Trance

This Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind meets British Gangster mash-up was brought to us by British Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony) with this is mind, the film entirely held its own and love it or hate it you can't deny it was captivating to say the least.

The beginning segment is simple enough to follow as we are guided by forth wall narration by protagonist Simon (James McAvoy), a Fine Art Auctioneer with a gambling problem. Suffice to say that one can help solve the other, and to clear his debts he gets involved with local French gangster Franck (Vincent Cassel) to steal the painting Witches in the Air by Francisco Goya. 

Though everything is going to plan and despite his training at work where they're taught "Don't play the hero, no art is worth a human life" Simon can't help himself. 

The second segment shows that Simon has double crossed Franck, but the beating to the head he took leaves him forgetting what he did with the painting. Franck encourages Simon to pick a hypnotherapist to help recover the memory of where he hid the painting. Enter Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) who sensing that Simon is in danger does her best to help him and thwart Franck and is band of merry gangster men.

The final third of the film is where things get really complicated as hypnosis, lust, reality and death all become one and the same with no anchor to stop the roller coaster of events that ensue.

Though the plot was full of twist and turns it was a relief that they kept to only three central characters, and a small detail that I found effective was their accents. McAvoy's Scottish, Cassel's French and Dawson's subtle American back dropped against the harsh London Gangster scene just seemed right.

Though the film started out with a lot of obvious turning points, it more than made up for itself with the subtle hints and intricately woven threads between the real world and the one of hypnosis. Definitely one for the know it alls and the ones who like to have their minds blow, and even if you fall into neither category, it should still be given a trance.

Oz The Great and Powerful

Taking inspiration from the series of books by L. Frank Baum The film was nothing short of visually spectacular as we our guided on a journey of clarification as we discover the tale of the man behind the velvet curtain.

Oscar "Oz" Diggs (James Franco) is nothing short of a trickster when it comes to his smoke and mirror carnival magic, that and the way he leads various naive women on soon lands him in a world of trouble. A terrible storm one day provides an accidental escape route from his life of being a borderline crook, giving him the chance to explore, experience and hopefully change his path.

Side Note: A small but appreciative element of the film was the transformation between a 4:3 to 16:9 aspect ratio and respectively from Sepia to Technicolor. 

Transported through the eye of a tornado to the world of Oz, Oscar is expected and soon learns that he is the heir to the land.... and it's massive fortune. The tightly attached string comes in the form of defeating the Wicked Witch who is terrorising the land for want of control. Oscar is accompanied on his mission by an indebted flying monkey named Finley (Voiced by Zack Braff) and an Orphaned China Doll (Voiced by Joey King). No mission would be complete without a few twists and turns, half truths and betrayals.

With Vampires Sparkling and Werewolves being nothing more than giant fluffy dogs, then ethereal beauty is only to be expected of the Witches of Oz; Theodora (Mila Kunis) her sister Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Willaims). But an important fact to remember when watching this film is that; Beauty may only be skin deep but evilness runs to the bone.

Overall the film had the right amount of humour that wasn't kept solely for the titular character to dish out, a range of human, animal and CGI characters that just seemed natural and have I already mentioned how ah-mazing the picture quality was in terms of colour crispness?  

It didn't seem as though a lot of thought when into the cause of certain circumstances involving the Witches and respectively, Oz himself making events seem a little melodramatic. I suppose this could be due to the exposure and various conceptions we have to the world and land of Oz through The Wizard Of Oz (1939) and the Broadway musical Wicked (2003). Undoubtedly I wasn't the only confused one when it came to mentally matching up these prequel characters with who they would later become in the stories we all know so well.....Major Headache.

The Silver Linings Playbook

Bradley Cooper plays the role a Bipolar man whose life is suddenly unravels, leaving him no choice but to movie back home with his Betty Crocker mother and Superstitious father. He and Jennifer Lawrence's Tiffany Maxwell, a young woman with problems of her own find solace with one an other through circumstance and mutual benefit.

The Silver Linings Playbook teaches you to hold on to something, anything that keeps you grounded to the real world despite what other people think of your methods. Hopefully sooner rather than later you will find yourself holding on to more than one silver thread that keeps you tethered to the need of your existence. 

This film wont necessarily make you teary eyed but it provides a range of characters that you can't help but to appreciate and admire. Silver Linings and all.

A Good Day To Die Hard

If you were expecting something other than an all out guns blazing, car chasing, villain slaying action film, then you were sorely deceived. Not that any of those traits are a bad thing, in fact it makes Die Hard what it is, just don't expecting any crying, heart to hearts or hugging and leave your tissues at the door. 

We are reunited with McClane (Bruce Willis) when he discovers that his son has gone off the deep end and has landed himself in trouble with the Russian authorities. Before he gets on the plane, his oldest daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who featured for the first time in her adult age in Live Free Or Die Hard is with him in what appears to be a mended relationship telling her dad to bring back her brother safe.

McClain has dealt with terrorists, mercenaries, vendettas and cyber bullies, but his son is a whole other ball game as Jack McClane (Jai Courtney) has no interest in being saved and worst of all by his dad. He has his own secrets in Russia, but you know what they say about the best laid plans, soon father and son have no choice but to team up to protect political prisoner Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch).

Jack "John" McClane Jr. is tough, cheeky, and displayed an impressive set of biceps. There are a lot of similarities between him and his dad, their dynamic and rapport was smooth and believable and it was nice but almost foreshadowingly sad to see McClane Sr. passing on some old tricks to his son. If there are any clogs in the works that allow him to have his own movie then I wouldn't say no, but hopefully John McClane won't be holstering his guns any time soon.

Though it seemed that the film series was dead and buried after Die Hard With A Vengeance, then again with Live Free or Die Hard, it seems as though for the time being we shouldn't hold our breaths. Not that anyone is complaining. There's a reason that the Die Hard series has spanned across a quarter decade, and here's to another quarter. Yippee-Ki-Yay Motherfuckers.

Wreck It Ralph

As we have all believed as children, and still have that inkling feeling today when we see a shift of unexplainable movement out of the corner of our eyes, when we are not around a whole other world comes alive. Set in a video game arcade when the coast is clear these characters have another life off screen of our thick glassed window into their world.

Wreck-It Ralph, (John C. Reilly) or Ralph for short is the villain in arcade game called Fix-It Felix Jr, and after 30 years of playing the bad guy he's tired of pretending to be someone he's not. The other characters in the game see him as nothing but a big baddie and the only way he thinks he can change their perceptions is by bringing home a heroes medal.

Ralph abandons his game much to the surprise of its residents, and when the game is deemed "Out Of Order" by the arcade owner, Fix-It Felix Jr (Jack McBrayer) goes after Ralph who has already wreaked havoc in Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun's (Jane Lynch) game Hero's Duty and may wreck things beyond fixing in Sugar Rush. Unaware of the wreckage he has left in his wake Ralph befriends a glitch in the Sugar Rush game Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) who strike a deal to get both of them what they want.

If you are fortunate enough to immediately recognise the voice actors then its astonishing how much like their characters they look, which adds another layer of humour to Wreck-It Ralph.
The excitement behind video arcade games is something that a lot of people won't ever relish, being born in the age of PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Wii, but for those us who are a little older and appreciate characters such as Sonic's Doctor Eggman, Streetfighters Zangief, Paperboy and Tappers to name but a few, this movie feels somewhat nostalgic.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me. Wreck-It Ralph.

Django Unchained

The eagerly anticipated new Quinten Tarantino movie sees Jamie Foxx playing a freed slave on a quest to find his wife, with the help of Dentist/Bounty Hunter Christopher Waltz. Genred as a Spaghetti Western, Django Unchained is more meatballs than sauce, and  though Tarantino kept to his guns in a number of ways, one thing I sorely missed was his chapters. Therefore I will recreate them in the most Tarantion-esque way.

Chapter 3: Candyland
After learning of his wife Broomhildas (Kerry Washington) whereabouts, the Doctor and Django set up a ploy to buy her freedom, which involves getting acquainted with the Devishly Debonair Candy man, or more formally known as Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo Dicaprio)

Chapter 1: Unchained
Shackled to his fellow brethren of slaves Django (Jamie Foxx) is sought out by Dr King Schultz (Christopher Waltz) who is looking for a band of murderers  known as the Speck Brothers, their escapades known by many but their faces only viewed by a few. One of whom is Django. The slave traders drive a hard bargain, but after a brief negotiation and a receipt as proof of purchase Schultz "Buys" Django.

Chapter 4: Shit Hits the Fan
Like a carefully constructed arrangement of dominos, one gone shot sets everything off as all hell breaks loose and the sauce gets everywhere. No one is safe as the bullets get blasted, bombs get detonated and kneecaps are obliterated.

Chapter 2: Bounty Hunting
On the hunt for the Speck Brother and a cut in the bounty of the Speck Brothers, Django learns the trade. Once the chase is over, he decides to keep bounty hunting to save up and sharpen his skills before he attempts to find and rescue his wife Broomhilda with the help of Schultz who has grown attached to Django and his story.

Interlude: Stephen
No Tarantino Movie would be complete without Samuel L Jackson who has now appeared in five out of ten Tarantino directed movies. Though his screen time wasn't very high, Jackson made his time count and played a most rememerable role in Candie's long serving family slave and confidant Stephen.

Tarantino has created a new iconic master piece that will allow this generations film watches to no longer think of him as the old school filmmaker, but as someone whose fearsome talents has an unforgiving effect on the audience.

Les Misérables

Translated to English the title hardly needs a second guess; The Miserable.

The Characters portrayed take you on an emotional rollercoaster, feeding you hope then replacing it with despair, and when you fear there's no light at the end of the tunnel a firefly appears to show you the way. As over the span of seventeen years in the midst of the French Revolution everyone battles for a different kind of freedom. A subtle aspect of six degrees of separation is evident in this piece, woven into the foundation of the movie whereby Javert (Russell Crowe) spends his years hunting for disappeared convict Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). On the run from the law Jean Valjean finds God and tries to find penance for his sins in the form of Fantines (Anne Hathaway) daughter Cosette (Isabelle Allen and Amanda Seyfried) who leads a miserable life in the hands of the inn keepers, the Thénardiers (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter).

Russell Crowe arguably held one of the best performances as Javert who starts off as a prison guard but works his way up to a higher rank as the film progresses. Though he is the antagonist and predator to Jean Valjean, there was always something authoritively soft about Javert. He sticks to his belief in the law despite the civil and moral disputes he is faced with when it comes to Jean Valjean and even the rebels. This made him seem more misguided than evil and as you watch the cat and mouse chase between him and Jean Valjean you hope for a brief "Switzerland" moment between the pair.

Hugh Jackmans Jean Valjean was placed on a sympathetic pedestal as he was the central character, transitioning the film between characters and time in history. The audience are running with him from the law and therefore feel his tiredness, suffering and sense of urgency. Of course Hugh Jackman deserves more credit for not only his acting but his singing as his lyrics spoke volumes with the emotion of his face, but nothing less could be expected as Les Misérables is praised for having the first sync sound musical performance from it's cast.

There were a few moments mid song where you would stop and think... 'Do they really need to sing that too?' But the necessity added to the believability whereby as the credits began to roll and the lights brightened the chitter chatter around you begins to form a beat of its own as cheesy and seemingly unbelievable as that sounds. The only major qualm was that, being that it is all set in France it was hard to ignore Gavroches (Daniel Huttlestone) heavy cockney accent, something it seemed no one in the production, casting or continuity departments thought necessary to question.

Having never seen the Broadway musical and knowing nothing about the story apart from that it was possibly French I cannot say whether or not it did the stage musical justice, only that if the standards are set as high as this film was, and manages to earn the respect of the audience as Les Misérables has done, then I gladly welcome many more Theatre Musical Movie adaptations.

Pitch Perfect

A world where you don't get drenched in any number of rainbow coloured slushies for being in a Glee Club is hard to imagine. Pitch Perfect has rendered the need for imagination as a group of college a cappella groups battle to be number one. And it's socially acceptable.

The ending is predictable though the characters are unique and a new brand of funny. The underlining themes seem harsh and out of the blue, completely against the tone of the film itself. Overall a good watch when going in with low expectations to begin with.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Hobbit yes, journey yes, unexpected? Not so much. For those of us religious fans of Peter Jackson original Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, the eventual coming of The Hobbit was anything but Unexpected. The tale of Frodos (Elijah Wood) uncle Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) involved Dragons, Dwarfs (Richard Armitage), Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Gollum (Andy Serkis) a recipe for impending success.
Jackson has managed to do it again and though the film felt like it ran a bit short of the finish line, they have two years to make up for that. Maybe it was that Fellowship Of The Rings style ending that doesn't allow me to rate this movie any higher than an average three unicorns but one thing is for sure, when the other two films come together with An Unexpected Journey, ratings will be through the roof.

Rise Of The Guardians

Although not set around the feastive period, Rise Of The Guardians is this years Cinematic Christmas Feeler. Jack Frost teams up Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy and Sandman to help thwart the Boogieman - Pitch Black.

Called upon by The Man in The Moon, Jack Frost (Chris Pine) the spirit of winter wonders the world alone and unseen, controling and adjusting the snow and frost to cause fun, inconvienience and necessity. His Lone Ranger days are over when the Guardians; Brought together to protect the hopes and beliefs of children all over the world are threatened by the return of Pitch Black (Jude Law) and are instructed to enlist his help.

Descriptions of these legendary characters have been passed on through time; The Sandman, a weirdo in pyjamas who throws dust in your eyes to help you sleep, The Tooth Fairy a small and cute being with butterfly wings who barters your teeth for some change, but as times have progressed it was about time that these legends got a makeover.
Voiced by Alec Baldwin; Santa "Schwarzenegger" Claus is a Russian accented tattoo sleeved badass whose reindeers rival the biggest and fastest stallions and who's helpers are less elves and more Sasquatch. Equipped with a pair of swords I'd take the phrase; Santa Clause Is Coming To Town a little more seriously if I knew he was round the corner.
Close your eyes and picture a mix between Bugs Bunny and a bench pressing kangaroo and you have the Easter Bunny. Mr Not-So-Cute-And-Fluffy has a slight temper and is in constant competition with Jack Frost over a decades old 'Misunderstanding' as Hugh Jackman delivers a comical performance and gives a slight insight into the magic behind the world of Easter.

The best character by far had to be Jude Laws sanctimonious Pitch Black, who was somewhere between the Grim Reaper and Hades. We can hardly blame the guy for wanting to cause fear and misery when it's in his nature to do nothing else. Yet his silky yet sinister voice makes it hard to be on his side as each word ripples another round of goosebumps. As he is the ultimately the reason for destroying the hopes and dreams of children all over the world. Dramatic. But True.

Though the scenes were beautiful and the graphics were amazing it sometimes felt as though you had started listening partway through a conversation as random unanswerable questions who just pop into your mind from time to time such as where did Pitch Black come from and how did he escape? Why is The Man in The Moon in charge? Perhaps however these are just the nitpicky questions of an adult, in the mind of a child the movie ticks all the right boxes from the loveable main character to the slightly sympathetic for Villain.
Although revamped to give a more modernised feel and physical personification they are all still very much the characters of stories we grew up loving. This may be no Arthur Christmas but this film will definitely get you buzzing for the magic of Christmas and may reignite that small torch of belief we all still have buried within us.

Great Expectations

There have been a range of adaptations of Charles Dickens' Classic over the years, including the 1998 modernised Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow version that we pretend does not exist. So it's understandable when another adaptation crops up out of nowhere the presses don't stop and people don't stand in the streets gazing up at billboards in giddiness.

A young Pip (Toby Irvine) whilst visiting his mother’s grave gets pounced on by an escaped convict (Ralph Fiennes) who then scares poor Pip into helping aid in his escape. Terrified of not complying to this mad mans wishes Pip does as he is told. Filled with the compassion of a young child, Pip also brings the convict some food and drink, all at the expense of a beating from is bitter sister. But no good deed goes unpunished.

After his efforts of keeping the convicts arrival in the area concealed, he eventually gets captured by the police and put back into prison. Young Pip doesn't have too long to dwell on these events as his life finds a new chapter in the household of Miss Haversham (Helen Bonham Carter). A crazy, cold hearted and slightly enchanting woman who acquires Pip so that he may play with her niece Estella (Helena Barlow). As is with children of the fantastical world, Pip almost immediately falls in love with this rude and uninterested spoilt child who makes him realise he wants to be more than a Blacksmith in life. Gladly their acquaintance is cut short so that we no longer have to endure her scripted ways.

Sometime in the future we are lucked with a sweaty hard working man who can only be described as a British version of Supernatural's Dean Winchester (played by Jared Padalecki). This matured Blacksmith gets his old wish of leaving behind his life when a mysterious benefactor pays for him to have everything he needs to become a Gentleman. Now living the high life in the stylistic black attire only town of London Pips re-acquaintance with Estella, a more refined version of her younger self is at this stage inevitable.

It would have been more excitable to watch Pip learn to be a gentleman through lessons in etiquette and speech than to just cut to him looking more gentlemanly and hanging around with other rich and rowdy young men whose only purposed seemed to be to show how pretension Pip had become, and to give way to foe and competitor Bentley Drummle (Ben Lloyd-Hughes)

Miss Havishams look I felt was slightly to over the top, she felt more like a delusion corpse bride than a woman crazed from a broken heart. Especially as nothing else in the movie was intensified to that effect, this made her character seem on another level. Lastly except for a few meaningful scenes the relationship between the matured Pip and Estella is greatly under explored.

I enjoy classic adaptations as much as the next person but it's quite possible that tales such as Great Expectations need to be buried deep in the screenplay writers’ trunk of possible book to movie ideas. It has gotten to the point where if another adaptation should rear its head in the next three years they should change the title to a more suitable: Same Expectations.