Up in the Air

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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