Film Review - Irrational Man (2015)

Win uwantme2killhim? on DVD

To celebrate the release of uwantme2killhim? (eOne) on DVD, we have a copy to give away!

From Producer Bryan Singer (X-Men, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Usual Suspects) comes
uwantme2killhim?, a British thriller based on a true story. A fascinating and disturbing examination of the impact that the emerging online culture had on the lives of a generation, uwantme2killhim? brings together award-winning talent to tell a story more unbelievable than any fiction.

uwantme2killhim? is available to own on DVD from Monday 16th September.

When 16-year-old Mark, a handsome boy, popular with girls, meets local girl Rachel on the Internet, he quickly finds himself in an intense online relationship. Besotted, he will do anything for her – even befriend and defend – her awkward, loner brother, John, the perpetual target of school bullies. When Rachel, who is trapped in the grips of an abusive relationship, is murdered, Mark and John are determined to avenge her death. Their actions draw the attention of a female MI5 agent as they unwittingly stumble into an on-going operation. Soon, Mark is recruited to commit a devastating crime, one that made British legal history.

Based on true events in the UK in 2003, uwantme2killhim? is the story of a friendship of opposites and the hidden evils that lurk deep within the Internet.

To Win uwantme2killhim? on DVD please answer the following question:

Q.What Downton Abbey cast member stars in uwantme2killhim?

Email your answer, name, address including Postcode (subject is uwantme2killhim?)winatcinehouseuk@gmail.com You must be 15 years or older to enter.
Deadline for this competition is Sunday 6th October 2013 (23:59pm)(anyone who includes telephone number entry will be deleted automatically for security reasons)

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Terms&Conditions: You Must be a UK or Irish resident aged 15 or older to enter. If your successful and win the competition then you will be asked for Postal address to arrange deliver of the prize.The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse, eOne employees who have the right to alter, change or offer alternative prize without any notice. The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse takes no responsibility for delayed, lost, stolen prizes.Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control so please do not complain, we will tell you when prizes are sent to us, mostly all cops prizes come directly from the PR company representing the film distributor. Deadline Sunday 6th October 2013(23:59pm)..

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uwantme2KILLhim? DVD Review

Rating:
15
DVD/BD Release Date:
16th September 2013 (UK)
Stars:
Jamie Blackley, Toby Regbo, Jaime Winstone
Director:
Andrew Douglas
Buy uwantme2killhim?:
On DVD
Viewers may initially be taken aback when seeing the credits of upcoming British feature uwantme2killhim? What appears as a low-key thriller actually has some big Hollywood names behind it - including Bryan Singer and Bob and Harvey Weinstein. This should serve an indicator as to the promise that Andrew Douglas' (2005's The Amityville Horror) feature shows.

Based on a true story, the film details teenager Mark's (Jamie Blackley) growing obsession with the world of internet chatrooms and the dark, tragic consequences this ultimately builds up to.

The early stages of the film feature Mark on a chat-room speaking to cyber-girlfriend Rachel (Jaime Winston) who asks the teenager to look out for her "weird" brother John (Toby Regbo) who is bullied at school. Mike Walden's narrative may seem somewhat predictable from this description, and ultimately it is not difficult for viewers to work out which direction uwantme2killhim? is heading in. Yet despite this, Walden's screenplay is packed full of turns and erratic twists which makes getting to this outcome all the more fascinating and tragic.

uwantme2killhim? showcases the danger of chatrooms whilst also capturing the psychology of a sixteen year old, with the combination of the two resulting in shocking effects. We view the events from the perspective of teenage Jamie and see him be gradually manipulated on these chatrooms - making him all the more of a tragic hero.  However, as the narrative takes continuous twists at points uwantme2killhim? grows somewhat outlandish - best captured when Jamie begins conversations with Janet, 'a government agent.' I personally do not know of any sixteen year olds who would be so easily duped into thinking they were chatting to an MI6 agent on a web chat-room. However, there is ultimately some truth in this - with Douglas' feature being based on a true story, making the feature seem even more extraordinary.

Douglas crafts the feature with a sense of unease and suspense by reflecting Jamie's chatroom world with a variety of actors playing those he chats with  - from Liz White's Agent Janet to Jaime Winstone's troubled Rachel. We see all through Jamie's perspective with this style perfectly reflecting the somewhat vulnerable psychological mindset of teenagers - especially when manipulated in an online environment. This makes uwantme2killhim? feel like more than simply a British thriller but a tragic study into the teenage psyche and the dangers of the online world.

Jamie Blackley (who also impressed in EIFF's We Are the Freaks) is an outstanding lead, bringing a youthful innocence and likeability to the role of Jamie. The role - alongside Toby Regbo's brilliantly dark performance as John, won the festival's Best Performance in a British Feature Film award.

uwantme2killhim? is a darkly unnerving look at the online world and the dangers that come with it. It may be clear which trajectory the narrative is following, yet this ultimately works in the film's favour adding a sense of tragedy to this thriller.

★★★½☆

Andrew McArthur

[This is a repost of Edinburgh Film Festival review]

EIFF 2013 - UWANTMETOKILLHIM? Review

Rating:
15
Release Date:
25th June 2013 (EIFF), September 2013 (UK Cinema)
Stars:
Jamie Blackley, Toby Regbo, Jaime Winstone
Director:
Andrew DouglasViewers may initially be taken aback when seeing the credits of upcoming British feature uwantme2killhim? What appears as a low-key thriller actually has some big Hollywood names behind it - including Bryan Singer and Bob and Harvey Weinstein. This should serve an indicator as to the promise that Andrew Douglas' (2005's The Amityville Horror) feature shows.

Based on a true story, the film details teenager Mark's (Jamie Blackley) growing obsession with the world of internet chatrooms and the dark, tragic consequences this ultimately builds up to.

The early stages of the film feature Mark on a chat-room speaking to cyber-girlfriend Rachel (Jaime Winston) who asks the teenager to look out for her "weird" brother John (Toby Regbo) who is bullied at school. Mike Walden's narrative may seem somewhat predictable from this description, and ultimately it is not difficult for viewers to work out which direction uwantme2killhim? is heading in. Yet despite this, Walden's screenplay is packed full of turns and erratic twists which makes getting to this outcome all the more fascinating and tragic.

uwantme2killhim? showcases the danger of chatrooms whilst also capturing the psychology of a sixteen year old, with the combination of the two resulting in shocking effects. We view the events from the perspective of teenage Jamie and see him be gradually manipulated on these chatrooms - making him all the more of a tragic hero.  However, as the narrative takes continuous twists at points uwantme2killhim? grows somewhat outlandish - best captured when Jamie begins conversations with Janet, 'a government agent.' I personally do not know of any sixteen year olds who would be so easily duped into thinking they were chatting to an MI6 agent on a web chat-room. However, there is ultimately some truth in this - with Douglas' feature being based on a true story, making the feature seem even more extraordinary.

Douglas crafts the feature with a sense of unease and suspense by reflecting Jamie's chatroom world with a variety of actors playing those he chats with  - from Liz White's Agent Janet to Jaime Winstone's troubled Rachel. We see all through Jamie's perspective with this style perfectly reflecting the somewhat vulnerable psychological mindset of teenagers - especially when manipulated in an online environment. This makes uwantme2killhim? feel like more than simply a British thriller but a tragic study into the teenage psyche and the dangers of the online world.

Jamie Blackley (who also impressed in EIFF's We Are the Freaks) is an outstanding lead, bringing a youthful innocence and likeability to the role of Jamie. The role - alongside Toby Regbo's brilliantly dark performance as John, won the festival's Best Performance in a British Feature Film award.

uwantme2killhim? is a darkly unnerving look at the online world and the dangers that come with it. It may be clear which trajectory the narrative is following, yet this ultimately works in the film's favour adding a sense of tragedy to this thriller.

★★★½☆

Andrew McArthur

EIFF 2013 - We Are The Freaks Review

Rating: 15
Release Date: 22nd June 2013 (EIFF)
Director: Justin Edgar
Stars: Jamie Blackley, Sean Teale, Michael Smiley, Danielle Bux

Justin Edgar's We Are the Freaks sets out to challenge the conventions of the traditional teen-comedy, and it mostly does so with a cheeky sense of humour and fond nostalgia for the nineties.

We Are the Freaks follows working class Jack (Jamie Blackley) who dreams of going to university yet struggles to get funding. Jack's best-friend Chunks (Sean Teale) who dubs himself a "textbook underachiever" suggests a night-out that begins with gate crashing a party.

The setting of the early 1990s provides an exciting twist on the traditional teen comedy, allowing Edgar to pack his film with a soundtrack including the likes of New Order and The Happy Mondays which certainly adds a distinct and likeable character to the film. This era also means that Edgar can pack his screenplay with gags relevant to the nineties (as well as the usual teen comedy gross-out humour) resulting in a bizarre, yet rather amusing subplot involving Jack's friend Parson's unhealthy sexual attraction to Margaret Thatcher.

Edgar's distinct directorial style makes a refreshing change from what you would find in many other teen comedies. Direct dialogue to the camera is one such method, whilst Edgar's eye for impressive visuals can also be seen - especially in the film's earlier scenes showing Jack's mind at work in a drab office.

Despite being mostly amusing in its first two acts, We Are the Freaks soon takes a darker turn in its conclusion that feels somewhat out of place with the film's prior quirky and light-hearted tone. In building up to this moment it also appears that many of the gags have lost their steam - mainly as the characters hit respective low points.

For the most part the characters are all likeable and amusingly crafted. Jamie Blackley is an up-and-coming talent to watch - delivering a mature performance that is equally perfect when tackling either comedy or more emotional-heavy dramatic scenes. Sean Teale also displays a stellar comic ability, especially in hilarious sequences dealing with Adam Gillen's character Splodger (the brother of his crush, whose personality verges on psychotic).

We Are the Freaks is an amusing and charmingly nostalgic look at the nineties, even if it does seem to run out of steam towards the end.

★★★☆☆

Andrew McArthur

Vinyl Review

Washed-up punk-rocker Johnny Jones (Phil Daniels) begs a record company head-honcho to re-sign his band Weapons of Happiness after decades on the scrap-heap, only to be refused on the grounds that listening to anyone over the age of 30 sing is like “watching your parents having sex”. Faced with rejection, and staring at an anonymous middle-age spent in various caravan parks, Johnny hatches a plan to re-launch his music career. Assemble a group of TV-friendly kids as a front for his band; the kids can mime and wave, while Johnny and his pals roll back the years and kick out the jams backstage.

Johnny and his bandmates’ auditions for likely teenyboppers unearth the talents of troubled youngster Drainpipe (Jamie Blackley), a kid with a reckless streak, a passion at odds with the plastic, wipe-clean façade of the pop group he should be a poster boy for, and showmanship similar to that of Johnny himself. The band is launched, and their first single becomes an unlikely success.

Sara Sugarman’s warm-hearted tale of men behaving badly, and musically maladroit youths is based on the real-life story of Welsh band The Alarm who pulled of a similar hoax of their own in 2004. Vinyl extolls the virtues of six strings, pub gigs and cramped tour buses, over the auto-tuned, pre-packaged pop of X-Factor and the like. But while it invokes the spirit of the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and The Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle, Vinyl lacks the element of unpredictability so integral to the punk music it worships. It feels safer, less anarchic even than School Of Rock, a film with which it shares a certain DNA.

That’s not to say it lacks heart or humour. Daniels makes a decent fist of injecting sympathy into the selfish, pig-headed, oldest swinger in town, Johnny Jones. As the bad-boy of the Welsh seaside, Blackley radiates the impulsiveness and sex-appeal so obvious in the best and most dangerous of rock stars. Weapons of Happiness guitarist turned nursing home impresario, Perry Benson reminds us just what a fine comic actor he is also.

It probably won’t have you dusting off the leathers, but it will make you chuckle as it gives Simon Cowell a gentle kick up the backside.

Chris Banks (@Chris_in_2D)

★★★☆☆

Rating: 15
Release Date:1st March 2013 (UK)
Directed by: Sara Sugarman
Cast: Keith Allen, Phil Daniels , Jamie Blackley 

Raindance 2012:Vinyl Review

★★★☆☆

Washed-up punk-rocker Johnny Jones (Phil Daniels) begs a record company head-honcho to re-sign his band Weapons of Happiness after decades on the scrap-heap, only to be refused on the grounds that listening to anyone over the age of 30 sing is like “watching your parents having sex”. Faced with rejection, and staring at an anonymous middle-age spent in various caravan parks, Johnny hatches a plan to re-launch his music career. Assemble a group of TV-friendly kids as a front for his band; the kids can mime and wave, while Johnny and his pals roll back the years and kick out the jams backstage.

Johnny and his bandmates’ auditions for likely teenyboppers unearth the talents of troubled youngster Drainpipe (Jamie Blackley), a kid with a reckless streak, a passion at odds with the plastic, wipe-clean façade of the pop group he should be a poster boy for, and showmanship similar to that of Johnny himself. The band is launched, and their first single becomes an unlikely success.

Sara Sugarman’s warm-hearted tale of men behaving badly, and musically maladroit youths is based on the real-life story of Welsh band The Alarm who pulled of a similar hoax of their own in 2004. Vinyl extolls the virtues of six strings, pub gigs and cramped tour buses, over the auto-tuned, pre-packaged pop of X-Factor and the like. But while it invokes the spirit of the Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and The Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle, Vinyl lacks the element of unpredictability so integral to the punk music it worships. It feels safer, less anarchic even than School Of Rock, a film with which it shares a certain DNA.

That’s not to say it lacks heart or humour. Daniels makes a decent fist of injecting sympathy into the selfish, pig-headed, oldest swinger in town, Johnny Jones. As the bad-boy of the Welsh seaside, Blackley radiates the impulsiveness and sex-appeal so obvious in the best and most dangerous of rock stars. Weapons of Happiness guitarist turned nursing home impresario, Perry Benson reminds us just what a fine comic actor he is also.

It probably won’t have you dusting off the leathers, but it will make you chuckle as it gives Simon Cowell a gentle kick up the backside.

Chris Banks (@Chris_in_2D)

Rating: 15
Screening Dates: Thursday 27 September ,Monday 1 October (15:00), 1st March 2013 (UK)
Directed by: Sara Sugarman Cast: Keith Allen, Phil Daniels , Jamie Blackley