12A - 105mins - Action/Drama/Sci-Fi - 11th August 2011
It's been 10 years since the last Planet of the Apes film and looking back, it is fair to say that the years have not treated it too well- the ape costumes are verging on amusing rather than scary. This latest reboot brings us an origins story painting a picture of the beginning of the end for the human race and the start of dominance for the apes on Earth. They have brought back this franchise again with a movie that isn't really part of said franchise. All other Planet of the Apes movies are set on a mystical planet whereas this is set on present day Earth and as such, although I understand why they did it (money money money), would have been better to disassociate with the Planet of the Apes brand.
Will Rodman (James Franco) is a researcher for a pharmaceutical company working on a cure for Alzheimer's- a disease close to his heart due to his father's (John Lithgow) battle with the disease. When his leading test subject breaks free and 'goes ape' she is put down along with the rest of the project. However Will discovers she was only protecting her newborn child who he takes home and raises as part of his family. It soon becomes apparent that the drugs subjected to the baby chimp's mother have been genetically passed on to him gifting the ape with extremely high levels of intelligence.
12A - 130mins - Adventure/Drama/Fantasy - 15th July 2011
So 14 years after the adventure first began it is finally over and we wave goodbye to the world of Harry Potter and Co. I would be lying if I personally thought that was the case- I would not be surprised to see Rowling bring back some of the characters in one shape or another in the coming years. I recently watched the previous 7 films in a marathon effort so to see mini reviews for all of them check out my article here.
Hopefully everyone is aware of the storyline by now but for the nomads amongst us the eighth and final installment sees Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) along with his friends take on the evil wizard Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). In order to give themselves a fighting chance they have to hunt down the remaining Horcruxes before Harry can square up against him for the last time.
Strange one this. Augusten Burroughs (Joseph Cross) was born into a dysfunctional family. With his father (Alec Baldwin) an alcoholic and a mentally unstable mother (Deirdre- Annette Bening) living in a delusional world where her belief that she has what it takes to become the world's greatest poet is only surpassed by attempts to achieve this goal, it's unsurprising to find that Augusten's life has been impacted greatly from a young age.
As he grows into a teenager, Deirdre signs him away into the custody of her shrink, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox) an equally eccentric man who it seems treats his children as more of an experiment than an actual family. From here, instead of normality, Augusten has leapt from the proverbial frying pan into an immensely large fire. He befriends the two daughters, Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood) as well as Neil (Joseph Fiennes) the most damaged of all of Finch's children.
If I'm honest, I'm not sure exactly what to make of this film. It seems intentionally set out to confuse the viewer but then deals with some serious topics amongst all of this. Each individual character is damaged and has serious character flaws that need to be addressed, some more than others. Although I have never read the book of the same name, I hear it sticks to the content closely and is all based on the real life events (I'm assuming more in part than in full) of Augusten. Despite this, because of its tendency to be so random and with so many things going on it is hard to ground yourself and actually believe that these are real people and not just extreme characters. This made it hard to relate with the characters.
15 - 107mins - Drama/Thriller - 19th September 2008
A foreign film today all the way from Germany that takes a look into autocracy and dictatorship but with a slight twist- it is set in a school.
Loosely based on the true experiment undertaken by a history teacher in the USA during 1967 which was then written as a book, the film follows unorthodox high school teacher Rainer Wenger (Jürgen Vogel) as he is forced to teach autocracy rather than his preferred choice of anarchy during a school project week in modern day Germany. Deciding that a more hands on approach would help stimulate the uninterested students, he engages with his class in an attempt to show that under certain circumstances the potential for a dictatorship is not as far fetched as some of the students believe it to be. He is elected as a leader by the class and begins to enforce the rules required for an autocracy. The students take to the project emphatically and the experiment soon begins to spiral out of control.
Parts of the film shout out stereotypical teen school and if anything the social groupings are played upon even more than usual as the writers use these differences to enhance the eventual unity that is required for a dictatorship to form. They are not necessarily exaggerated but we are continually reminded 'look, these kids are different from those ones' when this fact is rather obvious from the start and does not need emphasis.
15 - 141mins - Action/Adventure/Drama - 6th May 2011
Being the film buff that I like to pretend I am, I am still yet to see Akira Kurosawa'sSeven Samurai- a work that has supposedly spawned many films since and is widely regarded as one of the first films to introduce plot structures such as recruiting a group of characters to to accomplish a specific goal and having a main hero undertake a task unrelated to the main plot. 13 Assassins leans on this movie which it has clearly been influenced by.
The story follows the efforts of a group of samurai as they aim to assassinate the evil Lord Naritsugu (Gorô Inagaki) whose malevolence and monstrosities against his people know no bounds. Unable to touch Naritsugu due to his links with the former and current shogun , a senior politician realises that he has to be stopped before he obtains a higher rank and becomes an even more dangerous threat. He secretly enlists the help of a trusted samurai Shinzaemon Shimada (Kôji Yakusho) to gather a group of samurai together with the task of eliminating Naritsugu.
Despite me not being the best judge of the way of the samurai, I was not born in the 1840's in Japan, I felt that 13 Assassins portrayed what it could well have been like during that time. Setting the film in a time of relative peace was a good choice as it meant many of the samurai had no real life combat experience or know-how which gave them more depth- they are trained killing machines and yet for some of them, they have never even killed.
The main draw of this movie is the combat sequences and action shots which are impressive to say the least. The whole movie is basically enacting out one long battle scene with the first half setting up the characters and the last hour being dedicated to the massive battle scene. There is quite a bit of gore to keep an eye out for in both the fighting scenes and others with many limbs being severed and plenty of guts on show. The fighting scenes are well done although if I had to find fault, I would say at points it did feel as it the samurai were fighting wave after wave of enemies leading to it feeling a bit 'samey' and instead of heading straight for Naritsugu the samurai felt compelled to slash their way through the footmen first when they could have gone for him straight away. But that's just me nitpicking.
The number of unfamiliar Japanese names being mentioned along with the fact that the samurai are all wearing similar attire and have the same haircut whilst having to spend time reading subtitles rather than watching can lead to some confusion. This does fall away though while the movie progresses as the characters take on more individual personalities especially within the samurai group.
Credit must go to director Takashi Miike who not only has created a beautiful movie in terms of cinematography and direction but also has brought the honour, tradition and way of life of the samurai and Japanese culture to the viewer in emphatic fashion. Awesome fight scene, solid acting and the ability to not shy away from the gore lead me to give this a...
O and prepare to be befuddled for a bit at the end as well!
You may have noticed that another month has flown by so get ready for my preview of July's releases [my article] where there are many films that will be hitting the screens and by and large, most of them look quite good! Until then...
Farm
Are you fanatical about film? Then follow this site on Twitter @ FAbFilms
15 - 101mins - Comedy/Crime/Drama - 5th April 1996
Heading back a few years this time to bring you an interesting little film I stumbled upon on the tele-box a few weeks back. To be honest, this is how I find most of the less well known films that I watch with some turning into real gems and others making me wish I had turned over after 5 minutes. I've always had a problem of having to see a film through to the end though no matter how terrible it is. (Not completely true as once even my obsession was cut short as the film was just that bad- problem is if you ever want to find out which one that was then I'm going to have to watch all of it, something I don't have the desire to do just yet).
Swimming With Sharks is set in the cut throat world of the film industry although this doesn't dictate the plot as much as you might think. It follows Guy (Frank Whaley) who is a clean-shaven enthusiastic new recruit into this unique world landing himself a job as the personal assistant to Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey) an expletive throwing repugnant studio executive whose addition to your CV opens every door imaginable but is counteracted so much by his demeanour that many would find it not worth the trouble.
Guy seems to have the determination to see it through helped by script writer and love interest Dawn (Michelle Forbes) but after working for the man for over a year, cracks begin to surface and Guy is finally pushed too far showing up at Buddy's home in the middle of the night intent on revenge. What plays out over the 100 minutes is a mixture between the past year of his life and the present unfolding situation.
This was George Huang's first (and it would seem only notable) foray into the world of writing and directing and credit must be given to him. The script is impressive with Whaley engrossing himself into the character topped only by Spacey's exceptional performance where he looks set to star in a similar, albeit toned down, role in the up and coming comedy Horrible Bosses next month. He not only excels in many of his 'throwing a tantrum' scenes but somehow brings sympathy and compassion to a character that we should not feel anything for. Even when being held hostage he emits a certain smug arrogance that would be misplaced in any other character apart from this one.
I felt conflicted given the knowledge at the beginning that Guy kidnaps his boss. It somewhat limits the sympathy you can show towards him regardless of finding out what Buddy did to drive him to such lengths.
I wouldn't class this as a comedy per say as this is not going to have you laughing a great deal but rather an extremely dark satire of life in Hollywood and the means required to keep your head above the water. It shows us that the calling of the bright lights can change a man with only a few have what is required to make it. Add all of this together to an unexpected ending and it makes for an interesting watch.
Yes there are moments where I felt things were not quite working and the relationship between Dawn and Guy lacked that believability factor but Swimming With Sharks certainly made the time fly and has enough to keep it fresh in the mind for a couple of days at the very least.
12A - 103mins - Comedy/Drama/Romance - 6th May 2011
As I've already mentioned before, living up to my stereotype, I'm not the biggest romcom fan your ever going to meet but there are some out there that I enjoy, some I can grit my teeth through and the rest I tend to avoid. I always find it's very hit and miss with what particular type your going to get from viewing the trailer alone so it was with a sense of hope that I'd chosen one of the better ones.
Something Borrowed follows Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) as she meets Dex (Colin Egglesfield) at university where they become best friends with feelings clearly developing but neither of them acting on said feelings. So when Rachel's best friend the selfish and obnoxious Darcy (Kate Hudson) shows up and asks Dex out, Rachel gives her blessing, Dex says yes and several years later they are engaged to be married.
This leaves Rachel distraught for letting Dex slip through her fingers and with the cowardly and wimpish Dex (I'm sure just what ladies look for in a man) still conflicted as to what to do next. After Rachel's birthday celebrations though, she and Dex end up sleeping together and supposed hilarity ensues as they try yet again ignore the chemistry between them and just let life run its course.
Thank god for Ethan (John Krasinski) Rachel's friend who gave a voice of reason to proceedings by at least attempting to beat some sense into the main characters who seemed to be oblivious to everything around them. I think my main fault with the movie was the storyline and the way we are supposed to feel for Rachel despite the fact that she didn't make a go of it with Dex, everything that happened to her was self inflicted and she has slept with her best friend's fiancé; and given that Darcy isn't a very nice person to say the least that either of them hung around with her in the first place.
The supporting cast outside the four main characters didn't add to the film in any way shape or form. With some movies you get the token celebrities who show up for 10 seconds, say a line and then leave again and this is how the rest of the cast felt to me for the entire movie. They were just written in for one line and then would disappear never to be seen or heard from again.
Apart from a few witty remarks here and a bit of slapstick, there was not much comedy in the film with the overall feel of it leaning more towards a drama with a bit of comedy rather than the other way around which I feel is the better mix for this genre. There was nothing wrong with the acting with Goodwin and Egglesfield doing their jobs and creating some chemistry but it was merely a minor consolation which can't cover up the rest of the issues highlighted.
As romcom's go this was one of the worse that I've seen so much so that even if your an avid fan of this type of movie you'll have a hard time getting any pleasure out of watching it. Time to forget about this and move onto another one.
The last time I cried in any movie was a few years back at the end of The Green Mile and that was a good 5 plus years ago and the time before that was probably The Lion King when I was 7 so it's fair to say that it's quite rare for me to get all emotional during a film. This film though had me blubbering like a schoolgirl who had just lost her favourite teddy.
Dear Zachary follows the true story of Andrew Bagby, a medical resident who was murdered in 2001 shortly after having broken up with his girlfriend Shirley. She then announces she's pregnant with Andrew's child which leads his closest friend Kurt Kuenne to make a film about Andrew as a gift to the child so he will know what his father was like whilst he was alive.
The documentary jumps between these past events and the present in real time so we find out what is unfolding at the same time as the family and friends. The film can be very fast paced and a bit full on especially at the start but this tends to immerse you into the life of Andrew and his family and you become one of them rather than this approach inhibiting the story. There is a lot of focus on Andrew's parents, Kathleen and David, as they go through the emotions of not only coming to terms with the loss of their child but also the challenges in seeking justice for the murderer and fighting for the right with Shirley to see their grandchild.
This movie perfectly sums up an emotional roller coaster ride as the emotions I felt varied wildly from sadness to anger, frustration, hope, inspiration, humour and everything in between whilst watching it. I found it even more intense because I knew nothing about the case or this movie coming into it and I recommenced that if you can keep curiosity under control (don't even watch the trailer below) to watch it without prior knowledge of what happened, hence why this review might be slightly vague in places.
The fact the documentary is personal to Kuenne brings about a certain objectivity that could not be achieved by another film maker. We get an insight into their life as they grew up in the form of home made movies they did together and family occasions. In some cases this is beneficial as he knows his subject matter better than anyone while in others it's less so as we meet Andrew, the man who has done no wrong in his life (but this bias is understandable, especially considering the intended viewer of the documentary).
Movies are supposed to elicit an emotion from you and for this fact alone, Dear Zachary was able to climb its way into my category for one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Granted the technical film side may not be the best you are ever going to see but boy it has a story to tell and it's well worth listening to.
12A - 132mins - Action/Adventure/Drama - 1st June 2011
One problem that every prequel has to overcome it the ability to keep interest despite us knowing the eventual outcome of the movie. If you have seen any of the previous four films then it's quite probable you can piece together how this movie is going to end and how the characters are going to turn out. This therefore needs to be compensated for and is done so successfully by the introduction of plenty of new characters to keep our interest and the actual discovery of how two men who used to be friends come to be enemies.
X-Men: First Class follows the exploits of the first mutants to be discovered, primarily that of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender). It begins with a 12 year old Charles meeting Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and their friendship as they grow up and a young Erik undergoing the hardship of Nazi Germany and the anger that this instils in him. Moving forward, Charles graduates from Oxford with his PhD in genetic mutation and is brought into the US government to help with a mission to locate someone whereas Erik is hunting down the man responsible for separating him from his mother during the regime twenty years earlier.
Both of their paths then cross when we discover they are after the same man, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and the mutant henchmen that he has surrounded himself with. Erik and Charles team up to recruit new mutants to teach them to use their mutations in order to prevent the Cuban missile crisis from unleashing the next World War and bring Shaw to justice.
The two main plots of this movie are based on finding out about the relationship between Charles and Erik and the actual storyline tied into the Cuban missile crisis and an impending world war. The trailers emphasised that this was the film where we could witness the beginning of the X-men and it doesn't fail to deliver with a good script not only providing the answers but achieving them with a well crafted dialogue.
As with most of the action movies nowadays, the action sequences are both impressive and well shot using a multitude of CGI effects especially during the final scene which was a particular highlight. The acting was also first class (poor pun intended) with McAvoy and Fassbender leading the way, their characters playing off each other perfectly but by no means outshining the rest of the cast.
Placing the whole film during that of the Cold War was a great choice by director Matthew Vaughn and co as it provided not only an impressive backdrop but used these historical events to enforce its points. In fact Vaughn impresses once more leading to a film that makes you invest in the characters before building to a action packed end.
In comparison to it's Summer sequel/prequel compatriots it has certainly taken the lead as the best so far and in terms of where it sits with the other 4 X-Men movies, well I'd put it in the top 2. Worth a trip to the cinema? Definitely, especially if you were already a fan of the franchise.
12A - 103mins - Action/Drama/Romance - 10th December 2010
Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, star in this action romance as Frank and Elise. Whilst on a vacation to Italy to recover from a broken heart, Frank a maths teacher, is minding his own business on a train when Elsie sits opposite him. They strike up a bond and Frank thinks its his lucky day when he runs into her later. Unfortunately for him, this is not a chance encounter but rather a scheme by Elise to use him as a decoy as protection for her lover Alexander Pearce who is a wanted man.
As no-one knows what Alexander looks like Frank finds himself in the middle of an intentional misunderstanding that puts him in the firing line of mobsters, from whom a large sum of money has been stolen and the British government for tax evasion led by Chief Inspector Jones (Timothy Dalton) and Scotland Yard's John Acheson (Paul Bettany)
The main flaw is that this movie contains the top A-list celebrities of Hollywood, director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and is all set in the lovely city of Venice implying that it will be a feast to behold. The standards have been set high. Yet not only did I find the movie to be obvious in its direction- I was never sitting on the edge of my seat waiting or even wanting to see what was going to happen next but there was no chemistry between Depp and Jolie at all.
It was good to see Depp as a 'normal' character and by that I mean he wasn't draped in make-up and he did not see to have any extreme character flaws or quirks that usually accompany his other roles. He was the one who kept the movie interesting for me. However, I didn't fully understand Bettany's character. Granted he has some sort of vendetta against Pearce but he just didn't seem believable and was overly obsessed to the point he would have been issued with some gross misconduct charges.
The action scenes are well done and the settings impressive but you get the sense that the film hasn't worked out if it's a comedy, action or a romance. Yes a movie can be all three but The Tourist fails to seam them altogether leading to the viewer becoming somewhat detached from the storyline. And why they found it necessary to put Jolie in a stunning dress for every scene with people gawping at her is beyond me. Don't get me wrong, I like a bit of eye candy but it turned the movie into something more akin to a perfume commercial or catwalk show instead of a film.
At the end, although I was reasonably entertained whilst watching it, I now feel no real desire to see it ever again. Venice and its buildings add a nice visual appeal to the film but I needed more than that to keep me interested. Wait for it's appearance on the TV if you have any desire to see it.
Next I review another one of the Summer sequels- X-Men: First Class [my review] and see if it shows more promise than Pirates of the Caribbean or The Hangover Part II. Until then, I leave you with the trailer and a link to the MTV Movie Awards which take place this evening (5th June) for those who are interested. USA link/UK link
Farm
Are you fanatical about film? Then follow this site on Twitter @ FAbFilms
12A - 77mins - Drama/Thriller/Sci-Fi - 19th August 2005
Well I would be lying if I said that my brain didn't hurt slightly after watching this as it's definitely a bit of a thinker with quite a bit of technical 'mumbo-jumbo' that needs to be listened to in order to find the story behind it. I think it could quite nicely summed up by the fact that if you noted and listened to every detail they mention then you could be quite confident in knocking up your own version of the machine that they end up creating. So if possible try not to overthink this one too much and instead just let the story take you on its journey.
Primer is about 4 engineers who like to spend their time inventing things in their garage alongside their current jobs of building error checking devices. They soon discover that there is more to their latest invention than they first thought and go about trying to find a way to use it to its maximum potential. However while trying to achieve this, they end up creating more problems than they can possible hope to solve.
You are never directly told at any point what the overall picture is and are left to put the pieces of the jigsaw plot together yourself. Instead of glossing over the complexities as other movies might do to make it easier for the audience, it tackles them head on in a way that creates a challenging film but that is refreshing to see at a time when films are being dumbed down to appeal to a wider audience.
This is Shane Carruth's only journey into the film making world thus far and much can be said about the $7,000 film that went onto win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. Sure there are some production issues and it could have been executed and written in a better fashion but these flaws are what make it different and in my eyes better than some of its counterparts.
At a whopping 77 minutes long it's not going to hurt to take the time out and enjoy this quite intriguing little movie. Just remember that it's most definitely going to require a thinking cap and probably a second and third viewing as well for those who really want to get to the bottom of it all.
18 - 96mins - Action/Comedy/Drama - 10th June 2011
Right from the off the premise of this movie appeals to me. I was happy with Kick-Ass and the slightly more realistic approach that they made their 'super' hero take and with Super this promise of an even more ordinary man coming off the streets to fight crime made me want to watch it as soon as possible.
Frank (Rainn Wilson) is just your ordinary bloke living an altogether uneventful life with few happy memories- 2 to be precise. He lives with his beautiful wife Sarah (Liv Tyler), a recovering drug addict, and works as a burger flipper in a diner. When Sarah relapses and leaves him for Jacques (Kevin Bacon), the local drug dealer, Frank is devastated and believes she was stolen from him.
A chance viewing of a religious hero The Holy Avenger (Nathan Fillion) on TV implants the 'Good Vs. Evil' concept into his mind and before long Frank has an epiphany deciding that justice must be delivered, not only to Jacques but to all wrongdoers who happen to cross his path.Seeking inspiration for his new identity he travels to the local comic book store where he meets Libby (Ellen Page) who inadvertently helps him on his way. Whereas Batman had the gadgets, Spider-man had the web and Superman could do most anything, Frank's creation- The Crimson Bolt takes the best weapon award of all time with, that's right, a monkey wrench!!
The reality of the characters, much like the wrench, hits home on more than one occasion and for the people, me included, who initially compared it to Kick-Ass well you could not be much further from the mark. This film stands on its own and is a lot grittier giving the viewer an insight into the potential of the warped human psyche whilst toying with depression and other emotions too. This is the 'deHollywoodized' version and it would only take a small step for you to imagine this on your local news channel in the real world.
Although Wilson gives a very solid performance it is Page that I was more surprised and fascinated by. Having mostly featured as her 'Juno' type character in other works it was refreshing to see her in a slightly different role you will not have seen her do before bringing out an anxious and psychotic personality which becomes even more extreme after she dons her Boltie sidekick attire. (See the clip below for proof)
No super movie would be complete without a scene with POW and WHAM making an appearance on the screen at some point but where this is usually reserved for punches, The Crimson Bolt gets use out of them when wielding a shotgun. A nice touch if I do say so! Expect the humour to follow a similar vein right through until the end.
This is a superhero comedy but it delivers so much more on top. James Gunn really delivers (especially after Slither) and I will be keeping an interested eye on his next project. This will definitely be getting a second viewing from me and I'm already looking forward to it.
18 - 141mins - Crime/Drama/Horror - 29th April 2011
This time I bring you a foreign movie from the country of South Korea. I Saw The Devil keeps in tune with many of the films to successfully make it out of Korea with it’s dark and gory plot based around revenge.
It follows Kim Soo-hyeon (Byung-hun Lee) who is a highly trained agent. One night while stranded on the side of the road after her car breaks down, Kim’s pregnant fiancée is attacked and brutally murdered by Kyung-chul (Min-sik Choi). This isn’t the first time he’s murdered and it’s sure not to be the last. What he doesn’t reckon on though is Kim hunting him down for retribution.
Both killer and fiancé are continuously interlocked in a game of wits and ever more sadistic acts on both each other and bystanders as they slowly converge towards the end of the movie. As Kim is dragged ever downwards into the world of violence, he treads a fine line with turning into the monster that he is hunting and it is fair to say that many of the scenes in this film will have you feeling slightly uncomfortable if you’re not well prepared.
Choi impresses as the masochistic killer who is a complete opposite from Lee’s calm and collected demeanour. Both actors breathe life into their characters that only seem to become more complex as the film unfolds. Having started out as two opposites, they slowly merge into one and it becomes increasingly hard to distinguish who should get the viewers support.
I wasn’t exactly sure where this movie was going to go especially after an hour when it could quite plausibly have finished with a few tweaks but continue on it did and I am all the more happy because of it. There is plenty of action and fight scenes split in between the character development and where normal revenge films seem to keep both protagonists apart until the end, Jee-woon Kim (the director) was on a mission to bring them together into every scene. The music perfectly suits the mood and is only trumped by the cinematography which was exemplary.
As mentioned, this is not one for the faint hearted or squeamish but the performances are fantastic and it really gives an insight into the minds of a serial killer and a man so stricken with grief that he can only comprehend vengeance. This ranks up there with my other favourite Korean movie Oldboy and although I Saw The Devil’s plot may be based on a tried and tested idea, its execution is very refreshing and keeps you guessing right until the very end.
Next time I go hunting in the dark for vampires with Priest. [my review] Trailer below. Farm
Are you fanatical about film? Then follow this site on Twitter @ FAbFilms
12A - 114mins - Action/Adventure/Drama - 27th April 2011
Been a while since my last review. I blame work and other such inconveniences for what it's worth but anyway on with the reviews, this time in the form of another Marvel comic book hero.
The Marvel comic book creation is unleashed into the movie world which is growing desperately thin on new and original pieces of work. In recent years Marvel (Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man) has given us from average to good but never great with the best of them tending to arrive from the first movie of the series with the new superhero (Hulk is emphatically excluded from this sweeping generalisation). Thor, as the first of many summer superhero movies (including the next Marvel adaptation- Captain America: The First Avenger) could have headed either way.
Thor is about, if you haven't already gathered from the title, Thor (Chris Hemsworth)- the god of thunder. After an ancient war against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), king of the Aesir forges a truce between the two races which last until the day Thor is due to be crowned King. During the coronation ceremony, several Frost Giants break into Asgard. In retribution Thor goes against his father's will and leads an assault on them bringing about a war in the process. Odin banishes Thor to Earth stripping him of his powers opening the door for his brother Leki to take control.
Arriving on Earth, Thor soon runs into astrophysicist Jane (Natalie Portman) and her colleagues who are unbeknownst to them studying the effects that Thor has caused in the sky. Without his super powers and trusty hammer Thor must learn to adapt to his new surroundings and try to discover a way to return home.
As in most of the Marvel movies, comedy is woven into the plot to keep the movie going and Thor achieves this well. Most of this is derived from Thor as he copes with his new surroundings a makes for some funny moments. Portman, the love interest, is smitten from the first time she sees Thor which she creates excellently right from the off.
In keeping with the swords and hammers over guns, I liked when the modern day sniper was called into the action and instead of picking up his trusty rifle opted of a compound bow. For those less aware of the Marvel world, that character is Hawkeye and a subtle nudge in the direction of The Avengers film due for release next spring. Along with a Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D reference the movie keeps in line with other Marvel productions by intertwining them together but in a subtle and refined way. Hopefully The Avengers can live up to the expectations they are building!
I found Thor to be better than I though it was going to be with good acting performances especially from newcomer Hemsworth and a good balance between action, comedy and drama to keep me entertained for the whole 2 hours. If you do go and see this at the cinema, which I would recommend, then make sure to stay until after the credits have finished rolling for some bonus footage.
Next up I will review Grizzly Rage. [my review] I'll let the trailer do the talking but suffice to say it's gonna be a good... bonus marks to those who can keep a straight face!
Farm
Are you fanatical about film? Then follow this site on Twitter @ FAbFilms
The Kids Are All Right is predominantly a drama first and a comedy second. It follows a lesbian couple Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening) and their two children Joni (Mia Wasikowski) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson). Both of the kids were conceived with the aid of a sperm donor. When Joni turned 18 she has the right to find out who the donor is but is not interested. Her brother however is and convinces her to get in touch and they meet up with Paul played by Mark Ruffalo in order to feed their curiosity.
Paul, a down to earth relaxed man takes all of this in his stride and begins to bond with his children. This is all done without the mum's knowledge until Laser reveals that they have been to see him. This obviously affects them and with Jules and Nic being 2 very different characters the extent of this is proportional. Nic is a lot stricter and controlling in life so is very wary of Paul whilst Jules, although initially cautious is a lot more accepting. Paul's intrusion then sets up the rest of the plot.
The acting in this film is unsurprisingly good considering the cast involved but the film falls down with its content whereby the actors have to make the best of a script that does not live up to its potential. Several situations arise but it feels as if Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg the writers opt for the easy path and lead us away from the potentially juicy scenes only to leave us with slightly comical and less in depth replacements.
I was most disappointed with the ending which as with other scenes tries to wrap up proceedings and leaves the viewer with a sense of injustice that nothing more is going to be made of the plot. Whilst The Kids Are All Right is an acceptable film, it could have been so much more.
If you like your acting performances (with Wasikowski leading the line) and want an enjoyable plot that has a few moments to appreciate then go and see this otherwise it's probably not worth it. A more light-hearted through and through comedy approach to a similar story can be achieved by watching the film The Switch which involves a woman's best friend changing his sperm for the sperm donors whilst in a drunken state.
12A - 130mins - Action/Crime/Drama - 21st April 2011
The latest in the Fast and Furious franchise has recently hit the screens and what with the others being a good way to spend a few hours I was hoping for a similar type of movie from this one with plenty of great cars and car chases to boot.
Set after Fast & Furious (No. 4) but before The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (No. 3), this time the action is played out in Rio, Brazil after Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) has escaped from police custody in the US with help from his old pal Brian (Paul Walker) and sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) and gone into hiding. With them needing money to disappear forever, Dom hatches a plan to steal all the money from Rio's most reputable underworld kingpin Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida).
At the same time they are being hunted down by the elite federal agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his team who are trying to capture and take him back to prison. Although it is quite possible to watch this movie without seeing the previous 4 there will be some parts that may slip you by as the writers have assumed that, if your coming to see this movie then there is a very strong possibility you have seen at least a couple of the prequels/sequel.
One thing that I was quite surprised about was the lack of actual cars in the storyline. Sure they were involved slightly more than a normal action movie but I was expecting a lot more. There were probably only 2/3 scenes involving racing or car stunts and when the whole movie is supposed to be based around cars I was expecting just that little bit more. If fact in one scene just when you are expecting a good old fashioned drag race, they cut away to reveal the car back in the garage and already won!
The action does make up for this though and is fast flowing throughout as they jump from one explosion/fight scene to the next. The casting of Johnson as the bad-ass agent was a stroke of genius with him bringing his former WWE smack talk to the character. He really makes you want to hate him and I especially enjoyed the Johnson Vs. Diesel fight scene as the 2 heavyweights traded blows.
At over 2 hours this is by far the longest in the franchise and although in general the time will pass quickly, they could have easily chopped off a few minutes here and there to stop the risk of it dragging for some people. The acting and script is nothing special and you will have to sit through a fair bit of 'we're doing this for family' talk but that is not what people will come to watch this movie for.
With Neal H. Moritz announcing in March the development of a sixth and seventh movie for the series it is doubtful that this surprisingly long lasting franchise will go away quietly. Despite having lots of good action and successfully filling a void in my day, lets just hope that they return to the core basics for the next one rather than forgetting the main reason for these movies was supposed to be the cars.
Next time readers I look ahead to the wonders of May to see what will be whetting my appetite and what will have me running to the hills as I preview May's releases. [my article]
Farm
Are you fanatical about film? Then follow this site on Twitter @ FAbFilms
15 - 91mins - Adventure/Comedy/Drama - 23rd November 2007
The Darjeeling Limited is about 3 brothers Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) who have not seen each other since their father's funeral over a year ago. The death of their father has affected them all individually and along with other problems in their life has left them somewhat flawed and drugged up. Peter has girlfriend issues, Jack has father issues and Francis has family issues, he wants to be closer to his brothers and be a happy family and yet his demeanour drives them away.
The lack of seeing each other inspires Francis to bring them together so they can carry out a 'spiritual journey' across India on a train in order to rekindle their relationships with one another become closer and more brotherly. However this idea does not go completely to plan with much brotherly bickering and fighting, the involvement of some pepper spray and one of the brothers buying a highly poisonous snake which he then misplaces amongst some of the things to look forward to.
The brothers and their interactions and chemistry with each other is where this movie wins from my point of view. Despite showing hardly any emotion- they never seem sad or cry, rarely smile etc. they convey what they are feeling in different ways. Having only ever seen Wilson in the bumbling comic/romcom type role, I was impressed with him in this where he shows off his talents as the brother who needs to always be in control. Brody also impresses with Schwartzman, despite not quite being as good as the other brothers still performing admirably.
The shooting of some of the scenes in the train reminded me in principal of similar work in the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou whereby the camera moves alongside the train cutting between rooms as if the nearest wall to the camera did not exist (I've heard it called the dollhouse effect?). This similarity was explained when I discovered both movies were directed by the same man, Wes Anderson.
These types of shots could be achieved due to The Darjeeling Limited being filmed inside a moving train- Anderson rented a ten carriage train and locomotive engine, completely redecorated it and then ran it between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer on a live section of railway track. This unsurprisingly providing a great challenge for cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman as nothing could be fixed to the ceiling and filming equipment couldn't be more than a metre out of the windows. He does a fantastic job though which has to be highly commended.
This is not an 'in your face' comedy but is rather more sly, subtle and witty one which I preferred in this context. There are some great one liners that I particularly enjoyed. The characters make it what it is while dragging their emotional (and actual) baggage around with them for the whole of the movie. If you like Anderson's other movies then this will not disappoint either.
15 - 148mins - Adventure/Biography/Drama - 9th November 2007
It has been a while since my last review as I've been filling myself with Easter eggs and travelling over the country so I'd thought I'd make it up to you by reviewing one that you really should be watching and at least a few of you may not have heard of.
Into The Wild is a movie about one man, Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) and his voyage into the unknown. This movie is based on the true story (which was first adapted into a book by Jon Krakauer) of Christopher who one day after graduating with top marks from Emory University, gave all of his $24,000 savings to charity and up and left his family to go and live in the wilds of Alaska. He did this without telling anyone where he was going and when, if ever, he would return.
This story is told from several different perspectives. There is the story of Christopher as he voyages across America meeting a plethora of different people along the way- this takes precedent, the story of him when he finally makes it to Alaska where he finds an old empty bus that he turns into his home and finally the story as told from the perspective of his sister who fills us in on the family background and the emotions that they were feeling during his journey. They are all interwoven and skip from one to another during the movie.
It is beautifully shot, especially with so many different locations and scenes to film. Sean Penn is the director and despite not voyaging into this directorial role often you would be hard pushed to realize. My only slight issue is that Penn sought to glamorize his journey when at times, he could be considered a bit of an idiot... ignoring flash flood warning signs, canoeing without a helmet, preparing for Alaska by reading a few books rather than getting the necessary equipment etc.
The acting of Hirsch is excellent and the thoughts and emotions, most likely gleaned from the actual Christopher, have been portrayed well. Christopher believes that he can get by without the need for relationships with other people but because of his charisma, people seek him out. (think Franco from 127 hours) Some might find parts of his monologues a bit preachy but I felt they gave depth to his character and helped to explain the reasoning behind his journey. The movie is well written and has it all- adventure, action, some comedy, sadness and most importantly it feels real- in my experience it is not often that a movie captures reality successfully without lacking at some point.
I have to say that this movie hit a chord with me for some reason and I found it to be excellent. You can just get lost with Christopher's beliefs and his ethos. He has done what so many of us would like to do but will never have the courage to. He disregards his money and possessions through choice and sets off on an adventure without a worry in the world. The fact that it is based on a true story only adds to the exceptional story that is told.
This movie will leave you remembering it for several days after and is one that will get you wanting to change the way you think and do things.
12A - 121mins - Comedy/Drama/Romance - 28th January 2011
So I'd thought I'd spice things up again and opt for a good old fashioned romcom. It's your usual affair- guy meets girl, guy falls for girl, there are some ups and downs inbetween but eventually guy and girl get together. Now you are wondering why I've spoilt the ending for you? Well I haven't because there are two guys in this movie in a lovely romance triangle.
Lisa (Reese Witherspoon) plays our indecisive femme fatale with George (Paul Rudd) and Matty (Owen Wilson) the men doting after her. The movie compromises of 2 separate storylines that eventually merge. In one Lisa is a USA softball player who has just been dropped from the national team and Matty, her current boyfriend, is a major-league baseball star. He is a player both on and off the pitch and doesn't totally understand the workings of a relationship but is trying to for her.
In the other George, like Lisa is going through his own problems as he is being indited by the government and faces some serious charges if convicted and has also been dumped by his girlfriend. However due to a series of phone calls and chance encounters George keeps meeting Lisa which leads to the 2 men competing for her affection in their own unique ways.
George's father (acted by Jack Nicholson) and Annie, George's secretary (impressively portrayed by Kathryn Hahn) are the outlets from the romantic side of the story and bring with them some of the better moments in the movie from a comic point of view. It seems that this kind of role is starting to become Wilson's mainstay in the movies with the majority of his performances being based around the slightly error prone man (Hall Pass, You Me And Dupree). He never really impresses me and the chemistry is not there from the start unlike with Rudd who puts in a convincing performance with Witherspoon.
I felt that the plot surrounding this is slightly more in-depth than some of the other romcoms out there but by no means that complex that it becomes hard to follow. It just tended to be a bit more detailed than I was expecting before I sat down to watch it. This could be due to it's 2 hour length though which is quite a long time to invest in a romcom that does drag at points.
This isn't in the same league as the last movie where James L Brooks and Nicholson teamed up (As Good As It Gets) but if you feel slightly brain dead and want to waste a few hours then this might just do the trick. If there had been a bit more comedy then it might have faired slightly better.
