Oblivion (2013) Movie review; A monotonous affair

What a big waste of time this movie was, it took me three attempts to watch it which is never a good sign (I kept falling asleep), on completion I felt like I deserved a payment as I had put myself through so much work viewing the dam film.

Tom Cruise is going through the motions in this film, as a big disaster movie goes, this was bloody awful, the movie feels cold and dead without any redeeming features.

Give this movie a miss unless you are a insomniac.

1/10

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Interesting facts about this movie – like the movie itself there are none.

Die Hard 3 (1995) Movie review; Not just a link in the chain! 8/10

I think the world would have been a happier place if Bruce Willis would have stopped at Die hard 3, you will never beat the original, number two wasn’t bad but number three is one of my favourites.

It has one of the classiest openings ever, while the cool song of summer in the city in playing the camera flows into each part of New york city, just when you start enjoying the show …. BOOM !!!

A few minutes later and Bruce Willis is walking down Harlem with a sign that is sure to gain attention –

I would love to have been in the room when this idea was dreamed up, I can just imagine the the lawyers shaking their heads and warning the producers to delete the scene, I loved the scene for it’s originality and the reaction it creates in the viewer as much as the trouble it creates in the film,it really is an iconic piece of movie history.

After 1 & 2 this film needed something new, enter Samual L Jackson who is the perfect foil for Bruce Willis, there is no point putting a straight weak character in against Bruce, you needed someone to challenge him and in some cases over rule him, along with his Pulp fiction performance this is probably next down the ladder for me.

For the icing on cake the you have Jeremy Irons, he has that knack of being charmingly dangerous, you know he is a mean man but he doesn’t go all cliche, if anything he holds back on the threats and anger and brings an added coolness to his character that actually makes him more intimidating to the viewer,Jeremy is possibly the most underrated actor in Hollywood, if you go swimming through his work you will find a treasure chest of acting gold.

8/10

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Facts about the movie – from IMDB

Originally titled “Simon Says” (where Zeus was scripted as a woman) and was considered as the third sequel to Lethal Weapon.

Director John McTiernan considered either editing out the beginning bombing of the department store, or moving the release date back as they felt that the American public might still be sensitive to bombing due to closeness of dates of the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

The sandwich board that Bruce Willis wore while filming in Harlem was originally covered in special effects markings rather than text to ensure no one was offended by the racist message. The “I Hate Niggers” was added with CGI in post-production. Some television broadcasts use an alternate version where the sign reads “I hate everybody”, which is sometimes erroneously said to be the original version of the sign used for filming, but this too was added with CGI in post-production.

Director John McTiernan acknowledged the errors concerning the gold in the dump trucks and its respective weight. McTiernan and Samuel L. Jackson were permitted to lift a genuine bar of gold to get a feel of how heavy gold really was.

Although he wasn’t hired for the film, Alan Rickman is still credited as playing Hans Gruber (in McClane’s flashback).

The film was shot under the working title “Die Hard: New York.”

Samuel L. Jackson‘s look in the film was Jackson’s idea after he’d done extensive research on his character by studying books on Malcolm X.

The Russian title for “Die Hard” in the first 3 movies is, “A Hard Nut to Crack”.

The studio told screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh to remove the scenes with McClane walking around Harlem wearing a sign that says, “I hate niggers.” They allowed him to keep the scene when he threatened to take the script to another studio.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112864/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv

Speaking parts (1989) Movie review; Painfully dull and pretentious.

Someone recommended this to me, I think this someone must not like me very much, this film was painfully dull and pretentious.

I am normally the guy telling people to give a movie time, or keep an open mind when it comes to directors trying to show you something new, I can’t defend this film, it simply stinks!

The production is no frills, the story and the characters trying to tell it seem like they already had one foot in the grave, you could get away with the style of the film if there were subjects on view that had something captivating about them,I disliked almost all of them within minutes of them arriving on the screen, it’s not that they were not my type of people, they just had nothing that intrigued me to keep watching, I could have stepped outside my front door and wrote about more interested things in my street that this director managed to include in this film.

Two thumbs down !

1/10

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Universal soldier ( 1992) Movie review; When action movies where good !

I remember a friend of my dads lending him a pirate copy of this film back in 1992, we wanted to see this movie badly and for our trouble we watched possibly the worst pirated film in history, half the screen was shaking and the picture had all the colour taken out of it.

Having just recently watched this in (full quality) it really does stand the test if time, it’s more than just a fighting action movie, the relationship between Dolph and Damme is interesting, it’s not just good vs bad, it’s more insane vs normal, added to the backdrop you have the futuristic feel of the technology and a chase movie that has two lead characters you actually care about.

Dolph Lundgren plays a crazy man with a smidgen of sarcasm, I find myself laughing at most of the things he says,this is his best acting role in my opinion, he is well-known for Rocky 4 but he basically plays a robot.

I have never been tempted to watch any of the other universal soldiers,I just know it would ruin it 🙂

When action movies where good !

7.5 /10

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Facts about the movie; IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105698/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv

The last film to be recorded in CDS, an early digital sound format. In the following year of the film’s release, sound technicians had developed DTS. This sound format was apparently of higher audio quality than CDS and has been used in most movie theaters ever since.

The first screenplay was initially called “Crystal Knights”.

Though they’re all supposed to be American the Universal Soldiers are played by a Belgian (Van Damme) a Swede (Lundgren) and a German (Ralf Moeller).

The original script presents a much darker depiction of the US military than what eventually ends up on the screen. In the original screenplay the Colonel in charge of the Unisol project orders ‘Dolph Lungdren”s character to ruthlessly kill off all the civilian witnesses to his pursuit of ‘Jean Claude Van Damme”s character. The Colonel also informs the head scientist that the terrorists at the dam were not terrorists at all, but mercenaries hired by the army to provide fake justification for the Universal Soldier programme. In the finished film these scenes are omitted so the witnesses are left unharmed and the gunmen killed by the Unisols at the dam were genuine terrorists. The Colonel and his men are actually heroic figures with a real and valid mission who just want their multi-million dollar Unisol back. Whereas military villains were de rigeur in the post Vietnam 1970s and well into the 80s, by the time of filming the reputation of the US military was at an all time high following the first Gulf War so it was considered unlikely that the audience would accept them being shown in such a poor light.

The Last of the Mohicans (1992) Movie review; Poor mans apocalypto!

It has taken me 25 years to see this movie, It’s hard to dispute Daniel Day Lewis being one of the worlds best actors, when ever people talk about some of his great performances they refer to this film quite a lot, I had high expectations, unfortunately they were not met.

Apocalypto was made many years later but I found myself thinking how much better that movie was than this, the tribes / gangs did not seem evil enough for me, I was never really in fear or in awe of them throughout.

It feels like a movie that was designed to win awards, you have a recipe that includes war,romance and death all wrapped up with a powerful music score, I did not buy into the film at all, maybe it’s a timing issue and if I had watched it on its release I would have a different opinion.

I am surprised Kevin Costner did not end up in this film, it’s his type of film, very long and trying to be thought-provoking.

It has to be said that I am not a big Michael Mann fan, when I look through his body of work I find his style of films very long-winded.

6/10

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Facts about the film –

The film was originally scheduled for a Summer 1992 release, as the teaser posters said, but when Michael Mann‘s first version clocked in at three hours, he was told by Fox to cut the film down and the release was postponed to September. Mann was never happy with the resulting two hour version, feeling he had not had enough time to properly trim it, and so Fox allowed him to re-edit it entirely for the 1999 DVD release. Although only a few minutes longer, the new version features minor changes throughout the film. It is Mann’s preferred version and the only one available on DVD in the US.

By most accounts, there were on average at least 20 takes for each set-up. Such lengthy shootings (and the ensuing costs) would account for 20th Century Fox sending a Rep to do nothing except stand behind Mann and say, “That’s enough Michael, move on”.

In the original theatrical film, after Major Duncan Heyward (Steven Waddington) tells Hawkeye (‘Daniel Day-Lewis (I)’) that he will have him beaten from the fort, Hawkeye responds by saying, “Someday, I think you and I are going to have a serious disagreement.” The director’s cut however has no such line. Michael Mann removed it after deciding that it gave away too much before the two’s argument over who should be killed.

Only God Forgives (2013) Movie review; A western movie made in Thailand!

Nicolas Winding Refn once again works with Ryan Gosling,after Drive I am sure I was not the only one anticipating something special, to add a bit of spice to the film it’s also set in Bangkok,.. this was surely a recipe for success ?

Well, yes and no, for a start the director does something I have not seen anyone do before, he captures a part of Bangkok that is normally reserved for the tourist’s alone, he captures the little soi’s ( streets ) and little people who work at the end of the road selling food out of a cart, when you hear the sizzle of the pans it’s so clear that I swear I could smell the flavour in the air,all these scenes act as a backdrop to a ”VERY” dark tale.

I am still not sure if I liked the movie (yes, it’s one of those) there were some really classic scenes throughout and a lot of clips that made you gasp, but at the same time there is very little dialogue so you find minutes will go by with nothing happening apart from some nice montage music and a lot of looking around, now I know this is down to him building the mood of the film and at one point I did feel like celebrating this movie, but then it would revert back into a silent film, there were a few scenes were everyone has been muted so it really does go quiet,overall it had a cool style but just felt disjointed somewhat.

I would class this movie as an experience, but not one I would want to revisit.

6/10

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Fast & Furious 6 (2013) Movie review; A generic action flick with good effects

I feel like I’m being stalked by Dwayne ”action” Johnson recently, with his appearance  in GI Joe,Pain & Gain and now Furious 6,the most annoying thing about his performance in these films is that his character is exactly the same, It feels like a factory process at its worst, were they keep Johnson in the studio and just change the background and the movie but he essentially stays the same, I hear you can now rent him for birthday parties.

This movie is OK, nice to see London as the backdrop, the plot is a bit lazy but then I don’t think the fans go to see this franchise for the story….

Furious 6 GI Joe

OK for an action popcorn fest!

6/10

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Killing Season (2013) Movie review; The movie is wide of the mark

De Niro and Travolta together on the big screen..they are both trying to kill each other,.. this must be action gold surely ?

Well I am afraid not, it starts off OK, (as these things usually do ) but it slowly turns into a juggling act of, now I am going to kill you but I am gonna be long-winded about it so this will give you the time you need to escape and gain the advantage.

The film lacked any real smarts, if you are going to write a movie that only includes two actors the writing has to be something pretty special, in this case it is not,when the end comes you are relieved and not enthralled.

I love both these actors but this film is wide of the mark, the only positive would be the special effect in the movie with regards to injuries and scars,if this turns you on then this is the movie for you.

5/10

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What to Expect When You’re Expecting (2012) Movie review;…. A sh*t film!

This is the type of movie that will be enjoyed by people who very rarely watch films, or if they do they never want anything too deep to happen, cue my wife who smiled and nodded in all the right places when relating to what woman go through when they are on this special journey.

The movie is so cheesy at times that it’s not just the babies that are throwing up,I detest Jennifer Lopez and think she is talentless in the acting world, in this film she plays a mother who can’t have her own baby so instead decides to adopt, I have seen more emotion in a dead twiglit than I did in Jennifer’s face, when she chooses her baby to be she uses a selection process only matched by a young child going to the pet store to pick out a family dog!

Cameron Diaz made me nauseous with her career woman character, nothing wrong with working moms but her portrayal just didn’t fit at all, it felt like she was making Something about Mary 2 while everyone else was on this film.

Chris Rock was funny for the fifteen minute screen time he offered but as for the rest of the film I would rather just change nappies for an hour than see it again.

5/10

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A video of the British families that Teresa May and David Cameron are trying to destroy!

A link to the video – http://www.jcwi.org.uk/blog/2013/07/16/divided-families-campaign-video