Rev Stan's film blog

John Carter - there is nothing floppy about the eye candy

Everyone is wading in with stories about how this has been a commercial flop for Disney. I saw it prior to the box office figures comings out and if you leave your brain at the door and settle back for some entertaining popcorn for the eyes then it is fine.

The script is as cheesy as hell in places but the story is fairly predictable but bowls along at a nicish pace (don't think about it too much) and you can tell that the director has a Pixar background because the alien dog is just brilliant.

There is plenty of eye candy for both sexes and I like to see a strong heroine who can handle herself and kick butt.

Good inoffensive fun and action at the end of a hard day when you don't want to think. Settle back with a beer/wine/popcorn/chocolate and ogle appropriately and I dare you not to fall in love with the alien dog.

It's getting 50% from me earning a lot of points for ogle-factor. On IMDB it has got 72% with a Metacritic score of 42% so bit of a mixed opinion there. On Rotten Tomatoes it has 51% from critics but 71% of visitors to the site rated it three and a half stars or above. 

 

Review round up: Martha Marcy May Marlene

I'm going to stop apologising for being behind with reviews. I'm over it.

Saw MMMM when it first came out a few weeks back. Story of a girl, who after disappearing for a long time calls her sister and asks to be picked up. Through a series of flashbacks we learn that she's been living with a cult but she won't talk about it/can't talk about it. She's obviously been institutionalised/brain washed/traumatised by the experience and her reliability as the story teller is in doubt.

Nonetheless there is a beautifully executed creeping tension and fear. What did happen and will the past catch up, what will happen if it does?

It's very subtlely done, brilliantly acted and the sort of indy cinema I love with one caveat which I can't explain for fear of spoiling it but the ending was just a little unsatisfactory for me but that might me more me than the film.

It's getting 77% from me. On IMDB its got a score of 72% and a Metacritic rating of 76%. While on Rotten Tomatoes it has 92% thumbs up from critics and 72% of visitors gave it three and a half stars or higher.

 

Pics: Stan goes to the Harry Potter studios and drinks Butter Beer

Rarely do my personal interests overlap with my job, the last time was an invite to the press tour of the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. But, today even that was surpassed as I went, with a colleague, to a press preview of the Harry Potter Studio tour or Warner Bros. Studio London: The Making of Harry Potter to use the official title.

It was fabulous. They reckon on allowing 3 hours to make your way around the sets, displays of costumes and props as well as the interactive features and some behind the scenes footage and revelations. We spent over 3 and a half hours and I still feel I only really took in about half of what is there.

Everything on display was genuinely used in the films to the point where I renamed it the "Ohmygod look it's the..." tour as that was the most frequent expression to pass our lips.

It's all very nicely and slickly done. Nothing looks cheap from the loos upwards but then it comes at a price. But hey where else in the UK can you drink Butter Beer while wandering along Privet Drive? 

If you are a Harry Potter fan, book your tickets now (you have to book online). It opens officially next weekend but is pretty much sold out until September.

Oh and save up your pennies for the shop at the end. Loads of great stuff but it's pricey, even though, I couldn't resist investing in a collectors edition wand - Professor Snape's as he's my favourite. Foolish wand waving here I come.

Also took loads of pictures, you've been warned.

 

Fifteen minute review: A Dangerous Method

Quick catch up time...

Dangerous Method: Freud vs Jung. Both experimental and pioneers in the field of psychology but with increasingly different approaches. Jung (Michael Fassbender) takes on a new patient Sabina (Keira Knightly) who is all hysteria and jaw-jutting. 

His method is to get the patients talking and with Sabina he has a break through. He also falls for her and a relationship starts.

Freud (Viggo Mortensen) meanwhile starts to disapprove of Jung's methods and the later is forced to examine his own behaviour and feelings.

The psychology is interesting - I studied a bit when I was university but ultimately it feels bit like high-brow melodrama with some sex thrown in for titillation. Trying to create a dramatic tension between two intellectuals as they discuss their different theories and methods is a difficult one to pull off and I don't think director David Cronenburg fully achieves it.

Naturally it's well done with such a great director and cast. Knightley really throws herself into the role and isn't afraid to do ugly but it boils down to whether you care enough and I'm not sure I did. 

It's getting 60% from me. On IMDb it's got 67% with a Metacritic rating of 76%. On Rotten Tomatoes it has got 77% from critics and 55% of site visitors have given it 3.5 stars or above.