Fantastic Four : DVD Review

Fantastic Four : DVD Review 

It's back to the origins tale for the new reboot of the Fantastic Four series, with the director of the wonderful Chronicle at the helm.But it's sad to say that based on the early evidence of the reboot of the franchise (last seen in 2005), it may be less of a Fantastic start than perhaps 20th Century Fox were hoping for.

For those unaware of the Stan Lee comic and the series, it's the story of child prodigy Reed Richards (Whiplash star Miles Teller) who has spent his childhood dreaming of teleporting to another world. One day at a science fair, with his lifelong pal Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell), their science project catches the eye of Dr Franklin Storm.

Recruiting them into his scientific world, Richards helps Sue Storm (Kate Mara), and Victor von Doom (Toby Kebbell) achieve their goal of teleportation to another world. Also along for the ride is hot-headed Johnny Storm (Jordan) who's been co-opted into the project by his dad.

But when the four of them discover that NASA will be taking over their project, they decide to eject protocol and teleport themselves to another world...which doesn't quite go according to plan, leaving one of their party dead and the others dealing with super-powers.

The latest re-imagining of the Fantastic Four is a pretty dour, gloomy and science- exposition heavy set up for a series that never really feels like it lifts off.

Parts of the film feel like large chunks of the narrative was sliced and diced out, leaving the first act to feel as elongated as one of Richards' extended limbs and the final act too conveniently wrapped up without the hint of any kind of real conflict. Equally the underdeveloped story sees an occasional lack of chemistry between the leads and the tantalising tension between two former best friends, which is initially mined for potential dramatic effect and potential tragedy, is ditched neatly in favour of a third act resolution.

It's a shame because there are some touches which work quite nicely for the film; Doom's rampage when he returns is up there with horror's finest moments as is the discovery of a stretch limbed Richards strapped down to a gurney. And there are moments when the characters cut through the gloom and throw a light on each other that work particularly well - like in the film's final moments as they discuss their name.

In parts the CGI works nicely too - Reed's limb-stretching as mentioned looks impressive, a mix of both painful and cartoonish; and the Thing's rocky foundations are nicely laid, giving Bell a modicum of face-work to go on; but Storm's flame on falls down a little on the facials, and Sue's floating blue ball has a few wobbles at times.

The biggest problem with Fantastic Four though is the story-telling beats, the overload of exposition and the lack of stand-out character moments in among dark and grim settings.

A sequel may already be planned and given the origins are all explored, it's to be hoped the second film can give this fantastic quartet of actors a little more to chew on, rather than looking dourly around as events unfold around them.

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Hitman: Agent 47 - DVD Review

Hitman: Agent 47 - DVD Review

The pantheon of video games transplanted to the big screen is littered with varying degrees of success.

For every Resident Evil, there is a Super Mario Bros. But there's certainly enough of them- and even more coming with the likes of Assassin's Creed and Warcraft being the big hitters of the future.

In this latest update of the Hitman series (a first came out in 2007 starring Justified's Timothy Olyphant), Rupert Friend stars as the titular shaven headed assassin, identifiable only via a bar code on the back of his head.

Raised by a secret government group as part of a super soldier programme, 47 is an emotionless killer, a remnant of the past. But when someone seeks out the scientist who set up the programme via his daughter Katia (Hannah Ware), it all comes back to life - and it's a race against time as Katia finds herself involved and forced to choose a side - either the Agent or John Smith (Zachary Quinto)

For a film that's based on a video game, Hitman: Agent 47 acquits itself reasonably well.

Despite a ludicrous premise, and a paper thin plot (including a final section that hints frustratingly at a sequel that may never come), it's fair to say that Hitman: Agent 47 follows its video game origins to a tee.

From the nod to the iconic packshot art in the pre-credits sequence to the video-game episodic style trappings within, this is a film that bathes in its origins and apes the game-play from within. That doesn't necessarily make it a great film though - and while the kills fall into the stylish rather than substance led, there are some quieter character-driven moments that really fall with a thud. Equally, the introduction of a new menace half-way through the film that's not glimpsed again until the very last moment is a real damp squib - a thread that's supposed to provide menace but is about as threatening as a cute bunny rabbit.

Friend is ok as the cypher assassin, but he works better when he's a soulless Terminator style killing machine, rather than an emoting, cracks-in-the-armour style human he becomes later on. Ware acquits herself reasonably well as the kickass Katia and even Quinto does questionable well (even if his stunt double looks glaringly nothing like him in the action sequences).

Overall, Hitman: Agent 47 isn't going to win any awards or new followers; its insistence in following to the tee its computer game counterpart is more of a stylish hindrance than an expansion to the big screen and despite some rote action sequences that are designed to showcase the sponsors, there are some moments that offer some enticing hints of what could have been.

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Minions: DVD Review

Minions: DVD Review

Rating: G
Released by Universal Home Ent

Some would argue the best moments of Despicable Me were the gibberish spouting yellow bundles of joy and idiocy known as the Minions.

Punctuating Gru's shenanigans with zany non-sequitur and frequently slapstick interludes, they were always likely to be the bigger draw. But a push to give them their own film would always be fraught with a feeling that what followed would be in danger of feeling drawn out.

So, Minions arrives with a certain weight of expectation with it, thanks to a great trailer that hinted at life BG (before Gru)

In this prequel, The Minions are on a quest to find a master as it's their lot in life. But a lack of a super villain to lead them leads them collectively into depression (ironically for a yellow race, they spend an awful amount of time being blue) so three of their kind, Kevin, Stuart and Bob, complete with teddy bear, set out to find them a new master and save their race.

That search bears some fruit and after a trip to Villain Con sees them taken on by the villainous Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), who's determined to swipe the Crown from the Queen of England (voiced by Jennifer Saunders) because she always wanted to be a princess. So, Kevin, Stuart and Bob set out to make their mistress' dream come true.

Minions is more like Meh-nions.

To be honest, it doesn't quite feel like there's enough plot or story to sustain the goodwill from the mischievous little tykes from the  Despicable Me films (a feeling which becomes all too obvious as the final credits roll for reasons which would spoil), but more than enough to span a 30 minute cartoon. 

While transplanting them to 1960s Britain works in parts, keeping the trio front and centre of the action and keeping them straight rather than the Three Stooges yields mixed results. Nowhere is this more evident than when the film-makers keep heading back to the Antarctic-bound rest of the gang who are on hand to provide the brief, zany interludes we've come to know and love of the dungaree-clad minions. 

In fact, where Minions works best is in its out there gags and visual jokes which pepper the piece - from its French view of all the Brits being suited and booted gentry who spend their time swilling tea and looking down their snooty noses, to a great Abbey Road gag, there are some deft moments throughout. 

But it's not quite enough to keep the older end of the audience as engaged as perhaps they should be - despite a retro British 1960s OST that packs the likes of The Who, The Doors and The Kinks to help conjure up the age of free love and hippy laissez-faire. Scarlett Overkill hardly appears and works only to serve the narrative rather than drive it along, much to her character's detriment.

One set piece which sees the trio chasing the Queen as they race after the Crown packs in a visual inventiveness which is punchy and exciting, but there's far too little of this on show as Minions progresses.

Ultimately, the kids among us will adore this - its gibberish core, bright colours and occasionally wacky sensibilities will keep them engaged throughout - but for my money, it's just not quite Despicable enough to have delivered on the promise the trailers gave.

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The Big Short: Film Review

The Big Short: Film Review

Cast: Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell
Director: Adam McKay

It seems like the housing crisis and crash is Hollywood's topic du jour.

With the searing 99 Homes not far behind in the cinematic window, the director of Anchorman brings us the true story of what happened when four outsiders predicted the housing bubble bursting in the mid-2000s and used it to their advantage and to expose the banks' stupidity.

The first to see the flaw is Dr Michael Burry (Christian Bale), a Mastodon loving, bare-footed analyst who works for Scion Capital; but his plan to bet against the banks provides a few ripples thanks to a wrong number call to Steve Carell's Mark Baum. His group begin to make some enquiries and start to see Burry's idea has some legs and decide to buy in as well.

Based on The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis, Adam McKay's film isn't afraid to engross you in the technical babble and the small print of the credit default swaps that precipitated the downfall.

It's also not afraid to realise that it's quite a dry and serious subject and so has its director use various conventions to shatter through the tedium. Chief among these is Ryan Gosling's character Jared Vennett whose breaking of the fourth wall invites an audience in and plays to the film's cocking a snook MO at the stuffiness of its material. Equally, when the story's about to get to some crucially excruciating techno-babble, McKay isn't afraid to cut away to the likes of Selena Gomez and Margot Robbie in a bubble-bath to provide the necessary explanations. It's a clever narrative touch that veers on being a little too smart early on and borders on treating its subject with irreverence, but McKay is fully aware that these moves ensure an audience pays attention to an ongoing issue that's still a problem.

Of the main cast, it's really only Carell as Mark Baum (who's based on Steve Eisman) who feels like they have an emotional connection for you to latch on to. Troubled by the suicide of his brother, and wrapped tighter than a coil in his anger and arrogance, Baum is the only one who feels like a real character and the only one to express an unease at the implications of their benefiting from the banks.

It's a fascinating edge that could have done with a little more exploration, given that the others are essentially anti-heroes who are truly more one dimensional cut-outs populating the picture.

There's an irony in the ever-so-slightly-overlong The Big Short over the way these guys rorted the system that was up for exposure and there are lessons to be learned, but perhaps the biggest message from this almost flashy stylish docu-drama is how much Adam McKay's underplayed his directorial hand. His execution of this film and its ensemble cast will ensure the message of concern over the banks and the housing bubble will get through to the masses - even if it occasionally teeters into didactic but well-needed territory.

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Quentin Tarantino to get Hateful in NZ

Quentin Tarantino to get Hateful in NZ

The director of The Hateful Eight is to hit New Zealand in 12 days time.

It's been announced this morning that Quentin Tarantino will attend the premiere of The Hateful Eight in Auckland on January 20th at Event Cinemas Newmarket.

Here's the full release:

Roadshow Films is pleased to announce that Academy Award® winning writer/director Quentin Tarantino will be taking flight to Auckland to attend the New Zealand premiere of his upcoming feature film THE
HATEFUL EIGHT.

Tarantino will walk the red carpet in Auckland on Wednesday, January 20 at Event Cinemas Broadway,Newmarket for the New Zealand premiere of the film.
He will be accompanied by Waiheke Island-raised stuntwoman and actress Zoë Bell who stars in THE HATEFUL EIGHT and has featured in Tarantino’s past films including Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Death Proof and Inglorious Basterds. The cinematic legend will also conduct a press junket on Thursday, January 21.

In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his
fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice.

Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Demian Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…

THE HATEFUL EIGHT will release in New Zealand on January 21, 2016 in a wide digital release format.

We Are Your Friends: Blu Ray Review

We Are Your Friends: Blu Ray Review

Rating: M

Released by Sony Home Ent

"Sounds have soul"

Sadly, despite being uttered in the film, the same cannot be said for We Are Your Friends, a  movie that looks at one DJ wanting to break into the world of EDM and appears to have been written by committee.

Pretty boy Zac Efron plays Cole Carter, a Valley boy who didn't go to college, who's stuck with dead-end prospects and who spends his nights playing a club as and when he can while his friends promote the place.

By a very Hollywood style coincidence, he ends up under the wing of superstar DJ James Reese (Wes Bentley who enjoys his turn as the about-to-be-washed-up svengali) who tries to help him discover his music style - but Cole's equally as interested in James' PA / girlfriend Sophie (model Emily Ratjakowski)....

For a film that's all about music that sets the heart racing, We Are Your Friends lacks the euphoria of the club scene - despite a pumping EDM soundtrack guaranteed to occasionally have your toes tapping in the aisle.

The problem is that the whole film is soulless, a rote kind of film that harnesses all the beats of a good dance film but has trouble assembling them into some kind of coherence. And while Efron makes good on the vacuous vessel that is Cole, the writers do little to serve his character with anything other than cliche. Plus, it's hard to emote when you're sat in front of a computer trying to put together a killer track (something the film tries to show that the best music comes from the feelings within)

Equally, Cole's mates who really should be the emotional centre of the film and have provided more conflict for the character when he falls in with the DJ set are so poorly served that when stuff goes down for them, it feels so piecemeal and formulaic that it has no punch whatsoever.

Granted, the easy on the eye Ratjakowksi and charming Efron make a pretty couple, but the shallow feel of the film, coupled with Cole's continually earnest voiceover that all it takes is one track to break through, cripples the flick and denies it any of the credibility this underdog story is so clearly striving for.

While the dance music is pretty pumping and there's a nice sequence with Cole on drugs (albeit bizarrely, PCP) that sees paintings bleeding into the floor and overtaking him,  the overly earnestWe Are Your Friends feels so formulaic and lacking in heart that there's no cathartic moments to behold, and for a film that should be about living it up while you're young, that's nothing short of criminal.

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Spooks: The Greater Good: DVD Review

Spooks: The Greater Good: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Ent

Spooks was a fantastic series.

A great mix of cold war thriller and ongoing espionage as well as some good strongly written characters it was a solidly reliable piece of TV that delivered week on week. In a weird way, the film is much the same, though is more suited to a TV audience than that of a big screen (possibly why it's had a straight to DVD release over here).

Very loosely, the plot sees legendary operative Harry Pearce (a solid Peter Firth) trying to tracking down a missing terrorist. But when Harry's forced undercover, he recruits Will Holloway (Game of Thrones' Jon Snow aka Kit Harington) to help. Soon, a global conspiracy is playing out....

Betrayal, a solid list of British actors (Tim McInnery, David Harewood, Jennifer Ehle) and a cliched spy plot all come together and make Spooks: The Greater Good a film that simply is the sum of its parts. Which sounds like a condemnation in a way. But it's solid fare rather than kind of thrilling film we've had with the likes of Bourne.

Essentially a TV movie writ larger, Spooks The Greater Good serves to remind you why the series was so popular and why in its pared back form, less is sometimes more.