Never Let A Posh Totty Sandwich Go

Imagine a world where Michael Bay's The Island was made...but without Michael Bay. What if that movie had the same basic science fiction concept, yet explored it using a different perspective and infinite subtlety, rather than non-stop Baysplosions ...Kablaamm!!!...Kabloom!!!

That film now exists in the form of Never Let Me Go, adapted by regular Danny Boyle collaborator Alex Garland and directed by Mark Romanak. And, in every single way (apart from the explosions), Never Let Me Go is infinitely better than Bay's migraine-fest. If follows the intertwined lives of Kathy, Tommy & Ruth, starting at the time they all lived and studied at a strict English Boarding school and onwards through their lives. Where this differs significantly in story from The Island is that the principle characters do NOT rebel. From the day a morally concerned teacher advises the kids that their purpose in their short life is to be organ donors, to the day society required them for harvesting...they gloomily accept their fate. While it may not be as exciting as a story where the protagonists say "To hell with the system. Let's break out/Let's change things!" it is more realistic. How many of us work within the confines of society...observing the rule of law, economy, etiquette etc...until the days we die. we may not like it but we do. In the short lifespan of the three leads we can see the larger issues of life, love, faith and identity on them, as these issues might affect us in our own lives.

The film's tone is restrained and muted and in many ways quite sad. With Mark Romanak's reserved direction the performances of the three leads is allowed to carry the movie. Knightly's role is relatively small, but she does well in a posh, bitchy part. Andrew Garfield (soon to be the new Spider-man) is someone with the range and acting chops to make an impact on awards ceremonies in years to come. But it's the utterly brilliant Carey Mulligan that devours the screen...and all while doing very little. They say acting is mostly about reacting...and hers is a performance of a quiet introvert, tiny expressions and unexpected acting choices making us feel every emotion in her being. This girl's gonna win an Oscar one day. Also astounding is the work of young Izzy Meikle-Small who plays Kathy at a younger age. It's as if they shrunk Mulligan down to a younger child and retained all of the incredibly subtle acting ability when they did it.

A small, under-stated film about life itself, Never Let Me Go is quite brilliant and really quite heartbreaking. What's even more upsetting at this early stage is how little Oscar buzz it's getting. Come the new year, I hope that changes.

Express Elevator To Hell...Going Down

Devil is the first movie produced under The Night Chronicles banner; a series of films whose stories originate from Mr M. Night Shyamalan, and because of that has many similarities to the writer/director's other films. It's quite talky, has a focused sense of location, character and story and is again thematically about finding belief and redemption.

It's about five strangers who get trapped in a skyscraper elevator, and the efforts of the police and security teams who are trying to rescue them, when they mysteriously die, one by one. John Erick Dowdle directs like a TV hack...competently but with little flair and the cast are a bunch of aspiring fellows who do a decent job throughout. The story originating from M Night means the thing is paced pretty well with the dramatic tension stemming from whether the killer is human or supernatural, whether they'll escape, and who the killer is...Satan in disguise or not.

The thing is, while it plays out competently enough, the ending is not that revelatory, being predictable and not that exciting. But for a psychological horror where people are stuck in a lift for most of the movie, it's pretty decent (and a damn sight better that 2009's Blackout starring Amber Tamblyn).

The More You Tighten Your Grip, The More Owls Will Slip Through Your Feathers

Zack Snyder has had the complaint leveled at his movies (mainly 300 and Watchmen) that they're style over substance. Hogwash I say! 300 might not have much to say but it's still a compelling character story of a driven King and Watchmen works politically, socially and psychologically on several levels. But with Zack's latest, The Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'Hoole, I think I might have to side with his detractors. It's one of the best looking animated features I've laid my eyes on; detailed and realistic, beautifully lit and imaginatively designed. But...

The story's a bit so-so and the characters a bit limp. It's basically Star Wars revamped for Owls, complete with a super-weapon designed to obliterate the enemy and it's got The Force too ("Trust your Gizzard Soren!"). Apart from a few exceptions (step forward Hugo Weaving and Helen Mirren) the Aussie voice cast sound a little unenthused and similar, which doesn't help when many of the owls look similar to each other to begin with. There's Snyders trademark freeze frames and camera speed ramp-ups to keep the action fresh and exciting...but it's all a bit too flat and familiar to get too worked up about.

I'm pretty sure I won't be saying that next March when Snyder's Suckerpunch is released; hot chicks fighting giant Samurai, Dragons and Nazi Zepplins with machine guns. Hell, even I won't need substance for that movie.

The Affleck Strikes Back

Poor Ben Affleck. After receiving an Oscar, along with co-writer and co-star Matt Damon, for Good Will Hunting, the fortunes of Ben and Matt have headed in two seperate directions. While Damon opted for acting projects with quality directors Redford, Soderberg, Eastwood, Greengrass and Scorsese, Affleck took the bullshit blockbuster root with films like Deception, Forces Of Nature, Pearl Harbour, Gigli, Paycheck and Daredevil. Some of them made plenty of money (Armageddon) and a few of them received some acclaim (Changing Lanes / The Sum Of All Fears) but the general feeling was that Ben didn't have much range as an actor or that he'd sold out, taking the 'movie star' route to film acting. And I think I'd go along with that.

But then Ben made a decision. He started rebuilding his credibility in the movie world, first by taking prestigious roles in edgier fare like Smokin' Aces, State Of Play and Hollywoodland. Then he turned his hand to directing with the critically acclaimed Gone Baby Gone. His follow up directorial effort to that, The Town in which he stars as well, is a triumph.

You can see why producer Christopher Nolan had Affleck on his wish list to direct the upcoming Superman flick as Affleck's direction is accomplished, mature and assured. As with most crime capers, The Town is about a professional thief who wants to go straight...the twist here being that he's fallen in love with a former hostage from a recent bank job. Every performance is top notch from an understated Affleck, hothead Jeremy Renner, determined cop John Hamm, neighbourhood tart Blake Lively and Rebecca Hall's fragile victim. It's tense, thrilling, gritty and absorbing...The Town is reminisent of crime classics like Heat and The Departed. Who'd have thought that arrogant twat from Armageddon could have it in him.

On a final note, I'm a little worried about the hype surrounding Jeremy Renner. Now he's been brilliant in both this and Hurt Locker to be sure, but rumours of him being groomed to be a leading man...potentially feel premature and foolish. I've not seen anything that would make me think he's capable of playing a character that's sympathetic or likable enough to carry a major franchise like Mission Impossible. Even rumours of him taking on the rebooted Snake Pliskin role fill me with dread as Kurt Russell's Snake was at least charming. Renner has yet to show any charm. So Hollywood...I hope you know what you're doing...

Easily An A-List Movie Star

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Emma Stone is gonna be one big movie star. If we liken Stone's emerging career to that of megastar actress Sandra Bullock, then Superbad, Zombieland and The House Bunny are to Stone what Demolition Man was to Bullock. By that analogy then, Easy A is going to be for Stone what Speed was for Bullock. Boy oh boy, is she gonna be big. Witty, flippant, and cute in that girl-next door kind of way, hers is a natural charm and DNA deep comic gift that can't be learnt. And given a leading role for the first time she confidently carries this high school, teen comedy squarely on her young shoulders.

It's basically about a little-noticed high school girl who goes along with a lie about losing her virginity. When the lie improves her status at school, she embraces the fib, allowing it to mutate, to the point where everybody thinks she's a slut. The script is surprisingly honest and mature, the humour both sophisticated and crass and the tone fun, yet believable. The cast are exemplary with not a weak link in the chain from Stone's worldly and amusing parents, Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci, to Amanda Bynes preachy, obnoxious Jesus Freak.

Director Will Gluck isn't afraid to acknowledge the films genre ancestors, referencing Say Anything and The Breakfast Club, not for a cheap laugh (although it is funny) but to better demonstrate the plight of Stone's morality confused heroine. It's nice that the ending isn't all neatly tied up in the end, allowing the main character to live with the consequences of her actions; it all just adds to the rare maturity of a teen genre film that's too good for just teens.

As for Stone, she's got the Spider-man reboot on the horizon. But it's going to be in smart, lead roles like in Easy A that she's going to have a long and successful Hollywood career. And when it comes to actresses, that doesn't happen very often. Tons of them look beautiful. A handful turn out to be great actresses. But very few actresses have what it takes to be movie stars. Stone will be.

Independence Day 2 - Shit Happens

You've got to hand it to The Brother Strause. They make darned pretty movie trailers. Great special effects, glossy photography, action, hip young actors and style aplenty. If The Brothers Strause made fake film trailers...in the Grindhouse tradition of Rodriguez and Tarantino...you'd want to see every single movie. But, unfortunately for us all The Brothers Strause make full length feature films. Their first, the abysmal Aliens Vs Predator Requiem contains all the positive attributes listed above...and yet it's a complete steaming pile of alien poo doo. Their follow up Skyline has a similarly impressive trailer...as well as a full length movie that's similarly unimpressive.

Skyline is basically Cloverfield meets Independence Day. Since the group of unlikable young actors never leave their apartment block, it keeps the budget nice and low. But The Brothers Strause keep the intelligence level low too with dumb, obnoxious characters doing dumb things allowing the dumb alien invaders to dumbly pick them off one by one. It's like a full length movie was stretched out of a 20 minute Twilight Zone episode, with the plot climaxing at a point that feels both silly, incomplete and unsatisfying.

So, as with AvP-R, you have a group of wholly unlikable characters being chased around by glossy special effects...all the while the audience doesn't care one little bit. Stick to making trailers boys. Please.

Captain Kirk Vs The Plague Of Certain Death

If you've seen any of BBC's TV series survivors you'll have the same problem with that as you'll have with plague movie Carriers. And that is... what's the point in doing an apocalyptic virus drama when you can do an apocalyptic virus drama...with Zombies? Any situation where the world's entire population (well nearly) have been wiped out by an unstoppable biological threat is going to be made even more compelling and gripping if you add the threat of a flesh-eating, infected zombie lurking in every shadow. So what you get with Carriers is a solid drama...with little else.

The film looks great, has strong performances from Trek's Chris Pine, Piper Perabo and Emily VanCamp and there's some tense dramatic situations along the way...but nothing half a dozen undead couldn't make even better.

It's also a bit muddled about what it's trying to say. It's obviously a study of morality in survival situations, perhaps suggesting that if you adhere to unbreakable, self-imposed rules that go against your own hopes and morals as a human being, then there will be absolutely nothing worth living for. Then again, maybe not. Not a huge amount happens and the story doesn't go very far either. Solid, but amiguous -
Zombies not included.