STUNTGOATS’ PAD

  Following the two Marvel Superheroes we have already seen this summer, Iron Man and Hulk, and two more big heroes to come, Batman and Hellboy, we have Hancock an almost anti hero, filling in the gap quite nicely.

  Will Smith plays John Hancock a drunken superhero who would rather lie on a bench with a bottle of bourbon than save the world. Everytime he gets called into action he does the job but badly causing millions of dollars of unnecessary damage, making him an unpopular figure with both the police and the public. After he saves the life of PR executive Ray  he is welcomed in Embry’s house where he meets his wife Mary and son Aaron and is given a proposal by Ray to let him revamp his image. This first involves him doing time for the warrants issued by the Los Angeles council. So Hancock reluctantly agrees and starts to sort his life out with AA meetings and Ray trying to teach him how to deal wth the public and police better. Soon the city needs him again and he’s back on the street fighting crime but politically correctly.

   it’s at that point that the film takes a wild twist and changes completely. I won’t give anything away but you won’t see it coming! The first half of the film is all about the comedy and as usual Will Smith is on good form as the lovable drunk. Jason Bateman continues to increase his standing in Hollywood with another good performance as the PR man with a seemingly impossible job and the chemistry between him and Smith works really well. Chalize Theron as usual looks stunning and does a good job as Ray’s nervous wife who doesn’t really want her husband working with this reprobate.   As I said the film changes dramatically in the second half and it sort of ruins the film. The film is only about 90 minutes long and it seems like they didn’t want a sequel so have tried to cram as much in as possible in that short time and this stops the story and characters developing and also dries up the humour. I would have actually liked to see this film longer. Director Peter Berg, who was last behind the lense for ‘The Kingdom’ does an amiable job with good action sequences and  brings his distinctive Michael Mann (who produces) style into a new genre for him. As I said it just tries to put too much in, a  bit like last years summer offering Spider-Man 3.   Like last years film I did enjoy Hancock but there was always that sense that there was a better movie waiting to come out. For the few weeks we have to wait for ‘The Dark Knight’ this makes an enjoyable distraction. Rating 6/10

  All the publicity about this film seems to about Angelina jolie and specifically kissing her. Every Interview with James McAvoy has done, he’s been asked the same question, “What’s it like to kiss Angelina Jolie?”, i’m sorry but there’s a lot more to this film than that.

   james McAvoy plays Wesley Gibson and office drone just going through his miserable life, being bullied by his boss and his best friend shagging his girlfriend. He takes the misery away buy loading his self up woth anti depressants and it’s while picking up his percription that he meets Fox (Angelina Jolie) who tells him that she nknew his father a world class assassin who died that morning, in a spectacluar opening sequence. This is news to Gibson as he thought his dad died when he was a baby, but is brought home to him when the same man who killed his father turns up to try and kill him. Fox gets into a fire fight with the assailant in the store and then continues into what is an unbelievable car chase.  Soon Gibson is introduced to Sloan (Morgan Freeman) who explains to Gibson about his ancestary and ability he doesn’t realise he has to become a member of ‘The Fraternity.  Soon we enter the usual movie montages as he start to become what he didn’t believe was possible including the fraternity’s special move of bending bullets. He is then told about the Loom that produces a cloth which from the missed weaves give a name through binary of the person they must kill, (yes Seriously!). So Gibson sets off on his new career as an assassin and soon finds himself facing off against the man who killed his father, but what will he do, well that would be telling!

   It’s nice to see after the PG friendly Die Hard 4.0 somebody making an action film for adults and the 18 rating is thoroughly desrved, it is vert violent and bloody. But what really makes this film is the visuals of the action sequences. This is Russian director Timur Bekmambetov’s first Hollywood film following the international success of his films Nightwatch and Daywatch. They were films applauded for their visuals and he has brought that same style into this one. Some of the sequences are so over the top that you can’t help but smile, but it’s fun , the Limo hit especailly made me giggle at how stupid it was but also how genius it looked. The shot of Gibsons father breaking through the glass window, which was in the trailer, is amazing and remindedme a bit of The Marix. I think the words dumb and fun desrcibe this movie perfectly. As for the cast, they do a good job, McAvoy is fine as the lead pretty believable and not a bad accent, Jolie is her usually sultry self and Freeman is as always the elder statesman who even makes the whole loom thing sound almost sensical!  If you are after a couple of hours of gunplay and stunning visuals then it’s worth checking out. rating 7/10

In 2000 M Night Shyamalan followed up the hugely popular ‘The Sixth Sense’ with a very subtle Superhero film called ‘Unbreakable’. I absolutely loved this film , in fact it would probably be in my top 20 of all time. He followed this with hit films, ‘Signs’ and ‘The Village’ Everything looked rosy for Manoj then ‘The Lady In The Water’ came out a modern fairytale about a nymph entering our world. It was a critical and finacial flop, it wasn’t his best film and there were calls of ego as he made himself a big character in the film. So now a few years later we waited to see if he can get back the success. Well unfortunately not!

   In Central Park, New York, something weird ‘happens’ as everyone suddenly stop dead in their tracks then start killing themselves, on a building site on the outskirts of the park, the workers start throwing themselves off the roof of the building. The media immediately start to suspect terrorist strikes. In a Philadelphia school, Science teacher Elliott Moore (Mark Wahlberg) is talking to his class about missing bee’s when he is called out and the head teacher explains to them about what is happening in New York. The school is dismissed Elliott, his wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel) and friend Julian, (John Leguizamo) and his daughter decide to runaway to the countryside to avoid the expanding disaster. Soon the terrorist threat seems to be wrong but what is it thats making people kill themselves and will the stars make it out alive?

  I don’t know what Night was trying to do with this film but what he has done is make a very underwhelming movie that doesn’t really seem to know where it is going. There are a few scaryish moments but nothing on the level of his previous films. The writing something thats always been pretty good, is almost amateurish, and is a real problem along wth the story itself. There never feels like there’s a real menace. Mark Wahlberg who has proved what a good actor he is in many films recently seems really lost with what his character is supposed to be doing. He seems like he is talking to children all the time even when talking to adults. Zooey Deschanel, who I quite fancy, and loved in Almost Famous, spends the whole film looking like she is on some sort of drug staring off into the distance wth her beautiful eyes (sorry I’ll stop the fawning over her!) In ‘Signs’, M Night played the world in peril story really well showing a huge event from a small perspective, and there are moments in this almost as good especially where people get the videos on their phones of incidents. Overall it just doesn’t seem to work at all, famous film Critic Mark Kermoude also made a really good observation in his reveiw which when you see the film, brings it all down, “What is making the wind blow?”  As a fan of Shyamalan’s I’m hoping he can come back from this and make another great film, personally I would like to see the second of the planned ‘Unbreakable’ trilogy, here’s hoping. The ‘Happening’ really wasn’t happening for me. Rating 5/10

  I am in a very small minority of people who really liked Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk’ which was released in 2003. I loved the style of the film and the tone of it which was a lot more serious than some comic book movies. Okay the leaping around parts were a bit stupid and it was too long but i still really liked it. So it was with a slight bit of trepidation that I oooked forward to ‘The Incredible Hulk’. 

  This new version (as it isn’t a sequel) is directed by French director,  Louis Leterrier, who is known for his two Transporter films so it seems that this will be a big leap up the ladder for him and he handles it pretty well. The film starts with Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) on the run in South America trying to stay below the radar and learn how to control his anger. He is also communicating with a msyterious Mr Blue who thinks he can help him.  Back in the US General Ross (William Hurt) is still trying to find Banner to use his biology to make the ultimate soldier.  When Banner has an accident at the factory and his blood ends up in a bottle of drink heading for the Us , his cover is blown. Soon Ross and his troops including Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) who after witnessing Banners alter ego in full attack mode becomes obsessed with getting his power.  After evading the army , Banner makes his way back to the States to try and get hold of his previous research and runs into his former love, Betty Ross and soon it all hits the fan with a Souped up Blonsky taking on Banner in the streets of New York as Abomination.

 So how does this bear up in the year of Superheroes? Well not bad, Ed Norton brings a real seriousness to the character, with the odd little moments of humour and is pretty believable.  Tim Roth gives the power hungry Blonsky an  air of gravitas, you can see how desperately he wants to be Banner but for the wrong reasons. The rest of the cast are pretty much background. William Hurt is as usual pretty good though I found Sam Elliot’s previous incarnation more dangerous and Liv Tyler as usual looks stunning but doesn’t really have a lot to do.  Unlike the previous film this one makes a few more nods to the TV series. At one point Bill Bixby appears on a TV show, and original Hulk Lou Ferrigno has a nice cameo as a Security guard like the last film, though this time he has more to do! There is as always a Stan Lee cameo which is good but cuts away just at the wrong moment.

Of course the whole film hangs on the CGI of the Hulk, and it’s impressive. This time his size doesn’t depend on how angry he is, he’s a set size a bit smaller than Ang lee’s one. Also there’s no super jumping this time, it’s more about his power which is shown in the three main action sequences. As always you know that it’s CG but he looks pretty real and the big fight off with Abomination is well done with lots of trashed buildings and car half boxing gloves!

  So how does this compare to the 2003 effort? Well I really enjoyed this new film, the action is better and the visuals are impressive, but it didn’t click with me as well as the other one. it could be that I have watched the Lee version quite a a lot so I shall wait till I have seen this a few more times before picking a favourite. it’s not as good as this summers other Marvel film, Iron Man, but if like me you love superhero movies then you will enjoy this. Rating 7/10

Hey folks sorry for the lack of post lately. Been stuck in Liberty City with Nico Belic, killing for Hire (Grand Theft Auto 4 if you didn’t guess), but I have still been off to the cinema and so will have reviews up soon for The Incredible Hulk, The Happening and Wanted. But for now here’s a link to the new Teaser trailer for Daniel Craig’s second outing as Commander Bond, in the oddly titled Quantum Of Solace, enjoy!   http://www.moviefone.com/movie/quantum-of-solace/26922/main

 So after 19 years of waiting the man in the hat has finally returned, yes Indiana Jones has dusted of the fedora and got the whip back out, it’s time to hunt down another ancient object.  This film has been the dream of every Indy fan for years, always wondering whether it would ever happen, and after many years of rumour it was finally announced and everyone held their breath in anticipation.  All the team are back, with Steven Speilberg  back behind the camera, George Lucas on producer/writer duties, John Williams producing another great score and of course Harrison Ford  donning the hat, what else could every Indy fan want!

  The film opens in the Nevada desert of 1957 as a convoy of disguised Russians head for Hangar 51 looking for a crate with a large secret inside.  Unfortunately for Indy, he and best mate Mac (Ray Winstone) have been kidnapped and the stern Irina Splako (Cate Blanchett) wants them to find the crate which she believes they have worked on. Obviously it’s an Indy film and the action soon begins as he makes a great get away and uses a fridge in a new way!  Soon Dr Jones is back at his teaching job when Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) turns up asking for his help as his mother and a friend of Indy’s Professor Ox have been kidnapped. So begins the real Indy adventure as he heads off to South America to help save his friend and begin a search for the titled Crystal Skull. I don’t want to say anymore for fear of ruining the film’s story.

  So how does this hold up so long after the ‘The Last Crusade’?  Well not badly. One of the criticisms of the film when it was announced was that Harrison Ford was too old for the role, but they have set this film nearly 20 years after the previous film so this isn’t really an issue and it works well as Indy is now older and wiser and creates a good chemistry between him and the lot younger ‘Mutt’. Shia as he has shown in Transformers and Disturbia is fast becoming a star and as Mutt he is a great foil to Indy’s gruff more older statesman. As his war buddy, Ray Winstone is pretty good and does provide some funny moments though not as good a side kick as Sallah in Raiders. Cate Blanchett as always is very good with her chiselled features suiting the icy Irina Splako perfectly.  John Hurt as Ox is a bit wasted just playing the nutjob, sent mad by the skull. it’s not a spoiler to say that its great to have Karen Allen back as Marion Ravenwood, she’s on the poster. For me she was the best of Indy’s women in the trilogy and had the best chemistry and that continues in this one.  When she first comes on screen you do notice she has aged, but as soon as that wide smile comes across her face it’s like the days of old. Her inclusion in the film is a theme that seems to go through the film, with lots of nods to the older films, especially with john Williams score which as always is amazing.  In a day of big CGI effects it’s nice to see that Speilberg has decided to try and keep that old style from the original film, a lot of the stunts are physical ones, and there’s a lot of them, and some of the backgrounds will look pretty poor to todays kids but for the older audience it’s a bit of nostalgia.  The stunts though are where the film starts to slip. The truck chase in the rainforest is great and classic indy, but what one of the characters does during this is so OTT that it ruins the scene. There are a few occasions during the film where it becomes a bit unbelieveable, yes I know it’s an Indy film but even for Indy they are ridiculous scenes, i won’t say what but when you see them you will be open mouthed going WHAT THE HELL!!   Another weakness is the maguffin! This is what George Lucas calls the item the story is about, i.e The Ark Of The Convenant and Holy Grail. The Crystal Skull just doesn’t hold any interest, like the Ark did, and as the main plot point of the film, this is a problem.  Earlier story ideas had been things like the city of Atlantis, something that the audience have heard of and can beleive, whereas the Crystal Skull is nothing we care about really. You never really think that it’s gonna put Indy in any danger unlike the power of god in the Ark. The magic is missing in the Skull and this is my criticism of the film, there isn’t  a real sense of magic that the trilogy had. It’s not the casts fault they do a great job and I don’t think it’s Spielbergs fault, I think the problem lies in the story. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed this film, it has all the things you want from an Indiana Jones film, and ticks a lot of boxes but it does feel like something is missing. The biggest problem it will face is the level of expectation on it’s shoulder, there hasn’t been such a fever for a film since The Phantom Menace and like that didn’t reach everyones high hopes I think Indy will suffer the same. Some of the reviews for KOTCS have been scathing, and some have been just petty, calling it the worst film ever. That is such rubbish, yes it’s not a classic Indy film, but i’ts a great film that provide all the thrills and spills you want. I am gonna go and watch it again without the expectations and see if i enjoy it even more. Thats the problem, we have had so long to rewatch the original films over and over that we won’t appreciate this one till we have seen it a few times. Indy 5, don’t know better find a better maguffin!!     Rating 7/10

 I saw this a few weeks ago and have been struggling to write a review but here goes!  The Wachowski brothers haven’t made a film since the Matrix trilogy so there was a lot of expectation for their next film, so for them to do a kids film is a bit of a shock.

  Speed Racer is the story of the aptly named, Speed Racer, the latest son to race for his fathers race team. He races with the memory of his brother, Rex, who died in a WRL race while Speed was a young lad. Now Speed is behind the wheel of the Mach 3 racer and is wowing the racing world and being approached by various companies to race for them, will he take the big money deal or stay with his father and who is the mysetrious racer X. As you can tell from the plot this is a bit different and is based on a Japanese cartoon of the same name.

  As with the Wachowski’s previous work the visual side of the film is amazing. The race sequences are dazzling, with so much colour, it is just crying out for a high definiton release. You get a real sense of speed as they race round these gravity defying courses. It did remind me of the game Wipeout but with cars instead of flying ships, it does feel like you are watching a game. The race through the ice canyon was an exceptional highlight. It’s the racing that makes this film because the rest of it is a let down. The actings not bad, with the likes of Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci and Matthew Fox, making a great cast list but there’s just no real story to it, and for a kids film there are a lot of scenes of people talking business. The most annoying thing for me personally was Emile Hirsch’s little brother and his pet chimp, they are like the kids in old cartoons brought to life all gurning faces and pranks, i wanted to slap him!

   Basically this film has it’s great moments but they are outweighed by the rubbish, I know I am not the target audience but these days most kids film have an element for the parents who have been dragged along. I won’t be buying this on blu ray, but might give it a rental! Rating 5/10

 As you’ll know if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, I LOVE comic book movies! As I don’t really read comics I wasn’t that aware of the story of Iron Man that much apart from he was a guy in a metal suit.  Know I feel I know him a lot better.

 Iron Man is a huge summer blockbuster but is also a huge gamble, not in that the film will be terrible but that it is Marvel comics first self funded movie. In the past they have lent the license out to other comapnies to make the film, but with this one they have gone it alone and put their own money into it and it shows. Marvel Studios have made some choices that most studios wouldn’t. Firstly the director, Jon Faverau. He is more well known as an actor appearing in Swingers with Vince Vaughn and then poping up in smaller roles in other films like Daredevil, as well as the ultimate fighting boyfriend of Monica in Friends. His directing duties have also been quite small, the biggest films being Elf and Zathura, nothing that would hint at a film of Iron Man’s size. The second risk is Robert Downey Jr. as a superhero, but like Michael Keaton with Batman it’s a surprise move that works.

   Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark a billionaire weapons manafacturer who is in Afghanistan showing off his new uber weapon, the Jericho. On his way back from the demonstration the convoy is ambushed by terrorists,  with everyone killed and Stark critically injured. Waking up in a cave he finds himself wired up to a car battery which is powering a magnet that is preventing shrapnel from entering his heart. He is ordered by the terrorists to build them a Jericho missle from the various assortment of his weapons they already own. With the help of a fellow captive he agrees but instead starts creating a metal suit to break out of the base. Nest thing you know he’s kicking terrorist butt and is left in the desert waiting to be rescued. Back in the US he decides to change things, no more weapons, and also to develop his suit idea. This change of direction isn’t welcomed by his company director Obidiah Stane, played by Jeff Bridges and his personal assistant Pepper Potts, (Gwyneth Paltrow) is worried he is losing his mind. After redesigning his chest magnet device he realises that this could produce a lot of power, enough to power a full flying suit. The designing of this suit produces some very funny slapstick sequences where everything seems to go wrong. It’s not long though before it starts to come together, and the classic Red and Gold suit is flying through the air.

  The casting of Downey Jr. is this films jewel, he was born to play this role of the cocky, playboy, billionaire who doesn’t really care what anyone thinks of him. In some ways he’s similar to Bruce Wayne but a lot more flashy.  His presence in the central role seems to have brought everyone together. As Pepper Potts, Gwyneth Paltrow is great bringing a real fun and sexiness to the role, and the chemistry between her and Stark really works as she obviously wants more than a working relationship.  Starks best friend is Jim Rhodes played by Terence Howard, who works for the military and provides another great funny sequence as he talks to Stark on the Phone! (In Comic book history he later become War Machine who works with Stark and there is a little nod towards that in this film!)  Jeff Bridges isn’t bad in the is he/isn’t he a villian role but doesn’t get a huge amount of screen time. As always there is the Stan Lee cameo and it’s pretty good one.

  Some of the reviews of the film have been a bit harsh so far, but I can’t see what they didn’t like. This is your typical summer blockbuster but rather than being all bangs and action this one has great characters and is very funny. It’s not very often I find myself laughing out loud at the cinema but this one did on nuemrous occasions. The action sequences don’t make up the whole film but the ones that are there are pretty good. It is obvious that this is just the Origin Story film and is setting it all up for the inevitable sequel and unlike some sequels I really can’t wait to see it. I hope that Marvel keeep all the crew together and like this first one let the director take chances, because with this film they really paid off.  This is hopefully the start of a great franchise! (Marvel Studios have announced that a sequel is being looked at for a same day release in 2010) Rating 8/10

 I don’t know why but this weekend has seen a real glut of film trailers with most of the summers big movies giving us a taster of whats to come. First up the new trailer for Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. I saw this trailer on Friday at a showing of Iron Man (review to come!) and it really sent a shiver down my spine to ses Indy up on a big screen again, I can’t wait for May 22nd to come! http://www.indianajones.com/site/index.html

The Next trailer is for probably the summers second biggest movie, The Dark Knight and this is a great trailer showing quite a lot of the characters and plenty of the late Heath Ledger. After Indy I am really excited about this film! http://www.whysoserious.com/happytrails/trailer.htm

 Next up is another Superhero movie but with a difference. The movie is Hancock, and stars Will Smith as a Superhero but not a popular one, he drinks and sleeps in the streets like a drunk. But a misdemeanor he decides he needs some PR to make him more popular and goes to Jason Batemans PR guy. It’s all in the trailer and this one is a lot better than the first teaser that didn’t really interest me, but this one makes the film look hilarious. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809801452/video/7633208

Finally we have another Superhero movie and the second of Marvel Studio’s film debuts this summer, The Incredible Hulk. Following on from Ang Lee’s effort this one now has Edward Norton in the lead role of Bruce Banner and Jason Leterrier in the directing seat, facing off against Tim Roth’s The Abomination. http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/theincrediblehulk/hd/

In one of the worse kept secrets in movies this year, Guillermo Del Toro has been announced as the director of the Hobbit movies. I say movies as they are splitting the book into two movies. To stop this being a bit thin on story they are also adding elements into the story to linl it up to the Lord OF The Rings trilogy. Peter Jackson isn’t directing but is staying on as producer, so it will probably retain the style of the LOTR trilogy but with Del Toro’s distinctive visuals.  For the big fans of the Jackson trilogy there is the big news that Sir Ian McKellan is returning in the role of Gandalf. Wouldn’t be surprised if a few other cast members return.

 If you are wondering who Guillermo Del Toro is, well he is the director of Spanish horror films Cronos and Devils Backbone, as well as Hollywood movies, Mimic, Blade 2 and Hellboy. The film that really garned him praise was Pan’s Labyrinth which was like a really dark fairytale with amazing visuals and imaginative characters. His next film gets a release this summer and it a sequel to Hellboy, titled Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and it looks amazing and could easily out do it’s predecessor.