Run All Night

Liam Neeson's got another film out so naturally Graham and I are in the queue.

Stop me if you've heard this one.. Jimmy Conlon (Mr Neeson) is a hit man working for Mob boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris).  He's an alcoholic with a chequered past and, consequently has been disowned by his son Mike (Joel Kinnerman).  Mike drives a limo for a living and one evening he's witness to a murder by Shawn Maguire's son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) .... etc etc..

It's the usual fair and would have been "straight to DVD" if it weren't for Liam Neeson and Ed Harris. 

Overall an average 3 stars

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Chappie

The basic synopsis of this one is that of your standard AI plot line.  A basic Police robot is decommissioned and rescued from the scrap yard by Deon Wilson (Dev Patel). He re-programs it giving it artificial intelligence and it all kicks off so to speak..

I was really looking forward to this one. I was hoping it was going to be more "District 9" than "Elysium". As it turns out it wasn't even as good as Elysium.. Which is a shame.
On the plus side it had the same gritty feel like Neill Blomkamp's previous offerings. The technology is taken for granted and made to feel as though it's accepted into modern society... like the toaster and microwave.  Sharlto Copley does the best he can as the voice of Chappie plus Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver are their usual excellent standard.

What let it down for me were the new-comers. They didn't seem to cut it in my opinion.. That, and the fact when you've seen one ED-209 you've seen 'em all..

Overall it was more of a disappointment than anything. I know Blomkamp's can do better than this..
3 star's... and that's being generous..

Project Almanac

Second film today and if I'd hadn't had stayed till the end of credit sting on 'shaun' I could have squeezed in a showing of 'Focus'..

Anyway, this one was another 'found footage' movie (which is REALLY getting on my tits now) about a group of teenagers who find parts of a time machine in the basement and manage to get it working..

Shaun The Sheep Movie

I'm a big Aardman fan, having seen all the Wallace & Gromet movies. So naturally it stands to reason that I should see this one.. Try and get the full set as it were..

That being said, my only knowledge of Shaun is his brief introduction on 'A Close Shave'. His TV show is renown to the under 10's.  So I was very self-conscious going into this one.. As a 46 year old man... on his own... 

I needn't of worried as the film was hilliarious! The plot centres around Shaun and the consequences of him trying to get a day off.. so to speak..

The jokes are clever as with all Aardman movies and appeal to both young and old (the end of credit sequence was worth the admission alone!). I laughed out loud a few times and smiled throughout the film (I'm sure Jim Broadbent made an appearance at one point.)

It had more in common with 'Pirates' than the Wallace and Gromet movies.

A great start to March. 4 stars easily..

Stay till the 'end-of-credits' sting..
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