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CHARLIE COUNTRYMAN – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★★
Cast – Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen, Rupert Grint & Til Schweiger – Charlie Countryman (LaBeouf) gets visited by his recently deceased mum who tells him to visit Bucharest – on the plane trip over, he gets chatting to an elderly man who suddenly passes away in the seat next to him & upon his death the man asks Charlie to visit his daughter Gabi & deliver a present. Charlie meets Gabi and instantly falls in love with her, unbeknown to him she is the wife of Nigel, a Romanian mobster and someone you just don’t want in your life. VERDICT from first time helmer Fredrik Bond comes one of the surprise movies of the year – Charlie Countryman is a delightfully quriky drama, with hints of comedy, romance and brutal violence – the acting throughout is top draw with Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood both owning the screen with some crazy chemistry – Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint gives a rather hilarious turn as Karl a wannabe porn star going under the name Boris Pecker who takes 6 Viagras and ends up in deep shit with a Romanian club owner and Hannibal’s Mads Mikkelsen looks every bit the nasty bit of work he portrays in the movie – overall Charlie Countryman has hints of True Romance with the trippy-ness of Spring Breakers – it’s a love story, with a violent and ultimately satisfying finale that includes some gorgeous cinematography and a vibrant soundtrack – if your looking for something altogether different from your comic-book superhero movies then Fredrik Bond’s little picture might just be for you….
Since making his movie debut opposite Barbara Stanwyck in 1946’s The Strange Love of Martha Ivers Kirk Douglas was destined to become a Hollywood Great – in his wonderful career Kirk appeared in over 70 movies, was nominated for 3 Academy Awards and in 1968 was the recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award – he appeared alongside his friend Burt Lancaster on 7 different occasions and 3 times alongside John Wayne – some of my favorite movies include: Spartacus, War Wagon, The Vikings, Lust for Life, Ace in the Hole and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral – In my opinion he is the greatest actor of his generation – Happy Birthday 97 year old Kirk Douglas
OLDBOY – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★¾
Cast – Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L Jackson and Sharlto Copley – the film is a remake of Chan-wook Park’s 2003 Korean masterpiece directed by Malcolm X’s Spike Lee – the year is 1993 and Joe Doucett (Brolin) is a not a very nice guy, he’s a drunk and a father of a three year old he never visits – after a business meeting goes south Doucett get’s drunk and crawls through the neighborhood looking for someone to share his miserable insistence with – the next morning he wakes up in a strange bed, in a room that contains a shower and TV but no door or exit – it then dawns on Doucett that he has been kidnapped and locked in some kind of solitary confinement and there he spends the next 20 years of his life, writing letters of regret to his daughter and thinking of nothing else but seeking vengeance on his captors VERDICT let’s be honest Spike Lee was on a hiding to nothing when attempting to remake one of the finest Korean movies in decades – but in fairness Lee’s remake is a descent thriller that not only looks stylish but has some classy nods to it’s original and a performance by Josh Brolin that has you purring right to the end credits – my favorite scene in the movie has to be the devlishly fun, over the top fight scene with Brolin’s character facing down dozens of baddies – my only negative about Spike Lee’s remake is that if you have seen the original then you know the punchline and know when it’s coming so sadly that blow to the gut you may would have felt during the original movie is reduced to a slight whimper – overall OLDBOY is an enjoyable, extremely violent and well acted movie remake – it’s also Spike Lee’s best directed movie since 2006’s Inside Man and one I’d certainly recommend….
CARRIE – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★★
Cast – Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Gabriella Wilde, Judy Greer and Ansel Elgort – from the mind of Stephen King and a remake of De Palma’s 1976 horror comes a re-telling of CARRIE, a supernatural tale of a child born by her deeply religious mum who abuses her and shelters her from society, at times locking her in a “prayer closet” beneath the stairs punishing her for any wrong doings & telling her to to pray for forgiveness – as Carrie grows into her teenage years, she discovers she has telekinetic powers and starts to control them – but during an incident at her senior prom Carrie unleashes an almighty fury on her peers and the town that pushed her too far VERDICT having loved Stephen King’s novel and being a huge fan of Sissy Spacek’s Oscar Nominated deliverance of Carrie back in ’76 I was initially dead against yet another dumb Hollywood remake – but having just seen Kimberly Peirce’s horror movie on the big screen, I’m here writing whilst eating humble pie and reflecting on a 100mins of fabulous acting, great camera work and a film that comes awfully close to surpassing it’s original – Julianne Moore is pretty terrifying and gives an unforgettable performance as Carrie’s mum, a religious woman who takes to self harming to rid herself of her demons, she truly is creepy, sadistic and unbalanced and if the Academy Awards rewarded great performances from ALL movie genres and not consistently ignore that of the Horror Film then Ms Moore would certainly be in the running for a gold statue, her turn as Margaret White is in my opinion that good – Kick-Ass’s Chloë Grace Moretz filmed this movie aged 15 and once again displays a talent far beyond her years, stamping her own disturbing print on that of Carrie White – also I must comment on an impressive movie debut by Ansel Elgort he is certainly one for the future – overall Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie is one to savor, a remake that’s truly worth watching and after a five year absence the Boys Don’t Cry director returns to helm one of 2013’s Best Horror pictures that will not only scare the bejesus out of you but also delivers a message to what can happen if one is pushed too far by those evil bullies of society….
Muppets Most Wanted is the movie sequel to 2011’s The Muppets that stars Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey – “on a global sell out tour The Muppets run across a Kermit lookalike and his dastardly sidekick and get unwittingly entangled in an international heist” – James Bobin returns to the directors chair whilst Danny Trejo, Tom Hiddleston, Christoph Waltz, Zach Galifianakis and Salma Hayek are amongst the stars making cameos in the movie – here’s the latest movie trailer and some new stills…. Enjoy!
Muppets Most Wanted – US (21st march) – UK (28th March) – Australia (3rd April)
It was the year that Pixar Studios opened, Amber Heard was born and Sydney Pollack’s Out of Africa won a Best Picture at the 58th Academy Awards – it was also the year screen legend James Cagney died and Mike Tyson became the youngest Heavyweight World Champion in the history of Boxing – it was also the year two of my movie heroes starred opposite each other for the last time – Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster first appeared together in 1957’s Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and in 1986 they would star in their seventh & final movie together Tough Guys….
My Definitive Action Movies of 1986 : at Number 1 is James Cameron’s epic scifi movie ALIENS that sees Ripley alongside a group of kick-ass Colonial Marines trying to stay alive down on LV-426 – at Number 2 Maverick & Goose fly into Top Gun coming up against the best Fighter Pilots the navy has to offer – and at Number 3 Sylvester Stallone plays Marion Cobretti a cop and part of the “Zombie Squad” who loves nothing better than Telling it to the Judge and putting the bad guys down in Cobra – at Number 4 is John Carpenter’s superb Big Trouble in Little China that sees Burton played by Kurt Russell battling a sorcerer named Lo Pan down in Chinatown – and finally there can be only one at Number 5 and that’s Russell Mulcahy’s Highlander don’t you just love that Queen soundtrack, that amazing Scottish backdrop and Clancy Brown’s villainous Kruger? – as you can see 1986 was an incredible feast of action movies, I was only 15 years of age at the time and my love affair with the movies was only just beginning….
HOURS – (2013/4) – Movie Review ★★★¾
Cast – Paul Walker, Génesis Rodríguez – set in 2005 during the time Hurricane Katrina was raining havoc down on New Orleans – Nolan (Walker) has just become a father to a newly born baby who is prematurely born & is placed in an incubator to help with her breathing – then the storm hits placing the hospital on high alert, the hospital’s power goes off, the flooding begins and then the criminal, looting scum come out to play – Nolan must do whatever it takes to keep himself and his new baby girl alive VERDICT Eric Heisserer who’s writing credits include the recent remakes of A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Thing makes his directorial debut with Hours – unlike other Paul Walker features this movie does not include a car instead it’s completely set in a hospital and requires Walker to step up to the plate and deliver some of his finest acting work to date – the scenes in the hospital with the corridor full of bodies left on the floor and the moments Nolan attempts to communicate with his new born by placing pictures of him & his wife on the incubator glass are quite emotional – overall Heisserer‘s Hours is a gripping, well shot and superbly executed movie that may get overlooked due to people’s preconceived ideas about it’s leading star – in my opinion Hours is well worth a watch….
PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★
Cast – Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T. Jackson, Leven Rambin & Nathan Fillion – Percy (Lerman) the son of Poseidon & his friends embark on a quest to the Sea of Monsters where he hopes to find the Golden Fleece that can restore the ailing magical tree that protects their home from evil foes VERDICT being a big fan of all things fantasy and enjoying Chris Columbus’s first movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief I was hoping for more of the same from Thor Freundenthal’s sequel – the real trouble with Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is that the whole film is too effects driven, I almost felt a CG overload and a lot of the effects were cheesy & made the production look cheap – I’m always one for effects as long as the storyline is good and that the characters in that particular world have some emotion, but to be honest I felt nothing for any of the characters in the movie, it appears that the team behind Sea of Monsters concentrated on the CG work rather that the story and characterization – the premise for the story centered around the mythical Golden Fleece was a promising but ultimately wasted one, even the villain Kronos was a huge let down – overall Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters gets the big thumbs down here, which is a shame as I loved the first film – my advice for the third outing would be to hire some director of note who can re-establish this franchise as worthwhile and get somebody better than Green Lantern’s Marc Guggenheim to write the script….
From Scott Waugh (Act of Valor) comes a movie adaption of video game Need for Speed – the movie stars Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots, Dakota Johnson and Michael Keaton – framed and sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) is now out and is looking for revenge – the movie lands March 2014 – here’s the trailer…. enjoy!
Getaway – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★½
Cast – Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez and Jon Voight – Brent Magna (Hawke) is a former racing driver who arrives home one night to discover his wife has been kidnapped and in order to get her back he’s instructed to commandeer a custom made mustang and take it on a path of destruction around the streets of Sofia VERDICT don’t go into this movie with any pre-conceived ideas, think of it as a popcorn movie, that’s not going to require much brain power and you will be pleasantly surprised – Courtney Solomon who helmed Dungeons & Dragons back in 2000 really does know how to orchestrate a car chase, the scenes with the mustang driving through the Christmas market and the bike chase scene are electric & superbly filmed – overall Getaway doesn’t set out to win any awards or stretch the acting talent in anyway but instead delivers 90mins of mindless, heart pumping, unadulterated fun!!






















































































































































