The Plaid Silhouette

Night at The Museum : Secret of the Tomb (2015)

The finale which had been in the planning stages is really one that is bittersweet and the final performances of Robin Williams who will be missed along with Mickey Rooney as both died in the year 2014.

Ben Stiller returns as the guard who knows the secrets of the museum coming alive. And how a tablet keeps them that way. But in a black tie affair thing, which went awry due to the fact of the tablet as the animals and people like Teddy Roosevelt that comes to life is about to die down due to the tablet going down.

You don't go into "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb" expecting great art. You expect a few laughs and some moments of wonder as you witness museum displays magically come to life. The first "Night at the Museum" disappointed me. The second, "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" surprised me with how much better it was than the first. Amy Adams was wonderful as Amelia Earhart in that film.

This new, third installment, "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb" was only okay, but it wasn't horrible, either. I really, really wish it had been a bit better. It's one of Robin Williams' and Mickey Rooney's last movies. Both died this year. Robin Williams does look visibly tired and sad.

Michael Fassbender dons a huge fake head in the enjoyable Frank showing at Sundance London. The movie is a fictionalised account based on a book written by journalist Jon Ronson who also co wrote the screenplay. In the 1980s Ronson played keyboards in the Frank Sidebottom Oh Blimey Big Band in which Frank wore a big fake head and nobody outside his inner circle knew his true identity.

Frank is probably the hardest film that I have ever watched to describe to someone who has never watched it. After viewing I had literally nothing to say. This is because it was a truly excellent watch.I was initially attracted to 'Frank' by its strange and wacky trailer with promised an insane black comedy.

The first hour of Frank delivers on this completely and it is hugely entertaining. Some of the funniest scenes that I've seen at the cinema this year. This in my mind is properly revised comedy, until the film which is currently sitting at the top of the box office charts 'bad neighbours.' Anyways i digress.

After being seriously disappointed by, well, every Burton movie since Sleepy Hollow, I had some serious expectations for Big Eyes. There was just so much potential, with the convoluted relationship between art and success and an a personal connection with the subject (Burton is a collector of Keane's art). I had no idea what to expect before watching this film. Amy Adams delivers her best performance as always. At times she was vulnerable and desperate, at times she was empowered and at other stages of her life you got to see a deep sense of compromised pride rivaled by her desire to maintain her family unit. I was glued to the screen by the fascinating story and the fantastic cast, as well as Burton's artistic influence.

Freshly colored with an array of set pieces, this is one of Burton's most aesthetically pleasing films of his career. Danny Elfman's score is the signature touch that we await in all of Burton's works. It's subtle yet apparent in nearly all the right ways. Same goes for the stunning costume work by Colleen Atwood, a strong contender for another Academy Award nomination.

The recent political controversy regarding this film will be the only thing to keep it relevant a year from now. The interview spits Katy Perry references, in fact references to a song of hers that was charting back in 2010. It throws a bunch of Lord of the Rings references. "Haters gonna hate" is an actual line in this movie! I have not heard that meme in years. This movie already feels irrelevant at the time of its release.

This movie is rather easy to sum up, because there have been any untold number of movies like it the past decade. Sure, the plot may be about killing a Korean dictator, but with these types of movies, the plot never really even matters. The whole point of this movie is to get cheap laughs with boners, toilet humor, sex jokes, drugs, and slap stick. This is YET ANOTHER movie where grown men depicted as regular American guys parade around acting like the sorriest most stupid a-holes on the face of the planet.

I really wanted to hate The Interview but I must admit, it's got its moments of hilarity. By all accounts, this movie probably should never have been green lit. While Kim Jun Un is the face of evil these days, writing and producing an over the top farce about assassinating a sitting dictator is still a terrible idea however you look at it. Seth Rogan plays the straight man in The Interview and he is, indeed, pretty good at this brand of base humor. James Franco, on the other hand, tends to overact, but then again, his entire life has been one big over-act. Perhaps some other comedic actor would have actually been a better choice than Franco - a smarmy Bill Murray or what about quirky Owen Wilson or Steve Carrell - I'm sure they were all busy and passed - ultimately the wisest choice.

A wonderful adaptation drawn from the characters immortalised in the books, this film is a major success. Heart-warming and humorous without being mawkish or over-sentimental, the antics and escapades of lovable Paddington Bear will surely delight fans of all ages.

How the animators achieved such a wonderful and memorable 'Paddington' is a minor miracle. His expressions and mannerisms are spot on, whilst the cast are obviously all enjoying themselves enormously in being permitted to perform in Paddington's World. It is obvious that a great deal of love and affection has been injected into the making of this film; the acting, graphics, editing, sets and storyline are all virtually flawless, and you must surely be a soul with no heart not to find some modicum of pleasure from this 90 minute magical movie experience.

American Sniper is Clint Eastwood's harrowing take on Chris Kyle's life and his service in the Navy as a SEAL sniper who killed nearly 200 enemy soldiers. The film is relentlessly violent and disturbing but honors the life of the late Chris Kyle in a very admirable way. It doesn't show this man as an invincible legend, it shows him as a mere man with a heart and soul that are clearly broken due to his sacrifice for his country.

Good work on Bradley Cooper's part as well, putting on the weight and getting into character to play Chris Kyle, a sniper for the navy seals who did four tours in Iraq protecting his fellow troops by being a legendary shot. the Movie explores Kyle having to deal with a rival sniper who was keeping him from doing the job of protecting his troops and having to deal with coming home to his wife and kids feeling that his mission was incomplete.

I have been waiting for this movie since 2013 TIFF. The plot looks good, I love angsty love story. and They have Queen Chastain and McAvoy in one film. Written and directed by Benson, "Them" crafts an emotional and passionate tale of love lost, regained, and ultimately doomed to exist. Almost taking cues from films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Benson offers up an honest and raw interpretation of love in the shadow of tragedy. Likely not his first choice in which to tell his story, he takes a meticulous paintbrush and strokes through every part of the film with intricate detail, choosing what and what not to tell the audience.

The negative aspect of the film, the audience never acquires an understanding of how this event created two very unhappy people. The only glimpse I receive of their suffering is at the beginning when Eleanor tries to kill herself by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. The movie transitions from utter happiness in the opening scene to a suicide attempt hence the sudden mood change. From there on it is downhill with the occasional hope of a happy ending unfortunately never fulfilling though.