Cherry Tree (2015) (18)

Set in a town in England the horror film Cherry Tree drawers vaguely upon the lore of Witches to create a modern day tale of the birth of a Demon child. The lead Witch and physical education teacher, played by Anna Wallton, probably best known for Hellboy 2 (2008) and Vampire Diary (2006), jumps at the opportunity to coerce one of her hockey players into giving birth to this daemonic child.

The teenage victim, whose father is gravely ill and has been promised his salvation, is played by Naomi Battrick, who potentially may be successfully making the cross over from TV to Film. She plays the lead role of Faith calmly and in some way this emphasises the tension of the film. Her approach is not to be overdramatic, more cool and calculated which fits in with the minimal stylisation and cinematography of the production.

Cherry Tree [DVD] [2015]

There are scenes of gore, especially sacrificial acts, and sex, but it's not over played. The underlying content of the film is pagan in a modern context and this blend seems to work effectively. The female characters weald the power and the male characters are ultimately doomed to a worse fate. This ties in with this paganism theme and taps the fear of smart women that was prevalent in the dark ages the resulting Witch hunts being well documented.

Overall the film directed by the relatively inexperienced David Keating is seemingly well crafted for the obviously low-budget and none of the actors seemingly put in bad performances. What it lacks is a solid script and just a bit more content and excitement. But overall for what it is the Cherry Tree does fairly good job.

54/100

You can pick up a copy of this film here at Amazon Cherry Tree [DVD] [2015]

Phenomena (1985) (18)

Phenomena is set in Switzerland deep in the alpine forests of an isolated boarding school. A blade welding killer is terrorizing young tourist girls and Jennifer Connelly finds herself thrown into this dark setting where she discovers she has telepathic powers that allow here to communicate with insects.

This dark horror film is directed by the Italian Dario Argento, who had strong links with Sergio Leone, and wrote on the classic western Once Upon a Time in the West. His experiences as a writer seemed to be more profitable as he drifted away from directing shorting after making Phenomena.

The lighting in Phenomena is it's most obvious trait. Much of what we experience is at night and the over arching theme is one of darkness and mutilation. Symbolic whites puncture this black landscape and often it is Jennifer dressed in white in which this manifests. She is a beacon of light, innocent but yet gifted with what is deemed a ghastly gift once the resident girls find out.

The lead Jennifer is played by Jennifer Connelly who, which is often her acting style, has a detached mystical nature about her, a calm aura that seems otherworldly. She floats through many of the despicable scenes as if a glowing angle. She is vulnerable but yet her purity is invulnerable.

She is plunged into some perilous situations some initiated by those who would surely rather protect her than endanger her. Jennifer would appear to need some kind of protector but we some come to realise that luck and the insects are on her side.

There seems to be no back story for Jennifer's strange power of controlling insects, despite her love for them, which in itself is a little strange. Some kind of linear heritage would have give the storyline some strength. She does make friends with a Scientist, who lives near the boarding school, played by film veteran Donald Pleasence, but he seems underwhelmed by the role and his end is anticlimactic.

The film is often slow and yet strangely curious as we are exposed to a series of stylish shots that drag the viewer from a searching night visa to the sudden and sharply cut violence of the kill.  A strange rock sound track springs into the narrative whenever the action becomes intense, but it jars with the rest of the theme which is far more electronic and creepy.

After a series of fairly spooky but low impact scenes the end of the film is a surprisingly gruesome sequence of the most unexpected encounters where Jennifer manages to avoid any type of damage despite all help breaking loose. Even when she falls into a pit of liquidated body parts she emerges unscathed.

As far as climaxes go the film does grip and Jennifer Connelly is at times hypnotising. The editing is jarring though and lack of character development cannot be overlooked. There is something to be had here but much that slips from the memory.

54/100

You can pick up a copy of Phenomena here Phenomena [Dual Format DVD + Blu Ray] [Blu-ray] [1985]

Olympus Has Fallen (15)

This deceptively dark film starts with a the death of a character who you might presume would be one of the leads played by Ashley Judd. But her departure heralds the fall from grace of the Security Chief played by Gerard Butler and who ultimately the President, played by an effectively real Aaron Eckhart, holds responsible for her death. Of course Butler does a fair amount of self reflecting, bordering on pity, before he is caught up in the attack that sweeps upon the White House to result in the President being held a captive in the bowels of the old building.

Yes, believe it or not, North Korean is attacking the White House and then has a master plan which could wipe out most of the American mainland. The story unravels in the shell of the defeated presidential building where we see the super efficient Butler taking on the enemy single handily.

The problem with Olympus has Fallen is that the concept is so fanciful that it is staggeringly unbelievable. In some unexpected way this makes it fascinating and it is strangely interesting to see how an aggressor might taken over such an icon building. It smacks of American paranoid propaganda and the aim is to show that even if you attack America at its symbolic heart it will overcome and stand strong in the face anti-democratic threat.

Rick Yune plays a completely unbelievable but fun villain and perhaps the slick kind of baddie that is currently very trendy. Morgan Freeman appears as the Speaker of the house and takes control of America, seeing the vice President is also trapped in the White House, and the amazing Radha Mitchell does her best with a bit part when really it might have been more interesting if she had been the one saving the President and the world as we know it.

But despite all this badly hidden double meaning the film is full of action and is more adult than child, the type of violence sometimes surprising. The thought that someone could have the balls to attack the white house is an entertaining idea and keeps you in the story, despite there being a predictable ending.

61/100

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Jack the Giant Slayer (12)

Jack and the Bean Stalk becomes Jack the Giant Slayer in this action packed family adventure, aimed predominantly at the younger age groups but more than catering for those adults who are along for the ride. Jack played by Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies) the unconventional rising star, falls in love with Princess Isabelle played by Eleanor Tomlinson, who could see this as her big break having largely featured on TV, notably in the White Queen on BBC 1. Both are quite similar, neither are overly emotional, but seem well suited.

When the Princess is whisked away up the bean stalk Jack teams up with the King's men to save her from the giants. But there is a more terrible fate facing the world, with the bean stalk reinstated will the giants descend and destroy the kingdom. Amongst the soldiers are a mixed but impressive cast. Ewan McGregor sports another needlessly posh voice as Elmont, Stanley Tucci appears as the unexpected by slightly ridiculous Roderick and the once again excellently grime Eddie Marsan plays Crawe. There is also no surprise when Ian McShane turns up as the King in camp gold armour.

Jack the Giant Slayer does well to introduce an aspect of a legend to the plot. The back history has been well developed and the Director Bryan Singer takes care to cautiously introduce the giants as something mystical and unknown. We are the adults finding out that giants are real after all and not just a story and once they are revealed they are full on and gritty. Perhaps one of the over looked characters and one of the successes aspects of the film is the Bean Stalk itself. At times it seems to fight back and the computer graphics are impressive as it comes tumbling down from the skies to pound the outer walls of the castle. Sit back and enjoy this modern take on an old story.

67/100

Wreck-It Ralph (PG)

Wreck-It Ralph, voiced by John C. Reilly who's tones are suitably rounded, is tired of being a bad guy. No one gives him a medal for a day's work so he decides to do something about it in this slick, 3D, children's film. On his mission he encounters Vanellope, sometimes called Glitch and wonderfully voiced by the Sarah Silverman, and they must work together to overcome the excess use of ice cream, biscuits, sweets and oh yes the unexpected villain.

Wreck-It Ralph is a Disney Movie. There is no mention of sometime partner Pixar and it is therefore designed to slot into the mighty cannon of the Disney Brand. It is arguably for Disney a break from the norm; no re-interrupted legend, fable or myth,  but it struggles with its identity.  There is obviously a massive Movie Game market this unashamedly taps into which is arguably current but the main characters are purposely retro. It darts from one type of game setting to the next, picking up action heroes, girly stereotypes, familiar bad guys and an alien invasion. We never feel at home in any of the environments, like the backdrop in Cars for example, although they are intriguing yet confusing.

It's also very American Centric, the featured sweet and biscuit products, characters and consol games are largely from the said country, which is not surprising but detracts from some of the entertainment for UK viewers. It would have been nice to have seen a custard cream with a spear rather than an Oreo. It did seem at times like a branding bonanza.

But perhaps the films biggest problem is it works on only one level; the children's, whereas most successful animations throw something in for the adults. The subtle jokes which only adults get are few and often aimed at computer geeks.

The fact is Wreck-It Ralph is trying too hard to be a Pixar film. It's not surprising that this should be the case as Pixar work with Disney on their most successful films of late. They should have known better and tried to bring us a great story rather than a selection of connected short films based upon made up computer games. It's saving grace is Sarah Silverman in the role of Vanellope. When she's on the screen her voice makes the character irritably cute which somehow engages a primitive part of your mind and makes you root for her.

61/100