Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens Teaser Trailer Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOVFvcNfvE


Ok so if you're like me you've probably spent the entirety of today sporadically checking your phone hoping that the teaser trailer for Star Wars VII has been released. I have watched so many shitty fake trailers but as soon as this one started I knew it was legit. JJ Abrams, I think, is doing us Star Wars fans proud... and this was a great teaser!

My only concern going into this movie, prior to watching the trailer, was whether or not JJ Abrams would make the film actually look and feel like it belongs in the Star Wars franchise. Through the cinematography, visual effects and John William's iconic score, it felt like Star Wars to me. My only problem now is that we're going to have to wait 13 months for the film to come out.

But it should be worth the wait. The marketing team behind this trailer got the balance right between showing enough to get us satisfied and leave us wanting more. We get to see in the trailer John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and others but we still don't know the exact people they're playing. When Boyega first popped up I legitimately jumped out of my skin because I was so intensely focused on the trailer. What's interesting to me is that we now know that Boyega is either a stormtrooper or some sort of spy/infiltrator (by the looks of his armour) and that a majority of the film will be taking place on Tatooine (by the epic shots of the desert).

It was nice to see stormtroopers readying themselves for some sort of  mission, it was nice to see the X Wings and the Tie Fighters in full force, and for me the most satisfying moment of all was when John William's iconic theme starting blaring when the Millennium Falcon came into shot. That was also the most technicially impressive shot of the whole trailer; I loved the way it went upside down and followed the flight of the Falcon.

I also thought it was interesting that we didn't get to see Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher or Mark Hamill in the trailer however I get it because I don't think the story is going to solely revolve around them anymore. That weird-ass droid thing though did throw me off a bit... I mean what even was that thing?

Finally, that new red lightsaber - awesome.

I'd probably give the trailer a solid 8/10. It was a teaser that was supposed to tease us and tease us it did. A few minor things threw me off a bit, but the music, the shots, JJ Abrams direction and the focus on the new cast members all combined to create a teaser for a film which looks like it belongs in the Star Wars saga. JJ Abrams, I am on board. And thanks for soaring my expectations!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

Nightcrawler Movie Review

This is not a stand alone film for one of the X-Men characters. Just thought I'd clarify before the review...

Nightcrawler is written and directed by Dan Gilroy and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays a complete and utter psychopath who one day discovers an underground network of "black journalism", people who find crime scenes using police radios and sell the footage they obtain to news channels. As he becomes more experienced, he becomes good. Very good. Too good. To the point where he starts to commit crime himself and becomes lost in his new obsession.

What I loved most about this movie was that it was actually about something which made me think. A lot of movies these days use the excuse of "turning your brain off" to enjoy an action set-piece film for example, not Nightcrawler. This movie has so much to say about the way the media choose to present the news as a means of being competitive with other news networks and gaining higher ratings. It showed the darker side to Journalism and thoroughly explored the ethical dilemmas that can arise from reporting on crime. There is one point in the movie where Gyllenhaal's character is told to find a crime with its victims being wealthy white people as opposed to a working class, black family, and I found that social commentary to be extremely fascinating and cleverly executed.

Nightcrawler is, at times, a dark comedy and uses comedic dialogue as another way of commentating on how ambiguous and disgusting the news reporting world can be. I like dark comedy a lot if its done well and yes Nightcrawler is funny for all the wrong reasons.

Jake Gyllenhaal is mesmerising in this role and completely disappears into his character to the point where Jake Gyllenhaal is no longer on screen, which is what I think is the best type of performance an actor can give. His character is a psychopath but you strangely route for him as his sanity declines over the runtime. From the opening few shots you can tell that there are a few loose wires in this guy's head and as the movie goes on we see his morals fly out the window as he starts to manipulate those around him for his own personal position and create crimes just so he can get them broadcasted first.

The film explores moral ambiguity through a screenplay which delivers sharp dialogue that intrigues you throughout. Its a character driven piece and it works because Gyllenhaal's character is just so fascinating. He says things that no other person would say, and your reaction is either sheer disbelief or you're laughing. The way he delivers some of this dialogue is  so unique and he does a terrific job at selling this guy as a pure psycho.

As we see Gyllenhaal's character drift into obsession and desperation we start to see the skill of director Dan Gilroy, who just so happens to be a first time director with this film. The tension builds in moments where characters are simply sat down in a car talking to each other and Gilroy did a fantastic job in balancing his script with commentary, humour and emotion.

The film takes place almost always at night and Gilroy makes the streets of LA look phenomenal through beautiful cinematography. While the movie is nearly always shrouded in darkness it still looks colourful and vibrant. Its a technically masterful feature and delivers a jaw-dropping car chase sequence during a finale which culminated beautifully.

I have no complaints with Nightcrawler, and I believe that Gyllenhaal and Gilroy should receive some serious Oscar consideration for their fantastic work here. If the Hunger Games is sold out, seek Nightcrawler out if you have the chance:


Rating - A


Thanks for reading,
Matt

Interstellar Movie Review (SPOILERS)

Prepare to get your mind blown!

Interstellar is directed by Christopher Nolan, who just happens to have directed 2 of my favourite movies of all time (The Dark Knight and Inception), and just so happens to be my most anticipated film of the entire year. In the film Matthew McConaughey plays a former pilot is a tasked with the mission of travelling through a worm hole in order to reach another galaxy and find a hospitable planet needed to sustain human life as Earth is becoming increasingly infertile and the human race is dying out. Along its near 3 hour runtime Interstellar fantastically explores scientific theories such as relativity accompanied with interwoven themes of the purpose of our existence and our innate extinct to explore, and is a top notch, intelligent and visually masterful science fiction film which I loved.

The film, for a start, is incredibly ambitious. I've read numerous reviews which say that Christopher Nolan was being overambitious with the script and as a result the film did not seem to have a natural flow of events. I respectfully disagree with this as I was intrigued from the first minute to the last and I never lost my grasp on what was going on in the film.

From the get go I was interested mainly because of the way the script and the actors handled the relationship between Matthew McConaughey and his daughter "Murph". The little girl puts in one of the best young performances of the year and, predictably, McConaughey was absolutely perfect. He really hit the note between displaying his incredible array of talent without over-stepping the mark into showing off. He's key in the film because in a science fiction drama like this which explores science fiction on an epic scale, you need humanity to glue it all together and McConaughey does that perfectly.

The supporting work is also very good in the film but my favourite supporting character other than Murph was actually a robot character called TARS, who offers some subtle yet necessary comic relief to the film.

Interstellar is far from predictable and takes turns which I never expected, it kept me on the edge of my seat for almost the entire runtime. For a film to keep you invested for 3 hours, particularly a film which tackles some complicated science fiction content, that's something pretty special in my opinion. Plus when I say its 3 hours, don't worry. The film sets itself up beautifully and explodes into life when they first launch into space and 3 hours goes by like nothing.

Hans Zimmer's score is, also predictably, fantastic and at times gave my goosebumps. The music accompanied by Christopher Nolan's epic direction is really something to behold. There were so many moments where my mouth dropped to the floor as I beheld some of the most amazing visual effects I've seen in my life and some space sequences which blew my head wide open! Its truly a technical masterpiece. I actually heard somewhere that in order to create the (MILD SPOILER) wormhole and black hole sequences, they actually had scientists consult them and create the effects from actual theory. That's crazy to me, and is for sure praise worthy!

My one and only negative for Interstellar is the ending, which I will need to spoil in order to explain it.




SPOILERS AHEAD!





The fault I have with Interstellar is the ending. After Mann dies and nearly destroys Endurance, McConaughey decides that the only thing left to do is fall quickly into the gravitational pull of Gargantua, the black hole. As he falls through it, we come to the scene where I realised just where he was before I legitimately said "No way" out loud. My favourite moment of the film is when McConaughey realises that the wormhole was created by a future race of surviving humans able to transcend the dimensions of time and gravity, where they become physical entities to them. He then begins to move the books off the shelves created by the 4th dimensional space he finds himself in, and whilst he does so Murph realises that "the ghost" of her bedroom was her father this whole time, a revelation I loved.

However, as soon as Murph realises this, the 4th dimensional space diminishes and McConaughey is left floating, before he is rescued by a band of humans, awoken, visits his elderly daughter and then goes off to find Amelia, who is actually recolonizing Edmund's planet via "Plan B". Does that not sound like a lot to you? For me, the ending was too convenient, there was no ambiguity and it felt rushed.





SPOILER'S OVER!




Other than my one flaw, Interstellar truly impressed me. Visually it was astonishing, the space sequences were highly intense, I loved the way they showed relativity and some emotional moments were highly effective. As a science fiction film about space exploration, it's top notch and I loved it:


Rating - A


1 sentence summary -  A intelligent, mature and emotional science fiction drama with memorable visual sequences and some mind-blowing moments!


I apologise if you accidentally read the spoiler section, I did my best to separate it from the main bulk of text.

Thanks for reading,
Matt

Why I hate the hate for DC - RANT

I talk about comic book movies a lot, but today I want to talk about something that has troubled me for some time.

I browse the Internet a lot and everyday I find myself watching videos concerning the newly announced slate of films for both Marvel's and DC's cinematic universe. Because Marvel are currently ahead of the game, "Marvel fanboys" tend to bash DC about everything and its really starting to piss me off. This is addressed solely to people who believe that Marvel's practice is God whereas DC's practice is crap.

Disclaimer number 1; I am neither a DC nor a Marvel "fanboy", I love comic book movies in general. Disclaimer number 2; I know I'm speaking to a small part of the community here, I know most fans do not parade around the Internet purposefully devoting their time to bash the over studio. Disclaimer number 3; I am aware that DC "fanboys" do exactly the same to Marvel Studios, I'm simply defending DC at this moment because from what I've seen they get a lot more hate. So let's begin.



Why do DC get bashed after every announcement?

Ok now this is a slightly controversial one but its something I see laced within a minority of the community and it makes me mad. I'll give a recent example: Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is moved from 28th July 2017 to 5th May 2017. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is moved from May 6th 2016 to March 24th 2016. In the words of the Joker (kind of) "Guardians 2 moves forward a few months and no one bats an eye, Batman v Superman moves forward a few months and everyone loses their minds!" Guardians 2 moves forward and nobody cares, but BvS moves and people accuse DC of backing down. It doesn't make sense.

Why is it a crime when DC doesn't have a plan, but when they release a plan its "rushed"?

So for years people would bash DC for not having a plan for a shared cinematic universe. However when one was finally released a few weeks ago, apparently its been rushed. HEY!?!? HOW? They moved Batman v Superman forward a year for the sole purpose of constructing the foundations for their cinematic universe. Their movie plan is different to Marvel's in that The Justice League is coming out before characters like Flash and Green Lantern get their solo flicks, and I like that approach. If their cinematic plan was identical to Marvel's, then people would accuse DC of clean-out copying them.



Why do people think the studios hate each other?

If DC hadn't owned properties like Superman or Batman who are known for clearing up at the box office, then would Marvel have set up their cinematic universe in the way that they have? If Marvel hadn't set up their cinematic universe, would DC be trying to do something similar? My point is competition is good and it makes both studios raise their game, and hopefully increase the quality of their films. I doubt the executives from Warner Brothers and Marvel Studios hate each other with a passion, I'm sure they get on just fine. The so called "war" between them is created solely by the fans and in particular "fanboys" who bash the other studio at any opportunity.

Why do we have to choose?

The Avengers? The Dark Knight? Love them. All I'm saying is I like movies made by both studios and I will see films made by both. The only reason I'm defending DC today is because from what I've seen it is usually Marvel "fanboys" who are giving the other studio the most shit at the moment. If DC was in Marvel's position, then these people would be DC fanboys bashing Marvel for trying to play catch up. If we lived in a parallel universe where this was the case, I guarantee this would happen.



Another small thing to bare in mind: Marvel have always announced their films 2 years in advance. However, soon after DC dropped their entire slate, Marvel announced their entire plans up to May 2019. DC forced Marvel's hand, its hard not to admit.

I am not a Marvel hater at all. However, I finally felt that today was the day I put out my opinion and respond to some of the unwarranted hate for DC. For those of you like me who enjoy both Marvel and DC I hope we can sit back and enjoy comic book films together from now until 2020. God knows we'll be getting a few!


Thanks for reading,
Matt

Fury Movie Review

Brad Pitt is back in World War 2 and David Ayer once again proves his great potential as a filmmaker...

Fury is written and directed by David Ayer and stars Brad Pitt alongside Logan Lerman, Shia LaBeouf, Michael Pena and Jon Bernthal and revolves around a group of 5 soldiers who operate inside the tank "Fury" and their violent experiences during the closing days of World War 2.

Now this film does a have a fantastic cast of actors but the real star of Fury in my opinion is director David Ayer. The film displays violence, blood, gore and death in all of its glory and that is really what I respected about it; it didn't shy away from the realities of war. It is traumatic and soldiers would have experienced events like the ones depicted in the movie. Saving Private Ryan is my favourite war movie ever and its so effective still because it doesn't hold back. Fury does similar things to Saving Private Ryan and that is one of the reasons I had a pretty fun experience with it.

Ayer doesn't only make use of some really haunting war imagery through eerie tracking shots, but he also knows what he is doing when it comes to constructing an action sequence. The choreography, the editing and the way it was shot all came together to create impactful and engrossing action set pieces. The film didn't use quick cuts, the camera wasn't shaking around. The action was edited superbly and you could actually see what was going on!

Brad Pitt leads the cast and the group of soldiers and he puts in a finely tuned performance where he doesn't cross the line into a "look at me I'm an actor" type role. His character isn't the most likeable person on the planet but he does have a lot of redeemable qualities, hence why towards the films finale (which by the way culminates with some breath-taking tension), I was routing for the man.

Logan Lerman is the best performer by far and his work is pretty incredible in this film. Out of all the characters in the tank, he is the one I was routing for to survive, which was a good thing because that was what the movie wanted me to feel! His character is the most relatable one by far and you can really connect with him once you start to put yourself in his shoes. Brad Pitt's character makes him do something which is strongly against his moral code about 45 minutes in, and the scene impacted me a lot because I don't think I could have done it! He starts the movie off as a real "fish-out-of-water" character and I was very happy he didn't stay like that for the whole thing because that would've gotten annoying very quickly...

The supporting work is good but my god the rest of the crew are absolute dickheads! Jon Bernthal's character especially was one I was actually routing to die, which is absolutely NOT what the film wants you to think. The other 2 are unlikeable and as a result, you don't care about them. If I had a strong emotional attachment to the characters, the film's finale would've gone up a level to astronomical greatness. But since I didn't care about 3 out of the 5, it didn't quite even if it was still really intense.

The film does grind to a halt for about 20-30 minutes in the middle and the scene didn't really do much for me in terms of providing interesting dialogue, plot continuation or character development. It was just a scene which was put there that could have been taken out. Had it been, it wouldn't have dragged for 20 minutes and the film would've been more cohesive and would have stuck to its lightening fast pacing. I also wasn't a fan of the visual effects used for gunfire; to me they looked like lasers. But that is just a small nit-pick!

Fury was a really fun experience and is a good war movie that I recommend you see:


Rating - B+


1 sentence summary - David Ayer is the star in a war film which does not hold back on violence and death and offers up some great entertainment through some intense action sequences.


Thanks for reading,
Matt