Arthur

 

Arthur is the “re-imagining” of a classic Dudley Moore comedy from the 80’s. Like most great films from that era now being pillaged and raped by Hollywood, Arthur continues the trend in failing to be better than or at very least as good as the original.

The story if you’re not at all familiar is about an irresponsible drunken billionaire heir to his successful families’ fortune. Arthur (Russell brand) is our drunken rich hero, who not only fails to appear somewhat believable in the role, but comes off as doing more of a ridiculous Moore impersonation than giving his own take to the character. He’s being forced to marry a woman he doesn’t care for in order to remain the heir to his family fortune. His mother, who played a very insignificant role in his upbringing, refuses to believe he’s capable of getting his shit together and representing their prestigious family name, so it’s her decision to have Arthurs' marriage arranged. She sets it up for him to tie the knot with one her most publicly well respected employees (Jennifer Garner). The only problem being that Arthur’s fallen in love with a “nobody” from queens that his mother won’t approve of.

As charming and funny as Russell Brand is at times it’s still very obvious the gig was strictly about the pay cheque. His humour would have easily suited an R rating much better than the PG13 cheese fest we’re given. The only real redeeming quality of the film was Helen Mirren’s portrayal of Arthur’s sarcastic and witty Nanny/surrogate mother Hobson.

I went in with high hopes of actually enjoying the film, but unfortanately I ended up more than disappointed. Not only did it feel like a pointless and failed remake, it was no different than any other recent rom-com. Had there been something to set it aside from everything else with a slightly more original take on the story, I think I might have had a different take coming out. Usually Brand finds a way to win the audience over, even when the character or story may be lacking. But without the freedom of an R rating It didn't fee like it was nearly as funny as it could have been.

Although there were a few good laughs throughout, they felt far and few between the drawn out and cliché plot. Not only was the story extremely obvious and predictable, it was also boring as hell. Sadly all Arthur really is, is a by the numbers romantic comedy, which also happens to be a poorly put together remake of an actually funny film.

Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch is by far the most visually entertaining movie I think Zack Snyder or any other filmmaker has made in a long time. Right off the bat I have to throw it out there, the action set pieces and visual mind-fucks of this film will blow you away!

We start out with being introduced to Baby Doll (Emily Browning) who's wrongfully imprisoned in a mental institution. During her stay she spends nearly all her time in a fantasy world she's created for herself to escape her own "reality", although there's actually very little reality to the film at all. In her fantasy world she's being held in a brothel/burlesque house. It's in the brothel where she discovers her crazy dance moves which only bring her further into the fantasy worlds she's creating. The fantasy worlds themselves feel a lot like a video game premise. They need to find key items in order to escape and must defeat the most ridiculous and other worldly foes along the way.

Being that the film is set in the 60's one of the threats looming in Baby Dolls reality is the possibility of a lobotomy. This helps serve as her biggest motive in needing to escape. The only problem is very little of the "real world" is actually taking place throughout the film, making it somewhat of a narrative nightmare. Although the story jumps all over the place and at times feels like the last twenty years of pop culture was just smashed together in one nonsensical action flick, Snyder does an amazing job of keeping you interested and invested to the end. A lot of the film seems like a huge departure from a lot of his previous films in so many ways, but at the same time it has the very noticable Snyder stamp all throughout it. I know most peoples complaints are always that he's too visual and brings no substance to his films. With Sucker Punch there's definitely a recurring theme of male empowerment over women and their attempts to stand strong on their own. It wasn't at all what I expected going in, but served as a surprisingly very intruiging and interesting plot point.

The biggest complaint I'm expecting people to have is the third act. Everything leading up this point seems absolutely brilliant and brings you to think this may be Snyder's best work to date. But this is where you'll either come to love it or hate it. Like most Snyder films there's not much grey area left in between. I found myself torn at this point as well, on the one hand the end and the conclusion make perfect sense, but on the other it almost feels as though things fall apart and don't come together as smoothly as first two acts did. Overall the film works on more levels than it doesn't. The biggest acheivement would likely be succesfully thinking outside the box and not going the safe route like all too many film makers and studios seem to be doing more and more now.

The performances, cinematography, writing and obviously directing were all things I thought worked amazingly. Although I'm well aware not everyone will be able to agree with me, I can honestly say that I actually loved Sucker Punch. It's likely at least the most visual film we'll see this year. It's just too bad that the story behind all the amazing action scenes and visual effects won't get nearly as much if any credit at all. 

Source Code

The sophomore directorial effort for new up and comer Duncan Jones is "Source Code". Before even seeing the film I heard comparisons to last years surprise hit "Inception" being thrown around. In my opinion "Inception"was the best picture of last year, so needless to say I went in to "Source Code" with the bar set extremely high. I was slightly worried, much like I was with "Inception", that there was no way it could live up to the hype. Thankfully, once again I was proven very wrong. Not only did it exceed my expectations, but it brought me to the conclusion that it’s not really fair for it to be compared to any other film. The plot, directing, cinematography and acting performances were the best I’ve seen this year. The film truly deserves to stand on its own as a near perfect example of film making and a story as being told by a more then capable and talented director.

The plot starts by introducing us to Captain Colter Stephens (Jake Gyllenhal) who’s aboard a commuter train in Chicago which is set to explode. The only thing is he has no recollection of ever getting on board or knowledge of the bomb about to be detonated on it. Before he can figure out what happened between being in command of a military fighter helicopter in Afghanistan and how he came to board the train it explodes. Stephens wakes up inside what appears to be a space capsule, he’s alone and there’s a video monitor in front of him with a woman in military attire ( Vira Farminga) on the screen, she’s questioning him as to the location of the bomb and whether or not he was able to determine the culprit responsible as of yet.

Very little is revealed right up until the slightly shocking and ambiguous ending. But what we are made aware of is Stephens purpose on the train and how he was more or less placed there, however what we’re never made privy to is why he was specifically chosen. The military was able to create a technology (the source code) where they can send someone into the mind and technically body of someone who has recently died. The only stipulation is that they can only re-live the last eight minutes of their life. The one advantage they do have though is the ability to be limitless in the action they take while within the source code. Stephens is able to exit the train and even explore an entirely alternate universe, as is vaguely explained to him by source code creator and mysterious character Dr. Walter Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright).

The tone of the film is set in place early on and for the remainder of the movie you’re left guessing as to who Stephens should be looking for, why they chose him to take part in the highly secretive and conspicuous source code program, and where he literally physically is in between sending him back into the source code. Every time he re-enters the source code he's able to examine the scene of the crime over and over until he can piece together enough information to prevent the next attack.

The performances from the core cast were top notch. Not surprisingly though Gyllenhaal steals the show. Farminga and Wright did a great job fleshing out characters which had little development and vague descriptions into their backgrounds. Taking on a pivotal and strong supporting role was Michelle Monaghan who added the emotional involvement to the plot for the audience to become more invested in Gyllenhaal's character.

Without giving too much of the intricate and thought provoking plot away I would easily say that the film was able to keep me not only entertained but thoroughly interested and engaged in the outcome right up until the reality altering conclusion. It would be an understatement to say that Duncan Jones has progressed immensely from the style he applied to "Moon" which made it such a huge critical success. Although his style is still very much apparent it’s obvious he’s not afraid of thinking outside the box or applying new ideas and techniques to his films.

I’m giving "Source Code" an overall 9/10

Red Riding Hood

 

Little Red Riding Hood is a classic fairy tale I’m sure everyone’s heard at least once over. When Warner Bros first announced they were developing a re-imagining of the classic tale I was weary at best. The casting news of Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried put some of my doubts to rest. Unfortunately the inclusion of director Katherine Hardwicke was somewhat of a downfall as I saw it. However,  I did find the first couple trailers were surprisingly intriguing. All in all I think given the impression I got from the trailers and the half decent casting I may have set my expectations far too high. The end result was a film that felt more so like a prequel to Twilight then a new darker and more interesting take on an already proven classic.

The plot doesn’t veer too far off from the original story. That is except for the redundant love triangle between the female lead Valerie (Amanda Seyfried), her childhood boyfriend Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), and her arranged fiancé Henry (Max Irons), both of which I have to add looked like underwear models. I also have to say that the addition of the dad from Twilight (Billy Burke) as Valerie’s dad, was also extremely inspired casting, once again couldn’t have seen that coming. Much like the predictable plot of the film the big twist isn’t all that hard to decipher either. I'm sure the general idea was to keep the audience guessing to the end, but they failed miserably both as a thriller and/or a murder mystery, leaving them somewhere in between a sad attempt at horror and a tween drama. The real challenge will more likely be keeping audiences interested enough to sit through the entire movie. The best part for me was the roll of the end credits.

Of all the cardboard acting and there was a lot, what stood out most was the very peculiar alternating accent of Gary Oldman. He couldn’t seem to figure out if he was Bram Stokers Dracula or an English Priest. Not that I’m really all that shocked, I’m pretty sure he only agreed to the role as it was another pay cheque and not his next possible nomination.

I would even go as far as to say it was very original of Hardwicke to use the same entire score from the first twilight film. Given that Riding Hood felt like a prequel to the sparkly vampire franchise it lent itself quite well. Aside from the obvious and continuous comparisons to the twilight franchise there’s not much else that can be said for the film, let alone anything good at all.

The Lincoln Lawyer

It wasn’t all that long ago that when you thought of actors like Mathew McConaughey movies like Sahara and Failure to Launch came to mind. Not many people even care to remember anymore that he was once a rising star with some real talent, obviously because he seemed to have thrown all that away for some shitty rom-coms and a few good pay cheques. At this point it should come as no surprise that very few people are looking forward to his name appearing on posters. Well now I can honestly say that I believe Lincoln Lawyer marks the return of McConaughey as a serious actor. There isn’t another actor that could have embodied this character better. The help of an amazing supporting cast and terrific direction were only the cherry on top to his charismatic performance.

Lincoln Lawyer is an adaptation of the novel of the same name. The plot follows criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller (Mathew McConaughey) who works out of the back of a Lincoln sedan in Los Angeles. Haller is the scummiest and sleaziest of lawyers you’ll meet. Most of his clients are gangbangers and drug dealers, and he’ll lie cheat and steal to get them off. It’s not until he’s hired by the son of a wealthy business man Louis Rolet (Ryan Phillippe) who’s been accused of rape and attempted murder that you really see him shine.

We’re initially led to believe that Rolet must be innocent allowing Haller to make a pretty solid defense. But as things begin to unravel and the true story comes to be revealed there are a lot of twists and turns that keep you on edge until the end. The surprising revelations made throughout bring Haller to believe he may have even assisted in a wrongful guilty plea made by a previous client currently serving time for a similar crime. As he begins to unravel the truth and come closer to what might have really happened his straight forward career case begins to fall apart in front of him.

The development of the characters right down to the supporting cast members was incredible. Although McConaughey clearly steals the show Ryan Phillippe and Marisa Tomei both deliver amazing performances as well. Director Brad Furman did an amazing job of bringing Haller and his journey to life on the big screen. Not often do you see an adaptation as true to the source material as this was. Everything right down to the score and the near perfect cinematography were spot on with the tone and look of the film. After all there’s only so many ways you can film a court room scene, but Furman was continuously able to make it more about the characters.

I’m giving Lincoln Lawyer and overall 8/10