Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

                   
The third film is, in my own experience, the most divisive among fans. Personally I enjoyed it, but many aren't as into the stark tonal shift from the more jolly first two into the darker third film (a trend that will continue), the mixed up narrative, and the lack of Voldemort. As I see it, there are two main reasons for this. First, it was at this pint that I think Rowing really started planning the details of her series, and found that he couldn't just have Voldemort coming back once a book to e defeated repeatedly by the Harry gang. She also probably realised that more characters and back story was needed to create heroes and villains with depth in future instalments (I'm not saying she's a bad writer, just a rather simplistic young-adult focused one). Secondly, the actor playing Dumbledore had died, and the director of the previous films left the project. The instalment of Michael Gambon and Alfonso Cuarón changes the feeling of this film, especially since Cuarón chose to go with some different stylistic choices (sweeping shots, artistic close ups, stylised cuts - elements that I might dismissively call “better”, but that in reality are dependent on the genre and tone of the film overall). There were lots of long uncut moving shots, which were well executed and set the school environment scenes well. The lighting an editing are also improved, with more subtle differences in scenes that better reflect intended tone. A beautiful example is when they're on the train early on, and the Dementor floats down the hall, and we see the light get cool and dim as we see it through the rapidly frosting glass while hearing the soft chink and crunch of freezing and a soft inhaled breath.
                

               
I definitely prefer the appearance of the Dementors in this one to later films.

Some of the comedy didn't really work for me in this one, or still felt kind of awkward (the second movie was certainly more fun). I didn't like the tonal shift from the foreboding dog scene to Harry getting on to the Night Bus. It suddenly turns into comedic slapstick, and while the driver, his shrunken head friend and the ticket boy are nice characters, they're a little over the top and embarrassing.

Not too many complaints for this one though. Things have moved around slightly and the sets are finalised for the last five films, and the wardrobe has gotten a little more realistic (the kids now more often wear their uniforms in their own ways, and all their ties are tied terribly - reminds me of m own Secondary). This and greatly improved acing on the part of the kids (and an excellent adult cast - Gary Oldman in particular) makes the whole environment feel more like a real place.
The actual plot? Fine, I guess. They did a sort of weird time travel thing, which wasn't particularly original or fitting with the wizarding world, but was of a good level of complexity for the target audience (this or 'Back to the Future' can be their introduction, then they can move on to the more difficult 'Time Crimes' and finally 'Memento'). The main new thing I liked was the whole Phoenix gang generation, and I'd like there to be a series about them (though with different, younger, actors portraying them I might not enjoy their characters as much).

                

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: 49.8

Looper

                

Well that was better than I was expecting. Bruce Willis stars as something other than the usual action movie guy (well, kinda). And we get to watch a neo-noir sci-fi with an original story that came out of Hollywood (something I don't think can be said about any other film from the past decade).

I say original, but what I really mean is "not based off a book or a French movie" (to the best of my knowledge). I don't want to hype this film too much - it's not perfect - but it was head and shoulders above anything since... 'Moon'? 

              

                    

Well 'Moon' was SO much better, but this one was pretty good. The plot is complex enough to be thought provoking without being too difficult or walking the viewer through it. It slows down a little one we get to the farm, and I got a bit bored before the finale came around (also, they couldn't help but wedge in a Willis-killing-hundreds-of-baddies scene). It almost felt like two different movies, and I liked the first one much more.

The characterisation of the hero was the biggest upside for me. He's a great character, with plenty of inner turmoil, and I liked the differences between his older and younger self (also, I appreciated how they didn't go out of their way to make lots of jokes about it when the two meet).

The kid and his mum I cared less for, but they were fine. The whole concept was quite nice, and the world felt pretty real, though they didn't go into detail beyond the whole mob-come-time travel concept.

                   

Looper: 68.1

Edge of Tomorrow

                      

An interesting and not completely unsuccessful take on 'Groundhog Day' style time travel storytelling. 'Edge of Tomorrow' feels kind of like how a movie based on a game should feel (but never has). This is nothing fantastic, but it is very watchable, and it's a perfect role for Tom Cruise.
             

              

Much like Bruce Willis, he's at his best when his character is confused and out of his depth, and this coupled with the fun way he interacts with Emily Blunt's character makes for a decent amount of watchability.

In this one he wakes up at the start of each day every time he dies, and the reasons for this are explained in some detail. I guess this works fine, but it turns it into more of a caveat than the unexplainable happening that inspired a kind of self-realisation in 'Groundhog Day'. There's still the obligatory romantic element, and it's fine as they go (they have some chemistry, and her character is fleshed out to some extent), but it'd nothing particularly interesting.

The design of the aliens is vague to the point of feeling basic, but they're not the main focus of the film anyway. I'm also not sure why everyone had to be wearing near-future style power armour the entire time - it didn't really further the plot in any way, apart from highlighting how inexperienced a soldier Tom's character was in the beginning.

                

Edge of Tomorrow: 54.0

Future War

                 

Straight to video? No, really?

                

                   

'Future War' unsatisfactorily tells the tale of a human slave from the future who somehow escaped to the 90s, and is being chased by terminators and dinosaurs, who are also from the future but also from the past. There's also a terrible/awesome nun (depending on your religious views) who swears and smokes and wears thigh-high nun dresses. There are also other characters.

The dinosaurs look alright, I guess, but the models for them are tiny (necessitating some really badly set up forced perspective shots), and their range of movements are extremely limited. The cyborgs, though, damn are they bad. Some of them have mullets, most of them have eye shadow, one of them has some kind of crappy Borg-esque eye thing. They are mostly there to slowly chase our heroes and then be kicked in the face multiple times to no avail.

               

                

It rips off scenes from so many good movies, the most hilarious of which (in my opinion) was the bit in 'Jurassic Park' with the T-Rex chasing the truck - in 'Future War' it's painfully obvious that the dinosaur is a small puppet, and the actors in the car can barely hide their grins.

Just about watchable, if only to mock, 'Future War' was neither set in the future nor featured a war. Also, what's up with all the boxes? Seriously, there was even a 'Box Wrangler' listed in the credits.

            

Oh yeah! I can't believe I forgot to mention this until now, but every time a dinosaur gets killed it explodes. Yep.

               

Future War: 8.5

Timecrimes

           

               

I think this may be the best movie about time travel - featuring an actual time machine, anyway - that I've seen to date.

It is the first feature-length from Nacho Vigalondo, and is an eerie, low budget, surprisingly twisty time travel tale. Beginning with a slow paced (and apparently fairly simple) plot, it gradually ramps itself up until what we thought was very little happening was actually - is actually - will actually be - a hectic violent twisting hour of hell. 'Timecrimes' takes a fairly simple idea and expands it in a way that so many other time travel movies fail to do. It doesn't throw in a load of effects or a futuristic setting, it doesn't even have more than four characters, but this allows it to focus on its central conceit and explore it in detail.

I'll do you all a solid and try not to go into too much detail of the plot (this is the sort of movie that you really don't want to spoil) but suffice to say it involves a paradox, some scissors, and some very creepy situations.

               

                

And now we enter the spoilery part of the review. Hector travels back twice (so there are three Hectors running around during the hour), each time having learnt more about his situation. Hector 1 is simply reacting to events, seeing the woman, being stabbed, being tricked into the time machine. Hector 2, though, is figuring out how this whole time travel thing works, and acts as a slave to it - he wraps himself in bandages, forces the woman to undress, and stabs Hector 1. But by the time Hector 3 comes around, he understand that whatever he does in the past, it's already happened. The only wriggle room he has left at this point is the Schrödinger's cat-type situation (and the bicycle-riding woman even has a t-shirt that references this) to do with his (dead?) wife, and (possibly?) mistaken identity.
What really interests me though is his actions as/during Hector 2. As soon as he realises that he was the bandaged man all along, he sets out to copy the bandaged man's actions. So... Where do these actions come from? He was only doing what he did because that's what he saw, but he only saw that because he made it happen later. I really like this question, as these events are just coming out of nothing, and they're so odd. Why did the woman take her top off, then look off to her left and put her thumb to her mouth? why did the bandaged man stab Hector? Is there some reality in which the bandaged man really was a third (or second) party? I think ultimately they come down to Hector's own psyche. That the details of what happened/will happen/is happening are because of some unconscious part of him. It's a disturbing thought, and it bolsters my opinion that Hector really is the villain of his own story, and this whole sequence of events is akin to some sort of self-inflicted tartarus-style punishment for not paying enough attention to his wife (though come on, that table was never going to fit through the door*).
At least that's how I interpret it. This is totally the sort of loopy-ass movie that one can read into way too much, and enjoy doing so. I think I'd get bored of it, but only after the 5th or 6th re-watch. Difficult to give higher praise than that, really.

*...But it did. Ever notice that? How is it inside to be thrown by Hector 3 and smash on Hector 2's head? It's either inside or it's outside, right? Or it can be both and neither too. Damn cats.

           

Timecrimes: 88.6

Kung Fury

        

One big dumb homage to the 80s, 'Kung Fury' is stupid-awesome. To clarify: it is stupid. It is awesome.

The whole thing looks like vaseline has been smeared over the camera and the tape is a little old. There is a lot of faux kung fu, and a lot of 80s cops with mustaches. I'm classing it in the same group as things like 'Sharknado' and 'Ironsky', but to be honest it's a cut above many of these, if only because it's so 80s.

                

I think effects were used in some parts of this movie.

The plot is absurd, the acting mostly consists of bad puns and cliches, and the effects are very, uh, effecty. It doesn't even begin to take itself seriously, and so to be honest it's difficult to write a proper review of it. There isn't even an overarching political message like there was in 'Ironsky', it's all just explosions and dry ice. At only just over half an hour it's definitely a "short", but it's still a "short movie", right?

            

Kung Fury: 47.1

Back to the Future Part III

     

We're limping into the barn (literally) a little here, but we're still having a lot of fun while doing it. It's difficult to beat the action packed second movie, and nothing has a hope of coming close to the initial film's instant classicness. The wild west simply doesn't interest me as much as the future does, but I understand that this is a personal issue, and shouldn't affect the outcome of this review.

No. It's my review, damn it, and I can go where I please. The wild west is an over-flaunted, genocidal, embarrassing thirty years of American history, and there shouldn't really be so many movies about it. It's an interesting time, I'll give 'em that. Lots of lawlessness and corruption and whatnot to pour into the shape of plot lines, but it's long been overproduced to the point of being a gimmick, and that's what 'Back to the Future Part III' does to it.

     

     

In their defence, they are very aware of the cliche of it all (as they were with the future setting of the last movie, which you'll notice I'm not harping on as much because I'm more of a sci-fi fan) and use it to their advantage in a very 'Back to the Future'-y way by having Marty call himself Clint Eastwood and crack jokes about their situation the whole way through.

The plot itself follows right on from the last film, and has the perfect balance of convolution, simplicity, and ridiculousness that is a staple of the series. The acting is all spot on, and the movie ends pleasantly and warmly, while continuing to make self references and nods to earlier exploits. It's a real movie for the fans, and as a series it all fits together perfectly.

    

Back to the Future Part III: 75.5

Back to the Future Part II

  
I had to write this today because I just found out that IT'S THE FUTURE. That's right; as I release this the date is currently 21/10/15, which is the exact date that Marty and the Doc visited in their flying DeLorean (that's right, it flies now. Otherwise it would look out of place in 2015 - duh).

That means that just a few hours ago Marty met his lame son and escaped Griff on a pink hoverboard. Isn't that cool? It happened TODAY.
   

  

Unless you're reading this in the future, and you almost definitely are (haha - as if anyone ever will), as I'm writing this at 11:23.
Marty and the Doc are back, and this time the problems are in Marty's future. His son's a bit useless, but even worse: Biff has got a hold of a sports almanac from the 50's, and has since made a series of very prosperous bets.The alternate reality where Biff is rich and powerful is legitimately depressing, and cuts through the usually pervasive comedic feeling of these movies. This wasn't done for such a long scene in either of the other films, and while I admire their creativity, I'm not sure it works. The emotionally and physically abusive relationship that Biff's in with Lorraine is played out humorously, but the offhanded approach could be seen as being insensitive.
Hopefully I'm not sounding too whiny - I loved the movie. I doubt I have to mention how many sequels turn out sucking? Well, this is one of the few that turned out awesome (I don't think quite as awesome as the immediate classic that was the original, but not far off). The future's pretty great, with plenty of in-jokes for you if you were about in the 80s (some of which are understandably dated), and plenty of other ones that you should get regardless. The future is also rather bright in 'Back to the Future' land, which is both refreshing (it's kind of weird not to either have a dystopia or a full out post apocalyptic setting these days) and in line with the general feeling (General Feeling) of the series.
We can certainly tell that there will be a third installment, as the movie ends in both a cliffhanger for the Doc, and the loud "find out next time" style of the classic 'Batman' series. A great film. Funny and exiting, without being needlessly difficult or fast.
    

  
Oh, and I almost forgot: this was the first movie that Elijah Wood (who's great) was in. Pictured above, he's the one on the left.
 

"That's like a baby's toy!"

  

Back to the Future Part II: 81.5

Back to the Future

"Doc! I have to tell you about the future!"

The epitome of time travel comedy, 'Back to the Future' is a brilliant classic headed by the squawking Doc and the confused Marty. Played by Christopher Lloyd and Mitchael J Fox respectively, these two work together brilliantly, in a relationship similar to what the Doctor of 'Doctor Who' and his companion is at the best of times. There are plenty of other movies that try to do a similar thing, but 'Back to the Future' is just so much better than them all.

The time travel aspect is just complex enough to be entertaining, while not being too confusing as to distract you from the other aspects of the plot. It also has the ability to laugh at itself - it's far from serious - and it does this well too. Plenty of movies just feel dumb when they try to mock their own plot, but here it's not too overdone while still being clear that it is on purpose.

As I was writing this I thought to myself "is this movie dated?" And I struggled to answer. I think that it is, but in a good way. It's very 80s. It couldn't have been made in any other time, and there can never be a fourth film made that will be anywhere as good. Now that we're past the future that they go back to in the second movie, it just wouldn't work, but the movie knows that it's a joke, so it still works now even now that we know for sure that 2015 has happened, and we don't have hoverboards or wear two ties (though I think I did once for school). It's also aware of the dumb aspects of the 80s, though. Marty is a good example of this, as he spews slang and stumbles about is his life preserver. There are lots of comments from the 50s people on his clothes and mannerisms, and revealing to Doc that the current president of the US is Ronald Reagan probably wasn't the best way of confirming his authenticity as a time traveler. When Doc hypothesises that the president must be a movie star, as he would have to look good on camera all the time seeing as there were so many of them, I laughed, then thought about it, and grimaced and nodded a bit like Silvio does in "The Sopranos".

"I have to tell you about the future!"

It's a huge amount of fun, and watching it always cheers me up. Timeless.

Back to the Future: 84.9