Film review: Yes Man

Yes Man @ IMDB

First things first, this film is based on a book by a guy called Danny Wallace who I don't really like. Not for any particular reason but here we go:

He co-wrote a book called Are You Dave Gorman? with the eponymous Dave Gorman. Now Gorman went on to create the genius Googlewhack Adventure whilst Danny Wallace didn't. He took the Gorman template (man going on crazy adventure/challenge) and ran with it a little too far. In an ideal world, the talented Gorman would go on to glory whilst the, let's be honest, copycat Wallace wouldn't.

Of course, this isn't an ideal world so whilst Gorman still ploughs his own path Wallace gets a movie deal. Go figure.

So really I wasn't looking forward to this film a great deal. Based on the book, we have Jim Carrey as a man (not Danny Wallace, thankfully) who decides to change his life and say yes to everything.

Now Jim Carrey is a tricky actor to pin down. With him you'll get one of three faces; Mr Wacky from Ace Ventura, Mr Smaltz from Liar Liar or Mr Actor from The Trueman Show and Eternal Sunshine. Ideally, he'd be the last one all the time as those are his best films, closely followed by Mr Wacky.

This film aims to combine all three. It's not 100% successful but it's not bad. Mr Actor is forced to the background a bit but this means Mr Wacky is reigned in so he's not annoying. Mr Smaltz rears his ugly head at the end but he's not there very long and it is a romantic comedy so you can forgive it.

The main thing is, this is a funny film. It hits the mark more often than not, there's great support around Charrey (the cameo by the manager of The Flight of the Conchords is a particular highlight) and it's nicely paced.

It's not the best comedy this year but it's certainly up there at the top of the list.

In a word? Positive.

Alright, THIS is the film I'm most looking forward to

The Expendables.

Let's break it down: Starring Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li AND Dolph Lundgren. Not forgeting this is being directed by Stallone and we all know how his last action film turned out.

It's this or Inglorious Basterds. But then The Expendables is described as "an 80s throwback men on a mission movie in the vein of Commando and Predator".

Commando and Predator?

Sold.

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Better than Neon Neon.

Film review: The Day The Earth Stood Still

The Day The Earth Stood Still @ IMDB

You have to feel sorry for Keanu Reeves. I'm sure if you total up the box office totals for his films he'd be enormously successful. Bill & Ted, Speed, The Matrix, these are big big films. And he gets no respect.

One might say he was the new Steve Guttenberg.

But at least Guttenberg knew his place, he pretend he was anything else other than a B-Grade actor who got lucky with some of the roles he was cast in. He didn't star in remakes of 50s Sci-Fi films and pretend that they were anything else than throwaway tosh.

As you might guess, this is a remake of the 50s classic which tells the tale of an alien called Klaatu that comes to Earth in order to warn the human race about their destructive ways. Only, instead of being about the Cold War like in the original, this time it's about man causing the ecological destruction of Earth.

How topical.

On the plus side, it looks good. They have kept the design of Klaatu's robot bodyguard similar to the original so no issue there. The initial half an hour or so of the alien craft landing is great, that sequence should have it's own film*.

It just doesn't hang together after that. We get that Klaatu is meant to be this emotionless, distant character but he's too distant. There's nothing there to hook us in as the humans are pretty dumb as well.

What we have is the basis for a really good film but it's not this one. Must do better, all round.

In a word? Stationary.

* In fact there is one, it's called Close Encounters of The Third Kind. Look it up.

Film review: Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa

Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa @ IMDB

Now, DreamWorks Animation Studios has always come off worse when compared to Pixar. Most people come off worse, admittedly, but DreamWorks have always been like Simon Cowell compared to Pixar's Brian Eno: in it for the money rather than for the love of the medium.

So it continues with this sequel to Madagascar; our animal friends from the first film leave the island only to crash land in Africa. What kind of hi-jinks will ensue? I think we already know.

I don't have a problem per-se with the the first film, it just wasn't that good. It was fun and everything but never more than that.

Do we need that fun a second time? Probably not but we'll get it anyway because the kids like it and makes the studio a lot of money.

Everyone from the first film is back but now we get some backstory crowbarred onto them that makes no sense: if he arrived in New York in a crate wouldn't he of mentioned this in the first film? When did the monkeys arrive on the island? Two of the characters are in love? Really?

To be honest, most kid films collapse when you think about them too hard* but the whole thing just comes off as lazy. The point is: there is no need for this film to exist. The reason Toy Story 2 works so well is because there was a new story to tell with the characters. There is no story in this film that wasn't already told in the first film, it's just a collection of set pieces hamfistedly strung together in order to get the kids in.

Which works, because my son loves it.

In a word? Roar-ful.

* Except for Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Wall-E etc.

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Nazi zombies!

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