Gravity

Gravity (2013)

Predicted Rating: 4 Stars

Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). Starring: Sandra Bullock (Speed) and George Clooney (Ocean's Eleven)

First timer Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) and experienced astronaut Matt Kowalski (Bullock) are on a routine space walk near the Hubble telescope when debris from a recently destroyed Russian spy satellite comes hurtling towards them, destroying the telescope, the space shuttle Discovery and killing their fellow team members. Stone is sent flying off into space with Kowalski hot one her heels. They must then make their way to the nearby International Space Station as it is there only chance of survival.

Wow... that was visually amazing. The cinematography is simply breath taking. From the opening sequence of silence as we are orbiting the Earth to seeing Bullock helplessly spinning through space, your jaw is on the floor the entire time. It is also great to see 3D as something other than a gimic to get butts on seats. 3D should be saved for films like these where it is integral to the viewing experience and almost feels like another character as opposed to something that is added in post production. I also applaud the production team's decision to film on green screen with wires used to create zero-g as opposed to using the vomit comet. For those who don't know, the vomit comet is a NASA training device and was used in the film Apollo 13 where a plane descends rapidly to actually create weightlessness. The problem with using this is that there is only a limited amount of time that the weightlessness can be filmed and approximately two thirds of people get violently ill doing it. Using wires to create zero-g allows for longer sequences and a less green faced Sandra Bullock to be shown. This is vitally important when 99% of the movie is set in space. From what I gather as well, the production crew do a fantastically accurate job of replicating zero-g. Replicating these conditions on film are notoriously hard (even though working in these conditions is essentially a theoretical physicist's wet dream). There are notably a few mistakes but these are more down to creating a dramatic effect as opposed to not knowing what to do.

I understand that many people may be turned off from this film because they are not a fan of sci-fi. I am going to say this now, Gravity is not a sci-fi film just because it is set in space. It is far more a picture about a person's will to survive no matter the situation. This is strengthened by the fantastic performance of the two lead actors, or should I say the only two actors. The whole premise sort of reminded me of a Simpsons episode when  Homer writes a screenplay before being Kim Basinger proclaims "without the talking pie it is just Alec Baldwin on screen for 90 minutes." Gravity sort of feels like this because without George Clooney, it would literally be Sandra Bullock on screen for 90 minutes. As a result, it takes a special performance to make this work and Bullock delivers. I highly anticipate an Oscar nomination for her, and at the moment, she is definitely the clubhouse leader.

Even though it is spectacular, I do have a few gripes about it. The Bullock zero gravity undressing scene isn't up to the standard set by Jane Fonda in the 1968 film Barbarella. That maybe because I find Fonda unbelievably attractive, however Bullock has some nice legs... There are also some scientific inaccuracies, like the orbital patterns of the satellites are all wrong and the director is obviously unaware of the surface tension of water. Finally the ending was a little standard. Even though there is no way this would happen, I would of loved to have seen it end as a tie in to another upcoming blockbuster. For example Bullock could make her way to her deserted landing spot, look up and see Raptors waiting for her on the beach followed by the title Jurassic World appearing on screen. Or she finds the Earth is inhabited by Apes and it is a lead into a remake of Planet of the Apes. However, alas, I am essentially nit-picking as this is a fantastic film.

Overall: Frontrunner for my Oscar of the best film of 2013 - 5 Stars

R.I.P.D.

R.I.P.D. (2013)

Predicted Rating: 3 Stars

Directed by: Robert Schwentke (Red). Starring: Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski), Ryan Reynolds (Every girl's dreams) and Kevin Bacon (Footloose).

Slightly dodgy, or maybe not, cop Nick Walker (Reynolds) is sent out on a drug bust with his long time partner Bobby Hayes (Bacon). During the bust, Walker is intentionally gunned down and killed by Hayes. In the afterlife, Walker is recruited to the Rest in Peace Department, a supernatural department consisting of dead police officers required to stop "Deados" or monstrous spirits roaming the Earth. Walker is teamed with Roy Pulsipher (Bridges), an old sheriff from the 1800's. After they discover that the Deados, led by Hayes, are attempting to reconstruct the Staff of Jericho to bring all the Deados to Earth to reek havoc, it is up to Pulsipher and Walker to save the day.

In the end, this film wasn't a bad piece of entertainment, it just suffered from an extremely weak script. The overall idea of having a deceased police force fighting supernatural forces is fairly inventive. Even the story of the reconstruction of the Staff of Jericho has its merits. However, it is the all important "padding" that is clearly absent. R.I.P.D. attempts to go down the path of action comedy but just doesn't execute it well. It tends to flog a dead horse by repeating the same jokes over and over. Yes we get it, Ryan Reynolds actually looks like an old Asian man and Jeff Bridges is an attractive woman, don't try and make the same joke 12 times during the film. Don't get me wrong, I admit I did chuckle a few times but the laughs are few and far in between.

I think the downfalls in the script are directly related to R.I.P.D. being a blatant knockoff of Ghostbusters, but more so, Men in Black. I truly believe that the writers sat down, wrote something and realised, oh crap, that was in Men in Black, oh well lets make the joke that Jeff Bridges was killed by coyotes again. The problems were further compounded by the fact that the two main characters are exactly the same as the two from Men in Black. Pulsipher is Agent K, the ageing, disgruntled, cynical veteran and Walker is Agent J, the enthusiastic but naive rookie. This script would have worked much better being titled Men in Black 4 as opposed to R.I.P.D.

Even with the poor script, the actors tried their hardest to save the film. Jeff Bridges was awesome even though you really couldn't understand what he said most of the time. Every time he came on screen you just wanted to yell "Jeff Bridges!". There were reports that Zach Galifianakas was intended for the role of Pulsipher but had to pull out due to a scheduling conflict. This would have been a very different film if he was in it, however I can quite tell whether it would have been better or worse. Mary Louise Parker was pretty funny and is looking damn fine for someone who is 49 and Kevin Bacon was well, Kevin Bacon. However, Ryan Reynolds was sort of just there, waiting for the scene to finish to pick up his pay check. The casting of his on screen wife was interesting too, mainly because he could probably do a lot better. I assume they got this actress because she was the only person who could have a shirtless Ryan Reynolds lying on top of her, looking into her eyes and still remember her lines.

Overall: A good idea but suffered from scripting problems. You are probably better off watching Men in Black again. 2 stars

Kick Ass 2

Kick Ass 2 (2013)

Predicted Rating: 4 Stars

Directed by: Jeff Wadlow (Never Back Down). Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson (The Illusionist), Chloe Grace Moretz (Hugo), and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad)

4 years after the events of Kick-Ass, Dave Lezewski (Taylor-Johnson) has retired his vigilante superhero, Kick-Ass. Not content with his normal life, Dave enlists the help of Mindy (Moretz), i.e. Hit Girl. After her guardian disapproves of her reprisal of Hit Girl, Mindy is forced back to school. Dave, along with some other vigilantes just like him, form the group Justice Forever. Meanwhile, after the death of his mother, Chris D'Amico (Mintz-Plasse), creates the character "The Motherfucker", a further incarnation of Red Mist. His overall aim is to exact revenge on Kick-Ass for murdering his father.

When will people learn that violence is not the answer. Wow, I sounded like a bit of a hippie then but far too often these days cinema relies heavily on violence to draw in the big crowds. Instead of making clever films, the director takes the easy way out and says, well lets just blow this up. Unfortunately Kick Ass 2 falls under this category. This is unfortunate because it means Kick Ass 2 is exactly the film Kick Ass 1 tried to avoid becoming. Yes, Kick-Ass is a violent film but it does it almost ironically by never taking it self seriously. Kick Ass 2 just tries too hard and fails miserably. In this instance I am pointing the finger squarely at the director. The uber-talented Matthew Vaughn decided to hand the reigns over to the inexperienced Jeff Wadlow and paid the price dearly. This film is just flat out poorly directed, which in turn negates the cinematic experience felt in Kick Ass 1.

Another thing that plagued this sequel is the poor choice of music in sometimes. One of the best scenes from the first instalment was towards then end when Hit Girl breaks into the building and proceeds to take down numerous henchman. What made this scene so great was it's ironic use of a bubbly pop song to accompany a copious amount of violence undertaken by an 11 year old girl. On paper it seemed destined for failure but in practice was a match made in heaven. A similar approach could have been taken in this film when Hit Girl attempts to save Kick-Ass from a speeding van. Instead the music director decided to use a more dramatic score. This theme seems to be constant throughout the film and denies it from some much needed light-hearted atmosphere. Granted, the Joan Jett song "I Hate Myself for Loving You" was included during Hit Girl's homage to Ferris Bueler when she needs to rush home but all that really did for me is make me want to watch some football. I expect no-one else will get this reference so look up NBC's Sunday Night Football Theme.

To go with the direction and music problems, there are also a few issues with the script and casting. Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit Girl was clearly the highlight of the film so I am not criticising the casting choice but I am well aware of the age difference between her and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (15 vs. 23). As a result, please do not end the movie with them kissing. The worst part of it was that I knew it was coming the whole film and it just made me feel super uncomfortable. Then there was the obvious moment when a contract dispute occurred with Lyndsy Fonseca who plays Dave's girlfriend, Katie. She appears for maybe 2 seconds at the start, slaps Dave fairly hard for talking with another girl then storms off. Then, for the rest of the film, she doesn't even crack a mention. There isn't even closure on whether they broke up. If you couldn't afford the actor at least try and write a more witty reason to exclude her from the film.

Overall: An unnecessarily violent film that becomes everything Kick Ass avoided being 2.5 Stars

Elysium

Elysium (2013)

Predicted Rating: 3 Stars

Directed by: Neill Blomkamp (District 9). Starring: Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting), Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs) and Sharlto Copley (District 9).

In the year 2154, the human race has been split into two classes, the super rich who live on a custom built space station, Elysium, and the rest of the population stuck on Earth living in slums. Max de Costa (Damon), a convicted criminal, is working for a robot manufacturing company on Earth when he is subjected to a lethal dose of radiation, leaving him with five days to live. In order to get to Elysium and save his life, he must extract information from the mind of the CEO of the robotics company. It is revealed that this information is the code to Elysum, required by the Secretary of Defense, Jessica Delacourt (Foster), to initiate a coup and take over as president of Elysium. She hires the services of rogue agent C.M. Kruger (Copley) to hunt down Max before he makes it to Elysium and makes it accessible to the entire population.

Neill Blomkamp's first film, District 9, used a sci-fi back story to really explore the issue of racism in South Africa. With Elysium you would expect a similar approach to be taken, with Blomkamp this time exploring the issue of illegal immigration. From the very start it is obvious that he is specifically targeting the influx of Mexicans into the southern areas of the USA. However, it really isn't until the end of the film when Blomkamp's view on the issue is revealed, leaving the interpretation up to the viewer for most of the film. Depending on your ideology, you can interpret one of two ways. You can see that the influx of refugees into a better off area can drastically reduce the quality of life of the established occupants if the immigrants are not willing to fully integrate into society. This is made evident in the film as the Mexicans are the ones who are unemployed, essentially ridiculing the citizens who actually have jobs. On the other hand you see the selfishness of the rich and powerful, the 1% if you wish, as they essentially push the problem under the rug and flee to an area full of exclusivity and leaving the general population in disarray. In the end it becomes obvious that Blomkamp is of the opinion that everyone should get a fair go, no matter what their class or nationality, quite clearly the right answer. However, as most good films should be, it is up to the viewer the interpret the issues how they see fit and come up with their own conclusions.

As with the issue of illegal immigration, who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist is left entirely up to the interpretation of the viewer. The character of Wikus van der Merwe in District 9 is the perfect example of this, he is almost the quintessential anti-hero. His intentions are overall positive but the way he goes about it is somewhat unconventional so it is up to you to determine whether he is in fact a good guy or a bad guy. The same can be said for Max de Costa in Elysium. He is not your conventional good guy, he has a sketchy past and his intentions of bringing down Elysium are on a purely selfish basis. However, in the end he does essentially save humanity but he does it purely by coincidence. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? It is up to you to decide. The same goes for all the characters, they all have their moments where the can be loved or hated, just as most people have. This makes all the characters very realistic.

My fear for Elysium would that it would be way too commercial. The best part of District 9 was that it was so unique that it bordered on being an indie film. However, it didn't bear the pretentious quality that all indie films possess where they love to point out they are being different for the sake of it. I feared that the studio would recognise the success of District 9 and essentially make the same film and dumb it down so it would make money as opposed to being good. This was evident with the casting choice. Whilst Matt Damon and Jodie Foster are terrific actors, they were just there because their names would drag in viewers. I mean Jodie Foster didn't even have her signature accent that made her characters, such as Clarice Starling, so magical. In these type of films, I much prefer to see no name actors because they make the characters their own. The perfect example was Sharlto Copley's performance as Wikus in District 9. Whilst it is obvious that the studio had a big say in what happened in this film, Blomkamp had his fair share of a say in what occurred. This meant that Elysium will most likely be stuck in the middle of a commercial and critical success. This is a bad place to be as you will neither generate the money or get those prized Oscar nominations.

Overall: Not quite up to the standard of District 9 but still a thought provoking movie focusing on the issue of illegal immigration. 4 Stars

Drunk Review: Sharknado

So the intention here was to get fairly intoxicated then write my review still under the influence. What better movie to do this with than the instant cult sensation, Sharknado? However, it turns out I am fairly lazy when I am drunk so I only managed the first half of my goal. None the less, Sharknado was that ridiculous and surprisingly very entertaining it does deserve to be reviewed. Even though this review might lack the craziness that might have been achieved if I was still intoxicated, the drunk ideas will still remain.

Directed by: Anthony C. Ferrante. Starring: Cassie Scerbo, Ian Ziering and Tara Reid

Do I need to explain the plot? Sharks get caught in a tornado and start killing people

Well that could have been the greatest entertainment experience of all time. I mean it was so unbelievably ridiculous. First things first, where the hell did all those sharks come from? There are thousands of them just hanging around. I assume the scene at the start with the shark fin soup was supposed to explain it but still, there were thousands of them! Also they all of a sudden became ridiculously aggressive. Did I just witness a 2 m shark swallow a 1.8 m man whole? Yes yes I did. Oh and the biological inaccuracies don't stop there. Once again someone is swallowed whole and manages to move through about 70% of the shark's digestive tract in a matter of seconds, start a chainsaw, makes a surgeon like incision and escapes unharmed. Finally what makes generic shark number 5 more dangerous than generic shark number 7? EVERYTHING! You can tell that there are a few great whites and a couple of hammerheads but other than that all of the other sharks don't resemble a specific species. They appear to be the result of the special effects guy receiving the instructions "make me a computer generated shark."

What else can be wrong this movie you might be saying? Well I am just getting started. The technical difficulties are so abundant you can't keep up. There are more plot holes than a movie about Swiss cheese. The shark fin soup story went nowhere, there was no animosity shown by Tara Reid after the attractive girl hits on her ex-husband in front of her, and then the attractive girl all of a sudden loses all feelings for the main guy and gets amongst it with his son. Wait a minute, since when is Tara Reid old enough to be a mother of someone in their early 20's, man I feel old. Then there is the over zealous use of stock footage. I understand the use of establishing shots to show we are in LA but next time make sure you have the time of day and weather conditions. There are numerous occasions when 5pm during a hurricane turns into a warm sunny morning, c'mon this isn't Plan 9 from Out of Space. Then there are the almost humorous shark cut scenes. Cutting from a shark swimming in waist deep water though the street to a clearly different type of shark cruising though the open ocean is magical.

Tara, Tara, Tara, what has happened? You have appeared in American Pie and The Big Lebowski, two of the best movies from the late 90's, so I expect you to outshine the other actors with your pure talent. Oh how wrong was I. Somehow you manage to drag the acting quality down. I know your character gave you nothing to work with but at least put a little effort in. You sort of just mope around wondering what went wrong with your career. On that, none of the characters had any sort of defining quality, except one. What shark movie is complete without the wise cracking Aussie guy who doesn't care and is just there to fuck shit up. His defining moment comes immediately after someone is devoured by the sharks, of course turning the water red. Everyone else is visually upset so to lighten the mood (unsuccessfully I might add), he says, whilst off camera, "it must be that time of the month." I will leave it at that...

Overall Rating: This is not one movie I can use my normal star rating to rate. It has done what movies such as Troll 2 and Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus have done but so many others have failed, be so bad that it is good. Almost every movie made is better than this one but very few are as entertaining. My recommendation is to do exactly what I did, grab a few friends, crack a couple of beverages and sit back and enjoy 90 minutes of pure hilarity.  

The World's End

The World's End (2013)

Predicted Rating: 3 Stars

Directed by: Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz). Starring: Simon Pegg (Star Trek), Nick Frost (Paul) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit).

The third installment in the Cornetto trilogy sees the washed up Gary King (Pegg) contemplating what has gone wrong in his life. He decides that the best moment of his life occurred on a night when he and his four friends attempted the golden mile, 12 pubs in one night. Twenty years later Gary wants to recreate the night so he gathers his friends Peter, Oliver (Freeman), Steven and Andrew (Frost) and they head back to the small town of Newton Haven. After an initial resistance from the team, the realise that the town of Newton Haven is inhabited by what appear to be robots so they must work together to uncover the secrets and save each other.

Like the other two installments of the Cornetto Trilogy, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, The World's End takes a unique and complex idea, i.e. a comedy about robots taking over the world, and makes it unbelievably simple. The characters are very solid. They are well established from the beginning, you know their good and bad qualities, who to hate and who to love, and eventually who will save the day. There is also substantial character development, something I value very highly but is often forgotten in modern cinema. There are also no plot holes, something that is very difficult to achieve. Each event in the movie is also spelled out as simply as possible so you always know what is going on and you are never left scratching your head thinking wait, I thought he was a robot. Often in American movies this means that everything seems like it is a big fat hamburger being shoved down your throat. However, in the Cornetto series, everything is done with that quaint British charm so the plot appears though it is a nice Sunday roast served on fine china with a pint of ale and a sprig of parsley on top to garnish.

Another thing that The World's end does well that a lot of other movies fail miserably at is drunk humour. In other films, the drunk characters seem too stereotypical, i.e. the stagger round, fall over and generally make an arse of themselves. This gives the appearance of the actors just acting like they are drunk. In the World's End, the actors genuinely appear drunk the entire film. This is because each character acts differently when they are drunk and there is a clear progression of drunkness for each drink, not just a black and white drunk/not drunk. The film also manages to include the character's being drunk as a clever plot device. You can tell whether they are a robot or not based on their drunk behaviour.

If there is one criticism I have of this film is that it drags out slightly too long. This is nothing new, many movies in the past have made the mistake of dragging the serious ending out for longer than it should. Whether this is because the writers have run out of ideas for jokes so they make the ending serious I am not sure. In my opinion, the difference between a good comedy and a brilliant one is to have you laughing to the end and it really never take itself seriously. Unfortunately the last 15 minutes of The World's end is too cliche and it masks the quality of the previous 95 minutes.

Final Rating: Not quite as good as Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz but an enjoyable comedy none the less, 4 Stars

This is the End

This is the End (2013)

Predicted Rating: 2 Stars

Directed by: Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg (Directorial Debut). Starring Seth Rogan (Pineapple Express), Jonah Hill (Superbad) and Jay Baruchel (She's Out of Your League)

During a party at James Franco's house that includes such celebrities as Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Michael Cera, Aziz Ansari, Emma Watson and Rihanna, the world unexpectedly ends causing most of the celebrities to be sucked into an abyss to hell. Remaining after the mayhem are Franco, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson and Jonah Hill. After deciding the best course of action is to remain inside Franco's house and ration out the food, including one very desirable Milky Way. When the group wakes up to finds that their supplies have been mostly consumed by an unaware Danny McBride, tensions build in the house.

Well, that was actually a pleasant surprise. The act of self parody is a very hard genre to pull off in cinema but it was done perfectly in This is the End. Most of the time movies that explore the self parody genre seem cocky. The lead actors usually act as if look at us, we are so famous we can play ourselves and the cameos are put in so the makers of the film can say look who we have got to appear and they are even playing themselves! This is the End is essentially the opposite. It makes proper fun of the actors playing themselves and it essentially feels like they are playing characters of themselves rather than themselves, if you catch my drift. A better way to put it would be that they are playing who they want to be rather than who they actually are. The other cameos are far from tacky either. This is probably due to how ridiculous they are. I mean come on, Michael Cera is surely not a sex crazed coke addict and I assume Emma Watson is the nicest person on the planet and would not hold you to ransom with an axe.

Once you get past the actors playing themselves, the story is very well written. The jokes are plentiful and don't dry up as the movie progresses, something that plagues many comedies. This is the film The Watch should have been. Rogen and Goldberg have written some good movies but also some very bad ones. I am going as far to say that it is the best Rogen/Goldberg movie since Superbad. It was also quite nostalgic to see the three main guys from Superbad chatting nicely then Michael Cera unexpectedly blow cocaine in Christopher Mintz-Plasse's face. This was definitely the funniest movie so far this year.

I am going to end with this (excuse the pun), the ending is one of the best in recent memory and will have people who grew up in the 90's frothing at the mouth

Final Rating: One of the funniest movies released over the last few years that manages to effectively nail the hard genre of self-parody. 4 stars