Clowd TV

The latest instalment of the epic Transformers franchise was poised to be one of the highest grossing movies of 2014. Too bad it was an utter atrocity. It is utterly disappointing to see Mic hael Bay bare his soul in a film like ‘Pain & Gain’ and then turn around and shove crap into the audience’s faces. Where do I start? Well let’s start with the positives; Shia Labeouf was absent in this movie. That’s it. That is literally all I can think of. This film was simply Bay’s attempt to go bigger, louder and longer (a whole 165 minutes, utter torture), and unfortunately not any better. The characters were shallow, the new lead, Mark Wahlberg, plays a loving dad/engineer/inventor, Cade Yeager Initially his character was quite interesting, having a chip on his shoulder and his over protective nature and loving relationship with his daughter, however this turned around really quickly, with excessive shots of Nicola Peltz’s ass, references to her minor status and jokes about the s...

22 Jump Street is no joke 22 Jump Street came to play. This sequel was jam packed with ironic references and comments about itself, so much so that it was in fact criticising and reviewing itself, making it extremely difficult to find any flaws. It was a buddy cop movie about all other buddy cop movies, it was a sequel movie about all other sequel movie, and most unexpectedly, it was a love story about all other love stories. This movie was so aware of itself being a movie that it was frightening at first, I went into the cinema expecting some funny gags and comedic action, but instead I was pleased to have stumbled upon an epic comedy with just the right amount of ‘meta’. The directors Lord and Miller anticipate any observation, objection or criticism the audience may have, and lets them know that the movie knows already, and it just doesn’t care. Characters repeatedly made remarks about how similar the investigation was to the previous one, and how they were simply doing th...

Black Coal, Thin Ice (direct translation is ‘Daytime Fireworks’), a film directed by Diao Yin An, received the Golden Bear award at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. However this movie was awfully confusing and had too many twists and turns for its own good. Even though I am Chinese and understood the dialogue the film was still very difficult to follow and required long discussions and a tonne of brain power to finally work out what actually happened. The film is a detective thriller with snippets of satire and absurdist notions sprinkled throughout, this hybrid of genre sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. I never could get into a nice rhythm as the film started off with fairly fast and slick action, incorporating some brilliantly conceived transitions and set pieces, but then suddenly the pace slowed down immensely, dragging the viewers along in an attempt to create an art house film feeling. Overall it was just difficult to settle into leaving me to question whe...

‘Frank’ the not so inspirational film Frank. Frank Sidebottom. Lenny Abrahamson directs this hilarious black comedy inspired by Jon Ronson’s memoir about the indie conundrum Frank Sidebottom. This film definitely had its ups and downs, it really had me at times and at others it seemed to forget to that people were actually watching it as it went off on a tangent sometimes blurring the message of the film. Abrahamson brilliantly utilises physical and absurdist comedy at the core of the film. The opening scene was exceptional as it captured the audience and introduced Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) in an entertaining and interesting way, exposing us to his difficulties in coming up with a song as he tries his best to make his surroundings some sort of divine inspiration but ends up making a song to the tone of something he had just heard on the radio. Domhnall Gleeson nails the personality of a painfully mediocre, hapless amateur keyboardist with a boring office job, dreaming of the brig...

Wes Anderson. Wow. The Grand Budapest I a sensational film that is definitely a modern classic. It is a romance, a crime movie, a comedy, a prison break, and a social commentary, it is amazing. From the intricate details and bright pallet of each setting and scene to the witty and mesmerising dialogue, Wes Anderson had me wanting more and more throughout the whole film. The film is in fact a story within a story within a story, and jumps to different layers at various moments in the film. Anderson manages to juggle all the incongruent threads in a way that is both sophisticated and breathtaking. The rigid shooting style along with the pop up children book visual style really supported the comic and playful stylings of the film. What I love most about this film is its energy. There is always something going on whether it is snappy dialogue or a chase, Anderson just kept the content coming. Ralph Fiennes is amazing as Monsier Gustave H, I could picture no one else doing as good a...

Did you cry watching this movie? Towards the end of this film, pretty much everyone in the cinema was sobbing. But don’t lie, did you really like this movie? Unfortunately I can’t say I did. Sure it made me cry, but that isn’t enough. First thing first, when I read this book, it was amazing, I could not put it down, every word had me feeling closer to the characters leading to my eventual breakdown on the train in the middle of peak hour traffic. The characters that John Green created just weren’t made for the big screen. Shailene Woodley did a good a job as anyone could, taking the challenge of playing the role of Hazel Grace Lancaster, but Ansel Elgot… no disrespect but he wasn’t Augustus Waters to me. Augustus Waters had an aura about him, a charm, he could say anything, do anything and it would be cool. Ansel Elgot or any other male alive on this planet, could never portray Augustus Waters. All his cheesy lines and metaphors just made me cringe all throughout the fi...

X-men: Days of Future Past provides a kick-ass finale to a solid franchise, as well as paving the way for future X-men films. This film spent a phenomenal $250 million, and I think it is going to reap the rewards, as it looks to be one of the top Marvel films to date. The opening of this film depicts a dystopian future in which all the mutants are relentlessly being hunted down by sentinels. This scene shows the absolute power of the sentinels, and depicts the vulnerability of the mutants. However this film does not only focuses on fighting, action and explosions, but rather centres around the psychology of the mutants, and ultimately the difficult ‘choices’ they have to make. This to me is what sets this film apart from other Marvel films. See Also - X-Men Days Of Future Past: Did The Film Indirectly Confirm A Deadpool Movie? Bryan Singer seamlessly balanced drama, tension and comedy, allowing more comedy in the first hour through the character of Quicksilver (Evan Peter...

What… I was not ready for that movie. Watching the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, I thought two things: I hope this isn’t a movie that just rides Chris Pratt for his wits, and that song (Hooked on a Feeling, Blue Swede) is pretty catchy. The film opened with a really heavy scene. And I mean really heavy, it makes the audience really feel for child Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and I feel it was a really unique choice as the general consensus of this film was that it was going to be a light hearted comedy. I’m sure most people in the cinema were surprised. However it then flowed into a more comedic sequence, introducing the adult Peter Quill as he dances his way to collect the infinity stone, this quickly flows into a action/chase sequence. This opening really set the tone for the rest of the film. There is a equilibrium between comedy, action and tragedy, the film seamlessly flows through each of these different themes, creating an entertaining and emotional ride for the aud...