Wednesday 10 December 2014
Review: The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 1
Did anyone notice how it turned into Toast of London about halfway through when they filming the first propaganda video?
Come to think of, Clem Fandango sounds like the sort of name that would right in with the series.
Wednesday 23 April 2014
Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Too long? Too many characters? A bit with the American flag? Sound familiar? On the plus side unlike Spider-Man 3 at least there isn't a bit where Peter Parker goes all Saturday Night Fever.
After the enjoyable first outing of this rebooted series, it's such a shame that sequel doesn't live up too expectations. Whilst Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone together on screen are once again the best part of the film, trying to cram in three separate villains for Spidey to battle results in the film lurching from one CGI battle to another just for the sake of it (Especially the bits with Paul Giamatti in it that seem especially pointless). Add on top of that the added backstory of Peter Parker's parents and you can see what a bloated mess the film is.
Friday 18 April 2014
Review: Captain America 2 - The Winter Soldier
Seeing as he gets a name check in the title, you'd expect the Winter Soldier to have a bigger part in the second Captain America film - but in fact he ends someone playing second fiddle to the main villain and looks like he's spent too long listening to 30 Seconds To Mars and My Chemical Romance to be any real threat.
That's not the only problem with this sequel either, with the biggest problem facing this this film (and the Marvel Universe as a whole) is that since Agent Coulson's reappearance in Agents of Shield, it's tough to believe for a second that anyone is in any real danger at any point in the plot. That said the Marvel films have their formula down to a tee, with impressive action sequences interspersed with snappy one-liners to lighten the mood, meaning the Captain America 2 is always entertaining, but future films need to up their game to hit the heights of previous successes.
Sunday 23 February 2014
Review: American Hustle
Like Argo, American Hustle has a story that sounds too good to be true, but unlike Ben Affleck's Oscar winner American Hustle plays it more for laughs and is worse off for it to be honest.
It's still good fun, but Bale and Cooper play things so far over the top this crime-caper can never become anything more substantial - the star of the show is Amy Adams who as well as looking amazing, manages to add some layers to her character whilst not wearing that many herself.
Review: Sound City
Take out the final half hour, which is pretty much just and advert for the album they brought out at the same time and Dave Grohl's directorial début is an entertaining look behind the music made at the legendary Sound City studios.
Films like these sink or swim with the quality of the contributors and the film covers an eclectic mix of music, thankfully not just focusing too much on the heavy-hitters like Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty (as after watching the 4 hour film about him I've had my fix of how Damn The Torpedoes was made). The doc also touches on the analogue versus digital debate, but doesn't really go into that much depth with only Trent Reznor playing a slight devil's advocate, instead where the film shines is how the talking heads manage to convey how it was something more than bricks and mortar that managed to magic of the music recorded in the Los Angeles studio.
Friday 31 January 2014
Wednesday 29 January 2014
TV Moments of 2013: The Americans
ITV doesn't have great track record with US TV series, The Americans was much more suited to the Channel 4 Sunday 9pm slot that Homeland and The Returned thrived in as opposed to following Britain's Got Talent on a Saturday. It's nice to hear that ITV are going to keep the faith with the second series of this Cold War thriller in 2014.
TV Moments of 2013: Brain Hospital - Saving Lives
Channel 5 documentaries are normally gory or gaudy - though Jay Hunt at Channel 4 seems determined to give them a run for their money in those stakes. Brain Hospital was the exception to the rule, a sad and touching look at the work of those at the Walton Centre neurology hospital in Liverpool.
TV Moments of 2013: Catfish - The TV Show
Two series in, Catfish the TV series still manages to shock you with the twists in the stories of online love. It's a guilty but addictive pleasure of TV in 2013.
TV Moments of 2013: David Bowie - 5 Years
It's hard to believe, but somehow the star of this David Bowie documentary ends up being Robert Fripp and his increasingly mental anecdotes - not Bowie himself.
TV Moments of 2013: Game of Thrones Season 3
The most epic season so far of the most epic show on television, The Red Wedding took things to entirely different level.
TV Moments of 2013: Hannibal
Hannibal is the most beautiful show to look at on TV at the moment. Mads Mikkelsen and his cheekbones command every shot he's in but Hugh Dancy's portrayal of a man falling apart at the seams is the real show-stealer.
TV Moments of 2013: Luther
The slithering serial killer under the bed from the likely to be last series of Luther still gives me the creeps
TV Moments of 2013: Regular Show
Adventure Time seems to be everywhere these days, but the other half of Cartoon Network's double bill of kid's shows that aren't really for kids is my favourite.
TV Moments of 2013: The Returned (Les Revenants)
The end of the first series was worryingly Lost-esque, but the haunting atmosphere and incredible soundtrack by Mogwai were amongst the things that made The Returned not only the best Zombie show, but also one of the best TV Programmes of 2013.
Thursday 2 January 2014
Review: Pacific Rim
If I told you this film features 2 hours of giant robots and sea monsters hitting each other with a dodgy actor in the lead role, you'd probably think it was the SyFy Channel's follow up to Sharknado - but instead this is a blockbuster from Guillermo del Toro.
The Del Toro touch means Pacific Rim is stunning too look at and the Kaiju battles are impressive at first, but at over 2 hours long they do start to drag after at bit. Things might be helped if the wooden Charlie Hunnan wasn't the centre of the story so much, as much like After Earth (A film so bad it put me off blogging for 6 months), I found myself wishing it was the lead character that was killed early on, not poor Mike from Homeland.
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