Review: Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Any Tim Burton is always eagerly anticipated. He has certainly created a big fan-base all over the world. His strange gothic tone to most of his films, have pretty much created his own sub-genre. We know what to expect and who is usually involved.

Sadly in this one, there is not Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, or even Danny Elfman doing the score.
Instead we get, Asa Butterfield, Eva Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Terence Stamp, Chris O'Dowd, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett and Michael Higham and Matthew Margeson doing the score.

The trailers did suggest that Burton is back on familiar territory and we would be seeing an enjoyable feature.
It does have a lot of your usual Burton strengths. The production design is great, and the general imagery is haunting enough for kids and dips its toes into pure grossness that will challenge them.
But I think the execution of the story and general pacing has made this film not that memorable, despite having a lot of real potential.

Thankfully, the performances on a whole were not a problem. Eva Green played her role well and fitted the tone nicely. It was over-the-top and slightly eccentric. But there was enough to fit in with Burton's look and feel.
Pretty much all of the child actors lead by Ella Purnell, were great. It took me a while to warm to Asa Butterfield. He has his wooden moments, especially in the first act. But I think I was eventually fine with him. It was just a shame his character was not very proactive and was too busy asking questions instead of being the hero.
Samuel L. Jackson did as well as we know he can. He played the villain role well. It was pantomime. But not too much to be just silly. The only other minor role I wanted to mention was Terence Stamp, as he seemed to fit the tone well. It almost reminded me of his performance in The Haunted Mansion.

Despite Elfman not being present, the score managed to sound Elfman-esque which was nice to hear.

I'm afraid there are a fair few negatives to speak of.  The pacing was a the films biggest one. It felt stretched, and I think if it was a little bit rompier, we could have had a really enjoyable romp. I think the main fault of that was in the editing department. It seemed to linger too much on every scene in general.
The final act does get a bit silly. While it is nice to see shots of Blackpool as I live in a neighboring town, the scenes were not that well executed and it made the final act a bit crazy and silly whilst still linking well with subtle hints that were shown in the first two acts.
There ended up being some plot holes towards the end that I still struggling to work out even now.

However, there are some nice surprises. I liked the ideas that they try and go for and I enjoyed admiring the character designs. But it is never fully realized.

In the end, it is fine for the most part, and ok for the rest. It's trying to be a really cool fantasy adventure. There is clear potential for this to be a success. But it ends up being just about passable. While it looks good and has its moments of high entertainment, especially in the second act. It ends up being a bit muddled and not that memorable. There were certainly no moments that I felt were terrible and it is definitely not Burton's worst.
But I would call this, a missed opportunity. I would still look out for Burton's next venture.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Deepwater Horizon

I think quite a lot of us remember the tragic incident of the Deepwater Horizon back in 2010.

Seeing the images of an oil rig in complete flames, while oil is spilling all over the Gulf Of Mexico shocked the world. It is clearly the worst oil disaster in U.S industry.

However for this film, I was not totally excited for this. But I was still expecting a solid film with nothing exceptional or memorable.

I managed to end up walking out of the screening being pretty impressed by it and shocked as to how that event happened.

The first act is very effective and well drawn which surprised me. We get introduced to the characters well and we begin to understand the reasons as to why and how the incident happened.
As we move into the second act, the tension is mounting and it teases when you think the incident begins to blow up in everyone's faces. Then the final act is what you expect in a really well made disaster movie.

What I really liked about it the most was that it felt realistic and was pretty gritty and visceral throughout, which I feel should be heavily applauded. You can feel the scale and physicality of it all. None of the incidents felt Hollywoodized, like you would see in something like a Roland Emmerich disaster movie. A lot of the incidents was done by practical effects and you can tell that they only used visual effects, if it was completely necessary.
One other thing that I think a lot of people will appreciate is that they really make you understand not just how the incident occurred. But how the oil rig industry works in general.

The performances were a real shock. I did not expect to care for these characters so much by the end of it all.
Our protagonists are very likeable. Mark Wahlberg plays the lead and main hero really well. Kurt Russell steals the show and is bad-ass throughout. His presence is so strong and his delivery of his lines were on point. Gina Rodriguez gave nice support in her character. Even Kate Hudson did well in her minor role, and I am pretty confident I have never said that. It was great to see Ethan Suplee in another role as I remember him well from his performances in American History X and Remember The Titans. It seems he's lost a lot of weight and looks really well built now. All the workers on the oil rig felt real. The chemistry is a typical sight to see in that type of working environment and it was almost as if we were watching a real-life day at an oil rig.
The antagonists were great at playing first class douchebags. It was all lead by John Malkovich, whose character you hate from pretty much the first scene he is in. I don't think I have seen Malkovich play a memorable since maybe Burn After Reading, which was eight years ago.

No real negatives to mention. It is certainly one of the best disaster films in recent years. It is heavy, hard-hitting and will leave you quite taken-a-back as soon as the credits roll. The performances are great, the action is well constructed and executed and it ended up being much more memorable then I originally expected. Most importantly, it is a great tribute to the real people involved.
If you liked films like Lone Survivor (same director as Deepwater Horizon), Everest or even Titanic. Then you will enjoy this. I know 'enjoy' might not be the right word as this topic it covers is clearly not pleasant. But it is very well made not-pleasant.

Rating: 8/10

My Top 10: Mark Wahlberg Films

Who'd have thought that the lead of musical group Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch would become of the biggest names in Hollywood today.

Well, for the past 20 or so years, Mark Wahlberg has grown to become one of the most likeable actors in the business.
His breakthrough came in 1995 with The Basketball Diaries. It was only two years later until he was leading a Paul Thomas Anderson film in the form of Boogie Nights. Then from 1999 to the present day, Wahlberg has been in at least one big film each year.

Whether it be a failing re-make, a Scorsese classic, a gripping war thriller or many successful comedies, Wahlberg manages to be involved in a project that brings in the big bucks. I am always intrigued to see what he is up to next.

Out of his 50 films I have seen only 32 of them. I will rank all of the films that I have seen, and give a short review for each of my top 10:

32) Transformers: The Last Knight
31) Transformers: Age Of Extinction
30) Pain & Gain
29) Max Payne

28) Mile 22
27) Planet Of The Apes
26) The Yards
25) Broken City

24) Flight Risk

23) Uncharted
22) The Happening
21) Ted 2
20) Daddy's Home
19) The Other Guys
18) 2 Guns
17) Contraband

16) We Own The Night

15) Arthur The King
14) Shooter

13) Instant Family
12) Ted
11) Invincible

10) Three Kings - A popular hit from 1999 that saw the beginning of Wahlberg's stint as a Hollywood A-lister.

Along with George Clooney and Ice Cube, three soldiers plan to steal gold Kuwait. However, in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, something much more important is at hand.

Good mix of comedy and emotional war drama.

9) The Lovely Bones - one of the few films directed by Peter Jackson that was not part of The Lord Of The Rings or The Hobbit trilogies.

It sees a girl murdered and decides whether to watch over her family to heal them or her killer as purgatory.

Wahlberg plays the Dad of the daughter (brilliantly played by Saoirse Ronan)

8) Deepwater Horizon - Based on the tragic events of the 2010 disaster, this is a very well made and constructed disaster drama.

Lots of good performances including Wahlberg and a fitting tribute to the people involved.

I was not expecting much. But the level tension mounted was done really well and it made me really care for what was going on.

7) Patriots Day - Wahlber's third outing with director Peter Berg and it is another success.

Based on the tragic events at the 2013 Boston Marathon, Wahlberg plays Sergeant Tommy Saunders who is caught right in the middle of it.

Like Lone Survivor and Deepwater Horizon, it is a well executed account of the events that also make it highly entertaining viewing.

6) The Fighter - Wahlberg's third outing with director David O. Russell. This time, he plays boxer Micky Ward.

We see the early years of this boxer's career along with his brother (played by Christian Bale) who helps train him.

I would not rank as high as many others have it. But it is still a great film with top performances from everyone.

5) The Perfect Storm - While I now some people really down-graded this movie due its story and acting. I did not see that as much, and had a great time.

I remember the buzz surrounding this on its release, and for me it delivered.
With some ground-breaking visual effects, it sees an unusual storm catch some fisherman unaware. Now they must fight for their lives.

As well as Wahlberg, the cast is pretty stellar.

4) All The Money In The World - This is Wahlberg's first collaboration with Ridley Scott as director.

This is an exciting crime thriller based on an incredible true story on the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III.

Wahlberg plays an investigator helping find the captive.

3) Boogie Nights - The film many people see as Wahlberg's big chance to be a star, and made the most of it.

Paul Thomas Anderson's directors a story about a young-man's journey into the Californian porn industry of the late 70's and 80's.

2) Lone Survivor - Somehow missed out on this at the cinema. But I am glad that I have got round to seeing this highly enjoyable and emotional action extravaganza.

Wahlberg along with a stellar cast give us memorable characters during a constant high-tension thrill ride.

A great portrayal of real American heroes.

1) The Departed - The film that finally got Scorsese his Oscar. It sees an undercover cop and a mole within the police looking to identify eachother, whilst also infiltrating the Irish gang in Boston.

Wahlberg steals the show as this foul mouthed staff sergeant who helps recruit the undercover cop for this dangerous mission.

This is certainly my favourite Wahlberg role and Scorsese movie.

Review: The Girl With All The Gifts

Zombie films have evolved into all sorts of different directions.

From beginning as sluggish and slow eating drones, to speedy and vicious creatures, the zombie genre has become a guilty pleasure for many a film-goer.

I am always up for a zombie flick, just as long as it is done right. You do get some that just get lost in the action and it becomes a forgettable piece.

This one ended up being a nice surprise. The opening act really does have you stumped as to where this film is going. It takes you along for the ride and eventually see what is happening and I was on high tension throughout.
The rest of the film moves along nicely and while I was not the expecting the ending that it ended up being, it made sense and I was fine with it.

I must say it is definitely one of the better zombie movies I have seen in recent years. It manages to make you think, which was the biggest surprise of the lot. It concentrates more on its message rather than the zombie action, even though the zombie action is pretty thrilling to say the least.
It felt like a more philosophical version of 28 Days Later and also has similarities to The Day Of The Triffids novel.

The big star in this is definitely Sennia Nanua in the leading role. She was simply terrific. Not just good for a child actor, but easily the best performance out of everyone. She was committed, very physical and really went for it.
I am a big fan of Gemma Arterton and she was solid in her role, as was Glenn Close and the always strong Paddy Considine. As well as Nanua, all the child actors were great.

Whilst it has moments of profoundness, it does not back down with the violence and general gruesomeness of it all which was good to see.
Also, the budget is not that big. So for the money that it was given, it is impressively made, both in the set designs and visual effects. The imagery, production design, makeup and cinematography is really well done. Also, the score by Cristobal Tapia De Veer was surprisingly good and fitted the tone perfectly.

Sadly there were moments of stupidity from some of the characters towards the end which frustrated me. However, the execution of the tension still worked enough for those moments to not be a total loss.

It is a good solid, exciting British zombie thriller. The performances really help the movie, even at its potentially silly moments. The whole look of it feels like a blockbuster and yet the budget is quite small.
Nanua is wise beyond her years and I really hope she sticks to it as she could be special. It is definitely worth seeing on the big screen and the whole team is deserving of a strong box office taking. Many people will know that I was bored watching World War Z. For me, this is what I wanted that to be, and I am glad this got made to show everyone how to execute a smart zombie film.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Imperium

I think many people including me will forever feel a bit strange seeing a film with Daniel Radcliffe that isn't Harry Potter. You will always see him as 'the boy who lived' and it will be tough to see him as anything else.

With that in mind, when you see the synopsis for this particular feature, it will intrigue to see if Radcliffe can pull this off.

At first glance, it is hard to not feel awkward watching something that does not look believable. But as the film goes on, you do see someone else. The tension is there throughout and the performances are helping this move along.

Sadly for me, its downfall is in the final act. While it finishes everything in a nice little bow, it still felt rushed and the ending felt abrupt. It is as if they did not know how to end it will and they just went with the conventional approach and I was surprised to see the end credits.

As mentioned before, Radcliffe ended up being pretty good. He gets more and more convincing as the film goes on and clearly is the drive to make this film memorable. Also, his American accent is not only good, it is consistent. It is great to see him continuing to do things that are the so far from the Harry Potter universe.
Toni Colette is solid overall. She has a strong opening, but never quite emulates that bright beginning. Everyone else played their roles well and all were both believable and sympathetic whether they were the good or bad guys.
I will mention the appearance of Burn Gorman as it is always good to see him. I have always liked him since his performance in Torchwood TV series.

Apart from the final act which I have already mentioned. The only other negative I wanted to mention was that it does get slow at times. It was not a total drawback as it is at least filled with story development that meant something.

While its formulaic structure won't make this exceptional and stand-out from the rest. It is still gripping and exciting and you will feel your heart pounding quite heavily once the abrupt credits roll.
You can probably work out how it ends. But I still felt constantly tense throughout. The execution of it works and makes you nervous for our main protagonist.

I must finally mention that for those people who think this movie is racist, re-think what you say in the future. There is a clear difference between things that are racist and things that are about racists.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Infiltrator

Straight off the bat, I must say that I don't watch Narcos. But I will probably will do at some stage as I hear nothing but good things about it. But as I don't have access to on-demand services and Sky, I rarely see the majority of the best TV series the world has to offer at the moment.

I was surprised to see during the trailer that this story was going to involve Pablo Escobar, especially when there is a TV series about him right now. The general look of it and Bryan Cranston and John Leguizamo looking good in the bits that I saw got me interested and expecting quite a tense crime story. I was not expecting to be interested in this as I am not usually fussed on films involving drugs. The best ones I usually appreciates more than anything else as the I struggle really care for the characters.

While I still had the same expected feelings afterwards, I will say that it was better then I expected.
The film gets into the situation nicely and makes us understand the danger are protagonists are in. The second act does have its moments of drag can confuse you, especially if you are aware of that particular industry. Thankfully, everything gathers pace again and the finale is a satisfying one.

The cast is strong as a whole. Bryan Cranston is as good as everyone knows he can. You can feel the pressure his character was under and just wanted him to come out unscathed.
The always under-appreciated John Leguizamo is a strong supporting role and I hope to see him in more projects. It was a nice surprise to see people like Diane Kruger and Jason Isaacs as I like anything they do. Kruger blossomed really nicely as the film went along, ended up having a great partnership with Cranston on screen and I felt stole the show for me.
I also have to give props to the performances of Benjamin Bratt and Yul Vazquez.

Not many negatives to speak of. The biggest one was the many bland moments, especially in the second act. I understand there were certain moments that needed explaining. But it was not engrossing me enough.

Despite all that I still had a good time. I liked it rather than loved it. It does not make new ground. But it managed to peak my interest despite not usually going nuts for a drugs related story. The duration may feel along straight after seeing it. But I think it does give enough time to process what is going on. I think its just about worth your money. The performances are strong on the whole especially Kruger, it's surprisingly gripping, it's shot nice and it has a surprisingly good soundtrack.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Hunt For The Wilderpeople

When you think of New Zealand films, I think everyone goes straight to The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. I can't imagine this new little feature film by director Taika Waititi is looking for similar expectations. But after the buzz it got from Sundance at the start of this year, one of the best films of the year is what I think many regular film-goers would have in the back of their minds going into this.

I certainly had fairly big expectations. It sounded like it would be my kind of comedy and the story sounded exciting and original to stand out from the crowd when it comes to the major awards.

While I cannot see it ending in my top 10 of the year list, it remains to be a really good watch. I have seen any of Waititi's other works. But I have always heard good things and I can see why. His style of comedy is certainly something I have not seen before. This type of off-beat quirkiness has now got me intrigued to see his previous catalogue.

As the film went on, I just got more and more into it. The laughs were gradually getting more and more frequent and I ended up being quite charmed by it all and really into this adventure story.

While there is lovely New Zealand scenery, the focus is on the characters. It is all about the on-screen relationship between Sam Neill and Julian Dennison. Neill is great as a grizzled old man and makes you how good of a performer he is. Dennison is a wonderful talent and you can tell he is enjoying every minute of it.
There are so many supporting roles that are just as memorable as the leads. Rima Te Wiata is great for the few moments she's on screen. Rachel House was a real stand-out. Hamming it up to the nth degree and she it pulled it off nicely. Also, her partnership with Oscar Kightley is funny every time they're on screen together. Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne has great moments and Rhys Darby steals the show when it came on screen as a character called Psycho Sam.

The comedy is the thing that makes the film so great. How something can be smart and completely odd is quite a skill. I just liked the general silliness of it all. The references used was clever, and the execution managed to feel completely random, and yet still smart.
Great comedy means top writing. You can feel that it is well thought of. The director has quite a style of humor that I never seen before.

While I might not be ranking as a high as I was expecting, this is still a very funny flick, but with a lot of heart. The directing inspired me to rest of their work, there are so many memorable characters that you care for and Waititi and his team pulled off superbly.
It is shot well, the editing is great (including some slick 'passage of time' moments) and the general feeling is one of the most positive I have had this year.

Rating: 8/10