Okay here is episode 3 of the Radio show I do for ABC South East South Australia.
On this show I talked about:
- The Giver with Jeff Bridges
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Of the 3 episodes I've done so far this one would have to be my favorite mainly because I felt the most comfortable doing the show this time around and I didn't freeze or choke up whilst doing it.
As always if you want to listen just click on the play button in the link or right click and save to your Computer.
http://blogs.abc.net.au/sa/2014/09/friday-flicks-the-giver-and-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles.html?site=southeastsa&program=south_east_mornings
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
Film Review - The Boxtrolls (2014)
The Boxtrolls is about a group of creatures called the Boxtrolls who prowl the streets at night and abduct a baby boy who grows up with them and becomes known only as Eggs after a box of Eggs but an evil man named Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley) is determined to find them and destroy them.
2014 has set a high watermark in terms of animated films with both the Lego Movie and How to Train your Dragon 2 proving to be strong family films with fun to be had for both young and old audience members which is why it saddens me to say that this one does not measure up, don't get me wrong it is far from terrible and there is fun to be had but there were a couple of reasons I feel this way:
- The first is that unlike the studios previous film Paranorman, this movie lacks a strong beating heart at its centre and tends at times to divide its focus between the Eggs and the Boxtroll creatures and as a result I began to not really care all that much about the films climax.
- The second is that the story here is also very predictable and by that I mean that I began to predict what was going to happen in the climax of the film and again as a result of this I didn't really care about how it all played out which ties it back to the lack of heart that the film has.
But as I said this is not a terrible movie by any stretch of the imagination as the film has some great animation (it was animated with stop motion) and some of the fast motion is very good here as well especially during some of the running and sliding scenes but I would also say that this film might be a little too scary for under 5 or 6 year old children so I would think twice before taking them to it.
So all in all the Boxtrolls is nicely animated and has some good motion but I found the story predictable and lacking in heart, 2 and a half out of 5.
2014 has set a high watermark in terms of animated films with both the Lego Movie and How to Train your Dragon 2 proving to be strong family films with fun to be had for both young and old audience members which is why it saddens me to say that this one does not measure up, don't get me wrong it is far from terrible and there is fun to be had but there were a couple of reasons I feel this way:
- The first is that unlike the studios previous film Paranorman, this movie lacks a strong beating heart at its centre and tends at times to divide its focus between the Eggs and the Boxtroll creatures and as a result I began to not really care all that much about the films climax.
- The second is that the story here is also very predictable and by that I mean that I began to predict what was going to happen in the climax of the film and again as a result of this I didn't really care about how it all played out which ties it back to the lack of heart that the film has.
But as I said this is not a terrible movie by any stretch of the imagination as the film has some great animation (it was animated with stop motion) and some of the fast motion is very good here as well especially during some of the running and sliding scenes but I would also say that this film might be a little too scary for under 5 or 6 year old children so I would think twice before taking them to it.
So all in all the Boxtrolls is nicely animated and has some good motion but I found the story predictable and lacking in heart, 2 and a half out of 5.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Film Review - The Giver (2014)
The Giver is directed by Phillip Noyce who you may remember from such films as Newsfront, Dead Calm, Rabbit Proof Fence and his horrible adaptation of Patriot Games but here this film takes place in the future where everyone and everything is exactly the same and Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is chosen to be given the memories of the past by his mentor (Jeff Bridges) but some feelings may be stronger than others.
The Giver is merely okay, Noyce does an okay job here (better than he did with Patriot Games I'll say that much) and I do like the Black and White photography the film opens with as indeed I enjoyed Jeff Bridges in his role as he seemed to have started talking more like a normal person than just doing his True Grit voice like he has in his last couple of movies and I also liked Alexander Skarsgard (son of Stellan Skarsgard I must add) in his role though Meryl Streep is pretty much sleep walking through her role in the film which is a shame as I enjoyed her very much in She Devil when I watched it recently.
And so the Giver is decent overall but very forgettable and like the upcoming Maze Runner film seems designed to just keep the YA base in cinemas whilst they watch the time tick away until the next Hunger Games movie comes out in November, 2 out of 5.
The Giver is merely okay, Noyce does an okay job here (better than he did with Patriot Games I'll say that much) and I do like the Black and White photography the film opens with as indeed I enjoyed Jeff Bridges in his role as he seemed to have started talking more like a normal person than just doing his True Grit voice like he has in his last couple of movies and I also liked Alexander Skarsgard (son of Stellan Skarsgard I must add) in his role though Meryl Streep is pretty much sleep walking through her role in the film which is a shame as I enjoyed her very much in She Devil when I watched it recently.
And so the Giver is decent overall but very forgettable and like the upcoming Maze Runner film seems designed to just keep the YA base in cinemas whilst they watch the time tick away until the next Hunger Games movie comes out in November, 2 out of 5.
Film Review - Into the Storm (2014)
Into the Storm stars Richard Armitage (Thorin from the Hobbit) as the principal of a High School in Silverton, a town in America which comes under threat from a Tornado but this Tornado might be the first of many.
You know, part of me was actually looking forward to this movie going into it as I like the idea of a giant storm destroying us all being the subject of a horror type film (this was the same appeal factor that Russel Crowe's Noah had for me) as unlike guys like Mick or Freddy or Jason or Michael there is no bad person to defeat but Mother Nature herself who is malevolent and not easily defeated as she who is eternal can never be claimed Dominion over by man and is as far beyond humans as we are beyond bugs (hey some storms can feel like the Age of Apocalypse is coming) but at the same time the film did look like a bad Twister knockoff.
But to my surprise I actually didn't mind this film for the most part, I enjoyed Armitage in his role and the scenes of the giant storm in action were kinda cool but I also had a couple of problems with the film:
- The first is that the film's climax does get very silly with the Giant Tornado that looked like it was the size of NSW and would surely devour everything in its path but kinda doesn't and as a result I was pulled out of the film by the end.
- The second is that some of the characters seemed utterly clueless at times when it comes to the nature of Thunderstorm systems, at once point one of them goes "But how can a storm system regenerate" or something along those lines and my reply was "Pretty easy sweetheart" as if the place in the path of a storm has enough instability then it can easily fire back up again with the thunder and the lightning and oh god its terrible Feeling that it can generate.
So all in all despite those, I did enjoy Into the Storm but would recommend the Day After Tomorrow instead as that was a more believable film in this field and has much stronger characters but I still hope for the day when a storm front gets the proper dark horror treatment it deserves, 2 out of 5.
You know, part of me was actually looking forward to this movie going into it as I like the idea of a giant storm destroying us all being the subject of a horror type film (this was the same appeal factor that Russel Crowe's Noah had for me) as unlike guys like Mick or Freddy or Jason or Michael there is no bad person to defeat but Mother Nature herself who is malevolent and not easily defeated as she who is eternal can never be claimed Dominion over by man and is as far beyond humans as we are beyond bugs (hey some storms can feel like the Age of Apocalypse is coming) but at the same time the film did look like a bad Twister knockoff.
But to my surprise I actually didn't mind this film for the most part, I enjoyed Armitage in his role and the scenes of the giant storm in action were kinda cool but I also had a couple of problems with the film:
- The first is that the film's climax does get very silly with the Giant Tornado that looked like it was the size of NSW and would surely devour everything in its path but kinda doesn't and as a result I was pulled out of the film by the end.
- The second is that some of the characters seemed utterly clueless at times when it comes to the nature of Thunderstorm systems, at once point one of them goes "But how can a storm system regenerate" or something along those lines and my reply was "Pretty easy sweetheart" as if the place in the path of a storm has enough instability then it can easily fire back up again with the thunder and the lightning and oh god its terrible Feeling that it can generate.
So all in all despite those, I did enjoy Into the Storm but would recommend the Day After Tomorrow instead as that was a more believable film in this field and has much stronger characters but I still hope for the day when a storm front gets the proper dark horror treatment it deserves, 2 out of 5.
Film Review - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
They're the world's most fearsome fighting team,
They're heroes in a half shell and they're green,
But when the Evil Shredder attacks,
These Turtle boys don't cut em no slack.
Going into this film I feared the worst I genuinely did as I was a big fan of the TMNT cartoon series as a kid in the early 90s (I even had one of the Roadshow Home Video releases of that series, Heroes in a Half Shell was the one I had) though the earlier films in live action weren't that great and the omens for this one weren't much better as it was produced by Michael Bay who pretty much gave us the film that never ends in Transformers: Age of Extinction recently then there was the design of the Turtles themselves and the rumours of them being space aliens (I began to call the film Teenage Mutant Zeist Turtles as a result) and finally Megan Fox as April O'Neill, could it become Cowabunga Dudes or a Cowa-Bungle.
Well it was more a case of the Cowa-Bummer as I just could not say this was a very good film and there are a number of reasons for this:
- The first is that the film changes the back-story of the characters quite significantly and I just sat there thinking as those scenes played out "THIS IS NOT HOW IT WENT" and it put me off a lot of the film as I began to not really care about the rest of the film which was pretty much a twisted loveless millionaire wanting to rule the world with the Turtles playing 2nd fiddle, gee that takes me back to the treatment of the Autobots in the Transformers movies then again what else to expect from Bay these days.
- The second is that the Turtles themselves look too bulky and their group dynamic just again didn't feel right, the Turtles in the animated series were a well trained fighting force that got on well as a team and each had a specific feel to them whereas they talk over each other a lot, have interchangeable characterizations and come across as very loud and as a result I didn't really enjoy watching them all that much save for Donatello who comes across as the most well realized of the four.
Splinter and Shredder meanwhile aren't as lucky, for starters neither of them are Japanese which leads back into the changes to the back-story made for this film which made me mad but what felt as bad if not a little bit worse is that Splinter is boring to watch and Shredder looks more like a cross between Megatron and Wolverine plus his voice is the same dark bass voice the Decepticons had the recent Transformers movies, I kept wishing Ken Watanabe was in this film but alas he wasn't.
- Third the action sequences in this film are so overproduced to the point where your head starts spinning as they have that very fast motion crossed with super slow motion and heavy bass on the sound mix and like in Transformers it takes you out of the action and it becomes less exciting to watch.
- And lastly Fox is a complete blank as April and it only seems like she was cast as a fence mending measure by Bay following her comments about him which saw her fired from the Transformers series, I have thought for a long while now that Anne Hathaway would be a great April O'Neill but it's doubtful she would've done it but Fox doesn't even bring anything to the role and give the large focus she has in the film it gets very tiring very quickly.
But there was one bright light in this film (strange to read I know) and that was Will Arnett who tries at least to do something with his role and doesn't always succeed but at least he is trying and has some fun in that Bill Paxton esque way, it's just a pity given his stellar voice work as Batman in the Lego Movie that he isn't used better here.
And yet it didn't have to be this way, the path forward for a Ninja Turtles film for me could not be more clear: You make it fun and light hearted, make Shredder and the Foot Clan the villains, let the Turtles be central to the story and let them play off each other like they did in the cartoon series and you'll have a winner on your hands but instead we get this mediocre trash and it makes me feel very sad saying it.
So all in all, this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is not that great and I just cannot recommend it, it's always a sad feeling when your gut instinct is realized and you just feel horrible afterwards, 1 out of 5.
They're heroes in a half shell and they're green,
But when the Evil Shredder attacks,
These Turtle boys don't cut em no slack.
Going into this film I feared the worst I genuinely did as I was a big fan of the TMNT cartoon series as a kid in the early 90s (I even had one of the Roadshow Home Video releases of that series, Heroes in a Half Shell was the one I had) though the earlier films in live action weren't that great and the omens for this one weren't much better as it was produced by Michael Bay who pretty much gave us the film that never ends in Transformers: Age of Extinction recently then there was the design of the Turtles themselves and the rumours of them being space aliens (I began to call the film Teenage Mutant Zeist Turtles as a result) and finally Megan Fox as April O'Neill, could it become Cowabunga Dudes or a Cowa-Bungle.
Well it was more a case of the Cowa-Bummer as I just could not say this was a very good film and there are a number of reasons for this:
- The first is that the film changes the back-story of the characters quite significantly and I just sat there thinking as those scenes played out "THIS IS NOT HOW IT WENT" and it put me off a lot of the film as I began to not really care about the rest of the film which was pretty much a twisted loveless millionaire wanting to rule the world with the Turtles playing 2nd fiddle, gee that takes me back to the treatment of the Autobots in the Transformers movies then again what else to expect from Bay these days.
- The second is that the Turtles themselves look too bulky and their group dynamic just again didn't feel right, the Turtles in the animated series were a well trained fighting force that got on well as a team and each had a specific feel to them whereas they talk over each other a lot, have interchangeable characterizations and come across as very loud and as a result I didn't really enjoy watching them all that much save for Donatello who comes across as the most well realized of the four.
Splinter and Shredder meanwhile aren't as lucky, for starters neither of them are Japanese which leads back into the changes to the back-story made for this film which made me mad but what felt as bad if not a little bit worse is that Splinter is boring to watch and Shredder looks more like a cross between Megatron and Wolverine plus his voice is the same dark bass voice the Decepticons had the recent Transformers movies, I kept wishing Ken Watanabe was in this film but alas he wasn't.
- Third the action sequences in this film are so overproduced to the point where your head starts spinning as they have that very fast motion crossed with super slow motion and heavy bass on the sound mix and like in Transformers it takes you out of the action and it becomes less exciting to watch.
- And lastly Fox is a complete blank as April and it only seems like she was cast as a fence mending measure by Bay following her comments about him which saw her fired from the Transformers series, I have thought for a long while now that Anne Hathaway would be a great April O'Neill but it's doubtful she would've done it but Fox doesn't even bring anything to the role and give the large focus she has in the film it gets very tiring very quickly.
But there was one bright light in this film (strange to read I know) and that was Will Arnett who tries at least to do something with his role and doesn't always succeed but at least he is trying and has some fun in that Bill Paxton esque way, it's just a pity given his stellar voice work as Batman in the Lego Movie that he isn't used better here.
And yet it didn't have to be this way, the path forward for a Ninja Turtles film for me could not be more clear: You make it fun and light hearted, make Shredder and the Foot Clan the villains, let the Turtles be central to the story and let them play off each other like they did in the cartoon series and you'll have a winner on your hands but instead we get this mediocre trash and it makes me feel very sad saying it.
So all in all, this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is not that great and I just cannot recommend it, it's always a sad feeling when your gut instinct is realized and you just feel horrible afterwards, 1 out of 5.
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