Man of Steel

Did you ever wonder who pays for the reconstruction of a city after superbeings have destroyed it? Have you ever wondered why people don't recognise Clark Kent as Superman with glasses? If you answered no to both of those questions, then Man of Steel is the movie for you.

After a lengthy sequence on the world of Krypton, Jor-El (Russell Crowe), a scientist, sends his firstborn child (and first naturally born child of Krypton in a thousand years) away in a spaceship due to the imminent destruction of his home planet. Meanwhile, leader of a military coup, General Zod (Michael Shannon) fails to obtain a codex containing the DNA structure and ends up getting banished to The Phantom Zone (a type of black hole).

Thirty-three years later on Earth, Kal-El (Henry Cavill), after being brought up as Clark Kent in a small town in Kansas (never referred to as Smallville in this movie), is a drifter, floating from job to job, saving people where necessary. When he hears about a possible discovery of an alien spaceship in Canada, Kent travels there and finds the ship, resurrects his father's consciousness with a key and learns about his origins.

In doing so, Kent alerts Zod, who has been searching for Kent/Kal-El, bringing him to Earth. Zod realises that Earth is a prime location for beginning a new Krypton, thus dooming this film to the Superman curse of all these films being about real estate (seriously, look it up, every superman film has a plot or subplot about real estate).

Although the plot of this film is weak, both the superb acting and striking visuals and action sequences redeem the film. Henry Cavill (The Tudors) brings a depth to Superman that was missing in Brandon Routh's hollow performance. He has a certain charm that I believe Superman should possess and there is a true chemistry between him and his Earth parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane). Amy Adams (Doubt) is the perfect choice for Lois Lane. She is believable enough to play such a strong and independent reporter to Lawrence Fishburne's Perry White.

I found Michael Shannon's (Revolutionary Road) performance as General Zod to be good, although at times I felt his character was annoying, especially at his most persistent moments. On the other hand, Russell Crowe was fantastic at playing a role made famous by Marlon Brando. His gruff Aussie accent was not out of place as the Kryptonian accent was all over the place.

Zack Snyder (director of Watchmen, 300) is great at comic book adaptions and here he does another fantastic job, especially with the backing of Christopher Nolan, fresh of the back of his Dark Knight trilogy.

The action in this movie, especially the fighting scenes between Kent and the other Kryptonians, was believable and enjoyable to watch, although as I mentioned before, someone is going to pay a lot of cash to rebuild Metropolis.

Verdict: An all in all enjoyable movie to watch despite some weak points. I look forward to see what Warner Bros is going to do with the other DC characters ahead of an Avengers-style JLA movie.

Monsters University

I was 10 when Monsters, Inc. came out. Twelve years later, I'm studying at university and this movie comes out. It's great how life comes full circle. I should note that I was the oldest person in the theatre watching this (who didn't get dragged along by a child at least).

The story tells of how James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) became best friends at university years before they were the best scare team at Monsters, Inc. Their introduction to each wasn't smooth sailing, however. Whilst they are both in a scare class, they get thrown out of the program by Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) for having a fight. Together they figure out that they can back into the course by competing in the Scare Games, a group of challenges for fraternities and sororities.

I feel as though this isn't really a kids movie, as the majority of the jokes are aimed at a mature audience but at the same time aren't crass. Charlie Day's (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) character, Art, is an obvious stoner type and the film also lampoons the hazing process that takes place in fraternities (there's a great documentary by Todd Philips if you want to know more about that, Frat House). At one stage during the film, the kid behind me started crying.

John Goodman and Billy Crystal were okay in their roles, but since this film takes place earlier than the original film, I thought maybe some younger voices wouldn't have hurt, but since it's only voice acting I don't think anyone would really care.

The other voice cameos are quite a surprise. Apart from the aforementioned Helen Mirren, there is Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation), Alfred Molina (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Dave Foley (The Kids in the Hall). And of course I get excited when Charlie Day is in anything.

The ending of the film was a bit of let down to me as well. Both Mike and Sully's career within the Monsters, Inc. corporation is crammed into two or three minutes at the end of the film. They could have just left that out all together.

It does kind of bug me that Pixar has so much potential from their roots as innovators for originality, but now I feel as though they're doing the same things over and over (the soon to be released Planes is a perfect example).

Verdict: A decently funny prequel that could have been stronger in terms of story, but will suffice for kids and adults alike.

Also, a bonus if you live in either the UK or Australia (these are the only two countries I know of at present). Prior to the movie actually starting, there is a screening of The Blue Umbrella, a charming love story of two umbrellas that will tug at the heartstrings.

World War Z

This movie is not for the hardcore fanatic of zombie pop culture. It was made for a mainstream audience who might be interested in seeing what this whole zombie thing is about. It's probably best to stick with The Walking Dead if you are a fan.

The plot revolves around Gerry (Brad Pitt), a former United Nations investigator, who, at the behest of his former colleagues, is sent around the world in search of something that will stop the zombies (not necessarily a cure). He leaves his family on an aircraft carrier and flies off around the world, encountering many people along the way. Gerry goes to South Korea, Israel and Wales in search of something to help.

This movie was very intense and chaotic and the setting was unsettling. This came from the fact that normally zombie films and TV take place in a contained environment, such as a shopping centre or prison, but here it was global. The scenes where hordes of the undead are swarming were intense and at times I didn't quite know what was going on.

The fact that the majority of the movie is chaotic makes the ending all the harder to watch. The final 40 minutes returns to a climax that would fit well in any other zombie film. It is the classic stalking of the hallways trying to reach the ultimate goal, but due to the intensity of the first part of the film, it just seems distracting. Maybe this is due to another writer coming in and rewriting the entire ending of the film. Apparently, it was supposed to end with another climactic battle, which would have kept up with the pacing of the entire film.

The cast of this movie is very chaotic as well. Brad Pitt and his family are the only constant. Except we don't see his family all too often, which is good because is wife Karin (Mireille Enos) is one of the most annoying movie characters ever. Matthew Fox (Lost) is supposedly in this film, and quite prominently billed, but I did not see him once, so that's a waste of some cash.

Verdict: Max Brooks' novel did have potential, but it was poorly executed and even though it takes place on a global scale, the world feels kind of empty but not in a I Am Legend way.

After Earth

Just when you thought Will Smith's career had gotten back on track with MiB III, he hits you with a really bad movie. And this time it's not M. Night Shyamalan's fault.

Sometime in the future, Earth has become inhabitable for reasons unknown and the human species sets up a colony on Nova Prime. For some reason there are aliens that smell fear or something, so an army of "rangers" are established. Cypher Raige (Will Smith) is the leader of this supposed peacekeeping army and he has just come home from a long stretch of fighting. His son, Kitai (Jaden Smith), is feeling somewhat sad and his father decides to take him with Kitai to his next posting (supposedly his last). Their ship crashes on the wastes of Earth and Kitai must save them by recovering the emergency beacon in the tail wreckage of their ship.

This movie is so bad, I got bored pretty early and started reading about the production of the film instead. Apparently it was supposed to take place in a modern setting and Will Smith was supposed to take his son on a camping trip, but they have a massive car crash. So basically, the same movie but marginally better. Then Will Smith thought he could make more money by setting the film in space, especially when the opportunity of cross-platform franchising comes up (basically more money).

I should point out the people who financed this movie: Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Caleeb Pinkett (see the pattern). All that for one kid. Who can't act. I am of course talking about Jaden Smith. I'm guessing every producer and director in Hollywood saw that this kid can't act and rejected him, so his parents made him a $130 million movie and hired a director who has made a good movie since 2000 (Unbreakable was a good flick, no matter what anybody says).

But we can't blame all this on M. Night. He didn't even get to put his Shyamalanian twist ending on it. Apparently the only directing he did was telling the cameraman where to point the camera. Smith directed both his son and himself. The other actor's in the film kind of wander around aimlessly. The only good acting came from the only female actors, Sophie Okonedo and Zoe Kravitz (daughter of Lenny).

Verdict: If you want post-apocalyptic Earth, go watch Oblivion. But if you're at that stage, just watch WALL-E instead. Also if Will Smith treats his kid like this in real life, that's one messed up family.

The Internship

It has been eight years since Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn last starred together in 2005's Wedding Crashers. At the time, I didn't find that film too funny as it did not appeal to me for I was too young and/or naive to get the jokes. The Internship on the other hand appealed to me a lot more. As a member of the Internet Generation, I got all the jokes presented in this smart and funny fish out of water comedy.

Vaughn and Wilson are playing Billy and Nick, two grown man-children, who find themselves out of a job when they discover that their boss (John Goodman) has folded the company they work for as sales reps, without telling them. Down on their luck, Billy manages to finagle an internship at Google over the summer. They are teamed up with a group of young university students and through a set of gruelling challenges, have the opportunity to win full time positions at the company.

This movie is fantastically funny. To see these middle aged men try to navigate around computer based problems from a generation that they are not native to. But to be fair, I am also from the aforementioned generation and I would have difficulty with some of their challenges. It is filled with humourous references that transcend the generation gap for audiences. Everything from music and allusions to things from the 80s, right down the guys participating in a game of Quidditch are involved.

Vaughn and Wilson also have a chemistry that makes them a believable partnership within the world of the film. Vaughn's tough no-nonsense Billy is right out of Old School and Wilson really does have a great chemistry with his fellow actors, particularly Rose Byrne (Two Hands).

A great part of this comedy comes however, from the young actors playing the university students and how each of them play well known (to me, anyway) archetypes of young people in today's world. There is the hardworking, over-achieving Asian, Yo-Yo (Tobit Raphael), the detached, self-involved hipster, Stuart (Dylan O'Brien), the excitable, enthusiastic girl, Neha (Tiya Sircar) and the awkward white guy Lyle (Josh Brener)(definitely me). There is also the cool yet douchey guy, Graham (Max Minghella) and the boss/hard-ass head teacher, Mr Chetty (Assif Mandvi).

For a younger audience, all these characters are relatable. As for an older audience, they fill the shoes of Nick and Billy, and provide an insight into the younger generation.

Verdict: A hilarious comedy that will please both younger and older audiences and will be super relatable in this modern technological world.

Classic Movie Review: The United States of Leland (2003)

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Ryan Gosling, although considering that everyone else on the planet likes him, it isn't that strange. Now it occurs to me that he goes after either rom-com roles (Crazy, Stupid, Love or The Notebook) or darkly disturbed characters in independent films (Lars and the Real Girl or Blue Valentine). In this film however, he plays a character that's different to the rest (and I don't mean because he has brown hair).

The film chronicles the events leading up to and after the murder of a mentally disabled boy by Leland P. Fitzgerald (Gosling) and the effects that it has on the people who were close to either Leland or the boy, like Leland's ex-girlfriend and the boy's sister, Becky (Jena Malone), or Leland's teacher in prison, Pearl (Don Cheadle).

The family of the boy all try to escape their grief. Julie (Michelle Williams) and her boyfriend Alan (Chris Klein), try to focus on their future at university, but this puts a strain on their relationship. Becky turns to heroin, to which she gets addicted. Leland's own father, Arthur (Kevin Spacey), is an author who tries to come to terms with the fact that his absence from his son's life could have been a motivating factor for Leland. Meanwhile, Pearl, who is an aspiring writer, tries to write a novel about Leland, but is hampered at every turn by his work.

This role is very different to anything that Gosling has played before. He is detached from the world and although his character in Drive (2011) was similarly detached, here there is a certain naivety and innocence in the character.

Don Cheadle is excellent as Pearl, who tries to coax the truth out of Leland, so that he can understand the teenager's motivations. And also, as always, Kevin Spacey plays a role that is cold and calculating, not to unlike John Doe in Se7en or Roger Kint in The Usual Suspects.

Verdict: A real landmark film that I think everyone should see before they die. It is an interesting look at perceptions of life and right and wrong.

The Hangover: Part III

Most of comedy is about the set-up and repetition and then the punchline goes against the grain. In that case, the Hangover: Part III is the biggest punchline in cinematic history. This movie doesn't follow the formula set up in the previous two movies.

Instead the movie begins with Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong) escaping from a Thai prison in a very Shawshank Redemption kind of way. Meanwhile in the States, Alan (Zach Galifinakis) has gone of the rails and the Wolfpack comes together to take him to a rehabilitation clinic in Arizona. This is where things go crazy. On the way there, the gang gets attacked by Marshall (John Goodman), an international criminal, who had been robbed by Chow and Marshall wants him. So the Wolfpack are given three days to track down Chow. This leads them on a chase throw the country and finally culminates in a showdown in Vegas.

This movie is more about Alan coming grips with adulthood and finally leaving his abusive relationship with Chow. The other three guys take a back seat to his character development. That's not to say that there aren't some funny situations that happen to the other two.

Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms are pretty funny and most of their jokes come from the reactions to Alan and Chow. Most of the comedy comes from Chow, who we find out is much more ruthless than had been previously depicted. But he still gets a few laughs from his antics.

Verdict: Todd Phillips crafts a funny end to his trademark franchise that could've been better, but still made me laugh.