Is Spidey back? Ode to Harry.

I’ve always loved Spiderman and found the second movie a little bit of a disappointment. So I went to Spiderman 3 to see if the third installment in the series would capture the same magic that happened in the first installment. The third in the series is overcrowded with villains. There’s Venom and Sandman, but the true reason to see this episode is the re-emergence and redemption of Harry.

James Franco as Harry Osborn is given a much meatier script than in Spiderman 2 and he takes to the role with gusto not seen since Spiderman 1. Harry as junior green goblin (I do miss William Dafoe’s Green Goblin character) is set to revenge his father’s death that he mistakenly believes was at the hands of Spiderman. This conflict is forgotten when the woman they both love, Mary-Jane, needs their help.

So Spiderman 3 is about this friendship and how when you are in need, you find support from true friends. The Sandman and Venom plots are OK but Harry is the real story here. Like all true heroes, Harry redemption is towards the end and true to Mavel legend he is killed whilst trying to save his friends.

Goodbye Harry, you will be missed

Spider-man 3
Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Sam Raimi, Lynn Raimi and Alvin Sargent
Rating: 2 1/ 2 stars

Happily Never After?

It was slim pickings for childrens’ fare the other week when we went to the movies. The animation feature on offer was “Happily Never After” and let me tell you now, it was no “Shrek“.

It was adequate and passed the time but somehow didn’t feel fresh. This fractured fairytale is based on the stories of the Brothers Grimm where the wizard who controls all the “Happy endings” goes on holidays and the apprentice wizards lose control to Cinderella’s evil stepmother. Cinderella (Ella) starts out a damsel in distress, dreaming of the Prince who will sweep her off feet and save her from her miserable life. Her friend Rick, is the palace dishwasher. Ella sees Rick only as a friend, but Rick secretly loves Ella.

This is where I lost it… Oh please Cinderella ending up with the dishwasher rather than the prince? The prince a bumbling fool and not the kind generous and loving man of my dreams?I’m sorry, i like my fairy-tales the old fashioned way. You know, where the Prince is charming and not a bumbling fool. Yes the lesson of true love is important but I’m also the kinda gal that likes to dream and think about “what if” and to me, that’s what a good fairytale sound be all about.

The prince is meant to be an ideal, he’s not meant to be real and most girls know that when they are grown up. It still doesn’t stop us from hiring out “Pride and Prejudice” for the fifteenth time when we need a bit of cheering up and a chance to drool over our ideal man - Mr Darcy (tall, handsome, proud and with a great fortune - won’t mother be pleased).

Happily Never After
Director: Paul. J Bolger
Writer: Robert Moreland
Rating: 2 stars

Crack in the Classroom

I read a comment by Ryan Fleck, the Director of the Indie film, “Half Nelson”, that after the success of “Snakes on a Plane” he thought that maybe “Crack in the Classroom” may have been a more descriptive title for his film. I agree, as when I heard the title, I wasn’t sure what I was in for, all I knew was that the film had been a favourite of the critics gaining many nominations and award for its Director and an Oscar nomination for its star  Ryan Gosling.

Half Nelson is the story of Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) a history teacher in Brooklyn. His students are from underprivileged backgrounds, but this story is no “to Sir with Love” or “Dangerous Minds”. It’s not chessy and it doesn’t end with a “…. so if you try hard and you believe in yourself can too can make it” kinda movie. This is about friendship, support and the pain of life that isn’t quite what you imagined and how you cope and live with that reality.

Dunne’ unorthodox approach to teaching history inspires his class as he delivers with passion, the importance of understanding history, rather than just memorizing it. He specialty is dialectics - the tensions between two opposing forces. As an idealistic college student he dreamed of changing the world but he is faced with the desperate realisation that he can’t, he and has turned to drugs as a way to ease his pain and this addictive crutch bears an increasingly heavy load.

The film focuses on Dunne and his relationship with Drey (Shareeka Epps), a 13-year-old student of his who catches him in the bathroom smoking crack. Drey forms an unlikely friendship with Dunne as she understands his frustrations with life; as she has mother who is struggling to make ends meet, a brother in jail and though self reliant, she has a maturity that has been forged through hardship.

What is a half nelson anyway? The title refers to a wrestling hold in which one arm is passed under the opponent’s arm from behind to the back of the neck. I’m not a big wrestling fan but I think it is meant to symbolise that whilst we may wish things were different, we cannot control all aspects so the film is about life and struggle and pain. According to IMDB, the film was originally made as a 19 minute short film Gowanus, Brooklyn (2004). Shareeka Epps reprises her role as Drey and she is one of the main reasons to check out this film. She is an a quite, unassuming talent and a perfect compliment to Ryan Goslings brooding Dunne. Ryan Gosling is superb as Dunne and is building a reputation as a serious actor and rare talent. I loved this movie’s edge and the fact that it didn’t have a cliched ending.

Half Nelson (2006)
Director: Ryan Fleck
Writers: Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
Rating: 4 Stars

Spider-Man 3: The Legend of Bruce Campbell

Spider-man 3 opens with Bruce Campbell standing behind the counter of the French restaurant where we works as the matre’de. Peter Parker, played by Tobey Maguirie, enters the restaurant and attempts to make some plans with Bruce in order to propose to his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson, played by Kirsten Dunst. What follows is a comic display reminiscent of great British comedies like Alo’ Alo’ and the antics of Monty Python that is unexpected and virtually unheard of in American cinema.

Bruce’s performance is excellent, pulling off the difficult Parisian accent with relative ease, and getting big laughs from the audience every time. If you haven’t seen Bruce before you would swear he was indeed French!

Bruce’s performance in this last of the Spider-man franchise is his best, making Spider-Man 3: the Legend of Bruce Campbell a must see for any fan of Evil Dead, Arm of Darkness or the restaurant scene in the Meaning of Life.

Spider-man 3 (2007)
Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent
Rating: 3 stars

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me crispy

A colleague of mine had two free tickets to see Sunshine, but due to the lack of an available baby sitter, was unable to attend. So, simply, he asked if I wanted to go. I love movies, and this was a free one, so I jumped at the chance.

50 years in the future, the sun is dying. A team of astronaut/scientists head out to re-ignite the sun with a huge payload of explosives. There’s a catch, though - they don’t know if it will work - and their team is full of loonies. Chief amongst the loonies is the ship’s psychologist who loves nothing better than to sit in front of the observation window, watch the sun, and get really sunburnt. You can tell this is going to be a bit of a wierd journey.

Sunshine immediately reminded me of scifi greats like 2001: A Space Oddessy and Alien. Clean, crisp, graceful, white and glass space hardware and a crew that talk like they’re normal, every day, highly strung people, with the same banter and ramblings of real speech that comes with the stress of having to save the world. I thought I was in for a beautiful, artistic, thoughful, scifi experience. Boy, was I wrong.

Sunshine quickly becomes a typical horror film in which you know everyone is likely to die. There is some great cinematography, though, particularly when involving the ‘monster’ who is out to get the crew. It was very Alienesque in its execution and help add to the mystery and suspense of the film.

That aside, though, the film is a just like a 70s fantasy art wall print- breathtaking space scapes complete with two dimensional characters.

Strangely enough, Sunshine is goingto be a movie I buy on DVD. There’s so much to take in that it’s hard to understand it all in its first watching. I also figure it’s going to improve with additional watching - an important factor when considering buying a DVD for me. It won’t make me feel any more sympathy for the plight of the characters in the movie, or the fact that Earth will die unless their mission succeeds, but there’s just something in it that motivates me to watch it a few more times.

If, like me, you’ve got a big plasma TV and a fantastic digital sound system you could wait til Sunshine comes to your local DVD rental store before watching it.

Sunshine (2007)
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Alex Garland
Rating: 2 1/2 stars

The Queen

Well it’s another wet weekend so I went off to the DVD store again. I had wanted to see The Queen when it was in cinema release, but time got away, so today was the perfect opportunity. It was fantastic and Helen Mirren provide to be a very worthy Oscar recipient.

I, like most young women, was deeply shocked and saddened by the death of Diana Princess of Wales. Maybe it was the fact that she was so young, had two young boys and worked tirelessly for charity but I, like most people, watched in disbelief as the Palace and the Establishment were silent for days after the death of this “People’s Princess”. How wonderful then to see the movie and see “inside” the Palace and come to understand why the Queen’s upbringing and background had ill prepared her for such an outpouring of sentiment towards a person who had been the source of many years of frustration and embarrassment to her.

The Queen goes behind the scenes of Balmoral Castle and shows the interaction between Elizabeth II and the newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair following the death of Diana. To the Queen it is seen as a private matter whilst Blair presents the case to modernise the monarchy strict protocol based reaction in the wake of demand for a public display of mourning.

To see the transformation of the character throughout the course of the week’s events led me to understand why perhaps it is, that Elisabeth II is one of the most loved monarchs in history and probably while in her lifetime, Australia will not become a republic. Charles was also given a very sympathetic treatment in this film and I wonder how close to the real world this film really gets. Even though you know the ending, there is enough to sustain your interest and the real life footage intertwined with the actors is very well done. I liked this film a lot.

The Queen
Director: Stephen Frears
Writer: Peter Morgan
Released: September 2006
Rating: 4 stars

The Number 23

According to Discordian belief, the number 23 is connected to all significant events. The idea fascinated me (and the poster looked cool), so I went to see the movie The Number 23, directed by Joel Schumacher.

The movie is about a middle-class nobody named Walter Sparrow (played by Jim Carrey), the dog catcher of the town, who becomes obsessed with the number 23 while reading a paperback novel. As the movie switches between the comic book-like scenes of the novel and Sparrow’s own life we see the two begin to blend as his madness deepens, damaging his relationship with his wife, confusing his son, and alienating his friends.

The world of the novel was depicted with some expertise, with strong colours and contrasts reminiscent of movie adaptions of graphic novels like 300 or Sin City. I was, frankly, dissapointed when I was ejected from this world and returned to Sparrow’s ranting about the number 23 and how much the novel is like his life.

Carrey’s gave me nothing in his performance to make me feel sympathetic or interested in his character. I just felt sorry for him and wondered when the movie would end. It’s about the only time I have felt like leaving the cinema half way through a movie. I was bored and the movie gave me no real reason to stay other than to be satisfied that the ending I expected was a cliched as I thought it would be.

Put simply, I didn’t like this movie. I probably should have gone to see The Reaping instead.

The Number 23
Writer: Fernley Phillips
Director: Joel Schumacher
Rating: 1/2 star

Mr Bean vs TMNT

Well the school holidays are nearly at a close and like most parents I have had to brave the storm of PG rated films that my kids wanted to see. On offer at the movies this autumn was Mr Bean’s Holiday and TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). So which of these appeals to the adult parent that has to sit though these sessions and which one got the kids’ vote?

Mr Bean’s Holiday was typical fare from Rowan Atkinson. Mr Bean wins a holiday to the south of France and along the way his story intertwines with an actress, a director and movie producer’s son who are all headed to Cannes for the film festival. It was funny in parts but most of it had already been seen in the movie trailer. My 10 years old, laughed at Mr Bean’s funny faces and my six year old loved the scene where Mr Bean is in a German uniform doing a funny walk (reminded my of John Cleese and the Dept of Silly Walks). For me, the payoff was the the movie showing at Cannes where the Director (Willem Dafoe) is presenting a vanity film piece that Mr Bean interrupts and replaces his digital recorder footage of his recent holiday whilst the original film’s narration plays in the back ground. The combination is a great success.

“TMNT”, where to start. I remember seeing the original cartoon series a long time ago and did see the original movie (Vanilla Ice and all). Lets just say, that my expectations were low and if my kids weren’t into Tae Kwon Do, I would probably not have bothered to go. Well to my surprise I liked this darker edged version of the turtles. As somewhat of an IT geek, I found the scene where Mikey is suffering through his day job at the IT help desk absolutely priceless (although this humour was lost on the rest of the audience). The animation was excellent and I liked the story and journey of brothers working together and being strong as one. My kids just liked the colour and animation fight scenes.

So which gets the seal of approval. Both were an easy way to spend 90 mins of holiday fun. For my six year old Mr Bean was the best, however my ten year old’s clear vote was with “TMNT”. So which one did Mum enjoy more? Well surprisingly I’d give “TMNT” 3.5 stars because there was enough action to keep me interested and it had a story about team work which appeals to me given my management theory background. “Mr Bean” a close second at 3 stars (mainly because I had seen it all before).

Mr Bean’s Holiday
Director: Steve Bendelack
Rating: 3 stars

TMNT
Director:Kevin Munroe
Ratin: 3.5 stars

Is Mr Bond relevant to today’s female audience

Let me start by saying, I have never really got the whole “James Bond” thing. Apart from a mild attraction to Sean Connery, I never found the Bond genre something I was interested in. As an ambitious career driven woman, the sexist comments and inadequate female role model characters were just one of the many reasons to stay well clear of Mr Bond.

So when the new James Bond film came out, I was one of the few who stayed away. Recently, a female work colleague I admire, prompted me to look at the new Bond and give Mr Bond another chance. So I reluctantly hired the new release Casino Royale DVD.

The new Bond was certainly more interesting and complex as we see him develop from agent to 00 status. He surprisingly appeared to be challenged by the smart and intelligent female counterpart of Vespa Lynn. Yes the new Bond predictably falls in love with this smart, intelligent (implied because she is an accountant) yet beautiful women. Predictably again, she betrays him and I guess this is used as an explanation as to why in the future Bond does not trust anyone (and treats women with disdain). Pity, I liked seeing the vunerable James very much.

The new Bond is gritty and there are less gimmicks and gadgets yet this was part of its charm and made the movie seem more up to date and modern. The poker game was lost on me as I don’t play poker but what do you expect when the film is called Casino Royale.

So, will I be tempted to see the next Daniel Craig Bond outing? Well maybe. It was better than i expected and probably worth another look, but if the next one reverts back to one dimensional female characters, then i’m afraid James will loose me forever.

Casino Royale
Director : Martin Cambell
Released : Dec 2006
Rating: 3 stars

Primer

A public holiday snuck up on me so with a flu biting at my ankles I went down to the local video store and hired a few movies. As I passed by the scifi shelf I noticed a movie called Primer. The cover said it won two awards at Sundance in 2004 (Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and Grand Jury Prize) so I figured it was worth a watch.

The movie is about a few backyard scientists who accidently build a time machine. It’s done in a steadycam-style, like Blair Witch, and has a very gritty, detached, documentary feel to it that I really liked. There’s little in the way of explanation in the dialogue to let you know exactly what is going on in the plot or the true relationship between the main characters. You’re left wondering what’s going on even in critical scenes. I found this quite annoying at first because it meant I had to start using my brain (hard when you have the flu) when all I wanted was to be entertained! But as the two main characters, Aaron and Abe, started to indirectly refer to the consequences of paradox I realised what I was in for. It left me to ponder, and rightly so, what would happen if the all rules that time binds us to - information, knowledge, control, power, money - could be bent.

This is not a movie for rainy days and unless you understand the philosophical nature of time paradox you’re going to completely miss the point. If you have no brain space for a thinking movie then Back to the Future probably explored these issues in a much more fun way. Me? I liked it and am going to have to hire it again when my head clears a little!

Primer
Writer: Shane Carruth
Director: Shane Carruth
Released: Dec 2004
Rating: 4 stars