Cinemania

The Hole

2010-10-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

Director: Joe Dante
Starring: Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett & Nathan Gamble

A fun, family film that shows brings back scares into family films whilst also showing the horror films need not be targeted solely at adults or rely on gore to produce and effective shocker.

Joe Dante made his name throughout the late 70s, the 80s and the 90s for making both horror films like Piranha, The Howling and Gremlins and family friendly adventures like Inner Space and The Explorers all of which possessed a B-Movie sensibility, some even qualifying as B-Movies themselves. Having not made anything for cinemas since 2003’s Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Dante now returns to movies with The Hole, a horror film that is suitable for younger audiences but also possesses sufficient scares to appeal to adults without having to resort to the violence or gore that dominates most horror films. The result, released in cinemas in 3D, is an enjoyable and effective shocker that possesses many of the familiar and enjoyable Dante trademarks.

17 year old Dane (Massoglia) and his 10 year old brother Lucas (Gamble) have just moved to the quiet town of Bensonville with their mother, the latest in a string of moves. With little to do, the pair are introduced to Julie (Bennett) who lives next door who then discover a trapdoor in the basement of their new home. Opening it out of curiosity, they find the hole is seemingly bottomless and generates a feeling of unease and eeriness. When the three start finding themselves haunted by visions of a little girl, a sinister clown and more. The three realize the hole may lead to hell and whatever lies within is bringing their fears to life with their efforts to recover the hole fraught with failure. Can they reseal the whole and can they overcome their fears and stop the darkness that escaping it?

Joe Dante’s return to cinema with The Hole, shows he has not lost the skills for humour or scares that he demonstrated throughout the 1980s and 90s even if his last film, Looney Tunes: Back in Action was less well received in 2001. Toning down a horror film so that it is suitable for younger audiences as well as adults may seem a difficult task if not for Dante himself showing it quite possible in his earlier filmmaking career but doing so today seems fresh and daring when horror has mostly gone towards extreme violence and gore. The Hole is a very enjoyable film that derives it scares from spooky lighting and eerie looking figures placing the film into the horror sub-genre of chiller film. While the ghost of a little girl or a seemingly possessed clown doll may not be that original as sources of fear, they feel quite welcome and almost fresh here with both providing ample opportunity for scares with the latter even having moments of humour not unlike the type associated with the Gremlins that Dante introduced to audiences in the 1980s. The hole itself also oozes menace with the only real threat to the characters that struggles to generate as much scares being the shadowed figure that is the source of Dane’s fear even though Dane’s confrontation of this fear leads to an interesting finale with set design reminiscent of Tim Burton. The Hole is also released in cinemas in 3D, though the 3D adds little to the enjoyment of the film overall with the film standing up quite well without the need for it.

While The Hole features a few cameos from Dante regulars like Bruce Dern, as the house’s unstable former tenant, and Dick Miller in a brief but cute appearance, The Hole’s cast is mostly driven by it’s three young cast members. Nathan Gamble stands out the most as the youngest member of the trio, Lucas, getting most of the best lines and is the target of some of the film’s best scares and Gamble gives a likeable and nervous performance. Haley Bennett, probably better known in the US as a singer, is also likeable as Julie and gets to play a character that seems more capable of dealing with the fears confronting her than either of the boys. Chris Massoglia is fine as Dane though his character has the least interesting arc and least interesting lines but is fine nevertheless while actress Teri Polo is largely relegated to the role of concerned but absent mother to Dane and Lucas.

The Hole is an entertaining chiller that is certainly suitable for most ages and showing up many adult-focused horror films that have become over-reliant on violence to sell scares. The 3D might add little and the film isn’t as good as many of Dante’s most well known films but it’s certainly a worthy addition to Dante’s filmography.

Rating: 3/5

Enter the Void

2010-09-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

Director: Gaspar Noe
Starring: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta & Cyril Roy

Certainly memorable and confirming that Gaspar Noe is indeed a director with vision like few other directors, Enter the Void is however, overlong and over indulgent, lacking the punch or even the controversy of Noe’s previous film Irreversible.

After a controversial debut with I Stand Alone in 1998, Gaspar Noe became infamous in 2002 with his second film Irreversible with its extreme violence, particularly a prolonged rape scene, leaving audiences and critics both offended and enthralled by the events and the meaning behind them. Irreversible seemingly confirmed Noe as a director willing to push what is acceptable in cinema aiming to shock and provoke audiences. Now, eight years after Irreversible was released, Noe returns with a new film called Enter the Void. With a grander scale in mind in terms of themes and ideas being explored and it how they are presented, Enter the Void is certainly an ambitious and memorable film that will court controversy like Noe’s previous films but it is neither as controversial or as powerful as those earlier films with Enter the Void becoming too overindulgent, especially in its second half, leaving the film memorable, intriguing but also somewhat tedious.

Oscar (Brown) and Linda (de la Huerta) are brother and sister living in Tokyo. After witnessing the deaths of their parents in car accident as children, the pair vowed never to leave each other only to be separated and placed into foster homes. Years later, Oscar having moved to Tokyo has been able to afford to bring his sister over and they now live the family life together they never had before with each providing almost surrogate parental roles for one other. Oscar is a regular drug user and has taken to dealing on the side whilst Linda makes a living as a go-go dancer and is in a relationship with the club’s owner. When a deal goes wrong and Oscar is shot by police, he finds himself lifted out of his body and his spirit moving between past, present and future as he tries to look over and after his sister after his death and see the events of his past that shaped who they both became.

Having already established himself with his previous films as a director willing to experiment with what cinema can achieve and push the boundaries of what is acceptable, not only in regards to themes and events but also in regards to narrative structure and cinematography, Noe’s latest film Enter the Void continues to push those boundaries with varying levels of success. Filmed entirely from the point of view of its lead protagonist Oscar, the cinematography takes off once the lead character dies and becomes a disembodied spirit as, at this point, Noe is then able to take the character, the point of view and the cinematography that goes with it to represent the point of view to places that have rarely been touched upon in film and certainly not to the extent that is shown here. Floating above in, around, through and above the action, there is a sense of freedom to the cinematography as Noe takes the camera and character zipping across the Tokyo landscape and into the homes, rooms and lives of the film’s characters. Initially very impressive and recalling somewhat the music video for The Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, what begins as an interesting technique becomes somewhat tedious in the second half of the film where the movements backwards and forwards over the city and between characters seemingly accounts for more of the runtime than the lives of the characters whom Oscar is following. Noe also experiments with time too as Oscar, in his afterlife voyage which takes the form of the experiences described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a text referenced directly and frequently in the film, relives his past and the most formative events that shaped him, his sister and their relationship. This exploration accounts for much of the first half of film following Oscar’s death and is interesting and engaging, portraying the traumatic event that shaped the bond Oscar has with his sister explaining their commitment to each other and the near-incestuous relationship they hold in the present as though each is taking the role of one of their lost parents. When the film moves ahead to the aftermath of Oscar’s death and he witnesses the events in the lives of his sister and friends the film loses steam as Noe spend increasingly more time floating between scenes than exploring them though there are still interesting moment when events he witnesses recall moments from the past where such moments are intercut with flashbacks, often sudden ones. As Enter the Void approaches its climax, Noe’s indulgences become more prevalent including a finale in a sex hotel that features imagery that is less shocking or controversial than it is, presumably unintentionally, hilarious though is nevertheless memorable.

Featuring mostly newcomers, Enter the Void’s cast performances vary in quality. Nathaniel Brown is fine as Oscar though his appearance and involvement in the story is limited mostly as voiceover as he narrates the events he is witnessing, which we too are witnessing through his point of view, up until his death when his thoughts cease to be voiced and he is largely replaced in the film by the director’s camera. Paz de la Huerta has moments of interest in her performance as Linda though her performance, and her character, rarely manage to convey what makes her so appealing to those around her and to Oscar in particular. Cyril Roy is more interesting and memorable as a friend of Oscar’s named Alex who is the film’s most sympathetic character, a philosophical and poetic character and the child actors who play Oscar and Linda’s younger selves are interesting too, especially Emily Alyn Lind as the young Linda whose performance is powerful and chilling at times especially when portraying the traumatic reactions to deaths of her character’s parents and her separation from her brother. The performance is the most memorable in the film and impressive for a child actress.

Whilst still likely to court controversy, Enter the Void is less controversial and certainly less powerful than Noe’s previous film Irreversible, though Enter the Void certainly demonstrates more ambition on Noe’s behalf with an engaging first half and some impressive cinematography that confirms Noe as an auteur even if his overindulgences means the second half of his film is overlong and somewhat tedious with an ending more humorous than shocking or thought provoking.

Rating: 3/5

Winter's Bone

2010-09-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

Director: Debra Granik
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes & Garret Dillahunt

A cold, harsh but tense and gripping drama, featuring strong performances from Lawrence and Hawkes making Winter’s Bone an impressive film.

Adapted from the novel by Daniel Woodrell, Winter’s Bone is only Debra Granik’s second film after 2004’s Down to the Bone but the film comes to cinemas already with some critical acclaim after winning the Grand Jury prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Winter’s Bone turns out to be worth the acclaim being a gripping drama with impressive performances from its cast, particularly Jennifer Lawrence in the leading role having been developing her name off the back of several dramatic supporting roles, and marks Granik as a highly promising director worth watching in the future.

Living in an impoverished part of the Ozarks, Missouri, Ree Dolly (Lawrence) is left to look after her younger brother and sister and her near comatose mother in lieu of her father’s absence. When the local Sheriff (Dillahunt) turns up at her house one day saying her father is due in court on charges of making meth in a week’s time and has put up the family home as payment for his bond should he not appear, Ree finds herself searching for her missing father hoping to get him to appear and save herself and her family from ending up homeless. Ree finds this more difficult than hoped when her uncle Teardrop (Hawkes) and some of her father’s past associates refuse to assist her in her search or provide her with answers for his absence and all warn her of dangers facing her should she continue her search. Ree continues out of desperation knowing the risk to her safety whilst also coming to terms with her suspicions that her father may never be found for reasons no one wishes to confirm.

Winter’s Bone is an impressive drama even qualifying as a mystery and thriller with its lead character’s search and the dangers she faces raising a fair amount of tension throughout the film. There is also much tension to be derived from the fact that the lead character is a 17 year old girl as, when it becomes obvious that Ree’s father is more than just missing and the reasons for why that is, Ree’s slight build and the nature of the people who possess the answers to her questions makes her vulnerability and the very real threat to her life should she pursue her search all the more clear leading to several scenes where the level of intimidation being directed against Ree, including one scene of violence, leaves audiences guessing as to whether she will walk away at all. While the mystery of what has happened to Ree’s father is easily solved, the real mystery throughout the film is over whether Ree can prove it, whether she can survive it and who, if any, of her father’s past associates including family members can be trusted. Winter’s Bone is a gripping drama most of all for its character’s which are brought to life by some of the excellent performances of the cast but also impressive is the cinematography where this impoverished Ozark community is brought to cold, harsh life where a kind of untamed beauty can be seen but where the unforgiving nature of the environment takes precedent making the attitudes of it’s community almost understandable and the inner strength that some, like Ree, need to endure it clear.

Winter’s Bone is film that impresses most through its performances. Jennifer Lawrence is excellent in the lead role of Ree Dolly where her character’s conviction and strength is believable despite the youth of the character and the actress as is the desperation she feels which drives her also. Lawrence gives a performance that delivers upon the promise she had shown in earlier supporting roles setting her up here with the proof that she can lead a film and has a promising career as a dramatic actress ahead of her. The film also features good performances from its supporting cast. John Hawkes (TV’s Deadwood) is particularly impressive as Ree’s uncle Teardrop, an individual whose temperament and history keeps even some of the most intimidating of Ree’s father’s associates on edge. It is a performance where Hawkes plays against type having been best known for more sympathetic and caring characters and he delivers it convincingly being suitably intimidating whilst also keeping his loyalties unknown until later and motives believable when they are revealed. Other supporting roles are good including Dale Dickey as the partner of one of Ree’s father’s most dangerous associates and Garret Dillahunt as the town sheriff.

Winter’s Bone is a gripping drama. It is cold and hard but engaging with moments of real tension and featuring some impressive performances from Lawrence and Hawkes. An excellent film.

Rating: 4/5

The Town

2010-09-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner & Jon Hamm

An engaging crime drama with good performances all around and proving Ben Affleck to be a promising director after this and his debut Gone Baby Gone.

Originally establishing his fame, first through small supporting roles and then through his screenwriting credit for Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck soon became a Hollywood star until a string of flops and his relationship with Jennifer Lopez seeing his withdraw from acting for a while. Building his career back up again with smaller roles, Affleck made a bigger name for himself in 2007 when he directed the film Gone Baby Gone which received much critical acclaim. Further establishing himself as a director, Affleck now brings the film The Town to cinemas whilst also casting himself in a lead role to further boost his acting career too. The result is a solidly entertaining crime drama that proves Gone Baby Gone was no fluke when it comes to Affleck’s directing talent whilst also reminding us that Affleck is a very capable actor.

After a successful bank robbery where he and his team also kidnapped the bank manager to secure their getaway, Doug MacRay (Affleck) takes it upon himself to monitor the movements of the bank manager, Claire Keesey (Hall), afterwards to ensure she hadn’t witnessed anything during the robbery that could betray them to the FBI much to the disagreement of his friend Coughlin (Renner) who’d rather get rid of her and be done with it. Reaching out to Claire when he witnesses her grief, MacRay finds himself attracted to her and the pair start a relationship even though Claire is unaware of MacRay’s role in the robbery that left her traumatized and unbeknownst to Coughlin. Problems arise when FBI agent Frawley (Hamm) suspects the guilt of MacRay and his gang and discovers his relationship with Claire meanwhile MacRay is under pressure to pull more heists when he wants to leave town with Claire and begin a new life.

While The Town includes many themes that are somewhat clichéd in the crime genre such as the crook who wants to put it all behind him, the relationship to an innocent unaware of their past or the reluctance to abandon those they grew up with as well as the staging of heists and robberies themselves, The Town is a film that proves that it’s the execution of such themes that matters more in film. Affleck proves again, after the excellent Gone Baby Gone, to be a confident director focusing on character and performances most of all but also able to film bank robbery sequences that approach the quality of those of Michael Mann’s Heat whilst not feeling derivative of them. Affleck also films again in his native Boston where he demonstrates a clear love and respect for the kinds of communities in which he grew up infusing the characters and their relationships with each other with local character and culture. Affleck also approaches the film’s central romance carefully to avoid the kinds of cliché of films such as those he starred in himself in the middle of his career being sure to take the relationship of Claire and MacRay slowly and quite different from the usual approach with the characters meeting because of Claire’s trauma and with them both sharing their worst tragedies that, when MacRay’s secret about his role in her trauma is about to be exposed, the feelings against MacRay are mixed. There is anger at against him for his deceit yet also sympathy in knowing his desire to change.

In addition to strong direction, Affleck also puts in a good performance as MacRay making him sympathetic despite his crimes and despite his secrets from Claire providing a grounding presence for the film. Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) is engaging as Claire, vulnerable though not weak while Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) gives a tense performance as MacRay’s partner Coughlin. Renner’s performance is one of simmering rage ready to explode violently even making him a threatening presence to those who might call him friend. Jon Hamm (TV’s Mad Men) also gives a good performance as FBI agent Frawley in a role that could easily have been underwritten as just the guy out to bring MacRay down, but is instead, and with Hamm fulfilling the role, one that has more depth as Hamm gives the character a Machiavellian quality as he pieces together the puzzle of who is guilty and how whilst playing the women in MacRay’s life like Claire and an ex, Coughlin’s sister, played by Blake Lively against each other without them ever meeting. Supporting roles are filled well too with Pete Postlethwaite as an intimidating crime boss masquerading as a florist and Chris Cooper in a single scene as MacRay’s imprisoned father.

While not reinventing the crime genre, conforming to several well worn themes and character types, The Town is still very enjoyable for the execution of the story with confident direction by Affleck resulting in some tense and exciting sequences and some strong performances from the cast. The film and it’s ending won’t be as memorable as that of Gone Baby Gone but The Town proves Affleck once again capable of being an actor who can direct.

Rating: 4/5

The Other Guys

2010-09-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg & Steve Coogan

Whilst having a good cast and the potential for good laugh, The Other Guys is a surprisingly average comedy with the feeling that little effort was put into it.

After a string of comedies that were not critically and/or commercially well received including the adaptation of TV series Land of the Lost, Will Ferrell’s latest film reunites him with director Adam McKay who has been involved in Ferrell’s better received films Anchorman, Talladega Nights and Step Brothers. The Other Guys, a buddy comedy pairing Ferrell with Mark Wahlberg that pokes fun at the buddy cop genre should entertain, especially given the quality of the star’s previous work with McKay, but the film instead disappoints with many gags falling flat in their execution as though few involved were making the effort to make the film more entertaining with only Wahlberg standing out positively.

Detectives Gamble (Ferrell) and Hoitz (Wahlberg) are partners who don’t get along. Gamble is more concerned with pushing paperwork and doing accounting within the department whilst Hoitz is frustrated by seeing very little action after accidentally shooting baseball star Derek Jeter a year before. Detectives Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson), on the other hand, are supercops bringing in criminals and getting all the accolades and glory. When Danson and Highsmith go out in a blaze of glory, an opening appears for other detectives to fill their shoes. Hoitz is desperate too but Gamble wants to avoid too much action preferring instead to follow up licensing violations. However, when Gamble and Hoitz turn up to arrest a wealthy billionaire named Ershon (Coogan) for a scaffolding violation, they get caught up in a multi-billion dollar investment scam when those Ershon owes money to try to stop Gamble and Hoitz from arresting Ershon and upsetting the scam leading the unwitting pair into bigger action than they anticipated.

With Anchorman regarded highly and Talladega Nights and Step Brothers both being almost as entertaining, there was expectation that Ferrell and McKay’s latest effort would be a return to form for Ferrell after a series of films that were less well received. However, despite a strong cast, a few good moments and some lines that should work, The Other Guys is very disappointing. The film feels too long and many scenes and jokes feel stretched out or lack energy in either the performances of the cast or the direction of the scene. Where there was a distinct feeling of all involved having fun on and off set in previous films, here there is the odd sense that little effort was made. While some jokes and scenes feel predictable and uninspired, others feel like they should work but don’t. The liveliest scenes are reserved for the beginning where Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson appear as supercops, embodying clichés with glee. Most highlights afterwards lie with Wahlberg’s character and Gamble’s wife, played by Eva Mendes.

Will Ferrell puts in a restrained performance in The Other Guys as Allen Gamble and disappoints as a result. Even when it is revealed that his character has dark secrets he has repressed with them starting to surface in his actions, Ferrell’s performance feels too restrained and lacking conviction. Wahlberg however is much more entertaining, getting to demonstrate his comedic talents again after I Heart Huckabees, here playing Hoitz straight with conviction where he delivers lines like “I am a peacock” or displaying a talent for ballet without betraying his character’s own belief in their masculinity with often hilarious effect only occasionally undermined by the performances of those around Wahlberg. Michael Keaton offers dependable support as the detectives’ TLC-quoting Captain though he never gets to stand out and Steve Coogan is wasted on a one-dimensional role as a slimy investor though Eva Mendes is likeable as Gamble’s wife.

The Other Guys should have been a funny film, reuniting Ferrell with his Anchorman collaborator Adam McKay, however a seeming lack of effort from the star and director leaves many scenes and jokes falling flat when tighter editing and timing could have made them work and only Wahlberg giving a good effort reminding us that the he has a gift for comedy when he wants to use it. Overall though, the film is very disappointing.

Rating: 2/5

Tamara Drewe

2010-09-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Luke Evans & Roger Allam

An enjoyably light and frothy adaptation of the comic strip series from The Guardian newspaper, Tamara Drewe is a fun British comedy.

Adapting the popular comic strip written and drawn by Posy Simmonds and published in The Guardian newspaper, itself a loose adaptation and modernization of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, Tamara Drewe is an unexpected comic book adaptation not being based on action ad/or super heroics. Adapted by Stephen Frears whose films have frequently delved into sects of British society, his adaptation of Tamara Drewe is a more light hearted film that that which he most often known for. The film itself is quite enjoyable if more light in tone than the actual material it is adapting.

Ewedown is a small village with little to do. Ewedown has no bus service and no Post Office but is the location of a writer’s retreat run by author Nicholas Hardiment (Allam) and his suffering wife Beth (Tamsin Greig) with the help of local handyman Andy Cobb (Evans). When an attractive young journalist named Tamara Drewe (Arterton) returns to Ewedown, having left there many years before, she creates a stir within the community with her new looks, particularly with Andy, who once had a relationship with her, and Nicholas who wishes to start despite promises to his wife to cease his infidelity. Further complications arise when Tamara begins a relationship with a famous drummer named Ben Sergeant (Dominic Cooper) who she interviewed at a nearby concert which also draws in the attention of two neighborhood school girls whose pursuit of Sergeant and knowledge of the locals makes them privy to the secret goings on of the village, particularly in regards to Tamara, her suitors and her love life resulting in a teenage prank that threatens to not only wreck Tamara’s love life but also have implications for Andy, Nicholas, Beth and more.

Whilst an adaptation of a comic strip, the story and basis for such of Tamara Drewe is one that knowing this detail bears little relevance to the audience though doing so may at least expand their expectations of comics and comic strips beyond those that include super-heroes. Tamara Drewe, partly inspired by the book Far from the Madding Crowd, has more appeal to those familiar with that tale than those who are not. References are littered throughout and aspects of the story and certain characters are directly inspired by Hardy’s novel but then there are elements to Tamara Drewe that might also appeal to literary crowds such as the inclusion of a writer’s retreat which pokes fun at aspiring writers working in different fields whilst offering different perspectives on the events occurring around them in Ewedown in their roles of overly imaginative witnesses. Perception is a key theme throughout the film too with characters getting momentary glimpses of situations that allow them to be misinterpreted with the roles of two school girls following a famous drummer to the home of Tamara Drewe resulting in gossip and pranks that threaten to destroy several relationships. Despite the humour, Tamara Drewe does have a few flaws. The role of Tamara herself, whilst seemingly intended to be a cipher shaped by others perceptions of her, is still frustratingly undeveloped leaving her motives largely unexplained as though she is fickle and indecisive whilst the ending, faithful to the comic strip, strikes a very different, and somewhat uneven, tone compared to the events that preceded it.

While the character of Tamara Drewe is somewhat undeveloped leaving Gemma Arterton with little drama or depth with which to give the character, she is nevertheless perky and engaging when affecting the men in her presence. It is the most memorable film role for Arterton to date. Luke Evans brings a satisfying level of brooding to the role of Andy, the man who is perhaps more deserving of happiness than those with whom he is competing with for Tamara’s affections while Roger Allam is suitably smug and slimy as the adulterous Nicholas. Dominic Cooper gives a memorable turn as drummer Ben Sergeant, no doubt inspired somewhat by Peter Doherty while Tamsin Greig and Bill Camp get the most sympathetic roles as Nicholas’ suffering wife and aspiring writer who admires her from afar respectively. The younger cast entertain too with Jessica Barden and Charlotte Christie as the school girls Jody and Casey with Barden being particularly memorable.

Lighter in tone than the material it is adapting, Tamara Drewe is still a fun and charming comedy while still keeping much of the drama. The lead character may be too undeveloped to really engage with but the supporting cast and characters provide plenty of entertainment.

Rating: 3/5

Cyrus

2010-09-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Director: Jay & Mark Duplass
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill & Marisa Tomei

An engaging comedy drama that avoids many clichés and feels surprisingly honest for a film that could easily have fallen into formula.

From Indie filmmakers the Duplass brothers whose low budget films The Puffy Chair and Baghead achieved positive critical response if not commercial success, have returned with Cyrus which would appear to be their most mainstream effort to date. This perception is partly due to two known comedic actors Jonah Hill (Superbad) and John C. Reilly (Walk Hard, Step Brothers) in the leading roles and a marketing campaign that seems to emphasis the film as being much more of straight forward comedy than it actually is. Cyrus however is far more original and in keeping with the brothers’ previous efforts than first appearances would seem resulting in a comedy drama that does include emphasis on the drama as much as the comedy with story, characters and performances that often avoid predictability and feel surprisingly honest.

John (Reilly) is a divorced freelance editor. Seven years after his split up with his ex he is still struggling and has given up on finding someone new. Pressured into coming to his ex’s engagement party to another man he encounters Molly (Tomei) who finds herself touched by some of the honesty John expresses throughout the evening regarding his loneliness. The pair hit it off but John is worried about Molly’s tendency to frequently leave late in the evenings. Spying on her home one day, trying to find out why, he encounters Cyrus (Hill), Molly’s 20 year old son who is still living at home and soon proves to be highly dependant on Molly with the pair having only had each other for company since Cyrus’ father left them both when he was a baby. Trying to get accustomed to Cyrus and win him over whilst continuing his relationship with Molly, John soon finds Cyrus does not like him and wants him out of Molly’s life with Cyrus proving to be smarter and more manipulative than John expected leading John and Cyrus into a careful game with each other over who gets to have Molly’s attention.

Whilst trailers, posters and even the casting in Cyrus suggesting a far more mainstream and comedy-focused film, the actual film is a surprisingly mature affair. There are certainly plenty of laughs but few come from moments of exaggeration with many feeling natural. While audiences expecting/preferring a more straight forward comedy of errors may not be happy with the more dramatic film with which they are given Cyrus is a much better film for its avoidance of the usual clichés of such films and certainly demonstrates the Duplass brothers are not betraying their own sensibilities and will, in fact, reach a greater audience with Cyrus than they have with past films. The film often feels quite honest, not just with its characters but also with the direction its story takes. None of the characters are perfect, even Molly, the object of John and Cyrus’ affections is flawed with her affection towards her son following her partner leaving her 20 years before resulting in a relationship with her son that, while loving and supportive, has not allowed her son to fully flourish and an independent individual leading her to have a very honest discussion over her failures with him when Cyrus’ own problems and manipulations come to light. John, while more noble than his first appearances might seem is a sympathetic character but also demonstrates some of the same neediness as Cyrus whilst Cyrus, despite his manipulations, has motives that come from a very understandable place making his actions not altogether unsympathetic. Audiences are left guessing as to how the story will play out and how each of the characters will be changed.

Cyrus features strong performances throughout. Whilst Catherine Keener is her usually dependable self in a supporting role as John’s ex, bringing some Indie credibility to the film, it is the trio of Reilly, Hill and Tomei that must, and do carry the film. Reilly balances his dramatic abilities seen in films like Magnolia with some of the more comedic talents he has portrayed in films like Step Brothers in the character of John, coming off fully rounded and able to generate laughs and sympathy as needed. Jonah Hill shows some impressive dramatic abilities making his character more than the stereotypical kid-from-hell and Marisa Tomei is also likeable as Molly demonstrating the warmth that would so engage John and Cyrus whilst not being perfect with her too easily able to overlook the flaws in those she cares for.

Better than advertised, Cyrus is not the straight-forward comedy it may first seem but is in fact a much more engaging balance of comedy and drama with its character’s having much depth and them and the story playing out in a more mature, realistic and therefore less predictable manner making the film feel much more refreshing than others that might resort to cliché in the ‘son-from-hell’ stakes.

Rating: 4/5

The Girl Who Played With Fire

2010-09-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Director: Daniel Alfredson
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist & Georgi Staykov

Less cinematic that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the first of the Millennium adaptations, The Girl Who Played With Fire not only struggles with middle-film-in-a-trilogy syndrome but also fails to adequately adapt the source material with too many characters and sub-plots left undeveloped.

Based on the successful Millennium Trilogy of novels by Stieg Larsson, the first film in the trilogy named The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo for international audiences was a successful adaptation both commercially and critically. All three films in the series had already been filmed and released in their native Sweden prior to their international release and all three were filmed with the intent of releasing shortened versions for cinemas with longer versions for television where the series would run as a mini-series. Where the first film adapted the first novel and felt like a film while remaining very faithful to the books, the second film The Girl Who Played With Fire now comes to cinemas and feels very different. Adapted by a different director than the first adaptation, the second film feels more like a TV movie in its production values but is also less faithful to the novels than the first film resulting in a disappointing second instalment in the series.

A year after the events of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, no one has seen young hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rapace) for some time. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) has moved onto other stories as young journalist brings him a story of a high profile prostitution and drugs racket running in Sweden which includes high ranking government officials amongst their clients. When the young journalist and his partner turn up murdered and the murder weapon at the scene bears Lisbeth’s fingerprints, Lisbeth becomes the police’s prime suspect especially when the weapon turns out to have belonged to Lisbeth’s care worker who once raped her and has also turned up murdered. With Lisbeth staying in hiding whilst trying to find evidence to prove her innocence, Blomkvist also investigates as he is also convinced that she is innocent and that the guilty party is a mysterious man named Zalachenko (Staykov) who is named in the murdered journalist’s notes who is a man that also has connections to Lisbeth, unbeknownst to Blomkvist.

Originally adapted as longer versions to be screened on Swedish television as a 6 part mini series, the film versions of the Millennium Trilogy had been shortened down for cinema audiences. Where the first film, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, adapted the first, and shortest, novel in the series while remaining largely faithful to the novels, The Girl Who Played With Fire suffers in comparison. Filmed by a different director than that of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the second film in the trilogy feels much more like a television production than the first film which managed to feel cinematic. Adapted from a longer novel and having to follow on from the first film whilst setting things up for the third and final film, The Girl Who Played With Fire was expected to suffer from some effects of middle-film syndrome since its story’s beginning and ending occur in other films but the adaptation also suffers on many other levels. The film is less close to the original source material than the first film which suggest a lot from the longer TV edit has been left out, notably a major plot thread involving a detective and his team introduced in this chapter that means many characters are left very undeveloped and the film seems to rush along to its conclusion with little of the time devoted to allowing us to get to know new characters or get to grips with developments in the story. Action set pieces in the film also fall flat lacking the scale or tension of their literary equivalent and tension as a whole during the story is barely felt which suggests that Alfredson, the director of this instalment of the trilogy, lacks the experience and/or confidence of his predecessor.

Fortunately performances as a whole remain good. Rapace and Nyqvist reprise their roles as Lisbeth and Blomkvist with ease with Rapace getting more screen time and development this time around as her character become the centre of attention for the series from this film onwards with her performance demonstrating strength and vulnerability well through her expressions given her character’s reluctance to speak most of the time. Georgi Staykov and Micke Spreitz appear as the menacing Zalachenko and his near mute, blond giant of a henchman with Staykov disappointing slightly with his performance bearing a whiff of bad Bond villain while Spreitz, also in a Bond-style henchman role, intimidates with his size. Johan Kylen barely registers as Detective Bublanski in a role that is severely cut down from that of the books and one hopes is better served in the TV edit of the adaptation whilst real life boxer Paolo Roberto also gets little time to impress playing himself as his role, also cut down, is poorly served by a poor edit of a fight sequence between himself and Spreitz that should have served as the film’s crowning action set piece.

After the engaging and faithful adaptation that was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire is a disappointing follow up and a disappointing adaptation of its source material too.

Rating: 2/5

Mother (Madeo)

2010-08-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

Director: Bong Joon-ho
Starring: Kim Hye-ja, Won Bin & Jin Goo

Bong Joon-ho’s latest film is a gripping mystery thriller which, in places, conjures up memories of his film Memories of Murder but with the addition of a novel choice in protagonist driven to commit desperate, even dangerous, acts to find the truth.

After achieving huge success in his native Korea as well as success abroad with his excellent monster movie The Host, director Bong Joon-ho follows that film with Mother, a nourish, almost Hitchcockian thriller which has more in common with his directorial debut, the police procedural Memories of Murder than the film that better established his name. Casting heart-throb Won Bin as a mentally handicapped boy arrested for murder and Kim Hye-ja, a popular actress in television in Korea as her grief stricken and protective mother shows Joon-ho willing to takes risks again as before by making another film the subverts expectations of their genre. Mother is a gripping mystery thriller that has an interesting twist in its leading protagonist being an older mother looking to prove her son’s innocence. Mother has elements of Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder in its treatment of the investigations against the accused son but also bears elements of Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance trilogy in its lead character’s determination and willingness to go to dark places to uncover the truth.

When Do-joon (Bin), a boy with a mental handicap, is arrested for the murder of a school girl with whom he was last person seen in her presence, he is easily persuaded by police officers to sign a confession without fully understanding what it is he has admitted to and what punishment he will receive. His mother, Hye-ja (Hye-ja), has long been overprotective of her son for reasons that are unknown to many and is distraught at what has happened to her son. Hye-ja sees her son’s only chance is her discovering who really killed the schoolgirl and progresses on a search for answers which, when frustrated by the lack of help the legal system provides, sends her looking into dark corners and maybe having to accept dark truths about her son and herself and the over what actions she is willing to take to prove her son’s innocence if evidence should point to his guilt.

Working against type with his police procedural Memories of Murder about an inept attempt at police investigation and his monster movie The Host focusing as much on family relationships as on its creature, Joon-ho’s latest film takes a murder mystery and makes his leading protagonist not a police officer, lawyer or journalist or even the accused but rather an aging mother and one without many resources. This twist is likely the film’s most engaging aspect as it makes for a plot that is somewhat unpredictable. The mother is clearly over-protective of her son though doesn’t display and obvious signs of affection for her son. Her relationship with her son and her reasons for being so protective prove to be for reasons beyond her son’s handicap. The mother too, is also unsure of where to look and how to prove her son’s innocence and even seems unsure as to whether she believes in his innocence herself but her frustrations at being unable to get police or lawyers to look into his case provokes her to search for answers herself. What is engaging and sometimes surprising is the threat the mother can present. Her frailty leads others to underestimate her as she too underestimates herself not because she is particularly skilled or confident but because she is desperate and prone to commit acts in panic that are morally ambiguous and, perhaps, worse. Mother takes the audience and its lead character through several twists and turns that serve to darken the tone and take its characters into grey areas of right and wrong.

The lead performances in Mother are strong with two of its stars playing against type. Kim Hye-ja is a familiar face to Korean television as a motherly figure but here she takes a motherly role driven into desperation and her character’s desperation is clear and also sympathetic even in spite of some of the actions her character takes. It is an engaging performance and one which allows audience’s interest to grow as the character’s initial eccentricities originally serve to distance audiences from the character but the character’s desperation draws you back in, investing you in the outcome of her search for the truth. Won Bin subverts his heart-throb image very well as Do-joon, playing on his looks in part whilst delivering a believable performance as someone with a mental handicap that makes him prone to forgetfulness, anger and being unable to fully grasp the reality of what he experiences. Jin Goo is also good as a friend of Do-joon’s whose illicit activities mark him as a possible suspect but also as a possible ally in proving Do-joon’s innocence.

Mother is a gripping mystery thriller with an unusual choice of leading character that allows the story and character to proceed towards some unexpected acts. The mother’s quest for the truth is often touching, tense and disturbing in equal measure making for another memorable film in Bong Joon-ho’s filmography.

Rating: 4/5

The Switch

2010-08-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

Directors: Josh Gordon & Will Speck
Starring: Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston & Thomas Robinson

A likeable comedy drama with an enjoyable performance by Bateman, The Switch does play things quite safe so isn’t particularly memorable but wisely avoids going the way of gross out gags in favor of a little more maturity.

Originally to be titled ‘The Baster’, the filmmakers made the wise choice of renaming the film The Switch to play down expectations that the film would have more emphasis on comedy than drama and/or be a more gross out style of comedy. Having its release pushed back to avoid conflicting with the release of a film with a similar premise starring Jennifer Lopez called The Back Up Plan, The Switch may be coming to cinemas too late to feel original in it’s premise of a woman looking to be artificially inseminated and needed her best, male friend to assist but The Switch is certainly a likeable film with some nice performances from Jason Bateman and Thomas Robinson even if the film itself does tell it’s story in a safe and predictable manner.

Wally (Bateman) has been Kassie’s (Aniston) best friend for 6 years. Wally has also been in love with her the entire time without ever admitting it to Kassie or anyone and feels he missed out on his chance due to his neuroticism. When Kassie decides she is through with trying to find Mr. Right she decides she wants a child and begins looking for potential suitors for artificial insemination, asking Wally to help. When Kassie finds a suitor in Roland (Patrick Wilson), she throws a celebration where Wally, in a drunken state, accidentally spills Roland’s sample for Kassie and finds himself replacing it with his own. Remembering none of this once sober, Kassie moves away to raise her child out of the city but returns 7 years later with her son Sebastian (Robinson) in tow. Reconnecting with Wally, Wally soon realizes through Sebastian’s neurotic behavior that Sebastian is in fact his son and not Roland whom Kassie is looking to reconnect with. Wally is then left in the situation of having to tell Kassie the truth about who Sebastian’s father is and confess his feelings for her before she makes the mistake of spending her life with Roland.

While the title originally conceived for this film and some of its marketing including Bateman looking at a semen sample might provoke assumptions that The Switch is more of a comedy than a drama, the resulting film is one that favors drama while still providing humor. This works to the film’s benefit as while there is a romantic element involved between Bateman and Aniston’s character, this film is more about Bateman’s Wally and his reactions to becoming a father and overcoming his fears, his neuroticisms, to do the right thing and maybe be happy at last. Wally is a sympathetic and likeable character throughout and his story is one that you hope turns out well for him. Some of this likeability is down to Bateman’s performance but the script deals with his character and his relationship to others in a mostly mature fashion which aids the story. However, despite the film’s likeability, it is also quite predictable and there seems little doubt over who Aniston’s Kassie will ultimately choose to be with by the end or that Wally will bond with Sebastian and learn life lessons that make him stronger. While some time is used to convey and confront the character of Roland’s belief that life throws you curveballs, The Switch does not really throw any at the audience and unless you’re particularly fond of happy endings, the ending itself is nice but somewhat unsatisfactory feeling a little forced.

Jason Bateman puts in a good performance as Wally. While the role itself bears too much in common with that of Michael Bluth on TV’s Arrested Development, Bateman is nevertheless enjoyable to watch, particularly in scenes he shares with Thomas Robinson playing Wally’s son. Bateman and Robinson have some good on screen chemistry and Robinson too puts in a nice performance, initially playing to miserable kid type but becoming warmer later. Jennifer Aniston is decent as Kassie though he story is less present than Wally’s and Aniston doesn’t add anything to her performance to separate it from much of what she’s done before. Amongst the supporting cast we have a highly likeable turn from Jeff Goldblum as Wally’s friend with Goldblum’s natural charisma stealing scenes, Juliette Lewis is somewhat annoying as Kassie’s friend but plays the character’s type well while Patrick Wilson’s performance as Roland is just the right level of likeable but with enough vulnerabilities shown that you can root against his character without hating him but rather seeing it as the best thing for him too.

Overall, The Switch is a little more mature than might be expected. The story is somewhat predictable and many of the actors aren’t providing performances that you haven’t seen them give before but Bateman makes for a likeable lead and he has good chemistry with child actor Thomas Robinson. Throw in an excellent Jeff Goldblum in a supporting role and The Switch is an enjoyable if average comedy drama.

Rating: 3/5

The Expendables

2010-08-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham & Jet Li

While featuring a, unsurprisingly, predictable plot and its characters being largely two-dimensional, The Expendables certainly features enough old-fashioned action and an impressive, if aging cast, that there is enough to excite fans of these stars and of the 1980s/1990s action films of whose tone is trying to be captured here.

Several years in the making and boasting a cast of some of the biggest heavyweights of 1980s and 1990s action cinema, The Expendables seems like a dream film for many an action fan. The Expendables is the latest film in Sylvester Stallone’s comeback after reviving his characters of Rocky Balboa and Rambo to mixed results (Rocky Balboa was a touching look back at an aging pro’s career, Rambo a disappointing flop). This time Stallone tries for something more ambitious in uniting other action legends many of whom, like Stallone, haven’t seen successes today to match their glory days. While some names like Seagal, Van Damme and Snipes turned down roles, others like Lundgren, Li, Rourke, Willis and Schwarzenegger accepted and are complemented by current action stars like Statham and wrestlers like Austin and Couture looking to build film careers. The resulting film is one that could never live up to expectations of audiences and doesn’t really try to either which is disappointing but there are enough fun moments and action to make this a worthwhile film for fans of the genre and these stars.

Having recently had to expel a teammate from going too far, Barney Ross (Stallone) and his mercenary team dubbed ‘The Expendables’ are called upon by a CIA operative named Church (Bruce Willis) to take on a mission on the island of Vilena where a general named Garza (David Zayas) has become a dictator and with the help of a former CIA operative named Munroe (Eric Roberts), have enslaved the island and producing mass amounts of heroin. The Expendables’ mission is to oust Garza and Monroe but, to do so, must face down an army, Munroe’s henchmen and possible conflicts with old teammates.

As action cinema has moved away from the style of films seen in the 1980s and 1990s featuring muscle bound heroes and more towards leaner action heroes such as Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne or the recently revamped Bond films with Daniel Craig, many of the stars of those older action films have either retired from acting, moved towards other genres or continued making action films in that old mould but with straight-to-DVD fodder. The Expendables however, is Sylvester Stallone’s attempt to revive the style of action film where he once made his name and, in doing so, has enlisted an impressive cast of names who were once legends. There is certainly enjoyment to be found for fans of those older films in The Expendables even if age has resulted in some being unable to equal feats performed in their earlier films. There’s room for study somewhere in the film over the fate of that older style of action film and in its stars trying to relive old glories to see if they are still capable of doing so. It is disappointing that, for such an impressive cast, that the plot of The Expendables is very thin and very predictable with two-dimensional villains and even several of the heroes filling over-familiar personality types. There are things to enjoy however as if ever a question was asked over who would win in a fight between Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li, or wrestlers Randy Couture and Steve Austin or in seeing the long awaited onscreen appearance of Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis which stays just on the right side of fun, though isn’t the gun toting scene fans may have hoped for. Expectations for a film such as The Expendables amongst fans could never be met but there is some fun here, some decent action though the thin plot and characters leave you feeling that something better was deserved

A film like The Expendables isn’t one where concerns over whether an actor’s dramatic performance is good are an issue. The cast merely need to look tough and perform well in action scenarios and on this ground, the cast mostly deliver. Stallone is a dependable leading man where Jason Statham and Jet Li get the more energetic fight scenes. Dolph Lundgren gets more to work with as an Expendable that’s washed up and feeling resentful while Rourke is likeable as another Expendable that has retired to work as a tattoo artist. Schwarzenegger and Willis fit in a few wisecracks in their short scene together though the remaining Expendables members such as Randy Couture and Terry Crews are largely sidelined until there is an action sequence requiring them to turn up armed. David Zayas and Eric Roberts lead the cast of villains with neither being particularly memorable or threatening and Steve Austin just spends the film looking mean as one of Munroe’s henchmen until the finale requires him to actually fight.

While there is some decent action and some fun to be had at seeing so many old, and new, action stars on screen at once, The Expendables never lives up to expectation with a thin plot and undeveloped characters though if you’re in it for the action, as most likely are, there is enough to satisfy though not of a quality that matches past action classics.

Rating: 3/5

Salt

2010-08-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Director: Phillip Noyce
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Chiwetel Ejiofor & Live Schreiber

Despite a plot and plot twists that stretch credibility, Salt is still and enjoyable and fast paced action thriller with a good performance from Angelina Jolie continuing to cement her position as an action heroine.

Originally meant as a project to star Tom Cruise, Salt was forced to undergo re-writes when Cruise turned down the film in fears that its concept and characters were too close to those of the Mission: Impossible franchise that Cruise had already starred in. The director, Phillip Noyce, then turned to Angelina Jolie whom he had worked with in 1999 on The Bone Collector, re-writing the script to have the film focus on a female lead rather than a male. The resulting film, while not matching the quality of Noyce’s films Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger in terms of realism is nevertheless a fast paced and enjoyable action thriller in the mould to the Bourne Identity series though remarkably more far fetched.

Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is an American spy working for the CIA, when a Russian defector walks into a secure facility claiming he has knowledge of an assassination attempt that will soon take place on American soil to kill the Russian President, Salt is assigned the task of interrogating him to decide if his story is true. When this defector, Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski), makes claims that the assassin is a Russian spy working within the CIA and names that assassin as Evelyn Salt, Salt is detained for questioning though Salt, who claims to be being framed, is unable to reach her husband who she fears may be in danger. Salt escapes custody shortly after Orlov does the same and goes on the run claiming to be looking for her husband and hoping to find the real assassin though her escape compounds her guilt in the eyes of her colleague Winters (Schreiber) and Agent Peabody (Ejiofor) who has been tasked the assignment of capturing Salt and stopping the assassination. Is Salt innocent as she claims and who is manipulating her and the Americans?

Fast paced and with some exciting action sequences, Salt seems to be trying to outdo The Bourne Identity films whilst also cementing Angelina Jolie’s status as an action heroine and launch a spy franchise with Jolie to rival that of Bourne and Bond. While Salt certainly lacks some of the complexity or the feelings of realism that can be attributed to the Bourne and Bond films, it certainly matches them in terms of action, a memorable lead and exceeds them when it comes to plot twists. Salt does suffer somewhat from having too many plot twists as loyalties switch, switch and switch again sometimes at so fast a frequency to stretch credibility though one mid act twist involving Jolie’s character serves to strengthen the film and the character by muddying her motives and leaving audiences guessing over who it is they are rooting for. The action sequences, while often enjoyable also occasionally stretch credibility beyond that that is often seen in the Bourne and recent Bond films which are more willing to acknowledge the toll some actions take upon their heroes. A scene inside an elevator shaft and another in a police vehicle involving Salt, an officer and a tazer are amongst the more ludicrous moments as well as one act of disguise where Jolie comically, though perhaps unintentionally, resembles Cruise. Still, despite some of its silliness, Salt is still enjoyable and certainly has the potential to lead to more films with its lead character.

Angelina Jolie is a good choice for the lead role of Evelyn Salt, even during some of more unbelievable action sequences; Jolie sells her character’s capabilities with conviction and cements herself as cinema’s current, leading action heroine. Jolie is able to portray the character’s humanity early on whilst making the transition to superspy almost believable later on though still able to convey her vulnerabilities as seen in one moment when her character witnesses a distressing act but must maintain her composure to survive. The relationship Salt has with her husband is somewhat less credible, as seen through several flashback sequences that are needlessly saccharine, though Jolie’s struggle to make them convincing is somewhat down to the script and direction than the performance. Providing support in Salt are Live Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor as two agents tracking her down, the former a long time colleague of Salt’s. While neither of their characters are particularly well developed nor Schreiber or Ejiofor’s performances particular memorable as a result, both actors are nevertheless fine in their performances.

With plot twists and action sequences that make the recent Bond and Bourne films seem even more realistic in comparison, Salt is nevertheless an enjoyable if often ridiculous action film though the conviction of Angelina Jolie in the lead role makes for a memorable action heroine and certainly has the potential to launch a new franchise in the spy thriller genre.

Rating: 3/5

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

2010-08-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Jason Schwartzman

Fun, funny and faithful to the comic books on which it is based without being slavish; Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is an engaging and enjoyable film mixing action, comedy and romance to great effect.

Based on the popular graphic novel series and directed by Edgar Wright of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World comes to cinemas with high expectations from its fan base. The film is a successful adaptation of the graphic novels remaining largely faithful to satisfy the fans of that series whilst not being slavish to every scene and detail like the adaptation of Watchmen which resulted in a film with limited appeal beyond fans of the comic. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a fast, energetic, funny and loveable romantic comedy with enough videogame-inspired action sequences to make the film more satisfying than any videogame adaptation released in cinemas.

Scott Pilgrim (Cera) is a 22 year old slacker. Scott has no job, performs in a small band named Sex Bob-Omb and has just started dating a high school girl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wang). His laid back lifestyle undergoes changes however when a girl he sees in his dreams turns out to be real. Persuading the enigmatic Ramona Flowers (Winstead) to go on a date, Scott believes her to be the girls of his dreams but soon finds that, to keep dating Ramona, he must first defeat her seven, evil ex-boyfriends all bent on making Scott’s life hell and with one, named Gideon (Schwartzman) looking to get her back. So Scott must fight for his life, win over the girl of his dreams, help brings his band to success and stardom and deal with the fact that he’s already dating someone. Scott’s life is getting suddenly complicated.

The Scott Pilgrim graphic novels have seen their popularity grow as the series approached its conclusion (the sixth and final volume was released a month prior to the film’s release). Released in a Manga-style format, mixing comedy, action, and romance but with many references to videogames of the 1980s and 90s, the series had broad crossover appeal. So, any film adaptation would have pressure to meet the expectations of the already existing fan base whilst also allowing the film to be accessible to new audiences. Fortunately the series is very accessible anyway and so is the film. Adapted by Edgar Wright, known for the film Shaun of the Dead but also for the cult TV comedy Spaced which also mixed comedy and romance with action and references to old videogames and films, Wright seems a suitable candidate for directing the film and he does so admirably. Condensing the plot of six books into one film, Wright has managed to not only preserve most of the story, but the quick pacing of those books along with Wright’s fast editing style allows the film to be packed with many recognizable characters, scenes, jokes and references from the books that even though there are alterations to the story in places, it still feels faithful yet isn’t hindered by trying to include everything such as what happened with the adaptation of Watchmen. Wright also adds to the film, but unlike the slow-motion fighting of Watchmen or added camp in Kick-Ass, Wright’s additions to the film feel natural as though they always part of the series such as some alterations to some battle scenes (Lucas Lee’s in part, the Twins more significantly) but also lines. The adaptation isn’t perfect, Ramona Flowers’ character arc is not as strong as her comic book counterpart’s and the same applies to the role of Envy Adams but the broad strokes regarding their characters and their development is maintained to the degree that they are served satisfactorily if not ideally.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World features an impressive cast and despite there being many characters to include in the film, each is casted with care so that they are all memorable even if some don’t get screen time equivalent to the time they have in the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. Michael Cera certainly impresses as Scott Pilgrim with Cera’s past persona of playing more introverted characters initially making him appear suitable for the role but here Cera tunes his neuroticisms towards Scott’s naivety, his slow-wit and short attention span leaving Cera’s performance surprisingly effective. Mary Elizabeth Winstead also gives a good performance as Ramona who, despite not having as much moments to explore her character more deeply to the expense of her sometimes coming over cold, is still able to add enough to hint that the character does have more depth than she wishes to be seen and is still sympathetic thanks to Winstead’s mannerisms and expressions. The Evil Exes are cast by a mixed bunch with some characters like the twins appearing too briefly for their actor’s performances to be memorable while others like Chris Evans as Lucas Lee and Brandon Routh as Todd Ingram are able to steal scenes with their performances. Jason Schwartzman as the final Ex, Gideon relishes the role of the lead villain bringing much smugness and feelings of superiority to the character that he is memorable and a suitable mastermind for events. While all the smaller roles from Scott’s band mates, to his sister, to his own ex-girlfriend are memorable, the last two stand out performances are from Kieran Culkin as Scott’s wisecracking gay roommate who steals many scenes and Ellen Wang as Knives Chau, Scott’s high-schooler girlfriend who is very endearing and whose vulnerability works against Scott’s likeability effectively.

While not quite a perfect adaptation of the graphic novels, Ramona’s character not getting as much development as in the series, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World nevertheless is one of the best adaptations yet but remaining fast paced, accessible and fun for new audiences unfamiliar with the source material. Edgar Wright keeps the story largely intact, packs the film with enough characters, scenes and gags to satisfy fans and adds touches of his own that feels natural. The cast are enjoyable and memorable, particularly Culkin, Routh and Ellen Wang and Michael Cera proves to be an enjoyable Scott Pilgrim. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4/5

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

2010-08-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

Director: Jon Turtletaub
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jar Baruchel & Alfred Molina

An unremarkable, though still likeable, film: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice features some nice effects and an enjoyable cast even though it offers nothing particularly memorable.

The second attempt by producer Jerry Bruckheimer to start another, family friendly, film franchise to follow Pirates of the Caribbean in 2010, the first being Prince of Persia, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice comes to cinemas inspired by the popular sequence in Disney’s Fantasia. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice turns out to be a fairly enjoyable film with a likeable cast and good effects though it succeeds most when it strays away from elements that inspired it and, despite its likeability, doesn’t really offer many characters or moments that are particularly memorable.

After a battle in 740AD, the wizard Merlin lies dying and his nemesis Morgana (Alice Krige) trapped in a nesting doll after possessing one of his apprentices, Veronica (Monica Bellucci). Merlin tells his other apprentice Balthazar (Cage) that only his successor can defeat Morgana and entrusts Balthazar with his ring which will alert Balthazar as to who that successor will be. Over a thousand years later in the year 2000, Balthazar has not found Merlin’s successor but has tracked down and trapped many followers of Morgana’s, including another of Merlin’s apprentices named Horvath (Molina) who betrayed them all to Morgana in the past. Balthazar finds Merlin’s apprentice by chance, a ten year old boy, but is trapped in an urn for 10 years along with Horvath after Horvath escapes the nesting doll. 10 years later, in 2010, both escape the urn and seek out Merlin’s successor Dave (Baruchel) who has grown up to become a nervy, though talented, physics student. Dave, reluctant to believe or accept his destiny as Merlin’s successor must nevertheless learn the skills from Balthazar if he is to survive Horvath and stop him from bringing back Morgana.

Inspired by an animated short starring Mickey Mouse that was part of the feature film Fantasia, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice mines more than what was present to build its story and characters much like the Pirates of the Caribbean films did with the theme park rides on which they were based. It is with the new material where The Sorcerer’s Apprentice impresses most as a scene paying homage to the most famous scene from the cartoon stands out as being out of place. The film’s most intriguing and enjoyable twist is to introduce science into a film about magic and wizards. Its lead character, Dave, grows up to become a physics student building Tesla Coils in and abandoned subway to conduct electrical experiments. While this elements leads to an enjoyable romantic scene with Dave’s love interest where he ‘plays’ the Tesla Coils as each burst produces its own musical note, the science elements also compare well with the magic elements where the wizards control fire and produce plasma balls that look, not too unlike, the energy emitted from Dave’s Tesla Coils. This blending of science and magic, or scientists and wizards is fun though when the film strays from this blurring of lines, such as in a set piece with a dragon in Chinatown, it disappoints. The science however, is the film’s one most notable achievement as the plot itself remains predictable and some of the characters thin. There is also a curious lack of danger which, even for a family film, undermines some of the tension and Dave’s journey and romance with an old school sweetheart seem to occur because the story dictates they should rather that through a process that feels more natural and satisfying.

None of the cast of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice especially stands out. All seem to be playing personas they have played before though many are, nevertheless, satisfactory. Baruchel still entertains with his nervy, nerd persona with jokes coming better when he is able to infuse them with his nervous energy. Nicolas Cage puts in a rather restrained performance as the pretty grumpy wizard Balthazar which is decent but could have benefitted from some of the nervous tics he better known for. Toby Kebbell gets to steal a few scenes as an assistant to Alfred Molina’s Horvath as Kebbell’s character has exploited his abilities in the present to become an entertainer, a famous magician and thus infuses his performance with some swagger. Molina too is entertaining as the villain Horvath though is not able to truly make the character feel threatening unlike his performance in Spider-Man 2 which was threatening as well as sympathetic depending on the needs of the scene. The rest of the cast are largely average and/or forgettable. Monica Bellucci and Teresa Palmer appear as love interests for Balthazar and Dave respectively and are given very little to do accept appear interested whilst other characters barely have time to make an impression.

While possessing a likeable cast, effects and some interesting blurring of lines between magic and science, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice plays things too safe too often, sticking to a too familiar formula that makes the film enjoyable but not particularly memorable.

Rating: 3/5

Splice

2010-08-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

Director: Vincenzo Natali
Starring: Sarah Polley, Adrien Brody & Delphine Chaneac

An entertaining genre piece that is often effective and exploits fear of the unknown quite well though it descends to less satisfying, more typical scares by the finale.

Written and directed by Vincenzo Natali, Splice was originally intended to be the project to follow Natali’s debut, Cube. However, neither the budget nor the technology was available to Natali at the time. Now, 13 years later, Natali finally brings Splice to the big screen to mostly positive reviews. The film, while entertaining, does have some flaws. There are comparisons that can be made to the 1995 Sci-Fi Horror Species, though Splice is frequently more effective, and the ending unfortunately descends into something more generic going for somewhat cheaper, monster movie scares. Splice is still an enjoyable horror film that touches upon some relevant real world fears and ideas.

Clive (Brody) and Else (Polley) are two pioneering genetic engineers who have just succeeded in creating a new life form from splicing the DNA of several Earth species. Wanting to take the research further to include human DNA, they find themselves obstructed by their financiers who wish to avoid the controversy of using human DNA and focus upon exploiting the life form they have developed to produce a new protein that can be sold to aid in medicine. Unwilling to let this stop her, Elsa proceeds with experimenting with human DNA, pressuring Clive into supporting her and the result is a strange new hybrid that Elsa names Dren (Chaneac). Trying to keep their discovery a secret, Else and Clive come into conflict over the ethics of what they have done whilst Clive is ever fearful of how dangerous Dren could become. When they are forced to take Dren out of the lab and hide her on a farm that belonged to Elsa’s mother, they have further troubles as Dren becomes attracted to Clive whilst her rebellious behavior begins to turn Elsa against her, all the while Dren continues to go through more strange and frightening transformations.

Like most horror films, Splice exploits real world, often irrational, fears. In the case of Splice it is fears over science, particularly over the progressions within the field of genetic engineering. Taking two scientists whose ambition is at odds with some moral standards, they end up creating a being that could be exciting but could also be a great threat to themselves and to those around them. There is some interesting drama to be found over the film’s question of ethics as seen in the differing opinions of its lead characters though most favor, conservatively, to support the argument that experimenting with human DNA is wrong. More interesting than the moral dilemma is the creature Dren herself, Dren is an interesting character and creature than bears many human traits and as he grows, she appears to undergo a kind of adolescence which means struggling with many new, often strong, emotions which given some of the character’s more animalistic attribute, notably her tail with poisonous stinger, makes her frightening more out what she may do almost innocently. The teenage rebellion angle on Dren’s behavior also makes her a sympathetic creature too as many of her actions, particularly in response to her treatment by Elsa, are those of a child. Despite some interesting ideas and themes in Splice, there is also a lot that feels derivative of other horrors. The similarities between Splice and Species are sometimes obvious such as the splicing of human DNA with non-human DNA to create a new, female, creature that could be dangerous and a sex scene that is similarly laughable rather than disturbing. The ending of Splice also disappoints as it descends into a generic, run from/fights the monster conclusion with characters picked off too quickly to care.

Leading the cast of Splice is Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody as the two scientists, Elsa and Clive. Polley has the more interesting character and gives the most interesting performance portraying Elsa as a character, not so much oblivious to making ethical decisions, but rather driven by issues of parenting instilled from her relationship with her mother and also her sense of ambition. Polley’s performance portrays Elsa as a character that is sometimes ruthless yet sometimes driven by a need to love something, like a mother, that also makes her sympathetic. Brody gives the more sympathetic performance as the member who is initially against the experiment, but then develops concern for Dren effectively switching places with Polley’s character in relation to their attitude to Dren. In the role of Dren, Delphine Chaneac gives an interesting performance having to convey the character’s emotions, its childlike attitudes through body language rather than be delivering dialogue and does so effectively. The remainder of the cast, Clive’s brothers, Clive and Elsa’s bosses are generally two-dimensional and forgettable.

Overall, Splice is an interesting horror film, more so for the relationships between its three lead characters and the performances of Polley and Chaneac than over some of the scares which, while effective in the first half of the film, become too much like any other monster movie by the finale. An interesting film but one not as original as might be expected.

Rating: 3/5

Knight and Day

2010-08-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

Director: James Mangold
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz & Peter Sarsgaard

Trying too hard to be a fun, breezy action comedy, Knight and Day struggles to amuse or thrill with its uneven pacing, slight characterization and an annoying turn from Tom Cruise.

Having spent many years struggling through development seeing changes in director, cast and re-writes of the script, Knight and Day comes to cinema screens as a vehicle for Tom Cruise which unites him with Cameron Diaz with whom he starred alongside in 2001’s Vanilla Sky. The result is a film that struggles to entertain, where the frequent changes in the scripts and production show in a film that feels a little disjointed and even the presence of Cruise does not help, with Cruise putting in a performance where his, at one time, natural charisma feels forced and less than charming. Knight and Day comes away feeling quite generic.

June Havens (Diaz) is on her way home to prepare for her sister’s wedding when she bumps into a stranger at the airport named Roy Miller (Cruise) whom, after some confusion over seats, she ends up sitting beside on her flight home. Finding Roy attractive, June’s preconceptions are shattered when Roy attacks members of the flight crew leaving the pilot dead and Roy to land the plane. Roy tells June he is a spy, framed and on the run and for her to deny knowledge of having met him. When June is approached a day later by FBI agents claiming to be looking after her safety, Roy reappears to save June whilst creating havoc and damage on a highway then proceeds to take June on the run with him whilst he clears his name and protects an important device and its creator from forces within the FBI that Roy claims are out to exploit it. Is Roy telling the truth or has he suffered a mental break down as the FBI claim?

Knight and Day’s premise, a spy caper/romantic comedy that stars Cruise and reunites him with Diaz, seems one guaranteed to succeed however the finished film is far from perfect or even satisfying. There is some energy in the film’s action sequences such as a highway pile up and a race through the streets of a Spanish city but little that feels new. The plot feels disjointed at times, perhaps a result of the many writers involved in the script with the action taking jumps from place to place and across continents with little explanation as to why but to offer different locales around the world for audiences to see. There is also little to enjoy about the romance being developed between it’s two leads as Diaz’ June is frequently subjected to drugging to keep her docile while Cruise’s Roy takes her from place to place and most of the finale features June drugged on a truth serum leaving her to act drunken and reckless. As treatment of a female lead character it is poor, as treatment of one that is supposed to feel for the man who is doing this to her it defies belief leaving the romantic element even more unsatisfactory than the spy/secret agent thread that features over familiar tropes like macguffins and double crosses.

The performances in Knight and Day are also fairly average. Cruise, once a star able to charm with ease comes across as forced here as Miller. Cruise is enjoyable sometimes as Miller when he goes into super secret agent mode giving action sequences some energy though this part of the role feels seen before and too much of the time Cruise’s performance borders on the hysterical, bringing into mind similar behaviors Cruise has exhibited in his personal life over recent years. Diaz is quite likeable at times but since her roles leaves her character often drugged and passive or requiring Diaz to act overly hysterical as bullets and explosions fly around her, Diaz is left with little to work with but follow behind Cruise. Sarsgaard is good in the villainous role and Paul Dano makes the most of a minor supporting role but the film is dominated by Cruise and Diaz, but mostly Cruise.

A big disappointment, Knight and Day offers a few enjoyable action sequences but there is little that hasn’t been seen before while the performances consist of a hysterical Diaz being dragged around by an OTT, dominating performance from Cruise with even the romance feeling forced.

Rating: 2/5

The A-Team

2010-07-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

Director: Joe Carnahan
Starring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley & Quinton Jackson

The big budget remake of the 80s TV series often looks the part, with some good action and a likeable cast but does lack the heart of the series on which it is based and goes too OTT with the set pieces by the film’s finale.

With many TV series from the 80s and 90s seeing big screen adaptations over the past decade, few seemed as suitable for a big budget remake than The A-Team, an 80s TV series known for its action. The A-Team series though owed much of its popularity to its cast making any remake’s success reliant upon its casting of those roles too. Spending more than a decade going through development with John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood) signed on to direct with Ice Cube to play B.A. Baracus until recently, Joe Carnahan (Narc) stepped in to bring the series to the big screen at last with help from original series producer Stephen J. Cannell and some revised casting decisions. While the casting of the four lead characters turns out to be quite enjoyable for the most part, they and the film as a whole still lack the charm of the original series.

On a mission in Mexico to rescue partner Templeton ‘Face’ Peck (Cooper) and depose a renegade General, ranger John ‘Hannibal’ Smith (Neeson) enlists the aid of two fellow rangers, Roscoe ‘B.A.’ Baracus (Jackson) and the eccentric H.M. ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock (Copley), Hannibal completes his mission and takes his team on to 80 more successful missions over the next 8 years. Now in the final days of the U.S.’s military involvement in Iraq, Hannibal is contacted by a C.I.A. operative named Lynch (Patrick Wilson) to take on one more black ops mission to recover stolen treasury plates that could be used by criminals to print their own U.S. currency. Completing the mission successfully, Hannibal’s ‘A-Team’ find themselves framed for theft and murder when the only General who could verify their mission as authentic is killed and the plates stolen by a rival named Pike (Brian Bloom). Sentenced to 10 years in prison, the team are given a chance to escape and clear their name by Lynch whose own motives are unknown whilst the team are also pursued by Captain Sosa (Jessica Biel), a former flame of Face’s now tasked with the mission of apprehending the A-Team.

Facing competition from comic book adaptation The Losers and Stallone film The Expendables, both ‘soldiers of fortune’ films themselves, The A-Team has help from the familiarity of the characters and concepts of the TV series it is adapting to draw in audiences which also means the film has a lot to live up to, to both reintroduce The A-Team for new audiences whilst satisfying fans of the 80s TV series. Casting of the four, now cult classic, lead characters from that series is important to the film’s success but so is also capturing the spirit of the TV series and The A-Team film suffers mixed results on both. Part of the charm of the TV series was it seeing the team able to escape almost any calamity through the team’s resourcefulness, their ability to take whatever materials they have at hand to produce a plan to win and the tools to ensure it. Taking this idea and pushing it to levels unseen in the TV series thanks to the budget of an action movie, The A-Team film sees some fun action sequences throughout its first half including the opening Mexico scene which brings the team together and includes a memorable helicopter chase and a mid film sequence where the team “fly a tank”. Both sequences are fun, big and memorable in keeping with the tone of the TV series however the film’s climax falls apart with a plan begins too OTT to begin with but suffers from poor CGI and a mad dash to resolve the film’s plot that undermines some of the fun that came before.

With a cast as fondly remembered as that of the original TV series cast, the cast of the film are largely enjoyable even though they don’t quite live up to the performances of their predecessors. Liam Neeson is enjoyable as Hannibal Smith, bringing some of the same confidence and swagger to the role that George Peppard brought though not quite the same level of warmth or charm but is enjoyable nonetheless. Bradley Cooper certainly brings charm to his performance as Face and is likeable but his youth makes his charm and cockiness feel less justified than that of Dirk Benedict’s performance. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson brings a similar level of physicality as Mr. T did to B.A. Baracus but his performance is the weakest of the cast with Jackson’s performance feeling too soft, less angry than would be expected for the role. The best performance of the new cast is Sharlto Copley’s, following on the success of his role in District 9, he brings an enjoyable level of manic energy to the role of Murdock that, while more frenzied than the performance of Dwight Schultz in the 80s, is still fun and Copley steals most scenes. Amongst the supporting cast, Biel and Bloom are merely satisfactory in the roles of A-Team hunter/Face love interest and villainous henchman respectively though Patrick Wilson is quite enjoyable as C.I.A. agent Lynch.

The A-Team movie could never live up to the memories and expectations of audiences who grew up with the original 1980s TV series but the cast are mostly fun, Copley as Murdock especially, and the first half of the film features some enjoyable action sequences. The second half however disappoints with a set piece that goes overboard, featuring some awful CGI. Decent overall but nothing compared to the TV series.

Rating: 3/5

Toy Story 3

2010-07-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

Director: Lee Unkrich
Starring (voices of): Tom Hanks, Tim Allen & Joan Cusack

Over a decade after Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3 arrives and manages to maintain the level of quality we’ve come to expect from Pixar with an entertaining sequel that brings the characters’ stories to their natural conclusion.

Having risen to success in 1995 on the back of the first Toy Story film that not only marked Pixar as a major studio but also revolutionized animation and animated movies, the first Toy Story is still considered one of, if not thee, best Pixar films in a 15 year history that has resulted in the finest animated films produced. Toy Story 2 came in 1999 and not only maintained the quality of the first film but also expanded the cast of characters and range of jokes for children and adults alike. Following success after success including Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E and Up, Pixar return to the Toy Story characters almost a decade later with Toy Story 3. With the pressure of not only having to live up to the quality of the first two films but also Pixar’s other films and those of competing studios, Pixar needed Toy Story 3 to be a success both commercially but critically. Fortunately Toy Story 3 is a very enjoyable film that pays respect to the earlier films, their characters and their audience and, while not pushing the franchise to greater heights, is at least the equal of those earlier films in terms of quality.

After years as Andy’s toys, the day they all knew would come has arrived as Andy prepares to leave for college. Facing an uncertain future that could mean life stored in the attic, being sold or even thrown away, Andy’s toys led by cowboy Woody (Hanks), space ranger Buzz (Allen) and cowgirl Jessie (Cusack) amongst others decide what to do next. However, when Andy’s mother makes the mistake of throwing away all but Woody, the toys escape and donates themselves to Sunnyside daycare despite the assurances of Woody that they are still wanted by Andy. Life at Sunnyside, where children play with toys every day, seems ideal at first but the chief toy there, Lotso the bear (Ned Beatty) turns out to be not as warm and friendly as the toys think and the process the toys go through to get to the best play rooms means facing destruction at the hands of children to young to play with properly. As the toys plan their escape from Sunnyside, Woody also plots to rescue them but even if they succeed, what future will they have with Andy gone to college anyway?

Under a lot of pressure to not only live up to the expectations of audiences who have loved the first two Toy Story films but also to live up to the quality set by those films and every subsequent Pixar production, Toy Story 3 had to succeed. Fortunately it does. While the general framework of the story does cover similar ground as the first two films with its central characters questioning their worth and the plot going from misunderstanding, leading to a new location, new characters, a new life then escape, reunion and battle with a villain, Toy Story 3 nevertheless builds upon this familiar plot in a way that makes it feel natural. Having posed the question 11 years before in Toy Story 2 over what will happen when Andy, the toys owner, grows too old for them, Toy Story 3 feels like the natural progression of the character’s story and also justifies the time that has passed between movies for the audiences. For audiences that were there for the first two films on their release, they too have grown up and while they look back on those early films with fondness, there is the question as to whether they too are too old for these characters now. Fortunately the key to making the story engaging to adults is that the characters themselves feel like adults an in a sense like parents seeing their child grow up and leave home while they look forward to possible retirement. Toy Story 3, like its predecessors, has a lot of heart and while some comes heavy so as to be understood by younger audiences, it still feels genuine. Toy Story 3 however, still has much to offer kids with many new toy characters, action set pieces and gags including several alterations to Buzz’ programming that leads, amusingly, to his original persona returning and then that of a Spanish alter-ego and also a transformation for Mr. Potato Head that are particularly memorable. Not all of the new characters are as memorable as Jessie from Toy Story 2, but of the new characters, the introduction of Ken as a love interest for Barbie is a highlight.

Most of the original cast return including Hanks as Woody, Allen as Buzz, Cusack as Jessie as well as Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Don Rickles and Estelle Harris as Hamm, Rex and Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head respectively. The cast all perform enjoyably with each still able to slip into these characters with ease even after 11 years. Of the new characters and voice talent, Michael Keaton stands out as the voice of Ken with the character’s assertion that he isn’t a girl’s toy leading to an amusing performance by Keaton who ably conveys the character’s attempts to act tough when he’s really soft. Ned Beatty gives an enjoyable performance as Lotso, but his character is somewhat too similar to Kelsey Grammer’s the Prospector in Toy Story 2 with Beatty’s performance not comparing quite as well. Timothy Dalton, Jeff Garlin and Bonnie Hunt are good in smaller roles and John Morris, the original voice for the young Andy in previous films, returns to voice the older Andy and gives a warm performance too.

Toy Story 3 doesn’t really break from the formula of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and doesn’t push CG animation forward as much either but it is certainly a worthy sequel to the those films progressing the story of the characters naturally whilst also offering enough humour and feeling to keep audiences happy.

Rating: 4/5

Inception

2010-07-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Marion Cotillard

Ambitious and breathtaking, Inception is a blockbuster film that rewards intellectually whilst delivering action set-pieces that amaze in their scope and execution better than blockbuster films driven by spectacle.

Having initially come to the attention of cinemagoers with independent films such as Following and Memento, Christopher Nolan has since developed a reputation of being a skilled director of big budget blockbusters after being brought on to direct Batman Begins and the even more successful sequel The Dark Knight. Infusing those films with as much that was intellectually stimulating as they were adrenaline stimulating, Nolan has now turned to bringing Inception to the big screen, a film he has been developing since the early days of his directing career that has many of the cerebral aspects of his early works in terms of themes, ideas and execution but also Nolan has managed to secure a larger budget with which to realize them and produce a film that also succeeds as a summer blockbuster. Inception is an engaging and challenging film that also thrills and excites with its spectacle.

Cobb (DiCaprio) is an expert in the field of extraction, a complicated process where he and a team can enter the dreams of an individual and steal secret information by creating an artificial dream environment that convinces the dreamer that it is reality. Cobb is unable to return home to America to be reunited with his children due to a crime which he has been accused of committing. Cobb is approached by a former mark called Saito (Ken Watanabe), who wants to hire Cobb and his team to perform Inception, a difficult and risky process where an idea is planted into someone’s mind rather than taken which, in return, will see Cobb’s charges back home dropped. Cobb himself is unable to create dream worlds anymore due to his wife Mal (Cotillard) appearing in them and sometimes endangering Cobb and his jobs so Cobb recruits a new ‘architect’ named Ariadne (Ellen Page) to create a scenario where Cobb and his team delve deeper than they have before, a dream within a dream within a dream, which is the only way to successfully complete the mission but soon encounter problems, some created by Cobb’s own secrets, that threaten the lives of his team and the success of the mission.

The ambition of Inception is impressive. Nolan has created a film that has many layers of meaning. Inception delves into dreams and human consciousness and explores themes such as whether an emotional catharsis experienced in a dream is as valid as one experienced through actual experience; it explores ideas of life and death and life after death through the mind’s construction of dreams that feel real and where time can stretch out in various depths of dreaming as a metaphor for an afterlife (even the term Limbo is used in an interesting way); the film also explores filmmaking in a manner as Cobb’s team involves an architect, a forger, a financier, a mark and Cobb’s right hand man amongst others which parallel the roles of set designer/cinematographer, actor, studio, audience and produce with Cob as director with those same roles also working within the film’s framework of being a heist film. The plot is based around the conventions of the heist film which, while allowing Nolan to explore many other themes, also allows Nolan to produce a film that involves action and tension and which he can develop set pieces that amaze but with the spectacle working simultaneously as block buster action and also as visualizations of the dream state and of Nolan’s themes seen most effectively when the heist/job reaches it’s later stages and see three simultaneous action sequences occurring on three separate levels of the dream world and over three separate time frames including a zero-gravity fight scene that is one of the most impressive action sequences put on film.

Inception features a strong ensemble cast. Leonardo DiCaprio is impressive in a role where his character is struggling with own history involving dream worlds and secrets involving his wife that threaten to consume him and disturb his own grip on what is real and what is fantasy. It plays nicely against his performance in Scorsese’s Shutter Island where DiCaprio playing a character suffering similar problems but here DiCaprio’s role and performance is filled with more emotion. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets less to work with in terms of character but impresses as an action star getting the film’s key action sequence. Ellen Page is warm and sympathetic as Ariadne who is enamored with the idea of creating dream worlds but is also Cobb’s key sympathizer and conscience. Tom Hardy is charming and funny in the ‘actor’ role while Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Tom Berenger and Dileep Rao are solid in other supporting roles. Marion Cotillard is suitably threatening despite her appearance and Cillian Murphy delivers an impressive performance as the mark who the team are trying to infuse with a new outlook and experiences an emotional catharsis as a result that is truly believable.

Overall, Inception is an impressive film combining the spectacle of a block buster action film, the thrills of a heist movie yet featuring many layers of meaning over filmmaking, dreams, perceptions of reality and life and death that mean Inception engages on an intellectual level better than most block buster films. Audiences are just as likely to debate the film’s ideas and meaning as they discuss its action sequences. Fantastic.

Rating: 5/5

Predators

2010-07-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

Director: Nimrod Antal
Starring: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga & Topher Grace

Better than other sequels to the original Predator film, Predators is very enjoyable even though it owes a lot to nods to the original film and does not really stand out as being very original.

The original Predator film in 1987 was a big hit and fast became a cult classic film with a memorable monster that has since stuck in the memory of action and sci-fi fans. The film’s first sequel, Predator 2, in 1990 was less well received due, in part, to the absence of Arnold Schwarzenegger and disappointing execution of its promising concept of relocating the action from the jungles to the city. No other sequels presented themselves afterwards with the Predator character living on in the form of comic books until 2004 saw the first of two Alien vs. Predator films that put the Predator up against another cult monster. Both films were disappointing, lacking memorable characters or humour and sticking to slasher film formula so Predators, produced by director Robert Rodriguez, comes to cinemas with a lot to live up to and, whilst not feeling particularly original, turns out to be far more enjoyable than any other sequel and certainly feels very much like a sequel the original deserves.

Waking up in freefall, mercenary Royce (Brody) lands in an unknown jungle and soon finds himself not alone when he discovers several other humans who have also been mysteriously dropped into the same jungle including black ops sniper Isabelle (Braga), a Spetsnaz commando, a drug cartel enforcer, a Sierra Leone death squad soldier, a death row convict, a Yakuza assassin and Edwin (Grace), a doctor. The group soon find that the jungle they’re in is not even on Earth and the one thing most of them have in common is they’re all predators in one way or another. They realize they are in a game preserve and they are the prey for a band of alien hunters and are forced to fight for their survival.

Produced by Robert Rodriguez and directed by Nimrod Antal, Predators feels like a sequel that maintains the spirit of the original film. There are many references to the first film and similar themes throughout. From bringing back the original score, to the jungle setting, familiar Predator technology and hunting methods, lines of dialogue and weapons like a mini Gatling gun, Predators generates much fun for fans of the franchise in spotting references but the film also offers moments that were only teased in the first film such as one-on-one knife fight between Billy in the first film that occurred off-screen now realized as a sword fight on screen between a Predator and the Yakuza character of Hanzo. Such tributes and fanboy-ish moments (the film also features a Predator vs. Predator stand off) show a love for the original film and respect for it as the events of the first film are even referenced directly as a plot point that allows the cast of characters to learn from those events and apply it to their survival strategy. However, while much entertainment is derived from its references to previous films, they also stand as one of the film’s weaknesses as Predators often feels too much like a retread of the original film. Predators also features some poor moments of CGI such as a sequence involving Predator-dogs that not only feels unnecessary to the plot in that it delays the moment when the Predators themselves get more involved, the effects also stand out as being unlike anything seen in the first film when many other effects feel in keeping with those used in the 1980s i.e. costumes and physical effects/stunts.

The cast in Predators is generally decent overall. While Predator in 1987 was short on name actors or characterization, it did benefit from the star power of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role who was always convincing as a hero that could challenge a Predator. In Predators, that lead role goes to Adrien Brody as Royce. While Brody does deliver a dependable performance, one believable as an anti-hero, he is less convincing as a person capable of challenging a Predator even in spite of obvious efforts on Brody’s part to bulk up physically. Brody is still a decent lead but it’s Alice Braga who generates the most sympathy as a black ops sniper who at least has a code of honour that doesn’t strictly involve putting her own survival first. Amongst the rest of the cast there are few that really stand out. Walton Goggins is best served getting most of the memorable lines as a nervy, somewhat unstable death row convict and Laurence Fishburne is OTT in a cameo role. Topher Grace’s character and performance is the odd man out as the person who is out of place amongst the cast of killers but it leads to an interesting, if unsurprising and somewhat ridiculous twist later in the film but adds some additional comic relief when he is paired with Goggins.

Overall, Predators is certain to entertain fans of the original film through its frequent nods to the original and moments that fans have probably been longing to see on screen though this also means that there isn’t enough originality for the sequel to stand equal with the first film. Fun but not fantastic.

Rating: 3/5

Whatever Works

2010-06-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Larry David, Rachel Evan Wood & Patricia Clarkson

The combination of Woody Allen and Larry David certainly results in a film that has some entertainment value but the collaboration does not live up to either David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm or Allen’s other Manhattan based comedies like Annie Hall.

Woody Allen’s later years as a director has been a mixed bag of results. For each Melinda and Melinda or Match Point which have been well received, there has been and Anything Else or Cassandra’s Dream that has been poorly received. With many of his most recent films having been made out of the US and his most recent, Vicky Cristina Barcelona being particularly well received, Woody Allen now returns to Manhattan, home of his greatest films, with Whatever Works which rides high on expectations since it sees Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David taking his first leading role in a film. The result though is somewhat disappointing with David enjoyable but less so in Allen’s film, with Allen’s script that in his own, more improvised work.

Boris Yelnikoff (David) is an eccentric physics graduate once nominated for the Nobel prize in physics and is now a self-confessed genius and near-recluse that rarely leaves home except to talk to his few friends about how other people waste their lives. When one night he encounters a homeless girl named Melodie (Evan Wood), Boris shows an uncharacteristic sign of kindness by taking her home however, Boris then finds it difficult getting her leave and the girl’s naivety testing to his patience and intellect. Melodie though, develops a crush on Boris despite a massive age difference between them and despite the advances of other, younger men and the disapproval of her parents who insert themselves into Melodie, and therefore Boris’, lives causing further upheaval in Boris’ life.

Whatever Works is a Woody Allen film that, on the surface, looks ideal. It is set in Manhattan, features a somewhat neurotic male lead, deals with themes of happiness and romance and features Larry David, writer/star of TV’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and writer of Seinfeld in the lead role. However, what would appear to be the film’s strengths turn out to be its weaknesses too. Many of the themes, characters, situations and even lines seem overly familiar having seen them covered several times before by Allen in other pictures where even the best lines often feel like they’ve been said before them being so typically Allen. Some themes/situations also feel familiar to the point of tired with some like the age difference between the two leads and its effect on their relationship feeling more and more like Allen justifying his own off-screen life choices every time he uses it. Larry David also feels out of place in the film despite seeming like ideal casting at first glance. The reason for this soon becomes clear that while some of the humour between David and Allen seems similar, David succeeds better in the more improvised format of his TV shows than he does following a script and this shows here where the humour and situations feel restrained by sticking to Allen’s script and rarely shows sign of life.

Larry David does make for an entertaining lead even if his performance lacks in comparison to any work where David has had a hand in the script as his inexperience in performing a role other than himself and sticking to a script is evident in his delivery and the general lack of spontaneity in the film. Nevertheless, David is reliably grumpy and witty with his best moments when he addresses the audience in the manner Allen himself once did in his earlier films. Evan Rachel Wood is much more likeable. While her character sticks pretty closely to innocent and ditsy stereotypes even as her character becomes more educated but the performance is still hugely likeable and more sympathetic than David’s Boris. Ed Begley Jr. and Patricia Clarkson both entertain as Melodie’s melodramatic parents with their performances funny in spite of being occasionally OTT.

Despite his last film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, being an impressive return to form and his new film returning him to Manhattan and pairing him with comedian Larry David, Woody Allen’s Whatever Works is fairly disappointing. Allen rehashes too much old material for this to satisfy and David, while still entertaining, is not as good when he isn’t improvising with his own material.

Rating: 2/5

Shrek Forever After

2010-06-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

Director: Mike Mitchell
Starring (voices of): Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz & Eddie Murphy

A fun sequel and a marked improvement over Shrek the Third which means this, possibly, final installment in the Shrek series leaves the series ending on a good note.

Following the success of Shrek and Shrek 2, the third film in the series Shrek the Third saw disappointing Box Office results and poor critical reception. With Shrek Forever After intended to be the last in the Shrek film series, though a spin-off film for Puss in Boots is in production, the pressure for the fourth film to be an improvement over the third and end the series in a manner both pleasing to audiences and critics is high. The resulting film is very enjoyable and while it doesn’t achieve the same heights as the first two Shrek films with its plot revisiting many scenes from those films, it is certainly a marked improvement over Shrek the Third and at least ends the series on a satisfying, though not spectacular, note.

Finding it difficult to settle into the domestic bliss of being a husband and a father, Shrek (Myers) finds his struggle to find privacy and time for himself leading him to miss the days when he was a real ogre and feared by the masses, where he had the freedom to do what he wanted whenever he wanted. After an argument with Fiona (Diaz), Shrek crosses paths with Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn) who, unbeknownst to Shrek, holds a grudge against him for saving Fiona years before preventing Rumpelstiltskin from getting Fiona’s parents to sign over the kingdom of Far Far Away to him. Rumpelstiltskin tricks Shrek into signing a deal offering Shrek a chance to be an ogre again for a day if he gives up a day from his childhood in return but Rumpelstiltskin takes the day of Shrek’s birth plunging him into a new reality where he was never born, where he never met Donkey (Murphy), saved Fiona and where Rumpelstiltskin rules the land. Shrek finds himself with just 24 hours to find Fiona and make her fall in love with him again to break the deal but the Fiona in this reality is a much different one from the Fiona Shrek once knew.

Shrek Forever After is an enjoyable addition to the series of films. Like before, taking its story from fairytale, this time bringing in Rumpelstiltskin, the film finds fun in looking at an alternate take on the Shrek tale by taking its lead character down a Capra-esque, It’s a Wonderful Life, road. That Shrek Forever After bases most of its story on revisiting past moments from previous Shrek films to offer alternate takes on them does leave the film feeling somewhat unoriginal at times with it revisiting old glories instead of carving out new ones and, as such, does not have quite the same level of satisfaction as the first two films. However, there is still a lot of fun to be had in the film’s story, in seeing it’s characters living alternate lives particularly that of Fiona who becomes far less of a damsel in distress in this tale. There are also some new elements that are enjoyable to see including, for the first time beyond Shrek himself, a look into the culture of Ogres with a range of new Ogre characters though the appearance of the Pied Piper as a villain results in a scene that might entertain younger audiences but is fairly cringe worthy for adults. Shrek Forever After is also quite fun in spite of the dangers Shrek faces with Rumpelstiltskin making an entertaining villain and the use of 3D, for the first time in a Shrek film, being quite impressive.

Performances in Shrek Forever After are dependably enjoyable. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas are all familiar enough with their roles now to portray them with ease and the chemistry between the actors and their characters is still as enjoyable as before. While names familiar to TV such as Jane Lynch (Glee) and Craig Robinson (The Office) and Jon Hamm (Mad Men) are featured in smaller roles as witches and ogres, the only notable performance beyond the four stars of the film is Walt Dohrn as the voice of Rumpelstiltskin who, while not a known name to audiences and having voiced several minor roles in the Shrek series before, delivers an enjoyable performance as the film’s villain here and showing himself quite capable of living up to past villains voiced by John Lithgow, Jennifer Saunders and Rupert Everett.

A definite improvement over Shrek the Third, Shrek Forever After is a fun addition to the series with plenty enjoyment to be found in its alternate takes on its main characters though the rehashing of old scenes and themes in doing so means the film does not feel quite as original as the first two Shrek films.

Rating: 3/5

Brooklyn's Finest

2010-06-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Don Cheadle & Richard Gere

The impressive cast and the prospect of Fuqua taking a story of crooked cops like in Training Day and applying it to a larger canvas may entertain some but Brooklyn’s Finest plods along predictably and the cast aren’t performing roles they haven’t done before.

After the success of crooked cop thriller Training Day in 2001 which saw star Denzel Washington win an Oscar for Best Actor, director Antoine Fuqua has spent much of the following decade directing a series of average action thrillers such as Tears of the Sun, Shooter and King Arthur. Returning to the genre which brought him such attention in 2001, Brooklyn’s Finest sees Fuqua covering similar territory as before involving what could push cops to break laws whilst showing that crooks are capable of good and exploring such themes with an even larger cast than before including Training Day actor Ethan Hawke. The film though struggles to offer more than superficial explorations of its themes and despite an impressive cast, their stories and performances lack originality in what is a largely average film.

Detective Sal Procida (Hawke) is a cop desperate for cash so he can afford to move his children and his pregnant wife out of their mould-ridden home and has taken to stealing cash from the sites of drug busts to fund the move. Detective Clarence Butler (Cheadle) has been working undercover in the drug community in the hopes of getting a promotion but it may come at the cost of him setting up, known criminal, Caz (Wesley Snipes) who saved Clarence’s life while he was undercover in prison. Officer Eddie Dugan (Gere) is a beat cop only a week away from retirement and pessimistic about the job which has led to 22 years of merely average service and no friends on or off the force. Events over the next week will lead each cop to question what is right and what is wrong by which course of action is most justified with each coming away changed by the experience.

Brooklyn’s Finest is a film that demonstrates ambition on the behalf of director Antoine Fuqua. Here he takes the world of crooked cops and murky morality that he delved into so enjoyable in Training Day and spreads it over a much larger canvas with a larger cast to suit. However, the exploration of right and wrong featuring cops and crooks never really satisfies as the morality tales he is telling are far too simplistic with the ultimate decisions each cop will make, what leads them to make them and what will happen once they do all feeling far too predictable. The film lacks depth or surprise and each plot feels too familiar to other films and the themes once explored in Training Day spread too thinly here. Also somewhat disappointing is that, for all that the three main characters operate out of the same district and the events occurring over the same period, each story is kept too independent from each other to warrant the question of having anything in common at all. No character’s arc has any relevance on another’s adds to the feeling of this being three separate short stories merely being run concurrently to justify being called a single feature whereas films such as Crash weaves separate strands together to make the film feel more cohesive.

Brooklyn’s Finest does boast quite an impressive cast list. Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle are both decent in their roles, Cheadle more so than Hawke, as cops facing the decision to break rules and laws but neither is covering any ground they haven’t covered before in other films. Richard Gere is more memorable as the disillusioned older cop who grows pangs of conscience in his final days as a cop. Gere shows himself adept at playing someone rather less charming than the roles he is best known for even if his character’s arc is predictable, Gere at least makes the performance convincing. Amongst the supporting cast, there is a memorable turn from Wesley Snipes as the recently paroled crook Caz, with Snipes playing a character and giving a performance that is much more calm and sympathetic than he has done since moving towards straight-to-video action films and serves as a reminder that he is able to deliver strong dramatic performances.

Despite an impressive cast list and some decent performances from its cast, Brooklyn’s Finest is too long and too unoriginal to stand up to Antoine Fuqua’s past crooked cop film Training Day or even against many other films in the same genre. The film is too predictable to really be memorable for anything more than the cast involved, all of whom have performed better. A disappointment.

Rating: 2/5

She's Out of My League

2010-06-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

Director: Jim Field Smith
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve & T.J. Miller

While filled with character and situational clichés common to romantic comedies, the likeability of the film’s cast particularly Jay Baruchel, makes the film more enjoyable than its formula should allow.

Having often played supporting roles in comedies such as Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder and recently voiced the lead role in animated film How to Train Your Dragon, Jay Baruchel is the latest actor from the Judd Apatow crew to graduate from supporting act to leading role with romantic comedy She’s Out of My League. The result, while playing with convention by having an attractive woman fall for a less than attractive man, does add some novelty to the romantic comedy formula but generally the film is a predictable affair sticking too closely to many other conventions.

Kirk (Baruchel), a twenty-something with low self esteem, working as an airport security guard, is getting over a recent break up. When he defends an attractive woman named Molly from the advances of his colleagues he ends up meeting her again when he finds her phone left at the airport. As a thank you, Molly invites Kirk to a hockey game where he discovers Molly is interested in him which is news surprising to Kirk as he places himself, on a scale of attractiveness, as a 5 and Molly as a 10. Why would Molly be interesting in Kirk when he feels she’s out of his league and can Kirk himself deal with the pressure of living up to expectations he believes are beyond him?

Playing against a few conventions of the romantic comedy genre by having one its lead characters be less than, by Hollywood standards, attractive means She’s Out of My League has some moments that are not only fantasies of many an audience member of average appearance, but also funny and sometimes insightful reflections upon the importance of looks in relationships and in the building of self confidence. The twist isn’t as daring as it could be if the story had revolved around an attractive guy and an average looking girl, but the attempt to play against convention at all has its appeal even though some reasons for why Molly is attracted to Kirk are less well explained than the problems Kirk has (his own inadequacy and elements of placing Molly of a pedestal) with dating Molly. Aside from the novelty of the relationship that the differences between Kirk and Molly present, the rest of the film follows fairly close to formula with misunderstandings, competition from other suitors, interfering friends and gross out gags over physical appearance all falling within the realms of “seen it all before” right up to the predictable conclusion.

She’s Out of My League does benefit from a likeable cast and enjoyable performances from them. Jay Baruchel is loveable and funny as Kirk with his nervous energy and spindly frame making him enjoyably awkward and sympathetic when facing a romance with someone as glamorous as Molly yet still manages to come across smart and quick witted. Alice Eve is also likeable as Molly, bringing more to the role than just being a pretty face which is also necessary for the role of Molly who, despite her appearance, has struggled with self esteem problems herself, notably the pressure others have placed on her to be perfect based on her looks. There is also enjoyable support from comedians such as T.J. Miller and Nate Torrance as Kirk’s loudmouth and shy friends respectively and from Lindsay Sloane as Kirk’s ex-girlfriend Marnie who, having dumped Kirk previously, become amusingly jealous upon seeing how attractive his new girlfriend is in comparison to her.

Predictable both in plot and in gags, She’s Out of My League still entertains based on the likeability of its cast, especially Baruchel, and from some of the novelties of the romance.

Rating: 3/5

Greenberg

2010-06-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig & Rhys Ifans

Well performed and well shot, Greenberg is technically well made but the lack of likeability in its main character makes it difficult to sympathize with his character and journey leaves the film feeling unimpressive.

Following the critical acclaim of his film The Squid and the Whale in 2005, Noah Baumbach’s follow up film Margot at the Wedding felt cruel and cold in comparison. Greenberg, Baumbach’s latest film, is certainly warmer and more enjoyable than Margot at the Wedding but despite some strong performances and a few touching scenes, its central character suffers from a similar level of unlikeability that plagued the character of Margot before making his story and our engagement with his issues difficult to sympathize with or understand.

Florence (Gerwig), a nanny for a successful family, finds her life upset when she encounters the brother of her employer who is staying in their house whilst they are on holiday. The brother, Roger Greenberg (Stiller), has just come out of a mental health facility following a breakdown and is a 40 year old under orders to not do anything for a while. Roger’s prickly demeanor makes it difficult for him to reconnect with old friends, including Ivan (Ifans), and also engages in an awkward relationship with Florence despite also being interesting in rekindling a relationship with an old lover, Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who is now going through divorce. Roger’s attitudes and issues cause problems for those around him, particularly Florence, while he assesses what his future will be.

Greenberg, both the character and the film, is difficult to relate to due mostly to the character. Having uncertainty over one’s direction in life is something many can relate to even some in the same age range as Roger Greenberg and while such feelings as those Roger and Florence experience can be empathized with by audiences, it is a common theme in many films including those Noah Baumbach has written before. While Greenberg is certainly warmer overall in comparison to Baumbach’s previous film, mostly due to the supporting characters like Ivan, the character of Roger Greenberg is portrayed as very difficult to like and even the reasons that led to the breakdown he suffered prior to his arrival in the film is left largely unexplored so is also hard to sympathize with Roger over. The character’s relationship with others also works against his relateability. While there are some attempts at kindness or empathy towards others, Roger is generally portrayed as unable to consider the feelings of those around him particularly when it comes to the effects his own actions may have upon them. The end of the film is where sympathy for Roger is finally achieved when his niece throws a party in the house in which he is staying and Roger’s inability to relate comes over as almost cute when he is surrounded with people half his age and this scene then leads to an almost climactic argument with his closest friend where Roger finally acknowledges the effects his actions have had and while this offers some hope, some redemption for the character in that he might be a better person there is still the sense that it is too little, too late.

The performances in Greenberg are generally strong. In a serious role, Ben Stiller is impressive. Accustomed to playing characters that frequently get frustrated and angry with those around them, Stiller’s performance is much more restrained than in the comedies he is accustomed too and this works well in the portrayal of Roger’s struggle to relate to others. Greta Gerwig, a relative newcomer, is likeable as Florence whose kindness and easygoing nature makes her an easy character for Roger to take advantage of and shows her character as one that, like Roger, is looking for direction but is perhaps to easily drawn into letting others dictate her direction for her. Rhys Ifans also gives a warm and likeable performance as Roger’s friend Ivan whose character is, perhaps, the most likeable in the film and whose acceptance of a life he hadn’t planned on is one that is both sad yet relatable.

While well performed and well shot, Greenberg is technically impressive but the unlikeability of its lead character makes relating to him and to his story difficult to sympathize with though it shows some improvement towards the film’s conclusion.

Rating: 3/5

The Brothers Bloom

2010-06-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo & Rachel Weisz

Rian Johnson’s second film after the excellent noir Brick is an enjoyable con artist film with a very likeable cast. It doesn’t hold together quite as satisfactorily as his first film but is still fun to watch and further shows that Johnson is a talent to watch.

While Rian Johnson’s debut film Brick, which successfully fuelled Dashiell Hammett style noir with a teenage cast and school setting, was released to great critical acclaim, his follow up film The Brothers Bloom has taken many years to see release. Despite having been completed in 2008, it saw a limited US release in early 2009 and now a 2010 release in the UK. Whilst such delays in the release of a film do not often bode well for a film’s quality, The Brothers Bloom proves to a very enjoyable con-artist caper. It doesn’t quite satisfy as much as Brick or feel worth the wait but it is nevertheless a likeable and satisfactory follow up to Brick.

Stephen (Ruffalo) and Bloom (Brody) are brothers who spent their youth going from foster home to foster home. Stephen looked after Bloom by constructing elaborate cons that would, whilst providing the pair with illegally gained income, give his shy brother the ability to live out various lives even if they are under the guise of performances. In the present day, Bloom has grown tired of living out the lives his brother has constructed for him and goes out on his own to live a real life but finds himself drawn back for one last, big con, involving the rich, recluse Penelope Stamp (Weisz) who collect hobbies and is drawn out from her home by the promise of adventure as part of the brother’s team unaware she is the subject of a con herself which is further troubled when Bloom finds himself drawn to Penelope and looks to protect her from Stephen.

The Brothers Bloom is an enjoyable con-artist film and like with Brick, Rian Johnson again constructs a very specific environment and atmosphere for his characters and story. Beginning with a flashback to the brothers in their youth and featuring narration from actor Ricky Jay, a familiar face in films of sleight of hand due to Jay’s performances as a magician, the tone for the film is set as con-artist film with dashes of fantasy and adventure. The rest of the film is then one that it is colourful and likeable filled with an assortment of eccentric characters and elaborate cons but one that is also filled with melancholy as Bloom mourns the loss of a real life that he’s never had, of having had no real romances as all those that he’s loved have loved a role he played rather than the real Bloom. The relationship between the brothers is a quite touching one as while Stephen may sometimes appear ruthless in his intent to con another of their money no matter the emotional harm; he nevertheless cares for his brother and provides him with a life that he believes protects him from harsher realities. The character of Penelope too is likeable and offers Bloom the chance at a real romance though it would come at the cost of the con that Stephen wishes to pull and therefore would endanger the brother’s relationship. As charming and likeable as the film is however, is does suffer slightly from too long a running time which makes the film feel slightly less breezy and enjoyable towards the end and certain twists in the plot, a requirement in any film about cons, are predictable but there is one last twist that is able to add emotional weight to the film’s finale.

Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody both deliver warm and enjoyable performances as the film’s titled brothers. Brody is likeable and believably naïve as the younger brother Bloom whose ideas of a real life are perhaps beyond what he expects them to be and Ruffalo, while playing the mature, experienced brother Stephen, still shows his character capable of kindness. Rachel Weisz is incredibly loveable as the bubbly Penelope whose innocence reflects Bloom’s and The Brothers Bloom features enjoyable support from Rinko Kikuchi and Robbie Coltrane as members of Stephen’s team both with their own eccentricities.

The Brothers Bloom is a thoroughly charming con-artist film with warm and likeable characters and performances throughout. There are parts of the plot that are predictable and the film runs a little too long but there are still many enjoyable twists and turns and a sense of fun that frequently allows the film to charm you.

Rating: 4/5

The Killer Inside Me

2010-06-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Staring: Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba & Kate Hudson

An adaptation of Jim Thompson’s noir, serial killer classic which works well initially as a noir but feels somewhat hollow overall and features some uncomfortable, if message driven, violence.

Michael Winterbottom has built a career out making films that cover challenging subject matters, court controversy and span genres and his latest, The Killer Inside Me, is yet another film that feels in keeping with the choices Winterbottom has made in his career, is an adaptation of the Jim Thompson novel. However, whilst the novel did depict a bleak and violent picture of the life and mindset of a sociopath, Winterbottom’s adaption feels emotionally hollow making its violence more disturbing, its characters unsympathetic and its climax falls flat.

Lou Ford (Affleck) is a deputy sheriff in a small Texas town in 1950s America. Lou may seem quiet and unthreatening to some but beneath the surface he has violent impulses brought to the fore after an affair with a prostitute named Joyce (Alba) leads to the pair plotting a blackmail attempt against the son of a rich developer leaving one person dead and Joyce comatose. With no evidence pointing implicitly at Lou, he continues his job as the deputy but those suspicious of him lead him towards more acts of violence to hide his guilt including towards his fiancée Amy (Hudson) and the truth about his sociopathic nature threatening to come ever closer to being revealed to the townsfolk.

Considered to be one of the best serial killer POV novels, The Killer Inside Me was a disturbing story of a sociopath with heavy noir elements. All of this is present in the film adaptation too but Winterbottom’s representation of them vary in success though always provoke strong emotional responses. As a noir, the first half of the film works very well with most of its action occurring at night, a first person narration from Affleck as Ford, femme fatales, blackmail and murder though as Ford’s predicament begins to unravel and the lengths he needs to resort to, to cover up his initial acts of murder and violence and allay the suspicions of those around him and the noir elements begin to drop away as events lead into the day. The move from night to day and the steady pace at which events spiral out of the control of Ford is highlighted in a line of dialogue early in the film where the town Sheriff remarks that it is lightest before it gets dark so while the representation of this phrase is evident in events that come later, the actions of the characters within the story begin to stretch credulity especially in the film’s climax. Another aspect of The Killer Inside Me that has gained attention is the level of violence, particularly towards its female characters. The violence is disturbing. It is debateable whether the level of violence was necessary or justified but it’s lack of glamour as either way it generates hatred for Ford and his view of women which is, likely, the point but it is uncomfortable viewing. While this also highlights the fact that the story is told from Ford’s point of view with his narration sometimes at odds with what is occurring on screen and while this sometimes portrays his emotional disconnection from his acts it also leaves the film feeling emotionally hollow too with other characters leaving no lasting impressions unless they are subjected to violence.

The Killer Inside Me revolves around a single role and performance, fortunately the film benefits from strong casting in that role. Casey Affleck delivers an often impressive performance in the role of Lou Ford building on a similar performance he delivered as Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James in his portrayal with both being men repressing anger and violent impulses leading others to underestimate them. The role of Lou Ford is certainly a more disturbing character than that of Robert Ford and Affleck’s performance is certainly filled with more subtle gestures with him able to deliver a performance that shows emotion yet feels appropriately faked that shows the character’s true detachment underneath the façade he show to others. Other roles in the film are less developed than Affleck’s performance as Ford due to them being seen through the eyes of Ford. Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson are generally fine as the two women who love Ford and suffer most from his impulses but they, and other characters, are generally ciphers with there motivations for sticking by Ford left unexplored though, because of the level of violence directed against some characters, sympathy can be found for the female characters at least.

Overall, what begins as film noir soon becomes less appealing and enjoyable as it progresses. The violence in the film, while not glamorised and intentionally depicted to disturb, is hard to watch and highlights the lack of development of characters other than the lead role since it takes such violence to generate sympathy for those characters at all. Affleck does deliver a disturbing performance as Ford but the film, like its lead character, is too emotionally detached leaving the film with little to attract repeat viewings.

Rating: 2/5

The Losers

2010-06-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

Director: Sylvain White
Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Idris Elba & Chris Evans

A fun adaptation of the comic book series that whilst lacking some of the depth of the comic, successfully builds some of its action set pieces and features a strong, enjoyable cast.

With most comic book adaptations hitting the big screen being based on superheroes, The Losers comes as long as one of the less frequent adaptations that adapts a comic from a different genre. When The Losers comic was conceived, it was with the intent of created a series that took action cinema values and apply them to a comic book series where budget issues are not an option and stories are only limited by the imaginations of their writers and artists. As a variant on The A-Team, The Losers comes to the big screen as part of the genre that inspired it. With a strong cast, some enjoyable action sequences lifted directly from the comic and good humour throughout, The Losers is a fun action movie though it lacks some of the depth and tension of the series on which it was based.

The Losers, a special forces team led by Clay (Morgan) and consisting of Roque (Elba), Jensen (Evans), Pooch (Columbus Short) and Cougar (Oscar Jaenada), find themselves presumed dead and framed for murder when their decision to ignore orders to save children from a drug cartel marked for destruction by airstrike sees an attempt on their lives result in the death of those they saved. Having identified the man, named Max (Jason Patric), who targeted them by his voice on a radio, the team go into hiding but are approached by a mysterious woman named Aisha (Zoe Saldana) who claims to have the money to finance operations by the team to find Max and clear their names in return for killing Max for Aisha and stopping his attempts to purchase a deadly new weapon. Max however, being a high ranking member of the CIA, has the means to protect himself and make the Losers mission against him very difficult indeed.

Originally planned to be directed by Peter Berg, who wrote the script, scheduling conflicts saw The Losers delayed before being passed on to Sylvain White. Fortunately, despite White’s inexperience as an action director, the action sequences in The Losers are often very enjoyable with many of the action sequences based on the same sequences in the comic book including some, though not all, of the fun angles that the comic’s artist used to convey those sequences. There is added humour in the film that is enjoyable too with the team bantering back and forth enjoyably and some rearranging of the comic’s plotlines (the film is based mostly on the first year of the series) such as making the character of Max more prominent sooner has varied success. With the character of Max it results in a rather enjoyable villain though in regards to the character of Aisha, she is softened in comparison to her comic book counterpart and her new origins are less interesting but these are issues that may have more relevance to the enjoyment of audiences familiar with the source material than those that those who aren’t. There is also a somewhat frustrating open ending to the film that, while there is more stories from the comic that could be adapted, the lack of guarantee of their being a sequel to wrap up plot threads leaves the film feeling incomplete.

The Losers does boast a fun and interesting cast of character actors in most of its roles. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, building on his tough guy persona in films like Watchmen and his star potential from television, makes for enjoyable Clay while Idris Elba as Roque enjoyably portrays the character’s anger issues always bottling away under the surface. Chris Evans gets the most memorable role as the wise cracking Jensen though he also gets enjoyable support, and competition, from Columbus Short as Pooch with the pair getting most of the best lines while Oscar Jaenada is likeable as the quiet Cougar. Zoe Saldana is decent as Aisha but the limitations of her character in the movie to merely badass chick, deprives the role and Saldana of the depth of the comic book character and the character here, like Saldana’s performance, is often too soft. Finally there is Jason Patric in the role of Max and while the character is pretty much a one note villain, Patric brings some humour to the role making the character evil yet enjoyable.

Lacking some of the depth of the comic book series, particularly in regards to the role of Aisha, The Losers still remains a very enjoyable action film with a fun cast, some good humour and action sequences though none as great as their comic book counterpart. A fun action film nevertheless.

Rating: 3/5

Cop Out

2010-05-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan & Seann William Scott

An occasionally funny buddy cop movie by Kevin Smith that despite some good jokes and likeable chemistry between its leads, struggles when it comes to action and the script doesn’t hold up to those that Smith has written himself.

Having only directed films that he has written himself up to now, most featuring the same cast of actors for the most part, Kevin Smith has taken on directorial duties on his first film that he hasn’t written himself. Cop Out, a police comedy in the style of 1980s buddy cop films, is Smith’s chance to direct a film starring Bruce Willis and while a love for the genre and the era of its classics can be felt here, Smith’s weaknesses as a director of action can be felt and the humour throughout, while occasionally decent, also suffers since it wasn’t written by Smith whose gift for humorous dialogue accounts for much of his success.

Jimmy (Willis) and Paul (Morgan) are NYPD detectives celebrating nine years of partnership. When a drug sting goes bad with the death of a witness, Jimmy and Paul are suspended without pay. Jimmy, in desperate need of money to pay for his daughter’s wedding with the threat of his ex-wife’s new husband taking over if he can’t pay, Jimmy decides to trade in a rare baseball card. A robbery at buyer’s store however, leaves Jimmy without his card or his money and he and Paul go in search of the card, now in the possession of a local drug lord named Poh Boy (Guillermo Diaz) who is also behind the death of the witness that got Jimmy and Paul suspended in the first place though Poh Boy is unwilling to surrender the card unless Jimmy and Paul can locate a stolen car whose contents are valuable to the drug lord.

Cop Out’s inspiration from buddy cop films of the 1980s/90s is keenly felt throughout from the partners of opposing ages, personalities and race to the score by Harold Faltermeyer, Cop Out pays several tributes with one character, Paul, so enamoured with movies he often feels the need to quote them throughout the film. The fondness for the genre is a clear attraction for Kevin Smith and there is fun to be had in the film. Cop Out is most entertaining when it’s characters are given time to hang out and banter back and forth in a manner that often feels improvised and is likely improved from the script in the editing room where Smith’s talents at timing dialogue to generate the best laughs can shine through. However, the script is rarely as funny as one that Smith himself would write and the film’s original title, A Couple of Dicks, suggests a far cruder and perhaps funnier film than what is here. Smith is also a director known for having more gifts as a writer than as a director with his visual style lacking action and so, the action sequences in the film are decent but generally uninspiring as are the film’s villains which, intentionally or not, is in keeping with the style of villains seen in many an 80s cop film.

Cop Out benefits from having a generally enjoyable cast. Bruce Willis, whilst not adding anything new to his repertoire in his performance as Jimmy, clearly seems amused by his partner’s antics and he shares good chemistry throughout with Tracy Morgan who plays his partner Paul. Morgan is entertaining too, though sometimes his performance is too OTT with Morgan’s style of comedy more suited to him being part of an ensemble (TV’s 30 Rock) than in a lead role. Seann William Scott steals most of the scenes he appears in as the their who originally takes Jimmy’s card and also works well on screen with Willis and Morgan and Kevin Pollack and Adam Brody as a fellow pair of detectives, have good chemistry together though suffer somewhat when sharing scenes with Willis and Morgan. Females characters are generally underdeveloped and the actresses do their best and Guillermo Diaz as the film’s lead villain is ok but far too OTT to remembered as anything more than annoying.

With some decent gags and lines and good chemistry between Willis and Morgan, Cop Out is a decent buddy cop comedy but Smith’s weaknesses as a director of action are evident and that the script was not written by Smith is reflected in the quality of the jokes which are below that of comedies Smith has written himself. Somewhat fun as a tribute to similar films of the 1980s but not a standout film for the resumes of any of the talents involved.

Rating: 3/5

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2010-05-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

Director: Mike Newell
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton & Ben Kingsley

A disappointing action/adventure adapting the popular video game that has some fleeting moments of fun but is generally unmemorable overall.

With many videogames being adapted into big screen films, the critical success of most have rarely matched their box office success even in cases where box office success has been poor. Prince of Persia, which has spawned a series of sequels is the latest game adaptation but unlike others that have often been based on shoot em’ ups, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time comes from the studios of Jerry Bruckheimer who has seen massive success in with the Pirates of the Caribbean series of films which were originally based off of a theme park ride. No doubt hoping to take the unique time period of the story and the action/adventures trappings to spawn a new franchise of big budget adventures, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time unfortunately falls flat with only a few brief moments of enjoyment to be had from the action or the cast but nothing as stand out as Johnny Depp’s performance in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal), once a street orphan who was adopted by the Persian king into his family after witnessing an act of bravery, is now the youngest of three princes. When an attack is made on another city under the Intel that they are harbouring weapons, a plot arises that sees the king poisoned and Dastan framed for the murder. Going on the run with the Princess Tamina (Arterton) of the captured city, Dastan believe his elder brother to be the guilty party and believes also that the attack on the city and the death of the king was a plot to get a hold of a mystical dagger that Dastan now possesses that allows its wielder to travel backwards in time to correct mistakes of the presence thus giving him the foresight to change the course of battles. Dastan must somehow protect the dagger from those who would exploit it, prove his own innocence in his father’s death whilst prove the guilt of the actual murderer all while enduring the attitude of the feisty, independent Tamina.

On paper, many of the ingredients seem to be present for audiences as well as producer Jerry Bruckheimer to believe that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time could launch another series of adventure films that could achieve the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Present are a handsome lead that came from rough beginnings, a feisty female character from a higher upbringing with romantic chemistry between them, betrayals, attacks, magical objects and terrible curses along with a period setting which allows for more exotic locales and action sequences. However, in spite of this the film also features many of the flaws of the Pirates of the Caribbean including an overly-convoluted plot but what Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time lacks is a stand out lead character or performance. Dastan and Tamina fulfil the roles of hero and heroine but neither are as engaging on their own as they are on screen together with their banter providing the most enjoyment to be found in the film but other roles are too underwritten to generally care about and the villains of the film somewhat faceless and/or unthreatening. The action sequences do occasionally show some life but the scenes of chases over rooftops seem lacking when more modern day thrillers like the Jason Bourne films achieve more impressive sequences and the special effects also feel somewhat lacking in comparison to more recent blockbusters which are adding 3D to increase appeal.

Performances in the film are a mixed bunch. Jake Gyllenhaal is generally enjoyably as the heroic lead having bulked up physically to look the part though a misguided attempt to deliver an English accent is sometimes painful and often harm the drama. Gemma Arterton is more enjoyable as Princess Tamina despite her role to generally be a constant thorn in Dastan’s side whilst maintain enough sex appeal to keep him interested. It does work when Arterton and Gyllenhaal are bantering on screen but Arterton is less able to impress when having to deliver more serious moments. Several actors such Ben Kingsley and up-and-comer Toby Kebbell feel wasted on underwritten roles as Dastan’s uncle and brother and the only other performance of note is Alfred Molina as the leader of bandits who crosses paths with Dastan and provides the film with its comic relief character. None of the performances stand out like Depp’s in Pirates of the Caribbean to maintain the enjoyment even during the more convoluted moments of the script and the villains here are generally less memorable or likeable.

Overall, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a failed attempt by Jerry Bruckheimer to launch another action/adventure series in the mould of the Pirates of the Caribbean film. There are some moments that are enjoyable during some action sequences or between the banter of the male and female leads but most of the film is average and unmemorable and not as enjoyable as the games on which the film is based. Disappointing.

Rating: 2/5

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

2010-05-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Val Kilmer & Eva Mendes

An often surreal, dark humoured remake of Abel Ferrara’s original that jettisons many themes of the original film but is still entertaining for the usual madness that Herzog brings to his features to fill the gaps and includes a memorable performance from Nicholas Cage.

A remake of a cult film by Abel Ferrara which starred Harvey Keitel by Werner Herzog which relocates the plot to New Orleans post-Katrina and starring Nicholas Cage, an actors whose recent years had seen a series of films in receipt of poor review, would be a questionable choice of project for Herzog yet Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a remake in the loosest sense keeping the main title and the main plot of a crooked cop descending even further into corruption with all other elements being largely new. The resulting film is one that is at times crime noir, at others is unmistakable a Herzog film but all throughout is a darkly funny, surreal and sometimes scary drama with Nicholas Cage’s often hysterical acting style being exploited effectively to support the story rather than distract from it.

Following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans cop Terrence McDonagh (Cage) injures himself whilst saving a prisoner in a flooded jail cell from drowning. Now suffering a back injury that will put him in pain for the rest of his life, Terrence soon finds the prescribed medication is not enough and soon develops a drug habit which, in addition to mounting gambling debts, fuels his willingness to cut corners and break laws in his duties with an escort girlfriend named Frankie (Mendes) to support and a murder to solve that brings him into contact with several drug figures who could speed up his corruption even further.

A crime film might seem an odd choice for Herzog, let alone one that is a remake, but Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans still bears many familiar themes seen in Herzog’s earlier works such as the human psyche under pressure and with Nicholas Cage engaging in performances of excess that have caused some to call him the heir to Herzog’s previous muse Klaus Kinski. Herzog’s POV style cinematography isn’t as prominent here as it has been in other films, his documentaries especially, but when it appears it often in aid of the surreal tone Herzog strikes throughout as the lead character descends further into a drug fuelled darkness with shots of Iguana and a POV shot of an alligator watching an accident scene where police are clearing up the damage of an accident caused by another alligator stepping into traffic all adding the overall feeling of madness that gradually increases as the film progresses. Moving the story to New Orleans is also a smart move on Herzog’s part as this city in crisis, a city damaged by Hurricane Katrina, adds another layer to Terrence’s story who is also damaged and struggling to keep himself together just as New Orleans has been in the wake of disaster. As nightmare-ish as Terrence’s descent is portrayed, the film is also recognisably a police drama too with Herzog grasping crime noir conventions admirably and then surprises all with an almost redemptive final act which may, or may not, be real when the state of Terrence’s psyche is brought into consideration.

Nicholas Cage leads the cast with a very impressive performance. Whilst well known for playing jittery, hysterical personalities on screen especially in later years, his style works very well within the world of Herzog with Cage appearing almost fearless in his willingness to push his OTT behaviour to its limits yet almost everything fall within the context of the character’s journey with Cage proving to be very watchable and even controlling his body language to support the performance as he progresses to hunch over and become a gradually more hulking physical presence on screen as his character’s physical pain continues to worsen in spite of his self-medication. While Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is mainly a one man show in terms of performances, its does feature an impressive list of actors in supporting roles including Val Kilmer as a fellow crooked cop, Vondie Curtis Hall as Terrence’s boss, Eva Mendes as Terrence’s girlfriend, Brad Dourif as Terrence’s bookie and a quite impressive turn from comedienne Jennifer Coolidge as Terrence’s alcoholic mother in law. Only Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson disappoints in yet another tough guy gangster role but otherwise the film features good performances from all.

Only loosely a remake, retaining the main title and central plot of a cop descending in darkness and corruption, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is an impressive and enjoyable crime drama in its own right with many touches that are undeniably Herzog and a thick vein of dark humour and plenty of enjoyably surreal moments with the most enjoyable performance from Nicholas Cage in a decade. Mad yet very enjoyable.

Rating: 4/5

Robin Hood

2010-05-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett & Oscar Isaac

An enjoyable new take on the Robin Hood myth that takes various stories and sources and weaves them together into an entertaining drama with enjoyable performances and Ridley Scott’s reliably impressive visuals and action sequences.

With Robin Hood having undergone many interpretations on the big screen and on television, with comedy straight actions films, some serious drama and others comedy, Ridley Scott’s take underwent several revisions on its way to the big screen. With rumours abound of the film originally being titled Nottingham with the Sheriff being written as the hero, and Robin Hood the villain, the version of the story coming to the big screen now is far more in keeping with traditional ideas of the character. Robin Hood does bear some resemblance to descriptions of it being Gladiator with bows and arrows but it still an enjoyable film and one set to establish the character’s origins and legend rather than be an adventure that runs with them already established.

Following the Crusades and battles in France, King Richard (Danny Huston)’s armies are heading back to England. When a battle sees Richard killed and an ambush sees his crown stolen and its caretaker Robin of Loxley dying, an archer from Richard’s army named Robin Longstride (Crowe) is entrusted with a mission to return the crown to England and Loxley’s sword to his father Walter (Max Von Sydow) in Nottingham, which Robin accepts with some allies. Having witnessed Loxley’s murderer, an Englishman named Godfrey (Mark Strong), Robin’s life is at risk as Godfrey is a friend of, the now, King John (Isaac) and intends to bring down England for the French. Robin, on his arrival in Nottingham, is talked into masquerading as Loxley and therefore as husband to Maid Marion (Blanchett), to maintain the Loxley estate and soon finds himself and his friends drawn into a battle to save England from Godfrey’s men and from the tyranny of King John.

While there are issues that could be made with Robin Hood that would be well founded such as descriptions that the film is Gladiator with bows and arrows or that the actors accents are unconvincing, these generally don’t detract from the enjoyment of the film. Yes, the accents are sometimes questionable but are far ahead of other attempts in past films that have featured non-British actors and while Gladiator comparisons can be reflected in Ridley Scott’s visual style, action scenes and the presence of Crowe, there are more than enough differences to make such comparisons mostly superficial. Ridley Scott’s attempts, with screenwriter Brian Helgeland, to blend different fictional accounts of the Robin Hood legend with various historical evidence to suggest the character existed, are admirable. The film has some of the trappings familiar to the legend such as bows and arrows, Nottingham, the woods, King John, Marion, the Sheriff and Merry Men but none of these are overly dominant with the film feeling more like an origin story for Robin Hood, tying it into to a specific historical period/context, and developing the elements most associated with the character so that this film ends where most tales of Robin Hood begins. The film is a story of how the man became Robin Hood and the newer elements of historical events and political intrigue mix together quite well. This being a Ridley Scott film, the film is shot impressively too but the film also features some unexpected warmth as seen with the interplay between Robin and Marion, Robin and his Merry Men and between the Merry Men themselves that helps ease the overall serious tone of the film.

Russell Crowe is enjoyable enough as Robin Hood. His attempts at a Midlands accent are mixed but impress at the attempt and fortunately his Robin is more a man of actions than of words and when he must make a speech, Crowe is still able to command even with the accent. Cate Blanchett is a good Marion, with her character more in common with Eowyn of The Lord of the Rings than with past Marions, a character willing to fight as hard as any man rather than remain just a love interest. Mark Strong is pretty forgettable as the main antagonist Godfrey but Oscar Isaacs is enjoyably vain and slimy as King John, getting in many good lines and scenes while Matthew MacFadyen is also enjoyable despite little screen-time as the Sheriff of Nottingham with a performance that could easily be the younger version of the Sheriff Alan Rickman performed in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Kevin Durand, Scott Grimes and Alan Doyle are likeable and fun as Little John, Will Scarlett and Alan A’Dayle respectively and Max Von Sydow and William Hurt round out the cast as the wiser, older characters Walter Loxley and William Marshall.

With an enjoyable story mixing myth and "facts" into an origin story, some enjoyable performances and impressive cinematography, Robin Hood is more than just “Gladiator with bows and arrows”, though such descriptions do partially fit. This might not be the most fun of Robin Hood films, more drama than adventure, but it nevertheless well made and performed.

Rating: 4/5

Hot Tub Time Machine

2010-05-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

Director: Steve Pink
Starring: John Cusack, Craig Robinson & Rob Corddry

An entertaining comedy that doesn’t quite live up to the ridiculousness that its title promises but is a fun enough film even for those not fond on 1980s nostalgia.

Having already collaborated together on the cult-favourite film Grosse Pointe Blank which also involved some heavy nods to the 1980s, actor John Cusack and director Steve Pink (previously the writer of Grosse Pointe Blank) reunite for another film that mixes 1980s nostalgia and comedy though is this time far more driven by jokes to the era that supported to them. While Hot Tub Time Machine is a fun film, it does not quite live up to the silliness of its title with its characters stuck on a fairy predictable arc of self-redemption but overall it has more successful laughs than unsuccessful ones.

Adam (Cusack), Lou (Corddry) and Nick (Robinson) are three old friends that are living lives that they hadn’t dreamed of when they were teens. Adam has been dumped by another girlfriend, Nick feels emasculated by his wife and Lou binges on alcohol and drugs. After Lou ends up in hospital following a drunken accident, the three friends reunite along with Adam’s teenage nephew Jacob (Clark Duke), to take Lou on a wild weekend skiing where they once went to as teens. After a drunken night in a strange hot tub that malfunctions through the night, the four friends awaken to find themselves back in the 1980s with Adam, Lou and Nick inhabiting their teenage selves. Thanks to the advice of a mysterious repairman (Chevy Chase), the friends realise they must make every effort not to alter the events that occurred at the risk of changing their future, or Jacob’s whole existence, but find the temptations of fixing past mistakes to avoid the futures they know to be unhappy could prove to be their undoing.

For Hot Tub Time Machine, there is much reliance on memories and nostalgia for the 1980s fuelling the film’s jokes and in generating enjoyment from the audience. Some of the 80s nostalgia comes from surprising directions such as the film being produced by United Artists whose logo at the start of the film recalls the 1980s where the studio had been riding high on successes before almost disappearing altogether through the 1990s and early 2000s following troubles with its parent studio MGM. There is humour derived from the fashions, music, TV shows and ideals of the era which are less surprising and generally less amusing and some casting choices like Chevy Chase and Crispin Glover generate some fun from their 1980s notoriety. However, the better jokes in Hot Tub Time Machine rely less on the 80s nostalgia and more on the interactions of its lead characters and of the actors. The dialogue veers from sharp and witty, to crude to cheesy and sometimes a combination of these but generally the script has enough enjoyable lines to make the film fun. The story however is less successful and almost wholly predictable and while at times this is fine, there are other moments where it undermines the humour such as revelations surrounding Jacob’s parentage. For a film though, whose central idea is that these friends were sent back in time by a hot tub, there is a lack of that same lunacy in the rest of the film.

Hot Tub Time Machine does find much of its humour from the performances and chemistry of most of its cast. John Cusack is enjoyable as Adam, with the same kind of weary cynicism that he brought to his roles in Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity though, while Cusack gets top billing and his is the lead role, Cusack is actually out performed by his co-star Craig Robinson who is thoroughly likeable as Nick and whose, often, deadpan delivery including the utterance of the film’s title explaining their situation, providing the most laughs. Clark Duke, as the group’s youngest member, might be present just to provide appeal to younger audiences but is nevertheless likeable in his anxiety over keeping his friends on track so as to guarantee he still gets born. Rob Corddry however, as fourth friend Lou, is less enjoyable and while his character is written as the loudest and most obnoxious, Corddry’s deliver is too OTT to enjoy at times and harms some attempts to find sympathy with the wonder over whether another actor such as Jeremy Piven (TV’s Entourage, Grosse Pointe Blank and friend of Cusack) might have achieved in the role. Female characters and actresses are underwritten and underserved and 80s names like Chevy Chase and Crispin Glover are enjoyable though more for the recognition their faces bring than for their performances.

Overall, Hot Tub Time Machine is an enjoyable, but average, comedy. There is some fun to be found in its 1980s humour and more to be found from its cast and their chemistry but the film’s story is sometimes too predictable at the expense of the fun and some performances like Corddry’s are less enjoyable than other cast members like Clarke or Robinson. Fun but not fantastic.

Rating: 3/5

Four Lions

2010-05-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

Director: Chris Morris
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Nigel Lindsay & Kayvan Novak

Chris Morris’ feature film debut certainly doesn’t avoid sensitive subjects but those fearing an outright offensive attempt at making a “Jihadist comedy” need not worry as while some laughs come from shock value, there is surprising insight into the confused culture clashes that can lead to fanaticism in addition to humour.

When Chris Morris announced his intentions to make a comedy surrounding a suicide attack in Britain, there was much concern over the sensitivity of the issue with some groups sending Morris threats should he release a film that may mock Muslims and their faith. Such worries arose in light of Morris’ own history with the TV series The Day Today and Brass Eye which, through mock interviews and news broadcasts, mocked many sensitive subjects including a TV special on paedophiles. Four Lions however, while no doubt able to offend some, is actually surprisingly sensitive to some of the issues surrounding the people who become involved in such attacks and how they come to be involved. There is a lot of humour too as Morris finds the bumbling nature of the inexperienced and uneducated that are often talked into committing such attacks as a source for farce with many effective laughs that can be funny, sad and shocking all at once.

Four Muslim men: Omar (Ahmed), a young father and husband who routinely mocks his own brother’s adherence to their shared faith yet is angered enough by the mistreatment from non-Muslims that he plans to strike at them, leads the group along with his dim-witted friend Waj (Novak), even more naïve Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) who prefers to train crows to be bombers, and Barry (Lindsey) who has converted to Islam and wishes to bomb a Mosque to enrage to Muslim community into action, plan to launch a suicide attack in their home country of Britain. After Omar and Waj go to a training camp in Pakistan and return failures, the group, now joined by enthusiastic idealist Hassan (Arsher Ali), decide to plan an attack anyway with the aim of joining the London Marathon in costumes with which they can conceal their bombs but their own incompetence may not even see them get that far.

Avoiding the temptation to paint its characters as unsympathetic idealists out to kill and martyr themselves or to attack Islam as a cause for such actions, Chris Morris actually makes his characters surprisingly sympathetic and demonstrates that those drawn into committing terrorist acts can often be the naïve and uneducated whose confusion and naivety is exploited into making them believe they are committing righteous acts. The sources from where the character’s come from are also surprising as they all, Omar and Waj especially, come from moderate backgrounds and for whose culture is a mixture of Muslim and Western values as brought about by having lived their lives in Britain. The most extreme member of the group, Barry, is white and recent convert to Islam who is seemingly embracing the religion as a way to justify his own anti-Semitism and wish to lash out with violence. When taking Omar and Waj to a training camp in Pakistan they face insult and ridicule from soldiers their who see them as English and further highlights a conflict of culture amongst Western-living/Western-born Muslim's who face persecution for being Muslim but never truly receive respect from hardliners in Muslim nations despite their attempts to ingratiate themselves. It is this conflict that has led some of these characters to embark upon their mission and who see themselves as being heroes once they become martyrs. While characters like Faisal and Waj are drawn in due to their lack of intelligence and Hassan's idealism is expolited by the agressive Barry, it is Omar's commitment that strikes the strongest chord. Omar's stable family life and moderate views on Islam as seen by his attitudes towards his brother raises questions over how this became his mission that are never adequately answered or why his wife would be so supportive but while this can be frustrating it also serves to shake preconceptions on radicals in that Omar is a very sympathetic character. While possessing unique insights, unexpected with the emphasis on the film being a comedy, and maturity, Four Lions is also very very funny with Morris also unafraid to exploit the farcical aspects surrounding the attempts that such plots, when not properly planned (as recalled by an attempt to drive a car into an airport) through pratfalls and the ridiculous promises of a martyr's death for many involved in such acts with some very funny one liners thrown in with "Fuck Mini-Babybels" a battle cry for one character yet through all the laughs and the moments of calm and sympathy, Morris is keen to remind us that such people are still very dangerous.

The cast of Four Lions is particularly impressive. Riz Ahmed stands out in the lead role of Omar who, whilst seemingly the smartest and most grounded of the group, is sympathetic yet still clearly misguided having fallen into the same lie of there being honour in what he is about to do, who also later feels guilt at bringing in more innocents like Waj and Faisal. Ahmed delivers a performance that quite rightly marks him as a British talent to watch in the future. Amongst the rest of the cast we have hilarious performances from Kayvan Novak (TV's Fonejacker) who gets most of the best lines as the dim-witted Waj whose reconciliation of his Western-upbringing and fundamentalist values is the most confused of the group and then there's Nigel Lindsay as Barry who portray's the character's hate and bluster in a manner that is at one time hilarious and then can quickly turn intimidating.

In the face of controversy, Four Lions stands out as being far more respectful of what leads its protagonists towards the actions they take than might be expected and offers an often mature looks at the conflicts of culture that some face when reconciling more moderate, Western values with fundamentalist ones. Four Lions is also very very funny with great one-liners, outstanding moments of farce and many moments that are funny, sad and shocking in equal measure poking ridicule at the idea of Jihadists being criminal masterminds without ever forgetting that they are still a danger and also human beings that have been misled through anger and conflicts of identity. Funny, smart, still potentially offensive but daring and worth seeing.

Rating: 4/5

Iron Man 2

2010-04-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke & Gwyneth Paltrow

An entertaining sequel that whilst not as fun as the first film due to a disappointing middle act and too many set ups for future Marvel Comics films, is still enjoyable thank in large part to Downey Jr.

An unexpected hit both critically and commercially in 2008, Iron Man revived the Marvel Comics film franchise after the poorly reviewed Spider-Man 3 and even stole some of the spotlight of the, then upcoming, The Dark Knight. Thanks in due part to a well received performance from Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role, which also cemented Downey Jr. as a star once again, and to the direction of Jon Favreau. Not wanting to ruin a winning formula, both star and director return for Iron Man 2 which, while retaining much of what made the first film enjoyable, suffers from the ambition of the studios to use scenes to promote future Marvel Comics films and suffers from a disappointing middle act.

After revealing his identity as Iron Man to the world, Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) faces downsides to his increased celebrity status. He faces the government wishing to seize the Iron Man technology on the grounds that it’s a weapon and wish to adapt it for military purposes, a competing military contractor in Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) who wants to put Stark out of business and Ivan Vanko (Rourke) the embittered son of an inventor who was muscled out of his share of the fortune Stark’s father made from technology he helped design. When Vanko manages to re-create the technology Stark invented to power his Iron Man suit to make a weapon of his, attacking and injuring Stark, Vanko is then contacted by Hammer wishing to use Vanko’s skills to create his own army of suits to rival Stark’s. With enemies coming from various directions, Stark has his own health problems to contend with as the materials he needs to power the device keeping Stark alive, is also poisoning him.

When Iron Man was released in 2008, it was expected to do good Box Office, but its success both commercially and critically was much higher than expected, eclipsed only by that year’s The Dark Knight amongst the year’s blockbuster films. With the future of the, then, newly formed Marvel Comics Films studio resting on the success of this film and The Incredible Hulk, the success of Iron Man was very good indeed and with much success being given to the film’s star and director, both were brought back for the sequel with the added intention of using the sequel to build up future Marvel Comics films. Iron Man 2 then is still a very enjoyable movie, but where the first surprised, the sequel has expectations to meet and unfortunately does not meet them all. Downey Jr. certainly impresses yet again as Tony Stark but the direction on behalf of Favreau suffers. This is not all down to Favreau as the intent of the studios to promote future films through Iron Man 2 is obvious whenever Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury appears on screen and whose role and scenes contribute little to the overall arc of the film. The arc of the film too, while starting strong, struggles to capture the fun of the first film with a slow and overly drawn out middle act where Stark’s self-destructive behaviour culminates in a poorly conceived drunken state at a birthday party and fight with his best friend. The arc while intended to give Stark a kind of emotional journey through the film generally distracts from the other leading arcs, that of an enemy born out of his pre-Iron Man past and another in the form of a business competitor taking on Stark, and Iron Man, from different directions which ultimately results in a climax featuring more men in suits fighting men in suits.

Fortunately, the casting helps save the film. Downey Jr., aside from the drunken birthday sequence where even he fails to make his character charming, is otherwise great as Stark with witty one-liners and plenty of charisma in the role he seemed born to play. Sam Rockwell is great as Stark’s business competitor, a man who has Stark’s ambition but none of his charm, ethics or ability who is always slimy but his ambition making him dangerous still. Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko, AKA Whiplash, is enjoyable when trading a war of words with Stark or with Hammer but is somewhat of a pantomime villain when it comes to taking action though is still decent. Gwyneth Paltrow continues to impress as Pepper Potts with great onscreen chemistry with Downey Jr., while Don Cheadle fills the role of Rhodey, originally performed by Terrence Howard, with ease making you wish he played the role all along and Scarlett Johansson is likewise enjoyable in a role that could have been little more than pouts but is actually more fun.

Overall, Iron Man 2 is certainly an enjoyable sequel to the first film but doesn’t equal it. Some obvious set up for future Marvel Comics films and an overwrought emotional arc for Tony Stark that results in a disappointing middle act to detract from the overall enjoyment but the performances of the cast, the generally fun tone maintained at other times and a few enjoyable action sequences mean the film is still an enjoyable superhero film.

Rating: 3/5

Centurion

2010-04-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West & David Morrissey

A decent enough historical thriller that while light on plot and high in violence is still entertaining enough as a chase film and features a good cast.

Constantly striving to show that UK cinema can compete with the USA in creating action thrillers even on a small budget, the films of Neil Marshall has been consistently entertaining despite placing emphasis on action over plot and frequently finding influence from better known and better received films. Marshall’s latest, Centurion, is his first to play with an actual historical event, that surrounding the Roman Ninth Legion which disappeared on a march into Northern England. Around this mystery, Marshall has developed another action thriller based around an unknown band of survivors. The result is still an entertaining thriller though again emphasises action and violence overall.

Quintus Dias (Fassbender) is a Roman centurion stationed in England who is taken prisoner after an assault on his garrison by native rebels known as the Picts. When he escapes he crosses paths with the Roman Ninth Legion led by Titus Virilus (West) who have been charged with wiping out the Picts to complete the Roman conquest of England at whatever cost but a trap laid by their Pict scout Etain (Olga Kurylenko) sees the Ninth Legion massacred with just Quintus and a small band of survivors left who then find themselves on the run for safety and hunted by the Pict forces who, unbeknownst to Quintus, are driven by revenge by the Pict leader of the death of his child at the hand of one of Quintus’ men.

Built around some energetic action sequences, though high on violence and gore, Centurion works fairly well as a straight action thriller. The main characters are on the run, literally with the punishment of a violent death facing them if they slow or falter. There is some predictability involved in the assemblage of the survivors on the run with them filling certain personality types and the fates, even order of fates, somewhat easy to predict but, unlike the recent Clash of the Titans remake, more members of this band of men get to have moments to actually demonstrate character which is helped by the cast involved. The ending of the film is to be expected since history already shows no survivors were ever seen but this only detracts a little from the overall enjoyment. What does detract more from the enjoyment is the facelessness of the antagonists. Some comments are made in regards to the Picts, the country’s native inhabitants, being justified in their hatred due to decades of violence at the hands of the Romans but aside from this there is little done to humanise them or portray them as anything more than savages. The main Pict character, the scout Etain that tricks then traps the Ninth Legion, is a mute. Any drama to be had at really deciding who are the victims and who are the guilty considering the Romans are part of an invading force is rarely touched upon.

Centurion does feature some decent performances from several good actors. Michael Fassbender, following on from the acclaimed performances in Hunger, Fish Tank and Inglourious Basterds shows that he is capable of leading more commercial films in bigger roles while his band of survivors feature a mixed bag of performances from Liam Cunningham, likeable and grumpy; David Morrissey; Riz Ahmed, sneaky and untrustworthy and Noel Clarke whose character is generally unlikeable. Dominic West relishes the chance to play a loutish yet charming Roman General in Titus and Imogen Poots is likeable as a possible love interest for Quintus. Olga Kurylenko is perfectly convincing as a savage but there is otherwise little that is memorable about her performance though the underwritten nature of the character holds some blame.

Centurion is a decent action thriller with some novelty over the period of history in which it is set. There are a few likeable performances and Fassbender makes for an able leading man and some of the action sequences do thrill but there otherwise the film is generally average with the high level of violence, number of underwritten characters and predictable plot preventing this from being a great action film instead of just an average one.

Rating: 3/5

Extract

2010-04-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

Director: Mike Judge
Starring: Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis & Ben Affleck

An average comedy from Mike Judge that has some funny moments but is too laid back in its pacing to offer anything memorable.

Still best known for the popular TV series Beavis & Butthead and King of the Hill, Mike Judge’s forays into cinema have been mixed. Starting off strong with the little seen Office Space which garnered positive reviews and a cult following then came the overly ambitious Idiocracy which suffered poorly in reviews and reception and now comes Extract. Dialling back the scope to more of the workplace based humour that succeeded so well with Office Space, Extract has some amusing moments and has a good cast but the ambition has been pulled back too far with the film too laid back, slow in its pace and in its comic timing that while nice, doesn’t leave the film feeling particularly memorable.

Joel Reynolds (Bateman) owns and runs his own extract business, producing a popular food flavouring and providing Joel with the autonomy to be his own boss and be more of a friend to his workers than a manager. However, feeling particularly unfilled with his sex life at home, seeing an accident occur at his factory that leaves him open to a lawsuit and interest in a buy out coming from a larger business, Joel finds his life becoming more stressful and unfulfilling than he’d like. With the arrival of Cindy (Kunis), a drifter and con-woman (unbeknownst to Joel), Joel is convinced by his bartender friend Dean (Affleck) that he could be happier in his life and love life if he gets someone to seduce his wife thus allowing himself the freedom to pursue Cindy without the guilt of adultery. Things don’t go to plan and Cindy’s own plans on profiting from Joel’s situation threatens bring down Joel, his business and his marriage.

Despite a good cast and some enjoyable laughs, it is initially difficult to find any characters to like or root for in Extract unlike with Office Space. That the lead character even contemplates tricking his wife into committing adultery to allow him the freedom to commit adultery himself does make it difficult for Joel to be a sympathetic character until much later when he realises his selfishness and struggles to repair the damage he’s done and still his emotionally distant wife is the more sympathetic character. The other characters in the film, mostly workers in the extract plant, are a generally entertaining group of misfits and small-town stereotypes but as much humour can be derived from these characters, the situations they become involved in and in Joel’s situation too are often too infrequent with Mike Judge’s pacing throughout the film feeling far too laid back even when compared to similar, more successful efforts from the director in the past. The jokes themselves even lack the sharp insight into working environments that Judge brought to Office Space and to King of the Hill. There is nothing particularly bad in the film in regards to the jokes themselves or most of the characters but nothing particularly stands out as being memorable either.

Extract does boast a good cast. Jason Bateman is decent in the lead role of Joel, ably demonstrating the character’s dissatisfaction and lack of ambition and his struggles later to fix his situation but the performance suffers due to the role itself with Bateman’s Joel a less sympathetic or witty version of characters Bateman has played in films or TV shows like Arrested Development. Ben Affleck puts in a generally enjoyable performance as Joel’s even more laidback bartender buddy Dean continuing the actor’s recent streak of enjoyable supporting roles though the other main performance in the film, Mila Kunis’ as the con-woman Cindy is much less likeable. While the likeability may be part of the point in regards to her character’s intentions, Kunis’ performance is muddled and attempts to be likeable failing. J.K. Simmons, Beth Grant and Clifton Collins Jr. put in decent performances as fellow factory workers, particularly Collins Jr. whose accident at the plant places him in the manipulations of Cindy and Kristen Wiig is generally sympathetic as Joel’s wife and while Dave Koechner plays against his usual type of loud, brash character as Joel’s annoying neighbour, it feels like his annoying nature is Judge’s attempts to create another character in the mould of Office Space’s Bob Lumberg but failing.

Extract has a decent cast and some decent laughs but generally feels too slow and lacks likeable characters making the film pretty disappointing overall. Mike Judge’s laidback style works well on TV and with the film Office Space that had a much sharper script, but here he struggles to create anything memorable for good or bad.

Rating: 2/5

Whip It

2010-04-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

Director: Drew Barrymore
Starring: Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig & Drew Barrymore

Enjoyable even though the plot and themes often feel too familiar, Whip It is an enjoyable directorial debut from Drew Barrymore.

Having already been seen on screen promoting girl power in films with mixed success (see the Charlie’s Angels films); actress Drew Barrymore has turned her eye towards directing a film of her own. Adapting the novel Derby Girl, Whip It is fortunately much better than might be expected and while it’s tale of a girl trying to find her own individuality, her own voice through a niche activity might seem familiar and the lead role played by Ellen Page also feeling somewhat familiar to roles Page has played before, Whip It is still quite enjoyable.

Tired of entering beauty pageant after beauty pageant at the behest of her mother and with uncertainty over her future living in a small town, Bliss Cavendar (Page) happens across a group of girls while out on a shopping trip that a part of a local roller derby team who revel in ignoring more common expectations upon what they should be and are out to have fun and do their own thing, that being the small and relatively forgotten sport of roller derby. Feeling inspired by these girls, one of them named Maggie Mayhem (Wiig) tells Bliss to be her own hero, inspire herself and Bliss takes the chance to join the team even though it means keeping it secret from her family. Of course Bliss soon realises that roller derby is not a sport for the uncertain and Bliss must find her own confidence and strength to compete which then also influences her confidence in other aspects of her life.

Whilst generally a female orientated film in its largely female cast and heroines, messages of girl power and striving to break free of old gender expectations and making your life your own, Whip It could easily appeal to audiences of either gender when it comes to finding your own individuality. While the manner in which the film goes about having Bliss find herself through a sport is something that has been seen before (see Bend It Like Beckham) it is nevertheless handled quite well by Drew Barrymore making her directorial debut. Barrymore tackles the theme quite maturely yet also knows to keep humour present to make Bliss’ journey a worthwhile one. The film is also largely about bonding too with Bliss building relationships with similar misfits tired of the expectations they’ve been expected to withhold to and the interaction of the team is often fun with their joy in being the number two team and lack or real care at being a success. The team being in it for the fun makes them more endearing even though the added support this might generate within the audience still builds up towards a climax that doesn’t cheat the characters but is, yet again, something that has been seen before.

The cast in Whip It are generally quite enjoyable. Most of the cast play familiar personalities but are still enjoyable regardless. Ellen Page makes a likeable lead in Bliss, less sharp and witty than the character she played in Juno, Page still plays a character with a similar disregard for conforming to expectation yet Bliss and Page’s performance is generally sweeter and more likeable overall. Daniel Stern and Marcia Gay Harden are enjoyable as Bliss’ parents with Harden at first playing a role that might recall association with more steely, uptight roles in the past but soon finds it being tempered with warmth and concern. The Hurl Scouts, the roller derby team which Bliss joins, are memorably cast with sporty and/or comedic actresses like Zoe Bell (Death Proof), Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore herself and Juliette Lewis as the bitch Iron Maven who switches teams and turns against them.

Whip It doesn’t really add much new to the sports genre or films dealing in empowerment and finding one’s individuality but it is still quite enjoyable with plenty of good humour and a likeable cast and makes for a decent debut from Drew Barrymore as a filmmaker.

Rating: 3/5

How to Train Your Dragon

2010-04-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

Director: Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois
Starring (voices of): Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler & America Ferrera

A fun and energetic adventure that features great animation, fun characters and plenty of thrilling action sequences to entertain audiences young and old.

Originally based on the novel by Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon ended up going through re-writes mid production with the current version now only loosely based on the source material yet still remaining faithful to the central concept. The finished film is one that is energetic, fun and features impressive effects and bears some similarities to the recently released Clash of the Titans remake yet easily outdoes that film overall. How to Train Your Dragon is very enjoyable.

Hiccup (Baruchel) is a Viking and the son of Stoick the Vast (Butler), the mighty leader of the village. Unlike his father however, Hiccup is not a mighty warrior and is instead spindly, weak and prone to making inventions than developing his physical prowess yet he is still determined to impress his father and fellow villagers by engaging in the common activity of defending the town and killing the dragons that frequently prey upon their livestock and attack the townsfolk. When a device brings down a legendary, and never seen, Night Fury, Hiccup discovers the injured dragon is not what he expected and that it and other dragons only attack out of defence. Building a friendship with the dragon and creating another device that enables the dragon, named Toothless, to fly again with Hiccup’s assistance, Hiccup becomes the talk of the town when he uses inside information gleaned from Toothless to fell dragons harmlessly but the townsfolk and his father’s blood thirst for the dragon they view as threats threaten to doom Toothless and the other dragons if Hiccup can’t find a solution to save them all.

Fast paced and with plenty of humour, How to Train Your Dragon is a very enjoyable affair. Less sweet and more action driven than the original source novel, the film still features much to appeal to younger audiences such as colourful characters, creatures and the fun of imagining what it would be like to fly on a dragon. There are plenty of elements too that would also appeal to adults such as the action sequences which are quite well planned and executed and the humour fairly sharp and quick witted. The story of man into hero, of living up to the standards of a father, of fighting mythical beasts and a finale with a creature of Kraken-like proportions raise much similarities with the recent Clash of the Titans remake but, where that film lacked humour, characterisation and was driven by the set pieces and effects, How to Train Your Dragon outdoes that film with a more fleshed out hero and an emphasis on character and humour with the action and the effects supporting the story rather than driving it. The film is, of course, a children’s film so certain developments and outcomes are easily predicted when a happy ending is expected and there is a little stumbling in the early scenes as the characters get established before the main plot can truly begin, but these are to be expected and generally don’t detract from the enjoyment.

Featuring a voice cast consisting of familiar teen/young actors popular today such as Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (both of Superbad fame) and America Ferrera (of TV’s Ugly Betty), the performances are led by Jar Baruchel in the role of Hiccup and Gerard Butler as his father Stoick. Baruchel is a fitting choice for Hiccup, imagining that the actor’s own thin frame and nervous demeanour influences his performance as Hiccup who develops courage in spite of his fears and nerves. It is a fun and likeable performance. Gerard Butler seems to revel in the role of Stoick, a man filled with strength and machismo. Butler too feels like ideal casting, the role of a Viking suitable to the actor’s persona and he interacts well with Baruchel, the two playing a rather awkward father and son dynamic well. Also, the role of Toothless the dragon, whilst not voiced and instead a purely digital creation is impressive. The producers have done a great job at making Toothless a living, breathing character with a wide range of expressions.

Plenty of fun, with good action, humour, effects and characters, How to Train Your Dragon is a very enjoyable film and certainly shows the makers of Clash of the Titans how to make an adventure feel epic without scrimping on character.

Rating: 4/5

Clash of the Titans

2010-04-06T11:32:00.000-07:00

Director: Louis Leterrier
Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson & Ralph Fiennes

A big budget remake of the 1980s blockbuster that falls victim to some of the same flaws of the original film on which it is based with wooden or hammy performances from the cast, a plot driven by action sequences but with CGI effects that lack the charm of Ray Harryhausen’s stop motion effects in the 1980s.

While there have been many ‘Swords and Sandals’ films produced over the past decade following the success of Gladiator, the success though of 300, an adaptation of the comic book of the same name, in 2007 has seen another resurgence in such films with an emphasis on action and spectacle over plot and character. A remake of the 1981 film of the same name, itself better known for it’s effects than for the quality of it’s script, Clash of the Titans arrives and succeeds in maintaining the same sense of effects and action of story that the original had though the result is a film that is less satisfying despite the advances made in special effects. Clash of the Titans has it’s moments of spectacle but is somewhat disappointing overall.

Found in the ocean as a child and raised as a fisherman, Perseus (Worthington) had often dismissed the talk of him having a great destiny before him that his adoptive father believes. When a battle between humans and the minions of the God Hades (Fiennes) results in Perseus’ family’s deaths, he finds himself caught up in a destiny which reveals him to be the son of the God Zeus (Neeson) who has taken notice of Perseus whilst in the midst of succumbing to his brother Hades’ demands for war with the humans to reclaim their fear and worship of the Gods that they now rebel against. Threatening to unleash a mighty beast named the Kraken upon the city of Argos, Perseus ends up joining a band of warriors in hunting for the means to defeat the Kraken before it’s arrival and may see Perseus having to accept the non-human heritage if he is to succeed and save Argos from the Gods.

The original Clash of the Titans in 1981 is not a film that is fondly remembered for the quality of its plot of for its performances but rather his remembered for the effects of Ray Harryhausen and the casting of Lawrence Olivier as Zeus. Remade with modern special effects technology, the new Clash of the Titans had the opportunity of being an improvement over the original film however it struggles throughout to really engage and ultimately suffers from similar problems that affected the enjoyment of the original film. Clash of the Titans is a film driven by set pieces and effects over depth of plot or characterisation. Characters are generally underwritten, even the heroic lead of Perseus. The set pieces themselves, which seem the focus of the film, are generally unimpressive with a confrontation with Medusa all flash and no suspense and the climactic battle with the Kraken given less time than the build up to the Kraken’s arrival on the shores of Argos. Perseus’ allies are given modest characterisation but are often despatched swiftly and unceremoniously and the only set piece that stands out as entertaining involves giant scorpions in the desert. The special effects are also somewhat unimpressive with many creatures feeling that they’ve been seen before (the Kraken itself is reminiscent of Cloverfield’s rampaging beast) and the rush to add 3D elements following the success of the film Avatar, adds little.

Despite some impressive names in the cast such as Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, performances in Clash of the Titans, like those in the original film are often over the top and not particularly enjoyable or memorable. Even Neeson and Fiennes as Zeus and Hades make little impression and Sam Worthington, in the lead role of Perseus, has little to work with but play the stoic, serious hero much like his roles in other films like Terminator: Salvation and Avatar though still less enjoyable. There are a few likeable performances amongst members of the troop with which Perseus travels such as Liam Cunningham and Mads Mikkelsen but some get little to work with outside of fighting creatures while other talents like Pete Postlethwaite and Danny Huston are underutilised and less satisfying actors like Gemma Arterton are given too much screen time in roles that largely involve providing exposition.

Overall, Clash of the Titans is a disappointing remake of a film that wasn’t fondly regarded beyond its special effects in the first place. Despite a bigger budget, the effects here struggle to impress and the performances similarly unmemorable. The set pieces provide some moments of enjoyment like the scorpion attack but are, again, only average.

Rating: 2/5

Kick-Ass

2010-03-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage & Chloe Moretz

A fun and energetic superhero film that plays with the conventions of the genre in a manner that is both more realistic and violent yet is also more humorous and cartoonish at times than other films of its kind.

With superhero films an ever growing genre in cinema since Spider-Man in 2002 to the point that they often dominate the summer blockbuster season and annual box office takings, it was only a matter of time until a film was made that asked what it would be like if someone chose to be a superhero for real, devoid of superpowers. Based on the Marvel Comics mini-series that aimed to answer this question, Kick-Ass comes to cinema screens courtesy of Matthew Vaughn, director of Layer Cake and Stardust, whose commitment to the project saw him self finance much of the film’s production. The resulting film’s commercial appeal is yet to be seen, but it is certainly a fun adaptation of the comic.

Dave (Johnson) is an average, unhappy teen. Ignored by the girl he likes and neither popular nor talented, he spends his time reading comic books and imagines being a hero. Driven by the curiosity into why no one has ever tried to be a superhero in real life, he dons a costume purchased online and goes out to combat street crime and quickly learning, through serious physical injury, that life as a superhero is more dangerous than in comic books. When an encounter with a drug dealer has him cross paths with a father/daughter duo named Hit Girl (Moretz) and Big Daddy (Cage) who’ve also taken to donning costumes to take down the mafia, Dave has to decide whether he really has the courage and skill to be a real hero in a world where he really can die suddenly, and violently as a result and also face the celebrity status he attains when his exploits are filmed and posted across the internet.

Violent, sometimes in a cartoonish manner, and filled with gags throughout, Kick-Ass is certain to offend some whilst entertaining others. Those offended by violence on screen or at the thought of a ten year old girl swearing would do best to avoid but such instances are also highly amusing in how they play and push against what is deemed fun or acceptable in a superhero film, part of a genre that usually attempts to appeal to a wider audience and to all ages. A superhero film for children this is not, instead Kick-Ass is both a mature and immature take, depending on the scene, of what being a superhero in a world without superpowers might be like. The ridiculousness of superhero costumes, names and capabilities are portrayed as is the grim reality of the dangers one can face. When Dave’s first outing leaves him broken and hospitalised for months with later encounters also not afraid to be brutal, the reasons that would deter most from attempting what Dave attempts is made quite clear even if it over-dramatised that fight sequences are often thrilling and even funny in regards to Hit Girl whose very age in relation to her abilities is one of the most entertaining aspects to the film. The film does however veer too closely to parody at times, especially in the film’s penthouse battle finale and plays too loosely on occasion with stereotypes but generally this distracts very little from the fun though some representations of women jar for their sexism (all willing girlfriends/eye candy).

Aaron Johnson plays Dave/Kick-Ass quite well. His performance never afraid to show how naïve and immature he and his ideas of becoming a hero really is. When faced with the violent reality of his lifestyle and the threats to his life present themselves, Johnson ably shows a gradual maturity in Dave’s behaviour with him facing his self in a mirror prior to the film’s climax particularly effective in him realising what responsibilities he has taken on. Nicolas Cage and Chloe Moretz stand out as the over-the-top and always entertaining Big Daddy and Hit Girl with Moretz in particular enjoying the opportunity to fight crime and swear and the violence she and Cage engage in, in the film, contrasts very well with the endearing and loving the relationship they have with each other. Mark Strong is decent as the crime boss whom the heroes are aiming to take down and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad) is very funny as another teen, like Dave, who takes up the chance to wear a costume and play hero.

Overall Kick-Ass is lots of fun. While trying to imagine what super-heroics might be like in the real world, some scenes that ring true (such as the danger one would face), but the film’s embracing of the more comical aspects of such a lifestyle and its increasing veer into over-the-top violence and heroics towards the film’s finale offers fun if silly ending.

Rating: 3/5

Green Zone

2010-03-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

Director: Paul Greengrass
Starring; Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear & Khalid Abdalla

A fast paced and gripping wartime thriller that while make a few obvious statements and accusations about the way in Iraq but is nevertheless an enjoyable action film.

Having already dramatised real life conflicts several times before and receiving critical acclaim for doing so with films like Bloody Sunday and United 93 and also achieving commercial acclaim with the action packed thrillers The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, Paul Greengrass reunites with his Bourne star Matt Damon in creating Green Zone, a wartime thriller portraying a fictionalised account about the initial search for WMDs at the start of the Iraq War and based on the non-fiction accounts of journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Telling the story from the perspective of a soldier instead of a journalist, Greengrass effectively builds an action thriller that combines elements of United 93 with his Bourne films into a gripping film.

It is 2003 and the Iraq War is in its early days, assigned the task of locating WMDs in Iraq using intelligence provided by a secret Iraqi source, Officer Roy Miller (Damon) is finding himself constantly frustrated by being unable to locate any at the sites to which his team are being deployed and is finding himself questioning the value of the source providing the intelligence. Finding his attempts to raise questions on the matter shot down by his peers and by a senior political advisor named Clark Poundstone (Kinnear), Miller finds encouragement from a CIA official that there is something wrong with the intelligence on WMDs leading Miller to go rogue to uncover the truth with the help of an Iraqi native named Freddie (Abdalla) who had earlier tipped Miller off to a meeting involving an Iraqi general in hiding named Al-Rawi who Poundstone has a keen interest in locating and silencing before Miller can. What is the truth about WMDs in Iraq and can Miller make a difference to the outcome of the war even if he finds out?

Moving at an incredibly fast pace, opening with a raid in the middle of Iraq and quickly moving from one action set piece to another, Green Zone moves rapidly without allowing for much time to rest. When it does stop, it does so for the purposes of evaluating the information Roy Miller has uncovered so far before directing him in the direction of where he needs to go next to find answers. At a glance this may seem like a way to gloss over the details of the plot in favour of the action except the effect is quite satisfying with the underlying truth behind WMDs and the reasons for the war, in Green Zone at least, is thoroughly engaging despite us knowing the outcome in regards to WMDs and it playing upon long standing suspicions by the public as to the motives for the war. In between the blistering action sequences employing the handheld style Greengrass became popular for with the Bourne films, the moments of commentary on the reasons behind and effects of the Iraq War particularly for the Iraqi people themselves is enjoyable if somewhat too obvious and simplistic at times (Kinnear’s political advisor being overly untrustworthy and bearing a name like Poundstone for example) and also leaving some characters too undeveloped to feel important to the story such as Amy Ryan’s journalist.

Matt Damon reunites with Greengrass for Green Zone. While the role of Roy Miller is not one to test Damon’s acting abilities, Damon is still a reliable leading man convincing in his depiction of Miller’s determination and Damon carries the action and the drama well. Kinnear is fine as the untrustworthy Poundstone and Brendan Gleeson is enjoyable in a small role as a CIA advisor and the one character that already sees the reality of where the conflict is coming from and heading to. Amy Ryan tries to make the most of her role as a reporter but struggles to make an impression while Khalid Adballa (who worked with Greengrass on United 93) certainly does impress as the Iraqi civilian Freddie who gets drawn into Miller’s mission reluctantly but whose presence provides the voice of the Iraqis in the conflict with Abdalla giving them a sympathetic face and voice in one of the film’s pivotal roles.

Green Zone is a highly enjoyable action thriller. It may leave some characters and details underdeveloped but it still raises some interesting, if obvious, questions in a satisfying manner making the film more intelligent than some cinematic attempts to cover the current conflicts and Green Zone certainly bolsters this with some tense, gripping action sequences.

Rating: 3/5

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2010-03-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace & Sven-Bertil Taube

An engaging mystery thriller and adaptation of the popular Swedish novel which manages to grip with its central story and intriguing characters for most of it’s, perhaps too, long running time.

Currently riding high in the paperback charts, the Millennium series of novels by Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson (who unfortunately passed away in 2004) is finally seeing critical and commercial acclaim beyond the author’s native shores. With all three novels in the series having been adapted into feature films in Sweden with a possible Hollywood remake in the works, the first of the Swedish adaptations The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is seeing release and exposing audiences the series’ popular characters. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, on the back of much hype and acclaim, is certainly an excellent mystery thriller. While its running time is perhaps a little too long, the film is generally well paced and the mystery itself and the lead characters engaging enough that what few flaws are present don’t distract from what is otherwise an intelligent and well made film.

Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist), an investigative journalist who has just lost a libel case involving a business conglomerate that set him up and is now facing a prison sentence, is approached by another wealthy businessman Henrik Vanger (Taube) who wishes to hire Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance and suspected murder of Vanger’s niece Harriet 40 years earlier. With only 6 months until he has to serve his prison sentence and in need of funds, Blomkvist accepts the case which involves him delving into the sordid history of the large Vanger family. Blomkvist soon finds unexpected aid from a young computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander (Rapace), a girl with a long history of suffering abuse who had been hired to monitor Blomkvist during his libel case. Salander having chosen to continue monitoring Blomkvist’s actions finds herself able to uncover new evidence on the Vanger case and soon finds herself partnered with Blomkvist to continue the investigation.

A Swedish adaptation of a highly popular, and dense, novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is very faithful to the source material. The central mystery itself might not leave much surprise as to the identity of the story’s main villain but the depth of the investigation and of the secrets it uncovers amongst the Vanger family history is both gripping and disturbing and it is more the journey to the truth than the destination that engages throughout. The investigation is helped by how deep and well rounded the lead characters of Blomkvist and Salander, particularly Salander whose past is incredibly important to the later novels, are along with plenty of interesting procedural moments as the pair dig up, sift through and interpret the various scraps of new evidence that they find. The filmmaker’s commitment to presenting the story of the novel as completely as possible does mean the film clocks in at almost three hours in length, there are occasional moments where the pace slows a little too much (the two lead characters themselves do not actually meet for most of the first hour) and there is a brief, ten minute moment when the film swerves too close to Hollywood cliché when the villain is finally revealed involving capture, rescue, justice and the old cliché of the villain explaining it all but this is minor, only slightly disappointing, detour from what is otherwise an intelligent drama.

There are several fine performances in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo too. Michael Nyqvist is a satisfying leading man, his Blomkvist’s innocence in the face of his impending conviction never in doubt or nor his morality. While the character’s past is not delved into here, giving Nyqvist little to work with in terms of developing the character’s persona beyond him being a diligent and moral investigator, his performance is nevertheless engaging and does present Blomkvist as a man who has seen much believably. The stand out performance in the film is Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. The opposite of Nyqvist’s character, Rapace has a wealth of motive and emotional turmoil to work with in terms of performing the role of Salander and her performance believably, and impressively, portrays Salander as the tortured, tormented yet far from vulnerable individual as she is portrayed in the books, made more impressive by the actress’ slight physical frame (though she is of larger build than the novel describes Salander). The performance marks Rapace as an actress to watch and her performance do justice to the character who is the most popular protagonist in the Millennium series of novels. Amongst the solidly performed supporting roles, the one additional performance of note is Sven-Bertil Taube whose Henrik Vanger is warm and sympathetic and whose love for his niece is keenly felt in Taube’s performance.

Faithful almost to a fault, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, despite its extended running length and a brief detour into Hollywood style cliché, actually remains an incredibly gripping, well made and impressively performed mystery thriller which effectively illustrates why the novels of Larsson are so popular whilst doing them justice on screen. Impressive.

Rating: 4/5

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp & Helena Bonham Carter

An enjoyable adaptation/reimaging of the Lewis Carroll novels that, while not wholly satisfying, is intriguing for its approach to the material and enjoyable for Tim Burton’s visual style and some fun performances amongst its cast.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice books have seen many adaptations in film and television throughout the long history of both mediums, highlighting the popularity of the books and their characters amongst generations of readers and audiences. When it was announced that Tim Burton would helm another feature film adaptation of the books, expectations were raised as the director’s popular visual style and depth of imagination which made his films so popular seems perfectly suited to the realisation of Wonderland on screen. What we finally see though is an adaptation of mixed results that, while enjoyable, does not quite live up to expectation. Alice in Wonderland features Burton’s impressive imagination in the representation of Wonderland and its inhabitants, features some enjoyable eccentric performances from its cast but despite not being a straight adaptation of the books, the film is somewhat let down by its conventional story structure and a tone that reminds you that this film is produced by Disney.

Plagued with dreams and nightmares of visiting a strange land called Wonderland since she was a child, the now 19 year old Alice (Wasikowska) finds herself frustrated with choices available to her regarding her future. With her dreamer of a father having passed away years earlier and her being expected to marry a rich husband irrespective of her feelings towards him or her own ambitions, Alice flees from a public engagement when she sees a rabbit in a waistcoat and finds herself falling down a rabbit hole to awaken in the Wonderland of her dreams. Convinced that she is still dreaming, Alice finds herself drawn into the affairs of Wonderland, called Underland, now under the rule of the tyrannical Red Queen (Bonham Carter) with the inhabitants of Underland attempting to drive her towards a destiny there that she does not want but is she even the Alice they are looking for, the Alice they need to slay the Red Queen’s fearsome Jabberwocky and free Underland from her rule?

Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland is an enjoyable film with some quite curious direction choices, many of which at least intrigue if they don’t completely entertain. Burton’s realisation of Underland is certainly beautiful to behold. It is brimming with near-Technicolor in places whilst bearing sinister tones in the realms left damaged by Red Queen’s takeover years before. Some elements are unmistakably Burton-esque, others ripped cleanly from the illustrations accompanying early editions of Carroll’s novels while darker scenes even bear a hint of Terry Gilliam (himself a filmmaker clearly influenced by Lewis Carroll too) that the film never ceases to be appealing to the eye. Also interesting and enjoyable are the larger changes to Carroll’s original tale in this adaptation. Alice is now much older and her character, and the film, given a somewhat more feminist sensibility as Alice struggles to fight against the role society assigns her in the real world yet finds herself under pressure to be what others want her to be in Underland. However, not all changes result in satisfying results. The reorganising of characters in events in the book works in some places but ultimately leads up to a rather conventional battle sequence between the soldiers of the Red and White Queens whilst also, with this adaptation being funded and produced by Disney, there are rarely any moments in the film of danger with the tone a little too soft throughout.

Performances throughout the film are generally enjoyable. Mia Wasikowska is an enjoyable Alice, sceptical of the reality with which see is presented and stubborn and uncooperative when trying to be forced into a role she does not want or is not ready for. However, Wasikowska struggles to hold her own when sharing the screen with the larger personalities of Depp and Bonham Carter. Depp and Bonham Carter are both enjoyable despite playing roles that are underwritten and rely upon eccentricities of personality to make up for it. Bonham Carter gives the most satisfying performance of the two; her Red Queen a character short tempered with a Diva level ego and demands to match. Johnny Depp adds another colourful character to his list of performances and while his Mad Hatter is fun, Depp’s performance cannot help but feel like a patchwork of parts from other characters he has played in the past and with his character given perhaps too much screen time. The voice casting in Alice in Wonderland however, does not disappoint. With Michael Sheen, Alan Rickman and Barbara Windsor all enjoyable as the White Rabbit, Absolem the caterpillar and Mallymkum the dormouse respectively whilst Stephen Fry is charming as the Cheshire Cat.

Overall, Alice in Wonderland is an enjoyable film. It looks great, appealing to fans of the books and of Tim Burton’s style whilst the story features some interesting changes to the original story and some fun performances amongst its cast. However, some of the more obvious Disney touches leave the tone too light at times and the film wraps up in a climax too similar to that of the Narnia films to satisfy making this film enjoyable, but not as much as might have been expected from Burton alone.

Rating: 3/5

Shutter Island

2010-03-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley & Mark Ruffalo

An effective and entertaining suspense thriller, in which Scorsese excels in infusing with Hitchcock style tones, twists and direction with an excellent cast lead by a satisfyingly twitchy performance from DiCaprio.

Much like previous Lehane adaptations Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island retains the familiar elements of Lehane’s novels: the Bostonian locale and dialect, themes of crime, corruption and questions over who can be trusted all built around a central mystery, a central case to be solved. But unlike previous adaptations, Scorsese has also chosen to use the material to craft an effective mystery thriller where he can pay tribute to the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. With Leonardo DiCaprio in the leading role (his fourth consecutive leading role for Scorsese), Shutter Island is a very satisfying film that is effective as a suspense thriller, as a tribute to Hitchcock and as an adaptation even though the central conceit of the plot struggles to hold together as effectively as the novel.

It is 1954. Sent to Shutter Island, a high security mental facility treating the criminally insane, US Marshall Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) is investigating the mysterious disappearance of a patient who managed to disappear from a locked room without being seen. With a new partner in tow named Chuck (Ruffalo), Teddy finds his investigation stalled by the facility’s bureaucracy and by suspicious behaviour from several of the facility’s staff and patients including the chief psychiatrist Dr. Cawley (Kingsley) who promotes novel methods of treating the insane by encouraging them to act out their delusions in the hope of them realising their falsehoods and accepting the truth while Cawley’s partner, Dr. Naerhing believes in surgical treatment as a way of controlling patients. With Teddy also intending to locate a man he believes responsible for killing his wife years earlier who supposed to be a patient on the island too and finding a note from the missing patient implying that there was another patient also missing, Teddy suspects a cover up and the possibility that the facility’s staff are engaged in secret, immoral experiments involving their patients.

Scorsese has always been known to be a film buff and in Shutter Island, he has found a suspense thriller in Lehane’s novel with which he can pay tribute to filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. In this regard, Scorsese is highly effective. From the musical score, loud and brassy, to camera angles and the staging of scenes that recall moments from Hitchcock films like Vertigo and North by Northwest and with a plot that involves issues of trust and paranoia referencing films like Suspicion, Saboteur, Frenzy and even The Birds (there are even shower scenes though they don’t end as that of Psycho), Shutter Island is filled with Hitchcock-style themes and scenes that should engage other film fans. As a suspense thriller in it’s own right, Shutter Island is still engaging, still enjoyable with Scorsese seemingly enjoying the twists and turns of the plot, or pushing his lead actor DiCaprio into dark places and maintaining enough mystery and sleight of hand to keep all but the most sceptical guessing for a while even though when the truth finally is revealed, the pieces don’t quite hold together as satisfactorily as may be expected.

Shutter Island boasts an impressive cast and all are enjoyable, even impressive. In his fourth leading role for Scorsese, performs admirably in a role that combines the committed detective of The Departed with one under threat of mental instability and collapse like that of The Aviator. DiCaprio gives a committed performance, believably determined to uncover the truth at any cost, constantly angered by the obstacles he is facing whilst struggling to keep his sanity together as the island and its inhabitants and the mounting suspicion and fear plays upon his mind. Mark Ruffalo is enjoyable in a contrasting performance as Teddy’s partner, the calmer more concerned Chuck while Kingsley and Von Sydow are both enjoyable as the facility’s two leading doctors, particularly Kingsley who manages to give a performance that portrays his character as one that could be genuinely concerned with good intentions for his patients but could also be hiding many secrets as Teddy believes. Emily Mortimer is chilling as the missing patient Rachel Solando with flashes back to the incidents that led to her incarceration being effectively frightening coming from someone of Mortimer’s frame and demeanour. The rest of the facility’s staff and patients are filled with memorable cameos by actors such as Ted Levine, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley and Elias Koteas.

The house of cards that Scorsese and Lehane have built might not hold up to scrutiny but Shutter Island is nevertheless a gripping suspense thriller, impressively shot, with enjoyable performances especially from DiCaprio and Hitchcock fans will delight in the many references and influences present throughout. A very enjoyable film.

Rating: 4/5

Crazy Heart

2010-03-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal & Colin Farrell

The story of Crazy Heart maybe one seen before many times, but Crazy Heart itself is still a very satisfying film helped by a laid back approach to it’s characters and a great performance by Jeff Bridges in the lead role of Bad Blake.

Crazy Heart’s tale of an aging musician down on his luck do to alcoholism but finding new inspiration in loved ones to rise above and become great again is the kind of rags to riches story that has been told many times by Hollywood, often in biopics of musicians like Ray Charles (Ray), Johnny Cash (Walk the Line) and not limited to musicians or even real people as Rocky and Rocky Balboa have demonstrated with it’s infamous boxer or 2009’s The Wrestler. That these tales continue to be made and often become well received is usually down to audiences’ love to see someone triumph over adversity, especially those self inflicted, and also because such tales attract strong actors looking to test their abilities as actors in such roles. So comes Crazy Heart, the tale of fictional Country Music star Bad Blake and again it is a story worth watching thanks to the wonderful performance by Jeff Bridges in the lead role.

Once a big Country Music star but now an out of luck, near penniless, drunken shell of his former self accepting gigs at bowling alleys for cash, Bad Blake (Bridges) has seen better days and has little drive left to get himself together, write new songs or reconcile with his former protégé Tommy Sweet (Farrell). However, an encounter with a young reporter, and single mother, Jean (Gyllenhaal) leads to an unexpected romance for Blake who begins to find new inspiration to better himself, get back into performing and writing music and perhaps build a life with Jean but doing so means finding the inner strength to overcome his alcoholism and accept more responsibility for actions and mistakes both past and present.

Crazy Heart may tell a story told many times before, but it is still a very satisfying film. Much like its lead character Bad Blake, it has a laidback approach to its story with director Cooper, content to often let us just spend time with Blake to get to know his charms and his flaws with little rush to get to its inevitable conclusion. Beautifully shot, capturing the wonderful outback of New Mexico, with its characters speaking with words of wisdom in a lyrical style unsurprising of characters who are musicians, Crazy Heart has a strong feeling of romance for the world of music. The film comes alive every time a song is performed during one of Blake, or Tommy’s, gigs with the audience dragged into the atmosphere of the room and seeing the wonders characters like Blake are capable of achieving when they want to and while there are often obstacles along the way to expose Blake’s flaws, some perhaps hard to forgive, the film nevertheless keeps you rooting for its star to find some kind of redemption and happiness. Not everything works in Crazy Heart however, as a beautiful scene shared between Bridges’ Blake and his friend played by Duvall on a fishing boat hints at deeper friendships and relationships that have a history that is barely explored and therefore disappoints slightly when they are not but these are somewhat minor issues.

Jeff Bridges, an infamously underappreciated actor, is excellent as Bad Blake. When other actors perform roles like that of Blake they may be impressive but the performances often give the feeling of great efforts being made by the actor. Bridges however, gives an equally impressive performance but does so in a way that feels very natural for Bridges who is an actor whose persona is one of natural talent, laidback and not forced. Bridges is a perfect fit then for Blake giving ever line and movement the satisfying reassurance that this is a man who seen it all. Maggie Gyllenhaal is strong as Blake’s potential love interest Jean, who gives her role more vulnerability and strength in her performance than the script sometimes allows and more than some other actresses could achieve while Colin Farrell is quietly impressive as Blake’s former protégé Tommy giving Tommy magnetism on stage and showing respect and love for the man who taught him everything he now knows which, while words to that affect are delivered in a manner that feels routine, Farrell’s movements and expressions reveal Tommy’s belief in them underneath. Robert Duvall is likeable too but criminally underused and developed.

With a strong, enjoyable performance from Jeff Bridges in the lead role and from the supporting cast, the performances and Scott Cooper’s laidback direction, makes Crazy Heart a much more likeable and satisfying film than its familiar tale might deserve but nevertheless, Crazy Heart is an enjoyable film.

Rating: 4/5

The Crazies

2010-03-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

Director: Breck Eisner
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell & Joe Anderson

A decent horror/thriller that, while not offering anything particularly original to the genre, nevertheless offers decent scares and performances from its cast.

In addition to the rise of horror films dubbed “torture porn”, Hollywood has also turned its focus towards remaking horror films of the past to drive the genre in the present. With some remakes seeing commercial, though not always critical, success such the remakes of Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes and My Bloody Valentine, as long as they continue to be successful, the remakes will continue. The latest, The Crazies, comes to cinema screens with the benefits that it is remaking a horror film with less of a fan following than some other films that have been remade. As such, while still lacking in originality, The Crazies still thrills and does feel an improvement over the original film.

In the quiet town of Ogden Marsh, Sheriff Dutton (Olyphant) finds himself in trouble when an investigation into a pair of murders caused by seemingly normal residents in his hometown turning homicidal reveals evidence of a plane crash in the marsh outside of the town which may have released a contaminant into the town’s water supply. With the risk of an infection spreading through the town and affecting the populace, Dutton with his with Judy (Mitchell) and deputy Russell (Anderson) find themselves struggling to stay alive and escape the town when government forces descend upon the town to contain and eliminate the infected and while the populace of the town go crazy and run free.

While featuring some effective jumps and scares throughout, The Crazies, much like the original film from the 70s, is most effective when it portrays the gradual breakdown of normal people into crazed killers. With dead eyed stares and monotonous repetition of simple phrases that give the impression of zombies, the results are somewhat less disturbing amongst the more faceless residents that the main characters encounter during their escapes but when the fear causes them to look at one another is when the tension rises. When one character turns to another and asks “I’m not right, am I?” it is both sad and frightening. However, such moments become less frequent as the number of infected rise and the film shifts from a slow build up of fear to more action, fighting and traditional scares. The Crazies, like the original film, also offers the interesting approach of having its main protagonists caught between both the people they once knew and the forces trying to contain the outbreak. The government presence adds to the desperation whilst offering slight comparisons to government responses to outbreaks and other threats in light of recent wars and viral outbreaks like Swine Flu though such comparisons are rarely explored in any depth.

Timothy Olyphant (of TV’s Deadwood) makes for a decent leading man, playing it stoic throughout even though his character and performance lacks the nuances of past roles such as Sheriff Bullock in Deadwood. Radha Mitchell also is decent as the Sheriff’s wife and town doctor but again gives a performance generally limited to reacting to the chaos around her. Joe Anderson, having worked with Olyphant recently in heist comedy High Life, has good chemistry with Olyphant’s Sheriff as his deputy and gets the most opportunity of any of the cast to develop his role as his character slowly comes to believe he is infected himself and making both audiences and other characters uncomfortable as his early calmness gives way to frustration and anger. Of the main cast, only Danielle Panabaker really disappoints though this is mostly due to her character being barely featured or developed by the script.

Overall, The Crazies is fairly predictable and not particularly original but it has some decent performances from Olyphant and Anderson and some reliably chilling and jump-worthy scares to make it worth a watch.

Rating: 3/5

Micmacs

2010-03-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Dany Boon, Dominique Pinon & Julie Ferrier

A wonderfully whimsical and charming comedy from Jean-Pierre Jeunet which carries all the director’s usual flair for colourful characters, charm and inventive visuals.

Six years after his previous film, the World War romance A Very Long Engagement, Jean-Pierre Jeunet has returned with a film, smaller in scale to his last film but hailing back to the mood and eccentricities of Amelie and Delicatessen. While not as satisfying as those pictures, Micmacs is nevertheless enjoyable with Jeunet relishing in the opportunity to experiment with the film’s visual style and to display his love of film.

Having lost his father to a landmine 30 years before, and his mother to an asylum, Basil (Boon) now works in a video store and finds his life changed again when a gun fight outside results in him taking a bullet to his brain. With the bullet being left in on the decision of his surgeons leaving the length of Basil’s life to chance, Basil returns to find his home gone, his job replaced and himself living on the streets until he is taken in by a band of scrap collecting misfits. When the opportunity arises for Basil to get his revenge upon the corporations that produced the bullet lodged in his brain and the landmine that killed his father, corporations whose headquarters neighbour and compete with each other, Basil decides to bring them down with the help of his new friends.

Micmacs (roughly translated as 'suspect activities') is a thoroughly charming film, in typical Jeunet style. It is evident throughout that Micmacs is Jeunet having fun, Jeunet at his most comfortable. With film references littered throughout evoking the mood of Charlie Chaplin films as well as those of Humphrey Bogart and Kurosawa with even the main character Basil, like Jeunet, a film fan beginning the film working in a video store much like the early days of director Quentin Tarantino. Micmacs also features Jeunet’s usually interesting and impressive visual style present in the mise-en-scene, the cute and clever co-ordination of his misfit’s plans and in little cutaway moments such as when Basil must engage in quick mental exercises to focus his mind whenever he fins the bullet in his head inching upon his brain. The likeability of its characters and the cartoonish nature of them and the film’s plot make for a fun film though occasionally it is a little too light. A romance between Basil and a girl from the misfits with an elastic ability is perfectly charming but feels present because Jeunet feels there should be a romance rather than much evidence in the story to show it develop organically but, fortunately, such examples don’t distract much from the film’s enjoyment.

Micmacs features a colourful cast of characters and actors. Dany Boon, a well known comedian in France, is enjoyable in the lead role as Basil who, while sometimes a little too straight faced in some scenes, comes alive when mimicking Chaplin and is still quite likeable as a lead even though he lacks the magnetism of some of Jeunet’s previous leads like Audrey Tautou. Basil’s band of misfits are all enjoyably performed with Omar Sy’s Remington and Fracasse, played by Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon, most memorable while love interest ‘La Mome Caoutchouc’ is likeably played by Julie Ferrier. As the two corporate heads, Andre Dussollier and Nicholas Marie are highly enjoyable as the film’s two, cartoonish, villains both fun to watch and to root against.

Micmacs is a fun, funny and charming film that Jeunet fans especially will enjoy. Filled with Jeunet’s fondness for eccentric characters, film references and his lush visual style; Micmacs, while not as satisfying as Amelie or Delicatessen, is still highly enjoyable.

Rating: 4/5

The Lovely Bones

2010-03-01T03:37:00.000-08:00

Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg & Rachel Weisz

A decent but soft adaptation of the bestselling novel, The Lovely Bones is an entertaining but often too tame and saccharine a film to really impress given some of its subject matter.

Following the epic trilogy of his The Lord of the Rings adaptations and the almost epic, though less well received, King Kong remake, Peter Jackson’s decision to make his next film an adaptation of Alice Sebold’s popular novel took some by surprise. The Lovely Bones however, does bear some similarities in themes to one of Jackson’s earlier films, Heavenly Creatures, but with the added budget to now allow Jackson to visualise fantasy sequences more impressively. The resulting film however, while generally faithful in plot and tone to the novel, is slightly disappointing as, while visually impressive and featuring some good performances, it has softened many of the novel’s darker moments while enhancing some of its more over-sentimental elements.

In 1973, 14 year old Susie Salmon (Ronan), with all her hopes and dreams ahead of her, is murdered by her family’s neighbour George (Tucci), a secret sexual predator and killer. With her family devastated and her father Jack (Wahlberg) unwilling to give up on the search to find Susie and identify her killer, Susie finds herself watching over her family and friends, and her killer, from a world in between the land of the living and the heavens beyond. As she watches over them she sees the effect her loss has on their lives and must comes to terms with her fate whilst helping her loved ones come to terms with it too as Susie also comes to explore and understand the realm in which she is to spend her afterlife.

The Lovely Bones is a likeable film. Given that the plot revolves around a young girl’s murder and her loved ones’ attempts to cope with the loss and, in some cases, find retribution, the film is increasingly sweet and over sentimental as it continuously reminds and reinforces the belief that Susie and her family were good people and that their love for one another was so great. While these elements were present in the novel and certainly succeed at making Susie and her family, her father Jack especially, sympathetic characters, it also threatens to overwhelm the story on occasion and undermine the darker, more serious elements of the film surrounding Susie’s killer, his behaviours and his future. Toning down the violence of the novel (Susie is not only murdered but also raped in the novel) may make the film more appealing to a wider audience but it also seems to make the film less satisfying when the film is allowed to stray into far more over-sentimental territory. What is more interesting is Jackson’s visualisation of Susie’s afterlife. Often depicted as vibrant, fantastical though rooted in natural wonder, the realm that Susie inhabits is frequently beautiful to behold (though conjures up similarities to the Robin Williams’ film What Dreams May Come) but are more impressive when they intrude upon the real world during the film’s more darker scenes such as Susie coming upon her killer bathing after her murder and scenes within the cornfields.

Performances in The Lovely Bones are generally good. Saoirse Ronan is very likeable as Susie Salmon, if perhaps a little too lacking in flaws to be wholly believable, though Ronan’s performance contrast well with her previous role in Atonement that the difference is notable. Mark Wahlberg is believably earnest and tortured in his role as Susie’s father who won’t accept the loss of his daughter though Rachel Weisz as Susie’s mother is less well served by the film’s script with Weisz often reduced to grieving silently. Very impressive however is Stanley Tucci as George, Susie’s neighbour and killer. Tucci oozes what Suzie refers to in the film as the “Heebie Jeebies” very effectively with his performance giving George a very creepy demeanour and sense of danger while also conveying an image of harmlessness to fool others.

Overall, The Lovely Bones is a decent film, it features some good performances and is often visually impressive but the reliance of over-sentimentality and the softening of the novel’s darker elements means the film is not as satisfying as it could have been and is often too sweet for its own good.

Rating: 3/5

Invictus

2010-02-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon & Adjoa Andoh

A stirring drama, part-biopic/part-sports film, which portrays Nelson Mandela’s early years as President of South Africa with an excellent performance by Morgan Freeman in the role he feels perfect for.

Morgan Freeman is a star who has long admired Nelson Mandela and has stated, many times, his desire to portray the man on screen. Actor/director Clint Eastwood had also expressed interest in making a film about Mandela and his friendship with Freeman has led to this inevitable biopic. However, while not the adaptation of Mandela’s own autobiography Long Walk to Freedom that many might have hoped for, or another life spanning chronicle of Mandela’s life, Invictus instead narrows it’s focus to the first few years of Mandela’s presidency and, in his attempts to unify the people of South Africa, his plan to use the nation’s rugby team to unite them. While this may bother audiences looking for a greater, deeper exploration of Mandela, Invictus is still an enjoyable, satisfying film and Freeman’s performance as Mandela is excellent.

After his release from prison after almost thirty years of imprisonment and after being elected President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela (Freeman) looks to unite the people of his nation after years of Apartheid dividing the white and black populations. Upon seeing the struggling efforts of the nation’s rugby team, the Springboks, who seem unlikely to succeed in the upcoming World Cup being hosted by South Africa and opposed by the nation’s black population who see them as a symbol of the Apartheid era, Mandela decides to encourage the team to train harder and win the World Cup and hopefully win the support of all South African citizens in the hope that it will better unite the nation as a whole. The Springboks themselves, led by Francois Pienaar (Damon) must commit themselves anew, drive themselves to success and change their ideas about themselves, their country and their role in encouraging a united South Africa.

Invictus, taking its name from the poem by Henley which gave Mandela the strength to endure his long imprisonment, is not the Mandela film some might have expected, or wanted. Beginning with his release from prison and swiftly moving onto his election and beyond, Invictus does not delve much into Mandela’s life pre-presidency or into his family life. While this is somewhat disappointing and, to some, perhaps a disservice to an individual held in high esteem across the world, Invictus is still a strong and enjoyable drama that does justice to Mandela. While much of the enjoyment comes from Freeman’s portrayal of Mandela, the decision to focus on one of Mandela’s initiatives to unite a divided people with the use of the Springboks rugby team, is one that gives the film focus and direction with a clear idea of Mandela’s commitment to respecting and uniting all his people and in demonstrating the changes South Africa went through under Mandela’s leadership. Also, with much of the film’s action revolving around the rugby team and rugby matches, the film as a specific goal to rally it’s characters and the audience to support and this is handled very well to the point where even a non-sports fan will find themselves cheering for the Springboks to win, for Mandela’s goal to unite his people to succeed. The sport supports the plot as does the character arc of Damon’s Francois and his team who must also accept change in their country and themselves.

Of course the performances in Invictus are, unsurprisingly, strong. Morgan Freeman is excellent as Mandela and his determination to play the role well is evident as his performance, whilst bearing the mannerisms and expressions of the real man, is no mere caricature even if the film does not allow Freeman the chance to really delve deep into Mandela’s life and personality outside of his role as a leader (his family life is often avoided). Damon is also particularly impressive and, like Freeman, pulls off a believable South African accent that doesn’t become the focus of the actor’s attention when trying to deliver his performance. Damon plays Francois well and gets more of an opportunity to explore layers of his character who must find confidence in himself to achieve the task Mandela has given him. While some characters like Francois’ fellow rugby players, get little time to develop their characters, they are still fine though the roles of Mandela’s bodyguards get more moments to interact and shine, adding a little humour and drama to the life of those working around a president.

It might not be the life spanning tale that some Mandela fans might have hoped for and the rugby sequences may deter those that are not keen on sports in film, but for the rest, Invictus is a well made, well told and uplifting story of how a man can bring about change in a country with a good performance by Matt Damon and an excellent one by Morgan Freeman as Mandela.

Rating: 4/5

The Wolfman

2010-02-24T04:52:00.000-08:00

Director: Joe Johnson
Starring: Benicio del Toro, Emily Blunt & Anthony Hopkins

A disappointing remake of a horror classic, The Wolfman has some fun with a few homages to werewolf movies of the past but offers nothing original or entertaining enough in its own right to satisfy.

Remaking a horror classic that made a legend of its star Lon Chaney, but with its production hit with many problems including changes in directors and the need for re-shoots, The Wolfman finally arrives at cinemas over a year past its originally scheduled release date with only its star, Benicio del Toro, seemingly still around left from the original vision of the film. The result is a film that lacks originality in plot or dialogue, feature too many under-written and over-acted roles and muddled special effects.

After receiving a letter to say his brother has gone missing, Lawrence Talbot (del Toro) returns to his father Sir John Talbot’s (Hopkins) estate after years of estrangement from his family to find his brother has been found dead, mauled and mutilated by either a beast or lunatic roaming the moors and whom locals believe to be a werewolf. When Lawrence confronts the beast and finds himself bitten, he realises he too is cursed to become a werewolf on the full moon. Lawrence then finds himself struggling with his curse, still determined to find who the beast that killed his brother is whilst is also being treat as a suspect in his brother’s murder himself by the visiting Inspector Aberline (Hugo Weaving) with only his brother’s widow Gwen (Blunt) supporting him.

The Wolfman is a film that seems too confused and undecided over what it wants to be to really satisfy. A remake of the Lon Chaney original, the remake retains many of the characters and plot points from the original film but when it attempts to strive for something different, such as where it begins to depart dramatically from the original film in its second half, it does so with events that are too predictable to enjoy, seems an excuse for excess of gore and cheap scares. Attempts to insert true life characters like Inspector Aberline (who investigated the Jack the Ripper killings) seem questionable and the emphasis on making the wolf man, or wolf men, savage and fast moving beasts that carve through victims with abandon mean that, unlike with the Lon Chaney original, there is little time given to make the beast, or its human half, sympathetic. It does feature some pleasures when the film attempts to make homage to other werewolf films such as a chase through the streets of London that feels like a period recreation of An American Werewolf in London's finale and, when not depicted as poorly represented CGI creation, the werewolf when a man in a costume in make up, looks quite effective and recalls the make up efforts past monsters. While occasional pleasures, these do unfortunately hurt the film as comparisons to better films reminds of this film’s weaknesses which, beneath several violent set pieces, leave The Wolfman a film driven by it’s thin plot, attempt to scare with gore and jump out of the shadows frights and not enough characterisation with Lawrence’s struggle and a romance with his brother’s widow feeling even more underdeveloped that the film’s plot.

The performances in The Wolfman are also fairly disappointing. Benicio del Toro does his best with a thin script to display Lawrence’s inner turmoil but his Lawrence is too emotionally restrained and serious to generate the feelings of sympathy and gentleness that Lon Chaney achieved almost 60 years before. Emily Blunt gets little to work with in terms of character and is unable to add anything memorable to the portrayal of her role while Anthony Hopkins chews up the scenery with such vigour in his performance as Sir John that he over-dominates to the detriment of other actors and characters in his presence. Hugo Weaving, also laying on the melodrama with ever line as Inspector Aberline, is somewhat more enjoyable but not particularly memorable.

The Wolfman might entertain those easily scared or enjoy their horrors more violent and physical than psychological but The Wolfman is predictable, too distracted by paying tribute to other classics (though occasionally enjoyable when doing so) with unimpressive CGI or acting from its cast. A disappointing entry into the werewolf movie genre.

Rating: 2/5

Edge of Darkness

2010-02-15T12:33:00.000-08:00

Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone & Danny Huston

Mel Gibson’s return to the big screen is a rather unimpressive thriller that while featuring a decent performance from Gibson, is too predictable to really impress and suffers in comparison to the 1980s TV drama on which it is based.

Edge of Darkness comes to cinema screens behind a wealth of expectation. Not only does it adapt a highly regarded BBC TV drama from the 1980s, but also marks the first acting role of Mel Gibson in seven years with him not only having to try and re-establish his credentials as a leading man but also to overcome the huge amount of negative publicity his off screen actions have gained in recent years. The resulting film, in spite of being adapted by the same director of the original TV drama, is unfortunately too predictable in its story and execution to make enough of an impression on audiences or Gibson’s career.

When police detective Thomas Craven (Gibson) reunites with his estranged daughter after many years only to see her brutally gunned down shortly afterwards by an attacker, supposedly, out to hurt Craven; Craven, in his grief, goes on the hunt for the perpetrators and for revenge despite being warned off by his colleagues and soon finds his daughter was really the target as she is revealed to have been involved in an attempt to expose the unethical practices of a corporation dealing with nuclear materials. Confronted by a man named Jedburgh (Winstone), hired to stop Craven from finding the truth, Craven’s situation endears him to Jedburgh who, instead, appears to have a change of heart and decides to aid Craven in uncovering the truth and getting his vengeance.

First of all, as an adaptation of the 1980s TV drama, Edge of Darkness disappoints and does so more given that is adapted by the director of that TV drama, Martin Campbell. Whilst retaining some elements like the involvement of nuclear materials and corporate cover ups, Campbell’s attempts to streamline the plot into a straight revenge thriller and exorcising much of more complex and political elements that made the original drama so engaging, Edge of Darkness becomes to simplified and predictable with many character’s left undeveloped including their motives. With the exception of Winstone’s Jedburgh, there is little doubt over who can or cannot be trusted, who is guilty and, given the levels of violence, how the guilty will suffer. As a thriller, there are action sequences that are fairly decent and quite brutal but, again, don’t offer anything particularly memorable.

Being Mel Gibson’s return to the big screen, his performance is fairly decent and his presence bearing enough weight to drive the film and remind of why he has been a popular leading man in the past however, Gibson’s performance isn’t particular memorable even for Gibson who has performed similar revenge driven roles in films like Ransom and Payback and did far more effectively and memorably. The role and performance presents a Gibson restrained. Ray Winstone performs decently in a role more enjoyable than Gibson’s though, like Gibson, offers nothing particular memorable from Winstone and compares unfavourably with the role as performed by Joe Don Baker in the 1980s (with Gibson’s also less satisfactory or well developed than Bob Peck’s original performance). In the role of main villain, Danny Huston is effectively slimy and cruel but it too is a role that offers nothing new for audiences or Huston.

Overall, Edge of Darkness is a decent but generally underwhelming adaptation of the original BBC drama. Gibson and Winstone put in average performances but the film and performances don’t stand up to the quality of the original TV drama or compare favourably with similar revenge dramas. The film might satisfy some audiences and fans of Gibson but it is too average to be memorable.

Rating: 2/5

A Single Man

2010-02-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

Director: Tom Ford
Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore & Matthew Goode

An excellent drama and directorial debut for Tom Ford featuring an impressive performance from Colin Firth and is a film both impressive in design and in emotion.

Following the migration of music video and TV advert directors into the world of filmmaking, A Single Man sees the move of fashion designer Tom Ford into film. Any concerns filmgoers might have of a fashion designer directing a film are almost immediately dispelled at the results as A Single Man is an excellent drama that, unsurprising, is aesthetically beautiful but is also filled with emotion, a gripping story based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood with an excellent performance by Colin Firth in the lead role which is, perhaps, Firth’s finest on screen performance to date.

In 1962, just after the Cuban Missile Crisis, English professor George Falconer (Firth) is deep in mourning over the loss of his lover, of 16 years, Jim (Goode) to a car accident several months earlier. Tired of the day to day routine of pain, George decides this day will be different; this day will be his last. As he goes about his day and getting his affairs in order, he observes the beauties that he will miss, visits old friend Charley (Moore) and unexpectedly finds others reaching out to him including a student named Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), a drifter and Charley but will it change the ending he has planned for himself?

An impressive and emotionally engaging drama, A Single Man is filled with feeling beneath its beautifully presented surface. Unsurprisingly for a film made by a fashion designer, A Single Man is a very well presented film. With attention to period detail that recalls that of the critically acclaimed TV drama Mad Men (and set within the same era), Tom Ford also infuses the film with many visual cues. Often portrayed with George and his surroundings in faded colours, objects, people and whole scenes experience sudden rushes in colour when George is confronted with something of beauty that shapes him, however temporary, from his depression whether it be a flower he is smelling, the red lips on his assistant or the blue dress of a young girl who approaches him. The colour is even more present in scenes George shares with his student Kenny whose interest in George and his welfare touches the character and is especially present in his memories of good times spent with his lover Jim, all of which contrast with the gloom of the rest of the film which also reflect George’s emotional state. In a way, while sometimes a little too perfect or glossy, the look of A Single Man bears much in common with George himself as, in his mourning, he has retreated to a smartly presented, emotionally aloof British stereotype amongst the people he encounters in his day hiding his real feelings and depth below the surface.

A Single Man’s story is strengthened by the performance of Colin Firth as George. It is an excellent performance from Firth and, perhaps, the best of his career to date. He portrays George with weariness and pain and his attempts to portray a stuffy British demeanour around his American colleagues do not hide the emotional turmoil, the vulnerability lying beneath the surface. George’s pain is obvious as is his love for Jim. It is also impressive that Firth is able to show, not only in flashbacks of happier times, but through encounters during his ‘last day’ that there is warmth, humour and an appreciation of life at the heart of George’s character seen most in his time spent with Charley and in later scenes towards the end of his day with Kenny. Firth however, is not the only strong performer as Julianne Moore puts in a strong performance as the ageing party girl with whom George once had a relationship before admitting his own homosexuality and whose love for George and what might have been is also clear and is the vulnerability at her core now that she, like George, is separated from her partner. Matthew Goode demonstrates confidence and warmth as Jim in flashback scenes and Nicholas Hoult is likewise impressive as George’s student who bears many similarities to George and Jim.

A Single Man is an excellent drama that looks beautiful and is brimming with emotion beneath the surface. It is a film that is very honest and stirring and Colin Firth’s performance is worthy of every award or nomination it may receive. Excellent.

Rating: 5/5

Youth in Revolt

2010-02-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

Director: Miguel Arteta
Starring: Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday & Ray Liotta

A very funny comedy, off beat in its tone and featuring an enjoyable performance from Cera who manages to subvert his usually nerdy persona with impressive and hilarious result.

While seemingly another teen comedy featuring Michael Cera in the neurotic, nerdy persona he crafted in TV series Arrested Development and employed, mostly, to good effect in films like Superbad and Juno, Youth in Revolt, directed by Miguel Arteta (of Chuck and Buck fame) surprises by being somewhat more dark and daring than what has been expected from Cera previously. Based on the novel of the same name, Youth in Revolt is surprisingly witty, enjoyable and features an impressive cast of indie and comedic talent.

Shy, neurotic virgin Nick Twisp (Cera), is unhappy with his lonely life and in living with his mother and her latest boyfriend. When one of that boyfriend’s business ventures goes bad, the family get away for a while at a trailer park where Nick meets Sheeni Saunders (Doubleday), a smart, beautiful girl who, unlike other girls, actually enjoys spending time with Nick. When Nick finds his feelings surprisingly returned by Sheeni, he finds himself dragged away when his mother moves him back home. Nick realises his only way to get back to Sheeni is to get kicked out of his mother’s home so he can live with his father and be closer to Sheeni so creates an alternate bad boy persona in Francois but Nick soon finds himself in trouble with the law and the road to being reunited with Sheeni filled with obstacles including Sheeni’s ex-boyfriend, her devoutly religious parents and those out to punish him for his misdeeds.

Youth in Revolt is an expected delight. Much of the enjoyment is had from Cera’s onscreen persona being twisted to find new depths in the creation of his character Nick’s alter ego Francois (also played by Cera). Nick, a boy who considers himself to be cultured and finding enjoyment in foreign films of an older era, crafts his alter ego to appear louche in the style of French New Wave bad boys. Effeminate in his walk, with a pencil thin moustache and a dislike of authority, Francois contrasts Nick perfectly leading to many hilarious moments when Nick loses control over his alter ego to the detriment of his own life. While some situations Nick finds himself border on unbelievable, they are delivered in an almost dead pan style that it enhances the humour more than crude slapstick delivery could accomplish. With a sharp script too, Youth in Revolt features many scenes and lines to be fondly remembered.

A lot of the enjoyment of Youth in Revolt lies with its cast and their performances. While featuring an impressive line up of talent in supporting roles such as Steve Buscemi (as Nick’s father), Fred Willard, Justin Long, Zach Galifianakis and Ray Liotta, Michael Cera manages to impress more than any in the leading roles of Nick and Francois. While the more familiar aspects of Cera’s on screen persona are ever present in his portrayal of Nick which does, on occasion, remind you of Cera’s other roles, Cera’s performance as bad boy Francois is superb. Cera seems to relish the chance to be bad and gives Francois plenty of arrogant swagger in his movements and disdain for others in his attitude that, in comparison to Cera’s performance as Nick, we are given a highly enjoyable double act. Portia Doubleday is also excellent as a French New Wave style love interest oozing intelligence and sex appeal being both seductive yet also frustratingly aloof and difficult to satisfy. It is a fun performance and one that sets Doubleday apart from usual nice girl roles and actresses usually appearing in teenage comedies.

An excellent performance from Cera exploiting and subverting his on screen persona to excellent, hilarious effect, Youth in Revolt is a highly enjoyable and sharp comedy and proof that Cera is not a one trick act.

Rating: 4/5

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

2010-02-09T12:21:00.000-08:00

Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique & Paula Patton

A bleak, yet well performed and memorable drama. Hard to like but filled with impressive performances and provokes strong feelings.

Based on the novel Push, by Sapphire (included in the film’s full title), Precious is a film that seemingly surprised audiences on the film festival circuit in 2009, getting much acclaim for the performances, the film’s subject matter and Lee Daniel’s (producer behind Monster’s Ball and The Woodsman) execution of the story that the film has become an unlikely success despite it’s difficult subject. Precious does live up to much of the acclaim it has gathered as it is certainly memorable though still a difficult film to like.

Claireece Precious Jones (Sidibe) in an obese, illiterate 16 year old girl living in 1980s Harlem. Already tormented by her peers due to her size, education and background, Precious suffers even more at home. Emotionally bullied by her mother (Mo’Nique), being sexually abused by her father resulting in one child already and with Precious discovering she is pregnant with a second, Precious finds her only escape from the horrors of her life in fantasies where she imagines herself whisked away from her pains by handsome heroes or sees herself as a beautiful white woman. When she is kicked out of her current school, Precious is sent to a school for difficult children and finds, in her teacher Miss Blu Rain (Patton) and her social worker Miss Weiss (Mariah Carey) the help to get better educated and build a life away from her parents.

With such difficult themes as rape, incest and the usual themes of kitchen sink style dramas of abusive households and troubled upbringings, Precious is a film that is frequently too grim to like and sometimes runs the risk of being too bleak with the life of Precious Jones feeling unbelievable at times if not for stories that appear in the media highlighting such cases like these in real life. What sets Precious apart from other such films is in its honesty in the emotional damage such lives have upon those living them. Precious Jones is presented as a well realised character and the portrayal of her fantasy life as an escape from her troubles not only adds very interesting and memorable departures from the realities the character faces (one scene where she sees herself in the mirror as a pretty, slim, white girl is particularly memorable in Precious’ belief that such people don’t suffer as she does) but is also a very believable coping mechanism for those suffering emotional and physical abuse. Unlike rags to riches stories like Slumdog Millionaire where suffering leads to a happy ending for the protagonist, Precious doesn’t offer any false attempts at a happy ending though Precious’ life ends in a much better state than it begins, that, along with the strong performances throughout make Precious a film that you will remember, even if you’d rather not dwell on the issues portrayed.

The performances in Precious are mostly quite impressive. Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe gives a strong performance in the lead role of Precious Jones balancing the character’s sadness and depression in her real life with believable joy in her fantasy life and keeping her character sympathetic despite her own flaws and not just because of her character’s experiences. Mo’Nique puts in a frightening performance as Precious’ overbearing mother, a performance at odds with the actress’ stand up comedienne persona and very believable. Paula Patton is fine as the teacher Miss Blu Rain though, perhaps, too nice at times and less memorable amongst the other performances which includes a quite surprising dramatic, and strong, turn from singer Mariah Carey as a tough social worker dealing with Precious’ situation.

Precious is not a feel-good movie but it is an impressive and memorable film with a heart-breaking story and generally strong performances from it’s cast. It is too bleak to really enjoy but is still a stirring drama.

Rating: 4/5

A Prophet

2010-01-31T10:30:00.000-08:00

Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Tahir Rahim, Niels Arestrup & Adel Bencherif

A very impressive crime/prison drama, wide in scope, well acted, filled with tension and gripping throughout its near three hour running time. A crime classic in the making.

Having delved in to the world and crime before, with his previous film The Beat That Skipped My Heart Skipped being particularly impressive, Jacques Audiard’s latest film is his most ambitious film to date and already worthy of being compared favourably to crime classics. With a gripping and assured performance from newcomer Tahir Rahim, Audiard crafts the rise to power of an uneducated Arab boy in prison through the ranks of the Corsican and Islamic hierarchy.

Malik (Rahim) is an uneducated, Arab teenager sentenced to six years in prison for an attack upon a police officer. Alone and afraid, he is picked upon by the prison’s Corsican boss Cesar (Arestrup) to kill a witness in custody at the prison or face being killed if he fails or refuses. Forced into the act, Malik then falls under the protection of Cesar who, despite verbally and abusing his over his ethnicity, comes to rely upon Malik more and more to perform tasks for him in and out (on leave days) to further Cesar’s criminal career within and beyond the walls of the prison. As the years pass by, as he grows more experienced and educated, Malik finds his importance and influence growing and begins to develop criminal enterprises of his own, independent of Cesar.

A Prophet is a gripping drama throughout its near three hour running time. Carefully building up the growth of Malik within the walls of the prison yet never so slowly that the pacing suffers; Audiard manages a delicate and engaging tale of survival and of coming of age. While Malik arrives in the prison, seemingly innocent, his naivety at odds with the violent crime hinted at that caused him to be imprisoned, he his swiftly set upon by a group of Corsicans who use his vulnerability to pressure him into committing a murder or face death himself. This leads to one of many tense scenes littered throughout the film as Malik confronts various dangers and comes through frequently shaken but stronger, this one in particular requiring him to carry a blade in his mouth with which he must be able to produce to kill a witness. A moment where we witness Malik attempting to manoeuvre the blade in his mouth causing him to spit up blood is filled with tension. This opening act of violence also serves to plague Malik throughout the rest of the film with the ghost of the man killed appearing to haunt him and act as the voice telling him what he must do to survive. Malik’s relationship with that of Cesar, the senior Corsican who takes him under his wing despite Malik’s Arab background (Malik’s faith and loyalties to which is also a theme throughout as, while adopted by the Corsicans, he is shunned by the prison’s Muslim community). As Malik sees his importance and influence within the prison rise, it is Cesar who sees his own decrease as, once other Corsicans are transferred out, Cesar finds Malik the only one whom he can still threaten and order until even that power fades.

The performances in A Prophet aid the characters greatly. Tahir Rahim, a relative newcomer, impresses in his first leading role and one that requires much of him. Fortunately Rahim’s inexperience does him favours as his portrayal of Malik reveals Malik as the frightened boy he starts out to be yet maintains much of that fear even as Malik’s power grows, fears that it could be lost and even as his confidence shows, it is that of a young man sometimes acting more certain than he is. Cesar meanwhile, is portrayed by veteran actor Niels Arestrup who achieves the opposite of Rahim’s role and performance as the initially confident and powerful Cesar who clings to belief he still has the same power on influence and hides fears that it may be gone as he loses his control of the prison and sees his Arab boy rise above him leading to one especially humbling moment near the film’s finale where Cesar seeks Malik’s approval and sympathy.

Despite being a foreign film, subtitled and almost three hours in length, none of this should deter audiences from seeing what is a completely gripping crime/prison drama. A Prophet features very impressive performances, plenty of tension and deserves to be regarded highly amongst the best films of the genre. Excellent.

Rating: 5/5

44 Inch Chest

2010-01-26T11:44:00.000-08:00

Director: Malcolm Venville
Starring: Ray Winstone, Tom Wilkinson & Ian McShane

An occasionally gripping gangster film that is filled with sharp, scathing dialogue and strong performances from it’s cast but with not enough actually happening in the plot, the pacing suffers making the film good, but not great.

Adapted from a script by Louis Mellis and David Scinto who also wrote the memorable, and well received Sexy Beast in 2000, 44 Inch Chest compares favourably with Sexy Beast in terms of dialogue and performances from former Sexy Beast cast members Ray Winstone and Ian McShane however, with little action occurring beyond a single room and the hallway outside, 44 Inch Chest feels too much like a stage play which in this case, makes for less than thrilling cinema despite the enjoyment derived from the script and the film’s performances.

Devastated at the news that his wife Liz (Joanne Whalley) has been having an affair and is leaving he, Colin Diamond (Winstone) tries to piece himself back together with the help of his fellow gangster friends. His friends, having found the waiter his wife was seeing behind his back, bring the waiter back to a small room to allow Colin to exact his revenge, but with Colin still reeling from the blows to his manhood that his wife’s actions have taken upon him, finds himself emotionally and psychologically uncertain as to whether he can enact his revenge and reclaim his masculinity.

Playing out like a stage performance with most of the film taking lace within a single room and performed amongst a small cast, 44 Inch Chest both benefits and suffers from it’s theatrical trimmings on the cinema screen. In terms of benefits, the film is well performed throughout with a cast of British acting heavyweights making every line enjoyable. The film, being based in one, small location also allows the film to explore themes of masculinity and its breakdown through the experiences of Colin Diamond, a gangster who has found himself neutered by the actions of his wife. The Samson & Delilah metaphor is ever present with a film version of the story even referred to during the course of the script and as Diamond struggles to come to terms with what he’s lost, his friends who each represent differing representations of masculinity (Wilkinson the tough guy who loves his mum, Hurt the old fashioned sexist, McShane ruthless yet homosexual) challenge and participate in his mental struggle. Unfortunately, as insightful as the script can be, as sharp as the dialogue is and as well performed as the film is, 44 Inch Chest also suffers from pacing problems. Great dialogue is always good but in a film where little occurs beyond talk, the film begins to drag and ultimately little actually happens beyond talk even when it comes to the film’s finale.

44 Inch Chest features an impressive cast and all impress. Winstone finds vulnerabilities to explore in his own gangster image with his performance as Colin whose anguish is believable throughout. John Hurt puts in an amusing performance as a grumpy, mean-spirited Steptoe-type which, at odds with his usual distinguished Englishman, allows Hurt to spit hatred with surprising venom. Ian McShane is charming and frightening in equal measure as the occasionally effeminate, yet believably cold and threatening Meredith who gets to subvert the usual on-screen representation of homo-sexuality, particularly within the gangster genre. Wilkinson puts in a likeable performance as Colin’s tough-talking but caring best friend and Stephen Dillane, the youngest of the main cast, holds his own well amongst his co-stars.

Overall, 44 Inch Chest has great dialogue, great performances from an impressive cast list and it’s exploration into masculinity is frequently engaging but it’s over-reliance on dialogue to drive the story over events means not enough actually happens and the film does drag too often to be wholly enjoyable.

Rating: 3/5

Up in the Air

2010-01-20T11:41:00.000-08:00

Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga & Anna Kendrick

A very charming comedy/drama with winning performances by Clooney and Kendrick that makes some savvy comments upon the value of human connections.

Following on from his last film, the Oscar nominated Juno which showed clear improvement over his debut film Thank You for Smoking, Jason Reitman’s latest film, Up in the Air, shows further improvement over Juno with another sharp script, added maturity over the teenage cool of Juno, and several strong performances from it’s cast including another winning performance by George Clooney. Up in the Air proves to be Reitman’s best film to date.

Ryan Bingham (Clooney) fires people for a living. His firm is hired out by corporations and small businesses looking to downsize their staff but lack the courage to give their staff the news themselves. Bingham, a man with charm and who loves the lifestyle of being on the road, travelling across the country and enjoying first class services along the way, is good enough at his job to convince most of those he’s brought in to fire that this is, in fact, a positive change in their lives. When his boss reveals a new method of firing people over video calls, pioneered by up-and-comer Natalie Keener (Kendrick), Bingham sees his jet-setting life on the road threatened with life in an office and the baggage of then living in one place, owning a home and settling down. Bingham then gets to take Keener o the road with him as he justifies the need for more personal interaction with the people they fire while also wondering whether a casual relationship with another jet-setter called Alex (Farmiga) might have something worth pursuing further.

Maintaining a tone that is both light, yet mature when necessary, Up in the Air is a charming yet also grounding film. Much of the charm comes, no doubt, from the efforts of Clooney who brings his usual charisma to the role of Ryan Bingham and whose delivery, whether telling someone they’re losing their job or addressing a conference room full of Bingham-wannabies, manages to make what he is selling incredibly believable whether it be that losing your job is a positive change or that a life on the road without permanent relationships with anyone is a life worth living. It is more this latter point, a lifestyle on the move, that Bingham believes in personally and the challenges to which that lead to the film’s more dramatic moments and most mature insights. Faced with the prospect of having his jet-setting job replaced with a job in an office cubicle, realising his loose connection to his family has left him excluded from events he thought he’d be included in and finally meeting someone on the road who might just offer him something more than the usual casual fling he has been accustomed too, Bingham must re-evaluate his ideals of life being better without the ties of home or family. The film pushes the importance of human connection but not done so in an overly forced way with some events occurring as you could predict and other turns managing to surprise the audience as much as they do the confident Bingham.

Clooney delivers a very enjoyable performance as Bingham. While perhaps not quite as deserving of the award recognition it is getting (Clooney’s performance as a similar corporate fix-it man in Michael Clayton held much more dramatic weight), it is still thoroughly charming with Clooney also capable of showing the cracks beneath Bingham’s confident and charming demeanour, and perhaps underneath Clooney’s own. Farmiga is good as Alex, who describes herself as Bingham “but with a vagina”. Initially likeable like Clooney’s Bingham, Farmiga is able to hide a more cut-throat personality that lies beneath well and manages to hold her own, much like her character, with Clooney. More enjoyable though is Anna Kendrick as the young, somewhat naïve, up-and-comer Natalie. Bubbly and attempting to appear more confident than she really is, her self-assured certainty over what she wants in life partnered with the naivety from her lack of field experience makes her induction into the world of Bingham one that is at times funny and others emotional but always sympathetic and likeable.

Overall, Up in the Air is a very enjoyable film. Serious when necessary with lessons to give, but done so without overdoing it, the film is also very charming and funny and filled with likeable performances especially from Clooney and Kendrick. It can sometimes be a little too cute for it’s own good but it seems impossible to dislike or to come away without reflecting upon your own life choices.

Rating: 4/5

Daybreakers

2010-01-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

Directors: The Spierig Brothers
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe & Sam Neill

Satisfying as B-movie genre piece, Daybreakers doesn’t demonstrate as much ambition in its execution as it does in its ideas but is generally enjoyable.

Delayed a year before release, Daybreakers, the second film from the Spierig Brothers following their low budget horror debut Undead, arrives in cinemas at a time when audiences are yearning for Vampire romances such as those in the Twilight series than more traditional horror approaches. With the most impressive Vampire film of recent years being 2009’s Swedish horror Let the Right One In, Daybreakers has much to compete with critically as well as commercially within the Vampire film genre. Daybreakers is a film that is filled with many interesting ideas but the execution fails to really develop them effectively relying too much on action and gore to drive the story along which, while entertaining in a John Carpenter style, results in a film that is enjoyable but generally unsatisfying.

In the near future of 2019, a viral epidemic has made most of the human population into Vampires with the surviving humans now an endangered species with many on the run and even more kept in farms where their blood is drained to feed the Vampire populace. With the number of captive humans dwindling and blood supplies running out, Haematologist Ed Dalton (Hawke) is working on developing a blood substitute to sustain the Vampire population and save human lives and prevent a mutation that changes blood-starved Vampires into mindless monsters that prey upon the populace. Sympathetic to preserving the human race, Dalton’s encounter with a group of Rogue humans brings him into a former Vampire/turned human named Elvis (Dafoe) that might provide him with a cure to Vampirism if the Vampire leaders who profit from farming humans will allow him to develop it.

Filled with interesting ideas such as how a Vampire dominated society might function, how it would cope with the threat of human extinction and plenty of political and social allegory over how some society’s are coping in the face of Oil shortages and also how some react to deal with viral outbreaks, Daybreakers certainly engages with some of its ideas and questions it raises. However, when attached to a generally action/thriller based plotline with several attack/chase/escape set pieces littered throughout, many ideas are left undeveloped as the film moves from one explosion or gun fight to the next. Characters are similarly given little time to develop beyond their function outside of the central role of Dalton though several are still likeably portrayed by the actors in those roles. The action sequences themselves, while not outstanding, are generally satisfying and evoke the low budget charm and Grand Guignol of the films of John Carpenter or even Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn.

Ethan Hawke gives a decent performance as Ed Dalton, whose empathy is portrayed satisfactorily but Hawke is never able to infuse the character with much warmth beneath all the brooding. Willem Dafoe however, is much more likeable as the former Vampire, now human Elvis who, while fulfilling the role of heroic tough guy, is generally enjoyable throughout. Sam Neill adds much cruelty to his portrayal of the film’s main villain, the CEO of a company seeking to continue farming humans for profit and therefore unsupportive of a cure to Vampirism and Claudia Klavan is decent in a stoic role as lead female and potential love interest for Dalton.

While full of interesting ideas, featuring decent performances from Hawke and Defoe and some John Carpenter style action and scares, Daybreakers does not always develop its ideas satisfactorily and none of the action or performances are particularly memorable to make this more than an average action thriller.

Rating: 3/5

Sherlock Holmes

2010-01-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law & Mark Strong

A fun, entertaining outing for the literary legends which, despite a weak plot, is still entertaining due to winning performances from Downey Jr. and Law and the chemistry between them as Holmes and Watson.

No stranger to live action adaptations with many films, television dramas and television series made based on the books or merely featuring the character, Sherlock Holmes is one of England’s most popular and enduring literary characters. While there have been many adaptations featuring the character in the past varying in quality, the latest cinematic adaptation by Guy Ritchie is, perhaps, the most obviously commercial attempt at bringing the character to screen that any previously and that it features, no matter how likeable he may be, an American actor in the role of Holmes, this film arrives with much expectation and trepidation surrounding it’s quality. The results are quite mixed. While possessing a plotline somewhat unworthy of the infamous detective, the casting actually proves to be the film’s saving grace with Downey Jr. highly entertaining as Holmes and his chemistry with co-star Law as Watson makes the film enjoyable in spite of its flaws.

Following the completion of their last case together, Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) and Watson (Law) prepare for life apart as Watson prepares himself for marriage. When Lord Blackwood (Strong), the perpetrator of the crimes in Holmes’ last case, seemingly comes back from the dead after his execution, Holmes and Watson are brought back together to investigate and uncover to uncover how it could have occurred, what Blackwood’s plot is and what Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), a thief and former lover of Holmes, has to do with these events.

More humorous and tongue-in-cheek in approach than the original stories on Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes may offend purists but it is nevertheless entertaining. The development of the relationship between Holmes and Watson is the film’s most satisfying aspect giving it jovial tone that feels in part like The Odd Couple but with a few, sly, homo-erotic overtones that gives the bickering yet supportive partnership the feeling of a marriage as much as a friendship. Much of the success of the relationship can be given to Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in their performances but, as good as they are, the rest of the cast suffers in comparison and the film’s actual plot lacks the interest of the characters with the plot itself actually intruding on the film’s more enjoyable scenes. The actual plot of Sherlock Holmes is generally uninspired with little mystery to actually engage the audience or the characters though the inclusion of Steampunk elements is occasionally interesting. The set pieces in the film are also mixed, succeeded best when infused with humour but often undermined by Ritchie’s frenetic editing style and some ropey CGI effects.

Downey Jr. gives a fun performance as Sherlock Holmes. While his attempts at a sophisticated English accent are frequently questionable, it actually adds to the humour in the film. Jude Law is also enjoyable as Watson, the straight man to Downey Jr.’s roguish Holmes and their chemistry together on screen is highly enjoyable with the actor’s own enjoyment, seemingly shining through. The rest of the cast are less enjoyable or memorable. Rachel McAdams is suitably attractive and lively as Irene Adler but distracts too much away from Downey Jr. and Law at times that she comes across as slightly annoying rather than engaging and Mark Strong plays the underwritten role of villain decently but his character and performance lacks either the charm or intimidating air of some of his previous roles on films like Body of Lies or RocknRolla.

Overall, Sherlock Holmes is a fun film with very enjoyable performances from Downey Jr. and Law but the underdeveloped supporting cast and disappointing plot means that the film does not wholly satisfy and is far from the best of Holmes adaptations though it does rank as one of the most fun.

Rating: 3/5

The Road

2010-01-08T11:51:00.000-08:00

Director: John Hillcoat
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee & Charlize Theron

A fine adaptation of the McCarthy novel with the bleak outlook of a post-apocalyptic future that still manages to find heart in the relationship of its central father and son characters.

Despite having seen his novels adapted before, Cormac McCarthy and his work received much attention and acclaim in recent years as the adaptation of his novel No Country for Old Men by the Coen Brothers went on to receive wide critical acclaim while his latest novel, The Road, became a critical success too and a commercial bestseller. Before long, The Road was moved into production for the big screen with John Hillcoat, the director of the well received The Proposition at the helm. In spite of delays in getting the final version of the film to the big screen (filming had completed over a year before its release), the film has been worth the wait, remaining very faithful to the book and managing to be gripping and emotionally engaging despite constant images of bleakness and horror.

Following an unnamed disaster that has left the Earth a near desolate wasteland with the human race near wiped out, the remaining survivors struggle to survive and find food whilst avoiding those willing to kill for supplies and the horrors gangs of cannibals also roaming across the country. Living the best they can are a Father (Mortensen) and Son (Smit-McPhee) who are heading for the coast in the hopes of a better life there whilst the Father also tries to teach the values of being good to his son despite facing ever more desperate circumstances.

Already experienced in filming in seemingly harsh, desolate landscapes such as the Australian Outback for The Proposition, John Hillcoat is an ideal choice for filming The Road where desolation is essential to the mood of the film. With minimal us of CG, used to add to live action locations rather than replace them, the post-apocalyptic future of The Road looks bleak and very believable. A feeling of cold and lifelessness can be felt throughout. The story itself, whilst episodic in nature with a few familiar faces cast in supporting roles of those the Father and Son encounter on their travels, each encounter is carefully handled, with each different in the types of threat they represent. One encounter with the Son held captive is suitably tense whilst another where Father and Son come across a lair with human prisoners in the basement is filled with horror or an encounter with an old man portrayed with feelings of pity and sorrow. All add to the overall portrayal of life for our main characters in this world and each represent challenges to the heroic way of life that the Father is trying to teach his Son to uphold. As effective as many of these scenes are, as touching as the father and son relationship is and as well portrayed as the future may be, there are some moments in The Road that are less successful such as flashbacks to a period where the Son’s mother was still present which, while visually adding a contrast to the present day scenes by being shown in warm tones, suffer slightly in the casting and in not adequately developing the breakdown between the Father and Mother.

In the lead roles of Father and Son, Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee are strong. Mortensen, while no going to the extents Christian Bale went to for Rescue Dawn or The Machinist, went to extent of depriving himself of food that he would appear believably emaciated as a man struggling to find food in the world of The Road. Mortensen’s commitment to playing a man who is committed to securing his son’s survival is not limited to his physical appearance and Mortensen brings an intense seriousness to his portrayal of the Father that his love for his son is without doubt. Smit-McPhee is the most impressive though, being the human heart of the film and impressively portraying the Son’s, almost naïve, belief in good and the good of others yet still accustomed to the reality of the life he is living and the harshness of it. Robert Duvall also gives a strong performance in his brief role as a blind man who foresaw this future. Charlize Theron is the only disappointing performance in the film, partly due to her looks which while showing the effects of living in the post-apocalyptic world is still too clean, too glamorous compared to the rest of the film and doesn’t get enough opportunity to really develop her character.

Overall, The Road is a faithful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Hillcoat effectively builds a post-apocalyptic future that is believable in appearance and in the bleakness of it’s mood while Mortensen and Smit-McPhee deliver strong performances as the Father and Son whose relationship is the driving force of the film. A grim, yet emotionally touching story of parenthood and warning of the future.

Rating: 4/5

The Limits of Control

2009-12-21T07:33:00.000-08:00

Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Isaach De Bankole, Paz de la Huerta & John Hurt

Another meditative drama from Jarmusch that will please most fans but frustrate audiences not already familiar with the director’s style.

As several other, independent, directors have done recently (Woody Allen with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Wes Anderson with The Darjeeling Limited), Jim Jarmusch has followed suit in relocating the action of his latest film to foreign climes. The Limits of Control is similar in theme and approach as many of Jarmusch’s other films but in moving the location from America to Spain allows Jarmusch to allow his camera to linger on the beautiful locations and vistas that Spain has to offer. European in his approach to storytelling already, Jarmusch’s latest film will please his fans and the use of locations may please some other film goers.

The Lone Man (De Bankole) is an agent, a supposed assassin, hired to fulfil a job in Spain. Given directions to wait at cafés, enjoy local sights and await further instructions as to his target and their location, the Lone Man meets a variety of colourful agents at various Spanish locations, each with their own philosophies on life and art and imagination that may, or may not, aid him in the completion of his assignment.

While The Limits of Control holds plenty that will satisfy fans of Jim Jarmusch, the film itself, while entertaining, occasionally feels lacking through its assemblage of various familiar traits and themes from Jarmusch’s previous films. With the lone assassin recalling Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai and the frequent conversations over coffee recalling Coffee & Cigarettes, even Broken Flowers in it’s episodic approach to the Lone Man’s encounters and the frequent familiar faces from Jarmusch’s past films, The Limits of Control sometimes feels as though Jarmusch is drawing too much on past works than developing anything new, much like Almodovar in his recent effort Broken Embraces. However, the pieces do work together fairly well and still satisfy and where The Limits of Control does impress is in its use of Spain as a location. Using Christopher Doyle, known from the works of Wong Kar Wai, as cinematographer means Jarmusch has a film that looks beautiful and when the camera lingers on one of Jarmusch’s many scenes of meditation and contemplation, the scenery enriches the scenes and the film. The lack of a plot will no doubt frustrate audiences unfamiliar with Jarmusch’s work, but there are hints of a political sub-text below the surface with the Lone Man’s contacts representing various nations opposed to US actions and the Lone Man’s target referred later as just the American.

Featuring an impressive cast of talented actors, many having worked with Jarmusch before, The Limits of Control features many likeable, if brief, performances. Tilda Swinton, John Hurt and Gael Garcia Bernal all appear as various contacts of the Lone Man’s, each reciting their musings on art, film, music and life in engaging style and each represented as more casual looking and dishevelled than the last (perhaps representing the Lone Man’s need to let go of control and embrace his imagination if he is to complete his assignment). Paz de la Huerta is engaging as the film’s equivalent to a femme fatale but it is Isaach De Bankole who truly engages throughout as the Lone Man. De Bankole, a frequent collaborator with Jarmusch, is an actor who embodies quiet cool. His character, the Lone Man, rarely speaks in the film so it is good that De Bankole, with a face and a demeanour that draws attention and impresses silently, is cast in the film’s leading role.

Overall, while drawing a little too much on the director’s past films to stand up as one of his best, The Limits of Control will still satisfy fans of Jarmusch and many will certainly be impressed by the lush cinematography and the Spanish locations. Newcomers though may be frustrated by the film’s slow pace and meditative tone. A film mainly for independent film and Jarmusch fans.

Rating: 3/5

Avatar

2009-12-20T11:31:00.000-08:00

Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana & Sigourney Weaver

Stunning effects and use of 3D makes Avatar the ground breaking blockbuster James Cameron promised the film to be with it being incredibly impressive and entertaining in spite of a fairly predicable and average plotline.

Approximately 14 years in the making and requiring technological advancements in special effects so sophisticated that, director, James Cameron had to build them himself, Avatar finally reaches the big screen utilising the latest in CGI and 3D effects to present a world and a film experience beyond anything yet seen in cinemas and like Cameron’s previous films such as Terminator, Terminator 2 and Titanic, pushing forward the future of effects driven blockbusters. The resulting film is certainly impressive visually with CGI people and creatures as realistic look as live action and 3D used well enough to make the film’s environment and its action sequences truly breathtaking however, the story on which Avatar is based is still fairly clichéd in plotting and dialogue but this is more than made up for by the sheer spectacle of the film.

It is 2154 and soldier Jake Sully (Worthington) who lost the use of his legs in a previous battle is given the chance to walk again in a new body when, following the death of his twin brother, he is enlisted to take his brother’s place in the Avatar Program which will allow him control of an alien body with which to engage and negotiate with an alien population called the Na’vi on an alien world which possesses valuable minerals the human race needs. Initially sent in by his military commander to infiltrate the Na’vi and find a way to get them to relocate their home for the human’s mining operation, Sully finds himself coming to know and love the Na’vi people after meeting a female Na’vi named Neytiri (Saldana). When it becomes obvious that Na’vi will not relocate, Sully is torn between helping the Na’vi survive an oncoming military assault to remove them by force and with his loyalty to his own race and the promise of his commander to restore his ability to walk in his human body.

The plot of Avatar won’t be what audiences really remember the film for and the plot itself is actually fairly average and follows the well worn tale of: Man sent to infiltrate foreign culture, falls in love with a woman there and the culture, finds himself torn between love and duty. Fortunately, as average as the plot itself and some of the dialogue is, the story is satisfactory enough to allow Cameron to develop a new world, that of Pandora, with which to use his advancements in CGI and 3D effects and the visuals are certainly stunning. With much of the film surrounding the Na’vi people, a race of tall, blue skinned aliens, it is important that they appear realistic and they do. Solving the dead eye problem that has plagued many a CGI humanoid character in earlier blockbuster films, Avatar’s CGI effects, particularly in bringing the Na’vi to life, are impressive with the Na’vi able to display a full range of expressions which is helped that several are made to resemble the actors providing their voices like Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. The use of 3D in Avatar is also stunning and rather than used for cheap, gimmicky ‘shots out at the audience’ moments, it is instead utilised to give a greater sense of depth and scale to the world of Pandora which looks and feels as close to a realistic representation of an alien environment as audiences are ever likely to experience and with the use of CGI and 3D complementing each other effectively to make Avatar’s many action sequences truly breathtaking.

While character’s in Avatar are very much stereotypical or straying close to stereotype such as Stephen Lang’s tough-as-nails Colonel Quaritch or Giovanni Ribisi’s greedy corporate leader Parker Selfridge, the performances of the cast are still generally enjoyable. Sam Worthington makes a satisfying leading man as Jake Sully whether in the live action role of Sully’s human self or in the voice acting with his Avatar counterpart. There are a few moments where Worthington is good at portraying Sully’s conflicting emotions from being able to move from his fully functioning Avatar body to his own, crippled body which are genuinely impressive. Zoe Saldana gives a decent performance too, giving voice to Neytiri the Na’vi princess whom Jake Sully falls in love with while Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Joel David Moore are likeable in the supporting roles as members of the Avatar program’s team. The most memorable character though is likely Stephen Lang’s Colonel which, while written and performed to type, is gloriously alpha-male that he is even able to breath Pandora’s poisonous atmosphere without constant help of respirators.

Overall, the story and performances in Avatar are generally average and predictable but the effects, the visualisation of an alien world, the intense action sequences and effective use of 3D (in cinemas) means the enjoyment of the spectacle, or the experience of seeing Avatar, overcome many of its flaws. It is ‘must see cinema’.

Rating: 4/5 if seen in 3D, 3/5 if not.

Paranormal Activity

2009-12-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

Director: Oren Peli
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat & Mark Fredrichs

A very scary and expertly handled horror that shows that there is still potential in The Blair Witch Project formula and showing that horror needs not always resort to extreme violence to generate scares.

Filmed on a low budget of merely $15,000, Paranormal Activity has since received critical acclaim at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and become a hit film in America. Fortunately, the film lives up to the hype taking a very simple plot and set up and delivering a chilling horror film without the need for well known actors, extreme gore or big budgets. Using the gimmick of ‘found footage’ of a supposed real event in the style of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity is far more effective in its execution.

Couple Katie (Featherston) and Micah (Stoat) decide to set up a camera in their home, at Micah’s request, to attempt to capture footage of what is occurring in their home at night after having experienced several incidents of strange noises in their home which has Katie convinced she is being haunted after having experienced similar phenomenon throughout her life. After calling in a psychic who claims it is Katie being haunted and that they should not attempt to antagonise the spirit, Micah’s continued attempts to film and prove the spirit’s existence leads to an increase in incidents and in their severity with several incidents finally caught on camera and the danger facing the couple becoming life threatening.

Using an incredibly simple set up involving a static camera in the night time scenes filming events in the couple’s bedroom while having Micah use a handheld camera throughout the day to document the pair’s reactions to events going on around them and what they should do about it, Paranormal Activity is surprisingly effective. Director Oren Peli certainly makes the most of his set up with the night time sequences filmed on a static camera proving to be an impressive use of limited resources. The bedroom itself and placement of the camera is delicately done to allow full view of our sleeping couple whilst being able to see beyond the bedroom door into the hallway and just able to glimpse other rooms in the darkness. Using shadow and mainly sound effects (footsteps, creaks), Peli builds up the tension slowly over many nights of footage to the point where a suddenly slamming door or a light randomly turning on and off in a far room can generate jumps and tension and with the somewhat amateurish look of the film and of its actors lending a feeling or authenticity to the events being witnessed that a glossier, bigger budgeted horror with known faces would be unlikely to achieve. There are the usual concessions to the horror movie genre and stereotypes that do sometimes detract from the scares such as bringing in a psychic or a moment involving Micah following a sound into the house’s loft that still feel clichéd in spite of the film’s look, but otherwise the film is effective even if you don’t ascribe to any belief in the supernatural.

Not much can be said about the acting in Paranormal Activity. Filmed around mainly two actors played by amateur actors, even keeping their own first names on screen, the performances are fine enough that you get a feeling of their fear and reactions but beyond their reactions to the events around them there is little added development to either character with Micah in particular feeling almost stereotypically sceptical of the events and unsupportive of Katie’s needs until it is too late. Nevertheless, for the purpose of the film’s approach, the anonymity of the actors does add believability to their performances and sympathy for their situation as it gets progressively worse.

Overall, Paranormal Activity is an incredibly effective horror film that makes the most of its low budget to achieve genuine scares. While it occasionally follows familiar horror movie clichés, the simple set up and almost authentic look of the film makes this a more believable and frightening horror than its bigger budget, gore driven competitors. Recommended.

Rating: 4/5

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-12-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

Director: Spike Jonze
Starring: Max Records, James Gandolfini (voice of) & Lauren Ambrose (voice of)

A wonderful adaptation of the classic children’s story which builds upon the original story without losing the tone or magic of Sendak’s story.

Eight years in the making since Spike Jonze, director of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, was brought in to adapt the classic children’s story for the big screen, Where the Wild Things Are is finally released after many rumours of problems with the studios over Jonze’s early cut of the film which scared many children during its test screening. Whether any re-shoots were done since then is hard to see as the resulting film is an excellent adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s book which remains very scary at times, very mature for grown ups yet still embraces the fun of childhood to make this still a film for children, albeit not little ones.

A troublesome child, Max (Records), has troubles with his broken family made up of a distant sister, absent father and a mother who he feels spends more time with her new boyfriend than with him. After throwing a temper tantrum at dinner and running away from home, he imagines himself travelling across the ocean to a strange land where large, beast like creatures live who are undergoing their own dysfunctional family problems. Led by the short tempered, yet imaginative Carol (Gandolfini), the Wild Things are tricked by Max into believing Max is a king and able to solve their problems and reunite them with their own runaway member KW (Ambrose). With life improving for the group for a small time, Max finds them falling apart again through their own differences and his own safety at risk should the Wild Things discover he is not a king.

An ambitious undertaking, adapting a beloved children’s story with few words into feature length feature film, so much could have gone wrong in the adaptation. With the help of writer Dave Eggers in writing the screenplay for the film, Jonze has managed to add enough to the original story to justify the extra running length for a film yet manages to make the additions feel organic to the story, as if they were always intended. The Wild Things have been fleshed out and given names and personalities and those personalities themselves appear to aspects of Max’s own personality and feelings towards those around him with Carol representing his imagination and frustration, KW his love and feelings of distance for/from his mother and sister amongst others. It is it delicate and engaging development of the original story and one that received the approval of Maurice Sendak himself. Relying on old fashioned suit and make up effects, with minimal CGI, to bring the Wild Things to life, they look like they have stepped directly from the pages of the original book. They are convincing, expressive and maintain the feelings of awe and fear of the original creatures. The tone of the film, whilst too layered and dark for smaller children is also impressively handled with moments of real fear (such as Max glimpsing the skeletons of former, failed kings) and also joy in the Wild Things childlike games.

In the lead role of Max, newcomer Max Records is impressive. He manages to embody Max’s turbulent, angry yet needy, nature with apparent ease and demonstrating Max’s vulnerabilities and fears as much with a subtle expression or gesture as much as through tears or dialogue. The voice casting in the film is also excellent with James Gandolfini leading the way as Carol, bringing the same childish anger to his voice performance as he did physically in his role as Tony Soprano in The Sopranos. The rest of the cast from Paul Dano as Alexander to Forest Whitaker and Catherine O’Hara as Ira and Judith, bring their character’s to life both fulfilling the personality traits each is meant to represent whilst interacting believably within the group itself.

Overall, Where the Wild Things Are is an excellent adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s original book that builds upon the original story believably and brings all the characters to life with great performances from the cast while maintaining a tone that is both dark and joyful like the original book and should please adults and children alike. Just don’t take the little children!

Rating: 5/5

Bunny and the Bull

2009-12-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

Director: Paul King
Starring: Edward Hogg, Simon Farnaby & Veronica Echegui

A wonderfully dark and surreal road trip comedy from the makers of The Mighty Boosh that should entertain fans of that series but is much more mature but still funny and visually impressive.

After having much success directing the TV series The Mighty Boosh, Paul King has chosen to make his big screen debut a film that, while possessing actors, humour and a visual style familiar to fans of The Mighty Boosh, is a new creation with new characters instead of merely making The Mighty Boosh: The Movie. The resulting film, Bunny and the Bull, is a surreal, funny and mature road trip that never leaves the flat in which its lead character resides and instead takes place within a series of impressively crafted sets based around household objects.

Stephen (Hogg) has been living a hermit’s life in his flat for the past year, too stricken by fear to leave its confines. When his daily routine is upset by mice and he is faced with the thought of having to leave the flat for the first time he instead begins to dwell upon a past break up with a previous girlfriend and the road trip he ended up taking across Europe with his friend Bunny (Farnaby) that led up to him returning home and having not left it since. Envisioning the sights they say and people they met through items in his flat reminding him of those events, he recalls a trip that was emotional and life changing and incredibly surreal.

The most notable thing about Bunny and the Bull is its visual style. The imagination represented in King’s attempts to depict various locations throughout Europe via household objects laying around Stephen’s flat is incredibly impressive and on a level equal to that of director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind). Whether it is Switzerland reconstructed through a snow globe, a Belgian restaurant through a takeaway box or a German fairground built from the parts inside Stephen’s clock, the sets of Bunny and the Bull never fail to engage and entertain. Such an eye for visuals was obvious from King’s work on The Mighty Boosh but Bunny and the Bull excels even further. The film’s story is also very entertaining. Despite following the familiar episodic beats that most road trip films follow, the visuals and King’s surreal, slightly dark, sense of humour enlivens most scenes and while The Mighty Boosh fans might be most entertained by sequences where that series’ stars make cameos, the best sequences are actually when more time is spent just with our three leads of Simon, Bunny and their love interest in Eloisa (Echegui) whom they meet in Belgium and take along with them on their trip to Spain. The characters themselves though are difficult to like at times, all being too self-absorbed to truly love, but the humour makes them likeable enough.

The stars of Bunny and the Bull are all sufficiently charming and performed well in those aspects by the cast. Edward Hogg makes for a likeable, if unlikely, lead character in Stephen whose lack of self esteem and introverted nature makes him easy to sympathise with yet find annoying too when necessary when his reluctance to take risks to find happiness infuriate the audience as much as it infuriates his friend Bunny. Hogg nevertheless keeps Stephen on just the right side of likeable that, in spite of the character’s faults, you can’t help but hope for his life and outlook to change for the better. Simon Farnaby is incredibly entertaining as the womanising, selfish and care free Bunny who gets most of the best lines and is well performed by Farnaby who, like with Hogg and Stephen, is able to make his character one to like and loathe when necessary. Slightly less well-represented is Eloisa by Veronica Echegui who, while occasionally likeable, is often too annoying a character to understand why Stephen would be interested. Filling out supporting roles are Paul King production familiars such as Noel Fielding, Julian Barrett and Richard Ayoade who all entertain though they do distract from the main leads.

Overall, The Mighty Boosh fans should enjoy Bunny and the Bull, it having the same visual style, sense of humour and featuring cameos by familiar faces, but the film is more mature and darker in tone than that show. Most audiences should find the film’s visual style very impressive though and the film certainly is funny.

Rating: 4/5

Me and Orson Welles

2009-12-06T11:25:00.000-08:00

Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Zac Efron, Christian McKay & Claire Danes

A likeable period drama that captures the period and environment of the stage at the time with an impressive performance from Christian McKay as Welles.

Orson Welles, infamous in film and on stage as a visionary performer and producer whose ego matched his ambition, has been played on screen many times before in films such as Cradle Will Rock and RKO 281, but his latest depiction on screen is possibly the best yet. Me and Orson Welles, despite starring teen heart-throb Zac Efron (of the High School Musical film series), will be most memorable for the performance of Christian McKay as Welles who captures the look and attitude of Welles impressively. The film itself is quite enjoyable, if conventional in it’s plotting, but will be most enjoyed for Orson Welles.

It is 1937 New York and teenager, Richard (Efron), has ambitions of becoming an actor. When out of school and trying to get roles on stage he is cast, by chance, in a small role in part of Orson Welles’ (McKay) stage adaptation of Julius Caesar. Finding himself awestruck by the presence of Welles and hitting it off with the theatre’s production assistant Sonja (Danes), Richard soon finds that in between moments of greatness, Welles is also spiteful and egotistical with Richard’s youthful ambitions challenged by the legendary performer.

Me and Orson Welles is a perfectly likeable film. Despite their flaws, the characters portrayed with whether fictional, like Richard, or based on real life figures like Joe Cotton and Norman Lloyd, are all portrayed as being warm and friendly most of the time. Even Orson Welles, whose temper was as infamous as his charm, is never portrayed as too much of a monster despite his many outbursts but then this helps with the film’s charm. The audience, like the character of Richard and Welles’ many fellows, are supposed to won over by Welles’ genius and charm in spite of his faults and in this, the film succeeds. However, the constant charm on display does serve to allow the director, Richard Linklater, to serve up some bittersweet moments of reality such as Richard’s realisation of what Sonja would be willing to do to succeed in the theatre/film business and ultimately discovering Welles’ vindictiveness first hand towards the film’s conclusion. As likeable as the film is, and as effective as some moments are, and as exciting the portrayal of life on stage appears, the plot itself does follow a rather predictable course though.

While Zac Efron, the star of the popular High School Musical film series, is billed as the star of Me and Orson Welles, and his character is the lead character, the most memorable performance is that of Christian McKay as Orson Welles himself. It seems oddly fitting that, while a supporting role, McKay’s performance dominates the film much like the real Orson Welles dominated any stage, film or radio project he was involved in. While not only looking the part, McKay’s performance is very impressive and not merely a caricature of Orson Welles, he has many opportunities to play the character in quieter, out of the spotlight, scenes and still impresses. Compared to McKay, Efron leaves less of an impression. Playing a more reserved character than the roles he’s performed recently, Efron is perfectly decent at making Richard’s naivety believable but it is difficult to recall moments where he really impresses. The same can be said for Claire Danes as Sonja. Several bit parts in the film are memorable though such as James Tupper and Leo Bill as actors Joe Cotton and Norman Lloyd, and Eddie Marsan as manage John Houseman.

Overall, the plot might not be too impressive and Efron and Danes are decent though not memorable, but Me and Orson Welles is still an enjoyable film thanks to the excitement of the stage, which is portrayed well, and an excellent performance from Christian McKay as Orson Welles.

Rating: 3/5

A Serious Man

2009-11-21T10:55:00.000-08:00

Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen
Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind & Fred Melamed

An impressive drama and return to their roots for Coen Brothers with great performances from an, almost entirely, unknown cast.

After a lacklustre decade of films featuring big name casts with only 2008’s No Country for Old Men standing out as being the equal to the brothers’ earlier, more critically acclaimed work, the Coen Brothers deliver an excellent feature film in A Serious Man which, after the star studded and comedic affair that was Burn After Reading, is a quieter, more thoughtful and personal film for the directors and features a cast of virtual unknowns. A Serious Man though is an impressive film that manages to grip throughout and evokes tones similar to the Coens’ Fargo and Barton Fink.

Set in 1960s Minnesota; Jewish physics professor Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg), patiently waiting to receive tenure at the university in which he works, finds his life thrown into upheaval when his wife requests a divorce so she can marry another man, when a student attempts to bribe Larry for better grades and blackmails him when Larry refuses all on the eve of family preparations for Larry’s son’s Bar Mitzvah. Larry is forced to move out of his home and into a motel, with his near-autistic brother Arthur (Kind) and looks to consult a divorce attorney whilst also seeking the advice of three Rabbis’s that he hopes can provide him with wisdom that will help explain why he, a good man, should be facing such troubles. Events then continue to occur to further frustrate Larry and prevent him from finding the answers he needs.

Almost anti-commercial in its concept, a small town drama set in a Jewish community in the 1960s, featuring no well known actors and a plot and dialogue that draws heavily on Jewish culture, A Serious Man seems the complete opposite of the Coen Brothers’ previous film, the star studded spy comedy Burn After Reading. Fortunately, this is all for the better and regardless of whether this film achieves big Box Office success, A Serious Man is far superior to almost every film the Coen Brothers have made in the past decade and the key to its success relies on how personal the project appears to be to the Coens. Based in their home town during a period and culture they lived in as children with characters based upon people they knew, A Serious Man is almost auto-biographical. The Coens’ familiarity with the period, place and people involved results in film that is mature, well written, well realised and with well developed characters that all manage to immerse the audience in the world and in the story, the story which also includes some familiar Coen traits such as small town crime/problems, family relationships and open endings leaving the audience to make their own conclusions as to the future of the characters or to the meaning behind their troubles. Weaving in references and stories from Jewish history (including an odd, yet intriguing prologue to the film and a story about a dentist getting a message from God), they not only add to the development of the characters and atmosphere of the film but also give hints as to the meaning of the film’s ending which is all handled delicately and successfully by the Coens.

Featuring mostly unknown actors, A Serious Man nevertheless impresses greatly from the performances of its cast. Stage actor Michael Stuhlbarg is excellent in the lead role of Larry Gopnick who manages to carry the film well and captures his character’s rising frustration and despair in face of his troubles effectively and sympathetically. Richard Kind (of TV’s Spin City and Scrubs), one of the few actors in the film that has some recognisability, gives an impressive performance as Larry’s brother Arthur who is an enigma throughout the film, sometimes unseen and almost rarely seen outdoors, his character is one that appears nearly autistic and while never dominating in any scene is nevertheless very memorable. Fred Melamed appears as Sy Abelman, the man whom Larry’s wife wishes to marry, whose calm, assured delivery is enjoyable as much as his character frustrates Larry and Aaron Wolff is good as the son of Larry who, like his father, is facing his own problems throughout the film.

A Serious Man is an excellent film by the Coen Brothers and one that harkens back to their earlier, more acclaimed era of filmmaking. Its lack of stars, its attention to period and cultural detail and its open ending might frustrate some audiences but long time Coen Brothers fans will find this their best film in more than a decade.

Rating: 5/5

The Informant!

2009-11-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula & Melanie Lynskey

An entertaining comedy drama that balances intrigue and humour to great effect and features a highly enjoyable performance from Matt Damon.

Soderbergh has led an eclectic career in filmmaking, helming personal, artistic projects like Sex, Lies & Videotape, intriguing political dramas like Traffic and Erin Brokovich and lighter, Hollywood friendly films like Ocean’s Eleven. Soderbergh’s latest film is a step away from the more artistic features yet isn’t totally commercial despite the humorous tone and big name star. The Informant! is an intriguing and enjoyable film in part mocking the legal/corporate conspiracy films of which even Soderbergh has contributed too in the past whilst also allowing Soderbergh to engage in his usual experimentations with the film’s look and narrative structure.

Following an FBI investigation into a blackmailing incident at his employers in 1992, Mark Whitacre (Damon) takes the opportunity to blow the whistle of his company’s involvement in a scheme to fix the price of lysine with their competitors to the FBI. With the assistance of FBI Agent Shepard (Bakula) and the encouragement of his wife Ginger (Lynskey), Whitacre agrees to wear a wire and make tape recordings of his company’s business dealings to fix the prices of lysine, globally. What soon becomes evident to Shepard and to the FBI is that Whitacre is not providing them with the whole truth, is perhaps complicit in illegal activities himself and has deluded himself into believing he is some kind of hero like in the John Grisham and Michael Crichton novels he enjoys to read. Whitacre soon takes himself and those he works with further into a complex web of lies he has made himself.

Taking what might otherwise appear to be too dry or complex a story to make engaging, corporate price fixing, Soderbergh instead leaves the actual details of the scandal in the background to focus more on the more intriguing and humorous scandal of Whitacre and his actions to expose the scandal whilst hiding his own involvement and other wrong doings. That the events depicted in the film are based around actual events (though names are changed) adds to the bewilderment and amusement to be had at just how far Whitacre’s lies extend as well as his delusional sense of self worth in the midst of the proceedings. Whitacre is such a well developed character however, superbly performed by Damon, that despite his crimes and deceit you can’t help liking him a little too and Soberbergh’s decision to have Whitacre fade out of the events occurring before him to reflect on more mundane thoughts and distractions, as narrated by Damon, gives us plenty on insight into his character that those around him don’t suspect until it is too late. The Informant!, despite being based on events in 1990s, not only parodies corporate thrillers like The Firm or Soderbergh’s own Erin Brokovich but is also cheekily filmed by Soderbergh to also parody such films from the 1970s with a breezy, 1970s style musical score for dramatic effect and soft lighting that could easily place the film in that period if not for the actual period in which the events occur.

While there are other actors in The Informant!, the film is almost entirely a one man show with Damon putting on such an engaging performance as Whitacre that other actors barely leave an impression on the story, let alone the audience. Damon puts on a superb performance that plays the character, his actions and delusions so straight and earnestly that it makes the actual ridiculousness of those actions all the more amusing. The performance is much more than just a bad haircut and moustache though as Damon seems to relish the chance to immerse himself in the tics and mannerisms of his character after several serious straight roles in films like The Bourne Identity and its sequels. Scott Bakula puts in a likeable performance too as the rather gullible Agent Shepard who, while certainly a less developed character than Whitacre, provides a nice counterpoint to Whitacre’s grandstanding behaviour.

Overall, The Informant! is a fun twist on the corporate/legal conspiracy thriller, made all the more amusing thanks to a fantastic performance from Matt Damon and the knowledge that many of the events, as unbelievable as they might seem, are based on truth! While maybe a little too convoluted at times, The Informant! is still very enjoyable.

Rating: 4/5

2012

2009-11-18T09:51:00.000-08:00

Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor & Amanda Peet

Entertaining for its depiction of destruction on a global scale, 2012 lacks much of an actual plot and characters though Cusack puts on a likeable performance as the main lead.

Having not been satisfied by global, though mostly America-centric, destruction with his previous films like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, director Roland Emmerich raises the level of his appetite for destruction to show the end of the world. 2012, like many disaster films in general, places less emphasis on three dimensional characters and original plotting than it does on portraying the disasters themselves and placing characters into life or death situations. The result is film that never really engages with its story but nevertheless offers thrills despite the global carnage involving virtually every kind of natural disaster already committed to film.

When geologist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) is alerted in 2009 of a raise in the temperature in the Earth’s core caused by solar flares, he immediately informs the White House and other world leaders that the rise in heat will soon melt the Earth’s crust resulting in the crumbling and movement of the Earth’s crust which would cause untold devastation through Earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. Three years later in 2012, the government learns that the devastation will occur much sooner than expected as they rush to save as many people as they can on giant arks that they have been building secretly in China. Meanwhile, former writer Jackson Curtis (Cusack) in an attempt to spend time with his children who live with his ex-wife Kate (Peet) becomes aware of the impending destruction and the government’s secret arks whilst on a camping trip at Yellowstone Park and races to save his family and get them to China and safety.

Emmerich’s latest global catastrophe, while even greater in scale than ever before, is also his least original effort to date. With 2012, as impressive as some of the global devastation is, Emmerich appears to have approached the film it may be his last with this film featuring almost every natural disaster imaginable but, given that most of these have been the subjects of films before, they aren’t always that impressive here. There are volcanoes and their dust clouds (Dante’s Peak, Volcano), Earthquakes, tsunamis (Emmerich’s own The Day After Tomorrow) and even sinking ships (The Poseidon Adventure). While visually the devastation is quite impressive and will certainly entertain the audiences coming to see the effects, there are limited thrills to be had with most incidents in the film. Those that do thrill happen fairly early in the action, in particular are two sequences involving Cusack’s character trying to get his family out of a collapsing Los Angeles and then again escaping Yellowstone Park that are exciting due to their faster pace but in the latter half of the film there are only so many tsunamis and falling monuments that be witnessed to sustain audiences and an overlong addition of a Poseidon Adventure-style threat at the end of the film once the cast have reached their means of safety drags the already long film into being far too long.

Performances in 2012 also range from average to forgettable. John Cusack makes the best impression as the lead character of Curtis Jackson who while fulfilling the role of earnest leading man trying to regain the love of his family. Keeping the character likeable, Cusack makes for a decent leading man. Other actors, otherwise excellent when performing in smaller films, add a little credibility to their roles but they remain otherwise one-dimensional with actors like Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt and Danny Glover trying their best and Woody Harrelson being the only one truly entertaining as a conspiracy obsessed radio show performer who Cusack’s Curtis encounters at Yellowstone Park.

Overall, with most of the sequences of devastation having already been depicted in other disaster films and characters yet again taking a backseat in development over the effects, 2012 offers nothing that be called original and the film is far too long with a misguided decision to work a Poseidon Adventure style sequence into the finale. However, some of the sequences still manage to thrill, particularly in the first half of the film and some performances like Cusack and Harrelson’s are likeable.

Rating: 2/5