Paddington - review

Let's be honest. At the start of 2014, who would have honestly said that the two best family films of the year would have been one based on a building block toy and one that inspired the meme #creepypaddington?

Well of course The LEGO Movie turned out to be "Awesome" and Harry Potter and Gravity producer David Heyman has worked his magic yet again to produce a film which is as charming, warm and fuzzy as the titular bear.

Not only has it remained faithful to Michael Bond's original character thanks to Ben Whishaw's marmalade-smooth vocal performance but Paul King (director of The Mighty Boosh and Bunny And The Bull) gives it a delightfully quirky and whimsical spin with some great gags and touches like the taxi ride that highlights all the cliched sights in London before having Mr Brown (Bonneville) ask the taxi driver "what kind of route was that?" And the lights on the lost and found sign at the station flickering dependent on how the conversation is going with the Brown family.

It is also surprising that Paddington overtakes The Hunger Games: Mockingjay as the most overtly political movie aimed at young people this year.

It positively promotes the benefits that immigrants can bring to London and the UK and how they should be welcomed with open arms despite what the naysayers might say, as epitomised by Peter Capaldi's Mr. Currie who is clearly a Daily Mail reader and has the conversation with Nicole Kidman's villain about how it starts with one and soon they'll be over here stealing all our marmalade.

Paddington has found a welcome home this festive season and is the bear necessity for a family trip to the cinema.

4 stars

2001 A Space Odyssey - review

It is a true landmark moment in cinematic sci-fi and it is easy to see where the inspiration for several elements of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar came from, particularly the trippy final act.

And that is what the experience of 2001 A Space Odyssey is. Whereas other sci-Fi films can take you on an adventure or a journey into outer space, Kubrick takes you on the ultimate trip.

Whilst stunning to look at and immerse yourself in on as big a screen as possible, I can't help but feel as emotionally distant and detached to the story as HAL 9000 is to his crewmates aboard the Jupiter mission.

4 stars

What We Do In The Shadows - review

Following the sparkly tween blandness of the Twilight films, it is nice to see that the vampire genre is coming back from the dead with movies like Only Lovers Left Alive and What We Do In The Shadows.

Both released this year, they both take a different look at the everyday life and normalcy of a vampire's existence.

What We Do In The Shadows does it through the style of a Mockumentary, nicely played with "New Zealand Documentary Foundation" credits, that documents the undead lives of four vampires who share a house in Wellington, New Zealand.

There is a nice mix of characters in the house with Dandy Vamp Viago, Vlad The Impaler Vamp Vladislav, Rock Vamp Deacon and Nosferatu Vamp Peter.

While there is humour in taking jabs at modern vampire references (newly turned vampire Nick goes around claiming he's the guy from Twilight and Viago is told he can't go to a costume party dressed as Blade as it would be offensive to other vampires) ultimately the best gags come from the mundane (Nick's human friend Stu showing them sunrise videos on YouTube, the group's inability to get into nightclubs as they can't get the bouncers to invite them in).

The gags come as thick as fast as a spurting artery but the final product could do with a bit more bite.

3 stars

P.S. would quite happily watch a spin off documentary that follows Rhys Darby's Wolfpack of "werewolves not swearwolves".

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - review

It seems that playtime is over with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 as it abandons the well-worked three act structure of the first two films as the events of the second part of the trilogy have put an end to the Games but the wheels of revolution have been set in motion.

It might pick up right where Catching Fire left off but I for one could have done with a quick catching up and a "Previously on The Hunger Games" in order to remember certain characters, relationships and events.

The gang's all here and it still has Hunger Games in the title but this is as different a movie to the others as District 12 is to the Capitol.

This is dark, bleak stuff as Lawrence's Katniss, in a twist on the established formula, is moulded, schooled and trained to become, not a fighter, but the face of the revolution and a propaganda weapon.

She is needed in order to galvanise the support of the surrounding districts to take down the villainous President Snow and the Capitol. Funny though, if this was the follow up to The Running Man Arnie would just take down the city single-handed.

As President Snow, Donald Sutherland chews through all the scenery available to him, hence why all the Districts are so barren and destroyed, but in order for the fight to really mean something he needs more screen time, perhaps something that will be rectified in the final part.

Hopefully it will also provide moments for all the non-Katniss characters like Peeta, Haymitch, Plutarch, Effie, Finnick, etc who all feature but don't have a huge amount to do although Liam Hemsworth must be thankful of finally getting a big speech instead of just sitting around and brooding.

Once again, another Hunger Games movie, another one that feels like just another part of an incomplete story. Looking forward to seeing how it all ends as the franchise is starved of a satisfying conclusion at the moment.

3 stars

The Homesman - review

It is tempting to argue with Tommy Lee Jones about The Homesman when he says "don't call it a Western" as the opening shot of the film is of a dusty plain .

While the plot sees Swank's Mary Bee Cuddy and Jones's transporting three insane women from Nebraska to Iowa, for the longest time the film doesn't seem to go anywhere.

It takes forever to get going and then when the odd couple finally set off on their mission it goes nowhere fast until a interesting narrative turn at the end of act two.

Swank and Jones make for an intriguing onscreen pairing. Swank has a tough role of a woman who is "plain as an old tin pail and bossy" and also described as much of a man as any man in the town, transporting these insane women who also have lost their sense of femininity. Partnered with Jones's gruff and irritable outsider, the journey sees them bring out different sides to their personalities.

Anchored by two strong central performances, it is a shame that the three women being transported aren't given more to do other than occasionally at out and stare silently out the windows of their wagon.

The Homesman might be set in the Mid-West but it would be very comfortable in the Western genre... just don't tell Tommy Lee Grumpy Cat!

3 stars

The Imitation Game - review

According to The Imitation Game, Alan Turing was a genius but a tortured one. Socially awkward, unlikeable, irritable. The perfect character for Benedict Cumberbatch to do his best stiff upper lip imitation of House M.D..

He's even given a classic House moment as something unrelated to the problem suddenly unlocks the key and you see him working out the solution in his head before that "Eureka" moment.

There have been previous films that have looked at the Bletchley Park team that cracked Enigma but this is the first that focuses on the man behind the machine that beat the machine.

The action is kept within the confines of Bletchley Park, rarely venturing out to examine the horrors of war, but the team are aware of the power and responsibility they have in determining the fates of many and the outcome of the war.

Cumberbatch delivers a commendable performance in a film which sets out to crack the code of what made Turing the man he was.

Very much like The King's Speech, it is a watchable take on a true story but isn't that cinematic and feels more like a real Sunday night BBC drama and an imitation of an Oscar contender.

3 stars

Nativity 3: Dude Where's My Donkey? - review

It is important when attending the movies to be able to suspend your disbelief.

For example, and very topical, let's look at science fiction epic Interstellar. The key is in the description. Science "fiction" not science fact. Therefore it is relatively silly and petty to get hung up on various aspects of the "science" of the movie.

However it probably helps if the movie you are watching is engaging and entertaining.

Unfortunately, the film being watched was Nativity 3: Dude Where's My Donkey? which centred around the third visit to St. Bernadette's School, home classroom helper Mr. Poppy and some unnamed children.

This school features a teaching position even more of a poisoned chalice than the Defence Of The Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. In three films they have from Dr. Watson to Doctor Who to, er, Doc Martin.

This time round the "plot" centres around the kids competing in a flashmob competition to win a trip to New York to reunite Clunes's Mr. Shepherd with his fiancée (Catherine Tate) after he loses his memory after being kicked in the head by a donkey.

Beyond thoughts such as "does anyone actually do flashmobs anymore?" or is this still 2012, the answer to the question of "why is there a teenage girl with braces in a class of primary school children?" (answer - it's the director's daughter), "why is there no resolution to the issue of the school inspection which is mentioned every ten minutes?" and the endless pondering about where the hotel interiors were filmed and it was certainly no hotel that exists in New York City, the end result was full of terrible song and dance numbers that it was impossible not to spend the majority of it making a mental list of all the many, many things which would not have happened due to logistical and bureaucratic red tape:

A local doctor's advice for memory loss is not a trip to hospital for a scan but for the kids to recreate Christmas for him

Taking a group of children on a day trip to London to compete in a competition would require permission letters going out to parents several weeks in advance

Celia Imrie is the worst headmaster ever as she has no idea that several of her teaching staff and children are missing from school for several days

The school would undoubtably be shut down and Mr. Poppy arrested once parents found out there children are missing and in another country without their permission

Given the incredibly thorough and strict security screening procedures at airports it is completely unbelievable that they would be able to steal someone else's passports and tickets and get on the plane. They certainly would not get through customs and Immigration at JFK

Despite checking in to the interior of an English country hotel, of course it is check out the size of the bedrooms, there is no way that a NYC hotel would have space for 10-15 children with only two accompanying adults and even if they did, who is paying for them?

Given quarantine rules, there is no way that the donkey would make it to NYC in time for the finale, yet alone get up to the top of the Empire State Building

Finally, there is not enough room to perform a flashmob at the top of the Empire State

I might be accused of having no Christmas spirit and "Bah Humbug" but Nativity 3 is so bad that the least of its problems is a sub-title that refers to a stoner comedy that 99% of the target audience will never have seen.

An awful film that features one donkey but an entire manger full of asses!

1 star