Gangster Squad

   Set in 1949 Los Angeles, Gangster Squad is a true story about a selection of cops handpicked by Sergeant John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) on the orders of Chief Parker (Nick Nolte) to take down the ruthless mob leader Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn).

   O'Mara is a tough honest police officer who is struggling to put the war behind him, and the opportunity to take down Mickey Cohen by any means possible fits well into his repartee. There's plenty of blood and bullets to satisfy the viewers who love their violence and action in films. Everyone excels in their roles, especially Sean Penn who appears to slip seamlessly into the role of the brutal mob boss. 

   Although on first thought there appears to be little wrong with Gangster Squad, there is also nothing particularly special about it either. The story is slightly predictable and the unnecessarily corny ending meant I didn't feel fully satisfied once the credits started rolling. At least the American flag didn't make an appearance near the end...

For fans of gangster movies, cool fighting scenes and true stories.

Stars ***

Jack Reacher

   Jack Reacher has got 2013 off with a good start, although it was actually released on Boxing Day, so technically it's last year's film...Nevertheless, it is a very good film, though it doesn't challenge my top 10 films of 2012 and I don't believe it will challenge the best of this year either.
   Tom Cruise is as enjoyable as ever to watch and he has good chemistry with Rosamund Pike, who plays Helen, the lawyer who takes on the seemingly impossible task of helping Barr (Joseph Sikora) avoid the death penalty.
   Jack Reacher is based on a series of books by Lee Child, and though Tom Cruise does a great job, Jack Reacher is supposed to be about six foot five and Cruise scrapes in at a modest five foot seven. However, I think only the hardiest of Jack Reacher fans will have a problem with this.
   The car chases are exciting and the fight scenes have a comical edge to them as Reacher has little trouble beating his enemies senseless. The film begins to trail off during the second half and although the final fight sequence is well shot, humorous, exciting, tense and intriguing, I can't help but feel annoyed that Reacher decides to put his gun down and fight his main enemy with bare hands. He could at least have his gun knocked out of his grasp instead of voluntarily laying down his weapon to endure a punch up.

For fans of Tom Cruise, Lee Child and humorous action scenes.

Stars ***

The Best and Worst of 2012

Top 10 films

1. Seven Psychopaths
       I was surprised this was my best film of the year. I thought it was going to be good, but never expected to be blown away by the great story, top acting performances, writing and humour.

2. Skyfall
       One of the best Bonds of all time and easily Daniel Craig's best Bond film. I enjoyed this so much I had to see it twice. It was also a great goodbye to the legendary Judi Dench as M.

3. Moonrise Kingdom
       An all star cast in this unusually brilliant film. There was great acting from the children and the film was hilarious from the off. A film that had the imagination, originality and great writing to be up there with the best of the year.

4. The Dark Knight Rises
       A great end to a fantastic Batman trilogy. Probably not as good as The Dark Knight, but still a brilliant film, with great music and an ending to die for.

5. Looper
       Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt perform at their very best in an action packed futuristic thriller filled with twist, turns and some of the best action scenes of 2012.

6. The Descendant
       A well written and solid film with nothing really wrong with it. Funny, emotional and enjoyable.

7. The Artist
       A favourite for the critics and it raked in the Oscars. An original and well made film for the 21st century.

8. Lawless
       A great film based on a true story, filled with action, gore and well placed comedy.

9. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
       A wonderfully written film with a lot of humour and great acting from some of British acting's ageing elite.

10. Killing Them Softly
       Superb acting from Brad Pitt and Richard Jenkins in a cool and dark thriller.


Best Performances

Judi Dench - Skyfall/The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Javier Bardem - Skyfall
Matthew McConaughey - Killer Joe
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Brad Pitt - Killing Them Softly
Bruce Willis - Looper/Moonrise Kingdom



Worst films

1. War Horse
      A ridiculous farce, where a young man loves a horse more than his friends and family.

2. Dark Shadows
      Bitterly disappointing and curiously boring. Even Johnny Depp struggled through this one.

3. Here Comes The Boom
     Generic with not one original idea to be found in this unimaginative attempt at a story.

4. Expendables 2
     Unsurprisingly one of the poorest films of 2012, with laughably poor acting and an obvious storyline.

5. Life Of Pi
     Magnificent special effects, but corny, critically overrated and lacking characters to connect to.

Worst Performances


Sylvester Stallone - Expendables 2
Rebecca Hall - Lay The Favourite
Maggie Grace - Taken 2

Seven Psychopaths

   Seven Psychopaths looked awesome from the trailer and the film was even better! The first five minutes are excellent with Michael Pitt and Michael Stuhlbarg (both from Boardwalk Empire) in a hilarious and well acted scene as two mobsters waiting to do a hit.
   Sometimes too many well known actors in one film can overwhelm the story, however, this isn't the case here. Christopher Walken is at his comical best, along with Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell and the excellent Woody Harrelson. There are also some great cameos and smaller roles from Tom Waits, Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace).
   Marty (Colin Farrell) a struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes involved in the criminal underworld after his best friend and professional dog snatcher Billy (Sam Rockwell)  kidnaps a mob boss' much loved dog.   
   The story has a feeling of originality to it and follows an interesting concept, that being a psycho doesn't necessarily mean you have to be some sort of murdering maniac, though it does help.
   There's plenty of drama and emotion that mixes in perfectly with the laugh out loud humour. The psychopath stories told throughout by different characters add an extra layer to the story that puts Seven Psychopaths up there as one of the best films of the year.

For fans of huge laughs, great storytelling and psychopaths.

Stars *****

Cockneys vs Zombies

  There has been many a zombie film over the past decade and there appears to be no end to the spin off ideas spawning from the generic zombie apocalypse movie. As the title states, the film is literally cockneys in the east end of London dealing with a virus outbreak, which of course turns people into flesh eating corpses.
  Ray Macguire, played by Alan Ford is in an old people's home which has been put up for sale and he ponders heading up north, even though he has never left London. His grandsons Terry and Andy don't want him to leave, so they come up with a plan to save the care home by robbing a bank, with the help of a few others. Unfortunately for them, a zombie outbreak makes an easy escape impossible.
   Alan Ford is the classic cockney, gangster, geezer and all round hard man, which is always enjoyable to watch. Richard Briers was also very good, his very funny first scene sees him trying to out hobble the slow moving zombies on his zimmer frame. There's a lot of comedy throughout, especially with the seemingly quite harmless slow moving zombies, which give the characters enough time to crack a joke before shooting them.
   Cockney vs Zombies is an enjoyable zombie flick, with enough humour, gore and zombie action to keep you entertained throughout. I wouldn't say it was the best zombie film there's been, but it's an enjoyable addition to the ever growing zombie franchise.

For fans of zombies, gore and cockney rhyming slang.

Stars ***

Skyfall

   I was very much looking forward to the new Bond film, Skyfall and it did not disappoint! Though Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were both very good films, they weren't like proper Bonds. I grew up with Pierce Brosnan and he has always been my favourite. However, with Skyfall there is a definite shift back towards the classic Bond style.
   The film is long, but it didn't feel too long, nor slow. The opening sequence was exciting, well shot and edge of the seat action. I was so involved in the action that I totally forgot about the classic Bond credits and although it's not Adele best song, I still think its a well made Bond song and Adele was a good choice.
   Daniel Craig played his best role so far and Judi Dench excelled as usual in her seventh film as M. It was good to see Q return, this time as the much younger Ben Whishaw, while Javier Bardem was an awesome villain bringing a lot of humour, tension and great acting to his scenes. The acting overall is top notch, the action scenes are exciting and varied and the main actors were supported immensely well by Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Albert Finney.
   Skyfall is a great Bond story and there's enough twists, turns and excitement to keep you entertained for the whole 2 and a half hours. Though I do love the exotic Bond locations, it was a nice change that much of the action took place in London and Scotland. Skyfall is a big step up from the last two Bond films and a great way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of James Bond. I was also very pleased with the film being released in Britain before the US, which is how it should be with James Bond . I am now very much looking forward to the future installments.

For fans of James Bond and bloody good films.

Stars ****

The Cold Light of Day

I knew that it was Henry Cavill who was the main character, but I always look forward to a film starring Bruce Willis. However, his part was much smaller than I thought it was, which was quite a surprise.
Released earlier this year, it was a film I missed at the cinema. The plot is basic, Cavill's character has his family taken hostage and he has to try and save them in time...I was going to write more about the plot, but I realised I wrapped it up in one sentence!
The scenery is good, being set in Spain, so a lot of great European architecture. I have to give credit to an american film that isn't set in New York, actually I don't even think it was even mentioned! A rare occurrence for Hollywood.
Though the story is a basic one and I had no worries that the main character's were going to die, I did actually enjoy it to some extent. Cavill's acting was nothing to write home about, but he was solid. Sigourney Weaver was enjoyable throughout. She's a highly trained and experienced government agent, so quite rightly she would get rather pissed at a civilian like Cavill who she couldn't dispose of. But The Cold Light of Day does what so many action films do, which is making a normal untrained person with no fighting skills take down highly trained bad guys.
The Cold Light of Day is a decent action film. It has all the basic viewer needs to enjoy a generic action flick and there's even a random cameo from Colm Meaney. But this is not necessarily one to go rushing out to watch.

For fans of action films, Bruce Willis and sticking up for the little guy.

Stars **

Taken 2

As I only mildly enjoyed the first outing I wasn't expecting to be blown away by the sequel...and I wasn't...Liam Neeson's latest action films from the Taken's to Unknown have been so similar I can't actually remember which is which.
The storyline created for this sequel is a realistic notion that there are actually consequences to killing a lot of bad guys! They all have family and friends who won't be best pleased about their loved ones being killed, even if they did kidnap someones daughter. The premise of the story means there could be another half a dozen in this series, as brothers, cousins- 2nd, 3rd and 4th removed seek revenge.
Neeson plays his usual hard and calculated role as hero, which I found difficult not to enjoy and join in with his cool fighting moves. However, Maggie Grace, who takes up the role of his daughter, Kim, is annoying from the off. Her irritating characteristics which I despised from the first film were back with a vengeance  while her weak acting only aggravated me more.
The film was mildly enjoyable, very much like the first. But the plot was all too obvious, there was nothing original to the script and the only reason the film stayed afloat was because Neeson carried it.


For fans of Liam Neeson and mindless action films this is only worthwhile if you have nothing better to see.

Stars **

Dredd 3D

Dredd had been released for nearly a month before I eventually managed to get round to see it. I hadn't seen the original outing starring Stallone back in the 90's, but I'm sure this remake was a much better installment.
Judge Dredd is a hardened futuristic cop that dispenses judgement by brutally shooting all bad guys that cross his path.

It deserves the 18 certificate, which is a hard prize to claim in the present day film industry, with audiences being harder to shock. However, Dredd 3D manages this with the ultimate slow motion action scenes, as we get to see bad guys gruesomely taking bullets to all parts of the anatomy.
The story is basic, but effective; bad guy (or in this case, bad girl Ma-Ma) does one bad deed too many, which brings Judge Dredd and new recruit Anderson into the vicinity.  A lot of bad guys get killed and Ma-Ma looks to have the upper hand, until Dredd starts to kick ass!

Usually I'm not a fan of 3D, as it's never really improved my viewing experience, but rather hindered it. I found films such as Alice in Wonderland were blurry with the 3D glasses on as well as off. However, after the initial failure with the first action scene where the 3D failed to work at all, which was clearly the fault with the cinema rather than the film's 3D capability, I almost enjoyed the 3D aspects, the ultimate slow motion mimicking Ma-Ma's new altering reality slo-mo drug.

For Fans of action, violence and a bad ass hero, this is a must see.

Stars  ***