I’m giving up the pretence of attempting to sound reasonable in my thoughts about films I’ve seen on DVD, and I’m going to round up everything I can think of with a very short sentence or two. Also, I’ve just come home from playing pool with work colleagues and I don’t have much time to keep up my promise to myself of posting something every day.
Angels and Demons
A rare example of a film that was better than the sequel, but only when the original was so poor. At least Tom Hanks didn’t have the mullet, but why was Ewan McGregor in this (and with such a silly accent)?
Rating: DA
Click
Or Adam Sandler does a modern version of It’s A Wonderful Life. Seriously. (Is he going to remake all Frank Capra’s films? He’s already done Mr Deeds Goes To Town.) The twist is that it’s done with a DVD remote. The only problem here is that Sandler’s character is annoying jerk who doesn’t deserve a happy ending.
Rating: DA
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was well made but rather dull, and this sequel follows the same pattern. The CGI is good, the story is fine, but it’s all rather flat and unexciting, as if some ingredient was omitted when they were trying to be as bland as possible for as wide an audience as possible.
Rating: DA
Dan In Real Life
I only watched this because I like Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche. I shouldn’t have, because it doesn’t use them very well, and the story is a bit drippy.
Rating: DA
Death at a Funeral
Probably the most woeful film I’ve seen in a while, only watched because it has Alan Tudyk in it (he did a good English accent, which he already used in A Knight’s Tale). A truly awful film, an utterly lamentable attempt at a farce, and not in the slightest bit funny. Do not watch.
Rating: D
Definitely, Maybe
This was actually rather enjoyable, in that it is a romcom with a urge to do something with the format by trying to make the rom part a mystery (even though you can guess the woman by her placing in the credits). And I obviously have a man-crush on Ryan Reynolds, who is very good in this.
Rating: VID
Dragonball Evolution
This was really rather awful; what has Chow Yun-Fat done to deserve his fate in rubbish Hollywood martial art movies? At least James Marsters has green make-up to hide his shame. An adaptation of the anime with a 28-year-old lead playing an 18 year old, it really does stink in an embarrassing way.
Rating: D
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Or I’ve forgotten all about this film already – why was it so popular? Apart from seeing Kristen Bell doing ‘sexy’, and the bizarre puppet finale, I thought this was rather formulaic, but with the addition of uncomfortable male nudity and blow jobs.
Rating: DA
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
A very enjoyable Marvel animated film, perhaps because it didn’t try to (badly) reinvent an origin (Dr Strange, The Invincible Iron Man), or badly retell a story from the comics (Ultimate Avengers, its sequel); this tries something new but based on a possible future of the comics. It has a lot going for it, and I could watch more with the characters they created for this film.
Rating: VID
Outlander
Of the two films involving a bizarre genre crossover with Vikings (this one being ‘aliens’) that end in ‘nder’, this is slightly better, but only just. It is well put together but lacks that spark that would elevate it above a run-of-the-mill B-movie.
Rating: DA
Pathfinder
The other bizarre genre crossover with Vikings (this one being ‘Native Americans’) ending in ‘nder’, this is very silly, very poor, and shot in seeming near total darkness; I felt so sorry for Karl Urban. So good in Star Trek, I think this film will be a memory that is ‘wrapped in darkness and silence’.
Rating: D
Role Models
Take a typical kids Disney film where kids learn lessons about themselves through live action fantasy role-playing games, and mix it with the Judd Apatow formula of male bromance/acting like kids/swearing and rude jokes, and you get Role Models. There are some laughs at kids swearing, and Jane Lynch is good value, but the ending was so cheesy it was being attacked by mice.
Rating: DA
Son of Rambow
An utterly charming British family film with heart and and originality, as a boy who has never watched television sees First Blood as his first film and ends up making a home movie version with the slightly wild kid at school. Really, really good.
Rating: DAVE
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
A completely pointless film prequel to two poor films, the only reason I watched it was the wonderful Michael Sheen, who I could watch in anything, even this rubbish.
Rating: D
