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.

Avatar

Avatar... Where do you bloody begin with Avatar? So I went to see it (probably a good idea, what with me now reviewing it) and I must say it was very nice. I know what you're thinking 'Julia, where's the formality? Where's the professionalism? It's as if you can't be arsed..!' well, you would be right, avid reader. I can't do a serious review on Avatar because it's so flippin' big that it's beyond reviewing. It's beyond anything. I can't actually form propper sentences in order to describe it. Bleh. Ya see?

Okay so really, there's only two things I can say about it (and I am leaving it at two because you start on three and before you know it you're writing a 15,000 word essay when you really should be doing coursework.. heh) The first 'thing' if you will (told you I couldn't be bothered) is:

1. I know, you know, Santa knows that the story just isn't up to scratch. (santa..? I must be hungry, I'm writing like a moron) The plot's been done so many times that when you try to think of all those times it leaves a similar sensation as when you try to ponder about the universe or imagine a very large number of things (education is going well, thanks for asking). The story of Avatar can be simply described as a cross between Fern Gully and Pocahontas. But hey, I'm not complaining as I'm sure most 90's kids won't.

2. Point numero dos (go me) is that actually, it's very pretty. I mean REALLY pretty. When it finished I practically clung onto my chair because I didn't want to leave the amazing world of Pandora. The effects are truly gorgeous and even though I'm not usually one to go and see a movie on effects alone, I would definitely recommend this to anyone. The world that Cameron has created is one of complete realism because every nuance of his living earth is individual and yet related somehow (like the breathing holes in every animal and the fact they all seem to have three sets of legs). So just go see it. That's more of a command than a request. If you don't see it on the big screen in 3D then you really are missing out. Time for me to find some food I think, to restore a bit of sanity.

New Moon

Yes, I know. And no, I’m not going to scream obscenities if you don’t like it. To be honest, I’m not THAT much of a fan myself. But what can you expect? The Twilight saga is sweeping everyone up in its colossal mudslide of domination, whether you blumin’ like it or not! And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, teenage girls being encouraged to get to grips with their sexual selves and all. But that’s for a more feminist blog, and I digress. The second film hath arrived! Which means even more hype than the first (doesn’t seem possible does it?) As you can tell by scrolling down, I have not reviewed the first film. There are many reasons for this, the main being, it was rubbish. I think many can agree that it was a very standard depiction of the book; it knew it would get fans either way and so didn’t seem to try at all. But this time around, there’s a new director in town, Chris Weitz and lo and behold, he’s done quite a splendid job!

As a film lover, you become accustomed to the idea of having to sometimes sit through not-very-good films, its part of the process (especially if you’re quite a picky film lover). So imagine my surprise when the very first shot of the film is one, very large, very absorbing, orange moon that stares you straight in the face. This moon then begins to peel back, agonisingly slowly, to reveal the title ‘New Moon’ and immediately, you can’t help but think quite enthusiastically ‘THIS is more like it!’. The acting, as to be expected, is fairly bog-standard, but not annoyingly so. The whole film seems much more rich and magical than its senior in the sense of its colour and effects. The wolves especially work very well, for example when Bella first glimpses one of the beasts and all that can be seen are two fierce eyes accompanied by a frosty breath in the dark which looks about as real as you could get. What also pulls the movie up to a much more respectable notch is the impressive and mesmerising sound track, which has a delectable fistful of atmospheric tunes that work perfectly in sync with each other or individually on their own. Listening to the much-acclaimed album is a dream-like experience that hypnotises and sums up the tone of the film brilliantly.

Obviously, the series isn’t a masterpiece. But would it really be as successful if it was? I’m pretty sure it’s the simply written books and love/danger filled themes that attract the teenage audience and not all the hidden meanings (because we all know there’s so many of them). And yes, maybe the whole Twilight shebang SHOULD be more sophisticated but really, who are we kidding? Sexy and dangerous vampires? A hot werewolf that wants to be more than just friends? An identifiable female lead? All this included in read-in-a-day books? No wonder there’s screaming teens at premiers with ‘bite me Edward’ scrawled on their faces. All I can say is, at least Weitz has attempted to include more than just the smitten fans in his audience, and make it enjoyable even for those not wearing fangs to the cinema.

Somers Town

Shane Meadows moves away from his hard and aggressive feature lengths to make Somers Town, a gentle, bite-sized film that targets many different underlying themes without actually bringing them into full view. Thomas Turgoose is used once again and proves that his talent continues from the hit This Is England, a factor that will most likely comfort the many fans of Meadow’s. Piotr Jagiello is introduced as a competent actor who works particularly well in the formula of the film as Turgoose’s more reserved other half. Somers Town is automatically realistic in its feel with the use of long scenes and improvisation. This way, the humour that creeps up once or twice does not feel over-rehearsed or thrown in for extra brownie points, but natural and reflective of the subtle and sarcastic comedy that is exclusively connected to the British way of life.

Despite the fact that Somers Town is an apt portrayal of the working class teenager in England, the film does have its flaws. Firstly, the plot seems unstructured and slightly unresolved at the end, which, of course, could be a positive thing, but it is hard to evaluate the film properly without some form of eventful narrative. Therefore, as a viewer, one has to connect solely to the characters which is difficult in such a short time span (the film lasts for a pint-sized 75 minutes). The change from black and white to colour feels a little too obvious in its message and perhaps slightly juvenile for Meadows in its blatant connotation. Other than this, the film is enjoyable and not attention seeking which makes for a good watch but perhaps not a classic for the already acclaimed director.

A Man Escaped or The Wind Bloweth where it Listeth

Robert Bresson 1956

A member of the French Resistance, Fontain, is taken into prison, where he devises a plot to escape.

The film is derived from complete fact, based upon the memoirs of Andre Devigny and is a minimalist, dark and yet very spiritual film. Bresson uses references to God and the Bible throughout, having some of the characters as priests and even naming the film after part of the Bible, John 3:8. However, the role of God and the spiritual are not overplayed as even the main character states that he will not wait around for the Lord to intervene. There is little dialect and the actors used are not actually actors but ‘models’ as Bresson called them; people with little to no experience in acting, a technique used in order to make the performances seem more authentic and legitimate. The fact that the models are not over-acting in order to better their role, means that the characters seem more rounded in the sense that they are going through motions and speech without much notice, a factor that is not only common in humans in captivity but also in the everyday person. Bresson himself expressed how he wanted to display emotion through no emotion, using the suppression of tension progressively from the study of minutia. This being displayed in continuous mundane activities that are repeated again and again.

Tension and hope fluctuate frequently throughout the film, from the activities of Fontain being drawn out endlessly while the audience becomes increasingly aware of his looming death sentence and to the fact that ‘the escape’ is imminent as the past tense 'escaped' of the title implies. However, the viewer still manages to find themselves tense as the situation unfolds , leading up to a climax when the ritual door locking of Fontain's room is at last shown from the outside. A mesmerising, if slightly understated film which I give 4 Stars.