Gravity defying cliffs and stony archways are all well and good, but when you simply plop an actor into a wide shot without explaining how the hell they climbed up the sheer cliff face, it ruins the illusion. There are a great deal of scenes that appear to have been shot in a greenscreen studio, but thankfully we are treated to some good old fashioned sets also.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Oz the Great and Powerful
The film is clearly aiming for silly, and never asks to be taken too seriously. Renner and Arterton aren’t called upon to do anything difficult in an acting sense, however their chemistry as sibling orphans really shines.
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Continue reading Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Watching this film, you can see the set-ups flicking past, one after the other. There are at least half a dozen such moments that feel like they’ll be important later on. But then, astonishingly, nothing comes to fruition. This doesn’t feel clever or deliberately anti-convention; it simply feels unfinished.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Arrietty
Being a children’s book, it’s a smaller tale, but it’s also one that constantly hints at events just out of the novel’s reach. Peter Jackson, of course, willingly dives head first into such events, and this is what prevents the film from feeling like a small story stretched into three hours.
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The 3D 48fps edition looks amazing in steady close-ups of faces, for example, but has the negative effect of accentuating the worst of Jackson’s decisions: the use of rapid-fire editing and unsteady camerawork for his action sequences. Both editions have action sequences that are an incomprehensible mess, but this problem is amplified in 3D 48fps.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Haruka is well animated, however the foxlike Teo is simply ugly, which is a bit of a problem when he shares so much of the screen time. The whole film has a tendency to get a little gaudy once we move from our world to Teo’s.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror
Infused with a palpable sense of place, the film’s images feel constantly dirty and/or soggy. Despite the denizens of the Bathtub living in what might seem to many viewers as squalor, we quickly gain an appreciation of the community and their traditions. This is the type of film that really made me think about the way in which I live.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Beasts of the Southern Wild
The animation and art design is superb. Merida has curly, unruly red locks that are so perfectly realised that I get the distinct impression that the ‘hair team’ contingent of the animation department must have comprised at least 100 workers.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Brave
The critical acclaim surrounding the film leaves me wondering if it is purely the thematic content of the film that had such an impact. Hugo is a film that looks and sounds great, and it’s clear that a lot of love went into making it, but the humdrum storytelling leaves a lot to be desired.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Hugo
Supposedly Brendan Fraser couldn’t commit to the sequel because of scheduling issues, but one has to wonder if maybe he didn’t take one look at the script and think his time was better spent elsewhere.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
Momoa isn’t as menacing as he was in ‘Game of Thrones’, but he certainly has more charisma than Arnie did back in 1982. He also handles the action scenes exceptionally. In fact, all of the action is great.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Conan the Barbarian