Film Review - The Guard

A lot of love out there for this one, but I found it all a bit... meh. It certainly has its moments; the cast have great chemistry, and there's more than its fair share of one-liners, but I couldn't help but keep looking at my watch. Give me In Bruges or Intermission any day.

Film review - Final Destination 5

After a few lacklustre sequels, the Final Destination franchise finally moves back on track, giving us the spectacular and creative deaths we're after. A few new twists are thrown in, and the balance of gore vs laughter is about right, although it still doesn't quite match the first two. Unfortunately, a lot of time is wasted on characterisation- that's not a complaint you hear often, but we don't watch these films to see relationships develop, we want to see Death get his way. Everything else just holds up proceedings.

Film Review: Cowboys & Aliens

Disappointingly tedious. Overlong passages where nothing happens, and no obvious storylines or mysteries to keep you in suspense while you're waiting (and waiting) for something to happen. Unfortunately there's barely a chuckle either as it takes its preposterous premise rather seriously.
It's mostly a western, but even the scifi elements are over-familiar. The Cloverfield alien blueprint is back (yawn), and their spaceships just look like spare ribs.
It's not a complete disaster. Daniel Craig is especially good and there's a twist you might not see coming (not a particularly good one though). It's not quite Twilight boring, but gets there at times. Not what you'd expect from the director of Iron Man.

Film Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

As someone with only a passing knowledge of the original movie(s)- mostly thanks to that Simpsons episode- this came as a complete surprise. It speeds along almost as though it's showing you highlights, and yet you don't feel like you're missing anything.

Andy Serkis achieves CGI gold yet again as protagonist chimp Caesar, acting everybody off the screen. The camerawork, visual effects, and shots of San Francisco are breathtaking.

The only let-down is the human cast. Their characters never achieve even one dimension; James Franco is back to Oscar-host dreadful, Frieda Pinto just gets to look beautiful (though succeeds supremely), Tom "Draco Malfoy" Felton is quite successfully typecast as a sneering bully, but his American accent is painful.

You might think you have seen everything in the trailer, but they've kept the biggest revelation a secret. The cinema audience's reaction alone was worth the ticket price.

Review: Super 8

Lots of acclaim for this one, but I think I'm missing something. It didn't resonate emotionally with me, despite its resorting to blatant emotional manipulation at the end (the bollocks with the locket).
On the positive side, it looks great (although the lens flare is distractingly overdone), the child cast are superb, and there are some great jump-out-of-your-seat moments. But that's about it.
The back story about the grieving/ feuding parents is just dull. When the film-within-a-film (a kids' zombie flick) is more engrossing than the film itself, you know something's wrong.
I've heard claims of similarities to E.T. (how dare they) and Goonies (okay, at least it's not THAT bad), but the only thing it (frequently) reminded me of was Cloverfield, remade by pretty much the same people- but not as well. Even the monster is pretty much the same, just with the head of Gene Hackman's character from Antz.
It's worth seeing, but don't expect the classic that reviews may lead you to believe.

Film review - Captain America: The First Avenger

In some ways, this is as perfect as a comic book movie can get. The story is told properly and patiently, and action serves the story, rather than the other way around. To those who are concerned about the title's implication of American flag-waving patriotism; worry not- this isn't that movie. If anything, it's parodied.
The visual effects are pretty flawless, even when Chris Evans's head seems a little too big for his body (in the early scenes), you can never see the join or begin to imagine how they did it.
The cast are all great, and Evans himself is particularly excellent, showing a real emotional journey, proving he's more than a pretty bod. The characters are sympathetic, and the period detail is captured beautifully, reflected in both the score and pace.
Which brings me to my reservations. The pace is SO leisurely that I'm not sure I'd enjoy it as much on a repeated viewing. Once you know how tab A fits into slot B, you lose the suspense that's kept you watching, but there's not much bang to keep you occupied either.
Also, I tended to switch off when Hugo Weaving's villainous Schwarzenegger impression (and sidekick Toby Jones) came on-screen. They're just not given much to do- Villains really need to do a bit more than plot in a lab to get me interested.
But I'd highly recommend it, and am more excited than ever to see The Avengers next year. Speaking of which, sit through the credits...

Film Review - Cars 2

I'm on record as being a bona fide Pixar fan. Some may consider me biased- A Bug's Life, Cars, WALL-E, Ratatouille and even Up! all have their critics, but I adore them all. It certainly sours my opinion of rival animation studios' work (in particular the massively over-rated Shrek). But, for the first time, it's worked against them.
Their consistently brilliant output has been unrivalled, giving us colourful characters, visuals, dialogue and stories, all with an emotional wallop. The original Cars movie, despite its undeserved "boring" reputation, is no exception to this rule, and I'd encourage anybody to re-evaluate it. But yet... Something's missing in this sequel.
I can't put my finger on what, but there were times when the frantic action on-screen left me restless, rather than excited. We were all struggling to remember the new characters' names afterwards, and at times I could tell what was on-screen was amusing, yet wasn't finding myself laughing.
Whereas Cars was a beautiful, leisurely film that knew how and when to crank up the excitement, Cars 2 is as beautiful, but keeps its foot on the accelerator, so maybe it's this absence of light and shade? (How's that for mixed metaphors?)
The only emotional moment (a Pixar trademark) came early on, with a reference to the late Paul Newman's character from the first film- but this only has an emotional resonance BECAUSE of the first film.
Maybe I was in the wrong frame of mind, but I must agree (partially) with the critics- Pixar have delivered their first true disappointment.
But is it bad film? Not in the slightest. Visually, it's a feast. The intricate blink-and-you'll-miss-it details are all there, and the scenes in Tokyo and Milan are breathtaking. For the first time in ages, I wish I'd seen the 3D version of a film. The animation and design are flawless, and the themes in the score are wonderfully tongue-in-cheek, referencing spy movies of the past. Unfortunately, however, the sound mixing is off. There are times when the music could have added impact to a scene, but instead we get just a generic spy music backing track, overpowered by sound effects and/or dialogue.
Hopefully my opinion of Cars 2 will improve on later viewings, but for now it appears that this may be the first time Pixar won't appear in my annual top 10 films. At least Disney gave us Tangled this year.