Film Review Roundup

Tags

adventure, Amy Adams, animation, Bill Murray, Carnage, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Waltz, Fantastic Mr Fox, George Clooney, Hayao Miyazaki, Jason Segel, Jodie Foster, John C Reilly, Kate Winslet, Kermit the Frog, Liam Neeson, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Miss Piggy, Owen Wilson, Ponyo, Roald Dahl, Roman Polanski, Studio Ghibli, The Muppets, Tina Fey, Wes Anderson, Willem Defoe

I originally intended this to be a video game review blog with added film and book reviews but thanks to my dedication to review every film I see in the cinema and buy on DVD it’s the film reviews that have taken over. I’d love to give full reviews to every film I see but the workload has been building up and I’ve taken the executive decision to start relying more on roundups like this. I’ll still be doing proper film reviews but only for titles I really want to dedicate the time to.

In Cinemas

The Muppets

Jason Segel, a person not known for his family friendly movies was the man trusted with bringing the wonderful Muppets back to our screens after a long hiatus. The fact that Kermit, Miss Piggy and co have been languishing in obscurity for the last several years is actually rather cannily used as a plot point for this new movie in which Segel stars as Gary whose felt-faced brother Walter is obsessed with the Muppets and campaigns for them to reform. Cue a rich tycoon’s plan to destroy the Muppets’ studios to drill for oil and we have a race against time for Kermit, Walter, Gary and Gary’s fiancée Mary (Amy Adams in full Enchanted mode) to track down the old gang. It’s a real delight to see these great characters back on the big screen and many of the fourth-wall breaking gags and general silliness really hits the spot but the story doesn’t have the high entertainment value of Muppet Treasure Island or The Muppet Christmas Carol. The delegation of screen time for the characters doesn’t quite achieve the right balance (there’s not nearly enough of Gonzo and Rizzo is missing altogether) and some of the songs are overwhelmingly saccharine but that doesn’t matter in this case as much as it otherwise might. After all is there anyone who doesn’t love the Muppets?

Carnage

Two sets of well-to-do New York parents meet to amicably discuss a violent incident involving their eleven-year-old sons but civility gradually descends into childish bickering in Roman Polanski’s often hilarious adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s play Le Dieu de Carnage. The impressive ensemble cast (Kate Winslet, Jodi Foster, Christopher Waltz, John C. Reilly) have a ball with the script, revelling in the vitriol they get to spout at each other and the characters are all perfectly observed. The film’s downfall is its self-imposed limitations brought on by its genesis as a stage play. The single, cramped setting lends a not inappropriate sense of claustrophobia but the single continuous scene inevitably lacks any kind of variety. It’s a fine adap but it couldn’t be more obviously an adap if it tried.

On DVD

Fantastic Mr Fox

Wes Anderson’s stop-motion adaptation of one of Roald Dahl’s best loved stories (and my personal favourite of his) really stands out from the crowd. The idiosyncratically crude animation brings to mind those annoying Compare the Market adverts and the direction and script are wry, whimsical and offbeat. The story of a cocky and anthropomorphic fox (voiced by George Clooney) busting one last heist against the three fattest, shortest and leanest farmers capitalism has ever imagined manages to be both hilarious and touching with rounded character tension and depth. The star-studded cast that includes Bill Murray and Michael Gambon deliver brilliantly confident performances, making the grown-up script sparkle. It’s a cult film and that’s mainly because the script is very mature, loaded with swearing cynically masked by the word ‘cuss’ and a consistently bonkers mood. That this film in which the hero talks about existentialism could be taken on its merits and regarded as an adult’s animation doesn’t really hold water given that it’s adapted from the writings of one of the most important kids’ writers in history and many critics have not wrongly marked it down for this. In the film’s defence I’m sure that the odd tone and general sense of fun will not be lost on young ‘uns and as such it will still find its audience. Purist’s complaints at the story’s Americanisation and relative lack of fidelity is predictable. Maybe someday people will figure out the definition of the word ‘adaptation’ and that’s coming from someone who loved the book. Whatever complaints might be levelled there’s no denying that Fantastic Mr Fox is innovative and memorable

Ponyo

I’m reviewing Disney’s important take on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid soon but first is the matter of this bolder reimagining, Hayao Miyazaki’s most recent directorial feature with Studio Ghibli. Set in a modern day version of Japan that seems unperturbed by giant sea gods Ponyo is the fishy daughter of a powerful oceanic sorcerer who escapes from his supervision to explore the human world where she meets five-year-old Sosuke with whom she forms a strong bond. It’s a more creative vision of the story that paints a vivid and slightly perilous impression of the ocean complete with tsunami made of giant fish. As bold as many of the more exciting scenes are the film is equally strong in quitter moments such as the scene in which the tots enjoy their dinner which is laced with beautifully observed cuteness. The film is primarily aimed at younger kids, but, like with My Neighbour Totoro before it, Ghibli have created a film that should maintain strong appeal for children and adults of every age. The strong English language voice cast includes the likes of Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett and Matt Damon, with the younger siblings of teen stars playing the nippers (Miley Cyrus’ sister, the Jonas brothers’ baby bro) but Tina Fey gets the best results as Sosuke’s hilariously tenacious mum. This is Ghibli very nearly at their best.

Film Review: Happy Feet Two (U)

Tags

adventure, animation, Brad Pitt, Elijah Wood, George Miller, Hank Azaria, Happy Feet Two, Hugo Weaving, Matt Damon, Pink, Robin Williams, Warner Bros.

Back in the halcyon days of 2006 when penguins were in vogue Warner Bros. landed a surprise hit with their kooky animated film Happy Feet. It even scored the Best Animated Feature Oscar in a slow year for animation, even Pixar couldn’t manage anything better than Cars but Monster House should have won it. If not for that success this unlikely sequel might never have happened.

Mumble (Elijah Wood) is now a father and his chip-off-the-old-block son Eric has trouble fitting in with the all-singing all-dancing denizens of Emperor Land. When Eric and a pair of pals follow overconfident Latin Adélie Penguin Ramon (Robin Williams) to his tribe’s stomping grounds, Mumble sets out to bring them home but finds his son enamoured by a charismatic flying penguin called Sven (Hank Azaria). Meanwhile two tiny krill (Brad Pitt and Matt Damon) debate their place in the universe.

Happy Feet Two maintains the slightly off-kilter style and song and dance numbers that made the original such an oddity, an appreciable philosophy to do things differently that its reflected by the title spelling its numeric in letters. The choice of songs, most of which hail from the 80s, have clearly been chosen to give adults something to enjoy in the middle of the strangely presented story which doesn’t quite know if it wants to be a cute animal movie or something more artistic and environmentally conscious. Same as the first film then.

The story works a lot better this time but takes an age to go anywhere, the early linear scenes passing at a leisurely pace before the chief plot point finally arrives to give proceedings some much needed tension essentially making it into a rescue mission. The quality of the animation can’t really be disputed, approaching a level of photorealism that is unprecedented, particularly in scenes involving actual humans. The level of detail in crowd scenes, particularly those of the krill swarm is mind-boggling with no detectable aliasing. It’s a technical marvel but it lacks some soul.

The film has been largely panned by critics, easy to see why given the decidedly offbeat style and poorly paced plot but I actually enjoyed it more than the Oscar-winning original. The voice cast do a largely decent job and it’s a treat to hear Matt Damon singing like he’s in the shower but it’s still mostly forgetable stuff.

Verdict

Inoffensive and fun but hardly an animation classic. If you can put up with a cast of bizarre and oddly-accented Antarctic creatures and like your remixed dance music, or better still, have kids, give it a look.

Film Review: Contagion

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Contagion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Steven Soderbergh, Thriller

Steven Soderbergh’s latest is a ‘what if?’ movie. Taking the moderate levels of public concern over the outbreaks of swine and bird flu and presents us with a starkly believable and downright scary vision of how it might have panned out if a highly contagious respiratory virus went pandemic.

The film opens with Gwyneth Paltrow, one of an impressive ensemble cast, looking pretty under the weather. With echoes of films like Psycho and Scream which also killed off a major star early on she quickly snuffs it courtesy of some disturbing seizures(stop yelling ‘spoiler’ it happens in the first few minutes). Before we know what’s what the mystery illness that brought about her death is spreading around the world and hysteria slowly starts to build as various medical authorities desperately try to track down the origin of the virus and create a vaccine.

More than just the spread of the disease the film smartly examines the public reaction to the pandemic and the focus of this part of the story is a snaggletoothed Jude Law affecting an inexplicable Aussie accent playing the part of a conspiracy blogger with delusions of grandeur who preaches against the honest efforts of the scientists striving for a medical cure and promoting a homeopathic remedy. His plot line adds an interesting extra element to the film and goes a long way to creating a believable spectrum of people’s responses to such a crisis.

The several other big stars each have a part to play, Matt Damon is a widower who does everything he can to protect his daughter from the illness, Kate Winslet is the front line expert trying to contain the spread of the disease, Marion Cotillard plays detective trying to track down its origin while Jennifer Ehle is the lab scientist is search of the vaccine and there are numerous other high profile cameos and cast members that lend the film their star quality to great effect. No-one really takes the lead although Damon might be seen as the everyman hero but it’s much more about the effect the concept has on the audience rather than the acting.

Early shots as the virus is starting to spread linger on the myriad things we touch every few seconds with potential contagion-spreading results and the sense of how easily the virus can be spread is extremely effective to the point where it can really build a sense of paranoia. Coughs and sneezes in screenings of Contagion have reportedly caused worried heads to turn and the brutal reality of the concept is pretty scary. It’s meant to be exhilarating rather than entertaining and it definitely succeeds.

The only glaring flaw of Contagion is in how it ties up. The film limps to a pretty plodding conclusion which is okay as it admirably avoids any kind of cinematic, popcorny climax, which, frankly, would have felt nicked from a different film but some of the individual plot lines play out into an unsatisfying nothing, particularly Marion Cotillard and Jude Law’s stories. Despite this the things the film does well it does well enough for this not to really matter and you will leave the cinema very aware of who you might be in touching distance of, and that’s mission accomplished.

Verdict

Tremendously effective in its depiction of the terrifying reality of a lethal pandemic that will leave you paranoid. The all-star cast are great to watch but it’s the disease itself that you will remember.