Right, just a few film reviews from me
N.E.Ds
About some bright Scottish lad who grows up to be evil due to the area he lives in and the people around him. Some would say it's a clever drama but I just found it dull, annoying and generally uninteresting. There is one scene in particular near the end that just doesn't fit in at all and just downgrades it even more in my opinion. Not a fan of this film what so ever.
Rating: 1/5
Hereafter
Over the last few years I've grown to like Clint Eastwood's films (when he isn't acting in them), I think he is a great director. However I have to ask, why the hell did he make this film? Following three separate people going through different emotional back-stories that miraculously happen to merge together towards the end in a way that is kinda predictable and doesn't work because it's trying to make the situations believable and they're just not. The acting isn't too bad, I think Matt Damon is quite good but all he does is mope around and gets a tad boring after a while. The story isn't anything special and like I've already mentioned with the whole 3 stories coming together thing not working you wonder if there is anything worse. Oh wait...there is! I'm a fan of both filming on location and studio sets but when you try to use a real location but use a studio instead but then completely make up what the real location looks like in a very populated area (London) and try to make it out to be what it's not it just doesn't work. No Mr Eastwood, since when has Charing Cross tube station been in a corner building in clear sight?! That made me angry (though I probably haven't worded it the right way). There is one very small redeeming feature in this film, but if I was to tell you about it would give it away and the thing that makes it good is that you don't know about it but I can say it's the first 5-10 mins of the film and is the reason it is nominated for a CGI Oscar (even though it doesn't deserve it as there is far superior CGI than that in better films). So yeah, I HATED this film.
Rating: 1/5
How do you know
I went in thinking, "this could be really terrible or enjoyable as I like half the cast and hate the other half"
. Unfortunately it was the former opinion. The script was really lame, the acting was poor (due to the poor script imo), the camera work was really shoddy and it made me laugh like, once? Just over-predictable, boring and well, a kid could have written something better.
Rating: 1/5
I wasn't really having a very good week was I?
The Dilemma
I like Ron Howard but not everything he directs is good, this is another example of something he shouldn't have signed on to direct. I just found it annoying and not very funny. Surprisingly I thought Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah had the best parts. Both of them were very funny every time they were on screen, shame there wasn't more of them and less of the annoying one (Vince Vaughn).
Rating: 2/5
Barney's version
LOVED THIS FILM! Paul Giamatti as a horrible, corrupt man going through his troubled love life. He's genius and every scene he is in he just gets better and better and the story just grabs you as the plot thickens. It's rather simple but genius at the same time, it may be slow but it just works really well. I also thought Rosamund Pike was excellent, absolutely perfect in that role.
Rating: 4.5/5
Sanctum 3D
I went in not really knowing what to expect, maybe a few jumps and scares etc. However I watched a very good drama with the occasional scene with awesome 3D (underwater scenes were epic). The acting was mediocre but the fascinating story with the random moments of very graphic gore and wonderful cinematography just made it very good. It was one of those nice surprises at the cinema for me, expecting it be mediocre-rubbish and coming out having really enjoyed it.
Rating: 4/5
Brighton Rock
Not a fan of this film at all. The main character was just too dislikeable for me to enjoy the film (I think it suffers from the same issue that I had with N.E.Ds). Some of the cinematography was nice but the story felt ropey and I found myself bored a lot of the time, actually looked at my metaphorical watch at one point! I thought the only interesting scenes were whenever Helen Mirren was on screen and a scene towards the end, actually quite edge-of-the-seat stuff.
Rating: 1/5
The Fighter
This had been getting a lot of hype and I was hoping it would live up to it...IT DID! Yay, happy peep (especially as he had to PAY to see this one lol). I thought it was excellent throughout. The acting from the entire cast was just superb and it's quite scary the lengths Wahlberg and Bale went to just to look like the people they were portraying. It's one exhilarating, emotional rollercoaster ride and it is very entertaining. Amy Adams <3 she needs to be in more (apart from those awful rom-coms like Leap year). So yeah, if you haven't, you should check this film out, it's fantastic.
Rating: 4.5/5
Rabbit Hole
I didn't like the look of this film due to the trailer but I like seeing all the BAFTA/Oscar nominated films so I saw it, I'm very glad I did. I thought it would just be moping about all the time but it's very good, really interesting characters and it's great to see Diane Wiest in a really good role again (she is excellent in Parenthood). To be honest, the entire cast were excellent and I loved a particular scene with Sandra Oh and Aaron Eckhart, nice way to break up the very emotional scenes. It's surprisingly very enjoyable to watch. Not sure if Kidman should be up for the Oscar but she was certainly really good.
Rating: 4/5
Biutiful
Javier Bardem is nominated for an Oscar for his role in this film and I find it hard to see why. The film was just plain boring, the story wasn't very interesting and when something of interest did happen it felt very out of place. The film was very slow and I found myself looking at that mysterious metaphorical watch again. I just don't approve of this film in any way.
Rating: 1/5
I also saw Tangled and Kings Speech again. Love them both, especially Kings Speech, I loved pointing out to my Nan and Mum all the people I know on the credits
Should be seeing True Grit and Gnomeo and Juliet on Sunday, really looking forward to seeing both
