Film Review - Pirates: Band of Misfits (2012)

Pirates Band of Misfits is the newest animated production from Aardman studios, perhaps best known for creating Wallace and Gromit, the story here concerns the Pirate Captain (voice of Hugh Grant) wanting to win the Pirate of the Year award but when he comes across famed scientist Charles Darwin (voice of David Tennant) his adventure is about to begin.

I went into Pirates Band of Misfits with some degree of optimism as the trailer for the film made me laugh and it also made me want to see the film, so was the film worth the wait?

Well, it was and it wasn't sad to say, first though are the positives, the film is beautifully animated, it was done with stop motion animation and it really shows with the characters having little quirks to them and the various backgrounds having a real style to them that CG animation has a hard time capturing, the shots of the sea also look very nice as do the various models of buildings and the other pirate ships.

Secondly the film also has a very funny array of supporting characters from Number 2 (Martin Freeman), the Monkey Mr. Bobo, Darwin and the Queen, most of those also have great voice acting from Freeman, Tennant and Imeulda Stanton standing out the most.

Sadly though the central Pirate voiced by Grant comes across as very weak and at times it almost sinks the film as his story feels like a familiar sail and it's not very well handled, nevertheless it doesn't distract you too much from the high seas adventure.

So all in all, Pirates Band of Misfits didn't quite live up to my hopes of a fun adventure on the high seas but it is one of the better animated movies of the last couple of years which have felt very very average sad to say, still this movie is a fun one and worth a look, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Way (2012)

The Way is directed by Emilio Estevez and stars his real life father Martin Sheen as an eye doctor named Tom who learns that his son Daniel (Estevez) has died in a freak storm walking "The Way" a pilgrimage to Santiago, to honour his late son Tom decides to take the trip himself.

The Way is a well made and quite touching film, Estevez shows a good directorial eye and at 2 hours the film is nicely paced, never feeling too long but also not walking through its beautiful sights and not stopping somewhat to take in the sights, breath the air and smell some of the roses also.

But my praise doesn't end there, it also extends to Juan Miguel Azpiroz's cinematography and the performances by Sheen, Tcheky Karyo, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt and Yorick van Wageningen as the other three pilgrims who accompany Tom on his adventure, the 4 of them together makes for one of the year's best ensemble casts.

So all in all, the Way is a great and touching adventure that is well worth checking out, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Sum of all Fears (2002)

The Sum of all Fears is the fourth Jack Ryan film and this time Ben Affleck stars as Dr. Ryan, an analyst for the CIA and the story here concerns an old nuclear bomb found in the Israel Desert and sold on the Black Market, a bomb that could potentially lead to war.

The Sum of all Fears does not end this run of Jack Ryan movies on a high note, in fact this movie is pretty bad and also rather forgettable, mainly due to the fact that the film's storyline is confusing (taking you to all sorts of places at once) and Ryan himself doesn't feel like a key player in averting the disaster.

Now you contrast that with 1990's The Hunt for Red October and in that film there really feels like something at stake with the Silent Drive in a Russian Submarine and in the wrong hands could shoot a bunch of its missiles at a major city and no one would have time to counter attack before it was all over whereas here there's a lot of talk about a bomb that could do great damage and you just don't care about it, it has nowhere near as much weight as the Caterpillar did in Red October.

The other thing that bothers me about the film is that Ryan himself doesn't feel like a key player in his own movie and Affleck is horribly miscast in the role, Ryan in the book doesn't come across as a macho action man, he's an analyst by nature and a man who doesn't rush headlong into combat without thinking things through first.

And that's what he does in Red October, he thinks it through, comes up with a theory and only goes into combat because he has to, Alec Baldwin captured the character of Ryan very well and he felt like the central player in that film whereas here Ryan feels like an afterthought, a character shoehorned into proceedings that are for the most part happening without him.

There are however some good things I liked, mainly some of the cast, James Cromwell, Liev Schreiber and Morgan Freeman are all quite good here and it was nice to see Schreiber on the side of good this time, a pity he hasn't done it more often.

So all in all, this movie is not worth your time though the Hunt for Red October is, after that film the series just got worse and worse and seemed to forget about the source material by Tom Clancy, hopefully Kenneth Branagh and Chris Pine can deliver a solid reboot next year, they're both good choices hopefully they can deliver the goods as well, 1 out of 5.

Blu-Ray Review - Titanic (1997)

The Film:

Released in December of 1997, James Cameron's historical epic Titanic was almost written off before it was even released as an expensive flop waiting to happen and would certainly be the end of Cameron's directorial career.

But Cameron is one not to be underestimated and his grand vision for the story of the RMS Titanic which sunk on the night of its maiden voyage paid off with a grand box office where until his 2009 sci-fi epic Avatar it sat as the top grossing film of all time.

But why was it such that this did as well as it did, made as much as it made and had audiences the world over going not once, not twice but multiple times for a grand a vision as such?

The reasons are simple, first off the film has the look and feel of a glorious epic, the such Hollywood hadn't seen much of before and sadly hasn't seen much of since, every scene is brimming with small details such as the metal of the ship, the costumes, the bedsheets, the fine china, so much of those small things help to make an impressive visual fabric that makes the audience feel like they're part of this grand ship.

The second is Cameron himself, an ambitious taskmaster if ever there was one, his keen eye for detail is persistent throughout the movie, not once do you feel like that the grand scope of the climax overshadows the human drama nor do you get the feeling that it's all just so big in its scope, you simply stop caring about the human characters and in a day and age where we have directors just shooting everything up close and bombarding the audience with so much visual splendor that it bores you half to sleep, to have someone like Cameron doing the kind of big scale action direction that actually impresses audiences rather than send them to sleep is something to be grateful for.

But most important of all, the film is one that gives you your money's worth, you know going in how this will end and Cameron plays with that brilliantly by starting the film in the modern day and showing you how the ship sinks in a small computer animation which when you get to the film's spectacular climax you can just sit back and enjoy the spectacle of it all, the love story between Jack and Rose, the themes of class and shortsightedness by man and how it all ties together into a grand sweeping epic.

The Image:

Before converting Titanic to 3D for its re release in cinemas earlier this year to mark both the film's 15th anniversary but mainly the centenary of the Titanic herself, Cameron and his team undertook a major restoration of the film to bring it up to the highest standards of visual and sound quality.

And my lord what a restoration it is, the movie looks simply fantastic with not one tiny speck of dirt or age to hold it back, in the daylight scenes it looks as though you are really there on the boat and the night time scenes have sufficient light in them so that it doesn't look to dark, the film also has a very natural look to it as well in that it doesn't look to heavily color graded which can be a temptation when remastering older movies.

What also shines in this new transfer is the level of detail in the scenes, from the metal of the ship, the fabric of the rich man's jackets, the metal of Lovejoy's gun and even the streams of water as they make their way through the ship, this is simply a fantastic transfer.

The Sound:

As good as the image is, the sound is as good if not better, presented in DTS-HD 5.1 audio, Titanic sails with a grand new sound mix that captures every sound of the bustling ship, lines of dialogue and sounds that you may not have noticed in prior DVD transfers of the film and it expertly captures every moment of the film's climax.

And happily the mix has a nice balance to it in terms of the quieter moments and the action, what also shines in this is James Horner's score for the film which is a nice mix of Irish folk music and a traditional orchestral score.

The Extras:

Deep breath folks as there is a lot of stuff to be found in terms of extras, with two exceptions though most of it is ported over from the 2005 special edition DVD release but in this case that is far from a bad thing.

On the feature disc you will find three commentary tracks, all of them originate from the 05 DVD release.

The first is a solo track by Cameron and he goes into a lot of detail about the making of the film, the period of the time in terms of the female characters, the history of the ship herself, despite the film being 3 and a quarter hours long Cameron talks almost nonstop throughout, fans of the film might be familiar with this track but its certainly one that's well worth listening to now as it was then.

The second is a cast and crew commentary track that splices individually recorded comments together from many cast and crew members that talk about the making of the film from their own perspective, its an okay track but if I had to rank the three this one would be the weakest, still its worth a listen.

The third and final track on this disc comes from Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, both men were historical supervisors on the film and as such their track focuses on the historical side of the story, its a good track but will be of more interest to history buffs than to fans of the film.

Okay with those out of the way, its time to head to the second disc in this set (there is also a Blu-Ray 3D version available if that's your fancy) and there are a LOT of extras to be found here, all but two are ported over from the 05 DVD release but you will be very glad that they are here.

First is the "Documentaries" section, it contains two new documentaries exclusive to this release:

The first one is "Reflections of Titanic" and runs just over an hour and can be watched as a whole or in any of its 4 parts, this doco details the genesis of the film, the production as well as the release of the film, the phenomenon that followed and the recent 3D conversion.

This is an okay doco and its worth watching but its also the kind of making of that you will most likely watch only once as it borders on feeling like a puff piece rather than a proper making of doco like Charles de Lauzirika's "Dangerous Days" which detailed the making of Blade Runner warts and all.

It was rumored that documentarian Ed Marsh had made a making of doco for the film to go on the 05 DVD release that did go into the production of the film in more detail only for it to be scrapped at the last minute which is a big shame as Marsh's "Under Pressure: Making the Abyss" documentary is one of the very best making of doco's you'll ever see and given the enormous success of Titanic, I would've liked a similar doco detailing this production and the success that came afterwards.

One fun thing I did see while watching this doco was how much Don Lynch resembles Stephen Lang who appeared as the colonel in Cameron's Avatar, the resemblance was interesting.

Happily the second doco "Titanic: The Final Word with James Cameron" more than makes up for any shortfalls the proper making of has, running at 96 minutes, it details Cameron and other nautical experts trying to piece together what happened on that fateful night.

Cameron narrates the doco and speaks with such detail and precision that's its hard to ignore watching it all in one sitting, Titanic and historical buffs should really enjoy this doco and its easily the better of the two in this section.

And that's all in terms of documentary material, from here we deal mainly with extras that come from the 05 DVD release.

And speaking of those, the next section is "Deleted Scenes", 29 in all plus an alternate ending for the film and an intro by Cameron explaining why the scenes might have been cut, Cameron also gives a small commentary on each cut scene and the alternate ending going into more detail on why he cut that specific scene and where it would've sat in the final film.

The quality of the scenes is on a par with the finished film and combined all 30 Deleted Scenes run for nearly an hour but they're worth watching even though you won't miss any of them from the final film.

After the "Deleted Scenes" section we go into the "Production" section, which contains most of the smaller extras that were created for the 05 DVD release, there are some goodies to dive into it so let's get snorkeling.

Behind the Scenes Vignettes: These small Featurettes were part of a branching option on the feature film discs in the 05 DVD release and have been ported here in full, they range from small interviews, VFX breakdowns, production footage and even a small one on the creation of that music video, together they run at just over an hour in length and are definitely worth a look.

Timelapse Construction Video: Pretty much what it says on the menu, a timelapse featurette regarding the construction of the 900ft Titanic boat set in Mexico, would've been quite a sight to see, Marsh provides an optional commentary for this featurette as well.

Deep Dive Presentation: This featurette is essentially a compiled presentation of the deep dive footage of the real wreck of the Titanic on the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, this feature also contains narration from Cameron who talks about his own passion for diving and about the technology used to film the wreck in her final resting place, some of this footage is quite eerie to watch but this feature is well worth a look.

$200,000,001 - A Ship's Odyssey: Essentially a gag reel but its one of the better ones you will come across, of highlight is members of the cast singing the theme song to the TV series the Love Boat.

Videomatics: These are effectively videomatics on two key sequences, the ship's sinking and the deep dive stuff regarding the real wreck at the bottom of the sea, some good stuff to be found here but if you watched these on the 05 DVD release they won't be new to you here.

VFX Breakdowns: This feature contains three VFX breakdowns and the full simulation of the ship's sinking that is used in the beginning of the film, again if you watched these on the 05 DVD release then you will have seen these before if you didn't then these are a good watch though the highlight is easily the simulation from the film in full.

That's it for the "Production" section of this disc, now we come to the fourth and final section on the disc and that is the "Archives" section, again there is a fair few things to find here so let's get to it.

"My Heart will go on" Music Video by Celine Dion: Yeah, you knew it had to be here, you've seen it before and most likely a lot of you had to endure it on a loop 24 hours a day 7 days a week when the film came out, so let's move along shall we.

Trailers: A fair selection of trailers are to be found here, from an interesting teaser trailer featuring concept art (a similar trailer was done for The Empire Strikes Back), the full US trailer, the ShoWest trailer talked about in the making of and even the recent 2012 re release trailer, trailer buffs will really enjoy this section as did I.

TV Spots: 8 TV spots can be found here and they're okay though most likely you'll watch them once and then forget about them.

Still Galleries: A lot of stills can be found here and there are a few galleries here as well, ranging from Cameron's original scriptment to production pics to initial artwork to storyboards to paintings and even a gallery of posters from both the 97 and 2012 releases of the film, you'll spend some time here as there is a lot to go through but you certainly won't be bored doing so.

Parodies: 3 Parodies round out the "Archives" section and this disc of extras, again like the Videomatic and Visual Effects sections in the "Production" menu, these originated from the 05 DVD release and are actually pretty funny for the most part though if you saw them on the 05 release then you aren't seeing anything new if you didn't then you will have some fun watching these.

The Verdict:

Despite my complaints about the making of doco made for this disc, Titanic sails in a grand way on Blu-Ray and when the 2 discs are combined they helped to make one of the year's best disc releases, fantastic A/V quality and a huge array of extras that vary in their scope will not leave fans disappointed, especially if you can find it at the right price, this is certainly a set that comes with a very high recommendation especially if your planning to replace your DVD copy with this one.

Blu-Ray Review - The Avengers (2012)

The Film:

Many years in the making, Marvel Studios finally debuted their long awaited adaptation of their Avengers comic book earlier this year to rave reviews and extraordinary box office (the current count in the US nears $620 million) but was the film itself deserving of such amazing success?

Well to me yes, yes it was mainly because this feels like a film that Marvel took their time in making starting with 2008's Iron Man and continuing with that year's The Incredible Hulk, 2010's Iron Man 2 and 2011's Thor and Captain America, each one playing their role in leading to this culmination in the Avengers in terms of lead characters, plot points and villains.

But such a daunting task needs an ambitious taskmaster to take the helm and steady the ship through such uncharted waters to the final stop of cinema screens all over the world and here was where Marvel pulled its ace in the hole and that was hiring writer/director Joss Whedon to helm the film in terms of directing and co-writing the script.

And an inspired choice he was, coming from hit TV series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the cult sci-fi series Firefly, he specialized in writing ensemble character pieces and flavouring pop culture references in them as well, though this initially didn't translate into a successful film career as 2005's Serenity failed to click with audiences but Marvel like to take risks with their films and they bet it all on Whedon to deliver the goods, which he certainly did in more ways than one, now having more freedom to not only do anything he wants but also have it be more than he ever dreamed of.

The Image:

Being a recent release, this should certainly come up well on Blu-Ray and it certainly does as this transfer is nigh on perfect and really highlights Seamus McGarvey's work as cinematographer on the film, the night scenes look particularly good with many details such as the cliffs and bush land able to be noticed and the action scenes in the sunlit streets of New York showcasing the seamless effects work between the CGI and Stunts.

The Sound:

As good as the Image is, its backed up by an equally good 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track and it's a fantastic audio mix that nicely balances the quiet scenes of dialogue and the full on mayhem in the film's final act, this will be a Blu-Ray that will become a showcase disc for some time and I can't say I would disagree with the reasons why as both the sound and image are near perfect.

The Extras:

But as so often with some disc releases, it becomes a case of two steps forward one step backward and its in the special features department where this disc comes up short, still let's take a look at what's here first off:

"Item 47" Short Film: An 11 minute Short Film kicks off proceedings here and it concerns a couple played by Lizzy Kaplan and Jessie Bradford finding a Chi'-Tauri weapon and using it to rob banks Bonnie and Clyde style but this attracts the attention of SHIELD who start to follow their trail, this is a fun little short with some good laughs to be found in it.

Deleted Scenes: 8 Deleted and Alternate Scenes are found here and I'll now look at each of them:

Alternate Opening and Ending: Both feature the SHIELD agent Maria Hill (played by Cobie Smulders, Aunt Robin from How I Met your Mother) and she is giving a briefing to the Security Council Fury talks to in the final film, both were clearly intended to book end the film's events and while it's a nice scene and it gives Hill more of a part in the film it's easy to see why they were cut as the film opens and ends nicely without them dragging down the length.

Loki and Barton Strategize: This scene however I wish had stayed in the film as it helps to give Loki's plan a little more depth and give Barton more screen time as a character rather than the strategic archer part he plays in the final film though its easy to see why it was cut out to begin with I wish it hadn't as it helped to deepen those two characters somewhat.

Steve Rogers - A Man out of Time: One of the deleted scenes that Whedon talked about while promoting the film was the scene with Rogers adjusting to life in the modern day world, it's a very nice scene that's wonderfully played by Evans and also gives you a bit more background about the cafe that's attacked in the final film but again its easy to see why it was cut out.

Nick Fury and the World Security Council: In this cut scene we see Fury give a longer talk to the Security Council about Barton falling under Loki's spell and needing a response team to fight Loki, this scene also shows some early Security Council footage and again it was best left on the cutting from floor.

Extended Viaduct fight: A slight extension of a fight scene in the film's climax between Hawkeye, Black Widow and some of the alien army on the New York Streets, this scene shows off some of the early green screen work and the actors standing in for the alien army in the production footage, again this was rightly cut out of the movie.

Fury and Hill Discuss the World Security Council: A short extension of a scene inside the Helicarrier between Hill and Fury discussing the World Security Council, not at all missed in the final film and am glad it was cut out.

Banner and Security Guard: An extended version of the conversation Dr. Banner has with the security guard in the warehouse (played by Harry Dean Stanton), it's a nice scene that helps to deepen Dr. Banner somewhat and give some clues as to how he could become the Hulk in the climax as well as reveal where the motorbike he used to get to NYC came from, length reasons would be the main reason this got the chop and I can't say I would want it back in the film.

Gag Reel: A 4 minute gag reel is included here and has some very funny moments, two of which featuring Tom Hiddelston and Mark Ruffalo almost stole the show as was a moment regarding Chris Hemsworth and his Hammer, well worth watching.

Featurette - A Visual Journey: A short featurette regarding some of the visual design of the films in terms of the sets of both the SHIELD complex at the beginning of the film and the heli-carrier, its a somewhat interesting featurette though you will most likely watch it only once.

And those sadly are the extras on this local Blu-Ray release, missing is a commentary track by Joss Whedon, a "Assembling the Ultimate Team" making of featurette, the "Live to Rise" music video by Soundgarden and an exclusive 95 minute documentary called "The Avengers - Building a Cinematic Universe."

All of them combined plus the addition of the film's trailers would've helped to make this a rather memorable release similar to this year's Blu-Ray release of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as it would've had a nice balance of informative and promotional extras, as it stands though those omissions from this release are very much felt as you go through the disc.

Then again given the film's enormous popularity it's hard not to think that there will be a proper special edition release of the film in the future which will delve more into the making of the film and the journey to bring the Avengers to the big screen to begin with, I hope that will happen.

The Verdict:

Despite the missing extras, there's plenty to like about this disc release, a rollicking adventure gets near perfect A/V quality and the deleted scenes and the short film help to lift a half complete selection of extras.

So I know what you're saying now "should I buy this disc", well that's the trick for chances are you've bought it already and it will give you a happy face as you watch it.

Film Review - Frankie and Johnny (1991)

Frankie and Johnny stars Al Pacino as Johnny, a man who has only just finished serving an 18 month prison sentence and comes to New York to start a new chapter of his life, Pfeiffer plays Frankie a woman who works at a small cafe and when the two meet after Frankie becomes the new short order cook, nothing can prepare them for the experiences that will follow.

Frankie and Johnny is surprisingly a pretty good rom com directed by Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman) and that is mainly down to the chemistry between Pacino and Pfeiffer who also worked together on Brian de Palma's 1983 gangster classic Scarface and that history shows in their scenes as they play off each other very well though Pfieffer is the show stealer here as she is something quite good in this and its proof she's not just another pretty face.

Another thing I also liked was that it stuck mainly to those two characters for the whole of the film, 99% of rom coms will normally throw in a 3rd wheel in the third act in the guise of someone going "Hi hun, remember me" and it would split the two lovers and throughout this movie I was waiting for that to happen and surprisingly it didn't, nice to see a rom com that had the guts to just stick with its simple love story all the way through without resorting to a gimmicky rival in the 3rd act.

So all in all, this one ain't too bad, 2 out of 5.