The Road: A Review....

Please check out my Review for The road, which is in cinemas from the 8th of January in the UK

http://www.thesmellofnapalm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=466:the-road&catid=36:in-cinemas-now&Itemid=54

James Cameron’s Flawed masterpiece.

So, it has clocked up 1 Billion in the box office so far and will more then likely place itself second to only Cameron’s other masterwork Titanic. So what’s all the fuss about, Avatar is a spectacle, there is no doubt about that. Legions of fanboys will be looking for reasons to hate this film and the truth is there are very few.

Firstly let’s get one thing straight, go and see this in the cinema in 3D or regret it. It’s that monumental, no number of HD ready TV’s or Blu Ray Players will give this sci-fi epic enough credit. James Cameron has officially given 3D a harsh kick from being a retro gimmick to something much more. The 3D is in most places subtle but adds to the lush environments ten fold, not to mention that the effects are utterly convincing. The Blu Na vi are great to watch and for the majority of the movie fully believable!

Now we come to the flaws and as expected they are stuck in the story, it’s a bit cuddly for lack of a better word. It’s full of references to being kind to nature and communicating with the planet, the effect is an environment that doesn’t seem as harsh as is being painted by the characters. The characters are also complete Archetypes making for a very predictable story and dialogue that at times is funny when it shouldn’t be. Finally despite their best efforts parts do look like a very good video game and not a film.

I have to stress though that’s me picking holes in what is one hell of a movie, James Cameron again sets himself apart when it comes to big budget action. The last sequence has everything and even the musical score should remind you of Aliens. Just go and see it, even if you hate it you’ll be glad you saw it at the cinema. James Cameron is again “King of the World”

Transfer at Aachen

I have something bubbling beneath the surface; I have been given permission by one of the writers of the film titled the above to release a feature. This feature will tell you all about this brand new production with a European Canvas and an American Palette, it’s a heist movie very much in the feel the ocean movies but, I imagine from what I’ve seen and heard already a whole lot more heart.
I haven’t forgot the ten best trailers of all time it’s just been a bit hectic and hard to find the time over the festive Christmas period to get it done.

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and a brilliant new year! Here’s to 2010 and another year of great films...

How did he do it?

How did the Director who ended the Alien Franchise with a sharp blow to the head, make a film like Amelie? Jean Pierre Juenet just didn’t get Aliens and his resurrection was about as far from a resurrection as you could have thought of! When the director turns his attentions onto something else, something a bit more personal he turns out with what may be his finest work! Amelie is best described as a beautiful film, its attention to detail is pitch perfect and focuses on every day things in life as extraordinary.

This is of course a window into how Amelie see’s the world and makes her incredibly loveable! Audrey Tautou has since paved a way to some big parts in Hollywood but she has never bettered this performance, the looks to camera and that voice just gorgeous! It’s just a good looking film with a whole lot of heart and just has “feel good” written all over it.

Some Fun and frolics

Most people as they grow older forget what it was like when they were a kids, your not as innocent and forget how to have fun. Where the wild things are explores this despite looking like a kid’s film. That is one thing to get across now, this film is not strictly speaking a kid’s film; it’s a kid’s film made for adults. It reminds you of what it felt like to tumble down a hill and get dirty, the Wild things tumble around and throw dirt at each other like children.

All in all a good experience but it didn’t live up to that trailer, which brings me nicely onto my first weekly top tens...

A good dose of popcorn bollocks!

Once again Roland Emerich destroys our world as we know it! Once again he gets A+ for entertainment value but fails miserably at giving his story any depth. 2012 has been spawned by the idea the world will end in December of that year, this is according to the ancient Mayan Calendar coming to an end at that point. Of course it’s more than likely nothing will happen but if it did happen like this it’s a shame you won’t see it like this, the end of the world never looked so good.

I think the biggest problem for me is how any of the characters in this film are always in the right place at the right time, narrowly escaping almost every natural disaster known to man in a limo, camper and two planes. It’s also shamefully predictable, the story and even the shots; if the roof of the Vatican cracks of course it would crack between the fingers of god and man, it’s just all a bit too convenient!

Then again I loved Independence Day, despite it being over American it was good fun and mostly because I didn’t take it seriously as a young sci-fi geek who watched the xfiles! As a critic it’s a rather shocking movie but you get plenty of bang for your buck (would have looked great in 3D!). Then we get to the characters that might as well be crash test dummies that the director has thrown at earthquake / volcano / tidal wave delete as appropriate! Despite John Cusack being so damn likeable in everything, his everyman is completely lost in separated parent cliché hell!

That’s that then, the end of the world and of course we all pull together to help people as the Director continues to push this ideal humanity. But when the end is shown in this happy go lucky fashion you never really feel the dread that would make sense if it was actually happening. Then again who wants the real emotions of the end of the world?

Dubya!

A lot of people ignore politics, most of the time I don’t blame them! Everyone on the other hand has an opinion of George W. Bush, how could you not? As the leader of the most powerful country in the world, it was worrying who they picked to take charge, or the dubious way he got power. Of course this does mean that most people ignore the fact that Bush was a person. W. is a film that tries to explore this, it does it well with some great performances, and Josh Brolin captures the man perfectly. You don’t have to worry thought it wont you make you feel sorry for the man responsible for the “war on terror”. You spend most of the film reminding yourself what he did as president because he’s played quite sympathetically.

New Pics

Narnia.... New look Fredy Kruger and Jonah Hex

Cheesy or queasy?

It is almost true of every romantic comedy I see and I’ll say the same thing every time I watch one, they are shamefully predictable and samey. Then again you have to view them from other people’s viewpoint, of course the majority of the “other people’s” is of course women. It’s no secret that these films are aimed squarely at their purses but they don’t care, for half an hour they are transported to a world where the man round the next corner looks like Colin Firth, we are all arseholes but turn out to be proper gentleman and of course love. I’m not cynical I mean I’m in love but the way these films portray love is not real, that’s the secret though, most women won’t admit it but they long to swept off their feet like in these films. The sad truth is the best they’ll get is being swept off their feet by the man on their shoulder that’s had a bit too many.

Of course I’m being a bit unfair, we’re not all like that I know I’m not and also I’m going a bit off the point, 27 dresses is a Romantic comedy that takes the saying “always a bridesmaid never a bride” and runs with it. Katherine Heigl is our heroine and what a loveable heroine she is, I thought she was brilliant in knocked up and the same can be said for this film, most of the time. When you’re not busy wincing over how cheesy this film is at times it’s incredibly easy to feel sorry for her, she has such an emotive face. That’s basically it, I would write more but the rest of the film is so factory shop rom com that I fail to see the point.

I did go to the press screening of the road the other night.... but you’ll have to wait for the review to go live. Thank you for reading.

Making it look like child’s play

We are constantly shown a side of Les Vegas in Hollywood movies that portrays all the light and glitz as just a front. Behind it lurks con artists working the system and hard nosed “officials” giving them a good beating behind closed doors. In 21 a film about a group of students lead by one of their teachers “Kevin Spacey”, this is treated a bit like, well child’s play.

Ben Campbell just wants to go to medical school, he’s gifted enough and certainly dedicated he just lacks the cash. One of his teacher’s offers him a place on a team; this team are card counters, the non legal way of beating the game of black jack. Of course there is a catch and a downfall, but when it happens it doesn’t really seem as bad as it had been painted, making the film a little bit anti climactic! All in all though not bad film till the underwhelmed ending, full of interesting facts, who knew black jack could be that interesting?

Flogging a dying horse

To complete the viewing and see our characters progress further, I watched American Pie the wedding. A somewhat large jump, from their college years to a wedding but then I had kids at 23 how can I talk. Jim has fallen in love with his band geek and proposes with his trousers down rather than down on one knee, typical American pie formula follows but despite some stand out moments and sentimentality an ultimately disappointing film.

Sean William Scott as Stilfer continued to gross out and amuse the audience in equal measure; in one scene in particular he follows his own advice and literary “eat shit”! It would appear these American gross out comedies know no bounds, its not that they shouldn’t do it and that it’s wrong it’s just not that funny. It’s a real shame also that the four main characters couldn’t be reunited I don’t know why Chris Klein didn’t return for his instalment but it felt like betraying an old friend watching these guys celebrate together without their long time buddy Oz.

Another Slice of Pie?

Teen comedies don’t so sequels very well, this is probably to do with the age of the average person seeing them. Could you imagine a Breakfast club sequel? Of course not, it would be murder! Most people who see teen comedies and like them are the people of that age group, they become a film for that age, and of course now the core group of fans of that film start growing up, what happens then a sequel comes out. It doesn’t have the same effect; it doesn’t activate the nostalgic gene of so many adults. American Pie 2 is not a bad sequel the characters are growing up if not in some rather unrealistic ways!

Pure and simple it’s just not as funny; most of it is too damn sentimental! The story odes continue and the result is somewhat realistic, our heroes have realised that’s things change and that growing up must be done. That is of course till the third American Pie!

How was your first slice?

I think when I first saw American Pie I loved it but there was a problem, I had always seen it as a shameful film just about boys wanting to get laid! It is of course like this but I think I wasn’t taking in the bigger picture, I watched it the other night and realised something. Only when our four heroes give up and realise that sex doesn’t matter do they finally get laid, a good message?

You could argue its not but then the film is funny, maybe because it makes me so damn nostalgic but the laugh out loud moments still make me laugh out loud! It’s one quality about teen comedies that will live forever, there will always be an age group that will get it and see it at the right time in their lives and forever be programmed into their heads because that film “really understood where they were coming from”, American Pie just so happens to be mine and I would imagine a few of my friends to.

Yippie Ki.... no wait...

The opening sequence looks like sin city and as it move into real you can hear the dulcet tones of one Bruce Willis, but wait what’s this he’s covered in hair! It’s like a statement from the creators that this is no Die Hard movie and they’re right, you would be forgiven for thinking it was if you have seen the cover of the DVD. Hostage is a thriller that has great pacing but lacks tension, leaving you ultimately unsatisfied, with a juvenile bad guy that seems to want to channel the Crow.

Some very good shots and a lot of blood do make up for the lack of tension at times, this making the film grittier. It doesn’t save it from being a predictable movie that you will want to follow up by watching Die Hard, YIPPIE KI YAY MOTHER FUCKER!

Cox a Hobbit?

Apparently Actor Brian Cox is a favourite to be a dwarf in the up and coming adaptations of the Hobbit. Brian is well known as bad guys in the Bourne films and Colonel William Stryker in Xmen 2.