American Hustle: Everyday I'm Russellin'

Disclaimer: Go to http://greatcatsbyreviews.wordpress.com for more new and improved movie reviews!

The stratospheric success of David O'Russell's latest film has made it a must review, if not necessarily a must see, movie. With a nomination haul outstripping Kim Kardashian's nose job count, the notches on Charlie Sheen's bedpost and my own gratuitous pop-culutre references combined, taking places in every conceivable category from best animated short to most hypnotic onscreen combover, the academy's love for this convoluted rom-con truly knows no bounds. The story follows a con artist power couple busted by the police and forced into increasingly elaborate and dangerous deceptions by an overly ambitious, utterly clueless FBI agent for reasons that aren't wholly explained. Throw in a mafia boss cameo by one of the greats and an incendiary nutcase of a wife and you've got yourself one incessant, highly entertaining but surprisingly forgettable cinematic experience.
American Hustle is great in a number of areas. The soundtrack is a combination of irony laced period funk reinforcing the genre and decade of the movie's setting while enhancing the comedy in much of the narrative. The direction is stylish and assured as Russell, clearly relaxed working with a core cast of old faces, uses a point and shoot approach towards filming, adding an almost voyeuristic element to the character interaction making it all the more engrossing.

Retirement had not been kind to Batman...

However, it is the dialogue and the actors delivering it that the films success is truly owed to. Christian Bale, sporting the world's most intricate hair piece and the physique of a middle aged trucker, is a brilliant leading man giving a performance on par with his Oscar winning turn in The Fighter. Bradley Cooper is equally great as the springy haired, loose canon FBI agent with many of their scenes together making up the movies best moments. Amy Adams despite putting on an English accent that makes her sound like a drunken Nigella Lawson impersonator for much of the film, is sizzling as the object of both of their joint affections while Jennifer Lawrence as Bales ultra-manipulative adopted baby momma is hilarious in each and every one of her scenes, even if at times they feel slightly unnecessary. Jeremy Renner, with the hair of a young Elvis, the enthusiasm of a golden retriever and the social policies of Mahatma Ghandi, is hugely likable as the everyman mayor of New Jersey, who the rest of the cast are looking to con the shit out of. Although even his boy scout pure persona starts to show cracks as the movie goes on, reinforcing the central theme that appearance is everything but means nothing.

American Hustle's story, however, is where Russell goes wrong. As confusing as a multi-story car park masterminded by M. Night Shyamalan the various narrative strands become more tangled than the tentacles of an Octopus in the midst of frantic Bop-it marathon. The movie and the actions of its characters become progressively more ridiculous and non-sensical to the point where you almost cease to care about the endless web of elaborate cons unfolding before your eyes as the film loses what little discernible direction it had at the start.

Like an out-house made of Picasso originals American Hustle, while fun and functional, is ultimately worth less than the sum of its parts, no matter how well written or beautifully purmed those parts may be. 6/10 stars

Pan's Labyrinth: Not your average fairytale

Disclaimer: Go to http://greatcatsbyreviews.wordpress.com for more new and improved movie reviews!

If you came to Pan's Labyrinth expecting a charming, hispanic fairytale then you better buckle up because you're in for one traumatic ride. With a narrative more layered than a genetically enhanced super onion, and twice as tear inducing, Guillermo Del Toro's 2006 cinematic effort brands itself on your memory banks and refuses to fade until several group therapy sessions later.

The film is set in 1944 in rural Spain, during the beginning of the end for Franco's fascist regime. The story follows Ophelia as she travels with her pregnant mother to the country home of her military captain step-father in preparation for the birth of his son and her half-brother. Before she can even finish unpacking, Ophelia is enticed down a disused well by a fairy-insect hybrid before being told she is the Princess of the underworld and that she must prove her innocence before claiming her throne. If all this sounds like the familiar story troupes of the fairytale genre think again. Any whimsical elements of Ophelia's tale are quickly dispelled by the accompanying, bloody narrative focusing on a Spanish rebel groups fight for freedom against an oppressive regime as well as the ill-fated members of the Captain's inner-circle that try to aid them. Oh and Vidal, the Captain, turning a man's face into a cup holder with an empty wine bottle in the first 10 minutes of the movie also went some way to dispelling the fairytale cliches.

The movie as a whole is brilliantly crafted boasting both skillful, measured direction and uninhibited imagination. The editing and cinematography subtly reinforce the theme of two opposing worlds, ethereal fantasy and brutal wartime reality, as scenes of Ofelia battling Del Toro's wondrous brain creatures are seamlessly blended with shots of fascist soldiers patrolling the nearby woods for freedom fighters. Everything feels damp, earthy and at times deeply unsettling as Guillermo reminds us of his horror movie roots by providing the audience with more "don't go in there moments" than a drunken hernia operation.

Ophelia wasn't sold on the new morphsuit design

Ophelia, played by Ivana Baquero, with the bravery of a bomb disposal worker who wrestles sharks in her spare time and the innocent naivety of, well, a twelve year old is captivating in the leading role, even if at times her actions do make you cringe harder than a your Gran's thoughts on immigration. The rest of the cast are all solid in their respective roles, with two particular, movie making, stand-outs. Doug Jones is fantastic as the world's creepiest and creakiest faun and terrifying as the famous Pale Man, think Stallone when his Botox and steroid supplies run dry. Seriously, having watched him play Abe Spaien in the Hellboy movies Jones' talent levels could only be upped if it was discovered he spent his spare time juggling live honey badgers and bringing peace to the middle east.
But the true show stealer is the monstrous Vidal, played by Sergi Lopez. The Captain's transition from a vaguely intimidating, grumpy grease ball into a terrifying fascist robot death machine is sudden, brutal and one of the films most memorable moments. The progressively more violent and sadistic actions of this Spanish terminator aim to reinforce one of the key themes of the movie, this being that all the saggy skinned child eating monsters and Anne Widdcombe look-a-likes in Del Toro's fantastical mind hole are nothing when compared with the evils of man and the brutality people are capable of.

Pan's Labyrinth does have one major flaw however and that is the criminal underuse of the incredible fantasy world that the title and many of the early scenes had promised. Instead the, very worthy, but decidedly generic human conflict takes centre stage and by the time the credits had started to role I felt teased and cheated of a movie that had shown the potential to be truly great, but failed to quite live up to it's early promise.

Pan's Labyrinth is a stunning, though-provoking film, and despite being a little fantasy set-piece light, is a gothic, and at times grotesque, high-point of Del Toro's career that'll rob you of more sleep than a needy newborn and keep you thinking long after its over. 8/10

Project X: The Game Changer... well, not really.

Disclaimer: Go to http://greatcatsbyreviews.wordpress.com for more new and improved movie reviews!

A drug fueled montage of tequila, rogue twerking and midget rage... but enough about my Tuesday nights, on to the review.

Project X is a simple film. It sets out with a tried and tested premise, a century old "found footage" directing gimmick and a single aim; to have a seriously good time, whether you want to join in or not. And good lord does it succeed. The film follows a day in the life of 3 socially awkward friends, determined to change their bottom of the food chain school status by throwing a county wide birthday bash. Needless to say things get wildly out of hand, but with a premise this revolutionary the film couldn't help but be great, right? Well, yeah actually, it sort of is. The cast are headed by a pre-pubescent Jonah Hill (not actually Jonah Hill), a sentient lizard man (solid actor, one to watch) and Tony Sopranos sexpest nephew (knob).

The war for the sweater-vest had gotten out of hand

The film plays out like a 80 minute long music video on acid; sporadically interspersed with the kind of set pieces, ranging from sleep inducing to eyebrow singeing, that seem to have been the product of a stoned Sunday afternoon brain storming session between director Todd Philips and his dog.
Project X may indeed lack the remotest iota of focus or originality but it does succeed in capturing the pre-party combination of tense excitement and expectant nerves while introducing some pretty thought provoking concepts along the way. "Will anyone show up?" "Will the party be chill?" "Is my blimp sized best friend going to eat all the snacks?" These are just some of the burning, universal questions that it boldly asks - truly a film for our times. The moral of the narrative, if I was pushed to search for one, would probably be that destroying your house, car and much of the surrounding neighborhood is all worth it for 15 seconds of vague acceptance from a group of near strangers who you'll almost certainly never see again, and you know what? I was totally onboard.
While it may be more repetitive than a Mormon fashion show this movie got me feeling excited and party ready, that is, of course before the adrenalin drained away and the depressing realities of my pizza box and red-bull can strewn surroundings killed my momentary buzz.
This is one of those films that really deserves two ratings, with an argument for it being placed at both ends of the star spectrum. The narrative is more predictable than J-beebz' latest album, there's better character development in your average supermarket advert and at times the movie looks like it's been filmed on a toaster but if you push past those significant drawbacks and decided to dive straight in, grab a fistful of ecstasy and join in the body shots (metaphorically speaking) the film is plain, addictive fun.
5/10 stars

Kill Bill Volume 2: The Thurmanator returns…

Disclaimer: Go to http://greatcatsbyreviews.wordpress.com for more new and improved movie reviews!

The second half of Tarantino's 2 part revenge epic, about a samurai Bride exacting brutal retribution against her former assassin family, treads decidedly similar ground to its predecessor but also manages to develop and improve on it in nearly every way.

QT continues to reference and combine a variety of genres, displayed in the films narrative and his own style of direction; as crime thriller noir, samurai B movie and old school westerns are all blended together in a glorious celluloid smoothie. This is displayed in the black and white prologue, an inspired mash up of pan flute backed Mexican standoff style close ups and hipster foot fetishism. The violence, like a streaking midget at a football match, is equally shocking despite being on a smaller scale, as shots of various bodily mutilation aim to increase the movie's wince factor.

The dialogue is back to it's darkly hilarious best and even the character development has taken a serious step up. Despite much of the supporting cast having the collective life span of a snowman in the Sahara desert some almost border on becoming well rounded, that is, of course, before Thurman rocks up and turns them all into human hacky sacks. An insight is provided into Budd, Bill's brother and a name on The Bride's hit list, played by Michael Madsen, and his quite literally shitty post assassin life. Sporting a rattail mullet dirty enough to keep your average McDonalds stocked in chip grease for a month, Madsen is a whole lot of sardonic, alcohol soaked fun to watch while Darrly Hannah's one eyed Mean Girl, Elle, is equally entertaining if slightly low on the dimensions. 

Calving the turkey had been an absolute nightmare.

Even the origins of The Bride's bad-assery (hyphens make anything a word, I promise) are explored, as she embarks on the mother of all training montages under the tutelage of her delightfully abusive, Japan-aphobe (remember what I said about the hyphens!) master Pai Mei. 

It is David Carradine however who steals the show as the most engaging villain this side of Breaking Bad. With a voice that could melt an iceberg or make a wolverine skip the purring stage and go straight to fetal he is simultaneously charming and deadly, making you almost sympathize with him before reminding yourself that the title of the whole movie has already spelled out his fate. (Spoiler alert, I guess) A fate that came to pass, arguably, in almost anti-climatic fashion. After two movies and over 4 hours, of characters exploding like a flock of pigeons in a rice paddy if Thurman so much as breathed on them, the final film should've, by all accounts, culminated in a death resembling a nuke hitting a freshly stocked blood bank however Tarantino is decidedly reserved. And as a result this final kill holds far more emotional weight than the previous 266, 724 (rough figure) combined, making for an almost tear jerking end to the Kill Bill saga.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 was my first experience of Tarantino's films, and despite my love for QT's movies having diminished significantly since starting this collection of reviews a few decades ago, this lesser known and loved sequel (christ, I'm so indie!) has always held a special place in my heart and while I can appreciate it may not be his finest work it remains my personal favorite. 7/10 stars

The Wolf of Wall Street: Leo does all the coke

Disclaimer: Go to http://greatcatsbyreviews.wordpress.com for more new and improved movie reviews!

"I will hopefully be providing you with weekly reviews..." Ahahaha what a ridiculous notion. Regular reviews?! Surely a mediocre, spur of the moment, film write up every 2 years or so is more than enough to maintain a steady stream of views and subscribers... right? Right?! And who knows, with the inordinate amount of free time I now have on my hands thanks to the combination of a poorly planned gap yeah (finding myself darling!) and a social life that consists of Come Dine With Me re-runs and one man doodlejump tourneys I may even be able to start a consistent stream of film reviews... or at least get them out annually.
Only time will tell if these weekly updates come to regular fruition but for now what better way to kick off this new year of movie coverage than with an epic tale of drugs, sex and despicable greed - I talk of course about pixar's Froze... I mean Martin Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street.


The Review
The Wolf of Wall Street focuses on Jordan Belfort, a hugely charismatic and morally bankrupt stock broker with a career more turbulent then a hang glider in a thunderstorm. The films twisting narrative details his rise from promising young upstart, working on the lowest rung of the stockbroking ladder, to the head of a Wall Street empire complete with nudist marching bands and staff that inhale cocaine like a fleet of drug addled hoovers. Scorsese quickly establishes the tone and pace of his latest movie monster with a series of opening scenes depicting the surreal, excess of the stockbroking wizard's world. From midget darts to anal coke snorting it is made rapidly apparent that a low key, subtly observed modern fable about the devastating effects of financial corruption this is not. On the contrary, this movie seems to celebrate the dastardly individuals it depicts as well as the world of debauchery they live and thrive in.

Leo couldn't say he enjoyed the spontaneous game of footsie

In the wrong hands it could have turned into a deeply offensive, charmless, suffocatingly excessive mess or worse still, a generic cautionary tale desperately repeating the shopworn mantra of "crime doesn't pay". Luckily close to every aspect of the movie, from the score to the script, is fantastic while each of the actors are at the top of their respective games as is the legendary director at the helm.
DiCaprio gives the most memorable performance of his career in the leading role, delivering epic, inspirational speech after speech, depicting Belfort as some sort of nymphomaniac, tourettes ridden Gordon Gecko and Scrooge McDuck hybrid, while consuming enough drugs on an hourly basis to sedate a herd of wooly mammoth. It is an iconic character, equal parts charming, hilarious and utterly repellent. Frequently breaking the fourth wall and narrating directly to the audience, I couldn't help but be a little entranced by Belfort's life of drug fueled debauchery and millionaire extravagance, however exaggerated it may be.

"The epileptic jellyfish" was a D-floor classic

Everyone from Jonah Hill as DiCaprio's fluorescent toothed, sexually deviant side kick Donnie to McConaugheys chest beating, nut busting mentor is memorable, convincing and for the most part hilarious, aided by the brilliant dialogue and character interaction that feels spontaneous and genuine. It is a relentlessly entertaining showcase of acting talent and directing skill as Scorsese combines rapid fire editing with single take scenes unfolding, almost theatrically, in front of the audience. But more than this, it may also be the funniest film of the year; a particular comedy highlight being a crazed DiCaprio determined not to die sober as his 177 foot yacht is caught in the mother of all storms at sea.

"Hey everybody, come see how good I look!"

Wolf of Wall Street is by no means perfect, however. There are frequent instances of awkward editing and clunky scene transitions, a potential result of the movie's rushed post-production. Some of the cast also have the tendency to over do it, with a number of scenes descending into "act-offs" losing what little believability they had. Ultimately however the films main drawback is also the reason it stands out from similar movies made over the years. It lacks any true kind of final, over-arching message or meaning. In a world that invites moral scrutiny and a life that has more peaks and troughs than a Haitian earthquake monitor Belfort seems almost completely devoid of any remorse, other than slight annoyance at being caught and the inconvenience of a few years in a minimum security jail.

There's no denying The Wolf of Wall Street is a hugely entertaining time and it may well be Scorsese's most enjoyable film since Goodfellas. It is a coke fueled, pill popping, debauchery filled 3 hour roller-coaster with a single pace that never lets up for an instant. However much like a roller-coaster the thrill, for the most part is fleeting, and if you don't go in prepared you could end up feeling pretty emptying by the time the credits start rolling. Ok so that last metaphor didn't really make sense but you get the idea... Essentially if you're looking for nothing more than a seriously good time you won't be disappointed. The most ludicrously entertaining film of the year and proof that greed is really f**king good.
7 stars out of 10.

Kill Bill Volume 1: Uma Thurman Kills Bill... and everyone else

Disclaimer: Go to http://greatcatsbyreviews.wordpress.com for more new and improved movie reviews!

Two years and several reviews later I think it may just be time to return to my not so continuous marathon review chain of Quentin Tarantino's directorial career. And what better way to make my glorious comeback than with a double "bill", see what I did there, review special of the two movies that truly broke QT out into the mainstream, making him an icon of action lovers and the bane of weak stomached movie censors worldwide.

Kill Bill: Volume 1

The story of "Kill Bill" is one of ruthless, beautifully choreographed revenge where Uma Thurman’s enigmatic character, “The Bride”, takes centre stage as she travels the world inadvertently and singlehandedly ending global over-population, whilst all the time enacting brutal retribution against her former friends and fellow assassins for an incident several years before hand that left her entire family dead and a steel plate embedded in her skull. As we quickly come to realize, from an opening scene involving a ninja knife fight, equal parts frantic and vicious, as well as the decimation of a picturesque small town America home "The Bride" means business, as does Tarantino.

From the opening of this thrilling introductory chapter to the closing credits Tarantino's trademark artistic flourishes and constant film references are comfortingly present throughout. The action is ludicrously OTT, or should I say QTT mwahah... sorry. This is especially true during the famed "Crazy 88" fight scene in which Thurman becomes a samurai sword wielding, florescent jumpsuit wearing human blender. This flamboyant spectacle is one of the standout moments of Tarantino’s career with an FX budget larger than most countries GDP. Each cast member is rapidly reduced to nothing more than a ketchup filled sprinkler system as Tarantino ensures that any Jam manufacturers in the area will be getting new Ferraris for Christmas. This particular marathon fight scene along with several others throughout the film display the full extent of QT's technical directing prowess as well as establishing him as a truly exceptional action coordinator, ranking amongst those whose work he is overtly paying tribute to. Uma Thurman gives a cooler than an ice cube with a penchant for madmen suits performance, whilst Lucy Lui is equally cold and intimidating as a mass murdering, racially sensitive Triad Boss decapitating her way to the top of the Hong Kong criminal underworld.

No one. Touched. The jumpsuit.

However the only enemy character development, beyond that of the superficial, comes in the form of a series of awkward anime flashbacks, conveying the sense that Tarantino is trying a little too hard to honour Japanese cinema, not only putting it on a pedestal but offering a back massage and a reach around. The major protagonists are for the most part forgettable, acting simply as an array of human obstacles for "The Bride" to make into racially diverse Sushi in gradually more violent and imaginative ways. The subtle, quirky comedy is also missing, except for a mentally scarring yet darkly hilarious hospital scene. Whilst the action scenes are constant shots of hyper-stylised adrenaline no amount of lighting and visual trickery or Samurai movie homages can make up for the lack of Tarantino's trademark quote it till it hurts dialogue or endearing characters that we've come to love and, perhaps unfairly, expect.

Once all the smoke has cleared and the tsunami of blood and prosthetic limbs has been cleaned away I was left, like many of Thurman's less fortunate victims, feeling slightly hollow. 6 stars out of 10.

HANNA: Wright and Ronan, Together Again

Yes it has been a while. How long has it been? 1... 2 weeks... OK so a couple of years have gone by since my last review and I would like to be able say that up until now no film has truly compelled me to put fingers to keyboard and let flowery metaphor after metaphor erupt from my pretentious "mindhole" like a flamboyant volcanic thesaurus. Sadly however that is not the case. My distinct lack of activity has been down to a combination of work, sadly taking priority over a film blog vanity project, combined with my own heroic laziness(mostly the second one). But I'm back and will hopefully be supplying you, all two and a half of my loyal followers, with almost weekly reviews providing my cramped schedule of angry birds and googling my own name allows... But enough introduction, on with the review!

"HANNA", the 4th feature film of Joe Wright's impressive career, is similarly to its protagonist and namesake entirely unexpected, FREAKIN INCREDIBLE! and... um... strangely attractive. Ok so maybe I'm stretching the comparison between the film itself and its central anti-heroine a little far but it doesn't change the fact that this remains, in my humble blogger opinion, easily the greatest achievement of Mr Wrights up till now stellar, but samey career. HANNA is quite frankly pure unadulterated, often disturbing fun. It's clear from the opening, in which an Arctic based Hanna (Ronan)shoots a deer in the face before having a brutal fist fight with her animal skin clad father figure, that this is not going to be another awkward Victorian flirting and drawing room bitch fest that some may have come to expect from Wright, director of "Atonement" and "Pride and Prejudice".

Eskimos didn't take kindly to cameras

The film focuses on, surprise surprise, Hanna a teenage assassin and her unending pursuit for revenge for the brutal death of her mother. HANNA's relentless, asthma inducing pace is introduced at the beginning and doesn't slow throughout somehow managing to combine an array of face meltingly awesome fight and chase montages with tender at times revelatory character development. This is helped in no small part by Ronan's startlingly effective as well as convincing portrayal of a teenage assassin stuck between being a child and a robot like killing machine with a thing for pointy objects and turning people into human kebabs. In fact its unfair to give all the acting credit to Ronan, however great she was and however huge my nerd crush for her is credit must go to pretty much every member of the cast each giving standout performances and all worthy of a cavalcade of unnecessarily elaborate adjectives to describe their individual character portrayal, with a personal favorite being the heroically creepy Isaacs or "Sandman" played by the ever reliable and in this case eye opening Tom Hollander, lets just say I wont be getting much sleep tonight. However the two greatest aspects of "HANNA" as a whole were more technically focused, these being the cinematography as well as the shot composition making nearly every shot simply look like it should be hanging in an art gallery. HANNA's visuals truly stick in your mind long after you've switched off your TV and, in my case, gone foetul on the floor from sheer sensory overload. The second of these feats of technical wizardry is of course the mind blendingly, seizure inducingly glorious Chemical Brothers soundtrack helping to give each scene its setting, emotional charge and drive as well as beating half of your senses into bloody submission, causing some serious emotional numbness for sometime after viewing. Just listening to the soundtrack now I'm having to intersperse it with "The Archers" omnibus just to balance out adrenaline levels.

Despite a slightly lazily un-concluded family side story and a lack of any kind of moral amongst the continuous waves of stylized violence this is one of the most cohesive, exciting and technically dazzling thrillers I've seen in a very long time.
Maybe its cause it's my first review in a while or the fact that my brain was turned into ready break by the relentless score but I'm feeling generous 8/10!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: Fun with Harry and friends

Disclaimer: Go to http://greatcatsbyreviews.wordpress.com for more new and improved movie reviews!

Alright I have to admit the title of this post is a little on the misleading side. Firstly this film is most definitely not fun or particularly enjoyable for the most part, I wouldn't go so far as to say it was "The Road" with wands but it was only a few house elf deaths away. And secondly the "friends" part isn't entirely true as it seems everything with a pulse and a wand wants nothing more than to beat 7 shades of wizarding shit out of Harry and then feed him his glasses.

Both were trying their hardest not to mention the dandruff

So it's rapidly established in the opening seen in which a brutalized teacher is fed to a giant serpent by the pasty faced Lord Voldemort that this is by far the darkest Harry Potter film yet. However this being the darkest Potter adventure yet it manages to appeal to a wider and more mature age bracket subsequently satisfying a larger audience whilst managing to entertain pre-teens, but whilst Harry may never mainline heroine into his eye balls I wouldn't recommend this to your toddler. Deathly Hallows is also one of the best Potter films so far, now thats not setting the bar too high we all remember the steaming pile of goblin shit that was the previous film. Its director (David Yates) has improved massively from his previous magical endeavor, making for a visually compelling and at times genuinely breathtaking film, taking advantage of the army of helicopters at his disposal. The huge sweeping nature shots and gorgeous landscape filming is a geography teachers wet dream. The relationship between the three friends is also delicately developed and there personalities seem to stretch beyond their previously allotted stereotypes of no it all nerd, incompetent ginger funny man and that weird kid with glasses. Harry and Hermione's friendship is further developed in a brilliant, emotionally fragile dance sequence which is as touching as it is cringey. The group is also now more ridden with teenage angst than a particularly emotional episode of "One Tree Hill" and you'd need a magically enhanced chainsaw to cut the overwhelming sexual tension between Ron and Hermione. Despite the relationships of the foremost three protagonists being handled so effectively nearly the entire supporting cast of characters are either given an occasional token line or totally forgotten.

Garlic Bread had been a short sighted lunch choice 

The chemistry between Harry and Ginny is similar to that of two chairs stacked on top of each other and the acting for the most part remains monotonely(it's a word!) dreadful with various lines being delivered with all the emotion and charisma of a tiger woods apology conference. However despite the dismal acting on some parts others are still terrifyingly brilliant, for instance Ralph Fiennes remains spine chillingly frightening as "he who shall not be named" although I maintain he would be as creepy without the Michael Jackson treatment. Dobby is still perfectly realized and will as usual either have you wanting to give him a cuddle or reaching for something heavy to throw at the screen.
However even with the occasional fun filled appearance of Dobby and Voldemort and the brilliant location shooting the hugely unnecessary running time of over 2 and a half hours took its emotional toll. Especially as the story can drag on like a determined marathon runner who's legs have fallen asleep and in order to fully appreciate the vast quantity of Harry Potter in jokes you'd have to have acquired an either encyclopedic knowledge of everything Potter or have aggressively revised the last 6 books the night before.
Although despite feeling soul crushingly bored and confused in places, like a disoriented puppy with a short attention span, I had gotten my Harry Potter fix for the day and I'm looking forward to the final adventure of everyones favorite four eyed rascal.

6 out of 10 It's magic... sort of.

Law Abiding Citizen: Poor Misguided Shitizen

Disclaimer: Go to http://greatcatsbyreviews.wordpress.com for more new and improved movie reviews!

Ok first and foremost "Law Abiding Citizen" is an incredibly morbid and deranged train wreck of a movie, and most definitely not on screen fun for the whole family. It's predominantly a crime, thriller with a large helping of gore and dismemberment thrown in to lighten up the proceedings.
Rapidly transitioning from the heart warming scenes of ultra-violent rape/child murder(not simultaneously thank God!) to the delightful sequence of  the adorable Gerard Butler brutally torturing his family's killer to death in his own lakeside workshop, striking an uncanny resemblance to Jigsaw's holiday home.
Genuinely the opening scene couldn't have broken more taboos or been more messed up unless a puppy had been shot in the face and then used as a football. It manages to go from aaaaw isn't she cute to, OH MY GOD that doesn't go there!? within a matter of seconds, which when you think about it is quite impressive, and the worst part is you don't even care.

In his defense the bracelet was very interesting.

The opening scene is so incredibly short that the character development of the wife and child is non-existent and the audience have no time to become emotionally invested in these protagonists or begin to care about their impending fate. All you know, is the little girl is cute, the wife is... um... a woman and Gerard Butler our hero seems like a vaguely likable bloke, that is, moments before he's, abruptly, hit in the face with a baseball and his entire life and soul is raped and murdered before his very eyes.
So a delightful opening to progressively more light hearted film.
And the characterization sadly doesn't improve from there, with not a single likable protagonist emerging, each failing to inspire an ounce of sympathy from the already emotionally cold audience.
Jamie Foxx is the slimy lawyer bastard, Gerard Butler is the depressed, grieving bastard who quickly transforms into the psychotic murdering bastard and the remaining characters are lifeless filters whose sole functions are to fill out the ranks of fodder characters and spout lines of pointless throw away dialogue, oh and did I mention they were bastards.
Foxx's character alienates the entire audience with his less than ethical actions within the first five minutes making Butler's character the sole relatable protagonist.  However as Butler's protagonist swiftly descends further and further into a vengeful, psychotic rage, in which he brutally murders anyone who didn't so much as open the door for him, all original sympathy for his protagonist's heart wrenching predicament rapidly deteriorates, the last of it vanishing in a particularly gory scene involving a "spork", a gourmet meal and his cell mates face, I'll leave the wrest to your imagination.

They could take his freedom but they could never take his smile.

Sadly the direction and script are disjointed, confused and uninspired, the dialogue conveying the sense that it was the product of a marathon brainstorming session by a group of crime movie addict teenagers who are desperately going for shock value over substance.

And sadder still it's as boring as an all day old folks bingo session where the only prizes are a pat on the head and another round of bingo. Who'd have thought that a cat and mouse crime thriller, with extra gore, in which the mouse constantly mind fucks the cat could be so soul crushingly dull.
The vaguely searching ethical questions asked, and not followed through, by the various characters only help to emphasize the extent of the douchebaggery undertaken by the main protagonists and remind you of how much you already dislike each one of them in the first place.
The final scenes and death sequences steadily escalate in violence and lack of realism, with each attack becoming progressively more ludicrous than the last, until the only way for the final death to up the scale of ridiculousness would be to have Jamie Foxx beaten to death by a clown with a giant cheese string.
Ultimately "Law Abiding Citizen" is a generic and pedestrian crime thriller, devoid of personality and originality, and one who's case file you wont want to be opening any time soon.

2/10 stars  The "Law Abiding Citizen" deserves life!

The Town: I'll See You Again this side or the Other

Disclaimer: Go to http://greatcatsbyreviews.wordpress.com for more new and improved movie reviews!

As you can see I've decided to take a short break from my Quentin Tarantino blogging marathon to review The Town, a movie that almost every American critic has seen and reviewed already due to the fact that films arrive a good decade later in the UK than they do in the US, but I digress...

THIS MOVIE IS INCREDIBLE! It's easily one of the best action movies of 2010 and possibly the best heist movie since Michaels Mann's balls to the wall cop thriller "Heat", with which it shares more than a few plot details.
The movie opens with a spectacular, ear drum shattering bang and WHAT-A-BANG. From the brutally fast paced opening sequence featuring a brilliantly directed and seemingly realistic bank robbery, in which Affleck has evidently invested a great deal of research. The break neck speed never lets up, except for breif moments of delicate character development and sentimental dialogue, which are brilliantly handled and perfectly balanced by the way.
Those who thought that "Gone Baby Gone" was some kind of one off, beautiful accident, like the night you accidentally walked into your friends mothers bedroom, will have to eat there bitter words. Who'd have thought that the man who brought us the hideous (I just threw up a little) Gigli and reindeer games could have created and starred in a film as entertaining and genuinely thrilling as The Town.

Mittens was coming down from the tree... one way or the other

The Town is set in Charlestown, Boston and contains a variety of set pieces so exciting that half way through the final shoot out I was surprised my heart didn't burst out of my ribcage and start frantically tap dancing on the seat in front.
The second heist in which there is a frantic, tire screeching car chase through the narrow back streets of Charlestown, is a five minute long cinematic laxative. The chase is so tense that after several minutes of frantic chewing I was surprised I had any hands left let alone finger nails. Affleck uses "Bourne" style shakycam shots, where the camera is so unstable the cameraman must've been a spontaneous tap dancer in desperate need of a wee, and various helicopter shots to give a sense of the claustrophobia and tension of the robbers desperate situation whilst never forgetting the geography of the chase.
However none of the action would truly be as gripping, the shoot outs as heart wrenchingly tense if it weren't for the glorious performances by the entire ensemble drawing the audience in like a brightly coloured sweet shop draws in a fat kid with ADH.
Ben Affleck has recovered from the horrible, HORRIBLE performances of recent years to deliver a great piece of acting, taking on the role of onscreen emotional anchor, aaah pretentiousness is fun, and making his character, Doug Mcreel, sympathetic and easily one of the more likable protagonists amongst the assortment of psycho's and general bastards clamouring for screen time.
Rebecca Hall is an utter joy to watch, playing the emotionally fragile bank manager who unwittingly ends up in a relationship with one of the lovely men who recently robbed her bank and emotionally traumatised her.
Blake Lively is good as the grimy, overly used and abused prostitute who just wants a better life for her daughter... oh god I think I'm tearing up.

Worst... Stag Night... Ever.

Jon Hamm, Mad Men's Don Draper, perfectly plays the slimy and oh-so unsympathetic Detective, desperately trying to catch and convict Doug Macreel (Ben Affleck) and his bank robbing posse.
Mention should also go to Pete Postlethwaite as the ambiguously accented and repulsively creepy florist.
However for me the true show kidnapping performance was Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner as the trigger happy best friend of Doug Macreel who's movie you some how can predict from the moment he opens his mouth. Renner is a psychotic, time bomb and a cinematic "gem"(movie in joke). He not only makes you despise and fear his character but towards the end he also encourages the audience to sympathise with him.
However the film isn't perfect. The story's cliched and the father character is under used whilst the helicopter shots of Charlestown depict it as a pleasant and quaint neighbourhood rather than the Boston version of Bagdad that Affleck has been trying so hard to portray.
The ending is also painfully sentimental and a little contrived but really now I'm just unnecessarily nit picking through the luscious hair(yes I know that was gay) of one of the best films of the year.
Affleck has not only redeemed himself of his previous atrocities but also established himself as a talented actor and all round director. Suffice to say I can't wait for his next film.

A message, a moral and kick-ass car chase what more could you want
8/10 stars