Friday 22 May 2009

Night At The Museum 2: Battle Of The Smithsonian (2009)

I saw Night At The Museum 2 at a Saturday morning preview. It was early. Well, early for me. Fortunately this meant that the theatre was not full, so I could sit in the middle of the theatre AND away from the families, but still not too close to the screen. Score.

It wasn't really worth it though.

I honestly can't remember when I saw the first Night At The Museum. I think it might have been on the plane but I really don't know. Actually I remember so little about it that I think I might have liked it, at least a bit. I mean I don't remember hating it and to do like Ben Stiller...

So, I thought I'd go see Night At The Museum 2 anyway. I thought it might jog my memory. It didn't. But I do know what I thought of this one.

Ah no, it's not that bad. It's fine. It's just not really that exciting. I can't help but think that with the cast it has it really should have been excellent... and it wasn't. Not by a long shot. Ok, Hank Azaria was great as usual, and Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson were both perfectly comfortable in their roles. Everybody else was pretty much in the background for me.

Plotwise and actionwise it just wasn't up to much... I just kept thinking that it desperately needed to be in 3D. I mean ok, if Scar 3D taught me anything it's that 3D can't save a crappy film. But I do think it could help a middling movie, and that's what this is. I don't even think there was much in it for kids. Ok, I'm not a kid, but I've seen a lot of kids films and I always got the impression that they needed to be bright and funny and action filled, they need characters that kids can relate to. There's not much of that here really.

The best thing about the film was the Smithsonian itself. Actually it was like watching a long ad for the Smithsonian... I'm definitely going to go to the Smithsonian if I ever get to the US. I really think 3D could have helped here too... the exhibits could have really come to life then!

All in all, it was a bit meh. On the other hand I did think the museum looked fantastic and I did laugh a couple of times. I wasn't bored by it so I'm giving it a half decent rating...

6.5/10

Wednesday 13 May 2009

Star Trek (2009)

I saw this about a week an half before it came out... What would have been useful for people would have been if I reviewed it then. Unfortunately I'm pretty lazy... but at least you're getting it eventually, right?? On with the show.

This Star Trek is actually the 11th film in the franchise, this is of course in addition to the 5 TV series and various video games associated with it. In case you never realised, Star Trek is kind of a big deal.

Marketing types would have you believe that J.J. Abrams is kind of a big deal too. Personally I could take or leave... well, mostly leave, all of his TV ventures and I had pretty much written him off. Then I saw Cloverfield. To my surprise, I really liked Cloverfield. Even now I still think about it - no mean feat for a popcorn movie. Mind you, sometimes what I think about it is how it made me feel so terribly ill... but sure, at least I'm thinking about it. So when I heard that J.J. was doing the new Star Trek film I was... curious. I'd have watched a lot of Star Trek on TV over the years but the only ST film I really liked was Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. They just never looked that interesting... but a J.J. Abrams one? Well ok.

So it was with these things in mind that I went along to the blue carpet premiere in Dublin. I mention this because one of the things I've noticed is that a movie always seems better when it's free. Also, when you see it with 700 or so other people who are also seeing it for free, that makes it better too. So anyway, sat down in the theatre, Rick O'Shea said hi and had a chat with a dressed up Trekker, they gave out some prizes. Stage set. But was this going to turn out like Indiana Jones? I mean I liked Indiana Jones but I know a lot of people were annoyed about it.

Opening scene. Awesome. And I don't use that word often. Though I will say, I did think the Romulan ship looked a bit like the Shadow ships in Babylon 5. Not that it matters, I'm just saying in case anyone else thought the same - did you? Anyway, a great start to a great film. Star Trek (11) is a success in many different ways; it has an interesting plot, it makes good use of the main characters, it's appropriately funny, there are some great action scenes, my favourite Star Trek character is well represented (and that is important - to me as it will be to many people, albeit they may have different favourites - like I said, Star Trek is kind of a big deal.), the effects are great... what more do you want?

I've heard some people saying the plot is a bit confusing, I didn't think it was but to be honest, it hardly matters at all. This film is just a great ride. Now's probably a good time to mention Chris Pine. That man is going to be all over the place soon. Right now, I would watch him in anything and I'd say I'm not the only one. Leaving Mr. Pine aside, everyone else is strong as well. I had been worried about how Simon Pegg was going to fit into a Hollywood blockbuster. It turns out he fitted in just fine. I could go on but tbh just take it that I recommend this film to anyone who's interested in eating a load of popcorn and seeing an excellent summer(ish) blockbuster film. It's great.

If you don't want to eat a load of popcorn, or even see an excellent summer(ish) blockbuster film, then don't go to Star Trek. I'm a great believer in people watching films that work for them. Just because I say it's a great film doesn't mean everyone should watch. Just like not everyone should watch the fantastic film, Crank. Watch films that you feel you will appreciate. If you absolutely hate sci-fi or you want a film that you can think about, don't go see Star Trek and moan about how everyone was saying it was great but you didn't like it. It wasn't made for you. If you don't mind sci-fi and you just want to be entertain then definitely, go and see it. Go and see it now.

I'm starting to realise that this is a very long review but I still feel the need to ramble a little while longer... I just wanted to make something utterly clear. While I think this was a highly entertaining film, it'll never be a cult classic for me. It's great fun, it'll make stars out of some of the cast and undoubtedly it will rejuvenate the Star Trek franchise... but at the heart of it, it's candy. There's no meat to it, there's no real emotion, there's nothing beyond the sparkle it'll put in your eye for those couple of hours. I had a great time at the premiere but after, I went home to the real world. The old Star Trek had its roots there.

9/10

Saturday 9 May 2009

Crank: High Voltage (2009)

--** This blog has moved to www.averagefilmreviews.com, so if you like what you read then please come over and have a look! You can read all the old reviews over there including this one for Crank: High Voltage. You can of course continue reading this article here though. **--

After watching Crank the other week, I was really looking forward to Crank: High Voltage. Crank was one of the maddest films I'd ever seen... it wasn't THE maddest film; I'd have to review the IMDb list to be sure but The Spirit, which I saw earlier this year, is definitely a contender; but it was pretty mad nonethless...

The review for Crank was pretty short so I'm gonna keep this one short too. Again, it's not really worth worrying about spoilers when it comes to Crank films, so I'll tell you a little about it. If you recall, that mad day he had did not end well for our friend Chev Chelios. Luckily for us, he got better and now, a few months later, he's well up for sorting out the problems that have befallen him. There's no point in saying much more about the plot except that it is reasonably well thought out, as was the plot of the first film, but it's completely irrelevant. Basically someone has stolen Chev's heart and replaced it with a battery powered one. So obviously Chev's pissed about that and is on the rampage trying to get it back.

I would say that you should watch Crank before watching Crank: High Voltage. Most of the characters from Crank make a reappearance and there are a few flashbacks so it might be a bit confusing if you haven't seen it. That said, maybe you'd just appreciate it on a different level if you haven't. I don't know. I'm in two minds about it actually, because I didn't like Crank: High Voltage as much as Crank and I don't know if that's because I already knew pretty much what it was about.

Crank was so crazy and so different, Crank: High Voltage is crazy and different too but in the same way. They do ramp it up a bit, a lot actually, and I did appreciate that and I did really enjoy it, but at the end of the day it's the same thing. Also I think keeping the characters didn't really help it. They did bring in a couple of new ones but they seemed to try to mix all the old ones in as well. There were just too many in end. I think they could've taken out some of the scenes with the old ones and developed a couple of the new ones a bit more and it would have been better off for it. Could have made it a bit more interesting. In fact I do think they wasted Bai Ling a bit, her character could definitely have perked things up.

That said, it was still a great film and if you loved Crank you should definitely go see. If you hated Crank then there's absolutely no point in watching this one. In fact why are you even reading this review? This is not the film for you!

I'm gonna give this an 8. Maybe I'm just being a bit moan-y because it really was great fun but I thought Crank was near perfect for the kind of film it was and I was hoping that the follow up would be too.

8/10

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