Kingsman: The Secret Service

Matthew Vaughn (2014)

'Kingsman: The Secret Service' is a comedy film that satirises spy movies such as the James Bond franchise. Gary 'Eggsy' Unwin (played by Taron Egerton) is a normal working class 18 year old from London who gets recruited into a super secret spy organisation. Humour comes as he tries to mix with these posh and suave upper-class stereotypes.

Matthew Vaughn has included his typical ultra stylised violence ('Kick Ass') and it does boast a good sound track. There are a lot of nods to films such as Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' but it just reminds me of examples when things have been done much better. The highlight of the film for me was a scene in which Colin Firth violently massacres a crazy church to the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd ('Free Bird') whilst almost seeming like a continuous long shot.

The screenplay is very unoriginal and the dialogue with the young actors in particular is cringe-worthy. Tarantino type set-pieces just come across as annoying as the film fails to have any cleverness or creativity.

Apart from Colin Firth every actor is either average or just really bad. Samuel L. Jackson, in particular, is worse than usual as he tries to add some freshness to his regular spiel by trying to affect an annoying and distracting speech impediment.

'Kingsman' is going to appeal to the intended target age group as it does contain scenes of fantasy violence depicted as "cool" whilst characters swear. It would also help your enjoyment of the film if you have not seen the many, many examples where each scene had been conducted much better. My final rating for this film is 2.5 stars.

The Voices

Marjane Satrapi (2014)

'The Voices' is a very dark comedy from graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi. It tells the story of a man named Jerry (Ryan Reynolds) who works in a bathtub factory. Jerry continuously sees a psychiatrist (Jacki Weaver) as he tries to live a normal life whilst dealing with his mental afflictions. He decides to pursue his office crush (Gemma Arterton) but soon finds himself in a murderous situation when she fails to reciprocate his advances. Jerry's schizophrenia means that he hears voices specifically from his pets who give him help and advice.

Satrapi directs the piece with a surprisingly heartfelt and empathetic way. The lack of colour and light (such as when Jerry is on his limiting medication) contrast really well with the scenes where the main character is free and feels at peace. There are very graphic scenes of murder which highlight the brutality of his actions reminding the audience of the morality of Jerry's actions. The music is also very fitting and turns drastically into a horror-themed score when the drama switches.

The screenplay is funny in a lot of places. Before I watched the film, I thought I would find similarities with HBO's 'Dexter' as it deals with a likeable killer whilst also being humorous. But, after watching, I feel that the film owes a lot to Mary Harron's 'American Psycho' as it shares similar themes of delusion and indulgence. However, the dialogue was a bit forced at times and I usually find myself cringing when watching a British actress (in this case Gemma Arterton) having to read lines written in a very stereotypical way.

Ryan Reynolds is fantastic as the main character and really makes the audience feel for his character. Reynolds completely embodies the main character's innocence and is a genuinely nice man. Even more impressive is the fact that Reynolds also performs voices for his pets which include a Scottish cat and a Texan dog. I had a slight problem with other members of the cast who I felt were not quite up to the standard that Reynolds set although Jacki Weaver was great as his psychiatrist and Anna Kendrick did a good job at playing his love interest.

Overall, I feel that 'The Voices' was a surprisingly good film. It was funny and very well acted. 'The Voices' is a little hidden gem that a lot of people who are fans of small and strange indie comedies would love. My final rating is 4 stars.

Unfriended

Levan Gabriadze (2014)

'Unfriended' is a modern horror film with interesting messages about modern society and our addiction to social networking tools on the Internet. It touches on quite a sensitive subject in cyber bullying from the very disturbing introduction. It tells the story of a teenage girl who was publicly humiliated on the internet and commits suicide due to the heckling and bullying from her peers. A year on and it seems that this group of peers are being stalked online by a vengeful pursuer.

Gabradze's direction is very intriguing. 'Unfriended' (lovingly renamed 'Mad Macs' by me) plays out in very simplistic fashion. The film shows the main character's computer screen throughout it's duration. The audience see every keystroke and mistake made by Blaire Lily (Shelley Hennig). This is a very compelling technique when trying to show the character's panic and fear slowly progressing. Blaire plays around with music software known as 'Spotify' during the film which gives an excuse for there to be non-diegetic music to add to the atmosphere.

As the film is mainly a conference video call on 'Skype', the actors are in separate rooms on individual "webcams" to add to the realism of the story. Although the film didn't require the actors each to connect to the internet, occasional screen buffering and flickering help add to the illusion.

'Unfriended' is a very dialogue-driven film as not a lot of action takes place. Therefore, it is essential to have a good screenplay to keep the story as intriguing as possible. The screenplay is solid and there are genuine moments when the mysterious stalker is very creepy and scary. Due to the nature of the film's themes, there is a lot of slang and computer terms that seasoned users of said social networking tools will appreciate and understand. If you are not very wise to how these programs work it may be hard to keep up with the story.

The actors weren't the best but the film did work. It would seem that their jarring and annoying demeanor added to the theme of the piece however.

Overall, 'Unfriended' is an interesting film. I thought it was a very clever statement on modern life. There were moments that were genuinely scary and creepy but like most modern horror films it relied too much on jump scares. It conjured up good memories of 'The Blair Witch Project' in how it tried to be as realistic as possible whilst also addressing dark themes of today's culture. My final rating for this film is 3 stars. You'll either love it or hate it.

Still Alice

Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland (2014)

'Still Alice' is a film that boasts a remarkable central performance from Julianne Moore. It tells the story of a University linguistics professor (Moore) as she is diagnosed a rare form of Auzheimer's disease.

Richard Glatzer's direction of the movie can be viewed as a parallel to his own life and personal struggle as he lived with ALS disease. 'Still Alice' is full of emotive shots as the characters show care and support to Moore as she tries to continue juggling her career and family life with the disease. Aspects such as the music and cinematography is given a very straight-forward approach to allow the actors' performances to tell the story and to add a true to life direction.

Based on the novel of the same name written by Lisa Genova, the screenplay is very faithfully adapted. The film really focuses on the story and the dialogue between the characters and some scenes and interactions are extremely moving thanks to how well it is written.

Julianne Moore is perfect as the main character. She portrays her struggle with the disease with so much inner strength and dignity. Moore is supported by a solid cast such as Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart but are outshone by her brilliant performance.

Overall, 'Still Alice' is a very good film. It is very touching and moving tale about coping with such a life changing and destructive disease. However, it seems to only be memorable due to Julianne Moore's incredible acting. I have given this film a final rating of 3.5 stars.