Cornetto Loses Its Flavour.

The World's End = 54%

So it's Saturday night - it's pouring with rain, you haven't made any plans, and you've got work early in the morning - What do you do? You seek one of the best cures to the halt the 'cabin fever' that quickly consumes you; you stick on a comedy movie and chill out with your family.

By picking 'The World's End', the climactic third act in director Edgar Wright's fabled 'Cornetto Trilogy', I would have put money on the trend continue and uncontrollable laughter filling our household. 'Shaun of the Dead' was fantastic, 'Hot Fuzz' was even better (in my opinion), surely with the third movie Wright along with series mainstays Simon Pegg and Nick Frost were going to up the ante. Sadly, no.

Edgar Wright

Maybe I was disappointed simply because I had built up such high expectation. With the first two installments Wright had a winning formula - a great scripts, and a wonderful British cast to deliver its sharp wit creating non-stop hilarity. For me 'Hot Fuzz' was a non-stop riot of side-splitting laughter, and that's trying to avoid using hyperbole. Comedy zigged and zagged for the whole 2 hours between Pegg and Frost, and its success caused Wright's directorial star to continues its rise up the cinematic ladder.

I thought where 'Hot Fuzz' left off, 'The World's End' would pick up the baton - Unfortunately I was wrong. Without sounding too harsh, it may just be me, the humour almost seemed to evaporate completely. I still can't quite put my finger on why, but often the movie even seemed dull to me. Admittedly it did make me laugh, but very sporadically, and never really in a 'laugh out loud' sense. At places I even found I was forcing myself to laugh, perhaps subconsciously trying to justify my purchase of the DVD for £14.99.

Yes, the cast is still brilliant. Pegg and Frost are fantastic, and their strong friendship off the screen is easily transformed into powerful comedic chemistry. I also appreciated Martin Freeman and Paddy Considine being raised to more effectual roles, but the movie did not do their comedic potential justice. Rosamund Pike and Eddie Marsan were also introduced as 'newcomers' to the trilogy but made no real impact and almost seemed to become bit-part players in a needlessly complicated story.

A good point about this movie is that is shows Wright's ability as a director, ability that will only grow in the coming years. What it lacks in laughs it somewhat makes up for in set-pieces, visual effects and fight-scene choreography. What's even more commendable is that Wright directed this picture on an estimated $28m budget, which is no mean feat! Something this movie has got me excited about is the Marvel studios' 'Ant-Man' due for release in 2015, with Wright in the director's chair. Obviously, Marvel are not an organisation known for doing things by halves and will undoubtedly give Wright a budget in excess of $100m, which is a truly mouth-watering prospect for comic-book fans across the globe!

Reading this review back maybe I will give 'The World's End' another look over, perhaps I've been too hasty. It is humorous, there are an abundance of cleverly orchestrated action sequences that are easy on the eye; and I just can't help but love its delightful cast. Nonetheless, when 'The World's End' could have rounded off 'The Cornetto Trilogy' with a legacy cementing swansong, it concludes on a bit of a bum note.

If I've annoyed you with this review, or you're having a bad day anyway, here's Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio continuing their blossoming romance to cheer you up!

A Pinch of Finch

Just a a brief round up of some movie news, and some great new trailers for you all!

First up is action movie '3 Days to Kill' starring Kevin Costner and Amber Heard:

I saw this described on a website as potentially being "Kevin Costner's Taken". It does look quite promising, and it's great to see Costner back in a leading role. It was a nice to see Costner return to box office success in 'Man of Steel' earlier this year, and for a man who dominated Hollywood in the early 90s, this could be his opportunity to remodel himself as a born again action hero just like Liam Neeson did. The film also appears to have some comedy moments and it seems like it would be a great "popcorn flick" to watch with your mates.

Next, we have the long awaited 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes':

By contrast this doesn't give too much away, but it certainly gets the heart racing. After laying the groundwork in 2011's prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes, we now pick up on the story 15 years later with humans and apes engaged in all-out war. This sequel is highly anticipated and though we're not sure what it will entail altogether, the menacing sight of Caesar at the head of an ape army and the gravitas tones of Gary Oldman screaming that he needs to speak with him has us counting down the days until its release next year.

Finally we have romantic comedy 'Blended' with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore:

The premise reminds me a little of 'Just Go With It', another Sandler venture, but I'm convinced that if Sandler and Barrymore can recapture some of the chemistry we saw between them in '50 First Dates' then this one will guarantee plenty of laughs. Blended is also due out next year.

As for today's news:

Warner Bros. are said to be interested in casting Joaquim Phoenix in the role of Lex Luthor for their upcoming Batman vs. Superman movie. With 2000's 'Gladiator' Phoenix proved he had the acting chops to take on the role of the lead villain, and this speculation seem to startle anyone in the same way the Batfleck scandal did earlier in the year.

Keeping with superhero movies Marvel are said to be holding talks with Paul Rudd over the casting of the titular character 'Ant-Man' in the forthcoming 2015 movie, directed by Edgar Wright. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's name was also in circulation a few weeks ago, but it now seems Rudd has established himself as front-runner for the role.

And to finish just thought I'd share this video of this guy I came across on Facebook, I think he's pretty talented. Enjoy!