Benedict Cumberbatch stars as cryptanalyst Alan Turing, who decrypted German intelligence codes for the British government during World War II and this movie is based around his efforts to decode the Enigma machine developed by the Nazis for use during the war. Cumberbatch plays the arrogant but socially awkward mathematician brilliantly without ever feeling like he is playing such a similar character to Sherlock that they could be intertwined in parts. He is ably supported by Keira Knightley as Joan Clarke who bonds with Cumberbatch since both are playing central roles with hidden traits, Turing through his sexuality and Clarke as a woman in a man world where sexism is unheard of as yet.

Very reminiscent of A Beautiful Mind in parts both in terms of the plot and the feel of the movie. The flashbacks to Turings time in Boarding school, while trying to give come backstory into the development of the man, took away from the pacing of the movie and while playing up his sexuality the fact that the movie shows no real inkling of this in Turing’s adult life makes it a bit of a moot point. Also the script felt like it was trying to be a bit over clever with the use of Mark Strong as the MI6 agent Stewart Menzies throwing twist and double twist at Turing throughout the film which, with so many of the best brains in the country in the room, was a bit of a stretch to fathom that nobody else may have been on the same playing field as him.

While it should not stop you watching, or enjoying the movie, all the focus is on the attempts to break the code with very little on the private life of Turing who potentially saved millions of lives with the work his team carried out but who was also vilified for his homosexual activity leading to a jail conviction which was only avoided by agreeing to undergo chemical castration through the use of Diethylstilbestrol to cure his ‘condition’ which lead to him committing suicide in 1954. All of this was hidden as classified information for almost fifty years before he was pardoned by the Queen in 2013. It would have been nice to find out a bit more about the man as much as it focused on his legacy.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10

While all being a little bit Oirish, a superbly reserved performance by Saoirse Ronan and a cleverly well written screenplay by Nick Hornby escalate this movie into an enjoyable, if very basic, tale of emigration in the 1950’s and a young woman’s tribulations dealing with homesickness, love and the struggle of finding her place in a strange land.

Ronan is excellent as Eilis Lacey the wide eyed immigrant who starts as the quiet and reserved deer caught in the headlights. At a local dance she is approached by a local Italian man Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen) who she reluctantly (at least initially) develops a relationship with. However as Ronan blooms into a strong headstrong woman her relationship with Tony also grows and her memories of back home slowly fade until family tragedy necessitates a return visit. With her new found confidence she finds herself as a big fish in a small pond and is torn between her two, very different, lives.

The key to the movie is it’s simplicity, there are no shocking scenes and very little melodrama which in turn makes the film very believable. But it Ronan who, quite rightly, stays the focus of our attention and who dominates the screen through each frame with two small exceptions, Julie Walters as Ronans housekeeper Madge Kehoe (rumoured to be getting her own TV spin off) and young James DiGiacomo as Tony’s brother Frankie, who both steal the scenes they are in and it’s a little unfortunate that they don’t feature more centrally.

While it’s not quite up to the same standards of some of the movies is was partnered with for a best picture Oscar it is a heartfelt and entertaining story of life in the 1950’s told from both sides of the Atlantic.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10

A true life movie based on a reconnaissance mission involving a scouting party of four navy SEALS (Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch & Emile Hirsch) who are tasked with locating a Taliban leader and his deputy in Afghanistan. Director Peter Berg manages to do this cleverly by creating an almost old Western like tale of men holding off a greater force of enemies against the odds.

The early part of the movie has a Full Metal Jacket feel with images of the intense training these men went through to become a member of the SEAL team and the early exchanges in dialogue show their loyal bonding and camaraderie which serves as their mantra. Where the story really picks up is when the men are dropped into enemy territory with the build up to the pending drama you know is coming slowly creeping on screen as they are perched, barely concealed on the side of a mountain. Once the action kicks in it does so with gusto. The action is kept intense with only short pauses from time to time as the men are pursued down the side of the mountain. Injured or incapacitated alone the way each man keeps fighting, for as long as he can still pull a trigger, in heroic fashion.

With survivor Marcus Luttrell working as a consultant to director Berg one can only imagine the story told is as it was although but the many spills and tumbles down the rocky, craggy mountain looked a lot more painful than the number of broken bones that were received on screen and the depiction of the poor planning that the mission showed, missing helicopters, poor intelligence and non operational equipment which were as much, if not more of, a part of the demise of these men as any action they may have taken along the way was quite frank

As expected, from the name of the movie, it ends on a somewhat high note but one stained with sorrow as the end credits roll and it cuts to real life photos of the men who were lost. It’s a well filmed mix of action and drama mixed with a tale of friendship and brotherhood holding fast in a desperate situation which will keep your interest throughout.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10

Horror western starring Kurt Russell and another appearance by his Hateful 8 moustache as the sheriff of a town that is infiltrated by a local cannibalistic neanderthal Indian tribe. So he musters up a small posse to get back the deputy and local wife that have been kidnapped as a food source. Still a movie you’d watch? Okay, read on so.

This is essentially a classic three act film, part one is the exposition and build up, the kidnapping of some locals, the town expert advising what they are up against and thus, the plan for retrieval.

Part two is the classic John Ford style character building road trip of the four man rescue posse and while this section is a little overlong, the dialogue within the script keeps things interesting (credit to debutant director S.Craig Zahler for this) and does a great job of building camaraderie within the group, with some small pockets of action leading to an ominous build up to the finale.

You may be wondering where the horror comes in, that’s saved for part three when the rescue operation reaches its climax, and the movie hits its high note, as the savages come to the fore and the violence, blood and guts flow. There is one particularly eye watering murder (for lads anyway) taking place in the Indian lair that wouldn’t look out of place in the movie Hostel but the level of violence works as it never feels like it was too gratuitous and tied in well with showing the level of enemy the protagonists were up against.

This was one of the better horror movies I’ve seen in the last few years and if you like movies in this genre there’s plenty here to enjoy. If you’re a hardcore horror fan there’s probably not enough for you until the final half an hour or so but the whole build up is done very well, the four main leads (in particular Russell and Matthew Fox) all work to paint an excellent image of how honour and duty often left a man in perilous situations in the Old West and once the horror does kick in, it doesn’t hold back.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10

 

With a real sense of the vibe and mood of London during the swinging sixties running through the movie this is a stylishly told tale of the notorious Kray twins who controlled most of the East End gangland scene in the late 1950’s and through most of the 1960’s but while watching it I somehow felt that the movie lacked some substance and was it was not for the superb performance of Tom Hardy, particularly as the unbalanced Ronnie Kray, this would just have been another average thriller.

Maybe this is where my problems with the movie stem from because it looks like Ronnie would have been the more interesting focus but it’s Reggie, and in particular his relationship with his first wife Frances that takes the main focus of the movie and her narrative voice over is completely unnecessary turing what should be a gangland tale into some form of Beauty and The Beast love story.

Director Brian Hangeland has obviously taken some notes from Martin Scorsese movies as this sometimes feels like a homage to Goodfellas but lacks the writing or directing to match that classic and the lack of backstory or build up means that, unless you know about or have read about the Krays, there is no exposition to show why the Krays were the characters that they were. Their henchmen and gang members are mainly just faces and names and there is no character development of their mother Violet who was such an integral part of their life.

There are some bright spots with David Thewlis sometimes stealing scenes as the slimy fixer Leslie Payne and some good but all too brief Chazz Palmentieri appearances as Angelo Bruno, a go between for Meyer Lansky and the American mob (one of the best scenes in the whole movie involves this character, Ronnie Kray and a blunt announcement of his sexuality preferences)

Overall the movie is entertaining and well worth a watch but it fails to raise itself to it’s true potential levels and if you have knowledge of the Krays there’s so much more that could have been done with the material.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10

Based on the TV show of the same name (but without the brilliant synthesizer based theme tune by The Police’s Stewart Copeland) Denzel Washington stars as Robert McCall a mild mannered, DIY type store worker with a hidden past which gives him some very unique black ops style skills. Well respected by his co-workers but suffering insomnia, (presumably from whatever he done in his previous life and the death of his wife) he spends his nights reading classic books in an all night diner and it is here that he reluctantly strikes up a friendship with a young prostitute who uses the diner as a base between jobs.

When she ends up on the wrong end of a severe beating at the hand of her pimp, McCall takes offence to this and uses his former employment skills with deadly force, dealing with both the pimp and his gang, who have connections with big time Eastern European gangsters. From there it becomes a cat and mouse game between the gangsters, corrupt cops and our protagonist as he builds up the body count in the name of extreme justice.

The film teams up Washington with director Antoine Fuqua for their first outing together since Training Day and the combination works well again although not to the same levels. Washington will rarely let you down with his performances and once again he’s spot on as the man with the shady past who can switch from a killing machine to the man with a smile and a heart of gold almost instantaneously.

While it’s no Taxi Driver or even Man On Fire (despite having some similar traits to both) it’s still a very enjoyable action movie with a particular shout out to the Dead Rising like DIY tool kills in the last 20 minutes. The Equalizer 2 anybody?

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10

Yet another ‘based of a true story’ movie, which seem to be second only to the number of super hero movies at the moment, and yet another collaboration between Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and director David O.Russell so the bar is set high from the start. Unfortunately while not being a bad movie in itself this lacks the heart of Silver Linings Playbook and the style of American Hustle so it falls a bit flat in comparison.

Lawrence stars as Joy Mangano, a separated mother who struggles to juggle her chaotic home life and work life with the ever growing needs of her family and who’s life seems to be a roller coaster of ups and downs with each down dragging her further into the mire until such time as she manages to invent a ‘wonder mop’ which looks like it’s the answer to all her prayers. Of course it wouldn’t be a Russell movie unless there was a sting in the tale but, one with the promise of a final last chance at self redemption which is grasped with both hands when Joy finally decides to stop listening to the negativity and bad advise which has plagued her life and finally realises who she can turn to.

The cast here does a great job with each family member adding their own quirks which contributes to paint a picture of a completely dysfunctional household. Bradley Cooper is very underutilised but believable as a QVC executive who takes a punt on Joy’s product, De Niro is more central as her cynical father yet plays the role with almost a quiet reluctance which adds character but it’s Lawrence who takes centre stage and, despite playing an older, more mature woman in her role, gives a superbly believable performance through both the highs and lows and steals every scene she is in.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10