Review of the Dark Knight

What doesn't kill you makes you stranger. So says the Joker in Christopher Nolan's second installment of the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight. Following on closely from the first film - Batman Begins - The Dark Knight sees Gotham City besieged by a new villain. A psychopath who wears make up and a purple suit, known only as the Joker. We are also introduced to the White Knight of Gotham - District Attorney Harvey Dent. What follows is two and a half hours of dark action that pushes the comic book movie genre to its limits. The theme of this movie is choice, and the consequence of the choices we make. It runs from the self proclaimed agent of chaos, the Joker, to rule abiding Batman (albeit his own rules) and Harvey Dent. It shows us how the consequences of your actions can be difficult to live with and will, for some, break you. This is a film with flaws. It is not the best movie of all time, possibly not even of the summer, but it is the first movie in a long time that I enjoyed from beginning to end and left the cinema feeling thoroughly satisfied. It had a STORY, pitch perfect performances from the ENTIRE CAST, not just Heath Ledger (although hats off to Heath and Mr Nolan for making my least favourite Bat-verse character incredibly watchable) great action sequences and a gritty, realistic tone (as much as is possible in a movie that centers on a millionaire who dresses up as a bat and fights crime on the mean streets of his city). Will this movie stand the test of time? I don't know, that will remain to be seen, but forget about the hyperbole, ignore the nay-sayers and go see it. I highly recommend it. 5/5.

Movie Review: Wall-E

Wall-E (which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth class) is the last robot left on earth to tidy up the mess after all the humans have gone to dirty up space. He is a silent, sweet creature with a cockroach for a pet and is nostalgic for the old junk that he finds as he does his work. There is one thing missing in his life however - love and companionship - as modelled on the characters from his favourite movie Hello Dolly. Perhaps the sleek new robot who arrives out of the sky one day could be exactly what he's looking for?

Wall-E is the latest in Pixar's excellent stable of top notch animated movies. As always, the visuals do not disappoint. There is very little dialogue in this film, but as they say, a picture tells a thousand words. The personalities of the robots are developed with each little twitch and blink of their robotic bodies and I think the animators deserve an Oscar for making them so lovable with body language alone. The depictions of the abandoned earth are also excellent and I couldn't help but wish that I Am Legend had cgi as good. The mixture of the live action footage and the animation I thought jarred and I disliked the cartoony images of the future humans, which I felt let down the film as a whole. As far as the story goes, it is ambitious in dealing with love, loss, and the lassitude of the human race. However it does not have a strong plot within those themes and I am suspicious it will not have as great a rewatch value as their other movies. I also found Wall-E very sad and came out of the cinema quite depressed. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it very much, but it didn't live up to the greats like The Incredibles and Ratatouille for me. 3 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Hancock

Will Smith is the titular character in this alternative super hero movie. Believing he is the only one of his kind, Hancock drinks a lot and saves people occasionally, but usually makes more of a mess rescuing someone than if he had done nothing. Into the fray steps Jason Bateman as a well wishing PR man who decides to transform Hancock into a superhero that everyone can love.

I left the cinema after seeing this movie feeling very confused. I felt that I had seen three different movies squashed together and I couldn't pick which one I disliked the most. There is the super hero movie, where our hero must discover his power and role in life and defeat the bad guys. There is the comedy movie - and at times Hancock does comedy with fantastic flare - where there are lots of jokes about the man who can fly but is reluctant to use his powers to help people out and then there is the third movie. The drama which, to my mind, was about invulnerability of youth, the vulnerability of loving people and having family and friends and the inevitable loss of power with age. None of these three themes were bad in themselves, but they each struggled for dominance without any one winning out and were put together with such obvious editing and mediocre special effects that as an overall piece of cinema it fell down.

There are a lot of things to like in Hancock and Will Smith is always enjoyable to watch, but it is so confused and messy that it is an unrewarding watch. On a side note, for those who are fans of Arrested Development, I couldn't help from thinking 'Rita and Michael got married!' while watching the movie (Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron play a married couple in the film). 2 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Clovefield

I went to see Cloverfield with Pinky and Valpot today. There has been so much hype for this film it has been impossible to miss it unless you've been living under a rock for the last six months. If you have chosen the rock abode, then you won't know that Cloverfield is a monster movie told from the prospective of a group of young, attractive and well to do New Yorkers and their magical video camera (I saw magical because it never ran out of battery or tape and survived being dropped and bashed about numerous times without any loss of quality). The actors were pleasant, the special effects were amazing (I can't help from wondering how amazing I Am Legend could have been if they had the same fx company) and the monster was suitably monstrous. Unfortunately, unlike almost every reviewer who thought this movie was scary, I found it distinctly lacking in chills and overwhelmed with inconsistencies that made it amusing. The sound of the monster was laugh out loud funny. The army mobilized into New York with astonishing speed. There was no development, growth or change in the characters from the beginning of the movie to the end. The jerky camera movements grew more and more distracting as the movie progressed - who remembers to frame their shots as they are running for their lives? And I also found that, despite the slightly original idea of the video cam, the story narrative was very linear and traditional. As I watched it I wanted to find out more about the monster and less about the people. My enjoyment was also hampered by my two companions having to leave because of feeling sick brought on by the jerky camera movements. Ultimately I enjoyed the movie but it was an empty feeling, like candyfloss, and sickened me before the end.

Movie Review: Enchanted

Went to Enchanted tonight with Gonzalez, the Dancer and (not so) Broken Wing. It certainly lived up to its name. I was enchanted by it from beginning to end. It is the story of Giselle, a picture perfect Disney princess to be (she just has to marry the prince) who dreams of her true love - and finds him - only to be thrown into a magical pool on her wedding day and turned into a 3d real woman. She finds herself in present day New York, where nothing is like her home of Andalasia and she can't find her handsome prince anywhere. Step in Patrick Dempsey as Robert, and his daughter Morgan. He is a kindly lawyer who helps out the stranded Giselle and is slowly won over by her magical, and romantic, view on life. This movie had me enthralled from the beginning and kept me entertained to the end. The animation scenes are classic Disney, the acting is superb from the entire cast with not a bum note and I loved Giselle's CGI chipmunk, Pip (you see, this is how CGI should be done). A feel good, funny Disney fairytale for adults, I have a feeling this might be one for the girls (although the males in the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it too). I give it 8/10.

Movie Review: I Am Legend

I went to see I Am Legend in the cinema last night with Valpot and Pinky. For those of you who don't know the plot, it revolves around Robert Neville (Will Smith) who is the last 'normal' human survivor in a world full of mutated, blood thirsty vampires. You all probably know that I am passionate about the novel of the same name written by Richard Matheson. To my mind, it is one of the best horror novels ever written. Its gritty intimate descriptions of Neville's life after the vampire Apocalypse are so realistic and scary, it really makes you think - how would I behave in that situation? and, if the everyone turned into monsters tomorrow, what would get you out of bed in the morning? The movie is so different from the book it would be unfair to compare them, so I will try to judge it as a stand alone piece. Will Smith is EXCELLENT in I Am Legend. As a lot of other reviewers have stated, the first half of the movie is brilliant and is carried by Smith single handed. Unfortunately, when I saw it in the cinema, it was so crowded I could only get seats in the first three rows that were so close to the screen I could count every hair in Will's permanently stubbly chin, yet even this did not distract from the tension and the pathos of seeing Neville roaming through a dead, over grown New York. The second half, when the ridiculous CGI vampire/zombies are introduced (I am not against CGI, I love CGI, but BAD CGI I HATE!) weakens the entire premise of the film and it gradually goes down hill from there. I would love to give this movie an 8 or a 9 out of 10. Will Smith is amazing, the dog who acts with him is fantastic, the scenes of New York are incredible, the direction is adequate and obviously a lot of money has been thrown at this movie. However, there are so many plot holes, inconsistencies and repetitions of hackneyed monster cliches from other movies that, book aside, I can only award it a generous 5/10 (if I were comparing it to the book, it would only get 2/10). Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it. I was pulled along for the thrill ride the entire 101 minutes, but afterwards I was left with a lot of questions. 'Why did they do that? How was this possible? It doesn't make sense that? Didn't they say this and then that happened?' Go to I Am Legend, enjoy it, but don't expect a satisfying meal of a movie that will stay with you for a long time afterwards. It is more like a bag of crisps. Delicious at the time, but ultimately unsatisfying.