For A Few Movies More

When The Hangover came out some two years ago it took most people by surprise. In a time when the genre was made up primarily of stoner comedy and spoof films (as well as the ever present romantic comedy) it was refreshing to see such a unique and well produced movie. Equally as refreshing was that it didn’t sneak under any radar; doing quite the opposite in fact. Word of mouth meant that this humble film would go on to gross over $450m worldwide. As is the fashion, a sequel was inevitable. However, this time around the movie would not be released under the same expectations: The budget more than doubled, Zach Galifianakis became known in much wider circles than the alternative comedy scene and the age old problem of sequels never living up to the originals would all weigh heavily on director and co writer Todd Phillips’ shoulders. Would the film be able to stand on its own two feet or would it be a shadow of its predecessor, riding its coat tails to success? After seeing the movie this question becomes less straightforward as The Hangover Part II manages to be both original and a clear sequel at the same time. A simpler question to ask is will it be an entertaining movie, and the answer is definitely yes.

Before the credits the movie opens with Phil (Bradley Cooper) on the phone in a foreign land. We are immediately reminded of the first movie, and in similar fashion it sets up the premise that something big has gone down. The opening credits roll and we are then taken to a week earlier where the story begins.  This time around Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married. Back to his clean cut ways, Stu has found a sweet Thai girl to marry, and before the trip to Thailand for the ceremony he organizes a bachelor brunch at the International House of Pancakes with Phil and Doug (Justin Bartha). Unlike the pancakes, this does not go down well. What is even harder to swallow is Doug’s campaign for Stu to invite his brother-in-law, Alan (Galifianakis), to come to the wedding. The crew flies out to Thailand and although any plans for a true bachelor party have been thwarted the wolfpack has finally been reunited. Two days before the wedding the gang, along with Teddy (Mason Lee and Stu’s 16yo soon-to-be brother-in-law) set up a nice bonfire with marshmallows and one beer each. Just one beer.

What’s that old saying? Men are from Mars and women are from some faraway planet where movies suck? OK maybe that was a little bit harsh right off the bat, but I am just fresh off experiencing that bitter sweet feeling. You know the one, on those cold winter nights when all you want to do is rug with someone you love and watch a movie; you finally meet the person to rug up with, sadly the movie is Confessions of a Shopaholic. I’m not trying to say that all women watch horrible movies, or that all women’s movies are horrible, but even the geekiest of female film fans have found themselves swept away by the most predictable and clichéd romantic comedies. So it is with this life truth in mind (plus a barrage of terrible movies lined up on my quickflix queue) I have set out a simple, easy to follow survival guide for when the vacant stare of Robert Patterson’s serious face is setting unrealistic standards in your life.

Step 1: Preparation

This is the most important step. Prevention is better than cure and we’re more likely to see an end to AIDS right now than Kate Hudson’s career so pay attention.

Long Term: For the pickier movie elitist who can only imagine his one true love sharing his DVD collection item for item, it might be better to simply stem the poison at the source and ditch any poorly cultured partner until you find the perfect match. Of course we should acknowledge that the this breed of film fans aren’t usually blessed with the power to manipulate the hearts of any woman they desire. Beggars can’t be choosers, love is a game of give and take, you get my drift.

With blockbuster season well and truly upon us, we as an audience have to prepare ourselves for the impending onslaught of high budget remakes, comic book movies and of course sequels, all competing to steal our money. Now while some of these flicks may well be worth forking over some spare change to check out, these quality films are usually mixed in with an assortment of soulless pictures void of any sort of redeeming values (Transformers 2 springs to mind…). These brainless, repellent films are usually backed up by a marketing campaign that’s impossible to escape from to ensure maximum returns. Now that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth instalment in the series, has been given an early head start on its competitors, it would be too easy to associate these traits with this film. It’s a high budget sequel of a series that apparently nobody has genuinely enjoyed since its first instalment, so what could it possibly offer? Well what may surprise you, as it did me, is that Pirates 4 is at times a genuinely fun and competent picture. Sure, it still carries around many familiar bad habits, but at least it’s a nudge in the right direction for the series.

The plot this time around sees the ever-elusive Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) embroiled in yet another bizarre adventure coated with the supernatural. To be honest, the first act of film is so lifeless and forgettable, that I’m actually having trouble recalling how this latest expedition comes about, but no matter. Long story short, upon a chance encounter with former flame Angelica (Penelope Cruz, who, for reasons unknown is impersonating Jack early on), the pair join a voyage to seek out the fabled Fountain of Life. Unfortunately for Jack, leading this expedition is the malicious Black Beard, the most feared pirate of all the seas, who on a side note can inexplicably control his ship through his sword. No, it doesn’t make sense to me either… This journey is unsurprisingly full of peril. And this is where the creative side of the Pirates films have lain in the past — the films always manage to conjure up creative adversaries for Jack and Co. to contend with. From zombified crewmembers and murderous mermaids, to Black Beard himself, On Stranger Tides has a host of entertaining obstacles wrought with danger.

Playing out like a fifteen year old’s dream script, Your Highness has to be a contender for the prestigious award for most juvenile film of the year. Encompassed within this homage to the sword and sorcery films from years gone by, Your Highness is a non-stop bombardment of filthy, immature gags that feel as though it was written by a group of potty-mouthed teenage boys. Dick and tit jokes are the constant order of the day here, and while that sounds like a tedious ordeal for some, there’s no escaping the fact that Your Highness’ constant stream of profanities still makes for a puerile, yet unquestionably fun time.

Director David Gordon Greene plunges us back to days when brave knights roamed the untamed lands, saving damsels in distress and slaying foul creatures. The brave knight in question here is Fabious (James Franco), a valiant and courageous hero who’s also heir to the king’s throne. But upon the day in which he is to be wed to the beautiful Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), his bride-to-be is captured by the evil sorcerer Leezar (Justin Theroux). He intends to use her to fulfill a prophecy which will in turn grant him infinite power… or something like that. Sir Brave now has to head off on a perilous quest to rescue his true love, only he won’t be questing alone. Apart from the accompaniment of his regular loyal soldiers, Fabious’ clumsy and cumbersome brother Thadeous (Danny McBride) also joins the adventure. Well meaning yet completely cowardly and hopeless, Thadeous must do his best to aid his brother on his quest while facing the possibility that he may have to step into the role of noble hero himself. All while cracking non-stop dick jokes, of course.

James Wan has been something of hit-and-miss director for me in the past. While I really enjoyed the original Saw upon release, I felt that his subsequent features were full of rough cinematic potholes that made for uneven and flawed viewing experiences. Dead Silence, while possessing a genuinely creepy concept and grand set designs, ultimately came off feeling like a rushed B grade horror flick that was soon forgotten. Death Sentence on the other hand, featured some likeable characters and flashy visuals, but unfortunately spiralled out of control as it progressed. With his latest feature Insidious, Wan seems to have learnt from some of his previous mistakes to deliver what is easily his best feature since Saw. Unfortunately, he hasn’t completely shaken off his old bad habits, and it’s this old unnecessary baggage that prevents Insidious from becoming the classic spook show it could have potentially been.

Insidious begins its slow descent into terror just as any other haunted house film might. Happily married couple Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) move into their spacious and luxurious new home with their two sons and baby daughter, but as is to be predicted, all is not well. While the happy family blissfully enjoy their new abode for a short while, it doesn’t take long for an unseen sinister force to turn their wheel of fate toward a strange and frightening direction. One morning without warning, Dalton, the more adventurous son of the two, falls into a mysterious coma. The medical practitioners who examine him can only trace this to a minor bump on the head Dalton received shortly before the onset of this unexplained coma, but we as the audience know better. The family care for him over a period of three months, all the while strange happenings start to plague the family. Unidentified voices are heard in the house and terrifying figures are spotted roaming various rooms. But this is only the start of a terrifying journey for the family that will take them to dark places they never would have thought existed. And unlike the film’s promotional poster, I won’t spoil the twist that’s revealed at the halfway point which sends the narrative down a whole new direction.

Movies are a social medium. You make friends over movies, base possible spouses over movies and sit in large rooms with dozens of strangers over movies. We look to the stars of the cinema for tips on how to fit into social groups or how to break out of them and revolutionise cool. They help us define who we are or at least who we aren’t, or even who we are but wish we weren’t – Like whenever I watch Dazed and Confused I try to match the characters to old high school aquaintainces. Then I match myself and usually accept that I am closest to two semi-nerds in the cool group. I just can’t figure out if I am the one who gets the hot 9^th grader or the punch in the face. Sadly and gladly neither of those happened to me to help me distinguish further – But movies aren’t just a social call to arms that drive us to discuss and ramble in whatever medium will permit – they can also be a very personal experience; a journey, if you will, to discover yourself.

As I search for purpose with this blog (which is strikingly similar to this blog (which itself is basically the Entish translation of the first sentence you just read)) I think back to those landmark occasions when movies truly made me feel more than just entertained. I remember around Christmas when I was 15 I saw Lord of the Rings and was left blown away. Every inch of that movie was perfect to me. While my friends were busy compiling DVD collections ranging in the 100s I was content with just 3. I spent hours away watching all the special features and commentaries and extended editions but after a few years of Tolkien/Jackson fanboyhood I felt that there was more to be had from  movies – there had to be something that I was missing.

Source Code, the second directorial outing from enticingly intuitive director Duncan Jones, proves just why he’s a rapidly up-and-coming talent to keep an eye on. Following on from his previous feature Moon, a film that I personally feel was insanely overhyped but intriguing nevertheless, Jones has served up another slice of mind-bending sci-fi thrills. Moving away from the one-character, one-location format he adopted with Moon, Source Code allows for a marginally larger playing field for Jones to manipulate. The resulting picture is a smarter than average action film, backed up by an interesting concept and strong performances from all its leading players.

Diving into the action head first, Source Code immediately introduces the audience to Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a headstrong pilot who wakes up on a commuter train surrounded by people he doesn’t recognise. Things only take a further turn for the bizarre when he realises he’s trapped in a body of an unknown man. The resulting confusion is abruptly cut short when a devastating explosion rips through the train, killing all of those aboard. Bewildered and disorientated, Coulter suddenly awakes to find himself alone in some sort of foreign test chamber. Through brief video links, a female military Air Force captain, Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), contacts Colter and explains his current situation. Colter has been chosen by the military as an appropriate candidate for the Source Code initiative, a program that allows the user to relive the last eight minutes of a given individual’s life. Colter is given the mission to use the Source Code to discover who was responsible for the train bombing that took place earlier in the day in order to stop a further planned attack.

Within the ongoing pet hates column, it is our solemn duty here at For A Few Movies More to pinpoint frustrating decisions and trends adopted by Hollywood, and then bitch about them with utter contempt. That ought to show them who’s boss, right? Well in this instalment, I’m going to set my sights on a trend that has become increasingly popular over the recent years, and continues to ruin any action film it’s implemented in. The frustrating trend I speak of is the ever-so-annoying tendency of filmmakers to attempt to replicate a gritty, realistic feel for a film by shooting it hand-held and in turn, letting the camera shake like crazy all over the place. Thus, rendering it impossible for the audience make out whatever the fuck is happening on screen.

Commonly referred to as ‘shaky cam’, this overused technique is apparently intent on robbing the excitement and fluidity out of any action film it’s utilised in. And just so there’s no confusion, this criticism isn’t directed at the found footage genre of films (i.e. Cloverfield) that also suffers from all sorts of shaky cam problems. It feels appropriate for these films to suffer from a little shake and sway sometimes since they are supposed to have been filmed by bystanders with no prior filmmaking experience. And although they can become disorientating to point of causing motion sickness, I’ll let these issues slide past for now… Instead, the films in question I’m referring to are those slickly produced, big budget Hollywood films, that apparently think that putting a camera in the hands of a guy suffering from an epileptic fit somehow equals exciting camera work.

The Stars

Noah Taylor
Amanda Fuller
Mark Senter

What’s The Story

What starts as a fragile love story between an emotionally damaged young girl and an intense yet soft-spoken drifter takes an unexpected and heart wrenching turn. I’d love to give away more but trust me, the less you know going into Red White and Blue, the harder the payoff will hit you.

What’s The Score

With that ever so cryptic plot synopsis out of the way, let’s take a journey down this dark and windy road that awaits us with Red White and Blue. To be honest, I wasn’t initially going to write any sort of article up for this movie, this had nothing to do the overriding quality of the film since as you’ll soon learn, but had more to do with the overwhelming amount of reviews I had to write up. So I simply sat down and watched the film, loved it to pieces then moved on. However, as the days ticked by my thoughts frequently found their way back to this mini masterpiece. I couldn’t shake the film from my mind, it stood out amongst all other films I had seen in the recent months. But what truly bothered me about the film; beyond its graphic and heart-breaking nature, was the fact that a wide audience would probably never see it. For reasons that I absolutely cannot fathom, the film has been distributed straight to DVD with next to no publicity behind it. Now I know that given its sombre nature and its low-fi approach it probably wouldn’t have generated much revenue playing in the soulless multiplexes, but c’mon, at least give the flick a limited release. That’s the least it deserves. So in order to try my best to help right this wrong I’m here to tell you all about what may very well be the most emotionally gripping film I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing so far this year.