Review No.100: John Carter

So we've reached the halfway stage earlier than expected so break open that champagne and release those party poppers however first maybe you'll want to read my review of John Carter. Yes for my 100th film I thought I'd choose one of the most talked about films of the year so far as this family space-set adventure has lost Disney approximately 150 million dollars. Starting off in Civil War Virginia it sees Carter trying to escape being enlisted by some weird army dudes led by Bryan Cranston only to escape from the Indians into a cave and ends up in space thanks to a magic medallion. Carter is transported to Mars, however just to confuse everybody Mars here is known as Barsoom, and quickly discovers the fights between two warring cities Helium and Zodanga one of which has loads of green dudes while the other has men who have tattoos all ove their faces. John is heralded by all of the people of Barsoom for his ability to jump very high and punch people quite hard in the face, essentially possessing the qualities of an early 1990s video game character, this earns him respect but also makes some people distrust him. There's obviously a love interest for Carter in the form of Lynn Collins' Dejah Thoris the Princess of Helium, that doesn't mean she has a high voice, who is engaged to Dominic West's Zodanga prince as their wedding would hopefully unite all of Barsoom. Obviously Carter won't let that happen so after fleeing from a gladiatorial space arena and then becoming the leader of Helium he heads over to stop the wedding and overthrow the evil men with tattoos on their faces. If this weren't confusing enough all of this is being narrated by Carter through diaries written to his nephew the novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs who at the end of the story becomes one of the characters in his own right because that's just the way this film works.

Headache. That's really my one word review of John Carter a film that obviously started as a labour of love for director Andrew Stanton but turned into a nightmare when Disney got its hand on it. Of course the big issue was the loss of the words Of Mars after John Carter as the marketing people didn't want audiences who weren't sci-fi fans to be put off by those words despite the poster featuring actor Taylor Kitsch being framed behind a red planet. Stanton, famous for his work directing Pixar films such as Wall-E and Finding Nemo, does bring a cartoonish sensibility here however these characters don't feel as real as the animated ones he's directed in the past. There are some generally interesting set pieces, such as the gladiator scenes and the final battle, as well as some very hammy acting but there are far too many problems to look at this film in a favourable light. For one thing there are just too many odd character and place names to get your head around Han Solo and Luke Skywalker were easy names to remember Tars Takas and Kantos Kan role off the tongue less easily. The effects generally aren't that special with the Tharks, the green alien beings, not looking all that impressive unless Stanton really wanted a retro vibe for his film and if he wanted he certainly got it. As a lead character Carter is exactly a hero often running away from problems, trying to steal gold or punching people in the face while Kitsch is such a charmless actor that he really can't pull off being a loveable rogue or for that matter create any convincible chemistry with female lead Collins. It's up to the veteran British actors to do some hammy performances as the evil doers with Dominic West and Ciaran Hinds doing a reasonable job however for the second film in a row it is Mark Strong who has the best time doing his evil face. So that's film 100 for you and as I embark on the second half of my voyage I can be safe in the knowledge that I'll never have to watch John Carter again.

Verdict: A few decent flourishes save this film from being utter rubbish so I feel I'm being overly generous by giving this a 4/10

Review No.49: We Bought a Zoo

After a taxing day sometimes you just want a film that looks good and you don't have to think too hard about so thankfully last night I chose to watch We Bought a Zoo. The film is directed Cameron Crowe who has previously made two of my favourite films, Almost Famous and Say Anything, but recently went off the boil with his latest effort Elizabethtown. His latest film is based on the memoir of British journalist Benjamin Mee who, along with his family, bought Dartmoor Zoological Park in Devon before re-opening it to the public. In the film Damon plays Mee who is still a journalist but here a widower with two children one a fourteen year old  teen rebel Dylan and the other Rosie a cute little girl. As he is played by Matt Damon he is attracting attention from the local ladies but when his son his expelled and he is reminded of his late wife he decides his family need to relocate. As the title would suggest they end up buying a zoo which the girl loves the idea of but the boy hates as he is dragged away from his friends. Benjamin also has issues as there is a lot of money to be paid out so the zoo can be up to inspection standards and at times he doesn't think he's going to be able to afford it. The plucky young zookeeper Kelly, played by Scarlett Johansson, keeps Benjamin's spirits up but at the same time wonders why he bought the zoo while Kelly's cousin Lily develops a crush on Dylan however his closed nature eventually pushes him away. As you would imagine at the end of the film live lessons are learnt, everybody becomes happier and everybody ends up where they should be.

I do think that We Bought a Zoo is better than Elizabethtown but only just and that's mainly because Matt Damon is a more superior actor than Orlando Bloom. The plot of the film is fairly simplistic and most of it is expressed in the title however there is hardly any grit to the film underneath the sweet surface. The two main big issues here are the Mee's financial status and Benjamin's relationship with Dylan however both are treated pretty poorly. The finances are solved in a way which felt a little convoluted while I found the Dylan character had little depth partly due to Colin Ford's limitations with the issues between him and his father sorted out fairly easily after a lot of build-up in addition the romance between Dylan and Lily isn't really dealt with in a believable way similarly I didn't like the fact that Crowe had to put Kelly and Benjamin together before the film ended. There are some plus points in We Bought a Zoo with the majority of the cast being on top form notably Johansson who I've never been a big fan of and also Thomas Haden Church as Ben's brother and John Michael Higgins as the picky zoo inspector. While we're talking about cast-members I felt some of the others were ill-served notably Elle Fanning as Lily who essentially has to smile and act goofy and also Patrick Fugit whose role is basically walking around with a monkey on his shoulder. The themes of bereavement are dealt with well mainly due to Damon's believability and also his chemistry with the young actress who plays Rosie. Credit must also be given to Rodrigo Prieto whose cinematography on the film is spectacular and as this is a film directed by Crowe the soundtrack is also splendid with a score by Sigur Ros' Jonsi combined with tracks by Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens among others. A film with highs and lows I would recommend We Bought a Zoo for anybody who just wants to watch a predictable but heart-warming film with plenty of plus points to count out the negatives

Verdict: Though it has some great supporting performances, wonderful cinematography and a splendid soundtrack there's no getting away from the fact that We Bought a Zoo is incredibly cheesy so for that reason I'll have to award it a 6.5/10