Alice Through The Looking Glass

As an avid Alice In Wonderland fan (no seriously), this was a bit of a hit and miss for me.

The sequel to Tim Burton’s 2010 hit adaptation, ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ follows Alice into Wonderland for another adventure. When the Hatter (Johnny Depp) begins to exhibit some strange and worrisome behaviour, Alice (Australian actress Mia Wasikoska) is called upon by her friends to try and help him, only to be told the answer lies in a seemingly impossible journey. From here, it is a literal race against Time (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) as Alice is catapulted to the past to try and save her friend’s future (with the help of some strange and wonderful creatures, of course).

The positives: Once again, Mia Wasikowska’s performance as Alice is entertaining and definitely a stand out. Her portrayal of the headstrong and hardy Alice is a refresher from the ‘damsel in distress’ archetypes we see frequently in films as Alice’s fearlessness helps to drive the film forward. Sacha Baron Cohen’s performance as Time was another standout, with his charm and charisma helping to create some of the comedic relief alongside his band of home-made robot friends. As well as this, the visuals are once again stunning: vibrant and eye catching, the use of CGI really immerses the audience into Wonderland without the scenery feeling overly fake or staged.

The negatives: One of the big issues I had with this film was the pacing. I feel there were just too many locations and not enough time for the audience to gain a connection to any of them before being moved somewhere else. This made the film feel out of balance and began to get distracting by the time we reached the middle. Also, I feel as though director James Bobin failed to strike the delicate balance between ‘quirkiness’ and ‘tackiness’ that was done by Tim Burton in the first film. We’ve had clear evidence that the actors in this film certainly have talent (Anne Hathaway in 2012’s ‘Les Miserables’, Helena Bonham-Carter in the 2010 drama ‘The King’s Speech’ to name a few), but it seems as though each of them felt the need to overact their parts, which led to a lack of continuity from the first film and ultimately started to become jarring.

Although kids will certainly enjoy this film, if you are an avid fan of the franchise (or the books!) you may come away disappointed. Wonderland needs just a touch of darkness and fear of the unknown, and although its beauty and imagery is amazing, this film had much more potential.

Black Mass

South Boston, or 'Southie', has been the subject of many a crime film over the past decade and a half. Movies like The Town, Southie, The Departed and even Good Will Hunting have striven to accurately portray one of the roughest neighbourhoods in the United States. But one notorious figure has yet to be portrayed on film; that of James 'Whitey' Bulger (Okay so not necessarily true, Martin Scorsese's The Departed was based on his crimes).

Bulger (Johnny Depp) is the leader of the Winter Hill Gang in South Boston during the mid-1970s. He is well known in the community as both a gangster and a pillar of the community. His brother Billy (Benedict Cumberbatch), a state senator, is contacted by their childhood friend John Connelly (Joel Edgerton), who is now a FBI agent who has been tasked with reducing Mafia activity in Boston. He sees Bulger as the key to bringing down this stranglehold they have. So Bulger becomes an informant, all the while continuing his own criminal activity.

This success of this film hinges entirely on whether or not you find Depp's performance as Bulger convincing. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't convinced. Yes, he is unnerving, but I wasn't scared by him, which is the whole point. I think that they were relying on his makeup and new look to add to the performance but it did nothing for me. Outside of this, there isn't too much going on. At a stretch you could say that the intrigue surrounding Bulger's manipulation of the FBI is interesting, but not enough to be exciting.

In fact the film seems like it purposefully goes out of its way to be obtuse. There is a whole subplot involving who owns World Jai-Alai, a sport the movie even admits no one knows what it is (unless you're like me and you do know what it is (I lie, I have no idea what they're doing)). I also feel like this film is needlessly violent. I know Whitey Bulger was an incredibly psychotic film, but you don't need to show every single murder he committed. Sometimes implied violence is just as effective. I also feel like the movie dropped the ball with the ending. It is a well known fact that Bulger was apprehended in 2011, yet the film ends in 1995 with an epilogue about his capture.

Because Depp's performance is so dominant here that the others don't really get a look in. Joel Edgerton's is the only one that is on par with Depp, but it isn't very good. Everyone else is really in the background which is disappointing considering the cast. Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Adam Scott and Rory Cochrane are all fantastic actors, and while they are in a lot of scenes, they aren't the focus of any of them. Corey Stoll is the only minor performance given any notice, which is good because he carries those scenes. Women are hugely under represented with Dakota Johnson and Julianne Nicholson given barely any screen time.

A hugely disappointing and largely unnecessary biopic. It is not at all engaging, so if you want to see a better film about Whitey Bulger, go rewatch The Departed.

Mortdecai

As we are in the midst of awards season for movies, there seems to be an expectation that every movie that is released at the moment has to be better than the last and by doing so we forget that movies also serve as entertainment. Whilst David Koepp's Mortdecai may not win any Oscars, BAFTAs or Golden Globes, it is a very fun movie and I feel like I need to see a good fun one every once in a while.

Charlie Mortdecai (Johnny Depp) is an aristocratic art dealer who has fallen on some financial hard times and is only days away from complete insolvency. After the murder of a painting restorer, he is enlisted by MI5 agent Inspector Martland (Ewan McGregor) to hunt down the killer. So with his trusty manservant Jock (Paul Bettany) in tow, they set off in search of the painting. Meanwhile, Charlie's wife Johanna (Gwyneth Paltrow) begins her own investigation into the missing painting.

One thing I think this movie suffers from is an overcomplicated story. There are parts where I felt as though it was tripping over plot points just to get to some laughs that occasionally fall flat. However, I did find that the characters were suitably well rounded enough to feel them as real people. The movie also takes a lot of time in its transitions to the parts of the world that it takes place. Every time we change city (or even a different part of the same city) we get an animated fly-over of the globe, which I felt worked once, but every time after that was just annoying.

The performances were all fun though. All the actors were playing against type, except for Depp. His usual hammed up performance came in handy here, making himself slightly effete and terribly in love with his freshly grown moustache, which he checks in a mirror of some sort every five seconds. Paltrow has a fun time playing his long suffering wife, although I can't see why she is still together with Mortdecai (and yet at the same time I can). Ewan McGregor's character has been in love with Johanna forever, which I thought was a fun touch to a character whose main job is to give exposition and therefore can be a tiny bit tedious.

The supporting cast is great too. Paul Bettany, normally quite a dramatic actor, plays the rather stiff but reliable manservant Jock and is just a joy in any scene. Jeff Goldblum turns up for a few scenes but the amount of screen time he gets is tantamount to murder. Olivia Munn plays his nymphomaniac daughter but has nothing really to do but be a provocative character.

All in all Mortdecai may not be the best movie out right now, but it surely is a relief from some of the more emotionally invested movies that are out at the moment. I am a huge fan of slapstick and I felt as though this had some fun moments of that.

Into The Woods

Stephen Sondheim's award-winning Broadway musical seems like it would be perfect for a big screen adaptation. The scope of the stage production with it's big sets, many characters and magical elements would make a stage feel packed, like there was too much action going. But somehow, on the screen this story seems like it's spread a little too thin.

The story combines all of the most famous fairy tales into one big adventure and gives origin to some of the more popular ones. A childless baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) want to have a family, but are unable to do so due to a curse laid upon the house by the witch (Meryl Streep), who lives next door. She is willing to reverse the curse if they retrieve four items for her; a milky white cow, a blood red cape, a golden slipper and some blonde hair. These of course are all items belong to Jack (Daniel Huddlestone), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy).

With this being a musical, there is more singing than actual dialogue. However, most of these songs are mostly forgettable besides from a couple. The Wolf (played by Johnny Depp) sings an incredibly predatory song to Little Red Riding Hood, which implies that he wishes to do something entirely than eating her. The Charming princes (Chris Pine and Billy Magnusson) have a rather humourous song where they try to one-up each other in the pain that they feel by not having their respective fairytale romances. Chris Pine has another fun song where he seduces Emily Blunt. Sadly, three songs do not make up for the number of songs that I don't even remember.

The majority of the leads give solid performances. James Corden's singing experience carries him along nicely and Emily Blunt is a partner in their duets. Anna Kendrick also brings her experience from the Pitch Perfect movies. Both Daniel Huddlestone and Lilla Crawford are great young actors who will go places. Chris Pine offers some much needed comic relief. It is with Meryl Streep that I have the most problems. Her character isn't seen too much (thankfully) and when she is on the screen, she tries to steal the scenes from the other actors, all who are much more capable than her.

Verdict: While it has it's charms, Into The Woods proves to be forgettable in the department it will rely most heavily upon: it's music.

Johnny Depp and daughter Lily-Rose cast in Kevin Smith's Yoga Hosers

Director Kevin Smith has gone into production on his next film in the True North Trilogy, hot on the heels of finishing the first movie Tusk, with the final one being called Moose Jaws (which is exactly what it sounds like).

Smith came up with the idea for Tusk on
his SModcast podcast

The cast of Yoga Hosers stays the same as Tusk with the majority of the actors playing different characters (a technique Smith used in his View Askew films). The movie is about two teenage Canadian girls (played by Lily-Rose Depp and Smith's own daughter Harley Quinn) who fight supernatural beasts.

Returning cast members from Tusk include Michael Parks, Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Génesis Rodríguez and Harley Morenstein. The new cast includes Tony Hale, Natasha Lyonne, Adam Brody, Tyler Posey and long-time Smith collaborator Jason Mewes.

Tusk has it's international premiere at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.

Transcendence

Sometimes there is a concept for a film that is full of potential. The idea of the technological singularity is one such concept. The singularity is a point in which artificial intelligence surpasses that of humans. Transcendence starts on that path but then gets confusing and not even great acting from actors playing minor parts can help this lacklustre story.

I think that has to do with first time director Wally Pfister. Despite not knowing his name, I'm sure that the majority of you reading this are familiar with his work. Pfister has worked for many years as Christopher Nolan as his cinematographer on the recent Batman films among others. As a result of this work, Transcendence is a good looking film. He has been able to take his own visual style and enforce it as a director.

It can't be the actors that drag this film down either. Surely? Johnny Depp playing a straight Johnny Depp character. Rebecca Hall undecided about whether or not what is happening is the right thing. The best performances come from Paul Bettany and Kate Mara.

But even someone who has been on enough sets with a director like Nolan must have learned enough lessons about being a director. So it must be the story. This is the first script that has been produced for writer Jack Paglan. As I said, the initial concept is promising. The idea of a man uploading his consciousness to a computer, where he will cause the technological singularity is cool, but once the story became about creating human-robot hybrids I was lost.

The film is bookended by some interesting scenes where the world is devoid of technology. I feel like this would be a more interesting place to set the film with flashbacks showing us what caused it.

Verdict: A beautiful looking film that has a complete mess of a story. I think everyone in the cinema with me felt confused about what had happened.

The Lone Ranger

When I first heard that they were making a new film version of the 80 year old character, I was a little dismayed and saw it as a cash grab by Jerry Bruckheimer to make a new franchise to replace the diminishing Pirates of the Caribbean. How wrong I was.

This film deals with the creation of the outlaw (Armie Hammer) and his first adventure with Tonto (Johnny Depp) to take down a corrupt railroad tycoon (Tom Wilkinson) and his criminal henchman (William Fichtner), whose scheme is to steal a large amount of silver and retire to San Francisco.

This movie is actually a lot of fun. All of the elements that go in to make a Lone Ranger adventure are there, including the William Tell Overture, Tonto's broken English and lots of action.

This is the first time I've enjoyed Johnny Depp in a film for a long time. Jack Sparrow began to wear on me after a while and no one can play Willy Wonka like Gene Wilder. But in this, his eccentricities went a long way and in fact I sensed a little Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He brings a levity to a film that has a very bleak premise in an unforgiving land.

Of course, I can't talk about a Lone Ranger film without talking about the man that played him. Armie Hammer (who we know from The Social Network) does a great job bringing such a revered character to life. He has a great chemistry with Depp and I feel as though this is the point that his star will rise from, rather than the past films he has worked on.

There is only one problem I found with the film and that is the extreme violence that is juxtaposed with lighthearted and funny moments. I know that this film is marketed to kids, but most westerns are quite bleak and dark at times. It doesn't really take away from the film, but it does make it a bit of a roller-coaster to watch.

Verdict: A genuinely good effort at reinvigorating a story that has been part of the public consciousness for almost 100 years.