Killer Ink Comics

Now that Christmas is behind us how about a movie review of a movie probably out of most theaters and about Christmas. Yay.

Arthur Christmas

The Christmas/Holiday season is the time for the movies to show us the healing power of Christmas. To see how putting aside our petty ways can reveal that which we have been missing and mend the hurt feeling that have been collected along the way. It is a time for our hearts to grow three sizes, not because of heart disease, but because of love.

Arthur Christmas is no exception as it explores the dynasty that is the Santa family who for generations has been delivering presents to children on Christmas Eve so that upon the morn the kids may find exactly what they asked for under the tree. However, instead of an altruistic, heavy set, red nosed man who is delivering presents out of the goodness of his heart, Santa’s organization has become present delivering strike force. This strike force is lead by the elder son Steve, voiced by Hugh Laurie with Santa, voiced by Jim Broadbent, as a doddering old figurehead. All the while Grandsanta, voiced by Bill Nighy, watches from his easy chair and criticizes like all old men do; “in my day we did…”

And ‘Where’s Arthur’ you ask. Well wouldn’t you know he’s in the mailroom answering letters because he’s a head-in-the-clouds accident waiting to happen.  Oh Arthur.

Though to be fair the opening of this movie is pretty fantastic as we watch the tactical Elf strike force deliver all the presents and see them navigate their way through problems that occur.  The opening also sets up the characters and situation nicely.

The over all arch of the movie is simple in that a child did not get a present delivered to them and there is a ticking clock on when the present can be delivered or else its too late. After seeing the Elf strike force and the S1, Santa’s new “sleigh”, delivering this present to the missed child shouldn’t be an issue, right? Right.

However on this particular Christmas there is an expectation that Santa will retire and hand the reigns over to Steve who is running the show anyway. This does not happen and the jilted elder son points to over all success of the night and claims that the present can’t be delivered. It can but Santa just goes along with what Steve is saying because he’s old and doesn’t understand all the new technology.

Seriously, it’s just that simple. Steve says ‘no’, Santa says ‘awe shucks’ the goes to bed. That’s it.

Needless to say Arthur, voiced by James McAvoy, is devastated that this child will miss out on getting what they asked Santa for Christmas.  With some coxing of the Grandsanta, the use of the original sleigh and some reign deer who are descendents of Prancer, Dancer and all them, Arthur is off to deliver the present.

To me this is where the issues begin because the premise is so thin. With the technology displayed this should be an easy fix but what prevents things from moving forward is the personalities at play which for a kids movie puts things on pretty shaky grounds.

In order to draw out the movie there are missteps like Grandsanta mis-reading the map and ending up in Africa where the sleigh is attacked by lions, ending up at the wrong house in Mexico, losing reindeer, Grandsanta’s desire to show everyone else that the old ways were best and, my favorite of all, Santa’s Sleigh being mistaken for an alien space ship.

Yes that is right, there is a plot thread where Santa’s sleigh is mistaken for a spaceship and therefore must be destroyed so everyone can have a good Christmas. It’s not a large plot thread but it’s an annoying one.  It’s so impractical, despite how ‘well’ they set it up. I find it hard to believe on Christmas Eve there wouldn’t be one guy in the background saying ‘hey maybe it’s Santa.’

Needless to say that these shenanigans cause lessons to be learned and fences to be mended in the most expected ways possible. The movie really is a family drama based around the changing of who runs the family business which when applied to Santa is really fascinating. However I think the fact that this is done as a kids movie leads to some unfortunate results in terms of drawing out the conflict.

Over all, the movie has a lot of strong laughs, mostly due to Grandsanta, a fantastic opening and a satisfying ending. I think there is enough there for both kids and parents to enjoy and the comic devices to draw out the movie, while painful in places, are bearable enough to sit through.

It feels like the summer blockbusters that we have been getting in recent years have been focused on blowing us away with action, special effects and franchises that we are familiar with. Some examples of this are Transformers, The Pirates of the Caribbean and every super hero movie. Big budgets, big action, big disappointment.

Ok maybe not big disappointment but certainly no Jurassic Park or Independence Day. Movie that captured our imaginations and hearts.

Hey, how about naming something that’s not old enough to buy cigarettes.

Ok fine; Avatar. It’s beautiful to look at but a crap film. Moving on.

With the release of Super 8 I feel like we finally have a summer blockbuster worth getting excited about. It was fun, action packed and filled with characters you could fall in love with.

Super 8 revolves around Joe Lamb, played by Joel Courtney, and his friends as they try and make a zombie film during their summer vacation. One night during filming they are caught in the middle of a giant train crash. After the crash weird things start happening around the town and the Air Force, who has shown up in response to the incident, have very little in the way of answers.

There Will Be Spoilers, so go out and see this movie. Not because of the spoilers but because it is an amazing film which should be seen as soon as possible.

The film opens with this simple perfect shot of a factory in small town USA. A man is on a ladder changing a sign that read DAYS SINCE LAST ACCIDENT from four hundred something to one. Cut to Joe out in his front yard alone and holding a locket. A man in a car pulls up to the house and when he gets out of the car we see he’s been drinking. Joe watches as the man enters the house, where the wake is being held, and instantly there is a scuffle and the man is being led out of the house in handcuffs by Office Jackson Lamb, Joe’s father who is played by Kyle Chandler. Joe’s father puts the man in a cop car and drives off.

With out much being said we know that Joe’s mother is dead, who is “blamed” for it happening, and that there is a disconnect between Joe and his father. Also we have been given a flavor for the small town world this movie exists in.

Brilliant. Perfect.  Wonderful, wonderful story telling. We now know that the focus of the movie is about repairing the fallout that has come about as a result of this accident. Also it will mirror the issue that is plaguing this small town. Jump to four months later and a train accident and we are on our way towards resolution.

Never fear, though, this is a monster movie. There is odd stuff going on in the town but it’s not the complete focus of Joe and his friends, which gives the movie more of a realistic/believable feel. Their paths keep crossing with the strange things in town and there are breadcrumbs of information laid out at strategic parts of the movie. However they are more concerned with getting their movie made and as things in the town escalate they are forced to confront the issue.

I’m in love with the story telling.

I could go on and on about how great this movie is but it’s better if you see it for yourself so I want to hit a few key points. Of course there is Elle Fanning who plays Alice Dainard, the Juliet to Joe’s Romeo, and she is fantastic. There is one scene where she is acting in a scene in the movie with in the movie that is captivating and you cannot help but think she is going to be a household name in a couple of years. She is a solid actress who gives a solid performance though out the film and I cannot wait to see what she does in the future.

There are a bunch of great characters who round out the world of the film and do so perfectly. I just want to point our one more who dazzled me ever single moment he was one screen. Ryan Lee, who plays Cary, Joe’s fireworks-obsessed friend, also delivers a great performance. He is so great to watch on screen and most every line of his made me laugh. Another talent to watch out for.

As a cinephile it was great to see these kids so focused on making their film and all of the things they were going through to get it done. From make up, to script writing, to building models to directing the actors. It was all there and I cannot imagine how much fun J.J. Abrams and Spielberg, assuming the latter was involved, were having. It was a clever arc for the kids and a great way to develop them all.

I will admit that some of the emotional scenes were a little over the top. In a film that is so clever and subtle those scenes were as subtle as dynamite. They don’t hurt the film, by any means, but they do clunk.

If you are still reading this review and have not seen the movie yet I must ask WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Why didn’t you stop reading and see it?! It’s incredible. It will make you believe in big budget blockbusters again.

Well, at least until June 29^th. That will be a sad day indeed.

Bonesteel

Thor, starting Chris Hemsworth as the title character, is the most recent Marvel film in their build to the Avengers movie slated for 2012.  The movie is about Thor, the Norse God, who is cast out from Asgard to Earth to learn an important lesson about humility.

This movie is good. Not great and certainly not bad. However there are some really great moments of humor that are present through out the movie that give it a certain level of charm and make up for some of its weaker moments.

There will be Spoilers.

One of the things that I liked most about the film was how much fun they were having with the franchise that they are starting to build as a whole. We have seen this, bits and pieces, through the Iron Man films with the appearances from Nick Furry and the teaser about the hammer at the end of the second film but this is the first time I really started to feel like things were building to something greater.

One of the things that help to build this is the presence of SHEILD through out the film. No longer are they relegated to the shadows or merely mentioned. They have the authority to quarantine off an area and confiscate all of the research done by Jane Foster, Natalie Portman, and compensate her with a sizable check. They are organized, they are efficient and everywhere.

Then there are the comments sprinkled through out the movie that related to the larger universe that is being created.  One of Foster’s colleagues talks about a scientist who was working with Gama rays who just disappeared.  Also when the Destroyer, that giant robot, shows up, one of the SHEILD agents asks if it’s one of Starks and the reply is “I don’t know. That guy never tells me anything.” These moments of world building really made the movie more exciting as a fan and as someone who is excited in the build up to the Avenger movie.

The special effects work in Thor is another reason to see this movie; maybe not in theaters but certainly on dvd. Asgard and all of the frost giants look great and fully realized. I think that they may have over done things in terms of how expansive and luxurious the world of Asgard was but that is more of a nit picking point then something that really hurts the movie.

Speaking of nit picky points, one of the Asgard warriors and friends of Thor is Asian. Now I will be the first to admit that I am not well versed in the Marvel mythology of Thor but I find it hard to believe that there would be an Asian Norse God/warrior. This was a tad distracting.

Ok so back on track.

The acting in this movie was good, though no one really blew me away.  I am conflicted by Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Through out most of the movie he plays the character as overly mopey instead of the conniving God he is. I really expected to see scene where he was blasting some Dashboard Confessional and writing in his journal about how ‘Thor has always been dad’s favorite.’

But then there are scenes where I can really see him as this great manipulating character; specifically in the final tag scene at the very end of the movie. That teaser scene seems to give some indication that Loki will play a part in The Avengers movie so I am interested to see how it all shakes out.

There are a few other small things that bothered me like what is Jane Foster actually researching? Sometimes Kenneth Branagh’s direction feels a little stagey. The Oden sleeps is such a plot device that comes out of nowhere to drive the action forward

However the good out weighs the bad. If you are a fan of the franchise or are interested in the build to The Avengers movie Thor sets of the characters and future events well.  If there is another Thor movie I will see it.

There will be spoilers.

When The Hangover first came out in June of 2009 it took the world by force. It launched the careers of Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis. It was a comedic masterpiece that was action-packed, smart, raunchy and completely out of its mind.

With the release of The Hangover Part II one has to wonder how do you top the original? Where can you go with these guys that they haven’t already been?

The answer is Thailand; population 63 million people.

I don’t mean this in snarky, we-all-saw-the-trailer sort of way. The truth of the matter is that this is the biggest change from the first movie. Well, that—and they lose Stew’s fiancée brother Teddy.

This movie could have gone wrong in so many ways. It’s a sequel that came out a little less then two years after it set the world on fire. We have seen sequel after sequel suffer from poorly written scripts and rushed production schedules just so the studios could cash in.

And to some degree you can argue that The Hangover Part II does do this because it is exactly the same movie as the first one. All of the plot points are there. Alan is the reason they can’t remember anything, Stew sleeps with a prostitute, Phil looks handsome the whole time, there is a kidnapped animal, Stew sings a song and ultimately the missing friend is saved by a last-minute revelation.

Though I will admit when they brought out Mike Tyson at the end of the film I groaned. I groaned hard. However it was the only time.

But this is where the movie succeeds; at least for me. It delivers what I wanted to see without trying to give these characters depth, emotions or any real lessons to learn. This is a roller coaster ride and I had fun.

As a counterpoint one of the people I saw the movie with said that he didn’t enjoy it because he has seen the first one. This is a fair argument. There is enough new things, twists, turns and set pieces in The Hangover Part II to make it its own movie however if you are not interested in just spending more time with these guys on another wild morning after then you may not enjoy this movie.

Another place where this movie succeeds is how it never let the action/hijinks get too out of control. Often time there is this idea that the sequel must outdo the original and what you end up with is John MCclane jumping off a collapsing highway on to a fighter jet. (Live Free or Die Hard) I don’t think things escalate to a ridiculous degree because of how closely the writers stuck to the original story structure. It helped keep the film grounded.

Think of it this way: if you enjoyed Clerks II and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York then you will like this movie.  They all hit the same plot points with the same lovable characters just in a different location and for me that’s all I need.

You can follow me on twitter @ Bonesteel_KIC