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Reviews
The Fountainhead (1949)
Oil and Water
I fear that giving Ayn Rand full control over what was said on screen turned what might have been an interesting film into nothing more than an extension of her book. Now that might sound a good thing, but film and book are two different media that rarely sit comfortably with one another. Strangely it is this refusal to compromise, an important point in the book, that is this films biggest flaw.
While the acting is fine, aside from Coopers and Neal's in my opinion, the dialogue is stilted and stands out of place on screen, almost to the point of preaching rather than aiding the development of the story.
This might be simply a sign of the times, after all this was made in 1948, but this film stands out in my mind as perhaps the pinnacle of 'straight from the book to film' type of writing.
The film isn't subtle by any means, its point is pushed down your throat time and time again, the price of having your writer push an agenda.
It seems like every other line is a speech rather than a genuine conversation, with constant swings back and forth from over the top melodrama to meaningless contrite phrases.
As a book, without the aid of background music and the delivery of a host of different actors I'm sure this works fine, but as a film it just becomes noise with all meaning lost.
Tron: Legacy (2010)
Loose yourself in the virtual world
Atmospheric is perhaps the best word i can use to describe this film, the dark moody lighting broken only by the neon lit stripes of the two factions serve to immerse you in a distinctly oppressive digital mirror of our own world.
There are films where special effects take centre stage, luckily for the most part this is not the case, the cgi effects in this, aside from a few matrix style slowmo scenes are simply used and tossed to one side to give the impression that what you see is the norm and not the extraordinary. That said the cgi is wonderful as takes on its own character of the film.
The acting is straight forward and doesn't detract from the story but don't expect anything memorable aside from maybe a few lines and scenes. The same can be said for the story itself, there's not much depth to it, its a straight forward good guys vs bad guys kinda film with all that entails. But the pace and style of the story don't need anything more than that, they suit each others needs well and produce a wonderful film to just sit back and cheer for the good guys.
A mention must be given to Daft Punks soundtrack which is simply spot on for this kinda film, you couldn't find a more perfect match.
There is enough at the end to leave open a sequel and i hope that comes true though at the end it can wrap up nicely as finale to the tron story quite nicely too.
The Last Airbender (2010)
a poor copy
Like many of the reviewers on here i too am a fan of the animated television epic which had depth, it had wonderful voice acting, characters that you were genuinely interested in and wonderful atmosphere....all sadly lacking in this uninspired copy of the show.
The actors seem to have been transplanted from every kids show around and simply thrown into this film, a process that no adult film would have tolerated. Chemistry has to be there between actors for the viewer to engage with and i became bored with the stilted performance of them especially from Noah Ringer (Aang)who seemed to be sleepwalking through this entire film.
While the film does faithfully recreate key scenes and has visuals that are surprisingly good, i fear to much attention has gone into getting it right rather than getting it good.
The dialogue is fine for the most part, the story moves along at a fair pace and covers most of the key points in the first book, so from this perspective it fulfils the mandate and I'm sure some of the younger viewers wont be as critical of some of the points I've mentioned.
Great for the kiddies not so for fans who were expecting the same quality from the animated version
The Box of Delights (1984)
The essence of magic
I was fortunate enough to be a child when this first appeared on BBC and for the life of me i cant understand why it isn't repeated around the festive season.
I lived in a house in Scotland, we had snow knee deep, a coal fire to keep me warm and while we had no wolves to worry about we did have the occasional nosey fox or foraging badger to add to the mix of realism this gem of a classic children's drams. Every night myself and my two sisters who despite being ten years older than me would sit all snug and toasty and be transported away by what can only be described as the closest you will come to believing in magic as you ever will in your life.
While the pace of this can be charmingly laid back there are enough moments of wonder and tension to make you wonder where those 30 minutes went.
I wont go into the story as so many others already have and lets face it, this has dropped of the radar of television so only those that watched it or even just caught a glimpse of it know about it already.
Im thirtymumblemumblemumblemumblefour now and like others i watch this every year. Because of its setting, a kind of famous five version of england that really only existed in literature the box of delights doesn't age as it was already in that in-between place of time so viewers of all ages can enjoy this.
This is a fine tribute to those actors sadly no longer with us who gave this story life and gravitas and a true sense of magic.
Transformers (2007)
Tranformed a little to much for my taste
Well like many i was expecting this to bomb but was more than pleasantly surprised to be proved wrong. From the beginning the voice-over by Prime sent shivers down my spine bringing all that i loved about transformers flooding back.
The story moves at a fair pace and the action is slick and tight with hardly a moment wasted. The balance between having to explain whats going on and on screen advancement is smooth and flawless.
My only and biggest complaint which has been covered is the lack of character from the robots. Their generic look makes it hard to identify with any of them and in fight sequences is so easy to loose track of whos who. Only Prime retains any semblance of what he looked like in the cartoons. I wasn't expecting and would never want a straight copy to CGI of what they had looked like, but im sure they could have given them at least a passing resembelance to their robot form. As for the veichle mode it hardly matters that bumblebee isn't a VW, its the robot form we most associate with. My own thought is that the film wanted to show off its CGI and made them far more robot like with thousands of moving part and a sharp edgy look. but by doing so they took away their character, it would be like taking batmans bat suit away and leaving him with pointy ears. Every hero and villain needs a recognisable identity if the audience is to show any connection with them.
That aside its a great popcorn film and has you hooked on whats gonna happen next. Defo one to see
Ghost Rider (2007)
Worth wasting away a few hours
Despite the special effects and smooth way the film moves forward it has a very 80's feel to it, the plot the layout, the voice over, the 'acting' as cages rides off into the night all hark back to that era. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
The special effects are great but then again we expect that now, nothing new really grabs you they simply enable the story to move forward and keep your attention.
Havign never heard of the ghost rider before i had no baggage when i watched this film and so have no gripes as to the portrayal of the character which again probably isn't a bad thing. As mentioned you cant over think this film, just go in sit down eat your popcorn and enjoy, when its finished come out and move on.
Eragon (2006)
Dragons and Jeremy
You would have thought that after the shambles of Dungeons & Dragons that poor Ole Jeremy would have stayed away from anything involving dragons, but here it just shows we are doomed to repeat history. I have a bomb shelter in my garden in case history repeats Battlefield Earth (shudder) The plot that fell out of a Christmas cracker seems to be taken from whatever was on the DVD rental shelf that day giving the impression of a very, very sloppy put together 'film' The overall Luke sky walker premise of young boy from nowhere having a destiny to fulfil scenario is given no additional meat on its tired bones.
Watching it you cant help feel that they got what few films there are featuring dragons and just took the best bits and since Sean Connery's's voice wasn't used in this film that leaves very little.
You will notice from this review i go into very little if not nothing about the actual context of the film, this is for two reasons, one it's against my nature to inflict pain on another human being and two I'm not wasting the money i spent on psychiatric sessions to expunge this from my memory only to bring it all up again.
If your determined to go see this film i suggest you take your Ipod along and a blindfold