There Will Be Blood (2007)

There Will Be Blood is a film that I had heard good things about and I must get it out of the way by saying that I don’t share that sentiment. It’s a film that has some good things going for it however those things don’t save the film for me.  I thought the idea was quite well done and also thought ath Daniel Day Lewis was superb as was Paul Dano who played Eli Sunday who at times was a mesmerising character. I found myself enjoying the film when these two were on screen but found the general flow of the film to lack something which it needed to compliment the performances.

It was only because of Dano and Day-Lewis that kept me from turning the DVD off so I must admit that I was somewhat disappointed with this film.

Haunted Changi (2010)

Another found footage film which looks at the mysterious goings on in a hospital. There was some interesting stuff at the beginning about the history of the hospital and why there are supposidly strange things happening. It's an ameateur film and there are several scenes which try and do some interesting special effects which at times do work but at other times dont really work. I think that the problem is that there are several things that do the film good but the main thing that lets it down is that its just not scary. There's one moment of blood at the end which even I saw coming and that was about as scary as it got.

The setting was well chosen and there were a few moments where I thought it worked quite well but I bring it back to the fact that it wasnt scary. It wasnt as bad as some found footage films that I have seen but the best thing I can say about it is that its mediocre.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Captain America was a film that I felt I needed to watch but wasn’t really looking forward to it as it looked like a weaker action hero film. I had seen Chris Evans in Avengers Assemble and I kind of knew what the character’s story was but I have to admit that I really really enjoyed Captain America. The story takes place during World War 2 and Steve Rogers is trying to enlist in the Army but due to ailemnts he is rejected and before we know it this thin asthmatic turns into a muscley individual. I was quite impressed with how they did the CGI thin Rogers. The story follows the basic action/super hero film where there is some evil person trying to cause a war or capitalise on their power. In this story its Johann Schmidt (played by Hugo Weaving). Schmidt enters the story like he’s just rolled out of a Indiana Jones film but quite quickly Weaving shows he is better. I liked the Red Skull character and thought that it was another well achieved piece of CGI. Weaving did at times seem similar to his character in The Matrix films. Chris Evans is a believeable actor and makes the character seem likeable. He might not have the gizmo’s that Iron Man has but he manages to carry his own. I also liked Tommy Lee Jones and thought that he was also another good piece of casting. The only casting I wasn’t sure about was Hayley Atwell who served a fringe purpose as the love interest.

The tie-in to the Assemble movie was evident here as Domonic Cooper plays Howard Stark (Tony Stark’s father) and he is frozen at the beginning (and end of the film) which brings us to the modern day. I am still impressed with just how they manage to make these stories tie in together when there was no guarantee that they films would be the critical or commercial success it would turn out to be. The casting was good, the story was also good and I am impressed with how impressed I was with it considering how much I wasn’t looking forward to this film. There is word of a second movie and I cant wait for it.

Men in Black 3 (2012)

I saw MIB1, didnt see MIB2 and so skipped straight to MIB3 where it has been 14 years since the first film and it sees J jump to 1969 to prevent Boris 'the destroyer' from killing K. Now this is a pretty simple premise but it’s more entertaining than I am making it sound. It’s quite hard to try and find the feel of a film 10 years after the previous one but somehow they manage it. This was the first 3D film which I wasn’t annoyed by wearing the stupid glasses. There were some ok moments in 3D but I am still yet to be won over by 3D. I always find the 3D works best with the adverts that they stick on before the film starts and whilst that was the case here there were a few moments which I thought were good.

Will Smith was quite good in this and one of the main problems I have with Smith is that he can be annoying and he reigns its back in this film. I thought that he was outshone by Josh Brolin who was outstanding in this. I thought at times that his voice had been dubbed to make him seem more like Tommy Lee Jones but this wasn’t the case. As the 1969 K, he was great in every scene he was in. Tommy Lee Jones on the other hand was more of a cameo star than anything else. He appears at the beginning and at the end and whilst his scenes were enjoyable, I felt that I could have done with more TLJ but I suppose the constraints of the plot made this impossible.

The film move alongs at a good pace and never slows down or gets bored with whats going on. I felt that it was a believeable plot and had a baddie that quite impressive and the threat was credible. Only thing that let it down was at the beginning when Nicole Scherzinger made a cameo as some PVC clad lover of Boris. Pointless. Could have cast anyone but that’s a minor quibble. A lot of people seem to be down on MIB3 but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with it and though it isn’t a patch on the first film I still thought it was a good effort and far better than I thought it would be. I left the cinema and was hoping that there might be a fourth one but also hoping that it isn’t 2022 before we get that.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

The second Iron Man film is much better than the first one but that's because the first film was just laying down the rules of the franchise. It sees Mickey Rourke, gets annoyed that Robert Downey Jr's dad stole his dads idea or something like that. Basically it gives the film a chance to do what it wanted to but couldnt in the first one because it had to lay down the rules of the franchise and that is just have several spectacular action sequences. The first being a good one to start with and that is the one at Monaco.

Whilst I enjoyed the action sequences which one would expect from an action film, it was the casting choices that made me enjoy this film. RDJ was on good form again and is proving to be a strong screen prescene. Gwyneth Paltrow was marginally better but I still see her more as Chris Martin's wife than an actress which is a shame. Don Cheadle's casting in this film was purely because Rhodes was more involved in this film and they must have thought that Terence Howard wouldnt have been able to pull it off. That said I thought that he did well. Sam Rockwell was brilliant in this, I am a fan of his and thought that his baddie was a bit more restrained than that of Jeff Bridges. Scarlett Johannson serves a eye candy role in this film. It was time to play 'lets see how long it takes us to get her into a skintight catsuit'. Not convinced. However the most bizarre piece of casting was for that of Mickey Rourke. It's ok when he not talking but when he has to utter any words then that horrible russian accent comes out and the threat is ruined.

Iron Man 2 is a much better film that Iron Man 1. I liked the bit at the end where Thor's hammer appears in the ground. Must get round to watching Thor.