Brave (2012)

Dir: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEHWDA_6e3M

                Pixar has become the studio for quality animation, making films for all ages. This time they travel to Scotland for a tale of magic and legend.

                Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is a Scottish princess who is going to be married off to one of three potential suitors. Wanting her freedom and taking her life in to her own hands, Merida breaks tradition and humiliates the suitors and runs off. Meeting a witch she makes a deal involving her mother which leads to terrible circumstances.

                As is usual with Pixar, the film looks beautiful. They’ve captured the majestic natural beauty of the Scottish lands perfectly and Merida’s curly red locks flow and spring realistically. Pixar have always managed to push the boundaries with their animation, whether it is the individual strands of hair in the coats of Sully from Monsters inc. and Lotsohuggin’ bear in Toy Story 3, or the twinkling beauty of space in Wall.e, and they continue here. Pixar should be applauded for choosing a quite unusual setting for a children’s film and using it so well.

                What makes Pixar so great is that there is always more to their films than just the beautiful surface, they always have heart. In this case that comes in the relationship between Merida and her mother Elinor (Emma Thompson). Merida is a teenage girl who has been raised by her mother to be a lady and to marry for the good of the country while she is still young but Merida wants to be free and live her life how she wants. It is good to see the relationship between a mother and daughter as the core of a film rather than the typical romance of the male hero and the beautiful heroine. It's this relationship which is at the front of the film rather than anything to do with the three young suitors. It is a film about family and learning to love each other. However, the film never hits the emotional heights of Wall.e or the incredible first ten minutes of Up.

                The film has jokes for both the youngsters in the audience and their parents but it is never as funny as some previous Pixar films. Wall.e managed to make us laugh and fall in love with a robot who barely spoke and Up made us root for a grumpy pensioner, mining comedy from such tough ingredients, but Brave raises chuckles rather than full on laughs.

                A solid effort from Pixar which sits in the middle of Pixar’s roster in terms of quality. Good looking and fun but not enough to stick with you for much longer afterwards.

3 out of 5 Buttons

Dark Shadows (2012)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isjg9O7ifwM

Dir: Tim Burton

Starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green

                Tim Burton teams up with Johnny Depp again to give us a big screen adaptation of a little known American television series.

                Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) is cursed by a witch (Eva Green), who is in love with him, to be a vampire. He is buried by the angry townsfolk. Almost two hundred years later, his coffin is unearthed and Barnabas goes about reinstating the Collins family name. Unfortunately the witch Angelique is still about.

                As you’ve probably guessed from the trailer, the film has the typical Tim Burton style and quirky characters in it. The style isn’t jarring and it fits with the slightly camp and Gothic subject matter but after so many films with the same style to them, it’s starting to get a bit dull. The most you can say about the film is that it is fine. You won’t hate having come to watch it but you won’t remember much about it once you’ve reached home. It feels more like a fun personal project for Depp and Burton rather than a particularly interesting film for a mass audience.

                The film never really knows what it wants to be. It has a fair amount of jokes, the best being Barnabas’ misunderstanding of Alice Cooper, in it but it’s not the comedy that the trailer makes it out to be. A lot of the humour comes from the fish out of water situation of Barnabas, but luckily the whole of the film doesn’t rely on this as it could become quite monotonous. It actually has a fair amount of Gothic violence in it which sits at odds with its playful almost camp nature. The film is quite meandering, without much of a solid plot to hold on to. The main thrust of it seems to be making the Collins’ rich again and defeating the evil witch, one of which happens but is then unspooled to no real conclusion. The ending is wholly unsatisfactory as it throws in random plot twists, which seem to only be there because they were in the television series, and action which doesn’t lead to anything decent and just sets up an, at the moment, unwanted sequel.

                An entirely tolerable film but there’s nothing here which will really stick with you. Makes you hope that Burton and Depp will doing something really different together next time.

2 out of 5 Buttons

American Reunion (2012)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7qq0iJGSu0
 

Dir: John Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg

Starring: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Sean William Scott, Eugene Levy

                The American Pie franchise gets milked for another go with the seventh, yes seventh, entry into the franchise.

                The gang are all grown up and they decide to go home and get together for their thirteenth high school reunion. Hijinks ensue.

There is a moment in the film where Jason Bigg’s character Jim tells Stifler (Sean William Scott) that things have changed. Unfortunately, they really haven’t. The film is filled with everything you would expect from an American Pie film. The characters are all pretty much the same as they were in 1999 and the same gross out, sex comedy is all present as expected. Then only reason the film is even in cinemas, rather than being the fourth direct to DVD instalment, is because they have managed to get the entire original cast back together. Jim, Stifler, Oz (Chris Klein), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Vicky (Tara Reid), Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), Heather (Mena Suvari) and Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and more all return for one last pay check.

It is nice to see them all together on screen again as even old favourite supporting characters pop up, but a film can’t rely entirely on nostalgia. The film even brings up old jokes from the first couple of movies like a now fading friend going ‘hey, remember this. That was funny wasn’t it? We had some good funny times’ and desperately trying to hold onto a friendship long past its best. Jim’s dad mentions the pie, Jim mentions a flute, Jim and Stifler get trapped in someone’s bedroom. Remember when we all laughed then? The jokes have evolved with time about as well as the assembled cast’s movie careers. I found myself sitting there thinking ‘it’s been thirteen years. I’ve changed since then, why hasn’t any of this?’ The only thing that seems to have changed is what they can get away with in a 15 rated film. This time the sex is a bit more graphic and you actually get to see a penis along with the gratuitous breast and ass shots.

The film is exactly as you expect it to be. It’s the same old stuff for the people who were teens in 1999 and sex and bodily fluids for the teens now. If you’ve always been a fan of the American Pie franchise and are just looking for more of the same then you’ll find much to enjoy here and you’ll probably get a kick from seeing the old gang back together. If you’re looking for something genuinely funny, different and original then just keep on walking. If you want to see a man shit in a cooler and boobs then this if the film for you.

At the end of the film Jim says ‘We should do this every year.’ Hopefully they won’t. This really should be the last piece of the pie that went off long ago.

2 out of 5 Button

Marvel's Avengers Assemble (2012)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPoHPNeU9fc

Dir: Joss Whedon

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans

                After many months of anticipation and at six films leading up to it Marvel’s Avengers Assemble finally arrives in cinemas courtesy of Joss Whedon.

                Loki (Tom Hiddleston) arrives on earth and steals The Tesseract, a source of great power. He plans to use it to open a gateway for an alien species to come through and together they will take over the planet. Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), assembles the earth’s most extraordinary heroes, Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Ironman (Robert Downey Jr), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to defend the earth.

                Firstly, we have to get this out of the way. This is not the greatest Superhero film of all time. The film has sat upon so much expectation, at least six individual films setting up each individual character up until this point, containing various hints and cross over characters which have all been leading up to this one film. It is a wealth of expectation which is simply impossible to live up to. However, the film is certainly entertaining and it should please fans and the uninitiated in the audience. There is plenty of action and even more humour, as to be expected in a Joss Whedon script, to keep anyone entertained for its running time. After a slightly slow beginning, the fun starts when all of the heroes are thrown together and the one liner’s start to fly. All of the characters are juggled well and they each get their chance to shine. Unfortunately Captain America is a bit dull and Hawkeye and Black Widow suffer in comparison to their more super powered colleagues but they do get to have a good part in the action. Thor is fun and Tony Stark is back to being the funny arrogant guy we fell for in the first Ironman (2008) film, an improvement on the more grating Tony Stark of Ironman 2 (2012). However, the real revelation is Bruce Banner/The Hulk, played greatly by Mark Ruffalo, who, once he lets the green man out, is the most fun and has two of the funniest parts in the film. Tom Hiddleston is a great enemy in the guise of Loki, even if his army of aliens are a bit too faceless and are basically just there as cannon fodder. You need not worry if you have not seen all the other films before this, each character is introduced and drawn well so you can quickly get a hold on who they are.

                The film does have a few problems. It takes a while to get going as all the various pieces of the Avengers have to be introduced and brought together. It is also too long, but the longer running time does have to be expected considering the amount of varying characters and character arcs it has to bring together. There is never any real threat as you know none of the main characters are going to die and of course they will win in the end but this doesn’t mean that the journey is any less fun. As is typical with many American Superhero films, you are shown the might of America rising up to take down foreign invaders and you don’t really feel the world is in danger since they aliens only attack from in part over Manhattan. The action is entertaining and a good spectacle but it ultimately isn’t overwhelming and is fairly rapidly fading from you reviewers memory.

                It’s not the best Superhero movie of all time and it’s not the best Joss Whedon film out at the moment. It is a good, entertaining, funny and fun Saturday night film. Go and enjoy yourself for a couple of hours, just don’t expect it to change anything.

4 out of 5 Buttons

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXfc12BqFkc

Dir: Drew Goddard 

Starring: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchinson

               

                Joss Whedon co-writes this new horror comedy which has a lot more to it than the title might suggest.

                A group of teens go and stay a night in a wooden cabin in the woods where they are attacked. So far, so cliché but not everything is what it seems.

                The Cabin in the Woods is a film which has obviously been birthed from a great love of horror films and the horror genre. Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon have a lot of fun playing around in the bloody pools of the horror genre and they have created a film which is hugely entertaining and will stand up to repeat viewings. It is a must see for any fans of horror and will probably be a film written about by film students in courses around the country. The film it most closely resembles is Scream (1996), but The Cabin in the Woods takes it further, aiming its subversive sights on the whole of the horror genre rather than just the slasher movie.

                There are only a couple of criticisms for the film. If you came expecting a stereotypical horror about teens being killed in the woods then you may be disappointed but hopefully you will find the film a lot more interesting, imaginative and entertaining than the film you were originally expecting to see and the film still has plenty of killing to keep you satisfied. It is also not particularly scary. It does have a few jump scares but it does firmly have its feet in the comedy half of the horror/comedy genre. Unfortunately it is pretty much impossible to have a truly scary horror comedy because as soon as you have a laugh then any tension is dispelled and so any potential scares are subdued. Luckily the film has more than enough laughs to keep you entertained and those easily scared will jump at times, but it is worth losing the scares for the film to be able to take so many horror genre clichés and features and subvert them so entertainingly.

                Easily one of the most entertaining films you’re going to see this year. It’s clever, funny and even manages to throw in some scares. Far more entertaining than many of the regular horror films which get churned out each year. Horror fans will love it.

4 out of 5 Buttons

(Note: the review is shorter than normal as I have tried to stay away from as many spoilers as possible and as such am not able to go into the finer points of the film without spoiling its plot and therefore your enjoyment. Hopefully, the review has given you a good enough sense of my opinion on it without ruining the film for you.)

The Woman in Black (2012)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc3zBhG9D30

Dir: James Watkins

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Sophie Stuckey

                Susan Hill’s famous ghost story gets another adaptation, this time on the big screen courtesy of classic horror production company Hammer.

                Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) is a young lawyer whose wife died in child birth. A few years later he is still struggling with the loss. His work has been suffering and his boss gives him a last chance. He sends him to a mansion to sort out the papers of a deceased woman in a small village. However, Arthur starts seeing figures around the supposedly deserted mansion.

                The classic ghost story is a genre which is rarely seen nowadays in horror, a genre which has become overcrowded by torture horror, pointless remakes and found footage movies, so it is a nice relief to for such a film to be out as such a high profile release.

                The Woman in Black is quite an old and well known story so some of it does feel familiar. The outsider city man coming to a small village, the villagers being against him and trying to make him leave, people hiding secrets and bad things happening to children are all clichés which we’ve seen many times before but the familiarity doesn’t drag the film down. It manages to create a fairly creepy atmosphere; the scenes of Arthur Kipps alone at the house are particularly tense. However, it spoils the atmosphere by going for the loud noise jump scares so often favoured in modern horror films. The scares mostly come from glimpses of things in the background or behind Arthur, be they a moving figure or ever just a face, and these would work well to build up an almost unbearable atmosphere if they were backed with sparse soundtrack but the film spoils it slightly by going for the shock. This may cause an instant reaction from the audience but it dispels some of the tension that’s been built up. The effective horror films are the ones that leave you with an ominous feeling once you’ve left the cinema, they leave you fidgety and on edge, not the ones that you look back on and say it made you jump. A pigeon can make you jump but they don’t leave you scared.

                Another problem with the film is the casting of Daniel Radcliffe. His acting is perfectly good but he never seems old enough for the role. You never really believe that he is a widowed father; he seems more like the young child’s older brother. This doesn’t become a problem when we are left with Radcliffe in the mansion but it will be a nagging thought left in your head.

                The film realises its setting effectively and all the actors play their roles well. The build up of tension in the mansion at night is genuinely effective and the scares can make you jump, you just wish there was more to the horror.

                A good attempt at a classic ghost story which unfortunately still relies too much on loud noises and jump shocks. It is often creepy but rarely truly scary. It ends up as an entertaining watch but pretty forgettable. More atmosphere and less jumps for the next ghost story please.

3 out of 5 Buttons

The Hunger Games (2012)

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNxb28j5C1w

Dir: Gary Ross

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Wes Bentley, Donald Sutherland

                Suzanne Collins’ popular young adult novel gets the Hollywood treatment.

                It is the future and the country is separated into various districts, ruled by the capital and the tyrannical President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Every year all the districts hold a lottery where one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen are picked to take part in a battle to the death, known as The Hunger Games. This year the sister of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is picked to take part. Katniss volunteers to go in her place and so the other tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) and herself enter the Hunger Games.

                Adapting any book is problematic, you have to cut out so much and streamline it that you will always have people complaining that their favourite parts have been taken out. You have to find something in the book to base the whole film around and unfortunately The Hunger Games has to be added to the list of failed adaptations.

                The films main problem is that you never get a feel for any of the characters or their relationships. They are so lightly touched upon that the characters end up so two dimensional that they’d blow away in the wind. If you have no feeling for any of the characters then you do not care about any of the characters. This means that you don’t care what happens to them. This is a major problem when the second half of the film is all about the characters fighting to the death. The first half of the film is all about the build up to the Games and it manages to feel rushed as you barely learn anything about anyone and somehow also manages to drag terribly. I was hoping that things would pick up when the Games started and they almost did with a fairly effective opening first few minutes but by then all the damage to the characters had been done and so I had to sit through an hour of boring, neutered action. All the other competitors in the Games are so thinly drawn that it would be hard to recall their names if I hadn’t already read the books and so I didn’t care about them. Kids were killing each other and yet I felt nothing. I need to get to know the characters so I can actually care about their fates.

 Another problem was the depiction of violence in the film. I know that the film had to get a 12a certificate so that it wouldn’t alienate most of its target audience and I agree that you don’t have to graphically depict violence for the viewer to feel it or be shocked by it but the complete lack of anything in the film left me feeling like no one was particularly in danger. Katniss just looked like she was having a couple of days away in the woods.  We don’t get a feeling for the death of the competitors, we just have to take it as a given that they're dead because the film just tells us so. Most of the time we just get told their dead because the sound of a cannon going off signals it. A huge fight to the death has never been rendered so dull and lifeless.

                The film does have some redeeming features. The districts and the arena are well realised and for the most part the casting is good, like Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci, even if they are disappointingly underused, and the acting is good. The problem with the dogs, one of the biggest problems with the book, is sorted out and showing us the workings outside the Games is an interesting touch. Also the films sparse use of music makes for a more claustrophobic and more realistic air to it, particularly in the Reaping scene at the beginning, but these are just small things which don’t manage to make you see past the films big problems which left me almost mind numbingly bored.

                A disappointing attempt which takes all the bite and interest out of an already filmic novel. Just read the book instead. Or watch Battle Royale or The Running Man, two films which have the same basic premise but actually do something with it. Let’s hope they can give us something to actually care about in the inevitable sequel.

2 out of 5 Buttons