50. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

The original Jumanji is one of my favourite films. Amongst all the nightmares it gave me, it reminds me of my childhood, and was one of the most played videos, alongside The Witches, at my out of school club. Loved it. In fact I loved it so much that I got the DVD a few years ago whilst I was at uni, so we could watch it as a uni family. I'm sure most people my age would agree it is a seminal piece of cinema. When I saw there was a sequel, I was ecstatic. We were lucky enough to catch Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle on it's opening evening, and it was an absolute treat.

Jumanji is a jungle board game, updated in the new film, where it becomes, what seems to me, a Sega Mega Drive/N64 hybrid game. 4 high schoolers end up in detention, and unbeknownst to them, end up inside Jumanji. In order to escape the game, they must save Jumanji, and return a gem to the top of a giant jaguar statue.

I really enjoyed the references to gaming, for example, with the story telling characters that are not helpful at all. It bought back my frustration of trying to complete Zelda. I liked how each character's qualities and weaknesses all played into the film, and I thought it was really clever. There was also good development of characters, and the relationships between the characters. A fundamental part of Jumanji is the teamwork required to complete the game, which I felt was really pertinent in the storytelling.

I enjoyed the references back to the original film, I thought it was a lovely touch, especially following the death of Robin Williams in 2014. Just seeing the 'Jumanji house' bought back so many childhood memories.

I also enjoyed the fact Nick Jonas was in it. Very random.

The Rock was great, Kevin Hart was great, Karen Gillan was great, Jack Black was great. They clearly had a ball making the film, and it was so much fun to watch. It's not the most intellectual film, but it was really interesting to watch, and there were some really funny parts at all. Again, a lot of the best bits were shown in the trailer, but the film did have much more to give. It's a really easy watch, but the story has purpose and keeps you interested, as well as giving a message to the audience as well. I saw a few kids in the cinema, and thought it must be nice for both parents and children to be enjoying the film together. I think it was very good marketing to pitch the films over 20 years apart.

Overall, if Jumanji is as much a part of your childhood as it was to me, you will love this film regardless. If it wasn't, but you enjoyed the first film, or if you were intrigued by the trailer, definitley give it a go. It's a great little film to watch between Christmas and New Year, and I know Cineworld are also showing it in 4DX (That's the one with the wind and rain and snow and fog and smells etc). If you are reading this and know me in person, the Cineworld in Didsbury have just opened their 4DX screen this week. You're welcome. 8/10. Loved it.

40. Blade Runner 2049

First of all, congratulations to me! Last year I saw 40 'new' films, and here we are, October, and I've hit that figure. This weeks film review comes from Costa Coffee, in Derby Train Station, where due to a uni open day, the bus got me here 30 minutes before my train is due. Where am I blogging from can become a new feature. Chances are it'll be either on train, near train, or in bed, but there we go. 

I was super excited to see Blade Runner 2049. The reviews I'd seen had been great, and obviously Ryan Gosling is great, Harrison Ford is great, it was all set to be great. The film starts with a handy synopsis of the original film, which was clearly helpful as I've obviously not seen it. The premise of the film is that K (Ryan Gosling) is an artificial human programmed to follow orders, working for LAPD. His mission is to retire the older, less obedient models of himself. 

The film follows K as he tries to retire the replicants, but also explores his emotion and feelings around being an artificial human. He lives with a hologram type female robot whom he is not able to love (because she's a hologram), which leads to quick an interesting/strange/bizarre subplot. He also struggles with memories, as an artificial human, he was never a child, but he still experiences flashbacks to his childhood. This is another theme throughout the film, looking at where these memories come from. 

As expected, there is also lots of action in the film, coming to a head at the end with a really intense and quite exciting action scene. Throughout the film, the action kept me hooked and interested in where the plot was going. 

Unfortunately for the film, it clocks in at a grand total 2hrs 45mins, and for me, as we know, I just don’t think this sort of the length is necessary for a film. Although I could keep my attention due to the exciting action parts, I think it’s hard to maintain the focus on the plot over such a long period of time. As mentioned before, there are many subplots, and these start to get confusing and tangled over time. There are parts where Jared Leto is the main character, but I’m still trying to work out who exactly he is, and with my understanding of the plot, I don’t think some of the parts are truly integral (not that Jared Leto was bad in the film, mind).

I also got about 2 hours into the film, wondering where Harrison Ford was. Again, he wasn’t bad in the film, but was he necessary? It felt like he was more of a cameo, and he could have been integrated more into the plot. That said, I haven’t seen the original so what do I know? 

Overall, the film is enjoyable, and if you are a SciFi/Fantasy fan you will really enjoy it. For me, not the biggest fan of things that aren’t realistic, it isn’t my film of the year, but I still think it is worth a watch. I wouldn’t say it lived up to the hype, but I’ll give it a solid 7.5/10 for the effort. Someone needs to give the movie industry the heads up that films only need to be 1.5-2hrs long. 

38. Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Firstly, again this is incredibly late. I have two films to
catch up on, this, and IT. I don’t feel so guilty about not catching up on
either. Kingsman is simply not great, and I feel everyone has seen IT. My
excuse for my lateness, is that I have started my Masters at uni, and been
juggling various types of work, uni timetabling, weekend activities. It turns
out that if you do a Masters, you have to do work outside of uni. Who knew! So
here we are. As you probably already know, my new years resolution was to write
my blog for every 2017 film I see, hence the catch up.

You might have seen me reference the original Kingsman film
in a previous review. I watched the first film for the first time a month or so
ago, in preparation for the sequel. I really enjoyed it. I found it a good
balance of comedy and action, and found the plot interesting. Predictable in
parts, but an easy watch. I found parts of the comedy sexist and dated, but I
attributed this to it being a slightly older film, and perhaps whenever it was
released, there wasn’t enough publicity around what is acceptable and what is
not. Not that that excuses it.

So coming into the sequel, I was actually really excited. I
was ready for an easy funny film that would keep my attention. What actually
happened, was that I was watching a really bizarre, silly and offensive film. I
feel the plot line was just quite silly, but not in a clever or surreal way.
The main idea is that Poppy (Julianne Moore) is trying to control population by killing off
anyone who takes drugs. A chemical is produced that when reacting with someone
who has taken drugs, they start a process in their body, starting with a purple
rash, moving to ‘mania’ and then freezing, and finally death. Here Eggsy (Taron Egerton) must save the day, and stop the chemical from being released throughout the
world. Obviously the film takes the stance that people who take drugs clearly
shouldn’t die (which probably still isn't the view of some people) but I felt the
film could have explored social issues and reasons why people may take drugs
more.

I also have problems with the way mental health was
perceived in the film. At one point I remember the main nemesis being described
as ‘having mental health issues as a child’. If that isn’t stigma, then I don’t
know what is. Also the so called ‘mania’ portrayed in the film is nothing like
mania, a medical term for a type of mental illness, or a symptom. Again, not
helping the stigma. My working background is in mental health, and I don’t
think some people who are hospitalised due to manic symptoms would be best
pleased to see their condition stereotyped as dancing around and listening to
loud music in a blockbuster film. It’s not particularly helping to educate the
audience, but more contributing to the stigma created by society.

Another strange thing about the film is the presence of
Elton John. He’s in the film loads and swears occasionally and is generally
made a spectacle out of. Why did he agree to being part of this??? It’s not
like he needs the money. I found it so strange, and it didn’t contribute to the
plot at all, except that robot dogs wouldn’t kill him as he was Elton John.
Very strange experience, I felt like I was on drugs myself just watching it.

I can understand why some people would enjoy the film, in a
similar way to how people would enjoy Zoolander 2. Actually I’m not that sure
why you would enjoy this film, but George and Bailey did. Maybe this is your
thing. It definitely did not live up to the original film, so I can only give
it a 5/10. I give it a 5/10 as Zoolander 2 got a 4 and it was marginally better
than that, and clearly, looking at the box office figures, this must be the
type of thing some people enjoy.

36. American Assassin

From the trailer for American Assassin, I was really excited to see the film. The trailer makes it look like an action filled film with an exciting and interesting plot. In all honesty, I don't think this is going to be a very good review, because I wasn't as consumed by the film as I expected to be.

So much so that I've had to read a plot summary to remind me the jist of the film. Now to give me credit I started uni last week (Hi guys I'm doing a masters. I'm going to be a Master. How great is that. I mean it will be great at the end, but right now it seems like i'm just going to have to do a lot of work. A lot of last week was filled with me being told what a Student's Union is -or the Union of Students, Thanks Derby- despite already spending 3 years of my life in a Student's Union on pound pints. So please excuse me for how uninformative this review is)

The film centres around Mitch Rapp (Dylan O'Brien) after being part of a terrorist attack on holiday, and losing his wife to be. Rapp is out for revenge, interacting with terrorists online, and trying to get his retribution through undercover work. After he meets with one of the terrorists, and it comes to a head, Rapp moves from a CIA safe house, to being offered the chance to be trained to become a Black Ops agent. From here we follow him through training, and we learn about a nuclear weapons plan the team need to intercept.

I did like the realism in the film, and it is quite scary to think about similar things happening in different parts of the world right now, in terms of nuclear weapons. Maybe because I am terrified of these things happening, my memory subconsciously erased how I experienced the film...

Overall, from my none review, the first thing I said when I left the cinema was "what a bang average film" so it is only fair to award the movie a bang average 5/10. I feel the film was too long and I ended up doing a bit of clock watching, the plot wasn't completely gripping, and I went in with quite high expectations from seeing it advertised. At the moment there are quite a few interesting looking films out, and I wouldn't perceive this as one of them. That said, maybe I would be more into it if I wasn't full of information about Continuing Professional Development, or how to use Blackboard...

35. The Hitman's Bodyguard

Seeing The Hitman's Bodyguard was an accident. There was a crash on the M6 meaning we couldn't make it to see Detroit and have tea beforehand, and as it happens, we were all rather hangry. The Hitman's Bodyguard started at 9pm, so we had a cheeky Nando's and were away.

We had no idea what the film was about, I haven't seen loads of advertising for it, and Rotten Tomatoes suggested it was a 36% film. Rotten Tomatoes was right. The film follows Bryce (Ryan Reynolds), a former 'triple A' bodyguard, after being called at the last minute to protect Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson). Kincaid is a notorious hitman, but also Interpol's last chance to prosecute a world leader for crimes against humanity. Bryce must ensure Kincaid is safely escorted from the UK to the Netherlands. As you can probably guess, along the way there are many hiccups - people trying to kill Kincaid, and Kincaid trying to escape.

From the plot summary above, the storyline doesn't actually sound that bad, it seems like it could be quite captivating, and exciting. However, in reality, it is an obvious story throughout, and the execution of it is not the best either. The film is 2hrs long, which is far too long for a movie you could guess the ending from the first 20 minutes, leaving the audience bored in places.

The film is by no means serious, and the elements of comedy do work in some places, but it isn't the funniest action comedy either. I watched Kingsman: The Secret Service last night (revision for the sequel, out next week), and found it far more humorous and exciting.

The only redeeming feature of the film was the chemistry between Reynolds and Jackson, and the way it develops through the film. From the initial relationship as prisoner and bodyguard, to them working together to survive in situations, teasing each other, and possibly even friendship. I think the acting skill here really enhanced the storyline, it's just a shame the storyline was so weak. From that initial review on Rotten Tomatoes, I think it is clear that my view is probably the view of many.

The Hitman's Bodyguard worked in one way for me, it allowed me to have my chicken, and cured my hangriness. But on reflection, if it wasn't for the M6, I wouldn't have seen this film, and I wouldn't have felt that I was missing out. When we pick a film at the cinema, it's often based on adverts, what's popular in the media, the occasional Ali Plumb review on Radio 1, but more often than not, a quick score check on IMDb and RT. The Hitman's Bodyguard wouldn't even reach my radar. Maybe that is for me to open my horizons a bit more, and read more and see more less commercial films, but on this occasion, our system was right. The Hitman's Bodyguard gets a 4.5/10. I've seen worst, but not worth the 2hrs of your life really.

31. Dunkirk

I was so excited to see Dunkirk, it's based on a true event, it doesn't surpass the 2hr mark, and the cast is incredible. It didn't disappoint. Last night before we watched the film, I had a little look at the previous 30 titles I've seen this year, and I'm delighted to let you know, this takes the top spot. I know a lot of the big titles often come out around the back end of the year/beginning of next year due to the awards season, but actually, 2017 has given me a lot of bang average films (hit me up with your suggestions of 2017 winners I haven't seen if you fancy.) This movie was captivating, interesting, emotional, full of action. It really was fab. It also has Tom Hardy in it (and my new friend Jack Lowden...).

The film encapsulates the evacuation of Dunkirk (it sounds Scottish but turns out it's in France) from 3 different view points- land, sea and air. On the beach we follow Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) and his mute mate as they try to battle through the troops to grab a spot on a boat nipping back to England. Amongst setbacks and breakthroughs, they find Harry Styles, and we finally discover the real reason why he cut his hair off all those months ago. On water, Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) is giving the Navy a hand by travelling across to Dunkirk on his private boat with his son and son's friend, in order to help bring some troops back. From the skies, we follow Farrier (Hardy) and Collins (Lowden) as they support troops on air attack on the bomb dropping enemies, fighting against limited fuel. To add to the interest of the plot, we follow the story from 3 different time perspectives; a week on land, a day on a boat, and just an hour in the air. These time frames cleverly match up as we reach the climax of the film.

The film also really followed the British way of life, and anytime a soldier had any kind of break or respite, they were offered a brew. 'Don't worry love go down there there's tea!' 'Go down stairs and grab yourself a brew and a blanket'. A sentiment I can wholly get on board with.

As you can see by the fact I am using proper bulky paragraphs, and not twiddly sentences, I was really encapsulated by the plot and it really held my interest, especially as we switched between the 3 plots. The script was very small, with very little dialogue, but it wasn't needed. The story told itself between the fabulous acting, the tension, the music, the sound effects and the cinematography. I could go on. The cast itself is full of well known, credible actors (Rylance, Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy) and some new faces, but the acting was incredible, and the whole thing was casted really well. I thought Styles would be in it for promotion reasons, or just because he's Harry Styles and he can do what he wants. Apparently he was cast out of 1000s of hopefuls and Christopher Nolan had no idea who he was (everyone knows who Harry Styles is???).

To add to that point, everyone had great cheekbones. Really lovely ones. It was a sight to see. I reckon someone in the makeup department must have had an eye out with all those sharp and edgy faces. However, my one disappointment was Tom Hardy. Almost the entire film he spent hiding behind his Bane mask, until the final scenes. What a tease, and what a waste of an excellent face. Spoiler alert but you essentially have to wait until the end of the movie for him to unmask and reveal his chiselled by angels face.

Overall, I very clearly loved the film. Full of non-stop action and emotion, not bulked out with meaningless romance, or sexism, or silly humour. Get yourself to the pictures to watch it, where you can really find yourself in the film, with the loud effects and great quality screen. It's my must watch of the summer!!! My only gripe being that Tom Hardy's face needed to be in it more, it's a 9.5/10 from me. Go and watch as soon as you can.

30. War for the Planet of the Apes

This is another film which is a franchise- this time we're on number 3 and I clearly haven't watched either of the previous films. However, much to my delight, the film summarises its predecessors in 2 short sentences right at the beginning, so as you'd imagine, saving myself 3hours+ of my life and it's in my good books.

From what I can gather, something happened involving a virus or something, and apes started to evolve to become more human-like. This caused distress to humankind, who then found themselves at war with these new badass monkeys.

Originally I thought us humans would be the goodies (because I, a human, am a number one goodie), however, it soon becomes clear it may not be as simple as that. The film follows Caeser's (Ape leader and also Andy Serkis) epic journey to regain justice after his family were brutally attacked.

I surprised myself by becoming really immersed in the film, as I really didn't think it was my thing. I was pulled in by the political values and emotive stories told by the apes. The CGI and voice acting was incredible, as you really start to have empathy for the monkey tribe, despite them not all being verbal. Alongside this, there was exciting and interesting action scenes, gripping from the beginning, to the end.

Unfortunately, because I crave for a realistic film (Where my docu-films at???), I kept transporting myself back to the outskirts of Manchester, realising I was watching several apes riding horses, and there were moments where I found it hard to contain myself. This was also not helped at all, by the film trying to add an element of humour. 'Bad Ape' (Steve Zahn) wears a hat and bodywarmer combo and joins us for the lols halfway through the movie speaking broken English to lighten the mood. In this case I found it just distracted away from the storyline, as oppose to enhancing it.

Another point I did enjoy, was the gorgeous cinematography. There are some amazing shots of Canada, almost rivalling the beauty of 2015's 'The Revenant'. I was half expecting an ape to cut open a horse and sleep in it.

Overall, War for the Planet of the Apes was a pleasant surprise for me, providing a great story, and one that made some great, relevant points. Despite this, there still were some faults to the film, and for that reason, I will give it a respectable 7.5/10

29. Transformers: The Last Knight

Transformers is onto it's fifth film - another franchise making this milestone of late (See post 25 for my review of Pirates of the Caribbean 5). I find it difficult to see how directors and producers think that film number 5 is a viable venture, but then I am more than ready for Shrek 5 and I predict it will be a lucrative venture. I'm waffling now.

Anyway, I remember when Transformers came out, and I remember seeing it at the cinema, and loving it. But I never saw any of the film's follow ups, and I've never really been that interested in watching them. I was intrigued to see if I'd enjoy it, or, 10 years on from the original, it wasn't my type of thing anymore. Let's face it, I'm probably not the part of the demographic it's aimed at.

The film starts by giving a history, and taking us back to the Dark Ages, where Transformers answered Merlin's call for help in an epic battle. Merlin was provided with a very powerful staff, which can only be controlled by certain people.

Then we come back to the modern day, where Transformers and humans are at war. Transformers are in hiding, in what seems like an area 51 type get up. Few humans believe that humans should work with, and not against the Transformers, including Cade (Mark Wahlberg) and Izabella (Isabela Moner). They play the part trying to resolve the conflict, but taking the Transformers side, you can probably guess how the plot pans out from here. 

Viviane (Laura Haddock) ties the past to the present as a professor of history, who explains the myths and legends of the Dark Ages in her job at a museum, but also dispels them as untrue, and made up. Viviane gets caught up in the war, and soon realises there may be truth behind the myths. 

I find the concept for the film quite interesting, and I like the historical element; using fascinating myths and legends and amending them to fit the films reality. I think using a technique like that can make the movie quite immersive. 

However, the plot and the story itself complicates itself. There was too much crammed into over 2 hours, when a simpler plot, and 45 minutes less, could have produced a better result. I thought at one point it was coming to the climax, and yet 20 minutes later we were into another big epic scene and there was still more to come. 

Because of all these twists and turns, you may think it's exciting, but for me, I found it made it less memorable. What was the big scene? What was the main bit? Because there was so much action, it made me feel like I didn't know which bits were crucial, or which bits were meant to tell a story.

Overall, this is something you could definitely give a miss. 10 years on from the first film, is it still relevant? Did we need a fifth film? I guess if you're a die hard Transformers fan, you'll still like it, and enjoy the historical element, but from anyone else, you're not missing out. I'll give it 4/10, I have seen worse films, but perhaps not that many. 

27. Baby Driver

Baby Driver came out yesterday, and we had the pleasure of seeing it on it's opening night. I hadn't seen much advertising for the film (but I do spend the trailers at the pictures on Buzzfeed wondering what flavour crisps I am, instead of paying attention.) We checked out the rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it had 100% so we were well in. Obviously as the film has only just been released, it's not the biggest achievement to have 100%, but it's still a pretty  good indication that the film is going to be a good one.

The starting credits are rolling, and the first scene is really interesting and creative. It's a contemporary dance sequence, where the lyrics are hidden in the scenery of the shot. I thought it was really innovative and new, nothing like anything I have seen before, and it grabbed my attention. From there we are right into a car chase. Again the chase was fast, but interesting, it had action, but also twists and turns in it's plot, not just a car chase.

Baby Driver follows Baby, a getaway driver (duh) for armed robberies and such. Baby (Ansel Elgort) has a passion for music, and uses it to aide him in his driving, a job that a big mistake landed him in, years ago. We follow him as he meets a girl (Lily James) and tries to ditch his life of crime, to no avail.

Baby Driver is sort of a cross between Drive, and Ocean's Eleven. I was worried that it would just be a carbon copy of Drive (I urge you to watch this if you haven't already), but it has it's differences. There's a different backstory, and different characters, as well as Baby's involvement in the heists, and his interaction with others. It also is a humorous film, with real laughs in places. The comedy element was done well, as it enhanced the plot, as opposed to turning it into a slapstick movie. There is also the cleverness of how the jobs are pulled off, or not, similar to Ocean's Eleven. Again, I think it was different enough to make it stand out.

The action scenes in the film were brutal, and violent, but these scenes are included, again, to enhance the plot, and not for the shock factor. I really enjoyed the action, and it definitely wasn't boring. The film is 2hrs long (you know how I feel about this) and yet I wasn't clock watching, I was interested to see what was next. However, I did, last night, have a dream of massacring a load of people and then jumping off a cliff, so I guess if you are of a nervous disposition it could haunt you for weeks!

The soundtrack to the film was also really well done. There were so many classics from so many genres, and it was just really interesting to see how they worked with the film. As a music lover I especially appreciated this. If the soundtrack is released I definitely want it for my car!

Overall, I'm going to give Baby Driver an 8.5/10. I really want to give it a 9, and I really do recommend you going to see it, but I can see a lot of similarities drawn from other films. The first two scenes of the film are by far the most original, and the most interesting and creative, but when we get towards the end, some of the scenes don't match up to this. Don't get me wrong, they are full of action and work well with the plot, but I was just so in awe at the opening titles and how it was so imaginative, I can't help but think that the middle and end can't quite match it. Please go and see it and let me know what you think!