Film Review - Man of Steel (2013)

Directed by Zack Snyder and Produced by Chris Nolan, Man of Steel attempts to retell the story of Superman with this time Henry Cavill plays Superman as his father Jor-El's (Russell Crowe) arch enemy General Zod (Michael Shannon) escapes his imprisonment and comes to Earth ready to conquer once again.

It would be fair to say that I went into this new Superman movie excited but also very nervous, the first two films as handled by Richard Donner found the right approach for the character in terms of having the fun of it as well as the serious side and the action, something that would've come together in Superman II had Donner not been fired from that film, that said Bryan Singer's 2006 Superman film didn't do much so could this new one pull off a surprise?

Well, it does and it doesn't as the film is simply okay, nothing terrible but also nothing all that special either, first off I'll talk about the positives I do think Cavill is pretty good here and he comes across as a worthy successor to Christopher Reeve but it takes him some time to find his feet in the role, Amy Adams is nice and inspired as Lois but her character sadly is more of an afterthought this time, being in the film because well we have to have Lois appear in a Superman film even though she doesn't really add an awful lot to this story.

But the real show stealer here is Kevin Costner as Pa Kent, inspired casting for sure and it more than delivers, so much show I could easily imagine him saying Glenn Ford's lines from the first film "One thing I do know son and that is you are here for a Reason.", it was for me the only real human element the film had.

As for Shannon as Zod well he's disappointing as he goes way to over the top in the role and comes across as nothing more than a violent brute which Terence Stamp's Zod wasn't plus Shannon's Zod isn't very smart in terms of finding out about his new powers until he's on Earth whereas Stamp in Superman II puts it all together on the Moon, Stamp was also much straighter and much more menacing than Shannon is, again reflecting the approach to the characters Richard Donner took with his Superman films.

Snyder really finds his stride in the climax with enormous special effects and destruction sequences and very very very very loud noises that just become way too much for one person to handle and it all goes on so fast that you don't get any real idea what is going on or who is fighting whom and when it's over you just think to yourself "Thank the Maker"

The other main thought I had during this movie was how much I was reminded of the first film, it wants to evoke it so badly but like Singer's film a few years ago it misses the point, Man of Steel doesn't have the comic touch, the heart, the majesty or the wonder of Donner's film which are a few key reasons that film holds up so wonderfully well.

And lastly as for Hans Zimmer's score well its very bombastic and not that fantastic and makes John Williams's beautiful score from the first film sound like a great opera and believe me Williams's score for the first Superman is one of those great film scores of all time that tugs every emotion and heartstring a human can have.

So all in all, Man of Steel is a decent enough film thanks mainly to those key cast members doing more than the material allows them to do but you can easily avoid this movie and rent Richard Donner's first two Superman films instead which are still wonderful examples of comic book movies that balance heart, excitement and humour in a seamless way, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Monsters University (2013)

Monsters University is the prequel to Pixar's 2001 film Monsters Inc and like that film Billy Crystal and John Goodman voice Mike and Sulley but this time the two meet while at Monsters University learning to become the scare duo that they will become in the earlier film.

Monsters University was a nice surprise for me, mainly due to the very fun and very charming chemistry between Goodman and Crystal, the two are simply wonderful together and like Goodman and his Argo co-star Alan Arkin, you could watch them do just about anything and it would be great fun to watch as they play off each other so well.

As for the film around them well surprisingly it was nice and light and at times very funny as the audience I saw it with were really enjoying themselves, it does become a little predictable as to where it will ultimately go but the film makes you believe that it won't feel like a inevitability but there will be a few bumps along the way, there are also some nice surprise cameos of characters from the earlier film which I and most who saw it in my audience enjoyed seeing.

But lastly I have to talk about the short cartoon "The Blue Umbrella" which plays before the film and it's a nice and charming silent short about a Blue and Red Umbrella during a Rainstorm and while its good I didn't think it was as good as "Paperman" which played before Wreck-It Ralph last year but it was still fun.

So all in all, Monsters University is a fun animated feature and a nice bounce back for Pixar after their last two films, definitely check it out but see it in 2D if you can, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - After Earth (2013)

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan from a story by its star Will Smith, After Earth concerns Smith and his son Jaden as a father and son of the future 1000 years after humanity abandoned Earth but whilst on route to another planet they crash land on the deserted planet, where humans are not the dominant species but the dominant snack treat.

I really don't know where to begin with this movie so I'll start with the two main positives the first is the location photography, it's very very nice with all the caves and waterfalls and plants and cliffs, I was believing that I was really there facing these dangers.

The other has nothing at all to do with the film and that was seeing the trailers for "Pacific Rim" and "Man of Steel" on the big screen, Rim in particular looked very cool on the big screen and I can't wait to see it.

As for the film well, it's a disaster straight up from start to finish, nothing in it works and nothing much goes on at all, Smith Snr does nothing apart from sit around on what was most likely a soundstage set and act as wooden as a pine forest while Smith Jnr is the one that is forced to carry the film and I'm sorry he has the charisma of a wet blanket as his acting is not that much better and during a big emotional moment I just started laughing as it just didn't carry any conviction.

That said though I don't think this is entirely Shyamalan's fault, he's most likely acting under orders from Smith who's story this was and who is also one of the film's producers and his feet also has to be held to the fire for this as this was clearly his baby and that Shyamalan was his hired gun, no doubt due to his last couple of pictures being flops and was wanting the work, hey the man's gotta eat so I don't blame him entirely for this disaster, Smith has to share some of it as well.

And so with that, I cannot recommend After Earth as it has nothing going for it and it makes me a little sad to say that given how much of a Sci-Fi fan I am and we've had very little of them recently, needless to say the recent Oblivion with Tom Cruise looks like the Star Wars Trilogy compared to this, 0 out of 5.

Film Review - The Great Gatsby (2013)

Based off the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald and directed by veteran Australian director Baz Luhrmann, Gatsby tells the tale of Nick Calloway (Tobey Maguire) who comes to 1920's New York at the behest of his cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) but Calloway is also being watched by his next door neighbour, a man named Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio).

It would be correct to say that I went into this new version of the Great Gatsby with very mixed expectations, I was not familiar with the original book nor was I all that familiar with the 1974 film version which starred Robert Redford plus this new version did not have very good previews for it before its release, with all of that could the film pull a surprise move and leave me feeling enjoyed?

Well surprisingly it did, I actually did enjoy this film, mainly due to the direction and performances, Luhrmann though he REALLY overdoes it in the beginning directs the film in a way that feels lavish and theatrical which feels appropriate somewhat given the time period the film is set in, I also liked the costumes that were designed by Catherine Martin as well as some of the musical score which at times had me tapping my feet and at times thinking "make it stop, make it stop" as it was that darn loud.

The film also has some very good performances going for it, chief among them is DiCaprio who has really come into his own as an adult actor and become one of his generation's best, he infuses Gatsby with mystery, charisma and charm and its simply terrific to watch him in this role, I also liked Mulligan in her role which is rare for me as I haven't enjoyed her in films very much at all and I also thought Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke and Jack Thompson were great as well and it was sure nice to see a few Aussies in the film.

But alas the film has two pretty big flaws going for it and allow me to spell those out more clearly:

The first and the biggest is the casting of Maguire, frankly he is very miscast in this role as he comes as so dooey eyed and so wet behind the ears that he becomes not very interesting to watch and his role is crucial to the identity of the story, the entire time he was on screen I kept thinking "This role would a wonderful opportunity for a young Australian actor but no we get this guy instead and for what, so they can stick his name on the marketing as one more big star that's in this movie, what a shame", that said though he did warm on me somewhat towards the end of the film but by that point I didn't really care all that much about his character.

The other is that the film lacks a certain amount of emotional payoff when it comes to some key relationships in the film, as it went on I was waiting for certain moments which I won't give away here to have more of a payoff on an emotional level than they ultimately did in the film, it's sad that given how much the film works that it finds itself lacking in terms of those emotional stakes both in the casting of Maguire and in terms of the film's key relationships.

But all in all despite that, The Great Gatsby 2013 is a good time at the movies Old Sport and one that I think is worth checking out but see it in 2D as I don't think 3D would do much for this film, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Gangster Squad (2013)

Gangster Squad stars Josh Brolin as Sgt. John O'Mara of the LAPD in 1949 Los Angeles, a city ruled by Gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) who wants to build an Empire with which to rule, but the police chief (Nick Nolte) wants O'Mara to take it down outside of the law but if you open the ball on these people you have to go all the way for they won't give up the fight until one of them is dead.

Gangster Squad is actually much better than I thought it would be and that is mainly due to Brolin, he gives a good performance in the film and you can see he is trying to do something with his character, in fact I was reminded of Dick Tracy in terms of the character described in the original comic strips in that he was a square jawed tough guy rather than the soft jaw character Warren Beatty played in his film of the comic.

But sadly the film is nowhere near as good as he is as the film around him is rather boring and also boringly shot as like Michael Mann's 2009 film Public Enemies, you have this strange situation where you have a very classical period of time that's shot with hi tech digital cameras that give off that digital look at times, I couldn't help but think that this should have been shot on film but given the current demonization of the use of film to shoot features at the moment, it's a shame that couldn't happen.

Another big problem with the film is that it gets very dull as it goes on, lacking the pop fizz fun of Dick Tracy which not only had a great period setting and exciting action but also had a great performance by Al Pacino.

Here Penn just mumbles his way through the film and frankly I don't think he gave a damn doing it, no doubt it was a chance to make a quick buck so he took it but the biggest waste of all is Emma Stone, a wonderful actress who is given a thankless role of looking good in the red sequin dress as you might have seen in the previews for the film and being slapped around by the male cast members, what a terrible waste.

So hey, Gangster Squad holds up because of that central cast but the film around them is ugly looking, dull to watch, has a weak villain and wastes its only actress, rent the Untouchables and Dick Tracy instead as those are much better films of this sort, 2 out of 5.

Star Trek Into Darkness: Spoiler Review

Okay, if you haven't seen Star Trek Into Darkness, please do not under any circumstances read this particular review of the film as it will be full of big spoilers.

Alright, so in my non-spoiler review of the film I said two things: The first being that while the first two thirds of the film were very good, the last third was not for reasons I couldn't go into then and as a result, the film boldly went where it had already gone before.

The second was also whether Benedict Cumberbatch would be playing the iconic Trek villain Khan and that director JJ Abrams and co were keeping that under wraps until the film's release, something that I did not mention in my review was that this was the one big fear I had going into this movie and as a result, it kept me from being more excited for it than I was.

Well, sadly Benedict did indeed play Khan in the film and that John Harrison the name his character has is merely a false name, needless to say when I heard him say "My Name is Khan" in the movie, my head and my heart both sank as it was seeing my worst fear about the film being confirmed right in front of me.

As a result of that, I kept asking myself when I came out of the movie "Why did Benedict have to play Khan, I mean Ricardo Montalban did a brilliant job with the role and if you're going to hire someone like Cumberbatch, give him his own character"

The other feeling I had coming out of the film was "Every Single Star Trek villain since Khan has been weak with the exception being Christopher Plummer's Chang in Star Trek VI and so to rectify that they've retread Khan again"

And not only retread Khan as a character but a large chunk of the third act also retreads great sequences from the Wrath of Khan which is probably the only Star Trek film to really transcend the genre to become a great Sci-Fi film in its own right.

I mean you have:

- The replay of the ship's warp drive being out of action with a big disaster about to happen, in Khan it was the Genesis device being detonated, in this film its the Enterprise about to crash down to Earth and so Kirk has to do what Spock did in that film and realign the warp core and risk his life to do it.

- The replay of the death scene which in Wrath of Khan is beautifully handled and very touching (the film's director Nicholas Meyer has stated that when they were filming it the crew and cinematographer were crying) whereas in this film it comes across as very heavy handed and has none of the heart and gravitas of the Spock version mainly because this time Kirk lives.

- You also have Zachary Quinto saying "KHHHAAAAANNNNNN" which in this movie just made me cringe whereas in the Wrath of Khan it's a great moment and well delivered by Bill Shatner.

- And lastly you have the near pointless addition of Carol Marcus played here by Alice Eve who isn't too bad but just made me think of Patsy Kensit in Lethal Weapon 2 in that the film is less interesting when she's on screen and frankly, she only seems there to stick her chest out and spill the beans, what a waste of a great character from a Sci-Fi classic.

Now in my non spoiler review I didn't go a lot into why I gave it a 1.5 out of 5 as it was hard to say why that was the case due to spoiler reasons, hopefully this review will rectify that somewhat and will give readers a feeling of why I felt that rating was justified in a much better way than I was able to put in my initial review of the film.

Film Review - Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Star Trek Into Darkness is the second Star Trek film to be directed by JJ Abrams and again stars Chris Pine as Captain Kirk of the Enterprise, this time facing an attack from one of his own, John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) who has fled to the home of an old enemy but Kirk will find a lot more when it comes to this mysterious fugitive.

It would be fair to say that I went into this film with some fairly keen expectations, the previews for the film made it look exciting and Cumberbatch was a good addition despite my big fear about the film regarding if he would be playing the iconic Khan and that Abrams was keeping it under wraps until the film's release, with that did this beam up the goods?

Well, it does up to a point, quite simply the first two thirds of this film are amazing, Abrams's direction is excellent building on his experience on Super 8 two years ago, his editing is much more fluid, the action is terrific and really grabs you by the throat, the cast are much more comfortable in their roles and I really liked seeing Peter Weller again in a film.

But sadly (and it is very sad to say this) the film loses its way in the third act big time by returning to some tried and true tropes that helped to befell the Trek series in the past, it was such a sad shame to see this happen as I was really loving this film up to that point.

I also thought Cumberbatch was something of a disappointment in that section of the film despite doing good work up to that point, it's a sad shame that with all the resources that exist now where anything our heart desires we can put up on the big screen and instead we get this tired rerun for the climax but then again the film was partially written by Damon Lindelof who also wrote last year's Prometheus and like that film he probably did this because "It will be Cool" well it wasn't and it ruins what was a very fun sci-fi adventure.

So all in all, Star Trek Into Darkness tries to boldly go where no man has gone before but instead boldly goes where us audiences have gone before and that is a sad shame, seek out The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country instead of seeing this film, especially as this gave me a very bad feeling about Abrams's handling of that other big Sci-Fi series in a few years time, 1.5 out of 5.