Review: Missing Link

A new film from Laika always has me excited. It basically getsme to further show my love for their debut feature Coraline. An absolutely wonderful stop-motion animated fantasy that is so fantastical and terrifying at the same time.

If you're not aware of Laika, they are basically the American version of Aardman Animation. They have created wonderful features such as Kubo And The Two Strings, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls. They have yet to an Academy Award. But when they do, it will be the most joyous of days, because they wholeheartedly deserve it.

As for their latest project, while the trailers never got me completely excited for it, being a film from Laika was plenty to get to go and check it out.

After seeing it, I feel like I appreciating it more than enjoying it. It's hard to ignore the wonderful world the film's crew has created with their own hands (literally). The budget looks to have been boosted somewhat and they've definitely made the most of it. There are some gloriously executed scenes that I can't even begin to imagine how they took to create. Also, the way it's edited managed to enhance the gorgeous scenery.
So all that is left is the story. It had a Around The World In 80 Days vibe about it, which when done right can make an easy amount of money. There's nothing wrong with it, it's perfectly fine. But it's nothing more than that. It pretty much goes down how you would expect it to. It flirts into more tense and dark moments. But on the whole, that aspect along with the characters prevented me from going nuts about it.

The voice acting was did as good a job as they were given. So well done to Hugh Jackman, David Walliams, Zach Galifiankis, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Fry, Timothy Olyphant and Matt Lucas. The characters that they were playing might not have been at all memorable. But you could feel the passion gone into their voice work.

I think the reason for me just calling good or solid instead of great was that the dialogue was surprisingly mature. They talk in ways that kids would easily lose concentration with  and have gags that adults would only get. There's even some dialogue moments that require subtitles which obviously will be tricky for younger children. There are some physical gags that the kids would like. But easily not enough to hold their attention span.
Also, the pacing never felt right for what was happening on screen. I think it needed to move along just a little bit faster, make it a bit more frenetic and the story-telling might have been a bit more smoother.

But I think the strength of its ambition and wonderful production design was strong enough to give it a fairly good rating. The story is fine, but does nothing to surprise you. However, my amazement of how many different sets that they managed to make and execute perfectly cannot be ignored.
It's probably the weakest of Laika's features. But if that is a studio's lowest ranked film, then that just shows how good Laika are. I remain upbeat for whatever they are making next.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Shazam!

What can I say that has already been said about the DC Extended Universe? In a nutshell, I feel they have basically been trying to catch-up to Marvel in double-quick time and that has effected the quality of films being made.

While there has been some good action, the majority of DCEU films have been rather messy in its structure. The only exception for me was Wonder Woman.

But with the trailers suggesting more of a comedy based storyline, this gamble felt like nice a refreshing change in terms of expectation for this latest addition to the franchise.

The film itself could not have gone any better. Leaving the screening with such glee and joy in me and instantly wanting to see it again is enough to tell you how much I enjoyed this.

I knew nothing about this character except by name when this projects was in early talks of going into production. The first act did plenty to introduce me to the origins of this character, the mythology and world it's part of.
After that, while showing you vintage superhero action, there is also a nice and heart-warming family story with plenty of well-developed characters to get your teeth into. By the end of it I had had plenty of laughs and was just amazed and how much time was given to many parts of a film that would normally get quashed in a blockbuster these days.

There was so much that surprised me. To quote one of my favourite film critics, "It was a film, that felt like a film". There was a clear structure in its story-telling and its themes, it had a wonderful mix of comedy, action and even heart and I loved how many characters were given plenty of development for us invest in and even relate to.

Zachary Levi was terrific as the titular character. The child in him blossomed in this role executed his many comedic moments with ease. It was almost like a modern day re-incarnation of Tom Hanks in 'Big'.
Jack Dylan Grazer was a wonderful surprised and came out of nowhere. It took me a while to realise how pivotal and memorable his character became. His chemistry with Levi was a great to see develop and could well be the biggest strength of the film.
Mark Strong was as solid as you would expect as the villain and the combined contribution from Asher Angel, Faithe Herman, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen and Jovan Armand I feel will be an under-rated aspect of the film on multiple viewings.

The only way I would to find negatives would be to force myself to be picky. There were comedic moments in a sequences at the end where the jokes didn't totally work for me and some of the new actors introduced for that sequence did not quite work either.

But other than that, goodness me this was a lot of fun. Sure, you may label this as DC's attempt at Guardians Of The Galaxy, but that most definitely a good thing.
It's super fun, there's loads of characters you can get into and the structure is one that can please all types of cinemagoers, not just superhero fans. It is most definitely a crowd-pleaser.
In fact, the vibe, tone and even the look of it would fit perfectly into an 80's family action film. There's always one film that might not be my film of the year, but one that would watch again over the others. This is my first contender for that title in 2019.

Rating: 8/10

Review: The Aftermath

I must firstly mention that I don't have much to say about this film. So I will keep this brief.

Before going into this, I didn't really have much expectation. When I saw the trailer, I felt the concept sounded intriguing and the cast list felt strong enough to give us a solid viewing at the very least.

In the end, I think the best decision would have been made to wait until its out to own or watch on TV.

That previous statement does not mean that I felt it was a bad film. It did a lot of things to a satisfactory level. But there was pretty nothing that was worthy of paying good money to see on the big screen.

It started off fairly well and introduced us to the characters and their situation and got me settled in nicely. While the story did move along and the writing moved the characters story arch well enough. The slow pacing and lack of strong moments gradually lost my engagement of the film.

From a production standpoint, it was pretty well done. The look of it fitted the time period, there was a great level of authenticity. However, maybe the camerawork could have been a bit more unconventional and that could've made the main location of the film a character in itself maybe.

But I think its biggest problem was the writing not making the story gripping enough and the editing that made the film move along at walking speed.

I think Keira Knightley and Jason Clarke did as good a job as you would expect. It was nothing special, but it never down-grade my overall view of the film. I could be cruel and say that it was rather forgettable. The highlight was probably Alexander Skarsgard, which was mainly due to his character having the more in-depth story arch and he did a solid job in making us invest into his characters struggles.

If you want an example a film that is similar to being the pass level in an exam, this would be it. It executes all of its aspects to a satisfactory and conventional level. But it never does anything daring to make it stand out and the slow-pacing will make this instantly forgettable.
It's a shame with a cast this good and a director that has films such as Testament Of Youth. I think like most of the directors previous works, this would have been better as a film made for television.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Dumbo (2019)

2019 is certainly all about the Disney live-action re-makes. This is the first of five (yes, five), and this is a re-make of a film that's pretty special for me.

Dumbo is the first film I can remember watching and even though it's 78 years a lot, I still feel this is a really good animated feature that I think will still find love in future generations for all time.

I was partially skeptical with this one, as the original is just about an hour long, I was fearing what additions would they insert into the story and could that ruin the overall plot. Plus, while I think Tim Burton is a pretty good choice as director, it has been a while since he has made a box-office hit. While Big Eyes and Frankenweenie did well critically, they didn't get the box office. So I guess the last one was 2010's Alice In Wonderland (another Disney live-action re-make) which had terrific box-office success.

I ended up with mixed feelings. The first half I felt really had the magic of the original, paid homage in several scenes that was executed well and had me invested and willing to give it a chance.
Then the second half started to not only slow everything down but go down routes that I didn't feel were the right ones and weren't even executed well. Thankfully, there was a moment in the second half that pleased me a lot as it was paying homage to an iconic scene from the original that I did not think would work in the re-make. But they pulled it off pretty well. Plus, the ending was sweet enough to have me leaving the cinema enough of a positive skip in my step.

The acting I felt was pretty solid overall. The highlight being Danny DeVito, who still shows he can give us a memorable showing in a family film. Colin Farrell was an engaging leading presence and continues to fit in well with Disney live-action projects.
I felt the child actors Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins did a great job and never felt out of place. They constantly felt believable in their roles and looked as if they'd been doing it for years.
I didn't think much of Michael Keaton. It was perfectly fine. But it did nothing to suggest that his casting was required, except for being a Tim Burton alumni. Speaking of alumni, Eva Green has gradually become the next Helena Bonham Carter in terms of filling in the Tim Burton bingo card. Sadly Green has arrived at the wrong time of Burton's career and so far has not given a memorable contribution in my opinion. Her introduction into this film did not really work for me as was part of sub-plot that I felt was the weakest part of the film. Plus, her accent was very off-putting.

The big question after seeing any of these live-action re-makes this years will always be 'Did this need to be made?' My answer for this is, not really. The best of the live-action re-makes I feel remain to be The Jungle Book, Cinderella and Christopher Robin.
At its best was when it basically paid homage to the original and pretty much all of the first half. But when it tried to do something different, it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't that engaging or entertaining.
Thankfully there is enough in here for me to warrant another viewing. Especially two scenes that will be some of my favourite moments of 2019.
But the original will always work with any generation, so I would still stick with the animated classic.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Us

Before Get Out, I was aware enough of Jordan Peele in his comedic and acting work, that I knew he had the potential to do great things.

Then when he made his directorial debut, everyone was going nuts for him. Get Out for me was a very enjoyable and thought-provoking horror-thriller that had top re-watchability.

Now what his follow-up is suggesting is basically Peele showing his love and affection for The Twilight Zone as the story looked something that would fit in nicely to the TV series. Peele has even produced a few episodes of the new version of The Twilight Zone.

I was pretty excited another Peele film and while I did not feel this was as enjoyable, it's certainly another horror-thriller that made me think long after seeing it.
As the story develops and concludes, the themes its covering felt very relevant, especially in modern American society and that for me was the films strongest aspect.

The performances as well need to be commended, especially as the concept forces the main characters to go beyond a normal duty for a film.
Lupite Nyong'o really surprised as she showed great range in her performances. You could instantly separate her characters, and I was definitely terrified and unsettled by one of them. Peele certainly brought the best out of Nyong'o.
Winston Duke was a lot of fun to watch. One character in particular will be very relatable to a lot of mainstream audiences and felt great value to watch from start to finish.
I also have to give huge props to child actors, Evan Alex, Madison Curry and especially Shahadi Wright Joseph. There was a lot of psychical acting required for their roles and it paid off beautifully.
One memorable performance that came on late in the film was Elisabeth Moss, who while was not on-screen for long gave a scene-stealing moment in what was another un-nerving scene.

Despite all the praise, a part of me was disappointed. It did lack in scares for me. There were also some scenes that I could tell were supposed to scare or unsettle you that did not quite work for me. Also, the pacing did feel was flowing and seamless throughout.

I think to summarise, I thought this was a pretty good viewing experience. I think Peele was brave in making more of a thinking piece than a jump-scare fest and it will be interesting to see how mainstream audiences react to it.
The ensemble cast played their part beautifully and the overall tone of the film felt pretty satisfying for me and making more excited for Peele's future as a director.
While I haven't quite given it an exceptional rating, that might chance of multiple viewings. That being said, it's still one that should definitely check out. It's great to see a refreshing chance to the Horror genre and Peele could be the Horror director of a generation.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Captain Marvel

The first Marvel Cinematic Universe film of 2019, and the 21st within the franchise that is now in its 11th of activity.

With everyone preparing for Avengers: Endgame, there is still there a matter of introducing us to the latest member in the form of Captain Marvel.

With a lot of the general audience were trying to work out who Nick Fury sent a message to on his pager in the post-credit scene of Avengers: Infinity War, hardcore fans were instantly excited for what was to come.

With the casting of the brilliant Brie Larson, I was certainly up for a new origins story within the MCU, a franchise that continues to go from strength and strength and further affirming themselves as the leading franchise within the entertainment industry.

One thing is for sure, MCU films will always entertain the masses and this one is no different. The whole film had a feeling of a first phase film about it. From its structure, to its character arch's and to the strength of its villain.
For some people, that may be seen as a weak installment to the franchise and maybe a step backward. But to me, this was nothing but a solid piece of entertainment that filled a nice space in introducing us to another important character that sets us up nicely for the main event.
There were some well drawn-out and topical themes at work here, with some well executed twists and merging of a couple of genres that I felt worked well.

As expected, Brie Larson does good job and for me gave us a believable character that I feel is a welcomed addition to The Avengers. I especially liked her comradery with Samuel L. Jackson, who does what we all know he can do, and that is be cool and be a bad ass. This was also probably his funniest portrayal of Nick Fury throughout the franchise. Seeing their chemistry certainly felt similar to a Lethal Weapon or 48hrs film.
Ben Mendehlson is in this, and his back catalogue is basically playing the pantomime bad guy. While he does show signs in this, it was great to see his range being tested and Mendehlson ended up one of the best aspects of the supporting cast. But the one that stole the show was a cat. Call me crazy, but when you watch it, you will agree with me.
Lashana Lynch was someone I've not encountered on the big screen before and I felt her contribution was deserving and she made great use of what was given for her character in the story.
I also have to give props to the seasoned vets that were part of the cast who all kept the film moving nicely such as Jude Law, the always great Annette Benning and MCU alumni Clark Gregg.

As expected, the visual effects are great. I have to give particular praise to the aging-technology to Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg's characters. It was pretty scary how authentic it all looked. It's as if they went back in time and took brought back their younger selves. We really have move forward since the efforts in Tron: Legacy.
As previously mentioned, I felt the writing was solid, the action was well executed and there was a good amount of comedy to keep the laugh counter up. The strengths were pretty much all the same ones you expect in an MCU film, which is definitely not a bad thing.

But sadly in some ways it can also be a negative, depending on how you approach this film. A lot of the recent stand-alone films in the franchise have tried to go outside of the formula. We've had a high-school film, a space opera comedy, a heist caper and a story set in Africa with a predominantly black cast.
This one just felt very ordinary if I was being cruel about it. While there was nothing wrong with the film, the lack of originally and the strengths not being strong enough will most likely see this be forgotten and be low down many peoples rankings of MCU films.

Don't worry everyone, I did enjoy it and that means there is still not an MCU film that I did not like. Everything about it is done well, it moves along at a solid pace, the performances are good and it certainly gave me plenty of content to understand the origins of the character. If anything else, it's definitely worth watching just for the cat alone.
To the people that did not like this. Not every MCU film needs to have high stakes. That's why I feel Ant-Man And The Wasp was an ideal next film after Avengers: Infinity War and it ended up being for me one of the most fun films of the franchise.

As usual, there are credits scenes. In case, there are two. The mid-credits scene is a nice little appetiser before Avengers: Endgame. The post-credit scenes were certainly expected from me, and while it is nothing special, it ends a minor characters story arch from the film itself fairly well.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Alita: Battle Angel

To say this film has had production delays is an under statement. When filming ended in early 2017, it took two years until the films release.

With a combination of visual effects taking longer than expected and the studios switching dates due to its release conflicting with stronger competition, we finally get this large sci-fi project.

This was initially James Cameron's project. But after deciding to concentrate on his many Avatar sequels, Cameron switched over control to Robert Rodriguez, who is mainly not known for directing Sin City, the Spy Kids franchise and the Mariachi trilogy.

So I felt mixed expectations was the right approach going into this. However, I was ready to be disappointed more than anything else as post-production delays pretty much means that the studio has little confidence in this release.

I have to say that while I liked the world-building, the majority of the story did have me feeling underwhelmed. But the longer it went on, the more I got into it. While that was helped by the action, the strongest engagement I had with the film was in the second half.
Despite all of that, the ending was very disappointing. It ended up being just a set-up for future films, which judging by the critical reviews and box office figures, that's not going to happen.

Getting that feeling immediately as the credits roll, had me somewhat annoyed as it had me questioning why this never tried to be a standalone film as well as an introduction to this new sci-fi spectacle.

That being said, there was a good amount that I still enjoyed. The type of story is one that I'm always up for, I liked the lot of it, the character designs and especially the cool technology involved. Anything that has or has had Cameron's fingerprints on it usually involves realistic future technology and I enjoyed what I saw from this particular aspect of the film.
I also enjoyed the action, the way it was shot and how it helped certain characters and their development within the story.

What I didn't like was the lack of strong characters and not quite fully grasping the potential scale of the story that would make it feel like a true cinematic spectacle.

Most of the acting wasn't bad, it just wasn't memorable. Rosa Salazar did a good job in what was probably her first major leading role. I felt she carried the film surprisingly well and certainly gave me a character to root for by the end.
Christoph Waltz was rather underwhelming I felt. The more times I have seen Waltz since his major breakthrough ten years ago, the more I feel that only Quentin Tarantino and maybe Tim Burton can get the best out of him. The rest of his back catalogue is rather ordinary in terms of his performances.
Ed Skrein I felt was a nice highlight. I have said that a few times about Skrein and I'm glad to see him continuing to show his talent. Skrein I think was the cast member that seemed to fit the tone.
Other notable mentions I feel go to Mahershala Ali, Jennifer Connelly and Keean Johnson. Ali for me was a mix over-the-top and pretty decent, Connelly pretty ordinary and forgettable and Johnson's inexperience showed and never felt worthy of the major character he was cast in to.

So despite its problems, I felt it was solid entertainment in the end. There was enough content in there for to engage with and as it got better for me the longer it went, it had feel more satisfied by the end then how I was feeling halfway through.
It's a shame that Cameron never got to complete this project that was initially given to him. But I feel Rodriguez gave us enough flavour and potential to this brand new sc-fi.
It probably won't get the sequel it's setting itself up for, but I think if you're up for some new sci-fi and enjoyed similar ones such as Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, Mortal Engines and Jupiter Ascending then I feel you will have a fun time with this.

Rating: 7/10