Based on the book written by Jean Hegland, Into The Forest is story of two sisters who live with their father in an isolated house on the outskirts of local civilisation but when massive power outages his the country they need to learn to let go of their need for modern amenities and utilise nature to survive in an increasing hostile situation.

Nell (Ellen Page) spends most of her time studying online for her upcoming SAT’s while Eva (Evan Rachael Wood) is a dancer who is struggling to compete with younger girls as she gets older and finds herself having to spend longer and longer practicing just to keep up. They live with their father Robert (Callum Keith Rennie) in a remote country house outside of town in the middle of a local forest and while they have all the modern technology, at times they find it difficult to deal with the isolation where the only physical link to the rest of the town is via their fathers jeep.

As news reports begin to appear on the television regarding power outages effecting the whole country it is not long until they too are hit by the same issue and left with only the use of a gas powered generator to keep the electricity running but, during a supply run into town it becomes apparent that this is a bigger issue than just a simple power problem as the supermarket is almost empty and all supplies of gas are already nearly depleted. The town is already showing signs of society breaking down and elements of lawlessness are creeping in but thanks to the resourcefulness of their father they are able to retain some semblance of normality despite their position.

When an incident occurs which takes their father from them the two girls are left alone to fend for themselves and as time passes with supplies becoming more sparse, the sense of isolation increases, their outlets of studying and dancing have been taken away from them and every decision can have major implications. Their relationship becomes strained but they must learn to put aside their differences and work together to ensure their survival but when Nells boyfriend Eli (Max Minghella) arrives at their house informing them of reports that power has been restored in Boston and that he and some others are going to take to the road further friction is caused as Nell is torn between leaving with Eli or staying with Eva who refuses to leave the family home and travel across the country on hear say.

While it’s hard to call this a post apocalyptic movie as we are never given details of the event it certainly has the feel of one especially as they months progress as we begin to see the increasing desperate situation the girls find themselves in but what the film does give is a look at how the family unit can be tested under pressure and particularly how sibling rivalry can manifest itself in the seemingly silliest of ways as tension grown and the situation becomes more precarious.

Both Page and Wood do an excellent job in portraying the sisters, Page initially looks like the head strong and purposeful Nell who knows exactly what she wants and is seemingly worst effected initially while Eva is more free spirited, has been the more effected by their mothers death and has put all her eggs in one basket in the form of her dancing but as they story progresses we see that they is more to both of these girls than meets the eye.

It’s a study at the human side of the situation and deals more in tension than action however but the couple of incidents that do occur are handled well and the impact of the does hit home so although it is key to the whole plot, the final third seems to drag a little and the fact that the ending can be interpreted in many ways depending on the viewers take on things will possibly frustrate some who were expecting closure. Nevertheless it’s still an interesting and well acted look at how human nature can quickly change once basic amenities are removed from every day life and the subsequent change in how attitudes and demeanor can quickly shift when the pressure hits.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Vin Diesel stars as Kaulder, a man with nothing to live for since the death of his family, who we see cursed with eternal life by the witch Queen (Julie Engelbrecht) as he slays her during the time of the Black Death in the Middle Ages. We then jump forward to present day and Kaulder is working as a hunter for an organisation called The Axe And Cross, which acts as a religious military police of sorts and keeps the peace between witches and humans. Each hunter has a keeper and Kaudlers keeper the 36th Dolan (Michael Caine) is retiring so he is teamed up with a younger keeper in the form of the 37th Dolan (Elijah Wood). However, after the 36th Dolan is murdered by a witch Kaulder must turn to two young witches Chloe (Rose Leslie) and  Miranda (Aimee Carrero) for assistance but when they are attacked by Belial who seems to have powers that Kaulder has not seen since the middle ages, it is up to Kaulder and his young allies to battle the dark forces that are gathering to bring the Queen Witch back from the dead.

While there were times that it felt a bit like an adult Harry Potter movie, director Breck Eisner does a good job of creating a slow build up as layer upon layer is peeled back giving us a deeper look into this world of co-existence that we started off knowing nothing about and the lack of need for too much exposition into what is sold as an ancient society shows us what a good job he does in telling us all that we need on screen, at least until the very rushed feeling of the last third anyway.

Diesel plays to his strengths as the immortal slayer, brooding and gruff born of a confidence of eight hundred years or so on this earth, unable to die and the supporting cast, while not given a huge amount to do for most of the movie, support him well, although I didn’t really buy the supposed sexual chemistry between Diesel and Leslie.

While the movie has its flaws and I questioned the motivation for a few of the characters, if you enjoy fantasy movies and don’t pull too hard to the weak script threads then the movie holds together well as an entertaining fantasy, action, adventure film with a lead that fits the role perfectly. While there was no doubt that this was meant as a potential avenue into a franchise I don’t feel it was strong enough (or successful) to entice the studio into producing further movies but as a one off it’s worthy of checking out as long as your expectations aren’t set too high.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Taking us back to the unlikely buddy cop movies of the 80’s and 90’s Ride Along stars Kevin Hart as Ben Berber a wise cracking security guard who dream of becoming a police officer, especially because his girlfriend Angela (Tika Sumpter) has an overprotective brother James Payton (Ice Cube) who is a detective so before he asks James for his blessing to allow him marry Angela he decides to apply for the Atlanta Police Academy. When he is successful and approaches James he is told that he will need to prove himself worthy by accompanying James on a typical day as a Ride Along where James is hopeful of putting Ben off taking that career path.

So begins Bens baptism of fire into the police world where James does his best to rid himself of what he sees to be the nuisance in his ear but to his initial dismay but eventual reluctant acceptance James realises that Ben has some smarts and can put clues together that he has missed so he agrees to allow him help on the case.

We have seen this story time and time before with the tale only changing slightly on each occasion, two guys who couldn’t be more different thrown together in a situation where they initially clash but it slowly dawns on them that if they work together the sum of their parts makes them stronger and thus they can both win out in the end. There’s nothing new in terms of the comedy either, it’s all been seen before however the interaction between Hart and Ice Cube works well, there is a chemistry between the two which keeps the movie going and it’s all about these two as the rest of the cast have little to do, even Laurence Fishburne has to take a back seat.

In what is essentially a close parody of Training Day with a comic spin Ice Cube plays the hard nosed, street wise detective well and is a perfect foil to ground the manic Hart who actually seems to be playing the character of Kevin Hart rather than Ben Barber, motor mouth to the point of annoying. If you like his style of comedy you will no doubt enjoy the movie but if not then if can grate on your nerves a little. The film does have it’s moments but it’s a premise that’s been done so often that there nothing new here so it’s average at best despite the efforts of all involved.

DJ Speaks Movies: 5 Out Of 10

Sophie is a young girl living in an orphanage in London who suffers from insomnia so often is awake at 3AM or what she calls the real witching hour. One of those nights while on her balcony she sees a giant but he notices her and kidnaps her from her bed taking her away to giant country where she believes she is going to be eaten and tries numerous times to escape but he eventually explains that he only took her because he had to as she would have told the world about him which would have highlighted the secret fact of his existence. So Sophie is stranded in his home with no means to get back to London but there are a number of giants living in giant country and the rest are not as friendly as Sophie’s captor so they constantly have to hide her away from the other giants who begin to suspect that there is food in the vicinity.

As Sophie spends more time with the giant a friendship of sorts develops and as he open up to her he explains that he is called the Big Friendly Giant which Sophie shortens to The BFG and he brings her along with him as he carry out his work which is capturing peoples dreams but when they return they realise that the other giants are aware of Sophie’s presence and are constantly trying to locate her so Sophie and The BFG must devise a way to rid themselves of the other giants.

I read the book many, many years ago so I was walking into this one with knowledge of the tale and with high expectations given that Stephen Spielberg was at the helm. Did it work for me as a movie? Not really, as I was pulling too many small continuity errors as the movie progressed, the constant use of the mixed up grasp of the English language used by the BGF started to get on my nerves after a while as did the bossiness of Sophie, bah humbug, I know. What I will say, putting that previous statement aside is that as a family film the BFG most certainly does work. The motion capture work for the gain by Mark Rylance is great and Ruby Barnhill matches him every step of the way as Sophie, their interaction and emotional acting works to a tee even if although some of the green screen moments are a bit plain to see.

It’s easy to say it’s a movie about a girl befriending a giant and going on an adventure together but behind the story there is so much more. The giant becomes a lost father figure, looking after Sophie, keeping her safe from danger above all else which also acts as a confessional of sorts as part of his convalescence for previous deeds. Sophie becomes a mother, guiding the giant, teaching him about the human world, correcting his mispronunciation and teaching him to stand up to bullies. It’s a very clever way of bringing two characters who feel alone in their world together in friendship.

It’s a no frills tale which is reasonably well presented but is nowhere near the Spielberg classics list however during my time in the cinema, from the laughing and giggling I heard, all the kids watching the movie were enjoying themselves so it will the kids and I’m sure some adults alike entertained.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Once again it’s time to bear arms for the annual Purge where for one night all crime is made legal as part of The New Founding Fathers of America’s (NFFA) police state manifesto. First things first, if you haven’t seen either of the previous movies then I suggest watching them first as they give a background into the state of the country and the reasoning behind The Purge which this movie doesn’t take time to outline so while not essential to do so, some elements of this movie will be lost if you have no previous experience with The Purge.

The movie opens at one of the previous Purge nights and a family who has been tied up is in the process of a game where the mother must choose which family member survives. We then cut to eighteen years later where it’s only days until the latest purge and we are shown riots in progress with regard to the NFFA using The Purge for their own financial gain. The increase in the anti-purge movement may also have an effect on the latest Presidential race especially since the current leading candidate is Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) who was the survivor of the opening scene and wants to abolish The Purge altogether.

So in a spin doctor move to try and improve their standing with the lower classes the previous rule where Government officials were exempt from The Purge is revoked which leaves Roan wide open as prey. Her head of security is Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) who was a key player in the second movie and wants rid of The Purge as part of his own redemption but they are betrayed and the safe house that Roan is staying in on Purge night is compromised so Barnes must take to the streets with Roan in order to keep her alive.

At the same time store owner Joe Dixon (Mykelti Williamson) receives news that his insurance premium has been increased and without the means to pay he needs to protect his store on Purge night along with his friend and shop assistant Marcos (Joseph Julian Soria) but before the night is through they will need to risk a lot more than their store in order to play their part in this year’s Purge.

Where the first two movies had some feeling of fluidity as the various groups or people came together to survive, this time it all felt a bit staged, some plot lines are opened but never developed and just felt tacked on to try and fit with the continuity of the movie. Plus, for me, it was all a bit too politically motivated and transferred from the genre of action/horror to action/thriller which was a shame as the selling point of these movies was always the transformation of people of Purge night, the depths of depravity people would stoop to when given free rein to do so and the lengths people go to survive. While this felt more like a group of people caught between two military groups fighting a political war for one night. Grillo still got some time to show his skills just much less often & Mitchell is believable as the senator who will risk it all, including her life, to get elected but the rest of the cast, including Williamson who could have been a major player but ended up a little more than light comic relief at times, all drifted in and out of the film until they became ex-machina in a lot of scenes and the last twenty minutes or so become a bit over ridiculous as the movie seemed to run out of ideas as how to best come to a resolution.

I will give the movie credit for its excellent use of iconography such as the moving shot past the Lincoln Memorial which is littered with dead bodies on the steps and the columns have PURGE written in human blood. These type of moments give the film a certain uniqueness and eeriness that makes it memorable but unfortunately they are only for fleeting moments in the movie.

There are also strong religious links in the film with the NFFA coming across as a fanatical religious cult and there is the use of martyrdom on both sides of the fence plus the obvious race divide which has appeared in all of the movies in the series is even further accentuated here. Yet, the irony that so many people died in the course of trying to keep the anti-purge senator alive was to always the fore in my mind which seemed a little like double standards.

It’s a decent action film but it’s not as good as either of the preceding movies in the series and while there was some scope left open for another movie in the franchise I hope that they take it in a different direction and perhaps create a look at the NFFA back story or something along those lines as The Purge itself seems to have run its course.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Risen starts Joseph Fiennes as Clavius, a Roman Tribune who is appointed by Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth) is investigating the local rumours that are surfacing about a new Messiah which coincides with the recent disappearance of a body from a tomb of a man called Yeshua (Cliff Curtis) which Clavius’ men were supposed to be guarding. When Clavius is unable to locate the missing body he turns to tracking down the supporters of this alleged Messiah for clues but when he finds the supposed dead man alive and well his faith is tested so he decides that he needs to spend some time with this man to establish what is going on.

It’s a religious tale about the resurrection of Christ so I’m hardly going to be giving any spoilers away in terms of the plot but it’s interestingly told in the form of a detective type tale as Clavius’ investigation lead him closer and closer to the one answer he doesn’t want to hear and Fiennes is excellent as the skeptic who begins to doubt his ideals and his ethos on life as he spends more time around the seemingly resurrected man

Director Kevin Reynolds does a good job of recreating a feel and vibe of the time and there’s some great orchestral scoring by Roque Banos which gives a great nod to the classics of its genre such as Ben Hur and The Robe. A big plus is that the movie stays away from glamorising the events, instead Clavius hears of the tales of miracles from eye witnesses and other locals so it’s not a visual spectacle, which was a nice touch and while it lacks the epic feel of other biblical movies it’s a different take which was at least refreshing. This type of movie is not targeted at my demographic but I will always give credit where it is due and I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the movie give the investigative route it took.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

A young model Jesse (Elle Fanning) has moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a model and at her first shoot she meets make-up artist Ruby (Jena Malone) who quickly befriends her and introduces Jesse to fellow models Sarah (Abbey Lee) and Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and so begins Jesse’s trip into the strange, unsavoury world of the fashion industry where she meets a wide array of characters but all of which are only ever looking out for number one in a cut throat world in which Jesse must evolve and adapt if she is to survive.

Jesse is the ideal character as pure, untainted and virginal, almost always dressed in white or in innocent floral dresses against the harsh brash outfits of the rest of the cast. She is only barely sixteen and has forged her parental consent form in order to get a contract. She is the epitome of a blank page and that is why she is so intriguing to the designers but it is also why she is the envy of fellow models who were in her place once but no longer have the innocence.

While it all came together in the end there are some scenes which will leave you baffled in the context that they are used, for example there’s a scene where Jesse cuts her hand on glass and Sarah offers to help but, while I won’t outline what she does, her actions, at that time, make no sense at all. Also, there’s a speech from Gigi about cosmetic surgery and perfection which again at the time just sounds egotistic, and it is, but which makes much more sense later in the film and this is the real issue with the movie, there are lots of things going on but it doesn’t always seem relevant until later as things are revealed. While it might be construed as clever if the movie was more fast paced the slow development of the plot means that it was very difficult to stay interested in all aspects of the movie.

There were elements of Black Swan and another movie I watched recently, High Rise with perhaps a bit of a Single White Female throw in for good measure but it never got to the same levels as any of those movies. Both Fanning and Malone were good in their roles but these were the only two characters who felt like they had any depth or development and Malone probably outshined Fanning when on screen, all the other players seemed like place holders and pieces in a puzzle. Christina Hendricks only appears for five minutes and Keanu Reeves, while having a little more involvement was still  a bit of a bit part and both roles could really have been played by anybody so I’m not sure of their purpose other than adding an A-list name to the cast. I will credit the Cliff Martinez almost dream like musical accompaniment worked very well in adding to the surreal feel of the scenes and is one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in a while.

Although he has a very unusual style, I love director Nicolas Winding Refn’s movie Drive which I thought was a very underrated movie and was superb both visually and from a story telling point of view, but this was missing something in terms of the plot development and pacing so instead of being gripping it seemed like it was designed to shock, and I’m sure in that sense it will shock some. Although it’s listed as a horror movie it’s more a thriller with some disturbing moments and while it’s not a bad movie, it’s just very strange which at times felt like it was a pet project for the director rather than making a movie for his audience.

There’s a line in the movie where Fanning states “Beauty isn’t everything, it’s the only things.” unfortunately, when it comes to movies a great looking movie doesn’t always make a good film but it felt like the type of movie that may be more appreciated after a second viewing as it was quite easy to miss subtle moments on screen which became bigger things so while I can’t see this being a hit with the masses it may become a cult hit.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Beginning with some back story about the division of the Congo to the colonial powers in the latter part of the 19th century and King Leopold of Belgium’s attempts to extract the rich natural resources, in particular diamonds, from the land but after his initial attempts prove unfruitful he decides to send his envoy Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) to take control of proceedings but when his exposition is wiped out a local tribal leader, Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou), exchanges his life and the diamonds for the presentation of Tarzan in front of the chief as they have unfinished historical business.

Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard)  is living in England as John Clayton III or Lord Greystoke with his wife Jane porter (Margot Robbie) and his is invited by the Belgian king to visit the city of Boma in the Congo to act as an intermediary in the colonization of the area given that it was where he was born and raised. (I won’t go into the back story of his childhood, we all know it) He refuses but is convinced by George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson), a consort from America to travel as he suspect that the Belgium King is using the local population as slaves, so begins the adventure when Tarzan must face Mbonga, save the locals, his wife and the creatures of the jungle from the evils of the Belgians and the unscrupulous Rom with a little help from Williams and some other, old friends along the way.

It’s an old story receiving a modern twist but the problem is that, despite the modernisation there’s nothing new. It’s a dated tale, told in older, very different times which does not really work in the modern era of movies. Tarzan and his friends are good, the Belgians are bad. Waltz plays a good villain, Robbie plays a tough, spirited damsel in distress, Jackson has the funny quips when needed and Hollywood still struggles with bringing racial stereotyping into the modern era. It felt that the only reason Jackson was even in the movie was to avoid the backlash the movie would have received otherwise. Swap Tarzan and the jungle for Spiderman and the streets of New York and we’ve seen the impressive swinging before. The CGI and interaction with the animals was good but was done better by the recent Jungle Book movie but some of the green screen scenes were unbelievably bad and I’m really struggling to find anything unique about the movie.

It’s not a bad film by any means and it’s two hours or so of decent entertainment so keep your expectations low and you’ll be okay but is it wrong that I kept wanting to shout out “Here come the Belgians” in a Stuart Hall, International Knock Out style all the way through the movie?

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out of 10

I enjoyed the first movie as decent entertainment if you could leave your sense of disbelief at some of the plot holes aside so I was quite hopeful for this sequel. This time the movie begins with Mark Ruffalo’s character, FBI agent (Dylan Rhodes) as a youngster at the scene of the act which killed his father, magician Lionel Shrike (Richard Laing) along with magic debunker Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) who was televising the moment. We then cut forward to present day where The Horseman Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) have been living underground since disappearing after the events of the first movie but are brought together again by the secret magical society, The Eye, in order to perform a magic act at a product launch of major corporation Octa run by Owen Case (Ben Lamb) in order to expose his product for the privacy invading software that it is, since he has not divulged the fact to consumers. This time around Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) has left their company (for a reason that is never really explained) so a new Horseman is introduced in Lula May (Lizzy Caplan). During the course of the act The Horsemen are themselves hijacked by an unknown person and while making their escape from a rooftop they jump down a construction chute and end up in Macau where they are brought before Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe) the ex-partner of Owen Case who is supposedly dead but who wants the software that Octa were going to launch. Still with me? Good. I won’t divulge any more regarding the story as twist after twist occurs and The Horseman have to work with Radcliffe while Ruffalo is being harassed by Freeman from jail who is still looking for revenge after the events of the first movie and it all comes together to a showdown in London on New Year’s Eve.

Unlike the first movie which focused on the development of the Horseman as a team and gave some character building moments between the players this time there is not a lot of new material brought to the table. Radcliffe was a good addition as the almost childlike Mabry character who’s need to be the cleverest person in the room was entertaining but there is an introduction of a twin for one of the characters which I thought was just ridiculous and there’s a re-appearance by Michael Caine as Arthur Tressler which only felt like an excuse to put Caine’s name on the cast list, otherwise it’s a case of Now You’ve Seen Me already as there’s not a lot of freshness in the movie.

The one redeeming feature which saved the movie from potential disaster was the focus on Ruffalo’s character as his arc was excellent, showing his purpose behind his decision making and staying with it as the events play out. He’s one of the better actors of this era and he shows it again here despite the weak movie around him.

Again there’s plenty of smoke, mirrors, misdirection and magic acts some of which are explained and then others not, if you enjoyed the first movie then you will find this entertaining enough but it’s enhanced by a very good performance by Ruffalo as the other seem to be painting by numbers and needless to say it’s been left wide open for a third movie which, unless they come up with something a bit more magical, then this franchise should do a vanishing act.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Tired with a career as TV journalist and a relationship with her boyfriend Chris (Josh Charles) both of which seem to be stuck in a divot, Kim Barker (Tina Fey) is convinced to take a brief assignment as a war correspondent in Afghanistan to cover the ongoing US campaign. Arriving as a complete fish out of water much to the ire of her Afghan aid Fahim (Christopher Abbott), security guard Nic (Steve Peacocke) and particularly Marine General Hollanek (Billy Bob Thornton) who view her as a nuisance however, she is nothing if not tenacious and with some help from fellow reporter Tanya Vanderpoel (Margot Robbie) and freelance photographer (Martin Freeman) she begins to feel more at home and is soon making friends on both sides of the divide.

We all know Tina Fey does comedy well however I have yet to be convinced of her dramatic roles and this is where this movie hits problems. When the comedy is flowing it’s a good time look at the behind the scenes in a war zone however when things take a turn to the more serious aspects of the story it just feels like the movie is dragging. While Fey, Robbie and Freeman bring a good chemistry to screen her interactions with Afghan government head Ali Massoud Sadiq (Alfred Molina) who’s overtly sexual advances towards Fey were borderline offensive, was a real low point for me as it felt wholly unnecessary.

There are some good moments within the story such as Fey using her stance as a woman to her advantage despite being in a society which gives women very few rights and an all too brief look at the impact the situation may have emotionally on a person as they become war fatigued spending so long in a battle zone and maybe more of this plot line would have made for a better movie instead of constantly going back looking for comic value in most situations which left the film feeling like it wanted to be taken seriously despite not following suit itself. It’s not a bad movie by any means but there are too many flaws within to make it anything more than average.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10