Hot Tub Time Machine: Movie Review

Hot Tub Time Machine: Movie Review

Rating: 5/10
Cast: John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Rob Corddry, Crispin Glover, Chevy Chase
Director: Steve Pink
Let's face it, you're not heading to Hot Tub Time Machine for witty erudite discussions.
It's the story of a group of guys who've got various issues - John Cusack's Adam's just been dumped; Craig Robinson's Nick has an unfaithful wife and a job that involves him sticking his hand in dog's bottoms; Clark Duke is a teen who's going nowhere and Rob Corddry's Lou has just tried to commit suicide.
Spurred into action by the suicide attempt, the quartet head to one of their haunts from their past to live it up. But when they get there, they find the party resort has gone down the dumps - and deciding to get drunk, the guys head to the hot tub to party.
After a night's decadence - and a shoe horned in plot device, they awake to find themselves back in the 1980s and as younger versions of themselves at Winterfest 1986.
That entails of course - the birth of MTV, leg warmers, fears the Russians are about to invade and Ronald Reagan.
As they try and work out how to get back to 2010, all four of them must confront mistakes from their past and ensure nothing's changed.
What can be said about this? The film finds its level in the first few moments as Craig Robinson's failed musician pulls out a pair of car keys from a dog's backside and throws them straight to its owner&subtle it ain't.
Also, sadly, it's not as funny as it could be - unless you're a teen who wants to see plenty of bare breasts, vomit and toilet humour. Granted you know Hot Tub Time Machine isn't going to be anything other than a variant of the gross out comedy, but with a bit more effort in the script, this could have played out a little less predictably.
Despite some sweet moments involving the eternal issues of people growing up and a relatively amusing ongoing gag about Crispin Glover's one armed bell boy being about to lose his arm, there are more gross out moments than anything else.
And it's a shame as most of the cast seem up for this; Cusack is as cool as ever and injects sad loser Adam with a bit of a warmth; and I even had some sympathy and laughs with Craig Robinson's character.

Hot Tub Time Machine was a great disposable concept - sadly the execution leaves you with a hangover without all the fun - and a feeling that you're glad the eighties are firmly in the past.

Daybreakers: Movie Review

Daybreakers: Movie Review

Rating: 6/10
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, Willem Dafoe, Isabel Lucas, Claudia Karvan
Director: The Spierig Brothers
Vampires are all the rage these days and with a plethora of blood suckers out there, you'd have to wonder what story is left to be told - and how well it will do in the wake of the Twilight box office juggernaut.
This latest entry into the vampire genre is set in 2019 and sees the world swept with the vampire pandemic. With pretty much everyone overtaken by the desire and necessity to consume blood, real stocks of the red stuff are in short supply.
Enter Ethan Hawke's Edward Dalton, a haematologist working for Sam Neill's Charles Bromley. Bromley owns a human farm which is keeping the vamp population in blood - but it's running low and Dalton's desperately trying to find a substitute for human blood.
However, when Dalton literally runs into one of the last surviving groups of humans, he finds out from Willem Dafoe's Elvis that there is a cure for vampirism and one which could free them all from their misery.
But will he get that cure out into the population - or will forces stop him from giving every last vampire the chance of survival they need?
Daybreakers is an intriguing entry into the vampire genre with a solid central premise - the idea of vampirism being a condition which is parasitic and debilitating was explored in Let The Right One In. So in terms of bringing something new to the table, Daybreakers doesn't quite make it on that front - but what it does manage to do with its pale sharp colours is create a Blade Runneresque world with a tinge of Nightwatch about it.
All of the cast do a solid job with Ethan Hawke conveying the moral struggle well - and Willem Dafoe providing the out there elements required for his character.
There's also a fair amount of gore too - when the vamps are experimented on, they bubble and sizzle before exploding. The creature effects aren't too bad either - the vamps that have suffered from a lack of blood and mutated will give a few nightmares here and there.
Sure, there's an allegory for corporate greed with Sam Neill's Charles Bromley character doing everything he can to bleed the population dry and keep the company afloat; but overall there's not too much subtlety on show here; with explosions, chases, and shooting, it follows the predictable plot path of films of its type.

With Daybreakers, it feels like a case of missed opportunity - had the Spierig brothers pulled back a little and eased up on the explosions and gore, it could have been a really interesting entry into the genre. As it stands, it's a fairly disposable piece of Friday night entertainment.

Winter In Wartime: Movie Review

Winter In Wartime: Movie Review

Rating: 6/10

Cast: Martijn Lakemeier, Yorick van Wageningen, Jamie Campbell Bower

Director: Martin Koolhoven

Set in the last winter of World War II, Nazi occupied Holland is under siege - both from the Germans and a blanket of snow.

15 year old Michiel (Lakemeier) is one of those who is appalled by the Nazis and wants to join the Resistance in some form of other. Despite being inspired by his Uncle Ben and warned off by his father who's the mayor of the town, Michiel ends up helping a crashed pilot (Campbell Bower). It's this act of defiance which sets in motion a series of events which will end Michiel's teenage years in ways he could never imagine as he finds his innocence shattered forever.

Winter In Wartime was the official Dutch entry into the Academy Awards this year - and it's beautifully shot and captures the atmosphere of the time excellently, The story's well told and is captivating from beginning to end - there's an ease to the central performance from Lakemeier which makes it easy to watch. He captures the petulance of the teenage years, the conflict with his mayor father who wants to protect him from the troubles and the desire to grow up and be treated like a man very well.

Campbell Bower (Twilight: New Moon star) interacts well with Lakemeier and the pair invest a fair amount of emotion into their friendship. While all of the cast's performances are solid, the film does follow a slightly predictable path - when Michiel finally bonds with his father, the war comes crashing into their world. It's a little predictable - as is the twist towards the end which if you're savvy can be seen coming a mile off.

However, that doesn't lessen the impact of the film - while there appears to be a glut of war films on the slate this year (Max Manus, Home By Christmas to name but two) each of them deserve your time in the cinema.

Winter In Wartime succeeds as a tale of lost innocence and thanks to the universal story, you may find yourself dragged more into this world than you would expect.

Genova: Movie Review

Genova: Movie Review

Rating: 5/10
Cast: Colin Firth, Hope Davis, Catherine Keener, Willa Holland, Perla Haney-Jardine
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Genova stars Colin Firth as a professor whose life is turned upside down by the death of his wife in a car accident.
But it's not just his life which is changed; his two daughters are deeply traumatized by the incident as they were in the car at the time. The youngest, Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine) was a prime factor in the crash and is struggling to deal with the guilt, as well as being wracked by night terrors.
The eldest Kelly (Willa Holland) is bordering on her teen years and so with these two in mind, Firth's Joe moves the pair of them to Genoa, Italy to try and start afresh.
However, the move to Italy has different effects on all of them as Mary begins to see her dead mother (an ethereal Hope Davis) and Kelly begins to discover her sexuality.
Genova is an odd film; shot in hand held close ups in places and with beautiful scenery, it is at times, a little too slow to get into. Granted, it's supposed to be about the build up of the circumstance, but you don't quite know what genre it's aiming for.
At times, it's a teen drama as the family begins to fall apart, but the appearance of the mother appears to suggest a degree of ghost story. Sadly it doesn't quite work as well as perhaps it should.
This is no reflection on the cast who carry the script well and the shots inside Italys myriad mazes of streets do well to capture the claustrophobia of parts of the city. However, it's the end of the film which just slaps across the face. After a build up in the last 15 minutes, and a major incident involving all three of the main protagonists, you're expecting to see some kind of closure and resolution. But what you get is another scene on the end which doesn't suggest there's any kind of end for any of them.

Whilst it's fair to say thats true of life, having invested 90 minutes into these characters, it seems only reasonable to expect a little more.

Food Inc: DVD Review

Food Inc: DVD Review

Food Inc
Rating: PG
Director : Robert Kenner

It's no surprise that at a time when sustainability and the grow your own ideals continue to permeate our society, we should get a doco about the truth about the foods Americans buy at their supermarkets.

In Food Inc, that's precisely what Robert Kenner does as he looks at what is consumed these days, how it's produced and what the personal - and long term - costs are.

With input from Fast Food Nation's author Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan who wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma, the veil on the industry is lifted.

However, what is shown on screen doesn't lose any of its impact - amid graphics, we learn of the personal horrors being committed by the mega businesses as they try and stop the family farm from growing. The cheap factory mentality manifests itself as you see how one farmer's being prosecuted for helping other farmers save seed - his actions and desire to prove his innocence have led to years of court cases, which he can't ever win - it's continuing proof that the odds are stacked against the Davids in this fight against Goliath.

All of the major companies talked about in this film obviously refuse to appear so it's fair to say while the doco isn't biased, it certainly doesn't have both sides of the argument represented.

That said, Food Inc presents a compelling case which you feel engrossed in throughout - it throws up several issues which, if you're not already aware of them, may shock you into wanting to do something to break the mega-corp influence.

Extras: The sole extra is a photogallery which while looking pretty as it slideshows across your machine does little to add to the experience; disappointing given that a film like this could always serve up an update as an extra.

Rating: 7/10 

Dr Who: End Of Time: DVD Review

Dr Who: End Of Time: DVD Review

Doctor Who - The End of Time
Rating: PG
Cast: David Tennant, John Simm, Timothy Dalton, Bernard Cribbins
Released by BBC and Roadshow Entertainment
And so the end comes to pass on one of the most popular Doctors in the show's 47 year old history.
The End Of Time - Parts One and Two (aka 2009 Winter specials) sees David Tennant's Doctor vacate the TARDIS for the last time as he takes his swansong.
Since the end of the Waters of Mars, the Doc's known his time is up and his death draws near - and so summoned by the Ood, he finds his old nemesis the Master (John Simm, all bleached hair and hoodie) reborn and on the brink of bringing around the end of time itself. However, what neither of them realize is that pretty soon everyone's lives will be changed forever by the return of something no-one could foresee&
The End of Time is brilliant in places - and infuriating in others. It's not just David Tennant's swansong, but it also sees the departure of the team which brought back the show in 2005 - including head writer Russell T Davies, who wrote these two episodes which clock in at over 2 hours of Whooey goodness.
But the cracks show in some of the story telling; if you're being nitpicky, you could claim that Davies has stolen various parts of fantasy elements for the (slightly absurd) resurrection of the Master; and when the big bads of these episodes are revealed, the plot holes abound.
That said though, while the first part of the story lacks a little, it's the end which sees this corker of a finale come to life - thanks in large to the acting of two people; David Tennant, who showcases all of his best at the end and Bernard Cribbins, who despite being in his eighties, shows what a wonderful actor he is. Simple scenes between this pair will leave most of you close to tears as they show (in one scene in a café) what good writing and superlative acting can do.
EXTRAS: On Blu Ray, the final product looks superb in full HD and is well worth investing in if you have the extra cash. Also included on the 2 disc set are the behind the scenes making of the final episodes (complete with David Tennant's last day on the set - and all the emotion which comes with that), as well as the BBC idents made specially for the series swansong over Christmas 2009. But the highlight has to be the David Tennant video diary in which we actually witness through his own camcorder, the end of the era - just brilliant.

Oh and one thing I almost left off - you get your first look at the 11th Doctor Matt Smith at the end of these episodes - and if you're not left salivating for more, you're clearly never going to be a Whovian. The perfect send off piece on a great set.

Rating: 9/10 

Seven: 15th Anniversary: DVD Review

Seven: 15th Anniversary: DVD Review

Seven - 15th Anniversary Edition
Rating: 18
Cast: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow
Released by Roadshow Entertainment

15 years after it first shocked audiences with its what's in the box denouement, Seven is repackaged and re-released to celebrate the decade and a half on.

David Fincher's vision is still chilling after all these years; the plot sees John Doe, a killer, exacting punishment on those who get off on being involved in the seven deadly sins.

Morgan Freeman's hard bitten Detective Somerset along with Brad Pitt's newbie Detective Mills are soon on his trail - but as each horrific crime is unveiled, the net draws closer on Doe - and also the pair who are hunting him.

Seven is still a killer despite all the time having passed; its impact on the thriller genre can't be dismissed and its ending certainly raised the stakes for what audiences would expect post its release.

Extras: The re-released set is a good one too - with 2 discs seeing an array of audio commentaries (from the likes of the sound team, the production team and the actors and Fincher themselves) which will add to the experience; coupled in with that are storyboards, filmographies, promos, notebooks and alternate endings showing what could have happened, this is a pretty comprehensive package.
Also thrown in for good measure is a limited edition 32 page comic which concentrates on the poor schlub who was the victim of gluttony - just don't read it after you've eaten.

Rating: 8/10