Following our not so successful film choice of "Magic Mike" my friends and I needed a little perking up, and what better than the newest "Ice Age" instalment "Continental Drift"? But, no, we'd timed it wrong! Tragic Mike (as it shall now, forever be known) went on for longer than we'd realised and the 3D showing had begun 15 minutes earlier? What were we to do?? "I know" said I, "let's go to the 2D showing instead and avoid the screaming-masses of children, the headaches and the red marks across our noses!" Met with a little scepticism by the men folk, the wives won-out and to the 2D showing we headed.
Unfortunately we were still accompanied by several dozen children of the screaming variety, but without the extra irritations of pinched noses and eye-blurring headaches we were much more chilled and prepared to tolerate a little childish exuberance.
The story was a triumph; touching and funny with just the right level of adult humour thrown in for the parents and the young-at-heart. And unlike certain other, tragic, films which shall remain nameless, they weren't too heavy handed with their "social conscience message."
Those of you who read my post on "Snow White and the Huntsman" would have noticed my waxing lyrical on Peter Dinklage. I admit this probably makes me a little biased, but his "Captain Gutt" was a pure class and wit. I also greatly enjoyed Wanda Sykes in the role of "Granny".
I did wonder if the team could muster enough new material to pull off another caper from the Ice Age family, but they did it with style. It does beg the question, however, what's next? Ice Age: Extinction?
And for the record, seeing it in 2D didn't mar the story whatsoever!
UK Rating: U
Year of Release: 2012
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy
Director: Steve Martino, Mike Thurmeier
Starring: Ray Ramano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Wanda Sykes, Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Lopez
Rating: 4.5 / 5
Monday, 16 July 2012
Tragic Mike
Why is it when an advert is misleading you can complain to the Advertising Standards Authority, but when a film trailer completely mis-sells their film all you can do is ponder the wasted price of admission?
I'm hardly a woman who enjoys regular trips to a male strip joint, but following trailers for Channing Tatum's latest film, "Magic Mike" I thought, what the hell, that looks like it could be fun, and so off I went with some friends prepared to have a bit of a giggle. A couple of hours later I was slumped in my seat, bored to tears, nursing a headache which resulted from the amount of eye-rolling and cringing I'd just endured.
I'll give Tatum his due, he'd clearly worked on his dance moves, and yes, arguably he has a good body, if you're into the muscular pretty-boy look, but when he learnt how to dance did he forget how to act?
The other headliner, and I must admit the draw for me, Matthew McConaughey, was looking past his prime and once again delivered a stellar performance in the role of Matthew McConaughey...perhaps semi-nude aftershave adverts are truly his calling?
The acting and atrocious script aside, the film's biggest problem was it's plot. Instead of delivery, as promised in the trailer, a fun-filled slightly raunchy comedy, we were given a heavy-handed "drugs are bad, kids" pep-talk, with a little contrived romance storyline tacked on for good measure. Ladies reading this, please tell me, you're beloved younger brother gets seduced by money into taking a job as a male stripper and then falls heavily into drugs and almost dies as a result, would you fall for the man who got him into it? Didn't think so...
UK rating: 15
Year of Release: 2012
Genre: "comedy" drama
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer
Rating: 1/5
I'm hardly a woman who enjoys regular trips to a male strip joint, but following trailers for Channing Tatum's latest film, "Magic Mike" I thought, what the hell, that looks like it could be fun, and so off I went with some friends prepared to have a bit of a giggle. A couple of hours later I was slumped in my seat, bored to tears, nursing a headache which resulted from the amount of eye-rolling and cringing I'd just endured.
I'll give Tatum his due, he'd clearly worked on his dance moves, and yes, arguably he has a good body, if you're into the muscular pretty-boy look, but when he learnt how to dance did he forget how to act?
The other headliner, and I must admit the draw for me, Matthew McConaughey, was looking past his prime and once again delivered a stellar performance in the role of Matthew McConaughey...perhaps semi-nude aftershave adverts are truly his calling?
The acting and atrocious script aside, the film's biggest problem was it's plot. Instead of delivery, as promised in the trailer, a fun-filled slightly raunchy comedy, we were given a heavy-handed "drugs are bad, kids" pep-talk, with a little contrived romance storyline tacked on for good measure. Ladies reading this, please tell me, you're beloved younger brother gets seduced by money into taking a job as a male stripper and then falls heavily into drugs and almost dies as a result, would you fall for the man who got him into it? Didn't think so...
UK rating: 15
Year of Release: 2012
Genre: "comedy" drama
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer
Rating: 1/5
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Red light means stop...and, God, I wish they had!
Despite some pretty big names (Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, Cillian Murphy) "Red Lights" seems to have shied away from the spot-light on it's release. With scarcely a trailer to be seen and some pretty large cinemas not screening it; my husband and I actually struggled to find a showing. We persisted, however, and with high expectations and the tolerance of saints, (the couple in the row behind appeared to have brought a picnic of noisy food with them) we eagerly watched...and then shrugged....and then yawned...and eventually looked at each other and said "what the f*ck was that ending about????"
Now I'm all for a film that makes you think, but surely Rodrigo Cortes wasn't hoping people would leave wondering what went wrong? I'm hardly ever an advocate for films being written and directed by the same person and this demonstrates exactly why it doesn't work. Not everyone can be a Quentin Tarantino, and Cortes certainly doesn't achieve anything close to his wit and style.
As you'd expect Weaver and De Niro delivered believable charismatic characters, and Murphy certainly committed to his role. The initial concept is pretty good, but that's where it ends.
UK rating: 15
Year of release: 2012
Genre: Drama Horror Thriller
Director: Rodrigo Cortes
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, Cillian Murphy, Elizabeth Olsen
Rating: 2 / 5
Rating: 2 / 5
Headache from hell, I know, I'll go see Rock of Ages!!
Ok, so maybe going to see a film filled with "rock" music wasn't the best idea when I had the headache from hell, but after the initial discomfort the headache melted away and I sat back to enjoy a funny, surprising, entertaining couple of hours.
So the plot is a little thin and the dialogue, in places, is just filler between rock ballads, but all in all I loved it! I even tolerated Russell Brand and his horrendous Northern accent!
And Tom Cruise can sing...who knew?!
So the plot is a little thin and the dialogue, in places, is just filler between rock ballads, but all in all I loved it! I even tolerated Russell Brand and his horrendous Northern accent!
And Tom Cruise can sing...who knew?!
UK rating: 12a
Year of release: 2012
Genre: Comedy Musical
Director: Adam Shankman
Starring: Diego Boneta, Julianne Hough, Tom Cruise, Malin Akerman, Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta Jones, Paul Giamatti
Rating: 4 / 5
Monday, 11 June 2012
was it worth the wait?
Well anyone who isn't new to my blog will remember several months back my exciting at the first trailers for "Prometheus" so you may be surprised to learn it's taken me over a week to get around to seeing it. Sadly my husband and I promised to wait and see it with a friend of ours so I have been carefully avoiding any reviews & critiques and (somewhat) patiently waiting; filling the cinema-void with atrocities like "What to expect when you're expecting"...it's not been easy!
So, was it worth the wait you may ask? Over all I'd have to say yes!
There have been numerous interviews with Ridley Scott and stars of the film stating that this is not in fact a prequel to the original "Alien" films. Well all I can say to you, Mr Scott, is liar, liar pants on fire! There were so many nods to the original films that it started to feel like a piece of fan-fiction paying tribute to the master! On the way out of the cinema I even heard someone utter in sarcastic delight, "could they have made her look any more like Sigourney Weaver?!"
The plot kept moving at a reasonable pace, but I can't help but feel that it should have been 30 minutes longer in order to fill in some of the blanks. Generally the acting standard was very high and I can't recall any really cringe-worthy performances. However, Guy Pearce may as well not have shown up for work since his many talents were hidden beneath several layers of latex and make-up - what a waste! - and I do not understand the accolades being laid at Michael Fassbender's feet? Given his usually robotic performances I wouldn't have thought playing an android was that much of a stretch for him!
While there were some grim moments that made me shudder, I feel that this is another film that's fallen victim of the classification board...why go for a 15 rating and censor yourself when you could accept an 18 and make a thing of gore-rich beauty? It's been 33 years since "Alien" came out, you must realise that the bulk of your core audience will be over 18?!
Having slept on it for a night and picked as many holes as I can, I am a little underwhelmed by the film as a whole, however, I did enjoy it and I would still recommend you see it for yourselves!
UK rating: 15
So, was it worth the wait you may ask? Over all I'd have to say yes!
There have been numerous interviews with Ridley Scott and stars of the film stating that this is not in fact a prequel to the original "Alien" films. Well all I can say to you, Mr Scott, is liar, liar pants on fire! There were so many nods to the original films that it started to feel like a piece of fan-fiction paying tribute to the master! On the way out of the cinema I even heard someone utter in sarcastic delight, "could they have made her look any more like Sigourney Weaver?!"
The plot kept moving at a reasonable pace, but I can't help but feel that it should have been 30 minutes longer in order to fill in some of the blanks. Generally the acting standard was very high and I can't recall any really cringe-worthy performances. However, Guy Pearce may as well not have shown up for work since his many talents were hidden beneath several layers of latex and make-up - what a waste! - and I do not understand the accolades being laid at Michael Fassbender's feet? Given his usually robotic performances I wouldn't have thought playing an android was that much of a stretch for him!
While there were some grim moments that made me shudder, I feel that this is another film that's fallen victim of the classification board...why go for a 15 rating and censor yourself when you could accept an 18 and make a thing of gore-rich beauty? It's been 33 years since "Alien" came out, you must realise that the bulk of your core audience will be over 18?!
Having slept on it for a night and picked as many holes as I can, I am a little underwhelmed by the film as a whole, however, I did enjoy it and I would still recommend you see it for yourselves!
UK rating: 15
Year of release: 2012
Genre: Action Horror Sci-fi
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Snow White...and the politically incorrect dwarves!
Why do they do this to themselves?
Film Makers, take note, hyping up your film for a full year before it's release is never a good idea! Invariably you'll create unreachable audience expectations and get slammed by the critics the second the film opens!
While there are many things to praise the film for, not least of all the CGI which managed to tread that fine line between fantasy and reality very well, there were just as many things to criticise.
Let's start with their casting choices...
Did no-one give Ms Stewart the memo that this wasn't another Twilight film, or does she only know how to play pale, whiny victims? Obviously I can't speak for every film she's been in, (I have a low tolerance level for "stars" who think their mere presence on a film-set makes them an actor) but it does seem that wherever she crops up someone is trying to kill her...even as far back at 2002s "Panic Room" (when I couldn't decide if her character was a boy or a girl) there she was; pale, complaining, tantalisingly close to death...
But let's be fair, she was not the only daft choice the casting team made, and support group "Little People of America" agree with me on this one! Why, oh why would you cast hammed-up "stars" like Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone and Ian McShane to play dwarves when there are actors like Peter Dinklage out there who could act them off the screen? Anyone who has seen Dinklage's portrayal of Tyrion Lannister on HBO's "Game of Thrones" series can attest to his brilliance, and if you're still not sold then I appeal to you to watch one of my favourite films "The Station Agent", you won't be sorry!
However, actors aside there are other problems with this fairy-tale adaptation, perhaps most troubling to me is that they don't have a clear idea what market they want to pitch to...
Is this a re-telling of the Disney-fied fairytale aimed at children? They kept their rating as low as possible to open it up to that audience, so maybe...
Or were they hoping to get the young female teen market by casting the tiresome Ms Stewart and giving us some eye-candy in the form of Chris Hemsworth?
Perhaps this was meant to be a more fantasy-based true telling of the original Grimm's fairytale, (I confess what I had hoped for) no doubt hoping to capitalise on the recent successes of the like's of Game of Thrones, in which case where was the gore? The Blood? The guts? How can you tease us with acting heavyweights like Charlize Theron, talking about consuming Snow White's heart, but then not provide us with that blood-dripped imagery?
Surely one of the fundamentals of any successful film, particularly an adaptation of such a hackneyed story, is to know your audience and pitch accordingly? It's very rare a film can genuinely appeal to so many different markets, and sadly, in this case, I think it failed to deliver on any level.
UK rating: 12a
Year of release: 2012
Genre: Action Adventure Drama
Director: Rupert Sanders
Starring: Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth
Rating: 2 / 5
Was expecting more from "What to expect..."
To say that I was disappointed in this film implies I was expecting something other than what I got. Oh no! I went into this film with low expectations which were quickly met, and, with the appearance of every actor/actress I know and have any respect for, those expectations were adjusted slightly lower! In fact I spent most of the latter half of the film wondering if Cameron Diaz had had some work done or whether she's just ageing incredibly badly...anything rather than focus on the drivel-of-a-script being delivered by the likes of Dennis Quaid and Elizabeth Banks and, (yes I'll admit to liking her) Jennifer Lopez...(watch "The Cell", then judge me!)
The set up was fairly standard for this new breed of self-help-book turned Rom-Com genre. Middle class, 75% white cast with a token black or Latino actor thrown in for good measure. No-one is on the bread-line, no-one is divorced, no-one is gay or leads any sort of alternative lifestyle...
Of course there had to be a miscarriage storyline in order to blanket-cover all the potential problems that can crop up during pregnancy and wouldn't you just know that it's the young unmarried couple that get to play those parts. Heaven forbid the writers be seen to imply that sex and childbirth outside of marriage is an acceptable lifestyle choice...Bastards being born in a 12a film? Goodness, no!
To my mind the only thing qualifying this as a comedy was the few brief moments of mild comic relief which came in the form of "The dudes group." Although, to be frank, not even stories of children swimming in toilets and eating cigarettes could save this smulchey, overly-sentimental, Nora-Ephron-style piece of tripe...to steal a line from the film, "I'm calling it, <this film> sucks!"
UK rating: 12a
The set up was fairly standard for this new breed of self-help-book turned Rom-Com genre. Middle class, 75% white cast with a token black or Latino actor thrown in for good measure. No-one is on the bread-line, no-one is divorced, no-one is gay or leads any sort of alternative lifestyle...
Of course there had to be a miscarriage storyline in order to blanket-cover all the potential problems that can crop up during pregnancy and wouldn't you just know that it's the young unmarried couple that get to play those parts. Heaven forbid the writers be seen to imply that sex and childbirth outside of marriage is an acceptable lifestyle choice...Bastards being born in a 12a film? Goodness, no!
To my mind the only thing qualifying this as a comedy was the few brief moments of mild comic relief which came in the form of "The dudes group." Although, to be frank, not even stories of children swimming in toilets and eating cigarettes could save this smulchey, overly-sentimental, Nora-Ephron-style piece of tripe...to steal a line from the film, "I'm calling it, <this film> sucks!"
UK rating: 12a
Year of release: 2012
Genre: Comedy Drama Romance
Director: Kirk Jones
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Dennis Quaid, Chris Rock, Matthew Morrison
Rating: 0.5 / 5
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