Sunday 24 November 2013

The Impossible - Phil's Five Words for Films

The Impossible This is the story of a young family in Thailand caught in the destruction and the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 whilst on holiday. With some great scenery and good acting, it is a well made and impressive film. The tsunami is recreated using models rather than CGI and this works really well, adding a realism to the opening scenes that really stays with you. The injuries, chaos and story are all high impact and the characters develop well which makes you really care about their plight. Ewan McGregor

Saturday 2 November 2013

The Place Beyond the Pines - Phil's Five Words for Films

The Place Beyond the Pines As far as I am concerned, there are two main problems with this story of how events can effect people and even be passed on to future generations. Firstly, there is the linear storyline that is split in to three distinct parts. The first ( and the best by some distance ) follows Luke ( Ryan Gosling ), a motorcycle stunt rider who turns to a life of crime after discovering that he is a father. Just as the story and characters are becoming interesting, the film switches focus and pace, moving on to a police officer ( Bradley Cooper ) who stumbles upon Luke's activities. From here on in, we sit through a standard police corruption scenario before, once again, the film changes tack. The third act follows two ( annoying ) teenage boys caught up in the ongoing chain of events and trying to avoid the consequences. Although there are some great performances, ( Eva Mendes, Ben Mendelson, Gosling and Cooper are