Return Of The Bat - The Dark Knight Rises Review

Hype . . . a word I fear, and a number of you reading this will too. 2012 has become one of those years in cinema that have been littered with hype, and if you think it stops with The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit or the let down that was Prometheus (read my review), then you'd be wrong. PT Anderson, John Hillcoat and Rian Johnson are all releasing films this year and if you don't know who they are, you'll certainly know what they are responsible for. In my eyes these are Directors that have set some serious standards in their careers. But non come close to the weight of expectation laid on Chris Nolans shoulders as he sought to put an end to his Dark Knight saga.

Nolan does not dissapoint, he just seems unable to make a bad film. If you only know him for reinvigorating Batman movies and making Inception, check his roster, he's a power house of film making talent. There are feelings I get when I leave cinemas, and nothing beats the feeling when you've seen a film that has impacted on you and in a bombastic and positive fashion. Take your expectations in with you, especially if you saw the Dark Knight and enjoyed every convoluted but cinematically excellent second of it. The Dark Knight Rises promises bigger and better, and it delivers with a heavy physical blow to Batman, as apposed to mentally.

In carrying tone from it's 2008 predecessor, the film casts that familiar atmosphere instantly, from scenes that will cast your mind to the events of the Dark Knight, to the frankly mental action scene that introduces Bane; the roaring engine of the plot line. There's an old problem that may catch some viewers off guard as characters are swiftly introduced and referred to later without visual reference, this leads to confusion as to who's who in dialogue heavy scenes. A problem I saw in The Dark Night; lot's of plot to cram in. A lot of people have complained about the lack of clarity with Banes dialogue scenes, I didn't have too much of an issue, but I can see why people would, it's not exactly phonetically accessible. However Tom Hardys portrayal of the character and his ability to act with his eyes and body language is a revelation. A number of people believe the mask to be a hindrance to his performance, I see it as nothing short of terrifying.

For the initiated, the film runs perfectly in line with it's predecessors, holding ideals, themes and metaphors that go right back to the roots of Batman Begins; 'Why do we fall? So we can pick ourselves back up again'. In the case of TDKR, Batman literally has to break himself out of his physiological and psychological prison in order to combat this unrelenting foe. There's new characters to help him along and once again the handling of these characters, that have led to cinematic grimaces in the past, feel like they belong in Nolans Gotham.

In the first two films the antagonists (Ra's Al Ghul and The Joker) wanted to see the city tear itself apart, however for the final installment Bane seeks to literally tear it to the ground. Which I think is why some people found a sense of disconnection with the film, it is massive, so large in it's scope and yet so centrally fixed on Bruce Wayne over Bane. I for one applaud Nolan for bringing Bruce Wayne back into focus adding yet more layers to this rich and interesting character. However you think Bane gets sidelined, his impact on the scenes he appears in are great and terrifying, the hallmark of any monstrous character.

I do have one big criticism, however much I enjoy the soundtrack there are scenes where the music is obnoxiously loud and I found myself reeling at this very problem, music is a trick to impact a scene, but over milking it makes you remember how loud it was rather than how great the scene looked. However the film makers seem sarcastically aware of this and one scene does let the punches fly unaccompanied which had refreshing impact. The action is furious when it hits but it does take a while to deliver. However the inclusion of much of the exposition gives a greater impact and realism to scenes that could come off as overly ridiculous or just a damp squib. There are nit picks within the dialogue and the choices made in plot direction, however these are a mild annoyances in what is overall a superb piece of action cinema that fully realises a grown up and realistic Batman universe, and puts a pretty solid end to the best comic book trilogies ever filmed.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

It's Alien . . . but not as we know it! Prometheus Review

After much unbridled anticipation, Ridley Scott's much talked about and most exciting cinematic project for years finally comes to our screens. If someone wrote up a list of most exciting prospects for this years cinematic viewing, Prometheus places very high. In fact in most peoples opinions this was the film they were most excited about, above Dark Knight Rises and even The Hobbit! Having been originally announced as a prequel to Alien, we were told to reign in our expectations as the film would be set in the same universe, but have only tangible links to he acid blooded xenomorphs and absolutely nothing to do with Ripley.

It is saddening to see though that all this non linking to Alien was a bare faced lie, but for the very wrong reasons. Sure there are many elements of the film that completely separate it from Alien. For instance we are traded a run down ship with a ramshackle crew for a top of line space hopper with a crew of scientists. It's unfortunate though that efforts are made to point out that some of the crew are rather more human and down to earth than others, but it feels like a forced commitment rather than a natural part of the script. We are not on LV 426, this is a different planet, and this is immediately where I started to question the direction of the film. A different planet, with "scientists" going to investigate where we came from. There's the cyborg, the woman eager to discover a new world, a crew of dispensable and frankly idiotic characters, a rough roguish pilot and an overseer  with an ulterior motive. The crew land on a planet, throw all caution literally to the wind and explore this unexplored planet like children in a play park. They discover dead aliens and a room full of vases and dun dun duuuuh, everything goes to hell.

This would all be extremely interesting if we had some involvement with the characters at stake. The problem is there are so many ideas being shoe horned into the script that ironically enough the only character that gets decent exposure is the cyborg, Dave. As far as the rest of our cast are concerned we really couldn't care, each one of them falls because of their own ridiculous stupidity. Sure there's idea that this is a fascinating new world may be overcoming their senses, but seriously, no human gets playful with something that resembles a vicious snake. There's no room for any kind of suspense or growing threat, because there is never a sense that these people can't just up and leave at a seconds notice. It all just becomes shock tactics. These people have traveled so long to be here and under the order of someone probably doesn't care if they live or die, the problem is neither do we.

It's hard to stand back and be even handed here because you'd expect someone like Ridley Scott to instill these subtle undertones that highlight the plight of the characters, or to bring a sense of realism to a situation that, dare I say it, seems alien to us. But none of this appears present, the only thing we are relentlessly beaten around the head with is this idea of God and religion, but it holds no weight. Our main character played by Noomi Rapace reconciles with the idea of God during the ordeal after she believes she has found our real creators, but that's about it. The rest seems to be some poor attempt at shadowing how Ellen Ripley became such a strong and focused heroine.

Sure enough the visuals are entertaining, but at every step I still remain confused. There are films that take some unraveling and after a viewing or two you realise they hint at something throughout that you're not immediately aware of. However Prometheus isn't that kind of film. and for some reason people seem to defend it due to this fact, and the worst thing they do is stand by one particular truth; there will more than likely be another and it will explain away everything we've witnessed. As a cinematic obsessive I disagree with this idea whole heatedly. Every film . . . no matter how tied to franchise they are . . . should make sense and be based on it's own merits as a work of good story telling, and this one I'm sorry to say does not.

There are redeeming features such as Michael Fassbender as Dave who shines throughout and Noomi Rapace does a sterling job in her role. The visuals are naturally amazing, this is Ridley after all and the set pieces are realistic and in a number of cases entertaining. There's a visceral quality to parts of the film, especially in one scene that has become "that scene" to anyone who's seen it. The main focus plot wise is well founded but is completely ruined by having to link it with Alien in my opinion, as soon as I begin to point out the positives I can't help be defer to the main problem. This has been set up as a franchise based within a franchise and has fallen victim to the Star Wars effect. A prequel with ties to the originals that features characters and scenarios we couldn't give a shit about. Sound familiar? Yeah, thought so. Come on Ridley if you're going to do a "New Sci-Fi" then don't fob us off with some Alien linked mess that clearly had a lot of control from the mighty Twentieth Century Fox.

 ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Oh Christ Here It Comes - Marvel Avengers Assemble Review

If there was ever a moment where Marvel had to step up to the plate, put it's money where its mouth is and prove it's worth in cinema . . . it's now. Comic book movies have been around a while, and with reboots, prequels, sequels and lesser known half cocked fair hitting the screens, Marvel have the opportunity to keep the comic book movie relevant. Since stepping into the ring back in 1998 with Blade; Marvel collaborated with studios to bring us some very mixed cinematic experiences that quickly nose dived in their originality and clarity of vision. 2007 saw them release Spiderman 3, Fantastic Four 2 and Ghost Rider, a roster of films I'm sure no one is particular proud of. Sure the wallet watchers of the company saw great returns on spideys last web spinning adventure, but not one person I know can say a good thing about that film. At the same time Marvel had officially become an independent studio funding their own production and teaming up with  heavy weight distributors for one large gamble. Iron Man came out in 2008 and so began the four year build up to what many of us have been to see in the last two weeks 'Marvel Avengers Assemble'. 

As if someone within the studio was determined not to have it related to the appalling Uma Thurman movie 'The Avengers', the title isn't exactly the most inspired decision. But it is with honesty and with a sense of surprise that the naming of the film was probably one of the only major missteps of this project. Don't get me wrong the build up to this hugely anticipated project has not been total dross, but apart from the first Iron Man and Thor, I haven't found anything particular extraordinary about the related films. They have been made out of necessity in some sense, even though a lot has been done to try and make them interesting beyond this fact. But trust me, disregarding The Incredible Hulk, if you haven't seen any of them, get them seen before going along to the cinema.

I was very impressed with the film, it took all those elements from the ones preceding it and joined them in a coherent and entertaining plot that didn't feel too forced. I was deeply worried that I was about to see 'Iron Man and His Merry Men', I breathed a sigh of relief as Tony Stark gets a lesson in not being such an ass and each character gets more than their chance to shine. Amazingly in this behemoth of a movie the characters not only have a long time to get to know each other but they grow individually as they deal with the task set upon them, which top priority at first is just to get along. The handling of this is done in the best way and caters especially for the fans of the franchise as each of our heroes get a bit hot under the collar and battle it out among themselves. The foe they face is pretty bloody threatening and not at all manageable by even two of our heroes. This comes in the form of the god Loki, brother of Thor, and the army he threatens to reign upon the earth. The only thing that ticked me off is that when it finally came to final grudge, it just seemed like a shooting gallery until one character inevitably has to exact sacrificial justice. However the whole sequence had a great sense of grandeur and looked good even though the CGI wasn't as realistic as say Transformers, but definitely far more intelligent. With the army invasion idea ticked off the box you can only hope that what will inevitably follow won't be more of the same.

Some of the ideas of the film are beyond the ridiculous in terms of technology, if Iron Man 2 or Captain America taught us anything it was to expect nothing short of impossibility in the tech department. You let go of that whole concept and you'll really enjoy the idea of a flying aircraft carrier . . . yeah you read that right. Aside from the main contenders we have Black Widow (we met her in Iron Man 2 ) and Hawkeye. Now Hawkeye has been the butt of a number of jokes as his use is pretty much he's slick with a bow and arrow. Again the art/tech department had fun with this one, and makes him a no doubt formidable opponent from a roof top, even if he raises some eyebrows in the ammo department.

This could have been a seriously damp squib, but with such a fantastic sense of direction you have to tip your cap to the king of modern sci-fi that is Joss Whedon, they got the right person the job, and you can see he's spent that time making sure that not only does everyone get their say in the movie but that he makes up for past failings. Number one is The Hulk, what an incredible turn around, the casting of Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner is nothing short of genius, he brought real depth to the character and his chemistry with Robert Downey Junior really showed up on screen. The rest do great, especially Tom Hiddleston as Loki, a proper panto bad guy with the horned helmet and staff but has this deep monstrosity to him.

It's by no means for everyone, but it's definitely going to be the best thing to see this summer for all the family and anyone who's ever read a comic book.    

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

One Right, So Many Wrongs

Once upon a time, in a land 2 hours down the M6, in a small town near Burnley, there was a boy, a boy who cherished everything he watched. Going to the cinema was an event, a treat, and everything was fantastic. Some of that enthusiasm for cinema is still there, but an unabashed and wide eyed view of films has been replaced with some cynicism. Why? Well when I began studying film I realised that for every good and bad profitable movie, there were a number of unprofitable ones, some bad but some criminally good. Which leads me to a trailer I watched today. This is due to hit cinemas but what baffles me is how this is getting to a cinema. I just can't believe that some people are given the amazing opportunity to make a film and they create something like this . . .



One comment reads 'we basically just watched the whole movie'. I could not have put it better myself. How are production companies and distributors not aware that this kind of behaviour isn't doing anyone any favours? Films like Inception and The Artist, proved wide audiences have the capacity to think for themselves and understand cinema as visual language. Time and time again multiplexes will put on this trash in favour of something that might actually be good. I know why but can you honestly see this film pulling in the punters? Especially after seeing most of the film in the trailer? Horror has proved time and again that subtlety is the way to a good scare. How can this be coming to our cinemas . . . now? Ok, we had our run of thrillers/horrors back when remakes and conceptual thrillers based around modern society had a brief and not very lucrative run. God remember Cellular?



And Phone Booth which I personally enjoyed. But there they seemed to get the measure right, the story made sense, even if it tore a leaf out of the book of clichés. ATM just looks like the definition of retarded, how the hell do you get trapped in an ATM by Bansky standing out in the middle of a car park?? I guess that may be a selling point. I know for a fact why ATM was made; low budget, conceptual idea, and the murder factor. If I'm at all honest I noticed that one of the popular genres asked about when I worked in retail was thriller or horror. People like to be scared and in all fairness there are hundreds more atrocities out there, but they usually hide their shame and do a straight to dvd release. And rarely do they ever actually scare anyone. I cannot believe that this was written by the guy who wrote the brilliant Buried, a really great thriller that actually had me on the edge of my seat. I can't imagine why any distributor in the UK would even consider putting this car crash of a movie on the big screen. However . . . *breathe* . . . this is all based on the trailer. It gives away nearly all of it's cards, but has saved one crucial thing that will get people interested in seeing it. Who is the guy and why is he doing this? My bet is disgruntled ex-boyfriend, or even better a taxi driver who missed a fare thanks to the douche who gave the girl a ride home. If Buried is anything to go by it will probably try and teach some moral lesson about our reliance on technology and how isolated we can end up. A noble moral, but it looks like the wrong way to slant it in this case.

Needless to say most of youtube seems to agree in their comments. It is pure garbage and looks ridiculous, I might just have to see it to prove a point. I'll eat my words if it's any good, but judging from the reviews I can't see me doing that.

Anyway let me know what you thought.

Satisfying Curiosity

I've been keen to watch a number of random films in the past week with me suffering from a bout of serious sinusitis I gave the old dvd collection a dust off and watched some old favourite documentaries like Murderball and The Devil And Daniel Johnston. But tonight I was having a random browse on youtube and came across a video that featured a cartoon dame dancing with Gabriel Byrne in what looked like a Who Framed Roger Rabbit style film. After several seconds of research (god bless imdb) I found out what I'd been missing on and discovered a familiar title . . . Cool World. I don't where I'd ever come across it before but I had heard of the title, however had no idea what it was about. I also found out that Brad Pitt and Kim Basinger also star in it. My curiosity itched as I found the trailer and saw a link to watch the whole thing. Ok . . . let's go.

Brad Pitt is beamed to the land of cartoons called Cool World when he is involved in a motorcycle accident having just come home from war in 1945. Years later a comic book artist (Byrne) is beamed into the same world which he thinks he created through his Cool World comic books. His obsession with a character of his Holli Would has him chased down by Brad Pitt who now operates as law enforcement in Cool World. There's one major law in Cool World; noids (humans) cannot have sex with doodles (cartoons). The shit hits the fan when Byrne is seduced by Holli and she changes for the worse.

What I saw was a mental, colourful and rather imaginative shit fit of a film. It's the kind of film that at times has deep subtle undertones that could make it an absolute gem of cinema, but it falls flat on it's backside because of the lack of direction and the limitations of the technology to bring it to the screen. The characters have the potential to be seriously well rounded individuals with desires and motives that aren't at first noticeable because of the serious mishandle in direction. The trailer makes out that Gabriel Byrne is the central protagonist, the poster obviously has other ideas and the film . . . well it can't really make up its mind. The animation is not on par with that of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and there is an obviously large focus on Holli as this turned up temptress with a heaving chest and body to die for. To discover this was made by the same guy who made Fritz The Cat comes as no surprise, it goes for the sex sell, rather than actually making a good movie.

I loved the old style animations, I felt a great sense of nostalgia at seeing something new from a period when I was glued to cartoons. It's just such a shame, I can see why this doesn't get as much light cast on it as Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but it has buckets of potential, especially given it's got a 15 rating. But it has this for the wrong reasons. This could have been dark, daring and noirish, and not so seedy. The plethora of rubbish cartoon characters ruin the punk feel and the weak interaction of actors to cartoons makes this a real bargain bin movie. You wonder what these great actors (save Kim Basinger) were thinking getting themselves involved in this.

I did however really enjoy watching this, it was a great discovery that rather than forgetting about I will remember . . . for a little while. It's not a great movie, but that's why these obscure films get uploaded on youtube. It's like the Super Mario Bros Movie . . . you know it's a piece of shit . . . but there's a small place for it in your heart, for some unknown reason. If you have the opportunity and the curiosity do give it a watch, stay with it and you might enjoy it. But it is a bloody car crash of a film, the ending had me scratching my head to the bone. I'm off to find a copy, a crate of beers and rally my best buds together to sit and laugh ourselves silly at how ridiculous this film is.

Silence is Golden - The Artist Review

So once again it's back to Carlisle VUE and my good friend Chris who works there invited me to go see The Artist. How can I possibly refuse? I am forever indebted to my best buddy for feeding my addiction to cinema without it denting my wallet in recent years.

Many of you will have heard about The Artist, it is the talk of the town, picking up nominations and awards all over the place. A serious amount of hype for a film that is silent, black and white and in non widescreen format. A risky concept and a hard sell for the world consumed with supper huge widescreen 3D extravaganzas. Anyone would be foolish in writing this film off before seeing it, to say this is universally endearing is selling the film short. The Artist is a cinematic masterpiece.

Set around the late 1920's when movie stars were a new breed of celebrity, George Valentin is the toast of Hollywood and crosses paths with Peppy Miller whom he inadvertantly catapults into stardom. The birth of sound changes both their lives, for one the better and the other, well you'll have to go and see.

The Artist is a real joy to watch. With no dialogue all the meaning of the film hinges on it's visual representation. In a way it's a real exercise in true acting, with the most minimal of mannerisms conveying emotions of the characters. Like with old silent films there is also room for extravagance, the emotions of the characters are rich and vibrant; which at first seems a little over the top, but becomes infectious and memorable. The visual style links strongly not only with the look of period but the way films were shot in those times. With the story revolving around 20s/30s Hollywood we see many homages to films and talents of the era. This is a director with a superior understanding of cinema and visual metaphor. His vision conveys meaning, without saying anything, with palatable ease. This idea is played with and many moments of humour come from instances where sound is absent, for example applause, whistling or singing. The film is difficult not to fall in love with, the characters are engaging and a joy to watch, with a superb supporting cast, Valentins dog stealing the show in a number of scenes. It's excellent soundtrack stands out by obviously being the only form of sound and serving as the heart beat to this film. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, it has simplicity and depth. The crowning jewel of this film is that it is soooo universal, anyone can enjoy it in any language without the need for dubbing (just the odd subtitle).

With so many films vying for your attention during this time of the year The Artist is the one you have to see. You must see this in a cinema, it's a fantastic shared experience, go with a group of friends or take your other half. You'll come out smiling and talking about it well into the evening. And at time of publishing Oscar just gave his seal of approval by granting The Artist 5 Awards including best picture, director and actor. Go see it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Click for trailer