Paul review (The List, Issue 676)

The Shaun of the Dead boys have come a long way. Having followed up Shaun’s critical success with UK box office smash Hot Fuzz, stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and director/co-writer Edgar Wright were firmly established as major British talent. Last summer Wright took his first shot at a big American movie with comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, a disappointment at the box office but an impressive demonstration of his developing creative muscle. Now, after a few high-profile solo acting gigs (most notably Pegg’s turn as Scotty in 2009’s Star Trek), Pegg and Frost re-team as writers and co-stars in Paul, a tale of two English sci-fi nerds who encounter a real-life alien called Paul while on a road-trip through America’s UFO hotspots. But while the film certainly won’t disappoint fans of the duo’s brand of comedy, Pegg and Frost could have done with following Wright’s more adventurous lead; as it is they stick too closely to their comfort zones both as writers and actors, and despite its theme, the film is more run-of-the-mill than out of this world.

In fact, to begin with, Paul could almost be a Transatlantic episode of Spaced, with the geek-pal relationship between Pegg and Frost’s Graeme and Clive riffing on exactly the same notes that made Tim and Mike so endearing in that television show. It’s still a routine that works though, and there are plenty of laughs to be had in the script’s many recurring jokes – one involving characters reeling off the increasingly ridiculous titles of a cult sci-fi author’s books is particularly funny. Director Greg Superbad Mottola develops a suitably atmospheric tone, which entireley fits the script’s spirit of both revering and mocking sci-fi conventions (in both senses), while Jason Bateman provides strong support as a menacing FBI agent on the hunt for Paul.

And what of the title character? Happily, Paul is the film’s greatest asset. A fantastically realised CG creation who gets all the funniest lines and is brilliantly voiced by Seth Rogen, he’s the spark of originality that makes this film worthwhile.

Paul is out now on general release. This review first published in The List magazine.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader review (futuremovies.co.uk)

C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books set a particular challenge to filmmakers and audiences who are accustomed to film series that tell a single continuous story (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Twilight etc.). The constant factor in Lewis’s seven books is not the story but the location, and each book tells a story that, as well as being a stand-alone adventure, increases the reader’s understanding of what kind of world Narnia is. Director Andrew Adamson did a pretty good job of transferring the basic stories of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and Prince Caspian (2008) to the big screen, but both of his films failed to really explore or in any way explain Narnia, beyond the initial revelation of it being a wonderful, magical place.

For this third trip there’s a change of personnel behind the camera as veteran director Michael Apted takes over from Adamson (who now oversees in a producer capacity), but while Apted ensures that Dawn Treader features a lot more exploring of Narnia, there still isn’t much explaining; logical plot progression is decidedly not one of this story’s strengths. To be fair, the point of the magic of Narnia is that it is mysterious and inexplicable, but for much of the time in Dawn Treader there is not even a clear explanation as to why the Pevensie children have been summoned to Narnia once more.

The story begins with the two younger Pevensies, Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), being transported to Narnia in spectacular fashion, through a magical picture frame, with their spoiled brat cousin Eustace (Son of Rambow’s Will Poulter) in tow. Once there they find themselves on board the Dawn Treader, the longboat captained by Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) with the able assistance of swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep (voiced by Simon Pegg, replacing Eddie Izzard) and his crew. Caspian is on a quest to find seven lords who were banished during the reign of tyrannical King Miraz, and invites the children to join him. From there the story unfolds as a series of smaller stories, each taking place on a different island in Narnia and involving one of the characters having to overcome a specific personal temptation in order to succeed.

There is fun to be had with this story, and Apted doesn’t try to disguise its freewheeling nature. In fact, the character of Eustace spends much of the first half of the film incredulous at the increasingly far-fetched turns of events, a function that Poulter carries off pretty well (until a particularly crazy twist literally transforms his performance). But more so than the previous two films, Dawn Treader is a film that is best-suited to younger audiences. With its simplistic moral boundaries, episodic story and broad characterisation, it’s not a film that has anything like the thematic weight of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but what it does offer is a fun and exciting (but not too scary) time at the movies for kids.

6/10

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is in UK cinemas now. This review first published on futuremovies.co.uk.

Burke and Hare review (futuremovies.co.uk)

There are a lot of things about this Edinburgh-set, comedy-horror period piece that don’t work. It isn’t at all scary, which puts paid to the ‘horror’ tag; it tends to favour humour of the man-falling-down-some-stairs variety as opposed to anything remotely sophisticated, and it contains at least one of the worst ‘Scottish’ accents ever delivered (congratulations to Isla Fisher on that achievement). But despite these and many other flaws, Burke and Hare is a film that’s hard not to like, imbued as it is by American director John Landis with a charm and naivety that belies its rather grotesque subject matter. I’m sure that it bears about as close a resemblance to factual history as Life of Brian, but in its best (admittedly few) scenes Landis captures a comedic tone that’s not a million miles from what the Pythons achieved in their heyday.

Landis was responsible for some of the most memorable American comedies of the 80s, including The Blues Brothers and Trading Places, both of which hinged on a central double-act (Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi and Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy respectively) for their success. In Burke and Hare Landis has Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis, both clearly enjoying themselves as the titular Irish entrepreneurs. The pair are penniless hucksters when we first meet them on the beautifully recreated streets of 19th Century Edinburgh, but they end up literally making a killing by stumbling upon a new line of business, providing fresh cadavers for the groundbreaking research of scientist Dr. Knox (Tom Wilkinson), whose previous source of fresh dead has been usurped by his powerful rival, Dr. Monroe (Tim Curry).

Pegg and Serkis easily hold the audience’s attention and sympathies – most impressive, considering the amount of cold-blooded murdering they do – but the film’s script doesn’t offer them much in the way of depth or decent gags to get their teeth into. In fact, most of the film’s weaknesses can be traced back to its script, the work of St. Trinian’s writers Nick Moorcroft and Piers Ashworth. The central romance, between Burke (Pegg) and Ginny (Fisher) is a case in point; the development of their relationship is non-existent, dramatically speaking, and as a character Ginny is largely unappealing and conceited. But Pegg and Fisher (awful accent notwithstanding) are both so charming and likeable that we believe in their romance, in spite of the lame dialogue.

The film is at its best when Landis makes his boldest tonal decisions, foregrounding the absurd comedy of a hanging scene, for example. But he is less confident when handling the script’s attempts at seriousness; an awkward subplot invites unfavourable comparisons to Shakespeare, and a number of scenes failingly attempt to ask questions about the morality of scientific study. There are some interesting ideas floated, but none are followed through with anything like the necessary conviction to make an impact. On the other hand, a scene featuring The Fast Show’s Paul Whitehouse falling down some stairs is hilarious, so I’m not going to complain too much.

6/10

Burke and Hare is out now. This review first published on FutureMovies.co.uk. 

Jamie Bell is Tintin?

That's the word from Spielberg central (currently Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment), which this week has announced the official beginning of production on The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. And with the release date set for 2011, this long-gestating Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson dream project looks finally to be on its way - hurrah! As a lifelong fan of the young Belgian reporter and his exploits - which have had a huge influence on many contemporary moviemakers, not least Spielberg himself - I am at once excited and deeply nervous about what the end product is going to be like. The press release that was released this week offers plenty more tidbits that offer room for immediate speculation...

The Look - Jackson and Spielberg made it known early on that they were planning to create their mooted Tintin trilogy using 3D Motion Capture technology, the same technique that has previously allowed Andy Serkis to play Gollum and King Kong. But does that mean it's going to end up looking like Beowulf? Or will it be shot on real sets with digital characters running around, a la Lord of the Rings?

The Story - Well they've announced it as Secret of the Unicorn, but there's a possibility that they may be condensing the book of the same name and its sequel, Red Rackham's Treasure, into the same film. There's several reasons why this might be the case: Secret of the Unicorn is largely a static mystery story, with lots of talking and puzzling that sets up the treasure-hunting adventure of the second book. Also, Professor Calculus, one of the series' key characters, is introduced in Red Rackham's Treasure, and since other regulars Captain Haddock and the Thompson Twins are already established in Secret of the Unicorn, there's a good chance he'll be brought into this movie. One other key piece of info from the press release has implications on the story - Daniel Craig has been cast as Red Rackham. Anyone who has read Secret of the Unicorn knows that the character of Red Rackham, while central to the story, only appears on 3 of its 62 pages, and even then only as a visualisation of a story that Captain Haddock is telling. So unless this is a cameo for Craig even briefer than his turn in The Golden Compass, some tinkering must have been done to expand his role. My guess is that, in the wake of Johnny Depp and pals' Pirates of the Caribbean successes, Spielberg and Jackson have decided to up the potential for piratical derring-do in flashbacks/fantasy sequences. Whether that's a good thing for Tintin fans remains to be seen.

The Cast - Aside from Craig as Red Rackham and Bell as Tintin (wouldn't have been my first choice, but I'll go with it), none of the other announced cast members' character roles have been revealed, although Andy Serkis has been rumoured as Captain Haddock from the moment Peter Jackson got involved with this project. Serkis is certainly a definite cast member, and in my view he's one of the finest actors working today, so if anyone could do justice to Herge's legendary comic character it's him. Then there's the rumour that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, also confirmed as cast, will be playing clumsy detectives the Thompson Twins. Now usually I would say that any movie would be improved with some Pegg and Frost, but Tintin isn't just any movie, and I'm not convinced they'll be a good fit. Having said that, I trust Speilberg's instincts (as long as they don't involve creepers, monkeys and Shia LeBeouf) so... here's hoping! The other three cast members announced are Toby Jones, Gad Elmaleh and Mackenzie Crook (more Pirates of the Caribbean crossover...). Who they'll be playing is anyone's guess, but Gad Elmaleh showed himself to be a wonderful physical comedian in the otherwise forgettable Priceless, and I could definitely see him as Nestor, the butler who is first introduced in Unicorn and is henceforth Captain Haddock's ostensible babysitter. And Mackenzie Crook would make a funny Calculus...

The Writers - This is perhaps the most interesting element of the new press release. Steven Moffat, of Doctor Who fame, is the first named writer, and he's been attached to the project for ages, but the next two are new: Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. The former is understandable, particularly given the involvement of his stalwart colaborators Pegg and Frost (although if they end up turning Tintin into a Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead type comedy I'll kill 'em with my own bare hands), but Joe Cornish of Adam and Joe as a writer on a Spielberg movie? That's kind of out of the left field. In fact, it's easy to forget that this is a Steven Spielberg film, given the absence of any American stars or writers in the production.

Where this all leaves us certainly interesting territory. The creative team, including Peter Jackson as a producer, adds up to an incredibly wide pool of experience and past work, and this is probably just the kind of variety needed to do justice to the Tintin stories. With the studio release speaking confidently of a second film to be directed by Jackson, and a possible third film too, there's obviously huge potential here. I just hope they get it right.