The Mummy- Movie review! No spoilers!

Can I just start off by apologising for being so neglectful! Life has just been super busy at the moment, but I'm back (literally just from the cinema) so here is my review on this movie.


The Mummy! And is also like the 8th version of this? I'm not sure, theres a lot though. And yet again an evil dead creature about 5,000 years old thats roaming the earth..and another sandstorm with a face in it..which was pretty cool.
However this is the first chapter of Universal realising their 'Dark Universe' which is their cinematic universe of monsters. That's The Mummy, Dracula, The Invisible Man, Jekll & Hyde etc. I'm super excited..love my monsters!
So Tom Cruise plays Nick Morton, this sort of solider but is really a looter. You also have Annabelle Wallis playing Jenny Halsey, and they team up to solve this old mystery surrounding a mummy played by Sofia Boutella. YES! A female, badass mummy for once. I mean I know you had Anck Su Namum in the 1999 movie, but it was aaaaaaaall about Imhotep. Ah Imhotep..my guilty pleasure.
So when I walked into the cinema tonight, I had no idea what to expect, the trailer didn't really impress me. When I left I though 'ermm, yeah it was fine.'
The beginning, it had some really cool things, it started off quite well I thought, the production design was excellent. However I think the thing that let it down, was the screenplay.
I walked out of the cinema and thought, even though Tom Cruise was good and you could see how dedicate to the role he was, as he is with every role he plays, I left feeling that I didn't think Tom was right for that role. I had no idea why I thought that because, even though he is best known for his action, and doing his own stunts in things like 'Mission Impossible', 'Edge of Tomorrow', 'Minority report' etc, he still is also known for being amazing at other roles. 'Interview with the vampire' for example which is one of my favourite movies, so it isn't anything Tom did wrong in this movie, its the screenplays fault. This film has no real emotional direction. Some scenes can be really entertaining, but as a whole its really crumbly, and it is defiantly down to that screenplay.
There were action sequences in this movie that were really good, then all of a sudden they would let in a joke from time to time in this, which I thought didn't really work. It was almost like they were trying to be a bit like the 1999 'The Mummy' and how Brendan Fraser was in that, and also with John Hannah, and it didn't quite fit in I thought. It's super serious until it's super not.
This movie also had this thing where it had to explain what was going on..ALOT. The setup was fine because it explains what happened thousands of years ago, this is why this mummy lady is evil. However someone else would stop and be like 'this, this this this, happened..I think this is why this, this, this, this happened' It's a lot of explanation. When characters do that, they are telling the other character..but really they are telling you..the audience.
Russell Crowe is also in it. I won't tell you who he plays, because I actually didn't know. He, for myself, was one of the brighter spots of this movie. He played this character really well I thought, and in when he has scenes with Tom Cruise, these two heavyweight actors together..it was a lot of fun to watch.
Annabelle Wallis playing Jenny..ah. Honestly? She was just the damsel in distress, all the time. She was a useless character is such a big budget movie..and I haven't seen that in a while. She doesn't really bring anything, she doesn't really solve anything. She may known some locations to go to from time to time..but thats about it. This was another disappointment.
The ending aswell...it was meant to be a build up for the upcoming movies they have in store for us in the future..and even that didn't do it for me.


Overall, this movie does have some fun sequences and a lot of great action moments, however the screenplay by far is what has let this movie down. I also honestly feel they made a slight mistake is Universal went big budget when films like these should be gothic horror.
So I will give this movie 4/10, please let me know what you thought of the film, and if your looking forward to what they will be bringing in the future!

S'laters!
Ellie
xx

Hacksaw Ridge - Movie Review! No spoilers!

Guess whose back!! No not me with another movie review..I'm on about Mel Gibson. He's back, and oh boy he came back with a bang! Well..several explosions.

WOW! What an incredibly inspiring film this is. I'm writing this review after the second time of seeing this, because the first time just wasn't enough..that and because I went to see a late showing the first time and was too tired to write a review about it and I don't like to do the next day it if its not fresh in my mind.
This film is amazing, I can't express my love enough for this film. The story about it, the TRUE STORY about it, that a young man, Desmond Doss, did what he did, is so inspirational.
I love that 'movie makers' find stories such as this, where the majority of the population have never heard about the story until now, and thats me included! And they make films so they can share these brave, incredible stories about their lives and what incredible things that they accomplished.
The film starts off before the big battles scenes, the majority of it, is getting to know Desmond and his life just before he goes to war, this is including learning about his religious belief as a Seventh- day Adventist.
As the story carries on, you see him go through some terrible things, even before he goes to battle. To know that this man stuck to what he believed in, no matter how hard things got, no matter what people and life were throwing at him, he never stopped staying true to himself and his beliefs which I watched in awe.
I don't have anything negative to say about any of the actors in this film, they all did such an amazing job.
Andrew Garfield played Desmond Doss, he was nominated for an oscar for this role. Enough said. He played this man so amazingly well, and you really truly believed he is Desmond. He has these looks in his eyes that just draw you in. He is sooooo good at being optimistic, that you really cheer him on and hope that he does well.
Hugo Weaving plays his dad, he's known for his previous roles such as Agent Smith or Elrond, so to see him in this role has totally changed my prospective on him forever. This may sound awful but I think he moved me, more than any other character in this film. There are times where you really don't like him and then other times where you just want to hug him, because he is just this broken man who just deep down wants the best for his sons, but not to go through and see the things he did when he fought it World War 1. I was pretty gutted he wasn't nominated for an oscar as a supporting role, but that may be because he's not in it for long enough, but any way..Academy Awards..Im a little disappointed.
I also want to mention Vince Vaughn, he really surprised me in this, because in his previous films I feel like he is just Vince Vaughn in every comedic role he played. Not in this, he plays the drill sergeant..he still has funny moments but in such a different way. I looooove that Vince took on this role, it was a totally different side to him. It reminded me of David Schwimmer in 'Band of brothers' you think 'oh hey your Ross...oh holy shit your not always Ross'
So I encourage Vince to do more roles like this, and not always the comedic roles because he is really good!
Then the battle scenes! For a while you forget that it was Mel Gibson who directed this film, and then the first battle scene happens and your just sat there like 'oh yeah! This is a Mel Gibson war movie..holy moly where did that come from?! It is going doooooown!' It just hits you like a train, which has a fantastic affect. They are so brutal and so terrifying realistic. Oh Mel..how I've missed you!
I haven't watched a war battle scene this amazing, since watching for the first time the beginning to 'Saving Private Ryan'
I read a review the other day which mentioned that they thought this movie was pushing Christianity onto people, which I disagree completely! This movie is about a man who had such strong beliefs and it depicts his struggle to maintain them, the film doesn't tell YOU that you should have the same beliefs, it just shows the story about this one man and his beliefs.

Overall I am going to give this film a 10/10! It left me with a few tears, and affected me deeply. I haven't had a film make me feel anything like this for a looooooong time.
Let me know what you thought of this film!

S'laters!

Ellie
xx

Suicide Squad- Movie Review! No spoilers!

Let me start off by apologising for not writing anything for a while. I have been super busy with life itself, but I'm hoping I'll be back now writing more frequently. However, of course, I made time seeing Suicide Squad this evening, so here I am telling you my thoughts. Enjoy!

It only seems like yesterday I saw the first trailer to this film, dancing around my living room with excitement, wishing August 5th 2016 would hurry the hell up (however I am 6 days late on watching this film, oops) I was also really happy to see that David Ayer was directing and writing this film, I love the film 'Training Day' and he also wrote 'Fury' another film I really like, he is super talented so I was very excited to see what he could bring to this film.
I really enjoyed this film, it was a lot of fun, so much stuff was going on in this film that I felt constantly entertained. It is also in areas very messy and all over the place, but in times it worked because a majority of the characters are like that anyway, but another part of it was the editing. I think Warner Bros. was meddling and messing with the editing, believing the film shouldn't be as long as it probably first was, especially in the second half of the film to the end, there were defiantly some serious editing going on there, and they also wanted to make it more of light hearted shorter version, which I didn't mind but I know a lot of other MASSIVE fans will have a problem with because they want to see more darkness. I guess we will all have to wait until the unrated version comes out on DVD/Blu- Ray...more money for Warner Bros.
Will Smith as Deadshot, I really liked this character. He is one of the very few that got any type of characterisation, you learn a lot about him and about his personal life. I also found him very funny and entertaining, it did have moments where I felt like it was just Will Smith, being badass Will Smith, but nevertheless I still really liked how he played this character. The same with Harley Quinn played by Margot Robbie, she was probably my favourite character. Margot did an amazing job with her, she showed off her unhinged insanity really well, and also a little bit of her humanity that she has left. She really brought Harley Quinn to life on our screens. The rest of the team, I felt like we could have known so much more about them, it almost felt like as long as they made sure Deadshot and Harley had most of the limelight, because lets face it they probably knew they were the two characters most of the audience wanted to see more of. So it was kind of like Harley and Deadshot were leading the Suicide Squad, which is fine, but there were a couple of characters I felt were maybe unnecessary to be there but had to be otherwise it wouldn't be the team without them.
I loved the brief appearances of Batman, he looked awesome, and he was pretty great. We now just need to see Ben Affleck as Batman in a great film!
Captain Boomerang, I really liked. Jai Courtney, bless him, a lot of people had so many doubts about him but I really liked him with his fun a likeable presence.
Jay Hernandez as Diablo, he looked amazing, and I loved the special effects with the tricks he could do with fire. We got to learn about his dark past, and I really liked the scenes that he was involved, just wish we saw more of him.
Killer Croc, I went to see this film with my dad and he said he loved him. I wanted to love him but again I didn't see enough of him in it, he barely spoke, but that maybe because that is just his character but I felt like I knew Katana more than him, we learnt about her past but not Killer Croc which was a shame.
Jared Leto as the Joker. I love him. I loved his portrayal of the Joker, how different he made him. Another thing that is annoying me, everyone is comparing him to Ledger and Nicolson's joker which is not right. Jared is making him totally different, it was almost a combination to the best of the both. His physical appearance looked incredible, it really worked with the way he was portraying him with his acting skills. You don't see the Joker an awful lot in this film, but I quite like that, a lot of you will disagree on that, but this film isn't about him, it isn't a full love story about him and Harley..they may make one in the future but for now its about the Suicide Squad, and the fact he was only in it for shorts period of time, making his main focus about Harley I really liked, because then of course you will see him from time to time. I almost believe that, that is what the trailers were telling you. You only ever saw snippets of the joker in the trailer anyway, so some of you may thought thats because they were saving you for him in the movie, but nope thats just genuinely because he's not in that much.
Now lets talk about the villain, and I'm not even talking about Amanda Waller, but man she was a massive bitch. I'm talking about Enchantress..meh. That's what I thought about her to be honest, no disrespect to Cara Delevingne, she didn't do anything wrong, this just goes back to the editing, when you really see her in the second half of the film, everything is just happening so fast that you need to take a minute what it is she is really trying to do and also to the point..why? Because she's an evil witch who wants to take over the world? It's just so cliche.

Overall I really, really enjoyed this film. There are some good jokes, some good scenes but the action sequences feel very pedestrian and there doesn't seem to be anything special about them, and nothing really happens, but I loved all the characters in this film, I love how they worked together with there each individual personalities and backgrounds. It's just the editing that needs some sorting out but I'll just wait for the deleted scenes and the unrated version when the DVD comes out.
I am going to give this film 7/10.
Let me know what you thought of this film, what your likes and dislikes are!

S'laters!

Ellie
xx

The Martian - Movie Review! No spoilers!

I know, I know! This isn't exactly a movie that has just come out into cinemas, but I have literally only just watched this and I need to tell you my thoughts on it!

The perfect way to describe this film in a short sentence is Apollo 13 meets Cast Away, yep.
I still get so excited when I see that Ridley Scott has brought a new film out because he is a pure genius, he has done yet another amazing movie, I mean this is the man that gave us Alien! Enough said. However he did make the mistake on giving us Exodus: Gods and Kings..but we won't go there.
Matt Damon, I have to be honest there is something about this man, but whenever I saw him in any film, he didn't do anything for me..nothing exciting. Now I've seen this, he's changed my opinion of him so much! He was amazing! I mean..I haven't read the book..but for those who have..he brought Mark Watney to life on our screens. I loved his character! I loved the fact that he woke up, after everything that just happened, the realisation that his team has left him stranded on Mars (believing that he was dead, not that they're just plain assholes) but he still had an amazing sense of humour. This film was so funny, it really did make me laugh out loud..it almost felt like you shouldn't laugh because of the situation he is in..but he makes it funny. That's the same with his team he worked with on Mars, from the start they all had banter with each other, and when they even get into contact with him, they still all roast each other even in the most toughest situations. He found humour in the most troubled situations, and that was his personality all over and throughout the film, that no matter what kicked him down he keeps on going and thats a big theme of this film..is persistence. He knows that he could very much die, but I love how he doesn't over do the drama, sitting around feeling sorry for himself he just gets straight to work, figuring out a solution to a main problem he will soon face..running out of food. When there were moments of Mark Watney showing some emotion in the film, again he didn't over do it which I loved, but those moments still make you believe that he is desperate, scared and so happy when he is able to make contact. Those moments can actually be a bit of a tear jerker.
So Matt Damon..bravo!
The writing was fantastic! Obviously a lot of that will come from the book (I really need to get my hands on that book!) but even though this was nearly a 3 hour film, it never felt like it dragged, I never felt like there was a scene that just went on and on. Noting felt like they milked it, for example, when Marks team found out he was still alive, yes they were shocked and felt a lot of guilt, believing that they just "abandoned" him, but you see that guilt for about 3 minutes maybe less, and then they start to focus on what the plan is to save him. The same with when Mark realises his team left him, yes he was angry, but you never focus on that because he doesn't drag that on, he understands, and gets to work. Now for those that don't know me, I'm not the smartest of girls believe it or not. However I still understood everything that was going on this film! They were all talking scientifically but I got everything that was happening! It felt great, I felt smart (for once) I never thought I would understand a space movie again after watching Interstellar. Gosh, I do love that film but it really made my head hurt, and to this day I'm still not sure if I really know what happened or what the result was. But I love Christopher Nolan, always have, always will.
Now the supporting cast. Everyone is great! At first when I saw the cast, I thought it would be a bit of a well-known-actors-overload, but you see that everyone is perfectly cast. You believe that when you see a couple of actors in, you almost think..'really?!' for me that was Kristen Wiig and Sean Bean, but they all did a fantastic job! I even thought Sean Bean was actually quite funny! Aaaaaand this is the first film I've actually seen where Sean doesn't die! Sorry for those that may be disappointed.
If I had to give a minor negativity, it would probably be that nearer the end of the movie theres about 20-25 minutes of scenes where its on Earth, Matt isn't in any of that, and there were a few moments where I wanted to get back to him. The scenes were fantastic still don't get me wrong but that would be my only criticism.

Overall I would give this movie 8/10, it was a really great film to watch, the visual effects were brilliant, the acting was really good! I really enjoyed it!
But hey, thats just my opinion. I would love to hear your thoughts!

S'laters!

Ellie
xx

Batman v superman: Dawn of Justice - Movie review! NO SPOILERS!

Let me start off by saying that this is just my honest opinion about the film. I am not a pro critic, but I'll hopefully be doing more movie reviews in the future. Happy reading!

Oh. I really wanted to say I liked this movie, but I kind of left the cinema feeling very confused, not sure what just happened within the 2 hours 33 minutes and just quite disappointed. I don't even really know where to begin, I might sound all over the place because really the movie was all over the place. I know that some of you are going to read this and your going to be screaming at your screens and hating me, but this is just my honest opinion. Before I went to see it, I did see a lot of negative reviews towards a lot of different aspects, but I went in, with a little bit of hope and thinking 'even if the reviews are right, it will still be a good, kind of, badass movie, with lots of action' but unfortunately it didn't have any of that for me.
I was also so disappointed in the trailer too (if you haven't seen the trailer..I'll just say SPOILER ALERT!) the trailer gave SOOOOO much away, it gave away the fact Wonder Woman and Doomsday are in it, so when it came to the actually movie when you see Wonder Woman..not being Wonder Woman..she's sort of a mystery woman throughout the majority of the film (well she was meant to be) but all I thought was 'ah there she is!' Almost like I was waiting for THAT moment, but when it eventually happened I just felt kind of deflated, because I was waiting for it, when it should of been a 'gasp' moment.
When you read the title you automatically think, it is just going to be full action throughout the film, but that wasn't the case at all. Most of it was a hell of a lot of drama, figuring things out and then all of a sudden tons of action..but at the end of the movie. Don't get me wrong I didn't hate the movie, I did enjoy...some of it, and I can see why DC fans would love it, because it gave little teases of The Justice League, so it was like 'oooh look at this character here from The Justice League' However even that..when they were teasing us with The Justice League (The bit with The Flash, Aquaman etc) I felt like they could have made it so much more inventive, it just felt like it was quite unnecessary. It felt like the movie forgot to be its own movie, when they were shoving in which was basically a trailer for The Justice League into the middle of it. It got to the point where it was so poorly written, in the way it gives motivations and storylines here, there and everywhere, it seemed like they didn't care about THIS movie, they cared about the NEXT movie in the future.
All in all this movie has a very weak script. That was a big problem. I was very sceptical about Ben Affleck playing Batman, I did like how he was playing an older Batman, he wasn't pretending to be young which I liked, physically as well he is very fit, I saw how hard he must of worked and train to become that fit, he took on board that Batman obviously will be taking on Superman. But I don't know..I wasn't fully satisfied with his performance but I do think most of it was due to the lack of creative writing. He was a badass Batman and I do think his performance gave off more than the script provided. I watched it and I really liked Ben Affleck as Batman, he even did a great performance being both Bruce Wayne and Batman, but the script just didn't give him any great moments to show off the fact that he is Batman.
I felt like the script does that to everyone apart from Lex Luther. He was the only character who had an idea on where he was going in the movie. This movie, I say again, doesn't motivate any of its characters, and their are just all different movies shoved into one.
Again, I was sceptical about Jesse Eisenberg, but I think that was due to the fact the trailer showed him more as a wacky/jokey character however in the movie, yes he was still wacky and he isn't the "textbook Lex Luther" but I did find him quite intimidating. However he was the only character I felt who had a vision to fill a role as a protagonist and he's the antagonist, a bit of a mess really.
I don't think Zack Snyder took on board anything that people were saying about Man Of Steel, that man does not know how to capture Superman, but apparently neither do the writers. In this movie Superman looks like he is figuring out which emotion to use, I also couldn't see a difference between Clark Kent and Superman..you should be able to see the difference from when he puts on his glasses. You could with Christopher Reeve. He needs to change his body language, his personality, but I feel like he doesn't do any of that, and this being the 21st Century..in this day of age, with all the technology there is, someone would most defiantly noticed Clark Kent and Superman, they could even try and explain that but they didn't even want to try. To be honest there is so much going on and happening in this movie that no one is explaining what the effects are, the motives are so unclear. Even with Lex Luther's "great plan" at the end I still sat there thinking 'why?'
Okay so lets talk about Batman and Superman's great fight. One fight. Throughout the whole film they fight once and it lasts like 5 minutes. Enough said. I didn't feel like it was that good either, sorry. It didn't feel like there was a proper motive into why Bruce Wayne wanted to start a fight with Superman, nothing really personal for us to back him up in a way. In my eyes there was no real reason that they needed to fight.

Overall I would probably give this movie 4/10, I felt like it could of been such a good movie but it just needed a better storyline.
But that's my opinion, I would love to hear what you thought of the film!
S'laters!
Ellie
xx