Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

Director: James Gunn

Principal Cast Members: Chris Pratt, Zoe Salanda and Dave Bautisa

So far you might have looked at Marvel's selection of films for phase 2 and thought they were playing it safe with a number of sequels for the Avengers star members, however the choice of Guardians of the Galaxy proved that they were still in the risk taking business. So who would of thought that a mixture of an almost unknown director, been based upon a little known comic series, a cast lacking A-List faces and a talking tree would threaten to steal the limelight from the Avenger A-list. In fact the film is almost a perfect summer blockbuster managing to be both light and have an emotional depth, something which comes from the incredibly clever casting. Like most things in the film casting a sitcom guy in one of the biggest films of the summer could have backfired massively but instead Chris Pratt's performance would seem to pave the way for him to become one of the hottest acting properties on the planet. Zoe Salanda is a solid as ever and first timer Dave Bautisa does enough to suggest he could follow the rock from wrestling to acting success. The addition of big name voices for the characters of Groot and Rocket could have seen as just a publicity stunt but both seem to have taken the job to heart and thus the two CGI characters are almost the most relatable of the bunch. While the titular characters take most of the focus the decision to fill the supporting cast with familiar faces from cult TV shows means there is plenty to keep fans entertained in the rest of the cast. If anyone here is short changed it's the villains who feel like there only there in order to give the Guardian's someone to beat up. However in the end this doesn't matter as the audience are just having to much fun thanks to the film been portrayed as almost a mix between Star Wars and Indiana Jones set to a superb retro playlist, Who wouldn't like that?

Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

Director: Matt Reeves

Principal Cast Members: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke and Gary Oldman

After Tim Burtons remake of Planet of the Apes many thought that the franchise was well and truly dead but thanks to Rupert Wyatts clever 2011 prequel the franchise may just be about to become one of the most pioneering of the decade. The plot of the sequel picks up 10 years after the first film left off with most of the human race having been wiped out and Caesar having established a colony of apes in the hills near San Francisco. While it's a little disappointing to not see James Franco return the move allows Caesar to take the spotlight and show just how incredible Motion Capture technology has become, even providing a massive improvement in the three years since the first film was released. Perhaps most key to this is that this time it is not only Serkis who takes on a motion capture role, as Dawn sees Toby Kebbell and Judy Greer take on major ape roles. While it's the apes that dominate the film Jason Clarke finally makes the step up to lead human role and does so well and even with little to do Gary Oldman is a brilliant as ever and almost steals the film with one brief scene. Unfortunately other then the CGI work and acting the film has very little to offer, while the plot is an interesting one it often feels overstretched in order to showcase the Motion Capture. Of course while watching the film this really doesn't matter and you are taken in by the breathtaking work done in creating the apes. Despite it's flaws the film will still go down as groundbreaking, not bad for what was once seen as one of the biggest B Movie franchises.

What I Learned from the World Cup

South Americans Give Their All

While there have been many stories throughout the World Cup about players loyalties one thing that was abundantly clear was that the South American players would do anything to win. I've got to admit that like many I was left disappointed when watching Brazil and even Argentina but the real standouts of the tournament for me where Chile and Columbia. Both sets of players played with their hearts on their sleeves (the way all international players should surely play) and gave everything to their team. While this unfortunately did often include diving you could just tell that playing football for their country at the World Cup meant the world to them. If they had not been unluckily been knocked out by Brazil on penalties Chilean players would surely have been very near the top of the most distance covered as whenever the other team had the ball there was always a queue of Chile players fighting their way to get back and defend. 

Not All Players Are as Committed

South American football may be on the up but the same cannot be said of African Football. After an impressive showing at the last few World Cups only Nigeria and Algeria made it out of the group stages this time around and neither made it past the round of 16. However the main focus of attention for African Nations was on the completely destructive tournament from Cameroon. Not only were the team eliminated from the group stages but they also had to send home some of their star names early after numerous misconducts. All this after the squad almost didn't travel to the tournament over a pay related dispute. Because of this the countries governing body have announced that for any future tournament they will be introducing contracts for all their playing staff! For me this is a total disgrace, admittedly I may be a bit old fashioned but in my mind players are paid enough to pay for their club sides (and are still paid by them while on international duty) and then play for their national team because of the pride it brings. Unfortunately the Cameroon players seem to have got to big for their boots and as a consequence their fans have suffered by watching their team not only fail on the pitch but become a laughing stock off it.

The Real Luis Saurez is back



Just when it seemed redemption was on the cards for Mr Suarez he goes and does it again. The man who single handily destroyed England left the World Cup in disgrace after biting an opponent for the third time!! Well at least he should have left the tournament in disgrace but instead was treated to a heroes welcome back in his home country who refused to acknowledge that he had done anything wrong. The fact that the country and his club were too scared to upset him by admitting he'd done something wrong that should be punished sums up all that's wrong with modern football. Thankfully Liverpool had the strength to finally decide to sell up and cash in on the player they had stuck by for so long. To sum up how bad Suarez's actions are the fact that FIFA actually came out of this situation having actually acted quickly and correctly by banning Suarez from all football related activity for 4 months. Unfortunately if his reception at the final Sepp Blatter is still as unpopular as ever and looks like he's done too little too late to save any scrap of respect he has in the eyes of the footballing public.

Football is at its Best when Unpredictable



The 2014 World Cup will surely go down as one of the greatest in living memory and that was mainly thanks to the fact that it had enough shocks to fill a World Cups greatest shock show. Where do you start; Costa Rica Quarter finalists, Spain and Italy been knocked out of the group stages, Messi doing nothing in the knockout rounds but still getting the golden ball and of course the incredible Germany Brazil result! Yes many of the games only came to life late on but when they did they where superb and reminded us just how exciting international football can be. It's testament to how good the tournament was that many of us simply forgot that England had even been in it, putting the disappointment aside to watch some simply superb football.

Germany Deserved Victory



Any team that can defeat the host nation of a World Cup 7-1 deserves to go on and lift the trophy, even if their German. For as long as I can remember Germany have been threatening greatness at major tournaments only to slip up in the group stages but this time they weathered their rough patch against Algeria and ended up as the champions and when you look back it's hard to argue against the German's been champions. When you look at their squad as a whole they had easily the strongest squad at the competition and where of course helped by the fact that many have been playing as a team (at club and international level) for the better part of a decade. Watching the final itself I've got to say that without Javier Mascherano Germany would have easily won the game in normal time and it would of been a cruel blow if Messi had decided to turn up in extra time to win the game for the Argentinians. The chance to rule world football is now in Germany's grasp and if they keep their eye on the ball they may even be able repeat and even better Spain's domination of recent years.

Review: How to Train Your Dragon 2

Review: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Director: Dean Deblois

Principal Cast Members: Jay Baurchel, Gerard Butler and Cate Blanchett

Since it's early successes Dreamworks Animation has often felt like Disney and Pixars poor cousin, but with How to Train Your Dragon it looked like the studio could finally have it's way of breaking back into the mainstream. But rather then completely play it safe and give us a rerun of the first film, the second takes a few risks along the way. In an almost unheard of move for an animated film the characters have been noticeably aged up, a move which helps to give a little extra weight to the films narrative of growing up. In fact in many ways this feels more like an adult animation film that can also be enjoyed by children. Said animation is so strong that when watching the film you could almost be forgiven for thinking that some of the animated characters were real such is the detail put into getting every little movement right. A cleverly chosen voice cast helps to give the characters heart and also allows the audience to become more invested in the human relationships seen on screen. However the real star of the show still remains Toothless, who is still as incredibly adorable as he was the last time we met him and through the skill of animators can portray almost any emotions through his big puppy dog eyes. The sequel is not without it's little flaws but the way it mixes family drama with the huge action set pieces is hugely admirable and promises that maybe Dreamworks are ready come of the woodwork again and fulfill the potential that it suggested to us with the early Shrek films. Hopefully this will be with the How to Train Your Dragon series right at the centre and judging from what director Dean Deblois has had to say about the future part 3 could be the bravest yet.

Review: Transformers: Age of Extinction

Review: Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

Director: Michael Bay

Principal Cast Members: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor

Michael Bay and the Transformers movies are inseparable. Even though he claimed that the last one was his last, he has inevitably returned for a 4th film which will probably be described as somewhere in between a sequel and a reboot. While Bay claims that this will be his last in the series as he simply wanted to start a new trilogy for someone else to inherit, I for will be more surprised to see him return then not to. But if this is his last film then he goes out doing what he does best. Cleverly deciding to drop the story Sam whatever his name was and current walking disaster Shia La Bouf, the focus moves to Mark Whalberg's single father. The decision pays off as Whalbergs charisma alone makes him a good leading man for a series where the focus is usually upon big alien robots kicking the shit out of each other. While we don't quite escape for teenage romantic drama narrative having actually cast an actress rather then an underwear model means that the female lead for once feels like she could almost be a real character. When your casting a supporting actor for a largely comic role you can't do much better then Stanley Tucci who excels here and becomes the only real human character to make any impact in the films final hour. The problem lies in the films length for there's only so much CGI fighting you can watch and by the third hour of the film your attention will no doubt be wandering. This is made worse by the fact that, other then a few shots that have been shown over and over in the promotional footage, during the final battle you could just be watching the end of the previous film all over again, although thankfully we're now spared the big bad been outdone by child psychology. The plot also seems unsure as who it should cast as the main villain, and with there been so many to choose from it's easy to loose track of whose doing what to who. If the film had been condensed a little bit it's possible that the Transformers franchise could of been put right on track with the perfect summer popcorn blockbuster with enough human interest to keep the film buffs happy and enough action for those who just want a good time but unfortunately due to the extortionate length your just left with hope that Bay can learn from his mistakes (Good luck with that)

Review: Walking on Sunshine

Review: Walking on Sunshine (2014)

Directors: Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini
Principal Cast Members: Hannah Arterton, Annabel Scholey and Giulio Gerruti

Sometimes you can go into a film with really low expectations and it will surprise you. Walking on Sunshine is not one of those films. While I can normally handle a large amount of cheesy musicalness, I still watch Glee for god's sake!, but when it's this bad I've got to admit its almost painful. Everything about the film is badly done. For example when your watching a musical and you start to notice how poor the choreography is then it's got to be bad. The film suffers from its comparisons to Mamma Mia but it's so obvious that it's trying to replicate the former's success that you can have no sympathy and therefore bumbles along in a way that resembles Mamma Mia minus the soul, joy, charisma or any other of the things that people loved. The films plot seems to have been completely orientated to accommodate as many 80's hits as possible. Admittedly all the songs are enjoyable but their so painfully introduced most of the time that it takes the pleasure out of them. The script also makes the lives of the actors impossibly difficult, however you do get what you'd expect from a cast where the big names are the sister of Gemma Arterton and Leona Lewis. For many this film might have been a step to far even if it had been done well but unfortunately everything about the film is carried out so poorly that even musical fans may find themselves flooding to the exits early.

Review: Maleficent

Review: Maleficent

Director: Robert Stormberg
Principal Cast Members: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning and Sharlto Copley

Like it our not we're going to have to get used to seeing live action re-imaginings of animated classics. After last years Oz the Great and Powerful Disney have now moved on to retelling Sleeping Beauty. This time decided to give the tale the Wicked treatment and focus upon the original tales villain, a move that could easily have backfired and tainted the reputation of one of Disney's finest villains. Thankfully Angelina Jolie is more then up to the task and completely inhabits the role, making it her own. In fact she does it do well that the movie completely belongs to Jolie who puts in what could be career defining performance. Unfortunately Jolie is so good that she completely outshines her cast members meaning that the film feels a little lopsided (if only their was a film that told the other half of the story!!). Elle Fanning is lovable despite doing very little Aurora but Sharlto Copley puts in another completely misguided performance and to see such great British talents Imelda Staunton and Juno Temple play mindless fairies is incredibly disappointing. Luckily the film brings the world of Sleeping Beauty to life beautifully and makes you wish you could spend a bit longer exploring the Maleficent s world. In terms of plot there is a slight sense of Deja Vu with much of the narrative and reminds you that despite it's darkness Maleficent is in fact meant to be a children's film. While most of the film will probably be forgotten in time, it is likely the film will always be known for the greatness of it's central performance.