THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

When the Cold War was still very much a ‘thing’, there was a television series called The Man from U.N.C.L.E. which focused on an American spy and a KGB agent teaming up to save the world on a daily basis, even if they didn’t really get along. Imagine a buddy cop story with less of the buddy part. Fast forward to now and we have a new Hollywood remake. We know, another remake, but, guess what? This one is actually pretty good.

Directed by Guy Ritchie who, let’s not forget brought us the entertaining Robert Downey Jr.-starring Sherlock Holmes movies and has pedigree in entertaining action films, and starring Superman and The Lone Ranger (although let’s forget about that, shall we?), this remake seemed doomed to failure.

Given a five minute trailer at the cinema, which came across as desperate and needy, with that running time, we should have already seen all the best bits and more, and up against Bond it never should have stood a chance. However, Ritchie has given us a rich slice of entertainment.

Set during the period when Germany was still split by the Berlin Wall, Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and Ilya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) have to team up to track down a nuclear weapon before it’s detonated. That’s the basic plot and, probably due to its simplicity, the film chugs along at a merry pace. Solo is a thief who is only fulfilling the spy role to keep out of prison and has a dry wit with a wardrobe of pithy comments to choose from; Ilya has anger management issues and threatens to explode at any time, jeopardising the mission.

Of course, they manage to just about put their differences to one side to complete the mission, and there are a few double crosses here and there as the picture starts to clear during their adventures.

The ending may seem a little bit like an episode of Top Gear at times, but the fact is that the director has not made the mistake of trying to match Bond. Instead, the film has its tongue inserted firmly inside its cheek. A serious, by-the-numbers ‘60s spy thriller would have been droll and not at all what would have been needed here. There are a couple of timescale inconsistencies, but nothing that is too jarring.

Setting itself up for a sequel, this is one U.N.C.L.E. we’d be happy to see again, and not just for Christmas.

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: GUY RITCHIE / SCREENPLAY: GUY RITCHIE, LIONEL WIGRAM / STARRING: HENRY CAVILL, ARMIE HAMMER, ALICIA VIKANDER, ELIZABETH DEBICKI, HUGH GRANT, JARED HARRIS / RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 7TH

 

THE CANNONBALL RUN

When is a film not a film? When it’s an ensemble piece for a bunch of actors who just want to have fun. The Cannonball Run‘s plot – if you can call it that – is that multiple racers are tasked with getting from Connecticut to the finishing line in California the fastest. Apart from the representative from the Safety Enforcement Unit trying to shut the race down, that’s about it. Over thirty years later, the question is how well has it stood up to the test of time? Well, let’s just say that you couldn’t make this film today!

In addition to Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Dean Martin and Farrah Fawcett, there is Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Chan and Adrienne Barbeau among others who are all game for a laugh, which is handy as the film is just set piece after set piece. Moore enjoys sending up Bond, Martin and Davis Jr. show their classic shtick was still relevant, and Reynolds gurns his way through as he was apt to do in this, which was part of a continuous partnership with the director, Hal Needham. Imagine Clooney’s Ocean’s Eleven without a plot and you’ll be in the right vicinity.

It tries to be wheelie fun, but the comedy has aged. Drink driving is an included joke, as is the fact that Reynolds pretty much kidnaps Fawcett and keeps her drugged in the back of his ambulance. There is rampant racism and misogyny aplenty.

But, and this is a big but, this kind of comedy was acceptable in the early ‘80s, and so whereas we’d be exhausted due to putting the boot into this if it was a new film, it escapes with us only cringing on occasion; after all, when this reviewer was a young lad, the transmission of this film was entertaining due to the stunts and the lack of complicated plot; at no point do they put the brakes on.

With its crisp Blu-ray re-release, you can transport yourself back to the days of acceptable unacceptability. There are a lack of extras, which is a real shame as it’d be great to get a commentary or at least an interview with Reynolds. Instead, we’re given a couple of trailers and a short interview with Moore.

The entrance of Captain Chaos is still fun, and although the ending makes little sense – the racers separately clock in when starting the race, so why are they all running to get clocked in first at the end? It’s not first across the line, it’s who is fastest – this is a microcosm of the term ‘they don’t make like they used to’.

That might not be a bad thing, but this is still a throwback to simpler times.

THE CANNONBALL RUN / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: HAL NEEDHAM / SCREENPLAY: BROCK YATES / STARRING: BURT REYNOLDS, DOM DELUISE, ROGER MOORE, DEAN MARTIN, FARRAH FAWCETT / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 30TH

 

MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL

In between showing us fear in a handful of dust and musing about whimsical cats, T.S. Eliot wrote a verse-play called Murder in the Cathedral. Actually, he did rather a lot of other stuff too but we’re sticking to the matter at hand. The play was first performed in 1935 and told the story of the death and martyrdom of Thomas Becket (never call him “Thomas à Becket” unless you want to annoy your history tutor) in 1170 at the hands of four knights who may or may not have been carrying out the wishes of Henry II. As it happens, the play was turned into a film by George Hoellering in 1951 and was showered with awards at the 12th Venice International Film Festival. Actually, it only got one (best production design) but it’s gained quite a reputation as hardly anyone has seen it since. That’s always a good way of gaining a reputation. Now the BFI have brought us the Blu-ray, so is it worth the wait? Or was it best left in that enigmatic limbo of legend?

You probably know the story but just in case you don’t, Henry and Thomas were great chums and the king elevated Thomas to the position of Archbishop in 1162 with the probable hope that his mate would allow the Crown to rule the Church and not the other way round. Unfortunately, Thomas had the strange medieval notion that he was answerable only to God and proceeded to humiliate, undermine and generally annoy his old friend at every opportunity. Henry might have said “Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?” in front of some over-enthusiastic tooled-up knights and the rest is, quite literally, history.

It probably isn’t for us to comment on T.S. Eliot’s actual play – we just do movies – but it’s interesting stuff that was written at the time fascism was on the rise and that probably colours the message a bit. Becket is visited by four “tempters” (one of whom is the voice of T.S. Eliot) to get him to change his ways and, obviously, he doesn’t. But the unfortunate thing about the film is that Hoellering has just filmed the play as it would be seen on stage, unison chanting from the chorus included. Being a “verse-play” we might have expected “stagey” rather than naturalistic acting, but why film it on an obvious stage set? See Larry’s Henry V (1944) for the correct way to do this sort of thing. The Becket story may be a bit short on battle scenes but it’d have been nice to see the camera move every now and again as opposed to feeling like we’ve been stuck on a theatre seat for two hours. But as this is obviously deliberate, we’ll just judge it accordingly. There is at least one very good bit where one of the knights is justifying his actions and breaks the fourth wall by challenging us, the cinema audience, directly. It’s effective and thought-provoking but it’s practically the only time the medium of film is used with any flair.

So if you want to see one of T.S. Eliot’s more famous works and it’s not being done by your local provincials, this is worth a watch. Other than that, we just wished they’d remembered they were making a film.

Special Features: Alternative festival cut / Three short films from George Hoellering / Deleted scenes / Booklet

MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL (1951) / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: GEORGE HOELLERING / SCREENPLAY: GEORGE HOELLERING, T.S. ELIOT / STARRING: JOHN GROSER, ALEXANDER GAUGE, DAVID WARD, GEORGE WOODBRIDGE, BASIL BURTON, T.S. ELIOT (VOICE), CLEMENT MCCALLIN, MICHAEL ALDRIDGE, LEO MCKERN, PAUL ROGERS, NIALL MACGINNIS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

ALIEN EXTINCTION

And The Asylum keeps on going… This was titled Age of Tomorrow in America, and whilst that title sounds familiar to another alien invasion movie, this doesn’t even pale in comparison. What we have here are two separate stories happening at the same time as this alien invasion until they sort of converge at the end. This may sound cool, but it gets tiring really fast. In fact, it only further cements the fact that The Asylum movies are as boring as hell, badly made, and in this case, squanders real talent on screen.

Granted, Kelly Hu still looks great and brings charming command and gusto to her role, but this completely wastes her talents which were made to much better use in X-Men 2, The Scorpion King, TV’s Arrow and so on. The same can also be said of Robert Piccardo, who too tries his best and is the most involved actor in the cast, yet this is another case where Piccardo’s material is beneath him. The locations are pretty imaginative and quite pretty to look at, and the spacesuits, especially when compared to the rest of the film’s production values (which are very few indeed), look decent enough. But that said, however, the movie is incredibly cheap in almost every aspect. The driving sequences are atrociously handled, looking as though they were edited in a very haphazard and lifeless way.

In fact, the editing itself looks like it was done with a cheese grater, and the special effects are incredibly ropey in execution; okay one second, poorly rendered the next. The aliens themselves are so unconvincing in their realisation it makes even the ropiest of Doctor Who monsters more terrifying and menacing in comparison. The soundtrack is abominable, but even so, you wouldn’t be able to hear through the loud noises and shouting going on, apart from the quieter moments when it really becomes incredibly distracting. The plot (well, if you can call it one) makes absolutely no sense whatsoever with the Basil-exposition scenes becoming more like padding, feeling very ham-fisted and becoming highly suspect as it’s highly plausible that the writers themselves would’ve had no clue what they were talking about or how to deliver it. Any moments that are meant to be snappy are anything but, and the emotionally impactful scenes end up being just emotionally bereft.

The story is a disaster in itself, and despite the film going on for near an hour and a half, it feels much longer than that. There was zero tension or fun throughout, none of the subplots are interesting with the typical “father trying to find his daughter” storyline being painfully slow, plus it ends on a very anti-climatic note. The film’s pacing is erratic, the action is lifeless and looks under-rehearsed, and the direction is flat, showing little finesse or technical prowess. The characters themselves are generically cardboard cut-out stereotypes and the fact that they are so badly drawn-out and developed, with maybe the exception of both Hu and Picardo, the acting was terrible with most of them looking lost, some bored out of their brains, and a handful looking as though they were trying to remember what their lines were.

Overall, for The Asylum, Alien Extinction (or Age of Tomorrow) could’ve been much worse and it was laughably bad, admittedly, but it’s still poorly executed and incredibly tiresome, which just goes to show that it’s time for The Asylum to stop making these types of movies and squandering the talent involved (in this case both Hu and Picardo).

ALIEN EXTINCTION / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: JAMES KONDELIK / SCREENPLAY: JACOB COONEY, BILL HANSTOCK / STARRING: KELLY HU, ROBERT PICCARDO, ANTHONY MARKS, LANE TOWNSEND / RELEASE DATE: TBC
 

RED ARMY

The icy tendrils of the Cold War got everywhere; with the space race it reached the moon, while with Rocky IV it became all about a single life or death boxing match. Gabe Polsky’s documentary shows how, in real life, the Cold War was being fought on ice rinks as the Soviets and the Americans competed in the lightning quick and often brutal sport of ice hockey.

You don’t need to be a fan of the sport or a Cold War historian to enjoy Polsky’s hugely entertaining documentary, though. Intertwining politics, history, the personal lives of players and rink action, Red Army tells the story of the Soviet Union’s awe-inspiring national ice hockey team as team captain Slava Fetisov turns from national hero to endangered traitor. And Fetisov is an absolute treat to watch, whether on the ice or off, as he talks Polsky through his days at the top of the game.

The Red Army are a legendary team of players whose breathtaking skill was achieved through countless hours, days, weeks and years of hard work under the dictatorial control of an overbearing and ruthless coach. Constantly training for the next Olympics throughout the late ‘70s and ‘80s, Fetisov and his team become infinitely better than any other players in the world, but at a tremendous personal cost, spending 11 months at a time away from their families in training camps.

The USSR become unbeatable in the rink, but with Communism and KGB repression taking their toll on the country, the players begin to see a different way of living when they travel to the United States. Politics and economics might be transforming the USSR, but the mistreated players are desperate for a slice of American living by joining the NHL.

Using archive footage (the Red Army in action are spectacular) and fresh interviews with the players, Polsky nails the tone throughout. Fetisov is a hilarious presence, but there are moments of real heart and tragedy as these men discuss the hardships of what they went through to become the best. The Cold War mentality is picked apart, with both sides coming in for criticism. This isn’t anti-Communist propaganda, but a clear-eyed look at the benefits and drawbacks of both economic systems. Even the way these players feel about their pasts is fascinatingly complex, with some touching revelations about what they have gone on to achieve in their lives.

The interviews with Fetisov appear uncut as Polsky can be heard questioning his subject. Polsky’s persistent questioning and refusal to cut captures some genuinely emotional moments as the hockey stars relate their more trying experiences.

Even if you have no interest in ice hockey, the footage of Fetisov and his team skating rings around their opponents with precision passing is stunning in its level of skill. While relaying the deeply personal stories of some hockey legends, Red Army offers a revealing peek behind the Iron Curtain. It is an absolutely fascinating documentary; incredibly heartfelt, at times hilarious, and often surprisingly poignant.

RED ARMY / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & STORY: GABE POLSKY / STARRING: SLAVA FETISOV, SCOTTY BOWMAN, ANATOLI KARPOV, ALEXEI KASATONOV / RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 7TH

 

THE RAGING MOON

Bruce Pritchard (Malcolm McDowell) is a likeable rogue. He plays soccer for his local team, chats up girls and has aspirations to be a great writer. But when he returns home after his brother’s wedding everything changes. He collapses in the lift and wakes up the next day in hospital. His illness is never given a name but now he’s paralysed from the waist down. Bruce will never walk again.

Bruce grows sullen and bitter. He moves in to a care home for the disabled and refuses to communicate with any of his neighbours, until he sees Jill (Nanette Newman). Jill is pretty and always smiling. Like Bruce, she’s confined to a wheelchair but that doesn’t stop her from making the most of life. When she isn’t playing ping pong she has her nose in a book.

Bruce finds out that Jill is leaving the home soon. She’s engaged to be married. When he tries to talk with her it’s awkward and he comes across rude and boorish. When she leaves he doesn’t think he’ll see her again. But when Jill returns to her parents and her fiancée, it doesn’t go well. She knows her fiancée doesn’t love her anymore, that he’s scared of her disability. Before long, she’s back at the home. When Bruce and Jill are reunited, he’s softer and more charming. He makes her laugh. Soon, Bruce and Jill are inseparable. But when they fall in love, and decide to leave the home and take the world on together, they don’t realise the tragedy that is in store for them.

The Raging Moon was written for the screen and directed by Bryan Forbes, one of British cinema’s leading lights and husband to Nanette Newman. Among his better known films are Séance on a Wet Afternoon and The Stepford Wives.

It’s an interesting movie and a lot more enjoyable than the synopsis (or its rather bland and worthy trailer) would have you believe. We would even go so far as to say it’s one of Malcolm McDowell’s best roles. Playing Bruce must have been like walking a tightrope – he starts the journey laddish and cocky, decelerates into brooding and hostile, switches into charming, accelerates into funny and then eventually cruises into caring and vulnerable. For those of us who mostly know McDowell from movies like A Clockwork Orange, Cat People and some of the terrible straight-to-video sci-fis and horrors he’s made over the past couple of decades, the nuances in his performance are something of a revelation.

Nanette Newman, a fantastic actress in her own right, gives great support but seems a little miscast. This wouldn’t be the only time Bryan Forbes will shoehorn his wife into something she wasn’t quite right for; check out her appearance in Forbes’ version of The Stepford Wives.

Among the supporting actors, look out for Bernard Lee (the original ‘M’) in a role that would make James Bond’s boss shudder with embarrassment, Catweazle and Worzel Gummidge’s Geoffrey Bayldon and Blakes 7’s Paul Darrow in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him part as a hospital doctor.

If you ever find yourself in the mood for a gentle, rather sad, but essentially heartwarming little love story about the kinds of characters we rarely ever see on screen, you’d be wise to give this little gem of British filmmaking a spin.

THE RAGING MOON / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: BRYAN FORBES / STARRING: MALCOLM MCDOWELL, NANETTE NEWMAN, GEORGIA BROWN, BERNARD LEE / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 23RD

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES – EXTENDED EDITION

Chances are, if you wanted to see The Battle of the Five Armies then you’d have done so by now. As well as its cinema release last year, the final part of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy has already hit DVD and Blu-ray in April of this year. But you know the drill by now with these things, which means that it’s now time for the suped-up, extras-filled extended edition of this release.

Plot-wise, we pick things up as Smaug, the Benedict Cumberbatch-voiced dragon, is unleashing hell on Lake-town before the action and focus quickly shifts to the Dwarves, led by Richard Armitage’s Thorin Oakenshield, after they’ve reclaimed the riches of their homeland. The thing is, Thorin’s thirst for the Arkenstone begins to cause rifts amongst he and his brethren, whilst various other armies descend upon Little Mountain in the hope of claiming this wealth for themselves. Oh, and yes, there’s of course Orcs. Lots and Lots of Orcs. Plus Christopher Lee’s Saruman. Not to mention, obviously, Martin Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins, through whose eyes so much of the story is told. But you know all of this by now, right?

As mentioned, those who will have wanted to have seen this film will have long since done so by now, so what’s the point of this release? Well, apart from a convenient cash cow for Peter Jackson and Warner Brothers, the main selling point here is the ridiculous amount of extras present. The package as a whole is spread out over a whopping 3 Blu-ray discs (or 5 DVD discs), littered with over 9 hours of special features and bonus content, including an additional 20 minutes to the main film (even though said extra minutes don’t add all that much in terms of plot).

Whilst the special features of the previous Five Armies release are all present, the highlights of the bonus content are likely the commentary from Peter Jackson and producer Philippa Boynes, not to mention the massively in-depth Appendices featurettes that have been a key part in the special features of the previous two Hobbit instalments. The amount of bonus features here really is daunting when sitting down to have a look through them; there’s so many features, interviews, behind-the-scenes looks, and more, all spliced into individual segments – it really is enough to make a man long for the simplicity of The Shire.

When all is said and done, the film is what it is: a good conclusion to a stretched-out trilogy (we still stand by the logic that The Hobbit should’ve been two films at most…). The movie itself is as lush, rich and vibrant as you remember it, if not clearly predictable, but the purpose of purchasing this new release is either because somebody is a completist or because there’s so much bonus material to mine through.

If you own the previous release of The Battle of the Five Armies, should you pick this up? Unless you’re a mega fan, likely not. If you don’t own said previous release, dive in and have yourself a whale of a time exploring the ins and outs of Jackson’s final Hobbit movie.

Special Features: Commentary with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens / The Appendices – Parts XI and XII / New Zealand: Home of Middle-Earth – Part 3

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES – EXTENDED EDITION / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: PETER JACKSON / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: RICHARD ARMITAGE, MARTIN FREEMAN, IAN MCKELLEN, ORLANDO BLOOM, EVANGELINE LILLY / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 23RD

 

SHARKNADO 3: OH HELL NO

We have come a long way since the B-movie creature features of the ’50s and ’60s, or have we? For years now, every animal known to man, from cobras to shrews, has been genetically mutated or manipulated for the cheesy thrills of a viewing audience. However, the notable standouts in this ‘nature attacks’ genre have generally gone that little bit further to distinguish themselves from the crowd. Sharks have – since Spielberg’s blockbuster birthing Jaws – been the granddaddy of this genre, so naturally the next evolutionary step was throwing in natural disasters. Back in 2013, the first Sharknado became an unexpected phenomenon, starting with the poster getting online buzz at Cannes and the TV zeitgeist when the film was aired on SyFy. Was it good? No, purposely terrible in fact, and yet the film garnered better reviews (or at least a higher Rotten Tomatoes rating) than the likes of Iron Man 3 and Pacific Rim. Naturally a sequel followed in 2014, so now we arrive again in this popular world of dreadfully bad CGI, acting and celebrity cameos, where the question is not so much “is it any good”, as “what do you want us to say”? 

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No (seriously) is of course rubbish and it knows it, here endeth our logical review because there is no way to review this film. This is a knowing series that continues to deliver the bads and, more likely than not, most sitting down to watch a film called Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No will approve. The thing that has clearly made the series a success and more recognised than the likes of Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, is its level of open awfulness. In this third film, this remains the case but it must be said that after three movies, the concept is left with nowhere to go… not that this will make one iota of difference. The story (haha) sees the tropical shark-laden storms start up again along the east coast, only the game has changed and the storms are joining together! Naturally, chainsaw-wielding hero Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) takes it upon himself to save the world (or more importantly, America)… again. From a shark on rollercoaster tracks, people entering orbit in a fish belly, a baby escaping a charred shark gut, and water skiing with priceless art in the white house, this film does have its share of barmy brilliance but to what overall effect? You decide.

The film is chock full of cameos (including WWE Legend Chris Jericho, Jerry Springer and even Jedward) once again and is more a game than a movie, as we play spot the “star” and ‘laugh at the silly scene’. Half of the film plays like a silly advert for Universal Orlando and the other a NASA ad as co-directed by Michael Bay and a drunken (and likely disgraced) ichthyologist. This sequel is admittedly enjoyable in the same brainless ways as its predecessors, be it the eye rolling dialogue, ridiculous logic-defying action or the naff effects, but when will it be enough? After three films, a shit load of sharks and more D-listers than a week-long ITV2 marathon, there really are not many places left to go with the concept. By land, sea, air and now space, Sharknado 3 flies by with trashy writing, acting and lightsabing chainsaws and its success is down to you.

Love it or hate it, this straight-to-screen movement has grown to defy criticism for it embraces flaw over flair. The future of a lead “character” was left open to a hashtag Twitter vote when it aired months ago, so you can look at it two ways – this franchise is either a first step into social viewing participation or a slippery slope into how movies are shared. This is a bad film, with product placement tattooed into every scale, and yet it is what it is meant to be. There is no way to review this as a movie as it isn’t one, it is a bizarre fandom whereby you either love it, hate it or get drunk enough that this becomes Citizen Kane with gills and gale force winds. Whatever the case, you can ignore the rating below; you already know if you will like this!

SHARKNADO 3: OH HELL NO / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ANTHONY C. FERRANTE/ SCREENPLAY: THUNDER LEVIN / STARRING: IAN ZIERING, TARA REID, CASSIE SCERBO, BO DEREK, DAVID HASSELHOFF/ RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 23RD

ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS

Fifty years before Matt Damon found himself growing pooh-potatoes and listening to funky ‘70s disco music during his enforced stay on the red planet in this year’s brilliant The Martian, Paul Mantee was in a similar predicament in this classic 1960’s sci-fi B-movie. But where Matt faced his predicament with a quip and a smile alongside the prospect of a long, hard struggle to stay alive, Mantee gets by with the help of a monkey in a spacesuit, a convenient oxygen supply and a mute alien he names Friday – as you would. Oh, and he’s also got to contend with an attack by alien spaceships fashioned out of the hoods of the ‘tripods’ in George Pal’s version of War of the Worlds whooshing about the place spitting Sparks as they try to root out their escaped alien captive. Never a dull moment on Mars…

A sticker on the cover of this welcome new budget-price Blu-ray rerelease proclaims “This film is scientifically authentic”, but we’re betting that runs about as far as depicting a Mars blessed with a potentially-fatal rarefied atmosphere. Elsewhere this is pure technicolour 1960s cornball sci-fi, clunkily riffing off Defoe and boasting an array of imaginative special effects combining animation, matte paintings, modelwork and the odd bit of atmospheric location footage in the formidable Death Valley. Astronauts Commander Draper (Mantee) and Colonel McReady (Adam West) abandon their space vessel to avoid colliding with a meteoroid. Only Draper survives the descent down to the red planet’s savage surface, and the beleaguered astronaut – with only flight-test monkey Mona for company – remains stoic and unflappable as he comes to terms with the Martian terrain in the desperate hope that a rescue mission will be launched from Earth. What kicks off as a slightly naive and fanciful survivalist movie soon descends into pure space opera territory when Draper, driven to the point of insanity by his enforced isolation, discovers alien slaves being forced to carry out Martian mining operations by hostile aliens and teams up with Friday (Victor Lundin) and travels through Mars’ canals (the existence of which have long since been disproved) to escape the attentions of the aliens by taking refuge in the planet’s polar icecap.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars is a product of its time of course, and as such it’s inevitably dated. But it remains an exciting technicolour spectacular full of striking, vibrant imagery and ingenious effects, and the dour Mantee is a likeable, rootable leading man. Undoubtedly resurrected now because of the success of Ridley Scott’s The Martian, this is a worthwhile companion piece which, in its own way, is a bit of a minor landmark in the history of movie sci-fi.

Special Features: Commentary / Trailer / Souvenir booklet

ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: BYRON HASKIN / SCREENPLAY: JOHN C. HIGGINS, IB MELCHIOR / STARRING: PAUL MANTEE, VICTOR LUNDIN, ADAM WEST / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 23RD

 

INSIDE OUT

20 years ago, Pixar released their very first animated feature in Toy Story, which came after they had already garnered praise and awards with a catalogue of animated short films- one of which (Luxo Jr.) came to be integral to their studio ident. Since then, be it in short or feature length form- the studio has become a powerful name in animation and has hardly put a foot wrong. Be it a family of heroes, living toys or a waste disposal robot on an adventure, Pixar have prided themselves with projects that are fun, passionate and emotional. But after the studio’s first- and thus far only- critical failure (albeit it made tonnes of money) Cars 2 (2011), some have said the studio has not been at their most magical. However that all changed this past summer, with a film that came with smaller expectations than other Pixar projects but floored critics and audiences alike. Inside Out is knockout animated entertainment and once again shows how Pixar are master puppeteers when it comes to the audience’s heartstrings.


Before the film started in cinemas (and included here in the special features) the cute short film Lava preceded it, which is a musical short about the trials of love in its different forms. In many ways this was the perfect way to ease audiences into a very emotional frame of mind because that is literally what Inside Out is all about. The film centres on a young girl called Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) and quite literally takes us inside her head. There we meet her emotions- Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). The emotions work together in the headquarters of Riley’s conscious mind but when something goes wrong with some of Riley’s core memories and her life becomes more turbulent than ever, Joy and Sadness find themselves trapped outside headquarters and must return before Riley’s head becomes a far less bright and enjoyable place to be.


So often with animated features, people say the plot is nothing special and it is the likable characters and visuals that power things forward. However we seem to be entering a golden age of animated cinema whereby sophisticated visuals are constantly going hand in hand with memorable characters and an astounding story. And Inside Out is just that, a breathtaking tale of humanity that easily connects to every possible aspect of the viewing audiences emotions. The endlessly colourful visual output and the creative set pieces that this film boasts (the different towns of consciousness in Riley’s head) are breathtaking. And the tone of the film is well served by Michael Giacchino’s reliably classy score. Meanwhile the script backs the gorgeous aesthetics up with a powerful and relatable story of a young girl in crisis, internally and externally. This is a dramatic and heart-filled offering which in turn knows when to be enjoyable, upsetting and heart meltingly adorable.


The characters all serve a purpose with no wastage, even some of the lesser focused on emotions (especially Anger) act as either comic supporting acts or important cores to the story. The voice work is energetic all round with Poehler’s Joy acting as the movie’s pulse but the real heart (and the film’s hidden jewel) is Phyllis Smith’s Sadness and the character highlights one of the film’s central messages of how something special can often come from the most unexpected places. The emotions themselves are fun, endearing and cleverly constructed characters but many audiences will perhaps come away with fondest memories of Bing Bong (Richard Kind)- Riley’s forgotten imaginary friend. A Seuss-like creation, the pink character is a hilarious aspect to this multi-faceted animated masterwork, which comes with a huge gut punch of an emotional scene later in the film. Trust us, it is heartbreaking. 


Both Riley’s external and internal journey’s combine to give Inside Out an original and wickedly ingenious story that toys with different animated styles (in one brilliant sequence), notions of what it is to be human and even cinema satire (Dreamland is a dead ringer for Hollywood). Doctor and del Carmen have helmed a mighty story here that is chock full of innovation and wonder. Yet the real power of Inside Out is not its visual vitality, its warm characters or even its original design and imagination, the film’s greatest achievement is that it connects to literally every viewer in some way. No matter your race, social standing, age, height, gender or personal problems, you will all find something here that gets inside your heart and mind. The kids might say this is “totes emosh”, we’ll simply say it is heart swelling and beautiful animated cinema that deserves every success it has achieved.


Special Features: Trailers / Featurettes / Lava Short Film / Deleted Scenes / Audio Commentary / Behind-The Scenes Features


INSIDE OUT / CERT: U / DIRECTORS: PETE DOCTOR, RONALDO DEL CARMEN / SCREENPLAY: PETE DOCTOR, MEG LEFAUVE, JOSH COOLEY / STARRING: AMY POEHLER, BILL HADER, PHYLLIS SMITH, RICHARD KIND, LEWIS BLACK / RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 23RD