Jack Reacher - review.

Fast and Cruisious.... Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher.

Tom Cruise's new vehicle (pun intended) is a deviation of Lee Child's action hero, Jack Reacher, star of Child's novel, One Shot. The high-octane opening is tragic and brutal, being a reflection of the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting; a shooter picks off bystanders thorough a sniper rifle atop a multistorey carpark. Another montage where femme fatale Rosamund Pike lists the victims, whilst stating their intentions on their day of murder, is both heart-wrenching and appalling, echoing the tragedies that occur around us. Jack Reacher flips between murder mystery to action flick, undecided between the pair, it falls infrequently. Famous German documentarian Werner Herzog utilizes his heavy accent and provides us with a sinister, glassy-eyed monster of a villain. A role that he is wasted sadly, and it seems outrageous that Herzog was even considered for the part. The plot is ludicrous and makes next to sense bar a couple of points, but the drama grasps you and your sucked into the world of Jack Reacher. Pike is perfect as the District Attorney's pretty and lawful daughter, another confusion. She and Reacher never hit it off and the denouement doesn't contain a kiss (I was shocked too!), they only seem to get up tight and cosy, with the audience bracing themselves for locked lips. This never happens and either Cruise or Pike leaves the scene with a sharp quip. Its all in goofy good fun, but the plot holes are so big this reviewer risks falling into them... however that doesn't detract the action packed essence of the film. 

3.5/5

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - review.

The Lord of the Hobbits... The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Following on from his 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, Peter Jackson has ventured on a new journey (pun intended) to explore J. R. R. Tolkien's prequel to the grand trio of films. He has decided to do the stupid thing rich filmmakers tend to do and is splitting the 310 page children's novel into three films. This personally is a ludicrously self-indulgent piece of nonsense and it makes you think, surely you'd gain viewers by tightening it all up. Boasting a whopping great 170 minute running length, it wouldn't get me dashing there but good reviews convinced me and I sat down to watch The Hobbit. Martin Freeman takes the role of Bilbo Baggins, previously owned by Ian Holm who has a nice cameo, and makes it his own, empathising the creature comforts Bilbo so loves and making him a foolish and incapable nincompoop. However as many great heroes do, he softens into a courageous man but seeing as this expedition is to last three full films, he is still full of cowardice and hasn't properly asserted himself into the prime role. Ian McKellen fits nicely back into the pointy hat, flowing robe and wispy beard whilst newcomer to the series Richard Armitage is the dwarf leader Thorin. This really is so like The Lord of the Rings it practically is The Lord of the Rings with reused locations, reused character elements and reused escape methods. The formula is the same, a group of Muddle Earth dwellers decide to journey to a mountain, in one case to destroy it and in the second case to reclaim it from a fiery dragon. Whilst it isn't refreshingly new and Jackson has had just under ten years to develop something original, it is enjoyable and the characters are entertaining in their own ways. The length prolongs the film greatly but none the less you find yourself lapping it all up.

4/5

Great Expectations - review.

MAY CONTAIN SOME MILD SPOILERS.

Anticlimax.. Jeremy Irvine and Holliday Grainger as Pip and Estella.

Not twelve months ago, did I see a terrific BBC adaptation of Dicken's famous novel. Gillian Anderson took the role as ghostly spinster Miss Havisham whilst Douglas Booth portrayed the older Pip. This was undoubtedly the best version that's ever been churned out of the lengthy book, the best since the David Lean edition last century. This interpretation from Mike Newell and David Nicholls is an odd affair that really stretches between likeness and anger, anger at the fact that such a modern form of the book with an all-star cast has failed in its challenge. I'm slap bang in the middle, unsure whether to love it or hate it. The real problem is Helena Bonham Carter's foul portrayal of the mysterious and old (Bonham Carter's age is 46 whilst Dickens intended a more late fifties, early sixties look) Miss Havisham. Her death scene is disgusting, crude, poorly executed and nightmarish, I was physically distraught in the cinema thanks to this ridiculous chapter. Carter also acts the pantomime baddie, remaining in the shadows giving no effort to do anything. Known for her weird gothic mad-haired gimmick, Helena Bonham Carter tones this down completely and her casting as Miss Havisham was a long-awaited waste.
War Horse's Jeremy Irvine ups his game a little as gentlemanly Pip, sent to London to live the life of a dandy after a mysterious benefactor, communicated to him by Robbie Coltrane's cold-hearted Jaggers. Ralph Fiennes appeared as the likeable Gareth Mallory in the recent James Bond movie, Skyfall and now gives an easy performance as Magwitch. Holliday Grainger forces all of Estella's hostility to men, after being raised by Miss Havisham, perfectly into herself meaning her performance is perfect for the role. David Walliams however is excellant as the pride-hungry Uncle Pumblechook, a role he quite rightly deserves.
I went into Great Expectations with.. great expectations and I was sorely disappointed, its good-looking, well-acted in most cases but still lacks some adventurism or energy that leaves a gaping hole. 

3/5

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 - review.

Mixed bag of nuts... The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2.

The word 'saga' is defined as "a long story of heroic achievement", this fifth and thankfully final instalment of the teenage-aimed franchise fails to deliver any sort of heroic deed or achievement. All it does is disappoint fans of the series who were hoping for a 'Deathly Hallows' like showdown and some form of decent resolution. 
Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), the glittery vampire who has swooned the innocent and ever stoic Bella Swan (played with the usual stone face, Kristen Stewart) is now a father as Bella is a mother to their CGI-enhanced child of death. After the disgusting climax of Part 1, Swan has given birth to her human-cum-vampire daughter, Renesmee (played with a creepy pallor by Mackenzie Foy). Obviously something is afoot and the sinister Volturi (led by lank-haired Michael Sheen) close in on the whole Cullen family, leaving them torn between a sophisticated debate and a monumental battle, ironically they choose the former. Meanwhile, Jacob Black (you know, the wolfie one), played strangely well by Taylor Lautner has formed a unexplained link with Bella and Edward's child. This is basically just an excuse to keep him in on the action 24/7. So the stage is set for what the audience anticipate to be a bloodshedding battle to the death. 
Breaking Dawn fails to appeal to the people out for a gripping battle, yes there is a battle with many casualties but you'll find out why that isn't substantial. As the trailer advertises, there is a dramatic battle on a frozen lake, this conflict isn't more of a conflict but a civilised discussion that sorts itself out nicely. 
I have never seen a more self-satisfied film in all of my life. The denouement is so smug that it lasts for about fifteen minutes. The credits don't just list Breaking Dawn cast members but everyone from the bloody postman in the first film to the last wolf in Part Two. Smugly complacent is the ideal words for the tagline.

3/5

Rust and Bone - review.

Sophisticated and smartly passionate at its core... Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone.

It hasn't been since The Five Year Engagement debacle have I seen a smart romantic movie. That film was letdown but the odd couple pairing of Emily Blunt and Jason Segel worked well and the film was reasonably intelligent if a little long and occasionally bland. Rust and Bone is far better than that and its two main players, Marion Cotillard at her best and relatively newcomer Matthias Schoenaerts are as much of an odd couple, maybe even more than the Blunt/Segel partnership. This film is as thoughtful as love story features go. The extraordinary circumstances of Stéphanie (Cotillard) and Ali's (Schoenaerts) meeting are so unbelievable that the passionate love they exude cancels this out and they suddenly become convincing.
After a freak orca-related accident cripples Stéphanie she lapses into a heavy depression that she doesn't resurface from until she meets the emotionally dumb Ali. He is a straggler, just out from a failed relationship with his young son, Sam (Armand Verdure) he finds himself on the doorstep of his caring sister Anna (Corinne Masiero). Landing himself numerous jobs around the small French seaside town he becomes closer and closer to Stéphanie. Soon you are unsure where their relationship is going.
Its touching and sad with a canny ability to make you love it through all its flaws. Rust and Bone succeeds in many levels and when it has the odd mishap, it picks itself up off the ground and amazes the audience.

4/5

Skyfall - review.

Sharp, clever and fast... Daniel Craig takes the lead role in Skyfall.

On the official Skyfall Wikipedia entry, Dame Judi Dench takes the third position in the cast list. In the similar list for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Eva Green and Olga Kurylenko are second behind Daniel Craig. Dench is the Bond girl of this film. She may be getting into her late seventies (thus the 'girl' title should be withdrawn) but Judi Dench takes the most action out of all females in the movie. Whether its physically, emotionally or mentally, 'M' does it all. Naomie Harris plays the other Bond girl, Eve, a contemporary spy who does part fieldwork. She and Bond have an interesting badinage, usually through earpieces, but this banter doesn't rise above its raillery. Another interesting newcomer is Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory, a former lieutenant colonel in the British Army. Fiennes plays him as a stiff bureaucratic civil servant that we soon grow to like. Bérénice Marlohe is yet another Bond girl, Sévérine, a sexy and seductive, yet frail and vulnerable woman. The character is given nothing substantial and comes out flimsy and boring. 
The main villain of the piece, Javier Bardem gives us the ridiculous Silva. Ridiculous in a way that we like, his character is a bit flamboyant but still sinister in his own way. He is a disgruntled former agent turned cyberterrorist in an attempt to bring 'M' down. His chilling methods in attempting her demise are cunning and dangerous. Silva himself reminds me of the late Heath Ledger's The Joker, a twisted psycho who tries to take the Batman down in public ways. Silva does the exact same to 'M'. He has no time for James Bond, he is just somebody who gets in the road and must be exterminated. 
Skyfall exceeded expectations, purely because of something vital: drama. It slimmed down on the meaty chase scenes and violence, losing some of the mindless chaos and grinding down to the real core. To conclude, Skyfall featured so, so, so many hits and few insubstantial cons. It may not be the best Bond ever but it is certainly the best of the past twenty years.


4/5

Frankenweenie - review.

Martin Short, Charlie Tahan and Catherine O'Hara as Edward Frankenstein, Victor and Susan Frankenstein.

Think of every schlock horror or B movie ever, add in all the cheesy monster ideas, silly special effects, then update it to 2012. The final result, hopefully, should be Frankenweenie. Tim Burton returns back into his proper comfort zone after the shocking Alice In Wonderland and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Dark Shadows was brilliant but Frankenweenie has topped that. 
After poor Victor's (Charlie Tahan) dog, Sparky, is hit by a car, Victor goes all "Victor Frankenstein" and brings the deceased pooch back to life. The dog suffers minor scars but is essentially the same beast. Victor's "secret" is hidden from his unsuspecting parents, (Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara) but is accidently revealed to a deformed, igor-like schoolmate (Atticus Shaffer) of Victor's, Edgar. The drama is set in the small town of New Holland, a white picket-fenced group of cul-de-sacs reminiscent of Burton's fictional neighbourhood in Edward Scissorhands. The mayor is Mr Bergermeister, a fat and grumpy man who spends more time attending his precious flowers and plastic flamingos than to his teenage niece, Elsa (Winona Ryder). Once the secret is out to Edgar he can't possibly keep it and soon many of New Holland's youngsters know of the Frankenstein-like revival.
Its absolutely brilliant, giving you ever cliche known to any horror movie fan, giant creatures, resurrected hounds.. the key ingredients to a brilliant movie.

4/5

Untouchable - review.

Suave drama...Omar Sy and François Cluzet in Untouchable.

Its been hyped to the max and sugarcoated(wolfgang) to almost every level, Untouchable is a charming buddy movie about an ex-con and his quadriplegic employer. I first saw it advertised a few weeks ago and it came emblazoned with four or five star ratings from critics. An American voiceover tells us "critics rave about it" and I merely assumed it would be pretty awful as it looked pretty cheesy and unattractive to a movie-goer like me. I ended up going and now I've come out of it literally raving. Omar Sy is the ex-crook, (a rather undeveloped plot strand) Driss, who has just done time for robbery. To gain benefits he enters an interview to become carer to wealthy quadriplegic Philippe (Cluzet). A trial month ensues and Driss quickly becomes a full-time carer and friend to the millionaire. For once I actually enjoy the embarrassing sequences that are supposed to be 'heart-warming'. I wasn't cringing, shamed to be in the audience, I was just grinning like an idiot. The relationship between the two doesn't rise above sentimentality but keeps the pace going. When Driss discovers Philippe has lost his love, he sets out to match his employer up with his pen-pal Eleonore, a woman he's been enticing with romantic poems. The jokes are fresh and witty, bouncing off Philippe's condition and others around the pair. Now lined up for a foreign language Oscar, it will surely win. Untouchable is one of those films, you'll remember the next morning.

4/5 

Doctor Who - The Angels Take Manhattan - review.

Karen Gillan, Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill in The Angels Take Manhattan.

I have been dreading this episode for a long, long time. Ever since, the wonderful, glorious Pond couple graced our screens two years ago, I knew we'd have to suffer the same heartbreak that we endured when the likes of Rose and Donna left. I knew this, because it was Moffat, he made that wonderful scene at the end of "Forest of The Dead" where River dies. I knew Amy and Rory would bow out in a brilliant and emotional way and so they did. The Doctor takes the lovely Ponds to New York for a break. There they sit and enjoy a picnic in Central Park whilst the Doctor reads "Melody Malone" out loud and Amy squints through a nice pair of reading spectacles. Rory, feeling slightly left out, goes and gets coffee for the three but is sent back in time by the sinister cherubs. Meanwhile, Amy glances at the Doctor's book and they discover the mysterious detective, Melody Malone is really River Song (Alex Kingston)... being particularly saucy this time - "My lipstick was primed and ready, and I was packing cleavage that would fell an ox at 20ft." After some irritating time distortions throw the TARDIS off course, the Doctor, Amy and River set out to find Mr. Pond. River Song in this episode is a more fun version of last year. She still packs the sexy and hilarious lines but doesn't have the weight of last series' arc. Now she can flounce around without worrying too much about having to reveal something. The sad thing about Rory is that he, for the majority of the episode, is alone. For his final episode, he gets some screen time but doesn't have a chance to slip in some dialogue with his co-stars Gillan and Smith. The Weeping Angels in this episode are far from a threat - after thinking in my head, what their diabolical plan was, I've come to the conclusion that their one true lust in the universe is to become landlords... or landladies. Serving customers such as S. Garner (Rob David) and R. Williams (Darvill). If you cancelled out the Pond departure, then 'The Angels Take Manhattan' is actually a half decent episode. The plot is interesting, with River's "Melody Malone" book detailing the episode nicely. My eyes were so thick with tears by the end that it would probably be unhealthy for me to not cry. All I can say now is, farewell Ponds, we will always love you as the best 11th Doctor companions... unless Jenna-Louise Coleman tops you in the second half of Series Seven.

NEXT TIME:
Well, its so long, Doctor Who till Christmas. But the teaser trailer promised the new companion, snow, sinister looking men and the Victorian era.. I do love the historical episodes.. until then, see you at Christmas!

Looper - review.

Dizzying high-octane stuff... Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Looper.

Over the past couple years, many movie makers have tried to recreate the sensational Inception. There was a big hype about it when it was first released and not many films have successfully made a good sci-fi film. Now Looper is the closest thing to it. Joe (Gordon-Levitt) is a Looper, a hired assassin from 2044. A Looper's job is to dispose of anyone that the mob, from the further future, 2074 wants "gone". Joe's Loop spot is in a field where the victim is transported onto a tarpaulin and shot with a futuristic shotgun. Strapped to the corpse will be iron bars in which the Looper converts into money. Joe does this regularly, its his main source of income, until he has to kill himself. His next victim appears as an older man whom resembles himself. Its an older form of Joe, played by Bruce Willis. The film goes along nicely and stops for some down time at the residence of Sara (played by my new favorite Emily Blunt). Blunt is good as the angry and defensive mother. Unfortunately she loses this a bit towards the end but its made up for by good acting. The plot isn't as confusing as you'd think and gets enjoyable as the action is ramped up. 


4/5

Now Is Good - review.

Nothing new... Dakota Fanning and Jeremy Irvine in Now Is Good.

Now Is Good is one of those teen dramas that is predictable and unoriginal. Almost all teen dramas are like that but you'd expect this film to be slightly better than the usual formula considering its rather delicate subject. US actress Dakota Fanning plays Tessa, a young girl from Brighton suffering from leukaemia. She creates a bucket list full of illegal and mischievous things that she and her friend Zoey (Kaya Scodelario) to do. All the while she is having a tense relationship with her stoic father (Paddy Considine doing a rather brilliant job). Her mother (Olivia Williams) is a rather flaky woman who seems to spend most of the time on her phone rather than looking after her ill daughter. Attractive next-door neighbour Adam (War Horse's Jeremy Irvine) arrives on the scene and instantly woos Tessa over. The pair spend an hour of the movie flirting and eventually it concludes with a kiss. It tries to do a decent job at dealing with a rather hard subject, unfortunately it doesn't rise much. There are some decent performances by Considine, Irvine and Williams but thats all this rather boring drama gets right.

2/5

Doctor Who - The Power of Three - review.

Arthur Darvill, Karen Gillan and Matt Smith in The Power of Three.

Chris Chibnall has always been a favourite of mine when it comes to his Doctor Who scripts. In 2007, he gave us the tense claustrophobic '42' and then Moffat brought him back in Series 5 with his Silurian two-parter, 'The Hungry Earth'/'Cold Blood'. For Series Six he was absent but this gap has been filled in by his two episodes for Series Seven. The first episode was episode two, 'Dinosaurs On A Spaceship', and looking back I have to say I enjoyed it. It was rather fast but still a good old Doctor Who romp and I was delighted at the turnout of Brian Williams, Rory's dad. His second episode, 'The Power of Three' to me looked like it had so much potential. It featured the return of UNIT last seen in the David Tennant 'Specials' and mysterious black cubes. From all the pictures, clips and general publicity of the episode, I had high hopes and besides, its written by Chris Chibnall. What the episode delivered was severely disappointing. It was the Pond-centred episode of the series and perfect for the couples' penultimate episode. From the opening monologue to the end, it was a 41-minute Pond homage. This means that it has to unfortunately dump the other 'stuff' - e.g the villains, the plot, the supporting characters. All it left space for was Doctor jokes. I like a 'Doctor joke' as same as the next Who fan but the jokes given in 'The Power of Three' were forced and at times extremely unfunny. The only two characters that leapt out the screen for me were Brian Williams and Kate Stewart. Stewart is the now head of UNIT, taking over from her father, the late great Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicolas Courtney). Jemma Redgrave (niece to Vanessa Redgrave) portrays the scientific head of research and does it superbly, if Moffat does not bring her back, I'll be pretty annoyed RAGING. From her first scenes she steals the show, even outdoing Matt Smith's acting (which in his case is hard to do). Unfortunately Chibnall is too busy zooming the camera in on Amy and Rory to actually give the character any development other than she likes the Doctor. 
Normally in a Doctor Who review, you'd concentrate on the villain quite a bit. I would of course do this had the villain not have had twenty seconds screen time. From promotional photos all we could see was cubes. The cubes play a large role in the episode and there is about fifteen minutes worth of "oh my God, there's cubes. Woah! Look, loads of cubes. Can you believe there are cubes!" Yes, talk about stating the blooming obvious! Finally in the climatic scenes in the Shakri ship, the cubes are stopped. You'd think they would be stopped them with love or reasoning or they would realise the error of their ways (all of which have unfortunately been used as plot lines). No, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to zap some controls and effectively deactivating them. By now, dear reader you will be wondering what the cubes did, well they gave people heart attacks for the simple explanation that the Shakri (bald, wrinkly guys) want to stop humans colonizing. Why do they want to stop humans colonizing? Haven't the foggiest. There is so much that confuses me even now - the strange pouting fish-like men that seemed to do nothing? And why would Brian go to the hospital to help when he's spent over six months watching the cubes and then when they move, he goes off to the hospital? The Shakri hologram just lets Amy and Rory evacuate their drugged prisoners while its still in the room? When the Doctor is complaining he's bored, he goes out, plays football, paints the fence - the Doctor would never do this, he'd just hop in the TARDIS and go to the next galaxy. When he says he's bored he doesn't mean, "lets watch TV" bored, he means "lets save the universe" bored.

NEXT TIME:
Its the Ponds' final episode, Weeping Angels, New York and River. Said to have you crying by the end, I really am not looking forward to saying goodbye to the Eleventh Doctor's companions.

To Rome With Love - review.

Enjoyable farce.... Judy Davis and Woody Allen in To Rome With Love.

Woody Allen returns front of camera this time in his latest trip to a European city. To Rome With Love sports some stunning sights and a excellent view of the city for non-travellers but the plot disappoints you, marginally. It focuses on numerous people leaving you interested in parts of the film. The first is a tale of parents, Phyllis and Gerry (Davis and Allen) visiting their young daughter (Alison Pill) and her fiancé (Flavio Parenti). This tale escalates quickly from an elderly couple visiting their daughter to the father recruiting his daughter's fiancé's father to sing opera. This strand of the plot is the furthest fetched and the most unconvincing. The next is Jack, (Jesse Eisenberg) a nerdy wannabe architect living with his girlfriend, Sally (Greta Gerwig) in a backstreet of Rome. He encounters famous architect, John (played rather well by Alec Baldwin) who discovers Sally's best friend, Monica (Ellen Page) is coming to stay with the couple. When Monica arrives, John becomes the cynical voice in Jack's head advising him of the dangers of flirting with this woman. The story begins rather sensibly before escalating as most of these story strands do. One of the most enjoyable of the multiple strands is the tale of Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi), a pair of rather clueless newlyweds who arrive in the capital to spend a honeymoon. Things go from bad to worse and Milly is hanging around with famous Italian movie star, Luca Salta (Antonio Albanese) whilst Antonio cavorts with call girl, Anna (played by Penélope Cruz). This strand is enjoyable but again, unconvincing. The last storyline is that of, Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni), an ordinary clerk whose life is turned around overnight. This strand is the most ironic, making fun of people who are "famous for being famous", Leopoldo is asked his opinions on the weather, what hand does he use to scratch his head and when he shaves. This strand is slightly irritating and repetitive but the moral is clearer than the rest, if there is a moral in the rest. 
Its certainly different from Midnight In Paris but has the same charm. You should certainly view To Rome With Love in the same way you viewed Midnight In Paris.


4/5

Doctor Who - A Town Called Mercy - review.

Karen Gillan, Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill in A Town Called Mercy.

I have never been a huge fan of Toby Whithouse, 'School Reunion' was funny but lacked a proper alien threat whilst 'The Vampires of Venice' was good fun but yet still no threat. Last year's 'The God Complex' was a tricky one, I found when first watching it, it was disappointing but upon second viewing I uncovered it to be a smart and sophisticated episode that had a deep moral. 'A Town Called Mercy' has made me rethink whatever I thought previously about Whithouse. Its a smart Western that incorporates everything you'd expect from it. The Doctor riding a horse (new companion, Susan), gun fights and a proper Western set. The TARDIS crew arrive after yet another misfire from the Doctor in the town of Mercy, a town under siege from the weirdest threat possible for them. Andrew Brooke is absolutely brilliant as The Gunslinger, a cyborg dead set to kill Kahler-Jex. Jex is played by British actor, Adrian Scarborough who performs brilliantly as usual, the character Jex is an intriguing one and you start of liking him but the story takes numerous twists. Stargate actor, Ben Browder plays Isaac, the Marshall of Mercy and the Doctor's best friend in this episode. Toby Whithouse delivers a terrific script and believable characters without giving us a proper villain slightly similar to the Minotaur from 'The God Complex'. It has the seriousness of 'Asylum of the Daleks' and completely destroys the hilarious romp of last week, Dinosaurs On A Spaceship. As episode three it stands in the same spot as last year's 'The Doctor's Wife' - my favorite episode of series six, now the best episode so far of series seven would have be this.


NEXT TIME:
"The year of the slow invasion", Mark Williams is back as Rory's dad, Rory in his pants... its the Ponds sitcom plus the return of UNIT.

Doctor Who - Dinosaurs On A Spaceship - review.

Rupert Graves, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Matt Smith, Mark Williams and Riann Steele in Dinosaurs On A Spaceship.

An episode that completely revolves around its title, you have to think back to the shambles that was "Let's Kill Hitler", it was a cheery romp with a great script from Steven Moffat but sadly it failed to make any impact. Dinosaurs On A Spaceship is the same except its enjoyable and it isn't written by Moffat. Returning writer Chris Chibnall gives us his first episode of this series and it is pretty chaotic. Before the title sequence we get the Doctor told by the India Space Agency that a spaceship with a prehistoric cargo is set to crash into the Earth. He recruits Queen Nefertiti from Egypt, John Riddell from the African Plains, the good old Ponds and Rory's confused father, Brian. All the above mentioned characters were played brilliantly by their actors, Rupert Graves who played Riddell and Mark Williams as Rory's dad were two exceptions. Soon the TARDIS and its new found crew are on the spaceship with a large amount of... dinosaurs. The Doctor has six hours to save the ship, its cargo, himself and his friends so it looks like its going to be a tricky one. 
The villain of the story is Soloman, played rather menacingly by David Bradley, best known for his role as Filch in the Harry Potter series. Soloman is a space pirate who stumbles upon this wealthy cargo and sets to claim it for his own. Unfortunately he has no idea how to pilot the ship and is therefore stuck. The Doctor jumps in and helps Soloman, physically before doing a very uncharacteristic act towards the end. Soloman's two henchmen are a couple of bumbling robots that sound rather camp and are voiced by British comedy duo, Mitchell and Webb. They have several good lines and their childish attitude doesn't quite reach the annoying stage. 

It won't stay in the memory for long but while your watching it, you are captivated by it and it is genuinely enjoyable.

NEXT TIME:
Doctor Who goes Western with a cyborg, an alien doctor, Amy waving a gun around and the Doctor becoming town sheriff, sounds like my cup of tea!

Anna Karenina - review.

Anna: The Musical... Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Keira Knightley as Count Vronsky and Anna Karenina.

The way, Joe Wright handles his adaption of Tolstoy's famous novel, is certainly unusual. The book, Anna Karenina is over eight hundred pages long with so much crammed in that it would be near impossible to cover everything. Wright uses a strange combination of the theatre and film, the opening ten minutes has theatrical set changes and sets the film up superbly. Keira Knightley is Anna, the wife of brisk government official, Alexei Karenin, played by Jude Law. Law constantly has the air of English vicar but his acting is brilliant. He soon goes onto to become the suffering husband of Karenina when she encounters the young and attractive Count Vronsky, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Anna and the Count become lovers and a difficult love triangle ensues. The background and costumes, almost every scene is gorgeous. Its a feast for your eyes with bright colours and expensive scenery. There is a sub-plot though and it has Domhnall Gleeson as Levin, a good-natured and honest man, who falls badly when knocked back at a marriage proposal to Kitty (Alicia Vikander). He is the parallel to Anna Karenina, a lying and deceitful woman who is unfaithful to her husband. It is confusing but bold, it doesn't quite settle in a filmgoers eyes but manages to keep the audience contained for its length.



3/5

Total Recall - review.

Memory to keep...Colin Farrell in Total Recall.

Despite negative reviews for Total Recall, I found myself pleasantly surprised by this remake. With tickets booked I read reviews last night and felt pretty trapped into going to a bad movie, luckily it was great. Its set in a future Earth where everywhere but Australia and the UK (?) has been nuked, making it uninhabitable. Australia has been renamed The Colony and not ever referred to as Australia whereas the UK is the United Federation of Britain. Being a Brit, a friend and I were cheering at it in the cinema. Irish actor Colin Farrell plays Doug Quaid, a factory worker living in The Colony with his 'English lass' wife, Lori (played by a psychotic, gun-wielding Kate Beckinsale). Thinking his life's going nowhere, he goes to ReKall, a company that literally gives you memories, false ones albeit. Things don't go smoothly and Quaid is on the run, along with Melina (Jessica Biel), a member of the Resistance. The Resistance is an organisation that em... resists the government led by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), a ruthless dictator that hopes to... do evil things that aren't explained properly. The first hour and a half is a runaround chase before they finally get to the final face-off. The films principle 'soldier' role is filmed in by Cohaagen's "synthetic police force", a cross between a Stormtrooper and a dancing iPod robot. 
Its fun stuff and gorgeous to look at, for people who haven't seen the Arnold Schwarzenegger version or read the book they'll enjoy it. From what reviews say it doesn't stick to the plot of the 1990 movie or the Philip K. Dick short story, so fans of either of they won't be fans of this...


3.5/5

Doctor Who - Asylum of the Daleks - review. SPOILERS.

Matt Smith, Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan in Asylum of The Daleks.

After 8 months of anticipation and more of Moffat's teasing, we have finally been given 'Asylum of The Daleks.' Its special-effects mad and features all the Daleks, the main selling point for this episode. As usual all Doctor Who premieres (written by Moffat) have given us a twist, this twist is definitely something that hasn't been pointed out online. In an interview, Steven Moffat said he looks online and silently pokes fun at forums and blogs of people speculating about the episode. Nobody would have guessed the new companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman would be introduced in this episode! 
The episode starts off on war-torn Skaro where the Doctor is invited by the creepy ginge Darla Von Karlsen (Anamaria Marinca) to rescue her daughter. After been zapped along with  a divorced Amy and Rory (Gillan and Darvill) they are asked (yes, asked!) by the Daleks to "save them!" The rest is a runaround on the Dalek "dumping ground" or The Asylum, a planet dedicated to collecting doolally Daleks and keeping them away from civilisation. Smith is brilliant as usual except this time he brings a whole new level of matureness to The Doctor, but still with the funny jokes. Darvill is better in my opinion in this episode than Karen Gillan. Usually he is the klutz and she is the funny, flirty and self-supportive Amy who holds onto the Doctor's arm. In this case, as Rory and Amy have split up he is the independent one who is split from the Doctor and Amy throughout the episode. Karen Gillan is still great as usual but her character of Amy has become slightly more vicious than in previous series. 
The next addition to the cast is Oswin Oswald, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. Coleman has been cast as the new companion. As I am a sucker for spoilers, I have been reading the rumors and her character, rumored name: Clara Oswin is due to appear in the Christmas special. Now she in the opening episode as the new companion maybe or a relative? Her character, anyway, in this episode is hilarious, funny and flirty just like Amy, with hilarious one-liners and a rather sexy way she deals with Matt Smith's chin. 
The Daleks in this episode aren't much of a threat, in fact the main Daleks you see in the episode are out of commission. 
I am very disappointed in fact about the noticeable absence of the Special Weapons Dalek from the 1988 story, Remembrance of The Daleks. 

Still, it was really good!

NEXT TIME:
An Egyptian queen and a game hunter, and Rory's dad and Amy in an awesome blue and white stripy jumper, I can't wait!

The Imposter.

Non-fiction thriller..... Frédéric Bourdin in The Imposter.

In some ways its hard to believe that The Imposter is non-fiction, it did happen, the events told in the movie are real and it is shocking. It was not all in part, filmed as a documentary with some sequences recreated with actors so you are left at the end thinking what bits were real and what was faked. It focuses on the case of Nicholas Barclay, a 13 year-old boy living in San Antonio, Texas who never returned home after playing basketball with friends. He is found over three years later, in Madrid, Spain. The 16 year-old they found was not Nicholas Barclay, and he was not sixteen. He was in fact, Frédéric Bourdin, a 23 year-old French con-man now dubbed "The Chameleon", for he has since 2005, adopted over 500 identities. The documentary goes on, with all interviews with Nicholas Barclay's family and Bourdin himself shown as talking heads. Other sequences are done using actual footage from the event or mocked up with actors. Bourdin returns with Nicholas's sister, Carey Gibson who says he is Nicholas and he meets the family. As to the surprise of the public and press, they accept him although he looks nothing like Nicholas. They have different color of eyes, different skin tone, rough outline of a dark beard and as one interviewee says, if Nicholas Barclay were to have a beard at 16, it wouldn't be black. Not everyone is convinced that this is Nicholas, the two main people unconvinced are Nancy Fisher, an FBI Special Agent and Texas private detective Charlie Parker. It's brilliant, gripping stuff and from the moment it opens you are drawn in. You want answers to so many questions throughout and some are answered. Others are not, as the public and Nicholas Barclay's family don't actually know the answers to them. So completely amazing, it feels like a thriller, not a non-fiction documentary.

5/5

Brave.

Sweet and sour.... Kelly Macdonald as Merida in Brave.

The annual cinematic tradition of the Pixar film is something movie goers look ahead to. I am joined with those people as I already look forward to Pixar's next treats such as Monsters University and am delighted at the possibility of a sequel to Finding Nemo. I won't defend Pixar all the time as they have given us some poor films, WALL-E had charm but wasn't great while I regret the Cars films existence. Brave is like WALL-E, full of charm and decent characters, the main thing letting the film down is the plot. It's that of a Disney movie, bland and predictable. The finale to the whole thing is so simple and reliant on magical mumbo-jumbo, something worthy of a Doctor Who story line. It has its moments and there is a touching montage between mother and daughter, I'll get onto that in a minute. Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald plays feisty princess Merida, a unsettled teenager that is shocked to discover she is to be married. The way of her betrothal is a Highland Games-style competition for the winner to take her hand in marriage. Quite obviously infuriated by this situation she storms off into the local forest to find a funny old witch (voiced by Julie Walters) who is in the wood-carving business. She gives Merida a spell to help change her strict mother, Queen Elinor's (Emma Thompson) mind about the forced marriage but as predicted it doesn't go right. The queen ends up as a charming bear and the princess is forced to hide her mother from the bear hating King Fergus (voiced by true Scots actor Billy Connolly). Things get tricky and Merida is forced to think of a way to help her transformed matriarch before the sun rises again.  The color is stunning and beautiful but the background is stereotypical Scotland, something you'd see in a Chinese advert or even a VisitScotland brochure. It's good fun stuff and obviously not aimed at young kids, like the Cars movies. So now you must be asking, is it aimed at adults. The answer is again, no, Brave isn't directed at lovers of Pixar's kookiness or younger lovers of anything that moves on a screen. I am at the time of writing, still wondering who it is aimed at.

4/5