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Deepwater Horizon 

9/30/2016

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Deepwater Horizon is directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich and Kate Hudson. It tells the story of Deepwater Horizon, one of the worst oil rig disasters in U.S history, which shook the world on the night of April 20th 2010.

Deepwater Horizon is quite possibly the best real life disaster ever brought to screen. The film starts with the main protagonist's daughter practising her school presentation on her father's job. Straight away we are fed key facts as to how oil rig drilling works. Instead of being treated like an audience; the whole way through the film, characters told each other key points about the rig that told us all we needed to know. This was some very good story telling as we weren't directly told the information but it was given to us through carefully crafted dialogue.

The characters are very likeable which gets us to care about them even more when bad stuff starts to happen. The film contained almost oscar worthy performances, Wahlberg was stoic and very level headed, Russell was world weary with a strong sense of duty no matter how hard the going got,  and Malkovich was the reckless company executive - pushing limits further and further all out of greed. The acting in this film was nothing short of amazing. Whilst incredibly tense and engaging, the film is a non stop roller coaster of emotion. Unlike San Andreas which was a serious concept expressed in a disaster film form, Deepwater Horizon is simply a drama with action sequences but not an action film in the traditional sense.

It explores some very deep themes, like greed over the safety of the oil rig workers, or how life can be taken away so quickly. Not only is the film extremely heavy and emotional but it is very sensitive and respectful in just the right places, like when the credits role it beautifully pays tribute to all the men that died on this darkest of days. Although the film is fantastic just by story development, the special effects  were spectacular, they felt very realistic and honestly made jaws drop. Although slow building up to the main event, the story was perfectly well crafted, you felt caught up inside the film, the special effects and acting was outstanding and the tension just kept building. Much like 10 Cloverfield Lane, Deepwater Horizon had me on the edge of my seat the entire way through.

I am going to give Deepwater Horizon:

9.7/10
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The Magnificent Seven

9/23/2016

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The Magnificent Seven is directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke along with a whole bunch of people and tells the story of seven unlikely gun men who must join forces to protect a quaint little town overrun by an evil group of thieves.

This is one of many reincarnations based of the original Japanese piece 'Seven Samurai' which since has shaped the world of cinema today. However this latest version is more of a reboot to the 1960's classic 'The Magnificent Seven' where it first pictures the classic story in western from. As years past and aliens and superheroes where introduced the western genre was seemingly unheard of until today. It was extremely refreshing to get a cowboy film that actually was pretty good.

The Magnificent Seven takes what everyone loves about cowboy's and gives it an energetic boost of modern stunts and effects. Whilst painfully slow most the way through, the film had a very strong plot that played itself out very well. The stunts in the film were incredible, it was great to see each character perform various manoeuvres with guns and carts and horses. One particular shot of Washington riding through a building whilst gunning down five men, and then to ride straight down an ally whilst shooting men off the side of his horse as he passes between gaps in the houses, was very impressive to watch and was one of the best moments of the film. The most important part to the film is having strong individual characters and that it certainly did have. Each character was completley different but had something really special about them, they all had different weapons to match the way they fought in battle and it was very clever to see their individual tactics. Denzel Washington was phenomenal as the leader of the group he was the trigger happy sharp shooter who knew what he wanted to get done and took any means necessary. The character arc's were so well held by each member of the team that it was hard to take your eyes of them. Easily, the most admirable part about The Magnificent Seven is the fact it really doesn't take itself too seriously, it knows exactly what it wasn't to be and doesn't try too hard to convince us its the western film of the ages. Simply, it is a fun two hour action adventure which was incredibly refreshing for audiences who favour the genre, though slow, rather long and quite forgettable, it contains some fabulous camera work, a beautiful line up of actors that perform effortlessly and amazing stunt work that compliments itself as each scene builds.

I am going to give The Magnificent Seven:

7.4/10
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Bridget Jones's Baby

9/18/2016

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Bridget Jones's Baby is directed by Sharon Maguire and stars Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Patrick Dempsy and is the third instalment of the Bridget Jones series. This time we find a maturing Bridget focusing on her single life and her career, until she finds out she is pregnant with a 50% chance that the father is one Mark Darcy.

Bridget Jones's Baby is the perfect ending to a perfect film series. 12 years after The Edge of Reason it is obvious that Bridget indeed still has it. Bridget Jones's Baby is like a complete upgrade to the the humour in the first film - it was more romantic and all round even funnier. Almost every scene made the audience laugh out loud there were very rare occasions where not one person wasn't chuckling into their popcorn. There is never a dull moment, each joke hits the mark every time, the flow of the script was constant, it had great comedic timing and was very cleverly put together. There were so many character arc's throughout, Zellweger is fabulous as a third time Bridget, Dempsy suave as the charming american who knows how to properly treat a lady, and Mark Darcy the usual sexy, smart, international man of mystery. Unarguably the best cameo amongst some good support was Emma Thompson as Doctor Rawlings, having great comedic timing, so laid back and sarcastic it was hilarious - one particular line having the  audience almost wetting  themselves. Another thing that I thought was very apparent was that the sound track was really good! There were so many song that made everyone want to join in, it was like they were going that extra effort and every little detail was polished off very nicely. The most admirable thing about Bridget Jones's Baby is the charm, it was so romantic, the way they tackled the whole 'doesn't know the father' concept was amazing.  Bridget was far from being a  loose woman, and the bedroom scenes were tastefully handled, not at all rude and vulgar but just charmingly romantic. This is one of the main reason's that Bridget Jones's Baby could possibly be the best in the series.

The only problem with the film is that there isn't one.  After 12 years Sharon Maguire is still able to make a great Bridget Jones film, making you feel like you are catching up with old friends you haven't seen for a while. For being so romantic and witty and for showing us that age really just a number. 

​​I'm going to give Bridget Jones's Baby:

9.3/10
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War Dogs 

9/9/2016

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War Dogs is directed by Todd Philips and stars Miles Teller and Jonah Hill and tells the story of two twenty year olds who land a multi million dollar contract to arm American Allies in Afghanistan. From the director of the Hangover Phillips shows us that he is not a one trick pony and gives us a very untrustworthy look into the american government. 

Whist I have never been a huge fan of Teller, he really pulled out the stops in this role. Since the atrocious  mess Fantastic Four Teller has stared in the gripping oscar winning drama Whiplash where there too his acting style surprised me. As well as Jonah Hill who took a break from his crude, over the top humour, took a step back and performed wonderfully as a very dangerous, miss guided, obsessed money monster. The film in itself was incredibly engaging, they made a concept that could easily get very boring to watch for 120 min, into something very gritty that left audiences members wanting more. It showed greed and government corruption in a scarily sadistic way, that mixed with a phenomenal sound track and you have a extremely interesting film. That being said the film was still humorous in some places but without being two over the top and in your face, it was rather subtle which made it much more naturally funny and enjoyable. Another thing to note is the slow destruction of Teller and Hill's relationship, they both clashed with each other once they  got themselves too deep into some very serious business however in most scenes they both compliment each other very nicely.  

A very serious concept that handled it self very nicely with some fantastic acting and a plot that unraveled further as the film went on. 

I am going to give War Dogs:

8.4/10

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    Hi I’m James - a huge welcome to my film blog! I started this site just after my 14th birthday and have been bringing you my own take on the hottest box office arrivals and many art house triumphs ever since. 

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