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Les Misérables (2012)
Both Jackman and Anne Hathaway pull in incredibly disarming stellar performances here. Hathaway plays emotionally shattered fired factory worker Fantine who falls into prostitution to continue supporting her estranged and impoverished young daughter Cosette - the famed poster child of Les Misérables, played here by feature first timer Isabelle Allen. It's literally gobsmacking how effortlessly Jackman and Hathaway elevate this theatrical work beyond its big screen flaws and oftentimes relentless lyrical dialogue to a superior cinematic level of characterization during their scenes. Top marks also go to cinematographer Danny Cohen for capturing those master class moments. Awesome! However, there's a dilemma. Those performances are exceptionally wonderful and probably wouldn't have been seen otherwise, but the film Les Misérables as a whole has problems. The storytelling is weak and disjointed. Primary supporting characters are barely fleshed-out. Deeper motivations are oversimplified or glossed over, as though you don't need this movie to actually tell you what's going on or why you should care. How, for instance, does Javert, a prison guard in the opening scenes, become transferred as a policeman to Valjean's tiny grubby town later on? Was he fired? Reincarnated? Does it matter? Has anyone here read the book? Quick, Google SparkNotes! Hush, another crying big face is singing on-screen: I dreamed a dream this film was prime; My hopes were high but then (sniffle,) I saw it... I realize this picture is adapted from the hugely successful, self-proclaimed longest-running stage musical to date, where large portions of Victor Hugo's richly detailed manuscript were likely already chopped out or shorthanded to accommodate the songs while offering a runtime those in the loge would sit through nightly, but Crowe specifically was robbed here. Compared to Jackman, it's fairly obvious that Crowe was either given little more than a stock heavy's wisp of a character outline to work with beyond the wardrobe and tunes or the majority of what this hugely capable screen actor poured into his purposefully antagonistic role ultimately fell victim to overindulgent deletion in editing. Maybe he should've cried more to gain scenes, I don't know. Co-cast members Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, and newcomer Samantha Barks aren't treated much better throughout, as adult Cosette, her love Marius, and his secret admirer Éponine respectively. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen appear to be the only other survivors, hamming it up all gurns and elbows through their comedic relief scenes as The Thénardiers. The blame for how poorly cobbled this offering of wasted opportunities is over-all lays squarely in the lap of director Tom Hooper, who obviously couldn't be bothered to earn his paycheque using the wealth of his entire cast's talent matched with the power of filmmaking to balance out what came from the stage production, and over-ride screenwriter William Nicholson's clear inability (or fear) to reintroduce elements from Hugo's original material to make this movie something more - oh, I dunno - appropriately cinematic: Solid story. Strong plot points. Rich characters. Compelling dialogue. Little things like that. Something more than adding mud and horses to the mix. Hooper might as well have had Cohen shoot the London musical on-set/location without these parachuted celebs. Barks' reprised Éponine, and Colm "Broadway/West End Valjean" Wilkinson's Bishop of Digne cameo aside, at least that stage cast could have enjoyed a cut of the film's 61 million USD budget. After-all, they were good enough at playing their roles to make the show so popular for so long that UK studio Working Title Films came a-knockin', right? Comparing movie to movie - and there are many film versions of "Les Miz" to choose from - just check out the four-time Oscar-nominated Les Misérables (1935) starring Fredric March as Valjean and Charles Laughton as Javert. That classic's adapted from Hugo's novel; it's not a musical, but watch it and you'll immediately realize how outrageous the hype for this comparably empty, prolonged music video of catchy tunes and missed notes truly is. Beyond the big screen at lesmiserablesfilm.com, the fairly straightforward official website showcases prerequisite film and cast info, production notes, photos and videos, as well as a few wallpapers. Select North America as your locale and you'll find an additional Infographic support page as well as iTunes links to both the soundtrack (for sale) and, more impressively, the 52-page film companion iBook, Les Misérables: The Musical Phenomenon, for free download. Select Ireland at the homepage, and check out the Message of Hope 5-star Paris holiday contest that includes a VIP tour of and gourmet dinner at the Eiffel Tower courtesy of Universal Pictures Ireland and Dublin's Clerys department store. Sure musical-lovers, go see Les Misérables if taking in a star-studded matinee version of the internationally renowned stage musical suits your budget better than buying tickets to the actual theatrical production might (if available.) At 157 minutes in length, it's also probably faster seeing it than reading Hugo's novel. Just don't be surprised if - beyond the memorable tunes, amazing sights and incredible performances from Jackman and Hathaway - you spend most of this screening wishing for far more developed supporting characters and fundamentally cohesive storytelling normally expected at the movies, and you realize maybe you should've read the book or seen another film version of Les Misérables beforehand. Or, instead. Reviewed 12/12, © Stephen Bourne Les Misérables is rated
PG by the Ontario Film Review Board for use of expletives, mild
sexual references, scenes that may cause a child brief anxiety
or fear, limited embracing and kissing, mild sexual innuendo,
tobacco use, and restrained portrayals of non-graphic violence,
and is rated G by la Régie du Cinéma in Québec. REFERENCE:
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Stephen Bourne's Movie Quips © Stephen Bourne. Moviequips.ca and moviequips.com are the property of Stephen Bourne. All content of this website is owned by Stephen Bourne, unless obviously not (such as possible reference links, movie synopsis and/or posters featured under the terms of fair use) or attributed otherwise. This website is based in Ottawa, Canada. |
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Mama (2013)
Reportedly based on Muschietti's 3-minute 2008 Spanish short film of the same name and partially shot at Pinewood Studios Toronto, Mama is full of lame plot holes and cheesy contrivances. It's so painfully derivative of other scary movies throughout that it's tough to sit through without beginning to imagine alternative narratives and story choices long before you learn of Mama's tragic life and motives. Mama is what Victoria and Lily call a ghoulishly protective, bony fingered entity that kept those little girls alive in a secluded cabin, following them back to a cozy suburban house at the peril of Lucas, Annabel and anyone else who either gets too close to Mama's adopted daughters or merely pisses her off. Mama is one bad mama. Not in a good way, though. Sure, there are a couple of great, chilling scenes here. Sadly, they're short-lived. The line, "Ghosts are emotions bent out of shape," is a great line, but there aren't too many great lines coming from this screenplay. Everything good is quickly overwhelmed by cheap and silly moments that either feel lazily grabbed from The Ring and The Grudge films or seem like clueless attempts at throwing something on-screen that the lighting and music will make scary. At one point, Mama appears as a tangle of hair rolling across the floor like limp tumbleweed towards her next screaming victim. This is scary? Well no, it's ridiculously goofy. Stop screaming, silly Mama victim. The slow-loading yet impressive official website at http://www.mamamovie.com features this film's synopsis, a few photos and videos, cross-platform wallpapers, and couple of links to cast and production notes PDFs amongst its cool sliding layered pages. You'll also find external links to Dr. Dreyfuss' paranormal-rich Researching Lost Children blog, and the wonderfully creepy Mama Chillergraphs collection of selected pics and clips from the movie. The website is actually better than the movie. It's embarrassing that producer Guillermo del Toro's name is attached to this picture. His Pan's Labyrinth was amazing. Mama is little more than a stylish tease of unfulfilled potential, likely saved from direct-to-video purgatory due to del Toro "presenting" it and because of Chastain's current Oscar buzz. Yikes. Reviewed 01/13, © Stephen Bourne. Mama is rated 14A by the Ontario
Film Review Board for occasional gory/grotesque images, use of
expletives, occasional upsetting or disturbing scenes, embracing
and kissing, and restrained portrayals of non-graphic violence,
and is rated 13+ by la Régie du Cinéma in Québec. REFERENCE:
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Stephen Bourne's Movie Quips © Stephen Bourne. Moviequips.ca and moviequips.com are the property of Stephen Bourne. All content of this website is owned by Stephen Bourne, unless obviously not (such as possible reference links, movie synopsis and/or posters featured under the terms of fair use) or attributed otherwise. This website is based in Ottawa, Canada. |
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Man of Steel (2013)
Fun fact: Man of Steel is only the seventh live-action, feature-length Superman movie. The first live-action Superman
began flying across the big screen in 1948 in Columbia Pictures'
episodic cliff-hanger serials starring Kirk Alyn, ten years after
high school chums Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's iconic alien
strongman's Action Comics #1 comicbook debut. Famed TV Superman
star George Reeves took over for the popular spit-curl superhero's
first feature-length film, Superman and the Mole-Men (1951).
27 years later, Christopher Reeve donned the iconic blue tights
and red cape to begin his first of four cinematic adventures
as Superman that - sadly - ended with the riotously lousy, two-time
Razzie Award nominated Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Snyder's lucky number seventh, combo remake Man of Steel pays subtle homage to Reeve's Superman and Superman II movies while reimagining them, and is relatively faithful to the basic lore of Siegel and Shuster's original comicbook superhero. However, David S. Goyer's screenplay does take a few fairly major artistic licenses in fleshing out the details. For instance, the white-knuckle opening scenes on a dying Krypton that showcase Crowe's almost swashbuckling performance as bullish scientist Jor-El struggling against ignorance, extinction and an all-out military coup while preparing to launch his newborn son across light-years to safety on Earth are absolutely spectacular. Jor-El is so Alpha Dog larger-than-life in Man of Steel that only Superman could be his biological son, frankly. And, Michael Shannon takes General Zod to new depths of delicious malevolence as Supes' hard core antagonist. Good stuff. It's also interesting to see the slight but impactful Smallville back story adjustments Goyer's script makes to Superman's alter-ego, Clark Kent. One such change in particular perfectly explains why the strongest, laser eyeball blasting being in the world would habitually hide his true superhuman abilities. He's Superman, for cripes sake. Dude's faster than a tall building; able to leap tall... uh, bird, plane, yadda-yadda, right? Unfortunately, Cavill's over-all portrayal of Superman is boring. Sure, he looks the part. He's all Herculean chin and muscles. But, Cavill makes Superman the forgettable centre of this epic saga. Every instance of character depth built up around Superman by Crowe, Lane and Costner's phenomenal supporting efforts bounces off Cavill's vapid, deadpan face. It's exasperating just how one-dimensionally dull he is throughout this hugely hyped 143-minute picture. Man of Steel also suffers from basic plot holes in its over-all storytelling. For example, it's never explained how Superman just-so-happens to end up in the Canadian arctic at the exact time a US military-led scientific expedition and Lois Lane arrive to investigate an ancient ice-locked alien craft. Did he read about it in his morning horoscope? Did his vintage Superman compass-slash-decoder ring lead him there? Did he just go too far creeping Lois Lane on Foursquare? You're never told. Just chalk it up to how he rolls, I guess. I blame lazy editing, frankly. Speeding to the slightly dodgy official website at manofsteel.warnerbros.com serves up the usual synopsis, photos and video galleries, and social media links, as well as device downloads and various sweepstakes merchandise. You'll also find a couple of fun free games, Hero's Flight and Metropolis Mayhem, as well as a glyph creator where you're invited to make your own Superman-like symbol. As for the movie's posters, they're all fairly terrible. The heavy use of blur and lens flare filters is amateurish throughout, and none of the layouts reflect anything that happens in the movie particularly well. Too bad. Man of Steel definitely blasts off with hugely impressive moviemaking, but that and a superb supporting cast fail to maintain this film's momentum once Cavill's dead weight pretty boy performance fills the screen. Check it out as a cheap matinee, but don't be surprised if you need a coffee to make it through to the closing credits. Reviewed 06/13, © Stephen Bourne. Man of Steel is rated PG by the
Ontario Film Review Board, citing use of expletives, mild sexual
references, embracing and kissing, mild sexual innuendo, and
restrained portrayals of non-graphic violence, and is rated G
by la Régie du Cinéma in Québec. REFERENCE:
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Stephen Bourne's Movie Quips © Stephen Bourne. Moviequips.ca and moviequips.com are the property of Stephen Bourne. All content of this website is owned by Stephen Bourne, unless obviously not (such as possible reference links, movie synopsis and/or posters featured under the terms of fair use) or attributed otherwise. This website is based in Ottawa, Canada. |
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Monsters University (2013)
In case you've forgotten, or maybe you never saw the first feature, Monstropolis' power grid is supplied by the collected screams of little kids in our world who are visited nightly by monsters - called scarers - working for the Monsters, Inc. factory in their ghoulishly populated, Earth-like netherworld. In the movie Monsters, Inc., adult Sulley is a scarer at that factory while grown up roommate and best friend Mike works there as his trusted assistant. Knowing that last bit of info when screening Monsters University makes this prequel a delightful treat to watch unfold. Sure, it doesn't bring the same high level of fresh novelty discovered in Monsters, Inc. However, the core story here does make up for that. Robert L. Baird, Daniel Gerson and Scanlon's screenplay puts a clever twist on the familiar "dream big, study hard" work-against-all-odds theme regularly seen in movies primarly made for consumption by children and young adults. I'm not going to spoil how this campus underdog flick ends up seamlessly merging with Mike and Sulley's later lives first seen a dozen years ago, but the message in Monsters University is definitely original and memorably fresh. In addition to serving up adept storytelling, the animation throughout is phenomenal. Its stylized realism is to the point where it's easy to forget the technological craftsmanship behind the scenes, despite this not being set in a hyper-realistic world. Fluid and expressive, every big gesture and subtle nuance from each cartoony character is believably fleshed out here. Pixar's movies have collectively garnered over 40 Academy Award nominations, with Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Brave (2012) all winning a golden statuette for Best Animated Feature Film. I'm usually fairly lousy at predicting these things, but I wouldn't be surprised if Monsters University at least gets that same category's oscar nom nod. Stepping through to the official website takes you to the movie's synopsis, cast and crew bios, character info, video and photo galleries, and a fairly compehensive downloads section of wallpapers and skins. You'll also find various partner tie-in contests, iTunes links to the iPad game and the soundtrack, as well as a free ScribbleMix drawing app, and the Disney theme park vacation contest called The Monstrous Summer Sweepstakes valid to US and most Canadian residents 'til August 31, 2013. Check out the Games page for some freebie interactive stuff to goof off with, too. As for the movie poster, the group layout showing our campus champs with the menagerie of frat and sorority supporting characters at school definitely reflects the funny mayhem seen on the big screen. Serving up a wealth of family fun laughs and some notably clever storytelling on a familiar theme without too much rehash makes this thoroughly enjoyable prequel well worth checking out - whether you saw Monsters, Inc. or not. Good stuff. Reviewed 06/13, © Stephen Bourne. Monsters University is rated
G by the Ontario Film Review Board, citing suspenseful situations
with short scenes or glimpses of scary characters or images usually
in comedic, fantasy or historic setting, non-sexual nudity with
no close-ups, sensitive to scenes and situations related to child's
security, limited embracing and kissing, and restrained portrayals
of limited violence, and is rated G by la Régie du Cinéma
in Québec. REFERENCE:
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Stephen Bourne's Movie Quips © Stephen Bourne. Moviequips.ca and moviequips.com are the property of Stephen Bourne. All content of this website is owned by Stephen Bourne, unless obviously not (such as possible reference links, movie synopsis and/or posters featured under the terms of fair use) or attributed otherwise. This website is based in Ottawa, Canada. |
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