Water For Elephants

The circus of the depression in 1930 comes to life in this film about a man who runs away with the circus.

I'm not much of a fan of circuses. Seeing animals perform this way does not really interest me all that much. However I still read the book before the film came out. I really enjoy nice romantic stories so thats why I read it. Surprisingly the film is quite faithful to the book as far as the main plot is concerned. The character of August has been changed to also be the owner of the circus when in the book there was a separate character who was the owner. It is a perfect example of the type of change made from he book which is that it has been streamlined. The framing device with the older Jacob telling the story is one area which has been lost. As a script writer I understand these changes had to be made and needed to in order that the film work. Director Frances Lawrence is not known for making romantic dramas but he has done an excellent job here. Like the book he has captured the authentic look and feel of circuses in this time. You can really feel the atmosphere. The film also highlights an area that has plagued circuses all their life, the issue of animal cruelty. I must give you a warning that it gets quite bad at times and can be very distressing. One aspect I did not like and it came from the book too is the ending. I found it to be far too happy for a romantic story. Maybe I've been conditioned to expect some tragedy in a romantic story.

It is good to see Reese Witherspoon do a good film after the very disappointing 'How Do You Know'. I found her performance interesting here. Although she plays a star performer her performance is quite subdued. She does not look to overshadow Robert Pattinson as the film is about his character. The other two lead performances were a bit disappointing. I hope Robert plays in a film that does not involve a love triangle. He is still very brooding and sullen. I think he needs to lighten up as well and do a comedy. Christoph Waltz I think is a brilliant actor and is excellent here but my fear is that he is going to become typecast as a villain. He need to play a good guy soon.

An excellent romantic drama that captures the magic of the circus that I think has been lost over the years.

Burke & Hare

It has been a while since we've seen director John Landis make a film. But he makes a return with this very black comedy.

One of my favourite comedy sub-genres is the black comedy. It is a genre that is hard to tackle as the subject matter can usually involve things that you would not normally laugh at. One popular topic is death which is what this film is about. The story of William Burke and William Hare is one that suits the comedy genre. While I'm not sure how much of the film is true the bumbling nature of what they did is very funny. The film is funny but maybe not as hilarious as it could have been. I'm not sure if maybe some of the darker humour was removed to make the film more appealing to a larger audience. I do think it was not as dark as I'd hoped. I still found it quite amusing though.

Simon Pegg is one of my favourite actors at the moment. He is quite funny here but his humour is more deadpan rather than clown like. His buddy Andy Serkis gets to play the clown a bit more. It is so good to see the real Andy too. Isla Fisher is very funny as an actress trying to put on an all female version of 'Macbeth'. The support cast: Tom Wilkinson, Tim Curry and Jessica Hynes are very good. I also quite liked Bill Bailey's small role too.

While not the greatest black comedy ever it is still quite amusing. Definitely not for the squeamish either.

Your Highness

Comic actor Danny McBride has played many supporting roles to a great deal of acclaim. He has now written himself a leading role.

My favourite period in history is medieval times. I would love to live in this time. As many of you know one of my all time favourite films is 'Monty Python And The Holy Grail'. So a medieval comedy is something I really look forward to. I think Danny and his co-writer Ben Best have got some good ingredients there for a good comedy but they have not been able to put them together. The main problem is the language. Now don't get me wrong I'm not opposed to swearing or crude sexual humour but I think it needs to suit the situation. Here Danny and Ben have used modern language which seems out of place in the context of the film. They have quite cleverly set the film in what seems to be an alternate place to earth (as this world has two moons) but even still it bears a resemblance to our world. For me the use of the 'F' word felt out of place. I maybe wrong but it does not feel like a word they have used in medieval times. I feel Danny and Ben would should have looked at more clever ways of using language to get their point across. I'm not sure if it is because they want it to appeal more to a modern audience or they were just lazy. Other than this the film is fairly good. I think the story is its strongest part.

The other major problem with the film is the casting. While I know Danny wrote the film for himself to star in I think he does not suit the role. Mostly because it needs an English actor to pull it off. They understand the period that is being parodied. James Franco I think understands it a bit better and does a very good job. Natalie Portman I think can do anything so she has no trouble here.

There is a good comedy in here somewhere and it could have been if the writers had of tried a bit harder to work on the language and maybe researched the period better.

Fast Five

For some reason Hollywood thinks of foreign audiences as being a bit stupid. Hence why this film is being advertised as 'Fast & Furious 5' and not by its original title of 'Fast Five'. Because international audiences are too stupid to know what the film is.

One of my guilty pleasures has been 'The Fast And The Furious' series. My favourite type of action sequence has always been the car chase, so a film that is all car chases is a great deal of fun. It is rather funny as I'm not all that interested in cars and don't know anything about them. But I find the chases in films really thrilling. I know the plots of these films are not all that thought provoking but they are just a great deal of fun. The first film is still my favourite. The second film is one of the most homoerotic of the series. I don't like the third as it feels strange without any of the original cast. The fourth film is good but the fifth film is excellent. Despite being the fifth film in the series the makers have come up with an excellent plot instead of rehashing the same story over and over. Although they have borrowed elements from the 'Oceans' series it is still a great deal of fun. It is much longer than the others in the series but there is so much plot to deal with that you don't mind. The makers have also managed to create some excellent action sequences too. Right from the start with the train chase it is really thrilling. The chase while towing the safe is also hilarious as they destroy most of Rio.

The acting in these film is not one of its strong suits. I think the actors play support to the cars so don't need to emote all that much. Vin Diesel is good in the tough guy role. Paul Walker does not get much to here which is shame. The same can be said of Jordana Brewster. It was nice that they gave Sung Kang a love story to keep his character occupied. Dwayne Johnson played a nicely ruthless villain.

Make sure you stay for the extra scene in the middle of the end credits that gives a lovely tease for what will happen in the sixth film. Let's hope the rumours come true and they film it in Australia.

Thor

Marvel continues to introduce us to more of its characters and more specifically those who are part of 'The Avengers'. This is one of their more mythological heroes.

Marvel have been choosing some interesting directors for their films. I think Kenneth Branagh is one of the more interesting. He has mostly made films based on Shakespeare's plays and definitely nothing with such grand special effects as this. I think that maybe why he was chosen. There is a very complex family story at the heart of this film. Something Shakespeare did a lot of. There is the power plays by the king's siblings to gain the throne all with heaps of action. I must say that Ken has done an excellent job. The story is fairly typical of stories set in the world of royalty. A king who is about to hand over his title to his older son has the younger son try to usurp the older brother. Despite this it is still a fun film. The action is well handled and paced. While Ken has not used many special effects in his previous films he certainly knows how to use them here. The sets and landscapes are very spectacular. I think the fact that the earth scenes all take place in one location is because all the money was spent on the special effects.

I have never seen an episode of the TV series 'Home & Away' so I was not very familiar with Chris Hemsworth's work. He definitely looks the part of a Nordic god but he is good at acting like one too. In these films an actor can get lost in so many special effects but Chris is able to rise above it and be a forceful presence. Natalie Portman once again proves her brilliance here. Despite not having to be a huge part of the film she makes some subtle moves that make her very endearing. Anthony Hopkins is a grand actor in a grand role here. He makes a great king and has a great presence. Tom Hiddleston does a good job as the villain. My one big disappointment with the film was Rene Russo. I have been a huge fan of hers for years and am upset we have not seen much of her lately. I just wish we got to see more of her here. She has only a couple of lines and not much else to do.

A great deal of fun and excitement that makes good use of the 3D technology. While not the greatest comic book film it is still a great introduction to one of the lesser known characters.

Potiche

We live in a world where women run companies. However there was a time when they were not considered suitable to do jobs like this. This film takes a comedic look at one of those times.

Francois Ozon is a director whose films I came to a bit late. I've seen most of the films he has released in Australian cinemas over the past few years. He is an excellent director who works in a variety of genres. He is excellent at making comedies like this one. I think he has used the sexist attitude from the past to show how absurd it was to not let women run a company and have positions of power. I think it helps that the character of Suzanne is a strong woman to begin with as it may not have worked or had a different outcome if she was played as a ditzy character like some women are though of as being. Suzanne has been bought up I think to be a housewife and support her husband from home. So when she gets a taste of power she wants more. I think a lot of the humour in the film comes from the absurdity of how silly it is that Suzanne is treated so badly. She even seems to accept the fact that her husband Robert sleeps with other woman. It is like she is afraid to upset her life by upsetting her husband. The tone is very much farcical and is played in a bit of a theatrical way. I also got the feeling that the film could have been a musical. There are a few songs that play like musical numbers which was quite pleasant.

Catherine Deneuve is a mature actress who can still give a brilliant performance. A legend that is perfect in this role. She brings a great deal of maturity to her performance and you know that she has possibly dealt with a situation like this. Her legendary co-star Gerard Depardieu is equally as good. His role is more a supporting one and not as big but he is still great. They two of them have a wonderful dance number in the film. Fabrice Luchini is nicely nasty as Suzanne's husband Robert who treats her quite badly. Karin Viard is also good as Robert's secretary who has a change of heart after working for Suzanne.

Another great French comedy that takes a lighthearted look at a time when women were not treated very well. But is still empowering to women and shows that despite living in a tough time you can still achieve greatness.

How I Ended This Summer

The Russian landscape is always depicted as being bleak and harsh. I don't think you could get a more bleak and harsh landscape than the one depicted here.

Some of my favourite films and episodes of television series are those where you have a few people trapped in a location for the whole story. I love the compact nature of a story where all the twists and turns take place in one spot and people can change by their behavior. This is one of those films where you have two guys stuck at a meteorological station on a remote island. At first not a lot happens and the story is just about the way these guys don't get along very well. The film is all about subtlety. The guys are not obvious in their dislike for each other. It is the subtle way they do things that shows how they do not get along. There is also the small event that happens to make the relationship change and make it more intense than it already is. While you can understand the young man, Pavel, not wanting to upset his co-worker, Gulybin, by revealing some bad news but it just makes the situation worse and he ends up worse off than he would have been if he had of told. I do feel that the second half of the film drags quite a lot. I think the tension could have been better if things were a little tighter.

Grigory Danilov is excellent as the young Pavel whose youthful exuberance makes him disliked by his older co-worker. I would have liked to know a bit more about his character though and how he came to be on the island. Sergi Pushkepalis gives a nicely stoic performance as the older man who can't understand why his co-worker is so reckless. You can understand why Pavel get so exasperated by him.

A somewhat overly long thriller that is nicely subtle in the story it tells. It is recommended if you don't always like things spelled out for you in an obvious way.

Incendies

The next film on my list of Oscar Foreign Language Film nominees is this French/Canadian production set in the Middle East.

The premise of a family reading a will is always an interesting one. Invariable there will be a problem where a family member will find something out about the deceased they did not know. In this case a pair of twins are given letters that they must deliver to their father that they thought was dead and a brother they never knew existed. Only one of the pair the daughter Jeanne is willing to take this emotional journey. And an incredibly emotional journey it is. This is by far and away one of the best films I've seen this year. The plot is like a clever detective story when Jeanne uncovers a life she never knew her mother had. The story is told in as two parallel journeys with us seeing the mother's journey as the daughter discover each event. This can get a little confusing as the actress playing the daughter and the one playing the younger version of the mother look a lot a like and you have to concentrate to make sure you know which time period you are in. The mother, Nawal, goes through many harrowing experiences which can be quite hard to handle especially at the end.

All the actors in the film are brilliant. Lubna Azabal is amazing as the younger version of Nawal. Her character has an incredibly emotional journey as I said and she handles it so well. As Jeanne Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin is equally as good. Finding out about the horrible things your mother went through can be difficult. Maxim Gaudette is fine in his small role as Simon but his character is very arrogant.

I can see that the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had a hard time choosing which of the five films nominated deserved the award. 'Incendies' I think is the best so far.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

Pop sensation Justin Bieber has just been in Australia recently doing concerts. So I thought I would check out his film to see what all the fuss is about.

I've spoken before of my unusual musical tastes. I like songs and not really anyone artist. There is one artist who I love but generally I like a wide range of songs and musical styles. Justin Bieber's music is not something I care much for. I agree he is a good singer but none of his songs have any interest for me. I was interested in seeing this film to find out about the boy behind the music. I must say that I was disappointed. This is a very well put together documentary/concert film but it does not reveal anything especially interesting about him. It is the type of film that preaches to the converted. A film for his fans and not for those who may want to learn more about him. The biggest disappointment though is that we don't hear from the boy himself. All the interviews are with friends and family. I would have liked to hear what Justin thinks of all the hype and pressure that is going on around him.
The jury, I think, is still out on Justin Bieber. He has only been around for a couple of years now and if he is really as talented as people think he is then we need to wait a few years and see if he is still as popular or if his young teenage audience has moved on to the next sensation.

Hop

It surprises me that for all the Christmas movies we get, there are very few if any films about Easter. Now we get to learn all about the Easter bunny.

Normally films like this do not appeal to me. I've avoided the 'Alvin And The Chipmunk' films so far. But it was the casting of Russell Brand as the voice of EB that made me want to see this film and I'll talk about that later. The story and characters are very much aimed at children and the creators have not done a lot to make it appealing for adults. I'm not saying that the story has to be really complex but it has to be of some interest to adults as they are the ones who generally have to take kids to these films. There is also the fact that the Frank character is a slacker and looking for a job. I'm not sure if this is something that children care about or are interested in. I tend to think that the human character EB meets should have been a child. That to me would have given a lot more conflict to the story and possibly set up some funnier situations.

Russell Brand has such a distinctive voice that you only associate it with him and his personality. My hope with this film was that some of his crazy humour may have come across in the film. But sadly it didn't. I must say that he is quite good but would have liked some more silliness. James Franco is generally a great actor but seems really dull here. It maybe the material he has to work with. The support cast are fairly ordinary too and have done far better work else where.

The only appeal for this film would be for children. Adults taking their kids to see it may have a hard time enjoying it.