There are these superheroes who go around and save the world against terrible horrors – like giant alien worms and the like. And behind them, they leave destroyed cities, dead civilians and people are not happy about it. So, the world wants to set a restriction on them – make them responsible to a panel. Some of the heroes, notably Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) are for this – he is feeling particularly guilty from the last film. Others, like Captain America (Chris Evans) are against this, concerned that they would become puppets for bad guys. And then there are problems, and they all fight, and it gets exciting.
I love it. They’ve thrown in some new guys, like Spiderman (Tom Holland), and brought back loads of the originals. Notably, the Hulk is missing, and I want him back, but I’ll still enjoy all the fun and ridiculous stuff that this film gives me. And I’ll watch more in the future!
David Norris (Matt Damon) is a young and successful politician who has the potential to rise all the way to the top – if he can avoid the fallout from a few scandals of his youth. After one, which has cost him an election, he meets Elise Seilas (Emma Blunt) in the toilets and they have an instant connection – and even a quick toilet snog. But then he is gone, and she is gone, but he can’t stop thinking about her. Turns out, there are a group of white men wearing hats who control the world. Oh, no, one single man from the Bureau is black – that’s Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie), and he is not so good at his job, because he likes the David Norris and wants him to get his girl, so breaks a few rules.
I do like this film, but I can’t get past the race or gender thing in it. I know what you’re thinking – blah blah blah, gender yet again, why can you not get over the fact that, even though we make up pretty much half of the world, we women should not get equal screen representation because who cares what women think, and hey, let’s not even consider women who are not white – but I’m sorry, reader, I can’t get over it. Sometimes, I am prepared to let a film be a story about men – sometimes, stories are set in a world which is filled with men and women aren’t there. But in this film, it’s a fictional world. There is absolutely no reason that at least some of the hat wearers could have been women. Some of the political folk around David Norris could have been women. His key advisor could have been a woman, any of the main people chasing him could have been women, there were so many chances to create a world that actually reflects our world. So, why is the only woman in the film the love interest? (Though, she was a character that I liked, sort of a non-Manic Pixie Dream Girl, even if she was a dancer with a sense of humour). And then, the race thing -ah, don’t get me started. Everything I just said about women could be said about non-white faces… although I suppose it is true, white men in suits rule the world.
So there’s a guy who’s developed some way cool technology only, realising it is dangerous, locks it away to keep everyone safe. Only there’s another guy, a bad guy, who wants to get his hands on it/develop it himself. Then there’s usually another guy who accidentally gets involved, and then there’s the daughter, usually the daughter of the first guy, who is smart and ace and beautiful and obviously will be the love interest regardless of how little chemistry there is between her and the accidental hero. Of course, she’s overlooked because she’s a girl, she couldn’t possibly be any good, then she proves herself a little bit and finally gains some trust of at least one of the hundreds of men in the film. Of course, she still doesn’t get any kudos and most people will be talking about her hair or clothes anyhow (if she gets a mention).
Look, it’s fine. It’s a pretty average plot, a pretty average origin story for one of the most ridiculous sounding superheroes. And I like the cast, and the script did what it needed to and the special effects were pretty ace. There was a good amount of comedy, but really, is this the film that has tipped me over the edge of superhero films? I’ve enjoyed them for a long time, though I feel I have a real hate/love relationship forming with Batman v Superman (that’s surely got to be totally shithouse).
Captain America, aka Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) has been through a couple of adventures, first in his origin story in Captain America: The Original Avenger, and The Avengers. Now, he is called on again to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) as evil organization Hydra again attempts to rise up and take over the world. He’s helped by the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and a soldier dude, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) who gets to fly around with some fancy new military technology that gives him wings.
This film was timed to be released partway through the television series of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , and I think that was an interesting concept. The film was mostly stand alone, but the television series suffered a bit. Still, this film had a whole heap of explosions, and added to the cast already mentioned were Robert Redford, Chin Han, Jenny Agutter, Gary Shandling and Australia’s own Alan Dale. The one thing I was left asking was, if the world is really about to end, why hasn’t someone given Iron Man and the rest of the crew the heads up? They’d be pretty useful, I reckon.
Based on a true story, this follows bodybuilder Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) and his two sidekicks, Paul Doyle (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) and Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) as he attempts to become rich of the back of his extremely unpleasant personal training client Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub).
I wonder how much of the story has been changed to make this film. The violence is quite unpleasant, but as long as you can get through that, it’s extremely funny. The characters are insane, extremely unbelievable and over-the-top, but fabulous. And then Rebel Wilson turns up, and she’s just doing so darn well. And Ed Harris. And Ken Jeong. It’s a pretty darned funny film.
Bloody hell. This film is a dramatic torment from beginning to end. Following Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) as they deal with a new and seemingly reckless Sergeant First Class William James (Jeremy Renner). The three work in bomb disposal in Iraq, specialising in IEDs, and every event they go to is a tense situation with the potential to kill them.
The film is just so incredibly intense and wonderful. I’m not sure if it is an accurate representation of war, but it seems like it probably is. And it is awful and hot and dirty and repulsive. And wonderful.
The Hurt Locker won Oscars for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing (Kathryn Bigelow), Best Writing, Original Screenplay (Mark Boal), Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, Best Achievement in Sound Editing and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jeremy Renner), Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Music Written for the Motion Pictures, Original Score.
I think we all know who Abraham Lincoln is, yes? One of the most famous presidents of the United States of America? Well, did you know that he was also a vampire hunter? This historically accurate drama shows how Lincoln came across the existence of vampires but was taught to kill them using a variety of techniques. But as his life continues, he discovers that his life can be more valuable in politics and the pursuit of freedom of slaves.
Ok, clearly not a historical document. But whoever came up with the hilarious idea of combining one of the great historical figures with vampires is a genius in my mind. This could have been a schlock horror disaster like Sharknado but someone actually bothered to write a script – and something fairly decent. Plus there is an awesome scene with an old-school train and a whole heap of fire – on par, I’d say, with the cool old train sequence from Back to the Future 3.
If the sight of this title makes you angry, don’t watch it. It’s exactly what it says on the box. And good.
It’s post World War 2 in Los Angeles. Gangsters are rising across the country. LA is being taken over by Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). The police are corrupt, and their hands are tied by legal restraints while Cohen takes over every racket possible. The chief of police Chief Parker (Nick Nolte) decides he needs to go to great lengths to beat Cohen, and commissions Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) to pull together a squad of police who will work beneath the radar to destroy Cohen’s business interests, therefore ensuring not only his demise, but reducing chances of another gangster coming in to take Cohen’s place. The Gangster Squad they set about cleaning up the city.
There is some clichéd predictability (most notably the fact that Sgt Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) starts as a corrupt playboy who only joins the squad after an innocent shoeshine is killed in front of him and he wants to right this wrong), but generally, it’s a good concept. I have to admit, though, it just didn’t grab me. There was not a lot of emotional connection to the characters, so I didn’t care who lived or died. The tension wasn’t all that great either, and when there was tension, it was resolved quickly and easily. It’s a fun film and worth a watch, but I felt that it really could have been much more.
There’s a young guy, Dan (Ryan Gosling), who is a teacher working in an inner-city school with thirteen-year-olds by day, but by night he parties. Drinking lots, drugs, ladies; the whole lot. Somehow, he is just scraping through the days, hung-over and dishevelled. One day he has a visit from his ex-girlfriend and his life spirals rapidly. Then there’s Drey (Shareeka Epps), one of Dan’s students, who lives with her mum who does shift work. Her brother is in prison for dealing drugs and her father regularly forgets to pick her up from school and is not seen throughout the film. Drey’s brother’s best mate starts to befriend her, but she is suspicious of his motivations. When Drey stumbles across the double life that Dan is living, they start to rely on each other.
This another clear example of a sadtacular film. It’s fabulous but awful all at the same time. Every step that Dan takes is wrong; from avoiding the set school curriculum to teach his own brand of modern American history(particularly in relation to civil rights), to taking drugs in school and giving young students a lift home. It was annoying – I felt like yelling at the screen – but because the character is so well depicted by Ryan Gosling, it felt totally within character. But the ending was totally annoying – one particularly bad decision led to both Drey and Dan making the decision to turn their lives around. But it just didn’t feel real. The changed of attitude seemed forced, and then end was unsatisfying. Like Precious, which I watched around the same time, the film ended before the story ended. Having a shave and sitting on the couch was clearly supposed to represent the new life, but again, all I could see was a hopeless future of further struggle and failure.
Half Nelson was nominated for an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Ryan Gosling)
ireckonthat 