Sunday, November 17, 2013

A Movie That is Out of This World!

Gravity


When I heard that was making a new film I was instantly excited. He is responsible for two of my favourite films having previously directed Y Tu Mamá También and Children of Men both of which I highly recommend you seek out and watch if you haven't seen them. It has been seven long years since Children of Men so seeing his name attached to a movie as director once again sold me instantly.

I went into Gravity knowing as little as possible and it is the way that I would recommend anyone seeing it if possible. It is also the reason that this post will be short and sweet I simply don't want to talk about what happens as the journey that the movie takes you on is what makes it special. I think its okay to say that its set in space and stars and as two astronaut on a mission which doesn't go entirely to plan.

 Ryan Stone (Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (Clooney)

Now what I can say is that Gravity was like nothing that I had seen or experienced in the cinema before. It looked stunning with the best use of 3D I've seen since Life of Pie. I'm not a fan as 3D as a rule as it seems every blockbuster has to shoehorn it in in order to add a few extra pounds onto the each cinema ticket. But I don't mind when it is used to improve a movie and this is a prime example of that. It use here helped to convey the depth and isolation of space, making you feel a part of every scene and shot.

And man what shots those are! The opening one in particular was incredible seeming to last 10 plus minutes without a cut. We are taken around the scene as if we ourselves are up there floating with them, but then seamlessly moving into Bullocks helmet getting a first person view and then back out again continuing the scene. It was breathtaking and I would love to sit Cuaron down and ask him how he did it.

Then there was the use of sound and in several cases absence of it perfectly portraying what it would be like to be in the vacuum of space. When you combine the sound and visual techniques on display you are left with a unique and ultimately brilliant cinema experience. One that stuck with me and had me thinking about it for the days that followed. I felt like I had been put through the same experience as the characters in the film and that was special because they are experiences that cinema has rarely touched on especially with this much style.


 Curaon passing on his vision to Clooney & Bullock

Come Oscar time this will be a front runner and I can see it picking up most of the technical awards such as sound design and visuals but I also hope that Curaon is also recognised because he has created a unique and extremely polished cinema experience which once again proves that he is one of the great directors working today.

I will be seeing this again before it leaves the cinema as I don't think it will have the same impact on a TV screen and if you even have a passing interest and have not seen it yet I urge you to go as soon as you can. This is the time of year when the cinema is full of interesting and potentially excellent movies but I will be impressed if any can top Gravity this awards season. I no doubt will have fun finding out though.

Written by
Owen whilst recovering from watching Wales stuff Argentina :D



 

Few films I saw over last month

it's been hectic... work work work... No play what so ever... I was walking around like a zombie had my brain only watching series and not paying much attention to anything else but the work.

I finally had enough and made some me and cinema time.
I saw Thor...
I saw Dredd...
And last but not least I saw Ender's Game...

A tipple post people!

Thor: The Dark World



Well I actually saw Thor Dark World twice. Husband said that he wanted to see it too purely because of awesomeness of Loki. 
If the 1st Thor movie was a bit simplistic and not as exciting as The Avengers were, or Iron Man, the second film is more improved. I do think they have changed the director... Owen, am I right? 
It was fun to watch. If Thor is all goodie goodie Loki was as much mean as Thor is good. In Owen's words Loki was much of a main character than Thor. On the acting ability only I must agree. But it was always harder to play "bag" guys then good, doesn't give actor much of the range really to play with if you are meant to be a good guy. 
So Thor did his awesome Thor thing, Loki did his mean but I will help you think, Dr Sevlig did his Swedish thing by running around with nothing on, and Darcy did the comedy bits. It was a fun film. They ruined Greenwich in London. FUN! Not as ruining all New York Avengers fun but fun non the less. 
The traditional Stan Lee cameo was fun one too. 


If you are a fun of the Marvel films do watch it. Watch it till the very end for more bits to come.... till the last last title screen goes off the screen. There are tow small "Easter eggs" in there. I am please to say there is more Thor and Marvel dudes to be on our screens in near future. Hooray!

Dredd.



Hubby and I had an evening of cooking and watching something you did not have to think much about, so thank you NetFlix we chose Dredd. One thing certain that film would have look spectacular in 3D. Even if I think it is overrated! I liked it. It was fast paced action with some graphic and unnecessary violence. Good entertainment for boys really. Lena Headley was so evil, she is actually one of my favorite actors at this very moment. If you want to watch something blow up watch Dredd, it was good. 

Ender's Game.

I really did not know what to expect, I did not read the book or any reviews, when to the cinema on a whim. I wanted to see Harrison Ford do his thing, Sir Ben with tattooed face and Viola Davis being amazing as usual.


I was blown away by young Asa Butterfield.. He was amazing, you could actually feel his frustration about him being like his brother... 
What I don't get if why they decided to make kids in charge of war ships... Do not get that. 



But I saw the main twist coming... 
I am actually still uncertain how I feel about this film, but I do know how I feel about these young actors in it. There were amazing. And definitely ones to watch.



I would actually appreciate some one else opinion on the Ender's Game. Please people help me make up my mind.



written by Daria while drinking lots and lots of coffee. 


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Aye Aye Captain Phillips!

Captain Phillips


If you look at the ingredients that go into Captain Phillips you have an acting great in , a proven director in and a true story full of drama. It all adds up to what should be a movie that will feature heavily come the awards season. When I saw the trailer I did have some reservations however as I thought that it showed a little too much which put a bit lower down on my to watch list. But a host of positive reviews changed my mind and so I went into my local World of Cine unsure if it would live up to the hype and if there was more to the story than the trailer, in my opinion, gave away.

Well I guess the first thing I have to say is that Tom Hanks was once again outstanding as Captain Phillips. The man is just a master of his craft and is infinitely watchable be it simply dealing out orders to his crew or talking to a gun wielding Somali pirate. Normally I would say that he stole every scene he was in but that would be doing an injustice to who plays the pirates captain Muse. Abdi who is from Somalia was making his acting debut in this movie and the way that he manages to stand toe to toe with the legend that is Hanks is the best praise I can give him.

Barkhad Abdi (2nd from left) and his crew
and below with Hanks looking like lovely blokes

The scene in which Phillips comes face to face with the pirates for the first time was excellent and one that I think gained a lot from a decision that Greengrass made to keep the Somali actors and American actors apart until that scene was filmed. It is something that Hanks has said really helped to build the tension as he found the sight of the actors intimidating. That look combined with the performances from the Somalian actors, Abdi in particular, really took that scene to another level.

Phillips comes face to face with Muse

I think that it is fair to say that if this movie had been directed by someone else we would have gotten a completely different experience and I would say in most cases for the worst. What Greengrass has done with this movie which sets it apart is give you an insight into the pirates, their motivations and personalities. They are not simply portrayed as senseless killers and I found myself having a lot of sympathy for them as the events unfold. He took it beyond being simply movie about pirates and managed to interlace it with social commentary about what is going on in war torn places like Somalia and what its people have to do to survive.

Greengrass achieves this right at the start of the film where we are shown Tom Hanks driving to the airport from his beautiful house that he shares with his loving family. They talk about his son going to college and how he needs to work hard if he wants to get a good job. This scene is then followed by a similar scene in Somalia as Muse is woken in his mud hut by the gun wielding gang members sent by their overlord to demand that the village go out and steal else they face his wrath. The contrast and at the same time similarities between the two scenes set a tone for the movie that I thought took it to another level.

"Surely there's something other than fishing and kidnapping people you could do?"
"In America, maybe"

So the leads are both outstanding and matched by Greengrass's direction and I have no doubt that all will rightfully be nominated come Oscar time. But I did have a few reservations that stopped me truly loving the movie. In particular I found that I didn't find the final act as tense as I think others may. This may be because I had an fairly good idea of what was going to happen and so some moments lost their edge due to this. This is not the movies fault as any movie based on a true story runs this risk, I just wish that I was on the edge of my seat more. Though there is one bit of acting near the end however which rates up with the best I've ever seen and it is because of moments like this that I can recommend Captain Phillips to anyone looking for an intelligent movie that tells a very real story and has two stand out performances which manage to say a lot more than the movie had to about the state of the world we live in.

Written by 
Owen during a wonderful Welsh storm