There’s something about the number three. Something just feels right about it. And, in any story telling medium we see it a lot. The three act structure, the main character and their two friends, the three chances to succeed or fail and, of course, the trilogy. It all sounds nice and structured. But there is a huge problem with trilogies. The third entry is rarely considered to be the best. Yes, we have The Return of the King, The Last Crusade and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; but even these are debatable. Plus for each good third film there are more on the levels of The Godfather Part 3, Jurassic Park 3 and Spider-Man 3.

Despite this sad fact of film, War for the Planet of the Apes look special. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a great, thinking-man’s blockbuster. The sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a huge improvement on it; a monumentally spectacular sci-fi masterpiece. The same cast and crew returned for one more outing. How could things go wrong with all of them behind it?

After Caesar killed evil ape Koba in the last film, the war for the planet began. Caesar and his kind are tired of the horrors of war and wish to see an end to it. Unfortunately, peace is impossible, thanks to a human coronal who wishes to kill all apes to save what is left of the human race. It soon becomes apparent to Caesar that there is only one way to end this war. But the means may not be worth it. And, as more and more happens to the apes, Caesar finds himself asking the impossible question. Is this the only way? Or has Caesar become the very thing he had been fighting this whole time?

From the get go I was pleased by this film. I was pleased to see that everything that I had loved about its two predecessors was still delivered here. Matt Reeves, who directed Dawn, gives us an amazing and raw emotional experience. All with computer chimps and other apes. The best parts of all these films are the scenes with the apes, while the human scenes tend to be a little weaker. That is not a problem in this film, because I think there was only three scenes in this whole film dedicated solely on the humans. This is a very ape-centric film and it is all the better for it. The effects on these apes are every bit as great as they were in Dawn. Maybe even better! I have no problems believing that they are real. And Reeves treats these characters with restraint and respect. There are plenty of scenes that are just visual storytelling; we learn from the characters emotions what is being said. This is hard to do at the best of times, but coupling that with the fact that these are animals. Animals made in a computer no less. Not once did I feel unmoved by them. That’s how great this film is.

I cannot applaud writer/director Matt Reeves enough, but it isn’t just him that deserves the credit. Andy Serkis gives yet another performance worthy of an Oscar he’s probably not going to get nominated for. He is Caesar! He plays this character so perfectly that I internally cheer every time I see him. This film is Caesar’s darkest moment, and Serkis effortlessly captures every ounce of this darkness while never breaking the character. We also have every ape actor returning to play the apes they have brought to life before. Not a single actor lets us down, new and old. We have our villain played by Woody Harrelson. His character is hardly in the film really. He’s very much a presence villain; he nearly dominates his on-screen moments, and you can feel his power every other moment. The character himself has some good development, and while clearly the villain he does make some good points. What would you do if humanity was dying out?

Someone who I feel I should mention is Bad Ape, played by Steve Zahn. This is a small chimp who is not from Caesar’s clan. He wears human cloths, does not talk in sign-language and what English he does speak is very broken. He is the comic relief of the film. Considering that this is a dark film, it is refreshing to have the odd moment of comedy. But this has backfired more times than can be counted in film, often with said character becoming really irritating (such as Jar-Jar Binks). Making Bad Apes was a risk, is what I’m trying to say. A risk that most certainly payed off! Bad Ape was never unwelcome; he was well handled, perfectly performed and very funny. He worked well with the little girl in the film. And that actress did exceedingly well in a film where she was talking to computer generated apes; who in real life were just people in tights and green-dots. I don’t know where we are finding these child-actors these days, but many child actors this year have proven themselves in challenging roles. This little girl is no different in this film.

I tried and could not find anything wrong with War for the Planet of the Apes. It’s a dark tale that concludes an exceptional trilogy.

Any criticisms I have is barely even a nit-pick. But something that I do feel like mentioning is that, despite being called War for the Planet of the Apes, there isn’t much waring going on. As in, there isn’t much in the way of battles. There’s one in the opening and one at the climax. But the rest, while not action-less, is a very talkie or visually story-telling. It’s more political and dramatical than action packed and fantastical. In that, it is probably paced more like Rise than it is Dawn (Dawn blending action and drama perfectly). That doesn’t make it any less than the other two, but it is something to mention in case you go in expecting an action movie with apes.

In the end War for the Planet of the Apes is an almost perfect film and a great conclusion to an exceptional trilogy.

I don’t know which is my favourite of this series, as Dawn was a little more fun; but this one is possibly the best one. The best story, acting and direction. If they make no more, then it will be fine with me. If thing’s have ended this well then we shouldn’t make more. Go and see it. Even if you don’t like sci-fi. A prequel trilogy better than the originals? I guess that means Apes together, strong!

Let’s get this over with. Transformers The Last Knight is a film that I saw. Why did I see it? Because I’m clearly a glutton for punishment.

The Transformers series is a group of now five films based off of a show (albeit very loosely), which was based off of a popular toy line. It’s marketing at its finest. Back in 2007 Transformers was released by Michael Bay. It wasn’t a good film, at all really, but it was fun. You had robots fighting each other in big action scenes, which to be fair hadn’t really been done in such a way before. It was light on story and featured some truly terrible characters, but the action was what we were there for and it was at least delivered. And then we got the sequels, all of which managed to make the mediocre at best first one look like a masterpiece in comparison. With that track record, what do you think I’m going to say about this fifth one?

The story is the exact same as the last one; which was the exact same as the one before it. And the one before that. And even the first one! There’s something transformers-y on planet Earth, that has been hidden in plain sight yet miraculously nobody has noticed it before. But now that it has been just very randomly discovered every transformer, good and evil, wants it. And the military want to stop them getting it. And we have a human hero who this film focuses on. Things go boom and we have our film.

I have tried, honestly I have, but I can’t think of anything redeemable in this film. Not one scene. Not even a single shot. Michael Bay seems adamant to remind us why we hate his work. Every shot that doesn’t involve action is so lazily shot that it’s outright ugly to look at. And shots that do involve action are so bland and dull coloured, and edited together so poorly that it actually feels pretty insulting. These action scenes, because of how horribly shot and edited they are, clearly feature no choreography. There is no tension. There is mind-blowing action moment. I can just feel Bay saying “Okay, Mark, I want you to slide along the floor. Good, that shot’s done. Now for this next shot I want you to shoot in the air.” No stunt, no matter how big or small, doesn’t connect to the following one. There isn’t any flow to the action and it’s fooling no-one.

Then we have the typical Bay humour and effects. By which I mean no joke lands and everything was done in a computer. Most jokes had me groaning on the inside, and the worst ones on the outside too. The effects this time around are garbage! I’m no longer fooled into thinking they are really there anymore. There’s a silver goo swimming on Mark Wahlberg’s skin, and it looks like a PlayStation 2 graphic. Worse was in the climax, where this broken planet was carving up Earth. When it pulled up mountains of grass it reminded me of the graphics used for the rolling hills of the Teletubbies. This is all criticism that I could apply to any of the Transformers sequels, particularly the last film Age of Extinction. That fourth film being one of the most insufferable blockbusters I’ve ever had to sit through. But at least that film had Kelsey Grammar as the villain!

This one might be shorter, but there’s nothing within the runtime to entertain us. Making it feel longer than the colossal three-hour runtime of Transformers 4.

Speaking of the acting, what are these people doing here? Mark Wahlberg plays as Mark Wahlberg. I don’t even remember his character’s name, his motivations, his tropes. I remember nothing about him other than his actor. That is our lead, the one we follow throughout the film.

Because in a film called Transformers, I want to see how the humans are doing and see what they’re up to (please note the sarcasm).

We have that girl from the trailer, that young patriotic and heroic girl, who claims to want to fight but actually does nothing throughout the whole runtime. There’s Laura Haddock as a woman scientist. She’s supposedly integral to the plot (pretending that there is one), but Bay does his usual and makes her the object for young teenage boys to drool over. At least she isn’t of questionable age like last time, but it is beyond insulting to see. And then we have Anthony Hopkins. Oh, this one hurt. To see such a great and influential actor fall so low as to speak this drivel. I really hope he gets enough money to pay for a new house for this one. At least, I assume the pay was his reason.

It was such a torture to watch this film. But what was worse was that nothing was learned. Not just from the characters, but from the makers. Bay has made the same film again, but somehow even worse. Yet again! So not only was it self-indulgent, it was self-congratulatory and entirely predictable. So predictable in fact that when the climax finally came I was so sure that I knew what was going to happen and how it would end. And I was right! It ended how I thought it would! Just like the other four! Optimus and the autobots saving the day, the threat destroyed, the evil plot foiled. Prime gives off his inspirational speech and a surviving villain twiddles their moustache in the shadows saying, “I’ll get you next time, Prime.”

I could go on and on about how much I hated every minute of this monstrosity. I didn’t think we could go lower than Age of Extinction. Evidently, I was wrong. It’s exceedingly rare that not a single moment could be considered good in a film. It’s long, boring, insulting and outright awful. It makes the first Transformers look like a work of blissful art by comparison. Don’t see it. Don’t line Bay’s pockets with it. If anything, think of the critics who have to see all these films when they’re released. I’ve been done with this series for a long time now, and will continue to feel that way.

B, A, B, Y, Baby! Baby Driver is the latest film from master director Edgar Wright.

I call him master director because not only has he not made a single bad film, but all of his films are considered to be great modern classics. This includes Shawn of the Dead, The Worlds End, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, the TV show Spaced, and my personal favourite of his, Hot Fuzz. The man has never let us down and I was honestly interested to see what he could bring to the table with Baby Driver. The trailers looked great and the cast looked amazing, so I was quickly hooked and begging to see this film. However, I could say the same with many films lately, and they have been rather disappointing of late. Could Wright break the streak, or has he finally stumbled?

Baby is a driver. He is the getaway man, the one who drives bank robbers in the getaway vehicle. He also happens to be the best driver for a job like this. Baby also has tinnitus; you know that ringing you get after a concert? Well, it’s permanent for him. So he plays music to drown it out. Classic songs and some he makes himself, whatever it takes to quiet the ringing. Baby has one more job to do and then he is out. He can leave the bad business and be with Debbie, the waitress he is smitten by. But, as these things go, this “last job” might very well end up being Baby’s last job.

Of all of Wright’s films, this is probably his most basic. It’s very typical of a heist movie at times. But, while the film can be pretty unpredictable, you can tell the beats. You know certain things are going to happen. Like the “last job” story. There’s the loose cannon character. There’s the sociopath who goes full blown psycho the closer we get to the end. The cop chase. The scouting the bank scene. We are all familiar with these plot points, even if we don’t know it.

But, what saves Baby Driver from being a simple “been-there-done-that” is how these moments are set up and executed. Because, while you will find moments familiar, I promise you that you have never seen a film like Baby Driver before.

Wright has done it again, with a vengeance. And from him, I would expect nothing less. Baby Driver is stunning in almost every way. It’s visually interesting, with little moments hidden in the background as well as hidden in the foreground. The opening features one of the best uses of graffiti I’ve ever seen in a film. And Baby’s tinnitus and addiction to music are key to this films style. This film uses its songs and music even better than Guardians of the Galaxy ever did. I would almost go as far as to call Baby Driver a musical with how it uses its songs. It really does have to be seen to be believed.

Edgar Wright, much like George Miller, insisted on using actual cars, roads and stunts and pretty much no CGI at all. Because of this, the action and chase scenes are all breathtakingly intense and phenomenal. Almost to the point of Mad Max Fury Road levels, although Baby Driver does play it more for laughs at times too. It’s equal parts funny and exciting, and often both. This is probably less violent than the Cornetto Trilogy (Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The Worlds End), but there is still some violence and a little bit of gore to go around still. The comedy works its way between these action moments, but never to the point where it feels psychotic. It’s just all in the name of fun.

In the centre of all this talent that Wright brings in buckets to the table, is the cast. Ansel Elgort, the guy from A Fault in Our Stars, plays Baby and he is perfect in this role. He gives us so much emotion and visual performing to a mostly silent role. He easily holds his own and could easily hold this film together if he needed to. Along with his is Lily James as Debbie, and powerhouses like Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal, Eiza Gonzalez, Jon Hamm and Kevin Spacey. With names like these I don’t think I should mention how amazing the performances are. It may be a stretch to call these the best performances of all these actors careers, but they are definitely contending for that spot. Everyone looked like they were giving it their all, while also having fun. Especially Jon Hamm. I can’t remember the last time I saw him in anything. I’m glad this film reminded me why I love Jon Hamm. But what I will say about the relationship between Baby and Debbie is, while it’s not bad (Elgort and James have great chemistry), it is rushed and therefore a little unbelievable at times. It’s an unfortunate gripe I have, but it does get saved by the performances.

I don’t feel that I could add any more to Baby Driver. Not without spoiling it anyway.

And I don’t want to spoil it. It’s a great film, and one you can’t miss! A rushed romance and the odd familiar moment does nothing to slow down one of the year’s most unique films. I always look forward to Wright’s films and I’m eager to see what he will make next. But in the meantime, I know that Wright likes to hide jokes and messages in his films for later watches. So, I guess I’m just going to have to see Baby Driver again, and again.

To this day I have never seen the Boris Karloff original The Mummy. My only experience with The Mummy is, as I’m it is with many these days, with the Brendan Fraser trilogy of films. To quickly summarise my feelings on that series, The Mummy is a film I adore, despite its many, many stupid moments and a questionable script. The Mummy Returns is a huge guilty pleasure for me, it’s not good not at all, but I still find it to be a very fun film. As for Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, while it’s not devoid of fun I do think that it’s just bad, and truth be told I can’t really remember it very well. But one thing I always thought about them was that none of these films really required a remake. But we got one anyway, because Hollywood has brought us yet another cinematic universe! They must really like money, mustn’t they.

So, the plot to this new The Mummy film is…you know, I can’t be bothered. The writers here didn’t try with this plot, so why should I. Basically mix the story of The Mummy, with Egyptian undead brought back to life and looking for a human sacrifice to bring their love to life, with that of Iron Man 2, just a series of Easter-eggs, references and characters to set up this new universe, and you have your story. Tom Cruise is in the middle of all of this and must take on a now female mummy to save the world. All the while we have our secret organisation for the film teasing the return of Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon and Dr Jekyll to the big screen.

I’m not going to hide this fact. I did not like this film. At all! This is because of how cynical this whole thing feels. Despite what you may think, I’m not entirely against a connected universe between the Universal Monsters. Simply because there already is one, back when Karloff was Frankenstein’s monster and Lugosi was Dracula. But this new Dark Universe is going at it all wrong, to the point where all they have accomplished is an advertisement for whatever they are going to make next. And, as such this just means that the story is a complete and utter failure; in pacing, tone and just general story telling it’s a complete failure. Adding onto that, that this film makes one minor change (with its villain being a woman) and keeps everything else as pretty much the same film we have seen before. The plot and motivations of characters are just copy and pasted from the Fraser film, while given a more modern setting.

And everything that is otherwise different to The Mummy we’ve seen in other films. Our hero has the humorous ghost of his friend following him and giving bad advice, just like in An American Werewolf in London. The villain is a black-haired woman who was killed for doing unspeakable things, and then kills those who are connected to her vessel to the mortal world by draining their life. That sounds a lot like The Ring to me. Tom Cruise is doing stunts I swear I’ve seen in his Mission Impossible series. And there is even a scene that reminded me of Avengers Assemble half way through. It’s just so blatant.

I could have forgiven it if the characters were interesting, but they weren’t. A big part of that is with the focus being forced mainly on Tom Cruise. I do understand that, he is the main character and is played by a high-calibre actor. But it does make everyone else suffer for it. That’s not to say that the acting is bad. I actually have nothing bad to say about the acting, it’s not great but everyone does a good job. Cruise may be on cruise-control, but he does an okay job as the action hero. I’ve never been a fan of Tom Cruise, and to this day he has never really won me over, but credit where credit is due. Annabelle Wallis does a decent job as the lead woman. Even if her character is one of the worst female characters I have seen since Bella in Twilight. Never does she do anything for herself, and is constantly relying on others to save her. It’s just embarrassing to watch. A lot of characters in this film do suffer from the same problem, only being there for the hero to rescue them. But her having the most screen time made it more noticeable for her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCdV3esMr9M

It is Russell Crowe and Sofia Boutella who are the saving graces of this film. Crowe plays the mild-mannered Dr Jekyll and the volatile Mr Hyde. Whenever he was on screen, particularly when donning the Cockney accent as Hyde, the film came to life and actually resembled entertainment. I was almost sad when he was gone towards the end. Boutella on the other hand is The Mummy herself. Not only is the make-up great on her but she is actually really good as the mummy. She was clearly enjoying the role and brought so much energy to it, making for an entertaining villain. Although, while Boutella herself is nicer to look at than Arnold Vosloo, I did find the design to be pretty lacking. I don’t know, maybe I’m being sentimental but I prefer the rotting corpse followed by a costume I could believe belonged to ancient Egypt than a woman in rags and covered by tattoos.

As for the horror and action that was promised…it’s not there. The film is not scary in the least, even when it does try. The action scenes are surprisingly practical based and with clearly hard-worked choreography, so I should like it right? Nope. Because every action scene, and every practical set-piece is shot so horribly that I couldn’t enjoy these scenes for what they are. The film might have been poorly written, but so were the Frazer ones. It was the directing of those films that made them fun and alive and just gorgeous to look at (when the effects weren’t beyond horrible). This film has no sense of style to it. It’s as corporate looking as they come. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was just the producers who made this film. It’s just a dull, grey and ugly mess to look at.

Maybe I’m just a bit bitter because the last five films I saw at the cinema have just felt like been-there-done-that deals. If you like those Brendan Fraser films, or even that Scorpion King film with Dwayne Johnson, then I can almost guarantee that you will hate this film. It’s also depressing that we have now got five cinematic universes, and yet only the MCU and arguably that Godzilla/King Kong one have been worth their salt. The irony to me for this Dark Universe is that Dracula Untold would have been the better start. And anyone who has seen Dracula Untold knows that isn’t a complement. In the end all The Mummy was, was nearly two hours of build-up and no pay off. I would say don’t waste your money on it, but were you really going to see it anyway?

Well done DC. It only took you five years and four films, but you finally did it. You got a “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes! There has been a lot riding on Wonder Woman. Comic book fans want it to be good to do justice to the character. DCCU fans want it to be good to show those Marvel fans what-for. Women want it to be good to show a growing acceptance in Hollywood, plus a new role-model for young girls to be provided. And everyone else wants it to be good so they don’t waste yet another two-hours. And now it looks like all their wishes have come true. What with 93% on the Tomatoes website.

Wonder Woman is the origin story of the title character. Born on an island of Amazons, all woman and no men, Wonder Woman finally meets a man. A WWI pilot to be exact, who tells her of the great war beyond her calm seas. But Wonder Woman senses this war to be the work of an ancient evil; Ares, the god of war and enemy to the Amazons. She and the pilotgo to London, and after integrating with our culture head to the battle field to face the Germans and stop this ancient evil. And if you want to know more about this film before seeing it, then watch Captain America The First Avenger, because the two are very, very eerily similar.

I’m not going to build this up. What did I think to Wonder Woman? Is it good? Yes! Yes it is. But…it’s not 93% good. The reason for that is mainly due to the film’s similarities to other superhero films. I mentioned the Captain America references, which sadly start to feel more copy and paste towards the end. But really Wonder Woman does nothing that we haven’t already seen done better in other superhero films. Except, of course the woman led role of the film. That was very well done, and she can easily work as a role-model to young girls. But that’s it. Even then, she’s not the best superhero I’ve seen in total. I know, almost all superhero films are very similar so what did I expect? But my counter is that my favourite superhero films are the likes of Dredd, The Dark Knight, Spiderman 2, Guardians of the Galaxy and most recently Logan. These are different to other superhero films to varying degrees. So I don’t think it’s much to ask for Wonder Woman to at least be a little less been-there-done-that.

But, in its own right Wonder Woman is a good and very fun film. It has got easily one of, if the best soundtrack in a superhero film I’ve heard in a long time. I might buy it separately when it comes out, it’s so good. The music complements the film perfectly, whether it be an action scene or a quiet one. Which brings me to the action. There is a lot of CGI involved and not all of it is completely convincing. There is also maybe a little too much slow-motion involved. But it is just so thrilling to watch. It’s quick. It’s visceral. And it’s creatively mind-blowing. The final showdown at the end is a let-down, not to mention over-long, but all other action scenes more than make up for it. Especially one involving a small town. But, the film also knows when to have a quiet moment. And it does them brilliantly too. You get emotion when it’s needed and it does feel pretty genuine.

As for the performances, they’re pretty strong too. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman does feel like she stumbles over the odd line or two, but is otherwise excellent in her role. She looks the part, and sounds the part too. She also knows exactly how to pull off the action scenes too, simultaneously capturing her tough and delicate sides. Along for the ride is Chris Pine, who does a great job as our WWI pilot side character. He’s the straight man to Wonder Woman’s fish out of water, and gives us some good comedy from that. We have a number of familiar faces and all of them do well in their given roles. They bring comedy and humanity to whoever it is they are portraying. This is with the exceptions of the villainous characters; one is like a female Phantom of the Opera and the other is just Danny Huston with a German accent. They’re over-the-top and played for laughs and thrills only, but I enjoyed them and thought they worked well.

There is of course the “girl power” theme that comes with Wonder Woman. This did have me worried. It has happened one too many times when a film feels the need to force this theme down our throats, as opposed to making a good film. Luckily though, that is not an issue at all here. The theme is subtle and well woven into the story and time setting, making excellent use of the WWI setting. Patty Jenkins as the director appears to have been much more concerned with making a good film, and that is exactly how it should be. Although, while the director of the Oscar winning Monster directed this, there doesn’t appear to be much style to it. Jenkins is a very good director, but this film feels more corporate than her others. This is not to say that the directing is bad, far from it this is a well-directed film. It just feels a little held back.

Most other issues I have with the film are mostly just nit-picks. We do still have the stupidity that came with Man of Steel and Batman Vs Superman, even if there is far less of it. Some of the comedy doesn’t hit. Some of the side-characters are a bit under-developed. The climactic battle is visually interesting, but too long and not that thrilling. At least compared to what came earlier. I have found that the DCCU has always struggled with its special effects. They are good effects, but they are always lit or shot in a way that make it very apparent that what you are seeing is just an effect. Wonder Woman is no different. Also, taking a page from Marvel’s book, the villain is not very interesting and just pretty weak altogether. That last point is pretty problematic. But the rest, as I said, are just nit-picks really.

Wonder Woman is not a great film. But it is a very good one, and is worth the price of a ticket. It is the DCCU’s first good film, standing head, shoulders and a good bit of the torso above the rest. But as a superhero film in general, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. I don’t think the reception would have been as strong as it has if it were a Marvel film, personally. As soon as you can, get together and go to your nearest cinema for this one. Measure your expectations and Wonder Woman, thankfully, will not disappoint.