Today's Review: Tyrannosaur

That's a misleading poster. Perhaps even a misleading title. But it's symbolic, yo.

Tyrannosaur is both a depressing and uplifting movie. It certainly is interesting. Peter Mullan stars as Joseph, a man with quite a temper. After losing it a few times and later regretting acting like a dick, he finds refuge in a charity shop and the woman who works there, Hannah (Olivia Colman). She is unflinchingly nice and godly to Joseph, which at first he can't stand, but eventually he warms to her offer of friendship, in hopes that he can become a better person. Trouble is Hannah has troubles of her own in the form of her abusive husband, and as the two develop their relationship they reveal and learn to confront their true natures.

On the surface, this is a movie about a bunch of dicks. They shout, swear, threaten each other, and generally just behave like the scum of society. But really Tyrannosaur is a study on the human condition. Joseph is a man who has behaved badly in the past, regrets it greatly and wishes to overcome it, despite all the things that threaten to send him into a violent temper. Hannah is a woman who is forced to reevaluate her life in order to escape a potentially fatal situation in a dangerous relationship. Both have to learn to deal with rage in their own ways, and it becomes clear that things aren't always so black and white.

Mullan and Colman are wonderful in their roles. I can't fault them. Joseph's violent streaks are almost scary, but still I really grew to like his character based on his quiet, reflective moments. I've only ever seen Olivia Colman in comedic roles, but she handles Hannah's character very nicely, from the saccharine Christian temperament to the point where she begins to fight back.

While Tyrannosaur does drag in some places, it's reasonably well paced, and it's certainly a very emotional, thought provoking movie. If you like your hard hitting dramas, this one's for you.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Running Out Of Meds

Seeing as my MRI results won't be back for another couple of weeks, I am still on the meds prescribed to me quite a while ago now, Amitriptyline. Before I was put on them, I was pretty much getting a constant headache, in addition to a strange sore spot on top of my head. The Amitriptyline deals with the proper headaches though, so it's made life more bearable, apart from the times when I brush the top of my head and it hurts.

Trouble is, I was told to take the pills for six weeks, which should have led me up to my follow up appointment after the scan, but the pharmacist being the wonderful person they were only gave me enough pills for four weeks. There have been some days where I've missed a dose, and it hasn't harmed me too much, but seeing as I've now run out and haven't taken them for a few days, I'm in pain again. Hooray. The solution is, of course, to get an appointment with my doctor and get a repeat prescription. But the problem with doctors in this country is that they don't give a shit about you on the weekends, and on the weekday calling my surgery is like a furious television phone in competition with only a couple of lines open. If you don't start calling at 8am on the dot, chances are you won't get in the queue quick enough to be given an appointment for that day. Not that I've tried to get one yet, I've got that down nicely enough, but I wanted to sleep today instead of sitting with a phone on my ear for ten minutes.

Yes, running out of meds sucks. In my case is causes pain, and it probably does in several other cases too. Still, it's not all that bad. The surgery is just up the road, so when I actually make a concerted effort to get some more pills, I'm sure the process won't be quite as tiring as I made out. But for now, I am a little annoyed.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Abduction

When I first heard about this movie I assumed it was about aliens. I guess I was wrong.

Abduction stars Taylor Lautner as Nathan, a teenager who is not a werewolf who lives in a nice neighbourhood with his loving parents. However, while researching for a school project he stumbles upon a secret about his past that suddenly brings a whole shitload of people out to try and grab him. So off Nathan runs, bringing along his hot class project partner in tow, because she is now in danger. I bet if he was teamed up with the fat loser kid he wouldn't bring him along.

Chases ensue, the plot is slowly uncovered, and Nathan manages to fight his way out of several altercations with his previous training in, uh, the high school wrestling team. But will the full truth ever be uncovered, and will Nathan ever stop running? Well, yes, obviously, otherwise the movie would have a very shitty ending.

Abduction is just a pretty average movie. I almost didn't write a review on it because there's really not too much to say. The acting is bland, the effects are okay and the action accompanying them is so so. For a movie that seems to be all about twists and turns, it seems like they ran out of ideas halfway through and just went with the theory of events they last came up with, so the movie just kind of cruises along at an average speed until it hits the end, which feels like a bit of a rip off.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh. Yes, there is a story there, and yes, it does all get wrapped up, somewhat. But it's just not very good. There are plenty more identity themed action movies out there that offer a lot more than this, but if you've seen all those, by all means give this a watch. Just don't expect to be blown away.

My rating: 2/5

Today's Review: Falling Asleep Curled Up On A 2 Seater Sofa

It's not particularly comfortable. My kidneys hurt.

My rating: 1/5

Today's Review: Warrior

I guess they called it Warrior because "The Fighter" was already taken, and "Men Punching People" didn't really sound right.

Warrior certainly seems like it's riding on the success of last year's similar fraternal style punch up The Fighter, but perhaps it deserves to be seen with a pair of fresh eyes. It stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as brothers Tommy and Brendan, who parted ways years before due to their abusive alcoholic father (Nick Nolte). Brendan went on to become a family man while Tommy joined the marines, but with Tommy now back in his hometown and Brendan needing some cash, they find themselves drawn to their old hobby of beating the crap out of people in MMA fights. With a high profile tournament coming up, it's up to each brother to prove their worth and come out on top, and perhaps try and heal old wounds along the way.

The three main characters are fantastic. I've been keeping my eye on Tom Hardy since he turned out an amazing performance in Bronson, and he hasn't disappointed me so far. While his character is very quiet and broody, Hardy's body movements and expressions make up for it, and his character progresses very nicely. Edgerton is great as the family man fighting to keep his family living in their house, coming up against all odds and struggling to win the fights and the forgiveness of his brother. Nolte plays the former alcoholic father, longing for forgiveness from his children, and the sadness he portrays in the role is very heartfelt.

Warrior is over two hours long, a little too long in my opinion. Still, all the time is put into building up the characters and their relationships before diving into the tournament itself, so it's good to see that this isn't just a fighting movie, it explores some very personal areas too, much like The Fighter did.

Warrior isn't perfect, but I definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's got face punching for the men, naked muscly guys for the ladies, but it's also a good movie. Everyone's happy!

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: What's Your Number?

I'm taking bets right now. Who can guess the ending to this movie? Come on, you might be really surprised. 

What's Your Number? is a romantic comedy that is pretty much like every other romantic comedy. Anna Faris plays Ally, a girl who likes to have fun with men, as in she likes to have sex with men. She's done 19 of them, and according to a magazine she read, women who sleep with more than 20 find it hard to get married later in life. Ally freaks out, seeing as she believes everything she reads in her stupid magazines, and realises that perhaps her soulmate has passed her by in the form of an ex. So with some help from her sexy neighbour, Colin (Chris Evans), she starts to track them down.

Yes, her sexy, womanising neighbour, who helps her track down all the men she used to date so she can go through awkward situations with them. Anyone who hasn't guessed how this movie turns out should get some serious schooling. So yes, What's Your Number is a pretty standard romantic comedy. Ally is an independent, fun loving girl with a quirky talent, both main characters go through some wonderful character changes and everything works out fine. 

Still, it's slightly entertaining. Some of the dialogue is quite funny, especially between Ally and Colin. It makes them slightly more likeable than if they talked about boring stuff, but then they're not too likeable to begin with, so it just makes them okay characters. 

If you like your regular generic romantic comedies, then this one will certainly fill the void until they release the next one in a week or so. But seeing as I just finished watching Crazy, Stupid, Love before writing this review, I know romantic comedies can be so much better. What's Your Number? is just not that great.

My rating: 2/5

Today's Review: Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly

Yay, a new novelty chocolate from Cadbury. They've already got regular chocolate bars with bubbles in, but I guess they didn't think that was enough, they need to go all out on the bubbles, with a bubbly name and bubbly packaging

Bubbly chocolate too, that looks a little bit like piles. Look at it, it's not uniform, there are no pieces. You can't share it equally between people, so it must be assumed that you should eat the whole thing in one sitting. Anyway, how does it fare against bubbly chocolate king Aero?

It's quite nice. I chose the milk chocolate coated white chocolate flavour, which was a bit strange due to the mixture. While it certainly is bubbly, for me it has nothing on Aero chocolate, it's just too thick for my liking. If you don't like the taste of other brand chocolate, it's certainly worth a go, it does have that nice Cadbury taste. But compared with other bubbly chocolate such as Aero and Galaxy Bubbles, it doesn't quite cut it.

My rating: 3/5