Skyfall

Now this review is a little bit late, but that is partly due to the fact that I didn't jump on the Skyfall bandwagon straight away. After seeing the film I'm somewhat regretting it!

By far the best bond film of the Daniel Craig era, and possibly the best in the bond series 50 year tenure. 007 becomes more of a rugged and rogue spy in Skyfall, compared to the old days when you had Rodger Moore Cracking wise ones and Sean Connery coming out of a fight without a scratch on him. I feel as though the James Bond franchise has finally come to the right mix between extravagance and realism (You only have to think of the invisible car in Die Another Day). Daniel Craig has finally given us the perfect spy, and finally someone you believe who could be out in the 'field.' He still has the style and manner of a James bond and can still make those sarcy comments, but he also has the stacked upper body of someone who you believe would win a fight!

As good as Daniel Craig is as bond, Judi Dench also puts in a fantastic performance as the big one, 'M.' As you see the development of James Bond and how his spy character has changed slightly, M has done the same. In previous Bond films M has been too light hearted and we haven't seen enough of her, she has been too staged too scripted compared to the steely, unforgiving  M we have seen in the latest films. As the big don she manages to keep her thumb on the double-O boys, she treats them mean, to keep them keen and in return she is rewarded with passion and loyalty. Or complete resentment and hate in the case of the villain. Judi Dench captures this act perfectly. In one scene she is being slated by the Prime Minister, but shows no fear and manages to hold a cold iron stare.

The film kick-starts with an energetic chase scene in Turkey, involving the extravaganza of a bond film, where he tears through half a train without a seconds doubt! However, he ends up with a bullet in his chest and falling off a train, this pulls you into the film immediately before Adele enters with the credits.

With any bond film you need a good villain and Silva (Javier Bardem) more than lives up to the part. A former agent who worked under M, he puts in a chilling performance and moves away from the bond villains who were obsessed with money and power, stroking a pussy cat!

Skyfall all round was a fantastic film, energizing, emotional and British, it was great to see some traditional locations, in comparison to the films of old, where there was a secret volcano lair!

My Rating: 7.5/10

Directors: Sam Mendes    Cast: Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw, Berenice Marlohe, Dame Judi Dench, Daniel Craig, Helen McCrory, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Naomie Harris, Naomie Harris, Ola Rapace, Ralph Fiennes, Rory Kinnear

Django Unchained

When I first watched Django Unchained I was simply blown away! Easily an early contender for movie of the year. It goes somewhere 21st century Hollywood producers are scared to look, they refuse to even look at the slavery idea due to its sensitivity. After watching one of Tarantino's first films (From Dusk Till Dawn) I thought he must have been raised by the Munsters! However he was able to come out with two classics in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, immediately becoming a household name. Django, however, is by far his masterpiece. After the semi disappointment of Inglorious Basterds, he has come back with this brilliant, brutal, ball busting western classic!

Set two years before the American civil war when slavery was at its worst, Tarantino takes us into the cruel, unforgiving story of Django. A slave who whilst being transported across Texas comes into meeting with a mysterious German, Dr King Schultz, who is played fantastically with swagger, audacity and cheek by Christopher Waltz. Claiming to be a dentist Schultz promises Django his freedom in order for a favour: tracking three slave traders with whom he has problems with.

Jamie Foxx manages to capture Django's character with absolute perfection, you see his progression from being stared at whilst on a horse, to being known as the fastest gun in the west. (His gun skills do seem to improve rather drastically) Leonardo Di Caprio is equally as impressive playing the grey toothed, ignorant Candie, but doesn't have the same on screen presence and charisma as Foxx does playing Django, who manages to carry off the cowboy style with an ultimate swagger.

Samuel L Jackson received a lot of accolade for his performance of Stephen. The loyal servant to his white master, who you feel has played dirty and cheated his way to position of the 'favourite servant.' You feel as though the part of Stephen was made for Jackson who has a deathly stare and that terrible Parkinson's- type tremor. He also manages to deliver the N-word with more presence than anyone else saying it and everyone is saying it! Tarantino has managed to make the perfect bad guy with Stephen, not the white master who you expect it off, but a 'mandingo' someone who is involved in the trading of fighter slaves.

Django Unchained is one of the best films I have ever seen, it is in my top 5! It has a fantastic storyline and certainly opens your eyes to the terrible time of Western slavery. You have to give enormous credit to Quentin Tarantino, for making such a good film about a delicate subject, even dealing with a controversial issue like the KKK to make it seem so light hearted. he has some balls!

My Rating: 10/10

Directors: Quentin Tarantino    Cast: Amber Tamblyn, Bruce Dern, Christoph Waltz, Don Johnson, James Russo, Jamie Foxx, Jonah Hill, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kerry Washington, Kurt Russell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Carradine, Samuel L Jackson, Zoe Bell

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

For some untold reason when JRR Tolkien was marking exam papers for the now defunct school certificate, he came across a blank piece of paper...... and he wrote 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.' Be thankful he did! 

This first line in the children's book the hobbit has become a literary masterpiece,  leading into a massive industry, giving us a fantastic trilogy of books and films revolving around life in Middle-earth.

Peter Jackson returns to his roots for the hobbit. After the incredible journey of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy he was set, he could have retired and been a hero for life, but luckily for us he carried on. Modernising King Kong and creating the emotional masterpiece of The Lonely Bones. The Hobbit I think is his best all round film, having all the traditional Jackson qualities, a panoramic screen shot, a heroic non main character, but most of all a fantastic journey.

We start off with Bilbo writing his book on the day of his birthday, nicely linking in with the Fellowship Of The Ring. He then tells us the story of Erebor the great dwarf city and how the dwarves themselves were cast out by the dragon Smaug. This gives us the background for the great quest and the reason Bilbo goes on his great adventure. Bilbo is not easily convinced though, like most hobbits he enjoys having a smoke, a pint of ale and eating. It is only due to the wise words of Gandalf he goes on his journey. The dwarves who go on the journey with Bilbo make the film much more light hearted, singing, laughing and having a good time, but altogether they show heart and determination to get their homeland back. It was also good not to hear a twangy American accent, meaning all the dwarves and characters had rustic Celtic and Brittish accents.

The film as a whole is much less sinister than Lord Of The Rings and much more family orientated, however, the book was written for children. Martin Freeman sums this up by performing as Bilbo. When I first heard he was cast I didn't think it would work, but due to the nature of the film he portrays Bilbo magnificently. Ian Mckellen gives his usual brilliance in a much more light hearted Gandalf and Richard Armitage effectively manages to turn Thorin Oakenshield into a dwarvern version of Aragorn. I thought the film was fantastic, having all the characteristics to make a good movie, which the whole family can watch. It got the Wade stamp of approval and I would give it an 8/10!

Directors: Peter Jackson    Cast: Aidan Turner, Andy Serkis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Billy Connolly, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Elijah Wood, Evangeline Lilly, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm, Ian McKellen, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Martin Freeman, Orlando Bloom, Richard Armitage, Sir Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry

American Pie The Reunion

The reunion starts 14 years from high school nicely skipping over the two sequels they made, and as the advertising poster says 'Save The Best Piece For Last.' They certainly did! As all the American Pie's start off, someone is masturbating, classically Jim, managing to get himself into a sticky situation injuring his captain! Despite the fact he has grown up now married to Michelle with a 2 year old toddler.

In 1999 we had pervy teenagers managing to get themselves in situations with beautiful girls now we have pervy adults managing to get themselves in situations with beautiful girls. All the guys have grown up and as Stifler puts it 'Done All the Boring Stuff.' Aka getting jobs and getting married.

But the film is still a classic American Pie with the guys getting themselves into bad situation's but coming out of them better off. Jim's Dad (Eugene Levy) stealing the show as he plays a much bigger part in this one.

For me it has a bit of everything, it holds sentiment, and at the end even Stifler manages to get his revenge, I won't tell you how but I'm sure you can guess! 

This is just an interview I did with someone after watching the film

My Rating: 7/10

Directors: Hayden Schlossberg, Jon Hurwitz    Cast: Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Eugene Levy, Jason Biggs, Jennifer Coolidge, Mena Suvari, Seann William Scott, Tara Reid, Thomas Ian Nicholas

The Avengers

Hollywood's first major comic book adventure, Avengers Assembled managed to smash its way to history at the time, becoming the biggest box office hit, making $200.3 million in it's opening weekend! I can understand the big hype considering the build up. Little hints have been left at the end of each of the solo movies, but simply, I just thought it was ok!

Undoubtedly Robert Downey Jnr steals the show, he is the only one who manages to have a light hearted approach to the whole situation, even against the stiff's like Captain America and Thor. Thor who I don't even think should be there, at least all the others have plausible explanations for their abilities or suits of armour, where as Thor is a Demi-God what's he doing there, he's meant to be an ancient Norse God!

Although the action scenes are really cool, I watched the whole film thinking it was lacking something, it seemed predictable and stale, Loci is also a terrible bad guy! All the avengers pretty much take him down on their own and he's basically a massive wimp! In one scene the Hulk just picks him up and smashes him around like a rag doll which is funny but just shows that Loci is basically a massive girl.

Despite the lack of enjoyment I had watching The Avengers, it has been one of the biggest films of all time, it beat Harry Potter which got $169.2 in its opening weekend. Avengers is just the beginning in terms of the other Marvel films which are coming out The Amazing Spiderman comes out on the 3rd of July and The Dark Knight Rises on the 20th so were waiting for a superhero summer!

Admission prices have got more expensive in Hollywood so films often find they make more money but end up selling fewer tickets. Avengers has undoubtedly had the greatest debut though!    

My Rating: 6.5/10

Directors: Joss Whedon    Cast: Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Cobie Smulders, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Stellan Skarsgard, Tom Hiddleston

Battleship

I think I fell into the big hype of this film, it looked so promising! The trailer was great the cast looked pretty descent, however, it was pretty much a massive let down, it reminded me so much of Transformers which I suppose was expected considering it was the same producers. The first of the Transformers franchise was brilliant, unfortunately I cannot say the same about Battleship. Like the latter two Transformers Battleship just seemed a bit ridiculous and a bit over the top!

The film is pretty cool and I really like the idea of it, but it was pretty much just a 2 hour battle, with Rihanna trying to look as sexy as possible whilst getting drenched, and every 5-10 seconds something happening in slow mo. If you liked Transformers 2 and 3 then I would say go for it but otherwise, its definitely not a must see!

My Rating: 6/10

Directors: Peter Berg    Cast: Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker, Griff Furst, Hamish Linklater, Jesse Plemons, Josh Pence, Liam Neeson, Rihanna, Stephen Bishop, Tadanobu Asano, Taylor Kitsch

The Hunger Games

Well I thought this was brilliant, I know it was based on a book but I think the idea is fantastic. In an age when reality TV is a big thing and were falling in love with people's on screen personality's, this battle royale film, where the idea of having to kill the others to survive for sport, is genius!

In North America the entire land is traumatised by lack of food. Once a year they lottery off 24 people to fight in a competition to the death, where there is only one winner! The whole idea of the show has been created in order to stop other people being violent due to food shortages across America

At first the contestants are terrified at the thought of what lies ahead, facing each other in a contained woodland, but they are brought to the futuristic metropolitan area in the pre-contest time where they become stars and are groomed to perfection to gain the good thoughts of the public.

Among the contestants is the tough, level-headed Katniss Everdeen (Jenifer Lawrence) aka the star of the show, who volunteered herself in order for her younger sister to be exempt from the competition. It is with her that the twist in the tale happens, she learns that Peeta Melark (Josh Hutcherson) has feelings for her and ratings go off the roof and there is call for a rule change.

I think the idea of the hunger games is fantastic, it was a brilliant film and I think people will really be able to relate to it.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Directors: Gary Ross    Cast: Alexander Ludwig, Elizabeth Banks, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hucherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Woody Harrelson, josh hutcherson