Cert: 18 Runtime: 121 mins Director: Darren Aronofsky Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson and Kristen Wiig
You give, and you give, and you give. It’s just never enough.
Darren Aronofsky is a film-maker that has astounded my through-out my adult life (except The Fountain!). He ensures that you think about his work for weeks after. Requiem For A Dream a personal favourite of mine (yes I 
know it’s depressing), from his masterwork he has created a string of acclaimed films from The Wrestler and Black Swan…..Noah was a slight dip but I enjoyed it. Now mother! is here, a project that I have been excited to watch from it’s conception to the first trailer. So what is mother! about? A couple’s relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. From filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream), mother! stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer in this riveting psychological thriller about love, devotion and sacrifice.
mother! is Aronofsky’ most thought provoking film to date. mother! benefits from rich religious and environmental 
symbolism with so much more bubbling under the surface than the majority of mainstream cinema today. Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique confine us in excruciatingly tight shots resulting in further disorientation and claustrophobia through most of the film. By the time we get a single wide shot of the home’s exterior, we’ve just about given up hope. mother! isn’t a traditional horror film, it’s hardly a traditional film at all. It’s built on confusion, and metaphors abound. Aronofsky seems intent on causing endless post- viewing discussions and debate. In my eyes he covers ego, fame, Mother Nature, deity/religion, and current affairs. The slow burn of mother! is perfection in my eyes. It unfolds nicely and you get these fine morsels of drama and horror when Aronofsky deems it necessary. Once you get to the third act you are just blown away and your brain will take a pounding. I would recommend staying away from spoilers about mother! just watch it. It feels like a nightmare and Polanski-esk, I loved it!
Jennifer Lawrence gives a power house performance as the mother. She really goes out of the Katniss mould into a true artist. She goes through the mill as her character and I can imagine it was a draining shoot for her. Will she get
her fifth academy nomination? most probably this is her career best in my eyes. Javier Bardem as The Poet worked for me, he is the calming yet spin-tingling. He grasped the character well and the connectivity between him and Lawrence works. Michelle Pfeiffer is golden at doing what she does best; being creepy and daunting. Ed Harris is the only character here aside from Jennifer’s that you feel any form of sympathy for.This film is shining with relevancy to the world we live in now, full of selfishness, narcissism, greed and the consequence of too much freedom. mother! is intense, haunting, captivating, frustrating and thought provoking watch it!
director and Will Poulter as Pennywise. This is the first feature film adaption of Stephen King’s bestseller the original is a mini series. So what is IT about? Seven young outcasts in Derry, Maine, are about to face their worst nightmare — an ancient, shape-shifting evil that emerges from the sewer every 27 years to prey on the town’s children. Banding together over the course of one horrifying summer, the friends must overcome their own personal fears to battle the murderous, bloodthirsty clown known as Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård).
essence of King’s novel by bringing back some memorable elements, such as lines, characters, atmosphere, and the very fear that the children experience. We are currently living in a Stranger Things world, IT has come out at the perfect time. IT does feel like a combination of The Goonies and Stand By Me for me personally. Stephen King is known for writing about childhood adolescence, the writers for the film understood and translates brilliantly on screen. Andy Muschietti directs with suspense, potent realism, confidence and affection, while the writing has a great balance of hilarious comedy, touching drama and pathos, references to the time period. The story, even with the change of time-line and structure, is cohesive and logical, rich in suspense and emotion but it’s the chemistry between the children resonates most. BUT I did want it to be more terrifying!
naive about his Pennywise from his voice to movement. 
at all. It has been released at a very peculiar time of the year IMO. The recent issues in the US has probably not helped either. What is Detroit all about then? Never afraid to tackle tendentious subjects, director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal now set their sharp sights on the events of 1967 Detroit, which sparked the worst race riots in American history. The action is centred on the Algiers Motel on a sweltering hot July night, where a random shot from a starting pistol brought in the National Guard and a large number of police sharpshooters. Three black men were left dead and several more brutally beaten; a black security guard, Melvin Dismukes (John Boyega), tried desperately to mediate between his white superiors and an enraged African-American community.
in the motel play out, and lets the viewer view helplessly as they see the psychological harassment these young people faced against police and even marshals not even stepping in. It’s shot in a documentary style, but its content brings it into a realm of the visceral disgust of the and in the human spirit.A few faults its too long. Or, more approximately, it almost feels like the movie is over by the time its at the last 20 minutes. It can get a bit over dramatised too. It went from gritty and raw to Hallmark channel afternoon movie. Detroit could have gotten a bit closer to it’s characters and given us more insights into those struggles characters faced following this event. Cast wise we can only talk about Will Poulter. He shines here, he’s unflinching, unhinged, and unchained as you wouldn’t expect beneath his baby faced demeanour is something vicious, yet in every moment he’s fantastic. If his performance isn’t award worthy I don’t know what is. Despite its overdrawn length, Detroit still provides a very down-to-earth and intense experience, definitely worth seeing.
the Candelabra. Soderbergh went to great lengths to make this film, in order to have full creative freedom he opened his own studio so that he could distribute Logan Lucky himself. What is it about you ask? Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) is from a blue-collar family from the hills of West Virginia, whose clan has been famous for its bad luck for nearly 90 years. After being fired from his job, and with his ex-wife (Katie Holmes) threatening to move out of State taking their daughter with her, Jimmy decides he has to do something to get his family’s life back on track. With a little help from his brother Clyde Logan (Adam Driver), his sister Mellie (Riley Keough) and an incarcerated explosive expert, the aptly named Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), he plans to steal $14 million from the Charlotte Motor Speedway on the busiest race day of the year.
divine plot, exquisite action scenes and comedic jokes. It’s a zany comedy about unremarkable characters punching well above their weight but through sheer luck managing to pull things off. Half the fun of the film is seeing things not happening to plan but somehow working out in the end. To its credit, the film never treats itself too seriously and invites you to laugh along with the character’s mishaps and the farcical parts of the story are frequently the funniest.The film does an excellent job humanising our heroes by exploring and framing their environments as a point of fact. One gag involving a prison riot and a jab at George R.R. Martin’s glacial writing pace is as screwy as it is funny. For the most part, the film moves along at a nice pace. Soderbergh’s edits employs slick, fast cut editing to keep the heist scenes interesting and involving.
incredible and play off each-other exceptionally as two brothers who love one-another despite their differences and sometimes conflicting personalities. The film wisely gives them both a lot of sympathy and flaws so that the audience never turns against them, and despite what they’re doing being completely illegal, you’ll quickly find yourself rooting for them. Supporting roles by the likes of Mackenzie, Holmes, Riley Keough and even a small turn by Hillary Swank are all played very well and lend a lot to the proceedings. And of course there’s Daniel Craig… Fans who only know him as the latest James Bond might very well want to check this movie out, because Craig shows just how versatile and talented an actor he really is. Adam Driver for me was the best of the bunch. There really isn’t a single thing I can say to the film’s detriment. It’s a perfect, well-oiled machine that knows exactly what it is, and places all of its focus on being the best it can be.
in 2014, and went from a Ron Howard project to Doug Liman of Edge.of.Tomorrow fame. The trailer made it look entertaining but is it? So what is American Made all about? Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), a TWA pilot, is recruited by the CIA to provide reconnaissance on the burgeoning communist threat in Central America and soon finds himself in charge of one of the biggest covert CIA operations in the history of the United States. The operation spawns the birth of the Medellin cartel and almost brings down the Reagan White House.
life story of Barry Seal. Liman and Cruise took a gamble and went for something different other than an awards baiting or dialogue heavy expose has paid off hugely, with American Made easily becoming one of the year’s most purely fun and enjoyable rides. This is a very different kind of biopic and that’s what makes it exciting. Liman really brings out the flare here, he brings a dynamic look to the film. The action sequences are thrilling, the air-plane scenes are pretty intense acrobatic ballets. The film’s story is not only engaging but also witty and hilarious. There are hardly any stagnant moments so the probability of you getting bored is very low. At one point you will question is anything else going to happen? Just planes, drugs and trying to launder money….well it does improve. Cruise’s natural talents for comedy and when mixed with his easy going charisma that has made him such a beloved acting figure, Seal offers Cruise one of his best and most interesting roles in his long and varied career.
are at the back-end of the summer season and The Hitman’s Bodyguard is after that $ pie. So what is it all about? We follow the world’s top protection agent Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) and his new client: a notorious hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson). They’ve been on opposite ends of a bullet for years but now must come together for 24 hours to get from England to The Hague. The only thing standing in their way is the murderous dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman) who uses his power to create trouble for the pair at every stop along their way.
pretty good it was like Due Date meets Lethal Weapon. Jackson does trump Reynolds by a long mile, but they literally are playing themselves! If you watch interviews with these guys you just understand they aren’t going full Day-Lewis here. Salma Hayek was a riot for me, very funny and aggressive I didn’t see it coming. Gary Oldman was utterly pointless, they could have casted anyone to play Dukovich. Why did he need to play a villain again? The film flowed stagnantly for me, the film could have been 20 minutes shorter. It has a few great action sequences mainly at the back end, but we get a lot of dialogue and very pointless romantic plots. The daylight scenes in Amsterdam really irritated me, what was the sun flare in the back about? You couldn’t even see what was going on! This review may sound negative but I did have fun but this is the nature of the beast.
Night is the latest. So what is Rough Night about you ask? Five best friends from college (Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, and Zoë Kravitz) reunite 10 years later for a wild bachelorette weekend in Miami. Their hard partying takes a hilariously dark turn when they accidentally kill a male stripper. Amidst the craziness of trying to figure out what to do,their night takes some hilariously unexpected turns, ultimately bringing them closer together when it matters most. I was hoping for something that would be memorable and a hell of a good time. While the film has some funny moments, they don’t come as often as they should. I think the film could have been better but for it is its not bad.
also stars on the show. I’ve never seen Broad City but eh, the writing and jokes in this film don’t really give me interest to do so.One of the weakest characters in the film was actually Ilana Glazer. That’s a problem with this film, two of the bunch (Glazer and Zoe Kravitz) are bland. We already have a fairly straight laced main character in Scarlett Johansson so these two don’t really come off as memorable. Jilian Bell was a bit much at times but she was a colourful character. I really like Kate McKinnon and she was responsible for some of the good humour in the film, however even she feels wasted in the film. There really aren’t that many laugh out loud or even funny snicker moments. I’d say the second half of the film kind of collapses on itself. The first half was substantially stronger and then the more far-fetched and convoluted the scenario became, the more it suffered. I liked the idea for the film but it needed more memorable characters and sharper writing to stand on its own. Its not entirely bad but it just feels like a film that’s lacking and wasteful of its cast.