Based off of the memoirs of Solomon Northup, this film stars Chiewetel Ejiofor as Solomon a free black man educated in New York but is later sold into slavery in the American south with some master cruel but also kind as well.
Where do I begin in regards to this film well actually I do know where to begin and that is I did like the film but I would say that it is a film that I admire more than I like and there are two key reasons.
First off is Steve McQueen's direction, he kept a good hand on the whip and made sure you felt the impact of the many beatings and lashings people go through in the film, at times I was reminded of the violence in the Shawshank Redemption which has a very similar theme to this film in terms of a wrongly imprisoned man never giving up on himself even when he faced his darkest hour, his direction is also one that asks for patience from his audience to see the film through to the end as it will all pay off in the end and here it most certainly did and it was nice to see a director do that sort of thing in these times.
The second is the performances, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Paul Dano and Benedict Cumberbatch are all very good (Fassbender redeems his woeful work in the Counselor with this performance) but Ejiofor is the heart and soul of this film and like Leonardo DiCaprio in the Wolf of Wall Street he gives it everything he has and more, it's such a shame both of those men lost out on the Best Actor Oscar to Matthew McConaughey, a decision that to me looks a lot like a decision made as to award one of their mates.
But alas after a while the near endless beatings and whippings and screaming really bothered me after a while and as a result part of me didn't really care all that much about their plight as it just started to become "Shut your face" and lo came the bashings or whippings or hangings plus Lupita Nyongo's character as good as she was in the role I didn't really care for either as again I began to predict she would get the lashes or beatings.
But despite that nitpick, I did enjoy 12 Years a Slave for its patient direction and extremely good performances but not a film for the faint of heart and will most certainly be debated in many American schools for a long long time to come, 3 and a half out of 5.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Film Review - Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Based off the off Broadway show, this film version stars Rick Moranis as Seymour, a down on his luck worker in a small flower shop on Skid Row who fancies his co worker Audrey (Ellen Greene) and finds a mysterious plant that he names after her and puts on display in the shop window.
Little Shop is a wonderful musical with some terrific songs by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken that feel fundamental to the films storytelling plus are just great great fun to listen to (Son be a Dentist and Mean Green Mother from Outer Space to name as examples) and in some cases (Somewhere that's Green being one example) foreshadowing some of their later work at Disney and yes, those songs will be on the tip of your tongue long after watching this film.
There is also some great effects work on the Audrey II plant itself no doubt director Frank Oz of the Muppets and Yoda fame had a lot to do with that and at the heart of this musical is a sweet love story between Audrey and Seymour.
However and here is where I begin to talk more about the recently released director's cut of the film which restores the original ending of the Broadway show the third act deviates from that sweet love story and becomes much more of a monster musical with a big effects laden finale and it doesn't quite work, don't get me wrong the effects work is phenomenal as is the touching reprise of Somewhere That's Green and it's great to be able to see it after so many years of mainly hearing about it.
But for me the main reason this ending doesn't work in the film is that old idium of just because it works on stage (and it can there as the cast come out to take a bow 5 minutes later) doesn't mean it's going to work on film and part of me thought when I saw it "You could press play on Pacific Rim right after watching this ending" as boy does it have that feel to it.
So despite my preference for the theatrical version of the film (it's normally the case for 99.9% of all Special Editions, Director's Cuts and Extended Versions of hit films), you shouldn't skip Little Shop of Horrors as it's a terrific musical, 4 and a half out of 5.
Little Shop is a wonderful musical with some terrific songs by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken that feel fundamental to the films storytelling plus are just great great fun to listen to (Son be a Dentist and Mean Green Mother from Outer Space to name as examples) and in some cases (Somewhere that's Green being one example) foreshadowing some of their later work at Disney and yes, those songs will be on the tip of your tongue long after watching this film.
There is also some great effects work on the Audrey II plant itself no doubt director Frank Oz of the Muppets and Yoda fame had a lot to do with that and at the heart of this musical is a sweet love story between Audrey and Seymour.
However and here is where I begin to talk more about the recently released director's cut of the film which restores the original ending of the Broadway show the third act deviates from that sweet love story and becomes much more of a monster musical with a big effects laden finale and it doesn't quite work, don't get me wrong the effects work is phenomenal as is the touching reprise of Somewhere That's Green and it's great to be able to see it after so many years of mainly hearing about it.
But for me the main reason this ending doesn't work in the film is that old idium of just because it works on stage (and it can there as the cast come out to take a bow 5 minutes later) doesn't mean it's going to work on film and part of me thought when I saw it "You could press play on Pacific Rim right after watching this ending" as boy does it have that feel to it.
So despite my preference for the theatrical version of the film (it's normally the case for 99.9% of all Special Editions, Director's Cuts and Extended Versions of hit films), you shouldn't skip Little Shop of Horrors as it's a terrific musical, 4 and a half out of 5.
Film Review - Videodrome (1983)
Videodrome stars James Woods as Max Renn, the head of Channel 83 in Toronto which is a small station wanting to hit it big and the program calling itself Videodrome may prove the key to the success of his Station.
Videodrome is simply terrific, director David Cronenberg finds a very nice balance between his horror effects which gruesome but also very effective and it combines with a beautiful commentary on what is basically Video Violence.
For you see, the early 1980s was very much the Video Boom and with that came a lot of violent Video tapes and Videodrome very much comments on this with the points it makes in the movie about how it will affect your mind in a certain way and that having these Video tapes in your hand was somehow going to corrupt your mind in bad ways and that was certainly the case in regards to violent Videos in the 80s and for me, it was not hard to think of that whilst watching this film.
The film also has some great performances most notably Woods who absolutely holds your attention throughout as he goes through the changes he does throughout the film and Deborah Harry is also effective in her role as well albeit not as prominent as Woods is.
What else can I say but Long Live the New Flesh and this is a terrific film, 4 out of 5.
Videodrome is simply terrific, director David Cronenberg finds a very nice balance between his horror effects which gruesome but also very effective and it combines with a beautiful commentary on what is basically Video Violence.
For you see, the early 1980s was very much the Video Boom and with that came a lot of violent Video tapes and Videodrome very much comments on this with the points it makes in the movie about how it will affect your mind in a certain way and that having these Video tapes in your hand was somehow going to corrupt your mind in bad ways and that was certainly the case in regards to violent Videos in the 80s and for me, it was not hard to think of that whilst watching this film.
The film also has some great performances most notably Woods who absolutely holds your attention throughout as he goes through the changes he does throughout the film and Deborah Harry is also effective in her role as well albeit not as prominent as Woods is.
What else can I say but Long Live the New Flesh and this is a terrific film, 4 out of 5.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Film Review - The Railway Man (2013)
The Railway Man is based on a true story and stars Colin Firth as Eric Lomax, a railway enthusiast who meets Patti (Nicole Kidman) on a train, the two marry but Eric is haunted by his memories of the war, memories that lead him to an unlikely conclusion.
The Railway Man is actually a pretty good film and is well acted by Firth who whilst watching him in this I thought "He'd be a good Professor Calculus" and Kidman is surprisingly very effective here and I enjoyed watching her here but my favorite performance is by Stellan Skarsgard as one of the other veterans, ever since first seeing him as Captain Tupalov from the Hunt for Red October I always try to check out what films he's in and here he steals the show.
Apart from that, I don't have an awful lot more to say about this film other than it was fine and well acted but not one to rush out and pay a full admission to see, 2 and a half out of 5.
The Railway Man is actually a pretty good film and is well acted by Firth who whilst watching him in this I thought "He'd be a good Professor Calculus" and Kidman is surprisingly very effective here and I enjoyed watching her here but my favorite performance is by Stellan Skarsgard as one of the other veterans, ever since first seeing him as Captain Tupalov from the Hunt for Red October I always try to check out what films he's in and here he steals the show.
Apart from that, I don't have an awful lot more to say about this film other than it was fine and well acted but not one to rush out and pay a full admission to see, 2 and a half out of 5.
Film Review - Last Vegas (2014)
Last Vegas stars Michael Douglas as Billy, a man in his old age who is about to marry a young woman in Las Vegas and asks his three best friends (Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline) to join him there, two of them readily come whilst the third is reluctant but tags along anyway and you know what they say about Vegas.
Last Vegas is actually good fun, thanks primarily to the chemistry between the 4 lead actors, they all play off each other very well and they always hold your attention here, I also enjoyed Mary Steenburgen in her role and I also thought the film had some good jokes and even some slightly poignant moments towards the end.
But if I have one minor complaint about the film it does feel a little bit predictable at times as the moment one event happens I did think to myself "That will play out in that way" and it did marr the ending a little bit but this was only a minor complaint as I did enjoy myself for the most part.
So all in all, Last Vegas is good fun if a little predictable on the side, 3 out of 5.
Last Vegas is actually good fun, thanks primarily to the chemistry between the 4 lead actors, they all play off each other very well and they always hold your attention here, I also enjoyed Mary Steenburgen in her role and I also thought the film had some good jokes and even some slightly poignant moments towards the end.
But if I have one minor complaint about the film it does feel a little bit predictable at times as the moment one event happens I did think to myself "That will play out in that way" and it did marr the ending a little bit but this was only a minor complaint as I did enjoy myself for the most part.
So all in all, Last Vegas is good fun if a little predictable on the side, 3 out of 5.
Film Review - Lone Survivor (2014)
Lone Survivor is directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg as Marcus, a US soldier during Operation Red Wings in 2005 but during the Operation judgments start to fray and the mission soon becomes at risk of failure.
Lone Survivor is actually a very good film and Berg is a big reason for this, having made that dreadful turkey Battleship in 2012 where all that was done was him being dictated terms in regards to how to do the movie here he has near complete creative freedom and it really shows in the style and structure of the film, the action here is also superb especially a Mountain gunfight that shows action scenes with teeth at long last, here you do feel the violence, you do feel the pain and you do get the intensity and may I say it's about fucking time as I am sick to death of 99.9% of action films these days wimping out on their violence so they can get a piddling PG-13 rating, time for that to stop.
Not only that the film is also very well acted, Wahlberg is superb in his role and he really holds your attention here, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Eric Bana are also very good in their scenes and the location work here is great, never failing to give you a sense of the place these men are in.
All in all, Lone Survivor is a very good Soldier film with some terrific action and good acting, do catch it when you get the chance, 3 and a half out of 5.
Lone Survivor is actually a very good film and Berg is a big reason for this, having made that dreadful turkey Battleship in 2012 where all that was done was him being dictated terms in regards to how to do the movie here he has near complete creative freedom and it really shows in the style and structure of the film, the action here is also superb especially a Mountain gunfight that shows action scenes with teeth at long last, here you do feel the violence, you do feel the pain and you do get the intensity and may I say it's about fucking time as I am sick to death of 99.9% of action films these days wimping out on their violence so they can get a piddling PG-13 rating, time for that to stop.
Not only that the film is also very well acted, Wahlberg is superb in his role and he really holds your attention here, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Eric Bana are also very good in their scenes and the location work here is great, never failing to give you a sense of the place these men are in.
All in all, Lone Survivor is a very good Soldier film with some terrific action and good acting, do catch it when you get the chance, 3 and a half out of 5.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Film Review - Robocop (2014)
A remake of the 1987 cult classic, this version of Robocop again sees Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) turned into the Robocop program following a fatal accident but there is a big difference between man and machine.
I can't say in any honesty that I have been looking forward to this film mainly because I am a huge fan of the original film and would rank it as a favorite of mine but alas I said to myself "I'll go and see it and try to keep an open mind about it."
Needless to say, this did not meet my very low expectations as the 2014 model is nothing short of bland, boring and heartless, allow me now to explain those points in more detail:
- It is bland in the sense that there is no edge or no wit to this version, Paul Verhoeven's original film had a sense of wit in terms of the satire regarding the theme of corporate privatization and insight into American culture which Verhoeven was able to capture very well being a Dutch filmmaker and no edge because the violence presented here may as well have come from the Call of Duty video game series as it all happens so quickly there is no sense of impact and there is a near complete lack of blood in the film save for the climax but hey that PG-13 rating won't be earned by having those things in this won't it.
No it won't because heaven forfend a film and a big studio film at that dare try to break out of the new Hayes Code which is the PG-13 rating, what a fucking joke.
- This new film also has no heart to it because you do not care at all about Kinnaman in the title role as he just does the same robotic monotone the entire time whereas Peter Weller made you care about the character as he began to rediscover his humanity whereas here there isn't the sense of that and the villain here is a complete nobody which was NEVER the case in the original film.
- This now leads me into my final point which is that I just began to get bored watching it, Abbie Cornish, Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton are good actors but they do nothing but spout meaningless dialogue and you start to think "What are these people doing in this film?", the ED-209 which was a fearsome sight in the original is just reduced to another digital toy for the filmmakers to throw in for a big action sequence and the music score is just the usual Hans Zimmer knock off we've been getting now since the mid 90s and boy does it feel like toilet paper when compared to the late Basil Poledouris's wonderful score that is also great to listen to in its own right.
And so to wrap this up, the 2014 model of Robocop is defective and you should avoid it at all costs, rent the 1987 original film instead and boy do I wish the new restored print of that film had been playing in cinemas instead of this remake, 1 out of 5.
I can't say in any honesty that I have been looking forward to this film mainly because I am a huge fan of the original film and would rank it as a favorite of mine but alas I said to myself "I'll go and see it and try to keep an open mind about it."
Needless to say, this did not meet my very low expectations as the 2014 model is nothing short of bland, boring and heartless, allow me now to explain those points in more detail:
- It is bland in the sense that there is no edge or no wit to this version, Paul Verhoeven's original film had a sense of wit in terms of the satire regarding the theme of corporate privatization and insight into American culture which Verhoeven was able to capture very well being a Dutch filmmaker and no edge because the violence presented here may as well have come from the Call of Duty video game series as it all happens so quickly there is no sense of impact and there is a near complete lack of blood in the film save for the climax but hey that PG-13 rating won't be earned by having those things in this won't it.
No it won't because heaven forfend a film and a big studio film at that dare try to break out of the new Hayes Code which is the PG-13 rating, what a fucking joke.
- This new film also has no heart to it because you do not care at all about Kinnaman in the title role as he just does the same robotic monotone the entire time whereas Peter Weller made you care about the character as he began to rediscover his humanity whereas here there isn't the sense of that and the villain here is a complete nobody which was NEVER the case in the original film.
- This now leads me into my final point which is that I just began to get bored watching it, Abbie Cornish, Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton are good actors but they do nothing but spout meaningless dialogue and you start to think "What are these people doing in this film?", the ED-209 which was a fearsome sight in the original is just reduced to another digital toy for the filmmakers to throw in for a big action sequence and the music score is just the usual Hans Zimmer knock off we've been getting now since the mid 90s and boy does it feel like toilet paper when compared to the late Basil Poledouris's wonderful score that is also great to listen to in its own right.
And so to wrap this up, the 2014 model of Robocop is defective and you should avoid it at all costs, rent the 1987 original film instead and boy do I wish the new restored print of that film had been playing in cinemas instead of this remake, 1 out of 5.
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