Densely Washington loves nothing more than getting his end away whilst completely rat arsed and off his head on cocaine. Good news then that he decides to do all this the night/morning before he is due to fly a plane, full of people. Once on the plane he seems ok until some turbulence kicks in and the plane decides to break in spectacular fashion, can a pissed up Denzel save the day and if he does should we punish or praise him? For the answer to these questions and more please visit a blockbusters near you..........does that count as advertising? If so I take cheques or bank transfers.
The premise of this film is a great one. Put simply if this happened in real life how would the drunk pilots actions be viewed and would society put him on a pedestal or throw him under a bus. Interesting question and if I am honest I don't really know where I stand on it and still don't even after seeing the film. This is where the film is at its strongest. Denzel is great as always and his support in Don Cheadle, John Goodman and others are just as good and play their roles with conviction. Unfortunately the film does not carry this all the way through. The relationship with the drunk girlfriend is boring for the most part and feels a little out of place. It delves quite convincingly into the psyche of an alcoholic but in my opinion strays from the main premise a little too much. As per usual there is a little cheese sparingly grated throughout but thankfully does not overwhelm the other flavours of the film. Despite my reservations it is a very good, unique film and you won't see anything like it.
Verdict: 4/5
Tuesday 20 August 2013
Film review: The Hunt
Mads Mikelson (apologies for spelling) is a nursery school teacher who just loves kids. He plays games with them, tells them stories and generally runs around acting the tit with them. He then gets accused of being a little too fond of them and ends up in a right ol' pile of poo poo. Once here he finds out who believes him and who doesn't and has to try and clear his dirty dirty name.
Before seeing this film I had heard a lot of very good things about it. Some reviewers were even heralding it as one of the best films of recent times and safe to say it doesn't fall far short of that accolade. The story is pretty uncomplicated but this is no bad thing with the story hinging on a simple premise, what would people do if someone they knew was accused of something awful. Mads central performance is outstanding and genuinely one of the best pieces of acting I have ever seen. The standard does not drop with the support cast either, especially the children who are excellent. It is not an easy watch but then it is not meant to be and does not shy away from the difficult aspects of the subject matter. It is cleverly written and hooks you right from the start and for all those who say that subtitled films are not worth watching I say stop being a tit and suck it up, you have no idea what you are missing. Honestly you would be hard pushed to find a better film.
Verdict: 5/5
Before seeing this film I had heard a lot of very good things about it. Some reviewers were even heralding it as one of the best films of recent times and safe to say it doesn't fall far short of that accolade. The story is pretty uncomplicated but this is no bad thing with the story hinging on a simple premise, what would people do if someone they knew was accused of something awful. Mads central performance is outstanding and genuinely one of the best pieces of acting I have ever seen. The standard does not drop with the support cast either, especially the children who are excellent. It is not an easy watch but then it is not meant to be and does not shy away from the difficult aspects of the subject matter. It is cleverly written and hooks you right from the start and for all those who say that subtitled films are not worth watching I say stop being a tit and suck it up, you have no idea what you are missing. Honestly you would be hard pushed to find a better film.
Verdict: 5/5
Sunday 11 August 2013
Film review: The River Murders
Ray Liotta is a hard hitting, straight talkin homicide cop in somewhere, U.S.A. He has a generically foreign wife and stereotypical cop friends who he hangs out with and overacts with. Some murders keep happening by a river, wink wink, see what they did there, eh, eh, EH! Sooner or later Ray becomes the main suspect as he has played hide the purple parsnip with all of the dead people concerned. Due to this Christian Slater is roped in to play the obligatory dickhead and accuse everyone left, right and centre. It is then only a matter of Ray and his pals running around trying to find the actual killer before Christian has his way.
What the hell has happened to Ray Liotta? Anybody who has seen Goodfellas will tell you that he had real potential as an actor and is nothing short of amazing in that film. Why O why then has he done pretty much bugger all other than second rate rubbish since then? Christian Slater also has been in some very good films but has the same habit of doing rubbish. This film unfortunately does not redeem either of them. The story itself is ok and plods along nicely and whilst it wont show you anything you haven't seen before it is pretty inoffensive with it. It is a shame then that even the seasoned actors feel the need to overact. Christian Slater is the worst culprit closely followed by the talent vacuum that is Ving Rhames. Alongside the seasoned actors are the support cast the worst of whom is the wife who really should find herself a different career path, preferably something that doesn't require her speaking voice. The only other half decent performance is the bad guy, whom we do meet early on so this isn't much of a spoiler, who does creepy pretty well. Ultimately though the film is a bit shite and should be avoided.
Verdict: 2/5
What the hell has happened to Ray Liotta? Anybody who has seen Goodfellas will tell you that he had real potential as an actor and is nothing short of amazing in that film. Why O why then has he done pretty much bugger all other than second rate rubbish since then? Christian Slater also has been in some very good films but has the same habit of doing rubbish. This film unfortunately does not redeem either of them. The story itself is ok and plods along nicely and whilst it wont show you anything you haven't seen before it is pretty inoffensive with it. It is a shame then that even the seasoned actors feel the need to overact. Christian Slater is the worst culprit closely followed by the talent vacuum that is Ving Rhames. Alongside the seasoned actors are the support cast the worst of whom is the wife who really should find herself a different career path, preferably something that doesn't require her speaking voice. The only other half decent performance is the bad guy, whom we do meet early on so this isn't much of a spoiler, who does creepy pretty well. Ultimately though the film is a bit shite and should be avoided.
Verdict: 2/5
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