The Imitation Game (2014)

RELEASE DATE: November 14, 2014

STUDIO: Black Bear Pictures, Bristol Automotive

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DIRECTOR: Morten Tyldum

SCREENWRITERS: Andrew Hodges, Graham Moore

STARRING: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Joan Clarke, Hugh Alexander, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance, Mark Strong, James Northcote

GENRE:  Drama, Biopic

DURATION: 114 min

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The second World War is raging across Europe, millions are dead, and the allies find themselves at a tactical disadvantage, all thanks to the apparently unbreakable German Enigma code. In a concerted effort to break the German code, British intelligence hire the very best cryptographers and mathematicians on the planet.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing delivers one of the best performances of recent memory. A nearly two-hour runtime flies by thanks to the tight and masterful script from Graham Morton. The films cinematography has a classic, timeless look especially in the outdoor scenes shot on location in Bletchley Park.

Frequent flashbacks cut back to Turing’s time at a boarding school in which he befriends a boy by the name of Christopher (the name he later gives his code braking machine). As the flashbacks reveal more and more about Turing, he inches closer and closer to building a device that will help break the Enigma code. He faces opposition from his team. Keira Knightly plays Joan Clarke, Turing’s go to confidante for all information both professional and personal. The chemistry between the two is palpable at times.

Ultimately, his story is one that ended tragically, but the film chooses not to focus on that, but instead to celebrate his legacy.[I]The Imitation Game[/I] is one of the best biopics I've seen in years. And if it hadn't faced such strong competition, I think it may have won a few Oscars.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2015

STUDIO: Warner Bros. Pictures

DIRECTOR: George Miller

SCREENWRITERS: George Miller, Brendon McCarthy, Nick Lathouris

STARRING: Tom Hardy, Charlize Thad Hayes, Carlton Cuse, Carey Hayesheron, Nicholus Hoult, Zoe Kravitiz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hugh Keays-Byrne.

GENRE: Action, Sci-fi

DURATION: n/a

Synopsis

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In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, loner Max meets Furiosa, a woman who wishes to cross the desert Captured by Immortan Joe's gang, Max's only hope of freedom is Furiosa, who is on the run from Immortan Joe because she stole his most precious resource, five young women who have been kept as objects and whose purpose is to mother the next generation. They need Max's knowledge of the desert to safely cross it and escape the madness of their enemies.

Thoughts

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The practical special effects are the one thing that has me looking forward to this, because story sounds a bit dodgy. From what I've seen from the trailers, the combination of colourful characters and wacky costumes have given the film a Borderlands style post-apocalyptic vibe, whether or not that translates well into a entertaining films remains to be seen.

Treailers

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San Andreas (2015)

RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2015

STUDIO: New Line Cinema (Warner Bros.), Village Roadshow Pictures

DIRECTOR: Brad Peyton

SCREENWRITERS: Chad Hayes, Carlton Cuse, Carey Hayes

STARRING: Carla Gugino, Kylie Minogue, Alexandra Daddario, Loan Gruffudd, Archie Panjabi, Dwayne Johnson, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Art Parkinson

GENRE: Thriller, Action

DURATION: n/a

Synopsis

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In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey across the state in order to rescue his estranged daughter.

Thoughts

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San Andreas - the disaster movie with none other than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson there to save to day a flex his ever expanded muscles.  From what I've seen, it looks like good honest pop corn disaster movie fun.

Treailers

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Aliens (1986)

RELEASE DATE: August 29, 1986

STUDIO: 20th Century Fox 

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DIRECTOR: James Cameron 

SCREENWRITERS: James Cameron, David Giler, Walter Hill, Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett

STARRING: Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette, Goldstein

GENRE:  Sci-Fi

DURATION: 137 min

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After almost 30 years Aliens remains probably the best sci-fi action films out there. Released 7 years after Ridley Scott's seminal genre defining masterpiece, Aliens sees the return of Lieutenant Ellen Ripley who, after drifting in space for 57 years after escaping the Nostromo and the Xenomorph that slaughtered her crew, is called upon again by Weyland-Yutani, the shady corporation she worked for as a flight officer.

It becomes apparent that Weyland-Yutani have been busy on LV-426 (the planetoid where Ripley's first crew encountered the Xenomorph.) The geniuses have setup a colony on the desolate world and terraformed it with oxygen generators. Low and behold, they loose contact with the colony and Ripley is sent in with a platoon of colonial marines, and a company slime-ball named Carter Burke.

From the start the film has the same dark and tense atmosphere of the first film. And despite having more of emphasis on action, the characters are just as complex and memorable. Corporal Dwayne Hicks is the replacement to Captain Dallas in that that he is Ripley's closest alley in the group of rag-tag marines - and they soon find themselves in the middle of the alien nest, fighting for their lives against the Xenomorph horde.

A few characters in Aliens mirror those of the first film: Bishop the android for Ash, Hicks for Dallas, and Newt the young girl they discover crawling around the air-ducts of LV-426 represents the daughter that Ripley lost during her many years in hyper sleep. So the characters and plot follow on quite closely to the first film, the only different is the style of film. Aliens is an all-out action fest, here as Alien is a slow burner psychological thriller - a big change that some fans didn't appreciate. So really, Aliens can't really be compared with its predecessor to be fare, they are completely different kinds of film. This fact doesn't make the directing any less brilliant.

James Cameron nailed it with Aliens: well designed weapons, props, vehicles and clothing courtesy of the late H.R. Giger; a great script and characters, and, like all of Cameron's films, a great soundtrack. Still James Cameron's best film for me, and I think it will remain in my top five action-sci-fi's for a long time to come.

Interstellar (2014)

In a word: breathtaking. That's the only way I can describe Interstellar. Set in the not too distant future, the film follows a former astronaut-come farmer, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), as he struggles to keep his crops alive on a dry, desolate and dying world. Whatever the cause, the earth is dying, soon there won't enough food to sustain the remaining population. But a last hope comes in the shape of a strange phenomenon which Cooper and his daughter discover.

Soon they find themselves imprisoned in what turns out to be a secret Nasa base, run by some of Cooper's former Nasa colleges, (an unlikely coincidence which is easily forgiveable, considering how good the rest of the film is). Professor Brand (Michael Kane) has a proposition for Cooper: he wants to take part in a mission to travel through a wormhole in search of a habitable world for mankind to start a fresh on. Cooper obviously excepts an the great quest begins. Backed up by a amazing soundtrack, the film contains elements of many different classic sci-fi books: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Contact, and The Long Earth , creating an altogether more exhilarating experience than Gravity provides - and one of the most awe-inspiring cinematic experiences of my life. The film is also packed with emotion, especially during the time dilation video conversations in which Cooper talks to his now much older children (which had me in tears).

Christopher Nolan took everything that made Inception great, perfected them, and incorporated them into Interstellar. Not just the cutting edge special effects, but the mysterious and surreal dimension crossing which seamlessly melds two styles of science fiction: the space based epics of Arthur C. Clarke and Asimov with the more psychological sci-fi Philip K. Dick. The plot pretty much unfolds in the same way as Inception did, with all the pieces of the mystery slowly coming together to create a nail-biting ending. I don't want to give too much away, but the ending is brilliant and very moving indeed.

Now, whenever a film like this comes along, sci-fi geeks like myself will ask the same question: is it as good as 2001? Well, this is the only film that has come close - so close in fact - that I may have answered yes to that question...maybe.

Nightcrawler (2014)

Featuring Jake Gyllenhall's best performance to date, Nightcrawler is a thrilling and thought-provoking critique of society's desensitisation and thirst for gore. Gyllenhall plays one of the creepiest characters ever - a cold-hearted little sociopath named Louis Bloom - a petty thief turned amateur cameraman..

Bloom witnesses a car accident one evening and sees some amateur cameramen capturing footage of the wreckage, Bloom thinks he can do better, and he stops at nothing to achieve that. He starts capturing his own footage and taking to a local new centre where he sells it. Which is when he meets TV news supervisor Nini Romina (Rene Russo) and develops a controlling relationship with her. Bloom will stop at nothing to capture the most disturbing and goriest footage possible and doesn't mind breaking the law in the process.

The scene where Bloom and Nini have dinner together is probably the finest portrayal of a true sociopath. The way Bloom gains leverage and eventual control over his boss is a thing of beauty -- he even attempts to blackmail her into sleeping with him. The controlling relationships and the way he treats people makes Hannibal Lector seem like a empathic, warm-hearted little soul. His black, dead eyes are really creepy, and at no point does he show the least bit of remorse for the mayhem he causes.

I was on the edge of my seat during the Diner scene and subsequent car chase, and also amazed at the lows that Bloom will stoop to to get the story he needs. Nightcrawler is more than just another story about a sociopath. It's a scathing commentary on a corrupt media where ratings override the basic principles of ethics and morals. "If it bleeds it leads" as the slogan says.

Persona (1966)

This was more of an experience then a film. If you take all the emotion you ever felt from the viewing of any film and multiply it by a thousand, then you get close to what I just felt watching Persona. The first five minutes of fast, flashing, introduction of surrealist imagery, which subsequently creates the basis for the plot, are the most unsettling and stomach churning I've seen in a film.

The only way I can explain what this film made me feel is like being trapped in someone else's depressed mind (if that makes sense.) The viewer becomes immediately enveloped in the ever increasing feeling of unease and tension as the nurse and her silent patience's minds become melded in a chaos of self-examination, reverse psychology and dependency. Everything in this film is measured to perfection: the sound effects and camera work are amazing, and I especially liked the kind of intermission crafted from sharp sounds and images used to signal a breaking point in the relationship of the two women.

Toward the end of the film, when the truth is revealed about the silent actresses past and cause of her silence, every scene is amazingly tense, powerful and brilliantly filmed. The drip-drop sound effect,  which reappeared throughout the film, is eerily effective and cuts right straight through you. Obviously, I have a lot of unanswered questions, which isn't surprising for a film this complex, which has been studied for years, and will require multiple re-viewings to interpret, (Which I'm looking forward to). At first, I was a little dubious before watching the film, as I thought it might be a little too complex for it's own good (and mine.) But instead it has quenched my thirst for this kind of cinema - a kind I watch far too little of.

Get Hard (2015)

It's films like this that are ensuring the demise of the comedy.To start with, I don't think Will Ferrell is funny at all. He is one of the new breed of American comedians whose sense of humour and comedic style seems to completely escape me. The new style I'm talking about is present in most American sit-coms, The Big Bang Theory is a perfect example. Obliviously Americans and Brits have differing sense of humour, because our TV show have always been different, but as far as films go there used to be really funny America films; the 80's and 90's where the golden years, and produced some real classics.

This new breed of comedy films are badly scripted and the humour is completely reliant upon completely contrived and extremely unlikely scenarios; everything has to be taken to the extreme just to produce a reaction. I want to go back to the eighties style, with a well-scripted, subtle, and altogether more effective style of comedy - the films of the late John Hughes are a perfect example.

As far as Get Hard is concerned, Will Ferrell is just annoying throughout and the plot is ridiculous. As a millionaire banker who is accused of fraud, he has been given 10 years in prison, and 30 days to prepare before he goes to the slammer. So, he employs the services of a car washer who works in the basement of his office building. The basis for which is the usual racial stereotypes that are strew throughout the film. He transforms his mansion into a prison and learns how to fight... And under the presumption that he will be sexually assaulted in prison, he goes to a gay bar and asks a man if he can suck his appendage. The subsequent toilet scene is just sickening rubbish, typical of these kinds of comedies. Most of the film is the same old ridiculous scenarios and extreme reactions to practically nothing. There are a few laughs along the way, but not many, and I think this will be the last Will Farrell film I will watch. This tripe has put me off watching comedies altogether to be honest.

Blade Runner (1982)

Having seen Blade Runner in its several different incarnations around forty times over the years, I may have been forgiven for getting a little tired of the film. However, after viewing The Final Cut of the film at the cinema last night, I found myself covered liberally in goosebumps and left in awe of the brilliance of what I was watching. The opening scene of a fast, fire-breathing industrial landscape combined with the haunting Vangelis score, had the same effect on me as it always has - amazement.

 From the start I was seamlessly immersed in the intoxicating atmosphere of a rainswept, polluted, and over crowded dystopian Los Angeles. Very loosely adapted from the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep the film maintains the basis of the books story and the questions it asks the reader. The question of life to put it simply - what is it, can man create it, should he - questions we will no doubt one day have to answer. Whilst the plot of the film is quite simple, the film is full of ambiguous overtones, both philosophical and ethical. There is one fundamental question asked by this dark dystopian story, where men have practically become gods with their mastery of genetic engineering: what makes us human?

 Rutger Hauer’s performance is outstanding. As a replicant seeking to live longer, he ironically seems to be the most alive of all the characters in the film. In contrast with Deckard, who seems to be in a constant state of apathy. The "Tears in the Rain" ending of the film always has an effect on me, but in the cinema it was an altogether different experience - the greatest experience I've had to date.

 The combination of dystopian sci-fi and film noir blend perfectly to create a dark, melancholy atmosphere. The city itself has it has a life of its own - probably the most effective vision of a dystopian city ever brought to the screen. In my opinion, Blade Runner is the greatest and most influential sci-fi ever made. It set the benchmark for all proceeding non-space based sci-fi, and remains a timeless masterpiece.

 In a world where technology has taken over, we have destroyed the environment and most animals are extinct and corporations have become gods, one can only wonder if Ridley Scott has made an accurate predication of the future.

The Gambler (2014)

I don't know what message the directer was trying to get across with this mess but I hope it's remains neatly buried in his lower intestine.

A wealthy and successful writer and university professor, Mark Wahlberg, transforms into a compulsive gambling waster every time he steps foot in the seedy and sanitationaly questionable backstreet gambling dens he frequents in his spare time.

While he's not spewing out his self-opinionated absurdly contrived sewage at his students, he tries his best to lose as much money as possible betting ridiculous amounts on games of blackjack, whilst pissing off gangsters, loan sharks and his millionaire mother in the process. What the motivation is for his behavior is anyone's guess: rebelling against his wealthy upbringing, living inline with his chaos theory-like, nihilistic, bullsh1t philosophy of life..? Whatever his motivation, he comes across as the most loathsome little sh1t imaginable.

 To cut a long story short, he pays off his debts and decides he's not a gambler anymore, making most of this terrible tripe a pointless build-up to nothing. I was hoping his creditors would at least castrate or torture him to death, what a shame.

Arnie's New Zombie Film

Chappie (2015)

It was a good idea directed badly. For most of the film I kept asking myself if it were all a joke or if I was hallucinating, surely no one could have intentionally created characters as ridiculous and a script so lame as this. And so the plot goes: Dev 'Slumdog' Patel plays a scientist who has created a robot police force which has cut crime in Johannesburg by 90% Hugh Jackman, his rival in the same robotics company and is himself looking for approval to deploy his own much larger robot. It's just like the plot of Robocop, but instead of having Clarence Boddicker and his gang to deal with, the robot police have a collection of unlikely and brightly coloured villains, who look like characters from 90's video games.

 After an accident, one robot in the factory is due to be scrapped, but Dev Patel saves him and implants his new breakthrough artificial intelligence software into the droid's memory. The mindless automaton becomes self aware but has the mind of a child, at which point the young scientist is kidnapped by a gang of criminals, who intend to use 'Chappie' the newly conscience robot, to pull off a daring heist. Now most of the film is wasted with the attempts of the inept and quite frankly ridiculous looking criminals to teach Chappie how to be a criminal. These bad ass gangsters have an affinity for brightly coloured things, crap haircuts, and even worse tattoos. That, and the acting from the trio of crims leaves a lot to be desired. Hugh Jackman, who looks just as silly as the criminals in this weird film - looking like a cross between Indiana Jones and Steve Irwin - eventually turns bad, and tries to kill everyone in sight with his huge battle robot , 'The Moose'.

 If it weren't for the battle scenes I'd have 2-starred this film. The entertaining and impressive special effects during such scenes was just what I was expecting from Blomkamp. It's just a shame that he didn't pay as much attention to the rest of the film. It could have been the new Short Circuit (or a least a very violent Short Circuit.) I liked the ending, which leaves you wondering about a possible sequel. All in all, a bit of a misfire from Blomkamp who, as he proved with District 9, is capable of a lot better.

Chappie (2015)

It was a good idea directed badly. For most of the film I kept asking myself if it were all a joke or if I was hallucinating, surely no one could have intentionally created characters as ridiculous and a script so lame as this. And so the plot goes: Dev 'Slumdog' Patel plays a scientist who has created a robot police force which has cut crime in Johannesburg by 90% Hugh Jackman, his rival in the same robotics company and is himself looking for approval to deploy his own much larger robot. It's just like the plot of Robocop, but instead of having Clarence Boddicker and his gang to deal with, the robot police have a collection of unlikely and brightly coloured villains, who look like characters from 90's video games.

 After an accident, one robot in the factory is due to be scrapped, but Dev Patel saves him and implants his new breakthrough artificial intelligence software into the droid's memory. The mindless automaton becomes self aware but has the mind of a child, at which point the young scientist is kidnapped by a gang of criminals, who intend to use 'Chappie' the newly conscience robot, to pull off a daring heist. Now most of the film is wasted with the attempts of the inept and quite frankly ridiculous looking criminals to teach Chappie how to be a criminal. These bad ass gangsters have an affinity for brightly coloured things, crap haircuts, and even worse tattoos. That, and the acting from the trio of crims leaves a lot to be desired. Hugh Jackman, who looks just as silly as the criminals in this weird film - looking like a cross between Indiana Jones and Steve Irwin - eventually turns bad, and tries to kill everyone in sight with his huge battle robot , 'The Moose'.

 If it weren't for the battle scenes I'd have 2-starred this film. The entertaining and impressive special effects during such scenes was just what I was expecting from Blomkamp. It's just a shame that he didn't pay as much attention to the rest of the film. It could have been the new Short Circuit (or a least a very violent Short Circuit.) I liked the ending, which leaves you wondering about a possible sequel. All in all, a bit of a misfire from Blomkamp who, as he proved with District 9, is capable of a lot better.

Dead Snow (2009)

This low budget Norwegian zombie flick shouldn't really work, but it does. Filled with every single horror movie cliche and trope, it's one of those films that are ridiculous in a good way. The story revolve around a group of medical students on holiday in the remotest part of the Norwegian wilderness they could find.

The characters are the biggest cliche of all, from the deadlocked women who looks like a predator, the quintessential attractive blondes, to the fat film geek guy - who is the source of many a horror movie reference during the film.

After the unlikely group settle in, the not so unlikely drunken party starts, a party which is soon interrupted by a knock of the door of the cabin...The knock is the local weirdo with a scary tail to tell. The man proceeds to tell the group about the legend of a lost Nazi battalion whose evil presence remains on the mountain.

Well it doesn't take long before the man's fears are realized, and the group soon start dropping like flies, and it drops to a few remaining to survivors to face the ravenous army of Nazi zombies. The group of remaining characters, one resembling Ash from Evil Dead, with an amputated arm and chainsaw combo, dispense with the zombie horde in more and more over-the-top and super gory ways.

The special effects are pretty convincing for such a low budget indie film, and each zombie death is more original and mega gory  than the next. Dead Snow is good old-fashioned comedy horror fun. A little indie gem which is up there among the best comedy horrors that I've seen.

Dead Snow (2009)

This low budget Norwegian zombie flick shouldn't really work, but it does. Filled with every single horror movie cliche and trope, it's one of those films that are ridiculous in a good way. The story revolve around a group of medical students on holiday in the remotest part of the Norwegian wilderness they could find.

The characters are the biggest cliche of all, from the deadlocked women who looks like a predator, the quintessential attractive blondes, to the fat film geek guy - who is the source of many a horror movie reference during the film.

After the unlikely group settle in, the not so unlikely drunken party starts, a party which is soon interrupted by a knock of the door of the cabin...The knock is the local weirdo with a scary tail to tell. The man proceeds to tell the group about the legend of a lost Nazi battalion whose evil presence remains on the mountain.

Well it doesn't take long before the man's fears are realized, and the group soon start dropping like flies, and it drops to a few remaining to survivors to face the ravenous army of Nazi zombies. The group of remaining characters, one resembling Ash from Evil Dead, with an amputated arm and chainsaw combo, dispense with the zombie horde in more and more over-the-top and super gory ways.

The special effects are pretty convincing for such a low budget indie film, and each zombie death is more original and mega gory  than the next. Dead Snow is good old-fashioned comedy horror fun. A little indie gem which is up there among the best comedy horrors that I've seen.

March Trailer Round-Up

Poltergeist 

Director: Gil Kenan
Writer: David Lindsay-Abaire
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release: July 24, 2015
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jared Harris

 
Trailer for Poltergeist on TrailerAddict.

It Follows 

Director: David Robert Mitchell
Writer: David Robert Mitchell
Studio: Radius-TWC
Release: March 13, 2015
Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary

 
Feature International Trailer for It Follows on TrailerAddict.


Nightlight

Director: Scott Beck
Writer: Scott Beck
Studio: Lionsgate
Release: March 27, 2015
Cast: Shelby Young, Chloe Bridges, Mitch Hewer

 
Trailer for Nightlight on TrailerAddict.