Inside Out – Richards Reckons Review

When I left the cinema after watching this film, there was a change to normal. I still had my slightly awkward walk and my jacket was still sodden from the grey downpour that had dribbled all over London, so it wasn’t that – but I was wearing sunglasses. “Why oh why were you wearing sunglasses?” I hear you ask in your millions, “They’re an incredibly impractical thing to wear in a still-quite-dark room as it impairs your visibility directly and you look like a bit of a dick” I also hear you somewhat smarmily add. The answer is this; it was to cover my rather puffy eyes.

I had been crying. HARD.

This film made me cry more than any film in the cinema ever has (even harder than when I saw The Best of Me when I realised how much of my life I had wasted watching it). I’m a very masculine man, consistently mistaken for both Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Ray Winstone (don’t think about the logic of that, just accept it) and while I can be moved by films it takes a lot to make me sob but this did it – a lump materialised in my throat from the first 30 seconds, before it bulldozed the blubgates open with a gut punch to the feels.

In case you’re unsure of what Disney Pixar’s new high-concept movie is, allow me to fill you in; Riley is an 11 year old girl who we follow from her birth, from both outside and inside her head as we witness the inner mechanics of her mind; her “headquarters” are led by her five emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Anger (Lewis Black). As her parents relocate her to San Francisco from Minnesota (oh jeez, no Fargo crossover here I’m afraid), Joy and Sadness get lost away from headquarters and chaos reigns in Riley’s head as they try to get back with the help of her old imaginary friend, a candy floss elephant Bing Bong (Richard Kind).

Directed by Pixar wunderkind Pete Docter, Inside Out is stunning in every capacity. The visuals are as gorgeous as you’d expect from Pixar, and more so – the emotions themselves are beautifully rendered with vibrant, active colouring and skin that looks like it’s made of fuzzy felt that make them come alive even more. San Francisco somewhat deliberately looks grey and drab whereas the rest of the palette is reserved for the vistas and landscapes inside Riley’s mind. The headquarters control room has a kooky Enterprise feel to it whereas the rest of the mindscape has character of its own; from the old school Hollywood feel of Dream Productions to the Lego Movie-esque Imagination Land, every location has been thoroughly thought about and beautifully realised on the screen.

The voice acting too is outstanding, especially from Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith and Richard Kind respectively, quipping their comedic lines with gusto and really powering through with the emotional meat (as much as one can power through meat) when they need to. It’s a very funny film too with concepts and lines reserved especially for adults (the “train of thought” for instance, or the confusion of the “facts” and “opinions” crates being a jab at the Twitter age). But it’s worth noting that the lines, actions and concepts of the film are both so funny and/or heartbreaking not just because of what they are, but what they mean for Riley, and what it’s saying about the very fabric of being human at all. It teaches us that we need to embrace all of our emotions and all of our memories – in fact, the movie makes a whole plot point out of quite why Sadness is needed at all, which is a fair criticism you may have of the film before you wander into the multiplex. The commentary that this film has on human personalities and psychology and even life itself elevates it above any standard animation fare, teaching children and adults alike about depression and about what makes you you. It also provides an explanation as to why songs from adverts get in your head, which is handy because I’ve had the “if you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our Club” song in my head for the past 23 years and now I finally know why (bloody Forgetters).

My only worry is that because it’s so high concept and at times challenging that some kids may get confused about what’s going on or may even not like it. But for everybody else Inside Out is utterly wonderful film that delivers in spades for your funny bones and tear ducts. Bring your sunglasses though – you’ll need them…

Big Hero 6, Inherent Vice & Trash – Richards Reckons Reviews

An inflatable personal healthcare assistant, a near-permanently stoned private detective and three young Brazilian boys are all in cinemas this week. What a crazy world it is beyond that big silver window.

Let’s start with Big Hero 6.

Big Hero 6 is the latest fruit to blossom from the acquisition of Marvel properties by the big dogs at Disney (they’re not literally dogs. Well, I don’t think so anyway – that said I’ve never seen them and dogs in the same room at the same time…). Based on a Marvel comic book series (but NOT part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe), Big Hero 6 follows a young man from San Fransokyo called Hiro (Ryan Potter), a gifted child prodigy who graduated high school at 13. Since then, he’s been making money illegal bot fighting in the backstreets. His brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) introduces him to his university robotics lab, as well as his friends Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jnr), Fred (TJ Miller), GoGo (Jamie Chung) and Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez). He also introduces him to his invention; a personal healthcare companion designated to helping and healing people named Baymax (Scott Adsit). After Hiro witnesses his microbot inventions being used for evil after he thought he lost them forever, he and Baymax assemble a team together (as well as creating several “upgrades” along the way) to try to get them back.

Big Hero 6 is the latest movie from Disney and the successor to the insanely popular (and in my opinion massively overrated but that’s just me) Frozen, so it has big ol’ chilly boots to fill. And, in my opinion, it’s an absolutely resounding success in doing so. When I saw Big Hero 6 for the second time, I decided to buy a little cup with Baymax on the top of it. When strolling back home afterwards, kids would point at it and identified who it was right away, asking their guardians to get their own bits of merchandise. This is after the movie had been out for LESS THAN A WEEK. Mark my words, Baymax and co. will be everywhere soon, and for good reason.

Firstly, the colourful characters are all wonderful – each of them have their own distinct personality traits that makes them all gel together nicely as well as differ enough to become instantly recognisable. Each member of the Big Hero 6 team is loveable and fun in their own way, from catchphrases (GoGo’s “woman up!” spin on the classic phrase is particularly fantastic) to later powers. But special kudos goes to Hiro and Baymax for being such a great team – and despite the fact that one of them is a robot, they both have real growth and real character arcs.

In fact, in some respects that I obviously cannot go into, the film itself can actually be heartbreaking. Especially towards its climax, where it contains some of the most touching moments I’ve seen for a long time in animation. Any film that can conjure up these emotions in a 23 year old man (even if I am a bit of a softie) deserves emotional plaudits really. But don’t be fooled by that; the script is bubbling over with witty dialogue and jokes, as well as brilliantly timed physical comedy (the sight of Baymax walking in his armour is among the most hilarious in the film itself).

I mean, sure, the plot is contrived within an inch of its life, has twists which are pretty easily foreseeable and it doesn’t seem original – but it’s such a touching, dynamically told version of a super-heroic team up narrative that you just don’t mind that. Tears will be shed in the cinema, both from laughing and crying, but it’s such a fun adventure to go on that it’s well worth your eyes leaking. Directors Don Hall and Chris Williams have done a fantastic job here in crafting such a lovely movie that’s fun and dazzling along the way. A truly enjoyable experience.

Also I really want to visit San Fransokyo. It looks amazing.

Onto Inherent Vice.

Right, where do I start with THIS plot summary. Bear with me here. So, Inherent Vice follows Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), a private detective living in Los Angeles in 1970 who also happens to be a near permanently stoned hippie. One day, he is visited by his rather floaty ex-girlfriend Shasta (Katherine Waterston). She explains that she has a new lover by the name of Mickey Wolfman (Eric Roberts) and how his wife supposedly has a plot to get him abducted and committed to an asylum. He also seems to be hired by a character played by Michael K. Williams to find somebody he was in prison with. And then also by an ex-heroin addict played by Jena Malone to find her husband who she fears is dead (played by Owen Wilson). Oh and also Josh Brolin is in there as his supposed nemesis. And Benicio Del Toro appears as… I’m not even sure. And Reese Witherspoon is a deputy DA who is having an affair with Doc who appears in the film in about two scenes. There’s also some dentists and a gang called the “Golden Fang”.

So, yes, as you can tell from that, the plot of Inherent Vice isn’t really there – it just trundles and wanders through its own chaotic narrative much like Doc wanders through everything. The narrative is like smoke – thick, marijuana-tinged smoke which is disorientating and delirious. All of this sounds like a good description of a thrilling, hallucinogenic cinema ride, but it isn’t.

It’s incredibly annoying and tedious.

From reading reviews by critics that I for the most part normally agree with, I thought I was in the wrong here somehow (well, as far as having your own opinion CAN be wrong). But it’s not just me; audiences all over the country have apparently been walking out of the movie before it’s finished – a phenomena that, especially in the economic climate with cinema prices the way they are, just doesn’t happen very often anymore. Walking out partway through a film is not something that I personally agree with but I can totally see why they did it too – there’s no sense of resolve or continuity to the film whatsoever, and that’s what is so frustrating about it. The characters mumble their dialogue at an irritatingly slow pace, making pointless scenes feel like they drag on even longer. Paul Thomas Anderson feels like he is trying to create a sort of psuedo-comedic, bohemian stoner thriller but it moves at such a slow pace and is so frankly badly told that it sets the audience against it after a while and wears them down, down, deeper and down until they want it to end. Or so it seems, anyway.

There are a couple of good sequences in here, and Joaquin Phoenix plays the role of Doc very well with a very dazed touch with a surprising amount of physical comedy, but overall for me Inherent Vice felt like an aesthetically pretty but far too long, drawn out, and pretentious mess which is far from a joy to watch. There are a range of characters played by a range of different and talented actors but too many of them feel one-note and dropped in purely for the sake of being convoluted. There’s an interesting critic/audience divide here it seems (with some very condescending, “aw-bless-you-don’t-like-it-because-you-don’t-understand-it” reactions from the former to the latter), but on this one I side with the audience.

Now onto Trash.

Trash is the tale written by Richard Curtis of three Brazilian street kids named Raphael, Gardo and Rato (Rickson Tevez, Eduardo Luis and Gabriel Weinstein). They sort through heaps of rubbish every day in order to find anything valuable to help them out. One day, they find a wallet which apparently contains more than they bargained for – setting them on a collision course conspiracy against the corrupt Rio de Janeiro police force and political powers. They’re helped on their quest for the truth by aid workers Father Juliard (Martin Sheen) and Sister Olivia (Rooney Mara – no, this character has NO dragon tattoo). But can they escape the brutal police force and get justice before they get caught?

Trash is mostly in Portuguese, with English only appearing occasionally almost as a courtesy – I’m glad that it is mostly in Portuguese as it adds to the authenticity of the film. It’s one of those films where it’s so well established and so well performed by the young cast that you feel like you’re there with them – director Stephen Daltrey makes an amazing job of transferring you to the action alongside these three young boys, making you root for them even harder. It may be marketed like Slumdog Millionaire but this is a much grittier affair, with a real sense of mortal danger for these kids no matter where they go.

The three central performances are fantastic and really do steal the show away from Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen. The only weakness in the film’s bow is its somewhat strange ending which doesn’t quite tie everything up as well as it could do. However, the ride to get there is dark yet strangely exhilarating, especially in some of its on-foot chase segments from the big bad policemen through favelas and train stations. An exciting and aspirational story of escaping the gutter and taking on oppression and corruption.

Nightcrawler, Love Rosie & The Book of Life – Richards Reckons Review

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! No, I am not booing you, but rather I am booing AT you rather like a ghost would. For it is Halloween, and for Halloween, here are the reckonings for, er, one dark drama, a romcom and an animated family adventure. Scary times.

Let’s kick off by trawling through the underbelly of nighttime Los Angeles with Nightcrawler*.

There’s a plot here bleeding and therefore leading (if you’ve seen the trailer, that joke makes a lot of sense and you’re probably laughing literally right now) in this film, and here it is; Lou Bloom (a character not so much played by but inhabited by Jake Gyllenhaal) is an extremely driven, persuasive and somewhat odd young man who is desperate for employment, and isn’t afraid to break the law for money. When he witnesses the aftermath of a car accident on the highway, he notices Joe Loder (the mighty Bill Paxton. More films need more Paxton) filming the wreckage. Lou then becomes intrigued by the world of ‘nightcrawling’; filming ‘exciting’ news stories/crimes/accidents in LA and selling the footage to news outlets. He even takes on an assistant (Riz Ahmed) to help him to do so. But as he gets deeper and deeper, he gets more and more desperate for the big stories, and will go to any means to get them…

To find the heart and soul of this film, we must look to Lou Bloom himself. Lou Bloom (it’s such a fun name to type and say) is an unhinged man desperate for work; always willing to tell everybody who even walks past him his skill set, his passion for work, his flexibility in terms of working hours. In short, Lou Bloom is a twisted, dark reflection of the LinkedIn generation; a walking, talking, near grovelling, gaunt CV. He wants to belong and he wants to be the best at what he does, but he has no idea in what capacity yet. The world of nightcrawling meets his sensibilities for having a twisted eye and the ability to manipulate people to get an end goal. When he does get into a position of vague success and takes on his own “employee”, he spouts back all the stuff he’s heard already about work placements; replicating employment jargon as a power play and to swell his own chest up like a proud owl. The heart and soul of Lou Bloom is that of jealousy, darkness and psychopathy; as is the heart and soul of the film itself.

The weird thing, though, is that somehow I wanted him and the film to be nastier and more twisted. Don’t get me wrong, it deals with some harsh subject matter and events in a darkly, hilariously trivial way (the skewed reality that news shows is made shockingly apparent) but I felt there was a step beyond that they did not go to. Now, this may be because to make Lou any more actively deranged would be too far, but it’s a ledge-beyond-the-edge (not the U2 guitarist) I wouldn’t have minded the film going to. Nonetheless, the protagonist and his scheming is what makes Nightcrawler such a great watch; quite what he’s up to, what he’s going to do next and how he is going to react keeps you guessing the whole way through, dealing with everything with internally ice cold, calculating efficiency. Jake Gyllenhaal is magnetising in this role, and this is, quite rightly, his show. Expect his fashion sense, with camera and nasal speaking voice to be replicated at fancy dress parties for a few years to come.

Nightcrawler* looks magnificent, too; it has an almost Drive like sensibility, with the bright shining city lights illuminating the dark stories unfolding before them, echoing the studio lights in the newsroom. The action is frantic where it needs to be, and the dialogue heavily paid attention to and given its due. The tension really does build in some sequences too, especially in (avoiding a spoiler safari here) a certain scene in somebody’s house. There are some scenes in the movie which feel like they can deflate this growing tension throughout the whole movie, but it’s still there, bubbling under the surface like a small but menacing kettle.

If I were to have small little niggling criticisms, I would say that I had a love/hate, hot/cold Katy Perry style relationship with the score; sometimes its guitars and bombast feel like they work, other times they don’t. The ending was also partially troubling for me too; there are parts I liked about it, but also parts I didn’t. This on/off style relationship I have with these components of course do not mean it’s a bad movie at all; a bad movie would make me flat out hate them.

Overall, however, while I’m not as fanatical about the film as I thought it would be, it’s still a very, very good ride; it keeps you guessing and truly plunges you head first into the world of chasing sirens and getting your hands well and truly dirty. Director Dan Gilroy has a hell of a writer/director debut on his hands with this one, and is rightly getting all the attention it deserves. If you like dark drama (if you don’t you’re pretty screwed at the cinema right now if I’m honest…), then be sure to check Nightcrawler* out as soon as you can.

Now onto romantic fluff-fest which has a confusingly placed comma in its title, Love, Rosie.

 

Love, Rosie (ARGH THAT COMMA) is the story of two friends, one a boy (Alex, played by Sam Claflin) and one a lady (called Rosie, funnily enough, played by Lily Collins – daughter of Phil), who grow up together throughout primary and high school, always juuuust missing out on each other. When she becomes pregnant and he moves away to Boston for university, the two try to keep in touch throughout the various events in their lives, but will they eventually get together and admit their feelings for one another?

You’ll remember when I reviewed The Best of Me only last week, I said it was one of the worst films of the year by far. The key point in that review was that I did not like it not because I am not in its target demographic, but because it was so utterly ridiculous and shambolically written it was insulting towards its target demographic. Once again, I am not in the target demographic for this film; extremely masculine and manly men such as myself aren’t in mind when these films are made. However, Love, Rosie is considerably better for its target audience than The Best of Me in a number of ways.

For a start, it is actually quite funny. Towards the beginning, it has quite a liberal attitude to sex and the uncomfortable parts of it that reflects nicely on screen, making the characters seem genuine and down to earth, despite how ridiculously good looking (read in Zoolander voice) they are. I was actually worried that after his turn as the despicable Alistair in The Riot Club it would be impossible for me to ever like Sam Claflin ever again, but he is a suitably charming but bumbling Hugh Grant figure here. Lily Collins as our central character is, too, an extremely likeable screen presence; you root for her the whole way through. It also has genuine character growth and narrative beats that, while somewhat contrived, do actually logically work and don’t feel all that forced; though that does include several weddings and a funeral (golden events in the romcom rulebook), as well as a level of predictability that can make the audience feel like fortune tellers.

Somewhat bizarrely, the thing I admire about the film is also something that it falls over on quite a few times; the timeframe. This film isn’t set over a summer or a year; it’s actually over several years, spanning to a little over a decade. While I respect the narrative choice to cover this amount of time, the film doesn’t really show much physical or mental progression by either of these characters over these relatively formative years of their young adult lives. The fact that they are and always have been in love is of course the common denominator, but there are no real dramatic changes except in terms of marital status; barely a hair moves on them throughout these years.

So, while contrived and a bit formulaic, this is a perfectly fine British rom com that doesn’t change the romcom rulebook, but sticks by it to good but not amazing effect.Though it does have the best use of Lily Allen’s song “F**k You” I’ve seen in a while, if you’re a romantic comedy fan then you will really enjoy this film; if you don’t, then there’s little to find here that warrants seeing it. Though it does of course tell the lesson that you can’t hurry love, no you’ll just have to wait, she said love don’t come easy… (get it? Because Lily Collins is Phil Collins daughter? And he sang that so- never mind…)

And, finally, we have the Guillermo del Toro produced The Book of Life.

 

Books have plots, and The Book of Life, though it sounds like a vague and sweeping title, is no different. In it, we have the story of two best friends Manolo (Diego Luna) and Joaquin (Channing all over your Tatum), who are both in love with their friend Maria (Zoe Saldana). The rulers of the different underworlds, La Muerte (Kate del Castillo) and Xibalba (Ron Perlman), make a wager with one another as to who Maria will marry; with La Muerte betting on Manolo and Xibalba betting on Joaquin. The boys grow up, but Maria moves away. Upon her return, who will she marry, and which post-death landlord will win the bet?

The story is actually more convoluted than that, bookended by a narrative framing device and also involving a town invaded by bandits, bullfighting, a love of music and a magical macguffin (just like my life, really). There is a LOT going on in this film in terms of story, as well as being based on Mexican beliefs about the afterlife; both concepts that very young children may find hard to grasp. Indeed, it can be quite confusing in some instances. But there is still a lot of fun to be had here once you get past the heavy exposition.

The locations, such as the magical fiesta world of the Land of the Remembered, are wonderfully vibrant and beautifully presented, and there are some fun voice performances (Ice Cube has a surprisingly funny turn) and dynamic dialogue for both kids and adults alike. The spirit of fun runs very deep within the Book of Life, presenting grand ideas such as what happens after we die and the nature of death in a jovial and colourful way rather than a heartbreakingly bleak way; indeed, one character at one point groans of the story “What is it with Mexicans and death?!”. Its look is also surprisingly original too, in a cinematic landscape filled to the brim with different character designs; the Book of Life has its own look and style that separates it from the rest.

In all, The Book of Life is perfect half term fodder; a colourful if exposition heavy and flawed family adventure with vibrant characters, a memorable look and fun dialogue.

*NOT the X-Men mutant

The Boxtrolls & A Most Wanted Man – Richards Reckons Reviews

Two Richards Reckons reviews comin’ atcha today (like a Dark Horse, one could say, except I’m neither particularly dark or equine). Let’s kick it right off with a bit of Boxtrolls.

The Boxtrolls is the latest escapade from the stop-motion animation studio Laika, who brought you such weird and bizarre tales like Coraline and ParaNorman. The plot of this said weird and bizarre tale is this; taking place in the Victorian town of Cheesebridge, we follow Eggs (Game of Thrones’ Isaac Hempstead-Wright), a young boy raised underground by a collective of beasties called the Boxtrolls; a race of beings who obsess over building things they find from above ground, and who hate to be seen without their boxes. However, the town of Cheesebridge views them as a bit of a pest problem, so the mayor hires the villainous Archibald Snatcher (Gandhi and Iron Man 3’s Sir Ben Kingsley) and his goons (including Nick Frost and Richard Ayoade) to rid the town of them for good, using all the cheese in the tasting room and a white hat as his payment.

I must first of all say that I was a bit cautious about this film due to Laika’s previous work. I did like ParaNorman a lot, but it’s fair to say that Coraline is their most well-known and well-cherished film; and it’s a film that for some reason really fails to push my buttons (hahaha, get it? Buttons? ‘Cos in Coraline they replace eyes with buttons… forget it). I was somewhat trepidatious when approaching The Boxtrolls for this reason (not literally approaching them; I don’t live in Cheesebridge). I must admit that at first, I didn’t quite warm to it as quickly as I wanted to – there was something about it that I couldn’t quite latch onto to begin with; a flow I couldn’t quite go with, if we were to talk in terms of Queens of the Stone Age.

However, as the film progressed, I found myself liking it more and more. I liked the story and various bizarre interludes it took along its way. I embraced the utterly grotesque figures that populate the world of Boxtrolls (by which I mean the adult humans of Cheesebridge rather than the Boxtrolls themselves). In fact, I would say there are some characters like some of Snatcher’s minions that would genuinely scare the bejesus out of me as a youngling, but the kids that were in the screen seemed to be fine with them. Maybe I just was, and still am, weak.

The highlights in Boxtrolls for me came from very surreal, very English class-based society of Cheesebridge. A town that is almost entirely based on the currency of cheese (which Snatcher pursuits despite being horrifically allergic) and different coloured hats are very Monty Python-esque, and the humour that comes from this situation does too have a Python feel to it that I loved. There is also a good dose of fish-out-of-water comedy with Eggs trying to fit in outside of the Boxtrolls world that also works nicely (“why would I say ‘pleased to meet you’ if I’m not pleased to meet them?”), where other films may fail in this regard. Sir Ben Kingsley is also utterly brilliant as the voice of Archibald Snatcher (possibly the most villainous name ever), with a voice that is completely unrecognisable as him; it sounds like a thick, chunky mix between Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall, but sounds dripping with sinister regardless of that ridiculous description.

The Boxtrolls themselves however never quite register as much as the humans do in their own right; they don’t resonate as individual cute little characters like, perhaps, the minions do. It’s somewhere the filmmakers could perhaps have developed on more, but I’m actually glad they didn’t as the humans were the characters I liked spending the most amount of time with. If you love (or, perhaps, get past) the uniquely grotesque animation, Richard Ayoade (who stars in a fantastic mid-credits sequence which highlights just how much work went into the making of this movie) and the surreal humour surrounding it, then I think you’ll enjoy the Boxtrolls as much as I did.

RIGHT. We need to be deadly serious now because it’s time for deadly serious moviefilm A Most Wanted Man.

A Most Wanted Man has a plot, funnily enough, and that plot is thus; Gunther Bachmann (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, tragically in one of his final roles) is the head of a secret spy unit based in Hamburg. After an illegal immigrant named Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) enters Hamburg, everybody in the intelligence community is worried once they realise he has access to a lot of his father’s money through inheritance and a banker (Willem Dafoe), and he may donate it to a terrorist cause – directly or indirectly. He contacts human a lawyer in Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), who then wants to help him donate his money and get asylum in Hamburg. However, Bachmann is under considerable pressure from other intelligence groups, such as Sullivan (Robin Wright) from the FBI, to track Karpov and his money before anything catastrophic happens.

Much like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, A Most Wanted Man is based on a John le Carré novel, so the film adaptation of this of course feels similar to Tinker Tailor with its moody, crisp (nearly typed “crispy” there but I wouldn’t say it’s quite like that) atmosphere and dense plot. And yes, A Most Wanted Man is a very intelligent thriller; full of double crossing, international politics and relations, laws between law enforcement establishments and very low on action in the Hollywood sense. There are very tense scenes involving sending emails and making bank transfers instead, and all credit to them that these are made incredibly tense, but aside from this we never get a real idea of the consequences of any actions happening. These are all factors that may turn some members of the audience right off (it certainly did in the screening I was in, with some annoying rotters sighing very loudly almost all the time).

It looks great (Hamburg makes a fantastic backdrop with its neon signs and chilly, almost Swedish atmosphere), and Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s performance is undoubtedly the highlight of the whole thing, but it feels a bit TOO dense and cold, like it’s trying to keep the audience at arms length at all times, never truly letting them in to any characters and their thoughts. Its barrage of dialogue and walls of exposition through telling can feel like a bombardment at times, as well as some areas that just aren’t made clear enough to make you care about them. It can also get quite confusing at times what people are doing and who for; while this is good in the sense that it can make you feel paranoid, it never really resonates as an effective means of doing so. There are also scenes that last for an overtly long amount of time in an attempt to appear realistic, however it detracts away from the immersion rather than making it seem more realistic in any way.

All in all, there are good aspects here, and some scenes (particularly towards the end) do shine through, but for the most part A Most Wanted Man feels like an overly complex international relations lesson without any real depth to it.

 

Marvel Super Heroes 4D Experience (Richards Reckons Review)

Without this sounding too much like a diary entry (trust me, I’ll spare you the emotional and existential laments of my diary entries; that and I want to save SOMETHING for my inevitable autobiography), today I went to Madame Tussaud’s in London. Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to review the whole place itself as I’m sure you all know it’s a cracker of an attraction in which you walk around looking at expertly-rendered waxworks of famous people, from the good (Helen Mirren), the bad (Hitler shows up, that rotter) AND the ugly (I’ll use this as another opportunity to attack Hitler – seriously, screw the guy).

I hadn’t been in years, and so it was to my sheer joy that at the end of the place they have a whole section dedicated to Marvel superheroes. As you’d expect, there were waxworks of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man and even Hawkeye, but I noticed that we were looking at these waxy heroes while in a queue for something else – it is of course the British way to be near perpetually in a queue for something, whether consciously or unconsciously. It was then I noticed (honestly, I should be at Scotland Yard with this skill set) a clock counting down to the “Marvel Super Heroes 4D Experience”.

This intrigued me, as any counting down clock does. I wanted to know what on earth this experience was, and how it penetrated the 4th dimension. So I diligently waited in line, holding in my pent up aggression at people pushing in (I probably have a stomach ulcer) like a good reserved Englishman. At around the 5 minute mark, a man in a white coat appeared, asking with a microphone if we were all having a good time, much like an eMC at a Dee-Jay set (yep, I’m still young, you better believe it), and proceeded to waste the next few minute by going through every single country he could possibly think of and asking if there was anybody from there about. He was probably one away from Trinidad & Tobago before he announced we could go into the next room.

Within the 10-15 minutes I was in that next room, I had an absolute blast.

It was an auditorium with screens the whole way around the circular roof, with a main screen at the front (rather sensibly, for everybody’s neck’s sakes). We took our seats and the lights went down, and there on the screen to greet us were Spider-Man and a very The-Incredibles flavoured Captain America, who had just arrived outside Buckingham Palace. The first thing you notice is your seat rumbling as Cap drives his bike to the gates. It’s much like the sensation you get when you play on a games console with Dualshock enabled – it’s a nice, more immersive touch. What follows is a very cheesy but extremely loveable series of events which involves Dr Doom attacking London with giant robots, and various Marvel heroes (pleasingly including Ms Marvel) defending the capital and the very building you’re in from Doombots. The sequences are pretty cool on their own, but they’re combined with a cocktail of physical effects that are with you inside the theatre that makes it that much more grin inducing. Well, that’s if you’re like me (read: an idiot), and you can get a kick out of feeling a blast of air on your neck every time Iron Man fires his repulsers, or a poke in the back (easy tiger) every time Wolverine gets his claws out for the lads.

The more cynical (or, rather, “un-fun”) of you will not particularly enjoy this attraction as much if at all due to it’s cheesy and cartoony nature (there’s a cringe inducing part at the end where they say that “[the audience] are the real heroes” despite the fact we didn’t do anything. It’s such a Cap thing to say…), but if you go with it then it’s a hell of a fun ride. Come and watch it while you can!