Skyfall Review

Review By: Tim Donaldson
It's now been 4 years since the disappointing mission Quantum of Solace and with 2012 being the 50th anniversary of James Bond I was really wanting to see something special and with Sam Mendes directing I was really looking forward to this instalment. So was it good? Well I put it this way, I am a massive Bond fan and this is now got to be my favourite Bond film yet; so in short it's amazing!

Sam Mendes has really created something different here and has put a new fresh spin on the classic character. Just like Christopher Nolan did in 2008 with The Dark Knight, Mendes has done here by changing the standard rules of Bond films. Everything about this film revolves not around Bond but around M (Judi Dench) and it was great to finally have a Classic feel back in the film. You know what I am talking about when I say classic; all of these stupid gimmicky gadgets that we have seen since about 1990's have all been taken away from the film, the stunts are being done for real and having a film that is more substance over style was nice to see. Also Skyfall's plot is also nice and simple. This really allows us to see a more emotional side of Bond that we have never seen.

Daniel Craig has also Delivered his best performance yet as Bond, Naomie Harris is great and Judi Dench gives a great performance as always. But it was Javier Bardem as the villian Silva who was the stand out. Barden really gives some amazing moments that wow us and at times make you laugh. He really was embracing this villain and giving everything out of his performance.
Also I should mention Adele's Music Number in the opening credit sequence that we have come to know was great, really suited the tone of the movie and had a classic Bond feel. Now you are probably getting sick of me saying the word Classic, but really that what you are getting with Skyfall. It's getting down to the basic's and not letting the action be the be all of the film. Sam Menses has not just created a great Bond film, he has made the best one yet.

Taken 2 Review

Review by: Brendan Cherry

Liam Neeson stars again in Taken 2 aka Taken. Sporting the same ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) and daughter (Maggie Grace), this sequel is really just the same film as the first but with slightly different locations and a few more fake explosions. Grace's character, Kim, now has a boyfriend and it's for this reason that there is slight tension between herself and Neeson's character, Bryan. Boyfriend troubles for Lenore give Bryan the opportunity to invite his daughter and ex-wife along with him on a trip to Instanbul, but Kim's previous kidnappers are up for revenge and they plan to use Bryan's family to get at him. This time Neeson actually gets kidnapped but some fancy gadgets up his sleeve make his rescuing, through Kim much easier.
There were no stand out cinematography moments in this film, though some felt not too different to a few seen in the housetop chase scenes of The Bourne films, however the acting was generally on cue, but with some dumb and wasteful henchman to do the revenge-driven father's dirty work.
While as a stand alone I would agree this film is good, I'm going to cut this review short, because the new director, Olivier Megaton, has basically made a copy of Taken 1. My verdict, if you've seen neither of the films, choose one and never watch the other, if you've seen the first, maybe give this a miss, at least until it comes out in stores.

Star rating: 2 1/2

Dredd Review

Review BY: Tim Donaldson

When I heard that they where remaking the 1995 film Judge Dredd my fist thoughts were not another remake. Then it hit me, the original was not that great and was a complete failure of a film. There was not much going for the film and is really only a classic to a small amount of people. So I was looking forward to see a new take on the film and to see if they could do a better job. So what's the new one like; well it’s OK.

Dredd is an Entertaining film to say the least but it’s not ground-breaking like I wanted it to be. What I could not help was see flaws that the original film had and the lack of story .The film is artistically pleasing and looks amazing. Everything from the costumes to the sets are just great, but there's just not much going on in the story. I will give you a small rundown of Dredd. In the future there are Officers called Judgment Officers and their job is to take down big and dangerous missions in what seems to look like a rundown world that has been overtaken by crime. When Dredd is called to a homer-side crime in a large apartment centre that is many stories high, Dredd and his apprentice get trapped when a large mob group locks down the building. That there is the basics of the story.

The thing that gets to me is that the writers had so much chance to make a great story here, but in the end that just make it a typical survival and escape mission. Some things that happen seem to be easy ways out to end a scene or the film and it looked like the writers were kind of writing the film as it was being made. Now not everything about this film is bad, as I said before it looks amazing and the attention to little things is so good. Karl Urban as Dredd does a great job and Lena Headey as Ma-Ma is amazing. Now I’m not saying don’t see this film but I would probably wait to rent it later on next year. With many better films out at the moment like Argo this just does not come close to being great. I was never really bored with Dredd and I did not fall asleep considering I went to a late 9.30pm screening. It's fun and funny at times, but don't go in expecting a Oscar worthy story because It's just your typical action movie.