Thoughts on... Despicable Me (2010)

Despicable Me, 2010.

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.
Featuring the voice talents of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand and Julie Andrews.


SYNOPSIS:

Evil supervillain Gru (Steve Carell) finds out he’s not the number one villain anymore and has been replaced by a younger, arrogant teen named Vector (Jason Segel). Determined the return to his top place, Gru devises a plan to steal the moon, but along the way realises he needs the help of three little girls to accomplish this most evil plan.


In the middle of a typical American suburb lies the fortress of Gru, an evil villain who spends his days hatching plans and stealing important landmarks such as the Times Square TV screen and the Eiffel Tower (the small replica one from Vegas). One day on a trip to the Bank of Evil (Formerly Lehman Brothers) he gets his finance proposal rejected as his schemes never turn enough profit, and a younger villain named Vector has taken over his spot as the most respected villain. Feeling resentful and determined to get his status back and turn a big profit, he forms a plan to steal the moon. Unfortunately, in order to accomplish his plan, he must adopt and enlist the help of three little orphan girls named Margo, Edith, and Agnes.

With competitors like Dreamworks and Disney it’s difficult to make a good animated children’s film today, but Despicable Me holds its own well, and the use of 3D certainly helps the film. With a typical children’s film plot of an evil villain becoming heart-warmed and a changed man through the love of children the 3D aspect certainly helps keep the film interesting, and while there are some cheesy lines, there are many great one liners and the cast deliver them brilliantly.

What made the film was the three orphan girls that warmed Gru’s heart, and I don’t believe there was a single person in the audience who didn’t want to adopt little Agnes, whose utter adoration and love of fluffy unicorns was probably the one thing about the film that will stick with viewers, and see little girls rushing out to the shops to buy their own “IT’S SO FLUFFY I WANT TO DIE” unicorn. Another part that, while predictable, is Gru’s relationship with his mother: one of unfulfilled love, but the flashbacks to his childhood which were some of the funniest scene of the whole film.

Despicable Me isn’t an amazing film, and it’s certainly not in the same league as the likes of Shrek or Toy Story, but it is enjoyable and kids will definitely love it.

Vicki Isitt

Movie Review Archive

Thoughts on... Charlie St. Cloud (2010)

Charlie St. Cloud, 2010.

Directed by Burr Steers.
Starring Zac Efron, Amanda Crew, Charlie Tahan and Augustus Prew.


SYNOPSIS:

Hours after graduating from High School, Charlie St Cloud (Zac Efron) loses his younger brother, Sam (Charlie Tahan), in a car accident. Five years later Charlie, still grief stricken, visits the ghost of his brother every day, unable to move on with his life. Then he meets Tess (Amanda Crew).


“Hi, my name is Charlie St Cloud, and I see dead people.” Ok, so that’s not exactly what he says, but he might as well.

The film begins by establishing how close brothers Charlie and Sam are; their mutual love of sailing, baseball, and due to their absent father, a very strong relationship. With Charlie set to leave for college on a sailing scholarship, Sam feels as though Charlie will forget about him, so Charlie promises him that every day at sunset they will practice baseball for an hour until he leaves for college.

Before this promise can be fulfilled, Charlie and Sam are involved in a car accident. Although being technically dead for a few moments, Charlie survives, but Sam doesn’t. Unable to move on with his life, Charlie spends the next few years spending every evening practicing baseball with the ghost of his brother. Then he meets a girl called Tess, and he must choose between a loyalty to his brother, or the girl he loves.

Having not read the book by Ben Sherwood that the film is based on, I can’t compare it to the film. I am going to presume though that at least half of the target audience, Zac Efron fans, won’t have read the book either so you won’t fault me for it. While the film apparently follows some of the book faithfully, they differ in the main characters age. For most of the book, Charlie is an older man (about 30 years old), which makes the impact of him still meeting with his brother every day even greater. However in order to keep Efron cast, in the film only five years pass. While five years is a long time to be talking to a ghost, it doesn’t have quite the same effect.

The film has potential, but one that it never reaches. You cannot fault the casting, Efron plays his grief stricken character better than I ever expected and Amanda Crew shone out in her role of sailing enthusiast Tess Carroll and the chemistry between them definitely showed. Charlie Tahan, who played Sam, was funny and enjoyable to watch while able to tug at your heart strings when the moments came.

That being said, something about the film just did not fit, and one major problem with this film for me was the music. I normally really enjoy the original score music that accompanies films, and often it can act like the final wrapping that completes a film, a great scene can be enhanced so much by a perfect piece of music, and films such as Lord of the Rings, Requiem for a Dream, Atonement or Slumdog Millionaire wouldn’t be the same without the amazing music behind them. I have never found a film which had music that felt more out of tone than Charlie St Cloud. Rolfe Kent, the composer, has created music that I absolutely love including the Dexter theme tune, the soundtrack for Up in the Air, The Men Who Stare at Goats and many more. Yet the music for this film felt, for lack of a better word, interfering. At emotional and tense moments in the film the music was loud and obtrusive but in other parts it barely supported the film at all, and I felt as though for the first time in my life, music was ruining a film for me.

Charlie St Cloud does have the potential; the casting, the beautiful scenery and a powerful and emotional story suggests this could be a great film. However the music, the choice in the amount of time passed since the death, and sometimes the editing bring this film down. If you’re a Zac Efron fan you’ll enjoy this, it’s his best film so far, but if you’re not there are a lot of better films worth watching.

Vicki Isitt

Movie Review Archive

Thoughts on... Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, 2010.

Directed by Edgar Wright.
Starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ellen Wong, and Kieran Culkin.


SYNOPSIS:

In order to date the girl of his dreams Ramona Flowers, Scott Pilgrim must defeat her seven evil ex’s.


Having so much hype around a film can ensure that unless the film lives up to its expectations, it can leave you with a feeling of disappointment, which I’m afraid, was the case for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I’m not saying the film was bad; in fact I really enjoyed it, it just wasn’t amazing. The cast were brilliant, and I’m big fan of Edgar Wright, but there were some parts of this film that just didn’t work.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is an unemployed bass player who spends his time rehearsing with his band and holding hands with his seventeen year old girlfriend Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). That is, until he meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Completely infatuated, Scott pursues Ramona until they eventually begin dating. Unfortunately for Scott this means he must now defeat her seven evil ex’s.

The part of the film I really enjoyed most was probably the beginning. It was funny, witty, the acting was excellent, and I loved the perfectly balanced mixture between reality and the gaming world. Somewhere between the fight scenes I started to lose interest. The problem is that after the first battle the rest of the film is like a staccato of scenes; nothing flowed together and each scene seemed to jump into the next. The fight scenes themselves were great and each ex was very different from the previous, in terms of both appearance and supernatural abilities. The fights were well choreographed, entertaining, and I loved that each ex exploded into coins after being defeated.

What got tedious was Ramona disappearing or breaking up with Scott after every battle and Scott then moping around after her until the next fight sequence. By the fifth or sixth ex I was bored and wanted the film to be over. That being said the final fight sequence was by far the best, it’s just a shame that the time it took to get there felt a bit like being pulled in six different directions at once.

The film did have its good elements, and I think the cast was one of the reasons why I did enjoy the film. Ellen Wong as Scott’s seventeen year old slightly stalker-ish girlfriend was probably one of the best, although Kieran Culkin who played Wallace, Scott’s gay roommate, was another performance that I really enjoyed. Each of Ramona’s ex’s were played by some great actors, one of my favourites being Brandon Routh (although I am a slightly biased fan ever since Superman and Chuck), who had vegan superpowers.

While Scott Pilgrim isn’t amazing, it’s certainly worth viewing and deserves more box office attention than its competitors The Expendables and Eat, Pray, Love. Just don’t expect the film to be as good as the hype.

Vicki Isitt

Movie Review Archive

Thoughts on... Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, 2010.

Directed by Thor Freudenthal.
Starring Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn and Chloë Grace Moretz.


SYNOPSIS:

Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is about to start middle school. He doesn’t know what to expect or more importantly, how he’s going to survive it. Thankfully his mum has bought him a diary journal to write it all down in. Based on the incredibly successful book by Jeff Kinney.


Ignoring the usual suspects of Dreamworks and Disney, trying to find a children’s film for anyone of any age to enjoy is near impossible. While Disney and Co can provide us with the brilliance of Toy Story and Finding Nemo, the studios can only churn out so many each year. Children however, have a minimum of 12 weeks off school every year, and that’s not including weekly sleepovers, birthday parties, or a boring Sunday afternoon. Searching through the cinema listings trying to find a film which your 10 year old will enjoy, but equally not make you want to claw your eyes and ears out, is an absolute challenge. Diary of a Wimpy kid is not one of those films. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is utter genius.

The film follows Greg Heffley, a boy about to start the impending doom that is middle school. Just before starting school Greg’s mum buys him a diary journal to write down his thoughts and feelings about starting school. Apart from his older brother’s advice of “Don’t look/touch/talk/stand out/put your hand up/join any school activities/or go to the bathroom” and his best friend Rowley’s advice “My mum said if I just be myself people will like me”, Greg has no idea how he is going to survive at middle school. But in a scale of coolness he places himself at about number 19, so he figures he’ll be okay. His friend Rowley on the other hand he thinks is about 152, so he’d better keep a close eye on him.

Unfortunately for Greg he ignores all of his brother’s advice and joins the safety patrol, the school play, has a short-lived stint in the wrestling team, gets the cheese disease, plummets to number 202 on the cool scale, falls out with his best friend and has to befriend the kid with hairy stomach freckles so he has someone to sit with on the cafeteria floor at lunch time.

From this description it might be difficult to imagine how such a film could appeal to everyone, but even a quick glance at the director and writers credits give you an idea of how much talent has been involved with this film. The director, Thor Freudenthal, has previously worked on the Stuart Little films, Disney’s The Haunted Mansion, and Hotel for Dogs, and although the film’s based on an incredible successful book, some of the screenwriters have credits including That 70’s Show, Mad About You, Freaks and Geeks, and Life As We Know It.

The industry expression “never work with children or animals” couldn’t be less true for this film. Children’s films are often synonymous with bad acting, however the cast were incredible. Zachary Gordon (Greg Heffley) was a comic genius and had me laughing almost non-stop even from the opening sequence. The supporting roles played by Robert Capron (Rowley) as Greg’s best friend and Chloë Grace Moretz (Angie) were superb and complimented each other brilliantly. While this was Capron’s first time with this type of leading role, Moretz who is well known for her parts in Kick-Ass and Let Me In, took a back seat role in this film, appearing mainly when the young boys needed help and advice the most.

What makes this film so appealing to such a wide audience is that all the characters are relatable. I have no idea or experience of what it would be like to be a boy starting middle school in America, yet I found myself rooting for Greg to survive each disastrous experience after another, and feeling their embarrassment of having to sit on the cafeteria floor at lunch time with Fregley, the ginger kid ranked number 201.

If you have kids, they’ll drag you to see it, if you don’t have kids; drag a friend to see it. Either way, Diary of a Wimpy kid is comedy genius and guaranteed enjoyment.

Vicki Isitt

Movie Review Archive

Thoughts on... The Rebound (2009)

The Rebound, 2009.

Directed by Bart Freundlich.
Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Justin Bartha.


SYNOPSIS:

A single mum of two moves to the city to start a new life where she falls for a guy who is not only much younger than her, but also the babysitter.


Having not heard much about this film but feeling the trailer looked pretty generic I decided to keep an open mind for this film. Although I am not a fan of Catherine Zeta-Jones having only ever seen her act in The Mask of Zorro and The Haunting, both of which were a good decade ago, I am quite partial to Justin Bartha, so I hoped I might enjoy the film.

The plot of the film, one which many television shows and future film releases seem to be focusing on, shows an older woman dating a younger man: a cougar. Being an avid fan of Courtney Cox in the TV show Cougar Town I felt that if the writers knew what they were doing this film could be funny, interesting and enjoyable. I was half right. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Sandy, a recently divorced mother of two who moves to the city to start a new life and meets coffee shop worker Aram (Bartha) whilst apartment hunting. She mistakes a joke babysitting offer as a serious one and soon Arum finds himself working as a full time babysitter for Sandy. Inevitably the two spend more and more time together bonding over the kids and flirting with each and they get together. The only problem is he’s 24 and she’s...well, not.

This film works well until the couple get together. This part of the plot generally happens early to mid length into the film allowing enough time for the complication/problem to occur and a then resolution. In The Rebound it happens about three-quarters of the way through. In its delay of the romantic relationship between the two characters it actually saves the film from a worse fate. The lead up and very beginnings of the relationship include some actually witty dialogue and funny scenes, but their break up and five year montage before meeting again for me ruined almost everything previously good about the film. It felt as though the writers had no way of solving the problem of a substantial age gap in a relationship besides a five year montage complete with slow-mo giraffes running through the wilderness and the growth and then loss of Aram’s facial hair.

Catherine Zeta-Jones was actually better than I remember and carried the film well enough and while I struggled to accept Bartha as a 24 year old, it was nice to see him without the dire dialogue of National Treasure, and as director Bart Freundlich’s first major move into this genre he did well on keeping the some of the generic qualities these films have at bay. I wouldn’t recommend rushing to the cinema to see this film but if an evening of popcorn and a half-decent chickflick is what you need, it’s worth watching.

Vicki Isitt

Movie Review Archive

Thoughts on... The Brothers Bloom (2008)

The Brothers Bloom, 2008.

Written and Directed by Rian Johnson.
Starring Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kikuchi.


SYNOPSIS:

Written and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick), this film is about two brothers, Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody), who are some of the best con men in the world. But Bloom wants out; he wants a life free from lies and deception. Stephen convinces him to embark in once last con, the chosen target a rich and beautiful woman named Penelope (Rachel Weisz).


It has been a long time since I have seen such a wonderfully written, directed and acted film. With the start of the summer blockbusters beginning this film was a refreshing and very enjoyable break and reminded me just how good a film can be when everything aligns.

The story follows two brothers, orphaned at a young age and shipped from home to home because of bad behaviour, discover their skills in deception and conning. As adults nothing has changed, they travel around the world performing cons with their assistant ‘Bang Bang’ (Rinko Kikuchi), but Bloom is growing tired of living a scripted and fake life, and wants to find something real. Stephen persuades him into one final big con to end on before retiring, the target of which is a wealthy and eccentric beautiful woman called Penelope (Rachel Weisz) who lives alone in a large estate collecting hobbies.

The con involves Bloom becoming close to Penelope and convincing her to join them on their adventures. They explain to her that they are smugglers, looking to steal a rare and valuable book which they can only accomplish with her help. By acting as though she has all the power and decision making, Penelope happily volunteers to use her money to help smuggle the book out from its location, unaware that she is being conned. However nothing ever goes as planned.

Rachel Weisz is if possible even more perfect than ever playing this charming and eccentric woman and you cannot help but love her, especially as her character begins to fall in love with both the lifestyle of a pretend smuggler and the attraction between Penelope and Bloom grows, unaware that everything she feels has been manipulated that way. The interactions between her character and Adrien Brody’s are brilliant, warming and incredibly funny to watch so that evening mundane car driving scenes are engaging. The brother relationship between Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody is fast-paced, witty and riveting as both brothers obviously care about each other but Bloom feeling constantly cautious about the possibility of being conned by Stephen. Considering she had next to no dialogue, Rinko Kikuchi is superb as explosions expert ‘Bang Bang’, the brothers’ literally silent partner and with just actions and a fetish for blowing things up you’ll love her character too. The smaller roles played by Robbie Coltrane as a Belgium smuggler and Maximilian Schell as a Russian set to exact revenge on the brothers were both fantastic in their absurdly hilarious characters.

It is hard to find many faults with this film, and at a stretch the only problem I can think to comment on is the ending, which feels as though it falls short in comparison with the rest of the film, and perhaps a hint of a conspiracy twist at the end might have been more in tone with the film. Nonetheless The Brothers Bloom is a near perfect film which should not be missed just because of the lack of advertising against competitors like Prince of Persia and Sex and the City 2. I cannot recommend this film enough, so find out where it’s showing near you, and go and watch it instantly.

Vicki Isitt

Movie Review Archive

Thoughts on... The National Movie Awards 2010

Vicki Isitt reports on the 2010 National Movie Awards...

The National Movie Awards, aired on ITV and hosted by James Nesbitt, proved just how much the British population loves Twilight, even more so than Harry Potter. While Twilight and Potter nearly equalled on awards it was clear from the audience where the preference lay. While the categories seemed promising enough, the nominees and winners showed just how fan crazy the British public are.

Action/Thriller (presented by Chris Rock)
SHERLOCK HOLMES

Family (presented by Orlando Bloom)
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

Fantasy (presented by Chris North)
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON

Most Anticipated Movie of the Summer (presented by Aaron Johnson)
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE

Breakthrough Movie (presented by Simon Pegg)
THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE

Performance of the Year (presented by Dominic Cooper and James Corden)
ROBERT PATTINSON

Special Recognition (presented by Kylie Minogue)
HARRY POTTER

Screen Icon (presented by Gwyneth Paltrow)
TOM CRUISE

Tom Cruise as Screen Icon I can understand, his career has spanned thirty years and included a massively wide variety of roles. But Robert Pattinson as performance of the year? Although I’m not much of a Twilight fan myself I can understand its popularity and why it’s successful, but I cannot bring myself to believe that Robert Pattinson gave the best performance from any film from this entire year, which unfortunately, is the downside in letting the public vote. The Time Traveler’s Wife isn’t so much a breakthrough movie but more of a blockbuster in my opinion so I’m not sure how that film fell into that category, in competition with Coco Before Chanel and other more independent films.

I wouldn’t have necessarily put Sherlock Holmes in the Action/Thriller section, but as Guy Richie said, they’ll “take it where they can get it”. Although slightly biased in my enjoyment of Harry Potter I still feel in agreement with the Potter series taking the Special Recognition award. To paraphrase David Yates, they employ roughly 2000 people, some for short periods of time, and some for ten years, they have given roles to nearly every major British actor and actress and help British cinema (with the help of American dollar financing) stay on the map. Not many other film series can boast such accomplishments.

The after party was nearly as disappointing as hearing Robert Pattinson win the Best Performance award, which consisted of a five minute appearance of Gwyneth Paltrow and odd sightings of James Nesbitt. A good enough awards show, improved slightly by the 3D preview clip of Toy Story 3, but perhaps a wider nominee selection and a bit less of the Twilight next year.

Vicki Isitt

Thoughts on... The Joneses (2009)

The Joneses, 2009.

Directed by Derrick Borte.
Starring David Duchovny, Demi Moore, Amber Head and Ben Hollingsworth.


SYNOPSIS:

A seemingly perfect family moves into a suburban neighbourhood but when it comes to the truth as to why they're living there they don't exactly come clean with their neighbours.


I had seen the posters with confusion and watched the trailer with intrigue, and then finally viewed the film with utter disappointment. The premise of the plot, a family who sells consumer products as a lifestyle, was relatively original, the cast was okay, and the trailer suggested the film would not involve massive explosions or any meet-cutes, so I went into the cinema with optimism. I left with despair.

The idea of a film about a fake family who sold the ‘American dream’ lifestyle to their town in the form of sporting goods, clothes, perfume, cars, games, and electronics seemed as though it might be an original and witty approach to consumerism. That’s not to say that the writers didn’t try, and some bold anti-Hollywood moves were made, but it just seemed to be lacking in something the entire way through.

The Joneses are a fake family unit made up from a stereotypical form of a dad, Steve (David Duchovny), a mum, Kate (Demi Moore), and daughter and son Jenn (Amber Head) and Mick (Ben Hollingsworth). Their job is to move into a new neighbourhood and essentially sell their lifestyle. If people want to be like them, they will buy the products they use in an attempt to copy them. If they dress like the beautiful and popular girl at school, they’ll become popular and pretty too. The idea has merit and the concept evidently works by the amount of perfume and clothing lines started by celebrities so fans can dress like them.

The main character the audience is supposed to engage with is Steve, who is still pretty new to this false family life, and is in love with his fake wife while his fake daughter tries to seduce him. His figures are low and if he doesn’t figure out how to start selling soon he could get reassigned. Thankfully only a few minutes and a montage later Steve has figured everything out and even Kate is beginning to have feelings for him. However while things are looking up for Steve and Kate, Jenn and Mick are beginning to circle the drain. Jenn’s busy ditching school to have sex with a married man and Mick’s getting drunk, hitting on boys and getting punched in the face.

The writers employed two twists in an attempt to diverge this film anyway from all the other mainstream blockbusters in the homosexuality of Mick and then towards the end of the film a major character death (I won’t give away who in case you one day have a gun pointed to your head and are forced to sit through this film). While I admire the writers for their attempt, the character death was hyperbolic, unnecessary and felt completely out of tone with the rest of the film. The revelation of Mick’s sexuality was interesting, but I was confused as to why he spent so much time hiding it, considering that when he came out no one seemed remotely affected by it. Even though everyone was okay with it, what I would have been more interested to have seen would be what, if any, different products he was given to sell and how differently he was marketed.

Despite an interesting plot idea, if you ever find yourself channel hopping late at night in the next few years and find this film being shown, you’d be better off just watching adverts.

Vicki Isitt

Movie Review Archive