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

President Evo

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Rodrigo Vasquez

A passionate documentary that follows the revolutionary plight of Amerindian coca farmer, Evo Morales, as he wins the 2005 Bolivian Presidential campaign and endeavours to liberate the country’s indigenous people.

With 80% of Bolivians being of indigenous descent, Evo Morales’ Presidential victory marks a well-waited change for poor Amerindians; but white landowners in Bolivia’s prosperous region, Santa Cruz, do not share the same optimism and go about creating an opposing political party in an attempt to stop Morales’ revolution to make a socialist Bolivia.

Filmed in 4 parts, the documentary accounts both parties’ views in the wake of Morale’s election and the lengths they go to, to achieve autonomy.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

This Very Instant

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Manuel Huerga

A rhythmic documentary that follows Academy Award winning Uruguayan musician Jorge Drexler on a 7-concert tour around Barcelona. Known for infusing traditional Uruguayan music with ‘bossa nova’ and electronic compositions, Drexler captivates audiences as he performs onstage with various pedals at his feet, each emitting sounds recorded from the streets of Spain.

Filmed predominantly in sultry black and white, the documentary gives insight into the inspired mind of this acclaimed South American singer as he performs impromptu with street artists, invites a processional band to play with him live, and performs songs written in his dressing room 10 seconds before arriving onstage.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

The Gift of Pachamama

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Toshifumi Matsushita

Set in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, home of the world’s largest salt lake, this anthropological drama centres on a small family of indigenous Andean people who harvest and deliver natural salt to neighbouring towns by means of traditional llama caravans.

When Kunturi’s grandmother falls sick, the young boy must join his father in the 3-month journey across southwestern Bolivia to deliver the produce; and as the pair passes through each town with their flock of llamas in tow, Kunturi progressively learns about love, life and death along the way.

With references to the transition between traditionalism and modernity, the film offers insight into how these indigenous people live, whose culture is still strongly linked to traditional ideologies and customs.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

Não Por Acaso

Monday 14th September 2009

Dir. Philippe Barcinski

An emotional drama set in Brazil chronicling the lives of two floundering men whose loved-ones are killed in a fatal car accident.

Recluse traffic analyst, Ênio, must reunite with his estranged daughter who turns up at his front doorstep after his ex-wife is killed in the collision; while pool-table craftsman, Pedro, attempts to overcome his lover’s death by starting a relationship with her tenant.

Despite the slow start, the film humanly depicts two contrasting personalities and the ways in which they must adjust to their new lives.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

Meet The Prick

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Ilya Ruppeldt

A documentary focusing on Tame Iti, a native Tuhoe from the indigenous Maori tribe in New Zealand who wears an ancient skin adornment that visually represents Maori genealogy and cultural identity.

Working with Te Hauora Tuhoe (Tuhoe Health), Tame Iti encourages the survival of his ancestral culture in both present and future generations by spurning the ideology of capitalist governments and advocating Tuhoe propaganda. But despite his political defiance and menacing appearance, which Tame Iti admits is often mistaken for gang-related tattoos, the Tuhoe’s beliefs lie with those of the Maori – a utopian socialist society where resources are shared and people united.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

All the Years of Trying: An Ode to Patrik Fitzgerald

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Dom Shaw

An examination of the rise of singer/songwriter Patrik Fitzgerald who heavily influenced the British punk-rock scene in 1977.

Interviews with fellow artists, music journalists and fans chronicle Fitzgerald’s steady emergence within the movement by way of his relatable lyrics and simple use of acoustic guitar. The documentary is highlighted with inter-cuts of live performances such as ‘Bingo Crowd’ and ‘Tonight’ from past to present, and ends with a selection of covers of his most loved songs by various rock poets and bands.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

25 Kilates

Tuesday 29th September 2009

Dir. Patxi Amezcua

A Spanish crime film that focuses on dirty dealers and the corrupt police who serve them.

When a money-hungry swindler becomes entangled in his web of scams he turns to daughter, Kay, for help with a double-cross to acquire €400,000; but when he gets caught midway it’s up to Kay and a little help from a stranger to come up with a plan to rescue her father before they both get killed.

With crooked cops and clever hustles, 25 Kilates is like watching a British crime film with subtitles.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

A Necessary Death

Friday 25th September 2009

Dir. Daniel Stamm

This ‘documentary about a documentary’-style feature follows film student Gilbert Toma who bases his final-year thesis on suicide. With ex-girlfriend Valencia and buddy Michael, Gilbert embarks on finding and filming an individual in the preparatory stages of ending their life. When Matt comes along, a sufferer of an inoperable brain tumour, Gilbert finds his leading man, but as the project ensues and Gilbert becomes ever immersed in his controversial film, the line between creativity and morality begins to fade.

With compelling performances that provoke a rollercoaster of emotions, this gem is not to be missed.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

Rogue

Thursday 24th September 2009

Dir. Greg McLean

Following the success of Ozzie horror Wolf Creek, Greg McLean delivers another thrill ride set in the outback.

When American travel journalist, Pete McKell (Michael Vartan), arrives Down Under for a wildlife river cruise in the Northern Territory, things seem set for a placid sightsee around Aboriginal Australia; but when a flare is spotted a few miles from the boat, tour-guide Kate Ryan (Radha Mitchell) heads off-course to investigate, only to lead her boat of unsuspecting tourists into the territory of a hungry 7 ½ metre crocodile.

With spectacular shots of Australia’s stunning wildlife, seamless special effects and genuine performances, Rogue gives more bite than your average B-movie.

Extras: The making of Rogue, audio commentary, special effects, music & location featurettes, ‘The Real Rogue’ mini documentary.

PUBLISHED IN TIME OUT LONDON

From Page To Screen: Philip K. Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ Transformation into Ridley Scott’s Onscreen Cult Hit ‘Blade Runner’

Thursday 1st October 2009


With the steady supply of films inspired by and adapted from books emerging in Hollywood, it’s noteworthy to look back at cult hits that have claimed victory in the arduous task of successfully adapting a novel onto the silver screen without spoiling the beauty of its once literary form.

One such success is Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi noir Blade Runner, which despite less-than-flattering reviews upon release, has only matured with age and is now viewed as an influential building block for science fiction films we know and love today.

However, in spite of the film’s success, the origin of Scott’s cult remains a mystery to the masses. Unbeknown to many outside the sci-fi community, it was not the Aliens director that envisaged the Nexus-6, futuristic squalor and the infamous Blade Runner, but was in fact science fiction visionary Philip K. Dick, literary author of other cinematic successes like Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly and Minority Report, who conceived such revolutionary concepts two decades before the release of the film.

Philip K. Dick’s 1968 book, laboriously titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? spawn themes of post-nuclear apocalyptic Earth, organic androids and robotic infiltration. Yet, Dick’s book delves into the themes in a darker and more meditative approach, evoking hollow-felt despair within each turn of the page – concepts that are indisputably lost, or rather stripped of, in the ‘80s Hollywood adaptation.


In Blade Runner’s famous and most memorable opening sequence we see Los Angeles 2019 in all its futuristic light and glory – heavily ‘Japanized’ and thriving in over-populated claustrophobia. This greatly contrasts with Dick’s desolate planet-Earth, which rots in an aftermath of radioactive dust after a nuclear world war. Scott’s intention was to create a ‘future-medieval’ city with the concept of an ‘overloaded’ Asian city, yet this juxtaposes Dick’s idea of Earth having been transformed into an uninhabitable wasteland where the human population is down to mere thousands and animal-life is near extinction; with most people having emigrated to an off-world settlement in Mars, renamed New America. Although Scott plays with this premise using references in larger-than-life digital billboards throughout the city, Dick’s analysis of human behaviour in which social status, epitomised with the ultimate status symbol of owning a live animal, plays an important factor in spite of the steady decay of mankind on Earth itself.

Another interesting concept explored in the book is the idea of the ‘mood organ’ – a device used to induce human emotions with varying dial settings. The concept questions how wide the gap is between humans and androids (Replicants) with the ability to manipulate and schedule emotions at the touch of a button. Blade Runner does not include the ‘mood organ’ within the film, but instead preludes to the debate of what it means to be human by questioning whether killing, or ‘retiring’, a Replicant is as equally devoid of empathy as Replicants are perceived to be.


The most fascinating idea in Dick’s book is the concept of ‘Mercerism’, the prominent religious movement that ‘blends the concept of a life-death-rebirth deity with the values of unity and empathy’ amongst the Earth’s inhabitants. The premise is that each lasting member of Earth can unite as one via an electronic ‘empathy box’ in an attempt to ease the suffocating feeling of isolation. ‘This religion provides a means by which the isolated populations can interact, and promotes needed unification.’ With themes of spiritual faith and hope for mankind, Dick challenges the existence of religion by revealing that ‘Mercerism’ may very well be an artificial construct, which is exposed by the Replicants at the end of the book. Perhaps too complex and heavy a subject for Hollywood to tackle, Blade Runner does not attempt to adapt this into its cinematic counterpart, but does include a node to the book’s fans by placing an ‘empathy box’ in John Isidore’s apartment.

While Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is captivatingly written with desolate themes of suffocating loneliness and psychological unrest, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner’s success as a sci-fi noir remains a Hollywood classic with loose references to one of literature’s best celebrated science fiction novels.

PUBLISHED IN SCENE 360

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

Silver Screen: With Robert Powell & Friends

Saturday 7th February 2009

On a frosty night in Guilford, Surrey cinema history was reborn. Presented on an intimate stage in The Mill Studio at the Yvonne Arnaud theatre, UK legend Robert Powell and ‘70s actress Gabrielle Drake gave a whimsical account of the history of the silver screen from past to present. Written by sound-editor-turned-playwright Ian Fuller, who has worked on hit productions such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Notting Hill; Silver Screen takes a “nostalgic romp” through the roots of the movies.

Accompanied by the playwright’s nephew, budding actor Adam Bambrough, my first observation upon arrival was the amount of thinning hair and woolly cardigans present at the reception, and the array of surprised and almost proud smiles at the onset of ‘youth’ that had walked through the entrance. Not at all fazed by the fact that we were the youngest people there by generations, we proceeded to make our way to our seats. The stage was set with two chairs placed either side of a polished wooden table, which was laid out with a jug and two glasses of water – reminiscent of talk show Inside The Actors Studio. To the left of the stage was a grand piano accompanied by a stool and small music stand. As the audience settled in their seats, the lights dimmed and the show began.

First onstage were pianist Christine Croshaw and musician Clive Conway, flute in tow, followed by Gabrielle Drake and the show’s main attraction, Robert Powell. To my surprise both actors brought with them scripts, in which they proceeded to give an account through the first hundred years of “the talkies” in the form of a rehearsed reading, starting from the first film by the Lumiére brothers in 1895 to Britain’s well-loved James Bond in 2008. Powell later commented that the audience would “expect scenes and costumes” had they not been reading from scripts, and it was Fuller’s stylistic intention to provide an intimate and natural “storytelling” experience to the crowd.

The night’s highlights included excerpts from classic films such as Gone With The Wind and Casablanca in which Powell and Drake re-enacted the films’ most memorable scenes; as well as little-known facts about the fruition of Hollywood and the, at the time frowned-upon, creation of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. The show ended with Hollywood’s best-known one-liners, leaving the audience in cinematic euphoria.

When the curtains closed, Fuller’s nephew cheekily described the evening as “gently entertaining”, which indeed it was. The mild humour and placid interludes of Chroshaw and Conway’s music surely provided a stimulating night out for our fellow OAPs, but would hardly attract the adrenaline-junkie of our generation. Nonetheless, Silver Screen may prove a treat for anyone with a specialised interest in film and cinema history, or a fun night out with Granddad.

Joe Budden ‘Padded Room’ Album Playback

Wednesday 11th February 2009

On Wednesday February 11th hip-hop lyricist Joe Budden’s album playback was held for his second-coming official record, entitled ‘Padded Room’. With already much anticipation for the delayed album, which was originally due to be released last October but was held back by Amalgam Digital due to “complications with the physical product”, industry-heads seemed eager to hear how Jersey Joe’s next instalment would compare to his critically acclaimed line-up to date.

Held in the basement of trendy bar Market Place in Central London the event, which was organised by RGS Entertainment and sponsored by Hip Hop Connection, drew a surprisingly mere handful of industry specialists, with Jump Off TV’s Ara, MTV Japan’s ex-VJ Ia, and Face4Music’s Charmaine Hayden present among the very few guests.

In a more networking-soiree fashion than an album-listening event, the afternoon progressed with guests milling about the room, sporadically perching at each table to chat and exchange business cards with fellow hip-hop experts, all the while with Budden’s vocals playing in the background.

However, amongst the schmoozing and chitchat, what could be heard of ‘Padded Room’ seems like a natural progression for the Harlem wordsmith, who used various unknown up-and-coming producers to make the record. The sophomore’s debut single ‘The Future’ featuring The Game, and ‘Now I Lay’ are two of the few up-tempo beats that grace the 13-track record. Powerful lyricism can be heard in songs such as ‘Exxxes’ and ‘In My Sleep’, two of Budden’s personal favourites, and are heavily contrasted by grittier beats like ‘Blood On The Wall’. All in all, amid his increased street notoriety over the past 5 years with underground releases due to continuing setbacks, this latest album has enough commercialism and edge to welcome him back into the world of the mainstream.

‘Padded Room’ is set to be released in stores on February 23rd.

PUBLISHED IN ORIGINS MEDIA