I need someone to show me my place in all of this! (Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2017)

164.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

  

 

 

 

5.5/10

 

Time to get back into the Star Wars Universe. One of my favourite universes and since watching the remakes of the original treble bill, there was no turning back for me. Obviously, Attack of the Clones was a pile of crap and Hayden Christensen's acting was about as entertaining as watching a plank throw out some dialogue, but everything has a flaw from time to time. I didn't even mind Jar Jar Binks. The Force Awakens was pretty much a remake of A New Hope though, loosely containing the same kind of story, so I am waiting for this to have aspects of The Empire Strikes Back. With Rogue One planted in the middle of these two movies, that was also a hit for me. It constantly wets your whistle for needing more Star Wars in your life. The gang are back and with some more Luke Skywalker involved, it's going to be interesting to see what they have planned for him. Is this going to be a galactic movie or heading Alderaan places? (I'm here all night).

As the usual text rolls up, we are filled in with what has been happening in the Galaxy. The First Order have pretty much conquered the Republic and Resistance forces. These beaten Resistance forces, are still being led by General Leia, escape the planet of D'Qar, just as a fleet of First Order arrive and a battle commences as a Dreadnaught appears and is taken out by a team led by Poe Dameron, played by Oscar Isaac, but not without cost. The fleet escape but are tracked through hyperspace by the First Order and carries on the attack. Kylo Ren is on the attack towards his mother's space and is hesitant to shoot after feeling his mother's presence. His sidekicks don't give a shit though and blow up the bridge, sending Leia out into space and to certain death. That's until she decides to use the force and flies back to safety and collapses. Ok then. Whilst she is in the sick bay, Admiral Holdo takes over and her plan isn't well received by Poe. She wants a full evacuation but Poe helps Finn, BB-8 and a shipmate named Rose Tico. They are off on a secret mission because they need to stop the tracker on the main First Order ship's tracking device. Firstly though, they need a code hacker, in order to get into the room to stop the tracker.

Meanwhile, Rey has arrived on the island where Skywalker is hiding and we see the same scene that we did at the end of the Force Awakens. As I find myself getting excited at the fact we are about to see him wield a lightsaber again, he takes it off Rey and throws it backwards, over his shoulder. What the fuck Luke! I've waited all this time and he seems to simply dismiss it. He's the most serious Jedi that I've come to know and the Luke Skywalker that we have come to know, wouldn't act like that. He refuses to leave with Rey and help the resistance, even after hearing about the death of Han Solo, when questioning Chewy, who walks in alone. The reason that he hasn't used the force to find out about his family, was down to him being on exile from the force. This way, he cannot be tracked down by other using the force. Somehow, inside her hut, Rey has been using the force herself, to talk to Kylo Ren. They can see each other, but only in figure form and not where each other are. They have no control over this and don't understand why it's happening. They learn about each other's pasts and see themselves in the future as partners. R2 is even in on trying to turn Luke's mind around on training Rey, who has taken it on herself to constantly follow him around. On this island, there are plenty of humorous moments, which aren't really linked to the Star Wars franchise, when we would only usually get the cockiness from Han or others. Kylo and Rey have another contact and this time, he tells her what happened between him and Luke, causing him to choose the dark side of the force as he woke to Luke standing over him, saber aloft. Luke admits that he did contemplate killing the boy, when he sensed that Snoke was corrupting him, causing Kylo to destroy the new Jedi Order. Rey has convinced herself that she can turn Kylo back to good and leaves the island and Luke to his sulking. Luke decides to burn down the small Jedi temple and library but hesitates as a ghost of Yoda appears and destroys it instead. He claims that Rey has all she needs to learn from there and encourages Luke to learn from his mistakes. We have already seen Rey inside there, looking at the books and symbols so maybe she has read up a little.

Back to the ships, Holdo reveals her plans to everyone else and Poe believes that she is a coward, planning a mutiny, to give Finn and the gang a little more time. On Canto Bight, a casino place that resembles Earth a lot more than people realise, the place is full of money and people who have made their fortunes through war. They are there to get the help from a hacker but end up causing a stir and being arrested. They are in a cell with a weird looking fella with a stutter, named DJ. He is a thief and also a decent hacker apparently, and offers to help if they help him escape. Finn refuses but it ends up coming all together as BB-8 helps him with his fight out, as the other two run elsewhere and end up hiding inside the racing stables, where Rose once worked. She gets the help from the kids there before escaping on top of the racing beasts, running through the streets and towards some fields, where DJ has stolen a ship and picked them up to return to space, just in time. The end up infiltrating Snoke's ship and are instantly captured by Phasma. On the same ship, Rey has been ballsy enough to land and confront Kylo, to turn him back to good. Kylo has none of it and takes her straight to Snoke, who reveals to them that he was the one causing the connection through the force, as part of his plan to find Luke and kill him. As he easily lifts Rey into the air and takes her saber, he puts it next to him, as we can see that Kylo is a little uneasy. Snoke can read his mind, telling him that he wants to turn his turn on him too, that he is weak and will come to nothing. He gives him one last chance to prove himself, to turn his lightsaber and kill Rey, but every action that he is implanting into Kylo's mind, Kylo is using on the lightsaber that Snoke has already taken from Rey and put on his arm rest. The result is, Kylo turns the saber and slices Snoke in half, before his henchmen turn on the two and they both have a pretty epic fight scene, helping each other out. So, Snoke, the guy we knew nothing about, have been waiting to find out who he is, where he came from and where he has been all of the other prequel times, is dead. Gone. Wasted. And we still have no answers. At the end, Rey believes that she has turned Kylo back, only for him to offer her to rule the galaxy with him, to which she refuses. He even tells her about her parents, a question that many in the audience have been waiting to hear. And the wait is over, only for us to find out that her parents are nothing and she was sold off as a slave. Massive thumbs up, not! She leaves, as the Emo kid now calls himself the supreme leader. As for Finn and Rose, they have been turned over by DJ, who told Phasma the plans they had all along, so he could get a decent pay off.  
As the Resistance are being held on the ship by Poe, he locks himself in the bridge, only for the door to be blown up by Leia and she stuns him, taking Holdo's side and the evacuation continues. Hux has begun to fire on the small ships though, seeing them trying to escape. Holdo sees no other option but to have stayed behind to lead the First Order away, but they don't fall for it so, she turns the ship and heads into light speed, cutting the massive ship in half. Right, one major problem, or waste of time. The whole Finn and Rose going to find a hacker and failing just for this bird to fling her ship through the First Order, when she didn't even know if they were successful, meant that the side story wasn't needed at all. It was bollocks and simply a filler for this chase through space. But there we go. On this broken ship, Finn and Rose are still trying to make it out alive. BB-8 escaped earlier and is no controlling an AT-AT, taking out stormtroopers, until Phasma shows her face again and has a final showdown with Finn. She calls him scum, he corrects her with 'Rebel Scum' and she falls to her death, leaving them to escape. Another wasted character dead. On the planet of Crait, the Resistance are down to a few dozen. Kylo and Hux lead massive walkers onto the wall and big gate to which they are all hiding behind, armed with a laser style battering ram. The gang rounds up, with our favourites in the shape of Poe and Finn, get onto speeders and head for some sort of defence. Rose is there too but she's nothing more than an annoyance for me. Rey and Chewie even arrive, to draw away the TIE fighters. When all is near enough lost, Finn goes on a suicide mission, straight towards the laser cannon, like a scene from Independence Day, as the father heads into the laser beam to blow the ship up, only for Rose to crash into him last minute and stop him from killing himself and saving the rest of the gang. Selfish cow. Finn asks her why, as he pulls her out of her ship, to which she replies something along the lines of, 'We always fight for the ones we love'. She even kisses him and then passes out. I thought this chick was like 10 or something, the moaning bitch acted like a child throughout this. Finn rushes her back to the stronghold, just as the main door is breached.
Poe and Leia look at each other, clearly accepting fate but someone has other ideas and that comes in the way of Luke. Walking down the stairs with a bright like behind him, like Jesus floating down from heaven, he tells his sister that no one is truly lost. He walks out to face the First Order, who are commanded by Kylo by now, who orders them to fire everything on where Luke stands. After and insane number of explosions and no way of survival, the dust settles and we see Luke standing there, as he coolly dusts of his shoulder like some teenage kid of just scored a goal and doesn't want to make too much of it. You fucking what mate? This is not the Luke Skywalker that everyone has come to love, I'm over this by now. Poe realises that Luke is distracting them, so that everyone else can escape and seeing some crystal wolves, they follow them to their way out of the caves. They find their way out blocked by boulders though, but never fear, Rey is on the otherwise and uses her force to lift them all out of the way, for everyone to escape onto the Millennium Falcon. Finn and Rey embrace in the love story that everyone expected, but got handed Finn and Rose instead. Kylo heads down to face Luke on his own and the duel until Kylo heads for the killer blow, only to find out that Luke is a hologram. Wait, so how did their sabers connect during the fight? He's still on that island. Kylo screams in anger, knowing that everyone has escaped and he is no better off. Time for the teenage tantrum again. Back on Luke's island, we see him vanish in thin air and Rey senses that Luke has now gone, to which Leia feels the same and he has now become totally one with the force. She asks what will come of the resistance now and her answer is that they will simply rebuild.
The film ends with scenes back on Canto Bight and in the stables, one of the children who helped them escape earlier, is listening to other tell the story of Luke Skywalker, the hero. As their master walks in to scold them, the boy leaves and looks at the sky, seeing the Falcon fly overhead and he uses the force to grab a broom, before lifting it like a saber and ending up brushing the floor. The film finally finishes with the word, 'In loving memory of our Princess, Carrie Fisher'. A touching end.
This is such a frustrating film. A movie that shows us, for two and a half hours, the heroes that we have gotten used to recently, do nothing but fail on their quests. Rey couldn't change Luke or Kylo, Poe didn't lead the mutiny, Finn and Rose failed on their little mission and nearly everyone is dead. Everything we had been with teased in TFA, was directly chucked back in our faces with poor answers and choices by Rian Johnson. There was so much wasted in this, with Snoke, Phasma and the end of Luke, it just left me feeling empty and unsatisfied. The added humour has Disney written all over it and felt forced, with nothing but some awkward giggles sprouting up through the audience. The graphics, as per usual, along with the musical score, were as always, second to none and seeing a form of Luke back on our screens was another good part but the more I write this, the more I feel disappointed. I don't get why one director would do one movie, set it all up, just for another to come and do the second movie, to squash everything. This gives me no real excitement for the trilogy that has been given to Johnson and do not get me started on the Solo movie. Disney have made this for the masses, leaving enough crumbs for the older fans to pick on. Porgs created for toys, profits in the billions and hands are being rubbed together, thinking about their next cash cow to make their money from. Thanks Mickey!

This is the Greatest Show (The Greatest Showman 2017)

163.

The Greatest Showman

  

 

 

 

10/10

 

 

I can admit that I am not a huge fan of musicals but do love a sing along to a Disney film, which is kind of a different kettle of fish. When I seen La La Land last year, I was a little uncomfortable at first, but as the story progressed, I was immersed into the whole concept of the movie. I hope that this goes the same way again. Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine was a massive hit for me and watching Logan before going to see this movie, could show the scale of this guy's talents. The rest of the cast brings Zak Efron, Michelle Williams and Zendaya to the screen in this adaptation of P.T. Barnum's life. The movie has been a dream project for Hugh Jackman, in his words and he did a lot of research in order to get into his role. Is this going to be a great show or nothing more than a sideshow attraction?
The movie begins behind some seats, that we can see people legs, stamping to the rhythm, with the outline of Jackman, as Barnum, entering the screen wearing a ringmaster's outfit and carrying a cane. He instantly starts singing and we are straight into our first song, 'The Greatest Show'. He is putting on a dazzling show and everyone is loving it but the music soon stops, as he spins around slowly, the singing gets quieter and suddenly we see s boy in a tailor shop window, looking at the outfit and his reflection, neck up, makes him look like her is wearing the outfit. Instead, this boy is a poor lad, holes in his shoes and quite dirty. His father works as a travelling tailor and is inside the shop to grab some material. They are travelling to a high-end house and a posh family, to fit a suit. When they get there, we can see chemistry between the young P.T. Barnum and the wealthy daughter, Charity. The girl's father doesn't like this and hits Barnum for his troubles. He runs to the beach and is soon met by Charity who has escaped from her bedroom. We are quickly into our second son, 'A Million Dreams' and the lyrics go hand in hand with how these two characters feel their future will go. They enter an old abandoned house, overgrown and beaten up, singing about the dreams they have which include being together, no matter what anyone else thinks. This is going against the scenes the accompany the song though. Charity is sent to finishing school, but the two carry on writing to each other. Then Barnum's father dies and he is left to fend for himself, stealing food and son joining the railway build. The singing takes a brief break, as the music carries on but now Barnum is older, being played by Jackman and is heading to Charity's house to take her away and start their life together. The father still isn't happy and proclaims that she will be back. They run and head into the city together, reunited as adults and carry on the singing, as Barnum proposes to her and they enter their rough flat, dancing on the roof but clearly loving their life together, with the song ending with Barnum holding Charity's pregnant stomach.
The music makes way for some storyline, getting to see where Barnum works, at a trading company. he looks out of the window and there is a clever scene. He looking into the office block next door, which is directly next to a graveyard, giving him the thought that he doesn't want to do this until he dies. That decision is taken from him anyway because the place goes bankrupt when the company's trading ships sink. The boss shows him the deed for the ships that have sunk and Barnum heads home to his wife and two daughters. He instantly tells his wife, who doesn't seem too upset. He pulls out a spinning lamp, that he calls a wishing machine, asking each of them to make a wish and once the daughters are done, they both begin to sing a little bit of 'A Million Dreams', as we can see Barnum hatching a plan. The next day, he takes he deed he has for collateral on a loan of $10,000 and whilst in the waiting room, he sees a really short man, with him mother. This again adds to his ideas. He opens up a museum, one that is devoted to oddities and things from other countries. He believes that people are fascinated with these kinds of things but the place fails to attract business and most people don't have time for the idea. He goes home, deflated and tucks his children into bed. They are still awake and whisper too him that he needs something alive in his museum, instead of everything stuffed. He sets out to find the dwarf that he has seen in the bank, wanting him to be his main attraction and although his mother denies that he exists at first and Charles, the small man, rejects the idea, they are both brought around at the idea of money. He adds to the gang with the bearded lady and puts up posters, attracting others to join. These include an obese man, tall man, hair-covered man and a brother and sister combo who do trapeze. The two family members are of an African origin and state that people won't be happy if they are put on stage. It's show time and everyone is nervous, except for Barnum, who breaks into song, with the lyrics telling everyone to step into the light and dream that they can be more than they imagined. 'Come Alive' starts slow and ends up with the whole of the show's cast, audience and even Barnum's family singing and dancing. The only person who isn't impressed, including myself, is a critic, who writes an article about the show, names it a 'circus' which Barnum uses to rename his show.
Profits are flowing and Barnum has even bought the run-down mansion that they broke into in the beginning, when they were young. The eldest daughter is put into ballet school, but she is discouraged when the other girls make fun of what her father does for a living. Outside of the ballet school show, Barnum bumps into Phillip Carlyle, Efron's character and asks him about the kind of money he makes being a playwright, because he certainly doesn't look like he is enjoying it. They both go for a drink, which involves a song about Phillip joining Barnum and the circus. It brings around lyrics showcasing the good and bad points, from each character, on the overall idea. The choreography for this is pretty damn decent, as they slide shots of Whisky along the bar to each other. At the middle of this song, titled, 'The Other Side', Phillip agrees to join, with a cut of 10% of the profit. They then both head over to the circus to carry on the song and meet the gang, with Phillip meeting Anne, Wheeler, one half of the trapeze act and instantly falling for her. Once they get to chat, she doesn't seem too fussed and dismisses him straight away. He shows his own worth the next day, after setting up a meeting with the Queen of England. Anne simply asks if everyone is invited, knowing of the culture and the unacceptance of African Americans in society. Phillips simply claims that he will let the Queen know that either all of them go, or none of them. At the palace, the Queen comments on how short Charles is, who now goes around as General Tom Thumb. He replies that she isn't too tall herself and after a period of awkward silence, the Queen burst out laughing and everyone is set to enjoy their day. Another guest there is Jenny Lind, a well-known opera singer in Europe, but whom is yet to travel to America. Jenny is played by Rebecca Ferguson and is a character that holds herself well. She knows what Barnum is about and is quite apprehensive when he offers her to do a show in the US.
We can guess that she will join them for the show and she will be a huge hit but Barnum is still risking a lot, considering that he has never heard her sing. She performs for a huge crowd, a song called, 'Never Enough', which is actually dubbed and is sung by Loren Allred, a major player in the Voice singing show in the US. The lyrics contains such lines as, 'You've set off a dream in me', linking to Barnum believing in her and taking her to the states. Before the show, Phillip asked Barnum whether he should put the rest of the circus in his box, but the answer was, 'No, it's too visible', already showing that he has moved on a little from them and maybe he is even a bit ashamed. During the song, we see them all standing at the back, been touched by the lyrics and the singing. Phillip grabs Anne's hand but as he is spotted by some high-end, white couples, he quickly lets go, upsetting her and she runs away. We even see the critic in the crowd enjoying. One thing noticed from the audience is by Charity, who spots how Barnum is looking at Jenny. At the after party, Charity's parents are invited and are introduced to their granddaughters for the first time. A scene is made and Charity storms out before Jenny toasts to Barnum. The rest of his troupe wants to join the party but they are refused entry, again maybe down to Barnum being embarrassed. Although they are downbeat at first, they decide to embrace themselves and let out the most iconic song from the movie, 'This is Me'. They storm through the crowds and through the protesters for their show, singing as they go, dancing and even Anne is aiming the lyrics at Phillip, who is watching from the office window. So far, we have gone from struggle, to elation, to new relationships opening up and now we are getting to some anger and breakdown in those relationships.
A few days pass and Barnum has left a ticket to the opera for Anne to visit, for her very first time. When she arrives, there are two tickets, and Phillip walks behind her, knowing that she wouldn't have gone if he invited her. As they walk up the stairs, his parents are walking down, with a face like they have just stepped in shit, or at least their son has. They aren't happy to see him with a black woman and Anne leaves upset, before Phillip confronts his parents and isn't embarrassed to chase Anne down. This leads to another song and instead of normal dancing, Anne is flying around on her trapeze ropes, as Phillip is trying to catch her, just as her his trying to capture her emotions. The lyrics indicate the problems with the race gap and how they may not be together, unless they fight for it. Being titled 'Rewrite the Stars', it indicates what they both may need to do. Meanwhile, Barnum has taken Jenny on a tour of the States. He has put in a lot of money, borrowing money with his house as collateral. She is a massive hit and we can see her building up an attraction to Barnum, whilst back home, Charity is struggling with the girls and her own emotions for missing the man of the house. Another song begins, entitled 'Tightrope', symbolising how she is walking a fine line, full of difficulty, inside her relationship. She feels that she has lost her husband in some way. At the end of the song, we are in Jenny's hotel room, where she and Barnum are celebrating their success and she makes a move for him, but is rejected. Fair play lad! She is clearly upset and refuses to carry on with the tour. Barnum claims that he will be destroyed if she quits and she accepts to do the rest of the shows. On stage, we can see her struggling, with tears running down her face. As the show comes to a close, Barnum walks on as usual and this time she grabs him and kisses him in front of the press, quitting the tour straight after. Bitch.
More protestors have made themselves inside the circus now and a fight leads to them starting a fire inside, just as Barnum makes it back into town. He hears of it and runs over, just in time for the whole building to be engulfed. Phillip runs back inside when he sees that Anne hasn't made it out, but she comes running from the side door, just as Phillip re-enters. This leaves Barnum needing to go in and get his new friend. The building collapses with both inside, but Barnum makes it out with Phillip in his arms. Phillip is taken to hospital and Barnum simply sits outside the remains of what is left of his job. The main critic comes to sit by him, claiming that the police have found the protestors that started the fire. He even claims that the circus was a good thing, a 'celebration of humanity'. He then brings the bad news. The newspaper has a drawing of Jenny and Barnum kissing and he instantly knows that Charity will have seen this so he runs home. He gets home to find that she has packed her bags and is off home. Finally, what her father said all those years ago, has come true. She is moving out because they bank have evicted them, but she is also unhappy about the newspaper. She knows that he isn't in love with Jenny but also knows that he is actually only in love with himself and success. He makes it to the bar that we have already seen as a location for his song with Phillip. The troupe have followed him and are sick of him wallowing in self-pity. Lettie, the bird with the beard, tells him that he is the only one who seen them for more than freaks and gave them a proper family. Barnum is back encouraged and begins the lyrics to a song entitled, 'From Now On', which details his career but also the main reason he done it, to give his family what they had dreamed of. They are all dancing around the pub before he leaves, to chase down Charity and making it to her father's. He apologises to her for chasing nothing but fame and she replies with the fact that all she ever wanted was the man that she fell for, all those years ago. As the lyrics to the song begin again, this time they are slower and being sung by Anne, who is buy Phillip's bedside as he wakes.
Back at the rumble, the troupe are sitting around, digging through, as Phillip returns and offers to go in with Barnum to start it all again. He has been paid monthly and saved all of it, instead of squandering, but this time he wants to go 50/50 partners. They decide not to build the circus building back up, but instead rent room for a massive tent, that a circus is now synonymous for. Audiences flock from far and wide to see the show once more. The song from the beginning has now become a reality and 'The Greatest Show' is sung once more. Midway through, Barnum hands his hat and cane over to Phillip, making him the ringmaster, mainly because he wants to see his girls grow up. The song carries on with Phillip singing the main part and ending with him embracing Anne in his arms. Barnum has ridden an elephant to meet his family outside the ballet school, where he sits to watch his daughters perform, one as a dancer and the youngest as a tree. The lyrics to the song are finished in his whispers, as 'everything you ever want, everything you ever need, is right in front of you,' this time doesn't mean to be sung to the crowd viewing his show, but are maybe an acknowledgment to himself, that all he ever needed was his family. 
This movie gave me enjoyment on a number of levels. It had a great storyline, every song was catchy in their own way and even the choreography gave a whole new step for my viewing experience. I'm not one to be running to the cinema when a musical is announced but I have been back for a second bite of the cherry with this film, with a third viewing planned before it leaves the cinemas altogether. It gets full marks for me, even if people are complaining that it is too far from the real story. It didn't show how is was actually exploiting this people, the fact that Phillip and Anne not being based on real people can easily be over looked and the main one for me would be the fact that Jenny and Barnum had no affair of any sort, she only quit from being over worked. As for the rest of the movie, I'm easily pleased when it comes to this and I've listened to the soundtrack numerous times since watching the movie. The cast was really good, with Jackman as a lead, but also leading his idea for this movie, Efron has been someone I've never seen perform this kind of movie, but he impressed. Everyone else brought their character alive also and I'm not too sure that there was a thing that I didn't enjoy about the whole experience. The main idea would be, that although you may be different, in any or many ways, to the people around you, you are nothing but unique, in a good way. You have the ability to live a normal life, no matter what anyone's opinions, so take it on yourself to seize the day and be happy. 

I did not hit her. I did not. It's not true. It's bullshit. I did not hit her. I did not. Oh, hi Mark. (The Disaster Artist 2017)

162.

The Disaster Artist

  

 

 

 

8/10

 

 

This movie is based around the real-life events of two men named, Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero. Greg wrote a book about the events, which we are about to witness in this movie. The plot centre around these two men trying to make it in Los Angeles as actors, until Tommy decides to make his own movie and star in it, alongside Greg. His film, The Room, would come out in 2003 and be one of the biggest flops in cinema history. That is until a cult following and the rumours circling around this movie, would lead people to research and watch The Room, so that they knew what they were letting themselves in for. I still haven't seen The Room, but hopefully after seeing this, I will have a much better understanding of what went on. Fingers crossed that this isn't as much of a disaster.

This movie is going to be quite a hard one to review and maybe even my shortest review yet. This isn't a bad thing, but because it's a kind of behind the scenes, reconstruction of what was happening, there is no real need to go too much into depth. James Franco plays Tommy, as his real-life brother, Dave Franco, plays Greg.  The film begins in 1996 when Greg is in a drama class, but is too nervous to act. He sees Tommy, playing his way through a scene without a care in the world, before walking off home. He follows him to stop him, asking to do a scene together because he knows he can learn from him and we instantly see that this Tommy guy is a little weird. Not long after, have the two become really close friends and Tommy suggests that they both move to LA in order to pursue acting careers.

Once they arrive there, it's safe to say that Greg is a lot more successful, mainly down to the fact that he actually has talent. He even finds himself a girl, which instantly has bad effect on Tommy. He believes that Greg owes him more for giving him this chance. Mainly down to jealousy on all fronts, Tommy starts to get snippy. If no one will employ Tommy, he will take matters into his own hands, writing his own screenplay, where he offers Greg a role, along with an associate producer credit. Tommy, who somehow has a bottomless pit of money, insists on buying all of the filming equipment, rather than simply renting it. He also employs a team to work with during filming. Everything starts smoothly, but we soon realise that Tommy is extremely hard to work with. Turning up late, not sorting basic things out, such as water, for the crew, embarrasses the actress that he stars in a sex scene with ad although he has given himself the leading role, he keeps forgetting his own lines. He even has a guy going around, filming the behind the scenes moments, which he watches back and realises that many of the people aren't supporting his vision, not even Greg.

Away from the set, Greg and his girlfriend Amber, bump into Bryan Cranston, who invites Greg to be a small part in Malcolm in the Middle. He needs him and the beard he has grown for a part as a lumberjack and when Tommy finds out about this, he isn't too happy and even asks him to shave his beard off for the new scenes that they are doing. This actually didn't happen in real life. There was no offer from Cranston but instead the beard was something that Greg wanted to keep, thinking of it as his new identity. He was made to shave it though and claimed that Tommy was selfish during their friendship, even questioning him face to face about his real age and origins.

Six months later and Greg is now single again. Tommy invites him to the premiere of their movie, to which to their surprise, the whole cast and crew are there too. The cinema is pretty full and at first the audience reacts with horror, which soon turns to laughter, causing Tommy to leave. Greg chases him, telling him that they laughter is a success in his eyes, turning the reaction on its head. He re-enters the screening, ready to take credit for his 'comedic' performance, to which he receives a standing ovation. The movie ends with side by side scenes from the movie The Room and this remake of the scenes, showing how remarkably close, Franco's adaption was to the real thing.

This was a great movie to watch for a mixture of reasons. It may be hard to believe that there is such a guy as Tommy, but after seeing him on numerous TV slots, even simply standing there as Franco got his Golden Globe, you can see that this guy is away with the fairies. For James Franco to get the seal of approval from him, he must have been doing something right. It was full of comedy, which at times, it's hard to distinguish whether it was real events, or something that was fabricated for this movie. It's quite a weird experience to watch a movie about a movie being made and knowing that this will be a lot more successful only adds to its novelty. I recently found out that they are planning on giving The Room a run in cinemas once more, by popular demand. It is far from a mockery of a man, but more of a celebration of a different style of being. Still to this day, no one knows Tommy's age, origin or where he got his fortune.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry (Jumaji: Welcome to the jungle 2017)

161.

Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle

  

 

 

 

8.5/10

A revisit to a childhood classic and I have all fingers, toes, legs, arms and anything else crossed, in the effort that this doesn't ruin the original for me. From the trailer, it looks like people, along with the audience, are sucked into the game, rather than the game escaping into the real world. The cast seems a great ensemble, with Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black teaming up to win the game. 22 years on from the original, special effects and cinematography has come on leaps and bounds so the chances with this film are endless. Is this movie going to be the King of the Jungle, or just another mosquito to be swatted away?
The film begins on a beach in 1996, where the board game has finally washed up onto a beach. Alex Vreeke receives the board game from his brother who finds it, but isn't too interested in it with the emergence of video games. Overnight, somehow, the game transforms into a video game cartridge and when Alex plays it, he is transported with a bright, green light, into the game. I have no idea how it transformed but let's give it the benefit of the doubt. Another 20 years later and we are introduced to 4 characters. A nerdy guy, struggling to find time with his homework and playing computer games, called Spencer, Anthony 'Fridge' Johnson, who is a college footballer, has been having Spencer do his homework for him. The next would be Bethany Walker, who is the popular girl, who loves to take selfies and be on Instagram, even using her mobile during class and finally we have Martha, who is a bit of an outcast, who disrespects her gym teacher when she doesn't want to take part. For all these reasons, they are sent to detention together, to pull staples from magazines. Fridge finds a computer with the game Jumanji, still inside and they finally all agree to play it, before one by one, being sucked into the game with a  fit of screams. They each fall from the sky and have changed into their avatars, which they had selected. Spencer is no a muscular, fearless explorer in the shape of Dr. Smolder Bravestone, who is played by Dwayne Johnson. Fridge has become a zoologist, named Franklin 'Mouse' Finbar, who he selected after he read it wrongly, thinking it was Moose. He is tiny and has a massive back pack constantly strapped to him. Martha, the awkward girl, has turned into a smoking hottie, who is a martial arts expert and named Ruby Roundhouse. Finally, we have Bethany, who has turned into Shelly, which was short of Sheldon, a professor, who not only is male, but overweight too. They have pretty much all turned into the opposite of what they were outside of the game. Bethany is instantly eaten by a hippo and dies, re-emerging from the sky and has lost a life, which the three lives are shown with a tattoo on their forearms. They soon realise that losing these three lives, could mean death in the game and no return home. They even discover what their strengths and weaknesses are in gameplay.
Once running through the jungle, a jeep pulls up, being driven by Nigel, an NPC, who sends them on their main quest. We, are the group of four, are sent into a flash back to build up the storyline on what has happened so far, within the jungle. Van Pelt has stolen a jewel, which has driven a curse across Jumanji. With this jewel, Van Pelt can control all animals in the jungle and the players must return the jewel to the top of the Jaguar statue and call out 'Jumanji'. Along the way, they begin to lose lives through different missions and make their way to a market place, where they must work together in order to obtain a clue from inside a snake's basket. The snake escapes and heads straight for Martha, whose weakness is venom, but it caught around the neck by Spencer, and defanged by Fridge, with nearly everyone working together. This also gives Martha a bit of a shine towards Spencer. They are soon set upon by Van Pelt's men and are cornered, to which Spencer takes action and pretty much takes out an army with hand combat, until Van Pelt turns up and the gang are saved by a fifth player, under the avatar, Jefferson 'Seaplane' McDonough. He is played by Nick Jonas and we takes them to a tree house for safety. Bethany instantly falls for him but this is funnier because she still hasn't gotten to grips with being a male. He explains that the house has been built by an Alan Parrish, which is another nod to the original. He tells them that he cannot get through the next part and only has one life left. He has been trying for months to get through and complete the game. The clue from earlier, was that the gang would find their missing piece in the marketplace and it looks like they have. They need this fifth member in order to complete the team. They head to the vehicle depot and Martha needs to take action to distract the guards, so that they others can sneak past and cut through the fence and get in. Bethany teaches her how to flirt and be a girl in certain aspects but seeing Jack Black do this, simply adds to the humour. During this time, the boys have a chat and Alex may think that he has only been in the game for a couple of months but it has actually been 22 years. Martha ends up still acting awkward and instead, uses he dance fighting to defeat the guards, all to the tune of Peter Frampton's Baby I love your way. They get into a helicopter and head over a canyon, but not without some trouble as the aircraft fails to rise properly and a rhino stampede chase them down. Spencer, finally reattaches the blades to the throttle and they rise out of the canyon but Fridge drops the jewel, only to be sacrificed to get it back. They end up completing the level, but Alex gets bitten by a mosquito, his one weakness and starts to lose his last life. That's before Bethany gives him CPR, transferring one of her lives to Alex. Once that is done, the team head to the statue and onto the final level.
They find themselves at the long walk to the statue, which is guards by jaguars and other enemies, all controlled by Van Pelt. Using their teamwork and resources, they distract all that they can, whilst Spencer tries to get to the statue. but at the base, Van Pelt has Bethany at gun point, demanding that Spencer hands over the jewel, only for him to reveal that he actually doesn't have it. In storms Fridge, on the back of an elephant, claiming how much he loves zoology, waving the jewel aloft. Van Pelt shoots and the elephant bolts, throwing Fridge one way and the jewel the other. It lands in a pit of snakes, where Martha decides to enter to retrieve it. She tells Spencer to get to the top of the statue and she will get the jewel to him. Van Pelt stands all of the snakes up, ready to attack and kill Martha with their venom. Instead, she takes the next step, literally, as she stands on one, to kill herself. Resetting from the sky and flying downwards, as Spencer heads upwards, they meet at the head of the Jaguar, he gets the jewel and they all call out the name. This kills Van Pelt and clearly ends the curse, as a wave of colour covers the jungle. They each return home, one by one, better for their experience. They realise that Alex did not return with them and they head to his old house, only to find it looks better than ever before. His father is a grumpy old man and instead, the whole family are getting ready for Xmas. Alex got reset to his own time and is now older, married and has children, one named Bethany, after the girl who saved his life. The gang have all now become close friends and Martha and Spencer even start dating. As they stand outside the school, they once again hear those drums. They end up destroying the game in a back ally, to prevent anybody playing it again.
If I was to discuss the character and their development, I'm not too sure that I would anything bad to mention. Each character changed into the complete opposite avatar once they entered the game and this added a lot to the humour. They didn't know how to react and there was a lot of coming to terms with what their abilities where. By the end, they had all gained a new form of confidence to return to. Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart's onscreen 'bromance' is always a plus for a movie. I enjoyed Central Intelligence for the exact same reason and this one was no different. The banter between the two and ability to play different kinds of roles, such a Johnson playing a geeky, fearful kid, was very impressive. The other delight for this, would be, Jack Black playing a spoilt, attention seeking girl, who cannot live without her phone and this role seemed to come naturally for him.
This movie, thankfully, came nowhere near spoiling the original for me and if anything, brought back the memories. It was a clever idea to send the players into the game instead, although the change from a board game to a game cartridge was a little weird, without any proper explanation. It was good to see a group, which was made up of four completely different styles of characters, which gave the opportunity for any the audience to relate with at least one of them. It was interesting to see that they changed Van Pelt from the first, in which he was a hunter, to someone who was linked to the main character and portrayed as the villain in this picture. With the humour, storyline and casting, everything fell together really well, even with nothing but stereotypes. This has the potential to carry on being a laugh out loud, family comedy, that doesn't need you to have seen the original to be able to appreciate it.      

 

I have to make decisions like what's best for the family (Suburbicon 2017)

160.

Suburbicon

 

 

 

 

 3/10

 

 

 

George Clooney is having another go at directing a film. Once again, he decides to work with Matt Damon and brings some others to the party in the form of Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac. From the trailer, the film seemed to be about murder, stealing and is set in the 50's period of America. It seemed a little weird at times, with a scene of some of the community standing about like robots and high-pitched music to unsettle you, as a horror film would. Let's delve into the movie and find out if it could be the 'real deal' or just another con.

The film opens with a storybook type graphic, telling us about the quaint town of Suburbicon. It states how other people from the country have moved to the town in order for an idyllic lifestyle and the last graphic, we can see is a real picture still, which we zoom into and begins the movie for us. The mailman is doing his normal deliveries, saying hello to all of the residents, as he comes across a new family moving in. He trots up to an African-American woman and asks to speak to Mrs Mayers, to which she replies, is herself. His friendly manner, awkwardly drops, as he backs away slowly, even forgetting to hand over the mail until prompted. The other residents then all act in horror, standing around staring, as we seen in the trailer. They are devastated that their new neighbours are black. A town meeting is held with plenty of angry white men, demanding that this family be removed from their town. This leads to a petition being held over moving them out.

Back to normality, as such, we are in the Lodge household, where Rose and her twin sister Margaret are in the garden and we find out that their next-door neighbours are the Mayers. Both of these females are being played by Julianne Moore, obviously with the fact that they are twins. Rose tells her son to go and play with the Mayers son and reluctantly he heads over to play catch. That night, Nicky's old man walks into his room, whispering for his son to get up because there are men in the house. There is no light but we know that Matt Damon is playing the father, Gardener. He takes his son downstairs during the robbery and we see one of the men, Sloan, sitting in a wheelchair which belongs to Rose. They are all being kept hostage and demand that Gardener pours them drinks, before tying them to chairs around the dinner table and smothering them with rags of chloroform.

Nicky wakes up in a hospital bed, seeing his father and aunt talking to a doctor, before looking to his right and seeing his mother in a bad way in the bed next to him. She has been overdosed with chloroform and it isn't looking too good. We instantly cut to Rose's funeral and the brother of the two women is comforting Nicky with some money, telling him that he will always be there, even as an extra Dad. People around the town and in Gardener's work offer their condolences to the family, everywhere they go. All whilst quietly accusing them of some sort of involvement. Nicky has started to set up precautions, to avoid another intrusion. He sets up some bars in his room, to lock his door a bit better. One day, he gets in from school and hears what he thinks is his auntie screaming in horror and is instantly thrown back into terror. He grabs a knife and makes his way down to the basement, where he ends up finding his father has her bent over a table, spanking her with a table tennis bat. Margaret has now cut her hair and dyed it, the same way that Rose had hers. Back at his work, Gardener is contacted by a police captain, who wants him to identify the robbers in a line up. On arrival, he notices Margaret and she has brought his son, which he isn't too happy about. Nicky stays outside as the two enter the room to pick out the men and as we look at the line-up, we can see that Gardener is standing in front of the end two, which we can instantly work out will be the two robbers. Nicky has snuck inside, just in time to see the two men and his father tell the policeman that none of the men are the ones that robbed him. Nicky is shocked and the audience now knows that there is some sort of foul play. The guard mistakenly flicks the light switched on and the line-up can see into the room. The two men see Nicky and he yelps, as his father and aunt turn around to notice him too.

At home, Nicky is having a bath and is interrupted by Gardener. Nicky asks why his father didn't identify the men when he had the chance. Gardener dodges the question and simply replies with how complicated the events are. Gardener is a really awkward character and is clearly getting nervous by everything that is happening. All around the town, the families are showing increased hatred for the Mayers. A crowd is growing and growing around their house, banging drums, building fences and even at the supermarket, a manager refuses to serve the female of the house unless he raises every item by $20. The two robbers confront Gardener at his work and Sloan, the biggest one, smacks him about a bit, warning him to get rid of his son, or they will do it for him. They are also demanding money that was supposed to be returned after Rose has been killed. The Captain of the Police is over the next day, wondering about the cuts and bruises but mainly to tell him that a mob member had been found dead. After going through his books, he found Gardener's surname written down, owing money to the mob. But he also mentions that there is also a hotel, with the same name, Garden Lodge, which he could be confusing it with, but time will tell.
Back home, Margaret is visited by Oscar Isaac's character, a sleazy insurance salesman, who is there to discuss the claim against Rose's death. Bud Cooper smooth talks the woman, before stating his intent as to why he is there. He knows something fishy is going on and that he will get to the bottom of it all. She kicks him out of the house, as he tries to pressurize her for answers. This character is finally one that brings a bit of humour to the movie and gets you back to enjoyment in a way. On the street, we see a bus pull up and the driver is the second robber, the thinner one and soon he is in the locker room of the bus depot as he is approached by Sloan, who is also a driver. These two seem to be having a few side jobs of rustling up some people and are drivers permanently. They are discussing a new job, one that they need to do to protect their name and that's to kill Nicky. Gardener, clearly isn't getting the job done, so they need to take the next step. At the Mayer's household, the gathering crowd has now turned into a riot and the police have had to take action as the family's car is destroyed and the windows are being smashed. The Mayer's have barricaded themselves inside, with the hope that it will all blow over. One person has even planted a confederate flag onto a smashed window. Cooper has turned back up at the Lodge's place, now that Gardener is home and quickly states that he knows what is going on. He won't report the insurance fraud but only if he gets all of the money for himself. Margaret nervously brings Cooper a cup of something and he instantly starts choking, clawing at his neck as his face goes red, along with his eyes. He makes a break for the door and makes it onto the street, before Gardener comes from behind and plants a fire poker into his neck. Cleary the guy was poisoned and now they have more blood on their hands. Louis and Sloan, the gangsters, are in a car watching all of this and witnessing Gardener putting Cooper into the boot of his own car and driving away. Louis has gotten out of his car and is heading for the house, as Sloan follows Gardener.
Nicky has also witnessed this and begins to all his uncle Mitch but is cut mid conversation as his aunt unplugs the phone line. The boy locks himself in his room as the scene cuts to Margaret making and sandwich and drink for him but adding plenty of crushed pills to kill the boy. He refuses it all though and stays in his room, as Louis sneaks up behind Margaret and strangles her to death, before carrying her to her room and dumping her on her bed. He makes his way to Nicky's room and smashes the door down, finding him hiding under his bed. We know what's coming next, as another set of shoes are seen, before a scuffle on the bed and gun shots. A pair of feet step down from the bed and move it away a little, putting a hand out to usher Nicky to safety. Mitch has turned up and he guides Nicky to hide in a closet, he's covered in blood and I can tell it isn't all ok. We don't see anything but his front until Nicky is hidden away and then we see the extent of the fight and Mitch has been stabbed. He sits in Nicky's chair and soon dies. We get back to Gardener, who put's Cooper's body in the front seat of his car and burns it, after taking a small, child's bike out of the boot, which he intends to ride home. As he is riding, Sloan drives up alongside to taunt him and is soon taken out, head-on, by a fire truck, which would surely be heading to Cooper's car fire. The wreckage leaves a trail of fuel, which quickly burns the stranded Sloan alive. On his arrival home, Gardener is looking everywhere for Nicky, after discovering the other bodies and we can see the closet door handle has Mitch's blood on it, but did Gardener see it? He begins to walk back downstairs but notices it too and finds his son pointing a gun at him. He quickly disarms him and sits his son at the kitchen table, where we also notice the drink and sandwich still sit. It's so obvious that Gardener will eat and drink the pills that I may as well walk out of the cinema now and save 15 minutes of my life. He calmly tells Nicky about escaping to Aruba together or be killed and his father leave alone, all the time whilst eating and drinking himself to death. The scene cuts and it's morning, Gardener is lying face down on the table, whilst the Mayer's with the help of some of the community, are cleaning the mess round their house. The interviewed racists blame this family for the chaos that happened that night, as Nicky acts no differently and goes back out to play catch with Andrew, the Mayers' son.
   The film reminded me of the game Fallout, with its style and grace and that's about it for the good points. It seemed to me like it never really got going. Unfortunately, I ended up seeing this movie twice and it was just as bad the second time. The main storyline was interrupted by a racism and mob story that went absolutely nowhere and seemed to be just a filler for the poor, main story. If I could summarise, it would be a murder mystery, but it never kept you guessing, it was just weirdly, cut, acted and executed. With some of the cast and behind the camera names, this was oozing with people who have been credited their whole life but this was a total fail. It gives me a reason to never want to see anything from Clooney again and this was me giving him more chances after ruining Batman. The one main saving grace was Oscar Isaac and his style within the movie, which did bring a chuckle but that about it. This confused movie left me knowing one thing, I won't get those wasted hours back! 

I've had to learn to live my life without needing you, and now you're pissed at me?! (Only the brave 2017)

159.

Only the brave

 

 

 

 

 

8.5/10

 

 

This movie is based on the true events of a group of elite firefighters, who risk their own lives in order to protect a town from a massive wildfire. In 2013, they fought their biggest fire yet, that would be everything would be on the line, but building up to that, we will be getting introduced to the team and how they changed through their years of the service. I didn't know about this story before going into the movie, but it is unprecedented, even in the last 6 months, how bad these forest fires in American can truly be. With a cast containing Josh Brolin, Miles Teller and Jennifer Connelly, I'm sure that this movie will give a great account of the events which unfolded.

The movie starts with what seems to be a dream sequence, as there is very little sound but a forest, being over taken by a fire, as we see a bear being created from the flames and running through, towards the camera. Could this resemble how fierce it truly is? As the bear runs past, Eric Marsh, Brolin's character, wakes and begins to get his stuff ready for the day at the local wildfire crew. He is the superintendent and has been called to stop a fire near Phoenix. In the kitchen, his wife, Connelly's character, reminds him of a fight the night before, giving the audience and account that there is trouble at home. His crew is only second level, meaning that they cannot fight on the front line of the fire. He must instead command his team to dig holes and burn bushes to slow the fire down, as a 'hotshot' team arrives to do the harder stuff. He offers them advice, which they don't take and instead insult them all. Without his advice, the town near by ends up in flames and everyone is left trying to escape.

After the event, Eric calls his friend Duane, played by Jeff Bridges, who was once a former fire chief. This guy holds the power to help Eric's team become hotshots. At this point we are introduced to Miles Teller's character, Brendan, who is sitting on his friend's couch smoking the hard drugs, whilst being told that he has a baby on the way through text message. He heads to the place that the girl works in and she seems away from the life of drugs and even though he offers to help, she doesn't believe him at all. She doesn't even want him around. As he walks away, downbeat, he sees an open car, with a decent stereo inside and tried to steal it whilst being watched by the police. Who arrest him and he is released on bail by his mother, who subsequently kicks him out of the house.

He decides that he needs to sort his life out and heads to the fire crew's house to apply. He is recognised by one of the fighters, who knows he is a screw-up, so sends him away. That's before Eric walks out of his office and calls Brendan in to apply anyway. He is honest about his record and his intentions for going the crew, so Eric invites him on a run with the crew, to see if he can keep up with them all, to the summit and back. At the top, Eric tells the crew what they are getting themselves into once they apply for being 'hotshots', whilst Brendan still hasn't made it to the top. They even pass him going up, on their way down and back at the station, Eric asks one of the fighters if the guy is dead on the hill. Too their surprise, they see him slowly jogging into the car park, sunburnt and phone in hand, showing a photo of him at the summit. Duane then shows up to let the team know that they have an audition to become what they want. During the audition, they decide to fight a fire that the auditor questions and it is on Eric's head. Even after sticking to his guns and it working, he is worried that he has upset the auditor. Duane strolls into the station with a stern look, as Eric demands that the team cover up, which they would do in an emergency, laying on the floor in protective bags. At this time, he tells them all that they have been accepted as 'Hotshots'. The celebrate with a BBQ and call themselves the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

As the story progresses, we see the team fighting fires, as Brendan takes bags of essentials over to leave on his baby mama's doorstep. After a few times, she lets him meet the baby and he apologises for his past mistakes. Whilst the team are away, Eric's wife gets into a bad car crash, which she doesn't tell him about until he gets home and sees the car. He is angry about this but she counters him, explain that he is not around enough. Her main problem is that she wants to start a family but he tells her that their deal was no kids. Maybe with his job, he is too frightened to leave a family behind. We also find out that Eric and Amanda are both recovering addicts and this is one of the main reasons behind him taking a chance with Brendan, who has finally become accepted within the team. With this and being closer to his daughter now, he takes the chance to ask Eric about a recommendation to leave the frontline and change to a structural firefighter, in order to be home that bit more. Eric doesn't like this, feeling he is owed something for giving Brendan the chance. On the way home, Amanda and Eric are fighting and she reveals that he isn't thinking reasonably with Brendan, because of his own issues. She screams that she is losing him to the fires and she wants to start a family with him, once again. He walks away from the car, all the way to Duane's house and discusses the issues with him, leading him back home to tell his wife that she has him back. You just know that if this was a movie, he would end up doing one more job and not coming home. Can this happen in real life too?
As the team head to a fire near Yarnell, Eric tells his second in command about his decision to step down and on arrival they realise that the fire is a lot bigger than they anticipated. The head off to do a burn, to slow everything down, but a water plane shoots water on their location, ruining their plans anyway. As the flames spread more, Brendan is sent to a weather watch and the team begin another dig line in order to stop the fire once more. Brendan gets on the radio to tell them that the wind has changed and the flames are heading towards them at a quick rate. He gets away from his spot, just in time and its mental, as you watch, how quick this fire is moving. Brendan is in trouble and out of the flames comes a different guy from another team who drives a golf buggy and takes him to safety. He can hear on his radio, back at camp, the 19 other guys in his team are burning the brush around them to create a safer area that the fire won't burn too much around them. The put their covers on and lay on the ground, hoping that the fire passes quickly and they manage to escape it. With his, all we can hear is depleting talk, as Eric remembers that bear, which is a flashback from a fire he was in before and an actual bear was on fire running for safety. Brendan listens as his team and friends are burnt alive. He knows that he should have been with them but he got out after being sent to check on the weather. The movie changes to Eric's house, as his wife gets the news of her loss. She screams and collapses to the ground, knowing this was one fire too much. She is never going to get the family time she once longed for. The families are gathered in a school gym and are told that there is one survivor. We know who it is but as Brendan walks in, the girlfriends, wives and parents break down, knowing that they have lost their loved ones. Brendan can't face it and walks out, as Amanda chases him, telling him she is glad he made it out and he has no reason to feel guilty. The movie ends with the pictures, names and ages of the real men, side by side with the ones who played them within the movie. That is along with a group picture in front of a famous tree, which the team saved and recreated in the picture. Suddenly I find myself trying to keep my shit together.
The movie was a real awe inspiring, edge of the seat and tear-jerking couple of hours. It was a real-life story that, at times, were not true to the real events in how they were spaced out, such as personal moments happened weeks before the deaths, regarding Eric and Amanda's arguments. Rattlesnake bites and other little bits were added for tension but mostly, they events were down to a tee. This goes for their final moments too, apart from how they broke the news to the families, who had to hear in a more media crazed way and too public for their own liking. Overall, this movie was a great watch and insight into what these people put on the line in order to save other families. It was a joke that there wasn't more people in the cinema to watch this and instead they can pack out for less, worse and films that are a complete joke. Every one of the actors involved gave a great performance and the ending, along with the music, giving a real picture of each 'Hotshot', alongside the actor and actress that portrayed them, was a real hard moment to watch. I couldn't recommend this movie enough if you can catch it somewhere. 

People said that the age of heroes would never come again. (Justice League 2017)

 

158.
Justice League

 

 

8/10

 

The DC takes another huge step to try and counter the growth and success of Marvel. This time, it brings together a lot of big names for the Justice League, which means we are going to see Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman, even though we don't know when Superman will appear, but he is in the posters. This film is going to be a lot shorter than the superhero films that we have been watching over the years, so it could be that it will be action packed, rather than beating around the bush with some needless storyline, which is being constantly dragged on. This movie is a highly anticipated one for me, not knowing whether Affleck will remain as Batman or not. I just hope that this is on the level of Wonder Woman, rather than this mess of Batman vs Superman.

So, the movie begins and shows us Earth, thousands of years ago, Steppenwolf and his army are trying to conquer the planet through combined energies known as the Mother Boxes. They are defeated by a unified army, which contained Olympia Gods, Amazons and other well-known characters such as a Green Lantern. After winning, they separate the boxes and hide them in different locations. Fast-forward to present and the world is still in mourning from the loss of Superman, whose death has caused the Mother Boxes to reactivate and call out to their master, with Steppenwolf returning to gain favour with his master, Darkseid. Already, we have seen Diana, as Wonder Woman, foil a terrorist plot in London, with her usual music and slow-motion action. Back in her actual home of Themyscira, Steppenwolf has arrived to retrieve his first box. Defeating the Amazonians and prompting the Queen to light the invasion fires, to warn her daughter. Diana joins Bruce Wayne in trying to recruit metahumans to fight for Earth. Wayne travels to get Barry Allen, revealing he know who he is and Allen, played by Ezra Miller, brings a new kind of comedy to the movie. With a nervous disposition, he is a breath of fresh air after years of enjoying Grant Gustin playing the same role in the CW universe. Wayne fails in getting Arthur Curry to join though. Jason Mamoa has taken on the role of Aquaman, who at times is show pathetic in comedy shows and history. This time, a tattooed, darker character emerges from the sea and is easily liked. He turns down the chance to join, figuring that he must protect Atlantis instead. Diana also fails in trying to recruit Victor Stone, AKA, Cyborg. He is gradually growing more and more into a metallic being. He later decides to join though, as his father has been kidnapped by one of Steppenwolf's minions, as he looks to retain the box from mankind.

Steppenwolf steps up his pursuit for the two remaining boxes, as he heads to Atlantis and attacks, finally forcing Curry to act and join the league. James Gordon gives the group some information on Steppenwolf's hideout below Gotham Harbour. In the scenes that follow, where they try to save the hostages, we finally get to see the Flash in action and it is a great scene. Although they succeed, the facility gets flooded and the group are trapped, until Aquaman shows up and delays the water so that they can all escape. Cyborg reveals that he has been hiding the last Mother Box, as his father used it to rebuild him after an accident, which nearly cost him his life. Wayne gets the idea that they can use it on Superman, not only to bring him onto the team, but also to give Earth and its people some new hope. He also has a special plan in place, just in case Superman comes back as a nemesis. Clark's body is exhumed and taken to the same Kryptonian ship from BvS, where is he placed in the incubation waters and successfully brought back. At first, he is unaware of where he is and has no memories, which causes him to attack the league after Cyborg accidentally shoots a missile at him because he cannot control some of his robotic transformations. On the verge of losing the team, Bruce reveals his back-up plan and out walks Lois Lane, to calm Superman down and the two fly off to Clark's farm house, which has now been sold to the bank after non-payments. Elsewhere, with the final Mother Box unguarded now, Steppenwolf has his hands on it.

Without Superman in their team, the rest of the league head to a remote village in Russia, that is being taken over by Steppenwolf as he tries to recreate Earth. They all fight their way through plenty of Parademons, in their own special ways, which include them helping each other too. Inside some shield, over the town, the colours of the sky are now a purple or red, which creates a different style of filming and texture to the scenes. They finally hit Steppenwolf's base but aren't able to distract him long enough in order to separate the Mother Boxes, so Flash tries to evacuate the rest of the town, whilst the others carry on fighting Steppenwolf. Just as they look beat though, the inevitable happens. Superman shows, firstly using his own speed to help the Flash with the citizens. This brings a bit of humour as Flash is pushing a car full out of town, as Superman is carrying an apartment block. He heads back and back to even help Cyborg separating the Mother Boxes and the team continues to defeat Steppenwolf, who, begins to feel fear and the Parademons turn on him, as they all transport him away. Will he be seen again?

The film ends with Diana and Bruce at Wayne manor, declaring that they will rebuild the place as a base for the league, stating that they will create a bigger table with more seats, linking to room for more in the team. Allen has start his job with the police, Cyborg continues exploring his capabilities, Curry returns to Atlantis and Diana to the spotlight, as the hero she is. The Post credits scene firstly give us a race between Superman and the Flash, but doesn't reveal the winner. At the very end of the credits we have a better scene. Lex Luthor has escaped from Arkham and has set aboard a ship, living the high life. As a smaller speed boat pulls up, the familiar armour of Slade Wilson, or Deathstroke, gets aboard Luthor's boat. Cleary being recruited for a league of their own.
So, are the DC films continuing to fail? According to the critics yes, but I really enjoyed this movie. With it being in the same year as Wonder Woman and the success that that film created, it was always going to be a hard task to follow on. The film isn't as long as the superhero films that we have come to know and that is only a good thing. It meant that it was full of action, constantly movie and introducing new things every time. Starting mainly with the bad points, the CGI was terrible at two points. Those being the look on Steppenwolf, which could have been a lot better, also making him look eviller. The second being the fiasco with Superman and his moustache. If you haven't read about it, please do. Cavill needed to come back for reshoots when filming Mission Impossible, so he couldn't shave. Ridiculous. Joss Whedon took over the final cut and this has led to people wanting Snyder's final piece to be released, stating that it could be better than what was released. It felt also like they dragged out the scene fighting Steppenwolf, with Superman off helping the evacuation, mainly to give the rest of the league a chance to fight because Superman would end the battle within seconds. This, along with the fact that many of the scenes in the trailers are not visible within the final cut, complete the badness. The humour created throughout was good, mainly with each of the heroes being completely different to each other and bouncing off one another really well. The musical score, also takes us back to the original music for Batman and Superman for a bit of nostalgia. The action itself was really cool and fast paced, meaning that it keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering who the scene will flip to next to see in action. It is definitely better than Suicide Squad and BvS but comes short on Wonder Woman. Still worth the watch and decide for yourself though.