Out of the Furnace Movie Review

This movie is probably worth seeing for the cast alone to be honest. However, there is more to Scott Cooper's drama than that....

Out of the Furnace is directed by Scott Cooper and tells the story of a man named Russell Baze. Baze works in a steel mill and is very much down in his luck. Practically everything  in his life that could go wrong does go wrong for him in Out of the Furnace; he is part of a car accident which puts him in jail, he loses his girlfriend plus misses his father's funeral while serving jail time. On top of all that, he has to deal with his younger brother Rodney who winds himself into trouble with a drug lord.

This movie does have some excellent things going for it but overall Out of the Furnace just didn't entirely click with me.

However, the acting and the performances are all fantastic from an all star cast. Christian Bale excels as the lead character Russell, a damaged steel-mill worker who experiences a lot of misfortune. As usual, Bale's committed performance sells the character allowing us audience members to route for the guy.

Zoe Saldana, Willem Dafoe and Forest Whitaker all put in great performances, further proving that the talent is spread across the entire cast.

Casey Affleck is also terrific in the movie as Russell's brother Rodney. Affleck contributes to the movie by playing brilliantly an Iraq War veteran attempting to adjust to normal life after the traumatic things he's experienced. Out of the Furnace also does a good job at showing just how damaging life can be, especially for returning war vets.

Woody Harrelson is great as the villain. He is intimidating and has such an evil screen presence about him. The acting from him is great. However, his character is also a little bit on the over dramatic side, he was a bit cartoony.

As said before the acting is absolutely amazing. For me Out of the Furnace isn't as good as it could be due to a few issues with the screenplay. While the actual dialogue is good, the script tries to be more metaphorically heavy-handed than it deserves to be.

Also, there are a few scenes in the movie that do feel a little out of place. The final shot of the movie didn't really make sense in that they didn't fit with the tone of the movie's thrilling final act. Also, the very first scene was also unnecessary in that the only reason it was put in was to illustrate just how evil Woody Harrelson's character is. The plot explains that and that particular scene isn't needed at all.

I also had a few issues with the movie's pacing. The build up his very patient and as a result, slow. If they had trimmed the movie by say 15 minutes I probably wouldn't have a problem with Out of the Furnace's length.

The directing from Scott Cooper's is patient and works well with the quiet and dramatic tone of the movie. Camera placement is very carefully done and Cooper and the technical team behind him do brilliantly at making Out of the Furnace a good looking movie.

To summarise it is a bit of a mixed bag. The acting and directing is good from all the talent involve but other problems with pacing and the writing mean that as a drama Out of the Furnace just doesn't really work for me. It isn't a bad movie though:


Rating - C+


1 sentence summary - A human drama that doesn't quite work on all levels, despite some excellent acting performances!


Can't wait to see how Christian Bale does in American Hustle, one of my most anticipated movies at the moment.

Thanks for reading,
Matt

Now You See Me Movie Review

I have to admit, this is probably the most difficult movie to review out of all the movies I've done so far. It's hard because I don't wish to ruin the plot for you, yet its so hard to talk about without small details which could give away the plot. Now You See Me is very much a "see it for yourself" kind of film and it's been out for absolutely ages. I only saw it recently, so here we go..

Now You See Me is basically a heist movie. 4 magicians come together early on in the film and then we skip straight to the events of a year later. The group are using magic to rob a bank. That is only the start.

I like how the story is paced really well. It wastes no time in getting into the thick of things as the first 10 minutes introduce us to all 4 main characters, the different tricks they are capable of performing, the whole concept of magic and deception and of course them joining forces. It doesn't wait around it just gets straight to the point which I was really glad of.

The crew of magicians all work really well together as a group. They are all varied as characters, but share a similar goal. The dialogue between the characters is subtle yet interesting. I liked the majority of them; Eisenberg is generally a good actor and does everything he needs to do to portray the lead character, Fisher is not only ridiculously attractive but does a good job too and Harrelson provides subtle comic relief in a way which does not feel forced.

However, I can't help but feel that Dave Franco's character was the weakest of the bunch. If you took him out of the movie, it wouldn't have been any different (in ways that I won't spoil for you, you'll just have to trust me!). This kind of bummed me out.

Then of course you add Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman into the mix. Both are incredibly talented actors and both do a very good job with the characters they play. I wouldn't say they are out and out villains in this movie, but they both play slightly different roles to what they are usually cast as.

Finally, Mark Ruffalo. Big fan of this main after his stunning portrayal of Bruce Banner in the Avengers and he does a really good job in this movie as well. He plays the FBI agent who is trying to catch the "Four Horseman" but he isn't a villain in any way. He's just your average guy with feelings and things he cares about and I like how they show us that in this movie. It's not your average good people vs. bad people showdown.

I had a great time with this movie. If you need logic and reason to help you appreciate things then give this movie a miss. You have to open up your imagination to really appreciate the elements in this movie. Could the events of the movie happen in real life? Definitely not! But it's still downright fun and entertaining with an open mind!

As for the magic tricks in this movie, they were all really good. Sure, they aren't realistic but they are all interesting and entertaining to watch. They don't constantly repeat the same trick but rather use a collection of tricks to always keep you on your toes.

There is also a slight romance going on but it isn't really the showpiece behind the movie or something to remember the movie for.

The film's plot is well paced and all the characters (with the exception of Dave Franco) get enough screen time to strut their stuff. There are so many twists and turns in the plot as well. Some may say there are too many but I respectfully disagree. I was constantly engaged and had to remain focused for the majority of this film with everything that was going on.

I also have to give Isla Fisher another mention, because why wouldn't I want to?

I probably need to watch it a second time. But, after that I don't think I will need to watch it anymore to understand the "ins" and "outs" of the plot. It's not like Inception where you can watch it 6 or 7 times and pick up something new each and every time. Doesn't have the same re-watch value. Still, I was a fan of the majority of this movie and this is how I would rate it.


Rating - B

1 sentence summary - A well paced story of magic and deception which engages you in the plot with all it's twists and turns.



Have you seen Now You See Me? Did you enjoy the film? Are you going to buy it on DVD or on Blu-ray? Leaving a comment would be much appreciated..

Thank you yet again for reading,
Matt