Labor Day (2013) Review

IMDB SUMMARY: Depressed single mom Adele and her son Henry offer a wounded, fearsome man a ride. As police search town for the escaped convict, the mother and son gradually learn his true story as their options become increasingly limited.

Kate Winslet blew me away with the subtle inflections in her character. The crumbs she left the audience to follow her on her journey of love and fear helped me connect to Adele and her struggle in finding love. Her relationship with Henry (Gattlin Griffith) was something to be admired, her unconditional love, her protective motherly instinct. I loved that the instinct overtook her at times and she became overprotective. THis was so true to the character, she had obvious mental health issues and this definitely shined through in her relationship with her son. However, it wasn’t displayed in a cruel way, but in more of a omnibenevolent.

Frank (Josh Brolin), our anti-hero, had a great performance too. A great father figure, cool under-pressure and a hunk. Adele’s dream man? Brolin’s depiction of Frank was brilliant, he ran the fine line between being aggressive and assertive. He got his way and was very pleasant about it. Frank was a character of juxtaposition. This can be hard for an actor to play due to having so many emotions coursing through a character at one time and not letting any one emotion take over.

As a film, overall I found Labor day to be very enjoyable and actually the first great romance I have seem in a very long time. I this is a film that should be remembered. However, I didn’t feel the timeless element to the film. It didn’t feel epic enough to be one of the true romantic greats. The stakes weren’t high enough. There wasn’t the death factor. I find that in most of the great romances ever written have the element of death involved; the fear that one of our lovers will die, it didn’t quite make it to a Romeo and Juliet or Titanic standard for me.

RATING: 8/10

He's a RoBORE Man - Robocop 2014 Review

Robocop did not succeed in making an drastic improvement on it’s original, made over a quarter of a century ago. After an attempted the attempt on his life, Alex Murphy is left with 4th degree burns on 80% of his body. Most of his arms and legs are amputated and he regains a mostly robotic body, offered to him by Omnicorp and their CEO Raymond Sellars. Sellars is a man motivated only by money and doesn’t care for Alex’s well being. Alex Murphy becomes Robocop. He is then is on a one man/robot mission to solve the case of his own attempted murder, instead of making sure his family are okay. Because of his lack of concern for his family his son ends up not at school and his wife desperately trying to get to him.

The new Robocop failed almost across the board, the acting in the film was the only thing I really enjoyed. However, Joel Kinnamon (Alex Murphy/Robocop) and Gary Oldman’s (Dr. Dennett Norton) performance is over-looked because of the poor storyline and our inability to connect to to Alex Murphy.

The storyline was almost predictable and tedious. The way Robocop was revealed and spotted a criminal in the crowd straight away was seen a mile off by the audience. I felt that if Robocop had been revealed in a more Iron Man style. Robocop was a boring and systematical hero of the people. The film would have had a lot more spunk if Robocop had a bit of personality. It does have to understood that Robocop is meant to have logical and robotic quality but that doesn’t mean that he should be left with no personality. He was missing character, a certain amount of banter he could have had with criminals before he took them down. This lack of personality and character made Alex Murphy really hard for the audience to connect with, his priorities alienated the audience. Alex decides to go after his attempted murderer instead of looking after his family. Alex becomes more robot that his is man. I think this is a bad decision for this film because it makes the film boring. The only exciting moment in the film is in the finally five minutes of the film where Alex fights his machine to save bring justice to Sellars.

This Means a Bromance - A review of ‘This Means War 2012’

After discovering that they are dating the same girl (Lauren, Reece Witherspoon), two CIA agents with a serious bromance engage in a war over over her using their CIA resources and skills. One of the agents (FDR, Chris Pine) is a good looking ladies man who is normally only up for a ‘one-day rental’, the other a good looking divorced family man who is devoted to his son (Tuck, Tom Hardy), we are set up for a great clash between them. This means war is a thrill ride of action and petty one-upmanship between two best friends. You think this is already a good story line? Well they aren’t done yet, in the background of this love triangle Heinrich (Til Schweiger), a foreign threat to the safety of the USA is looking for our dynamic duo in revenge for his brother.

Chris Pine makes the women wish they were with him and the men wish they were him when we plays FDR. With his love of Sade and pulling women, FDR is a lovable character that grows up a lot during the course of the story. He meets his match in Lauren, they meet in a video store and flirt, but Lauren gets the best of him and his charm and walks away with extreme style. This is FDR’s emotional turning point. Lauren wasn’t easy to get for him, so he must have her. FDR’s journey in this film fun to watch because we see a self obsessed player turn into selfless, husband-material. However, he doesn’t lose his playful edge. I think this is very important to the film because it lets the audience see that no matter what happens with FDR he is still fundamentally the same person. I think that it is good that the Chris Pine does this with his character because it shows that he is keeping true to FDR.

Tuck is almost a broken man when it comes to his love life, this is summed up nicely when his ex-wife informs him of her date shortly after he asks her out to dinner. Tom Hardy shows us how Tuck gains the courage to be able to go on a date and end up actually really liking Lauren. Just like FDR, Lauren also changes Tuck for the better. Over the course of their relationship in the film Tuck becomes more and more dangerous and out their as a person. This is spurred by the rivalry that forms between our two CIA agents. The petty one-upmanship becomes outrageous and ludacris as they begin to invade each other’s dates to prevent each other from sleeping with Lauren. Tuck’s performance at this stage in the movie becomes very three dimensional. The audience see Tuck become darker and have a shorter temper. This is a nice contrast to his character from the beginning of the film because before he was a ‘lovely’ guy who wouldn’t hurt a fly if he wasn’t in the field.

‘Prison is no Fairy Tale World’ - A Review of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’

Through simple acts of respect and even kindness two men come together to achieve absolution in ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’  Andy Dufresne, depicted by Tim Robbins, is falsely found guilty of the murder of his wife and her lover.  After they were both shot, Andy goes done in the Shawshank Penitentiary for a lengthy sentence of two life sentences back to back for his ‘icy’ and ‘remorseless’ crimes.

Robbins’ performance throughout is superb; he keeps his character with poise and clear understanding of Andy Dufresne and his struggles in prison with the sisters, the guards and Warden Norton (Bob Gunton).  Robbins’ really had his hand full with Andy Dufresne, his complex and hard to read character, with subtle emotional outputs throughout the story, must have made it very challenging for him to really grab hold of his character.  I feel Robbins’ best moments in the film came when Andy encounters the sisters and their twisted way of passing the time in prison.  Robbins’ shows Andy’s determination to not be beat by them by not fighting back and accepting his fate at first.  Andy knows that he has to keep quiet and pay his dues because otherwise he may pay for it with his life.  Robbins’ plays this particular part of Andy’s complex character with extreme talent by not showing much emotion in the prison.  I felt that this kept the film realistic because showing emotion in prison wouldn't have got you far in his circumstance.  

Meanwhile; Red (Morgan Freeman), the man who can get you things, watches on at Andy from a far, intrigued by the way Andy holds himself in prison.  The perceptive prisoner sees how Andy doesn't walk as if he is in prison but as if he was ‘without a care or worry in the world.’  Red expresses his liking for Andy from the start. As per usual, Freeman has an outstanding performance as Red, he shows his conflict about leaving the clink.  Red fears for his mental stability if he left The Shawshank, after Brooks (James Whitmore) commits suicide shortly after being freed from a very long imprisonment.  Freeman shows this conflict brilliantly by confiding in Andy in a rare moment of deep fear and sadness in a place that usually only ever sees anger and regret.  Freeman shows Red’s struggle particularly well when he said ‘All I do anymore is think of ways to break my parole.’  This is powerful because it shows us that because Red has been in the joint for so long, he knows nothing else, he has nothing else.  

Red and Andy’s relationship throughout this dramatic epic, is what gets the audience through the dark themes and events that are explored in this ground-breaking piece of cinema.  This unlikely deep friendship gives the audience hope for our two main characters and their even more unlikely success in their dream to be freemen.

‘Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.’