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  • Review: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

    A choice of two reviews of the new Spidey flick what I wrote:

    Leaving aside the question of whether it’s too soon to reboot a film series that only began a decade ago, Marc Webb’s take on Marvel’s web-slinging superhero is proof that there is always room for another perspective on a character which has stood the test of time…

    The Amazing Spider-Man @ The Digital Fix

    The decision to go back to Spider-Man’s roots certainly makes narrative as well as business sense: more story opportunities about a young Peter Parker coming to terms with his new-found powers, while also allowing the studio to go after the same romantic fantasy audience that delivered gargantuan box-office returns for TWILIGHT and THE HUNGER GAMES…

    The Amazing Spider-Man @ TAKE ONE

     

  • Review: Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

    Moonrise Kingdom posterI first saw Moonrise Kingdom a few weeks back in preparation for Bums on Seats, Cambridge 105’s film review show which I’m fortunate enough to occasionally turn up on. Wes Anderson’s latest was enthusiastically received by us all, but I never got a chance to write up my thoughts. Its ongoing steady success at the UK box-office – nearly £1.5m banked so far – is worth celebrating, so here are my two cents (better late than never, eh?).

    The King of Ameriquirk (that breed of hip, modern film which deliberately goes out of its way to be strange, offbeat, ironic and uncool), Anderson returns with possibly his finest work to date. A charming coming of age tale about first love, it has the feel of a children’s film made by children, but with an expensive cast and decent production values. The colourful 16mm photography lends a lovely homemade quality to the 1960s-set tale, yet it’s masterfully assembled.

    The top drawer supporting cast includes the always reliable Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton and Tilda Swinton. But the two young leads – Kara Hayward as the depressed Suzy and Jared Gilman as the determined Sam – are the real stars. Sharing a similar sense of rejection at home, Sam plots for them both to escape by trekking across the rugged terrain of the New England island where they live and setting up camp in a remote cove.

    In Anderson’s world, adults act like children and children like adults; seemingly the only sensible people on the island are the young lovers. The grown-ups all appear to have significant issues that make them unreliable in some way, whether it’s McDormand’s unhappy housewife or Willis’ inadequate cop. This rather neatly leads the adult viewer to see the story through the eyes of the children, almost making you forget their ages. It’s rare for a film to make you feel like you’re a child again (in a good way), but Anderson succeeds admirably.

    At 90 minutes long it doesn’t outstay its welcome, if you are naturally averse to this sort of quirky yarn, and the soundtrack is a delight. In short it’s a beguiling slice of cinematic whismy, and I insist you catch it on the big screen if you still can.

    [xrr rating=4/5]

  • Review: Hobson’s Choice (1954)

    A truly Great British romance as well as a deliciously unconventional romantic comedy, HOBSON’S CHOICE remains a treat nearly 60 years after it first arrived on our screens. Showing as part of the ‘Made in Britain’ season, this is arguably a story that could only have been made in this country. Its working class, northern English roots give the film a bracing texture that never allows it to become sappy or fall victim to cliché. It can also boast a trio of superb performances, led by the larger-than-life Charles Laughton, and marvellous direction from an on-the-cusp-of-greatness David Lean.

    Full review: Hobson’s Choice | TAKE ONE

  • 10 reasons why Rock of Ages is the worst film of the year so far

    Rock of Ages is so indescribably tedious and rubbish, I can’t be bothered to write a full review (it was all I could do to stay in my seat). Instead I’ll just list the reasons why this pile of crap should be avoided like the plague:

    1. Musicals are well-known for their familiar plots (boy meets girl, they fall in love, trouble ensues, they get back together) but Rock of Ages is so familiar it feels like you wrote it yourself. It’s formulaic to the point of inanity. Did someone write this using the ‘Your First Musical’ guidebook?

    2. IT’S SO DULL. I can’t emphasise this enough. Rock ‘n’ roll? Not a chance. Rock of Ages, and Ages, and Ages, and Ages…

    3. It features a bunch of performances that range from the bland (leads Diego Boneta and Julianne Hough) to the competent (Catherine Zeta-Jones) to the bizarre (Tom Cruise). Cruise is one-note throughout; although his singing isn’t too bad, apparently strutting around bare-chested is more than enough to pass himself off as a rock star.

    4. When the male lead (who is supposed to be a ROCK STAR) is prettier and has better skin and more feminine eyes than the female lead, you know you’re in trouble.

    5. Comedy monkeys are no longer funny (if they ever were).

    6. The whole Alec Baldwin/Russell Brand relationship thing feels dreadfully cheap and deeply silly, and neither actor looks comfortable in any way. Maybe it works on stage, but not here. And let’s not even talk about Brand’s cross-country accent.

    7. The “classic hits” are largely forgettable, and even the fun ones are spoiled by the new singers and lyrics.

    8. The big musical set-pieces are incompetently shot and edited – it’s difficult to enjoy the dance numbers when you can’t tell who’s doing what, because the film cuts away every two seconds. The lazy lighting and photography make the whole film look like bargain basement trash.

    9. At one point the owner of a strip club tells the lead girl that the only way to truly express herself is by lap-dancing in her strip bar. Um, what? Is this really a good message to send out in a 12A film? It feels like a kid-friendly remake of Showgirls.

    10. The film’s only saving grace is the moment where the naff NKOTB-style boy band gets thrown off stage. Sadly they are replaced by the lead boy, who couldn’t look less rock ‘n’ roll if he turned up in a top hat and tails.

    [xrr rating=1/5]

  • Review: The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

    Eschewing the conventional, Nicolas Roeg’s stylish adaptation of Walter Tevis’ sci-fi novel is more often than not a rewarding experience, tempered only by occasional overindulgence. Where one might expect Hollywood spectacle the film offers abstract imagery, and instead of tugging at the heartstrings Roeg delivers sex, sex and more sex. It’s surely a film that could only have been made in the Seventies. But when it’s good, it’s great; beautifully shot, the haunting mood and tone is largely that of sadness and regret.

    Full review: The Man Who Fell to Earth | TAKE ONE

  • Prometheus: the second viewing

    PrometheusRidley Scott’s sci-fi blockbuster (which it now most certainly is) seems to have really divided audiences. There are those who are willing to look past its faults and enjoy it, and those who aren’t and don’t (as far as I’m aware, it has yet to be hailed as flawless). I’ve already reviewed Prometheus at length (over at The Digital Fix), but I’ve now seen it a second time, so for what they’re worth here’s a few additional thoughts which occur to me.

    Firstly, I stand by my original view that this is a beautifully crafted and entirely gripping slice of science-fiction. There’s no need to restate the obvious by praising its visuals – Scott is an artist above all else, and even the film’s detractors concede it looks the business. Its willingness to think big and not pander to the lowest common denominator makes Prometheus the most cinematically rewarding sci-fi vision this century has produced thus far.

    The two-hour running time for me simply flew by. Indeed, if anything the film is too short. There were several moments where I wished Scott had lingered a little longer, especially in the run-up to the landing on the planet/moon. Remember how unwelcoming that original planet was in Alien? How that ominous mood was gradually built up? This is a film that needs to breathe a little more slowly and a little more deeply, to let the atmosphere really envelop you. I suspect it would be all the more satisfying for it.

    Equally some of the characters could have benefited from being fleshed out more. It’s the one area the film genuinely falls down on, which is a shame because Alien is a text-book example of how to sketch memorable characters in a genre film. I liked Idris Elba’s Captain Janek, for example, but without adequate screen time he remained little more than ‘the guy with the accordion’. A script polish could have made all the difference – where’s Dan O’Bannon when you need him?

    As for those alleged plot-holes, I didn’t have any significant problems with the narrative. On a second viewing I think the film flows more smoothly, and nagging details about character motivations became less bothersome (although they don’t recede entirely). As for things like ‘Why didn’t Vickers run away to the side of the crashing ship?’ (SPOILER), it seemed to me that she WAS running away to the side, albeit at an angle; the sheer size of the Engineers’ ship doesn’t make it clear how futile her actions were.

    This is all just idle fan nit-picking, of course. I suspect Scott is an astute businessman and recognised the need for a tight theatrical cut that came in as close as possible to two hours. But I also suspect a longer version of the film is done and dusted and waiting to be shipped on dvd and blu-ray. I can’t wait to see it, and I’m willing to bet that it will come to be seen as the definitive version of the film, just as the special edition of James Cameron’s Aliens is now viewed as the superior cut of that movie.

    Incidentally, you’d be forgiven for thinking early on that Prometheus is actually a remake of Paul W.S. Anderson’s unloved 2004 spin-off Alien vs Predator, which similarly posited the notion that the Xenomorphs had connections with Earth’s long distant past, and that a man called Weyland had known of their existence long before his eponymous company sent Ripley and her crew to investigate planet LV-426. In fact, the AvP films are not only ignored by Prometheus but are cut loose from the franchise altogether (which one suspects won’t be the cause of too many shed tears).

    Oh, and if/when the sequel is eventually announced, what are the odds it’s going to be called Prometheus Unbound? You can have that one for free, Sir Ridders.

  • Review: The Plague of the Zombies (1966)

    Anyone attracted by the throat-grabbing title and hoping for lashings of brain-munching action should look elsewhere: Hammer’s undead thriller from 1966 is a much tamer affair than today’s audiences might expect. But those who are more familiar with Hammer’s full-blooded style should find much to enjoy. THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES is one of those rare zombie movies made before George A. Romero’s landmark horror opus NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD; so while there is a reasonable amount of Hammer’s trademark bright red blood, there’s certainly none of Romero’s flesh-ripping cynicism.

    Full review: The Plague of the Zombies | TAKE ONE

  • Review: Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

    Snow White and the Huntsman posterThere are any number of reasons to write off this latest wannabe fantasy adventure franchise: the derivative, identikit script and visual design stolen from inspired by assorted recent films like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia; the hand-me-down casting of Twilight star Kristen Stewart and Thor muscleman Chris Hemsworth; or the story – a puffed up version of the fairy tale with added teenage angst and testosterone – that tries (and fails) to inflate itself to epic proportions.

    But despite all of that, I have to say I still kind of enjoyed it. Visually it does look nice, with first time director Rupert Sanders working from a palette primarily based around black and white (see what he did there?). The action scenes are quite well done. Acting honours are stolen by Charlize Theron as wicked Queen Ravenna, a witch who usurped the throne when White was a young girl. Bella and Thor aren’t bad either, though they do lack any sort of onscreen chemistry together which might suggest a romantic connection.

    The dwarves who lost their position in the film’s title suddenly spring out of nowhere and turn out to be played by a who’s who of British middle-aged talent: Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones and a bloke nobody’s heard of; let’s call him Brad Dexter. Upping the humour quotient, they do feel a bit tacked on but nevertheless the film is all the better for their presence.

    I made the mistake of turning up for a subtitled screening of this film, which was oddly distracting. You wouldn’t think watching an English language film with English subtitles would be a problem, but in actual fact it is because your attention is constantly being grabbed by both forms of communication instead of just the one. As a consequence I spent half the film checking to see if what the cast were saying was the same as what the subtitles were printing.

    Regardless, the film is a modestly likeable diversion, but I suspect it would have been more warmly received if it had been released during the winter, when folk tales like these help to lighten the long dark nights. Perhaps the small matter of The Hobbit adaptation seemed too daunting to the chaps in marketing?

    [xrr rating=3/5]

  • The Wonderful Worlds of Powell & Pressburger

    Following on from my review of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, here’s a piece I wrote for Take One about its writers/producers/directors, Powell and Pressburger:

    There’s a moment in A CANTERBURY TALE (1944), one of the less celebrated films in the oeuvre of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, which neatly sums up their importance in the history of British cinema. As the film begins, a group of medieval travellers are riding down Pilgrims’ Way to Canterbury, journeying to the grave of Thomas Becket. Up above, a hawk flies through the sky as his keeper watches below. As the camera follows the bird, the film cuts from one flying object to another – the hawk becomes a Spitfire, roaring loudly through the air, watched by a soldier below; and we have travelled through 600 years of English history in the blink of an eye. Below, a modern group of pilgrims are making their way to Canterbury, but this time they are servicemen and women, making their way to their respective positions in the war effort.

    Full article: The Wonderful Worlds of Powell & Pressburger | TAKE ONE

     

  • Review: Passport to Pimlico (1949)

    The Ealing brand is well known for its comedy output in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but 1949 was a particularly golden year even by their standards: in addition to PASSPORT TO PIMLICO, the studio released WHISKY GALORE! and possibly the most brilliant of them all, KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS. PIMLICO falls a notch or so beneath these two, but still ranks among the finest comedies ever to be made on these shores.

    Full review: Passport to Pimlico | TAKE ONE