Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Grown-Ups Premiere!!

No, this is not a review...I was,unfortunately, on the outside looking in for this one. Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade and Kevin James were in Dublin tonight for the premiere of their new film Grown-Ups. Among the throngs of fans, Jedward-spotters and rude Spanish students with pointy elbows was me with my camera and my beautiful special edition Punch Drunk Love DVD. I know this is a one-way ticket to film critic oblivion but I don't care, I'll admit it loud and clear I love Adam Sandler. He's been my favourite since I first fell in love with him in The Wedding Singer. And no amount of really, really dreadful films can ever change that!

I was uber-excited when I heard he'd be in town and even though I know someday I'll be in a position to interview him for this very blog, I grabbed my Punch Drunk Love DVD and queued and squished and pushed and pulled for a couple of hours and it was totally worth it!!

David Spade arrived first, followed shortly by Chris Rock who seemed unusually subdued. Perhaps his great new documentary Good Hair isn't getting the audience it deserves. Crowds went insane for Kevin James who inconceivably got perhaps more red carpet love than Sandler himself. Do that many people love King of Queens. Hmm...apparently so!

Adam Sandler arrived dressed in what was nothing short of an Adam Sandler costume, backwards cap, scruffy jeans, t-shirt and plaid shirt. He worked the crowd for about 20 minutes before being ushered to the stage to receive his personalised Dublin GAA jersey from 98FM. The boys quickly posed all together then went inside to watch the movie (or hang out till the crowd leave then scarper off to the pub).

Fun was had by all, but especially me because I have such love for Sandler it's ridiculous!


Monday, July 12, 2010

Toy Story 3

Written by: Michael Arndt

Directed by: Lee Unkrich

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty

Rating: 10/10

There’s something about the Toy Story franchise that is universally emotive. Presumably that “something” is the fact that everyone had toys as a child. Toys taught us how to love. Not loving someone because they are related to us, or because they live on our street and happen to be our age, but because we feel a connection to them. Now, as grown-ups, we all know that toys are only toys and our love is wasted on them. I suppose that’s what is so haunting about these films. They remind us all of that part of ourselves that left us many years ago, and dredge up guilty feelings about old Rebecca the Christmas Bear who now sits, dusty in the attic somewhere...if she’s lucky.
Toy Story 3 deals with just that idea. It is about what happens to the toys when Andy grows up. The film begins with the toys in a typically epic adventure. It is complex, it involves teamwork and it could be dangerous. As it turns out, the toys are plotting a very complicated ploy to get Andy to play with them. He is 19 now, and headed off to college. The toys have been sitting in their chest for years now, without being played with at all. When a chain of events see the toys accidentally donated to a day-care facility, the race is on for the toys to be reunited with their owner before he leaves for college.
If the first film was sci-fi, the second was a western then this is a prison movie. Their “great escape” is just as exciting and fresh as the previous two outings and certainly just as hilarious. However, what makes this film special is that it balances heartbreak and loss with warm-hearted sentiment so it never feels depressing, but certainly has a sense of tragedy looming throughout. We know there can be no happy ending and that whatever comes our way in the third act will make us sad, but the journey there is so joyous that the tone never gets too blue.
Writing about Toy Story 3 is difficult because it is not about the little bits of clever writing and brilliantly realised characters or perfectly balance sense of humour. This film is so much more than the sum of its parts. It accomplishes what so few children’s films can. It gives equal pleasure to children and grown-ups. It manages to entertain but also make the audience feel truly invested in the fate of these characters...these toys! No easy task!
This is perfect popcorn viewing for all the family and I dare you to sit through this film without at least a small lump in your throat. If this film doesn’t make your heart simultaneously jump for joy and burst with emotion, you’re made of stone!

- Charlene Lydon

Inception


Written & Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard
Rating: 10/10
What do we ask for in a summer blockbuster? What is it that incites hysteria this time every year for whatever dross the studios churn out? Epic hugeness? Blowing stuff up? Romance? Action? Heroes? What are we looking for in a blockbuster? I think it all boils down to thrills! Audiences want the thrill of a car chase, the thrill of romance, the thrill of the spectacular! If that is the case, then Inception just might be the greatest summer blockbuster of all time as it also contains something we often don’t look for...brains!
“What is the most resilient parasite? An idea” says Leonardo Di Caprio's character Cobb. Well, Inception is all about ideas. It’s all right there in the title. The film central idea revolves around “Extractors”, who are paid to extract secrets from people’s subconscious minds by sneaking into their dreams, usually for the purpose of corporate espionage. However, when one client asks them to plant an idea in the mind of their corporate rival, “Inception” is born.
The less said about this film the better. It is full of ideas and invention and for each set piece I divulge, a piece of the film’s genius is weakened. This is a film that cleverly and intricately brings the audience through several planes of existence simultaneously but never allows the viewer to feel lost. Such is the power of Christopher Nolan’s script which, I imagine, is likely to get overlooked due to the sheer visual magnificence of his direction. But everything that makes this film so great is in the script...in the ideas! Everything else is just spectacle.
This film bears an uncanny resemblance, thematically, with DiCaprio’s other instant classic this year, Shutter Island. Both films investigate in depth the tricks a traumatised mind can play on the individual. Both films are luscious to watch and both films keep the audience firmly outside the realm of reality. However, Inception is an even more layered film than Shutter Island and I believe the sci-fi genre setting will prove to be less alienating for audiences than the prison noir of Scorsese’s film.
There is not a single dull moment in Nolan’s film. There is style, charm and intelligence in every frame of the film. Every performance is pitch-perfect with some strong support by Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt particularly who have grown up right before our eyes into undeniable movie stars. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a typically flawless performance as the muddled, grieving man who we never quite trust to be living in the real world. The best part of Inception is the large amount of effects which were done in camera. While the film does make use of CGI, there are some pretty mind-blowing practical effects which are as simple as the camera telling beautiful lies; a rare treat these days.
This is a blockbuster that ticks all the boxes; smart, sexy (femme fatale, sexy brainy girl, very beautiful men in very beautiful suits) and magical. Inception is the kind of film that reminds me why cinema will never die. Because anyone who thinks it’s ok to watch this film on a laptop or iPad is a fool! This is pure cinema, and proud of it. Not to be missed on the big screen!