Film Review - Warrior

Rocky Balboa, pictured before the
sequels robbed him of any credibility

There is something emotionally gratifying in watching two guys beat each other to a pulp, that is what I assume anyway. There have been numerous films based around the sport of boxing which has established itself firmly as a genre that can produce classic movies (Think Rocky and Raging bull), which has now propelled mixed martial arts onto the big screen. There have been a couple of terrible efforts in the past to make a film based around MMA, I distinctly remember Channing Tatum being in one. However this is the first to boast a highly talented cast, which they have in Tom Hardy (Bronson, The Dark Knight Rises), Joel Edgerton (The Thing) and Nick Nolte (48 Hours, Hotel Rwanda).

 Directed and written by Gavin 'O Connor; Warrior tells us the story of two brothers, both former MMA fighters, and how through a strange series of circumstances they both end up stepping back in the ring (Its more of a cage really) for a huge tournament where the two end up having to face each other, whilst the pairs estranged father attempts to reconcile his relationship with his sons.

Nick Nolte listening to the latest
Pussycat Dolls album.

 Now as this is a film we can try and skirt around the ridiculous amount of coincidences that lead to the pair fighting in the equivalent of the world championships of MMA having both being out of the game, and out of contact, for many years. Tom Hardy is fantastic as Tommy, a clearly troubled former soldier, his demeanor as a distant and haunted man is nothing short of fascinating to watch. If anything this leaves Brendon (Joel Edgerton) as a bit of a straight man in this bloody Laurel and Hardy partnership. He is supposed to be the Rocky we are all cheering for, yet it is Tommy you feel more emotionally attatched too and if not Tommy then their recovering alcoholic dad (Played by Nick Nolte) is the one we end up being more interested in. The script is quite solid up until the rather predictable ending which kind of spoiled the whole thing for me, especially in the manner it was done. The direction as a whole is good, though doesn't garner any huge amount of praise. One thing I will praise about this film is the immensely high quality of the fight scenes, the choreography is superb. You really get in and around the action, which is displayed in a sometimes brutal and sometimes elegant glory which really sums up the two extremes of the sport and the characters of Tommy and Brendan, respectively.

I look like that topless, Honest.

In Conclusion. I have to say that Warrior is a film I would reccomend, it reaches for greatness and falls a bit short. Though there is nothing wrong with that, it still beats a lot of the crap out there in the big wide world, and between Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, and the big, bad, fight scenes; there is plenty to like. The ending may not dissapoint others as much as me but I did feel really let down that a film I had followed with such interest all the way through unravelled the way it did. The film is driven by emotion and the (Pardon the homosexuality of this statement) power of love between brothers. The film balances this, until the ending, when it overreaches. Anyway you may feel different (The one person who reads my blog......which is me.....Hey Alex, your a cool guy :) Yeh!) Anyway you may prefer it too me.

If Warrior was a lager - Stella Artios, A good standard, though not one of the best in its field. Also fitting considering the violence.

Til Next time :)

Tron:Legacy - A Review.

A Review of Tron Legacy by a man who was sad enough to watch the original aswell :(

Story (or Lowdown as it is known in the hood)

One mans quest to get it on with a virtual woman.

The story is set about thirty years after the original Tron, Sam Flynn (Garret Hedland) discovers a message being transmitted from his fathers old arcade. Naturally he is surprised due to noone being at the arcade since his father Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges, the protagonist of the original movie Tron and also one of my favorite actors, seriously watch in horror as I give Jeff Bridges the literary equivalent of a blowjob in this "review") vanished many years ago. Whilst searching the arcade Sam accidentally gets "beamed" into a digital world known as "The Grid", as you do. He does some action scenes because there hasn't been any for ten minutes and bumps into his father, unaged from the day he left. NO WAIT! its not his dad, this character is a program called CLU (Jeff Bridges again) who looks like his father due to being designed by him. CLU has been corrupted and has dismantled Kevin Flynns utopian image of The Grid in his thirst for perfection. Its up to Sam, assisted by Kevin and another program called Quorra (Olivia Wilde, So this is why she dissapeared from "House"?), to save the day and return to the real world.

Sequel?


The disgusting yet loving things I would do to this man.


Sequels or remakes should be approached with caution in the most part, usually as there is no need for them to exist. Luckily Tron is a film with great potential for a sequel, the original film wrapped up all its plot points which usually disqualifies the point for a sequel, with there being nearly three decades since the original enough time has passed for a new story to logically unfold. The Original Tron was a great idea with good characters to work with, however the films story was flawed and could be hard to follow at times and the effects despite being good at the time, were made with moderate budget and compared with modern SFX looks rather silly. Tron's effects were applauded at the time, not so much due to their quality, but in the way they were utlised (E.G Lightbike smashy funtimes). With a huge budget behind the film and modern SFX technology availible the action scenes in Tron: Legacy really are stunning and they must be pretty awesome because I wasnt that impressed by the visual technology behind Avatar.

Acting, Direction, Script and All that jazz

He does go a bit Jedi-ish in the second half, but I will overlook it

 The film follows a recent trend by casting a relatively unknown lead actor around a cast of established stars, see Sam Worthington in Avatar for an example, and usually I am not a fan of this because they tend to lack the ability to hold the film together as the centrepiece. Garret Hedlund does not fall into this category, sure hes the typical physically fit, modelesque faced guy, but he can act very well (Note: the film does have a scene which requires him to needlessly take his shirt off, but what do I expect of mainstream cinema). He gives Sam a strong psychological character struggling to reel against the pace of the discoveries of his fathers dissaperance and their current reunification. Jeff Bridges (You can probably hear my breathing become much slower and vibrant) is good as always, however despite my prelude of love in the opening paragraph, he is not as great as he could be. The thing is with Jeff Bridges being Jeff Bridges (Look at how intelligent I am) I expect him to be awesome in pretty much everything, which he still usually is. Casting Jeff Bridges in two roles is a way of getting the most for your money I guess and I cant complain as he gets more screentime :) I think the writing has let him down in areas which has prevented him from being as unbelievably awesome as usual. Olivia Wilde plays the love interest and she has a slightly more original character than most, going into the film I was expecting her to be playing a tough chick female warrior who treats everything the lead characters says as an excuse for a patronising remark to flow from her lips. However this isn't the case which is nice to see as mainsteam action films feel the need to do this all the time now, See Avatar again. By the by I dont hate Avatar, just in case you were getting that impression, I just think it was distinctly average but this is one mans opinion and perhaps I will explain my reasons for this in a future blog :)  anyway back to Tron. The film flows nicely for the first hour, not becoming dull and is well paced. However towards the end the stories legs start to run down, however a brilliantly enigmatic Michael Sheen keeps the ball rolling for a while. Sadly the films big finale action sequence falls flat, and I already had guessed what would happen at end (being a modern day Poirot, without the Belgian bit ofcourse). The films dialogue isnt going to go down in history as a masterpiece but has a few small moments that make it stand out from run of the mill big budget action films, I liked the whole "Removing yourself from the equation" bollocks because i am a bit sad like that. If you have no idea what the previous sentence means then watch the film, you will get it. Also I wouldnt usually mention it but the soundtrack is very good, being by Daft Punk and everything it suits the films techno vibe perfectly.

Overall Summary

She should drop the super powerful disc thing and pick up
a Vacuum cleaner, am I right boys!

Tron:Legacy is an entertaining action film, well acted, competantly directed and has a unique visual style that makes the film a joy to watch at times. Jeff Bridges is still good in it, despite my misgivings, and the best actor by far. However in the scenes where he looks young or when he plays CLU his face looks really fucking weird, due to being digitally messed with to knock 20 years off. However I will let it slide, with it being Jeff. I reccomend the film as a "popcorn flick", it doesnt require to much attention to know whats going on and it has enough interesting action set pieces to keep the film from getting boring, till like the last half hour.

My arbitrary scores :)  (My criteria changes depending on the type of film I review)

Acting - 8

Visuals - 10

Story - 7

Soundtrack - 10 (Seriously, I loved it)
Overall - 8

Thanks for reading :) Feel free to leave comments, or else I will feel like im talking to myself on the internet. The online equivalent of a schizophrenic.

Top 5 Animated Films (One Entry per Studio)

Lets kick off with animation, an often lighthearted fun place to begin. I'm messing with the formula a bit by taking one film from the five most successful animated studios of all time. Disney, Pixar (I am aware Pixar is under the disney "Umbrella" but Im seperating it because Im awesome), Dreamworks, Blue Sky and Aardman Studios (I believe they are under the Dreamworks banner but they work seperateish so meh). I realise I have missed out Studio Ghibli, I think thats their name. They did such films as Spirited Away and that Totoro thing my girlfriend has. I lack expertise on most of their repertoire so theirs no point me babbling on about what I dont know about. I dont believe in giving a numeric score for accomplishment but due to most people desiring one and in my effort to sell out and look marketable I have created special criteria based around what I am posting about, in this case animation :). Anywho.

Blue Sky Animations.



And I thought Crack fucked me up.

 ICE AGE
A lovely film full of charm, character and a prehistoric squirrel with what I presume is ADD or at least a low grade disability. It never matched up to what Pixar were consistantly knocking out from a story perspective but the laughs were constant and the characters were endearing and well vocied. I can safely say that if pissed off mammoths could talk they would sound like Ray Romano. Considering it was the studios first offering it was even more impressive, however they have failed to hit the same heights since and the Ice Age sequels lack that charm we loved so much from the original. They recently released their sixth feature film "Rio" which is garnering positive reviews, Ive yet to lay eyes on it but I really hope it is a return to form for the clearly talented people from Blue Sky.

Story - 6
Visual - 8
Characterisation - 9
Overall - 8
If Ice Age were a toothpaste - Aquafresh, Wholefully enjoyable though their are clearly still a few better options on the shelf.

Aardman Studios

CHICKEN RUN

They would make good Drumsticks, S'all Im saying.

It was hard not to select Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit as I do adore that film, possibly more than anyman should adore a movie about a northern man and his dog rounding up the local miscriants of their idyllic town, the rabbits being the miscriants. However Chicken Run just edges it, the cleverness in setting the chicken coop as some sort of parallel to the Great Escape is genious and Julia Sawalha more than matches megastar Mel Gibson in the voice acting department. The film has a lot of heart and the domestic appeal for us English makes the film even  greater as we will enjoy it more knowing Americans wont catch all the references. Again this was a first time out to bat (Im a cricket fan dont ya know) for an animated studio. The only other offering we have seen from Aardman besides Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit was the flawed yet lovely Flushed Away, it was a step down in quality but not to a degree that the film was in anyway bad. Aardman have signed a deal with Sony to make feature films hand in hand but we have had to wait a while for an actual film. Alas the wait is over this November with the delightfully promising Arthurs Christmas on the horizon. Hardly surprising to note the splendidly talented British cast it can boast. Canny wait lads :)

Story - 9

Visual - 7

Characterisation - 9

Overall - 9

If Chicken Run were a breakfast Cereal - Weetabix, tasty and even good for you. The film even has high fibre to match the cereal, moral fibre that is. (Darn ain't I witty)

Dreamworks

Shrek 2



Beastiality never had a more commercial advertiser.

Dreamworks are the financially well backed, and not as artistically charged, horse in the animated horse race of animaters (Or something like that). Since Dreamworks Animation Studios first feature film (1998's Antz, with Woody Allen) they have produced twenty more feature films in the last 13 years and about 70% of them are average. I was a little tempted to go with Antz but for sheer unbridled fun I had to go with our ogre friend Shrek :). I chose the sequel which surprised me a little as most sequels are unbridled machinations of satan, see Shrek The Third for my point. Sequels have to add a new motivation for the character, a way for the main character to develop without revisiting themes already covered, introduce new characters who can integrate with the charm of the old. And do all this whilst doing all the other stoof that requires films to be great. Ice Age was a prime example of how the introduction of new characters can mess up a formula. Puss in Boots was a delightful addage of what made the first film great, ive already praddled on to long so I shall just state my love of Jennifer Saunders and leave it there.

Story - 8

Visual - 8

Characterisation - 8

Overall - 8 Shockingly

If Shrek 2 were a DIY warehouse - Homebase - They lack the subtle graces of IKEA, the hard working nature of B&Q but there grafted spirit allows us to respect them for the diamonds in the rough they are.

Pixar Studios

UP



When Im out driving its 5 points for a dog.



Along with Inglorious Basterds my favorite film of 2009. Lets face it Pixar are awesome, in pretty much everything they do, sure a few have slipped slightly below the line of perfection but ive never seen a pixar film close to bad, which therefore makes it hard to pick between the best of the bunch. With three toy story's, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc and Wall.E all up for selection it was a hard choice but this film is a firm favorite, possibly due to the unorthodox hero of this animated adventure, an old widowed man, which in the hands of say dreamworks would of come off as average and shallow but in pixars hands they take the sad old man and play on our emotional heartstrings with touching set pieces of real emotional depth, such as the opening montage of Carl and Ellies life together. Throw in the greatest talking dog cinema has ever produced and you get a mixture of great comedy, great sadness and overall a great movie. The perfectly written story intertwined with an originality that we dont see enough of in modern cinema and you get yourself an animated classic. Also read up on the story of the terminally ill girl who was going to die before the film was released and how pixar sent a dude with a copy of the film to her house, she watched it with her family and passed away like six hours later. Seriously as if I didnt want to stick my penis in pixar enough. When I say that I mean it in a loving way.

Story - 10

Visual - 9

Characterisation - 10

Overall - 10

If Up was a cult it would be - The Manson Family,  iconic and truly hard to surpass, also Roman Polanski raped a girl (Cant think why I brought that UP) My god thats a bad pun, it doesnt even fit.

Disney Animated Studios

THE LION KING

Disney: Making silhouette animals look cool sucessfully since 1994.

The hardest choice of all. 50 films spanning 74 years of cinematic history. The close runners up for me were The Jungle Book, Aladdin, Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tangled. The Lion King just edges through with its Shakesperean undertones (Hamlet), simply epic soundtrack and miraculous animation it capitulated the best of what Disney does. The highlight of the Disney Rennaisance of the nineties (Im not being gay, it is actually technically known as the reannaisance, look it up.) its colorful characters and iconic moments make it a worthy choice in my opinion. The death of Mufasa and his reappearance to Simba in the heavens are two of the most iconic scenes of animated cinema, for good reason. Also Jeremy Irons is in it and hes fucking awesome.

Story - 10

Visual - 9

Characterisation - 9

Overall - 10

If The Lion King was an autotuned popstar it would be - Rebbeca Black, the undisputed King.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog. Muchos Love x