Film Review - Oblivion (2013)

Oblivion stars Tom Cruise as Jack, a drone repair man in what's left of the Earth following a war that destroyed it but one day he sees a ship crash down to the planet with a very familiar face that has been haunting him in his very dreams.

Oblivion is sadly a film of two halves for me, the first half I thought was kind of interesting with its wide visuals, sparse soundtrack and little dialogue calling the shots and giving you everything that you needed to know.

But sadly the film's second half kills it stone dead by turning into a pastiche of most major Sci-Fi films like 2001, Predator, Mad Max, Star Wars and The Terminator to name as examples and as a result the film lost me in a big way to the point where I just switched off from the whole thing and stopped caring about what happened to Cruise's character.

And as for Cruise himself, he's actually not that bad here but he also didn't really grab me either, he just seemed to sit in the middle throughout the film and playing it safe as he has done many times before and as a result you don't really want to get invested in his character or what might happen to him as the film goes on towards its very dull finish.

And so, Oblivion is not a terrible film by any stretch of the imagination but it is also not that good and frankly plays it too safe, its saddens me that in a world where the biggest film of all time "Avatar" is a Sci-Fi flick and yet this is all we get in the aftermath of its enormous success, the fans of this genre myself included deserve much better than films like this, guess you could chalk this one up as my first disappointment of the year folks, 1.5 out of 5.

Film Review - Rise of the Guardians (2012)

Rise of the Guardians is a Dreamworks animation production and stars the voice of Chris Pine as Jack Frost, a young boy gifted with great ice powers but is not believed in by children, then one day he's summoned to the North Pole where Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and the Sandman must band together to fight the Boogeyman (Jude Law) and they'll need Jack's help to stop him.

I really enjoyed Rise of the Guardians, I thought that it handled the characters very well, the mythology around them I thought was well done and it had me interested and I also felt that it actually did feel like it was about children in a way that many animated features aren't and that it handled them in a way that wasn't stereotypical or gimmicky or done for cutesiness which is so often the case when it comes to the use of children in animated films.

I also liked the voice actors for the most part, Jackman and Fisher delivered in their roles and part of me had a bit of a film geek out when Baldwin and Pine were sharing a scene together given that Baldwin did Jack Ryan in "The Hunt for Red October" and Pine is to take over the role in Ken Branagh's reboot at the end of the year.

But sadly however there was one weak link and it was big enough to almost do away with all the good work the film has going for it and that was Law, frankly he is completely miscast in the role and every time he was on screen I kept wishing it was Tom Hiddelston in that role as he would have brought some menace and charm to the part that was lacking, it also would've made that character much more interesting to watch whereas with Law it felt like one celebrity voice too many and it almost killed the film for me.

But hey, the Guardians does deliver the goods and it will be a good watch for families, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

The Perks of being a Wallflower is based off a hit teen novel and stars Logan Lerman as Charlie, a young man starting high school who finds it difficult to make friends after a tragic event the year before but one day he befriends two seniors, Patrick (Ezra Miller) and Sam (Emma Watson) who help to brighten his cloudy high school days.

Perks of being a Wallflower would have to be the best teenage movie to come out since the John Hughes era of the 80's before he moved on to doing kids fare with Uncle Buck in 1989 and why put up that comparison well like those films the three leads and the world they live in feels very real and they themselves feel like real people with real emotions, Watson especially is quite good and it's nice to see her doing a more mature role after the HP series and the chemistry her, Miller and Lerman have is simply wonderful, it made me want to see more from those guys together as they make a very appealing trio.

The film also has a very nice soundtrack to it which makes up for the sometimes worthless orchestral score the film has and it was nice to see actors like Kate Walsh and Dylan McDermott in a film for once.

Sadly though the film has some slight problems in the third act and that is mainly does with the old tried and true technique of having a crisis threaten the relationship of the leads and how it all has to be made right and boy did it make me grumble as I was with the film up to that point, happily though it regained its footing and got back to the strengths of the first 2 acts before the end.

So all in all, The Perks of being a Wallflower was a film I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would despite some storyline stumbles towards the end, it's sad somewhat that there isn't a follow up book after this one as I would've liked to have seen what happened next with these characters but hey if that were to happen then I'd get sick of them after a while so I won't complain, 3 and a half out of 5.

Two of a Kind: Remembering Siskel and Ebert

Some very sad news came my way on Friday morning and that was the death of veteran US film critic Roger Ebert, one half of the Siskel and Ebert film review program he hosted with the late Gene Siskel after a long battle with cancer, he was 70 years old.

I had been aware of Roger's work for a couple of years before fully discovering the Siskel and Ebert program on the show's archive website in 2007-2008, seeing that was like a revelation, it was for me a real sign of how film reviewing was really done, it wasn't done with a sense of pretentiousness, it wasn't done in a way that thumbed its nose at the general movie going public and it wasn't done in a way that made the viewers of their show feel like idiots.

No siree, it was done with passion, wit, honesty and in a plain talking sense that brought in many viewers week after week, both of them also had a great chemistry between them and when they disagreed on a particular film it was like gladiatorial combat, reviews of films like Full Metal Jacket, Rocky IV, Lethal Weapon 3 are some of many examples though they could also really kick a film if they thought it was bad and sing the praises of a good one in unison.

Looking at their show very recently it made me think "I really wish I had a show like this growing up" as I very rarely went to the cinema to see films nor did I get the David and Margaret program which was then on SBS and to have had a show like this one would have been absolute heaven for me and gone a long way to fulfilling my movie going desires at that young age.

Siskel and Ebert were indeed two of a kind and its VERY doubtful that without them and the work they did to make film criticism into a legitimate subject of discussion when it came to talking movies, I doubt it would've become as accepted as it has been today and although attempts were made to replicate that duo after Gene's death in 1999, no one could come close and even our own Margaret and David fine as they are in my view can't hold a candle to these two men.

For the critical difference, it was Siskel and Ebert for me and I can only imagine the bantering that would be going on right now, it would be something very special and it warms my heart somewhat knowing that their partnership is together again and while it is so very sad that they're no longer with us, they're reviews together and the legacy that they've left on so many film reviewers since will always live on.

Film Review - Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

Jack the Giant Slayer is directed by Bryan Singer and is based off the classic "Jack and the Beanstalk" nursery rhyme, this version has Jack (Nicholas Hoult) as a simple farm boy who works the land but up in the skies lie a race of giants, giants who develop a hunger for the humans below.

Where does one begin with this film, well where to start would simply be that the film is simply a complete and utter bore fest from start to finish, the film opens with a narrated thing about the land of the giants and how they invaded and how the last alliance banded together to fight them off, okay the last part didn't happen but it was something similar and it's from there the rot sets in as you just sit there thinking "Been there, done that."

That feeling also extends to the film's characters, Hoult as Jack is an uncharismatic, uninteresting and deadly dull bore in the role and all he does is mumble his line and grin like a little child and its totally uninteresting, not to mention the fact that the character he plays come across as a cardboard clone of Luke Skywalker from Star Wars but without the boyish charm Mark Hamill brought to the role, Eleanor Tomlinson actually comes across as being the best part of the film and has a nice charming quality to her despite getting virtually nothing to do in her role and playing a cardboard clone of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin.

But the biggest waste of all is that of Ewan McGregor, Ian McShane and Stanley Tucci, all three are good actors and have been good on their own in the past but again all they're given is nothing to do, McGregor the brave knight, McShane the old king and Tucci well he seems to playing a cardboard clone of Jafar from Aladdin, the film's special effects work and battle sequences play more like a 2nd rate video game and the use of "Cloister" for the name of the kingdom just made me very angry and it's an insult to the Cat people who worship him and needless to say, they'd be considering legal action if any of them ever saw this film.

As to whether you should see this movie, well you should not, it's boring, the characters are cardboard clones, the action is dull and the story is routine, I honestly thought Bryan Singer was better this, maybe I was wrong, .5 out of 5.

Blu-Ray Review - Aladdin (1992)

The Film:

Released in November of 1992 (June of 1993 in Australian Cinemas, 7 months after the US release date) Aladdin was the first feature by Little Mermaid directors John Musker and Ron Clements since that hit film and concerned a young street boy (street rat as he's called) named Aladdin (voice of Scott Weinger) who wishes for a better life instead of the one he has running from the guards and stealing food to survive, Princess Jasmine meanwhile (voice of Linda Larkin) hates being a cooped up princess inside the palace, when these two meet their entire world will change, for good and for bad.

Aladdin is one of those films that for me is an inspiration, in which that its one of those films I saw at an early age and which inspired me to love movies as much as I do now, heck I can still remember the first time I saw it as if it was yesterday.

The film gets a lot right, the animation is fast and fluid, the songs are great (sadly this would be the last collaboration between Howard Ashman and Alan Menken as Ashman passed away during the early development stages of the film and a lot of his work had to be scrapped though some it survived) and it has a terrific villain in Jafar who almost comes close to stealing the show from Robin Williams as the Genie who's simply on fire here, showing a rapid fire comic energy rarely seen on screen.

But what really stuck out for me as I watched it on Blu was how it crossed the gender divide in a way that most Disney films rarely do, this one is as much for guys as it is gals and for the most part the Disney features are for girls more than they are boys due to them being fairy tales for the most part, this one doesn't do that and as a result it has a much broader audience than most of the company's back catalogue.

And lastly in terms of Jafar, if a live action film is considered, I sincerely hope Tom Hiddleston is cast in the role as some of his scenes in the Avengers last year felt a lot like scenes Jafar might do.

The Video:

Um, Wow.

That pretty much sums it up, this film looks terrific on Blu-Ray, the colors really pop out, the animation style is just glorious and the backgrounds now show off many details none of us ever saw during the film's long shelf life on Video and DVD.

Not much else to say after that so let's move on.

The Audio:

Presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1 sound, Aladdin shines on Blu-Ray in a very nicely balanced sound mix, as with the video transfer you're going to notice things you hadn't until now.

Some of those will be sound effects, the background score during scenes both dialogue and musical numbers and its all presented with a real clarity that makes sure no one element outdoes the other, this is simply a terrific mix that will like its video counterpart really make long standing fans of the film sit up and take notice all over again.

The Extras:

Here's where things get a little more mixed for my liking as while the extras are good, very good even, they're also a little bit of a missed opportunity given Disney's other Blu-Ray work.

All of the extras here are sourced from the excellent 2004 2-Disc DVD release which was widely seen as the best of the Platinum Edition releases next to Snow White so without further ado let's dig in.

Audio Commentary by John Musker, Ron Clements and Amy Pell: One of two commentaries recorded for the 04 DVD, this one is a more straightforward affair that goes into the production of the film, it's an okay commentary but I doubt you would listen to it more than once.

Music Videos: 3 Music Videos appear in this section, all of them also featured on the 04 DVD release.

The first and frankly, the only one you should bother with is the original 1992 "A Whole New World" music video with Regina Belle and Peabo Bryson and its actually my favorite version of the song recorded as it has a nice tone to it whereas the version sung in the film really grated me due to Brad Kane and Lea Salonga's high pitched voices, still it's nice to see this music video on here and its definitely worth checking out.

What isn't worth checking out is the version sung by Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson (pre-divorce days) and the deleted song "Proud of Your Boy" sung by Clay Aiken from American Idol, both are simply a waste of time and should not have been on this disc when much better extras were left off and should've taken their place instead.

Deleted Scenes: 2 Deleted Scenes appear here, both from an earlier version of the film.

The first is a variation of Aladdin and Jasmine's first meeting, this version has him hiding in the Palace Gardens talking to Jasmine below, another big difference is that Aladdin himself is much younger and more of a kid, something that had to be changed for the film itself.

The second is an alternate version of Aladdin enjoying himself in the palace as Prince Ali and in this version Iago is watching the whole thing from the roof whereas in the film he sneaks in when Ali is called away.

2 other big differences in this scene as compared to the one in the film is that the Genie has infinite wishes and Ali's mother is present, the mother was a key character in Ashman's initial conception of the film and had to be cut when his version was scrapped after his death, it's a very nice scene that acts as an alternative to the one in the film.

Deleted Songs: 4 Deleted Songs appear in this section, again from earlier versions of the film.

The first is "Proud of your Boy", a key song by Ashman and Menken that had to be deleted when the mother was removed from the story and the film had to be rethought virtually from scratch, it's a very nice song and Menken does a great rendition of it but it wouldn't have fit in the final film and most likely have slowed things down had it been included, still it's great to see it here and its definitely worth watching more than once.

The second is one of two initial attempts at a song for Jafar when he gets the lamp, the first is "Humiliate the Boy" written by Ashman and Menken and it's a very interesting with some surprisingly dark lyrics at times but it also distracts very heavily from the on screen action though it must be said Jonathan Freeman does a great job with the song and it will definitely excite fans.

The second attempt is "Why Me?" written by Menken and Tim Rice and more closely resembles the final version of the story, it's a good song but like Humiliate the Boy it slows everything down and makes Jafar less menacing and more campy, happily both songs were junked in favor of the reprise of Prince Ali seen in the film and boy does that trump both songs by a fair margin.

The fourth and final one is "You Can Count on Me", the first song Menken wrote for the film after Ashman's death and it shows in the lyrics, it's almost as if Menken was writing it about Ashman, it's probably my favorite of the deleted songs seen here and its definitely worth checking out.

A Diamond in the Rough - The Making of Aladdin: The centerpiece extra from the 04 DVD release, this doco covers almost everything you could want to know about the making of the film.

And it was a ride far from certain, for instance a lot of the early work Ashman had done had to be scrapped save for a couple of his songs already written, the design of Aladdin himself had to be changed completely, the film had to be rethought virtually from scratch and it all had to be done in a year and a half to make its release date, talk about down to the wire and full speed ahead.

And yet as some of the animators say in the doco, it doesn't show in the film at all and they're right, the final film feels effortless despite the long hard journey it went through in production.

What's Missing Here:

Sadly some of the key extras from the DVD release are missing on this Blu-Ray release notably:

- A second commentary track by animators Andreas Deja, Will Finn, Glen Keane and Eric Goldberg
- A "You Talking to Me: The Voices of Aladdin" featurette from the doco
- A featurette on Alan Menken
- A featurette on some of the art designs for the film
- Theatrical Trailer

And I really wish they were here instead of the Lachey/Simpson and Clay Aiken music videos as they help to complete the package of extras created for the film's DVD release from 04.

But what I really wish was here on this Blu-Ray release along with those missing extras mentioned above were some new extras as Disney have always done this with the Blu-Ray releases of their animated movies for the most part as well as porting over the DVD extras already created.

Some of those would be the additional songs Ashman and Menken wrote in their initial score for the film that were later scrapped but then released on a CD box set in 94 and were:

- High Adventure: A terrific song that was scrapped when the story was rewritten and when I first heard it I couldn't get it out of my head, this song was released on the Special Edition CD soundtrack but shamefully not on DVD or Blu-Ray and boy does that make me sad as its one of my favorite songs ever written by Ashman and Menken.

- Babkak, Omar, Aladdin, Kassim: A jumpy tune that helped to inspire "One Jump Ahead" in the final film, this deals with Aladdin and his three friends working the streets of Baghdad (I'm not joking, its mentioned in the lyrics), it's a nice breezy tune but am not surprised it was scrapped.

- Call me a Princess: Wow is this something and not necessarily in a good way, it's a song for Jasmine who never got one of her own in the film and its all wrong for her character as she comes across as a real brat instead of the headstrong take no crap character we got, frankly I'm glad it was deleted.

- How Quick they Forget: An interesting song about the breakup of the 4 friends mentioned above, the lyrics in the song are interesting and it's a good song but it's also a somewhat lengthy one at about 4 minutes and would've probably slowed the film down had it remained.

- Arabian Nights Reprises: As mentioned in the Musker and Clements commentary track, the opening song Arabian Nights was initially broken up into stanza's.

The first reprise like the others were fairly short and intended to be sung by the narrator who opens the final film, the first reprise is interesting in that it reveals the name of the Sultan while the second and third sort of try to move the story along at key points though given what they reveal it shows a very different sequence of events to the one shown in the final film.

The fourth and final reprise was later used for the 1996 DTV sequel The King of Thieves, the reprise would've worked much better here and would've served as a better ending to the film instead of the reprise of "A Whole New World" we got instead plus it would've brought the narrator back into the film as he disappears after opening it which is a shame but these things happen.

In terms of how these reprises might have worked in the film well as I said the final reprise would've worked just fine but the others were scrapped for a reason as like a lot of these songs initially written, they would've slowed the film down and put in a song moment simply for the sake of having one there.

What would've also been great is an interview with Robin Williams talking about his experiences of making the film given that he's opened up about it a bit more since the DVD release in 04 as well as a more detailed featurette about the initial version Ashman helped write which had the mother in it as well as Al's three buddies mentioned above.

Then again, with Disney in the US planning to do a Blu-Ray release sometime next year (they were going to do a Diamond Edition release this year but decided to do Peter Pan instead) maybe those complaints will be wished away but in that regard we'll just have to wait and see.

The Verdict:

Aladdin gets a great Blu-Ray release with terrific A/V quality and very good extras despite some setbacks in that department, this is absolutely worth the money and fans shouldn't hesitate to go out and grab it.

Film Review - The Croods (2013)

The Croods stars Emma Stone as the voice of Eep, a young girl who lives with her family called the Croods as they try to survive the world around them that wants to pick them off, but a chance encounter with a young boy named Guy (voice of Ryan Reynolds) could change everything about their world.

It is fair to say that I went into the Croods with very mixed expectations, I wasn't sure what the film would be like but the preview I saw back in January was promising, mainly due to Stone who has really come into her own as an actress, so was it worth the cinema dollars?

Well, sort of, the film is far from terrible don't get me wrong and there are things that I do like about it, mainly Stone's vocal work which really helps to lift the film as a whole and I even enjoyed Reynolds and Nic Cage in their vocal roles, Reynolds still has a very long way to go if he is to impress me as the new Connor MacLeod but here I thought he was pretty good which is something I very rarely say about him or Cage.

But alas, the film is also merely okay with a lot of it feeling like individual moments that shine but they fail to come together to create the satisfying whole in a way that the DVD animated movie "Justice League Doom" did and as for the visuals well they're pretty good but they also reminded me very much of Avatar in that you have the exotic rainforest, the wild flowers and the big creatures with one creature in particular very much reminding me of the Thanator beast from Cameron's film.

And as for the 3D well it's just dark, really dark even and as with 99.9% of most 3D visuals, doesn't add anything to the experience, this will be much better seen in 2D but then again so are most 3D films with Avatar being the exception.

So all in all the Croods is okay but it also reflects what has been a very weak start to the year in films so far this year, it's a shame that this will most likely be the only major kids film to be screened in cinemas over the holidays, surely the youth deserve better than this but then again Aladdin is out on DVD and that is worth your money more than this film is, 2 out of 5.