DVD/BluRay Movie Reivew: Cloud Atlas (2012) - Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer

"Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future." - Sonmi-451

          Cloud Atlas, wow just wow, where do I start? I guess I should start by telling you where this films story came from, it's based on David Mitchell's novel of the same name which is made up of 6 individual stories split in two and interwoven by characters, themes and souls. The 6 stories takes place in different periods between 1849 - 2321 and follow their own "Comet's" struggle to make a change in the world. The characters in all of the time periods are played by the same actors and each actor has up to 6 different roles they play. The movie differs from the layout of the novel in that instead of showing half of each story in chronological order and the whole of the 2321 story and then the second half of each other story in reverse chronological order, it instead chops up each story and interweaves them using similar setting/actions/opposite outcomes of a situation's as the cutting point.

          Cloud Atlas is one of those films that rewards repeat viewings and it is only by repeat viewing that you will notice little minor details that link the stories besides the overarching themes and obvious similarities. For me the most striking theme was that of slavery and how those in charge/a position of power will often abuse that power and take advantage of people with the obvious example in 1849 of it being actual slavery to the 2012 stories locking up old people in a nursing home to the 2144 Neo Seoul example of a genetically breed servant class being created. Now their are other themes such as redemption (of a soul), love, corruption of power and many more, their is no wrong way to interpret this film.

          I would love to talk about the story but with the film being nearly three hours long and each of the 6 stories all being so different it would make this review unreadable, and that is one of the negative points of this film, it's length. At times it feels very much like a film lovers film, in that it can be jarring and hard to follow at time and definitely rewards repeat viewing as I previously mentioned, but if you love film like I do this film is perfect for you, but if your more of a casual film lover maybe this film isn't for you. I'm sure everyone who invests the time in this film will love it, but getting people to commit the time is the problem, it flies in the face of traditional Hollywood wisdom and maybe for that reason alone it deserves a watch.

          I would be doing the film a great injustice if I didn't mention how stunning it is, the special effects are amazing and like all good special effects are not noticeable, the prosthetics and facial make-up at first are jarring but once you get used to them you don't notice them and instead see how one person can evolve or de-evolve through out the course of the film.

          So in conclusion for me the film was a 9/10, but I don't think I could recommend this film to everyone, but if you love film and don't mind investing the time and energy into following a complicated story then Cloud Atlas is definitely worth the effort.

Review: Pitch Perfect (2012) - Jason Moore

"You guys are gonna get pitch-slapped so hard, your man boobs are gonna concave"

          This is one of the funniest film’s I’ve seen all year forget about whatever misconceptions you may have about this film, it’s brilliant. It’s such a smart and funny film, the comedy is layered so if you bring someone younger or more innocently minded they won’t get all the little jokes especially the ones the presenters make and has a great soundtrack, a typical chick flick this is not.

          What really made the film work in my opinion were the great cast; especially the protagonist Becca (Anna Kendrick, one of my favourite young actresses) and the standout comedian Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) who carries most if not all of the films jokes. The characters seem real and believable and have depth which helps you invest in their struggle and story. So the basic plot of the story is loner girl, whose great at remixing songs wants to be a music producer, she goes to college, reluctantly and then joins an all female  a cappella group (The Bellas), makes friends with the other members and gets a boyfriend, who joins the opposing all male  a cappella group (Treble Makers). I’ll try and keep this review spoiler free as I hope most of you will go see this in the cinema, and guys don’t worry if your dragged along to this as a date movie it’s actually really interesting and while it sounds like the set up for the kind of film most guys would hate, I found myself really enjoying it.

          Anna Kendrick’s character of Becca seems like a very believable person, some people will relate to her, but everyone will certainly understand her and why she is the way she is. The love story never felt tacked on to me and felt like it moved along at a natural pace, there’s no “I love you” after 2 days nonsense and I suppose being awkward like Skylar Astin’s character Jesse, I was rooting for him, oh and most impressively there’s no love triangle shoe horned in because it’s the cool thing to do in teen drama’s. The internal conflicts in The Bella’s are also very grounded and while they can sometimes be blown up for the plot’s sake they come from a real place and it never felt like conflict for conflict’s sake. Fat Amy is the standout character in this film by a mile, you can just tell Rebel Wilson is having so much fun in this role and in a way she’s the films de facto narrator at least in the scenes she’s in, I hope this girl gets an Oscar nomination for this role, but I’m certain she’ll win a few MTV awards and other people choice style awards.

          The soundtrack was not just pretty good, it was downright awesome. Normally with these Glee/Step Up type films there’s one really good some and the rest is just filler which always affects you losing yourself in the movie, well not here. The songs are all current and most if not all have been in the top 30 this year, there are a few songs mainly the ones the groups sung by the group that are Glee-esque but their there for a specific reason so they get a pass.

          If your still on the fence about seeing this movie I’d recommend giving it a chance, like I said bring your girlfriend or sister or go with a group of friends, you won’t be disappointed. So wrapping things up I’d give this movie a solid 8/10, it’s not going to win the Oscar for best picture, but it will win a load of viewer’s choice awards like MTV’s so go and enjoy yourself.