Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) is a risk assessor for a company who fund projects to create intelligent artificial beings so when their latest experiment, a five year old specimen called Morgan (Anya Taylor Joy) badly injures a member of the team Weathers is sent to investigate if the outburst was a one off or whether the project is no longer viable as they are fearful of a re-occurrence of an incident in Helsinki where most of the team were killed by a previous project.

As she carries out her investigation we find out more about Morgan and her situation, we learn that this was the third attempt by the team and, in their opinion, Morgan is a perfect creation. On the outside this would seem to be the case as, in general, Morgan seems to act just like a human but during an intense psychological evaluation by Dr.Shapiro (Paul Giamatti) things take a turn for the worst and Morgans aggression once again manifests itself with dire consequences so Weathers decides that the project is no longer suitable for continuity and demands that Morgan is terminated but this is in conflict with how most of the scientists feel as they have developed a strong, almost parental bond with Morgan. This leaves the only real defender of the termination as Dr.Cheng (Michelle Yeoh) who was involved in the incident in Helsinki which leaves Weathers  at odds with the team and when she pushes ahead with the cessation of the project the team decide to take affairs into their own hands, subdue Weathers and save Morgan but their faith in the experiment is ill placed as, while Morgan may be physically advanced, emotionally it is not and like most basic living things puts self preservation above all else. Once free it decides that it doesn’t ever want to go back into captivity so Weathers must track down the experiment and terminate it once and for all.

If you have seen the trailer then you may find that the film is not quite what you expected. It’s a slow paced thriller interspersed with action sequences but director Luke Scotts (Son of Ridley) attempts to keeps us on the edge of our seals falls a little flat due to the predictability of the movie and the large plot holes which occur. Although you can see that he has picked up on some of his fathers talent as visually the movie is very good, with some clever camera work building tension by showing us things occurring behind the main focus of the scene. Also both the strong female character and the use of an unseen ‘Corporation’ pulling the strings both harked back to the original Alien movie.

Mara does a good job as the cold hearted investigator, more detective that risk assessor who is all about the job at hand. As she declares very early ‘Morgan is not a she, it is an it!’ but it did not come across as the most taxing of roles in terms of diversity which left it hard to like her character, although this was obviously the way the part was written. Some of the science team felt very under used Dr.Grieff (Jennifer Jason Lee) had little screen time and while, part of the most integral scene of the film, the same can be said of the Giamatti role. The big plus for the film is the performance of Taylor Joy as Morgan, after her great showing is last years The Witch, she once again shows her talent as, beyond the make up effect, she gives a real emotionless, almost robotic performance which gives a great feel for how this being was created and is almost alien like despite the best efforts of the science team to humanise it.

It’s a movie of two halves. The first is a slow paced thriller like introduction to the situation, the people involved and the subject in question. The second half is more of an action movie but is the weaker half of the two so despite the moralistic themes of genetics, tampering with nature and playing God plus the potential controversial link to abortion and the rights to terminate life it just failed to get the movie above the level of mediocre. If you like your science fiction then there enough here to make it worth checking out but if not you are likely to find it all a bit far fetched and end up losing interest. Try the excellent Ex-Machina for a much better film along the same lines.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Kicking off with a bank robbery Hell Or High Water grabs you from the off and rarely lets go through the whole running time. Toby Howard (Chris Pine) is a divorced father who lives on his deceased mothers farm and rarely sees his ex-wife or kids and we see him engaged in the robbery with his ex-con brother Tanner (Ben Foster) as they make off with a small amount of cash in what, on the outside, seems to be a carefully planned heist. Over the next few days we see the brothers carry out a few more robberies with the same M.O but sometimes the facade drops and we realise that, while clever, these guys may not be the professionals we first thought. But there is more to these robberies than greed as there is a genuine purpose for what they are doing so there becomes a Robin Hood like feel to their actions. In the meantime a soon to retire Texas ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and his partner Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) are given what looks like a cut and dry bank robbery to investigate but it soon becomes much more than that and their chase takes on a whole different vibe as with Bridges closing in on them the brothers must change their game plan as run their operation at a mush higher degree of risk as their window of opportunity is closing fast.

This description may make it sound like a been there, done that film as the concept is not new but the style, tone, dialogue and acting in this movie take this to another level. It’s a slow burn film, the tension is always there but it starts small and gradually building into a climactic crescendo before dropping again at the very end without ever leaving the screen. With script from Taylor Sheridan who also wrote the excellent Sciario I had high expectations and I was not let down, there are only a few action packed moments yet I was never bored as the setting is superb with the towns in ruin, the signs of foreclosure and sale of properties and the general depressing feeling hitting home and I almost felt the heat and dirt coming off screen, so credit must go to Scottish director David MacKenzie for his portrayal of a dying area with people trying to keep the wolves from the door by any means possible.

The casting was near perfect, there were moments that there was nothing being said on screen but the facial expressions of the four leads were enough and told us as much as any words could, the dialogue was superb and realistic. Humorous to relieve some of the tension without ever eliminating it. While it’s possibly the best performance I’ve seen from Chris Pine and if this is a sign of things to come from him then I’ll be looking forward to it, if Ben Forster and Jeff Bridges are not in the running for the Oscars then there is no justice. Foster has always been a good actor but he absolutely absorbs you into his character this time as the less moralistic of the brothers who will do anything to atone for his guilt over not being there for his family and you can feel his internal pain without him ever mentioning it while Bridges gives a smashing performance as the grizzled old, tenacious ranger who just cannot let the case go even when it is getting the better of him often to the detriment of those around him, especially his partner who pretends that he hates being around him but you just know will miss him once he retires. He doesn’t want to retire the job is his life and he’s not going to let his last case be the one that got away.

The conversations between the partnerships, and when it occurs the interaction between the characters on either side of the fence, felt real so you believed that Pine and Foster were brothers and Bridges and Birmingham had been working together for years. So it is these two partnerships which keep the whole movie balanced and leave you conflicted as, while the bothers are criminals and should be punished, you are rooting for them to success given their purpose and goal which I find very rare in a movie.

I don’t want to give too much away or put this movie on too high a pedestal but I haven’t enjoyed a film this much in a long time and, along with Midnight Special and Sing Street it is in the top three movies of the year for me but this possible edges it. In a year full of promise for movies where we have had so many letdowns do yourself a favour and see this as soon as you can before word of mouth ruins some of the surprise moments as I believe it’s one of the best you will see for a while and as a pretty harsh critic that is high praise indeed.

DJ Speaks Rating: 8 Out of 10

Miles Teller is David Packouz who scrapes a living out as a masseuse in Miami where he resides with his girlfriend Iz (Ana De Armas) but he is tired living on the bread line so in an attempt to break out of the slump he decides to invest his life savings in bed sheets but when this venture fails miserably and he finds out that Iz is pregnant David is desperate to find an additional means of income. When at a funeral he bumps into his old high school friend Efraim Diveroli (Johan Hill) who has set up his own company, AEY, which acts as a middle man in the selling of arms to the US Government. While initially sceptical David quickly realises just how much earning potential there is so he agrees to work for Efraim, all the while pretending to his girlfriend that he is still selling sheets.

As the business grows both David and Efraim get deeper and deeper into the business leading to them making even more money which in turns allows them to bid for more profitable contracts and even expanding the business to take on staff. When a deal arrives to supply arms to the Afghan military, which is worth hundreds of millions they decided that this is the big one but such a big contract is proving too much for the guys so after an encounter with legendary arms dealer Henry Girard (Bradley Cooper) they decide to utilise his experience to locate a hundred million rounds of AK47 ammunition in Albania which in turn allows them to place their bid although their naivety leads to them massively underbidding. When thing start to go wrong the guys find themselves getting deeper into the mire trying desperately to find solutions but when the FBI start to poke their nose into the business their house of cards begins to crumble and things take a nasty turn.

All through this movie I kept things just how like a cut price Scorsese movie this was with many similarities to both Goodfellas and The Wolf Of Wall Street, the protagonists are bad guys, there’s drug taking which gets out of control, the unpredictable character calling the shots, the excellent use of music to enhance scenes and the freeze frame with voice over moments. I’m not saying it is anywhere near that class but it certainly suited the tale and subject matter. The difference here is that I felt no sympathy for Teller, not because of his acting which was good but because he came across as spineless and easily led. Always being manipulated by Hill and most of the time knowing exactly what was going on but rarely doing anything about it even when his relationship with Armas, who acts as the moral compass in the movie but is still more than happy with her new lavish lifestyle, is straining because of his constant lies. He’s sold as this good guy at heart but didn’t come across that way from his actions. Hill was excellent as Diveroli, a loose cannon who will do whatever it takes for the cash and watch out for his laugh which itself both hilarious and evil depending on the context of its use.

There’s a certain ironic feel to the contents this film no more so that very early where the real life David Packouz is sitting in an old folk home singing Don’t Fear The Reaper on acoustic guitar. Director Todd Phillips who also brought us the Hangover movies does a decent job of keeping the tension and action moving and keeps us intrigued, however the movies characters are very unbalanced which causes some tonal issues. The chemistry between Hill and Teller is excellent and gives us most of the best moments even when the story is in its slower pieces. Although having a pivotal role in the second part of the movie Cooper has very little screen time although it was nice to see him play the unemotional big shot, despite the off putting enlarging of his eyes through his glasses giving him a slightly comical feel and when on screen you hung on his word as his lack of facial expressions left you in no doubt that this was a man you didn’t cross.

In the end the movie tries to be too clever for it’s own good and it gets lost in not knowing if it’s a buddy caper movie, a crime drama about gun smuggling or a tale of a man who’s life spirals out of control and he is forced along on a ride he is unequipped to deal with. If you leave the analysis aside it’s a good comedy drama elevated by another excellent performance by Hill.

Amy Mitchell (Mila Kunis) is an everyday working mother who struggles to balance her part time job as a sales rep for a new age coffee company, where she is the oldest employee, with the demands of her children’s lives in school runs, homework issues, extra curricular activities and the all important PTA meetings. When she catches her husband Mike (David Walton) with another woman via Web Cam she throws him out which only adds to her workload and after one particularly bad day when she attends an emergency PTA meeting which turns out to be about the upcoming bake sale she loses it completely, decides that she has had enough, speaks up against the head of the association Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) and quits.

As she is having a drink at a nearby bar she recognises Carla (Kathryn Hahn), another mother from the school and they are also joined by Kiki (Kristen Bell) who was impressed with the way Amy stood up for herself. The three woman end up getting extremely drunk and decide that instead of being the mothers they are expected to be they are going to be moms that do what they want to do and enjoy life.

Directors Scott Moore and Jon Lucas, who also brought us the Hangover, do a good job in taking the mix of the everyday expectations of life and mixing them with the inevitable boozy parties we always see in movies of this genre without ever fully taking the film either way which breaks the movie up well. The acting is spot on with Applegate superb as the all seeing head of the PTA who runs the school as she pleases and is feared by all. Kunis and Bell are great as the frustrated mothers but they are all outshone by Hahn as the sex mad, alcoholic Carla. She absolutely steals the show and had me in stitches with her antics with a role that reminded me of her character of Alice Huff in Step Brothers.

Despite all the humour and bad behaviour there is some good character development and social commentary hidden behind the mania and it is a testament to the skill of all involved that the friendship and the bitchiness felt real and it felt like all the cast really developed a chemistry as felt like everybody was having fun. Although it runs out a steam a little in the final third the film still never felt like it dragged even if it took the obvious route in the end when it would have been nice to see something unpredictable given the nature of the rest of the movie.

Better than both of the other female driven comedies I have recently watched (Bad Neighbours 2 and Ghostbusters), Bad Moms is well worth checking out if you’re a comedy fan and watch out for the scene with the marriage guidance counsellor which, while short, is hilarious thanks to the reactions of Wanda Sykes as Amy and Mike verbally tear into each other in gradually increasing volume.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

Fifteen years after the evens in The Office David Brent (Ricky Gervais) is an office rep working for a company called Lavichem. He is still chasing his dream of breaking into the music industry mainstream and is using his pension money to fund a tour with his band Forgone Conclusion, which is made up of session players and his friend and rapper Dom Johnson (Ben Bailey Smith) and this movie is a documentary style look at the events surrounding the tour.

For those of you who don’t know the character, Brent is a guy who speaks before he thinks, wants to be the center of attention and loved by all so he will say anything he thinks will gain favour with people. This often leads to embarrassing situations for him and others who happen to be nearby as his fabrications are so obvious to all and while he seems to have issues with ethnic minorities, equal equality for women and the disabled he tries desperately to mask this fact by trying so hard to be politically correct that he ends up showing his true colours and ignorance on most occasions in the most mortifying of ways.

Needless to say this whole movie is a jump from one awful situation to another as he throw money at one thing after another trying to find a way to get himself noticed all the while leaving the members of his band exasperated as one cringe worthy moment leads to further disaster and he is slowly dragging them with himself into the annuls of obscurity.

Despite all this there is something that Gervais brings to the character that makes him redeemable in a way that almost forces you take pity on the desperation of the character and, without spoiling any of the humerous moments in the movie, there are scenes around his counselling sessions and a battle with depression, an office going away party he is expecting, his attempts to get a tattoo to give him more street credibility and his lyrical penmanship being challenged for using Wikipedia which are all hilarious scenes but add to the pity you cannot help but feel for the guy.

I was reminded a little of This Is Spinal Tap on occasions, which is not a bad thing and there were a few moments where I found myself laughing uncontrollably at his demise but then again I have always liked watching Brent, and his terrible people skills, in action. All in all the movie had a feel of an overlong Xmas special, especially with the ending so I reckon it could have started that way and then was altered to try and give Jervais a hit on the big screen as the film would have worked just as well over two parts as a TV show. If you are a fan of Gervais and liked The Office then you will laugh your way through the situations that arise but Gervais can be an acquired taste, so like Marmite you will either love it or hate it.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

Lights Out begins with Paul (Billy Burke) who is working late in a Warehouse and is on the phone to his son Martin (Gabriel Bateman) who seems to be struggling to deal with the problems his mother Sophie (Maria Bello) is having. When a worker who is closing up sees a strange figure which seems to shift position each time she turns the lights off, she tries to warn Paul but he is dismissive and sends her home however he soon learns that the figure is very real.

A few months later we jump to Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) who is Martins half sister and when she receives a call from his school as they are unable to locate his mother she finds out that Martin has been falling asleep in class as his mothers mental illness and depression seems to have fully kicked back in, she is acting strangely and taking to herself all night. Rebecca takes Martin to stay with her but when she too has an encounter with this strange figure it becomes apparent that she, her mother and her step brother are all in danger and must find a way to work out why it is targeting them and then how they can escape from its clutches.

The premise of the movie is great, having a figure that can only move in the shadows and darkness it does a very great job of playing on our primeval fears of the unseen terrors that lurk in the dark. However the big issue I had was that most of the best parts of the movie were shown in the trailers which defeated the purpose of most of the jump scares and the rest of the movie had a feel of a by the numbers horror film albeit with a new concept as the whole story was quite obvious. The acting was fine even if the casting was a bit one dimensional, a strangely acting mother, a terrified kid, a good hearted but skeptical boyfriend, a strong willed protagonist etc. and both Palmer and Bello were wasted talent as there was no requirement in this film for them to stretch their range so despite the supposed danger I never felt that there was any real tension on the screen and found myself noticing gaps in the plot points which is not a good sign.

Director David Sandberg started this film as a short and there was enough to peak my interest in seeing what he could do with a second movie using this as a learning curve but even with the talents of James Wan on the list of producers this was not the great movie it could have been. So despite having a good idea, some good camera work by switching from third person to point of view to build moments well and some very good trailers it ends up being a run of the mill horror movie with none of the originality it promised. It’s a decent watch and if you like the genre you will most likely enjoy it but it didn’t fulfill my high expectations and the fact that they have already started working on a sequel is a disappointment as it doesn’t warrant it and while I was sold on this movie, it will take a lot more effort to get me interested next time.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

When you see a cast of Oscar winners Kevin Spacey and Christopher Walken appearing alongside Jennifer Garner in a movie directed by Barry Sonnenfeld who brought us the excellent Addams Family Values and Men In Black it should be peaking your interest but I had great trepidation about this as the trailers were just awful so I hoped that perhaps there was a clever of funny movie behind the scenes but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I can only assume that the stars of this film owed a few favours otherwise there must have been more of this film on the cutting room floor than a Warner Brothers movie and even allowing for the fact that it was a French story to begin with, which was translated into English before shooting, I can’t excuse it.

Kevin Spacey is Tom Brand a multi millionaire business tycoon who is putting all his efforts into constructing the highest building in North America but is battling against a similar project in Chicago. Tom is all business and has little time to spend with his wife Lara (Jennifer Garner) or his young daughter Rebecca (Malina Weissman) who still adores her father despite his absence. He also has his son from a previous marriage David (Robbie Amell) working for the company and all he wants to do is impress his father but can never seem to do well enough.

When Tom is late for his daughters birthday he runs to a cat shop to pick her present out. This shop is run by Felix Perkins (Christopher Walken) in a way reminiscent of the Mogwli owner from Gremlins. On the way home Tom is in an accident which leaves him in a coma but transports him into the body of the cat where Walken then advises him that he has a week to change his ways and appreciate his family otherwise he will be stuck in the cats body forever and so should begin a series of cat capers which keep us chuckling away to the inevitable happy ending unfortunately that is not the case.

The CGI in this film is awful and it is so obviously not a cat in most of the scenes that it is criminal in this day and age of technology. The attempted humour is terrible, calling the cat Mister Fuzzy Pants is not funny, Walken calls himself a cat whisperer, when Spacey is ‘talking’ to his family in the cats body it sounds like two Tom’s fighting in an alley and was grating on my nerves, the cat toilet humour and threat of castration scenes were cheap and the supposed emotional scenes achieved nothing since the rest of the movie had already made me feel dead inside. There were about ten people watching this movie at the same time I was, including some young kids, and not one person laughed or even chuckled throughout which must be a first for an comedy movie that I’ve watched.

I don’t know who the movie is actually supposed to be aimed at as some of the themes like divorce and euthanasia were too adult for young kids to understand, there were references to movies and images from the 1970’s and 1980’s which older kids won’t get and there was nothing to make an adult want to see the movie. I reckon even the most ardent of cat lovers will struggle to like this so this says it all about how bad this film is.

Do yourselves a favour and watch the very underrated Fluke if you want a good film about a man trapped in an animals body. If you want to keep cat loving children entertained for an hour or so stick an hour of cat videos on You Tube and save your time and money, in conclusion this movie you will wish to FURget. Come on, there were so many options for silly puns in the review you have to allow me one.

DJ Speaks Rating: 3 Out Of 10