Salt

This was a good fun enjoyable movie if pretty much forgettable.

Jolie puts in a very solid performance as a CIA agent Evelyn Salt, who throughout the film is questioned about wether she is on the good side (America) or the baddies (Russia). Cue lots of chasing around America in disguises with guns and high intensity stunts.

this film offers nothing new and is a re-hash of many other CIA films. The big unique selling point of this movie was that the lead was a female not a male, as you probably know tom cruise was widely reported to have turned down the role, liking it to be too close to Ethan Hunt, an observation i would be inclined to agree with, even down to the latex facial disguises. Jolie gives a great performance and looks stunning on screen, she certainly has a screen prescence, but unless you are a fanatical feminist then the fact that its a girl doesn't really matter, it doesn't make a difference.

so good clean fun, with a very watchable Jolie.

3 stars

The Expendables

Splendid, brilliant, brilliant stuff. a truly brilliant Hollywood action movie.

this film treads the fine line between not taking itself to seriously and not sending itself up. all the characters and actors believe in what they are doing and commit to it, despite all the characters being wafer thin travelling along a plot that you could write on the back of a postage stamp.

But it doesn't matter, this is how action movies used to be made, back in the 80's. and watching this film it took me back to my early youth watching scharzenegger (yes i was a big arnie fan back in the day) be invincible on VHS at home whilst my parents were out because i was under 18, brilliant films, brilliant times.

to coin a cliche, they just don't make them like this anymore - action film has evolved as a genre - they are more thoughtful and intelligent with more complex characters and story structure, the most obvious example of this i Jason Bourne from the Bourne trilogy. these new action films are great and more complete films for sure, but there is still tremendous fun to be had in simple testosterone fuelled action heros creating havoc - and stallone does this with aplomb.

to sum up, watching the expendables it reminded me of Team America: World Police in which this type film is parodied so brilliantly, because of these parodies it has been a while since someone has had the balls to make such a film and to take it seriously - The Expendables is the film to do this. brilliant fun.

4 stars

The Last Airbender

Now i am not a fan of M.night Shyamalan, the sixth since was pretty good, but since then it has been downhill, and more recently that has been accelerated with his most recent films. Also, the first thing i heard about this film was the incredible dis-pleasure from the south east asian community at the casting of non-south east asian actors in the lead roles in a film that originates from that area. i still went into this film with unbiased eyes and a part of me really wanted to enjoy it - but my lord it is bad. appallingly bad. surprisingly bad, surprising because if it had been made by a complete novice with no film experience then it could maybe be expected, but Shyamalan has made films before, so it is a struggle to comprehend.

Script is the main problem. The dialogue is atrocious. Clunky sentence followed by clunky sentence. Each one delivered so weightily by the actors that it sounds like everything they are saying is such a prophecy, that the world will change after their sentence - this happens every time, every single time and you will obviously understand that the portentiousness fails to hit home after the 3rd or 4th time. Let alone the 57th.

The martial arts and the fight sequences offer nothing in way of respite for the horrendous dialogue. Noah Ringer (Aang) is obviously a very gifted martial artist and when he moves he looks brilliant swirling his arms around, but that's all he really does and then a few baddies fall over.

You don't believe the baddies and are unsure of the real motivations, in fact all the characters seem shallow and never fully realised. i could go on, but i think you get my drift regarding this film.

there was one vaguely memorable moment towards the end of film where Aang has managed to master the art of "bending" water, and he delivers a large scale movement of water to a crescendo of classical music, it looks and builds beautifully but ends in a weak, gentle splash.

One last thing that seems insignificant, but worth a mention for me, it is the moment when an ageing grandmother tells her young grand-daughter that "..when she first relalised that you were a bender...", juvenile i know, but the vast majority of English and European viewers will be giggling at this point - which is exactly what happened in my viewing.

1 star

Step Up 3D

Well. What can I say about this film. The story, plot, characters and script are shocking. Absolutely diabolical. But this isn’t necessarily a bad film.

In fact once I got past the clunky dialogue I actually quite enjoyed it. This is in main due to the pumping soundtrack and the dance set pieces. Both of these are explosive and brilliant. Once the actors (or dancers) get a few dance routines under their belt you kind of forgive them at how bad they are at delivering dialogue and general acting. They are clearly having a blast on screen doing what they enjoy doing and this comes across very well.

The plot is stock teen Hollywood movie, I won’t even go into detail as it would be patronising.

One section of the film that stood out for me was a scene where the lead character and his friend dance along the street in a happy go lucky kind of way. As it started I found it odd and strange, but as it progressed I realised that as I was watching a dance film this was a hark back to the old school dance ala Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, this is how dance films used to be made, a homage to the old dance films by a new modern dance film. It was a touching tribute and well executed.

3 stars

Shrek Forever After

This is a great film and is much better than Shrek the Third, but is not as good, in my opinion as the original two.

The premise of the film is easy, Shrek makes a pact with the devil (Rumplestiltskin), Shrek obviously doesn’t read the small print and he ends up in deep trouble needing to win back Fionas heart for true loves kiss before sunset – echoes of the writers returning to the original loud and clear. What follows is a classic escapade through thick and thin in true Shrek fashion, comparisons to toy story £ are ineveitable - and for me the gag reel in Shrek is better, there are more gags and laugh out loud moments, but the look and the feel of the film is below that of Toy story 3.

Still a good movie though and a fitting end to the franchise, though puss in boots should definitely be getting his own spin-off.

3.5 stars

The Karate Kid

Wasn't expecting much from this. Jackie Chan as Mr Miyagi and changing the wax on wax off scene to jacket on and jacket off did not inspire me. plus that the lead kid is about ten years old, and it's kung fu and no karate... Despite all this though it is an entertaining enough film.

Jaden Smith has oodles of charisma very similar to his dads and obviously have a bright future. Chan doesn't do any of his silly gags and comedy and instead gives a very subtle and nuanced performance of a quiet humble handyman - who also knows a thing or too about kung fu.

so the story is fairly standard and won't take a genius to work out what happens, but the journey the film takes you on is a nice enough one. enjoy.

3 stars