The Purge Review

http://www.scifinow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/purge-poster.jpg

This film certainly had my heart going on quite a few occasions. Like all films, it had it's positives and it's negatives which  I will discuss within this review. 'The Purge' pulled out all the stops to create a jumpy and truly scary film, by the makers of 'Sinister' and 'Paranormal Activity'.

The narrative is quite clever yet basic. In the year 2022, citizens of America are given the rights to 'Purge'. This means that for 12 hours on one night of the year, all crime of any form is legalized - The state's way of keeping crime below 1% throughout the rest of the year.

The concept is interesting but as the narrative plays out, I found that it was too easy to guess what was to come. I believe this story could have been adapted somewhat better instead of being enclosed to one environment as it didn't really give the film the momentum boost it needed.

I felt the character choices were very good and mysterious at times as at one point I thought that the young boy was going to be the ruthless perpetrator. Though the homeless man was predictable from the get go, which spoiled it slightly. The fact that he was out of shot for most of the film, made the ending more exciting!

Talking of the ending sequence, it was rushed. 85 or so minutes were spent wondering around a dark house, waiting for someone to pop up and get killed - nothing really changed. They could have spiced up the killings or set some traps in the house to make it slightly more exciting! Back to the ending, it finished too quick for me, one minute people are dying and the next it is 7 o'clock the next morning (when 'Purging' ends) and the film has ended.

All in all, this film had a really great narrative but I personally don't think it achieved the greatness that could have been achieved with such a well thought out concept. Saying that, I enjoyed it as it kept me on the edge of my chair every time a corner was turned. One thing I do think is that like 'Paranormal Activity', there will be more films to follow the path of 'Purging', let's just hope it doesn't loose the spark like PA did after several films.

I would recommend people go and see this film but expect that 'The Purge' doesn't meet it's full potential.

To keep you up to date, please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter

Star Trek: Into Darkness Review

http://collider.com/star-trek-into-darkness-banner/

What a way to continue such an exhilarating franchise. With the initial war between Kirk and Spock over they now find themselves on a new voyage as they prepare to reboot their career on board the USS Enterprise. This is the latest installment on what is going to be a long but exciting series as J.J.Abrams reignites the worldly renowned franchise. With this comes a lot of glitzy visual effects with many lens flares that all add to the excellent performances from Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Spock).

The film starts by re-introducing where they left off from the first film in 2009 with Kirk  and the crew carrying out missions to help ave the world from a giant eruption. Doing so, he puts Spock at risk which results in having to do a rescue mission. This first scene shows the bromance between the pair growing as he risks the ship being seen in order to save Spock from dying in the eruption. This later leads Kirk into trouble once Spock files a report against him which causes a rift between the pair and they end up being kicked off the USS Enterprise. This one incident creates tension between the two which colors the entire relationship as they prepare to take on a mysterious enemy in John Harrison played by Benedict Cumberbatch. John Harrison is intent on creating a catastrophic war and doing so causes a massive explosion in London killing thousands of people, but who is this guy?

Cumberbatch gives the job in hand everything he has in order to portray a charcter who comes across as very deceiving and very clever. There is a lot of charismatic staring even when he is having ten bells knocked out of him which leads to thinking whether this man can be destroyed and how that is possible. As always, a bromance comes together, with Spock's character evolving rapidly to come to Kirks aide, John Harrison is trying to come between the pair in which neither take a liking to and do something about it.

As the story continues, there is some links starting to appear between the original series and the present and upcoming series which will answer some questions that were asked when the first series was released which to me was genius. This is why J.J. Abrams is such an acclaimed director, with little room to maneuver in terms of events that have got to take place within the film, he has done an excellent job in telling the story. All the characters have started to become the powerhouse characters they are in the originals and are starting to come of age. The whole crew is becoming the unit we are used to see in the old series which is where the franchise has got to be at ready for the blockbuster series that could run for longer than we first imagined. 

With terrific performances from Zachery Quinto as Spock, who comes across as vulnerable, emotionally constricted and sensitive, all the traits of a typical Spock. Then there is Chris Pine as Kirk, he plays him perfectly with his cheekiness and strong willed character who when needed to, pulls out all the stops to complete the mission at end. This franchise is really starting to kick off again to a whole new range of Trekkie and it can only get stronger with the creativity and technology that is picking up pace at an alarming rate.

I urge all who haven't, go and watch it, it has everything from story to Visual effects that will blow you away.

Finally,

'Live Long and Prosper'

To keep you up to date, please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter

Scary Movie 5 Review

http://0.tqn.com/d/movies/1/0/N/e/Z/scary-movie5-film-poster.jpg

Without a word of a lie, Scary Movie 5 really isn’t the same film that propelled the franchise in the 1990’s, since the third was released they are just going from bad to worse. This may be because of the lack of horror films to create a spoof from that aren’t being created whereas in the 1990’s there were much more to talk about.

This movie is on par with the worst spoofs and witty comments that were created on Movie 43. The film opens with a couple of drug-stars, sorry just druggies,  in Charlie Sheen and Lindsey Lohan who are basically mocking themselves. Charlie Sheen and Linsey lohan are acting out a sex scene but are instead addressing their very own mental health problems. It looks like somebody needed money…

At times in this film, I found myself being forced to laugh just to add a bit of excitement in the movie. Once the terrible duo finishes at the beginning, it then follows the same path as the Mama storyline. Mama itself has a really good story line, they just didn't pull it off as good as they possibly could have. You would think after three of these the filmmakers would finally realize this is going the wrong way and people aren’t finding this remotely funny anymore. You could almost imagine them sitting in a room discussing how to create a really bad film and still produce big bucks at the cinema.

The film runs for about an hour and twenty minutes but don’t be fooled, this is the longest hour and twenty minutes in your life hoping that the film will end to be hit by another so called ‘gag’ that had my eyes rolling in embarrassment.

Overall, I don’t recommend spending your hard earned pennies on this terrible film, it just seems that the more that come out, the older the jokes become due to the repetition that seems to be occurring but with different films. The outtakes at the end of the film were possibly the funnier parts of the film but as  sat through them even that didn’t tempt a smirk on my face, it just made me realize just how bad the actors/actresses in it were, what an embarrassment. Lets hope for their sake, they have several films already lined up which will to the audience's mind of this shambolic performance.

To keep you up to date, please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter

Mama Review

http://bloody-disgusting.com/film/113269/mama-2/

 Mama  is a feature-Length expansion of a short created in 2008 which Andy Mushietti created alongside his sister. The plot follows two young girls and their devilish upbringing after a series of events that occurred through their early adolescents. 

Before arriving at the cinema, my expectations were that this film was going to be scary, it’s going to make the audience jump and scream. As I arrived to a packed out screen there were rows upon rows of scared faces, I would say around 75% came out wondering why they went in with such fear. This film in my opinion could have been a lot of scarier in many different ways. 

Before I go into that, the casting I have to say was great. The 1 -year –old Lily and 3-year-old Victoria played their roles excellently but the stand out performance was that of the 6-year-old Lily (Isabelle Nélisse) and 8-year-old Victoria (Megan Charpentier).  

The prologue shows the audience, we learn of a shooting that takes place and then a hurried man by the name of Lucas comes rushing into a bedroom to collect his little girls, clearly showing signs of tension and fear; he grabs them and drives off.  Further along on his journey to nowhere, the roads become increasingly slippy and the car goes over and crashes. After that it shows the three arriving at an abandoned house deep in the woods, we then see Lucas attempt to kill his daughters before taking his own life.

That, however, did not go as planned.

Five-years later and the girls still haven’t been seen or heard from. All hope is lost apart from their uncle Jeffrey who is still hot on the case and has investigators scouring the forests nearby. Obviously, these guys were bound to come across an abandoned shack soon after discovering a car that had crashed down a hill. Sure enough as they ventured inside they came across some animal like people, these were the bodies of the two girls; each covered in mud and running round like wild animals.

The Girls were then kept for observations in a mental institute and one that is quite noticeable is Victoria keeps making references to an unseen Mama. Little did Jeffrey and wife Annabel (Jessica Chastain) know that this was only the start of what was to be a chilling encounter with the unknown.

One of the major let downs for me was the computer imagery with ‘Mama’. She looked very unrealistic and for a horror I believe the more realistic the more scarier the film will be.Saying this, however, the two girls at the beginning when they are found in the house in their animalistic state is very well animated. If this followed throughout, I believe the film would have been much more telling. For long durations of the movie, we don’t actually see mama and seeing what she looked like and how poorly I believe she was generated, they should have kept it that way.

There were positives I picked up on. Firstly, the dream sequences that involve some sort of Japanese feel to them which emphasizes on the horror factor. The comedic level is raised slightly and it was funny, possibly more funny than horror in some cases. A particular shot was when Lily is giggling off-screen in one third and in the far third, Annabel is going about household chores oblivious to the fact Lily is flying all over the room.

This is a pleasing film, but not one for people expecting a proper horror. There will be times in which the film will give you a fright and then times where it will just make you question how bad it was.

I would recommend seeing this film if you're one of horrors but don’t expect too much. The idea and concept behind it are there an it does have a great story to it, the graphics just let it down considerably. 

  To keep you up to date, please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter

A Good Day to Die Hard Review

John McClane (Bruce Willis) goes to Moscow when his son is arrested for murder, only to discover that Jack (Jai Courtney) is a CIA agent on an undercover mission to track down a file held by infamous nuclear weapons specialist; Komarov. The McClanes go on the run through Russia, pursued by countless enemies and weirdly find themselves in the heart of one of the worst environmental disasters in recent history, Chernobyl. 

First of all this film is rated a 12A in the UK, meaning that people younger than the age of 12 can see this film. Now when you take into consideration the first one was an 18, I could see this film being extremely weak.

http://live.hollywoodjesus.com/?p=11334

If I’m honest I was shocked they were making a new Die Hard, I always thought the first and second were as good as it was going to get in terms of the franchise. The trailers didn't do anything to persuade my opinion otherwise, but one thing that did catch my eye, like with the other Die Hard film was the action.

The film starts off with us finding out why John McClane's son Jack, is imprisoned, with him shooting what seemed to be a Russian gangster; A typical start to a die hard film. The film then takes a very calm turn so to speak with John McClane being asked to rescue his son who he hasn't seen for 2-3 years, obviously taking up the task without an ounce of hesitation. 

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/02/13/a-good-day-to-die-hard-yippee-ki-yay-mother-russia/

The film then leads to the Russian capital of Moscow, where the typical Die Hard cheesy scenes, lines and old Cold War jokes begin. It all starts with a Russian Cabby singing Frank Sinatra, this was the worst part of the film. The Russian extra couldn't remotely act, he couldn't even hold an acted conversation. Eventually the pain of that scene was over, as John McClane goes over to see the riots happening outside of Moscow's court house, only to see his son and Kamarov. The notorious nuclear manufacturer being led in there by chains, the scene is really quite good with hordes of Russian demonstrating extreme passion, waving flags and the colour seems to be drained completely from the scene. From there on it is jammed packed with action, that's the positives I took from it anyway. 

Kamarov eventually leads them to a penthouse high in the Moscow skyline where Villain Alik is waiting, he is the guy who is hired to kill both of them and receive a file on Alik's boss. The story focuses very heavily on the relationship that John and Jack have and how it becomes stronger as the story progresses. However, you may think that this reads for an interesting story, you're wrong. Where other Die Hards succeeded, excluding Die Hard 4, with great combinations of story and action, this is however completely different as there is a extreme lack of dialogue with the occasional smug  line from the ever present Bruce Willis. 

The Nuclear war munger leads the film to the savaged land that is Chernobyl, yes Chernobyl, as if it hadn’t been used enough already. This is where yet another helicopter attacks the two ‘heroes’, as it swoops past a window shooting an huge array of bullets that are to most, un-dodgeable. As they exit a building the only way they know, free-falling in lets say, spectacular slow motion. 

So to conclude I genuinely thought that this film was woeful the smug and cheeky comments got extremely tiring, the lack of meaningful dialogue was extremely annoying and the fact it had no real story meant it was quite hard to follow, all be it the action and CGI were rather good a silver lining in this forgettable film for Bruce Willis.  

To keep you up to date, please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter

Wreck It Ralph Review

Wreck It Ralph is certainly playing at the highest level in today's animations. The film reaches out to such a big audience, ranging from young kids right the way to adults; who used to play games such as Sonic, Tapper and of course Fix it Felix.

Wreck It Ralph is a beautifully created feature film with such precise and immaculate rendering. Everything runs so smoothly, allowing the animation to come to life.

The film starts with Ralph (John C Reilly), as he describes his personal frustration at his insignificant role compared to the other characters in his game. That day, Fix It Felix celebrates its 30^th anniversary which Ralph is uninvolved in, increasing his anger. Ralph therefore makes a decision that will shock the whole arcade, he decides to go ‘Turbo’. A phrase used by the gaming world; meaning to skip games. In order to win a medal, Ralph ventures into a different game known as Hero's Duty.

Of course, one of the worst things Ralph could do; entering a first person shooter game means the likelihood of him dying is high. If killed in another game, the character isn't able to respawn and they die altogether. Knowing this, he still ventured into the unknown in search of freedom. He spots the medal and breaks the game by skipping the majority of the level and skips to the end to receive his medal. Doing this, he unleashes havoc by stepping on a robotic bug, releasing a swarm of bugs.

Once Ralph receives his medal, he must again escape from the game and head towards another game: ‘Sugar Rush’; a racing game made up of young girls who compete for the number one racing title. The environment is colorful and playful which contrasts significantly with Hero's Duty which is mainly dull. However, things aren’t that colorful when it comes down to the game. During the arcade closing hours, the girls argue and get nasty towards outcast, ‘Vanellope Von Schweetz’ (Sarah Silverman). Vanellope is a glitch in the game and because of this, she is stuck in the game with the rest of the girls who bully her for being a glitch, which supposedly annoys the game player.

The story unfolds and Ralph and Vanellope develop a bond like no other, as he learns more about the way she is being treated, he tries to put a stop to it. Meanwhile, Felix desperately tries to find Ralph to stop Fix It Felix being towed away. Felix follows Ralph's trail through Hero's Duty where he meets Calhoun (Jane Lynch), the pair continue to follow Ralph into Sugar Rush.

The creators of Wreck It Ralph have used many clever tricks, one which I particularly loved was their way of traveling from games; they go through the electrical wires and the plug adapters are used as a game central where everybody meets during arcade closing hours. The film is a tremendous animation with an incredible team behind it. One of the most remarkable features is the way everything is made to look so realistic; the way the characters interacted was fantastic. To top it off, the narrative is on par with some of the best animations ever shown on the big screen.

Wreck It Ralph has set the bar very high for future 2013 animations. This is truly a gaming experience that you do not want to miss. I expect a sequel is to follow but how they can better this brilliant film is beyond me. Then again, it is Pixar; they continue to amaze everyone.