Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011)

So i went to see this film in the cinema, and to be honest, i didn't know a lot about it. i knew it was something about monkeys, maybe to do with animal testing, and i knew it was a 12A, which made me instantly doubt whether it would actually be any good, or if it would just be one of those 'feel good happy ever after' endings which don't really make a lot of sense, just because the producers needed it to end on a good note. but honestly, walking out of screen eight that night, i felt like i'd been changed a little bit inside.
So it was based around this one ape, Caesar, who had been genetically changed by this drug which was designed to cure alzheimer's in humans, but had been tested on Caesars mother, so because of this he had developed the capability to understand a lot more than the average ape, his IQ was above average ectect. i was going to start this review with 'the main character, Will Rodman (James Franco) but actually, i'd say the main character in this was Caesar. because right from the beginning, he really did have a character and although in reality if there was really an ape running around with the humans, i think i'd be pretty terrified, the whole way through this film, i felt a massive amount of empathy for him any time someone treated him badly. well, what would be treating him badly if he was a human - as an ape it was pretty standard care. but anyway, i think if i keep talking about how amazingly good this film was at bringing out my sensitive side, i'd probably give all the good bits away.
So James Franco was awesome, i don't think i can fault his acting or his character in any way. Will's girlfriend, Caroline was played by Freida Pinto was also pretty good. i recognised John Lithgow instantly, from my Third Rock From The Sun phase i went through as a child, but it was horrible to see his character, Charles, Will's father, suffer from such a horrible disease, and i really did feel sympathy for their family which was put in such a difficult situation.
The only place i think i could really fault this film is with the CGI. i mean, i appreciate how difficult it must be to make them look realistic, but there were a few moments when Caesar did just look like a man in a monkey costume. but on the other hand there were moments when he looked amazingly real, but i suppose having never really seen an ape up close and personal, i can't really fault that as a definitive point.
So i don't really want to say to much more about it, but i genuinely cannot get over how good this film was. i really wasn't expecting it to be that great, but i know i'll be watching this one again. and i'll probably think more about buying products tested on animals, even if that wasn't the whole conclusive point of this film. in conclusion, just watch it.

of course, this is all just my opinion.. feel free to disagree...ܤ

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

I didn't know anything about The Adjustment Bureau before watching it, i hadn't even seen the trailer, so i had no idea what it was about, just that Matt Damon was in it. so it's basically about David Norris (Matt Damon) who is a politician of some sort, who meets this girl, Elise (Emily Blunt), who gives him the inspiration to make this wonderful speech but then runs off into the distance, supposedly never to be seen again. however, he bumps into her a year later only to learn that it is not in his 'plan' for them to be together, and that he must fight this over-powering force for any chance of seeing her again.

Personally, i really liked this film. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt made a surprisingly adorable couple, and somehow they managed to make it a little bit sweet and romantic, while still having the terror of the bureau and the uncertainty of what will happen next, as it is reasonably unpredictable. personally i found the ending slightly unsatisfactory, but still reasonably acceptable, just slightly unrealistic. although i suppose the whole film itself is slightly unrealistic, being sort of sci-fi-ish. there were quite a few chase scenes towards the end, which did become sort of repetitive, but the idea itself was pretty original. and i

especially liked Harry, (Anthony Mackie) whose character was lovely.
So, if you don't mind being patient with the chase scenes and the slightly repetitive storyline then you'll probably enjoy this film quite a lot. and to be honest, i don't think they've done too badly making a short story into a full length film.

of course, this is all just my opinion.. feel free to disagree...ܤ

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

so that's it, the end. of course, the final book was released in 2007 so for anyone else who read that, we all knew what was going to happen, so i guess it wasn't as big of a climax as it could be, but nevertheless i was pretty anxious to see how Warner Bros. had decided it would all end - you know how film companies can be, changing everything around to make it fit a bit better. but no, this time they stuck pretty closely with the book; from what i can remember anyway. 

But anyway, i think this one was the best by far, not only out of all the other Harry Potter films, but also out of all the others i've seen this year. partly because it was the last one; the one where everything kicks off and it's just fight scene followed by fight scene followed by emotional scene, then another fight scene. also because all the characters are now old enough to find reasonably attractive, which always helps.

I went to see it on the opening night, at 12-30am with all the super-fans that had dressed up in school uniforms - which by the way, i thought was ridiculous, not because there's something terrible about dressing up but because the main characters weren't even in school any more. but of course being there with everyone made this certain atmosphere that was actually a lot of fun; people would cheer when the lights went down and cry when people died. although i was not one of the crying people, there were some terribly sad bits in it; and i'm saying sadder than when Dobbie died in the previous film. the only negative thing i have to say, if anything really was that the 3D didn't really seem necessary. i mean, it didn't really ruin it or anything, i just dislike 3D at the best of times, but i think that Harry Potter would have been amazing without it, but nevertheless even with 3D i still thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I'm not going to really say more than that, because i don't want to give anything away for people who haven't seen it, but it was completely brilliant, and really well done. i'm so glad i went to see it on the opening night, and it was actually a really good film, i wont be surprised if it tops Avatar's opening weekend box office intake. to be honest, even if you've never even seen Harry Potter before, you've never even read the books - go and see this film anyway because you'll be blown away. i'm sad to see this series come to an end.

of course, this is all just my opinion.. feel free to disagree...ܤ

Rango (2011)

Bad Teacher (2011)

Source Code (2011)

this film was awesome, right up to the end bit where i got a tiny bit confused.

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Water For Elephants (2011)

this film so completely makes up for Robert Patterson being a part of Twilight.

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X-Men First Class (2011)

i didn't know a lot about this film before i watched it; i hadn't seen the trailers or anything - normally i read up a bit about it first, just to get a feel for what i'm about to watch. although, of course i've seen the first three X-Men films; i'm yet to watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine although i did want to.

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Limitless (2011)

So, another Bradley Cooper film. Limitless was actually pretty good; i got a bit bored in some parts but there were some good fight scenes and the ending was pretty awesome. it's such a wonderful idea to be able to have access to the whole of your brain capacity, and to be honest everything that happened did seem pretty realistic; that if someone were to develop these pills that could make you so much smarter.
I didn't really appreciate Bradley Cooper at the beginning; with his long hair he did not look very attractive, but soon after taking the first pill he cut it and then it was all okay. when he took the pills, everything got much brighter, as if he were more alert i suppose - but it must have been so much fun editing this film.

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The Hangover Part II (2011)

so to be honest, i think the first one was better, but only because it was so unexpected - i just didn't think it would be so good. The Hangover Part II follows basically the exact same structure as the first one - guys wake up and realise that someone's missing and they can't find them, series of hilarious events occur. except this time they're in Bangkok, and it's Stu's future brother-in-law that goes missing.
There were all the same characters, except this time there's even less of Justin Bartha which was gutting because he's definitely my favourite actor. although Bradley Cooper kind of makes up for it. i've always thought he was slightly hilarious, and his character is brilliant. to be honest, all the other characters were kind of annoying - but i knew that already from the first film and i understand the necessity for them to be there; it would be boring if they all had the same sort of personality.

Personally, i found myself getting a little bit bored in a few parts, which didn't happen with the first film, although there was a particularly brilliant bit with a stripper and an awkward sex conversation. but overall, it was pretty good - the pictures at the end were especially entertaining. i reckon i'll probably end up watching this a few times more, once it's out on dvd, but it wont be one of those films i want to go see many times in the cinema, and run out to buy as soon as the dvd comes out. i still prefer the first one, but this one was a lot better than i thought it would be - most sequels suck in comparison to their predecessor.  
I suppose there probably wont be a third one, now that they're all married, apart from Alan of course, but somehow i can't imagine him finding a wife too quickly. but i can hope they can find another way for them to all get horrifically drunk and wake up the next day not remembering anything. it shouldn't be too hard...

of course, this is all just my opinion.. feel free to disagree...ܤ

Beastly (2011)

this film was kind of 'meh' to be honest. i'm not really sure what i was expecting; when i watched the trailer i thought it looked quite good. and i understood the link to Beauty and the Beast, which was one of my favourite childhood films, but to be honest it just wasn't the same without little chip the talking tea cup.

Alex Pettyfer has always been pretty attractive to be honest, and i just thought it was kind of ridiculous how the whole film was supposed to be about how some attractive, arrogant idiot learns the errors of his ways by becoming 'hideously ugly' - i don't actually think he looked that bad - and then making someone fall in love with him anyway, when he ended up falling for someone who was insanely beautiful. he'd already decided he liked her, before he found out about the issues with her dad and things, so he really didn't fall for her because of her personality, although i suppose he stuck around despite of it, which shows growth, but i still think i'd keep him ugly forever to be honest.  

and Mary-Kate Olsen was just kind of annoying to be honest. i've never thought of her as a particularly wonderful actor, and i think she was supposed to be pretty 'ugly' herself, which she didn't look at all. in fact, i didn't notice any ugly people any where. although she did look like she'd been taking fashion advice from Lady Gaga, which in my opinion isn't really a good thing. 

Vanessa Hudgens was pretty good though, if you try to forget that she was ever in High School Musical - i'm not going to go into how much i hate that film right now. i loved the idea of her character, although to be honest she seemed seriously down to earth for someone who's had to look after their druggie dad, i'm not sure that i'd be able to be like that. i suppose that's why people would like her.

 i'm not sure about Neil Patrick Harris as a blind guy though, although i have always liked him, and i did like his character in this - i just don't think he was very good at pretending to be blind. so to conclude, i think i probably wouldn't watch it again, but i don't regret watching it. it wasn't 'too bad' but i'm not going to rush out and buy the dvd when it's released...

of course, this is all just my opinion.. feel free to disagree...ܤ

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

okaaay so far i've got about half an hour in, and i'm just bored. at some point i will watch the rest of it, probably sometime this week. Johnny Depp is just as wonderful as he was in all the previous PirateOTC movies, but i just think the whole thing is missing any form of plot. the first PiratesOTC film was so amazing, it completely blew my mind, but ever since then it all just went a bit downhill. the other two after it weren't quite so brilliant, but still totally watchable, but with this one i just had to turn it off because i was literally falling asleep. i don't really understand why Johnny Depp didn't bale with Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly, because i've always enjoyed the films he's been in (although i haven't seen Rango yet and i know people that have said terrible things about it), and it gave me a certain sense of 'oh, if he's in it then it's probably watchable..' but i'm just not sure about this one yet...

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