A Triplet of Movie Reviews

44 Inch Chest

Without ever being too bad it remains entirely underwhelming as a film. Ray Winstone is a master of the general character he plays in all his films, and combined with the rest of the cast you have some decent-great acting with a script that is quite well written. Why is it disappointing then? Because it may as well be one extended scene. This story is simply in the wrong medium; put it on a stage and I am sure it would be quite the hit.

Four Lions

The subject matter makes this the blackest of black comedies, but this film stands as one that is entirely funny, silly, and quotable. Everyone must tip their hat to Chris Morris because I simply cannot see how this film could have been any better. It was approached and presented in exactly the right way to decentertise us to what was going on, but only within the context of the film – no one watching that film is condoning a jihad, they want it mocked, but the characters are so good they forget the film is mocking jihadists in the first place. The result of the underlining genius is a feature so funny it was stomach-cramp inducing. This is my favourite film of the year so far.

Kick-Ass

Ignoring the “controversy” one certain dickhead and his paper created, this was a really good film. I’ve never been one to complain about something not being 100% loyal to the source material (Watchmen and Fantastic Mr. Fox for example) so for me this was a very good satirisation of the comic book superhero and a delightfully funny teenage-angst movie, and a explicitly colourful action film. A must see for fans of the genre and a heavy recommendation for everyone else – only if you are of age though. We don’t want to glorify violence or sexualise children now, do we?