Reviews by SJMJ91

To begin with, 50/50 perhaps became the strangest and most forbidden motion picture to date due to the eccentric mixture of the emotional suffering and frequently deadly disease of cancer and the laughs and joys of comedy. However, considering this is a very unorthodox combination and will effect it’s audiences in a variety of ways, it turned out to be an absolutely fantastic film that is both deeply inspiring and has plenty of laughs! In fact, there perhaps will not be a more inspiring film than 50/50 in 2011 as it is genuinely a friendly comfort for cancer victims and their friends and family.


As far as the style of comedy is concerned, there were perhaps a few particular moments within the film that were aiming to be a joke, such as when talking about Patrick Swayze and his condition which is humour at its lowest although there are some people who would chuckle at that or will become deeply affected by it. So, at the same time of being a light-hearted comedy, it is quite a dark one as well.


50/50 is both a comedy-drama that tells the story of Adam (Gordon-Levitt) who lives with his girlfriend Rachael (Dallas Howard). However, when he finds out he has a rare form of cancer within the spinal area, that all changes and leaves Adam with a 50-50 chance of surviving this condition. He gains support from young GP Katherine “Katie” McCay (Kendrick), his girlfriend and his over-protective parents, Adam’s best friend Kyle (Rogen) uses his condition to gain popularity from the ladies and to get laid.


Originally, James McAvoy was the number one choice for the role of Adam, but due to personal difficulties, blossoming actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt replaced him. Gordon-Levitt who previously appeared in romantic-comedy (500) Days Of Summer for which he received a Golden Globe nomination and in Christopher Nolan’s Inception, goes into a role where there was perhaps a lot on his shoulders as he plays a young cancer victim who is in deep desire to cure his condition but to also try and live life to the maximum if he’s not got long left. There are so many young people around the world are like this and as a result, Gordon-Levitt provided a performance to remember! Seth Rogen could quite easily have been the poison, so to speak, of the film that could have totally killed its tender and personal message but Rogen provides a performance that is beyond anything that he’s ever done. Of course, he was adding the humour and liveliness of the film and often feels familiarised by his performance in Knocked Up. So his performance in 50/50 is quite possibly his most serious role since then.


Anna Kendrick stars as young psychology student Katherine “Katie” McCay and like Gordon-Levitt; she is becoming a young shining star in the world of Hollywood. Kendrick’s characteristics provide an innocent and very cute nature to Katie which is what Adam really needs at this difficult time. The relationship between the two is very sweet but at the same time, it’s forbidden in a film like this because it is aiming to be more about a young man’s journey with cancer rather than a love story. Bryce Dallas Howard makes a short supporting appearance also as Rachael, Adam’s girlfriend and delivers a good performance too.


Jonathan Levine needed his breakthrough film throughout his 5 feature films that he has worked on so far, and he has managed to achieve this and delivers a film that is mixed of balanced emotion. We have previously seen films involving medical conditions of a protagonist and their struggle to deal with it in order to survive (e.g. Philadelphia by Jonathan Demme in 1993 starring Tom Hanks). Nevertheless, 50/50 and Adam’s condition and friendship with Kyle is based upon the screenwriter of the film, Will Reiser, who was diagnosed with cancer in his early 20s and was almost like a best friend to Seth Rogen himself at the time. So, for Rogen, it’s happening all over again and to be able to act as well as co-produce the film, and for Reiser to write the screenplay of his own story is beyond inspiration and that takes real courage! He balances it to be as friendly as possible as well as being as serious as possible without it being too depressing. So, as a result, Reiser rightfully deserves an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.


Overall, 50/50 is a genuinely heartfelt and funny motion picture that will bring tears to your eyes but will make you laugh at the same time. Having said that the film can be rather sensitive and affectionate to its target audience, which happens to be everybody, it is a beautifully crafted story that expresses reality and the heart-breaking emotions from the victims of cancer and the people around them. Plus, it could lead you to tears but it will leave you at the end with a grin on your face, it’ll make you feel uplifted by the story and will aid you at looking and understanding cancer from a whole new perspective.

Let’s face it, there is always the release of at least one British film that is simply adored by critics but at the same time, is extremely underrated by the majority of the public. These films are mostly ones that are directorial debuts and perhaps aren’t entirely appreciated to start off with despite the critical acclaim. Anyway, in the case of Tyrannosaur, it is unfortunately another one of those but provides different aspects that consist of the struggles of marriage, loneliness and friendship, horrific violence and surprisingly beautiful art in a huge way! It’s really not for the faint-hearted but despite that, it’s an absolutely brilliant film that makes it the best British film of 2011.


Considering that it’s a British drama, the title Tyrannosaur for short is the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and due to the appearance of the poster and the buried large skeleton, the film as a whole can quite easily be misunderstood that it’s a story about dinosaurs and humans together. Just like most British films involving crime and violence expresses the ugliness and brutality between individuals, but is also expresses the close bonds that bind people together. Plus, Tyrannosaur is amongst those other British films that is a very strong competition against traditional Hollywood cinema, and perhaps makes film more eccentric and rather unorthodox with darker tones of filming with realistic stories about different ways of life.


Honestly, how many times recently have we seen these aging, grumpy old men who almost have no care in the world about how to spend the rest of their lives? It has occurred several times with leading actors yet they each have different backgrounds as to why they behave the way they do. Plus, there are different bonds between characters that touch their audiences in altered ways. Peter Mullan is an actor who has only really been involved in brief supporting roles but Tyrannosaur is now his time to shine as he portrays disgruntled and bad-tempered Joseph. He previously collaborated with director Paddy Considine in his 2007 short film All Together. His performance is absolutely fantastic as he similarly resembles the performances from Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino and Michael Caine in Harry Brown. He perhaps isn’t a strong contender for the Academy Award for Best Leading Actor at the upcoming 84th Academy Awards, but it could gain a Best Actor nomination at the BAFTA Awards as he would rightfully deserve.


Olivia Colman who has previously worked with Paddy Considine on more than one occasion: when they starred together in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz together and, like Mullan, in a leading role in Considine’s short film All Together. Her performance as Hannah is acting at its finest and is perhaps her breakthrough performance! The chemistry between her and Joseph is like a mixture of both a father-daughter relationship and a forbidden bond as lovers. Colman expresses the innocence and sensitivity of a young woman who feels alone and is going through a very difficult time at the hands of her abusive husband. She will no doubt be a contender for Best Actress. Eddie Marsan’s role as James, Hannah’s abusive husband, is another spectacular performance considering his mild appearance. James is a typical arrogant wife-beater who is a bully and very dominant, and when Hannah meets Joseph, Joseph’s violence somehow slows down and begins changing his character.


After brilliant performances in many films throughout his acting career and having already directed and written his own short film, Paddy Considine makes his feature film debut. He brings forth a style that is familiar to not only films from his friend Shane Meadows who he has collaborated with and given great performances in, but a style that is familiar to Martin Scorsese’s works. Tyrannosaur shows a lot of raw violence from almost no motive whatsoever which we previously saw in Taxi Driver. So from a personal perspective, Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur is Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. His script was just fantastic! The amazing concept about this script is that how we have seen Considine previously perform the use of vulgar language and bitterness between characters is exactly how he would and has behaved on-screen. Due to the language, it’ll either add more humour for its viewers or it’ll deeply offend others. Paddy’s directorial feature debut is an almost complete lock to win Best Directorial Debut at the BAFTA’s upcoming, which is perhaps the film’s strongest change of winning a top award this year although it deserves more.


Overall, Tyrannosaur is a film that you need to really focus on and will require a strong stomach but it is a beautifully-crafted motion picture that is rather disturbing, incredibly emotional and is filled with a few astonishing twists and turns. Hopefully Olivia Collman performs even better in the future in even greater films and the day that the latest Paddy Considine film is announced, the counting of the days will commence.

In most recent years, we have seen the release of certain black-comedies that have been met with a positive reception and critical acclaim but haven’t been quite so successful regarding awards (e.g. In Bruges, Burn After Reading, Four Lions) and now Horrible Bosses can be added to that list. Although, it is required to have a particular sense of humour when watching black-comedies, you cannot help but laugh at the wild and crazy situations that occur within the film. As a result of this, it has a similar style of comedy to In Bruges and The Hangover.


The black-comedy theme and genre is mainly favoured in the UK but aside from famous American filmmakers Joel & Ethan Coen whose films consist of black-comedy the majority of the time. However, Horrible Bosses demonstrates the ingenious of black-comedy with qualities that make those kinds of films so brilliant to watch. It’s filled with quite possibly the darkest kind of criminal offences from the likes of murder, rape, blackmail, revenge, scandal and the most extraordinary thing is that you’ll never see these crimes appear so funny in any film you’ll see! So, for this reason, it’s not a film to take seriously at all as it expressing exactly what it is meant to bring to its viewers: to just watch it and have a laugh while doing so.


Almost every single time whenever there is a very impressive ensemble cast, it either works spectacularly or simply fails miserable. However, in the case of Horrible Bosses, it provides the brilliance of acting in all variety of ways. The role of Nick Hendricks was specifically written for Jason Bateman in the respective role and as a result, delivers a very good performance! Nick leads the trio of distressed and afflicted employees, and his on-screen relationship with Harken is the exact hateful bond and rather dominant conflict between an employee and their boss. Jason Sudeikis as Kurt Buckman is perhaps the weakest character of the trio but despite that he still distributes a decent performance. Last but not least, Charlie Day’s role as Dale Arbus was absolutely fantastic! He was easily the best actor of the three as he provides the cute innocence against the ruthless sexual advances from Julia Harris. He is the funniest character and perhaps the most serious character of the three. The relationship between the two resembled Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft in classic romantic-comedy The Graduate.


Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell provide the roles of the three dominant and sadistic bosses. The personalities of all three consist of the types of evil bosses that you could possibly get. First, there is perhaps the most dangerous boss Mr. Harken, who is portrayed by Kevin Spacey, and is referred as the “psycho” like the film poster suggests. Spacey has starred in many psychopathic roles over the years, and this is another fine performance from him but a slightly different level. That level being where Spacey as Harken is a rather humourous character and therefore, being incredibly funny to watch. Colin Farrell has been a favourite of the black-comedy genre after his Golden Globe-winning performance in In Bruges, and shines once again as he portrays Bobby Pellitt (referred as the “tool” on the poster) despite he didn’t appear in the film very often. As for the final boss - Jennifer Aniston, being the only female major member of the cast goes beyond any other character she has ever portrayed with a fantastic performance as “man-eater” Dr. Julia Harris and closely resembles a crafty yet more vulgar and kinky illustration of Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson. Jamie Foxx makes a small appearance as Dean “Motherf**ker” Jones who is the hitman assigned by Nick, Dale and Kurt to aid them in murdering their bosses, but not all goes to plan.


Seth Gordon begins his directorial career with Horrible Bosses and goes off to a flying start as he brings slightly different yet similar aspects of British black-comedy as well as from the Coen brothers. He makes this film with such brilliance by mixing the laugh-out-loud nature of comedy with the subject matter that consists of committing the biggest criminal offences one could ever do, and provides murder as a whole as something incredibly funny. Sure, there are perhaps some that aren’t going to find this hilarious due to this, but on occasions in a hilarious way, it goes in-depth into a person’s mind that motivates them psychologically to consider murder and amongst other crimes.


Overall, Horrible Bosses is an absolutely hilarious black-comedy that is filled with lots of jokes, strong characters and a very creative script that will hopefully gain a few Golden Globe nominations as it very well deserves. A sequel to Horrible Bosses has recently been announced, so the exciting build-up for more laughs and disasters await us in the near future.

The idea of mixing the wacky pack of the Muppets created by Jim Henson with perhaps the classic Christmas tale by Charles Dickens is quite possibly the most unorthodox idea that has ever been put to screen. It became the first time that the Muppets would feature in their own film adaptation of a classic novel as there would be the releases of The Muppet Treasure Island in 1996 and The Muppet’s Wizard Of Oz. Nevertheless, considering the unusual idea behind it all, The Muppets Christmas Carol turned out an entertaining attempt of re-living the classic story that expresses not only aspects of raw emotion but also adds more comedy within it.


Although the original A Christmas Carol is not classed as part of the comedy genre, the Muppets unravel another side to the story. It consists of numerous running gags (specifically the narration and occasional slapstick storytelling from Gonzo the Great as Charles Dickens and Rizzo the Rat as himself) and with delightful musical songs that makes not only the Muppets pleasurable to watch, but makes Christmas as a whole even more enchanting and magical. There are so many ways where The Muppet Christmas Carol could have flopped and turned out an utter disaster, but it stuck to its target audience and gives a warm hug to both Dickens’ classic tale and the Muppets as a television series as well as puppets.


Michael Caine has been involved in all kinds of films over his career and now he goes on to star in perhaps his most famous family-themed performance of his career as Ebenezer Scrooge. Caine is, of course, one of the most accomplished actors in film history and although he finds his role as Scrooge to be one of his most memorable performances, he could be right about that. However, this role wasn’t entirely as impressive as expected, because Caine doesn’t quite manage to bring forth the cold-hearted and greedy nature of Scrooge’s character as we have previously seen in other adaptations of the book and from the original novel itself. On the other hand, just as Scrooge has changed his ways with the aid of the three Christmas Ghosts, Caine expresses the warmth and delight of an old man on Christmas Day. To be honest, most actors who have portrayed Scrooge are great at portraying either cold-hearted Scrooge or kind and friendly Scrooge, but in the case of Michael Caine, he is perhaps better the latter.


Steven Mackintosh, like Michael Caine, is another actor who is in the film but not voicing one of the Muppets as he portrays Ebenezer Scrooge’s young nephew Fred. As we have always seen throughout every film based on A Christmas Carol and in the book, it is the unusual opposing but personally linked relationship between a kind, ordinary man and a bitter old man during the happiest and most magical event of the year. Despite we don’t see very much of Mackintosh as Fred within the film, he still delivers a satisfactory performance and does well alongside Michael Caine. Finally on to the Muppets who star as their respective roles from the likes of Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim etc. The most extraordinarily but rather ingenious quality about this is that we know it is the Muppets by looking at them despite creator and voice actor Jim Henson died a few years before the release of the film, but deep-down they feel like the real characters from Dicken’s original novel but with perhaps a slightly different approach to them that we hadn’t seen before.


Director Brian Henson is selected charge of behind the camera in his feature film directorial debut as he honours his late father’s work of the Muppets and makes it into a rather underrated but a magical and enchanting Christmas treat. His film is aimed at both audiences – for adults at the current time who saw and liked the Muppets during their childhood and young lives, but also for kids to enjoy and feel the warmth of Christmas. He deserved more credit for his work in this film because of the extraordinary yet delightful concept, which is the film itself. Henson praises his father once more afterwards as he directs The Muppet Treasure Island four years later.


Overall, The Muppet Christmas Carol is an eccentrically beautiful motion picture that is an absolute delight to watch during Christmas season and any other time over the year. It is quite possibly the most underrated Christmas film of all time, but despite that it really is worthy of calling a recommendation for kids and for adults all around the world. If you either love the Muppets in the original TV series and/or the original A Christmas Carol book or other film/TV adaptations of the story, you’ll love this one and will see a whole new side to them that you couldn’t have possibly imagined.

Any film featuring Johnny Depp on-screen is going to bring great excitement to critics, film fanatics and amongst others which generally leads to exceedingly high expectations. Plus, in The Rum Diary there were other possibilities that could make it become something worthwhile to fully enjoy and get a lot of fun out of due to the settings of the film, cinematography and with a story that could have been a good laugh and to get a lot of enjoyment from. However, after watching it, it’s as plain and dry as a plank of wood, but it wasn’t entirely awful to watch.


In all honesty, you need to be in the right frame of mind to go into this and understand it for what it is, but the aspects within the film feature comedy, drama and romance. It perhaps isn’t classed as a comedy, but of what we witnessed in the trailer there was bound to be something humourous about it, but it was not even funny in the slightest. In every film, there has to be at least a little emotion but in the case of The Rum Diary, there was almost nothing exciting, ground-breaking or thought-provoking at all about it, so it really lacked a heart and soul with a solid ending featuring a meaningful message.


Johnny Depp in a leading role is always exciting to see, but from a personal perspective, The Rum Diary just wasn’t for him for a variety of reasons. Kemp is a middle-aged man who is stuck in between his destiny and his destruction, and what this film is about is to discover what is most important of the two and what must be done to achieve it. Quite frankly, where this character flops is that we aren’t entirely sure whether Kemp is deep down a low-life or somebody who takes life seriously. Plus, whether he is quite a dangerous individual as well regarding his constant lust to drink despite being cautioned beforehand. Speaking of which, Depp drinking rum, where have we seen that before? Perhaps in a series of films where he bought forth a character and performance that has made him the iconic Hollywood actor that he is, so on a positive side it was good to see Depp acting in that familiar style of acting underneath a new character and style of film. Despite that one positive concept of his role, it is definitely Depp’s weakest performance in quite a long time.


After his breakthrough yet underrated role as Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, Aaron Eckhart makes a supporting appearance as local businessman Sanderson, who is the friend then soon-to-be nemesis of Kemp due to their mutual love for Chenault. Only by looking at Eckhart in this film, all you can see is Harvey Dent and because Sanderson is a rather plain and a character who we have seen countless times in many films over the years, his character simply did not work either. Amber Heard seriously is very easy on the eyes but not all that easy on the ears as she portrays Sanderson’s girlfriend and Kemp’s love interest, Chenault. There’s just a conflicted love triangle between them that doesn’t really leave you with anything in the end, and is just felt totally abandoned. There were no sparks or romantic chemistry between Chenault and neither Sanderson nor Kemp. Michael Rispoli was definitely the best actor from the film and gives a good performance as Sala, who is a drunken alcoholic who is well-intentioned deep down but always runs into trouble and all hell breaks loose with him. Rispoli portrays a scruffy alcoholic impressively, and as a result, deserves a thumbs-up for his role.


Bruce Robinson, who is perhaps only best known as the director and screenwriter of Withnail & I and the screenwriter of The Killing Fields in 1984, returns to direct only his fourth feature film in his entire career. Although, there isn’t much to experience from him due to the short filmography, he could’ve returned after 19 years and given us a film that could have become an Oscar contender, but it wasn’t to be. As for the screenplay, it could have been a lot better than it turned out and it was filled with clichéd and cheesy lines. Robinson could become a good film director if he improvises and goes on to make better films than this one in the future.


Overall, The Rum Diary is a rather flat and empty film that is almost heartless with no meaning or message and no chemistry between the characters, and for this reason, it is perhaps the most disappointing film of 2011 thus far. If you have read the novels of the late Hunter S. Thompson, you might be able to gain an understanding of the story (like Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas which also starred Johnny Depp), but personally if you’ve read the book but not seen the film, you might be disappointed. Just like the film as a whole, it could’ve been something really interesting with emotion, romance and comedy but I think due to the lack of performance from the actors, it failed.

Nowadays in the modern generation of cinema, the quantity of films within the horror genre is rapidly increasing (and some are led into being converted 3D), but they are either incredibly cheesy films with a very poor story, lack of character development and rather lame screenplay and direction or they just blow you away in terror and you just love from start to finish. However, as far as Insidious is concerned, the theatrical trailer featured a few references similar to previous horror films that we have seen in the past. So, as a result, there were still high expectations, although it was either going to be loved or hated. Quite frankly, as predicted it manages to be psychologically terrifying to watch, tons of suspense and most importantly: as we have seen in horror films with lots of violence, violence isn’t all what horrors or thrillers are really about.


Admittedly, there are so many similarities that Insidious has with other horror films (specifically Paranormal Activity, Poltergeist and The Exorcist) but it manages to still convert into a whole new story that honours the references, backgrounds and production of those specific films. This is coming from one who absolutely loves horror films; Insidious amazingly manages to terrify so much that lead into literally jumping out of seat, leaning closer to the TV screen and becomes very thought-provoking afterwards. In almost every single aspect of the film, there were familiar references that were used from horror films from the past i.e. Paranormal Activity, The Exorcist and Poltergeist, and there are a few twists and turns in store for you.


Patrick Wilson; perhaps the only well-known Hollywood actor in Insidious from the cast portrays husband and father Josh Lambert who’s trying to protect his family from the demons within the house. He delivers a satisfactory performance and he should appear in more horrors or thrillers in the future. His on-screen wife Renai, portrayed by Rose Byrne, really is this typical hopeless young woman caught in a rather ugly and sticky situation where she is absolutely terrified out of her mind. Although that those kinds of characters are the icing on the cake for horror films, Byrne’s performance expresses that but in a slightly similar way to Shelley Duvall in The Shining by Stanley Kubrick. So, her role overall wasn’t entirely great but was at least satisfactory to endure throughout the 103 minute duration of the film.


At only 10 years old, Ty Simpkins has already been in major Hollywood films such as War Of The Worlds, Little Children and Revolutionary Road, but this time goes on to portray a very different character: completely innocent victim in a coma trapped by a mysterious realm dominated by demons. Although, he isn’t involved in the film very often, he gives a performance to remember as Dalton. Barbara Hershey who recently made a name for herself in Black Swan but who gained huge acclaim and acceptance within the horror genre after her terrifying role in The Entity appears as Josh Lambert’s mother, Lorraine and delivers a very moving and genuine performance. Lin Shaye portrays the psychic Elise Reiner who attempts to help Dalton break free from the demons that are in the house. Her role resembled Max Von Sydow’s role in The Exorcist as Father Lankester Merrin, who in turn aids a young girl from demons.


Everyone will feel familiarised with James Wan as director, who is the co-creator of the famous Saw franchise, and for this reason there were expectations and hints that there was going to be lots of gore and violence in Insidious. However, Wan perhaps goes down a slightly different road this time and concentrates more on the supernatural dialogue than the violence and as a result, exposes a new side of filmmaking within the horror/thriller genre. On the other side is Leigh Whannell who co-created the Saw series with Wan and wrote a few screenplays, reunites once more with Wan and writes a very eerie and spooky screenplay that isn’t only hard to watch on occasions, but is incredibly fun to watch too due to the gripping entertainment that it beholds for its audience. As well as screenwriter, Whannell even makes an supporting appearance in the film as well.


Overall, Insidious is a truly terrifying and really fun horror film that will keep you on the edge of your seat; even for those who aren’t sensitive when it comes to horrors. It is almost like a mixture of Paranormal Activity, The Exorcist and Poltergeist from story down to characters and manages to pull off great references from three films in three different eras of cinema. It’s perhaps not one of the greatest films of 2011, but it is most certainly one that needn’t be missed and should consider checking out!

First of all, let’s take a trip back down memory lane, shall we? Approximately two years ago in 2009, there was the release of action-thriller and darkly natured film - Taken, which starred Liam Neeson but resulted a critically mixed reception. However, where Taken comes into frame with Unknown is due to the similarities of the style of theme, cinematography and both having slightly identical aspects of dialogue. So, Unknown could quite easily be misunderstood as a loose sequel to Taken. Between them, Unknown is definitely the better film that features more action, more excitement and more of a gripping and controversial story.


From a critical perspective, Unknown is not going to be an Oscar contender in the slightest because we have seen so many films similar to it in the past, but as a whole, it delivers exactly what was expected of it: entertainment at its highest quality and a strong candidate for a night-in on a Friday or Saturday. It entertains its audience with exhilarating and explosive action with a very shocking plot twist, and in recent years there hasn’t really been as many powerful twists and turns that occur in Unknown.


Liam Neeson returns to action in a huge way as biochemist Dr. Martin Harris! As well as Taken and previously taking part in other action films, Neeson proves himself worthy as a possible candidate for The Expendables (should there be a third film). Considering his age is at 59 years old, Neeson brings forth a character that isn’t only intense, emotional and badass to watch, but also charms on-screen with women decades younger than him! His on-screen relationship with January Jones was very powerful and provided a lot of raw affect to it, but the bond that he has with Diane Kruger is even stronger as they slowly develop a liking for each other.


German-born actress Diane Kruger proved herself worthy of a Hollywood actress most notably in her role as Bridget Von Hammersmark in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, but now stars in her latest major role since then and goes on to be part of something very different that we hadn’t seen from her before. Considering that the story is in fact set in Germany, she perfectly defines the characteristics of her portrayed character Gina: blonde German, sexy, has a desired heart and yet the innocence of a young woman. It would be great to see Kruger return again in an action film like this in the future. Another young shining star January Jones portrays Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Harris (the wife of Dr. Martin Harris), and although she does not appear throughout the majority of the film, her performance was very good! Oscar nominated actor Frank Langella makes a supporting appearance too. This cast joins the forces of Americans and Germans into one film, and considering that it’s set in Germany with the majority being American characters and actors, it worked incredibly well.


Spanish film director Jaume Collet-Serra, who’s previous works consisted of House Of Wax, Goal! 2: Living The Dream and Orphan. With these films behind his back despite none of them receiving critical acclaim, he goes on to make his fourth feature film that is in an identical action style from directors such as Paul Greengrass and Christopher Nolan. Collet-Serra generally mixed approximately five genres (action, drama, mystery, romance, thriller) at once and manages to provide many different emotions for the viewers to reflect on whilst watching the film, as well as the aftermath when the credits roll. The action scenes weren’t overloaded with visual effects like you’d see in the Transformers series amongst other films in recent memory, and in Unknown the effects were clear enough to feel the reality of what’s going on within the film, and to take the journey with the characters.


Overall, Unknown is a solid, action-packed thrill ride that is a great popcorn film and will keep you off the edge of your seat all the way through. Liam Neeson never ceases to bore his audience in any of his action films, and hopefully he’ll never lose that. From a personal point of view, the idea of a sequel might be interesting to see although it is unlikely. Collet-Serra’s work in this one battles with George Nolfi’s work on The Adjustment Bureau due to the similarities and both were released at almost the exact same time. However, although the latter just about prevails through, Unknown really isn’t far behind, and still remains as one of the most entertaining films of 2011.

This is coming from one who had never read the original comic books by Belgian artist Georges Rémi aka Hergé or seen any of the cartoons, but because there are so many ground-breaking aspects within the film including entire motion-capture effects and it was made by perhaps two of the greatest filmmakers in history, expectations were high. So, there were exceedingly high expectations and as a result, it turned out a very entertaining and visually stunning film with superb performances, direction and screenplay. If you’re a huge fan of the original comic books and cartoons, you will not be disappointed. On the other hand, it perhaps isn’t a requirement to watch/read the original before watching this.


The greatest concept that The Adventures of Tintin consists of are, as predicted, the jaw-dropping and magnificent visual effects. Out of the motion-capture animated films that we have seen over the years including A Christmas Carol, The Polar Express and from live-action films also, in The Adventures Of Tintin literally could not look any more realistic! Plus, the fact it was filmed in 3D is a huge bonus. The main objective of the film is adventure, and having said that the dialogue is full of it and is all-round entertaining, we are taken on another adventure witnessing some of the greatest effects that have ever been put onto film that will be very tough to overcome in the near future.


Jamie Bell, who became of the most famous child actors after his unbelievably mesmerising performance in Billy Elliot rises and shines now as a grown man and delivers another fantastic performance once more as Tintin. Bell previously collaborated with producer Peter Jackson in his epic re-telling of King Kong, but has more involvement in this one and provides many different viewpoints of the Tintin character. He adds an innocence and rather sensitive side who unluckily gets involved, but at the same time he tallies a courageous and heroic side also where the mission means a lot to him. Therefore, his return in the upcoming sequels will be a very exciting build-up and will hopefully improve even more. Andy Serkis, the actor who has perhaps had the most and longest history with motion-capture, including Gollum/Sméagol, King Kong and Caesar (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes) proves once more that he is the star of the show as both Captain Haddock and Sir Francis Haddock (the Captain’s ancestor) and how much of an extraordinary yet marvellous actor he really is. In fact, although we all know it is Serkis playing Haddock, it was very hard to identify Andy Serkis in the role because the character felt and looked so real! Serkis has yet to receive an Academy Award nomination, but he really needs one and hopefully he will gain one soon!


Throughout the films that they have starred in together and perhaps become the best on-screen duo of this generation (Hot Fuzz, Shaun Of The Dead, Paul), Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were the added bit of British spice into the American/New Zealand made motion picture as the detectives Thompson and Thomson. Within their voices, it was difficult to recognize which one was Pegg and which one was Frost, as well as because the two were literally identical. So for that reason, together they accomplished presenting the rather unorthodox and unique individuals for their occupations and involvement in the mission. Daniel Craig portrayed both antagonists within the film of both the past and present tense, and quite frankly it was even harder to identify Craig in the role as well. It is especially a very different role for him, but the other actors express something genuinely different too.


From that ensemble cast, the majority of them had collaborated in previous films with the director, producer and co-writer (Edgar Wright), so they all merged together and defined something extraordinarily new. The Adventures Of Tintin became Steven Spielberg’s first directed film since Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, and has had his eyes on a film adaptation of the Tintin comics ever since 1983. It is also his very first animated film and when looking at it, it’s very different to anything he had done before. However, that adventurous feeling that we get with the majority of Spielberg films is still there and this certainly proves that he was the man for the job to start off this trilogy. An even bigger bonus was Peter Jackson as producer! Let’s face it, you simply cannot go wrong with a film that perhaps two of the greatest filmmakers in history are together working on! Just by watching it, you can immediately identify that it is part of Peter Jackson as well! Plus, the fact that he will be directing the sequel and the third film possibly being co-directed by Spielberg and Jackson, the anticipation is huge! Three acclaimed screenwriters collaborated on the screenplay of The Adventures Of Tintin (Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish and Steve Moffat) all write perhaps the most extraordinary screenplay by mixing three of the comics - The Crab With The Golden Claws, The Secret Of The Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure into a 107 minute duration that begins and ends so creatively and excitedly. Therefore, they deserve an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as does Spielberg for Best Director.


Overall, The Adventures Of Tintin is an absolutely fantastic film with mind-blowing effects that really is worth seeing in 3D! Only Spielberg and Jackson could have possibly pulled this off and made it the huge success it has become, and for that reason, it perhaps isn’t a requirement to see the original cartoons and/or read the original comics first. However, if you’re a fan who has watched/read them, you really will not be disappointed by the feature film! The anticipation for the upcoming sequels is incredibly high and they’ll have to work really hard if they are to try and beat this one!

In the pages of history, cases of murder within high schools and other social environments have appeared regularly on the news and in newspapers, but for a theme of film, it is rather rare. So, because We Need To Talk About Kevin involves a dangerously disturbed teenager, other segments of violence and a very vulgar use of language, it gives the audience the immediate impression that it is going to be a rather psychotic and gut-retching film to watch. To the viewers, it mentally develops from a drama, to a thriller and then to a horror and in the end, jumbles all three. Plus, the opening scenes of the film gives us an idea of the ending, there are a few twists and turns that will leave you with a few unexpected bombshells.


Having said that We Need To Talk About Kevin is very grim and depressing, there was another side to the film that is shown as we see a lot of beauty within. It’s dazzling in terms of visual production with breath-taking cinematography, art direction and a beautifully composed score with a very soft touch, to make the film a tad easier on the eyes. However, it does consist of segments that make it a psychologically disturbing film, especially during the first 5 minutes, but with a sublime technique of filming.


After gaining a rather unexpected but well-deserved Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Michael Clayton back in 2007, British actress Tilda Swinton travels all the way to the US and provides a very moving and powerful performance that perfect interprets the feelings of a stressed mother dealing with her children, and a parent’s emotional pain from their criminal child. In the past, Swinton has often portrayed characters with a rather cold nature and although her role as Eva is overall very heartfelt and genuine, she does occasionally go back to being that bitter middle-aged woman, especially towards Kevin. Swinton will undoubtedly be a top contender for Best Actress and whatever happens, she’ll rightfully deserve her second Academy Award nomination, or maybe even her second win. John C. Reilly, an actor who generally selects a wide range of films to be part, stars in his darkest film to date and gives a decent performance as Franklin. He is perhaps the more normal parent who is unfortunately stuck in between the love-hate relationship between Kevin and Eva.


Now the true star of the show, Ezra Miller gives one of the biggest breakthrough child performances in recent memory as he portrays teenaged psycho Kevin. He is perhaps the most powerful teenage character that demonstrates the effects of childhood and the dangered influences from a soon-to-be criminal teenager. Miller as Kevin resembled Gaspard Ulliel as Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising. As well as Swinton, Miller deserves a shot at the 84th Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Jasper Newell and Rock Duer were literally mind-blowing as toddler and childhood Kevin, as they were terrifying to watch and they do leave you with a few jaw-drops or two. As for Celia, the cleanest one in the family so to speak (the daughter of Eva and Franklin and younger sister of Kevin) perfectly provides a performance that defines the innocence of children and how endangered they are even around their own family.


After a long break from feature films since 2002, Lynne Ramsay returns as writer and director where she brings forth a film that attributes a similar style of filming to Darren Aronofsky’s work in Requiem For A Dream and Sam Mendes’s work in suburban drama’s Revolutionary Road and American Beauty. Alongside this, she introduces the occasional nonlinear narrative used frequently during the film, and it added more suspense by leading up to the events that occurred that it’s been telling throughout the entire film. Ramsay co-writes the screenplay beside Rory Kinnear in his screenwriting debut based upon the novel, and together they make the controversies, and the dialogue within convincing enough for it to feel like it is a bio-picture.


Overall, We Need To Talk About Kevin is a dark and sinister motion picture that was beautifully crafted and is guaranteed to be a favourite in numerous categories at the upcoming Academy Awards. If there’s anything that the film has taught us, it’s perhaps opened people’s eyes by showing the depression of a parent and what goes on in the minds of some teenagers of this generation. A word of caution; a strong stomach is required to go and watch this because it will haunt you for a long time and is guaranteed to leave you speechless as the ending credits roll.

Throughout the majority of this generation, there have been many romantic stories that have turned out what we weren’t expecting, and have become a fine accomplishment that will entertain the audience in many emotional ways. Considering that there were already high expectations for the film due to the impressive ensemble cast and intriguing dialogue, the outcome was that it was filled with plenty of laughs, delight and heartbreak that exposes a powerful message and lesson to its audience watching. In most recent memory there have been quite a few films like Crazy Stupid Love that have managed to achieve this and as a result, have gained a few Academy Award wins and nominations (Little Miss Sunshine, Juno and The Kids Are All Right are examples). So I’m glad to say that it deserves its rightful place alongside those other films.


Although Crazy Stupid Love is widely known as a romantic-comedy, when you watch the film and deeply understand what’s going on, it appears to be a romantic-drama on occasions. Sure, there are some pretty hilarious moments, especially from Carell, but most recently with films like this, they are sometimes too serious or too depressing to be humourous. This is not a flaw in the slightest, but there are more dramatic and controversial events within the film than there are funny and humourous ones. So personally, I’d call it more a romantic-drama than a romantic-comedy. The story has many threads and quite a numerous amount of characters where they are all connected somehow (like Love Actually and Valentine’s Day), but one of the most important messages within the film was to show how different love is for couples and for people who are single.


There are a very low number of actors within the film industry that fit brilliantly for comedies and for dramas, but only until Crazy Stupid Love’s release, Steve Carell has now joined the ranks of actors who are in that small list. As for his performance as Cal Weaver, he gives us a performance that is slightly similar to what we have seen from him in the past. However, at the same time, Carell delivers a performance that has perhaps become a breakthrough in his career, and has shown us a more serious side to him as an actor. On small doses, the character of Cal takes us back down memory lane to when Carell gave his universally acclaimed performance in The 40 Year Old Virgin, as Cal has similar characteristics. Because his performance was so heartfelt, genuine and all-round inspiring, reluctantly Steve Carell deserves a shot at the top awards this year (perhaps not an Oscar nomination, but a contender for a Golden Globe or a Critics Choice Award nomination). So, to date, this is easily Steve Carell’s best role. Julianne Moore has in most recent years starred in a lot of Oscar-nominated films where she becomes a strong contender for Best Actress nominations after great performances. As far as her role as Emily in this film is concerned, she was very impressive and gave a very emotional performance as she explicitly demonstrates a good and committed mother but at the same time, in a mid-life crisis regarding love life. The chemistry between Carell and Moore on-screen was so strong that they felt like real-life husband and wife, and you are there feeling and understanding their troubles.


Admittedly not seeing many films starring Ryan Gosling, this was almost like an starting experiment to see what he is like on-screen. Gosling fits perfectly into the role of Jacob as he expresses his own charms to the screen and gives an analysis of what ladies’ men are and what the positives and negatives are of his nature. So, despite having already been nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Half Nelson and appearing in what could have been another breakthrough role, he is still one of the most underrated young actors of this generation. After already been welcomed into Hollywood with open arms in Easy A, Zombieland and The Help, Emma Stone joins the ranks in a supporting role as she portrays young lawyer Hannah who has quite a quite jaded outlook on love. Stone really is becoming a shining star and brings forth a performance that is just showing what she can do best, and that she is getting even better as more films are being released. Marisa Tomei makes a mild appearance in the film as well as alcoholic schoolteacher and gives a very funny and rather fierce performance. Once being the young child in Zathura who is now blossoming into a young man who could make himself worthy as one of the best child actors of this generation, Jonah Bobo literally blew me away as Robbie. The close bond between Bobo and Carell on-screen felt like a real father-son connection and together they indicate the true meaning of love and how far one would really go for the one they love.


Considering that the impressive ensemble cast and their performances make this film a successful is one thing, but the makers behind the camera also deserve the critical acclaim. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa made themselves notable after working together on 2009 romantic-comedy I Love You Phillip Morris, and now after two years, they reunite and go back to their traditional theme choice to craft a film with new meanings and kinds of characters. Once again, they deliver spectacularly, but even more than they did before and perhaps gain a few Oscar nominations in the near future for their work. After spending the majority of his career as a co-writer, especially in Disney films such as Cars, Bolt and Tangled, Dan Fogelman goes on to write a new film alone and succeeds admirably. It truly could have been an incredibly corny script due to the large number of characters and certain events, but Fogelman sticks to the originality of the genre by telling separate stories from each character and merging them towards the end and putting a grin on its viewer’s faces. Fogelman deserves to be a strong contender for Best Original Screenplay at the 84th Academy Awards coming up and the film should garner Best Musical/Comedy at the Golden Globes too.


Overall, Crazy Stupid Love is an outstanding romantic comedy-drama that is remarkably one of the best films of 2011 and makes it’s mark as one of the most inspirational films that have come out in recent memory. After already expecting a lot from it, Crazy Stupid Love thankfully doesn’t fall into those dumb, plain, predictable and empty romantic-comedies, but turns out one that genuinely creative, heartfelt and quite unpredictable on a few occasions, which is what we have. So it has and does everything that you’d expect from it: it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry and most of all - it’ll entertain you.