300: Rise of an Empire

1 star

Starring Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton, Lena Heady; Directed by Noam Murro; Written by Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad

I liked the first 300. I liked the visual style, I liked the “campfire tale” aspect of the storytelling, the violent action was entertaining. But I was always wary of a sequel. It didn’t really warrant one, and director Zack Snyder’s unique sense of visualization doesn’t lend itself to duplication. Do I really care what else may have been going on at the same time, what other Greek armies were doing as the Persians were attacking? Turns out no.

There’s a lot of steely glares between Themistocles (Stapleton) and Artemisia (Green), between Themistocles and Queen Gorgo (Heady), between… Themistocles and Random Athenian Soldier #3. And these are in place of exciting action sequences. What action sequences and fight scenes there are, are too quick to really get us into it, even at the trademarked “Slowed Down/Sped Up” pace.

Director Noam Murro’s only cinematic credit was indie comedy Smart People from 2008, and he didn’t handle the transition to big budget action spectacle too well. It felt like someone trying to be Zack Snyder, than trying to do his own thing with an existing property. Granted Snyder’s stock has significantly risen now that he has Superman under his belt, so he wouldn’t be available to come back to helm this new entry into the 300 franchise.

That just compounded the fact that it felt forced. The graphic novel this is supposed to be based upon isn’t even out yet, as Frank Miller is still working on his followup to 300, Xerxes. I’m having a tough time finding a rational reason this film was produced, other than as a money grab, obviously.

The only aspect that kept my interest was my fascination with Eva Green. She’s a great actress and can usually turn a tolerable performance from a sub-par script, which she kinda does. But with so much working against her, it’s hard to get behind her.

I can’t think of any reason to watch this flick, maybe if you’re bored and there’s nothing else on TV at the time, but I left the theatre feeling like my time and money had been wasted.

23/03/2014 1

Fruitvale Station

5 stars

Starring Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer and Kevin Durand

Written & Directed by Ryan Coogler

If you’ve seen the trailer for Fruitvale Station, you’ve been severely mislead and under-sold. With a hint of sleight of hand, the trailer promises a gritty, intense drama of a tragic incident, but what we’re given is so much better, in the form of a truly engaging character exploration. What the trailer highlights is really only a small portion of the film.

What Ryan Coogler attempted and succeeded at doing was to paint a portrait of the human being that was Oscar Grant on what would be his final day (that’s not really a spoiler, this was a major national news story, it caused riots in San Francisco and Oakland). We have what we know, there was this kid, ex-con, shot and killed by a police officer, who was later found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. But now we get the amazing story of who he was. Not that it’s particularly inspirational, he’s an ex-con. But he’s working on getting his life back on track for his daughter and that’s the side we don’t see in the media circus.

And Oscar is brought to life brilliantly by Michael B. Jordan. Jordan. Jordan’s been making a solid name for himself for the past 10-12 years, with recurring roles on The Wire, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood and in last year’s exquisite yet under-seen, Chronicle. And this cements him as one of the top emerging talents. He digs deep to the emotional core of Oscar, bringing out his love for his daughter, his reverence for his mom and grandmother, his pure affection for his girlfriend. So rather than just seeing this kid go through the day up until he dies, we’ve got this broken down character who is now trying to put himself back together into the man he knows he should be. Jordan just nails it and even though you know what’s coming in the end, it doesn’t change how you feel about it.

Jordan’s performance was bolstered by a phenomenal supporting cast including Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer (2011 Best Supporting Actress, The Help) as Oscar’s loving mother, and Melonie Diaz as his girlfriend. Spencer brings a level head we’ve come to expect from her dramatic work. She evokes the mindset of a mother whose love for her wayward son has taken a toll, but she still stands by him, despite his shortcomings, and her final scenes are simply heartbreaking. Diaz strikes a similar chord in the put upon girlfriend role, and really helps bring out the humanity of both her and Jordan’s character. You’re with her because, like you, you’ve grown attached to Oscar despite his faults, and she’s in him what we’ve found out about him, that he wants to and can do better.

This will definitely be one to watch come awards season, I’ll predict Film, Screenplay, Actor and Supporting Actress for at least Spencer, if not for Diaz as well.

31/07/2013 0

The Purge

2 stars

Starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey

Written and Directed by James DeMonaco

When trying to create some sort of social or political commentary through art, be it canvas, the written word, song or cinema, it’s important to make sure that, by completion, you’ve actually said something. It ultimately doesn’t matter how well you tell your story, because once you cross into “this is a metaphor for something” territory, if there isn’t a metaphor, your story is hollow.

Such is the problem with James DeMonaco’s lofty goal film The Purge. He posits the ideal that crime, unemployment, poverty, all the bad stuff, would be reduced to almost zero, if we allowed all crime to be legal for a 12 hour period. It’s a premise that doesn’t make sense on paper, but is just weird enough that you’re intrigued enough to allow the line of questioning, on the condition that it goes somewhere, or says something, interesting. But it doesn’t. There’s no logical explanation as to why this works, aside from the false notion that all human beings are evil at heart, and bottling it up makes the world a terrible place, ergo, let people kill, maim, destroy with no repercussion, and all problems solved. There’s no big philosophical or psychological reveal that really challenges you to think.

While watching the film, and on the drive home afterwards, I was reminded of two films, both in the same, or a similar, genre. Both exquisitely saying what I think The Purge was trying say. The first being Wes Craven’s 1972 thriller classic The Last House on the Left (which was superbly remade in 2009). We’re given two groups of people: the vile gang of murderers and rapists, and the good clean-cut family. And it’s the good clean-cut family that goes on a murderous rampage throughout the film, getting rid of the “bad guys.” Everybody is capable of bad, of evil. We’re presented with traditional hero/villain archetypes, and while we root for the hero, they’re doing sadistic, villainous acts, and it becomes hard to root for them.

The second film was the 2002 British zombie flick 28 Days Later… (one of my all time favourite films) from Danny Boyle. It, too, blurred the line between hero and monster, when Jim goes on his rampage through the mansion, methodically taking out the soldiers. He was running on pure rage, despite not being infected with rage.

That’s the lesson it appears DeMonaco was trying to teach. That we’re all a little evil, and it’s good to vent that. But throughout the movie, the heroes did good things, the villains did bad things, and no lessons were learned by anyone. On or off-screen.

So I have to ask? What were you trying to say, and why didn’t you say it?

It wasn’t a total loss. Taken in as just a straight home-invasion thriller, it’s effective, you’re engaged throughout. Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey anchor a cast of otherwise unknowns, and do so capably. But with a broached subject matter that never gets fleshed out, it feels ultimately hollow.

You can skip this in theatres… probably on Netflix or Redbox as well. Maybe in a few years you’re going to be up late one night, and catch it at 2 am on TNT or USA, and with nothing better to watch than reruns of The Office you’ve already seen 200 times, you’ll say “Meh… Brodie said this would happen, so I might as well.”

16/06/2013 0

Review: Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows

3 stars

Starring Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfieffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Jackie Earle Haley

I’m not too keen on Tim Burton. He thinks he holds an imaginary copyright on goth, and does any and everything imaginable to beat the same dead horse over and over again. His last good film was Big Fish, his last good film with Johnny Depp was Sleepy Hollow, 13 years (and 4 partnerships) ago. So that’s why I was pleasantly surprised when this one turned out to be quite enjoyable.

I obviously, being 26, wasn’t around when Dark Shadows originally aired, but way back in the early days of SyFy, when it was still Sci-Fi, they rebroadcast it. And being a weird child who was really into vampires, I watched it. Loved it. I was excited by the prospect of the film, featuring a great cast… but ugh… Tim Burton.

But it was a surprisingly fun movie. It has the all the kitsch of the series, and Burton’s Beetlejuice, but no wink and nod. There’s no joke to be in on, no irony to be had. They all play it straight, and make it work. Depp hasn’t done a memorable character since Cpt. Jack Sparrow (well… Rango‘s really good, but we’ll keep this strictly live action). This comes close to his standard of character development, but it’s just not fully there. I was delighted by Pfieffer. I can’t even remember the last film I saw her in… probably when I watched Batman Returns on DVD a few years ago. She was just fantastic.

High marks go to Eva Green as the villainous witch, Angelique, who cursed Depp’s Barnabas Collins to be a vampire and set the whole thing in motion. She’s so beautiful and sinister… femme fatale defined. She was fantastic. And of course the great Chloe Grace Moretz, one of the most dynamic young performers working today.

What ultimately kept the film together was the solid script from Seth Grahame-Smith, marking his feature film debut as a writer. His sense of story is brilliant. He doesn’t dwell too much on back story or drag it out. This should come as no shock, considering he wrote the novels “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” (and he wrote the screenplay for the movie coming out in June) and “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” His work on this has me excited for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

The downfall of the movie is ultimately Tim Burton. His schtick has gone stale, and, stylistically, this is no different from Edward Scissorhands. Burton somehow turns a film with great performances and a fun script into something bland and generic. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s just crossed over into the realm of sad, self-parody.

It’s a surprisingly enjoyable film, and if you like Burton retreading his old worn out style, then you’ll love this film. I’d just like it if he would make another film like Big Fish… as in step out of the comfort zone and actually try.

15/05/2012 0

Review: The Avengers

The Avengers

5 Stars

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson & Tom Hiddleston

There were high expectations going into this one. It’s the culmination of 5 films over 4 years with 2 Hulks. At the same time, there was the danger of ego overflow, which could mean too much going on in a cast that features 4 Oscar nominees (and a winner in Gwyneth Paltrow). But everything comes together to make the journey we’ve gone on as an audience come to a more than pleasing climax (a dubious distinction, as we’ll see more of Earth’s mightiest heroes, both on their own and in more Avengers films).

I really admired the spectacle of the films. As terrible as Michael Bay’s films are (specifically the Transformers series), you can’t argue that they are visually stunning, with great action sequences and stunning CGI. He just sucks at plot and dialogue. Enter Joss Whedon. Whedon’s amazing at plot & dialogue, and given the right crew, can do spectacle very well. Producer Kevin Feige even stated that they based the action on Transformers (which, again, while being a terrible film, is visually amazing).

Whedon really captures the dysfunction of these individual characters, and the dysfunction of putting them together on one team, but is able to turn it into less of a “buddy cop” movie and more of a “family growth/coming-of-age” type film. It’s almost The Breakfast Club with super powers.

My eyes were on Mark Ruffalo as the Bruce Banner/Hulk. Well… when Scarlett Johansson was onscreen my eyes were on her… But I was really impressed with Ruffalo’s Banner. He really captured the inner turmoil and conflict of the character, but when he Hulked out ahead of the big fight, I almost let out an audible “Fuck yeah!” He mo-capped his work as the Hulk, rather than making it 100% CGI (think Andy Serkis as Gollum), and the jocularity of Hulk shone through throughout the fight. He wasn’t played as an irrational monster, but as another character. Joss and Mark really stepped up the representation of the Hulk.

Those little jokes from the Hulk were part of the broader interplay between the heroes. It’s something you get when you combine a supremely talented cast, a fantastic script (from both Whedon and Zack Penn), and storied characters with a rich history. The way Stark and Banner connected through science, the tension between Rogers and Stark and Thor… all because these top-notch actors brought them to life.

It may not have the gritty realism of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, but The Avengers is one of the most enjoyable, most fun films you could experience on the big screen. If you even kind of liked any of the previous Avenger films, go see The Avengers, you will not be disappointed.

06/05/2012 1

Review: Bully

Bully

5 stars

NOTE: This turned out to be a much more personal and emotional experience for me than I had anticipated. I cried several times, and called my parents after the movie was done. I was a victim of bullying in school, so it really hit home for me. There is considerable bias in this review toward that. This is something I acknowledge, and apologize in advance for. I strive for objectivity in my reviews (aside from being a fan of a specific filmmaker/writer/performer’s work), but this one isn’t 100% objective. There are going to be personal asides sprinkled throughout, I’ll italicize so you can ignore, if you want. Just so you know, going in.

I’ve been following this documentary since an early trailer was released over a year ago, and regularly checking in to see how development and distribution was coming along, hoping I’d have the opportunity to see this in theatres. Then it became this big story over the past few months, with the MPAA holding it hostage by way of an R rating (I don’t disagree with the rating system, I disagree with the methodology), Weinstein Company choosing to release it unrated, then it finally getting the PG-13 without significant cuts. I’m glad it was able to get a wide release, and is able to reach a larger audience. I was most pleased that when I was sitting in the theatre with my aspiring documentarian cousin, I looked around and saw families settling in to see the film. Parents had brought their teen and pre-teen kids to see this film, which is what I think everybody involved (except the MPAA) wanted. And hopefully that leads to the families having conversations about bullying.

Bully focuses on several teens throughout the nation who have endured or are enduring bullying in school. The first family they spoke with, the Longs in Georgia, had lost their 17-year-old son Tyler to suicide. He had been bullied to the point that he felt that was the only option, as did 11-year-old Ty Smalley in Oklahoma. This hit a nerve, as that was a place I had been, also at 11 years old. That’s a very dark, confusing place to be at 11. They also spoke with families in Iowa, Oklahoma and Mississippi, and the children themselves are people anyone who was victimized will identify with on some level.

The main kid, Alex in Iowa, is a bullied kid who, from my perspective, is unsure of his support structure. He has loving parents who are behind him 100%. But he hides the extent of the bullying from them, internalizing a lot of it because he doesn’t feel he can talk about it. This was my mindset at that time in my life, as well. My parents didn’t know really know the full extent of it until just a few years ago. I really do feel for the kid because his story really shows the arrogant ignorance school officials have towards the issue of bullying. If they don’t see it, it clearly doesn’t happen, and when a victim is adverse to the bully’s faux-pology, the problem is with the victim.

Another story that echoes the “It Gets Better” campaign is of out lesbian Kelby from Oklahoma, which is a story that folds the teachers and townspeople into the list of bullies. Kelby’s story is another one that hits close to home because, as an atheist, this happens in our community a lot, see Damon Fowler and Jessica Ahlquist. These are people in authority the kids trust, who bully them for being who they are.

Finally there’s Ja’Maya, a 14-year-old girl from Mississippi who hit that wall… not the suicide wall, the “Bring a gun in retaliation” wall. She was being harassed on the bus ride to school so severely, she brought a gun with her and waved it her bully, which opened her to almost 50 felony counts (including kidnapping and aggravated assault). Ultimately all charges are dropped against her. Had I access to a weapon, that could have been me. I was fortunately removed from the situation before it got to that point.

One of the reasons this film resonated with me, and is important for young kids to see, is that it doesn’t aim to offer a solution or a fix. It aims to raise the discourse on the subject, and provide a conversation that isn’t being had, particularly among school officials. Hell, one of the administrators at the school Tyler Long attended denied that bullying was a problem, which goes back to the arrogant ignorance.

The one thing I wish they had really addressed was cyber-bullying. We live in the age of Web 2.0, and with it comes all new territory for bullies. A perusal of YouTube or news site comment sections will show you that anyone can (and will) anonymously call anyone a fag. Take that to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Myspace (which some people still use), Formspring, or any other social network, not to mention the prevalence of mobile phones… I’m glad none of that existed in my day, but it’s a very real issue these days, and I wish they had brought that to the discussion.

Otherwise this is a very powerful, very important documentary to view, and I hope that it is show to more kids.

The Bully Project online

Youth Help Line

Stand for the Silent

30/04/2012 0

Review: American Reunion

American Reunion

1 Star

Starring Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Chris Kline, Thomas Ian Nichols, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Eugene Levy

There’s a reason we never revisited The Breakfast Club, Fast Times At Ridgemont High or Dazed & Confused. Everything that needed to be said about the characters, their relevant arcs, was said. Sure, it’s nice to speculate where Stacy and Marc are, what happened to Bender, or what Randall Floyd is up to… but the speculation is fun. Having their futures laid out in an unsatisfying way is not how we want to remember those beloved characters. And that is the undoing of the American Pie franchise as a whole, and American Reunion particularly.

I rather enjoyed the first American Pie. It was unique for a teen movie, in that it directly addressed the issue of sex, and treated it with heart. Sure, there was juvenile humour involved, but they were juveniles… it made sense in context. But that was one thing the first one had, it’s heart. Every entrant since has been a pale shadow of the original that recycles jokes and refuses to allow its characters to grow.

In fact, the most glaring character devolution of the franchise is Seann William Scott’s Stifler. Scott is a talented, capable actor whose work I have enjoyed over the years. But Stifler in the 99 was a cool, party guy, even if he was kind of dickish. And while, through the years, the rest of the characters were allowed some sort of natural maturation, he grew more immature as the years went on, almost to the point that he seems to have some sort of (barely) functional retardation.

That’s the worst, everything else is just… bad. Every situation seems contrived to make the joke, completely clichéd (“It’s not what it looks like!”), and still juvenile. Jim still has problems masturbating, Finch is still pretentious, Kevin is still the lovelorn optimist, Oz is still the dumb jock with a heart of gold. Really? They couldn’t grow as people in the 13 years since they were in high school?

The only enjoyable bit came at the very end, a scene between the great Eugene Levy and Jennifer Coolidge. That’s perfection, and that scene alone is worth one star.

I just couldn’t bring myself to like this one, as much as I wanted to. It’s just a hopeless retread of the original, offering nothing new and everything exactly as expected. Save your money… don’t bother with this one.

08/04/2012 0

Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

4.5 Stars

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson

Studios have made a mad dash to find the next hot book property to turn into a film franchise, following the wrap-up of Harry Potter. Despite being pretty decent, Percy Jackson didn’t really land with audiences. Despite being terrible, Twilight‘s the only one that managed to become a hit. That all changes with The Hunger Games, based on Suzanne Collins wildly popular book trilogy.

I will admit that I haven’t read any of the books. Though I only read one of the Harry Potter books, and maybe a paragraph of a Twilight “novel,” it didn’t affect my ability to judge the films. When a friend first described The Hunger Games to me, my immediate thought was “So it’s The Running Man meets The Giver?” After experiencing the story, I stand by that initial reaction. And that’s not a bad thing at all.

I’ve long lamented that the problem with the popularity of Twilight is that it’s empty calories for the mind. Despite featuring a female lead in Bella, she’s poorly written and has no real value. Were I to have daughters, she’s not a character I’d want them to look up to. Katniss Everdeen, of Hunger Games, is the complete 180 opposite. She’s a strong-willed character, who shows a lot of compassion for her fellow citizens and fellow competitors in the Games. She’s smart, clever and capable.

And Academy Award® nominee* Jennifer Lawrence captures that perfectly. She quickly became “One To Watch” following Winter’s Bone and X-Men: First Class, and her clout will only continue to rise following the impressive outing in The Hunger Games.

I was more than a bit skeptical at the prospect of this film. It was a young cast anchoring a hot book property that featured a love triangle. Very reminiscent. But when you get a solid cast in there, they’ll be able to do great things. Josh Hutcherson was fantastic as the conflicted Peeta, Katniss’ partner in the Games and possible love interest (it’s a little… up in the air, still). Liam Hemsworth wasn’t given much to do in the first film, but with the $155 million opening weekend, we’re all but assured the sequel.

My favourites were the supporting cast of familiar faces that would pop up. My inner 90s rock fan geeked out when Lenny Kravitz showed up as image consultant(?) Cinna, and I’m a little ashamed at how long it took me to recognize Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket. The two supporting shining stars though were Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch Abernathy, the world-weary Games coach for Katniss and Peeta, and Stanley Tucci’s colourful Caesar Flickerman, the Ryan Seacrest of the Games.

The only real fault to find in this film is Tom Stern cinematography. The shakey-cam. If done right, it can add to the film. Paul Greengrass had Oliver Wood over-utilize, but it didn’t really hurt his two Bourne films. J.J. Abrams likes to use it, and has had Daniel Mindel use the technique for Star Trek and M:I 3, and it usually adds to the excitement. Gary Ross was stepping into the fantasy action genre for the first time and it just seemed a way to cover up his lacking as a director (as is almost always the case with shakey-cam). It felt like he couldn’t properly film the action sequences, or even any sequence, really. I spent the first 20 or so minutes thinking an earthquake was happening.

Get to the theatre early and sit towards the back, you’ll avoid headache and nausea that way. Otherwise it’s a terrific film, and I can’t wait for the sequels (how often is that ever said?).

*2011 Best Actress for Winter’s Bone.

25/03/2012 5

Review: Friends With Kids

Friends with Kids

3 stars

Starring Adam Scott, Jennifer Westfeldt, Maya Rudolph, Chris O’Dowd, Kristen Wiig and John Hamm

As an old friend once said “I don’t like romantic comedies, they’re usually never very romantic. Or comedic.” I’ve seen this maxim proven right more times than proven wrong. Friends With Kids doesn’t completely prove it wrong, but it does an admirable job, especially with the comedic part.

Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) writes, stars in and makes her directorial debut with Friends With Kids, and with the help of her longtime significant other, Jon Hamm, she’s able to arrange a terrific cast of funny people to bring her cliché riddled script to life.

From the moment you meet the characters, you know exactly how the film is going to end. If you’ve seen any romantic comedies in the past 10 years, you can accurately predict the path this is going to take. You know who’s going to split up, who’s going to stay together, and, more importantly, how Jason and Julia’s (Scott and Westfeldt, respectively) relationship is going to turn out.

Fortunately for Westfeldt, the aforementioned terrific cast makes the journey to the inevitable end much more enjoyable. Scott ably handles leading man duties with a spark not usually seen in the genre. He doesn’t seemed resigned to being just OK, and really gives it his all. Westfeldt, on the other hand…. let’s just say no one’s ever going to accuse her of being a great actress. She’s not terrible, but she, unlike Scott, does seem resigned to being just OK.

Rudolph and O’Dowd are delightful as the level-headed married friends who really want to see the baby experiment between Jason & Julia work, while Hamm and Wiig are intense, despite being given too little to do.

I think had Westfeldt not split her focus between directing and acting, either one of those duties would have been better. Some actors can direct themselves in starring roles, Westfeldt just couldn’t. I have a feeling she may get to that point eventually, and this was an admirable job for her directorial debut, but maybe she tried to do too much.

The actors rise above the mediocre script, but overall the movie suffers from an overworked lead. I recommend if you’ve got nothing better to do and want to catch a matinée, but this is probably a rental at best.

11/03/2012 0

Reviews: Scream 4 & Rio

Scream 4

4 stars

Directed by Wes Craven

Starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Emma Roberts

The Scream franchise is an inherently difficult franchise to review. Beyond being horror films, they’re finely crafted satire with only the subtlest of winks to let you know they’re in on the joke. As a franchise, it knowingly exploits the rules and clichés of the genre, yet gleefully lives within those rules. Which is why the original is a classic, and this new installment lives up to the legacy.

It’s been 15 years since the original Woodsboro murders (Scream), and Sidney Prescott (Campbell) has become a self-help guru on a book tour that brings her back to Woodsboro. This also brings back Ghostface, now tormenting her teenage cousin, Jill (Roberts). Sidney teams up with Sheriff Dewey and his wife Gale (Arquette and Cox) to find the killer.

What became key in making this 4th installment work, 11 years after the 3rd, is the return of the principal players. Director Craven, writer Kevin Williamson and the 3 surviving cast members (not that Jamie Kennedy is dead, but Randy is). They understood the true spirit of the franchise, and brought that into it, while guiding it through a whole new set of characters to be put through the ringer.

I had heard of the false starts to this film, and as the movie started, I got a little worried that they would detract from the film, and devolve it into standard horror schlock. But Craven, Williamson and the various cameo cast members deftly maneuver the trope minefield to bring us up-to-date on not only what’s happened in the past 10 years in the characters lives, but also the state of horror. But again, while they highlight the problems with horror, they execute everything with surgical precision, and lives up to the originals spirit, and is a near-perfect horror film.

The faults of the film are few, and actually add to the film. The characters tend to be annoying archetypes (as they are throughout the genre), but the biggest issue unfortunately can’t be overlooked. It’s the ending. Fret not, no spoilers will be contained on this page. But I felt they took it a step further than they really needed to. Not that it hindered or ruined the film. It just felt extraneous.

Otherwise, kudos. One of the first thoroughly enjoyable films of the year.

And if I were to rank the Scream films, it would go 1, 4, 2, 3.

Rio

3 stars

Directed by Carlos Saldanha

Featuring the voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx and George Lopez.

I like what studios are doing with animated flicks, they’re making them fun and adventurous to keep adults entertained right along with the kids. But other aspects of the film are suffering for it.

The last known male blue macaw ends up in Minnesota after being smuggled from Brazil. Now fully domesticated, a bird specialist looks to return him to Rio de Janeiro so he can mate with the last known female blue macaw.

First of all, it’s a fun movie. One of the best things as a reviewer is to hear the response to the film of the target audience. There was a kid behind me who kept exclaiming that they loved this movie and they were having a lot of fun. So there is that. But from a more… matured perspective, it’s more mindless fun.

Pixar is still the gold standard for animation, in my estimation. They create a perfect fusion of great plot, great story, great characters and mind-blowing animation. The other production houses seem content with having great animation, interesting enough characters and just a mindlessly fun flick. And that’s where Fox steps in with Rio.

I’m with them, it’s a fun adventure, but I don’t feel challenged by it. I’m not walking away from the movie with a feeling like anything was accomplished. Fox is also good at casting big names to pad the pedigree of the film. The weakest link in the film is Jesse Eisenberg as Blu. He needs to stick to real life acting, voice acting is not his specialty. Everyone else is passable, particularly the seasoned comedians, but there’s a lack of heart to their performances.

In the end, it’s a fun movie, the kids are going to love it, but it’s not a truly engaging film.

17/04/2011 0