You would think, wouldn't you, that comedic actors/writers/directors desperately reminding audiences of their cinematic relevance would attempt to resuscitate their former glories first, before making their full-on mid-life crisis movie. Not that it's any easier to watch the other way around. I suppose we should all start bracing ourselves now for There's Still Something About Mary…
Sure, that's a major snark to open with, but I feel this film deserves it. It's never awful*1, but it's never more than faintly amusing either. And for a Comedy™, that's just not enough. Zoolander 2 opens with the chase scene from the first trailer, in which a hooded figure is pursued by motorcycle-riding assassins through the streets of Rome before revealing himself to be none other than Justin Beiber, who is then gunned down and dies immediately after posting A Selfie™ to Instagram. The joke which takes 22 seconds is the trailer is dragged out for six minutes in the final movie, and gains nothing for it. Even though this is actually a first block in the wafer-thin story of the film, the pacing of the scene works far better in its shorter form, and anyone who's seen the trailer (statistically that's most of the audience, remember, otherwise the trailer has been utterly pointless) already knows the punchline. Plus, the scene ends with this glaring anomaly…
Yep, hair - check, hood - check. A completely different photo! Yay! There's a continuity error in the first gag!Yeah, of course that's intentional Ben. It's not even meant to matter, only the joke is stretched to the point where you can't help but notice. And it's this slapdash approach to self-indulgent circle-jerkery which epitomises Zoolander 2 perfectly, with its heavily telegraphed, drawn-out screenplay and a lengthy queue of celeb-cameos (from both the worlds of fashion and show-business) whose eagerness to appear on-camera is far, far ahead of their self-awareness.
Ben Stiller has made a fan-film of his own work and he'd like to charge you money to watch it.
Caution advised.
2001.
Only if you're a fan of mainstream studio-comedy who fell into a coma in 2002, has recently awoken and needs a gentle buffering into how the world has changed (or not).
…
They wish.
Actually, I probably won't.
There isn't.
Level 2: Zoolander 2 has the muddy paw-prints of Ben Stiller all over it, who appeared in last year's While We're Young alongside Adam 'Kylo Ren' Driver.
*1 Seriously, for all my moaning it's not awful. But it's boring.
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.
Shawn Levy 's trilogy-closer certainly seems to have had the requisite number of stops pulled out when it comes to the visual effects, and it's never less than watchable. Frequently amusing, with a couple of guffaws (Dan Stevens is particularly good as Sir Lancelot), the combination of action and slapstick ticks the boxes on the list of what you'd want from a family adventure movie. It's just a shame that Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb feels like it's got nothing to say...
Not that I expect the third entry in a Ben Stiller-fuelled PG-adventure franchise to reveal new depths to the human soul or finally perfect the scientific formula for guaranteed comedy, but at times there's almost an air of contractual obligation as the returning characters rehash their previous performances, and the few new ones offer nothing that you weren't imagining anyway.
I know that I'm expecting too much, but I have quite fond memories of the first two films, and I'd just hoped for something a little more satisfying from a screenplay which has all the hallmarks of a final chapter with a wind-down to beginning rival Peter Jackson's Return Of The King at one point. For all the misty-eyed farewells the film has to offer, it's Robin Williams' scenes which hold the most weight here, from a purely retrospective view of course. NatM isn't Williams' greatest work of course, but then it doesn't have to be; it's just a nice cinematic hug goodbye.
While it brings little new to the table, Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb is amiable enough entertainment for the holiday season, but it struggles to compete with its own previous iterations, never mind the current fare at the box office...
Close enough.
Sort of snorted and giggled, but that's not really enough, is it?
If that is "extend/complete the franchise" then not really, if I'm being honest.
That all depends on how much you want to see this movie, really.
Probably not.
…probably not.
There isn't.
Why are the museum-characters that are introduced in this film so inconsistently self-aware? Not realising they're waxworks one minute, complaining about families gawping at them during the day the next. Were the previous films as bad as this? (I don't remember, and I'm not going to go back and watch them right now to find out)
Oh, and another thing (SPOILERS): When the magic-tablet is revealed by Ahkmenrah's father to be a device he had made so that his family could stay together in this world after death, surely that'd mean they'd each be hanging around in various advancing states of decay before eventually being sentient dust? Can we have even just a little logical consistency in a fantasy environment, please?
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.
The studio representative slouched to one side of the screen, his nightvision camera in-hand and his considerable stomach straining to be free of a work-shirt bought when he was two sizes slimmer. A Cineworld staff member stood in front of him, to his right. "Welcome to our second Secret Unimited Screening," he struggled over the audience chatter and in-screen muzak which hadn't been turned down for his announcement. "You've already been asked to turn your mobile phones off, and we ask that you keep them off for the duration of the film. The gentleman with me represents the makers of the film, and will be monitoring tonight's screening for any illegal recording…" (a large percentage of patrons had immediately turned their phones back on once they'd got to their seats. Either the security-rep couldn't see the glowing faces, or he just didn't care.) "I should also tell you that the film you're seeing tonight is an unfinished version, and won't be in cinemas until next month." (as it was the 25th of the month, the audience successfully hid their surprise at this exclusivity.)
After three trailers and another uneasy nail in the coffin of Kevin Bacon's credibility, the BBFC card lit up the faces of the audience… The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, it read. The audience groaned, audibly. No, seriously. Not everyone, but enough that it was a thing. A lot of the folks here had probably seen the five minute promo that ran before Thor: The Dark World, where Ben Stiller sits in a hotel room, feigning awkwardness in introducing his latest movie, whilst also giving off vibes of genuine awkwardness. It's like Stiller doesn't quite know what slot it should fit into, so he tries to cover all the bases in the time he's allotted, and the end result feels like it's all over the place, ambitiously spinning more plates than it can hope to maintain.
Sadly, that promo is a spot-on representation of the film I saw tonight. Walter Mitty features some stunning photography, and it's clear than a lot of heart has gone into making it, yet that doesn't quite translate to the screen the way you know Stiller wanted it to. It's quite often smile-inducing, either through humour or charm, but the film is never different enough to escape the box it's urging us all to break out of. The escapist daydreams which the Mitty character is famous for disappear after the first act*1, leaving a film which feels a little like a cross between a midlife crisis and a hipster re-imagining of Lord Of The Rings. I honestly believe that "skateboard past an Icelandic volcano" was the deal-breaker from day one with this project. Ben is affable enough to carry his part off, as is his just-out-of-reach romantic foil, Wiig. But everyone other than Walter is presented in strictly one-dimensional terms, which is fine as the story's being told from Mitty's point-of-view, but Walter himself seems largely pencilled-in and aimless, rounding out his own story by luck, rather than judgement.
Films don't have to fit into just one slot, but audiences do expect them to, rightly or wrongly. The biggest problem is that The Secret Life of Walter Mitty doesn't really fit into any. I can't even call it a noble failure, as it's better than that; more of a beautifully photographed mess. For a film trying so hard to be inspirational, there's a distinct lack of sincerity.
Ben Stiller tries to show us his heart, but gets distracted more than his re-imagined Walter, and ends up presenting nothing more than a whimsical rom-com; which is light on both the rom and the com. The depth of field is often breathtaking, but the depth of character leaves a lot to be desired…
Pretty much.
Not as much as I'd have liked.
For me, not even close.
Iceland looks nice, big. Then again, Iceland always looks nice. You don't need Ben Stiller belting around on a skateboard to show it off..
No.
Maybe with Stiller's commentary.
There's a Wilhelm in the Cineworld extended preview, when he's the ice-explorer by the drinks machine (not in that trailer above, though), but it wasn't in the cut of the film we saw. I can't actually remember the last time I heard the scream in the trailer when it wasn't in the film itself, but I'm sure it'll be in the version you see..
Why is there a photo and sculpted-bust tribute to Peter Sellers in the same shot? Stiller has credited 'Being There' as an influence in this project, but did I miss an equal and/or bigger reference to… well, someone linked with Walter Mitty? This may be indicative of a larger problem, I think...
*1 SPOILERY THINGS: Unless I'm missing something big and the whole Greenland/Icelandic adventure thing was a daydream. But I stayed until the end of the credits and there was no suggestion of that, just the Happy Hollywood Ending™. I know the whole snow leopard thing was a massive metaphor, but the film also suggests that it's actually happening as well.
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.
So, a straight 100 minute, cookie-cutter comedy about a group of underdog outsiders who band together for a greater cause, and at the same time overcoming their own individual hangups? Three American stars, each with a frankly hit-and-miss record when it comes to being a comedic lead, and the addition of a British actor who only seems to have one persona to his belt? No notable cameo appearances to speak of, but a range of incidental characters who frequently upstage the stars with their wit, timing or sheer absurdity? A wandering direction which seems to forget its own main narrative and wander down Subplot Alley for extended periods of time? A surfeit of knob-jokes, with enough language thrown in to ensure that crucial 15 Certificate?
All of these…
The Good: I can't work out if it's in spite of the laundry-list up there, or because of it that I really enjoyed The Watch. The formulaic framework (courtesy of Seth Rogen) made it a lot easier for me to take the movie at face-value. Which is a nice way of saying 'just enjoy the jokes'. I chuckled frequently throughout and guffawed three or four times, and the audience around me did the same, so it was doing something right.
With one exception, it's been beautifully cast, and everyone is on great form with characters they're suited to while not seeming to be overplayed (yet, anyway). That exception would be Mr Stiller, by the way. He's perfectly acceptable as Evan, the uptight founder of the Neighbourhood Watch, but he doesn't bring anything unique to the part. As I mentioned above, it's the likes of Will Forte as the sarcastic police officer, and Billy Crudup as Evan's flirting neighbour than steal their scenes completely. It's worth pointing out that the film is more about the aliens than the trailer would suggest. I thought they were going to be thrown in half way through, but that's not the case. And although the design of the creatures is a little generic, they're executed well enough, given the type of film you're watching.
Other than that, The Watch is a comfortably predictable (but no less funny, for it) frat-boy comedy, with shades of Paul and Attack The Block, wrapped up in Superbad. Frequently crude, but always good-natured.
Oh, and there's one c-bomb (to snare the aforementioned 15 cert), and for once it's delivered magnificently. Bonus points for that.
The Bad: The film does try its hand at having a subtext about duty, friendship, and relationships. It's probably best if you ignore this, as it's been done so much better in the past by other movies. But at the same time, bonus points go to them for attempting it. Without that second layer, what are we left with? Lesbian Vampire Killers, that's what...
The Ugly: At least one glaring spot where bad editing has Ben Stiller completely jump from one mark to another between cuts, only to deliver a line which makes absolutely no sense, because the rest of that conversation strand has been excised. I'm intrigued to know how much of this movie is on the cutting-room floor, because there's no gag-reel or extra scenes at the end, and there are a few lines in the trailer that don't make it into the final theatrical cut.
All in all: I found The Watch to be very, very likeable. More than anybody else, if online ratings are anything to go by. If you don't make it to the flicks for this one, it'll make a good night in with friends and beer. Just don't expect anything other than a noisy, silly comedy.
DISCLAIMERS: • ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• 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.
Although the trailer makes it look a little whacky, most of the performances in Brett Ratner's Tower Heist are fairly understated. Sure, Eddie Murphy does his wide-eyed-shrieky thing a bit, and it's hard not to be a little slapstick when you've got a Ferarri winched over the edge of a skyscraper while the Thanksgiving Day parade trundles beneath unaware, but considering the film is constantly amusing, it's got a muted tension to it.
I daresay some of that's down to the subject matter in the current financial climate, and each member of he audience wondering what they'd do if a rogue investor swindled them out of every penny they've saved. And to his credit, Alan Alda doesn't pantomime his villain up at all; he's slimy, sure, but only in the way you see regularly on news and current affairs programmes.
Hark at me, making this all serious!Tower Heist is a very entertaining film. It's fast-paced to start with, and then slows to a more manageable level, but it doesn't fail to engage at all. A borderline-farcical crescendo gives way to a satisfying ending without being too clichéd. Ben Stiller reins in his comic-exasperation, while Matthew Broderick and Téa Leoni quite happily take a back seat to Stiller and Murphy's antagonistic double-act.
It's better than I was expecting it to be. All in all, worth a gander.
Try not to think too hard about the maximum weight capacity of your average elevator, and you'll be fine.
DISCLAIMERS: • ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• 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 organizations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
