Recently Viewed

The Great Gatsby

I had such high hopes for this one, being a long term fan of Baz Luhrmann's work (I wrote a waffle-y post on Romeo & Juliet HERE and I also loved Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom) and more so the novel the film is based on but it just wasn't meant to be. 

Firstly, I agree with other reviews that the film is visually quite arresting- the excessive style of the roaring 20's is well suited to Luhrmann's equally over-the-top cinematography and the soundtrack is also brilliant (I've already bought it and am loving it) but for me, other than for those two elements, the Great Gatsby is just lacking something. 

While I thought Leonardo di Caprio was excellent in the title role, overall I don't think Gatsby is well suited as a character or as a book for the transfer to the big screen, given the dreamy quality of Fitzgerald's prose. 

If, like me, you love the novel too then you'll undoubtedly want to see it no matter what I say and on balance it probably is worth seeing- it's by no means a bad film but I did feel disappointed...perhaps my expectations were just too high.

Iron Man 3

I don't think anyone needs a synopsis of Iron Man at this stage but anyway, Robert Downey Junior (Ridebag Downey Junior to you and I) is Tony Stark- millionaire inventor type and also the creator of Iron Man, a superhero who regularly saves the world. In this instalment baddies include Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley (both excellent in their respective roles), attempting to destroy the world and generally just create a lot of anarchy.
Gwyneth Paltrow (Stark's colleague and girlfriend Pepper Potts) is also great in it and she finally gets an ass-kicking scene of her own. Of all three Iron Mans this was probably my favourite. It's clearly not going to win any awards for realism but it's a superhero movie based on a comic book so you really shouldn't be watching it expecting anything but frivolous action sequences, some great fight scenes and lots of RDJ being all charismatic and hilarious. 

Star Trek: Into Darkness 3D

Being the big nerd that I am I actually really enjoyed this, the second film in the most recent Star Trek series. It's all the same people from the first one- Chris Pine (Captain Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Simon Pegg (Scotty). Excitingly, Benedict Cumberbatch makes an appearance as Khan, a time-travelling super villain intent on starting an intergalactic war. As you do.
As per the previous film, the action scenes in this are amazing, clearly no money has been spared on the sets (perhaps some of it could've gone towards the female cast members costumes though..it's not the 1960's anymore, everyone) and the acting is excellent. Cumberbatch is a fantastically chilling nemesis and I will, to my everlasting shame admit that I shed several tears at one particularly touching scene between Kirk and Spock. Yes, you're right to be scarlet for me, I am too.
My emotional breakdown aside, I would definitely recommend you check Star Trek out (as a side note, we saw it in IMAX 3D, which was very cool), even if you wouldn't consider yourself a fan- there are a lot of in-jokes because it is such a long running franchise but it really does work well as a stand alone film and is plenty entertaining as a one off sci-fi/action movie.

Any other good movies out at the moment that I should be checking out? Or any good dvd releases you can recommend? 

XX