Avengers Assemble

We're all in this together...Chris Hemsworth as Thor..Chris Evans as Captain America..Avengers Assemble

When you go to superhero movies, you expect them to be long - very long. Avengers Assemble is one of those films with a tremendous 143 minute length. To me, it's length didn't falter how good it was. Director Joss Whedon gives great fun to Marvel fans but also, something actually watchable for parents to enjoy. It's a ensemble superhero movie that pits expert heroes - Captain America (Chris Evans), Dr. Bruce Banner AKA the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Tony Stark AKA Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) against Thor's manipulative and treacherous brother, Loki (played by a very well-acted Tom Hiddleston.) Before the words, 'Avengers Assemble' have even popped up on the screen, Loki has stolen a energy called the Tesseract, a blue see-through box that many fans will remember from Captain America: The First Avenger. There is a lot of comedy to keep the film at an easy level and not just a lot of action - many films have fallen victim to this *cough* Transformers *cough.* The comedy mainly comes from Iron Man (Downey, Jr.) with his quick wit and snipes at other people at the room - he is the smartest man in the room, although it's self-appointed. The Hulk provides a few decent gags, there is one very funny scene where a man encounters a naked Bruce Banner (after pre-Hulk mode) and one of the best scenes in the whole film, where Loki declares himself a god and that he shouldn't be bullied, only to be tossed on the floor like a doll by the Hulk. One let down is the lack of backstory for Hawkeye. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk each have their own films but Hawkeye and Black Widow don't. Black Widow gets a bit of a backstory - enough for you to know the character. Hawkeye is different. He gets possessed in the first few minutes and when he's out of his 'trance' nothing more is explained. To conclude this review, Joss Whedon has put together a terrific ensemble superhero film, that will win over the fans, and surely the critics.




4/5

Marley

Exhausting stuff...Bob Marley..Kevin Macdonald's Marley.

Surely one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, The Last King of Scotland director, Kevin Macdonald, expresses the world's and his own passion for Bob Marley. It's executive producer is Marley's son, David "Ziggy" Marley and Island Records owner, Chris Blackwell - both huge Marley fans. It consists of interviews with people who knew Bob Marley and it also has lots of old and new footage, like some of the gigs The Wailers threw and shots of the clinic in Germany, Marley was treated at. The film suffers one let down - it's length. It's 144 minutes long and you can feel a bit restless one hour and three quarters in. Kevin Macdonald clearly has a passion for Bob Marley, it's blatantly obvious. It delves deep into Robert Marley's roots, like his father, Norval Marley a captain in the Royal Marines and his racial origins. Macdonald gives you so much information it's tiring stuff and he endlessly screams at you that Bob Marley's hope and belief is still in the world today, 21 years after his death.




4/5

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists.

Captain Blackadder...Hugh Grant..The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists.

There is something I really admire about Aardman Animations. I'm not sure wither it's the amazing animation or the hard work they put into their films but they really stand out as one of the best movie making companies in the 21st Century. The Pirates! lives 100% to it's expectations, just like it's predecessors, Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of The Were-Rabbit. It's funny, with gags-a-minute, the characters are likeable and it's got a great story. There are several films out this Easter, Mirror Mirror, a bad retelling of the Snow White story and Wrath of The Titans, a CGI adventure bore, if your child begs you to go the any these films, just say no and give them a history lesson and a great film rolled it one. I suppose it's like Horrible Histories except funnier. It tells the story of the dim Pirate Captain, played by Hugh Grant and his motley crew who accidently try to rob Charles Darwin's ship. It then leads to an adventure with what I believe as a mild cameo, scientists. The baddie is great with hints of Imelda Staunton's Dolores Umbridge kicking in. It's like Monty Python and Blackadder on the high seas.




5/5

The Kid With A Bike

Dangerous liasons...Cécile de France..Thomas Doret..The Kid With A Bike

The Kid With A Bike is a heart-warming powerful piece of cinema that makes the audience think about their parents. It follows the life of Cyril, a disturbed young boy, living in foster care looking for his father who left a month prior to the film and a missing bike. He meets Samantha  (de France), a kindly hairdresser who retrieves his bike. Cyril takes a shining to her and soon Samantha fosters Cyril for weekends only. One weekend, Cyril meets "The Dealer," a shady crook who enlists Cyril to commit a robbery. It's touching and the scene where Cyril's father abandons him, is very sad and heart-wrenching. The shots go on for too long and it feels a little stretched but still a very good film.




4/5

The Hunger Games

Another trilogy....Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is another trilogy following in the footsteps of the hugely popular Twilight series. It manages to keep the audience entertained for it's a two and a quarter length and make us want to see it's two sequels immediately. Jennifer Lawrence plays Katniss Everdeen, a character very unlike Kristen Stewart's bland Bella Swan. Courageous and kind-hearted she puts a huge amount of character into Katniss and acts it very well. She lives in a futuristic dystopian sc-fi world called Panem, which rules under President Snow's (a slightly under-used Donald Sutherland) iron fist. It has twelve "district's" and every year they have a "pageant" called The Hunger Games where two people are selected from each district to compete with others in a televised battle to the death. Obviously Katniss is one of the "tribute's" from her District and her male companion is Peeta Mellark (played rather well by Josh Hutcherson). Together they travel to compete in the games. It's hugely entertaining and Elizabeth Banks plays a great Effie Trinket with Woody Harrelson chipping in as Peeta and Katniss' mentor. It's length plays to it's weaknesses and the music tells you when to cry and whoop. What looks to be an enjoyable series. 


4/5

The Decoy Bride

To wed or to not wed...David Tennant...Kelly Macdonald..The Decoy Bride

The combination of Sally Philip's hilarious script and Kelly Macdonald and David Tennat's great performances makes a very good rom-com about a 'decoy bride.' It makes fun of the rural-ness of Scottish islands and their communities and gives hilarity too. When Katie (Macdonald) arrives home to Hegg, a remote Hebrides island, she doesn't expect to be asked to stand in for famous movie actress Lara Tyler, played by Alice Eve. After a mix-up with wedding certificates, Katie and Lara's husband-to-be end up married. It has several great lines, including Tony Roper as the island reverend saying, "when God created time, he made lots of it and when he created twine, he made balls of it." Ridiculously OTT and sad at parts, The Decoy Bride is a perfect British rom-com. 






4/5

Wanderlust

Hippy flick..Paul Rudd...Jennifer Aniston..Justin Theroux

It's not often that you find a comedy with Jennifer Aniston where she isn't playing a single, successful woman or a woman in a marriage she hates. As a friend said, "you wouldn't find her playing a single, alcoholic mother of one on a council estate." Surprisingly she's in a functioning relationship with Paul Rudd as her husband. Wanderlust is a culture-clash comedy that is crude and excessive but funny all the same. When George (Rudd) and Linda (Aniston) buy a "microloft" in New York, they realize it was a mistake and to top things off, George loses his job the following week and Linda fails to pitch a docu-drama to HBO about penguins with cancer. Deciding to head to Atlanta where George's grotesque brother lies in wait, a manufactor of Porta-Loos to construction sites, they take a detour to a bed and breakfast hotel that turns out to be a hippy commune. Led by an acid-destroyed Alan Alda and irritating "guru-shaman" Seth (Justin Theroux), they try to leave but are soon captivated by the whole free-spirit community. Wanderlust is crude with all the hippy cliches in the book, but somehow it manages to squeeze 98 minutes of entertainment for the audience. The highlights being of course, Ken Marino and Michaela Watkins as Rick and Marisa, George's brother and sister-in-law. 




3/5