Review No.93: The Devil Inside

Let me start this review with saying that I'm a big fan of The Exorcist I feel that it has a lot to say about faith, family and the church however it seems to have inspired a crop of films that seek to emulate it in some way. Modern examples include The Exorcism of Emily Rose and last year's Anthony Hopkins vehicle The Rite now we have another exorcist rip-off in The Devil Inside. While not a found footage film, like the recently reviewed Project X, The Devil Inside is filmed as a documentary as Isabella Rossi tries to discover why her mother Maria killed two priests and a nun twenty years ago. After doing some snooping she finds out that the assembled religious characters were there to perform an exorcism on her however the devil inside her instead over-powered them and killed them off. Isabella tracks down two priests, Ben and David, who perform backstreet exorcism without the knowledge of the church and whom she believes could sort out the mystery of her mother once and for all. After footage of Maria's exorcism is shot by documentary-maker Michael, Ben and David try to use it as a way of convincing the church elders to believe their theories however they still shrug it off. Obviously things don't end well for our quartet with bleeding palms, a botched baptism and a couple of unlucky nurses all popping up in the film's final ten minutes.

I feel that the faux documentary style employed in The Devil Inside is a way for director William Brent Bell to make his film look as shabby as possible. The format is only useful in a couple of scenes when the camera blurs and starts up again sometime later however overall it is just a way for the main characters to criticise Mike for not getting involved more during the exorcisms. I think Bell was trying for big shocks during the main two exorcism scenes but by the time you've seen the first one you really know what to expect going on. The Exorcist seemed to perfect the voice of the demon trapped in young Regan, voiced by veteran actress Mercedes McBainbridge, but in The Devil Inside the voice almost comes across as comical mainly because the director believes that all demonic entities should sound like foul-mouthed Brits. I have to say the first five minutes of the film did show promise but once it lapsed into your bog-standard shock horror film there was no stopping the tired clichés coming one after another. The cast of unfamiliar actors didn't do much to make me care about their fate with the relationship between the two priests coming off as almost homoerotic while Gabriella went from likeable to annoying fairly easily. The biggest problem with The Devil Inside is that it really didn't know how to end and it seemed to me like the project just ran out of money so Bell ended it suddenly hoping to provide a shock for the audience however, like myself, I think a lot of them were so bored by that point that they didn't really care.

Verdict: Supplementing cheap horror techniques for real shocks and with a cast who make it hard to care for the characters the only saving grace of the film is that the opening ten minutes are fairly involving add the fact that it's not particularly offensive just bad means that I can justify giving it a score of 2.5/10

Review No.92: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Back when I was reviewing Underworld: Awakening last month I decided that I needed to go get some backstory and watch the first two films that preceded Awakening chronologically. I realised that this was a futile endeavour as the past storylines were explained at the start of the film so when I watched the sequel to the 2007 film Ghost Rider I didn't watch the original. This was the right decision as at the start Nic Cage's Johnny Blaze explains that he was a stuntman who decided to sell his soul to the devil which I'm assuming is the only thing you really needed to know about that film. The second film starts with Idris Elba's Moureau convincing a bunch of monks with scribbles on their faces that they needed to utilise the rider in order to protect a little boy who was staying with them. This boy turned out to be  Danny the spawn of Ciarin Hinds' devil character who had made a deal with his mother Nadya that she would carry his child coincidentally his main hitman was a former flame of Nadya's. After convincing Blaze that he had to bring the Rider character back he almost destroys Nadya because of her past crimes however he is able to get the boy back albeit briefly. When the boy is back Moureau's deal with Blaze, that he would lift the Ghost Rider curse, was fulfilled meaning that he was fully human but wouldn't you just know it that the devil had once again sent his cronies lead by the fiendish Blackout to finish off the job. So as you would expect the final twenty minutes of the film are filled with gunshots, car chases and Nic Cage's head on fire.

Though the first Ghost Rider film was generally critically derided there was hope for this sequel due to the fact that it was directed by Neveldine/Taylor who responsible for the very entertaining Crank films. There are some moments of visual flourish which hint to their past films such as the sequence in which Blaze is finally able to cast off the Ghost Rider curse. There was also quite a fun performance from Idris Elba who seemed to be trying to make the most of a thankless role in Moureau whose job it was to spout a lot of expositional dialogue. Generally though I found this film boring and that has a lot to do with Cage's lifeless central performance possibly due to the fact the directing team are used to dealing with action stars such as Statham who are able to handle their direction better. I am a Cage fan however it is usually when he has strong direction, such as from the Coens or Ridley Scott, that he has produced his best work while here he seemed that he had just shown up to collect  a paycheck. The annoying actor playing Danny was fairly annoying and the actress playing his mother didn't really add anything to the film basically I didn't care about either of their fates. It's a shame as I feel that there was originally a good film in there however Cage's performance really dragged it down and I feel if there was a way to get another actor to play the role of Blaze Neveldine/Taylor should've done so in other words I'm glad that I didn't watch the original film to see Cage sleepwalk his way through two movies.

Verdict: Elba's performance coupled with occasional visual flare means this film isn't completely worthless however with a bunch of characters it is hard to care about and some sloppy direction I can only give this 4/10

Review No.91: Carancho

In 2010 there was a bit upset at the Oscars in the foreign language category as a barely-seen Argentinian film entitled The Secret in Their Eyes beat the critically-praised A Prophet and Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon to the prize. Personally though it was one of my favourite films of that year, if not quite as good as A Prophet, however the year later Argentina's entry Carancho failed to make it into that year's nominated films though I'm not quite sure why. The Secret in Their Eyes' leading man Ricardo Darin stars as Sosa an ambulance-chasing lawyer known as a 'Carnacho' or vulture. Sosa's work often means he gets beaten up by those who profit from the dead, and indeed the opening subtitle tells us that 8,000 people die in traffic accidents every year in Argentina, though he does have members of the police as well as paramedics who help him target the families of those who die or have been injured. As we learn Sosa was once a lawyer but when lost his lisence he started work for The Foundation an unscrupulous organisation who try and take as much of the compensation money that they can rather than give it to the families. Early on Sosa meets Lujan a doctor who is picking up extra shifts as a paramedic despite her knowing what he does the two fall for each other but when one of his schemes causes the death of an old man she distances herself from him. Eventually he decides to become legitimate but The Foundation won't let him leave easily especially after he manages to represent family members of people who were killed in an accident and give them their full compensation money. The final third of the film sees a race against time as Sosa tries to leave his dodgy past behind and leave the city with his beloved Lujan but whether or not this will happen or not is another question altogether.

For me Pablo Trapero's film was very reminiscent of Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead as a lot of it happens at night and focuses on paramedics who often work at night. Trapero takes us into the street-lit scenes of Argentina at night a haunting place where a lot of dirty deeds take place. What I liked about the film is the way in which the camera angles made us feel trapped in narrow hospital corridors or in the back of ambulances which I believe represented the fact that the lead characters were trapped in lives that they struggled to get out of. The film also keeps the viewer's interest by switching in tone from a moody drama to a high impact thriller with both genres fitting in with the overall themes of the film. I thought once again Darin succeeded in playing a morally ambiguous leading man who was both charming yet damaged however in this film at least he tries to better himself. Martina Gusman is also great as Lujan her character is well is a lonely one, working most of the hours in the day she and Sosa really find each other as they are both lonely souls. Carancho is also an incredibly violent film however it is all contextual even the violence against women, which I'm never comfortable with seeing on screen, was justified and it was kept as brief as possible. For me the film isn't perfect and I found the scenes following the budding romance between the two leads to be a bit dreary and the film really dragged in the calmer scenes in which they were just being a couple. Overall though Carancho demonstrates just how good Argentinian film is and I have to say that I'm really surprised that this well-acted, densely-plotted and brilliant stylised film didn't make into an Oscar category which was won by the fairly average In a Better World.

Verdict: While dreary at times this Argentinian film was gripping and looked great so for those two reasons it gets an 8.5/10

Review No.90: Iron Sky

There's no denying that the Fins are an odd bunch you just have to look at their 2006 Eurovision winning act Lordi to see that and now we find Finnish director Timo Vuorensola helming the barmy Nazis on the moon film Iron Sky. The film sees Christopher Kirby's African-American supermodel James Washington being sent on a mission to the moon by Stephanie Paul's Sarah Palin-esque president mainly due to his race. Landing on the dark side of the moon Washington discovers that a large group of Nazis set up camp there in 1945 and are currently planning to invade the Earth instructing Julia Dietze's schoolteacher Renate Richter to teach all the youngsters English. Deciding to exploit Washington's relationship with the president the Nazis send Goz Otto's high-ranking official Klaus Adler back to Earth with him but first decide to give the model an Arian makeover which in my opinion made him look like a lion. On Earth, Adler is able to manipulate the President's sexually charged adviser Vivian Wagner who in turn presents her boss various Nazi propaganda as new campaign promises every one of which she takes on board. After a few months Washington is able to show Renate that the Nazi party doesn't stand for good and teams up with her to take down Adler who is now joined by the rest of the space Nazis. The final showdown sees a massive fight in the united nations, a space battle between the Nazis and the rest of the world as well as more than one character getting impaled by a high heel shoe.

The real test if you're going to like Iron Sky or not is if you laugh when a random member of the crowd points up above and yells 'It's Space Nazis!' I personally have to say I enjoyed this film with my facial expressions going from smiles to big laughs as the film ran on sure some of the jokes are pretty tired while there's too many targets for it to be completely satirical. But I don't think satire is what Vuorensola and company are going for instead making an enjoyable B-Movie that at just over 80 minutes doesn't outstay its welcome and entertains throughout. One of the things I liked was that it didn't just rely on a string of jokes instead focusing on the schoolteacher who believed that the Nazi party stood for unity and doing good shocked to see on Earth that they are represented by a bunch of skinheads. There were also little in-jokes I enjoyed in the United Nations scenes including one in which the director takes a shot at his own home country essentially nothing is off limits. From a film-making point-of-view Iron Sky is poorly made particularly in certain areas such as the cheap looking make up and the ludicrous set design however the latter does lend itself well to the overall feel of the movie. Iron Sky isn't going to win any major awards and at some points goes off at wild tangents however it is bloody entertaining and if you go with the Finnish sense of humour you will enjoy yourself thoroughly throughout.

Verdict: Poorly made but highly entertaining Iron Sky wins points for pure originality only so I'll give it a very passable 6/10

Review No.89: Project X

The Blair Witch Project has a lot to answer for as it re-introduced modern audiences to the found footage genre which has provided some strong films but has mostly been used to promote the dire Paranormal Activity franchise. In Project X we see the found footage film being used as part of a comedy in which a day in the life of three boys is documented by Dax a character who is only really referenced briefly throughout the film just so we the audience know who is behind the camera. The main gist of the film sees the up himself Costa convincing his push-over friend Thomas to have a massive party for his 17th birthday as Thomas' parents are away. Enlisting the help of their overweight friend JB the trio try and organise as civil a party as possible however when Costa uses various media to promote the party thousands descend on their quiet Pasadena neighbourhood. The main bulk of the film sees Costa try and get Thomas lucky with the pretty Alexis, a girl who would normally be out of his league, even though he is aware that his long-time friend Kirby as a crush on him. By the end of the party there has been a dwarf driving a car into a pool, a fat man jumping from a roof and the whole house on fire. The final scenes set after the party seem to try and create a plot after the raucous film that has come before but I felt that this was too little too late.

It seemed that Project X was mainly an excuse to make a film in which lots of girls get their boobs out while house gets trashed. There are many basic problems to the film number one is that three central characters aren't that sympathetic - Costa is a misogynistic idiot, Thomas is a little dull and JB is the token fat one who has been done to look like Jonah Hill when we first saw him on screen. There seems to be little attempt to mae us care for the trio prior to the party and once it gets started they all get lost in the wildness of it all. The found footage element allows director Nima Nourizadeh the luxury of not having to worry about the camera-work looking polished and the bad jokes are probably the work of producer Todd Phillips who possibly envisaged this as a teenage version of his Hangover films however at least they had characters that you actually cared about. The script isn't even funny substituting actual jokes for swear words, drug-induced mishaps and sexual misunderstandings. There are bigger problems than poor film-making though as Project X is just offensive especially to women who are treated as sex objects and readily remove their tops when they get into the pool that's obviously because this happens all the time in real life! The actress who plays the unattainable Alexis said that she was given the opportunity to add to the role beyond the requirements of the role and move the character away from the 'hot girl' archetype. I have to say I didn't really spot this when she had her boobs out or when she was letting Thomas do body shots off her. There was also a serious problem in that Thomas takes ecstasy willingly and there are little repercussions to his actions other than him not having sex with the girl he wanted to I found this to be particularly dangerous for any younger kids watching. The acting is atrocious sometimes using non-actors works, see this year's Chronicle, however here the unprofessional nature of the majority of the cast shines through and adds to what is already a dire film. Though I didn't find all of it utterly offensive for the majority of the film I sat stony-faced and I have to say if this is the best that the found footage genre can muster then maybe the footage shouldn't have been found in the first place.

Verdict: Unfunny, offensive to women, badly produced and atrociously acted by its non-professional cast Project X is a horrific viewing experience so it becomes the co-worst film of the year with a mark of just 1/10

Review No.88: Coriolanus

After an alien-splattering franchise piece something a bit more cultural now as we look at Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut as he also stars in an adaptation of the Shakespeare play Coriolanus. Interestingly this is the first time the play has come to the cinema as it has been seen as notoriously hard to adapt however Fiennes' vision sees the setting of Rome become an Eastern European state making the battles reminiscent of those fought in the former Yugoslavia and as the film is shot in Serbia it certainly gives this effect. Fiennes also stars in the lead role of military man Caius Martius who after being successful in battle is taken on as the new hero of the people and is given the name of Coriolanus. Fiennes uses the modern day press to demonstrate how much the media affects our view of the world even getting in Channel 4's very own Jon Snow to act as a political commentator on the local news channel. While Coriolanus is bought in by the manipulative craven tribunes his inability to stay quiet on the big issues sees them try to overthrow him and paint him as a traitor. As he becomes an outcast he decides to try and make peace with his former enemy Tullus who is also leader of the rebel army thus becoming an enemy of Rome. Though this is where the story should end it is Caius' mother, played by the brilliant Vanessa Redgrave, who tries to get him to return from the wilderness using his wife and son as leverage. As he is torn between two sides Coriolanus must decide which side of the fence he stands on and whether it is too late to go back to one particular life.

From a filmic point-of-view Coriolanus drags you straight into the action with images of the disgruntled Roman population trying to rise up against the army only to be stopped by the riot police. The Serbian backdrop means that the camera can focus on graffiti that signifies the conflict that happened there in the 1990s as well as some of the buildings that have obviously been destroyed by gunfire. Cinematographer Barry Akroyd is used to capturing these scenes of war well as he worked on The Hurt Locker as well as the more recent Green Zone with his shaky camera work really playing into the story. As I previously mentioned the use of the media, and Mr Jon Snow, works in this story of the soldier who struggles to become a politician with the constant use of the TV news network which reminds us of the conflicts we see every day during the daily bulletins. As far as acting goes Fiennes is incredible as the intimidating Coriolanus often wearing nothing but a scowl on his face which is used to paint a picture throughout the film especially when his head is shaved in a later scene. I also thought Redgrave and Brian Cox were both great the former in particular as Fiennes' mother excelled at playing one of Shakespeare's loving yet sly women though she might not be quite in the league of Lady Macbeth. I thought that Butler had little to do while Jessica Chastain was also ill-served in the role of Fiennes' wife. Though everything looked spectacular and the cast on the whole were great I had trouble connecting with the characters so I didn't really care about any of their ultimate fates. I don't think it's the Shakespearian language because, as an English scholar, I'm pretty accustomed to it I felt it was more to do with the lack of emotion that a lot of these characters display which may have been the reason that this play has never been adapted up to this point.

Verdict: A visually captivating directorial debut from Fiennes who also gives a great performance however the fact that I didn't really connect with any of the characters means I can only give this an 8/10

Review No.87: Men in Black 3

There was a slight sense of trepidation as I entered my local multiplex for the latest Cheap Tuesday bargains that was because I spotted a bunch of primary school kids about to enter one of the screens. My suspicions were heightened as the film I was about to watch, Men in Black 3, was the only PG film playing in the cinema however luckily when I entered my screen they were nowhere to be seen in a way this was good as I've already decided not to go to any cinemas next week as it's half term. I find it very odd that a third Men in Black film has been made in the first place as it's been ten years since the awful Men in Black 2 and a whopping fifteen years since the great first film came out in 1997. In this film Agents J and K are still trying to save the world from the scum of the universe however when one of K's old enemies escapes from a maximum security prison, thanks to an opening scene involving Nicole Scherzinger and a cake, it seems that his life may take a turn for the worst. This villain is none other than Boris the Animal, played by Jermaine Clement stealing the show from the more established acors, who decides to travel back in time in order to kill off K. J then discovers that K has been dead for over 40 years, as Boris was successful in his time jump to 1969, so in order to save him J must do the same landing back in the past and coming face to face with a younger version of his partner played by Josh Brolin. Though this could've allowed Barry Sonnenfeld to explore how an African American like J would be treated in the late 1960s this is barely mentioned instead the period setting is used to reference things like pop art and the moon landing. As the agents must try to stop both versions of Boris J discovers that K wasn't always as belligerent as he has been while he also finds out why he was recruited to join Men in Black in the first place.

There were parts of Men in Black 3 that I really liked with Will Smith being on form as ever being joined by a game Josh Brolin who did a fantastic Tommy Lee Jones impression. The inclusion of Clement was a stroke of genius while a parade of modern comedians making cameos, which saw both Bill Hader and Will Arnett pop up, was another good idea as it made the franchise feel a bit fresher especially Hader's turn as Andy Warhol which for me was possibly the funniest scene in the film. Talking of comedy moments some of the better gags occurred in the background of scenes as various celebrities, like Richard Branson and Tim Burton, were revealed or at least suspected of being aliens. The opening scene at a Chinese restaurant provided a great set piece plus the revelations at the end of the film explained some of the unanswered questions about the franchise as well as hopefully ensuring that there isn't a Men in Black 4. On a more negative note it seemed that Tommy Lee Jones really didn't want to be in the film, and to be fair he wasn't in it much, looking tired and annoyed for the majority of his time on screen. As I previously mentioned there were some good set pieces however as a whole the film didn't mould together very well and at times I was just bored plus there was a really annoying character in the form of Michael Stulhbarg's Griffin who was able to see different realities. I feel that while this film bettered what Men in Blck 2 this still wasn't a brilliant film as it suffered from a lack of cohesion and a co-star who was on auto-pilot in the brief periods where he was actually on screen.

Verdict: Some good set-pieces and likeable performances can't hide the fact that this franchise is as tired as the look on Tommy Lee Jones' face so for that reason it gets 6/10

Review No.86: Moonrise Kingdom

A trip up to see my Manchester-based friend resulted in a cinema trip to Corner House, my sixth cinema this year if you're keeping track, the film was the latest from Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom. Though I have a love of Anderson's films, particularly his eye for detail in designing the main sets, however I've often found his characters emotionally alienating due to their awkward nature. That is not the case however with Moonrise Kingdom partly I think due to the fact the central characters, 12 year olds Suzy Bishop and Sam Shakusky, are strange runaways who are yet to be truly emotionally scarred by the parental figures in their life. Of the two Suzy's life is the most fraught thanks to the fact that her lawyer parents, played by Bill Murray and Frances McDormand, are sleeping in separate beds while her mother continues an affair with Bruce Willis' melancholic police sheriff. Rather than distancing herself emotionally I felt that Suzy tried to distance herself physically looking down on the town using a pair of binoculars which she later describes as her super-power. Music also plays an important part in the Bishop house as demonstrated through a record player owned by one of her brothers on which the family listen to Benjamin Britten's Young Persons' Guide to the Orchestra while she herself prefers the music of Francoise Hardy. After no longer being able to stand life in her house she takes the record player along with several other items and runs away eventually running into escaped scout Sam. Sam is another lost soul as he is an orphan who has been rejected both by his foster parents and by his fellow scouts eventually quitting the troupe and running away much to the horror of Ed Norton's scout-master.

The pair are able to survive fairly well due to Sam's wilderness training and eventually declare their love for each other moving down to the coast where they learn to dance, kiss and basically set up a small family unit. They are torn apart once again when they are tracked down and while Suzy is chatsised Sam must await the fate that lies in the hands of Tilda Swinton's Social Services a magnificently scary Mary Poppins figure all-decked out in pastel blue. Though we don't know what exactly will happen to our protagonists we are told at the start by Bob Balaban's omnipresent narrator that the time period and setting, a New England island community in 1965, is about to be hit by one of the biggest storms in American history.

From the opening scene of Moonrise Kingdom, which occurs in the Bishop house, you know you're watching an Anderson film as the camera tracks through every room in the house allowing us to get to know the characters. Unlike other films though Anderson doesn't keep us in one location for long allowing us to explore the scout camp with its uniformly aligned tents and unusually high treehouse as well as the caravan in which Willis' cop leads a lonely life. The fact that the characters escape the Anderson settings and try to start their new life is possibly one of the things I liked about the film as vast exterior locations aren't something you always associate with the director. In turn this allows us to explore New Penzance and its neighbouring islands as places that are separated from the rest of society with our guide in these scenes being Balaban, who is dressed up like a Christmas elf with a baromtoer around his neck, who uses maps to pinpoint the direction of our young characters. As well as sets, costumes always play a big part in the world of Anderson with uniforms especially being important to Moonrise Kingdom what with Willis' cop outfit, Swinton's hat and jacket combo, Suzy's Sunday school dress and the uniforms worn by the scouts all being important in some way especially in the final scene involving Sam.

As far as the performances go it's newcomers Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman who rightly steal the show from more accomplished actors really inhabiting these strange adolescents who have finally found each other. They almost become little adults with Sam smoking his pipe and Suzie feeding her cat I found the first half of the film to resemble a geeky Blue Lagoon at times. Talking of young actors I don't think the boys who play the scout troupe have been given enough praise in other reviews as I feel they acted as a small family and like with all the youngster in the film were much more grown-up than the adults. Anderson's strength as a director is getting the best out of his actors and I never once thought like I was watching Bruce Willis or Ed Norton but rather swept up in the exploits of Captain Sharp and Scout Master Ward. Anderson's script, co-written with Roman Coppola, was both warm and moving but most importantly it was extremely funny in fact it was possibly the film I've laughed most at this year. It is true that Anderson's film is still a little twee and also I did forget from time to time that this was actually set in the past as there were no real references to this however these are very small niggles. Finally the importance of the Britten music that the Bishop siblings listen to is in the fact that each part of the orchestra is separated but only sounds full when all of these pieces are put back together. That is true of the characters in Moonrise Kingdom separated they think they sound fine but it is only after being reunited and sticking together that they find their happy ending.Talking of music don't leave until the end credits role as you get a special treat involving Alexandre Desplat's score.

Verdict: With characters you care about, a script that never stops you laughing and two great central performances plus the usual Anderson charm this is definitely the comedy of the year so far so I will give it 9/10

Review No.85: Safe House

Some actors just seem to thrive playing villains in films and for me I believe Denzel Washington is one of those despite recently been seeing mainly playing heroes in The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 as well as in Unstoppable though for me his last great role was in American Gangster. In Safe House he plays Tobin Frost a former CIA agent who went rogue several years ago and is now living a life of crime so after being chased by some hoodlums he ends up seeking refuge at the US consulate in Cape Town. Also in Cape Town is Ryan Reynolds' Matt Weston who is in charge of a looking after the CIA safe house in which they keep criminals while they interrogate them but this is a thankless job which usually means he sits around for hours at a time doing nothing and he believes that he deserves a transfer desperately badgering Brendan Gleason's David Barlow for one. However Weston's life is turned upside down when Frost is bought to his safe house and during interrogation a number of criminals attempt to capture the wanted man only to be thwarted by Matt who takes Tobin on the run. This piques the interest of both Barlow and Vera Farmiga's officer Catherine Linklater who doesn't have as much trust in Weston as Gleason's character does especially when he shoots a cop at a football game while attempting to take Frost back into custody. The second half of the film is a cat-and-mouse game with Frost and Weston attempting to one-up each other however they are forced to join together against the men after the former as parts of why he went rogue in the first place are revealed. By the end of the film there are some twists, albeit predictable twists, and a couple of not so shocking deaths as a big revelation ends the film on what should be a high note.

As I said Washington is by and far the best thing about Safe House his Tobin Frost is captivating staying cool, calm and collected for the most part only pouncing when he seems a moment to escape. Washington seems to be having an absolute ball here for once not trying to protect a little girl or stop a train but simply attempting to get one over on both the cops as well as the robbers. Once seen as no more than a comedy guy for me Reynolds has carved out a new career playing the 'everyman' roles such as he did in the excellent Buried and his harassed, out-of-his-depth rookie CIA character bounces perfectly off Washington's Frost. There are also some excellent set pieces most notably the one at the football match in which Frost evades Weston for the first time while the South African locations add an exotic nature to proceedings making Safe House more interesting than it would've been had it been set in America. On the downside the script is all over the place though the action is the key to the film's success the plotting is heavy-handed and the majority of the characters' motives seem to change throughout. Gleason and especially Farmiga are both wasted in roles which only exist to provide exposition about the two central characters and their backgrounds. I also felt the constant edits in some of the action sequences fairly jarring especially a car chase towards the beginning of the film as well as the final shoot-out. Safe House then does have two likeable leads however I feel there are too many things wrong with it to be the truly pleasing brainless action film that it so desperately wants to be.

Verdict: Two great central performances and an exotic location save this film from being a bog-standard straight-to-DVD action flick I'm still going to mark this one quite harshly so I'll give it a high 5.5/10

Review No.84: W.E.

I think there are stigmas attached to certain directors who are known for their work in other areas and I think that applies more than most to Madonna who has recently presented her second directorial effort W.E. The film, which Madge has also co-written, is at first glance a biographical look at the life of Wallis Simpson the twice-divorced American who fell in love and later married King Edward VIII who in turn had to abdicate in order to marry her. Though somewhere along the line either Madonna, or more likely someone at the studio, thought that this subject matter would be a little too dry so has added a modern element in the form of 1998 Manhattan resident Wally Winthrop who has been named after Mrs Simpson as the other females in her family were obsessed by her. Wally has put her life on hold in order to become a loving wife to brilliant therapist William and wants to have a child by him even though he isn't too keen on the prospect. When a plethora of items relating to Wallis Simpson come up for sale at Sotheby's Wally takes an interest in them spending a lot of time at the auction house and eventually befriending a kindly Eastern European security guard by the name of Evengi. As Wally starts to look at the items we see flashbacks to the life of Wallis Simpson from the reason her two marriages broke down to her romance of Edward and their subsequent exile out of England. Wally begins to realise she has more in common with Wallis then she first thought as the former's marriage starts to crumble she gets a new understanding of the royal romance seeing things from a different perspective. The film ends with a very surreal moment in which the two Wallys have an imagined conversation on a bench and this is where I really started to worry about the sanity of the modern day version of the character obviously trapped in some kind of delusion but with nobody to help her.

It would be incredibly easy for me to be terribly sniffy about W.E. so firstly I will tell you what's good about it. I feel that a lot of work has gone in to styling the character of Wallis Simpson and Arianne Philips' costume design is possibly the best thing about the film although I'm still not sure if it deserved an Oscar nomination. As Wallis Simpson, Andrea Riseborough is the only member of the cast who escapes from the film with an iota of dignity as she rises above the lousy script to create as complex a character as she could as a woman who just can't help the man she falls in love with just happens to be a royal. Generally the Edward and Mrs Simpson plot feels a bit like a potted history of the abdication as we are shown faux newsreel of the King's last speech before handing his role over to his brother. This does fit in nicely with people who watched The King's Speech last year, and I'm sure this was one way in which the marketing department tried to entice an audience to see it, however Laurence Fox's performance almost feels like a caricature of the one Colin Firth delivered in Tom Hooper's film. I did though appreciate the fact that a little continuity had been placed in the casting of the royal family as Fox's father Edward appears as King George though there isn't another Fox that could play Edward so James D'arcy steps into that role. Where W.E. really falls apart is in the modern day storyline due to the fact that Abbie Cornish's main direction seems to be look a bit sad or gaze at this beautiful antique jewellery. I have to say that there was some unintentional hilarity in the fights between Wally and husband William with the film's most brutal moment, in which he physically abuses his wife, coming off like a scene from a slapstick comedy as the scene is so melodramatic it's hard not to laugh especially when you consider that he's angry that she's spent over $10,000 on a pair of Wallis' gloves. The attempt to create a romance between Wallie and the security guard is also very slapdash and uninspiring as they start to get it on after he is impressed by the way she plays piano.

Madonna also employs some very heavy-handed techniques to try and work in the story of Princess Diana into the final stages of the film with Wallie's summation of what Wallis' life would've been like which is subtetly worked in via a conversation with an actor playing Mohammed Al-Fayed. For a film with a strong historical aspect it doesn't seem to have been researched all that well which is demonstrated in one scene when newsreel is shown announcing that George III had died when most of us now that Edward's father was George V. Finally a brief word about the music as Madonna has tried to go all Moulin Rouge on us by having the 1920s characters dance to contemporary music such as the Sex Pistols' Pretty Vacant again this another elemnt of the film that just comes off as gimmicky. I did in fact find it hard to keep track of the two separate storylines as Madonna made us play a game not of Where's Wally? but more Which Wally? At the end of the day though I felt the only real Wally was me for sitting through this terrible film only redeemed slightly by Riseborough and the pretty costumes.

Verdict: While I can't say I wasn't entertained most of this was due to unintentional hilarity because for the most part Madonna's film is just terrible only be saved slightly thanks to Riseborough's superb performance and the Oscar-nominated outfits therefore I will award it 3/10

Review No.83: The Divide

So as well as the previous film Edge my next film The Divide came at the same time courtesy of LoveFilm and while I had a small smattering of knowledge of what I was getting into with Carol Morley's film I didn't however with this film. The Divide starts incredibly strong as we see nuclear explosions tear up New York City a group of tenants in a tower block rush to the basement where their janitor has a bunker. As well as the janitor, played by Terminator/Aliens alumni Michael Biehn, there are a pair of lovers, three brothers, an older gentleman and a mother and child all of whom have to survive together. The premise of the film then essentially is how long does it take before civilisation breaks down and everybody turns on everyone else? The answer is surprisingly not that long as almost immediately Milo Vetimiglia's Josh starts shouting at everyone while it becomes clear that Biehn's Mickey is hiding stuff from his fellow survivors. Though attempts at an escape are made it becomes clear that a group of men with Hasmat suits are carrying out some sort of experiment which means they have to kidnap the little girl. After being sealed in by these men things just break down as the majority of the characters become little more than animals as there is rape, torture and someone being set on fire before one of them finally escapes.

The opening few shots of The Divide promise so much as director Xavier Gens has obviously spent a lot of time thinking how he would like to destroy New York however is skill for designing these sort of shots is wasted in a film that is confined to a single setting that features characters who are mainly unlikeable. The cast aren't best-served by their characters however Lauren German does her best with plucky Eva while Rosanna Arquette's  Marilyn's dissension into madness is portrayed fairly well and Biehn is able to do creepy fairly well but that's about it. The major problem is that we don't spend a lot of the time getting to know these characters before they completely breakdown this is especially true of Courtney B Vance's Delvin of whom we learn little off at all. In fact I found a lot of the second half of this film hard to watch as the brothers take in turns raping Marilyn and tearing off Mickey's fingers. By the time the end finally came I was glad however I wished that these characters hadn't made it down to the basement in the first place as surely there were some nicer people who lived in their apartment block. Maybe that wouldn't have made for as much of a provocative film as this one is but I maybe would've cared a bit more when they started to die. With brief hints to the sort of film Gens wanted to make at the end of the day this was vulgar, unlikeable stuff for the most part and how it made it to the cinema is a mystery in itself.

Verdict: Though it has a good start increasingly vulgar material coupled with unlikeable characters means this one only gets a 2/10

Review No.82: Edge

Last year one of the most-talked about documentary films was Carol Morley's Dreams of a Life which blended real-life experiences with performances from actress Zawe Ashton. Though I haven't seen that film yet its success has meant the brief cinema release of her 2010 fictional film Edge which came onto DVD soonafter. The film follows a collection of disparate characters who are all inhabiting the Cliff Edge Hotel in Dover for differing reasons they include Paul Hilton's washed-up pop-star looking for inspiration, Maxine Peake's lost woman who has returned to the area where her life changed significantly, a young couple who have met on the internet, an older woman with a terminal illness who has come to the area to end her life and the Eastern European staff member who tries to talk her out of it. As Hilton's Glen and Peake's Elly meet in the hotel's bar, run by a very strange woman, they get to know each other a little bit more as he believes he's found his inspiration through her so starts to write a song about her. The film essentially then switches between the three pairs who all talk about bad life experiences, why they've ended up at the Cliff Edge and what they hope to achieve. The film ends by bringing all six characters together on the cliff itself after one of their number threatens to jump off before everybody returns to life as normal.

Morley's message in Edge seems to be that we're all lost and just looking for that person to help us along the way which everybody does to an extent in her film. There are lots of scenes in which the camera simply pans along following the characters not saying anything but instead just in deep contemplation. Though all three stories do get equal footing it is that of Elly that we are most intrigued due to her constant phone-calls and the newspaper clippings that she brings with her while her relationship with the much more upbeat Glen brings her out of herself slightly. The strangest story has to be between youngsters Phillip and Sophie, played by former Skins actor Joe Dempsie and Nichola Burley, who have seemingly met on one of those websites however one of them has tracked the other down for a different purpose. Their story arc throughout is pretty odd and the way it ends is hard to believe seeing as everything they went through up to that point. However my favourite of the three stories is that between Polish maid Agata and older patron Wendy which is like something out of a play as these two very different women talk of shared experiences. Morley's characters sometimes feel real but other times feel like caricatures which is a shame as visually Edge looks the part and resembles its characters very cold, very sad but with moments of brightness. I also found the score to be fairly dour only perked up occasionally by Glen's singing or Phillip whistling the tune his father used to hum. Essentially this felt like a two-part TV series rather than a proper film however there was enough interest in the characters to keep me going throughout despite the fact that, from the reviews I've read, Morley's strengths lie in her documentary work rather than her fictional pieces.

Verdict: A well-shot yet uneven piece Carol Morley's fictional film suffers from an overabundance of melancholy but does have some interesting things to say along the way so I'll give it a 6/10

Review No.81: Dark Shadows

I don't know if there's some sort of support group but I would like to stand-up proud and say that I'm a Tim Burton fan. I in fact wrote my undergraduate dissertation about him some eight years ago now but then was back in a time where he had done little wrong with the possible exception of the Planet of the Apes remake. Since then he's destroyed two of my favourite childhood tales, Willy Wonka and Alice in Wonderland, and has seemingly become obsessed with Johnny Depp. There's no surprise that both Depp and Burton's wife Helena Bonham Carter star in his latest film Dark Shadows in which the former plays a vampire who wakes two centuries after he was cursed by a witch and locked in a coffin. Depp's Barnabus Collins is in fact the heir to an English family who set-up a fishery business in Maine naming the town - Collinsport after themselves while spoiling their son. When he trifles with the affections of the working class Angelique, played by Eva Green, she puts on him said curse which lasts for 200 years until he is dug up by workmen in 1972 who are then all killed by him. Though the 1970s Collinsport is decidedly different now it is run by Angelique while the remaining family members are an odd bunch bickering among themselves more than anything else. There's Michelle Pfeiffer's matriarch Elizabeth who greets everybody by standing at the top of the long winding staircase of the family mansion then there's her 15 year old daughter Carolyn played by Chloe Moretz who wears a constant scowl on her face as she argues with her mother. Elizabeth's brother Roger is a womanising thief who cares little that his son David is being haunted by visions of his dead mother and finally there is Carter's Dr Hoffman an alcoholic psychologist who was hired three years ago to try and help David get over his mum's passing but hasn't helped just yet. When Barnabus returns he falls for the David's nanny Victoria but he also has to deal with the fact that Angelique is still after him and his family so he decides to repair their reputation by doing their house before organising a ball which features Alice Cooper as the main attraction. The final twenty or so minutes are where everything comes to a head, truths are told and a large battle wages between the major characters.

After the critically-derided Alice in Wonderland the Burton-Depp team really needed a hit and while Dark Shadows isn't necessarily that hit it still has enough good ideas to justify Burton's reputation as a decent director. There are some fairly decent jokes in the film though they aren't really produced by the 'vampire tries to adjust to the 1970s' plot that the trailer would have you believe but instead they come out through the characters. Both Green and Carter's turns allow them to amp up the crazy in different ways creating laughs through the characters' mannerisms more than anything else while Jackie Earle Hayley as handyman Willy also gets in a few decent laughs. For me one of the best comic turns comes from Ray Shirley as the family's decrepit maid who is constantly unaware of what is going on around her which in itself is fairly amusing. I also thought that Moretz excelled as the stroppy teenager, albeit one with a secret, her constant scowling and puzzled expressions really put across someone who really didn't want to be trapped in a small town. And indeed the town of Collinsport is well-designed because, as you would expect from a Burton film, everything looks particularly strange and gothic especially the Collins family manor Collinswood. The problems for me were that we've seen Depp in this role too many times before and I felt it would be better if the director had let another star have a go at being the leading man in one of his films. Not that he's particularly bad at it it's just that I felt a little tired watching Depp doing his faux English accent trotting around and spouting out the witticisms. I also felt that there was far too many tonal shifts as the film starts in an extremely dark place before becoming comic and then going really mad in the final scenes. There's also the issue of the 1970s setting which I forgot about until Carolynn started playing a record by T-Rex or referencing The Carpenters while I do appreciate that the nostalgia is in part a homage to the original TV series of the same name I considered it to be a gimmick that really wasn't needed. Of all of Burton's films I feel this is closest to Mars Attacks as it has that nostalgic element, obviously references something the director loves, has its moments but is ultimately all over the place though as a fan of the man's work I still really enjoyed it.

Verdict: While Dark Shadows may not be the return to form us Burton fans had anticipated this is still crazy enough to remind us of his films of old despite the many shifts in a tone and a samey performance from Depp I will give this a very generous 7/10

Review No.80: The Dictator

I hope you're not that bored of my tales of cinema trips just yet as we now hit Orange Wednesday on an extremely hot day in May so a cool down was of course in order. The staff at the cinema were so perplexed that anyone would want to come into their establishment on a glorious day such as this that they didn't bother opening the doors till they saw us coming. After we split the price of two tickets three ways we settled down into a completely empty screening of Sacha Baron Cohen's latest character comedy The Dictator. Cohen once more dons the comedy facial hair this time to play General Aladeen the ruler of the African state of Wadiya who like all good dictators enjoys blowing things up and torturing his people. Early on though we learn that Aladeen just wants to be loved after having rough sex with Megan Fox he wants her to stay for cuddles however she buggers off after getting a rolex as payment. Aladeen eventually comes to America where he is betrayed by the rightful heir to the Wadiya empire played by Ben Kinglsey who orders his assassination intsead placing one of the general's doubles to go through with making the country a democracy in order to market oil. However the hitman, played by John C Reilly, ends up simply cutting off Aladeen's beard meaning that he is unrecognisable to everyone and is essentially just another immigrant. Aladeen is taken in by health-food store owner Anna Farris whose contract with a local hotel will allow him to gain access to his double and reclaim his rightful place as head of the country. As things go on though he starts to fall for her and he discovers that he might not have had as much power in Wadiya as he originally thought.

I feel that nowadays you know what you're going to get from a Cohen comedy namely a funny accent, lots of swearing and plenty of taking the piss out of the Americans. In fact one of the funniest jokes in the film is in which Aladeen points out that the USA is essentially run like a dictatorship or certainly was done under George W Bush. As one of my friends noted aftewards a lot of the jokes were in the trailer and this is true as I'd seen the suspected terrorism in the helicopter as well as the 'Wadiya Games' segments prior to seeing the film. There was enough to keep me going though thanks to a lot of great set pieces and some game cameos from Megan Fox and Edward Norton but for me some of the biggest laughs came when hearing Arabian versions of popular songs including 'Everybody Hurts'. There was one or two many uses of toilet humour for me, including an extensive sequence in which Aladeen learns to play with himself for the first time, plus Anna Faris' character almost became a bit of a stereotype what with her environmentalist attitude and her hairy armpits. Overall though there were a fair few laughs in The Dictator, which at the end of the day is what you want from a comedy, but if Cohen and director Larry Charles think they're over-stepping the boundaries then they're really not. Essentially what The Dictator is is a decent comedy which you could easily watch on DVD while munching a take-away but it's not disciplined enough to be the satire that it truly wants to be.

Verdict: An enjoyable comedy that passes the time and provides plenty of laughs but has nothing beyond that in terms of depth so I'll award it a solid 7/10

Review No.79: The Raid

As I was at the cinema on a Tuesday, where the admission prices are reduced significantly, I decided to add another film to my Avengers trip turning the afternoon's movie-going experience into a double-bill. As my choice was incredibly violent Indonesian film The Raid my friend decided not to stay with me so I was on my own for this one. It still being just after four there was once again only a few people in the cinema and in fact there were fewer people present here than those who'd turned up to see Avengers Assemble I'm guessing it was down to the fact that this was in another language which is often a deterrent to most people. I have to say strangely I struggled with the subtitle-reading, which usually isn't a problem for me, however they've recently increased the size of the screens at my local multiplex so there was a significant gap between the image and the translation of the script meaning that I had to move my head up and down to understand what was being said. Though after the opening plot explanation there was very little dialogue as the film kicked and the violence begun I just sat back to enjoy myself as people were shot, decapitated or destroyed by deadly hand-to-hand combat. The plot is simple as we follow a group of rookie cops who have been tasked with arresting a slum landlord Tama and drugs kingpin who lives at the top of his fifteen story tower block in which the police have to navigate in order to get their man. A lot of these cops are finished off in the early stages of the operation so our focus is on the more senior lieutenant and the new-on-the-job Rama who is about to become a father while in addition has a personal connection to someone working for Tama. After a while the mission for the remaining officers seems to be to leave the block rather than get their man however with Tama upping the ante it does remain to be seen if anybody will make it out alive.

During my Film Studies masters course I took a module about how film-makers utilise the space in which their stories are set and in the case of Gareth Huw Evans the tower block where the majority of the action takes place almost becomes a character in its own right. From the narrow corridors to the small confines of the rooms and the dingy lifts everything is used here to involve us in the action and make this place seem as creepy as possible. The fact that Tama has cameras set up meaning that he can send his lackeys out to track down and kill anybody he wants while he is also able to put out message to his tenants via a speaker system which echoes through the building. There are some really breath-taking action sequences here with two of them involving Tama's henchman Mad Dog who prefers to use his body rather than guns to finish people off and we see how he does this in one particularly brutal scene. Evans does work in some backstory and character development in between piling up the bodies we learn about Rama's past as well as why the lieutenant wanted the raid carried out in the first place which makes the final scenes even more significant. Though I had a little trouble getting intot he plot to begin with eventually I found myself sucked in to everything that was going on here and with the cinema's new speaker system the thumping soundtrack coupled with the constant ricochet of gunshots made me really feel like i was along for the ride in a way that a 3D film never could. There are a few problems with the film namely with a couple of the big revelations which I saw coming a mile off and also a part of the ending that I really wasn't a fan of but apart from that this was an awesomely violent visual spectacular which really marks Evans out as interesting film-maker especially as he's a Welshman working in Indonesian cinema. Evans has recently told us that he's working on The Raid 2 however after blowing the first tower-block to bits and killing off most of its residents I'm guessing a new venue will be needed for the police to do their work in.

Verdict: A thrilling, violent yet humanistic masterpiece which utilises its space brilliantly and takes you along for the ride it does have a few problems so I can't give it full marks but it still gets 9/10

Review No.78: Avengers Assemble

So it's time to review the film that everybody had seen apart from myself and the friend who accompanied to an early afternoon screening of Avengers Assemble. That's at least what I thought however the screen wasn't as empty as I thought it would be as there was a smattering of patrons already sitting down when we got there though I got the impression that many of them had already seen this at least once. I really don't know how much plot detail I should go into here as I feel the majority of readers will at least have a small knowledge of what the film is about namely the assembly of all the of the Marvel superheroes who have appeared in their own films over the past couple of years. So we have Captain America, Thor and Iron Man combining with The Hulk who is now played by Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson plays Black Widow who she has previously portrayed in the Iron Man franchise and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye who had a brief cameo in the Thor movie. The plot itself revolves around Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury, the link between all of these Marvel movies, who has to gather together these various heroes after Thor's step-brother Loki steals the Tesseract in order to open up some sort of space portal to get an alien race known as the Chitauri to invade. The essential struccture of The Avengers is collecting all the various characters, get them together, getting them to argue, separate them, reunite them and then get them to save New York by vanquishing all the aliens. Along the way everybody gets their time to shine and do their party piece whether it be Thor with his hammer, Captain America with his shield, The Hulk generally destroying things or Iron Man being generally witty they get their five minutes of fame. If you haven't seen it don't read the rest of this paragraph but essentially The Avengers prevent another 9/11 from happening only this time they fend off aliens rather than terrorists afterwards we are given a collection of news footage criticising The Avengers' tactics which I found very reminiscent of Team America. There was also a final scene in which Loki's failed atempts are punished by the head of the Chitauri which essentially set up either a sequel to this film or to Thor or perhaps both.

People who know me will know that I'm not a big fan of Hollywood action films however I did enjoy both Thor and Captain America for different reasons while I also thought the first Iron Man film was fantastic. As I previously mentioned all of the superhero get to do the thing they're best known for and I would best surmise Avengers Assemble as sort of being a Greatest Hits Mixtape which should've had the tagline - you liked what they did before, then see them all do it at the same time. This is a benefit in some cases as I don't think there was much more that could be done with the character of Captain America given Chris Evans' limited range while Thor made me giggle more than anything else as did Hemsworth's lines here though saying that Hiddleston's egocentric Loki provided a good villain who, like any good baddie, was set on world domination. I am looking forward to the third Iron Man film if only to see more of the bickering between Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. which again was a highlight of this film however the latter's quick-talking was a bonus in this film and did provide some of the stand-out moments of the script. I would've liked to have seen more of Mark Ruffalo's Hulk as most of the plot surrounding him seemed to be waiting until he turned green and started smashing everything around him. I am aware that there have been two previous Hulk films but I would've like to have seen another one with the excellent Ruffalo in the lead role as his brief appearances as Bruce Banner were very well done. Renner and Johansson were also ill-served by their screen time which hinted at a past relationship between the two and I do hope that he at least does get his own prequel film to flesh out the character before a second Avengers film. There is a lot of wit in the script and when I have heard friends discuss the film it is the one-liners that they best remember which again I quite enjoyed and found myself laughing several times throughout. There was though a fair bit of exposition throughout with most of it being delivered by Jackson as he walked and talked with Robin from How I Met your Mother explaining various plot points to her. The final battle scene is about 45 minutes long but is extremely well-produced and visually stunning allowing each Avenger to demonstrate why they've been recruited in the first place however towards the end I did feel this battle had become slightly repetitive. It did take me a while to decide what I actually thought of Avengers Assemble however it was at the end of the day a Greatest Hits, or Greatest Smashes in the case of The Hulk, highlight reel where everybody got to do what they're known for which was both the best and worst thing about the film as it was entertaining but left little room for character development.

Verdict: A Greatest Hits Mixtape where everybody gets their chance to shine but characters don't really develop though overall it was fairly entertaining and kept my interest throughout so therefore I will award it a 7.5/10

Review No.77: Marley

Over to Jamaica for a bit now as we begin Kevin MacDonald's extensive biographical documentary of the life of reggae icon Bob Marley. The film tracks Marley's life from his poor upbringing in Jamaica's Trench Town to his show-stopping performance with The Wailers at Madison Square Garden before finally covering in detail his untimely death at the age of just 36. I obviously had a smattering of knowledge about Marley in so much as I knew quite a lot of his songs and about his Rastafarian beliefs but I wasn't aware of his background or upbringing so MacDonald's film did shed light on a lot of these topics of course MacDonald is quite adept at telling a story in the documentary format as was witnessed in his award winning Touching the Void and last year in the under-appreciated Life in a Day. I didn't know for example that Marley was mixed-race his father being an army captain being neither black nor white meant that he came in for some abuse at school but grew stronger from his experiences. While in Jamaica he also learnt to express himself through music and fell in love with Rita, who later became his backing singer, with them marrying before he went over to America. Eventually Bob Marley and The Wailers became a big deal especially after signing a deal with Island Records which meant they could tour around the world. At the same time we learnt of some of Bob's personal struggles such as his involvement in Jamaica's gang warfare as well as being rejected by his biological father but through both of these incidents he was able to create music to express himself. He was also able to use his music to unite the two opposing political forces in Jamaica hosting a peace treaty concert to get them to reconcile which bizarrely did the job. Finishing off the film was his tragic final months as cancer took over his body he moved to Germany to attempt to be healed by a ground-breaking doctor however it was too little, too late and Marley passed away in 1981.

After only a few moments watching Marley you can tell that this has been a labour of love for MacDonald who has obviously spent years editing together concert footage, personal pictures of Marley and vocal recordings of his interviews in addition to interviewing dozens of talking heads. Among those interviewed include his wife Rita, his children, his half-siblings, his band-mates, producers and head of Island Records Chris Blackwell who along with Ziggy Marley executive produced the film. Blackwell and Ziggy's involvement in the film meant that Bob's extensive back catalogue can be used to illustrate various points in his life and the music he wrote to reflect how he was feeling. The use of some of the songs to reflect personal moments in his life provide many poignant moments during the film with one of my highlights being when his step-siblings listen to the song 'Cornerstone' which was written after their father rejected Bob after he tracked him down for the first time. A lot of the critics have bought up the fact that MacDonald's love of Marley has meant that he doesn't dig deep enough into some of the less appealing characteristics of the man including his fathering of several illegitimate children as well as his tempremental nature which caused his relationship with Island Records to fragment. This is certainly hinted at through the fact that he denied he was married to Rita and also that Ziggy called his father 'a rough man' however the former is brushed under the carpet as Bob's affairs are explained by the fact that fidelity is 'a western ideal' with Rita acting as his guardian angel rather than his wife. These criticisms aside what can't be denied is that Marley is an excellently produced documentary which never feels overlong despite coming in at well over two hours. At times I had a smile on my face and other times I was close to tears but what really made me joyful was listening to his music with MacDonald's film definitely wanting to make me check out some more of Marley's back catalogue. The abiding message here though seemed to be that if Marley had gone for regular check-ups with his doctors after they discovered the cancer he may well still be with us so remember folks always see your GP on a regular basis!

Verdict: A labour of love that never feels overlong this wonderful documentary contains some great music however at times I felt it was a little one-sided therefore I will award it 8.5/10

Review No.76: Bel Ami

We return to France next as we resume our world tour however we also have to hop into the time machine as Bel Ami takes up to Paris of the 19th century. The film is yet another attempt for Robert Pattinson to make a name for himself outside of the Twilight franchise after the blah Remember Me and circus romance Water for Elephants the latter of which I rather enjoyed in despite of R-Patz. This time he plays Georges a young man who has returned from the war with nothing to his name but through his relationships with women climbs up the social ladder. Firstly he uses Philip Glenister's kindly newspaper man Charles by moving in with him then exploiting his wife Madeline, played by Uma Thurman, who essentially writes Georges' columns for him. Though this deception is soon spotted the editor notices how Georges collects inside information so appoints him head of gossip so he uses his sexual relationships with a lot of women, included those played by Kristen Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci, to get stories from them to fill up his column. When Charles dies from the typical 19th century illness, which involves large amounts of loud coughing followed by bed sweating followed by a funeral, Georges ends up marrying Madeline however they argue after he finds out that she herself had been conducting an affair despite him continuing to have it off with every woman who drops her dress for him. He eventually divorces Madeline after he discovers she is sleeping with James Lance using his divorce money to charm the daughter of his editor in order to get millions of francs to his name.

Before I start getting critical about Bel Ami I have to say that it is one of the best looking films I've seen this year and it is certainly aesthetically pleasing. Stefano Falivene's cinematography is gorgeously rich bringing out both the glamorous side and seedy underbelly of 19th century Paris which is brought to life by Atilla Kovacs' production design as well as Zsuzsanna Borvendeg's art direction. This is all accompanied by Rachel Portman and Lakshman Joseph De Saram's beautiful score which perfectly highlights each individual scene while Odille Dicks-Mireaux also excels with her design of the female characters' various gowns to the extent that it's a shame when they are ripped off by Pattinson. So onto our leading man who, in my opinion, looks like he needs a sleep and a haircut throughout the film despite him supposedly slipping into the upper echelon of Parisian society in Bel Ami's second act. I feel playing a villainous cad isn't in the range of the former vampire who for me was best as the lovelorn vet in Water for Elephants, and as he's constantly on screen there's no rest from his pantomime techniques in ensnaring the various women around him. Uma Thurman's Madeline is possibly the best character here who is almost able to outsmart Georges and who is the only one of his women who is given any type of character which is a shame for the other talented actresses in the cast especially Scott-Thomas who tries her best with the most underwritten part of the bunch. I feel it was Pattinson's casting that hurt Bel Ami most of all as it takes a special actor to make a villain the likeable protagonist of a film and sadly R-Patz is not that actor. Still everything is nice to look at and there's enough naked flesh on display to appease both of the sexes I just feel more could've been done with a more talented young actor at the film's centre but then I suppose it wouldn't have made as much money.

Verdict: All style and no substance with a very ordinary leading man tasked with creating a multi-layered central character the fact he fails means I can only give this one 6/10

Review No.75: Journey 2 The Mysterious Island

So it's time to pick up the world tour once again as we journey to Palau of all places or in fact do we journey 2 it? Yes the pacific island seemed to have been randomly picked as the start point for the family film Journey 2 The Mysterious Island which is a loose sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth as both starred Josh Hutcherson as Sean as well as both being based around Jules Verne novels. While the first film saw Sean team up with his uncle Brendan Fraser this time it is The Rock that fills in the alpha male lead as Sean's stepfather Hank as the pair go to find the mysterious island as well as Sean's long-lost grandfather Alexander played by Michael Caine. To get to the island from Palau the pair charter a dodgy looking helicopter driven by Luis Guzman's Latino chancer accompanied by his daughter Kailani who of course Sean's eyes are immediately drawn to especially seeing as she wears a low cut top for the majority of the film. When the quartet get to the island they find a place where large animals are small while small insects are large and once they've found Alexander they realise that the island is sinking with the only way to get off it is to find Captain Nemo's legendary submarine. Along the way life lessons are learnt as Sean learns to trust Hank and see him more as a paternal figure in his life while Kailani also struggles to make her father understand that she wants a life different from his. Obviously the end is crammed with people running quickly, CGI being sprinkled liberally and a third film in the franchise hinted to.

I feel that there are some films on this list that are just not made for me and Journey 2 The Mysterious Island is one of them however I can appreciate that it does hit their target market quite well. In fact to an extent it did remind me of some of the old school family films that I liked when I was younger and it does go out of its way to appeal to the whole family. There are the giant-bugs for the boys, the love story for the girls, The Rock flexing his pecs for the mums and there's even something for the dads in Vanessa Hudgens' ever expanding cleavage. Though Hutcherson impressed much more in The Hunger Games he is still good playing the average teen here while The Rock is a game leading man doing the aforementioned pecs flexing with aplomb while also later singing and playing the ukulele at the same time. However the film is stolen by Guzman and Caine both playing it for laughs and succeeding throughout with the former in particular impressing in a film whose genre he rarely appears in. Personally I found there was far too much CGI in a family film that didn't need it to survive while the love story looks like it has been tagged on by the producers at the last minute in order to appeal to the girls as well as the boys. As I said before this didn't really appeal to me but I think it's certainly interesting enough to appeal to a mainly young crowd and therefore it has done the job it has set out to do.

Verdict: A perfectly likeable family film with too much CGI and a weak romantic subplot gets a score from me of 6/10

Review No.74: Fury

So I seem to be the only person who hasn't seen The Avengers yet, but fear not dear readers I will endeavour to do so next week, however I do know that Samuel L Jackson plays the character of Nick Fury in the film which is odd as here he stars in a film called Fury however it has nothing to do with the comic book franchise. I would even go as far as to say that the film is trying to cash in on Jackson's character by changing the name for its UK release from The Samaritan to Fury. Anyway instead of playing a mysterious eye-patched dude, Jackson pays Foley a former conman who had been jailed after killing his former partner in crime. The partner's son Ethan tracks Foley down trying to convince him to participate in one last con however when he turns him down the once charming Ethan turns nasty sending a hooker named Iris to tempt it over to the dark side. However Foley ends up as Iris' protector and the two start a sexual relationship but Ethan ruins it with a revelation about her true identity which forces Foley back into his life of crime. The con they are about to pull is 'The Samaritan' in which a husband has to pay to save his junkie wife from the crime lord she owes money to, in this case Tom Wilkinson's bonkers wine obseswed Englishman, before stealing his money. Though Ethan has Foley on board things don't really go to plan especially when Iris throws a spanner in the works towards of the film.

Samuel L Jackson begins Fury by delivering an opening montage as he leaves prison making me believe that this was some sort of Shawshank Redemption tale with Jackson in the Morgan Freeman role, especially since former Shawshank resident Gil Bellows pops up here as a bartender, however it soon becomes a revenge thriller. The final third of the film then focuses in on the con so it becomes more like an Ocean's 11 noir with everybody wearing slick suits and talking about plotting the con to the final detail before another shift in tone linking back to the start of the film. For me I felt Jackson was phoning his performance in and there was nothing special about it to the extent where I almost felt like Sam was doing a favour for director David Weaver. Thankfully there are some decent supporting actors with the British actress Ruth Negga impressing as Iris while Wilkinson hams it up to a major degree in the scenes in which he features as Xavier. There's no denying that this was a solid film with a decent idea however Weaver's tonal shifts coupled with Jackson's sub-par performance meant that at the end of the day Fury felt completely unremarkable.

Verdict: A couple of decent performances in a film that doesn't outstay its welcome doesn't make it any more remarkable so I'm going to give it the same score as Transit with 5.5/10

Review No.73: Transit

Pausing our world tour briefly to concentrate on two films that feel like straight-to-DVD releases however had a few days at the cinema so count towards my project. The first likes to think of it as homage to B-Movies as well as films such as The Hitcher of Duel however it doesn't really live up to the brilliance of either of those. The film I'm talking about is Transit which stars James Caviezel as Nate the head of family who is taking his wife and two sons on a camping trip in order for them to reunite following his time in jail as part of a property fraud scandal. Unbeknownst to the family a group of robbers have stashed a load of stolen money in one of their sleeping bags and now are chasing them in order to get it back. The film then becomes a typical thriller road movie with the criminals getting closer at every turn however never quite getting the money back instances including getting into a drag race with Nate and trying to kidnap his wife Robyn. The whole thing comes to a head as the criminals begin to turn on each other with bloody consequences meanwhile Robyn believes that Nate is wrapped up in this robbery somehow so abandons him on the side of the road.

As I said previously Transit aspires to be one of the classic B-movies and with its dodgy camerawork coupled with it synth soundtrack it certainly has the feel of one but that's where it ends. One of the problems for me is that the criminals are too visible and vocal because part of what made The Hitcher work so well was Rutger Hauer's muted performance. This is especially true of their leader Marek played by James Purferoy as well as former Lost actor Harold Perrineau who plays quick-talking Losada. To be fair to Transit though there are some great set pieces including the latter stages of the film however the majority of the characters are very underdeveloped for example Nate's older son is presented as no more than a stereotypical stroppy teenager who swears a lot. Caviezel does a good job as the everyman while Purferoy is a decent enough villain but there wasn't enough in Transit to mark it out as any more than just another straight-to-DVD release with a few decent moments.

Verdict: An average film deserves an average score so 5.5/10 should do the trick.