Recently Viewed September..to, eh, now.

I actually only saw four of these in the cinema and the rest were watched when we discovered US Netflix (well worth getting by the by), which is great as there were a couple there that I might not have found otherwise. 

About Time

This is a refreshingly different romantic comedy. Domhnall Gleeson learns he has the power to travel through time- a family trait passed on to him by his dad (Bill Nighy, brilliant as always). There are limitations- he can only go back to times and places he's been to already and he can't change certain things. Mostly though he just wants to use it to get a girlfriend so he sets about finding love. Although that is a huge part of the storyline and his relationship with Rachel Mc Adams' character is well documented, in the end the film is really about family and the bond between a parent and their child, which I wasn't expecting and I have to say, had me weeping away (quietly, I should add) for most of the film. This is a really great film, it is a bit cheesy in places but thoroughly enjoyable and heartwarming and I can't recommend it enough. 

Prisoners

Hugh Jackman plays a dad whose young daughter goes missing, along with her friend. A search led by cop Jake Gyllenhaal gets underway and a motor home that was in the neighbourhood when they disappeared is found but there's no evidence that the driver took the girls. Jackman thinks otherwise however and decides to take matters into his own hands to find out the truth. From there there's several plot twists and lots of uncomfortable viewing. That said, I really enjoyed this film, I spent most of it hiding my face, on the edge of my seat and going "ah Jaysus, no, don't do that", which you know, sign of a good'un. It also left me thinking what I would do in a similar situation. The acting is superb and there's a very impressively gloomy, dark atmosphere (not dissimilar to the Silence of the Lambs actually) with a strong sense of dread and a decent storyline. Well worth a watch.

Room 237

I have a bit of an obsession with The Shining. I'd seen the film about a million times before eventually getting around to reading the book (for shame), which I naturally then preferred. I definitely still have a soft spot for the film so I was keen to see this documentary about others who are also a bit obsessed and their perceptions of the film's hidden meanings. While some of it was interesting, generally I was just a bit sceptical of the various conspiracy theories it presented- it heavily focuses on the moon landing conspiracy, the Holocaust and the genocide of American Indians for instance and a lot of it just felt a bit desperate, like they were grasping at straws. The "hidden clues" were often real stretches of the imagination and didn't seem anywhere near as important as those interviewed deemed them to be. If you're a big Shining fan then there's no harm in giving this a watch but you might be better off just watching the film again. 

Elysium

This is by the same guy that made District 9 so I had high hopes for it. It's similarly dystopian themed- set in 2154, the world is horribly over populated, all of the wealthy folk now live on a man made planet/Utopia (Elysium) where no one gets ill thanks to a fancy machine called a med bay. The planet's Secretary of Defence (Jodie Foster, who is amazing) is pretty tough and considers those who try and sneak in from Earth for badly needed medical care to be scum. Step in Matt Damon's character- a lowly factory worker on Earth, broken by the system who goes to extraordinary lengths to try and bring equality to the two worlds. Like I say, I really wanted to like this but struggled with the politically saturated tone of the film- overpopulation, restriction of health care and exploitation of the poor being the main themes which felt like one long lecture with a bit of fighting and pseudo sic-fi thrown in for effect. Overall, meh.

This is The End
A comedy starring the likes of Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill and Evan Goldberg as fictional versions of themselves, this is really just an excuse for a group of friends to have a bit of craic and make some money out of it, from what I could tell. Franco has a house party that various famous actors, comedians and singers attend, only to be stuck together after a powerful earthquake leads to the onset of the apocalypse. They then have to figure out how to survive when everything seems stacked up against them. This was definitely amusing in parts but I felt like it lost the run of itself at times and just ended up being a bit drawn out. Having said that, the performances of the actors themselves were all very self deprecating which I think saved this from being a bit of a disaster in itself (pun intended).

God Bless America
This is a dark comedy about a middle aged insurance salesman, weary with America's newfound adoration for all things popular culture, reality TV and those who pursue fame for the sake of being famous. This combined with a diagnosis of terminal cancer and his horrid family, tips him over the edge and he goes on a shooting spree with the help of an equally apathetic teenager Roxy. The two become good friends and end up mirroring Bonnie and Clyde a lot, except without the romantic connotations. All in all, this was an interestingly dark view of modern culture, enjoyable at times but if you're looking for something to melt the cockles of your heart, this is not it. 

It's A Disaster
A small ensemble cast of unusual characters, the film centres on four couples gathered for Sunday brunch in one of their houses. It's all rather tense and awkward as there's lots of history between all of them and a few secrets but things are relatively alright until they realise that all lines of communication with the outside world are no longer working and that there has been some unknown disaster (potentially bombs exploding around major cities in the US) that could spell the end. From there, things devolve even further within the group leading to hysteria and rash decision making. This is an enjoyably quirky, dark comedy with an interesting take on the "end of the world" themed films we've seen so much of. Also, Tobias from Arrested Development is in it and he's always worth watching!

Jurassic Park 3D
We all know the story of Jurassic Park so I won't bother going into it but I thought I'd include it here just to mention that we went to see it in 3D and it was pretty cool. It's definitely one of the few films of that nature that haven't really aged a huge amount- the special effects are still fairly impressive and it was enjoyable to watch on the big screen again but this time in 3d. A great exercise in feeling like an auld one too. 

Have you seen any of these? What did you think if so?

XX