To look forward to: The Avengers

Film: The Avengers (Avengers Assenble, UK)

Release Date: May 3rd 2012 (April 26th 2012, UK)

Director: Josh Whedon

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Cobie Smulders with Gregg Clark and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Reasons to go: 

• Tony Stark Gets his suit taken off him while Walking!
• The Hulk looks amazing.
• Thor is baddass.
• Scarlett Johansson looks sexy as the Black Widow.
• The build up to the film is unlike anything that has been before.
• Marvel Studios has constantly brought an A game
• The acting talent of Robert Downey Jr.
• Greg Clark as Agent Coulson
• Cobie Smulders is Marie freakin' Hill and wear a catsuit! 
• Loki returns and is more menacing and dapper than ever before
• Samuel L Jackson is sick of the Mother F***ing Aliens on his mother f***ing planet
• What if i told you they were putting together a team.
• Hero fights Hero at some point.
• Josh Whedon is more than capable of delivering as director.

Reasons Not to go:

• You feel sorry that Hawkeye has to be put next to Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Hulk
• You're a Nolanite and you prefer full realism, a hero with no powers and a tiny villain who can only mumble.

My take: This has been 4 years in the making ever since the post credit scene in Iron Man when Nick Fury (Jackson) proposed to Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) that they were starting something called the Avenger Initiative. After 4 years and 4 more films we have finally arrived, never before has a company with foresight used 5 films to build up to one moment and it is almost upon us. I have loved all the films leading up to it;

Iron Man was perhaps the best comic book movie of all time, what Downey Jr and Jeff Bridges did with their roles was amazing, the movie elevated the character from a B list Hero to the main event and its success was shown in the box office bringing in over $500 million.

The Incredible Hulk didn't follow Iron Man to box office glory but it was still a good movie but it was sad to hear how Edward Norton took a lot of control and even kept Rick Jones out of the film, the man responsible for why Bruce Banner became the Hulk and the person who got the original avengers together. I was pleased to see he was replaced by Mark Ruffalo and more pleased to see the work they have done with the CGI hulk which for me has never been fully right before.

Iron Man 2 was not the first film, but it served its purpose of being a fun romp that set a lot of ground work for the Avengers that could not have been done in any other movie. Plus the bit with the suitcase suit makes it all worth while.

Thor was a good film, i was afraid going in it wouldn't deliver but Hensworth, Hiddleston and Hopkins preformances and the mixture of comedy into the film made it a great addition to the Marvel cinematic universe.

Captain America was everything it promised, a good period movie that lends a lot to explain how the technology in the present exists and the final set up for the Avengers was just amazing.

If this film is on the same level like any of the ones that have precededed it then it will be worth multiple viewings but make sure you at least see it once.

Film 4: Winnie the Pooh

Warning the following could contain spoilers!

Film: Winnie the Pooh
April 2011

Director: Stephen J. Anderson

Starring: Vocally - John Cleese, Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson,
Singing - Zooey Deschanel

Plot: The Film is based on 3 stories from the book series linked together to make a single flowing narrative following the adventures of Pooh and friends.

Pooh wakes up and in typical fashion searches for honey only to find that he is all out (shock horror), while searching for more he discovers Eeyore, who also in a typical fashion, has lost his tail. Pooh gets all his friends to help try and find the tail but to no avail, when along comes a very British Christopher Robin who suggests a contest to find a replacement tail for Eeyore with the winner receiving a large pot of honey, they try many different things but all fail with comedic effect and Eeyore is forced to go without a tail.

Later Pooh tries to visit Chrisptoher Robin but finds he is not home and only a note left behind, Pooh being a bear obviously cant read the letter so he takes it to Owl who should have no problem reading, what with him being an owl and all. While the note actually reads "Gon out, Bizy be Back Soon" Owl messes up reading it and informs Pooh that Christopher Robin has been taken by an evil creature called the Backson! The gang try to trap the Backson while Tigger goes out to try and confront it and make Eeyore bravery by dressing up as a Backson, meanwhile Pooh falls into the trap while suffering the effects of withdrawal form honey. The rest of the Gang also fall in leaving only Piglet to rescue them, while searching for help piglet is scarred by Tigger still in his costume and runs away knocking several of the giant letters of the book into the trap which allows Pooh to make a ladder and escape.

They find Christopher Robin who explains the mistake in the letter, Pooh then proceeded to head round to Owl's where he finds that Eeyore's tail is being used as a door pull by Owl, returning it to Eeyore Christopher Robin is proud of Pooh's kindness and rewards him with a pot of honey and reminds every one that Pooh is a silly old bear.

Thoughts going in:  Disney's Winnie the Pooh had always not meant a great deal to me, i never connected with the characters apart from Eeyore and it was not part of my childhood like other bits of Disney, However I was determined to support Disney in their traditional animation efforts so I was excited to see what they would produce, I was also pleased that we would be getting this film before America when it so often happens the other way.

Review: It is as nice to view as an of Disney's traditional films, and it was good to see the links to the stories British past but the story was lacking a lot even for a children's film this wasn't for 5+ it was a movie you would take a 3-5 year old to see. I know that is where the characters are most popular but it would have been nice to see it brought up a few years to appeal to a more wider audience base.

Score: C-

Says its title: Yes, in fact Zooey Deschanel sings the song Winnie the Pooh which has the title in it a lot.

Worth the DVD?: Yes, if you have small children or aim to have a full Disney animated collection but otherwise no it is not worth it, it is very nice to look at but lacks the substance worth paying for.

Film 3: Your Highness

Warning the following uld contain spoilers!

Film: Your Highness
April 2011

Director: David Gordon Green

Starring: Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Theroux

Plot: Thadeous (McBride) is the younger son of the king he has spent his life in the shadow of his older brother Fabious (Franco), who has always succeeded at any quest given to him and has wooed the beautiful Belladonna (Deschanel) whom he intends to marry as soon as it can be arranged. Thadeous is excited at the prospect of being the best man until he over hears some knights mocking his poor track record on quest, Thadeous upon hearing this runs out of the wedding in a huff.

The wedding is crashed by the evil warlock Leezar (Theroux) who makes off with Belladonna whom he intends to impregant with a dragon when the two moons converge. Distraught Fabious enlists the help of his knights and brother in order to rescue Belladonna. The brothers learn from a pedophillic fortune teller that the only way to kill Leezar and free Belladonna is to find the fabeled sword of unicorn from within an enchanted labyrinth.

Betrayed by their fellow knights Thadeous and Fabious are captured and forced to fight against a great beast which nearly kills the brothers until they are rescued by a Isabel (Portman) a warrior seeking revenge against Leezar who killed her brothers. Joining together the group journey to the labyrinth where Thadeus retrieved the sword and slays the minotaur guarding it before it can rape Thadeus' servant. Journying to Leezar's kingdom the group kill Leezar and free Belladonna before she is impregnated and ride off home. Fabious and Belladonna are married, while Thadeous is confronted by Isabel who claims to like him but their relationship can only remain friendly until they kill the witch who has the key to her chastity belt, making Thadeous realise they need to go on another quest (thereby leaving room for a sequel unlikely to be made due to the horrible box office performance).

Thoughts going in: The last thing i had paid to see with James Franco was Pinapple Express and dear god i hated that film, i wish i could have gotten my money and more importantly my time but it will be lost to me. I did not know that the director was the same person at all but i saw the trailer and it did have some funny moments in it also it had Natalie Portman and i wasn't going to give it a miss, I should have had some suspicions when the large group of friends that would usually join me to see films all said no, but I went in anyway.

Review:  When I see funny bits in a trailer i hope for more of the same not that all of the comedy in the film could be put into the trailer yet that's what seemingly happened in this film. It was very much like Pineapple Express (which i hear some people actually liked, hear about but never see these people) but set in medieval times. It sums this film up when it cost $50 million to make and only grossed $25 million despite the relatively good amount of advertising it received. Looking for positives the cast preform their roles well enough, but once again another film that brings in Zooey Deschanel just to sing a song and be a bit strange rather than to actually act.

Score: D+, It was going to get and F but the humour in the trailer and more importantly Natalie Portman in a golden bikini brought it up.

Says its title: Yes (so at least it had that going for it)

Worth the DVD?: No, it is not worth owning in anyone's collection, However for the bit with Natalie Portman, maybe.

Scoring and addition

I should explain my scoring system if it is not clear I score films on an A to F system with +/- as an option to differentiate between the tiers,

A = must see film

B= If you have time it is worth a viewing

C= If you just fancy a trip to the cinema then this is good to see

D= nothing worth seeing on its own, as part of a double showing could be good

F= Not worth seeing at all, avoid, avoid AVOID!!!

I will be adding to my reivew by including whether the film has its title as dialouge because that totally matters as to whether a film is good or not.

Film 2: Source Code

Warning the following could contain spoilers!

Movie: Source Code
April 2011

Director: Duncan Jones

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffery Wright

Plot: When Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a commuter train opposite Christina Warren (Monaghan) he has no idea why he is there as the last thing he can remember is piloting  a helicopter on a dangerous mission in Iraq. He panics trying to take in his surrounds and before he can fully understand the train explodes.

Waking in a cockpit Stevens is greeted by the voice of Captain Colleen Goodwin (Farmiga) who explains that the device he is in is the 'source code' an invention of Dr. Rutledge (Wright), which was created to take the last few minutes of a victim of a terrorist attack and thereby almost let Stevens 'travel back in time' to investigate the attack. Stevens accepts the idea and goes back into the code to try and find out who the bomber is and if he is planning another attack, during his visits Stevens develops a growing liking for Christina and at the same time also investigates his last mission which haunts him, he discovers that he was apparently killed in the mission saving several lives in the process.

Confronting Goodwin with this information she reveals that his is near death and is only being kept alive by a system of machines, not wanting this life Stevens makes Goodwin get Rutledge to promise that if he is successful in stopping the terrorist attack then he would be taken off life support and free to die.

Successfully identifying the terrorist, the team behind source code celebrates the success of the project as the attack is avoided, Dr. Rutledge then states that instead of keeping the promise he intends to just clear Stevens memory of the event and continue to use him, Goodwin reveals to Stevens about Rutledge's intentions and Stevens begs Goodwin to disobey her orders and take him off life support while he goes back into the code in order to say goodbye to Christina. Goodwin does this for him and as his organs fail Stevens in the code kisses Christina fully expecting to die but instead finds himself still on the train and continues his life in the 'source code'.

Thoughts going in: Another film I knew little about, in case of Source Code i didn't even know anything about the premise of the movie. Just than it had Gyllenhaal in it, not an exciting prospect after Prince of Persia.

Review: The twist came out of nowhere the movie made me believe he was just a guy in a device not that he was the built into the device, it was a twist that would make M. Night Shyamalan smile. The idea was a good new twist on the time travel idea, he wasn't really time travelling but it was presented in a way that he could do a lot within the 'source code'.

Score: C+

Worth the DVD?: Yes, much like my suggestion with limitless this is a film worth having on DVD but only if you get it on offer, at full price it is perhaps too much.

Film 1: Limitless

Warning the following could contain spoilers!

Movie: Limitless
April 2011

Director: Neil Burger

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Nero, Abbie Cornish

Plot: Eddie Mora (Cooper) is a struggling, down on his luck, writer failing to keep his life with girlfriend Lindy (Cornish) together but failing. After beign dumped by Lindy Eddie gains access to a new developmental drug that increases his brain functions allowing him to see the world in a new way making him a success in all his endevours. His newfound talent in financial dealings brings him into contact with wealthy buisnessman Carl Von Loon (De Nero) who increases the pressure on Eddie to do well and increasing Eddie's reliance on his drugs to suceed.

With a russian mafia thug and rival business man threatening his supply of drugs Eddie has a lot to overcome in order to keep his life in the order he has created for it because a lack of the drug can have dire cosequences for Eddie.

My thoughts going into the movie: I had little notion of what this film was about, knowing only that it had a drug that increased a persons brain capacity from the 10% and that if a person didnt take it they would die. Not my usual cup of tea but it had Bradley Cooper in it so that was me sold.


Review: Overrall I thought this was a good film, the idea behind how the drug works was a good concept and the acting was great. The look of the film was good as well but I was distracted by a lot by the production value as when Cooper's character enters his enhanced mode he sees the porblem in front of him and it looks disconnected to the film like a bad teenagers attempt at photoshop.

It was good that he had a happy ending in a time when Hollywood seemed to want a sad ending.

Score: B

Worth the DVD?: Yes, I would reccomend that if you see this movie under offer then it is worth it at full price give it a miss as it will fall under some sort of deal movis like this usually do.

Beginnings

In April of 2011 I found myself in the situation of looking at the movies scheduled to come out that summer and was very excited. Films like Thor, Captain America, Harry Potter, The Hangover 2, Rise of the Apes, etc. made this a year to look forward to. Then my thoughts turned to the cost of seeing them as a student it was £5.50 ($8.80) a film not a great amount for one showing but if I meant to see some numerous times, and I did mean to do that, it would add up. Thanks to Cineworld's super subliminal (sarcasm) advertising for their Unlimited Card the choice was clear at £12.99 ($20.80), so long as I saw 29 films in the year it would be more than worth the money.

After getting my card my journey with Cineworld began, this blog will cover the films I have and will see using my Card. I will look at the plot, my expectations going into the film, what i thought of it afterwards, a score out of 10 and a recommendation as to whether the film is worth seeing or buying on Blu-ray/DVD. I have seen some films more than once and will review them as many times as i have seen them as multiple viewings can change an outlook on a film.



Here is a link to the Cineworld Unlimited Card for any UK based readers interested.

http://www.cineworld.co.uk/unlimited/intro?locale=GB&secure=false&embedded=false&fallback=false&gbLocale=true&isMobileAgent=false