I am Legend

I am Legend

Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Saili Richardson, Willow Smith

Directed by: Francis Lawrence

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn

Richard Matheson is without doubt one of the greatest, yet least acknowledged, sci-fi authors of all time. His influence spreads far and wide, from his early novels such as The Shrinking Man and A Stir of Echoes, to his scripting duties on the Twilight Zone, he has inspired nearly every sci-fi writer on the planet even if they don’t know it. Never could this point be argued better than with his 1957 story I am Legend, a dark dystopian piece about the last living man on earth surrounded by vampires. Legend was always going to be a tricky story to adapt to film. This Will Smith starrer comes as the fifth adaptation of the story and also the most expensive. Does this version finally do the novella justice and more importantly does it entertain?

Robert Neville (Smith) is the only survivor of a deadly airborne virus which has swept New York City and presumably the rest of the world. The infected have degenerated into a subspecies of photosensitive albino mutants who are trusty for human blood. In the three years since the deadly outbreak, New York has become desolate, a place for Neville and his dog to hunt for game in Times Square. Neville, who lost his wife and daughter to the virus, now spends his time searching for a cure.

So is it any good? It depends on who you ask. Fans of the novella will be extremely disappointed with results. It bares little to no resemblance to Matheson’s seminal source material. Gone is the deconstruction of the vampire mythos along with the novellas main antagonist. Gone are the allusions to sexual apatite, the psychology pared down. But most hurtfully, gone is the ending, the entire crux of the story. In its place is a story which is a parable on the times we live in, more specifically a polemic reaction to post 9/11 America, where tampering with God’s will results in worldwide devastation. In actual fact, it owes more to 1975’s The Omega Man than Matheson’s novella. So the story has been altered, but that still doesn’t answer if it is any good.

Certainly for the most part anyway, this is a pretty average film overall, with one or two pluses. The set design of New York City is truly stunning and a marvel to behold. There is also a powerhouse performance given by Smith. In one key scene he chases after his dog into a darkened building infested with mutants. To say he looks petrified would be an understatement. And then you see what he is frightened of. And you ask why? These exasperatingly fake creatures fail to convince and show up the limitations of CGI. They are hardly a decent antagonist for Smith and that’s its key failure. His real antagonist is perfunctory script riddled with plot holes and an unconvincing messianic third act which boarders on laughable.

I am Legend will divide audiences, its pedestrian entertainment, made watchable by a superb central performance.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Starring: Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler

Directed by: Tim Hill

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn

Alvin and the Chipmunks is one of those multigenerational misdemeanours that leave most critics scratching their heads. The Chipmunks began life as a novelty musical recording back in 1958 and became a huge success. This eventually spawned a series of animations and other products which provided healthy sales figures right up to the present day. It seems that not even nuclear fallout (and by that we mean the nuclear family) could erase these rodents from existence. Now, exactly fifty years after the novelty song, we have the movie.

The story begins with said Chipmunks having their tree chopped down for Christmas and planted in the lobby of Jet Records. Dave Seville (Lee) is a wannabe songwriter who has received his latest rejection from the record company. In order to get any satisfaction, Dave swipes a food basket from the company. The rodents find their way into the basket and Dave takes them home. What follows is a series of hil-ar-i-ous faux pas with the talking and farting furballs. Dave eventually realises that they can also sing (irritating novelty songs) and decides to show them to dodgy Jet Record executive Ian Hawk (Cross) who exploits the Chipmunks the only way a dodgy record executive should.

Make no mistakes about it; this is a bad, but not awful. The acting is nominal as you might have guessed. Everyone, particularly Jason Lee, grab their pay-checks. The direction from Tim Hill, who also gave us Garfield 2, is as disposable as the hip-hop tracks which accompany the film. It has a very weak storyline, but there are short moments of wit, for example, the scene in which the Chipmunks believe they have killed Dave. Alvin suggests they quickly gather some garbage bags and disinfectant. Unfortunately this is one of the very few moments of adult humour found in the film. The rest is a series of antics in which the Chipmunks effectively destroy everything around them, as every child is known to do. It’s aimed squarely at the very young. But in between the flatulence jokes and purveying child friendly anarchy, there is one moment of genuine charm, namely a scene in which the Chipmunks give Dave some presents. You have to be pretty heartless not to be smitten over the cute items he receives. But it isn’t enough. The rest of the movie, if you’re an adult, will leave you gnawing on your own fist.

Because of the sizeable bite taken out of the American box office in the last week, you can be rest assured that Alvin will be defecating again in your local Cineplex in the next year or so. This time we’ll let the Chipmunks off with a warning instead of rubbing their faces in their own faeces.

If you’re an adult expecting laughs aplenty, this film is to be avoided at all costs, but under-demanding tykes should find some fun inside the surrounding mess.

The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass

Starring: Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman, Ian McKellen, Daniel Craig

Directed by: Chris Weitz

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn

After all the controversy leading up to its release, Phillip Pullman’s masterwork finally hits the big screen after a troubled production. Firstly there was the decision to jettison every religious reference in the script, a judgment which will upset fans of the trilogy. Next and more importantly saw the departure of daunted director Chris Weitz to be replaced by Anand Tucker, who later left due to creative differences, only to be replaced by Weitz again. Finally there was the boycott campaign proposed by the U.S. Catholic League despite the publicised and heavily scrutinised alterations to the script. If you are wondering what all the hullabaloo was about, then read on…

Lyra Belacqua, a child seemingly without parents, lives an idyllic, if almost feral, lifestyle under the watchful eye of the scholars of Jordan College. When her uncle Lord Asriel (Craig) arrives with starling news, she is drawn unknowingly into a political battle of wills. This sees her facing a sinister organisation known as the General Oblation Board, the abduction of children through-out the country, a nomadic tribe of people known as Gyptians, the ferocious armoured bears of the Arctic and witch-clans readying themselves for war. Now if that summary leaves you none the wiser, don’t worry, watching the film will have you stumped as well.

The biggest problem with the film is its pacing and direction which is all over the place. It’s completely incoherent if you haven't read the first book. The film has a more clinical concern to drive multiple plot-points home and misses the ball completely in characterisation. Some characters appear for a few moments then disappear completely without actually establishing who they are or what they are doing. It's also criminally devoid of any of the humour, which makes for extremely stuffy and boring viewing. The comparisons between this film and The Lord of the Rings are unavoidable, but in a completely obtrusive and negative way, for example, every time Lyra looks into the alethiometer, it will instantly remind viewers of Frodo wearing the ring. The CGI itself is very ropey at times, whether it is the various metamorphic daemons or the obviously rendered buildings, nearly everything looks unrealistic.

Is there any saving graces? Well, yes, there is. The acting is generally quite good, particularly the excellent Dakota Blue Richards who plays Lyra. Nicole Kidman’s performance is also good; however her character is seriously neutered. However, the choice to have Ian Mc Kellen voice Iorek Brynison is an extremely bad decision which will meet with derision from fans reminding them of ‘that other trilogy’.

The film can be summed up with the scene in which Lyra crosses a bridge as Iorek Brynison eggs her on. The entire film, much like the path of the bridge, is on thin ice. One can only see poor old Iorek screaming; ‘YOU SHALL NOT PASS!’ Sadly cinema goers and fans alike should pass and by that we mean passing on the film. A hugely disappointing effort…

Society

Society

Starring: Billy Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Evan Richards, Ben Meyerson

Directed by: Brian Yuzna

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn

The early nineties was a particularly bad time for cinema if you were a horror fanatic. After the peak of the late eighties, Hollywood moved away from the genre altogether. In its place was the ‘psychological thriller’ as propagated by films such as The Silence of the Lambs. Horror would find its home on video or languish without a distributor, as was the case with this 1989 satirical shocker. Society was the directorial debut of producer Brian Yuzua. Up to this point he gave us the superb Re-Animator, the rather disturbing From Beyond and, um, the family friendly Honey I Shrunk The Kids, but this was his first attempt in the directors chair and Society was anything but family friendly…

Billy Whitney is an alienated teenager who suspects that not all is as what it seems. He sees bizarre things like his sister’s abnormally twisted body in the shower (hey, it’s like, Twisted Sister!) or fresh apples which have maggots inside them. His paranoia is only heightened when he hears a friend’s secretly recorded tape which suggests that his entire family is engaging in elicit acts of sexual depravity with others. It seems Billy is stuck in a really sticky situation…

Society is truly one of the most uniquely bizarre horror movies you are likely to set eyes on. It took three years for the film to find a distributor in America and that’s hardly a surprise given the graphic nature and obscure satire of the film. The humour comes across as totally cornball and juvenile, but don’t be fooled, there’s a critique on eighties Beverly Hills culture going on underneath. All the tasteless extravagances of the eighties are present, from the slick costume designs, to the perfect rich family character portrayal, down to the extremely cheesy synth score. It’s all a template of eighties excess. This overindulgence culminates in one of the gloopiest and most perversely surreal finales in cinema history and gives a new meaning to words shunting and Hors d'oeuvres. If there is a criticism to throw at the film then it might be that the prosthetics look completely dated in the CGI world we now live in, though some of it still manages to convince.

The DVD itself, released under Tartan’s Grindhouse label, is a slight disappointment, but this is hardly a shock. For a film that spent a good percentage of its time shelved before its release it fails to surprise that the picture quality is somewhat average and smattered with grain, though this said the colours are quite vibrant. The picture also suffers from artifacting which is particularly noticeable towards the end of the film.

The sound quality in 2.0 is clear but poor. This is more the fault of low production values than anything to do with Tartan’s work.

If you like your horror with gallons of gross-out humour and dollops of political subtext to boot then Society is for you.

Deal or No Deal

Deal or No Deal – Family Challange

Starring: Noel Edmonds

Directed by: Richard Van't Riet

Reviewed by: Conor Flynn

Interactive DVD’s are something of an enigma. For quite a number of years they have become less commonplace as they once where circa the turn of the new millennium. But low and behold, they’ve made a comeback. No doubt the reason for their resurgence in the last year is because of the new fangled market of high-definition formats. So is this latest attempt at an old piece of rickety software any better than it was almost ten years ago?

Before we get to that it should be pointed out that something else, or rather someone else, has also made a comeback. Yes, we are of course talking about the man himself, Noel Edmunds. Like him or loath him, the man must be applauded for surviving the cutthroat industry of show business for so long. Ironically the program which has heralded his comeback is one of those shows you either love or hate. Anyone who has a problem with gambling skip to the next review, if you’re a fan, then lets play deal…or no deal.

Things start of pleasantly enough with an introduction akin to the television show to give you that sense of immersion, but as soon as you start to play the game things go rapidly downhill from there. On playing a game you are presented with the standard one to twenty-two box layout, however, they are split up into four separate screens. Now logic would dictate why have the boxes separate when it would be easier to have them all on one screen? Who knows?! So you have to move your controller through each screen to get to the box you’d like to pick. If that wasn’t irritating enough there is also the time lag when you skip between screens. This means that one single game can take up to an hour to play, longer than the television show itself. When the DVD does skip to a chapter, it is abrupt, so if you get a box in your favour, then five seconds later the crowd cheers. It’s laughably disorientating. Sometimes the DVD will also skip to the wrong chapter and you’ll get an unexpected crowd response or Noel saying something completely contrary to the amount offered. The nail in the box is when you decide to quit a game. On playing a new game you suddenly notice that all the boxes you eliminated previously are still missing!

If you decide to play the DVD on your computer, this actually speeds things up. The massive fault of Interactive DVD’s is that standard DVD players don’t have a cache memory system. Your computer or your Xbox does. But in using them, it completely defeats the whole propose of Interactive DVD.

If you want Deal or No Deal on your computer, buy the computer game, otherwise it’s a simple case of no deal.