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Reviews
The Eagle (2011)
Was I entertained? Yes...
This a decent film, featuring Romans and a bit of mystery.
There were a few irritants for me: 1) the unlikely dialogue (like "we have someone working on it", or the unintentionally amusing "What made you choose Britain?"); 2) the fact that nobody even attempts a non-American accent in c.900 A.D. Britain, although Tatum was surprisingly believable in this area; 3) and numerous historical inaccuracies e.g. thumbs up = live, when this long-debated gesture has been convincingly argued in recent years to mean the opposite, or the startlingly modern-English "Hadrian's Wall" rather than "Vallo Aelium" on a supposedly-Roman map.
But - the story is simple but engaging enough, and despite the above I found it quite watchable. It's very linear, but there are a couple of credible fight scenes and the characters are well played for the most part - I suspect they made the best of what they were given (as since when would a centurion let his slave demand to "do the talking"?).
Basically the idea is that Marcus (Tatum) is desperate to get to Britain to search for his father, who went missing with his legion 20 years before, and recover the missing standard. Everything he does is geared towards this, and involves him finding family he didn't know he had, and trekking into Scotland alone but for his newly-acquired Scottish slave.
For a slave, Esca is far too cocky and defiant. It surprised me that Marcus didn't just get rid of Esca as soon as he discovered Esca wasn't telling him everything. He just didn't seem to mind, which was a bit weird, especially as Marcus and Esca weren't friends at this point - and this led to sth bad happening (of course!). So you kinda wonder why Marcus let Esca live long enough to let it get so far. Then you wonder why, when Marcus threatens to kill him the next chance he gets, he instead trusts this guy over and over with his life. And then eventually frees him from bondage, because they're suddenly friends.
Esca continues to be a bit slippery - "tell me what the chief said about my father" (because lots of the film is in Gaelic and there are no subtitles) - "there's no time now". And again. Just tell him already! Grr. Do we ever find out? No.
Anyway, there is a small twist in the tale which is nice, and leads to a final battle in a gully. Question: how did they get a funeral pyre to light on a river bed?? Does Marcus finally get to know what happened to his dad? You'll have to watch it to find out I guess! Anyway, at the end I didn't want those two hours back like I did with Season of the Witch, so it's all good.
Plus Tatum is a pretty sexy centurion.
This isn't even in Gladiator's league, but for entertainment value this isn't a bad choice if you fancy a half-decent film with a bit of action in it.
Unstoppable (2010)
Watching trains has never been so exciting!
I was really impressed by this film. Before seeing it I had thought of it as Speed but on a train. Now I think it has all the velocity of Speed with the tension and dark humour of the Die Hards, all with a stellar cast, and it definitely stands on its own feet.
The characters are great because they are so easy to relate to. These are just ordinary guys, with everyday problems, at work as usual. Even the corner-cutting that starts the whole thing off is something that viewers can - albeit not too easily - forgive, because hasn't everybody cut corners in their job at least once? And the "top management" - well, nobody expects that they are going to put logical solutions ahead of checking the bottom line, and they are true to form.
But, of course, most of us haven't got an unmanned train carrying toxic material hurtling along at 70 mph to deal with as part of our day job.
What makes the characters of Frank and Will so compelling is that they aren't slick, Kevlar-wearing cops but railway engineers, and the fact that they handle an extreme situation with logic, dedication, humour and courage makes them even more heroic.
The action is fast-paced, and the tension grabs you from around 10 minutes in and just doesn't let go. I haven't seen a film so suspenseful in ages! This is definitely one of the best movies I've seen this year and I highly recommend it.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
The guys at Disney Pixar are GENIUS!
To put this review in perspective, I am 26 y/o. My fiancé is 28, and we went to see this together last night (forewarned that we may need tissues - which we both did!).
**There be (tiny) spoilers ahead, so please don't read on if you don't want any inkling of what's in store for you. Suffice to say, we thought TS3 is an absolute triumph and I guarantee that you're going to love it!** Firstly, the "Day & Night" short. Seriously, Pixar was just showing off! They knew they needed to be better at 3D than pretty much everybody else, and they are. The short was crazy - I haven't seen 2D and 3D mixed like that before, and to do it so expertly was gobsmacking. So, once we saw that, we knew TS3 was going to be GOOD.
We recently went to see Shrek 4 and thought that, in order to make the characters seem fresh and exciting, Dreamworks basically resorted to giving the entire cast a personality transplant. So we were delighted that Pixar, who have clearly won the battle of the 3D animation giants with Toy Story 3, stayed true to the characters and their personalities as well as their standard of high quality story-telling, clever dialogue and excellent direction, and still managed to keep it fresh, exciting, emotive, and entertaining.
The themes running through the film are similar to those in the previous 2: loyalty, abandonment, friendship, ownership, new beginnings, journeys and getting that all-important play-time! But you don't feel like you've seen it all before. On this note I'm glad they didn't stick with "Demo" Buzz for very long, while "Spanish" Buzz has me in fits of giggles even a day later (whatever happens do NOT leave the cinema until the end of the credits!).
Secondary and new characters were surprisingly well-developed (Dreamworks should take a few notes I think) and even the 'baddies' had understandable feelings and motives while being just menacing enough. I personally felt sorry for the slightly sinister baby, and was happy to hear baby gurgles at the end after that hilarious raspberry! He doesn't say a word in the whole film, but I still cared about that baby toy. That says a whole lot about the sheer mastery of Pixar's storytelling, which had me gripped, laughing, excited, tense, sympathetic, empathetic, and a whole gamut of emotions you just don't think one film can make you feel, but somehow TS3 does.
It's been a while since one movie made me feel so much in such a short time; a very long time since the audience remained in the theatre for the credits, and even longer since the audience applauded at the end of the movie. I left feeling a little sad (poor Andy, not having ANY toys anymore!), but happy, very satisfied and a little awed by the whole experience. It really was that good, and that moving, and that entertaining. If it's not one of the greatest movies of all time, let alone animations, I think there's no justice in the world.
Should there be a TS4? I thought Bonnie was cute, the perfect person to receive Andy's legacy, and her existing toys are funny and sweet. Personally I would love to see more of Mr Pricklepants the thespian, and Bonnie was so adorable it'd be lovely to get into some of her games. But even if there isn't a 4th movie you know that all the toys are going to be happy with her, and have some awesome supernatural adventures! This is definitely going into my DVD collection - I'd buy it for the Buzz/Jessie paso alone. Whoever thought of a matador-posing, paso-dancing Buzz should get a pay raise because that was inspired.
Honestly, the best movie I've seen in AGES. Go see it, and you'll love it like pretty much everyone else lol Will be watching the Oscars with interest...
High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)
OK, but nothing to sing and dance about
Straight off I'll admit that I'm nearly 25 y/o and I dragged my fantastic boyfriend to see this with me. I feel kinda bad that I did that, because he's done nothing to deserve it and I'm now going to have to seriously make it up to him.
We watched the previous 2 HSM "films" because we wanted to know what all the hype was about. Now, overall there are much worse things for kids to be watching and idolising. There can be nothing bad about telling kids it's not a crime to be clever (although Gabriella hardly comes across as a brainiac), and nothing wrong with liking someone very much - even at a young age - and taking it slowly, ie NOT going straight to oral sex/pregnancies. Also themes are loyalty to your friends, getting a summer job (amazing!) and making informed decisions. So there are positive messages in all of the films that make me think "If young ppl are taking notice of that, then it's all good".
HOWEVER, firstly I think Vanessa Hudgens is a bit of a non-entity. All she does is smile vacantly and sing not-outstandingly in a sugary-sweet voice about why life is so difficult for her. I would have liked some variation in the smile - you could never tell if she was truly happy, or only mildly amused, or upset and putting a brave face on. It was always the same. As with the annoying constant giggling - stop already and try to ACT some.
I was also surprised by the lack of on-screen chemistry between the supposedly real-life couple of Efron and Hudgens. Yes I know it's Disney, but you'd think some of it would have come through? When Gabriella and Troy split up (again again again) I believed that he was frustrated and hurt, but with her invariable smile I felt like Gabriella wasn't really that bothered - an ice queen. I would have liked her to have been a bit more worthy of his unshakable affection.
Efron is, as usual, very watchable, and I think he's going to be one to keep an eye on in the future. Of the girls, Ashley Tisdale will probably go furthest. She did have the best musical routines in this movie and she has great comedic potential.
I felt less would have been more in this film with regard to songs - there were too many, especially Troy/Gabriella duets. There was a song every few minutes about the most trivial things, and none of them were particularly memorable. Certainly no "Once Upon A Dream"s or "Under The Sea"s! I couldn't hum a note of what I'd heard within minutes of the song finishing. But I do remember some good routines, especially "Night to Remember", "Scream" (very Footloose) and of course Ryan/Sharpay's big number. The dancing was v energetic and emotive from Efron's corner, very diva-like from Tisdale, and again a bit of a non-entity from Hudgens.
The movie would have benefited from more ensemble routines and a bigger share of the story going to sub plots. I wanted to know more about how Taylor, Chad et al were dealing with the same problem of choosing a college/splitting up, but the focus was always on T&G, which I felt was a shame because the supporting characters have been there all along too.
The first half of T&G moping and waltzing got a bit tiring, but once the story got going it was okay if more of the same (based around a school show, T torn between basketball and theatre, G looking for any excuse why it won't work with T, Chad feeling abandoned by T, Sharpay planning to steal T&G's song etc). I didn't really notice/care about any of the new characters who are rumoured to take on HSM4, so I wonder how that will work out. There are some funny bits, Troy's teenage angst was quite believable and the ending was very fitting, making it clear that the performance has ended.
So in all, quite pleasant and inoffensive. I'm still trying to figure out how T managed to make a 2104 mile round-trip in a single day but that's just me. Generally, not a classic film by any means, but a good (if prolonged) introduction to some reasonably talented young stars.
Shrek the Third (2007)
Undeserving of such censure...
OK so it's not as laugh-aloud as the previous two, but that's because the Shrek franchise has grown up. There are some silly moments just to get laughs (and yes, they do bring up the word "poop" more than enough times just to get kids laughing) but I still enjoyed this movie - and I'm 23.
I think that adults will possibly enjoy this more than the kids - some of the gags are more subtle, or too adult for littler children to understand. For example the horn "bleeping" out certain words, or Artie's fake temper tantrum (funny for adults, kids won't get the joke as it's probably something they do themselves).
That in NO way makes this a bad, boring or tired movie. I just think you have to watch this film expecting something different that appeals to a more adult point of view. Unfortunately if you go into this expecting in-your-face, obvious, don't-have-to-think-about-it laughs like the kids will, you are probably going to be disappointed. But DO give this film a go - you will be pleasantly surprised.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Why why why WHY?
* There be spoilers below*
I LOVED Curse of the Black Pearl. I liked DMC, although I wasn't too keen on the fact that, unlike CotBP, it wasn't a stand alone movie. And now, having waited all those months to finally have everything wrapped up... what happened???? This ending was most unsatisfactory, and overall the film was the least entertaining, amusing and gripping of all three.
Firstly, after all that, Will and Elizabeth aren't even together! In fact they're further apart than they've ever been, when I was under the impression that one of the plot's constants was them getting together! How disappointing and unfair to the characters and the paying public!
Secondly, there was absolutely nothing new. Much of the humour was reliant on previous films (poppet/the wooden eye/parlay/no rum/sea turtles etc). There were no new effects - Davy Jones wasn't as repulsive as before because we'd already seen it. And really there were no new characters - Chow Yun Fat was barely in it, and as for Keith Richards? What did he actually do in those 2 minutes that was essential to the story?
And now for the myriad little niggles:
- Why make such a fuss of the pirate lords when they did absolutely nothing?
- What was the purpose of Calypso/the witch (Like we didn't see that coming a mile away)? She turned into crabs. Wow. Basically she, also, did nothing.
- How and why exactly did Barbossa return from the dead?
- Where was Jack's amazing and funny entrance?
- Why would anyone want Keira to take her shirt off? Honestly, nothing lies therein.
- Why would anyone elect someone who needs a charisma transplant as urgently as Elizabeth Swann to be pirate king? And surely, as a woman, she'd be Queen, anyway?
- Cutler was so tough and mean. Not. Why on earth would Davy Jones be intimidated by him?
- I honestly lost track of who was backstabbing or allying with whom. Why make it so convoluted to the point that any plot line disappeared?
- What was the point of the hangings at the beginning??
- Jack becomes less and less likable - he's selfish, shallow and cowardly. Why does he get away with everything? It would develop his character if there were actually some consequences that *he* has to deal with.
I was very dissatisfied with this film, I expected much more from it. Pirates team - Please don't make any more unless it's going to be fresh and original, and with a leading lady who actually has a personality. I couldn't bear for something that was at first so entertaining to be dragged further into the depths.