Review: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island***

Our thirst for family adventure movies is never quenched, and the promise of yet another involving a mystical, far-off land packed with interesting creatures promises big things. Carving a niche in such a market is Canadian filmmaker Brad Peyton, the debut director of Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore that got mixed reviews in 2010. Tasked with breathing life back into the Journey to the Center of the Earth franchise from 2008, and with the second film simply shortened to Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Peyton’s shaky foray into family feature filmmaking has been redeemed. In this adventure, a more mature Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson) is back on another quest to find yet…

Review: Chronicle****

These days, it seems the only cinematic way to suitably recreate the belief that unfolding events are ‘real’ and instil a climate of fear is a cross between pseudo-documentary shooting and mimicking the YouTube generation of ‘caught-on-camera’ moments, the likes of which Paranormal Activity to Blair Witch have successfully sold. Debut feature writer-director Josh Trank and co-writer Max Landis have taken this still fresh and inspiring genre, and given it a sci-fi spin with their anti-superhero flick Chronicle. In the story, three teenagers from very different school social spheres – loner with a troubled family life Andrew (brilliantly played by relative newcomer Dane DeHaan), popular class president nominee Steve (Michael B. Jordan) and good-natured pseudo-intellectual and…

Review: Another Earth****

Sundance winner Another Earth is as ambiguous as its trailer, but at its indie heart is a tale of tragic redemption, rather than apocalyptic sci-fi curiosity. Listen carefully to the trailer voiceover, as this is one girl’s journey laced with an otherworldly presence. On the night of the discovery of a duplicate planet to Earth in the solar system, an ambitious young student called Rhoda (Brit Marling) and an accomplished composer and university professor John Burroughs (William Mapother) cross paths in a tragic accident. What happens next is down to Rhoda’s actions and Burroughs’s reactions. Documentary filmmaker and writer-director of this tale Mike Cahill presents an alluring sci-fi moral full of humane fragility that draws…

Review: The Thing***

John Carpenter may well be the master of horror filmmaking, but that’s not to say that someone else can’t tackle his esteemed previous work. In fact, Dutch filmmaker Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s 2011 version of The Thing could be argued as a brave career choice, considering the 1982 film’s cult following. Not to be confused as a remake of the first, but a prequel – both based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s 1938 novella Who Goes There?, whichever way you look at it, van Heijningen Jr’s new film is certain to spark similar debate over its genetics ideas. – Just to confuse matters, this prequel is set in 1982, and sees American paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary…

Review: Breaking Dawn Part 1**

As predicted, the next film in The Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part 1, breaks box office records for the ‘biggest non-3D’ opening Friday film of all time. Perhaps if it had been 3D, it could have topped even that feat – who knows? One thing is for certain, the love triangle that is Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black continues to fascinate audiences, or maybe it’s the curiosity of how the Twilight movie-making machine – that includes author Stephenie Meyer producing – will reproduce the turbulent love affair? Our guess is it’s actually the birth scene that’s the real moneymaking clincher here. In the forth film, Bella (Kristen Stewart) finally becomes Mrs Cullen and marries…

Review: Arthur Christmas****

Reviewing an animated family Christmas film is rather like looking at a small child’s enthusiastic doodle – you try really hard to say something positive and glowing about it but feel wicked if negative thoughts pop into your head. It’s probably the toughest thing to do in this job, and sadly, does depend on your view of the silly season. You can take extra confidence in knowing that Arthur Christmas comes from very British and respected stock, Aardman– with a little Sony influence. So it’s not a bad result at all. Arthur (voiced by James McAvoy) is the youngest son of the Christmas family who run the festive season each year from the North Pole…

Review: In Time*

Gattaca writer-director Andrew Niccol is normally apt at looking at current social issues in a near-future or parallel sci-fi world context. In Time appears to explore our obsession with youth, the death of urgency and the distribution of wealth – the latter being very topical at present with the global ‘Occupy’ anti-capitalist protests. However, Niccol’s latest dystopian offering is a prime example of looking great on paper, but not on screen, and squandering the opportunity to bring to life the highly thought-provoking debate it creates. In a future where time is the daily currency and people stop aging at 25, but are genetically engineered to live only one more year, for many it’s a day-to-day existence…

Review: Real Steel****

It seems that every film-maker going after the youth market is adding gadgets and robots to films, as if the human interest side of their stories is not enough to keep the younger, video-gaming generation engaged. So it’s great to see a robot film that concentrates on the human relationships for once, and one that floors you with its big heart and endearing lead performances, even though the poignant life lesson told is totally clichéd. Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is a washed-up boxer who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now he earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from…

Review: The Three Musketeers***

Author Alexandre Dumas‘s classic novel The Three Musketeers has been done to death, time and time again. None so like this swashbuckling silliness that’s child-friendly and borrows heavily from Gulliver’s Travels and the success of the Pirates franchise. Paul W.S. Anderson’s film centres on young hothead D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) – as well as lots of gadgets – who comes to Paris to become a Musketeer and encounters with his soon-to-be friends and fellow Musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. The Musketeers unite to defeat a beautiful double agent, Milady de Winter (Milla Jovovich), and her villainous employer from seizing the French throne and engulfing Europe in war. There is no denying how inventive director Anderson and co…

Review: Perfect Sense***

Imagine losing your senses, one by one – a too terrifying prospect to contemplate. David Mackenzie’s new drama Perfect Sense plunges you into that nightmare, but suggests that the greatest sense of all, the sense of love, will prevail when everything else shuts down. Set in an alternative Glasgow, chef Michael (Ewan McGregor) falls for a scientist called Susan (Eva Green) who lives opposite his restaurant. After some games and insecurities are played out, the pair eventually falls in love, just as the world epidemic begins to rob people of their sensory perceptions. The question is, can love prevail when all else fails? Although flawed in conceptual parts and over indulgent and contrived in some…