For the past 3 years we’ve been talking about and anticipating the release of James Cameron’s Avatar, and by this time next week the film will finally be available for public viewing. However, last night some extremely lucky people (media folk) were invited to see the film, and the reactions have been, lets say, ‘positive’:

Empire (5 stars):

It’s been twelve years since Titanic, but the King of the World has returned with a flawed but fantastic tour de force that, taken on its merits as a film, especially in two dimensions, warrants four stars. However, if you can wrap a pair of 3D glasses round your peepers, this becomes a transcendent, full-on five-star experience that’s the closest we’ll ever come to setting foot on a strange new world. Just don’t leave it so long next time, eh, Jim?

TotalFilm (5 stars):

Game-changing – yes. Spectacular – absolutely. Occasional dodgy dialogue and dramatic imperfections – of course. But still – wait for it… – a titanic achievement.

FilmSchoolRejects (Grade A):

I can’t imagine someone walking out of a screening of this film and not being in awe. Not necessarily of the film as a whole, but of the technical achievement. James Cameron has truly delivered something that we’ve never seen before. And this achievement isn’t that Pandora looks real or that we believe the Na’vi could exist and connect with them as much as we do the human characters. His achievement is that he’s shown us a glimpse at what filmmaking could be in this century.

ScreenDaily:

The motion capture technique which Cameron pioneered with Weta Digital is extraordinary, and the expressiveness of the Na’vi, as based on full body performances by Worthington, Saldana, Weaver and others, is immensely engaging. The technique moves film leaps and bounds beyond Gollum, King Kong or anything from the Robert Zemeckis canon with the result that Avatar’s digital characters are as compelling as any humans. Most of the Pandora sections are fully animated, yet it is frankly impossible to tell exactly what is and what isn’t while watching.

ScreenRant (4 stars):

Avatar is the most visually amazing film I’ve ever seen. His boasts were valid: Nothing like this has ever been done or seen on the big screen. The incredible scope and detail is really mesmerizing – he created an entire planet with variety and detail that is unparalleled… and had to maintain it throughout a 2 1/2 hour film. It boggles the mind to think that (by my estimate) at least 80% of the film is fully CGI.

Filmstalker:

It’s epic. It is indeed the biggest film I’ve seen. The visuals, and not just some of them, but all of them, are astounding. Cameron weaves 3D and CG effortlessly throughout to build layer upon layer and give us a rich, emotionally strong and dramatic film which doesn’t lose sight of the story or the characters in amongst all that technology.

Everything else serves the story and makes it feel richer and deeper, and adds such a feeling of reality to every shot you genuinely will forget what’s CG and what’s real – and I mean that for the first time ever. Avatar is a stunning piece of work and raises the bar for cinema by such a degree I wonder if anyone will match or clear it in the coming years.

Dragonball Evolution has already been released in some parts of the world such as China and Japan. As a result reviews have been pouring online…and it doesn’t look good (although that was expected).

Anime News Network gave it an F:

In the end, it all boils down to one thing: this movie appeals to nobody. It was made for no one. People who aren’t familiar with the Dragon Ball story at all will be so flabbergasted by what’s happening that they will likely tell everyone they know that it’s one of the worst movies they’ve ever seen. Fans who do know what the general story is will be furious at just how unbelievably badly they screwed this entire thing up. Kids are used to better writing than this in their weekday afternoon cartoons (although you may run into a kid who has never actually seen a movie before, and they might dig it until you show them another movie). It’s a clunky, tiresome, badly executed, horribly written pile of shame that deserves no quarter.

Nuke the Fridge

This film was easy to sit through, but not worth the price of admission. The plot is almost nonexistent and pasted together with visual effects when they needed to fill in gaps where there was nothing to say. The scope of his film is too small and almost feels like it was more for a direct to DVD release. “Dragonball” deserves better and so do you, my advice is to go read the manga.

AICN

Dragon Ball: Evolution is a terrible film for both DB fans and as a standalone film. It’s not unwatchable, but it’s definitely in the same league as Street Fighter circa JCVD which means you’ll want to gather your friends and have a great laugh together.

A Nutshell

This is basically a movie that only children below the age of 5 will enjoy tremendously, despite having to see 6 half-balls, contributed courtesy of the 3 lead female characters, being continuously flashed on screen, thanks to some neck plunging wardrobe (where’s that malfunction when you need one?) Totally bland and really uninteresting, I would suggest sticking to the manga instead.

These are all negative and so far I haven’t been able to find a positive one to counter all of the bad buzz.

Thanks to movieboy1 for the links.

Reviews for the vampire film Twilight have started to pop up online. After around 70 reviews the movie has a rotten 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, however despite the reviews the movie will probably be the best movie ever made for hardcore fans. Although I’m sure there will be a small majority of fans who will think it didn’t meet their expectations.

Here is an overview of the reviews so far:

Cinematical:

Vampire purists may shudder, and the male population in general may grimace, but, despite the missteps, Twilight succeeds as an action-oriented modern-day fairy tale with a strong romantic appeal.

Arrowinthehead.com

TWILIGHT is a Harlequin Romance for thirteen year old girls. They will look past the poor pacing, the not quite so special, special effects and the overly long running time. It looks good enough and has pleasant enough leads to warrant the many squeals the audience I saw it with gave. But I will say that the locations were quite beautiful so it only adds to the attractive cast.

Entertainment Weekly

Getting Catherine Hardwicke to direct Twilight was a shrewd move, because the youthquake specialist of Thirteen treats teen confusion without a trace of condescension: She gets their grand passions and prickly defense mechanisms. She has reconjured Meyer’s novel as a cloudburst mood piece filled with stormy skies, rippling hormones, and understated visual effects. What Hardwicke can’t quite triumph over is the book’s lackluster plot. On screen, Twilight is repetitive and a tad sodden, too prosaic to really soar. But Hardwicke stirs this teen pulp to a pleasing simmer.

Screenrant:

Twilight, at least for a select group of ladies, has been THE most anticipated movie of 2008 – and their wait is finally over. The question is: Was it worth it?

For them, yes.

For the rest of us? Eh, not so much.

L.A Times:

It’s very much to the credit of director Catherine Hardwicke and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg that “Twilight” the movie really gets this. This film succeeds, likely unreservedly for teens and in a classic guilty pleasure kind of way for adults, because it treats high school emotions with unwavering, uncompromising seriousness. Much as you may not want to, you have to acknowledge what’s been accomplished here.

Chud:

I almost feel bad for Twilight as a movie. It’s cheap and shoddy and often mediocre, and if it had just come out and been a standard, middle of the road teen release, people might have looked at it with a less critical eye. Instead it comes into theaters as the blockbuster-elect, selling out shows a week in advance and fomenting teenybopper riots at publicity events.

The reviews are pouring in for Quantum of Solace, and here is a run-down of what most of them are saying:

BBC

It’s a film that feels like the second part of a trilogy, with this being the bleaker second act.

For a lot of the movie Bond is a particularly unsympathetic character, and often it’s only Craig’s performance along with the shifting morality of Bond’s legion of enemies that forces the audience to root for him.

Empire 4/5 Stars

A pacy, visually imaginative follow-up. If it doesn’t even try to be bigger than Casino Royale, that’s perhaps a smart move in that there’s still a sense at the end that Bond’s mission has barely begun and he’ll need a few more movies to work his way up to destroying the apparently undefeatable Quantum organisation. The only real caveat is that while it’s exciting, it’s not exactly anyone’s idea of fun. To keep in the game, perhaps the next movie could let the hero enjoy himself a bit more.

Totalfilm 3/5 stars

The action is loud and proud, but the story feels disjointed and muddled, with some uneven flecks of comedy. Still, Craig’s presence keeps the edges from fraying too far and Forster just about nails the extra levels or artsiness and melancholy.

Times Online 4/5 Stars

The director, Marc Forster, has absorbed the lucrative lessons discovered in Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale. He has also managed to pace his sequel much better. Royale felt slightly wheel-clamped by one too many longeurs. If anything, the crunching chase sequences in Quantum of Solace are even more magnificently dangerous. And the daredevil leaps and tumbles through glass roofs are just as sensational as the splintering high-speed pyrotechnics.

But it’s the amount of heartache and punishment that Craig’s new Bond absorbs that makes him look so right for our times.

Bond is no longer a work in progress. He is now the cruel, finished article.

The Independent 3/5 stars

Quantum Of Solace doesn’t seem like a major entry in the Bond canon. Well under two hours long, it’s shorter and more frenetic than most of its predecessors, and an often-jolting experience to watch. Loose ends about. What it does have, though, above all, is vigour. The franchise hasn’t run out of juice quite yet.

The Guardian 3/5 stars

Quantum of Solace isn’t as good as Casino Royale: the smart elegance of Craig’s Bond debut has been toned down in favour of conventional action. But the man himself powers this movie; he carries the film: it’s an indefinably difficult task for an actor. Craig measures up.

And while were all ‘Bonded up’ here is an 1 minute long TV spot that is currently being shown on UK TV.

I think I’ve just read the best movie review I have ever read in my life. While 99.9% of movie reviews are all the same, a critic talking about the film, the good points, the bad points, overall conclusion. Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian has done something unique and way more entertaining.

Here is a section of his review of The Incredible Hulk:

“Hulk. Smash!” Yes. Hulk. Smash. Yes. Smash. Big Hulk smash. Smash cars. Buildings. Army tanks. Hulk not just smash. Hulk also go rarrr! Then smash again. Smash important, obviously. Smash Hulk’s USP. What Hulk smash most? Hulk smash all hope of interesting time in cinema. Hulk take all effort of cinema, effort getting babysitter, effort finding parking, and Hulk put great green fist right through it. Hulk crush all hopes of entertainment. Hulk in boring film. Film co-written by star. Edward Norton. Norton in it. Norton write it. Norton not need gamma-radiation poisoning to get big head. Thing is: Hulk head weirdly small. Compared with rest of big green body.

To read the rest then CLICK HERE!

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe took the world by surprise. Not many thought that the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Harry Potter series could be repeated, yet it happened again with The Chronicles of Narnia. The first movie went on to gross over $730 million worldwide and left audiences all over the globe wanting MORE.

In Prince Caspian, the world of Narnia has been ravaged by time and the harsh rule of a race of humans called the Telmarines, a people who do not believe in magic. In the 1300 years since the Pevensie siblings left Narnia after serving for years as Kings and Queens, the Telmarines invaded and managed to drive Narnians almost to extinction.

The King of the Telmarines is dead and his son, Prince Caspian, is waiting for a time when he can take the throne. In the meantime, Caspian’s uncle, Miraz, serves as Regent of the realm. However, when Miraz’s wife gives birth to a son, Caspian’s life is suddenly in danger and he is forced to flee in order to survive. In the throes of his escape, he blows a horn with a mysterious past, and in doing so summons the Kings and Queens of old to help in his plight.

It has only been a year for the Pevensies, yet the transition from royal adults back to ordinary “children” hasn’t been easy for all of them. Peter, for one, hates being treated for his age and starts fights with other school-aged boys just to prove his manhood. Yet one day they feel an strange pinching in their stomachs as they’re waiting for the train to school, a pinch that feels oddly like magic. In the blink of an eye, the children are back in Narnia and they are faced with fighting two battles: the advancing Talmarine army, and their waning faith in Aslan and in themselves.

From the moment I stepped out of the theater after watching the first Narnia installment, I instantly wanted to watch the next one. It has been two and a half years, and six months longer than the original release date, and I’m very pleased to say that the wait has been well worth it. Through most of the two and a half hour movie, I literally had chills running up my spine. This movie, in my opinion, is even better than the first.

What makes it so great is that director Andrew Adamson didn’t try to recreate the look and feel of the first movie. This is a much darker movie, one with severe moral undertones about acceptance and prejudice, and it shouldn’t feel as fluffy as the first one was. A number of reviews I read about the movie complained that there wasn’t enough magic in this one, yet what did they expect? The Pevensies come back in an age where magic is all but gone, so there naturally wouldn’t be any magic to see. There are still a number of Narnians left: from centaurs and minotaurs, to talking badgers and mice to dwarves. There was plenty of magic in that respect, and certainly enough action, to let the audience leave feeling satisfied.

Another interesting element of this movie is the level of emotion that the young actors were able to bring to their roles, as well as the feelings the characters themselves were feeling. In the first Narnia, it’s obvious that it was their first real acting job. Yes, they did the best they could at the time, but they have all grown as actors, resulting in much more three dimensional characters this time around. They actually FELT like they were the Kings and Queens of Narnia past stuck in the bodies of teenagers and children. It was something in their eyes, a sense of knowledge far beyond their years, and the very way they held themselves that made it so believable. They have all grown, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

My favorite transition was in the character of Edmund who, in the first movie, betrayed his family for his own gain. In Prince Caspian, you can tell he is still trying to make up for this betrayal and will do anything for his family. Not only does he defend his brother, stick up for Lucy when no one believes that she’s been seeing Aslan when none of the rest of them has, but he’s turned into a calculated, badass warrior. He’s very confident in his position as a King, gets right into the thick of battles, and even slides down a roof to kick a Talmerine soldier over a balcony. He is able to stand in front of the Telmarine usurper, surrounded by enemies, and shoot off a witty sort of banter that lets Miraz know exactly who Edmund is: a Narnian King.  Not to mention how much older he seems, considering actor Skandar Keynes’ voice dropped about three octaves!

Newcomer Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian only added to the great cast. The only thing I was confused about was his accent. He’s British, yet he had some sort of Italian accent in the movie, which didn’t exactly match up with the rest of the Telmarines. Other than that, I’m glad we’ll be seeing more of him in the upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie in 2010.

Overall, really incredible movie. The action is enough to keep anyone’s eyes glued to the screen, but the sarcasm and wit will keep you in your seat, and the emotion will leave you longing for more. This is one of those movies that you really need to see in theaters, and one you’re likely to see multiple times (like I’m surely going to do myself!): 10/10.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE.

Okay, score a million points for the most adorable movie EVER. I’m sorry, but nothing is cuter than a couple of little British children. Not even kittens. I’ve always said that I want to have red-headed British children (exactly how I was to go about ensuring this, I don’t know), but, sod it, wrap up the two main characters in this movie and I’ll take them to go. Thanks.

Lee Carter is a young troublemaker and Will Proudfoot (I wonder if the movie’s writer was a fan of Lord of the Rings?) is a member of the Plymouth Brethren, a religious sect closely related to the Amish so conservative that he’s not even allowed to watch educational programs during school because they’re on TV. The two seem an unlikely duo, yet they strike up a friendship based on their wanting to make their own version of Rambo’s First Blood.

Will’s imagination explodes after seeing scenes from the movie, something he would have never experienced had he not been with Lee. He was already one to let his imagination take him places he wanted to go, living in such a strict household, and covered every available surface around him with drawings, including all of the pages of his Bible. All he needed was the catalyst, and there was no stopping him in his persuit for more.

Lee, on the other hand, lives with his brother in the rear of a nursing facility, their mother off in Spain with the establishment’s proprietor. They have no one to answer to but themselves, and his brother, Lawrence (hottie Ed Westwick, who also plays the womanizing schmoozer Chuck Bass on the hit TV show Gossip Girl… you’d never guess from his drawling tone that he was British!), is the only person Lee has in the world until Will comes along.

Not only is this movie adorable, as previously mentioned, but surprisingly witty. It had my theatre audience cracking up right from the off and lasted throughout the duration. From Lee’s sarcastic quips to Will’s determined attempts to pull off stunts for the movie (including falling from a tree using an umbrella as a parachute, and standing in front of a high powered sprinkler and being blasted backwards off his feet), this movie never leaves you wanting.

Newcomers Bill Milner (Will) and Will Poulter (Lee) absolutely steal the show on this one, and they have built a foundation with this movie to lead them onto more roles. Here’s hoping they get them!

On the surface it’s a comedic buddy flick, but at its core is a heartwarming story of friendship against the odds. Their relationship was never supposed to work, with forces drawing them apart at every turn, yet they manage to endure.

Really, quite a brilliant little movie. I’ve read that it’s only opening in limited release, so check your local listings to see if it’ll be playing near you, it’s really worth it: 9/10.

(I’m including the trailer and a clip of the movie below, since I’m sure none of you have seen them!)

Here is how Will and Lee meet for the first time:

Since the beginning of the comic book-to-movie boom, there have been many attempts to turn each superhero into a blockbuster movie franchise. Sometimes it has worked, and other times it was pronounced DOA.

Without exaggeration, Iron Man is one of the best superhero movies I have ever seen. Jon Favreau had some amazing source material, updated it for the 21st Century, and led us awaiting fans into superhero heaven. The movie literally starts with a bang and hardly stops for you to take a breath until the credits roll (and then you’re just anxious to see the Samuel L. Jackson cameo!)…

You have all seen the movies that make even great actors stumble. Put a cat suit on Halle Berry and all you want to do is bury your head in the litter box. (You get my drift.) But this movie seemed to do the direct opposite. This wasn’t some dumbed down version of the movie so the kiddies could understand, but was built on a smart and oftentimes very witty script that brought the best out of all the actors.

Robert Downey Jr. is in his element with the role of Tony Stark. He has just enough cockiness to pull off the image of a spoiled bachelor who’s the kind of guy to sleep with a woman and have his assistant show her the door the next day, but sincere enough that you believe when he wants to try and help the very people his company’s products (weapons) put in harm’s way. Hopefully this is the resurgence of his career, as I’d like to see him in many more roles. At least we have 2010 to look forward to if nothing else!

Gwyneth Paltrow is able to pull of the pleasing assistant, Pepper Potts, with elegance, even though it is a smaller role than she is used to. She didn’t seem to do the movie just for the money, but put her acting skills to good use! Terrance Howard is great as usual, and there’s not much more to say about his performance than that. And Jeff Bridges is believable in his role as Tony’s frienemy (friend turned enemy!).

Is it even necessary to mention the special effects?  Probably not, but I’m going to anyway.  AMAZING.  There aren’t any big green giants, blue furry beasts, or even any web slinging.  This superhero is based on technology, and it was made real by the incredible job the SFX team did!  The Iron Man suit, REAL.  Yes, RDJ actually suited up, and it looked incredible.  MAJOR PROPS!  And the action scenes are truly a sight to see.  You could almost feel every blow (I’d imagine the subwoofers in the theater had something to do with that!), and you were RIGHT THERE with the action.  None of that long lens crap, but right up in the face of it all.  This is DEFINITELY one of those movies you need to see on the BIG SCREEN…!

If you go to one superhero movie this summer (okay, two, because you’re not going to want to miss Batman!), GO SEE THIS ONE. I know I mention it every time I talk about Iron Man, but it STILL has an 8.4 rating on IMDb after a massive 27,000 votes! THAT MEANS SOMETHING!

Seriously, and again without exaggeration: 10/10.

A guy and a girl are best friends. They meet in college on the completely wrong foot, and end up becoming inseparable. After ten years they can finish each other’s sentences, guess what kind of pastry the other is going to buy from a café, and even order the other’s food without having to ask. You could even say that they’re soul mates. One day, the girl leaves on a six week business trip to Ireland, and the two spend the entire time trying to stay in contact but getting blocked almost every time (due to time differences, foul weather, and a herd of goats… I KID YOU NOT!). During this time, the guy realizes that he can’t live without the girl, and decides to tell her that he loves her the second she comes home.

However, there’s a little snaffoo in his plans: she met someone while in Ireland, and they’re getting married! Not only that, but she wants HIM to be her MAID OF HONOR! So, he decides to try and break up the engagement/wedding from the inside, and so follows two hours of stunts and pranks and blah blah blah.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way… doesn’t it sound ODDLY familiar? Can’t you picture a couple of well knows actors in just the reverse (girl wants guy instead of guy wants girl)? Maybe a snappy redhead with an infectious laugh as the girl who wants to steal the guy, and an overexposed, dreamy-eyed blonde as the fiancé to the guy that the girl wants to steal? Doesn’t that sound like, I don’t know, MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING?

Well, it basically is, but they weren’t quite able to pull off what Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz did.

Credit needs to be given where credit is due, and I’ll say that the actors did their best with the material they were given. The acting is great all around, it’s just the story that’s ridiculous. I mean, they had Tom be the inventor of “cup collars”, those cardboard cylinders that you put around cups of coffee so you don’t burn your hand, just so that he would have enough free time to pursue his friend. Really? Cup collars? Lame.

I actually saw this movie for free during an advanced screening (“Don’t use your cell phone! Not even to send a text message! If we see the glow of a cell phone screen, that person will be removed from the theater!” Oy vey, like we were going to ruin the plot of the movie for the ENTIRE WORLD with a text message or a screen shot with our 2MP cameras.), and I’m glad that I did. I would have been wholeheartedly pissed if I’d paid to see it.

It’s a cute movie if you have nothing better to do, but wait until it comes out on DVD and rent it: 5/10.

Judd Apatow, I’m concerned. You and your cronies seem a bit, how you say, scattered of late. Granted your past ventures haven’t been paragons of continuity, but your latest little romp had me scrambling for the Adderall. The Adderall of the straight-edge kid. So, Diet Coke. Gummi Bear chaser. Regardless, Forgetting Sarah Marshall picks up creatively where 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up left off, and promptly loses its blessed mind. A manic dash through plot and nonsensical editing creates a muddled and ultimately forgettable experience.

The story, for what it’s worth, follows TV composer Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) as he copes with his recent breakup with Hollywood star/near-official little person Sarah Marshall (Kristin Bell). Bretter’s unabashed and humiliating shame-spiral eventually leads him to Hawaii for a little time away. To his surprise, Sarah is at the same hotel with her new rock-star beau, the greasy Aldous Snow (Russell Brand). Snap. At his wit’s end, Bretter befriends the hotel’s dark and mysterious customer service rep, Rachel Jansen (Mila Kunis). As the two grow closer, Bretter suffers through one embarassing run-in with Marshall after another. Oh, how will he ever forget?

The cast itself is not what tanks this film. Not entirely, at least. Each player brings enough to the table to provide a fair amount of one-liners. Sadly, that’s the most you can expect. Segel is goofy and sweet and executes a passable pathetique. His general doughiness, however, quickly gets old. Bell and Kunis both give strong performances as beautiful people, although Bell’s mix of likeability and sheer selfishness dredge up some human appeal. Kunis’ turn as the “wild” girl who is so earth-shatteringly irresistible because she spouts more cliches than the bastard child of Obi-Wan and a high school poetry contest winner’s pink and black MySpace page and doesn’t take no crap from no one, hear, is as completely unimpressive as every other performance given by a down-to-earth (brunette) starlet in recent memory. My Nikes couldn’t teach me to Just Do It, and they were on my feet, sister. A couple yearbook quotes from you aren’t going to cut it. The show-stealer is, without a doubt, Russell Brand as the self-adoring, unkempt British rocker Snow. One gets the impression Brand is doing very little acting. His one-liners are delivered so seriously that it isn’t until the scene is over that the sheer ass-clownery of his character becomes evident.

Had the cast been given better material, I’m sure I’d be singing a different tune (probably something by Mika, because his songs are like black tar heroin to my eardrums). Segel’s script, and for that matter, his direction and editing, are such that the movie becomes more of a sequence of small, isolated incidences or flashbacks than a coherent story. The first third of the film is Bretter crying, or talking about crying, or remembering the last time he cried. The audience is then jolted from this one unrelenting theme to the scenes in Hawaii, which are severely fractured and bring the progress of the movie to a crashing halt time after time until it finally drags its mangled stump of a carcass to the end. Ultimately, these little vignettes become muddled and the humor is lost.

In the end, Segel has missed what made the incoherence of Knocked Up and 40-Year-Old Virgin so worthy of celebration – a negotiable storyline propelled by a sequence of ridiculous events. And Steve Carell’s chest hair. Grade: C