Directed by Marc Webb, Gifted is a film that analyses human connections and family relationships. Webb’s technique focuses on the characters and their journey and most of the film is shot closer to the protagonists to showcase their body language and facial expressions.

Without wearing the superhero uniform, Chris Evans is, once again, dressing the part of a man ready to sacrifice his life to protect his niece from the world who took her mother away from her.

After losing his sister, Frank is left with his young niece and has to take care of her. However, Mary is not an ordinary child. Just like her mother, she is gifted with a brilliant mind with an inclination for solving math problems.

Frank knows it and he wants to protect her from her grandmother, Evelyn, whose only intention is to use her gift to prove one of the most difficult physics’ theory, just like she did with her own daughter.

The bond between Frank and Mary is strong. The passionate reactions they have to what happens during the film are even stronger because of the camera constantly following them at close range. Frank will fight against his mother to keep Mary and let her have a normal life balancing it between her passion for math and her need to have a childhood.

This scrutiny also highlights the actors’ commitment to their characters.

The movie is carried on both Chris Evans and Mckenna Grace’s shoulders. Both of them truly become Frank and Mary. Their bond feels real and the affection for each other is palpable throughout the film. Chris Evans’ talent is ever present in each scene. His commitment to the story is remarkable as well as his deep understanding of his character’s story. As usual, he gives his best performance during the most dramatic moments for Frank, showcasing all his rage and frustration of not being able to take care of his niece.

Mckenna Grace is a natural and her presence brings light on the screen. Particularly remarkable in her performance are the several moments in which Mary feels betrayed by Frank. Her reaction is strong and raw and in those moments the audience feels closer to her pain and more involved in the story.

Along with them, Octavia Spencer is the perfect support actress who is there to compliment the two protagonists’ work and commitment to the story.

Lindsay Ducan’s portray of the ruthless Evelyn is impeccable. Her character doesn’t fall into the stereotypical antagonist. Evelyn is a well rounded woman who lost so much in her life and is shaped by all her losses. However, in the end she has the chance to redeem herself and all her past mistakes by compromising with Frank. Duncan is capable of highlighting both Evelyn’s strength and weaknesses in the blink of an eye and her strong conflict with Chris Evans’ Frank feels even more real, thanks to their deep understanding of their characters.

Even though it is a movie highly focused on emotions and human connections, it can’t be considered a tearjerker. Throughout the film, there are a couple of scenes in which it is almost easy to shed a tear, however the narrative doesn’t cut too deep into the pain and gives to the audience a quick positive resolution.

Although Webb doesn’t risk it by exploiting the dramatic side of the story, Gifted is a strong and emotional film that delicately analyses human relationships and family bond. It wants to remind us that no matter the most extraordinary circumstances, family will always be the only thing that really matter.

Gifted is out now UK cinemas.

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When in need of a good laugh and a film that will only give you two hours to turn off your brain, Baywatch is the movie that will do just that.

Strongly advertised and buzzed in the industry as the Hollywood remake of the homonymous popular 1990’s TV series, Baywatch is the modern take on the famous series which launched heroes running on a beach in slow motion to save lives.

Lieutenant Mitch Butchannon (Dwayne Johnson) and his lifeguard squad are famous for protecting the beach and the community day after day. Thieves and danger are their bread and butter, and their courage is admired by everyone, except the police, who want them away from their jurisdiction.

However, a new crime lord is in town, the determined and cold blooded Victoria Leeds. And Mitch, Stephenie, CJ and the new recruits won’t stay away from danger in order to keep Baywatch safe.

As far as action packed comedy movies go, Baywatch ticks all the boxes to be an entertaining film that provides two hours of laugh and mindless amusement.

Apart from being filled with action scenes and explosions left and right, the strongest point of the film is its comic thread.

It is a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously and it exploits the male gaze. An aspect which was dominant in the original tv series, by overusing close ups on the bikini clad bodies of the main actresses and making fun of the slow motion that was always implemented when the Baywatch team was running to save the day.

The whole cast is victim and maker of the many jokes used in the film. However, Zac Efron’s character is the one that gets targeted the most. Matt Brody gets all the nicknames on the book, from One direction to High school musical ones, alluding at Efron’s former career as a teenage heartthrob.

Brody himself is made out of every American cliché possible. He is cocky and believes that he can get away with everything because he is an Olympic medalist. Underneath all that arrogance, however, we discover loyalty and courage. He is just a lost guy looking to redeem himself and Efron is capable of portraying all these conflicting aspects, making his character evolve throughout the film.

In spite of always being portrayed on camera as almost naked, with their bodies over exposed, all the female characters have strong personalities and they are there as equals to the male protagonists. They don’t shy away from making dirty jokes and even though one would think that this particular product is filled with double standards, all the heroines think out of the box and out of the gender norms.

Dwayne Johnson carries the film on his shoulders and his character functions as the moral compass for the rest of the cast. He is respected by the team and feared by his enemies. Mitch believes in tough love and teamwork. He encourages his recruits and is not afraid of putting them in their places, especially Brody.

As one can expect from a Seth Gordon’s movie, Baywatch is the perfect mix between action and comedy. He pays tribute to the original tv series with a couple of nice cameos and easter eggs throughout the movie. He is capable of creating a film that entertains the audience with self-deprecating humor and the right amount of explosions and a plot that doesn’t feel too trivial.

Baywatch is out now in every UK cinema.

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Rumoured to be the last instalment of Disney’s successful Swashbuckler saga, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge looks like the perfect ending to the heroic tales of Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew of sails-men.

Once again the drunk captain is at the centre of every trouble. This time a warship filled with vengeful Spaniards, guided by Captain Salazar (Javier Barden), is looking for him to seek revenge after they have been cursed by faith. Still blindly following his desire for wealth, with a new ship and the help of Henry Turner and Carina Smyth – a young astronomer looking for her father’s legacy, they will embark on the quest to find the trident that can break all curses and of course save the captain’s life once again. Every single one of them is looking for this treasure for their own needs. However, together they will work to save each other and the ones they love.

Like every other movie in this saga, Disney takes another legend from the sea to be the background on another impossible adventure. The plot follows the same successful tread as the others while introducing new characters who are taking the place of Sparrows’ old frenemies.

The whole movie seems like a dance around the famous captain and his past. The two new characters are introduced immediately and while we already know the connection Henry has to the past movies, Carina Smyth is a mystery until the very end. The cast works together just like a family. Most of them have been with the franchise since the beginning and their camaraderie and bond are clear, giving that sense of familiarity to the audience. The new additions, from Barden playing the villain to Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites portraying the new good guys, are not left out and they instantly fell into the group dynamics as if they have been always a part of it.

Even though the structure of the film is always the same and has already been employed in the previous installments, the movie doesn’t feel repetitive. Also, thanks to the comedy thread the tension breaks in the right places, giving time to the audience to enjoy the fast pace of the film.

While this new expedition gives to some of the characters the chance to show their constant evolution throughout the saga, some of their familiar behaviours are still there, since in the end, pirates never change.

Johnny Deep brought once again on the screen the drunk captain. Most of the time his character is the one that brings the comic relief in the film, with his careless behaviour and extravagant ideas, which are always successful in the end. His relationship with his crew is always the same even though, among the many betrayals, there is always some sort of loyalty. 

Javier Barden is, as usual, on another level when it comes to his acting skills and his performance. He compliments Geoffrey Rush’s Captain Barbossa perfectly. Both of them bring maturity to the plot and Barbossa’s story acquires depth with this fifth film. 

The battles between ships are as usual a feast for the eyes. The choreographies are terrific and it seems like watching a dance among titans. Every ship is unique and it matches the personality of the captain guiding it. The CGI implemented to portray this world stuck between reality and fantasy is flawless and it hypnotizes the audience throughout the film.

Even after five movies, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge is a highly entertaining film that follows the thread of Disney’s plan to broaden their audience with stories made for adults who still like to see fantasy mixing with harsh reality.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge is out in UK cinemas Friday 26th May 2017.

The post Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge [Review] appeared first on The Realistic Optimist.

Presented at last year’s London Film Festival and being released on the 21st of April across the UK, Their Finest is a delightful British comedy drama that covers one of the darkest moment in British history during world war II from a different perspective than the ones already used in Cinema.

Directed by Lone Scherfig, the film is set during the London bombings in WWII. In a city broken by constant destruction and casualties, an English film crew is trying to create a propaganda movie to motivate the American allies to give their support to Europe against the Reich.

Since all men are employed in the war, among the screenwriters Catrin Cole has her chance to finally give women their voices in movies no matter how difficult the rest of the crew and actors are making it for her, especially her co-writer Tom Buckley. In their mission to tell an unknown story of courage and loyalty, Catrin and her fellow screenwriters will find solace in their work and each other during one of the darkest moment in the world history.

As a celebration of Britain’s strength and stoicism during tough times, their finest embodies all that it is beautiful of this culture in a film that embraces both light comedy and drama.

Lone Scherfig shows once again her elegant and honest style in portraying a simpler era in which human connections were the only thing keeping people sane. The camera follows the characters closely to highlight all their reactions and emotions. The audience gets a front seat to the action and sees how everything affects the life of each character.

The heaviness of war’s destruction and the loss endured by the UK is balanced out by the comic relief that is purely British. The old fashioned, but still contemporary “Keep Calm & Carry On” is ever present and celebrated by the movie crew determined to create a movie that showcases heroism as well as lifting the spirit with hope for better times.

The cast ensemble couldn’t be more perfect and made of the finest British actors. Gemma Arterton is disarming. Her Catrin is strong and stubborn, she knows what she wants and is not afraid to speak up for herself in a room full of men. Arterton once again showcased her talent in understanding her character and getting lost in her. She is capable of showing vulnerability and strength in the flick of an eye, making it easy for the audience to create an emotional connection with Catrine.

Her chemistry with Sam Claflin is delicate and real. Their relationship grows through the movie and it is astonishingly beautiful to see how natural it seems for them to act together. Claflin’s character is less carefree and hopeful, but in a way it balances out the Arterton counterpart’s profound innocence. Tom Buckley is a headstrong man, who can’t help is country in a more significant way and his mission to contribute to the war is to create the perfect movie that won’t ridicule, diminish or worse celebrate what going to war really means. Among this incredible talent the movie is also held together by the rest of the cast. Bill Nighy, Richard E. Grant, Eddie Marsan and Helen McCrory, to name just a few, supported the main actors brilliantly giving more shape and character to the story.

With a delicate cinematography, that employs the typical sepia tone to infuse the 40’s atmosphere, Their Finest is a classic British comedy drama that in portraying one of the darkest and hopeless moments in history wants to remind the strength and perseverance of the British people and it does so with elegance and irony. Definitely a must see.

Their Finest can now be seen in cinemas across the UK.

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Throughout the play the plan starts to take form and, after recruiting his girlfriend Caprice, a corrupt guard at his prison and Caprice’s new secret flame, they will set everything in motion to steal the precious diamond of a Hungarian Prince. However, Mitch and his fellow partners in crime are not the only crooks in town and stealing the diamond doesn’t seem so easy after all.

There are so many things that can be said about The Comedy about A Bank Robbery, and they will never be enough to describe how witty, sarcastic and hilarious it is. From the moment the curtains lift until the very brilliant end, the audience doesn’t have time to catch their breath and stop laughing.

The cast is so energetic throughout the entire performance. The whole play is made of jokes, double meanings and innuendoes which help create such a comical and uplifting atmosphere. The situations that all these misunderstanding creates are beyond hilarious. There is never a moment in which the audience is not laughing. Particularly worth of notice is a scene in which two characters are trying to escape a potentially problematic situation and they engage in a game of charades and it just sparks up the scene in a magically funny way.

The scenography is dynamic and the actors move it around during the play by implementing musical sketches to entertain the audience while changing the scenes. So not only they keep the background changing, but they also showcase their many talents without slowing down or halting the play, which acquires a smooth flow.

The whole cast’s ability to lose themselves in their characters makes them all likeable to the audience, to the point in which every plot twist makes everyone gasp and feel emotionally invested in their fate. Jeremy Lloyd’s talent is particularly worth mentioning. He plays literally “everyone else” giving to all his characters a different characteristic that makes them unique even if played by the same person. His way of engaging with the audience is effortless and along with Tania Mathurin, Miles Yekinni, Hannah Boyce and Steffan Lloyd-Evans the play comes alive in a flare of entertainment.

By building up a simple story about a theft, The Comedy About a Bank Robbery brings to the stage the perfect play to entertain, move and engage the audience in such a brilliant ad successful way that the two hours spent with them are going to magically disappear, leaving you with the need to stay and watch this comedy again.

More details and tickets for The Comedy About a Bank Robbery can be found on the official website.

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After been broadcast on ITV back in September, the successful British crime drama Paranoid is being released on dvd in the UK for everyone to add up to their collection.

Set in the fictional Woodmere police department in the UK, this thriller follows three detectives trying to solve a case involving a physician being stabbed to death in a children’s playground.

During the course of the 8 episodes clues and witnesses start piling up, and the three colleagues find on their hands a much bigger case involving a pharmaceutical company based in Germany.

Throughout their investigation they have to deal with setbacks as well as the help of a ghost detective who is anonymously trying to point them in the right direction to solve this intricate case.

When it comes to thrillers and crime fictions it is really easy to fall down the same dynamics already seen in many TV series. However, Paranoid moves away from that and prefers to focus on a single crime and carry it until the final resolution, taking a similar path marked down by the American series “True Detective”.

The structure of the story is linear and the attention always focuses on the murder, which forms the baseline in each episode. The more the story unfolds the newer pieces of information are uncovered

The suspense keeps on building up with each episode and even when the detectives seem to get closer to solve the murder, at the end something happens that either move the investigation forward towards a new direction or forces them to change strategy.

The cast ensemble work together effortlessly. Their chemistry as a group is genuine, although the presence of the romance between two of the three detectives seems a bit off and it doesn’t add much to the story itself.

As clear reminder of the title, throughout the episodes, there is always a sense of lingering paranoia felt by the main characters which transfers to the audience as well, keeping them on the edge of their seats.

The characterization of every protagonist is not superficial, on the contrary, it builds up piece by piece during the 8 episodes. The audience gets to know all of them and the more the story moves forward the more a clear picture of the characters’ personalities as well as their past is given without interfering with the main plot. Both aspects are intertwined together and they help keeping the pace of the episodes steady and smooth.

Even though some aspects of this production aren’t perfect, Paranoid is a well developed crime thriller that entertains the audience while telling a gripping story that will keep everyone on edge until the end.

Paranoid is out on DVD now in the UK.

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In a Hollywood that is struggling to bring to the screens any original ideas, La La Land, written and directed by Damien Chazelle, recreates that magical atmosphere that only classical old movies did in the 1940s, adding a special spark to them thanks to a triumph of colours and a renovated respect and love for Jazz music.

The narrative is quite linear and simple. The whole plot revolves around Mia and Sebastian’s story and it follows them through the first year of their relationship. Both Mia and Sebastian have dreams for their futures, she is a barista who wants to write a script for a one woman show and fulfil her desire to become an actress in LA, while Sebastian is a pianist who venerates Jazz music and wants to open a club entirely dedicated to celebrate this genre by playing it live for his patrons.

From the first date, to their first fight, their love story becomes the background of their journey together to learn that no matter what, they should never forget their final goals and that the most important thing is to never give up when it becomes hard and their dreams seem so far away and impossible to achieve.

While it might seem that this story has been told too many times already, what makes La La Land special is the way in which Chazelle made it unique by turning it into a musical that celebrates both music and dance. The opening scene is something special that came out of the most amazing musical and with brilliant colours, talented dancers and a great soundtrack, the story comes to life with a special spark.

It is precisely the vibrant tones employed in each scene that make this movie a feast for the eyes. From the costume to the locations, everything is covered by some sort of magical glaze that makes the shades rich and warm with that specific quality that reminds of the first coloured movie. Deep blue, red and bright yellow are the tonality used more often and they help create and build the romantic and nostalgic mood of the movie.

Two more aspects that are employed to set up the emotional connection between the story and the audience are the incredible music and the majestic choreographies created by Justin Hurwitz and Mandy Moore. Chazelle already proved his love for music and Jazz in the acclaimed Whiplash and this time, with Hurwitz help, he doesn’t only celebrates this particular style, it uses it to celebrate the Hollywood of the past, during its golden age, that, with easiness, was able to tell lighthearted stories that would move the audience to tears for their simplicity.

Deeply intertwined with the acted scenes in a well balanced flow, the musical aspect of the movie doesn’t diminish its power to showcase the soul of the story, on the contrary, it brings it to the surface, making the film even more entertaining and enjoyable, giving the chance to the actors to showcase their many talents while at the same time build a strong connection with the audience.

Between panoramic shots and the breathtaking closeups of the main actors, La La Land is an outpouring of emotional as well as well-balanced comic and sarcastic scenes that, along with the fast paced music, give to the film a pressing rhythm that makes the running time fly by.

The cast ensemble did a phenomenal job in bringing to life the complex dancing numbers as well as their characters. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling once again used their formidable chemistry, already proved in past projects, to make Mia and Sebastian’s love story even more believable. Both of them show their raw and all around talent in every scene, especially during the dancing choreographies. Their commitment to their roles makes it extremely easy for the audience to create an emotional bond with them and be completely invested in their story.

All in all, La La Land is Chazelle’s love letter to Hollywood’s Golden age. A movie that celebrates  the past by marrying it with the future and harmonising them together with an explosion of colours and perfect comedy timing.

 La La Land is out now in cinemas across the UK.

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