With my overall feelings of the year in film out of the way, it's time now to dive into my surprises, disappointments and worst of films of 2013.
First off is a new list for me and that is the surprises of the year, you know those ones that you walk out of either at the cinema or in the home and you think to yourself "Wow, I actually enjoyed that one more than I thought I would." and as a result it sticks with you more than it probably would.
And so without further ado here are my top 3 surprises of 2013:
3. The Great Gatsby: Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin's adaptation of the famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this was a film that didn't do an awful lot for me in its previews not to mention the divisive reviews, I decided anyway to go and check it out.
And for the most part I was very glad I did as the first two thirds of this film are really excellent, the performances for the most part were very good most notably Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Edgerton and Elizabeth Debicki, the look of the film was very good and I really loved the showmanship on display here.
But what kept it down is the third act where the tone changes for more emotion and fails to make that transition well, primarily because the focus shifts to Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan's characters and both of those actors are miscast in those roles because when they're on screen you just switch off as all they do is walk around and mope for the most part and it really holds back what could've been a big winner.
2. Warm Bodies: A rom-zom-com that got its release in April but I saw on DVD, I was really taken by well done this was as initially I didn't think it would be any good but I gave it a rent and boy was I surprised.
First of all, I found the chemistry between Teresa Palmer and Nicholas Hoult to be very good, the story was well done, John Malkovich chewed up the scenery in a fun way and the horror angle was nicely toned down though the bone creatures looked a little too digital for my liking which is a pity.
But my number 1 surprise film of 2013 is:
Ender's Game: Getting its release towards the end of the year, this was a fun sci-fi flick that I felt valued character moments as much as it wanted big special effects space battles, the film also had a very good cast that performed very well and in the case of Harrison Ford being the best he'd been in a film for a long time, a long time.
Plus it also highlighted some excellent young actors most notably Asa Butterfield from Hugo and Hallee Stenfeld from True Grit and I also really got a kick out of the space battle sequences which really reminded me of the space battle in Return of the Jedi, it is sure nice to have a good Sci-Fi film again as well as a small renaissance in the genre.
Now with the surprises of the year out of the way, we go into an area that inspires an opposite reaction, the disappointments of the year now surprisingly there weren't an awful lot of these this year and I struggled to think of some but there were indeed some so let's explain more what those were:
3. Oblivion: Oblivion got its release back in April and starred Tom Cruise as one of the last remaining humans on a ruined planet Earth sent to investigate a downed ship that crashes on the surface.
Going into this movie I was pretty keen as it looked interesting but sadly whilst it looked and sounded absolutely amazing and Cruise himself was a lot more natural here than in Jack Reacher where he just looked out of place in the role the story was old hat as well as very familiar of other more superior works in the genre such as Predator, Star Wars and Mad Max, a real missed opportunity if there ever was one.
2. Epic: Now I love going to see animated movies on the big screen, a lot of that comes from the Disney renaissance of the early to mid 90's which for a lot of kids from that time were huge and for some of them like myself helped to propel their love of film.
And this one certainly looked promising with its story of good vs. evil set in a rainforest but sadly with the exception of Amanda Seyfried who tries to do something with her role and some pretty neat action there is simply nothing here at all in terms of an imaginative storyline or interesting characters and I'm sorry but I just could not buy Beyonce Knowles as the queen of the rainforest, I only bought her as being another star doing a voice role and the end song on the soundtrack.
A real shame this one turned out to be a big failure.
But my number 1 disappointment of 2013 is none other than:
American Hustle: How could it not be anything else given my own path to seeing the film in cinemas, going to buy my ticket only to be told it had been cancelled due to a special school trip.
Heartbreaking and wanting to break down and cry were the feelings that went through my mind but when I finally got to see the film after 2nd time lucky all I saw was an incoherent storyline, weak performances from the male actors and the cynical use of an era that I really love that could've easily gone with a clever enough rewrite of the script.
And my heart broke once again given after all of that trouble and effort and waiting that was it, a real shame and because of that it sits as my number 1 disappointment of the year.
But from being heartbroken we go to just feeling downright cheated out of our money as well as 2-3 precious hours of our lives, those hours we will never get back but hey on the plus side we get to wind ourselves up like 1000 day clocks and shoot sprockets all over the place and then sit back and do them all slowly once again, oh happy days are here.
We start now at number 5 with:
Elysium: Director Neill Blomkamp's follow up to his surprise 2009 hit District 9 starred Matt Damon as a man who lives in the ruins of Earth while the rich live in a space station called Elysium where any injury, illness or terminal disease can be cured in special medical pod.
Ugh, give me a fucking break, the preview for this film was terrible with its tale of how the rich live in paradise and the poor live in the wasteland and how Damon will become the working class hero that will inspire a revolution amongst the downtrodden masses.
But the final film turned out to be even worse, the storyline was a mess, the performances ranged from decent to laughable and the action was pathetic with every single bad shaky cam and quick cut every fifth of a second but the real sin is that THIS was from the man that made District 9, that I find to be the worst thing of all.
I mean if you are going to do that story in a sci-fi setting then go for it, make it the heart of the movie and make it the framework to structure the story around and also give it to a non-white actor like Chiwetel Ejiofor instead of a safe bet like Matt Damon who just came across as a bore in his role, I suppose you could count this one as an interesting director coming up against the studio system and losing and when that happens, we all suffer.
4. After Earth: Billed as one of the big Summer movies starring Will Smith and Son Jaden, the story again concerned Earth being a wasteland but this time replete with giant monsters and toxic air while little Jaden has to traverse through it with a big stick to find a downed transmitter.
Now some of that sounds awfully familiar to me, oh that's where I saw it, IN A FUCKING VIDEO GAME called Metro Last Light where you travel through the ruins of Russia to stop a rebellion in the underground Metro where humanity now calls home.
And in that game it's FAR FAR superior to this big budget trash fest, first of all Moscow all ruined looks a lot more interesting, the monsters have teeth and you don't have this young kid who's about as appealing as getting flogged with a wet newspaper.
That said though, director M. Night Shyamalan does not deserve to be kicked around for this mess, Smith himself has to take the blame for it, this was his baby and he simply hired Shyamalan to do the job, happily the movie going public gave it the same level of support as a rope supports a hanged person and that makes me very happy.
3. The Counselor: Now surely if you saw the previews for this film you would think "Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz in a film written by Cormac McCarthy and directed by Ridley Scott, how can this possibly fail?"
Well old son, it didn't just fail it went troppo and I am deadly serious about that, the storyline is a mess, the performances are a complete bore to watch and come across as nothing more than A list movie stars indulging themselves in the worst possible way, Michael Fassbender is criminally wasted in his role and Scott's direction feels like a bunch of scenes just edited together in a blender instead of a proper editing room.
What a miserable waste of all that talent but at the same time I don't think anyone, ANYONE involved with this movie from Ridley Scott or the producers or even 20th Century Fox the studio responsible had the gall to tell Cormac McCarthy the great novelist that A) He'd written a bad script and B) Another writer would be brought in to do a rewrite but no no no we wouldn't want to do that, it's Cormac McCarthy he's the great novelist behind No Country for Old Men we can't do that well you all bloody well should have, Ridley had an interesting script for his Alien prequel rewritten to become Prometheus which itself became a mess of a film so he could've ordered a rewrite here but didn't and as a result we end up with another mess from him, a real shame.
2. This is the End: It starred Seth Rogen and his friends as the Rapture came a calling during a party at James Franco's house with numerous celebrities in attendance.
The worst thing in the world that a cinema goer can sit through is a comedy with no laughs whatsoever and that was the experience I had watching this movie, I did not laugh once as all the joke was "Oh look, there's that celebrity doing something unlike them, isn't that funny", "Oh look, there's some jokes about male bonding and smoking weed and drinking and partying, isn't that funny" and lastly "Oh look there's jokes about the male and female anatomy, laugh guffaw chuckle"
NO IT IS NOT! You need much more than just man child celebrity humour to make a great comedy, you need a sense of energy, a sense of pace and performers willing to throw themselves into their roles not this snail pace improv style that is just so fucking boring to watch and just makes you think where is a good comedy director when you need them as boy oh boy I am getting sick to death of this style of humor.
And to think there was a time when the Americans made great comedies, films like Ghostbusters, The Naked Gun and the original and Christmas Vacation movies come to mind, now it's just become a barren wasteland occupied by nasty, unfunny adlib humour written and directed by people who have no idea how to inject energy or pace into these things, unbelievable.
But alas there was one film this year that was worse than that and that dishonor goes to:
Kick Ass 2: Now I was actually really looking forward to this one as I was a big fan of the first Kick Ass film (it made my favorites list in that year) and it looked kind of promising in the previews.
Boy was I shocked because this movie was just horrible on every level, it was nasty for no good reason, the violence towards some of the female characters is played cruelly for some sort of sick joke, the villains are just abhorrent and Jim Carrey who disowned this film (can't say I blame him) was just phoning it in to get a nice paycheck.
You know normally you would never say this about seeing in a film in a cinema or I wouldn't anyway despite the film probably being complete garbage like this and the other films in this dishonorable list but this film was the one exception where I honestly wished I never saw it, it was just that bad on every level and it made me uncomfortable at times in terms of its violence.
Now the first Kick Ass film was very violent but it had a steady hand at the helm to make sure things didn't get too out of hand, here much like another famous sequel Robocop 2 there's nothing here to bring it together, to make it meaningful or even funny, instead it was just an uncomfortable, unfunny and just plain nasty watch that I just wanted to wipe from my memory after it was over.
And so that is the disappointments, the surprises and the worst films of 2013 to my mind, keep an eye out soon for my favorite films of the year.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Film Review - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Based off of a 1939 short story, Walter Mitty is directed by and stars Ben Stiller in the title role, a man who can't help but dream of great adventure, brave heroics and that special someone who works in his office at Life Magazine named Cheryl (Kristen Wiig) but when a negative goes missing Walter vows to track it down, even if it means going to the ends of the Earth.
I went into Walter Mitty with fairly optimistic expectations as the preview for the film made it look like a nice film and something that I would enjoy at least, was I right to be optimistic?
Very much so as I really loved watching this film, Stiller's performance and direction are pitched at just the right note so that he delineates between the dreams and the reality, Wiig is actually pretty good here as well as the girl next door and Patton Oswalt is a lot of fun as well.
But what I really loved about this film was its story, it was nice to see a film that values story and heart and imagination in a way that old fashioned films used to do and this one blends the three together very well so that you find one or all of these in the film if you look as it can be very easy to dismiss it as sentimental fluff, the film also reminded me a lot of the Dead Poets Society in terms of its message of living deep and sucking all the marrow out of life and those scenes of adventure are truly special to watch.
One last area where I have to complement Stiller is the soundtrack, when a song comes on during the film it feels nicely matched to the scene it's under which to me is the mark of someone with a fantastic ear for using songs in a film and lord knows I haven't been a big fan of his since There's Something About Mary but here I complement him greatly for the film that he's made.
And so, I was very taken with the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, it was funny, heartfelt and imaginative, definitely one of my favorite films of the year and absolutely worth checking out, 4 and a half out of 5.
I went into Walter Mitty with fairly optimistic expectations as the preview for the film made it look like a nice film and something that I would enjoy at least, was I right to be optimistic?
Very much so as I really loved watching this film, Stiller's performance and direction are pitched at just the right note so that he delineates between the dreams and the reality, Wiig is actually pretty good here as well as the girl next door and Patton Oswalt is a lot of fun as well.
But what I really loved about this film was its story, it was nice to see a film that values story and heart and imagination in a way that old fashioned films used to do and this one blends the three together very well so that you find one or all of these in the film if you look as it can be very easy to dismiss it as sentimental fluff, the film also reminded me a lot of the Dead Poets Society in terms of its message of living deep and sucking all the marrow out of life and those scenes of adventure are truly special to watch.
One last area where I have to complement Stiller is the soundtrack, when a song comes on during the film it feels nicely matched to the scene it's under which to me is the mark of someone with a fantastic ear for using songs in a film and lord knows I haven't been a big fan of his since There's Something About Mary but here I complement him greatly for the film that he's made.
And so, I was very taken with the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, it was funny, heartfelt and imaginative, definitely one of my favorite films of the year and absolutely worth checking out, 4 and a half out of 5.
Film Review - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
Continuing the story of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), the Desolation of Smaug sees him and the company of Dwarves led by Thorin Oakinshield (Richard Armitage) continue to make their way to the kingdom of Erabor to take it back from the mighty Dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) but this will not be easy.
Smaug is a rollicking thrill ride in Middle Earth and resembles much more of that rousing spirit that made the Lord of the Rings films fun to watch, Freeman continues his good form and you can see the traces of Ian Holm more than in the first film but the focus this time is much more on Thorin and Armitage is up to the task of holding his own here, the film also has some very good action sequences most notably being a sequence with barrels while Elves and Orcs fight off each other which is terrifically put together and the climax is also well handled.
But this film belongs to one person and that is Cumberbatch, he literally fly's away with the film and every time he's on screen it is utterly captivating in terms of Smaug's fearsome height and fire breath but also his voice which is just magnificent to listen to, in fact there were times I thought I was hearing Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget it just had that tone to it in places and I did say "Gadget" to myself at times after he finished a sentence, this is for me a much more impressive achievement than Gollum was and it should go down as one of the best digital creations ever made for a feature film.
So all in all, the Desolation of Smaug is a real treat, much more of the rollicking action adventure we wanted from the first Hobbit film and brilliantly sets itself up for the final film next year, 3 and a half out of 5.
Smaug is a rollicking thrill ride in Middle Earth and resembles much more of that rousing spirit that made the Lord of the Rings films fun to watch, Freeman continues his good form and you can see the traces of Ian Holm more than in the first film but the focus this time is much more on Thorin and Armitage is up to the task of holding his own here, the film also has some very good action sequences most notably being a sequence with barrels while Elves and Orcs fight off each other which is terrifically put together and the climax is also well handled.
But this film belongs to one person and that is Cumberbatch, he literally fly's away with the film and every time he's on screen it is utterly captivating in terms of Smaug's fearsome height and fire breath but also his voice which is just magnificent to listen to, in fact there were times I thought I was hearing Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget it just had that tone to it in places and I did say "Gadget" to myself at times after he finished a sentence, this is for me a much more impressive achievement than Gollum was and it should go down as one of the best digital creations ever made for a feature film.
So all in all, the Desolation of Smaug is a real treat, much more of the rollicking action adventure we wanted from the first Hobbit film and brilliantly sets itself up for the final film next year, 3 and a half out of 5.
Film Review - Frozen (2013)
The latest Disney animated movie, Frozen is the story of two sisters Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel), Elsa is born with great ice powers that grow stronger as she grows older, one day she causes a permanent winter in her home kingdom and Anna may be the last hope to save it from being a frozen wasteland.
I went into Frozen with mixed expectations, while the previews for the film made it look promising the feeling I had was that it was really nothing more than a tradition Disney Princess film most of which I'm not a huge fan of, could the film itself rise above that or fall to an icy grave.
Well, the truth is is that I sit somewhere in the middle on this film, I think that it's okay but for me personally it didn't do the trick, first off I will talk about what I did like about the film and I loved the sisters dynamic and those scenes were easily the best thing about the film though sadly there are too few of them and I also thought that Olaf the Snowman was a lot of fun to watch and he did remind me a lot of Gabbo from the Simpsons in both his look and his voice.
But as good as those elements are, the film has two big problems holding it back:
- The first of these is the lack of a strong villain to drive the conflict in the story and these films much like action pictures rely on a strong villain to anchor the film, here there really isn't one until the third act of the film and even then it feels like a twist that's poorly handled and feels like it's come from an entirely different film.
- The second is the songs themselves, don't get me wrong I think "Let it Go" is a good song but the songs here are nothing compared to great songs that Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman wrote.
You know songs like "Under the Sea", "Poor Unfortunate Souls", "Part of that World" and "Kiss the Girl" from the Little Mermaid or "Gaston, Tale as Old as Time and Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast or "Arabian Nights, Prince Ali, Proud of your Boy and High Adventure" from Aladdin, songs that you listen to once and then are permanently sitting in your memory, when this film was over "Let it Go" was the only song I remembered.
In fact, when this film was over I kept thinking to myself "I wish they made another film like Aladdin" which is a film I adore as it works for boys as much as for girls, has great comedy, a terrific villain and great songs that are memorable and seamless but this is probably just a fool's hope of mine but to wish, perchance to dream as someday it may happen, one can never tell.
But before I wrap this up I have to talk about the Mickey Mouse short that plays before the film which is a very nice mix of black and white, sound, colour and computer animation which generated a few laughs in my screening.
So all in all, I thought Frozen was okay but I doubt if boys will click with it as much as girls will so it's best to keep the boys at home as well as very young children as a fair few of them got restless at times during my showing, 2 out of 5.
I went into Frozen with mixed expectations, while the previews for the film made it look promising the feeling I had was that it was really nothing more than a tradition Disney Princess film most of which I'm not a huge fan of, could the film itself rise above that or fall to an icy grave.
Well, the truth is is that I sit somewhere in the middle on this film, I think that it's okay but for me personally it didn't do the trick, first off I will talk about what I did like about the film and I loved the sisters dynamic and those scenes were easily the best thing about the film though sadly there are too few of them and I also thought that Olaf the Snowman was a lot of fun to watch and he did remind me a lot of Gabbo from the Simpsons in both his look and his voice.
But as good as those elements are, the film has two big problems holding it back:
- The first of these is the lack of a strong villain to drive the conflict in the story and these films much like action pictures rely on a strong villain to anchor the film, here there really isn't one until the third act of the film and even then it feels like a twist that's poorly handled and feels like it's come from an entirely different film.
- The second is the songs themselves, don't get me wrong I think "Let it Go" is a good song but the songs here are nothing compared to great songs that Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman wrote.
You know songs like "Under the Sea", "Poor Unfortunate Souls", "Part of that World" and "Kiss the Girl" from the Little Mermaid or "Gaston, Tale as Old as Time and Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast or "Arabian Nights, Prince Ali, Proud of your Boy and High Adventure" from Aladdin, songs that you listen to once and then are permanently sitting in your memory, when this film was over "Let it Go" was the only song I remembered.
In fact, when this film was over I kept thinking to myself "I wish they made another film like Aladdin" which is a film I adore as it works for boys as much as for girls, has great comedy, a terrific villain and great songs that are memorable and seamless but this is probably just a fool's hope of mine but to wish, perchance to dream as someday it may happen, one can never tell.
But before I wrap this up I have to talk about the Mickey Mouse short that plays before the film which is a very nice mix of black and white, sound, colour and computer animation which generated a few laughs in my screening.
So all in all, I thought Frozen was okay but I doubt if boys will click with it as much as girls will so it's best to keep the boys at home as well as very young children as a fair few of them got restless at times during my showing, 2 out of 5.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
There and Back Again: 2013 in Film Part 1
It's that time again my friends, the time when we write our lists and check them twice regarding our favorites, our worst and our disappointments of the year at cinemas.
And for me this year in film could be summed up in the title above "There and Back Again" as for me personally it was very much a year where my only real option to see new release movies in a cinema was to travel and this can be a fairly lengthy exercise with each Bus trip being about 3 hours in length when you factor in the getting there and going back each of those being about 90 minutes and even then your restricted in terms of session times as you can only go to certain sessions so that you can actually make your Bus ride home.
And in some specific situations eg: I want to go to more than one film and can't fit it in on a day trip then a hotel room has to be booked for 1 or 2 nights, I tell you the things one does for their main passion in life but alas you do what you have to do in these situations and sometimes it not's that bad.
But enough of the personal story I want to now dive into what I thought were the overall trends of the year and two stuck out in my mind:
The first of those is the near complete death of 3D in cinemas across the globe (and there was much rejoicing yay) in that just 2 years ago to paint the contrast 3D sessions took up the majority of session times for that particular movie say Cars 2 or Transformers 3 to name as examples, now the 3D sessions are limited mainly to just 1 or 2 a day or in some cases that I saw like the Wolverine, the 3D sessions just weren't booked at all and quite frankly I hope that in 2014 we finally see the back of this cursed format once and for all and cinemas can book smaller pictures in their place.
The second relates to that last point which is regarding the smaller pictures aimed a lot more at adults than at families, teenagers and children that seem to in my mind take up so much of the space in cinemas nowadays especially when it's school holidays, a time of year that I REALLY REALLY hate.
The reason I bring this up is that so many of the films that I and others enjoyed were out of that traditional box of the American Studio System, two that I really liked Rush and the World's End came from the UK which increasingly seems to be the place to go to in order to try and make it in the industry nowadays.
Plus you have the popularity of film festivals that trade almost exclusively in the adult oriented fare and it is something that I expect in the new year to increase in popularity because a lot of theatres sadly are reluctant to book those sort of films but when they do get a decent release like the Place Beyond the Pines, Blue Jasmine or the Great Gatsby they actually do pretty well at the box office.
I really hope that in 2014 we see more movies aimed at adults getting a wider release because adult movie goers for too long now have been given the short straw in cinemas and I would really like to see them get something in return because if it's out there, they will go and see it but sadly I don't expect a lot of change at all on this front.
And so that's part 1 of There and Back Again: 2013 in Film, keep watching after the post for more thoughts on 2013 in Film from me.
And for me this year in film could be summed up in the title above "There and Back Again" as for me personally it was very much a year where my only real option to see new release movies in a cinema was to travel and this can be a fairly lengthy exercise with each Bus trip being about 3 hours in length when you factor in the getting there and going back each of those being about 90 minutes and even then your restricted in terms of session times as you can only go to certain sessions so that you can actually make your Bus ride home.
And in some specific situations eg: I want to go to more than one film and can't fit it in on a day trip then a hotel room has to be booked for 1 or 2 nights, I tell you the things one does for their main passion in life but alas you do what you have to do in these situations and sometimes it not's that bad.
But enough of the personal story I want to now dive into what I thought were the overall trends of the year and two stuck out in my mind:
The first of those is the near complete death of 3D in cinemas across the globe (and there was much rejoicing yay) in that just 2 years ago to paint the contrast 3D sessions took up the majority of session times for that particular movie say Cars 2 or Transformers 3 to name as examples, now the 3D sessions are limited mainly to just 1 or 2 a day or in some cases that I saw like the Wolverine, the 3D sessions just weren't booked at all and quite frankly I hope that in 2014 we finally see the back of this cursed format once and for all and cinemas can book smaller pictures in their place.
The second relates to that last point which is regarding the smaller pictures aimed a lot more at adults than at families, teenagers and children that seem to in my mind take up so much of the space in cinemas nowadays especially when it's school holidays, a time of year that I REALLY REALLY hate.
The reason I bring this up is that so many of the films that I and others enjoyed were out of that traditional box of the American Studio System, two that I really liked Rush and the World's End came from the UK which increasingly seems to be the place to go to in order to try and make it in the industry nowadays.
Plus you have the popularity of film festivals that trade almost exclusively in the adult oriented fare and it is something that I expect in the new year to increase in popularity because a lot of theatres sadly are reluctant to book those sort of films but when they do get a decent release like the Place Beyond the Pines, Blue Jasmine or the Great Gatsby they actually do pretty well at the box office.
I really hope that in 2014 we see more movies aimed at adults getting a wider release because adult movie goers for too long now have been given the short straw in cinemas and I would really like to see them get something in return because if it's out there, they will go and see it but sadly I don't expect a lot of change at all on this front.
And so that's part 1 of There and Back Again: 2013 in Film, keep watching after the post for more thoughts on 2013 in Film from me.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Film Review - American Hustle (2013)
American Hustle is directed by David O. Russell and stars Christian Bale as Irving, a conman with a wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) and a mistress Sydney (Amy Adams), Irving and Sydney come into contact with FBI agent Richie (Bradley Cooper) as they team up to take on mayor Carmine (Jeremy Renner) who Richie suspects is corrupt.
Before I dive into my overall thoughts on the film I want to tell you the tale of getting to see the film, you see I had booked my regular film going trip to see the film on Dec 12th which is when it opened and thought "yep this will be in and out" and sure enough, I got there did my usual thing and went to the theatre to see the movie, nothing sinister.
But alas I was told when I got there that the session I was to go to had been cancelled due to a special end of year school trip to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, needless to say I was not happy about it at all and part of me wanted to break down and cry as it's been a real hassle for me to get to new release films as the trip can take up to 3 hours or so but alas that was the hand I was dealt.
But I said to myself as I did the Bus trip home I swore to myself that I would go back to see it and I enacted on my pledge, no my sacred Oath to do it.
With all of that out of the way, how was the film now that I had finally gotten to see it?
Well sadly the film was very disappointing for a number of reasons but before I go into those I want to talk about what I did like about the film and that is firstly the film's soundtrack which really helps to set the tone of the late 70's and early 80's pretty well and a few of the tunes used had me enjoying myself, the second is the performances of the two lead actresses Adams and Lawrence, both of them absolutely nail their roles and Lawrence in particular shows that she truly is a star, part of me wanted to give her a great big cuddle during parts of the film and say "It's okay mate."
But as I said I was very disappointed in the film and I will outline in more detail why that is the case:
- Firstly the film's storyline feels very incoherent, watching it I got the sense that there was no engine driving this film along and by that I mean that there was no structure to the story to take you from the beginning to the end, it felt like a bunch of scenes edited together combined with voice over narration to help fill in the blanks.
- Secondly the male actors are all very weak I thought, most of the time all they seem to be doing is shouting either at the camera or at the other characters in the scene, Bale seems to be imitating Al Capone in the Untouchables as his speaking voice seems to be that quiet mumble, Renner fares a little better but doesn't really get much of a chance to spread his wings in his role and Cooper is just flat out weak here, given very little to do and his acting smacks of trying too hard to impress his co-stars, a shame.
- And lastly the use of the era for me is very mixed, now I love LOVE that era of the late 70's and 80's I mean you had the Star Wars Trilogy, the dawn of VHS, great music and more but here a lot of it feels artificial and doesn't really root you in that time period which Argo and Rush did do very well I thought and those films did make me think of that era.
But here it doesn't work very well and just seems like window dressing whereas a clever rewrite of the script could have very easily set the film in the modern day and that sounds very sad.
But I have another objection and this is primarily for the Australian readers, I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish that the old Roadshow logo from that time period (you know with the country of Australia in it and it had the blue streaks on it and the do do do do do do do do do do do do music played) had been used to open the film as the one that did was just the regular logo they use on their theatrical releases that they distribute it and for the most part fine that's fair enough.
But I couldn't accept it here as this was wanting to be an old fashioned film set in a specific time period and if you're going to do that then it has to be set with the logos and again Argo did this by using the old Warner Brothers logo to open the film whereas here it's just the regular old Roadshow logo and I was wanting the old one from that era to open this film.
Alas, American Hustle for me was a big disappointment for me and sadly despite some great songs and performances, I just can't quite bring myself to recommend it, 1 out of 5.
Before I dive into my overall thoughts on the film I want to tell you the tale of getting to see the film, you see I had booked my regular film going trip to see the film on Dec 12th which is when it opened and thought "yep this will be in and out" and sure enough, I got there did my usual thing and went to the theatre to see the movie, nothing sinister.
But alas I was told when I got there that the session I was to go to had been cancelled due to a special end of year school trip to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, needless to say I was not happy about it at all and part of me wanted to break down and cry as it's been a real hassle for me to get to new release films as the trip can take up to 3 hours or so but alas that was the hand I was dealt.
But I said to myself as I did the Bus trip home I swore to myself that I would go back to see it and I enacted on my pledge, no my sacred Oath to do it.
With all of that out of the way, how was the film now that I had finally gotten to see it?
Well sadly the film was very disappointing for a number of reasons but before I go into those I want to talk about what I did like about the film and that is firstly the film's soundtrack which really helps to set the tone of the late 70's and early 80's pretty well and a few of the tunes used had me enjoying myself, the second is the performances of the two lead actresses Adams and Lawrence, both of them absolutely nail their roles and Lawrence in particular shows that she truly is a star, part of me wanted to give her a great big cuddle during parts of the film and say "It's okay mate."
But as I said I was very disappointed in the film and I will outline in more detail why that is the case:
- Firstly the film's storyline feels very incoherent, watching it I got the sense that there was no engine driving this film along and by that I mean that there was no structure to the story to take you from the beginning to the end, it felt like a bunch of scenes edited together combined with voice over narration to help fill in the blanks.
- Secondly the male actors are all very weak I thought, most of the time all they seem to be doing is shouting either at the camera or at the other characters in the scene, Bale seems to be imitating Al Capone in the Untouchables as his speaking voice seems to be that quiet mumble, Renner fares a little better but doesn't really get much of a chance to spread his wings in his role and Cooper is just flat out weak here, given very little to do and his acting smacks of trying too hard to impress his co-stars, a shame.
- And lastly the use of the era for me is very mixed, now I love LOVE that era of the late 70's and 80's I mean you had the Star Wars Trilogy, the dawn of VHS, great music and more but here a lot of it feels artificial and doesn't really root you in that time period which Argo and Rush did do very well I thought and those films did make me think of that era.
But here it doesn't work very well and just seems like window dressing whereas a clever rewrite of the script could have very easily set the film in the modern day and that sounds very sad.
But I have another objection and this is primarily for the Australian readers, I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish that the old Roadshow logo from that time period (you know with the country of Australia in it and it had the blue streaks on it and the do do do do do do do do do do do do music played) had been used to open the film as the one that did was just the regular logo they use on their theatrical releases that they distribute it and for the most part fine that's fair enough.
But I couldn't accept it here as this was wanting to be an old fashioned film set in a specific time period and if you're going to do that then it has to be set with the logos and again Argo did this by using the old Warner Brothers logo to open the film whereas here it's just the regular old Roadshow logo and I was wanting the old one from that era to open this film.
Alas, American Hustle for me was a big disappointment for me and sadly despite some great songs and performances, I just can't quite bring myself to recommend it, 1 out of 5.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Film Review - Nine and a Half Weeks (1986)
Nine and a Half Weeks stars Mickey Rourke as John, a man who works on Wall Street and Kim Basinger as Elizabeth who works in an art gallery, the two meet at a local market and fall in love, in more ways than one.
Part of me was quite keen for this film, it looked like an exciting, sexy adults only film the type of which we very rarely get nowadays, could the film fulfil that fantasy or fail at the task?
Well this falls squarely into the latter category as it is a failure beyond any doubt for three very key reasons:
First of all, the film is boring to watch as Rourke and Basinger rarely connect as a couple on screen, I know that is the point of the film somewhat but there needed to be some common connection between the two for the film to work somewhat during its darker moments and it doesn't, Basinger comes across as the better of the two but Rourke just stands there looking handsome, smiles to the camera and mumbles his lines throughout the film, what a waste.
The second is that the sexy moments the film promises are anything but and come across as tedious instead, lacking the power and impact they should have in order for the film to work.
I have no doubt this was done to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating in the US which pretty much means You're Smegged but you can't promise a film like this in terms of going into those sorts of intimate desires for good or for bad and then chicken out and play it safe in order to avoid a fight with the censors, you either have to go for broke or not do it at all, this middle of the road approach simply doesn't work and it severely weakens the film.
The last problem is that Rourke's character is simply horrible, I hated to watch him on screen after a while and by the time reaches the end you've just had enough of this man and the horrible way he treats Liz the more the film goes on, I have to admit I really wanted one of the other characters to say to her "Are you okay?" at times or say "You don't look okay, can I help in some way?"
Now again I know that this is the point of the film somewhat but you also need some form of humanity in this story in order for the darker moments to have more of an impact as I said earlier and without that like I said, the film falters and frankly, Rourke's character is only worth 2 1/2 Weeks at most, 9 would be pushing it.
Now what does work in this film, well it's the soundtrack and its really terrific, two songs in particular really stood out, the first was "The Best is Yet to Come" by Luba which opens the film in a much more promising way and the second was the famous Joe Cocker song "You Can Leave your Hat On" which gave me that feeling of humanity the film itself doesn't have.
And so, what could've been a exciting and dark film for adults only instead turns out to be hateful of its female lead, boring to watch and plays it safe in its darkest moments, I can't recommend this one at all and part of me wishes it were better than this, 1 out of 5.
Part of me was quite keen for this film, it looked like an exciting, sexy adults only film the type of which we very rarely get nowadays, could the film fulfil that fantasy or fail at the task?
Well this falls squarely into the latter category as it is a failure beyond any doubt for three very key reasons:
First of all, the film is boring to watch as Rourke and Basinger rarely connect as a couple on screen, I know that is the point of the film somewhat but there needed to be some common connection between the two for the film to work somewhat during its darker moments and it doesn't, Basinger comes across as the better of the two but Rourke just stands there looking handsome, smiles to the camera and mumbles his lines throughout the film, what a waste.
The second is that the sexy moments the film promises are anything but and come across as tedious instead, lacking the power and impact they should have in order for the film to work.
I have no doubt this was done to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating in the US which pretty much means You're Smegged but you can't promise a film like this in terms of going into those sorts of intimate desires for good or for bad and then chicken out and play it safe in order to avoid a fight with the censors, you either have to go for broke or not do it at all, this middle of the road approach simply doesn't work and it severely weakens the film.
The last problem is that Rourke's character is simply horrible, I hated to watch him on screen after a while and by the time reaches the end you've just had enough of this man and the horrible way he treats Liz the more the film goes on, I have to admit I really wanted one of the other characters to say to her "Are you okay?" at times or say "You don't look okay, can I help in some way?"
Now again I know that this is the point of the film somewhat but you also need some form of humanity in this story in order for the darker moments to have more of an impact as I said earlier and without that like I said, the film falters and frankly, Rourke's character is only worth 2 1/2 Weeks at most, 9 would be pushing it.
Now what does work in this film, well it's the soundtrack and its really terrific, two songs in particular really stood out, the first was "The Best is Yet to Come" by Luba which opens the film in a much more promising way and the second was the famous Joe Cocker song "You Can Leave your Hat On" which gave me that feeling of humanity the film itself doesn't have.
And so, what could've been a exciting and dark film for adults only instead turns out to be hateful of its female lead, boring to watch and plays it safe in its darkest moments, I can't recommend this one at all and part of me wishes it were better than this, 1 out of 5.
Film Review - FX: Murder by Illusion (1986)
FX: Murder by Illusion stars Bryan Brown as Rollie Tyler, an Australian Special Effects man living and working in the US who finds himself with an unusual client: The Justice Department who want to use his talents to stage a fake assassination, a task that will not be easy.
I really enjoyed FX, it had some great effects work (no pun intended), a no nonsense script that got right to the heart of the matter and used each minute of its running time usefully and some great performances, especially by Brown who anchors the film effortlessly and you really get on his side when he goes on the run and I also really liked the performances by Dennehy and the late Jerry Orbach.
But I have to talk more about the script as not only does it function as a great thriller but also with its imaginative use of special effects from the great Bear he has at the front of his workshop to the shootout that opens the film and down to the prosthetic work which looks so real, if this movie were made now it would look ridiculous and have none of the imagination or realism behind it.
So yeah, I loved watching this movie and would highly recommend it to anyone, 4 out of 5.
I really enjoyed FX, it had some great effects work (no pun intended), a no nonsense script that got right to the heart of the matter and used each minute of its running time usefully and some great performances, especially by Brown who anchors the film effortlessly and you really get on his side when he goes on the run and I also really liked the performances by Dennehy and the late Jerry Orbach.
But I have to talk more about the script as not only does it function as a great thriller but also with its imaginative use of special effects from the great Bear he has at the front of his workshop to the shootout that opens the film and down to the prosthetic work which looks so real, if this movie were made now it would look ridiculous and have none of the imagination or realism behind it.
So yeah, I loved watching this movie and would highly recommend it to anyone, 4 out of 5.
Film Review - This is the End (2013)
This is the End,
It Stars Seth Rogen and his Friends,
He and They go to Party,
Then their Home Bursts Again.
Then the Skyfalls,
The Earth Crumbles,
They Must Stand tall and face it all together,
At LA.
And quite frankly that plot synopsis set to Adele's Skyfall song is funnier than any of the jokes I saw in this movie as I found it to be an unfunny borefest pretty much from start to finish, Rogen and Co are not very funny as themselves though Rogen has been good in the past in roles such as his one in 50/50 and the whole idea of the end of the world is mainly there for some pointless references and cameos some of which border on amusing to just pointless.
But my real problem with this film as I said is the near complete lack of laughs I mean so much of the jokes are based off of that leery manchild humour that might have been amusing when I was 16 or 17 (oh wait a minute it's just come to me, I didn't think it very funny then, I just thought it was horrible and nearly cruel) but now I just find even more unfunny, it basically consists of:
- Constantly talking about drinking
- Talking about smoking Pot
- Talking about Boobs
- Talking about Intercourse
And so on and so forth.
That's pretty much the gist of a lot of the film's humour right there, I hated it when I was 16-17 and I hate it even more now not to mention the boring as hell pop culture references that come out of nowhere and for me don't seem to be inspired as to be thrown in there because well that's one part of the manchild style humour throughout this film and all it did was make me cringe whenever they came on.
So yeah boys and girls, I did not enjoy this movie very much at all and it will probably go down as one of my least favourite films of the year, 0 out of 5.
It Stars Seth Rogen and his Friends,
He and They go to Party,
Then their Home Bursts Again.
Then the Skyfalls,
The Earth Crumbles,
They Must Stand tall and face it all together,
At LA.
And quite frankly that plot synopsis set to Adele's Skyfall song is funnier than any of the jokes I saw in this movie as I found it to be an unfunny borefest pretty much from start to finish, Rogen and Co are not very funny as themselves though Rogen has been good in the past in roles such as his one in 50/50 and the whole idea of the end of the world is mainly there for some pointless references and cameos some of which border on amusing to just pointless.
But my real problem with this film as I said is the near complete lack of laughs I mean so much of the jokes are based off of that leery manchild humour that might have been amusing when I was 16 or 17 (oh wait a minute it's just come to me, I didn't think it very funny then, I just thought it was horrible and nearly cruel) but now I just find even more unfunny, it basically consists of:
- Constantly talking about drinking
- Talking about smoking Pot
- Talking about Boobs
- Talking about Intercourse
And so on and so forth.
That's pretty much the gist of a lot of the film's humour right there, I hated it when I was 16-17 and I hate it even more now not to mention the boring as hell pop culture references that come out of nowhere and for me don't seem to be inspired as to be thrown in there because well that's one part of the manchild style humour throughout this film and all it did was make me cringe whenever they came on.
So yeah boys and girls, I did not enjoy this movie very much at all and it will probably go down as one of my least favourite films of the year, 0 out of 5.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Film Review - Ender's Game (2013)
Ender's Game is based off the 1985 Sci-Fi novel and stars Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggin, a gifted young child when it comes to strategic games and who Graff (Harrison Ford) believes is the one to lead the Earth against a deadly alien race that nearly wiped out humanity 50 years before but this will be a very deadly game for Ender to play.
I went into this movie with very mixed feelings as I was not familiar with the source material but at the same time Sci-Fi is a weakness genre of mine so I was convinced to go and check it out, did it deliver?
Actually I thought it did, this was a well made Sci-Fi film with some good action scenes but the film also values character moments as well and as a result, you find yourself really enjoying the story more because you have more of that investment in what happens.
The cast is also very good in their roles with Butterfield really showing that he can more than hold his own in a big film, Ford actually seems to be enjoying himself in a film role and there were times watching him where I went "That's the Harrison we all fell in love with", Viola Davis, Hallee Stenfeld, Abigail Breslin and Ben Kingsley also performed very well and Stenfeld and Butterfield also have a very nice chemistry.
But the real highlight of the film for me is the battle sequences, they were fantastic both in terms of the effects and in the writing in terms of laying out tactics for the fighters ("Accelerate to attack speed and draw their fire away from the Cruisers" from Return of the Jedi to use as an example) and in terms of the battle scenes themselves with the shots of the various fighters swooping to dodge enemy fire, protect their mother ships and more.
Sadly that was also the one area of the film where it fell for me, not in a negative sense I have to say but more the sense of that I was enjoying these scenes so much I wished for them to be longer so they could be more of a proper space battle like the one in Jedi which is 9 minutes of pure excellence and yet with all of this CGI tech we have at our disposal we still haven't seen a good space battle since, a shame but this is only a minor complaint from me about the film.
And so, Ender's Game is a game worth seeing for Sci-Fi fans but non fans of the genre will not find a lot here to interest them and fans of the book should walk out of this one pretty pleased with the result, let's call this one a very nice surprise, 3 out of 5.
I went into this movie with very mixed feelings as I was not familiar with the source material but at the same time Sci-Fi is a weakness genre of mine so I was convinced to go and check it out, did it deliver?
Actually I thought it did, this was a well made Sci-Fi film with some good action scenes but the film also values character moments as well and as a result, you find yourself really enjoying the story more because you have more of that investment in what happens.
The cast is also very good in their roles with Butterfield really showing that he can more than hold his own in a big film, Ford actually seems to be enjoying himself in a film role and there were times watching him where I went "That's the Harrison we all fell in love with", Viola Davis, Hallee Stenfeld, Abigail Breslin and Ben Kingsley also performed very well and Stenfeld and Butterfield also have a very nice chemistry.
But the real highlight of the film for me is the battle sequences, they were fantastic both in terms of the effects and in the writing in terms of laying out tactics for the fighters ("Accelerate to attack speed and draw their fire away from the Cruisers" from Return of the Jedi to use as an example) and in terms of the battle scenes themselves with the shots of the various fighters swooping to dodge enemy fire, protect their mother ships and more.
Sadly that was also the one area of the film where it fell for me, not in a negative sense I have to say but more the sense of that I was enjoying these scenes so much I wished for them to be longer so they could be more of a proper space battle like the one in Jedi which is 9 minutes of pure excellence and yet with all of this CGI tech we have at our disposal we still haven't seen a good space battle since, a shame but this is only a minor complaint from me about the film.
And so, Ender's Game is a game worth seeing for Sci-Fi fans but non fans of the genre will not find a lot here to interest them and fans of the book should walk out of this one pretty pleased with the result, let's call this one a very nice surprise, 3 out of 5.
Film Review - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks up where the first film left off and finds Flint Lockwood (voice of Bill Hader) working in the company of his idol Chester V (Will Forte) but his old home is now putting out food/animal hybrids that could threaten the world so Chester wants Flint to stop it but this won't be easy.
I went into this movie very excited as I really liked the first film and when I saw the preview for this movie it looked like it would be a very promising follow up, did it deliver the goods?
Very much so, I really had a lot of fun watching this movie, it made me smile for most of it's running time and the cast were all very funny for the most part, especially Anna Faris who finally seems to have a decent role in a film following all the Goldie Hawn esque characters she's had to play over the years, Terry Crews was a fun replacement for Mr. T who sadly declined to return for this film but I didn't notice the change while watching the film and all of the Foodimals on screen are quite a sight, especially the Strawberry babies, the Cheeseburger Spider with French Fry legs, the Banana Dolphins and more.
The animation in the film is also really well done, showing a fluidity and style that you used to see in hand drawn animation but is sadly rarely seen in Computer Animation so it was nice to know that it is still possible.
But sadly the film lets itself down in the villain department, every time Chester came on screen I felt like the film stopped so he could have his screen time and also his plot wasn't all that interesting, just the all too familiar corporate takeover story but unlike 99.9% of films I see, I won't knock this film down for it as I was having too much fun watching it to care all that much but still it does hurt the film.
So all in all, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is great fun and is up to the task of living up to the first film, the upcoming Frozen will have its work cut out ahead of it if it's going to top this film as my favourite animated movie of the year, 3 and a half out of 5.
I went into this movie very excited as I really liked the first film and when I saw the preview for this movie it looked like it would be a very promising follow up, did it deliver the goods?
Very much so, I really had a lot of fun watching this movie, it made me smile for most of it's running time and the cast were all very funny for the most part, especially Anna Faris who finally seems to have a decent role in a film following all the Goldie Hawn esque characters she's had to play over the years, Terry Crews was a fun replacement for Mr. T who sadly declined to return for this film but I didn't notice the change while watching the film and all of the Foodimals on screen are quite a sight, especially the Strawberry babies, the Cheeseburger Spider with French Fry legs, the Banana Dolphins and more.
The animation in the film is also really well done, showing a fluidity and style that you used to see in hand drawn animation but is sadly rarely seen in Computer Animation so it was nice to know that it is still possible.
But sadly the film lets itself down in the villain department, every time Chester came on screen I felt like the film stopped so he could have his screen time and also his plot wasn't all that interesting, just the all too familiar corporate takeover story but unlike 99.9% of films I see, I won't knock this film down for it as I was having too much fun watching it to care all that much but still it does hurt the film.
So all in all, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is great fun and is up to the task of living up to the first film, the upcoming Frozen will have its work cut out ahead of it if it's going to top this film as my favourite animated movie of the year, 3 and a half out of 5.
Film Review - One Chance (2013)
One Chance is based on the true story of Paul Potts, a Welshman who works in a mobile phone store but who wants to sing Opera but he has a bit of a problem: He's very nervous but when the chance to appear on Britain's Got Talent appears, he must take his chance to make a better life for himself.
This movie is quite frankly, a near complete waste of time and money mainly because for so much of the movie I didn't really care all that much about whether he would overcome the odds and find his voice so to speak, the script throws in all of this melodrama about accidents and panic and the one true love that just made me cringe throughout so much of it, I just didn't care about any of it.
However I did like Colm Meaney as the Dad and it was sure great to see him in a movie again and almost all of the film's best scenes involve him but to be honest your better off watching the real Paul Potts singing online instead of wasting a full admission (which isn't cheap) and seeing this hokey film.
So yeah, this movie didn't do a lot for me at all, it's not a bad movie by any stretch but I just found completely forgettable and as such, I can't recommend it, 1 out of 5.
This movie is quite frankly, a near complete waste of time and money mainly because for so much of the movie I didn't really care all that much about whether he would overcome the odds and find his voice so to speak, the script throws in all of this melodrama about accidents and panic and the one true love that just made me cringe throughout so much of it, I just didn't care about any of it.
However I did like Colm Meaney as the Dad and it was sure great to see him in a movie again and almost all of the film's best scenes involve him but to be honest your better off watching the real Paul Potts singing online instead of wasting a full admission (which isn't cheap) and seeing this hokey film.
So yeah, this movie didn't do a lot for me at all, it's not a bad movie by any stretch but I just found completely forgettable and as such, I can't recommend it, 1 out of 5.
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