LEGO Movie - review

"Everything is awesome" booms the only song played in Bricksburg 24 hours hours a day and you know what? It is absolutely true.

Everything about The LEGO Movie is awesome and it is easily the most inventive and consistently funny and entertaining film of the year.

With a plot that is very similar to The Matrix, Emmet is a construction worker who lives in Bricksburg and does everything according to the instructions in order to conform and fit in as best he can. One day at work he follows a girl dressed in black, tumbles down a hole and finds a strange object called The Piece of Resistance. Introduced to a sage-like black man called Vetruvius who shows him the true world of Legoland beyond the city limits, he is hailed as "The One"... I mean "The Special" who can fulfil the prophecy and stop Lord Business from unleashing The Kragle from ending the universe as they know it.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are now three for three as directors of movies which sound like a potential disaster but turn out to be unexpected delights:

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs - an animation about a device that turns weather into food.

21 Jump Street - an action comedy based on an 80's teen cop series.

And The LEGO Movie, a feature-length movie based on a kids toy. As Transformers has proved, it doesn't always work.

There are so many amazing and hilarious cameos and surprises in store that it would do a disservice to reveal them in the review but it is safe to say that Superman vs Batman and Ben Affleck have some way to go to beat this for a Justice League movie and best Batman since Nolan's.

An exciting blend of stop motion animation mixed with CGI, the level of detail is simply astonishing with thrilling action sequences and a multitude of background sight gags that will keep revealing more and more with multiple viewings.

This film is one of the greatest films ever assembled and suitable for ages 8-99 (that's just a suggestion) and anyone who has ever played with the sophisticated interlocking brick system, whether you went exactly by the instructions or let your imagination run wild just as Lord and Miller have here.

The only thing missing is a joke where a construction worker gets mad when another guy puts the final piece on a building he has constructed.

5 stars

Mr. Peabody and Sherman - review

Mr. Peabody and Shermanare a family consisting of a talking dog who is also one of the world's greatest scientists and his adopted son Sherman. Just imagine a U rated version of Brian and Stewie Griffin and you are on the right track.

Peabody has created a time machine called the WABAC which he uses to teach Sherman about history.

When Sherman uses the machine to impress a fellow classmate and Penny gets engaged to King Tut, Peabody must step in and try and get them back to the present without creating a time paradox, the results of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum, and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's a worse case scenario.

Essentially this is a family-friendly animated version of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure with Sherman and Penny as the Wyld Stallyns and Mr. Peabody as Rufus.

An enjoyable and witty adventure with highlights including Leonardo da Vinci's wooden child, Patrick Warbuton (Joe from Family Guy) as an enthusiastic Agammenon and an unexpected Oedipus gag in a sweet movie you'll happily spend some time with.

3 stars

I, Frankenstein - review

Victor Frankenstein created a being out of the parts of several humans and the result was a monster, an abomination, which he then tried to destroy.

How ironic that 200 years later, I, Frankenstein is a movie cobbled together with parts from other movies such as Van Helsing, Blade, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Underworld, with the end result being a complete monstrosity that the filmmakers should have tried to bury.

The only two commendable things about the film are that Eckhart's character is correctly named Adam or The Monster (the title suggested they would be calling him Frankenstein when he was not) and that the actors don't crack up with fits of laughter when explaining a plot where The Monster is caught up in an eternal war between the High Order of Gargoyles and the 666 Legions of Demons from Hell lead by Prince Naberius.

Perhaps it could have helped improve the film as it is too serious for its own good, with Eckhart delivering lines like "The Gargoyle Order must be protected" and "Descend. In Pain." like they were a sacred text.

The overall gloominess of the production is only exacerbated by the dark and dour (and completely unnecessary) 3D.

Only the ever-dependable Bill Nighy, having worked on the Underworld films, manages to strike the right tone and know just what type of film this is.

One that is a complete and total mess.

Where do you start?

After finding The Monster after it has been attacked by Demons, a Gargoyle manages to shoehorn in the famous line "It's Alive.. It's Alive!"

This is a film where the idea that the Frankenstein tale is based on truth is seen as crazy by a scientist who works for a Demon.

Gargoyles are essentially angels who have human form but prefer to sit perched on old buildings as stone statues.

Gargoyles chastise The Monster for allowing a human to become involved in the war but then spend 15 minutes having a giant battle outside a cathedral where beams of fire descend into the ground and beams of light ascend to heaven. Surely THAT would be noticed by humans!

The ancient warring hordes have set up their secret bases around 10 blocks away from each other in the same city.

Despite the facial scars, The Monster has blended in to modern society by apparently shopping for his outfit of jeans, hoodie and jacket at the GAP.

In a huge plot inconsistency, one moment is able to kill a vengeful gargoyle as he doesn't have a soul but then is unable to be possessed by a demon because suddenly he does.

Based on the critical and commercial failure of the film, it's unlikely that we'll get to see a sequel that would probably be called something like I, Frankenstein. You, Bride of Frankenstein.

All the filmmakers did was take the body of Frankenstein's Creature, put in the brain of Blade and the result is the worst film of 2014 and one that would have Mary Shelley spinning in her grave.

1 star

Out Of The Furnace - review

Similar to 2012's equally testosterone-filled Killing Me Softly, there is a socio-political/economic subtextual comment on America at the heart of Out Of The Furnace with bare knuckle fights and the film's final showdown taking place in old abandoned furnaces and factories. Plus it is set in 2008 around the time of Obama's election (but I'm not sure which administration the writer-director is attacking here).

Is it a thinly-veiled look at the erosion of the US-based manufacturing industry? Is it a story about unchecked male aggression? Is it a story about family loyalty?

Difficult to say as the plot never really chooses one particular focus as the plot takes some dubious detours along the way.

For example, Bale's character kills someone in a car accident, goes to prison and is then released all in the space of ten minutes. Why? What real effect does this have on him and others. It's not really explored as it gives way to a revenge-fuelled plot involving his war veteran brother and a dangerous hick played by Woody Harrelson in his usual Southern way even though the character is from New Jersey.

An impressive cast of actors, including another top performance from Christian Bale, give it their all but Out Of The Furnace sadly left this reviewer cold with a film that felt as empty as the abandoned furnaces they fight in.

3 stars

That Awkward Moment - review

That awkward moment when you watch a film that is likely to alienate a large amount of its female audience and wishing anyone who appreciates the lead character's behaviour to be alienated from society.

This film that would like to fall somewhere in between a lads comedy like The Hangover or The Inbetweeners and a standard romantic comedy but the end result is more akin to a regretful one night stand you want to sneak away from without waking it up.

The three main characters are best friends Mikey, Daniel and Jason. Mikey's wide has just left him and his womanising friends try to get him back in the game, making a vow to stay single while partying hard and playing the field.

In any other movie the character of Mikey (played by Michael B. Jordan) would be the lead but in this film, the lead is Jason who is a thoroughly contemptible person played by teen heartthrob Zac Efron.

Jason has lots of casual sex with a large number of girls and is always on the look out for new girls to add to his "roster" as he frees up space by cutting them loose when they want a relationship.

A spanner is thrown in the works when he falls for a Ellie, has sex with her, mistakes her for a hooker, tells her this, then somehow charms her into another date, doesn't get any sex, has sex with someone else, continues to date Ellie, meets her parents then doesn't attend her day's funeral because "she'll think we're in a relationship".

What will all those High School Musical fans think of Zac now?!

Meanwhile Daniel uses his female friend Chelsea to help him hook up with girls and then sleeps with her, despite her knowing what he is like. They both want a casual thing to begin with but... oh, you've seen rom-coms, you know where that storyline is headed.

The only one who is remotely likeable is Mikey who tries to reconnect with his wife and do the decent thing and the only one you would actually want to end up being happy.

Imogen Poots, both you and your character deserve better than Zac Efron and this movie.

This is not a film that will wine and dine you, romance you with flowers and poetry before dashing to the airport for a huge declaration of love. This is a film that would rather booty call you at 1:00am. Trust me when I say, put your phone on silent and resist the urge. You'll only wake up regretting it afterwards.

1 star

Lone Survivor - review

There might not be a more spoilerific film title this year than Lone Survivor and given that this is based on the true story of the failed Operation Red Wings, you might imagine exactly how this one plays out however a thrilling central shoot-out and strong performances will keep audiences engaged.

Director Peter Berg has clearly wanted to give the film as high a sense of realism as possible. For example, the film starts with a montage of US Navy Seal training and a lot of the cast members and extras are real military.

However the film begins like any other military ops movie like Black Hawk Down, complete with Eric Bana as a commanding officer, and tends to fall into cliches at times it sets up the mission and shows the camaraderie between the main players e.g. one of the guys is about to get married. Never a good sign in a war movie.

This is true US Band of Brothers stuff with bearded, buffed-up Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster even looking like they could pass for brothers.

This "never leave a man behind", "brothers in arms" stuff might no be a concept that us Brits or non-military can ever truly understand but you really do feel and believe the bond these guys have as the mission goes south and they have to make the tough decision to "terminate the compromise" when an Afghan goat-herding family stumble upon their hiding place, or let them loose an risk alerting the Taliban.

The back-and-forth argument over the rules of engagement, with Foster pro finishing the mission and Wahlberg against killing them and ending up on CNN is a refreshing insight rarely seen in the current wave of films about the conflict and is the turning point in the film, leading to the exhilarating second act.

The subsequent firefight with the Taliban is very well shot and the audience can feel every bullet hit its target, the crack of every broken bone and will visibly wince as they experience the most realistic falling down a hill/cliff sequence ever filmed. Yes, unlike other movies, this would really hurt and leave you writhing in pain.

The ending strays a little too far into Three Kings territory and you may start to wonder how the Taliban go down like computer game characters with a straight headshot while the Navy Seals survive with multiple wounds but this could have been forgiven if not for the misjudged ending which features a terrible cover version of David Bowie's Heroes playing over images of the real soldiers.

A film which doesn't quite achieve its ultimate objective but goes down fighting.

3 stars

Dallas Buyers Club - review

"Alright, alright, alright..." Despite becoming Dazed & Confused in a slump of romantic comedies that saw his promising career suffer a Failure To Launch, it is so satisfying and gratifying to be able to announce that The McConaissance is finally complete.

Matthew McConaughey has been the most consistently in-form actor of the last three years ever since he cured himself of the severe balance issues that affected him during his rom-com phase.

He used his smooth Southern charm to deadly effect in Killer Joe, sent up his movie and public persona in Magic Mike, became a stick in the Mud and of course took his shirt off in every single one of them.

And in a nice touch of serendipity, he could now win an Oscar for a movie in which co-star Jennifer Garner also appeared in his last rom-com Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past

Dallas Buyers Club is based on the true story of Ron Woodroof.

To paraphrase Ric Flair for a second, Ron Woodroof could be described as "The Stylin', profilin', hell raising, trail blazing, bull riding, high flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' n' dealin' son of a gun!"

He is a ladies man and a "man's man" and doesn't take too kindly to being told he has been diagnosed with HIV and AIDS, launching into a homophobic rant given that at the time it was considered a gay disease.

After going through the several stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance) including an amusing scene where a prayer to God is revealed to be at a strip club rather than a church, Ron heads south of the border to get the medicine he needs to survive but has not been approved by the FDA.

Smuggling the drugs back to the US, Ron sets up the Dallas Buyers Club, selling memberships to AIDS sufferers in exchange for the meds and reluctantly teams up (initially at first) with trans-gender Rayon (Leto) as the business expands.

The trailer hints at the film being similar to Erin Brockovich where Woodroof goes on a legal crusade to fight the FDA and get better drugs for himself and fellow sufferers but this is pushed to the background, leaving the film to focus on Ron and how he copes and changes living with the disease.

And to quote McConaughey, his motto is to "Keep Livin', L-I-V-I-N" and although he does take Jennifer Garner's compassionate doctor out on a date, "where he can feel human again", the central relationship is that between himself and Rayon.

Starting off from a position of disgust, the relationship moves to acceptance then protector and finally friendship.

Jared Leto has been busy the last ten years becoming a rock star with 30 Seconds To Mars but he hasn't lost a step, delivering an incredibly moving performance that will bring many to tears as his mask of sass and make up slowly slip to reveal the fear and hurt underneath.

McConaughey has never been better. Effectively using the entire spectrum of human emotions as he goes on this journey and finding humour where there might not have been any as he makes the most out of a bad situation. It is high praise indeed for an actor when you can't imagine any else having played the part and this is true of McConaughey and Woodroof.

It is not a perfect film. The film's tiny budget and shooting time mean that certain sequences don't have the same quality, power or pacing as others (the poor greenscreen/CGI used as Woodroof travels the world searching for a new supply sticks out like a sore thumb) but it seems silly to complain about small things like that when a movie shows this much heart and passion to tell a story.

Long may the McConaissance continue.

4 stars