Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 Poster

Have a think how far superhero films have come since the first Iron Man. Not even Nick Fury saw the transformation coming. At Iron Man’s release in 2008 Marvel hadn’t had a credible movie for years, while DC was darkening the genre with Christopher Nolan’s Batman. Then came the first step in Marvel’s grand-and now clearly successful-plan to make an unrivaled blockbuster. Iron Man was humorous without being camp, serious without being morbid. This perfect balance has become the tone of all Marvel films since then and continues in this potential finale.

After battling aliens and traveling through wormholes during Avenger’s Assemble Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is a wreck. Suffering from anxiety and PTSD he can’t sleep and busies himself improving his suits before the next attack. On top of that a terrorist known as the Mandarin is attacking America.

On the surface the plot is predictable for both die-hard fans and regular moviegoers. It refers to enough source material for fans to keep ahead. But, there are a few twists that few will see coming that make up for some predictability.

Considering the film took two years to make the plot feels oddly ‘now’. It tackles PTSD in soldiers and how it strains relationships. Downey Jr gives Stark a vulnerability not normally associated with the arrogant billionaire. The sleepless nights, panic attacks and the constant frustration vividly capture what many American soldiers go through on a daily basis.

Then there are the bombings. Early on there is a bomb attack at Hollywood’s Chinese Theater that is uncomfortably similar to the Boston Marathon attack last week. Although only a coincidence it demonstrates that Iron Man 3 has captured the spirit of this age and is serious for a comic book.

But don’t worry it’s not too serious. Like Avengers Assemble Shane Black’s and Drew Pearce’s script has laughs alongside the action. This is after all what Marvel does best. Downey Jr is given one-liners in the action scenes, in the emotional scenes, and in every scene in-between. As an added bonus the jokes don’t fall flat, but have audiences laughing.

Sometimes the film does sway a bit too far towards a punch line. There are moments, especially during the fights, where they have chosen to be goofy over cool. It may have been a sleeker movie if a few gags hadn’t been included. But then it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable. There are still plenty of geek-gasm moments and great actions scenes to avoid being branded lame. For example the final fight includes an army of Iron Man suits. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that.

While the last time the suit went out for a flight it was part of a team Iron Man 3 all about Stark putting a deserving Downey Jr in center stage. His jokes get laughs, his action drops mouths and his panic attacks warms hearts. This is the deepest Marvel has gone with any of its characters so far. Downey Jr sensitively plays a broken man by not making light of the situation, but also not becoming too enveloped in it.

The problem with it being the Robert Downey Jr Show is that other characters aren’t used as much. Ben Kinsley, Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce all do well, but the female characters aren’t as lucky. Both Gwyneth Paltrow as girlfriend Pepper Potts and Rebecca Hall as ex-fling Dr Maya Hansen have a few ace moments, but they are few and far between. Marvel has shown it can do fun non-heroic female parts, such as Agent Maria Hill or Black Widow, so it is a shame they didn’t succeed her. Instead both often stick with the damsel role.

The original Iron Man lead the way for a new style of comic genre movie and this film carries on that legacy. Overall Iron Man 3 is a marvelous addition to the franchise and explores new depths with the central hero. The tone is well balanced with humour and seriousness blended well together between fun and exhilarating action scenes. Let’s hope the rumours that Downey Jr will step out of the suit are untrue as no other actor right now could replace him.

Degree- 2:1

A well balanced and fun comic book film that would be

perfect if there were some minor tweaks.

Most anticipated film of 2012

This may show my geeky inner self, but here is one of the films I am most excited about in 2012…it is the Spiderman Reboot!.

Reboots are often found in the comic book industry with new artists and writers taking on the old material in a new way for a new generation of readers. In fact comic power house DC, who are behind household favourites like Superman and Batman, have recently started their franchise again at Issue 1 in a bid to bring in new readers. So it is no surprise that Marvel, in this economic climate where safe bets are the new game plan, have decided to reboot their most popular and financially profitable franchise: Spiderman.

The reboot brings in a talented cast to help it stand out. Peter Parker is played by Andrew Garfield who impressed both Hollywood and audiences last year with his portrayal of Eduardo in The Social Network. Opposite him will be the hot young star Emma Stone who has gone back to her natural blonde roots to play Gwen Stacey. Gwen only had a short appearance in the last movie franchise, but fans will know she plays an essential part in the origin story of Spiderman; Stone will make Gwen a stronger character than your average damsel in distress (sorry Natalie, but we all know Thor could have been done without you). Supporting these two will be Rhys Ifans who plays Dr Conners and his slightly less human alter ego The Lizard, and Sally Field who plays Aunt May and has had experience with super hero offspring having played Martha Kent in the 90’s TV show The New Adventures of Superman.

This cast make it seem as if this reboot may in fact be good, add to it the chance that some of the roof top swinging may be filmed in 3D and people should get excited. However, it is hard to know who the target audience is. Fans who have already seen the Tobey Maguire version have formed their opinions on the wall crawler’s movie credibility, whilst new viewers may stay away from a franchise that has needed to be rebooted less than ten years after the original was released.

It may be that both fans and new audiences give the film a shot due to its likable and talented cast and if this is the case it could be a gold mine for Marvel; if people’s scepticism of reboots triumphs, however, this could prove a major blunder for the studio.

 

X-Men First Class

 

As a self-confessed geek and huge X-Men fan, I have wasted many an hour or two reading through countless Wikipedia pages on all the characters from my favourites to the lesser known ones, so I was extremely excited about the up coming prequel. Having been disappointed both by ‘X3-The Last Stand’ and embarrassed by ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ I was optimistic when I saw the names Matthew Vaughn (who directed ‘Kick Ass’), Jane Goldman (who helped adapt ‘Kick Ass’) and Bryan Singer (the director of the first two X-Men films). Needless to say, my expectations were met and, in some areas, surpassed.

Set in the 1960s, ‘X-Men: First Class’ has gone back to basics to create an origin of one of the most fascinating relationships in the franchise – the one between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender). As well as their relationship, the film focuses on how Xavier becomes Professor X, the world’s most powerful telepath, and Lehnsherr becomes Magneto, a man who can control magnetic fields and thus manipulate metal. Set during the real-life event of the Cuban missile crisis, the story concentrates on the first coming-out of mutants to the not only the rest of the world, but also to each other. Lehnsherr’s is the first power we see manifest and audiences are given an insight into his anger and drive; how he survived a Nazi concentration camp as a young boy (fan boys will notice how Singer’s original opening to ‘X-Men’ was used) and his powers stem from the emotional hardship he suffered. Seeing Lehnsherr’s origins allows us to understand how his later philosophy of mutants above humans does not come from being innately evil, but from his own negative experiences of the world, many of them cruel and unbending. As the film goes on Lehnsherr transforms from a volatile loner to a calm, magnetic (excuse the pun) leader that we recognize as the Magneto immortalized by Sir Ian McKellen. Fassbender plays a brilliant young Magneto, who is stylish, ruthless and takes no prisoners. It would not come as a surprise if Fassbender became the next James Bond as he skillfully manages to give feeling and depth to what some might describe as an unrepentant character. He also manages to make turtle necks look suave and menacing, which is no mean feat by any means.

Xavier’s transformation to the serene mentor played by Sir Patrick Stewart is a little more obvious, and slightly poorly handled. At the start Xavier is a confident arrogant DPhil student (well what DPhil students aren’t?) studying genetics at Oxford University and using his powers for his own personal pleasure, such as reading the mind of a girl to find out her favourite drink. However, upon finding the existence of other mutants besides himself, and realizing that they need to be looked after, he grows up and willingly accepts his responsibility as a mutant mentor. This transformation doesn’t feel fully believable, most likely because McAvoy lacks the gravitas to pull off the serious act. He is much better playing the annoying playboy than serious grown up.

As well as Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, ‘X-Men: First Class’ includes a list of characters that fans of the original comic books will enjoy. The strongest, most interesting and best written one is easily Raven, who will come to be known as the blue shape-shifter, Mystique. In the original movies Mystique was many people’s favourite due to her refusal to hide her difference, even though she easily could, in this prequel we see how this determination develops. Originally she hides her mutant ability and assumes the look of the normal, albeit beautiful, Jennifer Lawrence, but as the film progresses she is shown to question whether she should have to hide. What makes her part in the film even more interesting is how she creates a kind of love triangle with Xavier and Lehnsherr. She starts off following Xavier, but audiences all know she will change her allegiance if she is to be on Magneto’s side at the start of the first X-Men.  Watching the two men battle for her support adds extra tension to a relationship that already has two strong egos believing they are right.

The second supporting character to add to the characterization and depth of the film is another blue fan favourite, Hank McCoy, later known as Beast. Although in his blue bestial form when played by Kelsey Grammer in ‘X3: The Last Stand’ in this prequel he still has his human form and is played by Nicholas Hoult. What is interesting about McCoy’s character is he is not as selfless as the rest of the team and desperately wants to make his monkey-like feet normal again. For once, it is nice to see a superhero that reacts in a normal, slightly superficial, way to his situation in a way that reflects how audiences might also react. It would be great to say that the rest of the X team are as well developed and as well written as Mystique and Beast, however, this is sadly not the case. Whether it is the fault of the script for not giving them more depth or the fault of the original source material for not providing enough to work with, the rest of the students from Mutant High feel like add-ons. It seems that they are only there to fill up the fight scenes. It could be argued that out of the hundreds of characters that could have been picked, Jane Goldman and her team should have chosen more filled out ones.

If some of the characters in the X-team let the side down, Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw – a mutant who can absorb energy – and January Jones’ Emma Frost – a telepath who can also turn her skin into diamonds – are certainly enemies who bring it back up. Both actors ooze the natural sophistication and glamour that is associated with wealth in the 60s. Because of this they are a delight to watch and part of you will want them to succeed in their plot because they just look so good doing it.

Unlike many comic book films released at the moment (Green Lantern comes to mind…) ‘X-Men: Fist Class’ is character and plot driven over the special effects. Truth be told, some of the CGI is not up to scratch with most summer blockbusters; maybe blue is a difficult colour to use, but both Mystique and Beast have looked better in previous incarnations and Emma Frost’s diamond skin looked a little cheap. But if these faults have come because more time was spent neatening up the script, then they are a worthy price to pay so that the film breaks away from being a normal comic book adaption. Saying this, there are still enough little bits of comic trivia for fans. From jokes about Xavier’s hair to the appearance of two stars from the original three films, these little in jokes will keep fans happy. However, the studio did take a few artistic licenses that some fans may not be happy with.  For example, likely due to American audiences being unable to understand British accents (commiserations Ms Cole) both Banshee and Moira McTagart have lost their heavily accented heritage to become clean spoken Americans. Although this may seem a little petty to complain about, this is just the sort of things that fans will pick up on and get annoyed about.

Although some aspects of the film have been changed for better or for worse, the premise is still very much pride of the underdog. ‘Mutant Pride’ is constantly and unsubtly mentioned, but really the word ‘mutant’ could be replaced by any minority or down trodden group – gay pride, female pride, geek pride. This is the very essence of what X-Men is about: who the fan base is. And that is what has made it become so successful. People enjoy X-Men because it shows that being born different doesn’t mean you are born unequal, and it is fantastic that this mantra shines though out the entire film.

Degree- 2:1

Finally the franchise has gone back to the basics that made

it so successful to begin with. This is a film that even those who

don’t like the comics may enjoy as it focuses more on plot than CGI.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

As foreign language films go ‘The Extraordinary adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec’ certainly feels different. Doubtless many similar films are made and released, but most of the ones that arrive on these shores tend to follow the same pattern:they are often character based criticisms on how tough life can be and what is important about being human; this film on the other hand is a more light hearted bit of fun than deep melodrama and is more enjoyable because of it.

Based on a series of Franco-Belgian comics written before and after the Great War, ‘The Extraordinary adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec’ follow author and investigative journalist Adele Blanc-Sec (Louise Bourgoin) as she searches ancient Egyptian tombs for a way to cure her twin sister Agathe from her coma. As this is going on a pterodactyl, which has remained dormant for about 130 million years, is terrorising early 20^th Century Paris.  This gives you an idea of the off the wall feeling that the film has, and it is this quirkiness that is the film’s strongest part. From walking mummies discussing what site to see all the way to a pterodactyl pooing on the Parisian commissioner (yes both do happen) the film does not take itself too seriously and is full of charm and laughs because of it.

The bulk of the charm certainly comes from Louise Bourgoin, who plays Adele Blanc-Sec. She is an exceptional example of a great leading lady with stunning looks, excellent comic timing and great acting chops. Adele is a great character, one that Hollywood’s leading ladies should try to emulate. Often many central female characters end up being strong right up until they are in trouble and then they ask for the help of their male love interests. However, not only is Adele smart, but she has no need for a male love interest, which is refreshing as many Hollywood films include love interests just so that a sex scene can be shown in the trailer. As well as being strong and independent, Adele is also very funny, and this comes from a script filled with little witty one-liners and turns of phrases, which help maintain the film’s light hearted feel.

Since it is in French it of course sounds beautiful, but the visuals are also stunning as well. Set in 1912, ‘The Extraordinary adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec’ is a gorgeous period piece, filled with bright frocks and smart suits and of course the wide streets and bohemian rooms of Paris. Each scene is stunning to look at, whether it is an ancient tomb or Adele’s lavish flat, the film certainly looks stunning. There are a few areas where the film does look a bit cheap, namely the poor animation of the risen mummies and the pterodactyl, but this is of little consequence for the overall feel of the picture.

This film is certainly not for everyone. If you are looking for a serious bit of drama or maybe some form of enlightenment then you will likely leave ‘The Extraordinary adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec’ feeling that it was all superficial twaddle.  However, if you take the film as an enjoyable, light-hearted bit of fun then you will leave feeling elated and excited to see if Adele Blanc-Sec has any more adventures on the horizon.

Degree- 2:1

Not the deepest film you’ll ever see, but where it lacks depth

this film has charm that more than makes up for it.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

X-Men: First Class

I am such a geek that I am so excited about this! It isn’t a re-boot of yet another franchise, but another one of Marvel’s origin projects that gives you more detail of the central characters from the original three. This time the origin story is of Magneto and Xavier, played by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. It appears from the trailer that it looks at how the two friends become enemies due to their different philosophies. The cast will also include a list of other mutants, some we have seen before with new faces ( Mystique is now played by Jennifer Laurence, Emma Frost by January Jones and Beast by Nicholas Holt), while other new mutants are introduced (Havok played by Lucas Till and Banshee playted by Caleb Landry). From the trailer and the fact that Matthew Vaughn is directing it certainly looks like it could help rejuvinate the franchise after the last two flops.

R.E.D

reviewed by guest lecturer Will Tooke

Another month brings out another comic book adaption. The playful, immersive odyssey of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and the subversive, ultra violent thrill ride of Kick-Ass are still fresh in my mind, I went to see RED with high hopes – after all, with an incredible cast of Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and your Grans favourite, Helen Mirren, what could possibly go wrong? Err, well, quite a lot actually.

Based on the DC comic written by Warren Ellis and the unfortunately named Cully Hamner, this movie version of RED is similar in name only. A cursory Google (I hadn’t heard of RED before either…) revealed that the scriptwriters had changed quite a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a purist – one of the greatest things about good movie adaptation of novels or books is how the screenwriter handles the source material. Think of 2001s About A Boy based on Nick Hornby’s novel. Gone – thank God – is the heavy handed, zeitgeisty sub-plot to do with Kurt Kobain’s death, a reason why it stands as an example where the film is better than the book. Of course, film adaptations don’t always work out for the best – 2009s Watchmen suffered terribly from an overlong script, and the fact that for some reason it never quite managed to live up to the spirit of the dystopian epic that is Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ 1986 graphic novel. Yes, screenwriting – particularly adapting works – is a difficult game indeed, one that demands subtlety in approach if not content.

The fact then that screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber take great big blundering axe chops to the original is a bad sign. Bruce Willis’ character, ex-CIA agent Frank Moses, survives from the original lineup. The rest are all new additions. Whereas the comic is apparently a darker, straighter story of murky political intrigue and shady secret service dealings, on celluloid RED is a much lighter, family friendly affair. It is, after all a 12 A, and I can’t help wonder if somewhere in the ether floats a grittier, original script, more faithful to the original, before the studio talked it down from an 18 or a 15 to a 12 certificate. It’s a real shame actually, because the core idea is a good one – old spooks come out of retirement to kick some butt after someone or other tries to have them killed. The cheap and easy way to make this family friendly of course is to a) have curiously bloodless fight scenes and b) add some humour.

Oh sweet Jesus, the humour.

In a big loud dumb action movies, there is nothing wrong with a few jokes. Brucie’s own Die Hard quadrilogy is the stronger for them, and cheesy jokes and lazy innuendo pretty much substituted plot for much of Roger Moore’s stint as Bond. But in RED, the cheesy jokes are ladled on like fondue. And it just gets incredibly annoying, right up to a silly pre-credits scene that sees Brucie wheeling John Malkovich through a Moldovan minefield in a wheelbarrow, whilst the latter clutches a nuclear bomb. Typing that out, it sounds pretty funny, like something out of under rated Cold War farce Top Secret! (Seriously, you must see it before you die), but after a few hours of cutesy posturing, my sense of humour failure was borderline terminal.

And even if the awful jokes had been exorcised from RED, I’m not so sure it’d have worked, either. The plot has more flabby twists than Ann Widdecombe’s routines on Strictly Come Dancing: to the extent that it’s unforgivably hard to follow, which is why I haven’t mentioned what happens so much. ‘So wait, now that guy isn’t a baddie?’ one little boy sat near me in the cinema said out loud, to no one in particular. His guess is as good as mine, frankly.  The story circles around something about the covering up of something bad that the now Vice President of the United States (perhaps?) did in Guatemala in 1981 whilst he was in the army. Now bearing in mind said V.P is played by Nip Tuck’s Julian McMahon, this is particularly hard to swallow seeing as McMahon would have been 13 in 1981. Yup, that particular plot hole bugged me so much, I looked up an actor’s actual birthday, just to give me something else to complain about.

I suppose I should provide a bit of a balance by saying that parts of the film are OK – the sight of Helen Mirren firing a huge machine is funny for a bit, and the whole thing is filmed well, each shot framed like a comic book pane. Bruce Willis does his trusty trademark ‘McClane smirk’ – the same facial expression since the good old days of Die Hard, back when Brucey had hair. The same smirk Brucey has done in pretty much every film he’s been in since 1986. If Bella Lugosi was cinema’s Man of a Thousand Faces, then Willis has become cinema’s Man of Just One Smirk. I’m being harsh on Brucey, he does the hand-to-hand combat fights very well, and as a protagonist he’s hard not to like. It’s just I can’t remember the last time he was truly stretched in a role. Perhaps in The Sixth Sense? Which was also the last time M. Night Shyamalan made a decent film. And that was a long, long time ago. In any case, the few good points don’t make up for the whole – in the same way that the excellent German motorway system doesn’t excuse the regime that created them.

I suppose the biggest crime is that this is perhaps the greatest example of recent cinema of a truly brilliant cast who are truly wasted. In the opening credits, there is literally not one actors name that popped up that I didn’t recognize and who isn’t good. Alongside the main four stars are Brian Cox, Karl Urban – two veterans of the Bourne Trilogy, as well as James Remar from TVs Dexter, Mary-Louise Parker from Weeds, Richard Dreyfuss, and the 93 year old Ernest Borgnine. I can only presume they were very well paid or just don’t care anymore.

Degree-2.2 If you like your films with lots bullets that pass in slow motion making a

WOOOSH noise, explosions that seemingly compete with plot holes

to see which one can be the biggest, then you’ll love this.  Otherwise you should probably

just stay away.

It narrowly escaped a third solely because Helen Mirren fires a big loud machine gun.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

 

R.E.D-A few little clips

Here are some fun clips from R.E.D that I stumbled across. They are nothing particularly new, but you get to see Helen Mirren wield that machine gun again and many more things besides. I really think she will be the best bit of the movie-enjoy!

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Scott Pilgrim is certainly aimed at a very specific niche, which would explain its US box office flop, only making $30 million back on its $60 million budget. The source material was written for slackers about slackers, not geeks or teenagers, but slackers, which isolates a lot of the movie going public. With all this in mind I still highly recommend everyone to go and see it, even if the genre is not inside your comfort zone, as it is a truly amazing film.

The movie (so the avid fans say) sticks close to the original comics, ok ‘graphic novels’, by Bryan Lee O’Malley.  In these novels Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), the base guitarist for the unsigned band ‘Sex Bob-omb’, falls head over heels for the enigmatic Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). However to be with her Scott must first defeat her seven evil exes who all want to kick the crap out of him. It’s the relationship between Scott and Ramona that is the core of the film and the different dynamics in it are what make this film score high points. Between all the great visuals, dialogue and music (which I will get onto in a second) the film looks at real, relatable issues, if in a surreal setting. With Scott we see all the usual insecurity each of us feels when we start dating a new person: awkward, obsessed, nervous, cocky, doubtful. Scott goes through all these stages and we go through them with him. And with Ramona we witness what it is like running away from your past, but never fully escaping and having it come back to hurt those around you instead. Winstead does a great job making Ramona seem both strong and fragile at the same time, apologetic for her past, but not regretful.

A film with this many layers might be a surprise for a comic (sorry graphic novel) based movie, but it certainly isn’t for an Edgar Wright film. Both his previous movies, ‘Hot Fuzz’ and ‘Shaun Of The Dead’, had many layers of heart beneath the comedy. However Wright has certainly pulled away from his old British team of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in order to have an all American and Canadian cast. It also has a far larger budget that is put to good use. The entire film is a fusion of 80s video games and retro comics. The scenes shift and change as if you were reading a comic book, which can disorientate viewers at first, but trust me sticking around is worth it. The fights themselves are taken straight from video games such as ‘Street Fighter’, being both fast paced and intense, but lasting for the exact right amount of time. The timing of the film is absolutely perfect, with neither action nor dialogue going on for too long or becoming tired. The sound track is also as explosive as the fight scenes, even for one who is more comfortable with the top 40 than indie rock. Legendary alt-rock artist Beck wrote all of Sex Bob-omb’s songs while Canadian musicians Metric and Broken Social Scene penned the tracks for the other bands. The playlist is so good that a 2-CD soundtrack has been released and has got acclaimed reviews.

Even with all these great qualities, what truly makes ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs the World’ an exceptional film is the great cast and dialogue. Michael Cera is still playing the same slightly dorky character he has played in ‘Juno’ and ‘Super Bad’, but this time the character is also a douche. This grumpy, self-centred attitude that Scott often displays makes the character all the more real and believable and Michael Cera’s charm wins you over to rooting for him in every fight. As I’ve already mentioned Winstead is perfection, even under all the colourful wigs she had to wear. However, what most stands out is how rounded the supporting characters are. Each evil ex feels complete even though some only get a few seconds of screen time. Easily the two best exes were Chris Evan’s Lucas Lee and Brandon Routh’s Todd Ingman who each deliver hilarious performances. But the characters that rise above everyone else are Wallace (Kieran Culkin) and Knives Chau (Ellen Wong).  Wallace is Scott’s gay flatmate and is rare in the fact that he is not gay first and everything else second. Instead Wallace is witty, likable and insightful before being gay. Knives Chau on the other hand is the most lovable character you meet through the entire 112 minutes. Knives is the 17 year old school girl that Scott is dating when he meets Ramona and her bubbly, naïve, adoring attitude almost makes you want Scott to not bother with Ramona at all. Wong certainly provides the warm fuzzy feeling of the film. As for the script it is top notch with every character getting at least one funny line; except Shota Saito and Keita Saito who are twin actors from Japan and don’t speak any English. From one-liners, such as the ‘Hasbian’ insult, to topical jokes, such as the Vegan police, the script is both playful and insightful, lacking in neither imagination nor charm.

Ultimately Scott Pilgrim is a growing up story that has real heart and flare. Between the fights and the music is a clever, funny, moving story that deserves to gross higher than it has done in the States. However, even if it doesn’t do as well here as it should do, if you go see it and you like it you can feel good in the knowledge that you like a cool trendy film that will reach cult status in only a few years.

Degree: 1^st

A film that is not going to be to everyone’s taste, but is

still awesome. It has all the makings of a cult classic.

R.E.D

Dame Helen Mirren with a machine gun? This will spike anyone’s interest. When asked why she chose to do the film, Mirren’s first response was ‘It’s not the Queen’ and she is certainly right about that. With the great veteran cast Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis and John Malkovich Mirren is in very good company.