Rebel Without a Pause Button

Made over two weeks with a budget of a little over $3 million, Whiplash is one of those films that prove you don't need A-list actors and big budgets to create a storm in the film industry. From the director Damien Chazelle's struggles to fund the movie to a best picture nomination at the Oscars, it has been an incredible success, for a reason. It's brilliant.  Andrew (Miles Teller) is an ambitious young student at Shaffer, the best music school in the country, and aspires to be one of the greatest drummers of all time. To his surprise, the conductor of the best jazz group in the school, Terence Fletcher (J.K Simmons), brings him into his band but it soon becomes clear that Fletcher is a rather "unusual" conductor. He pushes his players to the limit and becomes particularly frustrated by Anthony who struggles to keep up. Fletcher's violent and extreme methods push Anthony to the limit, beginning to destroy his personal life and his relationships with f...

Nominated for five awards at this year's Oscars, The Theory of Everything is a hot contender for best picture and in particular best actor. This is absolutely deserved as Eddie Redmayne is just stunning in his portrayal of Stephen Hawking, expressing him so well both emotionally and physically. The film deserves all the hype that surrounds it and Redmayne should definitely be rewarded with the high quality roles that will inevitably follow this work of art. Based on the memoir "Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen" by Hawking's first wife Jane, the film explores their early days together, Stephen's success in the world of psychics, the diagnosis of his motor neurone disease and the effect this has on his life and his family. The early scenes depict the charismatic, young professor and his blossoming relationship with Jane. It is beautifully and thoughtfully shot, and the two leads have wonderful chemistry throughout. Many will not ha...

What more is there to say about one of the most well-known sci-fi movies? We all know of the bullet time, the red pill or the blue pill and Agent Smith. Everyone remembers  Morpheus,  the long, black coats and the dark shades. While the legacy it created is very impressive, it's also necessary to look at the movie on its own, without being influenced by its success. Reeve's plays Thomas Anderson who lives a double life. Whilst by day he works at a dull desk job, he is also a hacker known simply as Neo. When contacted by the mysterious and deadly Trinity, he finds himself in danger from the Agents, who aim to take down these hackers. The early dramatic scene showing Neo's attempt to escape from the Agents introduces us to the excellent camera work utilised in the action. The viewer feels very involved in the pace of these scenes, as it closely follows Neo's movements without too many cuts that are often used in modern action films and sometimes can be to dist...

Based on a true story, Foxcatcher follows the story of the US Olympic wrestlers Mark and Dave Schultz and their relationship with the odd, eccentric millionaire John du Pont. While the true nature of these events are relatively well known at the moment due to the film's release, I won't detail too much of the story in this review, as I feel the less you know about it the more impact it will have. The film at first focuses on Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum), who, though winning Olympic gold, lives a lowly life with little recognition of his achievements. He receives a mysterious phone call from du Pont, who brings Schultz to his estate and proposes the creation of a wrestling team. The proposition of earning big and sporting fame eventually wins over Schultz, who accepts. As the team progress towards the World Championships, the strange, worryingly detached "friendship" between Mark and du Pont seems to grow but also regress. A particular...