Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Another change of director to David Yates and change of screenplay writer to Michael Goldenberg sees the return of the popular wizard franchise. No one believes Harry and Dumbledore that Lord Voldemort has returned so they end up butting heads with the establishment.
This adaptation actually feels a lot more complete than the previous one and works much better as a self contained film. Again we see the characters are growing up and the film takes a shift towards a darker tone which certainly is an improvement as well. You can definitely see the influence of Dahl and to an extent Gilliam in the way that bureaucracy is unleashed on Hogwarts. The one down side to this film is that it does feel like the major character death is dealt with pretty weakly and does not have a big enough dramatic impact.
4/5
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Saturday, 13 August 2011
The other buddy cop comedy film of 2010
The Other Guys (2010)
Director Adam McKay makes his 4th collaboration with star Will Ferrell in a buddy cop spoof which co-stars Mark Wahlberg. When the cities famous cop paring are killed can two failures become the heroes?
There is a fairly big supporting cast in this film which includes Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Dwayne Johnson and Steve Coogan, while the film does not get the best out of all this talent it is still funny enough. There is nothing especially original or innovative here but this is probably the best McKay/Ferrell film since Anchorman (2004) as there are plenty of funny, if not hilarious, moments to fill in the gaps.
4/5 a decent comedy.
Director Adam McKay makes his 4th collaboration with star Will Ferrell in a buddy cop spoof which co-stars Mark Wahlberg. When the cities famous cop paring are killed can two failures become the heroes?
There is a fairly big supporting cast in this film which includes Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Dwayne Johnson and Steve Coogan, while the film does not get the best out of all this talent it is still funny enough. There is nothing especially original or innovative here but this is probably the best McKay/Ferrell film since Anchorman (2004) as there are plenty of funny, if not hilarious, moments to fill in the gaps.
4/5 a decent comedy.
Friday, 12 August 2011
Stupid
Billy Madison (1995)
Yet another slacker comedy from Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy which this time co-stars Bridgette Wilson. When the owner of a hotel business decides to retire his son has to return to school and complete all 12 grades to prove he is not an idiot.
It is hard to tell if the film is as stupid as the main character or not because ultimately we are let with no real understanding of him. The plot is entirely simplistic and unoriginal but the worst thing is that it never explains why the main character has acted like an idiot for his entire life or how he is able to win over his love interest. Maybe if there were enough funny moments that would mitigate the other flaws but alas this film is rarely funny if at all.
2/5
Yet another slacker comedy from Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy which this time co-stars Bridgette Wilson. When the owner of a hotel business decides to retire his son has to return to school and complete all 12 grades to prove he is not an idiot.
It is hard to tell if the film is as stupid as the main character or not because ultimately we are let with no real understanding of him. The plot is entirely simplistic and unoriginal but the worst thing is that it never explains why the main character has acted like an idiot for his entire life or how he is able to win over his love interest. Maybe if there were enough funny moments that would mitigate the other flaws but alas this film is rarely funny if at all.
2/5
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Super sequel
Superman 2 (1980)
Picking up where the first film left off this sequel brings back Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman and has a larger part for Terence Stamp but Richard Lester is now the credited director. Three exiles from Krypton turn up on earth with plans to rule it and mess up Superman's love life.
The opening credits do a good job of summarising the events of the first film so that we can get on with the second part of the story Richard Donner planned. Some of the affects do look a little ropey to modern eyes but for the most part they hold up and the final battle is what the film is really built around. There is less Christian allegory in the second film and it is more about Superman's place in the world, balancing his life as Clark Kent and his power for good.
What is surprising about the film is how well it holds together after the complete carnage behind the scenes. Richard Donner had a terrible time with the producers while shooting the first film and this back to back and was fired after a large portion of this film was complete. Despite having had his own, similar problems with the same producers on the Three Musketeers films director Richard Lester was brought into complete the film and he reshot a number of scenes to get full credit. Further to this Hackman refused to reshoot scenes under Lester and Marlon Brando had to be completely cut out of the film to save the budget.
4/5 some how a good film emerges.
Picking up where the first film left off this sequel brings back Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman and has a larger part for Terence Stamp but Richard Lester is now the credited director. Three exiles from Krypton turn up on earth with plans to rule it and mess up Superman's love life.
The opening credits do a good job of summarising the events of the first film so that we can get on with the second part of the story Richard Donner planned. Some of the affects do look a little ropey to modern eyes but for the most part they hold up and the final battle is what the film is really built around. There is less Christian allegory in the second film and it is more about Superman's place in the world, balancing his life as Clark Kent and his power for good.
What is surprising about the film is how well it holds together after the complete carnage behind the scenes. Richard Donner had a terrible time with the producers while shooting the first film and this back to back and was fired after a large portion of this film was complete. Despite having had his own, similar problems with the same producers on the Three Musketeers films director Richard Lester was brought into complete the film and he reshot a number of scenes to get full credit. Further to this Hackman refused to reshoot scenes under Lester and Marlon Brando had to be completely cut out of the film to save the budget.
4/5 some how a good film emerges.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Horse manure?
Secretariat (2010)
This horse racing biopic comes from the Walt Disney stable and stars Diane Lane and John Malkovic. When a housewife's father can no longer run his horse farm she takes over and trains a horse to win the big horse achievement thing.
Like most films based on historic events there seems to be a fair amount of “artistic licence” involved here with characters removed or amalgamated and changing of certain facts. Hollywood and Disney in particular like a nice piece of feel good cheese and that is what we end up with here. There is nothing revolutionary or impressive about this film or it's message but it is well enough made. Neither the race sequences or the approach to the balance the main character has to strike between her family and professional lives stand out either which is a real shame as you would have thought they were the unique points of this film.
3/5
This horse racing biopic comes from the Walt Disney stable and stars Diane Lane and John Malkovic. When a housewife's father can no longer run his horse farm she takes over and trains a horse to win the big horse achievement thing.
Like most films based on historic events there seems to be a fair amount of “artistic licence” involved here with characters removed or amalgamated and changing of certain facts. Hollywood and Disney in particular like a nice piece of feel good cheese and that is what we end up with here. There is nothing revolutionary or impressive about this film or it's message but it is well enough made. Neither the race sequences or the approach to the balance the main character has to strike between her family and professional lives stand out either which is a real shame as you would have thought they were the unique points of this film.
3/5
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Crossings
Miller's Crossing (1990)
This third film from the Coen brothers stars Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney and Marcia Gay Harden and is in part inspired by the novel Red Harvest. The protagonist's boss wants to start a gang war to keep the affections of a woman, unfortunately for the protagonist he is seeing the same woman on the side.
If you have seen any of the other films inspired by Red Harvest you should get the idea that you are in for plenty of scheming, twists and turns in a good if slightly intricate plot. What the film does best is keep us guessing about the protagonists real motivations and feelings as he tries to bring an end to the gang war. The only down side to the film is that maybe it does not always take itself as seriously or tackle the subject in as gritty a manner as it could.
4/5
This third film from the Coen brothers stars Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney and Marcia Gay Harden and is in part inspired by the novel Red Harvest. The protagonist's boss wants to start a gang war to keep the affections of a woman, unfortunately for the protagonist he is seeing the same woman on the side.
If you have seen any of the other films inspired by Red Harvest you should get the idea that you are in for plenty of scheming, twists and turns in a good if slightly intricate plot. What the film does best is keep us guessing about the protagonists real motivations and feelings as he tries to bring an end to the gang war. The only down side to the film is that maybe it does not always take itself as seriously or tackle the subject in as gritty a manner as it could.
4/5
Monday, 8 August 2011
Knuckleheads
Knucklehead (2010)
The people at WWE turn their hand to film making with a film staring Paul Wight, one of their wrestlers. An orphanage needs money or it will be shut down, can the gentle giant janitor be turned into a fighting machine that will get them the money they need?
There is really very little reason to watch this film, the plot is by the numbers and is about as unoriginal as you could imagine. When it comes to the characters there is really very little personality to win the viewer over and again all the characters have been lifted from the stock pile. Paul Wight is a really huge guy but you can not build a film around that and nothing else, if you did you would be a knucklehead.
2/5
The people at WWE turn their hand to film making with a film staring Paul Wight, one of their wrestlers. An orphanage needs money or it will be shut down, can the gentle giant janitor be turned into a fighting machine that will get them the money they need?
There is really very little reason to watch this film, the plot is by the numbers and is about as unoriginal as you could imagine. When it comes to the characters there is really very little personality to win the viewer over and again all the characters have been lifted from the stock pile. Paul Wight is a really huge guy but you can not build a film around that and nothing else, if you did you would be a knucklehead.
2/5
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