Reviews

I've been waiting to see this for what seems like an eternity, as I make up the 0.7% of the Earth who was actually excited about Jupiter Ascending when the trailers appeared. I kind of have a chequered history with the Wachowskis. I loved Bound (a movie that should really be discussed a lot more than it is, and somewhat of a modern crime classic in my eyes), was a big fan of The Matrix (and also one of the 0.9% of the Earth who adored both sequels) and then lost some of my enthusiasm with the later projects bearing their name. It wasn't really until Cloud Atlas took me by surprise that I found my passion for their work again.

Which brings me to this movie.

There are a lot of things here that don't really work. Mila Kunis' performance here is about as bare minimum as you can get, and there were no real moments where I saw beyond the actress and found the character she was playing. That's somewhat of a problem when she's your lead. In fact, I engaged more with Tuppence Middleton's Kalique because that actress seemed so much more alive and vibrant in her role (and is also my new movie crush). Mila also didn't have a lot of chemistry with Channing which might have otherwise helped me get through the cringe-worthy romance sequence where she hits on him with the finesse of a drunk with a hammer. Yeah, that line about loving dogs didn't get any better outside of the trailer. The script is uneven. The editing is a bit wonky. Some of the humor didn't work.

And yet I loved this!

I've seen a few comments elsewhere that the back half of the movie isn't as solid as the first, which makes me (yet again) one of the minority. I loved everything to do with the intergalactic empires and space police. If anything, I wanted more of it. I don't understand a single thing about the planet where the final sequence took place but everything about that city's design fascinated me. I adored the look of the spaceships, and the dragon men, and the little minion who looked (and acted) like a rat. I love the fact that Sean Bean was a Bee-man simply because his splicer liked bees! And his swear word was "Bee's wax"! I have my problems with the Abrasax family mainly because the other siblings stole time from Balem, but I enjoyed the concept of this alien family backstabbing one another for more life. It feels like something that could be spread across several novels.

But, back to Balem. He was, by far, my absolute favorite thing about this movie. I've always been drawn to larger than life movie villains. It's a hard performance to master because most actors tend to go too broad and lurch into parody, but Eddie Redmayne was fantastic here. Whispering, and then SHOUTING, and then whispering whilst reclining on his chair; eyes glistening as though he'd just finished a mammoth crying session and a smile that continually popped up at the wrong time. I just wanted to shout out "He's behind you!" in the scene when he popped up behind Jupiter, as though I were in a pantomime. It's such a crime that we had so few scenes with him.

Channing Tatum continues his redemption with me. I hated the guy when he first appeared on the scene, grew to like him with 21 Jump Street, and thought he was perfect here. It wasn't a particularly showy performance but, as the stoic Caine, I thought he completely sold the part of a canine hunter who was utterly relentless in pursuit of his prize.

There so much I love here and it felt so good to see something that wasn't an adaptation or a remake, but a movie pulled from the imagination of two people and painted on the screen by their own hands. It makes me sad to hear that this movie isn't doing too well, as I'd love to see people in the film-making industry rewarded for, you know, making new stuff and doing it well. You have to wonder how an original piece of science fiction such as the first Star Wars movie might have fared today.

Yes, Jupiter Ascending is flawed and some questions are left unanswered at the end (Jupiter saves the Earth but does she put an end to all harvesting, for instance?) but I kind of love the fact that a movie exists where a woman discovers that she's the Queen of the Universe and goes straight back to cleaning toilets; that she realizes how important family can be when they love one another, and that owning a planet means nothing if you're not a part of it.

I watched this last night and had an absolute blast with it. Even if you takes Kingsman only at face value and see it purely as a riff on Bond movies, it works incredibly well. Matthew Vaughan brings such verve and energy to his scenes that it's difficult not to be caught up in the flow and I love the little touches, such as the way he uses a snow globe in a London flat to shift scenes to a remote frozen mountain. Jane Goldman also deserves due credit for her script, which is a lot sharper than many others which have tried to do the same thing. I've never read the comic on which this based but, if nothing else, she turned something that a lot of people apparently disliked into something that should have widespread appeal.

I really really liked Colin Firth in this and it's been a while since I could say that about him. I think the surprise factor is another reason why this movie worked so well for me – I was genuinely surprised at how excited I got when Firth showed up on the screen. I will admit to letting out a genuine sigh of disappointment when he got killed and I'm sure I wasn't the only one in the audience. I should have seen that scene coming. It's pretty essential for almost apprentice-mentor story when the mentor is killed and the apprentice must rise to the occasion. And yet I didn't. Or at least I didn't want to.

It's a testament to Taron Egerton that I was as invested in Eggsy's story as I was. Amusingly, there were a group of boys not dis- similar to Eggsy in my cinema row and I initially wrote them off as potential disruptions to my cinema experience. It probably didn't help that the first trailer was for Fifty Shades Of Grey and so they laughed quite loudly at it (which is, well, understandable). But, once that movie began, they didn't make a sound (other than laughing in the right places) and, after it finished, I heard one of them declare that the movie was "pretty sweet" (which I assume meant that he liked it). I think that's a good parallel for the movie which suggests we're all so much more than what's on the surface. As a Brit, the discussions on class probably said a little bit more to me than they would to some international cinema-goers. My friend, who saw the movie with me, argued that Eggsy should have been black, which I dismissed because then it would have brought race into the mix and that's a whole different kettle of fish. Eggsy needed to be white to show that he was the same as everyone else in that room, bar the circumstances of his birth.

Also: How great was it to see Mark Hamill back on the big screen, but wielding an English accent? I was oddy giddy about that.

This was actually my first visit to the cinema this year and it was a great way to re-introduce myself to the experience. I have Jupiter Ascending lined up for next week and, if it's anywhere near as enjoyable as this, I can see 2015 being a good year for myself and cinema. As one of my audience members remarked last night, that's pretty sweet.

The zombie horror genre is an over-saturated one; and it takes something truly original to remind you why you loved them in the first place. "Pontypool" is such a movie. If you think this is going to be a straightforward zombie flick, it's time to think again.

The first half of the movie moves slowly but efficiently, as a radio host and the two women in his team begin to realise that something is most definitely wrong in their normally quiet little town. With the aid of some wonderful cinematography and an intelligent script, the audience is holed up inside the radio station as reports begin to filter through of mysterious events which are growing ever more threatening in nature.

The second half of the story, when the cause of the danger becomes known and our protagonists are forced to protect themselves, will either impress you (as it did me) or completely lose you. If you're lucky enough to experience the former, you'll realise that this movie has far more going for it than your standard 'mindless zombies run around eating brains' movie. It's a cerebral horror movie, designed to make you think as you watch.

The acting is solid throughout. Stephen McHattie (who had small parts in "Watchmen" and "A History Of Violence" amongst others, and whose voice and appearance reminds me of Lance Henriksen) is perfectly cast in the central role, and is backed by great performances by Lisa Houle and Georgina Reilly. As most of the early scenes of rising dread come from their characters listening to others calling the radio show, their reactions are essential to maintaining suspense and they do a fantastic job.

If you're a fan of more intelligent horror fare (such as the earlier work of David Cronenberg), you'd be advised to take a look here. It's a movie that defies expectations and provides a refreshing injection into a genre of movie that has become increasingly tired as of late.

Highly recommended.