Captain Phillips

http://www.captainphillipsmovie.com/site/

I will admit that I was somewhat late in seeing Captain Phillips. I had intended to see it on opening weekend but when I got to the cinema I found it had sold out. That's usually a sign of a good film and so I was determined to see it at some point, but then with the arrival of Thor and my busy schedule over Halloween, Captain Phillips got pushed to the back of the priority list. 

One evening, after spending the day shopping with my friend, we decided, completely unplanned to continue our day with a trip to the cinema. With no idea if there was any film going to be starting within the next half an hour we turned up and decided on Captain Phillips, which was the next film to start. We had also both wanted to see it and not had chance up to then, and we figured that as it was likely to finish before films like Gravity, we would see it.

It was surprisingly busy for a film that had been out for a few weeks but we took our seats and immersed ourselves in the world of a freight ship Captain. The Captain in question, Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), says goodbye to his wife and embarks on a journey from Oman to Mombasa on the container ship MV Maersk Alabama. He is conscious of pirate activity in Somalia, which they are passing though, and orders a ship-wide safety drill in case they are boarded. The crew thinks this is paranoia until sure enough, pirates appear, but the prepared Captain and crew manage to evade the men and alert the authorities to the situation. Their luck runs out the following day when the pirates return with a faster skiff and a longer ladder and board the ship. The Captain does everything in his power to remove the threat from his ship and crew but is taken hostage and used by the pirates in a demand for ransom. 

Let me start by saying that this is one of the tensest movies I have seen since Argo, only instead of having tense moments like that movie did, you are pretty much tense from the moment Tom Hanks steps on board that ship to when the end credits roll. I attribute this to the accomplished direction by Paul Greengrass (who is known for his direction of two of the Bourne movies), and to Tom Hanks fantastic performance. 

Although I have often appreciated Tom Hanks' movies, I have never really connected to his characters emotionally, within those movies. It's never really detracted to my enjoyment of the films, it just means that he's never been a favourite actor of mine. However, in Captain Phillips he really captured my attention, and my emotions, and held them with him for the entire film. I was in bits at the end, and I know my friend was too. What a performance. Just give him the oscar now.

I was also impressed by the performances of the four pirates. Especially considering none of them had acted before. They were convincing and terrifying in equal measure. 

If it's still on at a cinema near you, I urge you to see Captain Phillips before it finishes it's run. I promise you it's worth all the hype. If you've missed it on the big screen then add it to your love film/netflix list, you won't regret it. 9 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 9th November 2013

UK Release Date - 9th October 2013

Cast Overview:

Captain Richard Phillips ~ Tom Hanks

Muse ~ Barkhad Abdi

Bilal ~ Barkhad Abdirahman

Najee ~ Faysal Ahmed 

Elmi ~ Mahat M Ali

Shane Murphy ~ Michael Chernus

Andrea Phillips ~ Catherine Keener

Mike Perry ~ David Warshofsky

Ken Quinn ~ Corey Johnson

John Cronan ~ Chris Mulkey

Captain Frank Castellano ~ Yul Vasquez

SEAL Commander ~ Max Martini

Director ~ Paul Greengrass

Writer ~ Billy Ray (Screenplay), Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty (based on their book "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea")

A Nightmare On Elm Street

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087800/

The first time I saw A Nightmare On Elm Street was around Christmas time. I remember this because I have a really vivid memory of watching it with the lights off as my mum hung Christmas decorations around the living room of our old house. 

I must have been about 16 or so. I wasn't scared, in fact I found most of the sequences laughable, but I loved it. And so when I saw that my local Cineworld was showing a one off screening of the film on Halloween, I simply had to be there! 

For those who are not familiar with the story of the dream killer with razors on his fingers, allow me to initiate you. School friends, Nancy, Tina, Rod and Glen discover that they keep having nightmares about the same scarred man with a razor glove. After Tina is killed by the man during a particularly violent dream, and her boyfriend is accused of her murder, things start to take a disturbing turn for the remaining three teens. When Nancy discovers that the man in her nightmares was not only real, but known to her parents as child killer Fred Krueger, she starts to do some investigation into his death, and how he could be attacking a new generation of children from within their dreams. 

If you are going to watch Nightmare for the first time there are a couple of things you'll need to know. First is that all of the 'kids' look about 30. There is one scene in particular where Nancy comments that she looks "20 years old", you could probably double that. The second thing to bear in mind is that the acting is terrible. Nancy's mom got a lot of laughs in the screening I saw. 

But, if you put those things aside and consider that this movie is nearly 30 years old, you can better appreciate how ground breaking it was at the time. The make up effects alone are still tremendous to this day. And after one of my friends dressed as Freddy for Halloween, I'm sure she now has a better understanding for how long those make up effects took and how much more impressive they are for not being done in CGI. I know I certainly have a greater appreciation for it just from seeing it done. 

One of my favourite parts of the movie is towards the end when Nancy is trying to set booby traps for Freddy. I just love the set up of all the traps and the fact that she supposedly did that in under 10 minutes. So unrealistic but so much fun. 

It's kinda silly, parts of it make no sense at all, but it's a fun horror that will have you laughing as well as jumping. A horror classic, just don't expect to be terrified. 8 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 31st October 2013

Original Release Date - 16th November 1984 

(USA - couldn't find a UK release date)

Cast Overview:

Lt Donald Thompson ~ John Saxon

Marge Thompson ~ Ronee Blakley

Nancy Thompson ~ Heather Langenkamp

Christina 'Tina' Gray ~ Amanda Wyss

Rod Lane ~ Nick Corri

Glen Lantz ~ Johnny Depp

Fred Krueger ~ Robert Englund

Director/Writer ~ Wes Craven

Thor: The Dark World

http://marvel.com/thor

Thanks to the geniuses at Marvel, the detailed teachings of my nephew, and the welcome into the Marvel fandom I have received through my blog, I have become a huge fan of the Marvel movies. As such, when I heard that my local cinema was showing not only a midnight screening of Thor: The Dark World, but also showing Thor beforehand, I had to go and be part of that. However, I then heard that another cinema a little further away was showing Thor AND Avengers Assemble before a midnight screening of Thor: The Dark World, and I knew that was the one for me. I convinced my Avengers midnight screening buddies to come along too and before you can say 'For Asgard', we were on our way to a 7 hour Thor-a-thon. You can read my previous reviews for Thor and Avengers Assemble by clicking the respective links.

Firstly allow me to say how great it was to see Thor in 3D IMAX, which I did not when it first came out. Wow. It looked great, it was funny, Asgard looked more shiny and sumptuous than ever. And then Avengers. You can't top it. Or can you?

Thor: The Dark World opens by telling the tale of the dark elves, lead by Malekith (Eccleston). His goal is to destroy the universe by unleashing a powerful weapon known as the Aether. In the tale, Malekith and the dark elves are faught to extinction by Odin's (Hopkins) father Bor, and the Aether is moved to a safe place, far from the reach of those who might mis-use it's dark power. We move forward to present day London where we find Jane Foster (Portman) and Darcy Lewis (Dennings) discovering strange goings on in an abandoned warehouse; trucks that can be flipped in mid air by the lightest of touches, items disappearing and reappearing when dropped down a stairwell. In the midst of all these strange goings on Jane disappears into one of these voids and finds herself in another dimension, face to face with the Aether. As Heimdall (Elba) is unable to 'see' Jane in the other dimension, Thor (Hemsworth) makes the decision to return to earth to find Jane. But he takes on more than he bargained for when the dark elves return, forcing Thor to join forces with his imprisoned brother Loki (Hiddleston), in order to defeat them and return the Aether to safe hands.

I enjoyed Thor: The Dark World greatly, but sadly, not as much as I liked the first Thor. I wasn't keen on the villain this time around, I just found him to be rather lacking in charisma, and as you never really know his motivation for wanting to destroy the universe, it's hard to ever really see things from his perspective. Plus the name for the race, the dark elves, I'm sorry but I just couldn't take that seriously. I can't find elves something to be feared, no matter how 'dark' they are.

Having said that, I enjoyed the humour of the movie and I particularly enjoyed Loki's scenes this time around. Bearing in mind that this is the third outing for Tom Hiddleston's Loki, this is the first time in three movies that I have had any empathy for him, and this time I found that I was actually rooting for him a lot of the time. You can tell that Hiddleston relishes this role and has a lot of love for the character and I think this really comes across in this movie. The scene in Loki's cell with Frigga was just heart wrenching, while Loki's scenes with Thor are filled with enjoyable banter. 

In terms of the Marvel universe and the continuation of things from Thor and Avengers, Thor: The Dark World does not disappoint. Asgard still looks sumptuous and spectacular, while the scenes on earth have moved to London as the main setting. I for one really enjoyed seeing the UK play such a big part in a movie as mainstream as this, and especially as superhero movies tend to always take place in America, with very little mention of the world outside of that. Little touches such as the digestives on the breakfast table, and the ITV news story made me smile and I hope that the US audiences enjoyed it as much as I did. 

I must also give praise to the artists who's work is featured in the end credits of the film as it really is quite stunning. If you don't want to stay for the mid credits or post credits sequences I would at least recommend staying until the artwork has finished being showcased. Another great edition to the Marvel movie universe, just don't expect it to surpass Thor. 8 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 29th October 2013 (Midnight)

UK Release Date - 30th October 2013

Cast Overview:

Thor ~ Chris Hemsworth

Jane Foster ~ Natalie Portman

Loki ~ Tom Hiddleston

Odin ~ Anthony Hopkins

Malekith ~ Christopher Eccleston

Sif ~ Jaimie Alexander

Fandral ~ Zachary Levi

Volstagg ~ Ray Stevenson

Hogun ~ Tadanobu Asano

Heimdall ~ Idris Elba

Frigga ~ Rene Russo

Darcy ~ Kat Dennings

Erik ~ Stellan Skarsgård

Director ~ Alan Taylor

Writer ~ Christopher Yost (Screenplay), Christopher Markus (Screenplay), Stephen McFeely (Screenplay), Don Payne (Story) and Robert Rodat (Story)

Based on the comic books by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby

Thor: The Dark World Premiere

As many of my regular readers will know, I do enjoy going to the occasional film premiere, especially if it's a movie I am interested in, or a movie featuring one of my favourite stars. However, as I already managed to obtain the signature of Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, at the Avengers premiere last year, I almost didn't go to the Thor: The Dark World premiere at all.

My main reason for not going was that my usual premiere companion and cinema buddy, was not able to take the day off work and accompany me. Without his camaraderie, home made sandwiches and photography skills, I just didn't think it would be worth it. But as soon as I got to work on the morning of the premiere I knew I had made a grave mistake. Firstly because it was not raining, as the weather woman (Carol on BBC Breakfast) had predicted. Secondly, as I was present at the Avengers and Iron Man 3 Premiere (and did Iron Man 3 stag), it just felt wrong that I wasn't there.

So I made a snap decision to take the afternoon off work and go to the premiere. I will admit that it was not the best idea I've ever had, because as an experienced premiere goer, I know full well that the best thing to do is go up to London early to get a good spot. I arrived in London at around 3pm, which meant that all of the enclosed pens where the fans are held, were all full. So the queue of people I was with were diverted into the center part of Leicester Square. Regrettably, despite there being poster covered banners and red carpet here, this was not an area the stars walked down as this was where the general public were being ushered in. I did however have a good view of the stage from where I was, just a far away view.

The first part of the premiere involved a vote for the 'Thor with the most Phwoar', a line up of Thor look-a-likes who were all vying for the public to vote for them.

After this we saw a precession of Lookie-Loki's, who were going to be judged by none other than Tom Hiddleston upon his arrival at the premiere. My personal favourite of the Lookie-Loki's was this person, who did a fantastic job on their costume...

I managed to take a video of Mr Hiddleston being interviewed and judging the contest. If you can hear over the fangirls he comes across very well, but I always think this of Mr Hiddleston, having seen him be interviewed a number of times. Apologies for the screaming, it wasn't by me for once!

As I was too far away from the action, with only my iPhone to rely on, I decided it would be better for me to video the main interviews rather than trying to take pictures. The best I did, picture wise, was when I took these images of the main screen as Kat Dennings arrived:

But as you can see, they're not great. The next person to be interviewed was Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth.

Followed by unexpected guest, and head honcho of assembling the Avengers, Joss Whedon. *I love that someone says "oh no" when Joss says he can't say anything about Avengers: Age of Ultron, come on lady, you really thought he would?

That brings me to the end of my premiere adventures. Next time I will make my mind up earlier, be more prepared and hopefully get some signatures. But until then, here is a giant Mjolnir in the middle of Leicester Square...

How I Live Now

http://www.magpictures.com/howilivenow/

My cinema buddy asked my opinion as to what his 1000th cinema experience should be. The choice was this, or Sunshine on Leith. I suggested this but on reflection I think he maybe should have gone with a film with Sunshine in the title.

How I Live Now tells the story of what happens to a group of kids, who are left to fend for themselves after a nuclear attack. New Yorker Daisy (Ronan), is sent to visit her cousins in the English countryside by her father, who clearly isn't going to win any Dad of the year awards. From the moment Daisy hits UK soil, it's immediately clear that the world is on the brink of World War 3. Daisy's Aunt Penn (Chancellor - who has an unspecified government position), is working hard on a peace process, and leaves the kids for a day while she goes to Geneva for talks. As the oldest child is Edmond (MacKay), at 16, Aunt Penn arranges for a neighbour to come check on the children in her absence. When a nuclear explosion rocks London, the neighbour never comes and the aunt is feared dead. The kids look out for each other, with Daisy and Eddie taking care of the younger siblings, and during this time, Daisy and Eddie fall in love. All is well in their little safe haven until the military comb the area for survivors and force the two girls to leave the boys for a "safe house", where they are forced to work but looked after by a somewhat deluded couple. Will Daisy and Piper ever make it back to Eddie and Isaac?

Although How I Live Now is a very realistic and relevant film (and book), it's not the most cheery of topics. Not all films are, and I appreciate the dark as well as the light, but there really is not an awful lot of light in this film, figuratively speaking. Daisy is a very hard character to like. I don't know how she comes across in the book as I haven't read it, but in the film she's just really quite mean and spiteful for the early part and you're never really sure what her motivation is for that. Her cousins, especially Isaac and Piper, are very accommodating to this American brat who has been thrust upon them, and for the most part she just comes across as ungrateful. 

I found this made it even harder to understand why Eddie fell in love with her, I mean first she's his cousin, so that's just all wrong to me. And second, she's not very nice. So their relationship just seemed off to me the whole time. And as that is a massive factor in the movie, her whole motivation to get away from the safe house and back home is to get back to Eddie, I just found the whole movie to be a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.

The actors involved were all very convincing in their roles, especially as they are all very young, and most unknown. But their characters just didn't really have a lot of depth. I would therefore only recommend How I Live Now to fans of the book, as I think only those people will understand the characters fully. 5.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 6th October 2013

UK Release Date - 4th October 2013

Cast Overview:

Daisy ~ Saoirse Ronan

Edmond ~ George MacKay

Isaac ~ Tom Holland

Piper ~ Harley Bird

Aunt Penn ~ Anna Chancellor

Director ~ Kevin Macdonald

Writer(s) ~ Jeremy Brock, Tony Grisoni, Penelope Skinner, Meg Rosoff (Novel)