Gladiator (2000) Review

Gladiator is directed by Ridley Scott, stars Russell Crowe and won five Oscars. Of course I’m going to review this film.

Gladiator stars Russell Crowe as Maximus, a leader of the Roman army and all he wants to do is go back to his family, but instead he has to fight in arenas as a gladiators, hence the title Gladiator. That’s not all that goes in the film.

Now, Russell Crowe as Maximus was a perfect cast because Maximus is a strong leader, a man with respect with his people, which made Russell Crowe at that point a perfect choice because Russell Crowe at that point of his career released The Insider and from that he gained respect from the fans, and the industry was taking notice so he fitted that role effortlessly. He got the personality right for Maximus, the way he strode around, it was humble but yet I knew he was the top dog. He had presented himself as man who could actually take down armies and lead an army himself. Russell Crowe was fantastic in the film but a man who topped him in my opinion was Joaquin Phoenix, who played Commodus, a jealous and paranoid son of the Roman leader. Joaquin Phoenix performance made every scene more interesting than it should have been, he was another character that embodied his character to the point that I forgot it was Joaquin Phoenix playing a character. Commodus for me was more interesting than Maximus (Russell Crowe) because Commodus was paranoid and the way he acted makes you feel uncomfortable when he was on screen, he became unpredictable at some points which made him a character that you could not take your eyes away.

Obviously the fighting scenes were fantastic to watch, it was choreographed so well that I didn't feel like it was fake, I felt every punch and every stab. The scale of the fights was great to watch because they take place in the Coliseum (Colosseum) and when watching I got the atmosphere because you got the feel how small they were in this big stadium. It was great to watch.

I did have some problems, there was a romance going on (sort of) with Commodus sister played by Connie Nielson that I felt was forced because they needed her to help Maximus. Also the last third was underwhelming, I was expecting an epic battle between two armies but I sadly did not receive that. Also I thought the first 30 minutes dragged, but the film did pick up the pace once Maximus became a gladiator.

The film Gladiator is a great film to watch especially when watching the fight scenes, the last act was underwhelming and the first 30 minutes did drag but for a good two hour I was entertained and Gladiator does deserve an 8/10 

A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) Review

A Million Ways to Die in the West is directed, written and stars Seth MacFarlane, and he plays a character that is fed up with living in the west. People die by outrages incidents and his character doesn't like it. Then Seth MacFarlane’s character who is called Albert meets this girl played by Charlize Theron, who plays Anna, and these two have chemistry but the problem is Seth’s character is still in love with his old girlfriend played by Amanda Seyfried and Charlize’s character is married to the evil villain whom barely gets screen time Liam Neeson. Oh let’s not forget Amanda Seyfried character is going out with Neil Patrick Harris who mocks Seth Macfarlane’s character. There are also Giovanni Ribisi and Sarah Silverman in the film. Now as you can tell there’s too much going on.

I am a big Seth MacFarlane fan, I love Family Guy and Ted, I even like American Dad. So going into this film I thought I was getting many ways people die in the West with the Seth MacFarlane humour, and this was intensified by the trailers that I had watched. But this film was not like that, it had too much going on. I was watching it and thinking “what?!” Instead of getting funny ways people die, I was getting bloated love story that had nothing to do with anything. It was a struggle to understand what Seth Macfarlane wanted to achieve, did he want to make a romance film, did he want to make a comedy in the west, or did he want a great western comedy, the answer is I don’t know. There was so much story I think he wanted that he thought lets cram it in a film that was 1 hour and 40 minutes, not even 2 hours would have saved this mess. The film had started to drag because of the story, on certain occasions I checked how long was left, and that is not a good sign of an entertaining movie. If Seth Macfarlane had concentrated on the funny ways people die in the West, then we would have had a funny story, but because of the four other plots involved, the film was boring.

We all know Seth MacFarlane is a funny man so when I only laughed about twice in the movie then we know it was not good. There were some funny parts of the film, mainly because they were unexpected but the rest just flew by me. It wasn't even the case of it was funny but not laughing funny (If you get what I mean), it was just not funny. A bit of me does blame the trailers because they did spoil probably the best jokes in the film which frustrates me because a trailer should not do that, a trailer should tease the audience of what the film is going to be about. But Seth had an off day as well when writing those jokes which is a shame because that would have at least made the film entertaining.

Now what was good about A Million Ways to Die in the West was the opening credits because the song they played reminded me of the Family Guy specials they do with Stewie and Brian and that got me more excited for the film as I was expecting Family Guy jokes and gags (but sadly I was disappointed). There were also two cameos in the film which was unexpected and that was great to watch.

Overall the film tried too much and had no real direction on what it was trying to be. It was a shame as I am a big fan of Seth MacFarlane but hopefully Ted 2 can redeem himself. Let’s be honest Seth MacFarlane probably won’t take it too hard because he will probably mock himself in Family Guy soon. But I have to give A Million Ways to Die in the West a 6/10

Short Trailer Review Inside Out

When I went into watching this trailer I did not expect it to make me want to watch more. I thought it might be an alright animation, which I shouldn't have assumed as the film is created by one of the best animation team ever Pixar. So I go, watch it and the trailer made me chuckle a little, because it is about the emotions in our mind and how they control us in situations. And in the trailer there's the daughter and the mum and dad sitting around a table. When the mum asks the daughter a question she answers back, with a response the mum doesn't like and then we get to see what is going on in the mums head and how she deals with the situation. Then it goes to the dad, and his head was the most funny out of the trailer, because all he thinks about is the football and we see how he deals with the daughters answer to the question, then we get to see the daughters head and her response. I like the idea of an animation going in the human mind and emotion because it is a topic that can only be represented by animation and done with Pixar, this film can be a classic. It is a funny trailer and if you have not seen it then I say you should, it might make you want to watch more.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) Review

Edge of Tomorrow is directed by Doug Liman and stars Tom Cruise as Major William Cage and Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski. Tom Cruises character plays a major that goes around news stations telling the public about this war that is going on. The war is with an alien species that wants to essentially wipe out humanity to have the earth for themselves. But Major William Cage has been drafted to now enter the war and a freak death means that he has to live the same day over and over again, however with the help of Rita Vrataski, William Cage will learn how to be a warrior.

Edge of Tomorrow is a really impressive and well-made film. Doug Liman knew how to encapsulate time in the film, as with a film that has to repeat itself over and over again it can become boring and repetitive. However we got to see the characters progress, from Tom Cruises especially, as we got to see him from a wimpy Major, that over the time (which is one day) become a warrior to take down the aliens. I was also fond of Emily Blunts characters development, because we got to know more about her every time Tom Cruises character dies and starts the day again. Her character as the badass was great to watch because she just captures the role, she’s intimidating when needed and commanding when needed. I enjoyed how we weren’t told how many times William Cage’s character died, they could have gone down the easy road of putting dialogue where a character would say “I died 100 times already”, what you get is clever ways such as William Cage and Rita Vrataski planning their way across the beach (This is where the battle takes place), and it is not a simple plan of “let’s go straight, then turn right”, it’s a plan where they have to know how many steps, what degrees to turn, and what will pop out of nowhere, and those scenes give the audience the idea of how many time William Cage has died. Marvellous to watch.

Doug Liman knows how to direct an action scene, because there were a few and they were all flawless. There was no shaky cam that just made you dizzy, there was no shots that hide most of the action. You get to see it all, especially for one scene that makes all other action scenes look pants (from films like the fifth Die Hard), with Tom Cruise running around a platoon and shooting these aliens, and Emily Blunt doing awesome flips and shooting aliens, in addition the music makes it feel like a futuristic battle and adds to the film. What I also loved was this beach scene was right after we get to see Tom Cruise train and in both of those scenes we knew that Tom Cruise had died a lot of times and was becoming this beast of a warrior. A special mention to the team that created the aliens because they look amazing and they look like they can do harm. When I first saw them my mouth was open because this wasn't what I had expected, it was just great to watch them move about a rip humans in half with their eight tentacle looking arms.

The only problem was in the third act of the film, the realism went out the window, as in the film we get to see Tom Cruises character break a leg from being wacked across a room, but in the last third we see him fall along way down on to concrete and he comes out with a limp. I can let this go because the film was too good to hold any minor grudges.

The film out did itself, because I didn't hear about this film that often and when I watched it, I was surprised that it was really good, and I think this actually helped the film because there was no expectations. For me Edge of Tomorrow thoroughly deserves a 9/10  

Zodiac (2007) Review

Zodiac is directed by David Fincher and features Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, and Anthony Edwards. It is based on the true story of the Zodiac killer who spent years tormenting the police and the journalists about his identity. And this was one frightening film, not jump out your seat frightening, it was tense frightening, David Fincher really plays on the unknowing in the film.

Why I think the film is frightening is because it is based on a true story, and being true means no one is safe from the Zodiac, which plays on your mind throughout the entire film. In fiction films you have that feeling that some characters are going to live and you know some will die, but in this film I was never sure who will live or who will die, and this was intensified by some of the scenes. They could be set on a bright sunny day on a park or in the cold dark basement, and they’ll both keep you in the unknown of what will happen. Several times my mouth was wide open because I could not believe what I was seeing, or even what I was hearing. This was all down to perfect timing, perfect environment and perfect acting. The acting was phenomenal by all of the cast, but the main four were just superb. I really enjoyed that all of them have their screen time, I cannot tell you who the main character is because they all are. Each one of them has their opportunity to shine, first it was Robert Downey Jr as a one of the editors (Paul Avery), who he plays so well because the editor is someone who’s cocky and full of them self, a perfect role for Downey Jr. Then we got Mark Ruffalo (Inspector David Toschi) and Anthony Edwards (Inspector William Armstrong) who have to solve the killings, and with the chemistry of both we got the light hearted side with them, with Mark Ruffalo being the witty one, which was needed as without him then the film becomes too dark. And finally we got Jake Gyllenhaal who plays a cartoonist (Robert Graysmith) for the newspapers and he becomes obsessed with the Zodiac, always trying to break the code, and wanting himself to solve it after it becomes stale for a few years. For me Jake Gyllenhaal is starting to become my favourite actor because he was invested in the role (like all of them) and he really sold his character. He and Mark Ruffalo were just brilliant.

We also get to see how time goes by, because it was a mystery that had the cops on the go for a few years and we got to see how the characters developed over that time, we see the cops giving up and we see the public not even caring after a while, it was a wonderfully crafted film.

David Fincher is the master of what we must see and what can be a miss because there is a scene where the Zodiac picks up this mother and child and the Zodiac says something (which I won’t spoil), which got me out of my seat and I was thinking to myself will he actually show that, and that direction really keeps you on the edge because I did not know what I was going to be shown. There were other scenes like that which just shows us how excellent he as a director with most of films always keeping us to the edge.

Zodiac was a phenomenal film that has to be watched, I can guarantee that you will be invested throughout the whole film and it deserves a big 10/10 

Short Trailer Review Terminator Genisys

My thoughts on Terminator Genisys was it looks like an updated version of Terminator 2 which might not be too bad but might get repetitive as we also get the T-1000 back. I do like the casting of Emilia Clark (Daenerys) as Sarah Conner because she is awesome in Game of Thrones. The other castings I'm a bit skeptical. We have Jason Clarke as John Conner, which for me does not seem that bad as he was great in Dawn of the planet of the apes but a bit of me still thinks it might be a risky choice, we also have Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese. I have to be honest I haven't seen his movies so I cannot judge him yet, and we have Arnold once again as Terminator, which I do not mind but I hope he's not given too much screen time.

The trailer looks like it is going to be set in the past and future with Sarah and John both having major parts. we also get to see a Terminators shooting, so I'm hoping we see an army of fleshless Terminators killing. It looks so far to be an action packed film, with even a younger Arnold making a appearance. The trailer does look promising, it has given me hope that it can be a good action film, but I still think it might be a re-hash of Terminator 2, which I said at the beginning might not be that bad.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Review

Terminator 2: Judgement Day is again directed by James Cameron and is about the same cyborg played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, going back in time once more, but not to kill Sarah Connor, no, to actual save John Connor the son of Sarah (Linda Hamilton), played by Edward Furlong from the T-1000, played by Robert Patrick.

  

This movie can be classed as the same film from some viewers, but to me it’s not, because in this film we get to see more emotion than the first, more depth in the story and better special effects. The three way emotion between John and Sarah Connor and the Terminator is felt by the audience. We want to see the Terminator to feel emotions when John is explaining what tears are, or we want Sarah Conner to understand that Arnold’s Terminator is not bad anymore, and we also want to see John and Sarah Conner to love each other (as mother and son). In this film I felt for the characters, not like the first film. This is down to the film being longer, as a result we get more character development and more of them talking, we did not get that in the first film because that was way shorter and jam packed with action. The more dialogue brought more to the film especially when John and Terminator were talking, as they would talk about what’s right or wrong, and what is emotions, which made the film less one dimensional.  

Terminator 2 had more depth, we had more than one storyline to watch, and more than one character to watch. There was John Conner’s and the Terminators relationship, Sarah Conner being in a mental hospital, the destruction of Skynet, and the T-1000 causing havoc. And with all that you might think there was going to be a pacing issue, but there was not. I felt like the film concentrated on things I wanted to watch, which was the connection made by John and the Terminator, I didn't get bored one bit because I was invested in the characters and the story that was being told. My only problem was that the T-1000 was not shown enough in the film, for me he was in the beginning and at the end, what I saw from him was fantastic. The way he would shape shift his body to make objects or even people, and when he walks through some metal bars was great even though that was in the film for 10 seconds. It was a shame that he couldn't be in the film longer.

Technology has vastly improved in this Terminator. I remember in the first one we got to see half Arnold’s face and half Terminator and I could tell they had a mask on him but in this film we got another scene like that but it was more realistic with Arnold even speaking. The special effects crew has to get some praise because the work they did for the T-1000 was special, they used practical and CGI, both used effectively.

I have one more minor problem, the last act of the film does rely on coincidences quite a few times but I can let it go because I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film. Oh yeah and the action sequences were fantastic especially the car chase in the beginning, gets your heart pumping. The film is a big step up from The Terminator and surpasses many other action films. You’ll not only get depth in the film but you also get great character building and a great story of being a human. A must watch and I give it a 9/10    

The Terminator (1984) Review

Terminator is directed by acclaimed director James Cameron and is about a Terminator, which is basically a cyborg, coming back in time to the year 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, while a human soldier from the future also comes back in time to protect her

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The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, and Michael Bien as Kyle Reese. With the film being only 1 hour and 40 minutes long, the duration was fine. The film is all action, which means it doesn’t need to be any longer, because any longer then the film drags. I believe the films sole purpose was to be a great action film, nothing else not romance or drama, no, just an action film. Which it achieves, many viewers might say that the love connection between Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor) and Michael Bien (Kyle Reese) was a big part of the story. I’ll agree that it is a big part but it is not presented as a big part in the film, they only had one romance scene and that was it. The story is straight forward and doesn’t ask questions, it just gives the viewer’s action. For me this wasn’t a big deal because I wanted to watch this film so I can just see people get shot and stuff get blown up, and I got that, so I’m satisfied. But for others who do want more than one element then it might be boring for you, and a little repetitive.

The acting from the main three actors was satisfying, it didn’t blow me away where I could not stop thinking about their performance, they all did their part well. But Arnold’s performance is more of the memorable ones out of the lot, maybe because in the film he’s a man (or cyborg) that has little words, which is credit to his acting ability because he fits the Terminator character so well ,but when he does open his mouth magical one liner come out (“I’ll be back”). And let’s be honest we know Arnold more than anyone from Terminator because of his one liners. Going back to the other characters, I actually thought that Sarah Conner was going to be some whiny person that does nothing but whine, so I give credit to James Cameron and the other writers for not going down that road and making Sarah Conner likable.

What I did find a shame was that we didn’t see more of the Terminator without its artificial flesh because it looked awesome. I wanted to see it hold a gun or crush someone but to be fair watching the terminator walk, I don’t think they could have pulled it off. I’m not faulting the special effects team because probably back in the 80s the terminator walking would have look real (maybe).    

I enjoyed this movie as I went to watch it wanting all action and I got that, I did not care that the story lacked any other element. If you are wanting to watch this thinking you’ll challenge your mind or get a dialogue based movie then you probably won’t enjoy it, but for me I found entertaining and will give it 8.5/10  

Gangs of New York (2002) Review

Gangs of New York is directed by one of my favourite directors Martin Scorsese and has a stellar cast with Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day Lewis, Cameron Diaz, John C Reilly, and Liam Neeson. The story is about two gangs who fought in the past with one of them defeating the other, and know the son of the father who led the gang many years later comes back to avenge the father.

Now there are good thing about the film, but these good thing are outweighed by the bad (unfortunately). With the film being nearly 3 hours long, the film felt like it was three hours long, and sometimes that is not a good thing. To me the film kept on dragging and dragging, when it just did not have to. With a director of Martin Scorsese’s integrity, three hours, a stellar cast and a film about gangs should have been a walk in the park, but it wasn't. The acting wasn't great, it was really average (except for Daniel Day Lewis but we’ll come to that later), no one blew me away. And when I can say that Leonardo DiCaprio could have been replaced in the film and still would not have made a difference then we know that the film is not going to be great. Other problems with the film was its pace. Martin Scorsese usually gets the pace perfect with everything flowing, but in this film the pacing was off. It felt like too much time was dedicated to Leo’s character (Amsterdam Vallon) building trust to Daniel Day Lewis’ character (Bill Cutting), and the time was wasted. Do not get me wrong, building the relationship is necessary but not when it take a big chunk of the film. I felt only three characters were developed while the rest were there to fill in spaces for the film and those three characters were Leonardo DiCaprio (Amsterdam Vallon), Daniel Day Lewis (Bill Cutting), and Cameron Diaz (Jenny Everdean). Everyone else was left out.

Now let’s talk about the good, Daniel Day Lewis. His performance was outstanding, to me, he was the only one putting in real effort and it paid off. Every single time he was on the screen I could not take my eyes away, the guy stole every scene, even the ones where he’s in there for a few seconds. He just had a presence that just made me respect his acting. I cannot fault his performance as he dragged the film to make it more interesting than it was. My hat goes off to him.    

This review might seem a hate fest towards Gangs of New York, but there were scenes where I enjoyed the film (especially if it had Day Lewis), I liked the concept of the film, not the most original but I liked the concept but this film is not the best Scorsese film compared to his other classics. This will be a film that you will forget once you have watched it, and it unfortunately deserves an average of 6/10    

The Good The Bad And The Ugly (1966) Review

The Good The Bad And The Ugly (1966) is directed by Sergio Leon, the man who also directed A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965). The concept of The Good The Bad And The Ugly is there are three men, you got The Good played by Clint Eastwood, The Bad played by Lee Van Cleef, and you got The Ugly played by Eli Wallach. The Bad, who in the film is called Sentenza wants to find a man called Bill Carson who has hidden 200,000 coins, and now Sentenza is tracking him down. But The Good called Blondie and The Ugly called Tuco have stumbled their way to finding out where the 200,000 coins are and are finding the money as well.

I thought the movie was going to be 3 hours of gun slinging action, with blood spurting out and packed shoot outs but there isn't as many as I thought, you do get the gun slinging shootouts but they make you wait for them, releasing them for the right moment. And what this does it makes the shootouts more special than it just being many shoot outs that don’t have any meaning to them. The ones that you see have been put in the film for a reason, not for the sake of making cool action scenes. I can only remember 3 shoot-out scenes, and in those three shoot-out scenes I learned a lot about the main characters especially Clint Eastwood's character, because in those three shootouts he was the cool figure that does not panic, he’s the one that lets the gun do the talking.

The film focuses on Blondie and Tuco’s time together while travelling to the 200,000, coins, and the time we see, we get to see the characters dispute and bond with each other. Clint Eastwood was brilliant in the film, the way he acts brings the film together because he is such a badass that you cannot take your eyes of him, he just oozes confidence. And his partner in crime Eli Wallach (Ugly) also captivates you with his performance because for me he is more bad than Lee Van Cleef (who plays The Bad). We see Tuco torture Clint Eastwood's character, we see him steal from innocent people, and we also hear about the crimes he has committed, which is sort of a shame because this meant that Sentenza Van Cleef character was underwhelming and wasn't as bad as he is perceived in the film.

Being nearly 3 hours long, I did feel the film could have been shorter especially for one scene where I did not know why they were doing this. It was the scene where they blew up the bridge, I still do not know why they had to do this, I thought they had to cross the bridge but yet they blew it up. But I still found the film really enjoyable and did not get bored once because I was so engrossed by the actors performance and some of the scenes were tense, making it impossible to leave my eyes of the screen. You guys have to watch this, it is a true western classic and it deserves a rating of 8.5/10