What I'm watching

Hi all, this tumblr mainly exists as a way of tracking all the movies I've been watching and some of the initial thoughts, and general feelings, I've had about them.

5/5 - Fantastic movies; movies which need to be seen and enjoyed by everyone.

4/5 - Movies which are very good but don’t have that spark which compels you to make others watch them as well.

3/5 - Average movies; watchable and enjoyable, but nothing which elevates them higher. The baseline all movies are given before watching.

2/5 - Can be watched but really bland and forgettable.

1/5 - Minimal to no reason to watch these films. It may have some redeeming factors e.g. it’s so bad it’s good or there’s one character that’s awesome enough to make it not a total waste of time.

0/5- Total waste of time. Nothing redeemable about these films.

As with every review blog/site, this is all my own personal opinion so feel free to take everything with a grain of salt.

Also I'm Scottish so all reviews will be in UK English. Get used to theatre, colour and words ending in -ised.

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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

#478/#29 Hitchcock The supposed real life behind the scenes story of Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife Alma Reville’s (Helen Mirren) struggle to get Psycho made and distributed. I wanted to like this more than I actually did. The film looked to be an interesting insight into the master of suspense and could have maybe given us a peek behind his public facade but, sadly, that never really materialises. You’d think there would be a greater focus on his interactions with his leading ladies, and his supposed stalkerish tendencies towards them, or a more in depth study of his relationship with his wife, and her massive contribution to his work, but both of these elements, while present, are largely glossed over for some odd Dexter-like ghost conversations with the murderer that inspired Psycho and a fabricated almost affair. It was adding intrigue to an already interesting starting point and subsequently didn’t leave enough time to delve into the real elements which made it interesting in the first place. It just seemed like a massively wasted opportunity with this good of a cast. From said cast, Hopkins and Mirren are both in fine form, making each of their parts memorable while maintaining an easy chemistry together. Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel, playing Janet Leigh and Vera Miles respectively, don’t get a lot to do but they play their roles well and Toni Collette is really good as Hitchcock’s assistant. Lastly, James D’Arcy is pitch perfect as Anthony Perkins. He’s also not in it a lot but he just has the mannerisms and vocal patterns down pat. The film was also a little too clean, if you can follow my logic. It’s all very bright and shiny, with perfect 50’s cars, hair, make-up and costumes, making everything look really fake as a result of this. There needed to be a little bit more grime to the whole endeavour to make it feel real. It didn’t need to be as murky as some of the Hitchcock films can be but it did need to retain some of their down and dirty feel. It’s entirely watchable and does drawn attention to Alma Reville, whom I wasn’t aware of, but there is a more interesting Hitchcock film out there still waiting to be made. 2.5/5

#478/#29 Hitchcock

The supposed real life behind the scenes story of Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife Alma Reville’s (Helen Mirren) struggle to get Psycho made and distributed.

I wanted to like this more than I actually did. The film looked to be an interesting insight into the master of suspense and could have maybe given us a peek behind his public facade but, sadly, that never really materialises. You’d think there would be a greater focus on his interactions with his leading ladies, and his supposed stalkerish tendencies towards them, or a more in depth study of his relationship with his wife, and her massive contribution to his work, but both of these elements, while present, are largely glossed over for some odd Dexter-like ghost conversations with the murderer that inspired Psycho and a fabricated almost affair. It was adding intrigue to an already interesting starting point and subsequently didn’t leave enough time to delve into the real elements which made it interesting in the first place. It just seemed like a massively wasted opportunity with this good of a cast.

From said cast, Hopkins and Mirren are both in fine form, making each of their parts memorable while maintaining an easy chemistry together. Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel, playing Janet Leigh and Vera Miles respectively, don’t get a lot to do but they play their roles well and Toni Collette is really good as Hitchcock’s assistant. Lastly, James D’Arcy is pitch perfect as Anthony Perkins. He’s also not in it a lot but he just has the mannerisms and vocal patterns down pat.

The film was also a little too clean, if you can follow my logic. It’s all very bright and shiny, with perfect 50’s cars, hair, make-up and costumes, making everything look really fake as a result of this. There needed to be a little bit more grime to the whole endeavour to make it feel real. It didn’t need to be as murky as some of the Hitchcock films can be but it did need to retain some of their down and dirty feel.

It’s entirely watchable and does drawn attention to Alma Reville, whom I wasn’t aware of, but there is a more interesting Hitchcock film out there still waiting to be made. 2.5/5

#352/#69 The Avengers/Avengers Assemble When Earth comes under threat from alien invasion, Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers, must band together. Comprised of Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) this team has to deal with Thor’s trickster brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his army of minions.  I’m finding it very hard not to just geek out and say ‘Seriously, just go see this film now. 5/5’. You can believe all the hype; this film is actually just that good. Regardless of whether or not you’ve seen all or none of the other films building up to the avengers, you’re probably going to enjoy this film anyway. It helps that the other films have come out by assuming you already know about these characters, letting it get right into the story and the action right away, but it does take the time for some small introductions given that a lot of the different members of the team itself have never met. Downey is just pitch perfect in this film as Tony Stark once again. He was always good but when you give him Joss Whedon dialogue and direction it’s on a whole other level. Evans and Hemsworth both slip back into their roles effortlessly. Maybe not the most interesting members of the Avengers but filling their roles well. As the only newcomer, Ruffalo was always the giant question mark in this film but he is as good as, if not better than, Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/the Hulk. There’s something about him that just makes you believe his barely contained anger as well as his melancholy about the whole thing. Additionally, Renner and Johansson were much better in this that they were in their previous support roles in Iron Man 2/Thor. Johansson didn’t have a purpose for being in IM2 other than one fight scene and Renner amounted to a little more than a cameo in Thor. In this they are fleshed out and given more personality. Putting a kickass female character in the hands of Whedon again can never be a bad thing and he makes the Black Widow feel more like a real person rather than just the token girl of the team. Lastly, someone who I think will be overlooked by a lot of people upon first watch, is Hiddleston as Loki. He has to hold his own against 6 other actors while still coming across as menacing to the audience and he pulls it off spectacularly. He’s one of the best villains I’ve seen in a film in a long time. His presence, his motivation, his continued back story from Thor and that wonderful shit-eating grin just made him the perfect bad guy for the Avengers to have to face. While I loved every performance in this film, I honestly think his was my favourite of the lot. Add on top of this some amazing action scenes, some wonderful in team fights and an actually worthwhile reason for all of these superheros to come together and you begin to see why I might be fanboying out a little in this review. So as I began this; Seriously just go and see this film now. 5/5.

#352/#69 The Avengers/Avengers Assemble

When Earth comes under threat from alien invasion, Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers, must band together. Comprised of Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) this team has to deal with Thor’s trickster brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his army of minions. 

I’m finding it very hard not to just geek out and say ‘Seriously, just go see this film now. 5/5’. You can believe all the hype; this film is actually just that good. Regardless of whether or not you’ve seen all or none of the other films building up to the avengers, you’re probably going to enjoy this film anyway. It helps that the other films have come out by assuming you already know about these characters, letting it get right into the story and the action right away, but it does take the time for some small introductions given that a lot of the different members of the team itself have never met.

Downey is just pitch perfect in this film as Tony Stark once again. He was always good but when you give him Joss Whedon dialogue and direction it’s on a whole other level. Evans and Hemsworth both slip back into their roles effortlessly. Maybe not the most interesting members of the Avengers but filling their roles well. As the only newcomer, Ruffalo was always the giant question mark in this film but he is as good as, if not better than, Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/the Hulk. There’s something about him that just makes you believe his barely contained anger as well as his melancholy about the whole thing.

Additionally, Renner and Johansson were much better in this that they were in their previous support roles in Iron Man 2/Thor. Johansson didn’t have a purpose for being in IM2 other than one fight scene and Renner amounted to a little more than a cameo in Thor. In this they are fleshed out and given more personality. Putting a kickass female character in the hands of Whedon again can never be a bad thing and he makes the Black Widow feel more like a real person rather than just the token girl of the team.

Lastly, someone who I think will be overlooked by a lot of people upon first watch, is Hiddleston as Loki. He has to hold his own against 6 other actors while still coming across as menacing to the audience and he pulls it off spectacularly. He’s one of the best villains I’ve seen in a film in a long time. His presence, his motivation, his continued back story from Thor and that wonderful shit-eating grin just made him the perfect bad guy for the Avengers to have to face. While I loved every performance in this film, I honestly think his was my favourite of the lot.

Add on top of this some amazing action scenes, some wonderful in team fights and an actually worthwhile reason for all of these superheros to come together and you begin to see why I might be fanboying out a little in this review. So as I began this; Seriously just go and see this film now. 5/5.

#149 Iron Man 2 (Rewatch) After Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) reveals he is Iron Man to the world, he quickly cements world peace against any conventional weaponry but the US Government still wants him to turn over his inventions so they may produce their own. On top of this a new villain, Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), with ties to the Stark family’s past appears intent on revenge and is willing to work with Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), another arms dealer hoping to outshine Stark, to get it. The first film is definitely better than this one but its success came so out of nowhere when it initially showed up that there really was no way to maintain it. There were no real high hopes for the first film, so when it appeared, it showed up with a bang and impressed everyone. Iron Man 2 however, was highly anticipated and being used to bridge all the up coming avengers flicks. Higher expectations = harder to please fans. IM 2 is a good action film, with some good banter, some good stunts and overall summer action flick feel to it. That said, it did feel like it suffered from being stretched a little thin. I’ve heard it described as a big trailer, which I wouldn’t go so far as to saying because there is a solid plot underlining the entire film, but I can see where people were coming from. This movie wasn’t just IM 2 it was also the set up for Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Black Widow etc. So much other stuff was added in that IM 2 wasn’t the greatest purely Iron Man movie it could have been. Downey Jr was still fantastic as Tony Stark, Rourke was an effective villain, Rockwell was a little unneeded but might become a bigger threat in future films, Gwyneth Paltrow seemed a little pointless but then she always did in the original as well, Scarlett Johansson was alright as the Black Widow, Don Cheadle was a fine replacement for Terrence Howard and Samuel L Jackson was flushed out a little as Nick Fury. All in all, an ok film but not as good as its predecessor and as such people tend to be a little harsh on it now. 3/5

#149 Iron Man 2

(Rewatch)

After Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) reveals he is Iron Man to the world, he quickly cements world peace against any conventional weaponry but the US Government still wants him to turn over his inventions so they may produce their own. On top of this a new villain, Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), with ties to the Stark family’s past appears intent on revenge and is willing to work with Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), another arms dealer hoping to outshine Stark, to get it.

The first film is definitely better than this one but its success came so out of nowhere when it initially showed up that there really was no way to maintain it. There were no real high hopes for the first film, so when it appeared, it showed up with a bang and impressed everyone. Iron Man 2 however, was highly anticipated and being used to bridge all the up coming avengers flicks. Higher expectations = harder to please fans.

IM 2 is a good action film, with some good banter, some good stunts and overall summer action flick feel to it. That said, it did feel like it suffered from being stretched a little thin. I’ve heard it described as a big trailer, which I wouldn’t go so far as to saying because there is a solid plot underlining the entire film, but I can see where people were coming from. This movie wasn’t just IM 2 it was also the set up for Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Black Widow etc. So much other stuff was added in that IM 2 wasn’t the greatest purely Iron Man movie it could have been.

Downey Jr was still fantastic as Tony Stark, Rourke was an effective villain, Rockwell was a little unneeded but might become a bigger threat in future films, Gwyneth Paltrow seemed a little pointless but then she always did in the original as well, Scarlett Johansson was alright as the Black Widow, Don Cheadle was a fine replacement for Terrence Howard and Samuel L Jackson was flushed out a little as Nick Fury.

All in all, an ok film but not as good as its predecessor and as such people tend to be a little harsh on it now. 3/5