I Love You Man Movie Review

I Love You Man

Movie Review

I apologise profusely for the lateness of this review, but as you will see from the tight prose below, I have been hard at work on something special. An opus if you will. So, without further ado, with no more gilding the lily, and without... something else, here is my review.

I slap-a da bass.

Thank you and goodnight.

8/10

The Hangover Movie Review

The Hangover

Movie Review

“Why does everyone like this film so much?”. Thats what I thought after sitting through the first ten unfunny, overly slapsticky minutes of The Hangover. The film has been number one in the American box office charts, and climbed straight into the Internet Movie Database's (IMDb) Top 250 Movies of All Time. Granted, the latter is not extremely difficult (Dark Knight knocked Shawshank Redemption from the top spot weeks after its release), but the film seems to have some serious cred, which I just couldn't see in the opening reel.

Then something happened. Well two things. Their names are Zack Galifianakis and Ed Helms. I was familiar with both, but not from movies. Galifianakis is a comedian of some renown who has yet to achieve world wide recognition as a stand up, while Helms has a role in the US version of The Office and has appeared as a correspondent on The Daily Show. After the somewhat clunky character introductions, these two spend the rest of the movie's running time trying to comedically outspar each other. Galifinakis edges it on my scorecard, but both men contributed immensely to something rare; an adult comedy which never slides too far into unintelligent bawdiness.

Most studio movies tend to have a plot which can be explained in one sentence, and the Hangover's is simpler than most. Doug, played by National Treasure's Justin Bartha, is getting married, so his friends bring him to Vegas for a bachelor party, lose him during the course of a drunken night, and spend the rest of the movie searching Sin City, and their alcohol addled brains for clues to the grooms whereabouts. In this sense the story incorporates elements of a drunkards version of Memento, with less tattooing.

Todd Phillips, who has previously directed Old School and the similarly themed Road Trip does an excellent job of exposing a fresh segment of the Vegas underbelly. The city by day appears no less sleazy than after dark. He also coaxes excellent cameos from Rob Riggle (also of the Daily Show) and Ken Jeong (Role Models and Knocked Up).

Heather Graham has a too-small part as Jade, an escort with a heart of gold. Despite her lack of time she still manages to engage in that most Grahamsian of activities; on-screen nudity. Surely a clause which has become standard in her acting contracts. Mike Tyson cameos as himself. Bad idea. Iron Mike proceeds to treat his scenes with all the deftness of a breeze block slung through plate glass. That is to say he destroys them with his unconvincing, uneven attempts at acting. This blip would be more forgivable if not for the strength of the rest of the cast.

My final irksome memory was the story. The film plays every trick to disguise the third act plot twist, but the ending is still slightly predictable, which is a shame, as it dents an otherwise enjoyable and not overly formulaic yarn.

The Hangover is a slightly uneven comedy, hilarious in places, which treads outside the “adult comedy equals sordid comedy” box. The question is, will the people who voted this ahead of Brief Encounter on IMDb wake up in a few months time with a sore head and wonder “What was I thinking?”.

7.5/10

Star Trek Movie Review

Star Trek

Movie Review

Batman, The Incredible Hulk, James Bond. Hollywood has gone “year zero” on so many of its franchises that I'm surprised they haven't received a strongly worded letter from Pol Pot's executors. The latest series to reset the continuity odometer is Star Trek, and they've done it in some style.

Directed by J.J. Abrams, (co-creator of the never-ending bank of unanswered questions that is Lost), the movie is a prequel of sorts to the original Star Trek series, dealing with the first flight of NCC-1701 and its precocious young crew. The plot also contains a time travelling element (similar to the Voyager episode “Year of Hell”), which cleverly detaches the events of this and any further features from original canon.

Casting is the main reason this movie works so well. Chris Pine leaves all of Shatner's sixties campiness at the bead-curtained door, but retains Captain Kirk's recklessness and cockiness. The result is an alluringly fresh take on a previously anachronistic character, without the distractingly staccato delivery of old. Zachary Quinto holds the emotional centre as Spock. It’s a tough, pivotal task which leaves him less time to charm the audience, but he pulls it off with seasoned aplomb.

Outside of the two leading men, the players are equally well chosen. Anton Yelchin and Simon Pegg are underused as Chekov and Scotty respectively, but when called upon both give fun and funny performances. Special mention must go to Karl Urban, who captures the essence of DeForest Kelley's Doctor McCoy flawlessly. I found that after the character's introduction my mouth would form an expectant smile whenever he entered frame. Elsewhere, Zoe Saldana as Uhura is, willingly or not, poured into the inevitable strong female character role while Winona Ryder continues her pilgrimage back into Hollywood's good books playing Spock's human mother.

The script is a Swiss clock of perfection. It introduces the characters at its leisure, giving each their moment in which to become memorable. The humour is as accessible for Trekkies as it is for newbies and the time travelling portion of the plot (featuring Leonard Nimoy as future Spock) never becomes convoluted.

However, there are some bum – well, slightly off key – notes. Eric Bana (which my spell check would have me aptly change to Eric Banal) doesn't bring everything that you would expect of him to Nero, the time travelling antagonist. His features get lost behind the make up and his performance with it. Plus, Leonard Nimoy feels like a bit of a bolt on at times. His appearance in the centre of the story is random in an otherwise well contrived plot. I wouldn't have felt as though something were missing had he not made an appearance.

On the whole though, Abrams et al have done a wonderful job of retrofitting what, with the cancellation of the TV series Enterprise, seemed a dead franchise. All I can say is roll on the inevitable sequel. Although, maybe in this alternate Star Trek universe all the odd numbered installments will be turkeys...

8.5/10

Back From Holidays

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last month. I have been inter railing, which was great but time consuming (in a good way). I hope to have lots of new posts in the coming weeks, but for now enjoy my Terminator Salvation Movie Review.

Terminator Salvation Movie Review

Terminator Salvation

Movie Review

Picture the scene: you're an average middle aged parent and your child, a bright nice boy if easily misled, brings home a new friend to play (who we shall call Christian). You recognise the boy from neighbourhood streets. He seems a bit boisterous, but you agree that they can play in your son’s room. An hour passes, and you ascend the stairs to check on the pair. You open the door and are greeted by a massacre. Your son and Christian have systematically dismantled and strewn all of the component parts of your son's favourite toys about the carpet. Your son, normally so quiet, is laughing like a jackal whilst wrenching the head from his – for arguments sake – Zac Efron action figure. You cock your finger, shake it and, deciding your son's fate can wait until later, scream at Christian “Now you wouldn't do this in your own house, would you?”

Terminator Salvation, directed by Joseph McGinty Nichol, left me feeling like the shocked parent in this scenario. The fourth instalment in the Terminator franchise deals with the events surrounding a young (ish) John Connor's first meeting with his teenaged father Kyle Reese and the story of Marcus Wright, a convicted murderer put to death in the year 2003 who inexplicably finds himself alive in a post Judgement Day earth. As a footnote, I should mention that for the duration of this review I will not be calling the Director McG, his much used nickname, that being best reserved for Irish hip hop stars.

So, why was I left finger wagging the Terminator credits? Many reasons, the first and best of which is that although the special effects which the movie burns into the screen are jaw droppingly believable, there is nothing behind the gilded frippery. The clichéd, paper-thin story smacks of the worst kind of affected bad assedness, which at times is laughably unbelievable. For example, in between jumping from helicopters into submarines and repeatedly being the only man to survive encounters with the enemy, John Connor somehow finds time to give – apparently untraceable - radio addresses to the troops whilst sparring with resistance high command for their hearts and minds. If that great American creature The Fonz ever taught the world anything its that trying too hard to be cool instantly negates any coolness there was to be had.

Further, what story there is manages to delve too far into parts of the Terminator mythos best left to an audiences imagination, whilst at the same time treating the meat of the plot in such a shallow manner as to be unengaging. In previous films human existence under Skynet was only glimpsed in brief snippets, before reverting to a timeline contemporary with the present day. What James Cameron (Co-Writer and Director of the first two movies) grasped – a point which remains elusive to his successors - was that future events were best left to the fertile machinations of the audience member, who was – and is - much better equipped to do them justice than any CGI. Now that the plot line has moved through the looking glass to occupy a point that was reserved for background thought during previous instalments, this movie needed – and failed – to introduce some new element to plug the imaginational gap.

I additionally counted numerous examples of borrowing from other source material. Some instances are welcome allusions to previous movies, such as the “come with me if you want to live” line which has become a staple of the series and a CGI “cameo” by Arnie whilst other scenes ape Transformers and War of the Worlds. What cannot be forgiven though are plot points which should never have seen the light of post apocalyptic day. The “you're relieved of command, soldier”, or the “we have a secret weapon that we can use to win the war” segments have been done past death. Their unengaging and simplistic nature contributes to the collapse of any attempt this movie makes at intelligent storytelling beneath a pile of borrowed ideas and hackneyed plot.

The last big problem with this movie is Christian Bale. McGinty arguably sacrificed too much to cast arguably the hottest movie star in the world as his leading man. McGinty rewrote the script with Bale, put up with his on set persona and even allowed him into the editing room to shape the finished product. Listen to the tapes of Bale famously berating and threatening cinematographer Shane Hurlbut at length. Not once does the director suggest that the star may be acting like a spoilt preadolescent. The irony of this is that for all the hassle he had to endure to secure Bale, what McGinty got was a slight variant of the stars Batman portrayal; growling, unrelentingly brooding intensity regardless of context which, without a cape and cowl to hide behind, makes John Connor seem less heroic mercenary, more raving lunatic with a Messianic complex.

Ok, enough of the bad stuff. What should make you want to open your recession lightened wallet for this movie? Well, as mentioned above, the special effects are spectacular, as is the camera work. The money, for the most part, is up there on screen, with technically inventive camera work and plenty of explosions and loud noises.

The cast, Bale apart, turn in decent performances. In particular Anton Yelchin and Sam Worthington deserve recognition – more than Bale at any rate - for their portrayals of future father Kyle Reese and death row inmate Marcus Wright. I liked Michael Ironside as General Ashdown, the leader of Resistance High Command despite the fact that he's presumably hired more for his weathered looks and distinctive gravelly voice than his ability to tailor his acting to a particular character. Bryce Dallas Howard is almost non-existent as Connor's wife Kate, whilst Moon Bloodgood is passable as Sarah Connor clone Blair Williams.

If you can view this as a stand alone movie, just another summer blockbuster, there are enough well thought out action sequences to keep the pace from sagging, which, at a little under two hours running time, is an achievement worth mentioning. If not then don't bother. Go see Star Trek, or wait two weeks for the next Biggest Movie Ever.

6/10