October and half term arrived on time as usual and with a bigger than usual collection of family films that were either held back to avoid an over congested Summer after an over congested Summer 2008 or pushed forward to avoid Avatar and New Moon at Christmas.
Up, this year's Pixar film suffered from being moved from a Summer release in the UK (though it had one in the US) so that Disney's G-Force wouldn't crash and burn at the box office. The story is of a man who marries his childhood sweetheart who shares his dream of going to South America and exploring. They live their lives together unable to fulfil their dream and she dies without being able to live her dream, and this is just the first 5 minutes. Her husband is about to be put in an old person's home so decides to fly his house to South America using helium balloons. On the way he discovers that on his porch is a boy scout who is trying desperately to get his helping the elderly badge (it's the only one he need) so that his father will come to the awarding ceremony. They get to South America to find - in short - a weird bird, talking dogs and a bad guy. Pixar make sentimental films, Wall-E was sentimental but the 2001 factor made it work, Cars on the other hand is the worst Pixar to date because it sacrificed humour for sentimentality. Up almost does this. The plot, once in South America is fairly run of the mill and before South America is more sentimental than interesting and the film needs moments, the dogs in particular help, to make the film amusing. I say this not because Up is a bad film in any way but because Pixar set themselves a higher standard of excellence than any other filmmakers and while Up is certainly good it doesn't measure up to Monsters Inc, the Incredibles or Wall-E, 8/10.
The Fantastic Mr Fox, the other animated (I count stop motion as animation) film of the half term couldn't be more different from Up or pretty much anything else. It is the story of Mr Fox who was a chicken thief, gave up because of a request from his wife and decides to go back into thievery one last time. He doesn't, however, count on the persistence of the farmers who try to catch him in revenge. This film was adapted and directed by Wes Anderson whos films have never quite caught mine, or indeed mainstream cinemas imagination. He has a unique brand of humour that is so subtle at time that it forgets to make you laugh. The Fantastic Mr Fox, however, moves at a frantic yet very stylish pace, is funny and entertaining. The voice acting is good, the imagery is fantastic and works as a film. Wes Anderson completely succeeds with what he is trying to do and this is his best film to date, 8/10.
Surrogates, a futuristic thriller about the possible angers in store starring Bruce Willis. This is exactly the sort of film, like for example Eagle Eye, that critics hate and I like. I like good fun thrillers, Surrogates, however, is neither. It is predictable, takes itself much too seriously and ends up very confused and even Bruce Willis with hair can't save it. Transformers, Eagle Eye and friends are all successful because at the heart of the film is fun, their aim is to entertain. Surrogates seems more interested in trying to make a point except that the point in question is that using robots instead of our own bodies may not be a good idea, a topic I have never seriously thought about because it is completely irrelevant to life. Gattaca worked because designer babies may well be just around the corner, robots, I'm not so sure, 5/10.
The Vampire's Assistant, I went into this with low expectations and was surprised. This film was clearly aimed at 14 year old boys to try and compete with Twilight taking the girls market. While this will never draw the kind of audiences Twilight draws it is a better film. The two main characters are well developed if not so well acted and John C Reilly's vampire is very good as is the villain Mr Tiny. Not the best film but perfectly enjoyable, 7/10.
9, not to be confused with the upcoming Oscar contender Nine, this is a computer animation set in a post apocalyptic future where mankind and robots have virtually wiped each other out. The best post apocalyptic films, the Matrix and City of Ember (last October half term's post apocalyptic film), thrive on believability that it could actually happen. 9 is aimed at kids, assume that they don't know what is possible so the main plot consists of the sack doll 9 waking up in this post apocalypse meeting another sack doll who is promptly kidnapped by a robot dog. On a journey to save this doll 9 accidentally kills it by feeding its should to the master machine which wakes up and tries to eat all the sack dolls souls. If you are not 6 years old and you don't take this at face value then the entire film becomes absurd and if you are six years only then you will be too scared and saddened by the film as half the characters die and the evil machine is very scary and you will cry all film and mummy or daddy will wish they hadn’t taken you. The film also is very intense and hard gives you a laugh in its thankfully short running time. This film simply is too scary and sad for the children and has nothing for anyone older and from a film produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekbambatov among others I expected much better, 4/10.
Thursday 19 November 2009
Thursday 5 November 2009
September Films
This September has been the dumping ground for the films that studios have either rejected as not good enough for the Oscars or not big enough to compete in blockbuster season.
District 9: this is the film not big enough to compete against Transformers 2 in the Summer or Avatar at Christmas but is still a big special effects film. The story is of an alien spacecraft that mysteriously stops over Johannesburg and the aliens inside are unable to restart it and live in their own ghetto called District 9 just outside the city. The man charged with relocating the aliens to a concentration camp (see the parallels) away from populated areas accidentally ingests a liquid that gradually turns him into an alien. The evil arms company experiment on him to try and exploit the alien technology that they have been unable to use. Enough explaining the plot. District 9 is a good film, it has its flaws, it is not as original as it thinks it is, it is very intense, a joke or a moment where the main character isn't in excruciating pain would have helped. Those elements aside the acting, from a virtually unknown cast, is very good, the effects are good and the plot is well told, 7/10.
Julie and Julia: a film put here as the end product is not considered Oscar potential. The film is 2 stories, one of the American chef Julia Child (Meryl Streep) who moves to France in the late 1940s as her husband is an embassy worker and is bored so takes cookery lessons. She proceeds to be so successful that she co writes a cook book that she then struggles to publish. At the same time although actually in 2002 Julie (Amy Adams) moves into a house that she dislikes, does a job she dislikes and she decides her outlet is to cook all 420 (I think) recipes from Julia Child's cook book in a year and she writes a blog about this. The acting in this film as you would expect from Streep, Adams and Tucci (playing Julia Child's husband) is sensational, Streep playing the more comic role while Adams is more serious. The film is very charming and light hearted but makes you run the full gamut of emotions; it makes you laugh and makes you cry. There are 2 flaws with the film, the first it tells you neither time period at the start of the film which is confusing and takes time to work out although it is actually quite important to know and secondly the ending is a bit drab and there is no climax. Being based on a true story the film doesn't have the Hollywood ending but the ending does feel slightly anticlimactic. The film I think was considered too nice to win awards but for me will take some beating this Oscar season, 9/10.
The Soloist: another film that missed out on an Oscar pick. This film is another true story that of a journalist in LA who specialises in human interest stories meets a man who is homeless but an accomplished cellist and attempts to get him somewhere to live. I haven't been the biggest Joe Wright fan after a poor pride and prejudice and a mediocre Atonement he has come to less literary and more American material. The acting is good but the film is harrowing and ultimately there is not much actual progression in the situation of the cellist from beginning to end and one wonders whether the story which is neither uplifting or ultimately of success if necessarily film worthy especially when compared to its 90s predecessor "Shine" where the main character ultimately becomes a successful pianist again, 6/10.
Dorian Gray, another attempt by the British film industry to hit the mainstream. The problem with independent British cinema is that it tries to be too clever, their previous film to try and hit the mainstream, Franklyn, was too clever and not enjoyable enough to break despite having all the potential. Dorian Gray has a good cast, Colin Firth being especially good, and is well put together. It captures the Gothic feel well and makes its moral point. However, in a search for thrills and excitement goes somewhat over the top at times, the picture going uuurrrgggghhhhh was at times more humorous than scary. The film also had little to enjoy about it at times making less enjoyable to watch and ultimately making me give it a lower rating than it necessarily deserves, 6/10.
District 9: this is the film not big enough to compete against Transformers 2 in the Summer or Avatar at Christmas but is still a big special effects film. The story is of an alien spacecraft that mysteriously stops over Johannesburg and the aliens inside are unable to restart it and live in their own ghetto called District 9 just outside the city. The man charged with relocating the aliens to a concentration camp (see the parallels) away from populated areas accidentally ingests a liquid that gradually turns him into an alien. The evil arms company experiment on him to try and exploit the alien technology that they have been unable to use. Enough explaining the plot. District 9 is a good film, it has its flaws, it is not as original as it thinks it is, it is very intense, a joke or a moment where the main character isn't in excruciating pain would have helped. Those elements aside the acting, from a virtually unknown cast, is very good, the effects are good and the plot is well told, 7/10.
Julie and Julia: a film put here as the end product is not considered Oscar potential. The film is 2 stories, one of the American chef Julia Child (Meryl Streep) who moves to France in the late 1940s as her husband is an embassy worker and is bored so takes cookery lessons. She proceeds to be so successful that she co writes a cook book that she then struggles to publish. At the same time although actually in 2002 Julie (Amy Adams) moves into a house that she dislikes, does a job she dislikes and she decides her outlet is to cook all 420 (I think) recipes from Julia Child's cook book in a year and she writes a blog about this. The acting in this film as you would expect from Streep, Adams and Tucci (playing Julia Child's husband) is sensational, Streep playing the more comic role while Adams is more serious. The film is very charming and light hearted but makes you run the full gamut of emotions; it makes you laugh and makes you cry. There are 2 flaws with the film, the first it tells you neither time period at the start of the film which is confusing and takes time to work out although it is actually quite important to know and secondly the ending is a bit drab and there is no climax. Being based on a true story the film doesn't have the Hollywood ending but the ending does feel slightly anticlimactic. The film I think was considered too nice to win awards but for me will take some beating this Oscar season, 9/10.
The Soloist: another film that missed out on an Oscar pick. This film is another true story that of a journalist in LA who specialises in human interest stories meets a man who is homeless but an accomplished cellist and attempts to get him somewhere to live. I haven't been the biggest Joe Wright fan after a poor pride and prejudice and a mediocre Atonement he has come to less literary and more American material. The acting is good but the film is harrowing and ultimately there is not much actual progression in the situation of the cellist from beginning to end and one wonders whether the story which is neither uplifting or ultimately of success if necessarily film worthy especially when compared to its 90s predecessor "Shine" where the main character ultimately becomes a successful pianist again, 6/10.
Dorian Gray, another attempt by the British film industry to hit the mainstream. The problem with independent British cinema is that it tries to be too clever, their previous film to try and hit the mainstream, Franklyn, was too clever and not enjoyable enough to break despite having all the potential. Dorian Gray has a good cast, Colin Firth being especially good, and is well put together. It captures the Gothic feel well and makes its moral point. However, in a search for thrills and excitement goes somewhat over the top at times, the picture going uuurrrgggghhhhh was at times more humorous than scary. The film also had little to enjoy about it at times making less enjoyable to watch and ultimately making me give it a lower rating than it necessarily deserves, 6/10.
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