Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (3D)

With 3D movies apparently on the decline with the public, can Michael Bay save it from the big tech pile in the sky? Judging on it’s box office takings so far, over $260,000, 000, then he might he the formats hero, but does the film stand up away from the extra dimension.

It’s 1961 and an Autobot ship called the Ark has crashed on the moon, spotted by the Americans and Russians, a space race begins to be the first to investigate the ship. Apollo 11 makes it first, not to make a giant leap for mankind but for science.  Flash forward to the present and the Autobots are still working with NEST hunting down the remaining Decepticons, but also doing a bit of anti terrorism on the side.  Following a tip off, NEST find themselves in the remains of Chernobyl and discover part of the ARK, that the Russians stole from the moon. This alerts the Autobots to head to the moon to rescue their fallen leader Sentinel Prime from the Ark. They soon discover that the Decepticons have already visited the ship over time and have stolen some devices that could threaten the Earth.

While the Autobots are off around the world, Sam Witwicky is getting used to civilian life. Moved to Washington, Bumblebee has been replaced in his garage by a clapped out Datsun, Mikaela has dumped him and he can’t get a job. Things aren’t all bad though as he has a new girlfriend in the form of Carly (Rosie Huntington Whiteley) and he got a medal from President Obama.  Feeling left behind, he soon gets caught up in the Decepticon conspiracy and is knocking on the Autobots door again.

I really liked the first Transformers film, it was exciting , funny and had a real charm to it. The second film however was a different beast. It was over long, over complicated and don’t even mention the robot balls. All the charm was gone from the first film and it fell into the sequel trap of bigger, louder and longer.  A while after it’s release Michael Bay even apologised for it, which coming from him, was a big deal. So has he learned his lessons from Revenge Of The Fallen. Well sort of.

The story in this film, is a lot stronger than the previous one, as a NASA freak I loved all the Apollo stuff at the start, though I did spot a big fault in the Eagle landing scene! It was also quite funny seeing the actual Buzz Aldrin in the film.  Once the Decepticons plot kicks in the film really gets going. There are a few nice twists as well. Obvioulsy you don’t go to see Transformers expecting an Aaron Sorkin level script, you go for the action and this film has a lot of it. The last hour of the film is just a war between the rival bots in the city of Chicago and is pretty intense, it is also a lot more violent than previous films, just think of the tripod attack in War Of The Worlds. There is also an amazing sequence that doesn’t even need CG as the NEST team fly into the city, in flying wing suits, with a lot of the shots done on helmet cams so you see them dropping in amongst the skyscrapers first person and in 3D it’s amazing. Which brings me onto the 3D, if you been reading the site you will know I’m not a huge fan of 3D, the only thing I’ve seen that truly worked was Avatar which was simply stunning. Most the the films released now in 3D have been post converted and usually don’t look great and are too dark. When I go to see Harry Potter it will be in 2D. With Transformers I was actually looking forward to seeing it in 3D as it was actually shot in 3D, and it shows. It works really well, you do get drawn in especially in the aforementioned Wing suit scene. It has also had another positive effect on the film, in the editing room. In the past Michael Bay’s films have all been about quick cuts, which were so bad that sometimes it was hard to follow what was going on. With 3D he can’t do this as it would just make the viewers feel sick, so he has had to slow everything thing down in the editing which means, in the last film it was hard to work out which robot was hitting which robot. Now you can actually follow the action and take it all in.

A lot of the old faces return for this third installment, with one big exception, Megan Fox, who having said Bay was like Hitler, was axed from the film. Replacing her, is English actress Rosie Huntington Whiteley, a former model, and to be honest it shows. She’s not terrible but when you miss Megan Fox, that says a lot about her acting ability. John Malkovich is very under used as Sam’s new boss, who is all about chi and karma, but seems to turn mental half way through. Frances Mc Dormand pops up as a goverment liasion who doesn’t like the collaboration between NEST and the Autobots There’s a quite funny if a bit over the top appearance from Ken Jeong (The Hangover 1 & 2) as a work colleague who is a robot conspiracy nut.   Nice voice work as well by Leonard Nimoy as Sentinel Prime. Strangely the one person who I didn’t like in this film was Shai Labeouf, in the first two films he was quite charming and funny, in this though Sam seems to have turned into a bit of a dick, the only time he was likeable was when he was back with Bumblebee, I didn’t want his character to die, but just stopping being so annoying.

So overall, the film is a vast improvement on Revenge Of The Fallen, but not as much fun as the first film. The action is definitely bigger and the 3D does add to the visual impact and  there are still a few laughs to be had.  The last hour is a real spectacle. If you’re in the mood for big robots beating the hell out of each other then this is the film for you.

Rating 7/10

Senna

I vaguely remember hearing Ayrton Senna had died, I wasn’t a big F1 fan but did realise that it was a big deal. Over the last decade I have become more interested in the sport and have to say that this season so far has been very interesting.  So it seems apt that in a year where F1 is getting interesting a documentary comes out about a man who made the sport more famous.

Directed by Asif Kapadia, it follows Senna from Go-Karting world champion through to his debut in Formula One to the intense rivalry with Alain Prost and the ultimate tragic ending. Like the sport itself it doesn’t waste any time, the film flies along at a relentless pace keeping the fascinating story interesting. Kapadia and his team were given access to the FIA archives and the Senna family’s private footage which is what makes this documentray so good. We get to see the private side of Senna as well as the genius driver. Of course the most fascinating footage comes from the racing side. He came into the sport as the cockpit cameras were being used, so we get this amazing footage which give us an almost drivers eye view and it’s unbelievable. As first you think it’s been sped up, then you realise thats how fast they are driving. Watching this footage on a big screen reminded me of the old video dome attractions they used to have at theme parks where you watched footage of rollercosters and you got drawn in and felt like you were moving with it. There are also some great aerial shots which I don’t think i’ve seen before. One side of the sport we the public never see are the trackside goings on and in the film we get to see a few of the drivers meetings which are really interesting, especially when Senna is trying to get his point across much to the FIA leaderships annoyance.

A large propotion of the film deals with the rivalry that built up between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, as this new kid came in and threatened Prost’s dominance. It’s great to watch the two team-mates being all friendly at the start of their working relationship and then as Senna starts to shine, the two start to fall out and become almost enemies. I have to say I feel a bit sorry for Prost in the film as he is painted a bit as the enemy of the piece when Senna gave as much as Prost did in some of the numerous collisions the two had. The film also shows how much politics there was in the sport during the 80′s and 90′s, something that to honest probably hasn’t changed now.

The film also lets us remember how dangerous the spprt can be, one scene in particular genuinely shocked me where a driver had had such a bad crash that his car had distintergrated to such a degree that the driver was just left unconscious in the middle of the track. This all leads up to the final section of the film that deal with the fateful weekend in Imola in 1994. It all starts badly with Ruebens Barrichello’s terrible crash and then the fatal crash of Roland Ratzenberger. We see Senna visually shaken by the unfurling events and so when we got to race footage I felt my stomach tighten, as we get the cockpit view as he hurtles around the track towards the Tamburello corner. Followed by upseting footage of the medics working on him.

One clever stylistic move by the director is the use of only voiceovers, we hear from people now as well as  recordings from Senna himself and the people he worked with, but the visuals are all archive footage, no people sat in a room talking about what they remember which can be a bit boring in some documentaries.

Apparently Kapadia had so much footage to use that the original cut of the film was over 5 hours long and has been cut down to 106 mins, which actually felt a little bit short, I actually wanted to see more, there was some footage in the credits which was as good as in the film itself. Hopefully the eventual blu ray will have more footage as an extra.

I do love a good documentary and this is a very good documentary. It’s never boring, an accusation usually directed at the sport, and gives us a truly fascinating insight into what gave Ayrton Senna the drive to be one of the greatest drivers ever. Even if you haven’t that much of an interest in the sport, the film is worth checking out.

Rating 8/10

X-Men: First Class

When Bryan Singer released X-Men into the world in 2000, it was the first big budget comic book film and was a real gamble as up till then that genre hadn’t been a big success apart from Superman and that was 22 years before.  This film launched the genre into the mainstream and has lead to a summer in 2011 where we have Thor, Captain America, Green Lantern and X-Men First Class, and then next year, The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises.  The comic book film is king and the studios are relying on these films to be a success and if you can’t get a sequel then do a prequel which is where we find ourselves with X-Men:First Class.

The idea for First Class popped up at the end of X-Men Origins Wolverine, where Charles Xavier turned up to rescue the young mutants freed by Logan, and there was also talk for ages about doing a Magneto origins film, but it seems that has been incorporated into First Class.  Bryan Singer has returned to the franchise as a producer after having turned X-Men 3 to do Superman Returns. The original director of X3 was to be Matthew Vaughn but he pulled out while in pre production and went off to make the amazing Kick Ass. Off the success of that film he was persuaded to come back for this prequel and has brought his Kick Ass screenwriting partner Jane Goldman along as well.

The film follows Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr  as they go from childhood to becoming friends to ultimately enemies. Charles finds himself working with the CIA to help hunt down Sebastian Shaw a weapons dealer who is trying to start a war between the super powers. Erik Lehnsherr is trying to hunt down the German Scientist who experimented on him in the concentration camps, using any method to get the answers he wants. Soon they run into each other and Charles convinces him to join his group of mutants to hunt for Shaw, and to try and recruit some more members and try to stop the cuban missle crisis.

I really enjoyed the X-Men films, even X-Men Last Stand and Wolverine, so was looking forward to this one, and it fits in really well with the existing films, even though it is a slight reboot.  Setting it in the 1960′s was a great move as it gives the film it’s own distinct style, not just clothes but environment.  It was also a time of paranoia where everyone was suspicious of each over so throwing mutants into that mix is a clever move.  The story of two friends becoming enemies is also handled really well, in fact the times where Mcavoy and Fassbender share the screen are the strongest parts of the film. James Mcavoy playes Xavier with the same calmness that Patrick Stewart brought to the role but with a more playful side especially when we see Charles the ladies man. Michael Fassbender is perfect as Erik, he brings this real intensity to the role, a man driven by anger, looking for revenge. There is one sequence where Erik and Charles go travelling around the world looking for other mutants where there is a really fun chemistry between them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fassbender as James Bond one day as there are scenes in this with a real bond tone. My one criticism of him, would be his accent. For the first 2/3rds of the film he has a non descriptive accent, but in the last third his real Irish accent comes out really strong and it did jar abit. I get the feeling that maybe they ran out of time to go back and re-record his dialogue.  As Sebatian Shaw, Kevin Bacon gives a good sinister performance, and the lovely Januray Jones is very good as his right hand woman, Emma Frost.  Jennifer Lawrence who was Oscar Nominated earlier this year for Winter’s Bone, is good as Mystique struggling to deal with her mutation. Nicholas Hoult has come a long way from the boy in About A Boy and is very good as Hank ‘Beast’ McCoy. As one of the non mutants Rose Byrne showed a bit of sexier side to her previous roles as Moria MacTaggert, the CIA operative who becomes close with Xavier.  The other mutants don’t really get a a huge amount of time to really develop their characters, but hopefully if there is a another film we might get to see more of them.

Considering the shorter amount of time that he has had to make this, Matthew Vaughn has done a pretty good job with the film. I don’t think it’s as good as the two Bryan Singer films but is a lot better than Last Stand and Wolverine.  It moves along at a good pace, keeping you interested in seeing how the relationship between the two leads will develop, but it also has a real fun side to it, stopping it becoming too serious and pompous. There is a small cameo half way through which I thought was really funny.  The Cuban Missle crisis element of the story helped to ground it in the real world, though there seemed to be a few histroical elements wrong, yes I know the X-men didn’t really exist and stopped the crisis! The visual effects as usual these days were up to scratch with some nice sequences. Apparently it hasn’t done as well in it’s opening weekend as Thor, but I think that all the elements are there for a deserved sequel, and I hope the remaining two big comic books films left are as entertaining as the First Class.

Rating 8/10

The Hangover Part II

The first Hangover film was a box office monster making over $270 million dollars, so a sequel was pretty inevitable, and with the sequel having the biggest opening of any comedy ever taking $86.5 in it’s opening weekend, it must be better, right?

After marrying a hooker in the first film, Stu is now getting married again, and this time he hopes he will remember it. His fiance, Lauren, is from Thailand and to keep her disapproving father happy they plan to get wed there. All the wolf pack are invited apart from Alan, who’s drugging of the boys led to the Las Vegas incident, but soon Stu reluctantly agrees to let him come and they all head off to the Far East.  Under his strict rules that there not be a batchelor party, Stu and the boys head to the beach for one quiet drink with stu’s brother in law, Teddy. The next morning Stu, Phil and Alan wake up in a sleazy hotel in Bangkok with haircuts, tattoo’s, a monkey and Teddy’s finger in a bowl, but no Teddy. They also find an old friend has joined them in the form of Mr Chow, the psychotic chinese gangster from the first one!  So now they find themselves in Bangkok with two days before Stu’s wedding trying to work out how they got there and where  Teddy is. A trip that will see them running into Monks, tranvestites and mobsters.

I liked the first film, in fact I watched it the night before I went to see the sequel, it was a new idea, not seeing the actual events but the aftermath and then tracing it back. It worked, the cast were great and it was very funny. I wish I could say the same about the sequel.  It seems that they couldn’t think of a new twist on the original idea so thought let’s just do it again but in a more debauched setting.  Don’t get me wrong it did make me laugh on a few occassions but nowhere enough as the first one, it just feels a bit tired already.  We can sort of guess whats going happen before it does, there are no real shock laughs like Mr Chow jumping out of the boot naked in the first one. The only big cameo isn’t that great, I think the original idea of Mel Gibson as the Tattooist would have been a great lift in the story. The actors feel like they are just going through the motions, Zach Galifianakis’s Alan does the same sort of jokes as in the first one, the one actor that seems to be better is Ed Helms, as a big fan of The US Office, I like seeing him in movies and his character really seems to be having a mental breakdown in this one as it seems that everything is happening to him. They also seem to think that putting in a big action sequence will make it different, when it just feels a bit desperate.

Overall, the film’s okay, not great and if you enjoyed the first one it might be worth a rental, but thats about it, can’t say I would want to go and watch a third installment, which is already being talked about.

Rating 5/10

 

Attack The Block

“I like to listen to Adam And Joe, but I listen to the podcast not the live show, I used to feel acute frustration, cause I couldn’t join in with text the nation, but now my fears have disappeared, because retro text the nation’s here, so now my letter might be read out instead of thrown in the bin and forgotten about”

  Some of you reading the above will now have a smile on your face, of recognition, and everyone else will be, wandering what the hell i’m on about!  I’ve been a bit of a fan of Adam and Joe since the Tv series of the 90′s and now like a lot of people in the UK listen to the radio show. On a few occasions in the last few years Joe Cornish would miss the show but we never knew what for, well now we do!  He has gone from making Star War figure parodies of films, to making his first full feature film.

  It’s a south London Council estate and a nurse is on her way home, when she finds her path blocked by a gang of hoodie-wearing, masked teenagers, who ask for her phone and money. Could be any gritty English inner city drama, but suddenly a meteor crashes into a car feet away. The youths investigate the car and rather than find a frazzled sat nav, they find a toothy alien. Do they run away in fear? No they chase it and beat it to death.  This is the opening to Joe Cornish’s debut movie and sets the tone for whats to come.  Soon they find that, this was only the start of their night, when more meteors start crashing around the block and these ones arn’t as easily beaten as their inital visitor.  Can this group of kids armed only with bats and fireworks hold off an alien invasion?

   As an English horror/comedy, this film immediately has a large shadow over it, in the form of Shaun of The Dead, Which was a trans-atlantic hit, but I think it does Joe Cornish’s film a diservice to compare the two films, also this is more sci-fi.  My first feelings when coming out of seeing this was actually shock, not in a bad way but a good way. As I said I associate Joe Cornish with the TV and radio so going in I wasn’t expecting to be blown away, I thought it would be funny, but this film is great on so  many levels.

  Firstly, the cast are great, anyone who has been around a city centre knows how todays teenagers act and talk, and there are no cliched versions here, these kids seem real, with the dialect you hear everyday (Joe hung around youth centres for a few weeks researching teen speak). It might confuse the foreign market, it confused me at times, but it’s not a hindarance to the story. Some of the converstaions between the kids are so down to earth, especially their problems with having limited credit on their phones, (just brilliant and true).  The four young leads start the film as villans, kids you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, but by the end you have warmed to them immensly and actually find yourself caring for them, and I think it’s a credit to acting abiltiy of these young actors that they achieve this. As the leader of the gang, Moses, John Boyega, gives an amazing performance, truly menancing but you can see there is a lot more going on inside. He doesn’t provide many laughs, thats left to the rest of the gang, Pest (Alex Esmail) being the real joker.  As well as the gang there is a pretty good adult element rounding out the cast. The lovely Jodie Whittaker, as muggee nurse Sam is very good and holds here own against the gang when she finds herself relying on her previous attackers to protect her. Nick Frost plays his usual slobby character as drug dealer, Ron, who is pretty much stoned throughout. Luke Treadaway is pretty funny as the posh boy, Brewis,  just trying to score some weed for a party but finds himself caught up in an alien invasion. Adam Buxton, fans keep your ears open!

  Obviously an Alien films’ success rides on the creatures causing the problems and Joe’s creative team deserve a huge round of applause for the creatures they have produced. They are like a cross between a gorilla and a wolf, with jet black fur that is so dark it’s like looking into a black hole. There are no eyes to stare you out, which I think makes them even scarier, the only thing that you can see are the rows of blue luminescent teeth grinning through the darkness.   They are truly frightening Aliens and one scene where there are a large group outisde a window looking in is very creepy.

  As well as the amazing monster design, the visual style of the film is at times jaw dropping, it may not have the mega budget of Hollywood films but there are shots that Michael Bay would be proud of.  One shot in particular of Moses running through a room with two rockets flying in front of him, was just amazing, it’s the sort of shot that stays in your mind long after you leave the theatre. The estate, even though it’s like many inner city housing estates is like a character itself. The way they have lit it, gives it the look of a space ship,it’s like the USS Solaco has landed. All the corridors of the estate feel like you might see Ellen Ripley coming round a corner at anytime and who would have thought that timed light switches could be so dramatic. Instead of speeder bikes, we have scooters and BMX’s, and instead of Plasma Rifles we have super soakers. One thing that did surprise me was the level of gore, it is surprisingly bloody, but not to a Saw level, it’s not like there’s limbs being ripped off left and right, just the odd death.

  Even if I wasn’t a Joe Cornish fan before I watched this film, I think I would be afterwards. For a debut film, it is impressive, it has all the elemnets that you want, and seems to balance the scares/ humour perfectly. They may be the odd cliche moment but they are very few and far between.  It does have  a bit of an 80′s feeling to it, a bit like The Goonies, but with more peril, You can see that Joe, like me, is a someone who grew up with the films of Spielberg, Lucas and many other classic films, and pays them little tributes throughout.  I think that Mr Cornish could have a big career ahead of him in the film industry, with a writing credit already on the forthcoming Tintin.  The first I really heard about the film was when it was shown earlier this year at the SXSW festival where it recieved rave reviews and I was a bit hestitant of the hype, but now I can see why it was getting such good reviews.  This is a great film, that impressed me so much. I fear that Joe’s days on the radio are numbered, but radio’s loss will be cinemas gain.

Rating 9/10

Thor

Since Marvel took conrol of their own properties for the big screen they have made some interesting choices for directors, which started with Jon Faverau taking the reins of Iron Man and producing an amazing film. For the third film in that series they have given the duties to Shane Black, screenwrting legend and director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. These two appointments raised a few eyebrows but nowhere as near as the surprise that greeted the announcement that Kenneth Branagh would be directing Thor. This seemed very strange, but the guys at Marvel have pulled it off again, as I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it!

  As a sell to the general public, Thor is a hard one, I love comic book films, but really didn’t know much about the character apart from he’s a god and has a big hammer.  This problem is dealt with pretty quickly. The film starts out in the New Mexico desert where Astro-Physicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and her team, Erik (Stellan Skarsgard) and Darcy (Kat Dennings), are waiting for a cosmic annomally to occur. When it does they literally run into Thor (Chris Hemsworth). The film then takes us back to the Kingdom of Asgard, where we meet the young Thor and his brother Loki as they are told the legend of Asgards battle with the Ice Giants, a war that was ended bytheir father Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins). Flash forward a few years and Thor is about to take the step into his fathers shoes but the cremeony is interrupted by an infiltration by the Ice Giants after their artifact taken by Odin. They are dealt with, But Thor sees it as an act of war amd wants revenge, despite his fathers protestaions he and a band of warriors head off to the ice kingdom of Jotenheim. Despite a brave battle Thor is saved by Odin, who angered at his sons betrayal, banishes him to Earth without his powers and his hammer, Mjolnir. Which brings us back to his run in with Jane. 

   This is where the fun starts in the film, as we have the ‘duck out of water’  Thor trying to make sense of this new realm he is in.  There is an immediate spark between him and Jane, and not just from Darcy tasering him. She is smitten and wants to help him, but Erik warns her off, and when SHIELD turn up and steal all her research it’s clear there is something else going on with him. Agent Coulson and his agents have found Mjolnir in a huge crater (end credits of Iron Man 2) and are trying to understand it. Whilst this is happening on earth, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is up to no good in Asgard, but can Thor get back and stop him?

  It is like a film of two halves, Thor. The Asgard protions of the film are very classical almost shakespearean which shows why Kenneth Branagh was the perfect choice. It is helped by the great actors he has chosen, Anthony Hopkins has the gravitas to play Odin, a true God and Leader. Chris Hemsworth is great as Thor, in the Asgard sequences he has that arrogance that the son of a god would have, then on earth stripped of his power his charm shines through. As Loki, Tom Hiddleston shows the confusion inside the character, he wants to be knig but never will be and it’s driving him mad, even though he loves his brother. Rene Russo is quite good though a bit wasted as she is hardly in it as the Queen Frigga. Idris Elba is surprisingly good as the gate keeper of kingdom, he doesn’t have a lot to do but when he is on screen he is pretty humble but threatening.

  The Earth sequences are more like the Marvel films we have already had, though there is a surprising lack of action. There are only two sequences of note, both good, but not to the levels of Iron Man. In one we are reminded that this is a pre-cursor to next years Avengers movie, with a brief appearance of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and a great  one liner about Stark.  What surprised me the most with the film was the level of humour. It’s a really funny film, during the Earth sequences, not just Thor’s misunderstanding of earth customs.  I did find my self  laughing quite a lot and i think the film need that as the Asgard parts are played so seriously.

 I saw the film in 3D, and have to say it was pretty disappointing. It works in showing the scale of Asgard but in sequences that are dark, it’s too dark. There were also scenes where things were popping out the screen that shouldn’t be. it could have just been the screen I saw it at, but if I was gonna go and see it again, I think I would watch it in 2D.

  Overall, it was a really enjoyable film, that could have gone badly wrong but didn’t. It’s believeable, you have a man with a gian t hammer flying through the sky and it doesn’t matter, it works, it fits in with the films we have already have and makes me excited for whats to come, not just in The Avengers but in Captain America. If Joe Johnston does as  good job as Kenneth Brangah we are in for a great summer of superheroes. Not forgetting X-Men First Class as well!

Rating 8/10

Fast Five (Fast & Furious 5)

 

The Fast & Furious films are seen by some people as a Guilty Pleasure, a film you don’t admit you like. Judging by the box office takings this weekend there are a lot of people who probably won’t admit they went to see it, not me! I am a Fast & Furious fan, there I said it, Loud and Proud!  I have enjoyed all the four previous outings, and have a special affinity for Tokyo Drift, it’s got a lot of bad reviews when it came out, but I found it to be the most fun of the series. That was Justin Lin’s first time behind the camera on the series and now he finishes his trilogy with Fast Five.

  The film begins right where Fast & Furious finished with Dominic Torreto on his way to prison, and Brian O’Connor and Dom’s  Sister Mia, about to break him out. They succeed and go on the run to Brazil, where they meet up with Vince who we last saw hanging off a lorry in the first film. Desperate for cash they get involved in a train robbery which of course goes wrong and now they find themselves in the cross hairs of the local drug kingpin Reyes and the DEA.

  This is where we have a new entrant to the franchise, with the arrival of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Luke Hobbs, a man the FBI send when they want somone caught.  Bulit like a brick shithouse and armed to teeth, he’s gonna be trouble, soon he’s on their trail.

  The films have always been about the cars and theres no let up in this one, but used differently than in the past. We have a couple of big driving sequences including the amazing finale, but we also have a great foot chase through the favela and some brutal fisticuffs as well.  It seems that to keep the franchise going they are trying to keep things fresh from film to film, and in this one they have gone into Oceans Eleven territory as the last half of the film revoloves around a heist. To pull off the job they call in some familiar faces from the franchise, we have Roman (F&F2), Tej (F&F2), Han (F&F TD, 4) and Gisele, who is the same actress with the same name from 4 but seems a different character!

  Overall the film’s a real success, they could have just gone for more street racing but they have tried to make something different and it works. No it’s not gonna win any oscars but it’s not that kind of film, it knows what it is and plays it for fun. Thats what these films are about, Fun. The characters might be a bit one dimensional but you don’t care because you are along for the journey, and want to see what they will do next. The addition of the Rock also works as it gives Vin Diesel some physical opposition. The group mechanic works as well providing a few laughs, amongst all the machismo.  Now this is very important, do not leave as the credits start, half way through there is a another sequence which left me truly godsmacled and desperate to see the next film, you will be truly shocked! Thankfully I read yesterday that due to the huge openig in the US that the sequel looks on, thnak god.  If you are a fan of the previous four films or just looking for some escapist action then i can highly recommend this. It feels like the summer has started.

Rating 8/10

What I’ve Seen.

As I mentioned in my ranty previous post, I haven’t been to the cinema a huge lot lately but I went through my wallet and pulled out the tickets to see what I have been to watch since my last review, which I think was the A-team.  So here are a few quick reviews, some of these I think I now have on Blu Ray!

Back To The Future

Yes you are not seeing things that does indeed say Back To The Future!  One of my all time favourite films, I remember going to see it’s original release on my 11th birthday, and I have loved it ever since. With the trilogy coming out on Blu Ray, they decided to give the film a one week re-release on the big screen and I couldn’t miss the chance to see it again.  It was as good as ever and forgot how great Lea Thompson looked! It’s a classic and despite the 80′s setting still works. It’s a film that every generation should be intorduced to for years to come.

The Social Network

David Fincher is one of my favourite directors and will go and see anything he makes. When I heard he was doing a movie about Facebook, I was puzzled but also curious. When I got to see it I was very impressed. What sounds on paper like a film about geeks at computers was gripping, intelligent and a film that does warrant repeat viewings. In fact the two times I have seen it, I’ve had different opinions of Mark Zuckerberg. The first time I thought that he hadn’t stole the idea from the Winkervi’ but the second time I thought he had. It’s just a great film with brilliant peformances  from Jesse Eisenberg and especially the next Spider-man, Andrew Garfield who was cruelly overlooked in awards season. I shall be getting this on Blu Ray to watch over and over again.

Jackass 3D

When Avatar came out they said 3D was the future, but I don’t think this was what James Cameron had in mind. Me and a couple of mates went to see this at the cinema in 3D and haven’t laughed so much in ages. This is the film 3D was made for, it really works. The opening sequence where all the gang are introduced worked so well with all sorts of things flying out of the screen, then we get into the various skits and again the 3D was used so well. There are a few bits which were not in the added dimension but I was laughing too much to notice. The highlights for me were the high five, poo volcano and Steve-o’s trip in the bungee toilet. Recently watched it on 2D blu ray and it still had me in stitches but I did miss the 3D element.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows:Part One

I have only read three of the books, but have loved all the films, and so as the saga reaches it’s conclusion I was really looking forward to this penultimate episode.  It was an interesting film as not a huge amount happened but it was still quite gripping. Someone jokingly called it on the radio “Harry on Camping”, which was a brilliant description. Taking the kids away from Hogwarts was a good plot change and let the audience see the dynamic between the kids (can we still call them kids!). it’s a weird film as it’s just the warm up for the grand finale which looks amazing from the small glimpses we have been given, and I will be looking forward to that in June. No i don’t know how it ends and don’t want to.

The Kings Speech

Well what is there to say about this film that hasn’t been said! It’s not the type of film I would usually take a trip to the cinema to see, but rather wait to rent it and watch on a sunday morning.  I had heard some good things about it and thought what the hell. Glad I took the chance as it was a thoroughly enjoyable film, with great performances throughout and deserved all the accolades it got, well apart from the best director which hoped would go to Fincher!  Colin Firth was just that actor from Bridget Jones and the one that all women seem to swoon over, but I had a few months earlier watched him in a Single Man and was blown away how good he was in it and then to see him in this made me realise what a good actor he is. Also good at award speeches. Look forward to catching it on Blu Ray again soon. Even my parents went to see this and thats a rare occurence!

Battle: Los Angeles

There have many alien invasion films over the years and two this last year alone. Following Skyline came this, and they tried to do something a little different by making it from the viewpoint of the people on the ground, a bit similar to Speilberg’s War Of The Worlds. It was desribed in pre publicity as being Balck Hawk Down but with Aliens. It’s an idea that sounds amazing on paper, but they didn’t quite pull it off. It was an enjoyable film, and Aaron Eckhart was pretty good in the lead, but it was a bit too cheesy at times and cliche’d. The one thing I did like was that the Aliens were made a bit more interesting, they actually had battllefield tactics and were not just there to be target practice for the humans. Could have been great but was a bit meeh!

Paul 

I was a big of Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, like most people, so when Pegg and Frost announced they were doing another film together and this time with an alien, I was looking forward to seeing it. It didn’t let me down. This is a film for film geeks like me and especially sci fi fans. This film is full of references and little nods to classic sci fi films, even including a small cameo from one of the biggest directors in the genre.  Paul, the alien is brilliantly realised both visually and in the vocal performance of Seth Rogen who is great. the supporting cast are no slouches either, the lovely Kirsten Wiig is good as the god botherer who has her faith rattled by Paul. There’s also Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, Bill Hader and even the sci fi queen Sigourney Weaver. Some fo the reviews have been a bit harsh on it, but personally I loved every minute of it and shall definitely be getting it on Blu Ray in June.

Source Code

I never saw Moon on the cinema, but took a gamble and bought it on Blu Ray and thought it was amazing. Even though it was low budget it looked as good as films with ten times the budget. It was really clever and kept you interested to the end.  So I was really interested to see what he would do with a big budget film. Source Code for some reason keeps getting called this years Inception, which seems a bit unfair as there’s very little similarity between the two, just because it require you to pay attention doesn’t make them the same!

 The story see Jake Gyllenhaals, Army helicopter pilot, Colter Stevens, wake up after on a Chicago bound train with a woman he doesn’t know, Michelle Moynahan, a face he doesn’t recognise, and then 8 minutes later, a bomb going off in his face. He then wakes again to find himself in some sort of pod, and is told he is part of an experiment where they can send him into the last eight minutes of someone elses life. They want him to find out who bombed the passenger train as there has been a threat of a further attack. So begins a game of guess who as he Groundhog Day style relives the incident over and over. While trying to find the bomber he starts to fall for his train companion and work out how to save her even though the events have already happened.

  As you can tell from the description this film is a real mind bender and gets more confusing as it goes on, though it doesn’t over complicate itself by the finale, though it did cause me and my mate to discuss our own interpretations of the ending. The two leads are very good and are ably supported by Vera Farmiga as Colt’s one link to the outside world away from the pod. Highly recommend it.  Look forward to seeing what Duncan Jones does next, which rumour has it could be Wolverine 2!

The A-Team

 

When I worked at the cinema in the early 90′s, there was talk going around that an A-Team movie was in the works, this caused me and my work colleagues to come up with our own story and cast for the movie. (We had a lot of time between screenings and didn’t want to watch Mr Nanny for the twentieth time!)  The cast I remember was Hannibal: Tommy Lee Jones, Murdoch: Jim Carrey, Face: Matthew Perry and BA was Michael Clarke Duncan. Not a bad cast for the time, but nothing came of the proposed film and it disappeared into production hell. Over the following years the rumour kept popping up then last year it suddenly got the green light, with Boyz In The Hood director John Singleton in charge, an odd choice but hey it’s gonna finally happen. As with it’s previous form this fell apart but before we could give up hope of ever seeing the van on the big screen Narc director Joe Carnahan took his place and production began, the A-Team was coming!

  So who are making up the soldier of fortunes in the 2010 version, well a bit different to my old one!  In the Hannibal role is Liam Neeson bringing some gravitas to the film. Fresh from his success in the Hangover, Bradley Cooper, plays the ladies man Face Templeton. In the role of Murdoch we have the star of my favourite film of last year, District 9, Sharlto Copley, who when they announced was taking the role I thought was such a great call, he was a prefect choice. Obviously the most famous member of the A-Team was BA Baracus, played by the iconic Mr T in the Tv series, so who was big enough to fill those huge boots?  Quiton ‘Rampage’ Jackson!  Who?  Yeah that was my thought when I heard him announced. He was a UFC fighter who has now turned to acting.   Making up the supporting roles we have Jessica Biel as Sosa, one of Faces ex conquests who is now hunting him, and Patrick Wilson as the CIA spook Lynch.

   The plot sees Hannibal and the team, who are brought together in a fun pre credits sequence in Mexico, sent on a mission into Baghdad to capture some stolen US treasury Mint plates and a load of counterfeit money. Obviously it doesn’t go well and the A-Team are ‘sent down for a crime they didn’t commit’.  After a vist from Lynch, Hannibal and the boys are on the run trying to find the plates and clear their names. What follows is a fun action adventure including a flying tank sequence!

    The original tv series was all about the chemistry of the cast as much about the story and cabbage rocket lanchers, and the film follows suit. As the leader Neeson is perfectly cast, pulling off the ‘plan comes together’ lines with no irony and with the level of repsect from his team that he probably got on set. Bradley Cooper is great and is the man on the rise, coming a long way from when I remember him in Alias, he has Face’s character down perfectly as the ladies man but also serious soldier.  Filling Mr T’s shoes was always gonna be a big ask and Jackson tries his best but he lacks a bit of the charisma that the TV BA had, though his chemistry with Murdoch is just like the old days.  Which brings me to Shalrto Copley, as I said earlier, District 9 was my favourite film last year and that was due a lot to his performance as Wikus. As  Murdoch he is totally spot on, he is just brilliant, very funny making me laugh nearly everytime he said something and as mentioned he plays off Jacksons BA so well, you want to see more of them riffing.  I really hope they do another one so we can see this cast together again.  Jessica Biel’s not bad as the Army lieutenant hunting them down and has a reasonable chemistry with Cooper. Patrick Wilson plays the CIA man Lynch with the right amount of arrogance and menace.

  Just like the TV series the action is very OTT, but thats what you want from an A-Team film, too serious and it wouldn’t have worked. There are things you haven’t seen in many action films before, a few coming from Murdoch’s unique flying style.  My only criticism is that whoever was in charge of the sound mix needs to boost the vocal track a bit as in some sequences all the bangs drown out what they are saying, and the banter was what i enjoyed the most.

  Overall, I really enjoyed the film, it had a great mix of action and comedy something thats hard to get right and even thought the plates storyline wasn’t the strongest, the chemistry of the team held the film together with Sharlto Copley stealing the film easily. Lets hope that somebody has another job, that nobody else could help them with, and that they can find them, so that they can call ‘The A-Team’

Rating 7/10

Inception

 

 The advantage of making one of the highest grossing films of all time is that when you go back to the studio they are likely to be more positive about any ideas you may have. This is the situation that Christopher Nolan found himself in. After relaunching the Batman franchise from the depths of Schumacher hell, with ‘Batman Begins’, Nolan then went on to make the phenomenal ‘The Dark Knight’ a record breaker and the film that showed you could make intelligent blockbusters. In between those two he made a little film called ‘The Prestige’, a story about two rival magicians in the 19th century, an amazing film with great twists and suspense that you had to follow intensely, to get to the thoroughly satisfying finale. (check it out)  Now we have Christophers Nolans BIG thinking movie.  From a script that he apparently has been working on for 14 years, we have ‘Inception’ a real mind bender not just in story but in visuals.

  The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a man who works in the area of dream infiltration. He is a spy for hire who will go into a targets dream and steal the secrets that they hide deep down in their subconcious.  Unfortunately Cobb finds it harder to control what is going on in the real world and has been hiding away from the authorities who think he killed his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard).  Things begin to look up for Cobb when a busines Mr Saito, (Ken Watanabe) offers to help clear his name if he will do a job for him. The job involves placing a thought into the mind of a business rival (Cillian Murphy) something considered impossible, but Cobb thinks he can do it so starts assembling a team of experts including Ellen Page, Joeseph Gordon Levitt, and Tom Hardy. They set about creating a dream world to draw the target into and plant the thought.

  Thats about as much as you need to know, about the story as the less you know the better. Inception is a real intelligent thriller, one that you need to follow from the first minute to the last, or you could get lost. 

  As the story is quite complicated, Warners have been selling the film on it’s visuals, and very good visuals they are, from the train driving through the streets in the rain, to the skyscrapers crumbling into the sea in Cobbs dream world.  The sequences set in the vearious dream levels are a sight to be seen, all the more for the fact that a lot was done with physical effects rather than just CG’ing it like most films.  The standout visual sequence is the city bending in on it self which is in the trailer and is part of a longer sequence where cobb explains the dream creation process to Ellen Page’s Ariadne.

    As with his previous film Nolan has put together a great ensemble cast, with Leo leading the way showing why nhe is becoming one of the best dramatic actors around. Ellen Page has the right level of naeivity and confidence as the architect and Tom Hardy was a real surprise as I hadn’t seen his other films and thought he had a real presence.  It wouldn’t be a Nolan film without his lucky charm, Michael Caine, who has  brief role.

  I have to admit I am finishing this review a few weeks after I saw it, was really struggling it write about it, really needed to see it again, but haven’t had the time, but it does still stay in my mind quite clearly. As I mentioned the visuals are amazing and the story is quite complicated but as long as you pay attention it’s not too hard to follow. It is a great premise and Nolan has yet again shown his rising stature in Hollywood, and makes you wonder what he will do with the next installment in the Batman franchise.  This is a highly intelligent blockbuster something thats been missing in Hollywood for a while and maybe, just maybe we might get more films like it. If you want a film with action, a proper plot and great visuals then this is for you. It’s probably blasphermous to say but I actually enjoyed The Prestige more, but i’m sure after multiple viewings I might grow to love this as much.

   Rating 8/10