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Star Trek Into Darkness

Filed under: Cinema by thefriedgold — Leave a comment
May 15, 2013

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana and Benedict Cumberbatch

star-trek-into-darkness-poster

 

 

A terror threat from within Starfleet is causing havoc with the organisation so Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise must find him before it is too late.

I love J.J’s first Star Trek and was very excited about seeing this latest incarnation and what it might have in store and I was not disappointed.

The regular crew members of the Enterprise are all on form and once again the actors play the characters brilliantly and the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain is just genius. He’s a very strong, scary character and is a perfect adversary for Kirk and Spock to take on. Each character has their own starring part in the film to make them stand out from the rest and Urban’s Bones has some of the classic lines we know and love. The film looked visually amazing and the classic music gives you a warm happy feeling inside. Having seen this in IMAX 3D I must say that some of the scenes looked brilliant in 3D and some of the best ive ever seen.

The introduction of some classic villians such as the Klingons could easily lead to potential story lines in future films as well as some other characters that made appearances. The Enterprise jumping to warp effect that was used looked amazing and put a smile on my face every time.

Will there be a third in the series, and if so will it be directed by the Star Wars bound J.J. We can only hope.

 

Recommend

The film was a fun thrill ride through space showing the levels of friendship that have grown within the crew. Pine and Cumberbatch were fantastic together on screen and the script was brilliant and fresh all while keeping faith with the hardcore trekkies. If you enjoyed the first one then you will also love this. Catch it at the cinema while you can because I want to talk about it with everyone.

TheFriedGold rating 9/10 – Maximum warp. Punch it.

 

Film Fact

Edgar Wright got people talking when he tweeted that he had filmed a shot for a big film this summer. Everyone thought it was going to be something Marvel related due to his future involvement. However it turned out that he had been involved in a shot with the Klingons in this film

 

 

 

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Iron Man 3

Filed under: Cinema by thefriedgold — Leave a comment
May 15, 2013

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Directed by Shane Black

Starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce

iron_man_3_poster

Things haven’t been the same for Tony Stark since the events that happened in Avenger Assemble. He is having trouble sleeping and spends his time messing around with his Iron Man suits. But when a mad man by the name of The Mandarin starts blowing stuff up and makes things personal Tony Stark must overcome his issues to save the world.

As a fan of all the Phase 1 films this makes a very good start to Phase 2 with Tony Stark being the class act that he is while taking on one of his biggest comic book enemies The Mandarin. The trailers that came out before the film did show an awful lot of the story and some of the coolest bits in the film. It was interesting, beforehand, to see how they would avoid all of the other Avengers and why he wouldn’t just pick up the phone and ask for help but it actually works and you sort of forget that the others are not that far away. Plus I suppose that being the type of character that Tony is he wouldn’t want to ask for help anyway.

While watching the film there were scenes that made me think of the Lethal Weapon series, in which director Shane Black had a hand in making.

Recommend

There were a lot of comedic elements to the film and the introduction of a kid sidekick made the film feel a little bit like it was aiming for a younger audience. However this is Iron Man and is great fun throughout. Do you need to have seen all of the other Phase 1 films before this? No probably not. It would work as a standalone film. But then my question would be why haven’t you seen all the others. We have a long way to go in Phase 2 not to mention Phase 3 and this was a solid start.

Post Credit scene – as with all of the Marvel films of recent there is a scene to stick around for after the credits

TheFriedGold rating – 7/10 – A strong Iron start to Phase 2

 

Film Fact

 The song heard at Bern in the beginning of the film is “Blue” by Eiffel 65. This song is about an encounter with aliens, and foreshadows Tony Stark encountering alien beings in Avengers Assemble.   

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Oblivion

Filed under: Cinema by thefriedgold — 1 Comment
April 14, 2013

Oblivion (2013)

Directed by Joseph Kosinski

Starring Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko and Morgan Freeman

Oblivion-Poster

 

Possible Spoilers included

 

The world has been left in ruin by an alien attack and everyone has moved off to Titan to start a new world. Jack and Victoria are still on earth working as part of the clean-up crew to take out any remaining alien attackers and to help extract the planets remaining resources.

 

The film is a massive ball of different Sci-fi elements thrown about all over the place and I don’t really feel like it knows what it wants to be. It is a massive twist filled film but the twists; I thought, were all quite obvious and saw most of them coming from the moment things started to get a bit weird.

As a visual piece the flying scenes around earth and the backdrop looked amazing and the best thing about the film was the music which was provided by M83, who also provided the song that was over the trailer for Cloud Atlas. It also reminded me of the music from Tron: Legacy which was Director Kosinski’s last film.

 

Recommend

As a Sci-Fi film is was ok but not much really happens, it’s all just leading up to twist after twist after obvious twist. I don’t want to say too much as it will spoil bits but if you have watched this and want to have a more in-depth chat please do in the comments section. Is it worth seeing at the cinema? Debatable. Not the best film you will see but all the twists will be ruined for you by the time it comes out to rent.

TheFriedGold rating – 5/10 Predictable popcorn twisting Sci-Fi flick

 

Film Fact

The film was originally supposed to come out in late July but because of the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park the film was brought forward to April

 

 

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G.I Joe: Retaliation

Filed under: Cinema by thefriedgold — Leave a comment
March 29, 2013

G.I Joe: Retaliation (2013)

Directed by John M. Chu

Starring Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, Adrianne Palicki and Bruce Willis

GIJoe_Retaliation_poster

 

The president of the United States is not who he says he is and has tried to eliminate all Joes from action so that COBRA can take over the world. Unfortunately for them a few Joes made it out alive and are coming to return the world back to its rightful leaders.

 

This is a direct sequel to Rise of the Cobra although many of the actors or characters from the first film have not returned. This has not dampened the film though as they have replaced them with a couple of big names, notably Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis.

The film is exactly what you would expect with some big action scenes and lots of bullets being fired. Johnson always adds that bit of humour to film not to mention his cool, yet cheesy, presence on screen and this is no difference. Willis has little screen time but the scenes he does appear in gives us some classic Willis one liners and wit.

 

Recommend

This was an enjoyable film that just flew passed when watching. I wouldn’t say it was anything special and you don’t need to see it in the cinema but when it is released to rent/buy I recommend a watch. (This really only applies to men, women probably won’t enjoy)

 

TheFriedGold rating 5/10 – The Rock lays the smackdown on COBRA

 

Film Fact

The film was originally supposed to be release in the summer of 2012 but was put back to add 3D effects. This however turned out to be only part of the truth; some reshoots were done to have Channing Tatum in more scenes as the studio felt it would draw in a larger audience since he became a big hit in the film world.

 

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The Sweeney

Filed under: Uncategorized by kelvbrown — Leave a comment
March 12, 2013

The Sweeney (2012)

Directed by Nick Love

Starring Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, Damian Lewis, Hayley Atwell, Steven Mackintosh

sweeney

London. The Flying Squad is alive and well, headed by Regan (Winstone) and his protégé Carter (Drew). A jewel heist becomes a murder and Regan, chasing old leads, hunts the gang down.

Nick Love, trying desperately to raise his career from the English Geezah films he has become renowned, has made The Sweeney, aiming to be the London version of Heat, stylish and sexy. This, he has achieved. What he has forgotten is to write a plot any different to previous efforts. DI Jack Regan, the top cop in the top part of the Met police, is an awful policeman. He gets results by saying “fuck” a lot. That’s it. Winstone is a far better actor than he shows here, with his Regan an unlikeable moron, unable to detect, chase leads, follow rules or even have a moral compass. For some reason I couldn’t fathom, Hayley Atwell is in this film, purely to have sex with Winstone. I hope she got paid a lot as her role is purely window dressing. A shame, she deserves better. Fortunately Ben Drew (better known as Plan B) does provide a moral centre to this film, throwing himself in to the role and coming out well. Lewis and Mackintosh are solid as ever in supporting roles but not even they can drag The Sweeney from a misogynist’s wet dream, revolving around geezers killing geezers and Winstone telling everyone (even frightened members of the public!) to fuck off. What could have been an interesting take on a beloved British property is just fahkin bollocks.

Recommend

The armed unit of the British police force cannot hit a single thing (these are the police entrusted with guns!). The car chases are not slow. The top cop has no redeeming qualities – I wanted him to fail at every turn – and the story is flawed. Don’t even get me started on the lack of extras while filming in a “busy” central London. See this only if you want to see how little the British crime film has progressed since Lock, Stock.

 

The FriedGold rating – 1/10 – fahk orf you schlag

If you like this then you might like:

Just watch Heat. Cops ‘n’ robbers, stylish, clever…everything lacking from this film

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