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JohnPickering88
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Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Have you seen Episode IV? Then you've seen this film.
On Wednesday/Thursday night at 00:05 I, along with hundreds of other Star Wars fans, wandered happily into the cinema screen with a cautiously optimistic attitude to what I was about to see. Well, thanks J.J. Abrams for ruining my night; you owe me four hours sleep.
To avoid spoilers I will do my best to keep this vague but to the point. The overall view is this: the new characters are weak and mostly unexplained, the interactions between new and old characters feels disingenuous, decent story development has been traded for cheap nostalgia, the whole film is rushed and if you have seen Episode IV then you have seen at least 50% of this film. No kidding, I am going to watch Episode IV closely to see if they have actually copied and pasted.
The new characters: Finn is dull and Rey is conveniently good at EVERYTHING. The introduction of each is rushed, as is the relationship they develop with each other and with the old characters throughout the film, all of which ends up feeling completely disingenuous. We know absolutely nothing about them (maybe the next film will explain?) which makes it incredibly hard to feel anything for either of them.
Cheap Nostalgia: I have no issue with a bit of cheesy nostalgia, but lets not base an entire film on it and forget to write a story. O wait, why write a story when we could just use Episode IV's? Silly me. The introduction of Leia, Han, Chewie and C-3PO is forced. Once the initial "wahoo" moment of seeing your favourites has passed, do they really add anything to the film? No, they don't.
Rushed: Really rushed. Huge parts of the characters background are skipped, the last thirty years are a blur, I still have absolutely no idea who the "baddies" are or where they come from and the "epic" battle is so rushed that it is, well to be honest, s*#t.
Story and character development, with particular reference being made to the relationships between old and new characters, is virtually non-existent. Everybody just happens to love everyone else immediately and with no reason. And Rey, our new, strong, female protagonist, is conveniently amazing at everything she does instantly without any reasoning as to why. But then given that the story is so poor, without this convenience there would be nothing left.
To top it off, this film IS Episode IV. Entire scenes are almost identical. With Episode I, II and III, at least the writers had the excuse of being bound to a set story that all fans knew inside and out. But with Episode VII the possibilities were almost endless. There is no excuse for recycling the old films.
J.J. Abrams has played it so safe with this film that I would feel comfortable leaving a small, indefensible baby alone with it for a prolonged period of time.
Young Adult (2011)
Please allow me to explain why this movie is so terrible!
I will start with the one and only positive to this movie; Charlize Theron portrays her character as a classical popular school girl who has no time for anyone except herself, who 20 years into the future ends up as a depressant alcoholic who lives purely in the past of her school glory days very well. However the main two issues with this movie is it's unbelievably boring plot and an even worst script. The plot consisting solely of Mavis Gray trying to win back her former high school boy friend, who is happily married with a new baby, drags so heavily and becomes utterly monotonous after the half hour mark. The script that Diablo Cody has created contains her attempt at humour which is best described as dry. Unfortunately it is quite apparent that Diablo Cody hasn't a single funny bone in her body as this movie fails to create any form of laughter at any point. There are moments that are actually quite offensive in which disabled people are mocked for the sake of it. And to top it all off Diablo decides to be clever going against the cliché ending in which the nasty girl becomes a 'goody'. However all this does is leaves you deflated and curious as to the point of the movie other than to show us the life of a pathetic waste of space of a human being. If I had to use one negative comment about this movie though it would be BORING!
P.S if you watch this movie ask yourself if it felt like 1hr 30mins? I bet the answer is a lot more!!!
Public Enemies (2009)
Too long, over "Hollywood-ised".....and since when did making a mass murderer look like a hero become a good idea??
I'm not going to use up much of my time writing about this film as it has already consumed enough of it in the cinema. There are three main things wrong with this movie:
1: Far too long 2: Far too much Hollywood 3: Glamorized a killer
This movie has a running time of 140 minutes. Cut it down to 90, which could be done incredibly easily, and I might not have been so disappointed. There are several scenes, which I assume are to give a sense of drama, anticipation and build-up (which seems to be the way these days), that should be cut either completely or way way down. For example, the love scene between Dillinger and Bille; a complete waste of time and kept in purely for the sake of sex.
My biggest issue however, is that the movie glamorized a serial cop killer. This man was not a hero, even if the American public did brand him a "Robin Hood" of the depression. He was a bank robber who was prepared to remove anyone who got in the way. We see in the movie that he used innocent people as human shields so he could make a clean getaway from his jobs. He also claimed the lives of many law enforcement officials. These do not make up the character of Robin Hood or a hero. Good riddance to him.
That aside, as a movie, it's far too long, boring story line and some quite shoddy acting displayed in places.
Don't waste your money.