What We Did on Our Holiday

Just like it's cousin, the British comedy series Outnumbered, What we Did on Our Holiday presents a dysfunctional family with hilarious, quirky kids, a strong British cast and plenty of comedy along the way. As the feature-length debut for directors Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, this is a strong start.

Doug (David Tennant) and Abi (Rosamund Pike) McLeod are going through a rough period in their marriage, with a divorce likely immanent. To make things worse they have three difficult kids, the aspiring geologist - and five-year-old - Jess (Harriet Turnbull), the viking-obsessed Mickey (Bobby Smalldridge) and the honest Lottie (Emilia Jones), but they at least seem to understand the situation. However, when the family are to visit Doug's father, Gordie (Billy Connolly) for his 75th birthday in the Scottish Highlands, Doug and Abi want to ensure that Gordie, who is dying of cancer, isn't left to worry about their issues.

When they finally arrive, they are reluctantly greeted by Doug's brother Gavin (Ben Miller), a rich short seller, who has kitted out the house with an expensive automated system. Gavin is meticulously organising the large birthday celebrations with his wife Margaret (Amelia Bullmore). Whilst many tense disputes break out between the brothers, Gordie turns to his grandchildren to take them to the beach, hoping to show them that none of the arguments really matter, and that life is short and should be enjoyed.

As a big fan of Outnumbered I was hoping for a similar plot-setup, and Hamilton & Jenkin certainly borrow from their television roots, but they manage to do so without blatantly rehashing past material. Whilst the three kids have similar traits to their tv counterparts, they come off as distinct individuals, mainly due to the fantastic performances from the trio. The comedic style of What we Did on Our Holiday is inherently clean (surprising for a film starring Billy Connolly), more-so than most family movies, but the back-and-forth between adults and the kids never fails to amuse. When turning to the dramatic elements of the plot, I felt that some of the scenes were a little over done and somewhat cheesy, but they're countered by just as many moments that manage to be quite touching. There's an underlying motif of time and making the most of life, that was at some stages, too blatantly pushed down the audience's throats, yet it contributes to the film's positive ending message.

Most of the dramatic sequences are given to Connolly, who manages them ok, but sometimes by the skin of his teeth. This is certainly not up there with his performances in films like Mrs Brown and A Series of Unfortunate Events, but generally he manages to give an all-rounded display here. Although I couldn't help but think that he could have flourished a bit more if he had some of his favourite non-PG phrases to back him up. It seems unusual to see Rosamund Pike in a light-hearted family movie so soon after her chilling portrayal in Gone Girl, but she's fantastic as usual. Tennant and Miller work well off each other as the quibbling immature adult siblings and Amelia Bullmore provides a surprisingly layered performance. Annette Crosbie was by far my favourite though, bringing the same sturdy and often fiery displays that she made as Margaret Meldrew (One Foot in the Grave) to Doreen.

What We Did on Our Holiday is not going to win any Academy Awards, but with all the recent releases, it's nice to be able to relax with a good light-hearted and undoubtedly funny family film. With great performances and strong characters, it's a sweet movie and great for a lazy afternoon.

Hector and the Search for Happiness

You would expect that a feelgood film with a title such as Hector and the Search for Happiness would result in a clichéd and totally overdone mess of a story, but Peter Chelsom's film manages to pull it off, thanks by-and-large, to a vivacious performance from Simon Pegg.

Hector (Simon Pegg) is a psychologist, troubled by the fact that he is offering advice to his patients about how to live life, without having truly experienced it himself. After somewhat of a mental breakdown, Hector decides to go on a trip, exploring the world and researching what it means to be happy. He doesn't know where he's going, or when he'll return, yet he asks his long-term girlfriend Clara (Rosamund Pike), to wait for him.

Armed with a blank notebook from Clara, and all the equipment he could possibly need, Hector travels to a variety of places including China and Africa, encountering very different people, from mothers, to prostitutes, to monks, to criminals, and asks them about what they consider happiness to be, and what personally makes them happy.

Surprisingly, the clichés that you would normally expect from this sort of film weren't particularly present in Hector, though as he travels through Asia and Africa there are definitely some strong stereotypes being played upon. I also found some elements of the plot rather obscure in meaning at times, but overall, there's plenty of funny and enjoyable moments to keep you interested. These 'moments' are great on their own but unfortunately, they don't work cohesively in the overall narrative and rather rely on the typical ending montage to link them all together.

Simon Pegg brings plenty of spirit to the part of Hector, and was certainly charismatic enough to push the film beyond the capabilities of the script. Toni Collette and Christopher Plummer were both well cast, but underused - though Plummer's small role is possibly the most interesting part of the movie - and it was good to see Jean Reno as a total badass again. However, Rosamund Pike, fresh off the heels of her fantastic performance in Gone Girl didn't bring much to the screen for me, mainly thanks to the nagging nature of her inherently uninteresting character, though this certainly isn't the worst film that she's appeared in...*cough* Die Another Day *cough*.

After the dull, grey world of Hector as a psychologist moves aside for his world travel adventures, the screen opens up to a brightly coloured series of landscape shots that highlight the outlandish experiences of his trip. It's really quite a beautiful movie, bolstered by some great acting and enjoyable scenes, unfortunately though it does succumb to a few stereotypes, and lacks a bit of substance overall.

Gone Girl

Despite what you may think of his films, director David Fincher has proven time and time again that he knows how to make a good film. Films like Se7en, Fight Club and Panic Room prove that he can make a tense movie that keeps everyone on their toes. Gone Girl did exactly that. Never before have I felt like I have no idea where this movie is going.

So with this movie being a mystery and all, I can't even begin on the plot. Suffice to say, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck), returns home one day to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. The film focuses on Nick trying to track her down. We also get flashbacks into their past, everything from when they first met until now.

If you've seen the trailer for this movie or any of Fincher's others, you will know that this movie is going to have its twists and turns. In addition to Fincher's attention to detail with every element of what is on the screen, it also boils down to the script by Gillian Flynn, who also wrote the novel. Her own adaptation is flawless (but then again, it should be).

The casting of this movie was superb. Fincher knows who will be perfect in what role and gets it right every time. Affleck plays the half clueless half smarmy Nick with such believability that I wouldn't be surprised if he drew on his home life. Pike is one of my favourite actresses and her haunting performance has cemented her as one of the best actors working. Affleck and Pike's chemistry (given the roles that they play) is amazing.

The supporting cast is just as good. Carrie Coon as Nick's twin sister is a loveable character. Tyler Perry as Nick's hotshot lawyer is able to keep up with the tense drama and only once does he slip into the comedy he is known for. Neil Patrick Harris was the only weak character who I feel detracted only slightly from the overall plot.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have been working with Fincher since 2010's The Social Network. Their score for this film is much more understated than the last two and they have gone for a much more ambient style of score rather than the synth heavy soundtracks of The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Normally Fincher's films have a big opening title sequence. Fight Club showed us the inner workings of the Narrator's brain, Se7en had us looking through a serial killer's library of notebooks and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo had a sequence that belongs in a James Bond movie. But here, it is very understated and I even found myself surprised that the titles came and went very quickly.

Verdict: A haunting mystery from a great director with a near perfect cast. I daresay that this will be nominated for some Oscars, but then again we are getting to the time of year when these movies come out.

The World's End

The comedy team that began with the TV show Spaced, have finally finished their Blood and Ice Cream trilogy with The World's End. I hope that this will not be the last time that Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright team up, because they make such good comedies.

In The World's End, perennial loser Gary King (Pegg), is wanting to reunite his old group of friends from high school to complete a pub crawl that they failed to complete in 1990. He rousts up his friends, including his former best friend, Andy (Frost), and drives them to their hometown of Newton Haven to commence a night of drunken debauchery. The only problem is that they are all in their 40s and have lost the drive to get belligerently drunk.

Once they get back to their hometown, they realise that not is all as it seems. They slowly find out that all the people in their hometown have been replaced by robots. They continue on their crawl and try to get to the bottom of the mystery.

This film is a really fitting end to the trilogy (the other two being Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). The film did give a feeling that it was slightly similar to the British indie comedy Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel, but I suppose that only stems from the fact that they both take place in pubs. Pegg and Frost have a great chemistry that has been built up of over a decade of working together. King is character that you almost feel sorry for, even during his most cringeworthy moments. You also feel sorry for Andy being dragged along on his exploits.

The rest of the cast are also fantastic performers. Martin Freeman (The "British" Office), Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes) and Paddy Considine (The Bourne Ultimatum) play the rest of the crew that are conned into coming along. My only gripe with the movie is that these characters are not fleshed out a bit more and given some more interesting backstories. Rosamund Pike (Jack Reacher) also makes an appearance and shows that she has great comedic timing.

For the fans of the other two movies, all the recurring jokes are there, including fence jumping, Bill Nighy and Cornettos. It would be interesting to see how this movie would work as a drinking game, drinking whenever they do in the movie. But I'm not advising it, I think any normal person would die from that amount of alcohol. Also I don't think they'd let you drink in a movie theatre. Unless you're in Amsterdam.

Verdict: A great comedy for all to see, but fans of the trio will feel vindicated. Pegg, Frost and Wright are hilarious.

Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher. My first movie of the new year. At the moment all I can say about it is that it was interesting. Having never read any of the books that the character is from, I didn't really have any frame of reference. I saw this movie with my uncle who is the total opposite and has read every one of the titular character's books.

I guess the first thing I should talk about is Tom Cruise. I myself have never been opposed to the man, in fact I find him to be an excellent actor. I know it's going back a few years, but his turn in Rain Man was really good and very emotionally driven. In many of his film roles since, I've found him to be quite adventurous in the roles that he picks. So in this film, I went in expecting a usual Tom Cruise experience and I wasn't disappointed.

Before I go on to the other cast members, I guess I should talk a little about the plot. The film opens to a   sniper opening fire on a street full of civilians in Pittsburgh, which I recognised from the "amazing" Taylor Lautner action flick Abduction, which is great if you want a snooze. I found this scene to be quite emotionally jarring, as you see the people running from the gunfire to no avail. The gunman then gets caught and instead of confessing his crime he asks the DA and leading detective to get Jack Reacher, who we find out is a ghost who doesn't want to be found (but at the same time comes out of hiding as this happens). As a result of the negligence of the DA, played by the masterful Richard Jenkins, the gunman ends up in a coma. Now it's up to Jack Reacher to seemingly solve the crime and keep the gunman of death row.

Now on to the casting. As I said, Tom Cruise is a great actor and when he is on screen he can do no wrong in my eyes, but I remember prior to this movie coming out, fans were up in arms about this casting. Now it's no secret that Tom Cruise is the tallest guy in Hollywood, but he isn't the shortest (that honour goes to Danny DeVito) and apparently the character is 6'7". But by using movie magic, you wouldn't be able to tell otherwise. Techniques such as not having anyone else in the frame with your actor work, as well as shooting from a low angle or having him sit down also work as well. There is only one scene where he stands in the middle of a group of people, in which the apple box would have been used.

The rest of the cast is also superb. Richard Jenkins as the DA was an excellent choice. The only other movie I have seen with him in was the Cabin in the Woods, which we all know was a horror masterpiece. Rosamund Pike, who plays the defence attorney of the gunman and Richard Jenkins' daughter, was spectacular. She was gracefully subtle, but I do find that she always has a look of surprise on her face.

David Oyelowo was captivating as the detective who is trying to chase down Reacher, as is Aussie Jai Courtney, who plays the sniper trying to get rid of Reacher for the bad guys. A couple of cameos by Robert Duvall and Werner Herzog were also surprising.

The action set pieces in this film are good, but not the best for a film of this genre. The one piece that I did like was a car chase through the streets of Pittsburgh. I've always had the utmost respect for stunt drivers and I know how difficult their job can be at times. This one had a lot of crashes because apparently Reacher is the best driver in the world.

The cinematography in this film was stunning and there was an angle in the aforementioned chase sequence where a camera was on the hood of the car shooting the reaction of the driver as well as the vehicles behind. There was some issues with the sound mix that I picked up on, but nothing to noticeable. I also found the second act to drag on just a bit too long.

Verdict: The action set pieces are amazing and it had an intriguing story. Visually it was amazing and it had some good casting choices.