We have a film that comments on the effect technology has had on our lives. Although we haven’t created a documentary directly addressing the ways in which technology has effected our own lives (we figured this has been done a thousand times before) we decided to get our best creative minds working on it. Our entry features a poem highlighting how technology has benefitted, and also been detrimental to society.

It was conceived, shot and edited by Beth Cruise & Kirsty Gray, two Film and Media Production students at Sheffield Hallam University. The voiceover is by Beth Cruise & myself, Mike Hoyle (Film Studies Student).

I hope you enjoy.

I will be going to see Hancock very soon, and intend on seeing The Incredible Hulk on the same day as i have free entry for one thanks to eating copious amounts of confectionery. I’ll do a review for both within a week or two of seeing them.

Twelve Monkeys opens in a post-apocalyptic world, where a deadly virus has wiped out the majority of the human race, leaving the rest to live underground with only animals roaming the surface. It goes on to follow James Cole (Bruce Willis) back in time to find the original virus in order to allow humanity to find a cure and repopulate the surface. On going back in time Cole is seen as mentally unstable and is admitted into a hospital for the mentally ill, where he meets Jeffery Goines (Brad Pitt), who later turns out to be the leader of ‘The Secret Army of the Twelve Monkeys,’ the group suspected of releasing the virus.

Review – * * * * *

From the moment Twelve Monkeys opens, you will be instantly intrigued by this original and very intelligent plot, in which Willis offers a fantastic performance in creating a believable, three-dimensional character. From the word go the plot is shrouded in mystery. What caused the virus, who are ‘The Army of The Twelve Monkeys,’ and why is Cole forced to go to the surface? It soon becomes apparent that Cole has been chosen because of his good ‘observational skills.’ He is tasked with finding the original virus in an attempt to save humanity, but gets sent too far back and is accused of having a mental illness. He is then forced to travel through time until he reaches 1997 when the virus was actually released. Cole’s lack of control in his fate is part of what makes him such a tragic character that the audience can easily empathize with. Willis performs the role perfectly, portraying the determination, exhaustion, rage, fear and desperation of Cole so convincingly that it is impossible not to empathize with him. Madeleine Stowe also offers a great supporting performance as Cole’s skeptical but caring psychiatrist.

The beautifully crafted script allows the cast to shine while maintaining focus at all points, never losing grip on the complex nature of the time-bending plot. Terry Gilliam manages to get the point of the difficult story across without ever descending into the realm of nonsense and confusion. This is a great achievement for a film whose focus is on traveling through time to alter the past.

The dramatic and emotional resolution is one to be remembered for years to come, and although tragic, leaves the audience with a great sense of hope. The emotion that this film leaves behind very much resembles The Shawshank Redemption, in that despite all the pain and torture endured throughout the duration of the story, there is hope and comfort in the knowledge that everything achieved will not be wasted. Cole achieved his goals and will be seen as a hero.

In a Nutshell

Twelve Monkeys is an original and thought provoking movie, with an incredibly intelligent story; beautifully written and equally well acted. Definitely one to pick up if you didn’t catch it in its earlier life cycle. 5 Stars.

* * * * *

So yet again where coming up to the annual season of summer blockbusters, and this year looks to be one of the most promising we’ve had for a while. It’s very early days and already we’ve seen massive hits such as ‘Cloverfield,’ ‘Iron Man,’ ‘Speed Racer,’ ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Sex and the City’ to name but a few.

‘Wanted’ has now been out a week, I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but I’m really looking forward to that one.

‘The Incredible Hulk’ has also been out a fair while now, another one on my list of films I’m dying to see. Ed Norton as Bruce Banner in my eyes is an incredible (pun not intended!) piece of casting. I can’t wait to see him loose his temper as the short fused scientist come huge green beast!

M. Night Shyamalan’s newest venture, ‘The Happening,’ came out the same day as ‘The Incredible hulk,’ I was originally pretty excited to see what Shyamalan had to offer with this entry, but heard bad things from pretty much everyone who went to see it. As a result i let it slip under my radar a little, but I will inevitably catch it eventually. I find this really disappointing as ’6th Sense’ showed that Shyamalan had real potential, but since then I have been waiting for him to make another film worth watching.

One very interesting film to hit the silver screen recently is the independent film ‘Teeth.’ This first appeared at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim. It’s finally hit the commercial cinemas and I’m very interested in the concept. Although I was disgusted and confused at first at the concept of a vagina containing a jaw full of razor sharp teeth, the idea grew on me and I can see this one being a very interesting take on the horror genre, with an even more interesting central message.

Edit: If any readers have seen any of these films, I would love to hear what you thought of them. Leave a comment on this post with any criticism both positive and negative for these films and any others that you may have seen that I haven’t talked about here.

Coming up…

To be released on Wednesday is ‘Hancock,’ where Will Smith stars as a washed up superhero, suffering with alcoholism, but attempting to improve himself. Will Smith has grown a lot since the days of the ‘Fresh Prince,’ shown in films such as ‘Pursuit of Happyness,’ where his powerful performance shone through to make a great script a fantastic, emotional and genuinely moving piece of cinema, and ‘I Am Legend,’ where he held center stage completely alone for the vast majority of the film, and held it together fantastically. ‘Hancock’ promises to be another great outing from the increasingly diverse Will Smith, and one you should definately watch for.

Perhaps the most exciting new release of the year, is Chris Nolans first ever sequel, ‘The Dark Knight.’ Picking up not long after ‘Batman Begins,’ Nolan is set to expand on what is arguably the best batman film ever made, delving deeper into the intruiging and refreshingly deep psyche of the most interesting character of the current ‘superhero movie’ trend. Heath Ledger’s Joker looks to be the most psychotic, and genuinely terrifying Joker ever depicted on the big screen. This is by far the most exciting film for me this year, im practically frothing at the mouth already for this one! Look out for it on July 25th. RIP Heath.

On September 5th, the guys behind ‘Superbad’ and ‘Knocked Up’ are returning with ‘Pineapple Express.’ A drug dealer and a stoner witness a police officer commit a murder and are therefore forced to run in order to protect themselves. This promises to offer a lot of classic comic moments, and if it’s anywhere near as good as ‘Superbad’ or ‘Knocked Up’ it’ll definately be worth the ticket price.

Also this year, Daniel Craig returns as Bond in ‘Quantum of Solice,’ Guillermo Del Toro brings us ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army,’ and audiences are asked to step back into the wardrobe in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,’

This is just a small sample of whats coming this year. It’s definately a great one for cinema, as this is just a few of what I view as the most exciting films this year, there are so many more great movies coming that I couldn’t begin to talk about them all. Let’s just hope that the Writers Strike hasn’t stopped next year from being as great as this one.

The idea behind this blog is to offer news, updates and reviews of everything new, and sometimes old, depending on what has caught my eye that week, in the world of film.

Bearing in mind that I am a student, and therefore poor by definition, I will try and review a film that is currently in the cinema at least once a month. I would prefer to do this at least once a week, but my finances simply won’t allow me to go to the cinema every week!

When I’m not reviewing films currently in the cinema I will work on reviewing older films from my DVD library, offering my take on what these films offer.

I also intend to get a podcast going at some point, but I’ll have to see how much time I have, depending on work commitments.

…Watch This Space…