Sex Tape (July 2014)

Official Australian release date: 17/7/14. Viewed: 19/7/14.

Director: Jake Kasdan

Actors: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Rob Corddry, Rob Lowe, Jack Black

Genre: Comedy

Rating: MA

‘Sex Tape’ is a quick, simple comedy with a good cast. Very straightforward storyline – married couple with kids tries to get the romance back, so they decide to film themselves having sex. It then is synced to all their friends’ iPads and they have to retrieve them. I would like to say hilarity then ensues, but it doesn’t.

The cast, mostly Segel & Diaz, plus Corddry & Kemper, Lowe & Black are all quite charming/engaging in their own way, but the main fault with the film is that it’s all been done before. Sure, it’s a new premise, but it’s based on the same old “couple-trying-to-get-their-mojo-back” plot and sadly there’s not that many laughs to be had. A few chuckles here and there, but no truly funny laugh-out-loud moments.

Basically, the best bits are in the trailer and if you’re going hoping to see nudity, there’s – unfortunately – plenty of Segel’s butt! That is counteracted by a little bit of Diaz’s butt & side-boob, but nothing to really write home about!

Overall: Funny in parts, but nothing special.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars. 

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (July 2014)

Official Australian release date: 10/7/14. Viewed: 16/7/14.

Director: Matt Reeves

Actors: Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ does a great job of continuing the story from ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’, without picking up directly where it ended or doing any gimmicky flashbacks. The graphic of how the simian virus spread was quite original and the opening shot of Caesar – and indeed the first 15min or so – does a great job of showing so much, without needing any talking.

The setting is still Muir Woods in San Francisco, but a lot has changed, with the apes now living peacefully and successfully in the forest and the humans a desperate mess in the city. I was amazed by how quickly I was cheering for the apes and, if not despising, then at least not caring for the humans at all! Caesar (Serkis), Koba (Kebbell), Blue Eyes (Thurston) & Maurice (Konoval) are the main stars here, with Dreyfus (Oldman), Malcolm (Clarke) & Ellie (Russell) merely making up the numbers. It’s great to have Serkis back as Caesar, the “king of the Apes”, with such nuanced and believable body language and facial expressions. Hard to believe he has gone from obscurity to the world’s greatest motion-capture actor in just over 10 years! He’s now responsible for three of the biggest characters of all time – Caesar, King Kong & Gollum – and he’ll be in ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’ next year!

So much happens in this film – it’s tense and dramatic in parts, then a full blown war in others and a political tug-of-war in others, and often times both “sides” are trying hard to do right, but something prevents that. It’s definitely not boring and flies along, looking great, and importantly too – sounding great, with a nice score underneath and throughout.

Seeing as this is the seventh film in the franchise (no one counts Burton’s 2001 remake, right?), it definitely leaves you wondering and anticipating what will happen in the third of the “prequel trilogy” and see how they link them to the original 60s/70s films. It will also be amazing if they have the third prequel made by 2016, considering how much CGI & motion-capture detail they will need for the epic ‘conclusion’…

Overall: Talking-monkey-riding-a-horse-shooting-a-gun: sounds ridiculous & stupid, but once you see how it fits into this film, you’ll see how cool and relevant it is!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars. 

22 Jump Street (July 2014)

Official Australian release date: 19/6/14. Viewed: 10/7/14.

Directors: Phil Lord & Chris Miller

Actors: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Amber Stevens

Genre: Comedy / Action

Rating: MA

Is ‘22 Jump Street’ as good as ‘21 Jump Street’? Quite possibly, which is a big achievement, seeing as the original was one of the better comedies of the last 10 years! This film has just as many laughs – if not more – and does a great job of poking fun at itself and the ludicrousness of most Hollywood sequels.

There’s a few more car chases, but they’re unconventional and quite amusing with the commentary the two leads provide.  A fair bit of the humour comes from the fact that their undercover disguise as college-age students (i.e. they should be 18-21), which is totally unbelievable, seeing as Hill is 30 & Tatum is 34. Plenty of referencing the first film and stupidity of repetition in sequels (mostly by Offerman’s Chief of Police – “EVERYTHING is EXACTLY the SAME”!) and even casting the bad guy from ‘Bad Boys II’ – Peter Stormare – as the villain in this!

Pretty good support cast - the Yang Twins are great as the across-the-hall stoners, Stevens is good as the love interest and Ice Cube has more to do in this film, which is a good thing and leads to a few hilarious scenes.

Best bit of the film? Probably the many joke sequel posters/trailers they show! Highly entertaining and just plain funny to see how far they can stretch a premise. Quite reminiscent of ‘Tropic Thunder’, but definitely had the crowd in stitches! I do hope they make a third film, but if not, both 21 & 22 Jump Street will stand as some of the best action/police comedies ever made.

Overall: Great sequel with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and plenty of charisma to boot.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars. 

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (June 2014)

Official Australian release date: 19/6/14. Viewed: 22/6/14.

Director: Dean DeBlois

Actors: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, Djimon Hounsou

Genre: Animation / Adventure / Fantasy

Rating: PG

If you haven’t seen ‘How To Train Your Dragon’, you really should – it’s a great animated film, not just for kids, with plenty of fun, a great cast, good story and it’s brilliant to watch. This sequel does a rare thing – it is even more enjoyable than the original! The cast are all back again, but more importantly, so are the animators. I’m not sure how, but the detail, colours, movements and everything in this film are so vivid, it’s truly astounding to watch.

The story is relatively simple – someone’s making a dragon army to conquer the free Vikings, so it’s up to Hiccup (Baruchel) & Stoick (Butler) to save them. The twist comes with the introduction of Valka (Blanchett) and the dragon sanctuary she has created. Seeing where/how these hundreds of dragons is both amazing and strangely beautiful – and a little reminiscent of ‘Avatar’. Needless to say, the clash of the two armies certainly makes for exciting viewing.

There’s some good morals of helping your friends and fighting for what’s right for the kids, but still plenty for the adults. Much of this is thanks to the great support cast – Jonah Hill as Snotlout, T.J. Miller & Kristen Wiig as the twins, Chris Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs and Kit Harrington/Jon Snow as Eret – they add the fun, banter and sidekick-ness to the film.

Overall: Very enjoyable sequel and great fun – go see it no matter your age!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars. 

The Trip to Italy (June 2014)

Official Australian release date: 29/5/14. Viewed: 7/6/14.

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Actors: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Claire Keelan,

Genre: Comedy

Rating: M

It’s now four years later and Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are offered another restaurant reviewing gig – this time in Italy, rather than England’s Lake District. What qualifies them exactly, who knows, but the actors – and the semi-fictionalised characters they play – are pretty lucky. They get to stay in amazing hotels with fantastic views, drive around the beautiful Italian coast, drink quality local wine and try great-looking Italian cuisine. One thing’s for sure – this film acts as much as an Italian tourism promotion as it does anything else! I certainly wouldn’t mind visiting Naples now I’ve seen it...

Now much closer to 50 than 40, there’s plenty of digs at each other, as this is basically a ‘man-cation’ where they try to see who’s more famous/who has the bigger ego, as well as lots of postulating as to how (or if) they’ll be remembered when they’re gone. There’s a tangent of following Lord Byron and Mary Shelley’s personal history, that doesn’t really go anywhere. If this and the Rob having a bit of a mid-life crisis/affair bits were left out, it would have been a much more streamlined and succinct film.

The whole point though is to watch these two interact and do their impressions, constantly trying to outdo each other. There’s some truly great impressions, from Michael Caine (again), Tom Hardy, Christian Bale, Hugh Grant, Woody Allen, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Pierce Bronsan and more. How accurate some of them are is uncanny, but watching Steve & Rob interact in character is often hilarious.

Overall: Another good holiday with the two oddballs.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

A Million Ways To Die In The West (May 2014)

Official Australian release date: 29/5/14. Viewed: 31/5/14.

Director: Seth MacFarlane

Actors: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris

Genre: Comedy / Western

Rating: MA

‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ certainly delivers on what the title promises! For a comedy, there’s a lot of death – so much so that it’s basically smashing the point over our heads. Set in 1882 Arizona, it’s a story about Albert (MacFarlane), wallowing in his sheep farming life on the “frontier”. It gets better when Anna (Theron) comes along, but there are complications when Clinch (Neeson) arrives. Basically, there’s a few Western elements – plenty of shorts of New Mexico/Utah filling in for old Arizona, some tumbleweed and gun duels – but the way MacFarlane talks and acts makes it feel modern (and sometimes as if you’re watching ‘Family Guy’).

There are some pretty funny/oddly short cameos – Christopher Lloyd, Ewan McGregor, Ryan Reynolds & Jamie Foxx – whether they add to the humour or detract is up for debate. There’s really not much to the story, and it’s pretty predictable, so it’s surprising that it goes for almost two hours. Plenty of toilet humour, which can be a good thing in small does, but probably goes a little overboard. The main problem is that while there’s plenty of good jokes, they’re too much like a sitcom and are unable to sustain the plot and sometimes fall flat.

‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ is not a bad follow-up to ‘Ted’, but you can’t help but feel that MacFarlane bit off more than he could chew here, being star, writer, director and producer. Neil Patrick Harris just plays an unlikeable version of Barney, but the film’s main saving grace is Theron, who’s funny and charming, as well as Sarah Silverman & Giovanni Ribsi’s relationship.

Overall: A decent, if scattershot, comedy.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past (May 2014)

Official Australian release date: 22/5/14. Viewed: 21/5/14.

Director: Bryan Singer

Actors: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Peter Dinklage

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ is the fifth X-Men film (let’s not include the Wolverine movies in this count) and does a good job of linking the original trilogy (2000-2006) to the 2011 prequel, ‘X-Men: First Class’. The story starts off in the not-too-distant future (i.e. a decade or so after ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’), where the Sentinels have almost hunted mutant-kind – and some of human-kind – to extinction. The plus side of this is that we get to see grown-up Professor X (Stewart), Magneto (McKellen), Wolverine (Jackman), Shadow Cat (Page), Storm (Berry), Iceman (Ashmore) & Colossus (Cudmore) – plus new additions Sunspot (Canto), Bishop (Sy), Warpath (Stewart) & Blink (Fan – who? Yeah, even I don’t know who Blink is – some sort of weird mix between Nightcrawler & Psylocke) – and how they’re living in the Terminator 4-esque future. The solution? Send Wolverine into the past to try to stop the Sentinels from being created. (I’m not sure how Shadow Cat’s phasing ability inexplicably lets her transport people to the past...)

This is where – in 1973 – we’re re-introduced to young Charles (McAvoy) & Eric (Fassbender). There’s some good moments as they meet Wolverine for the “first” time, including drafting in Quicksilver (Peters). I’m glad they hinted that Magneto is his father, but it’s a shame the same actor won’t be playing him in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’. We also meet Dr Trask (Dinklage, solid as ever), the creator of the Sentinel program and find out how Mystique (Lawrence) is out to assassinate him. I’m not sure why the films have so much focus on her, when she’s not really that interesting a character in the comics and certainly not as pivotal as the films make her. Beast (Hoult) is good and I’m glad they got one of the original five X-Men in there with Xavier (no sighting of Angel at all!). It all gets slightly confusing, as the “future” X-Men fight off Sentinels to stop Wolverine from coming back to the future (had to be said!), while the “past” X-Men fight Magneto, Mystique & Sentinels separately!

There’s some pretty massive set pieces at the end, with all the sets/costumes of the 70s looking great/realistic too (including Nixon!), but it all seemed just a little lacklustre to me. A few things don’t quite add up and I had higher expectations from the future battles, as well as from the young Professor X/Magneto dynamic. It felt to me like it was building to something massive and the pay-off wasn’t quite there. Sure, it’s an enjoyable ending (I’m still looking forward to ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’) and does a good enough job of linking the films/characters, but I think Fox bit off more than they could chew. It was a little slow in parts and Wolverine certainly seemed like a passenger with not much to do. There were certainly some fun scenes and some exciting scenes, but not enough to elevate this to ‘Avengers’ status.

Overall: A good effort, but I expected more from the original comic book movie franchise.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.