Beautiful Creatures: Movie Review

Beautiful Creatures: Movie Review

Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, Jeremy Irons, Emmy Rossum
Director: Richard LaGravenese

It's the latest Young Adult novel to reach the big screen, hoping to fill the void left by the demise of the Twilight Saga franchise.

Based on the Beautiful Creatures series, Alden Ehrenreich stars as Ethan Wate, a 17 year old boy who lives in Gatlin, in South Carolina, a small Bible belt conservative town where some believe Satan is among them and where others are prone to breaking out in prayer in class.

Ethan's been troubled by the same dream for months, where a young girl is waiting for him on a battlefield - but before he can get to her, he's killed.

Ethan's world is given a jolt with the arrival of 15-year-old Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert, the daughter of Jane Campion), the niece of Macon Ravenwood (Jeremy Irons). Mysteriously drawn to Lena, Ethan finds himself dragged into a world of witchcraft, when it transpires that Lena is a Caster (witch to us laymen) and who, on her 16th birthday, will decide if she is on the side of Light or Dark.

As the Ravenwood family gathers to fight for her soul, Lena faces all manner of temptations to break the curse on the clan as well as the temptation to follow her apparently doomed relationship with Ethan.

The Beautiful Creatures movie is a supernatural romantic fantasy drama, clearly aiming to fill a void left by a certain Bella and Edward. Unfortunately, comparisons to Twilight are inevitable (as are any other films of a similar ilk) despite witchcraft being a more central part this time, rather than vampires and werewolves.

It's plodding, lacking in real danger and quite flat at times, and Englert's serious brooding and worrying sullenness is in direct contrast to Ehrenreich's lighter, almost sillier touch. They make an odd mix and perhaps some of the levity of Ethan makes it a difficult ask to believe in their destiny and doomed love. Though, you could argue they just about pull it off in this first Beautiful Creatures book adaptation.

A solid supporting cast bring out a mix of Southern accents; Emmy Rossum shines as the siren who went over to the dark side, Jeremy Irons is all rasping accent as the imperious head of the Ravenwood family, and who brings a seriousness that borders on aloof at times; Emma Thompson goes completely over the top as the baddie Seraphine, who wants to claim Lena for her own - though whether you're on board with her performance depends on your view of OTT. And Viola Davis deserves some praise as the Seer Amma who imbues her role with a degree of seriousness that's welcome in amongst some of the OTT melodramatic acting of the others.

It's not a subtle film in terms of the message of a girl, coming of age and about to journey into womanhood and who must choose what path she takes - and there's certainly the occasionally clunky dialogue you'd expect from the formulaic genre (Lines such as "love is a risk for anybody" are wheeled out to hit the target demo right where they need to).

On the FX and aesthetics front, there's a nice mix of the Gothic and spooky, which recall Dark Shadows in many ways, but there's an overall feeling of indifference to this latest. An odd mix of tone, lack of real fizz don't give the love story the spike it needs and while its target demo of troubled love struck teens will lap it up, some slightly older may feel that the lighter in tone Beautiful Creatures doesn't have the magic to give the supernatural flick the edge it needs.

Rating:


Check out the Beautiful Creatures trailer below:

I Give It A Year: Movie Review

I Give It A Year: Movie Review

Cast: Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Simon Baker, Anna Faris, Stephen Merchant, Minnie Driver and Jason Flemyng
Director: Dan Mazer

Here we go - the blurb says it all.

From the producers of Love Actually, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones' Diary, comes a new Brit rom com aimed at stepping up where Hugh Grant has gone AWOL.

Byrne and Spall are Nat and Josh, a mismatched couple who, after a whirlwind courtship, get married - and are just trying to get through the first year. That's despite their best friends thinking it won't last that long.

Things get tough for Nat, when a sexy client Guy (The Mentalist's Simon Baker) comes in to her life. Worried about the potential of losing the account, she slips off the wedding ring and starts a flirtation...

And it's not much easier for Josh, whose ex (Anna Faris) is still in the picture - and who is clearly meant for Josh...

I Give It A Year deserves some praise for playing with some of the traditional rom-com tropes.

But it also deserves a degree of indifference for giving us two leads who we're never exactly rooting for. Byrne and Spall can barely stand each other on screen, so it makes it difficult to really care whether their marriage should work or not. In fairness, though, this is not their fault - merely the writing which doesn't endear the pair to an audience right away. Baker oozes charm as the temptation (and is actually a well written, well rounded nice guy as opposed to a sleaze) and Faris seems a bit too drippy as a hippy ex from Josh's past to really give the romantic sizzle it needs.

Throw in the usual British collection of oddballs and misfits, who only seem to surface in crowd-pleasing rom coms and you've got the lot. Want an inappropriate best friend/ best man? Step forward, Stephen Merchant to roll out yet another slight take on his character he's been perfecting for years. Want an angry counsellor, who's clearly in need of psychiatric help? Roll out Peep Show's Olivia Coleman to fulfill those requirements.

Wisely though, Ali G's Mazer has some idea of what works and keeps the whole thing moving briskly along and with a degree of directorial panache.

In fact, while I Give It A Year has some good solid moments of laugh out loud mirth as degrees of farce are churned into the mix, it's nowhere near as clever as it wants and aspires to be; funny one liners here and there, and situations which are recognisable rather than cliched and repugnant, the UK rom-com crowd pleasing fans will lap it up. Others may find parts of it a little tiresome and unoriginal.

Rating:

Brand new Star Trek Into Darkness motion poster

Brand new Star Trek Into Darkness motion poster

How cool is this?

A brand new motion poster has been released for Star Trek Into Darkness...

New Iron Man 3 poster features Aldrich Killian

New Iron Man 3 poster features Aldrich Killian

A brand new poster for Iron Man 3 has given us our first glimpse at Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian.

Valentine's Day movie reviews

Valentine's Day movie reviews

This week, as well as teasing Jack Tame about his status as the sexiest media male personality after a Durex poll, the ZB movies review rolls on.

I'm covering new Nicholas Sparks' movie Safe Haven, starring Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel. As well as that, I'm taking a look at the new flick from Judd Apatow, This Is 40.

As ever, you can hear me every weekend on ZB on Saturday mornings with Jack Tame at about 940am.

Movie review - Safe Haven and This is 40

Warm Bodies: Movie Review

Warm Bodies: Movie Review

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry, John Malkovich, Analeigh Tipton
Director: Jonathan Levine

Zombies - they do actually have a heart you know.

In this offbeat non-traditional girl meets boy romance, Nicholas Hoult stars as zombie R, who's an oddly introspective member of the undead. He spends his time shuffling around and trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world where the population's been turned into zombies.

One day, when out hunting, R meets Julie (Teresa Palmer) and decides to save her from the masses on an impulse. Hiding her away, R begins to form a relationship with her, and it starts in many ways, to bring him back to life.

But it turns out Julie is the daughter of military man, Grigio (Malkovich) who's in charge of the safety of the rest of the planet...Coupled with the fact, a skeletal race known as the Bonies, are looking to attack anything with a vague semblance of a pulse, and R's got his work cut out.

The Warm Bodies movie is not your traditional zombie flick.

In fact, it's a smart, funny, warmly amusing sly take on the old tale of Romeo and Juliet (R and Julie??) while managing to bring something entirely different and welcome to the genre with a new and intriguing twist on the undead apocalypse.

It works in a large part, due to Nicholas Hoult's clever underplaying of the romantic lead and the story's messing with tropes of the rom-com genre. Throwing in a voiceover and subtly turning the first part of the film into a universal look at how we fail to communicate with each other (R's best friend, played by Rob Corddry, and he communicate by a series of grunts and argghs) and then goes into the eternal question of how to talk to girls, Hoult gives it his all. And it works so well in parts - that you're even able to overlook some of the holes of the plot later on (such as how the zombie hordes can suddenly all speak )


Teresa Palmer may look a little like a blonde Kirsten Stewart but that initial distraction soon wears off thanks to the cleverness of the film and the offbeat humour on display. Rob Corddry deserves mention for his excellent turn as R's mate - and he gets the worthy lion's share of the laughs too. There are a few jolts throughout too, which are a welcome reminder of what you're watching.

Warm Bodies is a charming piece of sincere film-making - it'll amuse and delight in equal measures and it's definitely worthy of your affections.

In fact, you could almost say it puts the beating heart back into the undead world.

Rating:

Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra and James Hill - Live review

Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra and James Hill - Live review

To suggest they've been missed is to insinuate that the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra has been away for a long time.

Which, in truth, they have not.

But, you wouldn't know that from a packed Q Theatre in Auckland on a Saturday night and given the standing ovation they received at the end of the evening's show, they're certainly still loved. Immensely.

Though, I have to confess, I was worried for them as they took to the stage for the second half of this concert.

Let me explain why in two words - James Hill.

They've brought the Canadian ukulele player over to be part of their tour, with the affable mop topped bespectacled guy taking the first half of the show with cellist, Anne Janelle. And to say he will change the way you look at the ukulele is an understatement.

After a couple of numbers with the entire troop of the WIUO (including an opening number where the whole band ambled in in stages of their song, suggesting a warm family reunion or gathering of old friends) James and Anne took centre stage with an electrifying performance that mixed ingenuity with incredible cleverness and heart.

From a blistering cover version of Billie Jean to a Cole Porter-esque self-titled, "Lying in Wait", James dissected everything you know about the ukulele and showed simultaneously that genius can come easily to some. Throw in an improvised, electronica-style dubstep song, entitled "Number 8 Wire" where chopsticks were the driving force of the playing and quite simply, James redefined some of the way in which the ukulele is to be viewed. Beautifully supported by the haunting cello playing of Anne, the pair exuded an easy infectious charm which set the bar incredibly high for the second half.



And yet, there really was no need to worry about the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, who are already national treasures in our hearts. I've seen this rag-tag troop of 11 friends a fair few times now - from intimate settings to larger venues, they have an easy rapport which makes you feel you're jamming with friends and watching some mates sharing a few laughs and songs with a few beers.

There were certainly some laughs too - mainly at the expense of band member Andy, who'd chosen to wear a very short pair of cut off denim shorts on the day Auckland's Gay Pride returned. Though, Age Pryor, wearing a cape, and looking like the ukulele toting son of Evel Knievel, should probably count himself lucky to have escaped a gentle ribbing.

From the likes of Gene Pitney's The Boss' Daughter to Jessie J's Price Tag, and a blistering Brooke Fraser's Something in the Water, to Morecambe and Wise's mantra, Bring Me Sunshine, it was clear the WIUO has decided to pepper their set with a few new numbers while out on tour this time around. Maybe it's touring with James, but there's definitely a feeling the band's upped its game for this latest outing (and that's a great thing)- but not at the expense of the joyous fun element which has always been a major part of their shows.


Each song transformed into a raucous roof-raising singalong (no more than set closing fan favourite Africa and an encore version of Heartache, which brought in James and Anne along with balloons with lights in) which pushed the audience to heights of audio ecstasy and left them smiling stupidly. Easy charm, stage presence a-plenty and with a sense of musical mischief, the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra are on fire on this latest tour (which runs till mid March - full details on the WIUO site). Every single one of them brings something unique to the stage and every single note is pitch perfect choral harmony.

There's a line in Jessie J's song - "Just wanna make the word dance, don't care about the price tag" and I think that's becoming the WIUO's mantra in many ways. In truth, the show could have gone on longer than its 2 hour duration and we'd all have been happy. But, sadly, it had to end. They're here for a good time, we're all invited and we should be glad we can be part of such a blisteringly excellent show, which brings good vibes in abundance.