December Film Roundup - Part 2

 

        Welcome to Part 2 of this month’s Film Roundup – more films that I saw during the month of December. (If you want to check out Part 1, click HERE.)

        First up we have the five men-sitting-in-a-room mystery thriller Sushi Girl. After the release from prison of small-time crook Noah Hathaway (Atreyu from The NeverEnding Storyall grown up!), the leader of the gang, Duke (Tony Todd), gathers all the members of the botched heist together for dinner so that they can get to the bottom of where the diamonds actually ended up. Oh, and a naked girl is there on the table the whole time as the ‘plate’, hence the title.

        Despite the impressive sounding cast list of genre names such as Michael Biehn, Danny Trejo, Jeff Fahey and Sonny Chiba – all those guys are only in it for one or two scenes. Of the five main parts only Mark Hamill and Todd are big names, although you may remember James Duval from his small in Donnie Darko.

        The setup is interesting, although the heavy influence of Tarantino can clearly be seen all over it - from the dialogue heavy scenes, acts of casual torture and grandstanding musical choices, the film feels somewhat derivative. Tony Todd seems to be on autopilot for much of the movie, but its Hamill that really stands out as the demented Crow.

        The story pans out pretty much as you would expect it to – just think 'what would Tarantino do?' and the plot will hold no surprises for you – but it's still worth watching if you are a fan of the genre.

        Slightly less predictable is the interesting British thriller A Lonely Place To Die, starring Melissa George, which seemingly starts off an 'against the elements' mountain climbing film but soon turns into a game of cat and mouse that involves kidnapping, frantic chases and shooting. The way the film constantly switches gear actually works in its favour and keeps it engaging; and the violence is suitably lethal and realistic.

        Sean Harris plays a convincingly evil bad guy (when doesn't he?), but there are good performances from all involved; Melissa George being increasingly comfortable in leading roles such as this – I recommend you also watch her in the mind-bending Triangle.

        A particular mention should also be given to the great use of kinetic camerawork, whether it’s spinning dizzily down hills, dangling down cliff faces or chasing characters through the forest. Even slow motion is used to menacing effect. Worth a watch.

        From A Lonely Place… to A Dangerous Method, a film about Karl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and a patient that he gets involved with (Kiera Knightley) early in his career as a psychoanalyst. Oh, and Viggo Mortensen plays Freud.

        Unusually restrained for a David Cronenberg film, not much actually happens throughout, so this will probably only be of interest to someone who has an interest in Jung and his career. Other than that it's mostly just Kiera Knightley gurning, sticking her chin out, talking with a thick accent and getting spanked. Which sounds more exciting than it actually is – it is mostly just dull.

        Vincent Cassel appears to inject some interest into the picture, but alas his onscreen presence is far too short. Fassbender and Mortensen in the same film as these great historical figures seems a tantalising proposition – it's a shame they just aren’t given much to do.

        Definitely recommended however, is Ted, a film about a boy whose teddy bear is magically brought to life and how their relationship with each other has to change as it continues on into their adult lives.

        Voiced by Seth McFarlane, the character of Ted works because he is witty, foul mouthed and hilariously inappropriate, which is the antithesis of the usual anthropomorphic toy that features in so many types of children’s entertainment. McFarlane, who also directs, is on fine form, with plenty of adult humour, in-jokes and the cameos that constantly surprise.

        The real triumph of the film however is Mark Wahlberg, who proves himself as a gifted comedic actor (previously only glimpsed in films such as I Heart Huckabees), even more impressive when you take into account he would have been acting against nothing (as Ted is CGI) for a large portion of the film.

        His scenes with Mila Kunis, who plays his long term girlfriend and not just a clichéd love interest, are portrayed in a charming and realistic way – and as a result, gives this film a heartfelt romantic side as well. Go watch Ted – it’s highly recommended!

        Finally, we have Skyline, an alien invasion film that surprisingly exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. Self financed and directed by The Brothers Strauss, it’s amazing how much CG they managed to cram in considering the lack of a studio-sized budget.

        There are one or two neat ideas but it's mostly tired tropes - much of it confined to a single apartment complex. There is one moment of brilliance toward the end of the film involving an awesome kiss (which they should have ended on) – except the film goes on ten minutes too long after that to another just as open-ended but less effective ending. Oh, and you get to see Turk from Scrubs get killed by aliens. Similar vibe, but more fun than Cloverfield.

        That's it for December’s film roundup! See you in the New Year!

29 Dec 2012

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Most Dissapointing Film of 2012

        So you may have read my Top Ten Films of 2012 list – but there is something else that I felt I needed to write about: my most disappointingfilm of 2012.

        Don't get me wrong. This isn’t the worst film I watched this year – not by a long shot. In fact, it’s actually pretty decent.

        What I mean by ‘most disappointing’ is that it was a film I was very much looking forward to watching ever since it was first announced. It was a film that I avoided looking at any trailers or promotional material just so that I could enjoy it to the fullest when I finally got to sit down in a darkened theatre, giddily awaiting the certification screen that signalled the start of the movie.

        To be fair, the weight of expectation was so great for this film that it couldn't possibly live up to its hype. Or could it?

        After all, it was a director returning to his franchise that he had originally spawned and thirty years worth of progress in terms of filmmaking techniques and special effects had passed since then. Coupled with a massive budget at his disposal, this would surely be an ample opportunity to bring to life anything on screen that could be conjured up in his imagination.

        But alas, no. It was to be severely underwhelming.

        That film was Prometheus. (Note: Spoilers ahead!)

        As I stated earlier it wasn't a bad film. It just wasn't very good either. Visually and production-wise, the film was fantastic. Everything looked amazing. The design of the tech, the spaceships, the creatures, the special effects – no problem with any of the production values of the film. It was all top notch.

        Where it fell flat was with the story and the execution thereof. The film raised a million and one questions - but only answered a fraction of them. In some more esoteric and open-ended films this may be okay. In an ambitious science fiction movie embedded deeply in the Alienmythology, it is most definitely not.

        Now I know it’s not meant to be a direct prequel to the Alien films and that it’s supposed to stand on its own terms… so then why work against that by continually shoehorning in nods to the aforementioned saga? Such as Shaw’s very Ripley-esque voiceover at the end? The revealing of the ‘Deacon’ xenomorph? The corporation with the funding behind the expedition having ulterior motives? Shaw being impregnated with an alien life form? The Android purposefully putting the crew in danger? For a film that's not wanting to be an Alien film, it seems to be trying so hard to be one at times.

        Identity problems aside, not enough focus was given on the creatures – the genealogy just came off as overly complicated and inconsistent. Black goo plus Engineer equals beginning of all life on a planet. But black goo plus human equals human with eye worm? Eye worm human plus sex equals tentacle baby? Tentacle thing plus Engineer equals deacon? What about black goo plus worms equal snake thing? Snake thing attacking a human equals mutated human chilling in a crab position? I’m sure it made sense for whoever planned it all out but for the regular viewer it all seemed frustratingly random.

        The reason why the Xenomorphs in the Alien franchise were so terrifying was that there was some scarily relatable logic to their methods of breeding. There is a queen. It lays eggs. This makes sense as we see this regularly in nature. Facehuggers hatch from these eggs and seek out hosts to impregnate (via the terrifying prospect of oral rape). This parasitic life form is then incubated and grows within the host until it is ready to burst its way out. You can easily follow this linear path of reproduction as it is made up of things we can relate to in our own natural world combined with our worst fears of being violated. In Prometheus it was all a jumbled mess without consistency and therefore failed to be scary in anyway whatsoever.

        I have no problem with a bit of mystery – but literallynothing was explained. Why did the Engineers leave messages that were (perhaps) inviting the humans just to attack them later? What were they running from in the hologram recording? Why cast Guy Pierce if he is just going to be in old man prosthetics, makeup and a wheelchair the whole time? What was the point in hiring all these brilliant actors in a movie and literally give them nothing to do except to act clueless about what’s going on and then die in unmemorable and unimaginative ways?

        Seriously, having Idris Elba, Rafe Spall and Sean Harris in the film was such an exciting prospect for me (being a great fan of each of their respective bodies of work) and yet their roles were largely thankless and their talents squandered by literally giving them nothing to doexcept just hang around and then… well, die.

        Charlize Theron as the icy Vickers was initially promising as an interesting character but unfortunately ended up being pushed in to the background when the real antagonist (if you can even call him that) reveals himself. Plus she dies in the dumbest way imaginable. Sidestep woman, sidestep!

        The only saving grace is the android David (played wonderfully by Michael Fassbender), the only truly fascinating and engaging character in the whole thing. They should have just made the film be about him to be honest. It's a shame that because they were too busy juggling around all the other bullshit that the never really managed to explore the truly interesting ideas of how he became to develop a moral compass of his own, his desire to be more human or why the he decided to dip the black goo in that dude’s cup of water, or how did he even know what would happen if he did so? His motivations weren’t clear at all.

        Anyway, long story short – I remember leaving the cinema with a very ‘meh’ feeling. I had clearly seen some kind of spectacle; it just wasn't really engaging or meaningful to any degree to make me care about the characters or their fate at the end. It's a shame as the film presented interesting themes about the origins of religion and the creation myth, aliens as our makers and the parallels of David to his makers as the humans are to the engineers -  all of which and more are tantalisingly hinted at but not explored nearly enough. Was it Ridley Scott’s fault? Or writer Damon Lindelof’s? Did the actual story and characterisation get (ahem) Lost somewhere in the process of creating said spectacle?

        If I hadn’t been so excited about the film in advance I probably wouldn't have cared too much, but for these reasons for me, Prometheuswas the most disappointing film of 2012.

27 Dec 2012

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Top Ten Films of 2012

 

        Following on from my previous article, my Top Ten Games of 2012, here are my Top 10 Films of 2012.

        Once again, these are the best films that Ihave watched this year and not the best out of all films released this year (after all, I’m just one dude!). Oh, and if you want to check out last year's list, its HERE.

        Anyway, here we go:

10) Argo

        Sure, it embellishes the truth a little, but this based on a true story tale of a daring rescue via the use of a fake film crew is one of the most tense and nail-biting films I have seen.

        The period is recreated authentically and the opening raid on the embassy is terrifyingly real. Ben Affleck is proving himself as a capable director, managing to effectively balance these moments of tense drama with the more comedic ‘Hollywood’ portion of the film, with sharp zingers regularly fired out by supporting actors Alan Arkin and John Goodman.

        Criticisms have been largely aimed at the authenticity of the depicted events or the apolitical nature of a film but these are minor issues as the film never really sets out to be anything other than an engaging story of daring-do. Just go along for the ride!

Favourite moment: Scoot McNairy's character rising to the occasion and charming the soldiers with his animated narrative using the Argo storyboards.

        You can read an earlier article I wrote about Argo concerning the reality of the facts portrayed in the film, HERE.

9) Young Adult

        Charlize Theron plays a character in this film that is pretty unlikeable. And yet her turn in this is so mesmerising and the writing and direction are so sharp that like a slow motion car crash you find yourself unable to look away.

        Playing an obnoxious and self absorbed writer Mavis, who journeys back to her hometown in an ill advised quest to win back her high school sweetheart, this is quite possibly Theron's best performance to date. At times darkly funny, cringe worthy and even occasionally sad – this film was a pleasant surprise for me.

        Also features a strong turn from Patton Oswalt. Recommended.

Favourite moment:Mavis hiding her dog in her bag when checking in at a hotel.

8) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

        Lets face it, it was never going to live up to the ridiculously high level of expectation set by the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but that aside the film is still pretty good.

        Jackson knows his Tolkein inside and out and is a master at crafting the world and telling an epic story. It’s difficult to imagine anyone but Martin Freeman in the title role (he is the perfect choice for Bilbo), but Richard Armitage also impresses as the lead dwarf Thorin.

        Most of the problems that are apparent in the film seem to stem from the inferior source material of the book compared to LOTR - although at times it tries to pass itself off as a direct prequel to those films, and this is where it stumbles a bit.  The somewhat artificial stretching-out of the narrative to cover three long films means the pacing sags on occasion.

        Problems aside, it is still definitely worth catching this film on the big screen whilst you can.

Favourite moment: The ‘Riddles in the Dark’ segment.

        You can read a more in depth review of The Hobbit HERE and also a verdict on the HFR technology used in the film HERE.

7) Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

        I’m a fan of stop motion and a fan of Aardman (the makers of Wallace and Gromit). I also like pirates. Just as well then that this film is also hilariously funny and very entertaining to watch.

        The animation is brilliant, the jokes fly thick and fast (many of them of very British sensibilities), and the film features loveable characters and a great voice cast. The scope is much bigger than Wallace and Gromit too - which makes some of the complexities of the animation mindboggling. Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin and singing about ham... great fun!

        Although Pirates! is based on a series of children’s books, due to low performance at the box office, there are unlikely to be any sequels – but I urge you to seek this one out if you can.

Favourite moment:The pirates upstaging each other with their grand entrances.

6) Dredd

        To my great relief they managed to get it right. Despite being a relatively small production and on a budget, they used this to their advantage to keep the story focussed, character driven and mostly in a single location (pretty much the exact opposite of the overblown 90s Stallone version).

        The 3D also worked very well, especially in combination with the ‘slo-mo’ sections that not only looked utterly beautiful but also made sense in the context of the story.

        It's uncertain whether or not there will be a sequel due to modest box office takings, but here’s hoping the same production team can expand upon this franchise with a bigger sequel sometime in the future.

Favourite moment: Any of the slow motion parts. Even Ma-Ma splashing about in a bath turns into a mesmerising spectacle.

        You can read an earlier article I wrote about Dredd entitled How Correctly Adapt a Comic Book Character, HERE.

5) The Raid

        Although very similar to Dredd in terms of the initial set-up of the story, The Raid stands on its own as a simple yet utterly visceral smack to the head that the action genre is so in need of.

        It’s an adrenalin fuelled, full-on action ride – filled with the kind of hard-hitting action that is guaranteed to make you wince – not just because its brutal (and it is very brutal) but because you also feel for all the stuntmen in this film who genuinely seem to be taking the knocks. Wirework and CG is virtually nonexistent in this film and the camerawork and editing allows the viewer to marvel at the insanely intricate fight choreography that's not constantly interrupted with quick cuts and camera tricks.

        With Iko Uwais a star is born and the future looks very bright for him and Welsh director Gareth Evans - a seemingly odd partnership that just works.

        I’m definitely looking forward to the next film they make together.

Favourite moment: Realising he can't run anymore, Rama has to take on a corridor full of machete wielding henchmen, the scene ending in death by broken door frame.

        You can read an earlier article I wrote about The Raid, HERE.

4) The Cabin In The Woods

        This film was definitely one of the most enjoyable of the year because a) I’m a huge fan of horror movies and loved the deconstruction of the genre, not to mention the meta qualities of this film, and b) it totally took me by surprise as I went into it not knowing anything – which is actually the best way to watch it.

        The script, written by Joss Whedon, is a clever one that flips everything on its head – and even makes the sillier moments of this film forgivable as the final act pay-off is a horror fan’s dream.

        The less said about it the better but if you like your horror movies then you need to watch this film!

Favourite moment:What follows after the ‘purge’ button is pressed.

3) The Avengers(AKA Avengers Assemble)

        It's a small miracle that this film managed to even get made let alone the fact that it’s actually quite good. So many things had to come together and work in order for it to be successful - both in terms of the actual logistics of getting the film made as well as having so many huge iconic characters on screen at once without any of them getting sidelined or short-changed.

        Sure, the story isn’t the greatest but it serves its simple purpose: to bring the characters together, get them to interact and fight one another and then ultimately work together. Writer and director Joss Whedon certainly had his work cut out for him but he proves to be the right man for the job as the character interactions and dialogue frequently sparkle.

        Almost all the principal actors (and quite a few side characters) reprise their roles from their respective films, the only exception being Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. Ruffalo however steals the show with his portrayal of Bruce Banner and his raging green alter ego – giving us the best film version of The Hulk yet.

        I haven’t even mentioned the spectacle of the film’s set pieces or the action sequences yet – suffice to say that they don't fail to deliver. This is a blockbuster hit in all senses of the word and is easily the best comic book movie of recent times, if not ever.

        The only thing that could manage to top it? The next Avengersfilm.

Favourite moment: “That's my secret, Cap... I’m always angry…”

        You can read a more in depth review of Avengers Assemble, HERE.

2) Looper

        Looper is a film about time travel. Except it’s not really a film about time travel (we are actively told not to think too much about it), but instead it’s really about human connection and how it can save (or lack of it destroy) another human. Its that central tenet combined with the sheen of interesting sci-fi that makes this film so affecting and compelling. This film has a big heart – and that's what makes you care.

        And yet it’s anything but formulaic. There are many brave choices throughout: Joseph Gordon-Levitt wearing prosthetics, Bruce Willis murdering children, seemingly shifting genres half way through the film… but with brilliant central performances (even the kid is eerily effective and believable as a child genius) – this film has plenty of surprises up its sleeve and will have you thinking about it long after its over.

Favourite moment:The ‘30 years sequence’. For me this was one of the most beautiful and moving sequences I have seen this year – all presented without uttering a single word. Amazing.

        You can read a more in depth review of Looper, HERE.

1) The Dark Knight Rises

        For a long time I wasn't sure about putting this as my number 1 film of 2012, but having watching it again recently for the third time it still affected me, confirming its place at the top of this list.

        Now I know I said that Avengers was the ‘best comic book movie’, but that's because I don't really see this as being one. Nolan’s take on Batman has always been more like a grounded epic crime drama that just happens to feature characters of comic book origins. Sure, watching Batman in action is kick-ass, but that's not what makes this film so good. For me, it's the richness in themes and their resonance throughout not only this film, but also the trilogy as a whole, and that is what makes this a masterpiece.

        Of course there are plenty of people who didn't like the film – its definitely polarising - just as much as the character of Bane is – but that's because Nolan refuses to play it safe – he reaches beyond the more clear cut characters of the comic books and adds further layers of complexity and ambiguity - and indeed humanity, that makes it all the more meaningful than just a straightforward translation of Batman from page to screen ever could.

        Anne Hathaway as Catwoman is great, the Hans Zimmer score is great, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Michael Caine are great… There is too much awesomeness here to fully mention. Although I cannot say definitively which is the better film, The Dark Knight Rises is certainly up there with The Dark Knight, but in terms of scope and ambition the former easily surpasses the latter.

         It is epic in every sense of the word and a fitting end to the Nolan Batman trilogy.

Favourite moment: The whole ending of the film is a cinematic tour de force. It’s concise, uplifting and as perfect an ending to the Batman saga as you could wish for.

        So there you have it. My Top Ten Films of 2012.

        Agree? Disagree? Got any suggestions of other films that should have been up there or that I should have watched? Let me know!

26 Dec 2012

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