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Showing posts from 2018

Blade Runner 2049

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Released: October 5th 2017 BBFc rating 15 Directed by Denis Villeneuve Cast: Ryan Gosling, Ana De Armas, Harrison Ford, Jared Leto It has been 35 years since the original Blade Runner film which was undoubtedly excellent, and after years of begging for it, Ridley Scott has finally made a sequel, and it is safe to say it holds up the reputation. The film follows a new protagonist in the form of officer K (Gosling) , who has a position in the LAPD reminiscent of the old Blade Runner job, and follows him as he explores the new breed of replicatnts that can reproduce. The film is very much like the original, with the same mysterious and neon setting, with a bizarre world that you struggle to understand and a soundtrack from Hans Zimmer to match the suspense. I thought the story was very compelling, you had good chemistry between the characters, and Leto, while his part was relatively short was very good also. I do have some issues with the film, Harrison Ford seems a bit underused

The Death of Stalin

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Released 20th October 2017 BBFC rating: 15 Directed by: Armando Iannucci Cast: Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, Micheal Palin, Jason Issacs, Olga Kurylenko, Simon Russel Beale The Death of Stalin revolves around how the Soviet Government handled the death of their dictator in the early 1950's, and Armando Iannucci brings his classic satire comedy to the film in a brilliant take on the subject. Ianucci does well to introduce all of his characters, and to keep them important through the whole film, as well as keeping the comedy going throughout the whole film, something which a lot of modern comedies are unable to do. I Think Jason Issac's character of Zhukov was the stand out character in the film, being the most entertaining of all of the. Steve Buscemi and Tambor where brilliant as the main leads to the film, and it does well to keep track of its story and plot , not losing it half way in the film to keep the comedy going. The start of the film is very slow however, a

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

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Released 6th June 2018 BBFC rating: 12A Directed by : J.A. Bayona Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, Toby Jones. A lot of sequels that have come out recently have been accused of being mindless repeats of the originals, with the new Star wars sequels and the previous Jurassic world being the main contenders, and while Fallen Kingdom has attributes different to that of Lost World, it may be suffering from a similar fate. The film follows three years after Jurassic World, with the volcano on Isla Nublar threatening the existence of the De-Extinct Dinosaurs on the Island, and Clair (Howard) and Owen (Pratt) attempt to rescue them. While the film has resemblances to the lost world there are however attributes that differ, with the second half of the film venturing into new territory for the film, trying to create some originality. Fallen kingdom does well to keep the viewers entertained, with nice twists throughout the film and keepi

Deadpool 2

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Released 16th May 2018 BBFC rating 15 Directed by David Leitch Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz After the overwhelming success of the first Deadpool film, the second instalment was inevitable, with the same formula that made the first one great. The film revolves around Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool ( Reynolds ) attempting to save Firefist ( Dennison ) from time travelling assassin Cable ( Brolin ). While using similar ideas and call-backs to the first film, this one feels completely different, and in some senses more like Deadpool than before, filled with more references and nit pics to Dc than before, and arguably better action. The film also remembers to not take itself too seriously like the other one did, with more events in the film which try and mess with the timeline as much as possible without caring about the outcome. Overall the film does well to be entertaining, maybe more so than the last one, keeping good action flowing thr

Avengers: Infinity war ( no spoilers )

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Released 27th April 2018  BBFC rating 12A Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo The MCU has been leading to this film for over 10 years now, with the promise of a big showdown with all the characters that have been developed across over 15 films, and to be honest it has paid off massively. The story of the film was everything that had been hoped for, with a plot that closely resembles a manhunt. The film does well to keep track the multiple story threads that it has created, making sure that the audience is kept up on what is happening at each point. the characters are well developed throughout the film, with each of them having a personal motive throughout. Of course with over 40 characters in the film, some are overshadowed and sort of just there, but in a film so big this is not really much of an issue with the smaller roles. I think that as a marvel fan you really get what you where promised with the enjoyment of seeing the different characters coming together, especially that o

Pacific Rim: Uprising

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Released: 23rd March 2018 BBFC rating 12A Directed by Steven S. DeKnight Cast: John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny Plot: 10 Years after the war against the Kaiju, The earth returns to battle as they return with with more power than before, forcing Jake Pentecost back into action as a Jaegar pilot. There was no doubt that the first Pacific Rim film was a mental action ride through what was essentially 2 hours to please everyone's inner child, that had a simple enough story and enough big robots and Aliens to keep you entertained. It is fair to say then that this film manages to achieve the same, with the same level of story as before, but with brilliant action pieces that you have to put minimal effort into. However it comes to a point where it feels like they just want to turn everything up to eleven, making it more entertaining than the last one without bothering to film in some plot points. There is no mention of the previous characters, and the story seems

12 Strong

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                      BBFC rating 15 Released 26th January 2018 Directed by Nicolai Fuglsig Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Micheal Shannon. Micheal Pena, Navid Negahban After the attack on the Twin Towers on the 11th September 2001, American soldier infiltrate Afghanistan , with Captain Mitch Nelson (Hemsworth) leading the first group into the war. The film  plays out very much like you would expect a modern war flick to, introducing the provocation that causes the all American heroes to go into the enemies territory to hold up patriotism. However, the film doesn't seem to feel like the traditional Flag waving, Red White and blue America loving war film you would expect it to be, partly because the focus of the film is on an Australian actor, but also due to the range of character you get out of it, with the film ending up being split between two groups, and does well to keep the viewer kept up with all the backstory and makes you feel a part of the team, with the exposition not b

War for the Planet of the Apes

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Released: 11th July 2017 BBFC rating: 12A Directed by :Matt Reeves Cast: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Karin Konoval, Amiah Miller The final chapter in the Planet of the Apes reboot sees the final confrontation between the Apes lead by Caesar (Serkis) against a rogue battalion of humans lead by The Colonel (Harrelson). The film does well to keep well towards the themes of the previous two, while being a completely new film in the franchise, being a more gritty entry to the series. It does well to build on previous characters seen in the franchise, as well as tying into the films that produced the ideas for this reboot. It draws a lot of inspiration from classic war films such as the Great escape and Apocalypse now, and Serkis's performance was brilliant, and definitely  deserves the best visual effect Oscar this year. Harrelson shines as the main antagonist to the film, providing the cold hearted villain that the series deserved, really putting emotional depth t

Star Wars : The Last Jedi

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Released 14th December 2017 BBFC rating 12 Directed by Rian Johnson Cast : Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver , Carrie Fisher The Last Jedi starts off pretty much where the force awakens left of, following the finding of the rebel base, the first order hunt down the remnants of the resistance, under the lead of Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver). Meanwhile Rey ( Daisy Ridley) looks for help  in the form of Luke Skywalker ( Mark Hamill). Honestly this was a brilliant film in many different ways, it had a great narrative which differed from the usual idea you would find in a Star Wars film, and was thoroughly entertaining the whole way through. The narrative does well to keep the audience satisfied with information revealing while still leaving many unanswered questions for episode 9, and made sure that everything was clear to the audience throughout the film. While there where a few moments in the film that had me scratching my head ( which I will leave out in case spoilers