Unstoppable - Review

Unstoppable is an action drama inspired by true events. A runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals (sounds like a 60's Batman episode) tests experienced engineer "Frank" (Denzel Washington) and his rookie conductor "Will" (Chris Pine) in a race against time. In their own separate train they risk their lives to slow down and control the runaway train before it derails and destroys a large American town. 


Unstoppable is a shameless action movie, laughable at times but still good old fashioned fun. The acting generally is of poor quality, even the fairly decent "Denzel" is never convincing and you can see behind his eyes that he is just reading the words, waiting for the paycheck. He knows what kind of movie he is in. The plot is of course inspired by true events, but still very far fetched with accidents that are so hilariously coincidental that you would imagine a 7 year old cooked it all up. Not that its a negative. Don't get me wrong, its a hugely enjoyable movie, but just don't expect anything grounded in reality. 


Technical goofs are a plenty with many scenes badly edited, for example: a quarter way through the movie the runaway train is heading straight for a horse transport, as the horse's owners fight to get them to safety we cut to a scene with the train in a COMPLETELY different place. The Train also seems to have a life of its own and develops a (Jurassic Park sound effect style) Dinosaur scream that is repeated nearly every time the train comes into shot. The sound guy for this movie must have been in a rush (or on drugs) as this repeated Jurassic scream is pure hilarity and had me curling up in laughter at least 8 times. 

The writing is of a very poor standard, with wisecracks that would could only be found in an action movie. Every character is a stereotype from the Yelling Boss, plucky new recruit to the (unintentionally) comedic Ex Afghanistan U.S Marine who tries to save the day half way through the movie.


I was genuinely impressed with ALL of the action scenes, the film excels itself with the pure theatrical grace and excitement that is found in every second of action. Totally non reliant on CGI (something very rare in this CGI saturated genre) the action is fresh and induces a sense of actual danger. CGI is simply too perfect, when a car crashes in CGI every millimeter of that shot is sculpted and leaves the ensuing catastrophe feeling empty. With real stunt work, there is real consequence and that is where Unstoppable earns big points.


Overall its dumb, badly acted, naively written but the action and pure shamelessness of its plot makes it one of the most enjoyable movies of the year. 3.5/5


Review by Joseph Carter

The Town - Review

"Ben Affleck" surprised many people with his directorial debut "Gone Baby Gone" which was a runaway success. "The Town" is his second feature length film and I think it is safe to say he is doing something very right. It takes place in Charlestown, Boston USA, a place well known for its high number of armed robbers and thriving underworld. Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Albert 'Gloansy' Magloan (Slaine) and Desmond Elden (Owen Burke) are all friends, who make a "living" out of Bank Jobs. The film begins as they carry out a near successful bank robbery, but due to a few hitches take the bank manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), hostage for a short period before releasing her unharmed. However after all is done, Doug falls for Claire leading to some tragic complications. 


Its hard not to become involved in the Town. The writing is very mature and does a superb job of garnering the audiences interest from the very beginning. I admit that leading up to the final act of the film there was a quite noticeable drop in momentum but I didn't lose interest in it for one second. The Cinematography is pedestrian but completely acceptable for this type of movie, as it puts substance before style (something lacking in many Hollywood offerings). 


The cast excel and are truly compelling, "Jeremy Renner" of the fabulous "The Hurt Locker" is entirely convincing and strangely likable which is some feat as his character exudes arrogance and uncontrollable aggression. "Ben Affleck" gives one of best performances yet and demonstrates he is so much more than the cheesy romcom/action movie star that many think of him. 


The action scenes of the movie are orchestrated with gusto, from the opening heist to the most thrilling and haunting car chase I have seen in quite some time (machine gun yielding nuns anyone?). Affleck's talent as a director is quite obvious, for "The Town" moves from action thriller to emotional family drama with such ease.


Overall I would rate this move 4/5. Its "The Dark Knight" of Heist movies, deep, emotional, thrilling, horrific. Gets a little slow before the final act but its completely forgivable.


Review by Joseph Carter

The Last Exorcism - Review

The Last Exorcism is a fictional documentary about a troubled preacher, a once true believer, he now questions the validity of god and is set to expose the truth behind his successful career as a Preacher/Exorcist. When we first meet him, Rev Cotton Marcus enlightens us by explaining that he is simply a well learned showman, that exorcisms are pure theatre, performing trickery to relieve the confused of their own misguided psychological burdens. Demonstrating a placebo effect, if you will. A camera crew accompanies Marcus to what a appears to be just another exorcism....but appearances prove to be deceptive as things take a very unusual turn for the worse. 

The Last Exorcism is superbly acted, edited and filmed. The events that take place on screen are often  believable with an engaging and charismatic central performance by "Patrick Fabian" as Rev Cotton Marcus, who from just after a few minutes into the movie had me genuinely excited about his plight to uncover the fraudulent nature of preachers. Maybe it is just the atheist in me, but I was involved from the word go. Equally as convincing is the "Linda Blair" of the film, Nell Sweetzer played by "Ashley Bell", a simple, god fearing country gal who's overbearing fundamentalist widowed father "Louis Herthum" home schools Nell with bible teachings. The fresh take on this overdone subject is that the initial exorcism is performed by Marcus, with ease and its obvious to the audience that it was (as he described) all in the mind. Without spoiling the entire movie, the "demons" (real/imagined) that were troubling Nell return very soon.

The movie succeeds in the first 80 mins due to the control and the surprising lack of any unexplainable "supernatural" behavior, however unusual and frightening the manner of "possessed" Nell, it all could possibly be identified and explained with fact. No head twisting, no projectile vomiting, no floating beds. All odd but conceivable. I genuinely was excited by this, thrilled at how daring and unexpected the choice the filmmakers had made (or at least I thought they made).This (near) genre changing movie fell flat upon the proverbial posterior, with the last 4 mins ripping every shred of originality out of the celluloid and displaying a tired and putrid conclusion (which I won't ruin for you). The finale wasn't shocking in the intended way, it was simply lazy and rather cowardly. A bolder move could have produced a bolder movie.

Fresh, engaging and brave....until the last 5 mins ruined it. RATING 2/5

Review by Joseph Carter

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