Annabelle

My first review in a long, long time (in a galaxy far, far away)...

Annabelle, a spin-off from the 2013 film The Conjuring, stars Annabelle Wallis as the mother Mia and Ward Horton as her husband. The couple are expecting their first child together, they have everything prepared, the room, the dolls, and so on...
One night an incident occurs which leads to the couple left shell-shocked. After this incident the mother found strange happenings, all related to their creepy doll...
This is not the most original film you will see this year, with the inclusion of demonic dolls, possession, the 'been there, done that person', and the religious guy that acts as the counter-weight in regards to good and evil.

If you love horror films, then you would probably find this subdued, although the rest would find this a 'jumpy' watch, unfortunately this is another case where the best bits are in the trailer, reducing the element of surprise.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The second Spidey film directed by the aptly named Mark Webb has Andrew Garfield reprising his role as the conspicuous protagonist, this time he joined by an array of idiosyncratic enemies.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) was the first film in Webb's reboot of Sony's owned Marvel franchise; just five years after Sam Raimi's ill-fated Spider-Man 3. After viewing the trailer for this picture and finding out that there would be three adversaries, I was reminded of the aforementioned 2007 flop, so I my expectations before the film were of a mix bag.

The first villain we are introduced to is the mad criminal Aleksei Sytsevich; wearing a black tracksuit and dotted cut-line tattoo on his fore-head, driving a truck containing bio-hazardous chemicals; this is a man not to be messed with, especially as he armed with an AK-47. Paul Giamatti is almost unrecognisable. In total Giamatti's screen time only accounts to four minutes, including his appearance in the Rhino mechanic suit.

Friendship plays a major factor in this film with the class-dividing old buddy relationship between Peter Parker and Harry Osborne, whom has returned to New York and Oscorp after years at boarding school and travelling. The chemistry between Garfield and Dane DeHaan is believable compelling. The relationship and break-down of the characters is similar to that of Rami's version, but whereas it took three films for Harry Osborne to don the Green Goblin getup, he is introduced in this film.

Gwen Stacey, Parker's intelligent love interest is perhaps the most interest and intriguing relationship as the characters deal with the complexity of young love, personal issues, education and moving away as well as keeping his word from Gwen's father to 'stay away'. 

Jamie Foxx's character, is the misunderstand character of the film, and despite Harry Osborn's decent into insanity, Max Dillon is a lonely and forgettable punch-bag whom you remorse for. His transformation from a intelligent 'nobody' to an enraged electrical charged super-villain is nothing more than far-fetched, but the character is portrayed in a convincing manner by Foxx, but this is also attributed by good character building. Electro portrays a powerful antagonist for the web slinger as he tests Parker's strength, memory and brain. The progression from a character is clearly mentally unstable and is obsessed with Spider-Man, a man that is recognized every where in New York, compared to himself whom no one knows exists is interesting, but I personally think the film picks up many flaws when we see the character's power evolve.

Overall the film is spectacular and is the most epic Spider-Man film ever made with a bold state of intent from Sony to Marvel Studios that this is their franchise and its here to stay.
Though 3D is nothing more than a gimmick in modern cinema, but admittedly it does have its moments in free-fall sequences and boy does this film milk them as the film feels more like a virtual reality simulator. 
A must see over the Easter weekend; good character development, but is slightly flawed and rushed in parts.

8/10 - but I am being nice!

Borrowed Time

So a few weeks ago I managed to watch an exclusive showing of a new British drama, Borrowed Time. The film is set in London and explores the lives of two complete opposite individuals; one an old miser whom has a fondness for taxidermy, and the other an adolescent male that tried to burgle him - which is how the two meet. The purpose for the burglary was to steal enough loot to pay off an unwanted debt which has resulted on a proposed bounty on his head.
The film is heart warming and offers many laughs along the way, but you soon realize that both characters have many demons that need to be resolved.

Perhaps not the most compelling of film dramas you will watch this year, and it is not without its bizarre moments, but none the less the feeling of both animosity and friendship between the two protagonists is what makes the film an interesting watch.

The World's End

The third in the 'Cornetto' trilogy, The World's End is definitely worth a watch. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright all return to write, direct and star in this apocalyptic comedy. Joined with some other big British names such as Miranda Pike, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Pierce Bronson. The film is about a group reunited back in their home town to complete a pub crawl known as the golden mile; a feat they failed at when they were in their teens. The films starts of very light-hearted with a melancholy feeling that may help one to reflect upon their own life and achievements, but it does go off course and all seriousness is lost half-way through once the introduction of 'robots' are introduced.

A solid effort and plenty of laugh-out loud moments, but it falls short of previous efforts of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz; films I would love to watch over again and still get a laugh. TWE however is an unfortunate end to the trilogy, though it does score a respectable 7/10. 

Man Of Steel

It's here, the biggest blockbuster of the summer, MAN OF STEEL; the reboot of Superman. 
Henry Cavill stars as Kal-El/ Clark Kent and superb as the super-extraterrestrial from Kyrpton. The film is directed by Zack Zynder whom is famous for previous comic-book adaptations such  300 and Watchmen, but the big name behind The Dark Knight trilogy Christopher Nolan was involved as a producer, and is evident as his fingerprints are all over this in terms of story (co-written by Nolan and David Goyer) and overall appearance and nature of the film. Though comic book films have evolved dramatically from the days of Schumacher's box office flop Batman & Robin, blockbusters today have seen to become filled with over the top CGI action, and MOS is no different. 

The story is about the a young man hiding from the world as his human father Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner) warns him that the world is not ready to see his abilities and powers, and the scenes involving Kevin Costner and Clark Kent (young and older) are perhaps the best parts of the film, adding to any emotion and character development that the film severally lacks. 
One major flaw with the film is that character development should be longer and the action sequences are too long to the point of which I found myself yawning. 
The opening scenes of the film set on the planet Krypton was very bizarre with flying dragon-like creatures and overblown effects, and planet reminding me of another DC movie, The Green Lantern.
The acting was good all round, with Louis Lane the love interest played by Amy Adams (The Fighter), Russel Crowe as Jor-El (Superman's father), Michael Shannon as General Zod and Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White, head of the Daily Planet. The character development for Lane seems very shallow and extremely rushed and even though it is obvious at some point in the film their would be romance between her and Superman, the romantic chemistry seemed to spark very spontaneously. The real reason perhaps the sluggish character development might be because of much more will be explored in a sequel, which has been perfectly set-up from the end of the movie.

Any one going to see this film, watch out for the following Easter-eggs:
  - a truck that is destroyed contains the logo 'Lex-Corp', a possible hint to the next villian
  - The satelite destroyed by Zod contains the Wayne Enterprise logo.

7.5/10

IRON (FE) MAN part 3

The first big blockbuster of 2013 IRON MAN 3 is officially out and is an epic conclusion to the trilogy.
Starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark aka. Iron Man along with Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadler also reprising their roles with the addition of Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley and Rebecca Hall as new additions.

The film is very unlikely to win best picture at next years Oscars, though best SFX is a more probable with nearly every scene having some sort of visual effect to 'wow' the audience; so necessary, others just gimmicky. My main problem with this film is that it has lost its appeal as believable. Ok, so a man in a custom-made flying suit is not exactly real, but the first film made you actually believe such a thing could be possible as you saw Stark building and testing the first Iron Man suits, with some funny and epic results. In Iron Man 3 how ever there are several suits, all of which are remote controlled (so need for any one to actually be in them) but also the parts are remotely connected and can literally 'fly' onto Stark at his command even if he is half-way across America.

Iron Man 3 is defiantly worth a watch though as it has many twists and turns that some times leaves the audience confused as to how the film will end; though it is always obvious that the good guy will prevail and the bad guy will fall. The choice of villains are very well cast, though the inclusion of exploding enemies is not something I am big fan of.

7/10

Tomb Raider

A SURVIVOR IS BORN

What ever you have thought about the Tomb Raider series, this game will completely blow you away. If you have not played any of the previous games, then not to worry as this reboot is a completely new story line and gives the player the opportunity to discover a side of Lara we may have not seen before, young, naive and very emotional; much different from the trigger-happy adventurer we all know and love. The game takes a new setting too on a remote island close to Japan.
It has taken me less than a week to complete the story mode with 85% completion and I have to admit it is one of the most addictive titles you will play this year. The game uses an open sandbox environment for players to explore, unlike previous titles which had a level system in place. The open environment is important as it allows the player to explore the scenery and complete achievements by hunting wildlife, raiding tombs, collecting treasures and much more, though like a lot of sandbox games glitches to have a habit of appearing and this title is no exception, though they are few and far between.

The game begins after the ship you are on sinks, and from then on you must try and meetup with the rest of the crew as well learning to adapt and to survive within the wild by finding weapons, hunting wildlife and of course kicking ass.

The game has been in development for a long time, and thank goodness as this is a game that has clearly meant a lot to every in involved and is a most welcome addition to the Tomb Raider franchise. The graphics are beautifully polished with facial expressions that clearly express how Lara is feeling-as well as her spontaneous monologues voiced by Camilla Luddington.  The narrative is clear and flows well with the game play. Though I may have admitted to completed the game within less than a week it did feel as though as it would never end as new catastrophes occur resulting into further investigation into the strange island.

Fun, exciting and action packed, all you want from a TR titles yes?Minus a flatulent and very cold butler (for those cruel people that locked him in a fridge) The game includes a multi-player option that also includes various add-ons and is developed by Edios. The main game is developed Crystal Dynamics and is published by Square Enix.

Tomb Raider is out now and worth a play. 10/10