"Rush"

The real story of the rivalry between two racing drivers is brought to the big screen in this fast paced new film from Director Ron Howard.

It looks at the rise of two up and coming drivers, namely Britain's own James Hunt, and Austrian Niki Lauda. Starting from their humble beginnings in Formula Three, and their aspertaions to reach the very best that they can be, and compete in Formula One, and thus become World Champion.
From some playful banter, this escalates to a battle that dominated motor racing throughout the 1970's.

The story makes for a compelling film, and that comes from someone like me who has never been  sport orientated. One does not have to enjoy either Formula One or sport in general to enjoy this film.
Both lead actors do an an excellent in their roles.Hemsworth brings alive the playboy nature of Hunt, conveying the sex appeal he had, and why the ladies flocked to be around him. Bruhl is equally excellent as Lauda, we see his methodical nature, his drive, and his determination to be back behind the wheel of his car after his near fatal crash.
The tension is really cranked up, not during the race that almost cost Lauda his life, but also in the race that will decide the World Champion. Fortunately for this viewer I did not already know the outcome, so they really were nail biting tense races to watch, and I for one was glued to the screen.


As one would come to expect from Ron Howard, the film is well shot, and thankfully he does not follow a worrying trend, and have the action too much in your face.
There is a rousing score from regular Howard Composer Hans Zimmer, and coupled with the photography really does build the tension especially during two keys races.
I have to say that it is always a good indication that you have really enjoyed a biopic, when you get home and you want to find out more information about those featured in the movie.

Waving the flag as a definite winner..........8 out of 10.

"Runner Runner"

According to "Runner Runner, the latest trend amongst college students is online gambling, this providing a method for them to either suppliment their lifestyle on campus or to pay their tuition fees.
Rick is a young man with a few problems. He aims to get his fees together not by gambling but by recommending his fellow students to a particular gambling site and receiving a commission. All is fine until one of his customers informs the college Dean, and he is threatened with expulsion, this coupled with no means of financial support means he has having a bad time.
He makes the rather unwise decision to partake of some gambling and risk what money he does have on a bet. The house always wins, and alas Rick is penniless. He does however discover some discrepancies on the website, and decides to confront the owner directly.
The owner is one Ivan Block, and because of his dealings, he resides in Costa Rica, outside the jurisdiction of the US Authorities. Rick manages to wangle a meeting, and clearly makes an impression on Block, before he knows it, Rick has a job, and a nice hotel suite to be staying in.

If all this sounds too good to be true, then that is because it is, for soon hot on his trail is the FBI, keen to have Rick provide them with enough ammunition to lock Block away for a long time. Also Rick has to be a go between, dealing with Block and some of his unsavoury 'friennds'. Plus Block also has a hidden agenda, will Rick fall victim to it?

It's an ok film, which moves along at a nice enough pace. And thankfully not overlong, coming in at the 90 minute mark. Any longer and there may have been problems. The cast are all ok in their roles, no major demands are made of them. When watching the film, one thought that occured to me was the subject matter may have been better for a tv movie or two part serial, rather than suitable for cinema.

It is enjoyable enough, but once seen, it will soon be forgotten......6 out of 10

"R.I.P.D."

I will apologise now, but I do not intend to waste valuable time reviewing this film in length.
Upon seeing the trailer I thought that the film could be entertaining, well at the end of the day that it what the trailer is meant for. But alas what the trailer conveyed and what I saw as the end result did not meet with equal satisfaction.

Shady Cop Nick dies in the line of duty, and heads towards the light. However due to his dealings during his mortal days, he has the chance to make amends by joining the R.I.P.D, naturally the Rest In Peace Department. The organisation hunts down 'deado's', they being people who have evaded going to their resting place, and still roam free on Earth, and to make matters worse they have found a way to mask their true state, so can wander freely.

So Nick joins the merry band of lawmakers, and is teamed up with Roy, he being from the time of the Wild West. They are assigned to find a mysterious artifact, which when the pieces are assembled, will allow all from above to roam free on Earth. This is something they aim to stop.

There are other little plot devices in the movie, but this outlines the jist.
On the whole the film comes across as an absolute mess, as though was thrown together in a ten minute meeting in some Executive's office, and it shows.
With the exception of "Buried", this latest film does little to improve the career of leading man Ryan Reynolds.
Jeff Bridges is an actor I greatly admire, like am sure many others do. He makes the best of a bad part, and does seem to be having fun, just wish the same could be said for this viewer. Also subtitles at times may have been handy, as one struggled to comprehend some of his southern dialogue at times.

An apt title as this film should rest in peace.........4 out of 10

"White House Down"

Poor old Washington. The beautiful City and quite a few of its landmarks, especially The White House, have taken a fair old battering this year. Terrorists attacked the famous building earlier in the year in the action packed "Olympus Has Fallen", and alas the great landmark falls into the wrong hands yet again.

John Cale works on security detail for the Speaker of the House, a job he enjoys, but he seeks advancement, his aim is to work for the Secret Service on Presidential Protection. His work, as is often the case with men in this profession, has taken its toll on his private life, being divorced from his wife, and not having the best of relationships with his daughter Emily. So when going for his interview for Protective detail at The White House, he hopes to make a small amends by getting his daughter the chance to see the historic House, as she is very passionate about politics.
Unfortunately for them, the day that they visit is also the same day that an attack take place. Initially it starts when the Capitol building dome is blown up, this causes inevitable confusion, and then the attack starts on The White House.
With the lack of intel, the initial reaction is that the attack is the work of Middle Eastern terrorists, but could it be that the threat is from closer to home? Also, what is the motivation for the attack?
John and his daughter get seperated, and he finds he has two objectives, namely save his daughter and also his Commander In Chief. Not an easy task when you are a lone operative up against a highly trained team of mercenaries.

We get a brief introduction to the main players, it is done well but also efficiently, giving us enough information to know and care about the characters, but then to allow the main hub of the film to get going. A great cast has been assembled, ranging from Maggie Gyllenhaal and Michael Deaver to the always excellent James Woods.
Taking over the white vest wearing duties from Bruce Willis is the very eye pleasing Channing Tatum, and after the total disaster of "A Good Day To Die Hard", this can only be a good thing. He handles the lead action role well, bringing both a combination of wry humour when needed, emotion with scenes involving his daughter and providing kick ass action when required.
My one very minor gripe, as with "Olympus Has Fallen", is that the actor playing The President is not quite right for the role. But this is a minor quibble, and nothing that will detract from one of the best action films of the year.

With the film being directed by Roland Emmerich, you know that there will be no shortage of action and excitement. For me his films seem to fall into one of two camps, either absolutely fantastic like "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Independence Day" or absolutely dire like "Godzilla" and "2012". Thankfully this latest film is definitely the former. He cranks up the tension, and delivers on every level. I was always looking forward to this film, and it is difficult not to build up expectations, it is is so disappointing when a film fails, but rest assured this delivers and then some. I would not be surprised if this movie does not get a second viewing. I would certainly urge anyone going to see the film to try and view it on an an IMAX screen as it does enhance the whole cinematic experience.

The White House may fall, but my enjoyment of this movie will never.....9 out of 10.

"Only God Forgives"

Initially I was unable to see this film due to illness, but thankfully a recent trip to London afforded me the chance to see "Only God Forgives", my great need to see this film was fueled by the fact that it saw the bringing together again of Director Nicolas Winding Refn and Lead Actor Ryan Gosling, who both worked on "Drive", which for me was the Best film of 2011.

There has been a lot of talk and controversy about this movie since it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Maybe that word of mouth has helped the film reach a wider audience, or the fact that "Drive" was so well received, that people are keen to see the next film from the same team who worked on it. Which ever way you look at it, "Only God Forgives" is a rather unique film experience.
There seems to be very little middle ground with regard to opinion of the film, looking at many of reviews, and reading what Joe Public has said, this is one of those films that you either love or hate. Ranging from 5 stars in "Empire" to a lowly 1 star in "Time Out", which illustrates the variance of regard to this movie.
Some have said it is another masterpiece from Director Refn, others have referred to it as one, if not the worst film they have ever seen, as happened last night during my second viewing of the film. For me the second viewing was beneficial, and to a degree I can see why some would find the film boring and dull on just one viewing. Yet even if the story was dull for some, the combination of the cinematography and score would have been compensating for this viewer.

Julian runs a boxing club in Thailand, the club however is merely a front for his main business which is drug dealing. He comes across as a quiet, contemplative man, someone of few words. Also involved in the business is his older brother Billy, a particularly unpleasant man, who enjoys sex with under-age girls, and is happy to bestow a huge amount of violence upon them. During one such encounter, he rapes and murders a 16 year old, and it is this event that creates the films ever escalating story of revenge and violence.
Ryan Gosling, as Julian, almost takes a back seat in the acting, having very little dialogue, and almost seeming to do very little. But like a few good actors, he can achieve a lot by being minimal.
Pretty much taking the lead is Vithaya Pansringarm, as 'Chang', a rather mysterious character who is called to the initial crime scene. He allows the father of the dead girl to exact a suitable revenge. But it is 'Chang' who seems to have created the most amount of debate. Is he just an everyday local Police Official? Or is he something more? An avenging Angel, who delivers his unique brand of justice. I would say it is left to the viewer to decide upon that one. 
Kristen Scott Thomas really plays against type, as the mother of the two boys. She has a wonderful entrance, when she arrives at her hotel. From that first encounter, you know that this is a woman that you do not want to trifle with. It is interesting to see the relationship that she has with her two boys, loving them very differently, maybe explaining why Julian is so emotionally distant, I found myself wondering whether maybe she abused him when younger, there is a hint of a sexual nature between the two, possibly incestuous.
All of these elements do come together to make a film that one will most certainly be talking for some time after leaving the cinema.

Yes there are some similarities to the 2011 masterpiece, equally there are some huge differences. The photography as ever is beautiful, whether it be the use of neon, dimly lit streets, shadows obscuring the films characters, or just lengthy shots of  the same characters with no dialogue, it is so pleasing to see a master at work behind the camera.
Composer Cliff Martinez, who did such a phenomenal job on the music for "Drive" is back on scoring duty, and again delivers a score that just blows one away, and one that I will again be purchasing.

Even though I have only seen three of the films directed by Refn, for me he is clearly a visionary Director, and one whose career I will continue to follow with great interest. And I also believe it will only be a matter of time before he is working with Mr. Gosling again.

A film that divides, but one that will not be forgotten........7 out of 10.

"Elysium"

We are half way through the 22nd Century, and the Earth has become diseased and over populated. Generally not a nice place to live. However, should you be someone of influence and wealth then there is an alternative. You can leave the wasted desolate lands of Earth and go live on Elysium, a huge structure which orbits the Earth. A place where there is law and order, where life is good, where any illness can be cured.
Everyone on Earth longs to go there, and they try any means possible to do so, but these efforts usually prove futile. Keeping order on Elysium is Delacourt, a hard nosed Defence Secretary. Her methods have been known to get her into hot water, especially with the President. So she aims to replace him with someone more reciprocal.

Back on Earth we meet Max, a drifter, who has never really amounted to much throughout his life. He has dealings in petty crime, but is now doing his best to survive, working in a factory. It is a struggle for him, but things do get worse when he is exposed to a massive dose of radiation at work, unfortunately it will prove to be fatal, having at best five days to live.
Knowing that he has nothing to lose, and that if he is to survive, then there is only one course of action. He must somehow get to Elysium, no matter what the cost.
So he meets up with 'Julio', a shady character from his past, seeking a job that will then mean he can be given pasage to Elysium, and use their state of the art equipment to remove the deadly radiation from his body. The job he is given is tough, to say rhe least. He is to be fitted with a device which when connected to a third party allows for brain transference, including sensitive data, passwords, etc and with this data, Julio aims to use it to gain access to Elysium and turn it over to the people, all the people. The added bonus for Max is that their target is 'Carlyle', owner of the plant where he worked, and who he sees as the creator of his health predicament. However, 'Carlyle' is also to be instrumental in the coup being orchestrated by 'Delacourt' so the race is on.

Given his age, he becomes 42 in October, Mr. Damon has certainly proved that he can still do the intense action roles, and show an impressive physique, whether it be here or in another recent film - "Behind The Candelabra". At the end of the day, this is one of those films where story and what is on screen supercede screen performance. Damon is good as 'Max' and does what needs to be done. Sharlto Copley is quite unpleasant, intentionally, as 'Kruger', a sleeper agent working on Earth on behalf of 'Delacourt', doing her dirty work when required. But he does seek retribution when his employment is ended.
Jodie Foster is always worth watching, no matter what the film. I know that some have likened her performance here to that of a pantomime villain, but I found it to be entertaining. Nice to see her playing a non goodie goodie type role.

One of the highlights of the film are the visual effects, which are quite stunning, and are just a real pleasure to sit and watch. They alone are almost worth the price of admission. Things have certainly moved on a lot of the last few years.
As good as the effects are, for a sequence to be truly memorable, there also has to be a great score to accompany it, and the film does boast some good music from first time Composer Ryan Amon. Going on the strength of his first score, he will most certainly be a talent to watch out for.
South African Director Neill Blomkamp brings to the screen this Utopian vision in space, and the slums of Earth. It is entertaining, and as already stated worth watching for the visuals alone.

Enjoyabke movie, and Blomkamp can be forgiven for the dire "District 9"......7 out of 10