American Sniper
I jumped on the hype train about a week after it left the station just because American Sniper was on the tip of every casual film watcher's tongue. I was thoroughly impressed by the performance of Bradley Cooper, an actor I have followed closely in recent years and one that I endear thanks to his studies at the Actors Studio and his interviews with James Lipton and I can't forget his fantastic performance in Silver Linings Playbook. But American Sniper is just a disappointment, it attempts to be more than just a war film, starting plot points away from the battlefield only to stop them dead just as they begin gaining traction. One of these is a scene where Chris Kyle gets his blood pressure checked. It's super-high. It's never mentioned again. Ultimately, it rests in its comfort zone as a semi-decent war flick about how a sniper played his part in the War On Terror. It could have been bigger, it could have been better. B-

Inside Llewyn Davis
Llewyn is a fictional struggling folk musician playing in the now famous Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 60's. Although the cast boasts the beautiful Carey Mulligan (looking like a 10/10 with dark hair), the powerful John Goodman, the always-noticeable F. Murray Abraham and the boyish charms of Justin Timberlake, their appearances are mere cameos. This is all Oscar Isaac and he plays the shit out of this part. This isn't a straight A to B narrative, this is just a series of things, a series of unfortunate events and it's down to you as to whether you feel sympathy for this lead character and the troubles that he has seemingly bought upon himself. For a drama-comedy, this is a sad story. I didn't laugh very often but I sure felt what I was watching. B

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Directed by Wes Anderson and featuring many of his frequent co-collaborators (Harvey Keitel, Bill Murray & Ed Norton are just a few from the aforementioned Moonrise Kingdom), The Grand Budapest Hotel is a ridiculous story of a hotel in fictional Eastern Europe and its eccentric owner told entirely in a flashback. This is unlike any film I have ever seen before, it's funny but not hilarious but yet charming and joyful. It's a lot of fun, basically. Visually, it's a delight to behold. Anderson chooses three different aspect ratios for three different periods of time, which you think would be distracting and/or off-putting but instead it just adds to the experience. I can't overstate just how much I enjoyed watching it. It's not the best film I have ever seen, it's probably not even Wes Anderson's best, but I will not forget how much I smiled watching this and I will probably watch it again in six month's time. B+

Kingsman: The Secret Service
I literally caught this on its final day of screening, which was a stroke of good luck. Imagine James Bond but without the false sincerity, Kingsman is a slight tongue-in-cheek take on the stereotypical 60's spy pastiche. This film knows that the genre is bursting at the seams with tropes and cliches and it happily embraces them, all the while trying to actually avoid the pitfalls, which it does pretty successfully in my opinion. Kingsman's super-villain is Samuel L. Jackson with a slight speech impediment, his scenes with Colin Firth are acting masterclasses. Both superstars look like they're having the time of their lives in this film, Jackson especially. Despite his typecasting over the years, Samuel L. Jackson is actually a fantastic actor with an equally fantastic body of work (Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, Goodfellas, the Robocop remake, and more recently, Django Unchained), I think he's tragically underrated and under utilised. He's always convincing in whatever role he's playing.

Despite a super strong first half, Kingsman slightly loses its way around the 1 hour mark. It veers around too much and the narrative becomes unnecessarily unfocused. This was a chunky script that felt too thick for 2 hours of screen time and the frantic pace towards the back end was a little disorienting. It's still a great ride though, and the 2 hours that I sat in a near-empty theatre watching this absolutely flew by. In five words, it's a lot of fun. Take it with a grain of salt, this film doesn't exist to be philosophical nor influential. Its characters are wafer-thin silhouettes but by and large, Kingsman is devoid of any major flaws and is definitely worth checking out. I hope they do a sequel. B

I'll probably be marathoning Wes Anderson films in the coming weeks so expect reviews of them. Oh, and I watched Maleficent today. It's not worth a full review but Disney bollocks aside, it's a fairly rewarding watch. Jolie is dynamite and the narrative is simple, but the film is campy and dark and just generally quite messy. I give it a C-

Movie: '71

Good old fashioned war movie, lot's of action and unexpected turns, I would rate it 8.5/10. I mean, the "turns" are REALLY good.

Interstellar - 9,5/10
Exactly my kind of movie, it's interesting and engaging all the way through, if you did your best to avoid trailers and speculation, you really won't be able to guess where you'll end up at the end of the movie. If I were to nitpick Nolan did pull a Deus Ex Machina and so that part (while already so) could still have been a bit more creative and satisfying.

But all in all, it's better resolved than in most sci-fis, and I didn't see it coming until the moment he pulled it, at the same time I was informed just enough to know what was going on at any moment in the movie, which is appreciated.

Nolan does reaffirm how good of a director he really is, the casting was also spot on (while I had my doubts on the main character, they disappeared after the first 10 mins.)

Seventh Son - 7/10
This movie seriously was better than expected imo, but also not for anyone, I for one really liked Jeff Bridges (I do in general) and how he portrayed his character. It's kind of a classical Fantasy adventure, but that's fine and enjoyable. The movie does a semi-good job of giving us the impression the world is larger than what's shown (the occasional reference, time cuts and big city), in which I find Western fantasy often tends to do a poor job.

The secondary protagonist's actor was a bit of a let down imo, he looks good (a bit to good/modern for the time period) and he seems hollow at times.

All in all watch if you like Jeff Bridges and Fantasy.

Been there, done that. No regrets, never give up on what's important. Prioritize. Happiness is all that matters.
I really like meowers but can't own any for the time being.

Software Developer with a fondness for Python & UE4. 🐱‍👤

Interested in Star Citizen? - Use STAR-PZ6J-4C62 and get us both some cool extras :3

I saw the new Mission Impossible on Friday. It's super fun, I recommend it even if you haven't seen the previous ones like me. It's one of those films you can enjoy on your lonesome or with friends and you won't regret watching it.

I was super interested in seeing Pixels considering it's about vidya games and all, but I've heard it's shit. Like 20% on Rotten Tomatoes >_>

I saw the new James Bond movie on Wednesday. Here's some stray observations that may or may not convince you to watch it:

• Daniel Craig couldn't look less interested in doing this movie. He genuinely seems fed up for most of it and part of me thinks that wasn't their intention.
• This movie has more plot holes than The Dark Knight Rises. I won't name any for the sake of spoilers but holy shit, there's so much crap in this movie that just makes absolutely no sense.
• Lea Seydoux is an absolute babe and puts in a mesmerizing performance here. It's just a shame her character is a total sap. Why do women always fall in love with James Bond anyway? He has such an awful track record.
• They sold it as though there were two Bond girls in this film, both Seydoux and Bellucci. That's not true, you'll see.
• Dave Bautista has far more charisma in this movie and Guardians than he ever had in a wrestling ring. He's such a joy and I'm really happy for him.

In closing, if you're not overly critical of the movies you watch, you'll probably enjoy SPECTRE. It's definitely worth watching for its drama and scintillating action scenes, so if you can pick it up for free, I recommend you do so. You can do worse, that's for sure.

But if you're a purist, you'll probably see it for what it truly is: a messy end to Daniel Craig's rather messy run as 007. I can only hope they do better with his replacement.

maze runner the scorch trials 6/10

Gets boring after an hour in.

You should only be watching the hobbit, its the only movie that matters.

"Its not racism if you are equally hateful" -James

Joker{FEAR}: DO YOU FEEL IT
Joker{FEAR}: THE SMELL OF WAR IN THE AIR
Joker{FEAR}: THE THOUSANDS OF IRON PIKES MARCHING TOWARDS YOUR CASTLE AS IF ITS A WALMART

Funny quotes

Charlies quotes:

Have you not seen Lord Of The Rings?

I have, and it is equally as amazing. The extended edition for the hobbit is so good though, but breaks so much lore :(

"Its not racism if you are equally hateful" -James

Joker{FEAR}: DO YOU FEEL IT
Joker{FEAR}: THE SMELL OF WAR IN THE AIR
Joker{FEAR}: THE THOUSANDS OF IRON PIKES MARCHING TOWARDS YOUR CASTLE AS IF ITS A WALMART

Funny quotes

Charlies quotes: