Category: Review

Super 8 / Rise of the Planet of the Apes

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsTwo films on our now-regular Thursday night. Wonderfully, no need to work around limited 2D showings as both films are being shown in NormalVision. We weren’t sure what to expect from either film – which is usually a good thing.

Super 8

“Production values!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: kids stumble upon USAF plot and fight the military might.

See it if you like: the idea of E.T. eating people

First up – Super 8 is not a kids’ film. Young adults, maybe, but definitely not the real youngsters. It’s a little grisly in places and it’s a monster film with lots of dark moments, violence and sudden shocks. On the other hand, this does mean that adults should get a really enjoyable ride out of it.

The film focuses around a bunch of school kids who are making a zombie film for a competition. During one of their late-night filming escapades, however, they witness a bit of a disaster and their town suddenly gets filled with USAF personnel who seem to be rather secretive about why, apart from the fact that everything is OK. Of course it is.

The aforementioned disaster is an incredible near-opening sequence and very loud indeed. Actually, the military sequences towards the end with tanks and things are also great. As are the smaller scene-setting moments. Oh, hell, the whole thing’s really well made.

J.J.Abrams has really harked back to the kiddie-films of the 80’s (Super 8 is set in 1979) and taken the general feel, while making the effects and story more suitable for a modern-day audience. The kids bicker amongst themselves, the adults don’t listen to them, the clothes are dodgy, the technology is huge and bulky… it does look the part. However, the special effects make it very much a film for the moment.

Credit must also go to the cast which includes a lot of first-timers. Joel Courtney plays Joe, our central character who develops a crush on Alice (Elle Fanning, Dakota’s sister). She, incidentally, is superb. Keep an eye on her.

This was a brilliant bit of entertainment. Huge explosions, great character interaction, a well-written story, nasty military types, impressive cast. Perfect popcorn movie.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

“Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: How did the world become as it did in (bother versions of) The Planet of the Apes?

See it if you like: animal-centric effects-filled movies that make you think a little bit. And prequels.

The trailer for this looked awful. Preachy, naff, and unoriginal. Sack the person who made it, please, as it almost made me decide not to bother. And I’d have missed a bloody good film as a result.

Hark back, if you will, to the Charlton Heston-starring original film (and ignore the Grud-awful remake from a few years ago). We all know the astronauts return to earth from their Mars mission (which is mentioned briefly a couple of times during this movie), but how did the planet become run by apes in the meantime? Well, the next two hours will let you know.

James Franco plays Will Rodman, a genetic scientist hell bent on curing Alzheimer’s as it’s destroying his father (John Lithgow). Experiments on chimpanzees are par for the course, but when one particularly important showcase goes awfully wrong, the project is brought to a halt and the apes destroyed. All but one, which he takes home and raises.

This chimp, Caesar – as referred to all that time ago in the original film – is played by the master of mime Andy Serkis and it’s really his story. From a secreted life to being “outed” and realising exactly how badly humans will treat animals, we see a lot through his eyes as he develops intellectually at a pace far outstripping an equivalent human.

The film has two distinct parts – the emotional side focussing on Caesar’s growth and the family environment he is within, and the more science fiction part featuring brain-repairing viruses and apes that can communicate and problem-solve well beyond their abilities. The scripting, though, merges these two elements perfectly so you are very much watching one engaging film and not two disparate selves as was the case with The Zookeeper.

The effects are stunning as are the costumes for the close-ups. It is genuinely quite tricky to tell when you’re watching a real ape, a person in a costume and a figment of a computer’s imagination.

As for the ending – X-Men 3 can take its Golden Gate finalé and shove it. RotPotA’s knocks it for six.

The story is very similar to Michael Crichton’s Next, which I really didn’t enjoy due to its overly-preachy nature. This film runs with similar ideas but is much better written and engaging. Far, far better than I was expecting.

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Batman – LIVE!

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 15: The new Batmobile ...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I almost didn’t see this. The wonderful Gillian was going to get me tickets as a surprise after telling me it looked rubbish based on the posters. And then discovered that it was on a week earlier than she expected and had one of my facebook friends not mentioned it, would have been trying to book tickets a week after it had finished!

So, anyway…

Batman Live

I’m not sure what I was expecting as I’d deliberately kept myself in the dark. However, with one exception, all the feedback I’d had was positive. As it turns out, it was deserved.

The show runs for two 50-minute halves and includes acrobatics, tumbling, jokes, a good story, magic and incredible effects. Whoever designed the set deserves a stack of awards, as that (other than the drool-some woman who plays Poison Ivy) is the real star of the show. The stage projects out into the audience and the cast make full use of it. There are plenty of cool props, such as miniature buildings and so forth, but the most impressive permanent item is the huge digital screen.

This is used as a backdrop for every scene and the images thereon merge cleverly with the physical aspects. Doorways in the image are actual doorways for the cast (and other props) to move in and out of. The screen is also used to indicate transitions in sets with beautifully animated page-turning effects. It really is something special.

There is something in the show for everyone. Most of the well-known villains are present, fronted of course by The Joker, and our tale takes us from Batman’s beginnings to Robin‘s teaming up with him. Quite a lot to cram into a little under two hours, but it manages it without feeling rushed.

The cast are excellent, playing their parts with the right attitude dependent on their character. Many of the villains really play to the crowd in a panto-esque fashion. Feel free to boo, and to cheer Batman and Robin. The crowd watching my performance certainly did! It’s certainly more Batman & Robin than The Dark Knight as Tiff quite correctly put it. However, it manages the campness in a way that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment. The stage can get away with this portrayal far better than the cinema screen could.

I found the fight scenes a little slow, showing the choreography a little too much but – hey – I’m nitpicking. There’s certainly enough going on, particularly in the larger ones with multiple combatants, to make it worthwhile seeing the show more than once so you can focus on another character. The same can be said of the circus scenes which are wonderfully busy.

Visually, though, it’s staggering. The sheer scale of the operation blew my mind. I was impressed by the end of the first half, but the best was definitely left until after the interval when things just got bigger and more impressive.

As a new way of enjoying one of the best (if not the actual best) superheroes out there, this is a top notch effort. Definitely worth the entry price and I’m very much hoping they do a sequel.

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Horrible Bosses / Captain America

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsWith the kids safely ensconced at Grandma’s, we took the opportunity to indulge in junk food and two very enjoyable movies.

Horrible Bosses

“I’d like to bend her over a barrel and show her the fifty states.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Three guys with three awful bosses decide to kill them. With hilarious consequences.

See it if you like… the concept of Throw Momma From The Train mixed with The Hangover.

This is one of those films with a storyline a lot of people could relate to. I’ve certainly had bosses in the past who’ve made my life miserable, though not as miserable as certain ex-neighbours, and in honesty if pushed hard enough the brain does start to wish evil things up on them. So what if a couple of your friends were in the same situation? How would you help each other?

Well, the three friends in this film (played by Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) find themselves up against an overbearing asshole (Kevin Spacey, in a role possibly out-evilling Lex Luthor), a drug-addled toss-pot (a brilliantly hateful Colin Farrell) and a sexually harassing vixen (Jennifer Aniston, who I have never, ever seen sexier. Wow. I mean… WOW). They are aided and abetted by dodgy man-in-a-pub Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx). So a superb supporting cast, then.

The story is nicely paced and the boss characters wonderfully portrayed as the evil individuals they are while our hapless heroes try their best to convince themselves to go through with this. Seth Gordon has done a great job with the pacing of the story and the little incidents throughout are both hilarious and – in many cases – feed back into the story as plot points.

OK, it’s a little predictable. As soon as you see the mobile phone being dropped (no, that’s not a huge spoiler) you just know where the story is going. But it’s not the end that’s important, it’s the journey getting there and this is a genuinely funny one. I wouldn’t say I laughed quite so much as with The Hangover, but it still got a large amount of giggles. We weren’t along, either, as it seemed the whole (fairly busy) cinema audience at our showing thoroughly enjoyed it.

Definitely worth watching for the laughs. And for putting Jennifer Aniston into the spank bank. Did I say “WOW”?

Captain America: The First Avenger

“And Hitler looks for trinkets in the desert.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Origin story of the superhero used by the US as a morale-booster during WWII

See it if you like: well, superhero films. Dur. Oh, yes, and mom. And apple pie. And kicking nazi ass.

The final “prequel” to next summer’s The Avengers hits the screens and it’s not bad. It’s certainly better than Thor which I thought was incredibly weak, but also not as good as the two Iron Man films, which lead the pack predominantly due to the excellent script and banter.

Most of the story is told back during WWII when the US is recruiting as it finally gets off it’s arse and realises it’s part of the “world”. Young men are queueing up to become cannon fodder, including one young Steve Rogers (Chris Evans – not the ginger **** who ruined Virgin Radio). Thing is, little Stevie is a wimp. Up for the fight, but physically a wreck.

Special effects are used to reduce the somewhat buff Evans to a 9 stone weakling, and they work surprisingly well. Except for one close-up sequence in a car with leading lady Hayley Atwell (who plays Agent Peggy Carter) where Rogers appears to be taller, shorter, nearer and further away from her all depending on the camera angle.

A fleeing Nazi scientist (aided by Tony Stark Sr., father of the modern-era Iron Man) imbues him with muscles, power and the likes and off he goes to start kicking nazis around (via a music hall tour to raise war bond sales). Of course, Hitler’s not good enough as a super villain, so we’re introduced to Johann Schmidt (a.k.a. The Red Skull, played by an as-usual excellent Hugo Weaving) who was the first human to be given the power serum and who didn’t come out of it quite so well.

Visually the film is stunning, although the animation of Cap jumping is reminiscent of the recent Spiderman films and a little jerky. The sets are fantastic and very much the kind of thing you’d expect from a film of the era in places. That is, not exactly an accurate depiction of the times, but a slightly comic-book version. Perfect.

There’s the usual moral message that you get from the Marvel comics (this one – “bullies are mean”), but mainly it’s a good spy/action/superhero film which introduces the character well.

To nitpick – I’m prepared to forgive the fact that Cap has a shield made from something called “Vibranium” that absorbs all vibrations. But if that’s the case, why does it make a ringing sound when it’s shot by a bullet?

Stay past the end credits and you’ll see a trailer for next summer’s picture as well.

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Zookeeper

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsMore kid-friendly cinema. You can tell it’s the school holidays, can’t you?

Zookeeper

Plot-in-a-nutshell: nice-guy zookeeper chases the girl of his dreams with advice from talking animals

See it if you like: rom-coms for kids. Yes, I know. Bit of a stretch, really.

Zookeeper has a bit of an identity conflict. In part it’s a kids’ film with talking animals. In part, it’s a romantic comedy with a plot you’ve seen umpteen times before. Both sides are fairly well done, though the animals aren’t “cartoony” enough to really grasp kids and only the small monkey really raised laughs.

Kevin James plays Griffin, the titular character, as he chases the affections of his ex Stephanie (Leslie Bibb). At an engagement party he suddenly finds out that the animals in his charge can talk and they decide to help him out. Of course. These characters include a lion and lioness (voiced by Sylvester Stallone and Cher respectively), a monkey voiced by Adam Sandler, Nick Nolte as a gorilla… Frankly, the voice cast for the animals is by far more star-laden than the regular cast.

It’s not really a bad film or story, it’s just that you feel you’re watching two different ones that have been haphazardly spliced together. There’s something about it that just doesn’t gel.

The talking animals really won’t appeal to adults. The romantic comedy aspect won’t really appeal to kids. As a result, it really doesn’t satisfy either of its target audiences which is a shame.

Zookeeper isn’t a bad film, it’s just two half0decent ones clagged together with split and chewing gum with the gaps between them clearly visible.

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Transformers 3 – Dark of the Moon (IMAX)

By إبن البيطار (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsOur second IMAX treat inside of a week after HP7b, only this time we got there early enough to get nice seats right in the middle and far enough back that we weren’t inside the flipping 3D.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

“Uh-oh, now this is a clufterf…”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Big robots fight other big robots.

See it if you like: Huge, eye-candy filled special effects films with lots of things being crashed, smushed, blown up, crushed, exploded, etc.

I’ve heard of comments on the internet and even on the radio about films such as Transformers 3, most of it negative and a lot of it saying it’s damaging cinema. I don’t get this. Sure, it’s low brow. It rewrites history ever so slightly, but, hey, this isn’t meant to be a “based on a true story” flick like U-571 or Enigma, both of which shat on the memories of a good number of people.

What it is is entertaining. In a huge way. And I can’t see what’s wrong with people wanting to go to the cinema to be entertained. Surely that’s the whole point?

My one major issue with the first two films was the level of detail in the robotic transformations that I simply couldn’t see. Despite seeing them on the big screen, the incredible computer work was gone in a flash as the robots zoomed past and even a decent cinema seemed too small. That swung my decision to cough up the extra and see this final one on IMAX.

Bloody hell, was it worth it. The 3D isn’t the greatest (most of it was shot in 35mm and converted to 3D in post-production), but the CGI work is simply incredible. This is an effects movie, and it holds no quarter. Everything about it is simply huge, yet the level of detail put into it shows a great degree of skill from those involved.

OK, enough harping on about the geeks in the back room. The story isn’t half bad either and the 157 minutes or so runtime barely drags at any point. Given the length, it could almost have been split into two films which might have raked in some more money, but it would have been pushing it just a bit. The scripting is tight, the dialogue is nicely witty at times and the plot holes can be nicely ignored. Just plug them with popcorn and get over it. It’s a film.

The cast are pretty much by-the-numbers and predominantly the same as the previous two with the exception of Megan Fox who allegedly called director Michael Bay a nazi and was promptly sacked. Frankly, she’s not missed and new totty Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (who sounds as posh as her name) fills the “boobs, lips and legs” rôle perfectly adequately. Shia LaBeouf runs with his character from the first two films and continues to have one of the silliest names of any film star at the moment.

Best background character goes to Dutch (Alan Tudyk), the man-servant/sidekick of mental ex-FBI agent Simmons (John Turturro). Nicely subservient with an undertone of mental. Oh, and then there are all the military characters who could be from any film of this ilk. Out to save the world and kicking ass while they do it. You’ve seen these guys before in The Rock, Invasion: LA, etc.

Star of the show, though, are the Transformers and the sheer scale of the thing. Even if you don’t see it in 3D, you have got to see it on IMAX. I simply can’t imagine watching this on a smaller screen.

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