The Hangover Part 2 Review (2011)

The Wolf pack are back for another wedding and more misadventures only this time in Bangkok instead of Las Vegas. The story follows a similar pattern to the original which some critics have slated, saying the director and writers have gone the easy route and suggested this film was a guaranteed smash after the surprising success of the first film. Both arguments have valid points, but in my view if it ain't broke then don't fix it.

The film starts two years after the episode in Vegas and this time it's Stu (Ed Helms) who's about to get married to his gorgeous American-Asian girlfriend who has insisted on getting married in Thailand. Stu's friends are reluctant to go at first but come around to the idea of having a stag-do overseas. What starts with a quiet beer on the beach turns into a heavy session ending up in a seedy hotel in Bangkok with no one remembering what happened and the loss of the brides 16 year old brother.

The plot is very similar but its the quality of the comedic performances which keep the film going. Again Bradley Cooper keeps the gang and the film together which gives Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms freedom to bring out the films best laughs which include kidnapping a monkey, partying with some choice Asian ladies and a run in with gangster Kinglsey (Giamatti). Much was said of the Mel Gibson cameo who was replaced by Liam Neeson then finally Nick Cassevetes. But the role is small and only leads to another clue to the location of the brother and therefore isn't such a big deal. There's also another surprise cameo from the first Hangover

Yes there is a feeling of Deja-vu but the laughs continue to come thick and fast that you'll forget that you're watching more of a remake then a sequel. While not as good as the original, its still a great Saturday night movie and with talk of a 3rd movie this time set in Europe, I'm sure people will come in their droves to see what 'the wolfpack' get up to next.

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Tangled Review

I'll start off this review of Disney's latest animation feature by declaring that Tangled is a gorgeous animation film. It's a big, colourful and a gleaming film that will make you think of previous classics Lion King, Aladdin and A Little Mermaid.

This film is more action orientated then previous film The Princess and The Frog which didn't do to well at the box office and maybe why Disney have decided to make this more action packed and slightly more appealing to the male population. Originally called Rapunzel, Disney reportedly changed the name to Tangled to take it away from the traditional and more feminine story. Both main characters, Mandy Moores feisty Rapunzel and Zachary Levis theif Flynn get good character development and their love story is based more then love at first sight.

Mother Gothel is another classic villain voiced by Donna Murphy. She has no powers to speak of but uses her wit and intelligence to manipulate Rapunzel and others to keep her going. Theirs a scene towards the end  involving Mother Gothel which is quite violent and distressing for a family/kids film. This however makes Mother Gothel even more villainous and hated.

Stand out character is police horse Maximus who steals every scene he's in. He's a horse who thinks his a dog and plays off well with Flynn. But this is also a musical and songs created by Alan Menken are both comedic and sincere.

Overall this is another good film from Disney. Its funnier then previous films but you can put this alongside Disney's best work.

Tangled is out now on DVD and Blu-Ray

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The Way Back Review

Peter Weir's first film since Master and Commander nearly 8 years ago is based on the memoirs published in 1956 by Slavomir Rawicz called The Long Walk: The True Story Of A Trek to Freedom.

It has since been reported by a BBC documentary, that Slavomir made the whole story up, having been released from prison in 1942. Either way the book makes a great story for a film. There are some great performances in this film from the likes of Ed Harris (Trueman show), Colin Farrell (London Boulevard) and Jim Sturgess (One Day) but I didn't feel as much of a connection with the characters as I was anticipating.

The characters make a great escape from their prison in Siberia and travel through the Gobi Desert, Tibet and the Himalayas before reaching their final destination India. As the men trek through the different types of terrain they pick up a polish girl (Sairose Ronan) who decides to join them in their journey for freedom.

It makes for a pretty entertaining journey and some of the backgrounds are stunning but it feels like the audience is too far way from bonding with the characters and we as a audience seem to be kept at a distance throughout the film. Maybe this was the direction Peter wanted to take but I felt most of the characters were under developed and very typical of movies (the hero, the thief, the girl etc etc) this made it very difficult to get into their story like other survival movies like Alive and 127 Hours.

Peter Weir has made some excellent movies including Trueman Show and Master and Commander but I feel a slight disapointment with his latest film. The Way Back is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray

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Batman Begins Review

This is the story of how Bruce Wayne became Batman. Since the murder of his parents, Bruce has been traumatised and seeks revenge for their deaths. Bruce is recruited by the league of shadows and is taught the way of a ninja assassin. After rejecting their ways Bruce returns to Gotham determined to rid the city of crime.

This film is totally different from the camp and quite frankly awful films Joel Schumacher made. You would have to wonder what villains like Penguin and the Riddler would look like in Christopher Nolan dark take on the franchise.

The film starts off with the back story of Bruce Wayne. How he learnt to fight, where he got gadgets and bat-suit from. In fact, you don't see Bruce Wayne become Batman until at least an hour into the film. The world Nolan has created is only slightly different from reality until the heroics from Batman start

Christian Bale is arguably the best Batman in film. Christopher Nolan made a great choice in casting Bale as he knows how to play the psychotic and the play-boy Billionaire (American Psycho). You just couldn't picture anyone else in the role.

Batman builds trusted alliances to help with his war on crime with Gordan (Gary Oldman) Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes). All play the characters very well with special mention to Oldman who actually tones down his normal eccentric style to play the honest cop.

Overall this is a great start to Nolan's trilogy. When I first watched this film over 5 years ago. I was worried their wouldn't be much else to show of a character that was ruined by previous versions, but Nolan has found a way to make this film fresh and very dark. The Dark Knight is a superior film to Batman Begins and if Nolan gets Dark Knight Rises right, which I have every confidence he will. Then you could be looking at one of the greatest trilogy's ever made.

Batman Begins is out on DVD and Blu-Ray now.

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Pirates Of The Caribbean On Stranger Tides Review

Most people including myself will always welcome another Pirates movie just to see Johnny Depp reprise arguably his best role as Captain Jack Sparrow. So I was excited when Disney announced another sequel, but after watching Capt Jack's latest adventure...well, I wish they hadn't bothered.

The main problem with the film is the plot. Theres so many twist and turns that you begin to not care when the latest double crossing happens and this also makes it harder to engage with the characters. Why can't they make a simple swashbuckling adventure with some comedy and spectacular set pieces, you know...like the 1st film? This is what plagued At World's End and the writers still haven't learnt their lesson. I'm all for a few plot twists to help progress the story. But when they happen every 5 minutes, it becomes boring rather then entertaining.

Which brings me onto the new characters. Blackbeard (Ian Mcshane) is simply not as good as Davy Jones or even Barbosa, who has changed so much in this film its a wonder why they brought him back. The film doesn't explain what special powers Blackbeard has or why he has Zombies on his ship? Also,whats the point of having a massive flamethrower on the back on your ship if your only going to use it once?  The new lovers, mermaid Syrena and Missionary Phillip dont get enough screen time for their story to develop.I never thought I'd miss characters of old including Bill Nighlys Davy Jones, Keira Knightleys Elizabeth Swan and even Orlando Blooms Will Turner but i'd welcome them back in a heartbeat.

That said there's some spectacular set pieces including Sparrows escape in London, but the highlight is the mermaid attack. These fishes are nasty and bring the first and only tension to the film. If the film brought back a few of the old guard and reduced the running time this could of been a return to form. Unfortunatley they did'nt and is sadly another body blow to the franchise. If I were Jerry I'd take Johnny Depp's advice and not make another one for a good few years.

  

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Legend Of The Guardians Review

Zack Snyder's first animation film is based on Kathryn Lanky's first 3 novels and follows the story of young owl brothers Soren (Jim Sturgess) and Kludd (Ryan Kwanten) as they are kidnapped and taken to the Evil Owl warlord Metalbeak. Meatlbeak and his wife are secretly building a army to take on the Guardians and rule all Owlkind, so its down to Soren to escape and find the Guardians with the help of a few friends along the way.

Zack Snyder likes making films from literary adaptations. From his previous films 300 and Watchmen to the upcoming Superman: Man Of Steel, with only Sucker Punch coming from original material. As mentioned earlier Legends is also based on literacy but this is his first one aimed at children as well as adults and some would argue is a tougher sell.

The film has truly impressive animation with the Owls all having their own unique features and the environments looking spectacular. One seen in particular when Soren is learning to use his gizzard (I can only assume this is using the Force for Owls) whilst its pouring with rain has to be seen to be believed. Animation wise, its up their with the best ever made.

The problems are with the story. Fantasy has always been hard to convert the unfamiliar at cinemas but with the huge success of Lord Of The Rings every major studio wants to take a stab at the genre. The books were wildly popular but I think it would be a hard sell to parents who are unfamiliar with the story. Zack Snyder has brought in a strong cast including Helen Mirren, Hugo Weaving and Geoffrey Rush and their voices shine through during the action sequences with Zack also throwing some trademark slow motions. I didn't get to see this film at the cinema but I'm sure the 3D was impressive and I feel this type of film was made for the other dimension.

Overall the film won't necessarily win any new fans to the novels but the animation and great voice casting make this worth a watch. Legend of the Guardians is out now on DVD and Blu-Ray

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Attack The Block Review (2011)

Director Joe Cornish has been around for while, working on TV with the Adam and Joe show, radio (again with Adam Buxton) and writing screenplays, most recently working on the Tintin script with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. So it has come with no surprise that he should eventually try his hand at directing with Attack The Block being his first film and hopefully not his last.

Joe came up with the idea for Attack The Block after he was mugged in London by a gang of hoodies and later thought what if a Alien race had crashed landed just as the mugging was taking place. This is where the film kicks off as Jodie Whittaker's character is mugged by a group of young kids just as an Alien crash lands right next to the them. The young group decide to chase and Kill the alien, but don't realise the danger they are bringing to the rest of the estate.

People who see this film will easily compare it to Shaun of the dead and to an extent, rightly so as the film was produced by Edgar Wright and stars Nick Frost, but I feel this would be doing the film a disservice as Joe has managed to create a original Sci-fi Film with laughs and jumps throughout. Although you shouldn't go in thinking this is an all out comedy, the film gets darker as it gets closer to the end and has some violent deaths.

Most people dislike gangs of teenagers who wear hoodies but as the story unfolds we begin to actually like the gang and start to root for them to destroy this invasion of aliens. This is great work from Joe and the actors as its fair to say if we were to think of heroes a group of hoodies wouldn't be top of are list. All the actors who play the gang are pretty much all first time actors but they all give fantastic performances with the stand out being John Boyega who plays the gangs leader Moses. Also the aliens created are well suited to the tone of the film, all black with glowing blue teeth and no eyes.

Overall this is a great debut from Joe Cornish who has created a funny, scary and enjoyable sci-fi film.

Attack the Block is out now in cinemas.

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Chico and Rita Review

This beautiful animation film is about a young couple who fall in love with each other over there passion for music, namely Latin ballads. But its not all happiness as the music also drives them apart.

We've seen this story many times, couple fall in love, break up, make up and continue that circle throughout this film. The story sits well with the Cuban soundtrack and with the brilliant animation, makes this film different and unique. Unfortunately after the 2nd or 3rd time the couple drive each other apart, the film becomes repetitive and you begin to lose concentration.

With its blend of CG and hand drawn animation, Fans won't be left disappointed. But the rest will be left wanting a bit more from the storyline.

Chico and Rita is out now on DVD and Blu-Ray

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