PeterVincent's Reviews

Trance





'Don't be a hero.'


Danny Boyle is one of my favourite directors, & this movie is one that seemed to pop out of nowhere, & sure enough it'll disappear before we know it.

Trance is a psychological thriller that delves into memories, sex, abuse, affairs, torture & endless layers of exposition & character revelation. The film starts off incredibly fast, with almost no room to breathe. To be honest, I wasn't going with it for the first five minutes. But then, sure enough, Danny Boyle sucks you into a whirlpool of mystery.



In this film we get to see outstanding direction, Rosario Dawson shave her...ummm...kitty kat, then show us...everything, James McAvoy give an outstanding performance, one of the most ecstatic & insane scores I have ever heard, a great pace, an ever-so-compelling amount of twists and more turns than a maze.

Danny Boyle truly is a master of making low-budget films absolute art. Whilst this isn't his best film, it's close.

'Anyone can steal a painting. All it takes is a bit of muscle. But no piece of art is worth a human life. No piece of art is…'

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Oxfords not brogues.

I watched this a couple of nights ago and loved it alot more with a second viewing. I think everyone expected a little much from this movie.

Danny Boyle talks about Trance during this interview. Click on Danny Boyle 22 March 13 and his interview starts at 53:07. The whole interview is really interesting, IMO. I'd like to see Trance and Side Effects. Maybe as a double bill, as they both sound a bit like ridiculous 80's erotic thrillers/exploitation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/kermode

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Iron Man 3




Tony Stark is back! Redeeming himself from Iron Man 2 with the absolutely amazing The Avengers, there is nothing but positive emotion buzzing around this long awaited sequel...but...it could've been so much more!

So, without spoiling anything too massive or important, the story focuses on Tony Stark recovering from the events of The Avengers, he has nightmares & tries his best to avoid sleeping in general. Unfortunately for him, however, a new villain has decided to rise up & start terrorising the President of the United States. Also if that wasn't enough, Pepper Pott's is having relationship issues with Tony whilst an old business man in the form of Guy Pearce shows up to start meddling with Tony's relationship problems.



What ultimately fails Iron Man 3 however is it's predictable plot & character motivations. Guy Pearce's plot is so incredibly easy to predict that I almost had the entire thing figured out when he hobbled up in an opening flashback & started babbling on about some formula that reminded me way too much of The Amazing Spider-Man & Rhys Ifan's Lizard serum. Pepper Potts is stale & pouts every so often & despite the amazing charisma of Downey Jr. & the wit of director/writer Shane Black, Tony Stark ultimately makes some incredibly bizarre decisions (he has something in the climax that he didn't use before...when he really should have because...wait...what?). In fact, the only thing I didn't see coming at all was the twist with Ben Kingsley's character.

What makes Iron Man 3 entertaining & ultimately a fun time though are two major things;

1) The Opening - The opening of Iron Man 3, whilst having a predictable appearance & such, manages to be so strong & outstandingly witty, that I completely forgot about the dreaded Iron Man 2.

2) A weaker Tony Stark - In this film Tony Stark is brought unto his weakest point, & whilst it isn't handled as well as it could have been, seeing him struggle to take out bad guys with half an Iron Man suit on was so tense & bada$$ that I was squealing with delight...literally, a guy looked at me funny.



Overall, Iron Man 3 is a little bit of a let down due to it's large hype & the exciting re-pairing of Shane Black & Robert Downey Jr., however, it is still a very entertaining summer blockbuster with great special effects, some nice set pieces & a fair few good jokes.

Just don't think too much about the plot.

Damn I was wanting to post the first Iron Man 3 review! However I've gone off on one of my big fanboy ramblings so will be a while before I'm done. Anyway suffice to say that I did enjoy it a lot more than you did, but nice review all the same.

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I apologise, Mr. Dee.

This wasn't the first either. Here.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

I apologise, Mr. F.

What for?

Star Trek Into Darkness



''Is there anything that you would not do...for your family? '

Well, Abrams managed to make a decent Star Trek sequel, two in a row! Wowzas!

Star Trek Into Darkness successfully follows up where the last film left off, with a fresh new Kirk at the helm of the Enterprise...but was he really ready to command the ship? Chris Pine still manages to be a good Kirk, whilst making the role his own and Zachary Quinto still absolutely kills it as Spock but the show is stolen by Benedict Cumberpatch and his mysterious villain, John Harrison.



Where Into Darkness succeeds is pace, adrenaline and mixed-up nostalgia. Whilst the first act is rather weak, the second and third act make up for it with a non-stop kicking-of-a**. Abrams tones down the lens flares and instead tries to make his action scenes more spontaneous and exciting, a level on which he succeeds.

Whilst it is difficult to talk about Into Darkness without spoiling anything, the film manages to still please old fans and new ones alike. With a familiar scenario towards the climax, the decision of a role reversal was one that shocked and excited me, very very much.

The film has plenty of weaknesses though, with some directorial decisions that were poor, some bad writing decisions and a lack of focus on the supporting cast, it can sometimes be hard to focus on what is going on.

But, Star Trek Into Darkness is a fun and exciting time, with plenty of laughs, turns, new additions and a shocking twist, it's easily one of the best films of the year.

Did you watch it in 3D? If so, how was it and was there any point to it?

It wasn't as nice as Abrams is making it out to be, however, they changed the warp speed special effect quite clearly for 3D, and it looked, to say the least, cool and pretty.

Other than some laser blasts that fly at the screen and some spears, it's not particularly noticeable.

This Is The End



'You're telling me James Franco didn't suck a dick last night? Now, I know you're lying.'

A unique premise meets a familiar blockbuster scenario means that This Is The End could either be really good, or really not-so-good.

Thank God it was the first option. This film had me giggling, cackling and having a jolly old time with some of my favourite actors and some others that, well, I can tolerate.



The humour ranges from clever to vulgar, but thankfully there's so much of it thrown at you that you can't even process the bad ones, only the good ones.

One scene in particular involving a fight between James Franco and Danny McBride had me in stitches, whilst the ending almost made a tear of joy burst from my eye.

It might not always work, but This Is The End is a barrel of laughs, cleverness and even some talent. Overall it isn't as memorable or hilarious as say, Superbad, but it's more along the legendarily decent and funny lines of Pineapple Express.

Great review; I think Danny Mcbride is hilarious and I'm looking forward to seeing this.

The Wolverine




In a world where every superhero/comic adaptation must follow the same structure, shove special effects in your throat and be a strangely similar experience to the last superhero film you saw, and the one before that, The Wolverine is certainly a breath of fresh air.

Abandoning dumb battles for deep drama, we get thrills, and a genuine sense of danger. Simply ask my brother (of whom I saw the film with), for I was yelping and squirming for poor ol' Wolverine, as very often it actually looked like our hero might get killed off or mortally wounded.



Ripping up the generic pace and plot of your average blockbuster, The Wolverine leaps around the place, twisting and turning and keeping you on your toes, I can honestly say that I couldn't tell what was going to happen next, and it was VERY exciting.

Because the build up is so great, the third act pay-off includes what is easily one of the most thrilling sequences of the year, as our hero is truly in rage and tells the villain to go **** himself, it truly is glorious.



Sure, you can accuse The Wolverine of being a boring snoozefest, but damn...It was truly an immersive and enjoyable experience, although the 3D was lackluster (when isn't it these days?). A definite improvement over X-Men 3: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, although it doesn't reach the heights of X-Men: First Class.

And be sure to stay for the the post-credits sequence, in which I literally squeaked and started sweating.

The World's End



"A man of your legendary prowess drinking...f*****g rain! It’s like a lion eating houmous."

We have made it, over ten years, we have finally finished the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, or whatever you might want to call it.

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and director Edgar Wright return for their last bash, and it does feel like it, despite the film almost going out of it's way to not feel like a sad farewell. The film carries the trilogies trademarks, the in-jokes, the clever humour, the C word, and lots of British cameos, with a certain cameo being the highlight, and I will call him 'Peanut Butter', after his glorious initials (also to avoid spoilers).

Gary King (Pegg) is a guy that never seemed to grow up, and is desperate to relive the night of his life, therefore, he brings forth all of his old friends and attempts to relive the epic (and unfinished) pub-crawl of his youth.



Now, my greatest fear about the film was it's pub-crawl plot, as the film has it's Sci-Fi homage in the second act (of which I was excited about), I was fearful of the first act's possibly serious and bland tone, but, thank the Wright/Pegg/Frost, I actually enjoyed the hell out of the first act. We get belly laughs, chuckles, heart, relatable characters and all...and I was even a little sad when the actual plot started to kick in.

The second act, of which I was looking forward to, ended up being my least favourite part of the film. Director Edgar Wright tones it down very significantly, showing off his bigger budget with choreographed fights with seemingly no editing. Although, part of the first two films' charms were the cheap edits and clever cuts, so it feels bizarre in this final instalment.



The third act is brilliant and clever. I got used to Wright's more generic style, and heavily enjoyed the final big vocal cameo, whilst the big plot twists made me feel...feelings, well, a few. The films little epilogue almost ruins it, and it ends incredibly abruptly, but, I suppose they just wanted The World's End to be it's own film, and not a farewell to two other films.

Overall The World's End was a great bash, I laughed a lot and really enjoyed myself. It certainly doesn't reach the heights of Shaun Of The Dead and even Hot Fuzz, but it is pretty good on it's own accord.

Let us pray that PeterVincent does not get crucified for this review...

R.I.P.D



Let 2013 be known as the year PeterVincent gave almost everything 4 stars, even the critical and commercial failure known as R.I.P.D, which of course stands for Rest In Peace Department, for all you wafflebrains out there.

Speaking of wafflebrains, that's exactly what I must be to have enjoyed this film, and I don't regret it, because even reflecting on it now I have a fondness of it.

A majority of critics have complained about the Men In Black rip-off thing, eh, I was never a big fan of Men In Black anyway, and heck even Avatar ripped off a ton of things (even that crap episode of Doctor Who, Kinda). People complain about the dodgy CGI, hey! Everything's CG now-a-days, and it ain't THAT bad, sure, the villains look unconvincing at points, but that's part of it's charm! Heck, you can't tell me that the scene involving a carpark collapsing, or the scene in which a house rots apart wasn't at least a little pumping (especially with the help of Christophe Beck, which at one point uses the same cue he used in Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief, which made me giggle). People even complain about the lack of chemistry, sorry to offend the Will Smith fans out there, but I prefer the quip-under-his-breath Ryan Reynolds over the jive yelling Will Smith (although to be fair, he did work well in Men In Black).



The humour and direction also worked for me, I really enjoyed the zoom in - zoom out - zoom around direction, I thought the costumes were groovy, I really dug some of the cinematography, and despite the gaping plot holes and unexplained aspects, I even liked the poorly executed story.

But I can see why people hate it so much, put in all good conscience I cannot feel any negative emotion towards R.I.P.D. Although, when the Blu-Ray gets released I will have to turn subtitles on, because Jeff Bridges' accent sometimes rivals Bane in terms of understandability.

Overall however, R.I.P.D is like that ride that you keep hearing about at a theme park, people seem to hate it, but when you go on it it's actually really fun, and secretly, you want to ride it again.

I still have no intention of seeing this film but I will give you a rep for bravery.

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Letterboxd

*Puts hand up* Present.

I can, because those sound like good reasons not to see this.

Here's another one. Is it done in the style of De Palma or Ritchie?

How did you manage to write this review from the 1970's?

+ rep for the crack at Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, and for saying you can enjoy a bad movie.

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