Avengers Assemble

Wow. The Avengers. What can I say. I bloody loved it.

Yes I may sound geeky, but I honestly couldn’t have enjoyed this film more. Came out grinning like a Cheshire Cat J

Let’s get back to the start though. For anyone who’s been living under a rock for the past few years and may not know, Avengers Assemble tells of how the world’s super heroes are brought together to combat the biggest threat the world has ever faced – Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Cue Iron Man (Robert Downey Jnr.), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawk Eye (Jeremy Renner), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) brought together by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Essentially this is your standard super hero movie. Drama, action, adventure, fantasy etc – same old, same old. But this film had much more of a spark than other films in this genre – even the individual hero films such as Thor and Captain America.

For me, this film was pretty much perfect. Such an incredible cast and far more humour than I’d anticipated. The dynamics between the characters were really well played out – the only problem perhaps being that because there were so many of them, some of the back stories weren’t examined in great details. It’s one of the first films I’ve genuinely enjoyed in 3D too. I felt gripped throughout the film and was pretty disappointed when it came to an end.

All in all, I can honestly say that I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys a trip to the cinema for some light entertainment. Granted it’s not hard-hitting or thought-provoking or even heart wrenching….but what it does deliver is a full package of action and adventure, which makes you laugh along the way. And did I mention the ridiculous number of lovely leading men?! What’s not to like?

Bring on the sequel! 10/10 Kxx

The Cold Light of Day

I had fairly high hopes for The Cold Light of Day. Starring Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver, the cast wasn’t bad, and with fairly attractive newcomers Henry Cavill and Verónica Echegui, the trailer certainly made it look like it had potential. How misleading that was!

Honestly, I can’t really be bothered to write much about this film, so woefully bad it was. Bruce Willis appears for about all of 20mins in the film, whilst Sigourney Weaver’s character is just bizarre – randomly muttering things throughout action scenes which just ruins any kind of drama. The storyline had the potential to be interesting – son goes on holiday to visit his family and discovers his father is a CIA agent after his family is kidnapped from their boat. Yep, all well and good. The problem here was definitely in the delivery of the story though, and it really was a catalogue of errors.

It’s times like these I’m pleased to have my trusty Cineworld card – I’d be loathed to have paid a tenner to see this confused and unconvincing waste of 90mins. Not entirely sure why so much weight was thrown behind the advertising of this stinker either – this is an occasion when it must have paid off for them though. I was certainly lured into the cinema under false pretences of an exciting action film. Can understand why Bruce Willis didn’t stick around for long in it though – he probably asked for his character to be killed off after filming began and he realised the enormity of the problem at hand here. Seriously – poor script, terrible acting and mediocre action scenes. Definitely needed to try harder on this one. Well below par 2/10 Kx

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games has been talked about pretty widely since news of its release began to circulate, particularly by those who have read the book. I, however, have not read the book and so entered the cinema completely cold to the story. However, I had been exposed to the hype around this film, and I’m afraid that this may have upped my expectations.

Although this film was interesting, I didn’t feel particularly gripped by it at any point. I can understand why, if you’ve bought into the franchise, this film may capture you more than a standalone movie, but I certainly didn’t feel caught up in it at all. For those who don’t know, set in the future, the story tells of Katniss Everdeen, a girl from the districts, who takes her sisters place to fight in the Hunger Games. The competition is a fight to the death of 24 teenagers, a boy and a girl from each of the twelve districts. All well and good. Starring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and Liam Hemsworth as her blatant love interest Gale (though not explored in this film)  and Josh Hutcherson as her co-competitor from her district, the cast is relatively unknown, much as, I suppose, the Twilight cast once were.

The story itself is reasonable enough, but when it moves from the districts to the thriving city, the costumes frankly got on my nerves- seriously OTT. Having not read the books, I’m not entirely sure where blame lies here, but it just seemed a little beyond what was necessary for the story, and was actually pretty distracting.

In terms of the fight scenes and capabilities of the actors, these were all on pretty firm ground. Although being pitched at young adults, some of the deaths are actually pretty graphic and that’s not just me being squeamish.

However, the storyline was incredibly predictable and it was a real shame that there were no elements of surprise – although I suppose the vast majority of the audience may already have known what happens, so perhaps that’s not the point here. Either way, this film felt distinctly average and certainly not worth the insane amounts of promotion which it has received. 6/10 Kx

P.S I have to caveat this by saying that I didn’t buy into the Twilight franchise until film 3, so I may live to regret this review should I get caught up in the excitement down the line

Safe House

Safe House is another film which it’s taken me a while to review – but that’s no reflection on the film itself. Telling the story of a CIA agent who struggles with his out of the action job running a safe house in South Africa, his life suddenly takes a turn for the dramatic when internationally wanted criminal and former agent Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) is brought in one night. After the safe house is attacked, agent Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) finds himself on the run with a wanted criminal, with no back up and no idea who to trust. Exciting stuff.

Essentially this film was pretty straightforward as this genre goes. Sadly most of the twists you saw coming from a mile away, but Washington and Reynolds were a pretty impressive combo and I really enjoyed the way their characters interacted. The ending was surprisingly moving too and the action scenes – particularly the car scenes – definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

This film was pretty average in terms of all the films I’ve seen so far this year, and that’s despite the fact it stars my super crush Ryan Reynolds. It’s worth a watch if you enjoy this type of thing, but I probably wouldn’t watch it again and I wouldn’t recommend people go out of their way to get hold of it when it’s released on DVD. Not bad for a night in, and a good couple compromise with the totty versus action. Healthy but fairly average 6/10 Kx.

This Means War

I’ve been meaning to post a review of This Means War for a number of weeks now. Staring Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, it tells the story of two spies who fall for the same girl and then compete for her affections, with the added complication of the other trying to ruin their chances using spy style tactics. All well and good.

Before heading to the cinema, I really wasn’t expecting much from this film. The reviews I’d seen had been pretty poor and even the trailer didn’t make it seem particularly standout, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the full picture. Although totally cliché in parts, this film was actually pretty funny. Hardy and Pine hava a great rapport with each other, and their timing is pretty hilarious – added to the spy style set ups. A bit of fighting and some genuinely pretty cool date moves thrown in, I was surprised to find that this film actually ticked a lot of my boxes when it comes to entertainment. Comedy, romance and two hot leading met – Not a lot to complain about!

Granted, this is not the best film you will ever see. But, having watched it with a male friend, I can say that it’s the best film I’ve seen in the ‘rom com’ genre for a while, and I think he thought so too. Definitely one to catch on DVD if you fancy something easy going that will make you giggle! 8/10 Kx

The Vow

The Vow is a film I’ve been looking forward to for a little while. Staring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum, it’s based on the true story of a married couple who are in an accident, leaving the wife without any memory of their relationship. Heart wrenching stuff.

It certainly didn’t disappoint as far as I was concerned. It also came with more twists than I was expecting, which was a pleasant surprise. Don’t get me wrong, this film isn’t award winning or significantly better than any other chick flicks out there. However, it was incredibly sweet and definitely worth a couple of hours of my time.

Boys, probably best you switch off here as it’s about to get mushy…….

Essentially this film is incredibly sad. After witnessing Paige and Leo meet, fall in love and get married (obviously in a totally OTT, never going to happen to a normal person, Hollywood way), the happy couple are then in a car accident, leaving her without her memory from the past 5 years – taking in the entire time she has known Leo and, in fact, taking her back to a time when she was engaged to another man. Stressful stuff. As Leo tries to keep hold of the woman he loves and help her to remember her feelings and their life together, outside pressures from her family and her own fear from being unable to remember certainly make life difficult.

Before I went into this film, I expected it to all go to plan for them and it to be another happily ever after tale. Knowing that this was a based on a true story though and the route which the story actually took was, in fact, far more powerful though. If you fancy a few tears and to see a proper love story, this could well be the one for you. McAdams is already a pro in this arena following her stint in The Notebook, but Channing Tatum is also surprisingly good in this role – in addition to being incredibly tasty!!

Not one of my most analytical reviews, I’m aware, but definitely one of my favourite films in this genre for a while, 7/10 Kxx

Chronicle

Chronicle was not what I was expecting when I headed into the cinema.

Given all I’d heard about it was that the story centered around 3 friends who suddenly have super powers, I expected this to be a fairly light hearted event with possibly an evil bad guy thrown in the mix at some point. However, the reality is actually a lot darker than this.

Chronicle tells the story of Andrew, a lonely teenager with an abusive father and sick mother, who has no friends to speak of beyond his cousin Matt – who frankly does it just because he’s family, not because he likes him. Shy and a bit of an oddball, Andrew starts to film him life through a handheld camera. And so the style of the filming is determined. Essentially Andrew, Matt and the school captain Steve make a discovery at a party which causes them all to have super human abilities – think ability to fly, move objects with their minds etc. All well and good. Yet add in the nose bleeds and inability to control their powers and it all starts to get a bit frightening. And that’s only the beginning.

Frankly, this film is pretty shocking in parts. There were numerous points where the direction the film took really caught me by surprise. The handheld camera angle as the main source of filming was a really interesting concept in this type of film though, and worked well given the abilities they have.

Honestly, I can’t quite decide if I liked this film or not. It certainly leaves you on a real low point and was quite upsetting in parts. However, it was an unusual take on something which has become increasingly familiar at the cinema in recent years. A pumped up, glossy Hollywood film this certainly isn’t – but maybe that’s why it stuck with me for so long afterwards. Pretty morbid, but interesting and thought provoking nonetheless – reasonable 7/10 Kx