'Kingsman: The Secret Service' Review - ENTERTAINMENT AWAKENED Movie Review

‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ Movie Review

     Good morning and welcome to my first official movie review post.  Today’s post/review is of the latest action packed comedy epic, directed by Matthew Vaughn, titled ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’.

     So let me begin this review by letting you all know what a brilliant director Matthew Vaughn is.  This is the man who brought us ‘Stardust’, ‘Kick-Ass’ and ‘X-Men: First Class’ (to name a few).  This man has a real talent and unique style, dare I say, I really love his way of telling a story, embracing us into his characters, and of course the guy knows how to direct an action scene.  All the while making really entertaining movies, and ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ is his latest directing debut to us, and it is no exception.

     ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ is a first glance, a cheesy spy ‘James Bond’ kind of rip-off and at several points it is.  Except what makes this movie so good and so unique is the fact that it knows it’s no different from other cheesy spy movies.  Sure it has clever twists and turns that others have done before, and it has a maniacal villain (portrayed expertly by the brilliant and so cool Samuel L. Jackson).  But this movie also brings heart, likability and fantastic characters.  From start to finish you are on board with these characters and you like them and you want them to win. 

     But onto the plot of the movie, what is it?

     So the movie itself also has similarities to that of ‘Men in Black’, in the sense that an outcast meets the wise father figure and he trains the outcast to be a good guy and ultimately they will defeat the bad guy.  But like I mentioned earlier what makes this movie different is its new and unique setting and its likable characters.  Plus when the protagonist becomes a spy that dresses up in the most dapper fashion possible, you know it ought to be a good movie.

     Now onto the cast ensemble, is it good?  Yes!

     What enhances on the movies likability is the ensemble casts amazing performances.  As I mentioned earlier Samuel L. Jackson plays the villain and he does it brilliantly.  I have to confess; a while ago I always saw a Samuel L. Jackson character as, well Samuel L. Jackson.  But recently when I watched ‘Django Unchained’ and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, without a doubt this man has brilliant acting capability.  In fact I barely recognised him in ‘Django Unchained’, he was that good.  Anyway back to his ‘Kingsman’ performance, it was brilliant, it was funny and he gave one or two nods towards the older cheesy “over-the-top” ‘Bond Villains’ who only wanted to blow up the world, and he does it to his best capability and it’s great.

     Colin Firth plays the wise father figure character and his great in the role as well.  Without a doubt this guy is an acting legend (just watch ‘The Kings Speech’), and this movie is a kind of way to prove himself adaptable and he can play dramatic roles, as well as funny action roles.  All in all he was amazing.

     Other cast members include Mark Strong, who always does a good job.  But the one who stole the entire movie for me was the lead, new-comer Taron Egerton.  This was brilliant, funny and classy all when he needed to be.  If this is his first screen performance, the guy has cemented himself into stardom.

     Back to the movie itself…

     As I stated previously the director really knows how to direct and action scene.  Seriously when bad stuff goes down the action goes epically.  Dare I say, I’m not a fan of gore in movies, but the detail within the violence within this movie, just makes the action a whole lot better, even funnier. 

     All backed up with a decently flowing plot, great characters and performances, and of course great action, it is a real relaxing “feel-good” movie.  My tenth most anticipated movie of 2015, and it lived up to all the hype, it was great, I seriously recommend it (especially if you’re a ‘James Bond’ movie fan) and you may enjoy.  I know I did and I give it a four out of five star rating because ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ is amazing!

      Right, ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’, have you seen it?  Did you like it?  Actually, what is your favourite cheesy spy movie?  Mine ‘Die Another Day’, sure a ‘Bond’ movie, but a cheesy one at that.  Plus do you agree with my rating?  If so please comment below and let me know.  Thank you and see you in the next blog.

Next Post: ‘The Hunger Games’ Movie Review

Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015 - ENTERTAINMENT AWAKENED Movie List

Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015

     Good morning and welcome to this post, exploring what movies you and I ought to check out in 2015.  Baring in mind this is all my opinion, these are the movies I am eager to see this year, you don’t necessarily have to be excited to see them because I say they look good.  But, like many others in the world, I’m excited for these movies coming in 2015, and I’m sharing with you the top ten that I think will be the best and most entertaining.  So here you are…

10) KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE

     Kind of cheating, because I’ve already seen the movie … But ‘Kingsman’ seemed to be, and was, a great fun movie.  With an interesting premise and brilliant cast and crew ensemble, it did, and is, a fantastic movie.

9) CHAPPIE

     While already released in cinemas, and unfortunately receiving negative reviews, that doesn’t break away from my hype and eagerness to see this movie.  After all it’s directed by Neill Blomkamp, the director of ‘District 9’ and ‘Elysium’, so that’s a positive and I love movies concerning Artificial Intelligence.  So I’ll still see it despite negative reviews.

8) EX-MACHINA

     What if Artificial Intelligence became real life?  This movie gives us a mature and realistic vision answering that question.  I like the look of this movie and I’m checking it out.

7) INSIDE OUT

     Another original ‘Disney Pixar’ that is sure to be a classic and blow our minds.  The trailers make it look amazing.  I cannot wait.

6) TOMORROWLAND

     Like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ ‘Disney’ takes another chance at creating a motion picture out of one of their theme park rides.  Once again, the trailers make the movie look amazing and seriously intriguing.

5) MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

     Visually stunning and jaw dropping to behold, and that’s just from the teaser trailer.  ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ promises to be an epic and outstanding action flick, it looks outstanding!

4) SPECTRE

     When the title for the twenty forth ‘James Bond’ film if ‘Spectre’, you know the movie is going to be epic.  I am a huge ‘James Bond’ fan and with an amazing ensemble cast, ‘Spectre’ looks to be a great film, even though it has the difficult job to follow its predecessor ‘Skyfall’.

3) JURASSIC WORLD

     Sixty-five million years in the making and (what has felt like) sixty-five million years of waiting for the perfect sequel to an outstanding movie that was ‘Jurassic Park’!  Hell yeah am I excited for ‘Jurassic World’!  It stars Chris Pratt and has a new dinosaur, this is going to seriously cool, if done right!

2) MARVEL’S AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

     ‘The Marvel Cinematic Universe’ keeps getting bigger and better, and their latest edition ‘Age of Ultron’, is no exception.  From the very first teaser trailer I instantly thought “this will be the perfect sequel”.  Seriously with an ever-growing ensemble cast of actors/characters ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ is sure to make cinema history.  With a menacing villain and a plot that seems larger than life.  “AVENGERS ASSEMBLE”!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:

The Hateful Eight – A Quentin Tarantino directed western, is sure to make an amazing movie, I certainly will queue to see this.

Minions – My favourite characters from ‘Despicable Me’ finally get their own movie, and it looks great fun.

1)      STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

     Be prepared to return to a galaxy far, far away.  That’s what the slogan should say.  It may be considered to a cliché to say this is the most anticipated movie of 2015, but come on its ‘Star Wars’!  I have loved ‘Star Wars’ for as long as I can remember, so when  the official sequel begins December 2015 of course I am going to see it.

     Thank you for reading and see you in the next blog.

Next Post: ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ Movie Review

Top 10 Movies of 2014 - ENTERTAINMENT AWAKENED Movie List

Top 10 Movies of 2014

     Good evening and welcome to the first official post, and movie list, of the ENTERTAINMENT AWAKENED Movie Blogger.  We are three months into 2015, a year full of highly anticipated movies, but the previous year had some pretty movies to offer and here are my thoughts/personal opinion of what I think was the best cinematic experiences of 2014. 

     So sit back, relax, and enjoy my personal favourite movies to be released in 2014…

10) 22 JUMP STREET

     Without a doubt my favourite comedy of the year!  This movie was a typical sequel, but the first of its kind to break the forth wall and say “hang on … We’ve done this before!”  It was great fun to watch, with some tear worthy laughter scenes, and the chemistry between the actors was pitch perfect.  A really ‘good-time’ movie and worth a watch!

9) INTERSTELLAR

     A sci-fi epic directed by Christopher Nolan, something I‘ve wanted to see for a while, and it didn’t disappoint!  This movie was gloriously directed, with stunning visual effects, and outstanding performances from the entire ensemble cast.  Although confusing, and a rather ‘head scratcher’ at times, it is a brilliant and intelligent sci-fi flick.  Admittedly not quite as good as Nolan’s other masterpiece, ‘Inception’, it is still in my opinion an amazing movie.

8) EDGE OF TOMORROW

     Typically we live a golden age of cinema, where franchises are rebooted, sequels are constantly made, or spin-offs, etc. nothing new and original from Hollywood recently.  That is until ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ came along.  Not going to lie, when this movie started, I said to myself “this film had too much hype”, but ten minutes later I was proven wrong.  This movie had an amazing premise and I loved the way it went with its twists and turns.  Plus I rarely think this of a movie, but the ending was perfect, I didn’t want it to go on, I wasn’t screaming at the screen, I was happy that something original had come back to cinema entertainment.

7) THE LEGO MOVIE

     Of all the toys and games in the world, my personal favourite, which I had from a very young age (and still have today) is ‘Lego’.  In all that time I always wanted to see a full-length movie of ‘Lego’, and this movie did just that.  Not only was this movie cool to look at, and made my inner-child happy, but there was heart and soul, put into the making and writing of this movie.  Plus it was very funny and it gave us another annoyingly catchy song that’ll be stuck in your head forever: “Everything is Awesome!” (Admit it you sang that line just there.)  Children will, and do, love this movie and adults may chuckle and enjoy this movie too, definitely worth a watch.

6) GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

     I cannot lie; I am a huge fan of ‘Marvel’, so when they announced they were doing a movie about the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, I and pretty much everyone else was like “… Who?”  It was a huge gamble for them, and it paid off vastly.  It was like a combo of ‘Star Wars’, ‘Star Trek’, ‘Firefly’, and (ironically) ‘The Avengers’.  It had great action, great acting, great comedy, and (best of all) a kick-ass soundtrack.  I love this movie, its great fun and you’ll love it too, if by some chance you haven’t seen it already … That would be weird if you haven’t.  Ironically, again, no one knew who the guardians were at the beginning, but now their equally as iconic and memorable as the avenging counterparts.  Go watch it, it’s amazing!  “I am Groot.”

5) THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

     This is a franchise that I, and some members of my family, have loved for a while and for it to suddenly end with a bang, “hell yeah” is it an amazing movie.  This movie was epic in the battle scale.  It had really emotion and depth, as the (possible) concluding movie to the ‘Tolkien Middle Earth Cinematic Saga’.  Brilliant performances, and all round entertaining movie.  While, honestly (as a big ‘Hobbit’ fan) not the best in the trilogy, but a perfect conclusion to an epic journey.

4) GODZILLA

     This may come to a surprise to some.  This was a difficult one, having misleading trailers, and a response that has people loving or hating this movie.  I personally liked the movie.  Truthfully I was expecting more, but what we got was epic.  I loved the way the movie was directed, as it gave a sense of realism and maturity to a rather ‘goofy’ franchise.  Plus I saw the movie in IMAX 3-D, holy cow was that outstanding.  I seriously recommend it, sure it’s not going to appeal to everyone, but it’s a good time and you may, you may not, enjoy it.  I did and that’s why it’s on my list.

3) X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

     In the golden age of ‘superhero’ movies, the first and most mature franchise the ‘X-Men’ is resurrected with this masterpiece.  ‘Days of Future Past’ was unbelievably amazing.  From beginning to end I was hooked.  I loved the direction and development of the movie.  Plus it made the ‘X-Men’ great again.  Among all these phenomenal ‘superhero’ movies, the first ones rise up and prove themselves uncanny (pun intended) as well.  Please see this franchise and this movie and be engaged to some of the best ‘superhero’ movies around.

2) CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

     I have to be honest again, when the trailers for this movie came out, I wasn’t that interested.  ‘Captain America’s’ first movie wasn’t the best, and he was the avenger that impressed me the least in ‘Marvel’s Avengers Assemble’.  Except if this movie prove one thing, is that ‘Captain America’ is bad-ass.  Seriously the performances and directing really made ‘Cap’ come out of his shell and become a ‘superhero’ that everyone loves now.  To be honest this movie didn’t feel like a ‘superhero’ movie, it felt like a ‘spy thriller’ and was not a bad thing.  It was brilliantly executed and engaging throughout.  ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ is definitely worth a watch.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

(These had hype in 2014 and I either missed them, or have heard hype and positive reviews about them…)

‘The Imitation Game’

‘The Theory of Everything’

‘Whiplash’

‘Boyhood’

‘Birdman’

DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS

‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ – A really disappointing flick.

‘As Above So Below’ – A stupid and laughable horror flick.

‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ – I hate this movie!  Enough said!

1) DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

     I loved this movie.  The sequel to ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’, ‘Dawn’ takes the franchise to a new level that was vastly entertaining and ingenious.  This movie had perfect pacing, brilliant directing, more than a few epic moments.  But best of all the performances … Phenomenal!  You really feel for each character and they bring the world and plot to life.  Plus I really, really, loved the movies villain.  Sure we have the occasional good one in a good movie, but this villain had the perfect excuse to be the antagonist and you are sometimes on his side.  But all in all the perfect movie and Andy Serkis proves to be one of the most outstanding performers of our time.  A truly amazing motion picture, something I highly recommend, and something I love to bits.  ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ check it out.

     Thank you for reading my movie list, of my favourite movies of 2014.  What do you think?  Do you like these movies?  Am I right?  Am I out of my mind?  What was your favourite movie of 2014?  Please comment your answers below, and keep a watchful eye as more posts will come soon.  Thank you for reading and see you in the next blog.

Next Post: Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015  

First Post - Hello!

Hello!
     Good evening and welcome to the ENTERTAINMENT AWAKENED Movie Blogger.  I am your host, you may refer to me as 'The Jaffro'.  In this series of blogs I offer you the opportunity to be awakened to the form of entertainment that is movies.  I have loved and admired movies and cinema masterpieces from a young age, and this blog gives me the opportunity to express my love and passion of movies to you, my audience.

     I offer a range of reading material that talks about movies.  I offer reviews, top 10 lists, news posts, my thoughts on franchises, actors, directors etc., what if scenarios (where I talk about what I would have done if I was director of a certain movie), and many more.  I am your new and latest movie critic/blogger.  You may be thinking, why should I read your blogs, if you are no different from other critics that can easily be found on the world wide web.  Well yes, I am no different, except I offer these talks/blogs as a form of expressing my passion, as an individual that is perusing a career in acting, and one day wishes to take part in screen acting.  Plus this love and passion for movies, that I have, can be considered very "geeky" but I'm all for that in sharing and having conversations with you people if you share the same thoughts on a particular subject in movies.

     Which reminds me, if there are any fandom individuals reading, I will do many written work towards my own fandom likings.  I am a huge fan of the following: 'the Harry Potter series', 'the Marvel Cinematic Universe', 'Tolkien's Middle Earth saga', 'the Star Wars saga', 'the Doctor Who television series' and many more.  Only here can I truly express my so called "geekyness" with you people, and that is something I am proud and happy to do.  So without further or do, welcome to the ENTERTAINMENT AWAKENED Movie Blogger.

     First 'Official' Post will be uploaded shortly, I also take requests to what I should write about in future posts.  Thank you for reading and see you in the next blog.

Next Post - Top 10 Movies of 2014