FILM: True Romance (8/10)

No excuses for having never seen this film until now! Released all the way back in 1993 with a Quentin Tarantino script, True Romance is an energetic, fast-paced, road movie starring Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as Tarantino's Bonnie and Clyde on the run from the mob.


The film bears all the hallmarks of Tarantino films of this era, it oozes his trademark combination of glamourous violence and cool characters and in many aspects is the trial run for Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers. While this may not have been the case back in 1993, looking back the film features an ensemble cast of supporting actors including Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L Jackson, James Gandolfini and Christopher Walken, each of which Tarantino gives an interesting character with at least one scene to stand-out and make their own. Of particular mention is the famous 'Sicilian' scene between Walken and Hopper.


A must see film for any Tarantino fan.

FILM: 21 Jump Street (8/10)

First things first, this may be hard to believe but Channing Tatum is actually genuinely good in this film. He shows an adeptness for comedy that many would not expect. Perhaps his performance is in part due to his role, as the dumb jock of the pair, being naturally made for him. On the flip side, Jonah Hill plays the intelligent nerd of the pair, again a natural persona, and also delivers a strong script consistently packed with gags. Although the film treads the familiar path of 80's buddy movies with a plot reminiscent of Bad Boys, it does so with a strong sense of self-parody mixed in to the hilarious gross-out humour. At no point is this clearer than when the police chief revives the defunct undercover programme and comments that nobody has any original ideas anymore so all that is left to do is lazily repeat previous work, a fun poke at the films 80's TV series origin of the same name and similar plot. The films final third drags on slightly, with a few drawn out action sequences displacing the fun for marginally too long but all things considered 21 Jump Street is a good value laugh out loud comedy. In one line, Superbad meets Bad Boys.

FILM: Devil (7/10)

Economical horror with a promising premise which delivers in part. A familiar almost Agatha Christie who-dun-it story is given a modern day setting with spiritual undertones.

The claustrophobic setting, sound effects and sharp editing create a succession of low-budget scares, although the turn of events become slightly repetitive each time the lights go out. The use of elevator CCTV footage provides some variety to the action and builds suspense as the audience are made to feel equally as helpless as the rescuers as they see the action play out in front of them. 

A potential step back towards form for producer M. Night Shyamalan.

FILM: Drive - (9/10)

I had high hopes for Ryan Gosling's performance on the basis of a possible (yet not forthcoming) Oscar nod and it did not disappoint. The powerfully understated performance as the loner who finds happiness with the family next door is fantastically delivered. A man who seems to consider the necessity of each and every word he speaks, the scenes where Gosling and Carey Mulligans relationship develops through the briefest of exchanges and longest of stares are particularly mesmerising with director Nicholas Refn stretching the scenes of the silence to the absolute limit before with the viewer feeling awkward. Refn manages illustrate the intimacy between the characters without the need for a lazy gratuitous sex scene, a scene which would have been considered mandatory in other films.
The driver (Gosling) begins to come out of his shell as the film progresses and initially hints at his violent capabilities when provoked by a former criminal associate with a loud mouth. This character becomes more prevalent as he strives to protect Irene from danger brought on through his own actions of goodwill. 



The film is stylish and has a retro feel to it, assisted by the excellent soundtrack of synth-heavy electro-pop. 
Yes, the actual car action pieces are few and far between, but in the end the driving only serves as the backdrop to the central story of the film. The film is builds up suspense in places, and maintains this through the finals scenes to the ending. Excellent. 

FILM: Clash of the Titans - (6/10)

Standard fare epic fantasy historical action film in the vein of 300. Louis Leterrier, of Transporter fame, leads Sam Worthington as Perseus into combat against the gods of Olympus. Worthington fits the bill as the all-Greek action hero but has little to work with in the script department, often finding it cliched and riddled with cheesy one-liners. The cast includes some big names, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and Danny Huston but these characters are given little screen time in comparison with Worthington, with the exception of Fiennes, notable for his terrible portrayal of Hades complete with Voldemort voice. Worth mentioning that the visuals and special effects are excellent as one would expect with a film that relies upon them so heavily. 

FILM: Carnage - (8/10)

Quirky French play transferred to the big screen by Roman Polanksi and starring a strong cast of Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly and Christopher Waltz. Two sets of parents meet up to discuss the recent behaviour of their children with amicable intentions. The meeting quickly descends into a humourous farce as the four bicker and offend each other. All four characters take up allegiance with each other character at some point to verbally spar with the alternative pair. The script is witty and clever and all four actors give strong performances. Christoph Waltz's rude ignorant businessman father is the stand-out of the four, routinely answering his work phone in front of the couples until Foster reaches breaking point. All in all, an amusing and clever film showing that with the right material four actors and one set can be used to great effect.

FILM: Righteous Kill - (4/10)

Spoiler alert - pairing De Niro and Pacino together does not result in a great film alone. Given the chance to star alongside each other for what, on this outcome, may well be the final time, De Niro and Pacino play a pair of veteran detectives struggling to keep up with a serial killer on the loose. Thinking back I struggle to recall either of their characters actually doing any police work in the slightest, this falls to Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo. Both actors play their characters as nonchalant, wise-cracking smart asses. This is a natural character for Pacino but why both need to appear so is unnecessary and just adds to the feeling that their hearts were not in this fully. That said, the story plods along until the dreadful twist at the end that left me more confused initially than anything else until I recognised how the writer had got away with it. A cheap trick, not in league with the writers previous work (Inside Man), that leaves the viewer feeling disappointed with the previous hour and half serving no purpose but lead up to this charade. Ardent Pacino and De Niro fans may be interested but otherwise steer clear.

FILM: Safe House - (7/10)

Set in Cape Town, Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds are the two CIA operatives, past and present playing cat and mouse with each other in Daniel Espinosa's first major US film. The film was shot in location in Cape Town, and this was obviously something that Espinosa felt keen to impress on the viewer, who is reminded this perhaps once too often with stunning shots of the area. It almost felt like the location was selected for this purpose first and the plot made to fit second. Equally strong performances from both Washington and Reynolds keep the viewer engrossed throughout the film in between the hit and miss action sequences until the slightly formulaic ending. Overall a fairly routine spy thriller that ticks all the boxes without setting the world alight.

FILM: Battle: Los Angeles (7/10)

Set in present day Los Angeles, Battle: Los Angeles follows a platoon of marines playing their part in defending the city against a large scale alien invasion. Granted, not for everyone's taste. Imagine Black Hawk Down meets Independence Day with all the usual war movie cliches thrown in and then some for good measure. Credit should be given to the screenplay for not giving in to the usual expletive filled rants so typical of marine films. This allowed the film to be rated 12 and I'm sure was appreciated by younger cinema-goers. The almost-documentary style filming of the aliens arrival and initial platoon movements work and the film is capable of developing a pretty reasonable level of suspense as the platoon encounter the first aliens. The special effects are fantastic and result in several visually intense action sequences. Bryan Tyler should also be praised for producing a big epic score that fits well with the scale of the invasion and the task faced by the characters. Ultimately though, the cliches win the day and the film pays for not providing any real human aspect for the viewers to relate to, with the exception of Eckhart. Saving Private Ryan remains the outstanding reference for how war movies can engage the viewer through character emotion. Sadly this is lacking in Battle, but the film will definitely appeal to sci-fi and action fans without a doubt.

FILM: In Time - (7/10)

Enjoyable thriller from the writer of The Truman Show, Andrew Niccol. Set in an age when time is the global currency and all humans are given only one year to live from their 25th birthday with additional time having to be earned or collected. This inevitably results in an imbalance between the time-rich and the time-poor who cling to every second they earn. Justin Timbalake is likeable as the lead character and strikes a good chemistry with Amanda Seyfried, who plays the Bonnie to his Clyde. Ultimately, the film falls short of delivering a truly great experience that the intriguing concept could warrant but is definitely worth a look.

FILM: Little Fockers - (5/10)

Tired and tedious third installment of the series. With no fresh ideas, the writers rely on the jokes that made the first film amusing and the second slightly less so, mainly cute children saying inappropriate things and the word 'Focker'. The plot is on a whole similar to the previous films albeit set with Greg and Pam now parents themselves and Ben Stiller still floundering around trying in vain to appease Robert De Niro. I would be lying if I said that the film does not contain any laughs, mainly from De Niro and Hoffman. The writers clearly find Owen Wilson's character more humourous than I do, by the end I felt he had been flogged to death twice over for laughs . All in all, worth viewing at some point for a few laughs but no more than that. After reading comments from De Niro after it's release there is unlikely to be another.