Set fourteen years alter the first movie and twelve years after the sequel this third installment of the franchise sees Calvin (Ice Cube) and his staff trying to save their premises in the South Side of Chicago from the ever increasing gang violence in the area where the shop was always viewed as a safe place where the troubles of the streets could be left behind so they decide to advertise via social media that for 48 hours they are asking the rival gangs in the area to call a truce and during this period all haircuts will be free.

This ties in nicely with the sub plot of Calvins son Jalen (Michael Rainey Jr) who is now a teenager and his friend Kenny (Diallo Thompson) being enticed towards the prospect of the power of local gang membership and he is rebelling against his father’s strict, no nonsense approach to parenting which leads to tension within the shop since both Calvins friend Rashad (Common) also works in the shop and feels that Calvin may be partially to blame for pushing their kids towards gang life. It is this thread which gives the movie it’s real focus as both actors do a fine job of portraying the tension and struggle of trying to keep their kids on the right side of the tracks despite the glittering lights and allure of the prospects on the other side, the rest of the movie feels like a snapshot between the light hearted comic moments, mainly from Eddie (Cedric The Entertainer) and bickering between employees over every day mundane items but it pulls the movie together to make it feel like a place of employment, which I assume is the purpose of the film.

Ice Cube was excellent as a man trying to balance his work life with looking out of his son and is struggling to cope with both, as stated above Common done a fine job as both friend and foil to Ice Cube and Cedric The Entertainer also shone with what he was given to work with as loud mouthed Eddie. The rest of the cast were fine but felt like they were background players to these two. Having not seen either of the first two movies some of the history of the franchise and character relationships may have been lost on me but overall the movie entertained if never excelling and I thought it was too comedic to be a drama and too dramatic to be a comedy so it felt a little lost in between.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

With more than a nod to the classic (and far, far superior) Michael Mann movie Heat and some leaning towards Antoine Fuquas, Training Day, Triple 9 is a tale of criminals and corrupt cops teaming up to commit a series of heists in order to steal items for the Russian mafia.

In a tangled mess of relationships, Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is the leader of the gang and is being strung along by Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet) the wife of a Russian mafia boss who was recently convicted of a crime, into committing heists since she has control over his child whose mother Elena (Gal Gadot) is Irina’s sister.

After the latest crime she withholds payment until after the next heist which causes trouble within the gang but when one of them is executed to show that Irina is not playing about they reluctantly accept the job however the required information is stored in a government facility so the gang decided that the only way they can get this done is to invoke a Triple 9 situation (officer down) which will get every cop in the city to respond and will buy them the time they need. Luckily one of the cops in the gang, Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie) has found the perfect candidate in his new partner Chris Allen (Casey Affleck)

There are some pluses in the movie with a lot of dark settings bringing a great feel of being deep in the underbelly of Atlanta to the screen and some of the action scenes are excellent. However this is negated by the very large plot holes we are expected to ignore in order to accept the gangs situation, for example Chris’ uncle Jeffrey Allen (Woody Harrelson) is leading the investigation into the gangs heists and they still pick Chris as the victim of the Triple 9? Also, the getaway driver Russell Welchs (Norman Reedus) brother Gabe (Aaron Paul) is a drug addict and an obvious liability to the gang, surely there are better options? These are just two that I can mention without spoiling the movie but there are more.

It’s this lack of believability which takes away from what has the potential to be a very good movie as the acting talent is excellent and, while the performances are not superb this is more down to the script than any fault in the actors as the action sequences are the films strongest point and it is when the dialogue becomes the focal point that the movie starts to lag. It’s still a good thriller which is very enjoyable but it could have been so much better.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

You know what you are getting when you watch a Sacha Baron Cohen movie, generally crude and offensive comedy with a thread of a movie premise behind it and this latest effort is no different as he brings us the tale of Nobby Butcher who, when growing up was inseparable from his brother but they were separated while going through the foster care system after their parents died 28 years earlier and is now a stereotypical working class Northerner while we learn that his brother Sebastian (Mark Strong) is a top level MI6 agent. When Nobby finds out that his brother will be attending a high profile charity event he manages to gain entry and messes up the whole mission leading to his brother having to go on the run. It’s then down to Nobby to assist Sebastian in clearing his name and dealing with the conspiracy which they uncover along the way.

What transpires is a predictable medley of gags about Nobby making Johnny English look like James Bond, the actions of the stereotypes of working class Britain, jokes about anatomical parts and one horrendous scene involving elephant sex!

Cohen seems to be on a downward spiral in terms of these comedy characters, Borat was good, but Bruno not so much, General Haffaz was poor and now Nobby is as bad if not worse and for a movie with such talent as Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson and Gabourey Sidibe its criminally unfunny. Did I giggle at some scenes? Of course I did. Was it a funny movie? Not at all. Even if you liked Borat or Ali G before that this has none of the clever humour of either of those characters and there are far better comedy movies that you could be spending your time watching.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4 Out Of 10

The Daughter is an Australian movie set in a small town where a local timber mill run by Henry Neilson (Geoffrey Rush) is the main source of employment and the life blood of the area so when the announcement is made that the mill is to close the whole town seems doomed. One member of the town effected is Oliver Finch (Ewen Leslie) who seems to have a reasonably happy life with his wife Charlotte (Miranda Otto), daughter Hedwig (Odessa Young) and father Walter (Sam Neill). Walter used to be a good friend of Henrys but they have fallen out over the years as life took them in different directions. Thrown into the mix is the marriage of Henry to his younger housekeeper Anna (Anna Torv) which brings his son Christian (Paul Schneider) back from the USA and in the same way that Henry and Walter are former friends so were Christian and Oliver but Christian is a troubled man who is struggling to keep his relationship together thanks to his ongoing struggle with alcoholism and when his partner decides not to join him in Australia he battles with his desire for heavy drinking sessions returns.

The pivotal point is initially Henry but slowly drifts towards Hedwig as we begin to learn more about the history of the small town. Cristian is struggling to keep to himself together as he deals with the combined breakdown of his relationship coupled with the memories of his mothers suicide which are re-awakened by his return, his unwillingness to accept his fathers new marriage and also the re-ignition of his friendship with Oliver. he then discovers a long hidden secret which will tear their worlds apart if revealed.

With some clever camerawork, particularly the over the shoulder shots which give added realism to the situation and some very clever use of symbolism through the form of a duck which is shot by Henry at the beginning of the movie, while this may sound like a strange statement the movie is an adaptation of a book called The Wild Duck.

It is a slow moving but intriguing film with good acting all around but made all the better by the performance of Young who conveys a superb acting range as the tale drags her in many different directions of emotional turmoil and it’s dark subject matter makes a nice change from the politically correct material that normally appears on our screen, but it’s a very enjoyable experience if you’re looking for something a little less mainstream

DJ Speaks Rating: 7 Out Of 10

Based on the 1960’s Hanna Barbera cartoon about the money driven scam artist cat from Hoagy Alley. This movie is essentially an origin story where we see how the gang got together in the first place along with their initial run ins with Office Dibble and their attempts to break into the territory of Mr.Big who runs the area with an iron fist and doesn’t take kindly to competition. This leads to a misunderstanding with some priceless jewels where Top Cat finds himself wanted by the police and with a large reward on his head where most of the population of the city are looking to cash in as well.

The voice actors are all experienced in the field, the animation is good, it’s full of references to the original cartoon, other movies, modern cultural moments and fourth wall breaks but despite all this Top Cat still feels exactly like what it is, an extended version of the cartoon show and while there is a good mix of comedy with a moralistic tales about friendship which kids will no doubt lap up the running time is a little long for the younger crowd and there’s not enough in it for adults to enjoy either.

It lacks the quality of either The Jungle Book or Zootopia which are both far superior movies for both kids and adults so save this one for a rainy day afternoon of watching movies with the kids at home.

 

DJ Speaks Rating: 4 Out Of 10

Director Duncan Jones previous efforts Moon and Source Code were both clever and underrated movies but this time he takes on the might of the Warcraft name with it’s huge following across both the video and table top gaming platforms and delivers a good if not great game to screen transfer.

Fleeing from their dying world of Drenor the Orcs have chosen the peaceful region of Azeroth for their new home and they utilise a portal which is controlled by the use of magic called The Fel powered by human souls to transfer an advanced party of warriors to wage war on the region and gain enough of a grip to allow the rest of the clan to come through the portal.

Battling to stave off the Orcs is Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel) who is a knight that will give all for his King Llane Wrynn (Dominic Cooper) and needs the help of the missing fabled guardian Medivh (Ben Foster) to try and understand how this invasion has occurred and more importantly how to defeat it.

The wild card in the mix is a half-human, half-orc character Garona (Paula Patton) who is brought through the portal by the Orcs as a slave and acts as an advisor of sorts to the Orc leader Gul’dan (Daniel Wu) but gets captured by Lothar and finds herself torn between both sides.

It was the orcs that got the better character building with Durotan, the chieftain of the Frostwolf clan being the most interesting character in the movie. Their society chain and clan ethos were far more interesting than anything on the human side and their presence on screen is the main selling point of this film.

Having not played any of the games there may have been something within the story lost on me but it felt like a poor man’s Lord Of The Rings with good CGI and excellent battle scenes not being able to overcome the poor script and mediocre acting so I would suggest that you catch this in 3D or Imax as I can’t see the small screen version keeping your interest.

Unless the movie absolutely bombs this is going to be the start of a franchise and maybe if we get to invest more time with the characters it will improve the situation but this is a movie which suffers from not having the material to reach the levels of other epic fantasy movies so if they are going to build folklore it’s going to have to be done the hard way as I would be very surprised if this film is a massive box office success.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10