Todd & Viola find themselves on a perilous journey through the badlands of an unexplored planet as they try to escape a dangerous and disorienting reality : Not read any of the books written by Patrick Ness but as I’m a huge fan of Doug Liman’s visual filmmaking style and love these dystopian type of movies I delved straight in and was immediately blown away by the originality of CHAOS WALKING : once you get over the somewhat confusing “noise” element to the film you presented with a hugely enjoyable, quick paced, emotion led scifi thriller with terrific turns by Tom Holland as Todd, Mads Mikkelsen as the towns Mayor, Daisy Ridely as Viola and a shiver enducing performance by the wonderful David Oyelowo as the town’s preacher : I loved the film’s photography by World War Z’s Ben Seresin, wanted to give Manchee a good cuddle and anything Cynthia Erivo has delivered since her Widows debut in 2018 has been nothing short of incredible, her character Hildy is another eye popping turn : the surreal imagination of Patrick Ness matched with Liman’s science fiction thrill gave me quite a film watching experience, I’m now off to buy the books !! ★★★★½
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Antonio Campos continues on from his 2016 movie Christine with another miserable, downbeat yet compelling piece of filmmaking : taking center stage in The Devil All the Time is the bible belt of West Virginia and some of it’s unsavory characters that all merge together over a time span of 15 years or more to create the backbone of the story the novel of which is written by Donald Ray Pollock who also in a rather poetic and wonderful way narrates the movie : it’s story is full of deluded, nasty characters and we get to meet some of them on our journey from Bill Skarsgard’s war torn, emotion driven father (that dog scene is heartbreaking), Pattison’s creepy peverted preacher (the crazy good speech after he receives the welcome food is haunting), the husband & wife serial killing team played by Jason Clarke & Riley Keogh to Harry Melling’s frightening turn as a preacher who’s bitten by a spider to crazy consequences : The Devil All the Time is not pretty, it’s over 2hrs of dark & bleak imagery but along with it’s sublime acting from it’s outstanding cast & great material it’s filmmaker Antonio Campos manages to grip you early doors and it’s utterly fascinating with how each & every character in the stories arc fit’s together like a jigsaw each of them slotting into place ready for it’s dramatic finale : so if you liked Winter’s Bone or The Place Beyond the Pines then The Devil All the Time is a must watch ★★★★½
I know I know I know… another bloody remake…. well that was my initial reaction to the news that our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was getting another outing with yet another cast and so soon after the Marc Webb movies landed…. but as always first reactions are not always the right ones, having now seen John Watts superhero movie I must say “what a ridiculously fun, coming of age thrill ride that blends the humor, action & darkness perfectly to create one helluva cinematic event” – Tom Holland (who I loved in Pigrimage and The Impossible) was so the right choice & delivers a magical turn as our webslinger, capturing the innocence and arrogance of a teenager that’s required for this movie, Holland is surrounded by quality at every turn, Aunt May is played by the delightful Marisa Tomei giving a new & younger slant on Peter’s guardian, Michael Keaton hits it out of the ball park playing the villain Adrian Toomes aka: Vulture and Robert Downey Jr who’s actually a good mentor to Peter and is fun to watch, some of his screen time in Homecoming I found better than his Avengers stuff – I have to be honest and say when I first heard of this latest remake I wanted it all to be a complete disaster, crash and burn and be complete garbage but Spider-man Homecoming is far from it, its an exceptionally well written comicbook adaption that took me back to my teens, reading the comics, watching the animated series & avoiding spiders at all costs – Overall this is one of the best Marvel Superhero Movies in recent times, it’s an action packed, John Hughes homage laiden big screen summer movie that I found totally engrossing and deliciously fun to watch…. ★★★★½
Without getting bogged down with the movie vs comic aspect of Civil War & trying to avoid any early reviews or spoilers I decided to visit my local IMAX and see if the Russo Brothers have delivered another entertaining slice of cinema – It took less than 10 minutes before I had my answer, finding myself totally immersed in this world of villains, superhero’s & the carnage that goes with it, I was like a kid in a candy store, the 2hr 30mins runtime flew by and I enjoyed every fun minute of it – there are many reasons why I really enjoyed Captain America: Civil War for a start it’s easily Robert Downey Jr’s best outing as Tony Stark aka: Iron Man, there’s much less comedy from his character and a lot more emotion, he’s hurting and Downey Jr does hurting well, even the die hard fans who dislike Stark will feel for him towards the movie’s finale – Don’t get me started on the movies fight & chase scenes or I could be here drooling all night, let’s just say they’re relentless in pace, high on scale & brimming with destruction simply put the effects are bloody incredible, the battle with Crossbones played by Frank Grillo at the start of the movie whet’s the appetite for what’s to come and boy you won’t be disappointed – The Russo Brothers continuing on from Winter Soldier do such a great job in sucking you in to the personal battles of many of the characters in the movie, you feel invested whilst also feeling slightly intrigued & somewhat excited by the eventual outcome.
Essentially this is like an Avengers movie, so many characters are along for the ride, watching Paul Rudd’s scene stealing Ant-Man and the introduction of a few new characters to the franchise such as Spidey, Black Panther and the villainous Baron Zemo is like movie heaven for us superhero fans, all are perfectly cast & their involvement in the movie’s big action set pieces are considerable and in the case of Spidey adds plenty of humor to proceedings – also wasn’t it great seeing Paul Bettany’s Vision getting more screen time? he’s a fabulous character and in my opinion has been underused in previous outings – But for me the main reason why Captain America: Civil War works so well is the exciting and at times explosive dynamic between Iron Man and Captain America these two guys respect the hell out of each other but both have different views, neither will back down, leading to a nail biting finale pitting two of the great comicbook superhero’s against each other – Overall: not often do I come away from the cinema having watched a movie that has lived up to it’s hype but Captain America: Civil War does just that – it’s well written, well executed and movie escapism at it’s finest – roll on Infinity War Part 1 can’t wait !! ★★★★½
Here’s the latest trailer for Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea that stars Chris Hemsworth, Brendan Gleeson, Benjamin Walker, Jordi Molla, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland & Ben Whishaw – the film will make a splash at cinema’s in the UK, USA and Australia between 13th and 19th March 2015…. ENJOY !!
HOW I LIVE NOW – (2013) – Movie Review ★★★¾
Cast – Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, George MacKay and Harley Bird – Based on the award winning novel by Meg Rosoff – Daisy (Ronan) an American is sent to the English countryside to stay with family when a terrorist attack strikes, leaving her and her cousins fighting for survival VERDICT since watching Saoirse Ronan in 2007’s Atonement I have been a big fan, it’s amazing to think she’s only 19yrs of age and has already giving us some pretty impressive performances in films such as The Lovely Bones, Hanna, Violet & Daisy, Byzantium and her latest Kevin Mcdonald’s How I Live Now – a nuclear terrorist attack is hopefully something we never have to go through – the film’s big moment is when the cousins are out swimming and enjoying the countryside, there’s a deathly silence, almost a tremor and then that’s when the ash starts descending down upon them like flurries of snow – they make it back to their cottage and within minutes the electric goes off, their world is about to be turned upside down – Mcdonald captures all of this on film with a certain beauty but still manages to be aggressive with the narrative, the realism and brutality of what’s happened is there for you to see – Saoirse Ronan and young Harley Bird are both superb, the scenes of them on the run, being chased in the woods and that haunting moment at the boys camp are film highlights – overall How I Live Now is a heart wrenching tale of love and war, that’s engrossing, has a superb soundtrack and some young talent that I’m sure will be see in movies for years to come….