THE CONJURING.

Saw The Conjuring, finally, today. It was a bit down the list of films I wanted to see. The basic story is a husband and wife team of demonologists who investigate the supernatural force stalking a family.

I am always sceptical when I see the words 'true story' connected to a film. I have no doubt that the people involved in the events were based on were earnest and good people, but this is a silly film with a few genuinely scary moments.

It ticks all the boxes with the usual horror themes and events. It reminded me immediately of a number of films that I have watched in the past year. It was predictable and some scenes were unintentionally funny.

After all that I have said, it was well acted and the effects were well done. I did consider walking out at one point, but was glad I stayed. The ending, however, was incongrouous as, despite all that had gone before, everybody emerged into bright sunshine, with smiles on their faces as though the events of the previous night had never occurred. This is a common bugbear with many Hollywood films as there seems to be a reluctance to show the audience any type of ending apart from a happy one!

Not a ringing endorsement, but one for the DVD when it comes out.  

The Wolverine.

No gaming on Thursday. Rick's on holiday and Aidan is not available. A good opportunity to go and see The Wolverine.

The film starts in 1945 and Logan rescues a Yashida, a Japanese soldier who has shown relative kindness, from the effects of the atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki.This scene owes more to artistic licence than physics, but is the only practical way to deal with the subject in the context of a film.

Years later as a reward Yashida, now the richest businessman in Japan, offers to make Logan mortal again, to allow him death and peace. What follows is a plot of conspiracy and counter conspiracy with Logan caught in the middle, trying to protect Yashida's granddaughter and nominated heiress.

Logan has his powers inhibited, so he can be hurt and feel pain. So he cannot be as gung ho as normal. There are lots of great action scenes that play on this fact. Look out for Viper, another mutant. Logan is forced to run, until he finds out the reason for his loss of powers. Once he has his powers back, he then has to rescue the granddaughter. There are lots more combat scenes before the  final confrontation with the Silver Samurai.

This is a really good film which extends the reach of the X-Men franchise. My only gripe is that I think it is about 15 minutes too long.

It is worth waiting two minutes into the credits as there is a meeting with two old friends which sets up the next X-Men film.

The World's End.

In the lead up to going to see this film, I re-watched Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (The first two films in the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy) for both the pleasure of viewing and to remind myself of the in-jokes and continuing themes to look out for.

The film tells the story of a group of friends who return to their home town after 20 years. They are there to attempt to complete a 12 pub crawl, which they failed to do as teenagers. During the crawl, they discover that the town has been taken over by robots.

Fearful of the secret of their discovery of the secret being discovered, they carry on the crawl, with the aim of escaping once they have finished. The result is a rip roaring action comedy with lots of laugh out loud moments and many quiet laughs when the in-jokes and genre send ups are recognised.

My favourite aspect of the series is how they have taken different film genres and set them in unlikely locations. This film is no different. The Pub Fu scenes are hilarious! There are nods to films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and other alien films.

One aspect that I found poignant was the coming together of friends to celebrate an anniversary and the feeling of what could, and should have been. I am going through that at the moment, as I and many schoolfriends are reaching the big 5-0 (some have already!).

I also liked the way that the pub names reflected the characters found and the action taking place.This was also reflected in the choice of song from the soundtrack. The soundtrack is wonderful and evokes the 90s. This is not my memorable decade (that would be the 80s) but there are many tunes that bring back memories.

All in all a wonderful film! It will not be to everyone's taste, but I liked it!

Pacific Rim.

I had been looking forward to this film since seeing the teaser trailers months ago. I took the opportunity to see it in 3D today.

The film sees Earth threatened, not by invaders from outer space, but by large monsters that emerge at regular intervals from an undersea fault. All the nations come together to build large Mecha to take on these monsters.

This is a film inspired by the 1950s films of Ishiro Honda and Ray Harryhausen, as evidenced by the post credit tribute. An action film, with state of the art effects and the obvious influence of Del Torro. There are lulls for the setting up of the plot, and from my perspective, these spoilt the flow of the film. Despite this, it is an enjoyable film, although I am not sure you really need to see it in 3D.

The combat scenes are spectacular.

Giant monsters, Giant Mecha, a Del Torro film, What's not to like!

There are no post credit sequences, although there is a short sequence with Ron Pearlman just after the executive producer credits, before the cast credits.

Battletech and Mechwarrior players will be inspired. As I have moved mine on, I'll have to get out the MonsterPocalypse!

Now You See Me.

Now You See Me was my first film for a couple of weeks. Today was the Aberdeen local holiday, so I decided to go and see this film. I am really glad I did!

There is a lot going on in the film, so I will try to avoid spoilers. The story centres on a group of illusionists, the Four Horsemen. It briefly shows how they came together after each receives a card from a mystery benefactor.
Moving on a year finds them staging massive illusions, one of which involves robbing a bank in Paris whilst in Las Vegas. They are funded by a multi-millionaire, played by Michael Caine, and pursued by an ex magician, played by Morgan Freeman, who is out to debunk their act.

The FBI are caught up in a game of cat and mouse trying to catch them out.The Horsemen always seem to be well ahead of the game, making the authorities look stupid with some hilarious set pieces.

There is a lot of sleight of hand in the plot that keeps you off balance. I worked out the reason for the revenge, but not who was taking it. Lots of spiritual/mythical background adds to the depth of the film, which will reward more than one viewing.

This is a film that starts out as a good old revenge film, but there is so much more to it!

World War Z and Despicable Me 2.

I saw World War Z last Saturday morning. There had been mixed reviews, so I was not sure what to expect. Fans of the book had criticised it as it moved away from the original theme of survivors sharing their experiences. Reviewers had criticised the reworked ending of the film.

The opening scenes got off to a good start, with a mixture of exposition and action. It was strange trying to watch the unfolding action without being distracted by trying to identify the familiar Glasgow landmarks that were filling in for Seattle.

Brad Pitt plays an ex UN worker who is phoned up by his ex boss and asked to help save the world. He has to find the source of the disease that has caused people to become things that everyone goes to great lengths not to call zombies. He travels to South Korea, Jerusalem and Wales and works out a way to combat the disease. A way is found to distibute the countermeasure. That is the plot in essence.

It is an entertaining film, especially in 3D. However, there were many things that grated as unlikely, even in a movie plot, not the least the ending. How a world that was overun and almost destroyed one minute can suddenly find the manufacturing and transport resources to distribute a solution is beyond me.

I would describe it as Outbreak meets 28 Days Later, with a similar saccharin ending to War of The Worlds. Brad Pitt's character would make a good Captain Scarlet!

As a counterpoint, I can enthusiastically recommend Despicable Me 2 as great family entertainment and a very funny, and at times poignant film.

Gru has gone legit, and is running a straight business. He is kidnapped by the Anti Villain League, who need help in catching a supervillain, who has holed up in a mall. He works undercover in a cake shop. There are lots of shennanigans and pratfalls before the unmasking of the supervillain.

Once again the Minions steal the show. Especially in the closing song and dance and during the closing credits, which are worth watching in 3D, especially the bubbles!

Don't miss this film in 3D!

Neither film has post credit extras past the producer credits.

Man Of Steel.

I saw Man of Steel last week. I had been looking forward to this new reboot. I was not disappointed! The first 30 miutes or so are set on Krypton. This is a Krypton different from any other portrayed on film. It has been re-imagined in a Gothic/40K type style with a hint of insectoid. I would not have been disappointed if the film had stayed on Krypton.

This new telling of the story is darker with the humour stripped back. The story is told from the point of view of Kal-El and how he adapts to his new home planet. He is aided by Jor-El who exists as a computer/holographic projection. By the time of arrival of Zod, after 33 years, he has become fully acclimatised.

I will not say more on the plot for the benefit of those still to see the film.

Without the camp humour that we have seen in past films, the spititual side is more obvious. The sense of hope and some less than subtle religious and mythical references are more prominent.

I enjoyed the film immensely.

There is no after credit sequence.


 

Four Films.

Here are some potted reviews of some of the films I have been in to see in the past couple of weeks.

The Purge. This film was set in a distopian USA in 2022. The New Founding Fathers ( Tea Party/NRA?) have assumed power and have reduced crime to 1% by having 'The Purge', a 12 hour period where any crime against anyone not in government will go unpunished.

The film is the story of one family's struggle against a marauding group, when the son lets their 'prey' in to their fortified home. The plot is transparent with the twist well sign posted. This is a brutally violent film where no one ends up holding the moral high ground. Enjoyable but predictable.

Byzantium. A vampire film with a difference. Mother and daughter have to move from home to home to avoid detection by some mysterious assailants. They move to a seaside hotel and life settles into a routine. Their safety is threatened when the daughter begins a relationship with a local boy.

The way that Vampires are created is very specific and complicated and not automatically evil. This is a very entertaining film with some different takes on vampirism. It does get get quite bloody in the lead up to the finale. A thoughtful ending: not really a twist, as it is the only logical ending. I really enjoyed this film.

The Ice Man. Based on a true story, this film tells the story of the rise of  hitman Richard Kuklinski and how he manages to balance his gruesome day job with a family life. A wonderful performance from Michael Shannon as the cold blooded killer who would do anything for his family. Not for the faint hearted. Well worth a watch.

After Earth. This is a family film. A film by the Smith/Pinkett family. I found it self indulgent and disappointing, despite some good concepts that were not fleshed out. I tried hard to enjoy it, but it just didn't do it for me. May well have gone straight to DVD if it were not for the stars!