Tuesday 28 May 2013

Star Trek Into Darkness Premiere

The Empire Cinema in Leicester Square getting prepped to boldly go Into Darkness

After the date for the Iron Man 3 Premiere was moved, meaning my cinema buddy couldn't go, we decided to (boldly) go to the Star Trek Into Darkness Premiere. One of the girls I met at the Iron Man 3 Premiere had said she would try to come along in the afternoon, so all we had to do was sit in the sun in Leicester Square and wait for the stars to arrive.

The White Carpet for the Premiere

The first piece of bad luck happened on arrival as my cinema buddy realised he'd left his memory card in his laptop at home! D'oh! One warp speed dash to Boots later and a new memory card was purchased. Disaster averted. We sat down on the grass to eat our lunch when the second piece of bad luck happened. I got pooped on by a (Klingon War)bird. 


Spock quite rightly seems a little annoyed about this turn of events, and understandably so was I. However, this is not my first time at a Premiere and I was equipped with all sorts of anti-bacterial gels and wipes, and another warp speed dash (this time to Leicester Square's toilet facilities) later I was poop free and ready for my close up. 


But enough about me, you're here to hear about the stars! And stars there were! As with any Premiere there were minor celebrities galore, X-Factor Boyband Union J anyone? The Voice's Bo Bruce? Nah, we're not interested in them! We want the big names. Well don't say I don't give you big names!

The first guys from the Star Trek galaxy to walk the white carpet and be interviewed were the writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, followed by writer/producer Damon Lindelof


Next up was British Actor Noel Clarke who is new to the Star Trek franchise and who's role in the film was shrouded in mystery. He spent ages with the crowd, signing autographs and taking pictures with fans.


He was followed by the man I had gone to the Premiere to see - Simon Pegg. He spent ages with the crowds too and signed for me and my buddy.


Next to breeze past the waiting fans were Zoe Saldana and Karl Urban. Regrettably neither came to sign for the fans waiting in the section I was standing in. Although my cinema buddy did manage to weave in and out of the crowd to get these shots of them


British Actress Alice Eve, who is new to the franchise, spent ages with the crowds and signed my Empire magazine (you can just see it under the thing she's signing in the second pic).


Captain Kirk himself Chris Pine was next to grace us with his presence, and not only did he sign for everyone waiting on the edge of the white carpet...


 ...after he was interviewed he leapt over the crowd to go and sign and take pictures with people standing in Leicester Square too. A true hero!


Here he is putting pen to my Empire magazine


Director J.J. Abrams also spent a long time with the crowds and even spent some time chatting to a lady behind me. Again he signed for me and my buddy and seemed like a really nice guy. My buddy managed to get a picture of him as he switched places with Chris Pine who was coming back down the line from his interview. They had a little giggling exchange and it was a lovely moment captured.


Regrettably Zachary Quinto who plays Spock did not have time to sign for us as he was rushed over to be interviewed and then whisked inside. But my cinema buddy did manage to get some snaps of him too 


Benedict Cumberbatch who plays villain John Harrison also had no time to sign for us and in fact we only managed to snap him on his way back out as the stars came out of the cinema for a cast photo, before they left for the after party, or in the case of Pine and Cumberbatch, as they headed to film The Graham Norton Show. 




We had a really great day at the Premiere. Again met some lovely people and got some impressive signatures to add to the collection.


All photos (with the exception of the first 3) are courtesy of Blair Holmes, photographer and sandwich maker extraordinaire. Image of Spock courtesy of Google images.

Sunday 5 May 2013

Iron Man 3


My decent into Marvel appreciation started with Thor and culminated with The Avengers (Avengers Assemble in the UK). I had seen both Iron Man and Iron Man 2 and liked those movies but they weren't enough to make me a fan. Regardless of my less than enthusiastic approach to Iron Man I did go to the Premiere for Iron Man 3 (see here for the gossip on that) and I also went to the midnight screening of Iron Man 3. Then 'why are we only getting a review now?' I hear you cry! The simple answer is that I was so tired whilst watching Iron Man 3 at midnight that I wasn't sure my review of that experience would do the film justice. I liked it alright. I just didn't love it. And I wanted to be sure that that was my overall feeling and not just tired me saying that.

So I waited until today, which just so happened to be the day I went to see Iron Man 3 again. This time on IMAX!!! If you haven't seen a film on IMAX I will just say that it makes everything bigger, louder and in many respects, especially on a movie like this, better.

For those who don't know, following the events of Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers, Iron Man 3 picks up after the alien attack at the end of The Avengers. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is a changed man. He can't sleep and when he does he has nightmares of what happened in New York and threats that have yet to present themselves. No sooner have we established that these are imagined threats, a very real terrorist appears on the scene calling himself The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). And after someone close to Tony is in the wrong place at the wrong time of a Mandarin attack, Tony vows revenge. It's only when his home is literally blown into the water that Tony has to act to save those he can't live without. 

Iron Man 3 surprised me on many levels. The first being the massive twist involving Ben Kingsley's character The Mandarin. I won't give it away in case you've yet to see the film but it is brilliant and I hope that you, like me, will not see it coming. The second surprise was just how vulnerable Tony seemed. Usually he's unstoppable, indestructible Iron Man, but in this installment he seemed much more human. Maybe it's the direction Marvel are going in (you'll hopefully understand what I mean by this when you see the last few reels of the movie) but I liked it. I also liked the continuing and deepening of the Tony/Pepper relationship. And some equalling of the ground between them. Pepper kicks ass in this movie on so many levels and it was nice to see her do something other than walk around in a suit looking like she has a bug up her butt. 

The Iron Man films have always been the less serious and more humerous of the Marvel movies but whilst this one was still very funny in places, it's also a much darker movie. Whilst I was happy for my nephew to see Thor and Avengers, I wouldn't recommend taking a child of his age (7) to see this. At the end of the day superhero movies are generally fantasy films but a lot of the threat in this movie is by a terrorist, and in this day and age that kind of villain is all too real. For that, along with some gory deaths involving people getting literally punched through their stomachs/chests, I would recommend only taking older children to see Iron Man 3.

On a lighter note, I think my favourite scene in the movie is the 'barrel of monkeys' scene. If you've seen it you'll know what I'm talking about. It's very tense but so very satisfying. And very well shot. So all in all, better than my initial 'alright' response, Iron Man 3 is definitely worthy of a second showing and if you're going to do it again you really should make it IMAX. A surprising and satisfying 8 out of 10.

*Don't forget to stay for the post credits sequence* Squee!



Viewing Date - 25th April 2013
UK Release Date - 25th April 2013

Cast Overview:
Robert Downey Jr ~ Tony Stark
Gwyneth Paltrow ~ Pepper Potts
Don Cheadle ~ Colonel James Rhodes
Guy Pearce ~ Aldrich Killian
Rebecca Hall ~ Maya Hansen
Jon Favreau ~ Happy Hogan
Ben Kingsley ~ The Mandarin
Ty Simpkins ~ Harley Keener
William Sadler ~ President Ellis
Miguel Ferrer ~ Vice President Rodriguez

Director ~ Shane Black
Writer(s) ~ Drew Pearce (Screenplay), Shane Black (Screenplay), Stan Lee (Comic Book), Don Heck (Comic Book), Larry Lieber (Comic Book) and Jack Kirby (Comic Book)

Saturday 4 May 2013

The Place Beyond The Pines


I'd been looking forward to The Place Beyond The Pines since I saw the first trailer for it. Atmospheric music and promises of stellar performances from the always great Ryan Gosling and the on-the-up Bradley Cooper. I had high hopes. Perhaps too high? 

*The following synopsis features spoilers*
The film is split into three different stories, the first is of stunt motorcycle rider Luke (Ryan Gosling), who returns to a small town a year after he was last there with the state fair he does daredevil stunts for. He discovers upon his return that he has fathered a child with Romina (Eva Mendes), a woman he had a brief fling with 12 months prior. Deciding to do right by the child Luke quits his job, allowing him to stay in town and build a relationship with the boy. He gets a job with a local mechanic Robin (Ben Mendelsohn), which leads to him taking part in armed robberies to get money together for the kid. Luke is tragically killed by police officer Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) after a robbery goes wrong. Here we pick up the second thread of the story where we discover that Avery is not the heroic cop that the press have lead everyone to believe. The third act of film is set 15 years later and shows how this chain of events have shaped the lives of both Luke's and Avery's sons. *End of Spoilers*

The Place Beyond The Pines was one of those films that as I was watching it I was thinking how good it was, how clever, how brilliant all of the performances were. That was until we got to the third act. Up until then I stand by the fact that it is a great movie and features fantastic performances. And if you walk out of the film then, it still will be. I however, stayed until the end, and I really wish I hadn't. I had massive issues with the third act of this story.

For one, it makes the film too long. It's 140 minutes. If you shaved off or even just cut down the third act it would be under 2 hours. Which is acceptable. But honestly, it feels about half an hour too long. For two, the performances from the teenage boys are not great. Dane DeHaan (you'll recognise him if you've seen last years Chronicle) who plays Luke's son Jason does a decent enough job, but Emory Cohen who plays Avery's son AJ is really quite a terrible actor. He's all swagger and pouty lips and he just can't pull that off. He also looks in no way related to Bradley Cooper, which is an issue because you don't ever really feel like they're related? For three, the whole story of how what happened between Luke and Avery affects the boys feels really unnecessary. They could have hinted at it, shown glimpses of the boys growing up but I didn't feel like an in-depth look at the boys psyche was required.

It's a shame as otherwise I'd have nothing but praise for Pines. Gosling and Cooper are both superb and Liotta puts in his usual menacing performance which is as enjoyable as ever. Mendes and Byrne are both beautiful and fiesty as the love interests and capable support is provided by Mendelsohn, Ali, Yulin, Clohessy and Greenwood, who is particularly watchable as ever. 

By all means see what you think for yourself but don't believe the hype. 6 out of 10. 


Viewing Date - 21st April 2013
UK Release Date - 12th April 2013

Cast Overview:
Ryan Gosling ~ Luke
Bradley Cooper ~ Avery
Eva Mendes ~ Romina
Rose Byrne ~ Jennifer
Ben Mendelsohn ~ Robin
Mahershala Ali ~ Kofi
Harris Yulin ~ Al Cross
Robert Clohessy ~ Chief Weirbowski
Bruce Greenwood ~ Bill Killcullen
Ray Liotta ~ Deluca
Emory Cohen ~ AJ
Dane DeHaan ~ Jason

Director ~ Derek Cianfrance
Writer(s) ~ Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio and Darius Marder