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Film Review: Godzilla

28/5/2014

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The latest take on Godzilla is a tough nut to crack. The concept of a giant monster tearing up Tokyo is one that lends itself rather manifestly to the B Movie action template, but director Gareth Edwards and writers Max Borenstein and Dave Callaham don’t seem quite content to be trapped within these walls.

Rather, they launch a film that starts with science – intelligent, gripping science – and form the basis of an intellectual viewing that can also boast a strong emotional narrative on the side. This plotline comes in the form of the on-the-mend relationship of Bryan Cranston’s Joe Brody and his son Ford, a father and son who are reunited to investigate strange occurrences in Japan some 15 years after the death of Joe’s wife and Ford’s mother in similarly suspicious circumstances. Cranston performs well as the father who has lost his way, while Aaron Taylor-Johnson shows promise and sincerity as the loving son insistent on building a happy family life for himself, his wife and his still-young son.

Early earthquakes and journeys into the depth of radiated territory give rise to suspense and allow the man pointing the camera to flex his big ass FX budget even before the monsters show. For a while, early on in the film, the efforts of the production team to take this blatant B Movie subject matter into the A leagues seems to have worked out surprisingly well. The only problem is that at some point in a film about giant fighting monsters, you’ve got to have giant monsters fighting – and when Godzilla and the M.U.T.Os (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms) begin to face off, all the serious tone of the film completely falls out the frame.

This can basically be seen as a movie of two very different halves. To start with, you’ve got your early plotline and tension building scenes set across America and Japan which are acted out wonderfully, crammed full of enough emotion to glue you to your seat and boast enough dramatic scenery and CGI to impress the best of us. Next, you’ve got your mucho monsters destroying landmarks around the planet while the previous plotlines effectively deteriorate as a bunch of irrelevant characters, including Ford Brody, now fighting with the US Army, fail to make any impact on the war taking place.

Seriously, as soon as those monsters get fighting, the characters may as well just set off. Ken Watanabe is the thoughtful Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, a scientist charged with helping David Strathairn’s template Admiral William Stenz with stopping the beasts destroying the planet. Only problem is, Serizawa very rarely actually offers any scientific input, instead sticking to a more philosophical approach, only ever providing long-winded answers to questions that nobody ever actually asked. Watanabe’s character does provide the signature moment of the film with his dramatic denunciation that the beast is named ‘Godzilla’ though, so we’ve got to give him credit for that. Some quotable shit right there.

Anyway, the visual FXs are impressive, but not to the point where it shocks. Godzilla is effectively a giant scabby dinosaur on steroids, and he appears as such, and the M.U.T.O.S he fights are overgrown bats that are indeed presented well but are hardly an innovation. The big set battles are fun and provide the set pieces that the audience look for in such a film, but after such a strong narrative build up, the remaining storyline descends into army-driven repetition and weakly presented plotlines as the film peters out.

Ultimately, after such good work from Cranston and indeed Gareth Edwards to create an intelligent foundation for the film, the inevitable and necessary scrapping of two overgrown play toys retracts the good work of the script and removes any decent plotline. Perhaps all the early stuff was just out of place intellect, and the film should’ve stuck to the B Movie script throughout – either that or stuck out the clever plotlines better. Either way, the resulting film is a fun watch, but not much more.

Verdict: The big money FX shots and the big set battles are there, but despite a build up which promises much more than just another battling B Movie, that’s exactly what this film inevitably ends up being.

                                                                                                                                  Stuart Kenny

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Insane Things I Found Out This Week

10/3/2014

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 Surely Mark Wahlberg is doing well enough that he wouldn't have to star in a reality show. I mean, he's an Academy Award nominee and is set to appear in one of the biggest films of the year, Transformers: Age of Extinction. However, this is unbelievably an actual thing. The brilliantly named 'Wahlburgers' is set to air on Lifetime in April and will feature Marky Mark, his mother and brothers, Alma, chef Paul and New Kid on the Block Donnie as they open and run the Boston restaurant of the same name.
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What would you say if I told you that Scottish Dance Producing Superstar, Calvin Harris, is developing a half hour comedy program based on his career thus far? You'd probably say “that's pretty weird”. Well, what if I told you two of the shows producers are Jay-Z and Will Smith? Trust me, it gets even weirder. I sh*t you not, the show will be written by Trainspotting and Filth author, Irvine Welsh. Now I bet you're all like “Say whaaaaaa-”.
 
A pilot has been ordered by HBO and considering the names behind it, I can't imagine it not getting picked up. Even though this isn't as unusual as Will Smith funding a sitcom written by Irvine Welsh based on the life of Calvin Harris, it does seem odd that it is being developed for American television rather than Scottish or British. If picked up, I imagine Sky Atlantic's exclusive deal with HBO will have the Welsh penned sitcom airing in the UK soon after. Also, did you know Calvin Harris isn't his real name? The whole thing's given me a headache but I'm very intrigued to see how the show turns out.

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Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee is a Youtube series featuring US comedian Jerry Seinfeld supported by Crackle. Each episode features Seinfeld and a friend (past guests have included Ricky Gervais, Mel Brooks and Alec Baldwin) driving to get a cup of coffee and sharing some light-hearted banter.

This week a trailer surfaced for a porn parody of Seinfeld's interview with Sarah Silverman. Even with being one of the few who saw the original video (which has under 100,000 views on Youtube), I did not once think while watching it “This would make great porn.” The sort of SFW trailer Comedians In Cars Getting Sex! (not as clever as 'Wahlbergers', is it?) trailer can be found on Youtube and is arguably worth a watch just for the mediocre impressions and cringeworthy dialogue. I don't know how many people watch these porn parodies but this may be one of the only ones to be seen by more people than the source material. After this and the 30 Rock parody by the same director, the Tina Fey Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee parody is surely on the cards.
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19/6/2013

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new trailer: anchorman 2

JFC has an urgent and horrifying news announcement, and we need all of you to stop what you're doing and look this way... the trailer for the Anchorman sequel is here.

Indeed, the moment that film quoters and budding humans around the globe have been waiting for has finally arrived, and so we have finally got a more in depth look at what to expect from the all-important Anchorman 2.

Early indicators suggest the film has the potential to prove another cult hit, but have a look for yourself below and let us know what you think:
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12/6/2013

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new trailer: the hobbit - the desolation of smaug

The new teaser trailer for the second of The Hobbit trilogy has been released - and it looks unbelievable. This video has been stirring up Twitter and Facebook ever since it's release, and has some enticing snaps of Bilbo tip-towing around the eponymous dragon, all the typical Dwarf aggression we've come to know and love since the first film, and even the entrance of the Elves as a main presence in the franchise.

Click the video below to see Legolas, Bilbo and Gandalf doing their thing once again along side a team of dwarves so noble yet goldgidding that they probably would have just left Snow White to die. A nice grim thought to end on.

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