Category: Film

Kick-Ass 2 / Alan Partridge: Papa Alpha

120px-Film-stripOne evening, two comedies of very different sub-genres. Cineworld cards back in our pockets after a year-long hiatus.

Kick-Ass 2

“I’m here to end Kick-Ass.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: superheroes become supergroups and superteams. Which leaves the path wide open for a gang of supervillains to set up in competition

See it if you like: superhero films, but do enjoy taking them with a pinch of salt

WARNING: this review contains swearies.

How do you top a film as ridiculously silly as Kick-Ass? Well, you don’t. What you can do is sidestep a little, change your tack and try and make a film that’s just a little different.

While there are some beautiful over-the-top fight scenes and the obvious use of bad language, nothing quite has the shock of young Mindy (Chloë Grace Moretz) saying “****” in the first film. We’ve seen that, and now she’s older it’s just not got that same impact. Instead, we turn the tables and make things darker.

Kick-Ass 2 is all about repercussion. Mindy/Hit Girl is growing up. Her guardian is trying to stop her doing the superhero thing. Dave/Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), however, has been taking time out and wants to get back into things. Things go wrong for both of them.

Batting for the other team (I often think in both senses of the phrase…) is Chris D’Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), son of the previous film’s head villain and out for revenge. This takes the form of The Motherfucker and his criminal gang, The Toxic Mega-*****. So, yes, the language is still there. And it’s still silly. And funny.

It is a good story, as things progress, but as I said it lacks the impact of the first film. That “wow” factor and sense of originality. Obviously, this is a sequel so that couldn’t really be expected. However, it’s good to see that they’ve not just tried to effectively remake the first film and hope for the best. K-A2 honestly has a better story that its precursor. It twists better, has more shocks (OK, nothing major but all the same…) and it’s grittier.

Having said that, it’s not quite as enjoyable as the first film. Possibly as it’s easy to get your mind prepared for pant-wetting hilarity and instead get something more downbeat and dark. Still good, just not what you’re lobes are expecting.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

“She’s a drunk racist. I’ll tolerate one but not both.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: armed siege at a radio station goes… well, a bit weird

See it if you like: the Partridge TV series

First things first – I don’t like Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan). From an amusing bit-part of the ensemble show The Day Today, he started to become just a little bit grating by the time he had his own show (Knowing Me, Knowing You). Once we were being inflicted with I’m Alan Partridge which was more of a sit-com minus the com, I gave up entirely. He wasn’t funny – just annoying.

But.

This isn’t a bad film.

Maybe it’s because I’ve had years away from the character, or maybe it is just a decent script. I don’t know, but either way I did enjoy it. I found it funny, with some really good dialogue, and a reasonable if predictable story.

Partridge is a DJ with a radio station which is being bought out and “updated”. One of his colleagues (Pat Farrell, played byColm Meaney)  is given the heave-ho as being too fuddy-duddy for the new image. Obviously, he returns to the promotion party with a shotgun and takes the staff hostage. Alan is his only link with the outside world.

For those who don’t know, Alan Partridge is a character who has no concept of political in-correctness, no real manners and no sense that what he says often berates those around him. He’s not uncaring or deliberately mean – he just doesn’t seem to realise. His ego gets in the way. This is funny at first, but over the years does wear thin.

But for ninety minutes, it’s just fine. Along with some other great performances (series regulars Michael (Simon Greenall) and Lynn (Felicity Montagu) are also in place) the story doesn’t wear itself thin and there are plenty of verbal jokes which hit the mark more often than they fizzle. I don’t go for “cringe” humour – I despise The Office – but this film survives my cinematic taste buds.

As a quick aside and coincidence, Monica Dolan appears as a woman at the party. She also plays one of the super-group (Tommy’s Mum) joined by Kick-Ass in the first film we watched tonight!

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Win a “Jack the Giant Slayer” Blu-Ray!

Jack… on Blu-Ray

Jack the Giant Slayer is not a film I’ve seen yet, though I’ve heard very good things about it. Here’s your chance to beat me to it with a free copy on Blu-Ray courtesy of PartnersHub!

About the film:

Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing Jack (Nicholas Hoult), into the battle of this life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom and its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend… and gets the chance to become a legend himself! Directed by Brian Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns)

Starring: Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy), Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge!), and Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones).

Click through for app!
Click through for app!

Click through to play with the Blog App they’ve created (sorry – it won’t embed on my blog despite many attempts to tweak the code).

Have a go at the quiz and post your results in the comments for all to see! I’ll pick a winner at random from all the comments on September 1st. Please make sure I have a way of contacting you so that I can get your address to pass on to the nice folk at PartnersHub so they can send you your prize!

The winner must be 12 or older (due to the rating of the film) and have a UK address for it to be mailed to.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Monsters University

120px-Film-stripArgh, a few days after I went with the kids but I eventually have time to rattle off a few words…

Monsters University

“You don’t study scaring, you just do it.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Prequel time as Mike and Sully meet up for the first time prior to events in the classic Monsters Inc.

See it if you like: PIXAR films

Once again I visit the cinema on little sleep due to a teething infant. This was a movie I’d been looking forward to since I had seen the trailers. It’s a nice change to see a prequel rather than a sequel as well.

First up, though, the attached “short” entitles The Blue Umbrella. A little more heart-warming than the earlier shorts which were nice and funny, and the visuals are stunning. It took me a few seconds to realise I was watching a cartoon rather than a film. It didn’t outstay its welcome, and the kids weren’t sitting there asking me where the monsters had got to, so that’s fine.

And the main feature. Well, it is as I said a prequel. It’s the story of Mike’s aspirations to be a “scarer” and Sully’s expectations that he would be able to wing it based on his family history. Of course, things don’t go to plan and they have to face a series of challenges to become accepted by the university and the Scaring course tutors.

It’s a well-written story, and leads very well into it’s precursor. A few of the characters you’ll be familiar with from Monsters Inc. make an appearance, but not so many as get silly. The way relationships change from this film to the next are quite interesting.

The best bit for me was the ending – it wasn’t what you would expect. As per the rules for my blog, though – no spoilers! I gather there is a post-credit sequence but we didn’t stay for it. I’ve looked it up and if you have the patience it could be worst parking your backside for five minutes. Not easy when you’re with kids though!

Overall, it wasn’t bad. The kids enjoyed it and it’s a good story. It wasn’t as good as the original, in my opinion, but I really appreciated the sideways step for the plot. Far better than just trying to make more of the same.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Despicable Me 2

120px-Film-stripIt’s the holidays which means we have to find things for the kids to do. So, with the sun blazing outside we headed for a darkened room to watch a fat man and some small yellow creatures.

Despicable Me 2

“Goodbye, Mister Sheepbutt.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Villain turns hero as Gru is drafted by an anti-bad-guy organisation

See if it you like: kids’ films with cute backing characters

It’s a fairly unimaginative name for a sequel – there’s not even a subtitle – but they’ve tried their best to put a new spin on the characters and storyline. Gru (Steve Carrell) is this time a good guy after turning over a new leaf at the end of the original. He’s partnered with Agent Lucy (Kristen Wiig) to find out who’s stolen a secret formula which turns simple, innocent creatures into vicious, invulnerable monsters.

Guess which creatures the formula will be used on?

As ever, the story is ably backed up by the cast of millions of minions (due to star in their own sequel in 2014). In fact, they’re still the real stars of the film. Proof? Have you seen any Gru merchandise? Or the three orphan kids? Nope.

There are a couple of pop culture references, some great slapstick sequences but – for some reason – the film left me feeling a bit flat. Despite some genuinely funny moments, I just found it a bit samey. Different from the first film, but too similar to many others.

It’s still good. The kids loved it (though Little Mister claimed that the purple monsters were too scary and wanted to leave – he settled for firing imaginary arrows at them instead), and the audience were laughing out loud at a handful of scenes.

I’d still recommend it even though I wasn’t too keen on it as it’s more likely down to me being pooched. I was up at 5am to give a friend a lift to work, so was struggling to stay awake at points. No reflection on the animation, though!

Enhanced by Zemanta

Man of Steel

120px-Film-stripFirst review in some time as I was almost forced to go to the cinema against my will. Mainly as I’m knackered. We’ve missed some (apparently) great films recently – the new Star Trek and F&F’s for a start – but we had a window and it was either Man of Steel or the new Simon Pegg one. We opted for the big budget release as I already knew people who’d seen it and liked it.

Man of Steel

“People are afraid of what they don’t understand.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Oh, come on. It’s a Superman reboot.

See it if you like: the current run of Superhero films.

I’m not sure if I enjoyed this film or not. Which is a weird way to start a review.

On the plus side, it’s a new take on the mythos which brings it into a more contemporary setting. There’s no follow-on from any previous Superman film. It’s big in scale, brash and littered with generally very impressive special effects.

Downsides include some dreadful shaky camerawork that doesn’t so much emphasise action or destruction (much of it is during conversational scenes) so much as it cries that the film-makers wanted to make your eyeballs hurt. The dialogue seemed bland, which is surprising given the quality of the cast, They just didn’t seem to be stretched, with the possible exception of Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent. He gives an exceptional performance and about the only one in the film that dragged any emotion out of me.

The big thing that didn’t hook me was, surprisingly, the scale of destruction. The effects were good – very good. But destroying stuff is just so common in films these days that it gets boring. The bigger the film-makers try to make it, the more it seems to be there to distract from the plot. Much as I enjoy watching a skyscraper collapse, I’d much rather have some decent dialogue and a plot twist or three.

Looking at it from a positive point of view, there was a good merging of the stories from the original Superman: The Movie and Superman II. The vision of Kryptonian architecture as organic rather than crystalline makes a nice change. The constant flashback jumps back and forth in Clark’s life makes for something slightly non-linear, but the events they portray all make the same point. It very much labours the “you have to keep your powers hidden” message.

The story borrows from several sources and just doesn’t seem particularly original. Obviously, the Superman origin story is expected. But then there’s the way the ships hang in the air and send light beams down. It just seems like a scene from too many sci-fi films (and TV series) in recent years. The way that Jonathan mentors Clark is too similar to the Peter Parker / Uncle Ben relationship.

On the other hand, I sat through all 140+ minutes of it and never really felt bored, or that it was over-long.

So, in my own head, I’m no further forward. I didn’t hate it or find it a bit silly (like Thor), but I also didn’t really take to it the way I did the first Iron Man.

So while most other reviews are polarised – quite literally love- or hate-filled – I’m afraid I’m going to have to sit on the fence. Overall, it’ far more good than bad. It’s just not awe-inspiringly brilliant or “film of the year” material.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta