Tag Archives: 2013

Jack the Giant Slayer  (2013)    68/100

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Rating :   68/100                                                                     114 Min        12A

A fantasy adventure film from director Bryan Singer (‘The Usual Suspects’ 95, ‘X-Men’ 2000) surrounding the legendary children’s tales of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘Jack the Giant Killer’. Jack, played here by ‘Warm Bodies’ Nicholas Hoult, is forced to go on an errant hike up the mythic plant to rescue the young princess, played by relative newcomer Eleanor Tomlinson, whom he has, understandably, developed the horn for, accompanied by several of the perhaps less keen of the King of Cloister’s guards. Included in the entourage are old ‘Trainspotting’ (96) Scottish pals Ewan McGregor and Ewen Bremnar, along with Eddie Marsan, perhaps having acquired a taste for fantasy after appearing as one of the dwarfs in last year’s ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’, along with American Stanley Tucci as the next in line to Ian McShane’s throne. Tucci always invests in his roles with playful relish, and here is no exception with his tone perfect for the film, as is McGregor’s posh gallantry. Bill Nighy also voices the leader of the giants, with his accent wavering between the one he used for Davy Jones and a reasonably convincing Irish one.

The effects are good, I don’t believe seeing the film in 3D really adds anything, although that is hardly anything new, and the efforts made with the story to make it interesting are successful in a lot of ways, although despite good intentions a certain drag factor does creep in, which for adult viewers will probably not see this advance beyond the ‘likeable’ category, which is a shame. Overall though it remains an enjoyable fairytale romp, which should see both romantic hopefuls prove likeable and attractive enough to hold interest to the end.

Identity Thief  (2013)    59/100

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Rating :   59/100                                                                     111 Min        15

The latest film to revolve around a road trip and, therein, a forced scenario that sees two unlikely characters ‘buddy up’, in this case Jason Bateman’s financial services worker and the person who has stolen his identity and threatens to destroy his assets and credibility, played in a wonderful performance by Melissa McCarthy. In fact, if it were not for McCarthy this film would have almost absolutely nothing of value in it, the pace of the comedy is slow and often too obvious, as is the story generally, the use of violence for comedic effect is by turns funny and then way, way off, and Jason Bateman turns in another of his now much overused roles of the reluctant ‘strictly by the rules’ straight guy ‘forced’ into extremity, and his character is, even given the scenario, creepily mean to his new criminal friend. McCarthy manages to bring pathos and emotion to a below average production, and one can only wonder what she would have been able to do with a half decent script. Robert Patrick and John Cho appear in support.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone  (2013)    53/100

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Rating :   53/100                                                                     100 Min        15

A comedy about performance magicians that starts really strongly, with attention grabbing use of music and the scene well set, and then loses its way badly, largely due to a central character as devoid of comedy and interest value as the cardboard cutout of himself that he carries around with him. It also ‘misses a trick’ by very obviously using computers and camera play to perform a lot of the magic, which for a big budget movie is really not good enough. Steve Carell plays the aforementioned central character of Wonderstone, who has performed countless shows over a successful career with his high school buddy and fellow magician Anton Marvelton, played by Steve Buscemi, and is now jaded, bored, and bullying everyone around him, with an ego even larger than his over the top hairdo. Enter new wannabe magician Jane, played by the perfectly formed Olivia Wilde, who will of course make him see the error of his ways. It’s overtly trite to say the least, and unfortunately the comedy is largely unwaveringly flat. Notwithstanding, however, a wonderful turn from Jim Carrey as the new daredevil of street magic, Steve Gray, appearing on the scene like a cross between Johnny Knoxville, David Blaine and Axl Rose. Here, on the periphery of the central plot, the film is more successful, if only they’d put more effort into the centre rather than going for the same old dull as ditchwater routine. Alan Arkin and James Gandolfini also appear in support.

Welcome to the Punch  (2013)    61/100

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Rating :   61/100                                                                       99 Min        15

The most obvious and memorable thing about this film, other than it’s rather ridiculous title, which at least forewarns you of the violence you can expect to see, is that the entire film has been desaturated and colourised various shades of blue, a post-production procedure that is used ever more frequently to make work seem more ‘urban’ or gritty, but not usually to quite the excess as can be seen here. It actually works reasonably well in this scenario, and does give a very distinctive feel to the movie, although it also kind of feels like the whole film was shot around a dimly lit swimming pool. It’s a crime thriller that sees determined cop James McAvoy pitted against successful professional criminal Mark Strong in and around London, with support from Andrea Riseborough, Peter Mullan, David Morrissey, and Daniel Mays. The acting and unique look of the film are good enough to make it all right, but there’s little of any real originality or substance here, and it’s not nearly as explosive as the title suggests it might be. If the ushers punched you in the face when you walked into the screening it might be more memorable, an introduction to 4D cinema perhaps…

We Are Northern Lights  (2013)    83/100

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Rating :   83/100                       Treasure Chest                     98 Min        12A

This film was commissioned on a fantastic premise: an open call was given to anyone with access to a camera across Scotland to record footage showcasing places that have meaning to them, people that have inspired them, or just generally anything about the nation that they felt might warrant inclusion in this compendium of short clips. The resulting finished product is a gallant mix of comedy, social and political commentary, and a sightseeing tour of some of Scotland’s natural and man-made beauty. Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Highlands feature most prominently, although many of the other cities get a look-in along the way, though I don’t remember seeing any beautiful landscape shots of the city of Dundee … Plenty to talk about and remember, and worth watching whether you yourself are Scottish, or are simply curious about our somewhat distinctive sense of self, and, most notably, our sense of humour.

This is to my knowledge the first documentary of its kind, so it is fitting that it should take place in Scotland where documentary filmmaking has such strong roots (according to legend, the term was itself coined by Scots filmmaker and critic John Grierson). In fact, although this film premiered at a sold out screening in the Glasgow film festival, the Edinburgh film festival was begun in 1947 as a showcase for documentary film, and currently holds the title of the longest continually running film festival in the world (both Cannes and Venice are slightly older, 1946 and 1932 respectively, but have both had breaks over the years).

The project is such a good idea, and has been so well received that it would be fantastic to see it spread to other countries, and indeed for it to become an annual event in Scotland, producing a databank of digital footage that the public could have free access to for research, or entertainment, in years to come. With the widespread ownership of digital cameras and smartphones, such an archive could only grow in popularity and cultural value. Another documentary released at the same time as this, ‘Side by Side’, hits on the same enterprising possibilities now available to anyone who wants to become involved with filmmaking. The official website for this project, complete with access to all the submitted material and a list of all the screenings around the nation, can be found here.

Parker  (2013)    27/100

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Rating :   27/100                                                                     118 Min        15

This begins as a fairly decent action/revenge pic, as we see Jason Statham take part in a robbery gone awry. Unfortunately, the filmmakers have decided to harken back to the action flicks of the nineties where many, many films tried to unsuccessfully appeal to both sexes by having a completely hopeless damsel in distress appear amidst the otherwise testosterone fuelled carnage. Here, this unhappy role is embodied by a screeching, meddlesomely vain nobody, played by Jennifer Lopez, who seems to exist as the very antithesis to the pace of the film hitherto. Her earthly woes of maybe losing her large car because her sales job isn’t going so well, are contrasted with the several bullets Statham has had injected at close range and the mortal peril he and his loved ones have been placed in. Needless to say the lady generally just gets in the way and functions primarily as a, hopeful, box office draw, to the complete ruination of the entire endeavour. It would be interesting to know if her character is quite as pointless in the Parker novel, ‘Flashfire’, the film is based on. This is not the first big-screen adaptation of one of the series of books, from late author Donald E. Westlake, but it is the first to use the character’s name, and it is unlikely Westlake would have been happy with that, or the final product, as he had always withheld the rights to Parker’s name unless someone was willing to produce adaptations of the entire series. It’s an opportunity to begin a franchise gone begging, and a big disappointment from established director Taylor Hackford (‘Ray’ 04, ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ 97, ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ 82).

Oz The Great and Powerful  (2013)    37/100

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Rating :   37/100                                                                     130 Min        PG

Oh my goodness, this is just awful. It’s the prequel to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939) which, since that was based on the first of L. Frank Baum’s Oz novels ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, means this is an ‘imagined’ story, in the likeness of the rest. It relies heavily on special effects and a far too overindulgent, and at times outright garish, technicolouresque palette. There is a story but it’s so overtly banal, and the central performance from James Franco as Oz so completely lacklustre, involving naught but him grinning like a Cheshire Cat and delivering his lines with such drab drollery he comes across as being half stoned most of the time (although sadly his father passed away during production, so it isn’t really surprising this is not his finest moment), that replacing a lot of the characters and dreary dialogue with more effects might have actually been an improvement. Though, those same effects that the film relies on so much look absolutely terrible in places, with it painfully obvious the main characters are standing in front of a green screen. It really isn’t good enough, although The Red Dragon viewed the film in 2D, and can only hope it looks more convincing on a 3D projection.

The whole is not helped by the score from Danny Elfman which drones on uninterrupted for pretty much the entire film and must be some of the least original or enterprising work he’s ever done. The look and feel of the film, together with his music, initially evoke bad memories of Tim Burton’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and, to a slightly lesser degree, his ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The whole of the intro appears in black and white, mirroring the beginning of the 1939 film, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, before expanding into full colour and 16:9 widescreen upon arrival in Oz, but it takes a painfully long time to do so. The supporting characters do little but grate, with the exception of a small china doll in the likeness of a girl whose animation and empathetic appearance are one of the film’s few saving graces. In fact all of the female actors, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, and Joey King as the China Girl, unanimously bring some life and interest to the film, but are not in of themselves enough to make it worthwhile. Some of the real sets that were built to mix in with the computer graphics, also bring something of value to the piece.

The Oz stories were aimed at children of course, and the film might be better enjoyed by younger audiences. Not too young though, as some of the evil characters, such as the flying, screeching baboons, may terrify rather than entertain. Director Sam Raimi fits in a lot of his trademark ‘several things fly into shot at the same time in a loud and abrupt manner’ which, combined with the baboons, may also not be ideal for wee ones. The script sneaks in a bit of a nod to ‘Back to the Future’ and the music makes an acoustic acknowledgement of the fact, see if you spot it should you decide to brave the mire of cerebral boredom that this film will present you with.

The following interview with Mila Kunis is more entertaining than the actual movie.

Side Effects  (2013)    74/100

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Rating :   74/100                                                                     106 Min        15

Rooney Mara stars as Emily Taylor, a sufferer of depression after husband Martin, played by Channing Tatum, is sent to jail for insider trading. The film opens with his release and we see Emily dealing with the consequences of the whole ordeal, and also the possible side effects of the anti-depressant drugs she has been prescribed with as increasingly erratic behaviour develops. Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones play her current and former psychiatrists respectively, and we are treated to a developing mystery and an insight into the pharmaceutical industry. Compelling, well paced and well acted, ‘Side Effects’ is a pleasure to watch.

Sadly it is set to be the last film from director Steven Soderbergh (‘Traffic’, ‘Oceans 11-13’, ‘Haywire’) as he has stated he has had enough of studio interference with his work and is switching to television instead. Given most of his films remain very good, it would be interesting to see what they may have been like without this suggested creative meddling. Far from the first director to bemoan the power of producers, surely he has had enough success and made enough high profile friends, George Clooney for example, that he could afford to finance a film or two of his own, even if they were smaller scale ones? Woody Allen famously was so irate at the direction the producers took with his first movie that he vowed to never again work on anything where he didn’t have complete creative control, and he has since enjoyed decades of critical and commercial success doing just that. Come on Soderbergh, don’t give in just yet…..

See the TED talk below and the following link for some topical, and very important, insights on the potential dangers of prescription drugs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20497086

Safe Haven  (2013)    53/100

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Rating :   53/100                                                                     115 Min        12A

This is the latest film adaptation of one of Nicholas Sparks’ novels, which will justifiably see many self respecting men, and women, avoiding it like the plague. Like all his previous adaptations, this follows an identical template – the young lovers who could be together were it not for some exterior threat which gets in the way and leads to a confrontation at the end. Ever since ‘The Notebook’ (04), which was actually quite good, the stories have been going steadily downhill, but this isn’t too bad, with both leads, played by Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough (‘Footloose’ {11}, ‘Rock of Ages’ {12}) proving likeable enough to at least hold some interest. Sparks now has his own production company which appears on the credits here, so we can look forward to seeing all of his stories turned into films with the same predictably nice locations, nice music, good looking actors and hollow drama for the perfection of his feel good, but largely flimsy, fare. Disappointingly, Lasse Hallstrom (‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’) directs – his work generally carries a lot of respect, but since this is his second Sparks adaptation (the other being ‘Dear John’{10}) one can’t help but feel they function as mere potboilers between his other projects. A sudden plot twist at the end also reveals Sparks has largely been taking the piss all the way through.

Broken City  (2013)    62/100

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Rating :   62/100                                                                     109 Min        15

Mark Wahlberg plays Billy Taggart, an ex cop working as a private eye who’s hired by the mayor of New York (Russel Crowe) to take snaps capturing the adultery of his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones). It shapes up well, but ultimately begins to lose ground about half way through, with the twists and turns, and the interlinking of the characters with the story, feeling a little trite and forced. Wahlberg has carved out a niche for these kind of roles, and he fits them well with his incredulous looks of ‘are you kidding, this is seriously happening to me?’ as he stares off to the side before facing forward again to finish delivering his lines in his trademark stance. It’s a shame the promise of the first half isn’t matched by the second.