Limitless (TBC): On General Release From Wednesday 23rd March
The Hangover was one of the biggest comedies of the decade, the A-Team promotional ads were everywhere and he’s appeared in numerous romantic comedies but people still don’t seem to know who Bradley Cooper is. All that looks set to change as he takes the lead in director Neil Burger’s drug thriller, Limitless.
Cooper plays down-and-out author Eddie Morra who’s been wrestling with a bad case of writer’s block which has put a strain on his relationship with Lindy (Abbie Cornish). She’s had enough of his layabout, struggling artist ways and breaks it off with him. Feeling lost and dejected, Eddie runs into his ex-brother-in-law Vernon, a dodgy drug rep who gives Eddie a free sample of NZT. The little clear pill allows users to access 100% of their brain’s full potential and although no one in their right mind would accept a cup of tea from sleazy Vernon, Eddie accepts the NZT, no questions asked. Do It!
RANGO (PG): On General Release From Friday 4th March
Gore Verbinksi, best known for the Pirates of the Caribbean series, takes his first step into the weird and wonderful world of animation and he’s taking them with the very weird and the exceedingly wild Johnny Depp. They come together once again to bring life to Rango, an animated Western for kids which for some bizarre reason is also a drama about one chameleon’s (Depp) identity crisis. These two elements don’t always sit comfortably together but it’s definitely an interesting experiment.
The film opens with Rango performing a monologue in which he reveals that he’s struggling with feeling lost and alone in what appears to be a dreamlike desert where his only friends are a wind-up fish toy and a headless Barbie. In reality, he’s a pet chameleon travelling in the back of a car which, thanks to a pesky armadillo, is thrown from the car and left to his own devices. This is one of the best openings to a film I’ve ever seen, almost on par with Toy Story 3 and that’s going some. The sun hits Rango’s terrarium as it flies through the air like a light at the end of the tunnel signals freedom, sweet and terrible freedom. Do It!
Michael Ritt’s Southern drama ‘The Long, Hot Summer’ sees Paul Newman get good and sweaty but will the DVD release get you hot under the collar?
It’s easy to just think of Paul Newman as just Hollywood mancandy because it’s so easy to get lost in his sparkling baby blues but his performance in ‘The Long, Hot Summer’ shows off his muscles, both acting and physical. Newman plays Ben Quick, a man with a reputation as a barn-burner who thanks to an accusation is forced to up sticks and find a new home.
In need of a job, he turns to the richest family in the small picturesque town of Frenchman’s Bend, the Varners, lead by the big and blustery Will Varner (Orson Welles). He’s demanding, unfair and pushy but is downright infuriating when pressuring daughter Clara (Joanne Woodward) to get married and start churning out babies. Do It!
FREAKONOMICS is on general release from 17th of January
Bridging the gap between economics and sociology, Freakonomics is based on the best-selling book by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, which is basically a copy of ‘How Humans Work 101’.
Like the book, the film is split up into mini-documentaries, each dealing with a different aspect of humanity including incentives, cheating, social perception, racism and abortion. This isn’t intended to be an all-encompassing look at the human experience but instead it’s a series of interesting insights into things we thought we already knew. Turns out, we have no idea why we do the things we do. Do It!
CONVICTION (15): On General Release From Friday 14th January
Don’t you just love Oscar-bait movies? You know the type: the lead actress is often playing against her looks, working with an accent and playing a ballsy, real-life character (see The Hours, The Blind Side, Erin Brockovich etc). And since it the Oscars are right around the corner, February 27th, it was only a matter of time before the next sassy, take-no-prisoners female lead movie reared it’s frizzy-haired head. Cue Hilary Swank playing a convict’s sister-turned-lawyer in Conviction.
Although your first instinct might be to dismiss this one as a made-for-TV movie and you wouldn’t be too far off the mark but somehow Swank and co are able to make the best of a fairly mediocre script and boring direction. Do It!
In the past few weeks, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows fever has swept over the Internet like a giant magical tsunami, engulfing every movie blog it encounters. But somewhere, in the midst of the chaos, shock waves began to ripple through many a wi-fi enabled coffee shop as less-than-glowing reviews were bandied around the Internet.
Critics are picking apart The Deathly Hallows as if it were a still warm corpse, which begs the question: will the Deathly Hallows fail to maintain the series’ success in the face of these negative reviews? No, of course not, don’t be so ridiculous. However, the reviews did get me wondering about how the film has become such a global phenomenon and that in the last two months it has turned people from the age of five to fifty into a merch-buying, film-watching, wand-waving lunatics? Do It!
Jay and Mark Duplass have so far made their way in Hollywood by impressing people with their short films and well-received mumblecore features like The Puffy Chair and Baghead. Unfortunately, their latest project, Cyrus, just fails to hit the high notes of comedy and the depths of emotion that they’re clearly aiming for with their handheld indie style.
John C. Reilly stars as John, a middle-aged editor whose life took a downturn when his wife Jamie (Catherine Keener) left him seven years ago. After Jamie forces him to come to a party with her, John manages to catch the eye of Molly (Marisa Tomei), despite being drunk and emotionally needy. Do It!
THE RUNAWAYS (15): On General Release Friday 10th September
I’ve never been completely sold on Kristen Stewart as an actress – she impressed everyone in Panic Room back in 2002 but has since been overshadowed by her own franchise, Twilight. But now, with the release of The Runaways, people might see the great actress that’s been buried underneath three vampire movies’ worth of pap.
Chronicling the rise and inevitable fall of 70s all-girl rock band The Runaways, Kristen Stewart plays Suzie Quatro-a-like Joan Jett, a young guitarist whose rock and roll aspirations see her paired with 15-year-old Bardot bombshell, Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning). Do It!
JONAH HEX (15): On General Release Friday 3rd September
Sometimes reviewers can be quite harsh, but let me assure you, we love movies and are willing to give almost anything a chance (sorry Shank). Having said that, after seeing the posters and trailers for Jonah Hex, I found myself saying, “Megan Fox! She’s an actress? She’s barely a human”. Which is fine because Jonah Hex is barely a movie.
Set in the old West of 1876, the time of America’s centennial, Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) is a gruff bounty hunter whose scarred visage can be seen on wanted posters everywhere he goes. Hex is out for revenge on the man who not only gave him his scar but killed his wife and child; Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), his psychotic commanding officer. Do It!
Although I’m not actually that excited about Resident Evil: Afterlife, I love me a sneak preview screening, so I got myself all revved up to see a featurette and a 3D scene for the latest instalment of the zombie series.
Director Paul. W. S. Anderson appears in the short video with stars Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter, all of whom couldn’t possibly give the movie higher praise if they tried. Paul explains that he shot the film with the same 3D technology that James Cameron designed for Avatar and that he’s trying to use the negative space between the screen and the audience.
He’s genuinely enthusiastic about 3D but just like a kid in a candy store, he’s eaten too many sweets and the outcome isn’t pretty. But shortly after donning the chunkiest pair of 3D glasses I’ve ever seen to watch the preview footage, I quickly realised that Cameron should have kept his technology a secret because it’s clearly not safe in anyone else’s hands.
The sequence that was shown is one you can see in the trailer – a huge guy with nails in his head, swinging an axe around a shower room. I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve ever seen more wildly unnecessary slow-motion in my life. Due to the creature’s strength, size and the weight of its axe/hammer, it’s not exactly fast-moving to begin with and putting it slow-motion utterly erases any real tension within the scene.
What Paul fails to realise is that while ‘immersive’ is a popular buzz word these days, utilising the negative space doesn’t have to be such a harsh experience. It’s almost like the 3D effects were constantly trying to reach out and physically touch my eyeballs. This unpleasant sensation gives the viewer no sense of real depth – something Cameron had no problem with because he actually knew what he was doing with his own cameras. Don’t play with the big boy’s toys until you’ve read the instructions, Paul.
The movie also had a shiny, almost polarized look to it that actually made the film difficult to watch because it’s so busy trying to get your brain’s attention that it’s actually distracting. Overall, it looks like it’s an axe-swing and a miss for Resident Evil: Afterlife.
The video below wasn’t the featurette shown at the screening, but it’s pretty similar and if you still can’t wait to see the movie then, well…there’s nothing more I can do for you.
Limitless (TBC): On General Release From Wednesday 23rd March
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