Tag Archives: Idris Elba

The Dark Tower (2017)

Posted on by
Reply

The Dark Tower
Director: Nikolaj Arcel
Writer: Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner, Anders Thomas Jensen, Nikolaj Arcel
Based on: Stephen King’s series of novels
Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Dennis Haysbert, Jackie Earle Haley, Fran Kranz, Abbey Lee, Katheryn Winnick
Seen on: 16.8.2017
1-gif-review

Plot:
Jake (Tom Taylor) has been having visions. Visions of Roland (Idris Elba) who has been on a quest since about forever, trying to keep the Dark Tower that keeps the universe together from falling. But the Tower is under attack from Walter (Matthew McConaughey) and his henchmen. Jake finally connects with Roland for real, realizing that he has a bigger part to play in Roland’s quest than anyone knew.

The Dark Tower is a catastrophe, but as an adaption of the novels (that I haven’t yet all read) and as a film in its own right. Since I heard nothing good about the film beforehand, my expectations were already low, but the film still limbo danced under them with ease.

Continue reading →

Advertisements

100 Streets (2016)

Posted on by
Reply

100 Streets
Director: Jim O’Hanlon
Writer: Leon Butler
Cast: Idris Elba, Gemma Arterton, Tom Cullen, Ryan Gage, Kierston Wareing, Franz Drameh, Ken Stott, Charlie Creed-Miles, Ashley Thomas
Seen on: 6.4.2017

Plot:
Within a few blocks in London, different lives intersect. Emily (Gemma Arterton) and Max (Idris Elba) have had better times as a couple. As former rugby player Max descends into drugs, adultery and aggression, Emily finds herself a new old lover in Jake (Tom Cullen). Meanwhile cab driver George (Charlie Creed-Miles) and his wife Kathy (Kierston Wareing) are trying to have a baby, but have to opt for adoption which proves to be a new challenge. And Kingsley (Franz Drameh) has been sentenced to community service at the local cemetery with caretaker Terrence (Ken Stott) who sees Kingsley’s artistic potential.

Before stumbling on 100 Streets, I thought, “A film with Idris Elba and Gemma Arterton aka two of the hottest people currently on earth who also happen to be talented as fuck and favorites of mine? HOW HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THIS?” Having seen the film now, I know: some films are deservedly unheard of.

Continue reading →

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Posted on by
Reply

Star Trek Beyond
Director: Justin Lin
Writer: Simon Pegg, Doug Jung, Roberto Orci, Patrick McKay, John D. Payne
Based on: Gene Roddenberry‘s TV show
Sequel to: Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella, Joe Taslim, Lydia Wilson, Danny Pudi, Greg Grunberg, Shea Whigham
Seen on: 26.7.2016

Plot:
The Enterprise is about halfway through their five year mission of exploring uncharted space. But five years is a long time and Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) starts wondering about other career options. Before things get very far, though, they all land at Starbase Yorketown. The base has recently rescued Kalara (Lydia Wilson), a scientist whose ship was attacked. The Enterprise is sent off to rescue the rest of Kalara’s crew, but things don’t go as planned: instead the Enterprise is destroyed and the crew is stranded on the planet Altamid.

Star Trek Beyond was an entertaining film again and – to a non-Trekkie like me – it felt like the trekkiest of the new films so far. There are still a whole lot of plot holes and not everything worked flawlessly for me, but I had fun watching it.

startrekbeyond Continue reading →

Bastille Day (2016)

Posted on by
2

Bastille Day
Director: James Watkins
Writer: Andrew Baldwin, James Watkins
Cast: Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Charlotte Le Bon, Kelly Reilly, Anatol Yusef, José Garcia
Seen on: 1.7.2016

Plot:
Michael Mason (Richard Madden) is a talented pickpocket, financing his life in Paris that way. But then one night he steals the wrong bag from Zoe (Charlotte Le Bon) – a bag that contains a bomb. When it explodes, killing four people, it’s Michael who is hunted as a terrorist. He is arrested by CIA agent Sean Briar (Idris Elba) who reluctantly starts to believe Michael, but isn’t willing to let him go. Instead he enlists him to help in the hunt after the real terrorists and Michael doesn’t really have a choice but to do what Briar says.

Bastille Day is not groundbreaking, but it is a fast-paced and fun action film that uses its cast to the best advantage and has an excellent soundtrack. I enjoyed it.

bastilleday Continue reading →

The Jungle Book (2016)

Posted on by
Reply

The Jungle Book
Director: Jon Favreau
Writer: Justin Marks
Based on: Rudyard Kipling‘s books
Remake of: The Jungle Book
Cast: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, Garry Shandling
Seen on: 27.4.2016

Plot:
A few years ago, the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) found a human baby and decided he couldn’t just let it die. So he brought it to the wolves Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) and Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) who raised him as their own. Now the baby – Mowgli (Neel Sethi) – has grown into a child who feels perfectly at home in the jungle. But the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) will not suffer a human in the jungle. With the threat of murder in the air, Bagheera decides that the safest option is to bring Mowgli back to the humans.

The Jungle Book is a weird film. On the one hand, it stays extremely close to the animated Disney version, on the other hand it often enters grimdark territory. That makes for a very weird mix that made me scratch my head more than once.

thejunglebook Continue reading →

Zootopia (2016)

Posted on by
Reply

Zootopia
Director: Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush
Writer: Jared Bush, Phil Johnston
Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrence, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Tommy Chong, J.K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer, Alan Tudyk, Shakira, Kristen Bell (in a small cameo)
Seen on: 13.3.2016

Plot:
Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) has always dreamed of becoming a police officer. And although there has never been a bunny police officer before, she fights her way through the academy and into active duty in the capital – only to be relegated to doling out parking tickets. But even then she promptly finds con man Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), although she can’t actually arrest him. But when carnivores start going crazy and threaten the peace of Zootropolis, Judy realize that there are bigger fish to fry – and that she needs Nick’s help to catch them.

Zootopia is a sweet, funny, entertaining film that might not be quite as progressive as it thinks it is. But that’s debatable and it certainly is very good to watch.

zootopia

[SPOILERS]

Continue reading →

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Posted on by
1

Avengers: Age of Ultron
Director: Joss Whedon
Writer: Joss Whedon
Based on: the comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Sequel to: The Avengers
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, James Spader, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Linda Cardellini, Claudia Kim, Thomas Kretschmann, Andy Serkis, Julie Delpy, Stan Lee
Part of: Marvel movies
Seen on: 26.04.2015

Plot:
The Avengers – that is Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) – have become quite a team. In their most recent take-down of Hydra men, they managed to get back Loki’s scepter. Before Thor can take it back to his world, Tony and Bruce ask to analyze it and they discover a form of intelligence inside of the scepter. They decide to use it to try and create an AI as a defense program. They succeed and said program – Ultron (James Spader) – comes to life. Unfortunately he has his own vision of what a safe world looks like and the Avengers have to face Tony’s and Bruce’ creation.

I really loved the last Avengers movie, and this sequel has many of the same strengths. Unfortunately it also has a lot more problems than the first one, especially when it comes to plot and character development. Nevertheless I really enjoyed myself.

avengersageofultron[SPOILERS] Continue reading →

28 Weeks Later (2007)

Posted on by
Reply

28 Weeks Later
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Writer: Rowan Joffe, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Enrique López Lavigne, Jesús Olmo
Sequel to: 28 Days Later…
Cast: Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton, Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, Catherine McCormack, Idris Elba
Seen on: 02.04.2015

Plot:
After the virus outbreak that decimated the population of the UK, it is time to rebuild and repopulate the island. Don (Robert Carlyle) survived on the island and is waiting for his children Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) to join him – the first children back on UK soil. Medical officer Scarlet (Rose Byrne) is a little miffed that she wasn’t informed about it – and she really doesn’t approve. Another outbreak could still happen. When the children find their obviously infected and supposedly dead mother (Catherine McCormack), everything starts to go wrong.

28 Weeks Later was a more than decent zombie movie. Even if I didn’t totally love it, I very much enjoyed it and I thought it was a really good sequel.

28weekslater Continue reading →

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)

Posted on by
Reply

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Director: Justin Chadwick
Writer: William Nicholson
Based on: Nelson Mandela‘s autobiography
Cast: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Zolani Mkiva, Simo Mogwaza

Plot:
Nelson Mandela (Idris Elba) is an up and coming lawyer in South Africa – or as up and coming as a black guy can be under apartheid. Bit by bit, though, he is drawn into the political movement. Supported by his second wife Winnie (Naomie Harris) he becomes a leader and instigator and is finally arrested. But even when he’s in prison, he still serves as a symbol for the revolution.

Mandela is not a particularly good film, despite the excellent performances and the interesting topic. The script lacks coherence, the pacing is off and it’s just really, really long.

mandela-long-walk-to-freedom

Continue reading →

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Posted on by
4

Thor: The Dark World
Director: Alan Taylor
Writer: Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Based on: Stan Lee‘s, Larry Lieber‘s and Jack Kirby‘s comic character
Sequel to: Thor
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba, Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Eccleston, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, Zachary Levi , Jaimie Alexander, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jonathan Howard, Chris O’Dowd, [SPOILERS] Benicio Del Toro, Chris Evans
Part of: Marvel movies

Plot:
Ever since the events in Avengers, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has done his best to ensure the peace across the realms, while Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is locked up on Asgard. Which means that Thor doesn’t have time for Jane (Natalie Portman) who is still waiting for him. But when Jane stumbles on the Aether, an ancient weapon, Thor comes to her aid, just as Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) comes for the Aether, planning to destroy the universe with it.

As much as I love the first Thor movie – and I do – I have to admit that it doesn’t quite reach the heights that Thor: The Dark World reaches. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard in a movie, especially an action movie. It does almost everything completely right and it’s just plain great.

thor-the-dark-world

[SPOILERS]

Continue reading →