HER - FILM REVIEW

 Release Date: 14th February 2014 (UK)

Age Certificate: 15

Running Time: 126 mins

Director: Spike Jonze

Writer: Spike Jonze

Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson

'Her' is one of the greatest futuristic films ever. Partly because it’s so scarily close in the future that it’s funny. Especially when you look at the story. 

A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system that's designed to meet his every need. 

What this film really surprised me with was the level of involvement you get when watching it. From reading the synopsis you think to yourself, am I really going to believe this? It’s really weird when sitting down to watch it. You know it’s going to be good. It’s Spike Jonze! You’re just wondering how he's going to pull it off. But he does, with amazing success.

Joaquin Phoenix is a truly wonderful actor, I really started to appreciate his acting finesse in The Master, since then when I look back at his older films I can see that talent there. In his ever growing career his talent is only getting stronger. Scarlett Johansson is strangely brilliant. How can you create an amazing performance while using just your voice? However, I still think they should have used an unknown actress to voice it. The reason being, I had her face in my mind, and that isn’t the aim of the film. If it was a voice you hadn’t heard before, it would keep the mystery alive. Maybe that’s just me. 

Directing wise, this is one of Spike Jonze’s best, if not the best. He is a gifted film maker and if he carries on making films that are written as well as directed by him, it would be the start of something fantastic. 

The soundtrack by Arcade Fire is also top notch; you can’t go wrong with a bit of Arcade Fire. 

‘Her’ is astounding, visually, musically, and emotionally. By the way this film is shot and styled it makes me want to jump into the future. 

8.5/10

The Prestige Review

Release Date: 10 November 2006

Age Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 130 mins

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Christopher Nolan

Stars: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson

Review:

Six years after Memento was released Christopher Nolan returned with another amazing physiological thriller. It starts head to head magicians set in the 20^th Century, played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, they compete against each other to try and one up each other in rival magic shows. Michael Caine, David Bowie and Scarlett Johansson round up this fantastic cast; there are no weak links in this film regards to acting. The head to head magician’s story takes a turn for the worst, they seek revenge, trickery and apparently murder. That is how you keep the audience interested.

Christopher Nolan’s script is tight and keeps the viewer on the edge of their seats. It really asks for the viewer to ‘watch closely’, as Michael Caine may say. The magnificence is also followed by the dialogue and sequences. This is a film which cannot be easily explained, you will have to watch it over and over again to get a real grip on this story.

The Prestige’s moral is that everybody believes they have to be the better man, no matter what the costs shall be. The final twists in the ending scenes left me gob smacked and demanding for an explanation from Nolan himself.  This film must be experienced first hand, if you have not laid your eyes on this motion picture, go out right now and buy.

9.7/10

Here's the trailer: