ALICE IN WONDERLAND
As a grown up, Alice considers her vague recollection of Wonderland as simply the residue of old disturbed childhood fantasies. Even when she tumbles down a rabbit hole to rediscover a peculiar and magical land she is far from convinced that the bizarre adventure she encounters is still nothing more than another twisted dream.
Okay… So you take the oddball and quirky Johnny Depp, the oddball and quirky Helena Bonham Carter, mix with the oddball and quirky director Tim Burton, and place inside the oddball and quirky story of Alice in Wonderland and you should be delivered an amazing and spectacular movie.
Should… but you don’t. This movie has some great ingredients, but while the final product clearly wants to sizzle, the pan barely gets warm.
The short time span of the film, barely over 100 minutes, causes the scenes to race by and not allow any depth of connection to be forged between the audience and the story or its characters. And, in this instance, the 3D was awkwardly distracting rather than an enhancement.
But still, such an notable cast, director, and story should have been able to overcome these setbacks and deliver.
Perhaps the biggest problem is simply that we’ve seen it all before. Depp’s performance, for example, is brilliant, but nothing we haven’t all already seen in his history of twisted characters ever since Edward Sissorhands. And Tim Burton’s ‘trippy’ vision, is just exactly what we’ve all come to expect.
So, in short, this movie offers nothing particularly new, entertaining, or captivating. And the story of Alice in Wonderland deserves so much more than this film delivers.
AVATAR
Okay, your ticket cost more than a new DVD (or a couple out of the bargain bin), you’ve driven over an hour to get to a cinema with a decent screen, you’ve rolled your eyes at the corny 3D tricks used in the trailers… and you’re thinking this had better be bloody good.
And then, almost three hours later, you suddenly realise you’re back in the real world after being totally captivated by the visual spectacular that is Avatar.
The planet Pandora is rich in a material called Unobtanium (yeah, I know; sounds like it came from a child’s comic book) which is greatly sort after by a human military/mining operation – however the native alien population, the Na’vi, stand in their way. Sully (Sam Worthington), using an avatar body, to meet the Na’vi and seek ways to move them on from the intended mining site, but quickly falls for the beauty of Pandora and it people.
Yes, it is true that the plot is one of a well used formula, and fifteen minutes in you can probably guess the rest of the movie, but you don’t really care because by this stage you’ve gotten over the “Wow look at the 3D” and will be caught up by the enchanting world of Pandora. Sometimes one might want to urge the film onward, knowing that Sully’s revelation is inevitable, but this is remarkably mild distraction for such a long movie.
My biggest cringe would have to be bad guy, Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang). In all seriousness, if he was any more clichéd he’d wear an eyepatch and shoot lame puppies for sport.
Worthington does us Aussies proud with a blend of larrikin and strength in Sully. But probably the most captivating performance would have to be the spell-binding Neytiri; few aliens have graced the screen more beautiful than this blue Na’vi.
In the end Avatar finished how I guessed it would, but I didn’t mind because the journey was so thrilling. Perhaps the ending felt a bit hurriedly wrapped up, but – like a good movie should – it left me wondering and imagining long after I’d left the cinema.
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SHOOT EM UP
In Shoot Em Up, the hero (Clive Owen) rescues a baby and the bag guys (led by Paul Giamatti), who want the baby dead, give chase… and that about it.
If you cut out all the action, this movie would be a five minute film. It’s just action, gunfight, action, gunfight, action, etc… and it’s fantastic! With scenario and stunts reminiscent of a comic book the far-fetched-ness of this flick will disappoint some, but if you think that too often plot detail or realism bog down a good action film, then this should keep you grinning.
You may leave the cinema asking ‘so why were they after the baby?” But the truth is; it doesn’t matter. The plot is nothing more than a vehicle to house the various stunt action sequences, and the film-makers seem to glorify in this, rather than make any apology.
Many will think this movie is stupid, ridiculous and in-sensible, but other, like myself, will love it and not care.
