The Way,Way Back

This was a pleasant surprise.. I'd had a rough day and so I was in the mood to sit in a dark room for a couple of hours..

The format's been seen a hundred times.. It's a coming of age movie in a nutshell and despite all the cliches it still manages to entertain.. 

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Pain & Gain

Caught this one on an advance preview weekend, and what with it being the end of the bank-holiday I figured why not. 

I'd seen the trailer and it did look funny. Luckily it was funny.. The story centres around Mark Wahlburgs character, a personal trainer who aspires to be better. Together with two other, equally dumb body builders he plans to extort money from a wealthy client. Naturally it goes horribly wrong (don't they always?) and much chaos ensues.. There were some genuinely 'laugh out loud' funny moments. There are also some dark moments that didn't always sit well in the movie. I felt a little uncomfortable at one point when they attempt to kill their kidnapped millionaire. The man in question, played by Tony Shalhoub, was an arse but you never felt like he deserved what he got. Having said that it is based on a true story.. Talking of which, I always took 'based on a true story' with a pinch of salt after the Coen brothers and their Fargo revelation, but in this film they included photo's of the actual protagonists and the incriminating evidence in end credits to add some gravitas..

Overall it was an entertaining and eye opening 2 hours.

Rating ***1/2

I'm sure somewhere out there, there are intelligent body builders its just that they're never portrayed in the movies.

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Elysium

After assisting Graham with a bit of wallpapering I headed down town in time to catch the 1pm showing of Elysium. Now I loved 'District 9' and I'm a sucker when it comes to Sci-fi.  Consequently I was looking forward to this but trying not to get too excited as this years blockbusters have been fairly lame so far.. Luckily this one was better.. 

The plot centres around Matt Damon, an ex-criminal living in an overpopulated and run down L.A. After an unfortunate accident at work he's give a high dose of radiation and collapses. When he comes to he's given some pills and told he's got 5 days left to live.  Instead of contacting InjuryLawers4U.com he decides to head to the off-world space station Elysium where they have the technology to cure all ills..  Unfortunately this is an exclusive, members only space station and entry is tricky at best...

The attention to detail was excellent in this film.. Right down to the cooling fans on the robots. Also the earthbound technology had a dirty, well worn feel about it which I like. The the guns where AK47's with modern, almost home made modifications attached.  Where as on Elysium it was as if it was designed by Apple.

There where one or two minor issues I had with the film, not including the blatant disregard for health and safety at the work place. I couldn't quite make out Jodie Fosters accent. I'm assuming as she lives and works on Elysium it was a global accent but I couldn't get my head around it! Also the ending left a few unanswered questions which I won't go into due to plot spoilers..

Overall though I enjoyed it. Not sure if its a ***1/2 or **** movie ? Compared to the movies so far this year it's gotta be ****.

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Percy Jackson Sea of monsters

After a trip round the bay on Graham's bike (crashed on the slippery board walks! Nice..), I finally made it into town in time to catch the 12.00pm showing of Percy Jacksons latest quest. I'd seen the first one but can't for the life of me remember what happened.. 

It started off well. I handed over the ticket to a stoner attendant and after he ripped it he passed it back saying 'awesome..!' I replied ' I doubt it..' 

You can sum up this movie as 'Clash Of The Titans' meets 'Harry Potter'.  Obviously when it comes to Greek mythology you can't avoid the Clash similarities but Harry Potter? 3 kids go on a quest, 1 is the chosen one, the other is the clever, potential love interest (who also carries around a bag of magical accessories) and the third is... well, slightly dim.. Sound familiar?.. That being said the CGI was up there with most movies these days and it moved along at a reasonable pace.. Unfortunately that seems to be the norm this year.. Maybe it's because I'm not its target audience or maybe I'm just getting very picky, but really I think they should try harder..

An 'average' **1/2

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2 Guns

Well it's official. So far I've seen more films this year than I did all of last year! And I've still got 4 and a half months of the year left..

And to be honest it's been pretty lame up to now (with one or two exceptions). By this time last year I'd already seen 'The Avengers' 5 times, 'Prometheus' and 'The Raid'.

Anyway back to the movie. Unfortunately this is another 'ok' film. The trailer not only plays up the comedy but also it contains ALL of it. Don't get me wrong, Mark Walberg and Denzel Washington are funny and work well together, but that does not a good movie make.. The plot centres around a bank robbery carried out by our two leads and the chaos that ensues... There's some nice support from Bill Paxton and Edward James Olmos (Bill Paxton playing a particularly nasty bad guy) but the film plods along at a (too) leisurely pace.. I was chatting to the attendant prior to going in and he summed up the film as 'meh..' I think he hit the nail on the head there.. 

Another film to through on the three star pile.. 

Not crap, but not brilliant either. ***

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Kick-ass 2

Second film today. I enjoyed the first Kick-ass (KA), it kind of came out of the blue. So this one, (unfortunately) has expectation loaded on it..

It carries off where KA1 finished. Both Hit-Girl(HG) and KA try to settle in to a normal life but find it more difficult than they anticipated. KA joins a group of masked vigilantes and HG skips school and... well, carries on being HG. At the same time the superhero formally known as Red Mist rebrands himself as the super villain The Motherf*cker and seeks to avenge his fathers death by killing KA. You still with me? The problem with this film is that it reminds you how good KA1 was. That film had shock value. The language and violence was 15 bordering 18. Here it's definitely in the 15 camp. I think Matthew Vaughn's direction was better too. This one seems to lack a certain cohesion.  Also the soundtrack didn't have the same impact as previously..

There were good parts. The dark humour was still there.. just not as often.. Chloe Moretz is still an excellent killing machine.. Don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable but I'm not feeling the urge to go and see it again.. In fact I'm feeling the urge to see KA1 again!

Overall a mildly entertaining ***

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Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2nd Viewing)

Laura's birthday today so, naturally we headed down to Cardiff. Missed the 10.40am Kick-ass 2 so decided on another showing of Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. I decided to get the ticket from the attendant as I wanted to know when it finished, and I must say I was impressed!  The attendant guessed I wanted to see Kick-ass 2 and gave me a ticket for that too.. 

Anyway, back to the film.. As you can imagine 11.20am on a Thursday's not exactly a sell out.. Me and two others.. Practically a private viewing. 

And it was still as funny as the first time. I was almost crying at one point!

Still an hilarious ****

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Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

I almost didn't see this one.. I got the ticket and the weather was so nice I very nearly headed down the bay...

As it turns out this was the best film of the weekend. 

If you're familiar with Alan Partridge (and a fan, like me) this film needs no introduction. 

Here we find Alan, a DJ for Norfolk Digital, a small local radio station. In come a media company and decide to streamline the station and sack some of the older DJs. After they sack DJ Pat (Colm Meaney) he returns to the station armed with a shot gun and a siege ensues..

I laughed out loud through most of the film. Steve Coogan is on top form and the script is chocked full of gags.

Overall, an hilarious ****!

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The Lone Ranger

First of today's double bill. There's a lot of talk going on about this one.. Mainly negative down to its poor performance in America and the fact that it cost £200 million (ish)... It wasn't all bad. That was probably its problem, it's just ordinary.  And, again like RED 2 the plot is immaterial. Basically it's railway gets in the way of Indians. It's just one set piece after another.  They weren't bad set pieces mind and you could see where the budget went. I just think they should have assigned more towards script and character development. I've learned to switch off when realism is concerned in these sort of movies. You know, leave your brain at the door.. And whats with the running time? Way too long in my opinion.. As a summer popcorn movie though it was ok.. I doubt there'll be a sequel..

It reminded me of the other mega budget flop 'John Carter' in that with budget comes expectation.  Overall ***.. I won't be seeing it again..

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RED 2

Graham and I went to see this one. We both enjoyed the first one so I figured why not?

The plot (for what it's worth) carried on from where the last one ended. We find Bruce and his girlfriend shopping for normal stuff when along comes John Malcovich and warns them that they're in danger... Blah blah bomb.. Blah blah hit men... Blah blah Anthony Hopkins.. The plot's immaterial really. It's just a device in which to pin some loud (and funny) action scenes together. And this is probably its failing. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it.. It just wasn't as funny as RED. Bruce Willis put in a better performance than he did in Die Hard(er....est....ing?!) Which, to be fair isn't difficult.. Helen Mirren looks surprising hot for a 60 year old. In fact 'disturbingly' hot...!?! 

Perhaps at 2 hours it was a bit long, but overall it's got to be a respectable ***

Yes, I know it's a crap photo. What am I, a photographer?.. oh, hang on a minute..

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The Worlds End (2nd Viewing)

Today didn't really pan out as I planned.. For starters the heavens opened so Graham's bike was left in the hall way.. The next thing I know I'm happily sat in the cinema when I get a text saying "due to circumstances involving moody teenagers, please come home.." So that knocked my 2.45 'RED 2' showing on the head..

Never mind I still enjoyed this one for the second time. And as with the previous two in the Cornetto trilogy I picked up things I'd missed earlier in the film that had relevance at the end... If you know what I mean.

Still an enjoyable ****.

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The Conjuring

This was a pleasant surprise.. Well pleasant in the fact that Liz suggested going to see it.. And you know me, I'll jump at any opportunity to see a film with the lovely wife... whatever it is..

So 7 o'clock Saturday night finds us at my place (Cineworld Cardiff). Laura and her mate Yodie were also there watching the 7 o'clock "Monsters University" in screen 7 (a film I've yet to see!)

Anyway, based on a true story, this film centres around two families. One, a couple (Patrick 'Watchmen" Wilson and Vera "Source Code" Farmiga) specialise in ghost hunting, for want of a better phrase. The other family are Ron Livingstone (last seen by me in 'The Time Travellers Wife'), his wife, Lili Taylor and their 5 kids.. The first third of this film started off well. The initial introduction to the families weren't anything you haven't seen before but were still engaging all the same. When the 'Ghost hunters' turn up it dipped a bit in terms of tension, but picked up for the last third.. My problem with this film applies to pretty well most horror films these days, and that they seem to go all out mental in the end... But I suppose that is the nature of all horror films anyway..

In the end though it wasn't a bad film... It just wasn't a particularly good film..
I think I preferred 'Mama'.
There was a nice touch at the end when they showed photos of the real life people the movies based on..
Overall, an entertaining ***


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