An amazing follow up to The Avengers that's full of character facing moral dilemmas in the current world situation. Click through to the Berning Along blog for a full review. Meanwhile, here's a brief featurette...
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Stars (vocally) Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter with Stephan Colbert, Leslie Mann, Alison Janney, Stanley Tucci, Patrick Warburton and Mel Brooks Directed by Rob Minkoff I have a liking for the PDI/DreamWorks animated features, just a smidgen more than for the Pixar/Disney features. PDI/DreamWorks tend to take more chances and they don’t necessarily aim for that all rounded-family genre, but for the slightly more mature, riskier market of the older teens / adults who don’t care that much for animated features. Just look at their output under DreamWorks starting with Antz and Shrek to Over The Hedge, Kung-Fu Panda, Megamind and their last - and actually impressively amazing - Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (so much better than the first two, but works best if you know the characters). Keep in mind that now every DreamWorks animated feature was done with PDI (Pacific Data Images) as DreamWorks has a secondary animation unit simply known as Dreamworks Animation. They did the last three features, Rise of The Guardians, Turbo and The Croods as well as the upcoming How To Train Your Dragon 2. They also had a short accompanying this feature, Almost Home. It is a sort-of extended teaser for their upcoming feature, Home. The two companies, working in tandem, hence the current output of two animated features a year as opposed to Pixar’s one a year. With Mr. Peabody and Sherman, this might be the first time DreamWorks has tackled a property that has previous existed as a cartoon series, one that might be considered beloved by a generation. I remember watching one or two shorts a long time ago in the age of black and white TV, and thought it was fun to have a dog who was so smart, and could travel through time. The movie itself does well to explain the characters and the unique set-up, and from what I’ve read elsewhere, the movie itself is part remake and part tribute to the original cartoon series. Particularly with the origin of the characters and the situation they find themselves in, wherein Mr Peabody struggles with being a good and protective father to Sherman, the threat of losing his son hanging over him. Ultimately, it becomes a father/son movie with some time traveling hijinks. The time travelling escapades are fun but, depending on your mood, can be hit or miss. And like with the original cartoon, they’re also a little educational and often punny. Ultimately, and by the third act, it’s all about the consequence of ones actions, which - given the nature of the story and movie, lends itself to some decent excitement. The design and animation work is truly impressive with a very immersive 3D presentation, especially with travelling the time vortex and the sword fights early on in the film. The cinematography, as advised by Guillermo Navarro, is a gorgeous mix of colours and light. The music by Danny Elfman is fun, frothy and accompanies the movie well. Personally, I can;t find fault with the movie as a whole, it really is my kind of movie. I love the story and the characters. I didn’t catch every ‘guest star voice’ (sure as heck missed Mel Brooks as Albert Einstein), and felt that Ty Burrell was good as Mr. Peabody while Max Charles didn’t grate as Sherman, playing off nicely against Ariel Winters as Penny. So, my rating is biased. You may deduct one star from the rating to suit your needs. Rating: **** Stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso, Gal Gadot with Michelle Rodriguez and Sung Kang Directed by Justin Lin “New Model, Original Parts” goes the tag, and nothing was really more apt with the key four characters - and stars - coming back. It was unprecedented in any franchise, one where the series seemed to veer into a whole new direction with the last entry. (Can anyone mention any other franchise that did this?) Then here, it goes back in time a little - thanks to the appearance of Han (Sung Kang) who was killed in the last entry - and slips comfortably back into the original concept with our heroes going undercover to take out the bad guys. Except this is more of a revenge movie than just some cop thriller. Behind the scenes saw the return of Chris Morgan behind the typewriter (with uncredited assist from David Ayer), Brian Tyler behind the baton and Justin Lin pulling directing duties. One more key factor was stunt master Terry Leonard, who had been handling second unit directing (primarily with the stunts) since the second movie. Added to that Lin’s decision to go old school keeping the car stunts and crashes practical, and Terry Leonard had his work cut out for him. It also meant shifting further away from the visual aesthetic that was used in the first two movies, something Lin had already ignored in the previous entry. By increasing the practical stunts also meant the reduction of CG effects, although those weren’t cut out completely. The CG effects were used more for environments and enhancements, keeping to a policy not to have CG cars. Okay, maybe the rolling tanker at the opening heist (reflecting the opening heist of the first movie), but no cars. Also, there is only one race in the whole movie and the movie stays focus on the revenge plot. It was a discernible shift away from the car culture angle that permeated the first three movies. After all, it’s a ‘new model’ driving the next three movies from this point. Coming almost seven years since the last entry, it was interesting to see where the characters were since we left them. Most interesting is that Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) now works with the FBI, especially given the events in the second instalment which had him on the other side of the law. Then again, his record was cleared at the end of that adventure (one very long undercover job, maybe?). Still, the dynamic between Walker and his co-stars was solid and engaging. The story itself was generic, driven by character and more by the inevitable action set-pieces, which did bring something new to the game. Especially the tense and riveting finale in an underground tunnel. As action movies go, this is above average, especially for fans of vehicular stunts. The stars do bring their game to the table, especially the core four whose careers were boosted by the initial entry. Director Lin delivers where it counts and, of course, there’s the action, all enhanced by Brian Tyler’s pulse-pounding score. Really, no one could have predicted what was to come next. Rating: ***1/2 Stars Lucas Black, Sung Kang, Bow Wow, Brian Tee, Nathalie Kelley, Brian Goodman and Sonny Chiba Directed by Justin Lin In the unusual attempt to recreate a seemingly ailing franchise after only two entries, three things were injected into this third movie that would somehow invigorate The Fast and The Furious. Sure it still looked at the car culture and street racing element that was key to the series as a whole, albeit in a whole other country, but at the same time, it was a breakaway from the ‘formula’. Gone was the cop angle, for one. Gone too, were ties to the original characters, it seemed. For me, the three new elements were director Justin Lin, writer Chris Morgan and composer Brian Tyler, a trio that would drive the franchise in a new direction. While this movie still opened with the typical race, done with far more practical means than before, it quickly relocated to Tokyo for the rest of the story, and the introduction of a different kind of street racing that involved the skill, and art, of drifting. Anyone who was into anime - or manga - at the time would already have been aware with Japanese drifting, primarily from the series, Initial D. That started in 1995 (the anime premiered in 1998, a live action movie was made in 2005 with Jay Chou) where they had a character who, in an effort to deliver tofu, would drive at high speeds, drifting his car around the twisting curves of the mountain road. There’s no real record of when drifting in racing actually started. The nature of drifting however gave the movie a different visual aesthetic which also did give the energetic races and chases a different energetic verve, as the cars would seemingly slip and slide through traffic. As one scene noted too, it’s hell on the tyres. Most of the drifting scenes were done for real while the actors were often filmed against a green screen to show what was going on inside the car. The drift driving was done by professionals, and with such a precision that gave the cinematography many a close call as the cars would brush past the camera. One bravura sequence in particular is a drift through Shibuya junction. While that sequence alone would take your breath away, it’s also amazing to note the camera movement as it follows one car through the junction first, move into the crowd to pan around to the two other cars drifting around the same corner - all in one very quick take. (see the clip below, at approx the 1:25 mark) The new plot follows, partially, that of a sports movie - complete with a training montage, by the way - and a little of a Western, a reference made more than once throughout the movie. In that, the plot and story is fairly typical although it is driven by some decent performances from the leads - Lucas Black in particular, Sung Kang, Nathalie Kelley and Brian Tee - and some very imaginative application of practical vehicular stunts, and a glimpse into the world of the young adults in Tokyo.
The car stunts remain the core of the series and Lin delivers well on that front, layered with some decent dramatic beats to drive the story, that’s courtesy of writer Chris Morgan. Add in the pulse pounding score by Brian Tyler, here aided by Slash for some electric guitar riffs, and it all drove the movie to a decent success. Enough that studio Universal decided to hand the reins of the franchise to him for the next two instalments. Of course, the surprise and uncredited cameo at the end may have had something to do with direction the series headed off in. Rating: *** Stars Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Cole Hauser, Eva Mendes, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Devon Aoki, James Remar and Thom Barry Directed by John Singleton The inevitable sequel sees the return of Paul Walker’s character, Brian O’Conner, now a fugitive from justice given how things ended in the previous instalment. Despite his current status, he hasn’t wandered too far from the street racing culture even if he’s in a whole other city. Plot-wise, it’s more of the same as O’Conner has to go undercover again even if he’s not quite a cop anymore. At least there is a clear cut reprehensible bad guy here, played with relish by Cole Hauser. One thing director John Singleton does here is to highlight the practical stunts, relying less on the CG effects, although the opening race here again relies on CG to retain the visual aesthetic that Rob Cohen established in the first movie; putting the audience into the energy of the race itself. It ends with one heck of a stunt that might seem impossible (and incredibly dangerous) to be done as a practical stunt. A majority of the car chases and actions that follow do appear to be of the practical nature, which does give this lacklustre movie some verve. Plot-wise, it’s a decent action flick that you’d probably notice while channel surfing, and then stick with it to the end. As a whole, it’s not any different from the numerous cookie-cutter cop thrillers where the undercover hero goes after some drug-dealer or the like. So, the usual tropes are there, but jacked-up with the vehicular mayhem. Walker does appear to be having fun, especially with the driving. The only returning cast member from the first movie is Thom Barry, a customs agent from the first movie, now intermediary between O’Conner and the DEA (represented by James Remar) he has to work with in this movie. The movie also brings in three new major characters. Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson) who is a childhood friend of O'Conner’s, tied to his past as a juvenile delinquent. Then there’s Tej (Chris Bridges) a piston-head with a garage where O’Conner gets his car fixed. Then there is the undercover DEA agent, Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) who O’Conner has to decide if she’s flipped or not. These three do pop up again later in the series. Along with Walker, they do seem to enjoy themselves in making the movie, which does give the movie an air of breeziness, aided by the atmosphere of Miami. The likelihood of a follow-up from here did seem unlikely without treading the same ground again. So, it was interesting that they managed to find a different tack for the next instalment. Rating: **1/2 (add 1/2 if you like vehicular stunts and action) Stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Rick Yune, Matt Schulze, Thom Barry and Ted Levine Directed by Rob Cohen The one that started it all. Coming back to it after the craziness of the more frequent movies, this initial entry is surprisingly subdued in comparison. Director Rob Cohen was trying to create a visual aesthetic for the movie, evidenced by a bravura sequence in the first (opening) race where the camera goes down the gear, into the engine and out the exhaust. The race itself - a 10 second event stretched into a 2-minute sequence - created a sense of what it might be like to be in the race. Of course, that particular opening race relied heavily on CG effects to give it that particular visual flair. While CG may dominate the opening race, much of the action towards the end was more on the practical side, with the major stunt at the end done in a single take and eight cameras rolling. While the movie started out with the idea of peeking in on the car culture at the time, the plot itself was fairly typical. It’s no different from that of Point Break, the Keanu Reeves / Patrick Swayze thriller of ten years prior. Aside from the race at the beginning, the movie is very much an undercover cop thriller for most of the movie. The action gets back loaded into the third act with a race, a chase and rescue, another chase and a final race, all taking up the last twenty minutes or so. At least the movie took its time to build the characters, their relationships and motives, as well as getting the plot all worked out in order to have that somewhat controversial payoff. In all that, it did rely more on the performances of its fairly fresh (at the time) cast and it was easy to lump Paul Walker as a Keanu wannabe at the time, especially given the plot of the movie. Over the commentary tho, Cohen would often refer to Walker as the next Steve McQueen (a statement that Scott Waugh would make about his lead star Aaron Paul in the new Need For Speed movie). Although, it was Vin Diesel who established himself more with his role as anti-hero Dominic Toretto, so much so that he would join director Cohen on the next flick, XxX. What else that was unique to this movie was the role of women. Michelle Rodriguez had Girlfight under her belt at the time and was already establishing herself as a go-to actor for the tough girl role. Jordana Brewster was coming off TV work and college at the time, and this was only her third movie following The Faculty and The Invisible Circus. Both girls were barely damsels in distress, both capable of handling their vehicles and handling their men. In a sense, it was something different. Overall, the movie was a decent action flick. It wasn’t perfect, but there were rumblings of greatness from the cast. A sequel might have been inevitable, given the ending they had, but really, who would have guessed how far it would have gone at the time. Rating: ***1/2 Due to the recent illness, I did some browsing through my DVD library and decided to do a review of these movies in prep for the upcoming Age of Extinction. The reviews / recap are over on my Wordpress Blog, Berning Along. Stars Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots, Dominic Cooper, Scott Mescudi, Rami Malek, Ramon Rodriguez, Dakota Johnson and Michael Keaton. Directed by Scott Waugh The Fast and The Furious franchise is probably in no danger of being replaced, although given the nature of the games, there are other avenues for this new potential franchise to explore. Starting as they did with this particular story however… the only benefit going for the movie is the fact that, at least, there are no CG cars around. As much as director Scott Waugh tried to strive for realism (he employed real live SEALs firing live rounds for his previous movie, Act of Valor), his handling of the action set-pieces still leaves a little to be desired. This is especially in the wake of the Fast and Furious movies. While we do have an opening race, or two actually since it’s the second race that kicks the plot into action, we get the sense of how the car action is going to be for the rest of the film. It’s extremely old-school in terms of execution, although I did read about how they went about filming these car chases, keeping the actors in the driver’s seat as much as possible. And as gorgeous as some of these cars are on screen, the camera doesn’t quite ogle them the way they do on the F&F movies. In any case, most of the middle stretch is a road trip as our hero and gang make their way to another race for the climax of the film. The editing is competent enough to build some suspense in the race scenes, but they don’t come close to Michael Keaton’s play by play to create the drama of the race itself. The camera work seems to keep a safe distance at times, and then absolute close-up that you’re there for the shudders and judders of the cars going at full speed. The 3D is effective in some scenes to give you a nice immersive sense of being sped along - one jump stunt in particular makes very effective use of the 3D - as well as utilising the environments. Car chase fans might have something to enjoy here. The stars do alright with their roles although it would seem that Scott Mescudi, Rami Malek and Ramon Rodriguez as the sidekicks have more fun than the leads. Keaton also seems to be having a blast with his singular locked-off character (probably didn’t take more than a week at most to film). Ultimately, the efforts of cast and crew should be applauded, even if the movie does come up a little short in terms of drama. Then again, if this is treated as the first film of a franchise, it could only get a little better. Perhaps with a little lesson from the likes of John Frankenheimer or Paul Greengrass on how to hand the vehicular action set-pieces. Rating: **1/2 Stars Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Nico Liersch, Ben Schnetzer and Roger Allam Directed by Brian Percival Popular books frequently get snapped up and turned into movies, and often, the movies are really never as good as the books. Especially so when the books are far more of a literary nature than say a typical novel written with a movie in mind. Markus Zusak’s novel of The Book Thief has an interesting conceit, one that in translation to a screen adaptation, takes away the very reason that makes the book a wonderful read. The tale itself is nothing much to shout about, and in making the movie, director Brian Percival seemingly struggles to put something significant on screen. The narrative and direction becomes obviously heavy handed, and some stylistic choices simply jar. Case in point, very early on when young Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) steals her first book dropped by a grave digger. that book drops to the ground with a massive thud that it’s utterly amazing that the grave digger himself did not hear it. Of course there is a certain metaphorical ‘weight’ to that first book that gets the story going, but still… Ultimately, it is a coming of age tale of a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany, and there really is nothing more. The usual tropes are there and Roger Allam’s narrative, while soothing and enticing, does nothing to add to the unique nature of the tale’s narrator that you would foliow in the book. Sophie Nélisse does well enough as the young Liesel, but as one would expect, Geoffrey Rush carries the movie whenever he’s on screen, aided wonderfully by Emily Watson. They do provide some gravitas in terms of star and acting power, but it is in service to a rather lacklustre adaptation with nothing to push the movie to the heights it tries to reach for. Rating **1/2 Several factors actually, primarily that I was ill for a spell.
It started as one thing, morphed into another and the next thing I knew, I had a fever of over 40 degrees F and was delirious in the hospital for a few hours... followed by a knock out of a further 30+ hours that totalled to over 40+ hours of sleep to recover. Took a while more tho but I guess i'm recovered now. In the meantime, missed a few apparently mediocre movies in the cinema, which could mean we missed out on nothing much, but I did catch up with a few other things. One in the cinema, but didn't get around to writing much about it. The rest while clearing up my DVD shelf. Will be posting some catch up stuff too with the occasional new one. Blue Skies. |
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December 2017
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