Movie Review: The Adventures of Tin Tin – Tip top 3D action that perhaps falls a little flat in the end.

Director Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson have both teamed up on this one to produce a visual melting pot.  The team producing all these wonderful effects is Weta Digital who were responsible for the Lord of The Rings trilogy & Avatar.

For those who don’t know Tin Tin was a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist Georges Remi . Our story here revolves around Tin Tin (voiced by Jaime Bell) an overly inquisitive young reporter and Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) in their search for the hidden treasure of Haddocks ancestor, and in hot pursuit the evil villain Red Rackham (Daniel Craig). I could waffle on a little more about more story / plot detail but really doesn’t matter, or certainly didn’t matter all that much to me!

The film is action set piece after action set piece, barely taking a moment to breathe before it heads into the next rip roaring sequence. I also saw this in 3D, which was okay I guess. I really don’t think (perhaps apart from Avatar) anyone has really explored 3D as yet.

I also felt like they’d tried to cram too much in here though, there literally doesn’t feel like there’s a break and with three Tin Tin stories all woven into one film here, it’s not difficult to see why. Don’t get me wrong, the action is fantastic and well worth a look. Andy Serkis as the whiskey glugging Captain Haddock keeps you chuckling along for most of the way and Daniel Craig does a nice creepy vocal job as the baddy Rackham.

I certainly think the younger crowd will lap this one up. It’s good fun and will do well I’m sure, but for me it was all a bit of a spectacle in the end and with it crying out for a sequel at its closure I have no doubt that Tin Tin will be gracing our screens once again!

6 Northern Thumbs out of 10.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz3j8gKRUTg

Movie Review: Mission Impossible 4 – Tiny Tom treats us to some to some tantalising action set from the world’s largest cinema screen!

So the fourth instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise is upon us, and as luck would have it I got to experience this little feast of action on the world’s largest cinema screen in Sydney ahead of its Dubai premier the following Thursday, with the director and Mr Simon Pegg introducing.

And I have to say - it blew my bollocks off, popped them in a blender then slowly drank them down before my very eyes. It was action - fantastic.

The story / plot are nothing special. The IMF is shut down when implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin which causes Ethan Hunt and his team to go out on their own to clear the agencies name. America is on the brink of nuclear war with Russia (due to this little misunderstanding) and it’s down to Hunt and the guys to prevent it from all going pear shaped.

Their journey takes them to Russia, Dubai and India where they battle, fondle, destroy & dress up for everything in sight. The stunts (as you would expect to see from a film such as this) are sensational, throwing Ethan and his team all over the shop. The scenes in the Dubai skyscraper are eye popping (certainly while being watched on such a bloody large screen), while Ethan runs around outside, falling in and out of the damn thing and back in again. Tom maybe short, but he's got great big solid balls doing that sort of thing.

The director Brad Bird comes from an animation background, having done The Incredibles & Ratatouille before this, but he seems to handle the transition pretty well. Simon Pegg supports and gives some nice comedic moments, that although funny I’m not sure whether that act is beginning to wear a little thin on me. Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker) always gives a pretty solid performance, with ‘hot to trot’ Paula Patton popping on some nice outfits to gawk at.

If you are going to see this I would totally recommend seeing it at the IMAX, I was blown away by not only the shire size of the screen and the incredible sound. But also where this film takes most effect is getting to experience all these large action set pieces on such a massive scale!

7 northern thumbs out of 10.

Opens in Oz 15^th December.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0LQnQSrC-g

Clips:

I’ll Catch You

Link- https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1295805342/5dcb077ba723fff0b48880a2c9fcdace

Fan Jump  

Link- https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1292515340/1bdc41d5a60d9965233f7fce8d19df18

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol Premiere Clip:
https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1305804692/07787db7c8b10fdabc0de6b0ea18449d

  

Movie Review: The Iron Lady – Meryl smashes this Maggie Thatcher role into next week in this entertaining biopic.

A film based on the life and times of Margaret Thatcher was always going to be a little controversial. I’m originally from the northern city of Leeds and she was about as popular back then (and I’m pretty sure even now) as a rather large piece of flying dog shit.

During her reign she increased taxes during the recession in the early 1980’s, her policies led to the eventual closures of many mines, mainly in the northern England, destroying whole communities. She also led Britain to war in the Falkland’s where over 200 British servicemen and women lost their lives, these just some of many unpopular policies she implemented.

On the flip side though, the policy of privatisation was called the main ‘highlight’ which fuelled economic growth in the country and eventually got the country back on its feet also encouraging  growth within the finance & service sectors.

As we kick things off Maggie is old and decrepit (so kind of now) and is still mourning the death of her husband Denis (Jim Broadbent) while on the verge of dementia. From here on in we’re catapulted back and forth  in time, showing us Maggie growing up as a daughter of a grocery shop owner in Grantham, her eventual interest in politics, a stint at Oxford, then onto becoming a Conservative candidate in Dartford where she meets her larger than life husband, Denis.

Where this film really becomes punchy though is when we eventually arrive at Maggie’s leading of the Conservative party into victory at the 1979 election. We are taken through her battles with the unions, the Falkland’s war, Northern Ireland, as well as many, many more political tussles! The movie combines actual footage from the time which really creates a big impact on how fragile and tense feelings were in Britain during this time.

The film is (surprise, surprise) rather sympathetic to Maggie, showing us her love for her husband, family & desire to ‘do good’ for the country. There are a few moments where she comes across as a bit of bully, certainly towards her cabinet in an attempt to balance things. But whatever your feelings towards this lady you cannot deny what she achieved and that she will always remain a prominent figure within British politics.

Overall I felt this was really well made and had me captivated from start to finish. The director Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia) presents this material in an engaging way with Streeps portrayal of Maggie being wonderful to watch on screen. And with some solid support from Broadbent and a few other familiar British faces, this should keep most pretty satisfyed!

8 northern thumbs out of 10.

Released in Oz on Boxing Day.

Teaser Trailer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/jul/07/iron-lady-margaret-thatcher-trailer

Movie Review:The Ides of March – Clooney provides us with a flick that sizzles, satisfy’s & tantalises our political taste buds!

This one is George Clooney’s 4^th outing as a Director and I really did enjoy pretty much every minute of it. There are some lovely twists and with a truly stellar cast it packs a wonderful political punch.

In this film we don’t dwell on the big speeches and the public announcements too much, what we are provided with here is more of the behind the scenes look into the campaign. What all the guys and girls running round like headless chickens are up to on the senators behalf, with the small seedy hotel rooms, the back street bars & empty office rooms, where 'the real decisions are made' I found it pretty riveting stuff.

Our story follows Steven Myers (Ryan Gosling) an idealistic campaign spokesman for Presidential hopeful Mike Morris (George Clooney) and working alongside chain smoking Campaign Manager Paul Zara (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) as they fight, squabble & debate their way through the day to day offerings of the campaign.

Morris is the perfect candidate, cool, charming & quick lipped, with a near shoe in for the Presidency. Myers appears to be a political boy genius with Paul Zara forever slowly slapping him back down to earth, and when Myers gets a call from the opposition spokesperson Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) to come over to their side the story really kicks in with Myers finding himself fanning fires from several directions, including an affair he gets tangled up in with an Intern on the campaign (the lovely Evan Rachel Wood).

Gosling I'm convinced has it written into his contract this simple statement: 'Must end up in bed with really hot chick or will not do movie'.

Anyway! You aren’t bored here with political mumbo jumbo, the story flows well and the focus is much more around the characters (especially Myers) journey & interaction with each other which keeps this film very engaging.

I’ve also decided that I’m a little starved of good films of late I must admit. So this was a welcomed addition to the year. It certainly doesn’t break any boundaries in this particular genre. 

But it floated my northern boat none the less.

7 Northern Thumbs Out of 10.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1103731737/

Movie Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - a rather brilliant, but slightly confusing piece of espionage!

I’d been massively looking forward to this re-make from a 1970’s classic TV series starring Alec Guinness. With its rather stellar British cast and with the wonderful glimpse into the cold war period, spies, espionage and all that. It had to be pretty juicy stuff! 

Directed by Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson (Vampire film ‘Let the Right One In’) we are catapulted back to a time of extreme uncertainty, paranoia & ‘it’s time to pick a side’ mentality.

Our film mainly follows semi retired M16 agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) in his quest to track down a Soviet sympathiser (the correct term being a ‘mole’) in the ranks.

The whole M16 operation is called ‘the Circus’ and when Control (John Hurt) narrows down their suspects to five likely lads within the organisation, George sets about digging into the world with which they have all been a part in an attempt to smoke the bugger out!

Mr Oldman is sensational, subtle, and cool; he crafts this role into a performance that will most certainly have him up for an Oscar. His supporting cast, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Cathy Burke, Tom Hardy & Colin Firth all play wonderful parts in making this an intriguing wonderfully told piece of filmmaking.

Tom Hardy is also worth mentioning as such a bloody great actor. He plays a more rogue agent who goes AWOL, but once tracked down by Oldman gives some vital clues to who the mole could be, they almost have a bit of an ‘act off’ together at one point which is totally captivating stuff!

The plot twists and turns throughout this picture (which at times) makes us work rather hard as an audience. You will (or at the very least I did anyway!) get a little lost at certain points. There is a great deal to follow here and I came out thinking I will almost certainly need to see this again, at the very least just to pick up on a view areas I wasn't 100% clear on.

The era is captured really well, from the smoky corridors of M16 to the grim and grotty back streets of London & Istanbul. You are taken on a journey here that takes it’s time, explores it’s characters and depicts our time and place with a beautiful accuracy that I’m sure any boring historian would blow his load over.

Go the Brits, The Circus and the Swedes.

8 Northern Thumbs out of 10.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aco15ScXCwA

OutPost – The world’s graffiti community gets together to put on a show. Cockatoo island style!

I could think of worse ways to spend my sunny Saturdays. And even worse ways to head to the newly opened Graffiti exhibit on Cockatoo Island via ferry.

Last time I headed to the island of Cockatoo, I went to the Biennale exhibition which had loads of awesome installations, mind blowing some of them actually! That was certainly going to be a hard one to beat.

This time around though the artistry is only part of what the island has to offer - with DJ’s, entertainment, badge making?! (not sure about that one), skateboarding and a couple of snazzy bars with the Sydney backdrop at your feet - you do feel rather at home pretty quickly.

You can camp over night here which is also pretty cool - on the boat over I nearly had my head taken off a few times, or my footing misplaced for fear of some little bastard kid carrying around camping gear for his mother and father. I'm all for dog collars and leads on these little people. 

The cool kids are here too sipping on sparkling wine with the odd Corona staring out towards the harbour from what they’ve decided to call the island bar.

Back to the art though - it’s nothing special. Don’t get me wrong, there really is some impressive work here! But once you’ve been into one area and the next, you tend to get the picture people.

Art though is a subjective little thing and I’m sure you could end up perusing the various warehouses full of work for hours, not I though thank you.

Some Banksy work is also here though. Handed over by a collector for the duration of the show, which is always nice to look at. In comparison to all the other works you can certainly see why the man is as popular as he is!

Overall though, nice atmosphere, a few pretty pictures & on a nice day you can smash a few beers on the grass while the barman persistently switched tracks on the sound system because he can’t make his mind up whether he wants Marvin Gaye or the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on. 

 

 http://outpost.cockatooisland.gov.au/

Movie Review: Drive – a very super cool slick flick that almost doesn’t deliver the goodies.

Certainly not the kind of film that I expected, at first glance from the trailer and posters that surrounded my local cinema you would think this was a 'fast paced action packed guy gets the girl' kind of affair.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

What we are delivered here is a paced, even thoughtful perhaps, dark noir style kind of film which takes its time over every scene, line & performance, delivering a pretty wonderful (at times tense) overall mood.

We are introduced to our protagonist, the driver (Ryan Gosling), getaway driver by night, the best in town, and by day a stunt car driver. He also helps out in a local garage headed up by nice man / crook Shannon (Bryan Cranston, from Malcolm in the Middle fame).

For our opening scene we are given an arial shot of the vast beautiful sights of Los Angeles (and continue to throughout the film), while our driver is currently in the midst of one of his robberies. Cool as a cucumber he navigates his way round the city avoiding police cars and helicopters with total ease.

He meets Irene (Carey Mulligan) who lives next door to him, a friendship blooms and when her husband returns from jail, still mixed up in a lot of nastiness, our driver offers a helping hand only for it all to go pear shaped (and standard mob stuff ensues).

At this point the film changes direction getting more gruesome, with some incredibly bloody moments that had me crying out, ‘ooh, ah. Shit me that looks painful!’ soon the driver is fighting fires from all directions and doing a damn good job of it too.

I really can’t make my bloody mind up about this one though! On the one hand its uber cool look and feel sucked me in as well as some stellar acting, and I know this is going to sound a bit strange, but there's some cracking violence too. 

But on the other I had trouble believing certain aspects of the story be honest, there certainly felt like there were a few holes. As the critic in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/sep/22/drive-ryan-gosling-film-review explains (in regards to just one of the holes) as part of his 'drivers rule' he will only hang around for 5 mins once the robbery kicks off, when this 5 mins is up he’s off no matter what state the job is in! What is the point of a getaway driver that buggers off after 5mins?? No matter what a dab hand he is.

I don't suppose people will give two hoots though, certainly if you've got Mr Gosling behind your wheel.

7 northern thumbs out of ten (just),

Young Adult - Miss Theron doing another movie that could win her that 2nd Oscar.

And why not 'ay! 

She's done bugger all for a while really.

From Director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air), comes this new comedy starring Charlize Theron as Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). 

Certainly looks promising I reckon - see what you think though.

Trailer: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1258647532/e465fda5d655b11e5afea251de161000

Aus Release date- 19^th January 2012

Paranormal Activity 3 Clips For You To Feast Your Eyes Upon.

Paranormal Activity 3 Official Australian Clip 1:

Embed - http://www.youtube.com/embed/PpLIod2umxg
 

Link - http://youtu.be/PpLIod2umxg
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Paranormal Activity 3 Official Australian Clip 2:

Embed - http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZMDfsXy5qWU

Link - http://youtu.be/ZMDfsXy5qWU
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Paranormal Activity 3 Official Australian Clip 3:

 Embed - http://www.youtube.com/embed/qwPrvTQi76I

Link - http://youtu.be/qwPrvTQi76I