Resident Evil: Afterlife Preview

It seems a curious practice to me, that when production companies invite you down to their often illustrious headquarters in order to see and then write about their latest films, they feel the need to confiscate any tools you may have with you in order to better record the experience. Surely they want their films promoting as accurately as possible? In any case, I’ll stop whinging and get to the beef: Resident Evil: Afterlife. This latest episode in Paul WS Anderson’s horror franchise – and first to be filmed in 3D – is coming to cinemas imminently. A brief behind the scenes feature was screened this afternoon, to whet appetites for its release, in which Anderson and stars Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter waxed lyrical about the movie and the joys of filming in 3D.

Anderson, who once again wrote and produced the film, also returns to directorial duties for the first time since the original film (this being the fourth instalment). He was keen to stress the importance of filming in 3D – a process done, essentially, by filming with two cameras simultaneously, one filming the action, the other filming the action in a mirror between the two lenses – and was derisive of post-production 3D retro-fitting techniques (as used in Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans). Anderson used the same rig and technicians as James Cameron employed on Avatar. The film was apparently conceived and written with 3D in mind, hence the use of environments and set pieces with a sense of depth, such as a Matrix-like combat sequence and footage of the heroines plummeting down a shaft, firing guns that we caught glimpses of. The 3D techniques used allow for single shot action sequences to go into slow motion and back again easily and remove the reliance many action directors have on annoyingly fast edits.

After the ‘making of’ footage ended (during in which Anderson compared his film to Avatar on several occasions), we were treated to a full sequence from the film, in which an eight foot, axe-wielding zombie slaughters a wimpy sidekick, and then sets about offing the heroines in a shower room. Cue plenty of cascading water droplets, swinging blades, sliding around, shotgun blasts and slow motion footage of our leading ladies covered in water and breathing heavily, all in 3D. Bits and pieces appear to fly out of the screen and the pounding soundtrack completes a not unimpressive action sequence.

Despite regularly receiving overwhelmingly negative critical responses, the Resident Evil series remains commercially viable due to its legion of fans, no less rabid than the zombies in the films themselves. This latest version should more than satisfy the hordes then, perhaps more so than ever with the added dimension. Whilst 3D has not been without criticism, horror movies are well suited to the new medium. As Anderson said, with its explosions, action sequences and tentacles, Resident Evil and 3D may make the perfect pairing.

Movie Con III Coverage

As a journalist, I feel like I’ve been blindfolded – my telephone and Dictaphone have both been confiscated before I’ve been allowed into the BFI and Empire’s very own Chamber of Secrets – or NFT1, as it is more commonly known. Over the weekend, those lucky enough to get hold of the highly limited number of tickets have been treated to screenings, trailers, snippets, Q&As, random prizes and, mostly importantly of all, goody bags. Through our friends at Disney, I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to the final day’s events, which includes a preview of Tron: Legacy, Kim Newman’s movie quiz and an exclusive screening of Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. The World with a Q&A with the esteemed director and creator of the original comic, Brian Lee O’Malley. Now if only I could record anything…

Things kick off bright and early with the aforementioned footage of the belated sequel to Tron, the classic sci-fi groundbreaker, which saw a youthful Jeff Bridges sucked into a computer world and forced to engage in deadly combat to survive. The new iteration of the film sees Bridge’s son Sam enter the Tron world in search of his long-lost father.

The footage we witnessed saw Sam being apprehended by the Tron police, suited up by four sultry fem-bots and sent, like his father before him, into the games realm. For will surely be billed as a family movie, the film seems very dark (to employ an overused adjective in film previewing), even unnerving. The 3D effects seem fine, even apt given Tron’s futuristic environments. What struck me most was how brilliant Daft Punk’s soundtrack was: exciting, brooding and very, very cool.

Producer Brigham Taylor dropped in to chat about the film, revealing the convoluted origins of the film, his faith in first time director Joe Kosinski, cautious optimism in regard to a threequel and, jokingly, how the technology they’ve used is, “a thousand times more advanced than Avatar’s”. He also made known how jealous director of the original Tron was when faced with said technology and hinted at Kosinski’s next project, Oblivion, an ‘idea and character driven’ sci fi. Disney also mentioned their remake of another of their classic sci-fi flicks, The Black Hole and there was a final video message from Jack Sparrow to stir up interest in the fourth instalment of the dead-horse-flogging Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, On Stranger Tides.

Sony showed trailers for Angelina Jolie’s would-be Bourne/Bond beater, Salt (looks decent), Superbad’s Emma Stone starring teen-sex-rom-com, Easy A (looks okay…) and extended footage from Will Ferrell cop-comedy vehicle, The Other Guys (looking very funny and also starring Mark Wahlberg, Sam Jackson, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and the delightful Eva Mendes) and the appallingly-titled Battle: Los Angeles, a good old fashioned alien invasion movie which, should it have the brains to match its considerable brawn, could be America’s answer to District 9. It stars Harvey Dent himself, Aaron Eckhart and Lost star, Michelle Rodriguez. Think Paul Greengrass style handheld camera work crossed with Independence Day and you’re in the right ballpark.

There was footage from Paul WS Anderson’s latest Resident Evil flick as well as some behind the scenes stuff introduced by the man himself (on video, not in person). Afterlife (so the film is subtitled) is filmed in 3D and Anderson was somewhat overly keen to compare his feature to Avatar; his earnest appraisal of his own work was met with some derision form the crowd, but most seemed quietly impressed by the scene we saw: a hulking great zombie type thing terrorising Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter with a humongous axe/hammer/thing in a bathroom with the plumbing shot to pieces. There was also a trailer for Priest, which looks like a total bag of balls. You heard it here first.

The highlight of this spate of trailers was, however, Robert Rodriguez’s Machete. Starring Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez (again), Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro and the wonderful Jeff Fahey, Machete boasts copious violence, swearing, depravity and hilarity. Spawned originally from one of the fake trailers in the Rodriguez/Tarantino opus, Grindhouse, Machete looks like it ‘gets’ the whole tongue in cheek exploitation genre as well as, if not more so, than either the likable Planet Terror or the boring Death Proof and should be a total riot.

Everyone’s favourite pair of grown-up geeks, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost then turned up to flog their own alien-featuring-film, Paul and received a standing ovation. The film looks as funny as anything we’ve seen from the pair so far (which is good) and boasts a great cast – Jason Bateman, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Sigourney Weaver, David Koechner and the godly Jeffrey Tambor all star alongside the Brit duo. Following a visit to rival film convention, Comic-Con, Graham and Clive (Pegg and Frost) take a road trip through America’s UFO hotspots and encounter Paul, an escapee from Area 51. The pair described the film as a loving tribute to Steven Spielberg – a running joke apparently being that Paul has been serving as an advisor to Hollywood sci-fi in his many years on earth.

Pegg and Frost were, of course, very funny and seemed completely at home in an auditorium full of hardcore film fans. They talked fondly of Spielberg on the set of the Tintin movie in which they star as Thomson and Thompson. Pegg was unable to say much about upcoming projects Mission Impossible 4 or Star Trek 2, but did divulge that he’d recently had a lovely picnic with Damon Lindeloff. The pair also described their own road trip across America in an RV – purely in the name of research, of course.

Following that, we were treated a fair chunk of Ironclad, the true story of one castle’s resistance to the tyrannical rule of King John and the resulting siege. We bore witness to not only a bloody and thrilling battle sequence, but also to Paul Giamatti royally hamming it up as the previously mentioned monarch. A decent chunk of the cast, consisting of James Purefoy, Jason Flemyng and newcomer Aneurin Bernard, plus director Jonathan (Johnny?) English and producer Andrew Curtis all turned up to answer questions about the film. They told tales of blokey bonding and competitiveness, horizontal Welsh rain and treacherous-looking trebuchets. Flemyng also revealed his role in X-Men: First Class, as the teleporting Azeazel.

Ironclad looks like decent fun, but its main selling point seems to be its historical accuracy – not just in its depiction of events, but in its unflinching violence. I always have been annoyed by medieval-set films that show soldiers falling bloodlessly with a merely glancing blow from a broadsword. There’s none of that in Ironclad – feckless soldiers are hacked to death brutally, limbs are (eventually) lopped off and one poor sucker is cut clean in half. Jolly good.

There was also a trailer for Fanboys, in which a troupe of geeks attempt to invade Skwalker Ranch for reasons that are not entirely clear, but it seems to provide a decent excuse to pack in a number of nerd-friendly cameos, including Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. Duncan Jones (looking just like his dad) was kind enough to record a short and to the point video in which he describes his Moon follow-up, Source Code, in which Jake Gyllenhaal is tasked with reliving a train bombing repeatedly to find out whodunit. It sounds a bit like that JFK episode of Red Dwarf, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We were also treated to Kim Newman’s very tricky movie quiz. There was a plethora of prizes including signed Kick-Ass swag, a Wii, X-Boxes and, top of the pile, a 3D TV. The quiz came down to a tie-break question between two identical looking movie geeks who were asked how much money Avatar made worldwide. One billion and one dollars was the closest and thus winning guess.

The last chunks of footage we were treated to were from the upcoming Brighton Rock. As its director Rowan Joffe and producer Paul Webster were keen to stress, the feature is not a remake of the classic 1947 film, rather it is a new adaptation of the original novel, its tale of the rise to power of the psychotic gangster Pinkie relocated from the 30s to the 60s. The footage was moody and evocative; the sight of hundreds of mods on their mopeds cruising down the sea front being particularly impressive. The pair were also trying a little too hard to impress, but their hearts seemed in the right place; indeed for Joffe, the project seemed like a labour of love and he repeatedly referred to the ‘ghost of Graham Greene’, the novel’s author, sitting on his shoulder as he wrote the screenplay.

Finally, the ‘surprise’ screening was revealed – Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was our headlining act and was a none-more-apt closer to this unabashed geekend. The last thing this website needs is another Pilgrim review, but suffice to say, Edgar Wright’s hyperactive, eclectic style is writ large and runs riot for 112 minutes of shameless joy. Part film, part video game, all class, Pilgrim is a marvellous calling card for Wright who is now surely undisputedly a member of the filmmaking A list. Highlights include Beck’s brilliant tunes for Sex Bob-omb, the Zelda spoofing first meeting between Scott and Ramona and Kieran Culkin as Pilgrim’s gay roommate. If you’re reading this site, you’ll probably love it. Oh, and during the film, I was sat three seats down from John Landis, director of The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London and the upcoming Pegg-starrer, Burke and Hare. Which was neat!

Wright and Brian Lee O’Malley, the creator of the comic, stuck around after the screening and, after downing an Edgar Wrightini each, proceeded to answer questions from the crowd, though each in a considerable state of jetlag. They revealed how they bonded over mix tapes of music to be used in the film, how production on the film overtook the publication of the comics and vice versa, the influence of video games, the various aspect ratios used and the price of a pint of milk.

All told, Movie-Con III was a brilliant if exhausting day out (there was an optional showing of Despicable Me, which I was quite keen to see, but by which point I was flagging severely and my eyes felt like they would bleed from my sockets – kudos to those who did the whole weekend). Roll on next year.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/08/16/review-movie-con-iii-day-three/

Sky Movies Reviews - Nowhere Boy & Antichrist

NOWHERE BOY

Stars: Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, David Threlfall | Written by Matt Greenhalgh | Directed by Sam Taylor-Wood

Before donning that now iconic green wet suit and finding fame as the titular wannabe superhero Kick-Ass, Aaron Johnson starred in this biopic of the early life of John Lennon. After the death of his beloved uncle, Lennon, who has been raised by his stoic, strict, but ultimately loving aunt Mimi, encounters his estranged mother, who introduces him to the life-changing power of rock and roll and its king, Elvis Presley. Soon Lennon finds himself forced to choose between the woman who raised him and his mother. There’s also the small matter of the aspiring skiffle outfit Lennon’s been putting together to discuss too…

The film suffers from being somewhat dated before even a frame of it was shot: the broken family may have been controversial and shocking in the 1940s and 50s, but seems a much more trivial central dramatic device today, thus its hard to emphasise with the guilt, shame and anger of the character when familial secrets are revealed. There are also a few instances of very clunky dialogue and the film often runs the risk of trivialising Lennon rather than humanising him in its kitchen sink drama. That said, the film really picks up when Lennon starts his band. Thomas Sangster is really, really good as Paul McCartney and both he and Johnson nail the strange relationship between their characters perfectly. The latter is also decent in his first headlining role and Kirsten Scott Thomas is predictably brilliant as aunt Mimi. Despite being somewhat old hat at times, Nowhere Boy is an intriguing portrait of one of the most iconic musicians that ever lived.

Nowhere Boy is now showing on Sky Box Office.

ANTICHRIST

Stars: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg | Written and Directed by Lars Von Trier

Misogynist? Controversial? Shocking? Beautiful? Genius? Nonsense? Sickening? Lars von Trier’s now infamous horror flick could be called all of these things and none of them. Indeed, no two people are likely to have the same response to the film, as indicated by its almost exactly even split down the middle of opinion on Rotten Tomatoes.

After their infant child falls to his death whilst they are making love, a couple (Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, referred to only as ‘She’ and ‘He’) retreat to a cabin in the woods so that the psychiatrist husband can attempt to treat his grief-stricken wife. Things do not go well. What follows is a study in grief and fear, sex and violence, good and evil, men and women. Probably. Either that, or director von Trier simply performs an exercise in which tries to upset as many people as possible and get himself off The Daily Mail’s Christmas card list for good.

From its themes to its reception, conflict is central to Antichrist; perhaps best portrayed in its implementation of beautiful cinematography coupled with some of the most horrendous depictions of violence imaginable, up to and including genital mutilation. It’s a tough ride and far from what I would describe as ‘fun’, but you’re unlikely to catch anything quite as unusual and unique as Antichrist on TV for a while. Just don’t watch it with your gran, eh?

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/08/09/sky-movies-reviews-nowhere-boy-antichrist/

Sky Movies Reviews - Adventureland & The Final Destination

ADVENTURELAND

Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig | Written and Directed by Greg Mottola

Adventureland boasts a cast consisting of Kristen Stewart, idol of millions of tweenage girls, Hollywood’s most likable actor, Ryan Reynolds and the surely-destined-for-the-A-list-post-The-Social-Network wunderkind, Jesse Eisenberg. There’s also support from the riotously funny Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. Could this be the best cast of 2009?

James (Eisenberg) finds himself working at the titular theme park in the summer of 1987 in order to raise cash for a post-graduate course in New York. There he meets a variety of freaks and geeks including the sardonic Joel (Martin Starr) and the beguiling Em (Stewart). He begins a tentative relationship with the latter and the film follows their ups and downs and, much like in director Greg Mottola’s previous film,Superbad, its lead character’s quest to lose his virginity. While Superbad was bold and crass, Adventureland is rather a sensitive and touching portrayal of young love and growing up. It may sound schmaltzy, but the film is enticing as its female lead and its better than average script is more than done justice by its uniformly excellent cast. Highly recommended.

THE FINAL DESTINATION

Stars: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson | Written by Eric Bress | Directed by David R. Ellis

Through a random bout of precognition, twenty-something Nick (Bobby Campo) is able to save his friends and several strangers from a grisly demise when things go horribly tits up at a car race they are watching. As ever in this franchise, however, it seems fate is unwilling to allow the survivors to live and they begin to meet their maker in a variety of unlikely ways, usually involving flammable liquids.

From its gleefully unpleasant titles onwards, The Final Destination is a tongue in cheek, cheap and cheerful splatter-fest that should please fans of the genre no end. Acting and dialogue are from priority number one here; instead, director David R Ellis keeps us guessing as to the manner in which his hapless victims are dispatched with the dial firmly set to the position marked ‘fun’. The only major quibble I had with the film was its all too obvious 3D gimmicks – a snake striking at the audience for example – which were probably exciting in the cinema, though they are lost on a home audience. Ah well.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/08/05/sky-movies-review-adventureland-the-final-destination/

The A-Team Review

I’ve promised myself that this review will not include any A-Team clichés. There’ll be no pitying fools, no loving plans coming together and no refusals to get on no planes, fool. At least, I’m trying not to include any. They may sneak in under the radar.

Restraint may be the theme of this review then, but it is far from the agenda of the film in question. As you are no doubt aware, Smokin’ Aces director Joe Carnahan has taken the fondly remembered TV show and recast the characters with Liam Neeson, The Hangover’s Bradley Cooper, District 9’s Sharlto Copley and mixed martial artist Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson as Hannibal, Face, Murdock and BA. Star of various naff rom-coms Jessica Biel and Watchmen’s Patrick Wilson tag along as Face’s love interest and CIA contact respectively. Cast and crew then proceed to blow things up, shoot folks dead and engage in all manner of vehicular destruction at incredible volumes for two hours.

The plot is a complete mess, but as it stands, we are introduced to our heroes in Mexico where the group of soldiers originally meet in a largely unexplained and bizarre incident which sees a number of the clichés mentioned above ticked off in the first fifteen minutes. Eight years later, the quartet is in Iraq, on a secret mission to recover monetary printing plates. Upon recovering the plates, they are framed by a black ops guy for the death of their commanding officer. They are incarcerated but, of course, escape and set about clearing their names.

The story is largely incomprehensible and simply serves as a means for the foursome to pull off one ridiculous stunt followed by another, over and over again. The ridiculous stunts are pretty good though, especially the freefalling tank scene, unfortunately given away in the trailer. The writers must have had a hell of a lot of fun coming up with the group’s antics but also must have faced a nightmare working out how to string them all together.

The cast are okay and hit most of the right notes most of the time in recreating the well-loved characters from the programme. Neeson is particularly decent, while Sharlto Copley straddles the funny/annoying borderline erratically. There’s also a scene in a mental asylum where the character acts in a manner of questionable taste. Also, in an effort to elevate BA to something more than a catchphrase spouting machine, he is given a weird subplot in which the character devotes himself to nonviolence, which is totally unnecessary and rubbish.

Patrick Wilson clearly had a ball playing his part and is a source of much of the humour. Jessica Biel, however, feels almost totally redundant in a boring role clearly added on to avoid a complete sausage-fest. The film is also unfeasibly loud; whether it was the volume at the screening I attended or the actual sound mix of the film itself, but the constant explosions, gunfire and shouting gave me a nasty headache. Even regular talking was so loud, the actor’s voices distorted and I could barely understand what they were saying.

It should be said that the film would be almost total rubbish were it not for the reasonably likable central characters. That’s probably not enough to entice or impress non-fans, but those with a pre-existing emotional investment in the characters will probably enjoy The A-Team quite a lot. There’s also a treat for them after the credits…

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/07/09/review-the-a-team/

Predators Review

Adrien Brody is perhaps the most unlikely successor to Arnold Schwarzenegger one is liable to imagine. Brody is best known for offbeat and intelligent indie fare, such as Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited or Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, so it is somewhat of a surprise to see his name on the cast list in this latest installment in the Predator series. Less surprising, though no less welcome is Robert Rodriguez’s role as producer. Rodriguez’s name is something of an indicator of quality; generally, he makes good, fun films, ideal for Saturday night viewing and Predators is no exception.

Brody plays a tough as nails mercenary who, in the very first scene, awakes in mid-air while plummeting from the sky towards a dense jungle. Make no mistake: this film starts in high gear and throws the audience in at the deep end along with its protagonist. Brody quickly learns he is not alone and soon finds himself leading a bunch of expert killers through the foreign forest in an attempt to find out what the hell has happened to them.

They have, of course, been captured and turned loose by the Predators, who are now hunting them for sport. The game are Brody’s aforementioned mercenary, Alice Braga’s sniper, the excellently named Walton Goggin’s death row inmate, Oleg Taktarov’s Spetznaz soldier, Danny Trejo’s Mexican cartel enforcer, Louis Ozawa Changchien’s Yakuza gangster, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali’s Sierra Leone death squad member and Topher Grace’s out-of-place doctor. Laurence Fishburne turns up as a crazed survivor of previous hunts, looking surprisingly bloated for someone who has spent several years scavenging. Who will survive and what will be left of them?

Predators boasts an excellent sense of pacing and director Nimród Antal handles breakneck chases, unbearably tense hide and seek scenes and numerous fight sequences with ease. Key to the film’s success is that the plot has been kept stripped down and simple, allowing for a visceral experience. The cast are all pretty strong and likable, though Braga is clumsily hampered with having to be empathetic and emotional because she, of course, is the woman.

I enjoyed the use of location, which looked superficially earthly but with an alien twist. The reveal that the group are not, in fact, on earth is especially good. Whilst I enjoyed the back-to-basics approach, I was a little disappointed that I found myself simply guessing (almost entirely correctly) who was going to die and in what order rather early on, though the film hardly promises intellectual acrobatics. What you get is exactly what it says on the tin: fun, exciting action decently made by a decent cast and crew with nary a mention of the godawful AVP series. Though perhaps unlikely to leave a real lasting impression, Predators is very good summer entertainment.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/07/06/review-predators/

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Review

The third instalment in the Twilight series crash lands in cinemas to the delight of many and the weary dismay of others. Once again, human Bella (Stewart) and vampire Edward (Pattinson)’s romance is under threat, this time in the form of an ‘army of newborns’: humans recently transformed into vampires and thus especially vicious. They have been sent by Victoria (Howard), the nasty lady vampire from the first film who is seeking revenge for her own lover’s death. On top of all that, Bella and Edward must contend with werewolf Jacob (Lautner and his abs) and his own feelings for our spoilt for choice heroine.

Like the Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises, Twilight inspires devotion in its fans. Unlike those other franchises, however, Twilight also seems to inspire much undue derision as well. While I would hardly describe myself as a fan, I feel it’s difficult to understand why the series picks up so much flak. Critics deride the poor literary value of the source novels, though they are no worse than the Potter books in terms of the quality of the writing. Others suggest the series offers a warped and damaging portrayal of feminism: at least a dialogue about gender politics is opened in Twilight, which is more than can be said for the franchises named above. A third criticism of the films is the supposedly poor dialogue. This is far less evident in this third installment and hey, we all know George Lucas can’t write dialogue for all the Republic Credits in the Outer Rim. Finally, there are those that say the Twilight pictures are just bad films. This is patently not true. The films are professionally and admirably put together and none more so than this latest release, helmed by the excellent David Slade.

So now that my rant in defence is over, what’s The Twilight Saga: Eclipse actually like? Well for starters it is both much funnier (often due to Billy Burke’s role as Bella’s dad and Jacob and Edward’s sparring) and has much more action in it than its predecessors, making it all the more accessible and exciting for non-fans such as myself. The young leads are all very good and their acting talents are noticeably growing from film to film. Robert Pattinson is especially good and demonstrates a charismatic and dominating screen presence. The special effects are improved and the cinematography is also rather stunning at times. The Lost-like flashback sequences detailing the origins of a number of the characters are also good and I hope there will be more of these to come in future instalments.

There are bad points however: I was left confused at several points and was forced to ask who people were and what they were referring to on more than one occasion, which isn’t great considering I have seen the other two films. This film also makes less good use of incidental music that its predecessor employed so well and Bella’s flitting between her two suitors did annoy somewhat towards the end. Finally, I was left wanting more from many of the characters. Like Toy Story 3, many of the background characters are more interesting than the leads but there simply isn’t enough time to give everyone a decent chunk of screen time. Also Michael Sheen isn’t in this film, but then you could say that about all too many movies in general.

So to sum up: if you’re fan, you’re going to love it. If you’re not, you probably won’t. However, for those willing to dabble with the series, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is a fun introduction.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/07/05/review-the-twilight-saga-eclipse/

Mulan Legendary Warrior Review

Cast your mind back to the heady days of 1998 and you may remember Disney’s animated interpretation of a sixth century Chinese poem, Mulan. Just over a decade later, the poem has been reinterpreted once more, this time as a full-on, live action epic. Jingle Ma directs Zhao Wei (who has previously starred in Shaolin Soccer and Red Cliff and also boasts a pop career) as the titular heroine.

For those unfamiliar with the story, Mulan disguises herself as a man and enlists in the Chinese army to save her ailing father from going to war once more with the invading Rouran tribes. Being rather good in a scrap, Mulan quickly rises through the ranks and becomes a hero, though she must constantly hide her true identity, known only to childhood friend Tiger (Jaycee Chan, son of Jackie!) and young general Wentai (Chen Kun).

The film has clearly been made with a lot of care and attention to detail and the love of the source material is evident on screen. Jingle Ma has wisely chosen to shoot as many battle scenes with real people rather than CGI which looks all the more exciting and realistic. The score is good and the leads, though initially somewhat stoic, gradually reveal layers of compelling humanity. The battle scenes are directed well; Ma clearly has not been overwhelmed by the scale of his own production.

Whilst the film was rather enjoyable as a whole, it did at times take itself a little too seriously – despite its focus on the horror of warfare, a little more levity would not have gone amiss. Also, you will be required to suspend your disbelief somewhat: Zhao Wei does not look anything like a bloke, something that the other characters of course ignore. To give credit where it is due, Wei handles the role well, but it’s hard to believe the producers could not have found a more androgynous looking actress for the part.

Otherwise, Mulan Legendary Warrior is an impressive, if not stunning, slice of cinema which should sate the appetites of swords and sandals fans everywhere, especially those disappointed by the recent Robin Hood, which this film pretty much surpasses. For swords, horses and cross-dressing, look no further.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/07/04/dvd-review-mulan-legendary-warrior/

Sky Movies Reviews - Bruno & This Is It

BRUNO

Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, Clifford Bañagale | Written by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines | Directed by Larry Charles

Sacha Baron Cohen returns to strike fear into the hearts of conservative Americans in Brüno, his latest character to be immortalised in a mockumnetary feature film. Brüno is a gay, tactless Austrian fashion TV presenter and Cohen uses this character to expose prejudice and idiocy wherever he goes, particularly distressing, for example, are the fame-hungry parents willing to debase their children for one of Brüno’s projects.

There are times when I genuinely feared for Cohen’s safety – in his Middle East escapade and in the climatic wrestling scene – which can only be a good thing for a comedy extremist. Some of the scenes are a little too obviously scripted (the swinger’s party for example) and some of the shock value is undermined by having been previously exposed to Cohen’s previous film, Borat. Nonetheless, Brüno is a hilarity-fuelled laugh riot, though be warned: some may find the boundaries of good taste pushed a little too hard.

Brüno is now showing on Sky Movies and Sky Player

MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT

Stars: Michael Jackson | Directed by Kenny Ortega

Then we have Michael Jackson’s This Is It, which consists of footage from the rehearsals of Jackson’s fifty night stand at the O2 before his death last year. However you feel about the man and his music, This Is It is curiously fascinating. No doubt the production in all its glory would have been a superlative spectacle.

There is a quaint feeling that you’re watching a very long bonus feature for a film that was never made and whether or not Jackson himself, evidently something of a perfectionist, would have been happy to have people see his work in progress is open to debate. The film is also sickeningly saccharine at times. However, the main pleasure is in seeing Jackson, seemingly at peace and enjoying himself, throwing himself into the creation of his art and acting like a child in a sweet shop in regard to the breathtaking stage production. A strange and fascinating tribute to a strange and fascinating man.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It is now showing on Sky Movies and Sky Player

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/07/04/sky-movies-review-bruno-this-is-it/

Sky Movies Reviews - Angels and Demons & The Wolfman

ANGELS AND DEMONS

Stars: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard | Written by David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman | Directed by Ron Howard

Science and religion go head-to-head in a one-on-one, winner take all smackdown in Ron Howard’s sequel to The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons. Tom Hanks returns as the man with the made up job, ‘symbologist’ Robert Langdon, who, as in all of Dan Brown’s novels (actually, I’ve not had the ‘pleasure’ of reading his latest, so I could be wrong…), has a matter of hours to solve clues and uncover a mystery whilst evading a cold-blooded assassin. This time, Langdon is helping out the Vatican, under threat by the Illuminati, who have an anti-matter bomb, developed, in a timely fashion, at CERN.

Angels and Demons provides old school thrills and spills and boasts two incredibly watchable stars in Hanks and Ewan McGregor – as a helicopter flying priest, no less. Whilst the ideological battle at the heart of the film is unlikely to trouble your brain cells too much, this carefree caper will entertain in a harmless and inoffensive manner. Despite its many flaws – particularly amusing is the character’s persistent habit of dumping large chunks of exposition on each other and attempting to pass it off as dialogue – Angels and Demons crucially never takes itself too seriously and for maximum enjoyment, neither should you.

Angels and Demons is now showing on Sky Movies and is also available on Sky Player.

THE WOLFMAN

Stars: Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt | Written by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self | Directed by Joe Johnston

Also to be filed under ‘frothy but fun popcorn fodder’ is The Wolfman, in which Benicio Del Toro is bitten by the titular beast and consequently develops anger management problems and bad hair days once a month. Co-starring are Anthony Hopkins as Del Toro’s weirdo dad, Emily Blunt as recently bereaved love-interest and the magnificent Hugo Weaving as the policeman on Del Toro’s tail.

There are some wonderfully cheap and cheerful gore effects that are amusingly OTT. The film has a fun penchant for the off-beat, as dalliances with gypsies and larks in a lunatic asylum belie. The only really troubling flaws are Hopkins’ strangely crap performance and the scattershot plotting. I would have also mentioned the delightfully naff make-up effects, but they’re more a source of amusement than derision and still better than Twilight’s appalling CGI werewolves.

The Wolfman is now showing on Sky Box Office.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/07/04/sky-movies-review-angels-and-demons-the-wolfman/

Toy Story 3 The Videogame Preview Part 3

A couple of weeks ago we brought you our hands-on report of the Toy Story 3 video game and now we have an exclusive interview with the producer of said game, Jon Warner.

What’s the first thing you see when you load up the game? How are you introduced?

If it’s a brand-new, fresh game, we put you into the first level of Story Mode, which is Train Rescue and that kind of serves as our tutorial. If you’ve completed the train level, you’re taken to the board game interface which serves as your launching point to either Story or Toy Box mode.

What was the day-to-day development of the game like? How did you go from seeing the storyboards at Pixar to coming up with the sandbox, Toy Box idea?

The movie prompted the idea: as you’ve probably seen from the trailers, in the movie the premise is that Andy is grown up and going off to college – what’s he going to do with his toys? The movie grapples with those issues and that sparked us to think ‘man, it’d be cool, as long Andy’s going off to college, if he gave his toys to me’. That’s where the idea came from.

How similar is the Story Mode’s plot to the movie?

It definitely follows the high points of the movie. We’re making the assumption that the majority of people who are playing the game have seen the movie, so we kind of tell it in a retrospective way, like a reminiscence. It’s narrated by Hamm and Rex. We picked eight levels that thought suited the game play and expanded those out.

Did Pixar have a great deal of involvement in the plotting and the story?

Absolutely. We came up with the idea as doing it as a reminiscence and they reviewed our scripts and picked and chose what felt right for their characters, they were very closely involved with all of that.

Previous video game adaptations of films have always been hit and miss. From what we’ve seen today, with both the linear Story Mode and the sandbox features, it seems like you’ve made a real conscious effort to defy the cliché of poor tie-in games – was that a goal from day one?

Absolutely. We wanted to make a game that we enjoyed playing and we play a lot of games and a lot of licensed games and movie-based games aren’t great, because they’re not given a budget or they’re not given the time or the design isn’t great or whatever. We definitely wanted to do something special with this, to raise the bar a little. Hopefully we’re in the right ball park here.

How does the Wii version differ from the Xbox and Playstation 3 iterations of the game?

The Wii’s really a different animal, right? We wanted to deliver the same calibre of experience with something the Wii hardware could handle. We customised the Story Mode to suit the Wii’s controls and for Toy Box mode we changed the experience a bit, we had to press it down and change the graphics to be Wii-friendly, but it’s the same basic premise and experience of coming into a western town, Woody’s Roundup, and being able to play with Andy’s toys. It’s still an open world. It’s got a comparable amount of collectables and such, but just the sheer horsepower of the Playstation and Xbox allow us to pack a lot more content in.

What can you tell us about the handheld iterations of the game?

They’re cool, we didn’t develop those at Avalanche, but they kind of follow the same spirit of the magic of play. In our Story Mode there are two types of levels, ones set in the real world and ones set in the imagination. Both of the handhelds embrace that same concept of being a six-inch toy getting around in the real world and in the imaginary worlds, being Buzz Lightyear and having a working jetpack and a laser – you’re awesome.

What kind of maps is used to navigate the game worlds?

There’s no mini-map but when you select a mission a compass pointer on screen will guide you to it.

What kind of age group were testing the game with?

We cast our net pretty wide. The Toy Story demographic is big. It’s you and me, it’s little kids. We tested sixty groups from as low as age six and to as high as age twenty. I think the sweet spot really are tweens, ten to twelve year olds just dig it, they go crazy, you have to pull them away from it. But hopefully we’ve made something that’s going to tap into a pretty wide group.

I guess that younger kids might be playing with their parents.

Exactly, in co-op mode if there’s younger sibling, older sibling situation you can help each other out, if you’re playing with friends, there’ll be horseplay.

What are your future projects after this? Are you looking at Microsoft’s Kinect and Playstation Move?

Absolutely. Sony asked us to do some Move content for Toy Story so we did. It’s a downloadable game that uses the new controller. We’re definitely interested in doing stuff with the motion control and with Kinect. We don’t want it to be a gimmick or anything tacked on, so when the design is right for it and it feels right and it serves the game, it’s definitely what we want to do.

What exactly does the being the producer on a video game involve?

I had a team of programmers and animators, artists and designers and I make sure everything happens and happens on time. It’s also my job to hold the ‘vision’ of the game and make sure the execution is going in the right direction.

Would you mind if I asked a question about you personally? I think our readers would be interested to find out how one gets into the video game industry, what was your route in?

I got into video games through a strange route; I was in the army first, for eight years, in intelligence. That’s not the direct route! I needed money for college. When I got out of the army I had technical skills, so I went back to school, got my degree in history and political science and I got a job as a software engineer, I was an interface designer. I was okay, but all of our jobs got outsourced to India so I found myself out of work. I had a friend who was a test manager at Microsoft and he said I’ve got a temporary job, why don’t you come and test games? I said sure, I’d love to – and that’s how I got in. Once I started working in games, I knew then: this was the job for me.

Finally, who is your favourite Toy Story character?

Oh it’s so hard! I really like Buzz, but I think Woody’s got to be my favourite. He’s great – he’s a good guy!

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/07/05/exclusive-interview-with-jon-warner-producer-of-toy-story-3-the-videogame/

Toy Story 3 The Videogame Preview Part 2

Our attention now switches to the Xbox that has been waiting patiently on the table and the brightly coloured visuals it is producing on the attached TV. Jon explains how they rejected typical gaming menus in favour of a more toy-orientated approach: a board game interface selects modes and such, navigated with a neat Crayola crayon cursor. In Story Mode, players collect items to unlock new toys to play with in The Toy Box, though collecting every item isn’t necessary to finish the game, completists can check their progress until every secret has been discovered. But the meat of the game is the much-mentioned Toy Box mode, which Jon begins to load up. ‘Who would you like to play as?’ he asks us. Unanimously, we choose Buzz Lightyear.

‘Poor Woody and Jessie!’ a nearby assistant laments.

‘They never get any playtime, it’s just like in Andy’s house,’ Jon confirms. The mode loads and we find Buzz in a stylised western town, modelled after Woody’s Roundup. Graphically, the game is reasonably impressive, the bright, cartoony look of the films replicated satisfactorily on screen. Buzz trots around the town as if in some pre-teen friendly Grand Theft Auto game, chatting with townsfolk and tossing hapless Pizza Planet aliens with reckless abandon. Controlled by Jon, Buzz interacts with the town’s inhabitants, makes shops, rides Bullseye the horse and is given tasks to complete by other characters, such as Hamm, Rex and Slinky Dog. Jon explains that the tasks are there for players who enjoy structure. The Toy Box also accommodates for players who enjoy exploring, in its myriad of things to discover and for those who like to customise their game worlds, in the multitude of options that can be utilised to alter game features.

‘Once you’ve built up your town to a certain point and it’s prosperous enough, outlaws will come into it to rob your people, so if we have enough money, we can purchase a jail to hold your outlaws – if you don’t, the outlaws will take all your people’s money,’ says Jon, discussing the possibilities of the game. Buildings and characters are purchased in-game with money collected through completing tasks and collecting gold nuggets. ‘There are some characters you can buy that you can ride, like Bullseye. Riding around on Bullseye is great,’ he demonstrates as the horse capers around with Buzz on his back. There are numerous races to complete with Bullseye around the game world to partake in at the player’s leisure.

‘You can buy a car and it opens up the racing area, a kind of Skate Park with stunt-driven missions. If you enjoy racing games and playing with cars, and that’s all you want to do, that’s completely an option. There’s a bunch of preset missions and areas where you can just screw around doing stunts. You can customise your cars, you can change what type of car you drive…’ Eager to show us more of the possibilities of the game, Jon loads up a profile on with more features unlocked.

‘If you remember when you were kids playing with toys, you’d never seem to have a full set of toys that were all from the same set, it was always kind of a mish-mash of stuff, but it was okay because it made sense to you and that’s all that mattered, so we wanted to replicate that feeling. There’s toys that fit in the Woody’s Roundup set, and then there’s toys make absolutely no sense, but are fun to play with anyway,’ Jon says, explaining the eclectic aesthetic of the game.

Jon discusses the amount of time players can expect to have with the game. ‘The Story Mode lasts for about four solid hours for a good gamer, if you’re a completist, for younger gamers, it’ll take a bit longer. The Toy Box is really open ended; there’s no end, we never roll credits. You play there ‘til you’re done playing. That could be ten hours, it could be twenty. I’ve been playing my session for about twenty-two hours and there’s still stuff I’m not done with yet! What was amazing when we were play-testing the game, was that out of the sixty groups playing it, not one of the games ended up the same. Of course, they were doing the same missions, but their game worlds were all completely different.’

The new game loaded, we are confronted with a much bigger town with more denizens. One of the buildings is decorated like a clown fish from Finding Nemo and there is a NPC styled after Syndrome from The Incredibles. I asked whether there were a lot of nods to other Pixar films and Jon confirmed that in many of the customisation options, there were various tributes to Pixar’s repertoire, including Wall-E and Monsters Inc. too. Other new options in the game include a goo machine, which dispenses globules of pink and green sludge that can be used to grow and shrink characters and items, affecting how the player interacts with the in the game. For example, a shrunken Bullseye is quicker, whereas a giant Bullseye can crush obstacles. There are also bigger toys to purchase in the game that offer new challenges, customisation options and tools, such as Sid’s Haunted House, which unleashes monsters on your town for you to defeat.

Finally, it is our turn to have a go. We enter split-screen mode. The controls were intuitive enough and the game had a fluid feel to it. Players are under no obligation to play with or against each other whilst in multiplayer, but we decide to have a race on our horses. I’m pretty rubbish and lose the race, but it was pretty good fun nonetheless. I had a go on a monster truck too, which was also a hoot.

With that, my time was up and I was ushered out of the room. Though I only spent a short time with the game, it seemed like a lot of fun. I’d also barely scratched the surface of the number of options of features of play. I imagine that Toy Story 3: The Video Game will do a lot of good for the mediocre reputation of tie-in games, and will prove popular, especially among the franchise’s younger fans. If the rest of the development team at Avalanche are half as passionate and enthusiastic about the game and put those qualities into its production, Avalanche should be on to a winner.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/06/25/exclusive-toy-story-3-the-videogame-hands-on-report-pt-2/

Toy Story 3 The Videogame Preview Part 1

Say what you like about the corporate machine that is Disney: they have a lovely HQ. And lovely staff too. One such lovely member of staff is the gregarious and affable Jon Warner, producer at Avalanche Studios, the folks behind the new Toy Story video game to coincide with the cinematic release of the eagerly awaited third installation in the popular series.

Upon gratefully receiving an invitation to meet Jon and have a gander at his new game, I was escorted through the HQ, passing a life-size statue of Tony Stark’s first Iron Man suit, an office adorned with a six foot Lego model of Woody the toy cowboy and a High School Musical themed meeting room, complete with lockers. Eventually, we are led to a small office, where Jon awaits our arrival, Xbox at the ready. He grins and shakes us each by the hand cordially. Once he’s satisfied we’re comfortable, he begins to describe Toy Story 3: The Video Game, his pride and delight practically tangible.

‘Let’s start from the start then,’ Jon says. ‘We came up with the idea for the game in November 2007. Pixar had invited us down to have a look at a real early, preliminary screening – it was storyboards that they’d put together in kind of an animated reel. There was no dialogue in it or anything; it was just narrated by the director, Lee Unkrich. It was great, it was brilliant. We were there with a bunch of other licensers, like Mattel, in the theatre watching this presentation and man, it was good. By the end of the screening there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The lights went up, you feel tears in your eyes, you’re like, “oh no, this is going to be embarrassing!” But the lights come up and everyone is choked up: it was that good, it was that powerful.

‘So when we left Pixar, we thought, “We can’t do an average game treatment for this one”, you know, “see the movie, play the game”, it just didn’t feel right. First of all, Pixar had done a great job on telling that story and I don’t think it was right for us to rehash it; we didn’t want to do that. We thought what would be really cool is if we could give Andy’s toys to everybody, the players: if you could take Andy’s toys and play with them any way you wanted to. So we hung onto that idea, it sounded right. We developed the idea and called it The Toy Box, where it’s a big sandbox environment and you get to play as Buzz, Woody or Jessie and it’s a big, open, free environment, where you get to play with Andy’s toys the way you want to, not the way we want you to.

‘We took that idea back to Pixar and said, “Hey, we want to make this Toy Story 3 game that has nothing to do with Toy Story 3, how do you like it?” That was a little intimidating, so we also pitched a kind of a more traditional approach and asked them which one they wanted us to do. They kind of looked at each other and said, “We like both ideas – could you do both?” So we did – if Pixar ask you to do both, you do both!’

‘That was a pretty big challenge. The we approached it was to have The Toy Box be the core experience, the bulk of it and have Story Mode be a briefer, almost a bonus experience, for players who want to relive and replay the moments of the film that they really loved, they’ll be there, but we don’t have to try to make that into eight hours of gameplay, which, I don’t know about you but often in film tie-in games, sometime feels kind of forced. We didn’t want to do that.’

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/06/24/exclusive-toy-story-3-the-videogame-hands-on-report-pt-1/

Toy Story 3 Review

It’s been eleven years since the last Toy Story movie and fifteen since the first. As Disney’s representative at the jam-packed preview screening I attended pointed out, that’s older than a great deal of this third instalment’s audience is. Not that that appears to be any impediment to either the film’s success or the youngster’s enjoyment of it – Toy Story 3 (directed by Lee Unkrich) is every bit as masterful as its predecessors.

While the plot is perhaps a little familiar – Andy’s toys become separated from him and each other and must find their way home – a twist is added in that Andy is now seventeen and imminently leaving for college. What do you do when the person you’re trying to get back to doesn’t want you anymore? The air of melancholia that pervaded Toy Story 2’s best part – Jesse’s When She Loved Me montage – is writ large in this excellent film that studies separation, the acceptance of loss and maturity. It’s also a cracking film for children and oozes quality and likability.

As we have come to expect from Pixar, the CGI animation is simply stunning. The 3D effects have also been implemented with admirable restraint. The opening sequence, a train robbery that takes place within Andy’s imagination, is spectacular. Even the far-flung girders of an exploding railway bridge are things of beauty. This fun intro escalates wildly, like a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip and provides a nice reminder of all the characters you didn’t know you’d missed. Happily, more of the supporting players – Rex, Slinky Dog, Hamm, etc – are given much more to do this time around, especially Mr Potato Head, whose role becomes increasingly amusing as the film progresses. Andy and the other human characters are also given more time on screen than they have previously been given, which provides interesting new angles on the events of film.

There are also new characters to enjoy and Michael Keaton as the Ken doll absolutely steals the show in perhaps the funniest screen role this year. Other honourable mentions should go to the ever-excellent Timothy Dalton as Mr Pricklepants, the thespian hedgehog and character designer Bud Luckey’s turn as Chuckles, the grumpy clown. It probably goes without saying that the film is properly hilarious and not just in a ‘fart jokes for the kids, awkward double entendre/popular culture reference for the parents’ way (Shrek, I’m looking at you); the humour is pitched perfectly for everyone.

Perhaps the best thing about the film is the creativity and inventive spirit displayed. For the characters, a metal basket becomes a prison cell, a spinning toy a roulette wheel and a landfill site something akin to Dante’s vision of hell. Watching six inch toys navigate their way through our world is a tireless joy and I found myself urging the toys to find themselves in more and more scrapes, just to see how they would escape.

Toy Story 3 is not quite flawless – the increased roles of the supporting characters means there isn’t quite enough time to dwell on everyone and the aforementioned Pricklepants, Chuckles and even, to a certain extent, Buzz Lightyear are not given quite as much time to shine as I would have liked. And whilst generally tightly structured and quickly paced, the plot could have been trimmed of a little – though very little – excess meandering. Even if the film lacks the emotional heft of Up or the expressionist tendencies of Wall E, Toy Story 3 stands as one of the best in Pixar’s ever-increasingly excellent canon and is a more than worthy (final?) instalment in the Toy Story saga. Best trilogy ever?

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/06/20/review-toy-story-3/

The Collector Review

There’s a masked man on the loose, a spate of grisly murders and someone’s left a dry ice machine on in the woods: it must be a horror film!

The Collector is a gory caper set in near real time, in which a handyman breaks into a house he has been maintaining in order to steal a precious stone to pay off his wife’s debts. The Collector is also the alias of the Comic Book Guy in a Tree House of Horror episode of The Simpsons, but that’s by the by. Saw alumnus Marcus Dunstan directs the script he co-wrote with Patrick Melton.

The aforementioned thief, Arkin (played by Josh Stewart) befriends the family he will soon be burglarising during the day, bonding in particular with the teenage Jill (Madeline Zima) and little cherub Hannah (Karley Scott Collins), whom he will soon find himself defending from the masked and silent maniac that turns their home into a death trap, rigging numerous contraptions of doom like Kevin from Home Alone gone psychotic.

There is plenty to dislike about the film. For one thing, it is needlessly and intrusively loud. I hate to sound like an old fogey, but is there really any need to crank the volume so very high? The opening titles are rather smirk-inducing, looking like a hyperactive media studies pupil’s interpretation of a Nine Inch Nails video. The film is also incredibly mean-spirited, nasty and has a creepy, voyeuristic view of violence. To be frank, I thought the film was awful, though I am all too aware that this isn’t the type of film I would ever watch voluntarily. I simply don’t see the enjoyment in watching horrible things happen to undeserving people.

In spite of this, I did recognise some features worthy of merit. Firstly, I enjoyed the real time aspect of the film, which served to keep pace and tension ticking away nicely. The direction was not unimpressive, though was perhaps a little scattershot. Some sequences looked as though they belonged in music videos, other earlier sequences had an oversaturated, seventies style aesthetic, and much of the rest suited the horror genre they found themselves in. It all looked quite good, but a little more thematic consistency would have been nice. Jerome Dillon’s score was also fine and well implemented in the film.

Particularly effective was Arkin’s initial break in and his discovery that he is not alone in the house. In fact, much of the early part of the movie was very good; highly fraught with tension and actually rather scary. It is only when the blood-letting begins in earnest that the film starts to fall down and becomes a tedious celebration of gore. That said it is still far better than the bag of balls that was last month’s Nightmare on Elm Street reboot.

The Collector then, is a promising beginning severely let down by an unpleasant and adolescent fascination with violence. This wouldn’t be so bad if there were any kind of explanation as to the antagonist’s motivations but this is left totally unanswered. He’s just a nasty dude he turns up and starts being incomprehensibly violent to some unfortunate innocents and we’re never shown why. Grudgingly, however, I will accept that if you are an aficionado of the banal torture-porn genre, this is probably a decent example which you will no doubt enjoy. You sicko.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/06/08/review-the-collector/

Merantau Review

Interestingly, although an Indonesian kung-fu film, Merantau was written, directed and edited by Welshman Gareth Evans, a man who should be very proud of his well-made second feature film.

Merantau is the name of the journey which must be undertaken by young men in order to come of age. We follow Yuda on his pilgrimage from his tiny village to Jakarta. His intentions are to teach martial arts to children, though his plan goes awry and he finds himself protecting Astri, a young woman who is being pursued by human traffickers and her young brother Adit.

As with many kung-fu films, enjoyment requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief – of course every thug Yuda runs into is an adept martial artist and of course, not one of these thugs carries a gun or a knife to quickly put a stop to Yuda’s assault on their ranks. There is also a definite predictability about much of the film: if you see a glass coffee table, you know some hapless lackey is going to find themselves smashed through it. But these are minor quibbles of the genre as a whole and Merantau more than manages to rise above these generic handicaps.

The first thing to strike me was how attractively the film was shot; real attention has been paid to the cinematography and camera work. From the lush shots of Yuda’s hometown to the grimy streets of Jakarta, the film looks stunning and the fluid, roaming eye of the camera gives the film a sense of purpose. This is compounded by the excellent editing of the film: far too often in action films, the rapid pace of the edit is such that it becomes impossible to actually comprehend what is going on. Not so with Merantau, in which Evans savours every shot so that we can appreciate the hours of amazing choreography work that has clearly gone into the production.

Iko Uwais is likable as the lead and Sisca Jessica and Yusuf Aulia satisfy in their roles as the sister and brother. All three of the young leads are fairly impressive, Uwais clearly being something of a prodigy in his chosen craft. Mads Koudal is also good as the villain.

Stately and ponderous – in a good way – where comparable films can be frantic and slapdash, Merantau seems a noteworthy entry into the expansive catalogue of chopsocky. There plenty of impressive set pieces – the fights in the lift and at the building site are particularly gnarly – and just about enough attention is given to character development, which pays off in the emotional ending. The film also has an admirable moral compass, perhaps highlighting more social issues than one might expect from a martial arts movie. A great piece of action cinema.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/06/02/dvd-review-merantau-warrior/

Give 'em Hell Malone Review

After the murder of his family a private dick turned gun-for-hire is the centre of attention for a cacophony of violence in this overtly violent throwback to the golden age of gangster and noir flicks.

Malone, a grizzled, alcoholic, wisecracking anti-hero is hired to retrieve a briefcase containing ‘the meaning of love’ (its ambiguous content seemingly a clear nod to Pulp Fiction). On his tail are hired goons Boulder and Matchstick, sent by crime boss Whitmore. In tow are inscrutable heroine Evelyn and Malone’s mother. There are also run-ins with a wacky crooner and a Chinese girl who bites people’s members off called ‘Mauler’. Let me be plain: Give ‘em Hell Malone is clichéd tripe. Reasonably well-made and sporadically amusing clichéd tripe, but clichéd tripe nonetheless. I can only assume that the gratuitous noir-gangster tropes are employed with tongue not so much in cheek, as become one with it.

Unfortunately, if that’s what they were going for, then the tone seems off; the film appears to take itself way too seriously. I mean, paying tribute to the gangster genre is one thing, but this film simply apes it. Seriously – could writer Mark Hosack not think of a less obvious name than ‘Malone’ for the lead in a gangster film? On the bright side, Thomas Jane (of Deep Blue Sea, The Mist and memorable Arrested Development cameo) is quite likable as the protagonist. Ving Rhames is also pretty good and gets all the best lines as Boulder and Third Rock from the Sun’s French Stewart turns up as Frankie the Crooner, a reasonably funny role.

The third act set-piece in the theatre, though somewhat adjunct from the main narrative (how and why did they get to an abandoned theatre?), is also well put together and quite enjoyably trippy. The camerawork throughout is also quite impressive. Other than that though, the film is no great shakes. The script is hackneyed and aims for witty irreverence but more often than not, misses badly. The other actors ham up their performances unnecessarily; Doug (Horace from Lost) Hutchinson’s channelling of Heath Ledger’s Joker in his role as psychotic pyromaniac Matchstick is particularly distracting, as is Elsa Pataky’s pan-European accent.

If we’re being generous, there are far worse films out there than Give ‘em Hell Malone and although its ending is bizarrely convoluted, I can imagine the franchise may improve in the promised sequel (it is, apparently, ‘to be continued’). Clearly the cast had a great deal of fun making the film and, if it’s a Friday night rental, you could have a great time watching it, providing you don’t take it too seriously, set your standards low and, as its protagonist would probably attest, you keep the scotch flowing.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/06/01/dvd-review-give-em-hell-malone/

Death at a Funeral Review

Chris Rock stars in this hit and miss American remake of the 2007 British film, Death at a Funeral. Rock plays Aaron, who is arranging the funeral for his recently deceased father. As family and friends arrive, Aaron’s problems multiply and escalate resulting in near total chaos. Aaron’s wife Michelle is desperately trying to get pregnant and is doing her best to seduce Aaron as guests arrive. She’s also fighting off criticism from Aaron’s unpleasant mother. Aaron’s arrogant brother Ryan has flown in from New York and is refusing to pay his share of the funeral costs. Meanwhile, Aaron’s cousin Elaine is bringing her fiancé Oscar, much to disapproval of her father. Oscar gets drugged with a hallucinogenic developed by Elaine’s brother Jeff and threatens to majorly disrupt the funeral. Elaine is being pursued by the infatuated family friend Derek, who arrived with Norman who in turn is doing his best to look after crotchety Uncle Russell. Add into this chaotic mix a mysterious dwarf with a surprising secret and you have yourself one heck of juggling act in terms of narrative cohesion.

Fortunately, the film more or less manages to keep its convoluted plot together, though it does not manage to keep up a consistent level of humour or believability. Chris Rock is probably one of the funniest people in America, although his comedic talents do not always translate into his roles on film, which is largely the case here. Rock plays the straight man to the wackiness of his family, when he would probably be better suited to a less serious role.

There are several funny moments, lines and scenes in the film but they are tempered by plenty of comedic misfires, such as the unnecessary, crass and juvenile scene when Tracey Morgan gets Uncle Russell’s poo on himself. Not big, clever or, crucially, funny. James Marsden, who plays the drugged-up Oscar provides most of the film’s early laughs, but his ‘I’m so high, isn’t it hilarious’ shtick eventually gets old.

As mentioned above, the dwindling of the film’s believability does become problematic. Comedy is only funny if we can buy into its conceit, but in Death at a Funeral the plot ‘jumps the shark’ far too often for its own good. For example, are we really expected to accept that someone would take and ingest another person’s random drugs that just happen to be lying around – in one instance out in the garden – under the assumption it’s Valium? There are further examples, but to mention them would spoil a great deal of the plot.

The strength of the cast is the film’s strongest suit, even if some of them are underperforming. As well as the aforementioned Rock, Morgan and Marsden, Death at a Funeral also boasts Martin Lawrence, Zoë Saldaña, Luke Wilson, Ron Glass, Peter Dinklage and an occasionally self-parodying Danny Glover.

Death at a Funeral represents a pretty mixed bag that’s hard to get too worked up either way about. I couldn’t decide whether I found the lack of moral retribution on some of its more reprehensible characters, such as Ryan, who creepily pursues a girl young enough to be his daughter, amusingly black-humoured or a critical oversight. The film has an oddly dated sense of humour and general manner, but if you happen to find farcical comedies appealing, then you may not go wrong with Death at a Funeral.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/05/31/review-death-at-a-funeral/

Marvel Superheroes 4D Preview

I cannot be the only one who has come to the conclusion that Madame Tussaud’s is perhaps the closest thing to hell on earth that can be experienced. It’s like some sort of unholy shrine to the union of snakes that are consumerism and celebrity, filled with people who consider photographing themselves with eerie, dead-eyed sculptures of famous people such a great idea for a day out that they are prepared to not only pay top-dollar for the privilege, but to cram themselves into the tiny corridors of the building like so much cattle awaiting the bolt through the hypothalamus, where the ethos of anti-establishment icons like Pink Floyd and The Sex Pistols are available to purchase in fridge magnet form for £2.50. My annoyance with the place began when my breakfast of over-priced and disgusting meatball Panini was interrupted by several thousand school children (each sporting an Oxford University hooded top, for reasons known only to God) and reached its apex upon discovering that Madame Tussaud’s not only renders celebrities immortal in wax, but also serial killers.

Fortunately, between these two events I had the pleasure of being among the first to witness the attraction’s soon-to-be-opened Marvel Superheroes 4D exhibit. Upon arriving, I was offered bacon sandwiches, orange juice and muffins free of charge, which was lovely, but did serve to salt the wound somewhat of my bad experience with the meatball Panini. I and the other lucky chosen few were then escorted to the entrance of the event, where punters are able to have their photo taken with Spider-Man, check out Wolverine and try out his claws and see what they’d look like after a dose of gamma radiation (big and green, as opposed to weak and frail). A ma-hoo-sive Hulk sculpture presided over the room.

In the foyer before the 4D experience are figures of Nick Fury and Tony Stark (modelled on Sam Jackson and Robert Downey Jr) and a spookily realistic Iron Man. The 4D film itself is an amusing jaunt which sees all the aforementioned superheroes, plus Captain America and Ms Marvel kicking Dr Doom’s bottom in jolly old London town. This being a 4D presentation, we are not only adorned with 3D specs, but are blasted with air and mist, vibrated in our seats and subjected to flashes and booms from a top of the range sound system. It is tremendous fun, especially for the younger visitors who are delighted by the film’s every set-piece. At one point I thought someone was kicking the back of my seat, until I realised that I was actually being poked by Wolverine’s adamantium claws.

All too quickly, the film ended and we were treated to a question and answer sessions with the folks behind the whole shebang, who explained how the exhibit was created in a mere six months at an incredible cost, with a team of hundreds working closely with Marvel – even Stan Lee has his standard-issue cameo in the short film. Clearly as excited by the experience as the fans in the audience and delighted at our positive reception, we are treated to another viewing, after which I had a quick chat with the director of the video, Joshua Wexler.

Hi Josh, can you tell me how you were chosen to direct the feature?

It was a collaboration between the guys at Madame Tussaud’s and Marvel. We had done a number of projects for Merlin Entertainment [the company behind Alton Towers, Legoland Thorpe Park, etc] already, we’d done Clutch Powers and Bob the Builder 4D shows for Legoland and as we were talking to them about it, we were just incredibly passionate about Marvel, so I sat down with Robert Henry, a friend of mine, and we wrote the script. We kept going from there. There’s two co-directors on board with me, one storyboard artist, one animation director, and we put it all together.

Who is your favourite superhero and what is your favourite bit in the film?

Spider-Man has to be my favourite. I grew up on the Spider-Man cartoons, with Stan Lee narrating them every morning. It’s definitely Spidey, so he gets a lot of little extra bits of humour in the film. I have to say my favourite moment in the film though is probably when Wolverine jumps out of the screen and flies at you with his claws out.

How long is the exhibit going on for? Indefinitely, or is it a limited run?

That’s a good Madame Tussaud’s question. It will end, but not for a while. There’s plenty of time to see it.

Do you have any future projects coming up?

Yes, we are working on a third Mortal Kombat feature film and a new top secret project with Lego, a feature length movie.

As we left, we were treated once again, this time to a lovely goody bag with some surprisingly valuable merchandise inside. Frankly, the exhibit is easily the best thing at Madame Tussaud’s by some distance. If you’re a fan of Marvel, it’s probably worth the ticket price alone, especially when the rest of the show rooms are included. I would advise arriving first thing however; the queues outside as I left were almost Biblical in size. For Marvel fans, Madame Tussaud’s have basically created their version of Mecca.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/05/29/marvel-superheroes-4d-preview/

Astro Boy Review

A top-notch cast lend their voices to this computer animated adaptation of the popular Japanese Manga. In the enormous floating metropolis of Metro City, people coexist with robots and the Earth’s surface is a forgotten, polluted scrap yard. Government scientist Dr Tenma’s young boy-genius son Toby is accidently vaporised in a weapons demonstration. The distraught scientist creates a robot substitute; utilising Toby’s DNA and uploading his late son’s memories into the machine.

At first, Tenma is delighted with the results and attempts to bond with his substitute son. Soon though, Tenma realises that the robot cannot replace Toby and the android flees when he learns of his father’s rejection. Robot Toby, soon to be renamed Astro, travels to the surface, hotly pursued by a government that wants to use his power source for nefarious ends and looks for his place in the world.

The obvious touching point for the story is the tale of Pinocchio, but there are several interesting themes in the film, such as the role of science in society and government, a parent’s loss of a child, the ethics of robotics and the importance of questioning authority. For a children’s film, it touches on some admirably complex issues.

There are lots of things to like about Astro Boy, not least the calibre of its cast, which includes Nic Cage, Bill Nighy, Charlize Theron, Kristen Bell, Samuel L Jackson, Alan Tudyk (of Firefly, Serenity and Dodgeball), Matt Lucas and Donald Sutherland. Freddie Highmore, star of an impressive selection of recent children’s films, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Spiderwick Chronicles and The Golden Compass, voices the eponymous lead.

The animation is overtly polished and slick looking and the characters inhabit a stylised futuristic environment. The production design is impressive; Metro City looks an exciting and lively place, which has clearly been lovingly rendered.

The film does however lack some of the warmth and humour of Pixar’s most recent cinematic outings. A few more jokes could have lightened up the script somewhat. Also, Cora, the girl Astro meets on the surface, has a rather redundant subplot in the search for her own parents, which feels as though it has been either tacked on at the last minute or severely cut for time.

All in all, though, Astro Boy is a reasonably entertaining joy-ride of a film and a rare instance in which a sequel may actually be a welcome and called for occurrence. Along with the admittedly superior Wall E, it would make a good introduction to sci-fi for young kids.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/05/28/dvd-review-astro-boy/

Tooth Fairy Review

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson stars as Derek Thompson, a slightly past-it ice hockey player whose propensity for knocking out the molars of his opponents on the rink has earned him the nickname of ‘The Tooth Fairy’. He is dating single mum Carly (Ashley Judd), mother to two sprogs, Randy and Tess (Chase Ellison and Destiny Whitlock). When Derek inadvertently crushes the dreams of a young fan and nearly tells Tess that the tooth fairy doesn’t exist he is summoned to the world of fairies and sentenced to two weeks as tooth fairy duty by the fairy’s leader Lily (Mary Poppins herself, Julie Andrews); his punishment is overseen by his care-worker Tracey (Stephen Merchant).

As a kid’s flick, Tooth Fairy is keen to cover as many bases as possible. There’s a sports movie narrative as Derek attempts to rebuild his career, music-themed sequences as Randy rehearses for a school talent contest, a decent stab at romance in Derek and Carly’s relationship, plus the whimsical world of the fairies to enjoy. The producers are clearly trying to appeal as many children as possible and to give the film its due, it manages to keep its numerous narrative threads relatively untangled, however, there is evidence that there were even more plot detail that was scrapped in the one fleeting scene of a potential love interest for Randy, which would have been over-egging it somewhat.

The film reminded me mostly of The Santa Clause, in its re-imagining of a children’s fairy story as a kind of bureaucratic civil service – director Michael Lembeck helmed that film’s sequels as well as a plethora of American sitcoms. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is a weirdly charismatic leading man, and not an unfunny one at that. It would be interesting to see him try his enormous hand at comedy for a more grown-up audience; he could potentially be hilarious. His comedic thunder is well and truly stolen, however, by Merchant, who provides plenty of laughs, having clearly been given relatively free reign to improvise many of his lines. There’s also a brief cameo by Seth MacFarlane as the fairy’s ‘Q’, which again amuses. There’s plenty for both old and young to laugh at – surprisingly and funnily there are a couple of veiled drugs references for the adults.

Less impressive are the overly trite themes of the importance of dreams, ambition and self-belief, which grate after a while. Randy is also a total drip and somewhat unsympathetic. The production design and special effects are also a little hackneyed in this post-Potter cinematic world, though I’m assuming studio Walden Media were operating at a fraction of the budget.

There are far more good things than bad to say about the film, in particular its strong cast and good humour, which mercifully does not resort to cheap toilet humour to amuse the kids; moreover the humour is derived from the characters and their foibles. Ultimately though, this is a children’s movie and thus should judged on how much they liked it, not adults. The kids in the packed auditorium I attended seemed to have a whale of a time. I thoroughly recommend Tooth Fairy to any younger siblings or children you may have.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/05/24/review-tooth-fairy/

Phobia Review

Phobia is a compendium of four short horror films – in the style of the classic US horror movies such as Tales From The Crypt, Twilight Zone: The Movie and Creepshow – from a selection of Thai directors.

The first, ‘Happiness’, directed by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, focuses exclusively on a lone occupant of a single room, a young woman incarcerated in her apartment due to a broken leg suffered in a car accident. She is bored and lonely until she starts receiving text messages from an unknown stranger. Thongkongtoon’s ponderous and quasi-poetic direction adeptly transforms familiar surroundings into first unsettling and then frightening environments. This dialogue-free short is the most subtle of the quartet and a strong opening salvo.

Paween Purikitpanya’s ‘Tit for Tat’ follows, in which a group of bullies are expelled when they are caught consorting with Mary Jane by one of their wimpier schoolmates. They exact their revenge and their victim returns in kind, aided by black magic, with very gory results. In stark contrast to ‘Happiness’, the direction is much more fluid, visuals flash across the screen in a near-subliminal manner and the camera is in a constant state of movement, making for an exhilarating rollercoaster of a film. Unfortunately, the short is badly let down by some incredibly ropey CGI towards its conclusion which undoes a lot of the work it had previously done to draw the viewer into its reality. Its final shock still manages to deliver though.

Probably the best of the bunch is Banjong Pisanthanakun’s ‘In the Middle’. Four teenage lads embark on a Deliverance-style rafting and camping trek through the jungle and scare each other with ghost stories, until an accident throws them into the middle of one. The film is a very tongue in cheek skewering of film buffs and throws in plenty of references to the twisty-turny narratives of the films it is spoofing/paying tribute to. In an amusing nod, one of the characters wears this very spoilery t-shirt. The film also manages to be chilling as well as witty and boasts a very likable cast.

The final part of the set is Parkpoom Wongpoom’s ‘Last Flight’, which while visually and thematically strong, is nixed somewhat by its too ridiculous for its own good plot. An air hostess tends to a princess on a special flight. They get off to a rather bad start as the royal is all too aware that the stewardess is fooling around with her partner. Events conspire and the princess dies while on her trip and the air hostess is once again entrusted to take care of the royal as her body is flown back home. Spooky goings-on occur, but are they real or just part of the hostess’ guilty conscience? The special effects are very good and actors do rather well with flawed material but the incredibly heightened reality serves to undermine any potential frights. The film is also guilty of perpetuating some uncomfortably misogynist views which bristled with my sensibilities.

All in all, however, Phobia is a strong package and a good showcase of Thai directorial talent. An ideal Friday night in DVD, you can order it now at Amazon.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/05/14/dvd-review-phobia/