Iron Man 3

Ok, Iron Man 3. I've got to be honest I'm a bit of an Iron Man fan. I loved the first one. Two, not so much. But the Avengers more than made up for that.. So I was looking forward to this. Plus I had the Iron Man helmet and 3D glasses from Cineworld I'd won. I was in Iron Man heaven before the film has even started...

And luckily it didn't disappoint. 

Ok basic synopsis.. Tony Stark is suffering anxiety after the Avengers and as a result he struggles with normal life. Throw in the Mandarin (an excellent performance by Ben Kingsley) and   Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and it makes it harder for him to get back on track so to speak....

The action is suburb with some great set pieces. There's a couple of nods to Iron Man 1 and the humour is up there with The Avengers.  Without spoiling the plot I did find it quite sad at the end... sort of.
Plus there's the Marvel moment after the credits.

Overall a 'buy the DVD' **** rating. Plus I'll probably catch it again..

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Olympus Has Fallen

This turned out better than I expected. It looked like a run of the mill 'Diehard' clone on the cover. Even to the point that there were direct scenes taken straight out of it.. As a result you don't need a synopsis.. 

The 15 certificate definitely helped. This lifted it above this years lame Taken 2 and Diehard 5 as it didn't pandered to the 12a crowd.  There's some nice set pieces and the action's relentless.. He says he's going to put a knife in his brain and actually does.. Which is nice.

On the down side there's a couple of HUGE plot holes (to be fair there shed load's of plot holes) but with this type of movie you just accept them and go with the flow..

Overall it was an enjoyable couple of hours, worth a solid ***1/2..

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Identity Thief

Here's an interesting addition to the blog. For starters it's a Thursday showing. I've escorted Shirley & Sam down to Cardiff to see Catherine Jenkins & Il Divo. And while Shirley was in the Motorpoint Arena watching the lovely Catherine, Sam & I watched this one.

It wasn't the first choice (is it ever?). Ideally Sam and I wanted to see The Host, but due to the late finish we opted for this one.

Basically it's a road movie with Jason Bateman (Paul) and Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) heading from A to B... and much hilarity ensues.  

Actually, to be fair this had a couple of laugh out loud moments and the both leads were as funny as usual.  Unfortunately as I'm writing this review it's a week later and I can't quite remember what happened.. Which kind of says it all really... That, and the fact that on TV at the moment is the far superior road movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

Oh well, gotta be worth a **1/2..

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The Place Beyond The Pines

Second film today and after Oblivion I was dry and ready for this one. 

Now, I'm not familiar with Blue Valentine or any of Derek Cianfrance's work come to think of it.  But I did like Ryan Gosling in Drive and even Bradley Cooper in Limitless.  So with that in mind I was (kind of) looking forward to this one. 

This film was 2 hours and 20 mins long and covers the lives of two 'families' over a period of about 16 years..  It started off well. Ryan Gosling was tattooed up to the nines and to be fair looked pretty cool.. He plays a loaner, motorcycle stuntman, wanderer who, after a 'dalliance' with Eva Mendes the previous year finds that he has a son.. As a result he meets up with the nefarious Ben Mendelsohn and together turns to crime in order to provide for his son.. Obviously that's a very basic synopsis.  You throw in Bradley Cooper's rookie cop, Ray Liotta's bent cop, corruption, revenge and some genuinely touching moments and you have a decent movie.. What did disappoint me was the soundtrack. Apart from one track which is featured in the movie trailer, the rest was pretty poor in my opinion. There was a couple of eighties gems in the first half of the movie but I was expecting more from Mike Patton (assuming it's Faith No More's Mike Patton)  That's one thing I liked in Oblivion.  It had Led Zeppelin AND Procol Harlem !?

Overall though I enjoyed it. Not as good as Drive but another solid ***1/2

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Oblivion

Getting to see this film was a worthy of a Danny Boyle movie in its self. I booked a 2pm showing and, after waiting in the rain I finally jumped on the No 57 bus at 1.50pm.. At 2.07pm I was still on the bus, in heavy traffic on Richmond Road.. Then a passenger asked the driver to stop and let him off as he had a train to catch. With this about 10 of us jumped ship and I legged it into town. Anyway, to cut a long story short I got to the cinema at 2.25pm, soaking wet but in time to catch the entire film..

This was one of those films I was looking forward to. The trailer looked good and I liked Joseph Kosinski's Tron legacy.

It's a typical sci-fi theme. Ravaged and desolate post 'alien war' earth is patrolled by Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough (who gets more gorgeous with each movie! That's Andrea not Tom) When along drops Olga Kurylenko and you know, sci-fi stuff happens..

It started off well. As in Prometheus, Iceland played a big part in the backdrop and it looked gorgeous. In fact the whole film look gorgeous (a lot like Tron) 

It borrowed heavily from a lot of Sci-fi. Not only the aforementioned Prometheus and Tron but also Star Wars (pick an episode), Independence Day, Moon and, yes even Wall-E.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing as I like pretty well like any sci-fi. But despite its gorgeousness it's no Prometheus, and certainly no Moon. It has one or two failings, the main one being the cheesy ending. But that's not enough to detract from what is basically an enjoyable couple of hours..

I may catch it again if I'm at a loose end but until then it gets a solid ***1/2..

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Mr Papadopoulos & Sons

If you look closely at the photo you can see there's two tickets.. Yes, that's right Liz came with me to see this one.  To be honest it was her choice and as she rarely goes to the cinema who am I to argue.. (plus I managed to get her in as a student for £6..!)

Anyway, back to the film. Basic story centres around Mr Papadopoulos who's a successful entrepreneur and father of three. It starts off with him making a bad investment and basically losing his empire. The only thing the administrators can't take from him is a small, run down chip shop that is part owned by his estranged brother.. His plan is to sell the shop, split the money and then he'd be able to get his old life back.. Needless to say it doesn't quite go to plan..

This wasn't our first choice, that being Dark Skies.  I opted for this one because I got the impression Liz wasn't in the mood for sinister alien abduction and the like. Plus she liked the basic premise.

It was a bit of an odd film.  Fairly pedestrian really.  But it started to pick up in the second half.  Reminded me of 'Another  Year' but not as good.

Overall a solid ***.

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