Sherlock holmes : Game of shadows review

2009 among st a year of frankly crappy blockbusters, bar a few (watchmen, star trek) an unlikely competitor steeped up to the plate and delivered in the shape of Sherlock Holmes. Critically acclaimed by most Guy Richie take on Sherlock Holmes became the surprise hit of 2009. However when i went to see the film i wasn't all too impressed on 'most surprising film of the year'. Which is why I was intrigued to see what the series had to offer this year with its sequal ' game of shadows' , as it could no longer play the 'surprise card' its predecessor did.

Sherlock holmes: game of shadows is actually quite alike the 1st, more action than detective work and more drama than mystery. Which isnt nessessely a bad thing. My problem with the 1st film was that it completely changed the story behind the classic Sherlock Holmes. Instead of a classic pipe and magnifying glass the screen was now full of gunshots, chase scenes and silly hand to hand combat, with actually very little detective work. However i now knew how sequel was going to play out so i wasn't expecting a detective film like before, i was now expecting a full on action film which is pretty much what I got. And there was a lot of it! Too much. Although action does bring in a much wider audience to the cinema, you cant forget the main aspect behind Sherlock Holmes...he's a detective not an action hero.

I have to admit however that i am being a bit picky with this film and overall i was pleasantly surprised. The film was well paced as you could feel the pressure from the characters, i also really like how the detective aspect was used in even the fight scenes where he breaks down his opponent and his up coming fight however it was at times confusing. This techniques was also used to see each mechanism working in the guns which also worked just as well.

This concludes my slightly rushed review of sherlock holmes 2 game of shadows.

Tin tin review

When I was a child, my favourite book series was the adventures of tintin and as I grew older, my love for the books also started to grow. So when I heard about the film announcement back in 2009 you could imagine my reaction. However as the release date for the film grew ever closer and new news was being released about it like the mo-cap format, I was slowly becoming more and more disinterested. Until last weekend when I was actually dreading going to my local cinema to watch it. I'd heard mixed reviews about it from friends, familiy. But never the less I went into the film with an open mind. About 2 hours later I came out with a literal headache, views of the film were spinning round my head, so I thought I'd tell you my review of tintin: the secret of the unicorn.

For me this film was hard to watch for a variety of reasons. Reason number 1- Their wasn't 5 minutes in this film that didn't go without action, it was just ridiculous, half the action in the film never even happens in the book. My problem is that with kids films these days, they have way too much action and too many silly scenes, its like the directors of these films think that children are so uneducated that they can't even follow a simple storyline. This is all too true in Tintin, I may be exaggerating a tad , but I would go as far as saying it was quite insulting to the intelligences of kids around the uk. Children CAN follow simple stories and they don't need big explosions every minute to keep them stimulated.

Reason 2- Back in 2010 I saw an interview with Steven Spielberg, their he was asked ' is the film true to the books' and he replied yes. It isn't . I'm not sure if you've read the books, so if you have you'll know what I'm talking about if not, bare with me! The whole focus point for Tintin and the thing that makes it great is the sense of adventure in the story. However in the film they hardly stick to the story of the book, so they pretty much devised their own story. This for me just made the film feel like any other cartoon film, because the classic story wasn't their to make it stick all together. For example the secret of the unicorn is part one of two books however at the end of the film they do all of part 1 then just skip the whole of the 2nd book. Although, it wasn't just the story that frustrated me it was also the characters. In the books Tintin is an innocent young reporter who cares about others that's why I was annoyed to find out that in the film he's quite angry and trigger happy! Also his friend captain haddock is made out to be a maniac to literally can't behave properly without alcohol whereas in the books he's civilised and loveable.

Reason 3- My 3rd and final reason is that I had the unfortunate experience of seeing this film in 3-D.Yet again the 3-d in this film was completely unnecessary, their wasn't one moment which was made for 3-D. Yet again I found myself enjoying the 3-D adverts more than the 3-D film and yet again found myself watching the majority of the film without the glasses. 3-D is just a gimmick for all these big 'movie' studios to rake in as much money as possible and frankly conning movie goers! Films shouldn't be in 3-D unless they were made for it!

As you most likely know Herge said if anyone was to make a film of tintin he wasn't want Spielberg to do it. Frankly for me he didn't do the job. That is why I think that it will be very interesting in a few years when the 2nd film is released with peter jackson instead directing. 

So thank you! For reading my review of Tintin.

Haven't had the time to see tintin this week so ill review that next week.

However yesterday i did see the usual suspects for the 1st time, and its a true classic, i would definatly recommend this to anyone who hasn't already seen it.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Review

Butttt before tintin, I shall review tinker tailor soldier spy which I saw yesterday.

For me this film is a really hard film to review, I went into my local cinema with high expectations with 5 star reviews from nearly everyone from empire to the guardian. However i also went into the film knowing that both reviewers had said it was quite slow and the story (at times) could be quite difficult to follow, and boy were they right!

For me I think this film was just a little too slow and sometimes even tedious at points. A few reviewers had said it was tense throughout and thrilling, however i'm sad to say that I couldnt disagree more! The problem was that the majority of the film was dialogue so it wasn't really 'what will happen next' because you knew what was going to happen next, another scene of dialogue where John hurt, Colin firth, Gary Oldman e.t.c would discuss who the mole was.

Although it may sound that I really didn't like this film, it did have it's good points. For starters inevitably with such an amazing cast the acting was fantastic especially from Mark Strong and Gary Oldman and I'd hope to see a possible Oscar or Bafta nomination for any of them. Also, yes the story was hard to follow, but when you do follow it its an outstanding classic spy film, acted and directed perfectly.

To conclude I think that this film is very good But only if your in the right frame of mind to watch it! If your wanting a high pace action thriller this film is DEFINITELY not for you .Overall i would proabably give this film an 8/10.But go and see this film for yourself and leave a comment with your opinion on the film.

Hello!

Welcome to weekly film reviews, (as it says in the title) I will be reviewing all the latest box office films and some other independent films. I will also be reviewing some old classics  that i think are worth a watch and i will be updating daily on new film news. So follow me for fair and honest reviews on all the latest films. Probably starting with tintin sometime this week.