Category: Movie Review

Director: Paul Feig

Writer: Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo (Screenplay)

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd, Ellie Kemper, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Rebel Wilson

 

Plot: Competition between the maid of honor and a bridesmaid, over who is the bride’s best friend, threatens to upend the life of an out-of-work pastry chef.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Standard and Forgettable

 

Story: Bridesmaids starts as we meet Annie (Wiig) a woman down on her luck, be it love or in business, her best friend Lillian (Rudolph) gets engaged leading to Annie needing to meet Lillian’s other friends including biggest rival Helen (Byrne) and the mother of three Rita (McLendon-Covey), newlywed Becca (Kemper), loud mouth future sister in law Megan (McCarthy) as they prepare for the big day.

As the wedding planning continues Helen and Annie’s rivalry increases as Annie is forced into going to Vegas with the rest of the bridesmaids as the wedding day comes closer.

 

Thoughts on Bridesmaids

 

Characters – Annie is the woman watching how her best friend is getting married with a new group of friends where she doesn’t fit in with as much, she isn’t having her own luck in love either and her career is gone down the drain. Lillian is the one getting married, she must remain calm as her friends look to become friends with each other. Helen is the rival friend, she comes from money showing Lillian a different life than the one she would have without Annie around, Helen does seem to be trying to replace Annie. We have three other bridesmaids that all have their unique personas with the married with kids one, the newlywed and the crazy one that gets most of the laughs.

Performance – Kristen Wiig is good in the main role as the woman whose life is falling apart or never where she wanted to be. Maya Rudolph gives the most natural performance in the film never trying to grab a laugh like most of the rest of the cast. Rose Byrne continues to show he ability to dive into different roles. I am hugely confused why people went mad over Melissa McCarthy’s performance in this film got an Oscar nomination it was nothing memorable.

Story – The story focuses on one woman whose life isn’t going the way she thought it would be, the engagement of her best friend seems to be the final straw, we do get to see how friendships can get tested to levels as time goes by and friends make new friends, a problem we all go through but in the end we get a lot of filler for the supporting bridesmaids in the film, that doesn’t connect to Annie which the story hints at it being her reaction to most things.

Comedy/Romance – The comedy does feel like it misses on the most part, we get a couple of good laughs but otherwise the jokes feel very forced.

Settings – The settings mostly come off as misses as nothing becomes overly iconic in anyway which leaves us not sure where certain parts of the movie are set.

Scene of the Movie – Most of John Hamm’s scenes.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The hype doesn’t live up to it.

Final Thoughts – This is a comedy that I only heard good things about and I couldn’t happen to think it was overrated and boring in places.

 

Overall: Standard comedy that doesn’t hit very often.

Rating

 

 

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Writer: Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham (Screenplay) Jeannette Walls (Book)

Starring: Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Ella Anderson, Chandler Head, Max Greenfield

 

Plot: A young girl comes of age in a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads with a mother who’s an eccentric artist and an alcoholic father who would stir the children’s imagination with hope as a distraction to their poverty.

Tagline – Home goes wherever we go

Runtime: 2 Hours 7 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Solid, but Overly Long Biopic

 

Story: The Glass Castle starts as Jeannette (Larson) starts to remember her childhood after seeing her parents Rex (Harrelson) and Rose Mary (Watts) digging through trash in New York City, a place she is shining in. Jeannette along with her siblings Lori, Maureen and Brian are raise off the radar by their parents, in a place where then can be at one with nature, having to learn how to look after themselves, no turning to anyone for help. As we learn more about the childhood Jeannette is preparing to let her family know of her engagement to David (Greenfield) and the difference in the lifestyles they have.

 

Thoughts on The Glass Castle

 

Characters – Jeannette has become popular in the gossip world, she has been driven by her upbringing which saw her living off the grid on the poverty line without a proper education at a younger age, she is a self-made woman. Rex is the father of the household, he cares dearly for his family, but he does have an alcohol problem which has caused the strain on the relationship between his children. Rose Mary is the mother of the household while also being an artist, she supports her children and Rex, he becomes the bridge between the two when things aren’t going well. The rest of the characters we meet are the siblings who we don’t learn too much about their own personal stories with their parents and David her fiancée of Jeannette’s.

Performances – We have three of the biggest talents in Hollywood here, Brie Larson is good in her leading role, but you must give credit to the younger stars who also played the character, Ella Anderson and Chandler Head. Woody Harrelson is the star of this show, he shows how he could be the most likely guy one second, but your worst enemy the next as his character struggles with their demons. Naomi Watts is solid, but wasted at times with her role which doesn’t get enough screen time. The rest of the cast a good without being truly great.

Story – The story is about one of a group of siblings realizing how important her difficult childhood was to drive her to become the strong woman she is now. Well, that is the general feel about the story and it interesting to see how it unfolds, but it just doesn’t see like it was the most engrossing to be a 2 hour plus movie. You feel like nothing is original in the film and I am aware it is someone personal story, it just isn’t somebody that seems famous enough to grab an audience, even though the hardship could be harder hitting.

Biopic– When it comes to biopics you do feel like you want the film to be either an incredible story off overcoming something or the road to greatness, this offer neither.

Settings – The settings show how the siblings were raised in the open country but were drawn to the big city to become successful in life.

Scene of the Movie – College.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is too long.

Final Thoughts –This is an overly long drama biopic about seemingly a random woman which doesn’t help pull us into caring about where things go.

 

Overall: Slow biopic that doesn’t hit the emotional marks it should.

Rating

 

 

Director: Jacques Audiard

Writer: Thomas Bidegain, Jacques Audiard (Screenplay) Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufailit (Original Screenplay)

Starring: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb, Hichm Yacoubi

 

Plot: A young Arab man is sent to a French prison.

Tagline – Escaping the prison of life.

Runtime: 2 Hours 35 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Tension Filled Thriller

 

Story: A Prophet starts as Malik (Rahim) enters prison, he wants to keep to himself and get out quickly, but this doesn’t happen because crime boss Cesar (Arestrup) sees him as a potential new employee in need of protection on the inside, but in exchange Malik must do some of the dirty work for Cesar.

As time goes by Malik starts getting granted day release from prison where he must run jobs for Cesar, instead of getting back into normal life again. When things start getting out of control Malik must find a way out of this life before it is too late.

 

Thoughts on A Prophet

 

Characters – Malik is a young criminal, sent to prison where he wants to do his time and walk away from his mistakes, he isn’t going to get this chance as he gets recruited with the promise of protection on the inside. He finds himself doing whatever it takes to survive this, but can he find a way out. Cesar is the crime lord in prison, he offers protection in exchange for jobs to be done for him, he will kill anyone that crosses him though.

Performances – The performances in this film are fantastic, you believe each reaction and motive the characters must go through as things are happening in the film.

Story – The story follows one young man’s fall into the crime world from inside a prison, to where he must find a way out before it finds himself too deep. There is a religious element to the story which shows the tension between Arabic and Muslims as Malik is stuck between the twos battle. This is a by the book gangster style movie where the new person enters and rises up the gang only to want to find a way out too.

Crime – The crime world we enter starts in prison and shows how things can still be operated from within the prison walls if the ranks are high enough.

Settings – The film is mostly set in the prison, so you can see the world that can operate inside there, outside each process is where Malik is either sent or finding himself while going through the release procedure.

Scene of the Movie – The first kill.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is too long for my liking.

Final Thoughts – This is a tense crime thriller showing us just where a young man can fall into while trying to just get out of his own problems with a large amount of religious undertone.

 

Overall: One for the gangster fans.

Rating

 

 

Director: Fraser C Heston

Writer: Andy Burg, Scott Myers (Screenplay)

Starring: Thora Birch, Vincent Kartheiser, Dirk Benedict, Charlton Heston, Duncan Fraser

 

Plot: While searching for their missing father in the mountains of Alaska, two siblings come across a baby polar bear on the run from a pair of poachers.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Wonderful Adventure Family Film

 

Story: Alaska starts as we meet the Barnes family, father Jake (Benedict) a small plane pilot and his kids Jessie (Birch) and Sean (Kartheiser), the family has started a new life in Alaska after their death of Jake’s wife and mother of Jessie and Sean. While Jessie has embraced this new life enjoying the beautiful sites, Sean is struggling with new life. We also get to meet to poachers Perry (Heston) and Koontz (Fraser) who have been hunting polar bears.

When their father goes missing, Jessie and Sean aim to go in search of him through the Alaskan wilderness discovering a captured baby polar bear cub that they release who joins them on their adventure, which only attracts the poachers attention as they find themselves chased through the wilderness by the poachers too in a race against time to find their father.

 

Thoughts on Alaska

 

Characters/Performance – Jessie is the sister of the siblings, she has embraced the change to Alaska learning to be part of the team with her father, while they both want to search for their father, she is the most prepared of the two. Sean hates his new life in Alaska and wants to move back to Chicago but you can clearly see he is grieving his mother with his behaviour, but with his father missing he will do everything he can to find him, learning to love the beautiful landscape they are part of now. Jake is the father of the family that has given up his 747-pilot job to start a new life in the small town in Alaska, he does spend most of the film trapped in his plane but his character gives Jessie and Sean the reason for going on their adventure. Perry and Koontz are two poachers hunting polar bears, they cross paths with the kids as they menacingly try to recapture the polar bear cub that they had released.

Performance wise, Thora Birch and Vincent Kartheiser are both great in the lead roles as the children in search of their father. Dirk doesn’t have much to do but does what he needs to well. Charlton Heston as the menacing poacher does seem to enjoy the role he plays in the movie.

Story – The story of two young teenagers going into the wilderness to find their missing father is a nice tried and tested formula, this style of film seemed to be the rave for family films around the time too, so to stand out you had to do something different. We get the moments of peril which are good and well-paced but we also get the moments of discovery which are just as important. Obviously, there are negatives here which include the idea the adults are clueless when searching for people in crashes and poachers being just evil people. I would also like to point out, that it is very unlikely a polar bear mother is just going to accept another cub, well that is what David Attenborough has taught me.

Adventure/Family – The adventure the kids get to go on is one I remember watching as a kid going, I wanna do that and I still would like to. The family side of this film is about the unity between a broken family doing everything to stay together and of course having a cute little polar bear helping them out.

Settings – Alaska as a setting, beautiful, stunning, peril filled and perfect for the story being told.

Effects – We only have a few effects in use here, most feels practical with the stunt work and working with a potential deadly animal in a polar bear.

Final Thoughts – This is easily one of the better kids work with animal films of the 90s, one that gives you hope in humanity and a wonderful setting.

 

Overall: Family night sorted.

Rating

 

 

Director: Martin Owen

Writer: Elizabeth Morris, Martin Owen, Jonathan Willis (Screenplay)

Starring: Kara Tointon, Jamie Bernadette, Isabelle Allen, Elizabeth Morris, Elliot James Landridge

 

Plot: A vision of augmented reality.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Mystery Brain Tester

 

Story: Let’s Be Evil starts in a world where education is being blamed for the flaws in the next generation of human intelligence, Jenny (Morris), Tiggs (Tionton) and Darby (Landridge) all get hired for a secret job where they will be watching over candidates and guided by the artificial intelligence (Voiced by Bernadette).

In this facility, the three watch over gifted children who are being educated in a way unlike anything we or the mentors have seen before, this doesn’t give Jenny the interaction she had imagined and soon things take a turn when the candidates take over the facility leaving Jenny, Tiggs and Darby needing to find a way out.

 

Thoughts on Let’s Be Evil

 

Characters/Performance – Jenny is a young woman who has worked to help care for her sick mother, but when this dream job comes up it is a chance to work with gifted children and make enough money to cover her mother’s medical bills. Tiggs is another member of the carers team that has more worldly experience and fights when needed. Darby is the third member that is meant to be the smartest but also the one that would break easiest. Cassandra is one of the candidates not acting like the rest.

Performance wise, Elizabeth does a good job at the everyday woman in this film as well as getting herself a writing credit along the way. Kara and Elliot make for good supporting characters too.

Story – The story follows three adults picked to look after gifted children in a future where the intelligence levels are crashing. This story does keep us guessing to why the children are kept separate to learn, what are they learning and in the final third of the just how much is reality, this keeps us on our toes which is always great to see in a mystery thriller.

Thriller – This film does keep us on the edge of our seats from start to finish as we just want to know what is going on and what will happen next.

Settings – The film is set completely inside the underground facility which gives us the true feeling of an experiment going on as well as helping us understand there is no easy escape.

Special Effects – The effects are all used to create the artificial intelligence, Arial is all computer style which we see through the effects as well as different parts of the reality.

Final Thoughts – This is a mystery thriller I do feel should be going to watch, it does test morale ideas even if certain parts do feel long at times, you will always be wanting to know what is happening.

 

Overall: Thriller that is a must watch for the fans of the genre.

Rating

 

 

2017 Award

Worst Film

January is here and that means award season and for the whole of January I will be looking at a range of best and worst subjects, before going into what I think are the true best nominations.

NOMINATIONS

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Alien Covenant

The Mummy

The Bye Bye Man

Don’t Hang Up

Flatliners

1922

Jigsaw

Winner

Flatliners

Reason – I wanted this movie to be good, it was a film that could have had a modern reboot, with the improved technology that could prove the studies, but it just turns into a jump scare mess that starts going in original direction, only to turn around and go, no this isn’t good for you, we want to give you something you don’t like.

Director: Andy Serkis

Writer: William Nicholson (Screenplay)

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Ed Speleers, Tom Hollander, Hugh Bonneville

 

Plot: The inspiring true love story of Robin and Diana Cavendish, an adventurous couple who refuse to give up in the face of a devastating disease. Their heartwarming celebration of human possibility.

Tagline –  With Her Love, He Lived

Runtime: 1 Hour 58 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Good Biopic

 

Story: Breathe starts as we learn how Robin (Garfield) and Diana (Foy) Cavendish met, got married and went on to start a family. This is glossed over because the main story starts when Robin gets struck down with polio given only a few months to live and stuck on a respirator machine.

Not willing to give up Robin stays alive, but it is Diana that brings him home and when Teddy Hall (Bonneville) an inventor starts to work on finding a mobile respirator so, despite being paralysed Robin could still live a normal life, where they become pioneers for the disabled.

 

Thoughts on Breathe

 

Characters – Robin Cavendish is a young man that meets the girl of his dreams, marries her and starts a family, but his life takes a turn for the worse when he gets polio, not given much time to live, he goes onto break boundaries for disabled becoming a pioneer for disabled people across the world. Diana is the wife of Robin, she never gives up on him, standing by his side supporting him on any improvements he could have made to improve his living conditions. Teddy Hall is an inventor friend of Robin, he helps build a wheel chair that could help many other disabled people in the future.

Performances – Andrew Garfield is picking his projects well recently, he is picking roles where he can shine showing his skills as an actor which he does here again. Claire Foy steps away from the television role in The Crown to play Diana, where she does show that she can play the posh English woman with the best of them. Hugh Bonneville is good in the supporting role.

Story – The story tells how Robin Cavendish, his family and friends pioneered a change in how disabled people can continue to function in society, this shows us how the people with the disease were not given much hope, but now with the help of an inventor and funding things will always b different now. We do cover many years which doesn’t help as we completely gloss over the meeting of the two, but as there isn’t much improvement or worsening to the disease, we only get to see the freedom created by the family.

Biopic/Romance – Seeing how the people involved in this story work to make things possible for the people in the future shows how the biopic things of the story come through, which in places shows the love between Robin and Diana who inspired each other to make it as long as they could.

Settings – The settings show us how trapped Robin is at first and just where his life does end up going once he gets the means to be out of the hospital.

Scene of the Movie – Robin meets the disabled committee in Germany

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is one of those stories that seems to come from well off background, making this affordable for them over all of them.

Final Thoughts – This is a good biopic that can be enjoyed, inspire and shows just how people can help lead a change for people in the world.

 

Overall: Good, but nothing special in a biopic.

Rating