Hmm. So, I haven't actually posted a review since the end of May, and even then that was a film I saw towards the start of that month. The past couple of months have held quite a few distractions for me, but even so, my lack of updates is mostly just a result of my inevitable laziness.
Of course with the summer movie season now long since started (and arguably almost finished), I have seen many movies, to the point where I would never find the time to write individual reviews for all of them. As such, I'm just going to add another one of my quick run-downs like I did when I started this blog...
Even though I'm not a Trekkie, the once-stale franchise has been quite successfully rebooted with a spectacularly entertaining blockbuster that ticks all the rights boxes and reminds you just how much fun watching films can be. I liked how they managed to tie it in to the original films whilst establishing a new universe. It's also visually stunning, especially so on an IMAX screen.
VERDICT: It's great!
Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, about a hypocondriac theatre director who spends decades building a life-size set of Manhattan in a warehouse for his next play. Even for a Kaufman film this was weird, to the point where I'm not even sure if I liked it or not - I was certainly entertained and there are plenty of great touches but ultimately it quite literally spirals in upon itself to the point of absurdity.
VERDICT: Hmm. I kind of liked it? Probably worth seeing...
It's monumentally silly, and features worse dialogue and acting than The Da Vinci Code, but on the other hand there is considerably more action and it still manages to at least be entertaining.
VERDICT: Silly but watchable.
It wasn't the disaster that it could have been considering it's directed by McG, but neither did it live up to the promise of a script by Jonathan Nolan and the presence of Christian Bale. Perfectly watchable but ultimately lacking in compelling plot. Interestingly Sam Worthington's character has the majority of the screen time.
VERDICT: Not up to the standards of its predecessors but otherwise fine.
This has to be the most visually amazing work of animation I have ever seen - the detail, fluidity of motion and expressiveness of the characters almost makes it look like it was created with computers and not hand-animated models. Aside from this, the film itself is good fun but at 100 minutes it is perhaps a bit too long. And once again, 3D leaves me unconvinced - this time it worked well but was so subtle that I tended to forget about it.
VERDICT: Worth watching, but The Nightmare Before Christmas is better.
Easily the funniest comedy I have seen in years, which is all the more remarkable considering that the trailers didn't do much for me. By skipping the actual events of the night in question and focussing entirely on the bizarre investigation that follows, this quite effectively bypasses most of the stag-party-gone-wrong clichés and as such deserves its huge box office takings.
VERDICT: Great fun!
I was expecting a lot from this - Michael Mann, Johnny Depp and Christian Bale certainly should have been an effective combination, but sadly, all I felt was boredom. The plot isn't compelling, I didn't care about any of the characters (I could barely tell any of them apart due to poor characterisation), the hand-held digital camerawork is distracting and the sound mixing is woefully poor. The shoot-out in the woods is great, though.
VERDICT: Avoid.
I could barely remember anything about the first one and frankly I can see this going the same way - it's bloated, overlong and completely negates some very impressive visual effects work with horrendously-directed action scenes where you can't tell what's going on at all. That said, it's still passably entertaining in an extreme "switch-off-your-brain" sense.
VERDICT: Only worth it if you have absolutely nothing better to do.
As a film, it's probably the best since Prisoner of Azkaban, with the story flowing much better and sufficient running time available to allow the film to breathe (the main problem with the last 2 films). However, I believe that rather a lot was cut out of the book, to the extent that I'm fairly certain that someone who hasn't read it will be completely clueless about a lot of the plot. Otherwise, the direction and cinematography are excellent, and the cave scene is very well done - but sadly the ending is again a little bit of a damp squib.
VERDICT: For a fan of the franchise, well worth seeing. If you aren't, I wouldn't bother...
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The first film I saw was a light-hearted crime caper starring Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H Macy as art gallery security guards who decide to steal each of their favourite artworks to prevent them from being shipped off to a gallery in Denmark. While this may sound fairly mainstream, due to various legal wranglings the film hasn't made it to cinemas despite being shot a couple of years ago and may well never get a significant release.
