Tom Hardy is one of the best, underrated actors around at the moment. He turns up in films you wouldn't expect him in and just delivers. Earlier this year we saw him in Locke as a Welsh construction manager with a pressing issue, and now in The Drop as a Brooklyn bar keep called Bob.
The bar in question is used as a Drop Point for local gangsters funneling cash. No-one knows when the many bars around Brooklyn will be selected, or on which night the drops will take place. All the bar keeps have to do is deposit the money into a safe for later collection. When a robbery takes place at the bar on one of these nights, the local gangsters and police get involved to solve the crime. Is there more to Bob? Is there a reason why a dodgy local is stalking him, his dog and new "girlfriend"?
Not a fast paced film, with a big payout at the end, The Drop is an enjoyable watch, Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini are great together, and play their parts really well. I could not help but think of Rocky whilst watching Bob, very similar mannerisms, quiet, subdued, but with a power behind him.
I intentionally avoided most of the trailers and IMDB in relation to Interstellar. I knew I was going to watch it at he cinema, but I did not want to know anything about it. A few years ago, I picked up Memento on a whim and knew nothing about it before hand and instantly it has become one of my favourite films, I waited for the hype to die down on Inception and loved that too.
Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors out there at the moment in my opinion, so Interstellar had a high expectation in my mind when I heard it announced at the start of the year.
In an undisclosed near future, the ground in which human life depends for growth of crops/food, is slowly becoming infertile and only the best "farmers" are there to provide, all other science becomes second tier and survival takes over. A secret project, based on the finding of a worm hole near Saturn, launches a shuttle to see if they can locate others worlds that could sustain human life.
Interstellar is just awesome, Kubrick style 2001 visuals, little (as possible) CGI and heavily focused on character and their motivations I was gripped from start to finish. I think you have to leave your reason in the lobby and just enjoy the ride with this one. I was in tears at certain points during the film because I actually cared about the relationships, the father/daughter relationship is just perfect.
The robots in the film are a great little character addition, when asked about their humour/sarcasm and truth settings the responses are superb. I was a little unsure of them at first, like the way they move, but as the film progressed I just accepted them and loved them to finish
Barry Exposition is a crew member on the Endurance, scientists having to explain things to each other so the general population can understand, and there is a cameo which really brought me out of the film for a few minutes. Yes, the cameo character was brilliant, but it still was *******!
This is definitely one of the best and clever sci-fi films out in a long time and even though some of the plot was a little stretched, it was still a great film to watch. The last 10 minutes are definitely not needed and it could have ended perfect, but Hollywood!
I will be asking my good friend "Roshtakular" to review this as well as he was not a fan, so it would be nice to see an alternate (and also wrong!) opinion.....
Apparently, Jake Gyllenhaal is in Nightcrawler, I only saw a guy called Lou Bloom.
A thriller set in the LA Nocturnal habits of TV Video reporters, Lou finds himself relying on police scanners and sirens to locate his next footage feature to sell to a local new station looking for ratings. As Lou begins to realise that the more graphic and brutal the shots, the more money he gets, he starts to develop an eye for the mayhem, a little too much.
Nightcrawler is a dark, disturbing and simply fantastic film, with similarities to Network and Taxi Driver, I was gripped by the developing story and intrigued to know how far Lou would go for his next shot.
As I said at the start of this review, Jake Gyllenhaal was not in this film. Lou Bloom is such a believable character, you completely forget the Jake is there - brilliantly acted and his psychotic, go get attitude is perfectly portrayed.
Rene Russo, as Nina, is brutal in her own way. Wanting to push the station to attain her ratings in order to keep her job, she disregards what should be shown on the media and goes for shock value more than compassion. Both Jake and Rene together are great to watch
Nightcrawler is simply one of the best films of the year, so far, and I cannot recommend highly enough, if you are of a dark thriller liking nature....if not, then it may be a little too much for some people.
One thing I would say, although I post them on all my reviews, is avoid watching the trailer as this contains some heavy spoilers that do not need to be in there.
With Robert Duvall, Robert Downey Jnr and Billy Bob Thorton in one courtroom drama, how can you not expect great performances?
Big city lawyer, Downey, returns home after his mother dies, where his father, the town's judge is suspected of murder. The father son relationship has been tumultuous for years, so working together to try and clear the judges name is difficult.
The Judge is a long and slow film, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The performances by Duvall, Downey and Thorton are superb, and you can tell the director was saying, "Okay guys, this is our Oscar nominated scene right here - act away!"
It is a court room drama, but it is mainly about the father and son relationship and the sense of loss and grief. When both leads are in the same room you can feel the tension, the brewing argument, the resentment from the son running away from his problems and family.
Clare mentioned that the film was far too long, which I agree it could have been trimmed in parts, but I was never bored and sat riveted to the performances.
The old flame relationship parts seemed to be put in to make Hank (Downey) more likable, but I think these just padded the film out and had a few moments were I wondered in which direction the film was going (ie Sam's hot daughter)
When a twenty something girl dabbles with a Ouija board, something is woken with malicious intent.
Concluding my Halloween film fest (Annabelle, Babadook, Ghostbusters), I had my good scares from The Babadook, predicatables from Annabelle and just shear genius from the Classic, so what did this next film have in store?
I was a little surprised by Ouija, with the Platinum Dunes production team behind it (Mr Bay) and the predictable trailer. Ouija is actually an entertaining 90 minute horror film with a few decent sections, although it still uses the cheap shock horror tactic of so many films of late.
when a girl commits suicide, her best friend, boyfriend and 3 others all gather to see if they can communicate with her through the Ouija. When they are presented with the words "Hi Friend", they think they have made contact, but is it really her from the other side or someone pretending.
Not up there with the best horror of the year, but far better than most
Can you believe it? 30 years since the release of Ghostbusters!
Three "scientists" decide to create the Ghostbusters after an experience at the library. Trapping spooks in various locations such as The Sedgwick Hotel, they become local celebrities and are there to save the Big Apple when the time comes.
I was sat with The Film Lord, Roshtakular and a full auditorium on a Tuesday night ready for a nostalgia overload. The cinema was full of 30-40 somethings, some bringing their kids to relive their childhood through them and you could feel the excitement in the air. As soon as the librarian started walking through the stacks, I knew I was in good hands again, and was going to really enjoy the next few hours
I always wonder what the film would have been like if they had followed the original Dan Akroyd idea, John Belushi, Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy as the busting trio and John Candy taking on the Louis role
Cineworld had opted to show the extended special edition version of the film so there were a few scenes that were new to me, and it just looked great on the big screen. The effects definitely do not hold up, but it doesn't matter because the characters are fantastic and the humour perfect. Bill Murray is just a genius,
These nights are an obvious success and I plead with Cineworld to make more of them. Christmas Movies - Die Hard, Gremlins, Muppet's Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, or just films because they are brilliant and nostalgic. I have not seen the cinema as full for most current blockbusters and I know that if Cineworld planned a nostalgia night once a month I would be there with many others with a smile on my face. C'mon Cineworld, bring back the Goonies, Big Trouble in Little China, Rocky III, Back to the Future
Made on a budget of just over $30k via a kickstarter project, Jennifer Kent's re-imaging of her short movie "Monster" is a damn good case for how good a film can be without over the top special effects.
6 years after her husband was killed taking his labour induced wife to the hospital, Amelia is struggling to raise her son. Plagued by fears of monsters in his room, sleep deprivation is having a massive effect. When the son asks Amelia to read him a new bed time story called Mister Babadook, things start to get worse. With even less sleep and her son becoming more and more delusional, this seems to project towards his mother.
With no crash bang scares and loud violin screeches, The Babadook goes back to real horror, it stays away from cheap scares and gore, real horror rather than jump scares. There were several points in this film I actually felt scared. Is the Babadook a real entity or a figment of a delusional, sleep deprived mind? the Babadook can be viewed from many different angles which is what made it more enjoyable for me.
The shadow in your room at night that seems to be moving, did I shut that door or leave it open, seeing things that are not there, we have all experienced these little fears and The Babadook plays on them very well.
At first I was thinking that the child actor was a little annoying and not very good, but as the film progressed I actually think he is a little insane and they did deprive him of sleep, terrify him and then asked him to act the scene again, he looks truly terrified throughout.
This is a lesson for all the big budget horror film producers out there (especially you Mr Bay and Platinum Dunes), that horror can be done well without the big effects and cheap scares. The human mind is a scary thing that can conjure up it's own scary ideas that will always be more personally scary to each individual.
For all the horror movie fans and people looking for a good scare this Halloween, go watch The Babadook, but don't let him in.
