Views from the Void

X Men Origins: Wolverine
Plot: James Howlett (AKA Logan) and half brother Victor Creed survive through many years and wars doing what they do best. killing! After surviving a firing squad, Major Stryker offers them work on a mutant strike force ‘team X’. The questionable antics force Logan to leave the team and he heads off to lead a normal life with girlfriend Kayla. Six Years Later, Stryker returns to inform Logan that Victor is now killing off members of team X and offers him a way to defeat him; by giving him a skeleton of adamantine, which he agrees to after Victor kills Kayla. Stryker then double crosses Logan (now nicknamed Wolverine) so Logan hunts down Stryker and his laboratory, where they are experimenting on a new killer, Weapon XI.
My Thoughts: I am not sure my plot description does the film justice, as it appears to be a touch confusing, but the film does make sense. I was worried that the film will just be about Wolverine and how he began, but thankfully there is a great story and some great new mutant characters, such as Dukes and Gambit! The action is fast paced and thrilling, with some great fight scenes.
On the whole this film is a wonderful addition to the X-men universe.
Best Bit: The end fight scene with Creed and Weapon 11! Also the new characters are good fun: my favourite was Gambit and I hope to see him again.
Score: 9/10

Angels and Demons
Plot: Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is back. The Pope has died and four Preferiti have been kidnapped by someone claiming to be Illuminati. They are going to kill one every hour and lay their bodies at altars around Rome and then blow up the Vatican using a stolen vial of AnitMatter. Can Longdon, with the help of Physicist Vittoria, follow the clues of the Illimunati before the anti matter explodes?
My Thoughts: I read the book after the Da Vinci Code Book, but found the book slower to get in to. The film also suffers from the same thing. It takes a while to get going. The action really only starts when they are follwing the path through Rome. In my mind, his book didn’t transfer to film so well (and I think they changed a few things, but it was a long time since I read the book). There are some nice action scenes, like the ‘Fire’ scene, but it never really hits any great crescendo and I didn’t get to feel much of a sense of danger from the threat.
It is still a good film, but I think the book was better.
Best Bit: The ‘Fire’ and ‘Water’ scenes.
Score: 7/10

Star Trek
Plot: Not to give too much away… new academy recruits Kirk, Spok, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and ‘Bones’ board the brand new flagship ‘Enterprise’ as they try to stop the threat of a Rogue Romulan from the future… one with a grudge against Ambassador Spok! Let the adventure begin…
My Thoughts: To be honest I was expecting not to like this film as much as I did. I had heard that the new ‘Kirk’ was a bit arrogant and unlikeable, but I found him quite believable as the hero (and I didn’t dislike him). Sylar from Heroes makes a brilliant Spok and really added something to the role. In fact the entire crew were very well drawn and believeable… except for one thing that really annoyed me. And that was the Uhura/Spok thing. Where did that come from? I didn’t find that at all believable. And if you’re wondering why I didn’t list Scotty in the crew above, it’s because they pick him up a bit later. And Simon Pegg does a great job as Scotty- regardless of the accent , but my favourite character was Chekov- A manic mathematician with the inablility to say the letter V. The story is well delivered and the action is gripping right from the start. The script has enough for the old fans to enjoy but obviously gives scope for writers to begin afresh for future films (and I hope there are more)
On the whole it is a well written action adventure that really made me thirsty for more. If only they didn’t do the Uhura/ Spok thing.
Best Bit: Bones stows Kirk onto the Enterprise by giving him an injection, with some bizarre side effects
Score: 10/10 ( I was tempted to drop it down to 9 but I decided to turn a blind eye to the Uhura/Spok thing)

Ghosts of Girlfriends past
Plot: Connor Mead is a fashion photographer and a certifiedbachelor/ladies man. He gets invited to his brothers wedding, where he gets visited by the ghost of his uncle Wayne. The ghost tells him to expect visits from three ghosts overnight, the ghost og girlfriends past, present and future. Will they help him change his ways and realise that his only true love, Jenny, could be escaping him.
My thoughts: You may be mistaken to think that this is a subtle remake of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol’. But you’d be wrong! Because it is no way subtle! In fact at one point it, it makes fun of the fact.; when the ghosts have visited he opens the window and calls out to a young lad in the snow “What day is it today? Is it Christmas?”
The characters are one dimensional so as not to complicate the idea of the simple plot. The film is cheesy but not unpleasant and although the comedy is never laugh out loud funny, there isbound to be enough to put a smile on your face. The characters are paint by numbers characters, as if someone had a checklist of stereotypes to have in the film. Connors character is “over the top” batchelor-esque but I suppose this is to make the change more obvious at the end.
On the whole a pleasant comedy, but it had no real stand out moments. I was wishing for a scene stealer like Rupert Everett in ‘My Best friends Wedding’, but it never quite happened.
Best bits: The ghost of Christmas Past was quite funny. And the Weding cake disaster
Score: 6/10

I love you, man
Plot: Peter (Paul Rudd) is about to get married. His fiancé, Zooey, has plenty of girl friends to share her intimate moments with and ask to be bridesmaids. Paul who has only really felt comfortable in the company of women, hasn’t got a male best friend to ask to be best man. So Peter decides to hunt out a male best friend. ….. enter Sidney, a fun loving, gross but honest bachelor.
My thoughts: This is a great buddy movie. I have always rated Paul Rudd as an actor and he shines in this film. The character Peter is well portrayed, especially showing his discomfort in male social situations. In fact I feel a certain empathy towards the character of Peter: The scenes where he is hovering over the phone not knowing the protocol about how to arrange man-dates are scenes I have played out myself. There were moments in the film where I thought to myself “That is so true!” It is good to see a film delving into the realms of man-dating, as most other films have character relationships already established.
Sydney is a great contrast character: the type of character that most men envy. He helps lead Peter into his missing guyhood, but works really well is that by the end of it, Sidney needs Peter just us much as Peter needs Sidney.
The relationship between Zooey and Peter is also well created You can see her discomfort in the company of Sid and she feels like she may be losing Peter, even though it was her (and friends) discussions that led him to search for a male friend.
ON the whole, a great buddy movie with great acting. And a great performance from old rockers Rush!
Best Bit: Paul Rudd shines as Peter. His scenes with Sid show the discomfort Peter has in male social situations. I know these feelings well
Score: 8/10

Knowing
Plot: In 1959, a school decides to bury a time capsule. Most of the children draw pictures, but a young girl, haunted by voices, writes pages of numbers. 50 years later, the time capsule is opened and young Caleb receives the numbers. Caleb’s dad, astrophysicist John Koestler (Nicholas Cage) finds a pattern and realises the numbers represent dates and death rates of national disasters. However, there are a few dates yet to come and the final one predicts the end of the world.
My Thoughts: As a mathematician I was interested to watch a movie based around numbers, and on the whole I wasn’t disappointed. There is a darkness and a sense of foreboding in the way the film is shot, which makes Nicholas Cage a good choice of actor for main character. I did feel the ending of the film was a bit rushed and weak compared to the rest of it. It is as if the writers, after producing a great idea, didn’t really know how to end it.
On the whole, it is a nice, sharp sci-fi movie, with a blunt ending. Think Dark Water meets Close Encounters.
Best Bit: The disaster scenes are well shot (If a little unbelievable- I really think if he was that close to a plane crashing, he wouldn’t have been totally unharmed!)
Score: 7/10

Watchmen
Plot: The watchmen, a group of self appointed superheroes, are in trouble. One of their number, "The Comedian" has been murdered. Could this mean that someone is out to kill the masked superheroes? And is this the end of the world?
My thoughts. This film was not what I expected it to be. it was not a straigh-forward superhero movie. In fact, the masked heroes are human (with the exception of Dr Manhatten- who evolved after an accident in a Nuclear Reactor). These heroes have faults and desires and they are explored, mostly in flashback form, in this dark "Sin City" style film. The main characters, who have all but retired from Superhero-dom, struggle with the thought of coming out of retirement to find out who may be behind the recent murder of "The Comedian". The film is long (A hefty 2 and a half hours) and can drag in places, but there is enough to keep you going. In is interesting to see how the characters became their superhero alter egos (especially in the case of Rorshach- who has the most mesmerising mask which swirls into different ink-blot styles). The film does pick up at the end, and there is plenty of action in the second half, but it does take a while to get there!
On the whole, if you enjoy dark comic style movies with depth then you will enjoy this. If you prefer the light-hearted hero film, then this might be too much. It is an 18 and there is plenty of violence and gore- especially when Rorschach is involved (just wait for the scenes in the prison))
Plus the ending is a surprise- it was just a shame that you had to wait so long for it. But, I suppose to make it shorter they would have had to cut stuff out, and then it wouldn't have worked so well.
Best bit: Rorshach in prison- and the exciting end!
Score: 8/10