End of March Review

The End of Another Month, which although I have seen plenty of films this month, with one or two exceptions has been fairly average.

The Croods is easily the best film I have seen this month, and aside from perhaps two great performances from Catherine Zeta Jones in Side Effects and Broken City, there has been very little else to get excited about, with the Majority of films getting a fairly average 6 or 7 out of 10 from me, and most would be instantly forgettable without this blog to refresh my memory.

Worst film of the month has to go to the ridiculously unfunny Identity Thief, although Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters does run it close.

Upcoming in April, several big budget blockbusters, Starting with Oblivion, Olympus has fallen and Iron Man 3, which probably means there will be several smaller films that I miss out on, so I hope to plan another film day trip to Chichester if I can make it work in terms of timing and films I want to see.

The Host

Stephanie Mayer certainly knows how to write a good book, after vampires and werewolves we now get an alien invasion, and a schizophrenic Alien with a human voice in her head, The Storyline and the concept are superb, and visually this film is stunning, but unfortunately I can't help feeling that maybe this movie does not do the book justice (although I have not read the book)

It just felt like there was something lacking from the acting performances, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Maybe the characters lack a bit of depth, so you don't feel emotionally involved with them, and the "If we are the last man and woman alive" scene, early on in the film, is loaded with so much cheese it is almost cringe worthy. 

I'm sure the Twilight Audience will enjoy this, certainly take your teenagers, but if you are expecting a fully rounded movie you will come away a little disappointed 7/10

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Wat can I say about G.I. Joe? this is a film with issues, mainly the acting, or lack of, from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who should just stick to wrestling, and Bruce Willis who really should just give up with the action movies and retire gracefully, or take on something different.

The plot is extremely contrived, and if you go and See it make sure you don't sit towards the front,  as in several of the fight scenes the camera angles change so quickly that if you are to close to the screen you can't actually process the images fast enough to see whats going on.

Apart from that this is an ok movie 5/10

BBFC classifications

I have just written my review of Trance, if you read it you will see that my enjoyment of the film was limited slightly by my distraction with regard to its 15 certificate, this was also the case with The Master last year.

Is full frontal nudity acceptable for a 15 year old? especially when that full frontal nudity includes a close up of the genital area to emphasise a point.

In the case of The Master, it was a hullucination where he was seeing everyone in the room naked, maybe my objection to that one was that not everyone in that room was as attrative as Rassario Dawson! but that film also included use of the C word, however according to the BBFC "The single use of very strong language occurs during a psychological experiment in which some pornographic prose is read out. This includes the line "I felt his fingers opening the lips of my c**t". The use of the word occurs in the context of a crude sexual description and is not used aggressively or insultingly"

So again is this the sort of thing that a 15 year old should be allowed to see? in many ways the context of the word in The Master, a slang term for the vagina, is, for me, worse than it being used as a insult.

Some may argue that our 15 year olds should be exposed to this, that the vast majority of them will have seen much worse anyway and that they need to experience this sort of thing. if that is the case, why are our rules on TV for channels like Babestation so draconian?

Trance

I was really looking forward to watching Trance, ever since I saw the trailer and then heard that Cineworld were doing a preview, I have to admit I really like Danny Boyle, I guess post olympics he is a bit of a national treasure, but also his recent films Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours are both a superb watch.


Trance is a very good film, and an enjoyable watch, but you need to stick through to the end to really appreciate it in its entirity, about half way through I thought I knew what was going on, I was wrong! the whole thing is quite mind bending in that once you get into the hypnotism section, certain elements are not actually real and are the subject of hypnosis. however the end "reveal" shows how deep that actually goes. (I won't ruin it for you)

My Issue with Trance is the use of nudity, there are several sex scenes, and scenes where people are nude, that are shot so that you don't see anything, (IE head shots and above the waist shots for the men) Then all of a sudden there is a plot device which involves Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) shaving off her pubic hair, she goes into the bathrom, you hear the electric razor, but then she steps out of the bathroom full frontal, and to emphasise the point you get a nice close up of her (freshly shaven) vagina.

Now don't get me wrong here, I am a red bloodied male afterall, but a) I wasn't expecting it, b) if you are going to show that, why be so careful for the rest of the movie and c) how on earth can the BBFC justify giving it a 15 certificate?

Unfortunately I came out of the cinema thinking more about BBFC classifications that I did about the film, which is a shame, because had this been an 18, I probably would have enjoyed it more without being distracted by the certificate.  7/10

Jack the Giant Slayer

Yet another fairy tale reworked with a different story, the trouble with this sort of movie is that although they change the original story of the fairy tale, they tend to keep a lot of the key elements, and therefore become terribly predictable, Jack the Giant Slayer falls right into this trap, the story of jack and the beanstalk is so familiar, that athouh this is "Jack the Giant Slayer" not "Jack and the Beanstalk" you are always one step ahead of the movie.

For what its worth, the CGI is good, as per my hatred for all things 3D I saw the 2D version, but I have heard people who have seen the 3D version saying it is good, and very subtly done, so they didn't come out with the usual headache.

The acting is passable, I'm not sure this will go down as one of Ewan Mcgreagors most memorable performances, but decent enough from the leads Nicholas Hoult and Eleanor Tomlinson.

Take your children, and if you have never told them the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, I'm sure they will enjoy this immensly. otherwise just don't bother 5/10

Identity Thief

Identity Thief is supposedly a comedy about a guy who has his identity stolen, and in a bid to clear his name he goes to Florida in order to bring the Woman who stole his Identity back to Denver in order to clear his name.

The reality is that this is about as funny as watching paint dry, all the best "Jokes" are in the trailer, and even those are not funny. I actually cannot recall laughing once. the acting is poor and even as a story line it just dosent work. It just fails on very level.

This is possibly the worst film I have seen so far in 2013, if you have seen the trailer then you have seen the best of the movie, just satisfy yourself with that and don't bother with the rest. 3/10

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

I went into Burt Wonderstone not really knowing anything about it, is not a movie that has been heavily trailed or got much in the way of press coverage, the fact that it is not being shown next week gives a clue to the size of the box office, Which is strange considering it stars both Steve Carell and Jim Carrey. However I think both of them would be quick to admit that this is not one of their better films.

Carell plays Burt Wonderstone, an ageing magician who has been doing the same act for years and his audience is starting to dwindle, Carey comes along as a kind of David Blane type character who doesn't do traditional magic, but wonders people with ever increasingly dangerous stunts.

The Comedy is fun in parts, there are a few good gags, but on the whole I found myself giggling rather than full on laughter, the story line is ok, but like a magic show there is nothing here to make you sit back and go wow, it has no cutting edge and is a whole lot of bland comedy.

I did enjoy the closing scene, which I won't ruin or you but aside from that this is a very average film, which is a shame given the cast 5/10

Welcome to the Punch

James Mcavoy has clearly been busy, starring not only in Welcome to the Punch, but also in Danny Boyle's Trance which I am looking forward to catching next week.

The Basic premise of this movies is that police officer Max Lewinsky (McAvoy) is trying to catch Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong) when Sternwood's son is injured, he comes back into the country giving Lewinsky an opportunity to take him down, however there is something much larger going on, and soon the pair are working together.

This is one of those films where characters that initially appear trustworthy are actually involved in the conspiracy, and as the film unravels more and more people are implicated, and the plot twists and turns more than a roller coaster.

This was an enjoyable movie, regular readers of my blog will know that I don't like bloody thirsty violent films where the use of blood is over the top, and this film avoid that nicely, yes there are some scences where people are killed, and blood is shed, but it is in context and to take it away would diminish this film, the balance is about right.

The Complex relationship between Lewinsky and Sternwood is fascinating and the way in which that is played out by McAvoy and Strong is superb.

Having said all that, there is something slightly lacking to take this from an enjoyable film to a great movie, much of it is largely forgettable, and i'm sure in a year or so this won't be something that springs immediately to mind, when someone mentions James McAvoy. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that is missing, but it just felt a bit like the film was plodding a bit.

On the whole though a good watch, worth seeing, but from reviews and trailers I think McAvoys next film out next week will be better 7/10

The Croods

The Croods is an annimated fun family film, it is narrated by Eep the daughter of a caveman, she wants to go out and explore the world, but her father won't let her and prefers to keep the family in the cave where it is safe.

I enjoyed this immensely, it is very funny, with lots of cartoon style slapstick humour, especially at the expense of the Father, Grug (Nicholas Cage) the character of Belt is also superbly funny.

As well as being funny, it also has a bi of a serious side, I especially enjoyed the emotional turmoil of Grug as he realises that he is no longer able to keep is family safe, and that his role as head of the family is under threat.

This is easily the best annimation of 2013 so far, and although we are only a quarter of the way through the year, I would certainly expect it to be up there at the end of the year when thinking about best annimation. 9.5/10

Oz The Great and Powerful

The Latest in the recent trend of rewriting fairy tales is what I guess would be considered a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, which seeks to explain how the wizard got to Oz and became the Wizard.

This is a stunningly beautiful film, with lots of special effects, The Film opens with a small screen black and white section in Kansas, which contrasts brilliantly with the big screen vibrant colours of Oz, which really brings the film to life.

The Story itself is well written and fun, in the classic kind of fairy tale model, this is defiantly one that Kids will enjoy. I saw the 2D version, but maybe this is one film where the 3D might add that extra something that just gives it the extra edge.

For all the brilliant special effects cinematography and vibracy, this film is perhaps lacking slightly in the acting category, there is very little in the way of emotion in this film, and nothing to really make you care about the fate of the characters involved, but maybe that can be forgiven slightly.

This is a stunning visual masterpiece 8.5/10

Side Effects

Side effects is one of those films where you think you know what is going on and hen all of a sudden you realise that you didn't really know, my friend who was with me saw it coming, but I didn't maybe I just didn't pick up on it.

For me the movie is slow to get going, but picks up pace towards the end, about half an hour in I was beginning to lose interest, but its definitely worth sticking with it.

Once again Catherine Zeta-Jones puts in one of those performances, where her character is not all that she appears, she is very very good at this kind of performance, where her Character is very misterious, and you never know what her real intentions are (see my review of Broken City)

Without giving away the story, all I will say about this movie is if you have seen the trailer, you don't know anything, the 3 central characters all trying to get one over on each other, understand what each is up to and gain an advantage is very cleverly scripted, and superbly worked.

This is a decent movie, worth a watch, its slow to start but stick with it, it's worth it in the end 7.5/10

Broken City

Broken city is an interesting film full of political scandal and intrigue, but the trouble is this film would not be out of place had it been released in the mid 90's. It certainly does not feel fresh and new, it felt like I was watching something from the 1990's

That said Russell Crowe puts in a decent performance as the Mayor, and probably a better performance than Wahlberg in the leading role, Zeta Jones is cast well in a fairly typical understated  Zeta Jones role, where her character is a little bit secretive and mysterious, and you never feel like you know what her real motives are.

The fact that it is disappearing from my cinema after just a week suggests it has not done to well at the box office, but on the whole this is worth a watch, It's not the sort of film where I came out wanting my 2 hours back,  Just don't expect it to be breaking new ground 7/10

Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters

There seems to be a proliferation of Fairy Tales with a new wist, following Snow White and the Huntsman last year, we now have Hansel & Gretel and Oz The Great and Powerful is out tomorrow.

This is a very strange film, the premise is that Hazel and Gretel have escaped from the witch as children, and now spend their lives hunting witches for a living.

I'm not sure that Renner and Artherton will look back on this as one of their best movies, I really didn't enjoy this movie. I wouldn't say its a bad film, but its not that good either, its just mediocre which in many ways is worse. at least I can get worked up over a bad movie, this just left me with nothing, and it's instantly forgettable, so much so that I am really struggling to find something to say here. 4/10

Safe Haven

From the first time I saw the trailer for this film, I thought it might be a film I would enjoy, I did enjoy it, but perhaps I had slightly higher expectations than the reality.

Other than the Major plot twist half way through, which I didn't see coming, this film is relatively predictable and you always have a sense of where the film is going, There is one major plot fail, involving them travelling somewhere in a car, then having to arrange a lift home (what happened to the car?) but aside from that this is an enjoyable movie.

I was perhaps expecting a twee happily ever after ending, and in some ways it is, but the epilogue scene to close the movie is very clever, and very emotional, if you are prone to being weepy in the cinema take a tissue for the end.

I guess the best word to summarise this film is pleasant. its worth a couple of hours of you time, but definitely won't be high on the list of really memorable films this year. 7/10