PAUL (UNRATED VERSION)

2011

DIRECTOR: Greg Mottola

Contains Spoilers

NOT A PART OF OUR COLLECTION

Critics had suggested that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, made famous for their very English interpretations of genre films with Sean Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, had finally sold out with Paul, the same way that Edgar Wright had tried to do with Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Had they?

Well, only slightly.

This wasn’t as homespun as their earlier projects but to me this seemed to be the next viable step for a comic duo who had made their names spoofing American’s staples, so why not actually crank it up a notch and do an American spoof, certainly one done so well?

Pegg and Frost as are geeks, so playing two ultimate Sci-fi geeks who find themselves running into an actual alien whilst on a road trip across America came naturally and they played for their audiences loyalties very well. They appeal in one way or another to the geek in all of us, whether we accept it or not.

The comedy was gentle at times and raucous at others, but it is at the moments when the film plays for the gross out laughs often applied in modern U.S. comedies that film sells out. Funny though they often are, the comedy works best for me when it’s closer to home, but I suspect that the U.S. audience felt quite the opposite about that.

But behind the Pan-Atlantic comedy debate, there was  a real story, with a heart that shone through from time to time. The effects were great, the plotting was as good as the pacing and the in jokes and nods to films that went much deeper beneath the surface than you might expect for a mainstream film of this sort, were spot on.

All in all I liked it. It isn’t perfect but it’s a solid film and a successful move to the U.S. for two our finest film comedians who are working at the moment.

RATATOUILLE

2007

DIRECTOR(s): Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava

NOT A PART OF MY COLLECTION

Will we be adding this to our collection? NO

May Contain Spoilers!

2006/07 was defiantly the weakest period of Pixar. First there was Cars, which I simply didn’t get but I can understand how many did. Then there is Ratatouille. This film has so much wrong with it that I don’t know where to start. The film follows a rat who after growing up sampling rubbish, has a knack for blending food together to make it taste better. In short, he’s a chef! Fair enough, I get that.

The movement of the rats is inspired, blending real movement styles with the animated conceits needed to create characters, but that’s about it. Our rat, Remy, voiced by Patton Oswald, known mainly from U.S. Sitcom, King Of Queens, finds his way into a Parisian restaurant and meets a kitchen hand who can’t cook to save his life.

Remy manages, by hiding under his hat and pulling his hair to move the man like a marionette, (yeah, really!) to express his talent as a chef and let the boy take the credit. That’s pretty much it, beside the usual plot twists. The main problem here is that I just can’t get behind it. I find the concept difficult to accept and the rats look so good that the idea of a kitchen being used one of or more of them is just disgusting!

Overall, it is clear that Pixar’s the ideas were wearing thin and it took a change in direction in 2008 with Wall-e to bring the studio’s quality back up the par. Pixar are one of the best things to happen in animation since its inception but Cars and Ratatouille were the blip in their otherwise brilliant record.

SUPER 8

2011

DIRECTOR: J.J. Abrams

Contains Spoilers

Early Spielberg has always been one of my most favoured eras of film, with the like of Jaws and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind standing out as some of my favourite films from the 70′s. Another film of this era would be E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, but this is one of the most overrated, in my opinion, films of all time! But it is this which is clearly the basis of the Spielberg homage that is Super 8. Even though Steven Spielberg has a producer role in this, this is clearly a J.J. Abrams film, but Abrams is doing a brilliant Spielberg impression.

Set in the summer of 1979, Super 8 follows a group of kids trying to make a film to enter into a film festival, but in the course of this, they witness a spectacular train crash, which is caught of the eponymous Super 8mm camera. I think it’s pretty much common knowledge as what happens next or what it as about the train that drives the plot, but I will leave that a mystery for those who don’t.

This is very much though, a human drama, focusing of the lives of the children, in a similar vein to The Goonies, one with a 12 certificate for violence, adult themes and mild horror, rather than a few rude comments as with The Goonies. As an homage to Spielberg at his height, Super 8 fits the bill perfectly, with a real sense of nostalgia, not just for the time but for the style of film making.

This is filled from top to bottom with suspense, thrills and spills, but its main selling point has to be the character studies. The realistic portrayals of the children as humans rather than characterised. Sometimes, this can lean too far into shmaltz but only slightly, but again, this is consistent with Spielberg, note E.T.

My only other real complaint would be the “Spectacular” train crash sequence. It was indeed “spectacular” but this was the only sequence that I found unbelievable, in a Sci- Fi/Fantasy! It was just over the top and the least authentic moment in the film, whether it be true to the film of the Spielberg roots.

Some would argue that I’m basing my entire view on this comparison and that I’m missing the true value of the film as J.J. Abrams vehicle. Well, I would dispute that. The homage is clear and strong but it is still an Abram’s film, as the ridiculous use of lens flare, his signature, would attest to, but whether judged as his film or a Spielberg homage, note that at no point do I suggest a rip off,  it is good, with a strong heart re-enforce by solid performances all round and that is to the credit of the cast, crew and the director, even though I still can’t forgive him for Star Trek!

This will not be the hit of the year but I suspect that it will live long in the memories of those who see it. Potentially a true classic…

Originally reviewed on the 6th September 2011