Calum Gilchrist
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Review: Unknown
11th March
From the trailer, Unknown looks like your standard thriller. It was really portrayed to look like a sequel to Taken. Luckily it ended up being something more interesting and much better than my expectations.
Most people really love Liam Neeson but I’m still never sure how I feel about him. Yes, he’s been in a few great films, like Schindler’s List and Taken (not great but enjoyable) but I’m just not as sure how to gauge his films like I am with other actors I really like.
Unknown, however ended up being really enjoyable and I found Liam Neeson’s performance good for the role. His character was interesting, although I wasn’t as big a fan of him when he starts to remember certain things from his past. At first I thought this ruined his character but his reflections on his past from a new perspective were endearing to his character.
The amnesia idea was played quite well and Liam Neeson’s character’s particular set of skills really made it easy for him to figure everything out. This kind of film always has a nice twist and I found myself second guessing my assumption through most of the film which is always good. I should probably try not to assume the plot twists from the trailers.
One aesthetic observation I have is that there were a lot of scenes that were all blue. It was a really cold blue and it was interesting but I don’t feel it tied in very well. Maybe I’m just trying to point stuff out for the sake of it, but I just found it kind of odd.
I’m writing this review almost a month after seeing Unknown, so I can’t really remember anything about the soundtrack, but I don’t think it was very remarkable. The fighting sequences weren’t breathtaking but they weren’t too hard to watch. I felt some were made of too many fast cuts, but I feel that way about most fight sequences so if you like those there should be no problem there.
Although Unknown doesn’t stand out too much, I wouldn’t write it completely off. If you need something to watch with a family into thrillers (like mine) they’ll probably like the film enough to let it eat a few hours of their time.
Unknown - 3/5 -
Review: Memento
5th March
Memento is one of my favourite films, I’ve seen it roughly 3 times and I’ve always enjoyed it. It’s one of those films that you learn more about it and catch more subtle things as you watch it more and more.
The hook to Memento is that the main character has a memory problem, he has no short term memory. So every 10 minutes he completely forgets where he is, how he got there and what he’s doing. The interesting thing about this is that you experience this as well. All the scenes are in reverse order, so you see the end first. It’s a really unique and cool way to see a film and it works brilliantly.
This makes it really easy to relate to the protagonist as you know as much as he does. You know where he’s going but not where he’s been. This leads to many really interesting plot points. The lead character, who’s name escapes me was really interesting and I really liked him and felt sorry for him. At the same time it was impressive to see a way that someone could try to deal with a condition like that.
My favourite scene in the film simply shows the protagonist running through a trailer park and he notices someone else is running, he assumes he’s chasing the other guy. But it’s the other way around. This scene really defines just how weird it must be to not even know that you are being chased by someone.
Films that keep you thinking and pull of such nice little hooks always tend to be much higher in my list. As I’m not a huge fan of mindless action films as I’ve probably said in my past reviews. But luckily Memento is nothing like these, and I’m not sure why I brought them up.
Memento 5/5 -
Review: Youth in Revolt
March 5
As I’ve mentioned before, I seem to have a thing for Michael Cera romance films. Maybe it’s because I can relate to Michael Cera, as all my friends keep saying. There’s just something I enjoy about his performance, although it would be nice to see him playing some different roles in a few different films.
Youth in Revolt was a nice surprise for me. I didn’t really have very high hopes for it and I came out of the cinema quite happy. This is my second time viewing the film and didn’t quite hold up to the first time but I still had a really good time with the film.
The story follows a quiet, polite kid who loves to read and is an aspiring writer. After a while he ends up meeting the girl of his dreams at a trailer park. The rest of the film basically follows his attempts at being a “bad ass” to win the heart of this girl. One such act is blowing up a cafe in his town.
That’s not really a great description of the film, but I thought I’d attempt to anyway. The story elements don’t really matter to me, I just really like all the little events that add to the story. Some of these were incredibly funny, like when a group of sailors take apart and reconstruct a faulty car in Michael Cera’s house, as his step-Dad (played by Zach Galifianakis) sold them it with a banana in the exhaust pipe.
Zach Galifianakis was surprising to see it, as I had seen Hangover just before I saw Youth in Revolt - Hangover was probably the funniest comedy of 2009. I was also surprised to see Justin Long and Steve Buscemi. I love Steve Buscemi and I quite liked his character, even though he didn’t really have that important a role in the film.
One gripe I have is that Michael Cera has a friend who is pining for a girl he’s had a crush on since the 3rd Grade. This fact is forgotten about in the end and the character never really mentioned. It wasn’t important but it felt like he was kind of forgotten about. Apart from that, everything else was pretty great. There are a few scenes that just stick in my mind and I don’t know if I’ll ever forget the line: “I want to tickle your belly button from the inside”.
Youth in Revolt 4/5 -
Review: Drive Angry
4 March
Really, every part of me should have know I wouldn’t like the film, but for some reason I was looking forward to it. The film can be summed up with three words: Metal, cars and guns. Three things I don’t particularly like.
These three key elements were stuck onto a plot about a man who escaped hell and needs to save his daughter from some cult. It’s not that bad a story but I didn’t really pay attention to it as the constant sound of the Dodge Charger was blasting into my ears, deafening me.
Fast cars and guns might be what some people want but it’s never really that interesting to me. I know a few people that all they want to see is stuff blowing up and people being murdered in all varieties of ways. But that’s never really my cup of tea.
Machete was all about killing but it had a definite style and charm that just made it so enjoyable. Drive Angry didn’t have that charm and it was just boring. My cousin, and friend Ross Menzies actually fell asleep during a few scenes of the film. Violence and explosions send him to sleep, it’s quite funny.
One scene stood out as being interesting. It was a slow motion shoot-out, but all the way through it Nicolas Cage was holding onto a naked girl that he was having sex with just before a group of Satanists came in to his hotel room to try and kill him. Apart from that scene there is only one other scene where Satan’s accountant is driving a tanker filled with Hydrogen into a police blockade while listening to “That’s the Way I Like It”. That was kind of funny, but the rest of the film wasn’t really that good at all.
Heavy metal filled most of the soundtrack and I didn’t really enjoy it. It didn’t help that it was drowned out by the noise of the cars. Completely forgot that the film was in 3D as well, which just shows how great it was.
Maybe this film will appeal to you, but personally I don’t really recommend it unless you’re really into any of the three things I mentioned in the first paragraph.
Drive Angry - 1.5/5 -
Review: Rango
March 4
I had always been really interested in Rango, since the first teaser of the wind-up fish floating across the desert. I only saw the theatrical trailer for the film the day I went to see it so I realised that I actually knew absolutely nothing about it. However, I loved the film.
Rango was strange in the fact that it had a very Coen Brother’s feel to it. Just the way the characters interacted and some of the underlying themes felt very Coen-y. I really like this style but it was still odd to see a film that felt like someone else directed it.
Johnny Depp always does a terrific job and even did well in voice acting. I really liked the character of Rango although he was like many characters before him that pretended to be hero and wins the hearts of the town. That being said it is very hard not to boil down any script into something as simple as that idea.
Normally I don’t expect much from animated films, but I was blown away by Rango. Everything was beautifully styled and all the elements were nicely polished and looked amazing. Normally I only expect this from Pixar - I think I’m biased towards them - but it’s really good to see that other companies are catching up. I really liked all of the towns folk in Dirt, the town Rango finds himself in. They all felt very unique and real, even though they were animals.
It was just a joy to watch Rango and I was really impressed by the film. There was one strange part where Rango walked into the same scene as Jack Sparrow did in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. It was the same director so that makes sense, but I was confused that he would use the same setting in two completely different films. Don’t get me wrong, it worked really well.
There was a lot to like about the film and it was very enjoyable, if you want a really well done animated film I recommend it.
Rango - 4.5/5 -
Review: Paul
26th February
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are just a great duo. All their projects where they’re together are amazing. Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced and now Paul. I love Simon Pegg and Nick Frost - I actually have Simon Pegg’s autograph, even though I completely froze up when I met him. Spaced is one of my top 5 television shows but I knew not to get too excited for Paul. The only reason I didn’t get myself too excited was because it’s quite a tall order for something to be as good as Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead, although I did really enjoy Paul.
Paul starts out with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg at Comic Con in California, a thing that I would love to do some day. Nick and Simon just make a really great nerdy duo as that’s what I believe they’re like in real life. They just fit the roles snuggly and it was entertaining to watch them together.
My main criticism with the film was the pace, it just felt a little slow between key sequences, there was just too much space. I’m not sure entirely what I mean by that, but I feel this way about many films.
Of course the main thing you want from a Simon Pegg and Nick Frost film is comedy. There was enough to keep me happy and I had quite a lot of fun. Although I will admit that I sat quite near the front which I wasn’t a fan of, so I’d maybe like to see it again. That’s one of the curses and joys of going to the cinema. Your experience in the building can sometimes effect the way that you react towards a film.
There were plenty of references to past Science Fiction films which were quite nice to see and I’d maybe like to watch it again to try and spot all of them. I really liked the idea of Paul, the alien (voiced by Seth Rogen). It was just nice to see an alien so accustomed to life on Earth and actually being a much ‘cooler’ person than Simon Pegg or Nick Frost’s character.
Although it’s not my favourite Nick Frost and Simon Pegg film I really liked it and it had a really nice to it and the dynamic between Nick and Simon is always a joy to watch.
Paul - 3/5 -
Review: The Royal Tenenbaums
21st February
Wes Anderson is one of those directors that I just find interesting. All of his films just have this mould breaking view on the world. I’ll admit that they are beginning to follow their on special Wes Anderson mould, but it’s still a wonderful combination of writing and directing.
Now this is the third time that I have watched The Royal Tenenbaums. The first time, I didn’t really enjoy it but it was my first time watching a Wes Anderson film and they take a little getting used to.
There’s just this very laid back feel about the whole thing. Characters in Wes Anderson films always have this strange approach to life where they don’t show they’re upset but will SAY how they feel. There are plenty of parodies of Wes Anderson’s style on the Internet which shows his uniqueness it style, but maybe not the variance in style to his films.
The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favourite, if not my definite favourite of Wes Anderson’s films. There’s just this really well structured set up to the film and it all flows very well. It has a few, quite funny sections and it has a pretty good cast; Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, The Wilson brothers and a few more. Quite a few of the actors are playing different roles than I’m used to and I really like it. The performances by the whole cast just meld together really nicely and the inner conflicts between almost ALL of the characters keeps the story really interesting.
Cheerful blends of acoustic and just nice songs make for a really interesting soundtrack. I really like it and I just noticed that the majority of tracks from the film are in my Spotify playlist that I share with my cousin. There’s just so much that I like about the movie; the fact that key scenes open with a shot of a paragraph from the book: The Royal Tenenbaums. It’s just little touches like this that make the film a joy to watch.
New comers to Wes Anderson should probably give this film a shot. It’s a very sort of hit and miss type film as my family hated the film when they watched it - which was also the first time that I’d ever watched it. But do give it a shot and if you like it pick up the rest of Wes Anderson’s films as they all have the same kind of unique charm.
Royal Tenenbaums 4/5This is one of those films that I’m just not sure about my rating. 4 sounds about right…
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Review: The Fighter
18th February
The reviews for The Fighter have been really good and a few of my friends have said that they really enjoyed it. Even with this positive feedback I was still a bit wary of the film. Rightly so, as I’m not really a fan of sports and I’m definitely not a fan of boxing. I will admit that I was surprised when I liked some of the fights but overall I wasn’t impressed with the beginning of the film.
Certain films start off very slowly and The Fighter is one of those. I say start but it was more like 30-40 minutes that weren’t really engaging. I felt myself urging the story to just get over with it. The story revolves around Mark Wahlberg who plays a boxer. Mark Wahlberg is trained by his older brother, played by Christian Bale, who is a drug addict and is a very unreliable trainer. The idea is that Mark Wahlberg is being dragged down by his family; his brother who doesn’t care and his mother who only cares about Christian Bale.
I picked this up within the first 10 minutes and it just felt like it was being dragged out for longer and longer. Eventually there is a change to the matters which helped the movie get along a bit. After Christian Bale was sent to prison the film started to pick up a bit of pace and I started to enjoy it a lot more. I’ll admit that it was still slow at parts and Mark Wahlberg’s character was very quiet, barely said a thing.
Some people seem to not like Christian Bale, where I quite like him. I’m glad that he didn’t use his Batman voice again, like he did in Public Enemies. I really like him just for the Prestige and American Psycho is quite high on my list of films to see. I’m not really sure why people don’t like him, maybe it’s not dissimilar from my thing against Shia La Beouf - although he is beginning to annoy me a little less. I won’t speculate on whether Christian Bale will or won’t get the Oscar for Best Supporting actor that he was nominated for as I don’t really know what I thought about his performance. I quite liked his performance even though his character bored me just a little bit.
As it’s a boxing film, you can probably guess that it has a big fight in the end of it. It’s really the only way that it can go. Most of the fights were okay, but the final fight was really great. For some reason I found myself cheering along. Whenever Mark Wahlberg landed a punch I could feel myself saying: “YES”. That never normally happens to me and is probably a credit to the film. The final fight was the best part of the movie. Was just great.
Seeing the film JUST for the final fight would be a waste but it really was the best part. Sitting through the rest of the film wasn’t too bad for the good payoff. There were parts that lacked any punch and other parts that were just enjoyable. It’s not a bad film, in any respect, but I’d like to say that it was not for me. Someone into the sport might like it a whole lot more than me but personally it wasn’t really to my tastes.
The Fighter: 3/5 -
Review: Yogi Bear
18th February
From what I can remember, I think I always liked Yogi Bear. He had all the classic Hannah Barbera magic that made it such a colourful and warm cartoon. The film was colourful, I’ll give it that, but it was just missing most things that make a comedy film, funny.
When I first heard that they were making a live action/cgi crossover of Yogi Bear STARRING Dan Akroyd, I was baffled. Dan Akroyd just didn’t seem like the kind of guy that would play Yogi Bear. He didn’t do to bad a job as the voice of Yogi Bear, but there wasn’t much astounding in the script and most of the jokes were sub-par.
I had low expectations going into the film and it met those. It was just a stupid, colourful kids film. Not really too much for people older than 12. The plot was simple enough, Yogi in an attempt to help make the park profitable fails to do so and thus the lose the park to the Mayor. I would call the Mayor evil but he doesn’t really do anything very mean throughout and always seems to be an idiot. Evil villains seem to tend to be geniuses or succesful failures.
In the end Yogi has to get the ranger to help them get the park back before Jellystone park is turned into a field of stumps from loggers. The whole timescale of things is ridiculous. I doubt that you could close a public park and get loggers in the next day. I’m sure there’s a ridiculous amount of paperwork and voting that goes on before you can just chop down a forrest in the middle of a city.
There was something I didn’t like about the 3-D either. The depth of focus was ridiculous. Things were either in focus or not. There was no sort of in between ground and it made all the scenes seem very stark and everyone stood out. But it didn’t look very natural. I think that the director thought the only way to make it look like they were using 3D was to throw everything to the max as the depth factor is all that’s really added by 3D and it really doesn’t make that much of a difference to me.
The cast was fine. I’m not really fussed about Anna Farris or Tom Cavanagh. Justin Timberlake did a surprisingly good voice for Boo Boo but that’s really all I have to say about that.
Yogi Bear is silly and not really to my liking. Most of everything was mediocre from the soundtrack to the jokes. I suppose that young children might like it, but that’s really the only people I’d say would like it.
Yogi Bear - 2/5 -
Review: Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Feb 12
For some reason I really like teen romance films starring Michael Cera. Perhaps it’s because Michael Cera reflects me in some respects or I’m just a sop.
Nick and Norah’s Inifinite Playlist isn’t my favourite Michael Cera film, I’d probably rate them:
- Scott Pilgrim
- Youth in Revolt
- Juno
- Nick and Norah
Overall it wasn’t really anything special but it had all the elements of a Michael Cera romance film. Two awkward teens that have strange interests and end up falling in love. It really felt like a not as good and more realistic Scott Pilgrim.
There were a few funny parts to the film but it didn’t really make a huge impression on me. I enjoyed it and it surpassed my expectations but most of it just felt standard and not really that different. The fact that the entire film lasts one day feels over compressed. I say this because Nick and Norah meet and fall out and meet each other’s exes and so much happens in just one evening that it just doesn’t feel right.
Nothing much exciting was in the soundtrack. It was good, even though it was full of indie hits that fill most of the other Michael Cera films I’ve seen and even some of the other teen romance films I’ve seen without Michael Cera.
If you like Michael Cera and teen romance films then I don’t see why you shouldn;t see it. I was entertained throughout but there was just a little missing to make it really stand out.
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist: 3/5
