Oscars 2014 - Nominations and Predictions!

It's been a full year since my first Oscars post. Another phenomenal year for movies and an incredible selection to choose from once again. In the next few hours, the Oscars will be upon us and we will find out the answer to the Internet's biggest question; "Will Leo win best actor?". Personally, I'm doubtful. This years heavyweights - 12 Years a Slave and Gravity created huge buzz and have a lot in their corner. Down below are the awards I will be paying close attention too and below each topic is my prediction. 

 

Best Visual Effects

• Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds)
• Iron Man 3 (Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, Dan Sudick)
• The Lone Ranger (Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, John Frazier)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton)

Prediction - Gravity

Best Film Editing

• American Hustle (Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, Alan Baumgarten)
• Captain Phillips (Christopher Rouse)
• Dallas Buyers Club (John Mac McMurphy, Martin Pensa)
• Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
• 12 Years a Slave (Joe Walker)

Prediction - Gravity

 

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

• Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
• Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
• Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
• Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
• June Squibb (Nebraska)

Prediction -  Lupita Nyong'o

 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

• Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
• Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
• Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
• Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
• Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Prediction - Barkhad Abdi

 

Best Actress in a Leading Role

• Amy Adams (American Hustle)
• Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
• Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
• Judi Dench (Philomena)
• Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

Prediction - Sandra Bullock

 

Best Actor in a Leading Role

• Christian Bale (American Hustle)
• Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
• Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
• Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
• Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Prediction - Chiwetel Ejiofor (We are all rooting for you Leo!)

 

Best Directing

• American Hustle (David O. Russell)
• Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
• Nebraska (Alexander Payne)
• 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
• The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)

 Prediction - The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)

 

Best Picture

• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• Her
• Nebraska
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street

Prediction - 12 Years a Slave

 

What do you think about my predictions? Leave your ideas below in the comment section!

Ride Along - Quicky Review!

If you've ever seen the Rush Hour series, you have a very good grounding in Ride Along. The buddy cop movie that features Kevin Hart (Ben Barber) as campus security for a college/high school budding for a job in the police to live his dream and marry his girlfriend (played by Tika Sumpter). Barber's girlfriend happens to be Ice Cube's (James Payton) sister who is in the midst of an investigation that he's poured all of his man hours into and is seeing little results from. To deserve Payton's respect as both a police rookie and his blessing of marriage, Barber must go on a ride along to prove his worth.

Comedy movies are genuinely hard for me to review. The obvious lack of attention to the story is normally bad in any other genre apart from certain action movies but Ride Along has a balance of a story (all be it predictable) laced with comedy. It was enough to engage for the majority but moments tried to initiate emotions that weren't compatible with the flow (real good time to run to the toilet if you drank to much). However, to actually progress the story did well at giving an ending, no matter how cheesy it was.

As one of Kevin Hart's stand out roles in which he is the main focus, he does fairly well. His comedy style can be widely accepted by many and when you act stupid and do nothing but talk on stage, it isn't very hard to get into character for Ben Barber. Ice Cube also didn't have far to go, going from gang banger to FBI agent in 21 Jump Street and now wild police officer doesn't stray to far from the line. With flashes of meme based comedy that heavily involves memes of himself blended with some of his tunes are a great homage to his work and how much he's changed. As much as he was type-cast, the past "cop-killer" attitude makes his presence that much funnier.

Before I conclude, I would just like to pick on the filming and editing. At points, the editing done to the scenes (primarily the title sequence) look horrible. The screen is far to filled with action to be screwed over by some cheap ass graphics thrown across them that look like they've come out of Microsoft Word 1998.

To conclude, the film was great fun. Although a bit risqué for a 12 rating in the UK, its comedy thrives off of the success of Rush Hour by mimicking the duo style (PS - Ride Along 2 has been announced.). A good cast, a decent plot that can be ruined within minutes of the movie and a movie that is built for pure enjoyment. I look forward to another instalment and give this a 7/10.

Titanfall Beta - REVIEW!

As many of you may have noticed, the Titanfall Beta ended last week. I've left a little time between posting this to allow for it to settle down and hear some new information running up to the release. Down below is one of the first videos I uploaded to Youtube of my Titanfall antics. If you'd like to like, subscribe or anything else, simply go to the channel/video!

Titanfall is undoubtedly one of the, if not THE biggest game coming out this year. With rumours circulating about MLG competitions and Xbox One bundle with reduced price, this game is going to sky rocket even further than before. Based entirely online, the game has one weakness; No single player campaign. The lack of story worries me initially as it removes a lot of the potential. The story could be extremely fast paced and would be great to understand the warring factions. Although news of an online campaign within the multiplayer matches addresses these, it relies on others to pull their weight and also a stable internet connection to enjoy for a long period of time.

Ignoring the story, the Beta was simply an online stress test of their servers and checks on any glitches or bugs that may occur. Looking back at GTA V and others, the popularity of a beta would have solved many of the problems that plagued (and still do) its launch. With games like Bungie's Destiny later this year and Defiance (based on the Syfy channel TV show), it feels as if we are journeying towards multiplayer being the key component for gaming on the next generation consoles and Titanfall is the first to really open this.

If you care to look at my videos, it is easy to see how chaotic the game is. It feels like an all-out war zone although it's only 6v6, the inclusion of AI minions/grunts/spectres and the auto Titan function, the battlefield is packed. All the space is usable and easily accessible with the double jump and wall run functions but you cannot camp out as accessibility to every spot is incredibly easy. The fast paced nature and goals of each game also force you to keep moving and stop people from hiding in a corner under the stairs and delve right into the thick of it. All of it's mechanics are flawless and it flows brilliantly. All of the additions can switch the tide of a game for better or worst in a matter of seconds and it truly gets the blood pumping with no "WTF, How the fuck did he get me" when you no damn well how they got you. I couldn't get angry or rage quit like Call of Duty can do from time to time. Titanfall puts you in a zone and just doesn't let go!

As it stands, the game has the potential to be the biggest thing coming out this year. Smashing the CoD franchise into dust with it's new take on first person shooters and multiplayer team play. Jumping from this to CoD is probably the worst decision I have made and simply cannot wait for it's release!

The Lego Movie! - Review - Possible Spoilers!

Lego stands as one, if not the greatest toy(s) in history. Everyone will remember playing with it at some point in their life and it's creative pliability made it branch across the ages. It's this extensive creativity that has continued to evolve to encompass boardgames, video games, theme parks and now a film! The wide access to Lego makes this movie an instant box office success, but does the movie stand up as a quality piece of entertainment to other audiences. Obviously, The Lego Movie is aimed at children. It's a bright, colourful adventure with light humour that screams a child film that will deter many teenagers/young adults from seeing it. As I'm still a big kid inside with a lot of nostalgia, I felt I needed to go. Upon walking into the cinema, it was filled with children. I avoided looking at how many of the snotty things were actually around me but could easily hear the muttering of what felt like hundreds but could have been one. But, you know, one is enough.

Anyway. The movie is geared towards the younger audience through everything it does. The inclusion of Jonah Hill, Morgan Freeman, Charlie Day and Will Arnett appear more of a gimmick towards nabbing a few extra ticket sales from fans of those involved. It's likely that the voices could have been done by other people without bringing in A list actors to fill the gaps. Jonah Hill doesn't even have a big role so it feels as if the money spent on him could have been used to extend the length of the film. However, being that the movie isn't based upon something already created, Lego didn't have the foundations of Star Wars or Lord of The Rings to develop upon like their games.

Being that the film is targeted at children, the story could have suffered. However, it plays out much like a childs imagination would have played it out. The story of little Emmet in a world so advanced, he blends into the background and stumbles into a deadly situation that leads him on a rather enthralling journey that defies a lot of preconceptions. An evil, corrupt government and police force is quite a shock in a U rated film. Teaching that police are not always these good people is very difficult for children to understand for kids but nowadays the older generations are seeing this more and more. It's an interesting choice that plays towards the demographic but maintains its child exterior. Obviously, there was going to be a love story and I noticed that this connection beats out so many like it that have cropped up in live action. Plastic figures with limited facial movement/expression had more emotion on their faces than Kristen Stewart and a better love story that Twilight could have ever produced.

Lego stands upon the idea of fun. It's a ride that isn't trying to provoke philosophical thoughts. The action was fast, a little jarring at points with the aggressive cuts but flows the way everyone imagines. It's a genuinely good film with so much hard work and dedication that has to be applauded. Perfect for children and is entertaining to everyone else, apart from the god awful selection of music. That truly was horrific. But otherwise, the movie deserves an 8/10. It's a kids movie made by Lego, what the hell did you expect me to say!? Tune in for Monuments Men review and Titanfall videos over the next week!

Robocop - Quicky Review - SPOILERS

A remake of a hugely popular trilogy that plummeted harder that a rock from the top of the Empire State Building as time went on has just been released. The re-envisioned Robocop pays homage to a much loved franchise that many of my generation remember from childhood but in a new light. Seeing that I probably watched them 15+ years ago, I've lost a lot of memory of the films so I can't credit the films that far.

So jumping straight in, consider that the movie is built upon a sci-fi action classic and desires to follow the trend, however, the movie doesn't feel to much like a sci-fi. Understandably, the idea of a robotic human seems very sci-fi but set 20 odd years from now, the world hasn't really changed. People are still driving Fiat 500's and Volkswagen station wagons. With the advancement in human biotics and robotics, none of the potential has moved into any other industry and actually aid the entire world. It's hard to get a real feeling that the world has developed and I'm in a futuristic setting when cars have replaced stylish alloy wheels for bin lids. In all honesty, I wouldn't class this as science fiction, simply an action movie. But once again, an action movie is trying to create sub plots and stories to create emotions and it is well out of it's depth. To convey emotion, it takes a good script, good acting and a good narrative. Action movies can't provide these. It began with the partnership with his cop buddy who was just shot and then trying to create a family bond between Alex Murphey (Joel Kinnaman) and his son but then completely abandoning them later down the line. The son only appears 3 times and nothing concrete is done to show a connection.

Looking at the action, it is alright. Nothing truely wowing. At points questionable, such as the explosion that in reality would have killed Murphey but immediately after, left him with all of his limbs with minor burning to then have them all removed! His condition was that of a minor burn victim and after a giant explosion, no one battered an eyelid. The wife walked down and then ran back in a few minutes later, the son never appeared in the first vision and neighbours just thought their partners had ripped a rather large one in bed. The rest of the action was simply mediocre.

I'm lacking much enthusiasm for the movie. Pumped to be reintroduced to a childhood hero, I felt rather let down. The incessant need to create connections, is truly useless. Paying Samuel L. Jackson to play a role that isn't even necessary and use Kinnaman for the major role when his acting leaves you wondering if he's always that boring, not to mention that they needed to use Jackson and his iconic "motherfucker" to grab a laugh from the audience. Then casting Jay Baruchel, who I don't like very much and just want to poke him with a stick while repeating "Hey, awkward". Probably the only sufficient actor was Gary Oldman but he looked rushed and looked to have only been given his lines 2 minutes before. All together it tried too hard on so many levels that shouldn't have been the primary focus, thus neglecting the others that truly needed the work.

Although a shoddy movie with a poor character development and acting, the visual aspect of the movie was gorgeous and action had moments in which it was enjoyable to watch. Sticking with the lower end of reviews, I feel the 6/10 is a good representation.

Lone Survivor - Review - SPOILERS

It's not rocket science, the trailer and the films name really do make the outlining plot obvious. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the majority of the movie. Presented as an all American patriotic war film based on a true story, but the Lone Survivor is something far bigger. Based on the operation Red Wings, a 4 team squad have to take down a high profile Taliban target. With no comms, the strike team find there cover blown with no support or commanding orders. Left alone, it's a right for survival which costs the lives of 3 of the squad leaving only Mark Wahlberg's Marcus Luttrell to fend for himself.

The story is great. Once again, I'm not versed into the ins and outs of what actually happened and expect the odd embellishment from time to time, but there were a few bits that I was a little saddened by. With a lack of character development throughout, the death of the soldiers do very little to cause an emotional response. Running up to the outbreak of violence, characters are introduced but the movement is incredibly slow. Characters we meet are completely irrelevant and hold no emotion value while in this time, they should have focused on character progression rather than a slew of names and faces. One piece I really enjoyed was the representation of the Afghan people. Moving away from a typical "everyone of them is involved with the Taliban" approach, and taking a positive view and portraying it to a world through a form of media that normally attacks Afghanistan.

As the movie represented itself as an action movie, it's important to critique this. However, the first thing that I would like to talk about is the use of armour. I understand that they are given Kevlar armour which is supposed to withstand quite the impact, yet it appears that it does very little to stop a bullet when these guys get shot to shit. Now that is out of the way, the action is brutal. There is no other word to describe it. The wounds look real and the deaths are mortifying. One particular shot sits with me and will do for quite some time is the killing of one of the soldiers. After running dry on ammo and suffering multiple gun shot wounds, he props himself up against a tree. The shot expands to center his limp body. As he struggles for breath, Taliban draw closer and aim. Firing two shots that rip through the tree above his head, he doesn't flinch. The final shot hits Axe (Ben Foster) in the head and sends his head back into the tree only to drop forward seconds later. The lingering shot was amazing. Yet, for a movie at 15+ of age, it seems a little much. With action comes sound. With war comes loud noises. Microphones must have been peaking, at points it scares the living shit out of me because it's so sudden and really aided in immersing into the movie.

The movie is wonderful. Without digging into everything else too deeply, the acting was alright and visually it was gorgeous apart from the slow-mo team jump which felt generic and cheesy. But otherwise, Lone Survivor deserves a solid 8 out of 10. It's a great piece of entertainment and deserves a watch from anyone interested in the conflict and to any ladies out there, Taylor Kitsch was massive and Wahlberg didn't steal all of the screen time!

PS - Another short review as I'm in a race to catch up with The Walking Dead...So. Damn. Good.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - Quicky Review!

Tom Clancy has had his faced and name slapped across everything in a substantial amount of years. With his recent death, the possibility of more Clancy movies and games creeping out is inevitably going to increase. Having never read one of his books, I cannot comment of his ability as an author. However, his involvement with other forms of the media is were I can play about. Actively avoiding his collection of games because they were simply the same game, wrapped in a different package and sent to the studio to change the threat from the Taliban to Russia. Call of Duty has that market cornered and there is only so much of the same crap we can endure.

Jack Ryan is solely based on the character created by Clancy. Fortunately it doesn't involve his stories revolving around Jack Ryan and it does allow for a great possibility to move away from the abusive draining of a dead man's creations. However, Jack Ryan was also played by Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck in several other movies simply aimed at bleeding a rock. When this will end is a mystery that only Da vinci could solve. It would be refreshing to see them come up with something that isn't solely used for money rather than a good story. The question here is is Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit worth it?

Answer - No.

I'm going to keep this short. The story is genuinely pants. Lets crash another countries economy because they didn't want to do one thing. Mother Russia is the best, America bad. No America is the land of the free and Russia are just grumpy and we need to send a secret agent to hack into their mainframe. I'm no computer genius but if you wanted to find something out, you can do that. It's as loose as an extra large condom on a small calibre man and feels ignorantly patriotic that it is painful to watch. It's a plot that takes itself

From story to acting, I have to attack the most prominent piece for me. Keira Knightley. First of all, what jackass cast her to play an American even though she cannot do an American accent without looking like a horse. Alongside the fact that the rest of her acting could be considered poor, at best, it really puts a lot of pressure onto the others to bring the level back up. However, stuck with Kevin Costner, the acting isn't going to be great. Yet Chris Pine should have filled his role of testosterone filled secret agent pretty easily but his voice squeaks in comparison to Kenneth Branagh's thick Russian accent. None of it fits. Much like a school play, people have been cast simply because they asked for it and were available. The extent of their talent has disappeared as Christmas draws closer and they are excited to get home rather than put all of their effort into a play that means very little to children who have no concept of what the story is trying to portray. Each character has little or no background whatsoever and are thrust onto screen while Kenneth Branagh (also the director) shoots at their feet to make them dance. It's a hash of people with no character, poorly directed positioning, script and casting and should not have passed go.

Finally, the only thing that should be good in this movie but is incredibly mediocre and excessively over-produced is the action. The action is big, there's a lot of noise (all be it deafening) but all common sense just vaporises. We do everything in extensive action scenes through the streets of cities will no interference from traffic. I went to Paris last year, it was fucking difficult to drive around. I've also seen New York traffic and the aspect of reality and common sense piles on me with every poor punch.

The movie had my hopes high. A cast of actors that are typically deemed good, only to find out they are astonish bad. A script written by a room of monkeys that still have the deadline for that Shakespeare piece and an attitude to it that is so pretentious and up it's own ass makes it a poor watch. I haven't even delved into the cinematography because it wound me up so much. A constant blur covers the screen, with nothing clear or crisp, I don't feel I'm in a modern movie that's been recorded on a million dollar camera but rather an Iphone. So my overall score rounds in at 6/10. The only redeeming factors are that it's an action movie and keeps you remotely interested and it's only 105 minutes long which is enough to pass the time you need to waste before you go to the dentist for that check-up they keep insisting on.