Film Addict's June Film Choice

My original intention was to review this particular film in April but I changed my mind because I wanted to review Tron: Legacy instead, plus, I knew this was going to be a hard film so I had to prepare myself for it.  In April, I found this film in my Empire magazine and it intrigued me, plus I like some of the actors.  So the Film Addict's June Film Choice is Snowpiercer.

Snowpiercer is the 2013 science fiction action film from Bong Joon-ho, adapted from a French graphic novel, La Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette.  This is Bong's first English-language film with a large percentage of it having been shot in English and has a mixture of Korean, American, and English actors.  Some of the stars include Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World), Jamie Bell (Tintin, Billy Elliot), John Hurt (Hellboy, Doctor Who: Day of the Doctor), Luke Pasqualino (Skins, The Musketeers), Song Kang-ho (The Host, Memories of Murder), and Go Ah-sung (The Host, Elegant Lies) to name a handful of them.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Not for the faint-hearted

Favourite Characters: Curtis - protector, leader, reluctant hero, Chris Evans; Edgar - weird sort of comic relief, Jamie Bell; Grey - quiet fellow, Luke Pasqualino

Favourite Part: Edgar: What does steak taste like again? I had it once, but I can't remember.
Curtis: If you can't remember then it's better to forget.
Edgar: What does it smell like when it's cooked? It must emanate around the place.

Good Points: Great adaptation of original story; chemistry between the cast; odd moments of the humour

Bad Points: Felt like a long film - very intense two hours

How to Train Your Dragon 2

While it has already been released in the States, How to Train Your Dragon 2 isn't going to be released until early next month but fortunately, some of the cinemas showed it over the weekends which was great so me and my sister hopped in my car on my weekend off and went to see it because we were so excited and completely adore the franchise.  When I say adore, I mean we are obsessed; I have a Toothless toy and a Hiccup figurine; maybe I'm the obsessed one.
 
How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the 2014 3D animated action-adventure fantasy film directed by Dean DeBlois and is the sequel to the 2010 How to Train Your Dragon which is loosely adapted from the book series of the same name by Cressida Crowell.  The original cast returns, including Jay Baruchel (Sorcerer's Apprentice, This is the End), Gerard Butler (The Ugly Truth, 300), Craig Ferguson (The Craig Ferguson Show, Brave), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants), Jonah Hill (21 Jump Street, Superbad), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad, Kick-Ass), T.J. Miller (Cloverfield, Unstoppable), and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Despicable Me), with new additions, Cate Blanchett (Lords of the Rings series, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, The Island), and Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, Pompeii).  In How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup (Baruchel) is considered an outsider in the Viking village where he lives, Berk, which suffers from constant dragon attacks.  To make things even worse for Hiccup, his father, Stoick (Butler) is the chief and it seems that Hiccup doesn't live up to his father's expectations of what a true Viking is; a strong, courageous warrior who can simply kill a dragon with any given weapon.  During one of the attacks, Hiccup strikes down a Night Fury, one of the more deadly dragons, and when he finds it, he can't bring himself to kill it even though it can't escape because of an injured tail.  Hiccup is eventually able to win over the dragon and gain his trust as he cares for the young dragon, naming him 'Toothless' because he has retractable teeth.  As they bond, Hiccup builds a harness for himself and a saddle and prosthetic tail piece for Toothless, they are able to fly together with Hiccup have some control over the tail piece.  Meanwhile, Stoick places Hiccup in Dragon Training with Gobber (Ferguson) along with the other Viking teenagers while Stoick goes out with his fleet to find the dragon nest; with everything he learns from spending time with Toothless, Hiccup becomes the star pupil in Dragon Training, shocking his dad when he returns from his unsuccessful mission.  Following a failed attempt at showing Berk that dragons aren't evil and can in fact benefit them, Stoick discovers Toothless and disowns his son before he ventures out again to find the dragon nest, using Toothless as a navigation system.  Hiccup knows that this won't work out well as he knows what truly lives in the nest so with the help of his classmates, he goes to help his dad out and ensures that Toothless is safe.  Following a heartfelt moment between Hiccup and Stoick as the latter admits that he was wrong about the dragons, that you can trust some, Hiccup and Toothless fly off together to defeat the Red Death dragon who reigns over the dragons in the nest by using the main weakness of a dragon against it, fire.  While the Red Death dies and our heroes survive, albeit minus a leg on Hiccup's behalf.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Anyone; everyone

Favourite Characters: Hiccup; Toothless

Favourite Part: What do you think? What should we name it?
[Toothless scratches under his arm with his snout]
Hiccup: Itchy Armpit it is.

Good Points: Animation; excellent sequel plot; the composition of the dragons; relationship between the characters

Bad Points: Cate Blanchett's accent

Maleficent

My family and I went out to Meadowhall in Sheffield and while we were there, shopping and scoffing food, we decided to go to the cinema.  Between the four of us, we wanted to see different films so we split off into pairs and my sister and I went to see Maleficent because it was different than the others films and I wanted to see how they were going to recreate this classic fairy tale that was part of my childhood when I was growing up.

Maleficent is the 2014 action fantasy film by Robert Stromberg and rewrites the history of the classic Disney villain.  Stars of Maleficent include Angelina Jolie (Salt, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) who doubles as an executive producer, Elle Fanning (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Super 8), Sharlto Copley (District 9, Elysium), Sam Riley (Control, On the Road), Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Juno Temple (The Dark Knight Rises, Atonement), and Lesley Manville (Another Year, Vera Drake).

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Fantasy fans; Disney fans

Favourite Characters: Diaval; Maleficent

Favourite Part: Maleficent: I hate you, Beastie.

Good Points: Recreated fairy tale; beautiful setting; hints of humour

Bad Points: Predictable plot; Aurora fades in the background to Maleficent; found accents slightly irritating