The Raid 2!!!!

The Raid 2.

Iko Uwais the star of the first The Raid film is back for what is the second round of fast paced martial arts impressive violence. Following on from the first film we at first see a corn field in which a shaking scared man is executed and thrown into a shallow dug grave by a mysterious man Bejo (Alex Abbad). As Rama (Iko Uwais) is taken to meet with Bunawar (Cok Simbara) the chief of Jakarta's anti-corruption task force, told that his brother has been killed by Bejo, Rama is persuaded to help bring down the corrupt police commissioner Reza (Roy Marten). 

To get inside and find out information he must infiltrate two rival gang familys, Bangun and Goto. Assaulting a son of a politician who opposed the Bangun gang he is thrown into prison. This is where the first fight sequence takes place, in the middle of a exercise courtyard that is a foot deep in thick mud a riot breaks out. Fighting off most of the prisoners he soon enough saves the life of the son of Bangun, Uco (Arfin Putra). Finally out of prison and in marched in front of Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo) he is taken in by the family and given a job to do whatever Bangun says. 

Being close to Uco he sees his frustration for the fact his father hasn't given him enough power in the family business and years for something bigger. Going behind his fathers back Uco meets with Bejo and they both work out a plan to start an all out gang war between Bangun and Goto so that Uco can prove himself to his father. 

With this war started the bloodshed comes quick and fast and really violent with assassins on both sides, Prakoso (Yayan Ruhian) works for Bangun and fights and kills to keep the city in order. Bejo has his own two assassins who we shall only name Baseball bat man and Hammer girl and you can guess what their choice of weapon is. 

The storyline of the film if you can keep up with the subtitles is quite basic but really effective and interesting at the same time. So one thing I haven't covered is the fight sequences and the violence of the film that really make it seriously impressive and exciting all the way through. Their are fights in cars, fights in a toilet cubicle, fights in a building, fights in a corridor, fights in a kitchen, fights in a massive mud filled courtyard and even a car chase to top it all off. It takes the fight sequences from the first Raid film and just triples, no quadruples it and makes it more fast and technical. 

Throw in the fact you have hammer girl and baseball bat guy and you can understand the sequences, you watch in awe but you flinch, grimmace and shout out "woahhhhh, that's insane" when you see what happens on screen. You can tell director Gareth Evans has really thought about these scenes and takes his time to get the scenes right and precise and perfect and he does it so well. 

For me this is already one of my films of the year, not many 18 films have entered the UK cinema and this one has really impressed me. The way in which the film is pieced together and how the fight scenes are brought in really bring the film together, with the right storyline of family loyalty and betrayal it works really well. For anyone who loved the first Raid film you will seriously love every minute of this film and you'll bask in its glory and smile, laugh, wince and flinch at every punch,kick, hit,shot and stab.

10/10.

Starred Up!!!!

Starred Up.

Violence, corruption, drugs and survival are some aspects to prison life and you certainly do need to survive while in prison. I honesty can't remember the last time I saw a film set in a prison, Bronson I think was the last film that touched upon this subject in a gritty way.

The basic plotline is Eric Love (Jack O'Connell) is a fresh faced young man given an early transfer from the Young Offender Institution to an adult prison. Being the loud mouthed, confrontational and confident person he is he doesn't quite fit in with the inmates. 

Over the course of the film he gets into trouble, fighting prison guards, attacking other inmates and basically fighting for his own survival. One man stands out from the rest Neville (Ben Mendelsohn) who sympathises with the young man and gives him some stark firm but fair advice on surviving. As situations escalate and people end up dead or injured Eric must learn to comply with the system or he will go down fast and end up dead himself.

Going to group therapy sessions he opens up abit more and talks about his father, who turns up and walks into the room. Neville is his father and the group soon learns why Eric has stayed alive for doing so many things wrong so quickly. Finally stepping in as a father both of them need to learn, to either open up and have a father/son relationship or just learn to survive and move on.

As I say this is the first prison film I've seen in a good while and it makes a difference and certainly lets the acting come across really well in confined spaces. The storyline of son meeting father in prison is clever and shows an angle to prisons that you wouldn't ever usually think about could happen. O'Connell plays Eric with such ease and confidence but then his character could be seen as a more grown up Cook from Skins. Mendelsohn portrays the broken father with hope with ease as well, learning to adapt to his surroundings he survives knowing the inner circles of the prison and gets by by any means necessary. 

I have to mention the violence which not only is impressive but in this film is necessary and something that is a need to an end to lengthen Eric's survival. Making make shift shanks out of a melted toothbrush and a razor blade shows he can be creative and still survive. The storyline of father and son is what makes it so interesting, if it was lone man trying to survive it would be too contrived and bland. Throw in a small confined place with father and son who haven't seen each other in years and its a perfect setting. 

For a small budget film set in a prison it is seriously impressive and a film that deserves so much attention. Using actors who can show and bring out that genuine quality to prison life and still make the film exciting and engaging is impressive. For anyone who likes to watch gritty, violent films showing the realistic side to life in prison then seriously watch this film.

10/10.

Carrie!!!!

Carrie.

Horror re-makes are something that has been quite popular recently, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Evil Dead and now here Carrie has it's own re-make/re-imagining. Of course we all remember the Brian De Palma original from 1976 that saw a demure little girl go to prom and unleash her telekinetic powers. This re-make is something that obviously follows in the same vein as the original but with a few added little tweaks and changes to keep up to date. 

Starring as Carrie (Chloe Grace Moretz) we see her this time in a water polo game, the outcast and near the side of the pool she eventually hits the ball straight into a girls face. Back in the changing room and this time the girls are alot more covered up Carrie experiences her first period and mistakenly screams that she is dying. The girls in tern throw sanitary products at her while one of the girl films Carrie's misfortune on her mobile phone which later on will be posted onto YouTube. 

As Carrie starts to notice these strange things she can do she decides to research her telekinetic powers, reading books in the library and watching videos on YouTube she learns about what she can and can't do. With the girls who bullied and taunted her being punished one girl Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde) feels bad for what she did to Carrie and asks her boyfriend Billy Nolan (Alex Russell) to take her to prom. 

Of course Carrie has the constant struggle with her very devout religious mother Margaret White (Julianne Moore) who says she should have killed her at birth. Locking her in a cupboard under the stairs and telling her to pray she does nothing but scare her daughter. 

With Carrie deciding to go to prom she makes her own dress and goes against her mothers word "they'll all laugh at you" is the only words she gets from her mother. Of course her fellow school bully and now banned from prom Chris (Portia Doubleday) is hatching her revenge on Carrie by putting a bucket of blood up above the stage to pour all over Carrie and humiliate her even more.

For people who have seen the original we all know what happens, Carrie is covered in blood and she

 soon enough exacts her revenge on everyone who had laughed, taunted, maimed or given her false hope. Bodies fly across the room, fires erupt and alot of people are killed in her mad fit of telekinetic rage. She also goes after Chris and her boyfriend and in a clever new way she gets her final revenge. 

For a re-make it isn't too bad, it has the blood filled deaths that we all expected and being 2013 the CGI and special effects are used to make them look more sinister and impressive. Chloe Grace Moretz for me didn't look too demure enough and this isn't to criticise her natural size she could have been alot slimmer and look more vulnerable. She does look alot more menacing with the upwards glare you can see the evil in her eye which is not what Carrie was she was an innocent girl with scary new powers who just wanted to fit into society. The odd little tweaks of how a mobile phone video is posted of Carrie on YouTube brings the film more up to date with current times which is good.

The film went with the tact of having Julianne Moore being more psychotic, bashing her head against the wall, stabbing herself in the leg, scratching her wrists till they bled she was more menacing. To me this was a great idea as it shows the ferocity in the mother and the determination she went too to protect her only daughter. 

Overall a good re-make that could have been so much more if it had changed and made it alot more appealing. For anyone that hasn't seen the original then you will love it as a standalone psychological style film for anyone else who HAS seen the original be ready to grumble and constantly compare the two.

7/10.

The Family!!!!

The Family.

Robert De Niro is obviously known in the world of films for playing gangsters, two most poignant films being in The Godfather II as Vito Corleone and then Jimmy Conway in Goodfella's. Both parts were to gain him BAFTA and Oscar nominations in which he took the Oscar for his role in The Godfather Part II, it's safe to say he is one of the screens best gangsters. But it has to be said that De Niro has lowered his guard with this film as it has all the hints of being a good gangsters film but in the end it just feels flat and bland which is a shame. 

Starting out by telling the story of the Manzoni family you see Giovanni (Robert De Niro) being blown away by a sabotaged barbecue. Driving down a country lane Giovanni and his family, wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), son Warren (John D'Leo) and daughter Belle (Dianna Agron) are looking for their new home in Normandy, France. Relocated yet again the family have been placed into witness protection after Giovanni decided to tell on his own mod family and have mob boss Don Luchese arrested and imprisoned.

As the family try to settle in things don't go according to plan, Giovanni hospitalising the local plumber, Warren embezzling and blackmailing students, Belle fighting off sleezey boys and Maggie blowing up the local store. The family is of course looked after by FBI agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) who is tired of relocating the family and just wants them to all "blend in" but to no avail. 

Soon enough the family are tracked down and Don Luchese's hired men arrive in town and set out to take out the whole family and leave no-one alive. With the family split up and their lives in jeopardy their going to have to work together as a family and use their killer instincts to survive.

The film is ok but is honestly nothing more than a entertaining gangster style comedy film, it could have been alot better but it just seems to skim over the characters and finishes too abruptly and quickly. De Niro you can tell will take any role involving a gangster to get viewers to pick up some of his better older films like Goodfellas. This has to be Luc Besson at his most complacent and feels like he is just making the film to entertain and not really bring anything new to the table. 

Pfeiffer, Agron and D'Leo are all good and add to the film in their own way but they don't impress and only add to the fast paced moving storyline.  The action is fast and slick but again it moves along just too quickly, leaving you satisfied it doesn't have you guessing and feeling you've seen something new and impressive. 

Overall a nice action film that if you want to watch and have on in the background you can do as even if you miss parts of it you'll still understand the ending. 

6/10.

You're Next!!!!

You're Next.

When it comes to horror films I tend to stay away mainly because the "horror" films put out in cinemas tend to be more of the jumpy kind and tend to be less blood filled. I haven't seen any blood filled horror films this year at the cinema until now, You're Next has plenty of blood and gore.

As the story starts we see a young couple enjoying their down time together, as the guy showers and walks back into the main room he see's a massive "You're Next" scrawled on the wall and see's his partner dead on the floor in a pool of blood.

Soon enough we see the Davison family one by one arrive at their holiday home out in the remote Missouri woods. As the family sit down to their first meal things go from bad to worse as metal crossbow arrows come flying through the windows and one hits a member of the family. As the family realise they are under attack they all become hysterical and try and work out what to do next as an unlikely person steps up. Erin (Sharni Vinson) steps up to take charge and soon enough directs the family as to what to do to survive.

As the three masked gang, Tiger, Fox and Lamb masks take on Erin they all are surprised by what they're up against as Erin fights back. As traps are set and Erin picks up whatever she can and uses it as a weapon as the death toll soon rises and Erin is fighting for only her own survival. As the true nature of the invaders is revealed it will side swipe you and is not anything you would think would happen which is always good.

I can't give too much away as the film has a basic storyline to it but it's the action and really black humour that sets it apart from other horror films. With a twist of the girly girl being the person who can fight back it fits and works well, giving her a good back story as to why she's a trained survivor it's not absurd. 

The way in which the deaths take place are enough especially for myself to sit there and laugh and enjoy them as they are full of blood and at times ridiculous. As you get brought into the film you soon enough take sides and get involved shouting and wanting to see people get killed. At times it can be predictable as well with working out and guessing exactly what will happen next but it's all part of the black comedy.

THE horror film of the year in my opinion, taking horror films back to how they should and used to be, full of blood, plenty of deaths, at times funny and has a nice little storyline to it. 

8/10.

Byzantium!!!!

Byzantium.

A second vampire film from director Neil Jordan and a return to ways of how a vampire film should be done, dark, sexy and filled FULL of the good red stuff, blood. Yes Byzantium is directed by the man who brought us the classic vampire film 'Interview with the Vampire'. Deciding this time to use the story/play of Moira Buffini it sees the story of a centuries old mother and daughter in modern day life struggling to stay alive.

The film starts out with audio dialogue of the daughter Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) telling her story and how she arrived at the place that she currently lives. Cutting to a lap dancing club you see the mother Clara (Gemma Arterton) giving a client a lap dance in order to make some money. As a man arrives in the club holding a picture of Clara she's soon being chased by him on the streets as she runs for her life, caught she leads him to her home where she beheads him with some cheese cutter wire.

Setting fire to the flat to destroy the body the mother and daughter leave and end up in a small sea side town where Clara meets a crying grieving client Noel (Daniel Mays). Finding out he has inherited a hotel 'Byzantium' from his deceased mother Clara befriends him and moves herself and her daughter into the hotel.

Soon enough a wandering Eleanor becomes friends with an old gentleman who invites her to his home and explains how he has read her story of her life. He accepts death and allows Eleanor to drain his blood and end his life for him, using her growing nail she slits his wrist and drains his blood. As she wanders into a hotel to play a piece by Mozart on a piano she gains an admirer in a young waiter Frank (Caleb Landry Jones) who follows her and tries to become friends. Deciding to join a college course she finally gets the chance to write about her life story and tells Frank her and her mothers secret which draws in some rather unwanted attention from her tutors. 

As the police find the burnt out flat and the old age pensioners blood drained body the mother and daughter are soon being tracked down by two men, Darvell (Sam Riley) and Savella (Uri Gavriel). Both men look and act mysterious and want to track down the mother and daughter as soon as possible.

As the relationship between the mother and daughter becomes strained and the relationship between Eleanor and Frank becomes stronger what will happen to the two bonds. Will Eleanor and Clara finally escape the sights of Darvell and Savella and how did the both of them become vampires.

The movie is interesting and brings in some different origins and ways in which vampires act and live in the real world during daylight. With the use of a growing finger nail to slice peoples wrists or necks to suck the blood out of victims is unique and a little twist on the usual fanged nocturnal vampire. The way in which they become vampires is like more of an old ritual in which they voluntarily take part in and is impressive with blood flowing waterfalls and packs of black birds swirling in the sky. 

Saoirse Ronan portrays Eleanor really well and plays the innocent young victim daughter with plenty of emotion, Gemma Arterton portrays the young mother who would do anything for her daughter well and shows how much she loves her daughter. I liked the addition of some UK tv actors like Daniel Mays and Tom Hollander as it gave it a more home UK style film and also the fact it's partly filmed in the UK as well. 

Overall it's the type of film for the people who complained about Twilight not being a vampire film, they would love this film. It's dark with plenty of blood and a brooding underlying storyline of love and loss and new relationships. There are no special effects or anything it's a straight up low budget style film that really hits every point of a vampire film. For any Twilight haters go or Twilight lovers go and watch this film and see how a proper blood filled vampire film is done.

8.5/10.

Django Unchained!!!!

Django Unchained.

I'll admit that at times this review might be seen as biased as I am a massive Tarantino fan and always have been since I first saw Kill Bill 1 when it first came out. This film of course has plenty of Tarantino's traits, a great cast, some funny comedy, extreme violence and plenty of blood as well. 

So to start with the film starts with the scene shown in many trailers before the films release. As Django (Jamie Foxx) is walking along a dusty track in a dark wood with some fellow slaves and his two masters, Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) trundles along with his cabin to buy Django from them. As negotiations go wrong between Dr Schultz and the two masers and blood is shed Django and Dr Schultz make a pact and both ride off into the night.

The film itself follows of course the character of Django as he is saved and made a free man by Dr Schultz, in return Django must point out the Brittle brothers in which Schultz is looking for. As Schultz trains up Django to be a bounty hunter they travel around the different plantations and take out anyone that has a hit on their head. As the duo continue with their work they decide to go and find Django's wife Broomhilda von Schaft to save her from slavery and let Django and his wife live happily ever after. 

As the duo come across a plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) they both realise it is his plantation where Broomhilda is being held as a slave. With Candie being away from the plantation from time to time he has his own personal plantation assistant Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) take charge. As the trio converse over the buying of some Mandingo fighters what will happen?, will Django and Schultz get what they've gone for or will Candie find out their true intentions and have them killed?

The film itself is the most linear of Tarantino films as the storyline moves along at a steady pace and doesn't cut back to previous scenes or different characters. It sticks with Django and Dr King Schultz and stays with them right through to the end which is what makes this more accessible for people. The storyline is of revenge just like many other Tarantino films but that is to be expected though. Being set in the spaghetti western era where slavery is a common occurrence it allows for some violent scenes to take place in which Tarantino handles in a serious manner. A scene of two dogs attacking a runaway black slave, the whipping of Broomhilda and Mandingo fighting where two slaves fight to the death are all shocking but bring a more serious side to the film and show what slaves will have had to endure.

The performances are memorable, Christoph Waltz is great as he shows a side of wit and intelligence to his character of Dr. King Schultz. Leonardo DiCaprio's character of Calvin Candie is a great performance as it is the first time we see Leo take on the role of a truly evil and nasty person. He fits into the role well, showing some slight intelligence in one scene he can then jump to show a  more violent and sadistic side to his character. Samuel L. Jackson who plays Candie's right hand slave Stephen has to be the best character in the film mainly because of all the funny lines he has. He plays a inquisitive yet harsh man who has grown to rule over Candieland while his master is away and controls everything that happens at the plantation. 

Now some people will think I'm unhinged when I type this but trust me if you're as big a Tarantino fan as myself then you will understand what I am about to say. The gun fight scenes in which showcase all of the blood that splatters the walls to me was comedic genius as I laughed so much at these violent scenes. I say this with great respect and sincerity, the scenes are at times ridiculous with the amount of blood that comes out of the bodies but it does make you laugh. It wouldn't be a Tarantino film if their wasn't any form of blood being splattered up the walls and across the sets.. 

One downside to the film is the length, I myself didn't notice the time and I happily sat and watched the film without thinking of when it would finish. But for some people who find long films a little bit too much to bear then it is best to wait for a DVD release. Another thing I found was that I didn't particularly warm to Jamie Foxx's portrayal as Django, his one liners seem to be said half heartedly and with no passion. 

Overall it is another great addition to Tarantino's filmography and sees him return to top form as a writer and director. If anyone else was to do this film it wouldn't be received too well but because it's Tarantino we all accept it and love it for what it is. He can safely tick off another era on his list, maybe next he will try his hand at a sci-fi, superhero or romcom film..........who knows?

9.5/10.