Over the past week, I've seen multiple films, including Kingsman: The Secret Service and Selma. However, I haven’t had much opportunity to review those other films, and seeing as they were all involved in my Top 10 Films for 2015, here's three quick reviews for each of them.
Inherent Vice
I've been interested in his film since the first trailer came out, and when I finally got to see the finished product it was nothing short than disappointing. The direction was a bit all over the place, characters slurred their lines at times, and the opening seems to be in such a rush to get all the storylines going that it ends up tangling all these strands into a large rubber band ball. Joaquin Pheonix is likable as ever, and props must be given to Josh Brolin and Katherine Waterston, the rest of the cast aren't very interesting, but comedy is really good so bonus points for that. But at 150 minutes, it's stretching the novel too far to the point of pure boredom, and it was tempting to join the many others who walked out of the screening during the film. 4/10.
Disney and Marvel collaborating to bring out on of the most obscure comic book titles could have either succeeded big-time or been a colossal failure. The final result? Meh. Whilst its combination of anime-style characters and backdrops against the Disney standards, and San Fransokyo is a thing of beauty, the characters aren't all fully developed enough, especially the majority of the actual team. You have a nice introductory piece, and then it's all little growth outside of learning to use their suits. Baymax and Hiro are a great duo, and the short but sweet inclusion of older brother Tasashi is a nice little opener towards some heartfelt emotional moments, but the story doesn't go in any interesting twists, and plays it all too safe - which is odd considering the more recent hits by Disney taking that extra step. There's plenty of comedy and heart, but there's something severely lacking in the final product. 6/10.
Finally, there's the return of Aardman, three years since The Pirates! made a splash at the box office in a slightly-weaker entry to their roster. Here, they opt for a much more child-friendly affair (which does mean fart and poo jokes) as they bring one of their most popular characters to the big screen with very good results. At times humorous - never laugh-out-loud jokes but certainly some strong gags - whilst at time heartfelt, it's a sweet little film which never outstays its welcome (at 85 minutes) and doesn't rely solely on the popularity of the show to bring about appeal. The lack of voices don't hurt it one bit, and the animation is as stellar as ever from the company. However, the storyline involving the Farmer may date really easily as it focuses on social media. But hey-ho, it's a film about sheep! 7/10.
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