Movieblaze

Starring: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Jonah Hill, Steve Coogan, Robin Williams, Hank Azaria, Bill Hader

Director: Shawn Levy

Writer(s): Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon

Cinematography: John Schwartman

Original Score: Alan Silvestri

Running Time: 106 Mins.

The film sequel, by nature is bigger in scope, budget, cast in fact pretty much bigger in every way. Though 99.9% of the time they are not, fundamentally, bigger in terms of quality so it is with trepidation I approached Night At The Museum 2, a sequel to a film that was hugely lacklustre, taking a great premise with endless comic potential. Combined with one of America’s top comic talents in Ben Stiller, and came up with an end product that was deeply average, failing to capitalise on any of its potential. There really was no reason to expect anything other than something even more deeply disappointing from this…

But low and behold director Levy, whom plunged the comedy doldrums with The Pink Panther remake and Cheaper by the Dozen, and writers Garant and Lennon have come up with something that, whilst certainly no masterpiece, achieves something that its original did not, in being both consistantly sniggersome, if not laugh out loud funny, and just down right fun to watch.  

Comedies tend to take one of two approaches, the clever witty nuanced form or the throw as much at the screen and see if it works routine, it isn’t hard to guess which route Night at the Museum 2 takes and as we first meet Stiller’s Larry interviewed as a now famous inventor alongside George Foreman it becomes apparent there is little wit to come. As before Stiller is the everyman in the role he carries ever so tiredly now, but the film’s saviour comes in the form of the many exhibits and possibly the biggest array of comedy talent ever seen in a single film, if there were Oscars for best emsemble comedy cast, well this would hit the jackpot!

Moving the action from the museum of natural history in New York to Washingtons Smithsonian is sequel rule 101 (bigger museum, more exhibits) but in Amy Adams as Emilia Earhart the film has its coup-d’etat, as she ably brings the ‘almost’ innocent charm and general feeling of fun that Stiller is lacking in through his seeming boredom. You may have noticed I have yet to mention plot, and to be fair plot and a decent villain are two things lacking in the past installment, no its not going to test your brain but at least theres a beginning middle and end and some level of threat, even if bringing an undead army to life is a bit Mummy-ish!

Said villain is the counter to Adams charm, Hank Azaria in one of his all too few and far between acting roles. He is great fun as Kamunrah, exhibiting a lispy high camp voice and wearing a “dress” his axis of evil speech hints at a darker comedy than one may have expected from such family friendly fare. But just as your expectations are heightened ever so slightly it all comes crashing down with the lame slapstick humour that mired number one, not always unfunny but just leaving you expecting a little more given some of the talent involved, it is only when the likes of Azaria, Coogan and, in a cameo, Jonah Hill are let of the leash to ad-lib that you see and sigh at the comic potential that could have been mined.

VERDICT

Skim the cast list, a whos who of comedy talent, then lower your expectations  for Night at the Museum 2 and you will find lighthearted enjoyment and entertainment in abundance, though largely only slapstick based sniggers rather than whole hearted belly laughs! 

With Terminator: Salvation arriving imminently, Touchstone has unveiled the trailer for the Bruce Willis-starring comic book adaption Surrogates, directed by Terminator 3‘s Jonathan Mostow.

The screen version of the indie strip sees Willis and Radha Mitchell as futuristic FBI agents on a case involving murder, cloning and shady corporate shenanigans.  

On paper it sounds like Mulder and Scully investigating the Tyrell Corporation on the set of I, Robot. The trailer, seen here, makes it look more like The Island with cyborgs. Bruce’s rug is also a bit alarming given that his clone is supposed to be a perfect version of himself.

He attacked gun culture in Bowling For Columbine, George W. Bush’s Iraq War in Fahrenheit 9/11 and the American health-care system in Sicko , but now Michael Moore is set to take on capitalism itself in his as-yet untitled next film – which is due out in the US on October 2 and hopefully here soon after.

The film sounds like a return to his Roger and Me filmmaking roots, as that 1989 film had him attempting to tackle the head of General Motors for closing down the plant in Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan, leaving the town in an economic mess. This time, however, the target’s global capitalism itself, with Moore planning a comic look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what he describes as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country” – the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions.

The film will come out a year and a day after the US Congress voted for the Wall Street bailout, and comes two years after Moore’s last effort, Sicko. So are we still excited by a new Moore documentary? This one’s shooting fish in a barrel – isn’t it?

Starring: Stephen Graham, Nicky Bell, Liam Boyle, Oliver Lee, Lee BattleDirector: Pat Holden

Director: Pat Holden

Writer: Kevin Sampson

Cinematography: Lucienne Suren

Original Score: David A. Hughes

Running Time: 105 Mins.

The British film scene leaves me largely cold, I find Mike Leigh’s output too bleakly dull, and Ken Loach fails to engage me on any level, I struggle even to see the merit that comes from the early films of Danny Boyle (the truly ‘British’ ones). In fact the only British film-maker whose film’s I have warmed too are those of Shane Meadows, he is a director who has been able to conjure up both the reality and harshness that has become the staple of the Brit Indie film scene and infuse it with a emminant watchability with realistic and hugely likeable characters.Iit’s true he has had a major misfire in Once Upon A Time In The Midlands but with This Is England he broke new ground in winning me, the Indie Brit film hater, over with one of the best films of 2006.

So as is always the case, on the back of This Is England’s success came a swathe more coming of age dramas from our fair old land! And as is to be expected none are nearly as good. Which brings me to Awaydays, the latest brit-film to take the coming of age/rites of passage story and bring it to the big screen in a hope for This Is England levels of success, of course having it star that films biggest actor, Stephen Graham, can’t hurt.

Set in Liverpool in 1979 we follow Carty (Bell) as he embarks upon a path to becoming a fully fledged member of ‘The Pack’, Liverpool FC’s version of the Green Street, en route he becomes close friends with Elvis (Boyle) a current Pack member and something of an oddity, he doesn’t wear the ‘uniform’  of the others yet is accepted, curious you may think, and you would be right. You see Awaydays, as the trailer would have you think, is not about football hooligans in the same way as Football Factory or Green Street, more a study of the issues that beset young men in the late 70′s, the choices we make, the need to fit in and what it really means to live, albeit set amidst drugs, swearing and the odd outbreak of violence.

It sounds a tad havy, and in truth it is, there is no humour to be found in Awaydays and it must be said that humour is seemingly what these gritty little films live or die on, something which This Is England managed to achieve. Though there is a great deal to be impressed by here, the two leads are solid especially in their complex relationship, with Boyle as the standout veering from confused to confident to tender to aggresive, like a bottle waiting to pop this really is his film, Bell though punches higher given the less grand-standing role of a boy burdened with the responsibility of caring for his sister upon their mothers death whilst attempting to find the usual acceptance with his peers.

The problem is, away from Bell and Boyle’s solitary scenes are those with The Pack, and that is where the film is at it’s weakest ,becoming simply just a rehash of the cliched hooligan scenes seen all too often already with the likes of Green Street, there is no emotional resonance and seemingly nothing to say in the conclusion, is joining The Pack good or bad? It’s a questioned left unanswered and surely it’s the burning one?

Due to its place and time Awaydays has, naturally, a very good soundtrack featuring The Cure and Joy Division among others and though this does help set the tone a good song seems to have become something to use over a mediocre or poor film to elevate it, something which here just doesn’t work and many times I found myself wondering why it was the song that was chosen was significant, with the likely answer being that it wasn’t, it’s just hip to have The Cure on your soundtrack!

VERDICT

Whilst Awaydays does very little to endear me to the Brit-film scene it does have two solid performances in Bell and Boyle, and could well have been a more enjoyable piece were the hooligan Awaydays scenes left on the cuting room floor to find room for a bit more warmth and humanity, but then again, seemingly, that isn’t what the British film industry is about…unless your name is Shane Meadows!

Starring: Channing Tatum, Terrence Howard, Luis Guzman, Zulay Henao

Director: Dito Montiel

Writer(s): Robert Munic, Dito Montiel

Cinematography: Stefan Czapsky

Running Time: 105 Mins.

All too often does a film’s marketing campaign get it oh so wrong, case in point being Fighting, the second feature from director Dito Montiel, that his first was A Guide To Recognising Your Saints should tell you enough to know that Fighting is not, as the poster and marketing campaign suggests “the new Rocky“, nor as Channing Tatum’s presence would have many believe is it Step Up with fists. No, this is a solid character study of two down at heel men struggling to make their way in the harsh reality of life in New York, much like AGTRYS then, just , well, with a smattering of fighting. 

The strength of the film lies with Montiel’s ability to bring the harshness of  New York to life over the glamourous side all too often shown in Sex and the City etc. this is a living breathing place where anything goes, and everyday is a struggle, it may sound heavy but Fighting never becomes too bogged down with its own self worth, something helped no end by yet another sincere and deep performance by Tatum. He is an actor whom seems to get by on his pretty boy looks yet has a great deal more talent than many of his peers, and in choosing roles in films such as Fighting serve only to prove he is more worthy, let us just hope he doesn’t throw his credibilty away this Summer with G I Joe: The Rise of Cobra!

Tatum is Shawn MacArthur, first seen selling rip-off Harry Potter books on the street we get the gist from the off, he’s down on his luck, living rough and eeking out a living, times are hard, enter Terence Howard as Harvey Boarden, a hustler in effect who missed his chance to make it big, we learn, because of an ‘old friend’ (Luis Guzman) who took all the glory. Harvey takes Shawn under his wing and sets him on the path to big money fighting. Imagine Oliver set in New York, with a smattering of fights.

What makes Fighting so watchable, and most importantly, engaging, is the relationship between the two men, they are both lost souls (which sounds cliched but thankfully isn’t ) and are on the path to seek some form of redemption for past errors. Yes you know the outcome ,but the acting that Montiel pulls from both of them is deep and effecting.

It is very rare a location becomes a character in itself though, Ben Affleck achieved it to great effect in Gone Baby Gone and Push made a good fist of it with Tokyo,  but Montiel is a master and combined with AGTRYS he has put forth one of the best interpretations of New York seen on film. Every inch looks alive yet almost soul-less and as Harvey says to Shawn, “I’m from Chicago, somewhere with soul”, thankfully they bring that soul with them to the film, if not the city itself.

VERDICT

Essentially a three hander between two hugely talented actors, and a living breathing city. Don’t let the title deceive you, Fighting is not “the new Rocky“, it’s hardly revolutionary but hugely satisfying.

Zach Braff’s been absent from our movie screens for a while now, concentrating on Scrubs instead. But now that he’s finishing his turn on that hospital comedy he’s headed back to Hollywood, signing on to direct, re-write and star in the comedy Swingles, with Cameron Diaz.

The film centres on a single guy (Braff) who is dumped by his wingman and instead teams up with a sharp-tongued woman (Diaz) in order to meet women. The two don’t get along – but we’re guessing by the end of the film they’ve found a connection.

We’d like to think that the results will, like the title, be a cross between Singles and Swingers, but we’re slightly concerned that it might mean that Braff and Diaz end up going to rather icky swingers clubs, so fingers crossed we’re wrong about that.

The script was originally written by Duncan Birmingham and re-written by Jeff Roda. It’ll be Braff’s first full-feature directing job since Garden State, but follows a segment he made for New York, I Love You, which is due out later this year.

Cannes got a serious dose of Twilight fever yesterday with Robert Pattinson letting slip that there will be a fourth installment in the Twilight saga and he will be appearing in it. While this may come close to being the least surprising news in the history of movies ever, it does confirm Pattinson’s continued commitment to the role of Edward Cullen despite a schedule that’s increasingly jam-packed.

The tousled one dropped in on the festival en route to Italy where he’s shooting the final scenes of New Moon. He’ll then set to work on his next project, romance-cum-drama Remember Me, before heading back to Vancouver to wrap up filming on Eclipse. Presumably, principal photography on Twilight: Breaking Dawn will start soon after that, after Pattinson has had a cup of tea and a lie-down.

The plot of Breaking Dawn is far too spoilerific to even outline here with provoking bloody reprisals, so click here for a full synopsis.

Summit Entertainment are likely to stick to their policy of hiring a new director for each film, which means a fresh face to follow Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz and David Slade. I’ve got a strange hankering for Neil Marshall. Who’s your pick?

Well, here’s our first proper look at Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, the all-action, all-explosion, all-nudey new take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective. Investigate it for yourself here.

What does this teach us? First of all, that Ritchie wasn’t kidding about the film being much more action packed and violent than we’re used to seeing from the man in the deerstalker. Secondly, that he isn’t wearing the deerstalker, as we were told. Thirdly, that there are hints of sex appeal to keep the parents interested amid all the silly running about for the kids. Most of these appear to centre on Rachel McAdams’ corset.

Theres so much here to love, Downey Jr. is a given, Ritchies dynamic direction, the supernatural theme, and the humour, let’s not forget McAdama corset, and shockingly of all Jude Law looks fairly enjoyable and less smug than normal.

Sherlock Holmes is out here on Boxing Day, and looks like the perfect way to get your adrenalin pumping and burn off those Christmas calories.

He may play a reduced role in the book, but it seems that Edward Cullen is going nowhere as The Twilight Saga continues with New Moon. Taking centre stage in this brand new poster, we can see the love triangle which develops between Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), Cullen (Robert Pattinson, swoon!) and significantly buffed-up reservation resident Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

New Moon follows the broken-hearted Bella as she attempts to come to terms with the loss of her blood-sucking boyfriend who refuses to put her at risk any longer. The only thing helping her hold it together is her friendship with younger man Jacob – but all is not as it seems as she becomes centre of a renewed war between shape-shifting werewolves and the vampires she had come to love.

Robert Pattinson’s role has certainly been boosted to cater to fans’ love of the actor. Although his moody character spends much of the book completely out of the picture, new director Chris Weitz will bring him back through Bella’s mind to give him some extra screen time. Weitz’s take on the franchise is due in cinemas at the end of November, so “Twi-hards” will be counting down the days as new posters and teasers start to flood in.

Who is Tom Hiddleston? I have no idea, but  he’s an award winning Brit who just landed the role of Loki in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor according to Nikke Finke.

With Chris Hemsworth landing the role of Thor, he needed a good actor to play the villainous Loki, and this guy looks like he’d do a good job. I know the pictures don’t’ say much so just imagine him in a green outfit laughing a lot while trying to squeeze on The Enchantress’ hooters.

It probably helps that he was in TV cop drama Wallander alongside the film’s director Kenneth Branagh and having not seen that particular programme I can’t judge his performance, but I have faith in Branagh.

My expectation is that they are casting unknown’s (with talent hopefully) to counteract the budget which will likely all be spent on the visuals. 

I think it’s good casting. I like movies with unknowns because there are no real expectations of how the character will be played if say, Josh Hartnett had landed the role. And throughout the Marvel casting process they seem to have gone for acting over star power, so I have faith adn always bear in mind with these Marvel decisions that they are looking forward to The Avengers movie.

Now all we need is some movement on Captain America: The First Avenger, I’m still holding out for Matthew McConnaughey as Cap. and would love to see him Norton’s Hulk and Downey Jr’s Iron Man join up with Hemsworth Thor, oh the possibilities!