Review - Into Darkness

Star Trek : Into Darkness - After a terrorist attack in London, Captain Kirk and the rest of Star ship enterprise embark on a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.



Hello Everyone

Welcome to my newest film review. which is the new star trek movie starring Chris Pine and Benndict Cumberbatch.

SPOILER ALERT: As ever I am going to reveal a few spoilers as I talk about the film. so if you don't want things to be spoiled then you may want to turn away now. if you don't mind or have seen the film, then please read on.

Obviously this movie was a continuation of the first Star Trek film that came out in 2009, I'm not a fan of Star Trek. I have never been interested in it before, but when this aroused my interests I went into this with high expectations, hoping it would blow me away with the effects and so on.

This film came to the UK's attention on the 9th of May 2013 and came to the US's attention on the 16th of May 2013.

I'll be honest, the film was OK. it wasn't terrible, there were some dire moments and some scenes did drag on - scenes such as fight sequences and heavy action sequences just went on for far too long. It put me off the story a bit which was a shame.

The Plot basically is about the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organisation has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving the world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score of vengeance to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love is challenged, friendships are torn apart, and sacrifices are made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

 

You have Bennidict Cumberbacth who is the villain of the piece a criminal murderer known as Khan. who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal, and he gets captured by Kirk and his two associates Mr Spock and Uhura. He voluntarily surrenders and is taken into captivity, and it is then secrets start to unravel in the plot and the story becomes a climatic thriller.

Kirk's star ship becomes under attack by the boss of the enterprise, who plans to take Khan into is own captivity, and plans to destroy Kirk and his crew if they do not submit. It is then they get the help on Simon Pegg's character Scotty who cuts the power on the big star ship, and helps Kirk and Khan smuggle aboard, events then turn when Khan, takes command of the ship and the torpedo's. now these torpedo's play a vital part in the story because inside these special space torpedo's contain people who are part of Khan's crew.

Khan plans to revive his crew and start again, but in a hostile manor plans to kill anyone who gets in his way for some reason or another. Kirk suffers as part of those consequences and gets killed, but with forced help from Khan he miraculously gets brought back to life, and Khan goes back to square one and is frozen again.

And story ends with Kirk and his crew going off into space on a five year mission.

As I mentioned earlier, the story was a bit boring and didn't really do anything special for me. I didn't feel entertained throughout the process of watching this film, I just went with the flow until it ended.

Having said that I had a chance to observe things from a observant point of perspective, the effects for instance they were brilliant. I highly recommend you go and see this film in 3D as the effects in 3D are too good to miss.

I thought the threat was real, I loved Bennidict Cumberbatch's character. quite sinister and calculating and over all a ruthless inhuman maniac who kills for the sake of killing. so I believed in his character all the way it's quite a contrast to his character of Sherlock who is a skinny, non violent, clever man.

 

I liked  performances from Chris Pine (Kirk) , Zoe Saldana (Uhura) ,Simon Pegg (Scotty) and
Peter Weller (Marcus) all good actors who did a good job, and put on a convincing performance.

I thought that JJ Abrams directing was very precise and well shot, he handled this project with both hands which is what you should do, in a situation as big as this.

There is a mixture of science,drama, action and humour in this film. which I didn't feel was right. the humour was unbalanced and all over the place, didn't laugh at any of the jokes presented. but then I didn't want to watch this film to have a laugh because it's not a comedy.

Overall I was happy with this film, I did enjoy it but for me it lacked some interest off me, particularly parts towards the end.

I am going to give this film 7/10

1 gold star to Benedict Cumberbatch

Thank you for reading this review, I hope you all enjoyed it and go on to watch the film in the future.

My next review is going to be 'The King's Speech' starring Colin Firth, Geoffry Rush and Helena Bohnam Carter and directed by Tom Hooper. I will post that review on Friday the 17th of May 2013.

Review - The Book of Eli

The Book of Eli - A post-apocalyptic tale of hope, trust and power, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets of restarting the world and is vital to the future of mankind.



Hello Everyone.
Welcome to my newest film review of the month; which is Albert and Allen Hughes's (The Hughes Brothers)  'The Book of Eli' starring Denzel Washington in the leading role.

SPOILER ALERT!: As ever there is going to be spoilers, so if you haven't seen 'The Book of Eli' and you don't want it to be spoiled, then I would reconsider reading this review for the moment.

This film runs for approximately 118 minutes (1 hour and 58 minutes) so it's just under 2 hours.

This film was released back in 2010. It came to the USA's attention of the 11th of January 2010 and was released in the UK on the 15th of January 2010. I had the misfortune of missing this when it was released in the cinema's, and I would of liked to have gone and seen it, had I known it was on.

I had the satisfaction however to want to buy the DVD and watch it on my own by myself, and I'm very happy that I took the time with this film, you have to give it 100% up most of respects, it's not something you can skip through and expect it to make sense. you have to follow the plot carefully in order to understand truly what it's about.

First of All, it opens up in a wood, the lighting is very lubricant, you have these nice green colours to symbolise night time and you then cut to a deserted waist land for which has nothing, and symbolises nothing. it is then we meet 'Eli' (Denzel Washington) a traveller who when we first meet him is a mystery, we know nothing of him of who he his, where he came from to begin with so it is strange to start off with, all we know is he heading west without a reason as to why he's heading there.

The original storyline of 'Eli' entails a sense of place in a violent post-apocalyptic society, Eli, has been wandering westward across North America for the last thirty years. He has solace in a unique book which he carries on his person and guards closely and procily, whilst surviving by hunting small animals and seeking goods in destroyed houses and vehicles to trade in villages for water and supplies.

When he reaches a nearby town ruled by the powerful mobster, Carnegie (Gary Oldman), the man views Eli's impressive fighting skills and offers Eli a place within his gang. Carnegie presses his blind lover Claudia to send her daughter, Solara (Mila Kunis), to at least convince Eli to spend the night by sleeping with her.

 

However, Eli proves to be the better man and a man of quick wit and intelligence when he gently declines her advances. It is then Solara stumbles upon Eli's book, and when Carnegie finds out threatens to beat her mother until Solara tells him what she saw and what her and Eli talked about in the room. Carnegie sends his gang into the wasteland to take the book from Eli, but the man proves to be a formidable foe as he makes it more than clear that if they want the book.



Solara then decides to accompany Eli on his quest; and they become partners and companions, and at the end of the film friends.

And for the majority of the film it becomes and unpleasant game of cat and mouse between Carnegie and Eli.

The Game is finished when Eli is believed to be dead when Carnegie shoots him down to the ground after retrieving what he thinks is the book and Solara is captured. but Eli fools him, Solara then escapes from the clutches of Carnegie and his men as she goes back to help a wounded Eli who has the strength of God on his side to complete his quest, and the whole point of the story was he was heading west to reach this refuge camp on an abandoned Island, and in the camp, they're recreating books and forming a Library.

It was Eli's mission to recreate the Bible and when he has done his job, God lets him rest and Eli dies from Carnegie's gun shot wound. and Solara decides to return home at the end of the film and you are left with her walking the desert wastelands on her own.

I have to say I was very impressed with how this was shot, and executed 'The Hughes brothers' did a great job at presenting their ideas, which is quite difficult in some aspects to do because there is two of them so sometimes one can have one idea on how to present something and the other one could disagree with that completely.  so it was very well directed.

I really embraced the performances from Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman, the two of them made great Nemesis for each other. some of you may know Denzel Washington from other films such as 'The Taking of Pelham 123', 'Unstoppable' and 'Inside Man'. and others may know Gary Oldman form 'Tinker tailor soldier spy' and as Serious Black in the 'Harry Potter' films.

In Eli you have the Good guy, the one who we know is in the nicer position and will show care and kindness. and in Carnegie we have the exact opposite and you can tell that instantly in Gary Oldman's performance, in the rare occasions where he showed a dark side your truly believe it, and you embrace the character he plays with absolute seriousness.



I also though 'Mila Kunis' as Solara was really good, I wasn't to sure what she had in mind for this character but turns out I was worrying over nothing, she played it dead straight, which I approved of very much. I thought she had a great relation with the two leading characters to show that positive and negative effect and have that work out as well as it could of done.

In conclusion this is one of a films which had an emotional effect on me in the way I see the world. and it's those type of films I like to treasure and learn from as I progress to understand the world today.

This a film which you need to take your time through whilst watching as you need to understand the importance of it's messages in order to get the story and enjoy it.

I'm going to give 'The Book of Eli' an 8/10.

3 gold stars are awarded to Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis and Gary Oldman
2 Platinum stars go to 'The Hughes Brothers' for their amazing directing and Ideas.

Thank you for reading this review, I hope you have agreed with most of my points, if not tell me why because I'd be interested to hear people thoughts on this in the comments section below.

My next review is going to be 'Star Trek - Into Darkness' starring Chris Pine and Benedict Cumberbatch and directed by JJ Abrams

I will post that review on Wednesday the 15th of May 2013.

Review - School of Rock

School of Rock - A want to be rock star who is in need of quick money pretends to be a substitute teacher at a secondary school. and turns his class into a rock band.

  Hey everyone, I hope you had a nice Bank Holiday weekend. my next review is a rock out comedy, starring Jack Black in the leading role. 'School of Rock' is without doubt a feel good, fun filled comedy, with lots of laughs and great quotations which people I know today still can't get enough of.

SPOILER ALERT: As I do with all my reviews, to keep people who haven't seen the films I review into consideration; if you haven't seen this film, then I suggest you go and watch the film and then go back to my blog to see what I have to say, otherwise keep reading as I have a lot to say on this film.

It was brought to the US's attention on the 23rd of September 2003, and was released for the UK on the 6th of February 2004.

School of Rock runs for 108 minutes overall. (1 hour 48 minutes)

The Storyline entails the life of a down and out rock star Dewey Finn (Jack Black) who gets fired from his band, for immature behavior. he then has to face a mountain of debts and depression. He then imitates his friend and takes a job as a 4th grade substitute teacher at an uptight private school.

There his attitude and hijinx influence have a powerful effect on his students. He also meets Zack (Joey Gaydos Jr.), a 10-year-old guitar prodigy, who could help Dewey win a "battle of the bands" competition, which would solve his financial problems and put him back in the spotlight.

Although he thinks, everything is coming together, his plans crumble in a matter of seconds where he gets found out at a parents consultation night. but because he's made such a great impact on his students they plan to get out and win the show. 'The School of Rock' fail to win 'Battle of Bands' but what they gain from it is a fan base.

This film sees the essenctric talents of Jack Black, he comes in all guns blazing and shoots off a firring ball of energy which seems to flying off in all directions. I thought Jack Black was fantastic, Inspired casting and overall enjoyed watching him do his thing, and how he portrayed his character to the best of his abilities. some of his acting was a bit hammy in places (over the top) he could of toned things down a bit but I'm not complaining as I thought that's the way he works and you can't change it.

 Also coming into to guest star were Mike White as 'Ned Schneebly',Sarah Silverman as 'Patty Di Marco' and Joan Cusack as headmistress of Horris Green school 'Rosalie Mullins'. All did a brilliant job in a very different way, I thoroughly enjoyed the supporting characters as I think they did there own thing, but also assisted Jack Black really well.

My only criticisms that I really should point out is that the balance wasn't quite right with comedy there has to be a good balance of Funny and Storytelling. the Funny factor was off the wall with this which again, I think could of been toned down to allow the story to tell itself in a different way.

Richard Linklater put his stamp on this as Director, Richard Linklater had previously directed films such as 'Bernie' and 'Before Sunrise', his directing skills seemed quite strange and irregular the way he wanted a certain shot filmed. his directing wasn't bad, I'm sure he had his reasons for taking shots, I always look upon some shots that he made as being 'it could of worked better had he done this' sort of thing.


I think if things had been toned down slightly, and I was familiar with Richard Linklater's directing I would of enjoyed this and understood this a bit more in depth.

Overall I like 'School of Rock' but I don't love 'School of Rock'.

I am going to rate this film 7/10

I'm not going to give out any stars to anyone in cast or crew because no one in this film really blew me away, they were just good actors who did a good job and nothing more, so no stars for this film I'm afraid.

My next review is going to be 'The Book of Eli' starring Denzal Washington, Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis. and directed by 'The Hughes Brothers' that review will be posted on Saturday the 11th of May 2013.

Review - Marley and Me

Marley and Me : The Heart-warming story of how a family learns the important life lessons from their adorable, but naughty dog.

Hello Film fans, and welcome to my newest film review. Today I am reviewing something quite differant to my previous reviews. a Family comedy with a lot of heart and sensitive feeling in as well, and that's 'Marley & Me'.

SPOILER ALERT!: As ever there is going to be quite a few spoilers. so you may want to read this review after you watched the film.

Starring Owen Wilson as John Grogen. who some of you may know from other films such as : 'Drillbit Taylor','The Wedding Crashers' and 'Midnight in Paris'.

Also starring Jennifer Aniston as Jenny. who of course is most remembered for her role of Rachael in 'Friends'.

This film was first released in the US on the 25th of December 2008 and came to the UK's attention at The Glasgow Film Festival, on the 17th of February 2009. It is now avaialble to buy on DVD and on I tunes.

The film runs for 115 minutes (1 hour and 55 minutes).

The Story is about a young couple - newspaper writers John and Jennifer Grogen that decide after their wedding, to move to Florida. To make an effort to stall Jennifer's "biological clock", John gives her a puppy. While the puppy Marley grows into a 100 pound dog, he loses none of his puppy energy or rambunctiousness.

Meanwhile, Marley gains no self-discipline and is a one of a kind yet out of control dog. Marley's antics give John rich material for his newspaper column. As the Grogans mature and have children of their own, Marley continues to test everyone's patience by acting like the world's most impulsive dog ever.



I throughly enjoyed this film, from start to finish. I was genuinlly happy with it in general. I did'nt find anything, specifically wrong with it. I thought that 'Marley' the dog, showed all the good essentricity that you don't see in other normla dogs, I liked the energy shown throughout, how John and Jenny would try and train  Marley to do certain things and Marley would have other ideas. I thought all the comedic scenes with Marley worked really well, perticulary towards the end of the film.

Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston I though were both great, they worked well together as a couple. I senced all the emotion which help connect with the relationship and helped me to belive in their characters which is always important when a 'relationship' story is being made, you want a piece of that relationship and through all of Marley's bad behaviour I could see all that come together.

It may interest you to know, I didn't sport this until the end of the film. the events in this film are based off a true story, and that for me not knowing that took back abit of the special feeling about it because I think I would of enjoyed it even more having known that the characters in it were based off the characters in a real mans life so I was taken back at bit.

Part of this film is set of course in Florida. with lovely sun, beeches,buildings, palm trees. very atmospheric setting helps tells the story really well, I thought it showed off Marley's eccentric talent off well. vibrant setting to vibrant behaviour.

The only thing I didn't like about was the ending; when Marley gets too tired to carry on and dies. but it's not just that the ending moments although they were ment to be upsetting, I found that the ending was a bit rushed. and that was very disapointing, sad moment - garbled explinations... the end. so I would of liked to had abit more time for everyone audinece and characters to get the sence of Malrey's departure and get a more slower ending that didn't appeal to rushed and just go... the end.



However I liked what was written, how the actors deliverd the dialouge in the performances, how the director handled working with a very energetic dog. I thought that all worked brilliantly and overall I really like this film.

I highly recomend you watch it when you have the time.

I'm going to give 'Marley and Me' a 6/10. which is good, don't be disheartend by my judgement. I think six is a fair score for this.

1 gold star to Marley the Dog
1 Silver star to the Director  David Frankel

Thank you for reading this review, I hope you found it useful or enjoyable, or both.

My next review is going to be 'School of Rock' starring Jack Black and directed by Richard Linklater that review will be posted on Thursday the 9th of May.

Review - Argo

Argo - When a dramatization of the 1979/80 joint happens. the CIA-Canadian secret operation plan to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran without being detected, they needed an idea. the mission was a movie, and the movie was the cover.

  Hello Film Fans, and welcome to the next Dr Film review. Today I am reviewing Ben Affleck's baby 'Argo'. which won an Oscar for Best Picture and BAFTA for best film, and best director (Ben Affleck) at the 2013 film awards.

SPOILER ALERT: There's going to be spoilers, so if you haven't seen Argo and you don't want to have the film spoiled for you, then you should turn away now. however if you don't mind or have seen this film, then carry on reading.

AWARENESS ALERT: The events that take place in this film, were based of real events. so all political messages in this film are correct, but have been set up for your entertainment as well.

This film was first released in the USA on the 31st of August 2012 (Telluride Film Festival). and was released later on properly in the UK on the 7th of November 2012. It is now available worldwide to own on DVD and Blu-ray and on I Tunes.

This film stars a whole range, and variety of stars such as : Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, John Goodman and Bryan Cranston in the four main roles.

The film is 120 minutes in total (2 Hours)

It's a film that doesn't fall into one designated category. it's a drama which has a historical message, but is also a thriller. so the genre wasn't clear, to me as to what it was about.

I wasn't put off from watching it, although I do think it is one of these films, where you have to be in the right mood to watch it. and even then it's not fantastic by any means.

The Storyline consits of events that took place back in 1979. When the American embassy in Iran was invaded by Iranian revolutionaries and several Americans were taken hostage.

However, six managed to escape to the official residence of the Canadian Ambassador and the CIA was eventually ordered to get them out of the country. With few options, exfiltration expert Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) devised a daring and cunning plan: to create a phony Canadian film project looking to shoot in Iran and smuggle the Americans out as its production crew.

With the help of some trusted Hollywood contacts (John Goodman) and (Alan Arkin), Mendez created the ruse and proceed to Iran as its associate producer. but time was running short with the Iranian security forces, closing in on the truth. and the White House had grave doubts about the operation themselves.


It was a risky business. Having said that, I approve of the ideas and the political messages in this film, I think they are something that should be taken into consideration whilst watching.

As a thriller, it didn't really do it for me, I wasn't so engeged in it in a sort of way. but it's probably because it wasn't clear to be that sort of film. because of all the drama and the historical factors of it, it put me off from it being the high tense spy thriller. obviously the threat was real and the dangers were clear to me but I just didn't sence a grit of action  from it to be beliveable because it focussed too much on being politically correct for that to happen.

I thought that Ben Affleck's diaolouge suited actors like John Goodman, and Alan Arkin. I thought their characters worked well together, and their body laungaue and characteritics were very current, to the time of the late 70's / early 80's. so I thought it was very well cast.

As a veiwer I took alot more from this film, that I thought I was going to which was unexpected. I really wasn't expecting much I was only hooked on it after it's success and it's popularity from winning 'Best Film' awards. I was interested to know what is it with 'Argo' that makes people tick?. I was impressed with the after effects I was left with at the end of the film which were 'Good Ideas, Good concpet, brilliant dialouge, very well directed, very politically correct, but a bit boring'.



Overall I thought that this film lacted excitment and was quite dire in places. but the acting was strong, the ideas were well relaised and presented and overall this is an 'ok' film.

1 Gold star to Ben Affleck for his fantastic efforts as (Writer, Actor and Director)
1 Silver Star to Alan Arkin
2 Bronze Stars to John Goodman and Bryan Cranston
and 1 Platinum star to executive producers - Chris Brigham and Chay Carter

I am going to say that 'Argo' gets a 7/10 from me. okay but you really need to understand the poltical messages in it in order to get the ideas presented.

Thank for reading this review, I hope that it has been useful to you should you go on to watch 'Argo' in the future. I would'nt recommend it to anyone I know though.

My next review is going to be 'Marley and Me' and I will be posting that on Monday the 6th of May (Bank Holiday May Day)

Review - Taken

Taken - Liam Neesan plays a retired CIA agent travels across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter. who has been kidnapped while on a trip to Paris.

Hello again; Welcome to the newest Dr.Film film review; today I shall be reviewing the hard hitting, action revenged themed adventure 'Taken' which stars Liam Neesan as the leading role.

This film was released in 2008; it was released in the released in the UK on the 26th of September 2008 and released sometime after in the USA on the 30th January 2009. It is now available worldwide to buy on DVD.

SPOILER ALERT!: As in all my reviews there is going to be a lot of spoilers. so If your not of fan of things being spoiled for you; I suggest you do something else with your time.

AWARENESS ALERT!: This film has a strong awareness issue, presented in it on trafficking. which some viewers, should you go on to watch the film find very upsetting.  Also although the events that happen in this film are fictional the threat is very real. thousands of young girls go missing all over the world and are never found, so please take the trafficking messages in this film seriously.

This film is approximatly 89 minutes long. (1 hour and 29 minutes) so it's just under an hour and a half.  It's quite a short film.

The Plot or Storyline of 'Taken' is about a Seventeen year-old girl called Kim (Maggie Grace) who is the pride and joy of her father Bryan Mills (Liam Neesan).

Bryan is a retired agent who left the Central Intelligence Agency to be near Kim in California to build a relationship with her. Kim lives with her mother Lenore (Famke Janssen) and her wealthy stepfather Stuart (Xander Berkeley).

Kim manages to convince her reluctant and overly protective father to allow her to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. When the girls arrive in Paris they share a cab with a stranger named Peter, and Amanda lets it slip that they are alone in Paris.

Using this information an Albanian gang of human traffickers kidnap both of the girls. Kim barely has time to call her father and give him information. Her father gets a brief oppertunity to speak with one of the kidnappers and he promises to kill the kidnappers if they do not let his daughter go free.

The kidnapper wishes him "good luck," so Bryan travels to Paris forthwith to search for his daughter and bring her back home safetly.

The Director of this thriller is a rather interesting frenchmen called Pierre Morel. As a director I found his skills and techniques to be quite observant. there was a reason for every shot, and camera angle he made. perticulary when he has Liam Neesan, doing heavy action sequences. It's very fast paced and to the point of 'were not mucking around, we mean buisness' and I liked that aspect of the film; because some action films can't control their balance at all. some action films actually rely upon heavy action and dire drama. 'Taken' deosn't; 'Taken' actually isn't afraid to be differant.

Relying on his old skills, Bryan manages to find the ruthless gang who kidnapped his daughter. he launches a one-man war to bring them to justice and rescue his daughter; luckily he saves Kim in time before she becomes the newset trade to the sex slave auction.

Acting wise I thought 'Liam Neesan' as Bryan Mills was just fantastic. Some of you may know Liam Neesan from films such as 'Batman Begins' , 'Star Wars' and 'Schindlers List' and he very well known for doing Taken; in Taken Neesan is gripping, sensitive, reluctant, scary when he needs to be, and overall a one of a kind bad ass and a force which should'nt be recokend with.

Another person who I liked in this film was 'Maggie Grace' who I haven't had a lot of variaty with. I've only seen her perform in the two taken films and she made a brief appearance in 'Braking Dawn - Part 2'. I was very impressed with Maggie Grace's performance; I thought she did a very good job.

I liked and senced all feeling with Kim and Bryan's relationship, how Bryan is the protective one and Kim is the nieve one.

In general I was on the edge of my seat from start to finish; and embraced the action in this film

Rounding this all up, 'Taken' is very good. I'm going to rate this film 7/10.

I'm awarding 1 gold star to Liam Neesan
1 Silver star to the Director Pierre Morel and 1 Bronze star to Maggie Grace

Thank You for reading this review, I hope you enjoyed it.

 My next review is going to be 'Argo' written, directed by and starring Ben Affleck. and I will post that on Saturday the 4th of May.

Review - Ted

Ted - A new comedy by Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane :  As the result of  his childhood wish one Christmas Eve, John Bennett's teddy bear, Ted, comes to life and has been John's best friend since - a friendship that's tested when Lori, John's girlfriend of four years, wants more from their relationship.



Hello Film fans, and welcome to another Dr. Film Film review.

Today I am reviewing Seth MacFarlane comedy 'Ted' written and directed and starring Seth MacFarlane in the role of the voice of 'Ted' also starring Mark Wahlberg as John Bennett and Mila Kunis as Lori Collins.

This film was released in the summer of last year; it was released in the USA on the 29th of June 2012 and released in the UK on the 1st of August 2012. It is now available worldwide to buy on DVD and on I tunes.

SPOILER ALERT: As I said in my previous reviews there's going to be spoilers so If you haven't seen this film and you don't want it to be spoiled then you should probably turn away now.

OFFENSIVE WARNING: Some of the jokes and humour in this film may be interprated and veiwed upon as something that some people may find offensive.

This film was approximately 106 minutes in total (1 hour and 46 minutes)

The Storyline of this film is about a young boy called John who lives in a neighbourhood who has no friends to play with and he gets a teddy bear for Christmas and makes a Christmas wish on the night before Christmas and his wish happens by bringing his one and only friend to life, his teddy bear.

Then through a long opening credit sequence which could have been toned down a bit we flash forward to see the two grow up together and John is 35 years old, he then is pitted into making a choice to stay with his girlfriend or keep his friendship with his crude and extremely inappropriate teddy bear, Ted.

In a nutshell I wasn't expecting much. because I had seen Family Guy on numerous occasions and approved of it. so I know all about Seth MacFarlane's humour on things.

And having just said that I think he did really well on this film, I enjoyed it ; I laughed at some scenes which is what the film set out to achieve if you see this film without laughing then you will probably feel that it hasn't done it's job.

I liked how he made Ted act in a way a normal bear would'nt act. he makes the role of a cuddly teddy bear look completly out of context. Ted is a rude, fowl mothed, inappropraite behaving teddy bear which some people may disaprove of, or possibly be offended by.

I also thought it did what it set out to achieve. and that to mw is all the matters.

Although some scenes could of been cut down. the balance wasn't quite right. there was either too much character development, or not enough character development.

One of the big problems I found with this was the character development. if I know too much about a character then it puts me off wanting to know them. if I don't know enough about a character ,I will sit there and go 'what is their role in the film'. so some pieces in the film were hard for me to understand. and when I watch it back I still don't get some of the character involvement.

I also thought this film's biggest problem was the trailer because all the good jokes were revealed in it so when it came to scenes like 'The Thunder buddies song' for example hardly anyone in the audience found it funny because they gave the game away with the trailer which was a shame.

I thought that Mark Wahlberg was really good but a little below par in this film, some of you may know Mark Wahlberg from films such as 'Max Payne', 'Broken City' and 'The Fighter'. This film however showed a soft spot to his career. what I mean by that is it showed that he can be a normal guy playing a normal role and being very funny in between.



As an idea, I would say that this film delivers and it is different and excellent showing of relationships. the value of friendship, the value of profession relationships, the value of love. all of those are tested, throughout the whole film. (not counting the beginning) so I liked those messages that were shown.

There are loads of great guest stars in this film like : Norah Jones, Sam J. Jones (Flash Gordon) and Tom Skerritt. It was nice to see those stars as guests in this film as it added a bit more variety to this film and made it feel a bit more special.

I liked the relationship between Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis. I thought the two of them worked well together as a couple, and the relationship did what it needed to do.

In general I only found myself being interested in certain scenes. or liking only certain scenes, which humoured me or had something interesting going on.

Rounding this all up, 'Ted' is good, not great I'm going to rate this film 6/10.

I'm awarding 1 gold star to Seth MacFarlane
2 Silver stars to Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis

Thank You for reading this review, I hope you enjoyed it.

My next review is going to be 'Taken' starring Liam Neesan and that will be posted on Friday the 3rd of May 2013.