Preston Defends...

The Voices (2014, Directed by Marjane Satrapi)

It's really hard to describe why The Voices is so brilliant to someone without blurting out every single thing about it. Since seeing it at Sundance London early last year, it's been difficult to contain my excitement for its official release, and so it brings me a great honour to review it.

Ryan Reynolds plays Jerry Hickfang, a lonely bathtub factory worker who frequently holds conversations with his two pets, Mr Whiskers and Bosco (also voiced by Reynolds). But when Jerry meets Fiona, an English girl who works in accounting at the factory, things starts to get bad, as Mr Whiskers starts persuading him to use Fiona as the start of a killing spree.

Not only is the Michael R. Perry's script brave and creative, Marjane Satrapi makes her English-language debut brilliantly colourful and enticing, managing to hit both style and substance perfectly. On top of this, Reynolds is likeable as ever, with The Voices quite possibly marking his greatest performance to date. For the most part, the supporting cast are also excellent, with Anna Kendrick especially standing out. 

The Voices is a very funny film. But it's also dark and upsetting. It succeeds at everything it sets out to do, and definitely warrants repeat viewings. Oh, and be sure to stay right though to the end credits for an extra surprise. 

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015, Directed by Matthew Vaughn)

Kingsman, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn’s follow up to the brilliant Kick Ass, tells the story of Eggsy, a young man who is recruited by Harry Hart, an older spy, to join the world most exclusive society of spies and take down Richmond Valentine, an eccentric millionaire and wannabe ‘super-villain’.

Based on Mark Millar’s comic series, Kingsman tonally picks up where the first Kick Ass ends. Not a parody, but not po-faced either, Kingsman is perfectly pitched somewhere in the middle. Littered with loving nods to spy films of the past, it manages to feel classic and contemporary at the same time. 

If comedies are your thing, you won’t be disappointed - Kingsman is filled with proper laughs from start to finish. If you’re an action fan, you’ll love it too. One particularly brutal sequence is a supposed one-shot of a crazed Hart slaying a church full of crazy Christians - think of it like Birdman, but if Birdman was about Colin Firth moving down some racists. And if drama’s your thing, you too have plenty to enjoy - the plotting and structure is excellent.

The performances are universally excellent, and the chemistry between the two leads (Colin Firth and Taron Egerton) is lovely.

If you’re looking for a gritty, realistic action movie, then steer well clear. But if you want a fun, unapologetically silly couple of hours, Kingsman: The Secret Service is the movie for you.

Kingsman: The Secret Service is released in the UK on the 29th January, and in the US on the 13th February.

Little Shop of Horrors (1986, Directed by Frank Oz)

So I tried to get this together before, but people were too afraid to commit. I’ve finally recovered, picked myself up, brushed myself off, and tried to re-organise this before someone else does.

It’s a screening I’m organising (courtesy of OurScreen) of one of the greatest movies ever made. Not only will we be screening it in all it’s glory, it’ll be the Directors Cut, which means we finally have a chance to see the full movie on the big screen, exactly as intended.

Annoyingly, these things aren’t free. To cover the costs of hiring the beautiful Notting Hill Gate, a small charge of £10.50 is required per ticket. If we don’t sell enough, the screening doesn’t happen. So get booking people!

It’s on Monday 23rd February (which, believe it or not, was the most convenient date available) at 21:00, and tickets are on sale here: https://www.ourscreen.com/screening/38255.

On January 1st, Leicester Square’s oldest cinema, the Odeon West End, shut it’s doors for the final time. Not only is this upsetting, it also could potentially be the final nail in the coffin for British Cinema Culture.

Recent years, even months, have seen many cinemas shutting their doors to make way for more profitable chains and businesses. In September, a personal favourite, the Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue closed for refurbishment, to be opened later this year, supposedly late spring, as Picturehouse Central. Nostalgia aside (you can read my article on this here - http://prestondefends.tumblr.com/post/98158331565/in-memoriam-cineworld-shaftesbury-avenue), this may actually be a welcome change. Cineworld are closing a run-down cinema to replace it with a new one in their more comfortable Picturehouse brand. Set to show a range of commercial and art-house cinema, the designs look lovely. This does not concern me.

To find out what worries me, we need look no further that Notting Hill’s historic Coronet. Purpose-built as a theatre in 1898, the Coronet kept it’s auditorium intact when it became a full-time cinema in 1923. Despite a brief threat of closure in 1989, the Coronet has operated as a cinema ever since. Recently, however, the Coronet has faced it’s biggest threat yet - ‘redevelopment’. Bought last year by the Print Room theatre, the cinema was to be redeveloped and transformed into an arts centre. Alarm bells immediately rang for me, and were totally justified when I went to see the first production they had put on. Not only is the beautiful foyer gutted and replaced with furniture that looks like it was purchased from a low-rent garden centre, the former ‘Screen 2’, where the performance took place, was destroyed. 

Whilst the upstairs screen was a reflection of a movie-palace in the 1940’s (there is reportedly an actual bomb shelter underneath), Screen 2, although only opened in 1996, was a nice antidote to the ‘black-box’ multiplex, instead looking most similar to 1970’s British cinema architecture. It was a rare space, adopting a style we will probably never see again in a cinema. The Print Room has taken it upon themselves to gut this space, and paint it entirely black. If you look close, you can still make out the layout of the room, now full of temporary seating. In fact, me and my Mum spent most of the time reminiscing about bawling our way through The Place Beyond the Pines in the very same room, not long before. They are currently ‘redeveloping’ the main screen. Let’s hope it remains relatively faithful to what it was.

This is my main cause of upset about the closure of the Odeon West End. A historic, culturally significant building is being demolished, purely to make way for a hotel complex. Jasminder Singh, CEO of the Edwardian Hotel Group, who have taken over the property, told BBC News that the redevelopment “will provide London with a modern destination hotel, fulfilling the demands of the future visitor to the capital, as well as those living in the city.” The designs themselves are nice, if nothing special, but they miss the point.

The point is not that people don’t want ‘picture palaces’, and so they should be modernised. The point is that attendance figures are dropping due to the cinema being too expensive (the Coronet aside - literally the best value cinema in the UK). The people who weren’t going to the Odeon West End to start with are not going to have a change of heart when they see a new front slapped on. Unless the price drops, this ‘redeveloped’ cinema will do almost exactly the same business as the previous, architectural gem.

What with the other West End Odeon, Odeon Leicester Square due to be carved up later this year, splitting it’s majestic auditorium into smaller screens, and the stunning Odeon Kensington scheduled to be turned into flats, I worry that British Cinema Culture is being allowed to die, only kept alive by the Prince Charles and others of a similar ilk.

So goodbye Odeon West End. And goodbye British Cinema Culture.

Horrible Bosses 2 (2014, Directed by Sean Anders)

Horrible Bosses is one of my favourite movies. For me, it's up there with Dodgeball, comedy-wise. Naturally, I was nervous, if not very excited, about what the long-awaited sequel had to offer. New co-writers (Sean Anders and John Morris, replacing, and sharing a story credit with John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein), and a new director (Sean Anders, replacing Seth Gordon), all spelt 'big mistake'. Thankfully, it isn't at all.

After dealing with their respective, titular Horrible Bosses, Nick, Kurt and Dale decide to set up their own company, manufacturing the Shower Buddy, a 3-in-1 showering device. After wealthy businessman Burt Hanson  steals their idea, the three disgruntled friends decide to kidnap Hanson's son, Rex, in order to save their business. 

A huge plus to Horrible Bosses 2 (and also Horrible Bosses) is the ratio of improvisation to script. Whilst most major studio comedies have recently got into the habit of simply letting funny people riff until the film runs out of energy, Anders has managed to capture the same spirit as the original, allowing the genuinely funny principle cast to add to a scene with improvisation, but whilst keeping the story moving constantly.

A noticeable difference to the first instalment is the tone. Whilst the first one bordered on dark at times, the sequel is a lot broader, favouring large set pieces instead of smaller gags. Not to say that there are no subtleties - there are plenty. And this does genuinely work. It feels separate enough from the first movie to exist on it's own, but is similar enough to feel like a solid, smooth continuation - some gags are even carried over, a personal favourite being the 'bend her over a barrel and show her the fifty states' gag.

The cast are still impeccable, a perfect balance struck with the three leads. Jason Bateman provides an excellent funny/straight-man, Jason Sudeikis is energetic and charming, and fans of Always Sunny (the greatest TV show of all time) will revel in Charlie Day's hilarious performance. The support are strong, if underused. Chris Pine fluctuates excellently between bat-shit crazy and extremely likeable, and Jamie Foxx delivers once again in his (extended) role as Dean 'MF' Jones. Anders has managed to put his own stamp on the film whilst retaining all the working elements of the franchise, and the rewritten script is almost seamless from the first movie.

Is it as brilliant as the original? No. Was it ever going to be? No, but it comes damn close. It reminded me of the relationship between 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street - not quite as solid as the first, but a really close second. It fills its 108 minute running time efficiently, never dipping or slowing, and successfully manages to emulate the successes of the first movie, whilst being its own, extremely enjoyable package.

What We Do In The Shadows (2014, Directed by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement)

What We Do In The Shadows is a mockumentary chronicling the lives of five vampires living together in New Zealand. The film follows them as they gain a new flatmate, attend an annual Vampires/Zombies ball, and fight a group of Werewolves.

Co-directed by Jermaine Clement of Flight Of The Conchords fame, there's a real warmth to the film that may have been lacking if placed in the hands of others. The performances are all fantastic, with Taika Waititi's Viago, the leader of the household, being a particular standout, as well as Rhys Darby as Anton, the head of the Werewolves.

The film itself is a bit of an odd one. Sweet and funny, but never sticking to one particular tone, it can, at times, feel a bit of a mess - an extended sketch. More subtle moments can get a bit lost in amongst larger gags. Luckily, the performances more than make up for this.

If you're going in expecting Flight Of The Conchords, you may well leave feeling disappointed. But as a standalone project, What We Do In The Shadows is charming and witty, and feels like a real passion project.

Nightcrawler (2014, Directed by Dan Gilroy)

In short, Nightcrawler is a perfect movie. One of the best of the year.

In long, Nightcrawler is about Lou Bloom, an unemployed man who accidentally stumbles upon the glamorous world of LA Crime Journalism, and begins to produce video segments for broadcast news.

To tell you any more than that would be pointless - it really is something you have to see for yourself. If you really want to know slightly more than I've told you, I recommend you watch the excellent trailer, a rare example of a trailer that does perfect justice to the movie. Either that, or you can call 07553477540 for a chilling bit of Halloween promotion.

Helmed by Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler has the style of Drive, but with an equal amount of substance to sustain its lightning fast 117 minute run-time. Gyllenhaal is absolutely Oscar-worthy as the psychotic and manipulative Lou Bloom, and is supported excellently by Riz Ahmed as Lou's right-hand man, Rene Russo as Nina, Lou's boss, and Bill Paxton as Joe Loader, a rival cameraman. In fact, there's not a bad performance in it.

Nightcrawler deserves every award out there. Stylish, powerful, and with a killer soundtrack, it may well be one of the best films of 2014.

This Is Where I Leave You (2014, Directed by Shaun Levy)

It's always a joy when an email pips through to your inbox, inviting you to a press screening of a film you were desperate to see anyway. This Is Where I  Leave You was one of those films - a stellar cast, an interesting director, a great trailer. Thankfully, the movie does not disappoint.

This Is Where I Leave You tells the story of the Altman family, forced to return to their childhood home to sit shiva with their mother, their deceased fathers final wish. One of the Altman sons is Judd, a successful radio producer whose life is ripped apart when he finds his boss sleeping with his wife. Thrust back into his simple hometown at the lowest point in his life, Judd is forced to reconnect with his past, and try and find who he is.

This drama-comedy is skilfully helmed by Shaun Levy - Yes, the same Shaun Levy of Cheaper By The Dozen, Night At The Museum and Big Fat Liar, not necessarily the three most character-driven films ever made. But this one is different - stylish and effective, This Is Where I Leave You packs a nice punch.

The cast is excellent, but it would be unfair to presume any less from the wide array of talent on board. Jason Bateman leads the ensemble by doing what he does best, with other highlights coming form the fantastic Adam Driver as the youngest of the Altmans, Rose Byrne as Judd's old flame, Dax Shepard as Wade, Judd's sleazy boss, and scene-stealer Ben Schwartz as Boner, the local Rabbi.

The screenplay, adapted by Jonathan Tropper from his own novel of the same name, is very good, but driven largely by the cliches of the genre, a problem many people have found with the film. I didn't particularly mind this, but I can understand how it would bother some people.

The film actually bears a striking amount of similarities to David Dobkin's excellent The Judge, holding more than a few plot points in common. Entirely coincidental, I'm sure, but nonetheless quite interesting, especially after seeing the two films very soon after each other.

Ultimately, This Is Where I Leave You is sweet, charming and funny, and not nearly as Oscar Bait-y as the marketing would make you think. It may be a bit too sentimental for everyones taste, but it was exactly what I wanted it to be, and more.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014, Directed by Jonathan Libesman)

I’m a bit of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles novice. Too young for the original comic books and films, and too old for the 2007 reboot and subsequent series, it’s a property that I’ve never been particularly interested in. This lack of knowledge, combined with bad hype and a dismal trailer, made me dread having to sit through 101 minutes of the anthropomorphic turtles latest outing. Fortunately, I was proved wrong.

Four mutated turtles (Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo), and their sensei and guardian Splinter (who happens to be a mutated rat) are discovered by journalist April O’Neil, and her cameraman Vern Fenwick, underneath the streets of New York City. The six of them have to work together to take down an evil samurai, Shredder, and his scientist sidekick, Eric Sacks.

So, let’s address the elephant in the room - the design of the turtles. Designed by Kelton Cram, and bought to life by Industrial Light and Magic, as well as Legacy Effects, the four turtles are pretty ugly. Possibly a hangover from an earlier draft of the script, in which the turtles origin had changed so that they were now aliens, as opposed to mutants, the turtles look neither reptilian, nor alien, nor human. They are just sort of bizarre CGI messes. That being said, the rest of the slick production design more than makes up for this, and you don’t see the turtles fully until about 15 minutes in - the perfect amount of time for the glee at seeing the protagonist overshadows the confusion at how their design ever got the green-light.

The film does fall short tonally. Never making up its mind about wether it’s a gritty action or a slapstick comedy, it can be difficult to adjust to each sequence, especially with the distraction of an unbelievable amount of unashamed product placement. Seriously, everything from Skype, to the delayed, upcoming, Michael Bay-produced Project Almanac are *subtly* featured, with each screening guest being provided with a branded drink, and some Pizza Hut pizza, the love of which is an awkwardly integral trait of the characters.

The best performances come from the always brilliant Will Arnett as try-hard cameraman Vern Fenwick, and William Fichtner as the traitorous Eric Sacks. Megan Fox is anomalously plausible as April O’Neil, and the voices of the titular Turtles are, although at times annoying, well suited and occasionally quite funny, especially when performing an entirely unprovoked and hilariously impromptu Hip-Hop number in an elevator.

Liebesman, who has previously helmed Wrath of the Titans, and Battle: Los Angeles, manages to create a fun and fast atmosphere, constantly throwing action and adventure at you, helped by the immersive 3D transfer, a hard process to get right.

Don’t be fooled by the trailer, which conveyed that the film had been made by people who had no idea why the concept was remotely funny, and so looked long and boring - it’s not. It’s fun enough to sustain, sweet enough to make you genuinely care, and I even left feeling secretly a bit excited for the announced sequel.

Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue - 31/11/1991-21/09/2014

Yesterday, on Sunday 21st September 2014, a staple of the West End closed it's doors. And it made me very sad. Sure, it may be housed in one of the ugliest and most depressing buildings of not only London, but the whole of England, but the Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue was somewhere that I spent a considerable amount of time over the past year.

Photo Credit: Virgin and UGC by David Simpson, MGM and Cineworld by Allen Eyles

The cinema opened as an MGM Cinema on Halloween 1991, showing free previews of upcoming horror films. Partially occupying the space previously occupied by the Pepsi Imax, the MGM was the first multiplex in the West End, holding seven screens with a capacity of around 2,500. In 1996, it became the Virgin Trocadero, and in March of 2002, it was bought by the French cinema chain, UGC, who introduced the 'black-box' atmosphere held until closing. It became a Cineworld after their acquisition of UGC, on 14th October 2005. When it was announced that the ghastly Trocadero was closing earlier this year, I was relieved to hear that the cinema would stay open, accessible only by the side escalator. It closed last night, with The Guest (hugely entertaining), Guardians of the Galaxy (everyone was right, it's brilliant), and Before I Go To Sleep (no comment).

I'm an Unlimited West End card holder, and I spend a lot of time in central London, so this Cineworld was the most convenient and accessible cinema for me. Sure it's not the nicest, but the variety of films shown there was unbelievable. Everything from smaller, British films in the upstairs screens, to big budget, 3D blockbusters in the bigger, downstairs screens. I spent so much time in this cinema, it's unreal. Highlights include having my mind-blown by Locke, seeing R.I.P.D for the (no joke) third time in a completely empty auditorium, and being reluctantly turned away by the NICEST CINEMA EMPLOYEE EVER. I mean that - it was always a relief to be served by him, cause he was super funny and clearly loved working there. His name may have been Connor - I'm not entirely sure - but he was Irish, had a black beard, and was an absolute legend.

I'm gonna miss all of this. The Cineworld Haymarket is lovely, but has very limited, although interesting, programming, and I still use my local, the similarly shitty-but-charming Cineworld Hammersmith, but I'll no longer be able to finish school, and then dash across town to see whatever happened to be on at around four-o-clock on a weekday afternoon. Sure, the upcoming Picturehouse Central will be very nice (as is the Picturehouse Hackney), and it's a huge relief to know that Unlimited members WILL be able to use their cards there, but I'll miss the slightly dated, 'screen to yourself' vibe of the Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue. I never thought I'd feel so strongly about a pretty hideous piece of architecture, but somehow, this multiplex has a very special place in my heart.

I went to take a couple of my own photos of the foyer before school today. It looked sad and deserted. I shed a tear, and turned my back on the Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue forever.

Gone, but not forgotten.

Deadpool - Test Footage (2011, Directed by Tim Miller)

So Deadpool test footage was leaked this week, and it was incredible. It was funny, it was gory, and the effects were mind-blowingly good.  Brilliantly directed by first-time director, but effects whizz Tim Miller, the footage exploded all over the internet, before Fox panicked and took it all down. If you haven't seen it yet, I wish you all the best trying to find somewhere it hasn't been taken down yet, or someone who cleverly stored a copy of it *cough cough*.

I've never read any of the Deadpool comic books. In fact, I can count the comic books I've read on one hand - Kick Ass, Kick Ass 2, R.I.P.D, and Revenge. This is one of the reasons I tend to avoid a lot of comic book movies - they tend to isolate people who aren't so familiar with the source material.

It is for this reason the the Deadpool footage may be the best superhero footage since the first Kick Ass movie. Forgetting the bizarre Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this is a brilliant introduction into Deadpool's world. Immediately we can understand who Deadpool is, what he does, and the tone of the proposed movie. And everyone seems to love it. I cannot stress enough how awesome this footage was.

Sadly, this movie will probably never get made. This is why:

1. It's funny.

Whilst recently speaking to a friend who's had personal experience with Marvel Films, he told me something really interesting - Superhero movies can't be funny anymore. Jokes DO NOT travel. Quips do.

Look at Marvel's most successful film, The Avengers. In the United States, it made  $623,357,910, 41% of it's overall box office. Internationally, it made  $895,237,000, 59% of it's box office, with the main bulk of this coming from China, which bought in $84,100,000, almost $4,000,000 more than the UK. Or take their second most successful film, Iron Man 3. Worldwide, it made an incredible $1,215,439,994. 66.3% of this is from international sales. Movies, mainly superhero movies, tend to do much better internationally than they do domestically. Sad, but true. China's yearly box office figures exceed $1.5 billion, movie studios like Fox are gonna do all they can to keep this. That means jokes are out, and dialogue-less action is in. The new Transformers movie has just made over $1 billion, and it is (with one or two exceptions) about as far removed from funny as you could get.

The Deadpool footage is funny. Properly rude and properly funny. Whilst funny superhero movies may do good business relatively (Kick Ass did good business domestically and internationally, pulling in over three times its $30 million budget), they still come in way less than the standard $120 million budget of a Marvel movie, a risk far too big for a major studio.

2. It's R rated.

Look at the top 10 worldwide box office grosses. Look at the top 20. Hell, look at the top 50. How many of them are MPAA R? Or BBFC 18? None. Absolutely none. Certainly in America, teenagers make up the majority of a movie-going demographic. For them to see a movie on their own, or with friends, it has to be PG-13. As Deadpool currently stands, it's a very definite R, probably translating to a BBFC 15. There's a beheading. A guy gets graphically run over by an SUV. In a 1 minute 48 second clip, the one 'fuck' that the MPAA allow for a PG-13 is used. Any more, and there will be more, will result in an immediate R rating. Ridiculous, I know, but them's the rules. If you're interested in this, let me highly recommend 'This Film Is Not Yet Rated', a 2006 documentary about the utter idiocy of the MPAA.

For a major motion picture, especially one that needs to have international potential to tick a studio's boxes, any sort of censorship concern domestically or internationally could be the difference between the movie getting made, or being dead in the water.

3. It's Ryan Reynolds.

As big of a Reynolds fan as I am (see this post for my proof: http://goo.gl/92XP9w), let's be honest - he's not the greatest asset for a superhero film. The words 'Green Lantern' are surely enough justification for any studio to try and unjustly shove Reynolds out of their superhero project. Perfect though he is for Deadpool - his voice fits perfectly, his mannerisms fit perfectly, his delivery fits perfectly - paired with a first time director, it's another risk that Fox can add to the ever-growing list of why Deadpool may not deliver.

The Purge: Anarchy (2014, Directed by James DeMonaco)

I thought that the trailer for The Purge: Anarchy was terrific, in exactly the same way I thought the trailer for The Purge was terrific. It was only when I saw the first movie that I realised quite how misleading the trailer was. I really liked the opening 20 minutes of the first Purge movie, especially the CCTV-esque opening credits, but after that, I thought it flew rapidly downhill into a confusing, not very scary thriller about evil neighbours. The same can sort of be said for The Purge: Anarchy, but on a much more enjoyable level.

In 2023, a year after the events of the first Purge movie, we meet a waitress and her daughter, a couple on the brink of divorce, and a mysterious man hellbent on revenge, all trying to survive the Purge in their own way. After Sergeant Leo Barnes, the mystery man, reluctantly saves the lives of the other two parties, they all team up with each other to survive the night, and not get killed.

All the stuff I quite liked about the first movie is gone. It’s no longer about ‘us on the inside and them on the outside’, but it’s expanded in a [REC] 2 sort of way, so now the city of Los Angeles is like a giant, bloody playground where a machine gun wielding politician in a van, or just a homeless man with a machete lurk round every corner. Despite this surface level of violence, nothing particularly bloody or gory happens, and most of the blood we do see looks CGI’d, and CGI blood is something that really winds me up.

Much like the first movie, the first act is better that the second and third, but this time, I actually quite enjoyed the second two acts. Not necessarily as a horror, but as a thriller, even though it does feel a bit like the Hunger Games. Also, the villains in the first act, as well as the poster boys for the movie, are truly scary, wearing hideous masks with ‘GOD’ scrawled across the front. Later, this is completely undermined when we (MINOR SPOILER ALERT) find out that they aren’t really villainous at all, but are working on behalf of a bunch of rich people, who don’t feel nearly as menacing or scary as a gang of scrawny, masked villains. MINOR SPOILERS OVER.

I enjoyed this a lot more than the first. But it still takes a great, scary premise and slowly makes it less and less scary until you can’t help but notice the flaws - if you really wanted to survive The Purge, could you not just go on holiday a couple of days before, and come back a couple of days later?

If I was in The Purge, I’d sell the mini-packs of crisps that say ‘Not for Resale’. And there’s nothing you could do to stop me.

Into the Storm (2014, directed by Steven Quale)

Watch the trailer for Into the Storm. Now imagine watching Into the Storm. Congratulations, you've pretty much seen Into the Storm!

Presented in a sort of found-footage format, Into the Storm tells the story of a small American town hit by a devastating tornado, and the effects this has on a handful of residents, including a single father and his sons, two amateur daredevils, and a team of storm chasing documentarians. That being said, if you're going to see Into the Storm for a plot, you're going to see the wrong movie. What the film is really about is huge, CGI tornados.

Director Steven Quale is responsible for the best Final Destination film in the franchise, Final Destination 5 (the order is 5,3,1,2, and then the abysmal 4), and he's pretty much succeeded in making an 89 minute version of the opening 15 of Final Destination 5, only slightly wetter.

The performances range from pretty good to pretty forgettable, standouts being Matt Walsh, who's always great, Max Deacon, and Kyle Davis, who'll be familiar to any Always Sunny fans as L'il Kevin (Sweet Dee's Dating a Retarded Person).

It's alright. But it should be great. I think one of the main problems is that the CGI is good, but it's clearly CGI. The moment you see something mixed in with live action that doesn't look real, you lose any connection with the film. You stop caring, because there's nothing real to care about. You sit very comfortably in your seat when you should be right on the edge of it. All of the hail and rain sequences really work, but the tornados themselves are a bit too animated to have any major impact.

All that being said, there is one moment in the third act that was so breathtakingly stunning, the entire audience gasped in unison. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.

Does it live up to the greatness of the teaser trailer? No. Would I watch it again. Yes, probably. Though slightly repetitive, it is fun, and the effects are, for the most part, pretty damn cool.

The House of Magic (2013, Directed by Ben Stassen & Jeremy Degruson)

Before I dive in, let me start by saying that The House of Magic features some of the best theatrically released 3D ever utilised. If you've ever been to an IMAX Cinema (a proper one, not a multiplex one. Seriously, if you've never been to the Waterloo IMAX, clear a couple hours and treat yourself. Go and see Space Station 3D, and prepare to have your MIND BLOWN), then you've probably seen something directed by Ben Stassen. I've never been too keen on his IMAX films (Haunted Castle and Alien Adventure amongst many others), I find them kind of empty and disturbing, but he sure as hell knows how to use 3D. Matched with the lovely animation of The House of Magic, he's made what feels like an 85 minute theme-park film, and I mean that as a compliment. Anything that can come out at you, does. A wrecking ball flew out at one point, and I genuinely found myself ducking.

The House of Magic tells the story of Thunder, a small ginger cat who is abandoned by his family at the beginning of the movie. He stumbles upon a mysterious, creaky old house inhabited by other small animals, like Jack the rabbit and Maggie the mouse, as well as a wealth of small clockwork contraptions, including Edison, one of the cutest animated characters ever. The house is owned by Lawrence, a kindly old magician who takes Thunder in. When Lawrence is hospitalised after a minor accident, his scheming nephew Daniel plans to sell the house behind Lawrence's back. It's up to Thunder and his friends to try and save the house.

As you can imagine, the animals are super smart and devise a plan, which includes an awesome haunted house style ride to scare the builders Daniel has hired away. Coming from a simulator-film background, Stassen works these sequences really well, milking every effect and trick he can squeeze in, to create a really fun environment that's 'scary', but in a family friendly kind of way.

At 16 years old, I really liked this movie. If I was 5, I would have adored it. Its so rare that a non-Pixar animated movie comes along that works and feels really inventive, the brilliant first Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs coming to mind. The House of Magic succeeds at this. It's nice looking, it's entertaining, and in an audience largely consisting of under-10's, everyone appeared to be having a whale of a time, screaming and laughing along.

The House of Magic is out in the UK on the 25th July.

Chef (2014, Directed by Jon Favreau)

Quite bizarrely, I saw Chef almost immediately after revisiting the brilliant but much darker Cheap Thrills with a pal, Honey - http://honeykinny.tumblr.com. I happened to have a spare Chef ticket, which I offered up as part of the second most bizarre double-bill ever (the first one was when my parents saw Mrs. Doubtfire and Philadelphia one after the other), but was shot down, under the reasoning of 'it's gonna be a couple of guys slappin' each others asses about a kitchen for 100 minutes'. Very true, but Chef is so much more than just kitchen-based ass-slappin'.

Written, directed and acted by the super talented Jon Favreau, the helmer of one of the greatest Christmas films ever, Elf, Chef tells the story of Carl Casper, a once adventurous and brave chef now working in the kitchen of a fancy Los Angeles restaurant owned by Dustin Hoffman. When a food critic insults both Casper's cooking and his appearance, he quits his job and buys an old taco truck, taking his son and John Leguizamo along for the ride.

Chef feels like two separate movies, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The stuffy and city-based restaurant half is so enjoyable to watch that you almost forget that this is only the beginning of the story. Taking up a solid 40 minutes of the 114 minute running time, the equally entertaining 'on the road' second half almost feels like a coda, when it's actually the main body of the story. Casper's rant at Oliver Platt's perfectly pitched food critic is hilarious and brilliantly written, but ever so slightly let down by the constant use of 'modern' words - 'viral', 'trending', 'social media'. Whilst not as misguided as that may sound, my worry is that this instantly dates the film, which would work almost exactly as well without the use of these terms.

Still, the cast are excellent, even though supporting players such as the brilliant Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, and Scarlett Johansson are criminally underused, especially since these three in particular light up the screen whenever they appear. Robert Downey Jr's extended cameo reminded me quite how funny he can be - think Tropic Thunder and the insanely underrated Due Date.

It's super nicely directed, the soundtrack is brilliant, and the locations they visit on their tour are all brilliantly chosen, the best being Cafe Du Monde, which as a recent visitor to New Orleans, provided a lovely but brief behind the scenes tour of how beignets are made. 

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (2013, Directed by Felix Herngren)

Let me start by saying that I have never read the book this is based on. I've heard it's tremendous, and I have had it at the top of my list of things to read for ages, but I've just never got round to it. This lead to me having absolutely no clue of what to expect from this Swedish adaptation except from it being about a 100-year-old man who escapes his old peoples home and goes on an adventure. So armed with a booklet of production notes, I rocked up to the Soho Screening Rooms to see what was in store.

The film follows Allan Karlsson, a 100-year-old who has helped shape many of the most crucial decisions in modern history. Despite this, he is lonely and tired, owing to the fact his parents died when he was very young, and he has never had down a proper relationship with anyone else. He decides that he is bored of his life in a retirement home, and so escapes, taking the nearest bus to anywhere and going on an adventure. He also ends up accidentally stealing a suitcase with millions of dollars inside, which a group of skinheads/bikers want back at any cost.

Karlsson is played by Robert Gustafsson, apparently Sweden's answer to Ben Stiller. He's good, although slightly hindered by rubbery prosthetics that make him look a bit like Paul Whitehouse in the Aviva adverts. The supporting cast are also all very good, especially David Wiberg as Benny, whose introduction is definitely the funniest thing in the film.

Whilst succeeding at being quite moving, mostly thanks to Gustafsson's performance, it's never quite sure of itself. It's not necessarily a comedy - the film will often go 15 or so minutes without a joke in sight, but it's also not quite a drama, as it's never touching or true enough to be relatable. 

There's also quite a significant problem in the fact that Karlsson is quite unlikable for many of the flashback sequences. A self-confessed pyromaniac, a ton of relatively innocent people die due to his reckless explosions, making us unsure of who we're rooting for, if we're meant to root for anyone at all. Sub-plots, like the policeman following them or the stolen circus elephant, all just sort of wind down, with nothing ever really coming together.

It's not a bad film, it's just a strange film. It lives in it's own little world, which works at times, but doesn't at others, and ends up playing a bit like a Wes Anderson film minus the definitive styling. It's perfectly sweet, but never quite lives up to the beautifully designed opening titles.

Two reviews in one day! WOW! And both such brilliant films (my review for Matt Johnson's The Dirties is underneath this one.)

We now move on to Cheap Thrills.

Cheap Thrills (2013, Directed by E.L. Katz)

Cheap Thrills is amazing. There is no other word for it.

I saw a preview of it last year, expecting it to sadly never get a proper release due to quite how intense it is. However, here we are, almost a year later, and E.L. Katz's masterpiece is finally seeing the light of day, on iTunes and in selected cinemas. 

I'm not even going to write a tiny synopsis of the film, as it really is something you have to see for yourself. It comes out in the UK this Friday, and I urge you not to read anything about it, nor should you watch any trailers. 

All I will tell you, however, is that Cheap Thrills is an 87 minute thrill ride unlike anything you've ever seen before. The performances are all excellent, only enhanced by the direction, so perfect that you feel every single twist and turn like a slap in the face.