Because Everybody Else Has One

With The Hangover Part II taking up most of the attention, the other films this week are smaller, more interesting fare. I haven't seen Animals United but I can't say I've heard the best things about it and I have no earthly idea what High Kick Girl is about. We are left with two quite different releases that are both far more worth your time than the lazy Hangover II.  Like Dandelion Dust may be a thoroughly unassuming, even forgettable family drama but is a very affecting one. It might take a slightly complicated route to get there but what we have here is a story about a well-adjusted, comfortably well-off family whose lives are ripped apart when the troubled, biological parents of their adopted son try to nullify the adoption and reclaim their son. What ensues is a heated and bitter battle between the two couples with a young boy caught in the middle. The film is bolstered by some very fine performances from a cast whose biggest star is Mira Sorvino but its true coup ...

The biggie this week: The return of the "Wolfpack " in a new adventure that's almost exactly the same as the first one. Needless to say, though, it's far from the best film of the week. From Artslink (Originally posted 27 May 2011) If the first Hangover film was – and bear with me for a moment here – a steaming hot pizza straight out of the oven, then its follow up is that same pizza warmed up the next day. It's edible enough but it kind of makes you forget what was so great about it in the first place. If you think this culinary metaphor is pushing it a bit then you clearly haven't seen The Hangover Part II. The Hangover Redux more like it. It's not a particularly terrible film or anything but it is so unnervingly similar to the original (and, it has to be said, to the various R-rated men-behaving-badly comedies that have come out since) that it can't help but feel tired, worn out and, frankly, really rather unnecessary. Yes, the se...

There are a couple of movies out this week that don't have any pirates in them whatsoever. I wouldn't get too excited, though, because neither are all that great and one makes Pirates 4 look like a masterpiece.   Nicolas Cage has been on something of a comeback trail of late. He was hilariously crazed in Werner Herzog's remake of The Bad Lieutenant and in the best bad movie of the year so far, Drive Angry 3D. He was even decent in the enjoyable family fantasy film, The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Sadly that all comes to an very sudden end with Season of the Witch. Here we have another historical fantasy film that takes itself way too seriously, despite being really rather daft. It's a film that could have been an interesting examination of the evils that the Crusades both confronted and, more often, created for their own nefarious ends but is too silly and low-brow for that. On the other hand, it works even less as a fantasy/ adventure/ horror, because, despite a solid...

There are a couple of other films being released this week but, lets be honest, this is the biggie. Is it any good though? Well, that's something else entirely... From Channel24 (Originally posted 19 May 2011) What it's about: Captain Jack Sparrow is back for another adventure; this time he finds himself embroiled in a race to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. What we thought: If you're wondering whether to bother with this, the latest instalment in the unstoppable Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, for some of you, it's actually pretty simple. If you liked the previous three films, you will almost definitely like this one. If you hated the last three, there is nothing here to change your mind. If you are like me, however, and enjoyed the first Pirates of the Caribbean film but thought that its two follow-ups rather overstepped their mark, things are slightly more complicated. If nothing else, Pirates 4 is better than its two immediate predecessor...

Yup, there are still two movies to talk about that I haven't reviewed for Artslink or Channel24. Shock and horror, neither of them are the best of the week!   Beastly is a very easy to pick on and, to be sure, it mostly deserves it. It's a totally pointless attempt to"update" the story of Beauty and the Beast for modern tweenage audiences and the results are pretty much what you would expect. Alex Pettyfer is rubbish once again in the lead role and its only really in comparison to him that Vanessa Hudgens looks like a competent actor. It's also unbelievably corny; with a scene of the two leads reading poetry to one another as the seasons pass being the particular low mark. And ultimately when you have the classic Disney animated version from 1991 recently re-released on DVD, you do have to ask what the point is of such an inferior version. Here's the thing though, yes it's total rubbish but I do wonder if it will actually work for its intended audience o...

The last of my channel24 reviews for the week. A small movie, with a small appeal and a small review. From Channel24 (Originally posted 13 May 2011) What it's about: Based on the acclaimed semi-autobiographical play by Athol Fugard and set in Apartheid South Africa, Master Harold and the Boys tells the story of young Hally (Freddie Highmore), a white adolescent who is stuck between his troubled, racist father and the black waiter who has always taken care of him. What we thought: Master Harold and the Boys may be many things but it ain't much of a film. It has a very bare bones plot but as a well thought out character study and a look at the racial politics of the period, it certainly does the job. Or, at least, it would do if experienced, I'm sure, as a play or when read. Put it up on screen, however, and it lands with a deafening thud. Rather than suffering from what so many stage adaptations do of being too theatrical and overblown (see this week...

Here's a review that I wrote for Artslink. I have, incidentally, learned subsequent to writing this review that the play on which it is based actually came out in the 70s so it's obviously not technically a followup - spiritual or otherwise - to Angels in America. I still think the comparison stands, though. And I still think For Colored Girls sucks.  From Artslink (Originally posted 13 May 2011)    A few years ago, HBO released a rather excellent TV miniseries called Angels In America that, though far from perfect, absolutely deserved all the praise and high profile awards that it received. What we have here in For Colored Girls – or to call it by its ridiculous full title: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf – is a spiritual sequel to Angels In America. The two simply have far too much in common to consider it anything else. Both are based on successful stage plays; both take a look at a specific issue and how it affects...