Movie Preview: Grand Budapest Hotel

One of the films we are most looking forward to this year is Grand Budapest Hotel, we give you a little glimpse inside the lobby....

Gustave may be aloof and snobbish in many ways, but he's also extremely charming with a good heart and a titanic personality. As result he makes for a highly popular concierge at the Grand Budapest Hotel, who regularly entertains guests in more ways than one. He is charged with training up an inexperienced young lobby boy named Zero Moustafa who he soon bonds with.

When one of his one night stands, the elderly Madame D, is found murdered in her hotel room, Zero is first by his side to defend him against her family and the authorities who are quick to accuse Gustave of the crime.

Watch an official clip, The Police Arrive

Things become more intense when her will reveals her wish to bestow a valuable painting to her lover, entitled Boy With Apple, and Gustave and Zero are forced to flee. However, they are not alone as Zero falls for an attractive guest named Agatha who helps them hide the painting while Gustave protests his innocence.

Watch an official clip, The Escape

This charismatic and deeply funny comedy mystery is based during the vibrant era of 1920s Europe. 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' is directed and written by Wes Anderson ('Fantastic Mr. Fox', 'Rushmore', 'The Royal Tenenbaums') and is set for release in the UK on March 7th 2014. We cant wait.

All star cast includes: Ralph Fiennes, Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Lea, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel

The full trailer:

Movie Review: The Monuments Men , less Schindlers List, More Kelly's Heroes

I love the history of this story.  The film focuses on an Allied squad of seven museum directors, curators, and art historians. They are tasked with entering Germany with the Allied forces during the closing stages of the second World War to rescue artworks plundered by the Nazis, saving them from destruction or damage, and returning them to their rightful owners. I love the idea of it, and its surprising nobody has considered turning it into a movie before, especially given all the reboots knocking about.

Its a stellar cast for this movie, Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett with Clooney also stepping into the writers chair but on balance I think watch a documentary about the story on The History Channel instead as on this occasion “The Monuments Men” misses the mark with the delivery of this story.

For me the tone at times was a bit too light hearted with jokes and dialog that would help keep the movie light, and fun, yet in the middle of bombed and destroyed Europe during the end of WWII.  Other times it seems full of its own self importance, stuffy and it made the tone of this movie feel wrong. . It seems Clooney has attempted to tell the story without falling into the trap of every other WWII movie, but it felt like he couldn't get the tone right and it made the whole movie seem awkward and a little too Band of Brothers derivitive.

For these reasons I think that this movie probably is best viewed via Netflix or whatever your online rental store of choice is.. for me you can skip it in the cinema however.  It just isn't good enough to shell out cold hard for, even on Orange Wednesdays.

I guess The Monuments Men is not quite dire enough to make anybody’s list of all-time flops, but it’s close and clearly the studio thought so too as even the best-loved man in Hollywood cannot have enjoyed seeing his project pulled from the profitable autumn Oscar season and dumped in the frozen wasteland of February.

Watch the trailer..

Review - The Wolf of Wall Street

Now not many films start with a blow job and snorting cocaine off a strippers ass in the first 2 minutes of the movie.  As with all Scorsese movies he is never going to hold back from controversy and seems very afraid of the edit suite, but The Wolf Of Wall Street in its 3 hours pushes those boundaries as far as they can go. It is though wonderful story telling and has the quality and message that only Marty can deliver.we associate with Scorsese.


Its is an amazing, sex and drug fueled blast through the excesses of the 80′s and 90′s. The greed of one man and his money making cult, clearly taking Wall Street on a few notches.  Its visually stunning, and morally reprehensible.  


It is funny, and tragic, and a wonderful movie.  Jonah Hill is amazing again.  Joanna Lumley elegantly steals the scenes she has. Leo will undoubtedly be on the best actor of the year list with this performance.  It is masterful and might finally get him his Oscar to follow up on this weeks Golden Globe win.

At 3 hours this is a movie commitment and test of your cineplexs seats not often seen anymore.  It never feels long however as the pace doesnt drop. 
It was a shock to come out the cinema and find it was dark.

I admit, I am not a Leo fan, so the fact I recommend this movie show what a shift he puts in on this.