At Darren's World of Entertainment - a movie, DVD and game review blog.
The latest movie and DVD reviews - plus game reviews as well. And cool stuff thrown in when I see it.
The story of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions begins at the dawn of time. Starting as single-celled yellow organisms, Minions evolve through the ages, perpetually serving the most despicable of masters. Continuously unsuccessful at keeping these masters—from T. rex to Napoleon—the Minions find themselves without someone to serve and fall into a deep depression.
But one Minion named Kevin has a plan, and he—alongside teenage rebel Stuart and lovable little Bob—ventures out into the world to find a new evil boss for his brethren to follow.
The trio embarks upon a thrilling journey that ultimately leads them to their next potential master, Scarlet Overkill (Academy Award® winner Sandra Bullock), the world’s first-ever female super-villain. They travel from frigid Antarctica to 1960s New York City, ending in mod London, where they must face their biggest challenge to date: saving all of Minionkind...from annihilation.
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, MacKenzie Foy, Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon
Director: Christopher Nolan
Pompous, po-faced, ultra-serious and disappearing up its own 5 dimensional ass over an extended run time.
These are all accusations that can be levelled at Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated new film, Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey as a pilot-turned-farmer-turned-astronaut, who heads to space to save the planet's future. (The Earth's barren, remote and dying after nature turned on us in the biggest uprising since those plants had a chat with Marky Mark in The Happening)
But in doing so, you also have to counter with the words dizzying, visual symphony, mesmerising, intelligent and awe-inspiring - as well as a lesson in quantum physics and wormholes that potentially even Stephen Hawking would have fun taking a look at.
Dialling down his Texan swagger but upping his considerable charm to help him spout cod trite bon-mots over how we used to look to the stars but now stare down at the ground, McConaughey's Coop and his relationship with his daughter Murph (played in early years by MacKenzie Foy and in latter by Jessica Chastain) prove to be the much-needed and occasionally absent emotional centre of this extended space-operatic meditation on love across the dimensions.
In this three hour space-set epic (that occasionally lags back down to earth), Nolan's crafted something of a scale that's reminiscent of the 70s Kubrickian look and feel of 2001: A Space Odyssey and recent Oscar-winning outing Gravity; the space interiors are a pristine dirty white and feel realistic (as if some kind of NASA video training programme) as Hans Zimmer's occasionally OTT organ-based and Tubular Bells-reminiscent score blasts from the IMAX screen, building to a crescendo as Nolan tries to orchestrate drama on earth and in space.
Along with various intonations of Michael Caine spouting Dylan Thomas' "Rage against the dying of the light" and him decrying that by the time Coop returns he "will have solved the problem of gravity", there's a danger that the script pitches its way into an overload of drama as the cod philosophical musings reach a feverish level about two thirds of the way in. To say more is to reveal spoilers and the Nolan MO is to gradually leak out moments designed for hysterical detonation as they all converge and for the internet to dissect at a later stage.
However, in among all that heavy sci-fi exposition and relativity jargon that's espoused on screen (which demonstrates how much research Jonathan Nolan did on the subject), there's a truly wondrous spectacle to behold in Interstellar.
The space scenes provoke much awe and wonder in a mix of 35mm and 70mm IMAX as the crew (along with wise-cracking robot) negotiates a black hole in a manner akin to what we witnessed back in the 1970s - but it's the emotional scenes where the McConnaissance continues and which give Interstellar its heart and soul that's lacking elsewhere in the film due to underdeveloped characters who merely orbit his Coop (no worse offender than Casey Affleck's son who barely registers - and Anne Hathaway who delivers a terribly corny speech about the values of love from high above.)
A scene where Coop views 23 years of recorded messages from his family and Nolan fixes on his tearful visage is a moment which defies you not to finally feel something as the survival instinct and sentimental love for the family finds its much needed footing (something which is left floundering in parts due to lengthy exposition and little else). It's McConaughey who carries this mission without a shadow of a doubt as Interstellar goes beyond its pro-space race / pioneers message (even taking on the theory the Moon landings were faked) and into matters of the heart and abandonment, albeit with varying degrees of success.
You can't deny Christopher Nolan's ambition with Interstellar - even though what transpires is a flawed masterpiece in many ways that reignites a nostalgic passion so lost over space exploration and yet so steeped in hokum.
But you be wrong to ignore the fact Interstellar is an exhilarating masterpiece that delivers a lot to ponder on (despite its predominantly gooey centre, potentially polarising play-out, occasionally cold core and out-there ending) and proffers up a thoughtful philosophical space-age opera and event movie that's surprisingly grounded in matters closer to earth than the stars above us.
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Toby Jones, Rhys Ifans, David Dencik, Ana Ularu
Director: Susanne Bier
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence re-team after the success of American Hustle and The Silver Linings Playbook in this Depression-era set tale, taken from the book by Ron Rash.
Cooper is George Pemberton, the owner of a timber empire, who's dealing with the possibility that his empire is being threatened by plans for a national park. However, there's a ray of light when he meets Serena (Lawrence) and decides they will be married.
Once the daughter of a tree empire owner, Serena proves to be very much Pemberton's equal in business and in love - but her arrival into the Smoky Mountains proves to be polarising, particularly when a former lover of Pemberton's and their illegitimate child comes back into the spotlight.
Serena aims for melodrama among the mountains, but ends up feeling like a melodrama with a muddled Mills and Boon pastiche thrown in for good measure.
The film's sat languishing on the shelf for a couple of years (it was shot before American Hustle) and while Cooper and Lawrence have that trademark chemistry, the adaptation of the book just fails to ignite any cinematic spark or drama that would have been inherent.
The whole feel of Serena is one of a mournful tale, from a long opening sequence of smoke hanging around the misty mountains to the simmering tensions and jealousies within, there's clearly enough material to make this work, yet it never quite takes off and soars into the drama that it clearly wants to be.
Part of the problem is that the revelations and actions of the third act feel forced in and don't resonate as perhaps they should; character motivation is simply shoe-horned in and never really feels plausible as the ideal passion-filled marriage apparently disintegrates.
Equally, the leads fail to really hit the notes needed for their characters; Lawrence feels oddly miscast and while she looks the part (all porcelain white face and crimped blonde bob), she lacks the usual subtlety needed to reach some of the emotional and psychological depths needed as she goes from sweetheart to Lady MacBeth. And Cooper reaches for dramatic but seems to be more sleep-walking than anything in this. Even an unrecognisable Rhys Ifans as a vengeful Golem-type character fails to hit anything other than a dirge.
While the film's beautifully shot, with the community at logger-heads over the foresting issue, there's a feeling that the haze in the mountains has also settled on the director and her cast in this over-cooked adaptation, which dulls more than dazzles thanks to a distinct lack of sympathy for the leads.
Rating: M Released by Sony Home Ent It's Slumdog Jerry Maguire in this latest from the Disney stable, which is based on a true story.
Mad Men star Jon Hamm is JB Bernstein, a sports agent whose repertoire of talent is waning and whose business is facing potential ruin due to a lack of big star names on his books. Along with his friend Aash (Mandvi), the two are looking at disaster.
But, when JB hits on the idea of merging a talent contest with the hunt for an Indian cricketer who could turn his arm to baseball, suddenly the world opens up.
So, heading to India, with a cranky retired scout (with a performance pretty much phoned in byAlan Arkin) in tow, JB's dream looks like becoming reality after initially disastrous try-outs when he comes across two with potential, Dinesh and Rinku (Slumdog Millionaire's Mittal and Life of Pi's Suraj Sharma).
However, shifting them back to the USA to be tutored by Bill Paxton's baseball coach, throws up more problems than JB could have predicted, leading him closer to the abyss - both on a personal and professional front.
Million Dollar Arm had some real potential as it came out swinging onto the screen.
It's your typical underdog, sports story and should, in theory, have hit a home run.
But it's marred by some incredibly lazy, borderline racist, stereotyping that leaves a nasty taste in your mouth. Its patronising and condescending Americanised view of Indian life and their habits is quite uncomfortable in places and provokes worry that it'll create unrealistic expectations of foreigners within some audiences and propagate some stereotypes.
That distastefulness aside, this way too long fish-out-of-water story does have its moments when it works; more notably in the quieter times and in the interactions of Dinesh and Rinku. There's a sentimentality and softness to their feelings and reactions to life around them that's entirely plausible and isn't milked by Gillespie for maximum effect (unlike anything else to do with their culture and heritage.)
Hamm's reasonable enough as the nonchalant facade begins to fade, though he lacks the powerwatt performance of Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire to keep you rooting for him. Perhaps, that's intentional, but Hamm doesn't overdeliver on the personal crumbling and falling apart path that he's inevitably got to tread. A romance with his house tenant (played by Lake Bell) starts off as a little implausible but gradually wins you over with her down-to-earth viewpoint cutting through his sports BS.
Skewing noticeably older, Million Dollar Arm is a queasy piece of film-making. Its sickly sentimentality rubs rather oddly up against the uncomfortable stereotyping within and left me feeling more angry than inspired.
Continuing the global exploits in the unstoppable franchise built on speed, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast of Fast & Furious 7. James Wan directs this chapter of the hugely successful series that also welcomes back favourites Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Elsa Pataky and Lucas Black. They are joined by international action stars new to the franchise including Jason Statham, Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey and Kurt Russell. Neal H. Moritz, Vin Diesel and Michael Fottrell return to produce the film written by Chris Morgan.
How do you follow a critical smash like Animal Kingdom?
By staying in Australia and going into an apocalyptic world if you're director David Michod.
Starring Robert Pattinson and Guy Pearce, this is set 10 years after a mysterious "collapse" turned everyone in Aussie a little feral and made the law of the gun the law of the land.
Pearce is Eric, whose life is somewhat of a mystery but who's determined to get back his beloved car when a band of outlaws fleeing from an event unknown make off with it, having crashed their own means of transport. Setting off after the group, the grim faced Eric comes across the injured Rey (Pattinson) and finding out he has a link to those crims, he makes him his passenger to ensure his aims are met...
An unusual road movie The Rover may be but it's also an unconventional buddy film as well as Rey and Eric head deeper into the post apocalyptic outback. While Michod never explains exactly what's happened, the inferences are easy to read - and particularly given Eric's state of mind, there's some debate over whether the "collapse" refers to his outlook and life as well as the global one.
Stark imagery is posted throughout the film, and glimpses rather than dwelling on them do much to show the true horror of what's gone on - particularly powerful are the hideous brief views of people crucified on power poles is one of the most terrifying that's on show.
Michod's crafted together something here which hits some highs but also hits a few narrative lows - a showdown at a ranch is dismissed when the tension's being ramped up, leading to issues over escape and what happened next. Equally though, the bleak cold bloodedness of Pearce's Eric is frightening, with only a couple of clues seeded as to why he's so keen to get his car back. The final shot seems like a cruel joke in many ways, a joke played on the audience who's invested time in this road movie - but it's symptomatic of the slightly skewed take on the world that Michod's created.
While Pearce is impressive and grimly stoic as the determined and wearied Eric - witness his face when he's asked by one character what there is to get worked up about these days, Pattinson is the opposite, all tics and vocal jumps as he channels what's lovingly labelled a halfwit by some in the movie.
There are a couple of moments when The Rover doesn't fire as best it could - including a tense build up to a shoot out at a farm which simply cuts away as the dramatic beats reach a crescendo. It's moments like that which provoke frustration with The Rover, but perhaps demonstrate how much Michod is willing to stray from expectations. Rating:
With a cast list reading like a Who's Who, Freaks and Geeks is the TV series that launched a thousand faces, made only one series and then had ripples throughout the TV world.
Set in an American high school and all horror that that encompasses, the piece is a funny, poignant and heart-breaking journey as we follow the Weir siblings Lindsay and Sam through the daily tribulations of the high school routine; from bullies to small victories at proms during the 1980s.
Freaks and Geeks really nails the outsider feeling but also presents a cast that are particularly relatable to anyone who's been through the school system (which is pretty much all of us). As well as the joys of spotting a pre-famous cast, there's an ease of story-telling and a heart which becomes compulsive viewing.
The series has gathered a devoted cult following through the years and it's easy to see why - from slackers to geeks, there's the whole emotional gamut to run through here - issues are raised and explored and never in a movie of the week after school special feel.
There's just something unique about these 18 episodes - if you're serious about TV, it's a set you can't afford to be without.
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