Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Title:                                 Kingsman: The Secret
                                          Service (15)
Release Date (UK):          29th January 2015
Director:                           Matthew Vaughn 
Starring:                           Colin Firth, Taron 
                                          Egerton, Michael Caine
Duration time:                  129 minutes

Synopsis
Gary "Eggsy" Urwin (Taron Egerton) hasn't had the best upbringing. He lives on a rundown council estate with his mother, her abusive boyfriend and his younger sister. After a bad decision results in him being jailed, he is offered the opportunity by Harry Hart (Colin Firth) to change his life around and to train as a replacement agent for recently murdered agent Lancelot. 







My Review
This has been, hands down, the best film I have seen in a long time. Such a fantastic watch, and such a fantastic debut for Taron Egerton.

Now - any film starring Colin Firth is a must see for me and I can wholeheartedly say that he did not disappoint in this film. He was brilliant, as was everything else about this movie. Taron Egerton did a fantastic job in the role of Eggsy and I loved his portrayal of a character who hasn't had the best upbringing but also won't let that affect who he is as a person. I absolutely loved the mentor/student chemistry that Egerton and Firth displayed and I also loved the chemistry between villain Richmond Valentine (Samuel L Jackson) and his assistant Gazelle (Sofia Boutella). 

I absolutely love spy films as I find them totally mind-blowing and this was no different. I thought the plot and the characters were very unpredictable and I loved the comedy aspects of this film - I found myself hysterically laughing every few minutes (also loved the reference to the students of St Andrews, haha!). 

I think what made this film different to any other was the diversity. Sophie Cookson plays the part of Roxy, the lucky candidate who ends up replacing Lancelot after competing in the final two against Eggsy. Kingsman has never had a successful female candidate and although she does come from a traditional background unlike Eggsy, I think it's great that there was some female power even though there weren't many female characters. I also liked the message behind this film that was that you shouldn't let your background or your upbringing determine who you are as a person, just like Eggsy didn't. 

The only thing I didn't like about this film was the violence as I don't do violence but this is probably just a personal thing and violence was to be expected with the rating and genre of the film.

Overall, I'd rate this film a 4.5/5.

Chloe x

The Theory of Everything (2015)

Title:                                 The Theory of
                                          Everything (12A)
Release Date (UK):          2nd January 2015
Director:                           James Marsh
Starring:                           Eddie Redmayne, 
                                          Felicity Jones, Tom Prior
Duration time:                  123 minutes

Synopsis
Directed by James Marsh, The Theory of Everything tells the story of celebrated scientist Stephen Hawking (portrayed by Eddie Redmayne). As a graduate doctoral student at the university of Cambridge, he found himself becoming one of the leading minds of his generation and finding love in Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). However, Stephen is diagnosed with ALS quite early on, a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and due to this, Stephen finds himself becoming less able to control his own body. Jane continues to care for him but as time goes on, she begins to feel less like his wife and more like his carer. The pair both develop feelings for other people. Stephen, a woman named Elaine (Maxine Peake) who is hired to care for him and Jane, a man named Jonathan (Charlie Cox) who she meets after joining the church choir. 

My Review
The hype revolving this film was too big, I couldn't not see this film. I can wholeheartedly say that it exceeded my expectations, after taking some convincing to watch it. I hadn't much knowledge on Stephen Hawking other than the fact he was diagnosed with ALS at an early age and so didn't really see much point in me seeing the film. However, I had heard from so many people in person, and on many social media platforms that Eddie Redmayne's performance as Stephen was phenomenal and after reading up a bit on the life of Stephen Hawking, I decided to give it a go.

I can't believe this film was 2 hours long, I mean, it really did not feel much longer than an hour it seemed to fly by. I was so fascinated by the movie and there was not a moment I found myself being bored by what was happening in the film. 

I don't really have much to say about this film as it truly did leave me speechless, but anybody who hasn't seen it already definitely should! Such a moving, inspiring film.

Chloe x

Whiplash (2015)

Title:                                   Whiplash (15)

Release Date (UK):            16th January 2015

Director:                             Damien Chazelle

Starring:                             Miles Teller, J.K.

                                            Simmons, Melissa

                                            Benoist

Duration Time:                  107 minutes

Synopsis

Andrew Nieman (Miles Teller) wants nothing more than to be the greatest jazz drummer the world ever did see. He is a first year student at Shaffer Conservatory of Music, otherwise known as the best music school in the USA. However, being a student at this school means being taught by Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) who does not hold back when it comes to abuse towards his students. He is determined to push every single student to achieve what is beyond their limits, as he doesn't see the point in being average. What is the point in being average when you can be the best you possibly can be? When Andrew is asked to join Fletcher's band, he is taken by surprise. By being part of this band, Andrew quickly learns that Terence never settles for anything less than the best and he pushes and pushes and pushes. Regardless of the abuse he receives from Terence, Andrew is determined to be the best and never gives up. He practices and practices until he physically bleeds and sweats to death. He meets a girl who he takes a liking to, Nicole (Melissa Benoist), but the relationship doesn't last long when Andrew believes Nicole will hold him back and he will never be able to be the best jazz drummer in the world. After showing up late to a competition and forgetting his drum sticks, Andrew is walking on a thin line and eventually loses it and launches himself at Terrence. This results in him being expelled from Shaffer. He is approached by a lawyer who encourages him to speak up about his experience as Fletcher's student. He does so, which results in Fletcher losing his job at Shaffer. A while later, Andrew watches Terrence play one night and after being spotted by Terrence, is invited to play at an upcoming festival with the same songs he learned at Shaffer. However, Terrence finds out it was Andrew who was the cause of him being kicked out of Shaffer and he deliberately adds another song into the setlist at the festival knowing Andrew does not know the song and will humiliate himself in front of a critical audience. Andrew wishes to prove Terrence wrong and plays over Terrence with a solo and cues the rest of the band in for the song which he does know.

My Review

"Whiplash" came under one of my most highly anticipated movies of 2015, and it did not let me down one single bit. The relationship between Andrew and his petrifying instructor created great euphoria inside me. I loved the intensity of both the drumming and the relationship we see between Terrence and Andrew from very early on in the film and after finding out that Miles Teller did all of the drumming himself in this movie, I am 110% impressed. I also love that this film, while centring around a jazz band, focuses purely on the art that is drumming as I feel drumming is a musical talent that is highly under appreciated. 

This is the first piece of work of director Damien Chazelle (this being his second feature film) that I have seen and he did absolutely bloody amazing! He created such a tense relationship between Teller and Simmons all while creating a humorous tone as well, with such snappy and sarcastic lines given to Simmons. 

Now, anybody who knows me will know that I am insanely in love with Miles Teller and I have seen every movie that he has had a major role in so when I heard he was starring in "Whiplash" I was excited beyond belief. I was excited even more when I read up on the plot and the character he would be playing. J.K. Simmons is absolutely fantastic in his role of Terrence Fletcher and the on screen chemistry that Simmons and Teller show is brilliant. 

I found parts of the film to be very tense as there is emphasis on Andrew Nieman's dedication towards drumming, shown through the blood and sweat we see on screen. One thing I found particularly off putting was the amount of swearing there were at times, but that's possibly just a personal issue as I'm not a huge fan of swearing especially when it comes to films. 

Overall, I give this film a 5/5 rating.

Chloe x