Little Fockers

This film is amazing - purely because Jessica Alba in her underwear is amazing.

ok so the film may not actually be amazing (jessica alba obviously is), but it is better than the 2nd one. which was awful.

despite being named little fockers the fim isnt really about them at all. instead it is more general sparring between De Niro and Stiller. the same old stuff we have seen in the other movies, it still holds well here, but you get the impression that this same old joke is on its last legs. there are some stand out comedy moments and sequences Ben Stiller injecting De Niro being the most memorable. Owen Wilson as Kevin does a great show as the other man in the marriage clearly having fun with the character. an amzing cameo from Harvey Keitel is the icing on the cake, not much to do, but has a brief argument with De Niro on screen, which reminds you of all those years ago when they were at their peak. awesome.

So a funny little film with some good gags, but hoping this is the last of them as anymore will surely be painful. oh and jessica alba in her underwear.

3 stars

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

So this is a kids fantasy adventure, similar in vein to the Disney movies of the eighties and nineties, escape to witch mountain etc being prime examples.

there is minimum set up to the story and plot. the two older kids have gone somewhere else and the younger two are living in the country with some distant relatives, they see a picture of the sea with a ship then they are sucked into the picture and into the sea and the ship (the dawn treader of the title). this is all within ten minutes. i felt at the time it was rushed, but looking back at the film as a whole it worked - it didnt need any more backstory, what it needed was to get to the sumptuous colourful world of Narnia with its amazing creatures as quickly as possible, from there on in its the kids adventure i mentioned earlier.

there is a very annoying character introduced in the first ten minutes and he is along for the ride. the character Eustace is supossed to be a horrid little brat, and is wonderfully played by Will Poulter - almost too well, as at points i wanted to smash him in the face and walk out the cinema.

and by the end the biblical and christian connotations were so amazingly obvious it was nauseating, laying it on with a spade, as i believe it was done in the books didnt really sit well with me or with a 21st century audience but the whole ending visually looked stunning. just stop going on about God and Aslan etc etc.

so not as good as the first Narnia film but better than the woeful 2nd part. i have a feeling Disney will be continuing this franchise for a few more yet, even they do go straight to DVD.

2 stars

Megamind

This is a friendly little caper with a twist, for most of the duration of the film we as the audience are sided with the evil mastermind of the film.

other than that it is an amusing fim and it looks fantastic, with the 3D especially glorious. Unfortunately there is very little else to say about this film, it is aimed at a young audience and there are no "adult" gags or references like you get in shrek or toy story. easily forgettable but enjoyable whilst watching.

the word average was invented to describe this film.

3 stars

London Boulevard

From the scribe of The Departed & Body of Lies (also Edge of Darkness... but less said about that the better) comes his directorial debut - London Boulevard. Story of a gangster Mitchell just released from jail after 3 years, attempting to go straight, with all his old friend trying to bring him back in. Head gangster Grant (Ray Winstone) takes a liking to him and wants him back in, and won't take no as an answer. Mitchell cope with this along side his new job of looking after a retired actress Charlotte (Keira Knightley) and dealing off the rails sister (Anna Friel). Slightly unsure about Colin Farrel's accent, think it was fine tho. David Thewlis really stands out in this film as friend/employee of Charlotte, as a twisted resting actor, really gets method when he becomes a gangster for a day. Ophelia Lovibond also stands out even tho she is hardly in it as Charlotte's friend Penny, who when first appearing I assumed she would also be the love interest and wonder where her character gets to (as she is much hotter than Keria Knightley). Ray Winstone also does a bang up job of playing a twisted gangster, not much different than he normally plays but he does it so well. Overall great gangster flick.

4 stars.

Monsters

A friend of mine described this film as being like Cloverfield and District 9 mixed together. It's similar to Cloverfield as in the "Monsters" in this film are as big as buildings, but less monsters more like destructive jelly fish which make sounds like whales talking to each other. And the resemblance to District 9 goes as far as it's shot in poor areas... not South Africa but Central America. Shot renegade style, the extras are people from the are who just happened to be there, shot for an estimated $200,000... not alot when compared to the average Hollywood film, or even Sci-fi. They get away with this by not really showing alot of the aliens, mostly quick glimpses or news reports. The lead actor Scoot McNairy plays a very dislikable character... and when I started watching it, I was thinking "How am I going to like this film, the lead is a dick who I want to die", but he did actually grow on me as the film goes on.

3 1/2 stars.

Tron Legacy

Welcome to the future of 3D, using 4 projectors the visual affects for this film are amazing. Used only really within the computer world of Tron (the Grid). The first 40ish minutes of the movie are very cool, with showing Sam Flynn's relationship to his fathers computer company (showing it to be something like Apple), Sam's fathers friend Alan Bradley comes to him revealing that he'd received a message from the arcade from a line that had be disconnected for over 10 years. Sam promptly goes there and then get sucked into the grid, there are some very cool arena fights and light-cycle races... and then Sam meets his dad and the film becomes a snooze-fest from there. The film promptly looses pace, story and interest from there. There's a very weird crappy cameo from Michael Sheen who's character there isn't really any need for.
The films shows the people living within tron are half the time unthinking robots, the other time have personalities and never explains or shows why. Are they robots or people with feelings? It just doesn't make sense. And why are they so hot? Is it wrong for them to make us want to bang a computer program? Or is that really why Jeff Bridges hasn't left for the human world... he's cybering the whole fucking time... dirty old man.

I honestly wasn't expecting much from this film so I wasn't too let down, but I was really enjoying it up to a point. This film could have really done with another script write to add in some ... character... plot... you know the important stuff. Bloody amazing 3d tho!

3 Stars.

The American

A good enough little movie that is slow burning but entertaining.

this film takes the whole of its running time to burn through a story that a stock Hollywood blockbuster would get through before the title sequence is over.

Anton Corbijn takes his time though and George Clooney impresses, mainly physically a there are extended shots of his naked torso working out via press ups and pull ups.

very little dialogue in the film, leaving most of the film to clooney to old just with his face, the fact that he hods your attention is all credit it to him.

i am becoming a big fan of him. long live Clooney!

other than that though, not much els happens, great photography though and beautifully shot.

3 stars

Machete

If guys made movies for fun, this is what it would be like.

Robert Rodriguez clearly had an absolute ball writing, filming and developing this idea. originally perceived as a fake trailer in Planet Terror, which surely would have been made purely for fun has now been made into a full 2 hour movie and it is still pure fun. From the opening sequence which is beautifully gory and violent, almost cartoon like, through to various points in the film it is a blast.

Danny Trejo takes the role of machete who is set up in an attempted assanation of a US senator, then he goes about exacting revenge. on the way making out with two of the most gorgeous women on the planet, Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba, both of whom sizzle sensationally on screen with Alba, my favourite, wearing inapropriatley high heels yet stunningly sexy throughout. the music motif that is used as Trejo is about to get it on with a woman is brilliant.

beyond the brief description of the plot i outlined above, there is not much more to it, and yes there are points that you make you think it is just a simple trailer idea that has been stretched into a movie and the filmakers are trying to elongate the plot into a longer narrative. Once the movie is over you leave with a smile then it kind of dissapears. Trejo is uncharasmatic, and pretty darn ugly and doesnt do much to carry the film. the reward for that i consider goes to Michelle Rodriguez playing the tough but beautiful heroine brillianty once again.

A great supporting cast including De Niro make it a very good ensemble piece too.

can't wait for the sequel...

4 star