DVD Review: Hugo
IN THE CAMBRIDGE TIME
IN THE HUNTS POST
IN THE ELY STANDARD
IN THE HERTS AD
IN THE ROYSTON CROW
Friday, 28 September 2012
Looking back at a few reviews on different websites....
Having a look back at some other reviews which have appeared on a number of websites through the Archant Group:
DVD Review: Hugo
DVD Review: Hugo
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Gone (15)
Amanda Seyfried plays the desperate Jill in this tense
thriller which revolves around a simple but much travelled storyline of
abduction. Jill believes that the man who kidnapped her years before has
returned and taken her sister. Seyfield is convincingly paranoid and struggles
to make the police believe her as her original abductor was never found and it
is surmised that it is all going on in her head. Detective Powers, Daniel
Sunjata (Dark Knight Rises), the man who takes Jill’s ear bashings, is tired of
this apparent irate girl and fobs her off. Jill will not give up and takes on
her own law busting investigation.
This film is all about the beautiful Amanda Seyfield. She
is on the screen for much of the time and the clues which make up her journey are
carefully followed. We see through her eyes, experience her paranoia and pain
as the dark secrets and the horrid ordeal, she went through, are revealed. She
takes it all in her stride, at times battling with an unoriginal, drab script.
Gone could work on many levels though. We have a history
which could introduce doubt over the state of the main character’s perceptions.
Was she really kidnapped? Who is this mysterious and overly helpful Detective
Peter Hood played by a creepy Wes Bentley (The Hunger Games)? Who is the
villain? But ultimately the big build up has a disappointing ending, despite
Seyfried trying to do her best to make something of it. By the time we arrive
at this conclusion though we realise we have been gripped and that the
relevantly inexperienced director, Heitor Dhalia, works well with Seyfried and
delivers a marketable product.
65/10
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Battleship (12A)
This all out, full steam ahead, family film directed by
actor turned director Peter Berg suffers from an identity crisis. The reference
to the board game Battleships is misleading as it could imply a ship vs. ship
situation when in fact it heavily focuses on something completely alien to the
board game...aliens. There is no modern wartime epic, country against country, and
instead you will find an intergalactic conflict set sometime in the near future
when the human race has developed a technology which allows them to beam a
message light years into space. This has a knock on effect of calling forth an
aggressive humanoid species who hope to take control of our beautiful green
globe.
Standing in their way, other than thousands of tonnes of
battleship, are the brothers Hopper. We meet the older responsible Commander
Stone, Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) and younger irresponsible Lieutenant
Alex, played by the roguish, rising star Taylor Kitsch (John Carter). Kitsch
spends much of his time wrestling with his love for Sam, Brooklyn Decker, the
Admiral’s (Liam Neeson) daughter and the need to take responsibly and kick some
alien but. Sometimes he carries it off at other times you let him get away with
it. Then the action takes over and with an edge of humour it really works.
This film has been designed to be family entertainment,
in an explosive way, as well as throwing in some subtle references to a popular
board game when they have to use beacon readouts to pin point the enemy when
their radar is knocked out. But let us not get away from the fact that it is a
big and bold Science Fiction movie and that for some shameful reason this has
tried to be covered up. This trend has come from the recent renaming of ‘John
Carter from Mars’ to just ‘John Carter’. This film is a celebration of big
screen action and yes it won’t win any Oscars but it is a lot of fun and one
that children all over the world will be allowed to watch again and again
because, let’s face it, the parents won’t mind.
79/100
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