Fury

Another one for Graham and myself. He saw the trailer and liked it..

This film focuses on a American tank and it's treck into Germany during the last days of World War 2.. It's crew, lead by Brad Pitt's Wardaddy have to take on a new member after a particularly nasty run in with some Nazis leaves them one man down.. 

This film picked up the baton passed on by 'Saving Private Ryan'.  It has the same realism and grittyness. There's a particularly good scene involving a duel with a tiger tank which is worth the admission fee alone. That, and an excellent performance from Shia LaBeouf.. Which, let's be honest is quite rare..

Overall it was an entertaining ***1/2 star movie.

The Babadook

Arrived in Cardiff about 2.30 today, and as everyone had already had their fill of the big city I decided to head on in and catch a film.. on my own... again.

This one centers around a widow, Amelia (Essie Davis), her 6 year old son Samuel (Noah Wiseman) and their struggle to come to terms with the death of the husband/father (Benjamin Winspear).

I've seen enough horror films over the years to know it's rare these days to get a new idea.. This one isn't.. But that's not a bad thing. It had the appearance of a low budget flick in a similar vein to 'Brain Dead'.. It's very creepy and a real slow burner.  The film had a grey, desaturated look about it..There was no real 'jump out of your skin' moments but it was still disturbing.. 

Both leads are excellent, and for a six year old Noah Wiseman is definitely one to watch out for. 

Overall I enjoyed it.. ****

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Nightcrawler

The problem with watching a movie at any cinema OTHER than Cineworld is that I have to 'make the money to buy a ticket'.. Luckily I only had to make £5.71 in order to purchase this ticket for Odeon's first 'Screen unseen/ Mystery Movie Monday'. According to the email I received "they think I'd really enjoy this film".. As it turns out, they were right..

After the poster and teaser trailer it was pretty obvious what the film was.. I've been quite impressed by Mr Gyllenhaal's previous movies. 'Source Code' was a no brainer (Duncan Jones and Sci fi!?) and he was particularly disturbing in the recent 'Prisoners'. Here he once again does 'creepy' very well.. When we first see Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) he's basically a human magpie, steeling drain covers and fencing for scrap.. He tries to get a job with the scrap dealer but is bluntly informed "I not gonna employ a f*cking thief..". Then one evening he stumbles upon a car accident being filmed by Joe Loader (Bill Paxton) and decides that's the career for him..

Lou Bloom is a interesting character.. He's very intelligent and well spoken.  Imagine if Paul McKellar had read nothing but his own self help books (and lost a lot of weight as a result)..  His lack of 'people skills' and total disregard for most of the people around him make him very unnerving. You're never sure if he's going to snap and do something really bad.. 

This film also has some equally unnerving performances from the supporting cast (Rene Russo and Bill Paxton are the ones I recognised). They're also particularly unsavoury characters.. 

Mostly shot at night, the film has a similar look to Drive, being mostly artificial light..

It was excellent. Gyllenhaal's performance was sublime..

It's not a blockbuster so it won't be around for long.  But I'm glad I saw it..

Definite **** movie..

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Dracula Untold

Second and final film today and I was looking forward to this one.
Probably down to the fact that I'm a fan of Luke Evans (Vlad/Dracula) after his performance in 'The Hobbit' and that he's a Welsh bloke too.
It starts off with a bit of back story (Vlad's previous job involved some.... erm... impaling). But now he's a devoted husband and father and also Prince to the kingdom of Transulvania. He'd put all that 'impaling' business behind him... until along comes Mehmed (Dominic Cooper) the Turkish leader and former chum of Vlad. He demands that Vlad hand over 1000 lads for his army he's putting together, oh and throw in his own son while he's at it.. Needless to say it all kicks off and Vlad heads up a mountain to get some 'advice' from Charles Dance (the Master Vampire). If you've seen the trailer you know the rest..
I can't understand why so many people have taken a dislike to this film (see IMDB). I kind of enjoyed it.. This could be down to my love of the Welshman, but I think it's probably more to do with the fact that I haven't seen a decent film of this genre in a long time... Let's be honest I haven't seen A film of this genre let alone a decent one. Granted this is no Gary Oldman Dracula.. But at the same time it's no Dracula 2000..

Overall an entertaining ***1/2
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Here I am, sat in Cardiff Castle.. making the most of my castle passport before it expires on the 20th October having just witnessed Michael Bay's latest car wreck of a movie..
After sitting through some God awful trailers (Nativity 3 and Paddington) I settled down and prepared for the onslaught... Now you see, there is my problem. Just because Michael Bay is attached I shouldn't write off the film before I've even seen it..

OK, plot.. We start off in present day New York and there is a growing threat of unrest perpetrated by a group know as the Foot gang..?! (yeah, they don't sound particularly intimidating do they?) One evening our lead lady, April, a news reporter (played by the ever gorgeous Megan Fox) witnesses a gang robbery foiled by a vigilante.. It later transpires that in fact there are 4 vigilantes who are Turtles who have been living in a sewer.. They've mutated into human like forme and been trained in the ancient art of ninjitsu, by an equally mutated Rat... You still with me?

Now if you're familiar with the story (like me) then so far, so good. The problem is when, as with all Michael Bay films you find it's littered with ridiculous moments where characters make outlandishly bad decisions or say monumentaly stupid things. For example there is one action packed scene where everyone is plumeting out of control, at high speed down a snowy mountain face in a articulated truck, being chased by Humvee's full of bad guys..That I can except (yeah, even the over doing of CGi!). When suddenly our heroine, April leans out of the window to take a photo...! Now, I'm a keen photographer (just ask the disgruntled wife!) but even I wouldn't have contemplated that.. It's moments like this that take me out of the movie..

For some reason this movie reminded me of 'The Amazing Spider-man' (the new franchise) and not in a good way. To be honest it was rubbish. It had Michael Bay stamped all over it... Product placement galore (he even managed a 'Victoria Secrets' gag in the end credits) and moments so bad I cringed.

But, despite all that I still kind of enjoyed it. There were one or two laughs and the action was packed! File it under guilty pleasure.. ***





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The Maze Runner

The girls were working today so I thought I'd grab a film at the local Odeon. It was a toss up between this and 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' and this one clinched it on its better seat allocation..

I jumped on the bike and was at the cinema in 3 mins. After getting a coffee, I took my seat next to a particularly oderous youth in a particularly full screening... for a change.. 

Thanks to my Cineworld card and far too much time on my hands I've managed to see pretty well every one other the current batch of grim,distopion,end of the world,teenage movies that are doing the rounds.. You know, 'Hunger Games' (1 and 2) and 'Divergent' (although I did miss 'The Giver')..
In this one we find our protagonist, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) thrust into the centre of a large maze where he's greeted by Gally (Will Poulter) and an assortment of teenage boys..

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Gone Girl

Stuck in Hereford this weekend so I thought I'd take advantage of the Odeon's 40% off deal (£5.90's better than a tenner!) and catch this little doozie.

I'm a fan of David Fincher. I rate 'Fight Club' as one of my all time favourites. Plus 'Panic Room' and 'The Social Network' are excellent examples of their genre..
Based on a best seller, this one see's Ben 'New Batman' Afleck and Rosamond 'The Worlds End', 'Jack Reacher' Pike as a couple of married writers, Nick and Amy. The relationship starts off well as they always do until, on their 5th wedding anniversary Nick arrives home to find Amy gone...  He calls the police, as there are signs of a struggle and when they turn up the plot starts to develop.... and develop it does..
Without giving away any spoilers , this was one of those films when you have to concentrate.. No nipping off to the loo half way through.. I enjoyed it. Both Ben & Rosamond are excellent and 'a little creepy' so you never know who to trust. There's twists-a-plenty and I was on edge throughout most of the movie waiting for that '18 certificate' moment... Which never really happened... Granted there was the odd gore and bad (very bad) language throughout, but I think it must have been the sexual violence that granted it it's certificate.. That being said the ending almost left it open for a sequel..

Overall another **** movie for Hereford's Odeon..

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