Film Review: Southpaw

Get In The Ring

Sitting side-by-side with the release of Inside Out this week is the release of Southpaw, a boxing drama which focuses on the rise and fall of Jake Gyllenhaal's (Donnie Darko, Zodiac) Billy Hope after witnessing the death of his beloved wife (Rachel McAdams, True Detective) whilst being directed by Antoine Fuqua, the American mastermind behind the Oscar Winning Training Day and the not-so-Oscar-winning The Equalizer from last year. What brought the most anticipation from the film for me personally however, aside from the brilliant Gyllenhaal, was its' scriptwriter, Kurt Sutter, the architect behind one of the most addictive shows of recent years, Sons of Anarchy, who takes full control of the story for the very first time in a cinematic format after years of making waves on the small screen. The question that needs to be answered therefore is does Sutter's first taste of Hollywood pull out all the punches or does it find itself seriously on the ropes? I'd say somewhere in between. 

Throughout the course of the movies two-hour runtime, there are examples of Sutter in his prime, particularly in regards to scenes in which we witness out hero Hope break down under the influence of his wife's loss, showing how in moments of desperation and despair, Sutter's writing can flourish. One obvious difference for me between Southpaw and Sons of Anarchy for example was the way in which I never felt guilty or treacherous in my support for the films' lead, something of which I felt whilst watching Sons of Anarchy where the bulk of the time, our supposed "heroes" are off committing murder or some other form of major crime. Of course, one of the reasons Sutter's writing works so well is mainly due in part to the performance of Gyllenhaal, who once again astutely showcases his talent as an actor and gives the best sporting performance I've seen since Christian Bale in The Fighter, a performance that subsequently won him an Oscar, whilst solidly being supported by the veteran of cinema that is Forest Whitaker as coach Titus Wills.

In terms of the overall quality of the film however, Southpaw's connection with The Fighter ultimately stops there however with the latter being a much better piece of cinema as a whole, whilst the former having flashes of brilliance, particularly in the nail-biting fight sequences, but overall feeling rather cliched and even cringe-worthy in some places, particularly the "guest" additions of both the pimp-looking Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and the rather worse-for-wear Rita Ora, who although improves from her rather pants cameo in Fifty Shades of Grey, doesn't exactly inspire hope for any chance of a future career away from BBC One and into Hollywood. So for a first shot at the gates of Hollywood, Sutter gives it his all in producing a script worthy of a one-time viewing, but definitely nothing more, whilst director Fuqua definitely improves on the rather arduous watch that was last years' The Equalizer and succeeds in producing a film that lasts as many rounds as it needs to, but ultimately fails to launch that final, winning blow.

Overall Score: 6/10

TV Review: True Detective - Season Two Episode Six "Church In Ruins" SPOILER ALERT

Risky Business

Due to an enormous level of work and cinema constraints (Damn you Inside Out!), my rather punctual review of the week's episode of True Detective has annoyingly come two days too late, but nevertheless, such a time period has allowed me to fully digest "Church In Ruins", an episode in which events within the personal and overall plot-lines of our main heroes and heroines took a step up in an attempt to ready us for the roller-coaster ride that hopefully will be the series' two concluding episodes. If one overall positive thing is to be taken away from this years' series of True Detective, it is undeniably going to be Colin Farrell, who's performance as troubled cop Ray Velcoro hit top-notch this week, particularly during the scene in which we relentlessly witness his descent back into drugs and drink in order to fully accept the notion of losing his son once and for all. On the opposite side of the law, Vince Vaughn continues to impress as Frank Semyon who continues to try and progress in his own investigation into the death of Ben Caspere whilst once again feeling the pressure from the depths of the criminal underworld with the return of the eerie, if rather out-of-place, sombrero wearing Mexican. 

As for Detective Bezzerides, wow. The concluding scene in which we witness one of the weirdest undercover operations ever was not only difficult to watch in some places, but also brilliantly executed within all the madness and endless sexual intimacy that was presented on-screen. Kudos too to Bezzerides' for her ninja skills in the inevitable, yet rather cool and badass knife-attack in which we finally see her expert knife-wielding tactics being but to good use. Oddly enough, with all the attention firmly on Velcoro and Bezzerides this week, Taylor Kitsch's Paul Woodrugh decided to take a step back this week from the limelight and oddly enough, brought about a much better episode, with his own personal storyline definitely being the weakest of the trio's throughout the series so far, yet his looming one-two of marriage and fatherhood may be the cause for his troubles to have finally stopped. This week's episode of True Detective therefore definitely produced a high watermark for the series, propped up by Farrell's magnificent performance and a scintillating final scene in which the bones of the overall storyline just got a little bit juicier. 

Overall Score: 8/10 

    

Film Review: Inside Out

Life of Riley

When it comes to my final countdown of this years' best and brightest movies, at least two films within that list will be that of an animated pedigree, with the first being the wonderful Song of the Sea, released only two weeks ago, which proved to be one of the most blissfully entertaining and emotion rattling films that I had seen so far this year with gorgeous visuals, a simply gorgeous design and a soundtrack that rivals any classic musical companion to date. The second on that list however, without a doubt, will be this weeks' new Disney Pixar release, Inside Out, a film so masterful in reaching all its' cinematic targets and avenues that it begs the question whether Disney can ever outdo itself ever again in creating a film that not only touches the heart, but touches the mind too with concepts and ideas that are set to bring a overarching sense of joy out in everyone, even if they are too stubborn to admit it. 

The story of Inside Out focuses on the life of young Riley Anderson and her five manifestations of emotions that reside within her mind who control the way in which her life is run, whether it be saving memories of joy and happiness, creating islands of Riley's personality or just finding solutions to day-to-day problems and situations young Riley finds herself in. Of these emotions, Joy (Voiced by Amy Poehler) believes the best way for Riley to live her life is to constantly be happy and only resort to the other emotions of either Disgust, Fear, Anger and Sadness if completely necessary, yet Riley and her emotions are turned upside down when she is forced to relocate from Minnesota to San Francisco, resulting in a range of stark changes that set Joy and co. on a wild quest to adapt to their inhabitants sudden and relentless changes. From the plot synopsis alone, it is obvious that Inside Out is a movie that can be related with by almost everyone and anyone, regardless of age, with the youngest audience being there for the gorgeous visuals and design, the high comedic and slapstick output and relationship to the character of Riley, whilst the older audience being there to enjoy the relationship between Riley and her parents, helped by a deep understanding of the films' main idea that growing up brings with it a rafter of changes, both physically and mentally. 

Of the many positives within the film, the simple, yet brilliant concepts that continued to pop up were astounding to behold, with trains of thought, islands of personality, imaginary friends and subconscious fears all being expertly designed, resulting in a roller-coaster ride of emotions with moments of sheer sadness, uplifting joy, and an overall sense of wonder that the film willingly creates. For example, one young girl in the cinema showing I was in actually broke down in tears during the film and although I was never going to follow suit, I have to admit, there were times my tongue was being well and truly bit, particularly in regards to the final scene of Riley's imaginary friend, Bing Bong. I'm such an emotional wreck. These collage of magical elements that encompassed Inside Out throughout its' runtime results in making the film not only one of the best of the year, but a true Disney Classic, one of which will live long in the memory of all that choose to watch it. 

Overall Score: 10/10     

    

Film Review: Self/Less

The Bored Identity

The final cinematic release out this week is that of Self/Less, a science fiction thriller featuring everyone's favourite Ben Affleck doppelganger, Ryan Reynolds, and everyone's favourite Gandhi, Ben Kingsley, whilst being directed by Tarsem Singh, famous for films such as Immortals and Mirror Mirror of which I am afraid to say I haven't exactly attempted to seek out anytime soon. In regards to his latest release, when property and business tycoon Damian Hayes (Kingsley) is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he decides to undergo a medical procedure named "shedding" at the hand of eerie Professor Albright (Matthew Goode Stoker, The Imitation Game) which transfers his life-force into that of a new and healthy human body in order to further live his life and not succumb to that of an early death from cancer. After a successful procedure in which the newly named Edward Hale (Reynolds) takes advantage of his newly found youth and good looks, the echoes of a distant past begin to trouble his mind leading to Edward/Damian attempting to seek out the ambiguous answers behind the secretive organisation of Prof. Albright and co who have become eager to track him down and put an end to his life once and for all. 

Although Self/Less does feature an interesting, if rather preposterous, premise, any element of supposed greatness is lost in the films' messy presentation, lack of real suspense or excitement, and a knack to abandon all hope of real intelligence by annoyingly resorting to endless, and exceedingly boring, action sequences in a failed attempt to be this years' Total Recall. Unfortunately for director Singh and the one-two writer partnership of David and Alex Pastor, they are most definitely not in the league of Phillip K. Dick with their screenplay attempting to be something that is both highly engaging and clever at the same time but ultimately results in Self/Less being both highly sleep-inducing and ultimately, incidental. Ben Kingsley's absorbing ten minute stint on-screen aside, Self/Less was hugely uninspiring and rather quite boring on the face of it, with seemingly having a lot to say, but ultimately choking at the chance to say it with any form of gusto or fervour in sight.  

Overall Score: 4/10  

Film Review: The Gallows

School's Out

Adding to this years' already terribly mediocre lineup of horror movies this week is The Gallows, another entry into the overblown horror filmography of the murderers of contemporary horror that is Blumhouse Productions, a company famous for their work with the Paranormal Activity series, the Insidious series, The Purge, and of course the Sinister series. Aside from all being produced by the same company, these particular films all share a particular trait in seemingly being the blueprint and and DNA for the way in which modern horror flicks are made, with the age-old use of the quiet, quiet band technique being the cornerstone of each films' genetic makeup. Sure, there are few good entries within the back catalogue of Blumhouse, particularly the first Paranormal Activity and Sinister, whilst the also have the proud honour of producing Whiplash which still holds its' own as film of the year so far in my opinion, but a huge chunk of their films are either too similar in tone to be extinguished from any other around them or just being actually plain terrible. In terms of The Gallows therefore, Blumhouse's new addition to the horror genre hopelessly falls into the latter category with it being a painful experience from start to finish, and not in a good horror movie way. 

After a tragic accident during a school production of The Gallows in 1993 where pupil Charlie freakishly died by that of hanging, the same school once again after 20 or so years sets out to perform the play once more, much to the displeasure of Reese who is set to perform in the leading role with an aim to win the heart of his leading lady. When Reese's friend Ryan comes up with the idea to destroy the set before the day of the show in order to prevent any potential failings on Reese's part, along with girlfriend Cassidy, they somehow become locked in the school and being to wonder if the evil spirit of the dead Charlie is with them once again. So, where are the problems with The Gallows I hear you ask? Everywhere. Firstly, the shaky, tedious option of the found-footage genre is as generic as it comes within this particular film with it not expanding its' horizons in any form whatsoever and instead relies on annoying moments of long, boring and ultimately pointless shots of either darkness, a room, or someones' emotionless face in a failed attempt to mimic or take heed from that of the classic that is The Blair Witch Project. The addition of the ever-infuriating camera shake to enable our protagonists to run away in complete darkness just results in making the film incredibly hard to watch and achieves nothing except making me regret the fact that I could have possibly paid for this film if it was not for the beauty of my Cineworld Unlimited card. 

As for the protagonists, this brings me to my second point which is that any good horror movie creates and leaves you with a sense of threat or danger towards characters that you really care about and are meant to worry for during their duration of whatever horrific act their particular horror movie has placed them in. Within The Gallows however, the filmmakers have decided to not abide by this notion at all and instead placed us with the most hateful, annoying, cringe-inducing protagonists I have seen in a long time, especially that of high-school bully Ryan who's role in the first twenty minutes of the film is to behave like a total ass and act like the kind of person you are just waiting to be murdered horrifically in a film like this in order to wipe his non-nonsensical life from existence. With hateful characters such as this, all The Gallows does is leave you rooting for the supposed evil presence of Charlie to swiftly knock off his victims and get the film over and done with, something of which I sense was not entirely the filmmakers goal. Finally, the film succeeds in bringing one jump to the table and I haven't decided, or really cared about deciding, whether this was due to the scene being actually quite scary or whether the volume of the showing was fundamentally going to make me jump, yet with this being under the production values of Blumhouse, I am going to go for the latter. Hand your head in shame The Gallows, you are a stinker of a horror movie. 

Overall Score: 2/10  

Duo Review - Ant-Man - The Small Packs a Punch!

DAN - With the release of Peyton Reed's Ant Man this week, the mammoth of a machine that is Marvel continues to ever-grow and seemingly swallow everything in its' path, regardless of the competition at hand. With Comic Con last week seemingly handing the hype trophy over to DC due in part to the explosion of Batman and TV related goodness, cast interviews and movie trailers, particularly that of the eagerly anticipated Suicide Squad, it seems obvious that DC are staging an attempt to sway the Marvel machine off its' course for the time being even though they still hold the award for best comic-related movie ever in the form of The Dark Knight. So with DC winning the hype-race at Comic Con, Marvel have seemingly decided to take a seat back from the fire-fight for the time being and allow us to revel in the formation of a new Avenger in the form of Paul Rudd's Scott Lang, the incarcerated criminal who unwillingly undertakes the role of Ant Man under the guidance of Micheal Douglas's Hank Pym, a retired former S.H.I.E.L.D agent who had once previously been the occupier of the famous Ant Man suit. Where before Marvel films have seemed to undertake a very similar, formulaic layout, Ant Man points more towards the spectrum of Guardians of the Galaxy, particularly in terms of its' high comedic value, something of which makes Ant Man one of the most enjoyable Marvel entries so far, and ultimately concludes Phase Two of the MCU in a rather cool and collective fashion. 

The entire reason for why Guardians of the Galaxy succeeded so well last year was the unexpected turn it took from the rather similar and over-used Marvel film blueprint for almost all entries in the MCU up to its' release, with it combining a underlying comedic element and self-mockery to the fundamental questionable concept of a team of heroes that combined a tree and a talking raccoon. Add in a scorching soundtrack and a well-chosen cast, Guardians of the Galaxy truly was one of the highlights of last year, let alone in its' own expandable universe, and Ant Man swiftly follows suit by once again being another Marvel related success which combines a huge riff of comedy, due in part to the influence of Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish who left half-way through production, and a wonderful cast, strongly spearheaded by the one-two of both Rudd and Douglas. Compared to the spectacle of most MCU-related movies, it was actually quite refreshing to see Ant Man take more of a low-key approach, with the action only really taking place in the final act of the film after some interesting and highly enjoyable character development in the first two-thirds, with scenes in which the miniaturisation was used in a hugely comical manner being one of the many highlights of the film. 

Other highlights of the film included Ant Man's accidental meeting with a fully-formed Avenger and the way the film included Easter Eggs and references to the MCU, particularly its' attempt to signify its' move away from the Avengers with Pym's statement of them being busy "toppling a city somewhere", rather tongue-in-cheek at the destruction caused in Age of Ultron. Such levels of destruction thankfully cannot be attributed to Ant Man however with the biggest moment of chaos being caused by an enlargement of Thomas the Tank Engine in a scene with produced chuckles from the entire screening audience. In terms of the problems, Ant Man does seem to bear resemblance to Guardians a bit too much resulting in a lack of freshness from Marvel's POV, particularly when the latter was only released last year, whilst the plot thread of the Quantum Realm seemed a bit too rushed and jack-hammered in to be truly interesting. All in all however, Ant Man succeeds in being a rather entertaining and much welcomed entry into the MCU, and in my opinion beats Age of Ultron for best Marvel film so far this year. Up next, Fantastic Four. What a time to be alive. 

Dan's Score: 8/10

PETE - Dan has hit the nail on the head. Ant-Man was another one of the MCU's films that
honestly looked a bit naff. The trailers were lacking and it felt like the whole movie was pretty much summed up within them, yet like Guardians of the Galaxy, it was a huge surprise. The journey of an ex-con turned superhero was fantastic. Instead of dropping you into a story with characters who know their powers, their limits and strengths, we actually see a someone become a hero who doesn't have infinite wealth or training to begin with.

The story was great fun. Ant-Man always seemed a but dull to me but Marvel have the uncanny ability to create characters that are so likeable and fun that make me want to run down to the comic store and dig into the back catalogue for a little more. Now as I haven't seen anything involving Ant-Man, I can only say that I enjoyed the portrayal I saw, whether it is accurate or not. Paul Rudd simply doesn't age and I'm sure for many years to come we could see him playing this role because he was great fun. His comedic wrap sheet means that he can execute lines on a whim and be extremely convincing doing so. Its the character that he can embody. Yet, considering Ant-Man is supposed to have a master degree, we really don't see much about this at all but hopefully we can see it in his next outing.

It makes me wonder how people become evil in the Marvel world. The claims of righteous acts aren't enough to justify it for me. When you watch a massive city/town lifted into the sky and the Avengers destroying this giant threat, why would you honestly think that your squishy body has any sort of chance. The ending for said villain was rather quick and honestly it felt a little rushed. The sequence was fantastic fun but it was to short compared to the entirety of the movie but nevertheless, it isn't the typical way we see Marvel villains go and is rather liberating to see it so.

Marvel are great when it comes to visuals but it does feel as if Ant-Man's budget was a little smaller in the CGI department as all the backgrounds in the miniature scenes lacked fidelity as looked very fuzzy. As for the rest, the ants look awesome and the giant scenes tended to uphold the general trend set by Marvel. The music was on point and the action was explosive and funny all at once. Is it better than Guardians? No. Is it worth your time? Hell yes. Its great and I really can't wait until he makes an appearance in other instalments and we get a lot more cameos. PS - That SHIELD
cameo was pretty damn epic! 8/10!

Overall Score - 8/10

TV Review: True Detective - Season Two Episode Five "Other Lives" SPOILER ALERT

Aftershocks

With the bloody, gunshot ridden conclusion that rounded off last week's episode of True Detective, this week's venture into Nic Pizzolatto's noir-crime drama was bound to deal with the consequences of such, particularly in regards to the surviving trio of Velcoro, Bezzerides and Woodrugh who witnessed first hand a barrage of death and destruction. After a weird and ambiguous change to the show's theme tune to start us off with, such consequences of the shootout are swiftly distinguished within "Other Lives" with Velcoro and Bezzerides seemingly ending up with the short change, with the latter now working under Frank Semyon and the former ending up in storage, whilst Woodrugh has seemingly taken all the plaudits and rewarded with the opportunity to have a go at being Detective. Of course being only halfway through the series, the fact that both Velcoro and Bezzerides are now out of the main picture, it has given them a chance to establish, low key, other inquiries into the ever-confusing death of Ben Caspere, much to the enjoyment of every True Detective fan with this particular episode diving deeper into the seedy backstory into his death, including a rather nasty looking hut with a rather bloody look to it in a scene that bears similarities to that of the first series. 

Elsewhere, Frank Semyon attempted to reconnect with his human side in an attempt to rekindle his relationship with Mrs. Semyon whilst Velcoro was asked to look into his personal staff in an attempt to detect the blame in regards to his loss of finance which followed the death of Ben Caspere. With Velcoro well and truly under the thumb of Semyon, the rather shocking twist regarding the true fate of his wife's rapist brought the episode to a mouthwatering close, in a confrontation that will ultimately have heavy repercussions heading into the final few episodes. With all the negativity regarding the snail-esque pace of this season's main storyline, "Over Lives" fought back with a bang and offered a chance to delve deeper into the lives of all four of our main protagonists whilst moving forward with its' underlying through point regarding the death of Ben Caspere at a rate which finally is leading Season Two of True Detective into a direction it deserves to be heading in. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Song of the Sea

A Seaside Rendezvous

With every passing year, the wide range of ingenious minds behind the art that is animation seem to be getting better and better with Tomm Moore's Song of the Sea a prime example of the boundaries to which the animated feature can be explored upon and to what extent the endless opportunities such a genre of film can be used to create something simply beautiful to behold. In a time where "popcorn cinema" is seemingly taking the big bucks with the endless cycle of brainless, un-imaginative bore-fests, what a sheer pleasure it was to behold and admire Song of the Sea, a gorgeous, traditionally animated masterpiece that not only triggered a wide range of emotions inside, but left me with a sense of blissfulness that encapsulated to the full, the five year old child inside me.

After suffering the loss of both a mother and wife during childbirth, father Conor (Brendan Gleeson) and son Ben (David Rawle) are left to raise their seemingly mute new sibling Saoirse (Lucy O'Connell) within the confines of their lighthouse along with family pet Cu. After years of solitude, Conor's mother forces the children to move with her into the city, leaving the lighthouse, the sea, their father and Cu for good in order to build a new life in the suburbs, much to the sadness of both brother and sister who quickly decide to find their way back to the one place they feel they belong. On their journey back home however, Ben becomes wary of his sister's new-found abilities to not only communicate with creatures of folklore and legend, but to possibly be that of a Selkie, a mythical creature derived from the ocean and that of a seal, leading to an adventure of a lifetime with an overall goal to return home to their father once again.

In my review of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya,  I noted that each and every frame could easily be frozen and presented as a work of art in its' own right, something of which can be said of Song of the Sea, a film that not only has layers upon layers of magical and mystical imagery in almost every scene, but has clearly taken the time to add the smaller and minute details that make its' sense of wonder even greater, even if they aren't that important in the context of the film. Many times I simply pointed at the screen in awe of its' beauty and sheer charm, whether it be the image of buried, sleeping animals in the ground, or the mosaic-esque design of the woodland where we are treated to an almost x-ray vision of our character's surroundings. Along with the overall design of the film, the writers' brilliant imagination encompassed the underlying mystical traits of the film, with the scene in which we are introduced to the Owl Witch/Macha in particular being one of the many examples in which all the positive elements of the film came together in expertly fashion. 

When it comes to the many positive elements of Song of the Sea, I could seriously and willingly go on all day about them as there is so much to love and so much to take away, with the film concluding with scenes that will most definitely want to make you grab for the nearest tissue box, even if you are too stubborn to admit it. If a film like Song of the Sea was released every week into a global audience, I strongly believe the world will be a much better place, but with its' limited availability in UK cinemas, it's a sure possibility that it may go under the radar, a sad fact to take in, yet if you do manage to find the chance to watch Song of the Sea, please do, as Tomm Moore's animated masterpiece is a film that pulls on the heartstrings, embraces the magical, mystical elements of Irish folklore to the fullest and leaves you with a genuine feeling to experience it all again, a recipe for success if ever there was one. 

Overall Score: 10/10

TV Review: True Detective - Season Two Episode Four "Down Will Come" SPOILER ALERT

To Live and Die In L.A

With the first series of True Detective declaring it's sheer awesomeness during its' fourth episode when we were treated to the now-famous one-take, gang-land escape scene, this week's episode of series two was bound to include some sort of monumental set-piece in some form or another. And boy, wasn't it just? The explicitly violent massacre that concluded "Down Will Come" not only was shocking as it was bloody, but also featured ten minutes of ramped-up action that had been absent from this season so far, concluding with Officers Velcoro, Bezzerides, and Woodrugh physically repelled at the sheer carnage they had just all witnessed after a search and seizure on a potential suspect was turned completely on its' head. Although such a scene was downright epic in its' own right, parallels to the first series was inevitable. regardless of how good such a scene was going to be, yet I think it's time to move away from comparisons to the first series and just enjoy True Detective for what its' attempting to be this year; a dark and brooding noir crime thriller that is trying it's hardest to shake off the plaudits of its' predecessor by not being just more of the same. 

Of course, the argument that its' attempting to not be "more of the same" can be easily criticised due in part to the way in which such a set piece in this week's episode was pretty much expected, but on the whole, the concluding shootout worked and I believe if such a scene was placed into another, bog-standard crime show, it would be applauded. I know True Detective, you just can't win. Although the final scene was something to take away from this week's episode, in terms of the overall plot, not much was entirely expanded upon, with Frank Semyon still attempting to rebuild his legacy in the crime underworld, whilst the depth of the case was only focused on within the last ten minutes or so, aside from some rather confusing plot lines regarding spiritual seminars and land development, making this week's episode memorable in places, but overall, just filler in the overall context of the seasons overarching plot threads. 

Overall Score: 7/10 

Duo Film Review: Ted 2

Dan's Review

Comedy that is shipped over from the US into our beloved country always seems to be an example of something having that "marmite factor" whereby you either love it or loathe it. In the case of Seth MacFarlane and his own personal brand of comedy, I do believe he is a talent, with the first few seasons of Family Guy still being his opus magnum in my opinion, but any talent he does possess is seemingly starting to wear thin and I can't work out whether my taste for his humour has outgrown me or whether it is just plain bad. What an opportunity it was then for Mr MacFarlane to solidify his stance as one of the US's leading comedic flagships with the release of Ted 2, a sequel to the 2012 comedy featuring MacFarlane himself as the voice of the titular living, breathing teddy bear and "Marky" Mark Wahlberg as best friend John Bennett. A return to form for Mr MacFarlane you ask? I'm not too sure. 

After a year of marriage to partner Tami-Lynn, Ted (MacFarlane) believes the best way to revive their eroding relationship is to raise a child as their own through means of adoption after Tami-Lynn is found to be infertile due to heavy drug use. Due to the application of such an adoption, Ted is red-flagged as being property and not in fact human, leading to his marriage being annulled and a court case to determine whether such a status can be revoked. With "thunder buddy for life", John at his side, along with attorney Samantha L Jackson (Amanda Seyfried), Ted must face the power of the courts in order to claim his life back once again. In terms of the comedic value of Ted 2, MacFarlane does manage to include some funny set pieces that although are heavily influenced by the slapstick comedy prevalent in Family Guy, was quite effective in some areas of the film throughout its' overlong two-hour runtime. Funny too were incidents in which humour was placed just below, or even slightly above the line of bad taste, particularly in one scene in which Ted and John rudely interrupt an improvised comedy sketch. 

Now here are the problems. Firstly, there are few too many jokes within Ted 2 that just don't hit the mark at all and actually end up being rather cringe-worthy, particularly the recurring jokes about men's genitals and Amanda Seyfried's character being called Samuel L. Jackson which when repeated actually brought about silence into the screening I was in instead of rapturous laughter which I assume Seth MacFarlane, in all his infinite wisdom, was aiming for. Secondly, the film's plot has a fairly similar design to its' titular character, with them both being rather hollow and stuffed with rather inanimate rubbish, such as weird, out-of-place cameos from people such as Liam Neeson who had obviously just turned up for the paycheck in a scene which may have better suited something like Family Guy instead of a feature film in which it made no sense whatsoever. 

Lastly, the films' treatment of women, geeks, and other separate groups of people aside from either single hunk-man or teddy bear was actually rather crass and immature as well as lazy on the writers' part showcasing how although Seth MacFarlane can be funny in places, overall, his comedy seemingly only encompasses that of a mind of a teenager desperate to show how much swearing he can fit into one single sentence whist feeling anxious at the lack of sexual endeavors he has explored in his life to date. The "marmite factor" that is so often the case when it comes to Seth MacFarlane was highly evident once again in Ted 2, a film that although was funny in places, was rather unremarkable and quite tedious on the face of it resulting in Mr MacFarlane once again failing to align himself with the gold-star comedy he may or may not be capable of. 

Dan's Score: 4/10  

Pete's Review

Ted 2 is a comedy movie which answers the age old question of, 'How the fuck does this bear legally work and marry?' Well, it gets answered and we see that Ted 2 is based on giving Ted (Seth MacFarlane) personship and civil rights to work, marry and adopt a child as being a classified human entity. As we know though, the film won't be all doom and gloom and the ending is guaranteed from the start but its the journey that gets them there. John (Mark Wahlberg) is now single after Mila Kunis left him and is down in the dumps until the duo come across Samantha (Amanda Seyfried) while on the search for a lawyer to represent Ted. John's story is him finding love and how the pairs attraction flourishes as they get high and help their friend, Ted is merely along for the ride. As far as comedies go nowadays, this story is one of the betters. No plot holes, loops or anything to confuse, a very linear sequence with a few reflections of the past installment but altogether fun and engaging. 

Comedies aren't something you can rate like any other film, it is the most subjective genre out there and lacks the artsy glitz and glam of Hollywood blockbusters and art house films. The film looks wonderful, a couple shots gained through a GoPro don't have an effect on the viewing and the VFX for Ted were almost perfect. Seth MacFarlane has a warehouse of talents and its almost always promised that you will come out of the theater with a smile. His selection of music gives transitions a very classic feel with a variety of names that remind me of his Oscars show a few years back (Still my favourite). Honestly, its a well made movie. Production has been key and they've made it look and sound fantastic, the casting was ramped up and the acting was nowhere near as bad as I had anticipated. Now the comedy. The struggle. Often enough I was laughing away at the obscenities and antics that the group got up to but American pop culture references dropped like a stone. Its universal audience watched as a moment of silence ensued for comedic effect but brought no laughs. References like this ruined certain scenes, made them null and void for anyone watching. It leaves you wondering exactly what is going on. 

Not many people will know Tom Brady outside of the US and I'm probably one of few to know who he actually is but his history requires a shred of knowledge of American 'Football'. It's not all bad! In fact, when things like this weren't going on, I was constantly wiping tears from my eyes, more so at a particular improvisation scene which has me laughing still 24 hours on and a lot of hyper-sensitive farts pissed. Perhaps it's my morbid sense of humour but I really love jokes that can be offensive. I love Jeremy Clarkson and Frankie Boyle for those exact reasons. Ted 2 surpassed the original and although certain story elements were repeated in this, they were better executed with a level of comedy that was far more confident than that previously. Everything looked wonderful and it was a fun movie. It's good entertainment for those who want something simple and its probably one of the better examples of American comedies I've seen in a while. 

Pete's Score: 7/10

Overall Score: 5.5/10

Terminator Genisys - Double Trouble Review - I'll probably be back

DAN - As soon as it was announced that a new Terminator movie was set to grace our screens sometime this year, the first thought that came to mind was "flogging the horse", with the annoyingly named Terminator Genisys (Erm, dictionary anyone?) being the FIFTH instalment of a series in which the first two both settle in the category of classics, whilst its' successors only manage to solidify themselves into the category of, "okay, but not brilliant". With Arnie taking a break off from the franchise in Terminator Salvation, his return in the Alan Taylor directed Genisys, was at least some sort of reconciliation with my personal love for the series, with Mr. Schwarzenegger always having that monumental feat of being a truly brilliant screen presence, regardless of how bad a film he is in may be (Think of "classics" such as Eraser for example). Unfortunately for Arnold and friends, including Emilia Clarke (Erm, Game of Thrones), Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty), Jai Courtney (Die Hard 5), and the lovely Matt Smith (Doctor Who), the sign of how mediocre a film like Terminator Genisys actually is can be traced back to the first theatrical trailer in which for its' entire duration we are treated to echoes, lines, and even direct scenes from previous entries in the series and after finally watching the movie in its' complete package, that's pretty much what I took from it, with Genisys being a movie essentially jealous of its' better, older siblings and it subsequently attempting to mimic them into becoming something it most definitely isn't. Rant mode activated. 

The plot of Terminator Genisys, if it can actually be called a plot, focuses on the war-torn John Connor's (Clarke) attempts to finally foil the Skynet invasion of Judgement Day by sending back good friend and fellow soldier Kyle Reese (Courtney) to the 1980's by use of a Skynet designed time-machine which has already sent back a Terminator to kill off Sarah Connor, the mother of John, in order to prevent the resistance of man from ever coming to fruition. Uh, hold up, isn't this just the plot from the first Terminator? Yes. It is. But wait! In an attempt to do something wholly original, Genisys attempts to make us believe that the events of the first two Terminator movies in fact never happened with a plot line that is one, completely ludicrous, two, not clear-cut or understandable in the slightest, and three, certainly abides by the 12A certificate by presenting no sense of threat, shock or horror throughout its' two-hour runtime and in fact, keeping with the Matt Smith casting, actually felt like a two-hour Doctor Who episode, solidified by the cheesy, saccharin sweet ending in which my love for the Terminator series was seriously put into question.

Aside from the nonsensical plot, Genisys was evidently a film in love with its' previous incarnations, with way too many in-house references to the first two Terminators, whether it be cheesy, over-used lines such as "get out", or "I'll be back", direct copy of villain choice, with the brilliant Robert Patrick portrayal of the T-1000 in Judgment Day being replaced with a shoddy, boring, no-one that thankfully was on screen less than I actually expected, or just the same characters, albeit in a much more boring and shallow reincarnation. I mean, I love Emilia Clarke as much as the next man but to be honest, she is no Linda Hamilton, and Clarke's portrayal of Sarah Connor just felt wrong and flat, with no sense of depth or a case for me to actually believe Clarke could be this character. I'm sorry Emilia, you have been miscast. Of course, in any case in which a film has so many negative attributes, there are some positives, with the film being rather silly and fun in some places, with some of the effects being so cool it actually produced a little snigger of joy now and then, but when it comes to the fulfilment of a movie, I personally need more than that, and Terminator Genisys may indeed be action-packed and explosive ridden on the surface, but its' depth is essentially non-existent, resulting in a popcorn movie for the masses rather than a much-loved classic like its' older, and indeed better, siblings. 

Dan's Score - 4/10

PETE - Well, it seems like Dan and I have swapped roles this week. Since Jurassic World's giant disappointment, I was left hoping that Terminator would do something different and dazzle me. Fortunately it did. Sure, its not the greatest movie in the series but it didn't simply repeat itself with a half-arsed money spinner with a plot that was vacant of any consistency.Terminator is another movie from my childhood that I actually feel was a decent reboot. Lets hope its not a new trilogy...

The plot was basic. It was a little complex and over convoluted with the general use of time travel but the rest of it is very simple. I wasn't expecting something with a story like Interstellar, I wanted something entertaining with a plot that wasn't ripped off from the previous generations. It was a creative use of the situation which tied the series up with a nice bow. Sure, its basic and the big surprise of the movie was ruined in the trailers, but this is one of the reasons I tend to avoid them. Its simple, but gives the originals enough of a twist to become different and have a creative angle on a series that's been drawn out for many years.

What really lets the movie down is the visual FX and CGI. On the Terminators themselves, it was fairly good but it tried to hard to use visual effects similar to that of the originals as some sort of fan service but it looks so blunt and disjointed amongst other good examples in the same scene! The way people fly off a rolling car isn't like a ragdoll, its more like a still being slid along the screen in animation closer to SNES Mario. Its as if one of the artists was being fired and just fucked with everything he could while the better in the group simply continued with everything they had without even a look to see just how bad some of it was.

Perhaps it was fan service, but the fan service I enjoyed was Arnie. Who doesn't love the man? He's a power house on and off screen, his acting is pretty poor which aids the whole robot thing and he's been given an element of humour to him rather than cold blooded killer we've seen before. Although not along the lines of the original but an enjoyable take nonetheless. As for the rest of them, meh. Emilia Clarke is a woman I've had little contact with in my consumption, her role in Game of Thrones seems to be the driving force behind her but her performance in this doesn't give me hope for when I eventually get around to watching GoT. Die Hard's Jai Courtney is another that suggests poor things about his other pieces of work and I'm extremely disappointed by Jason Clarke. His role in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a solid performance which put him onto my watch list, this is just weak and lacklustre. As the dominant villain, he should have been far darker and twisted to really suggest his power and ability. 

Visually poor, acting was fairly flat and the story wasn't half bad. It is a popcorn movie and it always has been, I won't lie, but I can't see how the reincarnation of Jurassic Park using exactly the same basics of big bad dino, stupid people making a park and annoying children can be deemed as a good movie for the previous incarnations while Terminator is slated for daring to change the formula and wrap up its loose ends. I enjoyed it. Its funny, some great action scenes and a rather interesting take on the past.

For me, its a 7/10

OVERALL SCORE - 5.5/10

TV Review: True Detective - Season Two Episode Three "Maybe Tomorrow" SPOILER ALERT

May The Elvis Be With You

Last week's episode of True Detective left us questioning whether the series had accomplished one of the most shocking deaths of recent times with the supposed murder of Detective Velcoro, a character portrayed majestically by everyone's favourite Irish export Colin Farrell, yet such a mystery was immediately resolved in the first few minutes of "Maybe Tomorrow" when we established that the murderous bird-masked assailant had thankfully decided to load his shotgun with rubber bullets, much to the relief of Velcoro himself as well as most viewers I would assume who, like me, see Velcoro as one of the more interesting characters in this years' series. One negative aspect of such a quick resurrection however was that all the fun and games of playing that one scene over and over in the week between the two episodes was quickly overshadowed with such an attempt on one of the leading characters life being brushed over rather instantaneously, a major shame in my opinion. Top marks however for the obvious Lynch/Twin Peaks inspired dream sequence that kicked this week's episode off though. A good, retro, Lynch reference is always going to win me over. Well done. 

With Velcoro's swift resurrection, "Maybe Tomorrow" marched swiftly forward in an attempt to speed up the rather rambling plot lines that are starting to materialise, with the editing in this particular episode flying like a steam-train in order to keep us privy to not only dealings within the police force, but out of it, with Frank Semyon finally unleashing his inner evil after seeing one of his henchman being brutally murdered in manner not too dissimilar from that of Ben Caspere (Were his eyes not removed?). Furthermore, the obvious symbolism of sexual incapability between the two leads of the series in both Semyon and Woodrugh ties into the notion of both seemingly being absent from what they desire most, with Semyon reeling from the notion of leaving the criminal enterprise and Woodrugh's obvious defiance from "coming out" as it were. This undercurrent sexual motif has been highly recurrent in this series so far, making me question whether lead writer Nic Pizzolatto is purposely fleshing out characters with such vices in order to have not one, but a whole range of potential suspects for the series' main mystery on both sides of the law.

Weaknesses of the episode followed suit of the series' overall weaknesses so far, with a few more examples of cringe-worthy dialogue, whilst the shallow, caricature-ridden portrayal of Mayor Chessani 's family, including his trophy wife and extremely annoying son was rather laughable in places. Furthermore, what is everyone's problem with E-Cigarettes? I mean come on, there are much worse problems out there. In conclusion therefore, True Detective once again supplied another solid and intriguing slice of gritty, noir-esque mystery, stifled with sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, a winning recipe if ever there was one, if suffering from questionable dialogue and an all-too-quick resolution to the cliffhanger of the previous episode. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Housebound

Ghost-Trusters

The fundamental problem of producing a really good horror/comedy movie is attempting to abide by those two particular elements and produce enough of each to satisfy audiences prone to one and/or both throughout its' particular runtime. Take a classic example such as Scream for instance, one of the more popular black comedies that attempted and succeeded in producing a movie that poked fun at the cliches of the horror movie industry whilst having genuine horrific moments alongside it, due in part to the creative genius of one Wes Craven. Although in 2015 the horror movie genre has had some rather forgettable additions to it (It Follows, The Woman in Black 2 for example), the newest entry in the form of Gerard Johnstone's Housebound, is most definitely the best of the year so far, with it being one of those rare cases in which the mix of the comedic and the horrific go hand in hand in a rather harmonious fashion.   

When Kylie (Morgana O'Reilly) is sentenced to eight months house arrest with her mother and step-father after a robbery attempt gone wrong, she starts to notice strange occurrences throughout the house, ranging from missing food to murderous, rampaging teddy bears all the whilst being unable to escape due to an electronic tag that has been fitted on her as part of her sentence. Are these strange occurrence due in part to a ghostly spirit residing in the house or is it simply a case of Kylie losing her mind due to her newly found restricted freedom? Housebound follows in the footsteps of last years' The Babadook by not only being another success story from the Oceanic region, but by being a genuinely intelligent, spooky, and ultimately engaging horror film which although covers similar territory in regards to the tale of a haunted house, attempts to break the mould of all its' recent familiars (Insidious Chapter Three for example) by adding in an effective element of comedy to the floor, something of which I think worked throughout and made the film stand out in the category of horror films released so far this year. 

The final act of Housebound in which we witness the true horrors behind the house's strange occurrences was incredibly reminiscent of the recent horror marvel Your'e Next, particularly in one set piece where the latter's "blender scene" gets put to shame with one of the most goriest, if glorious, on-screen deaths I have seen in a long time which although was most definitely not for the faint hearted, seemingly continued to heavily reside on the black-comedy element which made it all more enjoyable, resulting in an simultaneous combination of both shock and sniggers. Overall, Housebound may resort to the age-old cliches of the tale of the haunted house, but it does it with confidence, comedy and style, making it one of this years' stand out performers in the genre of horror movies. 

Overall Score: 8/10