Snitch - A Review

4 Stars - Solid

The Rock and Chalky White both in a film together? I am sold.

Snitch is a drug thriller about The Rock trying to get his son out of prison by helping the D.E.A. arrest some serious players. It is pretty darn good.

The story, inspired by true events, is emotionally charged and really pulls you into the drama, helped out a lot by one of The Rock's best performances to date and a strong supporting cast, featuring Michael K. Williams and Susan Sarandon.

Although I will say this of the writing, there are some very obvious influences of Breaking Bad and The Wire and at times it can almost feel distracting, because you're just getting into a scene, then someone says something straight out of one of these shows and you can't help but notice.

don't be fooled by the poster, this isn't The Rock does Taken

In short, a good solid film, well worth a watch

World War Z - A Review

3.5 Stars - Decent

why is it that whenever zombies attack buildings suddenly set on fire and none of the lights work?

World War Z is a relatively entertaining zombie film. The performances are okay, the zombies are somewhat intimidating while in motion and there's some genuinely tense moments. However it lacks some of the visceral gore and unsettling scares that make the best zombie films work.

The Zombies are good when they move fast and you don't get much of a look at them, but when they're moving slowly and you get close ups on their faces they just look kind of silly and all tension gets lost because you're laughing.

okay, so this might be Sean of the Dead...

In short, I'd say worth a watch, but maybe wait for TV

The Man of Steel - A Review

4 Stars - A Good Start

Faster than a locomotive, able to leap speeding bullets and more powerful than a single bound... or something like that...

Superman is back on the big screen after a good seven years away. This is an attempt to recreate Superman in the modern eye and make him accessible to today's film going audience, and for the most part I'd say it succeeds, though there are a few issues I have with it.

The film has a fairly sombre tone, which works quite well, but sometimes goes a little too far. I'd prefer something a bit more fun from a Superman film. Still the story is decent enough, Superman is given a lot of dignity, the villain is great and the action is, mostly, very good though sometimes it feels like you're just watching CGI.

I Will Chew Scenery!

In short, worth a watch, and worth a sequel, let's see this improve.

After Earth - A Review

1 Star - Really Bad

This isn't so much a film as a vanity project by Will Smith to try and get people to think his son can act... he can't...

This film is incredibly dull, the action isn't exciting the story is boring and predictable, there's a whole bunch of plotholes and Jaden Smith is, as ever, really unlikable.

Also this film says that fear isn't real and you can just stop having fear, which is nonsense. It also mentions Moby Dick a lot, but that, as far as I'm aware, is about obsession and madness, not overcoming fear...

Also Will Smith spends about 80% of this film sitting down speaking without emotion, that is not how you use Will Smith. Will Smith should be up and about filling the screen with his unique energy.

Story by Will Smith: Again, not so much story as way to make his son famous...

In short, don't go see it, it sucks.

The Great Gatsby - A Review

1 Star - Dreadful

I was never going to like this, so my opinion is probably not one to listen to all that much.

The film is dull, not very well written and not all that well performed. For starters Tobey Maguire is the main character and he was seriously bland and not very good, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan can do a lot better than this.

Baz Luhrman is a bad director, he focuses on style more than substance and the style doesn't work. The visuals aren't very interesting and the modern music in the twenties setting is just massively out of place.

The biggest word that hits me here is inauthentic. It just feels so inauthentic.

You could have been watching Inception or Blood Diamond instead...

In short, don't see it. Just don't.

Epic - A Review

2 Stars - Dull

So yeah, basically, insert your own Ferngully: The Last Rainforest joke here...

Epic is the most recent film from Blue Sky Studios, and... it isn't very good.

The characters aren't very deep or interesting, much as you could tell they were trying to be and the plot just isn't very interesting, it's predictable and feels like stuff I've already seen a whole bunch of times in other films which have handled it better.

The only point in favour of Epic is that the visuals are gorgeous, with some really detailed and textured environments, the downside to this is that there's rarely any time to appreciate them, there's always something loud or obnoxious happening in the foreground and there's virtually no breathing room to just see how nice the world they've created looks.

I feel like in the 90s this would have been a live action film with Rick Moranis...

In short, not really worth your time, give it a miss.

Star Trek: Into Darkness - A Review

5 Stars - Awesome

These are the ongoing adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise, they are awesome.

I'll start out by saying I'm not a Trekkie, only classic Trek I've seen is the wrath of Khan and I wasn't even paying full attention. But I loved J.J. Abrams first Trek film so was pumped for this one and it does not disappoint.

The action is exciting, the characters are wonderful and go through some real arcs, facing significant emotions and changing a bit as a result, the story is strong and clever and well, there is one significant element that is going to majorly divide the Trekkies, can't say what without going into spoilers, but I was able to overlook it and seriously enjoy the film.

If I had one criticism, it would be turn down the lens flare... it might even be worse than the last time... but that's a minor complaint.

Cumberbatch just owns this film

In short, go see this, right now if you can.