Graphic novel style action film based on an original screenplay from director Zack Snyder. Babydoll (played by Emily Browning) is sent to a mental institution for teenage girls and visages her escape from her captors through a series of fantastical quests. Although clearly inspired by Kill Bill, Inception and a host of modern day video games, credit has to be given to Snyder for the film's creative context but unfortunately that's about all it can be given for.
The fantasy within a fantasy concept does allow Snyder license to create some stunning looking fantasy backdrops and action sequences ranging from fighting giant samurai in feudal Japan to mechanical Nazi soldiers in a WWII bunker. The action sequences are visually stunning as you would expect from the director that delivered 300 and Watchmen and renowned for his graphic novel and video game style imagery. Although why a teenage girl would choose to invent such fantasy situations to serve as replications of the quests undertaken, except for the obvious reason of serving up gun-totting chick action for the likely audience, is unclear.
The all-action girl heroes attempt to complete a series of simplistic quests, dubbed 'the plan' and actually just involving obtaining several objects, to escape from their prison. Perhaps Snyder felt that the fantasy within a fantasy premise was as much as his target audience could handle, especially with all the teenage girls running around, and dumbed down 'the plan' to the point of having Babydoll write it down as a reference for the audience to understand the progress achieved. The quests are completed and ticked off, for the audiences benefit, with tedious repetition.
Snyder breaks the stereotype of the female role in action films and it is refreshing to see a team of girls manning machine guns, flying helicopters and fighting dragons, however the film is conflicted in its attempts to portray a spirit of female empowerment, which is relevant, when the female characters breaking out from their male oppressors are a group of nubile teenage girls scantily clad in school uniforms.
The fantasy within a fantasy premise and impressive visuals are not enough to cover the hollow and humourless characters and abysmal script. The rush of deaths in the film's final act feel too contrived as if Snyder realised with 10 minutes to go that some quick emotion was required in order to set up an attempt at a profound ending. The narrated dialogue over the final scenes is hard to appreciate after the previous ninety minutes which really did nothing more than serve up the literal definition of a teenage nerds wet dream.
Imagine if MTV remade Inception crossed with Kill Bill for the video game generation and avoid.
Challengingly complex thriller from Christopher Nolan about a man with short-term memory loss out to avenge the murder of his wife. With two converging sequences of events being played out in parallel, Memento both demands and warrants careful attention throughout as the audience must hunt for clues in every scene to help piece together the puzzle. Watching one half of the story unfold backwards is demanding but genuinely rewarding as earlier events in the film are explained retrospectively.
The film owes a great debt to the clever story telling technique employed by Nolan, as without this the story would actually be far less dramatic.
Guy Pearce is superb as the aggrieved husband and plays his character with a subtly sly sense of humour considering the events unfolding.
Disney-Pixar have almost consistently produced films to a superb standard in recent years and Up does not just meet this standard but raise it further. As with its predecessors, the animation is great and the story is amusing and rich in sentiment but what makes Up stand out above the rest is the combination of unusual characters, odd story and superb Oscar winning score.
With the exception of The Incredibles, Pixar have traditionally stayed away from humans as central characters. However, in Up the main characters are Mr. Fredricksen, a lonely, grumpy old man and Russell, a plump young explorer scout. An unlikely pair who are unintentionally thrown together as Mr. Fredricksen transports his house to South America using helium filled balloons to escape moving from his home. There they meet a group of talking dogs, an endangered bird and Mr. Fredricksen's childhood hero as the adventure and fun continues.
As plots go it is one of the most bizarre yet from Pixar but it's a fun journey and the writers actually cover the pretty serious themes of ageing and missed opportunities, loneliness and friendship along the way. The montage at the beginning of the film displaying the life Mr. Fredricksen shared with his wife, from their childhood to her death, is beautifully made and, supported by the superb score, is an incredibly emotive piece of film making.
If you are looking for an enjoyable, funny film for the family then you can not do much better than Up.
Following on from the first series and subsequent prequel, Spartacus has developed something of cult following and true second season of the most explicit show on TV returns with Spartacus raising an army of familiar faces to take on the might of the Roman empire. The writers manage to find a way to reunite all the favourites from both previous seasons. Spartacus is played by Liam McIntye in Vengeance following Andy Whitfield's sad death and McIntyre fills the role with similar gusto to Whitfield albeit with a slight Christian Bale voice impersonation.
Third time around its dawned on me how seriously the show takes itself. There are very few light hearted moments and I lost count of the number of grand speeches and intense stares Spartacus and Praetor Glaber give throughout the series. The seriousness of the show is in stark contrast with the attitude of Spartacus' audience, most of whom I believe watch just for fun and with tongue firmly in cheek, adding to the shows cult appeal.
The combination of extreme gore, though impressive, and explicit sex is not quite as novel this time around but the backstabbing, bed-hopping and blood-spilling plot is still strong enough to enjoy. The finale is gripping as the action switches between Spartacus and Glaber and the scheming pair of Lucretia and Illythia.
I'll hold my hands up, I read this book, as plenty of others have, on the back of enjoying the first season of the HBO adaptation. What really strikes you about the story is the stunning level of detail that Martin has built into the fantasy kingdom of Westeros. Combining old-fashioned kings and swordplay with dragons and mysterious evil, similarities with the Lord of the Rings series may appear obvious but at no time during the book did I ever find myself finding anything that made me think of Mordor, Aragon or hobbits. Told through the eyes of six characters, the story is engrossing and for those not familiar with the TV series will provide enough shock and intrigue aplenty. The way Martin kills off seemingly major characters suggests the story has plenty more unfolding to do in the next few books.
The critically acclaimed Walking Dead returns with a second season amid high expectations following on from a great first season which benefited from being only six episodes long and contained some zombie scenes that delivered unbelievable suspense.
Unfortunately the second season only hits these highs on a few occasions, most notably at the beginning and during the second half. The decision to extend the season to thirteen episodes did not help the writers, who struggled to really fill the additional time with any meaningful story lines. Most viewers watch TWD for zombie action, and while I understand it takes periods of calm to build suspense and surprise in between the zombie action, these periods lasted too long this time around.
After a great first episode with an impressive zombie herd scene, the first half of the season is dominated by the missing Sophia and the search to find her. This storyline dragged on for several weeks too long, especially bearing in mind that we were barely introduced to her in the first season. In order to continue the search the group settles at an occupied farm nearby. The group remain here until the final episode and this gives the action a different feel from the first season. Settling down and not moving on through zombie infested roads and towns allows the writers to develop some of the characters, in some instances using the relationships with the farm occupants. It is at this point that the season starts to slow down and becomes too much of a soap opera. Trips away from the farm occasionally come across the odd zombie but the threat seems largely relegated in place of group tensions, cat fights and a love story. The merging of the survivors with the farm occupants leads to a clash of mentalities, those with first hand experience of the current world and those keeping faith in the chance of a cure. This provides the writers the opportunity to inject a spiritual point of view to proceedings that is ultimately disproved. Also, the terror of zombies that the group originally had seems to become less as the season progresses until almost all group members appear to become skilled and too confident in zombie killing. This only serves to lessen the suspense when we are treated to occasional zombie moments.
The season begins to improve dramatically when Shane, gradually spiralling out of control throughout the season, opens Hershel's barn and the Sophia story line is put to bed in brutal fashion. From this point on the action predominantly revolves around Shane and Rick, and the growing tension between them. Shane is the stand-out character of the cast, and driven by his belief that Rick is weak, ruthlessly strives to protect Lori and Carl. Starting by killing Otis, and next opening the barn, he butts heads with Rick throughout the season and the tension reaches boiling point when he decides to kill the prisoner Randall, leading to a fist fight surrounded by zombies that almost costs both men their lives. In the end it is Lori who unwittingly sets in motion a series of events that occupy the last two episodes by revealing to him that he may well be the father of her baby. The events to come are hinted at when Rick comments that Randall (loose in the woods having been freed) is not the only threat out there and they should look out for each other. Referring to the potential zombies, Rick may also have been aware of what was to come.
The barn burns in the backdrop of an impressively choreographed last stand in the season finale, signifying the end of their time at the farm as the group flee to pastures unknown. A third season is confirmed and it looks as though the social dynamics of the group may be shifting. Following on from his actions, Rick's position is in question, even with Lori and Carl and he lays the law down as dictator. The finale certainly posed questions to be answered by season three, what are the implications of being infected, who is the mystery gentleman that saved Andrea and where will the group head now. And will Merle ever catch up with them!
Following on from the 2003 film Hulk, Marvel decided the best course of action prior to the Avengers film was to reboot the series with a new director and cast, resulting in this 2008 update starring Edward Norton in the title role. Hulk is a different type of superhero to most of the traditional good-looking all-American heroes such as Spiderman or Iron Man. Although tamed by Betty Ross, the Hulk is not capable of relating to humans and therefore the audience and I feel this has always made it difficult for storytellers and directors to produce engaging films with this character.
On the occasions that the Hulk appears during the first half of the film, in a repetitive series of chase and escape scenes, he destroys almost everything in his path without remorse as Banner is unable to control his rage. At the end of the film, Banner intentionally turns into the Hulk in order to fight the Abomination, leading the audience to believe that the Hulk is now a fully fledged crime fighting superhero. This transformation between out of control animal and useful superhero may be the films idea of character development but apart from reuniting with Betty, no other significant events occur that explain this. Norton and Liv Tyler play their characters well and William Hurt is impressive as General Ross, despite the occasionally cheesy lines he is fed. Tim Roth gives an intense performance as Blonsky prior to his transformation into the Abomination. Ultimately though, despite being visually impressive, the final battle is between two CGI monsters and I found the film did not do enough to make me engage with Hulk. This is in part to do with the Hulk being unable to portray any real human emotion, this having to be shown through Betty at his side. Worth watching if you are a superhero film fan or as a warm-up for the Avengers.
Graphic novel style action film based on an original screenplay from director Zack Snyder. Babydoll (played by Emily Browning) is sent to a mental institution for teenage girls and visages her escape from her captors through a series of fantastical quests. Although clearly inspired by Kill Bill, Inception and a host of modern day video games, credit has to be given to Snyder for the film's creative context but unfortunately that's about all it can be given for.
