Planet 51

Tuesday 1st December 2009

Dir. Jorge Blanco
Rating ***

As Disney Pixar rides the success of unrivalled animated victory, this year has seen numerous studios attempting to set their mark alongside the CG greats. With Monsters Vs. Aliens, Coraline, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and 9 having cropped up, new Spain-based Ilion Animation Studios have now tried their hand, offering an original twist to an alien invasion.

When sixteen year-old Lem (Justin Long) gets his dream job at the local planetarium, everything seems set for a safe, predictable life – he’s got his best friend Skiff (Seann William Scott) and steady job; the only thing left is to get the girl next door, Neera (Jessica Biel). But when a strange spacecraft suddenly crash-lands in Neera’s backyard, Lem’s mundane life he’s grown to love is turned upside down. In a world where Planet 51’s inhabitants believe the universe to be a meagre 500 miles long, the prospect of an alien landing is as far-fetched as something out of a comic book. Yet when Captain Charles T. Baker (Dwayne Johnson) steps forth from his American space-hub, it’s up to Lem to kiss his comfortable life goodbye and save the marooned human before he is clutched by the planet’s army general Grawl (Gary Oldman) and brain-obsessed Professor Kipple (John Cleese) who are convinced that their beloved planet is under attack.

Set in a world reminiscent of 1950’s American suburbia, Planet 51 is a light comedy offering jabs at a time when things were pure and sweet, whilst whimsically setting them in an alien environment. But despite an all-star cast, the underdeveloped characters lack likeability and alienate (pun intended!) viewers from feeling any real connection with the little green men. Poorly cast Justin Long, with his awkward personality, does not translate well as an animated character, and both Jessica Biel and John Cleese are barely noticeable in their feeble roles. Although the visuals are admirable for an independent animation studio, the comedy is so mediocre that it cannot contend with most of the animated greats released this year; and with references to a plethora of films – from WALL-E to Star Wars to Terminator – the film lacks comical originality, a great shame as the inventive story could have made it a successful release if the boat had been pushed just that little bit further.

As an average animated film, Planet 51 fairs well enough, but without a distinct spirit it offers a bubble-gum sweetness without the pop.

PUBLISHED IN SCREEN JABBER

Departures

Friday 27th November 2009

Dir. Yojiro Takita
Rating ***

This poignant film has become internationally acclaimed since it won the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award early this year. Director Yojiro Takita’s touching story based on an unconventional idea triumphed over many, and quite rightly so.

When Daigo Kobayashi’s (Motoki) dreams of being a professional cellist in Tokyo are dashed, he returns to his small suburban hometown in Yamagata with his wife Mika (Hirosue) in the hopes of finding a normal, steady job and starting afresh. Not long after they arrive, Daigo finds an ad in the paper offering great money in the ‘departures’ industry and immediately goes to the interview with high hopes. But after meeting Sasaki (Yamazaki), the company owner who offers him the job no-questions-asked, Daigo’s hopes for a ‘normal’ job diminish and he learns that he has been hired as an encoffiner’s assistant, which involves ceremonially preparing corpses for cremation. With no other job prospects, Daigo reluctantly accepts the position, but ashamedly keeps the details of his new career from his wife, revealing only that his work involves ceremonies. But as Daigo encounters each body, along with their grieving families, he begins to appreciate the beauty of the encoffiner’s workmanship and develops a new understanding of the relationship between life and death.

Yojiro Takita’s adept blend of comedy and drama in this tale of Japan’s oldest tradition is both enchanting and endearing as we witness various families that have been touched with death – from an elderly grandmother to a cross-dressing boy – and the way in which encoffiners act almost as a medium between the departed and their loved ones. With moving performances from both Motoki and Yamazaki, we, as viewers, journey with Daigo as his perception of an encoffiner changes from being that of the greatest taboo to being that of a humble service; and as grieving children bid a last farewell to their parents, and vice versa, the importance of this ritual becomes most prevalent, especially to those left behind.

Though slightly dragging in the end and with an unconvincing performance by Hirosue (most frustrating opposite a wonderful Motoki), Departures offers a touching grace as the delicacy of a misunderstood profession unfolds; and with an honest and moving sentimentality, the film offers a refreshing, and at times comical, view of the cycle of life and death.

PUBLISHED IN SCREEN JABBER

Nativity!

Wednesday 25th November 2009

Dir. Debbie Isitt
Rating ***

Christmas comes but once a year and it is just the season for a family film filled with lies, deceit and heartbreak. Three years after her mild success with Confetti, British-born director Debbie Isitt introduces another comedic tale using her signature improv style and starring old pals Martin Freeman, Jason Watkins and Marc Wootton, but this time with Extras star Ashley Jenson and comedian Alan Carr, not to mention a classroom of kids.

Having given up a career as an underachieving actor, Mr Maddens (Martin Freeman) takes up his fallback job as a primary school teacher at the notoriously hopeless St. Bernadette’s state school. But after having received a biting review of his directorial debut in the school’s Nativity play and been dumped by his girlfriend (Ashley Jensen) on Christmas Eve, Maddens’ holiday spirit is diminished into one that resembles something of Scrooge. So when St. Bernadette’s’ headmistress (Pan Ferris) proposes that Maddens takes up his director’s hat once more for the last Nativity before her retirement, his initial response is of trepidation. But when he bumps into his old-time drama buddy and long-time rival Gordon Shakespeare (Jason Watkins), who is now also a primary school teacher, but at the posh Oakmoor private school up the road, his resentment gets the better of him and a small fib about his play being filmed for TV quickly spirals out of control and turns into a tangled mess concerning Hollywood, agents and the rights for a book. His only hope is to find a way to transform his lies into reality so as to avoid being arrested for fraud and, most importantly, disappointing his class.

Although Nativity! is refreshingly absent of over-the-top Christmas slapstick and delivers some truly comedic moments (specifically from Jason Watkins), Isitt’s hit-and-miss improv is demonstrated with the back-and-forth teetering between funny and not. Take Mr Poppy (Marc Wootton), Mr Maddens’ new teaching assistant hired to help with the production of the play. While his unruly, yet innocent, schoolboy antics are initially amusing, there are moments when they go from comical to downright odd. Nevertheless, the true stars of the film are the St. Bernadette’s schoolchildren, most of who are ordinary kids with little or no previous onscreen experience. As the film progresses, the Nativity production takes shape and culminates in a heart-warming show, centring on the true meaning of Christmas rather than its commerciality; and while there are some peculiar moments of comedic oddities, the film succeeds in delivering that fuzzy feeling this Yuletide.

PUBLISHED IN SCREEN JABBER

Summer’s Blood

Monday 19th October 2009

Dir. Lee Demarbre
Rating: ½*

Back from her success with vampire-romance Twilight, fresh-faced Ashley Greene tries her hand at a grittier role in this straight-to-DVD Canadian horror flick.

Teen rebel Summer (Ashley Greene) is on the road hitching a ride to a rural town called Massey in an attempt to unite with her estranged father – her only clue of his whereabouts in a letter written by him before she was born. When Summer arrives to the small town, a brief run-in with the law leads to her encounter with local handyman Tom Hoxey (Peter Mooney), who offers to hide her in his truck before sending the police on a wild goose-chase. The two quickly hit it off and after a few drinks head to the house Tom shares with his mother for the night. But when Summer gets up to leave the following morning, Tom’s carefree tune suddenly changes and his insistence for her to stay becomes deadly. After being knocked unconscious, Summer wakes up to find herself bound with chains inside a box filled with dirt and surrounded by plants, grow lights, human skulls and a girl, Amber, on the verge of death. Summer soon learns that she is the latest flower in Tom’s ‘human garden’ and must befriend the young sadist and gain his trust in order to escape.

Despite Greene’s unconvincing ‘bad girl’ portrayal, top marks for effort should be awarded to new-time director Lee Demarbre for his attempt in creating an original idea with his ‘human garden’. However, the concept is neither fully explored or explained, and is abandoned halfway into the film when Tom and his ‘daddy issues’ shift into focus. Together with Summer’s plan of escape and a redundant subplot involving Amber’s father, the film frays into too many directions leaving you less and less interested in each character as the film ensues.

All in all, with a bizarre storyline, weak performances and Demarbre’s persistence in introducing twist after twist, Summer’s Moon will no doubt wind up being another teen horror quickly forgotten.

PUBLISHED IN SCREEN JABBER

Pandorum

Monday 28th September 2009

Dir. Christian Alvart
Rating: *

Four years after Christian Alvart’s success with critically acclaimed thriller ‘Antibodies’, the German director returns with another psychological thriller – this time set in space.

In the distant future two astronauts awaken from a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a dark and seemingly desolate ship with no memory of their whereabouts, identity or mission. With a beginning shrouded in mystery, things seem set for a mystifying thrill-ride in space, with unexpected twists and turns to be revealed along the way; but rather than a dark, psychological thriller, Pandorum is just another underachieving, uninspired space-set sci-fi B-movie which lacks originality, that throws in a horde of questionable monsters for good measure.

When Corporal Bower (Ben Foster) and Lieutenant Payton (Dennis Quaid) discover they are locked in their connecting unit with failing power and no communication to their fellow passengers, they decide to venture further into the main vessel of the spacecraft via a dark ventilation system in order to access the ship’s reactor, reset it and hopefully fully restore all power before the entire spacecraft shuts down for good. But as Bower tracks through the maze-like corridors, guided by Payton via a radio transmitter who remains in the connecting unit, he stumbles upon an army of pale-skinned and grossly disfigured tribal looking humanoids intent on hunting and killing anyone who crosses their paths. Yet all is not lost as Bowers, along with leather-clad scientist Nadia (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Resident Evil’s Mila Jovavich) and token Martial artist/agricultural specialist Manh set out to restore the ship together and ultimately save the day. Hurrah!

Hardly a unique premise – killer monsters aboard a deserted spacecraft, yet the psychological gem of the film, which is worth any real attention, is the concept of Pandorum, a psychosis brought on from the claustrophobia of the ship and the isolation of deep space. This psychosomatic notion is the one thing that could have saved such a dud film; but alas, the concept is half-heartedly and haphazardly explored only to be realised in Payton’s anti-climatic revelation towards the close of the picture.

Not to be highly anticipated, if only to witness Quaid as he sinks further into bad movie morass, Pandorum offers little more than disgruntlement as yet another dire film is released for our viewing displeasure.

PUBLISHED IN SCREEN JABBER