Film Review: Ingrid Goes West

"Hashtag: I Am Ingrid..."

In a week in which every single cinema in the county has been asked to cram its' screens with the toxic waste of Justice League, thank the heavens for a film in the ilk of Ingrid Goes West, an interesting, blackly comic contemporary stalker drama with a cracking lead performance from Legion star, Aubrey Plaza as the titular social media obsessed Ingrid Thorburn. Directed and written by big time debutant Matt Spicer, the movie depicts an Instagram fixated dreamer who relocates to Los Angeles after the death of her mother in order to seek out Elizabeth Olsen's social media star, Taylor Sloane and become part of her excessively independent lifestyle which she shares with Wyatt Russell's hipster husband, Ezra. Beginning with an opening act which straight away highlights the aggressive nature of Ingrid's obsession and to what end she may go to in order to combat her rage and discomfort at being isolated in a world riddled with people's wishes to be noticed, Ingrid Goes West goes on to explore the contemporary issue of social media excess and the notion of a life based solely around the viewing of society through a small shiny screen.  

With Black Mirror vibes aplenty and the likes of Single White Female a sure inspiration, with a name drop in the narrative necessary to cement such, Spicer's sure footed direction allows the movie's key players to bring all round top notch performances, from O'Shea Jackson Jr's Batman obsessed screenwriter to Billy Magnussen's hateful steroid fueled junkie, all of whom acting as catnip for Plaza's character's downfall into complete and utter obsession with a character who is the epitome of everything wrong with society's quest for avocado on toast and early twentieth century sociological literature. Whilst Spicer's movie does involve elements of jet-black comedy and ironic societal comments, most of Ingrid Goes West's healthy ninety minute runtime is played particularly straight faced, accumulating in a concluding act which although is admiral in what it's attempting to say, doesn't exactly pay off, but with a brilliantly kooky and unpredictable leading performance from Audrey Plaza, Ingrid Goes West is a highly enjoyable ideas laden social drama which reminds that you don't always need a big budget to win an audience around. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Wind River

"Out Here, You Either Survive Or You Surrender..."

Although first brought to my attention as the short lived Deputy Hale in FX's Sons of Anarchy, Taylor Sheridan has effectively reinvented himself as one of the most effective and reliable scriptwriters Hollywood has to offer over the course of just two years, with the Denis Villeneuve directed Sicario and last year's ballsy heist drama Hell or High Water, two of the most hard edged, grit fuelled thrillers to brace the big screen in quite a while, and too films which although featured extensive action set pieces and white-knuckle levels of tension, understood that in order to make a film of such an ilk be more than just surface, development and characterisation of the leading players is ultimately key and the true basis of any decent film's narrative. Whether it be the battle between morality and revenge in the likes of Sicario or the double-edged sword of family and justice in Hell or High Water, Sheridan's writing has so far always brilliantly balanced audience-pleasing drama with enough substance to make them much more than your average run-of-the-mill crime tale. Taking the jump this week onto directorial as well as scriptwriting duties, Sheridan's latest release comes in the form of Wind River, a Scandi-inflicted crime drama set in the heart of the titular Indian Reservation in Wyoming, U.S, and a film which continues rather enjoyably the success rate of Sheridan, a filmmaker who is starting to earn a reputation as an auteur of modern day crime drama.

After the body of a deceased 18 year old female is found by local Wildlife Sevice Agent, Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) in the scarce, bitter landscapes of the snow-covered plains of Wyoming, rookie FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) is flown in to assist with the investigation in order to establish both a cause of death and whether a murderer is hiding within the vicious cold of the out-dated, unforgiving mountainous American state. Akin more to the likes of Hell or High Water than Sicario, Wind River is once again the character driven drama audiences have come to expect from the writings of Sheridan, and whilst there is indeed explosive action set pieces and a frighteningly executed concluding chapter, the film spends most of its' time layering substance upon substance on the key players within the base of the narrative, particularly Renner's Lambert, a practical, unflinching hunter who through a past trauma has more reason than most to attempt to solve the mystery which unravels trepidatiously throughout the course of the movie. With sweeping cinematography from DP Ben Richardson and a haunting, whispering score from Nick Cave, Wind River is the most low-key of the Sheridan back-catalogue to date, but with sparking leading performances and a nail-biting final movement, Sheridan's latest is an absorbing, brilliantly written crime thriller. Who would expect anything less?

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Captain America: Civil War

"You've Operated With Unlimited Power and No Supervision. That's Something The World Can No Longer Tolerate..."

Being in a time of comic-movie mayhem, where every year there seems to be more and more live-action superhero goodness, or blandness in the case of Batman v Superman, Captain America: Civil War, the third in the Captain America saga within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, could be forgiven as being just another piece of the everlasting jigsaw, an attempt perhaps to grab the cash while they can before the riskier projects come to fruition, particularly with the ambiguous Doctor Strange on the horizon, yet with a character list that basically includes almost everyone and anyone associated with the MCU, Civil War was an interesting case of whether one, it could be as poorly executed as BvS, a film with similar parallels in terms of plot and overarching themes, and two, whether the extensive cast list would endanger the film into becoming overtly baggy and long-winded. What a joy it was then to witness the best superhero movie of the year so far, with Civil War only continuing the promise of the Russo Brothers' work on The Winter Soldier, with it being a marvellous thrill ride from start to finish, if not being as crisp and spellbinding as the previous entry on first glance. 

What makes the film so great I hear you ask? Firstly, It's cool. I mean ridiculously cool. A fanboy's dream indeed featuring bad-ass coolness throughout. Acting? Superb and on point, particularly from Downey Jr, Evans and a stand-out newcomer Chadwick Boseman as the rip-roaring vigilante Black Panther whose brief back-story element leaves the standalone movie to do the hard work and for Civil War to show how brilliant he may become in the future. Action? Breathtaking, with the Russo's having a clear and dedicated vision of attempting to make the fight scenes as realistic as possible with choreography that could make the creators of The Raid weep in joy. I mean seriously, both Captain America and The Winter Soldier in this were just rock solid to a laughable extreme that at times I just sat and gasped at the speed to which the action scenes took place. Clearly, someone at Marvel HQ had been watching Daredevil and thought, yeah, this is the direction we need to go. What a decision it is, with the ground-based fights making the last two Captain America's arguably being the best in the series so far. 

Although rather ironically, Civil War does feature plot lines remarkably similar to BvS, the connections between the two films stop there. This is how you make a superhero movie Mr. Snyder, this is true, full-blooded entertainment. Although slightly too long in places and the almost inevitable fact that some characters just some rather shoehorned in for the sake of it, particularly that of Paul Rudd's Ant Man and Martin Freeman's character, endanger the film in becoming not quite as good as The Winter Soldier, the film's saving grace belongs to it's final twist, one that was not given away so easy and one which created the real civil war between our two leads at the conclusion of the film after the comical, if rather splendid, battle between our two teams within the confines of a empty airfield. Captain America: Civil War does what it needs to do and does it superbly. Richly entertaining and breathtaking in places, the Russo Brothers have my complete and utter backing for the behemoth of a project which is Infinity War. Good luck to you gents, my faith is completely in you. And oh yeah, wasn't Spider-man cool? 

Overall Score: 8/10

Godzilla - SPOILERS - Review

Hey guys!, So once again, exams, essays and life has simply got in the way of everything recently. Now I'm back, Youtube content will be back and plenty of reviews will be back in action! X-men next!

Godzilla stands at the pinnacle of the monster movie genre. It's very nature is primal and built upon the fact that people want to see destruction. We want to witness carnage and giggle manically while people and buildings are torn to shreds and men in white coats begin to descend on you. Last year we had the fantastic Pacific Rim. Godzilla 2k14 has some real competition for craziest monster movie,  unless you count the undeniably disgusting Sharknado and its inbred cousins. Or the majority of Syfy shows...So yeah, Godzilla needed to earn a place in my heart. With trailers cleverly mixed to conceal the story completely, the aura of mystery and a giant roar is way to difficult to ignore. If you were wise enough to ignore the spoiler filled trailer, you are in for a surprise if you've never experienced much of Godzilla.

Upon seeing the movie, I really enjoyed it. Although, I cannot agree with comments about it being the new 'Jaws'. The story was extremely generic. I understand that it wants to retain the past style that made monster movies what they are, but I can't sit through watching a man trying to get to his family while he faces off with the threat. Featuring Bryan Cranston in the trailers over and over and killing him in off in the first half was just a weak move. Yes, not expected at all but portraying him as the sole heart of the movie with Aaron Taylor-Johnson tagging along for the ride, only to become the main for the majority almost feels like Cranston is nothing but a seat filler and used simply because he's become popular recently. Then we have the fact that Godzilla faces off with the "MOTO's" (Kaiju) but they skimp out on it at several opportunities trying to make it funny rather than exciting while trying to hold onto until they get to the big finale which lacks the Pacific Rim ferocity and opts for a repetitive sequence of movements that simply just aren't working. Don't get me wrong, the movie was fun and is entertainment that really numbs the minds to the outside world, yet I can't help thinking that money and production bodies seems to have their claws dug deep into the crotch region of Gareth Edwards (Director).

Visually the movie was astonishing. The pure scale of Kaijus' must have made the task of generating them huge. Buildings toppling with explosions everywhere and general chaos all captured well with the occasional flaw that made it looks like it was filmed in a Universal theme park. Obviously, there was a lot of effort that went into the iconic roar of Godzilla. For the rest of the sound, it was alright. Nothing that really grabbed the attention. Composed by Alexandre Desplat (Harry Potter – Deathly Hallows), the overall outcome resembled white noise generated from some headphones at the other end of the room. I can’t remember much of what was actually used and its a real shame.

 Only just finding out the Elizabeth Olsen is actually in this movie as one of the mains, I have to admit that she is far superior to her relatives. Yet the actual extent of her acting cannot convince me of anything with real conviction. Now the real reason that this movie is going to succeed - Bryan Cranston. So for the few moments he is on screen, he was fairly good but with his potential, he wasn't given a chance to truly demonstrate what has made him so popular. Finally the lead - Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Kickass was a very weird, yet great movie, but the acting needed for it is very different and Johnson cannot display an army bomb disposal hardman.

I won't drag on but the movie did lack some real key moments that should have been done to really impact the overall excitement of the movie. Its a real shame that the action was repetitive and the action was subpar in relation to prior Legendary project, Pacific Rim. For the fun factor, the choice is simple. Its fun, mindless entertainment and worth 7/10 for a total score.