Don Jon!!!!

Don Jon.

Numerous actors are trying their hand at writing and directing, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is another one of those people and not only has he written and directed the film he also is the main star.

"My body, my pad, my ride, my family, my church, my boys, my girls, my porn" is the list Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) rhymes off that are the most important things to him in his life. A promiscuous male in which every night-out ends with him bedding a girl and the nickname Don Jon he is soon not satisfied with the sex so he turns to one of his obsessions, porn. 

Then one night a girl arrives into his life that makes him change, Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) is out with friends and he soon enough works his moves and tries to take her home but to no avail. Tracking her down and asking her out for coffee the two hit it off and a relationship starts to form but he just isn't completely satisfied. Caught watching porn by Barbara he vows to her that he doesn't watch porn and that only men who don't get any watch it. 

Now changing the error of his ways he takes night classes and soon enough the urge comes back and he starts watching porn again, caught watching it on his phone by Esther (Julianne Moore) he feels embarrassed. Esther sympathises with him and at first mocks him but then she understands him and tries to make him see the error of his ways and that porn isn't all it's cracked up to be.

With Jon's family loving his new girlfriend and the relationship potentially on the rocks if he gets caught again and the guidance from Esther he has some serious thinking to do but what outcome it is is up to him.

For what is a film about the male man finding love and learning about the error of his ways Levitt has touched upon a subject that is never really addressed head on and at times in a funny way. Lines like "they give awards for films......they also give awards for porn" just shows at times the naivety men can have. Levitt plays a great character who goes through the motions of what he thinks and feels love is to him, a proud man of his posessions, his boys and family he's every girls perfect guy. Johansson is of course allowed to be at times overly sexy, tight pushed up dresses, teasing and the prominent accent all add to the possessive fantasy character that Barbara is. 

Flash scenes of how Jon goes to church and confesses in the confession box are at times too repetitive but it adds to what is Jon's repetitive lifestyle. Some scenes in the film can be seen as quite erotic especially when he is stood outside Barbara's apartment  stood behind her wanting to go "inside" and instead he "goes" in his trousers (pardon the pun/innuendo's) you can guess what happens in the scene.

For what is Joseph Gordon-Levitt's first directoral  full length film he has produced something that is essential in today's modern day society, yet he keeps it tongue in cheek as well. Strong performances from the man himself, Johansson and Moore keep the film heading down a straight path and not becoming too funny or too x-rated he balances both quite well. 

For anyone who enjoys a good romance film with some porn and life lessons thrown in then this is the film for you.

8/10.

Short Term 12!!!!

Short Term 12.

When you read what Short Term 12 is about you know from the start you will be in for an emotional rollercoaster, playing with your emotions you go up and down throughout the film. Set in a temporary foster home for troubled teens, Grace (Brie Larson) and her boyfriend Mason (John Gallagher Jr) are care workers who provide a safe place for the teens to live. With a new volunteer just starting Nate (Rami Malek) you see how the house all work, live and play together and are in a way a little dysfunctional family of their own.

As one of the teens Marcus (Keith Stanfield) is about to turn 18 you see the emotions that he goes through on screen, rapping about his past and asking for his head to be shaved you assume he is strong and secure with his new to be freedom. Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever) is a self harming girl who respects no-one and does whatever she wants, constantly drawing she talks to no-one about her problems.

Grace and Mason work with the teens at the home and try to make the place as happy a place as possible. Grace in particular starts to relate to Jayden and soon enough she starts to get her to open up about her past and what had happened to her and why she is always angry all the time. This relationship in turn starts to play on Grace's mind and soon enough Grace must face up to her own problems head on and deal with her own past in order to move forward.

 Two scenes that standout in my mind are one with Marcus when he is having his head shaved and the other with Jayden explaining her short octopus story. Marcus's scene shows him having his head shaved before he leaves and you think to yourself  "new start, new haircut". After his head is shaved Marcus says "is it lumpy...can you see any scars" then it hits you and you realise what he has been through, slowly raising his head you see him smile and you smile back with pride at his bright new happy future with is new haircut.

The scene with Jayden really hits you hard, sat on the floor with Grace she tells the story of her Octopus drawings of how it would sacrifice a leg to feed it's shark friend. The emotion in that scene and how you just know Grace relates to her situation and the sadness you feel for Jayden is truly overpowering.

It has to be said Brie Larson is perfect and portrays Grace with such ease, to be able to bring out a strong character that is deep down wounded herself is impressive. Keith Stanfield as Marcus and Kaitlyn Dever as Jayden are both impressive, bringing out two emotionally fuelled teens both in different circumstances they really make you feel for the characters. The use of showing how characters express their feelings is so simple yet so clever, Marcus rapping to let people know what he's thinking and Jayden drawing what she feels is a great thing to touch upon. As many children in abusive situations never want to talk but communicate in different ways so to use rap and art was a great choice.

For what is such a short film Destin Cretton has made an emotional film that will have you close to tears one minute and in another have you smiling and laughing again.

10/10.

Gravity!!!!

Gravity.

With a film that has nothing but constant praise you have to stop and think for a second is it "really" that good well I have to say the critics are correct, Gravity is in my eyes phenomenal. Avatar was the last film that was highly praised by all and was James Cameron's billion dollar movie which was to make him one of the most talked about directors, now is Alfonso Cuaron's time.

Gravity sets the scene in outer space where we see Dr Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) attached to the explorer shuttle and working on the Hubble Space Telescope while we see Lieutenant Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) on a space walk flying around the shuttle trying to set a new record. Flight engineer Shariff Dasari (Paul Sharma) is attached to the shuttle and finishing up his latest repairs while also fooling around being tethered to the shuttle. 

Soon enough a transmission from mission control Houston (voiced by Ed Harris) comes through telling the team to abort the mission as a Russian missile strike on a satellite has caused a chain reaction of debris to come hurtling towards the shuttle. As the debris hits Explorer the crew are thrown into chaos, Ryan is still attached to the arm of Explorer and is spun around numerous times, Kowalski keeps shouting for her to detach. Detaching and being thrown into space she is soon spinning out of control with nowhere to to and soon panics and hyperventilates. 

With both of the astronauts stranded and floating around in space its only a matter of time until their oxygen runs out and they have yet to find a way back to Earth. 

For everything Cuaron has done with the film it has all been cleverly thought out as every shot and camera angle has been planned. The visual effects are just something I have never seen before, seeing the curvature of the earth at one point with the northern lights green effect is just astounding to see. The debris that flys around on screen looks really impressive and at times you have to stop and say "this isn't a documentary" as it looks visually that good you think it's real.

I have to mention the 3D aspect as for some films it is used as a gimmick to get bums on seats but with Gravity the 3D is used to enhance the film and it does it perfectly. With Ryan being thrown in circles on screen she comes flying towards you at one point, bolts, tears and floating objects all come towards you subtly. 

One thing the film does is it disorientates you completely, not knowing where the character is going and just floating around upside down and round and round. And with no fixed point of land/Earth you can't gauge where the character will go next and I have had people comment it left them feeling abit of motion sickness. And this to me is another quality to the film it effects your body, feeling motion sickness and also out of breath when Ryan is gasping for air it just effects you so much. 

In my opinion the story of the film could have been worked on abit more as it is at times easy to work out, sound wise it can at times be alit bit too loud and abit much. But for what Cuaron has produced is a sheer masterpiece of filmaking, a film that can rival and stand up against Cameron's Avatar and Howard's Apollo 13 this is one film to stand the test of time. Come award season let's just expect Gravity to be in every category apart from Animated film. 

A stunning, visually aweing, incredible, immersive sci-fi film that will leave you breathless and wanting it to never end.

10/10.

Thor:The Dark World!!!!

Thor: The Dark World.

What is the third film Marvel film to be released this year and the second film from phase two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: The Dark World sets the scene of a war on Asgard. 

A story is told of how a dark elf army led by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) went into battle against Thor's grandfather Bor (Tony Curran) in which they battled to stop Malekith from using his latest created weapon 'the aether'. With Bor triumphant he was to take the aether and place it in a stone and bury it deep underground, Malekith of course escapes with his general and sacrifices the rest of his dark elf army.

With Thor (Chris Hemsworth) back in his home world of Asgard after the attack by Loki (Tom Hiddleston) on New York in Avengers Assemble Loki is placed in jail on Asgard by his "father" Odin (Anthony Hopkins). As Thor battles enemies on the different planets with his fellow Asgardian soldiers he is hoping to bring peace to the nine realms and become king of Asgard. 

Of course Thor's love interest Jane (Natalie Portman) is back on earth and investigating strange occurrences with her assistant Darcy (Kat Dennings) and soon enough Jane comes into contact with aether and is attacked by it. With this aether running through her body nothing can attack or harm her and the only person who can help finally arrives back on Earth, Thor.

Soon enough Malekith awakens and knows the whereabouts of the aether and is hell bent on obtaining it to use it when the nine realms align and he can destroy all the light and turn everything into darkness. With Jane in danger and now in Asgard, Thor asking for Loki's help and Malekith set on destroying the universe what will happen?.

The film has alot of characters which are in part all integral to the storyline that is running through the film, Thor has alot of things to do to save not only Asgard but the other realms as well. Deciding where his fate and life will lie is also another point he has to work out, be with a mortal human (Jane) or stay on Asgard and rule over the nine realms. At times it can be moving along a quite a pace which isn't too bad, setting the film mainly on Asgard was a good idea as you get to see his home world and the whole dynamics of the people of Asgard. 

Hemsworth as Thor is of course charming and brings the character to life really well, Portman plays the vulnerable Jane and is just swept away with everything that is going on. Hiddleston as Loki is funny and witty and brings some laughs but also brings the fight as well when he is needed by Thor. The effects are massive just like Iron Man 3 they have gone ALL OUT with this film and bring plenty of destruction and explosions and pump in more and more action sequences. 

The ending for me could have been alot more planned and thought out especially what happens to Malekith it feels just a bit of a cop out. Of course the after credit scenes set the scene for the next Marvel installment film and tey certainly entice and give insight in what we can expect next from the Marvel cinematic universe. 

An overall entertaining, action packed, fast paced superhero movie that fits in perfectly with the other Marvel releases and sets you up for Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

8/10.