222, Looper

Apologies - this will be off of most cinema screens by now but I've been on my autumn break and only just getting round to catching up on recent movie blogs, sorry!

Anyway - those that did go and see this movie like me would probably have been expecting another churned out action flick with Bruce Willis blowing up stuff, being hunted down by bad guys and yawn at the prospect of yet another ploddy story line which sees some old guy take out much younger, more agile goons with comparable ease when in reality - he would be far more suited to a pension queue rather than a fight sequence.

Well, luckily - Looper ads a new twist and a plot not seen yet which did show off Willis as the older, less agile hero - but using technique, experience & wit over brute strength and agileness.  The story tracks a Looper, an assassin who takes out targets from the future who get sent back through time (illegally) and disposed off, leaving the future population with no trace.  Sounds complicated?  Well don't fear - its well explained as to the process and they take a good 10 minutes going through the logistics so you wont be baffled for too long.

The plot - sees Looper Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) poised to make yet another killing as his target is set to reappear but who actually turns up is an older version of himself (Willis) - so, we have a small dilemma.  Killing ones self is a message from the future that your time is up, retired - finished.  You get a healthy gold payout, strapped to the back of your now dead self and the freedom to live out the rest of your days (albeit now numbered) in substantial luxury or, let yourself escape - a cardinal sin!

Well, Willis, being the smarter, older Joe knows this and isn't ready to die yet, not for either himself or his younger alter ego and doesn't want an end date stamped on his future so makes a break for it and manages to succeed.  Roll out the rest of the story with the two Joe's working as much together as they are apart to try and take down a system that neither much believe in any more as well as the slight problem of two Joe's running around - throw in a love interest for Levitt also as well as a secondary story line of what would have happened to Joe had he killed himself which does add another level of depth and you have a not seen before story that I really enjoyed.

The addition of Emily Blunt as the roughneck farm belle who captures Levitt's affections is brilliant and both Levitt and Willis play this one perfectly.  My only criticism, there are some long, drawn out scenes that slow down the pace but on the whole - its an enjoyable look at something you wouldn't have seen before. 

Sadly though this movie does open up a question - Doc Brown from Back to the Future II clearly stated (and I quote) "Coming face to face with herself 30 years older would put her into shock and she'd simply pass out. Or two, the encounter could create a time paradox, the results of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum, and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's a worse case scenario. The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy"

Phew, luckily Jennifer only fainted otherwise it would have been carnage but Joe didnt? Neither did the world end so sorry Doc - you got that one slightly wrong!

221, Taken 2

Taken 2 takes place about 3 months after the first movie finished (Taken, 2008) with most of Neesons victims being shipped back to Albania for family burials.  A vengeful father seeks redemption for his son's killer so sets out to track, find and kill Neeson and his family including daughter Kim and estranged wife Lenore, just as the family are making amends with each other after the Paris escapade and are close to a rekindling of the magic they once shared.

This time, their in Istanbul after the Albanians have tracked Neeson to his Hotel its Neeson himself (Bryan) and Jansen (Lenore) who are Taken, leaving daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) to man-up and work with her dad via sneaky phone messages and the use of his armoury suitcase filled with guns and grenades to escape her own persuers, find her parents and work with them to take down Krasniqi and his new batch of Albainian cronies.

As there was no Blog in 2008 I didn't have the chance to publically rave about one of the best thriller movies I've seen of recent years and even on DVD (purchased yesterday, HMV - £3) it still managed to grip me at every turn - totally setting me up for the sequel.  The continuity of the two movies is great but sadly, the second installment just seemed to lack a certain element that the first movie had in spades.

Dont get me wrong - this is by no means a dud - but I have to say the first one is far better.  Maybe it was the 18 cert given to the DVD and the fact Neeson was the hunter rather than the hunted - being far more assertive and in control where this time, being on the defensive he just seems a little less pissed.  There's no strapping baddies to chars and surging thousands of volts through them this time around.

The action scenes however are pretty fast paced and although looking a little ragged around the edges - Neeson is matched against similarily older persuers - making the fights a little more realistic.  There's a great back street car chase - almost on par with those seen in Ronin or even one of the Bourne escapades but again - with Kim behind the wheel pulling off handbrake and J turns is a little far fetched, especially after the early part of the movie shows hers struggling with driving lessons.  The whole scene seemed a little contradictory but nethertheless, it looked good on screen.

Maggie Grace has developed nicely from the slightly bratty teen she came across as is Part 1 and although only actually supposed to be a few months older - the 4yr gap has been kind to both her looks and talent.  Famke Jansen on the other hand has been a fave of mine since Xenia Onatopp (Goldeneye, 1995) but nearly 20 years on - she's still got it!

What's good about this is you dont really need to have seen part 1 to get whats going on in part 2.  There are sufficient black and white flashbacks to explain the plot but as mentioned above - with the first DVD on sale in UK stores for under a fiver, I would highly reccommend getting the original and witnessing what in my mind, is a cracking movie.

220, Savages

It has definitely been an impressive run of late, Dredd and Sweeney were firm favourites and I was hoping that Savages wouldn't disappoint.

Chon, (Taylor Kitsch - all is now completely forgiven for John Carter considering Battleship was such fun!) is an Ex U.S Marine and together with life long buddy Ben (Aaron Johnson) A Uni grad turned expert botanist manage between to cultivate the worlds best marijuana through some of the finest Afghanistan seeds and an impressive lab in California.  The Duo are cash rich and well established with fingers in most pies including an inside money launderer, a team of ex-Marines ready to step up and be counted if needed and a shared female love of their lives 'O'(phelia) (Blake Lively) who's completely besotted with her two loaded pot growers who also, seemingly have no trouble in sharing either seem to have everything they ever need - until a devilish Mexican cartel - headed by the ever gorgeous Salma Hayek wants a piece of their action, their product and their customer stream.

Its an easy "No" from our boys who would prefer the easy life but with a history of not being said No too, Hayek kidnaps 'O' and forces the boys to deliver their goods.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this with Travolta playing the Drug Cop with almost the whole cast in his pocket and plays both Cop, Snitch and Informant.  Then there is the brilliant Benicio Del Toro - Hayeks man on the ground in California who's job it is to make the unwanted people dissapear, mostly with a combination of Axes and Chainsaws but who's role as baby sitter to the kidnapped 'O' is one he seems to reluctantly take on - coming across brilliantly as the disgruntled yet apologetic lap dog to Salma Hayek.

That's the main story - obviously the boys set about trying to get their girlfriend back in one piece and I'm sure I've already missed out a few key plot pointers but If I give too much away you wont bother to see it and its little movies like this with fab casts that sometimes slip under the radar in the wake of recent blockbusters but I totally loved this movie.

Del Toro and Hayek play Mexican bad asses like no other and its nice that towards the end you do see a bit of the softer side of Hayek, whereas at the same time - a seemingly playful Del Toro shows his true colours.  The lads are great - Kitsch and Johnson play their roles as hard-ass Marine and Science geek all too well and in a world where never the twain should meet - they pull off best buddies perfectly.  Ophelia is a bohemian beauty - quite hippy in her looks and lifestyle but still carrying off some form of hypnotic romance that both boys have bought into - and her own description of the two lads combined, together making the perfect boyfriend is quite a nice touch.

Travolta was in my mind a level below - anyone could have played this part and I felt he was just there to add some Hollywood clout, rather than talent.

The idea is pretty good - the cast is well thought out and there's enough guns and shooting to keep the die-hard action nuts happy while at the same time carrying a romantic back story to keep those less savage happy.

In the run up to James Bond, Skyfall we need a warm -up movie to get our juices flowing and this is quite a fitting way to say goodbye to those hot summer days and hello to those cold autumn nights where the Cinema makes for a welcoming retreat!

219, The Sweeney

If your a young man (like me) then remembering back to 1975 and a young John Thaw and Dennis Waterman acting out the roles of Regan and Cater for 53 episodes on your brown box TV's is just a thing that our parents spoke about.

But in 2012, Ben Drew (Plan B) and the 'Daddy' Ray Winstone don their leather jackets and arm themselves up with baseball bats and clubs to portray the classic coppers who believe that beating a confession out of a criminal is far more ethical than discussing one which ends themselves and their team in a whole heap of trouble with the ever watchful internal affairs.

I wont deny - I thought this movie was going to be a little cheesy, probably over acted and quite lame but how wrong could I be. 

Ben & Ray play the hardened cops with a great level of satisfaction and it has well and truly established Drew as a great actor along with music genius, writer, director etc - the list goes on.  Winstone on the other hand was born for this role - as Regan, he leads The Sweeney (Sweeney Todd - Flying Squad) into a ring of deceit with a plot that sees our London cops on the hunt for a murderous gang of robbers.  

Faced with an almost impossible mix of doing whats right against doing whats legal, Regan and Carter have to bend the rules (ever so slightly) to track down their suspect who is hell bent on wreaking havoc across the streets of London before escaping to a life of luxury, somewhere in the Sun.

This movie doesn't take a genius to keep up with it - not exactly billed as a dirty cop, Regan (Winstone) is definitely looking out for number 1 with a few side deals and most importantly - the Internal Affairs cop's wife spending more time in his bed than her at her desk - and as a member of The Sweeney herself - makes for some great office scenes.

Carter on the other hand is the new(ish) recruit, bathed in adoration for his elder but at the same time, carrying the clout of a seasoned officer and certainly not one to take things lying down - the pair of them combined make a formidable partnership and really set this movie off to a fine start.

There are as many laughs in this are there are beatings and its Winstone's comedic persona that gets a majority of the chuckles with any restriction on foul language being thrown out of the window and even a couple of "C"-bombs being launched along the way.  Winstone even manages to get a few love scenes that made me chuckle - especially as the "Sexy Beast" yellow pants manage to get another airing! 

The car chases are fast and furious, the gun battles and fights are well done (even if they all are worse shots than the A-Team) and the camaraderie of The Sweeney themselves is unrivalled, making for a fantastic buddy cop movie.

Its got the language, the violence and the comedy of any great British movie - and with the TV history, makes this one remake I'm glad I got to see.

218, Dredd 3D

Most of you will remember Sylvester Stallone's meek attempt at being "The Law" in Dredd's last outing - a movie that sadly lacked charisma or indeed continuity with the original 2000 AD graphic novel (which never identified Dredd directly) - where Stallone managing to de-cloak the unemotional lawman within the first 30 minutes of the movie, causing uproar from the die hard followers of the novels.

Well, a new Dredd dons our screen in 2012 with a far more adult themed and visually gruesome 3D effects which have managed take on this underrated hero adventure and restore the fans faith in the franchise.

And what a movie it is! - its a good old fashioned 90 minute action spectacular and with 3D cameras filming everything rather than it being an additional 'afterthought' you certainly get a fantastic depth of field that takes your breath away.  The Plot is simple - Mega City One - home to about 75 Million People is a mass of crime and corruption with the Judges being the only line of law an order, playing as Judge, Jury and more often than not - executioner in a justice system that's as swift as a bird in flight with none of the hassle of actual court rooms!  Convicts are shot on site or taken directly to lock-up.

Dredd and newbie Judge Anderson are called to one of the immense tower blocks, housing over 70,000 residents for a triple homicide, but unbeknown to them - this block houses Ma-Ma, a hooker turned Drug Dealer who oversees the mass production of the cities newest and most addictive drug - on capturing one of her henchmen Ma-Ma is sure he will blab to the judges so overrides security and brings the shutters down of the tower block, trapping Dredd & Anderson inside with the almost impossible task of not only now surviving against an army of potentially thousands with no outside back-up but also having to uphold the law and bring Ma-Ma to justice.

This movie is definitely not for the faint hearted - or anyone thinking that because they liked Avengers - this will tick the boxes too - this is a bloody, gory remake of a cracking Adult Graphic Novel and Karl Urban pulls of Dredd brilliantly - even though you would easily be forgiven for not recognising him under the toughened armoured exterior.  Psychic Judge Anderson is also played fantastically well by Olivia Thirlby and Ma-Ma's goons all play the part of fodder for Dredd's epic armoury with great ease.

This movie barrels along at quite an impressive pace and there are full on decapitations, body's exploding under fire from high Explosive rounds and plenty of bone crushing falls that see bodies literally 'splat' after falls of 200 stories - something that the 3D allows you to experience with full effect.

As far as 3D movies go - this will be one of the best you see and one the kids can only dream of watching but I can say - hand on heart that if Stallone's first enactment turned you off of this potentially brilliant franchise - than Urban will get you back on track!

217, A Few Best Men

My expectations for this movie were so high,.  A Fantastically humorous trailer - Kris Marshall (BT Adverts & My Family) + a Twilight bod, it couldn't fail to impress could it?

How wrong could I be!

The plot was great - a British take on the epic Bridesmaids but this time with Best Men, easily coming across as surpassing "The Hangover Part 2" this was the movie Britain was waiting for - it took the piss out of the Aussies, highlighted the best of British comedy and starred Grease Legend Olivia Newton-John.  But oh, how it died on its arse.

If you want to actually see the best bits of this movie just google it and watch the trailer - all you need is there.

Before I go to town on it though can I just highlight two stand out performances from aforementioned Marhall and Newton-John - you two were great and the only reason I stayed until the end - how I wish you had got together! (alas, it didn't happen)  Marshall proved that clumsy, awkward Brit humour isn't dead and as for Olivia - well, you just took the piss straight our of Australians, laughed about it with glamour and still pulled of older hottie to a tee!

The rest of you however - disappointing.

The plots simple, Brit boy meets love of life on idyllic beach (who happens to be daughter of senator)  Boy flies best mates to Oz for a 'quickie' wedding before they all really get to know each other and London high Jinx meets Aussie Senate family go down as badly as a fart in a lift.

The potential for this was epic! but it just didn't deliver.  Marshall and John aside, the rest of the cast were unengaged, slow, boring and lame.

The dad was sad, the new wife to be failed to grasp the 'babe' element needed to make the reasons for the quickie marriage worth while and the 'Hitler' moustache was just one step too far.  Add in the slightly odd drug dealer who's long lost dad was the chief of police and then the slightly random back story of the dads intentions for the daughter and what should have been a balls out comedy became completely unfunny.

However - it would be wrong of me to slate such a movie without acknowledging the overall winning part, portrayed by the soon to be 'legendry' actress known simply as Rebel Wilson.  As in Brisdesmaids, you have managed to make me laugh until I have cried and although playing complete muppet loser - have won me over every time.  It seems fitting that in the upcoming 'Pitch Perfect' you get to be one of the girls - rather than the character laughed at by them and as a saving grace to this movie (alongside Marshall and John) - you made me smile.

That said, such a shame for the rest of you. Ramsey managed to rouse a brief smile and the wedding speech has all the awkward brilliance of the Bridesmaids equivalent but other than that I was uninspired - come on England - we can do far better than this!

216, Total Recall

Now don't get me wrong, I am the worlds biggest 'Arnie' fan and the 1990 version of this movie has to go down as one of my all time favourites but I for one am quite honest to admit that I still, to this day, don't really understand it!

Sorry! I know for all critics reading this its a cardinal sin but I never really understood how he could flip from Quaid to Howser without the implant ever being induced?...........Well, I'm glad to say that finally, after 22 years (can you believe it, 22!) the 2012 remake has finally opened my eyes.

The new Farrell version is one of the best remakes I've ever seen.  I know the perception is they will never beat the original but that's only if the new versions don't give a recommendational (new word?)nod to their counterparts - something this move has in droves with the infamous three breasted woman appearing early on as well as a number of other references that die hard Arnie fans will see without any prompting.  That my friends is whats great about this re-make.  It took the original and just made it better.

Firstly, Its not set in Mars.  We are engaged in a post apocalyptic world with two remaining colonies - that of the empowered UFB (United Federation of Britain) Yay! and the lesser needed Colony (Australia)  everything else is gone (chemically destroyed) and miraculously, the transportation between the two civilisations take place via 'The Fall', a super, multi gravitational elevator taking passengers through the earths core in about 17 minutes, allowing the Aussies to work the UK's industrial revolution while we get rich and they get tired!

The story is (almost) identical - after visiting 'Recall' our new hero Quaid, tries to induce the chemical memory of a 'Spy Story' but it reacts badly due to an already underlying lie (that he is unaware of) that Quaid is actually Howser, (something the original never really explained) a supporter of the new government (Cohaagen) and a potential defect to the revolution.  Quaid has beenhidden in a fake marriage and job.  The fake wife, Lori (Beckinsale) as per the Sharon Stone counterpart tries to kill him (badly) and he ends up in the arms of regular love interest Melina (Jessic Biel) who knew the original Howser before Howser has to take down the evil empire and save humanity but instead of the challenge being to starve Mars of Oxygen, this time its the robotic army of Cohaagen who are set to use 'The Fall' to wipe out the Colony and take full control of the remaining inhabitable earth!

Galctic or what!

Well, if you've managed to keep up with that then I've done my job correctly as this movie by far surpasses the original.  The classic scenes including the security check with the disguise of the red headed woman and the famous "Two Weeks" quote is also identified but in retrospect to the action portrayed behind it and all I needed was the introduction of a Johnny Cab and Id have been in wonderland.

Farrell is awesome as Quaid / Howser.  The girls involved (Biel and Beckinsale) are two of the finest females on screen today and the elevator fight scene just makes you smile!  Great cameos from Bill Nighy set the piece right off and I for one thoroughly enjoyed this remake.

You don't need to see the original to fully appreciate this remake but it helps - only if its to identify with the new directors nods of appreciation to the original.

Congratulations Hollywood - a job well done.

215, Brave

Parents, you know you cant go far wrong with the latest Disney Pixar offering.  Time after time they have set the benchmark for great kids animation while managing to keep the adults interest for the full 90 minutes.  While the kids are awe inspired by the cute and lovable characters on screen we get treated to the occasional witty banter that sometimes goes over our off springs head but is the nod from the studio that they want to make us interested as well and give us a reason go going other than just trying to entertain the kids during the holidays.

Well, once more they've gone the extra mile and Brave is a worthy string to their already impressive bow.  Don't forget - this studio is only really 17 years old as its first big movie Toy Story was released in 1995 although its original inception was in 1979 as the graphics arm of lucasfilm and it was Apple legend Steve Jobs who took it on as a separate entity and personally funded its early transformation in 1986. 

Its had an impressive 13 movie haul to date with a resume that includes Toy Story in 1995, followed by A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003) and The Incredibles (2004).  Disney bought it in 2006 (becoming Disney Pixar) for about $7 Billion and since then it just went from strength to strength with Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), Cars 2 (2011), and now, Brave (2012) and there are more to come!

You cant fault these movies - their secret being the  PhotoRealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface used to generate high-quality images.  Geeky enough for you?  Well best get onto the movie itself.

Another impressive cast list this time include Billy Connolly,  Kelly MacDonald, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane and Kevin McKidd to name a few - Scottish Hollywood royalty represented (in part) to full effect.

Kelly plays Merida, a flame haired princess who is determined to lead her own life rather than the one of regal pomp bestowed upon her.  With the support of her boisterous father (Connolly) and to the dismay of her well to do mother (Thompson) she seeks out a wish from Witch (Walters) to change her fate - but in true Disney tradition, her plans of grandeur go to pot when whats best for her, may not be so enthralling for those close to her and its down to Merida to fix the bond between Mother & Daughter to break the curse and return to happy, normal life.

Its quirky, funny, adventurous and brilliantly animated.  The cast excel in their roles and with a total adoration of Trainspotting I'm always glad to see Macdonald and McKidd in the limelight.  I even saw Billy on his farewell tour so I feel closer to this cast than many with an obvious awareness of Brit legends Thompson and Walters, it would be hard to have a bad word against this one.

Compared to the other kids movies out there currently (and believe me, there are a fair few) this one ticks the most boxes. 

214, The Expendables 2

If there is one thing I love its an all out, guns blazing Action movie.  Since the 80's / 90's something has happened and it seems that scripts and actors have got a little more savvy to demand and plots have been intricate, complex and sometimes overworked (not always a bad thing mind) but sometimes, all the audience want to see is a total no-brainer, balls out blockbuster with little plot, big bangs and even bigger ego's.

Well, as with the first outing for Sly and his band of ageing Action Stars you get exactly what you pay for and this time they've gone Bigger & Better!

All the originals are back, Stallone, Li, Lundgren, Couture, Statham & Crews as the original merry men but sadly, and for no reason that he seems to have been busy elsewhere, Li removes himself from proceedings early on, leaving our sensational six as a now fabulous five with Willis still pulling the strings and Schwarzenegger back as the 'competition'.  But that's not all - The Hollywood 80's address book has been opened and lone wolf, Chuck Norris pops in for some solid sniper action and when the Muscles from Brussels himself steps up as the villain, still able to pull off flying spinning roundhouse kicks you know you're in for a treat - and Jean-Claude comes with none of the cheese sadly displayed in his recent 'Coors Light' ad campaigns!

The body count in this movie is impressive, as are the methods of destruction for minion after minion who get in our Expendables way.  There are decapitations, people blown up, people having tanks land on them and that's all before the opening credits roll, leaving most movies lagging in the death stakes way before the movie even gets going!  Those with the blood lust will be more than satisfied as its spurts out from every open vein in epic proportions.

We even get treated to a few new recruits.  Added into the mix are Thor's younger brother Liam Hemsworth as the new 'sniper' kid on the block, impressing Sly and his band of merry men at every turn.  Sadly, a short lived role as his demise makes way for the revenge side of the story to kick off & a girl! I know - madness.

As you would have guessed there are Terminator, Rambo & Rocky references dotted throughout and I was sure the on screen trio of Arnie, Sly & Willis would have given reason to a line similar to "We should open a restaurant after this is over" but they go with a "We belong in a Museum" piece instead which was slightly more fitting.  There are more "I'll be back" quotes as well (Yawn) but this time mocked by Willis and I have to say, Arnie is looking more than past it (sadly) but on the flip side, Van Damme is looking as ever hard in this as he used too - and just as agile!

Obviously, this wont appeal to everybody but if like me you love your action movies with OTT explosions and a completely impossible story-lines, paired with the unexpected comedy element of Lundgren (I was surprised at how funny he is in this) and every 80's action star you have ever dreamt of coming together for a jolly boys outing that Del boy would have been proud off then you wont do much worse than this in 2012.

Leave you intelligence at the door - this movie has got more cigar smoke than a Cuban tobacco factory and as many dodgy one liners as a Frank Carson gig but who cares,  its got Gun's, Explosions and Arnie - what else could you need?

213, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days

Oh Dear.

This blog wont take long and if you're between 6-10yrs old you'll probably love it but sadly for me, this movie came across as a meagre attempt to keep an aged franchise running that initially had one slightly amusing movie back in 2010 but has since bombed.

For those who actually care - Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a collection of 7 books all written by American author Jeff Kinney.  Dog Days is book 4 with books 1 & 2 already hitting the big screens.  For some reason book 3, 'The Last Straw' never made it so that should have set alarm bells ringing.

The first movie had charm, character and a few funny sequences and according to my kids, the books are great but in this instance it just didnt materlialise onto the screen.  The fact that I did find the first movie good tells me that I get it.  I'm not saying its not beneath me or anything like that, it just failed to impress on a few levels. 

Dog Days sees our wimpy kid starting his summer break and as usual, his cool 'wannabe' lifestyle is crushed by family, friends and dog, leaving him embarrased and having to deal with fixing his summer, rather than living it.

Our Wimpy Kid and the rest of the original cast remain - Zach Gordon is looking older but not too much wiser as Greg Heffley and the star of the show for me still (as it was in the first one) is his geeky B.F.F Rowley who is a little bit 'too' weird to be comfortable, but uses that to gets most of the laughs.

The adults are nothing special and elder brother Roderick is even more removed from reality as he is in the prequals.  The female bully Patty remains as do a few other faces but in general - no stand out performances.

I have to give the company behind this their due - the books will lure out innocent parents, coaxed into going by their offspring who adore the novels but it needs to stay there - please, No more!  If the books are anything to go by then the next installment would include dating & I would instantly feel sorry for whoever gets the sad task of dating Rowley!

There are so many kids movies out currently including Step Up 4, Brave, Ice Age 4 & The Lorax, all of which I'd rather watch than this one so with only a few weeks of Summer remaining, take your ankle biters to any of the above instead.  Avoid this one.

Sorry x

212, The Bourne Legacy

Time to engage your brains people and pay attention, this is not a movie of which you are allowed to leave your intelligence at home. 

Firstly - If you are reading this blog and are planning to see this movie without first watching the Bourne Ultimatum then stop what you are doing, switch off your computer and go and either rent, buy or use whatever digital TV provider you have to stream this movie then come back and we will start again.

Even though this is a 4th instalment for us - this movie doesnt follow on from the last but runs alongside the events of the last Bourne movie, Ultimatum so without knowledge of the story it'll be tricky to fully keep up to date with the sequence of events taking place.  While Bourne and Lundy are busy working to take down Treadstone another, far higher department have realised that after Bourne's almost superhuman events in Moscow (about 1/3 through Ultimatum) its time to cut all ties with the Treadstone / Black Friar program.  That means take out all other agents, scientists etc involved leaving no stone unturned.  This role falls to Edward Norton and his team of CIA geeks to act independently of Treadstone and minimalise risk, just in case Bourne succeeds in his mission.  That my friends, is where Legacy kicks off.

We are kept up to date with the time frame of Ultimatum as events unfurl with news bulletins and press releases staggered throughout Legacy and While Jason Bourne is doing his thing, Norton is successfully taking out operatives and scientists with undercover sleeper agents.  On each side we manage to have a survivor - from the Agent side its Jeremy Renner, Agent 5 of 9 who manages to luckily escape a drone attack while training in Alaska and for the scientists its Rachel Weisz who manages to hold off her assassin just long enough until security take him down.  Now both are hunted with the intention of permanently silencing the pair who meet up and work together to avoid capture, imminent death and try to make sense of everything going on.

Its a brilliant movie.  There is so much more involved in the plot than I've written above but most will need to be seen to be fully understood.  The action sequences are fast and furious, the parallel chain of events from Ultimatum are fed seamlessly into Legacy and the idea of having them play out this way in a new concept I've not seen before with prequel or sequel and I loved it. 

You need to have you game face on for most of it, especially the first 30 minutes or so when snippets of Ultimatum are regularly fed into Legacy e.g the death of the news reporter Ross (at Waterloo) who uncovers Treadstone as well as a few others and to the unknowing eye who's not seen the first trilogy you could easily get lost but for the rest of us - you should pick it up quite easily.

It does calm down eventually with the full plot of Legacy taking shape and less interaction with the last movie and thats when you feel you can lower the heart rate slightly but dont get too comfy because it then goes into overdrive!

Renner and Weisz are both fantastic in their roles.  Norton is smooth, slick and although after our heroes - you cant fault this guys determination & organisation to track, find and kill his targets. 

I've not got a bad word about it - there are Jason Bourne references throughout although Matt Damon is only seen in photographs however that's the Ultimatum side of the movie - the Legacy part is definitely all about Renner who I think could even kick Damon's ass if needed.

Watch the first three then add this to the list - its a definite MUST!

211, Ted

Not since Who Framed Roger Rabbit can I think of a movie where animated characters lived alongside humans in blissful happiness and it was completely accepted as normal.  More recently there have been The Muppets where Walter was able to carry out day to day duties with no one batting an eyelid.  All good movies but all lacking something special - the adult element - sure, these movies are fine to take the kids too but sometimes we need something just for us.  Just like Wanted was an adaptation of a quite grown up comic, Ted takes us into a realm not yet seen on the big screen and I was unsure if it could actually work.  Luckily I was wrong.

Before you spend the entire movie trying to guess who the narrator is (as I did), its Patrick Stewart.  So moving on..........

Ted is a bear, bought for little John Bennett, a picked on kids who just wishes he had a best friend that he could have forever and ever - one Christmas - his wish came true and sure enough - Ted came to life, instantly to the horror of his parents but once accepted he became a bit of a celeb, starring on chat shows and adverts until the public got bored and both John (Wahlberg) and Ted (McFarlane) grew up and we have two drop out individuals hooked on drinking and getting high.  Somehow, John meets and falls in love with the stunning Lori (Kunis) and it becomes clear that three's a crowd and John has to make a decision between his lifelong buddy and the girl of his dreams.

This film goes to places you couldn't imagine - a Bear with a Bong on the couch paired with a slightly odd obsession with Flash Gordon (which plays out into a quite funny sub story line and impromptu cameo from Sam J Jones, Flash as himself) with other subtle appearances from Tom Skerritt and Norah Jones with a great speechless part from Ryan Reynolds who I'm sure only got involved due to his love of Family Guy.

Macfarlane is every bit as rude and crude as one can get away with nowadays on a movie and even manages to bag himself a hottie from the supermarket who he manages to satisfy with certain vegetable produce due to his 'lack' of required equipment, something he jokingly said he complained to Hasbro about - there are little one-liners ion this that make the movie what it is and although some may fly over your head - most are easily catchable.

Kunis & Wahlberg bounce brilliantly off of each other but the movie takes a dark turn of events towards the end with an appearance from Giovanni Ribisi and his very odd child who seek to capture Ted and keep him for themselves.

The story is pretty self explanatory - Bennett is torn between his life long friend and his future beloved and has some tough choices to make, not helped by Lori's seedy boss making moves on her at every turn and a group of work friends who think she could do so much better.  Wahlberg's character has to step up and prove he's a man with a plan rather than a boy with a bear and do whats right to satisfy everybody. 

There are plenty of 80's references throughout this and in my mind - Macfarlane nailed his role - the Bear is epic - I want one!  The effects are seamless and the fight scene really goes to town (just keep an eye out for the hotel room brawl)

It was a 'given' that Mila Kunis would star heavily in this due to her involvement with Macfarlane in place with her role as Meg from Family Guy but Wahlberg was an inspired choice but well played on his part also.

Its funny, rude & crude all at the same time with an actual tear jerker for an ending but don't let any of that out you off - its worth every penny.  Like Seth or loathe him he does do this type of comedy almost better than anyone else and believe - you've never seen anything like this before.