QUICK REVIEW: The Jungle Book (2016)

Howdy people, FINALLY after being stuck at work for the last week I’m back to my blog to write some stuff, yay! 😛 Anyway everyone has gone on about how great The Jungle Book is, but I haven’t, mainly because I hadn’t seen it…  Until yesterday. Now that I’ve seen it I can gush about how great it is too because the film is awesome and I’ll tell you why in this review. 🙂

Straight to the point, Disney’s live-action The Jungle Book, much like last year’s Cinderella is an updated version of the classic animated film. So if you’re familiar with the story of the original then this is almost beat-for-beat exactly the same as you remember, however, there have been a good few alterations/modifications to compensate for the transition into live-action but also for the changes in the story. What I really appreciated was how the writers took the foundation of the original film, but modified it so that the story got a little darker, layered and had a greater sense of scale, realism and threat which not only encompassed Mowgli but everyone else in the jungle as well. There was a lovely sense of cohesion and community, and I several of the updates to the story really improve the overall experience much more than the original.

I really liked the cast as well starting with Neel Sethi who was great as Mowgli, for a child actor who essentially had to ask like he was surrounded by talking animals he did a bloody good job. I actually LOVED Mowgli in this film. In the original he was such a whiny little brat who had one or two moments of being likeable, but overall wasn’t one of Disney’s better protagonists, but here he’s young, brash and a little hard-headed, but he’s also resourceful, charming and applies logic to a lot of his situations. As for the voice cast they were awesome across the board. Bill Murray was delightful as Baloo, you can tell that Murray was just having a good time with this material and much of his dialogue felt very much like him more so than Baloo, but for me that was a good thing. Ben Kingsley was spot on as Bagheera, Kingsley was able to be strict, relaxed and hilarious without trying too hard was impressive. Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha had a fierce yet calm and caring demeanour, while Scarlett Johansson was creepy, mysterious and a seductive as Kaa, Giancarlo Esposito brought the right levels of confidence and sincerity to Akela and Christopher Walken as King Louie was simply delightful with Walken really adding something special to all of the scenes he was in whether he was lighthearted or aggressive. But as much as I loved the other voice actors it is Idris Elba who stole the show as Shere Khan. Elba just has one of the best voices ever especially for villainous roles and he commits 100% so when he makes threats or shouts you fear him and I loved it!

Oh and let’s talk about that presentation. Do I even have to say it? It was amazing. Visually the film was fantastic, from the time the film opens with the Disney logo you are treated to a visual treat for the eyes with some of the most impression CGI to date. The fact that like 90% maybe 95% of the film was made up of visual effects in mental when you consider all of the landscapes, animals, weather effects and so on that had to be done, but was incredibly realistic, sharp and the attention to detail was insane. I also loved the realism applied to the animals, even though they talked, the facial movements were relatable and had great subtle movements with ears or blinking eyes. Though if I can fault the visual effects in any way I found say that there are sequences at night where things got a little too dark, but that’s about it. And I also really liked the film score by John Debney who captured the spirit of the original music with the pieces he included, but also added a sense of drama and tension not found in the original too.

In conclusion The Jungle Book was just awesome. There was just the right balance of nostalgia and freshness to justify this film’s existence and with it being executed so well I can’t help but be excited for where Disney and their talented filmmakers go next with their live-action material. 🙂

Rating: 8.5/10 (It was almost a 9!)

So have you seen The Jungle Book and if so what did you think of it? And if you’ve seen the original as well which do you prefer? Please leave your comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

Exodus: Gods and Kings Review

Howdy ladies and gents, even though 2014 is over and I’ve already given you my top 10 films and my end of year review, I still have one more film review to give you before we transition into 2015 and it comes in the form of Exodus: Gods and Kings. Now this is a film I was actually going to give a miss because a lack of interest however near the time of release I heard some good things about the film so I decided to give it a chance. I watched it last night and now I’m ready to pass judgement.

The story, can be described as the following:

“Epic adventure Exodus: Gods and Kings is the story of one man’s daring courage to take on the might of an empire. Using state of the art visual effects and 3D immersion, Scott brings new life to the story of the defiant leader Moses as he rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.”

I thought the story had some interesting updates to the classic tale but overall it just came across as bit dull. From the beginning you are meant to connect with Moses and Ramesses so that you can understand their goals in life, but the film doesn’t give you any time to know who these people are, what kind of connection they have and why we should care. You also don’t care for Moses’ mission to become a leader who has to safe his people because he does nothing significant to be of interest and it doesn’t help that his relationship with god is strained and complicated. I don’t know, all the time I was watching the film I was just comparing it to the original story and The Prince of Egypt and wondered, “Why was this changed?”, “Why did this character do that?” “Who is this random person?” All of the changes in the film felt unnecessary, strange and done just for the sake of change rather than having a good reason for it.

When it comes to the cast there were performances that ranged from fine to over-the-top to dull. In truth the only person that mattered was Christian Bale as Moses. Moses is the main character, however he isn’t that likeable, he has no great heroic or leader-like qualities and he has no personality either. He’s not a relatable protagonist and when he’s in trouble or is struggling you don’t care because he’s just a bit meh. Bale seems like the only person actually trying to put on a show in this film. Joel Edgerton as Ramesses II, my god, what a bore. This is not the cool character from the Dreamworks animation, instead what we have here is a spoilt brat who has no redeeming features, is not relatable and seems to have a stick up his ass all the time. Edgerton is better actor than this and I feel like this is the worst film I’ve seen him in. John Turturro as Seti I was actually alright, after seeing the horrible performances in Michael Bay’s Transformers films, he was very reserved, calm and quite nice. Aaron Paul as Joshua, it was a bit bizarre to see Paul in a film like this, he was alright but incredibly wasted. Ben Kingsley was decent as Nun but he wasn’t in the film enough to be that relevant. Ben Mendelsohn was invisible as Hegep. Sigourney Weaver as Tuya, all I can say is what a waste of a role. Weaver is just there to stand around and say a few lines, her character could have been played by anyone or written out of the film entirely and it would not have made any difference to the story. What a waste. María Valverde was okay as Zipporah, but she barely had enough screen time to be a fully developed character and whenever she was around she was boring as hell.

The presentation was probably the best thing to come out this film. The CGI is very detailed, realistic, epic and used to great effect in the huge action sequences. The music by Alberto Iglesias is pretty good too, I did like the way it had a certain level of epicness and drama to it.

In conclusion Exodus: Gods and Kings is serviceable film but an unnecessary one. For all of its grand visual flair it doesn’t have a story that’s interesting or engaging enough for me to care. The characters are dull and forgettable, the pacing is slow and there are chucks of details in the story that get completely omitted for no reason.

Rating: 5/10

So what did you think of Exodus: Gods and Kings? Did you like it, hate it or thought it was alright? Also how do you feel it compares to the original source material? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to leave them in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the new year! Laters! 😀

 

The Boxtrolls Review

Good day to you ladies and gents, with the summer film season well and truly over I haven’t really had any reason to go back to the cinema, until last weekend when I watched The Boxtrolls. Now this is one of the few animated films I’ve been really excited to see because I love Laika as an animation studio and with their great work on Coraline and Paranorman, this was a must-see film. So how does this film fare? Well, read on and find out!

The story for the film can be described as the following:

“The film tells the story of an orphaned boy named Eggs who was raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collecting trolls called the Boxtrolls. The Boxtrolls are targeted by an evil exterminator named Archibald Snatcher and Eggs has to save his family from Snatcher.”

The story for this film was pretty good, it offered a familiar tale while still being fun and interesting. I liked Egg’s origin story and how it tied into  the villain’s story too, and seeing the way everything unfolded was quite bizarre but also fun and unexpected. Now if I were to compare it to Laika’s previous projects, I would say that this film is better than Paranorman due to its story and character’s being much stronger, but I still don’t believe that Coraline can be touched when it comes to story and characters. That film was special, creepy and full of all sorts of scary stuff you just don’t see in a children’s animated film. In the end it comes down to the source material and this film’s material is good, but just not that strong to be innovative or too different from what we’ve seen before.

As for the cast they’re all wonderful offering great performances in unexpected ways.

Isaac Hempstead-Wright does well as Eggs, he’s a boy who has been raised by the Boxtrolls and it is the only life knows, but once things start to go wrong for his friends and he has to step up and become a hero he definitely grows as a character and becomes a likeable protagonist. The guy is strange, funny and has a good heart and Hempstead-Wright brings a great deal of passion and flair to his role. Someone who might have outdone him is Elle Fanning, who is great as Winnie Portley-Rind. This girl is good-natured, if somewhat spoilt, rude and headstrong, she is very curious and finds herself in trouble because of it, but after she connects with Eggs they bond and then become intertwined in this mission to save his friends and Fanning does a such a good job, her delivery of some her lines is nothing short of funny and delightful. Ben Kingsley is completely unrecognizable as Archibald Snatcher, Kingsley does an absolutely stellar job as the main nemesis of this film being quite humourous, mean and at times very disturbing too. The great thing about this performance is that it is so charismatic and larger than life, but you just wouldn’t expect it from someone like Ben Kingsley, it was such a massive surprise when I saw his name in the credits, just  goes to show you how versatile he is.

And then there’s Snatcher’s henchman played wonderfully by Nick Frost as Mr. Trout, Richard Ayoade as Mr. Pickles and Tracy Morgan as Mr. Gristle. Mr. Trout and Pickles were my favourites, they are both very funny and strange henchmen who follow Snatcher, but question his actions and sometimes discuss matters of moral code from time to time and it makes for some great moments in the film, Richard Ayoade’s voice is just amazing while Nick Frost is awesome as a character who clearly has the most sense out of the lot of them. And lastly Tracy Morgan is the last person I would have guessed as Mr. Pickles however, after I thought about it, it started to make sense. This character seems like a brain-dead idiot, but he is definitely gunning and dangerous, he’s just prone to delivering pain and is single-minded about many things.

Jared Harris is awesome as Lord Portley-Rind, this character is an upper-classmen, enjoys the finer things in life (especially his obsession with cheese) and has no time for his daughter. I love Harris in this role, I recognized his voice in an instant and after seeing him in Fringe and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows it is impossible to not notice him in anything even if it is just identified by voice alone. Toni Collette is fine as Lady Portley-Rind, Winnie’s mother and the appearance of Simon Pegg as Herbert Trubshaw was totally unexpected, but very much welcomed as his character is totally jokes. And lastly Dee Bradley Baker (Fish, Wheels and Bucket) and Steve Blum (Shoe and Sparky) were awesome, especially Steve Blum who is one of my favourite voice actors.

When it comes to the presentation it is clearly the strongest element of the film both on the visual and audio front. Laika as an animation studio have always been incredible when it comes to crafting impressive-looking visuals and have gone from strength to strength when it comes to shows how much further they can push stop-motion and I feel like they’ve done it again. All of the animation is incredibly smooth, the art design is very nice and the cinematography is so much more dynamic than before with fancier lighting, more camera angles and really impressive tracking shots too. The soundtrack by Dario Marianelli was nice as well offering some great pieces of music to suit the different tones throughout the film.

In conclusion The Boxtrolls is a very good animated film, which is full of fun and is a very good-looking film which shows that stop-motion is a form of animation that can still be impressive in this world of CGI animated films. Is it the best animated film this year? No. However, that shouldn’t stop you checking this film out, it has plenty of laughs, a great cast of characters and story that is simple, strange, but also very effective.

Rating: 8/10

So what did you think of The Boxtrolls? Have you seen it or are you gonna watch it? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to comment below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo! 😀

 

My Epic Iron Man 3 Review!! :D

So here we are in April 25th, the day of Iron Man 3‘s release in the UK. It feels like the wait for this film has been the longest one in recent history, maybe even worst than the wait for The Avengers last year. Anyways Robert Downey Jr. is back as Tony Stark/Iron Man in his third film in the Iron Man film series and this one’s directed by Shane Black which has definitely put a twist on things. Does this film succeed in being another great Marvel film or does it fail due to the ‘third film in the series curse’? Read on to find out!

So the story of this film takes place after The Avengers and life for Tony Stark is anything but stable. Stark hasn’t recovered from the events of New York which has left him anxious, scared and alone and this affects his relationship with Pepper Pots and his day-to-day activities. However Stark’s troubles only worsen when the terrorist known as the Mandarin shows up, starts causing havoc and tears Stark’s world apart. Now Stark has to find the courage to carry on and save the world and uncover the mysterious that surround him.

I thought the story in this film was surprising smart, dramatic and very, very unexpected. All those worrying that the film was going to be too dark and serious can rest easy as the film easily has a lot of humourous moments and laugh-out-loud scenes. A lot goes down in this film and it is very impressive to see how the writers found a way to condense it into a 2 hour film. There was so many elements of this film I didn’t see coming and it was smartly handled with style and the element of surprise. Also this is definitely a Shane Black film as the way the film is directed, stylized and even the humour feels very reminiscent of his former work especially Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

But it is the characters that really bring Iron Man 3 to life and the returning and new cast make great work of their material. So let’s start with Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man. The dude still has it. RDJ is still as charismatic as ever providing moments humour, wit and style while also giving us a very vulnerable and isolated character. Tony Stark is in a very difficult place in his life and has his world smashed to pieces and he has to rise to the challenge to keep the world safe and protect Pepper and RDJ brought his A-game to this role. Then there’s Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia “Pepper” Potts, Paltrow is very good in this film offering up more drama and a lot more action then we’ve seen from her before. Pepper not only has to deal with being CEO of Stark Industries but also but must maintain a relationship with Tony. Paltrow was just great and she looked spectacular, I mean she has one hell of a body yo. Anyways moving on… Now we move onto Don Cheadle as Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes/Iron Patriot, Cheadle was funny and witty as Tony’s friend and wearer of Iron Patriot armour. You see I wasn’t too much of a fan of Cheadle in Iron Man 2, I didn’t feel the connection between him and Tony but in this film their relationship is a lot better and Rhodey is much cooler too.

Now let’s talk about Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, Pearce was very cool and interesting as the creator of the Extremis virus and the founder of Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM). I love the way Killian was introduced and his reasons for doing what he was doing, Pearce handled the role well and this was one of his roles I’ll personally remember for a while yet. Also Rebecca Hall as Dr. Maya Hansen was quite pretty as a botanist whose work helped create Extremis. Maya was a strong-minded character and definitely had relevance in the grand scheme of things and I liked how Hall handled her material, I just wish she’d been in the film a little more. Okay now’s time to talk about Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin/Trevor Cassidy he was pretty cool. Now let’s get something straight, THIS IS NOT THE MANDARIN FROM THE COMICS, there are changes made to his character to make it work in the context of the film and while some fanboys may cry about I thought it was interesting and mart stuff.

Also Stephanie Szostak as Ellen Brandt and James Badge Dale as Eric Savin do well in their roles too but I won’t explain specifically what it is because it will spoil elements of the film. And lastly Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Favreau was great. I was so happy to see Favreau return and the material he is given is some great, dramatic and funny stuff.

When it comes to the presentation I can easily say it is some of the best that Marvel Studios has produced so far. Visually the CGI and special effects are INSANE! So much action and mayhem goes down in this film and it is shot, choreographed and crafted in a spectacular fashion. From the attack on Tony’s house to Iron Man’s one-on-one fights to the Iron Legion sequence near the end of the end of the film, everything just screams out awesomeness and it is almost on par with The Avengers. I was worried when Industrial Light and Magic wasn’t coming back to do the film’s visual effects, but Scanline VFX, Digital Domain, Weta Digital, Framestore, The Third Floor and Trixter Film did a great job filling in for them. As for the soundtrack, I think it is the best so far. I was worried with Brian Tyler was brought on to the do the soundtrack but he really brought this film to life with some incredibly loud, profound and epic music that fueled the action on-screen, it was amazing nuff said.

So to conclude Iron Man 3 is definitely a return to form and is probably best film of the trilogy. The film is smart, funny, emotional and nicely stylized with some amazing presentation in both the visual and audio department. Some may not like the changes and unexpected surprises to be found in this film but for me it worked well and I can appreciate the changes. Shane Black has done well by the series and has his trademark style all over this and in addition to that Robert Downey Jr. proves he’s still the man as the one and only Iron Man. If you couldn’t tell already I LOVED this film and I recommend it highly.

Rating: 9/10 (Just go out and watch it now! :D)

So what did you think of Iron Man 3? Did you love it, think it was alright or hate it? Whatever your thoughts drop them below and be sure to come back for some more kick ass film reviews! 😀

 

New Mandarin Character Poster for Iron Man 3!

Howdy people of the interweb, today I bring you blog post that shows off the new look of the Mandarin, the classic comic book villain of the Iron Man comics that’ll be making his live-action debut in Iron Man 3 this summer played by Ben Kingsley. Now while we’ve seen him before it parts of trailers and early photos, we have seen his whole uniform form head to toe, but just recently a new image emerged showcasing the character in full for us fans to look at. The end result for me is one of interest and intrigue mixed in with some confusion. Have a look below:

From the top half he looks fine, his hair and beard look cool and his robes have a very nice style that looks oriental from what I can see. It’s just as we get lower we see his combat trousers and army boots and I’m like “Okay, that’s definitely… Different.” I dunno how I really feel about it, on one hand it really throws off this Chinese vibe that the character has always had, but at the same time you could look at it as a connection to the Ten Rings from Iron Man 1. Either way for better or worse this is how Mandarin looks and overall it is pretty nice and I assume in film it’ll look a lot better (because that’s normally the case with most costumes in superhero films).

As for the way Mandarin is positioned he looks like a badass just waiting to start some shit! The sunglasses add a nice touch in my opinion, they make him come across as a bit of a smug, yet relaxed kind of guy. I also like the background which I assume is his liar or based of operations, the dragon on the wall is awesome and the pillar on the right along with the other statue on the left make this place feel very old and oriental in nature.

I’m interested in seeing what other things we’ll discover about Mandarin as time passes, so what do you think of his look? Drop a comment below and let me know! 😀

 

Marvel’s Kevin Feige Talks Iron Man 3

I say any news about Iron Man 3 is worth talking about, though it has to be of some kind of significance in order for me to want to blog about it. But what I read on superherohype makes me hyped for this film all over again, read the article below:

“Iron Man 3 will kick off the summer movie season and it’s shaping up to be the most unique adventures that Tony Stark has had.

“Robert Downey Jr. gave his all to this performance,” said Marvel Studios producer extraordinaire Kevin Feige in an interview with MTV. “He left no stone unturned.” 

He added: “So much of the journey of ‘Iron Man 3’ is informed by Tony’s experiences in ‘The Avengers. It’s almost like post-traumatic stress: he really has retreated after the events of ‘The Avengers’ into his workshop, where he’s building advanced versions of his suits. He has [designed] a version of the suit that can latch onto him in individual pieces … anytime, anywhere. As he starts to realize, it’s basically because he doesn’t want to be out of the suit: he’s seen a lot of things in ‘Avengers’ and has encountered a lot of powerful people, much more powerful than he is.

“It brings us back to the Tony we met in the first part of ‘Iron Man’ where he’s removed from that convoy and brought to the cave with nothing but a box of scraps. It’s fun for all of us to watch Tony try to figure out how to get out of that scenario. Much of the movie is Tony in the middle of the country without his tools and a fairly broken suit to help him. But that’s his superpower: he wasn’t born on Asgard, he wasn’t hit by gamma rays, and he doesn’t have the super soldier serum. His power is his brain. It’s fun to put Tony Stark in a corner with nothing and see how he can get out of it.”

The film also makes the feature film debut of one of Iron Man’s most notorious enemies from the comic books, The Mandarin. Long rumored to be in the films after a brief reference in the first film, the character will be coming to life this summer with Ben Kingsley in the role.

“We felt there was leeway to explore the Mandarin in a way that hasn’t been explored before. We found we couldn’t point to any sort of definitive Mandarin story in the comics — but if you print this, I’m sure a million fans will point to a specific story — so as we’ve done with many of the films, we did an amalgamation. The Mandarin is relentless: he’s a non-stop threat, and you’ve seen that in the first teaser trailer when Tony Stark’s house tumbles into the sea. He doesn’t mess around, this guy.”

With the story of the film being influenced by The Avengers and a whole slew of new Marvel characters appearing, there is plenty here to make it different, but Feige seems to think where director Shane Black has taken the film is the most outstanding facet.

“No one has been shy — myself, Robert and [original ‘Iron Man’ director Jon] Favreau — about how Shane worked in the shadows of the first ‘Iron Man’ film, helping with certain scenes and helping with tonal things,This film, it’s much less the culmination of the previous ‘Iron Man’ movies in part three: this is ‘Iron Man: A Shane Black Film.’ That, to me, is by far the most unique thing about this movie.”

Many have speculated that the Marvel films will eventually wither away, that audiences will get tired of seeing these kinds of movies and will eventually stop going (though the billions of dollars made by Marvel’s The Avengers and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises seems to point in the other direction). This doesn’t seem to have affected their decision making about future films, as Feige thinks Tony Stark can stand a few more films.

“Characters like James Bond and Batman, whose stories go on and on and on — I think Tony is one of those characters. Where we go directly after ‘Iron Man 3’ … I’m not looking too far ahead. I’m looking to finish ‘Iron Man 3,’ getting into ‘Avengers 2,’ and then seeing where we go from there. But I do think we have more Tony Stark tales to tell, and we’ll take it one movie — or maybe two movies — at a time.”

Iron Man 3 opens in 3D and 2D theaters on May 3, 2013. The action adventure stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley.”

It really sounds like Kevin Fiege has faith in the success of Iron Man 3 and if he think it’ll work I’m willing to trust him. Now I’m not saying that this film is set to be invincible and can’t fail, I’m just saying that it’s okay to have a little hope and especially since Marvel Studios has been having such a good run with its superhero films I can only assume that this film will follow suit. The way he praised Robert and talks about taking Tony Stark back to square one where he was in Iron Man 1 just makes me smile and makes me assume that we’ll have a great film on our hands. I also think that the Mandarin if done correctly may be the villain that we’ve waited for Tony to go up against on-screen. It also seems like Fiege along with the other people at Marvel Studios have more in store for Stark even after the second Avengers film too, but whether Robert Downey Jr. will still be around to play Stark after 2015 is another story entirely.

 

Kevin Feige Commends Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin in Iron Man 3

Alright, a little a bit of info on Mandarin. Yay. 🙂 Thanks to IGN we have an interesting tidbit of information from Kevin Feige about Iron Man 3‘s big bad villain. Check it out below:

Last week, we got our first glimpse at Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin in Iron Man 3. Since then, Marvel Studios boss and Iron Man 3 producer Kevin Feige has praised Kingsley’s performance, noting that his interpretation of the character has helped to reinvigorate the franchise.

“On his last take of his first full day as the Mandarin, when they yelled ‘Cut!’ the entire crew burst into applause, spearheaded by Mr. Downey himself,” Feige told Total Film. “It was pretty amazing to see that.”

“That’s what you get when you hire Sir Ben Kingsley,” he continued. “He’s so excited about his part and so into this character, and frankly just scaring the heck out of everybody. They’re like, ‘You’ve broken us out of our skeptical malaise!'”

My thoughts on this is one a happy one, its good to know that Kingsley is doing well as Mandarin. I really do hope that this version of Mandarin is awesome. Now I’m not that well versed in the character, my only knowledge of the character comes from playing Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, watching a bit of Iron Man: The Animated Series and my research from Wikipedia. But I know enough about the character to know that from the source material he is a badass and if Marvel Studios somehow mess this up, then the fans won’t let them forget about their failure. I just hope his rings do have some form of magical powers, it would be good if they got that element of Mandarin’s powers right. I also hope that the character is as scary and Kevin Feige makes him out to be, I’ve been waiting for a villain that’ll make quake in my boots.