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2012 (out 29 March 10, Cert. 12) John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson, Oliver Platt, Dir. Roland Emmerich, 2009, cert. 12 MonkeyScore: 82% Geologist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) informs the White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) and US President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) of a core temperature increase that will lead to the end of the world as we know it. Heads of state start a secret project intended to ensure the continuity of human life, constructing giant arks in the Himalayas to save a chosen few, & selling tickets to the rich to help fund the project. Writer Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) stumbles upon Adrian while on a camping trip with his kids, & also meets Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), a radio show host and conspiracy theorist. Charlie claims he knows about the arks & has a map of their location. As the earth's temperature rise is accelerating and an evacuation plan is set into motion, Jackson hires a plane to rescue his family, managing to escape Los Angeles as the city collapses into the Pacific Ocean. Following on from his box-office smahes Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, Roland Emmerich' 2012 takes destruction of our planet and civilisation to a new level. There are more near-misses and cataclysmic explosions than you can shake a stick at, and despite the obvious scientific gapes in the story the spectacle holds you together on the edge of your seat all the way to the end. It has B-Movie Disaster flick written all over it, and it works an absolute treat: the cast is what you would expect - from power hungry Chief Of Staff Oliver Platt, through to mad conspiracy theorist Woody Harrelson: talented, and obviously having a lot of fun with the story. And when it comes to destroying L.A. and Washington D.C., Emmerich is the absolute master. 2012 is as silly & brilliant as it gets, on as grand a scale as you would expect from master of the genre Roland Emmerich. The perfect popcorn movie.
Rain Fall (out 29 March 10, cert. 15) Kippei Shiina, Gary Oldman, Kyoko Hasegawa, Misa Shimizu, dir. Max Mannix, 2009, cert. 15 MonkeyScore: TBC% A hit man looks to protect the daughter of one of his victims against CIA assassins. Review coming soon We
have secured 3 DVDs of RAIN FALL for you to win to in our
competition this week - just follow the link!
Shaun The Sheep Spring Lamb (out 29 March 10, cert. U) Aardman, cert. U
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The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus (out 28 March 10, Cert. 12) Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Tom Waits, Jude Law, Colin Farrell, Lily Cole, Christopher Plummer, dir. Terry Gilliam, 2009, cert. 12 MonkeyScore: 92% Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) has made a deal with the devil, Mr Nick (Tom Waits): his child on their sixteenth birthday in exchange for immortality. While the audience of his show are taken for an extraordinary ride, the deadline approaches for his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole.) Parnassus strikes another deal with Mr Nick: the first one of them to seduce 5 souls into the Imaginarium gets Valentina. Meanwhile she's fallen for a new recruit to the troupe, Tony (Heath Ledger.) To say that the imagination of Terry Gilliam knows no limits would be a gross understatement - the very concept of limitation doesn't apply to him. The Imaginarium is in a way his gift to us mere mortals: a device that would allow us, for a short time, to experience what it could be like if we let our minds run wild. I dare say that most of us would not come up with such sheer brilliance. Parnassus is an intense, beautiful and visionary piece of work. It's a fairy tale for grown-ups, if you allow your imagination to run along with Gilliam's for a couple of hours. To understand just how gifted the man is watch one of the many bonus features about making the film: the talented cast had to trust him completely, working with a lot of blue screens before his vision could pull the film together in post-production. It's a stunning and important piece of film, not least as Heath Ledger's final - and stellar - performance: a fitting tribute to a much missed young talent. Terry Gilliam's Doctor Parnassus is a masterpiece, a treat for the eyes and the mind: the magic of cinema at its very best. We
have secured 3 Blu-Ray discs of THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS for you to win to in our
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Peppa Pig The Fire Engine (out 29 March 10, cert. U) The Fires Engine, Polly Parrot's Boat Trip, Washing, Numbers, Teddy Playgroup, The Train Ride, A Trip To The Moon, Danny's Pirate Party, Grandpa at The Playground and Delphine Donkey, 2009, Cert. U MonkeyScore: 80% Peppa is a loveable, cheeky little piggy who lives with her younger brother George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig. Peppa's favourite things include jumping up and down in muddy puddles, playing games, dressing up and family days out. Her adventures always end happily with loud snorts of laughter. The Fire Engine contains the title episode in which Peppa and George go with Mummy Pig to Miss Rabbit's Mummies Fire Engine Service, as well as 9 other adventures and a bonus Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom episode. A new DVD of mischievous pre-school favourite Peppa is always good news for the under 5s. The quality of animation, fun storyline and cheeky characters are also surprisingly a hit with the most sceptical of parents who no doubt respond to the Britishness of the stories & quirks of the adults involved, from nagging Granny Pig to naughty Daddy Pig using the fire brigade's phone to help locate the ketchup. The only extra is a full episode from Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom, produced by the same team to the same high standards. This is a great little DVD to add to young children's collections: long enough for a quiet break and short enough so as not to stop your little ones from going outside to jump up and down their own muddy puddles. As cheeky and sweet as ever, Peppa Pig The Fire Engine is a great collection of short cartoons that the under 5s will love. Perfect for the Easter school break!
The Call Of The Wild (out 29 March 10, cert. PG) MonkeyScore: TBC% Jack London's literary classic gets a modern-day makeover: nine-year-old city girl Ryan (Ariel Gade) is visiting her grandpa (Christopher Lloyd) in Montana and lamenting the lack of shopping malls when she befriends a wounded wild dog and names it Buck. As the annual sledding race draws near, Ryan and her new friends begin training Buck for the big day in hopes that he can win the gold. review coming soon |
 Séraphine (out 29 March 10, cert. U) Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Genevieve Mnich, Nico Rogner, dir. Martin Provost, 2009, cert. U, in French with subtitles Yolande Moreau brings Séraphine to life with quiet, understated talent. Over the years she has been a staple of French cinema, from cult 1990s TV series Les Deschiens to international box-office smash Amélie. This role finally gives her scope to showcase her immense dramatic abilities. Provost's film does suffer from the common biopic ailment of sticking too closely to facts to the detriment of pace and cinematic efficiency. Yet this somehow serves the picture, grounding Séraphine's life and art in reality. Séraphine was discovered Uhde, by the art expert who first bought Picasso's works, yet it's taken this film to bring her works to a wider audience. A subtle film, telling a fascinating story through Yolande Moreau's memorable performance. We
have secured 3 DVDs of Séraphine for you to win to in our
competition this week - just follow the link!
The Informant (out 29 March 10, Cert. 15) Matt Damon, Lucas Carroll, Melanie Lynskey, Rusty Schwimmer, Eddie Jamison, Scott Bakula, dir. Steven Soderbergh, 2009, cert. 15 MonkeyScore: 68% The U.S. government decides to go after an agri-business giant with a price-fixing accusation, based on the evidence submitted by their star witness, vice president turned informant Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon.) While Soderbergh's The Informant is as stylish as can be, there is something that just doesn't gel with this film. The true story and great actors' performances should naturally place this on par with similar whistle-blowing themed / true story Erin Brokovich. Somewhere along the line, though, The Informant falls short. The Whitacre character, played with flair by Matt Damon, is endearing in his lunacy, but still it takes a while to 'get into the film'. It's more comedy than say Michael Clayton, but not quite laugh out loud funny. Scott Bakula as the FBI agent coaxing Whitacre's involvement is excellent, too. It's difficult to point out why exactly The Informant seems to be slightly less than the sum of its parts. If one thing had to be named it would be the soundtrack - jazzy, easy-listening, perfectly pleasant and stylish, but giving off such a sixties vibe that it makes it difficult to connect with events and situations taking place in the 1990s. An interesting story of corporate shenanigans with a great cast, but somehow failing to engage the audience.
Planet 51 (out 29 March 10, cert. U) Voices of Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Sean William Scott, Gary Oldman, John Cleese, James Corden, Matthew Horne, Emma Tate, dir. by Jorge Blanco / Javier Abad, 2009, cert. U MonkeyScore: TBC% review coming soon |
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