After a few trips to the States I have concluded that there are a number of cultural differences that I will never fully understand. Why do New Yorkers stand in the road when crossing the street? Why do Floridians have fruit with their bacon? And why the hell do they find Adam Sandler so funny?
Granted, there’s a certain juvenile charm about his early roles, Happy Gilmore and Airheads are tolerable and I’d even go as far as to say I enjoyed The Wedding Singer. But why oh why does the man who inflicted the likes of Click and Spanglish on the world, seem to have carte blanche to churn out whatever self indulgent tripe he wants? As you might expect, Grown Ups is another prime example of such tripe.
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Upon coming home from watching Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World my housemate, colleague and (if he had the correct genitalia) would-be lover Joe succinctly and eloquently summed up the film thus; “Visually the film is stunning. 10 out of 10 for the look. 5 star quality, fight choreography. The problem is…Scott Pilgrim is a film for wankers.”
This Bob-omb shell left me a little shook up. My diminutive friend’s opinion is usually bang on the money leaving me with a lose-lose situation. When watching Edgar Wright’s latest I’ll either be faced with the crushing disappointment of a film I’ve been looking forward to for a long time being a bit shit, or in the eyes of my good buddy I’ll be, “a wanker”.
Turns out it’s a little bit of both.
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If ever there was a genre that continually put its arse up for a kicking the ‘Rom-Com’ would be it. Whilst history denotes that when done well, romantic comedies can prove lucrative it does seem that the genre has become a dumping ground where churned out, gormless star vehicles go to die. Just see 2010’s The Back-Up Plan (Jennifer Lopez) and The Rebound (Catherine Zeta Jones) as evidence of this. As a result, when tasked with watching Going the Distance, another on screen outing for real life couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long I was understandably unmoved. I was also wrong.
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For all the talk of the most “awesome action cast ever assembled”, The Expendables is in truth just the Stallone and Statham show. The closing quotation marks in the poster below should really be traded for an asterix containing the key “may Contain traces of Willis and Schwazenegger”. But off-cutting the disappointment of feeling slightly jipped once again by marketing bodies, The Expendables makes up for it in almost every other department. A throwback to old school action? Sir, yes sir. Men flying through the air riding on the back of big explosions? Affirmative. A man on fire being punched in the face in what can only be a homage to the thwarted Glasgow Airport Attacks? Aye and thrice aye.
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Overall I consider myself a pretty well rounded individual but if (if!) I do have a significant character flaw it is in my unavoidable compulsion to defend Tom Cruise. I don’t even consider myself to be much of a fan of ‘the Cruiser’ but when you look at his performances in the likes of Rain Man, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia I challenge any one to deny Cruise’s occasional dalliances with excellence. Sadly however, for every Collateral there’s a Knight and Day.
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Over the years, Hollywood has ransacked the television archives for inspiration, with varying degrees of success. From the awful (I Spy, Wild Wild West, Dukes of Hazzard etc) to the distinctly average (Get Smart, Land of the Lost, Miami Vice etc). Very few have managed to really pull off a reimagining that pleases cinemagoers without alientating the die hard fans. Then last year, a TV mogul came and raised the bar. J.J Abram’s Star Trek reboot was, as you’d expect, hotly anticipated and as such most expected it to fail.
I was stunned by what proved to be a sleak, contemporary thrill ride. Sadly A-team does not continue this asscendancy.
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When your last on-screen effort proves to be the biggest selling Blu Ray to date there are inevitably going to be high levels of expectation for your follow up. Seems then, like a strange time to venture out into the woods alone. Not if you’re Christopher Nolan it isn’t. Despite his new found visionary status, naysayers claim that Nolan’s perceived ‘genius’ tag is misappropriated. Both Memento and The Prestige are adaptations, Insomnia is a remake and Batman, well, it’s Batman. With this in mind it’s reasonable to suggest that Inception is not just a big deal for the baying public. It’s a big deal for Nolan as well. Understandable then that Nolan has been so clandestine about the film’s plot ever since the mouth watering teaser trailer hit the net in August of last year.
Of course Nolan’s involvement goes back much further. It’s widely reported that he first pitched the idea to studio execs when it was just that, an idea. As the narrative suggests, idea’s are simple, realising them is where it gets complicated. Warner Bros approved but Nolan decided to work on the screenplay in his down time. Eight years later and Inception is finally in cinemas.
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The trend, as it stands, seems to be that once great action movies are gradually watered down through a series of sequels and reboots until the essence of greatness is only the faintest of memories. Die Hard 4.0 was only a few yards short of actual spoof and I hear the next Terminator movie may be an animated picture featuring the voice talents of Miley Cyrus and Neil Morrisey (possible speculation on my part). When it was announced that the Robert Rodriguez produced Predators would be released with a 15 certificate I was more than a little relieved.
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If I’m honest, finding myself outside the world’s largest I-max the week before the release of Christopher Nolan’s Inception was initially at least, a little infuriating. Unwilling as I was to pass up the opportunity to check out the gargantuan screen I was forced to choose an alternative movie. Thankfully, amidst the abundant I-max underwater/outerspace/junior-documentary content was Pixar’s latest Toy Story 3. Whilst I am a die hard fan of the prolific animation studio I had failed to engage with Toy Story 2 to the same degree as its ground breaking predecessor but the eleven year gap between instalments offered me a degree of assurance that this was more than just the milking of a cash cow.
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Almost ten years ago now, a green ogre called Shrek first appeared on our screens, turning traditional fairy tales on their head with their modern, tongue in cheek reinvention of the genre that allowed both kids and adults to enjoy them. The result was a funny and inventive smash. Shrek 2, the follow up, was arguably even better, but then the franchise ground to a shuddering halt in the mind achingly awful disaster that was Shrek the Third. So where now for the 4th (and presumably final) instalment?
The answer is to return the start, Back to the Future style. Or It’s A Wonderful Life, if you were born before 1981 or watch films at Christmas. And the result is pretty good – if not exactly a return to form, it’s a damn sight better than Shrek The Third and is genuinely enjoyable to watch.
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