Film Review - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Rogue One takes place in the time leading up directly to the events of the original Star Wars film from 1977 and expands on the first victory of the Rebellion over the Empire that was explained in the first paragraph of that crawl from the original film.

Rogue One is not a bad film at all, it's perfectly fine and passable entertainment but there are some serious problems I had with it for these reasons:

- Firstly the story here gave me flashes of how I felt about the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy from 1999 to 2005 and that feeling was "I don't care about this, I know what happens get on with it" and watching this movie that feeling got stronger and stronger like a Jedi Knight unable to resist the calling of the Force to them and even though there is some nice action here it all began to feel like a videogame after a while and without that story interest I found it hard to care.

- Secondly the characters here for the most part including the main group of Rebel Alliance Freedom Fighters all come across as one big gelatinous group of people that were hard to distinguish from one to the other they all looked like worn down combat veterans and they all wore the same uniform for the most part and I never really got invested in their journey, Donnie Yen was really good as this blind Samurai who uses the Force to see and become aware of his surroundings but he was probably the only standout for me.

- And lastly and I hate to say this the main villain here Krennick played by Ben Mendelsohn felt like a bit of a waste not only of Mendo who is a very likeable and watchable actor even if it is only to see how fully Mendo he'll go but his character in this script feels very perfunctory in a sense that with a clever rewrite of the script (and this underwent extensive reshoots) his character could have either been removed or another famous character from this story could've been removed and Mendo could've easily filled those boots.

But there is one big positive that is pretty much the reason I don't write this film off at all and that is Lord Darth Vader and one scene in particular (and I will NOT!!! give it away) had me giddy as all hell in my seat where I was thinking "THEY MADE VADER GREAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!" and in my more measured and critical mind going "This is the best scene in a film since Quicksilver in X-Men" it makes me wish he was in this movie more but alas I can always go back to the original trilogy to watch him in his magnificent glory.

And so that was Rogue One its okay but also I found it to be forgettable, 2 out of 5.

Looking Back at 2016 Part 2

This is a very short and sweet wrap up for me this year as well this year in movies has not been a good one for me and also early to mid December is when I record my final Radio show for the year and it is in that show where I talk about my favourite and least favourite films of the year and there's a number of those so let's get started.

And well nothing would suit me better than by throwing out the trash and starting with the worst of the worst, the 5 films above all else that I just hated sitting through with a burning passion and I just want nothing more than to eviscerate them for taking 5 days out of my life, 5 days I'll never get back.

5. The Light Between Oceans: This entry was based off of a novel and starred Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson and even smegging Norman Gunston plus it was directed by Derek Cianfrance who made the Place Beyond the Pines surely the right ingredients for a hit film right?

Wrong as this movie was just laborious and tedious to sit through the more it went on and had scene after scene after scene especially in the second half of the film of world class actors sitting around in rooms and jail cells going "OH MY BABY, PLEASE GIVE ME MY BABY BACK" and "OH MY DARLING WIFE HOW I MISS YOU" as well as crying over goddamned letters and not even thinking anything through in any logical sense whatsoever.

And the more this went on I just wanted Fassbender to turn into Magneto and break free so he could destroy the town and kill everyone while in his head he hears the words "EVERYTHING THEY'VE BUILT WILL FALL AND FROM THE ASHES FROM THEIR WORLD WE'LL BUILD A BETTER ONE" at least if that had happened the film would've ended hopefully Assassins Creed will be a better use of his immense talents.

4. Warcraft: Again based off of the very successful series of Videogames from Blizzard director Duncan Jones takes us into the world of Azeroth full of magic and Orcs and Humans fighting it out for survival while elements of both camps try to forge an uneasy alliance.

And boy oh boy was this a horrible mess to sit through almost right from the start you feel like you're behind the 8 Ball in terms of who these people are, what the stakes are for the Orcs, who or what Azeroth is and what the history of these cultures is and when you contrast this movie with what Peter Jackson did with the Lord of the Rings series where he took the time to bring audiences into the world of Middle Earth this movie falls way way short by comparison and given that Jones has some magical heritage of his own it feels all the more disappointing that he dropped the ball like this so heavily.

3. The Legend of Tarzan: Tarzan had a great cast in Margot Robbie, Samuel L Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Djimon Honsou and Alexander Skarsgard plus source material ripe for retelling with today's technology.

And yet once again this was a boring mess of a film to sit through that feels like its playing as a sequel to a film that doesn't even exist and when it does its in the flashbacks which should've been the film itself not to mention the near complete waste of that cast most of whom just don't have anything to sink their teeth into, do nothing but run around CGI jungles with their shirt off or in the case of Waltz just do the same damned thing he's been doing for the last 7 years the dashing rogue you can't trust, find a new smegging act buddy as this one is getting tiresome.

2. The Revenant: This was the film that kicked off my cinema going year it had the director of Birdman, Leo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domnhall Gleeson and a story of revenge in the landscapes of colonial America.

And it just went on and on and on and on for 156 minutes and the whole thing became a complete fucking drag almost the entire time with endless scenes of snowy mountain landscapes and Leo DiCaprio grunting and hobbling his way to that elusive Best Actor Academy Award sorry back to his base a bit of a memory blank there for a second while Tom Hardy mumbles his way through yet another performance.

Seriously I wish he and Jeff Bridges would just quick this constant bloody mumbling all the time as its getting ridiculous I mean can't someone say to them "Please talk normally" before they start shooting a role I mean it can't be that hard and as for DiCaprio well he only won the damned gold statue because he played someone who suffered for their art UGH give me a fucking break.

But as bad as those were my absolute worst film of the year was:

1. Suicide Squad: Yup DC's first spin off film in their new cinematic universe (what a surprise) is my absolute least favourite film of this entire year.

Mainly because when I look back on this movie I cannot think of anything that I liked about it in any substantial way the film was constantly throwing loud rock music onto the soundtrack, the squad were uninteresting bores thrown together in the hope of copying the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, the storytelling was a mess of over editing and on top of all this the whole fucking thing comes to a stop so they can all go have a drink in a bar unbelievable.

And also DC once again like the incompetent fuckwits they look like lost their shit at the last minute because of all the "Batman V Superman was too dark" whining and whinging that went on and took the film David Ayer was crafting away from him and re-cut it to oblivion just as 20th Century Fox did to Josh Trank's Fantastic Four reboot but WB at least avoided what happened with Fant4stic where its director blew his stack the day before it opened.

And I hate to do this last part but I have to and that is DC desperately and I mean right fucking now needs its own Kevin Feige Marvel's Producer Supreme who was a working producer first and a Comic Nerd second working on all of the Marvel productions of the early to mid 2000s before becoming a Producer in his own right with Iron Man in 2008 and Feige's experiences on those films has very clearly shaped his MCU for better and for worse (the fact that many of them misfired is probably why so many of the MCU films feel kinda bland at times.)

DC meanwhile had the perfect person in Bruce Timm sitting in the same company (he oversaw along with Paul Dini and Alan Burnett their enormously successful animated shows and films since Batman the Animated Series in 1992) ready to go someone who like Feige loved that world and knew how to translate it to another medium like film but instead they hired Geoff Johns and Jon Berg who don't look like they're making much of a dent given the director problems DC has been having recently and once again it makes me think that Fox was damned lucky to have found Bryan Singer to help guide their X-Men franchise and that his departure could once again spell trouble for that long running series.

But now that is all out of the way let's get out that Christmas dinner and start to talking about my favourites of the year ah happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again let us sing a song of cheer again ah already I feel better.

Last year had a very very strong top 3 going for it so strong that A Most Violent Year, Kingsman the Secret Service and Dragon Ball Z Resurrection F each could've been my movie of the year but this year marks a return to a more traditional top 5 list in which these were the films I easily enjoyed the most in what has been a very weak film year.

And at Number 5 is:

Sing Street: Writer/Director John Carney's tale of a young boy named Cosmo forming a band in 1980s Ireland to impress a young girl named Raphina was easily some of the most fun I have had with a film this year.

And part of that is because since I have seen this movie I have not been able to stop thinking about it and in a lot of ways this has burrowed its way further and further to my heart in the days and weeks since watching it I feel that it is arguably one of if not the best recreation of the 80s so far put on film it has what you want from a musical in terms of using both new songs and licensed tracks both of which work beautifully together the young cast is terrific to watch and it recreates that teen film vibe really nicely and it has a sweet little love story as well even if that didn't work as well for me personally.

But the big thing I come to is that when I was watching it I began to feel more and more like I was watching an old Roadshow Home Video or Premiere Home Entertainment VHS release from 1986 that happened to be done here and now in 2016 (the look of the film is simply gorgeous with its bright and bold colours and that scratchy 35mm print feel) that also happened to be preserved in a vault somewhere and released this year and when the film was over and this will sound very very silly to most readers but I wanted that 5 to 10 minutes of Roadshow VHS Previews to come up from that era films like Short Circuit, Rebel, Raw Courage, The Neverending Story and Biggles among others as well as that vintage Roadshow Home Video logo with the yellow V and ominous music in fact I wish I had watching this on an old Roadshow VHS it would've really added to the wonderful vibe this movie created which despite being a sweet one hit that very spot.

4. Batman the Killing Joke: This will be a very divisive pick for a lot of people to see on my list but I don't care as it's my list dag nabbit and I've pretty much learned this year that the stuff I tend to enjoy is that stuff that very few tend to enjoy with me and this DC Animated Universe film drew such a response.

But stripping aside the Batgirl cartoon at the beginning of the film that feels exactly like that a cartoon episode before the main feature the actual Killing Joke animated film is actually quite good with great animation, dark storytelling that was clearly an influence on both Tim Burton's Batman film from 1989 and more specifically Christopher Nolan's the Dark Knight which is pretty much a live action Killing Joke film by another name.

What also gets it here is the vocal performance of Mark Hamill as the Clown Prince of Crime he completely owns this film and has come to define this character so well that you just sit there hanging off every word coming out of his mouth something that Jared Leto failed completely, utterly and spectacularly to do in Suicide Squad hopefully Ben Affleck will turn that around if he decides to use him in his solo Batman film.

3. The Beatles 8 Days A Week: Ron Howard's wonderful documentary captures the ups and downs of the touring years of perhaps the world's most famous rock band was just a delight to sit through at the cinema with many tales being told of life on the road combined with wonderful archive footage.

And what also shone out was the wonderful music that I found very hard to get out of my head for a good week or so after seeing the film and very happily I was able to see archival interviews with George Harrison and John Lennon as one of my concerns about the doco was that the focus would go onto Paul and Ringo who are still with us but that was happily not the case and to hear from them was a real treat.

Sadly however Ron Howard would go from this to Inferno which makes me sad even thinking about that what a shame.

2. X-Men Apocalypse: This like the Killing Joke will be a divisive pick for many but Bryan Singer's 4th film directing the X-Men was a film I personally loved even if a lot of other people did not.

This was for the most time the most fun I have had in a cinema all year as for that 2 and a half hours it just felt like the whole world fell away and all that mattered to me was watching this world and these characters that I deeply love being projected in front of me and I could once again enjoy their company perhaps a not too similar feeling people have when watching the Avengers series.

But on top of that there were numerous scenes that made me feel all sorts of emotions whether it be sadness, joy, fear Singer did a good job in the director's chair despite inheriting a fairly rough script John Ottman did some fantastic music once again creating several memorable cues as he had also done for Days of Future Past and all of the performances save for Jennifer Lawrence who was clearly only there to see out her contract were very solid for the most part.

But now the time has come to move to the top of the pile the king of the heap my favourite film of 2016 which is:

The Accountant: This was a no brainer for me the more I thought about this movie, Gavin O'Connor's film of an Autistic Accountant who also deals with some of the world's shadiest people while also trying to stay one step ahead of the US Treasury who might be suspecting some dodgy behaviour in regards to his accountancy work.

To me this movie felt like the kind of film that really doesn't get made very much anymore which is a genre film with plenty of hard hitting action that also takes its time to develop its characters and its story as well as pin all of that onto its central character and seeing it the 2nd time really gave me a greater appreciation for the work Ben Affleck does in this movie.

His character Christian Wolff is someone who lives with a condition that can make someone feel very lonely and insecure about themselves even though they might be lucky enough to live a normal life in the workaday world but to be able to connect with people in either a romantic or a friendship kind of way can prove exceedingly difficult even though they're trying with all their Heart to do the right thing in doing so and the scenes he has with Anna Kendrick help to form the heart of the film as you can see that he cares about her but can do very little about it as he also fears what might happen to her either after a long period of time with him or his shadowy past comes to target her to get to him.

And also to see Autism portrayed in a way that feels very sincere and sympathetic without resorting to the stereotype of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man is also very refreshing and again I have to credit Affleck and O'Connor for doing this as well as the writer Bill Dubuque and another feeling I had seeing this film again was that Ben is probably the one person I find reliable in Hollywood right now as he has yet to let me down since Gone Baby Gone in 2007 I hope sincerely that Live by Night continues this trend next year.

And so that was 2016 at the movies a short and sweet wrap up because mainly I did not enjoy this film year all that much hopefully 2017 will be better though save for Live by Night which comes out in late January I don't really have a lot of hope for the coming film year ahead.

Mainly because I feel that much like a disappointing entry in a franchise I feel that next year's crop of films has to win me back to climb back up that mountain once again after falling some distance but Marvel Studios managed to do that for me with Doctor Strange which I didn't think would happen so if that can be done then perhaps there is some hope left but again as they say only time will tell.

Looking Back at 2016 Part 1

Well here we are again boys and girls another movie year, another year of "Can I get 1 for this at 12.15 thank you" another year of talking on Radio about new release films and another year of ups and downs and movies in the middle is over.

And yet despite all of that, all of the running around and jumping on and off of buses and cars and paving the footpaths to my cinema and back this year in movies has been well pretty terrible.

And by that I mean so many films that I saw this year came across as very meh, bland, blaze or at times just plain boring, uninspiring and sloppy and to me a great movie year like 2011-2015 should be inspiring for a film lover a sustenance to keep them going through the 12 month period of watching new releases but this year that at least for me it has been difficult.

Perhaps a large part of this malaise has been to do with the fact that I turned 30 back in April and that has made me think about a few things outside of movie going this is hard to explain I know but that feeling has been a pervasive one for me throughout most of this year and its only now in the last period of the year where that feeling has lifted from my mind somewhat.

But coming back to the uninspiring part throughout a lot of the US Summer period I kept thinking to myself "We live in a world where we can put anything we like on screen, anything we imagine in our minds we can find the right Viz FX Team and they'll bring it to life for us and THIS is the best you can do this bland, messy, soft and sloppy storytelling that is a slog to sit through, how pathetic."

But enough about that for now as frankly I really have no desire to continue now perhaps films like Moana, Rogue One, La La Land, Allied and Red Dog 2 can turn things around and those 5 are the ones I hope to fully sign off the year with though I doubt my area will get Allied or La La Land given that family films tend to dominate at this time of year but hope must be maintained and besides there's always next year.

Film Review - Sing Street (2016)

Sing Street is directed by John Carney who made Once and Begin Again and takes place in Dublin in 1985 and concerns Cosmo (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) a young schoolboy who is transferred to a public school so his parents can save money and he struggles at first but one day he sees a young girl named Raphina (Lucy Bonyton) and he then decides to start a band to try and hopefully win her heart.

Sing Street is a really nice movie with great songs, performances and loads of heart and soul to go around, Peelo and Bonyton have very nice chemistry together and the scenes the 2 of them share really make you believe that the connection they begin to share, the mix of new songs as well as existing 80s songs was also very nice and the film is very sweet in terms of its story but Carney manages to find a way to balance that out with dashes of darkness and not putting in too much sugary sweetness for those more nicer moments.

But the film also really nicely recreates the 1980s to such a degree that when I was watching it part of me felt like I was watching a Roadshow Home Video or a Premiere Home Entertainment VHS release from 1985/86 and that feeling was so strong in my mind I also was imagining the preview for this movie being on one of those releases like the Terminator or Woman in Red or Blood Simple or Rebel or Flesh and Blood those that previewed M rated titles from that era I know this part of my review sounds silly but that feeling was very strong in my mind when I watched this movie.

And so that was Sing Street a film I was very glad to have caught up with before the year ended as its one of the highlights of what has been a fairly crap year at the cinema, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Founder (2016)

The Founder is based off of the true story of Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) a Milkshake Machine salesman who is going nowhere until he gets an order for 8 multi mixer machines to a group in California so he heads out there and comes across McDonalds which is run by 2 brothers and he becomes so impressed with their restaurant that he vows to help them franchise it.

They used to say in Star Trek Deep Space Nine that a Founder is wise in all things but unfortunately for this movie the Founder it is simply okay nothing bad nothing horrible but just another meh movie from a year where that has been the norm unfortunately.

Positives wise Keaton is great owning every scene he's in and giving the at times very long and dragged out storyline a huge shot in the arm plus all the scenes of the various hamburgers and fries being cooked is classic food porn where you sit there in the cinema feeling hungry (and yes I did have Macca's for lunch the day I saw this I just couldn't resist the urge to do so) but this year has also had some true story films like Sully and Eddie the Eagle which are great true stories that don't quite translate well to films you want to watch over and over again.

Another negative is the very sad waste of Laura Dern who pretty much ends up playing the role of the concerned wife who fears losing everything, this also has been a very bad pattern in films this year seeing great actresses capable of so much being handed nothing roles that drama students could play sometimes and I really really hope this changes soon as it's becoming very tiresome.

And so that was the Founder which is okay mainly thanks to Keaton but I could safely skip this one it's not worth watching I'm afraid, 1.5 out of 5.

Film Review - Fantastic Beasts (2016)

Fantastic Beasts is the new Harry Potter spinoff written by JK Rowling and directed by David Yates who did the last few Potter films and the story here concerns Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) who comes to America from England with a special suitcase filled with Magical Creatures but when some of them escape through a chance encounter Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) goes to investigate but his investigation may uncover much more.

I hated this movie, I hated sitting through it for these reasons:

- Firstly the story here written by Rowling herself no less is all over the place, at times it feels like it's trying to do its own thing but at the same time if you have any knowledge of the Harry Potter series and I have some but I'm not an uber fan of it then it also began to feel very predictable as you could put together the clues of where all of these elements are eventually going to end up as well as predicting what's going to happen in this new series of stories.

- Secondly most of the characters I just found to be utterly boring and I didn't really care about most of them, I did like Newt and was very interested in following him and his story but so often the focus shifts away from him to these other characters like a pair of Sisters who use magic and a Muggle that gets caught up in the events of the story and I didn't really care about them all that much I wanted to see more of Newt.

- And lastly Yates's direction here is awful, it became clear to me when thinking about the film after I saw it that his focus was clearly divided between this and Tarzan which he also made earlier this year and frankly he should've abandoned Tarzan for another filmmaker and put his full focus onto this film as his Potter films were actually pretty good and again the whole thing plays out with a CGI thingamajig in the climax and so much of the film looks dark and murky and at times the action is hard to follow as it gets very blurry at times.

And so that was Fantastic Beasts and I was not that impressed with this one but if you're a Potterhead frankly what I say will be pointless as you'll want to see it for yourself and I will not stand in your way one little bit, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

Hacksaw Ridge is directed by Mel Gibson and tells the true story of Private Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who joins the Army during the Second World War with the desire of becoming a Combat Medic but he simply refuses to pick up a rifle and earns the ire of his commanding officers (Sam Worthington and Vince Vaughn) but he is cleared of those charges and goes to Hacksaw Ridge which if taken can let the Allies advance to Okinawa and potentially end the war.

Hacksaw Ridge is beautifully put together and coming out of it I found it hard not to feel moved by what is a wonderful true story put to the screen beautifully by Gibson and his directing work here is simply the finest I have seen all year, the War footage presented here is simply stunning but also very full on (I even saw a couple of Mad Max nods in 1 or 2 scenes) and his ability to get great performances from actors who have been very hit and miss over the years is also great.

And speaking of those performances first and foremost is Garfield who's redemption is long overdue for the appalling way he was treated during his time as Spider-Man and I really liked him in that role but he did not have any support from the studio or Marc Webb or the writers and when it all fell down the blame was unfairly put on him but here he carries the film effortlessly and Gibson is more than willing to let him off the leash, Teresa Palmer, Worthington, Vaughn, Luke Bracey, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths and Richard Roxbrough are also very good here and both Garfield and Palmer have very nice chemistry.

And so that was Hacksaw Ridge not one of my favourite films of the year but I haven't blamed anyone at all who said that it is as it is a very fine effort that I highly recommend, 4 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Arrival (2016)

Arrival is directed by Denis Villenuve and stars Amy Adams as Louise, a linguist who is recruited by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) to help decipher a mysterious spacecraft that has landed in 12 areas around the world but humanity may not take kindly to these visitors who some might see as unwelcome.

I was very mixed on this movie but on a purely filmmaking level I thought that it was very handsomely put together Villenuve did a very good job with his direction, the visuals, cinematography and editing were all very nice and Amy Adams was terrific in this movie and pretty much steals the show from Whitaker and Jeremy Renner who were both okay in their roles but Adams was far superior and it is certainly nice to see her back in a good role again as it's been a fair while.

But the films story I have to say didn't really do much for me and I don't want to go too heavily into that point as it will show some pretty big spoilers but myself having been a big fan of Star Trek Deep Space Nine and having seen that series from beginning to end I felt that a lot of the story points, plot reveals and character twists felt very similar to what happens in that series and as a result I began to think that it got a bit predictable especially towards the end.

And so that was Arrival which was handsomely made and Adams is great but as a DS9 fan its story didn't do an awful lot for me, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Light Between Oceans (2016)

The Light Between Oceans is based off of the novel and stars Michael Fassbender as Tom a light house keeper who falls in love with Isabel (Alicia Vikander) but the two have trouble conceiving a child but one day they see a baby on a boat come to their Lighthouse Island so they decide to keep it but that decision could well come back to haunt them.

This movie was simply awful to sit through so much so that it will probably be on my overall least favourites of the year list because it just became so damned tedious and laborious to sit through as the film went on now granted there are some terrific performances here as you would expect from director Derek Cianfrance, Fassbender is his normal reliable solid self, Vikander has a very welcome return to form after her disappointing work in Jason Bourne and the two of them have very believable acting chemistry and I also enjoyed seeing Norman Gunston, Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson in small roles.

But the longer this movie went on the more it became tedious and lumbering as scene after scene after scene just became nothing more than world class acting talent sitting in rooms weeping over letters and after a while this REALLY got on my nerves and I just kept sitting in my seat waiting for the damned film to end and boy was I happy when it ended.

And so that was the Light Between Oceans one of my least fav films of the year, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - The Accountant (2016)

The Accountant is directed by Gavin O'Connor who made Warrior in 2011 and stars Ben Affleck as Christian Wolff an Accountant who lives with high functioning Autism and cooks the book for some of the most sinister people on the planet but one day he is asked to look at a robotics company who might be leaking cash but this is no ordinary Accountant as he also has a particular set of skills.

When I learned about Ben's character being Autistic in this movie I have to be honest and say that I did not want to see this movie mainly because I have never really seen people with Autism done justice on film I mean you had Mercury Rising with Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin which was a silly thriller and also of course you had Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and that for me has sort of become the primary image most people might have when it comes to Autistic people in that his character has it so severely that he requires around the clock care.

But at that same time I did think to myself "Simon this is a dark action thriller which you love to go and see and Ben Affleck has yet to steer you wrong" especially since Gone Baby Gone in 2007 which was his debut as a director so could this trend continue.

Yes it certainly could as I really really enjoyed this movie not only for its great action but also its very generous amounts of heart but before I delve more into those points I want to talk about O'Connor's direction which is very good here, his use of editing and sound is very good, his direction is very solid and his ability to get performances out of his very reliable cast is good as well, John Lithgow, Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal, Jeffery Tambor and JK Simmonds are very good here and put in solid reliable work.

But this is straight up Ben Affleck's film and he delivers simply fantastic work here, if you have seen Autism up close then many of the small little touches his character has (the unorthodox measures he does to relax each night, the way he blows his hands, the very ordered and structured way he has his life) will sound spot on here and they most certainly are, he also has this very black and straight laced sense of humour that will not work for some but for me had me laughing quite a bit and also the way he tries to talk to Kendrick's character is very sweet because you can see that he's trying to reach out and talk to her like a normal person but he cannot and at times he gets very frustrated when things don't go quite right.

And also Ben's character's father deserves some praise here, the way he handles his son's condition as well as how he tries to teach Mr Wolff how to handle it himself is not done in an overprotective way or a patronising way or a way that makes him feel demeaning or useless or a burden to his family he gives him all the skills and tools he'll need to lead a normal life and to defend himself when necessary.

I give everyone a lot of praise for that here and Ben's action scenes are amazing because the way he takes people down is pretty scary I would not want this guy coming after me because I would be dead 2 times over before my corpse hit the floor and the sound design used in those scenes definitely had me jumping in my seat once or twice.

The Accountant is the kind of genre film we don't really see much anymore, an action film that takes its time to tell a story and really try to have some sort of heart as well as violent action and on that front I give it my highest recommendation, 4 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Dr Strange (2016)

Doctor Strange is the newest Marvel Studios production and concerns Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) a New York Neurosurgeon who loses his gift in a car accident that severely damages his hands, despondent he travels to Kathmandu in India to seek the wisdom of the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) but this journey will involve learning a new set of skills and facing down dangerous enemies.

I was a little hesitant heading into this movie primarily because I was very unimpressed with large chunks of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe I felt that it was too timid, too risk averse and all too willing to throw in not that funny one liners into films like Captain America Civil War which were meant to have a more serious tone but Marvel's recent Comic Con show showed me that perhaps Producer Supreme Kevin Feige and Co were now willing to become a little bolder and more risky given where the MCU is now heading.

And this gamble is one that has handsomely paid off as I really really enjoyed this movie for these reasons:

- Firstly the Visual Effects here are Stunning, simply Stunning if this movie does not win the Best Visual Effects Academy Award then something will be seriously wrong as there are scenes here that just make your jaw drop and it made me think that this is what CGI is meant to do, put things on film we can't do with practical effects and it demands for this movie to be seen on the biggest cinema screen you can find and this has already had me drooling of what the Infinity Gauntlet is going to look like in action.

- Secondly Cumberbatch anchors this entire film really well and watching him here reminded me a lot of Robert Downey Jr in the first Iron Man film in terms of seeing an actor completely owning the character they're playing on screen and it makes me very excited to see him in further MCU films, Swinton is okay here while Chwietel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong and Rachel McAdams were okay as well.

- Lastly I also loved the tone this movie set here, it does have humour in it but it never feels like it intrudes on the film as a whole and I was pleasantly reminded of one of my fav shows Dragon Ball and the mystical tone both that show and this film was on show a little bit here.

Unfortunately what really holds this film back is Mads Mikkelsenn playing Generic Marvel Villain number 562 and there's a real irony to this in that Marvel Studios has built this enormous cinematic universe and gone to great lengths and spent lots of time and money to carefully plan out each film and each phase and drawn upon decades of history from the comics and in return have been very very handsomely rewarded with box office success and a loyalty most franchises could only dream of having.

And yet something as basic and as fundamental as having a strong adversary for their heroes seems to elude them, Loki has been the one real exception and that was mainly due to Tom Hiddleston being a great choice for that role but all the others including the evil monk guy (Sorry I forgot his so very forgettable characters name) have been deathly dull and film killing in each way but this is so very much Cumberbatch's film that I didn't mind all that much THIS time around but Josh Brolin's Thanos is the one Mr Feige and Co MUST and I repeat MUST!!! get right because if they don't Infinity War is dead on arrival.

And so that was Dr Strange and this is a film well worth seeing on the biggest cinema screen you can find and stay for the mid credits scene as it is a VERY exciting tease and look I'll be honest and say that I have had my criticisms of the MCU and of Mr Feige but this movie has made me a fan again and Phase 3 is off to a very nice start, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - Jack Reacher Never Go Back (2016)

Jack Reacher Never Go Back is the sequel to 2012's Jack Reacher but this time Christopher McQuarrie has been replaced in the director's chair with Ed Zwick who made the Last Samurai in 2004 with Tom Cruise, here Cruise reprises the role of Reacher where he meets a US Army Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders) who ends up in prison convicted of a crime she may well be innocent of.

Jack Reacher 1 was okay and a perfectly entertaining way to spend 2 hours having a relaxing time with a film but Jack Reacher 2 was simply pathetic just yet another example of the fact that 8 in 10 sequels simply don't work and it doesn't work for these reasons:

- Firstly the storyline of the film is not really all that interesting and after a while it becomes completely predictable in terms of "That will happen, that will happen, that will happen" and it pretty much does it is also a very boring movie to sit through and after a while I just didn't care about anything that happened.

- Secondly there is not one single action sequence in this film that I found to be exciting, memorable or tension filled, each of it has this kind of "Padded Knuckles" feeling which is a Simpsons joke where Jimbo beats up Bart for wearing Safety Padding and he says "This Padding's so easy on the Knuckles, I could punch all day" and each action scene feels exactly like that and of no doubt this was done to get that much coveted PG-13 rating which is just a joke.

And also when you compare the action here with the action from Mission Impossible Rogue Nation it falls completely short as it has none of the fun and excitement those scenes had such as the opening Airport hijack, the Underwater Information Retrieval without an Oxygen Tank or the Motorcycle Chase or indeed the fight at the Opera here its just some bash, bash, bash stuff with no invention or excitement in them at all.

- And lastly the performances are all very weak, Cruise looks bored throughout this entire film and I couldn't help but think it was like watching a Dog constantly being kept on a leash when people like Christopher McQuarrie and JJ Abrams have let him off it and well we saw him climbing the tallest building in the world or hanging off the plane as its taking off or doing the Motorcycle Chase without any safety gear and you felt or least I did a real sense of "My God this is crazy but also wildly exciting" but there's none of that here he just scowls through the whole thing.

Smulders fares little better as she just looks angry throughout the whole film and the girl who plays Samantha is forgettable though she does get a couple of good moments but the only person I liked seeing in this film was Robert Knepper who played Minister Antonius in the Mockingjay films he made me smile whenever he came on screen.

And so that was Jack Reacher 2, a boring sequel on almost every level and frankly wait for the Accountant on November 3rd, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - Blood Simple (1984)

Blood Simple is the debut film for the Coens brothers and this one takes place in Texas where Ray (John Getz) is having an affair with Abby (Frances McDormand) the wife of a local bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who is not happy and hires a private detective (M. Emmet Walsh) to investigate their affair and possibly murder them.

Blood Simple is a terrific film and while I was watching it I felt like I was watching a great page turning novel put on film and where every element of the film (the editing, direction, camerawork, sound, music and performances) comes together into a beautifully cohesive whole and while it can feel like a slow burn at times it only makes the scenes of violence feel more impactful and more earned in the story and they made me wince a little I have to admit.

The performances are quite good with McDormand, Getz and Hedaya doing very adequate work but Walsh is the show stealer here with his bulky presence adding a real sense of dread to his character who does not muck around when he's on the case, the film also looks gorgeous with many strong visual colours and beautiful lighting in the films many night scenes (the scenes during the day do take away from the impact of the visuals of the film.)

As for the Coens themselves they do terrific work here and while watching this film I thought that this film really felt cohesive in a way that some of their recent films have not this year's Hail Caesar being one of them which while being one of their funny films got too silly for me just as Inside Llewyn Davis was probably a little too maudlin for their serious work whereas this film combines their serious and funny sides really really well perhaps in a way they have not quite been able to do since when they got more money to spend and won Academy Awards and having to answer to studios and producers.

And so that was Blood Simple a fantastic 80s noir that is well worth watching, 4 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Deepwater Horizon (2016)

Deepwater Horizon is based off of a true story of the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and stars Marl Wahlberg and Kurt Russell as two of the oil workers who head out to the Rig only to find out that the BP owners (one played by John Malkovich) have sent some of the test workers home without doing a Cement Test, later on the Rig catches fire after an Oil Leak and the race is on to survive.

Deepwater Horizon comes across as a great story and tribute to the real guys who went through this disaster (the worst in US History) but as a film I merely thought it was okay and the reason for that I feel is that it plays out a lot like a typical disaster movie:

- Something goes BOOM!
- How bad did it go BOOM!
- Very bad
- Run, Go, Get to Da Choppa
- Get to the Lifeboars she's going down
- Oh this can't go wrong, YES IT FUCKING DID!!!

Some of the order of that is not the same as in the film but it has the same feeling to it and yeah the disaster effects are pretty cool but I wasn't all that interested in it as a story, Wahlberg and Russell are their reliable old selves but Malkovich was the show winner here with his slightly slimy accent and perfect corporate asshole ness.

And so that was Deepwater Horizon, an okay disaster flick that is worth a rental, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - The Girl on the Train (2016)

The Girl on the Train is based off of the novel by Paula Hawkins and stars Emily Blunt as Rachel an alcoholic woman who takes the train every day and sees a young couple in love in a house by the sea but when a woman named Megan (Haley Bennett) goes missing she becomes a part of the puzzle.

This was an okay thriller that at times becomes a little too twisty turny for its own good combined with some pretty edgy scenes of violence and though many have compared it to Gone Girl the main comparison for me was 1992's Shattered which starred Tom Berenger and was made by Wolfgang Petersen in that you have an unreliable narrator with memory problems but whereas that film had an interesting mystery this one becomes much more predictable by the end.

What did redeem it a little bit for me was the performances Blunt is fantastic here and every scene she has you can't take your eyes off her and its sure nice to see her in a good role so quickly after her horrible work in the Huntsman spinoff from earlier this year, I also loved seeing Rebecca Ferguson again from Mission Impossible Rogue Nation last year and Bennett was fine though she really does look a lot like Jennifer Lawrence.

And so that was the Girl on the Train an okay thriller redeemed by a great performance by Blunt, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Inferno (2016)

Inferno is directed by Ron Howard and also based off of the novel by Dan Brown and once more Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is on the chase for the Inferno Virus said to be inspired by Dante's Inferno and this time he has a young doctor named Sienna (Felicity Jones) to help him and various Health officials after him as well.

This movie stinks, it stinks to its very core and it has to be one of the 3 worst films I have sat through all year in a cinema in that I physically hated sitting there in my seat and there is but one simple answer as to why that its.

And that is David Koepp's script which is all over the place in terms of its storytelling structure, plot twists and central mystery none of these elements feel like they come together in an exciting and mysterious way and while some of the visions of the end of the world were fun to watch at first (mainly because they reminded me of X-Men Apocalypse) after a while they and the film began to bore me and I just wanted it to be over.

This movie also makes the capital crime of being a waste of great talent and top of the list is Howard who had only just made a wonderful documentary about the Touring Years of the Beatles this just serves to be further proof that there is only so much a director can do with a rotten screenplay and Hanks is right up there beside him and he was so good in Sully what a shame to see him here looking bored with it all.

Felicity Jones a lovely young actress comes across as flat and boring in her role while Ben Foster and Omar Sy don't make much of an impression in their roles while Iffran Khan was probably the only person I enjoyed in this whole damned thing and even then it was only because I kept thinking of the Imran Khan parody from the Late Show and when that happens you know this movie isn't doing anything for you at all.

And so that was Inferno a film that stinks frankly and you shouldn't bother seeing it, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - The Beatles 8 Days a Week the Touring Years (2016)

The Beatles 8 Days a Week the Touring Years is a new documentary directed by Ron Howard and tells the tale of the touring years of the Beatles from their beginnings in 1962 to the end of those years in 1966 which can only be one part of the large Beatles story.

This Beatles doco is simply terrific for these reasons:

- Firstly the archive footage presented here is just remarkable, the many concert shows the band did look great for their age and they feel totally in sync with the mayhem of the crowds going on around them not to mention the songs making you want to tap your toe along to them whenever they play on screen.

- Secondly the interviews presented here are a nice mix of the talking heads and the voices over the archival footage and some of the people present here were a very nice surprise one of those being Howard Goodall who did the music for Red Dwarf which did come to mind for me when I saw him in this doco and very nicely interviews with George Harrison and John Lennon are present as well which I had been skeptical about prior to seeing this film.

- And lastly the film also manages to portray the changing world that was going on during the 1960s when the young began to crave real change to the world around them and through this enormous rebirth of the Arts particularly in England (this was also when the first batch of James Bond films were released and that also came to mind for me when watching this.) the conservative order if you like began to slowly break down and a new way of thinking began to emerge and perhaps in some way we have come back around to this now in our modern times.

I also wanted to watch the Simpsons spoof after seeing this documentary which was about the Be Sharps which is very very funny.

And so that was the Beatles 8 Days a Week the Touring Years which is a very strong contender for my movie of the year though there is another very strong contender for that title as well but this year is still not over, 4 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is directed by Tim Burton and based off of a novel adapted by Jane Goldman who is also Matthew Vaughn's writing partner the story here concerns Jake (Asa Butterfield) going through the death of his grandpa (Terence Stamp) but throughout his childhood and before his grandpa died he learned of a special school for children considered peculiar led by the mysterious Miss Peregrine (Eva Green.)

I wanted to see this film for 2 reasons primarily: Jane Goldman and Eva Green, Goldman is a great screenwriter who wrote Stardust and Kingsman the Secret Service with Vaughn and Green is pretty much one of the sexiest women on the planet as well as a vastly underrated actress, it gave me hope that both of them could help put Burton's career back on track after several misfires since the late 90s.

And very happily I can say that they do just that as this is the most fun I've had with a Burton film since probably Mars Attacks back in 1996 Goldman's script combines fun and creepiness really well and has a pretty decent story behind it as well that I found myself really getting behind and it has certainly given me hope that with a strong right hand as his screenwriter Burton can stay on the straight and narrow as recently he's indulged his kooky sensibilities and it's been a disaster all around but Nic Refn, Zack Snyder and Sir RIdley Scott have also been rather guilty of this in their careers.

As for the performances, Green puts her beautiful speaking voice to use and I never found myself bored when watching her on film, Samuel L Jackson was a pretty neat villain which is rather important for me while Dame Judi Dench has a very nice role albeit a small one and the visual effects for the most part are actually pretty good and also when Stamp was on screen I thought that it was sure nice to see him again and also wanting to kneel before him when his scenes were on.

Unfortunately Jake the main character does tend to be a bit of a wet blanket throughout most of this movie constantly asking questions about anything and everything and after a while I was starting to get bored with him but he redeems himself in the climax so it wasn't too bad.

And so that was Miss Peregrine a very nice surprise all around and it's well worth seeing, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - The Neon Demon (2016)

The Neon Demon is the new film by Nicholas Winding Refn and stars Elle Fanning as Jesse a young girl who goes to Los Angeles in the hope of making it as a model and she earns the envy of 2 older models (Abbey Lee and Bella Heathcote) as well as a local makeup artist (Jena Malone.)

The Neon Demon certainly is interesting as can normally be the case with Refn's work, there's no hiding his style when you're watching it and this film is no exception as to look at the film and listen to the soundtrack by Cliff Martinez are quite good and the performances for the most part are not that bad, Lee and Heathcote are okay and Keanu Reeves has a good role but Malone is the real show stealer here and she is fantastic in every single scene she has in the movie.

Unfortunately the film completely loses its nerve in the third act and pretty much decides to pull the knives out and let the bitchiness take over and this part of the film really lost me almost entirely and I began to just sit there and become impatient with the damned film and by the time it ended I just did not care anymore and I wanted it to be over.

It also doesn't help that Fanning is slightly miscast with her soft voice that becomes a little tiresome after a while and also I feel that along with Zack Snyder, Ridley Scott and Tim Burton Refn could really really do with a strong right hand as his screenwriter as all 4 of these men I feel are so visual in their style of directing and it informs heavily how they see their films that sometimes they lose their way in the story and character departments and Refn could really use a strong screenwriter on future projects.

And so that was the Neon Demon which was interesting enough but not really all that special I'm afraid, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Pete's Dragon (2016)

Pete's Dragon is based off of the 1977 Disney production and this one concerns Pete (Oakes Fegley) who lives in the woods with his dragon Elliott until he is discovered by a local park ranger named Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) but her discovery may bring with it some unwelcome guests.

I have to say that I quite enjoyed this new version of Pete's Dragon which is surprising as I have no real memory of the original film and there are 3 key reasons:

- The first is the amount of fun that I have had watching the film, for most of it I had a big smile on my face while watching it and it is nice to have a really fun family film.

- The second is it is utterly charming to watch and again when I was watching it I was swept along with the sweet and innocent story and lovely characters who you could really get behind and it also had a pretty good villain which has always been a bit of a strong point for Disney over the years.

- And lastly the film is just lovely with many emotional moments that did tug at my heartstrings and one scene nearly had me in tears and a lot of this comes down to the performances, Fegley is very good here and he reminded me somewhat of the feral kid from Mad Max 2, Robert Redford, Karl Urban and Wes Bentley are also pretty good here but the showstealer here I thought was Howard, she was great here and you really begin to feel the connection she develops to Pete and it has a very nice payoff.

And so that was Pete's Dragon a very nice and charming family film, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Midnight Special (2016)

Midnight Special is written and directed by Jeff Nichols who made Mud and stars Michael Shannon as Roy a man who is escorting his son Alton (Jaeden Lieberher) to a mysterious place at all costs meanwhile a religious cult led by Sam Shepherd and an FBI agent played by Adam Driver are also taking great interest in this special young boy.

Midnight Special is another well made film from Nichols and his leading man Shannon gives another reliable performance but I do not think it is as good as Mud mainly because Mud had more of a story to it whereas this has great ideas Sci-Fi and solid production values but it leaves its chief storytelling too sparse for my liking especially as I wanted to learn a little bit more about the cult which is sadly overlooked somewhat.

And also the end of the film feels like someone stole the set of Tomorrowland and plonked it in this film and given this mysterious nature the rest of the film built up towards to see that kind of ending does bother me a little bit as for the rest of the performances Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Shepherd and Driver are all totally fine but it is young Mr Lieberher that steals the show as every moment he has on screen is completely compelling and you get caught up in his journey more than you do the adult actors.

And so that was Midnight Special and it's not as good as Mud and is an okay Sci-Fi flick, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Sully (2016)

Sully is based off of the true story of Captain Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) who miracously landed his crashing plane on the Hudson River in January 2009 with all lives counted for but the National Transport Safety Board just can't help but think because the plane crashed that a wrong decision was made something Captain Sully is determined to prove wrong in the hearings.

Sully is a great story, a story of heroism, quick thinking in a crisis and a city coming together to rescue its own but as a film I do not think it is one of director Clint Eastwood's finest efforts, don't get me wrong it is not one of his turkeys but it is also a very watchable film.

And the main reason for that is due to Hanks's performance, he is simply terrific here and you are on his side the entire time he is on screen and you want him to get through all of this okay as what he shows so well is very much a haunted man someone who has gone through a near death experience and come out the other side not knowing who or what to do with himself and I didn't blame him one little bit, Aaron Eckhart is fine but this is Hanks's film lock stock and barrel.

And so that was Sully, a fine enough film that I enjoyed but it's not one of Clint's finest and that is something I would say of American Sniper from last year, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Sausage Party (2016)

Sausage Party is an animated film from Seth Rogen and concerns a Sausage at the Shopwells Supermarket where all of the goods on the shelves dream of being chosen by consumers for what they call "The Great Beyond" but one foods version of heaven could be another drinks version of Hell.

Sausage Party is a great idea as much for a film as well as a comedy unfortunately I just did not really laugh all that much and the more the film went on I just got more and more agitated with it.

The main reason I feel this way is because every single line in the film (well it felt like every single line) is littered with every ounce of profanity I can think of now I know that this is part of Rogen's shtick and it comes with the territory I get that but surely someone has to say to him "No Seth this is too much."

That said though I did enjoy the world of the grocery store and the various aisles that each have their own different feel to them and some of the gags in the climax did make me smile a little bit but by that point I just became bored with the film.

And so that was Sausage Party a film I did not very funny at all, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - The Shallows (2016)

The Shallows stars Blake Lively as a Medical Student who is visiting the Mexican beach her mother went to when she was pregnant with her from their she sees a mysterious island but she also ends wandering into the feeding area of a Shark and it now becomes a fight for survival.

I did not like this movie at all for these reasons of 2:

- Firstly not once did I think that this film was scary in any way shape or form sure some JUMP SCARES OOOOOOOOOO!!!!! would come at you like that and the sound would perk up and the editing become rapid but after about 2 seconds I didn't care about it and also a lot of is just the same old CGI blood and gore that we get too much of these days and I don't find it scary just dirt cheap.

- And secondly Blake Lively just did not compel me in her role, I never really bought her as a medical student and also I never felt that she was in any genuine danger which is not helped by the endless shots of both her bottom and her bikini line I mean for fucks sake she's meant to be in mortal danger from a Shark even if it is a CGI one that you should never ever show me as it looks fake but instead she's shot as if she was doing a Swimwear magazine cover I mean come on guys.

But lastly this whole film just kept making me want to rewatch Jaws again which was genuinely scary and had compelling characters hell I even thought of Robert Shaw's character Quint whilst watching this film and Roy Scheider's last line to the Shark in that film.

And so that was the Shallows not a very good horror film I'm afraid, watch Jaws instead, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

The Secret Life of Pets is the newest film from Illumination Entertainment and concerns a dog named Max who just adores his owner Katie but one night she brings home a rescue dog named Duke and the two don't get along and whilst out being walked end up lost in New York City.

I was very excited for this film mainly because of my love of Cats and having had one for most of my life and also I loved the preview I saw for the film it looked like a lot of fun but could it deliver the goods?

Yes it most certainly could as for a lot of this film I just had a big goofy smile on my face that was very hard to take off for these reasons:

- First of all I love the group of Pets that serve as the main characters in the film all of them were lovingly animated and thinking about that makes me want to pet some of them though my favourite has to be Chloe the Cat I loved every moment she was on screen the same with Leonard the Poodle and Tiberius the Hawk.

- Secondly there is some great voice talent here and first is Albert Brooks as Tiberius who steals every scene he's in and provides some great laughs, Lake Bell voices Chloe and does a really good job with the Cat and Jenny Slate is also good fun as Gidget.

- And lastly the film remembers to have fun as so often these days animated films feel they have to cram in a special message to try and make it mean something and more to the point give it a resonance for the adults going along with the kids to see the film here there is one about tolerating others you don't like at first and a pets need to have an owner that loves it but it's not as in your face as the message in Zootopia and Finding Dory was and I liked both of those films but the message in both of those films does overshadow both of them for good with Dory and for bad with Zootopia.

But before I end things here there is a Minions short film before the main feature where they try to mow a lawn to earn money for a Banana Blender and it was a lot of fun for me BANANA!!!!

And so that was the Secret Life of Pets, a very enjoyable animated film and if you've had a Pet you will really get behind it I think, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Nerve (2016)

Nerve tells the tale of Venus (Emma Roberts) a young girl in high school who decides to play the popular game Nerve that asks you to do dares for money others more dangerous and some fatal.

Nerve is an interesting premise for sure and whilst watching it I thought of the currently popular game Pokemon Go and I thought Emma Roberts (niece of Julia) was pretty good here she does have a little bit of her aunt's charisma and she also has nice chemistry with Dave Franco who is also pretty good here as Ian another player with a mysterious past.

What does hold this back for me is the endlessly stupid things people do in this film, they're climbing onto cranes, running around department stores in their underwear and even walking along a ladder from high on up and risk falling to their death and after a while I thought to myself "I hate these people and I don't care if they live or die" though the film does redeem itself quite a bit in the last act to reverse a lot of that feeling.

And so that was Nerve which has an interesting premise but stupid characters doing stupid things, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Batman the Killing Joke (2016)

Batman the Killing Joke is based off of the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and sees Batman (Kevin Conroy) once more on the hunt for the Joker (Mark Hamill) who has kidnapped Commissioner Gordon as he attempts to make him think "Why So Serious?"

The Killing Joke gets off to a rather slow start with a short film focused on Bat Girl (Tara Strong) that really only exists to flesh out the character and has one scene in particular that made me go "Okay what the hell" when you see it you'll know but once the main storyline gets into gear the film finds its stride.

And that stride comes in the form of Hamill himself who absolutely slays as the Joker this time and like the late great Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight (and watching this film I could see where Christopher Nolan and Co got some of their inspiration from for that film) every time he's on screen you just sit there gripped to the seat unable to look away for even a micro second and his "Looney Song" is just fantastic in both a smile inducing and creepy way.

One other thing came to mind when I finished watching this film was how much it felt like (at least to me) that it honoured DC's Graphic Novel legacy in a way that the live action films sadly seem to be turning more and more away from and no doubt this has come as a result of the response to Batman V Superman back in March which was very dark like a DC Graphic Novel would be but it didn't work for an audience more use to the fun and fancy free tone of the Marvel Studios films and as a result the DCU seems to be walking away from its legacy and that makes me a little sad.

And also hearing Hamill in this film also highlighted just how utterly pathetic and deeply disappointing Jared Leto was in Suicide Squad, how could they do that to the Clown Prince of Crime it just makes me really really mad.

And so that was Batman the Killing Joke save for the kinda weak and slow start once the main storyline gets into gear it becomes very entertaining, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Hitchcock/Truffaut (2016)

Hitchcock/Truffaut is a documentary based around a series of interviews conducted over a week in 1962 between Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut though the doco also contains comments from some of our own master filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and David Fincher among others.

This doco was fantastic truly terrific stuff though it does get off to a bit of a slow start but when it gets to just the 2 men talking about their craft it becomes probably the greatest master class on cinema that any film lover could ever dream of to the point where you become tempted to get out a book and start writing down everything they're saying in the hope that you will learn something out of it all.

One thing I picked up the most from this doco was a line of Hitch's that he wrote in a letter to Truffaut saying that perhaps he should have taken more risks with his work and experimented a bit more with his art form which was so precise and carefully crafted yet came with a deep understanding of his audience and that resonated with me given how this year in movies in particular has played out where more and more filmmakers if they spend a big budget don't really get to do much with their medium instead they just follow orders.

And one only has to see the new Fantastic Four or Suicide Squad to see where that can lead it rarely ends well and even if a filmmaker does get to experiment like Dr George Miller did with Mad Max Fury Road last year or Edgar Wright did with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World there's no guarantee that audiences will jump on board en masse so it can be a bit of a double edged sword sometimes.

And so that was Hitchcock/Truffaut a great doco and one of my fav film watching experiences of the year, 4 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Green Room (2016)

Green Room is written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier and stars the late Anton Yelchin as Pat the head of a band called the Ain't Rights who are facing the end of their tour when a gig comes their way at a secluded club owned by Darcy (Patrick Stewart) and Darcy has very dark secrets in his club that he will do anything to protect.

Green Room is simply terrific and very genuinely one of the years finest crafted films for these three key reasons:

- First is Saulnier's direction it is truly fantastic to watch just from a craftsman point of view, the film is only 96 minutes long but he makes the absolute most of every moment he puts on screen, nothing feels flabby or wasted but instead air tight and sharply paced, I hope sincerely to see more of him in the director's chair soon.

Another person deserving praise is Sean Porter who was the cinematographer on the film and the mood he creates with that bar with the deep greens and black blacks and beer coloured yellows its almost as if you can feel the piss and vinegar and vomit stains on the wall and the empty glasses on the bar with beer foam still inside, just great world building here.

- Secondly the action in the film is properly violent and bloody and as someone who is so utterly sick to death of seeing toothless and bloodless action in the action films released these days it like Hardcore Henry was very refreshing to see some real blood in the action scenes.

- And lastly the performances are all very good, it is so sad to be watching this after Yelchin sadly passed away and this film shows that he still had so much more to give us as an actor and that it's just so sad that he was taken from us so soon in his life and Stewart is a truly fantastic villain he doesn't do much but his sheer presence reminds us constantly that this guy means business and he'll do whatever it takes to protect his livelihood and again he is just fantastic to watch here.

And that was Green Room which joins Eddie the Eagle and X-Men Apocalypse as one of my top films of the year so far, 4 out of 5.

Film Review - Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Kubo and the Two Strings is the latest Laika animated production and tells the tale of Kubo (Art Parkinson) who is a young boy who is tasked with finding an ancient battle suit in the hope that it will help him and his mother live freely from an evil sorcerer (Ralph Fiennes.)

Kubo is beautifully animated truly beautiful with its use of stop motion animation just to look at this film is a true delight, the waves, the lights, the landscapes, the action all of it is just impeccably put together and Charlize Theron is great in the film as well playing a bad ass Monkey with a real attitude problem.

Sadly however the films storyline just didn't do much for me and all throughout the film I just struggled to get all that engaged with it and primarily because I felt it got pretty predictable with its story and character arcs in a way that I kinda began to figure out what was going to happen ahead of time and given that this film is meant to be about the power of storytelling and how it impacts our lives as well as the lives of those around us it feels a little disappointing that the film falls short in this key area.

That said some older kids 7 to 12 will enjoy this film but that would be about it I feel (saw a couple of young kids in my session and they did squirm a little bit) but for me personally it was just okay, another meh film in what has been a very meh year for movies in general, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Hardcore Henry (2016)

Hardcore Henry is a Russian production all in First Person Perspective as a man named Henry wakes up in a lab missing an arm and a leg but after his scientist wife pieces him back together a man named Akan attacks and kidnaps her forcing Henry to go and rescue her.

Now I was really excited to see this film as the preview for it was fucking exhilarating with its use of Don't Stop Me Now by Queen and the action scenes feeling really exciting but could the film itself actually deliver the goods?

Well no sadly as this movie is a big disappointment for me so much so that when it ended I thought to myself "Is That It?" but before I delve into that I want to talk about what I did like:

- First off the film looks terrific the First Person Perspective works a real treat and while watching it I thought to myself "This is as if someone took a VR Helmet and turned it into a movie camera to shoot a film" and it really felt that way at least for me and not once did I feel bored looking at the film from that technical perspective.

- And secondly the violence in the film just had me grinning from ear to ear as this is full on R rated violence with oodles of blood on screen and it is about fucking time too as I am so sick to death of all these big action films that just chicken out with their violence because they want that magical PG-13 rating that gives them the maximum bang for the buck and boy does it feel so fucking good to have some blood in a film again.

But where this film faulters majorly is in its storytelling frankly it's just a ripoff of Robocop from 1987 where you have the cybernetic guy, the evil villain, the big twist to it all and none of it really was that interesting for me and the use of Don't Stop Me Now in the film itself was immensely disappointing but that's all I'll say on that front.

As for Akan the lead villain well he wasn't all that great don't get me wrong his powers look great but all he ended up being was a cheapo Magneto knockoff but without any real motivation which Magneto always has and why it makes him such a compelling villain to watch.

And so that was Hardcore Henry sadly my biggest disappointment of the year so far, rent Robocop instead, 1.5 out of 5.

Film Review - Suicide Squad (2016)

Suicide Squad is based off of a DC comic and stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis and Jared Leto among others as the US Government representative Amanda Waller seeks to establish a special task force in case Superman turns evil again but this group will be hard to control.

I was very 50/50 going into this movie as DC's Cinematic Universe much like Marvel's in 2008-2012 has gotten off to a very rocky start for I was not a big fan of Man of Steel whilst I warmed to Batman V Superman with the extended version but I was looking forward to Jared Leto as the Joker so could this film turn the ship around for DC or are there still rocky waters ahead.

Well I hated this movie and for these reasons:

- Firstly the film is just so lifeless on screen to the point where it feels like your being hit over the head with a hammer and it makes your head hurt, none of the scenes ever really felt like they came alive for me and the storytelling here was pretty weak with a lot of flashback segments in the beginning that in some cases could've been their own film and then grinding the whole thing to a halt in the middle act and then crafting a boring CG filled climax.

- Secondly the action is thuddingly noisy as it is constantly filled with LOUD MUSIC THAT PLAYS EXACTLY LIKE THIS!!! and after a while it all just got too much for me and it added I think to the being hit over the head feeling I elaborated on in my previous point and also the film has this attitude towards women that for me made me very uncomfortable after a while which also didn't help matters.

- And lastly I really didn't like a lot of the performances, Smith as Deadshot didn't really register for me all that much, Robbie went way too over the top as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney did a really cringeworthy Aussie accent as Captain Boomerang (Courtney himself is Australia but this was way too cartoonish) Joel Kinnaman basically did the "Army Officer 101" act as Rick Flagg while Ben Affleck basically had a glorified cameo as Batman.

But there are two performances in particular that disappoint me one of those is Leto's as the Joker and that character has always been fun over the years whether he was played by Jack Nicholson or Mark Hamill or the late Heath Ledger but this time Leto barely did anything nor did he have any meaningful screen time and for me I just hate it when such a great character like the Joker is wasted in this manner.

The other is Cara Develeigne as the Enchantress and frankly she was not very good in this film and again another Super Hero film suffers from having a weak villain and boy oh boy oh boy am I getting sick to death in so many ways of this.

I will say however that Davis as Waller is a terrific performance but again its one that basically has Davis sitting around a desk barking orders and making threats and it feels like a bit of a waste, hopefully a more meaningful role will come in the future for this character.

And so that was Suicide Squad one of my least favorite films of the year so far, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - Jason Bourne (2016)

Jason Bourne sees the return of Matt Damon as Jason Bourne and Paul Greengrass in the director's chair and Bourne is now tracking down the mystery regarding his father that could well tie into his mysterious past.

I was very much looking forward to this film as it looked like a proper action film and it has been a fair while since we have had one of those (The Nice Guys was probably the last one we got and that was back in May) but could Damon and Greengrass's return to the series put things back on track or were they right to leave things after the 2002-2007 trilogy of films.

Well I have to say that I did enjoy this film but the more that I began to think about it the more it kinda shrank in my mind now that does not in any way make this a bad film as its very far from one but it also kinda became one that fell into the grey area a little bit.

The good however is very good Greengrass makes the film clip along at a really nice pace, there are some very exciting action sequences (ones set in Vegas and Greece were real highlights) and Vincent Cassel and Tommy Lee Jones are terrific in the film.

The bad however is pretty bad and there are three key components to this:

- The first is the films story, all throughout the film I kept thinking to myself "This is the Weapon X Program from X-Men" and that program was where Wolverine got his Metal Claws and had his memory wiped ("He will have no memory" says a voice from the past in X-Men 2) and that comparison became harder and harder to shake for me.

One positive side of that is that Tommy Lee Jones would've been a fantastic William Stryker although Brian Cox was simply brilliant in that role.

- Secondly Damon just didn't cut through for me this time around, he stood around a lot, walked really fast and scowled a lot and after a while I got a bit bored with it and his performance overall.

- And lastly Alicia Vikander who is a wonderful young actress is pretty much wasted in this film, she was so good in Ex Machina and the Man from UNCLE last year and she won an Academy Award but here she just plays the generic CIA officer that frankly any actress could've played, hopefully the Light Between Oceans and Tomb Raider will remind us all of how good she can be.

And so that was Jason Bourne, not a bad film at all but just not a great one either I suspect that I might have enjoyed this a lot more if I had seen the earlier films, 2 and a half out of 5.

Thoughts on the Extended Version of Batman V Superman

So Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice has now been released in its original 3 hour version before director Zack Snyder had to cut it down to the 151 minute version we all saw in cinemas back in March.

I will avoid in this review talking about my overall feelings on the film itself as I covered all that back in March both on here and on my Radio show but what was this cut the one that if Snyder had had his way we would've seen back in March like?

Well this is easily the best cut of the film and it is also the cut we should've gotten back in March but Warner Brothers panicked at the last minute and most likely ordered Snyder to cut it down to 2 and a half hours in case they could get the maximum impact in terms of sessions in a day (which are most often taken up with nearly 20 minutes worth of ads, now I love previews but that is ca-razy) and well if you go even a sliver beyond 150 minutes its considered a huge gamble and given the huge amount of story this film has now in this 3 hour version something has to give.

And sadly something that did give was the use of Clark Kent in the release version he barely did anything and had little to no screen time whereas here he actually gets a really good story arc of his own where he actually goes to Gotham and does research on the Batman and the effect he leaves on the city ("He is Angry and he's Hunting" says one man.)

The other is the fully realised Africa sequence which should NEVER!!! have been cut to shreds in the release version and this time it actually plays out like a fun Superman action scene in the beginning of the film (though he really didn't need to save Lois for the 9 BILLIONTH TIME I mean seriously the handling of her has been farcial since Superman II) and sets up the rest of the film very well.

Sadly however this version is not the night and day difference I thought it would be and what also became the case with James Cameron's the Abyss back in 1989 where he had a 3 hour cut (a 3 hour cut) that he then had to cut down to get the maximum session times in a day and the Special Edition he released in 1993 pretty much rendered the release version unwatchable.

Where this film and this version goes so very wrong is sadly where I feared very genuinely where the film would end up when I saw the now infamous 2nd preview for it back in December of last year and that is instead of the film culminating in the titanic fight between 2 iconic superheroes instead it's with a CGI Monster that looks like they cast the Cave Troll from Lord of the Rings.

Not to mention shoving in a pointless Wonder Woman cameo which Gal Gadot gives all she can to do with and becomes memorable for sure but all it does for me is serve to undermine her solo film which is coming next year as well as the other "Here's the Justice League" scene that really made me cringe even if one of them has Myles Dyson in it.

The third problem I have and this is really disappointing for me is the scenes with Jena Malone, now I LOVED her as Johanna Mason in the Hunger Games series she was awesome in those films and when it broke that she had been cast in this film many suspected she might be either Barbara Gordon or Carrie Kelly the female Robin instead it was just a really small role and it felt like a waste of her talent.

And so that was my thoughts on the extended version of Batman V Superman it's a big improvement but it does not sadly fix the fundamental problems the film has overall regarding its final act and shoving in characters for no real reason apart from "Here they are ready to go for next time" and so this cut gets a 2 and a half out of 5.

On the Air Season 3 Episode 9: Happy Anniversary You Bitch

Well folks here is my latest Radio episode which I did in the studio:

- Finding Dory revisit
- The BFG
- Ghostbusters
- The Legend of Tarzan
- Aliens 30th Anniversary

As always you can listen here: https://soundcloud.com/abclocalradio_sa/friday-flicks-on-abc-south-east-sa-july-22

Film Review - Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Star Trek Beyond continues the adventures of Captain Kirk and Mr Spock on the Starship Enterprise who after taking some Shore Leave come under attack and crash land on a nearby planet led by the villainous Krall (Idris Elba) who may have a sinister plan against the Federation.

I thought this was pretty eh all around, don't get me wrong the crew of the good ship Enterprise are as good as ever and watching Anton Yelchin in this film made me realise how much I'll miss him but overall I thought the film was pretty hollow for these reasons:

- First the story for the film didn't really grab me all that much it just felt more like a Fast and Furious film than it did Trek which shouldn't be a surprise given Justin Lin directed some of those films as he did this one and I didn't really care all that much about whether the crew survived.

- Secondly both Elba and Soufia Boutella were wasted in their roles, Elba's Krall wasn't that great of a villain in the same way that Ricardo Montalban and Christopher Plummer were in Nicholas Meyer's 2 Trek films and Boutella who I loved as Gazelle in Kingsman last year didn't really make much of an impression on me as all she seemed to do was what she did in Kingsman a lot better and frankly anyone else could've played either of those roles.

- And lastly the film is too long it gets to a point where it could come to a natural end but instead it tacks on one action sequence too many that I kinda got bored watching and just kept waiting for the film to end.

And so that was Star Trek Beyond a film I thought was pretty meh overall, rent the Wrath of Khan, the Undiscovered Country and JJ Abram's 2 films instead as those were pretty good I thought, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Legend of Tarzan (2016)

The Legend of Tarzan tells the tale of Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) and his lady Jane (Margot Robbie) returning to Africa to prevent the envoy of his Majesty of Belgium Elon Rom (Christoph Waltz) from finding the diamond mine and wiping out the natives in the process but they're not going alone as they'll have an American doctor (Samuel L Jackson) to help them.

I hated this movie there I said it for three key reasons:

- Firstly the storyline for this film is just a mess and the more I watched of the film the more I thought that I'm watching a sequel to a film that really doesn't exist save for in the flashback scenes and those scenes when they came on I thought to myself "Why isn't that the movie I'm watching right now" as that would've been about Tarzan King of the Jungle Lord of the Apes swinging through the Jungle, meeting the lady Jane and learning about his past before his parents were killed instead the story we get is boring and I didn't care for any of it.

- Secondly the cast is almost completely wasted, Skarsgard sounds a lot like his father Stellan (Captain Tupolov of the SS Konavalov) but all he does is stare a lot and run around with his shirt off, Jackson plays a very poor comic relief and Robbie is wasted as Jane and like seeing Rebecca Hall wasted in a film it is not a sight I enjoy one bit and as for Djimon Hounsou as one of the tribal kings well he may as well have not bothered to show up as he barely does anything for fucks sake.

- And thirdly Waltz is a really poor villain as all he does is the usual Christoph Waltz schtick that works when Quentin Tarantino has his hands on him but hasn't worked since but then again this was also the same bozo who took the chief inspiration for Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget and turned him into a Buffoon but hopefully Waltz can get back on form soon.

I will say however in the films defense that there are some nice moments regarding a Wilderbeest Stampede (it did however make me think of the Lion King) and Tarzan actually being Tarzan and thinking about that last point just makes this whole sorry affair really feel like a missed opportunity.

And so that was Tarzan for me one of the year's worst films along with Warcraft, the 5th Wave, Angry Birds and the Revenant, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - Hunt for the Wilder People (2016)

Hunt for the Wilder People is directed by Taika Waititi and stars Julian Dennison as Ricky a young orphan who is sent to live on a Farm in Remote NZ but after the death of his foster mother runs away to live in the woods which causes his foster father (Sam Neill) and the authorities to go and look for him.

Hunt for the Wilder People is good fun with plenty of great laughs to be had, I have to say that I laughed more in this than I did in Ghostbusters but that is the better film, Dennison and Neill play off each other very well and like in Lord of the Rings the New Zealand countryside looks great.

But apart from that I wasn't all that with this film don't get me wrong I liked it and laughed a lot and think that the Skux Life will eventually choose us all but it wasn't a film that really kinda stuck in the memory for me so consider this one a very short and sweet review and a 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters is a reboot directed by Paul Feig and stars Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as the new team of Ghostbusters who must stop a paranormal threat to their city of New York.

Part of me was dreading going to see this film primarily because A) The previews for the film were utterly utterly utterly dreadful and B) The Polar Vortex of Bitterness and Hatred that was just so unfairly dumped on not only this film but also Ms Jones who only did what any other actress would've done in her place and that is sign up for a big film like this one.

Well I am so very happy to say that the film is good fun, it's not a great film like the original 1984 film is but it is one you will be glad you went and saw as I certainly am and coming out of it I felt angry frankly that the film copped so much hatred as it's really only just a film but these people don't want change they just want things to be as they remember them as we saw with the Force Awakens last year and if you do do anything different like this or Batman V Superman or X-Men Apocalypse did well you get punished and that I think is just very very unfair.

But back to the film and first off the girls play off each other very well and Feig is happy to let them riff with each other when they get to do so before cracking the whip to keep them on track, McCarthy and Wiig I thought had really great chemistry while McKinnon and Jones weren't as effective, Jones in particular was sadly (very sadly) the weakest of the group, I like the street smart Hustler character she plays but after films like Creed and Straight Outta Compton I'd like to see the loud black person stereotype put on a dusty shelf to gather dust for all eternity.

Secondly the visual effects are great with all the ghosts and proton pack firings it definitely put a smile on my face while watching it especially when the girls lit em up that made me a very happy boy cause it said to me "They're Ghostbusters." and that gives me such joy when I think about that.

Sadly there are 2 big problems with this film:

- First of those is the storyline, frankly it's not that great for while it's a reboot of the series it also wants to have its Hot Dog and eat it too by playing with the iconography of the original film and I felt that it either should've been a clean reboot or a continuation with the 3 remaining original members passing the torch to the new team and had either of those happened I think it would've been a stronger film.

- Secondly the villain was pathetic frankly he was a tiny little Smeghead with delusions of grandeur and not that different than all of the post Loki Marvel villains that Earth's Mightiest Heroes could squash in 2 minutes, a good villain like Dickless in the original film could've been a great asset I mean you can't just cast Charles Dance and then have him do sweet fuck all I mean seriously.

And so that was Ghostbusters and it's good fun but it's not a great film like the original film but still this is worth a watch if you get the chance, 3 out of 5.

The 2016 Halftime Report

Hard to believe but half of 2016 is already over and with that it is time to sound the half time siren and assess the year so far.

Unfortunately I have to say that the year so far in movies has not been that good, don't get me wrong it has not in any way at all been a bad year in film not at all but it has also been so bland and so blaze and so bleh that with 1 or 2 exceptions so little has stood out for me, those being X-Men Apocalypse and the Hateful Eight.

And I can't help but feel that this has been building under the cinematic fog that fell over me in the last 3 months of last year (the September to December quarter) which is also the period where Oddball dominated to such a degree that it left a very large shadow over the other new release films (some of which I did like such as the Martian, the Intern and Miss You Already) that it kinda made them all feel all the same in terms of their tone and look (nice, soft, middle of the road, crowd pleasing and not too far out there on the edge.)

And all of that built to such a degree where I just wanted to tear my hair out to the point where I became Bald Charles Xavier style that I just thought to myself "That's It after I've seen the Force Awakens I am taking a break from new releases" though that would change somewhat as Joy and the Good Dinosaur beckoned as well.

But enough about that as I wanted to make the point more clearly that that shadow finally lifting in January has only really revealed a dry depleted desert of a cinema going landscape where it all feels the same and nothing really sort of stands out and for me I just don't like that as I want those darker and more serious films to go to as I enjoy going to those the most.

All of that aside there is still half a year left to go on the cinema going front and a lot can happen in that time so things could turn around, it might turn out to be a faint hope but after the last 9 months I have to hope that things will get better.

Us Lucky Punks: Revisiting Dirty Harry

Not content with revisiting Blade Runner I also became inspired to rewatch 1971's Dirty Harry which made Clint Eastwood into a superstar and set the standard for virtually every single Cop related film and TV show that followed.

This is a film that I have a very vivid memory of watching for the first time I hired it in 2008 from my local Video Store and was genuinely knocked out by it though back then what struck me the most was Clint Eastwood's performance in the film, he just held the screen whenever he was on with his striking and no nonsense appearance and it absolutely inspired me to track down as many films of his as possible.

But that was then and this is now and re watching it again a couple of weeks ago brought back the very same reaction I had when I first watched it and along with Eastwood there were 2 other factors that struck to my mind when I watched it.

- The first of these is Don Siegel's direction and it is simply the work of a master, he wastes no time getting to the heart of the story (the film immediately opens with Scorpio's first kill) and making the absolute use of every scene in the film, no scene and no frame feels wasted and the film has this feeling of being air tight and extremely tense especially as the confrontation between Harry and Scorpio comes ever so closer and Harry races against time to find Ann Marie Deakin before she suffocates to death.

What Siegel also brings to the film is a sense of the contemporary, this was a new hero for a new time the early 70s which saw the world enter a very contentious time (the end of the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal, the Whitlam Years and the Escobar and Miranda Decisions regarding the rights of criminals) and Inspector Callahan suit the time perfectly with his no nonsense heroics and sense of the righteous cause where all that mattered to him was the safety and security from the evil of San Francisco an evil that he knows all too well can strike at any time and without warning.

There's also an interesting parallel between Harry Callahan and James Bond as 1971 also saw the release of Diamonds are Forever which began the transition to the much more light hearted tone of the Roger Moore period in that franchise and while the 007 films of the 60s embodied the free love, promiscuous, high class and clear good guys and bad guys feelings of that decade Callahan is much more of a working class hero with shades of grey as well as being a much more rigid and take control type of hero.

- The second one was Andrew Robinson's performance as Scorpio and the dynamic between him and Harry is a fascinating one because in some ways it resembles the dynamic between Batman and the Joker, one is very stoic and soft spoken while the other is chaotic with a capital C and they complement each other rather well I think.

Another thing is that Scorpio simply has no regard for anyone no matter their age, gender or race as far as he's concerned they're simply the next target in his sights and he'll kill them without any hesitation but if you pin him down he'll use the system against you and that makes him dangerous and as a result you sit there watching it thinking "Somebody please get rid of this guy."

Thinking about this film also made me think of the films inevitable sequels that followed and how each of them just simply never measured up to the original film and I think the absence of both Siegel's direction and a strong villain in Robinson very much hurt the series going forward and as far as I'm concerned without a strong adversary to challenge the heroes whether they carry a badge or be Earth's Mightiest Heroes in the Avengers I just don't care whether the hero survives or not it's just become that simple for me now.

And so that was my revisit of Dirty Harry discussed, I hope you all enjoyed reading it.

On the Air Season 3 Episode 8: Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Fighting

Well folks here is my latest Radio episode where I talk about:

- Finding Dory
- Warcraft
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Out of the Shadows
- Me Before You

As always you can listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/abclocalradio_sa/friday-flicks-june-24-2016

Film Review - The BFG (2016)

The BFG is based off of the Roald Dahl book and is directed by Steven Spielberg and written by the late Mellisa Mathison who also wrote ET in 1982, the story here concerns Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who is whisked away to Giant Country by a Big Giant (Mark Rylance) but could this Giant be Friendly or Enemy?

I've been something of a Steven Spielberg agnostic for a number of years now, I just can't help but feel that he peaked somewhat after that group of films consisting of Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark and ET there were some bright spots along the way like Jurassic Park but most of the films he's made since haven't really done much for me so I went into this film somewhat apprehensive.

To my surprise I actually thought this film was pretty good I went along with it, the music by John Williams was really good one of the better scores he's made in the last little while, the look of the film and the visual effects were very nice and Spielberg's own direction felt very alive and fast paced the kind we used to see from him in those films like Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And also Rylance was great as the BFG and thinking about him in the role it's hard to imagine anyone else playing that character now but all of this was in the first two thirds of the film as the last third sadly went a little off the rails and got a little too silly for my liking and also it became a waste of Rebecca Hall who I love as an actress and was so good in the Gift last year, how sad to see her in such a nothing role in this film.

And so that was the BFG a great first two thirds is undermined by a silly 3rd act but still it is worth a watch, 3 out of 5.