2013 Movie Reviews and Awards

2013 Movie Reviews and Awards!

There were a few movies released this year and I'm sorry I didn't find the time to post more critiques on them but here's what you need to know, in short.

Pacific Rim is GREAT. It doesn't try to be pretentious at all. It knows that its characters can't do the accents it's trying to. It knows that the dialogue is as ridden with cliches as it is cringeworthy. It realises that Ron Pearlman is a joke in it. But it doesn't pretend to be anything else. It is over the top. It is simple. It is a giant robot attacking a giant alien with a sword. And it is bloody entertaining!

The Wolverine is SMART, for the most part anyway. How do you approach the superhero genre after we have witnessed the Avengers? Are you going to try and beat it's Outrageous battle scenes? Try and better the special effects? Try and compete with its action scenes? With aWolverine film you could be tempted but they went down a different road. Focussing on the human element of the mysterious X-Man. Stripping him of his invincibility and concentrating on Logan in an environment that is (literally) foreign to him. Unexpected and a welcome change to something that could have been as big a generic, expected, non risk taking bore fest like Iron Man 3. Let down by an out of place Viper and the last 15 minute 'boss fight'. Does verge on boring at some times though.

Anchorman 2 was VERGING ON UNCOMFORTABLE. It was funny and its one liners were so memorable that it could't be considered a let down, but it's just too racist for our day and age. It relies on you laughing at what could be considered offensive material too much. Yes it was set in the 70s when people were more like that, but it was released in 2013 when society is different, to the point that we feel guilty when we laugh at some of it because we don't know if we should find it funny. Too complicated for a simple brainless comedy like this. When it's good though, it's fantastic.

Gravity was STUNNING. Best CGI I've ever witnessed, best cinema experience I've ever had, unbelievable cinematography and pacing and excellent acting from Bullock and Clooney. This was the easiest film to engage with, to the point where you forget it is a film. An incredible 15 minute opening shot with a wandering camera roaming around each individual character sets the tone early and absorbs you into the experience. The 3D actually added to this (hooray!) making you feel like you're there, expanding the emptiness of space and actually momentarily scared of oncoming debris from the exploding ISS. But would it be the same on a regular TV with a Blu Ray copy? Not a chance. This film is so important for the argument of films as a medium. You can have your high production shows made for Netflix and streaming, but you NEED a cinema to experience Gravity. 

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug is an IMPROVEMENT over the first one. It's less boring, but still feels dragged out. It felt like it was all coming to an end and that a third film is just taking the piss. Maybe that's the way the book is or maybe just bad pacing on the film's part of view but it felt like the story should have been wrapped up in this one. At least everything regarding Smaug. The high frame rate version looked better than the first one, but that might have been the different cinema I watched it in or just expecting it this time. Overall it was more interesting than the first one and more exciting, but still not very epic. Although the CGI of Smaug is INCREDIBLE. Much better than the trailers made it out to be.

Thor: The Dark World was better than expected and much better than Iron Man 3 with a lot of action, nicer sets and more humour, although almost to the point that it became a joke. Some of the jokes were a bit too over the top and the constant gags made the 'impending doom' element not seem very serious. Maybe that's just the way modern superhero films are, but it saddens me still. Loki is the clear highlight here. Tom Hiddleston saves the film from being forgettable with the best performance of the character to date. The move to Asgard for the film's majority is a welcome change and makes it all a bit more unique, giving it more character. Possibly the best cameo in a Marvel movie too, genius.

Riddick was PITCH BLACK. This wasn't a sequel, this was a remake of the first film. They obviously read through  the feedback that said that people preferred Pitch Black over Chronicles so they literally kill off the Chronicles format and style in this film and spend the rest of time retelling the first film with a shiny new orange colour palette. To the point that even the crew, stranded on the planet, reluctantly ganging up with Riddick, hoping to claim the bounty on him, racing against aliens that have a weakness to an element found in the sky (this time rain instead of sunlight) even have a descendant of someone from the identical crew from the first film. This IS Pitch Black. With a pet dog. It's still fun, just disappointingly unoriginal.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire TOOK ITSELF VERY SERIOUSLY, which is a good thing. This one didn't feel like a wannabe Harry Potter or Twilight. It was dark, it was emotional, it was a showcase of Jennifer Lawrence's acting abilities and it was a squillion times better than the first one. More entertaining, heavier hitting and a genuinely surprisingly good. Possibly my favourite film of the year, something I really didn't expect.

Fast and Furious 6

*see Fast and Furious 5

Time for the Scottscars. 

My end of year awards that every big filmmaker wants to see. Now keeping in mind I've been very busy this year and haven't seen as much as I should have, as well as the fact that I've been very tired so I haven't watched very many intelligent films that require actual brainpower.

The Shyamalan Award for Best Film: 

Gravity

The Ryan Reynolds Award for Best Actor: 

Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin/Trevor Slattery LOL. Tom Hiddleston or Benedict Cumberbatch

The Stan Lee award for Best Cameo: 

THAT cameo in Thor: The Dark World (I won't ruin it here)

The Gail Platt Award for Best Actress:

Jennifer Lawrence

The Spiderman 3 Award for Best Let Down:

Gangster Squad

The Dragonball Evolution Award for Best CGI:

Gravity

The Harrison Ford Award for Unexpected Brilliance:

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Titanic: The Animated Musical Award for Best Animation:

Frozen

The Ghost Rider Award for Best Superhero movie:

The Wolverine

The Matrix Award for WTF Moment:

Vin Diesel's Superman fly across motorway lanes, leaping from a crashing car, catching someone in midair and landing safely across a massive drop (good WTF) or The Mandarin/Trevor Slattery reveal (bad WTF)

That's all folks! Things to look out for 2014?

Can the Amazing Spider-man 2 do what Spider-man 3 cannot and balance 3 villains with an actual story?

Will X-Men: Days of Future Past live up to the expectations?

Does Transformers 4 have a chance with Michael Bay doing it?

Can Captain America stop being everyone's least favourite Avenger?

To be continued.....