Film: Project Almanac (2014)

In which a bunch of young people build a time machine based on plans left behind by the lead's dead father after seeing the lead on a home movie of his ten-year-younger self's birthday.  The screenwriting debut of writers Jason Pagan and Andrew Deutschman as well as the feature debut of director Dean Israelite - the cousin of Jonathan Liebesman, he who directed Platinum Dunes' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) - this sits alongside The Purge (2013) in the Non-Franchise Science Fiction section of Platinum Dunes' output.  A found-footage movie (which ends with the footage being found), it's USP is that the footage concerns its characters travelling through time and capturing on the camera both the time travelling and the effects the characters' actions have on the timeline (including a Back To The Future-esque fade-out variation of the Blinovitch Limitation Effect).  As the characters make mistakes and travel back again and again to fix things, it makes a verbal reference to Groundhog Day (1992) as well as Looper (2012) (marking a character in the past and witnessing its effects on them in the present) and - in what is perhaps the most flaccid "geeky" reference imaginable - Doctor Who.

As with slasher movies, its leads aren't people that we particularly care about, the blonde girl barely registers, the central lead Jonny Weston is clearly more than ten years older than his past self but Sam Lerner does seem a suitable, if not better, replacement for Shia LaBeouf if they ever consider bringing Sam Witwicky back to the Transformers movies.  This is more of a film where you don't character about the characters but you're more interested in what happens to them.  The plot fairly aimlessly wanders once they have figured out how the time travel works and use it to their own ends, such as winning the lottery (and using it to help the lead's mum), getting back at a high school bully and a teacher as well as - albeit with questionable ethics - getting the girl (cf. About Time, 2013).  The found-footage motif is really only justified by the time travel angle but as with Cloverfield (2007), the filming and editing techniques might be put to interesting use outside of the 'found-footage' genre.  Also, Imagine Dragons' Radioactive gets performed at a gig, the usage of which in any film might be enough to bump up a star rating.

Film Brief: 'Big Hero 6' (2014)

TITLE: Big Hero 6
DIRECTOR: Don Hall, Chris Williams
SCREENWRITERS: Jordan Roberts, Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird (based on the characters created by Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle) (Heads of Story: Paul Briggs, Joseph Mateo)

IN BRIEF(ish):
After plundering fairy tales for stories to integrate into what would become the "canon" of Animated Classics (the most recent example being the seemingly immortalised Frozen), Disney more "modern mythologies", such as video games in 2012's Wreck-It-Ralph and now Marvel comics in Big Hero 6.  And indeed, after the Marvel Cinematic Universe turned going to the movies into homework assignments (the biggest chore being 2013's Thor: The Dark World), Big Hero 6 is one of the best looking of the latest Marvel offers.  The design of San Fransokyo makes this Disney's Blade Runner and it makes a great case for the good that CGI can be put to as well as what depth to CG animation that 3D can bring.  It is also one of the most fun so far.  On my so-far initial viewing of Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014), I could not get into it and dismissed it as a Saturday morning cartoon on a similar par to DC's flop Green Lantern (2011), although admittedly it may have been as much to do with the environment in which I was watching it and will give it another chance soon.  But Big Hero 6 is proper good fun and a real treat to take kids to see as a Saturday matinee.  It is funny, even if not quite in the same way as Wreck-It-Ralph's near-Aardman-esque humour, isn't entirely clean-cut when it comes to deciding it's heroes and villains (even the protagonist makes a not particularly heroic choice) and it has a likeable USP character in inflatable robot Baymax.  It does somewhat suffer a common problem from Disney animations in that it isn't easy to get emotionally invested in its CG humans (Frozen perhaps comes close) and one set piece gag about Baymax getting inebriated as a result of running low on batteries is simply a one-off and is never paid off in a way one would expect in the film's climax.

Film Brief: 'Ex Machina'

Title: 'Ex Machina'
Writer and Director: Alex Garland

In Brief:
This one was watched knowing next-to-nothing about it and is perhaps best watched that way.  For at least half of it, it comes across as Black Mirror-lite with less of the biting satire but things then do turn nasty.  But whereas Black Mirror tended to be conceptually nasty (the conclusion of 2014's Christmas special being perhaps most delicious example and this film's ending is admittedly reminiscent of it), this relies more on being lurid (although a scene of self-harm does recall a chip-removal scene from 2011's The Entire History Of You).  Plus, there is significantly more nudity than is likely to be found in any future BM episode.  You may not miss much by waiting for a home-viewing release but it does have good key performances.  Oscar Isaac is consistently untrustworthy and Domhnall Gleeson is a good young vulernable Everyman (it makes for a good, albeit adult, opening cinematic bookend to be finished at the end of the year with their appearances in December's Star Wars: The Force Awakens).  A bewigged Alicia Vikander recalls what John Green would call a "mid-2000s Natalie Portman".

Film Review: 'Exodus: Gods and Kings' (2014)

TITLE: Exodus: Gods and Kings
DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
WRITERS: Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine, Steven Zaillian

Perhaps less controversial than Noah released earlier in the year but still managing to cause some fuss, partly due to continuing the Hollywood tradition of casting largely caucasian actors in Biblical roles.  But had that been the only flaw, one would not have particularly minded, had it been in the tradition of Biblical epics in other aspects.  If Noah was something of a diverging text that was not made purely for Christian audiences, one can detect something of what kind of worldview is behind this latter offering from the opening text telling us that it is set in such-and-such-a-year B.C.E.  There is also something to be said of the portrayal of God, manifested as a petulant boy (recalling Juilette Caton's Satan-as-guardian-angel in The Last Temptation Of Christ, 1988) who makes tea, gets cross and - in the words some people might use - is a bit of a little shit.  Also, the film - or rather Ramses (Joel Edgerton) brings up, perhaps understandably, the ethics of a God who would sanction mass infanticide.  It is possible to suggest that in this film, Ramses comes out of it pretty well.

As with Scott's Robin Hood (2010), there is something of an "early film" approach with expository text setting up the background to the story mixed with slo-mo footage of Egyptian slavery presented in 3D that does, admittedly, bring some resonance for someone who was raised in a religion in which this was a key story.  It is not only here that the 3D does prove rather effective - there is also quite a few shots of flying birds that helps creates some depth in some impressive photography.  There is also some pretty terrific location footage.

As suggested earlier, had this been a traditional, albeit whitewashed, Hollywood Biblical epic, it might have proved satisfactory but until roughly the half-way point, it would not pass muster as Sunday afternoon television.  Things shift a bit from the moment Moses (Christian Bale not having much of a commanding presence in his role of protagonist and using some kind of accent) is knocked out and meets God and sees a burning bush while - for some reason - being buried up to his face and not being asked to remove his sandals.  It goes a little bit Last Temptation-y when a post-bush Moses returns to Egypt and chooses the bow (whereas Willam DeFoe's Jesus had an axe) and trains a bunch of Merry Men.  The "fun" really starts when the Plagues are occuring with a rather Nolan-esque twist (the sea turning to blood is caused by crocodiles massacring each other) and Ewen Bremner is brought in as an "Expert" to explain the science behind the apparent supernatural (during this sequence, Scott makes some choice editing with some comic hanging).  The red sea sequence is also re-envisioned so the waves no longer pass with a narrow path to cross but rather it dries out almost altogether before the waters return for a Moses/Ramses face-off.  What else impresses about this sequence is a collapsing cliffedge which sees a lot of Ramses' soldiers and their chariots fall victim to a thin road (this film is also unkind to horses).

It's a near acceptable half that shows what potential this film had, but if I wanted "heresy", give me Aronofsky's Noah, as exhausting as it is.

From The Archives: Home Viewing Review - "Night At The Museum 2"

There's a new Night At The Museum movie coming out.  Here's a review of Night At The Museum 2 that I wrote for Staffordshire University's One Media Group after the DVD release:

"The first Night at the Museum was passable family fare and one could imagine this franchise being made by Disney in the 1970s.  But as I say it was merely passable and had Dick Van Dyke doing Ninja moves.  The sequel takes a similar root to Toy Story 2 by taking our characters and transplanting them in a new location – the Washington Smithsonian – with other characters of the same ilk, but now it’s not only the exhibits that come to life but also pictures.  Here, a villainous Pharaoh (an at times amusing be-lisped Hank Azaria from The Simpsons) seeks the life-giving tablet to unleash his army from the Underworld.  Ex-night guard Larry teams up with Amelia Earhart (Enchanted’s Amy Adams) to stop him, while the cast from the first film spend most of this one in storage formulating a plan.  Now one problem I’ve noticed is that when they enter the room containing more recent aircraft including NASA material, the exhibits only then come to life, which should mean that meanwhile the main cast stay lifeless.  Also the space backdrop doesn’t suddenly become a vacuum threatening to suck our heroes into oblivion, whereas all the other pictures come to life.  I’d estimate two to three laughs and a giggle."

Christmas Film Review: 'Get Santa' (2014)

TITLE: Get Santa
YEAR: 2014
WRITER AND DIRECTOR: Christopher Smith

After previous works in horror (e.g. Creep, Triangle, Black Death), Christopher Smith goes for a universal audience with a U-rated family film that, until at least the third act, enjoys the creative freedom that Ben Wheatley seems not to have had so much of in the two episodes of Doctor Who that he directed (despite going for a more "Classic Who" style).  Whereas Wheatley took on the Doctor, Smith offers a take on Santa Claus that fuses British realism (cinematographer Christopher Ross's back catalogue includes Eden Lake, 2008) with Christmas fantasy in a manner that suggests he has what it takes to author a future Who movie. The film even opens with a scene not unlike a Who episode from the Russell T Davies era, with news coverage of reindeer being rampant in London.  And on the evidence of a scene involving a model railway, perhaps Smith and Ross can work on rebooting Thomas The Tank Engine.

The film takes a setpiece from Ernest Saves Christmas (1988) and making it the premise of the whole film - Santa is imprisoned and the protagonist has to break him out.  The protagonist in question is the just-released getaway driver Steve (Rafe Spall) along with his son (Jodie Whittaker appears as the boy's mother and, as with Black Sea released in the same year, plays the protagonist's ex), who discovers Santa in a garage.  After Santa is imprisoned, the unbelieving Steve is taken along by his son on a quest to find reindeer Dasher as part of the rescue mission to save Christmas (cf. Ernest Saves Christmas and Elf, 2003).  Whereas Ernest has the prison inmates seem to believe Santa's claim to his identity pretty quickly, Get Santa has him hired out as the Santa for a family Christmas get-together.

As suggested before, it is essentially a British realist take on the "Santa-is-real" family fantasy (the least believable thing in the film is that an episode of the BBC's Porridge is being rerun on Channel 4) although at one point it is suggested that this is not the first time that Claus had been in trouble with the law, putting his identity in question but it does not really go anywhere (perhaps a more "realistic" film to compare this to is Danny Boyle's Millions, 2005).  Apart from references to adult films The Godfather (1972) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994) there are also references to similar fantasy-meets-domestic films Mary Poppins (1964) (a letter to Santa flies up and out of a chimney) and Matilda (1996) (Steve has a Miss Trunchball-like parole officer).  And as with Arthur Christmas (2011), Jim Broadbent gets to play Santa.  And despite the somewhat disconcerting trailer (featuring the scene in which Channel 4's Jon Snow reports no presents from Santa), the film does manage to be occasionally amusing even if it isn't gut busting (it's not on the level of Aardman).  Perhaps the subtlest gag is that fantasy actor Warwick Davis is not playing an elf (but does get to dress up as one) while the most overt is that the Reindeer communicate by breaking wind.

Interest does dissipate after a trip through a vortex to the North Pole and it's much more preferable when we are in home territory and perhaps it might have been more interesting to play it more ambiguously.  As a Warner Bros. release, it's not entirely free of American influence - apart from the Father Christmas figure being referred to as Santa, at least two songs on the soundtrack are from Home Alone movies (Bobby Helms's 'Jingle Bell Rock' and The Drifter's 'White Christmas').  There is also a distracting moment in which a scene in a car which evidently suggests that the HD video had not been put through the "filmising" process.  It might not merit repeat viewing and if it did attain some sort of cult-ish following, it could in the company of Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964) and Jingle All The Way (1996).

Christmas Re-release: 'The Polar Express' (2004)

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Robert Zemeckis, William Broyles Jr. (based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg)

"Two things always look good in a film - a train and snow." - Federico Fellini

A visual blending of storybook imagery and video game graphics which - arguably like a secular, spiritually-lobotomized take on Christmas - is more style than substance with the road trip story occasionally interrupted by a roller coaster ride (complete with POV shots for the 3D experience) - at least one highlight is the train skidding along a large area of ice and the snow in 3D is one of the things that "looks good".  A young Santa skeptic - the religious analogy was brought by by Doug Walker in an episode of his Nostalgia Critic series (http://blip.tv/nostalgiacritic/nostalgia-critic-christmas-list-top-11-2999174) - finds himself on a journey to the North Pole by travelling on the titular transport in a story that is not dissimilar to 1982's The Snowman.  Once he gets there, he finds a North Pole that is Mont St Michel meets Tracy Island (an underground facility includes television screens showing rolling CCTV footage of sleeping children.  Er....) with a Vatican Square where masses of elves gather for an audience with Pope Santa, one of the adult male roles played by Tom Hanks - the other key role being the train conductor whose annoying quirk is that he can punch letters into tickets at supernatural speed.