'Man of Steel' or Epic Fail!

Man of Steel 

I went to go and see 'Man of Steel' last Wednesday..(orange Wednesday and all that ;) ) and I thought because I've not posted a review for a while due to different commitments such as work and what not I'd thought I'd post my thoughts on it seeing as there has been so many different mixed views on it. 

*Warning Spoiler Alerts* 

The film is directed by Zack Snyder (Watchmen,300,Suckerpunch) and written by David S.Goyer who wrote Christopher Nolans Highly successful Batman Trilogy. The film is produced by Christopher Nolan which again creates the question ....Justice League Film?!?! 

 With Nolan finishing his Batman trilogy and leaving it open to whatever can of worms it will open does create an Idea for a Justice League movie to come to the forefront. With Nolan producing this film with David S.Goyer does this mean that Nolan will oversee the Justice League Project with him eventually directing the film itself? Within the next year everything will become more clear.

 The film sees newcomer British actor Henry Cavill take up the role of Superman or 'Man of Steel' which I think is a good choice as he suits the role and its nice to see an unknown take on such a big role respectively. The role of Lois Lane is played by Amy Adams who I think personally does a good job of Lois Lane. The role of the villain in this film is played by Michael Shannon, I can't judge Shannon's work as an actor as I've not seen him in that many roles. He played the role of General Zod who is from the same planet of Superman (Krypton) but sees Krypton failing as a planet and wants to inhabit another planet. 

 The film starts with Supermans dad Jor-El played by Russell Crowe discussing with the planets council on ways to save the civilians of the planet. He then gets attacked by Zod and this results in him sending his son to earth to protect him the evil of Zod and before the planet Krypton gets destroyed and so he can save there race. The opening scene is action packed and mainly created using CGI, a feature we've seen in Zack Snyder films previously such as 300, Suckerpunch (which is awful) and Watchmen. 

 The film starts off as a flashback with Superman or as his Krypton name is known which is Kal-El. I'm not gonna reference him as Clark Kent as you'll see later in a point I'll raise later on in this review. The flashbacks are edited in the Nolan style that we've seen previously in other Nolan films such as, (The Batman Trilogy,The Prestige and Inception). The character is a rescue persons such as rescuing people at sea. 

 The film mainly oversees Kal-El as superman mainly fighting General Zod.  Due to this I felt that there was more action then story to the film. It did lack story to it and was just overrun by action which I felt was a shame as I personally wanted to see more back story to the film. There was back story to it,but there wasn't any backstory to Clark Kent.  I wanted to see the origins of Clark Kent and why he became Clark Kent and less superman as I wanted to see more story and psychology to the film. 

The end of the film and the DEATH...yes the DEATH of Zod see superman kill him!!!! this goes against everything superman believes in! Superman snapped Zods Kneck. If he knew he could do this why didn't he do this earlier on in the film to stop all this chaos! Batman and Superman share the same mythology in which they don't and should never kill people but will always serve whatever Justice they can. 

In conclusion the film wasent the best but it wasent bad. I would watch it again but it is definitely one of those films of which it depends on what you prefer either action? Or story? But personally for me I prefer story so to be honest it was a good film but not the greatest. I would watch it again as I did enjoy it but it didn't fulfil my superman needs as a whole...but...a big but! If Christopher Nolan had directed this and had full control over it I personally would think it could be as good as his 'Batman Begins' . Finally it seems that the movie did get churned out quickly so DC/Warner Bros could get a Justice league film underway so that they can compete with Disney/Marvels Avengers...so,let the games...Begin!! 

The 'Journey' I've been on in the past 6 Months

Hey Guys,

 Just an update and an explanation on as to why I've not blogged for a while. In October I had surgery on my heart and this required for me to relax and rest. Due to this I felt no motivation to do a lot of things really which is understandable. Once I had recovered in Mid-January I have been busy with things such as physio and the gym to get myself back to where I should be,Strong and healthy which is important. I've also been looking for jobs to get some money in so I can then start looking at equipment needed to buy certain things to create different short films from ideas I've created and had buzzing around my brain the past 6 months. As of yet I've had no success with jobs which is holding me back.As it stands this is my current situation.

 BUT.......
Due to all my time off I've had not doing anything and being allowed to be lazy I've watched a handful of films and more which could be of interest to people. I will review and talk about some of these films on my blog in a later date. But during the past 6 months I've gained a sudden interest in TV series. The TV series I've been watching start from such groundbreaking shows such as 'Breaking Bad' , 'The Walking Dead' and 'Sherlock' - The British version. I've just finished watching 'Prison Break' which took you on a roller coaster of emotions and am currently undertaking watching 'The Sopranos' with my girlfriend. Both 2 cracking shows in the U.S.

But short and sweet I'm back now and here to stay...(For Now)... And will begin to post my views and opinions on different films and now various television shows because there important aswell as what films are. My next update will be based around prisons having just watched 'Prison Break' and how they are perceived in not only television shows but also how they are portrayed in films such as the obvious film 'The Shawshank Redemption' and others,But will also be mentioning different forms of prison in films such as the physical ones and the psychological ones,if you don't understand what I mean you will be the time you've read my next blog post,and if you still don't then feel free to ask any questions or what you think/thought on my twitter,Facebook pages or feel free to comment.

 I hope you'll all continue to read my blog as many of you have been doing so and ill promise to keep up the good work.  I do apologise about my long period of absence but Remember....

"Every cloud has a silver lining"

Matt.

Update

Hey Guys,

Just a quick update of what's to come. I've posted up a review and my thoughts of paddy Considines debut film 'Tyrannosaur' so check it out!

I will also be writing a piece on 'Dog Day Afternoon' Starring Al Pacino and John Cazale. If you have a copy of it I suggest you give it a watch so you can relate to some of my points that will be mentioned.

Also will be posting a couple of thoughts about Action movies over the past 20-30 years and how and why they've changed so much.

I hope your enjoying my blog and your taking some stuff away from it. Keep checking it out and tell your friends about it.

Cheers guys,

Matt.

Tyrannosaur Review

*Spoiler Alert*

Tyrannosaur... Wow. Really don't no where to start with this but here it goes anyway...

Tyrannosaur is a directorial debut film written and directed by actor Paddy Considine, Most famous for roles in films such as 'Dead Mans Shoes' , 'Submarine' and also Hollywood pictures such as 'The Bourne Ultimatum' . The film also stars actor Peter Mullan who has starred in films such as 'Trainspotting' and 'War Horse' as the lead role,Joseph. The film also stars Olivia Coleman (Hot Fuzz) as Hannah and Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes).
The film itself is a feature length production inspired by Paddy considines own life experiences.The film started out as a short film called 'Dog Altogether' and then Considine decided to turn it into a feature length.The film is set in a place that is meant to resemble Considines place of growing up (Winshill), having family from there that also grew up there and also having a few experiences there myself I knew I could relate to the place set. The film itself is shot in Leeds, West Yorkshire but does resemble the place that Considine is trying to show.
The film is about a man called Joseph, a man plagued by violence and range on the verge of self destruction. He meets a good willing Christian charity shop worker named Hannah by chance who gives him a chance of redemption.
The character Joseph goes on a journey in the film,emotionally. The film starts with him walking out the bookies having lost a bet and he takes his anger out on his beloved pet dog beating it to death. Having done so he instantly shows regret and we instantly no that he can't control his actions or his rage and through this has driven people around him away. As the film progresses we know how bad this characters life is, he lives on his own and the only people he talks too are the boy across the street aged about ten called Samuel and his friend tommy.
This all changes when he stumbles into the charity shop and comes across Hannah who is a good Christian lady and always willing to give anyone a helping hand. But things are not as they seem. At home Hannah is a drinker,drinking bottles of wine when at home waiting for her husband to get home. We don't understand why until we realise that her husband is a wife beater. This brings me to the point of religion in this film. She is a Christian lady and is a strong believer in God but yet she gets punished by her husband and her religion gets tested so much and we sympathise with this character and what she is going through. She had this front about her that she has around people and Joseph that we eventually get under towards halfway through the film.
Both characters Joseph and Hannah live opposite life's ,Joseph lives in a run down council house by his self and Hannah lives on the new estate with her husband. A common theme running through this film is loneliness. Joseph has no one really and at first we think Hannah has this nice lifestyle with the nice Husband but yet she is also lonely and has no one to turn too. At first we think its Joseph which needs the helping hand but through the film we learn that it's Hannah who needs the helping hand the most and someone to turn too,Joseph being that some one. It's as if they need each other just to be happy. Joseph just wants some company and someone to stop him from his self destruction and Hannah wants someone to help her get Away from her husband.
Eddie Marsans character is the husband. He has about 20-30 minutes on screen and in those minutes he drives the plot and story on so much. This film doesn't use the plot to drive on the story,the story is very much driven by the different characters,mainly the leading 3.
The film takes it self away from the 'gang culture' shown in British film over the last few years such as Noel Clarkes 'Kidulthood' and 'Adulthood' and gives us a story which a few people probably go through and can relate to in there life's. It was nice to see something different come out of British Cinema.
This film is brilliant and you go through all the emotions that are available. Considines Directorial debut is defiantley up there with the best and no surprise it's been nominated for awards in England and America. This film is definately my most favourite 'British' film from last year and I give it a really good 8.3/10. Well done Paddy!

New Tabs

Hey Guys,

Got Some new Tabs Opened Featuring my 'Award Winning' Short Film and also links to my Youtube Channel and Twitter.
 So dont' be afraid to ask questions about anything on my blog or film questions in general.Itll be good to hear some of your feedback and thoughts.

Matt.

House at the End of the Street

*Spoiler Alert*

Tonight I went to go and see 'House at the end of the street'. I was abit unsure of what the outcome would be going into it,but as a film maker and a person I like to give everything a chance.
The film stars 'The Hunger Games' Jennifer Lawrence and and an upcoming actor from the film 'Jumper' ,Max Thieriot.The film is directed by British director 'Mark Tonderai',who has also directed British film 'Hush'.
The film sees a mother and daughter move to a new town to start afresh and find themselves living next door to a house where a young girl murdered her parents. The daughter goes onto befriend the the surviving son and finds out there's a lot more to the story then what she first thought.
The film itself was better then what I thought,it was good and it wasent bad. I enjoyed it and there was a twist during 2 parts of the film. When we find out that the daughter died years ago and not in the struggle with Ryan halfway through. The woman he is keeping in the basement is a girl he picked up years ago. When the 'girl' dies and he replaces her with the girl from the coffee shop we learn that there is a lot more to Ryan and the story and also brings us to the 2nd twist of the film. During a flashback at the end of the film we see that the parents that got murdered used to call Ryan 'Carrie Ann' . This may be why Ryan killed his parents and maybe why he has a girl in his basement that has taken up the identity of carrie Ann. there could be 2 reasons to this either he would pin the blame on his sister that died years ago because no one knew that she died ,or he has a girl named carrie Ann in his basement because he feels emotionally damaged by his parents calling him carrie Ann so wants someone there to feel like she is still alive and so he can get away from his parents calling him carrie Ann.
The film itself is stripped bare as a horror film,in recent years we have seen the likes of 'saw' which have have us the overuse of gore and in the last 4 years we have seen the rise of supernatural horror films such as 'paranormal activity' and 'insidious'.
There isn't any gore and nothing supernatural. The film is driven by psychological pain and the main 'villain' is shaped by psychological pain like 'Norman bates' in 'Psycho'. Which brings me to my next point which sees Ryan in the mental hospital and the shot bares resembelence to the end shot of 'Psycho' in which Norman bares is sat alone in the room at the police station.
The main female character 'Elissa' has blonde hair while the Carrie Ann character has dark hair,this can be perceived as a binary opposites such as 'Good/Evil' With the blonde hair being good and the dark hair being evil.
The film itself I believe is a good film and there is something about it that I like which is the psychological meanings behind it. There is also references to 'Psycho' as dates above but also references to 'Halloween' I Believe with the serial killer killing his parents like in 'Halloween' and also in 'HOTEOTS' when the couple are in the car about to 'make out' it plays on the horror genre rule that I first picked up on watching 'Halloween' that if a teenage couple about to have sex or are having sex either there going to die or something bad is going to happen which again happens in 'HOTEOTS'.
In conclusion the film was better then what I thought it would be. I enjoyed it and I hope that other horror films take note and strip horror films back and make them basic and a lot more realistic as the audience In truth would be a lot more scared by social horror realism then some ghost playing havoc on a family. I give the film about a 6.3/10 as I believe that it served its purpose as a horror film but felt like it did miss something else.

New Theories on the Theory Tab

Hey Bloggers and Fans
 Thought I'd let you no Ive posted some Theories under the Theory Tab for you to read and enjoy and also take away something from it which you can apply to your own personal research of a film,actor or director.

Matt.