27 December 2014

2014 Oscar Predictions

Once again, it's Oscar time so it's time for my prediction list. Every year I do put in a few wildcard predictions and this year is no exception. With that said, here are my Oscar nomination predictions.

20 December 2014

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Review

My relationship with The Hobbit films has been a bit strenuous to say the least. Whilst I loved An Unexpected Journey, I was profoundly disappointed by Desolation of Smaug. Now we come to not only the end of The Hobbit series but also the end of Peter Jackson's Middle Earth films and I have to say, once again I walked out of the cinema disappointed.

19 December 2014

Black Mirror: The Entire History of You Review

So here it is, my long delayed final review of Black Mirror, The Entire History of You. In many respects, this is the ideal episode of Black Mirror to end my reviews with. This is the episode which shows how damaging certain technologies could be on the mundane level, it's the only episode of Black Mirror not written by Charlie Brooker, instead written by Jesse Armstrong, and it's the one that is being planned to be adapted for the big screen by Robert Downey Jr's production company. This is also, in my opinion, the weakest episode of series 1.

18 December 2014

Black Mirror: 15 Million Merits Review

Continuing the reviews of Black Mirror is what I would say is my favourite episode from series 1, 15 Million Merits. Even put against the bizarre brilliance of The National Anthem and the emotional power of The Entire History Of You, I find the world created in this episode, along with the characters and writing, to push this one over the edge. It's not my favourite episode of Black Mirror, that honour goes to Be Right Back, but it is a close second.

17 December 2014

Black Mirror: White Christmas Review

For anyone who's been following this blog for a while, you'll know my love of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror and I've reviewed all of Series 2 and the first episode of Series 1. It has always been a bit of an annoyance that there are still episodes of Black Mirror I haven't talked about but now is the time to fix it with the recent airing of Black Mirror: White Christmas. Over the next three days you'll see reviews of this, along with the episodes I have yet to talk about (15 Million Merits and The Entire History of You). Needless to say, White Christmas continues the trend of Black Mirror being one of the best TV shows to come out in recent years.

8 December 2014

Paddington Review

When I first heard about Paddington, I was not convinced the film would work, hell I did a post when the first poster was released about it. As time as gone on though, and I've heard more about the film, my optimism regarding Paddington has only increased, buoyed by the overwhelmingly positive reviews. After seeing Paddington, I have to say the reaction has not been overstated, Paddington is a lovely film, one of the best family films of the year.

29 November 2014

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 Review

I have a complicated history with The Hunger Games series. I haven't read the books, with my introduction to the series being the first film, and I hated that film. I found it to be incredibly derivative, poorly directed and many of the characters were completely forgettable and I had no intention of carrying on with the series. Then, after reading so many positive reviews, I decided to give the series another chance with Catching Fire and my opinion of the series completely reversed. Every single problem I had with The Hunger Games was fixed in Catching Fire, it was well directed, the ideas it introduced flowed a lot better with the story and the new characters introduced were incredibly entertaining. Now with Mockingjay Part 1, the series has continued its upward trend in quality, creating my favourite one yet.

24 November 2014

The Imitation Game Review

I don't think there was anyone more important to the world of technology than Alan Turing. His research has been incredibly important for the development of artificial intelligence and his work at Bletchley Park was the forerunner to the modern computer age. Even in the world of film Turing's influence cannot be denied, notably the idea of the Turing Test to determine whether something was human or a machine being the inspiration for the Voight-Kampff test in Blade Runner. Now a film has come out about the life of Turing and, whilst it is a brilliant film, there are a few problems holding it back.

15 November 2014

Interstellar Review

All throughout the year, Interstellar has been my most anticipated film. Nolan is my favourite director working today and has made many of my favourite films, mainly The Dark Knight, The Prestige and Inception, so of course I was hyped for this film. Warner Bros clearly had a lot of trust in Nolan as they gave a multi-million dollar budget to Nolan and the rights to 2 franchises to Paramount (Friday the 13th and South Park) to a completely original film with no opportunity for sequels and no marketing options, which also raised my excitement for this film. Then I read a few reviews, that were pretty negative and I started to get a little bit worried, then I saw Interstellar. Whilst it didn't quite meet my incredibly high expectations, this is still a brilliant film, continuing Nolan's streak of having not made a bad film (in my opinion).

13 November 2014

Nightcrawler Review

Over the past few months, we've seen a number of films come out looking at the state of the modern media. From comedies like Anchorman 2, to action films like The Hunger Games, to thrillers like Gone Girl, there's been this prevailing sense of how the media exploits certain stories and relies more on shock than facts. No film has made this more prominent though than Nightcrawler, probably the best thriller that's been released this year, and I'm including Gone Girl.

29 October 2014

Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailer and Marvel Event Thoughts

It's been a while since I've done a trailer reaction since I wanted to wait for a trailer that completely blew me away. With the release of the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer (a few days earlier than intended due to it being leaked, it was meant to be released next Tuesday during Agents of SHIELD), I have found that trailer. This is one of the best trailers that has been released recently and my excitement for this film is now even higher than it already was.

22 October 2014

Gone Girl Review

This is a tricky film to talk about. Let me start by saying that Gone Girl is an excellent film and shows David Fincher to still be one of the all time greats at constructing thrillers but a major part of a film relates to a mid-film twist. Whilst I will try not to spoil the twist in this review, I may end up revealing more than I mean to when I talk about why I found the film so good. As a result, consider this your spoiler warning.

4 October 2014

The Boxtrolls Review

I have a bit of a mixed reaction to the films of Laika. Whilst they have always shown a great talent for animation, they haven't always had the best stories. Whilst Coraline was excellent, I felt ParaNorman was pretty weak for the most part, despite having an excellent ending. With The Boxtrolls though, Laika are back to the quality they exhibited with Coraline.

28 September 2014

Maps to the Stars Review

Over the past few months, a film that I had been really intrigued to watch had been the new David Cronenberg film, Maps to the Stars. The trailers made it look like a really intriguing pitch black satire on Hollywood and after Julianne Moore won Best Actress at Cannes my interest grew as Moore is one of my favourite actresses. After watching the film, I can say that, whilst it is a very interesting and very darkly comic film, it doesn't fully work.

13 September 2014

Pride Review

Sometimes you get a film that comes out of nowhere and ends up being one of the best films of the year, Pride is one of those films. This is a film I only heard about a few weeks ago but is probably one of the most important, funny, heartwarming and hopeful films that has been released this year and a great show of the power of solidarity (which is brilliantly summed up by Owen Jones in his article in The Guardian).

29 August 2014

Meatspace (Pilot) Review

So I've been given my first review copy of a piece of media to review on this blog, that being the pilot episode for Meatspace written and directed by William Carlisle. Now before I begin there is something that should be addressed about my criticisms, that being that the pilot episode is unfinished meaning that any complaints I have about the technical side of things can be addressed between now and when the episode airs. With that out of the way, let's dive in.

26 August 2014

CK Movie Challenge: Review of the film I hate the most: Pain and Gain

So I've decided to take part in the Cinematic Katzenjammer Movie Challenge and the first thing I've decided to do for it is to review the film I hate the most and there is only really one candidate for it. Sure there are films like Batman and Robin, Twilight, You Got Served and The Waterboy that I hate but the film I'm reviewing is the only one where I was repulsed watching it. It is a film that has no artistic merit and should not be seen by anyone. That film is Michael Bay's Pain and Gain.

22 August 2014

1984-a-thon: Firestarter Review

This month, Todd of Forgotten Films is hosting a 1984-a-thon, looking at as many films released in 1984 as possible. As part of this, I am taking a look at that years big adaptation of a Stephen King book with Firestarter.

21 August 2014

The Inbetweeners 2 Review

One of the films this year that I was both looking forward to and was trepidatious about has been The Inbetweeners 2. Being a teenager in the UK I am a fan of The Inbetweeners and I thought that the first film was one of the only good films based on a TV show so I knew that a good film could be made. At the same time, The Inbetweeners Movie was also a pretty clear end to the series, serving as a cap up to the characters meaning that there wasn't a real need for a sequel, with further warning signs being raised due to the film not being screened for critics, and since the last films not screened for critics were Mrs Browns Boys D'Movie and Pudsey the Dog: The Movie. My worries though were unfounded as The Inbetweeners 2 is a really funny film.

9 August 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: Milk Review

So we've come to the final film in Politic-a-thon 2, and I think it's best to end with another excellent film looking at gay rights activism in the 1970s, Gus Van Sant's Milk. I feel this is the best film to end with because of how important stuff presented in the film is today with homosexuality being illegal in numerous countries, Uganda only just decriminalising homosexuality and gay marriage being a major topic in US politics and as such, Harvey Milk is still just as important a figure now as he was in the 1970s.

8 August 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: Frost/Nixon Review

So today is the final film in the sub-set of reviews focused on Richard Nixon, with this film focusing on the aftermath of Watergate, in particular a key event in which Nixon essentially confessed to a cover-up; the interviews he did with David Frost. These interviews were such an important event in the political landscape that a top notch writer and director were needed in order to do justice to the event. Thankfully, this film has Peter Morgan writing (doing an adaptation of his stage play) and Ron Howard directing.

Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Out of all the blockbusters coming out this summer, Guardians of the Galaxy seemed like the biggest risk. Giving a team of obscure heroes to a director who has never had a mainstream hit and started out working with Troma must have sounded insane on paper but the trailer have helped make it one of my most anticipated films of the year. The fact that I am writing this review after the second time I've seen it, and I'm planning on seeing it again in the next few days pretty much sums up what I think. I love this film and right now it's head-to-head with Avengers Assemble as being the best Marvel film.

7 August 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: All The President's Men Review

In the second part of my look at films revolving around Nixon is probably one of the most famous political films ever made, All The President's Men, with the focus here being on the investigation into Watergate. In discussing the Nixon presidency, Watergate has to be a major focus and as such, the work of the reporters that broke the story needs to be given a great deal of care and respect and this is a case where that respect has been given.

6 August 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: Nixon Review

Next up is the first in a set of films I'm going to do about Richard Nixon, with today focusing on his life and career with Nixon, tomorrow focusing on the Watergate investigation with All The President's Men and the day after with the Frost/Nixon interviews in well Frost/Nixon. Today though is focusing on Nixon's life and this film feels like a pretty comprehensive background to Nixon's life and career as President and a pretty good film comes out of it through Oliver Stone's direction and the performances.

5 August 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: The Ghost Review

Sometimes when watching a film, you can't help but note the similarities between the events of the film and real life, as is the case with The Ghost. A lot of elements in the film are clearly inspired by Tony Blair's tenure as Prime Minister and the links he had with America and as such the film could quite easily fall into political exploitation. Thankfully, a really smart thriller is created instead.

4 August 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: Invictus Review

Next up in this blog-a-thon is the second film focusing on South African politics, albeit one which highlights the unexpected political power of sport. For the majority of the time, sport doesn't really play much of a role in politics but when it does, its importance cannot be denied. From the use of sport as a show of patriotism and the skill of other countries, through sport influencing policies through corruption (looking at you Fifa) and, in some cases, leading to the deaths of a large portion of the population (just look at the horrific conditions for workers in Qatar) sport can be highly important politically. When sport is used correctly though, it can help bring people together and that is what Invictus is all about.

3 August 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: Fahrenheit 9/11 Review

One thing I’m amazed at is that during both of the Politic-a-thons, I haven’t talked about any political themed documentaries. Some of the best politically themed films to have come out in recent years have been documentaries, from The Fog of War focusing on Robert McNamara to Five Broken Cameras about the oppression of Palestinians under Israel (which is really noteworthy considering what’s happening in Gaza now) to The Act of Killing focusing on the genocide in Indonesia. But I think that for my first documentary to cover on Politic-a-thon, it has to be one which was generally agreed to have been a major player in an election and helped turn the wave of public opinion against a President before his first term was up, that film being Fahrenheit 9/11.

2 August 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: Cry Freedom Review

Next up in Politic-a-thon is another film based around the politics of South Africa during apartheid, with the one I’m doing today going more into detail about life in South Africa for black activists and the white population who didn’t support apartheid and out of the films based around apartheid that I can think of, there is no better example than Cry Freedom.

Politic-a-thon 2: The American President Review

Next up in the Politic-a-thon is the first political film from my favourite script writer, Aaron Sorkin. There's just this great sense of humour and optimism present in a lot of Sorkin's scripts, mainly this and a virtually every episode of The West Wing he wrote and even the non-political scripts he's written (The Social Network and Moneyball springing to mind) have been some of the best scripts written in the past few years so I wanted to see if his earlier scripts were as good and I'm happy to say that The American President is another excellent film with an excellent script.

31 July 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: Charlie Wilson's War Review

Next up in the Politic-a-thon is another film from one of my favourite script writers working today, Aaron Sorkin. This time though, instead of taking place in the West Wing, this goes into Congress and is the first film based on a real life person that Sorkin has written and, whilst I think it's the weakest of Sorkin's films, it is still a great film.

30 July 2014

Politic-A-Thon 2: Olympus Has Fallen Review

After doing so many serious dramas for this years Politic-a-Thon, I think it's time to do something different: a big bombastic action film. The one I've chosen is one of the two Die Hard in the White House films from last year, Olympus Has Fallen and out of those two films, I'd take the stupid but entertaining White House Down over this boring slog of a film any day.

29 July 2014

Politic-a-Thon 2: Dave Review

Most of the films that I've done this year for Politic-a-Thon have been really heavy films. I think it's time to go a bit lighter and take a look at a more comedic look at politics with Ivan Reitman's Dave. Now Ivan Reitman is a pretty hit and miss director, when he's good, he makes comedy classics like Ghostbusters and Stripes but when he's bad you get stuff like Kindergarten Cop and Junior. Thankfully, Dave falls into the former category, mainly due to a great script by Gary Ross and an excellent performance from Kevin Kline.

28 July 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: No Review

Going over all of the films I've covered in both Politic-a-thons, there is one area of the world, with really interesting politics, that I have consistently ignored, that being South America. This is a region of the world filled with political instability and, over the past 60 years, a large number of coups (mostly organised by the US government) and the installation of dictators. Today, I'm going to look at a film about the downfall of one of these dictatorships, more specifically, the film about the campaign to remove General Pinochet from power in Chile through a democratic vote.

27 July 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: W Review

I think it's best right now to get my thoughts on George W Bush out right now. He was an incompetent buffoon who was led into an illegal war by Cheney and Rumsfeld and is, without doubt, the worst president who has ever held that office, yes over Nixon and Reagan. With that said, I was interested to watch W. Seeing as Oliver Stone has done some really interesting political films in the past, he could be the best person to tell the story of George W Bush, instead it just feels like a wasted opportunity.

26 July 2014

Politic-a-Thon 2: Bulworth Review

Next up in the Politic-a-thon is another film about the nature of political campaigns and the destructive nature of them on the candidate, with this film focusing on the mental breakdown a candidate has when running for re-election with the film being Bulworth. Honestly, considering how prominently a left wing actor Warren Beatty is, I'm surprised I haven't come across one of his films earlier, this one in particular. In fact, I hadn't even heard of this film until the Todd in the Shadows One Hit Wonderland episode on Ghetto Superstar but, after doing some research, one of the staples of the blog-a-thon has come up again, Aaron Sorkin (I didn't even plan for another one of his films to come up, it just happened) and this is another great script he was involved with in a really good film.

Boyhood Review

Richard Linklater is probably one of the most eclectic filmmakers working today. From romance films with the Before trilogy to dark comedies with Bernie to mainstream comedies with School of Rock to twisted sci-fi films with A Scanner Darkly, there is a Linklater film out there for everyone. His major project though has been one he’s spent the last 12 years filming, Boyhood, and it’s probably the best film that Linklater has made.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review

One of the biggest surprises in film recently for me was Rise of the Planet of the Apes. After watching the trailers for it I thought it would be a pretty bad film but instead I was greeted by a really smart, engaging summer blockbuster with a brilliant central performance by Andy Serkis as Caesar. When the sequel was announced I was excited, but the excitement waned a bit when it was announced Rupert Wyatt wouldn't direct the sequel as his strong direction is one of the things that helped Rise work as well as it did. I needn't have worried however as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is easily better than Rise and one of the best summer blockbusters in a year of great summer blockbusters.

25 July 2014

Politic-a-Thon 2: The Special Relationship Review

Now we're onto the final part of the Peter Morgan Blair trilogy. So far we've covered the relationship between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in The Deal, with Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen and now, with The Special Relationship, we look at probably the most important relationship Blair had in his early days, his relationship with Bill Clinton and, whilst I still think The Deal is the best one of these films, this is a very close second.

24 July 2014

Politic-a-thon 2: The Queen Review

So today is the second part of the Stephen Frears Blair trilogy with The Queen, focusing on Tony Blair's relationship with Queen Elizabeth the Second. This is the one that I had the most trepidation going into since this was the only one of the three to get a cinema release and as such, it feels like the filmmakers believed that this was the best one. In my opinion, whilst The Deal is the better film and the one that should have received a cinema release, this is still a brilliant film.

23 July 2014

Politic-a-Thon 2: The Deal Review

Next up is another bunch of films in a series, this time, what I call the Blair Trilogy, 3 films with focus on Tony Blair's relationship with major figures in his career. Today's film, The Deal, focuses on his relationship with Gordon Brown, tomorrow's film, The Queen, focuses on his relationship with Queen Elizabeth the Second and the day after is The Special Relationship, concerning his relationship with Bill Clinton. All of these films have their own benefits but, for my money, The Deal is the best of the trilogy.

22 July 2014

Politic-a-Thon 2: The Candidate Review

Overall I've done a lot of modern political films so I think it's time to go back to the classic political films so for the next two days, I'll be doing some ones from the 70s, both of which star Robert Redford, today's film, The Candidate, and All The President's Men, which will also start another set of reviews looking at Nixon's presidency. Today though is The Candidate, which I feel is one of the greatest political films ever made.

21 July 2014

Politic-A-Thon 2: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Review

So today, the second Politic-a-thon starts with the most recent politically themed film to come out, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom. This film is a bit tricky to talk about. Originally it was slated to be another Oscar season biopic but then, on the night of the London premiere, Nelson Mandela died turning this film into a tribute to Mandela. This puts an even greater amount of pressure onto the film. Thankfully, the film pays off and is a brilliantly executed tribute to Mandela with an outstanding central performance by Idris Elba.

16 July 2014

How To Train Your Dragon 2 Review

So this year is turning out to have one of the best summers for films in recent years. Every time I think I've seen the best big film, another one comes along that's even better, the most recent one being How To Train Your Dragon 2. Now I think How To Train Your Dragon is the best film that Dreamworks Animation has made, without the involvement of Aardman, so I had high hopes for the sequel. I am happy to say that not only were my expectations met, they were surpassed with How To Train Your Dragon 2 being one of the best animated sequels ever made.

1 July 2014

Best of 2014 Halfway Through The Year

So we're at the halfway point in the year and I think it's time to go through my top 5's for the year so far, going through my top 5 films, performances (male and female), scenes and my most anticipated for the rest of the year. Like all of my lists, these will be films that have had a UK release this year so some films released in the US last year will be included.

26 June 2014

Chef Review

Jon Favreau seems to be one of the most eclectic directors working today, going from comedies with Elf to sci-fi with Zathura to superhero blockbusters with the first two Iron Man films. Now with Chef, Jon Favreau has gone back to his low budget roots to create a really funny and heartwarming comedy.

24 June 2014

Belle Review

Over the past few months, there have been a number of films that have dealt with real life stories about black figures with 12 Years A Slave, Fruitvale Station and now Belle. This one stands out from the crowd though by being one of the only historical films about a black women, in this case Dido Elizabeth Belle. The story of Belle is a really intriguing one since she was the illegitimate daughter of a naval figure whose uncle was the Lord Chief Justice at the time and as such, she was raised in the aristocracy. This, along with a painting of Dido and her cousin, Elizabeth Murray, which was one of the first paintings to depict a black person at the same sightline as a white aristocrat means that she is an important figure in the history of black persons in the UK and this film is a great example of why she was an important figure.

12 June 2014

Locke Review

At Cineworld cinemas, there is an event going on where, every Thursday, they do screenings of films that have previously been shown. Today, they screened Locke, a film I had been intending to watch but never got round to it when it was first released. I was really intrigued over how a film set entirely in a car can work, especially in the context of a thriller (as the trailers promised). Well this is a case where the trailers sold a completely different film, this is a character study, not a thriller, and a really good one at that.

22 Jump Street Review

I don't think any directors in America are taking as many chances in comedy as Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Every single film that they've made sounded like they would fail on paper but Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie were all hilarious films and thankfully, 22 Jump Street continues this trend.

8 June 2014

Politic-A-Thon 2

Last year, I started my first blog-a-thon on this site, going through 13 films/TV shows with heavy basis in politics, with an extra review being done by Dan Heaton of ptsnob.com. This year, I am doing it again, this time doing 20 films. From the 21st of July to the 9th of August there will be a different politically themed film review released on this blog every day. However, I still want some help. Aside from the 20 reviews that I will be doing, I am asking for my fellow bloggers to send in reviews of any film based in politics be it a drama, a comedy or a documentary. After the jump are the 20 films that I will be covering to give you some idea of the types of films I want to see. Hope to see more people take part in this blog-a-thon.

2 June 2014

Edge of Tomorrow Review

Out of all of the blockbusters that would be released this summer, the one I was the most cautious about was Edge of Tomorrow. I liked the idea of the time loop battles but things can go wrong. Do it correctly and you get films like Groundhog Day and Source Code, do it wrong and you get The Butterfly Effect. Thankfully though, this is a case where the premise is done correctly and there's a great sense of fun that is present throughout the film, making this set to be one of the best blockbusters of the summer

28 May 2014

Maleficent Review

Over the past few years, there has been a big trend of reinventing fairy tales with works like Once Upon A Time and Grimm on TV, along with Frozen, getting high praise for how they reinvented fairy tales. Out of this, there has been one project that has been teased for years, a reinvention of Sleeping Beauty focused on Maleficent and now that film has come out. As a reinvention of Sleeping Beauty, it doesn't work and feels like a complete hodge-podge of all the tropes that have made recent fantasy movies popular.

Bad Neighbours Review

Out of all the films I've seen this year, Bad Neighbours was the one I was unsure about. Whilst I'm really like the cast, the premise of the film made it sound like a film I wouldn't enjoy. After hearing the overwhelmingly positive reviews for the film though I decided to give it a go and I found to film to be okay. Whilst the cast are all game, the jokes don't hit as often as they should.

25 May 2014

X-Men: Days of Future Past Review

I have a bit of a mixed view of the X-Men series. X-Men was okay, X2 was great, X-Men: The Last Stand is not as bad as people make it out to be (I just did a defense of the film here), whilst X-Men Origins: Wolverine is. X-Men: First Class is excellent and The Wolverine is just okay. It's a pretty mixed record when it comes to the films and with this film, the franchise has gone back to its roots, getting Bryan Singer back to direct an adaptation of one of the most popular story arcs in X-Men history, Days of Future Past and has made another great X-Men film.

23 May 2014

Frank Review

This is a strange one. A film where Michael Fassbender wears a paper-mache head and is a member of an offbeat music group has to be a strange one but the level of strangeness needs to be seen. The trailers make it out to be this quirky dark comedy but underneath there are very serious themes about mental illness and artistic integrity to be seen. Thankfully, all of these elements work making Frank a brilliant, unique film.

19 May 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review (Spoiler Warning)

When I saw the first Amazing Spider-Man film 2 years ago, I was pleasantly surprised. All of the trailers made me think the film would be awful but a strong cast and a decent script helped make the film pretty good. The Amazing Spider-Man was not the film I thought was going to be released based on how bad the trailers were, they saved all of that for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. This is a pretty bad film and easily the worst of all the Spider-Man films made so far (yes, including Spider-Man 3, which is nowhere near as bad as everyone says it is).

17 May 2014

Godzilla Review

Over the past few years, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of giant monster movies. Films such as The Host, Monsters and Pacific Rim have ignited the passion in the movie going audience to see more films like this. As such, it was only a matter of time before a new Godzilla movie was made. This was also a good way for America to make up for the complete butchering of Godzilla done by Roland Emmerich in 1998, giving the world a proper Godzilla film. I am happy to say that this does feel like a true Godzilla film, although there are still a few problems.

21 April 2014

The Double Review

So we've got another film from my top 10 most anticipated of 2014 list to cover, this time the film being Richard Ayoade's The Double. Based off of Dostoyevsky's novella of the same name, this looked to be one of the more unique films that would be released this year and the idea of pairing up Richard Ayoade with Jesse Eisenberg felt like a match made in heaven. Thankfully, the overall film matches this idea creating one of the most unique and engaging films that will be released this year.

20 April 2014

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review

Out of all the Marvel films in Phase 2, this is the one I was worried about. Captain America was the only hero I was unsure would work outside of the Avengers in the present day and as such I was worried. Thankfully, I have to say that, out of the ones released so far, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the best of the Phase 2 films.

12 April 2014

Muppets Most Wanted Review

I love The Muppets. They are one of the few things I know of that has gotten funnier as I've grown older and I find that I can put on any of the Muppet films and have a brilliant time. As such, I've been eagerly anticipating this film ever since it was announced. Whilst it may not have the same level of heart as 2012's The Muppets, it more than makes up for it by being one of the funniest films that will be released this year.

5 April 2014

Noah Review

I didn't know what to expect when Noah was first announced. Since all the Bible films that have been made recently have been really preachy and sanitised (except Passion of the Christ), I expected something like that but when I heard Darren Aronofsky was directing I had some hope for the film. Having seen it I can easily say that this is the most insane film that I've seen this year so far, in a good way.

27 March 2014

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trailer

My God, I thought my expectations for this film couldn't get any lower after hearing that Megan Fox was cast as April O'Neil. Literally everything that a trailer can do wrong can be seen here:

8 March 2014

The Grand Budapest Hotel Review

There are very few directors with whom you can tell your watching one of their films within the first seconds of watching it. Wes Anderson is one of those directors. There's such a unique style that only exists in Wes Anderson films that makes them so hard to imitate and these films could easily become style over substance. However, the films of his I've seen so far (Fantastic Mr Fox, Moonrise Kingdom and this) have a lot of heart and intelligence that make these films very substantial to watch and out of those films, I think this might be my favourite.

7 March 2014

Dallas Buyers Club Review

Over the past few years Matthew McConaughey has seen an intense career reinvention. He's gone from being the butt of jokes for staring in terrible rom-coms to giving consistently excellent performances in much darker films. His performances in Killer Joe, Bernie, Mud and The Wolf of Wall Street were excellent and, even though I haven't seen them, I've heard great things about his performances in The Lincoln Lawyer, Magic Mike and True Detective. All that was needed was an Oscar worthy performance and his revival would be complete and this was that performance and it helps that the film itself is really good.

19 February 2014

The Lego Movie Review

When it was first announced, I thought that The Lego Movie would just be another cynical, brainless attempt to capitalise on a recognisable property in order to wring more nostalgia money out of people. Then Warner Bros. made the smartest decision they could; they hired Phil Lord and Chris Miller to write and direct the film. Their absolutely insane approach to films, as seen in the insanity of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, felt like the best way to make this film work by just going all out with the possibilities that Lego provided. That is exactly what they did and they have created one of the best comedies that will be released this year.

25 January 2014

The Wolf of Wall Street Review

When I first heard about The Wolf of Wall Street, knowing nothing about Jordan Belfort, I thought it would be a serious drama. Then I saw the first trailer and realised that it was a comedy. Now that I've seen the film, I can confirm that it is one of the funniest films I've seen recently and is a completely insane experience that pulls you right into the world of Jordan Belfort and doesn't let you forget it.

22 January 2014

My Thoughts on the 2014 Oscar Nominations

So it's that time of year again when I give my thoughts on the major awards nominations. This year though, since I don't really have time to cover all of them and seeing how I've already missed the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, I'm just going to cover the Oscars.

17 January 2014

12 Years A Slave Review

There have been very few films I've seen that have left me speechless. A film would have to really impress me and shock me in order for me to be left speechless. 12 Years A Slave is one of those film. This is an astonishing piece of filmmaking and a film that everyone needs to see as soon as possible.

5 January 2014

Frozen Review

Over the past few years the animated Disney films have seen a great return to form. The Princess and the Frog and Tangled got great reviews and Wreck It Ralph was a lot of fun. However, I was still unsure about Frozen. The trailers made it look like a boring, action-comedy film and I wasn't really sold. Then I started seeing the reviews saying that Frozen was one of the best animated films of the year and after seeing the film, the reviews are right. Frozen is one of the best animated films to come along in a long time.