A french old man is married to a french old woman. They live in Paris and like to go to classical music recitals and other stereotypically french activities. One morning Mrs French person has herself a bit of a medical issue and becomes handicapped. Mr French person then spends the film looking after her and trying to cope with the fact his wife is no longer the person he married.
This film is not an easy film to watch. It deals with very serious issues that I can imagine all old couples, and to a certain extent young ones, fear never happen. The acting is bang on with the majority of the scenes containing only the married couple in question and you genuinely believe in them as a pair and that they are struggling with this terrible event. The support cast are also very good but are used sparingly as the main focus is, and rightly so, centred on just the two people. You are not going to watch this film and feel elated at the end but there is a strange sense of relief on the part of the characters that reaches out from the screen. I can't say I enjoyed this film as that's not really the point of it but it is fantastically well done and a powerful watch.
Verdict: 4/5
Sunday 28 July 2013
Saturday 27 July 2013
Film review: Pacific Rim
Luther goes out and grabs himself a couple of Americans sticks them in a big robot and asks them to punch godzillas mates into oblivion. The big lizards turn up through a hole in the sea and try to eat large cities for some inexplicable reason. Luthers plan goes a little tits up and the united nations tell him to pack it in coz some guy likes walls. Typical Luther style he shoves his middle finger up and carries on regardless. He then hires a geordie pretending to be american, a londoner pretending to be Australian, stereotypical Russians and Chinese and a Japanese lady. Two sort of scientists also tag along and ramble on about maths and biology and wotnot until Ron Perlman walks in makes a joke and then walks out again. After all that they decide that yes robots giving giant lizards an ass whoopin' is immensely fun and resume where they started.
A lot of comparisons seem to be flying around between this film and transformers. The first that comes to mind is large robots............then I've got nothing, I mean seriously just because they have robots does not mean they are alike. The crucial difference is that Guillermo Del Toro is a great film maker and Michael Bay is a boob. In this Del Toro creates a simple yet effective premise and builds a beautiful world around it. The robots, or Jaegers, look brilliant and like they could actually exist and the monsters, or Kaiju, are inventive and unique. The film starts where it means to go on by chucking you full on into the action with a ear drum bursting fight scene. Here lies another difference in that Del Toro realises that you don't need to shake the camera round as if having a seizure in order to demonstrate action sequences. You can see and follow everything that is going on and get a real sense of the scale of the fights with buildings and other scenery crumbling away with each gigantic hit. Now that that has been said the film is by no means fawless and is arguably Del Toros worst film but that is no bad thing. The acting is pretty shoddy from all but a few. Idris Elba is great but then again he usually is, the main guy is ok considering he is a geordie playing a convincing yank and Ron Perlman is a legend but aside from that it is lacking somewhat. Also I did find myself getting a little bored in the middle as they decide to focus on character development and cheese instead of fighting. Don't get me wrong I like a bit of story but don't have it all in one big stilton ridden chunk, break it up with some lizard smashing. Ultimately you will fall into one of two camps with this film, if you like robots and giant lizards ripping each other apart you won't be able to find much better, if not then go watch the notebook or something you ponce.
Verdict: 3.5/5
A lot of comparisons seem to be flying around between this film and transformers. The first that comes to mind is large robots............then I've got nothing, I mean seriously just because they have robots does not mean they are alike. The crucial difference is that Guillermo Del Toro is a great film maker and Michael Bay is a boob. In this Del Toro creates a simple yet effective premise and builds a beautiful world around it. The robots, or Jaegers, look brilliant and like they could actually exist and the monsters, or Kaiju, are inventive and unique. The film starts where it means to go on by chucking you full on into the action with a ear drum bursting fight scene. Here lies another difference in that Del Toro realises that you don't need to shake the camera round as if having a seizure in order to demonstrate action sequences. You can see and follow everything that is going on and get a real sense of the scale of the fights with buildings and other scenery crumbling away with each gigantic hit. Now that that has been said the film is by no means fawless and is arguably Del Toros worst film but that is no bad thing. The acting is pretty shoddy from all but a few. Idris Elba is great but then again he usually is, the main guy is ok considering he is a geordie playing a convincing yank and Ron Perlman is a legend but aside from that it is lacking somewhat. Also I did find myself getting a little bored in the middle as they decide to focus on character development and cheese instead of fighting. Don't get me wrong I like a bit of story but don't have it all in one big stilton ridden chunk, break it up with some lizard smashing. Ultimately you will fall into one of two camps with this film, if you like robots and giant lizards ripping each other apart you won't be able to find much better, if not then go watch the notebook or something you ponce.
Verdict: 3.5/5
Thursday 18 July 2013
Film review: Despicable Me 2
Steve Carrell is an ex evil dude who is now nice due to three small kids he adopted. He now makes jam alongside his scientist friend and a small army of yellow tic tacs with limbs. Kristen Wiig then shows up in order to kidnap Steve and convince him to join the good guys to root out some bad bad people who stole a science lab with a magnet. Steve decides that this sounds sensible and proceeds to do just that whilst the tic tacs channel their inner Laurel and Hardy and slapstick the crap out of the film.
The first despicable me came as a complete surprise to me. When I watched it for the first time I thought 'this can't be good as its not pixar' and dismissed it completely out of hand. To my surprise it was funny, heart warming and a genuinely good film. Understandably then I was looking forward to the second instalment and thankfully I was more than satisfied with the result. It is a hilarious film and stands up to most of the adult comedies on offer. The main character Gru is loveable and funny but the comedy awards need to go to the minions who are probably the best kids film characters in a long time. The slapstick comedy works completely and I would happily watch them potter about for 2 hours hitting each other and spouting their made up gobbledee goop. That isn't to say the rest of the film isn't good because it is both cleverly written and well voiced by all concerned. The only flaw is Kristen Wiigs character whom I found to be a tad annoying in spots but hey who cares when every other character in the film is brilliant, especially the chicken.
Loved it.
Verdict: 4.5/5
The first despicable me came as a complete surprise to me. When I watched it for the first time I thought 'this can't be good as its not pixar' and dismissed it completely out of hand. To my surprise it was funny, heart warming and a genuinely good film. Understandably then I was looking forward to the second instalment and thankfully I was more than satisfied with the result. It is a hilarious film and stands up to most of the adult comedies on offer. The main character Gru is loveable and funny but the comedy awards need to go to the minions who are probably the best kids film characters in a long time. The slapstick comedy works completely and I would happily watch them potter about for 2 hours hitting each other and spouting their made up gobbledee goop. That isn't to say the rest of the film isn't good because it is both cleverly written and well voiced by all concerned. The only flaw is Kristen Wiigs character whom I found to be a tad annoying in spots but hey who cares when every other character in the film is brilliant, especially the chicken.
Loved it.
Verdict: 4.5/5
Film review: End Of Watch
Jake Gyllenhaal and his buddy are cops in LA. Jake is also studying some such or other and this means he carries a camera around with him to capture all their shenanigans. We then follow them all through their day as they chat and bust some crims. Inadvertently they piss of some serious cartel people who also for some reason carry a camera. Heads then butt and the action is ramped up somewhat unrealistically and we all want to become LA cops, hoooah!
On paper the premise of this film may have seemed a bit rubbish and unoriginal. This is due to the sheer amount of home footage films and due to the majority of them being rubbish. Good news then that this breaks the generic mold and is actually a very good film. Yes the reasons why they all seem to have cameras don't fully make sense and yes sometimes they don't even explain who is even meant to be filming but if you can overlook that it doesn't really matter. Jake Gyllenhaal is turning out to be one of the best actors out there, he rarely does a film I don't like and even when I don't like it he is often the best thing in it. In this it is all about his relationship with his partner which is both believable and entertaining. A lot of the film is just them two in a car talking about their lives and surprisingly is the best bit. I would have happily followed the two of them around for the entire film. Due to this it feels kind of out of place once the action sequences occur. Its not to say the scenes aren't good or that they don't fit its just that the understated buddy cop scenes are so good you just feel like you want more of them. Overall it is a very good film and I enjoyed it very much.
Verdict: 4/5
On paper the premise of this film may have seemed a bit rubbish and unoriginal. This is due to the sheer amount of home footage films and due to the majority of them being rubbish. Good news then that this breaks the generic mold and is actually a very good film. Yes the reasons why they all seem to have cameras don't fully make sense and yes sometimes they don't even explain who is even meant to be filming but if you can overlook that it doesn't really matter. Jake Gyllenhaal is turning out to be one of the best actors out there, he rarely does a film I don't like and even when I don't like it he is often the best thing in it. In this it is all about his relationship with his partner which is both believable and entertaining. A lot of the film is just them two in a car talking about their lives and surprisingly is the best bit. I would have happily followed the two of them around for the entire film. Due to this it feels kind of out of place once the action sequences occur. Its not to say the scenes aren't good or that they don't fit its just that the understated buddy cop scenes are so good you just feel like you want more of them. Overall it is a very good film and I enjoyed it very much.
Verdict: 4/5
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