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Working my way through recent viewings a bit at a time. The Grey, 2011, Joe Carnahan. An oil drilling crew flying home at the end of the season crash land in the merciless Alaskan wilderness. On top of the freezing blizzard conditions the men very soon become the prey of the regions grey wolves. Fortunately for this band of roughnecks among their number is none other than Liam Neeson a man with a very particular set of skills.😊 See he plays John Ottway, a hunter employed by the oil company to protect the workers from the constant threat of wild animals in the area. Of course even with Brian Mi...i mean John Ottway on hand the wolves very quickly gain the upper hand, picking the men of one at a time. And therein lies the problem i found. These men crash in the middle of nowhere, hundreds of miles of snowy wilderness. There's only half a dozen of them vs. a seemingly endless army of wolves, so why do the wolves craftily pick them off one at a time like a damn slasher villain? Well I'll tell you, because otherwise this film would be done in about 15 mins. That said i did enjoy The Grey. It was quite slow, certainly compared to director Joe Carnahans previoud effort the rollicking action update The A - Team. Not sure i'd really recommend it but the scenery is stunning, Neeson is good value as ever and if like me you've a soft spot for man vs. nature flicks then its worth a shot. |
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) - 8.5/10 It was really good, we both loved it and one bit made me cry (my friend said the girl next to him was in tears at another bit as well). The destruction of Metropolis at the beginning of the film shown from Bruce Wayne and others' perspective was INCREDIBLE, really putting you right there in the middle of an alien invasion. The film is sprawling, and plays out like a graphic novel, I can see why people are complaining about it jumping from one thing to another, but it worked fine for me. The fight between Batman and Superman was amazing, but shorter than I was expecting. The fight Batman has later on in the warehouse as seen in the trailer (partially) was absolutely insane, sheer perfection and left my mouth wide open. The post-apocalyptic 'Knightmare' sequence again was magnificent and I can't stop thinking about it, especially seeing it in IMAX was mindblowing. My problems with the film? Jesse Eisenberg seemed like he was in a different film to everyone else. Junkie XL's part of the score was quite repetitive and sometimes too much. The whole Doomsday thing wasn't all that great, but was OK. Go see it, don't give it a miss because some film critics said it isn't a good film, it wasn't made for them. I want to see it again already and will probably go tomorrow afternoon.
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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) I have to admit i do like Guy Ritchie's way of film making. He brought a new breath of life to British gangster films with the much imitated but never equalled Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch and reinvented Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century with two very enjoyable takes on the classic detective. Here Ritchie applies that same cool style he used on Sherlock Holmes to The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Everything's very slick and you can't really look away or you'll miss a slight of hand trick or a cameo from David Beckham. Armie Hammer and Henry Cavill appear to enjoy themselves as the two leads and Elizabeth Debicki brings that ice coldness to the screen that she uses to perfection at times in The Night Manager. Hugh Grant takes on the Q / Jim Phelps role and adds his usual touch of Hugh Grant to it as the director of operations and come the end it's all rather beautifully set up for a sequel as Grant informs the team including Alicia Vikander, of a new assignment in Istanbul. Except it's doubtful there will be a second outing for U.N.C.L.E. as the lurking feeling at the credits is of what could have been rather than what you've just seen. Behind all the cool, the humour, and the glamorous Italian locations there isn't an awful lot of story. Or so it seems. Problem is there is a lot of story. Including nuclear weapons and Nazi butchers plus plenty of backstory for Hammer and Vikander. It seems Ritchie and his script editors forgot to make it exciting or indeed very interesting so whilst the style and charm is apparent the plot isn't. Although the film is an enjoyable two hours it will never wow you and on the whole will probably prove instantly forgettable. A shame because i'd actually like to see a sequel. |
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You've well summarised my feelings very well. It's a film which wants to be something bigger, smarter, and more detailed than it really is, but doesn't quite know how to do it, meaning it becomes bogged down in unnecessary information rather than moving on to the next plot point. At other times it is incredibly shallow and, to paraphrase Shakespeare, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. In terms of the sequel, it'll probably be in the same boat as the recent Fantastic Four, which was the beginning of a film series, but wasn't commercially or critically successful enough for the studios to think the investment will be worthwhile.
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