Rango

First thing first, you need to see this at the cinema to get the complete experience. I don't know how you will be able to enjoy this film without kids running around and shouting across the cinema to each other, while ineffectual parents fail to stop this. Rango, despite it's rating, is not a kid's film.

But if you can block out the incessant wailing of children, you're in for a treat. Rango is a tribute to Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns, from the music to the atmosphere to the characters. But rather than just simulating them, it parodies other Westerns, and takes cliches and turns them around. I found myself laughing at quite a few moments, especially at the big reveal.

This is also a visual treat. Rather than going for a realistic look like Avatar or the fluffy-ish style of Pixar, it reminds me most of Tim Burton's animations. While they're meant to be animals, most of them look more like the creatures of Halloween Town than anything you'd find anywhere on the planet. This twisted, gritty environment is so much more beautiful than any animation I've seen in ages.

As I mentioned earlier, the score has a lot in common with Ennio Morricone, and it works perfectly. The twangy (Is that a real word? Should be anyway) sounding instruments complement the film incredibly well. But unfortunately a lot of the tracks sound a lot like Pirates of the Caribbean, which was another Hans Zimmer scored film

Overall I would recommend you see this film, but maybe wait for the DVD. And then you can control how much ruckus occurs in the "cinema"

4/5

True Grit

I'm a big fan of the Coen Brothers. Their films contain brilliantly witty scripts, dark humour and idiosyncratic characters. And True Grit doesn't disappoint.

Despite being called Coen-lite, I would say it bears many of the same elements. None of the characters are particularly heroic and even fewer of them are normal. The main character is played by Hailee Steinfeld, in her first ever film. Despite this fact she is brilliant. Rather than making the character seem like an annoying brat constantly nagging to go on an adventure, she gives the character wit and intelligence far greater than most 14 year olds. Then you have Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, the drunken US marshall who has the title's true grit. Rooster is a brilliant character, hilarious and often drunk, Jeff Bridges makes this character likeable despite his heavy drinking and often horrible attitude. Finishing the trio, you have Matt Damon, who for the first time I actually liked. LaBouef is a loud mouthed idiot, who isn't liked by either of the other two characters. This creates a brilliant dynamic and the scenes where they're all together and just talking are brilliant.

Which brings me onto the next start: the script. It'll probably be the wittiest script of the year. Despite the fact that it seems like it'll be incredibly gritty, it's banter is brilliantly written.

Ultimately it's a film you should see whether or not you like the Coens. I loved the Social Network but I started thinking that it shouldn't of won best adapted screenplay, that's all I'm saying.

The Fighter

A quick note: this is my first boxing movie so for me cliches could seem fresh.

I was fairly dubious about The Fighter, the trailer didn't make it seem particularly exciting, and at that point I didn't really consider Mark Wahlberg a good actor. I'm so glad I was wrong.

The cinematography isn't amazing and I didn't really notice the music. But where The Fighter shines is in it's direction and cast. Mark Wahlberg is brilliant as Micky Ward. Frankly he deserved an Oscar nod but due to it's lack of showiness many people will feel it's Christian Bale's show. While he's great as the drug crazed boxer wash-up, Micky is the emotional centre of the film. Thanks to him I found myself cheering when he got a punch in and cringing when he got hit (OK I didn't really cheer, I didn't want to disturb the audience.). Mixing in the ring shots and clips which almost seem like the real thing, the fights are truly spectacular.

But for those who don't want to see two blokes smash each other about, the drama outside the ring is brilliant as well. The clashes between Micky's family (including 7 incredibly scary looking sisters) and his girlfriend and trainer work really well, as they don't make either party seem right, and show the difficulty Micky faces in choosing who to trust.

Despite it's gloomy nature, this could easily be one of the most uplifting and brilliant films of 2011.

Sorry for the lack of a review last week

Last week I fractured my little finger , so I haven't been up to it. But soon I'll do my review of the fighter....Bye...

Black Swan

So I've just decided to start a movie blog, as I spend so much time watching films (yeah I'm really lazy). So anyway here's my first post. If it goes well next year I can break out the champagne. Non-alcoholic champagne. OK lemonade.

Black Swan, simply put, is a beautiful film. It has a subdued colour scheme of mostly blacks and whites, it features recurring motifs of swans and some sort of reflection appears in energy every scene. Matthew Libatique, the director of photography, deserves a lot of credit. As does Clint Mansell, for composing yet another amazing film score. It's dark and twisted recreation of the music of Swan Lake is powerful, and fits the film perfectly. Well should fit it anyway. Unfortunately when the characters speak the beauty of film stops. The language they use is vulgar and ugly, and doesn't match real speech at all. And the story is pretty much a joke as well. Rather than making a tense psychological thriller, Darren Aronofsky has made a cliched horror film, which the audience should be able to guess every single twist.

This film was meant to be Natalie Portman's best role, and I would love to report this was true. In fact before I saw the film I thought the fact that ballerinas were getting cross at the fact that she isn't a ballerina was ridiculous. I thought "The main part has to be someone who can act.". But the truth be told a ballerina could of done it with ease. This isn't some complex role, it's just a run of the mill horror character. All she has to do is cry, squeal and occasionally get angry.

On an up note though, some of the scenes stuck with me for a while, and it does have some haunting elements. But ultimately it's a disappointing cocktail of Vincent Price and high art.