An intriguing documentary about three brothers from Detroit in the early 1970's who started a Punk band when everyone else was playing Motown and Disco; and before Punk was even Punk. Singer and guitarist David Hackney was the spiritual core of the group, refusing to bow to pressure to change the band's name, even when it lead to the stagnation of their career. The lean 96 minute running time takes us through the life cycle of the band, from formation to recording; to obscurity and tragedy; to reformation and rebirth.
At times it feels as if the sentiment is holding back the flow of the story, but given the nature of the band and the bond they shared, that's entirely forgivable (even necessary). The band's proto-punk/hardcore music may not have pushed all my buttons, but their fascinating story certainly did. The section that deals with their repeated rejection by the music industry is presented with exasperated emotion, but without bitterness or malice; This alone puts Death on a rarefied level that most bands will never reach.
It's worth a watch for musicians and those interested in music history, but be prepared for a very personal story that doesn't stray far from the Hackney family.
No, the trailer only shows part of one aspect of it.
Largely.
Yes.
If you're not sure it'll be your thing, wait for a free broadcast.
No.
Probably not, its work is done.
No.
I don't usually go out of my way to watch documentaries. Recommend me some in that there comments box…
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a 'catch-up' review. I watched this film at home, not at the cinema. I saw the trailer for this at the cinema, and I would have seen the film there too, but they didn't/couldn't show it. So now iTunes, Amazon, Netflix and Blockbuster get to reap the rewards of my local's advance-advertising, and I'm sure they're delighted. Now you may say "oh come on, they can't show everything down there", and that would be a valid point if they didn't do things like running Taken 2 for six weeks. Was it that successful? No, I don't think so. Twilight? Batman? Les Mes? Sure, go for it; if they're pulling the punters in then keep making that money. But Taken 2? I ask you. Anyway, this is essentially a DVD review, but still of a new(ish) film. There. I'm glad that's sorted.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Warm Bodies Cert: 12 / 97 mins / Dir. Jonathan Levine
Another genre-bending oddity, and a good indicator that there's more to be done with zombies than just growling and clawing - if it's handled with care. Warm Bodies succeeds on some levels and boldly fails on others, never quite managing to clear the hurdle of supernatural romance. It's this, hand-in-hand with its near constant vocal-soundtrack, that holds the film back and will leave many dismissing it as a sub-Twilight teen movie. Think of it as a Shakespeare-adaptation (for the most part, the end isn't that dark), and it holds the attention a lot better.
Nicholas Hoult is a great choice as R, the zombie at the centre of it all, and reminded me at times of a young Tom Cruise. It's his eloquent voice-over that really sells it, being the only truly unique selling point of the film. Teresa Palmer plays a confident second-fiddle, doing most of the heavy-lifting in terms of dialogue, and Rob Corddry handles his share of the undead-shambling with a relaxed ease. John Malcovich pretty much phones in his role, which he can't really be blamed for given the part he has.
Overall, I found it to be rather sweet and slightly fascinating, but the purist in me couldn't detach from the fact that the zombies here may look in keeping with the Romero-school, but they don't follow any of the same rules. I loved the memory-transference caused by the eating of brains; Running-zombies I can handle, but talking corpses had me raising an eyebrow; Why don't the Bonies need to be shot in the head like the Walkers?; The decomposition of necrotic tissue alone would render the plot resolution impossible…
And when you're complaining that the zombies in a film 'wouldn't work like that', you know you're in too deep. Either way, it's still a better zombie film than World War Z.
Warm Bodies is a valiant effort, but I think I'm better off sticking to The Walking Dead.
If anything, the film's more ponderous than the trailer, but yes.
Pretty much.
I think so.
Pay-to-rent, unless you're already sold on it.
No.
At some point.
I don't recall catching one, but I could be mistaken.
Leaving aside the mechanics of how the undead function in this film, is talking zombies a step too far? If the deceased brain can hold enough residual charge to handle walking and eating, wouldn't there be enough left for basic words (if not actual conversation)? Let me know what you think.
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a 'catch-up' review. I watched this film at home, not at the cinema. I saw the trailer for this at the cinema, and I would have seen the film there too, but they didn't/couldn't show it. So now iTunes, Amazon, Netflix and Blockbuster get to reap the rewards of my local's advance-advertising, and I'm sure they're delighted. Now you may say "oh come on, they can't show everything down there", and that would be a valid point if they didn't do things like running Taken 2 for six weeks. Was it that successful? No, I don't think so. Twilight? Batman? Les Mes? Sure, go for it; if they're pulling the punters in then keep making that money. But Taken 2? I ask you. Anyway, this is essentially a DVD review, but still of a new(ish) film. There. I'm glad that's sorted.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
This Is The End Cert: 15 / 106 mins / Dir. Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen
Maybe it's a trans-Atlantic thing? The 84% user rating over at Rotten Tomatoes does not correlate with the atmosphere in my local cinema at the end of today's performance, or the subsequent rumblings I've heard (although I've yet to read other reviews).
To call 'This Is The End' a vanity-project, would be to suggest that it was made to raise the profile of the cast, and that it'll be proudly listed on any of their CV's. Sadly, it's unlikely that this 100 minute circle-jerk will fulfil either of those criteria. After a shambling, opening fifteen minutes which establishes a location (if not an actual plot) and sees most of Seth Rogen's non-speed-dial buddies fall into a fiery sinkhole, our intrepid gang (Rogen, Baruchel, Franco, Hill, McBride, Robinson) proceeds to sit in the house and do fuck-not-nothing for an hour and a half. This extended 'mid-section' of the film is so monumentally dull, it's almost the funniest thing in there. Once they realise that there's no plot to resolve, they decide to leave the house and see all the CGI demons that the budget has been saving up. And since no-plot requires no-ending, the Backstreet Boys come on and then there's the credits. Not even kidding.
It seems apparent (indeed evident) that the budget was blown at either end of the film, and I only wish they'd had enough cash left over to employ a script editor. Or a script writer. Or a writer. The fact that the cast are playing exaggerated (I hope) versions of themselves only goes to underline how self-indulgent it all is, and at the point where Jonah Hill takes the piss out of Danny McBride for Your Highness, my eyes rolled so hard I could see my brain. The irony also didn't escape me that in the middle of the dull-stretch, the group use a video camera to make an improvised, zero-budget DIY sequel to Pineapple Express; the bitter truth being that the whole movie is only $32m out from being exactly that anyway. What makes the whole affair worse is that I actually like Rogen, Hill and Robinson. *seethes*
I won't even go into the uncomfortable section with Emma Watson. I'm sure other bloggers/writers will dissect that far more capably than I can. For the most part, I spent my time wishing for the actual apocalypse to arrive, if only so that something would happen. The IMDB page for this says that people who liked 'This Is The End' also liked 'Here Comes The Boom'. I rest my case*1.
TL;DR? 'This Is The End' is shitting awful. Avoid.
I sort of is, yes.
Nope.
Who fucking knows?
Telly. At an absolute push.
Yep.
I will cut my own hands off before I watch this again.
I think I heard one when Jonah Hill was on fire. And even that's nowhere near as interesting as it sounds.
Is this all they have to show for 32 million dollars? No, really? Is this some kind of elaborate tax-loss?
*1 Yep. Snob. What of it? You know this.
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Here is a movie so clockwork you can set your watch by it (which, for the record, no-one wears anymore). Produced by, written by, and starring Vince Vaughn with his pal Owen Wilson, and directed by Shawn 'The Rocker' Levy, The Internship is an underdog story of two middle-aged salesmen who find themselves out of a job and out of their depth surrounded by whizzkids; defaulted into a team of misfits who have little faith in themselves, never mind their aged counterparts; pitched as a mismatched unit against rival teams, with one particular outstanding a-hole as their chief antagonist, who will surely get his own personal comeuppance; constantly struggling to impress a stern, joyless supervisor; forced by circumstance to bond as a team, find their strengths and learn from each other to overcome their own obstacles; the youngsters are good at coding, the oldies are good at sports, drinking and fighting; just as things are beginning to gel, one final hurdle appears which threatens to derail the team's victory; will they make it? Well, will they?
You've seen this story so many times that the answer should be as obvious as Max Minghella's horrendous overacting. Every beat of this film is guided by a well-worn cinematic autopilot, with familiar charm riding roughshod over verve, inventiveness, and dramatic tension. The film's shorthand for geek culture consists of frequent techno-bullshit, a live-action game of Quidditch and four (yes four) separate Star Wars references. The fact that the team's inevitable victory consists of the duo using the skills they'd brought to the internship in the first place indicates an almost complete absence of character development, save for the fact that one of them gets a girlfriend. That trailer? ^^ That is the film.
Oh, and did I mention that I really rather enjoyed it?
It doesn't even fall into guilty-pleasure territory, I just liked it. The Internship is a very undemanding buddy-comedy with two inherently likeable leads doing what they do best. Like a new (or at least repainted) car on an old rollercoaster, there's never really any doubt that you'll stay firmly glued to the tracks, but the ride is there to be enjoyed nonetheless. Bonus points are awarded for not going down the gross-out route to achieve a 15 certificate, and for not giving Melissa McCarthy a role. Will Ferrell and Rob Riggle do have cameos, but both are short enough not to outstay their welcome. Josh Brener, Dylan O'Brien, Tiya Sircar and Tobit Raphael tick all the boxes as Owen and Vaughn's team-mates, and Aasif Mandvi and Rose Byrne put in respectable turns as employees of the world's largest search engine. The warm-heartedness of the film could easily be construed as laziness, but this film is the marshmallow to the sour-fizzies of This Is The End (landing here this Friday).
You know that comedy you see in the supermarket for £5 on DVD and you buy it with a few bottles of beer/wine, and you watch it with friends on a Saturday night and have a good time? That's The Internship. That's not to say you shouldn't watch it at the cinema, but it'll feel a lot better with a cold one in your hand*1.
I stand by my comment about Minghella, though. Over-egging the (free) pudding.
Yes.
Mostly.
Acquitted by its own low standards, yes.
Honestly? DVD, but it's not a bad choice for Orange Wednesdays.
No.
Yes.
No.
*1 Okay, seriously though, that bit in the trailer with the 'putting up the paddles' and 'having a beer with your boss' and that? I'm with those two. You wanna grab a cold one with me? You let me know...
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
Despicable Me 2 (3D)
Cert: U / 98 mins / Dir. Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud
Now I don't want to give the impression that I didn't enjoy this immensely, but I think it's missing the spark that made its predecessor such a great film. Namely, the ability to make me well up in a cinema. And let's be honest, that's happened on more than one occasion; I'm an easy target, theatrically speaking.
The central thread about the Anti-Villain League's mission to recover a secret formula seems a little half-arsed somehow, as does the Gru/Lucy subplot. In fact at its core, Despicable Me 2 feels like it's been cobbled together around some visual-sketches for The Minions to star in. Now these are great gags, but nothing that couldn't have been done with a straight-to-DVD spinoff. I found the film to be very funny a lot of the time, but there was no emotional hook this time around. Gru and his girls are settled, and nothing puts that in jeopardy; the worst that could happen is that he won't get a girlfriend. Erm, okay.
The 3D is nicely rendered and consistently in use, although whether that'll make or break the experience is down to your preference. The voice acting is all solid enough, but it's Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher that shine once more as Steve Carrell's young charges. I just wish we'd spent more time in their company. But if you want slapstick and silliness, plus a shedload of visual references for the older generation, you won't go far wrong.
The audience laughed throughout, but not as much as Universal and Illumination Entertainment's accountancy departments, I suspect.
Pretty much.
I laughed a lot.
I think so.
Cinema / DVD.
No.
At some point.
Yes, and in the first three minutes. ACE!
After proving the law of diminishing returns once more (to my mind, at least), should we be feeling nervous about the Wreck-It Ralph sequel?
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
