Saturday 26 May 2012

Dark Shadows

Spoiler Alert!

I've been hotly anticipating a great many films this year. Dark Shadows crept up on me and caught me unaware however. The only Burton production that was on my 2012 list was Frankenweenie - Burton's stop-motion feature, adapted from his own early short.
I have to admit to giving the last couple of Burton movies a wide birth. I'm a huge fan of his earlier works such as; Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands and Batman, but have grown weary of the seemingly endless remakes and adaptations he's been tackling. There's no question he's a talented director with a unique vision, but personally I've been craving something original from the man.
When I first heard of Dark Shadows, I thought my hopes had been realised - only to discover that this new film was in fact an adaptation of an early television sitcom. Apparently the sitcom in question is a favourite of many a Hollywood film-maker - and a planned adaptation had been on the cards for some time.
The film begins in 1752 and tells the story of Barnabas Collins(played by Burton regular, Johnny Depp) - the only child to Joshua and Naomi Collins. An entrepreneurial type, Joshua Collins establishes himself as a forerunner of the fishing industry on the east coast of North America - resulting in the building of Collinsport. Barnabas is heir to his fathers considerable fortune, however things turn sour for the Collins' before Barnabas can take up his mantle.
A love-struck employee named Angelique(played by Eva Green), fails to earn the affections of Barnabas, and so she casts a pall over the Collins family and transforms Barnabas into a vampire. With the help of the townsfolk, Barnabas is buried in the ground for close to 200 years.
Cut to 1972 and Barnabas is re-awoken to discover the world has changed considerably! He returns to his estate to find the last few descendants of his family struggling to keep their home and business in a style to which Barnabas remembered. To make matters worse, Angelique is still alive. Seemingly immortal - her penchant for witchcraft has kept her looking young and voluptuous still.
Dark Shadows is a gothic dramedy(echoing that of the original sitcom I imagine). It's a fish-out-of-water tale with Barnabas' contemporary exchanges the butt of many a joke!
Much has been said about Burton and Depps ongoing collaborative relationship. Dark Shadows is their 8th collaboration and some have said they should call it a day. The truth is Burton and Depp work considerably well together. Depp is pitch-perfect in the roll of Barnabas and steals every scene he's in. I can't imagine Depp would have suited the roll of Batman or even Captain Leo Davidson(from Planet of the Apes), but Burton cast accordingly. As for the films Burton has cast Depp in, well each character has been a desperately kooky, loner-type. Why wouldn't you cast Depp - he's excellent in these roles!
Interestingly the main criticism I have of this film is a result of Depps star turn! The supporting cast are given short shrift, with only Michelle Pfeiffer and Helana Bonham Carter memorable in the parts of Elizabeth Collins and Dr. Julia Hoffman respectively. As a new-comer to Burtons world, Eva Green is surprisingly good as Angelique, but all are let down by a bleak and hollow ending.
Dark Shadows is an entertaining and fun movie, full of rich detail and endearing characters. Having invested in the endeavours of it's principle cast, one should have been rewarded with a wholly uplifting ending - with Barnabas reclaiming his birth-rite and his extended family free to bask in their newly found wealth. Instead(and somewhat unsurprisingly) the film goes in a darker direction, ending on a particular Burton-esque note - 3/5!

Saturday 19 May 2012

The Avengers

So, I had to see this movie twice before I could review it. If The Avengers was going to be good, then I was going to see it at least twice anyway - yet at no point did I factor into account another technical fault!
My first viewing started with an ugly scratch in the centre of the screen. I leapt out of my chair in an effort to address the problem as soon as humanly possible - I had waited too long and hard for The Avengers to be sullied by a scratch or possible hair caught in the projector!
Alas, it took a good 15 or so minutes for the problem to be rectified - and to add insult to injury, it returned towards the end of the movie as well!
Despite this wholly agonising problem, I enjoyed The Avengers immensely - a damn-fine indication of any great movie!
I saw it a second time and enjoyed it even more. This time I was able to concentrate on the opening scenes without distraction, resulting in a significantly more relaxed experience.
The Avengers is the culmination of 5 previous movies, which have introduced it's core characters independently. From the first Iron man to Captain America: The First Avenger, each film has been hugely successful, both in popularity and in honouring it's characters and their rich history's. For me the only one which didn't quite deliver on the scale of the others was The Incredible Hulk(a lesser film than the Ang Lee/Eric Bana effort, in my view). Incidentally, the only character to be recast in The Avengers is that of Bruce Banner/Hulk. Mark Ruffalo is the best incarnation yet - lets hope he sticks around!
The Avengers features the characters and actors we've come to know and love from the previous 5 Marvel movies. This is the films major draw and the banter and play between each character is pulled off magnificently! Many a comic-book sequel increases it's character quota with each new chapter, yet is often unable to pull off the interaction between a multitude of characters. The Avengers has the advantage of featuring previously established characters and manages to balance the screen-time between them effortlessly - this could have been more Iron Man than Thor, or more Captain America than Hulk.
I believe this is thanks, in no small part to the director and co-writer Joss Whedon - no stranger to handling movie and television projects with large casts. Without discrediting co-writer Zak Penn, The Avengers feels like a Joss Whedon movie. There's a solid story here, with commentary on the human race; our subservient nature and our predilection towards war, well realised character arcs, fantastic special effects and a considerable amount of comedy! The Marvel universe is known for it's lightness of touch(much more jovial than the DC universe) and never has this playfulness been better captured than in this Avengers adaptation.
The plot to The Avengers sees Loki(brother of Thor) wield the Tesseract(from Captain America; The First Avenger), in an attempt to rule the human race. With the help of a few minions(all in a trance-like state), Loki plans to open a portal to another world - which would allow an alien race(the Chitauri) to help him conquer the Earth.
Meanwhile, the Avengers are assembled! They are thrust into Nick Fury's world of S.H.I.E.L.D, and discover what's at stake for the humans. Despite their previous independence, each hero takes their place in the worlds most powerful team, in an effort to save the Earth and bring Loki to task.
The Avengers is a great movie. It's been incredibly well thought out, with no character given short shrift. The effects really are magnificent(only a few hover-board-like sequences look out of place). The movie delivers on both spectacle and story - and come the conclusion, you'll be hotly anticipating the next instalment(there's a sweet nod at what's to follow, so stay seated after the initial credits have rolled) - 4/5!