San Andreas review

Genre: Action, Adventure, Disaster.
Starring: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Hugo Johnstone-Burt, Art Parkinson, Ioan Grufford, Paul Giamatti, Archie Panjabi.
Year Of Release: 2015
Certificate: 12A (UK) PG13 (US)
Runtime: 114 Minutes
Director: Brad Peyton

Synopsis: "In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey with his ex-wife across the state in order to rescue his daughter." IMDB

It feels like wherever you turn today in the movie world The Rock is showing his face, which is not a bad thing he is a very enjoyable actor I find. I have been enjoying his work since I first seen him in "The Mummy Returns" when I was 11/12 already loving him from his time in WWF.

Disaster films usually tend to all follow the same tropes, San Andreas is no different in that aspect they follow the tropes, "damsel" in distress, children in danger, over the top destruction and comedic retorts in deathly situations. Even though it buys into all the usual tropes, it doesn't take away from the film, director Brad Peyton chose to focus on characters as well as the destruction, without trying to make the film something it isn't. It stays very true to its destructive route which is the real reason we all watch these type of films and it does not disappoint in nearly destroying the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

Some of the visuals really are beautifully destructive!

The films relies a LOT of CGI as you would expect, for the most part there is a some beautiful visuals, I found some of the effects to by abysmal like something you would expect if watching a film from 2/3 decades ago. Plus the use of poor green screens is eminent in many scenes, they stand out in their awfulness in scenes in which Johnson and Gugino's characters are sailing through the city. There are some incredible visuals though, none that I will be specific about as to not ruin them for viewers who are yet to see them.

The ensemble cast of Johnson, Gugino, Daddario, Guffard and Giamatti amongst others were a nice combination, let's be honest though it's an action film getting "The Rock" to star in it is like avoiding Christopher Mintz-Plasse like the plague, it just makes sense! The entire of the cast were great in their roles, my only complaints come from getting people to put on accents that they just don't sound right at all Guffard has a wonderful accent his attempt at American was poor, the same I found with Parkinson and Johnstone-Burt, what is the point in getting an Irish kid and an Aussie to play accents not natural to them. It is something that I have always been annoyed by, especially when the accents break constantly throughout film. My other "complaint" isn't really a complaint, it is the fact that whenever I see Giamatti I think he suits NO role yet still delivers with every role, my brain just doesn't understand it! ha. All that being said, I will watch ANYTHING that has Daddario in, not only is she a brilliantly talented and incredibly beautiful, I may actually be in love! I'll have to stop here on Miss Daddario before this turns into a love letter aimed at her.

Those eyes!!!

The film was very well paced, it doesn't get itself caught up in trying to tell us the story of the world while this is all going on it. It is straight to the point of being a sect of America, plus the action really gets under way within the first twenty minutes when the Hoover Dam comes crashing down. From then on the film has a nice pace and focus on both characters and the real reason we're all watching to see stuff crumble!

Overall, the film was a thoroughly enjoyable popcorn flick, the film is stunning to look at for the most part and the characters are enjoyable in their own way. However the story is very predictable as you would expect from many films within this genre, but that doesn't make the film any less enjoyable let's be honest is it really possible to not enjoy The Rock being The Rock? He's a total bad ass in pretty much everything he does, this is no exception. While the film will not be out winning awards, it will give you a solid two hours (nearly) of enjoyment without really having to concentrate on the story. This is my first ever .5 rating, it wasn't a 6 but it wasn't a 7, but I don't really know why the film just wasn't either so I had to switch up ratings a little.

6.5/10

The Rock's "San Andreas" has a teaser trailer

Check out the teaser trailer for the upcoming Action/Adventure Disaster "San Andreas" starring Dwayne Johnson, Brad Peyton, Kylie Minogue, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario, Paul Giamatti and being directed by Brad Peyton.
"After the infamous San Andreas Fault finally gives, triggering a magnitude 9 earthquake in California, a search and rescue helicopter pilot (Johnson) and his estranged wife make their way together from Los Angeles to San Francisco to save their only daughter. But their treacherous journey north is only the beginning, and when they think the worst may be over…it’s just getting started."

Hercules 2014 review

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy.
Starring: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell, Askel Hennie, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Reece Ritchie, Joseph Fiennes, Tobias Santelmann, Peter Mullan, Rebecca Ferguson, Joe Anderson, Steve Peacocke, Irina Shayk, Karolina Szymckaz, Tamina Snuka, Barbara Palvin, Caroline Boulton.
Year Of Release: 2014
Certificate: 12 (UK)
Runtime: 98 Minutes
Director: Brett Ratner

Synopsis: "Having endured his legendary twelve labors, Hercules, the Greek demigod, has his life as a sword-for-hire tested when the King of Thrace and his daughter seek his aid in defeating a tyrannical warlord." IMDB

Swords and sandals are not usually my thing I mean I haven't even seen "Troy" or "Gladiator", which for somebody who considers himself a cinephile is all kinds of wrong. So going into this I wasn't expecting much, main reason I watched it was I am a fan of The Rock he makes enjoyable films. Which half the time aren't actually well written or made films, he is just a great performer, has been since his days of wrestling. I tend to check out pretty much everything he does, a fair amount of the time I enjoy the films. for instance I enjoyed "Pain & Gain" and "Snitch" (may review them in the coming weeks).

Brett Ratner is very much a hit and miss director in my opinion, he makes enjoyable stuff like the Rush Hour films, well at least two the third lacked the charm I found. Anyway back to Ratner, along with his good films he makes some awful choices like well the obviously bad "X-Men: The Last Stand". This time around Ratner has made a semi decent film, his use of CGI are good at times, however his dull visuals of mountains and expansive land are boring to look. He tries to replicate the scenes we see in the likes of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but this idea falls flat on its backside.

Dwayne Johnson was a good casting to play Hercules, however he was not the best character in the film his entourage were more than steal scenes. His team of Rufus Sewell, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Ian McShane, Askel Hennie and Reece Ritchie were better characters than Hercules. There is moments when Ritchie's Lolaus completely changes the tone of the film, fits of laughter from some of his bullshit twists on the Hercules story. Plus Askel Hennie as Tydeus was brilliant, he doesn't speak much but his crazy antics are a nice change from the attempt at drama that isn't that intriguing most of the time.

While the film is based on one the widest known Greek mythological stories, this film however is based on a comic book written by the late British comic writer Steve Moore. The film strips back the story we all have known for a long time and changes it more than anybody would expect;
Hercules is NOT the son of Zeus,
He did NOT undertake the labours like we know, while he does do the labours it turns out they were not mythological. In fact, in this incarnation the labours he performs were all against mortals like himself,
They are two biggest changes I know of, I don't know the actual details of Hercules story just the very basics from growing up watching the animated show and Disney film. That being said I kind of felt cheated in the sense that I wanted to see some mythological based aspects to the film, not for the story to be completely rewritten into some crap twist on the story.

With three big battle scenes there is a few fun parts to the film, not enough to warrant this film being considered as anything more than a pop corn flick if it even deserves that title. While these fight scenes are fun to watch, they do not make up for the shoddy story and boring drama that struggles to bring in your attention and keep it. Plus it also felt like they writers or even director didn't really know in which way to take, while Hercules in the film is a mortal, there is two scenes in which you would struggle to believe he is only human. In one scene he throws a horse with a man on its back and in another he pushes over a statue that towers in comparison to anything a man could move.

Overall, the film was an okay nothing more than I expected from a Brett Ratner attempt at making something mythological. I have heard many people claim it is far superior to this years similar release of "The Legend Of Hercules" starring Kellan Lutz, if that film is of less quality than this I don't think I will ever watch it. Hercules while it could be considered a popcorn flick, I would advise looking elsewhere for a fix of swords and sandals, not that I personally can recommend any. However, there surely has to be better options than this, if there is not then I can't see how the subgenre has lasted so long. This may sound unorthodox, but I struggle to give this any more than 4 out of 10, that is a star for each battle and one extra star for the entourage as a whole other than those I can't find any other positives to add to the film.

4/10

The Fast & Furious franchise may last longer than expected!

A few days ago, it was revealed that Universal were looking at Justin Lin to direct the upcoming two part finale to their Fast & Furious franchise. However, that now does not seem to be the case, Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley has recent spoken to Hollywood Reporter about the future of the franchise;

"We think there's at least three more," says Langley. "...I think it's still a growing franchise. We'll see what happens with 'Furious 7,' obviously, but our box office has grown over the past three or four films and internationally, in particular. So we think that there's more to mine there. But we're of course very mindful about fatigue."

Dwayne Johnson & Kevin Hart join "Central Intelligence"

After giving us a teaser on the weekend on who his upcoming co-star would be, we finally know that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is teaming up with Kevin Hart for upcoming Action/Comedy "Central Intelligence". The film is being helmed by "We're The Millers" & "Dodgeball" director Rawson Marshall Thurber, who has also given his eye to a recent rewrite of the script.

"Hart will play a former high school sports star turned accountant who, on the eve of a class reunion, is contacted by a former classmate who used to be a bullied "loser" but is now a contract killer for the CIA. In case you hadn't guessed, that zero-to-hero is played by Johnson, who will recruit Hart's character to help foil a plot to sell classified military secrets."

New "Fast And Furious 6" poster & shocking Justin Lin news...

Universal have released a full crew poster for the upcoming instalment in the Fast And Furious franchise "Fast & Furious 6". With this poster, this week we found out that Justin Lin won't be returning to do anymore "Fast" films, he joined the franchise for "Tokyo Drift" which I personally thought would have destroyed the franchise. Which I was wrong obviously, then he went on to do three more film including the newest one releasing soon.

We also recently heard from Vin Diesel himself that they are going to start shooting Fast & Furious 7 this Summer, reports are suggesting that Universal Pictures want to get the seventh film out by next year an that Justin Lin has opted not direct it.

If Lin had stayed on board with the Fast franchise then he would have tied John Glen for the record for most English language film directed by the same person passing some of the greats Steven Spielberg for his "Indiana Jones" franchise, George Lucas with "Star Wars" and David Yates with "Harry Potter".

"Pain & Gain" new poster

The film coming out later this month has a new poster, check it out below.

Aksel Hennie joins "Hercules"

Aksel Hennie has is apparently set to join Brett Ratner's "Hercules" along side Dwayne Johnson, an he will play Tydeus. I for one know hardly anything about Hercules or Greek mythology so I haven't a clue who Tydeus actually is. The film is set to be co-produced by MGM and Paramount Pictures, and will be based on Radical Publishing "Hercules", a Comic Book of which there were two series. 



"Fourteen-hundred years ago, a tormented soul walked the Earth that was neither man nor god. Hercules, powerful son of the god king Zeus, received nothing but suffering his entire life. After twelve arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods, finding his only solace in bloody battle. Over the years he warmed to the company of six similar souls, their only bond being their love of fighting and the presence of death. These men and woman never question where, why, or whom they go to fight; only how much they will be paid. Knowing this, the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to train his men to become the greatest army of all time. Hercules begins to question King Cotys' motives when he takes his army out to battle and sees them practice on innocent men, women, and children of their neighbors. Deep in his soul something stirs, but is it enough to stop a mad king and his army of the damned from marching across Greece - or even Olympus itself?!"

New "Fast & Furious 6" poster

So here is the new teaser poster for the upcoming instalment in the "Fast & Furious" franchise, oh look Vin Diesel and some American muscle have we not seen this before?

Synopsis for "Fast & Furious 6"

We are awaiting the first footage for "Fast & Furious 6" which is set to air during this years Super Bowl in a couple of days. Universal have released a full synopsis for the upcoming film releasing in a few months, they have said;

Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast of all-stars as the global blockbuster franchise built on speed races to its next continent in "Fast & Furious 6." Reuniting for their most high-stakes adventure yet, fan favorites Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Elsa Pataky are joined by badass series newcomers Luke Evans and Gina Carano.

Since Dom (Diesel) and Brian's (Walker) Rio heist toppled a kingpin's empire and left their crew with $100 million, our heroes have scattered across the globe. But their inability to return home and living forever on the lam have left their lives incomplete.

Meanwhile, Hobbs (Johnson) has been tracking an organization of lethally skilled mercenary drivers across 12 countries, whose mastermind (Evans) is aided by a ruthless second-in-command revealed to be the love Dom thought was dead, Letty (Rodriguez). The only way to stop the criminal outfit is to outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks Dom to assemble his elite team in London. Payment? Full pardons for all of them so they can return home and make their families whole again.

Building on the worldwide blockbuster success of Fast Five and taking the action, stunts and narrative to even greater heights, "Fast & Furious 6" sees director Justin Lin back behind the camera for the fourth time. He is supported by longtime producers Neal H. Moritz and Vin Diesel, who welcome producer Clayton Townsend back to the series.

Luke Evans joins "Fast 6"

Looks like they are finally putting the pieces together for the upcoming instalment of the "Fast & Furious" franchise. Production is set to begin this Summer, with filming to take place in both London an Berlin. I personally can not wait for it, I'm a sucker for the "Fast" films. With the addition of Luke Evans makes this film that bit more interesting. "We already knew that the Justin Lin-directed Fast and Furious 6 would be taking place overseas, and Johnson recently told Steve that they’ll specifically be filming in London and Berlin. Variety’s casting report notes that the plot involves everyone’s favourite street racing crew going across the pond to work on a heist job. Evans’ villain role is that of the leader of another crew attempting to pull off the same job. We previously learned that Jason Statham turned down a role in the film, so presumably he was offered this same villain that Evans will be playing."   

This is pretty good news in my opinion,  I'm guessing that Luke will not start his filming for this film until he has finalised all his commitments to "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" which he is playing a skilled archer called Bard.

"G.I. Joe Retaliation" character posters

A few character posters from "G.I. Joe Retaliation" they all have their own bad assery about them, I especially like Snake Eyes he looks extra bad ass.

"G.I. Joe Retaliation" new images

Nowhere near the overload like we got for "Get The Gringo" but here are some pictures from the upcoming instalment in the G.I. Joe franchise "G.I. Joe Retaliation"

"G.I. Joe: Retaliation" new TV spot

A new TV spot for the upcoming Action film "G.I. Joe: Retaliation", this looks to be the beginning of the promotional push for the film. Sadly for Marlon Wayan's fans he has been dropped an replaced by The Rock.