Would you rather (2012) Movie review – My movie of 2012 – Outstanding writing and film – 9/10

Ten minutes into this film and can’t remember a movie stimulating my brain so much in a long time,it has to one of the most original screen plays I have had the pure pleasure in enjoying in years,if you have not seen this film I recommend you stop reading now and come back to this review after you have,it’s such a delight to be surprised by a film now days that it seems a waste to find out anything about this film before hand,and this film is worth the effort.

*** SPOILER ***

Brittany Snow plays the sister of a boy who is suffering with extremely poor health,with their parents passed on and the medical bills mounting, an invite to a charity fundraiser party sounds like a dream come true,all she is told is that everyone invited will take part in a game and the winner will have all their medical bills taken care of as well not having to worry about money again.

When all the contestants arrive this film really kicks off in style,the director plays with all the characters at the table but more importantly he plays and teases the viewer with a cold and calculated sense of humour,this movie has elevated the genre of horror and thrillers.

You can have an amazing script but unless you have cast members such as Jeffrey Combs and Brittany Snow, the movie can still fail to grab people’s imagination.

Combs was outstanding,he plays the heartless bad guy to perfection, making the film feel real and adding tension and suspense to an already exciting film.

9/10

KO

Pitch perfect (2012) Movie review – I should not like this movie but I do!

I dared myself to watch this….. I have to say I was impressed,I was expecting Glee on acid but instead found American pie meets the X factor, with a nice portion of sarcasm and dry humour spread evenly throughout.

I found myself laughing at most of the jokes,all the characters play most of their roles seriously which makes this movie funny,when you watch parody movies on teen comedies the actors normally over act everything to highlight how stupid the subject is,pitch perfect seems to do the opposite with hilarious results.

The commentators were brilliantly dry,this element is not something new but Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins really suit the subject in hand.

I like the fact that you can watch this movie with the family and the kids will laugh at completely different times to the parents.

OK, well to level up my night I now need to watch some football,drink some beer and get in several fights!!!!! 🙂

Top film for the whole family.

8/10

KO

Sinister (2012) Movie review; A good horror with a Stephen King ending!

After my co blogger slated this film and my general dislike for horror movies I had low expectation’s for Ethan Hawke’s latest movie.

So sheepishly I have to admit that I enjoyed it,my normal moan about this genre is the lack of originality and inevitability that goes along with most horrors,I enjoy a who did it story matched with some gore if done well….

I do have to disagree with my co blogger about the talent that is Ethan Hawke,the following being a list of films which I have enjoyed over the years…

Sinister(2012) – Brooklyn’s finest (2009) –  Before the devil knows your dead (2007) – Training Day (2001) – Dead poets society (1989) – Explorers (1985)

Admittedly not every one of his films is a cracker but he does seem to produce quality every five to ten years based on his career to date.

I found the story captivating,a man who writes about real life horrors decides to move himself and his family into a house which witnessed a family being wiped out by an unknown killer years before,I found Ethan Hawke believable and likeable throughout, he did not play to the normal cliché element’s of over acting or show fake concern when facing his demon in the film.

The only downside for me was the ending,it was a great build up but the movie let itself down with its final few scenes,maybe they took advice from Stephen King on the ending,I am not sure but it ruins what could have been a classic horror film.

6/10

KO

Toast (2010) Movie review; A depressing cooking movie!!!!

An oddly sweet film based around a boy and his family in England, it feels like a stage show and not a movie at times,it’s based on the memoirs of Nigel Slater (I have never heard of him either but he writes about food in the UK.)

I didn’t have a clue what the movie was about before hand,to begin with I was intrigued as it seemed to capture a tense and strange house hold and a boy who had a passion to escape his families ways,but as the film progressed I had a nagging feeling that this film was going nowhere,sadly I was right…

SO, TO SUMMARISE –

Both his parents die while he grew up,they both hated cooking,he liked cooking so he took a class at school which improved his cooking,later he went on to write about cooking,the end,THERE YOU HAVE IT!,I have summed up the film for you.

If there was ever a case of film that should not have been made about someones life, I vote strongly that it should have been this one.

3/10

KO

Cellmates (2011) Movie review; He’s an angry racist with a confused heart of gold

I remember first clapping eyes on Tom Sizemore when he played Dallas in Stallone’s credible ”Lock up”

He had his highlights after this which includes Passenger 57,True Romance,Natural born killers,Saving Private Ryan and Enemy of the state,over the last decade his work rate has increased but his quality has been spread thinly,Cellmates (2011) is no exception.

The story is a brave comedy with romantic trimmings,Tom plays Leroy Lowe who is a leader of his local KKK group,he ends up in prison and shares a cell with a Mexican man,Leroy is not a funny guy,putting his racist tendencies aside he does not raise a smile never mind laughter.

Things that just don’t work;

Tom puts in a real strange performance, in a very strange role, he’s an angry racist with a confused heart of gold.

I am guessing they were attempting to copy the style of Forest Gump but it just falls flat.

Positives;

Ignoring the strange style there are some touching scenes when the movie arrives into its last third,if the director had played on being light-hearted throughout it may have produced a more balanced movie.

4/10

KO

Cosmopolis (2012) Movie review ; Sigh :(

I only decided to watch this crap film because Paul Giamatti plays a bit part near the end,well it felt like an eternity to get to the end of this trash and by then I was in no mood to watch a brilliant actor (Giamatti) take part in such a pretentious movie.

I think Robert Pattinson has decent acting chops but missed the target when choosing this film,I feel like the portion of my brain that measures taste has just been insulted.

Some revealing information about this film –

* David Cronenberg wrote the script in six days. (Very believable)

* Budget – $20,500,000

* Gross – $743,636

AVOID!!!!!

0/10

KO

The Walking dead – Season 3 review ; A walker has bitten the writers,this series is dying on it’s arse.

The major down sides so far…

Rick going crazy over his dead wife makes really boring TV,as Rick is the lead for the show it also weakens the show by not having a strong person to follow.

The new camp turning into a weird cult, but with no real sense or purpose has become a real drag, the story does not seem to be moving at the same pace as the previous two seasons,for the first time I find myself not caring what happens next,”The Governor” seemed like an exciting character when first introduced, but the writers of the show have taken away any real credibility he had built up in the second half of this season,they keep reminding us of what a bad guy he is by making sure he lies to at least one cast member on each show,his character has as much mystery as a Scooby Doo ending.

The walkers are no longer scary,each time one arrives they get tapped,shot or an arrow through the head,it’s becoming old hat to kill them,I am thinking better they find a use for them such as a nightclub cage dancer or hope someone releases a cover version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

I hope the last third of this series picks up because so far the standard has dropped.

KO

The Bladerunner (Oscar Pistorius) get’s bail after shooting his girlfriend 4 times !!!!!

Oscar Pistorius has been granted bail after shooting his super model girlfriend (Reeva Steenkamp) four times,the man known as the Blade runner due to prosthetic limbs claims that he thought his girlfriend was an intruder,and at no time did he think it may have been his girlfriend.

There are so many of his points that do not make sense,firstly if he was in bed at the time of being woken by a noise,did he not think it was strange that his girlfriend was not in bed with him,if he thought his girlfriend was being kept in the bathroom by an intruder why would he shoot and risk killing his partner….

The neighbour’s and the police have confirmed that there were signs of domestic abuse reported from the house previously,if I was a betting man,and I am…I would say the couple were having a heated argument about whatever… Reeva locked herself in the bathroom and refused point-blank to come out,after Pistorius made a few verbal attempts to gain access to his own bathroom he eventually fetched his gun and in a moment of madness decided to blow the door and his girlfriend away,you could argue that this could be manslaughter if he had shot once,but four times suggest’s he wanted to finish the job.

Now he has been granted $75,000 bail I would think we could have a new Lord Lucan on our hands,the guy know’s he is going to prison,there was a story reported last year about a white man from England who committed fraud in South africa,he was later raped hundreds of times by his all black cell mates,he eventually left the prison having contracted aids.

http://www.edgeboston.com/news/aids///132430/uk_businessman_says_he_contracted_hiv_after_being_raped_in_south_african_prison

I am not saying Oscar will have the same treatment,but there is going to be a high chance that he is going to be attacked due to his Beckham like status in South Africa,I would not be surprised if he does a Lord Lucan and pays his friends to get him out of the country,time will tell…..

A report from the Guardian –

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/22/oscar-pistorius-released-on-bail

KO

The best QuentinTarantino interview I have come across….

Company of hereos (2013) Movie review; Special effects are atrocious and the film is irritating

The banter feels very unnatural from the start,in fact if you close your eyes you could be listening to a couple of guys on the golf course,there never seems to be any real panic in their voices.

The special effects are atrocious,on one occasion a tank rides over a dead German,you can actually see the air leaving his rubber face as the tracks squash his brains,also all the uniforms look like they were made by the directors aunty who dabbles every now and again on the knitting machine.

The budget must have been low because they edit the film using a shaky camera which leaves the impression that the earth is shattering all around you,this may have been acceptable twenty years ago, now it just feels cheap and annoying to watch,the soundtrack is as irritating,it’s also never-ending which leaves you feeling like you are playing a war game on the playsation…..(having just done some research I have JUST realised this is a game come movie,I am guessing the game is a lot more entertaining)

Stars on show – Vinny Jones is his terrible best,he must give so much hope to wannabe actors,or people who cannot act but find themself a niche in the market.

Tom Sizemore looks like he has eaten at burger king for breakfast lunch and dinner over the past year,he is picking up a paycheck but its shame that he lowers himself to this crap as he is a decent actor.

Richard Sammel who played the cocky nazi in ”Inglorious basterds” plays a character more suited to the Spiderman franchise,shame as he can obviously act.

1/10

KO