With the final instalment of the Toy Story trilogy opening in cinemas this week, it’s no wonder that parents (and grown-ups furtively pretending to be parents in order to justify their DVD collection) are stocking up on the celebrated parts one and two. Already being hailed as one of history’s most successful film trilogies, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more DVD love from Woody, Buzz and the entire Toy Story team. And we couldn’t be happier about it.
Whatever happened to SatC’s spark? The programme’s USP was originally its progressive approach to modern women with modern sex lives, but at what point did someone think that ‘Cynthia Nixon getting them out’ constituted a sociosexual statement?
The vampire has become so well integrated into popular culture it is hard to imagine a time when a romance didn’t come with fangs, and their recent resurrection can be attributed to one film: Twilight. With one brooding scowl from R-Pattz the world was divided into two groups: swooning squealing Twi-hards and, well, sane people. Yes, as you may have guessed I am not exactly what you’d call a fan. I have never read the books and anything that makes a teenage girl scream like a banshee in my vicinity was always going to provoke feelings of intense hate from me. However, even I can admit Twilight is not without its good qualities.
Morgan Freeman lends his hypnotic, rasping voice (is it wrong that a seventy-three year old man can make me go weak at the knees?) to yet another screen classic, as he..
At the 2009 Cannes film festival, Antichrist was released onto the world to sneers of disgust. Its graphic portrayal of sex and violence left even the most steely of critics gaping in disbelief. There is no doubt that Antichrist is monstrous, leaving the majority of audiences reaching for their torches and pitchforks, but like most monsters, Antichrist has been criminally misunderstood.
Astro Boy is the classic tale of a young boy trying to get along with the cards life gives him. Making friends, getting by and generally having a good old time, he’s just like you and me. The only difference is that this kid is a robot. And some people want to kill the death out of him. It’s a futuristic Pinnocchio-inspired CGI romp, and whilst it has a lot to recommend it, ultimately there’s not a lot of human heart beating behind it.
Enter Up in the Air, the latest romance-comedy-drama from Juno director Jason Reitman, and starring perhaps the most universally idolised and desired movie star of our generation, George ‘Smooth As Silk’ Clooney. The prospect of such a dream team was always going to be a hotly anticipated one, and we’re pleased to report that this is one of those few wondrous instances of a film living up to its press.
In these troubling times of global warming, financial crises and that nice Tiger Woods cheating on his wife, it’s comforting to know that one man alone remains staid and unchangeable: Hugh Grant. Yes, he’s pretty much played the same character for the past 20 years, but goddammit, the man does it well. His latest frothy outing with toast-of-New-York Sarah Jessica Parker is no exception – this time, a posh man is heading into the wilds of the American midwest after he and his estranged wife witness a murder.
After the surprising success of the first St. Trinian’s reboot in 2007, a sequel was always a risky proposition: it would either surpass the original and cement the franchise as a bona fide modern classic or sully the occasional chuckles of the original and sink the whole thing. We’d like to hope that that seldom-seen beast – the British comedy – isn’t quite dead at the box offices, with only rare examples like Shaun of the Dead hitting the big time. Can St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold reach the heights of its 1950’s predecessors?
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