Saturday 22 April 2017

The Boss Baby - Film Review



Hi folks

During the Easter festivities of chomping chocolate eggs I took my daughter to see the new film from Dreamworks who have been quiet in recent years.

It's narrated by Tim the 7 year old kid with an over active imagination who plays fantasy games including space aliens invading with his toys (which as a only child I also did!).

Everything is fine and he is the centre of his parents world until a new baby arrives (by taxi).
With an instant dislike to Boss Baby who wears suits as he's taking the attention from him he discovers the Baby talking and is in fact a spy from Baby Corp whereby the baby's have grown up adult brains but live in infant bodies due to a special milk formula they drink.  If they stop drinking it they become normal babies and grow up as normal.
Boss Baby is spying on Tim's parents as they work for a Puppy factory which is develop an everlasting puppy.  If this happens no one will want babies anymore.
Tim teams up with Boss Baby to stop this and bond along the way.

With some excellent humour and set pieces it was a return to form for Dreamworks and had us chuckling along.
With great animation and voice cast including Alec Baldwin as Boss Baby and Tobey Maguire and Lisa Kudrow it is the perfect family film.


Bels Score     -   10/10

My Score       -   10/10

Wednesday 5 April 2017

Kong - Skull Island - Film Review



Hi guys

Went to see the new remake of King Kong and glad I did.

Unlike it's predecessors it doesn't follow the same story as much.
Which is - Go to Skull Island.  Meet Kong who kidnaps the girl.  Capture Kong.   Take him to New York.  Kong escapes then gets shot down from Empire States Building (Two Towers 1976 version).  Kong dies.

I never saw why they kept remaking it that way and even Peter Jacksons recent version suffered because of it.

Anyway this time scientists led by Bill Randa (John Goodman) who works for Monarch (the monster chasing Company from the last Godzilla movie) set up an excursion to an island found by satellite.

As the Vietnam war has just ended war veteran General Packard (Samuel L Jackson) jumps to the chance for one last mission for his men to escort the science team.  Randa also enlists the help of SAS mercenary James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) who is the expedition photographer.

Once on Skull Island they run into Kong who wipes out most of the squad and the team are separated as Packard seeks revenge on Kong and the other group find the native village.
In this version the native villagers are friendly and been sharing their village with Hank Marlow  (John C Reilly).  A World War two pilot who landed on the island in the forties.

It turns out Kong defends the villagers from other evil monsters on the island including Skullcrawlers and is needed.

The group help Kong defeat Packard and the Skullcrawlers and eventually return home.

The set pieces are great plus Kong is now a lot bigger than previous incarnations.  This is probably because he will eventually be facing off against Godzilla in a future Monsterverse film.
There is a post credit scene highlighting this.

Overall a great reboot for Kong which is a different kind of beast from previous Kong.   The acting is spot on and the action is from the go so a great rollicking adventure.


Score   -    9/10

Sunday 2 April 2017

Logan - Film Review - Spoilers-


Went to see what will probably be Hugh Jackmans final turn as Wolverine or as he's known to his close friends Logan.

Set in a near future a battered ill Logan is caring for an ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart).  With the help of fellow mutant Caliban (Steven Merchant) they are hiding over the Mexican border wanting to save enough to sail away and leave the wasted world behind.

Sadly Professor X is suffering from a neuro degenerative disease which causes him to have powerful seizes which it turns out is how the X Men were killed.

Along comes a nurse from a secret facility which has been creating new mutants from the DNA from past mutants.  She has a girl called Laura with her (or X23) and wants Logan to take her to a place called Eden.
Unfortunately the people from the facility are after them too plus the other mutant children which have escaped.

The film is a fitting swansong for Hugh Jackmans Wolverine plus also Patrick Stewarts Professor X and there is a tinge of sadness all way through.  There are also some hilarious situations involving Professor X swearing and Caliban.

There are many themes in this film including age and mortality.

It is also Hugh Jackmans best performance of Wolverine the character that made him a star.
With excellent dialogue and set pieces plus the low key situation makes it probably the best X Men film there is.  Also a bonus is the added gore.

Be warned a few tears may be shed by the end.


Score    10/10