The Book of Eli - 28th January 2014

The Tuesday Night is Film Night film tonight is yet another genre departure for us, as we delve into a post-apocalyptic tale and find out what is between the covers of;

The Book of Eli

Well, where can on start with a review for a film such as this? Saying too much about the film will give away the plot, saying too little and you may not be interested. I'll try to strike a happy medium.

The Book of Eli follows the story of a post-apocalyptic world, where civilisation has all but disappeared and small bands of people either try to re-establish a community or conversely roam around preying on others for their own gain. The central character, unsurprisingly called Eli, is played superbly by Denzil Washington, who is totally sublime as the cooler than cool solo maverick, who has been roaming the wilderness for thirty years, intent on delivering a promise. Without giving too much away, his mission is to deliver, and again no prizes for guessing, a book. And it is no ordinary book, it is a prized possession whose notoriety has become legendary within the desolate world that the film is set in.

The story of The Book of Eli is fairly unique, with sufficient plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat. It is also beautifully shot. The film has a sepia tone about it, which really sets the mood for the dismal post-apocalyptic desolate wasteland.

Eli travels west, guarding his secret and protecting it in some extreme fashion from the hijackers that he meets along the way. Yes, there is some guts and gore, as the knife swinging Eli clears his attackers out of the way, but if you can overlook this and stick with it, it is a really gripping tale.

Along the way, Eli meets up with Solara (Mila Kunis) who was born after the world was devastated, so has no knowledge of the earth prior to the apocalypse, apart from what she has learnt from her blind mother; Claudia (Jennifer Beals). Solara lives in a small community led by Carnegie (Gary Oldman) who has heard of the legend that is "the book" and is determined to find it, so it's an added bonus when Eli turns up with the book in his back pack.

As for the rest of the story, you'll have to watch the movie to find out. It is interesting, gripping and dramatic. The twist with the book is worth the wait and the way the film rounds off is a near perfect ending.

The cast is many and varied, including appearances from Michael Gambon and Frances de la Tour, who play an old couple holed up in a quaint house in the middle of nowhere. They are not so quaint when the house comes under attack and the expletives coming from their mouths does inject some humour into a tricky situation! I'm sure Rigsby would be shocked by Miss Jones' gutter mouth. (That's a Rising Damp reference, if you're too young to remember then Google it.)

So in summation, The Book of Eli has a great start, a brilliant story, fantastic characters, it's beautifully shot, with some incredible special effects, some superb acting, with exquisite plot twists, a modicum of humour and a touching end. All in all a great film.

Does the summation get reflected in the scores? Well, it's a two hour film, and you need to be prepared to stick with it, some of the panel here at TNiFN Towers found it a little hard, but it came out with a decent rating.

TNiFN Rating 82%

IMDB Link

What to Expect When You're Expecting - 21st January 2014

For our second film night of 2014 we are totally changing genre to view a film from 2012 and we have no idea what to expect from;

What to Expect When You're Expecting

Actually I think we did know what to expect; a film about pregnancy and how it affects the lives of the people that are going through it. I guess it can be likened to Love Actually with babies. Unfortunately, unlike Love Actually it wasn't that good. Hold on, let me clarify that, the female contingent of TNiFN towers enjoyed it, the lone male here, not so. And I am quite partial to a chick-flick, but I felt somewhat let down by this one.

Let me fill out sme of the finer details then continue with the critique. What To Expect When You're Expecting boasts a big cast, with some top names; Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Anna Kendrick, Dennis Quaid, Elizabeth Banks to name just a few. And maybe this is where it falls down, too many big names and not so much content? Essentially there are five couples each going through the process of becoming pregnant, or adopting, or accidentally conceiving, or considering a baby and the film interweaves their stories into each other as their paths cross and their lives progress.

Unfortunately, the storyline, although full and intricate, lacks momentum. The film is a romantic comedy, with touches of sentiment, but although there are laughs, they are not big enough to carry the film in my mind and the story relies heavily on supporting cast members to supply the funny lines and this is at least it's one saving grace. Both Chris Rock and Rebel Wilson provide the perfect comedic foils to the other cast members, dishing out some superb moments, which really injected some much needed punch to lift the film. The main cast although having some moments of levity, failed to deliver some killer comedy. Alongside which, apart from some odd moments, the main cast also failed to deliver even a modicum of gravitas. Even when there were scenes that required emotion, sentiment and some seriousness, they failed to capitalise on this fact and the audience may feel a little cheated that they were not drawn into the film as much as could have been possible. Yes, there are moments of sadness, but with quality chick-flicks they can take you from laughter to tears with one swipe of the screenwriter's pen, unfortunately, this did not happen here. It was good, but could have been so much better.

All in all, it's an OK film, but it failed to allow the big cast to deliver big performances. Obviously the female contingency in the audience will enjoy it much more, but I for one felt a little let down and as I'm the one writing the words. I get to have my say.

One sure fire test of a film's appeal is by the length of the TNiFN review. This one is a bit short.

TNiFN Rating 66%

IMDB LINK

Die Hard 4.0 - 14th January 2014

Tuesday Night is Film Night is back for the New Year! Did you miss us?

And we are coming back with a vengeance! Which is apt, as the first film for 2014 is;

Die Hard 4.0

Yes, we are back after a prolonged lay off over the Christmas and New Year period. And we do indeed come back with a bang with the fourth installment of the Die Hard series. Bruce Willis is back as the seemingly indestructible John McClane, this time pitting his wits and dirty vest against a gang of cyber criminals who are intent on toppling the infrastructure of the US and creaming off a massive financial gain.

Yet again, McClane is the innocent cop drawn into the terrorist attack, this time he is sent to pick up one of America's top young hackers as a suspect in the cyber break-in. When McClane arrives at the young man's tech hideout, he is not alone as it's not just the FBI after our hacker, but the super cyber-criminals are too. Of course McClane saves the kid from the massive hail of bullets and drags him off to Washington.

The young hacker is Matthew Farrell played by Justin Long. The other stars of this out and out shoot 'em up are; Timothy Olyphant who plays the ex-government employer turned super-criminal Thomas Gabriel, ably assisted by the delightful Maggie Q who plays the high-kicking Mai Linh, who becomes a victim of McClane's charms and having ".... a SUV rammed up her ass!" One of the best lines in the movie!

On the side of the "goodies" we have McClane's daughter Lucy played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and heading up the FBI investigation is Deputy Director Bowman played by Cliff Curtis.

Of course with a Die Hard film you know what to expect, there are guns a-plenty, car chases with not just cars, there are trucks, vans, helicopters and near the end a F-35 fighter jet!! Totally incredulous and gratuitous over-the-top action, with the bad guys dropping off one by one whilst the indefatigable McClane crawls, hobbles, limps and struggles away from crash after crash, all the while being shot at, falling down lift shafts (with or without a SUV), falling out of trucks, sliding down broken bridges. Totally unbelievable, but totally, totally great action, with tremendous special effects.

The one downer that I would put on this film and films of this ilk, when dealing with Information Technology, make it believable. I don't recall seeing one Windows server being hacked into! The action is over the top, but I would like to see the technology grounded in a modicum of reality, but hey; it's a minor niggle and a question of personal preference over artistic licence.

So all in all, you know where you are with Die Hard and John McClane, you are immersed in two hours worth of action packed escapism, where the underdog will always pull through and win the battle and even though you know this fact, the cinematography, the script, the action will keep you enthralled for the complete 128 minutes of this movie.

You can't beat John McClane and you can't beat a Die Hard movie! Great stuff.

TNiFN Rating 80%

IMDB Link