Review Category: Movie

Review: Iron Man 3 / Cert: 12A / Director: Shane Black / Screenplay: Drew Pearce, Shane Black / Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Jon Favreau, Rebecca Hall / Release Date: April 25th

Marvel Phase Two – the next raft of superhero movies based on the existing, successfully launched comic book franchises along with a few newbies such as Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy – gets off to a sensational, blistering start with Shane Black’s Iron Man 3. This is a movie which not only closes the cycle begun with Jon Favreau’s original Iron Man back in 2008 but also goes some way towards rehabilitating the unloved Iron Man 2 which now seems a better fit into the ongoing story of the life and times of Tony Stark. Early fears that fans were going to be treated to a Christopher Nolan-esque Iron Man mope-a-thon as our hero sinks into a world of deep despair and moody angst are fortunately blown right out of the water (much as Tony’s luxury cliff-top pad is spectacularly blown into it) in a film which tells a rousing, powerful character-based action/adventure story and balances the human drama of a man with massive personal demons threatening to tear his world apart with some genuine 24-carat belly laughs. Iron Man 3 is easily the funniest film yet from the Marvel Universe but its wit is slick and sophisticated and it never detracts from the thrills and excitement of a story where the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been for Tony Stark.

The events of last year’s Avengers Assemble have had a debilitating effect on the usually happy-go-lucky Stark. Thanks to his out-of-this-world experiences during the battle with the invading Chitauri, he’s plagued with self-doubt, he can’t sleep, he suffers from panic attacks. Fortunately there’s a sinister new super-baddie on the horizon requiring Iron Man’s attentions. This is the Mandarin, inscrutable and menacing public face of a global terrorist group dedicated to undermining and overthrowing Western values. Also on the scene is the crazed geneticist Aldrich Killian who is experimenting with the ‘extremis’ serum in pursuit of his goal of creating an army of super-soldiers (for reasons not entirely clear in the story). There’s no time for Tony Stark to sit around feeling sorry for himself, especially when the Mandarin launches a devastating attack on Stark’s home, capturing his beloved Pepper Potts (Paltrow) and hospitalising his best friend Happy Hogan (Favreau).

If a man can truly to be judged by the quality of his enemies then Tony Stark is right up there alongside his opponents in Iron Man 3, who are easily amongst the best yet pitted against any of the Marvel Universe’s movie superheroes. “You will never see me coming,” warns the Mandarin as he ominously sets himself up against the Western world – and the audience will never see The Mandarin’s true nature and motivations coming. Ben Kingsley (that’s Sir Ben to you) is very nearly the show-stealer, and Guy Pearce’s Killian is by turns sinister and powerful and yet as ready with the apt one-liner as Stark himself (scenes between the two could easily run with a laughter track as, indeed, could much of the whole film). Pearce, often underused in what are little more than cameo roles nowadays (think Prometheus) has rarely been better.

There’s little realistically left to say about Robert Downey, Jr himself as Tony Stark/Iron Man; the character now fits the actor like a glove. Downey’s comic timing is immaculate and his heroic chops are formidable. Any problems Downey may have had in the past in being lost in the Iron Man costume during the action sequences are cleverly countered here by showing Stark generally unmasked but augmented by various bits of Iron Man tech or else hurtling himself into Iron Man suits mid-flight. Writer/director Black, familiar with the rhythms of Downey’s style thanks to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, gives the actor dialogue which not only sings but is also as warm and witty as the best of Joss Whedon himself. And he’s not the only one; everyone here gets their moment to shine and Gwyneth Paltrow finally gets a bit more to do than just fawn over Tony or otherwise get sidelined by stronger characters and more substantial story arcs. Pepper Potts even plays a pivotal role in the explosive final action sequence – even if one apparently brave story beat disappoints by the predictability and inevitability of its undoing.

The reality is that there’s very little flab or flounder to Iron Man 3. The first hour is engrossing and immersive and scarcely drags despite its focus on character and drama, but the iron gloves really come off as Black shows his deftness of touch in a relentless tide of breathless action sequences – the demolition of Tony’s home, an astonishing mid-air rescue, Stark’s own rugged bouts of fisticuffs and Shellhead’s battles with extremis-enhanced super soldiers. It’s the Iron Man film we really all wanted after the first feature, but only now does it feel like we’ve really earned this one, that Tony Stark has experienced enough to deserve a story this big and an epiphany this satisfying. Tony Stark at the end of Iron Man 3 is a very different man from Tony Stark at the beginning – in every sense – and whilst he’s now clearly at one with both himself and his world (and really no longer in need of his mechanical alter ego), the audience is left in no doubt that the story of Iron Man is far from over.

Because, as the final caption promises us, ‘Tony Stark will return”. Whether Robert Downey, Jr will too is another matter entirely, and whilst it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone bringing the character so vividly to life in any future instalment, Iron Man 3 sees Marvel’s most-likely-to-fail superhero franchise in uncommonly good health and it sets a very high bar for this year’s upcoming wave of summer blockbusters to strive towards.

Oh, and you will be sticking around for that post-credits sequence, yes?

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Oblivion / Cert: 12A / Director: Joseph Kosinski / Screenplay: Joseph Kosinski, Karl Gajdusek, Michael Arndt / Starring: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough / Release Date: Out Now

TRON: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski’s debut feature, was an extraordinary cinematic experience let down by a basic, near-robotic handling of story and a bland lead. For Oblivion, he’s roped in Mr Star Wattage Charisma Inc. himself – that’s Tom Cruise – but the director’s handling of plot still isn’t as finessed as it could be.

Kosinski is the spiritual love child of Ridley Scott: conceived in an ad agency and birthed in cinema. They may suffer the same artistic affliction when it comes to storytelling but neither lets the material fail completely. Oblivion, of course, is feast for the eyes. A wondrous spectacle, especially in IMAX, there’s much to enjoy and savour. Claudio Miranda, a recent Oscar-winner for his work on The Life of Pi, paints with light landscapes and interiors of neutral tones – greys and whites, mostly – with carefully and expertly managed use of colour.

Oblivion is yet another modern sci-fi picture influenced by the design aesthetic of Apple. The future is made of iPods! Ito Morabito’s work for French electro group Air, specifically the album cover for 10,000 Hz Legend (2001), seems to be another reference point. The scale and attention to detail is nothing short of breathtaking with primordial Icelandic vistas – a natural landscape heightened with seamless special effects.

The year is 2077. The human race has successfully defeated an alien invasion via the use of devastating nuclear weapons, and Jack Harper (Cruise) is waiting out his last tour of duty on our ravaged world as a maintenance technician. “We won the war, but lost the planet,” he tells us in voice over during the opening moments. Accompanying him is Victoria (Riseborough), a by-the-book colleague. Both are haunted by memories of past lives, though only Jack is inquisitive enough to act upon these nagging thoughts. What unfolds spells peril for them both and the other characters with whom they come into contact.

Based on an unpublished graphic novel by Joe Kosinski and reworked by several hands (rumour has it William Monahan and Michael Ardnt submitted drafts), Oblivion is pulp fiction with a blockbuster budget. The actors have to chew on a fair bit of expository dialogue, but only enough to help the audience keep up with the plot’s various twists and turns, and the injection of paranoia into proceedings midway into the second act recalls Philip K. Dick’s writings.

Exciting, action-packed and complemented by production design that will blow your mind, Oblivion is an exquisite sci-fi adventure that needs to be viewed on the biggest screen possible.

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

Actual Rating:

 

Review: The Host / Cert: 12A / Director: Andrew Niccol / Screenplay: Andrew Niccol / Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Jake Abel, Max Irons, William Hurt, Chandler Canterbrury, William Fisher / Release Date: Out Now

Stephanie Meyer, the modern day Frankenstein who created the abominable and much derided Twilight franchise, turns her attention to the rich world of science fiction in this ghastly, cloying teen dream alien invasion flick based on her 1998 book which, it turns out, was a dry run for the angsty themes and love triangles of her later vampire saga. Science-fiction fans will find little of interest here – and certainly nothing especially original – but teenage One Direction fans who constantly dream of kissing boys will thrill to the sub-girl’s comic picture strip dialogue and the brooding non-threatening hunks who pad out the faceless cast.

Earth has, we’re told, been overrun by body-invading aliens called Souls whose influence has created a bland and uniform society where everyone’s nice, there’s no such thing as war and, it seems, chrome sports cars, bikes and helicopters are de rigueur. Human survivors are few and far between but when Melanie (Ronan) in captured and subsumed by an alien called Wanderer, she finds that she still exists inside her Host’s mind and she/they eventually stumble across a nest of human survivors living in a cave in the desert. Here, inevitably, the Wanderer and Melanie each fall in love with a different boy and with Melanie ever-present as an echoey voice-over the drama descends into little more than two hormonal teenage girls in the playground shrieking “I hate you kissing him!” for the better part of two long hours.

Andrew Niccol has decent form in creating reasonably convincing dystopian future worlds (Gattaca, In Time) and he just about manages to pull it off again here with the occasionally eerie sameyness of the possessed humans, especially in one effective scene where Melanie visits a supermarket (blandly named ‘Store’) where all the stock has identical functional labelling and no one really cares if customers walk out without paying. But the threat of the pursuing aliens determined to catch and convert the last of the humans never amounts to much – the film’s much more concerned with all the kissing and hand-holding – and the human rebels hiding underground are so feeble it’s hard to tell the difference between them and the doe-eyed aliens. William Hurt’s rebel leader Jeb Stryder provides one moment of unintentional humour when he remarks that Wanderer’s name is too long: “I’ll call you Wanda” he says – yeah, ‘cos that’s like really so much shorter than Wanderer.

The Host is nothing like as offensively inane as the Twilight saga and in Saoirse Ronan it does at least boast a talented and likeable lead who does what she can with lame material. The best we can hope for is that The Host will encourage the screaming tweenies it’s aimed at to seek out more challenging science fiction which says a little more about the human condition than the ‘it’s nice to kiss and hold hands with boys’ message of this dull, plodding and largely lifeless effort.

Expected Rating: 5 out of 10 

Actual Rating:

Review: G.I. Joe – Retaliation / Cert: 12A / Director: Jon M. Chu / Screenplay: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick / Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, D.J. Cotrona, Channing Tatum, Jonathan Pryce, Ray Stevenson, Ray Park / Release Date: Out Now

It’s all kicking off in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the long awaited, much delayed sequel to 2009’s enjoyable-despite-itself The Rise of Cobra. Following a screening of footage from Retaliation last summer, Starburst’s hopes were high that this second entry in what’s clearly intended to be a long-running action movie franchise might have a slicker script, a cleverer storyline and a bit more decent characterisation than the slam-bam ‘let’s blow up Paris for the Hell of it’ original. But it was not to be. Retaliation is pretty much a movie full of bald, muscular men running around grunting and firing guns while the token female in the cast gets the chance to strip down to her underwear once or twice; oh, and London gets it this time but that’s okay because it’s not in America.

The plot? Well, there is one, after a fashion. The hard of remembering are reintroduced to the G.I. Joe squad in a sequence which is virtually ‘top trumps’ on the big screen and we’re reminded that the nefarious Cobra organisation has infiltrated the White House and replaced the President with an evil double (played by Jonathan Pryce, whose tongue is virtually protruding through his cheek throughout the entire movie – the scene where he plays Angry Birds on his mobile phone as the world teeters on the edge of nuclear Armageddon is nearly enough to justify the film’s existence). The GI Joe squad is quickly wiped out on the false Pres’s orders and it’s up to new Joe on the block Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson to organise those who have survived into a crack force to thwart Cobra’s devilish (and rather self-defeating) scheme to plunge the world into nuclear chaos. His plan involves chasing off to the Himalayas (and the one action set-piece which genuinely thrills) and recruiting the original GI Joe; welcome aboard Mr Bruce Willis, who looks not so much as if he’s phoning it in but rather texting it. Before long Dwayne (who thankfully resists any urge to flex his pecs) and Bruce are rushing about shooting down similarly bald security guards and blowing up pretty much everything in sight in their haste to get to the end credits and sign up for the inevitable sequel.

To its credit, GI Joe: Retaliation isn’t as fist-clenchingly dumb as last year’s Battleship (sorry to bring that one up again) but neither is it as gloriously silly as the guilty pleasure which as The Rise of Cobra. The script rarely rises above the monosyllabic, the spectacle just becomes a rush of explosions and bangs and flashes but, oddly, the 3D conversion which caused the ninth month delay in the film’s release does actually work wonders in at least holding the attention when it might otherwise wander towards the theatre exit sign. Ultimately it’s a waste of actors who really deserve better because they’ve got genuine presence; Dwayne can actually act a bit, Bruce is usually good for a few moody glowers and one-liners and Britain’s Ray Stevenson, scorching in series seven of Dexter, just gets lost in a rush of admittedly well choreographed but exhausting-to-watch fight sequences. Astonishingly this empty vessel looks set to rake in even more than its predecessor at the box office and toy manufacturers Hasbro, at least, will have cause to celebrate the news that a third G.I. Joe has already been greenlit. We can hardly wait.

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Dark Skies / Cert: 15 / Director: Scott Stewart / Screenplay: Scott Stewart / Starring: Keri Russell, Josh Hamilton, Dakota Goyo, Kaden Rockett, J.K. Simmons / Release Date: Out Now

The Barrett family, living a quiet suburban life somewhere in middle America, are having a tough time. Architect Dad Daniel (Hamilton) is struggling to find a job and estate agent Mom Lacey (Russell) can’t get a decent commission to save her life. Youngest son Sammy (Rockett) stays awake at night talking to his brother Jesse (Goyo) via walkie talkie and listening to creepy stories about ’The Sandman’. Then the weird stuff starts to happen: food thrown all over the kitchen floor, cans and packages arranged into towers and strange signs projected onto the ceiling. Then the burglar alarm persistently goes off without reason, hundreds of birds crash into the house, they each experience incidents of catatonia or loss of control and suddenly the two boys are covered in strange and inexplicable bruises. Are the Barretts being terrorised by some supernatural entity or is something even more sinister at work in their home?

Dark Skies plays like a cross between Paranormal Activity and Signs and director/writer Scott Stewart (previously responsible for the Paul Bettany travesties Legion and Priest) seems to be reasonably comfortable toying with our expectations of the ‘haunted house’ movie and then subverting them with an alien abduction conspiracy mystery. Fortunately he’s chosen not to go down the ‘found footage’ route – although there’s a couple of security camera sequences which nod in the general direction of Paranormal Activity and its ilk – but his story and characters hit a dead end which leads to the inevitable introduction of J.K. Simmons’ alien abduction expert who’s on board purely to provide some necessary exposition and to set up the events leading to the finale.

Dark Skies is derivative and fairly generic and offers nothing scarier than the average TV movie but it’s generally well-paced, nicely performed (the Barretts and their financial woes give the movie a recognisably contemporary edge) and it’s always nice to see ‘the Grays’ again, those long, spindly, bulging-eyed aliens whose image was popular currency back in the post-X-Files days. If nothing else it shows that Stewart is better served working to a low budget than trying to overstretch himself with big fanciful under-resourced sci-fi concepts. Meaningless title apart – Dark Skies might ring a few bells as a one-season American alien conspiracy TV series from the 1990s – this is a diverting and thoroughly watchable low-key thriller which does nothing we haven’t seen before but does it with plenty of style and bags of atmosphere.

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Jack the Giant Slayer / Cert: 12A / Director: Bryan Singer / Screenplay: Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie, Dan Studney/ Starring: Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson / Release Date: March 22nd

Don’t expect to come out of Bryan Singer’s latest action/adventure, Jack the Giant Slayer feeling like you got your money’s worth.

Stuck with a flimsy plot and predictable script, stars Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Warm Bodies) and Eleanor Tomlinson (The Illusionist, Alice in Wonderland) just aren’t compelling enough to carry this film, especially during an unnecessarily long beginning that only serves to establish how the beanstalk sprouts up in the first place. They do the best job they can with what they’re given but they can’t do all the work.

When the plot finally kicks into gear, the movie becomes infinitely more enjoyable, which isn’t saying much. Also, a word of “effects-stickler” caution: if you MUST go see this in theaters, spring for 3D. While the beanstalk is a fantastic display of CGI (once it finally shows up, grumble grumble), the giants themselves look so cartoonish and fake we were grateful for the glasses. The 3D effect gives the entire movie an unreal, animated sheen which makes the live-actors mesh more smoothly with the fake ones.  

And unfortunately, that is really all those effects serve to do. Save for the first glimpse of the giants, which is a pretty cool shot to see in 3D but lasts maybe five seconds, the rest of the effects are a little underwhelming. You are going to see numerous shots of rippling water and <insert pointy weapons here> coming towards your face, which are things we’ve all seen before.

Those shortcomings aside, the film still provides some lighthearted fun. That’s due in large part to the cast obviously enjoying themselves. The acting brings to mind the 2007 film Enchanted, the kind of movie where you know the entire ensemble is having a blast playing fantasy characters battling mythical odds. And no one enjoys themselves more than Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci.  

Tucci plays the ridiculously obvious villain, Lord Roderick – a turn which reminds you of Christopher Sarandon’s Prince Humperdink or Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham. He’s pure camp, but he makes the film a little bit more fun to watch. However, its McGregor’s Knight in Shining Armor, Elmont, who really steals and carries this movie. Not to mention, he looks really good doing so. Anyone over the age of 15 watching this movie will probably wonder the same thing we did about an hour in: “Wait, why isn’t the princess in love with Elmont?”

Nicholas Hoult attempts to hold his own as Jack, but with almost every character written somewhat one-dimensionally, it’s up to the actors to breathe life into their roles and Hoult isn’t given much to play with. He’s the classic hero/underdog who overcomes his fear to save the day and the girl, and that’s pretty much all he gets to do. 

Decent acting aside, Jack the Giant Slayer is a huge disappointment. There’s just not enough going on in this movie to ever make you feel like it was worth the trip to the box office. If you are hoping for a beautiful, CGI epic full of magic and adventure – this isn’t it.

Expected Rating: 7 0ut of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Evil Dead / Cert: 18 / Director: Fede Alvarez / Screenplay: Fede Alvarez, Diablo Cody, Rodo Sayagues Mendez / Starring: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Elizabeth Blackmore / Release Date: April 19th

After years of rumour, fan outrage and speculation, and amidst more rumour, fan outrage and speculation regarding Army of Darkness sequels and Bruce Campbell cameos, the Evil Dead remake is finally here. And with it, a long-held sigh of relief: against all odds, this remake is actually very good.

The movie hits the ground running, with a disconcerting prologue which feels culled from a backwoods Hillbilly movie or something. As the first blast of ultraviolence hits like boomstick shrapnel to the face, the tone is set perfectly – it’s Evil Dead, but not as we know it. And then, to the cabin in the woods, where we are introduced to five pretty young things and their lovely dog, Grandpa. Mia (Levy) is a recovering drug addict, driven out by her friends to this remote shack to kick her drug addiction. Also present is her estranged brother David (Fernandez), wearing a very familiar-looking denim shirt. As they batten down the hatches and prepare for the onset of Mia’s withdrawal symptoms, the group discovers something awful hidden in the cellar…

Wrapped in black bin liners and barbed wire is the Necronomicon (never actually named as such) and hippy Eric (Taylor Pucci) is stupid enough to read a few passages aloud. No audio book required, nor a PHD in Deadite translation – this version of the book is good enough to have written the most dangerous lines of text in English. It’s The Necronomicon for Dummies. Deep within the woods, something stirs…

Ranting about being attacked by the woods themselves and not being alone in the cabin, everyone at first attributes Mia’s change in behaviour to her going cold turkey. Eric suspects differently though, having seen all this depicted in the book. But by now it’s too late. It has begun. And it doesn’t let up again for the rest of the movie. Evil Dead 2013 is the most relentless, harrowing, violent horror movie experience in years; in fact, it’s perhaps the bloodiest cinema release of all time. At one point it literally rains blood. It’s torrential. At times it feels less like a remake of The Evil Dead than Peter Jackson’s Braindead by way of (a far less pretentious) Antichrist. From the misty, foreboding cinematography to the excellent (and practical) FX, Evil Dead is gorgeous. That seems like an odd word to use to describe a movie in which one character vomits gallons of blood into another’s face, but it’s true. Alvarez and cinematographer Aaron Morton do an outstanding job of modernising the Evil Dead experience.

Looking past the grit, the grime and the gore, however, the movie isn’t without its flaws. The script is particularly clunky, with many of the lines not gelling with the film’s more realistic style. At least we’re spared any of the kids saying “groovy” though. Likewise, the young actors are a mixed bag. Jane Levy is wonderful as Mia, both sympathetic and terrifying at the same time. She and the others handle an insane level of abuse – particularly poor Lou Taylor Pucci, who winds up getting a brutal beating from every character in the film at some point or other. Oddly unaffected is Shiloh Fernandez, who somehow manages to avoid too much bodily trauma and seems almost disaffected by the carnage around him. Perhaps he too was distracted by the constant references to the earlier films – from the props (there’s the boomstick! And chainsaw!) to certain shots (the roving camera is back) to a scene very much influenced by Evil Dead 2. The film’s obvious reverence is lovely to behold – and it will win much fan favour – but there’s a sense that it holds this Evil Dead back from ever truly becoming its own entity. It stands tall alongside Alexandre Aja’s The Hills Have Eyes and Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead as a solid horror remake which does its predecessor justice without ever going the extra mile.

Beyond a slight lull towards the end and one strange twist, Evil Dead is unrelentingly fun. Again, fun might be a strange way of describing a movie in which a woman cuts her own jaw off with a shard of glass (not really a spoiler, since there’s so much dismemberment going on that this barely scratches the surface. No pun intended) but horror fans should love it. It’s the loudest, messiest and cruellest horror film in years. And be sure to stay in your seat past the (beautifully designed) end credits too, for a treat that would put Marvel to shame.

“The most terrifying film you will ever experience?” Not quite, but it’s certainly an experience, all the same.

Expected Rating: 7 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Byzantium / Cert: 15 / Director: Neil Jordan / Screenplay: Moira Buffini / Starring: Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Jonny Lee Miller, Caleb Landry-Jones / Release Date: May 3rd

Byzantium is Neil Jordan’s return to the world of the undead twenty years after he directed Interview with the Vampire, and it plays out very much like a feminist inversion of that film. Jordan is incapable of making anything less than an interesting picture and even oddities like In Dreams and The Butcher Boy have much to recommend in them. Byzantium is definitely an ‘interesting’ film but doesn’t quite work.

We follow Clara (Arterton), who works as a prostitute, and her introverted daughter Eleanor (Ronan) as they flee London and set up shop in Brighton with the intention of starting a brothel. In flashback we learn how Clara was forced into prostitution at a young age and how her daughter was initially taken away from her. Clara has discovered the key to eternal life and uses the same power to get her daughter back, which brings them to the attention of an ancient brotherhood who want them dead. Meanwhile, back in modern times Eleanor gets close to a local, terminally ill lad and the brotherhood closes in once more.

Above all else Byzantium is a pretty unique take on the vampire myth. These creatures have some of the tropes and characteristics we all know and love but more noticeably the complete absence of some really big ones. The way in which these beings are created is also weird and creepy and not at all what is expected. The script by Moira Buffini (based on her play) certainly holds the interest and for most of the running time you are on the edge of your seat.

However Byzantium is fatally flawed by performances that are all over the map. Arterton is good but her performance borders on being Kat Slater from EastEnders, and Ronan is her usually mesmeric self. Sadly Jonny Lee Miller and Caleb Landry-Jones feel like they are in a different film entirely, with Landry-Jones being especially awful. The film drags between the second and final act when it becomes concerned with the love story between Ronan and Landry-Jones’ character and because of his awfulness, it just doesn’t work. Jordan still has an eye for a striking image though and the waterfalls of blood on a remote island are breathtaking on the big screen.

Byzantium is a film that is not as bad as it could have been and not as good as it should have been but somewhere in the middle. It’s still a fascinating entry in one of the more interesting modern filmographies and offers much to enjoy. 

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Oz – The Great and Powerful / Cert: PG / Director: Sam Raimi / Screenplay: Mitchell Kapner, David Lindsay-Abaire/ Starring: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Zach Braff / Release Date: March 8th

You could be forgiven for being worried about Oz: The Great and Powerful. Coming after the commercial disappointment of the brilliant Drag Me to Hell, this seemed to be Sam Raimi imitating Tim Burton’s woeful take on Alice in Wonderland from a few years back. The good news is that whilst Burton’s film was more concerned with a kind of dark introspection and felt claustrophobic, Oz offers wide vistas and bright fantasy and is wonderfully old-fashioned. For early Raimi die-hards the film also has more in common with Army of Darkness than you might at first think.

We begin in the ’30s and the carnival dustbowl circuit with Oz (Franco) – a small time magician who is something of a cad and smooth talker – having to flee his job due to his womanising ways. His escape in a hot air balloon leads him right into the path of a familiar tornado and he crash lands in the fantastical world of you-know-where. Here he meets good witch Theodora (Kunis), who believes he is the one spoken of in a prophecy who will become king and defeat the wicked witch and free the people. Along with flying monkey Finley (Braff) whose life he saves, he is taken back to the Emerald Kingdom and introduced to Evanora (Weisz), who is suspicious when Oz is seduced by the masses of gold he stands to inherit as king. Oz and Finley set off on their quest and meet another good witch named Glinda (Michelle Williams) and learn that their quest might not be what it seems and Oz will have to rely on more Earthly magic if he is to come out on top.

The more cynical-minded will probably reject this film outright. Instead of dealing in shades of grey, Oz: The Great and Powerful is bright and colourful and the fantasy residents are all either good or evil with very little in between. The characters’ world view is pretty upbeat and positive, which contrasts nicely with Oz himself, who is a little world-weary and beaten down when we first meet him. As for the cornball-heroic dialogue that Franco spouts throughout the film, it wouldn’t have been out of place coming out of Bruce Campbell’s mouth in an Evil Dead sequel. Despite this, the film never feels cheesy and has just the right amount of darkness to balance things out. The flying baboons are the stuff of nightmares, as is a surprise transformation half way through. There will be those that complain it’s too long but the film feels perfectly paced, with Raimi taking his time to let the film unfold and letting his actors convince you of the reality of their world.

Raimi’s best trick of all is to film all of the scenes on Earth in 4:3 ratio in black and white and still allow things to spill out of the frame for threatening effect. When we get to Oz and the frame suddenly expands out to 2:35:1, the sense of wonder is infectious. Virtual backdrops have come a very long way and here the wide-open fantastical vistas blend seamlessly with the performers, allowing for some amazing 3D set-pieces. A flight in a bubble overland to a castle is particularly breathtaking, as is the China Girl character, who seems like the most convincing practical puppet ever but is actually beautifully rendered CGI.

It’s been a while since we have seen a studio fantasy film this satisfying and magical, whilst still retaining a lot of its director’s signature touches (including ram-o-cam!). James Franco is slightly miscast but always seems to be having a good time anyway. Considering what it could have been, Oz: The Great and Powerful is a film to be celebrated and will hopefully reach as many people as possible so we can get a return trip sometime soon.

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10

Actual Rating:

Review: Virtually Heroes / Cert: TBC / Director: G.J. Echterkamp / Screenplay: Matt Yamashita / Starring: Robert Baker, Brent Chase, Katie Savoy, Mark Hamill / Release Date: TBC

At 87, legendary producer Roger Corman keeps discovering new talent and entertaining audiences around the world with his movies. His latest offering Virtually Heroes is a fun, action-packed film reminiscent of the 1990 arcade game NAM-1975, that began the adventure with the classic phrase, “The roar of the helicopters snaps us back into reality. We will never forget the nightmare of that summer… Vietnam… I just don’t want to go back there… ”

It’s an appropriate tribute too as our heroes, Sergeants Brooks and Nova (Baker and Chase) deliver us right into the action from the first frame, battling hoards of marauding enemy soldiers in a version of Vietnam within their video game universe. Their mission: to rescue sexy reporter, Jennifer Hardaway (Savoy) who has been kidnapped by rebel forces.

Recycling footage from Corman’s Filipino-made Vietnam war movies the same way Joe Dante did with his first film, Hollywood Boulevard, Echternkamp does a great job in creating a thrilling environment for his characters and keeping everything bowling along at a fast pace. Just like any video game, our two heroes have an arsenal of exotic weapons to choose from in a magic knapsack in order to fight the overwhelming, endless supply of baddies that keep coming and coming and coming.

Scribe Yamashita does the film poetic justice with enough gaming references to please any fan of the genre, blended with some nice touches of comedic flair. The characters are likeable and there’s plenty of snappy banter between our two heroes. You also get a crazed major reminiscent of Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, and Mark Hamill as a shaman delivering infinite wisdom to our heroes in their time of need. He’s a cross between Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi – perhaps channelling things to come as Luke Skywalker in the future Star Wars movies?

Expected Rating: 6 out of 10

Actual Rating: