I guess I'm overdue for some film reviews...
Disney's Tangled was a pleasant surprise, if something of a guilty pleasure. A novel spin on the tale of Rapunzel, the tiular girl has magic hair that is not only incredibly long, strong and prehensile, but can also heal people and make them younger. She is kept in a tower by an witch who is obssessed with retaining her youth, but hijnks ensue when a wayward, handsome young thief stumbles across Rapunzel's tower and lets her out. Full exuberant song, dance, peril, adventure and romance it's very much the kind of thing that Disney are best at, and probably the best thing they've churned out for years (if you exclude everything from Pixar).
Paul was marketed as a geek comedy, but I found it rather geek heavy and rather light on genuine laughs. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have had a lot of luck with the TV and film work they've done with Edgar Wright in the past. Here Pegg and Frost have written a script and given it to someone else - to me it felt rather like a love letter to their absent pal Wright, but with much clumsier and painful in-jokes and pop culture references. The premise is really part road-movie and part chase-movie. The two leads essentially play themselves as tourists taking in San Diego Comic Con before touring the desert. On their travels they meet an escaped alien, and end up helping him trying to avoid the authorities and make it home. I'm not saying there's not things to love about the film (Kristen Wiig's performance as a newly-freed Bible-basher a particular standout) but I didn't find it anywhere near as inventive or as funny as it could've been. So a big meh there really.
The Fighter features some worthy performances from Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Ward. A true story about two boxing brothers, one of whom sinks to the gutter while the other rises to success is skilfully told, and painfully rendered. Each of the actors and actresses deserve their award nominations, even if there were moments where the assembled Ward family seemed like something from a pantomime. I realised Bale had nailed it though as his potrayal as a junkie was extremely, extremely annoying, and unlike any role he's taken on before (and if you think that's an actor's affectation wait until the credits where you see the real guy who acts in *just* the same way).
Submarine is a real slice of wry British joy. Written and directed by Richard Ayoade (from the IT Crowd, Mighty Boosh and Garth Merenghi's Dark Place) the film centres on the growing up pains of a teenage boy in a quiet town somewhere in Wales. Main character Oliver Tate juggles the stress and the wonder of having his first girlfriend while watching his parent's marriage disintegrate. Full of great lines and unexpected turns, it's also a canny recreation of a bygone era of Britain which no longer exists. More touching and much funnier than Paul it's well worth a look.
Battle Los Angeles is for the most part a real waste of time. The premise is quite promising - a up-close and personal take on a conflict which suddenly breaks out when aliens invade the Earth. The effects are top notch, but sadly the producers skimped when it came to the script. We get a couple of hours of shakycam footage of marines and CG aiiens shooting at each other and blowing stuff up, but the camera never stops long enough for us to really see what's going on. Furthermore the protagonist characters are nothing more than thumbnail sketches and it's difficult to care as one by one they get bumped off. Two thirds of the way through I was just bored. The score was also a rip-off of music from Sunshine. And the explanation mooted for the alien invasion is honestly ludicrous. The producers should be ashamed of themselves.
Looking at the various other reviews out there for The Adjustment Bureau people seem intent on giving the film a hard time. I actually rather like it though. Obviously the high concept is a tough sell, but really the film is just a love story - the 'clever' plot is really just an interesting way of exploring whether or not two people are supposed to be together or not. The chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt is great, and quite frankly Blunt is fabulous for every minute of her screen time. I'd take this over a lame alien invasion any day.
Finally I had the pleasure of seeing a preview of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec at the NFT last weekend. The latest film by French director Luc Besson, the film is based on a French comic series which whilst unheard of overseas is apparently really big at home. Besson grew up with the stories and always wanted to adapt them - apparently it took him four years to convince the writer to let him do it. The results are awesome to behold - a sort of joyous period fairytale adventure - somewhere between Tintin and Tomb Raider with plenty of humourous twists. Adele is a sort of nineteenth-century Lara Croft who is intent on bringing a mummy back to life so that she can use the ancient's medical knowledge to save her sister, who was near-fatally-injurred in a freak tennis accident. Alas though the mystic she needs to restore the mummy's life has been embroiled in a crime involving an escaped pteranadon and the French President's favourite yorkshire terrier and is headed for the guillotine! A real must-see, assuming the film gets a proper cinema release.
Disney's Tangled was a pleasant surprise, if something of a guilty pleasure. A novel spin on the tale of Rapunzel, the tiular girl has magic hair that is not only incredibly long, strong and prehensile, but can also heal people and make them younger. She is kept in a tower by an witch who is obssessed with retaining her youth, but hijnks ensue when a wayward, handsome young thief stumbles across Rapunzel's tower and lets her out. Full exuberant song, dance, peril, adventure and romance it's very much the kind of thing that Disney are best at, and probably the best thing they've churned out for years (if you exclude everything from Pixar).
Paul was marketed as a geek comedy, but I found it rather geek heavy and rather light on genuine laughs. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have had a lot of luck with the TV and film work they've done with Edgar Wright in the past. Here Pegg and Frost have written a script and given it to someone else - to me it felt rather like a love letter to their absent pal Wright, but with much clumsier and painful in-jokes and pop culture references. The premise is really part road-movie and part chase-movie. The two leads essentially play themselves as tourists taking in San Diego Comic Con before touring the desert. On their travels they meet an escaped alien, and end up helping him trying to avoid the authorities and make it home. I'm not saying there's not things to love about the film (Kristen Wiig's performance as a newly-freed Bible-basher a particular standout) but I didn't find it anywhere near as inventive or as funny as it could've been. So a big meh there really.
The Fighter features some worthy performances from Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Ward. A true story about two boxing brothers, one of whom sinks to the gutter while the other rises to success is skilfully told, and painfully rendered. Each of the actors and actresses deserve their award nominations, even if there were moments where the assembled Ward family seemed like something from a pantomime. I realised Bale had nailed it though as his potrayal as a junkie was extremely, extremely annoying, and unlike any role he's taken on before (and if you think that's an actor's affectation wait until the credits where you see the real guy who acts in *just* the same way).
Submarine is a real slice of wry British joy. Written and directed by Richard Ayoade (from the IT Crowd, Mighty Boosh and Garth Merenghi's Dark Place) the film centres on the growing up pains of a teenage boy in a quiet town somewhere in Wales. Main character Oliver Tate juggles the stress and the wonder of having his first girlfriend while watching his parent's marriage disintegrate. Full of great lines and unexpected turns, it's also a canny recreation of a bygone era of Britain which no longer exists. More touching and much funnier than Paul it's well worth a look.
Battle Los Angeles is for the most part a real waste of time. The premise is quite promising - a up-close and personal take on a conflict which suddenly breaks out when aliens invade the Earth. The effects are top notch, but sadly the producers skimped when it came to the script. We get a couple of hours of shakycam footage of marines and CG aiiens shooting at each other and blowing stuff up, but the camera never stops long enough for us to really see what's going on. Furthermore the protagonist characters are nothing more than thumbnail sketches and it's difficult to care as one by one they get bumped off. Two thirds of the way through I was just bored. The score was also a rip-off of music from Sunshine. And the explanation mooted for the alien invasion is honestly ludicrous. The producers should be ashamed of themselves.
Looking at the various other reviews out there for The Adjustment Bureau people seem intent on giving the film a hard time. I actually rather like it though. Obviously the high concept is a tough sell, but really the film is just a love story - the 'clever' plot is really just an interesting way of exploring whether or not two people are supposed to be together or not. The chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt is great, and quite frankly Blunt is fabulous for every minute of her screen time. I'd take this over a lame alien invasion any day.
Finally I had the pleasure of seeing a preview of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec at the NFT last weekend. The latest film by French director Luc Besson, the film is based on a French comic series which whilst unheard of overseas is apparently really big at home. Besson grew up with the stories and always wanted to adapt them - apparently it took him four years to convince the writer to let him do it. The results are awesome to behold - a sort of joyous period fairytale adventure - somewhere between Tintin and Tomb Raider with plenty of humourous twists. Adele is a sort of nineteenth-century Lara Croft who is intent on bringing a mummy back to life so that she can use the ancient's medical knowledge to save her sister, who was near-fatally-injurred in a freak tennis accident. Alas though the mystic she needs to restore the mummy's life has been embroiled in a crime involving an escaped pteranadon and the French President's favourite yorkshire terrier and is headed for the guillotine! A real must-see, assuming the film gets a proper cinema release.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
How I would love to go back and live in England. I miss it like I've never missed any other country and culture and climate and language.
Hope life is treating you well.
love from Rome,
F.