21 JUMP STREET - Review

For those fans of the 1980's series by the same name, be prepared that the name and a cameo appearance from some of the original actors are the only things these two have in common. This is a funny film with more than a few laugh out loud moments for the audience.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller have brought us a fantasitc comedy in which I feel that Channing Tatum has finally found himself as an actor. He has done a few romantic leads and I have often noted that he seems wooden and uncomfortable (and I'm not the only one), but in this pice of comedic genius, he has really come into his own.

Schmidt and Jenko (Jonah Hill and Chaning Tatum) were polar opposites in high school, and yet they bond and become besties during their time in the police academy. After an unfortunate drug bust where they fail to read their perp the Miranda Rights, they are sent down to 21 Jump Street, an undercover project that is trying to infiltrate a high school drug ring and bust it.

21 JUMP STREET is unrealistic and ridiculous and that's why it's so much fun. You can tell that they all had fun making the film and that always transfers to the screen and makes it so much more enjoyable for the audience. Beware that this film got it's MA15+ rating for a reason, so don't let your kids run out and watch it without watching it first to see for yourself what's going on. Kids these days don't need any encouragement to party hard and take drugs!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this remake (and I use that term VERY loosely!), and so did the rest of the audience. It's definitely not a piece of cinema that will gain critical acclaim for any aspect, but it was light and funny and drew out some fantastic belly laughs from the gentleman sitting in front of me which was almost as entertaining as the film itself.

 4 out of 5.

A SEPARATION - Review

So I know I voted for this in my Oscars predictions and I was not surprised I came up trumps. This film was getting amazing reviews and fantastic feedback not only from critics, but also from your regular Joe who just loves films.

Now it's my turn to give it a review, and whilst I did really like the film, I'm not going to gush all over it and be as dramatic as those who have said it's the best piece of foreign language film since CITY OF GOD.

A wife seeks a divorce becuase her husband won't agree to leave Iran and go with her to America and take their daughter so she can have a better life. He won't go because they look after his father who has Alzheimer's, and even though his father doesn't know who he is he can't leave him. So he tells his wife if she wants a divorce she can have it, which breaks her heart because all she really wanted was for him to ask her not to leave him.

He hires another woman to come and look after her father while he's at work and his daughter is at school, and after returning home from work one day to find his father has fallen off the bed (with his arm tied to the bed post) and almost dead, he fires her. An argument ensues and he pushes her out the door and she takes a fall on the stairs. He is then charged with murder because the woman has suffered a miscarriage and lost her baby.

The remainder of the film then centres around what seems like court proceedings, but it's hard to tell as they are nothing like the western court proceedings we are so used to seeing.

This film is beautifully shot, has some of the most fantastic lighting I have seen for a while and a gorgeous sound track. I had some difficulty determining the levels of emotion during parts of the film, purely becuase I'm not used to hearing the Farsi language, however these actors did a wonderful job using their body language and facial expressions to convey their emotions to the audience.

There was a great little twist at the end of the film, but I feel like they left it too late and didn't give it any time to develop, which is a shame becuase everyone really came out of their shells for this part of the story line. The other things that frustrated me was the ending. It's not clear what happened with either of the storylines that I spent two hours and 15 minutes following, and that's a long time to end up with no resolution. It does leave you with something to talk about, although the film is not lacking in talking points.

Over all I think the film was beautiful and a fantastic storyline, although it could have moved faster and developed more and come to a more satisfying end. Perhaps I just went in with expectations that were too high and I was disappointed, I'll never know and that's the problem with films that get so much hype before you get to see them.

3.5 out of 5.