The Way Way Back!!!!

The Way Way Back.

What has to be one of the years best summertime movies; emotion, teenage angst, growing up, being accepted and a dysfunctional family all feature in this film and come together to make something special. Starting off in a car journey Duncan (Liam James) is talking to his mums boyrfriend Trent (Steve Carell) about what Duncan would rate himself on scale of one to ten, Duncan says he's a six but Trent says he is a three and says its because he doesn't go out or put himself "out there". 

As the family, Duncan's mum Pam (Toni Collette), Trent's daughter Steph (Zoe Levin) pull up to Trent's holiday home it is evident that Duncan doesn't want to be there and isn't going to enjoy it. Soon enough the neighbours turn up, mum Betty (Allison Janney), daughter Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) and her son Peter (River Alexander) all welcome the family with open arms.

The holiday is of course more for the adults as it is for the kids, as the family meets up with old friends of Trent's Kipp (Rob Corddry) and Joan (Amanda Peet) they regress back to their teenage years by staying up late drinking, smoking pot and going skinny dipping in the sea. But for Duncan this is just not his thing as he is left to fend for himself and entertain himself while his parents have their "spring break". Deciding to take a pink bike out for a ride he finds a local water park and meets the owner Owen (Sam Rockwell) who strike up a funny relationship. 

Soon enough Duncan is offered a job at the water park which will change his life like he never thought would be possible. Gaining people experience and finally enjoying the time away from his family he starts to come out of his shell more and makes some great friends in the process. Plucking up the courage to talk to Susanna a great friendship is made as Duncan shows her around the water park and is able to be himself for the first time around her. 

As the little quips, in jokes and sarcasm come thick and fast on screen it makes for a really enjoyable film and really does make you smile from scene to scene. As you see Duncan come to life at the water park you get to see his personal development and the relationship he has with his mother and her very stern authoritarian boyfriend Trent. As he finally gets his courage he has to soon enough leave the water park as summer is coming to an end and say goodbye to his new found friends. 

It's rare for a film with so many characters with a small runtime to really let the characters come across but they do. Smaller characters like Lewis (Jim Rash) and Caitlin (Maya Rudolph) get the chance to shine and show their back story and bring in some great one liners and comedy moments as well. The storyline is one that is sweet and can be awkward to watch on screen especially between Duncan and Trent it's a situation family members all go through at some point. 

On a holiday that he didn't want to be a part of Duncan learns more about life, friendships and his own future than he would have ever thought. And along the way he also meets some great friends, has some great fun at a water park and has some great laughs. What more could you want in life.

9/10.

Elysium!!!!

Elysium.

I have to say this is a film that has been speculated ever since director Neil Blomkamp's released his first major film 'District 9' which was to be highly rated by critics at it's take in the future. With people speculating that this film was a sequel to District 9 and then some saying it was a prequel, speculations quashed it was announced to be an entirely new story. 

Set in the future we see how the rich and the poor are divided, the poor living in the squalor on Earth and the rich living on a huge floating space station called Elysium. With humans living in the poorest of conditions day to day it is a battle to survive and obviously soon enough something has to happen to make the people snap. With the rich living on Elysium everything is perfect for them, clear skies, good food, instant "medi-pods" to instantly heal people, their lives are perfect. 

As we enter the we see how a simple worker Max (Matt Damon) works for weapons manufacturer and soon enough is caught in a radiation chamber and is given five days to live. So his only option to live is to get himself to Elysium and to one of the medi-pod's so he can be cured of his radiation. This idea he needs friends in high places, deciding to do a favour for a black market friend Spider (Wagner Moura) Max is giving a metal enhancing suit that will make him stronger, faster and more powerful in exchange for hijacking a executive of Elysium who lives on Earth and stealing some information off him via his brain. 

With Max deciding to take on this task he is up against a formidable foe as the head of Elysium Delacourt (Jodie Foster) sends her best mercenary Kruger (Sharlto Copley) to take him out once and for all. As Max and his fellow crew try to get to Elysium certain situations change and the group are even more desperate to get to Elysium but will they make it there?

This film does feel like the best of this years major sci-fi releases, Oblivion and After Earth being these other two films released this year. Elysium just feels more relate able and something that is not confined to just two or three characters as you have a whole race of people relying on these renegade people wanting to change and stop the social split on Earth. The whole idea and premise is great, poor VS the rich and how they are both split morally is clever and really brings that urge inside you to side with one or the other. 

Matt Damon is a great character but to me he just isn't too grounded, obviously he's not a fighting character like we've seen from Jason Bourne he's just a normal guy trying to do good. Sharlto Copley is the polar opposite of his character in District 9 as he plays a psychopathic mercenary and has some interesting ways to take people out. Jodie Foster just comes across as a little bit too cold and doesn't show too much emotion but then again her character is a stern faced executive so she has to be like that.

A great and really enjoyable sci-fi film that really does make you think about the whole social class system that we have in the world and how it could end up being in future years. The special effects are impressive and There are certain things I'd like to have seen like a bit more time spent on Elysium and maybe another character thread involving someone from Elysium and their views on people of Earth. Copley's South African is thick and at times can grate but it doesn't matter as he's a more physical character. 

For a film set in the future it scarily shows a realistic view of what the future might be and the way things could go with a massive social split. Thought provoking and definitely entertaining.

8/10.

Kick-Ass 2!!!!

Kick-Ass 2.

When the first Kick-Ass movie came out it was a ground breaking film as it showed just what would happen if real everyday people decided to don the mask and go out and become a hero. So the expectations for the second film were of course to be set high and In my opinion they've done a great job with this second film as it has everything. 

Set in the future the film shows how Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) and Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) have both decided to try and move on from the superhero days and live a normal life. With Mindy still being drawn to saving people after swearing to her dying father she would she finds it hard to adjust. Finally giving in Mindy stops and tells Dave that it's over and she has to lead a more normal life and go to high schools. Dave can't stop and so he soon enough joins up with a group of other superhero's called Justice Forever. Leadup by ex mob boss and born again Christian Sal Bertolinni/Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) the gang set out to do good in the world, taking out and setting free a brothel is just one of their achievements. 

Soon enough Chris D'Amico/The Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) hears of Kick-Ass still on patrol on the streets and vows to kill him and avenge the death of his father who Kick-Ass killed with a rocket launcher. With Chris starting up his own team of superhero villains he soon enough decides to take down Justice Forever one by one and finally kill Kick-Ass. 

With a final fight between both teams who will come out on top?, will Mindy finally give in and accept she is Hit-Girl? and what will the future hold for the superhero's?.

Overal I loved the film because it brought in more superhero's who do exactly what Kick-Ass does and they try to do good. The whole revenger storyline has been done a thousand times but it fits in well with the superhero theme and comes off as funny at times. I'll admit the storyline is basic but it does what it says on the tin, it brings in plenty of fighting, a nice moral story of acceptance, some comedy and a little bit of swearing. 

Carrey is in my eyes the BEST casting for this film, his simple one liners are just instant and bring a laugh "there's a dog on your balls". Chloe brings in a different side we've never seen of Mindy, now all grown up we see her teenage problems and how her hard stern self deals with this (in gross situations).Obviously the film has violence but at times it is that silly it becomes funny and you accept it for what it is. A great film with plenty of action and no doubt with the ending that took place we may yet see a Hit-Girl only movie which I would easily welcome with open arms. 

8/10.

The Lone Ranger!!!!

The Lone Ranger.

Now when this western TV show started out as a Radio series in 1933 and then to hit TV screens for eight series from 1949-1957 and it was to be a great success. With a handful of films made they were not to really make an impact and so for decades the franchise was left, until now that is. Bought up by the Disney corporation and worked on for numerous years it was finally given the green light and was to steam into cinemas. Brought to screens by the makers of the highly successful Pirate's of the Caribbean franchise it was in people's eyes to be a potential great success, a massive budget of over $250 million dollars was to make people sceptical. 

Of course Johnny Depp was to be cast as the native american Tonto, along with John Reid (Armie Hammer) as the Lone Ranger himself it's an interesting duo of actors for the film. Starting off with a scene of a young boy who walks into a tent at a carnival to speak to what looks like an old and wrinkly Tonto. As the story begins we see John Reid travelling home on the train, unbeknown to him two outlaws are travelling on the same train, Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner) and Tonto.  

As the train is derailed and Butch is saved by his fellow outlaws John and is brother Dan go off in pursuit of Butch and his outlaws which in turn brings tragic circumstances. Waking up on top of a wooden structure overlooking the canyons John Reid soon comes into close contact with Tonto for the first time and is told of what happened to him. 

With an intertwining storyline that involves many characters it brings the western film to life but at a slow and at times a snails pace. Not wanting to give too much away the film for the first three quarters is quite slow and is a more drama based film with the situations the characters are involved in. The last quarter of the film is where it eventually picks up the pace, the classic theme music comes in and all action ensues. From fast paced out of control trains, fast horse riding and a massive explosion that will impress anyone it finally has the oomph behind it but it's too little too late. As the film finishes on a massive high it's a bit of a let down in that sense as it could have done with being more fast and punchier at the start. 

Johnny Depp for me is just the same character he was in Pirate's, changing his accent and taking off his pirate hat and placing a bird on his head he's to me not worked on his character. Armie as The Lone Ranger just doesn't work and he seems to be too wooden and doesn't convince me that he is a guy who is conflicted with what to do, be a ranger or become an outlaw. 

For a film with a big budget you can't see where the money has gone, with any other film you can see the special effects and CGI in action but here it seems most of the money was spent on script re-writes, sets and set design which is a shame. If I was to recommend the film to anyone I would say they were to only watch the last quarter as the first three quarters didn't grab my attention and I kept looking at my watch to see when I could leave. A real shame but no doubt Disney will shove another one of the films out in the near future and we will yet again see Depp with a bird on his head and Hammer on his white stead, Silver. 

To finish off all I can say is, this film franchise......."Hi-Yo, Silver! AWAYYYYY!!!"

6/10.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa!!!!

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa.

"Knowing me, Knowing you, AHAA!!" a quote from a comedic character who would take off and become more famous than the actor portraying him. I am of course talking about Alan Partridge from the creative and comedic mind of Steve Coogan, The Day Today was our first glimpse of Alan and he was to subsequently finally have his own show "Knowing Me, Knowing You" which was a comedic take on a chat show interviewing fake celebrities. With Alan being let go after just one series he was to return to our screens with "I'm Alan Partridge" a look at how Alan now lives in a local hotel and works at a local radio station. Finally getting a second series but not being too much a success Alan was to stay with his radio show.

This is of course where the film comes in, Alan is still working at North Norfolk Digital and is soon caught up in a situation that will possibly change the radio stations future. As Alan arrives at the radio station he soon finds out that the station is being taken over and changing it's name to be re-branded as "Shape". With his fellow radio DJ Pat Farrell (Colin Meaney) being sacked and Alan being spared his position at the station things take a turn for the worse. 

As the radio station has a new launch for the re-branding ex sacked DJ Pat storms the party with a double barrelled shotgun and decides to take the employees of the station hostage. With Alan being a close friend of Pat he is sent in to speak with him and try to work out what is wrong as Alan put's it "I am siege face".

Over the course of the film you see the classic Alan character come out in full force with facial expressions and one line quips coming thick and fast. As Alan slowly tries to help Pat he also has a secret to hide as well and soon enough Pat will find out. 

This film is classic Partridge and you get to see some great comedic scenes with Alan and it just shows that even after being away for a few years he's still funny. The storyline is a clever idea that works quite well, some ideas like the escaping from a toiler window and old hat jokes are not needed but they're funny ad you go along with it. A definite film for any Partridge fans as it has everything you would expect from him and more which is always a good thing. It's hard to condense a film which has so many one line jokes and also cover the story of the film as it goes by so quick but is so funny as well.

7/10.