January was quite a rainy month as you may be able to tell by the amount of movies that I saw. I do make sure to get my monies worth with the Unlimited Card (totally recommend by the way). Now it is time for another review post although it is only short and sweet.
Birdman - 6/10. I started the cold month off by seeing Birdman which I was actually quite excited about as I have always been a fan of Michael Keatons movies and Edward Norton. It is about washed up actor (Riggan) who once played the part of Birdman (hence the name) who begins writing his own play and is performing on Broadway. However throughout the movie you can see that he is not a very stable man obviously has schizophrenia or something along those lines because he believes that this Birdman is talking to him. Ed Norton is hired for a part in his production and certainly causes some trouble! I did like the movie although it was a little slow and maybe just not for me. The music in it was good and the camera work was superb. However I feel the ending was shabby and the storyline wasn't as good as I had hoped but still great acting from Michael and Edward. I would recommend it as it was quite disturbing and it showed you the utter crises of one mans life.
American Sniper - 10/10. This movie was fantastic and is my #1 for January. It is a great movie it has you gripped the whole way through and you really feel like you're experiencing what the characters are feeling (I was actually crying at some point). I do cry a lot at movies. The movie stars Bradley Cooper (yes that was the first reason I was interested in seeing it) whom looks great in this movie a lot bigger and is doing the accent very well. Bradley plays the part of Chris Kyle who was a military officer in Iraq who was known as the best sniper that there was because he had the most kills he actually got a nickname "Legend" which people call him throughout the movie. The movie shows you the struggle that soldiers have to endure when going out to fight and I don't just mean physically it is so emotionally deep. You can see how it affects his family and the way he acts when he returns from a tour. Each time he comes home it seems as if part of him has died he can't leave the war behind. His face becomes known in Iraq and the people out there begin to look for him identifying him by his tattoo. I didn't know it was a true story until the credits and the real photos. It is really quite emotional and gets you crying. When you leave the cinema you will have a lot to think about.
Wild - 4/10. I only saw this movie purely because I wanted to see the camera work and scenery and I did get a lot of that. I am into travelling currently (although not hiking) and it was lovely to see all the scenery in this movie it made you want to do the hike yourself! The movie stars Reese Wetherspoon (Cheryl) who has had a lot bad luck. Her mother died from Cancer, her marraige failed, she took drugs and was sleeping around. She decided to take hold of her life and do something for her mother and so she decided to do the Pacific Crest Trail which takes around 3 months to hike. She takes the journey and you see along they way how she reflects on the things she has done wrong and how much the hike is improving her attitude towards life. By the end of the trail you can feel the weight that has been lifted off of her shoulders. The only reason I gave the movie such a low rating was because it was very long and slow, the scenery was great but that was all really.
Taken 3 - 5/10. I was a big fan of the first movie which I thought was fantastic and then saw the second and it was good but thought it wasn't as good as the first and then they go and bring out ANOTHER. I do love Liam Neeson especially his deep husky voice but I feel this movie was a little far fetched and unrelated as the other two kind of went with each other. Liam Neeson was this time trying to catch the man that had murdered his ex wife who had framed him for the murder. The police are now after him and won't stop until they find him but they find out he has a lot of skills in all areas and can always outsmart them. I think it was time Brian Mills went into retirement!
Mortdeci - 6/10. I do love a good bit of Johnny Depp I think he is a good actor and can play weird and wonderful very well. I was a little unsure about this movie but saw it anyway one weekend and thought it was actually quite funny, a few giggles every now again. Although the storyline was a bit of a flop. I would recommend seeing it for free and not actually going out to buy it yourself because it isn't worth the money. The best parts for me were the funny ones I actually wasn't interested in the storyline. It is about Mortdeci (Johnny Depp) is struggling with money and faces loosing all that he owns so decides to take on a mission to find a painting which is worth a lot of money and return it to the police. However whilst doing this he runs into many situations and has a wife who dislikes his moustache very much to handle! He is a very dim man who has a sidekick (well, bodygaurd) who protects him and helps him find this painting.
Into The Woods - 3/10. Yawn yawn yawn. I wanted to see this movie because I am a fan of Meryl Streep and saw the trailer on the Graham Norton Show. All of the shows were sold out each weekend but we finally got into one which was full of children literally it was all sold out again so I wanted to see what the hype was about. I was very bored and disappointed. Maybe children may find the film good but I certainly did not. The music was terrible and not catchy all, the storyline was terrible it was a boring ending and it dragged on for way too long I felt like walking out. It is meant to be a movie that puts a modern twist on the fairytales such as Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and probably others. It is based mainly on a couple who cannot have children because they have been cursed by the witch (Meryl Streep) the witch says they can have the curse lifted if they collect the list of things that she requires from the woods so they go on their journey to find these items whilst mixing in with other fairy tails. Boring.
A very eventful January it was.
