Bernie

   In my opinion Jack Black  has struggled in recent years to star in anything even half decent. Films such as Year One and Gulliver's Travels were big disappointments, so I almost passed up on Bernie.                              
   However, that would have been a mistake, as Bernie is a very good film based on a true story about an assistant funeral director who strikes up a companionship with a mean wealthy widow, played by Shirley MacLaine, in the small town of Carthage, Texas. Her meanness towards him leads towards her death by his hands and he goes to great lengths to cover up her death. 
   Jack Black is excellent as the incredibly friendly and slightly camp Bernie and there are other good roles from the likes of Matthew McConaughey. Bernie is funny, intriguing and actually quite a sad film. It is good to see Jack Black still has the ability to act and pick films with substance.

For fans of Jack Black, true stories and slightly camp expressions.

Stars ****

Films of February - Part 1

Hyde Park on Hudson ***

Bill Murray puts in an enjoyable performance of the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in this story of when The King and Queen of England visited the President at Hyde Park. However, unlike Daniel Day Lewis' magnificent performance of another President, Lincoln, all I saw with Bill Murray's performance was Bill Murray...

This is a predominantly lighthearted film which unveils a true story that had been unknown for decades until Daisy's (Laura Linney) secret letters were found after her death.


Flight ****

Denzel Washington deserves his Best Actor nomination in this powerful performance of an alcoholic pilot, who comes under heavy fire when alcohol is found in his system after the plane he is piloting crashes. Whip Whitaker (Washington) is a character you can't help but like, even though he's a selfish alcoholic in denial. Flight is one of the best films of the month.



Zero Dark Thirty ***

It was always going to be intriguing to see how Zero Dark Thirty played out, especially with Bin Laden being killed in real life. So this had to be the ending for the film but without making it some sort of God bless America situation. Although this is a good film, well acted, tense and a true story based on real events, there's a annoying sense of generic familiarity to it.

Jessica Chastain plays the hardened female character who is career obsessed and has no personal life, while also not being afraid to swear at and argue with people in authority to her. This has been done a thousand times and in my opinion was an error by the director.



I Give it a Year ***

It was nice to go see a romantic comedy that was a bit different from the usual tripe. Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) get married after 7 months and their marriage is a struggle as they begin to realise that they are not meant to be together. As the viewer you are actually hoping for the couple not to end up together, which made it different. There was a lot of humour too and this is a very good Couple's comedy.

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

God Bless America

  God Bless America is a great concoction of truth and exaggeration. Frank (Joel Murray) is divorced, terminally ill and loses his job. After seeing endless rubbish on TV he finally has enough and goes on a killing spree with the unlikely accomplice of 16 year old Roxy (Tara Lynne Barr).
   Frank is finally pushed over the edge by all the reality shows and adverts on TV. Sadly many of these reality shows do exist in real life, such as 'My Super Sweet Sixteen' where you see horrid rich and spoilt teenagers plan a ridiculously huge party. Then there is the barrage of X Factor type shows, The Kardashians, Cribs...the list is endless. A spoilt teenager is Frank's first victim and it is Roxy who makes him realise that he should keep on killing people who "deserve to die" rather than killing himself.
   This is predominantly a comedy, but it also shows one of the issues in western society as a whole. Talentless people are worshipped and the wrong ideals are being set for the next generation. Why go to university to get a well paid job when you can just leak a sex tape and become rich overnight?
   Obviously I am not saying that I agree with murdering these people just because they're annoying and have no talent or self respect...maybe just a punch to the face would suffice. God Bless America is a well made humorous look at the ever growing problem of reality TV and fame.

For fans of annoying people getting killed, films that make a good point and comical killings.

Stars ****

Photo from www.guardian.co.uk

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 *****

Gambit

   After a few hard hitting films, Colin Firth has taken a turn towards the comedic side. Gambit is about Harry Deane (Colin Firth) an art curator who tries to pull a fast one on his much hated boss Lionel Shahbandar (Alan Rickman) by trying to sell him a fake Monet. However, Deane's clumsiness and the unpredictability of a Texan rodeo clown called PJ Puznowski (Cameron Diaz), means it is far from plain sailing.
   There's plenty of comedy, coming from all corners of the cast, the majority centreing around the slapstick variety. The hotel scene in which trouser-less Harry Deane gets in a muddle as he stumbles from one room to the next, is a great sequence of hilarity. It is also the first time I have laughed at a fart joke in quite some time.
   This is written by the very talented Coen brothers and though it is a film with a lot of laughs, Colin Firth and Alan Rickman are stereotypically English. Rickman is the rich cynical upper class bastard and Firth is the doddery, foolish yet charming Englishman. It feels very much like an American view on us Brits.
   Nevertheless, Gambit is an enjoyable film that has the laughs, twists and characters to connect with and I recommend it as a film with which you can sit back, relax and enjoy.

For fans of twists, humour and Britishness.

Stars ***

Here Comes The Boom

   Scott Voss (Kevin James) is a school teacher who has let go of his principles, due to his loss of faith in the school system. That is until the music teacher Marty (Henry Winkler) is on the verge of losing his job because of school cuts. Voss accidentally talks himself into being the guy who'll raise the funds to keep the music programme going. When he watches a UFC bout and finds out that there's money to be made from losing as well as winning, Voss sees an opportunity.
   James specialises in the slapstick and self deprecating humour. The inevitable happens and he improves, with the help of a Dutch ex fighter Niko (Bas Rutten) who is trying to get his American citizenship, which Voss helps him to achieve.
   *Spoiler Alert!* Voss makes it into the UFC and fights the tough and scary Ken Dietrich, played by the MMA fighter Krzysztof Soszynski. There would be no way in hell that Voss would win and in the first two rounds Voss gets a thrashing of the highest level. Marty makes a good speech to Voss making him realise that he doesn't have to win the match. However, his speech was unnecessary as Voss pulls off an impossible victory.
   The last scene of the film was embarrassingly funny, as Niko and many others receive their American citizenship. Everyone floods out into the land of the US of A, there's cheering and happiness, an American flag stands proudly aloft and a Latino voice shouts 'Viva America!'. The unnecessary patriotism made me want to discreetly vomit behind my seat.
   Kevin James hasn't done anything Oscar worthy, or even that funny, except for Hitch. This is no exception. It's a half decent comedy until the ridiculous ending.

For fans of slapstick, simple comedy and the US of A.

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 ***

Casa de mi Padre

  Casa de mi Padre was a weird one for many reasons. First of all, there were the unusual circumstances leading up to its release, in that, it wasn't...in the spring of this year there were trailers at the cinema, TV spots and posters. However, for some unknown reason it disappeared, meaning that I had to wait until its DVD release to see it.
  I was hesitant about the film, as there had been a couple of films in recent years that could be classed as the same type of genre to Casa de mi Padre, such as Machete and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The genre being spoofs, I guess. However, Machete and Vampire Hunter failed drastically, as they took themselves far too seriously. How can a film that combined Abraham Lincoln and vampires not be a comical piss take? But there were barely any laughs in it. Machete struggled in the exact same manner.
  Casa de mi Padre managed to avoid this easily. It combined what Tarantino did in Death Proof, with its poorly shot scenes and erratic editing with the humour of the spoof trailer of Machete, which was shown at the beginning of Planet Terror. The badly made sets and obviously fake animals are a constant reminder that this is a film not to be taken seriously.
  Will Ferrell can add this one to the list of his better films, as the silly humour was kept at the correct level, unlike The Campaign which seemingly struggled to decide how crude they could push each joke. Ferrell is supported by a host of talented Mexican actors such as Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna.
  The film being subtitled gave it a nice touch. The script was funny, the music was surprisingly catchy and it did what it was supposed to do and not take itself seriously!

For fans of Will Ferrell, spoofs and a good Mexican stand off.

Stars ***

Ruby Sparks

Original stories are becoming a rarity these days. When something different does come along it's usually a spin on an existing idea rather than something original. I think that Ruby Sparks does it's best at finding that story that Hollywood has yet to think up.
Paul Deno appears in his second film of the month, also starring in Looper. He doesn't suffer such a horrid fate in Ruby as he did in Looper though, where he was gruesomely butchered, but that's not surprising as Ruby Sparks is a very different film. It is basically a love story, a 'Rom Com' though I hasten to use that term as I see it as insulting, or something involving Jennifer Aniston.
Paul Deno fits into his role as quirky and lonely Calvin with ease. As a young genius, publishing a bestselling novel at only the age of 19 he retreats into the shadows for the next decade, struggling to socialise or write that difficult second novel, until he dreams of Ruby and that's all he can think and write about. He begins to write a new novel about Ruby and she becomes real, in that whatever he writes about Ruby becomes true, much to the joy of him and his brother Harry. Chris Messina, as Harry adds a nice touch to Calvin's character, helping with the humour and reality of the situation. However, Deno and Messina look so different I'd have to question their mother to see if they both actually shared the same dad...
It is a good mix of humour and emotion, as although Ruby may have been created by Calvin, she is very much a real person with her own feelings, even if Calvin can make her do or be anything he wants just by typing it on his typewriter.
Inevitably their relationship begins to fall apart once the aches and pains of life wear them down. Calvin's attempts to salvage their relationship leads to comical scenes in which Ruby's personality goes through a variety of changes from painfully clingy to ridiculously joyful.
Ruby Sparks is a film of solid acting, good humour and the realities of love and relationships. There are also some enjoyable appearances from Antonio Banderas, Steve Coogan and Elliot Gould.

For fans of love stories and films with a different spin on things.

Stars ***

The Campaign

I feel that I am faced with the same dilemma every time I watch a film with Will Ferrell in- is what I'm watching really funny or just plain stupid? Blades of Glory and Anchorman - funny. Elf and Old School - stupid. Yet Ferrell has done some different films from his usual genre in Stranger Than Fiction and Melinda and Melinda, that have probably been his best work. Zach Galifianakis is another actor that is hit and miss in his choice of films. So, this film was going to go one way or the other.
The Campaign stumbles along the line of good comedy and ridiculous humour. Though this is a film of constant laughs and failed attempts at humour, the storyline is an exaggerated version of modern day politics in the United States. It's not who is the best candidate, or who has the best policies, but the candidate with the most money pumped into their campaign who will come out the winner, despite their failings as a politician.
I did enjoy the film at a basic level of comedy and to get me in the mood for the up and coming US elections less than a month away, but I wouldn't say this is one to remember.


For fans of the classic Will Ferrell comedy and ridiculous humour.

Stars **