Reviews - 01/05/2008
Iron Man!!
It's been a while since I did a review so, Ladies and Gentlemen I give you.....
Iron Man:
So it's May kids, you know that means blockbusters annnnnd comic movie time! Hurray and Huzzah etc Now last year I'm sure you will all remember that for the most part the blockbusters and comic movies were a little.... disappointing (puts the nice hat on), so does that mean that this year will be a turn around and wipe 2007 from our minds?
On the lists so far we have Iron Man, Dark Knight, Incredible Hulk, Speed Racer and various others and they all look pretty good really.
To say that Iron Man has started off the summer movie season pretty well would be a little short of understatement, this is a far superior effort to that of Spider-Man 3. Quick caption synopsis, Tony Stark - Merchant of Death weapons manufacturer - is kidnapped and forced to create a missile for nasty terrorist types, he declines and makes a big robot. Violence enschews. Realistically theres more to it than that but that'll get most people interested as long as they aren't retarded.
It covers a slightly revised version of the origins of Iron Man, updating it to Afghanistan (where else) rather than Vietnam. In some places they could have probably done with minor rewrites, such as how Tony Stark and his fellow prisoner manage to contruct Mk1 without their captors shooting them on the spot, it was obvious to all but them that Stark was up to no good.
It's kind of rare to see a cast and not really be able to pick out someone who shouldn't be there, Iron Man has managed it. Robert Downey Jr is the quintessential Tony Stark, after seeing this I can't think of anyone out there better suited and that's a hard thing to do when it comes to comic fans, you can never please us with casting. Gwyneth Paltrow is exactly what Mary Jane should have been in Spider-Man, tall, attractive, slinky and red haired, not short dumpy and a grouch - Sorry Kirsten -. Pepper Potts and Stark have a wonderful chemistry and their burgeoning attraction is handled in a similarly wonderful fashion while Jeff Bridges slimes and gruffs his way around the pair of them.
Iron Man rolls on at a gentle pace over it's 2 and a quarter hour run time, it's not in any particular rush but it doesn't drag by the time you reach the end scene you do think 'where did the time go'. At the same time there does seem to be a little bit of a lack of build up to the robo-battle-of-doom, it's still fairly impressive don't get me wrong but I think I would have liked to have seen more of Iron Man in solo action. Though saying that when you first get to see Iron Man MkIII I was in a near giggling geek state, it does look fantastic and that's not surprising seeing as the film had atleast five effects companies working for them including ILM and Stan Winston. That's a hell of a line up and it should be due to how the film has to look and thankfully they deliver (Incredible Hulk take note!).
I'm trying to decide if I like what they've done to Jarvis or not, gone is the faithful butler we all know and now Jarvis is a semi AI creation that helps Stark with his designs. It took Stark calling the system Jarvis twice for me to catch on and in all but physical attributes it is Jarvis, right down to the extremely well spoken butler voice. But I'm not sure if it was the right choice though it does work.
There's little in my book to pick on the film, it would have been nice if some of the better moments didn't feature in the trailer, it takes the surprise and ooooo factor away from them. Thats a standard Hollywood trailer approach these days so it's not that big a surprise I guess.
Oh and by the way, stay till the end of the credits you won't be disappointed!
9/10
Reviews - 27/02/2008
Juno
Saw this one last week, theres been a mention on the forum about it already so i have a feeling you know what the storyline is about and if you don't look it up on the thread. Juno is a film about contradictions and opposites attracting. From the stripper turned Oscar winning screenwriter to the differing maturity levels of the film it comes across as if the film isn't entirely sure who it's aiming at, while this is a criticism of a lot of films, here it works. Because the story centres around a now pregnant 16 year old girl who decides to give the child up, the maturity level would seem to be fairly high. Juno herself is a smart, grown up and witty young lady and is a direct contradiction to the stereotype that we all know and laugh about, though at the same time she can be a bit on the naive side when it comes to the big wide world. This strikes a cord because it's true, the majority of the teenagers we have now are fairly smart and worldly but at the same time because of their lack of experience there is distinct naivety that comes with it. For Juno she does the standard young thing of not appreciating just how easy it is to get pregnant at times and she also doesn't quite understand the dynamic of a marriage and how it can look when a younger woman keeps popping into the equation. She realises this nearly a little too late and in a scene that could have sent the film downhill rapidly, Cody Diablo (script writer) manages to avoid the obvious and rather boring plot tangent.
There are other contradictions and examples of opposites attracting here though, particularly in the realms of relationships. Junos would be squeeze is exceptionally indecisive, so much so that nearly every character in the film makes a comment about it. The surrogate couple in the piece manage to be the opposite ends of the scale in how they live their lives, the soon to be father is a relaxed, old rock fan whereas the soon to be mother in an unusual turn for Jennifer Garner is very much a repessive and slightly obsessive character. Yet these two people are married.
It's in these contradictions that Juno manages to display a very life like and real story which so many comedys or teenage flicks tend to completely miss. None of these characters ramble on with the self awareness of Dawsons Creek or live the cushy lives that we've seen in 10 Things I hate about You or The OC and it's something that has been missing from American film for a long time, we are all bored of the perfect pretty people who can sprout off about Marx and Plato on a whim.... We want real characters that we all understand so that we can get a different perspective on a certain issue or story.
For me the end of a film can be the make or break of it as I highlight in Jumper, with many films I've seen the ending doesn't always live up to the rest of the film. Juno is a happy exception, it stays true to the rest of the film and even manages to surprise us a little, but the scene of Bleeker and Juno on the hospital bed and then the final scene with the two of them are nothing short of heart warming and it was nice to leave the film with a warm chest.
8.5/10
Jumper
Doug Liman has in recent years gone from being a practically unknown director to having a bit of a following. In 2002 he launched a film that was expected to be a dramatic flop due to it's C List star and various production issues including re-shoots (Which by film lore is a sure sign of a bad film). This film was The Bourne Identity and instead of flopping, it managed to reinvigorate Matt Damons career, launch Limans career, spawn two sequels (and a third sequel has been announced). Liman followed this up with Mr and Mrs Smith, which ended up as a fun action movie without quite the depth that Bourne had. So to Jumper we turn and find an interesting storyline (though Brits may find it similar to the Tomorrow People) with a good cast to back it up, so far standard Liman. Also standard Liman is the fact that there were serious production issues, namely after the costs spiralled the original two leads were replaced with Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson.
For those who don't know, in the film 'Jumpers' are people who can teleport to different places by sheer force of will, the word Jumper is used due to the method they actually move via the 'Jump scars', it looks like an over exaggerated step. This adds a nice little style to the movement of the character as they move through space and makes it all feel a little more real. Surprisingly the acting is all pretty good and anyone remember Christensens turn as Anakin Skywalker may be expecting more cringe worthy dialogue, thankfully that seems to be limited to George Lucas' scripts. The Paladins are the bad guys of the piece and are out to exterminate 'Jumpers' because of their religious belief that only God should be in all places (Though these people are only in one place at a time, since when we did we start hunting people for driving or getting a plane?!), which comes across as a flimsy reasoning and possibly a little tactless with the addition of the religion issue. The technology they use to catch the Jumpers is fairly interesting and while a little far-fetched we aren't getting into Star Trek territory, it's also brutal in it's own way.
The film industry is having a hard time doing right by me when it comes to it's run times because films seem to be getting a little bit too long at times and then others are a little too short. Jumper is one of the latter, the first hour moves along at a decent pace without going to quick or slow, but then the last half an hour seems somewhat rushed. Almost as if the studio execs turned around and demanded that 10-20 minutes be cut, so now all the resolutions seem very unfinished. This could probably lead to sequel type stuff but I felt that they could have rounded it off and still left follow on material. That is probably my only major gripe with the film otherwise it's a fun action movie that does what it says on the tin.
6.5/10
Reviews - 12/02/2008
Monsters Ball:
An Oscar winner amongst other awards, promised by many to be a very poignant and emotional film, so why has it taken me this long to watch it? Sometimes it's best to let the hype around a film settle before you watch it otherwise it can suffer from the hype and be a disappointment, of course as time goes on other films come out and we get side tracked. So eventually I got around to watching this film and I was very surprised, I hadn't expect it to pull me into the story and hold my attention as much as it did. Monsters Ball is an emotional rollercoaster in it's own right though it does find it very hard to move out of the more negative feelings while it's aiming for redemption. The main characters played by Billy Bob Thornton (at his most stolic) and Halle Berry would be completely unrelated except for convicts execution that Thornton watches over as he is a prison officer. This convict happens to be Berry's husband and his death leaves her and her young alone struggling to survive against America's tough financial climate. The film takes a few unexpected turns particularly in relation to Thorntons son played by Heath Ledger (in a role that more than likely got him the part in Brokeback Mountain) and the effects these events have on Thorntons character. Thornton is the epitomy of the deep American south stereotype, racist, unemotional, stuck in their ways and generally not nice to be around. However the major events of the film slowly have a positive effect on him and these are shown without some big moment of self-awareness but with a slow and patient move towards a better lifestyle.
The most surprising thing about the whole film is Halle Berry, this is the film she won an Oscar for, yes the same Halle Berry who starred in Catwoman, the same woman who for the most part can't seem to act her way out of a paper bag. And to a certain degree it's understandable, she is fairly good in this, the emotions are strong and clear and shes lucky in that there is a lot to work with. There are still better actresses out there but this is a good turn for her, and the real shame is that she hasn't really followed it up with anything of equal stature. Her role in X-Men doesn't seem to stretch her at all and Catwoman, well that's all we need to say. Without her son though, Berrys character would have been far less interesting, through her son we see that Berry is a loving mother but that she is so emotionally over-burdened that she lashes out unexpectedly and shockingly, she is the pin up of the struggling parent living on the bread-line.
While I'll try not to spoil the ending of the film, I think it's important to note that one of the things I like most about Monsters Ball is that the ending stayed true to the feel of the latter half of the film. It would have been very easy to have built the characters so much and then let the last event pull them back ten steps (The event is fairly easy to guess at while watching the film). A lot of movies out there seem to be going for the bleak and disturbing ending and it's nice to be reminded that sometimes things don't turn out all that bad.
8/10
Reviews - 04/02/2008
Soooo some new movies for the week, been a bit of a busyish one so took a while to watch the first film.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford:
In fact it took three days to watch this, not due to any problem with the film just time kept on running out but we finished it sunday night. It's one of those films that has some big names in it, a little known director and was big at the festivals last year. Generally for good reason, the film is a technical masterpiece and an acting masterclass, there are few films and few actors that could mould such a distasteful character as Robert Ford is shown to be. Casey Affleck in a well deserved Oscar Nominated role is pure as the slimey, childish, dispicable, empty and down-trodden Robert Ford, the character is almost to much to be believable even in a fictional sense. Right up till the moment that gives the film it's title there is no love in this piece for Ford and it tries to draw none from the audience. The writers and directors have chosen their side in effect and have run with it. Had it not been for Brad Pitt then Affleck would have stolen the entire show but the title character in his paranoid and insane glory is one of Pitts best roles and lets be honest he's had some good ones. It's his sharp and sudden outbursts of maniacal laughter that really sum up the state of mind that James has entered into but that contrasts so sharply with how he ultimately meets his end. The insanity gone and a calm almost serenity seems to befall the man.
Jesse James is a sharp contrast to Andrew Dominik's first film Chopper but both films do skim the edge of sanity in a similar fashion and both films feature a piercing lead that begs to be watched. Dominiks choice of the tone for the film is exceptional, the lack of colour, the slightly disjointed flow and the music which never has a major note (this is the kind of film Nick Cave is made for) all together make this a stark realisation of Jesse James' final days. But it's this stark vision that can make the film hard to get a grip on, or pull yourself into. So detached from humanity it is almost alien in it's movement, it is not a film that can be considered an easy watch, the depictions of the characters will draw an emotional response from you whether it's sadness, respect or disgust as the final frame is played.
7/10
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
You know it's going to be fairly good when you have Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, blood, olde London, singing and a barbers blade as the centre piece for a film and what a tragedy the film is..... No not in the bad sense, well atleast not for us. The sixth collaboration between Burton and Depp is as good as ever and what's impressive is that the style of film is very much outside of their normal comfort zone. Yes there is the standard Burton gothic edge to everything and that gothic edge is used to the extreme with the 19th Century London that barely seems to escape gloom regardless of the time of day and yes its Depp acting a slightly unhinged persona. The big difference I'm sure you've guessed is that Depp is singing and Burton is doing theatre, not your average gothic movie. This is the kind of thing that could have gone very very wrong but they've pulled it off, from the first moment when Depp opens his mouth in a cockney singing tone to the closing tragic shot the whole thing works. Americans doing english accents are traditionally sketchy at best, add in the singing part of that and it would normally be as bad as Brad Pitt in The Devils Own (1997), but Depp pulls it off. He really is the mentally wounded barber who had his whole life stolen from him by a corrupt judge played by Alan Rickman. Rickman in a restrained role considering the rest of the film is part of a small but varied cast, besides the three leads we're treated to Timothy Spall exuding his slimey elegance with a cane, Baron Sacha Cohen as a rival barber and Anthony Stewart Head in an exceptionally short role. All very British which is a fine thing to see.
The vast majority of the theatre music and lyrics have survived to the silver screen though a few parts were removed as Burton thought they were too theatrical, being honest I'm not entirely sure what he means by that especially considering the rest of the film! Good old fashioned bloody, gore and singing... what a package.
8/10
Cloverfield:
One thing you have to give JJ Abrams credit for is that he does get involved in a variety of projects, Spy genre, Sci-Fi, Mystery and Monster. And he also has the good sense to admit when he can't give enough time to a project and leaves some of the main duties to someone else so the film is made to a good standard. With Cloverfield Abrams couldn't dedicate all the time it required as he was prepping the new Star Trek movie so he gave the directorial duties to his friend Matt Reeves who has previously mainly worked on tv shows. Not the best move you may be mistakenly thinking but thankfully you are wrong, Reeves and Abrams have managed to make the film that Emmerich's Godzilla wished it could be. Cloverfield named for the Boulevard where Bad Robots offices are located manages to be a tense, tragic and interesting monster movie in a genre that has lost most of its previous flair. A fairly widely known fact before the film was released was that it's done from the point of view of a character holding a home video camera, this has been compared to the likes of Blair Witch Project but the major difference here is that Cloverfield is actually a good film. Having the camera being held by Hud for the majority of the film while he follows his friend Rob - who is going to find his leading lady that has been trapped somewhere in the city following the attack on New York - is fairly unusual in it's execution. The idea is to bring the audience directly down to what everyday Joe and Josephine would do if/when a major attack of any kind happened, the film does this by using standard archetypes, the nervous wreak, the focused leader and the rambling twerp (Hud in this case) who doesn't know when to shut up. Speaking of Hud he is really very annoying and could have done with being snuffed from this mortal coil. While these characters are archetypes they are used to good effect in investigating the range of emotions that people go through during devastating circumstances, we've all heard of the five stages of grief, well I'm sure there are a set of stages linked to this kind of situation. Though the use of the home video equipment lends a different style to the nightmare that unfolds, it does contrast strongly with how we expect films to be shot and thus what we expect to see. There is a scene when the gang of main characters get caught in the crossfire between the Army and the threat, Hud has taken cover behind a car while the others are across the street. Hud looks over at the threat a few times but mainly keeps his focus on his friends, for me this was slightly infuriating as I was expecting/wanting to see more of what was going on around them and not be stuck staring at the cowering New York citizens, but then thats the point of the scene I guess, if you're ducking for your life you're not necessarily going to turn and watch the chaos unfold.
An unusual instance for a monster film is that there are scenes which are genuinely nerve racking or maybe scary, a scene in the Underground tunnels is used to impressive effect with the extreme lack of light except for the video camera light, it reminds us that what we don't appreciate is that we rarely experience true darkness these days as everywhere is lit up by something inside the house or in the street. The film obviously throws up a few comparisons with 9/11 with the suddenness of what happens and the destruction that is caused, to dwell on the potential meanings of the similarities is to rob the film of it's impact especially when you see the cause. Having said that I'm sure it's still stung pretty close to the American memory and more than likely has helped it's box office gross with people not necessarily wanting to see it happen again but maybe trying to come to terms with the possibility that it may just do so.
9/10
Aliens vs Predator - Requiem:
This will be a short one as it doesn't really require a long article to discuss it. As I'm sure some of you will have read on this here forum, my views of the last AvP film and the prospect of this sequel were somewhere disparaging, severely hinting that I don't agree with the way they've done them. Some said I was being overly harsh.... well you were wrong. AvP Requiem is one thing we really could have done without, the scripting is awful - "People have died.... We need guns!" a line that is said with as much wood as it is written with - , the acting is on par with that, the amount of sense certain parts of it make, rival that thinking Batman and Robin needed more glowsticks and we have been introduced to Hollywoods newest crap directors the Strause Brothers.... Come on guys take up your positions with Paul WS Anderson and Uwe Boll. The Strause Brothers and the rest of the hackneyed crew that worked on this have managed to make a worse film than AvP though you would be forgiven if you didn't agree with this, but I think I have worked out why... Its because the film is actually quite amusing, some of the dialogue is so badly acted out and thought out that it requires hearty laugh to get through it. Imagine this, you've just seen your husband/wife being mauled by an Alien beast, so you sweep up your daughter and run out of the house - Note you don't give a second thought to dying husband/wife - . You then manage to hook up with a gang of people in a sports shop, live through another attack and when it all settles someone asks you 'Are you alright' and your response is.... 'Its been a rough night' without a hint of irony or mourning for dead husband/wife. It really does have to be seen to be believed. Actually no... don't bother, if you want comedy watch Superbad, Spaceballs or Knocked up but hey at least some of the SFX are ok. Save yourself the wasted time and don't see AvP-R..... Film makers take note leave our favourite characters and film series ALONE! I'm just glad I didn't pay to see it.
2/10