Wreck-It Ralph

What's it about? Wreck-it Ralph is the antagonist in a computer game named after its hero, Fix-It Felix. He is fed up of being the baddie and so decides to set off into other computer games to become a hero so that he can live in the penthouse and be friends with the other good guys. On his way, he meets Vanellope, a girl stuck in a cart racing game who wants to win a race and reset the game. Ralph has been wreaking unknown havoc on his way through the gaming world and the question becomes, can he fix what he has messed up, before the computer games world is destroyed forever?

What's it like? Very sweet. Although targeting the young, it has in-jokes that gamers from the 80's will savour but no ham-fisted "oh look, aren't we being really edgy sneaking in rude grown-up jokes" that could have spoiled this endearing confection. Though the plot through-line is simple and comprehensible, it isn't so simplistic and twee in its execution as to alienate or frustrate the parents who will inevitably accompany their children to screenings. The "just be happy being you" message is admittedly superficial and reductive, but there are worthwhile points made about how we are all complex shades of grey rather than "good" or "bad" and themes of kindness, sacrifice and generosity are well-aired too.

 

The animation is, as you would expect, superb and the voice work from John C Reilly and Sarah Silverman is delightful. The different computer game worlds are imaginatively, intelligently and humorously designed and rendered and there are plenty of subtle jokes, as well as laugh out loud moments. In essence, it covers all that a proper family film should - entertaining, well-written, eventful and well-paced and with a decent amount of subtext for chewing over later. Great stuff.

Should I see it? Absolutely. There is plenty here for everyone to enjoy and nothing that is going to offend or upset. Tiny children may find the alien/bug things a little bit much, but my six-year old lapped it all up. It is funny and worthwhile, so check it out.

 

Les Miserables (2013)

What's it all about? Jean Valjean has completed a lengthy prison sentence after stealing a loaf of bread. Javert, a ruthless and inflexible policeman, vows to watch him like a hawk. Unable to find any work as a parolee, Valjean is taken in by a priest, but then is caught stealing from the church. In an act of undeserved mercy and grace, the priest tells the police that he gave the items to Valjean, who then resolves to reform and live his life much better. He eventually ends up looking after Cosette, the young daughter of Fantine, a worker in his factory who has died in poverty and though he longs for a better life for him and her, Javert is ever on his tail.

What's it like? Goodness me. This is as moving, affecting and uplifting a film-watching experience as you could hope for. I am a bit of a Philistine when it comes to musical theatre and so haven't seen Les Mis on the stage, but on the evidence of this it is easy to see why so many flock to it. As Valjean, Hugh Jackman (Wolverine from the X-Men films, but an accomplished musical theatre performer long before he hit that franchise) hits all the right notes, broken, defiant, tender, sympathetic and strong. As the doomed Fantine, Anne Hathaway is simply breath-taking, summing up in one devastating rendition of "I dreamed a dream" a whole backstory, a whole life, a whole tragedy. In one take, and that an unblinking close-up on her face, the horrendous tale of a life torn apart and hope destroyed is told and you never fully recover.

 

Director Tom Hooper, who was rightly much lauded for The Kings Speech, sensibly opens up the stage-bound production with soaring camera shots and long-range vistas, both of Paris and the church where Valjean first experiences grace and mercy. He managed to persuade his cast to sing live on set rather than lip-sync to a pre-recorded soundtrack, which exhausted them to a man and woman, but delivers in spades in drawing us into what can be a distancing technique of having virtually every syllable sung rather than spoken. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter excel as the ghastly Thenardiers, irredeemably unpleasant and venal and although Russell Crowe's signing is a little below par, his performance as the inflexibly ruthless and unforgiving Javert is powerful and affecting. As unable to accept forgiveness as to give it, Javert has nowhere to go when Valjean shows him undeserved mercy.

 

Should I see it? Yes. It has been and gone from cinemas now, but it will be on DVD before long. Some of the scale will be lost on the small screen, but I would guess none of the impact. Certainly its enduring themes of undeserved grace and mercy to the merciless will have no less impact on your TV. Some of the earlier scenes, especially where Fantine slips into prostitution after losing her job, will upset younger children, but older children will benefit hugely from so powerful and evocative a depiction of God's mercy to us in our undeserving helplessness. That a man of God is the one person who helps Valjean in his desperation and who goes on to forgive and extend mercy when Valjean bites the hand that feeds is something for us all to dwell on and aspire to.

 

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

What's It About? Christopher Nolan brings his rightly lauded Batman trilogy to a close. It is eight years since the events that concluded The Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne is a recluse at the rebuilt Wayne manor, Batman a fugitive from the law. His years of crime-fighting have wrecked his body and he hobbles around the mansion on a walking stick. Meanwhile, a mercenary by the name of Bane has arrived in Gotham City, working with an industrialist who seeks control of Wayne Enterprises, but with a murky agenda of his own. Selina Kyle, a cat burglar of surprising ability and agility is also lurking, seeking a way to wipe the slate clean and start a new life.

*****

What's it Like? In a word, astonishing. Some critics, friends of mine among them, were less impressed, but all comic-book films, all summer blockbusters, should be this intelligent, exciting, thought-provoking and affecting. It might seem a little long at 160-odd minutes, but as has often been said, a good film cannot be too long and a bad film cannot be too short. The running time doesn't drag at all but instead gives room for characters to breathe - developing believably without story strands feeling rushed. Towards the end, a couple of developments feel a little too conveniently quick, but this is to be forgiven in the overall scheme of things.
This time around, Bruce Wayne is given more time and we see that he continues to be weighed down and inconsolable over the loss of Rachel Dawes, though still beset by a literally crippling sense of duty and responsibility. As Anne Hathaway's excellently portrayed Selina Kyle says to Batman at one point, "you don't owe these people anything more, you've given them everything", "no I haven't", he replies, "not yet". It is heart-breaking, moving and compelling in a way that Nolan's film sometimes fail to be - he always crafts excellent stories, but has not always managed to get to our hearts, he has not always made us care. Here he does.
It taks a good chunk of the film before Batman returns and this enables other characters their time - although Bane wears a mask that obscures most of his face and some of his voice, Tom Hardy makes for a physically threatening and intellectually challenging foe for Batman, Gary Oldman is excellent again as Commissioner Gordon, bringing shades of dark and light to the dignified chief of police. As the new cop on the beat, John Blake, Joseph Gordon-Levitt essays goodness, compassion, decency and integrity and gets plenty of time to shine as the action closes in on Gotham in ther film's latter stages.
To say too much else plot-wise would be spoiler-ish, but there is a lot going on and it will take repeat viewings or at least a lot of thinking time to piece it all together and make sense of it, but it is thrilling, fascinating, compelling stuff. The story may not have the propulsive, linear clarity of The Dark Knight, but it touches on sacrifice, forgiveness, hope, despair, self-destruction, political and economic commentary and fate/destiny. A lot to get through in anyone's book and for Nolan to have done so amidst such thrilling action and without getting bogged down in "worthiness" is to his utter and enduring credit. See it.

*****

Should I see it? Yes. By avoiding any blood-letting during the violence, Nolan has kept himself to a 12A certificate, but there is a lot of brutality and callousness on display here and under-12's should stay away. No doubt lots of children below that age will want to see it, so exercise your parental decision-making carefully. It is of course unmanageably expensive to see it twice, once on your own and once with your kids, but somehow you will need to find a way to test the waters for younger children. There is no nudity, sexual content or coarse language, but the themes and content are grown-up across the board. Much of the boardroom shenanigans won't make much sense to the younger audience members, so you may prefer to wait for the DVD/Bluray release to enable you to pause, skip sections and explain what is going on.
For those who want to see it and can, there is so much that bears discussing and contemplating over a drink afterwards. How much of ourselves are we prepared to give for those in need? When despair threatens to overwhelm us, can we find the hope to persevere, to overcome, to triumph? What do we do with our fears? Can we wipe the slate clean and start again? Can we live with ourselves when we run away, or set someone up so that we can get away? Can we stand by when those we love and care for are bent on self-destruction? Can we overcome the seemingly insurmountable? There's a month's worth of dinner table discussion right there.

The Amazing Spider-man (2012)

What's it about? Peter Parker, orphaned as a young boy, now living with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May is trying to get by at school. One day, during a visit to a gene-splicing facility run by Dr Curt Connors, he is bitten by a spider and everything changes - super powers abound, as do tragedy, trials and adventure.

*****

What's it like? It has only been ten years since the last time the Spider-man franchise was launched and a mere five years since the curtain came down on Sam Raimi's very successful trilogy with the flawed but entertaining Spider-man 3 (you know, with Sandman, Venom and all that stuff). Some would say that it is too soon to re-launch with another origin story, especially with it touching on the same bases as last time around - same school bully (Flash), same spider, same powers, same character arcs - but to its credit this manages to be its own creature. Reverting to the comic-book web-shooters instead of Raimi's organic version, giving us Gwen Stacey as Parker's love and trying to give a more over-arching story regarding the fate of Parker's parents all help put clear water between this and the Raimi/Maguire trilogy.
Director Mark Webb (whose last film was the excellent (500) Days of Summer) handles action and character beats with aplomb, even if the villain (Connors turns into Lizard as a result of trying to re-grow his lost arm) suffers from a cut in the special effects budget this time around (Spider-man 3 cost $300m, this a mere $80m). The film takes its time in moving through Parker's story arc and Andrew Garfield, despite being 28, makes for a far more convincing nerdy high school kid than Tobey Maguire ever did. The chemistry between Parker and Emma Stone's Gwen Stacey is affecting and perhaps the most successful aspect of the film, although Garfield deserves kudos for delivering Spider-man's witty quips even through the limitations of a spandex suit.
An improvement on the first and third Spider-man films but falling short of Spider-man 2 (though there is no shame in that) this is excellent entertainment and has a little to say as well. Well worth your time.

*****

Should I see it? That depends on whether this is your sort of thing, I suppose. There is no strong language as far as I can recall and although Lizard and Spidey have a few pretty meaty scraps, the violence is kept the right side of the film's 12A certificate. Lizard would be unlikely to scare or upset anyone other than the very young, though the theme of losing parents may be hard to process for the young as well. Thematically, the ideas of coping with school, standing up to bullies, using your strength and opportunities responsibly and protecting the vulnerable are all worth examining and talking through with family and friends and so the film presents a opportunity to dive into that realm. There are deeper, more meaningful films out there, but this is far from a superficial exercise. Watch it and engage with it.

The Five Year Engagement (2012)

What's It About? Tom (Jason Segel) and Violet (Emily Blunt) have been together for a year, living in sunny San Francisco, when Tom proposes on New Years Eve. They start planning their wedding, when suddenly Violet is offered a job as a University lecturer in snow-bound Michigan. They move there and put wedding plans on hold for a little while. As Violet's career takes off and Tom struggles to find meaningful work, cracks start to show and they wonder if they will ever make it down the aisle.

*****

What's It Like? Sal and I saw this film during a weekend away and it was just what the doctor ordered - funny and sweet, realistic but heart-felt. It comes from producer Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The 40-year Old Virgin, Bridesmaids etc), which is not necessarily a guarantee of quality, or an assurance that everyone will like it, but we did. The sequences where their relationship starts to feel the strain are affectingly realistic and thanks to the casting of such a likeable duo, even when they respectively act like boneheads, we still pull for them, like them and want to see them work it out.
At a fraction over 2 hours, the running time is a little too long for a romantic comedy, but it never drags too badly, benefiting from supporting actors who keep our attention and keep the chuckles coming. Although it has some highly amusing sequences, it is refreshingly free of gross-out humour or unpleasantness, relying instead on genuine laughs from relatable and funny scenarios.
There are a few cheats along the way. The characters that serve as the respective temptations and distractions for Tom and Violet are written and played so as to never be able to be legitimate competition, which drains a little bit of dramatic tension, but then it could be argued that the outcome is obvious and something for which everyone is rooting anyway, so what's the harm? Throw in a couple of Sesame Street character impersonations and one of the wildest "man of the wilderness" beards seen in many a year and you've got a great night out (or in).

*****

Should I See It? It has a well-earned 15 certificate from a combination of frequent strong language and regular sex scenes, as well as quite a lot of sexually-themed dialogue. For teenagers, it might represent an unhelpful dose of content and subject-matter that will not help them much in their current or future relationships. Having said that, the question begs is this sort of thematic content helpful for any of us? It is easy to say, "well, I'm married, so sexual content in films isn't a problem anymore". That is of course simplistic and dangerous. In the end, let your own conscience guide you. If you suspect this sort of content will cause you to stumble, or if it just isn't your thing, if the language will annoy you and prevent you enjoying the film, just stay away. If your teenage children want to see it, try to make it a family trip. If they don't fancy that idea, at least try to make a point afterwards of talking the film through with them - see what they thought of it and whether the point of view it puts across grates with them. As always, try to engage with films and your family and friends, rather than letting these opportunities pass you by. The film has much to say about relationships, co-habiting, faithfulness, predatory men and women, marriage, a sense of purpose in life, careers. Lots to think about.

The Avengers (2012)

What's It About? Uniting a veritable bounty of Marvel's cherished characters, we see Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury join forces to prevent Earth becoming enslaved to Loki, Thor's vengeful brother.

*****

What's It Like? This is comic-book film-making on an epic and virtually peerless scale. Whereas some properties have "gone dark" (see Nolan's Batman films), this manages a seemingly impossible task of balancing half a dozen big characters, giving them each their moment to shine and still presenting a genuine threat in a light-hearted but never flippant or trite manner. It could easily have become bloated, weighed down by the need to cover so many characters and give them a reason to join forces, but the excellent, intelligent, funny and accessible script moves through the gears quickly, establishing each character with economy without feeling rushed.
Although Iron Man is the most obviously charismatic character and has had the most successful films out of this bunch, Robert Downey Jr never tries to steal the show, enjoying his moments in the sun without embarking on an ego trip to dominate every scene. Instead, it falls to the more measured Mark Ruffalo, or more to the point his alter-ego Hulk to run away with virtually every scene he is in. Hulk's fight with Thor and his encounter with Loki are particular highlights, though the early square (triangle?) off between Captain America, Thor and Iron Man manages to be thrilling, funny and serious all at the same time - there are stakes here, not just witty quips to make us laugh.
In Loki and his assembled minions we have a menacing villain, one who is able to convince as a match for such an abundance of super-powered heroes and although the rules of franchises dictate that we suspect we know who is going to make it to the closing credits, the film isn't afraid to show occasional ruthlessness. The first big blockbuster of the summer has set the bar exceedingly high and it is doubtful that Prometheus, Spider-man and Batman will find it easy to measure up.

Should I See It? Yes, you really should. It won't be to everyone's tastes but I've yet to speak to anyone who didn't like it. It is refreshingly free of any coarse language, even though the film's 12A certificate would enable it to get away with a certain amount. There is no sexual content and although there is plenty of violence, it is for the most part bloodless, with the indestructible Hulk, the armoured Iron Man and the Norse god Thor taking the sternest beatings. I would not have any reservations about taking my 6 year old son to see it, if that is any help.

Chronicle (2012)

What's it about? Andrew is struggling at high school. He is picked on, lonely, his mother is critically ill at home and his father no longer works as a fireman after being injured. He starts chronicling his life through the lens of a video camera, including his drunk father's abusive behaviour towards him and the bullying he suffers at school. One evening at a school party, he and his cousin Matt and the prospective high school president Steve find a hole in the ground that leads through to a mysterious underground chamber housing a seemingly other-worldly crystalline object. None of them can resist touching it and shortly thereafter they find themselves developing increasingly potent telekinetic powers.

*****

What's it like? With the whole film being shot through Andrew's video camera, obvious connections will be made to everything from The Blair Witch Project, through District 9 and Cloverfield. Thankfully, there is none of the shaky, nausea-inducing amateurish filming that made some of these sorts of films a little unpopular and instead there is good reason why Andrew should be filming everything and if nothing else, it is the first time we have seen a superhero film (which is what this boils down to) done in this format.
What sets this film apart from the superhero genre however, is the refreshing lack of obvious and cliched character arcs. Rather than everyone becoming noble and seeing the potential their powers have for making the world a better place, or becoming corrupted by boundless power and trying to take over the world, we instead get teenagers larking about, playing pranks, getting their own back on bullies, making mistakes, acting thoughtlessly and impulsively and trying to work out what might be the right thing to do in unimaginably unique circumstances.
Andrew is the most obviously "troubled" of the three and although he seems like the one most likely to use his powers problematically, our sympathies remain with him. His home life is unmanageably difficult, as his drunk father hits him, blames him, rages at him and insults him and his mother slowly slips away in pain and sadness. Matt and Steve become his friends through their shared experiences, but as their powers escalate in potency, they struggle to understand him and relate to him. Underpinning all of this is the philosophical debate that was also weaved through Jurassic Park and Spider-man - just because you have the ability to do something does not mean that you should. Spider-man reduced it to "with great power comes great responsibility" and Matt essentially offers the same counsel to Andrew, who instead reads up on evolution and bestows upon himself the title "apex predator", which is clearly not going to end well.
The scenes showing the three boys exploring and developing their powers are exciting, funny and engaging and the film moves briskly through these sequences, allowing the characters to develop believably. There is the ongoing sense that everything is at any moment going to go horribly wrong, much to the credit of the director (26-year old debutant Josh Trank) who balances lighter and more edgy, tense moments (and a few big jumps) with real ease. The relatively unknown actors who make up the central threesome are all effortlessly convincing and their respective journeys are believable and compelling. A really great opening volley in what will be a summer of superhero behemoths slugging it out.

*****

Should I see it? You really should. It is certainly one of the best films to grace our screens so far in 2012 and will take some beating, even by its most obvious genre comparatives (Avengers, Batman, Spiderman). As a Christian, I found the film giving me plenty of food for thought, from Andrew's sense of being "different" (even before he acquires super-powers), through the broader thematic issues of hubris, the corrupting ability of power and finding your place in the world. Although Andrew's father is easy to dismiss as a mere brute, a harsh unsympathetic monster, he likewise gives us a lot to ponder in relation to the modern malaise of male impotent rage. He is a man desperately unhappy, weak and angry and takes it out on his son because he doesn't know what else to do. Not to excuse him, but it is an interesting performance and an intriguing character.
The film is rated 12A and contains some swearing (though thankfully none of it too strong) and violence. Younger children will likely find the brutality of Andrew's father more upsetting than anything else and the absence of a sense of fantasy to the more superheroic elements makes the film more affecting and potentially distressing than something like Thor, where you do not feel you are watching real-life events unfold. If you are trying to understand and connect with your teenage children, this might be a good film to see and then use as a way of opening up a dialogue about finding your own identity as a young adult and coming to terms with being different and how we deal with sadness, frustration and the usual challenges of life. Catch it if you can.