Ben-Hur

The biblical epic is a genre that belongs to a specific time and place in history and that place is Hollywood of the 1950s and 60s, a time when movies could go for over three hours and people would lap it up because you had nothing better to do. Movies like The Ten Commandments, Spartacus and the original Ben-Hur are all classics that really do stand the test of time. Which is why it feels unnecessary to go back and "have another try at the story". That would only be justified if you did it better. That's not the case here.

Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston) is a Jewish prince living a comfortable life in Jerusalem with his family. He has an adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), who was a Roman orphan before being taken in by the Hur family. One day, he decides to leave and join the Roman Army to prove his worth as a wife for Judah's sister Tirzah (Sofia Black D'Elia). He returns however, to quell rebels who wish to overthrow the Romans and make Judea free. After an attempt on Governor Pontius Pilate's (Pilou Asbæk) life, Judah is accused by Messala of harbouring zealots and sentenced to labour on a Roman galley. During a battle, his ship is destroyed and he is set adrift, only to be found by Sheik Ilderim (Morgan Freeman), who agrees to free him for help with his chariot horses. After hearing his story, the Sheik agrees to help Judah get his revenge against Messala.

This movie really feels like a bare bones remake of the classic 1959 film. The basic story structure is there, but none of the details that made that movie "classic" are there. From the very start of the movie we know that we are building to the ultimate chariot race showdown between the two brothers, which takes away any of the suspense or surprise at the story that is to come. While the story tries to be epic in its scope, it seems to be on the lesser end because not as many events take place in this movie, which seems counter intuitive. Another big departure from the classic version is the extended presence of Jesus. In the older movie he was limited to the "Drink up, Judah Ben-Hur" scene. (That line is not said in either movies, but a quote from "A Star Is Burns (see below)).

A representation for all those who don't want to watch the clip from the actual movie

While the scene happens almost exactly as it did in the original, it isn't the first time we see Jesus. In fact, his first appearance is pretty laughable. Judah and his wife Esther (played by Nazanin Boniadi) are talking about violent removal of the Romans and he starts to talk about peace in the background, whilst doing some carpentry. It's very on the nose. Apparently the reason he was added was due to the negative reactions from Christians about 2014's Noah. I have to say that the casting of Rodrigo Santoro was an inspired touch. Now he has played the baddest of bads (Xerxes in 300) and the goodest of goods (Jesus).

Rodrigo Santoro is pretty much the only good casting decision of this film. Except for maybe Toby Kebbell as Messala. This had more to do with the fact that Messala was a somewhat sympathetic character. Before leaving for the Roman Army, he is shunned by his adoptive mother and other Romans, so he is just trying to prove his worth throughout the movie. Jack Huston is supposed to be the star of this movie (and also have the weight that Charlton Heston had), but he is outshone by his costars, especially Morgan Freeman. Danish actor Pilou Asbæk seemed like a bit of a wildcard decision.

Ben-Hur is trying to live up to something it will never achieve, which is the case with most remakes. Its lacklustre story that tries too hard to whittle it down to a manageable story feels hollow and in the era of CGI, the stakes are incredibly low in the final chariot race. If you really feel like you need to watch this story, go back and watch the original one with a great performance from Charlton Heston.

Now You See Me 2

Coming into this movie with very low expectations, I left pleasantly surprised and actually felt the $17.50 movie ticket was worth it in comparison to some other films I’ve seen this month. Also, being a big fan of the first film, I’ll try to keep my opinions as unbiased as possible. Try.

Now You See Me 2 (a.k.a Now You See Me: The Second Act) is the sequel to the 2013 film, you guessed it, Now You See Me. The film once again reunites us with the Four Horsemen, J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), with replacement 4^th member Lula (Lizzie Caplan) stepping in in the wake of Isla Fisher’s exit. In their latest adventure, the Horseman find themselves thrown into a new game and a new city, in which lies Walter Mabry (Daniel Radcliffe) who forcibly recruits them to help steal a profitable piece of technology from a rival company. After a year in hiding and doubting their overlords The Eye’s plans for them, the group are itching to have a chance at the limelight once more, however as always with magic tricks, things are not always as they appear to be.

The positives: Above everything, this film was fun to watch as the franchise has learned not to take itself too seriously. The storyline is full of twists and turns that helps to keep the audience engaged and entertained, as well as helping to stop it becoming a carbon copy of the last film, and definitely has its humorous moments that help break the tension. The film also addresses Fisher’s character Henley’s exit, rather than simply taking the easy route and sweeping it under the rug. There are also lots of nail biting scenes involving many new and improved tricks, including one inside a vault that really impressed me and that audiences will have fun with. All acting is essentially as it was in the first film, with Caplans’ ‘Lula’ adding a fun, flirtatious element that helps to contrast her with the rest of the mostly male cast and is the source of most of the humour. I also enjoyed seeing more of Mark Ruffalo’s character, FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes, acting like the son of a magician, i.e. doing magic tricks and understanding magic history.

The negatives: The bottom line is, if you didn’t enjoy the first film, you won’t enjoy this one. Although there are a lot of improvements between this and the 2013 release, the general atmosphere is the same. Some minor plot holes leave you with a bit of confusion once the credits roll. The ‘magic’ does lead to some unrealistic scenarios, just as in the first film, that the audiences are expected to gloss over because, well, magic. As well as this, I felt the ending was a little overdone and I would’ve been happier if the film ended 10 minutes before it did. Most annoyingly, the film attempts to address some issues surrounding sexism in a few scenes using Lula, only to completely negate their progress in the next by adhering to some pretty standard female tropes which was a bit of a let down and may be a little jarring for people who grew fond of the snarkier Henley compared to the fun-loving Lula.

Overall the film was a fun time that fans of the franchise will enjoy. The dazzling magic effects, entertaining characters and engaging plot do draw you in and make you remember why you enjoyed magic as a kid. If you’re looking for something in-depth and gritty, you won’t enjoy this film. But for a fun adventure movie, it has a lot to offer.

London Has Fallen

Remember how great it was when everyone made fun of Hollywood for bring out the same movie twice in 2013 (although it's far from the first time they've done it). The White House fell down twice in one summer and everyone had a chuckle. Now think about this, the one that gets a sequel was the one where the president isn't black. That's something we should all think about. But don't worry people, the Vice President is Morgan Freeman in this one, we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief.

The set up for this movie is either one big joke or whoever wrote this movie must be highly uneducated. The Prime Minister of England dies of a heart attack and all the major leaders of the western world attend the state funeral. Ok let's start, yes, if the sitting Prime Minister of England died, there would be state funeral. Would all the world leaders attend? Probably not, they have countries to run. If leaders did come, they wouldn't be from Italy, Germany and Japan, but New Zealand, Australia and Canada (don't worry Canada, you get repped in this movie). President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) does attend, but can't help but feel like something will go wrong (because when all the world leaders get together something is bound to go wrong, just like in real life). The head of his Secret Service detail Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) feels the same. And just like the end of Ghostbusters or people who still believe in The Secret, they will the bad stuff to happen. Terrorists, led by weapons dealer Amir Barkawi (Alon Moni Aboutboul), end up hijacking London and killing all the leaders apart from the faithful President, who survives thanks to his one man army.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I found myself siding with the terrorists on this one. I mean the Americans did approve a drone strike on a wedding where they knew more civilians were than terrorists were present. We live in a world where there's a movie about the decision to commit to a drone strike because there's a single child in the neighbourhood (see Eye in the Sky), so a mass murder like this seems very extreme. I'm surprised they waited two years to retaliate. An even more bizarre thing about this movie is that director Babak Najafi is Iranian and although the bad guys in this movie are Pakastani, it is still a very anti-Muslim, pro-Western democracy movie. The bad guys are treated like characters in a video game and the movie does have the sensibilities of one. The action sequences toward the end even feel like you're playing a level of Call of Duty, complete with a hard to beat villain at the end.

The casting seems very off for this movie. I understand bringing back the three main leads, Butler, Eckhart and Freeman, and tossing in a new villain, but did they really have to use Melissa Leo and Robert Forster again. They play bigwigs in the US Defence Force and you barely see them at all. Both are veteran actors whose talents could be put to better use elsewhere. Same could be said of Jackie Earle Haley who is introduced only to say a couple of lines in the background. Gerard Butler really needs to stick to roles where he can use his natural Scottish accent because he has a horrible American one. British actress Charlotte Riley could have used more screen time because she was fantastic as MI6 agent Jax. The same could be said of Patrick Kennedy who was a minor villain. Both Waleed Zuaiter and Alon Moni Aboutboul were fantastically underused.

Despite the video game aesthetics there really isn't anything remotely enjoyable about London Has Fallen except maybe the caricatures of current world leaders.

Mark Reviews: Ted 2

Hey guys, I'm really pissed off. You know why? Because they said my friend Ted wasn't a human and that he isn't allowed to have kids. Why is that you guys? Have you seen how many beers he can drink? There are guys back in Dorchester who would be passed out and he would still be going. And those guys have Irish parents too.

Well, the whole reason we found out that was he wasn't allowed to have kids was because we snuck into All American hero Tom Brady's house to steal his sperm for Ted to have a kid (that's a whole other story and I don't want Ma to read about me breaking into houses because I don't do that anymore to be a good example for Donnie). But, hey, Ted you don't need some football player when your best friend is right here and he's better than any football player. Hell, I'll even play football if you want.

Okay, so maybe that's a photo of me throwing a football at the back of Donnie's head, but it still counts as being an athletic guy. Anyway, I got your back Ted. Your babies will be strong. But hey, what about my troubles? My character's wife left me, so I gotta get back in the game. Luckily, Amanda Seyfried plays a hot young lawyer, so there's always that option.

If you're gonna see any of my movies this year, just make sure it's this one. I had so much fun making it. And if you don't like me, it's an opportunity to see me get covered in semen.

Lucy

Luc Besson's latest sci-fi offering Lucy is one of the most ridiculous films I've seen in the past few years, but somehow it kind of actually works!

Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) is studying in Taiwan, when she is tricked by her boyfriend, Richard (Pilou Asbæk) into delivering a package of drugs to his employer. The super-drug CPH4, which she is forced to smuggle overseas in her abdomen, can increase the brains working capacity and provide superhuman abilities. After being attacked whilst in captivity, the package splits and leaks into Lucy's system.

At the same time, Professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman), who has been researching the theoretical abilities of  higher-functioning human brains for the past twenty years, is contacted by Lucy and the two meet up to assess the nature of her higher state of being.

 

First up, Scarlett Johansson is really what makes this film. Her character is relatively normal but is thrown into unbelievable circumstances, so to be able to watch her transformation as she is affected by the drug, is fantastic. Morgan Freeman is just Morgan Freeman again, to which I mean, slightly typecast, but still a great performance. As for the other actors, I really can't work out how to judge them because, whilst they seem to just constantly over act, they are playing such ridiculous roles that it kind of works...kind of.

The plot of this film is absolutely ludicrous, but not surprising coming from the mind that brought us The Fifth Element. It's pure science-fiction, of course, but it's so unbelievable that it's difficult to take it seriously. It seemed like Besson was trying to be a lot more serious here than with The Fifth Element, but I couldn't help but laugh with half of the scenes because they were just so over-the-top and out there. This sort of weird dramatic-comedy, which may or may not have been intentional, makes this genuinely quite an enjoyable film.

It's beautifully shot and edited, with what seems to be quite a lot of influence from David Fincher's work, with sped-up footage, fast cuts and a similar use of effects used to illustrate the brain at work, as he used in the opening to Fight Club. Comparisons can easily be made to many other science fiction films, even a bit of 2001: Space Odyessy at the end, which certainly pleased this Kubrick fan (not in a sexual way, geez), and generally, it's just great cinematography from Thierry Arbogast, who often works with Besson. 

I'm not really sure what its intended message was, if there was one. You could make the argument that it channels our desire for knowledge, or even our fragility as a species, but at the end of the day, plot issues or not, its really just good fun, with plenty of eye candy (Obviously I'm talking about the Special FX...ok, and Scarlett Johansson is nice too).

The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie takes the family film to a whole new level. Not only is it fantastically self-aware and satirical, it has jokes that will please the whole family. Back this up with a huge and amazing cast, as well as a great soundtrack by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh with songs that will get stuck in your head long after you finish watching.

The story centres on Emmet (Chris Pratt), a regular construction worker who loves to fit in and follow the rules. One day after his shift finishes, Emmet gets entangled in a plot to destroy the world by the evil villain and president Lord Business (Will Ferrell), who plans to use a relic known as Kragle (which turns out to be Krazy Glue missing some letters). Emmet is mistaken to be the Special and taken by Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) to the blind wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), who tells Emmet that he is the chosen one to take down Lord Business.

The best jokes in this film come mainly from the movie's characters self awareness that they live in a world made of Lego. Emmet cannot build things without an instruction manual of which there are several big ones in the construction yard (the kind that come with all Lego sets). There are also references to many famous Lego sets of the past 40 years, including the famous Classic Space line of the early 80s.

Also there are a great number of parodical and satirical jokes. Some of these are references to real first world problems (# not included) such as exorbitant prices for cups of coffee. Others are very funny in-jokes aimed at the film industry, such as the relationship between Superman, voiced by Channing Tatum, and Green Lantern, voiced by Jonah Hill (both Tatum and Hill starred in 21 Jump Street).

There are also a great number of cameos aside from the two aforementioned. These include Shaquille O'Neal, Will Forte, Liam Neeson, Will Arnett as Batman and one of my favourite actors (if you read my blog regularly, you'll be well acquainted with my affinity for) Charlie Day.

The animation in the film is also amazing. It is done in a way that looks like it is stop-motion capturing whilst still being computer generated. Apart from some real objects that appear in the film, everything is made of actual Lego pieces that come in the sets. Toward the end of the film there are some life action scenes that work really well and don't interrupt the flow when they cut back to the animation.

Verdict: A really funny and smart film that will appeal to everyone.

Oblivion

I think someone is going to have to face some copyright infringement charges soon and if they don't it's a damn shame. Instead of reviewing this movie, I could review about five others, but I'll keep it simple.

Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is a technician working on Earth sixty years after a race called Scavengers (Scavs, for short) destroyed the Moon and sent the world into disarray. Tsunamis and earthquakes wiped out most of the population, with the rest escaping to a space station (almost like the Death Star), called the Tet. He lives in a tower with his communications officer, and implied lover, Victoria (Andrea Riseborough).

Harper's main job is to maintain drones that patrol the area around massive harvesters, which turn sea water into fusion energy. Whilst out on these missions, he routinely has run ins with Scavs. One day whilst chilling out in his hideaway, he sees a crashing spaceship, where he finds human survivors. One of them is a woman from the dreams he has been having. Turns out this is his wife, Julia (Olga Kurylenko). They are then attacked by Scavs and taken back to their stronghold.

When they get there, the Scavs reveal themselves to be regular humans and that the drones are actually there to wipe out humans. We meet their leader, Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman), and his lieutenant, Sykes (Nickolaj Coster-Waldau). Beech initially tries to get Jack to reprogram a drone with a bomb to destroy the Tet. After Jack refuses, Beech tells him to go into the radiation zone for an explanation. Jack and Julia go there only to find a clone of Jack. We find out that there a thousands of Jack Harper and that they really destroyed the Earth.

Jack decides to go back and help the humans destroy the Tet, but not before a big battle that claims the life of Beech. Both Beech and Jack go and destroy the Tet.

Now unless you have seen a lot of sci-fi movies you may not see the copyright problems. Lucky for you, I'm here. This is all just a big budget remake of the 2009 independent film Moon. In that, an engineer on the Moon is weeks away from coming home. His main task is the maintenance of harvesters that extract Helium 3, a clean energy power, from the surface of the Moon and send it back to an overpopulated Earth. Oblivion just reversed that to take it to a Death Star. As the film progresses, we find out that the main character is just one of many clones that gets recycled every three years. Oblivion just does this on a larger scale.

Last week, I read a funny article on HuffPost that showed the similarities between the Oblivion poster and the poster for Top Gun. I thought it was funny and it soon left my mind. The parallels didn't stop there. Jack Harper also is an ace fighter pilot, only this movie lacked Val Kilmer and a volleyball. Keen eyes will spot references to Planet of the Apes and Alien as well.

Now, the acting. Tom Cruise seemed very hollow and distracted in this movie. It's as if the Tripods took it out of him in his last sci-fi film. I am normally a big fan of Olga Kurylenko, but I wasn't too keen on her performance this time around.

Morgan Freeman did his job as an exposition teller and ended the movie in a big bad way. Nickolaj Coster-Waldau (the Kingslayer himself, Jamie Lannister), seemed to be playing future Jamie Lannister with a high power rifle and Academy Award Winner Melissa Leo wasted her talents for a couple of minutes.

This movie did look good though. Lots of great landscapes and worn down monuments we all know. I had a good debate with my friend about whether it was all green screen, but we ended in a stalemate.

Verdict: A blatant rip off of others that came before. I would only really watch for the good CGI. Not too much action.