The Expendables 3 (2014) - 4K UHD Review

Review:

*Originally written March 10th, 2019*

For many, this entry in the Expendables franchise killed it, and to be honest, I can see why. It ditches what people loved about the series so far. The gimmick of these films are the nostalgia of throwback, violent action with the faded action heroes of the '80s and '90s. So it really is bizarre for them to release the third film in this series as a toned down, cleaner entry that sidelines the characters in favour of a younger cast of unknowns.

 Based on this, it's not hard to see why this was received so poorly and has left the franchise dormant for 5 years now (With on and off reports that The Expendables 4 is happening with an R rating again). Despite all the things they just got plain wrong, I still kinda had a good time with this. Sure, the blood, swearing and tone is mostly gone, but it's still head and shoulders above the awful original and it's hard for me to not just take this for what it is and just enjoy it.

The series continued to improve its villains with each entry and this was no different, Mel Gibson is an absolute, scenery chewing maniac here and it is wonderful to see. This came along after he disappeared for a while after his legal troubles and phone call leaks (You can listen to them of YouTube, essential stuff). It's just sorta nice to see him here having a good time and hamming it up, he's the perfect sort of addition to this series. Would love to see Danny Glover in a future entry. 

In terms of the new cast, they are mostly just brutal. A bunch of nobody actors I'd never heard of, aside from Ronda Rousey, who is just awful in everything she does. The whole MMA fighter turned actor thing rarely works, and this might be the best example of that. It's just disappointing what they do with the original Expendables, Terry Crews is quickly written out for most of the film and Jet Li is nowhere to be seen until the end, but he does at least get a surprising pairing with Arnie that is far funnier than it should be. Oh, and Harrison Ford pops up too, who seems to be having the most fun he's ever had on a film in decades. Remember when that guy used to have charisma before giving up? Which reminds me of Bruce Willis's curious absence from here and a few characters just mentioning he's a dick. What happened there?

The action does lose the violent impact of the first two and suffers from some terrible quick-cut editing in order to work around some of the more brutal kills. Why even keep Jason Statham's character as a knife specialist who stabs people brutally if you're just going to cut away? There is some cool stuff going on, the relentless wave based assault on Mel Gibson's compound at the end certainly held my attention for longer than I expected. I'm pretty sure I watched the uncut version too, which did very little to leave an impact on the violence.

Outside of a few choice action scenes, there really is very little here, but it is oddly quite fun, I can't quite put my finger on it. I should absolutely hate this, but I still enjoy it. I think I might even be oddly invested in these characters too, I hadn't seen this in about 4 years and I was strangely compelled and interested by Stallone's Barney Ross here dealing with a ghost of his past. Stallone does a merely okay job conveying emotion, but for what this is, it's fine. 

I was also pretty torn over this 4K release too. On one hand, the detail is extremely strong, pretty much reference quality consistently throughout, but the HDR is a complete mess, colours looked off and weird, blacks looked more like a dark grey than the usual deep and inky blacks I'm used too. It's just a shame, as the detail is so sharp, but someone really fucked up the colour grading of this release. 


The Expendables 3 is far from great, but it's the third in the series of B movies starring faded action stars and it lacks a bit of what made the second entry the best in the series, but it's still good fun and Mel Gibson is endlessly watchable as the villain. Hoping they sort out The Expendables 4 soon. It's been 5 years. I'm ready.

6/10 Dans

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The Equalizer (2014) - 4K UHD Review

Review:

*Originally written December 12th, 2018*

After seeing The Equalizer 2 I was worried that it might impact my opinion of the original Equalizer, a film I'd always quite liked, despite it's problems. After stupidly buying the 4K steelbook for the second film, I realised I had yet to own this on 4K, so here we are. I was pretty pleased to discover that despite it's problems, The Equalizer is still very solid, violent and stylish action film in its own right.

Antoine Fuqua is a director that gets a lot of flack in my opinion. It's true his career peaked over a decade ago with the excellent Training Day, but ever since then he's released a series of solid action films that arguably take themselves far too seriously, but they're all great fun for the most part. In fact the only film I've never liked of his is Brooklyn's Finest, but I'm far due a rewatch on that. 

Anyone, The Equalizer is the Hollywood reboot of some '80s TV show I've never watched. It's Denzel Washington as an ex-special ops, OCD, lonely and highly capable man who gets involved in taking down the Russian mob after he avenges the brutal beating of a teenage prostitute. It's basic, surface level stuff that really doesn't earn its bloated run-time.

The biggest problems here are its length and over-seriousness of what an absurd, cliched plot this is. Denzel's Robert McCall is well developed and we learn just enough about him through visual cues and the way he acts, but sometimes the dialogue just tries so hard to sound meaningful, but can just come off as a little pretentious. It's a dumb action film that desperately doesn't what to be one. Which is actually most of Antoine Fuqua's career thinking about it.

Denzel does manage to make this work though. He plays bad-ass pretty effortlessly, much like he has through his entire career and he has enough to work with to make McCall feel like a real human being despite the moments of highly stylised action. I kinda just wish the script was a little tighter and more focused and decided whether it wanted to be a dumb action film or a character piece, but instead we get a messy mix of both. 

I think that's where the tone clashes the most is within the action scenes. This wants to be a real human drama about a man sticking up for the people who can't defend themselves, but then descends into becoming a borderline superhero film when McCall's Sherlock Holmes like powers come into play. Part of me really likes the brief moments of McCall's ridiculous powers, but then I sort of hate them for blatantly ripping of the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes thing he does much better.

 When it's not ripping off Ritchie's style, Fuqua really brings some insane brutality to the action. I forgot how nasty some of this film was and it was nice to it finally uncut in the UK in the now 18 rated 4K (Which is a great transfer too. With a film this dark, the HDR really helped make the night scenes more detailed and easier to make it while retained a gorgeous dark look). 

It's also refreshing to see an action film that takes a more creative approach to its violence. The finale in the home depot store is glorious and turns McCall into a slasher film villain as he brutally wipes out a squad of mercenaries using DIY equipment and setting up a series of demented, Home Alone style traps. We also get to see the biggest douchebag in the world Dan Bilzerian get lynched by barbed wire while we slowly watch him bleed and get choked out. Beautiful.


It's a slow burn to get to the action scenes for the most part, but it's definitely worth it for the most part. I just feel there's an excellent film here if it was just a bit more focused and cut down by a good 20 minutes or so. For better or worse it's another solid action film from Antoine Fuqua and seeing Denzel slaughter faceless Russians in increasingly brutal ways is always fun to watch. I just wish the sequel was as entertaining as this one.

7/10 Dans

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Snowpiercer (2013) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 4th, 2015*

I've been wanting to watch Snowpiercer for about a year now, but sadly there has been no distribution for it in the UK. I could have spent mega money to import the Blu-ray from another country. Thankfully, I changed the DNS code on my PS4 so I could access the Netflix catalogue of America, and when I saw Snowpiercer was on it, I jumped on that in a heart-beat.

For a film I've been waiting so long to see, I'm pretty happy to say I was not disappointed. Snowpiercer is an original, tense and incredibly well filmed sci-fi film set in a future where the world has been lost to global warming and the last remnants of society are set to a big train which travels all across the world.

What surprised me straight out the gate is just how good this looked, the directors vision of this future was amazing and 98% of the film takes place within this train, which I thought would get tedious, but thankfully each area of the train was unique and as visually interesting as the last

Snowpiercer's all talented cast is led by an excellent Chris Evans, who I was so refreshed to see him in something that wasn't an overblown Marvel film, he even gets the best line of the film, which is said towards the end and it was one of the most darkly funny lines I've ever heard in a film since Marla's "I haven't been fucked like that since grade-school" line from Fight Club.

The rest of the cast fare extremely well, apart from Tilda Swinton, who for some reason, all I could think of when I heard her voice was a villager from the Fable games.  Aside from her, the cast includes Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Ed Harris and Ewan Bremner.

The action scenes are all incredible, the highlight being a fight which takes place between about 40 men all armed with axes in one carriage of the train. 

I was very surprised by the depth of the film, I did not expect the themes of class and equality to be so present here, but it made sense to the narrative as it's about the lower class fighting their way from the bottom of the train all the way to the literally and metaphorical first class of the train. All the action on the display is always interesting and Chris Evan's character got more and more unhinged as the film went on which led to a surprisingly heartfelt and twist-filled finale which I did not see coming at all.


I don't really have any complaints about Snowpiercer other than the fact it could have done with a more compelling villain and I felt it could have been a bit shorter. That aside, Snowpiercer is amazing, go see it, and I will definitely be picking up the Baby-Blu when it is finally released in the UK (Whenever that will be)

8/10 Dans

Snowpiercer still has no release in the UK

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written April 14th, 2016*

Definitely not the "political thriller" people seem to claim it is. Sure it has elements of this, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier really is just another Marvel affair, although it's one of the best efforts from them.

In Captain America's second solo outing S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised and he doesn't know who he can trust as a new villain emerges in the form of the 'Winter Soldier', a killing machine with ties to Cap's past.

I know it's widely considered so, but Winter Soldier is easily one of the best films in the MCU so far, top 3 material for sure. I wasn't a huge fan of the first Captain America film, so I was pleased at what huge step-up this one was.

The themes of national security play a big part here, although I feel it could have been explored a bit more, but whatever, this is a comic-book film, not a statement on society. The film asks what's more important, freedom or protection, but it never gives a clear answer either way, which is fine. This looks to be explored a lot more in the upcoming Civil War.

What Winter Soldier does better than any Marvel film to date is finally the first decent villain in the form of the Winter Soldier. He's a terminator sort of character, violent, scary and emotionless. He is way more intimidating than anything the MCU has had to offer before hand. It's just a shame that Robert Redford's bad guy was kinda boring and forgettable.

There are some cool nods to other Marvel films. I never even noticed at Dr. Strange got a mention in any of the other watches, but that's probably because he's still in my mind due to the recently released trailer for his solo film. Also gotta mention a fantastic cameo that was Abed from Community in a tiny role.

The action is also far more impressive and less "CGI smashy-smashy". There are some genuinely memorable action scenes like Nick Fury's SUV attack and the now iconic close quarter elevator fight. I'm the directors of this film are back for the next one, they have a talent for creative set-pieces.

I still really like Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America. Still the most likable of all the Avengers. He's modest and easy to get behind, unlike some of Marvel's other characters. Evan's brought the heart to this film, I've always liked the "man out of time" idea and he nails it pretty well, his fight at the end also feels like it has genuine weight to it, mostly thanks to the performance.

My only real complaints are it goes on a bit too long and my problem with all Marvel films. They don't look like films, they look like really expensive episodes of TV and really lack their own visual style, which is such a shame. That said, this looks a lot nicer than both the Avengers films.


The Winter Soldier is one of the most successful films in the MCU to date, filled with memorable set-pieces, Marvel's first decent villain (Outside their Netflix shows) and an engaging story.

8/10 Dans

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Edge of Tomorrow (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 13th, 2015*

Edge of Tomorrow always surprises me with each watch. I doubt many people asked "What would Groundhog Day be like as a sci-fi action film?". But amazingly, the concept works far better than it should.

It's insanely entertaining and a brisk 2 hour watch with an excellent performance from Tom Cruise who plays against type here as a coward Major who is forced into a battle and obtains the ability to repeat the day every time he dies after an encounter with an "Alpha Mimic". I was surprised at just how funny this was too, Cruise manages to balance both comedy and bad-ass action hero both effortlessly.

Cruises character builds more as the film goes on, going from an incompetent soldier who doesn't even know how to turn the safety of his weapon to a bad-ass who doesn't even have to look when killing an alien. It's almost like a video game, it even feels like a video game at times. It'd probably go as far as saying this is the best video game movie ever made, except it's not based on a video game.

The design of the mech-suits and aliens are really creative and so much better than alien designs we've had from recent films (Battle: Los Angeles). The action is inventive and fun, the opening scene that was very reminiscent of D-Day, but with aliens and soldiers in mech-suits. The whole dying and coming back to life thing could have made for some very repetitive action and scenes, but they manage to keep it interesting all the way through from beginning to end.

Emily Blunt provides the highlight of the film as the 'Full Metal Bitch' a hardened soldier who helps Cruise as she went through what he did at some point. She manages to outshine Cruise at points, making for a compelling co-lead, delivering some great action too.


The only thing that lets Edge of Tomorrow down is its ending, which in all honesty doesn't make much sense. That aside, It is one of the best and most enjoyable blockbusters of recent years. A sequel has also been announced, but I'm not entirely sure what the point would be?

9/10 Dans

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Monsters: Dark Continent (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 16th, 2016*

"The real monsters are the ones who made this"

The first Monsters was a small and touching sci-fi drama that managed to do a lot with it's extremely low budget. This cash-in sequel on the other hand, does nothing. Nothing that made the first one so great is on display here, the acting is brutal, the action is poorly filmed and the story delves into dull war cliches. I don't even know why this was made as a sequel? Apart from the fact the same aliens are in it, there is nothing that connects to the first.

Gareth Edwards was obviously busy doing the Godzilla reboot when they made this, although I'm not sure if he could have saved this terrible screenplay. Tom Green (Not that one) takes over here and this one takes the action to the Middle East and features soldiers. 

The soldiers were all obnoxious douche bags. Warning signs flew at me very early on during a scene where the soldiers were fucking cheap whores. It just rubbed me the wrong way. All the performances are brutal and unbearable.

There wasn't even any decent action. It was all shakey-cam bullshit and poorly filmed. It looked really cheap and ugly too, which is no excuse considering the first had an even lower budget. Aside from the creatures which are sparsely used (The only thing similar to the first), nothing else looked good. The visual style of this film made me want to fucking vomit.


I don't have any reason to recommend Monsters: Dark Continent, it really was cheap garbage that never should have seen the light of day. Everyone involved in this cash-in should be ashamed.

2/10 Dans

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Nightcrawler (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written February 19th, 2016*

"American Psycho"

Nightcrawler is one of those films that prove the Oscars are a poor joke. The fact Jake Gyllenhaal didn't get a best actor nomination is a laughable action that further takes away from their credibility. But they made up for it by nominating Eddie Redmayne for his Stephen Hawking performance, that was nothing more than blatant Oscar bait. Honestly, fuck the Oscars.

Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, a deeply disturbed man, who seems to live on odd jobs. He quickly finds a career path when he drives past a car crash and sees a camera crew filming it and decides that's what he wants to do.

What an excellent piece of work this was from first time director, Dan Gilroy, who gives the audience a dark, twisted and satirical take on the American Dream. On top of this, he creates a gorgeous film that highlights the nightlife of Los Angeles in a how I haven't seen since 2011's Drive. On top of this, we get a score from James Newton Howard, which is just beautiful, especially the opening and closing tracks.

The compelling narrative showcases the rise of Lou's career, which gets more and more twisted and insane till you get to a point where he can't become more of a monster. He subverts any expectation where you believe that he can't do anything worse than he does previously. It keeps his character insanely unpredictable and unnerving, you really have no idea what this guy is capable of.

It's one of those films that had so much I loved about it, but none if it comes close to Gyllenhaal's performance. He has embodied a new sociopath for the ages. His creepy smile, intelligence and unpredictability is terrifying. Lou Bloom has quickly become one of my favorite characters of all time, with his calculated actions and deplorable acts, but still he's somehow likable and you kinda root for him, he's smart, ambitious and knows how to get what he wants. The ending is utterly twisted, yet still victorious for the character. I have a soft spot for films where the bad guy wins. We could all learn a little from Lou Bloom.

It has a lot to say about the media too. The characters are all essentially vultures, profiting off the death and misery from others, and the more graphic the footage, the better the ratings. It was a nice, satirical jab at crime journalism, and probably takes pot shots at the job by showing the best at it is a completely heartless sociopath.


Nightcrawler is a unique, original and gorgeous piece of film making from a first time director, boosted by one of the best performances of all time from Jake Gyllenhaal.

10/10 Dans

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Inherent Vice (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written January 8th, 2016*

"Incoherent Vice"

I was really hoping Inherent Vice would grow on me with this watch, I didn't enjoy it the first time round and sadly I probably liked it even less on a rewatch. I honestly believe that 'Incoherent Vice' would be a more apt title.

The two and a half hour detective comedy stars Joaquin Phoenix as private detective 'Doc' in 1970's LA investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. It's a big shame I didn't like this too. I love private detective films, especially ones set it in the '70s.

It's a frustrating watch to say the least. It's a film I want to love but just can't. Everyone involved is just great and it gives you stylish and real feeling of the '70s, it's just a shame that the story is so incoherent. I honestly had no idea what was going on most of the time, which would have been fine had the film had other things for me to focus on. Like Filth for example, the story takes a backseat for a character focused story, but here I didn't connect with Phoenix's 'Doc' at all. 

Phoenix did give an excellent performance though, capturing that spaced out feeling and also delivering some funny scenes. There is a huge cast of well known actors with memorable cameos. So the cast isn't the problem here.

The biggest problem I found was the length. At 2 and a half hours of unintelligible story-telling it was just unbearable, I honestly checked the time and was shocked to find out it had only been 20 minutes, I was so close to turning it off a few times, but I stuck with it. Goddamn you, Dan, you could have turned it off and watched something you would have enjoyed.

I am really interested to see if the book the film is based on is as frustrating as the film. I read this is quite faithful, so I don't think I'm ready for a read of this quite just yet....


Inherent Vice might have captured that hazy, drug-fuelled feeling of '70s L.A., but it was sadly far to abstract for me to enjoy with its unbearably long running time, despite some great performances

3/10 Dans

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Taken 3 (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written October 11th, 2015*

"Tak3n the piss"

I saw the Baby-blu steelbook in HMV for £8, so I just couldn't resist. There was a tiny part of my head just hoping, hoping that the "Extended Harder Cut" might be a bit better, but sadly and obviously that wasn't the case. I saw it for the first time in cinema back in January hungover after a less than great night out, so maybe I wasn't in the best condition to judge.

Anyway, onto the actual review of 'Taken 3', after rewatching Mad Max: Fury Road, a truly masterful piece of art, it only made me hate this piece of shit even more. A badly filmed, written and acted lazy piece of shit that concludes (hopefully) this series that never should have stepped beyond the first film. While the second film felt like a borderline spoof of the first one at times, this completely blows that out of the water.

Taken 3 is a complete mess through and through, it really is laughable. Liam Neeson returns as the ex CIA agent Bryan Mills and fuck me does he look bored, you can tell he's here for the paycheck. Maggie Grace is back as the daughter Kim now too, still in her 30's playing a 20 year old college girl.

This time it pits Bryan Mills against the Russian Mob and the police after he is framed for the murder of his wife. So yeah, it's a pretty much just a shit version of The Fugitive. The ONLY merit I give this film is that it didn't recycle the story of the first 2 films, it at least tries to do something different.

The biggest mistake Taken 3 makes is bringing back the biggest hack of a director that Hollywood has to offer... Olivier Megaton, apart from having a name that sounds like a Transformer, there is nothing cool about this guy. He cannot film action for shit, I've seen student projects with better fluidity and editing than this shit. It is an horrific mess, there must be about 5 cuts a second with every action scene, leaving nothing to linger apart from the viewers thoughts about what the fuck just happened.

Forrest Whitaker pops up here in a completely forgettable role as the officer in charge of bringing Mills in. The conclusion he comes into at the end is one the most insane and demented things I have ever seen on film, I still couldn't believe it. I'll give you one hint.... bagels.

Taken 3 is littered with insanely demented moments that just prove that no one gave a shit when making this garbage. While evading the police to prove his "innocence", he causes more death and destruction than I thought possible from a character who is meant to be the "Hero". Seriously, watch the high-way scene, do not tell me that no cops or civilians were no killed in that scene. There was also another strange scene where he sneaks laxatives into his pregnant daughter's drink so he could meet her in her college bathroom. Weird, demented and creepy. In the final battle Bryan fights the main bad guy while he's in his underwear, how on Earth was anyone meant to take that seriously? What the hell were the creative minds behind this film thinking?

Oh, the "Extended Harder Cut" doesn't make things any better. There's 12 more minutes added here, none of which I knew what was new. There was at least some extra blood splatter in the kills that definitely weren't there before, which would have been cool if the action wasn't so goddamn poorly filmed. Some uses of "fuck" are thrown in here and there too, which really had no impact.

I could go on about this abortion for even longer, but I don't wanna talk about it anymore. I've watched it, reviewed it and shelved it in my collection, hopefully never to be watched again.


So yeah, Taken 3 is one of the worst action films of recent years thanks to its boring acting, disgustingly filmed action, poor script and just general laziness that is a far cry from the blast the first film was. Please Jesus, never let there be a Taken 4.

2/10 Dans

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Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 9th, 2017*

"Manners maketh a man"

Kingsman: The Secret Service is the most enjoyable film that is likely to come out this year. It's Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class and the best of James Bond thrown into a blender and the results are one of the best entries in the spy genre in a long damn time.

After a botched mission ends with one of the 'Kingsman' agents dying, Colin Firth feels guilty and gives the widow of the agent a one time favour which is used after her son Eggsy is all grown up and a low level hoodlum. The favour is used to get Eggsy out of prison and Colin Firth's Harry hart sees potential in Eggsy to be a Kingsman agent, so he enters him in the recruitment programme as there is an open vacancy because Valentine (Samuel L Jackson) murders one of their agents.

Samuel L Jackson's villain Valentine is the best Bond villain that never was, a billionaire philanthropist with plans to wipe out most of the human race and start the world a-new as he sees humanity as a cancer to the Earth, destroying it with pollution. He's not wrong.

The center of the story is the "street meets the elite" dynamic of Eggsy trying to fit in with the upper class gentlemen who are unbelievably smug while he does his training. Newcomer Taron  Egerton is excellent as the lead and provides a surprising heart for the film.

But the real person who steals the show is Colin Firth in a role like nothing he's done before. He plays it suave and insanely bad-ass. I'd never thought that Colin Firth would star in not only the action scene of the year but one of the best action scenes ever with the infamous 'Church Scene', Which displays Firth's amazing physical abilities and Matthew Vaughn's incredibly vivid and kinetic directing that packs a punch that action films are sadly lacking today. Seriously, the Church Scene is one of the craziest things you'll ever see in a film. I read there is a 7-minute cut of it out there somewhere too, so I hope that sees the light of day eventually. Sadly, the Kick-Ass deleted scenes never surfaced, so I highly doubt it.

The best way to describe Kingsman is what Kick-Ass did to superhero films, this did to the James Bond/Spy genre. It carries the heart and shocking violence of Kick-Ass, but has the intrigue and self-awareness to not be a spoof, but rather a homage to the genres, a perfect balance, which is what Kick-Ass 2 sadly lacked. Thankfully the directing and writing team of Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman prove to be a winning combination again. I very much hope they are both back for the recently announced 'Kingsman 2', because I really don't want another Kick-Ass 2 on my hands.


So yeah, Kingsman: The Secret Service is likely to be the most fun you'll have with a film all year. So buy the Blu-ray, which is out now.

10/10 Dans

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Interstellar (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written July 18th, 2017*

"Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here"

Interstellar is a film I've been saying repeatedly since 2014 that "I really need to rewatch Insterstellar", well I finally did it and I loved it even more. My biggest shame about Interstellar is that I sadly missed it in theaters, which would have been an experience. That said, even at home, it's a rich, emotional and beautiful film that kept me involved through its near 3 hour run time.

My only problem with Interstellar when I first watched it, is the how lost I was in the last act of the film. Things got confusing and complicated, which it still was, but a little less this time, so it didn't bother me overall. Despite my lack of entirely knowing what was going on, it was still an incredible experience.

All the minor problems are overcome with the emotional highs the film reaches. I have my problems with Nolan's previous work. Don't get me wrong. I love Inception, but I did find it a bit cold and filled with too much exposition. Nolan seems to have fixed that here with a film that puts characters first and lets its story flow without having to explain too much every second of the way.

The emotional highs are insane. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) having to leave his family in the first act is utterly devestating thanks to the film taking the time to build up the relationship between him and his daughter. The messages on his space voyage are also extremely effective thanks to McConaughey's fantastic performance.

Even on top of the strong story and character material, Interstellar is a technical masterpiece filled to the brim with cool, original and creative sci-fi ideas. This is easily the best looking of Nolan's work. It is a beautiful film with a crazy amount of unforgettable images. The aspect ratio thing was a little distracting, but it didn't happen too much. It was nowhere near as obnoxious as say Michael Bay's Transformers: The Last Knight.

The sound design is insane too, as is Hans Zimmer's incredibly rich organ filled score. I rarely like to listen to a film as loud as possible, but holy shit, the sound in this film needs it, probably the main reason I wanted to see this in cinemas.

I feel Interstellar is a film that will only get richer with every watch. There is so much detail that can't be seen with one watch. I forgot how much relevance the end had to minor things happening in the beginning. I can't wait to see it for again, because Interstellar is a an ambitious, beautiful and emotional masterpiece from Christopher Nolan.

10/10 Dans

Interstellar is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written June 30th, 2017*

"Dead franchise on arrival" It's the best I had in my head.....

Well, I'm finally at the end of my series of Spider-Man reviews (Thank god) before the next reboot 'Homecoming' comes out in the week. It's been a long and interesting journey, with mostly lows, but a couple of high, it's just a shame that the series ends on this low note of shit.

Did Sony learn NOTHING from the failure of Spider-Man 3? Like, seriously? The reason Spider-Man 3 failed was because of too many villains, far too much plot and it was way too long. So they did it again. Are they fucking retarded? I'd honestly like to know if the people behind this mess had IQ's in the double digits, because I seriously doubt it.

There are some moments of good in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Ah, how I missed the simplicity of numbered sequels), but they are undercut by such cancerous awfulness. Everything feels off and is extremely underdeveloped. Electro and Rhino should have been scrapped right off the bat and this should have purely been about Peter Parker and Harry Osbourne. Eveything else was unnecessary filler.

It doesn't help by the lack of effort put in by the actors. Jamie Foxx is atrocious, hamming it up to 11, which could have been fun, but comes off as painful. The design is ugly and looks fake as hell. All his scenes are accompanied by this lame and cringy dubstep score. Dear god, I forgot how bad that shit was. Paul Giamatti amounted to 3 minutes of screentime, all his scenes were in the trailers. He is equally as embarassing to watch, complete with a hokey Russian accent. It's a shame to see such accomplished actors reduce themselves to this.

Dane DeHaan fares a bit better than the rest as Harry Osbourne/Green Goblin. He's pretty good at the problem child thing by now (He was much better in The Place Beyond the Pines though). His character falls apart once he becomes Green Goblin and becomes a fuck ugly mix of CGI and poor make-up. They at least attempt to build up Harry and Peter's relationship with a cringy montage.

Being an action-heavy superhero film, I am failing to recall any memorable action. Nothing was unique or stood out, The only thing my brain can recall is how ugly and cartoony the CGI looked in a lot of the scenes. I'd go as far as saying there's not even anything here as good as the school fight in the last film.

The positives I'd say out of this mess are Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone once again show genuine chemistry. Garfield also played Peter Parker as much less mentally challenged this time, which was good. I also much preferred the costume here than in the first one, it reminded me a lot more of Raimi's Spider-Man 2 costume.

They also take a huge risk by actually killing the love-interest at the end of the film in a surprisingly brutal way (Surprising if you haven't read the comics. Which I haven't). It was a ballsy move that would have been much more appreciated in a film that wasn't such a trainwreck. I would like to see more superhero films murdering lead characters and not bringing them back. Looking at you Batman v Superman.

Another big mistake this film makes is its obsession of trying expand its world rather than tell an interesting story. It introduces a retarded amount of subplots that were never answered or even asked for. Wanna know the mystery behind Parker's parents? Well... you're never gonna get that answer. 

Hell, we still never got the Uncle Ben stuff resolved from the last film. Don't get me started on all the Oscorp shit. Fuck me.... There was one scene that was just dying to be a launching pad for spin-off films, but the franchise died and is now shared with Marvel. So we'll see what happens with that.

That's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a complete mess, overstuffed, long, boring and forgettable, but never as offensive as the "Emo" scenes from Spider-Man 3, still painfull though. Your move, Disney, Save Spider-Man.

4/10 Dans

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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John Wick (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written October 29th, 2015*

Good films by Keanu Reeves are a rare thing, amazing films are even rarer. John Wick is luckily one of those rare Keanu Reeves films where everything just mashes together perfectly, it is a blast in every way. Violent, kinetic and just 95 minutes of pure joy.

Keanu Reeves plays the titular John Wick, a retired whose wife had just recently died and as a last gift, he is given a dog to look after to fill some of that void his wife left. Shortly his prized car is stolen and his dog his killed, leaving way for a sympathy of revenge.

I pretty much loved everything about John Wick, it is everything an action film should be. The action is gorgeously shot and choreographed, all the death is lingered on and mostly all practical, no dodgy CGI or annoying as shit shakey-cam. Olivier Megaton really needs to a take a note or two from this film. Just looked and saw that this was from a first time director too. Wow, this guy has seriously talent.

John Wick being neon lit

Nearly every set-piece was strong and memorable, the story takes about 20 minutes to kick in, but from then on it is just jumping from action scene to action scene. The best of the bunch has to easily be the club scene, which is just beautiful, filled with neon lights and topped with a pulsating and pumping score. It was just a shame that the finale is really lacking and lackluster compared to the insanely high standard that every other action scene that came before it.

The cast are all great, so many memorable faces here like Willem Dafoe, John Leguizamo, Ian McShane, Adrianne Palicki and the always excellent Lance Riddick. Each of these characters served their purpose and the surviving ones have the potential to return to the universe for the announced 'John Wick 2' which is set for next year.

Keanu Reeves as John Wick

Of course then there is the lead, John Wick himself, Keanu Reeves, was he any good, or does he give another wooden and emotionless performance? Thankfully, Reeves was great, while being a cold-blooded and bad-ass killer, he still manages to emote and bring some heart to the role, especially during the early moments when he is grieving over his wife. It was so nice to see Reeves be good again, it's great to have him back too, I just hope this a new beginning for him and he doesn't go back to doing films like The Day the Earth Stood Still.....

John Wick is everything an action film fan could want, filled with so many amazing action scenes, gun-fu, gorgeous settings and one of the best performances of Keanu Reeves' career.

9/10 Dans

John Wick is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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