X-Men: Apocalypse

http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/x-men-apocalypse

Before anyone points out to me that I have not written a review for Captain America: Civil War, I will just say that I was disappointed with the movie and have no intention of elaborating on that in a review at this time. It's the unpopular opinion as everyone on general consensus seemed to think it was the best Marvel movie yet and I'm tired of explaining why I don't agree with that. Let's just move on shall we?

I feel I should preface this review by saying I'm not a huge X-Men fan, although I have seen all of the X-Men movies (original trilogy and current trilogy) and all of the spin offs too (X-Men Origins Wolverine, The Wolverine and Deadpool). I liked the first X-Men, wasn't keen on X2 (again unpopular opinion) and to be honest I don't remember much about The Last Stand. I was not a fan of either of the Wolverine films as they contradicted each other, and the X-Men movies to date, and to be honest that kind of annoyed me. I had a lot of time for Deadpool, especially as Ryan Reynolds got to make it his way. Of the prequels, I enjoyed First Class but not enough to buy it, really liked Days of Future Past, and that brings us bang up to Apocalypse.

So why am I reviewing this movie when I'm much more invested in the MCU? Well, I felt I had more to say than would fit into a Facebook status update, that's why. Let's get the synopsis out of the way...

The Apocalypse of the title is the world's first mutant. Looked upon a something of a God because of the powers he possesses. Unlike other mutants, he can transfer his essence to other beings, therefore once his current body is all used up, he can put himself into a shiny new one. The great thing about this is that if the new body has abilities too, different to the ones he already possesses, he takes those on, this is why he's much more powerful than your average mutant. The opening sequence of the movie is the transference and then for reasons I won't spoil, Apocalypse has a bit of a snooze and wakes up in the 1980s. Which is where we pick up with our heroes after we left them in the 70s at the end of DOFP. Some are at Xavier's school for the gifted, some are off by themselves, helping mutants, or hiding their powers, and some are just discovering their powers. Ultimately they all come together, some on the side of Apocalypse, becoming his four horsemen, and others against him. Let battle commence.

Some of this movie works really well - Quicksilver's scene at the school is a film stealer for me, absolutely perfect - and some of it is distinctly average. I do feel as though the parts that work really well overall make the movie better than average, and I did enjoy it, and unlike Civil War I didn't come away disappointed. But that may be because unlike Civil War, my expectations weren't too high for this one.

As much as I hate to say it I think Oscar Isaac was this movie's downfall. He was catastrophically mis-cast in this movie. He's a fantastic actor, but this character needed to be physically and mentally menacing, all powerful, he needed to be a tall, hulking man, who made you feel nervous as to what he would do next, and unfortunately I just didn't ever feel like he was. Plus it was a travesty that they covered up his beautiful face with all those horrid prosthetics. Before you say that I am shallow, it does add credence to what I'm saying. Why even hire Oscar Isaac if you could have had anyone in that suit and they would have looked exactly the same? Hire a wrestler, hire a stuntman, what does it matter, no-one can tell who it is anyway?

Sadly I also felt like the ending was kinda predictable. I'm not usually the one that spots the plot twists in movies, but I saw the ending of this one coming a mile off. These are my only two bugbears with the movie but unfortunately they are kind of big ones. 

The rest of the movie worked fine, the new backstories for the characters we know and love were all decent, the film moves along at a good pace, the big scenes of destruction look great, but without a really good villain the whole thing leaves you wanting.

Finally, for those of a delicate disposition, I will warn you that although the film carries a 12a certificate, this comes with a warning of bloody images. There are at least five bloody/gory scenes which I can elaborate on in the comments if required.

Not a bad third film by any means, but it doesn't surpass DOFP and the villain leaves a lot to be desired. 6.5 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 18th May 2016
UK Release Date - 18th May 2016

Cast Overview:

 James McAvoy ~ Charles Xavier

Michael Fassbender ~ Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto

Jennifer Lawrence ~ Raven/Mystique

Oscar Isaac ~ En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse

Nicholas Hoult ~ Hank McCoy/Beast

Rose Byrne ~ Moira McTaggert

Evan Peters ~ Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver

Josh Helman ~ Col William Stryker

Sophie Turner ~ Jean Grey

Tye Sheridan ~ Scott Summers/Cyclops

Lucas Till ~ Alex Summers/Havok

Kodi Smit-McPhee ~ Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler

Ben Hardy ~ Angel

Alexandra Shipp ~ Ororo Munroe/Storm

 Olivia Munn ~ Psylocke

Director ~ Bryan Singer

Writer(s) ~ Simon Kinberg (Screenplay and Story), Bryan Singer (Story), Michael Dougherty (Story), Dan Harris (Story).

12 Years A Slave

http://www.12yearsaslave.com/

I saw this movie over two weeks ago and I have really struggled to think of something I can say in the review, that won't put people off seeing this extraordinary film of one man's survival against the odds, and his fight to make it back to his family after he is kidnapped and sold into slavery.

You see Steve McQueen's film isn't fun. It is definitely an endurance. At times it is damn hard to watch, but it's such an unbelievable true story that I feel it should be seen. By as many people as possible. Because no matter how hard it is to watch, it is a true story and therefore, people should know that this happened.

Needless to say the performances are out of this world, and in some cases, so far removed from the actors real lives that you wonder how they can play such roles. 

As such, I am not going to go into detail about the plot because I pretty much covered that in my opening paragraph. I'm not going to wax lyrical about the film until there are no surprises left in store. I'm just going to tell you to see it.

Not quite a masterpiece, but worthy of the hype non-the-less. 8 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 7th January 2014

UK Release Date - 10th January 2014

Cast Overview:

Solomon Northup ~ Chiwetel Ejiofor

Edwin Epps ~ Michael Fassbender

Patsey ~ Lupita Nyong'o

Mary Epps ~ Sarah Paulson

William Ford ~ Benedict Cumberbatch

Samuel Bass ~ Brad Pitt

John Tibeats ~ Paul Dano 

Theophilus Freeman ~ Paul Giamatti

Director ~ Steve McQueen

Writer(s) ~ John Ridley (Screenplay) and Solomon Northup (Based on his book "Twelve Years a Slave")

Prometheus

http://www.prometheus-movie.com/

Like me, you might have read or heard recently that Ridley Scott has stated that Prometheus is not a prequel to Alien. When I watched the movie I couldn't understand how he could claim such a thing as it has very obvious links to the 1979 film he also directed.

I now understand that what he said was that this was not a direct prequel. What he meant by this is; He sees this film as being set one or two movies before Alien. But at some stage, if Prometheus is successful, those other two movies could get made.


Prometheus is the name of a ship carrying a team of scientists to a distant planet. The team have found their way there through a series of 'star maps' that have been found in many different and ancient civilizations. Believing this to be an invitation from the inhabitants of this planet, the team of scientists go to seek them out. Once there they discover a structure containing some dead humanoids they call engineers. And a room full of cylinders which start to ooze black liquid. One crew member unknowingly ingests the liquid and starts to have some rather nasty reactions to it. Meanwhile another crew member is attacked and killed by a snake like creature within the confines of the structure. The team must get back to Prometheus as the fate of the earth rests in their hands.

One of my friends recently saw the movie and wrote on facebook "Visually brilliant, links to Alien awesome. Script and soundtrack awful!" The funny thing about this comment was that I kinda felt the opposite (visually brilliant aside - as I agree with that part). I felt that it was the links to Alien that let the film down. And I actually struggle to see how Ridley Scott could join this up with Alien even if he had two more films in which to try.

I felt that if Prometheus was a stand alone film, exploring a similar genre but totally separate to Alien and giving us a totally different beast, it would have worked. But it was the mis-matched guidelines that tried to marry up with Alien where it seemed to fall apart. 

The film left me with a lot more questions than answers and I don't think I'm alone in feeling that way. Maybe that's what Ridley was going for so that the studio would let him make Prometheus 2 and 3? All I know is that I felt super let down by the ending and felt that the final 'alien' made a mockery of the creature I've been scared of for the last 10+ years. 

If you're a fan of the original Alien movie you might enjoy Prometheus as it has the same approach to the horror/sci-fi genre that Alien had. It's a slow burner but one which has been stylishly made and featuring some great performances. Just don't expect a film that will seamlessly answer all of those questions you've had for the last 33 years. 7 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 17th June 2012

UK (Re)Release Date - 1st June 2012

Cast Overview:

Noomi Rapace ~ Elizabeth Shaw

Michael Fassbender ~ David

Charlize Theron ~ Meredith Vickers

Idris Elba ~ Janek

Guy Pearce ~ Peter Weyland

Logan Marshall-Green ~ Charlie Holloway

Sean Harris ~ Fifield

Rafe Spall ~ Millburn

Director ~Ridley Scott

Writers ~Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof

A Dangerous Method

Mini Review

http://adangerousmethod-themovie.com/

A Dangerous Method is based on a play - The Talking Cure- which in turn is based on the book A Most Dangerous Method, about the intense and intertwining relationships of Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) from which the creation of psychoanalysis was borne.

I probably wouldn't have seen this if A) one of my friends didn't have a huge crush on Viggo Mortensen and B) if that same friend didn't have access to a local independent cinema that was showing the film as we missed it on it's initial nationwide release.

A Dangerous Method is not a film for the faint hearted, not because it's gory but because the subject matter could be quite hard for some people to watch. Essentially this is a film about dealing with your inner demons. The ways in which some of the characters do this - bondage and spanking - will not be everyone's cup of tea. But the film also has a lot to say on the subject of psychoanalysis and therapy, which my friend happens to be studying, so it was a very useful film from her point of view.

I found the story interesting, the characters fascinating and the acting from all concerned to be praiseworthy. Knightley takes a little while to convince, both in accent and character but once you've gotten over the initial shock that she's not playing her usual English rose you do start to warm to her. Of the two male leads Fassbender has the more juicy role but Mortensen's Freud really needs to be seen to be believed. 

A thought provoking film that gives an insightful look into the lives of these legends. 7.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 2nd April 2012

UK Release Date - 10th February 2012

Cast Overview:

Keira Knightley ~ Sabina Spielrein

Viggo Mortensen ~ Sigmund Freud

Michael Fassbender ~ Carl Jung

Vincent Cassel ~ Otto Gross

Sarah Gadon ~ Emma Jung

Director ~ David Cronenberg

Writer(s) ~ Christopher Hampton (Screenplay and Play - The Talking Cure) and John Kerr (Book - A Most Dangerous Method)

Haywire

Mini Review

http://haywiremovie.com/

An ex-marine turned freelance agent, Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is sent to rescue a hostage in Barcelona. On her next mission, without warning, she is double crossed and has to put her training to good use. She soon finds herself having to fight for her life, and the truth, against the very people she thought she could trust.

Does that sound like a vague storyline? That's probably because it is. In a film this jam packed with stars you would expect aspects of the film to be understandable, like having an idea of the agency that Mallory works for, or at the very least for there to be a big reveal at the end as to why what happens to Mallory happens. But no. Instead we have a lot of famous faces, a lot of quite cool fight scenes and some intriguing espionage that is never fully explained.

As with The Darkest Hour, I had already had my expectations for Haywire suitably dashed and as such I was expecting it to be quite dire. So naturally I didn't find it that bad. Just annoyingly ill explained and average in every other way. In my opinion, the lead should have been a known name, that way you might have been able to root for her a little more, and the rest of the cast (with the odd exception) could have been unknowns. The other way around just felt a bit pointless.

Wait for the DVD but even then you won't be THAT impressed. 6 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 21st January 2012

UK Release Date - 18th January 2012

Cast Overview:

Gina Carano ~ Mallory Kane

Michael Angarano ~ Scott

Channing Tatum ~ Aaron

Michael Douglas ~ Coblenz

Antonio Banderas ~ Rodrigo

Ewan McGregor ~ Kenneth

Michael Fassbender ~ Paul

Bill Paxton ~ Mr Kane

Director ~ Steven Soderbergh

Writer ~ Lem Dobbs

Jane Eyre

http://focusfeatures.com/jane_eyre

Owing to my lack of a high school education, I have never read many of the classic novels. No Austin, no Hardy, no Hemingway, no Dickens. And no Brontë. It somewhat goes without saying then that I have not read Jane Eyre. I'd heard of it of course, but never really had a desire to pick it up later in life. I'd also never seen one of the many adaptations of Charlotte Brontë's novel. That was until around two months ago when I stumbled upon the version starring William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg on TV. 

That film surprised me as I hadn't intended to watch it but found myself pulled in and I ended up really liking it. So when I heard of another adaptation soon to be released I was interested to see what this would be like in comparison. 

The tale is one of an orphan girl, Jane (Amelia Clarkson), who is sent to live with her aunt, Mrs Reed (Sally Hawkins). Rather than taking good care of her orphaned niece, Mrs Reed resents being the girl's only living relative and ships her off to a boarding school out of the way. Upon leaving school Jane (now played by Mia Wasikowska) accepts a post as governess at Thornfield Hall. Her charge there is a young french girl, Adele (Romy Settbon Moore), who has been taken in by the illusive master of Thornfield, Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender). When he does eventually return to Thornfield after months away, Jane is faced with a situation she has never known before. She must not only converse with a man, something she has little experience of, she must also hold her own against this formidable, sometimes confrontational, imposing figure. A man she is rapidly falling in love with.

*Spoiler Alert*

As I have little knowledge of the book I only really have the other version of Jane Eyre to compare this to. And I have to say that as such, I found this version to have quite a complicated layout. The other film starts with Jane as a child, moves on to Thornfield, the almost wedding, Jane runs away, when she comes back she finds fire has consumed Thornfield and Rochester is injured. In this version we open on Jane after she has already run away from Thornfield and is taken in by St John and his sisters. It's almost as if the rest of the story is told in flashback, Jane as a child, then onto Thornfield, then back to Jane working for St John and then finally back to Thornfield again at the end. As such, those not acquainted with the book may find the order of events somewhat confusing.

I have read reviews on the previous version of Jane Eyre that I saw, in these reviews I see that the main complaint with that film was that the ending of the book was largely missed out. Namely, the scenes after Jane has run away and is working for St John. In this film though, I would say that their downfall is not showing enough of Jane's early life at Lowood School. As this is where she meets her one true friend, the tragic Helen Burns. These scenes were done so beautifully in the '96 version of Jane Eyre but have been mostly left out of the new version. I actually think this is more of a tragedy than leaving out the later scenes as without the early scenes you don't really have a sense of who Jane is or what she's been though in her life.

*End Spoiler Alert*

I also felt that the strange sequence the story was told in left little time for the scenes with St John to be played out fully. The last scene between Jane and St John ended really abruptly and left me feeling like their story was unresolved. As I've said, I have not read the book and maybe this is how these scenes are supposed to feel? But for me, as a viewer rather than a reader, I thought this could have been done better.

Mia Wasikowska was an adequate Jane in all but voice as she provided a fine English accent, but like Anne Hathaway in One Day, she struggled to be northern. Fassbender and Dench were also fine in their respective roles, but failed to make any real lasting impression on me. The real surprise for me was Jamie Bell, who I've never been a fan of. I thought he did a great job of the small, less showy role of St John, imbuing him with a warmth, if still reserved nature. 

Overall I think I preferred the '96 version of Jane Eyre as I didn't feel as though this film added an awful lot to what that film had already achieved. 6.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 19th September 2011

UK Release Date - 9th September 2011

Cast Overview:

Mia Wasikowska ~ Jane Eyre

Michael Fassbender ~ Edward Rochester

Judi Dench ~ Mrs Fairfax

Romy Settbon Moore ~ Adèle Varens

Jamie Bell ~ St John Rivers

Holliday Grainger ~ Diana Rivers

Tamzin Merchant ~ Mary Rivers

Imogen Poots ~ Blanche Ingram

Sally Hawkins ~ Mrs Reed

Amelia Clarkson ~ Young Jane

Freya Parks ~ Helen Burns

Craig Roberts ~ John Reed

Director ~ Cary Joji Fukunaga

Writer(s) ~ Moira Buffini (Screenplay) and Charlotte Brontë (Novel)

X-Men: First Class

http://www.x-menfirstclassmovie.com/

One of my friends recently speculated that all of the films he was looking forward to seeing at the end of May/beginning of June would be underwhelming. Sadly, after seeing the three films he mentioned - Pirates 4, Hangover 2 and this - I have to confirm that his suspicions were correct. 

I will delve right into the synopsis and that way anyone who just wants to know what I thought can skip to the juicy stuff at the end. Though a word of warning, there are spoilers in my critique so beware if you're going straight to the bottom of the page.

X-Men: First Class is set in the mid 60's, a long time before the events of X-Men, X2 or X-Men: The Last Stand. As such, the characters featured in those movies are younger in this film (and therefore now played by different, younger actors) and leading very different lives. Some of the characters haven't yet had their lives intertwined with people or events we already know about.

So what's going on with this bunch then? Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), who we will later know as Magneto, witnesses the murder of his mother just so his nasty German captor Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) can see what his mutant powers are capable of. This sets him on a path of revenge. It's during his first attempt to even the score with Shaw that he meets young Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and the two join forces with the CIA to stop Shaw before he starts WW3. Their allies include Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) who we'll later come to know as Mistique and a whole bunch of mutants we've never met before. And so follows a tug of war between the bad guys and the good guys until the final showdown.

I think this has been one of the hardest films for me to judge because there was lots that I liked about it, and in equal measure, lots I really didn't like.

Lets start with what I liked about it; I liked the backstories (for the most part) of the established characters, and the introduction of characters not formerly shown in previous X-Men movies, Sebastian Shaw, Moira MacTaggert, Emma Frost, Banshee, Riptide, Azazel, Angel and Darwin. I loved the casting of Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mistique, I cannot gush enough over how perfect I thought she was. I similarly loved seeing Nicholas Hoult in this movie but I should point out that this was more because it was great to see him in a big movie rather than because I thought he was well cast.

I thought for the most part that the cast was excellent. However, I did not feel that they were particularly suited to their roles. The two leads in particular, McAvoy and Fassbender, are both great actors, but neither should have been cast in their respective roles. See, the beauty in casting Jennifer Lawrence as Raven is that you can very easily imagine her becoming the character later (or earlier?) portrayed by Rebecca Romijn. You cannot however, picture either McAvoy or Fassbender becoming Patrick Stewart or Ian McKellan. Herein lies the problem as you don't ever really believe they are those characters.

My other problems with First Class lie in the backstory. I know I said I liked the backstories, and I did, to a certain extent. What I didn't like was how they manipulated facts or timeline that had already been established.

*Spoiler Alert*

In previous X-Men films it was established that Erik and Charles were bestest oldest buds before they became enemies yes? Well, in the First class re-write it turns out Erik and Charles barely knew each other a few months (if that) before Erik cripples Charles and becomes Magneto. Sound right? Mmm...

In the same way that Charles and Erik's friendship seems to have been manipulated to fit the story, the writers have also created a long standing, very close friendship between Charles and Raven. Now I'm sorry but if Charles and Raven had been as close as is indicated in this film, wouldn't that have come up at some point in the other movies? How betrayed he felt that she left him for Erik? How he missed her etc? No, okay then, lets move on. 

*Here endeth the Spoiler Alert*

Finally, how is it that we see Emma Frost as a young girl at the end of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (at the same time we see an older Patrick Stewart version of Professor X) and yet in X-Men: First Class which is obviously set before these events, Emma Frost is much older? Riddle me that First Class scriptwriters!

So all in all I was disappointed, not so much by the movie but by how little regard it had for the previous films? Maybe it's just because I'm not an expert on the comics but I'm going to be interested to see what my Marvel expert friends have to say about this installment of the X-Men films. 6.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 2nd June 2011

UK Release Date - 1st June 2011

Cast Overview:

James McAvoy ~ Charles Xavier

Michael Fassbender ~ Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto

Kevin Bacon ~ Sebastian Shaw

Rose Byrne ~ Moira MacTaggert

Jennifer Lawrence ~ Raven/Mystique

January Jones ~ Emma Frost

Nicholas Hoult ~ Hank McCoy/Beast

Caleb Landry Jones ~ Sean Cassidy/Banshee

Alex Gonzalez ~ Janos Quested/Riptide

Jason Flemyng ~ Azazel

Zoe Kravitz ~ Angel Salvadore

Edi Gathegi ~ Armando Munoz/Darwin

Lucas Till ~ Alex Summers/Havoc

Oliver Platt ~ Man in Black Suit

Director ~ Matthew Vaughn

Writer(s) ~ Ashley Miller (Screenplay), Zack Stentz (Screenplay), Jane Goldman (Screenplay), Matthew Vaughn (Screenplay), Sheldon Turner (Story) and Bryan Singer (Story)