Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Movie Review

Motion capture technology is continuously advancing year after year. I remember watching The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in the cinema when I was 8, not remotely bothered by Gollum because all I wanted to do was be Gandalf. Just watching him lead the Rohirrim into the battle of Helms Deep like an insane old badass blew my tiny little brain away. Even though I'm meant to be an adult, deep down I still want to be Gandalf. It was only until my teenage years and read the LOTR books that I appreciated Gollum so much more as a character. Gollum was a big breakthrough in film and for motion capture. It was the first real time motion system that imputed the actions of Andy Serkis into the computer generated Gollum whilst he was acting. I have massive respect for Andy Serkis. The amount of effort he has put into developing motion capture has been immense. He is the pioneer of this type of technology. I remember him saying in an interview that when he first went onto the set filming in a spandex suit with sensors all over him, people couldn't stop laughing and didn't take it seriously at all. A gimmick. The gamble for him paid off and now he's being recruited as a consultant to many films attempting to use motion capture. There has been numerous debate between the film community on how much of Serkis's character success is down to himself as an actor with the various body language and voice overs, and how much assistance does the technology have with his performances. The prequel to this film Rise of the Planet of the Apes showed me that Caesar, played by Serkis, was a not only a brilliant visual character but that the acting shone through. This new film should put any doubters to bed.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes continues the story from its predecessor 10 years later, with Caesar and the apes creating a new home just outside San Francisco, home to the remaining human survivors of a deadly man-made virus who try to regain some form of power by using the old dam, which is sitting on the land occupied by the apes. A power struggle ensues between the humans and the apes, as well as a power struggle between the apes themselves. Firstly this film looks absolutely fantastic. Every single scene is shot with so much care and attention, that it creates such a engrossing atmosphere that keeps you hooked. The film's visual effects are in a different league.  The apes look incredible. The motion capture work is so detailed that you immediately buy into them as characters, because they all have different faces and expressions. You can tell that they aren't just CGI creations made with just the tech guys, they're actual actors. It's a break taking experience that I've never seen in a cinema before. The character of Caesar is so interesting and intriguing, that you care about him so much. Andy Serkis is faultless as Caesar. He has acting talent in abundance. If there are still critics who believe motion capture isn't true acting, you're wrong. This is one of the best acting experiences I've seen this year. It's not just Caesar who has character development, the entire main cast has a back story, so you can understand where the character is coming from and why they feel in certain ways. Because of this, you feel sympathetic towards the "villains" in the film and you understand the motives for their actions. It's fantastic writing. The human performances lead by Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman are very natural and feel grounded. They don't try and hog the spotlight because ultimately it's Caesars film and they do a great job. Oldman in one scene showed his acting class that brought out so emotion without even saying a line. Not only is it a quality film, it still has the popcorn summer blockbuster action film aspects, with the big fight scenes and the apes shooting weapons on horses, which again are shot to perfection. 

The director deserves the biggest credit for this film's success. What Matt Reeves has done is combine a powerful story with compelling characters and still have a big summer film feel with well crafted action scenes, which have so much entertainment value. It's very hard to achieve but he has done it. Faultless acting, great story, crazy action. It's my perfect kind of movie. Best film of the year so far.

10/10

Will The Purge become the next big horror film franchise?

Horror franchises go on massive rollercoaster rides. Usually the first film is top quality, followed by a mediocre sequel. Then after that you get even more sequels or remakes and unfortunately they tend to be utter toilet bowl material. Take the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. The original 1974 film is a classic piece of cinema. It mixes the gore and brutal terror with fantastic acting and is the creator of the "slasher" horror film. The second film released in the 80's wasn't initially well received. however it now has a cult following with horror fans. However the other sequels and the recent remakes are absolutely shocking and not in a good way. Texas Chainsaw 3D released last year was that bad, I just had to laugh at the pure idiocy at some of the characters. Everyone in the cinema was laughing, popcorn was flying and I can't fault them for that. What a terrible film. My personal favourite horror franchise of the 21st century has to be Final Destination. The absolutely insane and ludicrous ways that the characters get killed off are brilliant. I wanna know who comes up with these death ideas. Whoever you are, you're a sick but creative human being and I love you because it's hilarious! 

The Purge came out last year and I was quite exciting for it. The concept of having a 12 hour period every year to do whatever you pleased, was unique. It had plenty of potential going for it. And it turned out to be one of the most frustrating films of the year. The film plot was created by a completely stupid 7 year old kid, who's Dad ironically made his living from selling purge proof security systems, deactivated their home's systems to let a random bloke into their house, whilst there are people running around in the streets committing murder. Great idea! So without that incident, their wouldn't be a film. Annoying. The film then turned into the generic slasher horror film, it wasn't anything special. Plus the main villain looked like a wannabe Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. The film however did make huge return. With a budget of only $3 million, The Purge made just shy of $90 million. With these numbers, Universal was quick on the case to get a sequel into development, with release due for July 17th.  The sequel sees the return of the previous director/writer James DeMonaco, who has been quoted as saying that if this new film is just as big of a success, more films will be released. As I've mentioned, there's is potential for this film franchise. It's cheap to produce and people seemed to have interest in this sequel. The plot this time is set in L.A so this film is going bigger, which I think is what it needed. The original just didn't feel suited to a claustrophobic house setting. A bigger city setting = more carnage and that's what I wanna see. 

Will this be as successful as the SAW and Paranormal Activity franchises? I reckon it will be. It's got plenty of different avenues to explore. It won't be an iconic film in terms of being groundbreaking, but with the momentum and interest that The Purge has, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new film every year. Fingers crossed it won't get any worse the longer the series goes on, but like the majority of horror sequels, I highly doubt it.

What do you think of The Purge? Do you think we'll see a conveyor belt of these films? Let me know in the comments below :D

Transformers: Age of Extinction - Film Review

The Transformers film franchise has divided opinion. The majority of critics hate it, mostly pointing the finger at director Michael Bay. However the films have made over $3 billion at the box office, making it one of the most successful franchises of all time, on a level with Pirates of the Caribbean. I really enjoyed the first Transformers film. The special effects were great and it was a proper big summer action blockbuster where you could fill your face with popcorn and make a massive mess all over the floor. Then it dramatically it went downhill. The 2nd film was a trip to the toilet after having a bad kebab and the 3rd film was just about watchable. They were far too long, a stupid cheesy script, crappy acting and storyline that had been recycled from the first film. Two proper cash grabs. But the public still liked them and they still want more. Maybe people just like the same repetitive film over and over again. Transformers 4 however was looking a different prospect. Shia LaBeouf has been ditched for Mark Wahlberg to lead a brand new cast included the talented Stanley Tucci. So was this a new fresh start that might see the critics persuaded to get on board the Transformers train? Ermmmm..........no.

The big selling point is that people want to see the Transformers fight in big action scenes and that aspect of the film was really impressive. The CGI was brilliant at times. There's a very talented special effects team which Michael Bay has at his disposal, so big thumbs up to them. I was delighted that Mark Wahlberg replaced Shia LaBeouf as the leading actor. If I had to listen to LaBeouf scream OPTIMAAAAASSSS or BUMBLE BEEEEEEE again I would have cringed so hard into my seat that my face would get buried into my knee caps. Mark Wahlberg on every level is so much better. He has the presence and charisma which was missing from the previous films and he actually uses some weapons, so he doesn't stand there really awkwardly and watch the action bypass him unlike LaBeouf''s character. Wahlberg plays an inventor, who is down on his luck and inadvertently buys Optimus Prime. The government are on hunt for the Transformers after the destruction of Chicago in the previous film and now Wahlberg and the Autobots have to escape from the government as well as fighting off the Decepticons. Sound familiar? Because it's exactly the same storyline as the last 3 films! We've seen the corrupt government storyline before. It's such lazy filmmaking and Michael Bay knows it. The film is ridiculously over the top. I know it's meant to be like that but the amount of explosions in this film is unreal. Everything in sight explodes. Film lovers know Michael Bay likes his explosions but this was his own wet dream. I like explosions but when they're constantly getting shoved into your face, you just get sick and tired of the same routine. I reckon secretly he's a pyromaniac. The script was horribly cheesy and may as well been from a bad 1990's action film. Bay tried to throw in his style of humour as well, which isn't funny at all by the way, and you could see the actors were battling to somehow make the dialogue sound reasonable but not even the quality of Stanley Tucci could pull it off. When the Transformers came on screen, it was a completely different story. Watching them battle it out was really entertaining. Optimus Prime riding a DinoBot into action was exciting even if it was only for a brief time. It was frustrating to watch because the Transformers were great but the human side of the film again was terrible. If only we could have a badass Transformers film with just them in it, sod the humans! I blame this all on one man, Michael Bay. Get rid of him and bring in another director that might actually make a quality Transformers film. The potential is there.

Transformers: Age of Extinction sadly gets an extra Michael Bay overdose and that unfortunately ruins what could have been a decent film. Mark Wahlberg is solid as the lead and the Transformers are by far the biggest plus point of the film. The action sequences are terrific and fun to watch but the idiotic script and humour drag the film down like an anchor. The film is way too long for it's own good and the films repetitive set up gets tiring and boring. If you haven't seen Transformers, get the first one on Blu Ray. Watch it at home because it's by far the best film of the franchise and you can have plenty of fun with that. Don't waste your money on this one.

4/10

Chef - Movie Review

To say I'm a skinny shrimp, I love my food. My earliest memories are of me devouring my Grandma's jam sandwiches like the Tasmanian Devil after a weeks starvation period. I consume more KFC's, Subways and McDonalds meals than one of those rather obese people as seen on a Channel 5 documentary. But strangely, I still have the appearance of a lifeless twig, who on first look only seems to eat when close to dying. So as I walked into the cinema Monday afternoon, with good knowledge that the film Chef was going to be 2 hours of food heaven, I prepared myself with plenty of food to munch on whilst attempting to digest (comedy genius) the film's story.

Jon Favreau stars and directs this feel good comedy as Carl Casper, a chef who due to unfortunate circumstances gets slaughtered by a food critic and attempts to rebuild his reputation selling his own street food from a food truck. By going on this food journey, Casper rediscovers his passion for food and rebuilds his relationship with his young son. Jon Favreau, both as the director and as the lead star was terrific. He apparently went to train in a top restaurant chef, just so he could look more convincing as a well renown chef, which he pulls off brilliantly. That extra effort he put in showed on screen and it paid off. The way Favreau directed the film, made you feel like you were in his culinary world and the adventure of going on a food truck, experiencing different food cultures in America. There's a massive amount of heart in this film and the feel good factor is pumping throughout, that even the grumpiest possible humans would raise a smile at the majority of these scenes. The way the film uses social media throughout the film was refreshing to see, even if at times the first act of the film feels like a constant product placement for Twitter. Because the direction is precise and screenplay of the film is sharp and witty, the characters feel like real people. The scenes don't feel set up, they effortlessly flow together and at times the film has the tone of a documentary, which is massive credit to Favreau. Casper's son, played by EmJay Antony, was one of the best child acting performances I've seen for a long time. The way the two play off each other was very touching and didn't feel cheesy once. John Leguizamo's sous chef character brought plenty of comedy to the film. His dynamic with Favreau was brilliantly natural. Casper's wife Sofia Vergara was very sympathetic and sweet in her role as was Scarlett Johansson. Even Dustin Hoffman and Robert Downey Jr make an appearance and their cameos were top notch.

Chef is the perfect film for anyone who wants a break from the big action summer blockbusters. The passion and heart are the key ingredients to a feel good comedy and this delivers. The food looks amazing, the acting is great and the improvisational feel to the script makes Chef a class act and it's charm makes it impossible to not bring a smile to your face. Jon Favreau's best performance as a actor and director and hopefully every now and then when he takes a break from directing big movies, he does more of these low key films. I'd highly recommend the film because I don't believe the film will get enough credit as it should do. Definitely check this one out. 

Rating : 9/10