The Imitation Game

No, THIS is the last film of the year.. And it's taken me ages to see it.

Still off for Christmas and a golden opportunity arose. The cinematic planets aligned as it were.. 

1) It's Tuesday, so only £5 at the Odeon.. 

2) Liz is having her hair done at 9.30am (for four hours!).. And 

3) I'm still on Christmas break and find myself at a loose end.. 

The Imitation Game it is then. 

This film charts the life and work of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), an English mathematician, and his contribution to cracking the German enigma machine during World War Two. Alan Turing is a social outcast (as most geniuses are) and initially struggles to fit in with the other members of the team put together by Mark Strongs MI6 agent, Stuart Menzies. Mr Strong is one of the many excellent support who include Kiera Knightly, Matthew Goode, Rory Kennier and Charles Dance. 

Norwegian director, Morten Tyldem, who was responsible for the excellent Headhunters does another fine job with this one. It's a fascinating story, shocking and ultimately very sad. 

I enjoyed it and it's the best new film this Christmas by a long way.. 

**** Movie.
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Big Eyes

The Christmas movies have been lame to be honest.. I've had all this time off and there's not been one film I wanted to see twice... (some of them I wished I hadn't seen once!)

This is the second film of today (and possibly the last one of the year..)

It's Tim Burtons latest production and featured a couple of fine actors. Amy Adams plays Margaret, an artist...sorry, THE artist responsible for the 'Big eyed children' paintings of the 1950's and 60's.. And along comes Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) a failed landscape artist who pursueds Margaret to marry him and let him take credit for her paintings in order to sell them (well it was the fifties).

I enjoyed this film.. Mainly because I'd see such a pile of crap over the Christmas period I was desperate for anything half decent.. And to be fair that's all this was really... Half decent.. 

It had its moments. The court scene towards the end of the film was funnier than the ENTIRE length of  'Dumb & Dumber To'.. But ultimately it was pedestrian.. Which is a shame..

Overall *** 1/2 

Paddington

Here we have the future of cinema tickets.. (give it time..)

I've been stalling going to see this one since it came out back in November.. (the trailer was responsible for that..) But after the glowing reviews in both podcasts I listen to and the billboards plastered with high praise I finally caved in..

We start off in darkest Peru in black and white and an explore comes across a pair of bears. After a while he befriends them and introduces them to marmalade and quaint British ways.. Cut to present day and the offspring of said bears is homeless and embarks on a journey to Britain.. Arriving here he's taken in by the Brown's and all hilarity ensues.. apparently..

OK, it had to moments. Compared to the recent spate of so-called 'comedies' this raised one or two laughs (which is more than can be said for 'Dumb and Dumber To'). It had a certain charm about it and the humour was 'british' for sure. But the end of the day it's a kids film and really all the slapstick got on my nerves a bit.. Not bad... But not brilliant (contrary to movie posters)

Overall an entertaining *** movie.

Exodus: Gods And Kings

O

Here I am again in Pret having just come out of the traditional Boxing day movie offering.. This time it was Ridley Scott's latest swords and sandals epic.. Hot on the heels of 'Noah', this biblical tale concerns Moses and his adventures.. We start off with Moses (Christian Bale) and his Brother, Ramese  (Joel Edgerton) on the battle field.  It reminded me of the battle at Germanier at the beginning of Gladiator (only not as good). During the fight Moses saves his brothers life (as profesised) and things get a bit awkward on their return home.. One thing leads to another and it's revealed that Moses is in fact a Hebrew, would you believe it, and not Ramese biological brother.. As Hebrews are generally regarded as slaves Moses is cast out into the wilderness never to be seen again.... 

He wanders off, meets an attractive lady and gets married that night (which I though was a bit fast to be honest.. I'm not sure if that's the done thing in biblical times but I think he should have at least gone on a couple of dates..).

Jump forward 9 years and after an unfortunate 'goat chasing' accident he ends up in a mud slide next to a burning bush.. Up pops a young, rather eloquent lad who informs him he's God and Moses should head back and free up the Hebrews.. If you want to know the rest read the Bible..

The performances from Christian Bale and 'Richard Burton look-alike' Joel Edgerton are perfectly acceptable. The film has all the sweeping, majestic visuals I've come to expect from Sir Ridley. The CGI armies and landscapes have come a long way since Gladiator.. 

I've gotta be honest my Bible knowledge is a bit rusty to say the least. Not that it would help though. This film is ultimately rubbish. It's more 'Kingdom Of Heaven' than 'Gladiator'. Which is a shame because I really needed something to lift me from the recent 'Night At The Museum' and 'Dumb And Dumber To'..

Anyway another **1/2 disappointment..

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Dumb & Dumber To

I was in the queue for a coffee, knowing the film was going to start any second and I found myself not really bothered by the fact I may miss some of it.. It was almost as if I felt duty bound to see it.. I remember the first Dumb and Dumber with fondness.. Hell, I even bought it on VHS. This one starts off twenty years after the first film and we find a distraught Lloyd (Jim Carrey) in a care home being visited by Harry (Jeff Daniels)... As it turns out Lloyd's been faking illness as a long joke on his pal.. (if you've seen the trailer you've seen this gag... In fact if you've seen the trailer you've seen ALL the gags..) I could go on plot wise but I just can't be arsed.. 

My main problem with the film is that it just wasn't funny... At all.. I'm trying to think of any funny moments but I can't.. Perhaps I'm not it's target audience as I was 20 years ago.. Perhaps I just don't get it.. Like 'Mrs Brown's Boys' and 'The Inbetweeners'... 

I don't know... Maybe I'm getting too old for this sh$t?

Overall a disappointing *1/2 star movie. Not bad in an offensive way.. just bad..

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Night At The Museum 3

After a late start and a trip to ASDA down the bay I was left with a limited selection of movies to choose from. It was either Dumb and Dumber to, Paddington or this... This was the lesser of three evils..

I grabbed a bottle of water from Tesco's and a coffee from the kiosk and headed in.. 

In case you didn't know this carries on from the previous two and we find Larry (Ben Stiller) and the gang heading off to London to find a 'cure' for the sickening magic tablet which has started to develop rust..

I have a fondness for the first 'Night at..' movie.. The second less so.. This one continues with the law of diminishing returns a'la 'The Mummy trilogy', 'The Matrix trilogy' and let's not forget the travesty that is 'Transformers' and all its abominations..

I should have guessed what the tone of movie was going to be by the trailers... amongst which was 'Sponge Bob', 'Shawn The Sheep' and 'Pepper Pig'.... That's right, 'Pepper Pig'... Since when did this become preschool fare? In order to capitalise on its appeal to the younger audience the comedy seemed more slapstick.. The performances more childish (embarrassingly sentimental at times).. It had its moments.. I can't quite put my finger on why I disliked it.. After all they've dumbed down The Expendables franchise from an 18 to a 12a to cache in on the teen audience..

It's a shame really because this is both Robin Williams and Micky Rooney' last movies. They along with Dan Stevens and Rebel Wilson added some gravitas, but in the end were reduced to purely comedic characters ... 

Overall a disappointing **1/2 stars..

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Blade Runner

Blade Runner

After grabbing an eggnog latte from Newport's Starbucks cafe I settled down to watch the greatest film ever made* 

The young lad who served me asked what I was watching. 'Blade Runner? Never heard of that one..' What?

What is it with the kids these days..

Any way I settled down to a 3/4 full cinema (I expected it to sell out as with Cardiff but this was fine..)

I'm not gonna bother with a synopsis as this film is 32 years old (32?!!?!) and it's still as poinient as ever..

It's a 5 star film, I don't need to say any more. I have it on VHS, Region 1 DVD, Region 2 DVD, Blue RAY, Digital copy and even HDDVD..!?

I noticed a few dialogue changes for the special addition.. Most notably 'I want more life Father.' (instead of fucker).

Thinking back to when I first saw this film with my dad, I remember my initial impressions weren't too favourable.. The Star Wars trilogy were THE films to see at that time and watching a miserable Han Solo chasing bad guys around a damp and dark city and shooting women in the back didn't appeal to a 14 year old, spotty teenager... As time progressed and I learned to understand what the hell was going on it evolved into the masterpiece it now is.. I'm hoping the same will happen to Interstellar... 

Still the best film ever. *****

*in my opinion..

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Hobbit: the battle of five armies

Haven't managed to get many in this weekend so here's the first..
This film carries off straight after The Desolation of Smaug with no introduction or 'previously on..' blurb so if you haven't seen the last two you won't have a clue.. Which is good in some respects because it jumps straight into the action.. No dwarfs washing up in this one. To say too much would be plot spoilers if you haven't seen the other films..

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Interstellar (2nd viewing)

Thought I'd give this one another chance.. 

There was an interesting point made by one of the cast in the film. He said the problem they have is Gravity.. That's my problem too.. I.e Gravity is a far superior film..

A slight improvement but it's still only 3 1/2 stars for me..

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Penguins Of Madagascar (3D)

It was this or Paddington.. And, despite what all the reviewers are saying I've seen the trailer for Paddington...

After an initial blip with the 3D transfer the projector was fixed and 30% of the light was removed.. (seriously, you saw the screen go darker..!)

It stated with our young, penguins chicks carrying off an audacious 'egg' rescue.. Cut to several years later and the penguins find themselves (and all penguin kind) being hunted by John Malkoviches Dave, a criminal mastermind octopus.. Along comes 'the North Wind', an undercover organisation run by Benedict Cumberbatch's Agent Classified.  Their job it is to protect animals who can't protect themselves (including penguins)..

To be fair this was quite entertaining.. Some people would argue that the penguins are the main talent in the Madagascar movies... and I'd agree.  There's an on going joke regarding Daves octopus henchmen and their names.. For example Dave would bark orders like "Nicolas, cage those penguins" and "Kevin, bake on. We're still going to need that victory cake." There was definite humor in the script..

Did it pass the universally accepted minimum 6 laughs?... umm... It was close..

Overall a sound 3 star filler..

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Whiplash

Another Screen Unseen movie at my local Odeon... And another cracker.

This isn't due out until January 16th next year so this is six weeks before official release.

OK, brief synopsis. Young, talented jazz drummer (Miles Teller) joins a music college where he is mentored by..... well, a nutter basically (J.K.Simmons) who will stop at nothing to get the best out of his pupils..

I was blown away.. It's another occasion where I see a film I wouldn't normally pay to see.. This works well with Cineworld because I don't pay for to see any of the films there, but at £5 I'm willing to put myself in the capable hands of the Odeon group. Both leads were outstanding (Mr Simmons line in insults were particularly amusing!) and the film was riveting right to the end.. This together with Nightcrawler goes to show that Odeon are on to a good thing with their Screen Unseen. Whether or not they can maintain this quality remains to be seen, but I'm willing to go along with it for now.

I'll be very surprised if this film isn't drowned in awards come next year..

Overall a resounding **** stars (I'm tempted to go ****1/2... We'll see...)

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