Under the Skin Review

Under the Skin

My Rating: 9/10

"This film appears more experimental when placed among the overcrowded Hollywood releases. But the big lead name, Scarlett Johansson means it'll probably be in your face more than others.

Overall it uses it's slow pace well. The whole film, from start to finish is a build up of well written and performed human discovery. 

Not spoiling too much, the main character feels a bit alien... She only knows the basics, enough friendly communication to get what she wants from people. But really, she has no full understanding of how we think and feel. 

It's a bit like bicentennial man, but backwards and about killing people with sex... and those scenes are really scary by the way. 

What stands out is this slow discovery of what it is that makes us human. That is where the film is strong.  

The only reason I've not given this film a higher rating is because for me, personally, the ending was too revealing.

Also, if nothing gets you about this film, then the scene where she discovers she can't enjoy a slice of cake will get you tearing."

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 85%

IMDB Rating:6.3/10

The Pretty One Review

The Pretty One SuperQuick Review

My Rating: 9/10

Spoilers in this one

"While glancing at some of the other online reviews of this film I was taken aback by the mass negativity. This was something I came across after watching it to the end. So with my own opinion in tact I left this film feeling positively overwhelmed. It does well to throw in almost every human emotion you can imagine in there with a bunch of believable and relatable characters.

It begins with twin sisters. One, an introvert (Laurel) at home with her dad, living in the shadow of her lost mother. The other an extrovert (Audrey) with a pretty successful life away from home and experience with work and relationships. Their love for each other is strong and Audrey wishes the best for Laurel, offering to let her move in with her (To the big city!). But, as revealed in the trailer, Audrey goes and dies.
It's a tricky idea to pull off, aaaand a lot of people say they didn't pull it off.
Due to a mixture of confusion, mourning, a desire to be someone else and an urge to do her sister proud, Laurel finds herself as Audrey. She plays out a new life using her sisters identity.
Here's a quote from WashingtonPost "It would take a lot of charm for “The Pretty One” to overcome that creepy premise, but the movie doesn’t have it." 
I think I watched it differently than others. I believe a lot of viewers saw her decision to remain with her dead sisters identity as such a horrible premise that it put them off completely.
I saw it the way it was played out, Laurel was mourning as well. Like I said earlier, it seemed to me that she was experiencing a blurred look at life after her loss, a chance of change in sight, as well as a way of keeping her sisters love with her. She even says something along those lines towards the end of the film.
Any other issues critics picked up were not big enough for me to mention.

All of the cast perform brilliantly. Zoe Kazan and Jake Johnson playing the leads who fall in love at a good pace. Both of them playing quirky characters and so connect brilliantly. The movie pulls off love story very well so I won't go into that.
But as it's not ALL about the love story I must now bring out the negative for me. The only reason this film did not get a 10/10.
It's such a unique, ambitious and dark idea that it was bound to have some turbulence issues.
Eventually Laurel has to reveal who she is, what she has done. I think at this point the writers are in a pretty grey area, it being a very rare occasion that anyone has really felt exactly the same emotions portrayed in this story. Has this happened to anyone? Maybe, how did people react?
Anyway there were some bumpy bits around this patch, the colleagues reaction to the news for me delivered some odd lines. Plus it all seemed to round up a fraction too fast.
But other than that the Father's reaction was superb and kind of helped it all to stick together.

Overall this film has enough different types of characters and situations for you to find some connection with. Everyone knows a dad like this, everyone's wanted to be more than they are, everyone's wanted to prove something and fall in love.
Granted, not everyone's stolen the identity of their dead sibling but this film pulls it off very well.
It also looks very pretty, every shot beautiful with wonderful colours
Just great."

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 47%
IMDB Rating:6.3/10

Blimey!

Postman Pat: The Movie Review

Blimey. Postman Pat: The Movie.
My rating: 5.5/10
To read the plot of Postman Pat: The Movie click here

"Well this blog is called Super Quick Reviews so I'll try my hardest to make it quick.
Getting my personal grudges out of the way first. It's computer animation, rather than stop motion. The original series, even up until the later ones had the stop motion animation charm. That charm includes the small touches to the animation of Pat's delivery van. That charm includes the little flicker of fabric/cloth of the characters clothes or hair between frames. That charm includes the beautifully made scenery that feels just a bit real because.. well, it is.
That's all gone. So don't expect that. This is something completely different
.

Let's start with saying this seems like a perfect 'Hollywood' movie. I don't know the ins and outs of pacing in these big films, but the emotion, the up and down and then musical number is just typical 'family feel good movie'. I'm sure it's just been storyboarded over some other feel good film. The laughs are where you'd expect, the tears are where you'd expect and so on. You go through a seemingly calculated amount of emotions throughout the film.
The drama and music was so intense it felt like I had no control over what to feel. I HAD to feel what they told me...
Saying that, the subtle animation of both Pat's body and face were well done and something the Stop Motion could never achieve.

I'm trying to keep this short but it is very difficult. The pacing of the original series will never return, Pat calmly delivering post and sorting out peoples problems died about 10 years ago. It's been a rush with helicopters and such for a little while now and people have had to deal with it. So don't be crying when this film goes a new height with chase scenes and explosions.

It does what any good movie adaptation should do. It expands the characters personalities, is funnier, on a bigger scale and of course has epic music.
Even the music is perfectly typical *sigh*
Pat and his wife are actually really likable in this film. Pat is so lovable that it really does seem like a nice tribute to his personality throughout the series. His sad animated expressions and brilliant voice acting from Stephen Mangan all create a character to support. Sadly the original voice actor did not reprise the role.

Second to loving Pat, this film was quite funny. I did find myself laughing at some of the slapstick and Simon Cowbell dialogue. There are some really nice little touches in there.

I'm half/half opinion about the different singing voice of Pat. In some way it kind of works as a joke.... but in some other way, it was a terrible idea.

Overall this film was a robotically engineered joy. Everything is to the ball of perfectly samey family feel good movie that you've learnt to love, recognize, get bored of, but still except.
What makes it special is that it's bringing a lovable character to the big screen and giving him some more humanity (Which I never expected it to do). All he wants to do is show his wife how much he cares about her and be a good postman in the community. The dialogue of these characters is actually pretty good. (For the first 20 minutes at least)
It also has a few laughs along the way so I'd....... I'm scared to say this... but I'd possibly recommend this film...

Yes, it looks like a Video Game of Postman Pat which means it should never be recommended... But I think there is enough heart in there to say, have a watch.
But remember, it's so typical you might just notice it.
*Musical number and everyone happy again after misunderstanding and beautiful speech*

BUT, as an original series fan, I will probably never watch this film ever again because it is sacrilegious unless it is forced on me."

Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 48%
IMDB Rating:4.6/10

The Heat Review

The Heat
My Rating: 6/10
"There are two big things that stand out about this film. The first is that the idea and the character personalities has been overused, produced hundreds and hundreds of times. The second big thing is that this movie is funny. I found at least two parts laugh out loud and the predictable personalities lovable. So I enjoyed this film, even though it is just Hot Fuzz with girls. (Even the bit about the work obsessed cop only having a plant for company)"
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 66%
IMDB Rating:6.7/10

Arthur Newman Review

Arthur Newman

My Rating: 6.5/10
"Here is a simple film, with a simple plot. The classic, two characters come together because they're trying to escape their regular, terrible lives. The two leads perform well and the film is directed brilliantly. My only issue is sometimes the personalities may jump a little or be slightly unrealistic. But most of the time it works well and is relatively fun throughout."
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 23%
IMDB Rating:5.6/10

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 Review

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 
My Rating: 6/10
"The animation is superb, in fact the animation itself gave me the biggest laughs of the film. My least favourite part of the original was the end scenes where they were trying to find the food making machine. So how did I feel when i realized the whole plot of the sequel was 'trying to find the food making machine'? Fine... because they pulled it off. It's fun. They throw a bit of heart in their with the dad character and do a bit of 'main character works out friends are important' and the film is a success. The villain was good, a bit of a scary Steve Jobs... but could have done with a more memorable voice. I did find the female lead lacked much story or personality in this one though which was a shame."
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 87%
IMDB Rating:7/10

Mood Indigo Review

Mood Indigo

My Rating: 8/10
"This film is nuts! There is crazy going on from the very start and the first quarter is an eruption of creativity and madness. But, as it all can't just be crazy there is some friendship, romance and drama thrown in there. Most of which is presented well. The tone of the film darkens as the plot moves on and ends up rather grim towards the end which left me a bit miserable. This was a creative decision that, in my opinion could have used a touch of hope. The other problem with the film is the romance is obviously important but not written in a relatable enough way, a little more realistic and I'd have cared about the leads more. I ended up just waiting for something nuts to happen, rather than care for the characters. But it was sweet."
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 71%
IMDB Rating:6.5/10

Despicable Me 2 Review

Despicable Me 2 
My Rating: 6/10
"This film stands high with it's character writing, fun animation and some pretty epic sequences. But it does not balance it's epicness with it's heart like the original film. There is a lack of human emotion and connection which was quite a strong point of the original (With the 3 girls) and could have helped the new female lead slide into the main cast easier. But, that aside, this is a rewatcher, the action scenes stomp all over the original."
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 75%
IMDB Rating:7.6/10

Broken Review

Broken
My Rating: 9/10
"From the get-go the viewer is pulled into interesting dramatic plots, all of which meld into each other in a mix of dark and loving ways. Not one character is a bore, not one character is uninteresting. The music is terrific (Including the brilliant cover of Blur's B-SIDE, 'Colours'). Everything fits together well and takes you on a powerfully emotional journey. The only reason this film has not managed the 10/10 is because it is so crammed with darkness and despair that it may need a tiny bit more light."
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 63%
IMDB Rating:7.2/10

Frozen Review

Frozen
My Rating: 4.5/10
"I quite enjoyed a lot of elements about this film but it never felt entirely complete. There seemed to be not enough of the more interesting character (The Queen herself) and the lack of bad guy made the first half a little slow and the reveal of whom, soon enough, predictable. But the characters that are there are well written... mostly. Because of the deliberate bad character writing for the first love interest, the songs and screen time Hans and Anna share were just icky. Anna and Elsa's relationship was pushed aside for the Anna love story. Which, although well written and sweet, was not very interesting. The sister relationship should have been dived into more, making that last moment of selflessness mean a lot more. The snowman and reindeer were alright, but for the jokey character, the snowman was quite late to the party without many jokes and a lot more lack of importance.
This reviewer would have preferred, 'Elsa the Movie' or.. the actual 'The Snow Queen' or... to just go and watch Princess and the Frog :D"
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89%
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10

Blue Jasmin Review

Blue Jasmin
My Rating: 6/10
"This film has an interesting plot and well played characters so made for easy viewing. But a few things don't quite end up where I'd have liked and the whole film and idea, for some reason does not feel that original or heart/ mind enough to spread the word. Also Alec Baldwin is in it (actually that is a plus :D )."
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 91%

IMDB Rating: 7.7/10

Stuck in Love Review

Stuck in Love
My Rating: 8.5/10
"While the story seems very familiar and the 'writing family' seems a bit alien and over the top... the film has a great balance and a sweet side to it. Really enjoyed this movie"
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 59%
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10

EPIC Review

EPIC
My Rating: 5/10
"Fun, relatively entertaining but not worth a zooming second viewing. Only one of the many characters is interesting and the story is a bore with a lot of Ferngully going on to distract."
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 64%
IMDB Rating: 6.6/10

Before Midnight Review

Before Midnight
My Rating: 8/10
"The dialogue and acting directs this whole film and is written so naturally that it is seems hard to look away. The only problem is, it's not Cars 2"
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 98%
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10

Monsters University Review

Monsters University
My Rating: 5/10
"Surprisingly good. Well written, entertaining and funny. Felt necessary for the characters story by the time the credits came down. But, walking away from the viewing it also seemed like a waste of time and might as well just watch Monsters Inc.. but entertainment wise, this is a re-watcher."
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 78%
IMDB Rating: 7.4/10

The World's End Review

The World's End
My Rating: 3/10
"Comparing it to the previous two, not that funny or interesting. Not comparing it, the same. Boring plot, boring characters. To me it was 'The Auton Movie'"
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89% 
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10