Super 8

The latest from J J Abrahams is an homage to classic Spielberg, it is a modern day fusion of Jaw's, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and in its lead characters relationship The Goonies. At its heart like some of Spielbergs more classic films its about oridnary people coming to terms with life events and at the same time being plunged into extraidonary events.
      Super 8 at its heart is about the personal relationship between a father and son coming to terms with the death of a wife and mother. Its about the bond between the son and his friends who in their free time make Super 8 movies and its about a train crash and the strange events that occur around the community post crash.
     This is a film where the villains are not the most obvious. It captures a particular period of magic but with very modern effects which in some ways loses that Spielbergian spark. But really that doesnt matter taken on its own terms Super 8 is a great movie in the same way Goonies is a great but flawed fun ride. Super 8 delivers but its ending is a tad rushed and it feels in one or two moments like two movies competing against each other.
    This film has that old school feel and vibe to it, the music almost John Williams at his best, with its whismsical charm with an undercurrent of menace. A love child between his Close Encounters score and ET, but this is also a darker tale in the Jaws sense. Interspersed with moments of mystery box menace as in Close Encounters.

    I enjoyed the film for what it was a JJ Abrahams film, with great charaters, an air of menace its close but for me the ending was just a little off and this very much felt like two films fused at the join   This is a must see movie, but  expect a small intimate character driven movie and not a big event blockbuster. On the basis of this films young stars it can only be a matter of time before JJ delivers an oscar worthywinner.

Solomon Kane

Writer Ron E Howard’s creation might not be as well known as Conan or Krull but he is just as memorable character being a Puritan demon hunter on a relentless quest to battle evil. In 2009 I became aware of its existence as a movie directed by Michael J Bassett.

However this film has bypassed cinemas down under and instead is being release on DVD and Blu ray. Being an impatient sole and as knowing it had been released in the UK I obtained the Blu ray edition from Amazon.

This film is essentially an origin tale, taking our Anti hero from his days as a blood thirsty killing machine armed with his trusty pistols and cutlass and rapier. We are introduced to him as played by James Purefoy in the midst of a far eastern battle storming a citadel. This introduction ends with him being confronted by the Devils Reaper who has come for his soul.

He escapes and abandons his blood thirsty ways for a more monastic lifestyle renouncing violence and devoting his life to peace. But when forced to leave the monastery to step once  more into the outside world you know events will lead him to once more take up his weapons and embrace his darker side but this time to battle the evil forces out to corrupt a world he has come to value. James Purefoy takes on this role with relish; his transformation to pacifist back to killing machine is believable. Much about this film reminds me of Brotherhood of the Wolf form the photography and tone so it is no surprise to discover that  many of the background crew came from that  film and that it shares the same producers.

For me the film works, but then I’m a sucker for a swords and horror though it plays more like a fantasy action film the nearest film comparison I could make would be to the old hammer horror film Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter but obviously with a bigger budget and more style. I did feel it needed a more clearly identifiable villain but for what it is and the fact that it introduces a lesser known character to the screen I enjoyed it. Tonally it matched the marvel comic’s rendition that was my introduction to the character. Special effects are top notch and the cast of great British character actors as supporting characters bring quality to the film. Special mention goes to the late great Pete Postlethwaite who played an important role in driving this tale forward.

Sadly I would have liked to have seen this on the big screen, but OZ and NZ join the US as countries denied this opportunity and thinking of some of the dross I have sat through last year I find that a little sad. Still out of this Michael J Bassett has got the task of bring Silent Hill 2 to the screen which I look forward too based his handling of this film.

I recommend this on blu ray, picture is superb and James Purefoy owns the screen sadly this might be the only installment in his adventures but this is down to lack of distributors rather than the quality of the film. Village Roadshow are releasing the film in both Australia and New Zealand and it should be out now.

Tron Legacy

Well finally caught up with Tron Legacy after post Christmas celebrations. Its official i survived Christmas for another year. So biting the bullet visited my local picture house, donned a pair of 3D spectacles and took the ride.
     Tron is one of those little guilty pleasures from the eighties, I used to have the Wendy Carlos soundtrack, I had the movie poster on my study wall and an old well worn videotape of the movie. Its up there with The Black Hole as a valiant effort that just fell short of the mark.
      So did i enjoy this new chapter , well yes and no. If i was George Lucas I would take issue with one or two the character arcs in this new tale. Maybe even take issue with one or two scenes which reminded this viewer of Star Wars, Jeff Bridges Flynn is now the Obi Wan of this movie with a liberal dose of the Dude. Visually this movie is a massive step up from the first installment but then this is to be expected when considering the time elapsed between the two films. But some scenes seem virtual repeats of the first film. For example the  Solar sailor scenes. In all if I was to use a metaphor then this is a satisfactory burger , the meat patty tastes sublime but the support ingredients don't quite gel, the lettuce is a little limp and the cheese a bit overpowering and with an excess of ketchup.  So it fills a gap, keeps the hunger pangs at bay but never hits any real lofty heights of originality.
      So  in closing I did enjoy Tron but my expectations were not set that high prior to viewing went in wanting to be entertained and came away satisfied but not enthusiastic. This is the remodeled spaced out re-imagining of a flawed classic, View it in that context and you will at least come away reasonably happy whatever problems this film has it was at the scripting stage. The film lacks a clear plot, over enthusiastic use of exposition that at three specific points in this film bring events to a standstill.
     What action there is is handled well and background design and effects are suitably up there with the best.
There are a lot of loose ends left to be tidied up in a sequel but based on this viewing i do not expect a sequal to be high on Disney's cards. It might perform well initially on release but based on current figures on box office performance  I think it will die down about the third week. It will clear 100,000,000 but how far it will go over at the figure I hazard to guess. Depsite good use of 3D this is no Avatar.