there for a reason.  It's a strange thing to mention but Fincher has a history of always using space well in his films, making scenes claustrophobic when he needs to or turning scenes on their head with the slightest touch or hint to the audience and Gone Girl is definitely one of his strongest films to date.  Switching focus from mass media's current obsession with tragedy, to the importance of outward appearances in today's society, and always commenting on the hidden disappointment most marriages suffer with, the film is definitely suited for current audiences.  The only downside I would give it would be the 150 minute running time, however when you are having this much fun, I doubt you'll mind.

Nightcrawler

#3 - Nightcrawler

Occasionally there comes a film in which the setting and location becomes a character in itself. Sometimes a location’s creepy aesthetic comes across to accentuate the mood of a horror film, such as Psycho, The Amityville Horror or The Shining. In other instances, the setting is a city, home to a varied set of characters, such as Batman’s Gotham City or Basin City seen in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City, becoming almost a safe haven for crazy and deranged people. A film’s location can also mirror a character’s worst flaws and habits, highlighting their terrible true nature when all they portray is the façade of who they want to be.

This is where we find the central figure of Nightcrawler, Leo Bloom.  Bloom (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) is a goal-orientated, hard-working young man who will strive at achieving a goal once he sets himself one.  However, he lacks that goal. After stumbling across a highway crash and the people recording footage for the local news stations, Leo delves into independent video journalism who make impressive amounts of money filming burning wreckages.

The deserted streets of after hours California is perfect for Leo's story. It highlights the flawed and frenzied aspiration that Leo eventually gains in this lucrative business, whilst also hints at the dark and disturbing reality that lies behind it. All the while appearing like a typical American-dream city, it hides a cut-throat reality with business and money solely in mind. Beautifully shot by Robert Elswit, the comparison between Leo's tiny apartment and the mansions in which he films his crime scenes are found to house just the same class of criminal.

Gyllenhaal has had a very varied career. From breaking onto the scene in Donnie Darko, I have held his acting talent in high regard. Whether staring in low-budget, high-concept sci-fi such as Source Code or beefing up for action in Jarhead or End of Watch, he always manages to be charismatic, empathetic and endearing. However this is the complete opposite to Leo Bloom.  When we first meet him, he is underhandedly stealing scrap metal and bikes to sell for his own selfish needs. He is manipulative, untrustworthy and downright creepy, and it is all thanks to Gyllenhaal's magnificent performance as Bloom. Whether it be his greasy hair, gaunt appearance or unnerving smile, there is something visibly 'off' about the aspirational, vet selfish businessman and Gyllenhaal performs brilliantly in this role. Akin to an Asperger's sufferer, Bloom seems to suffer with a lack of a filter when discussing business practices or his emotions and the lack of care in anybody but himself is beautiful to watch portrayed by such a versatile actor.

Whilst admittedly, I would have preferred Nightcrawler to have been a bit darker overall in tone and grit, the film is just a fantastic and haunting experience that will provide you with shocks, twists, chills and the most exhilarating car chase scene in recent years. Gyllenhaal alone is worth the price of admission and hopefully he will get recognised in the coming Academy Awards. Similarly to Leo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughney, everything he touches seems to turn to gold so I cannot wait to see what he does next.

The Wolf of Wall Street

#5 - The Wolf Of Wall Street

One film that has definitely stuck with me from 2014 is Martin Scorcese's crime-comedy The Wolf Of Wall Street.  Not only is it a combination of director and cast working at the height of their careers, but it also is a scathing indictment of the American banking system, the people that work within it and the love of greed for the sake of greed.

Released back in January, the film is a loose biopic of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio); an aspiring Wall Street banker who just happens to start his career on the same day of a stock market crash. To find a way in the world, he starts to sell penny stocks in the American pink sheets to the clueless public once he finds out you can make a huge commission of their purchases.

He employs a select group of low-time criminals from his old neighbourhood to pretend to be smooth Wall Street bankers in order to earn as much money as possible. Eventually, the amount of money builds and builds, as well as the reputation of the company, and soon, Belfort's small rag-tag gang of criminals resembles the established banks and firms that Belfort didn't have a chance to affect.

If you don't understand stock markets, don't worry, neither do I. However, DiCaprio speaks to the viewer early on in the film to say that you don't need to know. All you need to know is that they are doing very illegal activities. We are then treated to almost three hours of incredibly debauched events, featuring some of the most amoral, selfish and over-the-top characters that I have seen in a film.

The amount of crime and misbehaviour escalates to ridiculous proportions, with DiCaprio's Belfort making more and more money, paying for bigger and bigger houses and indulging in stronger and stronger pharmaceuticals, resulting in an extended scene of physical comedy that wouldn't be found in even the broadest comedy film. Immediately afterwards Belfort hosts a group meeting to discuss throwing a little person at a dartboard like a human dart, all the while snorting copious amounts of cocaine and treating $100 bills like tissue paper. It becomes laughable but there is always the reminder that this is based on real events in Belfort's life and it feels even more ridiculous.

However the fantastic aspect of The Wolf of Wall Street is that it is not all underlined with a heavy-handed moral lesson or comeuppance for these horrendous characters. The film treats you with the maturity to know that these actions are horrible and that something will happen to these characters in time, all you have to do is wait and watch. However the film does not pull punches with the reasons behind their behaviour; they do all these debauched activities because it's fun. These people are so empty and shallow, they have to fill the voids with prostitutes, drugs and just more money, and they have immense amounts of fun while doing it. Whilst some of the actions are deplorable, you as the audience can't help but go along for the ride and almost get a contact high from the people living the life you never could, much to your own shame.

The inherent message within the film will probably be lost and instead remembered for the generous amount of time dedicated to Belfort's devious rise to the heights of Wall Street and not the inevitable fall from grace that concerns the final third of the film.  The inherent indictment of America's corrupt financial system and it's influence on well-meaning individuals, not to mention the effect that Belfort's greed had on his faceless victims, will not be recalled. Instead it will probably become a cult classic; Scorcese's post-Goodfellas commentary on the supposed American Dream, instead of being held as one of his greatest and more cerebral films about the nature of greed within an ultimately corrupt and failed system.

Succinct Sunday: 2014 - A Small Summary (Part One)

I, Frankenstein

A pale imitation of the Underworld franchise, Aaron Eckhart plays Frankenstein's Monster, here named 'Adam' as he is caught between the fight between the righteous gargoyle empire and the demons of hell. Both want the seemingly immortal Adam to fight for their side, but since the CGI looks ropey at best, the action is boring and the central storyline wavers and runs out of steam towards the end, you really don't care on which side Adam ends up fighting. A waste of a potentially interesting and exciting concept.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Based on a children's stop-motion TV show about an inquisitive child and his talking dog/father-figure as they travel through time and space, learning about historical figures.  Admittedly this is more known to the Americans than us lowly British, but the voice performances are energetic, the animation is eye-catching and most importantly it doesn't talk down to the intended younger audience.  It uses humour to educate the kids as well as entertain.  More stuff like this is needed, Hollywood!

Anchorman 2 : The Legend Continues

Lightning unfortunately continues to not strike twice for Will Ferrell as Anchorman 2 follows in the footsteps of Land of the Lost, The Campaign and The Other Guys in creating a dumb guy-comedy that fails to live up to the unexpected hit that was the original Anchorman. Whilst the up-scaled news-crew battle is fun to watch with it's impressive cameo appearances, I still hope that this will prove to be the last of Ferrell's dumb-guy comedies. Anchorman was a fantastic fluke, and it should have been left like that.

Ride Along 

Newest American hot commodity, the comedian Kevin Hart plays a cowardly video-game nerd alongside tough cop future brother-in-law Ice Cube who takes him on the titular ride-along to show him some real-life GTA and make him prove himself worthy of his sister's hand in marriage. However, they get involved in corrupt police schemes, blah blah blah. The film is boring, repetitive and ludicrous. I honestly don't get the hype surrounding Kevin Hart but maybe I'm just out of the loop. I'd much rather recommend 22 Jump Street instead, but that's still to come...

The Borderlands

Found-footage film based around a supposedly haunted church in the Yorkshire dales. The film is obviously acted by unimpressive amateurs, but the scares and tension are well-constructed and developed as similarities to An American Werewolf in London and Poltergeist start appearing, all culminating in a finale that leaves most baffled.

An impressive attempt, but ultimately disappointing.

Muppets Most Wanted

Kermit and the crew are back, but there is treachery afoot! With the help of Ricky Gervais, a jewel-thief imposter has locked the frog away in a Russian gulag, and is impersonating him as head of the Muppet gang! There is a definite lack of Jason Segel and Amy Adams, instead replaced by Gervais, Tina Fey and the always amazing Ty Burrell, leading to a lack of emotional heart that the first film had in buckets. The resulting film is still warm, colourful and lovely, but a definite downgrade from the revival film a few years ago.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

This film annoyed me more than any other film this year.  It has all the components needed to outdo it's Tobey Maguire predecessor, but again, it fails to connect to the audience at any level and has a laughably weak, badly-written script.  Andrew Garfield is a fantastic Peter Parker, Emma Stone is great foil as Gwen Stacy, and Jamie Foxx gives a brilliant performance as the mumbling and shy Max before his turn into the boring villain Electro.  His origin scene and transformation is probably the best scene in the film, but the resulting super-charged smurf has no real believable motive for the rest of the film and comes across as wasted potential.


That combined with a shoe-horned Harry Osborn story, and the hardly-featured Rhino villain makes the film seem overblown and uninteresting.  A large criticism is that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 simply feels like one big preview for another film.  Similar to Iron Man 2, nothing truly important happens, but sly mentions are given to upcoming villains and story-lines.  It never feels like a film in it's own right and I could never start enjoying it. Too much ominous foreboding, too much nonsensical plot twists and definitely not enough care given to the script.

Stay tuned for more succinct reviews this time next week!  Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed what you read and you'd like to be kept more up to date with my posts, I can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Dunn-Reviews and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeDunnReviews - if you want to help the site grow, give them a 'Like' or a 'Share'!

Lucy

In The Sky With Diamonds

I watched an interesting film recently.  A lovable loser stumbles upon a mystery drug that manages to unlock their brain's full potential.  They are able to learn new languages, skills and become more powerful than they ever have before.  Whilst the film has its problems with nonsensical plot-lines and unnecessary characters, the film is balanced with effective performances from the cast, an amazing soundtrack and an overall interesting idea, which probes certain aspects of science-fiction but doesn't lose it's way. Yes, Limitless was a fantastic film.

Luc Besson must have thought the same thing, as he has basically taken that premise, replaced Bradley Cooper with Scarlett Johansson and turned everything up to 150% for his newest release, Lucy.

In present day Taiwan, Scarlett Johansson plays the titular ditzy blonde American, who falls in with the wrong crowd. After making a drug drop to the amazing Min-sik Choi's crazy-insane crime lord, Mr Jang, Lucy is kidnapped and has a bag of brand new drugs surgically inserted into her body, with the intention for her to be a drug mule into America. However the bag of drugs begin to leak inside her and 'unlocks her brain's full power'.  (God, how I hate that phrase) Eventually her mental capability begins to grow and she starts to gain previously unknown levels of power, whilst steadily losing her humanity.  Morgan Freeman plays an expert conveniently in this exact science, who Lucy contacts to help her control her new-found abilities.

The main problem I had with Lucy was the extent that Besson pushes ScarJo's growing powers and the repercussions that follow.  Whilst Bradley Cooper's failure of a writer in Limitless uses a drug to use his brain's full potential, the film never leaves frames of reference the audience's brain can handle, such as questioning metaphysical theories and entering the veritable minefield of time travel.

The central myth about mankind failing to use more than 10% of their brains gives screenwriters a huge blank canvas of possibilities when the idea of a fully 100% used brain is brought up. A screenwriter must therefore not go completely over the top and make a person a god as Besson does with Lucy. Limitless kept it short and sweet; a person is able to recall every single one of their past memories and therefore have an infinite knowledge of facts they have ever stumbled across. They can master foreign languages in days rather than months. They can make the stock market their bitch.

Lucy's universe, on the other hand, theorises any person capable of achieving 100% brain power is somehow capable of anything, such as being able to control radio signals, regrow limbs and most incredibly time travel. Besson probably knew that the audience wouldn’t believe what they were seeing and so decided to give the straight role to Morgan Freeman to add credence to the claptrap being spouted.

Lucy is the classic case of a film being fantastic until it isn't, and unfortunately it stops pretty early. Halfway through the film, Lucy worries that she is slowly losing her humanity as she becomes more and more powerful. She saves a random French police officer and makes him her pseudo-sidekick to keep her grounded, However, this is barely touched upon again and as a result, Lucy starts becomes uninteresting. The audience cannot connect to her plight and apparent struggle as her powers become too unnatural and her plan to overcome everything is never fully explained.

Despite all these shortcomings, the greatest flaw of the film is its under-use of its villain, Mr Jang played by personal favourite, Oldboy's leading man Min-sik Choi. His vendetta against Lucy reaches ridiculous proportions (similar to the rest of the film) and despite providing entertaining gun fights, he feels wasted as a two-dimensional villain who is just evil for evil's sake. Besson once gave the world memorable villains such as Leon's Stansfield and The Fifth Element's Zorg, played with such glee and sadism by Gary Oldman. Now he resorts to a drug kingpin with pride issues.

If it weren't for it's heightened sense of importance and ego, I would have recommended Lucy as a mindless action film with a kick-ass heroine, but it tries to be too smart and overly-complicated. The film would have benefited from gaps in the action for the audience to wrap our collective heads around the nonsensical development in Lucy's powers, but of course modern-day Luc Besson doesn't believe in gaps in the action. This is why Leon (The Professional in other countries) is considered such a classic.  Character development and empathy is essential in films such as this and that's where Lucy fails in large amounts.

My recommendation? Stay in and watch Leon or Limitless instead.  I wish I had.

Rating - 3/10

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed what you read and you'd like to be kept more up to date with my posts, I can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Dunn-Reviews and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeDunnReviews - if you want to help the site grow, give them a 'Like' or a 'Share'!

Gone Girl

Amazing Amy

Every so often a film is released that has a plot quite difficult to explain to others.  Sometimes it is due to misleading trailers, such as the interesting documentary Catfish that was hyped as a 'Hitchcockian thriller'.  Other times, a film's confusing plot structure lets it down, like the recent release Sin City: A Dame For Which To Kill. However sometimes a film's ineffable plot is to purposely swerve the audience and provide an unexpected change in narrative.  Gone Girl definitely fits into that final category.  And therefore I am not going to delve too deep into the film's plot, but focus on it's pluses and negatives.

Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne (what a ridiculous surname), who on his fifth anniversary to his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) discovers she has disappeared in suspicious circumstances.  Since Amy is a celebrity due to her successful child-author parents, media attention begins to grow around her disappearance and slowly Nick becomes the main suspect.

Now I reiterate, I am going to attempt to not reveal any details about what happens later in the story, but all I can tell you is that Gone Girl is a fantastically crafted, suspenseful thriller that keeps you guessing all the way along.  Similar to the David Fincher-directed Se7en, Zodiac and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl's plot is slowly revealed, like a child opening a Wonka chocolate bar and it is obvious that Fincher's masterful hand has been hard at work creating a recognisable and yet hyperbolic world.

I know what you're thinking... But bear with me...

Ben Affleck plays his part well of the not-so-perfect husband at the centre of a media scrutiny, who alongside relative-newcomer Carrie Coon impressively performing as Nick's twin sister Margot attempt to clear Nick's name.  However the plaudits all belong to Rosamund Pike in a career-redefining performance as the titular 'Gone Girl', Amy Dunne.  I have never seen Pike act this well. Honestly she steals this film and if she consistently performs in these sorts of roles, then I see a very different career ahead as opposed to the one where she has been restrained to 'blonde eye-candy'.  But whilst I feel like Pike needs singling out, every single actor and actress delivers an impressive performance, even Tyler freaking Perry outperforms as the dry-witted, wife-murderer's best friend, Defence Attorney Tanner Bolt.  Yeah, the guy who dresses up as the old woman.  Him, he's really good in this!

The director Fincher reunites with Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and his producing partner Atticus Ross who scored The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network, of which they won the Academy Award for Best Score, and they have created another atmospheric and subtle musical accompaniment that assists in the mysterious and suspenseful plot throughout.  Like their scores before, I am definitely buying it and chilling out to the ambient and peaceful tunes in my spare time.

I hate it when my missing wife photobombs me...

The score is just one way that is evident that Fincher has crafted a fantastic film.  Everything in the film looks pristine and there for a reason.  It's a strange thing to mention but Fincher has a history of always using space well in his films, making scenes claustrophobic when he needs to or turning scenes on their head with the slightest touch or hint to the audience and Gone Girl is definitely one of his strongest films to date.  Switching focus from mass media's current obsession with tragedy, to the importance of outward appearances in today's society, and always commenting on the hidden disappointment most marriages suffer with, the film is definitely suited for current audiences.

Whilst the film is an 18-certificate, hopefully it will still gain enough box office to prove a success.  The only downside I would give it would be the 150 minute running time, however when you are having this much fun, I doubt you'll mind.

Please go see this film. Not only will it hopefully surprise you in that ways it did with me, but then I will be able to discuss it with someone! Oh My God! So much to talk about! It will no doubt be in my Top Ten films come December.

Rating - 9/10

"What have we done to each other?  What will we do?"

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed what you read and you'd like to be kept more up to date with my posts, I can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Dunn-Reviews and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeDunnReviews - if you want to help the site grow, give them a 'Like' or a 'Share'!