Unemployed and hitting the bottle hard Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is struggling in her relationship with Tim (Dan Stevens) who find it increasingly difficult to tolerate her out of control lifestyle, so when he breaks up the relationship Gloria has no choice but to return to her home town which is a far cry from the New York City lifestyle she has become used to.

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A chance encounter with her old friend Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) seems to be a lifeline as he is more than welcoming towards her and helps her get back on her feet, even offering her a job at the bar he runs, not exactly the kind of environment for a girl trying to give up a party lifestyle but she embraces the moment and soon becomes welcomed as part of the group of barflies who frequent Oscar’s establishment. One night after another heavy session Gloria wakes up to the news that a giant kaiju has appeared in Seoul, after a couple of repeat drinking sessions and kaiju re-appearances Gloria begins to realise that she may just have some form of link with this giant monster, so after some further testing of her theory she realises that the kaiju will appear at certain times during the day and mimics her actions precisely as long as she is located in a certain point in town.

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If this sounds a little bizarre, I can’t argue with your statement, but what director Nacho Vigalondo has created is a clever story which investigates the bizarreness without every taking the plot too much into the farcical field. Both Hathaway & Sudeikis play off each other superbly, making a believable friendship which gives the situation a realistic feel of two people just trying to make the most of what life has thrown them, who are cast into the middle of this zany situation.

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Despite all the comedy and laughs the movie does not back away from dealing with the darker issues at hand with alcoholism, self loathing, relationship control or external cries for help all featuring heavily and what looks like it could be a straight up comedy injects some real moments where we question which is the real monster and whether the kaiju is just a large scale projection of Gloria, albeit on the other side of the world, who has the potential to wreak havoc with one wrong step.

There are issues with the balance of the film and some of the character changes are stretched to the limits, but it’s all brought together nicely when the movie finally does come full circle. Although the last fifteen minutes were a little too far fetched for me, I was pleasantly surprised just how entertained I was overall. This is definitely going to be one of the most unique films you’ll see this year.

DJ Speaks Movies Rating: 6 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2017

Take ideas from some of the best moments in the Alien franchise movies to date, link them into a storyline and allow Ridley Scott to take the helm. Sounds like a guaranteed winner? Not quite.

Set in 2104, the period between the Prometheus and Alien movies, we join the colony ship The Covenant, on its way with 2000 colonisers and 1000 embryos, to start a populous on the planet Origae-6. But, as always, the cosmos is an unpredictable place and after the ship is hit by a Solar Flare the crew is awakened to avoid a catastrophe. Although averting total disaster they are left in a quandary with regard to the condition of the ship and the risk to the success of the mission, so when they happen across an unusual signal emitting from a nearby planet they decide to investigate, the rest, if you know anything about the franchise, is inevitable.

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It’s a bit disappointing when the best things about a movie with this budget and expectation levels are the great visuals and excellent score, both of which are marvellous. Although it is aided by the technological leaps made over the years the movie looks beautiful, with some great camera work especially in using lighting changes at just the right moment to change the tone of a scene, coupled with Jed Kurzel using elements of the original Jerry Goldsmith score to build tension at just the right times. These two features, working in tandem really gave the movie something extra. Not that these aspects of a film are not important or deserving of praise in any movie but they should work with the rest of the ingredients to enhance the experience rather than dominate it, as they did at times. Maybe the problem is that we have become too de-sensitised by modern movies, but this just never seemed to lift itself into the realms of being a great film. There were claustrophobic moments. but not enough of them, there were decent action sequences, but too few of those and there was some good sci-fi aspects but nothing new or exciting and these were the key threads in the success of the franchise to date so diluting them and playing mixologist to try and concoct a winning combination was ambitious, but a step too far.

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Still rooted with the themes that have run through all the movies in the franchise, mistrust, aspects of faith, God complex, religion vs science and God vs Satan, but it felt more like the man battling science tale featured in Prometheus rather than the desperation tinged, man against monster battles of the originals.

Adding to the disappointment was the fact that the characters weren’t given enough depth in terms of dialogue or plot events to make them appealing, so they merely served as cannon fodder for the most part and this left nobody that you really wanted to root for. It’s hard to get invested in a film where you are so apathetic towards the main players. Credit where credit is due though and Michael Fassbender was excellent reprising his role as the crew android plus Danny McBride was a surprise for me, playing it straight for a change, standing out from the pack and being the one crew member you might just have got behind if he’d been given a bit more impact.

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If you’re a fan of the series then there are plenty of nods and winks to the earlier movies that will catch your eye but this also causes the movie to feel like it’s a bit of a re-hash of things seen in the series before without being done as well and, with a small number of exceptions, there’s nothing surprising in terms of the plot. It’s still an enjoyable watch, of a similar entertainment level as Prometheus, but still miles short of the levels of two classics that have set the bar so high. So, it’s yet another case of a potential summer blockbuster going by the wayside in terms of quality vs expectation and I hope this doesn’t start a trend for the coming months.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2017

Set in the depression and prohibition era of the 1920’s and 1930’s, Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) is the son of Boston police Captain Thomas Coughlin (Brendan Gleeson) but rather than follow in his fathers footsteps Joe prefers the other side of the tracks and runs with criminals and women much to his fathers chagrin.

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His main squeeze is Emma Gould (Sienna Millar) but she is already taken by local big wig Albert White (Robert Glenister) so their liaisons are all done in secret. When this doomed relationship ends poorly, leading to Joe spending time behind bars, he is forced to ditch his lone wolf stance and head to Tampa to work for the Italian mob boss Maso Pescatore, where he finds his fortunes improve dramatically as he moves up the food chain to eventually run most of the Florida area, thanks in no small part to his befriending of the immigrant Caribbean population to corner the rum distribution market. He is ably assisted through all this by this loyal friend Dion Bartolo (Chris Messina) and local Chief of police Irving Figgis (Chris Cooper) but inevitably getting to the top of the ladder means there are those beneath you who want a shot at top spot and Joe has to take extreme measures to stay in command especially when the local chapter of the KKK decides that they want a piece of the pie, leading to Joe becoming more weary of his lifestyle and deciding he wants to find a life for himself away from it all with his new love Graciella Corrales (Zoe Saldada) but letting go proves much more difficult then Joe expects.

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Taking aside Affleck’s acting career, I actually like him as an actor but I understand those who find him a bit wooden, it’s hard to find fault with his performance behind the camera, with, in particular, The Town and Gone Girl being great examples of good film making and this movie is no different. It is a very well made, well shot film with some very good action scenes interspersed through it, but this is, by far, the weakest of his movies as a whole package. Where the was good tension and intrigue in his previous efforts this movie seemed dull, the pacing was poor and the plot seemed very weak. It starts well enough and the Boston scenes are good, setting the movie up very well but once the action moves to Tampa it drags terribly before redeeming itself a bit in the last third or so.

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Taking a few dodgy Irish accents out of the ring, there’s nothing wrong with the acting, everyone does well with what they are given, in particular Cooper and Messina are excellent but there seems to be a bit of a discord between the plot threads leaving the interactions between some characters seem like they are not genuine which takes you out of the moment. In particular there is a story line around Coopers daughter Loretta Figgis (Elle Fanning) which could have been a really good plot point but for me it was handled very poorly leaving it feeling out of context for how the rest of the movie flows.

There was a big smell of Oscar bait off on screen and that seemed to take some of the potential shine away from the story which is disappointing as it ends us as a mediocre gangster film with very little we haven’t seen before.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2016

With his background in the fashion industry you can be guaranteed that you are going to get a beautifully shot movie with Tom Ford behind the camera and this is no exception. Amy Adams plays Susan Morrow, a Los Angeles art gallery owner who seems to have it all but her relationship with her husband Hutton (Armie Hammer) is not so rosy as it looks on the outside. It seems that their financial situation is not as grand as the lifestyle they are living. This shows us the other side of Susan, trouble trying to get a good nights sleep, with self doubts over her talent, her husbands fidelity and the friends she has showing us quite a disturbing picture of a woman on the edge.

When she unexpectedly receives a copy of a new novel from her ex husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) she is both shocked and intrigued, especially when she see the title is Nocturnal Animals, a nickname he used to call her. Her curiosity gets the better of her so she begins to read the tale and gets drawn into the memories of her former life and almost welcomes it as a form of escapism.

Told in an overlapping style from the real world, where Susan tries to get on with her life despite being so seemingly unhappy, to the story contained within the book where Jake Gyllenhaal plays Tony Hastings who along with his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and daughter India (Ellie Bamber) are on a road trip when they are run off road by a group of men lead by Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and when his wife and daughter are kidnapped her turn to the police for assistance. This brings Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon) onto the case and together the two men must track down Tony’s family and bring justice to the men involved, to Susan’s reminiscing of her younger, seemingly happier years.

The movie features, arguably, the most on point acting of a cast in any movie this year, Adams was superb (but not quite as engaging as her role in Arrival) as Susan, Taylor-Johnson was almost unrecognisable as the slimy gang leader, Gyllenhall gave his usual high standard performance as the father who turns from meek to marauder in search of his family and above all Shannon was absolutely superb, and should get a best supporting actor nomination, as the lawman with nothing to lose.

It’s the kind of movie that people will view differently despite watching the same thing as the whole movie is very open to interpretation. For me, the juxtaposition of the three threads is fantastic, jumping from the gritty, raw, desert setting of the book to the upper class circles Susan lives her life and then to the early days of their relationship when both were happy, at least to begin with, which gives a real feel of just how different Susan and Edward were. Also the cleverness of how the book becomes a non literal allegory for how Edward viewed his relationship with Susan leading up to the events which eventually drove them apart was fantastic movie making and Ford deserves credit for how he pulls you in to the story.

A cleverly built film where the jumps from the visualisation of the novel on screen, to Susan’s present life and back to her past could have been confusing but instead controls the tempo of the film so it never becomes one paced and just as you begin to get sucked into one part of the tale it switches back, keeping you on your toes at all times. With a couple of nods to a David Lynch style film, some very disturbing moments mixed up with a reality that feel dream like, a triple overlapping narrative, some great use of metaphor and eerie artwork to enhance the surrealism of the situation I can see this one developing a cult status in years to come. Best watched with as little knowledge of the plot as possible, it’s going to be a case of you making your own mind up on this one, crass or classy? I’m leaning towards the latter.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7 Out Of 10

© Darren Jones 2017

In a year of disappointing blockbuster movies, yes I’m pointing at you Ghostbusters and Independence Day, mixed levels of superhero movie quality across the board and the resurgence of the horror film genre, 2016 was a year where the better movies were not the ones with huge budgets and massive media campaigns. So with that in mind, in no particular order, here are my top 5 movies of 2016.

Criminally ignored by the general movie going audience, a throw back to the classic buddy cop films with  great performances from both Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as two private investigators with demeanour as polar opposite as can be, investigating the disappearance of a girl and the death of a porn star set against a 1970’s back drop. Comedic and entertaining in equal measure with some great over the top violence, Shane Black adds to his impressive resume with this effort.

A young boy struggling with family life in 1980’s Dublin starts a band to impress a girl. Sounds simple? It is, but John Carney makes it so much more, as it becomes a coming of age tale John Hughes would be proud of, a tale of brotherly love beating adversity with hints to ‘sticking it to the man’. Set against a back drop from my childhood and a soundtrack you will not beat, which is unfortunately likely to be ignored at the Oscars, this is a feel good film everyone will enjoy.

This is the one that most people will question but this is an underplayed movie which keeps you guessing right the way until the last few scenes. Jeff Nichols does a fantastic job of disclosing the truth behind who this child may be one step at a time, gradually revealing the motivations behind all the players without ever slowing the film down and adding twist after twist to keep you on your toes. It wont be for everybody but it’s very clever film making at its best.

Take a classic cowboy movie and transport it into modern day, you get Hell Or High Water. Two bank robbing brothers are carrying out scores on local banks pursued by a grizzled old sheriff who has one last case to close before he retires but don’t think that’s all the movie is as there’s much more to this tale. Beautifully shot and fantastically acted (I’ll be very surprised if both Jeff Bridges and Ben Foster are not nominated for this) it may be a modern setting but pays homage to its roots and when the truth behind the brothers motivations is revealed the lines between good and bad become blurred, while hitting a nerve topically in this era of depression and homelessness.

As if it wasn’t already apparent from his earlier movies Prisoners and Sicario, Denis Villeneuve has shown himself to be a master behind the camera in this tale of first contact where Amy Adams is an expert linguist who must battle against time to decipher the message brought by the beings who have landed at 12 separate locations across the globe with the threat of all out war looming the longer the intentions of the visitors remains unknown. Visually stunning and with a superb performance by Amy Adams, Arrival will draw you into the mystery and intrigue of the tale before blind siding you with a twist which changes the whole concept of the film. Absolute class.

Set as prequel to the awful 2014 movie, Origin Of Evil is another in the growing number of possession tales which seem to be littering the horror genre. This is not a bad thing if done well but, as we seen to our detriment in the original film, if done poorly it all ends up as a mess of jump scares and generally bad acting. Where does this one sit? Probably somewhere in the middle but let me break it down.

Set in 1967 we meet the struggling Zander family who are still coping with the loss of their patriarch and with financial issues growing ever more desperate the mother, Alice (Elizabeth Reaser) decides to enhance the spiritualist con they have set up by adding a Ouija board to the proceedings. However unbeknownst to her this prop has a far bigger impact on the scam than expected as youngest daughter Doris (Lulu Wilson) immediately seems to have a connection with the board and can communicate with the spirits with ease and leads to an increase in business as word spreads about how ‘real’ their sessions are. When Doris claims that she can speak with her dead father Alice is wholly behind the girls claims as she can seemingly answer personal questions correctly. Eldest daughter Paulina (Annalise Basso) is not so sure as she sees a dramatic change in her sister that her mother is blind to. Once she approaches a priest, Tom Hogan (Henry Thomas) for help it becomes apparent that there a lot more going on that initially realised. As the battle to save Doris escalates so does the danger to the family and anyone else who threatens to get in the way of the malevolent spirit.

Although this is essentially a subtle advertisement for the Hasbro owned Ouija board it is not a terrible movie with director Mike Flanagan, who also brought us the underrated Hush earlier this year, doing a good job of keeping the intrigue levels high. The retro feel of the movie is captured excellently and for a tale which has been done so many times before there is enough originality and surprise to keep you on your toes. The set up and purpose for the actions of those involved feel genuine and the clever use of the innocence of the daughter being juxtaposed with her transformation as the evil takes over is a nice touch, even if it is a little akin to what happened to Regan in The Exorcist. There are no loud bursts of music accompanying the jump scares which was refreshing and made them much more effective as there was a sinister feel to them given the subtler approach and there are some very clever dialogue scenes.

Lulu Wilson does a great job as the possessed girl, her facial expressions spoke volumes and her smile was both beaming and sarcastic at the same time. There was also a superb scene with Paulinas’ boyfriend Mikey (Parker Mack) which will give you the shivers in how such a calm speech can have so much threatening context. The rest of the cast played their parts well, even if they were playing second fiddle to Doris, but the performances were strong enough that you still feel interested in the characters by the time things begin to take a turn for the worse. The exception would be Henry Thomas as Tom Hogan. It’s not the actors fault, as his whole plot line felt tacked on and the relationship between him and Alice just did not play out well. Although he has a great scene towards the end the use of a priest character just didn’t sit well with me alongside the rest of the movies content.

The movie itself is not without its issues either. It’s a very slow build up with an excellent middle piece let down by a weak ending so you need to stay with the movie as it builds up the tension and back story before the best parts of the film kick in and that may put some people off. The ending is probably the most disappointing of all as it felt cheap in comparison to the rest of the film and became very clichéd in contrast to some of the more surprising turns the movie took earlier on. Also, having seen the first film I knew where they were going as soon as it took the first step along that path and that ruined the last third of the film for me.

Overall it’s a better than average attempt to kick start life into, what I can only assume will be a series of films around this tale and it has managed to keep an air of respectability to this years resurgence of sorts in the horror genre but its more creepy that scary and is saved by the performance of young actress who, if this performance is anything to go by, could have a big future.

DJ Speaks Movies Rating: 6 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2016

Amy Adams is Louise Banks, an expert linguist, who is recruited by the army, and in particular Colonel Weber (Forest Whittaker) to try and decipher what is believed to be a communication attempt by the unknown beings who have landed at 12 separate points across the globe for a yet to be determined purpose. She is teamed with physician Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) so between them they must decipher what the aliens are trying to say before time runs out, as tension rises across the planet since the world remains unsure if the visitors are friend or foe.

The acting is spot on all round, particularly from Adams, and the chemistry between herself and Renner is a key selling point of the film as this is a character piece rather than an action movie. There are no right or wrong actions as the situation is unique, there are no good or bad guys, it’s the tale of how humanity deals with the quandary it faces with individuals acting in what they see to be the best way. The gradual heightening threat of conflict is done in a way which is reminiscent of the best of the Cold War or Cuban Missile Crisis themed movies.

With some great use of camera angles and spectacular visuals the cinematography is of the highest standards. The superb score from Jóhann Jóhannsson adds to the suspense and drama on queue, as required. For the most part the plot is very plausible which gives the whole movie an air of believably often missing in science fiction movies and this only heightens the intrigue.

First contact movies have a strange way of dividing the viewing public with even the great Stephen Spielberg’s Close Encounters still swaying opinion today. There may just be another to add to the list here as director Denis Villeneuve has developed a very cleverly layered story which asks the viewer to immerse themselves in the building drama and brings a number of unexpected twists before reaching its conclusion.

While the slow burning plot may be a little dull for some the pay off is well worth the investment if you are engaged in the film however, if you switch off halfway through or if science fiction is not your thing then you may just find the unravelling climax a bit too much to swallow. I can highly recommend checking this movie out though as, in my opinion, it is one of the best films of the year.

DJ Speaks Rating: 8 Out Of 10

 © Darren Jones 2016