Like the Magnificent Seven but a little less magnificent and a little more furious.
Category / Cinema
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (James Rolfe, 2014)
I remember a couple of years ago when I saw the queues of young girls stood outside the theatre awaiting the release of the latest One Direction Movie, 1D: This Is Us. I’m pretty sure I passed a snide comment to whoever I was with at the time berating the popularity of the film, which was clearly not aimed at me. I wasn’t the “target audience”. Nonetheless, what a bunch of idiots standing there to watch such a rubbish film.
One for the fans
And that’s the point. This is by no means a film for everyone. It is specifically a film for the fans of James Rolfe’s character The Angry Video Game Nerd, the central character in his webisodic (it’s now a word) series in which he reviews terrible old games in a foul-mouthed and occasionally aggressive manner. It’s a film full of references to the series, made for the fans, and a pet project for Rolfe to flex his big-budget muscles and show exactly what he can do once he leaves his underground lair.
The storyline concerns the release of Eee Tee 2, the sequel to Eee Tee, the biggest flop in video game history (and barely hiding the reference to E.T.). The Nerd has always refused to review this game, but when an opportunity arises to go to New Mexico and dig up the infamous New Mexico Atari landfill as a tie in to the sequel, he agrees. The Nerd and his two assistants start the quest but are pursued by federal agent General Dark Onward, who believes The Nerd is trying to investigate Area 51.
It is quite a convoluted plot but it’s not really there to win any awards for screenplays. It’s a platform on which Rolfe bases some quite hilarious moments and I see the film as a success. Yes, it’s probably a little long but I can forgive Rolfe for this – he was bringing his own dream to life and wanted to make sure his fans got the most out of it. Some of the script feels a little like it’s deliberately trying to aspire to be a cult film, and it gets very silly at times, but it’s delivered with enough charm to be forgiven for a few misfires.
There’s a nice bonus at the end, where he finally reviews E.T. The Extra Terrestrial on the Atari, which he has never previously done. The bonus features on the disc are plentiful and give a bit of insight into the film (though many of the featurettes were previously available during the making of the film on Cinemassacre).
Steer clear if you have never heard of The Nerd before but if you want to see what he’s capable of it’s worth the plunge.
[1] For those in the UK, the best option to see the movie in HD is to import from Amazon.com. Be warned though – you will pay through the nose for the postage and then get slapped with import duty when it arrives. It’s expensive and if you aren’t fussed about the HD then you have an option to stream from Cinemassacre for a small fee.
Beyond Clueless (Charlie Lyne, 2014)
I previously talked about this essay film in a preview last October, and I finally managed to see it this week after it was added to Netflix. I had backed it in a Kickstarter campaign so I’ve had loads of updates from the engine that is Charlie Lyne, a man who has filled the project with as much man hours as he has passion.
Lyne covers the recurring themes we see in teen movies, taking an in-depth look at some key films on each topic. It takes the form of a long essay split into five sections: “Fitting In”, which deals with characters attempting to fit in and conform to their stereotypes (Mean Girls, Cruel Intentions); “Acting Out”, which looks at characters rebelling against suppression and leaving their comfort zones to break the status quo (Bubble Boy, Idle Hands); “Losing Yourself”, a discussion on characters who are keen to explore the wider world (Euro Trip, Jeepers Creepers); “Toeing The Line”, about characters having to conform to stereotypes or trying to break the brainwashed mould (The Faculty, Josie and the Pussycats); and “Moving On”, which explores themes of characters either needing to grow up or not wanting to (13 Going On 30, Drive Me Crazy). These are neatly bookended by a prologue and an epilogue, which tie the themes together nicely.
The film received criticism on its release, perhaps due to the fact it is an essay film and that is a slightly unusual format. Don’t get me wrong, this would have worked perfectly well as an essay, but the content lends itself to being delivered in this visual medium. There aren’t any topics that fall outside the content of teen films and the production team has meticulously sourced footage from every film discussed, which aids the digestion of the discussion points. The concept seems so obvious it’s a surprise it hasn’t been done more often.
Fairuza Balk’s powerful voiceover further endorses the content of the film, and this is further enhanced by an excellent soundtrack by Summer Camp. The script shows a passion for the subject matter that can sometimes lead to the content being given a little too much gravitas. This is never more prominent than the section discussing Euro Trip, which is one of my least favourite films of all time. I found it banal and tacky, but here it sounds like one of the greatest films ever made – I actually want to re-watch it to make sure I haven’t missed anything. In many ways, this is just testament to the passion of the scriptwriters, particularly Lyne, and can hardly be a justifiable criticism.
It’s a film that won’t do much for people who don’t like teen films and will also be lost on anyone unfamiliar with most of the films discussed. It’s a celebration of the genre and works as a great boost to go and re-watch a heap of teen films.
Beyond Clueless is available to stream on Netflix now in the UK.
Pitch Perfect 2 (Elizabeth Banks, 2015)
The sequel to the smash hit musical comedy Pitch Perfect, covering Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson et al. as they struggle to break down boundaries and show the world that a capella singing is actually really cool… Wait, what? In their world, a capella is already cool? They just aren’t cool enough to do it because they’re outcasts. Okay…
I have a slight vested interest in this film, on at least one level. I myself am in an a capella group and also take part in local theatrical productions so performing on stage has always been in my life. From memory, though, I don’t ever recall a capella singing being this popular. When there’s a tournament in Pitch Perfect World, the whole town drops everything to show their support for their favourite group. For me, I’m usually pulling in favours just so my closest family members turn up. Maybe I just don’t have the right acca-skills.
Pitch Perfect 2 has plenty of big laughs but you may have already seen them all in the trailer.
Well, this is a chick flick and it doesn’t have to have a watertight storyline. However, despite throwing away any grasp on reality to accept the film for what it is doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great film. It’s basically a rehash of the first film – pretty much the same cast going through very similar personal struggles but pulling it together because their dedication to their friends supercedes anything else in life. It’s sweet, and I buy into the basic principal.
Unfortunately, outside the handful of really hilarious moments – most of which you’ve already seen in the trailer – the jokes consistently fall flat. Chrissie Fit’s Guatemalan character is just plainly not funny and every line she delivered felt like it was about forty years out of date. Likewise, Cynthia-Rose (portrayed by Ester Dean) is a really throwaway lesbian character that doesn’t really add anything to the storyline other than some cheap gags based on rudimentary stereotyping.
It was nice to see Hailee Steinfeld – who I know only from her Oscar-nominated performance in the Coen Brothers’ remake of True Grit – in a comedic role but, like the more established Kendrick, she almost seems a little above the content. I’m not sure whether the plan is to keep her in line to do Pitch Perfect 3. I guess time will tell.
So what can I say? It passed the time and I enjoyed parts of it. I wanted to see Mad Max but the majority of the seven other people I was with preferred this. I won’t rush to see it again, but I doubt my indifference towards it will change the fact that its target audience (basically the millions of people who loved the first film) will buy tickets and love it.
Pitch Perfect 2 is out now at cinemas worldwide.
Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite, 2013)
Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s 2013 documentary is an investigation into the life of Tilikum, a bull orca living in SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. Tilikum has been involved in the deaths of three trainers: Keitie Byrne in 1991, Daniel Dukes in 1999 and Dawn Brancheau in 2010. It is the third of these that is given the most coverage in the film, which is understandable as it was the starting point around which the rest of the investigation grew. The film also explores the cruel living conditions of orcas once in captivity when being used in waterpark entertainment shows, also touching on the hunting of Tilikum in the early 1980s and discussions on a psychological level on his mental condition after being mistreated for so long.
The contents of the film have been vehemently discredited by SeaWorld, who have distanced themselves from the final product. In the aftermath of its release, the company published an open letter to refute a number of the claims in the film and created a dedicated section of their website titled “Truth About Blackfish”. Despite this, a number of high profile musicians (including The Beach Boys and Barenaked Ladies) dropped out of an annual festival at the Orlando park and they also saw a drop in park attendance, though these two facts are likely closely linked. Furthermore, Pixar altered a section of the upcoming Finding Dory film that featured a depiction of a water park. It is clear that the message contained in Blackfish has resonated around the world and it’s significant that the general attitude has changed.
The reason for this is the huge power in both the content of the film and the expert manner in which it is told. Cowperthwaite is understandably very passionate about the subject matter and clearly open a can of worms in the journey she went on in the creation of the film. Like any great documentary, that passion is transferred directly to the viewer.
Regardless of any bias included in order to help tell the story, any other details would be mere branches of excuses and extenuating circumstances. The bottom line here is that the capture and holding of orcas in order to get them to perform in shows is a travesty. The saddening thing for me is that I have been to the Orlando park and enjoyed the show there, just before the film was released in the UK. Had I known about it my attitude would certainly have been completely different. Like the thousands of people who have seen this film and also attended the shows, I’m embarrassed by the fact I saw the show as a fun experience. Now I can see it more clearly: it’s plainly a form of cruelty to animals and should be stopped.
Blackfish is available on Netflix and can also be bought on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (John Korty, 1984)
Revisiting the familiar forest moon of Endor but set prior to the events portrayed in Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, Ewok Adventures: Caravan of Courage brings back the popular Ewok characters from the third film in the original trilogy, including fan-favourite Wicket (reprised by Warwick Davis) in a family-oriented fun adventure. The plot revolves around the children of the Towani family – Mace and Cindel – who are marooned on Endor when their civilian craft crash lands and their parents are kidnapped by the evil giant Gorax. Teaming up with the Ewoks, they go on an adventure to rescue their parents and escape to safety.
The first thing that jumps out at you when you start watching this film is the low production costs. It retains a lot of the production team that were involved in the original trilogy, but the budget and time constraints meant it feels a lot more cinematic than we’d expect. Indeed, it was a made-for-TV movie and the resolution available in 1984 meant they didn’t need to worry about spectacular visuals. Crucially, George Lucas was on board as a scriptwriter and a producer, meaning the film doesn’t escape from the canon in ways that the Star Wars Holiday Special was unfortunately allowed to.
The main human characters Mace and Cindel are interesting. The former, played by a young Eric Walker, was clearly chosen for his similar appearance to Mark Hamill. This is a bit of a cheap shot and his character is a little whiny, meaning he’s never very likeable. His younger sister is portrayed by Aubree Miller, in one of only two films she ever made (the other being this film’s sequel, 1985’s Battle For Endor). She is far easier to like and the fact she is a young girl in a leading role was probably a decision based on widening the male-centric fanbase of the Star Wars universe.
There has been much debate over whether or not this film should be classed as part of the official canon. It’s a tough one to call. In my opinion, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be, though it is more complicated than you’d think. The sequel, in which the Ewoks begin to speak English, plants it after the events of Return of the Jedi. This one, however, is set prior to that film, meaning the timeline of events over the three films is pretty tight if they are canon. To be honest though, if they’re happy for Episodes I-III to be included then these should be. They’re better films.
Neither of the Ewok Adventure films are currently available on Blu-ray, though they did enjoy a double DVD release around ten years ago. They’re still freely available online to purchase, though occasionally the entire films are put up on YouTube and stay there until the rights holders realise and remove the video. I think they should be embraced with a full re-release, with proper restoration, commentary and extras. It’s a no brainer. It would be a popular release and would widen the popularity of two films that really aren’t bad enough to want to hide from the public.
These are nice options to watch on Star Wars Day this coming Monday. I’ve embedded the YouTube video below for ease of watching as a sample in case you wish to purchase.
The Offence (Sidney Lumet, 1972)
Sean Connery is one of the most renowned British actors of all time. He has starred in so many well regarded and successful films, including The Hunt For Red October, The Untouchables and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He is, of course, remembered most fondly for his performance as the quintessential James Bond, starting with Dr No in 1962 and finishing with Diamonds Are Forever in 1971. He also reprised Bond in 1983 with Never Say Never Again.
His prominent films remain prominent and he will be remembered for these great successes. That said, unless you go out of your way to seek his wider body of work, it’s quite difficult to build up a fuller idea of his talents.
Fortunately, Masters of Cinema are on hand to help us out a little, pointing us in the direction of The Offence, Sidney Lumet’s cross-section of Detective-Sergeant Johnson (Connery) and his struggle to cope with the inner demons he has as a result of the constant horrors he sees in his line of work. Released in 1972, it was one of the earliest post-Bond films he released so was one of his first chances to show the world his full gamut of talents.
The film opens with a bold slow-motion shot of policemen rushing into an interrogation room, where we find Johnson fighting off his colleagues, with the dead beaten body of Kenneth Baxter (Ian Bannen) lying on the floor. Evidently Johnson has killed Baxter and through a series of flashbacks we discover the chain of events that lead to this happening.
This is an excellent performance from Connery, adding weight to a character that has been carefully constructed by screenwriter John Hopkins. The story is told in a non-linear way, which is cleverly executed to ensure the reveals happen at regular intervals. Bannen’s performance kept me second-guessing throughout and ensured it wasn’t just a one-man-show. It’s a stylish and grim view of Britain in the 1970s and it hits home further by being so realistic, which I credit to director Sidney Lumet and his work with cinematographer Gerry Fisher.
It’s a film that warrants a first and indeed second viewing. The latter will undoubtedly come before long. I’ll be devouring the bountiful array of extras first.
The Offence is available on Master of Cinema dual-format Blu-ray and DVD now.
Film review – The Trip (Michael Winterbottom, 2010)
At first, The Trip seems like a terrible proposition. It can be summed up as follows: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing exaggerated versions of themselves, visit six Michelin-starred restaurants in Northern England to review them for an Observer article, spending most of their time together bickering over who can do better impressions of a number of famous people. Well, about seven famous people.
Somehow, over the course of six episodes in the first series, they make it a success so consistently I was left wondering how such a simple idea could fail to work when the two central characters have so much chemistry together. The whole thing is clearly full of improvisations and no matter how many times we hear Michael Caine, Hugh Grant and Ronnie Corbett, they never fail to disappoint.
Yet at the heart of the show we find that it isn’t just a whimsical improvised comedy that borders on self-indulgence, but rather a dissection of one man’s inner struggle to come to terms with the level and manner of his past successes. Coogan’s desire is to alter his legacy and change the public perception of him as a character comedian to something of more substance by taking on more serious roles. He doesn’t see himself as a comedian but as a character actor. His biggest frustrations come from interchanges with Brydon who discusses their similarities, which is hard to receive from a man who Coogan sees as simply an impressionist.
In many ways, parallels can be drawn with Michael Keaton’s recent performance in Birdman, a role that won Keaton an Oscar. In that film, Keaton pushes himself to the cusp of a breakdown as he ploughs all his remaining money and efforts into a theatrical production that he thinks will completely overhaul the public perception of him. It was ironic that Keaton, in this film, established himself as an actor of serious depth in a role that exaggerated the public’s perception of his own life. Similarly here, Coogan manages to come out of the series with a huge level of credibility for his portrayal of a man striving for more, finishing the six-part series almost completely emotionally broken. It is an excellent performance from Coogan and one I’m sure he’d rather be remembered for than Pauline Calf and Alan Partridge.
On the back of this, Coogan went on to star in the Oscar-nominated Philomena, and duly received critical acclaim for another role of real substance. Perhaps The Trip was the stepping stone onto this, but the fact a follow-up was commissioned in 2014 suggests both Brydon and Coogan know that they hit on something special in the first series.
The Trip is available to watch on Netflix UK and can be purchased on Blu-ray or DVD.
[Note] I can only apologise to the creator of the lovely alternative poster at the top of the page. I can’t give credit as the website from which it was sourced (movieweb) has lost the page. It is lovely though.
Robert Downey Jr. v Krishnan Guru Murthy
I’ve just watched the infamous Robert Downey Jr. interview walkout. I recommend you watch it too, especially if you’re a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you read the articles without watching the video, then you’re playing into the hands of the kind of journalism RDJ was walking out of.
The way Guru-Murthy conducts himself in the interview is very much the same as he did in the Quentin Tarantino interview a couple of years ago. He sets his stalls out to deliberately antagonise the star in an attempt to become the focus of the interview and further his credibility. It’s completely disrespectful and I truly hope it backfires.
In an eight-minute interview for a blockbuster superhero movie, it’s too much to try to get under the skin in a way that doesn’t seem superficial. I can totally understand RDJ’s reaction and I hope it doesn’t damage the credibility he has been restoring for the last fifteen years, following his release from prison on drug charges. I just don’t get why you’d do this to such a likeable guy.
By the way, I reviewed Avengers: Age of Ultron yesterday. It’s excellent.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (Joss Whedon, 2015)
The latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) sees the ever-growing cast of superheroes pitted against Ultron, the villainous result of an experiment in peacekeeping by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner that goes catastrophically wrong. Bringing back almost all the huge stars from the previous films (Gwyneth Paltrow and Natalie Portman were the only notable omissions), we see a number of dynamic storylines interwoven intelligently with some hugely impressive action sequences and set pieces delivering an answer to the age old question “What does a $250m film-making budget buy you these days?”. Quite a lot actually.
The opening sequence, set in the frosty hills of Sokovia, a fictional Eastern-European country, was one of the best opening action sequences I’ve ever seen, slowly re-introducing our familiar heroes one at a time whilst setting up the plot for the rest of the film, along with two of the main enemies they would encounter: Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch respectively). It had enough elements to feel like we hadn’t seen it before and had an over-arching purpose so the spectacle didn’t feel gratuitous.
There has been a concerted effort this time to give more depth to the main characters that are yet to have their own standalone films. Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is arguably the central character this time around. He is portrayed as the emotional glue that holds the rest of the team together and he finally gets the opportunity to prove how integral he is. It’s a nice touch as he is perhaps the least super of our superheroes, though I must say the manner in which they introduce a backstory for him is a little clumsy. There’s probably not enough depth to the character to warrant a stand-alone film so this is a great substitute.
Elsewhere Bruce Banner / Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) have a blossoming romance, and we get to see a softer side to both characters that hadn’t been shown before. The intimacy reminded me a little of the now-much-underrated Peter Jackson version of King Kong, with Naomi Watts’s Ann Darrow playing off against Andy Serkis’s ape to a never-before-seen level of motion and facial expression capturing. It made me really keen to see a standalone film exploring their relationship more, though how that would fit into the grander scheme of planned films I’m not sure.
It was nice that Andy Serkis got a cameo appearance as Ulysses Klaw, along with many other recognisable stars (I’d put Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle and Anthony Mackie in this category due to their limited screen time). His accent fell somewhere between East London, Eastern European and the required South African, though he’ll get chance to further develop that in Black Panther in 2018 [1].
Johannesburg is just one of many recognisable cities from around the globe that shows up in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Another such city is Seoul in South Korea. Interestingly, the Korean government reportedly paid Marvel Studios £2.4m for Seoul to be portrayed in a positive light for tourism purposes. I don’t think this is a problem really. It was just nice that London didn’t get blown up. Again.
I’ve seen a lot of huge blockbuster films fall flat in recent years. Any of the Transformers sequels, The Dark Knight Rises, Pacific Rim, Real Steel. More often than not, they just aren’t amazing films. Marvel, however, get it right time and time again. With a wave of films being announced to take us up to the end of the decade, the test will come not in successfully releasing a film like Avengers: Age of Ultron, a film destined for success. Rather, the true test will come with a film like Ant Man, due for release later this year. It’s a film everyone thinks will be a huge flop. If they can pull that one off and make it successful, then they truly do have the Midas touch.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is in UK cinemas now and globally over the next month. [2] [3]
[1] Ulysses Klaw is the main enemy of Black Panther, for which there is a MCU film set for release in 2018. Chadwick Boseman is set to star in the lead role.
[2] There is only one post-credit sequence this time around, which appears about halfway through. There is nothing at the end after the credits so you don’t need to wait. Howard the Duck does not appear.
[3] I went to see this film with fellow WordPress blogger Jordana Makin, who has a blog titled “Ahoy Small Fry“. Check it out, it’s pretty cool.
Cinema, etc. 