REVIEW: MOVIEBLAST: Bridge of Spies (12A) & Suffragette (12A)

Double review time as we go to MOVIEBLAST and binge watch on streaming site Wuaki with EE Film Club...

Bridge of Spies (12A) is the 'based on a true story' latest offering from legendary director Steven Spielberg. Starring equally legendary Tom Hanks and a quality cast (including Mark Rylance), Bridge of Spies is based on a real life 1950's New York insurance lawyer called J Donovan. Hanks plays lawyer Donovan with conviction and accused "spy" Adolf (Rylance) works well against Hank's knowledgeable lawyer.

Bridge of Spies is based on a true story whereby a man is accused of being a soviet spy in 1950's America. Firmly gripped in the fear of nuclear weapons, the USA's relationship is on tender hooks with the USSR. Enter James Donovan; insurance lawyer and, as he says, "yeah I'm pretty good at what I do...". Demanding a fair trial, Donovan is given the opportunity to represent spy Adolf in a court of law. Accepting that the trial is a foregone conclusion, but working in the interests of his country, Donovan agrees to represent him, but as he does so this sets in motion much bigger things at hand.

One part court room drama, two parts spy thriller, Bridge of Spies is a thought provoking yet compelling drama. Hanks' Donovan is a fabulously intelligent lawyer, using words to his advantage. Words are less with Mark Rylance's "spy" but are effective, even if his accent slips from Scottish to Soviet on occasion. The rest of the supporting cast are fab too, and the story itself is interesting at the backdrop of a world not too distant from us yet so different from us. This is where the threat from nuclear fallout was a real possibility, a wall was constructed to divide Germany and one insurance lawyer helped save the lives of at least 3 people. And no internet or mobile phones.

Bridge of Spies is great viewing if you like a good drama or spy thriller. Mr Hanks is doing a good job of biopics over recent years also playing the titular character in Captain Phillips which, like this movie, was a great performance based on a true story.

Bridge of Spies is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.

POPSCORE: 8/10

Suffragette (12A) is a movie about a group of women repressed by society who discover the suffragette movement led by Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) and charts the progress of the start of the movement and the way the women are being treated by society in early 20th Century London.

Focussing on the married mother of one, Maud (Carey Mulligan), Suffragette looks at the working class group of women she belongs to. Working in a washroom with iron fisted, domineering (and sometimes very sexist) men as managers, Maud reluctantly becomes the face of the women's movement when her activist work colleague is unable to continue due to her abusive husband.

She risks everything to stand up for what she didn't realise she believed in and strikes the match to set the future bright for women and their options to vote and become equals amongst men. Making sacrifices of her own - including imprisonment, abuse, beatings and losing her child to the system, Maud still stands by her resolve to change the world for the better. 

The film, although I'm sure is made up, runs alongside the factual, historical Suffragette movement in its infancy. For all the optimism it concludes with, and the gritty troubles that are highlighted throughout the movie, Suffragette is a thumping story on the history of women's rights. However, for all the progress that have been during (and indeed the decades after) the suffragettes, there still is some way to go for true equal rights in pay and such for women. However, the film clearly states a fantastic point - "how can you silence half of the worlds population" - food for thought I reckon.

Well acted and fantastically thought provoking, Suffragette is a drama that stays with you long after the credits roll.

Suffragette is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.

POPSCORE: 7/10

REVIEW: MOVIEBLAST: Crimson Peak (15) & Mr Holmes (PG)

Double review time as we go to MOVIEBLAST and binge watch on streaming site Wuaki with EE Film Club...

Crimson Peak (15) is Guillermo Del Toro's latest foray into fantasy horror starring everyone's favourite Marvel MCU antagonist, Tom Hiddleston. Backed up with other talent including Mia Wasikowska and no less than two actors from a Foxy's Favourite movie Pacific Rim (which is also directed by Del Toro) is this gorgeously shot fantasy horror.

The movie starts with a well-to-do family in America. Their daughter, Edith (Wasikowska) is coming to terms with the death of her mother (which includes seeing ghosts) and dealing with her overprotective father. When well spoken Englishman Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) comes to America to try and get some financial backing for an invention, love gets in the way. Trying to woo her dad for cash and  his daughter for marriage, Sharpe uses his influence to try to achieve both aims. When disaster strikes. however, a love struck Edith returns to England with Sharpe and his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain). Meanwhile her childhood friend Dr Alan McMichael (Pacific Rim's Charlie Hunnam) finds some unsettling news about these English visitors and goes to retrieve her from the ramshackled manor house in rural England.

Crimson Peak is a delightful film to look at using colour in such a lovely way. The sets, costumes and cinematography are fantastical and a pleasure to look at - however I found the movie to be a bit bland, unlike the scenery. I love most of Del Toro's works but this one just fell a bit flat. I feel maybe that it was to slow and took a while to say what it needed to. Hiddleston's look was far too similar to Loki in the MCU for my liking but his performance was strong. Alice in Wonderland's Mia Wasikowska was great in her role, even though some of her outfits looked like she raided Lady Gaga's wardrobe. The supporting actors were fab too.

Overall this movie looks the business but ultimately fails to deliver on time. It felt more like a paint by numbers horror movie; one for beginners - more fantasy than scary but it's ok nonetheless. Decent for a night in, but not much more. I loved the Johnny Depp fronted Dark Shadows, which is what I expected this movie to be like (from the DVD cover and look of the movie) but it wasn't. Not the strongest entry into Del Toro's collection but probably one of the prettiest to look at.

 

Crimson Peak is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.

 

POPSCORE: 6/10

Mr Holmes (PG) stars Sir Ian "Gandalf" McKellen as the ageing Sherlock Holmes in his twilight years. Years later, after his final assignment, Mr Sherlock Holmes has retired to the country to attend to bees and live in a country house. Estranged from Dr Watson and never married, Holmes lives alone save for his housekeeper Mrs Munro (Laura Linney) and her inquisitive son, Roger.

Holmes befriends Roger who keeps him on his toes. Roger is similar to Holmes in a way and is impressed by his mental capacity to think logically and deduce problems and mysteries. However, here's the rub - and the interesting crux of this film - Holmes is diagnosed with dementia!

I have wanted to see this film for some time. The idea of having a literary character develop dementia - (especially for one such as Holmes who is famed for his mental capacity) - is quite a unique take on the mythos of Sherlock Holmes. As his mental capacity declines, with the help of the ever inquisitive Roger, Holmes tries to piece together his last assignment of which he has forgotten.

McKellan plays the younger Holmes and the ageing one well and brings a human side to the man who was almost robot-like in his reasoning and deduction. He infers the frustration well as you would expect from a character famed for his mental capacity. Roger is played well by the young Milo Parker and I can see great things for him in the future.

If you are looking for excitement, edge of your seat Sherlock you are so looking in the wrong place - that is the domain of Cumberbatches or Downey Jr's. This is a slow burning drama, chronicling his decline in mental health and all that goes with it. I would say it's a drama... no, it would be more of an exploration of an idea on film of how this premise would pan out. There is some semblance of story - but the most exciting parts are told in flashbacks. It's not the best film in the world but has such an interesting premise it is worth a watch on a cosy night in or a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Mr Holmes is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.

 

POPSCORE: 6/10

REVIEW: The Revenant (15)

The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and the lad out of The Maze Runner (Will Poulter) in this epic piece of cinematography. As I said in my Twitter tweet, this movie can best be described in three words - gripping, gritty and ... gory.

 Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a legendary explorer who is brutally attacked by a bear and left for dead by his team. Leaving only his son, fellow officer Fitzgerald (Hardy) and young scout Bridger (Will Poulter) behind to look after him during his final days, Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) promises riches if they look after the supposedly dying Glass. After killing Glass' mixed heritage son in front of him and tricking Bridger, he leaves Glass partially buried in a shallow grave to die in the wilderness and to claim his riches. However, what he didn't bank on was the indomitable human spirit that burns within and gives Glass the strength to carry on and try to avenge his son's death.

The movie is an epic one, and you need to be strapped in for the long haul at a run time of 156 minutes you definitely need to stock up on the popcorn. Two parts Lord of the Rings, one part Castaway and a sprinkling of The Grey, the movie features some delicious scenery and some amazing cinematography. The brutalness of the movie is both proving a point and hard hitting. The animals are wither needlessly slaughtered or are killing each other in earnest, or the humans are doing the same thing too. Everything is dangerous in the movie and the director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, puts the camera right in the middle of the action which sometimes feels a little too real. In this movie alone I see two horses killed - one by a man shooting it and another when it plunges off a cliff, and the bear attack on Glass which I've mentioned above. the bear attack is very graphic and sustained and is one of those things that will be etched on my memory as a memorable scene in a movie.

The cast is strong here - Tom Hardy is a fantastic character in this. Hardy's Fitzgerald is suitably ruthless and has no morals whatsoever, and even his final line in the movie is just as heartless as his actions have been. DiCaprio's Glass spends much of the film injured and trying to survive - mostly this brings tensions and a "how will he escape this?" but the movie is on for so long that sometimes the crawling and limping get a bit too much and you wish they skip a few days until he gets better so he can walk properly again. There is actually one sequence where DiCaprio has fallen into a freezing river and is holding onto a piece of wood, and I briefly worried for him after what happened in Titanic, but luckily Rose wasn't there and he got safely to the shore.

Overall the film is well made, has a fantastic cast and the scenery is fantastic. The music is effective but the story is not clear. I only knew that Glass was an explorer by reading the blurb for the movie, the movie just gets right into it form the get go without going too much into back story. The only other grumble is that it's on for a long time and feels a little drawn out in places. Other than that it's a solid movie that is deserving the plaudits it's getting.

The Revenant comes out on 15th January 2016 and is on at all good cinemas.

POPSCORE: 7.5/10 

What am I talking about? The Revenant film

Where can I find out more? http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/the-revenant

If I you liked this try: The Grey, The Patriot, Whiteout, Lord of the Rings (if you like nice scenery and lots of roaming about) 

Anything else?

This movie has already won Golden Globe awards and is gunning for some Oscar goodness too - but will it glean Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscar?
This movie is apparently based on a true story - well some of it anyway.
Tom Hardy and Leonardo DiCaprio have been in a movie together before - in Christopher Nolan's awesome movie Inception.

REVIEW: Mad Max: Fury Road (15)

George Miller, the septuagenarian director, returns with his latest Mad Max movie - Mad Max: Fury Road. No Mel Gibson here, but replaced by the ladies favourite, Tom Hardy. Also featuring a few other well known names including South Africa’s finest, Charlize Theron, Mad Max takes it forward for the next generation.

Using a dazzling array of amazing stunts (here’s to the old school) and minimal computer aided special effects, Mad Max features a dystopian world where everything seems to be miles away, and the people are all a bit strange.

The world in which they live is one I would never like to live in, but it draws you in with its dystopian vibe and barren landscape. Tom Hardy grunts his way through the movie, and for all that he plays the titular character, the main character, it could be argued, that Furiosa (Theron) is the main hero(ine?).

The bad guys are suitably clownish and crazy with a side order of sinister and evil. The movie is pretty much a road trip from one place to another – then they turn around and come back again. Although light on story, the movie is a dazzling array of stunts and explosions and there is an awesome guitarist with flames coming out of his guitar which pretty much plays for the entire movie as the soundtrack.

The cars (sorry, I think I would be better placed saying vehicles) are characters unto themselves and are often garishly made. Imagine The Fast and the Furious cars with horns and pipes and spikes and a jaded paint job and you wouldn’t be too far from this movie.

The movie is really quite good and I enjoyed it even though it was light on story and heavy on action. But, when a movie is this gripping, you can forgive such fallacies.

There are a couple of points about the movie I want to raise though – this includes the fact that Mad Max doesn’t really feature in this movie as much as he should have, and there was not a lot of dialogue or work for Hardy to do – apart from being tied up and being grumpy. Nicholas Holt’s character Nux, was suitable crazy and helped keep up the frenetic tempo we would expect the film to be. He also gets the best line: “Oh what a day, what a lovely day!”  Theron does a good turn as the heroine taking the slave girls away from the antagonist, and trying to save them. She is suitably kick ass and is a strong independent woman.

The movie overall is a good one, and there is talk of a few sequels too – hopefully Max will be featured more in it, but if not, maybe there’s more scope for a Mad Maxine or something. Who knows?

Mad Max: Fury Road is available on DVD, Blu Ray and download/streaming now.

POPSCORE: 8/10 

What am I talking about? Mad Max: Fury Road

Where can I find out more? http://www.madmaxmovie.com/

If you like this try: The original Mad Max movies, Fast And the Furious (if you like the road trip/car racing part), The Book of Eli, I Am Legend (both of these if you like the apocalyptic loner thing)

REVIEW: Child 44 (15)

Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace and the awesomely named Fares Fares round off a talented cast in the movie Child 44. Thick Russian accents abound as Tom Hardy plays Leo, a post WWII MP in the USSR in this gritty thriller.
The film starts with a couple of flashbacks of his childhood and plonks you straight into the action after that - as he traipses around his patch looking for suspected traitors. Much of the first part of the film is like this - and sort of plods along showing him do his duty and making friends and enemies along the way. However when a child of his friend and colleague is killed, it all points to murder. However, "there is no murder in paradise" so much to his stoic friends disappointment, he has to conceded that it was a tragic accident even though everyone knows the child was murdered. Not much else is given to this storylien for what seems like ages until conveniently Leo's wife, Raisa (Noomi Rapace) is suspected of being a traitor. After pretending to be pregnant, Leo is forced to flee with her to a neighbouring town where he reassigned under a new boss General Nesterov (Gary Oldman). While there he finds another dead child who has all the hallmarks of the killing of the son of his friends. The guys back at Moscow think they have already apprehended the killer by accusing a gay man and when the aforementioned fella throws himself under a train they think it's all over. However, we are now two thirds of the way through a very long movie and it shifts over to CSI: Moscow 1953, where it almost shifts genre too. The killer is still out there and Raisa and Leo must find him before another child is killed. By the way, this killer has killed 44 children. I wonder where they got the title from?
The film is generally good - the acting is spot on even though the thick Russian accents sometimes make it hard for them to be understood on some occasions. It's a gritty thriller and the cinematography and soundtrack are both well done and fit the occasion quite nicely. The one point where the movie falls down is the story. It's based on a book and has been adapted for the screen but there's a serious lack of character development for a start. It wasn't clear on who was who and sometimes you relied on the character to tell you - of which sometimes they didn't until a few scenes later (prime example - Leo's parents). The movie is quite long and the first 7/10ths of it is quite monotonous with Leo literally doing his job and it's not until he is disgraced that it started to change into something more interesting. But this is it - why was he disgraced and what exactly is going on in the movie? I was so confused I just let it happen. I don't know why Leo took it upon himself to solve the mystery of the child killer, I don't know why people wanted to disgrace him, I don't know why a lot in this movie. The killer isn't even developed much so we don't even know why he wants to kill children.
So if I had to put this down to a conclusion I would have to say this movie is alright, and it has some talented actors in (plus a last (Charles) Dance at the end) but the story is so written that it's confusing, under developed and hard to follow. Maybe it was just me - I had done a double shift at work before going to see this - but maybe it wasn't.
If you've seen it, what do you think? Drop in the comments below.
Child 44 is rated 15 and is out at all good cinemas now.

POPSCORE: 6.5/10

What am I talking about? The movie Child 44

Where can I find out more? http://www.child44film.com/

If you like this try: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Kiss the Girls, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Drop 

Anything else?
It's based on a novel by Tom Rob Smith called Child 44. These books are part of a trilogy with The Secret Speech and Agent 6 being the two books that follow this one.