I was excited when I first heard there was a show about a female soccer team lost in the woods eating each other, then disappointed when I found out it was about cannibalism.
You know it's bad when you can't switch off your brain to enjoy the mindless fun because your intelligence is being insulted at every turn.
Léon is a film I've watched many times and it never fails to affect.
I could watch it a hundred times more just see to Léon's face as he watches Singing in the Rain; such unabashed joy. He turns around in a near empty theatre looking for someone else lost in a moment of bliss, but finds no one. Rarely has both joy and loneliness been captured so perfectly.
Jean Reno's naive and emotionally challenged Léon is 12 year old Mathilda’s knight in blood soaked armour. He immediately fills an emotional void and she clings to it, starting to play house; cleaning, shopping, washing. Léon and Mathilda need each other in a very basic human way; to love and be loved. The inevitable slide towards her sexual stirrings is uncomfortable and deftly handled by Natalie Portman. Her desire for revenge seems to slip away, lost to just being and working with him, until when pushed he denies any feelings of love for her. She takes incomprehensible action to exact her vengeance on Gary Oldman’s insane DEA agent, but with an unconscious belief that Léon will save her if it all goes wrong.
The “International Version” of Léon, the only I’ve watched, adds 25 minutes to the theatrical release, mostly depicting their growing relationship and brings the gravitas that makes their final scene together simply heart breaking.
My love for this show is embarrassing.
This was a fitting send off for the late Jessica Walter. Well constructed around existing dialogue.
Malory got to show she is still a super spy, kick some ass, and save them all.
She left the spy game on a high note and got a much deserved happily ever after.
RIP JW
Wildly disappointing on almost every level. Not a single new character is interesting, or even seems like they could be interesting, and the bad acting does not help.
I'd hoped for something on a grander scale, even if just for the pilot, but it felt especially small and confined.
If it wasn't for Coulson and the Marvel banner this would be gone within half a dozen episodes. Having said that "Under the Dome" was apparently the hit of the season and that is absolute rubbish. But like UtD, I just want to know the why. Why/How is Coulson alive? That's it. The credits rolled and that was the only thing that had my interest. I couldn't even remember the other characters names without some effort.
It's not even a case of having such high hopes or putting the idea on a pedestal, it's just a very weak showing.
I watched Grave of the Fireflies in the mid 90's and was deeply moved. I watched it again in 2004, then having a 4 year old son, and found it profoundly painful in a way I hadn't before.
A remarkable achievement.
The paradigm of material being cut from a book to fit into the run time of a movie doesn't really apply here because next to nothing from it happens in the film. It bares little resemblance to the book at all and is completely shallow for it. Conservatively I'd put it at 10% of the book translated to the screen in a recognisable form.
It should be "Inspired by" rather than "Based on" however I didn't find it that inspired at all. It's unbelievable to me that Cline himself handled the screenplay, at least in part. People that love the film will be thoroughly disappointed by the book, especially the PG-13 crowd the film brought in.
The Oasis itself was done an utter disservice by portraying it as basically just a game, it was so much more than that.
Disappointing.
The chemistry between Favreau, Leguizamo and Emjay Anthony is amazing; just so natural.
It's the best thing Leguizamo, who I generally run hot and cold on, has done in a very long time. Perfect casting of a fantastic film.
Crank up the wonderful soundtrack, get in the kitchen and cook something!
Prometheus: misfire or misunderstood?
Prometheus started life as a prequel to the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien, but during years of development grew into something bigger and relegated the xenomorph to an almost incidental. As a fan of the Alien and HR Giger’s Oscar winning effects (pieces adorn my walls, grace my shelves, my desk at work) I thought I would be disappointed with how it would be included; I was very wrong. See my shouts below on what I took away from the Alien aspect of the film.
Prometheus stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Logan Marshall-Green, with Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce. At its heart Prometheus tells the story of our search for answers as to who we are and where we came from, and is a film that the more you dig the more you take away from it.
I’ve been an admirer of Polish cinematographer Dariusz Wolski from as far back as The Crow and Dark City, however it is his work on Sweeney Todd that was my highlight. I have a new highlight. From the first frame to the last the film is simply gorgeous. He finds the detail in the sets and costumes and casts your eye over them in an unassuming way to let you find them yourself. I don’t think I blinked the entire length of the film.
The visual, practical and makeup effects are remarkable and need to be seen on the big screen at least once. I’ve heard criticism of Guy Pearce’s make up and find them unfounded. Comments that it looked like it belonged in a high school play are ridiculous, it has Oscar nom all over it. I think the issue more lies in the anticipation throughout the film of seeing him without it, forgetting that we already have among the viral material (The TED Talks was truly inspired).
So with all of the shiny out of the way, let’s wind our way through the film as a whole.
The film is dense with ideas but often disjointed and uneven with some pedestrian dialog and some questionable acting. Scott has confirmed that the home release will be 20 minutes longer and have 30 minutes of deleted scenes; that alone speaks volumes. There are scenes and interactions that end abruptly and others that clearly pick up from something we just didn’t see. One character goes from being a bit put out to losing himself at the bottom of a bottle the next time we see him, with nothing between. You can often feel when they occur because they are quite jarring.
Much has been made of the thinly realised and ineffectual crew. My hope is that a solid portion of those 20 minutes gives them a little more flesh, however I feel it is going to be in the deleted scenes. They will still often make the same stupid decisions, but a bit more depth to them might make it a little clearer why.
Michael Fassbender owns this film with his realisation of the nuanced David. Rapace, Theron and Pearce are great in their roles, but I think I would have been fine with any of the others being recast with the exception maybe of Sean Harris’ underdeveloped Fifield.
So how, with all of that, is Prometheus still so damn good? Ridley Scott. The film is bursting at the seams trying to contain itself, you can feel it. I don’t know of another Director that could have achieved the vision Scott has shown us, he just should have shown us over 3 hours.
Prometheus works on a number of levels depending on how much of the surface you care to scratch away. If you just want a Sci-Fi action film with aliens. Tick. If you are looking for more, it’s there; it doesn’t spoon feed you and you will need to pay close attention, read between the lines and deduce. It’s a movie that I’ve been thinking about for a week after seeing it only once and can’t wait to don my 3D glasses and take the ride again.
So, Prometheus: misfire or misunderstood? I think a little from column A and a lot from column B
Totally facehugged
Drawing from a near perfect body of work, Ratatouille is my favourite Pixar film.
Patton Oswalt, a self confessed lover of fine food, brings such credibility to Remy that I can't imagine his words passing another actors lips. With his every lament in the kitchen you can almost smell every ingredient and it never fails to make me salivate.
The great Peter O'Toole is masterful in his contempt and condescension as food critic Anton Ego, which makes the pay off all the more moving.
Director Brad Bird's (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles) vision of Paris is gorgeous and Michael Giacchino's Oscar nominated score brings it to life.
More physical with its comedy than other Pixar films, it is a testament to the skill of the animators as it is all key framed, not motion captured.
More than just an ode to kitchen artisans, Ratatouille is about seeing through convention and letting nothing stand in the way of your dreams.
Now excuse me, I must away to the kitchen, I feel a dish coming on.
I find the acclaim for this film surprising. I found it to be painfully predicable from very early on, it was practically phoned in, and it made the whole last act just drag on. I got to the point that I'd joined enough dots that I just wanted it to end and it was only Oscar winner Robert Richardson's photography that kept me engaged.
DiCaprio was great; once again Scorsese draws out the best in him. There's never a doubt it's a Scorsese film either, but he's taken weaker material and turned it into a better film.
Mega City One; an unbroken concrete landscape. Population 800,000,000
“Twelve serious crimes reported every minute. Seventeen thousand per day. We can respond to around six percent."
Dredd (Karl Urban) is a Judge, a law enforcement officer with the Hall of Justice; each highly trained, physically, tactically and morally. Judge, jury, and when dictated, executioner. They are the law.
Dredd is asked evaluate Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a subpar graduate with a gift, as to her potential as a Judge. Told 1 in 5 don’t survive the first day, Dredd gives Anderson the choice of which call they respond to. The call takes them to Peach Trees, a 200 storey mega block with 75,000 residents, and on to Ma-Ma’s (Lena Headey) turf.
Ma-Ma, a psychotic prostitute turned drug lord, is producing a new and highly addictive drug which she sees as her ticket to expansion throughout Mega City One. The arrival of the Judges causes far reaching problems and she orders the hallways cleared and for them to be hunted down and executed.
In late 2010 Pete Travis was announced as the director on Dredd and my heart sank; his 2008 film Vantage Point is a disjointed and tedious mess. Thankfully Travis really has a grip on the tight script penned by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine) and delivers a solid film filled with explosive action and over the top ultra-violence. Garland's script deftly handles the material, grounding it and never gets bogged down in exposition.
Karl Urban, channeling a young Clint Eastwood, delivers an unwavering performance as Dredd; stoic and relentless. Judge Anderson is idealistic and determined and Olivia Thirlby brings a strength to the role that would have been diminished without it.
As the villain Ma-Ma, Lena Headey is patchy at times. A disappointing weak delivery of an order to "Fire!" spoilt the beginning of one of the most exciting firefights of recent memory. A minor performance from Domhnall Gleeson as Ma-Ma's pasty tech guy is noteworthy.
Oscar winning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire, Antichrist) brings the gritty reality of Peach Trees to the screen with a deep focus that accentuate the long corridors and the height of 200 storeys. Grain persists throughout the hallway scenes adding to the grit and grime. Shot natively in 3D, it is among the best of late; corridors feel long, rooms confined and the slow motion effects of being under the influence of the drug looks gorgeous with its vibrant palette.
Dredd is a visually arresting thrill with solid performances and a level of violence that almost borders comical.
Highly recommended.
Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan is a complex slow burn I found to be utterly engaging. Natalie Portman gives her most commited and powerful performance as Nina, the Swan Queen.
Matthew Libatique's cinematography draws you to Nina with his hand held and tight close ups and shows both the majesty of the stage and the loneliness in the quest for perfection with his wide masters.
Nina's erratic descent and final recognition reminded me of something I was once told; once you know you are mad, it's really quite liberating.
Totally ballerina!
Hanna is a taut action thriller directed by Joe Wright whose previous films The Soloist (Robert Downey Jr/Jamie Foxx), Pride & Predjudice and the Oscar nominated Atonement (both with Keira Knightley) are all well regarded.
Saoirse Ronan, who had worked with Wright on Atonement, gives a focused and convincing performance as Hanna, with solid turns from Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett rounding out the billing.
Shot in Morocco, Finland and Germany the cinematography is simply gorgeous. Lensed by German born Alwin H. Kuchler (Sunshine, Code 46) his eye for the natural grittiness of a locale brings depth to every frame. One location I was very pleased to see was the Trudelturm Wind Tunnel facility in Berlin which doubled as Blanchetts base. It's a wholy unique locale and also featured in 2005's underrated Aeon Flux.
The music, scored by The Chemical Brothers, coupled with amazing sound design create an aural feast on which to nom nom nom.
Hanna is highly recommended. Totally Ninja!
After the fantastic outing that was The Iron Giant, Brad Bird delivers The Incredibles. Darker at times than most Disney/Pixar fare The Incredibles, along with Ratatouille, are my favourite Pixar films.
The voice cast is pitch perfect and evokes a real family dynamic that is the soul of this film. Between the animation artists and Holly Hunter they bring to life a living, breathing Mother with a love for her family that is palpable on screen. A true achievement.
The script is one of the tightest of all the Pixar films, the photography is stunning. The water/fluid effects blew away anything that had come before it and are still a benchmark of rendering.
The scene where Frozone is asking his wife where his super suit is is truly hilarious and I still quote it now.
Incredible.
Watched it on a recommendation from a friend which was countered quickly by another condemning it.
I thought it was great. Great script. Great acting.
Emma Stone has something about her I can't put my finger on, but I like it.
Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as divine as the parents.
Straight from the X-Files school of trying to hide a pregnant tummy :)
On paper this should not work, yet it is entirely engaging.
What a wonderful episode. Its ones like this that show just how much heart this show really has.
A stand out episode.
What a spectacularly dumb season and a terrible way to end what started as an excellent show.
Well it has finally become utterly unwatchable.
Don't get me wrong, it was terrible to begin with but it was a guilty pleasure(?) because I wanted to see where they were going with it after saying it was different than the book.
I couldn't stomach it after the first 5 minutes. Some of the worst exposition I have seen in a very long time. Ignoring the embarrassing poor scene in the tunnel, Barbie explaining to the squad what they are doing was an insult to the craft of screenwriting.
Loved this movie.
The horse is gold. The expressions on his face are priceless.
The mother really captures the nature of manipulation well.
The scene/song in the bar was brilliant.
The ending though ultimately predictable, had a prelude to it I never thought I'd see in a Disney animated family movie; a hint of crimson.
Highly recommended.
When Sony announced at the beginning of last year that they were rebooting the Spider-man franchise I thought "Really?!". Then I thought some more and realised that the last two were dubious and I really didn't like Tobey Maquire, so why not?
I had my reservations, but Andrew Garfield is a far better Spider-Man than Maguire, but more importantly he is a better Peter Parker; he's a smartass but also has an unwavering conviction that he couldn't fight if he tried. Emma Stone is a better love interest with her Gwen Stacey, than Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane; she never plays the damsel in distress. It may just be the character or just that I have a soft spot for Stone. Is it a better film? That will really depend on who you talk too.
The Amazing Spider-Man tells a far more interesting origin story than his previous outing, touching enough of the lore to hit the highlights without sacrificing time spent on drawing out the other characters and telling its own story.
The casting of Martin Sheen and Sally Fields as Uncle Ben and Aunt May was spot on. They were real people, not caricatures. We don't get "With great power comes great responcibilty" (spoiler?), we get the sentiment over a couple of scenes in a way that wasn't shoehorned in just to say the line; it felt like it could have been my Dad talking (that was a compliment Dad).
Rhys Ifans has some wonderful moments as Dr Curt Conners, the reflection scene from the trailer springs to mind. My real gripe would be that his descent isn't quite fully realised so his moment of redemption didn't hit like it should.
A minor role played by C. Thomas Howell is cleverly handled and serves as a insight into the cities thoughts of Spider-man through one man and the aid he lends felt really satisfying. I found Denis Leary, though brief, to be believable as both the Police Captain and as a father.
The big question of any Spider-man incarnation though is how does he move? Like a fucking Spider-man!!! Swinging looks great, the moments of POV tantalise and made me want more, but it's how he moves on a surface that out shines Maguire's Spider-Man. He is fluid, slick over a wall or ceiling, bounding effortlessly and it's just beautiful to watch. Yes it's a digital double for great lengths as before, and yes the technology has come a long way, but it's the choreography that sells it; there is rhyme and reason to his every movement.
Visually it is darker, glossier film than 2002's Spider-man which always felt a bit stuffy and it suits it well.
The ever dependable James Horner delivers a fantastically stirring score.
So is it a better film? I had a lot more fun than before and I can easily see myself watching it a few of times, where as I watched 2002's twice and was very much done. 2002's felt grander though, the parade sequence had a scope that the equivelent here doesn't have, but I don't think that was to its deteriment. The whole film feels more personal, it captures the same sorts of moments but you feel closer to them. It's a people story, rather than a superhero story and I liked that. The scene with Peter and his skateboard and the chains was magic. You find his power along with him in an organic manner, rather than 'stand on the roof and wait for him to figure out what we already know and throw a joke in'. When Maguire gets the shit kicked out of him I kind of thought good (actually I said it), where as here I really felt it.
...I think I've talked myself in to it, I prefer The Amazing Spider-Man, it's a more fun and enjoyable film.
Stay through the credits for a bit and you'll see a glimpse at a thread, briefly touched on during the film, in 2014's sequel.
Oh, and Stan Lee's cameo is one of the best yet!
Totally web-slung!
Sweeney Todd marks Tim Burtons sixth collaboration with Johnny Depp and the fifth with partner Helena Bonham Carter.
Visually stunning, Sweeney Todd is a musical with the darkest of sensibilities; the squeamish take heed.
Depp's haunted Todd, filled with hatred and sorrow, won him several awards including a Golden Globe.
The film features solid support from Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Sasha Baron Cohen.
The musical numbers are evocative and often darkly humourous.
I've watched this film many times, and will many more. From set design to warddrobe, performance to the musical numbers, Sweeney Todd hits all the right marks for me. I have the soundtrack on my iPod and replicas of Todd's cutthroat razors on display in my theatre room.
There is nothing quite like it.
Stand by Me is, and always will be, a timeless coming of age film that is never diminished by subsequent viewings.
It is a career high point for the four young leads and will forever stir sadness at the loss of River Pheonix at such a young age.
Though set long before my time, these friends are my friends. We had the club house, we went looking for adventure, we laughed together and were there for each other when things were hard. True friendship makes a lasting impression and this film stirs those memories.
Stand by Me is as poignant today as it was 25 years ago and is simply must see, or see again.
Gorgeous. A well received return to Disney's traditional roots. Beautiful animation, memorable characters, catchy songs and music.
The voice work is pitch perfect. The leads are great but it's the side characters that bring that Disney magic. I always love Keith Davids distinctive voice and here he brings such delightful menace to Dr Facilier. Michael-Lee Wooley's Louis the Aligator is so spirited and Jim Cummings Ray the Firefly is heart warming. Jenifer Lewis brings Mama Odie to life and she is gold!
The Princess and the Frog is funny and it's sad. It's charged and it's touching. It's New Orleans.
Random side note: I took my son to see the exhibition Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales in Melbourne, Australia in April 2011 which ended with PatF (and Tangled, also another joy to watch) and they had the character maquettes. It was quite a spin to walk among these great characters with a third dimension and see the fine attention to detail.
Totally Ninja!
About 15 minutes was OK, the rest was like watching paint dry.
