World War Z

I finally watched the controversial  World War Z. A film plagued with controversy and pre and post production problems. There were expensive re-shoots and re-writes with what seem to be  five different writers by the time the film was completed.  Paramount was unhappy with the first ending and the third act was rewritten and shot, not to mention several delays with the release.

But the controversy was not about the expense or the problems, rather with the complete departure from the book it is based on. World War Z is an excellent novel, an oral history of how the world survived the Zombie apocalypse. Based on a book written after World War II, it is very popular. And while there was initial excitement with the project, the internet went sour as the film's premise was released.

But despite all this the film was rated 67% by rotten tomatoes, 7.1 by IMDB and 63 on Meta critic. More importantly it has made a lot of money. I guess it must be ok right?

Right Brad?

Both my girl and I loved the book, and we were both apprehensive about the film. But we decided to watch it and be objective. Sadly life got in the way and we missed it at the cinema. But it is out now and we sat down and watched it.
Synopsis:
Ex UN investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt)  is caught up in a global Zombie apocalypse. After fighting his way through New Jersey, he and his family are rescued by his friend Thierry (Fana Mokoena) a survivor form the UN. Thierry and the military send Gerry out with a scientist (Elyes Gabel) to try and find the source of the plague.

Ensue Brad running from Zombies.

Run Brad Run!

Putting aside that the film is not the book (as disappointing as that is) we sat down to objectively watch and hopefully enjoy the film. The first act is all about Gerry trying to keep his family alive, in typical zombie movie fashion. Nothing new, but the action and the acting is fine. Brad Pitt as Gerry is both a tangible character and also an excellent  everyman character for the audience to identify with.
The film was shot in a way that as Gerry was working to keep his family alive; he was also taking in every detail of events as they unfolded which I liked.  Mireille Enos was a bit wasted really, you could see the humanity in her character and  she added depth to Pitts Gerry.

However from the second act on the film started to fall apart. As we watched the action (sadly most of which we had seen in the trailers) we started to question the story. By the end of the film our questions were quite vocal and our irritation was the only thing keeping us awake.

The story just didn't make much sense. I kind of appreciated where they tried to go, but not enough to derive enjoyment from the story. The film had its moments, Brad Pitt and the other actors gave fine performances, and I did like the manic depiction of the zombies. But with such a poor story it ceased to matter. Either a disaster movie and/or a zombie movie it was fragmented and poorly executed.

While I remain disappointed that the movie is massive departure from the book, the film ultimately fails from a poorly crafted story with too many plot holes.  I think the original concept was a potential trilogy, but that as not clearly communicated to the studio. Paramount did not like the end of the original film and wanted something more “up-beat” so we got the ending that they reshot.  It is clumsily executed and you are left wanting.  World War Z is very disappointing.

4.5 Monkeys

Hammer of the Gods or why do I keep doing this to myself

I like a good adventure story, a combination of excitement and drama to fire up the testosterone is great.  I also like fantasy and historical stories, I have  particularly enjoyed the History Channel's series Vikings and I can't wait for season 2.

Good Telly

Squeaky, my  fiance's daughter, has been learning to scuba dive recently and this has given me free time to watch TV and movies which the girls would not normally like. While looking for such entertainment I came across  Hammer of the Gods, and I noted that the cast includes Clive Standen who plays Rollo in Vikings. But I was apprehensive as most movies about Vikings are garbage.  Erik the Viking  and the 13th Warrior are fun, but mostly movies about the Norsemen or Vikings are poorly written, poorly choreographed excuses for fur bikinis and grunting. Even that makes them sound more entertaining than they are.

Which brings us to Hammer of the Gods.

SPOILER ALERT

Normally this is where I provide a synopsis however this movie doesn't deserve one.

Hammer of the Gods starts off with the premise that King Bagsecg of the Vikings is losing his grip on Britain and has sent his son Steiner for re-enforcements.  Steiner arrives in Britain on a long ship and is met by some Saxon warriors. The combat that follows isn't the worse I have seen, but the choreography was certainly average. While passable for a film of this budget, I suspect people that know or appreciate good sword play may be very disappointed.

This fight scene sets up the central characters; The berserker Grim, The hero Hagen(Clive Standen), The pious pagan Jokul and Prince Steiner( Charlie Bewley) doing his best Travis Fimmel impersonation. After the Norsemen butcher the Saxon warriors, Prince Steiner gazes over the sea slowly filling with Viking longboats and CGI lightning.

From left to right Jokul, Grim, Prince Steiner and Hagan.

The warriors travel to King Bagsecg's camp avoiding more CGI lightning,  where they find that the king is dying.  Bagsecg's other son Harald meets Steiner and scolds him for bringing only six men. Apparently the long ships we saw earlier were also CGI. The King (the great James Cosmo) orders his son Steiner to kill his half brother Vali because he would not fight.

James Cosmo

Steiner refuses because he made Vali give an oath that he would not fight without him. Harald offers to kill Vali, but Bagsecg seems disgusted with all his sons and orders them all out except for Steiner. The King tells Steiner that none of his sons are worthy of his crown, except for one. The King orders Steiner to find Hakon, Steiner's older brother who was exiled years ago for reasons unknown.

Steiner and his companions ride off amidst the CGI lightning to find Ivar the Boneless who knows where Hakon is. As they camp Vali is caught sneaking into the camp with the news that Harald was making a deal with the Saxon army.  Despite Jokul warning Steiner that Valis arrival is a bad omens the companions venture on to find Ivar

In history Ivar the boneless is one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, who is the central character of  Vikings. In this story he was banished from King Bagsecgs army for being  'rapy' with boys. Oh right so its not that historical then?  OK sure whatever lets move on.

Ivar will tell Steiner where his older brother is if he enters a peculiar competition. Steiner has three chances to bet Ivar in an arm wrestling competition. Each time he fails he has to take a drugged drink, and if he fails all three times Ivar gets to take him like a woman for the night.  Now this appears is taken directly from the computer game  Fallout2  and an interesting and uncomfortable scene, but an interesting choice for this sort of movie.

Steiner defeats Ivar with the use of Jokuls magic snake belt. And no that is not a euphemism. Jokul has a metal belt in the design of a snake which Steiner, oh forget it.

The companions now joined by Mr Rapey and his servant Agnes (Alexandra Dowling who you may have seen recently in Games of Thrones as Roslin Frey, who married Edmure Tully at the red wedding). 

So far so average. 

And then it all changed. The companions get ambushed by a bunch of masked baddies and Grim dies. It was at this stage I had the uncomfortable feeling that this Viking film was about to got to Hel (get it?  sigh never mind). The action was confused and as it takes place in the woods there is almost a cheesy horror feel about it. 

The survivors make camp where Hagan finds a Saxon coin dropped by Vali. Pretty much everyone hates Vali except for Steiner. Even Ivar doesn't fancy him. Hagan wants him gone, but Steiner is desperate to protect his little brother. But before this resolved the masked bandeetoes return on horseback and take them all hostage. All except little Agnes who hid.  It turns out the bandeetoes are Saxons and they offer Steiner a deal, which he rejects. Agnes rescues him and he rescues the others including Vali who was just about to convert to Christianity.

Ray Ramanos new project "Everybody hates Vali"

From here on in the companions are methodically killed off in a highly clumsy fashion. Eventually only Steiner Vali and Agnes remain to find Hakon, and they do in a cave. Apparently Hakon is now the king of the Troll-Pict people. But that doesn't deter Steiner from his mission and he offers Hakon the crown, and in return Hakon reveals to Steiner that the reason he was banished is because his girl friend is his mother. Yes Hakon is dating Steiner's mother, who is also Hakon's mother. 

But it only when Hakon kills Vali (who had just joined his weird cult) that Steiner gets annoyed and they fight.  Steiner kills he oedipal brother, then while he is it at it he kills his mum. Then he returns to his fathers camp with Agnes, kills Harold and takes the crown.

I do get what writer Matthew Read was trying to do and say. The whole story is a set up for King Bagsecg to turn his soft hearted son into a king, while ridding himself of his other son and ex wife. Good, great even. That concept is a good Nordic saga right there. But the execution was very poor. The whole film was derivative of the success of the TV series Vikings, but with little of the style.

Part of the story was in a foreign language, Welsh, or old English perhaps, but without subtitles it may as well be in Greek. I think they took some chances with the movie to try and distinguish it despite it's budget, but I think maybe they did too much. Some interesting elements, but I think it was too derivative and too poorly executed.  Making Hakon some sort of crazy cult leader  was weird and disjointed. The lack of subtitles was distracting and a little boring.

A good idea but poorly executed

3 disappointed Monkeys.

Rush

When I was studying film there was a girl I knew who refused to watch any film that was based on real events. She never provided a logical reason for it, just refused to watch them. Obviously what I would do would be to suggest such movies, and then not tell her until afterwards. 

I never really understood her aversion, and even though I prefer fiction to say a documentary, a good story is a good story and sometimes the best stories are from history.

Normally I would write a synopsis of the films but with this film I am not sure it would help you decide to go see it or not. Rush is the story of  two Formula 1 racing car drivers and their rivalry, set mostly around the 1976 gand prix.

Sound dull?

I have watched Formula 1 on TV for a bit and was pretty dull. It is highly expensive cars racing exceptionally quickly around a track. The first driver to cross the finish line having completed a set number of laps, wins.  I could go on, but I am not sure that will entice you to watch this film.

And you really should.

This is not  Days of Thunder, or Fast & Furious 623, Rush is an interesting and exciting story. You don't need to like Formula 1 or know who these men are to enjoy this movie. Director Ron Howard  focuses on  their story, but he also manages to capture the excitment of these powerful races and why it is one of the most watched sports in the world.

 Rush is the story of James Hunt and Niki Lauda, one is a charming charismatic young man with a natural talent for racing and the other is annoying, dedicated, and technically brilliant. You can probably guess from those description which one is the Austrian.  The men are polar opposittes but both equally exceptional drivers.

Chris Hemsworth's scope and career is growing film by film. Daniel Brühl who plays Niki Lauda, must have been highly uncomftable with the mouth prosthetic, but it never showed. Both Brühland and Hemsworth gave excellent performances. Both men showing the best and worst of the Lauda and Hunt in their careers and personal lives.

The story is good, and the race scenes are excellent. Ron Howard has seamlessingly created a period film of the 70's, interspersed with recreated and real footage.  People in the cinema were literally on the edge of their seats, and I cannot remember the last time I witnessed that.

 

Rush is one of best films I have seen this year and if you do decide to see it I recomend seeing at a cinema over a DVD. As I said you don't have to like Formula 1 to really enjoy this movie, and I think that is a testiment to Howard's craft as a director, and the abilities of the cast. 

8 monkeys.

Night of the Living Trekkies

Once upon a time my girl got sick. 
Then her girl got sick. 

Then I cared for them both. Remarkably I did not get sick. Despite the odds I was absolutely fine, and they got better and all was right with the world.
 
Then there was an earthquake and my work had to move to a small room in another building. That room was full of angry people and surrounded by sick people.

Then I got sick. 

I went through the seven stages of flu; hope, coughing up gloop, sneezing and
coughing up gloop, coughing fits so hard it appears you are auditioning for a movie about consumption, napping at inconvenient times and waking up in weird places, hope followed by coughing, and then better but still a bit shite.  At that last stage my beloved fiance took me to the library and got me a book, and this is it.
 
 Synopsis
Jim Pike was a massive Star trek fan until his last tour in Afghanistan broke him.  Once home he ends up working in a hotel in Huston Texas, hiding away from everything and everyone. But when a star trek convention books his hotel Jim is faced with more than nerds with Phasers, but a zombie apocalypse. 

Dun dun dun. 

There are no real surprises here, well one but that would be a spoiler. It is a pretty standard Zombie story, but that's fine. This book was written by hard core Trekkie fan boys, but not to the point you have to be one to enjoy the story.

 Night of the Living Trekkies  is a funny little novel about the perils of sci fi conventions, zombies and star trek trivia. It is written simply but competently, and when you just want to relax and be entertained it was just what I wanted.  It was really nice just to pick up a book and enjoy it so much I didn't want to put it down. 

I give Night of the Living Trekkies  6.5  monkeys.

A medley of surprising Movies

Recently I was visited by the first horseman of the apocalypse. Do not be alarmed he is having his bedroom redone and is apparently dossing down around Wellington. But while he was staying the selfish bastard shoved a shoggoth down my lungs while I was asleep. 

Needless to say I have been slightly poorly for the last five or so days as I have been attempting to cough up this gloppy monster and this epic quest has delayed this post. But due to the love of a good woman, and despite the stupid government ban on pseudoephedrine, I have succeed for the most part and can now procced.

Worst house guest ever

Now any successful relationship requires a degree of compromise, and living in a household of  girls requires even more so.  While I might fancy three hours of Akira Kurwasara, or The 39 Steps by Hitchcock,  or Gattaca or  Star Wars, the 12 year old in the house most definitely will not.  (well maybe Star Wars)

Frankly I don't understand why, surely any part of a child's comprehensive education should include exposure to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from 1920? or Han Solo dispatching Greedo before he is killed.

Better than Beiber surely?

Ensue melodramatic sigh.

But we as a family have watched a few DVDs of late and I thought I would give a quick run down  of each of them. All of them were family friendly except for one which was exclusively for Friday the 13th.

Ensue family Hijinx

Beautiful Creatures

This looked much like a Twilight  rip off, but with witches instead of Vampires. However after having to sit down and watch it I was completely surprised.  This is a  film adaptation of the book by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, and sure this movie is cashing in on the  Twilight  francises success, however Beautiful Creatures manages to avoid the obvious cliches and remain entertaining. 

It  is the story of Ethan, a boy living in Gatlin, a tiny town in South Carolina. Ethan  meets Lena, a girl from a family who is ostracised by the rest of the conservative community. Ethan yearns to leave Gatlin, and as Lena is the antithesis of all that Gatlin society likes is instantly attracted to her. His perseverence wins Lena over, and a romance develops. But once Ethan wins Lena over, he also discovers that the rumours about Lena and her family being witches are  true. 

One thing we all found refreshing was that Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) did not turn out to have any crazy supernatural powers of his own.  He was just a normal kid in a supernatural world, which pretty bucks the trend. The relationship between the two young lovers was romantic without being awkward or unhealthy. Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons were great as well.  The best thing I can say for it is that, it isn't  Twilight!
 
The girls found it surprising  and it was Squeaky apropriate.

Six Monkeys from me. 

Warm Bodies

I have also heard of this film being referred to as the  Twlight of Zombie films whch sounds like a fairly harsh call.  Although one thing the Twilight movies have done for us is given a new definition of bad. 

I was given the novel by Isaac Marion and I liked it. Not sure if I liked how it ended, but the novel was good. In fact I thought that the movie was an improvement over the book, which was another pleasant surprise.  A little violence, but acceptable standards for a mature 12 year old, and the only thing she was scared about was whether there would be a happy ending or not. 

Nicholas Hoult was a great R, and made the film funny and engaging with his voice over. It was a good zom-rom-com.

Both the girls liked it and Squeaky got more engaged than she thought she would. Despite a little gore it was fine for Squeaky, but on the cusp.

Six and a half monkeys. 

Mean Girls

Before the drugs, the rehab, the dubious dalliance into Lesbians and even more drugs, Lindsay Lohan was a fun, talented actress. In this teen movie classic from 2004 we are reminded of what could have been, but Amanda Seyfried and Rachel McAdams went on to better things and Lindsay went to rehab.

Mean Girls is a enjoyable teen comedy about the new girl  in school who falls a foul of the popular clique and seeks revenge by infiltrating them determined to bring them down from within.

It is your typical school age film, entertaining and fun with a young but familiar cast. Squeaky loved it, especially as she recognised many of the cast from tv she watches now,  The Middle, Suburbgatory  and that is because there is a Saturday Night live link trough Tina fey who adapted the screen play from the book.

Six and a half monkeys from me as it is very re watchable even now.

Rise of the Guardians

Thankfully Squeaky still enjoys animated movies and she decided on this one.  Not a film that previously attracted me to it despite the ensemble cast, but once we sat down to watch it we all enjoyed it.

The Boogy man has returned to plunge the world into darkness and fear through the dreams of children. Opposing him are the four gaurdians, Santa Claus, The Sandman, The tooth Fairie, the Easter Bunny and newly recruited Jack Frost. Jack has identity issues, especially as none of the children he is protecting know he exists.
Alec Baldwin the bane of paparazzi was great as the Russina warrior Claus, Jude Law was excellent as the boogy man, and it took me a while to recognise Chris Pine, recently from the captains chair of the Star ship Enterprise, but in a good way.

Again we were entertained and pleasantly surprised, and the elves were my favorite.
Seven monkeys from me.

Mama

This is not Squeaky  appropriate at all, and was a choice for after she was in bed. A moive  Guillermo del Toro gave his name to as the executive producer but did not direct or write. Andrés Muschietti wrote the original story and the screenplay with his sister Barbara and he also directed it. Jessica Chastain ( Zero Dark Thirty)  and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) star in this creepy creepy movie.

Coster-Waldau plays twin brothers, one who goes mad and kills his wife and flees into the woods with his two daughters and is never seen again. The other brother spends every penny he has to find his missing brother and nieces, and he eventually find his neices alone in the woods. Or are they?

 Mama was a massive dispointment. It started strong and was certainly creepy enough, but there were storylines that went nowhere,  the ending didn't really gel with the story up to that point,  and the film was deeply unsatisfactory.

Four Monkeys from me.

That is all the DVDs we have been watching as of late, well except for the Midsumer Murders (Apparently the Shortland Street of the UK). Once I am well enough I will be taking my Lady to Rush. 

Night