Man of Steel (second-pass)
Cert: 12A / 143 mins / Dir. Zack Snyder / Trailer
Superman's mum is hot. There, I said it. I mean his Kryptonian mum (no offence Superman's Earth mum). I'd noticed this last time I watched the film, but I'd forgotten how much until now. This seemed to be a running theme, in fact. I'd also forgotten how much I enjoyed Man of Steel. I didn't forget that I enjoyed it, of course, just how much damned fun it is. Even the run-time didn't bother me too much this time around.
Another thing which slipped my mind is that both of Superman's dads here are Robin Hood. If that's not the setup for a sitcom, I don't know what the hell is.
But yeah, I had great fun revisiting Zack Snyder's retooling of Krypton's last son. I love how much time we get to spend on his home planet at the beginning of the film. It's not a throwaway setup, it's an entire prologue and everything which follows benefits massively from its inclusion. And even if the last hour of the movie is essentially an extended fight scene, it's a one which doesn't let up.
Although really, Kal? Now you sigh audibly and snap Zod's neck? Before the cowering family in the corner are bisected, but after hundreds of thousands have been crushed under the collapse of Metropolis? Oh, alright then…
Still holding up well after a few years, Man of Steel is DC proving that they can play with the big boys. Or rather, proving that they are one of the big boys.
Tonally, it's somewhere between Chris Nolan's Batman and Tim Burton's Batman.
If you get the chance, sure.
More than.
It's certainly the best I've seen Cavill.
Nope.
There certainly is.
Level 2: This film's got Larry Fishburne in it, and he was in that Apocalypse Now, as was Harrison 'Solo' Ford.
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.
Inside Out (2D)
Cert: U / 102 mins / Dir. Ronnie Del Carmen & Pete Docter / Trailer
So what happens, right, is that a big-name Pixar movie gets released in the US on, ooh say June the 19th, and is held back for the start of the UK school-holidays until, well about July the 24th or so. Not withstanding the awkward piracy-gap that this creates, the danger is that the audience who've already seen the film let their opinions slip to the ones who haven't, because the world's a pretty small place in the 21st century. This can be potentially damaging to a film and (piracy aside) is one of the reasons that studios generally push for global release dates where they can. Over the course of the last five weeks I hadn't heard a bad word about Inside Out, of course, but this had the opposite effect and had raised my expectations, if anything. And therein lies The Rub™.
The trailer for the movie that's been playing UK cinemas is pretty magnificent. Sharp, sassy, and geared every bit towards grown-up anxieties and foibles as much as those of the kids. A conversation most of us have had at one (or several) point(s) in our lives overlaid with a three-way director's commentary. And brightly-coloured shouty characters, to boot. Like The Numskulls with sarcasm*1. Ace.
And Inside Outis like that, and it is sharp, sassy and (most importantly) funny. But there's also a very subtle film about anxiety, self realisation and even depression and mental illness buried in there somewhere, and it's thoroughly drowned out by everything else that's squeezed into the hour and a half*2. Feeling alone and isolated when she moves from Minnesota to San Francisco with her parents, the film follows 11yr old Riley as she struggles to adapt to a new school and the feelings for the friends she left behind, and the subliminal struggles she faces are enacted by the five facets of her personality, Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness and Disgust (it's probably worth noting that only one of these aspects could be considered inherently positive, but that really needs analysing in its own post/review).
The majority of the story takes place from Riley's point-of-view, and the Mom/Dad psyches we see in the trailer are largely used for just that one scene. In short, I expected more of the conversational interaction from the rest of the film, so I couldn't help feel a little underwhelmed (by a fantastically written, funny movie, I know). That said, since Riley's inherent traits are direct amalgams of her parents', it's probably just as well as the result could be potentially confusing. Plus, the film is almost bursting as it is, without adding more friction to the dynamic. As entertaining as it all is, the screenplay is a little too fast-paced to be as introspective as it wants, and often tries to spin too many plates at once. The sharp, quickfire script, visual gags and ever-driving plot feel like they're fighting for the audience's attention (because it should be possible to enjoy all three at once, rather than layering the content as if it's filtering out to three different age groups).
If the film was half an hour longer (a big ask in animation, I know), it'd be able to steady its own pace and be an even better movie.
So like, don't get me wrong, Inside Out is a lot of fun and I do recommend it, but I saw it a week ago at an exclusive preview-screening and was um-bongo'd from publishing a review until today, so these niggles have been playing on my mind a bit. It's still very good, though.
It's worth a watch, but you could probably wait until…
…it hits BluRay or DVD.
There's some very accomplished voicework here, and no noticeable stunt-casting.
It just about does, but it's also trying a little too hard to cram it all in.
Nope.
Didn't hear one.
As well as featuring the voice of (cinematic) Yoda himself, Frank Oz, Inside Out also contains the dulcet tones of John Ratzenberger, perhaps best known of course for his role as Major Derlin in The Empire Strikes Back.
*1 Yes, I know referencing The Numskulls is a lazy thing to do since every review of the film will be mentioning it, but the base-similarity is so close that it would be weird not to mention them. Although now I want to work in a reference to Num Skull, even though that would lose most of my readers completely. Yeah, welcome to my brain. Be thankful you don't live here.
*2 As is par for the course with Pixar, the run-time is extended beforehand by the seven-minute short 'Lava', which is every bit as charming as you'd expect. Unless you hate ukuleles, in which case you'll want to punch the nearest stranger.
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.
Man of Steel (3D / Spoiler-free)
Cert: 12A / 143 mins / Dir. Zack Snyder
I was a few days late in catching Man of Steel, by which time I'd caught some of the 'mixed review' buzz that's doing the rounds, albeit without reading the actual reviews. Now, regular readers will have noticed this already, but I've always been a Marvel-kid, so Snyder was going to have to pull something pretty damned good out of the bag to impress me with one of DC's most old-fashioned heroes.
And it seems, to my jaded eye at least, that he's gone and bloody done it. I loved this. I've always found the weak-link in the mythos to be Clark Kent, by definition a necessarily dull character, but I enjoyed watching the film told from Clark's (well, Kal's) point-of-view, rather than the usual route of focusing on pointing/gasping members of the public. He doesn't get angsty to Spider-Man levels, but it's interesting to see his frustration coming from having to hold his power back (in the first half of the film, at least), rather than frowning over his glasses at general injustice. More on this in a spoilery-review in the future.
Once Clark gets the red-and-blues on it's a lot more straightforward, of course. Good guys are good, bad guys are bad, the army are typically-confused and Russell Crowe outstays his welcome. It never becomes unbearable (for me, at least), but it's certainly in 'comfortable territory'. The only real gripe I have about the movie is that it's way too long, considering the story they have to tell. The duration of the final showdown seems ridiculous, particularly once it ends, and it only serves to increase the number of 'hang on a minute' moments that occur (again, more on those in a future review).
I think Henry Cavill is the one to have done the best out of this movie. Everyone else is strong enough, but in a straight-down-the-line way, where they don't get to shine. The biggest casualty in this department is poor old Michael Shannon as Zod; I don't think I should have been quite that sympathetic toward the main villain. His portrayal of Krypton's Biggest Bastard was slightly too sympathetic for my liking. And again, more on this in the future.
But ultimately, I have to say that I really enjoyed Man of Steel. Sure, cynics are moaning about it being 'dark and brooding', but since Batman worked because of that and Green Lantern desperately needed it, I'll take all the darkness you can throw into the DC-verse, thanks very much. The Reeve-era films are still there for those who like their action a little more gleaming. Oh, and for the record, I really liked the "Reeve shot" in MoS, I know it's raised eyebrows elsewhere.
Given the limitations of an invincible, morally incorruptible hero, I think this movie is the best it could have been. Particularly if it's got to segue into JLA territory…
Fairly.
Yes.
For me, yes.
For me, cinema.
Not really.
Yes.
Yes! Finally! It seems like it's been bloody months...
Would (ie. will) you be happy seeing this iteration of Superman in a Justice League movie, and can DC ever hope to catch up with Marvel, let alone best them?
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.
