Plot: After their high school basketball coach passes away, five good friends and former teammates reunite for a Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Runtime: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Grown Ups starts 30 years after a high school basketball team won a championship. The five-star players Lenny (Sandler), Eric (James), Kurt (Rock), Marcus (Spade) and Rob (Schneider) reunite with their families after the coach dies.
This brings them back together for a family vacation, letting them unwind and learn to get back down to Earth with their families. Building the strained relationship, they have been going through.
Verdict on Grown Ups
Grown Ups is a comedy that sees old friends coming back together and remembering what is important in life. Rebuilding friendships and helping marriages stay together.
This is a movie that relies on comedy in the movie, which is the weakest part of the film. The heart involved is much better, showing the importance of friendships, through thick and thin. It might well end up being Adam Sandler hanging out with his buddies, but they do have chemistry together, which helps make everything feel more realistic between them.
Final Thoughts – Grown Ups lacks the comedy but has the heart to hold things together.
Plot: Takes a closer look at what brought about the 2008 financial meltdown.
Runtime: 1 Hour 49 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Thoughts on Inside Job
Thoughts – Inside Job is a documentary that will dive into the 2008 financial meltdown that was created by corruption within the government and banks leading to them creating a system where they would be borrowing without anyway of covering the funds they were taking. This is a shocking look at how a few people took advantage of the world, to make more money, leaving millions in financial trouble. The documentary will go into a lot of technical talk about banking, finances, which might not be the easiest thing to stay on top of. It would have also been interesting to learn more about the tracking down to expose the truth, rather than just being pointed towards a few articles that claimed it was all coming down. Inside Job is an eye-opening documentary, one that needs to be watched to see how the world has been changed by a few greedy people, that have affected millions for generations.
Final Thoughts – Inside Job is an eye-opening documentary.
ABC Film Challenge – Oscar Nominations – B – Blue Valentine (2010) Movie Review
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Writer: Derek Cianfrance, Joey Curtis, Cami Delavigne (Screenplay)
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, John Doman, Faith Wladyka, Mike Vogel, Marshall Johnson
Plot: The relationship of a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods.
Runtime: 1 Hour 52 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Blue Valentine starts as we meet the couple Dean (Gosling) and Cindy (Williams) who have a little girl Frankie (Wladyka) who have started to have a few troubles with their marriage. We jump through their relationship, seeing the different stages of their time together, from the first moments to the troubling stages.
Thoughts on Blue Valentine
Blue Valentine is a movie that is showing the positives and negatives people will go through during a relationship. Putting the characters through the ups and downs along the way. Much like the more recent Marriage Story. We get to look at a more realistic look at love, marriage and how things don’t go smoothly. Showing that not everything if happy endings in this world.
Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling are both brilliant in the leading roles. Showing the different stages, while everyone else in the supporting roles does a great job too. Where this will shine more is by having more everyday jobs for both the characters. Instead of any being unrealistic work life balance being the problem, it is just life that causing the problems.
Final Thoughts – Blue Valentine is an interesting look at love and the course it can take.
Writer: Craig Pearce, Lewis Colick (Screenplay) Ben Sherwood (Novel)
Starring: Zac Efron, Kim Basinger, Charlie Tahan, Amanda Crew, Augustus Prew, Donal Logue, Ray Liotta, Dave Franco
Plot: After Charlie survives a car crash that kills his younger brother, he is given the gift of seeing the spirits of his brother and others who he has lost, and must use his powers to save the woman he loves from impending disaster.
Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Charlie St Cloud starts as sailing prodigy Charlie St Cloud (Efron) sees his future scholarship shattered when he is involved in a car crash which sees his younger brother Sam (Tahan) killed. Blaming himself Charlie finds himself giving up his future to remain in the town looking after the graveyard, where he gets a daily visit from Sam and others from his past who are no longer with him.
When Charlie gets to meet his old rival on the water Tess Carroll (Crew) his passion for sailing comes back to him, as he starts to open up about life once again, until he needs to try and save her from a new disaster.
Thoughts on Charlie St Cloud
Thoughts – Charlie St Cloud is a fantasy romance that will show how a young man will find his life crippled by grief because of his involvement in his brother’s death, even though it wasn’t his fault, giving up everything he had in his future to continue to visit the spirit of his brother. When he gets a chance to save another life, he will risk everything for the woman he falls in love with. This does show us how emotions and failing to understand grief will stop lives until they are addressed. This story will play into the anything for love and needing to find a meaning in life after tragedy. When it comes to the performances Zac Efron is great in the leading role, with Amanda Crew being great in the love interest role. We do have a couple of bigger names that don’t get as much screen time as you think they might and newcomer Charlie Tahan shines in the supporting younger brother role. On the downside, we have one of what looks like it should be an important scene, feeling very cold and lifeless, which takes away the impact from that moment. This is a movie that wants to pull on the heart strings in different ways, getting everything it needs from this moments.
Final Thoughts – Charlie St Cloud is everything that wants to pull of your heart strings.
Plot: A mysterious deadly vapour suffocates a small American coal town. Based on actual events.
Runtime: 2 Hours
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: CO2 starts as seismologist Ethan (Starr) is studying a remote valley for potential earthquakes. Subsequently, getting caught in one with Lauren (Bailey), as the research team was hoping to use the area for their product.
When gas begins to leak in the area, Lauren, Noah (Firicano), Ethan and Paige (Young) must figure out how to survive the situation. As well as solving the mystery about where the gas has come from.
Verdict on CO2
CO2 is a sci-fi thriller that is about a gas leak causing disaster in a mountain area. We follow a group of survivors that are searching for a location where they can get out. While seeing the devastation they have escaped.
The movie will show the devastation caused by the gas leak but in a very slow method. Spending most of the film slowly watching the characters walking through the dangerous environment. This will be done on a very low budget, getting the same treatment you would expect from a disaster movie on Sci-Fi channel’s nowadays.
The pacing is too slow, the performances do hold everything back. This is because the characters aren’t drawn out enough, because none of the characters feels used enough in the story.
Where to Watch: CO2 is available to watch now on YouTube Here.
Final Thoughts – CO2 is a flat disaster movie, never showing the intensity of what is going on.
Cast: Billy Murray, Craig Fairbrass, Danny Midwinter, Laura Aikman, Sam Kennard, Luke Aikman
Plot: A Russian gang in the UK traffic Eastern Europeans. Enslaving them, the women to sex, the men to illegal fights. They cross a local businessman, and a war escalates.
Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Freight starts when Gabe Taylor’s (Murray) business, clashes with Eastern European Cristi’s (Midwinter) gang. This leads to Cristi kidnapping Gabe’s daughter Julie (Aikman). Gabe will bring together his best, Jed (Fairbrass) to lead the hunt for Julie.
As Gabe sees the hunt happening, Cristi puts his human slaves to work. Be it the men in fights, or the women in the sex trade. The two sides come together in a war that Gabe had promised to walk away from.
Thoughts on Freight
Freight is an action crime thriller, diving into the criminal underworld. Taking us through the war between the ruthless Eastern Europeans and the gentleman gang of Englishman. This is a movie designed to make the British gangster seem like the nice guys. When in fact both sides are just as bad as each other.
The story is everything we see, needing to track down a lost loved one. One that has been taken leading to a violent revenge mission. It will show the connections used to track down. As well as the world created by the Eastern Europeans.
Billy Murray is always a great gangster figure, this is no different. Craig Fairbrass works well as the heavy, getting more done in the fights. In the supporting cast, we don’t get much more to work with, filling the standard roles.
Cast: Louis Mandylor, Bran Thornton, Costas Mandylor, Francesca Cecil, James Marshall, Tom Wright
Plot: A supernatural thriller set in a cosy Tennessee town where Sheriff Jimmy Muldoon and younger brother, Deputy Lloyd Muldoon, have a firm grasp of law and order until a stranger, Denny White, comes to town and horrible things begin to happen. – James Clark, Southern Standard
Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Cursed starts as Denny (Thornton) head to his friend Billy (Marshall) home to study his latest project. Denny is looking into folklore in the small towns, stumbling upon one in Tennessee. A creature has been lurking around the shadows, first killing livestock, before getting a taste of human blood.
Lloyd Muldoon (L. Mandylor) is investigating the case, with Denny looking to find the truth. The two must put aside their differences to save the town from the mysterious creature.
Thoughts on The Cursed
The Cursed is a creature in the woods haunting a town type of movie. Giving the audience plenty of gory splatter like kills from the creature that lurks in the woods. It is strange that is turns up just as the man looking to investigate folklore around the area.
The movie handles the creature visiting well, making every visit feel scary. Nothing is held back when it comes to seeing everything being unleashed. The biggest draw back to everything, is that we don’t seem to get enough motivation as to why it has suddenly started happening now. It is established that this is long cruse that needs to be broken, only it doesn’t explain why nobody looked into things earlier.
When it comes to the performances, we have solid ones throughout. Brad Thornton as the researching thrown into the bigger mystery, a target of the creature. Louis Mandylor as the reluctant sheriff, not wanting to get involved in the supernatural. The pair work well as opposites against each other.
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Andrea Riseborough, Jaime Winstone, Lorraine Stanley, Nicola Duffett, Geraldine James, Bob Hoskins
Plot: A dramatization of the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant, where female workers walked out in protest against sexual discrimination.
Tagline – Dagenham, England, 1968. An ordinary woman fights for equal pay and achieves something extraordinary.
Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Made in Dagenham starts as we meet the female workers I the Ford car plant in Dagenham, Rita O’Grady (Hawkins) is one of the employees in the plant. The women are looking for better pay, which will see Rita working with Albert (Hoskins) to lead the women on a fight against Ford, not only for better pay, but for equal pay for women.
As the strike starts getting a following, the women take a bigger battle for equal pay in every job, pushing for the change that will be remembered forever.
Thoughts on Made in Dagenham
Characters & Performances – Rita works in the manufacturing part of the Ford garage in Dagenham, she is the timid for the most part, but when the women look to get better pay, she will become the leader they need, she will put herself in the position where she can make enemies within the company, but will lead the march for change. Sally Hawkins is brilliant as the timid leader, showing us just how much of a change the everyday person will take. Albert Passingham is the factory manager that will push the ladies into fighting for what is right, he will stand up for them, but knows they need to lead the fight themselves. Bob Hoskins is great to watch, bringing most of the comedy into the film, while getting across the message that not everyone thinks the same, some think better. Barbara Castle is the member of parliament that is looking for the unions to come together, she will use her position to help make this happen, knowing the change in important for everyone. Miranda Richardson is great in the supporting role, giving us a character that will look to bring the change through. We do meet plenty of the other women involved in the strike, each with their own motivation for being involved, we have the men fighting back and the husband who are doing the best to support their fight. This truly is an all-star cast of brilliant performances.
Story – The story here follows the women of the Ford plant who went on strike to get equal pay, leading to a bigger change across the country and the world for equal pay for the same job. This is a moment in history that should be known, taught and respected, showing how the small manufacturers went out on strike to make sure everyone got the same pay, for the same role, it will show how the rich companies would do anything to make sure they kept up their profit to levels where it would put their employees down. Seeing the unity between the women shows us just what it mean for them to get to make the difference to their own lives, let alone the world.
Themes – Made in Dagenham is a biographical comedy about the change these women pushed for in England, showing they are from estates, who might never get the chance to make a difference, standing up against the rich who would always put them down. The historical change is the most important part of this story, which sadly, is still a conversation we are having today.
Made in Dagenham is a brilliant and important movie that shows us the people who risked more to make a change.
Starring: Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Jimi Mistry, Vijay Raaz, Ila Arun, Aqib Khan, Emil Marwa
Plot: An immigrant father decides to take his truant son back to the old country.
Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: West is West starts when George (Puri) has seen his children all move on with their lives in England, moving away from their Pakistani backgrounds, he sees his youngster son Sajid (Khan) looking to follow those steps. George decides he wants to teach Sajid a lesson by taking him back to Punjab, to help George’s first son Maneer (Marwa) find a wife.
Sajid does struggle to adapt to life in Pakistan, where the culture isn’t anything, he is used to, but once he is left to discover parts of the country along, he will find not everything is as different as he first thought, but it isn’t just Sajid learning a lesson, George must learn an important on to.
Thoughts on West is West
Thoughts – West is West is the follow up to East is East, with George and Ella returning with the youngster son Sajid and eldest son Maneer, as they look to learn more about the Pakistani roots, with George taking a walk down memory lane and Sajid needing to learn about his family’s past, instead of only understanding the English way of life. This story does spin what we learned in the first, where George had to learn to accept the English way of life, the same thing he chose, now he wants to at least offer the Pakistani point of view to one of his children before it is too late. The story doesn’t have the full level of heart the first one, as we don’t see or hear much about the rest of the children. The performances do work well, with Aqib Khan being the youngest member does get most of the laughs within the film and the rest of the cast doing everything they need to. This is one of the more enjoyable sequels even if it doesn’t hit the heights of the original.
Final Thoughts – West is West is an enjoyable sequel with a different style of laughs.
