Chronicle

I was really, very tired when I went to watch CHRONICLE  and for that reason it was the perfect movie. It wasn’t deep, it didn’t require too much thought and the story held my attention all the way through.

Chronicle tells of 3 high school buddies whose bond is intensified when they discover a mysterious hole in the ground, from which they receive telekinetic powers.

Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) is the most complex member of the group. His life is far from perfect; his mother is seriously ill and dying, his father beats him regularly and in school he is the perfect target for bullies. At the start of the film we see him with a new camcorder and some of the movie is shown through Andrew’s viewfinder. His cousin, Matt Garetty (Alex Russell) looks out for him and if it weren’t for Matt, Andrew would never have been involved. The last member of the group is the popular Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan).

Initially the friends spend a lot of time together having fun with and developing their new found powers, until Andrew begins to use it for more sinister purposes with devastating results.

Chronicle reminded me of a cross between Super 8, which I loved and Twilight, which I didn’t. I really enjoyed the editing, particularly when the film jumps and cuts abruptly.

This one is definitely worth watching, as long as your expectations aren’t too high.

My rating 3/5

The Woman In Black

If you haven’t heard anything about THE WOMAN IN BLACK where have you been for the past few months? I think I’ve heard more reviews of this than any other movie, ever! I don’t think I’d heard a negative review and certainly the hype surrounding it achieved what it set out to do. I arrived at the cinema prepared to be scared, terrified even.

Written in 1983 by Susan Hill, The Woman in Black was later turned into a stage play and is still running at the Fortune Theatre in London. It is the second longest running play in history, after Mouse Trap.

It tells the story of a young, widowed lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) who leaves his son with the Nanny while he travels to the small east coast town of Crythin Gifford to attend to the estate of the recently deceased Alice Drablow. He receives a rather cold welcome from local residents who refuse to give him any information about the Drablow family, deny him a place to stay and repeatedly suggest he leave. The estate is located on Nine Lives Causeway, which is completely cut off from the road and mainland during high tide and of course Arthur is there alone. As he works through the papers, Arthur begins to uncover the secrets of the house and family with chilling and spine tingling results. He is subjected to an onslaught of vengeful encounters with the Woman in Black and the children that she has taken from the village.

The story is slow and the plot weak but that further builds on the expectation of terror and we were there to be scared and scared we were.The ending has been changed for the film and I liked the little twist. For a second I thought we might be left guessing, but was relieved when the Woman in Black made her final appearance to Arthur.  

The set was perfectly full of grey stone houses and the weather was dreary. Thunder and lightning added to the effects and it reminded me of being on a ghost train as a child, ready and waiting to be petrified. Great fun, but you should watch it with someone you like, as you’ll cling to each other.

My rating 3/5

Man On A Ledge

MAN ON A LEDGE wasn’t your typical Valentines Day movie, but hey, we’ve been together for 21 years, so we don’t need mushy!

As you already know from my earlier post we’d tried to watch this film a few day previous and it had sold out, so this time we went prepared and arrived earlier. The cinema was still packed, mostly by single sex groups!

Man On A Ledge has a great cast, which I felt was possibly the saving grace of the film. Starring the very talented Sam Worthington (Avatar, The Debt, Clash of the Titans) as Nick Cassidy, an ex-cop convicted of stealing a $40million diamond from wealthy businessman David Englander (Ed Harris). The story sees Nick escape from prison guards while attending the funeral of his father and then check into a posh hotel under a false name. Moments later he climbs out onto the ledge in what appears to be a suicide attempt. As crowds grow, the police arrive and Nick demands to speak to police psychologist Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) who is on leave following a failed attempt to convince a police officer not to jump from a bridge.  At first it isn’t clear why Nick chooses Lydia, but as the plot unfolds, it becomes apparent that Nick needs someone who will believe he is innocent and won’t want to get it wrong again. As the police attempt to convince Nick to climb back into the hotel room they are oblivious to the robbery that is taking place at David Englanders office across the street. Nick is merely there to cause a distraction.   

 This is a typical heist thriller, with all the usual twists and turns; will they do it in time? Will they get caught? Will someone get shot? It was exciting and engaging, however I was hoping for a big twist at the end, which unfortunately never came. As the reviews suggested the ending was weak and rather predictable. All in all though, I enjoyed the film and would recommend it. There’s nothing deep to it, no enthralling storyline but there is some excitement and a solid cast makes it an entertaining 102 minutes!

My rating 3/5

The Vow

There are currently 5 films out that are on our ‘to watch’ list and after some discussion we settled on Man On A Ledge. The timing was right and we both fancied an action movie. However, when we arrived at the cinema we were surprised to learn that it was being shown in screen 8 and was sold out! Screen 8 is my absolute favourite. The seats are big and comfy and it’s smaller and more intimate. I was surprised they were showing Man On A Ledge in there. It’s usually reserved for less popular films or films that have been running for a long time. Anyway we had to make a quick decision. The Woman In Black was our second choice but it wasn’t starting for another half an hour so in the end we settled for THE VOW, starring the glorious Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams.

It’s based on true events and is the story of a young couple, Leo and Paige who are hopelessly in love, when they are involved in a car accident. Leo is relatively unhurt, while Paige, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt suffers a brain trauma. For some time she is kept in a coma to allow the swelling to go down and the brain to heal but when she wakes her last memory is of when she was in Law School, some years before.  She can’t remember the feud with her family or what caused it or meeting and falling in love with Leo. She can’t remember why she dropped out of her law degree. Her life isn’t what she’d ever have imagined she would have chosen. As she tries to put the pieces back together her ex-fiancé Jeremy (Scott Speedman) appears back on the scene. Her last memory of him is being engaged and totally in love with him and she can’t understand why she ended their relationship. I have to say when I saw Jeremy, I too couldn’t imagine why she would have ended it. He’s a young Patrick Dempsey but better! Not quite so much hair, better skin colour and a perfectly chiselled jawline.

With their relationship on the line Leo has to accept that things may never be the same again, while Paige has to rediscover who she is.

Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams are great together and totally convincing as Leo and Paige. I really enjoyed the narration and the set. Their apartment is the sort of place I always dreamed I would live in as a newly-wed and it was very natural. Films based on true stories are obviously more plausible and I felt that it was a good balance between fact and fiction . For the real Paige, it must have been a totally life defining time. At the end of the film it show’s a picture of the real Paige and Leo and says that to this day, Paige still cannot remember the missing years. 

I had seen the trailer for this film a few times and I think it is one of my favourite trailers. It gave a taste of what the movie was, but just from watching the trailer you would never have been able to tell the whole story and it left you wanting more. I enjoyed The Vow and would recommend it. It didn't try too hard to please and I think that was a winning factor.

My rating 3/5

TV - Prisoners Wives

This isn’t something I planned for this blog, but did anyone actually watch the first two episodes of Prisoners Wives, Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC1? I don’t watch much TV and had recorded this and sat down to watch the first episode quite late last night and ended up staying up very late to watch the second episode as well. I thought it was a really well written, well made piece of drama. It tells  the stories of 4 women whose husband, partner or son is in prison for a variety of crimes. The second episode was predominantly about Franny (pictured above) played by Polly Walker, whose life has come crumbling down around her as the bailiffs come in to recover the profits of crime, while she tries to maintain some semblance of normality for her two children. What I particularly liked about it was that all the women were coping with the same emotions and those emotions aren’t prejudiced to any class, colour or age. All those left on the outside are punished for the crimes of the ones they love.   I thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely be watching the rest of the series.

The Grey

Well I suppose this was an apt time of year to show THE GREY. With freezing temperatures and snow on the ground I could kind of relate to how poor old Liam Neeson was feeling..... Well not really, but it was fun to watch.

If you’re looking for a riveting storyline and outstanding cast, you’re watching the wrong movie. If however, you want on the edge of your seat excitement and suspense, then this is the film for you. Liam Neeson can carry any role and is as smooth as ever as John Ottway, an oil plant worker, employed to kill wolves that threaten the lives of his colleagues in Alaska. Grieving for the loss of his wife he contemplates suicide on the day before he is due to leave. On the journey home, the small plane he’s travelling in crashes during a blizzard, leaving the few survivors to fight for their lives in freezing conditions while being hunted by a pack of wolves.

They realise the chance of being rescued is slim and begin the long walk for survival. The film in based on a short story called Ghost Walker by Ian MacKenzie Jeffers and follows their journey and their battles with injuries and the elements, while trying to outsmart the wolves. It all ends with survival of the fittest!

My rating 3/5

January 2012

January got off to a good start. Our first movie of the year was MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL starring the ever gorgeous Tom Cruise, who this time is joined by Jeremy Renner (of Hurt Lock fame) and the fabulous Simon Pegg. The fourth in the Mission Impossible series and in my opinion so good it could rival the first. Tom Cruise at almost 50 is still impressively doing his own stunts. The movie is action packed from start to finish and has a riveting storyline to boot.

My rating 4/5

Next up was the THE IRON LADY, starring Meryl Streep and one of my all time favourites Jim Broadbent. I went to watch this with an open mind. I’d read mixed reviews, some that highlighted the political inaccuracies and others that classed it as a masterpiece. The film is set in the present day with Thatcher now suffering from dementia and reminiscing with her dead husband Denis on poignant moments in her career. I didn’t love The Iron Lady. I don’t think anyone can deny what a truly committed leader Margaret Thatcher was, but from a maternal perspective, I think she was cold and heartless and in old age she was paying the price with her absent son and grandchildren, whom she was yearning to see. There is one scene where as a young mother Margaret drove away from home with her children crying and chasing after her. She showed no emotion as she left them and moments later was seen removing evidence of them from her car. I also felt it was a little crass to make the film while she is still alive and suffering from dementia.

My rating 3/5

January continued to be a busy month and next on our list was WAR HORSE which I thoroughly enjoyed. Produced by Steven Spielberg and starring the relatively unheard of Jeremy Irvine as the boy Albert Narracott and the wonderful Emily Watson as his mother, Rose. The film is an adaptation of a children’s book by the same name written by Michael Morpurgo. The story tells of a captivating bond between a horse and a young boy who are separated by the boys father when he sells the horse to pay the rent. Albert vows to the horse that one day they will be reunited but as war sets in that looks an unlikely prospect. Much of it is set in the beautiful Devon countryside amongst the moors and quaint English villages. I thoroughly enjoyed the film but unlike many I didn’t need any tissues.

My rating 4/5

I was particularly looking forward to seeing HAYWIRE, produced by Steven Sodenburg and with an amazing cast, it promised to be nothing but outstanding. Starring Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, who was remarkable as Mr. Rochester in last year’s Jane Eyre and another newbie Gina Carano. The story follows Mallory Kane (Carano), a covert agent with a private company that provides services to the US government as she tries to ascertain who has set her up and why. The movie is action packed to say the least but the fight scenes are about as credible as the performance by Carano herself. I also felt let down by Ewan McGregor who, I felt, didn’t do the role of Kenneth any justice. It didn’t live up to my expectations and if I had to sum it up in one word, it would be disappointing.

My rating 2/5

 The very next day we watched J. EDGAR starring the wonderfully talented Leonardo Di Caprio and Dame Judi Dench and directed by Clint Eastwood. I am a particular fan of Leo Di Caprio. He always plays his characters so effortlessly and I’ve never seen him in a role where he was unconvincing. In the role of Edgar, he was totally flawless. The story details the personal life of J. Edgar Hoover and his professional dedication to the FBI for pretty much all of his adult life. I particularly enjoyed that his personal life was portrayed with tenderness and respect. I knew very little about Hoover before I watched the movie, but I left feeling I had an insight into his life. I enjoyed the costume and although the lighting was often dark it was appropriate for the period and story. This is another perfect example of when I disagree with the critics. The reviews I’d read hadn’t rated J. Edgar highly, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it.

My rating 4/5.

January started well and ended on an even higher note. Our last movie of the month was THE DESCENDANTS starring my all time favourite George Clooney, in what I would consider to be his best performance to date. The movie has already won 2 Golden Globes and has been nominated for 5 Oscars, including George Clooney as best actor. I will be outraged if he doesn’t win on February 26^th. The story follows Matt King (Clooney), a Honolulu based lawyer as he tries to juggle life and family following his wife’s boating accident. Elizabeth King (Patricia Hastie) is in a coma when Matt discovers from his teenage daughter that she has been having an affair. The story follows his journey, with his two daughters, to seek out the other man in his wife’s life and give him a chance to say goodbye. The depth of emotion in the film is palpable and I felt I was being prepared for Elizabeth’s passing. Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller are outstanding as Alex and Scottie King, the couples daughters. Alex, while dealing with her own grief and anger, also provides a crutch for her father, while their relationships move into new realms. There is a wonderful scene where Matt confronts Elizabeth about her affair and you can feel the pain inside him, desperately wanting answers, desperately wanting her to wake up. I needed a whole pack of tissues throughout the movie. It will definitely be going onto my list of all time favourites. Go see it or buy the blu-ray or both!

My rating 5/5