The World's End

Trailer-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFo7eJR2cvc

I wasn't completely nuts for Shaun Of The Dead or Hot Fuzz. Both were funny but weren't my favourite films in the world. So how does The World's End compare? I gatta say- I was pretty impressed. Still not blown away though.

The biggest plus point for the film is that it's laugh a minute funny with it's dialogue from the very start. Simon Pegg plays a lovable idiot with Nick Frost taking the role of serious businessman which is a nice role reversal from the previous 2 films. They work very well together onscreen as do all the rest of the guys on the pub crawl. I'm a big Martin Freeman fan after The Office and his performance in The Hobbit so it's good to see him doing a good job here returning to his comedy roots.

The film is by far at it's best in the first half when there isn't a whole lot of sci-fi and weirdness. When the aliens appear the laughs do slow down a bit but it's still a fun little ride. The physical humour still gets a laugh as much as it's not quite as clever and  there's still over the top 'gore' as much as there's very little blood.

I wasn't a big fan of the ending. The film seems to go from down to earth hilarious-level funny to a little weird to outright madness. I'd have preferred a much simpler ending to be honest but the ending they give it is certainly different at least. It's far from cliche anyway.

It's definitely a film to see with a few beers in you. It'll make the first half seem even funnier than it is and the weirdness of the second seem more normal.

It's a shame it kind of loses momentum as it goes on but I think it's just as good as the other 2 films. The humour is very British which for me is always a big plus and I'd go as far as saying it's probably the funniest film of the year so far. Unfortunately funny doesn't always mean exceptionally good.

7/10

The Bling Ring

Trailer- Coming Soon

Misleading trailers. It's becoming an on-running trend in my reviews. The Bling Ring almost looks like a comedy chick flick with the scenes of Emma Watson playing the role of stupid Beverly Hills teenager and generic pop-dance soundtrack.

What The Bling Ring actually is is a dark snapshot look at teenage celebrity worship and disregard to morals and reality. It's a documentary about a group of teens who rob a whole load of celebritys' houses in Beverly Hills with not a lot of fucks given but played out like a drama. There's laughable parts but it's far from a comedy.

My main problem had with The Bling Ring was that the story it was based on wasn't quite interesting enough to warrant an entire ninety minute film. When a drama is based on reality like this it's hard to add plot twists and story arcs when they didn't actually happen. The film is just a series of scenes of the teenagers robbing celebrities' houses shot in different ways. There's only so many times I can watch girls get excited over finding shoes without getting bored. There's probably a whole celebrity fashion element I missed being...well a man but I suppose some people might get a kick out of seeing Paris Hilton's wardrobe. It's like those middle pages of Heat magazine I have no interest in.

And then they get caught [no spoiler, it's one of the first scenes] and not much else happens. It comes down to the characters being interesting which they aren't really with one main exception.

Emma Watson saves this film from being mind-numbingly boring. She plays her character great and it's just nice to see Hermionie Granger being a stuck up bitch. On a deeper level it's through her we see how some teenagers actually are with her self-righteousness and snobbery which is the main point of the film I think- to show how these people actually live.

I also got a small kick out of some of the thumpy music montages of teenagers living life to excess. They're like the old Skins adverts and look pretty cool. They add nothing to the characters themselves or the situations happening but it's visually and audibly quite pleasing.

Finding out about the true story of The Bling Ring was interesting enough but just not quite enough to keep my attention for an entire movie. I think if it had just been a basic hour long documentary on TV I would have enjoyed learning about the group more.

5/10

Monsters University

Trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBzPioph8CI

Before I start I'm gonna go ahead and say that Disney and Pixar can just go ahead and stop making feature length films now if they want and just keep making those animated shorts at the beginning of their films. Paperman at the beginning of Wreck It Ralph put a lump in my throat and The Blue Umbrella at the start of Monster's University did exactly the same. I won't include it in my final score but please pay to say this film to see the Blue Umbrella at the start. It's 10/10.

And onto the main feature- Monster's University. It's the origin story no one particularly wanted but are happy enough it exists. It's an important film for Pixar as it follows their recent wobble in truly incredible film-making. Cars 2 let the world down. Brave was better but didn't blow me away. Monster's University is where Pixar return to form....right?

If by return to form you mean a film that carries such an emotional punch it'll have grown men crying like in Toy Story 3 and Up you'll be let down here. It has it's heartfelt moments in the form of the relationship between Mike and Sully but nothing that will have the tears rolling from under your 3D  glasses. [top tip, go see sad pixar films in 3D and you can bawl your eyes out without people seeing].

If you want a top quality animated film that is miles ahead of most other animated rubbish that comes out every kid's holidays however then Monster's University is Pixar back on top. It's a charming genuinely funny film that doesn't actually need that strong emotional backbone to make it a good experience although admittedly the lack of it is just a little disappointing.

To be honest if the film didn't feature the familiar faces of Mike and Sully and the plot wasn't set in the Monsters world it would be just as good. As much as the monster world aspect is key to much of the film I feel like they're in this film just to sell more tickets as it's taking familiar faces from a classic film and sticking them on this as well. The references to the first film are a nice touch but it does feel a tad forced.

This is Pixar's take on a College Movie dressed up in Monsters Inc clothing so you should think about it as that rather than just another monsters inc film for some quick cash. The guys at Pixar put their heart and soul into their films and it's evident throughout. I can almost imagine the marketing department shouting at them to make it more Mosnters Inc-y though and to create more sellable characters. I'm stealing this from somewhere else but it's Walt's dream of heartfelt beautiful animation and the Disney Company's greed for money mixed together.

I understand I've not talked about the actual film much but it is really fun and a cut above most other animated films. Pixar don't quite have their flawless crown back on their head yet but they are certainly getting close.

8/10

Despicable Me 2

Trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwXbtZXjbVE

Sorry to be a grumpy cat but I wasn't  a big fan of the first Despicable Me. I thought it was pretty funny and did have genuine heart but wasn't quite worthy of the huuuge following it got. I wouldn't compare it to Pixar for example [excluding Cars 2, I know]. After watching Despicable 2 however I have to say my feelings towards the franchise have...stayed exactly the same.

It's sounding like I really hated Despicable Me 2 but that isn't the case. I laughed out loud at a lot of the minion stuff and again it had an emotional backbone. With kid's films I feel there's those made for just kids and those made for the entire family and Despicable Me 2 probably falls just short of the 'mum and dad will love it as well' category. The humour is all slapstick but that's not really a bad thing, the minions fighting and blowing raspberries is actually the best bit about the film.

Then there's Agnes, the little girl from the first one, who wins the award for cutest character in a film ever. Every scene involving her gets a big laugh followed by an 'awww'.

I feel the film could have flowed a little better. The rapid comedy is kind of forced into every single scene and  it does start to feel a bit repetitive. I can watch  an episode of Looney Tunes for example for 15 minutes and love it with it's constant slapstick and people getting blown up and falling over but probably not for 90 minutes.

Like the first one I just feel like there's something missing to make the film really get to the level of a truly memorable animated film. It's good that it's set in such a zany world and gives the film character but it does make the film seem a bit more childish than say Toy Story or Up.

I usually stay away from going to see films during the day due to there being potentially noisy kids there but if you go see Despicable Me 2 I'd recommend going on a busy Saturday afternoon when there will be kids there. Their laughter will probably rub off on you and you'll enjoy the film more.

Despicable Me 2 is a good effort and a lot of fun. I'd say it's better than the first one but I don't think it's quite as good as everyone says it is. Maybe Despicable Me 3 will finally make me get on the series fan train.

7/10

Pacific Rim

Trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5guMumPFBag

It's Transformers Vs. Monsters. Huge mechs going toe to toe with Godzilla and all his chums. To top it off GLaDOS from Portal's voice is in it. How could this possibly go wrong...

The film I expected to sit down and watch ended within the first 5 minutes of the film starting. The prologue basically details how over the course of a few years giant monsters have risen from the sea and mankind have build these giant machines to fight them...and have won. It did seem a little odd that the actual story of the film starts about 15 years after all that shit started to happen. What is summed up in a little recap montage  could be extended by a few scenes I feel. The film suffers from maybe not enough mechs vs monster fights overall so this would have been a good opportunity to get a few more in. 

When the action does happen it is pretty awesome but maybe not quite as jaw dropping as I'd hoped. The fights are massive scale, explosive and loud but it all seems to go a bit slow-motion as they wade through the ocean towards each other and punch each other in the face veeeery slowly. It never really gets truly frantic like saaay in Transformers and while it all looks very nice it's not quite the thrill ride the trailer promised. 

Onto the characters. The main character does his job as you'd expect, the handsome action man style character with a chip on his shoulder. By far the best performance is from Idris Elba who you might recognise from Luther. He plays the strong leader of the war against the Kaiju [the film's monsters] and portrays the role of badass warrior who genuinely cares about the fate of earth perfectly. 

I was annoyed by the love interest with her annoying fake Asian accent and the other two characters are basically the film's Timon and Pumba- two scientists offering a comedy aside from the monsters that are killing all of mankind. One is a young nerd and one is an old man...who's played by the young guy from Torchwood for some bizarre reason. The character he played in the Doctor Who spin-off was a cheeky lad type and he played it well but I didn't believe him for a second here, the casting just seemed really strange. 

The monsters also seem a little bit soulless and just seem to spawn every so often out the ocean with no motive  to kill people, they just do. It leads to a rather lacklustre finale against another monster who looks just the same as all the others but a little bit bigger in some floaty other dimension where size is irrelevant. Not a great move when extreme size is an important aspect of the film. 

Pacific Rim was possibly my most anticipated film of this summer and I feel rather let down. While the action is indeed big-scale and there's nothing offensively wrong about it it just seems to be missing something and the novelty of it all starts to grow weak quite early into it's 2 hour 10 minute run time. It's fun enough, just disappointing. 

6/10

Now You See Me

Trailer- Coming Soon

Now You See Me is this summer's all-star blockbuster that somehow hasn't got a whole lot of media attention. I suppose it's hard to stand out next to the explosion filled Sci-Fi that's mostly coming out this year. Now You See Me is very worthy of your attention however and manages to be a somewhat lighthearted good time while also managing to have a very clever plot.

Now You See Me follows 4 master magicians as they rob banks from 100s of miles away in front of screaming crowds and reward them with their swag. Every character was fun and likable in an almost cartoon-character kind of way. Everyone wise-cracks and there's no gritty realism here. Jesse Eisenburg's character is almost too quick with his comebacks but it helps the film stay quite light and stops the audience from thinking 'well this is all quite obviously impossible'. It's a film that knows its a film if that makes sense.

What really surprised me however was how twisty the plot became and without spoiling anything- this film features one of the biggest 'oh snap!' plot twists of possibly any film I've seen. What I thought was just poor story being panned off as 'they're magicians, they can do whatever they want' is actually all explained in detail. Half-unbelievable detail but it's explained nonetheless.

I'll just point out as well that there's a card trick at the start of the film that worked on me perfect. You'll see when you go to see it but it certainly left me feeling impressed just seconds into the film.

So what's wrong with it? At times I suppose it comes off as perhaps a little too cheesy and if you want intense interrogation scenes of people on the very edge you won't find it here. There are also points where the focus shifts from the magicians themselves to the less interesting people chasing them and there came a point where I just wanted to see more tricks. It's by no means slow, it rattles on at a great rate, but after seeing the big shows it's a bit of a come down when it's followed by several minutes of discussion about how it's all done.

It left me smiling and is a perfect film to watch with your family or on a date night. It's clever, it's fun and is quite refreshing after so many blockbusters this year try to go for the 'dark and real' approach.

8/10

This Is The End

Trailer-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i24fo2W5EaE


I'm not a big fan of Pineapple Express or [get ready to spit out your mouth full of tea in comic fashion] Superbad so if you love those films as many people do you may feel very different about this movie. As it is This Is The End for me was just Pineapple Express again but a littleless funny.

This Is The End is the story of what would happen if the apocalypse happened in Beverly Hills. All the actors play themselves, or at least versions of themselves, and this is by far the best bit about the movie. When Jonah Hill or James Franco parody themselves and Hollywood makes fun of itself that's when the film delivers solid laughs. Micheal Cera coked out his head is also marvelous.

This all stops after about 20 minutes though and the tone of humour changes a bit. It goes from being genuinely quite clever and funny to shouting swear words for laughs. 'I'M GONNA TITTY FUCK YOU WITH MY DICK AND CUM ALL OVER YO HOUSE' is not a quote but is probably quite close. I'm not against swearing by any means but swearing for laughs? I remember doing that in Primary School. It feels a bit juvenile and this is coming from a guy who can watch cartoon network for hours on end.

 The relationships between the actors is kinda fun to watch but never has any great moments like in the start of the film other than maybe the Emma Watson segment. But it's in the trailer so there's no sense of surprise.

The film does from good to alright to genuinely bad as they actually explore the apocalypse story. I won't ruin it but the film itself gets confused who the bad guys are introducing new monsters and villains every few minutes. I know the story isn't important here but it just seems lazy. And all the 'creatures' that are part of the apocalypse have of course massive swinging dicks which sums up the film really.

And the ending is one of the most obnoxious I've seen in a film ever. It just feels so awkward, I could actually feel the whole cinema willing the last scene to end, even those who seemed to have enjoyed the film.

It has its funny moments but the rest of the film just didn't work for me at all. Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill fans might get a kick out of it but I can't say the same for everyone else.

6/10