Change Your Image
jamesissuperawesome
Reviews
Gone Girl (2014)
A perfect start to Oscar season.
Gone Girl is directed by David Fincher and stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry among others. It's based on the 2012 hit novel by Gillian Flynn (who also wrote the screenplay for the film), and follows Nick Dunne, a man whose wife suspiciously goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary. Going into the theater, my heart was racing with excitement, and I had no doubt in my mind that this would be another fantastic hit from Fincher.
Gone Girl is one of the best films of 2014 and an excellent start to Oscar season. This movie is intense, dramatic, but also refreshingly hilarious and mildly self referential and never takes itself too seriously. Affleck is great, but Rosamund Pike is a show stealer, and I predict an Oscar nom. Tyler Perry is perfect for his role, and I know this guy has talent, and should do more films like this. My only flaw lies within the acting and that is the character of Desi, played by Neil Patrick Harris. Was he bad? No, but I found it very hard to see him as anything but Neil Patrick Harris, with all his mannerisms and such.
Gone Girl has twists left right and centre, so I was never bored during the 145 minute runtime. The dark, creepy tone is achieved by beautiful cinematography (as expected from Fincher) and the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is still disturbing me as I write this, five days later, and I am certain it's their best score for a Fincher flick yet. By the time the end credits rolled, I was provoked to think hard about how media and press can effect one's life, and I felt like I was almost a little more socially informed. With the creepiness of Zodiac, lively screenplay of The Social Network, and twists and turns alike to Se7en, Gone Girl is a feast of Fincher goodness and I implore you to see it.
A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
I wanted to love this so much.
A Million Ways to Die in the West is Seth Macfarlane's first starring acting feature, with a great supporting cast and amazing cameos.
This movie is labeled a comedy, but honestly I can count the laugh-out- loud moments on one hands. This isn't a bad movie overall, but it's not a good comedy, and all the laughs are shown in the trailers. Aside from that, there's a forced feelings all throughout with leaves it empty of life and sometimes boring. A Million Ways to Die in the West is watchable, but not worth paying for in the cinema. If you're a fan of Seth, you'll be entertained to some degree, but aside from that it's an achingly average movie, which is exactly what I didn't want from a well renowned comedian such as Seth.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
I've never gotten chills like this.
I am a massive fan of X-Men, and I was hyped for this movie. Hyped is probably and understatement, I was beyond excited, and my expectations were higher than you could imagine. Did X-Men: Days of Future Past meet those expectations? Yes.
When people talk about the best superhero movies, they always compare things like The Avengers and The Dark Knight, et cetera. Days of Future Past has set the bar very high and deserves to be talked about as much, if not more than those such as The Avengers and The Dark Knight.
This IS Bryan Singer's franchise, and he has truly made a magical piece of cinema this time around. The acting in this film is simply superb, whilst the action is pitch perfect, and the storytelling is on another level.
Go see this, I implore you to.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Everything I wanted it to be.
So I saw The Amazing Spider-Man 2 last night, and I went in with HIGH expectations. Somehow, the film still shot my expectations straight through the roof and blew me away. As readers of comics, or big Marvel fans will know, this really stays true to the comics, unlike the Tobey Trilogy. One thing they did with this film which I loved, was they spent a large chunk focusing on the origin of villains in the most interesting way. Plenty of nods to other Spidey villains not-yet- appeared to give you a few nerd-gasms, and the essentially cheesy but brilliant line - "Let's go catch a spider."
I was amazed at how much emotion I felt from the actors, and from myself, through several scenes. My whole theater reacted the exact same way to each key scene, and I think that's impressive filmaking.
Go see TASM 2 for action, emotion, comedy and lots and lots of fun.
A Long Way Down (2014)
Forget the critics.
Before you see this, clear your mind of the negative hype. I went in to the film wanting to judge it for myself, and I have to say I had an enjoyable enough time. Its length is perfect, and I like how it tells the story. Just don't expect a realistic tale and you should have a good time. I liked how they didn't sugarcoat the actions of a character. I found Aaron Paul's character, J.J, to be very easy to relate to. In my opinion, they got a lot of things right with the topic of depression, and the comedy wasn't done offensively. It's not a light topic, but A Long Way Down shows just how many different reasons people have to be suicidal, some with no real reason at all.