Maleficent (3D)

It's rated PG and you can see it's target audience are typical Disney fodder.. That being said there was a certain amount of darkness in amongst the fairy dust..
Ok, the fairy tale begins with two kingdoms, one where the humans live and the other were the magical things dwell.. One day a young boy wanders over into the magical realm where he bumps into a young fairy (with particularly large wings!). They become friends and grow up into Stefan (Sharlto Copley) and Maleficent (Angelina Jolie). Then one thing leads to another and before you know it things turn bad...
Firstly, the good points. This film looked gorgeous... Some of the early, sweeping shots reminded me of Avatar.  Angelina's performance and make up are the highlight of the movie for me. She looked both beautiful and scary..
On the downside perhaps the film was a little too gorgeous. Some of the scene's look 'fake'. I wasn't sure if that was down to the CGI or the 3D.  But it is a fairy tale after all. (also, was it me or did Sharlto develop a Scottish accent half way through the movie..?!)
Ultimately though, I enjoyed it. It was definitely one to see on the big screen..

Rating ***1/2
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Edge Of Tomorrow

As is well documented in my 'Cinema-log', I'm a sucker for science fiction.. My favourite films are science fiction.. I've seen my fair share of good and bad too.
This one is Doug Liman's latest. I wouldn't say I'm a big fan, but I loved "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr and Mrs Smith".. Heck, I even bought "Go" on DVD..! But after "Jumper" didn't quite hit the mark I was a little sceptical..
Ok, synopsis.. Tom Cruise plays Major Cage, a member of the military in rank only.. He has no combat experience and acts as a promotional tool to increase enlistment so to speak. Due to a plot device which I won't go into he ends up on the front line of an invasion to retake Europe. Here he's pretty much killed instantly.. But, by some twist of fate wakes up back in the barracks.. To relive the invasion...

Think Groundhog Day + Source Code, throw in some Matrix (particularly the Alien design) and a bit of Gears Of War... And voilà! And this is my main problem with the movie. Both Groundhog Day and Source Code did it better.. Here again is another case of 'trailer spoils film'. I was waiting for the bit where "this happens" and "that thing explodes" and "Tom blows up a caravan"... etc..
That's not to say I didn't enjoy it though.. I'd watch Emily Blunt read 'Stationary Engine Weekly' magazine.. And the action romps along at a fair pace.. The question is would I see it again?
I'm not sure.. I've gotta rate it ***1/2.. mainly because it's a science fiction film, featuring Emily Blunt and time travel..
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The Two Faces Of January

Man cannot live on Blockbusters alone... and with that in mind I decided to see something a little smaller scale..
This film stars Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst as a married couple (Chester and Colette MacFarland) holidaying in Greece when they befriend an ex-pat American tour guide Rylan, played by Oscar Isaac. As well as tour guiding Rylan, for extra cash also scams the tourists as he speaks fluent Greek.
As the film proceeds it turns out that the MacFarland's are not that honest either and after an altercation with a private investigator they go on the run (aided by Rylan)..

This film is fairly pedestrian to start with but picks up about two thirds in as the tension starts to mount. It's set in 1962 and looks gorgeous. The attention to detail is there and they must get through 40 fags a day (which can't be healthy)
Towards the end it twists and turns and to be honest I wasn't sure how it was gonna pan out.. Which is a good thing these days..
Overall and entertaining way to kill 90 minutes..
Rating ***

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Godzilla (2nd viewing)

The question is 'was this better the second time?'
... Yeah, I think it was. Still too long. In my opinion they could have cut out one or two scenes.
And you know what's going to happen when it comes out on DVD. Everyone's gonna be fast forwarding to the fights at the end..
Still, I enjoyed it again. ****

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X-Men : Days Of Future Past (3D) (2nd viewing)

Yep, I enjoyed that again.
I can see where there could be a problem with the more times I see this though.. You start to question some of the decisions made.. For example why wasn't Quicksilver used more? He could have helped a lot.. (It'll be interesting to see how they use him in the next Avengers movie. The bench marks been set high here..)
Still the best Summer blockbuster so far.. ****


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X-Men : Days Of Future Past (3D)

I haven't paid to see a film since IMAX Gravity back in January, but as this is the opening day of Herefords very own multi-screen I figured why not? (If only this had been a Cineworld..). Anyway I took the afternoon off work and walked into town.. Yes that's right, I WALKED to the cinema.. After grabbing a coffee in the bar I settled down in screen One..
Before I go into detail about the film I'll give you a brief description of the cinema.
Firstly because it's brand new it smells terrific! Everywhere is clean and tidy and when I got to the top of the escalator I was greeted by 1/2 a dozen faces manning the tills (it seemed a little over staffed to be honest). I was in screen One which I'm hoping isn't the main one as it seemed a little small.. Not that I'm complaining, the screen is still bigger than anything else Hereford has to offer.. The seats were comfy and there was only 15 minutes of trailers.. And they were just trailers, no adverts (must have missed them).
Anyway, on with the film..
Brief synopsis goes thus.. In the future the planet has been devastated by Sentinels, robots originally designed to destroy mutants but you know what robots are like..! The surviving mutants come up with a cunning plan which involves sending Wolverine back in time to "stop this war before it begins."

Phew! Thank God Bryan Singers back on the job. After Brett Ratnors lame X-Men 3 and the ultimately disappointing Wolverine movies nearly killed off the franchise I was a little concerned... Luckily, for me at least he's managed to pull it off.. and then some..
This movie had some truly awesome set pieces. The Magneto breakout was worth the admission fee alone.. It reminded me of the introduction to Nightcrawler in X2.
If you're new to the X-Men universe this film could be heavy going. I, on the other hand embraced it for the fan that I am..

A resounding **** (nearly ****1/2)

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Godzilla (3D)

I'm of an age where I can remember the build up to Roland Emmerich's  'Godzilla' movie back in 1998. I distinctly remember a teaser trailer showing a museum curator describing a skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex to a group of museum goers. Then all of a sudden Godzilla's foot crashes down on to it.....  I also remember how disappointing the eventual film was..

This one had a few plus points in its favour.. Firstly, Gareth Edwards was given the directorial duties. I'm a fan of 'Monsters'. Most 'normal' people weren't impressed due to the lack of said Monsters... but I enjoyed it.  

Secondly, the Toho Film company (those responsible for the 1950's original) gave Gareth and the movie their blessing.. 

So, on with the film. We start off in Japan in the late 90's and after a serious of mysterious tremors an "earth quake" destroys the Nuclear power plant that Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) and his wife Sandra Brody (Juliette Binoche) are working in..  Cut to the present day and we find Joe still in Japan. His son Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has grown up and moved to America where he's become a..... lets call it Bomb Specialist.  He's married Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and together they have a young son.
Joe is still researching the strange tremors that destroyed the power plant and killed Sandra, his wife when suddenly they start appearing again....

You could argue Godzillas thunder has been stolen with last years Pacific Rim.. And to a degree that's true, but luckily this film has a bit more substance to it.. Now I should point out I'm of an age... ahem...  where I can remember repeats of the original 'rubber suited' Godzilla movies such as 'Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla' and 'Son Of Godzilla'. This film has more in common with these classics than the afore mentioned 1998 offering.. I won't say too much to avoid plot spoilers but lets just say there's monster fighting..

I loved it. At 2 hours perhaps it's a little too long but that seems to be the norm these days. Definitely worth another look. Rating ****

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Sabotage

Here's Arnies latest attempt to get back into movies. After the fairly lacklustre 'The Last Stand' and 'Escape Plan' he could do with a hit. So in this one we not only have couple of 'A list' stars but also David Ayer telling them what to do...
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with 'End Of Watch' or 'Harsh Times' (although I thought 'Training Day', which he wrote, was good).. This on the other hand...
Let's synopsosie... Arnie plays John 'Breacher' Warton, the head of a elite DEA unit. After a particularly lucrative drugs bust, the group decide to keep a few quid... and it all goes south.. as per the trailer..
I can't quite understand why it didn't work. Maybe it was the pace? Or the fact that Arnie and his gang are an unlikeable bunch of misfits and you didn't really care if they lived or died.. The action picked up towards the end... but by then it was too late and I'd lapsed into a coma..
And another thing.. There was no humour.. Granted, the subject matter wasn't particularly funny but Arnie's synonymous with quips and one liners.. And I missed them..
Anyway, I didn't really enjoy it.. **


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Bad Neighbours

This was the wining film in my 'Bad Neighbours vs Blue Ruin' toss up. And it was a toss up.. As an avid movie goer I know that 'Blue Ruin' is the more intellectual film and will be down to limited screening next weeks (if any!). So I should have seen it today.. But I opted for this one instead..

Ok, Seth Rogan and Rosie Byrne play new parents who find their idilic life style turned up side down when their new neighbours turn out to be a fraternity (a bunch of students to you and me!). After initial introductions relationships slowly break down and all hell breaks loose.

Now I don't know Zac Efron from Adam.. But Mark Kermode loves him.. And as it turns out he was very good in this too. I know Seth Rogan and Rosie Byrne are funny and it was nice to see some other familiar faces. More importantly this film was funny! Without a doubt the funniest film of the year so far.. Even though I'd seen the air bag clips in the trailer I still laughed out loud.. At one point I nearly cried from laughing.. I think it's because it was a 15 certificate film and the language was coarse and natural.
Overall I enjoyed it (I may see it again if it hangs around..)
Rating :****

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Pompeii (3D)

Here we have another film which, if I was to be honest I didn't want to see. The reviews had ranged from 'mediocre' to '2 star rubbish' and the poor dialogue and direct 'Gladiator' rip off was quite apparent in just the trailer!!? As a result I didn't hold out much hope for the rest of movie..

And as it turns out I was right. Ok, synopsis.. Think Gladiator + volcano. Really, that's it..

Don't get me wrong I like a tongue-in-cheek movie movie as much as the next man... But this?... It had no redeeming features.. (Apart from the CGi Volcano..) The dialogue was truly awfull.. For example.. "Kill them... Kill them all.." and "Tomorrow we fight!".. Really?? Who says that??

There were scenes that were plucked straight out of Gladiator.. At one point I thought Milo (Kit Harrington) was gonna say "are you not entertained?" as he threw his sword on the floor.. 

It was 'Transformers III' bad.. Just because the CGi's good doesn't make up for the poor.... everything else..

Rating **

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