Star Trek Into Darkness

The long awaited sequel to 2009’s Star Trek, Into Darkness sees JJ Abrams return to direct Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise as they undergo a new mission.
After a standard observation mission is screwed up thanks to Kirk’s ignorance of Star Fleet’s regulations, the Enterprise and her crew are forced to return to Earth. Not long after their arrival, John Harrison, a man formally involved with Star Fleet, attacks a secret facility, killing many innocent people. Star Fleet call for Harrison to be hunted down, and Kirk and the Enterprise are more than willing to take up the challenge.

Into Darkness is more of the same from JJ Abrams, but this is definitely not a bad thing. While some characters get less screen time than they perhaps deserve, no-one is thrown in for the sake of showing their faces, and named characters often give way to other crew members in the line of duty. This, along with the series trying to distance itself from the original, keeps characters in apparent danger, which physically builds and builds with little respite. This would be tiring in most cases but the great cast, soundtrack effects and overall feel keep you enthralled. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Benedict Cumberbatch all give powerful performances.
There’s plenty to satisfy series fans and newcomers alike with great action that hangs on a good, simple story. The only problem is this makes it more than a little predictable, but the sheer scale and spectacle of everything else makes up for this. There is one plot hole that is only really there to round up multiple threads in minimal time.
As with the previous instalment, technical vocabulary is kept to a minimum unless it refers to a physical task the crew must complete, where, as the crew are from varying backgrounds, some welcome explanation is given. This should keep casual sci-fi fans happy without patronising hard-core fans of Star Trek. We are also introduced to more characters from the original universe proper, like the Klingons.

The last Star Trek was incredibly likeable and watchable, and Into Darkness is on a very similar level featuring shoot-outs, emotional struggles, cross-city and galaxy chases, jokes and the odd underwear shot. Huge fun. 8/10.

Iron Man 3

Tony Stark is a tinkerer. He started by making weapons on military contracts, using his brilliant mind to create devastating tools of war. Now, he is a changed man, and now has a collection of battle suits designed to protect the innocent. He is Iron Man.

 

Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark, who a year after saving New York and the World, is still coming to terms with what actually happened. To keep himself busy he has continued developing his Iron Man battle suit, making numerous variations. This has caused a gap to grow between himself and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and as the deadly Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) threatens the President of the United States and his fellow Americans, Tony must pull on his armour and tackle a foe that may take more than his mettle to defeat.

 

Shane Black has taken over directing from Jon Favreau, who gets a larger role as Happy Hogan, as does Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes. As only Black’s second film as director, he has a lot toys at his disposal, but a lot of fans to keep happy.  Luckily he has worked with Downey Jr. before, and as co-writer he brings even more comedy to compliment the action, which is brilliant choreographed, even if it is often hard to follow (at least in converted 3D, which works as well as it did in Avengers Assemble).

The Iron Man suits and effects are of course phenomenal. W eta Digital has taken on the task and pulled of a Marvel. The ease of which Stark and the other characters interact with the armour would have been a pipe dream not so long ago, and the sheer scale of the set pieces is a wonder to behold.
Unfortunately, there is such a thing as too much. Because these effects have become so commonplace, it has become harder to build to a finale spectacular enough to take your breath away, and Iron Man 3’s just doesn’t seem to cut it after nearly two hours of awesome.
The suspension of disbelief also balances on a knife edge at some points, but in a world where aliens, wormholes, demi-gods and cosmic cubes containing near unlimited power exist, nothing can really be a surprise.
What comes with this is a lack of connection to characters, and as the characters outside of the main cast are left mostly nameless, they become easily dispensable. Even major players seem flat at times, and Gwyneth Paltrow is not given much more to do than be Tony’s love interest.
The redeeming point is Stark’s struggle with the bigger universe he has become part of, and Downey Jr. is brilliant at showing the fragile side of Tony, as well as the witty billionaire he presents to the world. The dialogue overall is very good, and most jokes bring genuine laughs.
There are some real curveballs in terms of where the script leads, and these are definitely moments that will divide fans, but there are few obvious plot-holes, and every thread is tied.

Bigger and better than the previous instalments, but suffers from jarring plot points and an over-use of awesome: 7/10

The Inevitable Credits

I have to first point out the wall of names from Weta Digital that come mid-way through the actual credits. They are one of the thirteen visual effects companies responsible for making this film what it is.
The post credits sequence (not in 3D, oddly) features one other member of the Avengers, but doesn’t really give any pointers to the rest of Marvel’s Phase Two.
Also make sure to note the closing statement. This, couples with film’s ending, could really signal change for the characters within the Marvel universe.

Trance

Directed by Danny Boyle, Trance is a remake of a 2001 feature of the same name, starring James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson.

Simon is an art auctioneer. He deals with the legends; Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Francisco Goya. Simon also has an addition to online gambling. To pay off his debts he must deliver a £25million painting to a group of art thieves, led by a man named Franck. Unfortunately, during the course of the robbery, the painting does not find its way to them, and Simon is injured. He must undergo hypnotherapy, conducted by Elizabeth in order to remember where the art has gone…

The plot is a twisty one, taking turn after turn, and this is matched in the editing and sound design, but this is a necessity when dealing with the depths of the human mind. The simple premise becomes host to what seems sub-plot after sub-plot, but all the little threads are tied together in time for the credits. The screenplay is brilliant, if at times hard to follow, and although it sags slightly in the middle, both ends hold tight, though they are so very different.

Not one to shy away, Boyle puts the often gory physical and psychological pain at the forefront, as well as the rewards and pleasures. Trance deals with the big questions of the human condition: Who am I? Who controls me? What am I willing to do to get what I want?

James McAvoy is truly great as the lead, going through almost every possible emotion and dealing with a combination of drama and action. Vincent Cassel is incredible support and Rosario Dawson is amazing opposite McAvoy in a rather outlandish role.

In the end, it is Danny Boyle’s slick directing that makes Trance so tantalising, ensuring we only just get lost enough for us to find our feet again, only to be dragged in another direction.

 

With the amount of non-linear storytelling and tension, climaxing in a tragic, action orientated final act, Trance is a more personal and more realistic Inception, and therefore defiantly warrants further viewings.

 

9/10.

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1924429/

Welcome to the Punch

Jacob Sternwood is one of the most notorious criminals in London. Max Lewinsky is the young detective determined to catch him, no matter the consequences.

Three years after Sternwood’s last heist where he shot and handicapped Max, his son is one of two men shot in an incident that could push the government to full police armament. Sternwood returns to London to track down the shooters, and Max gets one last shot to catch his man.

Written and directed by Evan Creevy and starring James McAvoy and Mark Strong, Welcome to the Punch has a few tricks up its sleeve to make it more than your run of the mill, same-old same-old cop thriller.

The top-notch cast does an excellent job, making each character memorable, though they never have to stretch their talents. There are some very slick visuals, especially in the opening chase scene. Unfortunately, most of the film seems to be set at night, which is never good for action pieces where you need to know who is gunning for whom.

The plot is fairly predictable, but it is the execution where it falls down. I found myself finally having pieced together the overall plan, just to be told it all by a character. For a cop film, there don’t seem to be many great detectives.

The characters themselves are rather clichéd, which multiplies the predictability. As somewhat of a result, through most of the film it is difficult to decide who to root for.
There are a fair few pacing issues and a rather unwelcome action set-piece.

Overall, enjoyable, but needed tightening in almost every department, for writing to editing.

6.5/10.

End of Watch

Written and directed by David Ayer, End of Watch is a cop movie for cops

Jake Gyllanhaal and Michael Peña star as partners Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala, two LAPD officers

We follow the pair on their patrols and in their shared family moments as they being to face more and more of the city’s Black/Mexican gang rivalry

David Harbour co-stars as the pair’s rival in the department and Anna Hendrick is Taylor’s new girlfriend

America Ferrera also co-stars interestingly as a hard-nosed female officer

The film sets up with Taylor creating his first video log, and the jerky handheld camera work is present from there onwards

This directing technique has been used before, but Ayer also makes use of clip-on body cameras and the now standard dash mounted cameras for in-car action

These all provide an extremely immersive visual, and the jaunty angles also help to hide things, often providing moments of tension more akin to the horror genre

We never linger too long on a single jolting shot; first person shooter gun-work is complimented by wider, steadier reaction shots

It never feels old and never out of place with the pacing

The character development of Taylor and Mike is excellent, and by the end you will love these two and really feel for them in their times of hope and struggle

Traditional best friends, the two often dick about in the car, telling stories that will make you laugh out loud and generally mess with each other

Their relationship is summed up very nicely and simply at the end

The action is really well done and isn’t just running and gunning

There are a few points of mindless violence, but you feel them as such

It never seems unnecessary, and only one minor point where it seems unrealistic

End of Watch is a great cop movie with depth and heart.

8.5/10.

Looper

Written and directed by Rian Johnson, Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe, who kills people in 2044 that are sent back in time 30 years by mob bosses in possession of time travel technology, and use it to dispose of all evidence of their crimes.
Loopers are so called because when the time comes, their future self (Joe’s played by Bruce Willis) will be sent back for them to kill, thus closing their loop.
But what happens if you let your loop run?
Jeff Daniels stars as Abe, the man sent back to run the Loopers and Emily Blunt is Sara, a cane grower caught up in Older Joe’s plans to change the future

Sometimes a film can just creep up without any warning, and be something completely unexpected. There haven’t been many films that do what Looper does.
Looper is… pretty much everything. It has the obvious time-travel and other sci-fi elements, but also looks deep into the heart of people.

Looper is in a whole separate league to almost anything else out there and definitely warrants multiple viewings.

9/10 just for its shear amount of balls.

***SPOILERS***

 It would appear from the ending scene that ‘Looper’ is a big ‘fuck you’ to everyone who would try and decipher it, but it also contains quite clear instructions that if you try to do so, you will spend all day trying to make sense of straw diragrams.
Lots of things in Looper are over-the-top and ridiculous, but it is also so tied down to its apparent reality.
The end of the film completely negates everything that happens within it: When Joe shoots himself (with his conveniently extremely inaccurate weapon) the future of both himself and the future bad-guy ‘The Rainmaker’ are completely unwritten. If Sid choses good paths over bad then future Joe would not have been captured and got into the time machine. The time machine in question would not even have been ordered to be put there by him. Perhaps time travel technology may not have even been invented, or not used badly or outlawed.

The older John appears to become less and less concerned about his past and only focused on his present mission, but the script again covers itself with his fuzzy memory. No wonder he stops looking at the picture of his wife if his whole history with her is to be erased.

Also, what happened to the second child? Joe didn’t kill it. And you never see what happened to its mother. What if that child was really the Rainmaker, and Joe knocked her down and it somehow led to her death? That could be a whole other movie, with Sid being the other side to the Rainmaker coin.

Looper does so well at exploring what a mind/reality fuck putting something like time travel into the world would be. No wonder they outlawed it.

Both the future/past communication mechanic and the resulting slice-and-dice ‘letting your Looper run’ scene are extremely clever and pretty horrific. Also the latter is a pretty big paradoxical mess that occurs well before the climax: How does a Loop run without his feet?

I really like the big Terminator-esque question Looper raises: What if you were the Terminator and John Connor was going to be the bad guy? Or better still; what if you could give him the choice?

Looper itself is really a massive paradox: It wants you to think about it, but tells you shouldn’t. It shows you a child killer and makes you feel for him. It’s both ridiculous and subtle, so believable and yet so grounded.

Everything feels like it’s headed somewhere, and yet and hasn’t gone anywhere at all.

The loops are both running free and trapped in an infinite circle.

Brave

Set in the Scotland of legend, Brave is the thirteenth film from the world-renowned animation studio Pixar. The story follows the young princess Merida, voiced by Kelly MacDonald, as she strives to change her fate once she learns she is to be betrothed.

Battling against her mother’s will (Queen Elinor, voiced by Emma Thompson), but often encouraged by her one-legged father (King Fergus, voiced by Billy Connolly), she flees the battle of the suitors and comes across a witch’s cottage.

Caught up in anger over her mother's decisions, Merida buys a spell from the witch (Julie Walters) that she hopes will change her mother enough to call off the marriage.

Unfortunately, with witches what you want and what you get are very different. Merida has to realise that her selfishness impacts more than just herself, and ultimately has to hurry to fix both her mother and save the kingdom from ripping itself apart.

It’s very odd to see Pixar emulating such a classic Disney plot, when Disney itself has tried so hard to change due to Pixar’s fresh look at family storytelling.

There really isn’t much original in this film; it’s a new, but still formulaic fairy tale. It kind of seems as if the studio hasn’t put their heart into this one. Perhaps Pixar is finally showing its age and ending its time as the most constantly well received filmmakers.

 

The environments and characters look absolutely beautiful, as you’d expect. The amount of technical detail really draws you in. However, in places Brave almost stumbles into the uncanny valley. There are a couple of cases of animation that seem out of place, like Merida’s horse Angus, who is quite stylised in appearance, but has very smooth animation.

There is another animal character that seems to move much too fast for the weight of its body, but it can be forgiven as it’s not entirely natural.

 

Merida’s triplet brothers bring the slapstick laughs, and a great last act makes up for most of my previous points, especially the final chase and battle scenes. It’s good to see that there is no real ‘bad guy’ here, just misunderstood people and the tragic mistakes they have made.

 

With four more films already announced, we can only hope that thirteen is Pixar’s unlucky number.

Brave is good family fun, though unoriginal. It still carries a moral message and Merida is a suitable addition to Disney's Princesses.

7/10.