Review: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part One (Mild Spoilers)

The biggest story about the first half of the final film of the Harry Potter franchise thusfar is the fact that it was originally going to be retro-fitted into 3D but Warner Bros. felt they didn't have the time to do the 3D job justice so we have to watch the film in glorious 2D. While watching the film I couldn't help but think if 3D would've enhanced it at all and apart from a scene involving the magic world's Axis of Evil early on, everything else was fairly subdued. Without giving anything away the primary plot of Harry Potter sees the titular bespectacled hero teaming up with bessie mates Ron and Hermoine to try and destory all the remaining Horcruxes that are giving the mega-evil Lord Voldemort all his power. This means that the trio are bunking off and not re-entering Hogwarts to complete their final year instead going on what is basically a magic-enhanced road movie through Shafestbury Avenue, The Forest of Dean and various other external venues. While on the road the main relationship between the three is explored as is the mysteries revolving around the Horcruxes and some more of Harry finding out just how essential he is to restoring the wizzarding world.

After reading a couple of reviews I was going in expecting to be utterly bored by parts of the film. However once Harry and pals had left to go on the round I was fully emerged in the world and the pitfalls along the way. My favourite scenes had to be the afformentioned ones that take place outside as the external locations add to Harry's woes thanks to the natural elements inflicting themselves on him and his friends. Although they are going through a lot of plot for me I thought story-wise the film was at its best when exploring the relationship between the three central characters as we've seen them grow up and now they are fully-fledged adults. The sixth film dealt too much with all the teeny relationship stuff however the sensitive portrayal of the Ron and Hermoine love-story is great as the friendship between Harry and Hermoine the former through a scene in which Hermoine tries to teach Ron how to play piano and the latter in which Hermoine and Harry dance together in order to cheer themselves up. There is also a nice scene in a graveyard during Christmas Eve when Harry sees his parents' gravestones for the first time. In terms of the three actors - Daniel Radcliffe seems to have matured as an actor although he does still seem to be delivering some of his lines like he was in a Shakespeare adaptation while Emma Watson has toned Hermoine down and delivers, by Harry Potter standards, a fairly subtle performance. But it is Rupert Grint, as Ron, who has grown the most, once known for pulling a face and going 'bloody 'ell Harry' he is now portraying a young man unlucky and love and jealous of his friend but learning to control these insticts.

For the fans of the big magical sequences there aren't many save one in the Ministry of Magic and the other in the Malfoy house. However the special effects have been used in other ways, there is a particularly nice sequence in which Hermoine narrates the Story of the Three Brothers which is accompanied by stark animations of the tale. The film does retain most of the humour that we've come to love from the franchise, but the laughs don't seem as forced this time and are mostly natural. One thing that I really noticed this time as well was JoAlexandre Desplat's score which, due to the tone, was a lot more haunting than it has been in previous Potter films. The obviuos flaw is that the story has been split into two parts which means that a lot of much-loved characters don't really get a chance to do anything. There's hardly any Alan Rickman, no Maggie Smith and only a little bit of Robbie Coltraine. There's also a lot of bits of 'popping up' from characters from previous films most notably Imelda Staunton's Dolores Umbridge, this is by no fault of the film as it is intergral for the story but I just felt it interrupted the pace of the film. However there are two small performances from actors new to the franchise Rhys Ifans gives a typically barmy turn as Luna's father Xenophilipous Lovegood while Peter Mullan is truly terrifying as the villainous Yaxley. The story does stop halfway but I think it is done in a way that Part One can stand on its feet as a sepearte film.

Overall this is a film that is starkly different than all the other Harry Potter films thusfar. There is no Hogwarts and not as much action as there has been previously. For me I thought that made a completely different and compelling tale but I know some will find that boring. I guess you'll just have to go and see it for yourself.

Review: Let Me In

There has been a lot of controversy about English language remakes of foreign films. With David Fincher's remake of Stieg Larson's Girl with The Dragon Tattoo trilogy and also Russell Crowe starring in The Next Three Days a remake of the French film Anything for Her people are starting to question why these remakes need to appear. Obviously the main reason is that some people don't want to read subtitles when they go to the cinema. I do know at least two people who I've had arguments with about watching foreign movies and you always get the 'I don't want to read, when I watch a film' answer so with that preamble we get Let Me In the remake of the Sweedish film Let The Right The One In, which incidentally was one of my favourite films of last year. The plot basically concerns bullied 12 year old Owen who lives in an apartment block in 1980s New Mexico and is incredibly isolated. Owen has no friends and spends most of his nights gazing through a microscope or sitting about on a climbing rame tackling a rubix cube. Owen then meets Abby a girl who he begins to befriend and then spend a lot of time with however Abby is in fact a vampire. Set against this we have the police investigation into the deaths of several members of the community which have in fact come because Abby's 'father' has been killing for her. After her 'father' is badly hurt, Abby has to start to fend for herself with jeapordises her relationship with Owen.

Right off the bat I would say if you haven't seen Let The Right One In, go and rent it or buy it on DVD. Saying that I wouldn't dissuade anyone going to see Let Me In either. While it isn't nearly as good as the film it has been adapted from it still has enough merit to justify it being viewed. My main concern was that Matt Reeves, who previously directed Cloverfield, would make it so in your face it would lose its subtle edge. However that hasn't happened, while there's a little bit more special effects and death than there is in the original, at the same time a lot of the film focuses on Owen's character and his hardships and why he needs Abby. That means that there is a lot resting on the shoulders of young Kodi Smitt-McPhee, previously seen as Viggo Mortensen's son in The Road, here he is extremely compelling as a young boy who always views life from the outside. Even if Reeves had completely over-stepped the mark the film would still be watchable thanks to the young actor's contribution to the film. Chole Moretz is also perfectly fine as Abby, I just think that her exposure in Kick Ass effected my view of her performance here. She is nowhere near as full on as she was in that film but while at the same time I didn't feel I quite believed that she was a 200 year old vampire. There is also excellent support from Richard Jenkins as 'the father' and Elias Koteas as 'the policeman'.

Suprisingly I also find myself laughing a couple of times mainly at the period pieces. Reeves is keen to rip on the 1980s setting so we have clips of Ronald Reagan on the T.V. and 1980s music being played throughout. However for me the best scene that rips on the period setting is where the sweet shop clerk, who has previously been seen in the film, comes to the counter wearing full Boy George regalia while Culture Club plays in the background. The spaces of the apartment block and it snow-filled outside area are also well utilised with Abby and Owen's initial meetings on the climbing frame incredibly well supported by the backdrop. The only problem with this being a remake is that I knew how it was going to end but as a film on its own it retains most of the subtetly of the original while bringing the story to a new audience. The best result is that enough people will see this film and want to watch the Swedish original which can only be a good thing.

Review: The Kids Are Alright

Quirky indie comedies about dysfunctional families are quite common these days, a lot of them pop around awards time. However, while it has been tipped for awards glory, The Kids Are Alright isn't as obvious in its quirkiness as some of those other films and instead focuses on relationships and what happens when a couple has been together for years and their children have grown up. It just happens in this case that the couple are both women Nic and Jules, played respectively by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, despite this they seem to be a fairly normal couple. Nic and Jules each carried one of their respective children both using the same sperm donor who is sought out by their children Joni and Laser, when the former turns 18. The rest of the film sees how the family unit is rocked by Paul's arrival, the uptight Nic is wary of chilled out restraunter Paul's effect on the kids especially Joni who is about to go off to college. Jules meanwhile, who has never settled on a career, finds herself drawn to Paul as they have a lot in common and later he hires hre on a gardening project. Through his relationship with Paul, Laser is able to stand up to his idiotic friend while Joni is able to stand-up to Nic's authority. The whole thing interweaves between the various relationships as things are changed forever because of Paul's introduction into the family.

The main thing that The Kids Are Alright has going for it is its ensemble cast. Mak Ruffalo's performance is probably his best since his star making turn in You Can Count On Me. His Paul is laid back and has alternative views but when he meets Nic and Jules his life changes and he starts to experience responsibility and love for what may possibly be the first time. Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson are great as Joni and Laser, the former gives a subtle performance as a teenager embarking on a new stage of her life while the latter demonstrates the struggles of a teenage boy growing up with two mums. Julianne Moore makes Jules almost childlike, she almost comes across as spoilt and attention-seeking. This is evident in one scene where Nic and Paul finally start to bond the camera pans to Jules face to see her almost upset that she may have to share her new friend Paul with her partner. Moore always inhabits her roles fully and this is no difference however this is mainly Annette Bening's film. Every scene that she appears in she dominates as she makes Nic a hard character obsessed with rules and proper manners but at the same time always wanting to show that she is forward-thinking. But Benning also shows Nic's soft side during a scene in a bathroom in which everything changes in her relationship with Jules.

It is also admirable that the film never lingers on the fact that these are two women raising children. Instead, and quite rightly, we are told that it is perfectly normal for these two women to raise children together and apart from Paul's line 'I love lesbians' the sexuality of the characters is never raised. The film is mainly about people questioning about how they see themselves Paul likes to think of himself as unattatched and happily so, Jules likes to think herself as a free-spirit and Nic as a woman with alternative views however through their interaction with each other their perceptions change. The whole thing is expertly directed and co-written by Lisa Cholodenko who breathes real life into her character and the film is also incredibly well-shot. My only qualm is that the sub-plot involving Joni and her unrequited love for a male friend is never fully resolved. Overall though this isn't overly-quirky but at the same time is funny and heart-warming with an ending that isn't cliched or overly sentimental.

Review: Easy A

Films set in the teen world and more specifically in the American high school are ten-a-penny, however most of them are not as funny as Easy A. The film concerns Emma Stone's Olive Pendergrast, a girl whose completely ignored at her school and quite likes it that way. The film starts with Olive adressing us via a webcam talking about various lies that she's told and how they've got her into trouble. After lying about her first sexual encounter, Olive then helps out a gay friend so he won't get bullied for his sexuality and soon she is being paid by various dweeby lads to lie about variuos sexual endeavours. Her lies find her target of an extreme Christian group lead by the scarily nice Marianne. Eventually she decides that her lies are costing her her friendships and her reputation and so the film comes full circle with her revelations via webcam.

Easy A's main problem is that because of it's hyped-up sexual content it has been awarded a 15 certificate in this country and therefore its key audience won't get to see the film. Which is a shame because this is a cracker of a film and up there with the best teen films. Although it has been likened to Mean Girls and Clueless I would say it is closer in terms to Juno thanks in part both to its witty and clever script and its breakout lead performance from Emma Stone. Stone, who has had to endure some roles in truly awful movies like The Rocker and The House Bunny, plays Olive has incredibly snappy and quick but not as thick-skinned as she thought. As the film goes on and we get to the inevitable emotional content, Stone never lets Olive become soft instead she just realises she needs someone to lean on. Stone is ably supported by some fantastic older actors who never outstay their welcome or overshadow the central story. Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci, as Olive's parents, play well off each other and are incredibly warm but also have a bit of a wild side. They were so good in fact that I began to wish that they were my parents. Thomas Hayden Church is also great as Olive's literature teacher and somewhat confident while Lisa Kudrow and Malcolm McDowell are also on good form as the guidance councller and principal respectively. Amanda Bynes also makes up for starring in so many apalling teen films by giving us the holier-than-thou Marianne and reminding us what a gifted comic actress she is, it is a shame that this will be her last role as she has given up acting at the ripe old age of 24.

The film's other plus point is in its cultural references. The film's title refers to Olive embroiding a scarlet A on her chest in a similar way to that of the heroine of The Scarlet Letter did to signify she was an adulterer. The film rips on literary references and there is quite a nice Mark Twain film but Olive also references John Hughes and other 1980s teen films and wonders why her life isn't like that. There are a couple of sore points mainly the relationship between Olive and the quirky Todd which seems to be there to give Olive a happy ending and also at times it feels a tad cliched but this is a smart film with a great lead performance which will surely find a lot of fans when it comes to DVD.

Review: The Social Network

Its weird to think that a few years ago there was no Facebook, no updates, no liking, no tagging people pictures but nowadays everybody seems to be doing it. It seems inevitable then that a film about the website's creator, Mark Zuckerberg, would be released sooner or later. Adapted from the book 'The Accidental Billionaire', 'The Social Network' has good pedigree as it is directed by David Fincher and adapted by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin. The non-liner plot structure flicks between two legal battles that Zuckeberg is having one with his former best friend and Facebook co-creator Eduardo Saverin who wants his credits back on the website and the other with rowing twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss who claim that Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from them. The whole creation of Facebook, which started when Zuckerberg didn't take his break-up with his girlfriend very well, is all told in flashback. Zuckerberg is never portrayed as a particularly nice character but at the same time Sorkin and Fincher and always keen to point out why he did what he did whether it be through jealousy or through influence. The influence comes via Napster creator Sean Parker who spots a good idea when he sees one but at the same time wants to get the level-headed Eduardo out of the way and concentrate on getting through to Mark. Through Sean's involvement Eduardo is screwed out of the Facebook phenomenon and wants revenge and that's where the legal issues come in.

At first I found the plot structure of The Social Network a little jarring as I wasn't quite sure who it was suing Zuckerberg and why. However, after I fully immersed myself in the movie, I found myself really rather enjoying it. Jesse Eisenberg was a great choice to play Zuckerberg as he looks very nerdy but at the same time is a strong actor who is able to sink his teeth into some of the less attractive parts of Zuckerberg's character. Although he does some truly awful things we are able to sympathise with him in a way and that's partly due to Eisenberg who makes Zuckerberg seem like a real human being. Andrew Garfield's Eduardo is the film's heart really as Eduardo is a geniunely nice guy and sticking by Mark through most of the film he reveals himself to be a true friend. Justin Timberlake also does well as Sean Parker, perhaps the film's only real villain, he combines an easy charm with some real talent when we see the darker side of Parker's psyche. Armie Hammer is also great doubling as the Winklevoss twins he is able to make each of them a little different and has the air of haughty authority down. However the real star of the film is Aaron Sorkin whose script is full of humour and character. From the opening scene in which Zuckerberg is dumped, Sorkin gives us his trademark snappy fast-paced dialogue which fans of The West Wing will be used to. One scene in particular in which the twins confront the President of Harvard about Mark's website reminded me of several scenes from the Washington-based drama.

There are a couple of very minor flaws, firstly that most of the film is set indoors and it does feel very claustrophobic from time to time. And also that this is a very male-dominated film the only real female characters are, soon-to-be-Girl-With-The-Dragon-Tatoo, Rooney Mara as Mark's ex-girlfriend and Rashida Jones as co-council during the legal scenes. These are small quibbles because in the end The Social Network is possibly the best written film of the year so far and must surely be up for some gold come Oscar time.

Review: Made in Dagenham

Seven years ago Nigel Cole made a film about a real life story starring a predominantly female cast of known British actresses, the film was called Calendar Girls and went onto be a massive hit even spawning its own West End show spin-off. Now Cole is back with another film based on a real-life story starring a predominantly female cast and that film is Made in Dagenham which concerns the year in which the women in the Ford Motors Factory in Dagenham went on strike and demanded equal pay. Like in Calendar Girls, Cole is interested on us getting to know the central female characters and at the film's heart is Sally Hawkins' Rita O'Grady, a family woman who is intially reluctant to stand-up for the women but as the film goes on she begins to find her own voice. There is also Geraldine James' Connie a more mature member of the workforce whose husband is suffering from post-traumatic stress after servingin World War 2. As the strike goes on things begin to get tougher especially for Rita as her husband also is forced out of work when the Ford motor plant shuts down. The Government and the Ford company both start to get involved, firstly Ford sends the tough Robert Tooley over to deal with the women and then trade minister Barbara Castle is ordered to sort the struggle out. Along the way there is a lot of tragedy but a lot of heartfelt moments as well as the women try to achieve what they set out to.

There is a debate to be made on whether Made in Dagenham is too broad and doesn't focuse enough on its topic. However I believe that if the subject had been adapted into a grittier picture then not as many people would've gone to see the film and that would've been a shame as there's a lot to like here. The central characters are all well drawn most notably Rita and Connie as well as Rita's husband Eddie, a man of simple pleasures who doesn't quite understand why his wife's doing what she's doing. Even the smaller characters get their moments for example Rosamund Pike's Lisa is a well educated woman who is married to the Ford plant boss and is therefore confined to the kitchen and isn't allowed to give her views on most topics. That's not to say that everybody gets a fair deal, Andrea Riseborough's Brenda only seems to exist in order to have sex with variuos menfolk and then laugh dirtly about it, and an actress of her standing deserves better. The performances are top-notch all around from Sally Hawkins as Rita down to Roger Lloyd Pack as Connie's husband special mention has to go to Richard Schiff as the long-in-the-tooth Tooley who thinks the women can be handled quite easily and steps in to show the British how its done.

Overall I think Cole has improved on Calendar Girls as there's a lot more meat in the tale of the Dagenham girls. He gets the tone between comedy and tragedy dead on here and there are a couple of moments where I generally teared up and also some bits where I couldn't stop laughing. It may be a little bit cheesy and a bit broad but Made in Dagenham is one of those films that just makes you feel-good and also is able to tell the tale of a very plucky group of women.

Review: Buried

2010 seems to be the year of films which are set in small confined spaces. Firstly we had the tank-based drama Lebanon followed by the lift-set Devil and now we have Buried focusing on Paul Conroy, a contractor in Iraq who has been Buried alive in a coffin. And it is the coffin that is the setting for the entire 90 minutes or so of the film and it is Paul who is the solitary figure on screen. The film's premise centres around Paul finding out firstly why he's in the coffin and secondly how he can get out of it. He has been left with a mobile phone, a lighter and luckily a pencil and some water. While in the coffin he is contacted several times by his captors and has to quickly try and respond to their demands in order to secure his freedom. This leads him on a wild goose chase phoning his family, friends, the FBI, the CIA, the media and the company he is working for.

Out of all the films I've seen this year, Buried is surely one of the most original. The concept of spending 90 minutes in a coffin with only Ryan Reynolds for company is the stuff of nightmares luckily the time passed pretty quickly. Reynolds is a revelation here proving that he has a life outside romantic or puerile comedy films. He portrays Paul as the every-man who is just in Iraq on a routine job and isn't quite sure why he's the one they're after. He works well in a very confined space to put across a man who after a while knows there's little help of escape and does it very well. The film also has moments of thrills most notably a scene involving a snake and the tension is upped in the film's very last moments which will leave you on the edge of your seats. The script also covers such topics as foreign relations, terrorist negoitations and corporate betrayal but never offers any real political views on any of them. Buried isn't by any means a perfect film but, if you can stomach it, its a very compelling and interesting film if not one that will ever stand up to repeat viewings.

Review: The Town

After spending several years in the wilderness, Ben Affleck's reinvention of himself is almost complete. After directing the superb Gone Baby Gone and putting in an impressive turn in last year's State of Play he takes triple duty in writing, acting and directing his Boston-based crime thriller The Town. Affleck plays Doug McCray who, along with Jermey Renner's James, is a career criminal and the film kicks off with a bank roberry. It is during that robbery that Doug meets bank teller Claire, later they begin a romance with her unware of his true identity. Doug's relationship with Claire makes him reconsider his life of crime but he is coerced into two more jobs firstly by James and then by the sinister crimelord 'The Florist'. Doug's life is further complicated by F.B.I. agent Adam Frawley who is on Doug's case right from the opening frame. As the final roberry takes place Frawley realises this is his last chance to catch Doug so he uses some underhanded tactics in order to get his man.

The Town is an enjoyable, if uneven, crime film that harks back to such classics as The French Connection. The audience is drawn in straight away thanks to the opening robbery being so gripping however the pace slows down afterwards as we explore Doug's relationships with Claire, James and James' sister who is Doug's sometimes girlfriend. However from the second robbery onwards the tension builds up as the cat and mouse story between Frawley and Doug really kicks into play and the final set piece around Fenway Park is truly spectacular. However there are some cliched and clunky moments throughout most notably the 'criminal who wants to leave the world behind' and the Shawshank Redemption-esque ending. Ben Affleck gives a competent performance from both sides of the camera because of the script he never makes Doug a one-note character and instead offers us a thorough insight into his life. Jeremy Renner is amazing as the slightly sinister James who on the surface is tough-as-nails but at the same time has very strong loyalties. Pete Posslethwaite is truly terrifying in his few scenes as The Florist while Rebecca Hall moves even closer to becoming a Hollywood leading lady. However it is Jon Hamm who gets the scenery chewing award as he truly relishes some of his more over-the-top lines as FBI Agent Frawley. The only week link is Gossip Girl's Blake Lively, as James' sister Krista, her attempt at a Boston accent makes Ray Winstone in The Departed look like a Boston native. And because she's really trying hard to 'act' its hard to understand anything that she actually says.

Despite its flaws The Town is a very good piece of film-making with all round decent performances from its impressive ensemble cast. If only the ending had been a little less clunky it may have been one of the films of the year but instead it's just a good honest film.

Review: Winter's Bone

Every year around autumn and winter time, there always seems to be at least one performance that heralds a brand new acting talent on the scene. Last year we had both Carey Mulligan in An Education and Gabourey Sidibe in Precious. This year the honour goes to Jennifer Lawrence who portrays Ree a young girl from the Ozark mountains who has to go on a journey to find her deadbeat father. Ree has basically become both mother and father to her two younger siblings since her father's disappearance she is their cook, protector and confedent. So when she finds out that their father has put the house up for colaterall for his bail and has since gone missing she sets out to uncover the secrets behind his disappearance. This leads her to battle the community head on as she runs into trouble thanks to the close-nit secrets that our being kept. Her only ally is her slightly dodgy uncle who wants to her help keep the family together.

As I already mentioned the most positive thing about the film is Lawrence's performance. After playing a young Charlize Theron in last year's underrated The Burning Plain, Winter's Bone is definitely her ticket to the big time. Lawrence gives Ree a toughness rarely scene in female characters of her age but at the same time she makes it clear that she is still a girl. At one point Ree goes to the army so she can earn money to keep the house and her siblings safe, however once she finds out she can't have the money straight away she starts to crack. The other interesting performance is from John Hawkes as uncle Teardrop the slightly unhinged protector of Ree who gives an unpredictable and completely watchable turn. However, thanks to Ree's trek, the brutal surroundings of the Ozark mountains becomes its own character every small hut and its inhabitants providing more obstacles for the young heroine. Winter's Bone isn't an easy watch and it is fairly slow but if you stick with it then you'll find a film that is both compelling and breathtaking in its scale and its performances. I think we'll be hearing Lawrence's name a lot more after the award's season.

Review: Tamara Drewe

When you think of comic book movies you immediatedly think superhero or more recently the geeky postmodernist Kick Ass or Scott Pilgrim. However your hardly ever picture the English countryside and a sexy central heroine with a penchant for small jean shorts. But that's exactly what Tamara Drewe is, adapted from Posy Simmonds' graphic novel it stars Gemma Arterton as the titular heroine a journalist who has returned to her small Dorset village. complete with a new nose. in order to sell her mother's house. While there Tamara has to deal with romantic complications with her ex Andy and also with Ben a rock drummer who she interviews and then ends up dating. Running parallel to this story is that of the local writer's retreat run by the comely Beth and her philandeirng mystery novelist husband Nicholas who also has a history with Tamara. To complicate matters further local girl Jody, who is Ben's biggest fan, sets out to sabotage Tamara's relationship with her idol and ropes in her best friend who is also Andy's niece to mess with Tamara. What follows is an utterly hilarious comedy of errors as people get the wrong end of the stick, have a lot of sex and at the end of the day there is kind of a happy ending.

I have to say I really enjoyed Tamara Drewe thanks mainly due to its comic tone. As it is adapted from a graphic novel the characters are very broadly drawn but that's part of the film's appeal. The whole film is also very clever as it weaves in literary references, thanks mainly to the writer's retreat, and in particular Thomas Hardy as one of the writers is composing a non-fiction work about Hardy. But personally I thought the whole thing had the tone of a Shakespearian comedy - the lovers forced together, the various obstacles they have to overcome and the two mischevious characters who are messing around with the other players' lives that only the audience are aware of. Gemma Arterton is perfectly fine in the lead role she asserts her sexuality when needs be and also displays a sort of melancholy about her past. As Arterton gives something for the males to look at I am also reliably informed that Luke Evans, who portrays the strapping Andy, is a 'bit of alright'. However the more compelling performances come from Tasmin Grieg and Roger Allam as Beth and Nicholas she is incredibly moving as the much cheated-on wife and he is hilarious as the philanderer. Dominic Cooper also gives a very good turn as the vain and bored rocker who has a very strange relationship wtih his dogThe two young actresses playing the girls are also brilliant giving the whole thing a lot of childish humour. Overall a funny, love story to the countryisde with some interesting performances and some nice shots of Dorset.

Review: Piranha

Certain times films come along that totally revolutionise the way we see the medium and can only be defined as ground-breaking. Thankfully Piranha, originally shown in 3D, is not one of those films instead it is a complete tounge-in-cheek homage to the original Piranha franchise and other B-movies. The flimsy plot concerns a small beach community which is invaded every year for Spring Break in particular it looks at the female sherrif and her teenage son Jake who is desperately in love with a girl-next-door type. Jake ends up becoming a photographer for a slezy girls-gone-wild type director who also manages to convince his would-be-love to come with them. As you can probably guess from the title, tragedy strikes when prehistoric piranhas start to swarm around the sea and gobble up all the horny students and low-lives. The rest of the film is full of screaming, escaping and severed penises as the sherrif must try and keep her family safe and try and defeat the piranhas.

Unlike the last B-Movie homage, Snakes on a Plane, Piranha doesn't take itself too seriously and instead focuses on the flesh and the death. This is evident from the first scene in which Richard Dreyfuss basically copies his scene from Jaws as he gobbled up early doors by the piranhas. The performances are great although Elizabeth Shue does a good turn as the sherrif forced to turn hero and Christopher Lloyd hams it up as a fish shop owner. Also present is Jerry O'Connell as the sleazy director who has the honour of having his member bitten off as well as our own Kelly Brook who spends most of the film topless or naked and utters the immortal line 'nice horn'. The only problem is that we already know that the central family will all survive and most of the superfulous characters will get gobbled up luckily that doesn't matter as this is just a fun, guilty pleasure summer flick that never outstays its welcome.

Review: Grown-Ups

Every so often films are said to have a dream line-up for example The Expendables comibation of Stallone, Willis, Schwarzenegger, Lundgren, Jet Li and others will have action fans foaming at the mouth. Simiarly fans of juvenille comedy may see the line-up of Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Kevin James as their dream. However after those people actually sit down and watch Grown-Ups they may, in fact they will, change their minds. The film's set-up is that the coach of a school basketball team dies and the five key members of the team are reunited at his funeral. They are an over-worked Hollywood agent with spoilt children and a workaholic wife (Sandler), a hen-pecked house husband (Rock), a much-married over dramatic health nut (Schneider), a boastful underachiever (James) and David Spade essentially playing the character he always plays an aging womaniser. The five go to live in a beach house with their wives, children and Chris Rock's mother-in-law, a role that was tailor-made for Martin Lawrence's Big Momma character to return but sadly this didn't happen. This is so the five men can scatter the coach's ashes in the way he requested and while they are there they are all meant to be learning life lessons. However not a lot does get learnt and instead there are a lot of scenes with the five sitting around perving over teenager girls, injuring themselves or each othre and generally having a laugh. A small plot is tagged onto the film's final third in which the team they played in their original game want a rematch but that's about it.

There are a lot of things wrong with Grown-Ups but the toilet humor, non-PC Jokes and the 'physical comedy' were all a given. The main problem is that the emotional journey that we're meant to go on doesn't happen or is completely rushed. All men have problems Sandler's kids are spoilt and have lost touch with the real world, Rock's wife doesn't appreciate him, James' four year old son is being breast-fed and James is also out-of-work, Schneider needs to reconnect with his daughter and Spade is growing up without a family or anyone to truly love. Some of these issues are completely unresolved and apart from Sandler's story the others are all rushed. In addition to this, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello and Maya Rudolph are collectively wasted as 'the wives' while Steve Buscemi also pops up in a thankless cameo. There's no doubt that the five friends had fun while filming but I also think that a non-scripted film of them just going on holiday together would be much funnier than this shambles.

Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

It seems that you wait for two uber-nerdy comic book adaptation movies to arrive then two come along at once. Earlier in the year, Kick-Ass wowed audiences with its fairly original style and subject matter and now we have Scott Pilgrim Vs The World a comic book adaptation which sees a normal Canadian lad having to defeat the seven evil exes of the girl of his dreams. The film sees Scott meet the mysteirous Ramona Flowers while still dating Asian schoolgirl Knives, he tries to woo Ramona which eventually happens but then he struggles to let Knives down gently. Scott soon discovers that he will have to defeat Ramona's various exes if he wants to be with them. They include an egotistic movie star, a vegan guitarist, a pair of Chinese twins and a rather agressive girl that Ramona went out with during an 'experimental stage'. Scott also has to concentrate on the band in which he plays bass who have a battle of the bands contest to think about as well as being sound. The end of the film sees Scott trying to figure out what and who he should be fighting for and re-evaluating his life.

Visually Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is an amazing film using computer game graphics as its main inspiration. Each character is introduced with their own caption featuring their age and occupation while there is a lot of cartoonish moments. The script is extremly well written and very funny indeed with some very quotable lines and hilarious segments. Although the formulaic nature of Scott Vs The Exes, should seem repetitive but instead each fight is distinctive with each ex given their own style of fight and special power. The film features a lot of stand-out support performances including Chris Evans and Brandon Routh as two of the exes, Kieran Culkin as Scott's gay roomate, Anna Kendrick as his sister and Alison Pill as the band's drummer and Scott's former flame. As Ramona, Mary Elizabeth Winstead manages to pull of the air of mystery quite well but it is 17 year old Ellen Wong who is the film's stand-out female making us really empathise with Knives and willing Scott to realise that she's a much more suitable choice. Michael Cera's performance perfectly anchors all the more zany aspects of the film and gives it the realistic edge that it needs. I did feel the film did start to flag towards the very end and when Scott started to 'learn about himself' the pace started to slow and some of the unique style left the film. But overall this was a fun, well written, well directed piece of cinema that will appeal to any dorks who have ever had to fight for that unattainable girl or guy.

Review: Salt

The only real thing I knew about Salt going into watch it was that the part was originally written for Tom Cruise who obviously chose to do Knight and Day over this. Angelina Jolie took over from Cruise in what may be the first ever case of gender swap re-casting, this is made even stranger by the fact that Ange has to cross-dress at one point which made me wonder if we would have had a Some Like it Hot moment had Cruise taken the part. Jolie has played action before in both Mr and Mrs Smith and Wanted but here Evelyn Salt is much of a more professional sort to the point of almost being cold. Salt is a CIA agent who had been kidnapped at the start of the film and only freed thanks to husband Mark. Soonafter the film's start Salt is accused of being a Russian agent who is tasked with killing the Russian President at the funeral of the U.S. Vice President. Salt denies this but is soon rushing off, dying her hair, jumping around a lot and shooting a lot of people.

Salt is an interesting film, in one way it is a lot more accomplished than a lot of this year's summer blockbusters in having a fairly simple but effective story drive along the action rather than some nonsense about ever-lasting lightbulbs or fake bank notes. In the lead Jolie tries to keep the audience guessing till the final reel it is a very measured performance which never slips into the ridiculous, apart from maybe the cross-dressing, and always engages. The two main support performances are also well done as the producers decided to cast some proper actors in Liev Schrieber and Chiewetel Ejiofor as her long-time friend and colleague and a suspiciouis agent respetively. The main problem I had with Salt is that it takes itself a little too seriously at times and thinks its a little more clever than it actually is. The two supposed plot twists were figured out by myself and my friend way before they were revealed and there were also some unexplainable moments throughout the film. Overall a fairly enjoyable actioner which is professionally executed but not as cleverly-plotted as it likes to think.

Review: The Karate Kid

Were the 1980s that long ago that all the T.V. and films from that era have to be re-made? It seems so with a Footloose remake on the way and the A-Team movie already out another popular franchise has been re-made or 're-imagined' and that being the Karate Kid. The plots of the 2010 Karate Kid and the 1984 original are very similar: a boy moves out of his home with his mother to a new home, there he meets a girl he likes but angers a local gang who beat him up, he is saved by the quiet janitor who knows martial arts, they are challenged by the trainer of the bullies to a fight at the tournament so the janitor trains the young boy up so he can compete. However the similarties end there because the film feels a lot lighter and more innocent than the original thanks to the difference in age between Ralph Maccio and new Karate Kid Jaden (son of Will) Smith. Because Jaden is only 12 in the film, the romantic aspect is taken out and replaced by a cutsie friendship between Smith's Dre and young violinist Mei Ying. Usually a friendship like this would make me physically sick but Smith's charm means that it is lightly done and is never rammed down the audience's throats. However the main difference is that instead of the move across America, Dre and his mother have moved to China and also that the original film's karate has actually been changed to Kung Fu but again this doesn't really matter as the film's basic structure remains the same. Finally the janitor Mr Miagyi has been replaced by Jackie Chan's Mr. Han, again an old man who is skilled in the martial arts and at the same time has some secrets in his past.

I have to say I enjoyed The Karate Kid a lot more than I thought I would. A lot of that is down to Jaden Smith who is on screen throughout, he shares his dad's skill of being quitely cool and charming at the same time and if he picks the right roles should make the transformation from child to adult actor with ease. But it is Jackie Chan that is the revelation, it is the first time that I have seen Chan portray a mostly dramatic role in a Western film. He gives almost a subtle performance to begin with and I barely recognised him in his opening scenes. Both Smith and Chan are able to give a lot of warmth to the relationship between Han and Dre which is at the film's heart and possibly the film's best scene is where Han breaks down and tells Dre what happened to his kids. The film's not perfect, at over two hours long it could do with trimming about 15 minutes off its runtime. For me there were far too many sweeping shots of Chinese landscape and I also found the character of Dre's Mother, played by Taraji P Henson, to be underwritten basically becoming a one-note character whose job it was to yell at Dre at regular intervals thorughout the film. We also never found out what happened to Dre's father who died before the film began, I felt this revelation would have added to the narrative and given more depth to Dre's character.

Overall though this film reminded me of the films I watched when I was growing up. Unlike most other films aimed at teen males, this one doesn't seem to exist purely to sell merchandise instead telling a story with themes of family, friendship and belonging and almost teaching its audience certain values. As this did so well at the Box Office in America a sequel is still being touted with rumors of Will starring alongside his son. Here's hoping that that does happen and that Smith sr. performs a cover of the Peter Cetera classic The Glory of Love.

Review: Toy Story 3

It seems that the Pixar group are on a bit of a roll as of late with 2008's sublime Wall-E and 2009's heartwarming Up, this year they are returning to where it all began with the third in the Toy Story trilogy. The film's central theme is what happens when we grow up and saying goodbye to the things and people we love. It is particularly apt as the Toy Story audience will have grown up with the films, indeed I was 11 when the first film came out 15 years ago and now I'm... not. The basic plot sees Woody, Buzz et al worried about their fates when Andy goes to college, thinking they'll be thrown away they organise it so they get sent to the Sunnnyside Daycare Centre. But Woody believes that Andy still needs them so tries to get back home while the other toys discover that Sunnyside isn't quite what they think it is. The film combines styles at its heart it is a coming-of-age story and a film all about friendship and what the toys mean to each other. But director Lee Unrick and new screenwriter Michael 'Little Miss Sunshine' Arndt combine a variety of styles so families can enjoy it together. The film borrows from a lot of different prison break films and indeed there is one scene with a talking telephone which is just hilarious. There is also some hints to the Zorro films and to horror movies in general which work into the story so well rather than feeling forced, something that happens a lot in the Dreamworks films.

The old characters don't change that much, apart from Buzz whose controls get changed at least twice in this film with hilarious results. Another character who is more prominent in this film is Estelle Harris' Mrs. Potato Head who is played as an always-complaining Jewish housewife and works very well with Don Rickles' Mr. Potato Head. There are two central new characters who join the franchise for the final film, the first being Ned Beatty's Lotso, a large pink bear who smells of strawberries and is in charge of the Daycare centre. The second is Michael Keaton's scene-stealing Ken who claims he is not a girl's toy yet marvels in dressing up in various outfits. Ken is a character that both children and adults will get to laugh at, kids will love his frantic manner while the adults will enjoy some of the more grown-up dialogue. A lot of other reviews have mentioned an emotional ending but, although I thought it was quite sweet, I think the end is about new beginnings rather than goodbyes and the Gypsy King's version of You Got a Friend in Me was a great way to end the film. As for the 3D element, I believe the technique has been used as an enhancement to the visual rather than anything else. You certainly don't notice it as much as you did in Avatar or Alice in Wonderland which may be a good thing but I don't know if I felt involved because of the 3D or just because of the perfectly crafted film.

You know by now what you're getting from a Pixar film, while I don't think its as good as the other two Toy Stories its still an excellent animated film which no-one will be disappointed to have seen. Full of warmth, wit and animated glory this is definitely a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Review: Knight and Day

If you put a big dollop of Roger Moore era Bond, add a pinch of some of the Bourne films exterior action shots, pepper in a bit of Romancing the Stone's comic dialogue and the bit where Tom Cruise rides the motorbike in Mission Impossible and you kind of get the idea of what Knight and Day is trying to do. Although this is a spy film and its very much about Tom Cruise's Roy Miller, possibly the most American name ever, most of the film follows Cameron Diaz's innocent bystander June. June and Roy meet on a plane which crashes after Roy shoots everyone on it, because they're after him he then drugs June. The next day June's life starts to unravel as she is chased by the FBI and then tracked down by Roy as he tries to outrace both the bureau and some international arms dealers. Like with The A-Team there is a ridiculous MacGuffin, this time its a battery that can control the energy of the whole world or something and its kept in a little tin knight, hence Knight and Day. But this film is mainly about the shooting, the glamorous locations (Austria, Spain, the Tropics) and the chemistry between the two leads. Cruise and Diaz do have a little something going on which may be because they worked together almost ten years ago on Vanilla Sky. Cruise is actually fairly impressive almost revisiting his Top Gun days as he adds an ounce of boyish charm and even a slice of wit to Roy. But Diaz isn't on form and at times outdoes Gwyneth Paltrow in Iron Man in terms of whining on at a leading man in action film. The fact we have to buy into the premise that Diaz is a mechanic who restores old cars in the first place kind of drizzles away when we find out how stupid and underwritten the character is.

However there is a sense of fun throughout the film which both The A-Team and The Losers lost in their second halves. The international locales allow for some novel set pieces including a fight on a train involving some sausages, a rooftop scurmish over Austria and a car chase during the Running of The CGI Bulls in Spain. The supporting cast has been comprised of actors, such as Paul Dano, Viola Davis and Peter Sarsgaard, who are more known for their roles in weightier films which does earn the film a little bit of pull. The script is incredibly lazy, the entire motivation for what most of the characters do is given as expositional speech for Tom Cruise to deliver in about two minutes. Roy also drugs June from time to time, and she always ends up in a different location, which for me means that the screenwriter couldn't think of any way from getting the characters from one location to another. But if you don't think too hard and want just a brainless summer romp I would recommend this over any of this season's offerings so far but I think that may change when The Expendables is released.

Review: The A-Team

It seems recently a lot of popular brands have presented almost prequel films to start the story once again. In many cases this would've been to refresh an ailing franchise - Batman Begins, Casino Royale, the most recent Star Trek film or tell alledgelly retell a well known legend - Ridley Scott's Robin Hood. This trend is continued with the new A-Team film in which we find out how Murdoch, B.A., Face and Hannibal all first met, why they were locked up for a crime they didn't commit and most importantly why B.A. 'ain't getting on no plane'. The story itself involves U.S. treasury plates, a double-crossing CIA agent and Jessica Biel trying to convince us that she's a Captain. But that's not really the point of the film its about the four characters and how much we care about what they're doing. As Hannibal, Liam Neeson does get the leadership thing right and is quite compelling in some parts but the problem is that Nesson tries to hard to do a growly voice and therefore you miss most of what he's saying. Bradley Cooper is basically just a smile and some hair as Face he doesn't have the charm that Dirk Benedict had in the original and is reduced to a couple of smarmy lines. Fairing better is District 9's Sharlto Copley who steals all the scenes as Murdoch, he gets the crazy look in his eye and you do believe that he was in an insane asylum. However the biggest problem is Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson as B.A. Baracus. There's nothing particularly wrong with Jackson's performance, for his first acting role its decent enough but there's only one person that can play B.A. and that's Mr. T and there's no covering that up.

The main problem I have is that the film loses its sense of fun about half way through. It starts quite light, with a few jokes, the same old catchphrases and some explosions. But after the boys are jailed it all gets a bit serious and the film gets shot with some moody lighting for about twenty minutes. There's also a major problem with the way some of the sound is recorded and you do miss some of what the characters say. At the end of the day this film starts fun and is fairly enjoyable when you watch it but it does try a bit too hard to be something it's not. But at least know this is in cinemas we don't have to put up with Liam Neeson saying 'I Love it when a Talk Plan Comes Together' every time we got to the cinema.

Review: Please Give

In her last film, Friends with Money, Nicole Holofcener looked at how money and class effected a group of friends it had an ensemble cast who were all equally great but I thought it was just alright. Four years later Holofcener is back with another film about how having money and possessions can make you feel guilty. Holofcener again casts Catheirne Keener this time as Kate a middle-aged mother who, along with her husband, runs a shop selling furniture that is bought from the children of dead people after their parents die. However Kate becomes guilty about this and wants to do good for the community offering to volunteer for various organistations and constantly giving large sums of money to homeless people. Kate and her husband have also bought the apartment of their elderly next door neighbour and plan to knock it down when she has died. However the neighbour is Andra, a cantacrous 90 year old who has no plans of dying just yet. Andra's grandaughter Rebecca runs all her chores for her, including walking her dog, but doesn't have much or a personal life and spends all her day conducting mamograms. Meanwhile her other granddaughter Mary is more selfish preferring to get regular tans and spy on her ex's new girlfriend. As the film goes on Kate's husband starts sleeping with Mary while Rebecca finds herself a man and Kate gets more and more paranoid about how she's getting her money.

I have to say I really enjoyed Please Give thanks mainly to the ensemble cast. Although Catherine Keener is a more than adequate lead I believe it is the story of Rebecca, played by Rebecca Hall who is incredibly meek at the start of the film but grows as a character throughout. Hall has really come on as an actress and I hope that this film will propel her into the big leagues. Meanwhile Oliver Platt is on hand to give most of the laughs as Kate's husband Alex and Amanda Peet plays to her bitchy best as Mary. Kate and Alex's teenage daughter Abby, is also a refreshing character in that she is a normal young person with worries about her weight and her spots. She is also the first teen character in a film, that I can remember, that isn't once caught up in any kind of romantic entanglement. But the star of the show is undoubtedly Ann Morgan Guilbert as Andra she gets all the laughs shouting her way through the film and insulting everyone she comes into contact with. While this is no masterpiece it is still a fine little film that ticks along nicely, has some things to say about family and possessions and provides a few gentle laughs along the way.

Review: Whatever Works

In recent years Woody Allen's work has been hit and miss, some of his films even fail to get a general release in this country. His last release, Vicky Cristna Barcelona, was fair at best and spent too long concentrating on crazy Penelope Cruz and less on the more interesting Rebecca Hall character. For his latest, Whatever Works, Allen returns to New York and teams up with Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David who essentially plays Allen in this film. The basic plot sees David's Boris taking in a Southern runaway Melodie played by Evan Rachel Wood. Boris essentially hates everything already has one failed suicide attempt on his hands while Melodie is a chipper God-fearing Belle. Melodie starts to buy into Boris' world views and soon an unlikely relationship develops which sees the two of them get married. Things are complicated with the arrival of Melodie's over-the-top mother and then her father. There was a lot of Woody Allen's early dialogue that is heard through the lips of David and indeed some of his diatribes don't really fit into the plot but are just random thoughts that Allen wanted to slip into the script. To an extent Allen is going back to some of his more memorable pictures most notably Manhattan which also had a similar age gap relationship and also gave a several sumptious shots of New York. And indeed Allen has included lots of the Big Apple's landmarks as Boris gives Melodie his own unique take on the city.

Any fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm will probably appreciate David in this film as he brings most of the elements of his persona in the hit show to this film. In fairness he does know how to deliver a good deadpan line and there are some very decent laugh-out-loud one-liners. Evan Rachel Wood showed how she has matured as a performer, even though she is playing a young innocent this is probably her most grown-up turn to date. She interacts with David better than you would expect and the scenes that just feature the two of them together are some of the film's best. However as Melodie's parents, Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr., steal the show as their Christian values are tested and changed as they are desensitised to New York's culture. Although there are some things that I didn't like about the film, for example Melodie's younger love interest to me felt even less appealing than Boris, overall this was at times very funny and had a good ensemble cast. Maybe not a complete return to form for Allen but certainly one of his funniest films in quite a while.