Crimson Peak Review

Plot: Edith, the daughter of a rich American businessman, is charmed away from her homeland by a smooth talking Englishman. She moves to his family home in England, only to discover that the house and its owners carry a terrible secret.

Director Guillermo del Toro has long been known for his attention to detail and signature style. His best films immerse viewers in their worlds and Crimson Peak is no different. This is a film whose look alone is full of character, with cinematography, set and sound design all finely tuned to pull viewers into its 19th century world.

At Crimson Peak things go bump in the night, every night. Ghosts appear throughout, terrorising Edith (Mia Wasikowska) every time the sun goes down. Its just a shame that, despite their frequent appearances, none of these ghosts are particularly interesting or memorable. It is in fact the charming Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) and his frosty sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) that steal the spotlight. Hiddleston and Chastain’s performances are on point, and their characters’ strange relationships with Edith are intriguing and give weight to what is otherwise a rather simple story. JC

Verdict:

Despite the ghosts themselves being somewhat a let down, Crimson Peak is still a good watch. This is a creepy, stylish gothic romance full of atmosphere.

3/5

Southpaw Review

Plot: After a devastating tragedy, celebrity boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) must reinvent his fighting style and get back in the game if he is to reconnect with his daughter (Oona Laurence).

Southpaw does everything you might expect from a fighting film and… not much else. Despite an impressive physical performance from Gyllenhaal, it’s difficult to engage with the film’s two-dimensional characters and generic plot. This is the kind of script where you can pretty much guess every major plot point from beginning to end. That’s not to say Southpaw isn’t worthy of any praise – it’s a well shot, well edited film and the fights look legit, which may be because, in a way, they are. Gyllenhaal was really taking those punches and there’s only so much a relentless training routine can prepare a guy for taking hits like that. But Billy Hope himself isn’t a particularly likeable character and when a plot follows a path this well-trodden, it’s hard not to roll your eyes and check your watch when trudging through this summer’s fighting film. JC

Verdict:

Southpaw might be visually impressive, but its plot struggles to engage and ultimately fails to land a punch.

2/5

Unfriended Review

Plot: A group of high school friends have their Skype call interrupted by a ghost from their past. On the anniversary of her death, the spirit of former student Laura Barns awakens to torment those who wronged her.

On it’s surface Unfriended is an interesting concept, the entire film is restricted to the computer screen of its lead character. The attention to detail when it comes to the computer’s realism is impressive – all the programs used sound just as they do in real life. As much as the idea and execution of the setting is intriguing, it doesn’t make up for Unfriended’s bland characters and a poorly executed story.

All of the films characters seem to be nothing more than hollow examples of american teen stereotypes, there’s nothing intriguing about the characters. Even when the ghost challenges them to a deadly game of “I have never” we don’t really care what’s going to be revealed, because deep down, thanks to the film sticking so close to widely known stereotypes, we already know.

Unfriended’s sound design is probably responsible for the majority of the film’s scares. The creepy electronic clicks and hums of the computer combined with a glitchy screen provide some suspense, but the pay off is always a cheap jump-scare which, once you’ve got over the sudden assault of noise and gore, isn’t that scary in the long run. JC

Verdict:

Besides its setting Unfriended is nothing special. A cyber-slasher lacking likeable characters, an intriguing plot or scares that go beyond loud noises. Block, delete and look up Channel 4’s superior Cyberbully.

2/5

The Inbetweeners 2 Review

The team behind The Inbetweeners 2 have made an effort to stress that this film exists purely because of the fans. That they were originally prepared to say goodbye to Will (Simon Bird), Simon (Joe Thomas), Neil (Blake Harrison) and Jay (James Buckley) after the first Inbetweeners Movie. But many of us wanted to see more of the gang’s crazy adventures and with the first film doing so well in the box office, it seemed unlikely that the filmmakers would miss the opportunity of delivering a sequel that would no doubt bring in the money and please the fans loyal to the series. Sure enough, eventually this sequel landed. Because of the anticipation surrounding The Inbetweeners 2 there was no doubt a lot of pressure on its makers to create a film that delivered laughs on at least the same level as its predecessor, or even raise the bar. So is The Inbetweeners 2 funnier than the first Inbetweeners Movie? Well no, not really. But it’s not bad! Its quality and general tone is familiar, and in a good way.

Since the first teaser for the film which saw the gang shouting ‘fire wankers’ as they drove by some Australian Aboriginals, it was clear that the boys were back, that these were the same characters we’d left back in 2011 and that they hadn’t changed much over the years. Despite this the first quarter of The Inbetweeners 2 made me wonder if the franchise had finally grown stale. There are times when the film seems to think a joke is more funny than it really is and ends up dwelling on it for far too long. Fortunately these moments become less frequent as the film progresses. Partly because we start to see the characters struggle through some new and hilarious situations. We’ve all seen the gang get awkwardly rejected from a party before, but what we haven’t seen is them attempt wilderness survival or take part in an extreme water slide race.

The Inbetweeners have always been very accurate when poking fun at life’s common characters and this time it’s the privileged gap year explorers who’re in the crosshairs. The best part of The Inbetweeners has always been its familiarity. Most members of the audience will see someone they know in each of the four main characters, perhaps even a bit of themselves from time to time. It’s the kind of film that makes you nostalgic about all the stupid shit you and your friends have done over the years and how things have (or haven’t) changed. JC

Verdict:

Occasionally this highly anticipated reunion isn’t quite as funny as it thinks it is, but the awkward silences are short lived as for every flat joke there are ten more to remind you why you love this lot.

4/5

The Expendables 3 Review

Phrases such as “turn your brain off for this one are often dished out by fans of mindless action flicks. Films can be stupid and fun, but sadly The Expendables 3 lacks the ability to be the latter. The Expendables 3 just isn’t entertaining and when it tries to be it falls flat. Its attempts at humour are cringe worthy and its action dull and repetitive.

The film’s OTT attitude grows tiresome over time and is likely to leave people daydreaming and fiddling with their phones rather than glued to the screen. Expendables 3 doesn’t really offer more than stars and explosions. It’s an action film and even the action is dull. There’s nothing new or exciting here, nothing at all intriguing. If you’ve seen plenty of action films then you’ve seen all there is to see here done far better. JC

Verdict:

Big cast. Big guns. Small brain.

Rating: 1/5

Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Plot: Far from planet Earth, a group of misfits consisting of Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) find themselves imprisoned together. After discovering a danger which threatens the galaxy they must learn to accept each other and work as a team in order to overthrow Ronan (Lee Pace), a powerful warlord whose will is set on obtaining an ancient weapon.

Let’s face it, when many of us heard about a Marvel film which would feature a talking racoon and a walking tree, we were worried. Why? Well over the years people like myself have become very fond of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – it established itself as a reliable source for exciting, interlinking blockbusters. Sure there have been films which have been considerably better than others, but that said there are still, in my opinion, no bad entries in the series so far. Because of this many people like myself saw Guardians of the Galaxy as a risk, a chance that the Cinematic Universe was about to get too weird for its own good, that these new cosmic heroes just wouldn’t fit in with our established Avengers back on Earth. So is this it? Has the consistent chain of  strong films been broken? No, not by a mile. In fact if anything Marvel just upped its game yet again. Yes the Guardians are weird, and in this case weird is wonderful.

Unfortunately the threat in this film is one that is becoming rather cliche in the series – there’s a power hungry bad guy (Ronan, played by Lee Pace) trying to get his hands on yet another Infinity Stone. Infinity Stones are essentially super weapons, two of which (the Tesseract and the Aether) have already featured in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Avengers Assemble (2012) and Thor: The Dark World (2013). This time the Infinity Stone in question is known as The Orb. Now I understand that not every villain in the series will be as complex as Loki (Tom Hiddleston), but it’d be nice if they were given another goal other than obtaining a powerful rock and destroying a planet’s population. Let me make a brief comparison here – Loki is crushed by a family revelation, he’s desperate to prove himself to others and has a complicated relationship with his rival brother Thor. He’s cunning and his intentions aren’t always clear. Ronan however appears to be nothing more than an angry alien who pisses everyone off and wants to destroy a planet. That’s literally it.

For the most part, the film’s well written heroes and exciting set pieces make up for the familiar threat. This team of oddballs is full of character, each hero possessing their own intriguing and entertaining traits. For example, Groot (the walking tree) exclusively expresses himself by simply stating “I am Groot”, a statement which can take on a vast range of meanings. He also fights creatively with his branches, roots and spores and steals the show in some of the film’s action scenes.

The way Guardians’ witty writing enables its characters to interact with one another allows for some hilarious moments. As much as this comedy is appreciated, the film avoids being one big joke. There are serious moments in this humour-heavy adventure and they help give the characters more weight and ultimately more love from the audience. The opening scene alone, one that shows us the origin of Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, is one of the film’s most touching moments.

Guardians also looks great, with shots appearing as though they’ve been taken straight out of a comic book. The CGI is particularly impressive, with an obvious highlight being Rocket the Racoon. A lot was riding on the audience’s first impression of Rocket and James Gunn (Director and Writer), the special effects team and of course Bradley Cooper have done a fantastic job at bringing this bizarre character to life.

Weird and wonderful, touching and hilarious, Guardians of the Galaxy is a welcome addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I was once wanting this film to be separate from a series I really care about, but after my initial expectations were drastically exceeded I can’t wait to see if the Guardians will interact with the Avengers in the years to come…

Verdict:

I am Groot.

4/5

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review

Plot: In a world where human civilisation has been crippled by a devastating virus, Caesar (Andy Serkis) struggles to lead his fellow apes and keep them from waging war on a population of human survivors taking refuge in the ruins of San Francisco.

Set several years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Dawn manages to successfully build upon the world so well established by its predecessor. Those that were anxious about Matt Reeves taking over from Rupert Wyatt as director can rest easy, he’s done a fine job at retaining the quality of the previous film whilst simultaneously driving the story forwards. This world is far different from that which we experienced in Rise, the altered climate leaves the apes with what appears to be the upper hand. As one character points out; “They don’t need power, lights, heat… That’s what makes them stronger.” And strong they are. The opening scene establishes the raw power of ape society and it is awesome, brutal and a tad disturbing. Some of the film’s most jaw dropping moments are when thousands of apes move as a unit – a single, efficient and destructive force. The impact of this combined with the iconic image of apes riding horses is one that immediately made me think “good luck humans, you’re gonna need it.”   

The film is symmetrical in terms of its core characters – on each side there is a thoughtful, reasonable leader who governs alongside a rash, aggressive friend. This is no doubt expressive of one of the film’s themes – the similarities between ape and human society. However, due to the film barely developing any characters outside of these pairs, the source of Dawn’s conflict is obvious from the beginning. When you can so clearly see the foundations of a narrative it isn’t a stretch to predict the outcome of certain scenarios. The film’s power struggle is something many of us have seen before, a cliche no doubt made more obvious by the Pocahontas-esque story. Given all this, it was a welcome surprise when Dawn took itself further than I believed it would. The film gradually became less predictable as it went on, leaving me guessing who was going to come out on top. There were several moments where I half expected the film to end but it kept going and it kept building. Notice that I use the word building, not dragging. This wasn’t a film that felt like it needed to end any earlier than it did, it succeeded in keeping me on the edge of my seat with its intense set pieces and one particularly engaging performance.

Andy Serkis, what a man, or in this case, ape… Caesar speaks more in this film than he did in the last, but still not as much as some cinema goers might expect. It is of course his expressive body language that makes him fascinating to watch. Whilst Caesar is the obvious highlight, the other apes are also impressive, particularly the ruthless Koba (Toby Kebbell). WETA and the franchise’s mo-cap actors achieved something special with Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the charm and menace of the primate performances is just as strong in Dawn. The film’s human characters aren’t nearly as interesting, but Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman did a fine job portraying the leaders of the human survivors.

Verdict:

Despite being rather predictable at times, this is an impressive sci-fi epic which boasts set pieces and motion-capture performances worth climbing out of your tree for.

4/5

 

 

 

Sherlock Series 3 Review

Plot: The world’s greatest consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch), returns to his trusty blogger John Watson (Martin Freeman). But it’s been a long time since the great game was paused and not everyone is ready to start it again.

What the first two episodes of this series lack is a real challenge for Sherlock – a real mystery with real danger surrounding it. Instead everything is scaled down. The majority of Sherlock’s third round on our screens focuses more on its main characters, which had already been developed wonderfully throughout the show. What series three does is take two episodes to go into further detail on the Sherlock/Watson relationship. Whilst this was no doubt entertaining and often hilarious, I found myself getting frustrated with the lack of any serious threat.

An Empty Hearse offers the duo a case that would be far more satisfying if it wasn’t so bloody obvious – the episode takes place on bonfire night, so no points for guessing the villain’s genius plan, the overused phrase “no shit Sherlock” applies here (I’m sorry). The mystery instead surrounds how exactly Sherlock comes back, something which you can tell the show’s writers really had fun with. There’s comedy to be found here, and lots of it. Sherlock’s attempts to fix things with Watson are also hilarious, but this steals focus from everything else in the story, so much so that the ending feels rather rushed which, given the show’s lengthy running time, it really shouldn’t.

The Sign of Three is refreshingly different in structure but the mystery and danger still felt rather minor. Whilst it was entertaining seeing Sherlock awkwardly struggle his way through a personal challenge, it had me wondering if this was a show that had changed so much that it was turning into something I just liked rather than loved. The final part of series three threw that thought from my mind

His Last Vow reminded me just how good an episode of Sherlock can be. The stakes feel high again; everything built upon in the series is now at risk and all because Sherlock is finally given what he deserves – a real mystery, a real threat and a real villain. Magnussen (Lars Mikkelsen) is the kind of powerful genius that can actually intimidate Sherlock. The scenes that he has, he steals, and I found myself hating him but also wishing he had more screen time, which is undoubtably the sign of a good villain. JC

Verdict:

Sherlock still has the potential to be TV gold, even if it doesn’t always shine.

3/5

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Review

Recommended if you enjoyed: Life of Pi, Forrest Gump, Big Fish

Plot: Walter Mitty’s (Ben Stiller) imagination has always been impressive, his real life however has become extremely routine and he’s starting to realise it. He’s working at Life Magazine; a photography magazine focusing on the work of legendary photographer Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn). When a photo  disappears on his watch it’s up to him to find it. Thanks to a push from Cheryl (Kristen Wigg); the office love interest, he sets out on a journey to bravely go where no man has ever gone before… Greenland? Suddenly Walter is seeing the bigger picture, the adventure begins…

As well as playing the lead, Ben Stiller also directed this film. When I used to think of Ben Stiller films I thought of Meet the Parents, Tropic Thunder (also directed by Stiller) and Dodgeball. I thought comedy, basically, and in the past he hasn’t always appealed to my sense of humour. This film however, did, and you know what the funny part is? It’s not a comedy. The laughs are infused into this pleasant story about personal discovery and the benefits of leaving your comfort zone. There’s romance, action and some light drama, so there’s something here to appeal to most members of an audience.

The film didn’t have me hooked from the start. We’re introduced to Walter’s job at Life Magazine, his love interest Cheryl and his family. This part of the film felt rather grounded and I found myself looking around the room thinking “am I the only one who’s getting a bit bored here?” It’s when Walter leaves America that the film literally takes off. This change made the start of the film suddenly appear to be more of a strength then a weakness – his life was boring and I felt it, his life becomes exciting and I felt that too. I think the contrast really worked and suddenly found myself forgiving the film for having a slow start.

Clever, often humorous editing helps capture the excitement of Walter’s journey and we’re shown the breathtaking landscapes he witnesses through the kind of cinematography that reminds you just how beautiful the world we live in can be. The impressive views are suiting as they help get across the thrill Walter is feeling whilst exploring these magnificent landscapes. Of course, amongst the themes of personal discovery there are bizarre theatrical moments, for instance; a shark fight. These wacky moments don’t take away the tone of the film, they instead dilute it so that it doesn’t become too preachy and cringe worthy, something that films often risk doing when attempting to be inspirational.

My favourite thing about Walter Mitty is its sense of wonder; something that I always appreciate when watching a movie. Escapism is a powerful thing, however, when the provided escapism is within reach of an audience in real life the film steps up a notch and becomes, dare I say it, inspiring. It’s a film that encourages you to be adventurous, apply your strengths to new areas and, ultimately, travel. See the world whilst you’re on it! JC

Verdict: A slow start but stick with it and you’ll be rewarded with a thrilling adventure story that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

4/5