Film Review - The Presidio (1988)

The Presidio stars Sean Connery as Lt. Col Caldwell and Mark Harmon as SFPD cop Jay Austin, the two are investigating a murder at the Presidio military base in San Francisco, but while that is going on Austin gets eyes for Caldwell's daughter Donna (Meg Ryan), something that will surely complicate matters as they go about their case of who committed the murder.

I went into the Presidio with VERY low expectations as after watching the trailer I said to myself "How on Earth can a movie with Sean Connery, Mark Harmon and Meg Ryan look so boring" but nonetheless I decided to check it out to see if I was right or wrong, either one would do right?

Well, funnily enough I have to put myself somewhere in the middle on this film, don't get me wrong I don't hate it and the actors are good especially Connery who pretty much steals the show and takes this very average script and makes something of it, Ryan shows off some of her future spunk and Harmon pretty much plays a precursor to his hit character on the TV series NCIS.

And yet with those actors and Peter Hyams as director/cinematographer who also does a good job with his action scenes and getting performances from his 3 leads, I wanted something more from it, something like a central villain in the piece to help tie the whole show together and give the viewer a sense that this movie is firing on all cylinders and giving them something very satisfying given the high pedigree this film has in front of and behind the camera.

And to illustrate this point further, Die Hard came out the same year and is as known for Alan Rickman's marvellous performance as Hans Gruber as well as Bruce Willis as John McClane, this movie feels like Die Hard without Gruber and could any of you honestly imagine Die Hard without him?

Anyone?

(cricket noises)

Didn't think so.

Okay to wrap this up, I didn't hate this movie but as I said, this needed a strong central villain to elevate above the average action fare, the 4 key players involved do a good job though without Connery, this borders on being a decent but ultimately forgettable flick, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2012)

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is based off a successful novel by John le Carre and concerns a Soviet mole in MI6, one that George Smiley (Gary Oldman) must ferret out of the service.

Okay so here's the thing about TTSS and that is I found it to be merely okay, it wasn't a terrible movie by any stretch of the imagination but it also was one that didn't win me over as it had others, mainly due to its execution as a movie in and of itself, I felt that the story as told would work best as a miniseries on television rather than as a 2 hour film mainly because you could go into more detail on the hunt for the mole and the slow burn it is better whereas in this movie scenes and plot points seem to come out of nowhere without any explanation or context to explain it though the films ending does go a long way to rectify this I must admit.

On the other hand, the sense of detail in the film is magnificent, it has a very English feel to it all with the slightly industrial streets, the cups of tea and slices of toast even down to the olds mobiles driven throughout the movie, the film also has a fantastic ensemble cast, one of the best in the last decade for not only do you have Oldman you have Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth and more and they're all very good but Oldman is the standout with the look on his face saying so much and yet so little at the same time, its a terrific performance that I'm pleased to see rewarded in the awards season.

So all in all, TTSS 2011 was okay but not great and the only reason I would recommend it was for Oldman who is simply that good in the film, 2 out of 5.

Film Review - Highlander 3: The Sorcerer (1995)

Highlander 3 – The Sorcerer ignores the 2nd Highlander film completely and tries to continue the story of Connor MacLeod from the clan MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) as he trekked to Japan to learn from the sorcerer Nakano (Mako) but an evil immortal named Kane (Mario Van Peebles) finds them and Nakano sacrifices himself to save MacLeod, Kane vows revenge against MacLeod and in the end, there can be only one.

I went into Highlander 3 with low expectations as while I loved the first Highlander film, the second was a disgrace so how could this be any worse?

Well, it actually was worse mainly because the story feels so god damn pointless and so much of it is just a rip off the first film from the use of the Scottish highlands to the detective character and even down to the love interest played by Deborah Kara Unger who just feels like a rehash of Brenda from the first film.

But my two biggest bug bears are these and I’ll go into those below:

First is Kane himself, frankly he just comes across as a clone of the Kurgan and sounding like one of Dr. Claw’s ancestors, I mean you could literally imagine him saying “I’ll get you next time MacLeod, NEXT TIME” and he’s not even threatening whereas Clancy Brown as the Kurgan was menacing and fearsome at the same time, he’s even worse than Michael Ironside was in number 2 and all he did was laugh manically for most of the movie.

The other is the splicing in of clips from the first Highlander film and like the use of the Queen songs in the 2nd film it feels like an insult as both of those things only serve to remind us of just how good the first Highlander really was, compared to both of these movies which are just pale pale shadows of the original.

Oh and lastly, the movie looks really cheap, at least the 2nd film had a pretty neat look to it with its swooping camera shots, big sets and an overall old fashioned look that is somewhat lost now in the digital age, here everything just looks tacky and cheap and boy is it noticeable after the great look of the first two films.

You know, throughout this movie they say “There can be Only One” but they no not its meaning, to say “There can be Only One” means that while immortals may team up to fight a common enemy in the end they must fight each other in order to progress to the time of the Gathering and fight for the Prize in which case well you get the idea, that line could also apply to this film series as well you get the idea and to repeat it would be just silly on my part but you should just rent the original Highlander from 86 and leave it at that as everything that came after is just frankly pointless, .5 out of 5.

Film Review - Attack the Block (2011)

Attack the Block concerns a group of young kids led by Moses (John Boyega) who mug a young woman walking home from the Tube Station in a South London council estate, but whilst doing so an alien capsule lands on a nearby car which the young kids kill, soon more aliens land and the fight for the block begins.

I’d heard a lot about Attack the Block before I saw it but was still really looking forward to it due to the director Joe Cornish and producer Edgar Wright, with that how was it?

Well, to my surprise it exceeded my expectations and the film itself was a whole lot of fun and highly energetic, Cornish imbues the film with a very unique feel with slang that reminded me of the first Mad Max film in that it was colourful and added to the identity of the film itself.

Though the biggest influence for me was Aliens, in terms of the pacing, the tension and the creatures themselves which are quite a sight and much better than the Chimera type alien in JJ Abrams’s Super 8 which you never really got a good look at, here you get the chance to see the alien in its full glory and in action which is very tense at times.

All in all, a fun British alien invasion flick worth your time and money, 3 and a half out of 5.

The Avengers Round 2: The Third Dimension in the Nine Realms

Having seen the Avengers once before, I decided to go back and see it for a 2nd time mainly because I had a lot of fun the first time around and I wanted to pick up on the details I probably missed the first time around due to audience unrest in the early scenes which spell out the plot, the unrest being waiting for others to arrive, people waiting for friends to come and younguns wanting either the toilet or to get snacks, all of which is why people should come EARLY not 20 minutes after the scheduled session start.

This session however was to be in 3D as that was the only afternoon session that fitted in with when I was to be in that area that day (the 3D sessions would also be easier to program as well as all you would have to do is load the file, thanks to digital projection.) so with that, how was it on round 2.

On my 2nd showing, I had a blast, the runtime flew by and my favourite Avenger has to now be Tony Stark/Iron Man, Downey just completely owns this role and has a ball playing off the other actors such as Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, who also each get their own moments to shine, I also really liked Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner in their roles and watching Johansson in this reminded me what a lovely actress she is and how fetching she is with red hair, it really suits her.

But if there is a negative it has to be the 3D, quite frankly this is simply retrofitted rubbish and anyone seeing this movie (what's that I hear, you haven't seen it yet well what are you waiting for sonny boy, a written invitation, go and see it) should see it in 2D instead as the 3D here will hurt your eyes big time and it looks so god damn blurry, easily the worst 3D I have ever encountered and to be frank, if you saw this film in 2D on a nice big screen, properly projected and with good sound, you will have just as good if not a better big screen experience.

So that's that on Avengers round 2, well worth it and nearly $750 million dollars of box office takings worldwide is showing that others are seeing it more than once and hey I can't blame them, it takes the Summer Blockbuster and nails it down to an exact science of comedy, characters and action and that is nothing to argue about at all.

Film Review - Happy Feet 2 (2011)

Happy Feet 2 is the sequel to the 2006 animated film Happy Feet also directed by George Miller (Mad Max), the story in this new movie is that Mumble (Elijah Wood) now has a son named Eric who like Mumble in the first movie is an outcast among his people, so he heads out into the world to find his own place and help his people in the process.

I went into Happy Feet 2 with low expectations as while I kinds liked the first Happy Feet film it did lose its way towards the end which did not put me in good stead for this sequel, with that how was the film?

Well, this is very much that classic case of having low expectations to start with and the film itself pretty much hitting rock bottom, I don't think this movie works in any way at all, in fact it has to my mind a real vibe of Miller's 1985 Mad Max sequel Beyond Thunderdome, why you ask well I'll outline my reasons below:

Firstly like Beyond Thunderdome there is no real coherent storyline driving this movie, all it feels like is a bunch of individual bits thrown together to make a 90 minute movie, now George Miller has made Mad Max 1 and 2 both of which were outstanding and even the first Babe and Happy Feet movies were good fun in and of themselves so why on Earth is this happening, I honestly thought Miller knew better than this, you can't just throw story ideas together into a feature film and hope that something, somewhere will stick out, it just doesn't work that way people and Miller should've known better.

And secondly the movie is just so god damn dull, almost right away the dark clouds of boredom descend and start to rain on the person watching it and during one of the many musical numbers you start wishing for them to start doing "Star Spangled Man" from Captain America, at least that would've alleviated the boredom I felt.

There was one thing however I did like and that was Will and Bill the Krill voiced by Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, their story was very funny but it made me wish those characters got better treatment, hopefully they will get some small pre-feature toons in the future as I was wishing that whilst watching them and as for Pink replacing Brittany Murphy well it just made me miss Murphy in the role and sad that a talented actress like her is gone.

All in all, skip this movie, don't rent it as it's not worth your time and its a waste of a director like George Miller who is despite this film being pretty much a complete failure a very talented director, I sincerely hope that his long delayed 4th instalment in the Mad Max series is successful though given the rock bottom expectations I have for that film as it is I can't say I'm optimistic for it having any real chance of success when it finally appears in cinemas around the world, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier (1989)

Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier is directed by William Shatner and concerns Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock as well as the crew of the Starship Enterprise facing off against a Vulcan called Sybok (Lawrence Luckinbill) who may have a past history with Mr. Spock, his plan to find Shakka-Ri which lies at the centre of the galaxy.

I went into Star Trek 5 with very low expectations having heard how bad the film was over the years since its original release in 1989 but I wanted to watch it anyway so was it really as bad as I’d heard?

Well, it was and more so, this movie simply doesn’t work at any way at all and the blame has to go on Shatner, he doesn’t make anything work and you just sit there scratching your head at what you are watching unfold, the special effects look pathetically put together and the actors for the most part simply come across as having no idea what to do in their scenes at all.

But my biggest problem with this movie is the storyline, it simply doesn’t work as it has irrational shifts in tone from serious themes of life, death, loyalty, comradery and the search for higher meaning in the galaxy to outright slapstick humour and poor one liners that simply aren’t very funny and as if that wasn’t enough the story takes two thirds of its running time to get going meaning that you simply sit there watching a lot of filler scenes to pad out the runtime, that is just not only pathetic but also incompetent.

But I did like one thing about this movie and that is the score by Jerry Goldsmith, it has some very nice themes in it and helps to lift the film out of its doldrums but even then that just sounds like faint praise.

All in all, this movie is an irrational, illogical mess and if a real Vulcan were to watch this movie, they too would turn irrational and illogical and would then want to kill the person responsible for showing it to them in a battle to the death while the national anthem from Decapod 10 plays in the background, humans meanwhile would feel like they have had their own logic and intelligence ripped out of them and stuffed with stupid instead and that would be the one word I’d use to describe this movie, its just made of stupid, 0 out of 5.