New on DVD this week: Wrath Of The Titans

Even though there are 3 films released this week, available for your DVD collections at home, it is safe to say that none of them has had particularly fantastic reviews to make you queue up to go and purchase it. One of these films I have reviewed here on this blog and despite the strong cast and highly acclaimed director it still languishes in one of the poorest films I have seen this year. Also a sequel to a 2010 film, which was also poorly received, was trounced by critics and struggled to make back its money. I don't want to hit on these films too hard as of course they will have their fans out there but it is disappointing to see a week which releases films for home entertainment that star the likes of Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Liam Neeson, and Sam Worthington, can't make me want to get off my butt and go and rent them. Oh well if you are interested in what films these are then take a look below.





WRATH OF THE TITANS - Sequel to 2010's Clash Of The Titans, Wrath stars Sam Worthington once again who must venture into the dangerous underworld to rescue his father Zeus from the hands of the deadly Ares and Hades.

Wrath Of The Titans trailer








TOP CAT: THE MOVIE - Top Cat returns to the big screen where he and his gang must face a new police chief who doesn't approve of Top Cat's antics.


Top Cat: The Movie trailer









DARK SHADOWS - Remake of the old TV series, Dark Shadows stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, a man cursed to the ground by the envious Angelique sometime in the past. In the present day Barnabas rises from the dead, now as a vampire, and upon returning to his home finds it has been taken over by his ancestors and that the devious Angelique is still alive and attempting to bankrupt their empire.

Dark Shadows trailer

THE CAMPAIGN - This political satire benefits from a strong cast and not a strong plot

With very little being released in cinemas this weekend we decided to return to a film released a few weeks ago, one that the cast list alone had got us excited about. Let's face it a film that headlines Will Ferrell Vs Zach Galifianakis doing battle via politics can only mean a hilariously funny comedy filled with re-quotable lines and the begging of a sequel in years to come, well that certainly isn't the case. An incredible premise, that although not original, mixed with the perfect comedy cast is let down by a weak regurgitating plot and unenthusiastic direction. Oh what could have been for this film, the Anchorman style comedy you may have been expecting really isn't ever on show.

Will Ferrell stars as Cam Brady, a Congressman in a Northern Carolina district who is about to be re-elected for his fourth term because no one wishes to run against him. That is until in a late night drunken call to a wrong number, Mr Brady leaves an explicit message meant for his girlfriend on a devout Christian family's answering phone. Smelling weakness for the first time in years a mega wealthy pair of brothers, the Motch Brothers, decide to fund an unknown to run against Brady so they can use the district to open a factory run by the Chinese in order to cut shipping costs for products from China. Their man to run against, Marty Huggins (Galifianakis), a local tourist guide who has very little ambition to become a politician but more so to impress his Daddy. As Huggins political campaign gets going he is allocated a mentor who has him throw out any foreign influences in his life, including his two cute pug dogs, and make him into a typical American family in order to gain the backing of the public. And then they are off, doing battle in every sense of the word to gain the most votes before Election Day. We have trash talk at a debate, snake handling at a religious event, baby kissing during a tour, and rifle shooting in the woods, all in order to gain the upper edge to control this state.

The set up of the film really feels like it could go places. Two heavyweight comedians doing battle on one of the most corrupt circuits should spell comedy gold but the problem is it never really takes us beyond a little chuckle. There are some great moments, the phone call to the religious family is hilarious, the baby punching followed by dog punching is something new we haven't seen before, and if it wasn't for the trailer ruining it the recital of the Lord's Prayer could have you giggling but other than this the comedy is too and far between with the plot going down a route of self awareness and people being willing to 'do the right thing'. It is as if the film decides to take itself too seriously by the end, instead of delivering on its promise of an outrageous comedy. It all becomes slightly repetitive. It is literally the two candidates doing all they can to top the other but none of it is that outrageous that we are glued to watching it. At times it becomes a little boring, which is not a word you expect to be associated with a film pitting Ron Burgundy against Alan from The Hangover.

The direction could be an issue with that as it seems like Galifianakis has been asked to reign in his usual crazy approach. Ferrell brings his usual proceedings to his character of Brady and from what could have been his next memorable character alongside Burgundy, Ricky Bobby, and Frank the Tank, turns out to be a flat boring character that we can never care about or laugh along with. The direction has stripped these actors back from being their usual outrageous personas and we never really get a film about them and instead something that is more giving a message to the affairs within American politics today. What I'm sure most people would have rather seen is these two going head to head in some of the most mental situations you could expect from them. I mean come on these are two comedy geniuses who have either run the streets naked or masturbated in the back of a car in order to gain a laugh and none of this kind of antic is on show here which actually makes this a really forgettable film.

I have to say I left the cinema rather underwhelmed and fairly disappointed. It did have its moments but, other than one or two situations near the beginning, it never really got going. All the talent on show from Ferrell to Sudeikis to Galafianakis to Jay Roach (director of films like Austin Powers and Meet The Parents) have all performed much much better elsewhere and the simple premise plus the stars on show never lives up to the potential it could have had. If you want to see Ferrell at his best rent Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stepbrothers, or Old School because you really won't have missed out if you give this film a miss.  

Pros: A few funny moments but....

Cons: ....should have been much better.

5.5 / 10                                                                      

Top 10 of 2012 so far:


1. The Dark Knight Rises     10 / 10
2. The Hunger Games     8 / 10
3. Snow White And The Huntsman     8 / 10
4. Avengers Assemble     7.5 / 10
5. Looper     7.5 / 10
6. Ted     7.5 / 10
7. 21 Jump Street     7.5 / 10
8. Lawless     7 / 10
9. The Expendables 2     7 / 10
10. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol     7 / 10

PANDORUM movie review

Pandorum

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue

Running time: 108 minutes

Year: 2009

Directed By: Christian Alvart

Written By: Travis Milloy

Pandorum trailer

What happens when you awaken on an abandoned ship in space alone? Is the simple premise of Christian Alvart's Pandorum. Starring Ben Foster and Dennis Quad as the two men who find themselves on an abandoned space craft with no memory of what has happened. This dark tale should leave you feeling lonely, claustrophobic, and above all frightened about the prospect of having no way of survival.

We open with Bower (Foster) who awakens from hyper sleep and finds himself wandering a space craft's flight deck alone. After freshening himself up and attempting to remember what he is doing there he finds another man, Payton (Quaid), who has also just woken with no memory of how they got there. With all doors having been sealed shut due to the failing power Bower climbs through a ventilation shaft, breaking himself into the main decks of the ship, in order to get answers and turn the power back on. Meanwhile Payton stays behind in order to guide him through the dark corridors via the control computer that can be powered manually. Whilst searching the ship Bower comes across others who have also awoken to the silence, however it doesn't take long before Bower finds himself meeting the one reason the ship is so desolate. With monster like killing machines hot on his tail Bower, and his new team, must be lead by Payton through the dark tunnels of the ship in order to regain power from the nuclear reactor before they are killed by the mutations breathing down their neck.  

The mood of the film is very dark, chilling, and silent. When the film opens we spend several minutes alone with Bower and the silence with him is almost overbearing. Instantly you find yourself in the midst of space alone with him. Again when he ventures into the heart of the ship we hear nothing but silence until the high pitch screeching of the zombie like monsters startles you. The cinematography by Wedigo von Schultzendorff highlights the light amongst the dark and gives us a futuristic feel to proceedings. The vision of the film is actually one of the only highlights as much of the rest of it doesn't feel as good. The characters aren't very fleshed out, we learn very little about them and at times failed to really care if they survived or not. The script is poor, especially some of the dialogue. At one point a character says 'I remember last time I woke from hyper sleep I couldn't remember anything for months.' That's funny you just remembered that!! The story also fails to grip you and at times it is hard to follow where the characters are going. The dark corridors actually work against this part of the film.

The story is a major issue with the film. The intrigue and tension at the beginning was infectious but as soon as we were introduced to the zombies in space I found myself losing interest. It was a mash of many films put into space. At first it felt like we may get an Alien type film but ended up getting The Descent crossed with Event Horizon. Throughout the film we also see many flashbacks which seem to have very little need to be there, especially considering by the end they had little to do with the story. The overall reason for the story turns out to be quite an interesting idea, I won't give it away here, but it ends in such a poor way as if it is all a happy ending which my interpretation of the film is that it is not. The B story has us learning about a space paranoia called pandorum; see the title comes in somewhere, which sends people into a mad state when they believe that everyone around them is there to kill them. This is constantly mentioned throughout and the problem with this is that is then becomes slightly obvious what is happening in one strand of the story. The finale of the film is also a major let down with things coming together quite poorly and with none of it ever really making sense. There are two stories going on throughout, in a much bigger story, but they seem to become confused with each other by the end.

This is not a film I would recommend. Of course it will have its fans out there but for me this was a poorly executed movie. The tense scenes from the beginning soon dispersed and it became something we have seen before. The performances weren't particularly good either with Quaid delivering his poor lines poorly, and Foster seeming wrongly cast as the hero. The film is packed with problems and issues and it is one I fail to see what the point actually was. Not much makes sense by the end and the finale becomes too easy and happy for a film that started so dark and morbid. Overall a disappointing piece of work which shows why it struggled at the box office, meaning a sequel is not going to be made. Phew!

1.5 / 5

Next film to review: THE WRESTLER

In Cinemas This Weekend: Ghouls, goblins, and monsters all in one hotel.

Over the next few weeks there seems to be very little to be released at the box office. Nothing here really leaps to me and draws me to see it, this is the same for next week to, and a few of the films are made entirely for children. Of course that doesn't mean adults can't see them too but I find it odd that over the space of 2 weeks 30% of the films are for kids. There are also a couple of films that could turn out to be little charms hiding away but there isn't much that the average movie goer would of heard of via trailers in the theatre or marketing around their town centre. However sometimes these sorts of films are the ones that end up being the best ones, who would have thought Warrior would have been my favourite film of last year! If you're looking for a hidden gem this week then take a look at your releases below.


1. Dracula, Frankenstein, and Quasimodo, among others, need a break from the norm every once in a while and they don't want to be pestered by people who judge them instantaneously, so where better for them to go then the HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA where all monsters can go as a community. That is until a young man stumbles across the hotel whilst travelling through the mountains. An animated tale with scary proportions. Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, & Selena Gomez. Want to see things that go bump in the night?

Hotel Transylvania trailer

2. In PUSHER we see Frank, a local drug dealer well known within his gangster community in London, however his life is soon sent spiralling out of control as over the course of one week he is pushed to test his inner most limits. Starring: Richard Coyle, Bronson Webb, Agness Deyn, & Mem Ferda. How far can he be pushed?

Pusher trailer




3. Book adaptation ON THE ROAD sees Sam Riley's young writer, Sal Paradise's life altered by the arrival of a free spirited couple whilst he travels across country in search of inspiration for his next writing piece. Also starring: Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, & Amy Adams. How will he fare on the road?

On The Road trailer



4. Dax Shepard plays a man in witness protection in HIT AND RUN but comes out of hiding in order to transport his girlfriend across the country to LA. With this man now resurfacing the feds and his former gang members, led by Bradley Cooper, chase them across country, one to protect and one to kill. Also starring: Kristen Bell & Tom Arnold. Will it all be worth it?

Hit And Run trailer



5. Ever wandered if you could create your own girlfriend? Well in RUBY SPARKS young writer Paul Dano manages to create one whilst suffering writer's block, however he isn't entirely sure if she is real or in his head causing him to write absurd stories to see if his new character is led by them. Also starring: Zoe Kazan, Annette Bening, & Chris Messina. Is this the way to find love?

Ruby Sparks trailer







There you have your 5 films for the week then. None of them in particular jump out at me and if it wasn't for the internet I would have only seen the trailer for Ruby Sparks. Although without the internet I wouldn't be able to give you this lovely blog!! Maybe over the next few weeks cinemas are playing it cool in preparation for Skyfall at the end of October. Let's hope so as I hate it when I can't get excited about heading to the cinema. Hope you find a winner among them.






 

NEWS - Armie Hammer rumoured for Batman in Justice League movie.

Over the past week there has been lots of film news that I could have broadcast to you. Nothing particularly popped up more than once or twice however meaning that the one piece of new that did pop up a couple of times was that Armie Hammer could be set to play the next Batman. What made me bring this to your attention then was that the Total Film Facebook page have also broadcast this news and invited comments of what people thought about this potential casting. The comments were not good. Many were simply stating no, others that he was too young, and most that no one will replace Christian Bale. Many still slate Bale as a Batman though which I think is wrong as I think he is brilliant as the caped crusader. I have no doubt that Hammer would also perform to top quality but is he right for the part? I'm not so sure but that could be because I don't think a new Batman needs to be made for at least ten years, and I don't want a studio to cash in on Avengers fame by bringing out the DC version of it.

Hammer's involvement is just a rumour at the moment but then again so is the Justice League movie. For those of you who don't know him Hammer played the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, J Edgar Hoover's lover in J. Edgar, and will be seen next year along side Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger. His CV is building and he is getting some juicy roles however is he right for Batman? After the success of the Christopher Nolan version will anyone ever be again? More news on this over the next few months I'm sure.

QUESTION: Best Liam Neeson character?

With Taken 2 being released this week I thought it would only be right to ask you which character you think is the best one Mr Neeson has played. This could be due to his performance or to the character himself but let's face it Neeson does make a character his own. The five I have picked for selection are the five I think he is most known for, or the ones that he is very noticeable as, so without further ado; what is Liam Neeson's best character?




1. HENRI DUCARD/ RA'S AL GHUL (Batman Begins) - Liam Neeson turns up in this film at the very beginning to help Bruce Wayne fight injustice against the corrupt in Gotham City, ultimately feeding Bruce with the idea to become a legend. He may be a good guy at the beginning but his true identity becomes apparent towards the end where we learn he is Ra's Al Ghul himself and was training Bruce to take down Gotham.








2. OSKAR SCHINDLER (Schindler's List) - Playing the title character in Spielberg's epic, Neeson brings a subtle sadness to the character who does all he can to rescue the Jews from the concentration camps after learning about the hideous crimes the Nazi's undertake on them.










3. QUI-GON JINN (Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace) - Here he plays the master of Ewan McGregor's Obi Wan Kenobi. Neeson trains him and feels every bit a teacher, much like he is when Ducard, but it is when he has to stand and fight himself where Neeson excels, in the final battle with Darth Maul.








4. BRYAN MILLS (Taken) - In the surprise hit of 2008 Neeson plays a Father, who was once in the CIA, who must hunt down the people who have kidnapped his daughter to sell on the International prostitution circuit. Neeson has some great lines and confirms himself as an action hero of the future.










5. ASLAN (The Chronicles Of Narnia) - This one had to be put in there as it is so obviously him every time that Lion speaks. The fact that Neeson is a lion is a warrant alone to have the character of Aslan on this list. Neeson's voice adds to the ferocity that a lion is connected with, and that boom, which the base in a cinema highlights, in his growly voice makes you wonder if that is how a lion would sound like if he spoke.




There you have it then, 5 of Liam Neeson's most well known characters as well as some of his best. If you would like to vote on them add your choice in the comments, or if there is any others add them yourself. My favourite would have to be Ducard as it was him that created the Batman; although sometimes I do think was it actually Neeson himself who suggested the Batman? Either option sounds great.

New on DVD this week: Prometheus

On DVD this week happens to be one of the films I was most excited about this year. The trailer looks astounding, the director is fantastic, the cast are brilliant, and it is taking us back to a world we all loved thirty odd years ago. However when I saw the film I was really disappointed and it didn't live up to half the expectation I had for it. Many other critics have loved it though so don't be put off by my reasons for not liking it. It has been reviewed on this site so have a look at it if you are considering renting this film. I still may rent it myself to see if I can piece together all the unanswered questions. As well as that there is Tom Cruise as a rock star and Plan B's directorial debut. Have a look below.




Recommended
PROMETHEUS - Ridley Scott returns to the world of Alien in the sort of prequel to it. The premise this time is a crew heading to a distant planet to investigate whether or not our creators inhabit it, however things don't go as smoothly as they wanted it to.

Prometheus trailer








ROCK OF AGES - A musical starring some pretty big names about a young couple who meet in a mysterious club whilst pursuing their Hollywood dreams. The club consists of some outrageous characters including Tom Cruise with long hair, and is being threatened of closure by Catherine Zeta Jones feminist group.

Rock Of Ages trailer








ILL MANORS - Directorial debut for Plan B brings us a story roughly like ones he witnessed when he grew up living in London. The film is a gritty urban affair based around the gang violence going on in the city.



Ill Manors trailer