Author: DJ Speaks Movies

Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Part 2)

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So it’s the final act in the series which has appeared on our screens since 2012 and has brought billions in at the bx office. Now, not having read any of the books I can only base my opinions on what I have seen and while the first movie set a decent premise and the second movie took that a step further, I didn’t really fee that the third installment gave anything further and felt like it was a stop gap to this fourth and final film.

While this does improve on the previous movie it is still a far cry from the first two films and a lot of the good characters are vastly under used. Apart for the tragically obvious need to eliminate Philip Seymour Hoffman from the main plot some of the stronger characters from the previous films such as Jena Malone as the sarcastic but deadly Johanna and Jeffrey Wright as technological genius Beetee Latier are nothing but bit part players. Even Jennifer Lawrence or the main character Katniss Everdeen seems to be dialing it in at times, when you look at what she can really do as  actress, it feels like she is as bored with this franchise as I am.

Instead we pick up straight from the end of the previous movie with Lawrence still traumatised at how her long term ally and part time love interest Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) has been turned against her so we are introduced to Squad 451 who, the rebel leader President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) has decided will be Katniss crew as she finally heads to extract her revenge on President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Some of this crew we have met before such as Finnick, Cressida and other part time love interest Gale but most of the rest are cannon fodder A, B & C but here’s the twist, Coin decides that Peeta will be brought along for the ride and the squad won’t be front line troops as Katniss is far too valuable for that, instead their journey will be used as propaganda by Coin in her revolutionary battle.

It’s on this trip to the capital that the best parts of the movie occur as the squad are picked off by trap after trap but it’s also the part that feels least like a Hunger Games movie and more like the original Resident Evil without the zombies or mansion. Also the ‘climax’ in the city feel very underwhelming and the tragedy and heartache, when it occurs, do nothing to make you feel any emotions towards the characters. In a similar vein to the final series of Harry Potter movies the whole thing felt like a cash grab.

If you have invested your time is the series then don’t leave yourself hanging and get your closure but this is a disappointing end to a franchise that started well but seemed to run out of steam.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4.5 Out Of 10

The VVitch

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The witch is a throwback to the classic horror movies of the 1970’s where atmosphere, tension and a sense of impending doom are the factors that get under your skin. It may be sold as a New England folktale but this is one which has a very dark and disturbing theme and first time director Robert Eggers has put together one of the more chilling movies of recent years.

Colonial settler William (Ralph Ineson) is not pleased with his village elders religious beliefs and he is of the opinion that they are not correctly following the world of God so he and his family are banished from their village and need to start a home for themselves on nearby land beside a forest. At first things are going okay, it’s tough but they are getting by, although the cracks are already beginning to appear when their baby disappears while in the care of their eldest daughter Tomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), they believe it was taken by a wolf into the nearby forest.

This is the catalyst for things to really take a turn for the worse as Williams wife Katherine (Kate Dickie) becomes inconsolable and spends most of her time in bed crying, leaving the running of the household to Tomasin who is becoming more and more resentful of the addition burden and chores which are being pushed her way. While her twin siblings are constantly goading her with taunts that the black goat on the farm, Black Phillip, that they seem to have an eerie bond with keeps telling them that she is a witch and it was she who took their baby brother.

William and his eldest son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), try to distance themselves from the growing drama on the farm by burying themselves in chores and take to the forest, laying traps to try and catch both the wolf and any other game as the crops on the farm are failing and food is becoming sparse. All the while the atmosphere on the farm is building into an impeding crescendo of doom, it’s just a matter of seeing who will snap first. All the while William and his family try to stay true in their faith that God will put things right once they believe, pray and stay free from sin.

Eggers has stated that The Shining was inspirational to him and the similarities between the demise of William in this movie and Jack Torrance in The Shining are in plain view. Without giving too much away it is with eventual reluctance that William and his family have no choice but to accept that something unnatural is occurring on the farm and the movie then shifts to a plethora of finger pointing, deceit and lies as the families original pious nature is torn apart by self preservation.

The authenticity feel of the dialogue and the bleak setting all add to the atmosphere of the movie. It’s a slow burner but with the use of some jarring music and lots of foreboding it’s far more of a psychological horror than most of the modern movies of it’s genre and this is what elevates it above the rest. Couple that with the fact that it’s also a peek into the human psyche, how faith can be blind, how decision making gets warped under undue pressure and how the family unit, no matter how close it may seem on the outside can be ripped apart by traumatic circumstances.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7.5 Out Of 10

Ted 2

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While the first Ted movie was a novel idea and gave us a couple of laughs this re-hash misses much more than it hits. Ted is now getting married while John (Mark Wahlberg) is now divorced and is even more of a slacker than he was in the first movie. While Ted and his new wife are trying to adopt a baby it come to the fore that Ted is not actually registered as a person and thus has no rights so Ted and John look for the best legal representation in town but instead end up with Sam (Amanda Seyfried) an novice, idealistic young stoner lawyer (insert joke here) who’s full name is Samantha L Jackson (insert joke here) that agrees to take the case.

I can’t doubt Seth MacFarlanes comedic talent and as a big lover of Family Guy I have high expectations for projects he gets involved in but for all the giggling the first may have conjured there’s very little here to warrant a laugh. Instead we get the expected list of fart, weed, race and sex jokes, interspersed with celebrity cameos and re-workings of the first movie with both Flash Gordon (Sam Jones) making a return and the same Giovanni Ribisi kidnapping premise being re-used. We also get Ted dance routines and musical numbers which may work well in short snippets during a short TV show but offer nothing in a feature film about a talking bear. It just felt like the movie was developed around the jokes that were on the table and then the first movie was used as filler to pad out the story for the remaining running time and the fact that they got actors like Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman involved is criminal. Although to give him credit, Neesons’ scene is probably the funniest one in the whole movie.

One of the other few vaguely humorous sections of the movie is where Ted finds an enormous amount of pornography on Johns laptop and instead of wiping it off (insert joke here) they take to smashing the laptop to pieces and burying it at the bottom of the river. This is probably the best course of action that I could have took with this film as well, I hope they leave well enough alone and don’t have us endure a Ted 3.

DJ Speaks Rating: 3.5 Out Of 10

Sing Street

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Heart warming tale of trying to find escapism, healing and maybe even a bit of love, through the medium of music in recession gripped Dublin in the mid 1980’s. At the center of the tale is Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) who’s parents are struggling financially and emotionally so he seeks solace from the turmoil of his home life in music and his relationship with his music buff brother Brendan (Jack Reynor). As part of the family cost cutting his parents decide to send Conor to a public, Christian Brothers, school in the coming year (but can still afford alcohol and cigarettes, an all too true aspect of the vast majority of Irish parental prioritisation) This is a shock to his system as his first day is filled with playground fights, an encounter with a bully, hurled rodents and a run in with the authoritarian Brother Baxter (Don Wycherley) for his non conformance to the schools strict, black shoe policy. He finds a kindred spirit in equally ostracised pupil Darren (Ben Carolan) and it is during one of their conversations outside the school that he spots Raphina (Lucy Boynton) loitering nearby so, after mustering the courage to speak with her he finds out she is a model when, in a flash of inspiration he asks if she’d like to star in one of his bands videos, gets a phone number and the wheels are thus set in motion.

Darren and Conor put together a band, which to begin with are terrible but with some guidance from Brendan, who full encourages Conor to pursue his dream in a way he gave up upon years before, things start to take shape and it is this brotherly relationship that is the real heart of the movie. Brendan does not want his younger sibling to follow down the same path, making the same mistakes he did and acts as the real father figure for Conor fully immersing himself as a musical tutor of sorts. The fact that he is stoned most of the time only adds additional comedy to some of their conversations. So with a new found confidence Conor starts to find himself experimenting with different looks as the sound of the band changes depending on which albums Brendan has given him to listen to week on week.

The music used and original songs (written by director John Carney along with Gary Clark of 1980’s band Danny Wilson) are clever takes on the music of the era and the first ‘video’ the band shoot is a hilarious take on something that reminded me of an early Alphaville video. The tongue in cheek references to pop culture and fashion at the time and the mannerisms and language throughout were spot on. Perhaps it was the fact that I lived through the era, spent twelve years in that uniform and spent many, many hours in the places and locations that popped up in the film that made the movie resonate with me more than it would most but I though this was a great throwback to a socially dark period in Irish history.

While lacking the emotion and refined musical qualities of Once and perhaps a little similar in parts to the ideals of The Commitments, Sing Street more than makes up for it with it’s comic story and it’s a much more infectious movie which will keep you smiling throughout. If you are a child of this era and, in particular if you lived in Dublin in the mid 1980 then this movie will speak to you. If not, you still have a great coming of age Irish movie which will have you laughing aloud.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 out of 10

10 Cloverfield Lane

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This claustrophobic thriller is loosely (and I mean very loosely) linked to the events in the original Cloverfield movie but, instead of being a sequel following on from the plot of the first film what this movie does is take a different angle and give tons of suspense and tension in a throw back style very reminiscent of something Hitchcock would have created so instead of exposition through dialogue we get subtle hints to point towards who people are and more importantly why the situation has arisen. I would recommend that you try and know as little as possible before watching this movie but I have to give some details in order to carry out this review so I will keep it to the point and will not give anything away.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Michelle, who we see packing her bags, taking off, leaving her fiancé and hitting the road. She is involved in a serious car accident and when she wakes up is locked in a room where her captor Howard (John Goodman) advises her that he has actually saved her after coming across the accident just before the ‘event’ occurred. So he has brought her to his underground Doomsday shelter which he had built specifically for a purpose such as this. He believes they will be trapped there for an undetermined period of time until it can be established what has actually occurred above ground. Along for the ride is Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) who helped Howard build his shelter and came running as soon as the event occurred.

That’s as much as I’m going to say as what then commences, is a cat and mouse game where Michelle needs to try and establish who is telling the truth and what has actually happened, all the while fearing for her safety from not only what has occurred above ground but from these two strangers she is trapped with below ground as well. The novel thing is that, while she is our central focus in the movie and we only ever see and hear any new information as she does, she is not some dumb damsel in distress. She is smart, manipulating and is not willing to lie down and just accept her situation but the key to the whole film is Goodmans superb performance as a man who has been seriously impacted by the event and swings from mood to mood so believable that you are never sure which, if any, of his actions are genuine.

Overall it’s a clever movie as it doesn’t hold your hand and lead you through the story, it keeps you guessing and second guessing as it drip feeds you snippets of information and let’s your imagination do the rest. The one issue I would have with the film is that there was actually no need to attach the Cloverfield label as it would have worked just as well without it, although it was a very clever marketing ploy to do so and build the hype up, but in saying that forget anything you may or may not have liked about the original Cloverfield film as they are two completely different movies and enjoy this for the tense thriller that it is.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7 out of 10

Jane Got A Gun

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The movie commences with Bill Hammond (Noah Emmerich) arriving home to his ranch near death with a warning for his wife Jane (Natalie Portman) that ‘The Bishop boys are coming’. A good start which had my interest. So while we don’t know who these Bishop boys are Jane feels the need to bring her child away to safety and to try and locate somebody who will help her defend her home since her husband is incapacitated and this leads her to her ex lover Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton) who initially rebuffs her request as Jane previously abandoned him after he went off to war but when Jane is attacked in town he comes to the rescue and decides to assist.

Now is where the movie starts to slow as, while Jane and Dan are building traps and adding defences around her home a number of flashbacks begin which, while building the back story of their previous life and which shows us why the Bishop Boys and in particular their leader John Bishop (Ewan McGregor) are out for blood, it takes away from the tension of the impending attack and could have been kept to a more minimal number as they felt like filler on occasions. But, once the climax does comes it’s done with aplomb and in parts reminded me of the final shootout in L.A.Confidential.

Edgerton plays his part well as a man torn between helping this former flame or turning his back on her as he feels she did on him, Portman keeps it simple but does a good job in portraying Jane as a smart and strong woman and McGregor is almost unrecognisable as the villain but pulls it off seamlessly. So while it’s a good attempt to make a straight out western, it just seems little underwhelming and lacks a little something to push it above anything other than an average movie.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 out of 10

Interstellar

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I absolutely loved both Memento and Inception so I had high hopes for this movie from director Christopher Nolan as he is one of the few directors in this day and age of Superhero blockbusters, cash grab movie sequels and straight to TV series, that brings something unique to most of his movies and tries to make films the spectacle that they should be.

It’s difficult to give too much detail about this film without potentially ruining the movie so the short version is that Joseph Cooper (superbly played by Matthew McConaughey) is a, widowed, ex NASA astronaut who now is a crop farmer but thanks to an aggressive blight mankind is on the brink of extension as earth slowly decays into an inhospitable planet. Cooper and his daughter discover a binary message which leads them to a secret NASA facility. They soon learn that NASA have sent twelve missions through a wormhole they discovered however these were one way missions and with one last throw of the dice NASA are planning a launch with the intent of having two options. Either to work out how to harness gravity into a propulsion system which will make space travel a realistic option for the remainder of the survivors on earth or else locate one of the missions that report potential favourable conditions and use the 5,000 embryos the ship will carry to start humankind again so Cooper signs up for the sake of saving his family. While this may not sound like anything other than a standard space movie it’s done so well that the emotional drama is intense and the themes of love and loss are as much to the fore and have as much of an impact on the characters and their decision making as the main storyline so despite the flashbacks and inevitable twists and turns which occur it never takes you out of the moment and you can’t help keep on rooting for Cooper and his crew through each step.

Some of the camera work and use of miniatures to portray space is bordering on Stanley Kubrik’s 2001 level and Hans Zimmers superb score add all the right emotions on key but the real brilliance in the movie is the script particularly the use of relativity, dimensions and the space/time continuum where minutes on a planet can mean hours back on their ship which in turn could mean months in earth time so each step and each action has impact which keeps the tension high at all times even through the mundane and tedious day to day tasks the astronauts need to carry out as each wasted moment, minor issue or even discussion brings earth closer to doom.

Even though the movie is almost three hours long it doesn’t feel it and Nolan has created a masterpiece which will stay with you long after you have finished watching the movie. This is a classic which will still be spoken about in years to come and is a must for any movie lover and it’s one I’m going to watch again to really appreciate what is one of the best movies I have seen in the last number of years.

DJ Speaks Rating: 8 out of 10

Hail, Caesar!

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The latest effort from the Coen brother is an irreverent and comedic look at Hollywood in the 1950’s with the usual array of stars gathering together to intertwine numerous tales into a work of fiction but one that you are constantly cross referencing with actual movies, events and people from the era.

Josh Brolin is the centre point as Eddie Mannix a studio fixer, based on a real life character, who’s job it is to ensure that all aspects of the lot run smoothly from day to day while dealing with all manner of curve balls that a gang of primadonna film stars can muster up. His primary issue in this movie is when the studios main star Blair Whitlock, played by George Clooney, goes missing during the middle of a film shoot. A ransom note follows shortly afterwards and Mannix has to juggle the various parties around the studio lot into ensuring that nobody knows they have a kidnapped star on their hands, all the while trying to deal with his own personal issues outside of work and a lucrative new job offer which has been put on the table.

Clooney once again superbly plays an idiot character in a Coen movie, he’s attired in a Roman Centurion costume and haircut for the whole movie and cluelessly plays his role without ever realising he’s the central figure. But, aside from Brolin, stealing the show in the movie is Alden Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle the crooner cowboy star who the film studio want transform into a star of the new era but with his Southern drawl and John Wayne like mannerisms it is never going to be a runner. Once scene in particular where Hobie is being directed by the thespian like Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) but poor Hobie can neither get his head around the confusing name or the equally confusing, to him anyway, scene he is being asked to perform, is a moment of comedy genius.

The rest of the cast come and go and while the performances are all good it felt as though they sometimes were added on to increase the movies star power rather than developing the storyline. Shot as a movie about making movies each moment whether looking at an on screen movie take or not still feels like you are watching an on screen movie take so I kept expecting the camera to pull back to show that the whole thing was one big movie set but that would be too obvious for the Coens so while not as good as some their other classics it’s as clever as you would expect, the acting is excellent as always and the script as ludicrous as ever for one of their comedy movies.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10

As Above, So Below

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Another of the ‘found footage’ / ‘helmet camera’ movies which have, mostly unsuccessfully, plagued our screens over the last number of years. In this movie Scarlett Marlowe, (Perdita Weeks) is an alchemy scholar who is continuing her fathers research in looking for the philosopher’s stone which (as any Harry Potter fan will tell you) is a legendary substance which can turn metals into gold. This leads her from Iran to Paris where she needs to enlist her former lover George (Ben Feldman), who has knowledge of ancient languages, for assistance as he can translate the script Scarlett has found. These two along with Scarletts cameraman, a local guide, his girlfriend and friend descent into the underground catacombs of Paris as this is where the map/script shows the treasure is hidden.

As the group delves deeper and deeper into the Catacombs towards what is perceived to be the gates of hell on a journey of madness, stranger and stranger events occur playing on their psyche as they get picked off one by one in a been there, done that kind of way. The big plus this movie has (that I found anyway) was the link of the progress of the characters to Dante’s journey through hell in the novel Dante’s inferno, a trip through a purgatory like world, travelling down to get up, their greed being the trigger to their potential demise and redemption comes through the purging of one’s sins.

While it’s not the worst movie I’ve watched, between the shaky cam, uninspiring acting and lack of surprises there nothing here I can recommend, if you want a claustrophobic horror movie try the excellent ‘The Descent’ instead.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4.5 out of 10

London Has Fallen

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Gerard Butler is back as Mike Banning the one man, almost bulletproof, army as he piles up the body count to once again save the President Of America (Aaron Eckhart) from terrorists. Now, if you thought the premise of Olympus Has Fallen suffered from an unlikely plot then prepare to be astounded as this time the terrorist have somehow taken over a whole city and almost every member of the police, ambulance and even the Queens guard is a threat armed with a weapon.

I wasn’t expecting a masterclass in cinema with this movie but the first forty five minutes is spent discussing the travel and security arrangements for the various heads of state and no time is spent on explaining how these terrorists managed to set the attack up, other than to outline that there’s a, very obvious, mole on the inside of the British security  services…….Duh! Some of the heads of state are portrayed in an almost offensively stereotypical way and Butler’s quipped line of “Get back to F**kheadistan or wherever it is you’re from, after dispatching of a group of terrorists will give you a glimpse of the thinly veiled humour that accompanies each orgy of violence.

Once the action does kick in it comes hard and fast and Butler shoots, stabs and cheeses it up to the max. It’s something the action heroes of the 1980’s would be proud. Butler was excellent in 300 and even better in the underrated Rocknrolla but it’s a while since he showed us anything other than the fact that he can play a burly killing machine very well, so he needs to change it up before his inevitable appearance in the next Expendables movie comes to fruition. With the acting talents of Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Robert Forster and Angela Bassett on board they could have done so much more away from the central action plot but with the current Hollywood trend of churning out generally poor sequels still making a fortune, this is just more popcorn fodder for the general populous. If you do decide to watch this movie just take it for what it is, switch your brain off for a hour and a half and you might just enjoy it.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4.5 out of 10