Spoilerific Review: Moon

Stop. What follows is a spoiler filled review of Duncan Jones' Moon

There is no twist in Moon. Well, not in the traditional sense anyway. There is, though, a plot development about twenty minutes in that, if revealed beforehand, would rob the film of some of it's secrets. It's almost impossible to discuss how well the film works without addressing, in some detail, that change in direction.

Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell. An astronaut at the end of a three year assignment on an isolated Moon base harvesting Helium 3, a new, very efficient energy source, and sending it back to Earth. Even though he receives messages from his wife and two year old daughter the last three years of solitude have taken their tole on him. He is lonely, disconnected and suffering hallucinations.

After an accident on the surface, Sam wakes up in the base infirmary and journeys back out to the crash site where he finds (here be spoilers) himself.

Mikey's Musings: A suggestion for the BBFC

This should be a review of Shutter Island. Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to review Shutter Island.

I've been trying and I really want to, I saw the film on release and loved it. I'm a huge fan of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio and I love nothing more than a dark, creepy thriller.

I can't review Shutter Island, however, because the film was utterly decimated by the two mouth breathers to the immediate left of me.

There is nothing wrong with chatting once and a while through a film. I've done it myself. Discretely commenting on a particular moment to your viewing partner is relatively inoffensive. However, discretion wasn't the name of the game for these chaps. Each announcement was preceded by that weird noise idiots make, you know the one, it sounds like a lobotomised fog horn, "aaaahhhwwww, this is weird". I suppose it's a valid critique of the film, Shutter Island is weird. Wonderfully so. It begins as a seeming homage to the noir films of old, all moody lighting and shrieking violins, but as the story unfolds it becomes clear there may be something else at work. The story follows US Marshall Teddy Daniels, played by Leonardo DiCaprio at his twitchy, paranoid best. Daniels has been sent to the titular Shutter Island, home to the Ashcliffe hospital for the criminally insane to investigate a missing patient. Digging deeply into the Island's past he begins to realise that there is secret that the patients and staff are keeping from him. A secret that may be better left alone.

Round Table Review: Watchmen

Welcome to Got Me A Movie's first Round Table review (a concept shamelessly stolen from other, better sites).

In the coming months I hope to invite a myriad of intelligent, witty and attractive guest contributors to the site to discuss and review some of the big upcoming summer releases. Expect Iron Man 2, certainly expect Toy Story 3, don't hold your breath for Eclipse.

We've decided to start with last years most anticipated (alright, second most anticipated) release: Watchmen.



Note: We welcome Dan Nicholls for our first review. We've decided to review the Director's Cut of Watchmen rather than the Theatrical or "Ultimate" cut. Zack Snyder has stated that this is his preferred version. He has a point, this cut gives the film a stronger narrative, fleshes characters out and vastly improves some of the pacing issues from the Theatrical Cut. If you haven't seen the Director's Cut yet Devin Faraci at CHUD.com posted a comprehensive breakdown of the additional scenes which can be found here.

Review: Sex and the City 2

Where to begin? Sex and the City 2 is eye-wateringly awful.

I can not stress strongly enough though, that this is not a knee jerk reaction to the franchise. While I wouldn't call myself a fan of the series, only a fool could deny how groundbreaking it was both as a statement of female empowerment and as a piece of entertainment. And while the first cinematic entry didn't quite have the spark of the series it was an entertaining enough romp and a serviceable adaptation.

The sequel however, is not. Seemingly content to do away with anything that made the show relevant or intelligent, Sex and the City 2 instead opts to hammer it's audience about the head with a slew of childish innuendo, toilet humour and some simply jaw dropping political incorrectness for good measure, but more on that in a moment.

Perhaps the biggest issue that Sex and the City 2 has initially is that it's lead character Carrie Bradshaw is perhaps the least likeable central character in recent memory. Her trials and tribulations have always been trite but they were offset by some real drama, smart writing and when else failed more interesting characters. Here with all that stripped away Carrie is vacuous, boring, short tempered and monstrously self centred. Her worries and concerns so trivial that it eventually becomes insulting.

Review: Iron Man 2

Balance.

Balance is the reason this jam packed Superhero sequel succeeds where others have failed.

By and large a sequel's job is to outdo the original in anyway it can. The easiest and most obvious way to do this often seems to be the "more is more" approach, whereby studios throw as much as they can at the screen often not realising what made the previous film so successful. Some times it tries to cram numerous new characters in, sometimes it's just action overload, but in most cases this strategy backfires. When you can't quite manage the characters you've added into a coherent narrative you get Spider-Man 3, if you eschew any notion of plot in favour of upping the 'splosions and sparks you get Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But if you can find the balance, that sweet spot in the middle, that beautiful alchemic reaction, you get Iron Man 2.

Six months after revealing to the world that he is Iron Man, Tony Stark's ego has inflated beyond all proportion. He has declared himself a "nuclear deterrent" and the world's protector having "privatised world peace". Naturally the U.S. government is unimpressed and demand that he turn the weapon over to the American people lest it fall into the wrong hands. Stark's response is that his suit is so advanced that it would take at least twenty years for the world to catch up, "America is safe". What Stark isn't telling anyone is that the Iron Man suit and the technology that is keeping him alive may also be killing him, and what Stark doesn't know is that he may be overestimating how far behind his competitors are.

Review: Dear John

There is a moment, a third of the way into Dear John, where Sgt. John Tyree, having recently fallen in love while on shore leave and yearning for the end of his tour of duty, walks into a bar in the German town where he is stationed and watches the World Trade Centre collapse.

I thought that this would be a turning point for the film. Up until that point Dear John, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel, was a perfectly acceptable tale of two young people falling in love one summer. It wasn't changing my life but I wasn't longing for the credits. The film plods along in a formulaic fashion, happily throwing out clichés with gay abandon.

And then, out of nowhere, it decides to tackle 9/11, and for the briefest of time it does an admirable job of it. Immediately after the attack John returns to the base and without hesitation requests to extend his tour. His decision isn't rational or thought out and its not presented as a gung ho call to arms. It's born out of fear, doubt, confusion and at the same time a powerful need to do something.

Review: Kick-Ass

When I began this blog I decided that I would try to post real reviews. Reviews that would be as professional and well thought out as possible. They would be considered, thorough and above all else would not descend into crass, nonsensical hyperbole.

With Kick-Ass such restraint isn't possible. It will literally melt your face.

Just as Mark Millar's already classic comic book series was a giant love letter to comic books, Matthew Vaughn's adaptation is an ode to comic book movies. It is a comedy but it is never a parody, never a spoof. It is a bonefide superhero movie, homaging, borrowing from and celebrating what came before it.

And it Kicks Ass.

The story (gleefully aware of how familiar it is) is your typical superhero origin story, but it begins with everyteen Dave Lizewski asking a question; Why aren't there superheroes in real life? It's a good question. So good in fact that Dave directly challenges the audience, demanding that you admit you've either thought about it or indeed fantasised about it. Tired of waiting Dave tries it himself and after quickly and painfully finding out EXACTLY why people don't fight crime in spandex, simply carries on and discovers that he may not be the first to try it after all.