'High Fidelity' review by Captain Raptor

'High Fidelity' review by Captain Raptor

Reviewing a film based on a book can be a tricky matter, because the things you like/dislike about it may simply be an intrinsic part of the original text. Having not read Nick Hornby's novel, I cannot know what dialogue and characterisation should be credited to him, and which should be credited to the cast and crew of the movie, so if it seems like I'm doing Hornby a disservice by only praising the film and not the novel, then I'm very sorry.

High Fidelity really grabs you from the beginning, which is remarkable for such a low-key film. Rather than have information conveyed via narration and voice-over, John Cusack's protagonist Rob Gordon looks and speaks directly into the camera to express his thoughts, most of which are about music and women. A funny and quotable opening monologue ("Do I listen to pop music because I'm miserable or am I miserable because I listen to pop music?") gives a great character introduction and introduces you to to the film's only quirk by having Cusack talk about life and love to the audience, pausing occasionally to continue his break-up with his girlfriend. Rob really ticks every box on the Indie Comedy Protagonist checklist; he works in a record store, he's self-centred but in a very likeable way (although no force on Earth could ever prevent Cusack from being likeable), he's unlucky in love and at one point he screams angrily in the rain. Jack Black co-stars and does his Jack Black thing, being energetic and overbearing whilst cracking jokes about rock music. It's the same thing you've seen him do in half a dozen dumb stoner flicks, but when relegated to a side role he comes as an amusing burst of energy rather than as the idiotic irritant he often becomes when he's forced to carry a film. Despite starting in the midst of a break-up, the plot is a fairly typical romantic comedy, albeit with far more pop culture references.

What it lacks in originality, High Fidelity makes up for in, well, everything else. A charismatic cast play a series of well-developed characters who can be entertaining, hilarious and realistic simultaneously and they're supported by a script packed with dry wit and clever observations. John Cusack's constant direct interaction with the audience is the highlight for me; something that should be jarring and break the flow actually makes the movie run more fluidly and engages the audience, and gives a lot of comedic opportunities, which Cusack takes full advantage of, his dialogue a mix of sarcastic humour and total honesty with perfect delivery. The main characters all share an obsession with alternative culture and particularly music, so The Clash, Evil Dead II and Massive Attack all being name dropped, and even a brief appearance from Bruce Springsteen himself, acting as one half of Rob's internal dialogue. If, like me, you're a fan of these things, it adds a whole other layer of coolness and charm to the proceedings, as well as making Rob even more relatable.

High Fidelity is funny, clever, cool and honest. It's an excellent study in characterisation, and one of the few films I've ever seen that manages to make every character seem both relatable and interesting. It's a film that celebrates being ordinary, and being a misfit, and being a fan. Every ingredient works, it's poignant without being serious and it's hysterically funny. In short, it's the best film that I've seen in a long, long time.

'Pain & Gain' review by Captain Raptor

'Pain & Gain' review by Captain Raptor

Okay, so I think it's fair to say that nobody reading this is expecting Pain & Gain to be the new Casablanca. It's simply not that kind of film. So to give this a more fitting review, the level of quality it should be roughly aiming to equal is that of Michael Bay's gold standard (and arguably his only half-good film) Bad Boys, a perfectly capable and enjoyable action-comedy.

The problem is, even when you've lowered the bar, Pain & Gain still doesn't really succeed. Michael Bay does two things really well - outrageous action scenes and quips - and everything else just really isn't his forte. It's possible to make a good film out of these two ingredients and little else (which is why Bad Boys was such a good film), but Pain & Gain contains a lot else. Yeah, some of the jokes stick, and there are some cool action scenes, but Bay's attempts to build characterisation or to make some quasi-satirical point about the American dream are poor at best. One of the major flaws of the film is that there's nobody to really root for; the three main characters are either too obnoxious to like or too foolish to feel sorry for, their victim (Tony Shalhoub) is an asshole, and the private detective brought in to wrap up the story (Ed Harris, who should really be embarrassed to be here) has about as much personality and charisma as Crawley. There's Michael Bay's usual disregard for women; all the primary female characters are either naive wives (although Rebel Wilson does bring some charm to the role) or strippers. The audience is reminded at several points during the film that 'This Is A True Story', as if that somehow makes it funnier or smarter.

Pain & Gain does have one feature that works without a hitch, however. Something that dominates the screen, both due to its entertainment value and its sheer size. I'm talking about Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson of course, putting in the best performance of his acting career. He delivers every line he's given like a champ (which he was, WWE King of the Ring in the year 2000), manages to evoke a lot of genuine emotion and, in his own words "knocks people the FUCK out" to the best of his ability. Whether he's barbecuing human hands or being cajoled into committing vehicular homicide, he gives a funny and surprisingly nuanced performance. Other talented performers who have been roped into the film (the aforementioned Wilson and Harris, Ken Jeong and Rob Corddry) are all given very little screen time, so the film is mostly spent watching Mark Wahlberg sweat for two hours (which is way, way longer than the film needed to be). The action, Michael Bay's speciality, isn't really up to par and the film repeatedly tries and fails to create some tension. It's too dry for its target audience and too dumb for anybody else.

So, yeah, Pain & Gain isn't exactly fantastic, but did anybody really expect it to be? Large parts of it are fun when it stops taking itself so seriously, and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is genuinely fantastic in his role. Ultimately, this film would have been good had it been dumber (more explosions, stupid quotes and just generally more fun) or smarter (there's an interesting plot and character dynamics buried beneath the multiple layers of machismo and ignorance) than it was. As it stands, it's caught awkwardly between The Rock and a hard place. Bad Boys it ain't.

'Elysium' review by Captain Raptor

'Elysium' review by Captain Raptor

A part of me thought that Elysium might have turned out to be my favourite film of the year. First and foremost, it's written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, the man responsible for the 2009 work of genius District 9, and it's another left-wing science-fiction parable set in a dystopian future, an idea which is (to use the technical terminology) the motherfucking bomb.  

Unfortunately, Elysium just isn't as well put together as it's predecessor. It's got all the same ingredients - realistic and unflinching looks at social issues via an awesome sci-fi metaphor, ostentatious action scenes, intelligent and subtle exposition - but it really doesn't blend together this time. Whether through poorer scripting, or a lack of focus, nothing Elysium says or does has any great impact. The actions scenes are intense, but it's nothing you haven't seen before (it's even got the Lara Croft belief in 'if one thing looks good in slow motion, then so will everything'). It's trying to make a point about the class divide and social injustice in modern society, but never says anything more advanced than 'rich people don't really care about poor people'. The one aspect where Elysium undoubtedly succeeds, however, is in the creation of its own world. The locations and design of the upper class' shiny, clean spaceship and the regular Earthlings' horrible, cramped, dusty surroundings are perfect, creating an excellent atmosphere, and the sci-fi technology that Blomkamp puts into the film (machines that can cure any disease, USB sticks that you can plug into your brain) adds a lot of intrigue. I found myself at times becoming enveloped and fascinated with the futuristic Earth, so I really think it's a shame that nothing better or more inventive was done with such an interesting backdrop.

When the plot of a movie, or the ideas behind it, amount to little more than zero, this is where characterisation and dialogue are supposed to swoop in and save the day. This doesn't even slightly happen. Matt Damon's Max is supposed to represent the common working man, and we all know that 'everyman' pretty much translates to 'boring and uncharismatic' in cinema. The film's other big star, Jodie Foster, is given a fairly good character who looks like she's going to be the main villain, but when the film starts to reach its apex she's just dropped out of the plot for no discernible reason. The only character that was entertaining in and of themselves was Sharlto Copley's temperamental assassin Kruger, but that's mostly just because he gets to do all the badass murdering - his dialogue is the most bland villain talk you'll ever hear ("If you want to save the girl, you'll have to go through me"), and had it been spoken by anybody else than Copley (who, having starred in District 9, probably has complete faith in Blomkamp's writing) he would be a thoroughly forgettable character.

Elysium crafts a fantastic world that contains brilliant visuals and some wonderfully original thoughts. Aside from that, the film's nothing like I hoped it would be. There are plot holes aplenty, and I strongly suspect that there's been a lot of studio tampering and interference to dull down any criticisms of the wealthy that Blomkamp included in his script. There's none of the nuances of District 9, nor any of its wry humour and excellent deconstruction of society. Despite some gripping action scenes and bright ideas, Elysium is ultimately as dull and uninspiring as the wasteland they filmed it in.

'We're The Millers' review by Captain Raptor

'We're The Millers' review by Captain Raptor

I had a big ol' bag of mixed feelings before seeing We're The Millers. I was underwhelmed by Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston's previous team-up Horrible Bosses, but it also stars British child actor Will Poulter, who has a habit of being absolutely brilliant in awful things (School of Comedy, one of the later Narnia films), so I was fairly sure that I would at least see one entertaining performance. 

We're The Millers is the type of movie Judd Apatow wishes he was still making. It's undeniably crass, but infused with heart and still contains a number of more intelligent jokes. It's leftfield enough to stand out from the crowd, but not so much that it becomes niche or inaccessible. For such a manic and energetic film, it's very precisely made. In short, I think that We're The Millers is a total comedic triumph. It lessens my opinion of The World's End and This Is The End, because they were comparatively patchy and had less amusing sections, whereas this film is funny start-to-finish. Jason Sudeikis is so often lumbered with an unfunny 'nice guy' part, and it's refreshing to see him play a character that has some bite. The entire cast nail their parts, in particular Poulter and Sudeikis, and Aniston gives her most entertaining performance in years. Nick Offerman makes a pleasing appearance, essentially playing a slightly weirder version of his character from Parks & Recreation. The film starts with very little sentimentality, and as the characters traded acidic barbs and at times bullied each other (and by 'each other' I mean Will Poulter's hopeless and endearing simpleton Kenny) I laughed and laughed and laughed. 

By the end of the film, this has descended into sugary sweet declarations of affection. I'm on the fence about the issue - the characters are all very likable and I found myself genuinely wanting their cliched happy ending, but it still wasn't very funny, and it was refreshing to see a comedy that wasn't too afraid to be mean. Ed Helms' drug lord is funny on occasion, but it's such an exaggerated character that when the jokes don't stick it becomes kind of irritating. Aside from those gripes, I had pretty much no problems with the film. I guess it can be a bit simplistic at times, but damn, when a cast is as spot-on with delivery and timing as this, it doesn't really matter.

We're The Millers isn't revolutionary, and it's not what you'd call intellectual. However, it's an excellent 90 minutes, with a great cast and script and enough new ideas and humour to please any crowd. Most of the best comedies these days contain an extra element - over-the-top action, or something fantastical like a talking bear or superheroes or the apocalypse - and it's pleasing to know that there are still people who can provide plentiful laughs with just four misfits and an RV (and a metric tonne of weed). Do I recommend We're The Millers? Only if you have a pulse. 

'Kick-Ass 2' review by Captain Raptor

'Kick-Ass 2' review by Captain Raptor

Kick-Ass is a film very close to my heart. The blend of ultra-violence and all-out comedy whilst never sacrificing intelligence was so spot-on that it stands shoulder to shoulder with The Dark Knight and Fight Club as one of my all time favourite films. But part of what made Kick-Ass so great was how unexpected it was - you wouldn't have predicted a film about a foul-mouth purple-costumed murderous tween girl fighting crime alongside Nicolas Cage pretending to be Adam West. Now that we know all its tricks, could round two be just as much of a knockout?

The opening training scene is a callback to one of the early scenes of the original, giving a vibe of 'more of the same', which I would definitely have been willing to see. However, having already established their characters, the sequel decides to focus a little more on emotion. Around twenty minutes into the movie, Hit-Girl (unanimously agreed upon to be the best thing about the film) decides to hang up her boots and cape and try to live the life of an ordinary teenage girl. While Chloë Grace Moretz nails the emotional scenes (as should be expected from somebody who seems incapable of giving a sub-par performance) as she is variably rejected and accepted by a high school clique, it's still not a particularly entertaining sub-plot, being neither as funny or dramatic as it could have been. On top of that, the absence of seriousness in the first film just made those one or two emotional gut-punches hit even harder, so spreading out any attempts to show character depth merely weakens it. Some truly awful stuff happens in the course of Kick-Ass 2, but it was nowhere near as upsetting or as dramatic as it might have been. Only the comedy is derailed by these proceedings, and I'm happy to say that the sequel's action is just as bloody and blackly funny - lawnmowers, shards of glass, 'gravity poles' and even sharks come into play, and there are still plenty of the shocking moments that induce a mixture of laughing and gasping that we saw last time around. 

As I mentioned previously, the comedy has also suffered. The over-the-top violence still has its amusing charm, but in the narrative scenes there's not much that's worthy of an audible laugh, let alone the hysterics that various parts of Kick-Ass would have you in. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's titular hero has already undergone his character transformation from 'Dorky wannabe' to 'Dorky badass, sort of', and he's no longer the wonderfully hopeless underdog, especially when teaming up with all the film's new heroes. The new additions to the cast are on-form, in particular wife-and-husband duo Remembering Tommy (one half of whom, Monica Dolan, I dismissed less than seven days ago as forgettable in my Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa review), a brilliantly out of place suburban middle class couple. Jim Carrey is better than I thought he would be at convincingly portraying a vigilante, (although he's still not quite as badass as the rest of the characters seem to think he is) and the ever-likeable Donald Faison charms his way through the underused role of Dr Gravity. Although my review does appear to be strongly negative, it's only because of the high standard set by the first film. All the criticisms I have with the film essentially come down to a few issues with the script and a failure to fully capture the unpredictable nature of the original. 

While Kick-Ass 2 fails to escape the shadow of its predecessor, it's still an enjoyable display, combining all the winning ingredients of Kick-Ass, just to a lesser effect. I guess that ultimately I was disappointed by the film, but an inferior version of Kick-Ass is still better than a lot of the competition. Moretz and Mintz-Plasse entertain about as much as they used to, the fight scenes are still phenomenal and the film was probably much, much better than this review gives it credit it for. Following up something as brilliant Kick-Ass is no easy task, and in this respect, they didn't really succeed, but as a film in its own right, Kick-Ass 2 is definitely worth your time.

'Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa' review by Captain Raptor

'Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa' review by Captain Raptor

Knowing me, Captain Raptor, knowing you, Alan Partridge, aha. After putting chat among the pigeons and bringing quality broadcasting to the TV and the radio, Alan Partridge takes his first step into big school - the silver screen. TV characters moving to movies is nothing new, but can a littler-than-life character such as Alan be transferred successfully? Partridge has been consistently funny over the years, it's written by Armando Iannucci, who managed to put The Thick of It in cinemas effectively as In The Loop, and it's got the best title of any film this year, but I still had a few doubts.

The 90 minute runtime definitely makes the film seem stretched, but overall Alan Partridge translates well over to the big screen. Steve Coogan's performance is as fantastic as ever, and the large list of quotable lines courtesy of Alan Partridge grows even larger. The script is for the most part excellent, maybe suffering from necessary padding in the middle to extend the runtime, but is full of the mildly offensive and stupid non-sequiturs we've come to expect and a plot that excellently highlights the egotism and strange likeability of the character.  One concern about adapting Partridge to film was that his previous escapades have all been very low-key and even minimalist, but Alpha Papa keeps this (to a lesser extent). There's no huge set-pieces, no litany of celebrity cameos and no exotic location. It's just one guy in a radio station. With a gun toting madman. Colm Meaney's performance as the radio DJ gone postal Pat Farrell  is commendable for adding a fair degree of pathos and even drama without disrupting the flow of the film, and still acing the comedy scenes as the deadpan wall for Alan's jokes to bounce off. Further great reactionary support comes from Sidekick Simon (Tim Key), and recurring characters Lynn (Felicity Montagu) and Michael the Geordie (Simon Greenall) add some laughs of their own. Ultimately though, the film is all about Alan Partridge, and Coogan had me enthralled from start to finish with his now highly-polished act.

It's not all perfect - there's a boring love interest which never really makes an impact, and it does feel like putting such a great character in such an insane situation could be just a little funnier. Aside from this, there's very little not to like about Alpha Papa. The parodies of the action genre are funny, but there's also plenty of comedy to be found in its own right. It keeps the irreverent sense of humour and sprinkles some lightly larger and more farcical elements onto the mixture. It's the same type of jokes used in the old shows, which should please the fans, but there's enough that's fresh and more accessible that newcomers can enjoy this just as much as anybody else. The joke rate is high, so while there's only a couple of genuinely hilarious moments (most of which come through a truly brilliant scene in which Alan tries to evade Pat by running around and hiding on a pier), there's very rarely more than a twenty second gap between laughs.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa is a very funny film that should please longtime fans by managing to both keep the spirit of the previous shows and change enough that it's not an attempt to repeat past glories. Those unfamiliar with Steve Coogan's Norfolk people's hero may not completely warm to the movie, but there's definitely plenty there to keep them entertained. A good supporting cast, a fantastic script, and one hell of lead performance, Alpha Papa deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with Knowing Me Knowing you et al. 

'The Wolverine' review by Captain Raptor

'The Wolverine' review by Captain Raptor

The X-Men films have a unique progression of quality: 'good-great-bad-awful-good'. It's interesting because although The Wolverine comes as the sixth installment of a wealthy and established franchise, it's still got a lot to prove - the sideburned stabber's first solo outing misfired on all cylinders and First Class, the franchise's revitalization  featured Wolverine for all of six seconds, so it's been 10 years since audiences last saw a fully entertaining starring Ol' Wolfy. Something must be done.

And something has been done. Admirably, The Wolverine is almost a complete re-invention of the series. Gone are the one-liners, gone are the litany of appearances from other secondary Marvel characters (there are a few, but certainly no fan favourites or big names), gone are the destructive and adrenaline-packed showdowns (at least comparatively); The Wolverine is almost certainly the smallest-scale X-Men film to date (No saving the world this time, just some vengeance and desperation), and definitely the moodiest and most serious. It's a total change from Origins: Wolverine, and in this respect it works spectacularly. Hugh Jackman slips into his role like a comfortable and well-worn shoe, providing a strong foundation to allow the change to occur, and the darker and far less comical nature of the film never feels jarring when anchored by Jackman's solid performance. There are a few attempts at humour, but half of them fall flat, and the other half are about stabbing, so they don't really lighten the mood. Because Wolverine is a melee fighter, all the action is up close and personal, which coupled with his new-found vulnerability makes for much more tense and engaging fight scenes.

The seriousness of the film is both a hindrance and an improvement. By getting darker, The Wolverine manages to stay fresh and avoid the trappings of some previous installments, but it also lacks the humour (and in some senses, the fun) that elevated the good films (in particular First Class) to greater heights. Wolverine is clearly left, right and centre in this film, and the only returning character (apart from an unmissable post-credits scene) is an ethereal Jean Grey, who never really impacts the film that much. This is a more plot-driven venture, but most of the new characters are only OK, not great, and the actress playing the Viper is going a bit overboard in her performance. Hugh Jackman certainly gives his most dramatic portrayal of Wolverine in this film, and he completely succeeds in carrying the film on his shoulders and gives a really subtle performance (we all know that Logan isn't much for speaking his feelings, but Jackman makes them perfectly evident through some great delivery of lines and grunts). The film moves along at a slow(ish) pace, which works here in a more serious film to build the tension and add more drama to the proceedings. The design department, particularly costume, has done a good job, and despite some of the new characters being a tiny bit bland, they are for the most part well presented and well acted.

I've very few complaints to make about any area of the film - everything is done competently, and the film entertains from start to finish. However, there's some spark missing. The lack of humour and over-the-top action strays it away from classic comic book fare, which shows confidence and makes for an interesting change, but nothing has really been supplied in replacement. Regardless, The Wolverine is a tense and fully enjoyable action film, with Jackman continuing to ace the part, and it's certainly a step in the right direction for the upcoming Days of Future Past.