Into The Woods: Film Review

Into The Woods: Film Review

Cast: James Corden, Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Daniel Huttlestone
Director: Rob Marshall

A veritable Venn diagram of fairy-tales collide on the big screen in this version of the Stephen Sondheim /  James Lapine Tony Award-winning musical, starring Meryl Streep as a blue-haired witch.

Centring on James Corden and Emily Blunt's baker and their wife, the story tells of how the pair try to reverse a witch's curse that has left them childless. Given the quest of collecting four items to revoke the spell, the duo heads off into the woods, encountering famous fairy-tale characters like Cinderella, Jack, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood on the way.

Into The Woods is a film of two halves. (Much like the musical in many ways)

The first hour is an irreverent, amusingly self-mocking look at the various stories and one which comes out of the stables firing on all cylinders, providing laughs, creepiness (Johnny Depp's cameo as the Big Bad Wolf is deeply unsettling) and setting the tone for the movie as it builds up to Happily Ever After aka the Disney norm - and what comes after.

Corden and Blunt have an affability that's endearing from the get go to the moment the shock-haired witch blows their bakery door down and reveals the deception within their world. Streep's compelling enough in the first hour, and commands most of the time she's on screen. Equally, Pine amuses in his OTT turn as the Prince, a blackguard whose hamminess is matched only by his poster boy poses and riffing on the perception of the Prince in fairy tales as a dishy dreamboat whose bravery is superseded by his ego.

But it's the second half of Into The Woods which really lets itself down - possibly due to the slavish debt to its source material. Characters we've been asked to care for in the build up are casually tossed to one side or dismissed as the Giant's widow attacks. And the glut really starts to kick in too, with the energy levels falling quickly as we lurch toward the finish line. However, the holes really show as emotional exits fail to hit any such note and blink-and-you'll-miss-them endings are wasted as the blandness of some of the characters comes through. Costuming and music impress though, with Streep's impressive charisma and relative presence being the main takeaway of Into The Woods.

Unfortunately though, when the pace drops, the paper-thin nature of the characters and the relative blandness of their actors seeps uncomfortably to the fore leaving you lamenting the fact the film feels overlong and unnecessarily stuffed to the gills with moments that miss the mark rather than seizing them.

If you go Into The Woods today, you may be in for a mixed ride.

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Game of Thrones: Fire and Ice: Episode 1: PS4 Review

Game of Thrones: Fire and Ice: Episode 1: PS4 Review

Platform: PS4
Released by Telltale Games

It's to the world of Westeros we go for Telltale Games' latest TV based outing. (The last being the very successful Walking Dead series)

And once again, the studio proves that by dedicating its MO to storyline over any other kind of CGI shenanigans or slight of hand tricks, that there's gold to be had in the roleplaying elements of the series.

Using their tried and tested point and click way of gameplay, the series concentrates with the House of Forrester, a family not yet introduced in to the TV Series but mentioned very briefly in one of the novels, A Dance With Dragons.

Once again, choice is a relative illusion in these outings as every single decision you make has consequences; taking on the role of a squire Gared after witnessing the start of the events of The Red Wedding (to those spoiler phobes, this is not a game to appreciate without some knowledge of what's passed already). And herein lies some of the thrill of Game Of Thrones: Fire and Ice: Episode 1 - the way TV event from the show pass through and intersect, as well as characters.

In terms of look and feel, Game of Thrones doesn't quite have the graphical pull of the previous outings from Telltale Games - while it looks and plays like a Game of Thrones novel, the fact it looks more cartoony than previous outings (which were based on graphic novels and fables) gives the piece somewhat of an odd feeling. However, as ever with Telltale's MO, it's about atmosphere and story. And once again the studio's got it spot on.

The greatest success of Game of Thrones: Fire and Ice: Episode 1 is the way it effortlessly adds to the world of Westeros which you already know. Deepening the experience was never going to be easy, but given the twists and turns that this journey starts off on (best to be relatively unspoiled) it's fair to say future episodes are going to build on that world and totally engross you in the upcoming way it plays out.

I for one cannot wait.

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The Interview: Film Review

The Interview: Film Review

Cast: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Randall Park, Lizzy Caplan
Director: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore"

Peter Finch in the movie Network and the hackers who threw Sony into disarray have a lot in common in The Interview, which has been the target of either a very smartly chaotic marketing plan or the embodiment of all that is evil in the cinema.

However, with all manner of pre-publicity and talk threatening the launch of The Interview, it's certainly gathered some momentum, with shades of the rather un-PC Team America and South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut thrown in for good measure.

James Franco once again over-acts as the sharp-suited, false-smiling Dave Skylark, the presenter of a news talk show that deals more in tittle tattle than hard news (witness Eminem coming out on the show and Rob Lowe revealing he wears a wig in obligatory self-deprecating cameos) but scores big in the ratings.

However, his behind-the-scenes guy Aaron Rappaport (Seth Rogen in usual laid-back stoner form) is rattled when at a celebration for 1,000 episodes, another news show producer rails at him for the cheap and tawdry nature of his show.

But the manchild boys are thrust into the limelight when they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un is a fan of the show and has granted them an interview. As they prep to head to Pyongyang, the CIA (lead by a largely sidelined Lizzy Caplan) demands they kill Jong-Un for the good of the world....

The Interview is as scabrous, puerile and as scatalogical as you'd expect from the team who brought you Pineapple Express.

Ineptitude and goofiness, as well as all things anal consume the uneven script as Franco and Rogen continue their on-screen bromance to largely comic effect. Mixing in racism and a sly piece of satire on the state of the Buzzfeed and continuing celeb obsession of our culture, The Interview works as a piece of comedy that's designed to entertain, occasionally offend and nothing else.

Franco's over-acting initially grates, but proves to be the perfect antidote to the situation in Pyongyang as the star-struck Skylark falls under the spell of Randall Park's apparently insecure, margherita loving, Katy Perry Firework adoring, B-balling Jong-Un (sound familiar, Dennis Rodman?); his resistance to carry out the assassination plays nicely against Rogen's uptight caught-in-the-headlights stooge and gives the comedy the broadness and low-hanging fruit it panders to. Their continued eminent likeability helps you through the odd moment that feels crass and base as this frat-based relationship head abroad.


Caplan's horrendously sidelined in a film that throws out the line "This Is 2014, women are smart now", so perhaps that's a blessing; and Park deserves some credit as the Supreme Leader, channeling moments of Dr Evil-like insecurity, general madness and adding more of a dimension to a character that could have just been a broad parody. Even America and their domestic policy comes under scrutiny, so the writers have ensured that it's not just North Korea who's in the firing line.

With a third act that goes for as much violence and a slow-mo helicopter destruction shot that's clearly going to upset the North Korean leader and nation, The Interview has nowhere to go but up its own butt (an analogy I expect those involved in the film will delightfully relish) and into familiar OTT action territory.

And yet, it's unshakably funny, ribald and pointless to rail against The Interview.

Rogen, Franco and Goldberg have certainly got some cinematic balls to take this on given the furore that Sony's currently enduring; but they've got some even bigger balls to have produced something that manages to avoid the majority of its excesses and turn them into something that seems tame in comparison to outrage that's been levelled at it.

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Paddington: Movie Review

Paddington: Film Review

Cast: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Nicole Kidman, Peter Capaldi
Director: Paul King

Marmalade sandwiches, an inquisitive nature and a duffle coat.

These are the quintessentials of Paddington Bear, a quintessentially English story from Michael Bond that's been updated for the big screen and for Christmas 2014.

James Bond's Q aka Ben Whishaw is the voice of the bear, who's forced to abandon darkest Peru after an earthquake destroys the home where he lives with his aunt and uncle. Having been discovered years ago by a quintessentially English explorer, Paddington's been imbued with a love of all things English and believes that's where his future lies.

Abandoned at Paddington station (the metaphor for the displaced children of World War II freshly ensconced in your mind), the bear finds solace with the Brown family - its soft matriarch (Sally Hawkins, in endearing form) and its rather unimpressed patriarch (Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville in frowningly frumpy mode).

But within hours of arriving in London, Paddington catches the eye of Millicent (an icy and somewhat wooden Nicole Kidman) who's got plans for this little bear...

Paddington loses some of the sweet sophistication that blessed the books and the 1970s TV series narrated by Michael Horden in its transition to the 21st Century. In one scene in a bathroom the bear goes into full-on comedy scapegoat that would have been blessed with naivety back then but is now a series of CGI silliness aimed squarely at the youngsters.

It's a shame because King's uses some truly stunning directorial flourishes to great effect - in one, to illustrate the passing of time the Brown's downstairs is decorated with trees and blossom on their walls which wafts away leaving winter-time branches. Elsewhere Paddington watches a black and white film of his home and walks into the image, meshing with the Peruvian rainforests. These are truly remarkable touches in an otherwise relatively normal film.

The much-derided innuendo that caused an uproar in the UK smacks merely of traditional pantomime and seems a trite accusation to level at it.

Whishaw proves the perfect casting choice for the bear with his vocals mixing up innocence, childish naivety and misunderstanding that may have stood out more with the original choice of Colin Firth who consciously uncoupled from the movie. Equally Bonneville channels the usual depiction of an uptight Londoner in a city which always rains but somehow looks beautiful in the continual cinematic stereotyping of the capital, but he's likeable enough.

However, Kidman's icy wooden presence is an unwelcome addition to the bland family movie - while there has to be a villain in this origin story, she sticks out like a sore thumb thanks to some awful writing and lack of anything. Certainly, the denouement at the British museum feels formulaic and betrays some of the sparkle of what goes before.

Overall, this new Paddington may offend some fans of the original series and its innocent ways, but there's a reverence to the source material and a pleasant warmth in this unmistakably British bland flick that will ensure it's the go-to-movie for families over the festive period.

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Annie: Film Review

Annie: Film Review

Cast: Quvenzhane Wallis, Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavalle, David Zayas
Director: Will Gluck

It's a hard knock life indeed.

Not just for the foster kids of Annie, but for anyone heading to see this relatively bland musical movie this coming festive season.

Gone is the renowned ginger kid (aside from an opening scene quirk of writing, aimed at cocking a snook at what used to be) and in is Beasts of the Southern Wild star Quvenzhane Wallis as the foster kid, who's full of pluck, smart-aleck charm and a propensity to burst out into song.

When Annie's rescued from being run down by mobile entrepreneur and mayoral hopeful, Will Stacks (Foxx) she's thrust into the limelight thanks to Stacks' approval ratings being boosted by his selfless act. But as Annie starts to become a part of  the germophobic Stacks' life, he starts to realise there is more to life than what he'd thought - but will he lose Annie forever?

Yes, the sun will indeed come out tomorrow.

If only to show those involved in this goofily energetic piece so imbued with a rap music /street vibe musicality that there is fresh hope of any semblance of life after Annie.

Granted, if you're on a sugar high or on some kind of medication, this unshakably perky take on the musical (complete with final act car chase and auto-tuning thrown in!) may well appeal thanks largely in part to Wallis' sincere take on the lil orphan Annie. Playing it remarkably seriously all the way through (with the odd exception of overt irritation), Wallis manages to convince you of the orphan's quest to find her parents when all around her seem to have stumbled in from some kind of pantomime.

Worst offender is Cameron Diaz's Hannigan, who "looks after" the foster kids for cash. Kicked out of C&C Music Factory (yes, really) just before they made it big, she's a booze-swilling panto dame whose bitterness at losing her big break is as evident as her flat singing during her big number "Little Girls".

Equally, Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavalle seem to have issues reaching the right notes as the show goes on, with both their big scenes being let down by their vocal talents. As the Daddy Warbucks figure, Foxx is earnest enough to try and pull the sentimental Annie out of the mire, but it's the mix of tones that doesn't quite fit to the big screen. Granted, the comedy of Annie is part of the appeal of the stage show, but the emotion here doesn't translate as well in this formulaic attempt at family feel-good for the holidays.

Dished up with a big side of cheese, Annie is only worth seeing for Wallis, who manages to rise above with her reputation relatively intact.

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The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet: Movie Review

The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet: Movie Review

Cast: Kyle Catlett, Helena Bonham Carter, Callum Keith Rennie
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Mixing visual whimsy with the road trip genre, acclaimed director Jeunet concocts something nostalgic and yet timeless in The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet.

Newcomer Catlett is Spivet, the very definition of precociousness. Living on a ranch with his family in Montana, this prodigy finds his life changed when he's called by the Smithsonian Museum who ask to induct him because of an invention that he created.

Without telling his parents, Spivet packs a bag and sets out on a journey for the accolade - but also to claim some kind of personal redemption for events past.

The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet has a beautiful eye for nostalgic detail and moments of a childhood in America's mid-west, mixed in with perfect flights of fantasy and imbued with a sweetly tragic undercurrent.

Catlett is given a hard job for the final third of the film but manages the right mix of innocence and tragedy when called upon to deliver the Smithsonian speech. He also captures a vein of ribald childish cheekiness when needed such as with an encounter with a policeman where he corrects the cop for misuse of language, without realising his attitude could cause more trouble.

But The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet is more concerned with the visuals with Jeunet bringing his famed eye for beautiful vistas and also quirky visual tics. With maps, pop-up books and illustrations floating around the screen (and likely to look the full monty in 3D), there's plenty of visual treats to tickle the eyeballs. Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon adds to his repertoire of eccentric characters, completing the director's requirements.

All in all, The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet is a child-like road trip of visual whimsy in many ways; but when it comes down to it, it all stands on the shoulders of the Macauley Culkin-esque young Catlett who more than adequately rises to the occasion to give this the emotional pull and the gravitas that it needs.

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Transformers: Age Of Extinction: Blu Ray Review

Transformers: Age Of Extinction: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M
Released by Universal Home Ent

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION begins after an epic battle left a great city torn, but with the world saved.  As humanity picks up the pieces, a shadowy group reveals itself in an attempt to control the direction of history…while an ancient, powerful new menace sets Earth in its crosshairs.

With help from a new cast of humans (led by Mark Wahlberg), Optimus Prime and the Autobots rise to meet their most fearsome challenge yet.  In an incredible adventure, they are swept up in a war of good and evil, ultimately leading to a climactic battle across the world.

This time around, following the mass destruction in Chicago inTransformers 3, the Autobots are being hunted down in a series of black ops raids, headed by Kelsey Grammar's conniving Harold Attinger who's in cahoots with robot bounty hunter Lockdown.

When Mark Wahlberg's Cade Yeager, an inventor (go with it, it's Michael Bay's world) and single struggling father, finds the battered and beaten truck Optimus Prime, he inadvertently brings him back to life - and brings the fight directly to his door and his daughter Tessa....

Transformers : Age of Extinction is exactly what you would expect from the fourth in a series that's not exactly set the world alight in terms of character-driven plot.

In some ways, this latest is a reboot with a new group of humans brought into the fold; but it's the usual fare of noble speeches about what it means to be human, loyalty and mass scale destruction, packaged up in an overly bloated FX fest.

And this does go on; in its 2hour 45minute run time, it feels like the story will never end as one video game level moment is tenuously linked to the next, with each full stop being a set piece of destructive Bayhem.

Not content with smashing up Chicago and putting his humans in a post 9/11 world where humans are encouraged to dob in any robots they see (it can't be a coincidence that a lot of the early scenes have the American flag flying high wherever possible and the robots are on a pack of cards a la Saddam Hussein), Bay turns his attention to getting the gang into China under the most tenuous of circumstances but no doubt to appeal to the lucrative Far East market.

Lunk-headed it may be, and with an over-reliance on slow mo action shots and an ear-shattering score, but there's no denying Bay knows how to do a set piece (even if the pre-requisite tensions are missing due to good characters). Instead of speeding up the action, Bay gives some scenes the benefit of breathing and thereby providing the IMAX with some visual treats.

However, Bay brings his usual level of depth to the plot; bringing into the world a new element called Transformium, turning the initial bad guy of the piece Joshua Joyce (a great turn by the eminently watchable Stanley Tucci) into a comedy caricature full of ham and throwing into the father / daughter mix a boyfriend (Jack Reynor) who has zero charm and exists simply to shoe horn tension into the piece.

Granted, you don't do a Michael Bay film for characters and banal dialogue (One line - "Contracts are like humans - they expire"), but for the action and while Bay delivers the mechanical mayhem and catastrophic carnage in spades, there are moments when the film feels like it's going on for much longer than is remotely necessary. 

Certainly, there's a juncture where it feels like two films have been sandwiched together with a weak story plot and the dinosaur ex machina won't satisfy some as the Bayhem never ends and the Transformer legacy hokum is extended (a final sequence hinting at more to come)

The problem with Transformers: Age of Extinction is that it's a soulless experience, with the ideas that the human race has turned on the Autobots and their place in the universe is threatened wildly unexplored and traded for reams of action sequences that do nothing to really service the plot. 

While the human element (particularly Nicola Peltz - even if she is just in short shorts and spends most of the movie being leered at by Bay's camera) goes someway to expunge the likes of Megan Fox and Rosie Huntington-Whitely from the Transformers memory, this latest outing for the franchise doesn't feel like it actually brings anything radically new to the table. It lacks a real cohesion for the plot and as a result, makes the whole thing feel like a slog determined to visually beat you into submission rather than a blockbuster pleasure.

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