Tim Burtons recent efforts with the Alice In Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tales have not endeared me to him in a way that his earlier work such as Edward Scissorhands did but at least there’s no Johnny Depp appearance this time.

Instead we follow Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield), a loner of a boy who feels like he doesn’t belong and is lost in life. He has always had a very close relationship with his grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp) who has tried to shield his nephew from his apathetic parents through his tales of travelling the world and in particular with his re-counting of a school, run by a woman who can transform into a bird called Miss Peregrine where the children are all unusual and have certain traits that make them stand out. Jake has never been sure if these tales are figments of his grandfathers imagination so while the rest of society believes that his grandfather is losing his marbles and has always been a story-teller Jake believes that there just may be something in these stories. Then, when Abe dies under suspicious circumstances, he begins to suspect that something sinister may have occurred so he convinces his father Franklin (Chris O’Dowd), with the help of his psychologist to head to Wales as part of this therapy to deal with his grief over the death. While there, Jake wants to establish first hand if there was any reality to the stories.

Burtons take on the Ransom Riggs novel has all the ingredients to be a dark tale which is usually right up his street but it falls a bit flat as, despite the potential the unusual ‘gifts’ that the children have it’s all been seen before (Professor Xavier school for gifted mutants) and for all of their unusualness there is nothing really memorable about them. We have Emma (Ella Purnell) who can manipulate air, Olive Abroholos Elephanta (Lauren McCrostie) who is a pyrokinetic, Fiona Frauenfeld (Georgia Pemberton) who can control nature, Claire Densmore (Raffiella Chapman) who has a mouth on the back of her head, Millard Nullings (Cameron King) an invisible boy, Bronwyn Buntley (Pixie Davies) a small child with super human strength and a few other all of whom are cute and charming but nothing special in reality. However the most original and interesting character for me was Enoch O’Connor (Finlay MacMillan) whose gift is being able to bring inanimate objects to life in a kind of reverse Taxidermy yet is given little to do with his skill for most of the movie and spends the majority of the film acting as the grumpy older kid who feels threatened by the new arrival and his developing bond with Emma.

A big problem for me was the central character of Jake, not that there was anything wrong with the acting as Butterfield was fine in the role, but Jake himself who is the only person who can see the Hollows and thus acts as a protector for the group, always felt like an outsider. His work around to allow the group see the creatures was fairly obvious and didn’t really require and special talents so he felt a bit unnecessary and only really served as the conduit from the past to the present. Plus we never got to see any real acting range from Butterfield and considering his performances in The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas and Hugo that was quite disappointing.

The savior of the film is Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) or, Alma LeFay Peregrine to give the character her full name, who is both mysterious and captivating as the pipe smoking head of the house who controls the time loop which keeps the children safe and also holds the knowledge to Jake’s background. Green does a great job in making the character her own as her mannerisms, speech patterns and clothing all paint the picture of somebody who is much more than she seems upon initial impression. Warm and caring one moment but who will take whatever measures she need to in order to keep the children from harm.

Also, adding his two cents as Mr.Barron is Samuel L.Jackson who once again shows that you could put him in any rubbish and he would still be able to bring elements of class to a role, as he is both terrifying and hilarious in equal measures as the eyeball eating, slightly mad leader of the evil Wights

The movie suffers from not being one thing or another as the supposed good versus evil battle only ever really manifests itself during the climactic finale on Blackpool pier but even then it’s played with a certain level of comedy so that it never really feels like there is any sense of serious drama in the situation which leaves the movie as a children’s romp with typical Burton dark tones but no real sense of adventure about what could have been an exciting time travel story with characters who have special powers, but then again I have just described a kids version Days Of Future Past?

DJ Speaks Rating: 4.5 Out Of 10

©  Darren Jones 2016

Director Peter Berg brings us the tale of the 2010 events upon the Deepwater Horizon, a semi submersible offshore drilling unit, which resulted in the worst environmental disaster in the United States and during which eleven people lost their life.

Essentially told in two parts we start by meeting the main players, finding out a bit about said people and their lives outside of work. Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) is a general handyman and fixer on the rig, whom we see with his wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) and daughter and he comes across an everyday down to earth family man, Andrea Fleytas (Gina Rodriguez) who drives the rig and shows some chops by giving as good as she gets in the male dominated scenario and the experienced manager of the rig Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) who runs the ship but is liked and respected by his crew. There are also a number of BP employees on board who are worried that the project is falling behind schedule and money is being lost, central to this is Donald Vidrine (John Malkovich) who is at loggerheads with Harrell over the slow progress but all in all the picture is painted of just another regular day and unremarkable shift change.

The second part switches to the drilling unit and is all about the occurrence and aftermath of the incident. We find out that there are a number of parts and items which are not working correctly and that the pressure is on all parties as the project is running at a big loss so the BP personnel are keen to push on with the drilling and are taking short cuts around testing regimes while Harrell and his team are unsure that the drilling can continue safely and are reluctant to continue until the proper tests are run. The build up is very well done slowly peeling back the chain of events which, when coupled together lead to a drill test falsely showing results which would indicate that it is safe to proceed but unknown to the people aboard the chain reaction which leads to the blow out has already kicked in, the fuse on the ticking time bomb is lit and a disaster is imminent.

The Berg & Wahlberg partnership, which we seen in Lone Survivor, once again works well and Berg gets the best out of Wahlberg who once again shows us that there is more to his acting than his comedic timing and that, when he is on form he can take centre stage. It is great to have Russell back close to his best and what he does here he does with ease yet the performance still has the gravitas it requires. When you add in Malkovich who gives a great sleazy performance as the BP executive who is all about the monetary return for the company there is a good acting base to work off and the verbal exchange scenes between Malkovich and Russell are excellent.

Unfortunately despite all the early work I still felt very little empathy with the characters. Yes, there were heroes, signs of great camaraderie between these workers who spend weeks together in the middle of the ocean, tales of self-sacrifice and lives being put in danger to help others but rather than feeling like real people I still felt that I was watching actors in a movie and despite the terrible situation that was occurring I never got to really caring about the fate of the characters in a way that a disaster movie really should suck you into doing.

On the up side, while the movie could have become bogged down with technical details I always felt that I understood what was going on with the machinery and why the disaster occurred, so credit must be given for the moments of exposition which gave us an inside to how the drilling worked, particularly the use of Walhbergs daughters school assignment utilising a fizzy drink to show the pressure that drilling occurs under and once it kicks off it is one of the most spectacular disaster sequences I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure how much of the filming was done through CGI but the explosions and fires felt very real and there were very few occasions where I was taken out of the moment. Each creak could be the one which finally brings the structure tumbling into the sea which adds a great tension to the situation. Both the sound editing and technical camera was excellent with some very good underwater scenes around the structure base and the inside of the mechanical parts of the drill giving some insight into the unseen workings of the set up.

The last few moments film back on shore, dealing with the aftermath of the situation also falls a little flat after the intensity of the rigs demise so while not the greatest film you will see this year it’s worth checking out for the great portrayal of the disaster itself, think Backdraft meets The Towering Inferno for the modern age.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5.5 Out Of 10

© Darren Jones 2016

The third installment in the Bridget Jones saga sees her reaching her 43rd birthday, still single but with her new career as a TV producer going well she is a lot more upbeat than usual until a ‘Happy Birthday’ call from her mother reminds her that the opportunity for having a family is running out which gets the cogs in her brain turning towards parenthood even if there is still a glaring gap in the form of a man to fill out the biological requirements. Two chance encounters soon sort that out however as she attends a music festival, gets very drunk and ends up sleeping with an American stranger (Patrick Dempsey) and shortly afterwards she attends a Christening where she is the Godmother and old flame Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) is Godfather which throws them back together and when she finds out that the now married Mark is soon to be divorced they too end up sleeping together. Inevitably she soon finds out she is pregnant but is unsure which of the two men is the father and when the American stranger turns out to be Jack Qwant, a self made millionaire through his successful invention of a popular dating site who ends up on the TV programme she produces her quandary is complete.

I wasn’t a massive fan of either if the first two although, if the box office figures are any indication, they seem to be very popular and I’m sure this one will be no different even if it is a similar plot. Bridget ends up in varying hilarious situations while she needs to choose between one of two men both of whom fall for her quirky character and vie for her attention. Forgetting the ironic twist of him appearing in the first two movies, I always found that this character was the female equivalent of the characters Hugh Grant made his fame playing. Socially awkward, fopping around saying ‘Bugger’ a lot.

This time Bridget needs to pick between the dynamic handsome American millionaire Jack and the ever so British, handsome gentleman lawyer in Mark. Both of whom are eager to play the parent role and are unaware of the potential fact that they may not even be the father or the child as Bridget tries to keep her situation a secret. Zellweger has done a great job in making this character her own over the years and does not disappoint in her third outing and despite the fact that she has shied away from taking new roles over the last five years or so there is no obvious loss to her talents. She also has able assistance this time from her friend and news anchor Miranda (Sarah Solemani) who is a very bad influence, but in a good way and gives some very funny comic relief moments.

There is also a small but memorable performance by Emma Thompson as Dr.Rawlings who shows she has lost none of her comic talent or timing through the years and both Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent are back as Bridget mother and father to add some more comedy especially as her mother is running in a local election with her main ethos being on family values all of which add to the comedic tone of the tale.

Unfortunately the movie runs out of steam a bit towards the final third with the predictably farcical, water breaking, dash for the hospital, epidural and labor pain jokes we have seen before. But in that lies the key, there is nothing new within the film but it feels like wearing comfortable clothes, there may be nothing fancy going on but there’s no call for it either so it’s like two hours spent in a happy zone where you know what is happening, what is likely to happen but you are more than happy to be there and tag along for the ride. So despite the slushy ending and formulaic plot you still find yourself entertained.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5.5 Out Of 10

The villagers of Rose Creek are in a desperate situation as a wealthy businessman Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) is extracting gold from a local mine, wants the town for his own purposes and will stop at nothing to get it. When the locals try and stand up to him they are dealt with in the harshest of ways, one of whom is Matthew Cullen (Matt Bomer) who’s wife Emma (Haley Bennett) along with her friend Teddy Q (Luke Grimes) decide enough is enough and to head to a nearby town to hire some men to help them fight back. When they see bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) deal with some men in the town they approach him for assistance but he refuses until Emma explains who is at the center of their problems. Chisolm decides to take the job and thus sets out to put together a team of men that will help and thus the seven are gathered together to fight alongside the remaining villagers.

Being a remake of the original 1960 Western which in turn was a remake of the Akira Kurisawa Seven Samuari movie I doubt my review is going to bring any surprises in terms of storyline or plot but what director Antoine Fuqua does with this movie does is give you an entertaining retelling of good versus evil with a Western setting where you just tag along for the ride and stuff popcorn in your face. I didn’t realise the movie was over two hours long until afterwards and I certainly didn’t notice it during the film itself as there is rarely a dull moment in the movie, if there is not a gunfight, stand off or some form of action on screen, there’s good dialogue forming back story or character building and with Shooter, The Equalizer, Olympus Has Fallen and the very underrated Southpaw now under his belt Fuqua has repeatedly shown that he can put together an entertaining film regardless of the theme. Throw in some great cinematography by Mauro Fiore with some beautiful sweeping shots of the landscape and sets backed by one of the last scores by the late, great James Horner both of which enhance the movies atmosphere in all the right ways and you are well on the way to a winner.

Where the movie is let down is with the characters themselves. With such a large cast of main players it’s difficult to give time to each in order to develop a story arc and to ensure they all receive enough screen time for you to develop a bond of sorts with them and with a few exceptions, which I will come onto shortly, this was my biggest gripe. Neither the Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier) or the outlaw Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) were given anywhere near enough screen time and their motivations were questionable at best. Chris Pratt as drinker and gambler Josh Faraday was good but never felt like he fit with the rest of the group, it was as if they cast Pratt and then decided that he needed to have the funny one liners and smart quips which made the character feel a bit unnatural even if he did a great Man With No Name impression at times. Sarsgaard looked like he was having fun as the evil Bogue but for me his character has a bit too pantomime and over the top to be really evil and I was waiting for him to tie a damsel to a train tracks and start twirling his moustache.

I was very surprised by Vincent D’Onofrio as tracker Jack Horner, he lumbers across screen like some man beast yet his character was given real purpose despite the small amount of screen time and the surprise you will feel the first time he speaks was a turn of genius, I’m not sure if that was Fuqua or D’Onofrio but whichever it was credit must be given. Bennett gave a great portrayal of a strong woman well able to hold her own against this band of men who, while there to help are little more than mercenaries but she gives as good as it gets and is a beacon of fortitude for the struggling village. The best characters for me were the assassin Billy Rocks (Byung Hun Lee) and sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke) as their chemistry was superb, you felt that the characters had a long past together and the performance of Hawke in particular was excellent as a man haunted by his past, struggling to keep things together. Lastly there’s Washington as the business like bounty hunter, I’ve always been a big fan and I cannot fault him again here. Even if I though he was outshone by Hawke he is still an absolute immense screen presence so when his big reveal comes at the end it’s an epic moment and Fuqua seems to be able to bring the best out of the man when they work together.

After a summer of relative blockbuster disappointment this one has finally hit the mark, while not perfect by any means it is an enjoyable action Western with a super finale which will keep you entertained from start to finish. Now where’s my copy of Red Dead Redemption for my Xbox gone?

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 out Of 10

James Donohue (James Allen McCune) is the brother of the character of Heather from the original Blair Witch movie and he is sent a clip in which he believes he can see his sister in a house in the woods which nobody else has been able to locate since the disappearance of the original group, despite many searches. So he gathers his friends  Ashley (Corbin Reid), Peter (Brandon Scott) and Lisa (Callie Hernandez), kits them out with the latest array of GPS gear, Go-Pro cameras and a drone, and they head to Burkittsville to meet the person who sent the clip as they have agreed to show them the location where they found the tape with the footage.

When they meet their contact it turns out to be two aspiring Internet celebrities Lane (Wes Robinson) & Talia (Valorie Curry) who will only take the group into the woods if they can tag along as they also want to film their own investigation into the mystery. In his desperation to get some answers about his sisters disappearance James pushes the group into reluctantly agreeing so the hike begins with a group of six heading back to the location of the original movie.

All seems fine and they reach the area where Lane located the tape but during the night the group are disturbed by loud crashing noises and when strange symbol appear at their camp site they begin to realise that the legend may be very real so they decide that it is in their best interests to back out of the search but this is only the start of their troubles and their real ordeal begins when they realise that they cannot seem to find their way out even with all their modern equipment and have to spend a second night in the woods despite their reluctance.

Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett collaborated on both You’re Next and The Guest, two very good if a little underrated movies so the signs were promising to see them both working together on this movie and in one sense they have continued their good record as they have managed to take a tiring found footage genre and injected some modernisation into the film with the upgraded technology, in particular the introduction of a drone, adding something new. They also have tried to give some explanation to the legend and just how the witch and the forest trap people all of which was a positive.

One major problem was the international use of poor sound, especially in the early parts of the film. I realise that it is trying to portray an amateurish feel to the recording but it got on my nerves very quickly. Putting aside that the other major issue I had was that a lot of the film felt very like an updated remake of the original with lots of quick cuts between cameras, plenty of shouting, running, unseen noises, more running, screaming and it even goes so far as to have a very similar ‘I’m so sorry’ scene. They also took a concept used effectively in The Ruins but it had no real impact on the flow of the film so it seemed to be added for shock value only which felt a little cheap. While I appreciate that the story is quite bounded it wasn’t really until the last third that the movie shifted into something approaching originality.

Overall it felt a little like a missed opportunity as the drone was a good idea but very underused, the jump scares were generally cheap and the ‘twist’, once revealed, could have been used far more effectively so with a little more originality this could have been an excellent film. Given the original intrigue and uncertainty surrounding the events of the film which added brilliantly to the effect the movie had on it’s audience this film started with the ground work already done but I think that actually worked against the film in this instance.

After the recent resurgence of sorts in the horror genre for me this was a side step rather than another potential push onward but if you liked the original then you will most likely enjoy this one as well and if you are a fan of the genre there is enough to keep you entertained.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5.5 Out Of 10