The cold, bleak, winter wildernesses is the opening tone for ‘Prisoners’, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and son, Ralph Dover (Dylan Minnette) are out hunting in Pennsylvania, and as the Lords Prayer is being whispered by Keller, his son fires a single round upon an unsuspecting deer. This small segment immediately signals this isn’t a normal kidnapping movie and isn’t using the same formula as recent films in this topic (such as Taken 2 that begins with a happy tone at the start). You can tell this movie is taking its self seriously.

The Dover’s, Keller, Ralph, Grace (Maria Bello) and Anna (Erin Gerasimovich) are celebrating Thanks Giving around their neighbour’s house, the Birch’s, in their quite Pennsylvania town. After the two young girls from either family, Anna Dover and Joy Birch (Kyla Drew Simmons), go looking for a red whistle that Keller had lost some time back, they both go missing and the finger is then pointed at Alex Jones, whose RV was where the girls where playing near earlier on in the film.  

The Birch family, Franklin (Terrence Howard), Nancy (Viola Davis) ,Eliza (Zoe) and the Dover’s Thanks Giving is thrown into turmoil and they then take matters into their own hands when they feel that the cop assigned to their case, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), isn’t doing enough to find their daughters.

‘Prisoners’ is a very chilling film, using suspense to its advantage without spoiling it with a cheap jump scare. This is a very realistic take on a kidnapping; you have both ends of the work going into finding these girls. Detective Loki, has solved every case he has been assigned to and you can understand why with the sheer work he is putting it to find these girls. At the other end of the spectrum you get the vast range of emotions flowing through the families that is explored well. You get the devastation from Grace, the anger from Keller and both are explored greatly whilst balancing this fear that they may not find their daughter.

The cast is one of the best assembled in 2013 so far and they all give very strong performances. Hugh Jackman is the stand out and since being apart of the Oscar Winner ‘Les Miserables’ he is giving it all to every part he is playing. Jake Gyllenhall, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano are equally superb; nothing about their performance could be faulted. Everything these characters are doing is in aid to find their daughters, nothing feels unnecessary and everything has its place to add to the emotions these characters should be feeling.  The one weak point is Kyla Drew Simmons character, as you rarely get to see her emotions after this devastation, but I do feel this is largely down to the short screen time she had compared to the rest of the cast and wasn’t anything to do with her acting capabilities.

‘Prisoners’ does get going fairly quickly, but is extremely long (at 153 minutes) and you do feel that perhaps a few of the repetitive scenes could possibly have been axed from the final cut to shorten the movie. But saying that the movie never drags, and director Denis Villeneuve has done a great job to constantly lead the audience up these different paths, leaving you constantly guessing who has taken their daughters.

Another aspect of the realism is that the police are literally starting with only the bare minimal information that the Dovers and Birch’s have provided, Loki has to explore leads that lead to dead ends as they would in real life, whereas in other movies that use a kidnapping, (using Taken 2 again as an example) they tend to find a vital piece of evidence or a clue at he scene to where the missing person is and they are immediately on the right path. With ‘Prisoners’ you get this layer of realism that overall makes this film more enjoyable than the majority of films in this topic.

Chilling and suspenseful, ‘Prisoners’ is well crafted from start to finish. Not only is it well acted but the sheer emotion pouring out of these characters makes you really feel you are apart of that family and hope they are able to find their daughters. ‘Prisoners’ is engaging from start to finish in the way that you are constantly making up predictions in your head to who the kidnapper is and this makes the two and a half hours easily manageable. Prisoners is undoubtedly a must see and is one of the best films released this year. 

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Twenty years ago, cinemas around the world were blessed with a heart-warming tale of courage, determination and proving critics wrong.

‘Cool Runnings’ is a film based roughly on a true story, in which a Jamaican Bobsled team tried gaining a place to complete in the Winter Olympics.

Starring John Candy, Leon and Doug E Doug , film buffs will remember the picture being filled with famous catchphrases  such as  “Sanka you dead?” and “Kiss my lucky egg,” making this movie popular with individuals, families and critics all over the land.

The Film begins with Derice Bannock, (Leon) a sprinter trying to gain a place in Jamaica’s track team for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. However, due to a collision on the track with another athlete, his dreams are dashed. Not wanting his dream to come to an end, he searches high and low to find a sport that will allow him to become Olympian.

Derice enlists in the help of ex- United States gold medallist bobsledder Irv Blitzer (Candy), who now lives on the island. Reluctant at first, Irv eventually gives in and tries to aid Derice and his team mates, best friend Sanka Cofie (Doug), Junior Bevil (Rawle D. Lewis), a young sprinter who lacks confidence, not helped along the way by his rich father who thinks his dreams are silly and Yul Brenner (Malik Yoba), a stern, mountain of a man in trying to reach the Winter games.

After overcoming various obstacles such as, funding, believing in themselves and ridicule they start to eventually work together, installing a solid team morale helping them compete for a spot in Canada.

Along with an awesome soundtrack, featuring music artists such as Jimmy Cliff, Diana King and Hans Zimmer. This film brings calypso to the coldest of climates and an uplifting feel to those who watch it.

This film is entertaining, offering a balance of comedy charm that allows the audience to indulge in its light hearted side, and also contains fantastically influencing speeches delivered throughout the picture by the late, great John Candy. If you are a fan of films such as Rocky, a classic, sporting underdog story, then this is definitely a film worth watching.

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High speculation from motorsport media, plus the critically acclaimed hit documentary film ‘Senna’ which was released in 2011, had left to Ron Howard’s new biographical film ‘Rush’ with a lot to live up to.

Written by Peter Morgan, ‘Rush’ depicts the fierce rivalry between Britain’s James Hunt and Austria’s Niki Lauda as they both battle it out for the biggest motorsport title – Formula One World Champion.

Academy Award winning director Ron Howard has ensured that no stone be unturned in reliving every aspect of the 1976 season including the highs and lows of the drivers’ individual rise to F1 fame.

Chris Hemsworth – best known for this Marvel Studios roles in ‘Thor’ and ‘The Avengers’ – accurately portrays the on and off track characteristics of James Hunt brilliantly, while Daniel Bruhl’s interpretation of Niki Lauda is remarkable.

‘Rush’ highlights the dangers of the sport from the seventies era. 1976 saw Niki Lauda suffer from severe burns after a near fatal accident at the Nurburgring during the German Grand Prix. Having crashed whilst making up places in the treacherous conditions, the fuel pump on Lauda’s Ferrari exploded, turning it into a fireball. He was trapped in the searing inferno for just over a minute before other drivers came to his rescue to save his life.

Whilst hard to watch at times, the film shows Lauda’s remarkable road to recovery, which saw him back in his car in spite of medical advice a mere forty-two days after the accident to continue his championship quest.

Combining competitive racing, personal emotions and an eclectic soundtrack, ‘Rush’ is not only a film aimed at hard core Formula One fans, but also those with no interest in motorsport. Those who have never seen a motorsport race will still enjoy the film, in my opinion, as much as those who saw the real-life Hunt and Lauda fight it out for the championship.

Niki Lauda features on the film as a voice-over both at the beginning and very end of the film, putting his own view across of the battles that he faced during that season – and paying tribute to Hunt – who died of a heart attack at the age of 44 in 1993.

 I would definitely recommend seeing ‘Rush’ on the big screen. The cinematography and iconic paddock sounds makes for a highly interesting and entertaining watch.

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It’s been one of the most talked about films this summer and with good reason. From Jennifer Aniston’s strip tease to an awkward teenage boy getting his testicle bit by a spider, this has to be one of the best films I have ever seen.

The plot entails a low end drug dealer David (Jason Sudeikis) having to smuggle drugs in from Mexico after losing his boss a lot of money. David comes up with a plan of creating a fake family on holiday in an RV so that he doesn’t get stopped and searched at the border. David then proceeds to hire a stripper who lives in his building, Rose (Jennifer Aniston), a nerdy teenage boy (Will Poulter) and a homeless tough girl (Emma Roberts). After a lot of persuading on David’s part, all of the characters agree to go on the trip knowing the consequences.

 After obtaining the drugs, the Millers start to head  back to the border, however along the way the  Millers  RV breaks down and they are rescued by an unassuming family, the Fitzgerald’s, whose idiocy and naivety make them adorable to the audience.
Of course a film wouldn’t be a film without the actors. In many ways, the actors can either make or break a film as if there’s one bad performance, it sets the tone for the whole film. Thankfully in this film, the actors only add to the excellence.

Jason Sudeikis conveys a funny drug dealer who the audience come to love due to his hilarious desperation not to be found out, this along with his pan faced insults to nearly every character in the film, show the audience a different side to this actor. Sudeikis makes his character convincing as a low grade drug dealer who is just trying to keep himself afloat in a drug business that he cannot possibly control or fully understand.

Jennifer Aniston plays an unforgettable role as Rose, the sexy stripper, who is going along with the Miller scheme with the promise of money. Although this is not Aniston’s typical role, she portrays it well, showing the audience the true emotions of her character with brilliant reactions to the drama going on around her. And of course, you cannot talk about Aniston’s character without bringing in the strip tease. The snippet of the strip tease shown in the trailer does not justify Jennifer Aniston’s sexiness in the scene that does not come soon enough.

Will Poulter who plays Kenny is the hidden gem in ‘We’re the Millers’ as his naivety makes him the most lovable of the characters as the audience instantly engage and connect with him. The Kenny character is the typical nerd who wants to be able to stand up for himself and others, wanting to ‘get the girl’ and mostly to be accepted. All of these factors come across flawlessly with Poulter playing him. Poulter makes himself known in this film and confirms his status as a rising star.

Editing and Graphics by Conor Rees

Unfortunately Emma Roberts who plays Casey is the weak link in this otherwise brilliant film. Roberts gets the ‘boring’ character as Casey doesn’t contribute much to the main plot. The main incentive for her character is to be part of a family that she feels accepted in. Roberts is however very capable of pulling off the stroppy teenager, a role that she frequently possesses. However, it is unlikely that Roberts will receive any credit from this film as her performance overall was boring and unneeded.

Overall, I would definitely buy this movie as soon as it comes out on DVD/ Blu-ray because although it contains flaws, it’s one of the best films I have seen recently with its crude humour, that striptease and lovable characters; it’s definitely one to watch.

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T he year is 2154 and the divide between the rich and the poor has drastically rifted apart, a message that director Neil Blomkamp showcased in his last directional role in the popular, gritty take on a Sci-fi movie that was District 9.

The gap couldn’t be further apart, the wealthy live on Elysium, a state of the art space station in orbit of the earth that resembles the closest thing to paradise as you could get. The rest of humanity lives on earth, an over populated, polluted and very desolate environment that creates a very believable and realistic world around the main story.

Matt Damon plays Max, an ex-car thief turned factory worker that has always fantasised of going to Elysium, but after sustaining an accident at work he is diagnosed with days to live and this all sets into motion a plan to get to Elysium. Though this involves a metal suit being screwed into his body he still accepts this painful upgraded to his physic in order to survive his radioactive encounter by getting to this space station. The cure? A med bay that is this pod shaped machine that can cure any illness. Delacourt (Jodie Foster), the defence minister on Elysium, shows early on that it isn’t a modest task to get into this Halo-esc space station by ordering that the civilian ships trying to gain admission to Elysium air space be shot down in the opening segment of the movie.

This is only the second film from the directing hand of Blomkamp and it’s clear that he feels strongly about the real world separation in class in today’s society. District 9 used the South African slums to present this message of separation in society and this is implemented into Elysium. This movie uses the social gap and lack of medical care available to the deprived to show problems that take place in today’s world.

This time Blomkamp’s second film is set in Los Angles, the world is just as gritty as has a clear resemblance to that of District 9. Earth is over overpopulated and ravaged by disease with robot police roaming the landscape inflicting their harsh and brutal justice at will.

This is a Sci-fi movie, but not one people may be expecting. The majority of the film is set on earth with only a small proportion taking place on Elysium. The world still looks fantastic, the gritty futuristic landscape immerses you in a believable world with the other technological and more perfectly looking environment (that on Elysium) being equally beautiful.

The lead in this film, Max, is a likable character and is used as the test dummy to showcase Blomkamp’s harsh world to begin with; his arm is broken by a police bot for simply making a sarcastic joke. Max appears vulnerable to begin with but there is a character arc in this movie and eventually you witness this transformation of Max turning into the Bourne of the future. Though this isn’t an action film as such, there are still action sequences that take place after Max’s metal suit is screwing into his body. Damon’s performance is believable and it is entertaining to watch his character arc progress through the movie.

Delacourt is this evil and manipulative woman yet still doesn’t feel like the main antagonist in this film. This crown is awarded to her henchman, Kruger (Sharlto Copley). Though Foster’s performance is good in creating this villain her character doesn’t appear that of a challenging role to play, she always feels undercut by her henchman and had she had a more of a physical role in this movie, rather than at the end of a phone to Kruger, then perhaps you would feel a more menacing depth to her character.

Sharlto Copley’s villain on the other hand is fantastic. He isn’t a typical villain yet still being a violent hitman. You really feel as though this desolate atmosphere has bled into Kruger’s soul, shaping his personality into a cruel intimidating figure. Sharlto Copley is the stand out by a mile in this movie (that’s not to say Damon or anyone else didn’t do a good job). The transformation from his character in District 9 (a vulnerable and puny office worker to begin with, though his character arc changes over the course of that movie), to that in Elysium is impressive. Before going into this movie I was sceptical to whether casting Sharlto Copley as a villain was a great idea but it has proved a worthy decision.

This isn’t supposed to be a follow on from District 9 yet the comparison is inevitable for people who have seen it. District 9 was hailed as a unique great Sci-fi movie, but where District 9’s unique story felt a breath of fresh air Elysium still only feels like a good summer action film. It still doesn’t quite live up to Blomkamp’s first movie, but it still shouldn’t be missed. Matt Damon in a robotic suit acting all Bourne like is a recipe for success, with the fantastic Shalto Copley’s villainy added to the mix then its inevitable that you will feel satisfied when leaving Elysium.  

Click here to Pre-order Elysium
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It’s back to the notorious cabin, sporting the same evil incubating cellar. Drug addict Mia (Jane Levy), ­­­­­along with run-away brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) and gang of determined friends’ journey to the deserted cabin in an attempt to kick Mia’s addiction. Instead they are greeted with a room of dead cats, a book bound in human flesh, and an evil spirit hell bent on feeding on everyone’s souls, to name but a few of the cabin come rehab’s delightful features. Activities include cutting off your own body parts, reading extracts from a book of the dead after specifically being told not to, and generally having a terrible time.

Whereas The Evil Dead doesn’t have the same absurdity as its original, feeling much more like your average zombie film with the loss of its fantasy edge, it does now have logic on its side, something the original clearly didn’t feel was a necessity for a film.

Unlike the original, we are now treated with the knowledge of why the teenagers have arrived at the cabin, and even who the cabin actually belongs to. Aren’t we lucky. The book of the dead is now also burn proof! So warding off evil is now a bit more of a challenge.

Overall, although a bit monotonous, and with a very ‘things finally seem to be okay, oh no wait they’re not, oh wait, yes they are’ kind of ending, it does not disappoint in terms of gore, and jumpy moments there are plenty!

If watching other humans being slashed to pieces is your scene, you must see The Evil Dead!

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