Moonrise Kingdom

Imaginatively amazing...Kara Hayward...Jared Gilman..Moonrise Kingdom.

Wes Anderson's latest film is a bizarre mixture of normality and the absurd. He defies all walls in film-making and just goes for it. The result is great. It's set in the mid-60's on the fictional island of New Penzance. Teenage newcomers, Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman play Suzy and Sam. Sam is a Khaki Scout, and an orphan living in a home along with lots of other boys, Suzy is a disturbed child that spies on her parents, (Bill Murray and Frances McDormand.) They are going through a troubled marriage - sleeping in single beds and calling each other, "counsellor." Sam and Suzy decide to run away together and a search party goes off to find them, headed by the police chief, Captain Sharp (played by Bruce Willis.) Sam's weedy Scout Master (Edward Norton) also enlists his bitchy troop to help search for the pair. It's sweet and innocent, and keeps the audience entertained. Wes Anderson has created his own outlandish world that I wish to see more of in the future.




4/5

The Dictator.

Ridiculous ruler....Sacha Baron Cohen as Admiral General Hafez Aladeen,

It's hard to know what to expect when you go and see a Sacha Baron Cohen movie. You know it will be funny and offensive and that's exactly what The Dictator is - funny and offensive. It's a little less disrespectful than Borat but still as crude. Baron Cohen's latest bane is Admiral General Hafez Aladeen, a dumb and anti-Western dictator who rules the fictional state of Wadiya. He's stupid and similar to the late Colonel Gaddafi, in some ways and he works on nuclear weapons. The jokes are hilarious, with culture clashes and some great one-liners, my favourite scene is when Aladeen and Nadal, a 'friend' of his (Jason Mantzoukas) are playing 'tourists' in a helicopter. Within the first five seconds of the film appearing on the screen the audience are laughing. The words: in loving memory of Kim Jong-il appear on screen. 


The plot is very wobbly and is just a vehicle for the jokes. Aladeen is building nuclear weapons and if he doesn't appear at the United Nations in New York then the UN will take military action on the Admiral General. So naturally he travels on a state visit to America. Unfortunately, his traitorous uncle, Tamir (played by an uncomfortable-looking Ben Kingsley)  has an assassin to take care of him. The Admiral General escapes and seeks sanctum at a vegetarian grocery store, run by a very unattractive Anna Faris. It's crude, rude, a bit more fictional than Borat but will have the audience laughing all the same.




4/5

Dark Shadows.

The Addams Family...Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer as Barnabas and Elizabeth Collins.

Tim Burton's new gothic comedy drama is something new that he hasn't done before. His last film, the ridiculous overdone Alice In Wonderland wasn't his best moment - in fairness Dark Shadows isn't his best either but it still raises the bar higher than Alice In Wonderland could. Burton brings back one of his regular lead actors, Johnny Depp to play Barnabas Collins, a moody, out of date, greasy haired 18th-century vampire. Depp suits the role I think, I thought since he's constantly working with Depp, he may have just hired him because he's his friend but Johnny Depp brings a lot of character in Barnabas. The prologue of the film sees a young Barnabas journey to America with his parents to set up a town - Collinsport, a pleasant costal fishing village. After not falling for the charm of sexy witch, Angelique (Eva Green) she converts him into a vampire and locks him in a coffin for two hundred years. Barnabas then awakens in 1972 to find his once magnificent manor-home, Collinwood in ruin. The current occupiers are his descendants, strong-willed matriarch, Elizabeth (Pfeiffer), moody teen, Carolyn (Chloë Grace Moretz), Elizabeth's sleazy brother Roger, (Jonny Lee Miller), David, Roger's precocious son, (Gulliver McGrath) and manor caretaker, Willie (Jackie Earle Haley.) One other member of the household is Doctor Julia Hoffman, (played splendidly by Helena Bonham Carter), she's smart but lazy and spends 50% of the movie sitting around drinking dark colored alcohol from tumblers not doing any work. She was hired by Elizabeth to examine David after his mother's death. 


The film is a bit raunchy for it's "12A" certificate. In a scene where Dr. Hoffman examines Barnabas, she asks him if he knows what "doctor-patient confidentiality is" and he replies "no, enlighten me." Hoffman proceeds to move her head down his body to Barnabas' horror. Another scene is also sexually explicit but if I told you about it, it'd spoil the film. This is Burton on top form, one of his best since Corpse Bride or Sweeney Todd.




4/5

Avengers Assemble

We're all in this together...Chris Hemsworth as Thor..Chris Evans as Captain America..Avengers Assemble

When you go to superhero movies, you expect them to be long - very long. Avengers Assemble is one of those films with a tremendous 143 minute length. To me, it's length didn't falter how good it was. Director Joss Whedon gives great fun to Marvel fans but also, something actually watchable for parents to enjoy. It's a ensemble superhero movie that pits expert heroes - Captain America (Chris Evans), Dr. Bruce Banner AKA the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Tony Stark AKA Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) against Thor's manipulative and treacherous brother, Loki (played by a very well-acted Tom Hiddleston.) Before the words, 'Avengers Assemble' have even popped up on the screen, Loki has stolen a energy called the Tesseract, a blue see-through box that many fans will remember from Captain America: The First Avenger. There is a lot of comedy to keep the film at an easy level and not just a lot of action - many films have fallen victim to this *cough* Transformers *cough.* The comedy mainly comes from Iron Man (Downey, Jr.) with his quick wit and snipes at other people at the room - he is the smartest man in the room, although it's self-appointed. The Hulk provides a few decent gags, there is one very funny scene where a man encounters a naked Bruce Banner (after pre-Hulk mode) and one of the best scenes in the whole film, where Loki declares himself a god and that he shouldn't be bullied, only to be tossed on the floor like a doll by the Hulk. One let down is the lack of backstory for Hawkeye. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk each have their own films but Hawkeye and Black Widow don't. Black Widow gets a bit of a backstory - enough for you to know the character. Hawkeye is different. He gets possessed in the first few minutes and when he's out of his 'trance' nothing more is explained. To conclude this review, Joss Whedon has put together a terrific ensemble superhero film, that will win over the fans, and surely the critics.




4/5

Marley

Exhausting stuff...Bob Marley..Kevin Macdonald's Marley.

Surely one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, The Last King of Scotland director, Kevin Macdonald, expresses the world's and his own passion for Bob Marley. It's executive producer is Marley's son, David "Ziggy" Marley and Island Records owner, Chris Blackwell - both huge Marley fans. It consists of interviews with people who knew Bob Marley and it also has lots of old and new footage, like some of the gigs The Wailers threw and shots of the clinic in Germany, Marley was treated at. The film suffers one let down - it's length. It's 144 minutes long and you can feel a bit restless one hour and three quarters in. Kevin Macdonald clearly has a passion for Bob Marley, it's blatantly obvious. It delves deep into Robert Marley's roots, like his father, Norval Marley a captain in the Royal Marines and his racial origins. Macdonald gives you so much information it's tiring stuff and he endlessly screams at you that Bob Marley's hope and belief is still in the world today, 21 years after his death.




4/5

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists.

Captain Blackadder...Hugh Grant..The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists.

There is something I really admire about Aardman Animations. I'm not sure wither it's the amazing animation or the hard work they put into their films but they really stand out as one of the best movie making companies in the 21st Century. The Pirates! lives 100% to it's expectations, just like it's predecessors, Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of The Were-Rabbit. It's funny, with gags-a-minute, the characters are likeable and it's got a great story. There are several films out this Easter, Mirror Mirror, a bad retelling of the Snow White story and Wrath of The Titans, a CGI adventure bore, if your child begs you to go the any these films, just say no and give them a history lesson and a great film rolled it one. I suppose it's like Horrible Histories except funnier. It tells the story of the dim Pirate Captain, played by Hugh Grant and his motley crew who accidently try to rob Charles Darwin's ship. It then leads to an adventure with what I believe as a mild cameo, scientists. The baddie is great with hints of Imelda Staunton's Dolores Umbridge kicking in. It's like Monty Python and Blackadder on the high seas.




5/5

The Kid With A Bike

Dangerous liasons...Cécile de France..Thomas Doret..The Kid With A Bike

The Kid With A Bike is a heart-warming powerful piece of cinema that makes the audience think about their parents. It follows the life of Cyril, a disturbed young boy, living in foster care looking for his father who left a month prior to the film and a missing bike. He meets Samantha  (de France), a kindly hairdresser who retrieves his bike. Cyril takes a shining to her and soon Samantha fosters Cyril for weekends only. One weekend, Cyril meets "The Dealer," a shady crook who enlists Cyril to commit a robbery. It's touching and the scene where Cyril's father abandons him, is very sad and heart-wrenching. The shots go on for too long and it feels a little stretched but still a very good film.




4/5