Marvel tries another reboot in the franchise of the popular web slinger, this time with Tom Holland, who was well received in his small role during the Civil War movie, as Peter Parker. In this iteration we spend more time on Peter’s daily life as he tries to come to terms with his new found role as a super hero. Spending his days as a normal high school kid and at night, becoming the local law enforcement watchdog.

But Peter is becoming frustrated at dealing with minor petty crimes and after tackling the likes of Captain America and The Winter Soldier in Civil War, he feels that his talents are being wasted dealing with bicycle thieves and muggers. After a run in with a set of bank robbers carrying some unusual weaponry puts Peter and local residents in danger, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) visits Peter asking him to stick with the small stuff and leave the bigger fish for the Avengers to deal with.

This only leads to further frustration for Peter as he feels as though he has been brushed aside after assisting Stark when called upon and when he and his friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), manage to unlock further abilities in his suit (voiced by Jennifer Connelly) he decides to follow up on the bank robbery and puts himself, friends and family squarely in the firing line of Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) and his alter-ego, The Vulture.

 

 

Keaton is excellent as Toomes, driven by a need to look after his family, a reluctant villain who believes his actions are justified by being done wrong by others. He just wants to be left to his own devices and doesn’t want the fighting to occur but after being consistently disrupted by Spider-Man he realises that he needs to take action and when the reveal about Toomes character appears (one I did not see coming) it adds great emotional turmoil to their battle.

 

 

Marvel have done a good job of making the Spider-Man character feel very rooted in his comic book origins without making this another back story. Because we given the details in Civil War there is no need to go right back to basics and by beginning the movie with a recap of the Civil War events through Spider-Man’s eyes via a POV type documentary he is filming, it saves having to start from scratch and let’s us focus on Peter dealing with his dual life.

Being an unseen, shy kid in school dealing with the tribulations that all teenagers have, but having abilities that he cannot tell anybody about is a dilemma which would test any kid and Peter both passes and fails in equal measure. He wants to do right and all his decisions are for a good cause but, because of this inexperience, he doesn’t realise the secondary damage his actions can create.

 

 

With a John Hughes ‘coming of age’ vibe through a lot of the movie, this one is less action orientated and more character driven. Although there are some very good action sequences, particularly the scene at the Washington Monument, they are sometime let down by some poor CGI, but not in any great way that ruins the film. This film felt more at home when it was dealing with Peter and his attempts to live his day to day life with his aunt May (Marisa Tomei), deal with his infatuation with Liz (Laura Harrier) and his friendship with Ned, trying to act normal while dealing with his dual life and the moralistic choices he needs to make.

A fun filled two hours with a good range of humour, action and drama with some great nods to the Spider-Man and MCU lore in general for fans of the genre, in particular the appearance of Donald Glover as Aaron Davis, the uncle of Miles Morales an ‘MJ’ link which may have future developments in the franchise and a post credit scene leading into a possible Sinister 6 link, this is a step in a different direction from Marvel but they have still managed to maintain their high standard of MCU movie releases.

DJ Speaks rating: 6.5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2017

It’s that time of the year again when light sabers are dusted off and the quotes of “Movie goer, you will be” surface as Disney throws one of the more recently acquired money making franchises into the mix and the Star Wars phenomenon is unleashed once more. This time there is a little more intrigue as the regular series takes a break and we are given a spin off movie set between the events of Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope.

So instead of the usual story line around Jedi and the Skywalker family we are given a glance both st behind the rebellion and the inner working of the Empire as we see how they came to develop their super-weapon, the Death Star. Following the story line of Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) who as a child watches her family being taken from her by head of the Empires division of weapons development, Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), although she escapes capture at the time and is raised by friend of the family, and Clone War veteran Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker).

As the plot moves forward Jyn is rescued from prison by rebel officer Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as the rebels believe that her father Galen (Mads Mikkelsen) is helping the Empire develop a new super weapon. Given that she thought her father dead, Jyn accepts the chance to assist the rebels for the potential to see her father once again and also prove them wrong as she does not believe he would help the Empire however, the fact that she is Galen’s daughter leaves many members of the rebellion unsure as to Jyn’s motivations. During the course of this investigation it is revealed that this super weapon may have a design flaw and when the Empire shows the power behind the weapon it has produced by destroying a city the Rebels realise they need to take drastic measures however there is a reluctance from their leaders to throw their weight behind a Hail Mary type attack on the Imperial Garrison which leads to the small group of Jyn, Cassian, his reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), defected Empire pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), spiritual blind warrior Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and his friend Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) along with a small group of rebels taking it upon themselves to make an attempt to steal the plans for the Death Star to see if this flaw is fact or fiction.

The film does suffer some setbacks. There’s a feel of The Magnificent Seven about the small band of fighters, most of whom have done bad in the past, going against the odds to find redemption and try to save the day so, despite the setting change, the story lacks originality. There’s a very, very slow start, full of planet hopping which tries to develop the characters, give them motivation and lead up to the main storyline and action but I thought they missed the boat a little in that case as I still feel the motivation for a lot of the characters was weak and in trying to bring us heavy action sequences it lost some of its heart so the balance and feel of the movie was off. Forest Whittaker’s character was very under used considering the potential pivotal role he could have been. K-2SO, despite being brilliantly voiced by Tudyk, is a C3PO knock off with a more sarcastic sense of humour and the best character in the movie, Chirrut, isn’t given anywhere enough screen time.

Despite my criticisms there are a lot of good things about the film. Even though it is set in the vastness of space the movie felt compact as it stayed focused of a small group of characters, Vader’s appearances were brief but were done very well and ensured that the movie kept its feel as a spin off, the last third was excellent and felt like the movie A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back could have been if the technology was available at that time, the CGI was very good, the introduction of some characters from other movies was done very well and didn’t feel cheap and the lead into the start of A New Hope was almost faultless which deserves an awful lot of credit.

Fans of the series will enjoy the film, casual movie goers will be entertained and Disney will make a stackfull of cash so it looks like everyone is a winner but despite the highs the movie has it didn’t hit me the same way last year The Force Awakens did so I was left feeling a little empty which was disappointing, but if we learned one thing as a movie going audience this year it’s that high expectation has lead to inevitable disappointment.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 Out Of 10

Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a brilliant neurosurgeon who, like a lot of people of higher intellect is a loner as he is unable to deal with others, who he looks upon as his inferiors. The one exception to this is a fellow Doctor Christine Palmer (Rachael McAdams) who he has been romantically involved with in the past. He is a little warmer towards her but still in a very condescending way.

One night he is involved in a car accident which he barely survives however, he loses the use of his hands which leaves him with seemingly no purpose in life and he pushes everybody who wants to assist away, including Christine. When modern medicine fails him he hears of somebody who recovered impossibly from a spinal injury to walk again and when he locates this man, Jonathon Pangborn (Benjamin Bratt) he points Strange in the direct of spiritual healing. Sceptical but desperate Strange heads to Nepal to seek a place called Kamar-Taj where he meets a man called Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejifor) who introduces Strange to his master known as The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). She explains to Strange that his healing can be found in the form of other dimensions and astral plains instead of the world he knows. Strange is naturally cynical but he soon realises that there is more to this world that he ever knew so he immerses himself in this new knowledge in an effort to re-find his purpose in life but his training take a dramatic upturn when a former student of the Ancient One, similar in thought to Strange, Kaecilius, who has formed a bond with the dark lord Dormammu to bring darkness to the world and is using his powers to bring the Ancient One and her followers down, attacks one of the Sanctums protecting Earth and Strange needs to use his growing, but unhoned power to try and battle the evil which is threatening the world.

If that seems like a very long synopsis, it is (There’s still no spoilers though) but I really needed to give you a lot otherwise the movie plot makes no sense, and there within lies the biggest issue with the movie. Although necessary, a lot of time is spent on exposition in order to allow viewers to understand what is occurring. Also, it’s an origin story so we need to be given a lot of back story and motivation for the lead character which, because of his arrogance makes him initially unlikable.

I watched this film in 3D and IMAX and I can safely say that it is the best use of this technology that I have ever seen to date. The visuals were superb, especially the chase scenes through portals and dimensions. Think The Matrix meets Inception on drugs!! There was also one scene where Strange is sent to the other world by the ancient one and it’s done via a psychedelic like trip that members of the flower power generation would have loved.

It is a Marvel origin story so it does follow the same routine, and a very similar story arc to iron Man, brilliant genius, has life changing experience, learns the values of love, friendship and teamwork and saves the day along the way. In fact I have a sneaky suspicion that Marvel may be hedging their bets to heavily involve Doctor Strange as a major player in the Avengers as with the powers he has he is, potentially, a bigger player than both Iron Man and Captain America. In saying that kudos much be given to Marvel for the direction they took this movie in as it feels more of fantasy or wizardry movie than a Superhero film yet it works very well. The chemistry between the characters is very good, Cumberbatch is excellent as Strange and has now cemented himself in the role (even if it felt like he was playing Sherlock for the first half and hour or so) and Tilda Swinton was superb despite the White Washing controversy.

It’s far from perfect though, with Mads Michaelson, Benjamin Bratt and Chiwetel Ejifor very underused, plus the same old Marvel issue of having poor villains was apparent once again and Rachael McAdams character just felt like a convenient plot point at times, a little like Pepper Potts did in Iron Man until they expanded her character. There was a lot of humour in the movie, perhaps a little too much which may have been masking a weak script and the whole thing did feel a little preachy at times.

In saying all that it’s still a very enjoyable movie, best seen in 3D at the very least and another step further ahead of DC for the Marvel Universe which lined the character and plot in nicely to the upcoming Infinity Wars. On a final note watch out for the best supporting clothing item performance since Tom Cruise’s sunglasses in Top Gun by Doctor Strange’s Cape and stay for both the mid credit and post credit sequences, they are worth it.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2016

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

Susan Sarandon stars as Marnie Minervini an aging widow who finds herself at a loose end after the death of her husband. She has been left a large sum of money but she finds that she has nothing to do with it. So she decides to follow her daughter Lori (Rose Byrne) to Los Angeles to see if she can find some purpose but unfortunately for Lori her purpose becomes that of a smothering mother as she tries to take over and tell Lori where she is going wrong. Soon Lori, her friends and anybody else who will give an inch become victims of the overbearing Marnie.

Don’t be fooled by the title of the seemingly comedic set up as, while it has plenty of funny moments, The Meddler has much more going on as we learn that Marnie and her overbearing demeanor is just her way of trying to deal with the grief she still feels from her husband’s death and the guilt she has over having all this spare cash and nothing to do with it. She is trying to find some way to be able to pay it back a little and help those less fortunate than her and this is where the smothering comes in as she only knows one way to play it.

Sarandon is absolutely superb, I know it’s a little early to be mentioning awards yet but I think there’s a possible nomination here. She’s brash, compassionate, shy and needy all at once and Sarandon plays each trait perfectly. Ably assisted by Byrne as the frustrated daughter who hates her mother being around at every turn yet finds comfort in the situation as well, J.K.Simmons as ex-co Zipper and Michael McKean as the nerdy Mark who are both showing an interest in the widow, all are very believable in the roles and even the smaller characters in the movie feel right bringing a dynamic feel to the situation.

A surprise movie for me, it was far better than I was expecting. It’s a comedy but it runs a lot deeper and director Lorene Scafaria has brought together an entertaining look at the life of a woman with no purpose who learns that there is a lot more to life when you step back, take a moment to breath and have a closer look at what is going on around you.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 Out Of 10

Inside Out is a more mature Pixar effort telling the story of Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias) through the medium of her core emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) & Fear (Bill Hader) who we see based in Rileys mind. It is their job to manage Rileys well being through her thought processes and core memories. In general it is relatively easy for Joy to keep things in check and manage Rileys mind from day to day however when Riley has to relocate to San Fransisco because her father needs a job which is on offer she begins to struggle emotionally and thus Joy begins to struggle to remain in control. When Sadness begins to change some of Rileys long term memories Joy steps in to regain control and inadvertently sets the wheels in motion where she ends up being transported along with Sadness to the deepest parts of Riley mind leaving the other, less organised, emotions to hold the fort with disastrous consequences. It is then a race against time for Joy to get back to the fore front of Riley’s mind before it is irreparably damaged.

Taking the above paragraph it hardly sounds like Pixar material but it is done so cleverly by the animators that kids will not even realise the dark subject matter around the effects of depression which is on screen and will love the comedy adventure film which it actually is. The voice acting is brilliant, the tale itself is excellent and although it’s a children’s film it doesn’t feel like one. Riley struggles in her new school, when her parents give out she storms to her room, her mind is filled with moments and objects you recognise from real life and there’s a hilarious take on Riley’s Bieber-esque imaginary boyfriend which ties it all together nicely into a plausible situation which makes the movie. The reactions of the emotions and how they are shown impacting Riley is genius, we’ve all been in those situations and have wondered afterwards why we reacted the way we did and for such a supposedly simple movie it is very complex behind the brightly coloured animations.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 Out Of 10

The Ain’t Rights are a struggling punk rock band made up of singer Tiger (Callum Turner), bassist Pat (Anton Yelchin), guitarist Sam (Alia Shawkat) and drummer Reece (Joe Cole) who are living out of their van, which they siphon petrol for and live on favours and handouts so they take a gig from a friend of a friend in middle of nowhere roadhouse type venue populated by Skinheads and some white supremacists. True to their roots they antagonise the crowd with a rendition of the Dead Kennedys Nazi Punks F*ck Off and this peaks the tension all the way up to nine. Once they get through the set they want to beat a hasty retreat and are on the way out when they come across a situation where one of the supremacists has killed a young girl and together with the girls best friend Amber (Imogen Poots) they are locked up backstage until the situation can be sorted, and of course by sorted it’s in a ‘leave no witnesses alive’ way.

With nods to John Carpenters Assault on Precinct 13 and Sam Peckinpahs Straw Dogs, Green Room pulls no punches. The action is intense and bloody, the violence levels are extreme and it’s all played out to a soundtrack of loud, thrash metal and punk. As the situation escalates so do the extremes that the band needs to go to survive and it is this build from relative innocent musicians to killers which is the best facet in the movie as it shows just how some people are more than willing, some less so but all are emotionally tested in different ways and react to varying disturbing levels.

There is not much time given to the back story of the band members or the skinhead group but standing out are both Poots who is an apathetic badass and Patrick Stewart as Darcy, the owner of the establishment and leader of the group who play against type as cold, meticulous and evil but all done without barely a raised voice so it’s makes the performance even more chilling.

On the downside the final third of the movie is a little weaker, almost as if they were struggling to find a suitable ending but while it does diffuse the tension and mayhem of the earlier part of the movie a little it does not detract from what is a very enjoyable thriller excellently done on a reasonably small budget by director Jeremy Saulnier and as a whole the film is well worth a look. If it’s any indication of what this movie is all about, I can only say that it’s the first time in a long while where I have been in the cinema and one scene in particular gained a collective and very audible wince from the audience.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 Out Of 10

Director Adam McKay steps away from the Will Ferrell comedy genre to tackle a more serious topic but you can still see from the humourous moments in this movie that he hasn’t fully let go just yet. He has taken a movie which is essentially financial experts discussing mortgages, credit defaulting and sub prime loans for two hours and turned each character into interesting individuals brought together by the prospect of making profit out of a crisis. Each man has his morals tested, most of them don’t take the high ground, and have to deal with this in their own way as the realisation creeps closer that the gamble they took was the correct one and they are going to be very rich but that the country is going belly up, the most interesting of which I found to be Steve Carells excellent, and underrated, performance as Mark Baum who becomes the films moral center point.

Given the subject matter it was never going to be the most riveting of plots so keeping some level of balance between the comedy, the seriousness of the situation and the interest of the viewer must have been difficult but McKay has done well in finding middle ground. The fourth wall breaks and exposition given by some celebrities all add to the absurdity of the tale (Margot Robbie in a babble bath? I’m not complaining, but why?) which, while true to life, sounds like it couldn’t be put together by the best of Hollywood script writers. Where the movie falls a bit short (excuse the pun) is that it seems to be unsure if it’s a slap on the wrists to the fraudsters or whether it’s a black comedy about rebels in the Wall Street set up. So while part of you is siding with these guys in hoping they succeed another part want them to fail for taking advantage of others in a desperate situation. Either way it still falls far short of the brilliant Wolf Of Wall Street but that being said if you are looking for a cleverly told (if a little sobering from time to time) story, it’s a well directed, well acted and entertaining movie.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 out of 10

 

Taken from the book written by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue Room is an unusual tale of Joy Newsome, (Brie Larson) a mother who is held captive along with her son Jack, (Jacob Tremblay) in a sparsely filled room within a shed in the back garden of the man who abducted her years before. The only interaction with the outside world that they have is through a small television, a skylight in the roof through which they can see the sky and the regular visits from the mothers captor.

The first section of the movie, while a little slow moving, does a good job of showing the bond between the characters while both director (Lenny Abrahamson) and cinematographer (Danny Cohen) do a great job in showing not only the claustrophobia of their situation but also the strength and resolve Larson shows in trying to protect her son from the real horror of their situation. When it becomes apparent to the mother that her captor is becoming more dangerous as the boy is getting older the pace of the movie really starts to pick up and the performance of Larson as the tragic figure of the abducted woman is superb as you feel her terror, anxiety and despair in equal measure. She realises that they need to break free from their prison before things get even worse, leading to a desperate plan where Larson is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice on a throw of the dice, so that they may escape.

From there the tale switches to their re-adaptation to the world and the progression of Tremblay in his adjustment, growing as a person while his mother struggles, and if anything regresses, back to almost childish ways. The movie is also hugely helped by what feels like a genuine bond between the mother and son acting team who are wholly believable as the captives and even more believable as part of the family unit trying to bring some normality back into their lives. Huge credit must go to Tremblay, who never actually seems to be acting and who unnervingly treats each new experience with the awe and wonder you would expect of a kid thrown into the world and his reaction to his return visit to his prison at the end of the movie is near perfect.

While the movie does take a while to get going and some of the content could be classed as disturbing, overall the theme is one of hope and endurance even when faced with horrible odds and it’s easy to see why this is on the shortlist for so many awards.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 out of 10

 

While this movie simplifies what was a difficult time in the movie industry it’s done through a medium of some good acting, writing and photography which gives this movie a realistic feeling of being a throwback to the era. Bryan Cranston in particular is superb as Dalton Trumbo but is ably assisted by Diane Lane as his wife who is the real rock of the family and must try to keep the house together through Trumbo’s periods of isolation while immersing himself in his writing and also through the turbulent times when he was blacklisted and the money was drying up.

Where the real issue with the movie starts is that it seems to try and introduce comedy moments for levity, which turns characters such as Hedda Hopper, played by Helen Mirren and The King Brother producing team, into comic relief. While this does work in briefly lifting the movie out of its gloomy depiction it also detracts from the seriousness of the situation which I thought the movie should have stuck with, as it was the core of the story.

While I appreciate that the movie is about Trumbo’s life in general it would have been nice to see a bit more of the broader picture of the situation with the HUAC, as it was an integral part of his career. I felt that there wasn’t a lot of time given to how the Hollywood 10 ended up in their position, or why the persecution they felt that they were facing, even outside the blacklisting, required them to make the stand in the fashion that they did through their open support for Communism during the great depression as an alternative, and in their opinion, better form of government than Capitalism at that time.

Overall the movie is an interesting and entertaining watch but, in essence, it feels a bit like a modern period piece and may be a bit heavy duty for some.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 out of 10