I loved the first Kung Fu Panda. Its gorgeous oriental art style and jaw-dropping(-kicking-smashing-and-curb-stomping) animation complimented its satisfying origin story. With that said, the sequel still maimed my expectations, delivering a vastly superior film in every regard. While it triumphs as a family film, it excels as an unprecedented outlet of creativity and artistry, displaying wildly inventive action set pieces that stupefy the mind. With a more involved storyline, pitch-perfect pacing and trademark humour in check, Kung Fu Panda 2 is a staggering watch. But, perhaps most importantly, it’s immeasurable all-age entertainment of the highest calibre. This is pure Dreamworks.
BETTER THAN INCEPTION!!!
The title of this Australian crime thriller is derived from an analogy of the circle of life, where the strong either protect or devour the weak. Just replace the lions with evil bastard crime-lords and crooked-cops, the cubs with some unfortunate teens and Temone and Pumba with a couple of coke snorters. OK, so it’s not entirely synonymous, but holy crap, Animal Kingdom ramps up the intensity from out of nowhere. All-mighty performances all ‘round cements the film in pure win. The beginning drags slightly, but give it time to warm up and it’ll burn a hole in your cranium.
RECOMMENDED
This little Aussie film is about a simple romance between two teen aborigines. Though there is very little dialog, the film has a lot to say. Mainly, that it sucks to be an Abbo. Like, seriously harsh. There’s never a minute wasted in exposing the deplorable reality these two are forced to live in, whether it involved their Ethiopian-like living conditions, addiction to petrol-sniffing or the blatant rejection from the white-dominated Western Australian culture. Tender moments are few and far between, and the film could’ve definitely benefited from more of them. Nevertheless, it’s still a decent slice of wrist-slicing reality.
WATCHABLE
Transformers 3 is a payoff. At the last quarter of the film, you will witness an amazing, mind-blowing, visual spectacle of Cleopatric proportions. Proceeding that, you’ll be subjected to moronically cheap “humour”, deviant shots of the next dolled-up generic chick Hollywood’s trying to pimp out and irritating songs crow-barred in to sell a soundtrack, all wrapped up in a predictably incompetent plot needlessly drawn-out to give the illusion of epic-ness. Many will make that trade with ease, and I won’t blame you. For me however, I was left watching a two-hour train wreck followed by an explosive half-hour train wreck.
YEAH... NAH...
It’s one thing to make a mediocre film, but when you’re a film studio as highly distinguished as Pixar, it becomes another thing entirely. Cars 2 focuses around a family-friendly spy plot that’s actually pretty clever. Unfortunately, that idea is repeatedly run over by unbearably annoying scenes of Mater being a dumbass. The generic script flattens the potential even further, which treads below the level of dad-humour. The 3D is gobsmackingly impressive and the film maintains that Pixar quality level of animation, so it’ll service children as a colourful distraction. Then again, so will a shiny piece of tin foil.WATCHABLE (in 3D)
YEAH... NAH... (in 2D)
Exploring the lives of four London-based girls across three days between two cities, these characters are given one chance for… something. So maybe its subtitles aren’t particularly clear, but this UK film provides some flashy thrills, despite its many glaring faults. Its quad-thread storyline unravel in a very satisfying way, but it takes some massive liberties to do so, crow-barring a 20 minute subplot that has very little to do with the overall story. The acting is all over the place and the dialog can be downright embarrassing. If you can tolerate these flaws however, you’re guaranteed to be entertained.
WATCHABLE
The plot’s in the title. A socially awkward, slightly suicidal man (Joaquin Phoenix) is caught in a love triangle between a sweet girl his parents adore (Vinessa Shaw) and his neighbour who has her own set of boohoo cry-me-a-Nile problems (Gwyneth Paltrow). With a storyline as generic as this, the strength of the film needs to lie in its characters. That’s not the case with Two Lovers. Despite some truly impressive all-round performances, it’s hard to care about anything the lead does, let alone try to empathise with him. You’ll see Paltrow’s boob, but the film’s hardly worth your time.
YEAH... NAH...
I loved the first Kung Fu Panda. Its gorgeous oriental art style and jaw-dropping(-kicking-smashing-and-curb-stomping) animation complimented its satisfying origin story. With that said, the sequel still maimed my expectations, delivering a vastly superior film in every regard. While it triumphs as a family film, it excels as an unprecedented outlet of creativity and artistry, displaying wildly inventive action set pieces that stupefy the mind. With a more involved storyline, pitch-perfect pacing and trademark humour in check, Kung Fu Panda 2 is a staggering watch. But, perhaps most importantly, it’s immeasurable all-age entertainment of the highest calibre. This is pure Dreamworks.
