Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The fifth one

I'll try to resist any America puns I can.
Probably going to be spoilers.

Marvels star spangled hero returns (I tried.) for his latest venture and we see a post battle of New York Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) struggling to place himself in modern day Washington DC. Splitting his down time between taking thirteen mile jogs around the Washington Monument and doing undercover stealth missions against Algerian pirates, he's torn up about his current fate and as a familiar face tells him 'he can't go back to that time'. This film changes the game a little and at times feels more like a political thriller than your average comic book movie, at least until the third act The Winter Solider is more spy vs spy just with extraordinary people in it.

Evans has found his Steve Rogers. What sets him apart from the other members of his team is that at heart he's a genuinely good guy among the good guys, sadly for him he's a man lost in time and struggling to come to grips with the modern way of warfare. He was never happy with what he had to do in the forties but as he puts it to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his controversial project Insight, "This isn't freedom, it's fear." There's an endearing innocence about Steve compared to his morally grey team mates.

Most recognizable would be Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, self assured and flirtatious all the while proving that the super hero business isn't just left up to the guys. Full of witty comebacks and all said with a wry smile, Johansson is having fun with it and yet at times there are allusions to her dark history that was mentioned in The Avengers, it's at these points Johansson shows her range and happily steps away from being a one trick pony.

Thankfully compared to Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World the comedy doesn't seem shoehorned in or takes away any seriousness from a situation, newcomer Antony Mackie stars as The Falcon, an ex para-trooper with a flight harness you can't help but want to try out, visually it looks incredible while he weaves in and out of explosions and cannon fire and really steals the majority of scenes he's in. Hopefully we'll see him in the sequel or the next Avengers because the guy brings humor whenever it's needed.

Our seasoned veterans in the film come to clash quite often and their chemistry is somewhat lacking. Samuel L. Jackson breathes charisma as S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury and often comes to clash with Cap himself an how things should be handled, but when he butts heads with world security council member Alexander Pierce (spy movie veteran Robert Redford) the connection doesn't seem as fierce. Both of them actively stand out in the ensemble and by themselves thoroughly convince you but it seemed Redford was just coasting off what felt familiar to him and didn't try much new.

Last but not least and my favourite part as a comic book fan is the films title villain, The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). So anyway spoilers he's secretly Bucky Barnes from the first movie. Captain America's best friend. Fell off the train? I honestly wish they'd made his apparent death more momentous in the first movie because although it's alluded to near the start of the film the reveal that he is the brainwashed villain lacks a little. That doesn't change the fact though that he's the perfect match for Captain America, equally as fast, skilled and strong (a robotic arm will do that to you) as his old friend but fights in a much more brutal manner. Paying no heed to collateral damage and even putting fear into someone as skilled as Black Widow you know he's a big hitter. Stan shows his range between slowly regaining memories lost for 70 years to uncontrollable rage as the memories come back whilst fighting his former friend, it's the first marvel villain since Loki that's had such an impact on the lead characters and the audience themselves, something the past few films have lacked monstrously.

All in all you know what you're in for here, classic action with witty repertoire between provocative characters with all the classic cameo's, Easter eggs and an epic post credits scene that I don't feel at liberty (geddit?) to talk about. Go see it already.

300: Rise Of An Empire

Review numero quatro!

The unnecessary sequel to the movie full of scantly clad muscular men killing each other in slow motion, and despite all this it's the women that carry this movie.

Director Noam Murro does his best Zack Snyder impression here giving us an hour and forty minutes of unimaginative and frankly painful cinematography, the narrative runs alongside the Spartans battle against the Persians in the first film and see's Athenian hero Thermistokles (charisma vacuum Sullivan Stapleton channeling the ghost of Leonidas) fight, flex and give cliched motivational speeches to his rag tag and unmemorable troops as they battle the Persians at sea.

Eva Green however is one of the films saving graces, she plays Artemisia, a Greek born naval commander working for the Persian Empire who sets the bar for 'not to be messed with'. A powerful femme fatale who's merciless and unhinged psyche is portrayed with such subtlety you'd be best treading on egg shells around her. Though I'm not sure if I'm putting her on a pedestal purely because she acts circles around the majority of her co-stars. 

There are plenty of nods to the original film, familiar characters return such as Xerxes, the giant king from the first movie who with little explanation we see how he transforms from a regular man into the 'God King'. Some magical desert water? Really? Lena Headey also returns as Leonidas' wife Queen Gorgo, again showing that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned as she not only cuts her way through hordes of Persians but delivers a speech with far more weight to it than all of Sullivan's combined. Good God I've missed Game Of Thrones.

In defense of the film the visuals as always look great, from the lavish Persian temples and the flaming rubble of Athens you're always reminded that this is very much a Snyder film, gorgeous visuals and brutal murder seems to go hand in hand with everything he touches. Sadly he also co wrote the screenplay and you find yourself shifting in your seat until another battle arrives to spark some entertainment into a franchise that is very much mirroring the battle of Thermopylae with the critics. They even shoehorned in a "this is Sparta" line, if it was anyone but Lena Headey that said it I would have cringed uncontrollably.

Regardless this movie will do well at the box office and there will undoubtedly be a sequel dealing with the end of Xerxes, a villain literally nobody cares about. Wait for the DVD.

I never thought I'd miss Gerard Butler so much.

Robocop

Review Numero Tres!

Oh Dear.

Full disclosure, I really enjoyed the 1980's version by Paul Verhoeven so it's going to be hard for me to be unbiased here.

Take a shot every time you read the word Robot.

Also spoilers.

In the far off future of 2028, Detroit still remains a breeding ground for violence and crime, the powerhouse company Omnicorp has robot soldiers overseas rather than fleshy soldiers and wants to bring them to the states for use as law enforcement. The original film is known for its moral messages about humanity that echoes throughout its entirety, the new one does include some messages. There is a scene early on after we see Samuel L. Jacksons character, a charismatic TV host (and one of the films few saving graces.) speaking with a reporter out in a war zone witnessing how the robotic soldiers handle things. What ensues is a horrific shoot out which mirrors the use of unmanned drones in our society. It's a powerful message but gets dropped almost immediately after the scene ends, a wasted effort really.

Soon enough we meet our hero Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) he's a likable enough tough guy cop who's also a family man, and his relationship with his wife and son is quickly established as being incredibly ordinary. That is until his car explodes due to a bomb planted by a crime boss. Uh oh. Omnicorp jumps on the bandwagon after Raymond Sellers the companies CEO (played menacingly by Michael Keaton/Batman) they need to show the world that robots are A OK, so with consent from Murphy's distraught wife Clara (an emotion she plays for the remainder of the film) they get him suited up and Robocop is born. 

Waking up Murphy meets Dr Norton (Gary Oldman) a compassionate scientist at Omnicorp who created Robocop and is at odds with Raymond Sellers. slowly Murphy realizes he can't move and see's himself in the classic chrome suit, on further asking to see what's left of him the suit pulls away and both Murphy and the audience realize he's now nothing more than a face, brain, a pair of lungs and a right hand? This scene would have been great if it wasn't for the hand, I get where they're coming from, on one side he's still a human with a conscience and on the other he's the metallic and iron hand of the law but the one human hand makes him look comical, and it's without a doubt impractical. Would you punch a washing machine with your hand? Same basic concept considering he fights predominantly giant robots. 

Another interesting deviation from the original is that Murphy retains his humanity from the get go, he even has a flip up visor for his face as apposed to the bolted on one (a monumental scene in the 80's version) between awkwardly trying to remain a family man despite the leash put on him by Omnicorp we get some of the better moments of the film, Rick Mattox (Jackie Earle Haley) plays a generic douche bag who puts Murphy through his paces in training exercises, we see through the robot visor how Robocop fights crime using the power of trigonometry and an overuse of the colour red. 

I paint a bad picture but it surprised me how much better it was than I had imagined. I mean the new black suit is cool right? That isn't to say this is something to immediately go out and see, while not being an awful film it does drag along slowly and is laden with one dimensional (some would say robotic) characters who you feel nothing towards. We live in hope that the trend of rebooting classic 80's movies ends here. 

I'm looking at you Die Hard.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Review Numero Dos!

I'll be honest, there's probably going to be a few spoilers here. Ye be warned.

Quirky, eccentric and effortlessly charming, The Grand Budapest Hotel is another great stride in Wes Anderson's career, the simple tale of a larger than life concierge and his loyal bell boy will captivate and delight you.

The film begins in the fictional European republic of Zubrowska, where we meet our eloquent narrator simply known as "The Author" (represented at two points in his life by F. Murray Abraham and Jude law respectively)  he tells us of his trip to the hotel in the sixties and adds that the once illustrious building has fallen onto hard times as the result of war. We are shortly introduced to the aloof and mysterious proprietor who after a polite back and forth between himself and the author begins to speak about his life.

This hurtles us back to the thirties where Zero Moustafa (played by newcomer and breakout star Tony Revolori) begins his career as a bell boy, without spoiling too much Zero is our deadpan hero who strides loyally besides the larger than life concierge of the hotel, Gustave H (played by Ralph Fiennes who you can tell is having far too much fun with the part). He is a whimsical, romantic poetry reciting ponce with a penchant for women, notably rich elderly women with blonde hair. While not much is ever revealed about Gustave his camp country gentleman persona is often stripped away at moments of crisis to reveal the foul mouthed impatient bastard he really is, and makes him all the more likable. The Don Quixote and Sancho style duo are very much the heart of the piece.

 At this point the death of an old acquaintance, Gustave and his loyal lobby boy are thrust into a surreal little adventure involving a prison break, some bobsledding in the mountains and a hotel shootout over a priceless painting left for him in the will (and maybe a little more) much to the dismay of the spurned son, Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis (Adrien Brody playing a sociopath with Robert Smith hair) who wants back what's his and Gustave dead. Along the way you have all the usual Wes Anderson players alongside a smorgasbord of cameos each bringing their own unique flavour to the endearing picture.

The film is ripe with tonal changes in both colour and mood, the hotel itself is as grandiose and colourful as its owner and later changes to a darker tone when the keys are passed on to Zero. Full to the brim with heart and hilarity, there are so many small blink and you'll miss it gags you'll have to watch a few times to catch them all adding to its replay value and despite catching yourself grinning from ear to ear the narrative is so delicate and subtle when tragedy reaches our characters you find yourself genuinely caring, something I think is rare in a lot of films lately. 

My only issue? Needs more Bill Murray.

 I really should start reviewing worse films.
In conclusion The Grand Budapest Hotel is a fast paced romp with razor sharp wit and a style all of its own. It should be a surprise to no one when this becomes a cult classic that will be up there with Withnail and I.

So I'm new to all this, also Dallas Buyers Club.

Hello there denizen of the internet. 

Through some down the rabbit hole style Google adventure you've arrived at a blog my significant other coerced me to start writing, sorry to hear that.
If you're still with me then make yourself comfy and I'll try make this modest, avoid being pretentious and if I may attempt it, some humor. 

Review Numero Uno!

Dallas Buyers Club? I'll try and give humor a wide berth then. Also Spoilers!
Dallas Buyers Club brings us into the tragic real life story of AIDS victim Ron Woodruff (portrayed by Matthew McConaughey in his most human role to date.) Set in Dallas during the mid 1980's at the height of the AIDS and HIV scare. Right from the get go we're introduced to Ron and the self destructive and hedonistic lifestyle he indulges himself in, from swindling punters at the rodeo and doing all the sex, drugs sans rock and roll available to him he languishes with his white collar co-workers trying to make ends meet. As a surprise to nobody he's also revealed to be homophobic, all the more ironic when he finds himself diagnosed with HIV and shunned by his like-minded friends. 

In the hospital we find our two other main roles, Ron meets Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner) a doctor who tells him about the experimental new drug called AZT that won't cure him but could prolong his life, however AZT is only in clinical trials. In a state of panic Ron coerces a janitor to hook him up with the drug and finds his condition worsening due to the cocaine he's also taking, don't do drugs kids. 

Here we meet the films scene stealing drama queen Rayon (portrayed by 30 Seconds To Mars front-man Jared Leto who doesn't so much act but embodies the character) Rayon is a headstrong HIV positive transgender woman who attempts to befriend Ron much to his dismay, a well written interaction between the two takes place when the two play cards and converse about what they can really bond with, their disease and money. This marks the beginning of Ron's development and learning to accept that he has to play the hand he's dealt, the macabre Bonnie and Clyde quickly establish the titles Dallas Buyers Club through hard work, ingenuity and some drug smuggling over the border. 

The film uniquely captures the individual characters struggles and as Ron frequently blacks out we go with him, both unaware as to what transpires as the screen cuts to black after a high pitched squealing. As well as the obvious message of raising awareness about HIV there is also two other sub messages that ring clear, the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA are presented to be uncaring towards the plight of our leads, there is a firm undertone of money being in the medicine and not the cure. 

Maybe it is just me but I felt the film was also trying to convey a message of acceptance, we see his original friends initially back away from him in fear like he's toxic and essentially drive him away from his home, and Ron slowly progressing into a better man and finds a family in the very people he persecuted.

My only gripe with the film happens to be Jennifer Garners doctor character, not to take anything away from Jennifer Garner but it seems more could have been done with her, yes her character progresses and acts as the yin to the FDA's yang within the medical parts but  she falls ultimately short of McConaughey and Leto's performances.

All in all this a film that's message carries weight, you'd be hard pressed not to walk away from this and forget it within the hour, it's a movie that ultimately teaches you (and yes it's a cliche, sue me) that you really start living at the moment you realise you're clock is ticking.

A solid 5 out of 5 and if you have the time I'd recommend giving the Elton John AIDS Foundation a look and maybe a few pennies you've got going spare.