Fast and Furious 7: Mini Review...

What's it about?
The heavy-footed family are called back into action when Deckard Shaw - brother of #6's villain Owen Shaw - gets hungry for a spot of revenge (thus tying us in with Tokyo Drift at long last). Throw in an impressive macguffin called "God's Eye", cue a series of set pieces that boast an escalating amount of vehicular insanity, and Vin Diesel grumbling the word "family" at every given opportunity.
Who would I recognise in it?
Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Staham, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Ludacris Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Kurt Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel, Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Lucas Black, Elsa Pataky.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Fast 7 will forever be overshadowed by the sudden death of Paul Walker - mid-shoot - in a car crash, and it's hard to view the film without that thought - and of CGI-infused body double fixes - lurking in the back of your mind. Even more-so considering the film's continued (and franchise-spanning) emphasis on the importance of family, one of the elements that has helped turn this franchise into a box office juggernaut...

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Double Bill Mini Musings: Wolves & Ghosts...

The Wolf of Wall Street:
What's it about?
Martin Scorsese's latest epic about the outrageous life and times of stockbroker Jordan Belfort in the late 1980s and early 1990s - sex, drugs, money, power, women, mayhem, and corruption.
Who would I recognise in it?
Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, Jon Bernthal, Jean DuJardin, Joanna Lumley, and others.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Scorsese's film is his most brash and outlandish for quite some time, and deals directly with despicable people doing reprehensible things. Terence Winter's whip smart script invites us into this world and manages to elicit different reactions from different people, or a multitude from one individual viewer. Deep down, who doesn't want money and power and sex? The condemnation creeps in when, slowly, the excesses take over and the protagonists' sense of reality skews into obscene territory. These characters - based on real people - do horrible things and never know when enough is enough, but you can't examine that world, or tell that story, without showing it as it is. You can't - and shouldn't - censor it. You can't deal with villainy without meeting the villain, you can't show excess without having a little fun, you can't illustrate a huge downfall without going to extreme lengths.

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