I am Ali (2014) & Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

I am Ali-

This Biopic on Muhammad Ali wasn't bad, just wasn't amazing. Light hearted and told through Ali's personal audio recordings from the past & interviews with friends and family. It was enlightening in the sense I didn't know what a family man his was and how good with his kids he was.

3 Stars










Muppets Most Wanted -

Not as good as the one with Jason Segal but still quite a good romp. I'd heard a lot of negative things about this film and found that I quiet enjoyed it. Not a lot to it just good family fun. Ricky Gervais stood out as Dominic Badguy.

2.5 Stars

What if (2014)

So this is a film about Harry Potter who meets a girl he likes, but she just wants to be friends as she has a wonderful boyfriend. So Harry Potter hangs around and pervs until the poor boyfriend goes away for work in Ireland... and then shazam he makes his move the sneaky bastard. This film embodies the exact reason why any guy would be not overly happy about their girlfriend having a male best friend. A horrifying cautionary tale.

2.5 Stars

Kid Cannabis (2014)

Kid Cannabis, entertaining true story on a kid who smuggled in Cannabis from Canada into America. I would have quiet enjoyed this... had it not been for the lead ...Jonathan Daniel Brown who is just an awful actor, I and you may vaguely remember him in the film Project X (he couldn't have been that good in it or it wouldn't have been such a vague memory). I could go on... but I won't. I love true stories/bio pics but this one fell short.
2 Stars

 

2015! Happy New year!

It's been awhile since the last UK Film Nuts post, Feb 14th 2011... so a little while.
This year I will do my best to review (be it possibly quite brief reviews) every film I see, including ones I've previously watch, if it's an old classic... or old tosh. I was quite busy new years day, watching 3 films on the 1st of Jan.

I would like to give some honourable mentions to the films that still really stand out for me in 2014.
Guardians of the Galaxy - so good I saw it 3 times in the cinema and once at home.
X-Men Days of Future Past - time travel films are great.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gone Girl - Should be an educational film shown in schools.

Worst films that spring to mind.
Amazing Spider-man 2 - Andrew Garfield makes a great Spider-man, but film had too many villains and needs to learn to keep it simple.
Sin City 2 - Seriously hated it, awful acting from Eva Green and Jessica Alba.
A Million ways to die in the west - Terrible... how did the same guy that made Ted poop this out?

True Grit

This is the definition of cinematic.

Absolutely sublime. it is extraordinary in every sense. Top of the list has to be the cinematography which is just perfect. then there's the script, the pacing, the tone, the story an the performances.

Ahhh the performances - normally i'm against little kids being up for Oscars as i think it's all a little bit pathetic. However, Hallie Steinfeld deserves all the credit she is getting - a brilliant "gritty" performance and all this from her first feature, lets hope she doesnt turn into a drug addled slut like lindsay lohan and a load of other child stars.

Not gonna go on too much about how good it is. just go see it and wallow in its immenseness.

perfection
5Stars

The Fighter

It's no Rocky, but still very good.

A lot has been talked about Christian Bale in this film, and he is very good - but the fact of the matter is that i still think he's a cock. Due to this and the fact that there is another much better supporting performance i'm going to say that Melissa Leo gives an absolutely storming performance as the mother.

The rest of the cast is magnificent too (even Bale) and it is a great story. The fight sequences are good enough, but i cannot help comparing it to Rocky. And it isn't as good. Maybe this is unfair of me to judge but hey, judging i am.

an ok film that suffers from too much hype.
3stars

Tangled

Well this is just lovely. absolutely lovely.

Easily the best Disney film since Lion King. Its a film with a huge heart and is just beautiful to watch, the "lantern scene" being a particular highlight.

The refreshing thing about this film is that it is not trying to be an adult animation there are no in jokes that adults will get but kids wont, it is just a simple fun and friendly film.

The story is fairly straightforward that i wont even bother going into it. So al thats left to say is that once more please go and see this film and give yourself a little bit of joy.

Wonderful.
4stars

127 Hours

wow. this is an immersive experience of a film.

James Franco puts in a solid performance as Aron Rolston, the guy who chopped off his own arm in a desert. the real star of this film though, is Danny Boyle himself. the visual flair and camerwork is brilliant and eye catching. it's like taking all of the colourful visual flashes that you have seen in his earlier films such as trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire - and now he's made a complete film with them. and it works and suits the story, and Boyle takes us on a ride that is nothing short of exhilirating.

As for a complete film though, it doesn't make a classic. the story is simple and everyone knows it. this is not the fault of the filmakers, but just a fact. Although Boyle does his very best to make it a full story led film it just doesn't quite get there and remains a visual experience rather than a film. i understand that not all films need a story etc, and the journey Franco goes on is a dramatic one, there just isnt quite enough to keep us fulfilled.

visually stunning, but needs that tiny bit more.

4 stars

Season of the Witch

what an absolute bucket load of shite.

how this got to screen is beyond me. Someone must have read this and thought - yeah thats a good film lets make it. they must be demented.

it is so frustrating to see nicolas cage after years of crap movies going on to make genuinely good films like Kick-Ass and Bad Lieutenant with brilliant performances to only go ahead and make this tripe.

the cast is actually quite good but all are awful in this. but its the script that is the real stinker. it is just awful.

so bad that i refuse to write or waste any more of my life on it.

0 stars

The Way Back

So apparently this is based on a novel of a true story. thought there are rumours flying everywhere about the fact that the story might not actually be true, and has been embellished for dramatic purposes. either way this is an epic Peter Weir film and it looks great.

it is also a great vehicle for Jim Sturgess who plays Janusz one of a group of Polish soldiers who escape a Siberian prisoner of war camp and then decide to walk to India, with no provisions. those who are more geographically aware will realise this is just shy of approximately 6000 km (3500 miles). basically its a long bloody way.

Peter Weir makes some brave and bold decisions during the film, he skips over plot points that other directors would make set pieces. the most obvious of these is the initial escape, we see the initial idea and then before we know it they are outside, we see nothing. whilst it was a little jolting to begin with it actually makes a refreshing difference, the film is more about the actual journey they make and Weir does not get caught up with the sentimental elements too much. when he does they are poignant striking and not overdone which is a relief.

a problem i have with the film is the end. after what is an epic tale of survival over a gruelling terrain. all delicately told, the end just feels out of place and awkward, SPOLIER ALERT Janusz walks back into his old house about twenty years later as an old man and lo and behold there is his wife just sitting there and they have a hug. it didnt need it, and to know that he survived was enough.

one other issue is the age old problems in Hollywood films. in that they are pretty much all polish. but they all speak to each other in english. in dodgy polish accents. odd.

Weir has told an epic sprawling tale with deft and articulate talent though.

4 stars

Love and Other Drugs

there is a lot more nudity in this film than i was expecting. which is obviously a good thing!

first up it seems to me this has been advertised as some kind of jolly rom-com, the sort you would find Jennifer Aniston in. the trailer, the TV spots and the poster all gear it towards some kind of jolly romp. In fact this is a romance drama, a potentially tragic one at that, the comedy is not the rom-com kind, but instead small jokes delicately placed in an absorbing love story.

set a few years back during the birth of viagra it tells the story of two good looking young pups, Gyllenhall and Hathaway both of whom like sex, and have it a lot with a lo of different people, of course they meet have sex and fall for each other. what follows is their arguments with each other and with themselves about the their feelings, made all the more complicated due to her Parkinsons condition and his job as a drug salesman.

it is a touching portrait of love in undeniably difficult circumstances. and the performances from the leads give real touching meaning and depth to the roles, and by the time you get to the finale you find yourself willing them to make the right decisions.

i cant help but find myself hoping also that this film will help the conservative religious doctrines of America sit up and think about stem cell research in order to find a real cure for Parkinsons, especially during a part in the film where we see sufferers openly talking and making humour of this debilitating condition.

A powerful film, sentimental but not too much.

4 stars

Best Films of 2010

I've got to say I think I preferred last years best films (2009), but here are what I think are the best films of 2010 (in no order).

1. The Social Network - Gripping tale of how facebook was made. Poke.

2. Scott Pilgrim vs the World - Probably my favourite film of the year, think I saw it in the cinema 3 times and have it on it's way to me on bluray. Awesome, shows how being true to a source when adapting the film with turn out more awesome.

3. KickAss - great film, could have been more faithful to the comic tho.

4. Toy Story 3 - Pixar does it again, you can make a good sequel. Also a real tear jeaker.

5. Inception - Dreams with in Dreams... check out South Parks take on this film. Very similar to Shutter Island tho. And both feature Leo.

6. Four Lions - Should have been bigger. Such a funny film from the maker of Brasseye.

7. Shutter Island - Masterpiece from Scorsese.

8. How to Train your Dragon - Fun film.

9. Love & Other Drugs

10. Hot Tub Timemachine - Because any film involving time travel is cool.

Little Fockers

This film is amazing - purely because Jessica Alba in her underwear is amazing.

ok so the film may not actually be amazing (jessica alba obviously is), but it is better than the 2nd one. which was awful.

despite being named little fockers the fim isnt really about them at all. instead it is more general sparring between De Niro and Stiller. the same old stuff we have seen in the other movies, it still holds well here, but you get the impression that this same old joke is on its last legs. there are some stand out comedy moments and sequences Ben Stiller injecting De Niro being the most memorable. Owen Wilson as Kevin does a great show as the other man in the marriage clearly having fun with the character. an amzing cameo from Harvey Keitel is the icing on the cake, not much to do, but has a brief argument with De Niro on screen, which reminds you of all those years ago when they were at their peak. awesome.

So a funny little film with some good gags, but hoping this is the last of them as anymore will surely be painful. oh and jessica alba in her underwear.

3 stars

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

So this is a kids fantasy adventure, similar in vein to the Disney movies of the eighties and nineties, escape to witch mountain etc being prime examples.

there is minimum set up to the story and plot. the two older kids have gone somewhere else and the younger two are living in the country with some distant relatives, they see a picture of the sea with a ship then they are sucked into the picture and into the sea and the ship (the dawn treader of the title). this is all within ten minutes. i felt at the time it was rushed, but looking back at the film as a whole it worked - it didnt need any more backstory, what it needed was to get to the sumptuous colourful world of Narnia with its amazing creatures as quickly as possible, from there on in its the kids adventure i mentioned earlier.

there is a very annoying character introduced in the first ten minutes and he is along for the ride. the character Eustace is supossed to be a horrid little brat, and is wonderfully played by Will Poulter - almost too well, as at points i wanted to smash him in the face and walk out the cinema.

and by the end the biblical and christian connotations were so amazingly obvious it was nauseating, laying it on with a spade, as i believe it was done in the books didnt really sit well with me or with a 21st century audience but the whole ending visually looked stunning. just stop going on about God and Aslan etc etc.

so not as good as the first Narnia film but better than the woeful 2nd part. i have a feeling Disney will be continuing this franchise for a few more yet, even they do go straight to DVD.

2 stars

Megamind

This is a friendly little caper with a twist, for most of the duration of the film we as the audience are sided with the evil mastermind of the film.

other than that it is an amusing fim and it looks fantastic, with the 3D especially glorious. Unfortunately there is very little else to say about this film, it is aimed at a young audience and there are no "adult" gags or references like you get in shrek or toy story. easily forgettable but enjoyable whilst watching.

the word average was invented to describe this film.

3 stars

London Boulevard

From the scribe of The Departed & Body of Lies (also Edge of Darkness... but less said about that the better) comes his directorial debut - London Boulevard. Story of a gangster Mitchell just released from jail after 3 years, attempting to go straight, with all his old friend trying to bring him back in. Head gangster Grant (Ray Winstone) takes a liking to him and wants him back in, and won't take no as an answer. Mitchell cope with this along side his new job of looking after a retired actress Charlotte (Keira Knightley) and dealing off the rails sister (Anna Friel). Slightly unsure about Colin Farrel's accent, think it was fine tho. David Thewlis really stands out in this film as friend/employee of Charlotte, as a twisted resting actor, really gets method when he becomes a gangster for a day. Ophelia Lovibond also stands out even tho she is hardly in it as Charlotte's friend Penny, who when first appearing I assumed she would also be the love interest and wonder where her character gets to (as she is much hotter than Keria Knightley). Ray Winstone also does a bang up job of playing a twisted gangster, not much different than he normally plays but he does it so well. Overall great gangster flick.

4 stars.

Monsters

A friend of mine described this film as being like Cloverfield and District 9 mixed together. It's similar to Cloverfield as in the "Monsters" in this film are as big as buildings, but less monsters more like destructive jelly fish which make sounds like whales talking to each other. And the resemblance to District 9 goes as far as it's shot in poor areas... not South Africa but Central America. Shot renegade style, the extras are people from the are who just happened to be there, shot for an estimated $200,000... not alot when compared to the average Hollywood film, or even Sci-fi. They get away with this by not really showing alot of the aliens, mostly quick glimpses or news reports. The lead actor Scoot McNairy plays a very dislikable character... and when I started watching it, I was thinking "How am I going to like this film, the lead is a dick who I want to die", but he did actually grow on me as the film goes on.

3 1/2 stars.

Tron Legacy

Welcome to the future of 3D, using 4 projectors the visual affects for this film are amazing. Used only really within the computer world of Tron (the Grid). The first 40ish minutes of the movie are very cool, with showing Sam Flynn's relationship to his fathers computer company (showing it to be something like Apple), Sam's fathers friend Alan Bradley comes to him revealing that he'd received a message from the arcade from a line that had be disconnected for over 10 years. Sam promptly goes there and then get sucked into the grid, there are some very cool arena fights and light-cycle races... and then Sam meets his dad and the film becomes a snooze-fest from there. The film promptly looses pace, story and interest from there. There's a very weird crappy cameo from Michael Sheen who's character there isn't really any need for.
The films shows the people living within tron are half the time unthinking robots, the other time have personalities and never explains or shows why. Are they robots or people with feelings? It just doesn't make sense. And why are they so hot? Is it wrong for them to make us want to bang a computer program? Or is that really why Jeff Bridges hasn't left for the human world... he's cybering the whole fucking time... dirty old man.

I honestly wasn't expecting much from this film so I wasn't too let down, but I was really enjoying it up to a point. This film could have really done with another script write to add in some ... character... plot... you know the important stuff. Bloody amazing 3d tho!

3 Stars.

The American

A good enough little movie that is slow burning but entertaining.

this film takes the whole of its running time to burn through a story that a stock Hollywood blockbuster would get through before the title sequence is over.

Anton Corbijn takes his time though and George Clooney impresses, mainly physically a there are extended shots of his naked torso working out via press ups and pull ups.

very little dialogue in the film, leaving most of the film to clooney to old just with his face, the fact that he hods your attention is all credit it to him.

i am becoming a big fan of him. long live Clooney!

other than that though, not much els happens, great photography though and beautifully shot.

3 stars

Machete

If guys made movies for fun, this is what it would be like.

Robert Rodriguez clearly had an absolute ball writing, filming and developing this idea. originally perceived as a fake trailer in Planet Terror, which surely would have been made purely for fun has now been made into a full 2 hour movie and it is still pure fun. From the opening sequence which is beautifully gory and violent, almost cartoon like, through to various points in the film it is a blast.

Danny Trejo takes the role of machete who is set up in an attempted assanation of a US senator, then he goes about exacting revenge. on the way making out with two of the most gorgeous women on the planet, Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba, both of whom sizzle sensationally on screen with Alba, my favourite, wearing inapropriatley high heels yet stunningly sexy throughout. the music motif that is used as Trejo is about to get it on with a woman is brilliant.

beyond the brief description of the plot i outlined above, there is not much more to it, and yes there are points that you make you think it is just a simple trailer idea that has been stretched into a movie and the filmakers are trying to elongate the plot into a longer narrative. Once the movie is over you leave with a smile then it kind of dissapears. Trejo is uncharasmatic, and pretty darn ugly and doesnt do much to carry the film. the reward for that i consider goes to Michelle Rodriguez playing the tough but beautiful heroine brillianty once again.

A great supporting cast including De Niro make it a very good ensemble piece too.

can't wait for the sequel...

4 star