Ant Man
Marvel’s latest release was one to raise the question over
whether the studio would finally drop the ball given the film’s chaotic and
long production history, usually bad signs. However, this comic book adaptation
starring Paul Rudd as a former thief who dons a special shrinking suit to
become the titular hero is actually one Marvel’s better efforts to date. With
the film originally having Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright attached as writers
(Wright was also the first person slated to direct) the film is understandably
comedic in tone but that being Rudd’s milieu, he runs with it and the
imagination of the film-makers runs along with him. Being more restrained in length
than most Marvel offerings (it comes in just under two hours), the hurried pace
does make the exposition a little fuzzy at times, but just sit back and enjoy
the ride. Also features Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lily, Corey Stoll, Michael
Peña, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer and a slew of Marvel-related cameos. **** (Pic
Of The Week)
The Gallows
With an advertising campaign that evoked the likes of Friday
The 13th (1980) and Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), The Gallows
talked a big game, which it sorely failed to live up to. Twenty years after a
stunt failure lead to a student being hanged during a play, a group of teens
break into their high school at night only to find spooky goings on. Inexplicably,
the film is in the “found footage” subgenre (often seemingly a budget choice
but this film really could’ve been done conventionally on a small budget with
little difficulty, there’s also no real reason for the use of camcorders in the
plot). The characters are bland, gratingly irritating or really bizarrely cast
with one character being seen as being one of the less desirable girls being
played a noticeably pretty actress. The film reaches for atmosphere but mostly
relies too much on jump scares, the fart joke of the horror genre. If the film
was more straightforward there may have been something here but this is sadly
lacking. *
Self/less
Science-fiction action movie in which a dying Ben Kingsley
decides to undergo a process of “shedding”, with his mind going into a
replacement body played by Ryan Reynolds. However, seizures and other problems begin
to take effect and it becomes clear that there’s a shady side to the shedding
process. Drawn from the mould of Christopher Nolan (in particular Inception
(2009)), Self/less is pretty by-the-numbers and unremarkable with the central
twist being so predictable it barely seems a twist at all. There’s a decent
cast who do well with the material and the film is meant to appeal more to the
sense of fun than to the brain. Watchable but not exactly memorable. ***
True Story
Jonah Hill plays a journalist who discovers that a man
accused of murdering his family (played by James Franco) is using his name and
admires his work. Hill spies a writing opportunity and meets the enigmatic
Franco and starts to try and figure him out as well as whether he’s guilty or
not. There’s an interesting side to True Story, with the duplicity of its
characters and their intentions but what is there is greatly let down by what
isn’t there. Hill and Franco both do good jobs, even if the novelty of having
two actors best known for comedies (three if you count supporting player Ethan
Surplee) distracts from their performances. The problem is partly that Hill and
Franco don’t have quite the amount of electricity together to aid the direction
of the film that goes for atmospheric and sometimes comes off as just staid.
Along with the film often being too vague about the actions of the characters
and a particularly brutal and unfeeling worldview at times, True Story is a
good enough film that could’ve been better. ***
No comments:
Post a Comment