My God is bigger than your statistics (The 15:17 to Paris 2018)

 

 

 

180.

 The 15:17 to Paris

 

 

 

7/10

 

 

 

Clint Eastwood, once again, looks to add to his catalogue of movies that he has directed. This time, it is a biographical drama, based on the autobiography named, The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train and Three American Heroes, which is hell of a mouthful. I only know about the main events that took place within Paris, regarding the attacks, but nothing that these three men did to stop a further. The main interesting thing about this movie, is the fact that the three men that the story revolves around, actually play themselves. I didn't find this out until the end and all I could think about was how terrible their acting was. Let's get down to following this trio stop the train attack.

This movie starts with a build up to get to know the characters, firstly from a young age, where Spencer and Alek get to know each other at a Christian school and bond over their like of guns. Standard America. They are often sent to the Principal's offer after acting up and one time that we seem them sent, they meet with another kid, who too, is in trouble. He often misbehaves and he is an African-American kid named Anthony. The three quickly become friends and find out that Anthony has a range of pellet guns. Alek and Spencer are from single-mother homes and their mothers often arrive at school to stick up for their kids, often blaming the teachers for the troubles. Time soon moves on and we see Spencer working at a smoothie shop, where a Marine recruiter pops in. He is quickly fascinated by him and asks him loads of questions, enthralled by his speeches. Spencer decides to work out, too loose some extra weight and after a few months, in a montage for the viewers, he is clearly in much better shape. He even goes to enlist in the Air Force, hoping to get Pararescue.

After basic training, Spencer takes his exams for Pararescue but fails his depth perception and must choose another route, leaving him stationed abroad, and this was the exact moment that I knew there was something up with their acting. The speech seemed really awkward and forced, hardly ever flowing, with neither of them better than the other. Alek too has joined the Army and is deployed to the Middle East and with Anthony now in college, the three talk on Skype and this is where you can see their acting quality in one scene. Alek lets the lads know that he plans on meeting his girlfriend in Germany, so they should all meet up and have a European Vacation. They are all meant to meet in Venice, but Alek is late leaving so can't make this part but we follow Anthony and Spencer doing tourist things, before heading to Germany to meet Alek. We have already seen Alek there in a scene with his girlfriend and soon we are on the club soon with all the lads, before they wake up and decide on Amsterdam. Once again, they move on after a few days and next is Paris, where we know will be the main section of the movie. They get on the 15:17 from Amsterdam to Paris.

All seemed well on the train, until an American-born French guy noticed that someone had been occupying the 'shitter' a little too long. When he went to have a look, he was greeted by a topless fella with an assault rifle. He tries to wrestle the gun off him, winning, only to be thrown to the ground and shot in the back by a pistol. Other passengers begin to panic and run down the train, as the terrorist uses his rifle and shoots another person who had picked up the rifle. He eventually makes the next car, the car in which our trio are relaxing. The moment Spencer spots him, his instincts kick in and he runs to attack the terrorist, as the pistol is raised towards him, it jams out of sheer luck and he is tackled to the ground. Spencer disarms the man, as Alek, Spencer and other passengers help with the assault. Spencer's neck had been sliced at the back by a knife but the terrorist is knocked out and tied in all kinds of knots, as Spencer makes an attempt to save the American born man from dying, by plugging the exit wound. At the next station, police are waiting to assist, fully armed and upon finding that Spencer has subdued the terrorist, they all turn their attention to healing everyone's wounds. Moogalian, who had been shot, is taking to hospital and survives his wounds.

The movie draws to a close with a mix of filmed scenes and real-life recordings of these men and Moogalian, for their efforts aboard the train. The terrorist was carrying a ridiculous amount of ammo, with every thought on causing carnage on that train and where ever it ended. We can see all of the men awarded with medals on stage at a ceremony and these are the mixed scenes that I have already mentioned, with the French President handing out the awards.

I quite enjoyed this movie and although it took a little while to get going, it's not hard to understand why. There was never going to be any point in dragging out what happened on the train and instead, we got to learn about each of the men involved. With their trip and explanation as to why they were in Europe in the first place, such a thing would only help with the plot, although this plot was all a true story. It's very interesting that these men were asked to play themselves, with some maybe thinking that they wouldn't have wanted to relive those moments over and over again. Other views may be, that this holds the film back a little with its small awkwardness and lack of quality acting. This wasn't a massive problem for me and once I knew what was going on with it all, I can actually respect all parties for their choices. With my decision to go traveling around Europe, starting next week, it got me even more excited, seeing these guys do the same. When the time came for action, this movie didn't disappoint and who better to have co-ordinating the movements and the truth about what happened, than the guys who done it first-hand themselves. This may not win awards, but it was a good way to spend just under two hours.

I was loved for a minute, then i was hated. Then I was just a punch line. (I, Tonya 2018)

179.

I, Tonya

 

 

 

 
8/10

 

Yet another Odeon Screen Unseen advanced showing and yet another that was coming up for a few awards at the Oscars. I am surprised by how many bigger films they are showing in the advanced screening in the run up to awards season. This looks a pretty good film, which looks into the untold stories and what came out in the press regarding the controversy, which surround the American ice-skater Tonya Harding. With some quick paced trailers and musical score, the movie was made to look pretty good and after a review claiming that this was the 'Goodfellas of ice-skating', surely that can only be a good thing. Harding is played by Margot Robbie, with Sebastian Stan playing the boyfriend and Allison Janney picking up an Oscar for best supporting female for playing Harding's mother. It has all the potential to be very interested, so let's hope it doesn't fall though the ice.

The movie begins in a pretty fast motion, as we see the youth of Harding and at 3 years-old, she is forced to skate by her very abusive mother, who takes no shit from anyone. She is even removed from school in order to use all of her time training under her new coach, Diane Rawlinson. She quickly becomes one of the leading skaters in the US but cannot shake off her tag of being 'white trash'.
We watch closely as she grows older and starts dating Jeff Gillooly, played by Sebastian Stan, despite her mother's unwillingness for it all to happen. They even rush into a wedding, mainly so that she can move out of her mother's home and into Jeff's, but this soon turns sour as he starts to physically abuse her, as her mother blames her for putting up with it, but Tonya fights back with reasons of her mother raising her in a violent household. Some of these altercations even come with Harding chasing Jeff with a shotgun, as she looks at the camera and breaks the 'forth wall', claiming that, 'this never happened'. Under a new coach, Tonya becomes the first American female to land a certain set of jumps in competition and after getting to the Olympics, she tries it again and fails, returning home in fourth place and to a job working as a waitress. Her first trainer, Diane, meets her outside the restaurant and convinces her to train on the next Winter Olympics. With all of this playing on her mind, she sets off to see her mother for the first time in a while, and after seeking kindness from herm she gets nothing but an explanation that her mother made her a champion, knowing that her daughter would hate her for it.
Later on, after some more training scenes, Tonya receives a death threat and after seeing what it was doing to his wife, Jeff thought it would be a good idea to get someone to send the same to Harding's main rival, Nancy Kerrigan. This doesn't exactly turn out as planned, as Jeff's mate, Shawn, fancies himself as a bit of a lad and wants to get some notoriety. He, instead, hires two crooks with about as much use as the Chuckle Brothers, who end up bashing Nancy's knee in after he practice. They are both soon arrested and after Shawn starts bragging around town about his involvement, the FBI soon catch up with him too. He then points the finger at Jeff, who is horrified to find out what had actually happened. Tonya still qualifies for the Olympics, despite the controversy surrounding her. She knows that she will be found guilty, so tries to put the ball in her court as she goes to the FBI and tells them that it was Jeff and Shawn. Once they take Jeff in, you can imagine he is pretty pissed and he races to her house to lay the smackdown. Instead, she locks him out and escapes through a window, leaving him for the final time. Jeff heads back to the FBI and tells them that Harding knew about everything, all along.
The film draws to an end with Harding coming eight and Nancy making it to the final and winning the Silver medal. Back home, Tonya is greeted by a media circus, where she is asked all sorts of questions as they camp outside of her house. Her mother turns up for support and tells her that she is on her daughter's side, before asking if she was involved. Tonya knows her mother too well to think nothing is up and soon finds a tape recorder inside of her mother's coat. Jeff, Shawn and one half of The Chuckle Brothers are all sentenced to a couple of years and Tonya avoids jail but gets a lifetime ban from skating in competitions. She is distraught by this, demanding that she gets jail time rather than having the one thing that she loves, taken away from her. The sentence stands though and then we see Jeff watching the TV, knowing he has ruined her life. The movie finally ends with a kind of 'where-are-they-now', but each character still being played by the actor or actress. This had already been shown a little bit throughout the movie, with each person being made to look older. Jeff had changed his name and remarried, as Tonya has now become a boxer, using her notoriety to her advantage, whilst also looking after her two children.  
This movie, for being based around true events, 'famous' characters, if more so in America, was full of serious points and also brought some humour. Between the foul-mouthed rants, breaking the forth wall and mini, comedic fights, there was almost some moments where you could feel sympathy for most people involved. Being from the UK, doesn't really make these people household names, but for a skater, who actually won very little, for her to have a movie written about her and it to be tag lined as the 'Goodfellas of skating', it was also going to be worth a look. Each actor and actress brought something to the table, when most had actually met up with the people with were playing, in order to do their own research. This showed, as the mannerisms and speeches, gripped you by the balls and brought you into their crazy world. This may be a bizarre plot for many viewers, especially on this side of 'the pond', but this movie turned out to be a lot more than just tabloid trash. 

 

 



Fear comes home (Insdious: The Last Key 2018)

178.

Insidious: The Last Key

   

 

 

 

6.5/10

 

Another in the series of Insidious films and this forth one, it named 'The Last Key' which may well be the last in this franchise, as it is starting to run its course a little bit, in my opinion. As shown in the trailer, we are once again following the parapsychologist, Elise Rainier, played by Lin Shayne, as this time, she will be helping with a case in her childhood home. It turns out that this ended up being the highest grossing movie in the franchise, but then again, who doesn't like going to witness a horror movie. Let's get into it and see if we are about to open up a new 'scare fest' or witness a movie that should have stayed behind lock and key.

The movie begins with a flashback to 1953, with the young Elise, in her childhood home, witnessing paranormal activity, which only angers he father and scares her brother and mother. These ghosts are of the prisoners that have been executed in the prison next-door. One night, she is visited by another ghost, who ends up scaring the brother and as he grabs for his whistle, to call his parents for help, it is replaced and in all of the commotion, their parents break in and the father beats Elise before putting her into the basement. There, she is greeted by a voice of an entity and is told to unlock the door in front of her. After doing this, a demon named Key-face emerges and possesses her, just as her mother enters the basement and is hung from the ceiling by a loose wire, which the demon controls. She is killed and just as the father enters, the demon releases his daughter and he finds the two bodies lifeless. Not a bad start to the movie.

Years and years later, Elise is now working in her profession, looking to help others in their time of need, when no one else believes them. Her usual two colleagues are helping her and one day, she receives a phone call seeking her help. Ted Garza, on the other end of the phone, he reveals his address and Elise recognises it as her childhood home and the home that we have already seen. She shits herself at first, but then decides to help out, knowing what this guy is in store for. She also wants to make things right for what happened all those years ago. While she is in New Mexico, she stays in her old home, telling the new owner that a lot of things regarding the paranormal, had happened there over the years. After doing a walk through at night, she comes across the whistle that was lost, also finding a set of keys attached to her Dad's old prison uniform. She is led to the basement by mysterious noises. A female ghost appears, only visible to the crew on their monitors and attacks Elise before asking for her help. Elise recognises her from when she was a child and had spotted her in their laundry room and we are back with another flashback. We see her father enter the laundry room to investigate, but he finds nothing and she fears another beating, so runs from home, leaving her brother behind.

The next morning, the three crew members visit a diner, where two young females walk in and Elise instantly feels a connection with them. They are sisters and soon, their father walks in, it's Elise's brother, Christian, who she has not seen in decades. When she tries to talk to them, he turns anger and storms out. Outside, the nieces come to talk to Elise and hoping to repair their relationship, Elise hands them a picture she took of the whistle that she had found. That night, on another investigation, Elise hears the whistle being blown downstairs, leading her to the basement once more. This leads to a scene we are quite used to, filled with questions and the answers being one whistle for no, two for yes. She looks at the wall that the whistle is coming from and soon realises that it's a door, rushes to get the keys she found the day before and when she opens it, she finds a bloodied girl with a chain attached to her neck. The owner, Garza, storms into the room and it's revealed that he had been keeping this woman there, against her will. She is real and the ghost was helping Elise to find her. He locks the room and sets off to kill Specs and Tucker, Elise's crew. The two end up killing this crazy man and after the police turn up, Elise is taken for questioning.

Whilst Elise is being questioned, she has a vision of one of her nieces and instantly knows that she is in trouble. At the old house, Christian and his two daughters enter and find the whistle, before Melissa is lured into the basement and attacked by Key-face, before it inserts a key-looking finger into her neck, stealing her voice. The next finger takes her soul, which sends her into a coma. As the crew arrive, Christian demands that Elise stays away and takes his daughter to the hospital. Imogen stays with her Aunt, after declaring that she also has visions and wants to help. Elise tells her that they need to go into the further and finally defeat the demon, ending the curse on the house. Elise and Tucker end up in the basement once more, searching for our usual red door and entering The Further. Imogen and Specs try to find the bible that Garza was fascinated with. Whilst in the basement, Elise sees something in the exhaust vent, a night gown, which belonged to a female ghost, who called herself Anna. Elise saw Anna in the laundry room all those years ago and a flashback takes us back once again. We see that Anna wasn't a ghost, but a girl that the father had been keeping in the basement, much as Garza had been doing. He did see her in the laundry room but pretended that no one was there and after Elise run away, the father went back and beat Anna to death. As she climbs further into the vents, she finds suitcases, full of remains of women that had been abducted by the men of the house. As she searches, she is abducted by Key-face and taken into The Further, leaving her unconscious body in the pipe.

Imogen takes the steps to enter The Further and help he Aunt, being led by Anna to the prison realm. This is where Key-face is holding the souls of Elise, her father and Melissa. Key-face had been manipulating the fear of these men, generated by the abductions and storing their souls. The demon no turning its attentions to Elise, wanting her to harm her father for the history that they have. She can see they and refuses to feed this demon anymore and as this massive demon attacks, her father leaps to her help and saves her, before being stabbed, causing his soul to vanish. This demon looks ridiculous and very cheaply done, as if this movie was from the 90's. The demon captures the two nieces and chains them down. He then stabs Melissa, which causes her real body to start dying in the hospital. Then, moving onto Elise, the demon tries to take her voice, but as this happens, Imogen throws the lost whistle to Elise. She cannot reach it and instead stabs the demon in the nose with her father's walking-stick. She now reaches for the whistle and blows it, causing her mother to come to her aid and save them all. Ok then, I don't know where she has been hiding. Elise tries to apologise for her death, but her mother had already forgiven her. Melissa is still dying and the trio try to find her body, opening a door, which shows them Dalton, falling from a ladder, a link to the first movie. They accidentally leave the red door opening, releasing a demon and sending it into the first instalment. The movie finally ends with Melissa returning to her body and Elise and Imogen racing to the hospital to be greeted by a forgiving Christian. They embrace and she hands him the whistle before heading back home to California. In her sleep, Elise sees a vision of Dalton and the Lipstick Demon leaning over her, which frightens her enough to wake her, just before her phone rings and a woman on the other end. She explains how she helped her son years ago and now his son is in trouble. Elise agrees to help and the story goes on. This concludes the prequel aspect.
I wasn't too aware that this was going to be a prequel, mainly with the use of flashbacks showing the history behind some things. When it came to the end, that's when it finally dawned on me that number 3 and this forth are set before 1 and 2. The film had its moments as a horror, a little jump scare here and there, which you knew would be coming due to the musical score. The main demon was pretty pathetic looking towards the end and the main fight scene, with it looking really cheap and a chucked together puppet. Altogether, the movie seems a little expected from the storyline, with the same settings, action and storylines, making this franchise seem a little tired at times. One thing that I found confusing, was the fact that some of the trailer scenes didn't even feature in the movie, with one kind of prison guard in the demon's prison being missed out. If this franchise is to go any further, mind the pun, it would probably end up being another movie too far. 

Can I get a normal-sized beer for a normal-sized guy? (Downsizing 2018)

177.

Downsizing 

 

 

 

 

6/10

 

 

 

Since watching Suburbicon, I'm a little apprehensive when it comes to watching another Matt Damon film to soon. I'm hoping that movie was down to Clooney, rather than anyone else. I've seen plenty of this movie's trailers and it seems a very interesting concept, with people wanting to shrink themselves down, in order to have a better life. Damon's character can be seen in the trailer, going through a bit of turmoil, as his wife decides to back out of the 'treatment'. Let's take a look and put this one under a microscope, hoping that it will be larger than life.

The film begins in Norway, as a doctor is performing an experiment on a lab mouse. He sees on mouse and suddenly cannot hide his joy, as he runs to meet his colleague, telling him the news and both of them hug in celebration. Obviously, this guy has found the shrinking technique. Five years on and one of these men, Andreas, is speaking to a group of people about the worries of overpopulation. He explains how him and Jorgen, they guy who found the technique, have both found a solution, leading to Jorgen being revealed and the followed up by a group of scientists and their family being revealed to the audience. They are all 5 inches tall and over an extended period of time, they have only filled one bag of waste between them. One couple have even had a baby, Ronnie, who is the first to be born small. This is watched by people all around the world, including Paul, Matt Damon's character. He runs home after work to see to his ill mother, thinking about what he has witnessed. He seems to have a small house and no free time.

Ten years now pass, Paul's mother has passed away and he is now married to Audrey, played by Kristen Wiig. They still live in the same house and at a high school reunion, he sees a couple that they used to be friends with, who have now gone small. Dave and Carol, the small couple, chat about how amazing their life is now and how much their money got them. They live in a small community called Leisureland. Paul and Audrey end up at a seminar about going small, living at Leisureland and the positives about such a change. The audience seem to have all been swayed. The couple we have been following, head back home to a phone call about their mortgage being denied and this is the final straw to the couple wanting to go small. We can already see a look of doubt on Audrey's face. Their friends end up throwing them a party, maybe as a farewell, but in the bar, a drunk is offensive towards small people, claiming that they have better benefits than normal people, with the fact that they don't contribute to society in the same way, which is pretty spot on. As time passes, the two fly out to the facility, ready for the downsizing. They got through questioning and still, they seem pretty calm about it. Paul is shaved all over his body, with his false teeth being removed and body waste being sucked out. He later wakes as a nurse presents him with a massive cracker, just to wind him up. He asks for his wife and the nurse, instead, brings him a phone and on the other end is Audrey. She reveals that she has shit out of the change and she is sorry. She wasn't ready to leave her family and life behind. He's clearly furious, shouting at her but she doesn't really give a great answer to his troubles.

He is take to his mansion, where he is still depressed and sits down to watch the news, seeing a story about Vietnamese activists, who were shrunk against their will, with only one surviving and being taken to hospital for a leg amputation. Ngoc Lan, played by Hong Chau, is now also small without anyone else. This film jumps once again. This time by a year and Paul is signing the divorce papers, as he heads back to his job at a telemarketing company, instead of living off his riches. He attends his friend's party, as Dave tries to cheer him up. He does admit that he has been dating someone and we instantly meet her. They are having dinner at his apartment as a neighbour above has a party which is a bit too loud. Dusan, the neighbour played by Christophe Waltz, comes downstairs to invite the couple to the party, to which Paul declines and gets back to his date. When he sees the new woman out, he offers to meet her son, to which she is hesitant and instead of being understanding, he just walks off and leaves her. He heads upstairs to the party, drinks, gets slipped a drug on the dance floor, meets a now grown-up Ronnie and passes out. Waking up on the floor to the cleaning crew, he recognises one of the cleaners as Ngoc Lan. He approaches her to sort out her dodgy fake leg, as he was an occupational therapist before being made small. After doing so, she forces him to come back with him to help a woman in need. She is pretty persistent and with the struggle of the English language, everything seems to be shouted at him.

She takes him to where the poor live on the outskirts. There, she tends to the needy and she takes Paul to Gladys, who has cancer and not long left. Her husband died during the shrinking process and she has clearly been dealt a bad hand. Paul gives them something to take for the pain and explains to Ngoc about turning her on her side to stop any bed sores. Paul then tries to fix Ngoc's leg for good, only to break her prosthetic. As a result of this, he must now help her with her job, her errands for everyone else and when they get to clean Dusan's, the man offers him a job to get away, to the first community in Norway. Ngoc wants to go with them and despite Dusan saying no, she reveals how her and the scientist Jorgen used to write letters to each other, as he felt sorry for what happened to her. These brings a bit of comedy as the three men, who are discussing the moves, as hiding the fact that they are moved to tears by her story. Off she goes. The arrive in Norway and travel a fjord to meet Jorgen and his wife. On the boat, Paul and Njoc end up climbing into bed together and the next morning Dusan can tell that the two got 'jiggy with it'. When they finally get to the scientist, it isn't long before he gives more bad news about the world. Due to so much Methane being emitted, humanity is near extinction. He and his first small community, have created a vault to preserve humanity and all crops and animals. Paul is soon swayed to join them, thinking that is a great thing, joining this bunch of hippies to watch their last sunrise together but Dusan and Ngoc want no part of it. She wants him to go back home with her and for them to live together. Instead, he enters the tunnels with his luggage, as the community get ready for a 17-mile walk, deep into the mountain. Paul says his goodbyes and just as the walk begins, he turns back to the door and in obvious fashion, runs back, just in time to escape the vault. A bit more humour comes as an explosion goes off, sealing the vault door but it's pretty much a firecracker and a little rock dropping down. The film ends with Paul and Ngoc back at Leisureland's slums, helping everyone with their day and a look on Paul's face that tells the audience that he is finally happy.  
After not expecting too much from this interesting concept for a movie, it actually turned out to not be half bad. You would have to go into this movie with an open mind and not take it too seriously and with that mind set, you can enjoy it and notice the humour, which at times, could even be taking the piss out of its own ideas about the movie. On the other hand, the trailer can be pretty deceiving. If you came in thinking that you would learn of the effects of being downsized, or to see the struggles this would bring, even seeing them being 5 inches and being chased by a rodent, you were wrong. This movie opened up with that, but the second half of the movie seemed a completely different direction, with nothing more than normal life problems becoming the main topic. I did expect goofball and got a lot more serious topics than I had imagined. With saying that, the movie was still enjoyable for that. The Asian character's shouting did becoming annoying after 5 minutes and I was surprised that we see as little of Kristen Wiig as we did. The storyline, if you were being serious about it, seemed a little empty towards the end and when the ending did actually come, it seemed as empty as the last 45 minutes of the movie. Damon and Wiig could have made a funny movie together, but this chance had been wasted.


The most important thing you take into battle, is the reason why. (12 Strong 2018)

176.

12 Strong

8/10

This movie is based on the real stories of the horse soldiers based in Afghanistan, which were sent out straight after the September 11th attacks. With a cast of Chris Hemsworth in the lead, Michael Shannon and Michael Pena, there a few familiar faces to help fans be drawn to the cinema. I didn't see too many trailers for this movie, so I'll be going in pretty blind and not knowing too much of the story. I do enjoy true events and real stories, so I could get into this one, as long as it doesn't go overboard. Could this be strong, or as bad as 12 Rounds?

Hemsworth plays an Army Captain, named Mitch Nelson, who recently moved into a new home with his family, just as the attacks in New York take place. He heads straight into office and volunteers to lead his old team into combat. Michael Shannon's character, Spencer, was due to retire and he also volunteers to go. After all the goodbyes, the team sets out to Uzbekistan to meet their Commander, who tells them that they are to fight alongside a Northern Alliance leader in the main attack. After heading in, riding a helicopter, hidden through the mountains, they meet up with their new allies and after being tested by this leader, half of the team leave on horses, towards the mountains. Dostum, the Alliance leader, wants to retake a city, which is critical to the war effort. After a few battles, Nelson accuses Dostum of not caring for the lives of his men. Dostum gives a speech about how his men are willing to die for his country and American's unwillingness for sacrifice means that they don't really care about the country. The soon become allies again, with the leader telling the American of how he lost his family during the civil war. Back in the other camp, Spencer leaders the remaining 6 up into the mountains to support the team.

We see plenty of action, guns, air support and even tanks, as the team make their way to the city that they need to take. There are trying to close trading routes and cutting off the supplies to the enemies, as best they can. After all of these tactical victories though, things take a turn. Dostum finds out that another team is support another Northern Alliance leader, who is Dostum's main political rival and after finding this out, he and his men abandon our team. Following this departure, Nelson decides to carry on with the main plan of stopping the supply routes to the main city and help the other leader to take the city. As they are in the mountains, they are set upon by snipers and one by one, they take injury or die. Ever the ones surrendering, are carrying grenades as one final assault on the Americans. Spencer is badly injured by the explosion, just as Dostum returns to fight with his allies and kill the enemy leader, repelling the Taliban forces. Dostum even meets with his rival and they peacefully shake hands. Spencer is medevac'd and the team head home after spending 23 days in combat. As the film draws to a close, we see a picture of the real team that this movie is based around.

The movie was really enjoyable, even gripping at times regarding the action scenes, especially the final fight. Each character seemed to bring their own unique qualities to the screen and the actor portraying them, done so very well. I don't know exactly how accurate this went along with the main story and there are complaints that the writers didn't really go into what the war was about too much, mainly focusing on the American side of things. It does take a little while to get into the fighting, with us being introduced to everyone and travelling into battle, but I suppose that if it wanted to tell the story of these men, we needed to know where they came from. Overall, the interesting fight scenes and seeing gun shots on horseback, was something that I haven't been able to truly witness before and knowing that these men actually done this, it is hard to realise that they received no hero's welcome, as this operation was mainly a secret and remained untold, until now.

Early Man United. Another joke for you there (Early Man 2018)




175.

Early Man

  

6.5/10

Nick Park has made his way back onto out screens after years of success from Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. This time, we are set in the Prehistoric ages and from the trailer we can guess exactly where this story is headed. A small tribe, stuck in the Stone Age, are about to be set upon by a Bronze Age city. A football match will decide who wins this, because who wants a massive army being killed in a children's movie. The cast for this are pretty high end, with Tom Hiddleston as the main villain, Eddie Redmayne as our main character and Maisie Williams, fresh from some success as Arya Stark, as the main female. Chucked together with plenty of side characters, let's see if this can evolve into a good movie.
The movie begins with a quick explanation of how this tribe's valley was created by a massive asteroid, covering the cavemen that lived in the area, until they dust themselves off and find, the now small asteroid, which it too hot to touch. They start playing 'hot potato' with it, until one kicks it. Once it has cooled down, they realise how fun it is, soon adding goal posts and rules, leading to the invention of the game of football. Flying through the decades, the tribe still live in the area, with the crater being the only fertile land in the surrounding area. Dug, played by Redmayne, is a young caveman, who hears in mammoth nearby. He heads to wake everyone up and we are introduced to the rest of the tribe, who are far from a decent bunch and even their chief doesn't fancy them against a mammoth, so they stick to rabbits for now. Dug tries to convince him that the tribe are capable of more, which leads the chief into taking Dug to a hidden cave, where paintings show their tribe enjoying football, but these days, they are completely forgotten about the game. The chief thinks that these paintings are of the tribe chasing small prey, not a ball and that's what they should stick too. Once they catch it, they celebrate around a fire that night, until something begins to interrupt them. There is a sound of heavy footprints and as the tribe hide, a mammoth covered in armour reveals himself from the trees. He is soon followed by two others coated in bronze, the two 'drivers' don't seem to care about the cavemen running about. The tribe tries to escape in time but Hognub, Dug's pet boar is barking at these intruders and he heads back to rescue him. As the chief heads back for the two, he sees a huge tree fall in their area and assumes that Dug, along with his pet, are killed.
Once Dug re-emerges from the fallen branches, he sees a pompous leader, descending down from a mammoth. Lord Nooth, played by Tom Hiddlestone, is the governor of the nearby Bronze City. He points out the bronze ore within the stones at his feet and instructs his men to start the digging. When he is asked about the natives, he simply answers that the stone age is over and they will soon die out. As Dug hears this and obviously becomes wound up, he grabs a spear and flies from the trees in attack, being taken out by a wrecking ball and landing, unconscious, in a wooden cart. Hognub returns to the tribe, mourning his fallen friend, as the tribe try to make do in the Badlands. We can see the way that this story is going pretty early. They are going to try and win their land back and use football as the means for competition. Dug meanwhile, is carted back to the city, where he wakes, pretty much in shock at everything new to him. So many people, buildings, bronze and no grass in sight, yet. The place is perched high, above a pit of lava and Dug disguises himself with a blanket and does his best to fit in. People are selling their wares on stalls, with little jokes such as someone buying sliced bread, which is new to them, as the character tries to use the saying, ' the best thing since... well ever', knowing that we use sliced bread as the end of the sentence. He comes upon a bronze stall, where a girl named Goona, played by Maisie Williams, shouts at him for touching her wares. He soon follows the ground that are being led by a loud horn and he finds the hollow turf. He is led into a stadium, where he didn't pay to enter, which turns into a chase as the guards are after him. he ends up in a shower room and steals someone's clothes as a disguise, before trying to retreat and being grabbed by others in the same kit. He's led onto the pitch as a team mate and stuck between the sticks. He is obviously seen as an intruder once the play starts and is exposed by the real goalie. Nooth is angered by a caveman in his sacred turf and wants him killed, slowly, which ends up with the stupid guards leading him away in slow motion, which is not what he meant. Dug steals a spear and sticks it throw the football, declaring that Nooth's men should leave his land alone. He challenges him to a football game for the right to have his home back. Nooth realises that he can make more money through the match and accepts, but only with one condition and that's if Dug's team loses, they would have to work in his mines. Dug is granted one football to train with and heads back to his tribe, who are overwhelmed to see him. He tells them of the bargain and soon their smiles fade, as they don't even know what football is.
Dug shows them the paintings and people soon get on board, but the chief doesn't and with good cause, the tribe are shit. One attacks a giant duck, which steps on their only ball and the chief wants the game called off, knowing that they don't stand a chance. Dug even thinks about it, before looking down on his home and he can't imagine not seeing it again, so he decides to sneak back to the city and steal some more balls. There, he ends up seeing someone playing on the pitch at night and they are pretty decent. It's that bird from earlier, Goona. Her dream was to play for Real Bronzo, but now her chance has come and gone as Nooth wants only male players. Dug tries to make a deal, that if she helps the tribe train, she can play on their side. They steal the balls, just as the guards make their way to them and chase them out of the city. Meanwhile, the Queen has gotten in touch with Nooth, declaring this match as a terrible idea. she threatens him with his job if they lose but the only thing he cares about is the loss of revenue. Dug introduces Goona to his tribe, who sets her sights on making this tribe a team. She explains that if they are a team, they will have the upper hand, as Real Bronzo see themselves as individuals. They need to get this team to turn on each other and they may stand a chance. The train intensifies and they even use the surrounding area as best they can. Nooth's miners finally find the hidden cave and the paintings shake Nooth's confidence. He even gets another dressing down from the Queen but as he looks more into the cave, he finds something that he can use against Dug, to call off the match. He gets his men to kidnap him and bring him underground. The further paintings show that the tribe gave up playing, mainly because other tribes were learning the game and constantly beating them. I know that feeling mate. He whispers one more deal for him and his tribe, before leaving Dug down in the mine to think it over. All this little caveman can think about, is his tribe being whipped and enslaved. He decides that he cannot risk his tribe's freedom, so heads to accept Nooth's offer. His pet runs to get the chief, brings him to the new paintings and he then realises what Dug is about to do.
In the arena, the crowds are overflowing to see the match. Nooth is charging double for entry, which people hate, but he is loving. The Queen has even arrived, sitting in Nooth's throne and making him stand for the match. Nooth, is fairly confident that he has gotten in Dug's head and the deal will be struck. Dug turns up and tries to forfeit and offer his solo service to the mines and everyone is disappointed, even more so when they are told that there are no refunds. Suddenly, there is a loud roar as that huge duck shows up, bringing the tribe in, who are refusing to back down. The Chief is fully on board and is leading the charge in goals. Dug is given a new lease of life and takes back his surrender and on we go. The Brutes take the lead and Bronzo equalise and with a captain's call, Dug demands his team rise to the occasion. Goona even scores and the team lead once again. The crowd are starting to turn and recognising this female player as their own, they begin to cheer. Once Nooth finds out that it is a girl, he goes to argue the fact, before noticing that the Queen hates him discrimination and instead threatens his own team with death. Real Bronzo have started to turn on each other, but continue playing, before Nooth decides enough is enough and makes an excuse to head down onto the pitch and knocks out the ref, putting himself in his place. This then leads to dodgy decisions and the Bronzo lot kicking the shit out of the cavemen. Even the crowd are disgusted, along with the Queen. A last-minute penalty is given, to the outrage of everyone except the ref and Real Bronzo. Chief gets injured and is carried off and Hognub is put in goals, saving the penalty, to the delight of everyone, even the Queen. The team break and Dug scores the winner and once the match is over, the teams even shake hands, with the Bronzo team declaring that they had a tough match. The Queen declares that the cavemen have reminded everyone what the sport is about. Nooth sets his sights on the chest of money, just before making a break for it, but is upended by the Duck and arrested by the Queen's men. She presents the team with the trophy and the orders them to leave the arena and return home.
A while after, a new painting has taken place in the cave and it's of the victory. Goona has decided to live with the tribe, bringing with her some bronze to use as hunting tools. They head after a shadow, that looks like a mammoth, but leg it when it roars and it turns out to be the rabbit at the beginning, which had escaped during the commotion. As the film draws to a close and the credits roll up, we even see that the Real Bronzo team have befriended our cavemen and join them in the celebrations that follow a successful hunt.
You have to go into this movie knowing that its main audience will be youngsters but at the same time, if you're a football fan, there is also some hidden ideas. It is a good feature film for any lovers of this kind of stop-motion animation and getting some many talented actors on board, only emphasised how serious this lot were about making this movie. It had a decent, but maybe a bit too predictable storyline. The humour does come think and fast at times, point out jokes that, due to the timeline, wouldn't even make sense for the characters but do for the viewers. They were also simple enough for the younger viewers to understand them too. The kids can be enthralled with their viewing and the idea that you should never give up something worth fighting for but when it comes to sports fans, there could be an underlining meaning towards the end. As the Queen mentions that the match had reminded everyone what the sport is about, it can be linked with real life. The Real Bronzo team seem to be most high paid players these days, only caring for their own image at times and that is why the fans love the story of the underdog. Overall, this movie was no Chicken Run by any means, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

Thomas. You can save your friends. or you can save us all (Maze Runner: The Death Cure 2018)

174.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

 7/10

The final instalment in the Maze Runner series comes with the name 'Death Cure', instantly giving us thoughts about whether the virus that is creating zombies, will finally get treated. That's if you have already seen the other two instalments, which were pretty ok. The trailer gives us a little bit of information, dealing with our main character facing a choice that he could either save his friends, or the world, along with showing plenty of action and some decent stand-offs, which are always a main feature of a finale. Let's see if this ends with an escape to the trials that the gang has been put up against, or if the movie will be a virus to the series.

Thomas, played by Dylan O'Brien, Newt and Frypan, are the last of the 'Gladers' from the first movie, which are still together, free and immune. Against the orders of their group leader, Vince, they set off to free their friend, Minho, who is being tortured by the organisation, WCKD, who are looking for an immunity from the virus, within these youngster's blood. After a decent attempt, they end up picking up the wrong trailer and although they free plenty of kids, their friend is still in enemy hands. They trio end up heading to the last known city, which WCKD occupy, knowing that their friend would be there. On entry, they have to go through an underground tunnel and we all know how this is going to end. They are set upon by 'cracks', the zombies and are saved by two other members of their group, who have followed them, Jorge and Brenda.

They finally make it to the wall of the Last City, which is huge and protects the place from Cranks. Outside, people are protesting to be let in, leading to WCKD opening fire on them, cleaning most of them out with explosives. We have already seen on the walk in, some men on a truck, wearing masks and heavily armed, taking quite an interest in Tom. In the commotion, our gang is captured by some masked assailants and are bundled into the back of a van. As they are driving to a hideout and thrown out of the van, I can guess straight away that one of these guys is someone that we thought had died at the end of the first movie. It is, it's Gally, who the left to die after he turned on the group. He takes them to see a guy called Lawrence, the rebellious leader who has caught the virus but is treating himself somehow, but still, he looks like a kind of character from Fallout. He grants them permission to head into the city, through his secret passage and Gally leads the way to a vantage point, where he spots Teresa in the WCKD headquarters, seemingly enjoying her work. Gally suggests that she is the one who can gain them access to the building and to Minho. They use Thomas as bait, on her walk home from work and as she follows, they all capture her and she finally agrees to help them. She even treats their wounds and is shocked to see that although Thomas was infected, he has fought the virus easily.  

Thomas, Newt and Gally take her in, disguised as the security and they head into the main rooms that are contain the youngsters. Gally stays to free them and also to get into the vault for the serum, which was the deal with Lawrence for letting them use the tunnel in. The other three head to find Minho, who has been moved for more torture. They are caught and chased by a vengeful Janson, who is played by the same guy who plays Little Finger in A Game of Thrones, so you instantly recognise him as a prick. Teresa lets them escape to find their friend but also takes some of Thomas's blood as she locks the door on him. She runs to test it before anything else. Gally has gotten the serum and takes the immune children to a bus that Brenda has stolen, while he makes his way back inside to help the others. The WCKD forces close in on the bus before Frypan picks them up with a crane and manoeuvres them outside of the city wall. Back inside the building, Teresa has found out that Thomas's blood can cure the virus and heads to share her discovery with the leader of WCKD. The lads have found Minho and are trying to get him out of the building by means of forces but are being shot at from all angles. Teresa needs him alive but they chuck themselves out of a window and into the fountain below, somehow surviving, although it doesn't seem too deep, for the height they have fallen from.

Outside of the city, Lawrence has gathered his forces and begin to blow their way through the main gate, bring the fight to the streets with plenty of explosion along the way. The police surround the lads but one turns out, yet again, to be Gally who shoots the others and the begin their escape on foot. Newt, who has been bitten from a previous movie, is finally starting to be overcome with the virus and gives a pendant to Thomas before passing out. As the gang are heading to be picked up by Jorge in an aircraft, Teresa comes over a speaker system in the city and asks Thomas to return, telling him that he can save Newt. Newt has now become aggressive and is asking his friend to end his life for him, before he has fully turned but when Thomas refuses, Newt uses his last moments to stab himself and end the transformation with death. In his own rage, he heads back to WCKD to confront everyone and have revenge. He confronts the leader, Ava, who claims her intentions are always good, that's until she is shot in the head by Janson, who has been bitten and is now turning into a Crank himself. He knocks Thomas out and drags him to a lab, where Teresa is waiting to take his blood off him, knowing he is the main cure. Janson, makes the massive mistake of admitting that he is only really interested in curing himself. This leads to Teresa turning on him and after a fight, Janson ends up dead, allowing the last two to escape. So, she is finally good again? This bitch doesn't half change her mind. Teresa carries Thomas to a rooftop, where they are getting picked up by the rest of the gang and as she chucks and injured Thomas onto the craft, she hands him the vial with the cure, before the building collapses beneath her and she falls to her deserved death.
The full group finally reunite with the rest of the immunes from near the beginning of the movie, escaping to a safe haven, containing some decent looking beaches, huts and a kind of freedom that they would only dream of. Thomas pretty much keeps himself away from everyone, who are receiving a talk from their leader, who reveals a massive rock on the beach that he wants everyone to carve a name of a fallen friend or loved one into, so that they aren't forgotten. Thomas looks at the pendant that Newt gave him, finding a note inside that she wrote when he knew he was turning. He tells Thomas to look after everyone and he is a hero. Thomas finally gets up to write a name into the rock. That name is Teresa.
It turns out that this movie was in complete jeopardy after an injuring to the main actor and that it may not have been released. I'm actually glad that they got around to releasing it in cinemas, even if it wasn't the greatest of series, it was still a fitting finale. We've come to know the characters now through the other two movies, so there isn't too much of a surprise, apart from one constantly switching sides whenever she felt like. It ties up every real loose end that we are looking at, with the deaths of the evil characters and most of the good ones making it to safety. There were some powerful scenes, as a best friend asked the other to kill him rather than be killed but some of the other storylines may have been drawn a little thin. As always, I have never read the books to be able to compare them to this movie but for me, it was quite enjoyable. It has action, special effects, a little bit of zombie and a happy ending.