For A Few Movies More

J.J.Abrams’ follow-up to his 2009 Star Trek reboot/sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness immediately smacks viewers in the centre of a frantic action sequence in a Spielbergian style. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) are on a planet populated by a primitive alien tribe unexposed to the joys of space travel. Kirk is on the run having upset the locals, while Spock is busy trying to prevent a volcano that’s threatening the planet from erupting. Needless to say, things go from bad to worse for the crew as countless unforeseen obstacles present themselves. It’s a lively set piece that immediately sucks the viewer in, setting the tone of what should follow. However Into Darkness doesn’t quite maintain this high level of frenzied fun, instead opting to tell a more personal tale focusing heavily on the inner workings of the USS Enterprise’s crew, as well as that of the villainous John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Following their aforementioned bungled mission, Kirk is formally stripped of his rank as captain and Spock is assigned to a different ship. But before any trace of change can occur, a series of terror attacks are carried out against the Federation by a formidable figure only known as John Harrison. So before you can cry “Oh no, not change!” Kirk is given back his ship and Spock is back onboard, making the last ten minutes all but meaningless. Yay! From there Kirk and his crew are instructed to track down Harrison and use deadly force to make him pay for his actions. Making matters tricky is Harrison’s hideout location – the Klingon home world. The Enterprise crew must approach the matter with caution to avoid sparking a war with the hostile beings, a difficult task made all the more complicated when the ghosts of Harison’s past begin to haunt them.

Before Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. teamed up to bring the world Iron Man in 2008, it was tough to be a fan of comic book movies. With the exception of Batman’s rebirth in 2005’s Batman Begins, we had to watch as all of our favorite comic book characters were thrust into careless, undercooked outings, angering longtime fans and newcomers alike. But once Iron Man arrived on the scene, that all changed. The film was a huge hit, both financially and critically, standing as a highpoint that future comic book adaptations would need to strive to match. The film also gave Downey Jr. the role his was born to play in Tony Stark, the motor-mouthed, hyper-confident billionaire proud of his superhero status. A sequel arrived with little surprise, bringing with it nothing but disappointment and frustration. Iron Man 2 felt forced, as if Jon Favreau was desperately begging the audience to have fun while his film stumbled from scene to scene without any direction. Needless to say Downey Jr. shone once again, ensuring the film was at the very least watchable. But if the series was to continue it was time for a change, especially since The Avengers shook up the entire Marvel Universe. Enter Shane Black.

The writer of some of the most iconic action films of all time and the director of the brilliant Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Black has created quite possibly the most unique Marvel outing to date with Iron Man 3. All the expected action set pieces and flashy visuals are still in place, but this feels like a more personal film, focusing heavily on the inner-workings of Stark. It’s a refreshing take on the superhero genre and perhaps the best Iron Man film so far.

“From the makers of ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Iron Man 2’, comes Tony Stark’s latest adventure as the invincible Iron Man, ‘Iron Man 3’!!!” This has been just about all that has been perceptible of late on my movie radar, with the occasional bit of evidence of some slick looking new sci-fi movie from JJ Abrams due out shortly too, because we have been utterly bombarded with it from all directions. So it is perhaps no surprise that when I was offered the job of reviewing “The Place Beyond The Pines”, the latest offering from Derek Cianfrance (who achieved a certain measure of fame in 2010 with the critically acclaimed “Blue Valentine”), my first reaction was a puzzled, “Who?!”.

In the periodical sea-storm that is blockbuster season it is easy for a thinker film to get utterly overlooked by all but the skivvies-and-lattes high-brow art aficionados of the cinematic world, who stare down their lofty noses at blockbusters and all who watch them, and then take great delight in checking themselves in on Facebook at art house cinemas, rabidly checking every few minutes to see who has Liked their check-in, and thinks they’re just sooooooo sophisticated simply for being there. Ordinarily I would have expected a movie such as this to be released in one of the lull periods between blockbuster season and Christmas, but it seems the distributors have chosen instead to compete with “Iron Man”, “Star Trek” and “The Great Gatsby”, and all the rest of this season’s lineup of cinematic heavyweights, primed and ready to make squillions in box office revenue, and break all kinds of records. So just what chance does “The Place Beyond The Pines” have against such cinematic titans? Read on for my humble opinion.

In 2008 Marvel’s film division took the logical step of exploring its catalogue for the next big adaptation and came across the middling Iron Man franchise – a character well known in the comics but a relative stranger to the greater populace. However, through one of the greatest origins films in made, Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau set the wheels in motion for one of the coolest and most popular franchises of the new century. Skip to 2010 and the highly anticipated sequel Iron Man 2 was released. The same team on board, an established character ready for some growth and a villainous upgrade in place, surely this would be more joy. But the film felt surprisingly hollow and ultimately forgettable. Iron Man featured heavily in the wildly successful The Avengers, restoring a lot of faith in the character but it was with that mixed bag of a legacy that Iron Man returns to the big screen for his third stand-alone feature. Hopes and hype were as high as ever on the fan front, and behind the scenes it was important for Marvel to maintain its momentum with this film. Luckily for all involved (especially for you and me) the film is a resounding success, packed with action and fun for all.

The story picks up on New Year’s Eve, 1999. After a couple of present day shots of exploding Iron Man suits we are taken back to when Tony Stark met a couple of smart people and created a couple of demons. He did this at a party, half drunk while witnessing the early stages of a new technology which could tinkle with our brains and DNA to heal and the human body, and even regenerate limbs. Skip to the present and a new terrorist known as The Mandarin has begun to grow ever more bold and imposing in his fight against the United States. Tony Stark, on the other hand, is working round the clock trying to avoid the nightmarish memory of his experience in New York (i.e. venturing into a wormhole to another corner of the universe with The Avengers). Despite his fragile state of mind he is drawn into the fight when his security guard Happy (Favreau) is nealy killed by the latest Mandarin attack. He throws down the challenge to The Mandarin but quickly finds he may be biting off more than he can chew.

Zombies man, they’re everywhere. Ever since George A. Romero invented the shambling, infectious dead that we’re familiar with today, zombies have become increasingly trendy. It seems you can’t turn your head nowadays without laying eyes on a zombie videogame, TV show, book or comic, but it’s the film industry that these living corpses have really infiltrated with scary efficiency. Just look at the shelves of your local DVD store (if it hasn’t gone out of business yet) and you’ll no doubt see countless indie and mainstream zombie flicks, placing the undead villains in every imaginable situation. And that’s the problem with the genre, there doesn’t feel like there’s anything left to do with it. There’s only so many times we can watch the world crumble to a zombie virus and then have a band of survivors fight against the odds. It’s all become very tedious. However as Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies proves, there is still one genre that has been untouched by the zombie plague; the romantic comedy. A love story between a zombie and a human has to be up there as one of the tougher concepts to do right, but Levine has knocked it out of the ballpark, proving that you can craft a romance between the living and the dead without stooping to Twilight’s level of woefulness.

If Sci-Fi movies are anything to go on, the future is going to be a terrible place to be. Whether it’s war, famine, or some alien force has come to take over the world, it’s never a good thing and Oblivion is no exception but don’t give up on it just yet. Much like director Joseph Kosinski’s first film Tron: Legacy, Oblivion boasts beautiful visuals and an epic soundtrack to boot. The story came about from Kosinski’s days when he was struggling to get work in the industry and thought this might be his first movie. He said he purposefully kept the story’s scope to a minimum in case budgets were a concern. This stripped back approach comes through in the film and actually add to the film. There are no massive battle scenes or lengthy space wars so the film can make way for some rich character development that add some weight when things get tense.

Tom Cruise fills the role of the main protagonist and as we all know he is not an actor to watch for his emotional versatility, he seems to strain when stupid things like emotions get in the way. However throw him a gun and tell him he has to save the day and he’s your man. Kosinski knows this and works Tom to his strengths in Oblivion.

Directed by Stephen Sommers, 2009′s G.I. Joe Rise Of The Cobra came as a massive disappointment to those of us who grew up staging imaginary battles with the iconic figurines of the same name. It featured all of the requisite over the top combat and larger than life characters that one would expect from a G.I. Joe movie, but it also took the liberty of adding super robot suits and laser guns to the mix, making for somewhat of an unappetising recipe. Throw in a terrible plot and poor performances all around, and the final result was a jumbled mess that left most viewers wanting more. Now following a lengthy delay, the sequel G.I. Joe Retaliation has at long last arrived, giving Step Up 3D director John M. Chu a chance to save the Joe’s tainted name. And despite a dubious choice of director, this follow-up is everything its predecessor should have been. A big, cheesy, fun action movie, Retaliation is a wildly entertaining blockbuster, even if it does come with its own long checklist of flaws.

The plot for G.I. Joe Retaliation sees the expertly trained G.I. Joe team framed for crimes against their country and then promptly wiped out following an attack on them by conniving Cobra member Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), a master of disguise who has assumed the president’s (Jonathan Pryce) identity. The only surviving Joes, Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) must now attempt to take on the Cobra forces and the imposter president, enlisting help from the original G.I. Joe himself, General Joe Colton (Bruce Willis). Meanwhile ninja superstar Snake Eyes (Ray Park) is sent to capture his Cobra rival Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee), aided by his apprentice and Storm Shadow’s cousin, Jinx (Elodie Yung). On top of all that, the Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey) is busy putting together a new satellite of doom capable of wiping entire cities off the face of the Earth. All of the remaining Joes will need to band together if they are to have any chance of stopping the imminent destruction of the world’s major cities. Go Joe!

The Die Hard franchise sure has taken quite the tumble in quality over the years. The original film is, and always will be a celebrated action classic. One that introduced audiences to the ever-resourceful character of John McCLane and his never say die attitude. The two sequels that followed while not quite in the same league as the original are both still thoroughly enjoyable. Then came the fourth installment, Live Free Or Die Hard. An uncalled for sequel that saw John McClane enter the digital age and then promptly take down a heavily-armed fighter jet with his bare hands, it was an incredibly ridiculous and unnatural progression of the series, yet it was still silly entertainment. And now 25 years since the original we’ve arrived at the fifth film in the series, A Good Day To Die Hard. It’s yet another needless addition to the series, offering very little other than the opportunity to see an older John McClane in action again. Yet despite its convoluted plot, overblown action and weak acting, A Good Day To Die Hard still has some seriously entertaining merits.

Directed by John Moore, A Good Day To Die Hard sees NYC hero cop and mass murderer of evildoers John McClane (Bruce Willis) head to Moscow to catch-up with his wayward son, Jack (Jai Courtney). Seemingly embroiled in the Russian criminal underworld, Jack agrees to testify against Government whistleblower Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch) in order to receive a shorter sentence for an assassination he committed. But when a heavily armed group looking to snatch Yuri storms the courthouse on the day of the trial, it’s revealed that Jack is in fact an undercover CIA operative with Yuri’s wellbeing being his prime concern. Now with shady crooks coming of the walls trying to snatch Yuri for their own purposes, the dysfunctional father and son team of John and Jack McClane find themselves fighting side by side and putting their differences behind them.

The one wild, drunken night genre feels like it should have run its course by now. Can’t Hardly Wait nailed the format back in the 90’s, Superbad updated it for the current generation, The Hangover gave the adults a turn at behaving badly, and then oh so terrible Project X came along and let all the fun out of the room like a deflating balloon. Directed by the writers of The Hangover (Jon Lucas and Scott Moore), new kid on the bleary-eyed block 21 And Over attempts to replicate the crazy shenanigans of the wolf pack, only substituting adults who should know better for college students who are just getting warmed up. It sounds like it should make for a tired case of been there done that, however surprisingly, 21 And Over brings both laughter and some unexpected heart.

The plot for 21 And Over barely requires a description since it’s primarily scene after scene of drunken stupidity, but what little narrative there is still manages to do a good job at giving the film some purpose and direction. It centres around Jeff Chang (Justin Chon), a straight-A student who on his 21^st birthday is taken out for a night on the town by his two best buddies, Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin). With a job interview lined up early the next morning by his domineering father (François Chau), Chang knows the night can’t be a wild one, but a copious amount of alcohol consumed later, the night turns into just that. Chang is drunk beyond reason, so it’s up to his buddies to get him home so he can rest up for his interview. Unfortunately, nobody knows where Chang lives. Cue one crazy night that sees our protagonists wind up in all manner of bizarre situations.

It was a gutsy move for Disney to produce a prequel to The Wizard Of Oz. With its iconic images, endearing characters and catchy tunes, the original Oz is a certified classic treasured by film lovers from all over the globe. So with that in mind, the pressure was on the Mouse House to bring a talented director onboard capable of crafting an entertaining tie-in to the original, while also reimagining the tremoltuous land of Oz for a whole new generation.  Director of the original Spider-Man trilogy Sam Raimi was eventually hired to helm the project, a choice that has fortunately paid off big time. Raimi’s trademark visual flair and comedic flourishes are all over Oz The Great And Powerful, giving the film a real sense of personality. However it’s the beautiful fantasy world he has created which is the real highlight, along with its imaginative population of quirky characters. There are still shortcomings abound, although most are easy to overlook as a result of Raimi’s relentless attempt to entertain.

Oz The Great And Powerful immediately introduces the audience to Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with only three passions, magic, money and the opposite sex. After ticking off the wrong people Oscar finds himself fleeing Kansas aboard a hot air balloon, only to be caught in a freak tornado that transports him to the world of Oz. Upon arrival via a rough crash landing, Oscar meets Theodora (Mila Kunis), a kind witch who is convinced that Oscar is a powerful wizard armed with the means and intention to save the anarchic land from the blight of the wicked witch, Glinda (Michelle Williams). Theodora’s sister Evanora (Rachel Weisz) informs Oscar that he must embark on a mission to destroy Glinda if he wishes to rule their kingdom and inherit its fortune, however our hero soon finds out that not all is as it seems. Oscar must now put his magic skills to the ultimate test to fight the evil ruling the land, while also battling his own corrupt moral code in order to save the citizens he meets along his journey.