Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
This isn’t the kind of blockbuster that sets out a simple premise then follows it up with half a dozen action sequences, possibly with a twist at the end. No, this is the story of Ape and Man learning to interact and coexist — or, rather, failing to. Political machinations abound — and that’s just in the Ape camp.Read more here.
Machete (2010)
When it’s on its game, Machete is the best kind of spoof: innovative, comical... Unfortunately it’s far too long, with an overabundance of characters and conflicts dragging things out.Read more here.
Sin City (Recut & Extended) (2005)
The lack of notable new material isn’t the issue, though. The real problem is the re-structure. Let’s not beat around the bush: it scuttles the film. Individually, each of the three longer narratives is fine, but when watched back-to-back as if it were still one film, the structure is unbalanced.Read more here.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)
a collection of hyper-noir short stories, connected by location and overlapping characters, that flits between time periods with abandon — this is both a prequel and sequel to the first film... If the first was noir with a comic book mentality, then the second is a comic book with a noir mentality.Read more here.
The Spirit (2008)
Comic book creator Frank Miller brings what he learnt co-directing Sin City to this adaptation of Will Eisner’s classic newspaper strip. Turns out, that’s not much.Read more here.
The World's End (2013)
This is a more mature work than its two predecessors. While they were clever genre mash-up/pastiches, this goes lighter on that crowd-pleasing bumf. There are still generous segments of that in the film, but the genre being manipulated is less clearly defined and occasionally co-writers Pegg and Wright have substituted character development and thematic points for send-up.Read more here.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
There’s an awful lot going on in Days of Future Past, which, if you want to dig into it, makes for quite a rich film. There’s the obvious need to balance major storylines taking place in both the past and the future... but there’s enough [character] material for a quality actor like James McAvoy to sink his teeth into.Read more here.
Plus one new to the new blog...
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
at times it reminded me of Pride & Prejudice — a family of daughters seeking marriage — albeit a version of Pride & Prejudice with much of the dramatic tension removed. For instance, Austen’s tale spends a long time creating a bad impression of Mr Darcy, only to eventually reveal his (mostly) good intentions. St. Louis, on the other hand, manages all of five minutesRead more here.
More next Sunday.
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