Bill Review

Ever since it was announced, one of the films I've been looking forward to the most has been Bill, mainly due to the cast and creative team behind it, that being the people responsible for the Horrible Histories TV series and Yonderland. Whilst I didn't really get into Yonderland, Horrible Histories is one of the best comedy TV shows made in recent years, a great combination of history, music, terrible puns, toilet humour and slapstick and the brilliance of this show has led me to call the team this generations Monty Python on numerous occasions, and if this team is the modern day Monty Python, then Bill is their Holy Grail. Whilst I had some worries due to the numerous delays in its release, the film is finally out and it fully lives up to the skill of this team.

Legend Review

Out of the big dramas coming out in the later half of this year, Legend is one of the ones I've been looking forward to. The Kray twins are two of the most important figures in British criminal history due to the way they controlled the criminal elements of London in the 1960s and they have been figures in British popular culture since then. Monty Python did a parody of them with the Piranha Brothers, shows like Whitechapel have made use of the stories of the Krays in episodes and there have been biopics about them, the most prominent one previously being the 1990 film with Gary and Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet playing the Krays. This one though has peaked a lot of interest due to the decision to have Tom Hardy play both of the Krays using twinning effects like those in The Social Network and The Double and this was the best decision made for this film. However, the rest of the film doesn't full match up to Hardy's excellent performance.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Review

It's not often that I go into a film with no expectations. I always end up seeing a trailer and reading reviews that can cloud my judgement on a film. Sometimes my expectations are too high and I end up really disappointed, other times I'm surprised when a film I had low expectations for turns out to be amazing. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is one where I had no preconceptions. I didn't see any of the trailers and I read an equal amount of positive and negative reviews, giving me a neutral image of the film and no expectations for the quality, and I think it's best that I went in like that. Having no expectations opened me up to be incredibly surprised by the film and moved by it's story.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E Review

Another day another spy movie to review. Just a few weeks after the last spy movie, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, we get another one with The Man From U.N.C.L.E, which is one of the ones I've been looking forward to the most. Whilst I was looking forward to it more with Steven Soderberg in the directors chair, Guy Ritchie was a decent choice to replace him. He's had a good track record recently and his style of directing can work for spy films. The trailers showed off a really slick, throwback to 60s spy films and that is seen throughout the film, which is what I got with the film, making it a ton of fun to watch.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation Review

Once again, I’m reviewing a spy film. This has been a good year for those films, with the prior success of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Spy, and the certain future success of Spectre. In this line up we get the next Mission Impossible film. My experience with the series is definitely incomplete. I only started with the series with Mission Impossible 3 and I still haven’t seen the first 2 films, although I hear I’m not missing much by skipping Mission Impossible 2.  Still, as 3 and Ghost Protocol proved to me, these films are always a lot of fun to watch and I’m happy to say that Rogue Nation follows that trend well.

Inside Out Review (Contains Spoilers)

In the past few years, Pixar haven't been as on form as they usually are. They went from producing classic after classic with films like WALL-E, Up, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc and the Toy Story Trilogy to deeply flawed films like Brave and the disaster that was Cars 2. When I heard about Inside Out though, I and most other people, believed it would signal a return to form for Pixar, especially with it being the first Pixar film for Pete Doctor since Up, and I'm pleased to say that this is the case. Even amongst the high standards of Pixar, Inside Out is one of their best.

Ant-Man Review

Out of all of the Marvel films, the one I've been the most cautious about has been Ant-Man. Originally, it was one of the ones I was most excited for due to Edgar Wright directing the film and writing it with Attack the Block writer/director Joe Cornish but when they left, I became really worried, especially since it was so close to when filming was due to start. I thought that the creative difficulties so close would mean that replacement director Peyton Reed and new co-writers Adam McKay and Paul Rudd had no chance in creating a good film. However, I have been proven wrong. Even though I would have loved to have seen Edgar Wright's vision for the film, the finished product is still an entertaining film and a worthy addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Slow West Review

One film genre that hasn't really seen that much love in the past few years has been the Western. Sure there have been some but none of them have really been attention grabbing and none of them have seen much acclaim (although I could be wrong). The last Western that I saw with high levels of acclaim was the Coen Brother's True Grit and it's here that Slow West comes in. This is easily the best Western I've seen since True Grit, and is a film which clearly owes a debt to the Coen Brothers.

Minions Review

The Despicable Me series is one that I've had mixed feelings on. I didn't watch the first film because it wasn't really my cup of tea and I found Despicable Me 2 to be just an average family film, no more, no less. The only thing that really stood out to me were the Minions, who were the best thing in Despicable Me 2. The success of the Minions in permeating pop culture meant that a spin-off focused on them was inevitable, but with this there was the risk of over-exposure which could make the film irritating after a while. Thankfully, that isn't the case. I don't think there's been a film this year that I've laughed at more so far than Minions.

Mr Holmes Review

Over the past few years, there has been an influx of Sherlock Holmes related media. From the Robert Downey Jr films to Elementary to the obvious best example of them, Sherlock. Hell, even The Asylum did their own version (which is hilarious). One thing all of them have done though is look at Holmes in his prime, when he was in his 20s/30s. This is what makes Mr Holmes stand out, the focus here is on a Holmes way past his prime and losing his memory. This focus, along with a brilliant performance by Ian McKellen, makes this one of the better versions of Holmes to come out in recent years.