Stars (vocally) Hideaki Anno, Morio Kazama, Jun Kunimura, Masahiko Nishimura, Hidetoshi Nishjima, Mirai Shida Directed by Hayao Miyazaki When the lead character, Jiro Horikoshi, expresses his gratitude at the end of the film in acknowledgement of his contribution to the aviation engineering world, you can almost sense he’s speaking in proxy for director Hayao Miyazaki expressing his gratitude to us for accepting his work over the last few decades. The world of animation is now a poorer place as Miyazaki officially retires from directing animated features with this, The Wind Rises. Oh- did I need to add a spoiler warning at the beginning? After all, this is a fairly epic biopic, which means that it’s the journey through the film that counts, and the outcome… well, all the more reason to watch this beautifully lyrical animated feature. It’s no secret that Miyazaki loves the sky, and flying machines as they do feature in most of his previous movies, from Nausicaa to Laputa and to the closest cousin to this film, Porco Rosso. The movie charts the life of Jiro Horikoshi from childhood to the point where he creates what was once regarded as the finest fighter plane of World War II, so the ‘fictional’ tale spans decades but it moves at an interesting clip. The story also flits into dreams where Jiro would meet with his inspiration, Caproni as they share their love for flying machines. These dream sequences are where the liberties are taken with actual history, although given the nature of the narrative, one shouldn’t expect a ‘true’ accounting of the events. The story choices Miyazaki makes is driven by inspiration, but not at the cost of character, particularly Jiro. The other characters that circle him do have limited screen time, but they are given moments of definition, particularly so with the three primary female characters who have the least screen time. However, it is Miyazaki’s magic touch that they are fully formed characters. I won’t go too much into the characters or the story and performances like I usually would, and instead focus on the artistry. It can be seen that there is passion in the project and it might seem that this has always been what Miyazaki had been building up to. It is a tough story to crack and to tell the tale in just over two hours does require some judicious editing choices. The character animation is what one would expect of Miyazaki and Ghibli Studios, but the background plates for establishing shots are so painterly that they evoke a sense of romanticism. They also add to the cinematography in some amazing ways, showcasing the finer artistry of traditional hand-drawn animation while establishing the era in which the story takes place. The details are simply awe-inspiring, from the design of the numerous aircrafts, to the set-designs, costumes, locations, right down to the background animation. There were some very odd sound choices for the flying machines. It’s almost like a conscious decision to have all the sound effects related to the flying machines be of an ‘organic’ nature, the sputtering engine sounding like someone blowing out through pursed lips! At least, those were the most obvious, but it would seem that all sound effects were done that way, and it is an inspired choice at that. This is far from the fantasy animation features that one would usually associate with Miyazaki, but it holds its own and ranks up there with the rest of his films. It is a magnificent film that is beautiful to behold in all forms of artistry that is on display, from the storytelling to the music by Joe Hisaishi to the gorgeous animation itself. If Miyazaki is true this his word and has truly retired (he’s made the retirement announcement several times in the past, although with this film, even his long time producer Toshio Suzuki, has stepped down), he’s gone out with the perfect film to cap his career. If Jiro’s final words are Miyazaki’s own to us, his audience, I would like to extend my gratitude in return for his filmography, the wonderful worlds and characters that he has brought to life, and showing that there is so much life in traditional animation. Rating: *****
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Stars Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Kate Mara, Clifton Collins Jr., with Cillian Murphy, Cole Hauser and Morgan Freeman Directed by Wally Pfister Mildly entertaining attempt at science fiction film-making, the debut directorial effort from Wally Pfister (Director of Photography for Christopher Nolan, who also Executive Produces) is visually gorgeous, but loaded with missed opportunities. The stars do their best with the fairly weak material and the story can't escape its TV Movie trappings. It tries to do much but is unable to reconcile the grand ideas with the running time coupled with the star-studded cast. For more, hop on over to the full review. Stars Toby Stephens, Caity Lotz, Sam Hazeldine, Pooneh Hajimohammadi and Denis Lawson Directed by Caradog James The greater good. The oft used excuse to ignore morals, compromise principals, break all sorts of laws, carry out executions without due process and do a whole lot of bad and nasty things now in order to safeguard the future. Any government in the world smart enough will carry out any of these actions in small doses, bit by bit to get their people accustomed to it, before civil liberties disappear completely - and we’re okay with it. How many shows or movie have we seen with the technology at work used to catch criminals and such? Do we question how that information was collected n the first place? Well, most of that doesn’t apply with this movie, but the sense that excuse comes into play here does. While the story revolves around the creation and application of a robot infused with artificial intelligence - the titular machine - the actual agenda behind the scenes is to create the perfect soldier, the obedient killing machine devoid of conscience. Set in the near future where a cold war with China has plunged The West (unspecified countries) into the greatest recession ever, the MoD still has funds to carry out research into intelligent machines. When his initial experiments on brain-damaged soldiers go wrong, Vincent (Toby Stephens) seeks new avenues in the realm of artificial intelligence. When he meets Ava (Caity Lotz), he’s impressed by her work and her spirit. Together, they create The Machine, even while Vincent is distracted by his terminally ill daughter - the reason for his research. The first act may seem slow, but it does allow you to really know the characters, which enhances the second act when The Machine (also played by Lotz) is activated. Vincent’s relationship with the machine then informs the third act, which feels like it comes too soon due to the film’s brisk 90 minute run-time. Director Caradog James, who also wrote, takes his time to build the story, characters and their motives. It does feel like an old school noir film at times, given the limited sets and selective lighting to hide the obviously limited budget, but he does help the audience invest in the characters, the stars and their performances. Toby Stephens delivers a solid if dour performance, and while we also have Denis Lawson (sci-fi fans of a certain age will know that name) being appropriately slimy as the immoral project leader, the movie truly belongs to Caity Lotz. She delivers two performances that are poles apart, and yet, still basically carrying the same persona. Her singular dance scene and the action beats that follow do seem reminiscent of Summer Glau in either Firefly TV series or Serenity movie. However, Lotz carries the movie here, and what she delivers on screen would make repeated viewing worthwhile. This is pure and solid science fiction more than drama, even if the drama does carry through the movie. There are some of the usual tropes in play, but the story works its way around them very well. Some may find the first half slow, but it does reward your patiences and attention. Rating: **** Stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Gal Gadot, Tego Calderon, Don Omar, Matt Schulze, Joaquim de Almeida with Elsa Pataky and Dwayne Johnson Directed by Justin Lin Spoilers abound!! Pushing into its second decade (The Fast and The Furious opened in 2001), the franchise that started with an eye on the illegal street racing coupled with an undercover cop story evolves even further from its original concept. Most franchise find a niche and stay there, rarely venturing beyond their comfort zone. In a way, the Fast and Furious films have stayed true with its use of cars. After all, it’s not so much about the racing as it is about the racers behind the wheels. But there has been an underlying theme that was introduced in the first film, revisited in the third albeit with a light touch, and reenforced in the fourth film; family. A family made of disparate souls brought together by the common element of speed. Here, the movie opens where the last one left off, with a daring escapade to bust Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) out of a prison bus. That done, our (anti) heroes are on the run and we pick up as they arrive in Rio. What follows eventually becomes a heist film that requires a team, so Dom and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) call up some help - cast members from previous films that include Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) from 2 Fast 2 Furious, Han (Sung Kang), originally from Tokyo Drift, and Gisele (Gal Gadot) as well as the double act of Tego and Santos (Tego Calderon and Don Omar) from Fast and Furious, and their Rio contact, Vince (Matt Schulze) from The Fast and The Furious. On their heels is unrelenting hard-nosed man-mountain federal agent, Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his strike team. Collaborating with returning writer, Chris Morgan, director Justin Lin raises the bar in terms of action. The opening gambit is the aforementioned bus bust. This is quickly followed by a train heist and the rest of the plot, occasionally punctuated by an occasional chase, a foot-chase across and over the favela, some fisticuffs - including a titanic battle between Diesel and Johnson - some gun battles and tour-de-force stunt set-piece ‘vault heist’. Even the race - a key component from the previous films, is whittled to just one quarter-mile stretch between four of the team. Another element enhanced in this entry is humour, which makes the movie extremely fun to watch. A dynamic is flipped. Lin had been moving the stunts away from the CGI vehicles that permeated through the first two movies and in this instalment, the CGI effects was mostly regulated to background plates at key moments, or converting shooting location Puerto Rico into story location of Rio for key scenes. All the key stunts were done practical, which includes almost derailing a train by launching a truck into the side of a train car or tumbling a massive vault through city streets. The featurettes mention wrecking up to 200 cars in the final chase alone. The fourth, fifth and sixth entries to this series do make up a trilogy in itself, with a tag at the end of this one (featuring the return of another star from 2 Fast 2 Furious) setting up the next. The core characters themselves have evolved, primarily Walker’s character who shifts from lawman to fugitive, and getting increasing comfortable with his new role, especially with the added complication of becoming a father-to-be. Another interesting aspect of the characters is that the girls do have strong and independent roles. Also, the addition of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson adds a different dimension to the already crowded cast of characters. Throughout the franchise thus far, this entry is the most relaxed, the most fun and the most enjoyable given the nature of the story. It is also evident that the cast is enjoying themselves immensely. It’s not a perfect story, but it suits the cast and crew, giving them lots of opportunities to shine, characters and action beats aided by Brian Tyler's pulse pounding score. Was it any surprise that there would be another entry to come. rating: **** |
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