Film Review: Recount

Director: Jay Roach

An HBO film released in 2008 direct to their own TV channel, the film follows the 2000 US Presidential election and specifically the battle for the state of Florida that took place for over a month after the polls closed. The film was seen as controversial by some for depicting the Democrats in a positive light whilst showing the Republicans as ruthless and unethical in their pursuit of victory.

In 2000, the presidential election was a tight affair between George W. Bush and Al Gore with many analysts saying that whomever wins Florida will take the election. With Florida being given to Bush by a margin of less than 2,000 votes, Gore phones Bush to concede but then retracts his concession after allegations of voting irregularities are raised in the state. From there a legal battle is fought by both sides over the recount of votes in certain county's within the state.

Michael Whouley (Denis Leary) and Ron Klain (Kevin Spacey)

Many critics felt the film was biased but in depicting such a controversial and hotly debated topic it's impossible for a film to be impartial, in many cases certain scenes that were seen as showing the Republicans in a bad light for one person was construed as something very different by somebody else. In reality it shows that both were willing to do whatever it takes to get their man elected even if it wasn't strictly ethical. The over-riding theme is that the Republicans were very strong willed and organised while the Democrats were too worried about PR in the beginning and we're too self centered in thinking of their own careers (Joe Lieberman for example).

The acting in the film is incredibly sharp, especially from the likes of Kevin Spacey, Tom Wilkinson and Laura Dern. Both Spacey and Wilkinson play the incredibly driven leaders of each parties battle in Florida as they both look at ways of getting exactly what they want, from lawsuits to delaying the voting re-count. In the end, despite everything there is a begrudging respect displayed in one of the final scenes. It's a drama thats hard to look away from despite us all already knowing the result, I think as the film develops it almost scares you to remember that this actually happened and was the deciding factor in a US presidential election despite being an absolute farce.

3.5/4 Engrossing and beautifully pitched political drama

Film Preview: Lost River

The directorial debut of actor Ryan Gosling who also wrote and produced the film that was released earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival. It is a fantasy neo-noir film which features many people he has worked with before in his acting career with Christina Hendricks and Eva Mendes both starring. Unfortunately though for Gosling the film opened to poor critical reviews from the audience at the Cannes Festival so expectations are quite low ahead of the films cinematic release at the end of the year.

A single mother struggling for money gets into trouble whilst her son falls foul of the local bully which leads him to find a road to a strange underwater town in this fantasy drama.

Lost River is released in the UK on 30th November 2014 and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Flightplan

Director: Robert Schwentke

A tense thriller which is based around a missing child inside an aeroplane where it is seemingly impossible for somebody to go missing. Released in 2005, it was co-written by Billy Ray who also worked on films like Shattered Glass before being a screenwriter for hugely successful films like The Hunger Games and Captain Phillips. It is loosely based on the 1938 movie The Lady Vanishes by Alfred Hitchcock. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants called for an official boycott of the film, which they say depicts flight attendants as rude, uncaring and indifferent (truly proving they have nothing better to do with their time).

Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is flying back to America from Germany after her husband has died, she leaves with her daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston). On the large luxurious plane they settled down for the journey and then find some free seats at the back so they both fall asleep, when Kyle wakes up she realises that Julia is gone and can't find her as she searches the cabin. She informs the flight crew who fetch the captain but she still cannot be found and is now certain there is a conspiracy to kidnap her daughter.

Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) and Captain Marcus Rich (Sean Bean)

The initial idea is an intriguing one, how can Kyle's daughter disappear when she was clearly on board with her when the plane took off. It's impossible for her to have left the plane so what has happened? The film plays with different ideas of what has really happened and for a while it is a truly engrossing thriller. But as it progresses it struggles to stretch this thin plot over the running time required for a feature film and then produces a highly disappointing final act where we see what is truly happening. Jodie Foster becomes very irritating as the film progresses and has proven herself to be a better actress than this whilst Peter Sarsgaard is impressive in the sort of role he is renowned for.

1.5/4 Promising plot nosedives from the half way point

Best films from 2014 so far

With 6 months of the year already gone it's time for a look back at the best 5 films that have been released in the UK in 2014 so far. With many of the Oscar nominated films not released on this side of the pond until January it means that narrowing down the field can be quite tricky but only two Oscar nominated movies actually made the cut in the end, honourable mentions go to 22 Jump Street and The Edge of Tomorrow as good films that were close in consideration.

5. The LEGO Movie

An incredibly fun movie with easily the most catchy soundtrack of any film released this year. The comedy in the film is both clever and completely odd but it finds a way to make you really like it, a real surprise hit film of 2014.

4. Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier

As the Avengers series rumbles on towards the next big assemble type film with all the heroes in one film, Captain America produced a genuinely impressive sequel to the rather average opening film in the series. With an intense but intriguing storyline and some fantastic fighting scenes, we finally have an Avengers individual series to take over from Ironman. 

3. Inside Llewyn Davis

The Coen brothers latest film didn't make the waves many expected it to with it being mostly shunned during awards season but a beautiful soundtrack gives it a lovely folky feel. The story of a struggling singer still dealing with the death of his playing partner is sweetly yet oddly funny as it plays out and of course there's always room for a cameo from John Goodman.

2. Her

Spike Jonze takes a tale of love and loss but gives it a very futuristic feel as Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), who is s computer operating system. Throughout the film Theodore tries to discover what love real is and its a uniquely bittersweet view on love in an everchanging world.

1. The Raid 2: Berendal

The original film was a real surprise hit back in 2012 with a small budget but Gareth Evans finally got his wish to make a bigger film on a grander scale off the back of the original. Rama (Iko Uwais) returns after surviving the tower block and is enlisted to infiltrate a criminal gang in Jakarta with the intention of rooting out the corrupt cops in the city. The action is even more impressive than the original with some incredible martial-arts fighting and a brutal fight to the death in a kitchen is right up there as one of my favourite fighting scenes of all-time (alongside the brutal fight in the corridor scene from Oldboy). The plot is maybe slightly simplistic but everything else about the film is truly magnificent.

Film Review: Mistaken for Strangers

Director: Tom Berninger

For many years, the indie band The National were well favoured by the critics but struggled to match that success commercially. Following the 2010 album High Violet that appeared to change and as they embarked on a big tour, lead singer Matt Berninger agreed to lets his brother come on tour as a member of the crew to film the experience. Tom describes Matt appreciation of their music and the genre as "pretentious bullshit" so its a new experience for both brothers as Tom rarely spends time with the band.

It's a typically quirky look at a band touring, The National have never been a particularly conventional band and naturally this documentary of their tour is equally different. It's very much the sort of documentary that requires you to be a fan of the band itself so you are intrigued in the personalities behind the music. Despite a few interview with the lesser known band members, it's very much about the immature younger brother Tom and the older lead singer Matt.

Movie Poster

The filming itself by Tom is very poor which to be fair he admits as much but it gives you a decent idea of what happens behind the scenes on the days in the lead up to the gigs that we all see. The stress and strains of the constant travelling and logistical nightmare of everything that goes with the band everywhere they go. It's the side we often don't see or consider to any band's tour. You do often get the feel that Matt ended up filming a lot of the more random and inane moments rather than the more important scenes (although an interview with Aaron Dessner reveals a bust-up with Matt over the song Apartment Story). I was hoping for more actual band footage on stage but there are still some great small bits of footage.

2.5/4 Very much for hardcore fans of The National 

This week's releases

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The sequel to the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the current re-booting of the franchise is enjoying the best reviews and box office figures of any re-incarnation of the original films. Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke stars as the humans Dreyfus and Malcolm whilst Andy Serkis is Caesar the leader of the apes.

And so it goes: Romantic comedy starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton. Douglas plays a selfish and unpopular estate agent is helped by his neighbour, played by Keaton, when he suddenly is lumbered with a granddaughter he never knew about.

Pudsey the Dog: A typical British movie about a stray dog in London who manages to escape his sad life for a more exciting adventure out in the countryside. The film stars the dog from Britain's Got Talent as well as a British cast including Olivia Colman.

Film Preview: Gone Girl

Gone Girl is an upcoming American mystery-thriller film based on the 2012 novel of same name written by Gillian Flynn, the film is being directed by David Fincher whose had great success recently with the TV series House of Cards. Aside from the main cast of Ben Affleck, Rosemund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris, Reese Witherspoon showed a big interest in the project from the outset and is one of the producers for the film. Trent Reznor announced that he and Atticus Ross would once again work with Fincher to provide the score much like they did in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network. 

Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne

On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) finds out that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick's portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?

Gone Girl is released in the UK on 3rd October 2014 and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Election

Director: Alexander Payne

A 1999 film by writer and director Alexander Payne which was adapted from the novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta. The novel itself was inspired by two events: The first was the 1992 Bush vs. Clinton election campaign, in which Ross Perot entered as a third party candidate. The second was an incident at Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in which a pregnant student was elected homecoming queen, but staff announced a different winner and burned the ballots to cover it up.

Paul Meltzer (Chris Klein) and Tracy Enid Flick (Reese Witherspoon)

Jim (Matthew Broderick) is a high school teacher in small town near Omaha, here he encounters the student class elections with over zealous student Tracy (Reese Witherspoon) who is the big favourite to win. Injured footballer Paul Meltzer (Chris Klein) is convinced to run by Jim so that Tracy has some competition and out of rejection from her female companion, who chooses Paul, Tammy (Jessica Campbell) also runs. The school becomes embroiled in underhand election tactics as well as questionable behaviour by some of the teachers.

Election does a great job of poking fun at the seriousness behind student elections and the people's perceptions of each other in school, where popularity is so important. It's a clever political satire with some touching moments of comedy usually at the expense of the characers, from the hapless Matthew Broderick to the far too eager Reese Witherspoon.

Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick)

It's one of the early works of Alexander Payne but it has a lot of his hallmarks, the character comedy inter-filled with sweet moments and the desperation of people living almost dead-ends lives knowing that they aren't happy but not doing anything about it. The film hasn't dated brilliantly, like many other films from this era of the 90's, but still provides entertainment. For me, its like many of Payne's films in being enjoyable without completely blowing you away.

3/4 Smarter high school comedy than the average

Film Review: Jeff Who Lives at Home

Director: Jay and Mark Duplass

A 2012 comedy film from the writing duo Jay and Mark Duplass (Mark is renowned for playing Pete in TV series The League and his wife Katie Aselton from the same show makes a cameo appearance). It's renowned for being part of the mumblecore aesthetic which normally uses only amateur actors but is known for giving the actors a share of writing credits due to the heavily improvised nature of the script and screenplay.

Jeff (Segel) is an unemployed stoner living in his mothers basement in Baton Rouge, his mum Sharon (Susan Sarandon) calls to ask him to go to Home Depot to pick up wood glue to fix a door shutter. Believing heavily in the importance of random occurrences, due to the movie Signs, he boards the bus and sees a man with a basketball jersey with the same name as the name asked for by a wrong number call earlier. This seemingly insignificant event sets up an important afternoon with his brother Pat (Helms)

Jeff (Jason Segel) and Pat (Ed Helms)

A slacker yet feel-good comedy does vaguely strain towards the territory of the Kevin Smith films with Jay and Silent Bob, although the comedy and script is possibly less vulgar and more innocent. Whilst the second comparison that immediately came to mind was with Mark Duplass' other project \The League where the characters get themselves into embarrassing scrapes. It's a feel good movie and Jason Segel is great at acting out characters that you just can't help rooting for, the ending is a little Hollywood but still a fun film.

2.5/4 Enjoyable and likeable comedy

Film Review: Valentine Road

Director: Marta Cunningham

A 2013 HBO documentary film that investigated the controversial shooting of Larry King by classmate Brandon McCarthy in 2008. The shooting happened in the small town of Oxnard, California and when Larry died two days later in hospital it became a national news story. Questions arose over the motive of the killer as it was revealed Larry was a homosexual and a cross-dresser who had shown an interest in Brandon who it was believed had allegiances to white supremacist groups and an obsession with Nazism. The story is told largely through interviews with students, teachers and the legal teams from the time.

Animated still from the film of Larry

The story itself is a heart-breaking one in more ways than one, Larry's bleak childhood was starting to improve after finding a stable legal guardian and his life was tragically cut short as he started to finally express his true self to the world. But Brandon the killer also had a very tough up-bringing with an abusive father and a drug addicted mother. In many ways both children were failed by the people around them and the system.

The film asks a lot of the right questions in its interviews with everybody involved at the time, with some of the reactions by the local community were shocking in their support of what Brandon did. Many mistakes were made in his trial but the fact that many would call Brandon the victim to what Larry was doing is incredulous. But the documentary itself whilst fascinating is quick to gloss over the childhood and up-bringing of the killer Brandon in favour of Larry, in trying to be impartial it did fail in this regard. As well as questions having been raised over the editing of interviews with some of the "fanatical" supporters of Brandon who said they were edited to look crazy and out of touch.

2.5/4 Intriguing documentary but not as impartial as it wishes it was

This week's releases

Begin Again: Gretta (Keira Knightley) splits with her boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine) after the temptation to cheat becomes too great after he becomes a famous singer/songwriter. But is her life about to move into the right direction when she meets disgraced music executive Dan (Mark Ruffalo)? Comedy drama from Irish director John Carney.

Boyhood: The latest ambitious project from director and writer Richard Linklater is a coming of age story which has been set and filmed across a 12 year period. It follows Mason (Ellar Coltrange) growing up from age 5 to 18 as he literally grows up infront of our eyes.

How to train your Dragon 2: The sequel to the successful animated action adventure with Jay Baruchel and Cate Blanchett lending their voices. The films budget came in at a whopping $145 million which seems a huge amount for an animated film.

Film Preview: Get On Up

With many biographical successes in recent years, especially the likes of Ray and Walk the Line, the next musician to be honored is James Brown. The project was announced in 2012 with Mick Jagger being involved as a producer for the film but will not actually feature in the film as the young version of him will be played by Nick Eversman. Chadwick Boseman takes up the lead role with Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer reuniting since their work on The Help. 

A biography of the life of James Brown (Chadwick Boseman), from his humble beginnings in a poor family to becoming one of the most iconic and revered musicians of all time.

Get On Up is released in the UK on 26th September 2014 and the trailer is embedded below:

This week's releases

The Anomaly: The latest film from British director Noel Clarke. A futuristic drama where a traumatized ex-soldier discovers that he can only experience life as himself in nine minute bursts every few days or so. Meaning he has very little time to figure out why it is happening and stop it.

Transformers: Age of Extinction: The fourth Transformers film to come from the utterly dreadful director Michael Bay, here he has re-booted his own franchise and brought back favourite actor Mark Wahlberg who continues to prove he's not really a serious actor. At 165mins you'd better hope Bay has found a decent script or plot from somewhere but I wouldn't hold your breath (same screenplay writer as previous two films).

Film Review: The Normal Heart

Director: Ryan Murphy

A 2014 American drama television film directed by Ryan Murphy and written by Larry Kramer, based on his own 1985 play of same name. Actor Jim Parsons, mostly known for playing Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory, Jim Mantello have supporting roles here but also starred in the play during a recent run on Broadway. Mark Ruffalo is the lead actor fighting for support in the AIDS epidemic. The TV film was aired on HBO on 25th May and received strong critical reviews.

Ned Weeks (Mark Ruffalo) with Felix Turner (Matt Bomer)

In the summer of 1981 the gay community is enjoying more freedom socially and sexually much to their delight but the epidemic of AIDS begins to take hold. At the time nobody knows what is causing so many gay men to collapse and die so quickly as well as cause others to slowly suffer before dying. Ned (Mark Ruffalo) believes that the government isn't recognising this epidemic due to it only affecting gay men so starts a Gay Health Clinic to help patients and their lovers come to terms with the disease whilst lobbying local and national government.

The acting performances in this movie are very strong, Mark Bomer lost around 40 lbs to play the role of Felix who becomes ravaged with AIDS, whilst Mark Ruffalo is impressive as the incredibly driven and argumentative Ned. Both actors provide real power to this drama with Ned being a rare hero who is also incredibly flawed in his personal and professional life. Whilst Jim Parsons and Taylor Kitsch are capable but not stand out performers, its actually Julia Roberts who seems rather forgettable except for one moment of passionate outrage.

Ned at a fundraiser with Bruce (Taylor Kitsch)

The film is uneven at times, it slowly reels you in rather than having you hooked from the opening scene. Director Ryan Murphy harks back to his American Horror Story roots with a bizarre Subway scene with flashing lights scaring Felix as he sees an AIDS patient in a much worse state than him. Jim Kramer's screenplay really bares its soul on numerous occasions at his outrage towards the lack of action by government's at the time, he channels his frustrations through the character of Ned who is more of a sledgehammer in his protesting style.

3/4 Heartbreaking character based AIDS drama

Film Preview: Fury

The pre-production for the film gave away Brad Pitt's latest movie role as he was seen driving a tank around rural Hertfordshire for rehearsals. It was actually filmed in Oxfordshire with Pinewood Studios sending warning letters to the villagers of Shirburn, Pyrton and Watlington stating that there would be some gunfire and explosions during the filming of Fury so not to be alarmed. Alongside Pitt, the film stars Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña, Jason Isaacs, and Scott Eastwood.

The main cast

A deadly mission behind enemy lines is ordered in April 1945 in Northern France. Army Sergeant Wardaddy (Pitt) commands his Sherman tank and its five crew on this mission to attack the Nazi's with almost no backup from other units in this brave advance.

Fury is scheduled to be released in the UK on 24th October 2014 and the new trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Event Horizon

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

A 1997 science-fiction horror movie which marked a flurry of mid-90's sci-fi movies which investigate strange occurrences in deep-space. The movie was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson who is from Newcastle and unfortunately this marked probably his most high profile movie with many other B-movie type productions following of a similar genre.

The Gravity Drive inside the Event Horizon

In 2047, the rescue vessel Lewis and Clark is dispatched to answer a distress signal received from the Event Horizon, a starship that disappeared during its maiden voyage to Proxima Centauri seven years prior. The crew is lead by Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and also has on board Dr. Weir (Sam Neill) who designed the Event Horizon. Once they arrive they find strange goings-on surrounding the gravity drive which generates an artificial black hole to use the immense gravitational power to bridge two points in spacetime, greatly reducing travel time over astronomical distances.

The film is quite formulaic in plot, with the premise generally setup by the long explanation by Dr. Weir to the crew (that is really just an explanation for the audience) before we have the tense middle section where we are unsure what is happening before the final act slowly reveals what happened to the original crew. In its defence it does avoid falling into the lazy slasher genre like the later film Sunshine.

A hallucination?

Naturally most science fiction movies tend to fall into two brackets for me, the Alien bracket focused more on tension and action or 2001: A Space Odyssey based more around special effects and aesthetic beauty. Event Horizon falls into the former category with much of the relationships between the crew having similarities to that of Alien whilst the plot itself seems to be a slight re-working of the Russian film Solaris (discounted the George Clooney remake).

The links to religion and the concept of heaven and hell add a depth to the film but its just not that engaging throughout. The characters don't seem to share much rapport which means the moments when they try to help and save each other feel forced. The ending itself was different than I expected but a certain character going rogue was far too predictable and it left the film feeling stretched in terms of plot.

1.5/4 Ambitious but ultimately disappointing sci-fi horror flick.

Film Review: Steel Magnolias

Director: Herbert Ross

Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama directed by Herbert Ross. It is the film adaptation of Robert Harling's 1987 play of the same name about the bond a group of women share. The film follows a group of six very different women from a small town in rural Louisiana, Annelle Dupuy (Daryl Hannah), a recent beauty school graduate, is hired by Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton) to work in her home-based beauty salon. M'Lynn Eatenton (Sally Field) and her daughter, Shelby (Julia Roberts), arrive at Truvy's to prepare for Shelby's wedding which is taking place later that day. With Clairee Belcher (Olympia Dukakis) and the hostile Ouiser Boudreaux (Shirley McLaine) arriving later for the wedding preparations

The group of Women chatting

Its an entirely female dominated film with men very much secondary to everything that happens. The strong women of Louisiana, although some of them come off as more Hollywood than Louisiana, spend their time discussing the key topics of the day and sharing cutting criticisms mostly about other people. Whilst there are some funny lines, especially where Ouiser Boudreaux is concerned, there just isn't enough throughout the film for it to work on a comedic level. The script is ambitious in being able to entertain you for the majority of the film but falls well short.

The drama itself ramps up in the second half and produces an interesting lead into towards the final scenes, which just dragged on towards the conclusion. Whilst it is slightly predictable what will happen this doesn't necessarily detract from the film as much as other elements. The brushing aside of husband Jackson (Dylan McDermott) was quite bewildering for example. It has some good ideas but at times these become lost and confused, overall it just didn't entertain me with its humour or blow me away with is emotional drama.

1.5/4 Capable drama gets bogged down in over ambitious script

This week's releases

Chef: John Favreau decides to cook his own brand of food with his family after being sacked for a bad review from a critic.

Full preview here

Mrs Brown's Boy D'Movie: Britain seems to have become obsessed with turning TV comedies into feature films to cash in, Mrs Brown's Boys being the latest as her stall is threatened with closure so she fights to keep it open in this "comedy". If that wasn't bad enough it is apparently the beginning of a trilogy of films based around the foul mouthed Mrs Brown.

Third Person: A romantic drama with a stellar cast: Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, Olivia Wilde, James Franco, Maria Bello and Kim Basinger. The film tells three inter-connected love stories that take place in Paris, New York and Rome.

Film Preview: Chef

This film marks the first non-Ironman collaboration between Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr who came on board near the end of the casting process. With many other impressive names already added (Scarlett Johansson, Oliver Platt and John Leguizamo) he jumped at the chance. Chef has started to be advertised quite heavily in the UK with adverts starting to pop up and is hoping to be a lighthearted feel-good comedy for the summer.

Carl Casper (Favreau) gets a bad review from a critic after cooking a menu designed by restaurant owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman) so is fired. He decides this is the opportunity to cook the food he wants so starts a food truck to sell his cuisine round the city with his family.

Chef is released in the UK on 25th June 2014 and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Dancer in the Dark

Director: Lars von Trier

Danish director Lars von Trier has always been a controversial director of sorts, the subject matter of many of his films have been the topic of much debate. The reviews of his films are always incredibly varied as his films polarize critics and Dancer in the Dark. which was released in 2000, was no different. My favourite quote came from Jonathan Foreman at the New York Times, who sums up everything I would like to say in one sentence, "(a film) so unrelenting in its manipulative sentimentality that, if it had been made by an American and shot in a more conventional manner, it would be seen as a bad joke."

The Icelandic singer Bjork played the lead role of Selma, a role which won her the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival and a nomination for Best Actress at the Golden Globes. I'm truly stunned because her acting was some of the worst I've seen since I started this blog, rarely has a performance drawn a character so forgettable and unrealistic.

Selma (Bjork) and Kathy (Catherine Deneuve)

In 1964 Washington State, Selma (Bjork) is a Czech immigrant who moved with her son Gene (Vladica Kostic) and works in a factory for poor wages with her friend Kathy (Catherine Deneuve). Selma and her son live in a rented trailer on the land of town policeman Bill Houston (David Morse) and his wife Linda (Cara Seymour). She works hard and saves her money because she is suffering from hereditary degenerative disease which is gradually causing her to go blind and she wants to pay for her son to have it treated before it affects him.

The common theme surrounding von Trier's work is that many claim he is sexist and a misogynist. These claims weren't helped when Bjork argued with von Trier about the ending of the movie and claimed he was sexist. She did claim that she wasn't interested in acting but made an exception for von Trier. The plot itself is thinly stretched over the prolonged running time with the interwoven dancing and singing sequences which should provide light relief become long drawn out stretches of utter tedium. Whilst the ending is an exercise in how much over the top emotion you can try to force from a scene that you don't really care about to begin with.

0.5/4 Manipulative, poorly acted and bizarre camerawork add to an immense disappointment

Film Review: The Jeffrey Dahmer Files

Director: Chris James Thompson

An independent documentary about the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer from 2012, it toured some film festivals in North America before being released to the general public through Video On Demand by IFC. The result is a more haunting and un-nerving account of Dahmer's crimes and arrest rather than dwelling on the gruesome details. The film was directed by Chris James Thompson and stars Andrew Swant as Dahmer in fictionalized re-enactment segments which are interwoven with interviews of the medical examiner assigned to the case (Jeffrey Jentzen), the lead detective (Pat Kennedy), and Dahmer's next door neighbour (Pamela Bass).

Andrew Swant as Jeffrey Dahmer

The film focuses heavily on interviews with people involved where they describe Dahmer as a person and the surrounding furore after he was arrested. The monstrosity of his crimes and the graphic details are mainly omitted in favour of discussions about what Dahmer was like during the interviews with lead detective Pat Kennedy. The aura about Dahmer made him a particular eerie character as he was "disturbingly normal". Its very much a film for people familiar with Dahmer's crimes already, rather than an opportunity for somebody without any knowledge to learn about him.

2.5/4 Intriguing short documentary about one of America's most notorious serial killers

This week's releases

The Fault in our Stars: Based on the novel of the same name by John Green, starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort in this romantic drama. Hazel (Woodley) is suffering from terminal thyroid cancer that has metastasized to her lungs so goes to a cancer support group where she falls in love with Augustus (Elgort).

3 Days to Kill: The latest film from Luc Besson and starring Kevin Costner as he continues to churn out the films this year. Costner plays CIA agent Ethan Renner who is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer which has now spread to his lungs but still has one last mission to complete before being able to enjoy his last days.

Jersey Boys: Based on the smash hit musical from Broadway, Clint Eastwood directs as we follow the four young men from the dark side of New Jersey came together to form The Four Seasons. Christopher Walken stars with a small role for Clint Eastwood's daughter, Francesca.

Film Review: A Time to Kill

Director: Joel Schumacher

Based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham, A Time to Kill was released in 1996 with a star studded cast including Samuel L. Jackson, Matthew McConnaughey and Sandra Bullock to name just three. The film was the subject of much controversy in Europe though with the French in-particular taking offence at its attempts to make an apology of the death sentence and the right to self defence. Les Inrockuptibles described the film as "nauseating", "stinking", almost "fascist", with a script "ultra-populist" that makes you want to "vomit".

Lawyer Jake Brigance (McConnaughey) with Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson)

After two white racists rape and attempt to murder a young black girl in Mississippi, a trial is set but with racism still rife in the state Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) is desperate for revenge for the rape and savage beating of his daughter. Unconvinced that justice will be served to the two white man, he cites a previous case to Jake Brigance (McConnaughey) where four white men walked free despite overwhelming evidence due to deep-seated racism in the state, Hailey takes the law into his own hands and kills the two men in the courthouse as they are due to make their appearance. He then asks Brigance to represent him in court as he is put on trial for murder which splits the town and brings about a return of the Ku Klux Klan lead by Freddie Lee Cobb (Kiefer Sutherland) whose brother was killed.

A genuinely thrilling and thought provoking drama about the issues of race in society, not just in the deep-south but in the world as a whole. The issue here is about the treatment of African-Americans in Mississippi but the same holds true throughout the world in the way that different races and religions are treated by others in different countries. Its honestly terrifying to believe that justice wouldn't be served to guilty parties because of the skin colour of the offenders and the victim. A Time to Kill eloquently explores these issues in one of the most well known states in America for racism and inequality.

Brigance with trainee lawyer Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock)

The acting within the film is very impressive, this was Matthew McConnaughey at his peak before he descended into the rom-coms and Samuel L. Jackson is a man of great upstanding despite his crimes here. The relationship McConnaughey has with Sandra Bullock's character and the same with Donald Sutherland's as his mentor throughout the buildup and trial. They all help provide a truly authentic feel to the town that makes you believe this could have been a real case. It does have its moments where its overly "Hollywood" and righteous that let it down as the plot progresses but it doesn't detract from an incredibly compelling legal drama.

3.5/4 Fascinating drama in the deep-South

Film Preview: Snowpiercer

A joint venture between American and South Korean film-makers based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette. A science fiction film which like many predecessors shows a bleak future for our planet, this time at the hands of climate change and shows that despite the brink of destruction the class system still seems to remain. Chris Evans, John Hurt and Tilda Swinton star alongside Koreans Song Kang-ho and Go Ah-sung.

In 2014, an experiment to counteract global warming causes an ice age that kills nearly all life on Earth. The only survivors are the inhabitants of the Snowpiercer, a massive train, powered by a perpetual-motion engine, that travels on a globe-spanning track. A class system is installed, with the elites inhabiting the front of the train and poor inhabiting the tail.

Snowpiercer is released in the UK on 22nd June 2014 at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: 22 Jump Street

Director:

The recently released follow-up to the 2012 movie 21 Jump Street that opened to good reviews and was immensely popular at the box office. It is the sequel to the 2012 film 21 Jump Street, based on the 1987 television series of the same name by Stephen J. Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh. Once again Jonah Hill was part of the writing team that produced the script and screenplay.

Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum)

With the Koreans taking back their church at 21 Jump Street, Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) moves the gang to 22 Jump Street inside a Vietnamese Church with a much bigger budget after their earlier success. Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum) are now sent to college to infiltrate the dealers and find the suppliers after an earlier mission goes awry. They look for a new party drug called "WhyPhy" after the death of a student who was taking it.

The film follows in the footsteps of the original but for me was actually funnier and more entertaining. With the characters and format now set it blossoms with some wittier jokes as well as the inevitable toilet humour. But its a film that somehow gives you a guilty pleasure feel at times for laughing at the bad base humour without needlessly pushing it too far, it quickly follows a crude joke with a more subtle one. With a joke around Cate Blanchett's name being a major highlight.

The American Football helmet golf cart

The bromance between Hill and Tatum is what really holds the movie together though, they are two very likable characters but between all the craziness they do actually feel quite real. Ice Cube really comes into his own in this film as well, he features more prominently in the film and also adds plenty of humour to the mix. I have to admit I'm a sucker for random humour and a few jokes breaking the fourth wall were actually well timed. Although often a little uneven at times as the film peaks and troughs in terms of interest but it guarantees a smile on your face when you've finished.

2.5/4 Funnier than the original without doubt

Note: Its definitely worth staying for the credits, hilarious.

This week's releases

The Hooligan Factory: A comedic take on the hooligan football films about gangs and ultras from the UK, although Danny Dyer's acting performance in The Football Factory was pretty hilarious. Jason Maza and Nick Nevern star as the lads caught up in the wrong crowd in this British production.

Devils Knot: Based on a true story from the book of the same name. A ritualistic killing of three eight year old boys makes this small town in Arkansas the centre of attention with satanic forces believed to be at work but when it appears three teenagers were involved things quickly change. Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon star.

Belle: An illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral is raised by her aristocratic great-uncle. Starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Matthew Goode and Emily Watson in a film that has toured the film festivals before finally being released to the public.

Film Review: Changeling

Director: Clint Eastwood

A 2008 drama film partly based on the 1928 "Wineville Chicken Coop" kidnapping and murder case in Los Angeles, California. The film was released during one of the best periods of Eastwood's work as a director with Gran Torino being released shortly after and Million Dollar Baby being released just a few years before. The film saw nominations for Angelina Jolie as the Best Leading Actress at the Oscars, BAFTA's and Golden Globes but she failed to win at any of these awards with Kate Winslet beating her for The Reader (god knows why, the whole film was abysmal) and at the Golden Globes where she won for Revolutionary Road. 

Los Angeles, 1928. Single mother Christine Collins (Jolie) returns home to discover her nine-year-old son, Walter (Griffith), is missing. After a long search over many months, the LAPD says they have found her son alive and well. Believing the positive publicity will negate recent criticism of the department, the LAPD organizes a public reunion. Although "Walter" (Conti) claims he is Christine's son, she says he is not. Captain J. J. Jones (Donovan), the head of the LAPD's Juvenile Division, insists the boy is Walter and pressures Christine into taking him home. Christine is still adamant that her son is still missing and gets into trouble as she pressures the LAPD to continue searching.

Christine with "Walter" after he disappeared

Angelina Jolie is incredibly impressive as the driven Christine who searches to find her real son against a tide of negativity from the LAPD. Jolie was at times weak and vulnerable as she reached her lowest ebbs and showed a different side to her acting abilities that I hadn't seen before. Arguably the films best feature is the impressive cast surrounding Jolie, especially John Malkovich and Jeffrey Donovan.

At the heart of this dark film is more than just a search for a missing boy, Changeling produces a scathing critique of big politics in the 1920's in the mold of Chinatown. The cover-ups produced at the top level of the police force and city government are monumental whilst it also portrays a time when women were still fighting to be treated as equal citizens even in America. Christine's fight for her son also leads to her being silenced and discredited because she is seen as a female threat in a male dominated society. A rich compelling film which is backed up by impressive acting performances.

3.5/4 Tense engrossing drama with a political edge.

Film Review: Edge of Tomorrow

Director: Doug Liman

This recently released science fiction movie is based a big budget version of the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The filming process was quite arduous especially for Emily Blunt as each of the battle suits weighed around 39kg which was hard to act in for long periods. Between takes, the actors would be suspended by chains from iron frames to take the weight of the suits off their shoulders. The films budget was $178 million.

For 5 years, humans have been at war with an alien species called Mimics. They have taken most of mainland Europe so the humans are planning an all out attack from the beaches in Northern France. Major Cage (Tom Cruise) is ordered to cover the battle on the beaches against his protests and he wakes up at Heathrow Airport ready to deploy the next day. But after landing on the beach and battling the mimics he dies then wakes up again at Heathrow Airport the day before, slowly realising that he has the power to continue living the same day.

Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) and Sergeant Rita Vratask (Emily Blunt)

Tom Cruise's latest Hollywood blockbuster is reasonably impressive, for an action movie it has an intelligent side and Emily Blunt adds a lot as his battle partner. For me this was a completely different change of direction for Emily Blunt as an actress but she more than pulls off the macho female Sergeant whose the human hero of the war. Aside from this the action is strong as you'd expect but there is a decent comedic element to the script as well.

Director Doug Liman produces impressively choreographed scenes with the gripping tension of his previous film The Bourne Identity. It avoids the pitfalls of many previous action movies with the usual clichés and a bloated running time, why most movies are needlessly over two hours still baffles me. Unfortunately the ending did become apparent before it was played on the screen before me but it still represented a fun and surprisingly good film.

2.5/4 Intelligent action movie is better than expected

Film Review: Godzilla

Director: Gareth Edwards

The recently released blockbuster is another re-booting of the famous monster franchise, this time it was British director Gareth Edwards who scored with his debut movie Monsters. An impressive cast was also pulled together with Ken Watanabe, Aaron Johnson and Bryan Cranston hot off the success of Breaking Bad. The film was produced on a budget of $160 million in the hope of turning a good profit and possibly setting up a a sequel.

In 1999, Project Monarch scientists Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) investigate a strip mine in the Philippines where a colossal skeleton and two egg-shaped pods are discovered. One hatched and escaped to the sea. In Japan, plant supervisor Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) sends his wife Sandra and a team into the core to check the sensors after seismic activity. When the team is inside, an explosion occurs, threatening to release radiation to the outside. Sandra and her team are unable to escape, and the plant collapses into ruin. Fifteen years later and Joe is still trying to find answer as to what caused his wife's death.

The destruction caused in Hawaii

This was like a Hollywood blockbuster version of the cheap Syfy disaster movies that are often released, Mega Python V Gatoroid being just one example. But the redeeming feature of those movies is that they don't take themselves seriously which is more than can be said about this incarnation of Godzilla. The premise descends into farcical proportions by the end and with a script ridden with the usual corny cliché lines from these movies its hard to take it seriously at all.

Bryan Cranston does his best with what he has here and is helped able by an impressive cast who don't really do much wrong. But if you have a poor plot and script it doesn't matter who you get to star in your movie. The special effects do help to save this film with some impressive shots especially the scene where the troopers parachute into the city with the red flares. But beyond this the early promise drawn on by Joe Brody uncovering the mystery is washed away with a shockingly poor second half.

1/4 Reasonable opening act completely falls away into a farcical finale

Film Review: Captain America 2: The Winter Solider

Director: Anthony and Joe Russo

The latest instalment in the MARVEL comics franchise and the second in the Captain America series. After a slightly underwhelming first film we see an excellent bounce back film as Steve Rogers returns to face the latest threat to the planet that has been growing since his creation during the Second World War. Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson also reprise their roles with Robert Redford also making an appearance. The film is already a huge commercial success with profits over $500 million and a third film has already been commissioned with the Russo brothers returning to direct.

With the members of SHIELD at odds after Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) are sent on the same mission but with different tasks by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). In the midst of this lack of trust, the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) ambushes Nick Fury as he goes to meet him someone and they realise they have a large threat within SHIELD to battle against.

The Winter Solider battles Captain America

As stated above, this was a very accomplished second film which certainly elevates the Captain America series to the level of Iron Man leaving Thor trailing in his wake. Admittedly Chris Evans is no Robert Downer Jr especially in the charisma department but he's more than strong enough here with the help of Scarlett Johansson and Anthony Mackie as Falcon. The story has a lot of well placed action with an intriguing story with the battle being against more than just a rogue villian in the Winter Soldier. Some plot elements are slightly predictable as the film develops but it still provides more than enough thrills to last the over two hour run time. The script is witty and sharp at times which elevates it from the rest in genre.

3/4 Impressive second instalment sets the tone for future sequels

This week's releases

22 Jump Street: Having moved from 21 Jump Street to 22 Jump Street, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill return as the bumbling undercover cops who this time are sent to college to fight crime.

Full preview here

Fruitvale Station: Why its taken nearly a year to officially release this gem of a film I don't know. Michael B. Jordan plays Oscar Grant whose life was tragically cut short on New Years Eve at Fruitvale BART station in San Francisco. This film follows the last 24 hours of his life.

My review is here

Film Preview: Foxcatcher

Released at this years Cannes Festival, it wowed critics with its dark tale of schizophrenia in the competitive world of Olympic Sports. Based on a true story, Bennett Miller won the Best Director Award at Cannes but the film itself was edged out by Winter Sleep which was an epic Turkish film. The film stars Steve Carell as John Eleuthère du Pont the trainer with Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo playing the brothers.

The story of Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Tatum), who sees a way out from the shadow of his more celebrated wrestling brother Dave (Ruffalo) and a life of poverty when he is summoned by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont (Carell) to move onto his estate and train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Foxcatcher is released in the UK at the end of 2014 and trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Divergent

Director: Neil Burger

A 2014 science fiction action film following in the footsteps of The Hunger Games in looking to a dystopian future with the world split into different factions by oppressive governments. The film is based on the series of books by Veronica Roth which was published in 2011. The sequel Insurgent has already been scheduled for release in March 2015.

The story takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic version of Chicago where people are divided into distinct factions based on human virtues. Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) is warned that she is Divergent and thus will never fit into any one of the factions and soon learns that a sinister plot is brewing in her seemingly perfect society as she tries to learn to fit into one of the factions.

Beatrice (Woodley) with Four (Theo James)

The comparisons to Hunger Games were inevitable given the similarities in the lead actresses character and the bleak depiction of a future world controlled by governments. Unfortunately it doesn't compare favourably with plot feeling rather like a re-tread and with Shailene Woodley struggling to produce the strong yet caring lead performance you get from Jennifer Lawrence. Woodley and Theo James in particularly work hard with the tired script to stop the film being a complete washout but it doesn't reach the highs that you'd hope for.

The overall plot suffers as the focus is too narrow in blindly following the character of Beatrice rather than looking at the factions as a whole. So when the plot develops its hard to care for anyone but the main character, as her family are all sidelined very quickly for example. I'd be intrigued to know how faithful the film is to the novel but the early reports seem to be that it has pleased the fans of the books but for me it really lacked that killer punch.

1.5/4 Unremarkable and formulaic opening film