The Lego Movie

Everything About This Is Awesome!

Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

Release Date: 2013

Rating: U

Running Time: 100 mins

Genre: Animation/Comedy

Starring: Chris Pratt, Will Ferral, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman

"Come with me if you want not to die"

When you first see posters for this, you'll assume its for kids, but when I sat down the other day with a group of friends for what would be my third screening of this, I quickly realised, this is a film for everybody.

As children, everyone enjoyed playing with lego. The concept of building some amazing things and just simply being able to marvel at our creations was always an exciting feat. The Lego Movie shows us how amazing and imaginative a childs mind is, and reminds us how it use to be for us. But more than that, it reminds us, Lego is awesome!

Not only is it highly entertaining and extremely comical, with almost every other line making us laugh, it's a fantastic representation of a capitalist society. We follow rules, we obey everything the government says and we're distracted by mediocre comedy and other things that aren't relevant to real every day life. A fantastic quote is when our protagonist Emmet states "President Buissness is such a good guy, he makes all kinds of good stuff, surveillence systems, all history books voting machines...wait a minute". It says a lot about how we're controlled and have no real idea of what's actually going on...pretty deep stuff Lego. So, it backs up my argument that kids films are made to amaze and excite kids, but also keep the parents entertained and thinking too. One of the reasons, despite now being seen as too old for kids films, they are still such a guilty pleasure. 

With a cast full of famous faces, well in this case voices, we're provided with a lot of laughs from the likes of Morgan Freeman, Will Ferral, Elisabeth Banks and of course, our highly comical and lovable protagonist voiced by Chris Pratt. I guarantee that this film will have you laughing a lot along the way, through it's interestingly laid out plot, right up to the final moments when (spoiler alert) the Lego world is met by creatures from the land of Duplo. I've no idea how long the script took to write, but it is so humorous and funny, its bordering on genius. 

All I can say is, from watching it with a range of different people and hearing what they had to say, I doubt you'll meet many who won't enjoy it. It's so well made, the crew involved in producing this film have to be given a huge amount of credit as it is simply fantastic cinema viewing.

This is how animation should be.

8/10

The Room

What Is Going On...Seriously?

Director: Tommy Wiseau
Release Date: 2003
Rating: 15
Running Time: 100mins
Genre: Soapy crap
Sarring: Tommy Wiseau

"I didn't hit her, it's not true, it's b*llsh*t, I did not hit her....Oh hai Mark"

Wow! Wow wow wow! I knew this film was awarded a status of 'The Worst Film of All Time', but I thought, can it really be worse than Piranha DD? The Keith Lemon Film? Sharknado 2? MegaShark vs GiantOctopus? The answer, yes. For me, normally any kind of film that is the title with any kind of fish mutation in it should be branded as complete crap. Even film like The Human Centipede Trilogy, which I find to be a complete insult to cinema and should never have been made, surely have a better story line than this pile of soapy crap, Tommy Wisseau decided to inaptly name The Room. Names more applicable could've been The Never Ending Sex Scene or Throw up in your popcorn at the sight of my bare ass or even Haha You've Given Me You're Money For This Sh*t. But no, he chose The Room, and in doing so, made cinema history, for pretty much all the wrong reasons.

You cannot help but laugh at this dross. It's not laughing with, that's one thing I should really stress. It's laughing at. Not only is the script so poorly written and filled with so many sudden mood changes, and a serious lack of narrative flow and structure, the acting is just abismle. Tommy Wiseau cannot act. He just can't. Audiences love him, but I think more pity him. The man is a complete enigma. Where he found the films budget of $6 million anywhere is a complete mystery, and why anyone would green-light this...whatever it is...is beyond me. 

Not only do we have to sit throw these awful scenes, we then have to sit through them constantly as they are recycled over and over again, with different costumes and less members of the audience to watch. You have to wonder if half of this film is made up with just establishing shots, which I'll be honest, are the best parts of the film, giving audiences a chance to shout (entirely out of boredom and lack of excitement) 'Meanwhile in San Francisco...' to which the film continues, even if our hopes of ever getting out grow thin. I'm presuming that the reason so many of these comical games were created around viewing this film, is to simply pass the time and get through it without loosing the will to live. Needless to say, if you watch this film by yourself, you will be, bored, uninspired, confused and have I said bored already? Nope, the only way that you will get through The Room is to sit with a big group of people that are open minded enough to stay for the whole film and scream abuse at its entirety. 

So, the big question is...Is Tommy Wiseau a genius? Was he a man that knew exactly what he was doing, making a low budget soap opera ending in something that we just wish happened at the start. Or is he still a complete narcissist that believes his film is a work of art? Either way, it was bad enough to get everyone talking and curious to watch it and for that, he's gained a lot of love and success. I don't know what it is, and maybe no one does, but people enjoy watching the poor guy attempt to act. If Tommy wasn't in it and the character of Johnny was played by a different actor, would the film still be credited for being so funny, my guess is no. Instead, it would be just awful..er.

So The Room, how can you sum it up? It happened. And we have to all live with that now. But seriously, if you haven't seen it, I suggest you do, and that way you can decide if it really is as bad as you think. Wiseau actually stated once that 'You don't have to like The Room, but there will be something, maybe the tiniest thing that will make you think, hang on? I want to see more'. Well Tommy I'm not one hundred percent sure if that's right but I think we can all walk away having had many laughs, so should we love it for that reason? In fact, a close friend of mine actually stated that he thinks the film to be 'a masterpiece', but is this just sarcastic irony? Maybe we all take away something from this, or maybe it is just shallow nothingness. Either way, I've never seen anything quite like it, but does that make The Room's unique status something to be marvelled at.

We could spend hours trying to encript secret messages and meanings spread out through The Room, but really, it just sucks.

1/10

Straight Outta Compton

Just Talking To Their Diary

Director: F. Gary Gray
Release Date: 2015
Rating: 15
Running: 140 mins
Genre: Biography/Drama
Starring: O'Shea Jackson jr, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell

"Speak a little truth and people loose their minds"

F. Gary Gray gives us another fantastically well portrayed film, this time about the growth, success and breakup of the legendary Hip/Hop group N.W.A. We see some of our favourite rappers portrayed by a group of young, and incredibly talented actors, with a very similar likeness to the legends they're portraying. Including Ice Cube's own son, Oshea Jackson jr, taking on the role of..well, you can probably guess. Despite none of the actors having any serious acting roles in the past I've got to begin by saying, the boys nailed it.

As a film fanatic and massive N.W.A fan before the films release, when I finally came to seeing this biopic, I loved it. Straight Outta Compton was the type of biopic that showed audiences how you can start at the very bottom and still achieve stardom and success. The boys in N.W.A showed us, their passion and love of music as well as their anger with stereotypes and racism, showing us that despite your background, it's possible to escape the crime and danger around you to make something of yourself. You can only admire the musical abilities of the young guys, starting their own company, producing their own music and gaining almost instant success. 

I've got to talk about one particular point to do with critics response to the film that I found actually rather startling. It's a point I didn't really pay much attention too until after viewing the film, that being that, despite the films highly successful appreciation from fans and audience members, not all critics were so full of praise. In fact, the popular film website IMDB have noticeably snubbed the films success by failing to add it to the site's top 250 film page, despite the film achieving a rating worthy of being on it. One argument reasoning why this has happened is, it 'promotes black crime and overall is a film showing the criminals coming out on top'. You have to argue therefore how films like The Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino portrays white crime and are highly successfully and regularly re-watched and loved by audiences. The argument has to be, that these films show both a rise and a fall, whereas in Straight Outta Compton's case, there is a rise and then an escape of a demise, except (spoiler alert) of course for the tragic death of Eazy-E in '93 from AIDs. However, there are many films portraying white criminals who do actually come out on top or get away with it, such as Chicago, No Country for Old Men, the Hannibal/Silence of The Lambs film series and most famously The Usual Suspects. Arguably though, these are mearly stories, and the biographical element of Compton may questionably mean that its too much for some critics to therefore praise.

Nevertheless, this film is very much seen as an anti-police film, and is therefore incredibly controversial, but we could argue this fact about other anti-police films such as the critically acclaimed French '95 drama La Haine. Also showing the impact of police brutality and unfair treatment of those living in poor areas. We see the members of N.W.A all experience different forms of police brutality, like Ice Cube being randomly assaulted and unfairly searched right outside his own front door after being suspect of possesion, to Dr Dre being arrested when he claim after to be 'literally just standing there'. However, we have to look at the fact that this film was actually produced by Dr Dre and Ice Cube, and therefore its them recalling their own experiences, and in this case, you have to wonder if the figures portrayed in the film were wholly innocent, or is it almost an anti-police film out for revenge? Ice Cube and Dr Dre are shown to be the ones portrayed to be in some senses, upright, moral people who turned their back on the criminals in their lives. However, we know Ice Cube was an angry guy, and we're shown this when he smashes up his managers office with a baseball bat, and even Dr Dre is allegedly notorious for being a 'woman beater', so maybe they aren't as much the heroes we're shown on screen. It's a controversial topic, but I choose to believe that, the Hip/Hop role models I look up to, were truthfully shown and they're artists we can admire for this. Of course, no film is wholly truthful but I feel fans and myself included can look at this film as a fair representation of the groups struggles and successes.

What can be said about Staight Outta Compton is, it was a long anticipated film, that in turn did not disappoint. It's arguably one for the fans, much like the Biggie biopic Notorious. But there was something about this great film that Notorious lacked, and I think it's the story that what happened. It wasn't always in N.W.A's hands, and really, the guys were trying to escape the poverty in Compton and  make the best of a bad situation. In this way, this film was highly captivating, even for the audiences that weren't N.W.A fans going in. Straight from the beginning scene before the title is hauntingly flashed up on the screen, I knew this was going to be more than just Hip/Hop artists, it would be a view into the real lives of those who grew up in the criminal ghetto: Compton and how some were able to rise above the crime by spreading an honest message. As a Hip/Hop fan myself, I feel like this film will do a lot for the controversial genre of music. It's now going to influence a younger audience who weren't aware of N.W.A first time around. You could see this as a marketing attempt from 'The worlds most dangerous group' to re-image themselves as people who inspire rather than agrevate, especially as it was released as the same time as Dr Dre's new album Compton, which is surely no accident. A quote from a recent N.W.A interview, done by current renowned rap artist Kendrick Lamar, showed DJ Yella stating "I think we're going to be more famous now than 26 years ago." Which is true. It says a lot about the power of film and how its able to manipulate us into watching the true story of this fascinating group of young artists.

It's an extremely disputable film and one that will definitely get people talking, even those yet to see it. But overall it's highly entertaining and surprisingly moving. Audiences won't guess from the almost, in some cases, comical songs from N.W.A, how dangerous their lives were. I myself didn't realise the extent of the police brutality, racism the boys faced. And despite knowing it was coming (Spoiler Alert), I found Eazy-E's death at the end so moving and harrowing that it's clear why Dre chooses to rap about his best friend so much in his music and keep his legacy going.

It's a film about friendship, making something from nothing and most importantly how powerful music can be, They group changed and revolutionised how music can be used to express themselves and say what so many others feared to say. It showed us the real start of the Hip/Hop we know today, and I feel that we're only going to see more from rappers and artists in years to come due to the legacy that N.W.A started. A great biopic that will have us talking for a long time to come.

9/10

Sullivan's Travels

A Journey We Can All Learn From

Director: Preston Sturges
Release Date: 1941
Rating: U
Running Time: 90 mins
Genre: Screwball Comedy
Sarring: John McCrea, Veronica Lake

"But nothing's going to stop me. I've got to find out what it's like to be without friends, without credit, without chequebook, without name. Alone"

I was recently introduced to the concept of Screwball Comedies having had no idea about the genre in the past. Thriving in the 1930's and 40's, the films adopted a genre of comedy similar to that of Film Noir, but with a slightly more light-hearted twist. The films distinguish themselves for their masculine and feminine characters battling for control and also for their battle of classes in those times. Needless to say the films featured a generous amount of conflict yet shown in a rather comical way to create the humorous element that was almost seen as a rarety when the film was first released.

With regard to this film, Sullilvan's Travels, one of which I will shamefully admit, despite being an early Hollywood classic, I had never actually heard of before viewing. We're taken on a journey with our lead: Joel McCrea playing John R Sullivan or Sully to his friends, an ignorant movie director, who wants to see the world through the eyes of a poor man suffering poverty, before then making a picture about the topic. It's an interesting concept for a film, and highlights perfectly the class conflicts that were common in the genre around the time. But what's more interesting about Sullivan's Travels is the way that Sully keeps being warned not to make this picture, it's not what he knows and it's not what the people around the time wanted to see. Emphasising how in cinema, people wanted escapism  rather than realism. Even at the end, Sully expresses how he wants to make a comedy instead of a drama, which his producers and crew are still surprised by. This is interesting given that the film itself is infact a comedy and you can wonder if Sturges battled with the same problems making the film as his protagonist.

In the early parts of the film we see him heading down the road in a Pingu like fashion, wielding a scrawny satchel and followed by a lorry full of his film crew. It's hard to really get a grasp of what's going on in the early parts of the film due to the fast dialogue and, if I'm honest slightly unclear narrative. I struggled to understand quite a lot, and clearly it's a film that may require a re-view. 

For me, it's a film where we see the story go from bad to worse in the characters case, but for the audience, it leaves us with some hilarious moments. It's feel is light overall, though does gradually get darker throughout the film, although the end message leaves us feeling positive understanding of the importance of people's laughter and how the people rely on it so much. It represents the time as well of course, early 40's, and how there was a lot of harrowing events occurring: poverty, bankrupsy, depression and of course the outbreak of WWII. It's a reminder of how important it is to simply, laugh.

There's a strong sense of how important money can be to people, and in John R Sullivan's case, he feels as though it can buy him whatever he needs, whether that's friendship or even freedom. We see him suffer poverty, assault and even imprisonment, but the whole time I felt that, the rich cannot understand the poor in the same way, no matter how hard they try. It didn't matter on the situation, or how bad things got, Sully could always get out of the problems, with proper health care, food, comfortable sleeping that his money was able to buy him, where as a man living in severe poverty like Sully was trying to, would not be awarded the same luxuries. This shows a lot about the American ideologies such as the 'American Dream' and how for many, it was something never experienced. The film gave the feeling of a protagonist who in this case was slightly flawed and not really one you can really get behind in support of. Everything bad that goes on, which (Spoiler alert) is quite a lot, happens purely Sully's own decisions, showing how he himself is flawed and the dark comedy element is brought out. 

One famous face I did recognise in this film however, was the very beautiful and famous Film-Noir actress Veronica Lake. I found Lake's performance to be one of a strong female character, but due to the time, had no real power in any circumstance during the film. She made important suggestions and showed how smart women in that time could be, but still the film, like most 40's Hollywood, felt to be slightly misogynistic.

So maybe these two characters, flawed for different reasons, tied in with the poverty aspects can sum up perfectly the function and intention of a Screwball comedy. There are as well, a few narrative flaws which are glossed over, and there's a lot of motifs and symbolism revolving trains, they themselves playing a huge part in the story, but if I'm being honest, I struggled to work out one exact answer for this enigma. Overall however, it was an enjoyable watch, proving how early 40's classics can still stand out as great cinema, which, though now only really targets a niche audience, it can still entertain and be loved.

7/10

Inherent Vice

PTA, You're Inherently Off The Wall

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Release Date: 2014

Rating: 15

Running Time: 140 mins 

Genre: Crime/Drama

Actors: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston

"INHERENT VICE: The tendency in physical objects to deteriorate due to fundamental instability of the components from which they are made, as opposed to the deterioration from external forces"

When Daniel Day Lewis received his second Academy Award for There Will Be Blood, he praised his director and screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA) by stating that his Oscar "Sprang like a golden sampling out of the mad beautiful head of Paul Thomas Anderson" from a film that came from just "a small devilish whisper". It was those words that many PTA fans would have all agreed they could not have phrased the directors films any better than that. When we look back at Paul Thomas Anderson's work, it's clear that the writer/director really does have a quirky and surreal edge to his films that create instant cult followings from so many audiences. His films posses a surreal yet relatable feel that are underlined with entirely human and understandable narratives that can only be found after hours of digging through the enigmas that shield them. We can look back on such films like There Will Be Blood and see into the mind of a clear sociopath as he falls deeper into his madness, and even in his rom-com Punch-Drunk Love, the film that proved Adam Sandler could in fact act, we see a quirky relationship and love story form around two very unique individuals. If we explore his films we can see how this amazing man's mind works.

So Inherent Vice. Where do I begin? It's a film about drug fuelled LA in the 70s showing how drug addiction, police corruption and the free attitudes of the people living in that time can affect what goes on. However, shielded by a dialogue heavy plot we loose ourselves in the mind of Larry "Doc" Sportello, a man who we're not sure is completely sane, or even if he's aware of what is going on outside his own mind. We question the character, who works as a private investigator, that perhaps he would be more successful in his job is he laid off the drugs, but even still, PTA has created a world in which the not even a sane sober mind could fully understand. It's being described as an "Acid tripping stoner movie" that I feel sums up how we would all see the world if we were high 24/7, that being, a complete and utter unravelable sinario, it will be impossible to keep track of what's going on. One thing I will say is that you have to go into this film knowing that or you will get completely lost. There is so much open for interpretation it's almost worth giving up on trying to follow the plot-line. If you listen the dialogue, that does heavily lay on this film, you could wonder if PTA even intended it all to make sense, or was it, like the fans would say, an acid trip made to baffle and confuse us.

Did Joaquin Phoenix actually understand the plot himself whilst shooting was taking place? Given that he exists in the majority if not all the scenes in this film it's interesting to wonder the impact he himself may have had in creating this film. Though maybe not appreciated by everyone now, I can't help but wonder if, after some serious studying and analysing of this film, would it become an all time classic in which we explore the very depths of the human mind? Or is it instead just a film to show the impact of 70s attitudes on Los Angeles society, not only showing how drastically the times have changed in the last 40 years but capturing the laid back and overly careless and free-loving attitudes of a lot of the people in that time? Either way it's a film that you're going to have to watch twice just to try and gain a basic understanding of what the film is trying to say, and even then you probably will struggle.

Though its an interesting film, so well shot and captured with funny scenes and a tiny snippet of action, I personally just didn't get pulled into it in the way I have in other films. I think maybe I spent too long trying to decipher the dialogue I may have been standing too close to see the big picture. But even so, unless you're a fan on PTA/Coeness/Lyncheon plots, you may struggle to enjoy Inherent Vice, it's not an easy viewing, and at nearly two and half hours you may in fact come out wondering if you've wasted your time. It's a fantastically acted and captured work of art but as a film for me I may have missed the point, or better yet, got a good grasp of it but didn't care for it. Either way, a good film, but may take some time before it actually gets anywhere.

6/10

Mud

A Film We Owe A Lot To

Director: Jeff Nichols
Release Date: 2013
Rating: 15
Running Time: 120 mins
Genre: Drama/Adventure
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sherridan, Reese Witherspoon

What is it about Matthew McConaughey that makes him so instantly likeable? And why is it only now that we've realised the potential that this actor has? Before Nolan shot him across Galaxies in Interstellar, before the Texan was shipping and selling HIV medication in Dallas Buyers Club, before we were hung in pure suspense by his haunting acting in True Detective, we were given Mud. This is potentially the film that started The McConaissanse and all I want to know is through all the rom-coms, mediocre comedy adventures and Tropic Thunder, where did this array of unique and enigmatic performances arise from? Though the man himself may argue it was God who gave him the opportunity, you can look at this success and see that McConaughey was finally blessed with the good writing an actor liked him deserved, allowing him to show the world his true potential.

In Mud we begin with two boys headed downstream of the Mississippi River to find a mysterious boat suspended high in the trees, seeking adventure the two boys more the boat ashore and search for answers only to find that they aren't the first people to come across this boat and it's on the shore that they meet the mysterious man who goes by the name of Mud (McConaughey). Though we don't know much about Muds character this earlier it's plainly obvious that this mysterious character no matter how dark or elusive, is going to be someone we can't help but like. As the situation begins growing more and more volatile we realise more about Mud's past and perhaps how much he's going to need the two boys help in surviving the events to come.

It's a story that takes place almost entirely in the outdoors of DeWitt, Arkansas and through the two boys alongside this strange man they come across, it does feel like we're taken on a real adventure. The film has an underlying theme of futility and darkness to it, but it's also a story of love, growing up, coming of age, and most of all for me, friendship. Tied in with the amazing cinematography capturing the natural beauty of this state and a soundtrack that manages to tie together all the films themes, Mud is created to be a film that will take you on an adventure through the eyes of two young boys. You're shown the beauty of where they're living and the incredible journey they set out on, to help one man because they feel it's right. 

It's fair to say that movie lovers will owe this film a great deal for giving us one of Hollywood's most contemporary treasured actors so far in this decade and a film that makes you see the world once again through the innocence of a young teenager on the cusp of adulthood. Fantastically written and acted and shot, Mud is a film not just for the McConaughey fans.

8/10

Begin Again

Music Has Never Felt So Good

Director: John Carney
Release Date: 2014
Rating: 15
Running Time: 105 mins
Genre: Comedy/Music
Actors: Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightly, Adam Levine, James Cordon

It's often a treat when you sit down to watch a film that you put on to kill time and it turns out to be an instant favourite. Begin Again is a an easy to watch, light hearted and most of all feel good film that will fill you a huge sense of  love for these characters all on the path to turning their lives around and getting somewhere with the talents they have. You'll be able to, as it all comes together, feel, see and hear the ambition and passion that went into making it. 

You can see so crystal clearly how much music can influence and uplift peoples moods. When it's just you and the music, troubles can be instantly forgotten and moods straight away lifted. The film has a real raw uniqueness to it, you're able to see: the struggles, the ambition, and the happiness from what this team of musicians are achieving, that really comes out in the cinematography, giving the film an edge of 'realness'. It shows how easy you can make life when you're driven and motivated to make something great, which is shown when Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightly take to the streets with a small group of talented musicians and a low budget recording system to do what they do best, make music.

It's a film tied together through friendship, love, music and of course a fresh start. Needless to  say that a key ingredient to make this happen is a cast of likeable and faces to carry the message through, and its easy to see that John Carney managed to get this just right. The film was able to offer up a whole bunch particularly great yet different actors to get the diversity of relationships that intertwine in this rom-com. Keira Knightly proved herself not only as an actor but also as a very unlikely yet incredible singer, writing music to help get over the problems that have taken over her life. Mark Ruffalo remains the king of on-screen coolness in his role as the passionate music producer on the road to turning his life around with his wife, daughter, job and love of music. And though still fairly new to the scene, James Cordon can be seen rising through the Hollywood ranks offering a humorous edge with an instantly lovable performance as the busking Brit who like so many, is trying to make it in New York City.

Though all the characters have their baggage, its clear that when the music takes over and they work in unison all is soon forgotten and gradually you see the problems begin to fade away. It's a film with plenty inside and will surely make you feel something. With light hearted humour and fantastically written and Oscar nominated soundtrack, you can't help but enjoy this film. If you're looking for light comedy and in need of uplifting, you can't get more perfect that Begin Again.

8/10