Film 2011

Ok, after a long long gap we're back in action (sorry folks but I keep getting distracted by stuff whenever I meant to write anything) as in time to look back at the year that was 2011 in film.

We saw Harry Potter end (quite well I thought), Kevin Smith's film career give up it's final spluttering breaths (no Kevin, the man isn't against you, you just haven't made a good film since Chasing Amy).

No sign of Lindsay Lohan pulling herself together, Mel Gibson falling apart, Kirsten Stewart becoming the most bankable actor thanks to Twilight, Film 2011 reborn as a glossy er nothing (bring back Barry Norman) and finally the announcement that an Arrested Development film is indeed on the way!



So time to have a quick glance through some of my hits and misses of the year. Now if I don't mention a film it's either because it falls into the largest category which is "average" or it was entirely forgettable or I've not yet seen it. (And with the likes of 'Drive', 'Submarine', 'Senna', 'Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy' on the not seen list I've got some work to do).

So first of all lets go through some of my favourites from the year:

'True Grit' - the Coen brothers prove once again masters of genre they turn their hands to as they bring us a fully blown western. Jeff Bridges is always good value and his Rooster is more layered that Wayne's but it's Hallie Steinfield who is the real standout here giving an excellent performance for one so young.

'Thor' - undoubtedly my favourite of the 'blockbusters' this year. Somehow Brannagh pulls of the trick of marrying Thor's hyper real homeland with modern Earth without anyone looking silly. It helps that film has a healthy sense of humour throughout and it holds the most charismatic villain in any of the Avengers properties so far in Tom Hiddlestone's Loki.

'X-Men: 1st Class' - in the 2nd best blockbuster the X-Men get themselves a bit of James Bond 60's cool. Ok so continuity wise things get a bit messy but it's a fun romp that somehow even manages to invoke Inglorious Basterds at one stage. Fassbender makes for an excllent Magneto too - here's hoping for a 2nd Class.

'Meek's Cutoff' - a tale of a wagon slowly getting lost in the deserts of American gives low key character drama surrounding by glorious scenery and shows Michelle Williams promise (which is according to most currently underlining in My Week With Maryilyn)

'The Fighter' - another character drama this one and it's the tale of a down on his luck boxer who rises again brought to life by it's performances. Christian Bale got all the attention but Mark Whalberg's unassuming turn is the glue that holds it all together and Amy Adams shines as well throwing the best punch in the whole thing.

'Source Code' - Duncan Jones' follow up to Moon may not hold together to well if you really sit and think about it but if you give with it you'll find a tricksy little tale that isn't short of heart either.

'We Need To Talk About Kevin' - quite unnerving and emotionally raw but an excellent film and Tilda Swinton absolutely knocks it out of the park.

'Fast Five' - yes it's deeply stupid but it knows it's deeply stupid and it's a lot of fun. The casting of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to join the main players is also a stroke of genius. Now if only they can get The Stath to sign on for the inevitable sequel for the franchise that will not die. (Also best post credit teaser of the year..)

'Fair Game' - which seemed to slip out and go unnoticed by most but it's a fascinating drama about what happens when your government decides to turn on you and hang you out to dry as Naomi Watts' CIA operative has the rug pulled out from under her because her husband annoys the Bush whitehouse.

So those were my favourites of the year so far (of those I've seen) so what about the disappointments? Well most under par films I admit I forget having even seen most of the time, so these are more sort of the films where I saw some promise that just was delivered upon for one reason or another.

'Bad Teacher' had promise with a strong cast and good idea but watching it you get the distinct impression it's been robbed of it's bite by studio meddling and it ends up muddling along unsure of what it's really doing.

'Green Latern' is film where it feels like about a third of it was left on the cutting room floor in the edit suite. Nobody has a character arc, Ryan Reynolds doesn't learn a lesson about being a good person he just continues being a smug git and just happens to get a super magic ring. Events happen almost seemingly at random and it's a bit, well, silly in a way that Thor somehow managed to avoid.

'Sucker Punch', ok I can see what Zack Synder was trying to do, but it really does not work and ends up as a boring repetitive mess with a whiff of misogyny.

So there we go, I'm pretty sure I'll like Fincher's take on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo when that arrives just before the year's end and of course there some strong candidates in those I've yet to catch up with.

And it's time to move into 2012; will 3D finally prove it's worth or die away? Just how much money will Batman's nexy outing haul in? Will The Avengers actually succed in fitting everything in? And most excitingly what will be the films that surprise and come out of nowhere to be the year's best?

Scream 4

Arriving a decade after the last installment the Scream franchise returns to cast an eye over the state of the horror genre once more.

The first thing I'd say though is that Scream 4 is no longer a horror film in it's own right. Whilst Scream was undoubtedly a stalk and slash horror film with added commentary on the genre and knowing dark humour the latest film comes across much like an outright parody of the genre not the pastiche the first film was.

It's actually quite a funny film, the opening sequence is a great gag and it's full of brilliant lines ("The voice from the films or well, you know, your life"), but it never quite comes together as tries to balance various aspects as the original.

One of the key factors is the characterisation which was actually quite strong in the first two films. Then the main cast were people with believable lives, motivations, emotions and the secondary cast feel like, well, people rather than ciphers.

However this time around the returning cast aren't really given a chance to anything other than advance the plot or get chased around whilst the new generation of kids seem to neatly fall into either victim or suspect categories.

Emma Roberts is bland as Sidney's cousin failing to grasp the chance to be the new center of the film. Only really Hayden Panettiere's Kirby seems to have any real spark to her and as such is seemingly rewarded by having the most screen time of the new faces.

Another factor which stops the film from really excelling is the lack of intensity. Whilst director Craven still manages to pull out the odd effective moment this time out the attack sequences just don't seem to carry the same level of menace and tension as the first and second outings (probably about the same as the weaker third entry).

Interestingly whilst there is plenty of blood on show the violence here is much more theatrical in feel in comparison to the much more brutal, almost more real feeling violence of the original. That opening sequence in Scream still stands as something genuinely quite disturbing.

But perhaps the lack of characterisation and the stylisation of the slightly neutered violence is all part of the critique of the modern horror scene which this film certainly talks about. It does seem Kevin Williamson is not keen on the uptake of horror remakes and dismisses the likes of Saw within the opening ten minutes.

It is strange to watch a film which spends so much time telling you it shouldn't have been made in the first place. But it does raise some interesting points about the state of the genre the franchise did so much to revitalise in the mid-90's and it does also stir in the modern obsession with fame for the fake of fame.

So it's certainly fun (it made me laugh out loud a couple of times) but it lacks the intensity of the franchise's first steps but it's self awareness certainly makes it interesting for the film students amongst us.

Project Potter Part Two

Ok, so here we go with the second half of the Harry Potter phenom.

..And The Order Of The Phoenix

This one starts with a fairly creepy scene, although it did take me time to work what was going because the actor playing Dudley had changed so much and at this stage I has assumed that Harry basically wouldn't be with the Dursley's again and would be living with the Weasleys. Just something that doesn't quite make sense for me at this stage since they hate him, he hates them and it's surely exactly where everyone would look for him.

Anyway it is a nicely creepy attack. After this I think this is possibly the weakest of the later films and it's possibly down to it being very much a mid story arc sort of affair and what I suspect it's main purpose in novel form is essentially edited out, that of introducing and establishing the Order's members that we only see briefly like the wife of Remus.

It is surprising however just how dark things do get though in places (such as Umbridge's torture punishments, the notion that witnessing death changes your perception of things) and Bonham-Carter's Bellatrix Lestrange is a enjoyably demented character. To be fair the last section within the Ministry of Magic and the confrontation with Vodlemort is well realised but to some extent just highlights the lack of any real drive in the rest of the film.

I also feel that whilst Luna has potential as kooky character it's hobbled by Evanna Lynch's performance in the role. Sometime the glassy eyed quality works but often she comes across pretty woodenly.

So very much a bridging effort this one and probably my least favourite after the first two and marks the point where you can really tell large parts of the tale are being exercised.(Also not enough Gary Oldman!)

..And The Half Blood Prince

A nicely understated opening shows director David Yeates really starting to get to grips with the franchise and in a strange way it almost reminds of Zack Synder's work on Watchmen.

Again things are getting darker, the cursed student fairly early on being notably creepy and Snapes meeting with Bellatrix shot through with rain and gloom with an added sense of dread. Although it does feel like the storyline of Draco is not emphasised as much as it could have been. At the end it's clear Draco is struggling with what's expected of him but sadly I don't feel enough screen time is given over to him (and I think Tom Felton is one of stronger performers amongst the kids too)

It's hard to tell if Broadbent's slughorn is supposed to be just plain naive or blinded by his desire to 'collect' people as we discover his involvement with educating Tom Riddle on how to make himself seemingly unkillable.

Whilst again the main plotline seems to stutter until the final reel (it takes Harry a long time to realise he can use the luck potion to find out what he needs to know), the Half Blood prince reveal seems almost like an afterthought when it comes, things are better this time round as there is more to generate interest. In particular Hermione and Ron's relationship as the two struggle to actually say what they want to the other.

And in truth Watson and Grint are much better in this installment than Radcliffe who just doesn't sell the idea that Harry is able to lead the other students with any real conviction. Though to be fair he does fair better in the final scenes as he forces his mentor to drink the enchanted water.

So stronger than the previous entry but a little weak as a standalone film and much more a building block, although this is somewhat to be expected at this stage.

..And the Deathly Hallows Part 1

I know this one seems to be often criticised as being an exercise in exposition before the fireworks start but I actually really enjoyed this one, even the camping trip parts.

It's just really well made with a lot of attention to detail. For example this film is much darker not only in content but the hue of the film itself is washed out, greyer and darker than the previous entries (and for the duration not just the opening two minutes; pay attention Verbinski!). And of course on top of that we have things like the teacher pleading with Snape to save her, the torture and marking of Hermione and the general genocide of mudbloods vibe running through things.

I admit the notion of the corrupting pendant is a little bit of a steal from Lord Of The Rings but it isn't overplayed so I'm happy to let it go and does play nicely with the relationship of the lead trio as Ron suddenly finds himself over aware of Harmonie's interactions with Harry. And the soul of Voldemort's attempt to use to this it's advantage is well realised as Ron goes to destroy the locket.

The animation for the tale of the Deathly Hallows is also a good move helping to put across an important part of the story in an imaginative way. You get the feeling if Chris Columbus was still in the chair he'd just of had somewhere read out to screen for five minutes.

Elsewhere though there were a couple of things that felt a little under explained like the significance of Lucious losing his wand to Voldemort and again Draco's struggle to chose where his loyalty really lies isn't focused on as much as it could be.

So it's a thumbs up for this installment overall and I am starting to worry that it says something about me that the darker and grimer things get the more I find to enjoy.

..And The Deathly Hallows Part 2

And we're onto the big finish. First of all I'll say I saw this on the big screen in 3D and would actually say although as far as I know it's a conversion job it's the best example of the new 3D technology I've seen, it impressed me far more than Avatar did.

Onto the film in general as a closing installment I thought it worked well and although I was initially cynical about the need for two films to complete the final tale I would say there is enough material here to justify the move.

A lot of fairly cool moments here such as Neville's tauting of the wildmen, the coming to life of the statues, McGonagall turning out to be kick-ass, the rampaging fire, the dragon back escape but in the end amongst the spectacle it comes down to the character moments.

Whilst it is true some of the characters are undeserved such as Remus and his wife I think the major moments are captured. Ron and Hermione's relationship comes finally comes to a resolution and works well, especially in those moments where she realises he has been paying attention all these years.

Harry's interlude with those he loves manages to be quite moving and avoids falling into saccharine as it could have easily done (and yey, more Oldman) and his face offs with Voldemort are quite tense. Oh, Ralph Fiennes is excellent as the evil wizard. Creepy, slightly deranged, cruel and in this installment managing to combine this with a growing desperation.

I admit I don't quite follow though what exactly allows Harry to live after going to his death in the forest nor really the significance of the wands and their owners. But I did quite like the visual of the ghostly Kings Cross.

Key to the heart of the whole film tough is that flashback of Snape's story (and my I bet his death scene has caused a few nightmares in younger views as it's really quite brutal even if it is indirectly seen) as he turns out to be one of the most tragic character's ever. Also turns out Dumbledore is a bit of git. But that works as the mentor is show to have his faults whilst we learn the mean man was the one to sacrifice the most in the end, basically every shred of his happiness.

Although again I admit I've not put my finger on the significance of Snape having the same patronas as Harry's mother.

One thing that does disappoint is that in the end Voldemort seems to go down quite easily and in fact it feels somewhat anti-climatic when Harry defeats him (the same goes for the end of Bellatrix too).

The closing scene as the gang years later families in two is probably the expected way to conclude (at least there is only one ending as opposed to LOTR's like twenty) but it does feel a little flat in the end, but having said that I'm not sure how it could have been approached differently.

Conclusions

So overall I've enjoyed Project Potter. It's a slow start with a bit of wobbly middle but it's a pretty good ride and a fairly strong tale in the end. I don't think there is too much lost from not having read the books until the final stretch where it seems some of the details to really get the nuances of aspects of it seem to have been skipped over along the way. But I don't think it's enough to really spoil it all.

In the end I still think Radcliffe is the weakest actor of the lead three but certainly does get better as things go along and is solid enough as to not take you out of things. I stand by my view that Grint is the most natural performer but I do suspect it might be Watson who goes on to really establish a career away from the franchise (well if she doesn't get too busy with this fashionista stuff).

Of course the supporting cast of luminaries are all excellent (and of course Bill Nighy appeared eventually) but of those I think it's David Thewlis and Gary Oldman that stand out and seem to really commit to their roles.

Thankfully David Yeates proves a strong guiding hand for the last few installments but it's definitely Alfonso Cuarón's work on the third film that really kicks the franchise into life and I think he is probably the one that ensured there was enough life in it to see things get to the conclusion.

I would also in the end Rowling's writing and storytelling turned out to be stronger than I was expecting it to. Starting off simply it did introduce a number of interesting elements and I think should also be applauded for taking what is essentially a children's series into some very dark places.

So to those like me who've never seen these I would recommend the series both in terms of the tale told and that there is some quality filmmaking to be found here.

(And this is my brief thoughts on things for a fuller musing on thing's you'll probably actually need to talk to me I'm afraid!)




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Trailer of the Day ; Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part II

With the second part of Project Potter coming soon (hopefully later today) to build up enjoy the below trailer for the final Potter installment.

Project Potter : Part 1

Right having let slip that I have never read nor watched any of the Harry Potter installments (well, I had seen the first two films previously) I was roundly castigated and thus decided to fix this cultural oversight on my behalf.

I am now roughly halfway through (and on course to get myself caught up in time to catch the final installment before it leaves cinemas) and thought I would present my opinions so far.

..And The Philosopher's Stone

So we start we first of Chris Columbus' brace in the directorial chair. Now this one is solid if somewhat uninspiring but it does do well to introduce the fictional world of the stories along with the main players. Much of the film plays along the lines of The Worst Witch crossed with Just William before the final stretch presents a standard spot of adventuring.

The three young leads do ok but at this stage Emma Watson is very much the most confident performer but the real joy is in the performances of the role call of British acting stalwarts in the supporting roles and making up the majority of the teaching faculty.

Richard Harris in particular really nails it as Dumbledore and it's shame we were denied the chance to say him carry the role through to the end as for me as good as Gambon is latter I think Harris' version is the superior.

So overall this first installment is fairly rigid in it's structuring playing as if consciously ticking off various boxes but a fairly creepy conceit towards the end helps pick things up as does the fun of spotting various bits of Durham Cathedral and remembering I once walked past those props!

..And The Chamber of Secrets

Again this one is a little leaden footed in it's presentation and almost structurally identical to it's predecessor although that may well be as much down to the source material as anything else.

Grint and Radcliffe however show to be more confident performers and there is a decent chemistry brewing between the three leads. Underlined in a few comedic scenes which bring a little more life to the thing. Even Dobby managed to duck under the line of being entertaining rather than annoying although Brannagh's Lockhart appears to have wandered in from the nearest panto rather than anything else.

And sadly the central mystery surrounding the chamber and the living diary of Tom Riddle does feel rather rushed, a little wasted and the feeling is the film could of benefited with more emphasis on this aspect of things and a little less of the class room based scenes. This one feels a little like treading water.

..And The Prisoner of Azkaban

Now this where things really start to get going. Firstly and most noticeably (well to the likes of me anyway) this entry has a director in the seat with a real sense of flair and imagination. Alfonso Cuarón who was coming off the back of 'Y Tu Mamá También' proves a masterstroke of choice and really does a lot to bring Rowling's world to life.

From the use of simple touches like well chosen fades and wipes to the imagination shown in the way the Shrieking Shack is bought to life this entry feels so much more fantastical and well, alive. The Dementors in particular bring a real sense of menace to proceedings whilst Cuaron injects some sly humour into the changes of season with the whomping Willow.

Of course it also helped by the fact that cast are now all settled into their roles and the lead three in particular all do decent jobs, thought I would note that Watson and Grint are ahead of Radcliffe, who does struggle with the parts where's he asked to really emote strongly.

Added to the ever excellent back up team is Micheal Gambon taking over as Dumbledore (though as noted above I do wish we'd been able to see Harris continue, David Thewlis is excellent as Lupin getting the often difficult tone of the mentor figure just right and of course Gary Oldman excels as Sirius Black.

Another key factor in the upturn is the fact that main thrust of the storyline is now getting going as the threat of Voldemort raises and we start to learn about the events of the past and how Harry fits in. The storytelling is also developing, presenting genuine mysteries and surprising turns rather than plodding from A to B.

For anyone looking to do a similar catch up I recommended reading the catch up notes for parts one and two then starting here basically.

..And the Goblet Of Fire

Now this one is very much a middle part of the story entry, building things up for the future. Thankfully the newly found spark of the previous entry is largely continued and director Mike Newell pulls of some really nicely realised sequences. The sweeping shots of the Great Hall as the other school students enter in particular highlight how far things have come since the pedestrian presentation of the first two entries.

Though this is also the first time I really got sense of things being pruned back from the book to fit the film into a reasonable running time. The growing relationship between Ron and Hermione is where it really seems to show as we lurch somewhat from joshing to the fall out of the dance (although there is still enough I would argue both here and in Prisoner for it to work).

In truth it is the closing section that this entry really shines though as those final scenes with Voldemort fully resurrected are full of menace and dread. Although the impact of Cedric's death would have been greater had he been featured previously.

Brendan Gleeson's Madeye Moody carries probably most of the rest of the film, a brilliant creation even if he does fall foul of one my least favourite forms of plot twist towards the end.

Interlude

So that's the first four down (I have watched five but figure I'll round that up with the final three, um two, er two and a half) and so far I confess once past the first two, which to be fair had their moments but were a bit of a slog overall I'm actually quite enjoying these. More so that I thought I would to honest probably and I can see why these are so popular and will no doubt be a cultural touchstone for a generation of kids that have grown up with them.

And to finish for now the below rather amused me:

Drive Angry

First and most notably of all this film is just plain mad. A man breaks out of hell and races across the deep south in order to prevent his grand daughter being sacrificed by a demonic cult all the while pursued by The Accountant.

And yes that plot summary makes it sound far more reasonable and sensible than it actually is. Whilst you struggle to call Drive Angry a genuinely good film (it's not) it succeeds very much in what it's aiming for. To be an entertaining "beer and pizza" movie and in this desire to be a raucous, throw about couple of hours entertainment it succeeds much more than a lot of others that aim for that 'B-movie' exploitation vibe (for example all this films missing the joke and graduating from Grindhouse spoof trailer to actual film - far too self aware to work).

Nic Cage puts on one of his best fright wigs and stoically grimaces his way through blowing away bad guys and delivering random bits of exposition. Meanwhile Amber Heard provided the sex appeal (she is a very attractive lady) and does well enough bringing a bit of life to her sidekick role but it's William Fichtner who steals the show as a delightfully deadpan Grim Reaper out to recapture the walking dead Cage. One minute coolly threatening and cajoling cops to help him, one minute driving a tanker truck into road blockades singing along to disco hits all the while.

There in truth not a lot of driving amongst the barrage of wilfully OTT action sequences (where a lot of things fly towards the screen, because you know, 3d!) but there is one handsomely mounted sequence featuring of all things a mobile caravan.

So it's mad, makes little sense, is tonally all over the place and is basically trash of the highest order. But it deserves at least one viewing because I promise you'll raise a smile amongst the nonsense at least once.

Trailer below but warned it gives away one or two of the best bits (though other highlights are not featured)

Quiztime : Endings

Right, since people seemed to have mastered openings this picture quiz tasks you with identifying the films from the endings. All are pretty much the closing shot (give a take a few seconds on one or two). So away you go.....


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Nothing on TV for the Tea Party.

Unsurprisingly a book published by an arm of the Rupert Murdoch media empire claims that American TV is full of left wing bias.

Unsurprising because, well it's published by the owner of Fox and because well it's obviously right. Now I'm not saying this is a bad thing but saying that this is something surely obvious to everyone.

The world of mass entertainment is and has for a long time been liberal, looking all the way back to the days of Hollywood pushing against the limits of the Hays code until broke.

Today even the 'safest' comedy mega-hits are arguably rather liberal. Until the breakdown of Charlie Sheen "Two and a Half Men" was basically the biggest sitcom on American TV and whilst no-one can accuse of it being cutting edge and it's comedy is quite safe in terms of content if you look closely it's quite the liberal.

Think about it revolves around a divorced single father, his idiot sun and (until recently) his unmarried playboy brother who barely works. At one stage his ex-wife has a same sex relationship and pretty much every episode features extra marital sex of some kind or another.

The previous comedy hit to really dominate the landscape, 'Friends' is also full of relationships and situations that would probably drive conservatives mad. But it's not just comedy, it seems true of drama too. The West Wing is of course the obvious example but also take a look at the likes of Six Feet Under, E.R., Dexter and even the likes of Law & Order.

And of course Hollywood itself is still way out there. Whilst it may produce the odd right leaning film for everyone of those there is probably at least five closer to the likes of "Bridesmaids". I can name quite a long list of films made in reaction to the conflict in Iraq and the war on terror, they may have mostly been avoided by unkeen audience at the box office but they got made and a good few are far from what you'd call Indie Dramas.

So whilst it sounds like the book has some interesting inside views I don't think it tells us anything that wasn't obvious. Ok, there is some counter examples, (many would cite 24 but even then I'm not convinced it's prevailing right wing in it's bias) but in world where Fox itself broadcasts The Simpsons, Family Guy and more I don't you can say the theory is wrong.

True Grit

Now, a much better film I've seen recently but not written about thus far is the Coen brothers version of True Grit.

It'll come as little surprise to hear that I think is another gem from the brothers. It's not as bleak as their modern take on the western 'No Country For Old Men', not quite as tragic as 'Fargo' but not as funny as 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'. In truth it lies somewhere in the middle of those three in terms of tone.

It has moments of comedy (the Coen's love of language games), but these are for the most part low key and the coda underlines the message of what vengeance can make of a person and that nothing in life comes for free.

Praise was rightly given to Jeff Bridge's turn as Cogburn, this time interpreted as a man with a distinct sense of wrong and right but with a sometime questionable interpretation of them. An almost broken man doing his best to try and do some right (we're given some brief glimpses into his life and how he got to this point in some of the stories he tells).

Matt Damon is also strong as the Texan ranger LaBoeuf who at first is presented as rather unlikeable but ends up developing an almost Odd Couple partnership with Bridge's Cockburn. One almost the idealised version of the old west and the other muckier reality.

But the true standout is Hailee Steinfeld as the young Mattie Ross. As determined as Marge Gunderson and as forthright as Holly Hunter's Penny from 'O Brother', she truly is the star of the show. As convincing as when she hard bargaining a horse trader as when Mattie lets the 14yr old girl occasionally break through her steely determination to see justice done for her father.

After the hot and uncomfortable West of 'No Country' this time around the Coen's present the cold and uncomfortable West where an untimely end is and ever present danger with the odd splash of surrealism thrown in.

So think Unforgiven with a lighter touch and a couple of jokes and you're pretty much there.

Akira

Ok, I admit I was half a bottle of wine, a bottle of cider and some whisky down and I was watching it in the early hours of the morning but I have to say I really don't see that much in Akira.

Yes some of the animation is quite nice but apart from that the film basically boils down to teenage boy gets super power, is an asshole. Destroys Tokyo. The end. And that's about it. Even the hero of the tale is only slightly less of an asshole than the kid that destroys the city, only the military authority figure, who I'm guessing we're supposed to not like, is worthy of any sympathy since he's just trying to keep as many people alive as possible.

In short the Internet may be throwing it's toys out of the pram regarding a muted Hollywood remake but honestly the existing version isn't exactly good to start with.

X-Men : First Class.

To put it straight forwardly this summers return to the X universe in X-Men: First Class is pretty much what it says on the tin. First Class.

This time around we're back in the '60s as the Cuban Missile Crisis looms and Charles Xavier is taking the first steps to creating his superhero team alongside his friend and ally Eric Lehnsherr. As from here it's very much the tale of how these two men who inspire others differ in their worldview and end up on opposing sides.

Both James McAvoy and Micheal Fassbender excels as Charles and Eric respectively. The first making Charles a cheery good hearted man (prone to a bit of partying) put into a position where he has to learn to lead and show the way whilst Fassbender's Eric is a bristling presence of anger, power and determination.

Backing them up is a decent cast (with extra points for having Micheal Ironside in it!) although with the number of characters floating around some of them don't get a lot to do. Standouts are Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique and Nicholas Hoult as Hank (aka Beast). It's their relationship and interactions with the lead pair that helps illustrate how people end up on either side of the equation.

In fact Eric's distrust of humanity is served well and it's almost his film in this respect as he struggles to be the man Charles believes he can be before being the man (villain of the piece) Sebastian Shaw as made him. A line of his late in the film is particularly telling "I'm been at the mercy of good men under orders before. Never again".

If there is one area where the film is weakest it is probably in it's villains. Kevin Bacon is nice and smarmy as Shaw but never really feels too threatening whilst his gang are basically characterless beyond January Jones' Emma Frost and even then her main characteristic appears to be her wardrobe (or rather lack of it)

Director Matthew Vaughn fresh off making a satire of comic book films here (and with the guiding hand of Bryan Singer) takes relish in making a real one and does a fine job of balancing the character driven drama (although one or two moments in the script are a little heavy handed) with bursts of comedy (including a smart little cameo) and the inevitable mutant power driven set pieces, with Eric pulling a submarine from the sea a standout moment.

There is also a dark edge running through the film which gives it something extra from Eric's early Nazi hunting (with a scene appropriately reminiscent of Inglorious Basterds) to a standout disturbing moment as Eric gets his vengeance through the unexpected death of one of the class.

And it's all draped in a wonderful '60s vibe that echoes the Bond franchise in it's prime with chic costuming and set design really giving a sense of time and place. Vaughn even takes it further by using edits and wipes reminiscent of 60's cinema during a couple of montage sequences.



For those concerned about continuity it all pretty much fits with the existing films and the one or two reworkings aren't major (and certainly no worse than those seen in the source material itself)

It won't surprise anyone to learn that things are left in place of another outing with this new generation of mutants and I for one do hope we see it, more so if they can make the same type of jump up in scale and quality as made between the first two films.

This may well be the best of the tentpole pictures this summer and certainly is up with the first two X-Men films in terms of quality and entertainment. Highly recommended.

Trailer of the day : The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

When I thought before Fincher would be a good fit for this, looking at the below I think I was right. The original film is excellent but I think this might well eclipse it.

Great little cheeky tag line too..

Behind the Scenes - A quiz!

Ok, another guess the film quiz and this time the twist is all the below are behind the scenes production photos. Some easy, so not so...(but if you ask me they're mostly easy!)

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Babylon AD

Babylon AD is a feel which I honestly had no clue what it was supposed to be about when it finished. Ok, yes it's about Vin Diesel gruffly protecting a girl in a future dystopia but why, from whom and why she's significant I honestly could not tell you.

It does have a few nice bits of design and one or two interesting ideas (an onscreen credit for a refugee camp features a constantly rising population count) but sadly it all ends up a bit ramblingly incoherent and as such you don't invest in any of the characters which kind of nullifies any tension or excitement.

Also it loses points for suggesting a Humvee can be run off the road by a Landrover.

At World's End : Should it have been franchise's end?

Taken me awhile to get around to the write up but I have now also re watched At World's End the until recently final installment in the Pirates series. The good news is I did actually enjoy it more than I thought I would, but it still does have it's problems.

Taking in the rescue of Jack from the afterlife, a trip to Singapore, the Pirate's council, Will's quest to save his father, the return of Barbossa, the tragedy behind Davy Jones, a sea goddess and a fight against the oh so evil East India Trading Company on of the film's problems is at points there just too much going on.

It's a strange one really, Dead Man's chest suffers from there not being enough ideas as it essentially reworks a sizable amount of the first film whilst this time round it feels like there are far too many ideas being squeezed in. This is at least partly how we end up with the nigh on three hour running time.

A running time that could easily be cut down. The early jaunt to Singapore doesn't really serve a lot of purpose and whilst they are well realised Jack's sequences inside the locker of Davy Jones don't really move things forward. In fact the whole effort to rescue he seems to fall a little flat when it turns out he's almost rescued himself by the time he gets there.

Elsewhere things are padded out by the increasingly daft constant double crossing and deal making that goes on between Tom Hollander's Lord Becket and basically everyone else in the cast. A loyalty change every few minutes soon gets tedious.

I guess whilst I'm on the negatives I'll mention the complete waste of the Kraken. The best thing in the previous film by a country mile is here killed of screen and dismissed as something out of it's time. You suspect the writers couldn't think of a suitable way to deal with it on screen.

And finally after doing fairly well to ground the series in the first two parts this time around Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom fail to convince the audience of either their romance or apparent status as highly skilled pirate types.

Knightly in particular runs aground when asked to deliver what is meant to be a stirring pre-battle speech to rouse the crew. It comes across so poorly that it's almost funny but sadly just remains rather rubbish. As for Orlando, it seems for some reason this time around they've merely asked him to hang around and look as pretty as possible.

Right, I know I said I enjoyed more than I expected so I'd better get to the parts I liked.

Firstly it's in the smaller comic moments that film works well and regains some of the sense of fun present in the first outing. Like Jack asking if anyone came to rescue him because they liked him or the bickering between Jack and Barbossa over who gets to be captain.

In fact Rush's presence as Barbossa helps a lot whenever he's on screen, manging to ham it up horribly whilst looking like he's playing straight next to Depp. Credit though has to go to Depp too who does a strong comedic touch when given the chance.

Although I do think they try to cram too much it is nice to see new ideas and the journey back from the afterlife is one of the strongest sections, in particular the recently dead sailing silently in the opposite direction - a sea of lamps in the dark. Also the story of Davy Jones is quite well played out even though making him effectively a lackey for Beckett seems a poor choice.

The final showdown also has it moments (although the Calypso storyline goes nowhere) and could have had a classic scene with the mid battle marriage if not for some poor editing, a dodgy sense of timing and general lack of conviction.

So whilst I did enjoy more than I expected, I expected it to bore the tears out of me and I think looking at the above it's safe to it's not moved up too far in estimation. Essentially it has a few amusing moments and few nice ideas but these unfortunately are adrift in a sea of narrative dead-ends (can anyone tell me what Jack actually wants by the end?), over indulgence and a reliance on two main characters who shed any sense of screen presence.

Safe to say Curse Of The Black Pearl remains the only entry that's really worth watching again.

Dead Man's Chest : Still not great.

Right, with the release of the fourth installment of the Pirates of Caribbean franchise hitting cinemas (at extravagant cost looking at the reports) and having noticed I could get hold of parts two and three for a reasonable amount of pennies I have rather rashly revisit them.

Now, as some my recall I've not been particular enthusiastic about of these two film, like much of the world, but since I've not seen either of them in their entirety since the cinema I'd thought it would be worth reassessing them.

Just to clarify I do think Curse of the Black Pearl is a top notch fantasy comedy action adventure that did a fine job of not taking itself too seriously.




First up is Dead Man's Chest (I've not yet caught up with At World's End since it's about eight year long) which was promised as the "Empire Strikes Back" of the trilogy. The dark middle chapter where the good guys don't win. Well that's true in some respects but truly it's only the opening minute or so that really holds to the idea of a darker tone.

After that it's more of the same as the first film with action set pieces separated by comic beats, romantic beats and Johnny Depp being paid a lot of money to lark around. Which would be fine but for the fact that the sense of fun seems to have gone.

An overly portentous plot regarding Elizabeth and Will trying to save their own lives whilst Jack tries to evade having his soul taken by Davy Jones with the East India Company being evil in the background bogs things down and is not helped by the fantastical elements heaped upon it.

For the crucial failing of the story is the fact that Jack, who was basically the comedy relief of the first effort, is here put front and center only to them spend most of the running time double crossing most of the other major characters to save his own skin.

He does over everyone and yet they all decide to try and save him at the end. Hmm. Yes, Jack still has a few nice comedic moments but personally in this film I find it hard to buy him as the roguish chancer who is good at heart. He's much more the slimy operator out to benefit no-one but himself.

The strained effort to create a love triangle between the three leads is strained and unneeded as well.

Anyway, it is the lighter moments that film works be those the fleeting one-liners (the best often from Kevin McNally's Mister Gibbs), the skewing of film tropes (there is at least one quite sly sequence riffing on clunky exposition) and the standout set piece of Will, Jack and Norrington's three way duel that ends up on the water wheel. The set piece with a sense of fun. And one of the few bits of the film imaginatively staged.

Elsewhere the film feels as little overdone (Tortuga is too self consciously pirate town, the Voodoo lady could be straight out of Monkey Island) especially in the design and execution of Davy Jones and his crew. The conceit is nice one but is overdone in an orgy of CGI and misplaced gothic design as the film tries too hard to recreate the ghostly crew of the first film. It's hard to really emphasis and take the plight of Bill Turner seriously when half his face is a starfish.

Though I admit the kraken is a largely successful inclusion and makes for a solid monster to be feared and it's attack on the Pearl is a decent sequence, which makes it the stranger that it is inexplicably cast aside in the next installment.

Anyway I think it's safe to say my judgement of the film hasn't really changed. It made chuckle once or twice, I still think making Jack the star was a mistake and I frequently found my attention wandering during the run time (it can easily be at least twenty minutes shorter).

So, basically, it's on the a little bit rubbish side of alright. I'm not really looking forward to watching At World's End, but who knows I've not seen any of that since watching it the first time. Though at the time I thought it was terrible.

Trailer of the Day

A pretty good cast with some decent lines in the trailer (and an admittedly eye catching moment with a banana) Could be worth keeping an eye out for.

Doomsday

I caught Doomsday for the first time the other day, it's the third film from Neil "Dog Soldiers" Marshall and to be honest it's rubbish.

It's basic plot revolves around a team looking for a cure to a deadly disease in an apocalyptic Scotland. On top of that Marshall has thrown a bit of everything he thinks he is cool onto the basic structure.

So we have a distopian Britain, elements of Mad Max, Dirty Dozen, Escape From New York, 28 Days Later, an inexplicable medieval society that clearly loves Gladiator too. Add in the random bouts of nudity, poll dancing and comical violence and you truly have a film born of the dreams of a 14 year old boy.

The distopia is whilst at least relevant for the story it is a rather poorly realised one and no where near as effective as the likes of V for Vendetta as a weak Prime Minister is bullied into unthinkable action by your classic evil second in command type.

A lot of the other elements kind of work such as the Mad Max style elements (well, up until the singing along to 80s hits en mass, really. It comes out of nowhere and goes on for a good five minutes.) whilst others are wasted. Why bother sitting up a team on a mission structure when all bar two of said team who killed only a handful of minutes later before we even really know their name.

This is all topped off with the bizarre choice to include a medieval culture in the mix. Whilst it seems most of Scotland (walled off from the rest of the world) has become a lawless frontier it seems a government scientist has created his own Camelot. And there is explanation why.

Now, we're not talking a group of people who have simply moved into a castle and adopted a feudal style system of law, no, what we have here is an actual total recreation down to the clothing and armour. Why?

I could of maybe bought it if they'd had perhaps been a couple of lines about the scientist at the head of this society having been a history fan or something but there is noting. We're expect simply just to accept this to the point where twenty years after Scotland was walled off a grown woman has no inclination what a car is! Ok, a bit weird but maybe possible until you realise that this woman's enemies, who her brother actually leads and who have at the start of the film captured her, drive around. In cars.

In the cast the recognised names either feature for mere minutes like Sean Pertwee or sleepwalk through it like Malcolm McDowell and Bob Hoskins. And whilst she does ok, lets be honest Rhona Mitra is a cut rate Kate Beckinsale (which is faintly damning in itself)

Elsewhere things randomly explode or hardened APC's prove laughably susceptible to bows and arrows but fun can be had spotting a number of goofs and gaffes throughout the film.

Basically the whole thing is B-movie clag that was lucky not to head straight to the £3 DVD bargain bin market and for me The Descent remains Marshall's only really genuinely good film (though I've not yet seen Centurion)

Even the Promo trailers are very cool.

Screen Test

A Despicable Mind

For some reason you often find that the Hollywood system manages to produce similarly themed films within months of each other, so you get Ants and A Bugs Life, Armageddon and Deep Impact, Capote and Infamous amongst many other examples.

The last one two comes in the form of two animated films that take the Supervillain of comic book lore the central focus. Dreamworks brings us 'Megamind' not long after Universal bought us 'Despicable Me'

And is often the case they both take the same initial idea and work it in differing ways. The Steve Carell starring Despicable Me is the gentler of the two efforts, yes, it does have outlandish moments but generally is the lower key of the two.

Following Carell's Gru as he struggles to mount the greatest crime of all time it sees him slowly but surely grow fond of the three orphans he's forced to take in as part of his plan.

The film works largely because thankfully the orphaned girls are as charming as they need to be for it to work and this is backed up by the comedic efforts of Gru's minions. It's also something a bit different from what you'd expect to see from a Hollywood studio thanks to the European sensibilities of directors Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud.

MegaMind is the brasher of the two and plays much like, well, a Will Ferall film as we follow his titular Megamind as he finally defeats his lifelong nemesis and finds himself falling for the reporter always caught between the two.

So lively gags here keep the film ticking over and much like Despicable Me Megamind's minion is a comic star. Elsewhere this plays out much like a rom-com and a strong one at that with a sparky to and from between Ferrell's blue headed villain and Tina Fey's Lois Lane type.

Both efforts are worth watching, but if I had to pick a favourite I'd go for Megamind but it's a close run thing.

Sunday Smile : The Big Lebowski 2

The Big Lebowski 2 with Tara Reid from Tara Reid

Thor

Ended up catching this on the most appropriate day of the week and as the first salvo of this Summer's blockbuster efforts and in particular a key part of Marvel's big Avengers plan it works pretty well.

Opening with a brief Earth set sequence the film soon zaps the audience to the other realm of Asgard, where Thor demonstrates his power, gets exiled, Loki plots and Anthony Hopkins collects his cheque. Then Thor must use his time on Earth to learn how to be humble, wise and not generally be a crass jock smartarse. Then he saves the day, obviously.

The Asgard based scenes are where the film could have easily failed and have slipped into overly campy territory but they are executed well striking a solid balance between the required Shakespearean mythic qualities and the much needed reality to sell the concept.

Design wise it is an excellent set of work both in the architecture of the Kingdom (both ultra modern and reminiscent of Norse myth) and the costuming ensure the characters look imposing rather than daft as easily could have been the case. In fact one can only imagine the presence Idris Elba's Stringer Bell could have had on the streets of Baltimore if he'd had access to the same wardrobe as Heimdall

Away from Elba who does well as the largely static Heimdall and Hopkins as Odin (who does ok but doesn't really put any real feeling into his role), the cast is pretty strong.

Natalie Portman is charming as Jane (even if she doesn't really convince as a scientist), Kat Dennings provides solid comedy support, Stellan Skarsgard manages to make a good first of a largely exposition based role and it's always good to see Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson.

But crucially it's Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston that really standout as brothers Thor and Loki. With Hemsworth bringing charm and physicality to his role alongside a sense of vulnerability as his Thor trends the path from cocksure through to lost before re finding purpose and humility.

Whilst Hiddleston's Loki is built more as the son looking for his father's acceptance rather than just a hissable villain. In fact it's the strong sense of relationship between Loki and Thor that helps the film through it's rather confused and slightly rushed climatic scenes.

And this is where the film does fall down, it does come across in the end almost as a two hour prologue to something bigger. Which in fact it actually is as it's here to setup Thor for his appearance in The Avengers. But you are now really starting to get a sense of Marvel's movie world building with brief mentions for Iron Man's Tony Stark, a Hawkeye cameo and the regulation post credit appearance of Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury.

Despite this though it is an entertaining prologue for the most part with Kenneth Brannagh showing he has the lightness of touch needed to balance comedy (an early hospital based sequence is a highlight), adventure, perils and drama without the film feeling like it's violently shifting gear.

He makes a decent fist of the action sequences too, with Thor's multiple SHIELD agent takedown and an early brawl against some frost giants being the highlights although the final confrontation is a little unclear and not helped by some slightly dodgy effects.

Brannagh does also find time to include some nice bits of framing and a couple of quick shots that feel like they've been cribbed from the pages of the comic book source.

So overall, it's a fun film that gives you a sense that Marvel's grand scheme could well pay off very well indeed but standing by itself it does feel a little like the opening chapter rather than a whole story. And for what it's worth I did really like the closing line.

Sucker Punch

Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch is the director's first totally original film with all his other efforts being adaptations of existing material. And it is fair to say the whilst the visual flair remains his handling of the narrative is fumbled and the overall tone of the film suffers from some questionable decisions.

So looking at the positive the film is fairly impressive visually, it of course features plenty of Synder's trade mark slo-mo interspersed with blasts of sped up action but beyond that the film has a nicely 'aged' look and is probably the closet thing yet to a comic book brought to life - a lot of the shot setups seem heavily reminiscent of comic panels.

Alongside this the film as an excellent soundtrack which is used to great effect in a number of sequences and it's when this combination is in action that film works best, particularly in the opening sequence which you can see below. (And does seem to be an emerging pattern that the best part of Synder's films are the opening five minutes).



But if you look a little deeper what you find in amongst all the bombast and breathless action is a group of underwritten characters moving through a story that would be lightweight for a videogame. The central characters are all pretty much cookie cutter set-types; the quiet but determined one, the cautious one, the naive one, the gung-ho one and in fact Jamie Chung's Amber and Vanessa Hudgens' Blondie barely get any lines at all.

Emily Browning, Jena Malone and Abbie Cornish are a little better served but not by much and they are all somewhat undermined by being required (by a frankly pointless part of the setup) to spend all their screen time dressed in tottering hells and fishnets. This is because the fantasy action sequences are bordered on two sides by the asylum in which Browning's BadyDoll ends up in and the bordello she for some reason imagines it as.

The film would work well enough without the bordello aspect, why not simply paint the asylum as a nightmare worth escaping, which only seems to serve to sexualise proceedings needlessly. And the less said about the fact the girls' escape plan revolves around distracting men via Babydoll's dancing the better. I'm sure it's supposed to be a female empowerment thing but I don't think it really works.

It is true that the film has somewhat more interesting ending to it that I expected halfway through and comes to a close on something of a low key note but sadly whilst Synder is undoubtedly a showman but here fails to successfully draw the three lines of reality cohesively together.

In the end it plays out like a sequence of set pieces strung together and hung a skeletal frame which has the potential to be much more developed than it is. Which is precisely what it is since Synder admits to thinking up the various set-pieces first and then writing around those.

So I'd say if you're going to see it, see it on the big screen where the look and soundtrack can have their full impact since there isn't much beyond that.

Unstoppable

Unstoppable is the kind of stripped back action thriller you rarely seem to get these days. Purely and simple it is the story of a runaway train and the people trying to stop it before it derails in the middle of a town and that's about it.

There is no romantic subplot to speak of (though worried family members of course feature), no moralising, no political agendas, just some guys (and gals) trying to stop a train who a misguided company boss for a bit of booing.

Once things get rolling there is no doubt that Tony Scott is a wise choice for this moving as his energetic style dovetails nicely to project a sense of constant movement and people trying to keep with a situation that is spiraling out of control (although he does manage to pack in quite a lot of helicopters for a film about trains).

A well used mechanic by the director is the frequently switches to news camera footage as the drama unfolds, these little sections allow for the use of maps to show us where everything is, stats on the number of people endangered and recaps on the plans to stop the runaway freight train in case the audience wasn't paying enough attention.

Denzel Washington and Chris Pine prove a capable central paring, who at first of course don't get along but buddy up across the film's runtime with one the veteran and the other rookie. A classic setup yes, but it still works well. Washington is always reliable and this kind of honorable blue collar man is the sort of role he works well in, Chris Pine shows he is more than just a certain Starship captain even if he isn't really called upon to do anything much more than charmingly a bit cocky (like a certain captain)

And backing them up is Rosario Dawson as a rail company co-coordinator and again whilst she isn't called upon to do anything too heavy she delivers what she has well in a role where her gender is irrelevant. She's not romantically involved with any of the other cat nor is ability called in doubt because she is a woman (which so often the case in these kind of films). She's just a professional doing all she can.

One of the real plus points of the film is the almost total lack of CGI (there probably is some but nothing I really noticed - most likely during the high speed curve glimpsed in the trailer above) as the action is mostly done with good old school stunt work. Where real trains are driven through real trucks and real people run along the top of real speeding trains.

One breathless sequence sees Pine's character struggling to couple train cars together at over 70mph whilst blinded by grain escaping from one of the cars. It's an exciting sequence and although you know I'll survive it's tense as he disappears from view seemingly under the train.

How close things are to the events that inspired the film I don't know but I do know it is a thoroughly entertaining race against time thriller with a strong cast and real sense of momentum.

R.Tv.O.F.R : Love The Way You Lie

Truly "Recovery" was a return to form for Mr Marshall Matthers and Love The Way You Lie is the biggest track from it so far and the accompying video is one of the type they rarely make anymore - that bizarre combination of being unshowy and yet undoutedly an expensive one full of great imagery (and actually possibly Megan Fox's best performance to date..)

Sunday Smile

They've done True Blood (aka True Mud) now it's CSI's turn to get the Sesame Street treatment



And a spot of Law & Order for good measure

Quiz Time : Opening Images Level 2

Right, challenge accepted! Another batch of stills taken from the opening moments of films and this time no url based clues. Once again there are couple of gifts in there (the first two really should ease you in) but this time I think there are a couple of genuinely tricky ones.

If anyone wants to hide their answers from others send 'em as a message on good 'ol facebook.


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Quiz Time : Opening Images

Basically name the film from the screenshot, all of which have been taken from the opening moments of the film in question;

(And know I consider at least three of these embarrassingly easy)

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