The Walking Dead: Secrets (spoilers)

After a small blip in form normal service was resumed in last weeks Chupacabra.  I had been nervously hoping that The Walking Dead would be able to keep the momentum going with Secrets – a title which strongly implied high drama.

PLOT:  Carl (Chandler Riggs) is back on his feet and has stolen a gun from the R.V and wants to learn how to shoot.  Despite voicing legitimate concerns Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) allows Carl to accompany the others to Shane’s (Jon Bernthal) gun range for some basic training.  Andrea (Laurie Holden) finally becomes the sharp shooter we have all been waiting for but quite frankly I could have done without her groping Shane’s bulging crotch.  Glenn (Steven Yeun) fails to keep several secrets and tells all to Dale (Jeffrey De Munn) who thereafter has rather unsubtle conversations with Hershel (Scott Wilson) and Lori.   Glenn and Maggie (Lauren Cohen) do the abortion pill run in which Maggie gets attacked and thereafter has a good old bitch at Lori.  Rick (Andrew Lincoln) finally gets some screen time and discovers that Lori is pregnant and that she slept with Shane.  Some Secrets were discovered but others remain hidden, for example, where did Shane get that brand new Hyundai?  Why do Lori’s earrings magically appear then disappear? Why did T-Dog (Irone Singleton) get more screen time than Daryl (Norman Reedus)? Tune in next week to see none of these important questions being answered.   END PLOT

Sophia (Madison Lintz) has still not been located however it looks as though her whereabouts may be discovered next week judging by a spoilery photograph which has been floating around.  It may be fake but then again it may not be.  If it is real it will be one of the worst pay-offs in tv history but I shall digress no more and place my focus on the episode at hand – Secrets.

Unlike the almost false advertising of Chupacabra, Secrets gave what was advertised - long kept secrets finally being told. 

Lori’s pregnancy and affair with Shane is now out in the open and as per usual Sarah Wayne Callies stepped up to the plate with another fantastic performance.  Andrew Lincoln has been quiet in the past couple of episodes but in this episode he showed Rick’s bubbling anger before repressing it to resume his usual calm demeanour.  Lori wanted him to get angry and so did I but it isn’t in Rick’s nature – it was hinted at but there is time for Rick to have a full scale angry meltdown later on.  In terms of ending an episode it was shoddily edited, held no tension whatsoever and was too quiet for its own good.  The ending of Secrets revealed some major and important revelations but it was handled unforgivably poorly.  

Dale, like Rick, has been lurking in the background for a few episodes but armed with the knowledge of Walkers in the barn and a pregnancy he put on his hat of wisdom and set off on a mission to speak to Hershel and Lori but in the end he accomplished absolutely nothing.  Dale calling out Shane didn’t end well either although it was a decent little scene.

This week Shane drops his Hills of Eyes persona and channels R. Lee Ermey in a training montage in which he harshly calls Andrea a girl and brings up poor deceased Amy.  Shane and Andrea were involved in some fairly decent Walker action but it ended up being cheesy with Andrea’s slow motion shooting and failed to create much excitement.

The Maggie and Glenn relationship is still not working due to the fact that Lauren Cohan is still acting Steven Yeun off the screen. Cohan is getting better with each passing week and Maggie’s smack down on Lori sent Lori’s bug eyes into maximum overdrive.  Yeun’s delivery of Glenn’s lines is now really beginning to grate on me – announcing to Dale that “there are Walkers in the barn and Lori is pregnant” played like something out of a bad 90’s sitcom.  Glenn isn’t working for me at all this season which is a crying shame.

Hershel’s farm is essentially Walker free (the vast majority of the characters are not aware of the Walkers in the barn) but the show has become too safe.  There is no danger or tension and the characters have to venture out and seek out Walker action and when they do it just seems forced and set up.   

Last week we had a brief Michael Rooker cameo and in those ten minutes it is clear what The Walking Dead is missing – a villain.  Merle Dixon shows that tension can be created by strong writing of a dangerous character.  Shane isn’t quite there yet so they need a villain and they need it now. 

The Walking Dead has always had potential to be epic and groundbreaking television but at the minute something isn’t quite right.  This is far beyond the Darabont drama or the budget cuts.  There is something about the show which feels so vanilla at the moment – it feels as though the show is refusing to fully embrace the fact that it is a dark drama. 

Secrets scores a 6.5/10.  There were strong performances but they are beginning to be comfortable and familiar.  The directors, writers and the actors all need to keep pushing the show forward otherwise they will find themselves up Walker Creek without a crossbow.

The next episode is the midseason finale and it cannot be a let down.  The Walking Dead needs to go into the hiatus on a major high and it must definitely up its game in the 2nd half of the season.  

I have the confidence that it will.

Performance of the week:Lauren Cohan

Annoying character of the week: Glenn

Zombie kill of the week: Glenn 

Daryl line of the week: "Shoot me again you best pray I am dead"

Said with all the threat and conviction of a tired bunny - Daryl is officially 100% a good guy

Daryl picture of the week:

My Weekend With Marilyn

I can’t pretend to be a big Marilyn Monroe fan – I have seen a couple of her films and I understand how big an icon she was and still is but I know very little about her as a person. As the trailer for the My Weekend With Marilyn was appealing and I am still putting off going to see Breaking Dawn (for piss-taking purposes) going to see this film was an easy choice.

PLOT:  Colin (Eddie Redmayne) is an aspiring film-maker who leaves home to work on The Prince and The Showgirl, a film directed and staring Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams).  As tempers flare on set Colin and Marilyn strike up a friendship in which Colin falls hard for the actress.  END PLOT

My Weekend With Marilyn is not a lifetime biopic of the actress and focuses solely on the relatively short time it took to film The Prince and The Showgirl.  I think I would have preferred a full scale biographical insight into the life of Marilyn Monroe but that isn’t what this film was about.  My Weekend With Marilyn is essentially the coming of age story of Colin Clark and as the film is based off his memoirs it is to be expected.

The feel of the film is light hearted and although there are hints of Marilyn's reliance on pills and alcohol it never strays into a dark territory.  The pacing flows fairly well and even though the film clocks in at just over 90mins it doesn’t feel rushed. 

Eddie Redmayne turns out to be a very likeable actor and he played the role of a young and naive Colin very well although it wasn’t a role that required much more than a nice smile and a healthy dosage of British charm.  I will say that the fact that he has been cast as Marius in Les Miserables has piqued my interest as Les Miserables is my pick for the film of 2012. 

Michelle Williams is one of those actresses who are purely meh with a little bit of blah sprinkled on top - I don’t dislike her I nothing her.  Williams managed to capture the public face of Marilyn Monroe very well and was able to switch to quieter moments of vulnerability with ease.  I was surprised by how good she was although I have not been inspired to look through her back catalogue. 

Kenneth Branagh is likely to get a couple of supporting actor nominations and the rest of the supporting cast which includes Dame Judy Dench, Dominic Cooper and Emma Watson are all fine.

My Weekend With Marilyn isn’t a deep insight into the psyche of Marilyn Monroe and the performance of Williams is perhaps too understated to garner some nominations let alone a win but it is very much worth a look.  It gets an 8/10.  It wont trouble the big dramas of 2011 but for a quirky light hearted 90mins it isn’t a chore at all.

The Walking Dead: Chupacabra (spoilers)

After the disappointing Cherokee Rose I should probably have been a little more cautious about watching Chupacabra straight after but the fact that Merle Dixon was making a comeback meant that I wasn’t going to put off watching this episode any longer.

PLOT:  The episode opens with a flashback in which Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), Shane (Jon Bernthal) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) meet up with Carol (Melissa McBride) and Sophia (Madison Lintz).  We see helicopters “napalm” a city and I find myself shouting “Oh the horror! The horror!” at the shockingly bad usage of green screen. 

Mary-Sue sets off on the hunt for the McGuffin. Daryl (Norman Reedus) sets off on a horse (which leads to many inside joke sniggers) in another attempt to find Sophia.  The horse (Nervous Nellie) gets spooked by a snake and Daryl falls down a cliff.  Daryl climbs up the cliff and promptly falls straight back down again. As a result of Daryl’s concussion Merle (Michael Rooker) makes a cameo in several motivational hallucinations.  Back on the farm Hershel (Scott Wilson) is unhappy that Carol and Lori are cooking his spuds in his kitchen and once again emphasises that clear boundaries need to be set with these people.  Daryl finally manages to successfully mountaineer the cliff and heads back to camp only to be shot by Andrea (Laurie Holden) who believes that shouts of “no” and “don’t shoot” give her adequate cause to go on ahead and open fire.  After the awkward dinner party in which Hershel is a complete kill joy Glenn (Steven Yeun) arranges to meet Maggie (Lauren Coha) in the barn for dessert and much to his wide eyed surprise he finds the barn to be full of Walkers (none of whom look anything like Sophia) END PLOT

Sophia’s doll has been located so the plot progress people have been crying out for has been made.  We now appear to be collecting bits and pieces of Sophia up and down the river and this will be perfectly fine provided that it leads to something whether it be Walker Sophia or not.  There has to be a big reveal at the end of this arc otherwise it will create an anticlimax that I don’t know if the season will recover from.

As the pacing of The Walking Dead moves slower than the Bicycle Walker it does rely heavily on character development to flesh out the episodes.

Shane and Rick had some important scenes together in the forest which is large enough to lose a child for days at a time but also small enough that they end up wandering into Andrea and T-Dog’s (Irone Singleton) patch. 

Their conversation starts off light hearted and helps to remind us that these two are best friends.  It does take a more sinister turn as Shane announces that he wants to stop the search for Sophia.  We get a clear glimpse of their contrasting survival outlooks as Shane is prepared to cut his losses with Sophia and move on whereas Rick is still the optimist.  At this stage both characters make very valid arguments but as Shane already has attempted rape, murder and a penchant for having more buttons open on his shirt than necessary on his résumé his view point will always be considered the dark side.

The Walking Dead characters are familiar to those of us who have read the graphic novel but Daryl Dixon is not in the comic.  This means that whenever we get Dixon heavy episodes such as Chupacabra or Vatos these are the ones that deviate the most from the source material.

After the non-event that was Cherokee Rose I welcomed the Daryl episode with open arms as it meant that we actually get to spend time with a character which will actually get up and do something.

Norman Reedus is managing to keep Daryl grounded and from becoming too damn cool for his own good.  His comic timing with Daryl’s sarcastic one liners cannot be faulted.  The Chupacabra joke ran through the entire episode emphasising the impact Daryl has made on the group.  As The Walking Dead stands at the minute – you remove Daryl and you have a gaping hole.

Daryl’s mini adventure meant that we got a decent amount of screen time with the fan favourite.   I am ignoring the fact that the skilled hunter/tracker fell down twice, stabbed himself with his own arrow, was delirious enough to make an ear necklace and hungry enough to eat raw squirrel all in the space of half an afternoon.  Even Daryl can have a bad day!

It was only a matter of time before Michael Rooker came back and I think it was a good idea to test the water with Merle in the form of a flashback just to see how viewers would react.  I was very excited as it was the first time we got to see Merle and Daryl interact and it did give us a good insight into Daryl’s upbringing and their brotherly relationship.

We can probably expect to see Merle back in season three and it will more than likely be during the Governor arc. If Rooker’s short cameo is anything to go by we are in for a treat when he returns full time. 

Continuing on from last week Carol and Daryl’s relationship is still growing and is developing at a very natural pace.  The little Ed cameo at the start of the episode reminds us of Carol’s abusive marriage and will contrast nicely with her growing relationship with Daryl.  Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus are doing a great job – their little moment in the bedroom with Daryl flinching when Carol leaned in to kiss him on the forehead was subtle but it spoke volumes.  To hell with Rick/Lori, Glenn/Maggie and Andrea/Shane this is the couple to watch.

Dale (Jeffrey De Munn) hasn’t had much to do these past few episodes but he is quietly growing into his role as the father figure of the group.  His scenes in this week’s episode – the awkward conversation with Glenn and his moment of comforting Andrea are secondary scenes but they are very much cementing his role within the group. 

I can’t fault Laurie Holden’s performance as Andrea but as with Lori in the opening episodes of season two a decent character is being written poorly.  It has been very hard to like Andrea for the past couple of episodes and the fact that she shot the fan favourite has not done her any favours.  Andrea in the comic was very much the best parts of Maggie and Michonne rolled into one and the sooner she turns into the Andrea we all want to see the better. 

Similarly to the attack on the camp in Vatos the ending of Chupacabra brings us back into the comic with the reveal that the Hershel’s barn is full of Walkers.  I absolutely loved the closing shot of the barn doors straining against the horde of Walkers inside.  I don’t mind that some of the episodes are relatively Walker free but the bulging barn door is a sign that some good action is still to come.   

The pacing of the show means that the midseason finale may well see the Walkers escape the barn and most likely kill off the red shirt Hershel’s and possibly T-Dog.  I have a feeling this will also bring an end to the where is Sophia question. This would lead the way for the group leaving the farm in the early part of the second half of the season although its difficult to gage as my guess was always that they would stumble upon the prison as the final shot of season two.    It is so hard to tell with this show but they couldn’t possibly drag out the stay at Hershel’s right to the end of the season.

Last week Cherokee Rose should have been named Filler Episode.  In the same vein Chupacabra will be forever known as the Daryl Episode.  This is not a bad thing and Chupacabra gets a decent 8.5/10.  It’s obvious that now the midseason finale is quickly approaching we are in for a couple of quieter episodes before the shit really hits the fan.  

Performance of the week: Michael Rooker.

he did a great job of making Merle a complete dick without the aid of racism or crystal-meth.

Annoying character of the week: Andrea

Zombie kill of the week: Daryl *by default*

Daryl line of the week: "That's the third time you have pointed a gun at my head"

Daryl picture of the week:

The Walking Dead: Cherokee Rose (spoilers)

Despite all the excitement over the first few episodes of season two I have managed to fall behind.  I am terrible at following shows as they air on tv and I almost prefer to let them build up and watch them back to back.  Today is the turn of Cherokee Rose and Chupacabra. 

PLOT:  The RV finally leaves the highway and Dale (Jeffrey De Munn), Andrea (Laurie Holden), Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) join the others on Hershel’s farm.  Hershel (Scott Wilson) is holding a memorial service in which Shane (Jon Bernthal) speaks about Otis sacrificing himself to save Carl (Chandler Riggs).  Shane left out the minor detail that he helped Otis to sacrifice himself.  Rick (Andrew Lincoln), who has absolutely nothing to do this episode, is mean to Daryl for no particular reason.  Dale and T-Dog (Irone Singleton) discover a Walker in a well and the plan to remove it spectacularly fails.  Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) head into town to pick up painkillers and a pregnancy test for Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies).  They have sex between the hardware and feminine hygiene isle.  We get an ominous lingering shot of the barn which will no doubt feature heavily in future episodes.  Lori discovers that she is pregnant but I cannot shake the image of Lori peeing right in front of Hershel’s house especially when she squatted down in front of a big ass tree rather than behind it.  END PLOT

Plot wise Cherokee Rose is definitely the weakest episode of season two so far.  The Walking Dead is a show which takes its time but with this episode the pacing ground to such an abrupt halt I think I should sue for whiplash.  

There are a couple of nice little character moments which just about make up for sitting through forty minutes of nothing - even the reveal of Lori's pregnancy was a meh moment of blah.

Rick handing over his hat to Carl is straight out of the comic and it looks as though Carl will wear it with as much pride as comic book Carl. Chandler Riggs is such a good little actor and I think he will be able to handle some of the darker moments which are coming with ease. 

Daryl gave Carol a flower and a historical anecdote to make up for the fact that Sophia is still missing in what must be the largest wood in the history of all forests – if she shows up with a herd of female Ents I will not be surprised.  It was a sweet little scene which shows that Reedus and McBride can work very well together.  It had the potential to veer into cheesy territory but thankfully it never did.

If it is to be the start of a Daryl/Carol affair then that is fine but for the love of God get on with it and bring the Sophia arc to a close!

Maggie and Glenn got a chance to spend more time together and their relationship was upgraded from awkward friendship to awkward fuck-buddies.  Their scene in the hardware/feminine hygiene store was poorly written and played like something from a very bad teenage romantic comedy.  Maggie and Glenn’s relationship is a very sweet part of the comic but on screen it just doesn’t work as Cohan and Yeun don’t have much chemistry.  The problem is Lauren Cohan has more screen presence compared to Steven Yeun and this is causing Glenn to be pushed further down the pecking order as he still being overshadowed by the supporting cast. 

I like Jon Bernthal's portrayal of Shane but it appears that whenever he shaved his head he also managed to lobotomise himself as he has suddenly developed this blank slack jawed stare.  From an aesthetic point of view this, coupled with his new wardrobe of dungarees, is not pleasing on the eye.

Andrea does not appear to notice that Shane is slowly turning into The Hills Have Eyes and the two are bonding over their love of firearms.  I don’t care about Andrea and her very very vocal desire to have a gun in the slightest.  I just don’t care.  At the minute with Andrea less is very much preferred.

Cherokee Rose is an action free episode aside from one rather bloated looking Walker which for some unexplained reason fell into well number two.  There was no tension in this scene and I didn’t for one moment believe that Glenn was in any danger.  The only purpose this section of the episode served was to give Greg Nicotero and the prosthetics department a brief moment to shine and I think in the end it was worth it!  It also gave T-Dog zombie kill of the week although not to take anything away from T-Dog it was actually the only zombie kill of the week. 

Cherokee Rose should have been called Filler Episode.  It was always going to happen in a season of thirteen episodes but it doesn’t make the bitter pill any easier to swallow. Cherokee Rose only gets a 6/10.  In a show in which expectations are so high this one has to be considered a disappointment.

Performance of the week:  Lauren Cohan

no one stood out but this was the week I realised I actually really like Maggie

Annoying character of the week:  Andrea
Zombie kill of the week:  T-Dog *by default*
Daryl line of the week: "I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother. But I believe this one bloomed for your little girl" 
Daryl picture of the week:

The Help

The cinema schedule ground to a sharp halt this week due to the release of Breaking Dawn so I used it as an opportunity to go and see The Help.

The Help is an adaptation of the novel by Katherine Stockett and the announcement that I have not read it will shock absolutely no one.

PLOT: Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns home to her childhood town in Mississippi after graduating college to work for the local paper.  In order to get her dream job as a New York journalist Skeeter decides to interview two maids Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) to get their untold perspective on cooking, cleaning and essentially raising their employer’s children.   END PLOT

The plot of The Help doesn’t deal with the Civil Rights movement in any great depth and keeps its focus firmly on Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny.  This works very well for the film as it is almost too breezy to deal with such a dark time in history in any great detail.  

The tone of The Help is slightly conflicted as it is bright, colourful and has a very quirky feel to it yet racism and hatred are two of the key themes.  It almost sounds ridiculously disjointed but it works and somehow it works very well.

What makes The Help such a strong film is the casting.  It is not often that you get a film which is perfectly cast by The Help is one of those rare films. 

Emma Stone is going to be a huge star and The Help has not tarnished her reputation in the slightest.  She carries the film with likeable ease. 

Viola Davis as Aibileen gave a very quiet dignified performance whereas Octavia Spencer was smart and sassy.  The two complimented each other very well and I will admit I welled up on more than one occasion because of them.

Jessica Chastain was great fun as Ceilia Foote and Bryce Dallas Howard was virtually unrecognisable as Hilly Holbrook the film's villain.  

The stand out star of The Help has to be Allison Janney who played Skeeter’s mother Charlotte.  I am not embarrassed to confess that and on more than one occasion I did turn to my friends and declare my undying love for her which they reciprocated without hesitation. 

There is no weak link in the cast and it is the actresses involved which made The Help totally engrossing – the film clocked in at well over two hours but I did not feel one second of the time go by.

The Help gets a very strong 8.5/10! It surprised me just how invested in the film I was and how emotional I became. 

The only reason we ended up seeing the film was because Breaking Dawn and Tintin were the other options.  Thank Christ Belgian comics and sparkly vampires do not appeal to me in the slightest!

Immortals

There are some trailers which automatically catch your eye and Immortals is one of them.  I absolutely love anything based in Greek mythology and the trailer gave the impression that Immortals had potential but I have to admit that I was nervous…..

PLOT: After winning the epic battle between the Olympians and the Titans, Zeus (Luke Evans) locks the Titans inside the All Spark a cage in Mount Tartaros and hides, rather than destroys the Epirus Bow, a weapon capable of releasing the Titans and destroying the earth.  King Hyperon (Mickey Rourke) leads his barbed wire hat wearing army on a rampage in order to seek out the Bow.  The fate of mankind falls to Theseus (Henry Cavill) a young warrior trained by a disguised Zeus (John Hurt).  Theseus searches for the Bow.  Theseus finds the Bow.  Theseus drops the Bow.  Theseus finds the Bow, only to drop it again and have it stolen by a dog.  Hyperon marches to the Gates of Mordor Mount Tartaros and releases the Titans and the epic battle begins once more.  END PLOT

As Immortals is based in Greek mythology the plot had oodles to draw from yet it still fell flat.  This is mostly due to pacing as scenes seemed to drag for an extraordinary amount of time.  There were occasions when we were screaming at the screen for Henry Cavill to take of his shirt and do something!  As we were the only people in the screening cinema etiquette went out the window and we had to make our own fun.

Henry Cavill was grand as Theseus and whenever he took off his shirt he was a more than capable lead.  Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff and the gorgeous Freida Pinto were all fine but no one particularly stood out.

I was involved in a conversation before seeing the film with Mr Hernandez about the omission of the Gods in Troy.  They play such an important role in The Iliad but I think their inclusion in the film would only have made Troy more bloated than it already was. 

The Gods have a fairly decent role in Immortals however their big showdown with the Titans was reduced to a messy CGI sword fight between Poseidon, Athena and a couple of dusty looking Titans.  Essentially all the build up came to nothing.

Immortals ended with a “next time on the Immortals” so if there is a sequel we can expect a lot more action up on Mount Olympus but from what I have seen of the Gods so far I am not overly impressed.  They weren't fleshed out at all with only Poseidon getting one small moment to show off.  I didn’t like the cheap looking gold outfits or the outrageously flamboyant headgear either. 

I have no idea why it is so hard to include Greek Gods in a film that isn’t animated.  The chance of me ever getting to see Dawn and all the imagery associated with her is very slim.  It is devastating that the Gods cannot be given a decent portrayal on the big screen.    

The action was grand although there was no jaw dropping moment in the film.  This isn’t a slight against the usage of CGI as the film was visually stunning but it just lacked that big set piece to give it the epic feel it was obviously aiming for.

I’ve read my Greek classics several times (God Bless the lunch hour) so I can’t help myself by deploying full snob mode and demanding more from this genre.  Immortals is flawed but aside from some questionable pacing it is a decent film which definitely deserves a look on the big screen.  It gets a 6.5/10.  It will be interesting to see if this does well enough financially to warrant another instalment.  

 *sigh*

The Awakening

Sometimes the best cinema trips are those that are not planned. I got a text on Friday morning to see if I wanted to venture to the Queen’s Film Theatre after work to see The Awakening and of course the answer was always going to be yes.

PLOT:  It’s 1921 and England is just starting to get over the horror of WW1.  With charlatans preying on the recently bereaved ghost hunter Florence (Rebecca Hall) exposes them with her frank analysis of their schemes.  Florence is hired by Robert Mallory, (Dominic West) the history teacher of a posh boarding school, after a child mysteriously dies and the pupils are terrified they are being hunted by a ghost.  Florence exposes the truth behind the child’s death but discovers something is still lurking in the school.  END PLOT

On the face of it the plot is standard fare and I called the “twist” before the halfway point.  If you put all the cast members around a table and purposely ignore one of them I think it’s fair to say that there is a ghost in the midst.  I was proved right in my guess however the film did not end there and ran on for another unexpected and downright tense thirty minutes.  The twist will not shock or surprise you but the back story came completely out of nowhere and took me totally by surprise. It was very clever to turn the obvious into a false twist.  A basic and simple plot was very well executed.

Rebecca Hall and Dominic West both deserve long and respected careers and in The Awakening they cannot be faulted.  They both add a touch of class to the film and they suit the style and tone of the extremely well.

The supporting cast of Imelda Staunton and Isaac Wright were also very strong especially in the final Act. 

The Awakening is the first major film by director Nick Murphy however he managed to create some legitimately creepy moments.  The scene with Florence looking through windows of a large dolls-house only to find the dolls in each room portraying moments from the film was absolutely brilliant.  The tension could be felt as Florence made her way through the rooms until she reached the attic room where she was standing.  This was my favourite section of the entire film.

The 1921 setting worked very well and the scenery and English countryside has never looked better. The film looked amazing.

I absolutely love supernatural horrors however if I want to watch something decent in this genre I normally have to look to Spanish film and lets be honest this is never a chore.  The Awakening is a much stronger film than it first appears and it works on every level.  It gets a well deserved 8/10.  I loved it and thoroughly recommend it!

Machine Gun Preacher

Machine Gun Preacher is one of those films that appear out of nowhere.  The trailer only appeared in the cinema about a week before its release but it was enough to pique my interest.

PLOT:  Sam Childers, (Gerard Butler) a reformed criminal and drug user, finds God and turns his life around.  He receives a calling from God and travels to Southern Sudan in order to put his construction skills to good use.  Sam builds an orphanage but faces a constant battle to secure funds to keep the orphanage running and protected from the rebels.  END PLOT

The plot is choppy and the concept of time is never portrayed well.  Sam goes from reformed criminal to successful business man during dinner and the only reason the audience knows time has passed is because his daughter has aged about five years and the actress has changed. It isn’t clear how long and how frequent his trips to Africa were.

The action was very realistic and they did not hold back in showing trauma to children so it was  uncomfortable to watch.  The action scenes mostly happened on dark, secluded roads but they were always announced as Butler always made sure to be wearing a bandana just before they were shot upon. 

Machine Gun Preacher was such an uncomfortable watch because of the violence and trauma the Sudanese children suffered.  If you show me a child with a grazed knee on Children’s Hospital I am in pieces – show me mutilated or burned children and I will not be able to cope.  The problem is Machine Gun Preacher used this to the point that I just couldn’t wait for the film to be over.

I will never be able to imagine the horrors children in Africa go through on a daily basis and Machine Gun Preacher did show this in extreme and you could argue in essential detail but from a film-making point of view I thought it was incredibly sneaky.

Machine Gun Preacher was the story of Sam Childers however I felt no emotional connection to his story whatsoever.  I have never found God and I appreciate that it a personal experience and will not come with a brass fanfare and hallelujahs ringing in the air but it almost came across as “Baptism? Aye why not I will have a bit of that”. 

Sam Childers development was just as choppy as the plotting as he fell in and out of love with God, Sudan and his best friend constantly.  There were times, even after he found God, when Sam was just unlikeable. I couldn't help feeling unsympathetic towards him regardless of the phenomenal work he was doing. 

It’s almost as though Mark Forster, the director, realised that there was no emotion in Sam Childers and really ramped up the “children in peril” aspect in order to stop the film from being a complete bore.  If they managed to make Sam Childers engaging to the audience Machine Gun Preacher had the opportunity to be one of the big hitters of the year.

Performance wise it Butler was fine.  It did take me a while to get used to Gerard Butler’s America accent however once he stopped running around like a SAMCRO reject I started to buy into his performance.   I wonder if a stronger actor would have been able to strike the emotional chord which Butler failed to do.  

Machine Gun Preacher is based on the true story of Sam Childers, a most remarkable man who has done more good in his life than I will ever will, but from a film point of view the Machine Gun Preacher just falls short.  It gets a decent 7/10.  I wont be watching it again.

In Time

The trailer for In Time passed me by completely and I am not a fan of Amanda Seyfried or Justin Timberlake but low and then behold I was there on opening day more enthusiastic than expected.

PLOT:  In the futuristic present the human population stops ageing at twenty-five and they automatically die at twenty-six unless they earn more time which is the equivalent of currency.  Will (Justin Timberlake) lives in the slums and is always scraping together more time in order for him to eek out his life on a day to day basis.  He saves Henry (Matt Bomer) in a bar fight who in return gives him a century which is essentially the real life equivalent to winning the lottery.  Will heads straight to the rich sector where he ends up kidnapping spoilt little rich girl Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried).  The two fall in love and go on the run Robin Hooding time from the rich to give to the poor.  END PLOT

The plot of In Time is fairly decent and I really liked the idea of using time as currency.  There were several neat little themes running through the film such as the people short on time ran everywhere whereas the rich moved ridiculously slowly and the notion that many must die so a few can become immortal.

Of course it is all bollocks, especially the notion that the poor die when they turn twenty-six, as this means that I would have died four months ago.  This amused my friends who are still twenty-five and it just shows the difference in maturity levels five months can produce!

In Time is similar to The Adjustment Bureau as both films have high levels of the best kind of bollocks – enjoyable bollocks. 

I am not sure if it was more terrifying or surprising to learn that Justin Timberlake can lead a film adequately.  Paul Walker and Channing Tatum are officially shitting themselves.

I have never been a fan of Amanda Seyfried and her performance in In Time did nothing to change my mind.  I was relieved that she has finally graduated from playing a teenager but her god awful click on Lego wig was most distracting. 

The supporting cast of Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde and Matt Bomer are all fine although there are no stand out performances.

The action is quite grounded and is nothing more than a few average car chases and copious amounts of running but it all flows well.

Overall I am hard pressed to find a major fault in In Time.  If it were made by a higher class of director and cast it would have given the film some respect but as it stands the best thing about In Time is that it is not bad.

In Time gets a solid 6.5/10.  It was good fun but unless I suddenly develop a taste for N*Sync I can't see the film making it into my dvd collection.