‘X-Men – Days of Future Past’ (12A)

Four esteemed character actors found themselves playing young or old versions of the same character in the latest ‘X-Men’ movie.  Stewart, McKellan, Fassbender, and McAvoy played the pivotal roles, along with Oscar winner Hugh Jackman, who also played no small role in one of the most exciting sci-fi movies of recent years.
The adventure is made up of two stories, one set in the near past and the other in the near future, featuring the challenged Superheroes which moviegoers have come to know since the first X-Men movie in 2000.
In ‘X-Men – Days of Future Past’ – the seventh in the series - Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman is sent back in time to change a happening of war from 1973.  This is done through a mind meld of sorts, and brings us into Star Trek territory.  Interesting, considering Patrick Stewart’s seven years and four movies playing Capt. Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation’.  Stewart had to do some mind melding in his time on his hit tv series.
The Shakespearean actors, Stewart and Ian McKellan, return to their roles of the older Charles Xavier and Magneto
The younger Magneto is played by Michael Fassbender, and the younger Xavier by James McAvoy, as they did in the previous movie, ‘X-Men: First Class’.  It’s interesting to watch McKellan/Fassbender and Stewart/McAvoy portraying the same characters at different periods of their lives.
An amazing story of travels, adventure, danger, and special effects ensue with Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) playing a central part.  An epic battle to save the future in the past takes place, and the intensity of the storyline and production, makes the movie seem much longer.  But that is not a criticism.
The story goes along at a fast pace, with no boredom.  If there is any criticism, it is that there is too much going on, and you need a fast paced brain to work it all out.  However it’s worth the viewing, once or even twice over. 
The sets are massive, especially a scene featuring US President Richard Nixon. 
The latest X-Men story is an experience to savour.  It’s the best of the series to date, and a rare treat, a special effects sci-fi movie, with an engrossing storyline.
David Flynn

Philomena (12A)

This is a strange movie of a true story about a serious topic, yet having great comedy, that no comic script-writer would really be able to create, unless it was based on fact.

However Steve Coogan’s hand was in the script, which makes sense.  He also produced, and is the male lead in a role, which while is not Oscar material, certainly brings him far away from his Alan Partridge creation.  He put up a good show as the former political journalist down on his luck, who by chance happens upon the story of Philomena, an Irish woman searching for the son who was long ago taken from her by nuns.

Philomena, played by Judi Dench had her son taken away from her in the mid-1950s, after she got pregnant outside wedlock, and went to live and work around a convent laundry.  Philomena, like Coogan’s character, Martin Sixsmith is quite a quirky character, and almost a literary creation.  However this movie is about real people, with real and tragic stories to tell.  

The movie begins in Philomena’s old age in the UK, and she and Sixsmith take the quest for Philomena’s son, from the convent in Roscrea, Ireland to Washington DC.

It is an enjoyable journey to follow the duo on, despite the sadness and pain they encounter along the way. 

Interestingly a photo of 1940’s Hollywood star, Jane Russell is shown on the wall of the convent office.  Eventually it is revealed why this is so, which only adds to the scenario that was going on in the convent in the 1950s.

The production of ‘Philomena’ is superb, with real-life footage of home movies from the real people involved.  It’s a cliché to say Judi Dench is one of the best actresses around, and they were lucky that she accepted the script.  It is her first movie since she was last featured in the James Bond franchise almost a year ago.

There are not many supporting actors, and Dench and Coogan run the show throughout, and never disappoint.  However a powerful later scene with actress, Barbara Jefford is one worth waiting for.  It is also obvious that Dench will take the BAFTA for ‘Philomena’, and a few more awards with it.

The true story of Philomena is a horrendous indictment of the abuse the poor women suffered in the convents.  The movie is more powerful than 2002’s ‘Magdelen Laundries’ because of all the information that has since come to light, and this is also a real woman’s story, and not a tale about an imaginary person. 

Let’s hope those seeking family connections and answers find their searches come to a positive end soon.

David Flynn

Gravity 3D (12A)

A unique movie, even by today’s standards, where you have a sci-fi action two-hander, done with two of the biggest names in the movie industry. 

The unusual movie has to be viewed in 3D, because it is the very best of its 3D kind.   The movie manages to moonwalk the audience up around the various space stations, and keep them there. 

George Clooney and Sandra Bullock were much bigger stars ten years ago than now, but they were excellent choices for the roles, particularly Bullock, who rarely disappoints.

Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on a shuttle mission in deep space, along with astronaut, Matt Kowalski, played by George Clooney.  Clooney’s character is a retiring, but upbeat astronaut, while Ryan has some personal demons, and uses her job to struggle through them.  Their space mission seems normal, until debris starts flying, and they lose control of their positioning.  The duo are forced to help each other, when they end up alone floating in space, with few resources and with no contact with Earth.

It would seem at first that this is Clooney’s movie, because of his authoritive characteristics, but a turn of events occur, and Ryan is left attempting to preserve life. 

 

The movie is a work of genius by director, Alfonso Cuaron, who also wrote the original screenplay.  It couldn’t have been easy to direct actors at zero gravity, while they float on a black background.  However the movie appears totally realistic, obviously helped by its great 3D effects.

The storyline is interesting, particularly where it deals with Ryan’s back story, and resigned view of life.  The movie is also not without its messages.

David Flynn

Life's A Breeze (12A)

A simple Irish tale set in the very modern age, is not what you would imagine Pat Short appearing in. However it is a good comedy, with laughs intentional and unintentional in almost every scene.

Pat plays Colm, a fortysomething lad, with no job, living with his mother in a big Dublin townhouse.  The mother, played by the brilliant Fionnula Flanagan has the house like a timecapsule from around two decades ago.  Colm and his three siblings get the mother, with the help of his niece, Emma, out of the house for the day, while they clean up the place as a surprise to her.  Emma is played by a remarkable teenage newcomer, Kelly Thornton.

However the well-meaning siblings throw out the mother’s mattress, which is supposedly full of around €1 million cash. 

A search begins by Colm and company for the mattress in a sometimes hilarious journey.  Poignancy comes into the story many times, and the sadness of Colm’s and the mother’s situation come to the fore a couple of times.

Pat Short is quite a good actor, and showed expressions of frustration quite well, and definitely showed another facet to his comic being.  Eva Birthistle who starred around two decades ago in tv’s ‘Glenroe’, was the straight-woman comic to her mother and brother. 

Fionnula Flanagan is always a joy to watch whether it be on tv’s ‘Lost’ or on Irish movies like 2004’s ‘Man About Dog’.   Here she plays the mother, who may or may not be senile.  She is a treasure of an actress, and plays the elderly woman to a tee.  She even has a hip problem when she walks, that is so genuine, it can only be done by a method actress.

Kelly Thornton is the granddaughter, and through whose eyes the story unfolds.  You get the feeling there is more going on in this young girl’s mind, than is shown.  However Kelly does an amazing job, with a limited script.  While the script is great at displaying what is going on over the mattress, and the reactions of the mother and Colm, it should have done more than merely hint what was going on in the young girl’s life and mind.

The movie makes great use of the Irish media, with RTE, TV3 and some daily newspapers used to great effect, showing the authenticity of the story, and for that, you would feel as if you were watching a reality programme, albeit one with substance.

World War Z (15A)

It has been reported that Brad Pitt is hopeful of there being many sequels to this movie.

The storyline of ‘World War Z’ is based on the novel by Max Brooks and Pitt plays a UN expert, Gerry Lane, who following a world disaster, is brought out of early retirement, to race against the clock to stop a Zombie world domination, which threatens to destroy the human population.  However, all that being said, it’s not a bad movie, despite it sounding like a bad 1950s B movie.

The action is non-stop, and begins on an American city street with buildings exploding, and a rampant spread of ‘Zombisim’ among the general population.  The zombies act like they have done in every movie from ‘Shaun of the Dead’ to ‘The Dawn of the Dead’, so there is nothing new here.  However terror is continued on throughout every scene as Gerry crosses the world to South Korea, Israel, Wales and Canada hoping to find a way to stop the zombies.

Along the way he is helped by a former UN employee, played in a cameo by David Morse, a brilliant character actor, who has a long acting  history going back to tv’s ‘St. Elsewhere’ in the 1980s.  Unfortunately this actor is very underused in the movie. 

Brad Pitt does his best with the movie, and is also credited with being one of the producers as well as being the main star.  His wife, Karin is played in a lovely subdued way by Mirelle Enos, and she shows well the terror of being separated from her husband, with her children, on a ship off the coast of America.  However her safety is put in jeopardy not just by the zombies, but by the ones who is supposed to be protecting her and her family.

It’s an ok thriller, and Brad Pitt does a good job of playing the family man trying to save the world.  The ending of the movie, at first seems like a cop-out, but Brad’s statement this week that he is hopeful of some sequels makes sense now.

‘World War Z’ is an enjoyable film, and gripping in places, but it has its lulls as well.  However there were many worse films made about zombies.

Man of Steel (12A)

The reboot of the Superman story, ‘Man of Steel’ takes the whole Clark Kent saga that cinema audiences have known since the 1940s, and turned it upside down, and back again.  The story is basically the same, although it is told in different time stages.

Henry Carvill is probably the best actor to have played Superman, certainly the best since the late Christopher Reeve left the role after shooting four movies in 1987.  Here, Clark Kent is portrayed in the main as a tortured soul who can’t understand or control his superhuman powers.

His spiritual foster father is played by Kevin Costner, and his understanding mother is played by Diane Lane.  This Superman story has biblical similarities, with Clark being 33 years old before major happenings in his life and in the world come about, just like Jesus Christ.

The movie is available in 3D, but I’d say it wouldn’t be a big deal to just see it in the 2D version.  A lot of action is thrown in here, but more than in past versions, the story of Superman is paramount.

The influence of Batman producer, Christopher Nolan in the production of ‘Man of Steel’ is evident, with the darkness on the theme of the story in the script. 

Lois Lane is played by prolific actress, Amy Adams, and throughout the movie the whole father/son bond and controlling evil and anger is used to great effect. 

The new Superman movie is all about action, special effects, and the familiar story, with a modern storyline influenced by the plot of the first two Christopher Reeve movies from 1978 and 1980 thrown in.  It uses biblical events in a modern fashion, and the internet and social media also have their place here.

There is just a hint of the Superman name coming into the movie, but it is stopped in its tracks before Amy Adams’ Lois Lane attempts to say the name.

Henry Carvill portrays a dark and problematic Superman, but he could have been given a better storyline to work with, although he did his best with the script on hand.

Kevin Costner as his foster father, Jonathan Kent, brought his best to the role of the earthly spiritual advisor, as did Russell Crowe, who had a much bigger part as the birth father.  Both actors are improving with age, although Costner had the edge. 

‘Man of Steel’ is a worthy successor to the successful series of movies of Superman, and is the best one since 1980, but not as good as Christopher Nolan’s Batman series.

After Earth (12A)

It’s hard to see what the point of this movie is and why it was really made unless it was to give a vehicle to 14 years old Jaden Smith. 

The young fellow is the real life son of his co-star, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett, who acts as producer of ‘After Earth’.  The main attraction of the science fiction movie is that it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who also worked on the screenplay.  Shyamalan wrote ‘Sixth Sense’ back in the 1990s.

The story of ‘After Earth’ began promisingly by detailing how one thousand years previously, people escaped from the planet earth following a serious upheaval of sorts, to live on Nova Prime.

A moody looking Will Smith plays Cypher Raige, who returns to Nova Prime from a military tour of duty, to his son, Kitai (Jaden) and his wife, played by Sophie Okonedo, who almost a decade ago was nominated for an Oscar for her work on ‘Hotel Rwanda’.

Father and son decide to go on another tour of duty, and manage to be the remaining survivors when an asteroid storm damages their craft.  They land on a dangerous and hostile Planet Earth.  Cypher is seriously injured and the young Kitai must head across the landscape to retrieve the craft’s rescue beacon.    While the boy has some military training, he didn’t manage to make the grade at his academy.

While there are special digital effects etc., the story does take a nosedive, throughout Kitai’s search.

There was little evidence of M. Night Shyamalan’s influence or work in the movie, considering he has worked on the unexpected and the surprise in his own movies.  There are no surprises here, and a sub-plot about Kitai’s dead sister doesn’t really fit into the movie.

The movie lacked a lot, mostly an engrossing plot.  A better script could have seen justice done by Will Smith, but it’s too early to see if Jaden has any screen presence.  Although the young fellow made a few movies before ‘After Earth’, this movie wasn’t a good one for him.