Daddy's Home

Ok, let's get the synopsis out of the way.. Will Ferrel is Brad Whitaker, the struggling step-father to Megan & Dylan. Just when he thinks he's getting through to them along comes their biological father, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg). If you've seen the trailer you get the basic idea..

And it kinda works.. This film was funnier than it deserved to be.. It could have been 'The Other Guys II'.  Will Ferrel plays the same character he always plays.. Good natured, positive and ultimately naive (plus he has a really attractive wife as in The Other Guys)
As a 'Step Dad' myself this film appealed to me and I kind of related to Will Ferrel's character (slightly). Plus it get funnier as the movie progresses..
Overall an entertaining ***.


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Star Wars: The Force Awakens (4th viewing)

Ok.. Round 4... Yeah, it's still good.
*****

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In The Heart Of The Sea

Once again I'm here for my traditional Boxing day movie.. The quality of these films has varied over the last few years. Sherlock Holmes II was a high point.. Where as last year's Exodus was a definite low!

I tried to pursued Graham to see this one as it's based on the true story of the final voyage of Nantucket's Essex. A whaleing ship that was destroyed by a great white sperm whale in the 1700's.. The story that inspired Moby Dick.. I obviously didin't sell it well enough because once again I ended up sat on my own..
Abraham Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) play Captain and first mate respectively of the aforementioned doomed ship..

I was hoping for a 'Master and Commander II', which is probably aiming a bit high to be fair.. This certainly is no Master and Commander but it wasn't as bad as it's been labelled. There was attention to detail and the performances were good.. My main gripe was the CGI whale which just didn't work for me.. In the same way Jaws isn't about the shark you could argue this film isn't about a whale, but more about the ship and it's crew.. And in that respect I enjoyed it..

Overall not a bad ***1/2.

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Star Wars:The Force Awakens 3D (3rd viewing)

Still awesome.. Is it Gravity awesome that's the question..?

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (2nd viewing)

Yep, it's still good.. Is it better in 3D? It's difficult to make something this good better... Space always looks good in 3D (see Gravity, The Martian etc..)

Talking of which I feel the 'Gravity' viewing record could be threatened.. We'll see

*****

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Ummm, what can I say about this one? Ok, brief synopsis before I go full nerd!
This one is set 30(ish) years after 'Return Of The Jedi' and Luke Skywalker's gone AWOL, the empire has restarted in the form of The First Order and it's all looking a bit ummm..
To be honest I was slightly concerned the hype would do a 'Dark Knight Returns' or 'Skyfall' on this one and the movie wouldn't be able to live up to it.. Plus you've got the travesty of episodes 1,2 and 3 still simmering in the depths of my memory (despite repeated attempts to push them deep down into the darkness so they'll never bother me again..) And let's not forget the truly awesome trailers which  got my hopes and expectations to the point of explosion..

The fact that I've taken a day off work, travelled all the way to Cardiff and have biked into town to watch a 12.05am showing says something about my opinion of the Star Wars* franchise. Don't get me wrong, I haven't gone full 'cos play', 'Darth Vader ringtone' nerd out just yet. Although after this movie I feel I'm teetering on the edge of that particular cliff ledge of insanity...

A lot like Gravity, I was hooked on this movie from the beginning. The opening traditional introduction  crawled up the screen and it made sense... No mention of trade embargoes or any of that crap.. The film itself seemed to have an almost analogue feel about. I know there was probably an enormous amount of CGi in it but it didn't really show that much.. There were several 'pin prick' moments throughout the movie where all I knew was what was going on on the screen.. The aerial dog fights in particular where expertly choreographed and reminded me of why I love the franchise*. Daisy Ridley and John Boyoga were excellent up against the old cast members too.  The humour was a welcome relief and well placed, helping to make it an all round perfect movie.. 

My only criticism is that it's too long.. And that's just a personal preference because it means I'm going to struggle to get in multiple viewings...

The best film of the year.. Yes, even better than Mad Max..

It's gotten be *****

* when I say 'Star Wars franchise' I am of course referring to episodes 4,5 and 6.. 

Just to be straight on that..

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Room

Another excellent offering from Odeon's Screen unseen. To be fair I hadn't heard much about this one. I'd seen the trailer and that didn't give too much away. Brie Larson plays a mother living in a small room with her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay). At the start of the film Jack turns 5 and it quickly becomes apparent that he has never seen the outside world.. To say anymore would be treading on spoiler territory but let's just say it's a film of 2 halves.. 

The two main leads were outstanding, particularly from the young Jack. Also William H Macy and Joan Allen make an appearance to add a little extra gravitas..

All in all it was an excellent film that stays with you long after you've left the cinema.  Plus it's nice to see Odeons Screen Unseen back on form after the disappointing Black Mass..

Overall a lingering ****'s

Isn't wasn't until later that I noticed the ticket actually has the name of the film on it! I'd had it for a week and didn't notice..

Hunger Games: Mocking Jay part 2

Being a bit of a completeist (having seen all of the previous Hunger Games movies) I felt obliged to see this one, the last in the series.. And as the 'star destroyer' of a movie, The Force Awakens is looming on the horizon I thought I'd better get this in before it disappears in its shadow.. So as a result I ended up paying to see this one in the 4.30pm slot before Odeons Screen Unseen. Luckily I managed to get 40% off with a voucher so £4 odd wasn't such a kick in the wallet..

This one carries on straight after Mocking Jay Part 1, and Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is still suffering from the attack she was subject to from Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). She's none to happy and decides to take it apon herself to dispose of President Snow (Donald Sutherland).. 

As far as teenage, angst ridden, distopeon nightmare movies go this is probably the best of the bunch.. In my opinion this is mainly down to Miss Lawrence's performance. Although she does have backup from some stellar cast (including the late Philips Seymour Hoffman).

The film tanks along at quite a pace and the ending wasn't what I expected... in a good way..

Overall a fitting end to a quality series. ****

Bridge Of Spies

Another trip to the cinema with Graham, this time to see the latest Spielberg/Hanks collaboration..
OK, quick synopsis.. The year is 1957 and Russia and the USA are in the grip the cold war.. In the beginning of the film we find Tom Hanks, an insurance lawer for a firm in New York being called apon to defend Mark Rylance, who has been arrested for being a Russian spy (penalty of death).. Running parallel with this story we have American airmen being recruited into the CIA in order to piolet the U2 spy plane over Russia.. If you know your history I don't need to say any more.. If you don't Google it..
There's something about a Spielberg film that oozes quality.. The writing, the acting, the cinematography was all top notch.. I loved it. I was particularly impressed with Mark Rylance's performance, who is someone I've not seen anything of (or if I did, I didn't recognise him!)..
Tom Hanks is Tom Hanks, and once again he's excellent..
I also noticed the Grandad from Sham-a-lang-a-dingdong's latest..
Overall, easily a **** movie..

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Victor Frankenstein

I was quite intrigued when I heard about this one.. H̶a̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶P̶o̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ Daniel Ratcliffe playing a hunchback. Opposite James 'professor Xavier' McAvoy himself.. Could be interesting...

Ok, quick synopsis first..

Picture this, it's 1800's London and we start with H̶a̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶P̶o̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ Egor performing as a hunchback clown in a grubby looking circus. He has one eye on the beautiful trapeze artist (Jessica Brown Findlay) and the other studying books and sketches on the human anatomy.. Then one evening during a performance the trapeze artist falls from the rope thingy.. Luckily Victor Frankenstein is in the audience and along with Igor  they jump to her aid. Victor is impressed with Igors knowledge and offers him the position of lab assistant.. And it all kicks off..

I'm not sure if I'm being fair to this one. I just didn't enjoy it.. I can't remember if it was funny. It wasn't tense... Or scary... In fact, I'm not sure what it was.?

Just don't bother.. **

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