Inception

Director Christopher Nolan has enticed audiences with clever conundrum Memento, wooed them with the slick showmanship of The Prestige and seduced them with the heavy-weight character development in The Dark Night. But this year's Summer movie must-see is said to be his best triumph yet.

After seeing the movie, I can safely say that my mind is truly boggled by the amount of substance and body that comes with the dream-based masterpiece that is Inception. A plot essentially inconceivable not ten years ago and even now, due to it's complexity and yet solidarity within itself. Like his previous success, Memento, the writers were able to come up with a concept that is completely original and extremely ingenious.

Nolan himself manages to pull-off one of the greatest movie making techniques there is; treating his audience as adults who don't need every ounce of the story explaining to them. This is shown brilliantly through actor Ellen Page who plays the young and clueless character, having to learn the ways of the dream-world that is already so familiar to the other characters, but manages to pick everything up not only easily but with gusto, reflecting well on how Nolan perceives his audience.

The large budget is used immensely well, with breath-taking effects that are completely necessary for the visual portrayal of dreams but at the same time, never begin to feel used for commercial reasons or detract the audience from the story. The story itself is fantastic. Both intricate in it's complexities but so simple as an idea it sends you wild with disbelief. The ending especially, left me physically shaking with anticipation and excitement. And surely, any film that leaves it's viewer in that way, deserves 5 Stars?

Get Him To The Greek

'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' spin-off, 'Get Him To The Greek' (2010) follows budding record company intern Aaron Green, played by Jonah Hill, as he tries to maintain and deliver the world famous rock star Aldous Snow, played by Russell Brand to L.A's Greek Theatre. However, the task is easier said than done, as Aldous is recovering from an album flop through the use of copious amounts of drugs and women. Essentially, Aaron has every aspect of the wild world of rock and roll thrown upon him in a matter of days.

In true 'stardom' fashion, just about every celeb under the sun pops up for a little cameo, either effectively displaying just how mad and random the world of famous people can be with the premise that you never know who you'll bump into, or simply the makers of the film showing off who they have in their phone book. Although saying that, the latter is merely the realistic reflection of the former. In other words, it's full to the brim with familiar faces.

The film, is essentially Russell Brand's. And I believe it's important to know that going in. Jonah Hill's character is attempted to be built upon, however the glimpse at his relationship with his girlfriend doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the movie and so might as well be ignored. After all, Aldous Snow is the main character and Brand barely has to act as the events are so close to his past ‘roguish ways’ that it might as well be a documentary.

As a comedy, the film does work well. Nearly every scene will raise at least one chuckle, with the largest laugh coming from a hectic party sequence in which Hill's character descends into panic while fights break out around him, having to resort to the comforting babblings of Aldous. Sean Combs, aka P. Diddy, is particularly good as boss of Pinnacle Records and general nut job, Sergio Roma and completes the movie as an entertaining watch. I give it 3 Stars and ‘Get Him To The Greek’ is out in cinemas now.

She's Out Of My League

A quick introduction/ explanation. I was planning on reviewing a brand spankin' new film that is now being shown in cinemas, most likely being Get Him To The Greek. However, upon reaching the cinema I discovered I was too late for the showing and instead saw the next available film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. I WILL NOT be reviewing that film. No. It's just not going to happen.

So, I shall instead review a film I saw about a month ago and is no longer in cinemas. She's Out Of My League (2010), is a romantic comedy starring Jay Baruchel as the fairly whinny Kirk (coincidentally a name that is only ever connected to 'looserdom' and 'nerdiness'- you'd have thought fictional parents would learn) and Alice Eve as the 'supposed Greek Goddess who is in fact quite average looking' Molly. Which is sort of a draw back, considering how the entire film is based around the idea that Molly is jaw-droppingly, 'I need a change of trousers' beautiful. She's pretty. But she's no Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary. There's a definite spark missing. Which is interesting given that the character of Kirk becomes so smitten with her and so aware of just how feeble he is in facial comparison, that he and his friends feel the need to constantly anchor insecurities on 'The Scale', Kirk being a 5, Molly a 9. Inevitably, and obviously, it is discovered that people are actually more than just attractive manikins and can, in fact, be rated on their personalities as well. Somebody phone the papers.

Saying this, there are moments where the film comes into it's own and feels less like every rom-com script ever written and more like a realistic and subtly humorous watch. The main reason for this is Kirk's group of friends, all of which are believable as people and together having a brilliantly relaxed and funny rapor. Some of the best moments being when camp chum Devon compares every situation to a Disney classic. Because of this, the movie can go into the category of a good 'ill film', essentially something to cheer you up when illness and bed confinement gets you down.

Sadly though, the successful elements are not built upon. The film ironically displays it's own insecurities by being slightly too cliche; the girlfriend's disagreeing father, the huge slobbery dog that gets into a whole mess of mischief. She's Out Of My League seems too afraid to be different although it still remains entertaining. I give it 3 Stars and it is now out for purchase on DVD.

Watchmen

There are many unexplainable things in the universe; the big bang, dark matter, black holes and the production, distribution and consumption of the film Watchmen (2009).

Adapted from the graphic novel of the same name, Watchmen attempts to massage all comic book nerd's brains in a motion picture of a well-loved book. Not being an uber- fan of the series myself, I was unsure of what to expect of the film. I hoped I would be subjected to some light action/adventure super hero fun that would neither demand my entire attention nor bore me to tears. Instead, I got a movie so deprived of any logical plot progression it almost hurt. The first half consists of essentially, talking. Granted the opening title sequence seemed promising, with a decent soundtrack and historical attention to detail, but that quickly deteriorated into people in costumes having a good chat.

The narrative seemed to take a dramatic turn around the time of one particularly repulsive and insulting sex scene, when the Disbelief Train hit Gore Town with a quick stop off at Garish City. Limbs were then severed, blood splattered and the blue guy named Doctor Manhattan seemed to get decidedly more naked. Now, this may have been forgivable (although probably not) if any of the story had actually made sense. But it didn't. The ending was so confusing the characters might as well have started a round of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. At least that would have been entertaining.

All in all, a film that might delight previous graphic novel fans but otherwise remains pointless and juvenile to anyone else. Sorry Zack Snyder, I'm afraid it's 2 Stars from me.

Moon

Moon (2009) is Duncan Jones's directing debut, who decided to write a sci-fi movie solely for actor and friend, Sam Rockwell. The story-line is simple but at the same time intricately complex in the ideas it conjures up. Astronaut, Sam Bell has been working on the moon with the help of computer GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey) to mine a new energy resource which he continually sends back to Earth. His three year contract is nearly up but two weeks before he is to be sent home, there is an accident involving a moon buggy and one of the harvesters. After this shake up, strange things begin to happen and Sam finds himself with a confrontation that leaves him to question his own sanity.

The film represents feelings of claustrophobia, confinement, limitation and insanity. Sam is forced to look at himself through different facets of his personality, becoming aware of just what he is capable of. The movie is contained through its use of essentially, one giant set that was constructed to replicate the exact living space of the astronaut. Also, because of the small budget, only a few special effects are used and most of the scenes which are on the surface of the moon were achieved through models. This gives a weightless feel to objects that would usually contain a lot of density; something that is realistic to the lunar atmosphere. The most credit has to go to the acting of Sam Rockwell, who carries the entire film by himself and manages to show audiences that he is capable of displaying shifts in a person's disposition.

Despite the film being a definite salute in the direction of Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey, the movie can still be enjoyed by anyone simply interested in psychological thrillers and the human condition. Personally, I believe the film was successful in being a beautiful yet unnerving look at the stability of one's own character and life. I give it 4 Stars for being a moving masterpiece.

Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans- the tale of Perseus, son of God and general big mac, Zeus, who embarks on a journey of revenge and protection of the city Argos (yeah, yeah "Good job, I ordered a toaster from there" and other such puns) from the rather nasty beast The Kraken, son of Hades. To do so, he must retrieve the stone-turning abilities of one Medusa and her many tete snake chums.

Questions can be asked such as, "How are Medusa's rockin' eyes still able to work with the head decapitated from the body?" And also, "If Kraken is Hades' offspring, who the hell is the moma?!" But these are merely linked to the Greek story itself and not the film. Perhaps we shall never know the answers, or perhaps I could just pick up a book once in a while.

The great thing about modern technology (and more specifically CGI) is that practically anything that the mind can conjure nowadays, can be replicated in 'touch it, it's real!' visual graphics. The Clash of the Titans is a perfect example of this as it is a classic Greek tale from start to finish with no need of side-stepping the story due to the fact that scenery and monsters are practically impossible to recreate realistically without the use of computers. Overall, this is the best quality of the film, the fact that the entire story can be told how it was written. Character- wise, I was especially fond of the fact that Zeus (Liam Neeson) wasn't instantly labeled as 'the good guy' as he himself, had tricked Hades (Ralph Fiennes) in the beginning.

However, the movie did contain a couple of rather unnecessary let downs. The first being Sam Worthington, who's portrayal of Perseus wasn't particularly bad, just down-right boring. Audiences are more likely to connect emotionally with a cardboard cutout of a bowl of porridge than Worthington. Also, the 3D element was clearly a last-minute decision and because of this, there is essentially no need to be wearing the glasses.

All things considered, the story is timeless and director Louis Leterrier clearly had oodles of visual fun making it. I give it, 3 Stars

Remember Me

I won't lie to you. If asked the reason for wanting to go see Remember Me at the cinema I will have to admit "... Robert Pattinson's face." But you really can't blame me. The boy has been told he's attractive so repeatedly for so long now that he has, in effect, become 'attractive'. As a noun. "I am not sexy, I am sex" or something similar. And I have to say, I wasn't disappointed by just how much of Bobby's swagger they managed to squash into the film. He has a sexual aura on screen similar to that of a cougar, James Dean and a jazz saxophone combined.

But now onto a more serious subject, the actual film itself. I admit that after a while, I began to buy into the stumbling romance and opportunistic life values of the film. Even with the perhaps annoyingly kooky 'I eat my dessert before my dinner' token lead female (Emilie de Ravin), or the inevitable 'deep' conversation between the couple who try to 'out-death' each other with nasty stories of deceased relatives.

All this could have been forgiven, if it were not for the frankly offensive ending. I won't give much away, but in my eyes, using a terrible (and real) disaster in order to shake up the ending a little is not something that should be considered appropriate. Apparently, director Allen Coulter was fishing for socially relevant brownie points and a way to make the narrative end on a truly depressing 'your life's actually quite pointless' statement.

I give this 2 Stars for a film that could have been mediocre, but turned out more of a disaster than the subject it ended on.