Indepencane day 2

After years of rumors and false starts and never really getting anywhere,Independence Day 2 has finally started rolling. They’ve already brought back some familiar faces, as well as added new cast members and characters to the alien invasion actioner, and director Roland Emmerich took to social media to confirm two more actors are coming back.

Using his Twitter account, Emmerich confirmed that both Bill Pullman…

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Birdman (2014)

Fresh, innovative, groundbreaking,unique are just a few of the words I could use to describe this film - it's a one-off. Birdman is the story of a washed-up middle aged actor who used to play a super hero character called 'Birdman'. Riggan (Michael Keaton), takes us on his roller coaster ride back to the top of the business and to make a amends with his estranged family.

 The first thing that hits you right from the start is the cinematography - it's amazing! At first I just thought I was watching a single take long scene, a set-piece to set the film off, but then it just seamlessly continued, not only giving the film its uniques one-take feel, but also succeeding in doing something very few directors would have even attempted. In the entire two hours of the film, there must have been five transitions, tops.

The plot is very funny as Michael Keaton and Edward Norton clash throughout the film. Norton plays an ego maniac actor who is cast in Keaton's new play, and they can't stand each other. Keaton has to put up with Norton's antics because the play is his last chance to save his career. Emma Stone plays Keaton's troubled daughter who supports him along the way, but is at the same time a little embarrassed by him. You get an authentic feel of a fast paced and hectic backstage theater atmosphere, created by the one-shot filming. Not only that, but the sets are very well designed -- from the brightly colored neon lit stage sets and busy corridors, to the dingy dressing rooms -- everything has a fresh, vibrant, metropolitan feel.

The chaotic atmosphere in which he works matches Keaton's state of mind during most of the film. He's looks like he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown most of the time, and he every so often disappears into one of his little daydreams where he takes on the superpowers of his 'Birdman' character, and goes for a fly around New York. The scene when he is locked out of the theater and ends up walking around New York in his y-fronts, had me in stitches. Not only is Birdman a wacky comedy and a cinematic marvel, but it also has some complex and subtle undertones as well. A lot has also been said about the ending -- which I think was a very clever metaphorical and ambiguous scene -- which will have you asking the question: is he flying or is he dead?

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The Imitation Game (2014)

RELEASE DATE: November 14, 2014

STUDIO: Black Bear Pictures, Bristol Automotive

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DIRECTOR: Morten Tyldum

SCREENWRITERS: Andrew Hodges, Graham Moore

STARRING: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Joan Clarke, Hugh Alexander, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance, Mark Strong, James Northcote

GENRE:  Drama, Biopic

DURATION: 114 min

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The second World War is raging across Europe, millions are dead, and the allies find themselves at a tactical disadvantage, all thanks to the apparently unbreakable German Enigma code. In a concerted effort to break the German code, British intelligence hire the very best cryptographers and mathematicians on the planet.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing delivers one of the best performances of recent memory. A nearly two-hour runtime flies by thanks to the tight and masterful script from Graham Morton. The films cinematography has a classic, timeless look especially in the outdoor scenes shot on location in Bletchley Park.

Frequent flashbacks cut back to Turing’s time at a boarding school in which he befriends a boy by the name of Christopher (the name he later gives his code braking machine). As the flashbacks reveal more and more about Turing, he inches closer and closer to building a device that will help break the Enigma code. He faces opposition from his team. Keira Knightly plays Joan Clarke, Turing’s go to confidante for all information both professional and personal. The chemistry between the two is palpable at times.

Ultimately, his story is one that ended tragically, but the film chooses not to focus on that, but instead to celebrate his legacy.[I]The Imitation Game[/I] is one of the best biopics I've seen in years. And if it hadn't faced such strong competition, I think it may have won a few Oscars.

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Aliens (1986)

RELEASE DATE: August 29, 1986

STUDIO: 20th Century Fox 

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DIRECTOR: James Cameron 

SCREENWRITERS: James Cameron, David Giler, Walter Hill, Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett

STARRING: Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette, Goldstein

GENRE:  Sci-Fi

DURATION: 137 min

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After almost 30 years Aliens remains probably the best sci-fi action films out there. Released 7 years after Ridley Scott's seminal genre defining masterpiece, Aliens sees the return of Lieutenant Ellen Ripley who, after drifting in space for 57 years after escaping the Nostromo and the Xenomorph that slaughtered her crew, is called upon again by Weyland-Yutani, the shady corporation she worked for as a flight officer.

It becomes apparent that Weyland-Yutani have been busy on LV-426 (the planetoid where Ripley's first crew encountered the Xenomorph.) The geniuses have setup a colony on the desolate world and terraformed it with oxygen generators. Low and behold, they loose contact with the colony and Ripley is sent in with a platoon of colonial marines, and a company slime-ball named Carter Burke.

From the start the film has the same dark and tense atmosphere of the first film. And despite having more of emphasis on action, the characters are just as complex and memorable. Corporal Dwayne Hicks is the replacement to Captain Dallas in that that he is Ripley's closest alley in the group of rag-tag marines - and they soon find themselves in the middle of the alien nest, fighting for their lives against the Xenomorph horde.

A few characters in Aliens mirror those of the first film: Bishop the android for Ash, Hicks for Dallas, and Newt the young girl they discover crawling around the air-ducts of LV-426 represents the daughter that Ripley lost during her many years in hyper sleep. So the characters and plot follow on quite closely to the first film, the only different is the style of film. Aliens is an all-out action fest, here as Alien is a slow burner psychological thriller - a big change that some fans didn't appreciate. So really, Aliens can't really be compared with its predecessor to be fare, they are completely different kinds of film. This fact doesn't make the directing any less brilliant.

James Cameron nailed it with Aliens: well designed weapons, props, vehicles and clothing courtesy of the late H.R. Giger; a great script and characters, and, like all of Cameron's films, a great soundtrack. Still James Cameron's best film for me, and I think it will remain in my top five action-sci-fi's for a long time to come.

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Interstellar (2014)

In a word: breathtaking. That's the only way I can describe Interstellar. Set in the not too distant future, the film follows a former astronaut-come farmer, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), as he struggles to keep his crops alive on a dry, desolate and dying world. Whatever the cause, the earth is dying, soon there won't enough food to sustain the remaining population. But a last hope comes in the shape of a strange phenomenon which Cooper and his daughter discover.

Soon they find themselves imprisoned in what turns out to be a secret Nasa base, run by some of Cooper's former Nasa colleges, (an unlikely coincidence which is easily forgiveable, considering how good the rest of the film is). Professor Brand (Michael Kane) has a proposition for Cooper: he wants to take part in a mission to travel through a wormhole in search of a habitable world for mankind to start a fresh on. Cooper obviously excepts an the great quest begins. Backed up by a amazing soundtrack, the film contains elements of many different classic sci-fi books: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Contact, and The Long Earth , creating an altogether more exhilarating experience than Gravity provides - and one of the most awe-inspiring cinematic experiences of my life. The film is also packed with emotion, especially during the time dilation video conversations in which Cooper talks to his now much older children (which had me in tears).

Christopher Nolan took everything that made Inception great, perfected them, and incorporated them into Interstellar. Not just the cutting edge special effects, but the mysterious and surreal dimension crossing which seamlessly melds two styles of science fiction: the space based epics of Arthur C. Clarke and Asimov with the more psychological sci-fi Philip K. Dick. The plot pretty much unfolds in the same way as Inception did, with all the pieces of the mystery slowly coming together to create a nail-biting ending. I don't want to give too much away, but the ending is brilliant and very moving indeed.

Now, whenever a film like this comes along, sci-fi geeks like myself will ask the same question: is it as good as 2001? Well, this is the only film that has come close - so close in fact - that I may have answered yes to that question...maybe.

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Nightcrawler (2014)

Featuring Jake Gyllenhall's best performance to date, Nightcrawler is a thrilling and thought-provoking critique of society's desensitisation and thirst for gore. Gyllenhall plays one of the creepiest characters ever - a cold-hearted little sociopath named Louis Bloom - a petty thief turned amateur cameraman..

Bloom witnesses a car accident one evening and sees some amateur cameramen capturing footage of the wreckage, Bloom thinks he can do better, and he stops at nothing to achieve that. He starts capturing his own footage and taking to a local new centre where he sells it. Which is when he meets TV news supervisor Nini Romina (Rene Russo) and develops a controlling relationship with her. Bloom will stop at nothing to capture the most disturbing and goriest footage possible and doesn't mind breaking the law in the process.

The scene where Bloom and Nini have dinner together is probably the finest portrayal of a true sociopath. The way Bloom gains leverage and eventual control over his boss is a thing of beauty -- he even attempts to blackmail her into sleeping with him. The controlling relationships and the way he treats people makes Hannibal Lector seem like a empathic, warm-hearted little soul. His black, dead eyes are really creepy, and at no point does he show the least bit of remorse for the mayhem he causes.

I was on the edge of my seat during the Diner scene and subsequent car chase, and also amazed at the lows that Bloom will stoop to to get the story he needs. Nightcrawler is more than just another story about a sociopath. It's a scathing commentary on a corrupt media where ratings override the basic principles of ethics and morals. "If it bleeds it leads" as the slogan says.

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Persona (1966)

This was more of an experience then a film. If you take all the emotion you ever felt from the viewing of any film and multiply it by a thousand, then you get close to what I just felt watching Persona. The first five minutes of fast, flashing, introduction of surrealist imagery, which subsequently creates the basis for the plot, are the most unsettling and stomach churning I've seen in a film.

The only way I can explain what this film made me feel is like being trapped in someone else's depressed mind (if that makes sense.) The viewer becomes immediately enveloped in the ever increasing feeling of unease and tension as the nurse and her silent patience's minds become melded in a chaos of self-examination, reverse psychology and dependency. Everything in this film is measured to perfection: the sound effects and camera work are amazing, and I especially liked the kind of intermission crafted from sharp sounds and images used to signal a breaking point in the relationship of the two women.

Toward the end of the film, when the truth is revealed about the silent actresses past and cause of her silence, every scene is amazingly tense, powerful and brilliantly filmed. The drip-drop sound effect,  which reappeared throughout the film, is eerily effective and cuts right straight through you. Obviously, I have a lot of unanswered questions, which isn't surprising for a film this complex, which has been studied for years, and will require multiple re-viewings to interpret, (Which I'm looking forward to). At first, I was a little dubious before watching the film, as I thought it might be a little too complex for it's own good (and mine.) But instead it has quenched my thirst for this kind of cinema - a kind I watch far too little of.

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