Film REVIEWS
ALSO RELEASED ADVENTURE/THRILLER SANCTUM (15) 108min ●●●●●
Unsurprisingly, executive producer James Cameron gets above-the-title billing for this Australia-set action/adventure which brings together the Avatar director’s obsession with 3D technology and his fascination with underwater adventures (Cameron made The Abyss). It’s a shame for director Alister Grierson that this is so, as he should get more credit for making an enjoyable if formulaic film.
A team of cave divers, led by the overbearing Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh), goes on a treacherous expedition to the least accessible unexplored cave system on Earth. A tropical storm leaves them trapped in the cave with not enough supplies and no guarantee of a way out to the Pacific Ocean. On the expedition are McGuire’s rebellious 17-year-old son Josh (Rhys Wakefield), financier Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd), his girlfriend Victoria (Alice Parkinson) and Crazy George (Dan Wyllie). Clunky dialogue and sentimental father-son aspects are the downside of the group dynamic. Loosely based on the true story of an expedition made in 1988 by producer Andrew Wight. Everyone survived on that adventure; here the death count is upped at every inventive and surprising turn. (Kaleem Aftab) ■ General release, Fri 4 Feb.
New York, I Love You (15) 103min ●●●●● Disappointing big name director short film anthology around the theme of the Big Apple. See full review at www.list.co.uk/article/29920-new- york-i-love-you. Selected release, Fri 4 Feb. A Little Bit of Heaven (12A) 106min ●●●●● Above average romantic comedy about an uptight woman dying of cancer who finds the threat of falling in love again worse than death. Gren Wells’ overly talky script is a bit of a drag but Nicole ‘The Woodsman’ Kassell’s direction is good, as are the New Orleans locations and the performances from Kathy Bates, Kate Hudson, Gael García Bernal and Whoopi Goldberg. A Little Bit of Heaven is a half decent weepie for the early new year. General release, Fri 4 Feb. Just Go With It (12A) 116min ●●●●● Jennifer Aniston (pictured) and Adam Sandler team up for this pretty diverting romantic comedy about a aging lothario plastic surgeon and his loyal assistant who get dragged in to a web of lies and deceit when he falls for a young schoolteacher. General release, Fri 11 Feb. 52 THE LIST 3–17 Feb 2011
SCI FI/COMEDY PAUL (15) 103min ●●●●●
The Shaun of the Dead boys have come a long way. Having followed up Shaun’s critical success with UK box office smash Hot Fuzz, stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and director/co-writer Edgar Wright were firmly established as major British talent. Last summer Wright took his first shot at a big American movie with comic-book adaptation Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, a disappointment at the box office but an impressive demonstration of his developing creative muscle. Now, after a few high- profile solo acting gigs (most notably Pegg’s turn as Scotty in 2009’s Star Trek), Pegg and Frost re-team as writers and co-stars in Paul, a tale of two English sci-fi nerds who encounter a real-life alien called Paul while on a road-trip through America’s UFO hotspots. But while the film certainly won’t disappoint fans of the duo’s brand of comedy, Pegg and Frost could have done with following Wright’s more adventurous lead; as it is they stick too closely to their comfort zones both as writers and actors, and despite its theme, the film is more run-of-the-mill than out of this world.
In fact, to begin with, Paul could almost be a Transatlantic episode of
Spaced, with the geek-pal relationship between Pegg and Frost’s Graeme and Clive riffing on exactly the same notes that made Tim and Mike so endearing in that television show. It’s still a routine that works though, and there are plenty of laughs to be had in the script’s many recurring jokes – one involving characters reeling off the increasingly ridiculous titles of a cult sci-fi author’s books is particularly funny. Director Greg Superbad Mottola develops a suitably atmospheric tone, which entireley fits the script’s spirit of both revering and mocking sci-fi conventions (in both senses), while Jason Bateman provides strong support as a menacing FBI agent on the hunt for Paul. And what of the title character? Happily, Paul is the film’s greatest asset.
A fantastically realised CG creation who gets all the funniest lines and is brilliantly voiced by Seth Rogen, he’s the spark of originality that makes this film worthwhile. (Paul Gallagher) ■ General release, Mon 14 Feb.
ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY GNOMEO & JULIET (U) 84min ●●●●●
The idea of turning William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into an animated movie featuring gnomes sounds like a tragedy in its own right, but thanks to a star studded British voice cast and some fun visual jokes, Gnomeo & Juliet almost pulls it off. The film is, however, ultimately undone by a few too many pop culture
references and by its decision to pay more respect to the songs and celebrity of executive producer Elton John, than to the bard’s source material. The story is essentially the same, albeit transported to a couple of quaint neighbouring English gardens in Stratford-upon-Avon (one of several nice touches) where a long-standing feud pits the red cap gnomes of one against the blue caps of the other via lawnmower races and covert raids.
Caught in the middle are love-struck Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy) and his beloved Juliet (Emily Blunt) as well as ornamental Bambi, a toadstool and a zany pink flamingo. Given that writer/director Kelly Asbury is a veteran of the Shrek franchise (he directed Shrek 2) it’s hardly surprising to find that the film shares an irreverent pop sensibility, but this goes against it, as does the lack of a genuinely standout sequence. (Rob Carnevale) ■ General release from Friday 11 Feb.