The 2015 DJG Movie Awards Nominations

With this years Oscar nominations managing to make 2014 look not as good as it actually was, I decided to make own awards nominations to see if I can get better nominee and winners than Academy Awards themselves.
I truly feel that my nominations look so much better than a bunch of old gentleman in Los Angeles could create.

A few of the categories you see in the Oscars I have decided not to include as I do not have the knowledge of what is good or not e.g. sound editing, sound mixing etc.
I have also added a category we only see in the Critics Choice Awards, the Best Acting Ensemble. This is basically given to the best cast.

In total, I have 12 categories, each have five nominations apart from best film for which there are ten. There is no exception in the Best Original Song category as I have six nominees as found it hard narrow it down to five and could not decide which one to discard.

Here is the full list of the nominees. Let me know what you think and if you agree with them:

Best Film:
Birdman
Boyhood
Edge Of Tomorrow
Gone Girl
Guardians Of The Galaxy
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Interstellar
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Lego Movie
The Raid 2

Best Director:
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gareth Evans - The Raid 2
David Fincher - Gone Girl
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Birdman
Richard Linklater - Boyhood

Best Actor:
Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton - Birdman
David Oyelowo - Selma
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory Of Everything

Best Actress:
Emily Blunt - Edge Of Tomorrow
Felicity Jones - The Theory Of Everything
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon - Wild

Best Supporting Actor:
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Toby Kebbell - Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Edward Norton - Birdman
Tyler Perry - Gone Girl
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress:
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Jessica Chastain - Interstellar
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
Rene Russo - Nightcrawler
Emma Stone - Birdman

Best Acting Ensemble:
Birdman
Guardians Of The Galaxy
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Raid 2
X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Best Screenplay:
Belle
Birdman
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Whiplash

Best Cinematography:
Birdman
Gone Girl
It Follows
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Raid 2

Best Original Score:
Tyler Bates - Guardians Of The Galaxy
Hans Zimmer - Interstellar
Rich Vreeland - It Follows
Steve Moore - The Guest
Justin Hurwitz - Whiplash

Best Original Song:
22 Jump Street - Jump Street by Angel Haze ft. Ludacris
Big Eyes - Big Eyes by Lana Del Rey
Maleficent - Once Upon A Dream by Lana Del Rey
Selma - Glory by John Legend ft. Common
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies - Last Goodbye by Billy Boyd
The Lego Movie - Everything Is Awesome by Tegan And Sara

Best Visual Effects:
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Godzilla
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Interstellar
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies

Review: Kingsman: The Secret Service

Anything with Matthew Vaughn involved only means one thing, high-octane action.

I love anything Vaughn has directed so far. From the slick gangster flick Layer Cake, to the absolutely wonderful and charming Stardust. Vaughn also directed my favourite Marvel film X-Men: First Class.
I also cannot forget the modern cult classic Kick-Ass.

The London born director always manages to surprise me with whatever project he is part of. One thing especially is that he does not sanitize his films to appeal to the younger audience, like other big actions films are doing. He stick to his guns and keeps at the rating it should be (15). Now, we have a  spy thriller with a few of Britain's best actors leading the way. It is also his third consecutive film that is based off a comic (preceding Kick-Ass and X-Men).

Well firstly, you can clearly see from the start that we are watching a Matthew Vaughn film. The action is non-stop and the characters look like they have just leaped out from a graphic novel.
As we are romping along, the action is enjoyable but not all of the gags were working for me. Thankfully, the action set-pieces were not failing and I was starting to see that this could be Vaughn just having fun with the spy genre.
Then the final act is Vaughn going completely and utterly bonkers. This is his "I don't care" moment and everything is turned up to eleven. If it was any other director, it would look rather silly. But Vaughn always gives it a bit of class, and the final scene shows how much love he has for the old spy thrillers and ends it on an amusing note.

The references to the old Bond films are there for all to see. Even the poster is identical to For Your Eyes Only. It felt like it was a deconstruction of your classic Bond spy thriller, particularly a Roger Moore one. There are moments and even lines in the film that are basically saying "let's put on a party for the classic Bond's". Yet despite all the winks to spy thrillers, there is one clear reference to The Shining, which felt odd to me but still pretty cool.

None of the performances are going to win any awards, but they do the job well. Colin Firth is a great screen presence as always and is probably his most bad-ass, Mark Strong is a solid support, Samuel L. Jackson delivers and Michael Ciane is...... well, Michael Caine. But the real star is newcomer Taron Egerton. He gives us an energetic vibe that makes his character really enjoyable to watch. There is also a nice surprise appearance from an actor many people will love to see back on the big screen.

Soundtracks for Vaughn's films to have been regularly composed by Henry Jackman, and he is back for another score. It is an absolute belter. He is becoming one of my favourite composers at the moment. Keep it up Mr. Jackman.

The only things I would criticise was that some of the gags did not quite work and just generally awkward. Also, a lot of the minor characters felt a bit weak for me. I could mention more negatives, but since the director was purposefully not making this a serious feature, then he can get away with everything else.

Fans of full-on-action will love this. It has that great mix of roller-coaster moments of action, comedy and espionage. It may be bonkers, but it is fun. It is utter mayhem, with snappy one-liners with a bright and loud soundtrack stamped all over it.

In the end, I see this as Vaughn's weakest work, but I think he never intentionally tried to surpass his previous material. You can tell that he just wanted to blow things up and go to town with it. I like it that he never took this seriously and just made it fun, completely over-the-top and have a cartoonish style to it that any enjoyable spy thriller should be.
Like every Vaughn film it is never short of violence. He is known for making his films a 15, where you would think it would do well as a 12. But his ballsy attitude gives it that 'guts and guns' tone that is becoming his party piece. Given the calibre of talent on show, the over-the-top moments do not seem as cheesy or trashy as other generic action films.
Instead, it is a nice mash-up of homage to the classics and just having fun with the subject matter. But, it also gives us something new that recent actions films do not have.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Selma

Some people may not know much about the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, but they will surely know who Martin Luther King is and what he stands for.

It is hard to believe that it is only now that we are seeing a film about Dr. King.
There has been a TV series, but a film release has certainly got people talking.

A powerful opening to the film certainly shows what the directors intentions are. As the film goes on, you certainly see what position America is with the relationships between the white and the blacks in the southern states. You feel the characters pain, and by the end of it you are so overcome with emotion that just want the punch the air, cheer and clap to his extraordinary human that makes one of the most important movements of the 20th century.

Nevertheless, as good and powerful as it as, Selma still has its moments of suddenly slowing things done to a complete stand-still.
I did not mind the slight inaccuracy of historic events. But there were too many slow moments for me, even for a character driven drama such as this one.

However, I have to take my hat off to director Ava DuVernay, who I have never seen any previous material of.
You can tell it was something she felt very passionately about and wanted the whole world to know.

As for the characters, the man that is holding and pushing this film to its high success is David Oyelowo. From the very first scene, you see King in him. He was born to play this American icon. The longer the film went, the more passion that came out of him and you just cannot help yourself but cheer for him.
After all the high octane emotional moments, it was the final scene that really made him blossom as Dr. King. It even got a group of people in the screening that I was in cheering and clapping. The only thing left was the standing ovation, it was that good. That moment alone is certainly worth seeing in what is largely a must-see film in my opinion.

Although he carries the film, there are several other performances that cannot be ignored. Tom Wilkinson's portrayal of President Johnson contributes well, Caremen Ejogo as King's wife has her moments and of course Oprah Winfrey is tenacious as ever and has a great scene-stealing moment in the first half.

Undeniably, Selma will be a significant film, largely because King dominates the entire film. Oyelowo delivers, and then some. I had no idea he was British. He certainly fooled me with his American accent. Oyelowo depicts his characters passion for equal rights so well and can easily cope with carrying the film on his more than capable shoulders.
There are some tough to watch moments of chilling scenes. That is when the director is at her best and points are hammered home.
The thing that will make Selma memorable is the amazingly accurate moments at the actual locations, particularly the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Sadly, there are too many slow moments for me and that will stop me giving this film an exceptional rating. The style of film-making also may not be anything exceptional, but the performances and passionate directing certainly gives this film deserved credit. This a film that America should be proud of as it shows how far they have come and how further they can go.
I can definitely see this being used in many History classes for years to come.

Rating: 8/10

Review: American Sniper

It is been quite a while since Clint Eastwood has directed what I would consider an exceptional film.
Gran Torino in 2008 was probably the last great Eastwood film as a director. Between now and then, we have had the over-rated but still decent Invictus, the o.k. but pretty slow and boring J. Edgar and decent but unremarkable Jersey Boys.

Now, we see Eastwood back to where he usually succeeds, and that is a war story centering on an American hero. This time, it is a true one.
When you see the trailer, you are probably anticipating the same thing as everyone else. A powerful story about one of America's modern day heroes and have a highly engaging tone. To be honest, that is a lot to live up to.

Well, it has a pretty amazing opening. Then afterwards, it's takes a while to get back to where we began. I was still engaged, but not gripped enough to find it immerse viewing. In the end, I had some questions about the film as I was walking out of the screening. However, I felt pretty satisfied with my viewing experience.

Eastwood's direction may not have been ground-breaking, but it still had that Clint feel to it. He is a very 'nuts and bolts' director that makes a film as if it was fitting cogs into a machine. His style is very precise and almost militarised. He tells the story well and showed the world a hero that the whole world should know about.
One thing is for sure, he has created a big performance out of Bradley Cooper playing are main character. Cooper seems to have given the right amount of respect to the heroics and achievements of our character, but with also enough controversial moments to make us question him. The longer the film went, the more I saw the character rather than Cooper which is one asset of a performance that has to be achieved.
Everything about Cooper's performance was believable and it is almost as good as his effort in American Hustle.

There are problems with the movie however. Despite that amazing opening, the rest of it felt largely slow and towards the end it started going places I do not think it should have. There is also a huge error that I could tell others noticed. It is an error that I could not shy away from and I hope everyone else notices it, because it just pulled me out of the escapism, and it is never a good thing.

Despite Eastwood showing us an eerie look into a world that we are so far away from, there are still problems with it.
Cooper however is great, his mix of heroic and controversial characteristics is highly intriguing. It is nice to see Sienna Miller pull another top performance.
Sadly, it is not a Best Picture nominee in my opinion. It seems more like the patriotic entry for the Oscars, which is not the first time we have seen this.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Wild

When I heard about this film and saw the trailer, you cannot help but go back to Sean Penn's Into The Wild starring Emile Hirsch.

But unlike Into The Wild, the character intentions of going on an epic journey is slightly different and definitely more emotional.

Wild sees Cheryl Strayed ending a tough decade by going on the Pacific Crest Trail to basically clear the air and find her new place in this world.

From the opening scene, you can already tell that this is going to be an epic journey and that everyone is invited to experience this extraordinary true story.
With a great mix of flash-backs and inspiring moments during her journey, we see great development of not just the main character but the surroundings and landscape of the PCT.
Then after a pleasant ending, I could not stop thinking about how enjoyable this really is.

With much of the movie involving walking and our main character talking to herself, the use of flash backs and moments in her past gives the film the engagement and it hooks you in from start to finish.
Reese Witherspoon is simply brilliant in this. It is great to see her bring a powerhouse performance that puts her back on the map of high-level acting.
You really feel and sympathise for her character. She is well deserving of her Oscar nomination. There are some moments in her flash-back scenes that initially seem illogical, but she seems to make it work and it just further enhances her performance.
A lot of the minor characters were perfectly fine and helped our main star along the way. Laura Dern was a particular standout.

One aspect of a film that I do not usually comment on, is the sound. Wild, certainly got me noticing the use of the sound.
Whether it was Witherspoon's character's thoughts, flashbacks or the soundtrack, it was cleverly used and became and integral part to my viewing.

I do not really have any negatives. You may think that surely this means it gets at least a 9 rating. But it did not give me that much of an impact to warrant a 9. The only reason that I can give is that the good stuff mainly felt nice and pleasant rather than me saying "wow" and being completely blown away by it.

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot more then I expected. I imagined it to be very good, but nothing would amaze me to give this amount of high praise. It is certainly an inspiring view. It makes you want to do something so unbelievable that nobody thought you would ever do.
There are many topics that this films covers and covers well. It somehow manages to show us a lot of what modern America has become, which I was not expecting from this.
But fair play to the director who has made another Oscar contender. He continues to give us unforgettable performances by actors who are looking for a bit of a comeback e.g. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto.
It is great to see Witherspoon back on top of her game with another gem to add to her portfolio. She deserves every nomination and possibly win that is coming to her over the next couple of months.
Finally, the big thing that has seemed to make this really enjoyable viewing, was that none of the film was ever "touched up". It never needed unnecessary drama, explosion, epic action scenes or a big fan fare to stamp its patriotic approval. The film's use of internal monologue, brief dialogue and silent moments really grabbed my attention, and I hope it does with others.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Whiplash

With the awards buzz in full-swing, we are still getting more contenders being introduced to the UK audience.

Being called to the stage next is Damien Chazelle's highly intense and psychological 'Whiplash'.

Chazelle is pretty new to the film scene and quite young (30) for someone of his profession.
But after seeing his latest project, you would think he had been doing it for years.

We you find a little cinematic gem, you always feel really proud of yourself that you have watched one of the years greats. Whiplash, could well be that little gem that may impress audiences, but not make a noticeable taking in the box office. It is one way for the true cinema fans to say to each other "this can be our little secret".

Throughout the film, it is incredibly atmospheric and the tightness of its major scenes raises your anxiety levels up to breaking point. Films that are this tense make you feel uneasy like in a Paul Greengrass film. Then, just when I thought it had reached its peak, the final scene just completely exhausts you and you have to take a while to get out of your seat and leave the screening.

Three big parts make this film an incredible achievement, the writing/directing, the cinematography and the two leads Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons.

Chazelle's innovative directing and writing style really sells the film. He knows exactly what type of film he is making and his love for music is clearly shown. His creation is quite a gritty, layered and character driven experience. His script is definitely one of the best of the year.

The news you are hearing about Simmons is true and then some. He has finally found the role that the world will see for his unlimited talent. He creates a character so full of passion that he is willing to push the boundaries to get what he wants. With his unreal one-liners, his performance is simply magnificent. It reminds of when Chrstoph Waltz jumped onto the scene and was instantly getting Academy awards for his super-human efforts.
Teller really broke through in this one. With Simmons getting all the awards notice, it is such a shame that Teller is getting massively over-looked. He has managed to submerge himself into our main character in a way that we do not see many actors young or old do. I was certainly not expecting such a powerful screen presence and I am really excited to see where he goes from here.

Amazingly, there are a few small problems. Unfortunately, there were a few sub-plot strands that were either not looked into again or never completed that I think a lot of people including myself will have want to have seen.

Whiplash will certainly be one of the films to be experienced from 2014. The performances by Teller and Simmons creates one of the best screen relationships of the year. Chazelle has given music such a personality that it becomes an integral character.
If you love music, you will find this a very real presentation of it, especially as it contains one of the best final scenes for a quite a few years. Drumming has never looked so good.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Into The Woods

The words Disney and musical is more than enough to say when attracting customers to a local multiplex.
Even more so with a cast consisting of Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ulmann, Johnny Depp and James Corden.

After hearing about this just over a year ago, I had high expectations for this and to be a possible Oscar contender.
However as we got close to the release date, I was not as excited as before. But I knew for certain that I would enjoy it nevertheless. A Disney musical, surely that cannot go wrong, could it?

Well, the opening act certainly sets you up perfectly for a wonderful family adventure. It looks great, the characters apart from one are introduced perfectly and developing nicely as we get into the woods themselves.
We're moving along with a pretty simple plot device, the songs are still being belted out and sung rather well. There is a healthy amount of comedy moments, with a few moments that I was surprised to see not only in this film, but attempt to be funny.
As we came to a nice happy finale, the film managed to go on for another half hour for what was an unexpected extended act to what was a perfectly fine and entertaining story.
It was starting to get a bit unnecessary, the humor was largely off-beat and at times inappropriate and the ending I do not think will please many audiences.

That final unexpected extra quarter of the film managed to pretty much change my opinion of the film. If it ended where it should have, then I would be reviewing a highly entertaining musical that brings a lot of famous fairy tales to the modern age.
Sadly, I am going to say that is a very disappointing feature that was too long and with a third act that should not have even been there.

After seeing this, I read a few articles about major plot changes from the stage musical that was done by the stage director himself Steven Sodenheim. I recommend finding out about this AFTER seeing the film, because the stage show sounds even more extraordinary and not in good way. For me, Sodenheim should have stuck to his play and made it a 12 rating, rather than PG. I think changing the plot just seemed to make a mess of it, especially at the end. If there were no changes, this would have not frustrated the fans of the musical and make film fans like me not disappointed as the story structure would have made more sense.

I think it is a good time to do the positives now. With it being a fantasy musical, the sets, visuals and songs need to be on top form and thankfully they nearly all are. I only had a problem with a couple of the songs as they did not feel memorable or important. They are no Lloyd Webber, but they are all sung well and some give off a few nice comedic moments, especially by Chris Pine.
The set felt very 'Sleepy Hollow' which was nice to see. The bleakness definitely made the woods an actual character and felt like a proper fairy tale set.

For the performances, the relationship with Corden and Blunt was relatable and believable. Blunt was a pretty decent stand-out, 2014 has definitely been a breakthrough year for her.
Meryl Streep played her role as well as only she can. Her singing is still empowering, but I could not seem to fully work out her character due to some questionable plot-holes.
Despite Kendrick being now branded as the 'it-girl', I still find her a bit over-rated. However, she plays her role well and was an integral part of the film.
Pine's charm was oozing in his character and was a big winner for me. He seems to win me over in all of his roles. Ulmann fitted her role beautifully into the broad-way vibe of this production. Also, it was nice to see the kid who played Gavroche in Les Miserables get an important role in this film.
Sadly, Depp felt pretty pointless. He was fine in his role and his singing brought me right back into his amazing performance in Sweeney Todd. However, he is hardly in it for that long and it just felt a waste of time having a big name like that in only one small section. Also, his character could end up being quite controversial and be talked about a lot, especially by parents.
One final positive was the music. Basically, it was fantastic. Every time the string section came in, I kept getting goosebumps. The way the composer used them made it feel mystical and magical.

Even with all those positives, there are still major problems with this feature. The plot holes are quite concerning, and the changes to the story from the stage for me confirms that this should have stayed in the theatre.
I am still baffled by the final act, and some of the quite gory off-screen moments that were supposed to be seen as comedic. I would not bring a young child to see this as there a few themes that would confuse them and generally make them bored and wanting to leave early.
There is enough to like for me to give it a respectable rating, but this had great potential to be a big hit. Such a shame, and for this being a Disney is surprising.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Foxcatcher

After being originally planned to be released last January and be an Oscar contender for last year. We finally see the release of the hotly anticipated Foxcatcher.

Directed by Bennett Miller, which means we are preparing for a character driven feature with sport in the background.
In the past, he has done Moneyball which is a terrific slow-paced drama on a baseball owner transforming the foundations of a sport that is over a century old.

In Foxcatcher, we see an Olympic champion wrestler getting involved with the vision of a sibling to the richest family in America.
It is clearly anything but a wrestling drama. From the very start, we see a troubled character still looking to prove himself and be somebody else that he is portrayed.

As we get to see what our main character has become involved with, it becomes a slow and atmospheric psychological tense thriller.

Easily the biggest attraction is the performances, and they most certainly do not fail in the expectations. In particular, three individuals in Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carrell.

Carrell is getting the most noise in the awards categories out of the three actors. I must say the transformation is quite something and definitely a completely fresh performance by an actor known for his loud characters in comedies.
His performance is totally haunting, captivating, understated and has a Norman Bates feel to it.

Director Miller is known for making his actors produce transformations and another one he has managed to get one out of is Tatum. Known for being in not very popular romance dramas and seemingly finding his true calling-card in comedies. Now, we see him doing some quite powerful in this feature. It is quite surprising to see that Tatum is getting thoroughly over-looked in the awards season
Ruffalo's performance is also getting a bit over-looked as well. In fact, he always seems to get over-looked for his best on-screen moments. His character seems to be the big comparison point for Carrel and Tatum. Ruffalo brings his trademark of authenticity and plays the good guy very well.

One positive that is also a negative in my eyes is its general chilly tone and visuals. However, those moments are quite slow, quiet and it did not seem to hook me as much as I think it was supposed to. I cannot see this satisfying a lot of the mainstream audiences, because of those many slow moments, especially in the first half.

Foxcatcher is a good long-brooding film that has fantastic characters and that is well developed. But the slow parts will be feeling that it probably shouldn't be with its fellow Oscar contenders.
I still highly recommend it. But I must also say that it is probably one of the those films that will please the critics rather than the general movie-goers.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Big Hero 6

Back in 2009, Disney purchased Marvel Comics. These intrigued billions of film fans around the world.
Three years later, we can finally see what Disney's vision is for the superhero genre.

They picked a comic book series that even Marvel themselves were having a hard time remembering.
With the chance to slightly change the characters to make them more appealing, the end result is something quite refreshing for Disney.

From start to finish, this is a brilliant film that keeps the momentum of Disney's success over the last few years.
We instantly get introduced to characters we already are interested in. The laughs are over-flowing and the story develops at a romping pace to an emotional finale. By the end, you are already re-enacting the scenes on the way out of the screening.

The big positives are the story, characters and the smart comedy. I lost count of how many times I had laughed before the first 15 minutes and it will have to take multiple viewings to remember all the gags.
Having laughs means the characters must be big winners with the viewers. All the main and supporting cast have their scene-stealing moment and they are wonderful heroes to root for.
However, some of the supporting cast and even the villain I felt were under-developed and weak overall. It was a big shame, but thankfully the positives are the clear majority.
It is a simple story that people of all ages can relate to and has a great mix of the modernisation and classic styles of Disney.
Another big positive is the action. From giving large scoping shots to wonderfully imaginative set-pieces, it definitely captures the audiences attention.

Like I said, the only big negatives was lack of knowledge of the supporting cast and main villain. I and I am sure many others would like to know more of the characters and I think the makers missed an opportunity there.

With it being a Disney, there needs to be a strong lesson and this one easily works .

Big Hero 6 shows Disney are still making more successful films, even after the juggernaut that was Frozen. For me, it did not have the depth like Frozen or Tangled, but the Disney revival is not over yet and I cannot wait to see their next offering.

Rating: 8/10

My Top 10: Films From Walt Disney Animation Studios

For almost 80 years, Walt Disney Animation Studios began the animation genre for feature films with Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Since then, many other studios have tried to compete and succeeded at time. But Disney will and forever be the king of the animation.
One of my earliest memories was watching the wonderful Dumbo, which is the also the first movie I can remember watching when I was just a toddler.
Disney has definitely had its dips in high success and unfortunate lows.
From it's birth in 1937 to the early 60's, it was creating classic after classic. The next stage saw some solid features and the 80's for some people was a bit of a low point by the studios standards.
Then in 1989, they came back with The Little Mermaid. That begun what is called the "renaissance" period throughout the 90's.
In my opinion 2004 was Disney's lowest point with the release of the pretty poor Home On The Range. Thankfully, in 2008 they showed promise with the entertaining Bolt. 2009 saw some clear signs of the studio going back to classical story-telling with a few songs in-between in The Princess And The Frog. Since then, Disney have never looked back as the releases of Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootropolis and now Moana has got Disney back on top ahead of rivals Pixar and Dreamworks.
My top 10 really needs now introduction. It has a great mix of its early works, renaissance classic and its latest installments. But as I have now seen all 58 films from this studio, I will quickly list my ranking of all them up to 11 and then I will give my top 10 that includes a short review of each one:

62) Home On The Range
61) Chicken Little
60) The Rescuers
59) Melody Time
58) Fun And Fancy Free
57) Brother Bear

56) Wish
55) Make Mine Music
54) The Three Caballeros
53) Saludos Amigos

52) The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad

51) Lilo & Stitch
50) Pocahontas
49) Oliver & Company
48) Winnie The Pooh
47) The Black Cauldron

46) Peter Pan

45) Strange World
44) Mulan
43) The Jungle Book

42) Dinosaur
41) The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh

40) The Rescuers Down Under
39) Encanto

38) Bolt

37) Treasure Planet
36) Hercules
35) The AristoCats

34) Raya And The Last Dragon
33) Meet The Robinsons
32) 101 Dalmatians

31) Frozen II

30) The Emperor's New Groove
29) The Sword In The Stone
28) The Princess And The Frog
27) Robin Hood
26) The Great Mouse Detective
25) Moana
24) Fantasia 2000
23) Atlantis: The Lost Empire
22) Tarzan
21) The Fox And The Hound
20) Fantasia
19) Ralph Breaks The Internet
18) Big Hero 6
17) Sleeping Beauty
16) Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
15) The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
14) Dumbo
13) Zootropolis
12) Alice In Wonderland
11) Wreck-It Ralph

10) Tangled - With Disney determined to make their 50th feature a big hit, they decided to go for the tale of Rapunzel, with a twist.
They produced something special, highly enjoyable with memorable characters and songs.

Like every Disney classic, there is something for everyone in here for all ages.

9) Frozen - The phenomenon that is Frozen.
It has the catchy songs, the lovable characters and like most of these latest classics, they have a slight twist on the usual structure.

Don't be fooled by the over-hyped craze of merchandise sales, it IS that good.

8) Aladdin - Released in the epicentre of their renaissance period in the 90's.
It contains one of the most memorable songs in Disney history and one of the greatest characters in the form the of The Genie, voiced by the immortal Robin Williams.
Classic Disney's always need a well developed villain and this one has a pretty scary one in Jafar.
I forget how enjoyable this is at times.

7) Cinderella - In my opinion the last iconic classic in Disney's first peaked phase of success.
Everyone knows the story, and it contains a selection of some highly under-rated songs.

Also, with a combination of superb animation and perfect voice casts, this is certainly a great one to start with for any youngsters just beginning their lift of Disney viewing.

6) Pinocchio - After never being brought up with it and only seeing it for the first time last year, I have got a lot of catching-up to do with this breath-taking and ground-breaking feature from 1940.

The animation is probably the best I have seen from Disney and clearly looked very ambitious in certain scenes.
It is surprisingly scary and dark, which is also a huge asset in any successful Disney film.

5) Lady And The Tramp - Despite its more adult themes, it is Disney doing what they do best.
With a short collection of songs means more for story development and it is quite glorious viewing.

From the romantic tale between two dogs with different up-bringing's, to the story of a new arrival of one of the dogs families that causes trouble with the families dog.
The finale is one of Disney's most tense and darkest.

4) The Little Mermaid - Based on the tale by Hans Christian Anderson, this is the film that begun the renaissance period.
A perfect by the studio to release another classic tale onto the big screen. It does not need to be complex, it has a simple touching story, breath-taking animation, characters both hilarious and scary and award-winning music.

3) The Lion King - Many people's film that associate them with the 90's if your were a child during that decade (like me).
With a story inspired from a Shakespeare play, it teaches so many lessons for kids that includes many peoples most emotional scene in film history.

It is also the highest-ranked film from this studio on IMDB.

2) Beauty And The Beast - Winner of two Oscars and the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture.

A movie that you feels impossible to not fall in love with.
It has a terrific story, interesting characters and it is dramatically portrayed on screen.

1) Bambi - The Disney film that works for me every time.

It centres on the story of a young deer and his life in the forest. Not only that, it also tells of the all the animals in the forest and how life in there is both wonderful and dangerous.

With probably the most famous tear-jerking scene of all-time, this is definitely a Disney film that pushes your emotions in all sorts of directions.

Review: Birdman

The last few years seem to have had a few films doing well in the Oscars that some people would call a "gimmick" film.
2011 saw The Artist, 2012 Life Of Pi and 2013 had Gravity. All brilliant films, but if you wanted to pick it about, it's novelty gimmick would be the first thing to pick on.

This year, we already have Boyhood, the Richard Linklater coming-of-age drama made over 12 years. However, we seemed to have a second film involving something quite exceptional that we very rarely in film these days.

It has come from director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, known for his memorable features Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful. Usually, his films feature outstanding performances, interesting ideas and sometimes multiple and interwoven stories.
We got a lot of expected Inarritu similarities in his latest venture and with the welcomed addition of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki who broke through with his contribution to making Gravity.

Starring Michael Keaton, it tells the story of a washed-up movie actor playing a superhero looking to find fame once again, but on the stage. For many, this will sound like a Keaton biopic after his performance as Batman and has not done many notable performances since then.

The opening half felt un-nerving at first as I could tell it was something that I have not experienced before. I was adoring the camera work as it filmed to be seen as one long continuous take.
One point suddenly got me loving the characters and performances. For the rest of the film, I was in awe and just wanted this to keep going and never-end. But by the end of it, I felt the need to just go "wow" and "can I see more movies like that please?".

Birdman is definitely enjoyable brilliantly entertaining in such a way I have never experienced. For a film full of quite literally everything, it is hard to know where to begin.

I think the part that I would give the highest praise was would be the performances, and more importantly the high amount of outstanding performances.

Let's start with Michael Keaton. The heavily under-used Keaton is back with a bang playing a character very similar to his entire filmography. For me, this was a role made for Keaton, especially the situation he is in. He shows us a character that is trying to still be known as an actor rather then a celebrity. Keaton executes it so well and it will surely give an Oscar nomination. I personally would not give the award to him, but it sounds like he may do so which I am happy with.
The actor that definitely steals the show is Edward Norton who seems to have made a pastiche of his own personal characteristics. This performance really made me give a lot of respect for Norton. He is an absolute scene-stealer and I really noticed the enhancement of the character even without speaking which really shows the impact he has in this feature.
Other notable performances go to Emma Stone who steals many scenes and gives us the performance we have been wanting from her, Naomi Watts who brings a lot of laughs to the screen, Zach Galifianakis who does something completely unexpected and Andrea Riseborough who bounces the leads nicely.

This next paragraph belongs to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who is certainly trumping Wally Pfister in my eyes as the best in the business. Pfister can make landscapes look wonderful, whereas Lubezki gives a new meaning to the word 'ambitious'. He has really made you feel part of his movies. He is surely going to be collecting consecutive Oscars.

A few unsung heroes are Antonio Sanchez who did the score. It is certainly unique, but it really drives and relates to the film so well. Another is the editing team. For a film looks as if it is done in one take, you will find it difficult to find the edits. If you know films works, you could see where they cleverly make the edit.

If I had to be picky, the only I would be a bit sniffy about a few moments towards the end that I felt could be misinterpreted. For me, I feel I have my own view of it. Those moments did not wow me, but I felt it did not spoil the film enough to be considered as a negative thankfully.

Birdman is definitely an experience you will not forget from the films in 2014. From its staggering performances to its pristine writing, carefully and perfectly constructed direction by Inarritu and the immersive and captivating cinematography. It has a wonderful mix of drama, comedy and a touching human story. This is certainly not one to be missed before awards season.

Rating: 8/10

Review: The Theory Of Everything

People of every generation know who Professor Stephen Hawking is, and how much he has given to science.

Now we finally get to see his life put onto the big screen.
I initially was not sure if I should see it. The trailer looked too much like Oscar bait and was not going to be anything extraordinary.
But as the release date drew nearer, the trailers seemed to entice me enough to want to go.

Directed by James Marsh who is known to me for doing two great film documentaries Project Nim and the iconic Man On Wire where he won an Oscar. He has made a gorgeous and beautifully looking feature that has a compelling story.
For most of the first half, it is all very well told. But it all felt a bit expected, and with it being basically a biopic, that is a bit of a catch-22 situation. However, the second half gets quite sensitive and incredibly emotional. This is where we see the film come alive and suddenly we are watching something quite special and it reminds us how brilliant Stephen Hawking was, is and will be till the end of time.

The biggest attraction will be for Eddie Redmayne playing Hawking. He utilises Hawking's personality from the start and it reminds me of Ben Kingsley's performance of Gandhi, Redmayne was made for this role. During the film, we see his transformation and with all his wonderfully witty and profound moments. we see him as the great professor rather than the actor before we are halfway through.
His relationship with Felicity Jones playing wife Jane is quite masterful as they are an actual couple themselves. It reminds of Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire.
Her performance will sadly be lost in the midst of Redmayne's towering lead. But her contribution was vital in the lead being able to shine.
Two other performance that are worth mentioning are Charlie Cox which was a lovely surprise. This guy who's only noteworthy role was in Stardust. Playing a supporting role in this reminded me how sweet and charming he can be with his characters. I really hope he gets noticed more often in more major British film dramas. Another role was a very small one, but it was former World Cup winning footballer Frank Lebouf playing a French doctor. His presence on screen really caught me off guard. I know that he was aiming to be an actor, so to see him in something like this was quite pleasing to see.

Outside of the performances, one part of the film that I just adored was the glorious score by Johann Johannsson. I never really noticed it until the final third of the film, but every time it was noticeable, you felt inspired to do something great just like Hawking keeps mentioning in his interviews over the last few decades.

When it comes to biopics, it is not good to just do something that everyone knows. There needs to be something different. With a lot of depth and emotion and you are onto a winner. We have seen that with many and I feel The Theory Of Everything can join that club.
Redmayne delivers a perfect portrayal of Hawking and is surely an Oscar nominee. There are enough mannerisms, wit and spot-on personality where you can see both Hawking and Redmayne married in perfect harmony.
There is a great mix between his love Jane and the progress of his theory. Sadly, I would have liked a bit on the science, but that is just a personal criticism. There are some obvious glossy moments, but I think the makers of the film did enough beforehand to get away with it.
Overall, it is an inspiring watch and really makes you think about humans need to learn more loving ourselves and not forgetting to continue our evolution in knowledge of the universe.

Rating: 8/10