The 2014 Raymo Awards

It's that time of the year again! Margaret and David may be gone but here's my take on 2014 in film.
I saw 33 films at the cinema this year (thanks as always to JAFFA and Reading Cinemas) and I have to say the quality was mighty high.
Of the 33, 12 films scored 8/10 or above (six over 9/10) and another 11 scored 7/10 or better.
There were a couple of stinking lows that I'll get to later but for me the highs far outweighed them.

So, here's the top 5 of 2014 according to yours truly....

1. Whiplash (10/10)
I knew this was going to be good but it still took me by surprise. The story of an aspiring jazz drummer (Miles Teller) and his combative relationship with his teacher, played brilliantly by JK Simmons. The music is outstanding, the acting (particularly Simmons) is first class, there's tension, humour and just a damn fine script. I reckon it was the first time I've ever been to a movie and actually leaned forward while watching. If I could give it more than 10 I'd think about it. A worthy 'best picture' for me.
2. Her (9/10)
Actually the first movie I saw in the year and I knew then it was going to be hard to beat by the end. Joaquin Phoenix produces a great turn as a writer who falls in love with the voice in his new computer operating system (yeah, that's right). It's quite a touching film and Scarlett Johannson is perfectly cast as the OSI voice. Possibly a bit hard to describe but it could be a peek into our future and I challenge you to watch it and not take something out of it.
3. Guardians Of The Galaxy (9/10)
Attention idiots! Who would have thought a movie about a half-human outlaw, a green killing machine, a way too literal muscle man, a tree and a racoon would be so awesome? Proving Marvel can't do anything wrong with their Avengers series, I can't believe how much fun this is. Backed by a great 70s/80s soundtrack, a very witty script and not taking itself seriously, Guardians is just a blast.
4. The Fault In Our Stars (9/10)
Pretty much every year there's one of these movies (e.g. Perks, Spectacular Now) that stands above the standard weepy teen/college rom-com. This one's about cancer sufferer Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and the relationship she strikes up with cancer survivor Gus (Ansel Elgort) after they meet at a support group. She's just trying to survive and he wants to live life (thumbing his nose at cancer by occasionally putting unlit cigarettes in his mouth). It just works. The characters are engaging (including some of the support ones) and you'll almost be going for the tissues, if you're that way inclined, at the end.
5. Gone Girl (9/10)
I must admit I got this one wrong. After watching the trailer, which I lamented seemed to give everything away, I was quite shocked with what unfolded (having not read the book of course). Another 'good' Ben Affleck film. When his wife (Rosamund Pike) disappears all the fingers are pointing at him but there's so much more to this one than the uninformed could ever expect. So many turns and shocking moments, I was enthralled in this one and it is a deserved top fiver.

Well, that leaves Captain America: The Winter Soldier as just outside the top five. I tossed up between it and Guardians as the better Marvel movie and I have to say one isn't necessarily better than the other. I think Guardians just surprised me more. Cap lived up to expectation.

Honourable mentions: In hindsight Nightcrawler (8.5/10) should have got a 9 but I have to go with what I rated it. A super and chilling performance from Jake Gyllenhaal as a paparazzi-style cameraman who really pushes the envelope for a paycheck; Dallas Buyers Club (8.5/10) produced two spectacularly deserved Oscar winning performances and an outstanding film; Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (8.5/10) was easily the best film I've seen with an ape as the lead character.

Surprise of the year: The Double (7.5/10) is another I'd rate higher in hindsight, it gets better the more you think about it. Jesse Eisenberg takes a gritty turn as an overlooked government worker whose world is turned upside down when a lookalike, who is much more successful and liked, comes on board. Directed by Richard Ayoade (Moss from the IT Crowd) it may not be for everyone but it is something quite different and thought provoking.
Flop of the year 1: Biblical epics. Yep, that's you Noah (4/10) and Exodus: Gods and Kings (3/10). How can they get stories like these so wrong. Rock angels helped Noah build the Ark! We had Batman and a bunch of drag queen Egyptians fight over freeing the slaves. Please!

Flop of the year 2: Wolf Creek 2 (2.5/10). I can't let this go without saying how crap this sequel was. Hello, suspense! Really just an awful film. And having the bad guy sing classic Australian songs to his victim wasn't amusing, and was probably the scariest thing about it.

The film I wanted to like more: The Maze Runner (7.5/10). This could have been a much better movie than it was had they not simply used it to set up the trilogy. Brilliant concept, a somewhat futuristic take on Lord Of The Flies, with a good cast of up and comers and while I did like it I just wanted more than what we got.

Letdowns: Muppets Most Wanted (6/10) - the Muppets aren't dark characters, it just didn't work; Bad Neighbours (6/10) - just about all the good bits were in the trailer; Interstellar (6/10) - if you've seen it you'll know why.

What will 2015 hold? It looks like a ripping year and I'll be busy in the next six weeks or so with so many promising films (and one nostalgic sequel) coming out. Then we have Avengers 2, Fast & Furious 7, Star Wars 7 and a heap of other anticipated sequels.
See you at the movies!

The Fault In Our Stars

What a surprise The Fault In Our Stars turned out to be!
I must admit I didn't know a lot about it until I saw the preview and upon seeing it I thought it looked good but not engaging, warm, funny and emotional.
It's of course based on the book, which I have not read so didn't have any attachment to it.
We meet Hazel Grace (Shailene Woodley) as she daydreams about a 'normal life' without the constant presence of the cancer she is basically letting run its course.
In an effort to get her to live her life a little, Hazel's mum sends her off to a support group where other young people discuss their own battles, and victories, with cancer.
One of those is Gus (Ansel Elgort) who proclaims that since he has beaten cancer, which claimed one leg, he's going to be remembered for something great. He carries with him, somewhat ironically, an unlit cigarette as a symbol of his victory.
Along for the ride is Gus's friend Isaac (Nat Wolff), who is going blind but has fallen hard for a girl who would eventually break up with him because she couldn't stand the thought of him going blind.
The plot is your somewhat typical teenage love story (that's really generalising) but what stands this out is the stunning performances from and chemistry between the two leads. I hadn't heard of Ansel Elgort before but he's the star of this show, make no mistake.
I was simply fixated on the story and the twists and turns in the lives of the two leads, plus Isaac who has a couple of very funny scenes regarding his break-up, and while I'm sure there were holes I didn't really notice them.
I'd rank this up there with a couple of similar films over the past couple of years, the likes of Perks Of Being A Wallflower and The Spectactular Now (which Woodley is also in) and if you need a ranking I'd say in between the two. (I did give Perks a 10).
Sure to be one of the top five at the end of the year and, be warned, if you tend to cry in movies then you're going to need the hanky.
A 9 out of 10 and an absolute (heartbreaking) delight.

The Impossible

Based on the story of one family's battle to survive following the devastating Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, The Impossible is not an easy watch but definitely a worthwhile one.
Naomi Watts and Ewen McGregor are English couple Maria and Henry Bennett who head to Thailand for their Christmas holiday with their three sons Lucas (Tom Hollan), Simon and Thomas.
It all seems like a normal fun holiday until that fateful morning when the ocean swallowed up the resort and most of the inland area for miles and miles.
Maria and Lucas emerge from the wave and eventually manage to find each other and make it to safer ground. Maria suffers a badly cut leg in the process. They rescue a young boy, Daniel, and are saved by a group of locals who take them to the nearest hospital, believing the rest of the family had died.
I don't really need to go into the finer points of the story, they unfold in time.
I know Naomi Watts is nominated for an Oscar for her role and she is very good but it surprises me that Tom Holland, who plays young Lucas, didn't get some recognition. He's stunning and really is the heart of the story. The lessons he learns from the ordeal are so poignant and the main lesson is something we should all pay more attention to. I'll let you figure that one out for yourself but is should stand out.
It really is amazing how detailed the re-enactment of the tsunami is. I know technology continues to forge ahead but it almost looks like they really staged one.
As I have said, this isn't an easy film to watch. It is heartbreaking at times, shocking to watch given we know it really happened just over eight years ago, though you will find it strangely uplifting in hindsight.
Definitely a well made, well told film with a delicate topic given its reality.
An 8 out of 10.

Jack Reacher

Being a massive fan of the books I was always going to be very critical of the Jack Reacher movie.
The ninth book in the series, One Shot, is the book that has been adapted and while it may seem strange to start at book nine it's one of the books that always seemed like it would make a good film.
And it does.
First to the casting of Tom Cruise. I was against him as Reacher and I still am. I would have thought someone like Adam Baldwin would have made an ideal Reacher but we're stuck with Cruise.
To give him some credit, Cruise plays Reacher very well but he just simply isn't Reacher. He's not imposing enough and he doesn't have the presence that Reacher commands.
One Shot, or Jack Reacher as the movie is called, opens with five people being randomly slain by a sniper.
Very quickly James Barr (Joseph Sikora) is arrested in a seemingly open and shut case. Except that he won't admit to the crime and has one simple request - 'get Jack Reacher'.
As it happens, Reacher sees his arrest on television and sets straight off to find him. When he arrives, much to the relief of Barr's lawyer, he says he's not there to save him he's there to bury him.
If you've read One Shot you'll know they have left out two major characters from the movie and at least one of them, Rosemary Barr, I think was necessary to have in the film. She's the one that appeals to Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike) to take on her brother's case when nobody else will and she is also crucial to uncovering the link between her brother and other major characters in the movie.
Without her it seems all a bit too disjointed as far as narrative goes.
I know movies and books are different and while Lee Child, who has a cameo in the movie, has said he writes the books and others can write the movies I think he should have insisted on Rosemary's inclusion.Having said all of this I do think this is an excellent adaptation of the book, it unfolded as I imagined when I was reading it and while the ending is a fair bit different it still didn't leave me unsatisfied.
Australian actor Jai Courtney is pretty good in his role as Charlie, the right hand man as it were to The Zec (Werner Herzog), the book/film's villain who is poorly explained in the movie.
If you're a fan of the Jack Reacher book series then you've probably already seen the movie and have an opinion on Tom Cruise - probably similar to mine. If you haven't read them, I'd recommend the books as they are easy reads and are never dull. Start with Killing Floor, the first book.
A comment on something I read in a newspaper review regarding the timing of the release of this film not long after the school shooting in America. Shame on the reviewer for connecting the tragic events there with the release of Jack Reacher.
As for the film, an 8 out of 10, and I hope they do more but Cruise will NEVER be Reacher.

The 2012 Raymo Awards

It's that time again when we look back at the films of the previous year and 2012 was an interesting one with highlights scattered throughout the year.
All up I saw 40 movies at the cinema, on par with 2011, although only 11 managed a score of 8/10 or more but a total of 23 scored 7/10 or above. So it's been a reasonably good quality year.

Here's the top 5:

1. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower (10/10).
Setting a new standard is my first ever 10 and as it was pointed out to me 'if you can't fault it you have to give it a 10'. Charlie is a 'wallflower', a quiet, unassuming and somewhat closed off teen who begins freshman year in high school having recovered from the suicide of his best friend. He eventually strikes up a friendship with Patrick and Sam, two seniors who open Charlie's eyes to the world. It doesn't sound a 10 on the surface but it's a much deeper story than that, delicately told and is led by a stunning performance from Logan Lerman as Charlie. Couldn't fault it one bit and is easily the movie of the year.
2. The Iron Lady (9/10)
While overall not the most accessible movie given the flashback method, it is the absolute performance of the year by Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher that not only saves the film but makes it memorable. You have to pinch yourself at times to remember that it is actually Streep in the title role, she's that good. The movie tells the story of the rise of Thatcher in a male dominated political world and while it could have done a better job of making it engaging it was still outstanding and a worthy runner-up.
3. The Avengers (9/10)
Say what you like about Batman but Joss Whedon set a new standard for superhero movies when he, finally, joined Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow to form The Avengers. Proving a superhero movie can have action and intelligence, this was a great ride giving each character a significant role and not pushing one into the background. We knew Joss Whedon would do a great job - you just have to look at Buffy - and all I can say is bring on the sequel.
4. Shame (8.5/10)
Being about addiction, this is far from everyone's cup of tea but it is definitely a highlight from 2012. Brandon is a successful New York businessman whose life outside of work is dedicated to servicing his addiction for sex. He goes to great lengths, even shutting out his family, to satisfy himself. His world is turned upside down when his sister arrives unannounced (though we do hear her call him a number of times, he ignores it). Michael Fassbender is amazing in his role and while it is disturbing, with a shattering end scene, Shame is in many ways an important film.
5. The Hunger Games (8.5/10)
Somewhat of a surprise inclusion in the top five, the first of the trilogy by Suzanne Collins was thoroughly enjoyable and had me eager to read the books (sadly the second one isn't so great but let's hope the movie is better). Katniss and Peter are chosen to represent District 12 in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death of 24 teens with only one winner staged by the Capital as a way of keeping the peace following the downfall of America. Not knowing much about it helped, I guess, but it is a very well put together action, of sorts, film and certainly a better introduction to its series than Twilight was.

Honourable mentions: Argo (outstanding), Looper (intelligent sci-fi), The Intouchables, The Dark Knight Rises (good series finish, bad villain choice), Margin Call, Arbitrage and Ted.
Surprise of the year: Pitch Perfect. Wow, who would have thought a Glee-like musical could have been so much fun and so well written and performed. One of the more fun experiences at the movies in years. Runner-up Rock Of Ages - ditto.
Flop of the year: Killing Them Sotfly. Overhyped, disjointed, somewhat dull.

Other thoughts: James Bond is going downhill with Skyfall definitely not up to scratch and unnecessary remakes/adaptations were far too common (Spiderman, Total Recall and Snow White).

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

So it has finally come to an end - I'm going to assume if you're reading this you are somewhat interested in Twilight and have seen the movies or read the books.
In order to cash in on the fact there are only four books, Breaking Dawn was split in two - a la Harry Potter - and we have Breaking Dawn Part 2 .
The big flaw in the second half is the start....it's almost as though they filmed the whole thing at once then split it in two. There is very little joining of the two films, even a 'previously' bit might have helped.
We pick up the story as Bella (Kristen Stewart) wakes as a newborn vampire much to Edward's (Robert Pattinson) delight.
They have a daughter (I always hated Renesmee as a name) who Jacob (Taylor Lautner) has imprinted upon and is therefore obsessed with, somewhat creepily.
The first 20 minutes or so is spent with Bella revelling in her newfound strength, agility and poise and we watch her child grow quickly into a 10-ish year-old probably.
It is then that Irina (Maggie Grace) sees her and wrongly believes she is an immortal child and reports this to the Volturi who set out to destroy it, setting up a confrontation with the Cullens.
After you get through the slow patch at the start, which could have been helped so much by developing Bella's newborn character - she was very well restrained when you consider how newborns have been described through the series, there are some pretty funny and well done scenes, though nothing will top the baseball scene in the first movie.
When Jacob decides to show Charlie (Billy Burke) that he is a werewolf it's hilarious, and also the obligatory scene where he gets his shirt off.
The 'friends' of the Cullens that assemble to witness to the Volturi are very well imagined from what they were described as in the book.
There's a 'twist' that is talked about that deviates from the book but I'm not sure that it is such a big twist, more an extrapolation of what might have happened had it been written about in the book...you'll know when you see it/if you have seen it.
Overall I've enjoyed the Twilight series.
It's not high art or intellectual fiction but it is enjoyable, if a little on the soppy side.
I still don't think the casting was right in places (particularly Edward) but that's just my opinion. There is a nice touch at the end of Breaking Dawn Part 2 where they go through the entire cast from the five films, as well as use the book as way of ending the story.
Considering they did it fairly rushed when Twilight became a hit I think the series was well done - it is just a shame it had to be rushed because there are things in all five movies that could have been done so much better.
As far as this film goes, a 7.5 out of 10, and that'd be about true for the series as a whole.

Arbitrage

It's refreshing to see a character and story driven film for a change.
While not quite up to the excellent Margin Call from earlier in the year, Arbitrage is a very well put together drama vehicle for Richard Gere.
He plays Robert Miller, a financial whiz whose company is secretly losing value as it is crippled by debt and bad investment.
But that's underneath his perfect family man exterior.
When we meet Miller he's arriving late to his own birthday dinner at which he proclaims how wonderful his family is and how important they are.
Of course he rushes off to meet up with his mistress Julie (Laetitia Casta), a struggling French artist, and plans to run away with her.
Miller's seemingly perfect life begins to unravel when a tragic incident threatens to expose his secret life.
Gere is the centre of this film and he carries the responsibility like the seasoned pro he is. His character is not unlike the businessman we met in Pretty Woman all those years ago, though Miller is a lot more deceitful.
In an attempt to avoid being exposed Miller steps over anyone and everyone he purports to care about - his wife Ellen (Susan Sarandon), daughter and business associate Brooke (Brit Marling), Julie of course and a young man,  Jimmy (Nate Parker), who helps him out of respect for his father's association with Miller.
Then there is the NY policeman (Tim Roth) who thinks he can bring the rich high flyer down.
I could go deeper into the plot but that would spoil it, it's better not knowing what is coming. That said, there aren't any major twists.
As mentioned, it's great to watch something that doesn't rely on CGI, or vulgar humour, or comic book popularity and see a real story for a change.
Quite often the best movies are the ones that aren't hyped and that rely on the cast and the script to deliver the goods to the audience.
Arbitrage is one film that does deliver. I enjoyed it as well as being a little disturbed by the outcome. A 7.5 out of 10.

The Watch

The Watch is a great example of how previews can mislead you. I expected to be in for a rollicking good time but actually was given some laughs and the feeling that I had been cheated.
Just because you throw together a bunch of old action stars and come up with a hilarious send up of their genre (Expendables) doesn't mean you can put a few funny people in the same film and make it work.
Evan (Ben Stiller) runs the local Costco, the running club, the Spanish table and a host of other community events but when a beloved employee is murdered he decides to take it upon himself to find the killer and sets up Neighbourhood Watch as the police are rather insipid.
An eclectic group of interested parties turn up to the first meeting - Bob (Vince Vaughn) is a man's man looking for a bunch of guys to hang out with, Franklin (Jonah Hill) is a rather manic wannabe cop who likes the idea of a vigilante group and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade) who is a British recent arrival in town who seeks illicit encounters with local Asian women.
It soon becomes apparent that the murder was done by an alien and we're thrown into another alien invasion plotline.
Some of it works but most of it doesn't. Stiller is Stiller, control freak not unlike his Meet The Parents character; Vaughn is his usual chatty, over the top self, Hill isn't bad and seems to enjoy playing a loose cannon. I was most disappointed by Ayoade, who I love in the IT Crowd. I just couldn't buy 'Moss' saying a lot of the things he said in this film and his comic timing went criminally unused.
I don't really need to go any further.
If you must see this then lower your expectations, it does have some pretty good moments but overall it really shouldn't be classed as a comedy because it's not really that funny. A 5 out of 10.

Hope Springs

Let's face it, it's hard not to like anything that the wonderful Meryl Streep does these days.
In yet another example of how the trailer doesn't do the movie justice, Hope Springs sees Streep team up with Tommy Lee Jones for a drama about a couple whose marriage is dying. The trailer will have you believe it is a whimsical comedy (does have some funny moments, though).
Streep is Kay, a housewife stuck in Groundhog Day-style life with her husband Arnold (Jones) and she isn't happy. They hardly speak, the sleep in different rooms and they haven't been intimate for years.
She decides to try an intensive couples therapy, dragging a resisting Arnold to Hope Springs to meet with Dr Feld (Steve Carrell) in an effort to save their marriage.
Arnold thinks there's nothing to save, he doesn't see any problems and is rather grumpy and dismissive of the process. This is much to Kay's disappointment.
As Feld digs deeper into their relationship, or lack thereof lately, we find out what attracted them to each other when they were younger and how their marriage just started to fade at a time when it was supposed to be at its most fun.
I must admit there are some uncomfortable scenes here, but that depends on how you feel about people in their 60s attempting to have sex and performing acts of foreplay.
It's done fairly tastefully though, and quite tongue in cheek mostly.
Naturally, this is another vehicle for Streep. It's directed by David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) and Streep is engaging and touching as a woman desperate to restore the love and passion to her marriage. Tommy Lee Jones is his usual gruff self but you can also see through Arnold's eyes here - and there's a great metaphor about a client of his who he's had the same conversation with for 17 years. When you see it you'll know why it's poignant.
Hope Springs is a little misleading in a way, you think you're in for something fairly light-hearted - and there are funny moments - but it's actually quite sad and stark in the way it depicts a marriage that is dying. Does it get saved? Well, you'll have to see to find out.
Not exactly what I was expecting but Meryl is fantastic, Steve Carrell isn't bad either as the therapist for that matter. A 7 out of 10.

The Expendables 2

It's action hero overload again with The Expendables 2 taking absurd action to new levels and the audience along for one heck of a fun ride.
If you've ever seen the film Shoot Em Up (if you haven't it's worth a watch) then you know what you're in for. This sequel is a worthy addition to the 'so bad it's freakin awesome' category of film.
There's not a lot in the way of plot but the story is essentially that Church (Bruce Willis) feels he is owed a favour by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) for events of the first movie and calls upon him and his comrades to extract something from a safe in a fallen plane in the old Soviet Union.
When one of his own is killed retrieving the package, which is taken by the terribly named Jean Villain (Jean Claude Van Damme), Ross vows revenge and sets out after the bad guy.
The great thing about these Expendables movies is that it brings together all the great 80s/early 90s action stars that you would have never got in the same film 20 years ago: the likes of Stallone, Willis, Schwarzenegger, Statham, Norris, Li, Van Damme, Lundgren etc.
It'd be interesting to know what the body count was in the movie, I reckon it'd be close to a record!
One of the stand out performers though, was the youngest cast member Liam Hemsworth who plays Billy 'The Kid'. He looks like more of an 'actor' than his brother (Chris, aka Thor) rather than an action star and time, I guess, will tell.
On the score of pure entertainment, you've got say this is a four-star film.
The fight scene between Stallone and Van Damme is pretty funny and the latter's accent is hilarious as well.
But we'll bring it down a notch because it is just so ridiculous, over the top, and funny (with some wickedly funny one-liners) and go with a 7 out of 10.
Let's hope if they do a third film they can continue along the same lines, because the sequel is one of those rare times when it's actually better than the original.

Total Recall

It's a good thing I'm not a passionate fan of the original Total Recall or I'd be much more critical of the 2012 version.
While I don't really know why it was necessary to re-imagine (this is the term Hollywood uses these days) this one it isn't all bad. In fact, it does have some good points.
It's certainly not as out there as the Arnie version from 1990 and it isn't set on Mars (though that does get a mention) but somewhere a lot closer to home, for me anyway.
The world director Len Wiseman has imagined is one of the fine points of the movie. It's 2099 and the world has virtually destroyed itself to the point that only the United British Federation and The Colony (which is essentially Australia - surely a little in-joke on British colonisation in the 1700s) remain.
There's a rather cool, but completely implausible, method of travel between the two populous areas - a fast train through the centre of the Earth called 'The Fall', another great innovation.
Anyway, Colin Farrell takes on the 'Arnie' role. He's Doug Quaid, a lowly factory worker who is bored with his life - despite being married to the wonderful Lori (Kate Beckinsale) - and seeks out a business called Rekall which promises to implant fantastic memories in place of actually having the experience.
Everything goes awry when Quaid wants to have a secret agent memory implanted - and, well, you're left to work out whether he actually is a spy.
It turns out Quaid isn't married and is actually Carl Hauser, a super spy working as a double agent though we're not really sure if it is for the Resistance, led by Mattihas (Bill Nighy), or for Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) who wants to wipe out The Colony. Getting in the way of him working out whose side he is on is Melina (Jessica Biel), Hauser's girlfriend who could pass as a young Beckinsale.
At the end I basically felt like it was an inferior remake, it felt too safe even though they had the obligatory appearance of the girl with the three boobs. Although the experiences wasn't quite as severe as my deja vu during the Amazing Spider-Man.
Having said that I really enjoyed Beckinsale's performance, though I might be a little biased as a bit of a fan. She was almost Terminator-like and clearly revelled in the role.
I'm glad I didn't watch the original prior to seeing this version, as mentioned I reckon I'd be cutting it to pieces right about now. It has its moments but I can only go to a 6 out of 10.
Surely people have some original ideas out there so we don't have to sit through unnecessary sequels and remakes!

The Campaign

I'm not really a fan of Will Ferrell and I find Zach Galifianakis funny most of the time so The Campaign  was really a 50/50 call for me.
Cam Brady (Ferrell) is the incumbent congressman for the 14th District and is facing a landslide win in the polls as he's running unopposed.
However, he's also taking advantage of his position but breaking just about every law of decency and gets caught out when he drunkenly, and mistakenly, calls a Christian couples home to leave a crude message to his mistress.
It's then that corrupt tycoons Glenn and Wade Motch (John Lithgow and Dan Ackroyd) decide they can oust Brady and put in a puppet who they can use to turn the North Carolina district into a sweatshop for cheap Chinese labour and make a fortune.
They decide on the unassuming, and a little odd, Marty Huggins (Galifianakis) to contest the seat and thus the campaign begins - and nothing is off limits.
Huggins is your classic simpleton - he's not necessarily dumb but he is certainly naive and a believer in the good in people. So the Motch brothers send in a campaign manager, Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott), to turn Huggins into a contender.
Overall I have to say I didn't mind the movie. The big problem I have though is that it wasn't funny, particularly, but it was still pretty good. Sure, there were a few laugh out loud scenes - one involving the confessions of the Huggins family - but I'd have to say I certainly wasn't in stitches.
Ferrell is actually pretty good in his role as was his sparring partner but for some reason they couldn't produce the laughs I was expecting.
That makes it a little hard to judge. As a comedy it pretty much fails because, simply, I didn't find it funny. But then again it was still good enough to hold my interest. I sense a missed opportunity here.
It seems the idea was good and even the casting was good but perhaps they couldn't decide on whether they were making a satire or a comedy or something in between.
Make of that what you will....it's not bad but just not funny. 6 out of 10.

Magic Mike

It may not look like it on the surface but there is actually a pretty good movie in Magic Mike. The problem is that it isn't quite realised.
Not surprisingly the movie has been marketed with the soft porn angle of the male revue it centres on but, a little like Coyote Ugly about a decade ago, there's actually a story behind the gratuity.
Mike (Channing Tatum) is the headline act, known as Magic Mike, of the revue but it isn't his life. He's attempting to start his own business building furniture but is having trouble getting the financing.
At one of his jobs he meets Adam (Alex Pettyfer), a 19-year-old whose life has no real direction and he doesn't seem to have the drive to give it one. Mike eventually takes Adam under his wing and introduces him to the world of stripping for women's entertainment, run by ageing stripper Dallas (Matthew McConaughey).
And Adam, known as The Kid, is a big hit.
The problems begin to stack up as Adam's sister Brooke (Cody Horn) is less than approving of his new lifestyle despite the money that it brings in. Adam clearly struggles to handle the new world of money, readily available sex and popularity.
As I mentioned at the start there is actually a decent film in here but director Steven Soderbergh doesn't seem to be able to make up his mind. We see the glittering lights and highs of the world that Adam is brought into, for a good looking young guy it's heaven.
He also gives us glimpses of the downside but doesn't take us all the way - Mike realises at 30 his days are numbered and he clearly doesn't want to be the next Dallas, there's the sex and drugs side that isn't quite as effective as it could have been.
There's also the very obvious sexual tension between Mike and Brooke that is taken a step too far for the movie to be believable, which is a shame because as a viewer I was able to put two and two together and didn't need to be told.
It's possibly a shade too long, not quite as tightly edited as it could have been and I would have loved to have seen Adam challenged a bit more by Mike towards the end. It's almost like he sees a younger version of himself but feels powerless to stop him from heading in the same direction.
Overall Magic Mike will go down as a film that had potential to be a Boogie Nights-style movie but they opted for the more commercial stripper angle. Financially it may prove to be the right move but as a viewer it sold a good story short. A 6 out of 10.

The Dark Knight Rises

It's very hard to walk into a theatre with reasonable expectations of a film like The Dark Knight Rises because it's been pegged as a 5-star film and, in one review I saw, ''will restore your faith in the motion picture''.
It was never going to live up to the hype - and it doesn't.
That said, Christopher Nolan has done a fantastic job with his Batman trilogy.
I'll say up front that this is inferior to The Dark Knight and that has nothing to do with the mysticism surrounding Heath Ledger's now iconic performance as The Joker.
Here's my review of The Dark Knight .
Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is a broken man as we rejoin Gotham City eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Gotham now celebrates low crime thanks to the Harvey Dent law put in place when Dent was given credit for saving the city in the previous film. (We all know though what he was actually up to).
There's a mysterious series of 'Cat' burglaries in Gotham being staged by Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and there's a new terrorist on the loose called Bane (Tom Hardy).
Bane, who calls himself Gotham's reckoning, sets out to detonate a nuclear bomb which was created, sort of, by Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and Miranda Tagg (Marion Cotillard) in the form of a fusion reactor to provide Gotham with clean energy.
It's time for Batman to resurface but when he does he's pursued having taken the fall for Dent's crimes. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), injured early in the film, begins grooming a new detective John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is one of the few people in town to still believe in 'The Batman'.
At 164 minutes there is a lot of ground covered so I won't go into the intricacies of the plot, but needless to say Bane wreaks havoc on Gotham and it's up to Batman to again come to the rescue.
What The Dark Knight Rises does well is ties up the trilogy though there are one or two ends left open, which I found interesting. We also get cameos from a couple of previous villains Ra's Al Ghul (Liam Neeson) and Dr Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) that I didn't think added anything although Murphy's cameo was amusing.
The main problem I had was with the villain Bane. He came across as more of a thug than a true evil genius which made him harder to warm to than The Joker. His voice was interesting, though.
There also wasn't nearly enough of Batman himself. After his early car chase with the police he confronts Bane and is beaten to pulp and then doesn't reappear until the climax.
However, I loved Anne Hathaway in her role. Though never actually referred to as Catwoman we all know that's who she was and her outfit was up there with Michelle Pfeiffer's. She also had an attitude that I've never seen Hathaway pull off before in her previous roles - she was the standout performance for me and in some ways made up for the absence of Batman.
As mentioned, even though Nolan's trilogy is wrapped up he does leave a loose end or two.
The main one surrounds the character of John Blake. We discover, after he tosses in his job with the police, that John is not his real first name - his name is actually Robin.
The ending will have you screaming - 'another sequel' or at least 'spin-off'. And from what I understand from my little knowledge of the comic books this is actually plausible. Though I can't understand why Nolan would want to 'conclude' something in this way.
From all of this you'll think I didn't like the film. Well, I did like it and I thought it was excellent.
But, it is absolutely not the best of Nolan's three offerings and I'm not even sure it is the second best. There's no doubt you'll enjoy it if you're a fan of the series - an 8 out of 10 - but be warned you might be a little let down if you're expecting a masterpiece.

Not Suitable For Children

The best way I can describe Not Suitable For Children  is like a puzzle that has all the right pieces but that's not put together properly.
I really wanted to like this one more than I ultimately did. Not just because it's an Australian film, it's an interesting story just one that didn't quite gel for me.
Jonah (Ryan Kwanten) is your average single twentysomething living in Sydney. He parties, hooks up and basically has no responsibility.
It's during one of his random hook ups that he discovers a lump on a testicle. It turns out he has cancer and must have the offending piece of anatomy removed. He'll be fine but the catch is that he won't be able to conceive a child. So Jonah sets out to find someone who wants to have a baby with him.
Jonah's housemates Stevie (Sarah Snook) and Gus (Ryan Corr) realise this is a bad idea but are seemingly powerless to stop him trying to convince ex-girlfriends and other random women he knows to carry his baby.
Stevie, who professes to never want children, eventually tries to set Jonah up with a lesbian couple and another friend from work who might be interested but to no avail. She then decides she'll make an arrangement and the burning sexual tension between the two finally gets the better of them, unbeknownst to Gus.
The cast is great. Ryan Kwanten plays the lovable Jonah brilliantly, in some ways he's not unlike the Griff character from his film Griff The Invisible a couple of years ago. Kind of vulnerable as well as confident.
Sarah Snook grows on you, perhaps it's her character that is a little slow to develop. Ryan Corr, who we know from Packed To The Rafters, is the ultimate sidekick. It's almost like they took Coby from Rafters, made him a little less bumbling, and planted him in the film. He's great and he gets most of the funny lines - including the very last one in the movie which is a riot - and seems oddly obsessed with seeing the cancerous testicle once it has been removed.
So why didn't it quite work? I think it spent too much time trying to decide what type of movie it is. They would have been better served going for a drama with elements of the rom-com rather than the other way around because it took too long to start to work in that way. You're basically inside the last half an hour before that all clicks.
It's an excellent story idea....a guy whose thoughts are so far from parenthood and settling down suddenly finds being a father his top priority, just as he's given up he finds love.
I wouldn't discourage anyone from giving this a go, you might get more out of it than I did or it might resonate more. A 7 out of 10, which is still good, but I was hoping for an 8 or more.

The Amazing Spider-Man

I felt a profound sense of deva ju watching The Amazing Spider-Man for obvious reasons.
I've seen it before!
It was only 10 years ago that Marvel brought Spider-Man to the big screen starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, and only five years since Spider-Man 3 which was, admittedly, a bit too filled up having two villains on the scene.
In their wisdom, Marvel decided to do a 'Batman Begins' on the Spider-Man franchise and here we are with Andrew Garfield taking over the lead role.
Mary Jane has been brushed aside and we have Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), a character which was in Spider-Man 3 played by Bryce Dallas Howard, as the major love interest.
We kick off a little differently in the 2012 reboot learning that Peter Parker's father was working on a top secret project with Dr Curt Conners (Rhys Ifans) involving spiders which was hoped would help people who have lost limbs (like the doctor).
He disappeared shortly after leaving Peter with his aunt May (Sally Field) and uncle Ben (Martin Sheen).
After sneaking into a intern visit at Oscorp (yes, owned by Norman Osborn) to visit Dr Conners, Peter is bitten by a genetically enhanced spider and pretty soon starts discovering all these weird and wonderful powers.
The following things happen as they did in the first Spider-Man: Peter allows a criminal to get away with robbing someone and then the robber kills uncle Ben; the Dr, just like Norman Osborn, experiments on himself and is transformed into the villain (in this case The Lizard); Peter has a fight with the school bully Flash; Peter decides he needs a mask to fight crime and is tagged 'Spider-Man' by someone else; he's seen as a bad guy this time by the town police chief (Denis Leary), who is also Gwen's father; there's a major fight with the villain on a bridge; there is a funeral at the end.
What is done differently is the character of Spider-Man in that he's a bit more of a teen than Maguire's and seems to enjoy it more and makes more sarcastic comments.
The action scenes aren't particularly new or even very different from the 2002 version which is odd given the improvements in CGI.
Anyway, we all know the story. What this one does well is develops the characters a little better, though Garfield's Parker didn't seem to change physically after being bitten as Maguire's did. That said he was possibly a bit more likeable.
The Lizard was about the same as the Green Goblin and he even talked to himself like that character did.
Overall, I have to say it was a good movie but I'm certain it isn't the definitive Spider-Man film. It wasn't any better than the 2002 version which also had Willem Defoe and James Franco in the cast.
Having said that it will be interesting to see where they move now for the sequel (there will be a sequel, the scene during the credits would confirm that) because if the Green Goblin is the next villain, or Dr Octopus for that matter, then it's a bit of a cop out.
I'd have preferred them to move forward with Spider-Man, I don't know why they felt the need to go back to the start so soon.
It's good but if you've seen the 2002 film and its sequels you'll definitely have the same deva vu feeling I had with me for the two hours or so. My expectations weren't high, right from the time I heard they were making a new series, and it was pretty much as I anticipated.
I think I gave the original trilogy 9s or thereabouts, this one gets a 7 out of 10.

Prometheus

A movie like Prometheus was always going to have a lot to live up to given it has been widely reviewed as a prequel to the classic 1979 film Alien.
In some ways it is most definitely intended to precede that film but I think director Ridley Scott has done well to put some distance between them.
Because of this connection to a legendary film a lot of critics have been pretty savage in their disdain. Indeed the reviews I was told by others who had seen it ranged from no good to outstanding.
I'm not going to go into the intricacies of the plot and what planet the ship lands on etc, you can find that out elsewhere.
Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) are scientists who discover a link to the origins of mankind and their discovery prompts rich tycoon Peter Weyland (an unrecognisable Guy Pearce) to fund a trip to a faraway galaxy in search of answers under the guidance of Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron).
When the crew of the Prometheus arrive they discover a strip of land that has been cleared and several dome shaped buildings erected.
Naturally the crew checks out their finding and they discover a strange labyrinth with a large number of dead creatures and a room that seems to be a tomb or a temple.
When the ship's android David (Michael Fassbender) smuggles something from the room back onto the ship and gets Holloway to consume some of the strange substance he has discovered all hell breaks loose.
Being spoken in the same terms as the Alien series is a bit unfair but you do get insight into the origin of the species seen in the original series. You do have to wait for it, though.
Fassbender is particularly good in his role. David, being an android, can't feel emotion and the actor does an outstanding job of appearing cold, aloof and very calculated in his moves as he carries out the wishes of his master Weyland.
There's enough tension in there to keep you on your toes and a little of the horror that you'd expect from an Alien movie (think more movies 1 and 2, not 3 and 4). Given the trail blazed by those films and our general desensitisation to gore the movie isn't as unsettling as it could have been say 20 or 30 years ago.
I think it might benefit from a second viewing, there is so much to work out in so little time (even though the film is over two hours long) you don't really pay a lot of attention to the characters.
Overall, if you can manage to see Prometheus with an open mind and not associate it too closely to Alien (let's face it, Rapace's character is no Ripley) then you'll go a long way toward liking it.
The ending is a little weak, I might add, but really, how do you top 'get away from her, you bitch'?
I thought a 7 out of 10, and I'll say it was a lot more interesting than I was expecting.

Ted

If you've seen the TV show Family Guy then you'll know what to expect from Ted which is the first movie from its creator Seth McFarlane.
The voice of narrator Patrick Stewart tells us the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) who as a young boy made a Christmas wish that his bear Teddy could be a real friend.
As it always does, his wish is granted and Ted comes to life.
We flash forward some 27 years and John and Ted are still together ('thunder buddies for life' is their hilarious (wait and see it) bond) much to the frustration of John's girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis).
Ted is far from the innocent child's play buddy he was when John was eight. He's now a surly, offensive, pot smoking ex-celebrity.
The last straw for Lori comes when Ted has invited four hookers over one night to party and one of them crosses many lines in what she is dared to do. I just can't bring myself to say what it is.
So Ted's forced to move out and get a job and his own apartment but the fact that John still spends so much time with him continues to gnaw at his relationship with Lori.
For extra plot we also meet Ted's girlfriend Tami Lynn (Jessica Barth) and a weird father (Giovanniu Ribisi)and son pair who want to buy Ted from John. They're responsible for a few pretty funny scenes.
Given what he produces with Family Guy, you know that Ted is a pretty lowbrow comedy but it is very funny and does have a heart. There's even a Peter Griffin reference and a rather hilarious uncredited cameo from Ryan Reynolds plus, oddly, singer Norah Jones.
I had pretty high expectations going into the film, because the trailer was just so funny, and it lived up to them. I wasn't blown away by it but there's enough here to keep you chuckling throughout most of the movie as well as several very, very funny scenes.
One of the more original comedies to come out for a while, Ted is definitely not for the young ones but if they already watch Family Guy then this will be nothing new. I thought it was funnier than American Pie 4 and up there with The Inbetweeners Movie. A 7.5 out of 10, and a good laugh.

Snow White & The Huntsman

It was with about a medium amount of expectation that I viewed Snow White & The Huntsman and, unfortunately, I was still a little let down.
Continuing the modern habit of twisting the fairy tale around (see Red Riding Hood), we see Snow White (Kristen Stewart) escaping from her cell where the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) has had her imprisoned since she was a child to set out and find her father's army to take her down.
See, Ravenna murdered the king (Noah Huntly) shortly after marrying him and proceeded to wreak havoc in his kingdom.
Ravenna's endless beauty comes from sucking the beauty out of younger people but once the Mirror tells her that Snow White is fairer than her she decides to kill her in order to have everlasting youth.
So, once Snow White has escaped she summons the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to track her down in the Dark Forest (where she has no power) and bring her back to the castle. When he realises he has been tricked the Huntsman becomes her protector as she searches for Duke Hammond (Vincent Regan) and reclaims her rightful place as the princess and heir to the throne.
Snow White's young friend William (Sam Claflin) discovers she is alive and also heads out to bring her home, teaming up with the Queen's force to find her.
I had a few problems with this film.
First, I think Kristen Stewart was horribly miscast. She just looks almost exactly like Bella Swan from the Twilight movies so it is hard to see her as Snow White.
I expected more from Theron, I expected an evil queen along the lines of Anna from the updated V series - a villain that made your skin crawl. But Theron's Ravenna behaved like a spoiled brat and just did a lot of shouting. Pretty disappointed there because I love a good villain.
There were some good moments, particularly when Snow White meets the dwarfs and is taken into their fairy land. And, admittedly some of the action is pretty well done.
With regard to the original story - yes, we do hear 'Mirror, Mirror on the wall....' etc, there is a poison apple, seven dwarfs (though not with the traditional names), and a kiss that awakens Snow White.
I wouldn't say I was bored through the film but I certainly wasn't captivated. The soundtrack isn't bad but I think the biggest problem lies in the casting and the character of Ravenna.  They should have opted away from two actors in massive franchises at the moment - Stewart, as mentioned, just looks like Bella, and Hemsworth is not that much unlike Thor (aside from the obvious hammer and costume).
I suspect there will be a sequel here and I think they are battling uphill if they think it will be better than this mediocre offering. A 6 out of 10. See it if you must but you're not missing anything if you don't.

Rock Of Ages

I know nothing about the stage show and how it translates to the screen but what I can say about Rock Of Ages  is that it is damn good fun!
As far as plot goes it is your standard 'country girl comes to the big city looking for fame and falls for the first hot young guy she meets' story. Only it is set in 1987 and told through the words of classic 80s rock songs.
Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and Drew (Diego Bonita) are the young couple in question and their romance hits a rough patch when the legendary Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) plays at the Bourbon Bar where they work.
The bar is run by an odd couple Dennis (Alec Baldwin) and Lonny (Russell Brand) while other notable actors include Bryan Cranston and Catherine Zeta-Jones as the mayor and his wife Patricia who are trying to rid LA of the 'strip' that the bar is on, and Paul Giammati as Jaxx's manager.
While the lead couple are competent it is the seasoned performers that shine through.
If you are a fan of 80s rock then you won't notice the plot, or lack thereof, and you'll be too busy singing along to the soundtrack of your youth. I know I was.
Here are some of the classics covered (and not badly in some cases) - Waiting For A Girl Like You (Foreigner), Wanted Dead Or Alive (Bon Jovi), Pour Some Sugar On Me (Def Leppard), Paradise City (Guns 'N' Roses), Nothing But A Good Time (Poison), Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Pat Benatar), I Love Rock 'N' Roll (Joan Jett), I Want To Know What Love Is (Foreigner), Can't Fight This Feeling (REO Speedwagon), Every Rose Has Its Thorn (Poison) and Don't Stop Believing (Journey). To name some.
I don't think I've had as much fun in a movie since I saw Hairspray, which was also made by Adam Shankman. There were a number of laugh out loud moments, one particular one featuring Baldwin and Brand, and the whole feel of the film was fun and frivolous.
There was one goof that slipped through - in an early scene in a Tower Records store Skid Row's 'I Remember You' is playing in the background....Skid Row's album wasn't released until 1989, two years after the scene was set. Having said that I love that song too so I didn't mind it being there.
So, great fun and 2 hours you will really enjoy. A 7.5 out of 10.