Triple Bill Mini Musings: Last Bastion of 2014 Edition...

The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies:
What's it about?
Trilogy-closing entry in Peter Jackson's elongated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's "The Hobbit" in which Smaug unleashes his fury, Thorin Oakenshield wrestles with a King's madness, and a war is unleashed. Dwarves, Hobbits, Elves, Wizards, Orcs, Men, and the like having a massive ruck, put simply.
Who would I recognise in it?
Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Billy Connolly, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, and practically all the others still surviving from the previous movies.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The shortest of all the Hobbit (and Rings) movies, the oft-talked-about problems with stretching a novella into a trilogy of films become most obvious. Despite including material from the appendices, the fact that the film opens with the burning of Lake Town (as teased at the end of the second movie) says a lot about the awkward mid-production decision to turn two films into three. The opening, as spectacular and entertaining as it is, still feels more like the last fifteen minutes of The Desolation of Smaug instead of the opening of The Battle of The Five Armies. However, despite the occasionally mangled sense of pacing, TBOTFA gives more of what you want out of these films. If you enjoyed the previous movies you'll enjoy this, but it could be argued that it is also the least of all six films (Hobbit and Rings). Although, being the least in this company still makes for solid entertainment and captivating world-building...

Click "READ MORE" below to continue the review and read about Hatchet 3 and The Inbetweeners 2...

Flavours of the Month: January 2014...

LOOKS:

Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee Season 3 - Jerry Seinfeld's web show that does what it says on the tin in a pleasant, humorous, and laid back manner. A couple of the new episodes have been a bit 'meh', but if you don't know of/take to the comedian one week then that's inevitable, but most others have been great.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Extended Edition Blu-Ray) - 5 discs, 3 hours of movie, 9 hours of extra features, blimey! It took a couple of weeks to crack through it all, but it's a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes information (which also helps better define the thirteen dwarves). The Lord of the Rings was better, but you can't help but allow yourself to be consumed by the world of Middle Earth.

Shameless Screen Entertainment Sexploitation 'Triple Sinema Bill' Boxset - a triple dose of Euro-sauce in the forms of Love Goddess of the Cannibals, Satan's Baby Doll, and The Beast In Space; click the titles for full DVD reviews of each.

Click "READ MORE" below for more looks, sounds, vibes & flavours of my January 2014...

Quadruple Bill Mini Musings: Holidays, Punching, Fighting, and Walking...

Sightseers:
What's it about?
Dark comedy about a British couple who go away on a caravanning holiday and end up committing a series of impulsive murders.
Who would I recognise in it?
Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Tony Way, Richard Lumsden.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Taking the sort of low-level social nuisances that would normally only raise a reserved under-the-breath tut and tisk, and punishing them with full-blown murder (flinging people off cliffs, bashing their heads in, etc), Ben 'Kill List' Wheatley's film (written by the two stars) combines efficient arms-reach character study with quirky slaughter. The characters are beautifully drawn - complex, yet lightly sketched, warm and relatable yet capable of sudden outbursts of violence - and the balance of the film never dives too far into comedy or too far into savagery. Writing a sad letter can be lit up by a gigantic gift shop pencil, or a typically English quarrel about dog muck can explode into head-crushing brutality, and all these tonal shifts work together seamlessly. Uniquely British in all regards. On the cusp between good and great.

Click "READ MORE" below for Kick Ass 2, This Is The End, and The Hobbit 2...

2012 Films In-Review...

2012 wasn't exactly a bumper year for cinema trips. I used to go as many as thirty times in a year, but with the rising cost of fuel (it's a 70 mile round trip to our nearest decent multiplex), and the piss-take ticket prices, not-to-mention the devolving abilities of multiplex staff, I've reduced my cinema attendance to only what needs to be seen immediately and on the big screen. Otherwise, the money you would have spent on a cinema ticket can pay for half-or-most of a DVD or Blu-Ray (replete with extra content and available for repeated viewings).

Anyway, here was my 2012 at the cinema in-review:

Click "READ MORE" below for the list...

Triple Bill Mini Musings: Hobbits, Sounds, and Cockneys...

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey:
What's it about?
Peter Jackson & Co return to Middle Earth with Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit (a new three-part movie extravaganza), where a young Bilbo Baggins is reluctantly pulled into a quest with a collection of Dwarves to take back their home from the dragon Smaug.
Who would I recognise in it?
Martin Freeman, Ian Holm, Ian McKellan, Cate Blanchett, James Nesbitt, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, Sylvester McCoy.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
If you didn't like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, you won't like this, but inversely, if you were into those films (or, indeed, the original texts) then you should be happy here. A lovingly crafted fantasy world, unending glory shots for the New Zealand tourist board, Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Goblins and so on - you know what to expect by this point if you're familiar with "the other trilogy" that took the cinematic world by storm in the early 2000s. It has to be said though, that the pace is a bit slow up front - there's only so much time you can spend at the dinner table in the company of Dwarves before you start thinking "shouldn't we be cracking on with this quest of yours?", and those who complained about the LOTR trilogy being nothing but 'three movies about people walking' (the Randall Graves' of this world) won't be in any danger of changing their tune.

Click "READ MORE" below for more Hobbits, weird noises, and undead rhyming slang...