Prometheus

As far as highly-anticipated movie releases go, this year has them by the boat-load. We've seen The Avengers storm box offices, The Hunger Games open up a new franchise, The Muppets made a long awaited comeback, not to mention The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man and the first part of The Hobbit all due for release later in the year. But the announcement of the first return to science fiction for Sir Ridley Scott since his 1982 masterpiece Blade Runner. We are, of course, talking about Prometheus.

First, let's dispel the first rumour about this movie: it is not a prequel to Scott's other sci-fi great Alien, in the strictest sense of the word. However, it clearly takes place in the same universe as the Alien franchise, and indeed, many references and nods are made to those films, and indeed, I believe this proves to be an original story for the Xenomorph species, however, that is not the focus of this movie. This movie is about the scientific and spiritual pursuit of the origin of mankind - where we come from, and if there is somewhere we go once we're gone - therefore, it is key that you consider we don't actually have those answers before you get frustrated with this film, because otherwise, you might be left a little underwhelmed.

Let's have a quick round-up of the plot, before I try to get all deep and meaningful. A team of archaeologists discover the same pictogram across Earth, thousands of years in age difference, where no communication could have possibly taken place, of humans worshipping alien beings pointing to a specific star. The team interpret this as an invitation to a planet of creators, or Engineers of the human race, and that's where they travel to. After being woken from hyper-sleep by David the android, the team arrive on their destination moon and begin exploring the seemingly abandoned alien structures in search of proof of their makers.

The title of the picture is imperative also, as it refers to the eponymous Greek God, who stole from Zeus in order to aid mortal men - the creation of life. Scott is presenting to us a fantastical perspective of what could have started our existence. The theme runs thickly throughout the movie, whether through the obvious of the creation of the human race on Earth, the sterility of Dr Elizabeth Shaw, the inevitable ageing of Peter Weyland or the android perspective on existence of David. The philosophical aspect of the plot is sheer brilliance, but it can be considered flawed, as, understandably or not, no questions asked by the film are directly answered. Yet consider this; it is while we have nothing but theories on our existence that things remain calm and controlled in the movie, but the moment Dr Shaw's team begin to unravel the mysteries of their creation that everything descends into chaos - the universe makes perfect sense whilst simultaneously being completely insane - there are no simple answers to a simple question.

The cast is pretty superb, and the lack of A-Listers in the key roles immerses you into the crew of Prometheus without instantly knowing who is going to have a gets-the-girl predictable story. Noomi Rapace stars as Dr Shaw, and although I don't particularly want to do it, it's inevitable that this is the first of many mirrors of Alien, as she is the strong, defiant female presence on the ship, a hell of a lot like a certain Miss Ripley. The supporting members of the crew each fill their role perfectly too, whether that's through Logan Marshall-Green's Dr Charlie Holloway or Sean Harris' Fifield, you become somewhat engaged with each who have prominent speaking roles in such a manner that you truly care for what happens to them. Charlize Theron provides a suitably disliked figure of corporate authority as Meredith Vickers, the apparent face of the Weyland Corporation aboard the ship. He's extremely good for his tiny part on screen, but you'll do well to immediately recognise Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland. But if there was a show stealer amongst the cast, it was definitely the consistently impressive Michael Fassbender as David. Even without the prior knowledge of how untrustworthy spaceship androids can be from the Alien franchise, David is both a bizarrely likeable and yet utterly unsettling and sneaky character, particularly for one who is apparently without emotion. Whether it's his uncanny impersonation of Peter O'Toole in Lawrence Of Arabia or his relentless pushing beyond the chain of command in opening pretty much any door he finds in the alien structure, I for one am now entirely convinced that Fassbender is in fact a robot, possibly the first one purpose built for acting.

Visually, the film is absolutely stunning, and whilst I am usually sceptical of the need for 3D cinema releases, Prometheus certainly puts it to amazingly good use. The appearance of the ship (inside and out), the alien buildings, the futuristic technology and even the landscapes are kept extremely simple, but with what I can only call a bit of a space-y feel to them, nothing too ridiculously over the top. And yes, again, the workings of the Prometheus do indeed have more of than a bit of a look of the Nostromo to them. Basically, this is science fiction imagery done correctly.

If I had to pick fault with the film, it is simply that, despite realising that we cannot possibly hope to find out each and every one of the mysteries of our own existence through a film (and that is sort of the point), very few questions really are answered. Not only this, but the frustrating confrontation between the team and the surviving Engineer is a little underwhelming, largely due to the fact that we don't know why he is so determined to wipe out the Earth. However, the ending pretty much screams a sequel, and there is apparently already word that Scott is working on the preliminary procedures for a second film, so you never know. Having said that, and as I stated before, it might be infuriating that you don't get the answers you wanted, but surely that's the point of the film, unless Sir Scott does actually know that we were put here by a race of alien versions of ourselves, of course.

4/5 - Very much enjoyable, deeply unsettling in places and visually spectacular. It might drive you insane, but it's a great ride whilst doing so. The movie stands strongly by itself, but features a great deal of references to the Alien franchise, which fans will love. Disappointing only in that it left me wanting to see more, which I suppose is also sort of a good thing. Go see it!

P.S.

You barely have to wait for it, but stick around after the final fade to black...

Men In Black 3

Well here's something I genuinely did not expect to see, and it's something that I even denounced in my post of which films we'd be looking forward to coming out this year. Yep, after the horrendous second instalment of the franchise had seemingly killed off the whole idea, it was time for the third outing for Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Men In Black 3.

Let's be honest, if you, like me and many thousands of others like me loved the original film, you were more than a little disappointed with what a hatchet job was made of the sequel. Men In Black 2 has become one of those films you fully expect to see turning up on ITV3 at least once a month, swapping places with The Scorpion King and Van Helsing as a throwaway piece of filler material on an otherwise program-less channel. The spirit of Men In Black was completely lost, no quirky mystery, smart if slightly simple jokes were traded for cheesy gags and product placement was king. But remember, when Men In Black was first released, it was so unlike a majority of films of the time, it had that sense of coolness about it, and was a refreshing display of how to make family-friendly, fun and, most importantly, good science fiction movie. So whilst we weren't expecting much of this third film, a lot rested on the shoulders of director Barry Sonnenfeld, who was responsible for both previous offerings.

Quick, spoiler-free plot summary, as is standard: extremely dangerous criminal Boris The Animal (Jermaine Clement) escapes from prison on the moon and heads to Earth to seek revenge on the man who locked him up in 1969 - Agent K (Jones); Boris travels back in time and kills K, leading Agent J (Smith) to head back to 1969 to stop Boris and save his younger partner - played by Josh Brolin. Got it? It's actually quite a well-worked plot, and given how dangerous time travel stories can be to a movie (see Star Trek Generations or Back To The Future sequels), it sticks with minimal plot holes. Don't get me wrong, there are a couple, but each are largely addressed later in the film...so you'll just have to trust me on this one, because I'm not spoiling it for you. There's a very nice cyclical feel to the story, as the first film saw K training J, and being saved in the process, the second film saw K saving the day, this time they're saving each other, and bring the franchise to a very nice, totally worked out point.

For the entire movie, we, like Agent J are constantly asking what the major event that triggered Agent K's trademark sourfaced, emotionless look on life, which seemed to commence on one fateful day in 1969. Naturally, this is the climactic scene of the film, and believe me, it's a goodun. It's a twist for sure, and you're not necessarily likely to see it coming until seconds before it happens, but it provides an extremely well-thought out sense of meaning to all three films, and will add a particularly pleasing peace of sentimental value for fans of the first release. But you'll have to go see it for yourself...

The comedy aspect has been kept totally intact this time round, and the chemistry between J and K is definitely back to the original level. However, this is slightly more impressive, given that the Agent K we see on screen for the majority of the film is Brolin, not Jones. It is Brolin who steals the show here, his impression of Tommy Lee Jones is frighteningly accurate, but is more importantly faithful to the K character, whilst also recognising that he is a more expressive version of the Agent. There are some funny and some touching moments between Brolin and Smith as their characters explore the unfamiliar versions of each other, and we're certainly allowed to enjoy every minute of it. With Will Smith, you know exactly what you're going to get if it's a comedy-happy role, and he is essentially exactly the same as he is in the first two films, but with the occasional nod to the added 14-odd years of experience added to his belt. Similarly, Jones gives an as-you-were performance, but with a note of sadness, which is key to the story...spoiler, no more, sorry! There are pleasing little appearances from Emma Thompson as Agent O (replacing Agent Z as the head of the MIB), and Michael Stuhlbarg as a multi-dimensional being - both adding a sense of warmth to the film, whilst the latter in particular is also an integral piece of the plot. Serious respect needs to go to Jermaine Clement also, in his performance as Boris The Animal; whilst his appearance is greatly aided by impressive - and occasionally skin-crawling - CGI, the extremely bizarre vocal display is fantastic, and truly in the mould of previous MIB villain, Edgar the Bug. Watch out for cameo roles from Bill Hader and Will Arnett too, as well as a host of pleasing references to the previous films, especially ones involving a certain four-legged furry agent.

If there's one criticism I can throw at any member of the cast, it's to Nicole Scherzinger, who "plays" Lily, the unfortunate girlfriend of Boris. Given that she is only on screen for about 60 seconds, and speaks no more than five times, it's remarkable that someone can turn in such an unconvincing performance to a role; exactly how do you manage to overact with less than 30 words to your role? Her appearance had me fearing the worst for the movie, as she was all too similar to the Serleena character from MIB II, but thankfully her role is cut very short, in what I'd like to feel is the writers way of saying "we're sorry for the last film, here's more of what you actually wanted." And they delivered.

The effects? What did you expect? They're fantastic again, and each alien you see on screen is either brilliantly original, or tipping the hat to sci-fi films of the past. But once more, the focus here is on Boris The Alien; whoever dreamt up the appearance of this guy is either seriously skilled at what he does, or seriously messed up, as the end product is amazing.

4/5  - I concede defeat. I thought this would be a wimper of a movie, but it certainly proved me wrong. The fun and cleverness is back in the franchise. The story is brilliant and well presented, even moving in places. Should the franchise continue? If they do, they've set themselves back on the right path, if they don't, they've ended it on a much stronger footing. We finally have the sequel the original deserved.

If you want a fun movie experience, go see it.

Dark Shadows

What have we been missing so far this year? A slightly spooky, with a hint of gothicism and extremely colourful film release with a cast of extremely familiar actors? Well then, I guess it's time for a rummage around of the spooky, gothic-y, eye-gogglingly colourful world of Tim Burton.

Indeed (probably the most used word in the film right there), it is time for the give-or-take bi-annual traditional Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration of the weird and wonderful that we've become very much used to in the last decade. Again, the pair have worked together to create a re-imagining of a previous production, in the mould of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd and Alice In Wonderland, Dark Shadows is the re-working of a cult American 60s-70s gothic horror soap opera of the same name. So you all know basically what to expect, right? Some whimsical opening sequence with lots of swirls and skeletons and whatnot, or perhaps a trippy hallucinogenic intro to the story? Actually no, this time we're just thrown right in there, for a quick ten minute round up of Depp's character, Barnabas Collins, who moves from Liverpool to Maine in 1760, grows up, spurns the love of a witch, who then kills his parents, his lover, curses him to the existence of a vampire and buries him in a chained coffin for nearly 200 years. Got it? Spiffing.

The concept of the film is fairly simple; set in the 1970s, the current Collins resident at the family estate are on hard times, as their fishing industry is falling to the shallow waters of a local competitor, upon Barnabas' escape, he wishes to rejoin the family and help them escape their plight. The bumps along the road to success are equally as simple to breakdown, because I don't know about you, but the witch who cursed Barnabas looks an awful lot like the owner of the company running the Collins' into the ground, don't you think? So cue a rivalry between main attractions, Depp and Eva Green.

A huge piece of the enjoyment you get from the film stems from the charm of the first hour or so of Barnabas' attempts at grappling with the cultural changes of nearly two centuries. There's a lot to be said for the comic timing and delivery of Mr Depp, with particular favourite moments of mine coming through the mixture of 18th century dialect thrown into 20th century living. You know what you're going to get with Depp, and yes, his accent is basically just a Ichabod Crane-Jack Sparrow-Sweeney Todd mash-up, but there's a nice vampirey twang to it now as well. Furthermore, there is great chemistry between he and Green, who manages to be both genuinely funny and loathsome at the same time, sort of a Burtonified version of Annie Wilkes from Misery.

Of course, what would a Tim Burton movie be without the Tim Burton cast? Not only do we have Depp in the lead role, but we have another staple of the Burton tradition, Helena Bonham Carter starring as the funny, slightly unhinged supporting role; this time she is Dr Julia Hoffman, an alcoholic psychiatrist determined to stay young for as long as possible, who develops something of an unhealthy fascination with Barnabas. And yes, you know she's going to be good at the role, because she's done it a good few times, but it's still enjoyable stuff. Michelle Pfeiffer is also back in a Burton movie, this time as the current Collins matriarch, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. In all honesty, her character is barely developed at any point in the film, despite featuring an awful lot - Pfeiffer does a decent job of making you half-remember a character who is almost totally forgotten in the overall plot of things. There's even a cameo for lord of all that is silver screen, Sir Christopher Lee, who I'm beginning to think might actually be evil now, and not acting, he's been doing it so long - you don't need me to tell you if he's any good, he's Christopher DRACULA SARUMAN SUMMERISLE Lee. Honourable mentions should also go to Jackie Earle Haley as Willie Loomis, the slightly dim-witted caretaker, who gives a funny, if a little cheesy-in-places supporting performance, and future headliner Chloe Grace Moretz, who gives a brilliant and almost unnerving showing of weirdy teenage angst in the form of sister Carolyn Stoddard.

As is the standard of a Burton movie, this one looks spectacular. Every scene uses colour to perfect effect; it's just the right kind of dark and weird for the spooky scenes, and it's the exact purple and hippy for the full-on 1970s snapshots. The effects are pretty good too, particularly the climactic sequence between Depp and Green, where the latter's skin takes on an egg-shell quality. The music used is very cleverly done too, capturing the 70s feel in a fitting manner, but definitely through the eyes of Burton, with contributions from the likes of Iggy Pop and The Moody Blues; and naturally, Danny Elfman is the man behind another Burton score.

However, the film just seems to lack some final special quality. Yes, it's entertaining enough, but by the time the final half an hour of the film kicks into action, you begin to realise that the story is extremely condensed in places. As mentioned, Pfeiffer's character fades into the background disappointingly; much is initially made of the want-away low-life dad Roger Collins, before he too (and quite literally) leaves the story altogether; and the climax of the movie just seems to throw in some quirks for two minutes of screen time to the characters that will have assumingly been present in the original series. It all just seems a little rushed after a promising start. It would appear that Burton wanted to make an homage to a show he loved, had fun with the comedy aspects of the set-up, but seemed to lose control of direction towards the end. I hate to say it, as I'm a huge fan of some of his work, but this is becoming something of a trend in Burton's films, particularly those with Depp involved, as I felt, Sweeney Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice In Wonderland and Corpse Bride all suffered from the same exact same symptoms.

2/5 - You'll seriously enjoy the first half of the film, you really will. However, a growing sense of cheesiness, bordering on laziness and same-old-Burton-story seems to creep up on you. Strange, not a total disaster, but it could have been so much better.

The Avengers

It's finally arrived! After seven years of planning, five individual films, and a choice of roughly four billion superheroes and villains to choose from, the finest hour of the Marvel Universe's cinematic releases has arrived. We are, of course, talking about The Avengers.

Way back in 2008, fans of Marvel would have probably been forgiven for not exactly getting excited about the release of Iron Man that year. The simple reason for this is two-fold: The Hulk (2003) and Spider-Man 3 were both unspeakably awful. And yet it was probably the release of those two films which seemed to kick super-sci-fi-genius Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly, Toy Story etc.) to bring back the good name of the Marvel Universe. A departure from Marvel Enterprises and Universal (The Incredible Hulk aside) and into Marvel Production and a distribution of Paramount and Disney seemed to add a new sense of direct purpose to the project. Both Iron Man films were fantastic, particularly thanks to a career-changing performance from Robert Downey Jnr.. The second attempt at the Hulk was extremely impressive. Add to that the totally solid releases of Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger and pretty much everyone who enjoys films is excited for this culmination of parts, regardless of whether you really knew the respective comics.

Therefore, most people watching The Avengers will already be familiar with what's going on here, as we've been introduced to each of the characters back stories in their own films. However, we are given a subtle reminder right from the off, with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) finally getting a scene before the end credits tampering with the Tesseract (source of all power and all-round scary artefact), leading to the arrival of arch-villain, and half-brother of Thor, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Cue a pleasing tie-in to a few of the "hidden" scenes from the end of each of the previous films and hey-ho, we're right up to date and ready for some serious fun.

The story that has been laid out for The Avengers is a big one, but a very well thought out one at that. In a nutshell: Loki steals the tesseract and is using it to summon an alien army he plans on using to enslave the Earth in order to seek revenge upon his half-brother for being de-throned in his home world, and it's up to our heroes to unite against him to save us. Simple enough sounding, I guess, but keep in mind that this has been set up over five films that have all linked in and you begin to realise that details from a few years ago are actually much more relevant to the end product. What's particularly impressive about the film is that you just sort of go with it, you know that what you're seeing is ridiculous - it's fantastic, but ridiculous - but you have to apply what's known as "Superhero Physics" to do so. For example, the laws of physics and probability are the same in the film as they are in reality, with the exception of each of the heroes and villains has altered the rules slightly - totally accepted in the film, therefore totally accepted by us. And what's more, even though you know it's a film about six superheroes, most of whom are not going to be killed off, you can't help but get immersed in the situation whenever Captain America is put in a tight spot.

The underlying theme of the film is a goodun too; the Avengers don't start out all happy-clappy with each other, they have to fight to be become a working team. This makes for some cinematic gold, with the tensions between Tony Stark (Downey Jnr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans), and almost everything that comes out of Bruce Banner's (Mark Ruffalo) mouth being prime examples of how to add a sense of humour to a superhero film that could easily tip over the edge into the over-the-top. The additional attention to the stories of assassins Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) adds something of a darker tone in the background too. The confrontation scenes, particularly the battle between Iron Man, Captain America and Thor makes for particularly exciting viewing, not to mention probably one of the best choreographed combat scenes I've ever seen between the two aforementioned assassins. The climax of all this tension means that when the team finally get their act together, you go all goose-bumpy with nerd joy.

The performances of all involved are pretty much flawless too, which is surprising for a movie as big as this. Downey Jnr. simply is Tony Stark again, as mesmerising as he was the first two times. Evans' Captain America is played with a humorous honesty (cue the jokes about what he's missed all these years he's been asleep), and Chris Hemsworth's Thor is exactly what you got from the last time; big, booming Nordic fighting, joking machine. Johansson's performance is again full of dark humour whilst convincing you that there's more to uncover between her character and Hawkeye (hopefully we find out more next time). And Ruffalo's take on Banner is reassuringly excellent. A lot of people were worried by the news of Edward Norton not wishing to reprise the role he played so well in the Hulk's last outing, but Ruffalo adds a surprising amount of genuinely great humour to the part, whilst giving an air of zen master, adding a lot of depth to the character - some of the best scenes of the film all centre around Banner or his giant green rage monster equivalent. Arguably the best performance of the lot though, is Tom Hiddleston as Loki. He's clearly gone a little deranged due to his experience of falling into the void at the end of Thor, and as such, we now have a near maniacal level of villain. Mixed together with a truly sinister smirk and pompous arrogance is also (and I feel like I'm repeating myself now) an honest sense of humour, which seems to underline the fact that he's gone a little mad. You'll end up liking almost all of the characters, and they all get time to show off what they can do; that even goes for Agent Coulson, another who cameoed in the previous films, again reprised by the impressive Clark Gregg.

What's more, the film is visually spectacular. Not only are the scenes involving just our heroes seriously cool (not really another word that works so well for it), but they don't go too far to make us lose touch with the end product. Furthermore, the climactic battle scene will most likely leave your jaw somewhere on the popcorn-splattered floor, and it almost certainly only gets better in the 3D version.

Yep, The Avengers was great, I can honestly say I enjoyed every minute of it, particularly as it would seem the film has restored the reputation of Marvel. The only negative thing? I already wanted the sequel by the time the final fade-to-black had kicked in.

5/5  - You won't see a more fun superhero film. Probably ever. I don't have a single bad thing say about it. Off you go, go on, stop reading, buy tickets.

P.S.
In true Avengers film fashion, stick around for the credits...

The Hunger Games

After a bit of a break, we're back in the squishy seats, at the very front row. (I'm not even kidding, front row, all the way to the right, for a movie that came out a month ago...I know). Time to turn our attention to the biggest new franchise craze of the year, apparently the books are great, and we're all going to love every one of the films, it's The Hunger Games

As is the trend recently, The Hunger Games is a movie based on an extremely successful, much loved series of novels. And, importantly for this review, yours truly has read absolutely none of them; so, consider my ignorance of what may unfold in the written pieces while reading this, and, more urgently, look upon my views as a critique purely of the film representation in a right of its own.

I must confess, I went into the cinema with an air of scepticism about this one; I'd heard both rave reviews from some sections of the media, but I'd also noticed a lot of these people thought that the Twilight series told a better story than The Godfather, so...yeah. So I was a little dismayed at just how slow the first 45 minutes of the movie is. Although the character building is good enough, and the plot does indeed develop in this period, we pretty much have one of the main messages of the film forced down our throats. This theme is that the expanding industry of reality TV, and the growing of the corporate compared to the impoverished will lead to a dystopia of a society in the future. Yep, the poor people are starving, while the rich pick their names out of a tombola and tell them to fight each other to the death, for their amusement... More or less.

The way this is forced upon us is through an odd throw-back to the sci-fi films of the 60s and 70s. The costumes of key authority figures resembles a Flash Gordon-Logan's Run-Amadeus crossover of French revolution-style fashion, but all of which has been coloured by Elton John. While this does leave an impression on you, and you do instantly feel a disdain for those characters, it becomes very difficult to take any of them seriously, which is somewhat confusing, when you consider that they have sentenced children to fight to the death.

Another thing which I must admit, proved to be something of an annoyance during the film is the camera work. While usually nothing out of the ordinary (in an honestly well-meaning way), and a truly brilliantly shot hallucination sequence, director Gary Ross is far too keen on rapid cuts which seem to jump in and out for no reason, as well as the extremely disorientating love of shaking the camera around. While I understand this is to make the audience feel as if we're right in the thick of it, it actually makes it more difficult to realise what's going on when done to such a level, see Cloverfield for that sort of thing.

But, truthfully, those two irks aside, the film won me over. There isn't an even mediocre performance amongst the entire cast for anyone to whinge about. Jennifer Lawrence, playing protagonist Katniss Evergreen gives a strong, mature and necessarily deep display in particular. The supporting older cast also have a great hand in the success of the flow of the story. Elizabeth Banks plays Effie Trinket, a character who seems to have been spat out of a Dickens novel and into a 1980s new romantics fan club, and she's brilliant; the character is simultaneously sinister, hilarious and utterly annoying. Futhermore, Woody Harrelson plays a former survivor of the Hunger Games, and mentors Katniss and Peeta for the competition. He effortlessly tackles an almost ageing rockstar character, hard, bitter and washed up on the outside, but caring and ferociously quick witted on the inside. Donald Sutherland does pretty much what Donald Sutherland does in all films here too; he's the seemingly nice-ish bad guy, bubbling over with nasty, scary, pointy-teeth-baring plans for those who cross him. Plus, he looks a lot like Uncle Albert from Only Fools And Horses, which is a bonus. The best of the lot though, is Stanley Tucci, who plays a smarmy chatshow-host type, introducing the contestants and doing most of the commentary. This is a pretty versatile man, when you think he's played a skin-crawling child killer in The Lovely Bones, a gangster in Road To Perdition, and the friendly voice of a robot dad in Robots. Here, he is pretty much the embodiment of the Capitol (city of the rich) in movie; he's overly pleasant on surface value, extremely pleasing for audiences, dresses in a flamboyant manner and appears to have the best interests of the less fortunate at heart, yet there's something deeply untrustworthy about him, we always squirm a little at his toothy grin aimed directly at the camera.

For what the movie shows, the story is a goodun too, granted a little borrowed from other things mind. The similarity to The Hunger Games and the all round fantastic Battle Royale are more than a little coincidental, but that doesn't mean they're identical. This is a film which is open to so many interpretations of meaning, whether that be political, feminist, satirical or sociological, you can seriously argue a case for any. This, for me, is the sign of a film with more depth to it than simply a bit of a sci-fi "oooh, wouldn't it be weird if reality TV in the future had people killing each other?" flick. The climax of the film leaves us wanting more, which is quite handy when you realise that there's another two novels to movie-fy. If there's one little complaint about the ending, it's that it very nearly slips into a montage of tidying up almost all the loose ends, it sort of happens a little too quickly, and it's not until we see a scowling Donald Sutherland that we realise that not all is as hunky dory as it may seem.

3/5 - A little frustrating, this one. While it certainly has plenty of good points, the annoyances with the camera work and the over-the-top highlighting of a key message makes you feel a little patronised. But, that said, I was entertained all the while, and was sucked into caring about most of the characters. Go see it, because everyone's going to be talking about it for a couple of years, and it's not half bad, honest.

The Muppets

Well, it's finally here...it's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights, it's time to get things started on The Muppets review tonight.

Yeah, sorry. But I'm a bit of a Muppet fan...

Ever since hearing rumours of a new Muppet movie two years ago, I've kept an eye out for any news, good or bad, and tried my best remain hopeful of a much needed return to form. As anyone who watched anything offered since Muppets From Space will know, our fuzzy friends have been seriously lacking in the originality, fun, and most importantly, humour departments. As a kid, I, like thousands of others, couldn't get enough of the Muppets. We all know they're basically designed for children, however, there is one thing they seemed to lose track of in the last decade; and that is that The Muppet Show and all the movies were crammed to bursting point full of ridiculous, wall-breaking-direct-to-adults humour. Self-deprecating jokes that are designed to fly over the heads of the kiddies. And that, I am pleased to say, has finally come back.

The first piece of good news we got about the new film was that Jason Segel had written it, a man who is probably one of the brightest comedy writers around at the minute. The story of The Muppets is a basic, but solid one: the gang have lost their prime-time fame and, like so many TV, movie and music stars gone their separate ways. Now, upon super-fan Walter (a brand new Muppet character) discovering that the Muppet Studio are about to be torn down, heads on a quest to find and reunite the cast to put on one final telethon-style show to save their old home.

So thanks to this, we get a classic Muppet set-up: Kermit takes a more 'straight' role, in his battle with whether or not to fall for Miss Piggy; Jason Segel and Amy Adams do pretty much the same thing; Walter finds himself a new member of the cast; and the cast themselves are allowed to get on with all the shenanigans you'd expect. Yep, you see them all, even for just a little bit: Fozzie, Gonzo, The Swedish Chef, Animal...so naturally, that gives them the excuse to set up a montage movie spoof just like they used to.

Now, what with this being a Muppet movie, naturally it's a tad musical. But thankfully, they've left behind the slightly over-Disneyed ways of the past, and gone back to tongue-in-cheek cheesiness. There are a couple of numbers in there that you feel yourself slightly cringing through, until, that is, Segel shrugs knowingly at the camera...or you see Micky Rooney or Jim Parsons of all people turning up in the middle. They didn't win the Oscar for best original song for no reason, and you'll love the 'Muppet Or A Man' sequence, not least for the Segel/Muppet, Walter/Man (Parsons) segment.

The second piece of good news we got about the movie was the seemingly endless list of cameos we're treated too, just how it always used to be on the show. At different points we see...deep breath... Dave Grohl, Alan Arkin, Zach Galifianakis, Whoopi Goldberg, Emily Blunt, Selena Gomez, Neil Patrick Harris, Ken Jeong, Sarah Silverman, Kristen Schaal and Feist. A particularly highlight being Harris' exclamation of "Yeah, I don't know why I'm not hosting either" when answering a call on the telethon. Add to that the appearance of Jack Black...I'm not really sure you can call it a cameo, given that he's a pretty integral part of the plot, even if he doesn't really say more than 10 lines, but each of them is definitely worth it (just wait for his disgust at a particularly grungey Muppet performance). And the best thing about these cameos? Pretty much all of the stars asked to be in the picture, not the other way round. In fact, there were some seriously big names filmed, but what with time constraints looming over them, the producers had to cut their scenes. To name but a few of those cut: Ricky Gervais, Billy Crystal, Mila Kunis, Ben Stiller, Lady Gaga and Danny Trejo. Slightly disappointed we didn't get them all!

The only disappointment I had with The Muppets was that we really didn't see quite enough of the fuzzy cast. For example, Gonzo, who has been a main player in at least three of the Muppet movies, barely has five lines. Similarly, Rizzo the Rat has, unless I'm mistaken, no speaking role on screen. Our favourite old hecklers, Waldorf and Statler are also criminally underused, though admittedly hilarious in their brief appearance.

The true highlight of the film is the telethon itself: a 20 minute version of The Muppet Show, including opening titles. Nostalgia trip doesn't really do it justice though, because they've made sure to broaden their humour to snatch all ages of audience, whether that's through the mixed guests (Goldberg, Black and Gomez) or to the basic gags, subtle breaks and movie nods throughout, we're all included, and we all laugh.

Overall, yes, this movie hits the mark for future Muppet efforts. It brings back the laughter, it brings back the daftness, it needs to bring back some more of the characters, but hopefully, and I really mean hopefully, it'll bring back the Muppets. Kids love them, adults love them, but we forgot about them being in the big picture. Guilty pleasure or not, I don't care, anyone who hasn't smiled at a piece of Muppet slapstick, or a ludicrous cameo is someone not to be trusted in my eyes. Segel wrote this film to get the Muppets back where they belong, and he certainly managed it, now we want them to stick around. Who knows, you might just see The Muppet Show cropping back up on your TV screens some day.

4/5 - Brilliant at breaking you down to the basic levels of Muppet humour, and makes you enjoy what feels like going back in time, to when they were big TV stars. Only complaint I have is that you just don't see quite enough of some of the characters. Go see it, you'll feel appropriately all warm and fuzzy.

War Horse

Greetings once again one and all, and a belated Happy New Year.

After a lengthy break without physically being able to get to a cinema, I hath returned, and what a fantastic piece of film I come back to. This review is on Steven Spielberg's first live action movie since the fourth instalment of Indiana Jones...which I still maintain was all right, but let's not dwell on that one. Yep, we're talking about War Horse.

Adapted both from the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo and the highly successful stage version thereof, War Horse is the tale of a young man who raises and trains a thoroughbred horse, before it is sold to the army at the outbreak of World War One. I don't want to mince my words here, and don't want a usual jokey style to stumble in the way of this, but this film deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.

The whole concept of the story is hokey and a little cheesey, after all, it was initially written as a novel for children. However, at no point during the entire film do you find yourself questioning the plot or recognising any cheesiness at all. Under the influence of Spielberg and the screenplay offered by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall (of Billy Elliott fame), you are swept up and sucked in to just about every emotion you thought you had, plus the odd couple you might newly discover.

The movie is framed fantastically; we are led through the innocent, happy farm lifestyle of the Norracotts of Devon, who buy Joey the horse, essentially bankrupting themselves in the process. Life gets hard for the family, until their son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) trains the horse to help their labour. This scene is then shattered when a ruined crop means Joey is sold to the British army to aid the war cause.

The journey undertaken by Joey from this point is staggering, through a series of events both tragic and horrific, he is passed from owner to owner, British, German, French and back again. But each time he is moved on, he deeply affects the life of those who take care of him.

I genuinely do not wish to divulge too much more of the plot, as it deserves to be seen for itself, but know this: no matter how coincidental a journey Joey's may be, you never let the thought spoil the story for you. This is a tale that truly works on screen.

The movie also demonstrates that Spielberg is, if not the finest director working, he is at the very least the best in the business at conveying the true horrors of First and Second World Wars. He showed us the nightmares of the Holocaust in Schindler's List, and the harrowing task of the soldiers landing Normandy in Saving Private Ryan; this time out Spielberg undertakes the challenge of taking one of the most truly soul destroying battles in military history, and doing it justice in cinema; The Somme. Spielberg gets everything perfect here, from the gut-wrenching wait for the British soldiers to go over the top, to their inevitable mass losses as they ran directly into enemy fire, surrounded by their fallen comrades and a never-ending jungle of barbed wire, we are forced to see just how terrifying an experience the battle must have been. But importantly, in one of the most memorable scenes of the film, Spielberg also shows us the compassion and mercy the men of opposing sides shared for one another, whereby a Tommy (from South Shields, no less) and a German soldier call a truce in the name of aiding a certain four-legged fellow.

The acting is superb on all parts, with great supporting roles from the likes of David Thewlis and Emily Watson. But again, it is the horse itself who takes the plaudits here. Lord only knows how he managed it, but Spielberg really does make sure that the audience understands exactly how Joey must be feeling at each and every turn, despite the fact that you'd expect a non-talking, non-human character to be easily overshadowed by the vast war being fought around him.

You will almost certainly catch yourself with something getting stuck in your eye at some point during this film, if not several times. It has Oscar-winner written all over it, and is simply another fantastic movie to add to the list of Spielberg classics; I very much doubt he will believe he has made many finer films than this.

5/5 - This is the film to beat in 2012. There are many I am anticipating this year, but they have some task in toppling this one.

Go. See. War Horse.