Film Review: The Current War

"I’m Working On Something Now, Something So New That The World Will Never Be The Same..."

Filmed and completed almost two whole years ago, with the original release date back in 2017 shelved following the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal and the subsequent MeToo movement, The Current War finally hits the big screen after being acquired and released by Lantern Entertainment, an American film studio who purchased all assets owned by The Weinstein Company as the disgraced company fell into liquidation following their owner's high profile fall from grace. Directed by Texas-born filmmaker, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, whose previous works include the overly kooky, Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, and directorial credits on both episodes of Glee and American Horror Story, The Current War attempts to dramatise the titular battle fought by both Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse during the latter stages of the nineteenth century, as each attempt to outwit each other and become the leading light of electrical power across the globe. With very little background noise or press following closely behind it, it seems fair to say that The Current War is the kind of movie which Lantern Entertainment feel the need to let loose just for the sake of it, with the main goal of course being to recoup a slender amount of financial reward after the cost to make it, yet much in the same way Billionaire Boys Club came and went like a fart in the wind after the similarly troubling Kevin Spacey allegations, Gomez-Rejon's movie feels rather icky and strangely enough for a film without electrical power, staggeringly lifeless. 

Central to the film's array of issues is its' central narrative, one based upon a screenplay from American playwright, Michael Mitnick, who seems to have been catching up on the back catalogue of Christopher Nolan by producing what can only be described as a monumental bore of a story, a cheap, Nolanized knock-off which attempts to recreate the fast-paced, engaging storytelling Nolan does so well, yet forgetting to include any sort of pace or engaging, meaty plot whatsoever, resulting in the cardinal sin of watch checking only five minutes in. With the film clocking in and just under two hours, it's fair to say that The Current War only works as a medicinal prescription for prolonged sleep deprivation, a laborious, yawn-inducing borefest which wastes good acting talent including the likes of Michael Shannon, Tom Holland and Katherine Waterston, whilst reasserting the notion that Benedict Cumberbatch is quickly becoming the most typecast actor in the acting business today, with another leading role which leans heavy on the intelligent, sarcastic know-it-all characteristic and less on the sympathetic nice guy, akin to other historical figures the Brit has played in the likes of The Fifth Estate and The Imitation Game. Add into the mix woozy, sanctimonious camera work from Chung Chung-hoon who seems to think he's the reincarnation of Kubrick alongside simply awful time-hopping editing and The Current War is the first movie in a good while to be so awfully dull, I began to worry for the future of cinema as we know it. 

Overall Score: 3/10

Film Review: The Grinch

"Today We Will Do Mean Things, And We Will Do Them In Style..!"

Acting as the third on-screen adaptation of Dr. Seuss' 1957 children's story, "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" after the 1966 television special and the Jim Carrey starring live-action version directed by Ron Howard at the start of the century, The Grinch, directed by the filmmaking double act of Scott Mosier (Clerks) and Yarrow Cheney, sees the latter reunite with Illumination Entertainment after being handed directorial duties for the forgettable, if slightly entertaining, The Secret Life of Pets back in 2016, for a contemporary adaptation of everyone's favourite sarcastic green grump as he once again turns on the town of Whoville during the Christmas celebrations in order to spoil the holiday season in which he fundamentally despises. Voice by a Benedict Cumberbatch (Patrick Melrose) who mixes Smaug with a nasally American accent in order to perform with the iconic bah humbug voice, The Grinch is undoubtedly made with the joyfully crisp animation you would come to expect from a studio behind the likes of the Despicable Me franchise, but with a perfunctory, cliched and dare I say it, rather dull, screenplay, Illumination Studios' latest venture may indeed work for younger audiences unaware of the dastardly works of its' titular anti-hero but for those with even the slightest inkling of the well versed story at the heart of it, The Grinch is surprisingly quite bland.  

Beginning with the positives, the visual aesthetic of the movie is rather quite beautiful, utilising sharp, detailed portrayals of both characters and settings in a manner which almost comes expected now in a world which constantly churns out impressive animation after animation, but with cute comedic asides coming from the likes of a screaming goat and Grinch's loyal canine companion, Max, the design of the movie does allow for on and off moments of effective hilarious slapstick which usually results in particular characters being thrown, launched and smacked into oncoming trees. Whilst substance and depth isn't exactly the first thing on the mind when approaching a film such as The Grinch, the real emotional punch of the film undeniably sits in the flashbacks where we see the experiences of a younger Grinch and the impact his own childhood has on his modern day hatred for all things Christmas, yet with most of the action taking place in the modern day, the simplistic screenplay unfortunately doesn't match the freshness of the film's aesthetic, treading ground covered in so many Christmas themed films from the past and ultimately becoming quite tiresome as it falls to a predictable end. Following on from the likes of Johnny English Strikes Again by being a movie which utilises comedic set pieces to flesh out its' runtime, The Grinch never felt comfortable as a feature length re-telling of Dr. Seuss' most infamous festive fiend, even when at retained at the heart of it is a central message which we all could take a slice of going forward towards "that time of year again". Bah, humbug. 

Overall Score: 5/10

Film Review: Avengers: Infinity War

"When I'm Done, Half Of Humanity Will Still Exist. Perfectly Balanced, As All Things Should Be..."

Following the release of Jon Favreau's Iron Man exactly ten years ago, the culmination of plot threads, narrative developments and vast array of characters which have encompassed the Marvel Cinematic Universe since then have all led in the direction of Avengers: Infinity War, the latest gargantuan superhero romp which sees each of the major Marvel characters of the past ten years come together and join forces in order to thwart the oncoming threat of Josh Brolin's (Sicario) ominous Thanos, who vows to collect each of the Infinity Stones, six immensely powerful alien artefacts, in order to bend the universe to his evil and genocidal will. With the hype train well and truly steaming ahead, the anticipation for Infinity War is unprecedented within the realms of superhero cinema, and with a extensively star studded cast list and the directing duo of Anthony and Joe Russo at the helm, whose previous credits of course include Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War, expectations from audiences and critics alike are resoundingly off the charts. Thankfully, what the Russo's have manged to achieve with Infinity War is a staggering, operatic work of spectacle and heartbreaking drama, a film, which on paper had no right to succeed, but has somehow resulted in the most rewarding, magical and downright jaw-dropping Marvel superhero experience in the MCU so far.

With two and a half hours worth of plot to dissect, Infinity War essentially breaks down into a quartet of individual narrative channels, with Earth being the base for the character band lead by Chris Evans' Steve Rogers, space being the battleground for both the Guardians of the Galaxy subplot and Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark own personal quest, and the entire universe being the backdrop for Brolin's Thanos who travels from planet to planet leaving behind a cold, calculated and murderous path as he collects the all-powerful Infinity Stones. With the MCU struggling in the past to effectively conjure up groundbreaking and well-rounded villains, the introduction of Thanos follows in the footsteps of Black Panther's Killmonger by refusing to bow down to simply cannon fodder for superhero stardom and instead is the surprising central character of the piece, with the script superbly managing to highlight the character's genocidal plan with some degree of purpose whilst at the same time introducing flaws and elements of empathy, particularly in the stand-out conversations between himself and Zoe Saldana's Gamora. Of course, with purple CGI muscles, a band of merry followers known as the Black Order and the Infinity Gauntlet in hand, the real power of the character is evidenced to an alarming degree too, with surprising character deaths by his own hand and a dedicated reluctance to fail, resulting in explosive action set pieces which both never seem to outstay their welcome and a include too a perilous sense of threat for everyone involved which the franchise up to now was thoroughly lacking. 

Of course, with so many characters and so little time spared on deep characterisation aside from the film's leading antagonist, particular individuals do become somewhat by-products of a larger endgame, particularly those involved in the drama taking place on Earth and specifically, Wakanda, but with eighteen previous stories worth of backstory and development behind it, Infinity War isn't designed to further character arcs and instead is there to tie up the development already achieved and offer long-awaited fan service for which it undenaibly achieves. Whether it's the banter fuelled dialogue between Tony Stark and Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange or the egotistical match-up between Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Chris Pratt's Star-Lord, amidst all the grandiose drama, Infinity War still manages to hold onto the razor-sharp comedic puns the franchise is renowned for without ever feeling cheesy or stupid enough to lose its' dramatic edge, and whilst the best moments are undoubtedly in the other-worldly realms in which Downey Jr. and Pratt are present, the film as a whole balances its' monumental premise with staggering ease. Of course, with Infinity War only part one of a much bigger design, there is a resounding sense of payoff not yet being ripely achieved, but with a ground-breaking, melancholic and brazen concluding scene which rips up the cinematic blockbuster rule book completely, the year long wait for the concluding chapter is of course undeniably agonising, but one which if continuing the success of Infinity War, will undoubtedly be an experience to savour.

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Doctor Strange

"Heroes Like The Avengers Protect The World From Physical Dangers. We Safeguard It Against More Mystical Threats..."

Alas, Benedict Cumberbatch has joined the MCU. Surely that alone is a good enough reason to venture to your local cinema and check out the newest Marvel offering, directed by Scott Derrickson, famous for being at the helm for movies such as Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, whose past forays into the horror genre make it a strangely bold choice in an attempt to bring Doctor Strange to the big screen, a character of whom I can say rather ashamedly I was wholeheartedly unaware of before sitting down and embracing the strange (No pun intended), surreal and slightly bonkers world of Doctor Stephen Strange, the egoistical yet superb neurosurgeon who after crippling his body in a car crash seeks out the powers of the Ancient One in order to regain his strength. Boasting probably one of the best casts for an origin story in the entire MCU, Doctor Strange suffers at times from being slightly too similar to many of its' predecessors in terms of setting out the path of the titular Doctor, yet is supported by a wild sense of originality in terms of effects which boosts the film into territory that can only be classed as one hell of a trippy ride. 

In the leading role, Benedict Cumberbatch brings the tenacity and rigour you would expect from an actor whose portrayal of the world's leading detective has earned plaudits from all around the globe, and whilst the titular Doctor Strange bears some similarities to the character of Sherlock, Stephen Strange is undoubtedly a character in his own right, one which has both the confidence and faith in his own intelligence to be regarded as egotistic yet is fundamentally likeable because of such in a similar vein to Tony Stark, a similarly brilliant mind who too suffers a tragedy and attempts to fix such by any means necessary. In the case of Tony Stark, his own brilliance was the key to regaining his strength with the development of the arc reactor whilst Stephen Strange relies on the wisdom of the Ancient One, portrayed fantastically by Tilda Swinton, alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor's Karl Mordo and Rachel McAdam's Dr. Christine Adams, the love interest of Doctor Strange who has way too little screen-time but does the most with what she is given to form a three dimensional relationship between the two characters. 

Furthermore, Mads Mikkelsen too has an underwritten presence as the enemy of the picture, yet still manages to portray a character who is fearful and ambiguous enough to enjoy when on-screen, a testament to the acting abilities of the film's cast. Where the film does manage to succeed overwhelmingly is in its' Inception-esque effects design which presents the mystical world of Doctor Strange by having gigantic buildings fold in and expand whilst our on-screen heroes and villains fight off against each other through mystical portals which bend the rules of both time and space. Doctor Who eat your heart out, and where the effects are truly tested is during a simply wonderful scene during the film's climax in which the destruction of a city is saved by the reversal of time, all the while the film's characters continue to fight off against each other in a tremendously spectacular fashion. Doctor Strange is perhaps the second film after Guardians of the Galaxy to truly acknowledge the power of the MCU, with its' existence due in part to the success of the films' before it. It's not Captain America: Winter Soldier or Guardians of the Galaxy, but somewhere between Civil War and Iron Man, yet what it is overall is another Marvel success, albeit a slightly strange one. Once again, no pun intended. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Zoolander No. 2

"You Really Are An Idiot Aren't You?"

Although I can confess to only recently watching Zoolander, the 2001 satirical comedy directed, written and starring Ben Stiller, this long-awaited sequel was something that I can confess to not entirely looking forward to in a week where so many films share a release schedule and battle for supremacy at the box office. With returning characters such as Ben Stiller as the titular Derek Zoolander, the dim-witted, good-mannered fashion model, resigned to living life as a "hermit crab" due to the loss of wife and son, both of which he believes to be sole responsible for, as well as Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell as Hansel and Mugatu respectively, Zoolander No.2, was in danger of falling into the pit of despair many comedy franchises have been led into over the course of the past decade within cinematic history with awful examples of the genre taking centre stage such as Get Hard and Unfinished Business. Unfortunately for Stiller and co., Zoolander No.2 is a rather unremarkable and most importantly, unfunny continuation of the life of Mr. Zoolander. 

Featuring more or less everything that made the first film full of snigger-induced fits, Zoolander No.2 continues the trait of dim-witted Derek Zoolander being incredibly, you guessed it, dim-witted, all-the-while being surrounded by strange celebrity cameos in an attempt to carry on the trend started within the first film, a film in which cameos included David Bowie (RIP), Victoria Beckham as well as everyone's favourite republican Donald Trump. Now in Zoolander No.2, we have Justin Bieber being shot violently to death, one of the few saving graces of the film, as well as stand-out appearances from Sting, Kiefer Sutherland and Benedict Cumberbatch looking extremely startling as All, the sexually ambiguous male/female model. The problem with the wide range of celebrity cameos is that they attempt to divert from the rather shallow plot and lack of inventive humour and when the screen-time is left solely to the core actors of the movie, Zoolander No.2 fails to live up to the comedic value of its' predecessor with a rather bland story and jokes that don't exactly live up to scratch. Another example of a sequel not being as good as the first film, Zoolander No.2 is something that will swiftly be forgotten. The Godfather Part II it is not. 

Overall Score: 4/10

87th Academy Awards: Best Actor

Oscars 2015: Best Actor

Second on this Oscar blog, is the Best Actor category, which features some brilliant performances, particularly from the two British representatives, Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne (Or benedict XCuebrvatch and Eddie Redmaybe, as the Guardian call them*) portraying the iconic Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking respectively. In terms of bookies favourite, Michael Keaton is top of the list for this years gong, for his portrayal of Riggan Thompson in Birdman. In terms of my own particular choice, it's hard to shy away from Eddie Redmayne, whose transformative performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything is just a wonder to behold, and after winning the Golden Globe, where for the last three years the winner has gone on to win the Oscar, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him lift the golden guy next month. In the category of "overlooked", is Ralph Fiennes in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Brendan Gleeson in Calvary, and unbelievably Jake Gyllenhaal, for both Enemy and Nightcrawler. Don't worry Jake, I thing you're fab. Anyway, we have:

Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game

Bradley Cooper - American Sniper

Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything

Michael Keaton - Birdman

Steve Carell - Foxcatcher

Next... Best Actress

* https://twitter.com/wittertainment/status/555723125498056704

The Hobbit, Desolation Of Smaug - Review - SPOILERS

Hello to anyone subscribed, checks back or any other form, I'd just like to say that I have been busy procrastinating a report of mine and lost a lot of motivation to do any work. If you'd hit one of the multiple links to around the page, you can get notifications of when I post new bits of just take a look into the incredibly mundane life of mine!


Moving on to the actual meat of this post. Finally, after a year, the next instalment in The Hobbit series has finally arrived. Pumped up with the exciting news of Legolas coming back and busting some Orc butts, I was thoroughly prepared for moments of badassery and witty commentary. However, that is for a little later. My hopes were high for this movie. I have even put off releasing a "Top 5 of 2013" list until this was released. Unfortunately, it was a wise decision. My expectations had clouded me and left me grasping for more meat on the apparently succulent bones.

Getting right too it, one of my annoyances was the year gap between the movies. If you don't have the time to re-watch the previous films in a series, it's no easy feat to remember where exactly it all left off. But ignoring this fact, it is very easy to get into the swing of things when the travellers didn't actually get very far. Considering that the story is no considerable difference in the movie apart from them FINALLY making it to the mountain of the Dwarven kingdom and the introduction of a few new characters.

The new/returning characters are really good to see. They hold enough screen time to really illustrate their stories and build upon their roles. Hopefully, it will continue into the next instalment as some characters were unfortunately lost in the mix and easily forgotten when you're jumping from 4 or 5 different locations. My personal favourite from the Lord Of The Rings series is and will always be Legolas. He is wise, courageous and generous to those around it. Surprisingly, he holds more of a grudge on the outside world and orcs. Appearing distasteful at the thought of dealing with matters that do not concern his people. Coldly indifferent and yet struck by love for Tauriel, of which she is not permitted to react to by his fathers orders. The elements really do show a much darker side to
him. Something a little more raw and interesting, especially when moments refer to Gimli (Having not met until the Fellowship of the Ring, Legolas makes a joke about one of the dwarves son who is Gimli!). Now obviously, Legolas is not at the forefront of the movie, although he is a bit of a gimmick to draw in more sales, we do see this for other characters. Smaug; the giant ass dragon that is reputedly voiced by none other than Cumberbatch. I use the term reputedly for many reasons, one being that they did so much work to his voice, it sounded NOTHING like him. Genuinly, I couldn't tell it was him. If I had to pick out of a list, I would have picked the hulking great big dude with the awesome moustache, not the lanky, fairly intelligent (I presume) Mr Cumberbatch with the face of a babies ass. Ben, as I shall now call him, also voiced the Necromancer, who also sounded nothing like him! Once again, as we see with Legolas, he is very much a tool to draw in money to fund Peter Jackson's need for overpriced cameras.

I'm so high right now.

On the topic of overpriced cameras, which I would like but can't afford but would kindly take to any offer that chooses to come my way, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU USING GO PRO'S!? I shit you not, a sequence which involves a lot of water, some barrels and general chaos was plagued by disgusting shots that dives under the surface with a lacking resolution and quality compared to the rest of the entire film! A big budget movie can afford something far more advanced than a GoPro. Don't let a boy do a man's job. I'm also incredibly shocked by a lot of the CGI. At points, it was saddening to watch. Nothing fit into place and never reflected the light and surrounding effectively, thus making them obscure and vividly annoying. It's easy pickings but could have been avoided easily. It's almost as if they handed me a fish on a silver platter and begged me to slap them with it because they have some kinky fetish. The rest of the footage was half decent and the CGI that went into Smaug was fairly impressive. Shame it was never transferred equally.

Now to the cast! We have a really big range of stars that perform their roles brilliantly. No qualms can be brought against them. Although he held little screen time, Luke Evans (Bard/Giroin) was a possible favourite of mine. He maintains an air of mystery that I hope is explored in the next film. Stephen Fry pops in for a short role, completely juxtaposed to the Fry we know and love. A pig of a man, driven by greed with an unkempt moustache and wardrobe to boot. It's great to see him play someone vile for a change compared to the typically nutty guy who is always on the good side. According to IMDB, even Stephen Colbert made an appearance as is rumoured for the next film too.

The question to be asked about the Lord Of The Rings franchise is what draws us too it? The magical world?, an exciting story?, or just pure action? Personally, I feel it's always been the perfect combination between all points and the action was always something that excited me. Vast battlefields and skirmishes across middle earth. The brilliantly choreographed fights that built upon elements of light hearted humour in a dark world in some of the most aggressive wars. We still have elements of the epic fights and action with the comic relief within them but we also have to deal with much slower action. The cause, blame and my hatred falls upon 3D. Because fast images in 3D will

cause motion sickness and can't be viewed easily, the scenes have to be longer to counter this issue. This also causes another issue. I prefer 2D. I tend to despise gimmicks and my beloved Hobbit has been tainted by it, marginalising those who watch it in 2D who notice the loss in pace.

Finally, one last point. If another movie ends with a cliff hanger as big as this, then demands we wait a year until the next part, I may have to sue for emotional compensation. I think my overall score for it will be a 7/10. I didn't want to be so brutal but I can't agree with the IMDB public vote on this one. There were too many issues for me to simply ignore.
So, yeah. Tell me what you thought of it in the comment section and if you could subscribe or share this about, it would be much appreciated!

Star Trek - Into Darkness REVIEW -SPOILERS-

Welcome back to Black Ribbon Reviews!

J.J Abrams has done it again, Into darkness is a brilliantly made film and visually beautiful. Star Trek was always controversial with its use of current situations to display through popular culture and really helped to revolutionise the casting for productions of all type and style. Abrams has held the classic integrity and uses Kahn to represent the terrorist threat of Al Qaeda.

In the opening of the movie, we follow a chase scene through a vivid red forest of a sheathed Kirk who is being chased by aliens with white faces in bright yellow clothing. The contrast of colour is amazing and certainly needs to be seen on the big screen to truly appreciate it. Once this introduction scene is over, we are introduced to our bad guy for the evening; Khan. Any Trekkie will know this name from an older Star Trek film "Wrath of Kahn" (Yet I'm no Trekkie and was still aware of this!). Then some explosions happen and Kirk travels into enemy territory to kick some butt, only to find the Kahn is a one man army who is superior to everyone.

Visually this movie is flawless. I can't help but think of what it would have looked like in 3D. Set designs were extensive and modern. Building were a mix of classic with a splash of modern architecture. The CGI is exactly the same. The Enterprise looked lifelike and when it shot into warp it kept its definition and colour without being stretched and looking ridiculous. The fight scenes were also executed very well. However some of the movements seemed over exaggerated and could have done with a little less super hero effects.

With a collection of the current biggest actors, this film isn't short of brilliant performances. Chris Pine does a brilliant representation of Kirk, his facial expressions blend and he acts with ease and efficiency. Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of Kahn is admirable, however I felt his facial expressions are a little over the top and as much as they help convey anger, they make him look like he is sobbing or having a tantrum. Apart from this he plays Kahn well. However, Karl Urban who plays Bones (the doctor dude) is very annoying. I'm not sure if it is the character or him. Bones likes to say "Dammit" a lot and spout some poetry, yet Karl doesn't help when he doesn't have the ability to move any facial muscles to make him smile for once. He looks like he has been hit with a spade and is still reeling from the shock. The rest of the cast are very good and all play there parts brilliantly.

The initial story for Into Darkness is very simple. Kahn is killing people, Stop him. Yet deeper into the story we are confronted by another evil using Kahn for his gain and Kirk and Kahn team up to stop this threat. I'm not going to ruin the plot for you but stuff goes down! Expect a few plot twists.

Overall this movie is beautifully shot, written and executed. With fluid fight scenes and witty one liners the story doesn't lose its charm, but isn't diminished by the gritty aspect of the story. I recommend seeing it and I agree with IMDB's rating for it. 8.5/10