Slow West

  This John Maclean film, has already one a major award at Sundance.  Some will find this film slow, but at such a short running time I hope will give it a go.  It stars Michael Fassbender as Silas and Cody Smit-McPhee as Jay.  Jay is making a pilgrimage to find is love.  He meets Silas, who neglects to mention that his beloved is a wanted fugitive with a $2,000 price tag on her head.

  Silas tries to instill Jay with enough "smarts" to get him through the journey. Unfortunately, some lessons take more quickly and harshly than others.  The film has a light touch of humour.  I felt this paired well with the grimness and violence of the West.  Maclean peppers the film with sublime sight gags and in one instance, an outlaw's recollection of a former colleague's disappointment at not having his own wanted poster. 

  Unlike most of this genre, Slow West doesn't revel in the wide-open Leone-esque expanses of the frontier.  Instead it is squared off in a narrow frame, the cinematographer (Robbie Ryan) gives it a more intimate feel.  This works, without taking away from the country's beauty.  The colour palette is striking throughout from one scene with Jay wading through the ashen remains of an Indian camp, to a character being abandoned in the desolate prairie with nothing but his longjohns and a blanket.

  Smit-McPhee stands his ground admirably in the part of Jay.  He also has a skill with silent comedy his visual gestures throughout is almost Chaplin-esque.  Fassbender gives perhaps his best performance since Inglorious.  Silas's duality is really brought to the screen.

  The bulk of the film focuses on just these two actors, although occasionally they share screen time with others, notably Ben Mendelsohn as a wily, cigar-chewing outlaw. I am a big fan of Mendelsohn and he is on top form here.

  I will say, that I feel this picture owes a debt of gratitude to True Grit at times it could be its spiritual twin.  This film will be in selected Cinemas on June 26th and will look great on the big screen, well worth the price of a ticket.

I give Slow West a 7 out of 10.

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Jurassic World

The Park is Open

  This Action/Adventure epic is Directed by John Trevorrow.  It starts 22 years on from the original film.  We are transported back to Isla Nublar, which now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park as originally envisioned by John Hammond.  This park named Jurassic World has been open for 10 years and slowly had a decline in profits as people are no longer wowed by seeing a Dinosaur.  As we would expect, Ingen is never far away and brings in a mandate to boost profits and re invigorate visitors.

  We follow Zach and Grey played by Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson, who are nephews to Claire played by Bryce Dallas Howard (The village and The Help).  They all play there roles well throughout, but the stand out performance here is Chris Pratt as Owen he is our Robert Muldoon from the Original movie (played by Bob Peck).  He covers all the requirements of his role and stands out throughout which based on some of his scenes cant have been easy.  The best character in this epic though is the quartet of Raptors.  Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo are a class act and by far the best of the prehistoric bunch.

  I also appreciated Jake Johnson's role as Lowery from his T shirt and plastic dinosaurs to his one liners and attempts a chivalry.  Which brings me nicely on to the respect given to the original film.  We get little mementos throughout, some more subtle then others.  I really felt this was fitting as I couldn't help but feel a little sad knowing Richard Attenborourgh would never see this movie.

  Now for the bad news, the plot is a little weak and there is one moment that I couldn't help thinking "why bother with this bit".

  On the whole though I really enjoyed this Dinosaur extravaganza and for a change felt it was fitting to watch in 3D.  

I give Jurassic World a solid 8 out of 10

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