The Matrix

The Matrix is a 1999 American–Australian science fiction action film written and directed by The Wachowski Brothers (Bound), starring Keanu Reeves (Constantine), Laurence Fishburne (CSI), Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving (V For Vendetta), and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called “the Matrix”, created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies’ heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer “Neo” learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the “dream world”.

The acting throughout the film is great with no major errors or unconvincing lines at all, it draws you in and keeps you hooked from start to finish.  However, the acting isn’t the star of the show, with the story and the special effects taking centre stage.  The story is really deep and causes you to question literally everything about life and the world and there is a real possibility that it could be true!  The special effects are also mind blowing, with the Wachowski brothers making use of and pioneering the effect “Bullet Time”  This effect is used constantly and to brilliant effect.  Frequently you will see people being battered in slow motion with some kick ass kung fu or people dodging bullets as you see them fly past their heads.  Oh, and there’s also people running along walls too.  To be honest, I’m really not doing the film justice, so I’ll just say this.  You absolutely need to see this film. 10/10 

The Usual Suspects

The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American crime-thriller film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie. It stars Stephen Baldwin (CSI), Gabriel Byrne (End of Days), Benicio del Toro (Snatch, Sin City), Chazz Palminteri (Modern Family), Kevin Pollak (A Few Good Men), Pete Postlethwaite, and Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, House of Cards)

The film follows the interrogation of Roger “Verbal” Kint (Spacey), a small-time con man who is one of only two survivors of a massacre and fire on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. He tells an interrogator a convoluted story about events that led him and four other criminals to the boat, and of a mysterious mob boss known as Keyser Söze who commissioned their work. Using flashback and narration, Kint’s story becomes increasingly complex.  Sounds confusing, but trust me, it’s epic.  Unfortunately, that’s all I can really say about the film’s story without spoiling anything.  The acting in the film is fantastic, particularly from Spacey, Byrne, Del Toro (my favourite character behind Spacey) and Palminteri, it kept me hooked until the very last second.

I hadn’t seen this film up until a few weeks ago, but it’s now one of my favourites, everything about it is fantastic, it’s unique, original and the story and acting are superb 10/10

300: Rise of an Empire

300: Rise of an Empire is a 2014 American fantasy war film directed by Noam Murro. It is a follow-up to the 2007 film 300, taking place before, during, and after the events of that film with a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Salamis.  The main actors in the film are Eva Green (Casino Royale), Lena Headey (Underworld) and Sullivan Stapleton (Strikeback series, Gangster Squad)

I went into this film expecting a lot, the original 300 in my opinion was great.  It was something different, a memorable film filled with gory action, but still enough of a story to make it worth watching.  Unfortunately, the sequel isn’t as great as the original.  Although it’s filmed in exactly the same way (which I love), the acting is brilliant and it has more gore and battle scenes than you can shake a bloody stick at, it just isn’t as good.  There’s something missing.  It’s like fish without chips.  About halfway through the film I realised what it was, the story.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s ok, but nothing compares to the story of Leonidas and his 300 spartans.  The story is also quite muddled, flashing back and forth between past and present, which is a little annoying.

To sum up, the acting is brilliant, the way the movie was filmed is brilliant, the battle scenes and bloody action are brilliant, but the story?  Meh.  It’s worth seeing (especially if you have seen or are a big fan of the original), but take it for what it is, 2 hours of epic battle action, gore and good acting. 7.5/10

Saw

Saw is a 2004 American independent horror film directed by James Wan. The screenplay, written by Leigh Whannell, is based on a story by Wan and Whannell. The film stars Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter,Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, Tobin Bell, and Whannell.

The film’s story revolves around Adam (Whannell) and Lawrence (Elwes), two men who are chained in a dilapidated subterranean bathroom and are each given instructions via a microcassette recorder explaining how to escape.   However, they are not alone as there is a dead man in the middle of the floor, with a gun in one hand and a tape in the other, showing he couldn’t escape.  As a result, most of his brain matter and blood is everywhere but inside of him.  Adam is told he must escape the bathroom, while Lawrence is told to kill Adam before a certain time, or Lawrence’s family will die and he will be left there to die. Meanwhile, police detectives investigate and attempt to find the victims’ location and apprehend the mastermind behind this “game” and several other similar incidents.

The film was shot on a shoestring budget, with only $700,000 dollars of the $1.2m budget being used to actually shoot the film.  Despite this, the film is shot very well, to the point where you wouldn’t actually realise how low budget it is.  The acting from all those in the film is fantastic, give or take one or two moments and will keep you on your seat until the credits roll.  Unfortunately, I can’t say any more about the film without spoiling it, so I’ll just say this.  Saw is one of my favourite films of all time and is NOTHING like the sequels which gave the series its undeserved and negative reputation.  Please, just see it. 10/10

Need For Speed

Need For Speed is a 2014 action film directed by Scott Waugh and starring Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Dominic Cooper (Captain America, The Devil’s Double) and Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later)

The film follows Tobey Marshall (Paul), who was a former race car driver who owns a tuning garage in New York.  He and his friends tune cars and sell them on, however, they also have to participate in illegal street races to make ends meet with rent.  Following an argument with a former, bitter rival (Cooper), Tobey agrees to a race, in this race, one of Tobey’s very close friends is killed by Cooper, who flees the scene.  Due to this, Paul is sentenced to 2 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.  Tobey is now hellbent on revenge and the story picks up from there.

The acting in the film is good throughout, especially from Paul, who’s experience and dedication to the role really shines through, especially when the film gets emotional, he also works very well with Poots, who’s acting is also great.  Cooper is also brilliant at playing the villain everyone loves to hate, pulling the role off very well.  The stunts and racing are the main highlight of the film though, and they are brilliant, with explosions, crashes, high speed chases and drifting happening left, right and centre.  The film also throws in clever references to all of the games too, which is a nice touch, especially since I noticed all of them.

I would recommend that if you are a fan of the games, racing films, or even want to see how Aaron Paul is outside of Breaking Bad, then give it a watch. 8/10

Fight Club

Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher (Se7en) and stars Edward Norton (American History X), Brad Pitt (Se7en), and Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd). Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an “everyman” and an insomniac who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a “fight club” with soap maker Tyler Durden, played by Pitt, and they are joined by men who also want to fight recreationally. The narrator becomes embroiled in a relationship with Durden and a dissolute woman, Marla Singer, played by Bonham Carter.

I constantly heard people talking about this film and thought that it would be completely overrated, however, I couldn’t of been more wrong.  I went into this film completely blind and knew nothing about it, I thought it was literally just going to be people fighting for two hours, but it’s so much deeper than that.  Unfortunately, because it’s a very plot driven film, I’m giving nothing away.  The acting from everyone who starred in the film was fantastic, particularly Brad Pitt’s performance, which in my opinion is the best he has acted in any role ever.  The soundtrack, which was produced by The Dust Brothers is also brilliant and filled with variety.  Clearly, I’m not doing this film any kind of justice.  So I’ll leave you with this, 10/10, my favourite film of all time.  Buy it, borrow it or even steal it, just see this film.

Last Vegas

Last Vegas is a 2013 American comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub, starring Michael Douglas as Billy (Falling Down), Robert De Niro  as Paddy (Goodfellas), Morgan Freeman as Archie (The Shawshank Redemption), and Kevin Kline as Sam (A Fish Called Wanda).  The four have been best friends for life and end up taking a trip to Las Vegas so Kline can marry a woman more than half his age.  The acting is good throughout with just enough humour in every scene to make you laugh constantly, especially when watching the four guys who are now nearly all in their 70’s adapt to modern society.  The only problem that I had with the film was that the plot was far to predictable, it could have also done with more jokes.  Overall a light hearted and genuinely funny film, 7.5 out of 10

Paranormal Activity 5: The Marked Ones

Being a fan of the Paranormal activity series, I was really looking forward to seeing the latest entry in the series.  It was well documented that The Marked Ones was supposed to “take the series in a new direction” and “reinvigorate” a series that was starting to become rather tiresome.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t.  Right from the opening 5 minutes, I could tell that PA5 was going to be a crushing disappointment.  The acting throughout was plain awful, sometimes you could actually notice the long pauses between the lines of the actors.  Often the pace in speech would jump from very slow to super fast without any reason, this and a combination of awful special effects make the film a comedy rather than a terrifying horror like the original.  The main problem with PA5 is that it just isn’t scary, the jump scares are the most predictable ones yet and the uneasy atmosphere of the original four, especially the first one just isn’t there.  I spent the whole 90 minute running time mostly bored and in stitches laughing at its attempt at horror and good acting.  As much as I love the Paranormal Activity series, I would recommend that you avoid this film at all costs. 2/10  

Thor: II

Thor II is a 2013 American superhero film directed by Alan Taylor and starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor, The Avengers, Rush), Natalie Portman (V For Vendetta, Star Wars), Kat Dennings (2 Broke Girls, Thor) and Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon)  The story revolves around the father of Odin, clashes with the Dark Elf Malekith, who seeks to destroy the universe using a weapon known as the Aether. After conquering Malekith’s forces, including enhanced warriors called the Kursed, on their home world of Svartalfheim, Bor safeguards the Aether within a stone column. Unbeknownst to Bor, Malekith, his lieutenant Algrim, and a handful of Dark Elves escape into suspended animation.  Yeah it’s complicated.  There’s also a love story between Hemsworth and Portman which crops up every so often too.  The acting is solid throughout and it’s always action packed, but as I don’t really follow Thor’s backstory, but the story was decent, but it was pretty confusing.  Overall score 7/10, I thought it was ok, but it went on for far too long, however, if you’re a fan of the superhero then it’s probably a must see.

Captain Phillips

Captain Phillips is a 2013 drama film starring Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, Toy Story) as a Captain on a commercial cargo ship which is hijacked by Somalian pirates whilst he and his crew are sailing to Mombasa.  The film is based on a true story which occurred in 2010.  The film is incredibly well acted, with Captain Phillips (Hanks) playing the calm negotiator type character and Barkhad Abdi (Muse, the pirate leader) playing the hot headed guy setting the group’s demands.  The two styles of character contrast each other very well and are always very convincing.  The majority of the film is shot onboard an actual Maersk Commercial Cargo ship which adds to the realism and will draw those in who see it.  The only problem I had with the film was that it was slightly too long, however the film is definitely worth seeing provided you can handle the shocking ending.  8.5/10