Tag: James McAvoy

Filth

120px-Film-stripOne film this week due to the times available. In fact, it was last week and I’ve only had a chance to type things up! So only a very brief review of:

Filth

“Don’t start something you cannae ******* finish.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: corrupt policemen descends down a drug-fuelled helter-skelter

See it if you like: off-the-rails, slightly weird black comedies

Being based on a novel by Irvine “Trainspotting” Welsh, it’s no surprised that Filth is full of drugs, violence, sex and bad language. And that it’s based in Scotland. The aforementioned student favourite is going to be an inevitable comparison, but other than the simplest of themes there’s little else to link the two.

Two different directors have taken two different works by the same author and made two very different films.

One thing I want to make clear about Filth, though, is that it is far from the comedy that the trailers will have you expecting. It’s much darker, weirder and unsettling. It’s also too long and gets a bit boring before it reaches its conclusion.

Fair play to James McAvoy for taking the main role of dodgy copper Bruce Robertson (David Tennant had signed up, but had to drop out when shooting dates changed and conflicted with other commitments). It’s a nasty character to play, and a difficult one as Robertson himself increasingly loses touch with reality.

It’s just a shame that, overall, the film just doesn’t hold interest. It’s difficult to watch in places, though I’m sure others would find it far more so than a desensitised individual like myself found it. I do think that the trailers are partly to blame, leading you to expect one type of film and then being slemmed sideways by something utterly different.

Gillian really wanted to see this, I was just curious. Both of us left disappointed.

Great cast, wonderful performances, but a drawn-out plot that just didn’t satisfy.

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X-Men: First Class / The Hangover Part II

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 CommonsDue to a slow-down in film releases (I guess there’s a lull before the summer storm), we manage to play catch-up and catch the top two releases of the moment this Friday night. As a bonus, that bloody Rio Orange advert has finally been withdrawn and replaced with a new one. Which I am now heartily sick of having seen it twice.

X-Men: First Class

“Peace was never an option.”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: An “origins” tale for the X-Men, likely to be ripped apart by comics geeks for not being a word perfect adaptation of some issue of the comic from 1963.

See it if you like: superhero films with a story as well as decent action sequences.

I gather this is the first of a new trilogy of X-Men films and it’s both a sensible and enjoyable way to kick it off. Sensible in that it tells the tale of the formation of the X-Men, the first mutants being found, trained and unleashed on the world. Enjoyable in that it has a decent story as well as some well-crafted set pieces.

A fault I’ve found with too many superhero films recently is they’ve aimed for the big spectacle and let little details like plot, character development and dialogue fall by the wayside. I didn’t enjoy Thor for this reason and I confess I have my concerns about Green Lantern. I hope it proves me wrong. First Class doesn’t fall into these traps and instead manages to wrap a decent enough story with enough pizazz to keep the eye-candy addicts happy.

Oh, and there are also plenty of fit women in typically revealing superhero outfits. Jennifer Lawrence (Raven / Mystique) just made it onto my my “oh, man, I wish” list. Blue make-up or human form, I don’t care. Woof.

Throughout the film there are several nods to the events to come, while setting things into historical context. True events are moulded to fit the mutant storyline such as the Cuban missile crisis being caused by mutants somewhat less friendly than Professor Xavier‘s (James McAvoy) motley brigade. Said group are led by Kevin Bacon‘s Sebastian Shaw, a character who’s role is effectively taken by Magneto later on in X-history.

This is the best of the X-men films without a doubt. I’d rank it up there with the better superhero films as well. A decent cast, excellent effects but at heart a good story which focuses on the characters. How things will pan out in the next films now that the characters are established is anyone’s guess, but in the meantime this is well worth seeing.

The Hangover: Part II

“What is wrong with you three?”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Seen The Hangover? It’s that. In Thailand.

See it if you like: watching a remake of an enjoyable film from only two years ago.

I’m sorely tempted to just refer you to my review of The Hangover and tell you to read it with sunglasses on and the aircon off. That’s pretty much what the scriptwriters have done here.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still funny. It’s still outrageous, tasteless and over the top. But it’s lost that shock factor that made the first one so good. It also helps if – like the first instalment – you avoid the trailers before watching.

It’s another wedding, this time in Thailand. The same bunch are going. They decide to have a quiet drink two nights before the wedding… and wake up unable to remember what they did or where they went the night before. Oh, and one of them is missing. See what I mean? The only difference is the setting.

In its defence, had I seen this without seeing the first one I’d have rated it far higher. It’s still funny, it still makes you cringe – it’s just too much like its predecessor and too soon afterwards. I’m picky about my tasteless, monkey-porn, chicks-with-dicks filled comedy.

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Gnomeo & Juliet

Another trip to the cinema with the kids. We needed something entertaining enough to engage the little one without sending us mad. That ruled the painful-looking Yogi Bear flick out, so we settled on:

Gnomeo & Juliet

“Let’s go kick some grass!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Shakespeare with pottery.

This turned out to be a great choice. Superb cast, tons of humour, near-constant action and bright colours made it ideal for all four of us.

The plot follows Shakespeare’s original fairly well, to a point, and some of the dialogue is a direct pastiche of the Bard’s work. Gnomeo (James McAvoy) is a blue garden gnome living in the garden of Mr Capulet (voiced by Richard Wilson). He falls for Juliet (Emily Blunt), a red gnome living next door in Miss Montague’s (Julie Walters) garden.

Of course, the owners and therefore the gnomes are deadly enemies. We’re not limited to little rotund porcelain midgets, though. There are plastic flamingos, concrete animals and a cute little toadstool as well. The imagination of the creative team is incredible with amazing attention to detail and beautiful ideas being thrown up time after time.

If there’s a downside to the film it’s that all the music is by Elton John and it’s not exactly my favourite genre. In fairness, a lot of it is reworked into the background. As the film goes on, the songs themselves are replaced by background instrumentals. Right up to the end credits when a voice from Hell takes over and cuts into the eardums like a chainsaw. I think it’s Ellie Furtado and it’s horrendous.

Gnomeo & Juliet is fun, bright and funny on enough levels to make it entertaining for the whole family.

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