The Fault in Our Stars Review

JUST A HEADS UP THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS!

The Fault in Our Stars is a romantic comedy which is based on the novel by John Green. Usually I don't make an effort to go the cinemas to watch romantic movies but after seeing all the praise that the internet and my friends were giving this movie I felt like I had to see it just to see what all the fuss was about. For the most part Fault is your generic romantic comedy however it does the genre so well that you actually don't mind that the movie is a tad cliched because it is such a pleasure to watch and yes there is a massive tear jerker moment in the film. If you didn't feel something when watching this film that you are just cold hearted!

The movie stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort who was also in Divergent, regardless of the past the two actually had amazing chemistry in the movie. From the get go you see the two fall for each other as they meet each other in a Cancer patients support group, before I continue I just have to say many negative review of this movie criticized the film for being manipulative since both the title characters in the film actually suffer from cancer and that claim while understandable is complete bollocks. Just because a movie can show something serious like cancer and actually make you feel for the sufferers doesn't make it a manipulative movie, any movie that can make you feel for the main characters in my books is regarded as a good movie. Now that is out of the way, Hazel (Shailene) and Augustus (Ansel) have amazing chemistry and watching the two in the film actually felt somewhat natural to me albeit a few scenes here and there.

Ansel absolutely kills it as Augustus in the film and it is safe to say that he actually carries this film and saves it from being mediocre and elevates it to being a movie many people will watch multiple times.  Augustus' character is just dam charming and literally speaks his mind, something which I really loved about his character because not only did it make me laugh throughout the movie (even in serious scenes) but it made his character more relatable. One of the quirks that I really enjoyed about Augustus was how he just holds a cigarette between his teeth and as he says "you put the killing thing right between your teeth but you don't give it the power to do it's killing". This gesture actually symbolized how the cigarette not killing him is the one and only area in life where he can have power of his cancer ailed body.

From the beginning of the film we already know that this love between Hazel and Gus is doomed as one of them is fated to die at any point, this is something which is unavoidable considering their predicament. From the start we assume that Hazel is going to die first as her cancer seems to have the better of her compared to Gus but as the movie progresses the dynamic slowly shifts as we see Gus start becoming more and more ill and slowly our hearts weaken as we see the cancer get the better of the charming prince.

For me one of the saddest scenes in the film was the pre-funeral where Hazel and Isaac speak their eulogies so that Gus can see what they would say at his actual funerals. Most of the theater actually started to cry when this scene played out because it was heart touching and emotional. Especially when we then skip 8 days later when Hazel is attending Gus's actual funeral.

As cliched as this film is, it actually embraces the cliches and makes them enjoyable to watch and has us invested in the characters (especially Gus). While some characters like Dafoe were good but seemed a bit unnecessary during some parts of the film the movie was overall was a nice, relaxing watch.

I give this movie four Ansel Elgort heads out of five. I watched this movie with a group of friends but if you can definitely take your date of significant other to watch this film because chances are couples that can relate to this film more will enjoy it more. Ok? Ok.

Review by Armour Dude

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review

BE WARNED THERE MIGHT BE SOME SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW SO IF YOU DON'T WANT THE MOVIE TO BE SPOILED READ THIS AFTER YOU WATCH THE FILM!

Dawn of the Planet of Apes simply put is one of the best movies of the year so far and a worthy follow up to the surprise hit that was Rise of the Planet of the Apes. What this film excels in pretty much every ascpet compared to Rise, director Matt Reeves has truly outdone himself and expanded upon everything that was put in place by the first film and the result of his hard work is this masterpiece of a film that is exhilarating, suspenseful, emotional and down right epic. Dawn is the perfect middle chapter in the rebooted apes trilogy easily comparable to the likes of The Dark Knight and The Empire Strikes Back.

For the first 20ish minutes of the film there is hardly any talking and that isn't a bad thing at all because the first part of the film focuses solely on the apes who communicate through a mixture of sign language, body language and the occasional word or two. To be honest the first 20 minutes were actually amazing and I kind of wished the film kept going like this with minimal human interaction and lo and behold the film actually focuses more on the apes with the human element taking a back seat and acting as more of a side story.

That isn't to say that the human characters in the film were bad but they were just overshadowed by the apes in every way. The only point the humans served in this film was to compliment the apes story and show how similar the humans and apes are. Like I said the apes stole the show especially Andy Serkis who embodied the heart and soul of Caesar. With every small micro expression we could see and feel the decisions that Caesar had to make and how they affect him and his newly built community. This feat would have been unachievable without the work of Serkis. Also like i have said the humans in the story are there to parallel the apes like with Malcolm's (Jason Clarke) family who were the human counterpart of Caesars family showing that these two families are essentially fighting for the same cause.

It would be a disservice to write this review without mentioning Tony Kebbell who portrayed Koba. Why do I have to mention him? Because he gives Serkis a run for his money as he portrays the tortured Koba, a friend turned foe. Koba was the real villain of the film and a worthy adversary for Ceasar as he shows the corruption within every race but can you really blame Koba after everything that he was put through. One of the most harrowing and emotional scenes in the film for me was when Koba confronts Caesar after finding out that the humans will work on the dam and points to each one of his scars and says "Human Work". Honestly Koba is one of the most memorable and best villains to date as we see his rise and fall. What made him a great villain was the fact that we got to see him develop over the two films and tho it doesn't come as a shock that he is becomes the antagonist it is still shocking to see his extreme beliefs.

One of the greatest things that this film does is that it utilizes everything that was built in the first film and uses every scene in the movie to either foreshadow a future scene in the film (Koba's fall). While I was watching this film I was easily able to see the nods to the first film, for those willing to look there is a tonne of symbolism in the film and references to deeper themes such as fundamentalism, isolationism and so on but I wont mention that because I find that stuff rather boring. 

Ultimately Dawn is a magnificent example of why I love films and shows what Hollywood and Weta can do when they actually try, it's an exciting, thrilling, visually breathtaking film that will have you feel for the apes . This movie easily rivals the magic of the original films and tops its predecessor and is a smart gripping sci-fi that has you hooked from the start of the film

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes gets my exclusive gold rating (5/5), it is definitely a film I would rewatch in cinemas for full price. Absolutely check this film out on the big screen to get the maximum impact, trust me you will not regret it.

Review by ArmoUr Dude

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Transformers Age of Extinction Review

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS, THEN AGAIN THERE ISN'T REALLY MUCH STORY TO SPOIL...

Before I start I actually went into this movie expecting nothing buy a simple movie to unwind with after a long day at work and somehow this movie let me down on my simplest of expectations. Age of Extinction is the fourth entry in the subpar series of Transformers movie which went downhill after the iteration, oh and it is also the start of a new trilogy. I know that these movies are made for the fans which is why critics bash the movie hard but for the past 2 and this one I can understand the hate because this movie does almost nothing right at all. The only good thing this movie did was start fresh with a new cast which in my opinion were much better than Shia and co. This movie casts Wahlberg who is just a vanilla character, Nicola Peltz as his daughter who is also fine in her role and the token hot girl and a couple other forgetful characters. What Wahlberg does that I did enjoy is that he wasn't constantly screaming "Bumblebee!' or 'Optimus!!', he actually took initiative unlike Shia Labeouf.

The story in this movie is pretty much non existent after the opening act which is a shame cause this movie was actually starting out fine but somewhere along the line it just went off the rails and started to make less sense as the movie droned on. I say droned on because honestly this movie was way too long and many of the scenes were irrelevant and didn't serve any purpose to the film. The irrelevant scenes were basically scenes to explain stuff which was self explanatory pretty much making this movie play out like a children's book, further solidfying that movie is indeed aimed at children and the casual movie goers. One thing that really got on my nerves about this film however was the fact that the whole last portion of the movie was just explosions, literally, no story or dialogue just boom after boom which got irritating at a point.

The human cast of the movie was very vanilla and I didn't really care for them at all much like in the Godzilla film. The human's only purpose seemed to be was that they do whatever they want resulting in some sort of massive world ending scenario. One thing which really annoyed me was the fact that throughout the movie Wahlberg's character had to deal with his daughters' accent switching boyfriend who was trying to get his approval and we didn't see any reason in the film for Wahlberg to approve of him in anyway but by the end of the film he did for some odd reason, despite the boyfriend being a coward. The human's played their part and that is it, there were no real memorable scenes with humans at all in this film.

Moving on to the real reason people go to see these films, the Transformers. I was actually disappointed with the transformers this time round, the Autobots  other than Hound were pretty crap and not enjoyable to watch at all. There was one Autobot that really got on my nerves and that was Drift, we get it he is a samurai but I guess we constantly needed to be reminded that he was with a rather racist asian accent. I say racist because it seems that his lines were specifically catered to make sure the accent is thick, I don't know if this was supposed to be a joke but I honestly found it rather annoying and distasteful.

The other reason I really wanted to see this movie was cause of the friggen Dinobots. The whole movie I was waiting for them, and waiting until they finally showed up for the last act and thats it. The Dinobots were severely underutilized, with the film's long run time should have included more dinobot action because they kind of just came and went and the initial confrontation between Optimus and Grimlock was kinda shit because we saw literally all of it in the trailer, that's right the whole fight between Optimus and Grimlock lasted a whopping 2 minutes and ended with one hit. That was another thing I disliked, the fact that Optimus made Grimlock and co submit by hitting him once, then mounting him like a pony. For my the Dinobots could have elevated the film to a higher level but instead it kind of dragged it down because I expected them to do something awesome and amazing but they didn't.

Overall this film was a massive letdown, even the CGI wasn't up to par (the other sequels had better CGI imo) because all we saw in this movie was debris making it a bit hard to follow the action. The other downside is the lack of story and many plot holes in the film which made you wondering how the heck something happened. For example when we first met Optimus he was damaged and said he needed a medic but as soon as he scanned another truck, he was back up to speed and free of damage and the movie keeps going expecting us to just accept it.

I give this movie one and a half Grimlock heads out of five. The fact that this movie had dinobots was good but I do hope that in the future they utilize them more than they did in this film and also the last act of the movie was just mind numbing explosions non stop. If you enjoy that stuff or loved the previous Transformers movie then chances are you will enjoy this one as well. If you hated the other Transformers movie maybe just give this one a sip as you aren't really missing out on much.    

Review by Armour Dude

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22 Jump Street Review

JUST A HEADS UP THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE RATING SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM.

22 Jump Street is the action comedy sequel to 2012 surprise hit 21 Jump Street. Following their success in the Jump Street program Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are back and in college trying to fight another dealer who is distributing the drug 'WHYPHY' . If you are thinking, isn't this what they did in the first film, then you are correct because this film has pretty much the exact same story as the first film, from start to finish. The movie itself states this fact and actually makes a joke out of it which further elevated this movie to be on par with the first film in many aspects. This film doesn't try to be new or one up the first film, it just did everything exactly the same and in that regards this film delivered but in many ways for myself fell just a bit short of its predecessor.

Jenko and Schmidt return with their amusing guy love relationship which blossomed in the first film, in this sequel we see a hilarious next level of this relationship which puts them in a relationship (metaphorically) and plays on this to deliver some comedic scenes and gags. Instead of doing things exactly the same as the first film, this movie actually switched the undercover roles for Jenko and Schmidt with Jenko this time being the popular guy, running with the jocks while Schmidt is left to hang out with the artsy side of college (nerd side in a sense). This role reversal adds to the overlaying joke about the two being in a relationship and in many ways cements the two running gags throughout the movie as they constantly compliment each other.

Surprisingly however the most enjoyable character for me in this film had to be Captain Dickson (Ice Cube). Ice Cube really stepped it up and delivered the jokes magnificently. The best joke in the whole film actually involved Ice Cube as he finds out that Schmidt actually slept with his daughter at college and had even congratulating him for Schmidt's victory (before he knew), what followed was one of the most hilarious sequence of jokes and reactions that I have seen to date in movies. We also got a brief scene with Eric and Mr. Walters from the previous movie as we see them adjusting in jail and I was a bit disappointed that their characters weren't utilised as much since I actually enjoyed those characters in the first film.

The reason I mention the characters from the previous film is because many of the new characters that we are introduced to in this film were rather boring and I didn't care for them at all. This was especially true for the character played by Jillian Bell, I found her character boring and annoying because the only thing she did in the entire film was make old jokes which got bland after the first few but it just kept going throughout random points at the film and eventually became tedious. The other new characters shown in the film were rather useless and thrown away before the films final act which was a bit disappointing.

The one thing that movie does really well is that is recognizes itself as a sequel and in some ways breaks the 4th wall by referring to the fact the movie is a sequel and even makes fun of sequels in general. The one that comes to me off the top of my head is that when Jenko and Schmidt walk into the newly renovated 22 jump street and Captain Dickson telling them that they had a bigger budget to do stuff this time round. The other more genius joke that this film made is in the credits itself when we see a fabulous sequence of title cards for future Jump Films from 23 Jump Street: Med School all the way to 43 jump street: Space School (the number might be wrong). This credits sequence is hands down of the best credits scene to date.

Overall this movie was more or less the same but it was still a really enjoyable comedy film which does many things right but ultimately for me falls short of the first one. I give this movie three and a half Ice Cube heads out of five. IF you are looking for a movie that is a nice easy watch and hilarious then definitely check this film out, many people actually enjoyed it more than the first.

Review Written by Armour Dude

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The Wind Rises Review

Hayao Miyazaki's final film The Wind Rises was indeed a magnificent swansong for this great storyteller who is well deserving of status amongst the greats such as Walt Disney. His final film tells the story of a brilliant Aeronautical engineer Jiro as we follow his journey to pursue his dreams of  creating the perfect flying machine. The movie isn't just about Jiro and his conquest to become a great engineer but rather the heart wrenching story of Jiro's creativity and the tragic love which he pursues among the chaos of World War II. This beautiful animation does what many animations fail to do, it unlocks the deepest emotions within us.

From his earliest days we see Jiro marvel at planes and dream of becoming an aeronautical engineer. Even when Jiro is sleeping we are treated with surreal dream sequences where Jiro converses with his idol Caproni who encourages him to follow his dreams. Jiro does exactly that, he follows his dreams to become one of the greatest minds of aviation and eventually lands a position at one of Japan's biggest airplane manufacturers. Despite his dream, Jiro has no choice but to design fighter jets as he lives under the thumb of the military. Jiro knows that creating these fighter jets will cause devastation yet he is still compelling and driven to create the perfect plane as he would rather see a world "with pyramids than no pyramids".

Miyazaki complicates Jiro's story by adding a love interest Nahoko. Usually many animated films get bogged down by a love interest as it doesn't add much to the story however in the case of The Wind Rises, Miyazaki's touch makes the love interest aspect of this movie of his tenderest and possibly one his best love interests to date. During one of Jiro's excursions he meets Nahoko who he saves from an earthquake and instantly falls in love. Years later Nahoko reappears, bringing back a flood of emotions which eventually results in Jiro confessing his love to Nahoko only to discover that she is suffering from tuberculosis which in the time period of this movie is incurable. Jiro being the dreamer that he is doesn't dwell on the future, he is the kind of person that lives in the present and sees the beauty in the moment.

Aside from the love interest we also have Jiro's close colleague Honjo, his boss Kurowa and the owner of his company Hattori who are constantly giving Jiro a reason to be better at his work. As I mentioned before despite the fact that Jiro essentially created the Zero fighter planes which went on to bomb pearl harbor. We don't really see Jiro react to that rather he only focuses on creating a beautiful airplane which he is initially proud of until the film's climax when he sees the planes in formation (in his dreams) going into battle.

The movie perfectly blended the drama portion with romance to deliver a great movie how there was times during the movie when the pacing was a bit slow, but overall it didn't really drag the movie down  as it made up for it with the engaging story. This probably isn't the best Miyazaki movie to date but is still a solid film that any Miyazki fan will enjoy. The stunning animation and music just make Jiro's story come to life in a what would not have imagined from a real life interpretation.

The Wind Rises gets four out five Miyazaki heads. It is truly sad to see this legend retire but at least during his time he gave us magnificent movies and The Wind Rises is just another fantastic movie in that collection. Definitely check this one out, in full 1080p if you can.

Review Written by Armour Dude

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A Million Ways to Die in the West Review

A Million Ways is an American western comedy written and produced by Seth McFarlane, and features a rather large ensemble of stars including Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribsi, Sarah Silverman and Liam Neeson. You would think that with a cast this good that this movie would succeed however it falls short nearly every step of the way. The story follows a cowardly sheep farmer Albert Stark (portrayed by Seth McFarlane) who is dumped by his girlfriend and has a fated meeting with a beautiful woman who helps him find his courage. Little does he know that this woman is married to a notorious outlaw who arrives seeking revenge.

Initially I was super excited for this movie since I was pleasantly surprised by Ted which was also written and produced by McFarlane. However as I trudged through this movie I found myself never really laughing and rarely smiling, to be honest throughout the movie I was rather bored. All the jokes in the film were a bit of a hit and miss most likely due to the fact that I had seen many of these jokes in the trailers which was really disappointing to me. The story itself was ok but nothing amazing, and at stages was fairly predictable as is the case with the more awful movies of the year.

One aspect of the movie that really annoyed me was the fact that we were constantly reminded that the west sucks every few minutes. At first it was funny but as the movie went on every few minutes were were reminded that the west sucks, we get it the west sucks move on and find another avenue for your jokes! Many of the jokes in this movie deviated from this the west sucks formula but didn't do enough to make each instance of the joke funny. The movie also felt like a long family guy episode to me because it seemed that the jokes were thrown in randomly instead of flowing properly like they did in Ted. One example I can think of (which we have seen in the trailers) is the scene with the giant ice block which crushes and kills a man. This joke didn't flow from anything and after the gag was complete, the screen cut to black and started a new scene which kind of took me out of the film and made this movie feel like a slideshow of gags rather than a movie with a story that happened to be humorous.

The other aspect of this movie which took me out of the film was the fact that Seth McFarlane's character was kind of crap. He doesn't really sell the jokes all he does is react tot the situations with over the top expressions. Honestly I didn't really find his character to be funny for most of the movie. This was the case with many of the characters, they were all vanilla and a bit bland and only seemed to serve the purpose of being vessels for jokes rather than living, breathing characters. I found myself constantly comparing this movie to Ted as that movie actually felt like a movie as it told a story (as cliched as it was).

One thing which did make me smile wasn't the actual jokes in the movie but rather the references to other films which were set in the west. The first one we see is a back to the future reference with the professor tinkering with the delorean in a building which actually made my eyes light up. But alas it was just a cameo reference and didn't serve any purpose to the plot, similar to the ice block gag. The second reference was the Django Unchained reference which was shown prior to and after the credits which I also found amusing. Another more subtle reference that Family Guy fans will notice is that Liam Neesons character is based off the gag made bout Neeson himself in an episode of Family Guy. Overall this movie was kind of boring for my tastes and I was constantly looking at my watch throughout the movie. The star studded cast were underutilized with the lime light being on McFarlane. It was a shame that none of the characters popped or were memorable.

Overall this movie gets one Seth McFarlane head out of five. I wouldn't bother watching this movie unless you are into bad movies or intoxicated because I honestly don't see any other way to enjoy this film. If you want to watch movies that a similar (and probably better) then check out this selection below.



Review Written by Armour Dude

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Blended Review

Blended is the third collaboration romantic comedy film with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and isn't anything special at all. The story revolves around two single parents played by Sandler and Barrymore as they experience a bad blind date and decide to go their separate ways until they end up on a trip to Africa on a blended family resort where the focus is family bonding. As you would expect this film revolves around the fact that Jim (Sandler) begins to teach Lauren's (Barrymore) boys how to embrace their manhood and teach them lessons that their mother wasn't able to do and vice versa, Lauren teaches Jim's daughters how to be more feminine. I think we have all seen enough rom coms to know where this film will end up.

For a film based in Africa you don't really see much of Africa at all, rather you see the holiday vegas style resort which means the film shys away from showing many scenes that take place in the African wilderness. This movie had the potential to be great as it built up many emotional moments only to take you out of the moment by showing silly jokes like two rhinos having sex which is a shame because if they focused on the emotional side of the relationships between the characters the movie would have been a better watch as opposed to a typical cookie cutter rom com. From the rom com aspect Sandler and Barrymore do a great job and still have the chemistry they had back in The Wedding Singer but everything else in the movie just weighs that down.

This movie literally does nothing to break away from the generic rom com formula and follow all the typical tropes of rom comes by the formula which means that you can pretty much guess how the whole movie will play out. This is all the way down to the fact that Jim likes Lauren but is too afraid to dive into the relationship because of his deceased spouse but eventually decides to test the waters. That is one of many typical tropes that this movie fails to do uniquely. The children of Jim and Lauren do an ok job but they don't really have their characters built up or developed at all besides a few interactions with the opposing family. I will say that one of the funnier moments in the film was when Jim's eldest daughter comes down after her makeover and pans to different characters as their reactions are played out my popular songs, a joke which referenced again later in the film with greater effect but other than this joke others just weren't as memorable.

The supporting cast in this film was actually pretty good but they didn't really stand out much at all. Terry Crews was good at doing what he does best, making us laugh with everything he has, even Shaquille O'Niel was good and it was a shame that we got to see so little of him in the movie. But like I have mentioned the whole movie is weighed down by the stereotypical tropes which really hinder the movie, even certain characters do this such as Joel McHale's character who is the typical douchebag character. One character which really annoyed me in the film was one of Jim's daughters who sees her dead mother and refuses to let go, the reason this annoyed me was because it seemed so forced from a comedy and drama aspect and I could see from a mile away that this not letting go of the past would play into Jim eventually confessing his love to Lauren.

Overall this movie is an entertaining watch if you have nothing else to do, but it isn't really worth going out of your way to see unless you really want to watch a cheesy, stereotypical rom com.  To be honest I didn't expect much from this movie since Sandler hasn't really made anything great lately that I remember so I wasn't let down or blown away by this movie at all. If anything this movie was an under developed stereotypical mess which shot itself in the foot by robbing the movie of many emotional moments which would have made the movie greater than it was.

This movie gets 2 Adam Sandler heads out of 5. The movie isn't anything special and that is apparent from the get go but if you really want to watch a cheesy sitcom joke ridden rom com or if you are extremely bored check this movie out when it comes to DVD. I wouldn't advise wasting money to catch this on the big screen, save your money for a better film. Here are some other romantic comedies in the same vein as Blended if you have the itch for something similar.



Review Written by Armour Dude

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How To Train Your Dragon 2 Review

Just a heads up if you haven't seen the trailers, you might see some spoilers in this review but rest assured there are no spoilers from the actual movies only the spoilers from trailers.

After four long years the awaited sequel to the Dreamworks masterpiece, How to Train your Dragon finally hits the big screen. Director/writer Dean DeBlois returns with a story as captivating as the last and just as rich in themes, characterisation and complications. New characters such as Valka (Cate Blanchett) and Drago (Djimon Hounsou) bring in a whole new dynamic and lead to an eye-opening history lesson of Berk. The story unfolds as Hiccup (Jay Bucharel) and friends cross paths with a group of Dragon trappers. From them they are hinted at Drago, a terrifying Dragon Hunter who plans to build a Dragon army. On paper the plot sounds childish, but as it unfolds the story intensifies into a very mature commentary on growth and relationships.

The characters have ripened seamlessly since the first film, which gives for a hyper realistic connection with the audience. The connection amongst the characters themselves is even more awe-inspiring, particularly the bond between Hiccup and Toothless. Personally I preferred watching their bond form in the first film as it captured the making of their friendship so imaginatively. Although not as creative, the sequel carries on the magical realism of Hiccup and Toothless’ friendship. Just as in the first film their bond is tested, except this time the complications are pushed beyond its genre as a “kid’s movie.” The storyline takes very mature jumps which contrast nicely with warm themes like friendship and family. It will be no surprise if parents leave the cinema more excited than their kids.

Even though How to train your dragon 2 delivers emotion, characters and plot, there were some faults which didn’t make it feel as complete as the first. The film is a conundrum for critique; some scenes were masterfully visceral whereas others seemed rushed and messy. The overall downfall of the film was poor structure - some scenes deserved a lot more screen time than they got, whereas others dragged on and should have been shortened. The audience just don’t get enough time to inhale some magnificent pieces of plot and characterisation, which could have really struck a nerve given more screen time.

There was also an issue with timing, particularly with the introduction of Valka (Hiccup’s mother). A character of that magnitude could have and should have been deployed much deeper into the film; maybe after a few hints of her still being alive? Or even just a mention of her? To prematurely thrust her upon the audience feels almost like a desperate attempt to draw out emotion, when it could have been so much more. On the other hand, the interaction with her and the other characters was shockingly realistic. A son seeing his mother for the first time, and a husband reunited with his wife after twenty years- both emotionally overwhelming in very different ways.

At times it feels like toothless is a real animal, and when all you see on screen is an animated dragon, it’s safe to say that Dreamworks really makes their characters come to life. The incredible graphics only add to the realism and will have you reaching out for a touch. The visuals in combination with a majestic soundtrack will give you chills, particularly the Toothless and Hiccup flying scenes. A sunset backdrop to the voice of Sigur Ros front man Jonsi will have you covered in Goosebumps and lost for time- it is simply some of the best minutes of the film.

The film bobs in and out of “Dreamworks masterpiece” to “Just another animation,” and thankfully it concludes as the former. It is somewhat of an inverse sandwich, where the beginning and end are loaded with enjoyable content but the middle is plain like white bread. With an engaging storyline, well developed characters and breathtaking cinematography, there’s no reason the film shouldn’t have been as good as the first. It is up there with Shrek and Kung Fu panda, but with a tedious middle, it just comes short of its predecessor.

This movie receives four out of five toothless heads. This film will probably be the best animated feature film of the year so far, this movie is definitely worth a watch in the cinemas for it's beautiful flying scenery and big set pieces. Check out the slideshow below if you want to watch some films similar to How to Train Your Dragon 2.

Review Written by Saqif

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Edge of Tomorrow Review

Edge of Tomorrow is the new summer blockbuster from Doug Liman (director of the Bourne trilogy) staring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Before I jump into the review I gotta say that I really wasn't expecting much from this movie but boy was I surprised. For those that don't know Edge of Tomorrow is the american remake of the japanese light novel All You Need is Kill, which I haven't read yet but after watching this movie I'm inclined to check it out. The movie follows Cage (Tom Cruise) who is forced into the front lines of war where he kills and is subsequently infected by the alien which curses Cage to repeat his day when he is killed. Think of it as Groundhog day mixed with Halo, which each death or loop Cage learns and becomes a better solider than the previous time he ran through the day.

You would think that a movie that focuses on the same day over and over again would lose it's flair after the first few times but this movie owns this aspect of time travel and makes it enjoyable each time. When you see the first loop you are a bit confused but with each subsequent death and loop I found myself laughing at Cage's death and start of the loop. This movie uses the loop as both a comedy point at the start of the movie and a plot device to create tension and drama in the movie. At the start of the movie we see Cage as somewhat of an asshole because he puts his life ahead of everyone else's but after dying on the front lines of war with the mimics he is forced to relive the painful and terrifying with each death and slowly he learns and becomes the hero the humans need for victory.

Doug Liman uses the loops to spoon feed the audience little bits of information at a time to the audience as we slowly learn about Cage's predicament and how the war connects to the fate of the planet. Early on in the movie Cage's deaths are surprising and violent but that changes when Cage meets Rita (Emily Blunt) a hardened alien killing machine who has had a similar experience to Cage and begins to train him. During their training Rita constantly kills him and this forceful loop creation makes the movie seem more like a video game which may feel odd for some viewers but for gamer it feels familiar  as they can relate to Cage's frustration in being unable to complete his objective. Tom Cruise really sells the initial wimpiness of Cage and well as the transition to a hardened hero, early on in the movie the sequences where he tries to run away from combat are utterly hilarious.

After some time the movie reaches it's mid game where the Cage and Rita hatch a plan to take down the mimics and find the Omega, this is the part of the movie which ultimately feels boring, underwhelming and only seem to serve the purpose of adding some connection and romance between Cage and Rita. This pairing seems forced and unnecessary in the movie, especially when Cage should be trying to save the world and not trying to get with Rita. In many instance in the movie it seems that Rita should be taking charge and have the spotlight but albeit this opportunity to flesh out a bad ass female character more was lost. I also kind of wish we got too see more bad ass sword fight sequences with the aliens.

The third act in the movie i felt was amazing as the stakes were raised because Cage had lost his ability to reset the day meaning that everything that takes part in the final act was permanent and that made the action sequence more climactic and nail biting but then all that was thrown away with the ending which opted to follow a typical Hollywood happy ending which wasn't bat but the ending felt rushed and was left unexplained in what the hell actually happened.  I would have rather preffered a darker and less happy ending for this film. A darker ending would have probably made this movie a bit better in my opinion but nevertheless this was an amazing summer blockbuster which surprised me and many of my friends who expected it to be a mediocre action flick. Overall this movie just missed out on being in the top 5 movies of the year so far but is definitely in the top 10, if only the ending were a bit better and the romance not forced.

I give this movie three and a half Tom Cruise heads out of five. A surprising movie which will definitely keep you entertained, catch in theaters if you get a chance and take your friends!

Review written by Armour Dude

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The Grand Budapest Hotel Review

As a recent fan of Wes Anderson, I was really looking forward to this film and I was not disappointed one bit and I think film may just be my second favorite Wes Anderson film after The Life Aquatic and just a notch above Moonrise Kingdom. Anderson takes everything that he has learnt from the past and applies it to this magical and moving shaggy dog story. The film opens with the author of the novel The Grand Budapest Hotel narrating and recounting his time at the hotel in 1968. The author is played Jude Law who meets Mr. Moustafa who dines with Jude Law's character and recounts his time as a young lobby boy who was taken under the wing of the concierge of the Budapest played by Ralph Fiennes.

At first when watching the story you may feel a bit confused and ask yourself what the hell is going on in the movie? And you would be right in doing so because I believe that initially this was done on purpose by Anderson to tell the quirky, comedic and amazing story of the friendship between a lowly lobby boy and a concierge. The story in the film really kicks off when we begin to see Gustave interact with Zero (Tony Revolori) who Gustav begins to mentor after seeing some hope, optimism and even a bit of himself in Zero. Zero is pretty loyal to Gustav which is what drives this story forward, I say this because after showing Gustav the newspaper article about one of his lovers kicking the can the hilarious adventures of Gustave and Zero are set in motion. Gustav's former lover bestows him with a priceless painting called Boy with Apple which is the center piece for a majority of the conflict as Adrien Brody's darkly comic character vows to not give Gustave anything of his mothers.

Despite the large ensemble of characters in this film, Ralph Fiennes owns everything he does in this film and is pitch perfect with the character of Gustave and infused a quirky sense of humor. I can't express how amazed I was by Fienne's performance, I never knew that Fiennes had a knack for comedy but now that I have seen it I just want to see more comedy from this brilliant actor. Gustav is by far the best and most memorable character in the movie which twisted morals which make him really entertaining to watch. By far the funniest quirk I found in Gustave's character was that he says he lives by a strict code of conduct and treats people with respect yet he sleeps with many rich & elderly women who stay at his hotel. Of all the minor characters you really have to give it to William Dafoe as Jopling a homicidal psycopath who wears brass knuckles, wears high heels and has vampire teeth. I found myself cracking up quite a bit in the stop-motion chase sequence in the movie which portrayed the absolutely weird and quirky nature of Wes Anderson's story telling in this movie.

One thing that really drove this movie home besides the amazing actors was the jaw dropping visuals which bring the sets to life as you would expect from a Wes Anderson film but what he does different with his visual style is that he makes the Grand Budapest feel like a living and breathing hotel. Almost every scene in this film was shown as if it were something out of an old painting similar to 'Boy with Apple' and the music of the film added to the this old timey setting that Anderson was trying to portray in this film. Even the grimmer moments in the film had you laughing, like with the fate of Jeff Goldblum's character of the poor cat, Wes Anderson literally uses everything in his arsenal to make this story come to life and have us laughing from the get go.

I won't spoil too much but by far the most exciting and crack up moment in the would have to go to the prison escape sequence which had me on the edge of my seat and cracking up at the outcome. You really have to applaud Anderson's who magnificently blends comedy, drama and mystery in this film, he delivers a pleasurable, quirky film which has an unexpectedly sharp edge all of which combine to give us one of Anderson's most heartfelt stories to date. I haven't seen too many other Wes Anderson films (Have only seen the Life Aquatic and Moonrise Kingdom ) but after seeing The Grand Budapest Hotel, I will definitely be checking out everything that Anderson has to offer.

I give this film 4 and a half Ralph Fiennes heads out of 5. This movie is close to being a masterpiece and would definitely urge you to see it in cinemas if you have the chance so you can witness the amazing art direction taken in this movie.

Review Written by Naveed

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Godzilla Review

The new Godzilla was a great throwback to the classic 1954 film. The film essentially is about Godzilla acting as a force of nature to balance the inequalities in the world which take the form of two Mutos ( massive unidentified terrestrial object ). That's essentially the whole plot of the movie, the film relies too heavily on the original film to get audiences pumped up for the movie. The original 1954 Godzilla was actually referenced in the start before the new story begins.

The only passable and memorable human character in the film was played by Brian Cranston and sadly he isn't in the entire film. The rest of the characters were poorly scripted with little to no emotion. I was heavily disappointed by Ken Watanbe's character as he had the same derpy expression throughout the whole film and would probably be remembered for when he says 'Gojjira' with a heavy Asian accent. Aaron Taylor-Johnson was the main lead throughout the movie and he was passable at best. For me this movie had literally no worthy human moments apart from Cranston's parts, which isn't a good sign since around 80% of the movie is about the humans.

You read that right, a majority of the film focuses on the poorly written human part of the story which didn't really hold my attention or was even interesting. Mainly because I feel that the humans were a bit silly in their actions in the film. Ken Watanbe's character was utterly useless in telling the navy that the Muto's feed off radiation because what was the army's reaction to the Muto's and Godzilla? Nuke them with a bomb even tho the Muto's feed of radiation. Strong logic/10.

Let's get to the actual good part of the movie which was teased throughout the whole movie and that is Godzilla. I get that the movie is supposed to be a slow burn leading up to Godzilla's reveal for the last battle but the lead ups as boring and I found my self sit up properly in my seat only when Godzilla and the Muto's were on screen. When the monsters were fighting it out the movie was was brilliant but everything in between was average at best. The final act in the movie was by far the best and the fights were brilliant and really enjoyable to watch. Hands down Godzilla had one of the best kills this year in cinema when he used his flames to burn off the Muto's head by breathing fire down its throat, Badass. I will also admit I got chills when I saw Godzilla's spines light up in preparation for the blue fire. My only gripe with the monsters was that we never got a clear reason to why they were fighting, we got told Godzilla was hunting them but it just seemed like he fought them for a workout then buggered off.

The movie's slow burn may not suit most audiences and the story might be a tad confusing for others. Overall the movie was a disappointment for me cause I wanted more Godzilla, not a bland human story. The teases of Godzilla throughout the movie were annoying as we say him fighting on TV or heard about it but never saw it till the final act. I understand that if the movie was more fighting between Godzilla and the Muto's it would just be one long ass fight scene like in Man of Steel however if this movie really failed on the parts in between Godzilla's screen time. I actually preferred Pacific Rim's silliness and cheesiness compared to this film. Nevertheless the movie was entertaining but had many flaws.

For this movie I give it 2 and a half Brian Cranston heads out of 5. Watch this movie with friends for a good time but if you haven't seen the old Godzilla films you probably wont understand what is going on or enjoy it as much

Review written by Naveed

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12 Years a Slave Review

In 19th century New York, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free born African-American, is leading a happy life with his wife and children. A fiddle player, he accepts an attractive offer to play while his family is out of town. But he is conned. Abducted, chained, and transported to Louisiana, Solomon’s twelve years as a slave begin…

Based on Northup’s 1853 autobiography, 12 years a slave is by no means a “first date” movie. A combination of breathtaking cinematography and brutal realism make for a visceral and awe-inspiring experience. Some scenes will wrench your heart, and others will anger you, especially when we’re reminded that slaves really did go through all of what we see in the film. The acting is what truly engulfs the audience into the 1800s, and ups the ante on the already in-your-face realism. Ejiofor plays a brilliant lead, capturing Northup’s anger, fear and determination when the situation demands it. Your palms will sweat as he toils under the sun; your heart will thump as he plans an escape; your teeth will grind when he witnesses a child being stripped away from her mother. Ejiofor will put you straight into Northup’s shoes.

Northup encounters a range of diverse characters that challenge and develop his persona, and this is what allows Ejiofor to make his character so authentic. One of the most volatile interactions with Northup is with his ruthless slavedriver, Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). Fassbender portrays a fantastically hateable antagonist who will make all the Caucasians in the cinema guiltily sink into their seats. An actor has mastered a believable villain when the audience wants to strangle him, and Fassbender does exactly that. But amongst the ensemble, the spotlight shines brightest when Lupita Nyong’s Patsey comes on screen; a young slave who is raped, beaten and whipped, and will make you believe you are watching a documentary. Her first major film role, Nyong’o outshines the rest of the cast, including Hollywood heavyweights Brad Pitt (Bass) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Ford).

The film can get very hard to watch, but you can take solace in Steve McQueen’s shots of lush, tranquil landscapes which juxtapose nicely with the gory racism. McQueen’s artistic cinematography switches seamlessly between harsh and serene moments, sometimes combining the two- such as an uncomfortably calm shot of Northup being hanged from a tree. But amongst the hurt, there are still calmer moments where Northup contemplates by himself. The close-ups of Northup coupled with the mesmeric soundtrack give for a meditative experience, although at times these scenes can drag on a bit. Hans Zimmer provides his trademark, grandiose score- which will give you chills the first time you hear it, but by the fourth and fifth times, you will be asking yourself, “Wasn’t this song in Inception?”

Like many of its competitors (Gravity, Captain Phillips), 12 Years a Slave relies more on character development and emotion to drive its story, rather than a thick plot. The visceral journey 12 Years a slave takes you on definitely stands above the rest in its year and even the last decade, but it is up to the audience to decide whether that is a good or bad thing. The film is a fine balancing act between placid scenery and brazen violence, but in the end, the landscapes won’t be what you will remember. Definitely watch this film if you are not easily offended; otherwise just take your kids to Frozen.

12 years a Slave gets 4 Chiwetel Ejiofor heads out of 5. Definitely check this movie out and be ready to both enjoy and be disgusted by the plights of a free man turned slave

Review written by Saqif

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X-Men Days of Future Past Review

X-Men Days of Future Past is one of the most anticipated films of the year for both comic fans and non comic fans, and I think the voice of critics and fans are unanimous "This is one of the best X-men movie to date". The movie did many things right but for me personally I did have a few gripes with the movie but still enjoyed it immensly. The movie is loosely adapted from the comic story line of the same name "Days of Future Past", by loosely I mean they decided to make Wolverine's conscious travel to the past instead of Kitty's. One of the things that this movie did really well was the time travel, they did it in such a way that they were able to logically avoid the time travel paradox which plagues many time travelling stories.

The future segment of the movie sees the remaining X-men (Professor X, Storm, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Colossus, Magneto, Bishop, Warpath, Sunspot and Blink) fight off constant onslaught from the sentinels which hunt them down, the catch being that there are too many sentinels for the X-men to take on so the X-men have no choice but to stall and run away before the attack even happens by sending Bishop's consciousness back to warn his previous self a few days ago to warn the X-men of the impending danger. This is the same concept that they use to send Wolverine back into the past to stop the sentinel program from happening. The sentinels of the future look bad-ass and remind me of the super skrull from marvel comics who have many abilities of the heroes in the marvel universe, the sentinels as you may have guess have powers of many of the X-men which makes them difficult to deal with. 

Without spoiling too much of the movie I will say that the movie blends the past and present really well and shows you the tale of hope seamlessly without taking you out of the movie. I walked into this film expecting a movie along the lines of first class i.e a bit of action mixed with a good story what I got was a very well done adaptation of the story with little action (compared to first class) which was good in itself but I did feel a bit let down as I was hoping to see more mutants fighting it out. The story itself felt a bit linear for me but I did enjoy how they didn't really force wolverine on us unless the movie was directly talking about the future which I loved as I believe that wolverine is kind of a boring hero in the movies. That being said wolverine was actually fairly useless in the movie as a mutant, almost as useless as Peter Dinklage as Boliver Trask. By no means was Dinklage bad in the role but he wasn't threatening as a villain should be, literally anyone could play Boliver Trask and the movie would be the same because Trask didn't really have a moment which made me feel like "Woah, now thats a bad guy", sure he created the sentinels but that's all he literally did in the movie.

The rest of the cast in the movie was good especially Fassbender, McAvoy, Lawrence and Holt who pretty much carried the movie with the other mutants playing a supporting role. But there was on character who was beyond good to the point where every time I think of this character I will picture this actor now and that ladies and gentle men is Quicksilver. Quicksilver literally stole every scene that he was in and I hoped that the movie would have more for him to do but alas he was only there for a small amazing portion of the movie. Like most good movies with a big task, each character in the movie had their purpose regardless of how small it was. 

The film's action sequences were amazing and well choreographed but as I have stated before the movie was lacking in that department for my tastes. The movie also had a few more flaws which took me out of the experience, the first being that they had the constant need to remind us how the time travelling trope worked which I found fairly annoying. The second fairly minor thing I disliked about the movie was how they portrayed Bishop, the actor wasn't bad but just the way that he was executed felt a bit lacking for me. The movie however was a really entertaining watch and the post credits scene was amazing and I can't wait for X-Men Apocalypse to hit the theaters. Overall I would say that this movie is my second favorite X-men movie, the first being X-Men First class which I enjoyed slightly more than this sequel. Also I think it is worth noting that this movie did something spectacular that made me smile, it erased the abomination that was X-Men 3 from the movie storyline, also going ahead into X-Men apocalypse the directors will get to cast new (younger) versions of characters who appeared in the original trilogy such as Cyclops and Jean Grey!

Review written by Naveed

Usually superhero blockbusters turn into fan-boy gimmicks rather than a respectable film, but 2014 has been a big step up for Marvel. First Captain America: Winter soldier and now Days of a future past, the plot focussed approach has really improved their quality. Of course the homage to the comic books still exists, and even though Marvel has learnt to manage its dosage, it’s this constant need to throw in comic-book Easter eggs that ultimately sets apart Marvel from say, Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Some of the bonus characters like bishop and blink end up convoluting the scenes and seem to serve no real purpose. Their time on screen seems redundant as it will leave the people who should have enjoyed them (i.e. the fan-boys and fan-girls) thinking, “that’s it?” Nonetheless the film follows two timelines and these cluttered scenes, appropriately set in the dystopic future, are a very short slice of the film. The rest of the film, which is more structured and enjoyable, is focussed back in the past.

One of the crucial developing points of the story lies in time travelling- and fortunately director Brian Singer pulls it off very well. Hollywood has never been able to portray time travelling cleanly, but this film gets closer than any other. Without the time traveller’s paradox itching at the back of your brain, it’s a lot easier to focus on the plot and not ask yourself every few minutes, “But wouldn’t that mean there’s two of him?”

Hugh Jackman returns as Wolverine and is the vessel to the past; the link between the characters we met in First Class, and those we met in the X-men trilogies. From the previous film, Michael Fassbender reprises his role as Magneto, and Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. Both do a fantastic job like the first time around and their time on screen is really capitalised on. The characterisation was perfectly built up from First class (especially Fassbender’s Magneto) leaving a relatively effortless transition into this film- but that wasn’t fully the case. The script does the acting talent injustice as character’s motives may perplex you; as if they’ve changed since the last time you saw them- or can we just blame it on chronology? But what is sacrificed for characterisation the film trades for in story, as lot of the complications begin from rusty relationships.

The plot is easy to follow and will keep you engaged as the situation is constantly taken to the next level. What the film does best is strip away the escape button. Each complication will make you believe that “it can’t possibly get any worse”… and then it does. Each progression of the film will keep you surprised, and neatly integrated allusions to modern history will have you grinning (let’s just say what First class did for the Cuban missile crisis, this film does for the JFK assassination). 

Review written by Saqif

This movie earns a 3 and a half Hugh Jackman heads out of 5. Definitely check this movie out in cinemas if you can, it is probably going to be one of the top 5 summer blockbusters this year. Just don't expect anything mind blowing. Amongst all the clever intricacies, the cleverest would have to be how the ending of the film nullifies the tawdry X-men trilogy. It’s a satisfying goodbye and a purging of what was holding back the reputation of X-men films. First Class and Days of a future past is a fresh new beginning and has something to offer for both hardcore fans and the general story lover.

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