The Dark Knight Rises

Director: (The Almighty) Christopher Nolan

Certificate: 12A

Cast: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Micheal Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard.

Review: 

It maybe nearly 15 years ago now, but for film fans, Batman fans, and all other humans, the stench of Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin still lingers. After two respectable but barmy Tim Burton films, and the below par Batman Forever, audience's love for the bat was already dwindling. Oh how Tommy Lee Jones must have breathed a sigh of relief in 1997. If not the script, or the cast, or Bat-suit complete with nipples, then surely the final indignity was the puns. Every pun is a punch in the face. In Batman & Robin the audience is punched in the face 423 times. Ouch.

You may wonder why, then, I've started this review of The Dark Knight Rises with a paragraph about another film? Quite simply to show how bad it could have been, because for all those painstaking, sense-abusing puns Schumacher made you sit through, Nolan is going to reward with a 165 minutes and a half of glory. Suddenly it all seems worth it.

Even from the very beginning, you just know this film is going to be special. Nolan is no stranger to a high-octane opening set piece - such as the mind-blowing armed robbery performed by The Joker at the beginning of The Dark Knight - but this time it's even bigger. Bane makes a name for himself early, and its not a nice one.

Talking of Bane, much has been said and questioned about both the villain and Tom Hardy. Personally, I think Hardy knocks it out of the park, with a charismatic but terrifying performance made all the more impressive by the fact that he has a mask covering two thirds of his face the entire film. Comparisons were always going to be made between Hardy and Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning portrayal of the Joker (who coincidentally isn't mentioned once in The Dark Knight Rises, a classy and respectful move on Nolan's part). No, unsurprisingly Hardy's Bane will not live on in the same vain as Ledger's Joker, but that shouldn't take anything away from his hulking performance.

The rest of the cast deliver the goods also. Newcomers Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and  Marion Cotillard step up to fit themselves nicely into the saga, while Batman's 'three wise men': Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman all see out the trilogy with their finest performances yet.

As for the man himself, Christian Bale, this is his best bat-outing of all three. He may have had the limelight stolen from him by the greatest cinematic villain of all time in  The Dark Knight, but the final instalment is definitively Bale's film. Maybe because there's a lot more actual acting required of him in this film, rather than just punching people and talking in a stupidly gruff voice.

In this film Bale's Bruce Wayne is taken to the edge in every imaginable way. Needless to say before he can 'rise', he must fall, and he falls very far, very quickly. There's a point towards the middle of the film in which you genuinely think Batman isn't going to prevail, which sounds silly, but didn't we all have an awful feeling that Buzz & Woody were done for in the garbage incinerator?

Strangely enough though, that isn't were the similarities between this film and Toy Story 3 end. No really. Both are the end of a beloved trilogy. Both are more-than-worthy of their predecessors. Both will almost certainly make you well up with raw emotion. 


Yes, The Avengers may have been pure adrenalin-inducing fun, but one place where it fell short was it failed to involve the audience emotionally, which is where Christopher Nolan has Joss Whedon beat. Points of The Dark Knight Rises are nothing short of heartbreaking, and all of those points involve the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Alfred. One heated interaction in particular leaves Bale with tears filling his eyes and Michael Caine doing that sad, choked up voice he does that pulls so violently on our heartstrings.


And that is this film in a nutshell. For every jaw-dropping explosion, for every Inception-like, mind-bending story twist (their are a few), and for every spectacular fight scene, there is a real heart running through this film that started way back in the opening 15 minutes of Batman Begins.
 
Verdict:

The pinnacle of the superhero genre. More stunts, more shocks, more story and more emotion than any of its competitors to date, and an abundance of evidence to fuel the 'is it better than the Dark Knight?' debate that will last forever. This is blockbuster film-making on an unprecedented scale. Awe-inspiring. 10/10

Avengers Assemble

Director: Joss Whedon

Certificate: 12A

Cast: Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Scarlet Johansson. 

Review: 
Four disparate main characters, all with specific personalities, abilities and back stories that need to be wrangled into a cohesive fighting force. It’s a job that only Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, with the backing of S.H.I.E.L.D., is suited to, but it’s the one that Buffy creator Joss Whedon has taken on in bringing Marvel’s Avengers together at last. You don’t envy him the task at hand, but then, it’s not every day that a writer-director is handed what is essentially a massive comic franchise toy box and told to go have some fun. And fun is certainly had here. 

For Whedon has taken the various threads of the Marvel universe and weaved an impressive tapestry filled with action, humour, charm and heart. There was always the danger that this could become The Tony Stark Hour (Featuring His Costumed Chums), but Whedon is canny enough to realise that he’s got a well-balanced cast, and everyone shoulders their respective portion of the storyline with ease. It’s not really surprising coming from the man who handled a large, charismatic set of characters in the undervalued Serenity, and it’s even more satisfying to see him pull off the same trick twice. Chris Evans’ Steve ‘Captain America’ Rogers is the conflicted hero, adrift in a world he doesn’t quite truly comprehend (though he understands it a lot better than he thinks). Chris Hemsworth’s Thor is still full of his Asgardian swagger, but even he manages to find a way to fit in with everyone else when truly called upon, while working out more of his sibling issues. Mark Ruffalo is a superb Bruce Banner, bringing a subtlety and sweetness to the role that counterpoints well with the rage-fuelled big, green roaring machine. When he does go ballistic, the motion-captured Hulk features great work from ILM, even if it’s not quite as revelatory a step forward from the creature in the 2008 film. And, of course, there is ol’ Shellhead. Robert Downey Jr.’s trademark dry wit and easy magnetism is on full display, and there’s a real joy to Stark’s comic undercutting of the more OTT elements. Witness him describing Thor as “Shakespeare In The Park” or “Point Break”. Still, when the stakes are raised and the emotions run a little deeper, even he steps up and delivers. The leads are handed some cracking interplay, bolstered by set-pieces that combine both the comedy and the drama. It’s long been a Whedon hallmark to spice up the danger with laughs, and the actors clearly had a blast getting to grips with his script. 

The S. H. I. E. L. D. agents are largely treated well, too. Jackson’s Fury gets to do more than show up, look tough and talk about the initiative. While he may not be as much a part of the big battles as the fab four, he’s still very much a kick-ass mofo, even in the face of a truly dangerous threat. Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is the beneficiary of Whedon’s love for tough, smart female characters, resulting in a much more nuanced take on the character than we’ve seen before. In particular, her conflicted, deep friendship with Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is put to serious test, especially since he’s part of a darker plotline. 

It’s a smaller piece of the overall puzzle, but there’s more than enough to be worthy of Renner’s talents. The Marvel movies’ secret weapon, Clark Gregg’s Agent Phil Coulson (“Phil? His first name is ‘Agent’,” cracks Stark) steals many of the scenes he’s in, whether it’s hero-worshipping Steve Rogers or providing his usual cool, calm, collected reaction to the sort of peril that would reduce most mortal men to blubbering wrecks. In fact, if anyone from the assembled ranks could complain about being short-changed, it’s probably only Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill, who largely fills the role Sigourney Weaver’s Gwen DeMarco complains about in Galaxy Quest. Translation: lots of time carrying out Nick Fury’s orders. But then, even she gets a moment to shine early on during a frenetic car chase. 

Moments that feel as though they might be clichéd are upended with grace and style, either through dialogue or action. Witness a captive Loki’s (Tom Hiddleston) glimpse into the dark heart of Black Widow, full of apparent perception and old wound-opening menace, which suddenly turns into something quite different. It’s a fine flourish and one that Whedon uses sparingly so it never loses its impact, except for one crucial beat where he gives in to one of his more infamous impulses. The various plotlines stitch together nearly seamlessly, adding layers to our heroes’ interactions and finally hinting at much deeper, darker depths to S.H.I.E.L.D., ones that even Fury isn’t as comfortable with as he might first appear. If what we’ve been shown in the various origin films (and Iron Man 2) so far is the tip of the iceberg, this is much more of a glance under the water. And it opens the doorway to plenty of potential conflicts in the future.

With Earth’s Mightiest Heroes gathered, they needed a good villain to fight, and Loki certainly fills that void. He’s even more devious and devilish than his introduction in Thor and Hiddleston thoroughly owns the role, imbuing it with pure, malicious delight. Not only does he get one or two distinctly Whedonesque lines, he also provides one of the film’s biggest comic moments during an unfortunate run in with The Hulk. 

If there’s a complaint about the Big Evil Plan, it’s that a) the alien army our favourite evil demi-god has allied himself with are very throwaway, bland types who serve as little more than intergalactic cannon-fodder. Yes, they’re from the Marvel universe (we won’t name them, but they’re not who has been rumoured), but they display very little in the way of unique abilities. And b) the whole thing hinges on a mundane version of the old MacGuffin narrative trick.

This might not match the pyrotechnic power or CG clout of, say, the Transformers films. Yet there is something much more valuable — real human interaction and more of a brain on display. Whedon opens up the canvas and offers something that, with so many characters in play, feels epic and yet never loses sight of the real reason we’ve come to enjoy this particular dysfunctional super-family forced to play nicely together for the first time. In a few brief moments, the pace seems to sag, and the exposition needle pushes a little into the red zone once or twice, but even that is usually wrapped up with swift aplomb. Total newcomers won’t be completely lost, but this really is one for the fans. There’s probably no way any movie could quite live up to the expectations put upon this long-awaited Marvel mash-up, but Avengers Assemble gets very, very close to pulling off the trick. Assuming someone else tackles the next team-up, whoever catches the Cosmic Cube next has big shoes to fill.

Verdict:

The Avengers have been assembled and, for the most part, they fit together superbly. A joyous blend of heroism and humour that raises the stakes even as it maintains a firm grip on what makes the individual heroes tick. 

¡Viva! Festival: Spanish Comedies

As part of the ¡VIva! Festival, on Sunday evening a one hour talk was given, exploring the curious world of Spanish comedies. The presentation featured various clips from different films being screened at festival and was delivered by Peter Buse, Professor of Visual Culture at the University of Salford, and Nuria Triana Toribio, Senior Lecturer in Spanish Cinema at the University of Manchester.

Firstly though, a thought-provoking question was put to the audience: Does comedy travel?

Well, occasionally comedy does travel. Whether it’s because two countries have a similar sense of humour, or the filmmakers have struck comedy gold and found something universally funny. Examples of this would be the very British Monty Python films that were applauded worldwide (except by Catholics, obviously).

However, Spanish comedies have never really travelled well and the lecturers put this down to misrepresentation. They claimed that for decades the only Spanish comedies to be seen by international audiences were cheap and crude with unfunny slapstick humour and scantily-clad women. Basically a Spanish Carry On film.

Moving on to the films, the first extract was from Primos, a film about a man who is taken on a road trip by his two drunken cousins after being jilted on his wedding day. Like most road trip films, it appears very episodic, but with its contemporary outlook and a handful of overly crude laughs, it has an almost Hangover-like feel to it.

The second clip was from El Gran Vazquez, a comedy based on a famous Spanish comic book writer. It has a 12A certificate, which tells you not expect anything obscene, but I still wouldn’t put this down as a family film. Despite its mild-mannered approach it still made me laugh, showing you don’t have to be rude to be funny.

Both of these films show an active attempt to move away from the stereotypical Spanish comedy and into a more contemporary area. From the clips I saw I wouldn’t mind watching either of these films, and the informative talk showed me something I’d never realised before: you can be funny with subtitles.

Harry Potter USA

In the time leading up to the first Harry Potter movie, there were rumours that Spielberg had picked up the script and was set to make an American version. Fortunately, J.K. Rowling stepped in and insisted that it be made in Britain with a British cast. You have to wonder though, what Hollywood monstrosity we would be given if the USA invaded the Potter universe nowadays…

            Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry becomes Hogwarts High, where students arrive in pick-trucks instead of rowing boats. One such student is Hermione played by Megan Fox, wearing too few clothes for school, let alone a family film.

 In a controversial, money-making scheme, Tom Cruise is cast as Harry. Cruise perfectly embodies all that is ludicrous in Hollywood, plus he’s about the right height for a schoolboy, which is handy.

The role of Sirius Black is handed to Johnny Depp, who gives an alright performance until his death in the fifth film, where confused script writers have him eaten by the Kraken.

Confused by his ever-changing accent, studio executives mistake Christian Bale for an American and cast him as Voldemort. Unfortunately, in an attempt to once again prove how ‘method’ he is, Bale goes on a killing spree and scars a baby’s forehead to prepare for the role. 

The one saving grace is that Morgan Freeman wouldn’t make a bad Dumbledore, but that’s not enough. What we’re left with is nonsensical, Michael Bay-directed, explosion-filled waste of time that would tarnish the Potter name forever. Basically, Transformers but with House Elves.

2011 Review: Top 10

As 2011 draws to a close, it is time to look back and reflect on the highs and lows of what was, by all accounts, quite a peculiar year for the film industry.

Below is my top ten films of the past twelve months:

10. True Grit

The Coens return to the wild west, this time in the much more conventional sense, with the Oscar-nominated remake-that's-not-a-remake.

 The film's cinematography was second to none this year, and the cast's superb chemistry is smothered in the Coen's patented mix of twisting narrative and off-beat humour. Plus, it's always nice to see veterans like Bridges, Damon and Brolin out-acted by a 14 year old girl (Hailee Steinfeld).

9. Black Swan

Ballet gets scary and Natalie Portman gets the gong in Aronofsky's razor-sharp Black Swan.

Darker and edgier than any film in the last year, Black Swan shredded nerves and raised pulses with that scene. Hauntingly beautiful and career-defining role for Portman, who deservedly picked up the Academy Award.

8. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

An all-star cast was assembled to re-create the magic of the original TV series. However, this film surprised many by being not a mere remake, but an all together stunning film in its own right.

 This is a spy thriller for grown-ups. Gone are the gadgets, girls and unfunny one-liners, and what remains is gritty, powerful and compelling authenticity. Nothing is lost from the book or original TV mini-series, and the outcome is a modern re-telling, executed with first-class acting and a breathtaking visual style.

7. Attack The Block

Joe Cornish smashes film genres together like a Large Hadron Collider in this triumphant directional debut.

E.T with an asbo, Attack the Block perfectly blends humour, sci-fi thrills and character arcs as well as any film. Cornish and his fresh-faced (but let's face it, terrifying) cast are awesome, and the final product is perhaps the first film to finally live up to the claim of 'the new Shaun of the Dead'.

6. The Inbetweeners Movie

The lads make the transition from TV to silver-screen seem as slick as Simon's hair.

We all approached it with the absolute terror, dreading the possibility that funniest British TV show in recent years would be tarnished by a weak big-screen effort. Perhaps what makes the hilarity and brilliance of it that much sweeter. Easily the funniest film of the year.

5. Senna

If you only saw one documentary this year, it should have been this one....

Ambitiously constructed, deeply compelling, thrilling and in no way only for those who like watching cars drive in circles. A worthy tribute to a true talent.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

One of the greatest sagas in history ends with a bang, and a magical one at that.

Cementing the series' status as national triumph, it had everything you could possibly want from Potter's final instalment: epic showdowns, long-awaited kisses, Neville Longbottom's greatest moment and, of course, the unparallelled talent of Alan Rickman.

3. Drive

If 2011 was Ryan Gosling's year, this film was his crowning glory.

Its cool. Very, very cool. enough said.

2. Super 8

J.J Abrams and Steven Spielberg remake Alien, but replace Ripley with the Goonies.
Result.

The blockbuster that flew under the radar, only smash its rivals to pieces. It’s nowhere close to E. T. (nothing is!)  but amongst the hullabaloo of summer, Super 8 is something to cherish: a beautifully made homage to better times, and better movies.

And finally...

1. The King's Speech

It blew away the critics. It blew away the box-office. It blew away Academy. Long live the King!

In a year that ultimately lacked major 'event' movies (be honest, asides from Potter there wasn't any), it took a very special film to claim 2011 for its own. Not one part of this film lets it down, Hooper's direction, the inch-perfect script, and of course the acting. Firth is the obvious champion and deserves every accolade he received, but the ever-underrated Geoffrey Rush is as vital and as brilliant, so too is Helena Botham-Carter as the Queen Mother. Perhaps then, even with the countless awards this The King's Speech won, it's greatest praise came from Queen Elizabeth II herself who was 'moved' and 'delighted' by the film. The rest of the world whole-heartedly shares her majesty's view.

CinéBlog's Christmas Wishlist

Happy Yuletide!

As the festive season is upon us, I think it's time I wrote CinéBlog's letter to Santa.
(OK, admittedly I took the idea from a friend's blog, if you like being kept up-to-date on sporting news, check out: http://jsshippsport.blogspot.com)

Nonetheless, it's time to share what CinéBlog is humbly requesting from St. Nick this year, and so our letter reads something like this:

Dear Santa,
Thank you for our gifts last year; The King's Speech was probably our favourite, but there seemed to be a bit of a mix up with The Green Lantern: I didn't ask for it, nobody did, and so like all unwanted presents it is doomed to live out its days in charity shop windows and low-priced ebay auctions. Anyway, on to this year. Below is a list of thing we would like. Some of them do seem a bit of a tall order, but if you can provide Keanu Reeves with a career you can do anything.

1.   Keanu Reeves needs to be stopped. (by any means)

2.  For 007:Skyfall to be decent, with Judy Dench backhanding at least 5 people.

3.  For the entire works of Alfred Hitchcock to be remade starring Samuel L. Jackson. My suggestions are: 'The Birds on a Plane', 'Psycho..in the Bronx', & 'Muhfuckin' Vertigo'. 

4.  For Jake Gyllenhal and Toby Maguire to finally merge into one person. We don't need two.

5.  For Blade to turn up in 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2' (Van Helsing would suffice)

6.  For Leornado Di Caprio to win a long overdue Oscar.

7.  For Thatcher biopic 'Iron Lady' to be successful enough to spawn a crossover sequel 'Iron Lady vs. Iron Man'

8.   For 'The Hobbit' to feature Bilbo Baggins encasing other hobbit's staplers in jelly.

9.   For Daniel Day-Lewis to reveal that he is, in fact, God.

10. For Micheal Mann to be shot from a grassy null.

11. For Alan Rickman and Tim Curry to star in a buddy comedy.

12. For that film to feature them as clowns in a travelling circus and to be called 'Life's a Joke'.

13. For producers to finally scrape the barrel of superhero movies and make 'SuperTed: the Movie'.

14. For Bob Hoskins to play SuperTed.

15. For Christopher Walken to release a series of children's audiobooks.

16. For 'The Dark Knight Rises' to be at least 6 hours long.

17. For 'The Hobbit' to be at most 6 minutes long.

18. For Martin Scorsese. Please.

19. For a binding legal restraint order stating that George Lucas isn't allowed within 900 yards of Harrison Ford's Career.

20. For a 'Saving Private Ryan' remake featuring Tom Hanks and an all-Muppet cast, 'Saving Private Fozzy' needs to be made.

Yours hopefully,

Jack Ball.


Merry Christmas From CinéBlog!!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)

Director: David Yates

Certificate: 12

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes

Review:
 It’s hard to express how much the last Harry Potter matters to its fans, and how important it is to finish the series on the right note. After ten years, eight films, four directors and over $6 billion at the box office, it comes down to this. The final film presented a gargantuan challenge to its makers, who were required to juggle gigantic action scenes with emotional heft and jaunts into the metaphysical to explain its labyrinthine plot. Thank Dumbledore, then, that director David Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves managed one last herculean push to finish things in style.

The shortest film of the lot, this may be based on only half a book but it has a mountainous plot to climb. Scraps of bad guy Lord Voldemort’s divided soul, hidden in “Horcruxes”, have to be found and destroyed — a process that will involve a bank heist, a dragon and a large, dead snake. The mysterious “Deathly Hallows”, three powerful artefacts allowing the user to conquer death, must be uncovered and claimed. Voldemort himself has to be killed and there must, surely, be a giant battle involving every surviving character of the franchise. Lesser villains must get their comeuppance, heroes must fall, and Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) must get a room already.

What’s impressive is that, where earlier films revolved around solving a mystery, this one shifts to a war footing without losing its emphasis on character and emotion. The battle scenes are appropriately spectacular, with Hogwarts under attack from an army of Death Eaters, Dementors, giants and beasties and defended by a small and dwindling number of students and teachers. The effects have never been better, the sets more beautifully designed nor the explosions bigger — but it’s still the human moments that grip. The truth of Alan Rickman’s sneering Professor Snape is finally uncovered in perhaps the most moving scene of the entire series, while Ralph Fiennes at last shows off the full range of Voldemort’s genius and madness and Maggie Smith’s Professor McGonagall reveals herself as the badass we’ve always suspected her to be.

But this is Daniel Radcliffe’s hour, with Hermione and Ron very much in supporting roles as Harry steps forward to meet his destiny. His encounters with Voldemort are brutal — very much an adult targeting a child rather than a clash of equals. And while Radcliffe remains reined in as an actor, that is by this stage a feature of the character, and his performance has moments of quiet brilliance. As he steps into the Great Hall and sees the devastating human cost of his defiance of Voldemort, his eyes register one body blow, and another, and another as he sees dead and wounded friends. It’s subtle, but it’s the best he’s ever been.

That said, subtlety is not the overwhelming impression. This opens with that bank raid and builds around a running battle, hexes sleeting through the air and Hogwarts reduced to so much rubble. It’s here, if we were nitpicking, that we craved just a tiny bit more room to breathe. The set-up for Mrs. Weasley’s (Julie Walters) big moment is fractionally but fatally rushed, and many more minor characters get only a single line or shot in which to shine. Admittedly, that’s in keeping with the book’s cavalier attitude to its supporting cast as the plot races to its end, slowing only for Harry’s sake at key moments, but it’s a shortcoming that the film could have corrected. It’s one of those cases that leaves you wishing for a longer director’s cut — an unusual feeling on departing a Harry Potter film.

Verdict:

A worthy farewell that packs in as much action as its seven predecessors combined and manages not to stint on the emotional beats. Harry Potter leaves us as a quiet, bespectacled, corduroy-wearing hero for the ages.
7/10

First Look: Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln

Here is the first look of actor Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood, Gangs of New York) sporting the appropriate facial hair for his role of America's 16th president Abraham Lincoln, in Steven Speilberg's upcoming biopic, 'Lincoln'. The film is not to be confused with 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter', also out in 2012.

The only thing missing is the hat.

007: Skyfall Officially Announced!

Today the worst kept secret in the film world was officially announced: 007:Skyfall.

As well as the title, more details about Bond's 23rd outing were released at the official launch conference today in London. The film's director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) tells us the film is going to have "a serious amount of action," which no doubt is a subtle promise to right the seemingly action-free wrongs of Quantum of Solace.

We also now know that Daniel Craig's Bond will be going up against a villain in the intimidating form of Javier Bardem. Bardem's last performance as a villain saw him win an Oscar for the role of bounty hunter Anton Chigurh in 'No Country For Old Men'.

Judy Dench is back as M, and the cast, we are told, will also feature the likes of Albert Finney, Ralph Fiennes and Ben Whishaw. The latest bond girls will be Bérénice Marlohe and Naomie Harris (pictured below with Daniel Craig).

Skyfall is released Summer 2012

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) Trailer

Here is the latest trailer of the upcoming film "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn". The film is highly anticipated as it combines writers Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish, producer Peter Jackson and director Steven Spielberg. It will also feature state-of-the-art motion capture animation.