The Lego Movie

http://www.thelegomovie.com/

Yes, I saw The Lego Movie, but before you write me off, allow me to explain my reason for doing so. 

It was recently my cinema buddy's 40th Birthday. As such a HUGE cinema and film fan, he of course wanted to see a birthday movie to mark the occasion. He had already seen the other films that were released that day and decided to go with a preview of The Lego Movie. Figuring it would be more fun than going to see Dallas Buyers Club. You can't argue with that. 

So off we went to watch a movie based on the brick toy that hurts like hell when you stand on it in bare feet, and which I always got bored with as a child because I was never very good at building things. I really wasn't expecting it to be any good.

The story is a relatively easy one to follow. Emmet is your average, run of the mill construction worker, living his normal everyday life like everyone else. That is until he gets left behind on site one evening and stumbles across Wyldstyle, the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. She is looking for the piece of resistance, in the hope of becoming the 'special', a person of significance who will save the universe from the evil President Business. There is only one flaw to her plan, she hadn't anticipated Emmet accidentally falling down a hole and finding the piece of resistance first, thus making him the 'special'. Wyldstyle must work with Emmet to utilize the skills he does have in order to save the day.

I'll be honest, I wanted to see Dallas Buyers Club and I thought this would be an absolute pile of poop. My expectations were incredibly low, but taking it at face value, I actually liked it, a lot. 

Emmet is a really likable character, he's just so nice. I kept turning to my cinema buddy at the beginning of the film and saying "it's you", because he's just as chirpy as Emmet. The other characters all have their own quirks that mean there will be something for everyone.  The story ambles along at a good pace and the main song WILL get stuck in your head. The animation may not look as flashy as Pixar or Disney but it serves it's purpose, which is to tell a fun and enjoyable story. 

It's school holiday this week in the UK. If you've got a kid, or can borrow one easily (I mean by way of a nephew or niece, not stealing one off the street), then take them to see this, I'm sure you'll find yourself smiling, if not singing, by the end. 7.5 out of 10.

 

Viewing Date - 8th February 2014

UK Release Date - 14th February 2014

Cast Overview:

(If you don't like knowing who the voices are DON'T SCROLL DOWN! ;0)) 

Emmet Brickowoski ~ Chris Pratt

Batman/Bruce Wayne ~ Will Arnett

Wyldstyle/Lucy ~ Elizabeth Banks

Lord Business/President Business/The Man Upstairs ~ Will Ferrell

Good Cop/Bad Cop/Pa Cop ~ Liam Neeson

Benny ~ Charlie Day

Unikitty ~ Alison Brie

Vitruvius ~ Morgan Freeman

Wally ~ Dave Franco

Superman ~ Channing Tatum

Wonder Woman ~ Cobie Smulders

Green Lantern ~ Jonah Hill

Barry ~ Jake Johnson

Lando ~ Billy Dee Williams

C-3PO ~ Anthony Daniels

Director(s) ~ Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Writer ~ Dan Hageman (Story), Kevin Hageman (Story), Phil Lord (Screenplay and Story) and Christopher Miller (Screenplay and Story)

Secret Screening - Now You See Me

http://nowyouseememovie.com/

It turns out Cineworld membership has some serious perks. Other than making it incredibly cheap to watch as many movies as I want per month, and giving me discount on food and drinks, they recently introduced a 'secret screening'. For Cineworld Unlimited members only, you could get a ticket to an as-yet-unannounced film which would be revealed on the night of the screening. I hope, from the success of this one, they make this a regular occurrence. Especially as the film they chose to secretly screen - Now You See Me - isn't out here until the start of next month.

The film tells the tale of four magicians who are brought together by an unknown figure and given a fantastical plan to bring those in power, a bank, a millionaire who built his fortune on the misfortune of others and the police force, to their knees. And they achieve this, all by the art of illusion. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco play the Four Horsemen, while Mark Ruffalo and Mélanie Laurent are the ones in pursuit.

I had a feeling from the clues that had been given to the secret screening, that we were sitting down to watch World War Z. I would have happily sat through any film, but I could not have been more pleased that we were actually sitting down to this. I am a huge fan of Mark Ruffalo and had been looking forward to this movie for some time. And I have to say that I really enjoyed it. 

I love a mystery and this one had me guessing right up until the reveal. The cast are a dream. We know from Zombieland that Eisenberg and Harrelson work well together, but throw in firecracker Fisher and James Franco's charismatic and cute younger brother Dave and you have a team that can't be cracked. Ruffalo's ruffled cop has great chemistry with Interpol detective Laurent and the thesps Freeman and Caine are clearly having a whale of a time. And so the audience does too. 

It's well put together, pacy, got a good story and great actors. I really don't see what more you could want? How about locations? Vegas, New Orleans, New York and Paris all look stunning in this movie. It's not going to win any awards but if you want a fun and intriguing night out, you can't really go wrong. 8 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 17th June 2013
UK Release Date - 3rd July 2013

Cast Overview:

Jesse Eisenberg ~ J Daniel Atlas

Mark Ruffalo ~ Dylan Rhodes

Woody Harrelson ~ Merritt McKinney

 Isla Fisher ~ Henley Reeves

Dave Franco ~ Jack Wilder

Mélanie Laurent ~ Alma Dray

Morgan Freeman ~ Thaddeus Bradley

Michael Caine ~ Arthur Tressler

Director ~ Louise Leterrier

Writer(s) ~ Ed Solomon (Screenplay), Boaz Yakin (Screenplay and Story), Edward Ricourt (Screenplay and Story)

Oblivion

http://www.oblivionmovie2013.com/

Tom Cruise is one of those actors that I don't actively like, but I don't dislike him either. I would never go out of my way to watch a Tom Cruise film, but if I think it looks good, I wouldn't actively avoid it. I saw the trailer for Oblivion a few months back and was not only intrigued, I actually thought it looked really good. And I will admit that I was looking forward to it's impending release. 

The film is set in the not so distant future; following a battle for earth's resources the planet was all but destroyed, but somehow, the human race survived. A relocation mission was put in place for the earth's inhabitants to be moved to a colony on Titan. And now only two people remain, a team who maintain the drones - robots who oversee the removal of the water supply, which is earth's contribution to Titan. In two weeks Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) will be moving to Titan too, the only potential problem with this plan is that Jack is a little too curious about what happened to the earth, in order to just do his job. He starts dreaming about a past life he doesn't think he lived, and when the girl from his dreams literally drops out of the sky, he can't just put it all down to coincidence. But as he digs deeper for the truth, will he like what he discovers?

Oblivion is a curious little creature of a movie. The first half is sort of like the human version of WALL·E, with Jack and Victoria the only inhabitants on an abandoned earth. Jack going around fixing the drones and collecting 'human' artifacts such as books and plants. The second half is where I got a little lost because unlike WALL·E, Oblivion takes a turn for the complicated. In the second half of the movie we meet a band of rebels lead by Morgan Freeman's Beech. *Spoiler Alert* Freeman's character explains that Jack has been mislead by his employers and that the alien war was not won by the humans after all. He tells Jack that it is the aliens now claiming all of the earth's water, not the colony on Titan as there is no colony on Titan. You still with me? He sends Jack off to the 'radiation zone' which he's not allowed in because it's harmful. When he gets there he discovers no radiation, but instead discovers a clone of himself. Confused? You will be!

Basically the aliens took over earth and are harvesting the water for their own use. They need people on the ground to oversee things, so they cloned Jack and Victoria and now each section of the planet has it's own Jack and Victoria, who all think they're the only Jack and Victoria and who all believe they're going to Titan in two weeks time. But they're not because they're all clones and there is no-one on Titan! It's all a lie. So Jack and Beech devise a plot to destroy the mothership of the aliens once and for all, allowing some semblance of life to be restored to earth. *End Spoiler Alert* Phew. Hope you kept up with all that! 

I thought Oblivion looked beautiful; the way it showed different parts of New York in various states of disrepair was just stunning. Having stood at the top of The Empire State Building it was weird to see it buried almost up the observation deck but it worked perfectly, taking that iconic imagery and turning it on it's head. All of this has been captured wonderfully by cinematographer Claudio Miranda who also showcased his unique vision in Life of Pi and Tron Legacy. I could honestly wax lyrical about how gorgeous it looked all day long. But a pretty movie does not make a good movie. 

Oblivion had such great potential but I felt it squandered that by under utilizing the supporting cast and trying to cram too much into the running time. Don't get me wrong, Tom Cruise can carry a movie, we know this. So why make him constantly have to prove that fact? When you've got a supporting actor like Morgan Freeman, use him for heavens sake! It's just maddening. And the last 30 minutes just felt like they were trying to throw in as many brain bending story arcs as they could think of. It just got a little too much for me and I ended up walking out of the cinema with more questions than I went in with.

I think if I watched it again, now fully understanding it (or at least I think I understand it now), I think I'd like it better. But as it stands I have to do the review off the one time I saw it. That leaves Oblivion with a not too shabby 7 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 14th April 2013

UK Release Date - 10th April 2013

Cast Overview:

Tom Cruise ~ Jack

Andrea Riseborough ~ Victoria

Olga Kurylenko ~ Julia

Morgan Freeman ~ Beech

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ~ Sykes

Melissa Leo ~ Sally

Director ~ Joseph Kosinski

Writer(s) ~ Joseph Kosinski (Original Story and Graphic Novel), Karl Gajdusek (Screenplay) and Michael DeBruyn (Screenplay)