Tag: Universal

Review: The Change-Up

[stextbox id=”grey” caption=”The Change-Up (2011)” float=”true” align=”right” width=”220″]

Director: David Dobkin

Runtime: 112 minutes

Starring: Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde

Distributor: Universal

Country: US

Rating: Worth a Look (?)

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From Freaky Friday and to Face/Off, the body swap film has been a staple of Hollywood for decades. The heyday of the 1980s saw a run of these films in Vice Versa, Like Father Like Son and for all intents and purposes Big, peaking (or perhaps bottoming out) with the Charlie Schlatter/George Burns swap in 18 Again! With the exception of Disney’s Freaky Friday remake in the mid-1990s, Australia’s own Dating the Enemy and the smattering of instant non-classics 13 Going on 30 and 17 Again (remember Zac Efron?), the body swap has been dormant for a few years, laying in wait for the right moment to spring its unique brand of comedy on a not entirely unsuspecting public. The time is now and the film is The Change-Up.

Once inseparable friends, Dave Lockwood (Jason Bateman, Horrible Bosses) and Mitch Planko (Ryan Reynolds, Green Lantern) have grown up and grown apart. At least one of them has. Dave is a high-flying lawyer on the verge of a major deal, with little time left for his wife Jamie (Leslie Mann, I Love You Philip Morris) or his three young children. Mitch, on the other hand, has never had to commit to anything in his life, and ekes out an existence as a stoned wannabe actor with daddy issues. When a chance spot of urination in a public fountain sees Dave and Mitch swap bodies, they must take on each other’s lives and responsibilities, learning a little something about each other in the process.

The basic premise behind The Change-Up is nothing new, and follows the classic body switching motifs to the letter. Yet writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (The Hangover films) follow another trend that has been around since at least 2005’s The 40 Year Old Virgin, and goes for crude shocks rather than simple comedies of error. This trend more than anything is a return to the raucous frat-house style comedies of the 1980s (Porkies, National Lampoon’s Animal House) and it is a welcome one at that. From simple sight gags, such as the way the clueless Mitch (in the body of Dave) attempts to carry the children to the more frank depictions of sex and sexuality, it runs rings around the coy winks to the audience that other mainstream rom-coms use as a substitute for reality. Domestic life is also presented with hilarious frankness, with the kind of casual nudity and inter-couple bickering that is reminiscent of Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up. Indeed, Leslie Mann is virtually playing the same character she did in that film, albeit enhanced with prosthetic breasts, and is set to reprise in next year’s This Is 40.

Bateman and Reynolds make a likeable pair of leads, and it is refreshing to see Bateman playing something other than his Arrested Development character (outside of his Dodgeball cameo, of course) that has followed him through Horrible Bosses and Extract. Portraying the douche that Reynolds has made a career out of seems to be liberating for the actor, although Reynolds doesn’t succeed quite as well in aping the Bateman persona and demonstrates his own limited range in the process. Olivia Wilde is employed solely as eye-candy, and you will require a trip to the dentist/optometrist after a couple of steamy scenes between her and Reynolds. Either way, this is the kind of fun popcorn fodder that beats the Friends with Benefits of the world at their own game, and provides a feature-length advertisement for contraception in the process.

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”The Reel Bits”]Despite its predictable setup, The Change-Up stays true to its title and offers a fresh and often disarmingly funny take on this well-worn genre. [/stextbox]

The Change-Up is released on 8 September 2011 in Australia from Universal.

September 8, 2011
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: new international trailer

There is already an incredible amount of buzz around the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy adaptation, thanks partly to the first trailer and the excellent sets of posters that have been circulating the web. Now thanks to Yahoo! Movies UK, we have a new international trailer for the forthcoming film.

The film is based on the John Le Carre novel of the same name, last filmed in 1979 as a TV mini-series with Alec Guinness. Set during the height of this Cold War, Gary Oldman will take on the role of George Smiley, who comes out of semi-retirement to hunt down a Russian agent.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is released on 17 November 2011 in Australia from Universal.

August 25, 2011
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: New posters scan Cumberbatch and Strong

Another day, another batch of posters from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. This time out, it is Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Strong who get encoded.

Using the same digital coding imagery as the first poster of Gary Oldman, and the subsequent batch with Colin Firth and Tom Hardy, these are still incredibly cool posters. The film is based on the John Le Carre novel of the same name, last filmed in 1979 as a TV mini-series with Alec Guinness. Set during the height of this Cold War, Gary Oldman will take on the role of George Smiley, who comes out of semi-retirement to hunt down a Russian agent.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is released on 17 November 2011 in Australia from Universal.

August 19, 2011
Third trailer for Tarsem’s Immortals

Universal has released a third trailer to Immortals, the new action adventure based on Greek mythology. Starring the next Superman Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), recent survivor of the ape revolution Freida Pinto (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), and recent survivor of Mickey Rourke, Mickey Rourke (The Expendables)

The singularly named Tarsem, last seen with his fantasy adventure film The Fall, is perhaps best known for his debut feature The Cell with J.Lo, is undoubtedly bringing his trademark brand of avant garde crazy to the film.

Yet one can’t help but see 300 in this, mixed with liberal doses of Clash of the Titans. With a sequel to the latter also coming out next year, and Cavill the star of 300 helmer Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, perhaps Tarsem is just tapping into the zeitgeist with another serving of glistening man-flesh fighting impossible odds.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV7SzdkKpwI

Immortals is released on 24 November 2011 in Australia from Universal.

August 17, 2011
New Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy posters scan Colin Firth and Tom Hardy

Universal has released two new posters from the forthcoming thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, this time featuring Tom Hardy and Colin Firth.

Using the same digital coding imagery as the first poster of Gary Oldman, these are incredibly cool posters. The film is based on the John Le Carre novel of the same name, last filmed in 1979 as a TV mini-series with Alec Guinness. Set during the height of this Cold War, Gary Oldman will take on the role of George Smiley, who comes out of semi-retirement to hunt down a Russian agent.

And just to put the three of them together, here’s the original Gary Oldman poster:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is released on 17 November 2011 in Australia from Universal.

August 17, 2011
Jane Eyre

Rising star Mia Wasikowska seemingly came out of nowhere when she emerged fully-formed in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland last year. Yet the Australian actress had already paid her dues on local TV’s All Saints, before gaining roles in the films Suburban Mayhem and Rogue. Although seemingly ideally cast in costume dramas, she has been eclectically cast as a forest wife in Defiance, the daughter of a lesbian couple in Lisa Cholodenko’s indie comedy The Kids Are All Right and That Evening Sun opposite Hal Holbrook. Yet it is to the umpteenth adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre that Wasikowska returns for her latest starring role.

After being emotionally abused by her aunt and cousins in her ancestral home at Gateshead, a young Jane Eyre (Amelia Clarkson, The Sarah Jane Adventures) is treated as a servant, despite her uncle’s dying wishes. Sent to a charity school, she suffers further torment at the hands of a vindictive school system. After eight years, the adult Jane (Wasikowska) leaves the school and advertises herself as a governess, where she meets the dashing Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender, X-Men: First Class). Falling for him, despite his impending marriage, Rochester’s feelings for Jane grow – but the course of true love was never meant to run straight.

With at least a score of film adaptations already gracing the silver screen, and half as many again produced for television, it was doubtful from the beginning as to whether director Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) could bring anything original to the tale. Stripping much of the gothic horror from the novel, including most of the wonderful Red Room sequence or any vision of her dead uncle, this abbreviated version of the Brontë saga relies heavily on the casting of the two leads. Wasikowska has grown quite adept at looking pale and outraged at societal norms, a virtual transplant of her Alice in Wonderland role and Michael Fassbender is quickly being groomed as the new Colin Firth (with this being his Mr. Darcy role). His capable performance as Rochester may make a certain demographic within the audience collectively heave their bosoms and swoon with delight, and the resulting light-headedness that results from being Fassbendered may cause one to overlook the otherwise flat and lifeless interpretation of a classic novel. This is not to diminish either performance, for they are both noteworthy, but screenwriter Moira Buffini (Tamara Drewe) doesn’t extend the story beyond the superficial.

Co-produced by BBC Films, Jane Eyre does little to distinguish itself from previous televised efforts, and Adriano Goldman’s (Conviction) unspectacular photography betrays his TV origins with a look that does not demand the large format screen. Even the presence of Judi Dench, and the seemingly ubiquitous Sally Hawkins, serves to remind us of how good costume drama can be when it hits closer to the mark than this sub-par effort. While new adaptations of the classic novels is inevitable every few years, a new take is demanded on them to ensure their vitality for the ages, especially for cinema audiences. Parody mashups such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Android Karenina may aim to lampoon the source novels, but they manage to remain faithful to the source while providing a fresh examination of their core themes. There may be another great adaptation of the classic Brontë novel to come, but this isn’t it.

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”The Reel Bits”]A flat and often unemotional retelling of a well-worn story, with a summary version of the tale that is often lifeless, unintentionally funny and tedious at best.[/stextbox]

Jane Eyre is released in Australia on 11 August 2011 from Universal.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter @DVDBits. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits

August 7, 2011
Bits Watch: ‘Battleship’ gets a trailer and poster

Stick this in the ‘WTF?’ files. We were as baffled as everybody else at the announcement of the adaptation of the Milton Bradley board game Battleship into a major motion picture from Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Hancock). Now Universal has released a trailer and poster for the film, and we are as surprised as anybody at the direction it has taken.

Is it a Michael Bay-style war film? A Michael Bay-style alien invasion film? It could literally go anywhere!

All we need now is those Ouija and Ridley Scott’s Monopoly trailers.

Battleship is released on 21 June 2012 in Australia from Universal.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter @DVDBits. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits.

July 28, 2011
Hanna

Shocking, hilarious and genuinely thrilling, Hanna is a new breed of action film that elevates at least two genres to another level.

It isn’t often that an action-thriller gets to open a major film festival, but Hanna is not typical of the genre. When Festival patron Cate Blanchett presented the film at this year’s Sydney Film Festival on behalf of director Joe Wright, the festival hit us over the head with a winner of an opener, with Wright combining his artistic sensibilities and thriller leanings in what may well have been the first art-action film of the year, a twisted nightmare of a fairy tale that is equal parts Robert Ludlum and David Lynch.

The titular young girl Hanna (Saoirse Ronan, The Way Back) has been trained in the wilderness by rogue agent Erik (Eric Bana, The Time Traveler’s Wife) as a ruthless killer, more capable that even her trainer had imagined. When she decides to re-enter society and take out her mother’s killer, CIA Agent Marissa (Cate Blanchett, Robin Hood), she begins to learn the terrible secrets of her origin.

Having established himself as a deft hand the costume drama/weepy film – with Atonement, Pride and Prejudice and The Soloist under his belt – Joe Wright may not seem like the obvious choice for the Bourne-junior antics of Hanna. Yet from the stunning opening photography of a winter wonderland from Alwin H. Kuchler (Sunshine), it is clear that this isn’t your average action yarn, and Wright isn’t your average director. The core narrative is reminiscent of The Long Kiss Goodnight or Salt, or even the Bourne films for that matter, as the awakening of an assassin unfurls on-screen. Yet buoyed by The Chemical Brothers thumping and sometimes jaunty score, recalling the similarly zeitgeisty tracks for Fight Club from The Dust Brothers, the combination of brutal action, luscious landscapes, surprising ‘fish-out-of-water’ comedy and some genuinely touching moments, Hanna is the kind of film that sticks it in and breaks it off.

Structured as a kind of broken fairy tale, Hanna works primarily as an aesthetic achievement. This is not to say it lacks substance, for the three leads bring their considerable experience to bear on this sometimes familiar tale. Yet Kuchler’s photography is undeniably sexy, and while it would be grossly inaccurate to refer to this as style over substance, it is the style that Hanna will be remembered for in years to come. Wright has stated publicly that he was influenced by David Lynch in the making of this film, commenting to the NYTimes that “Lynch’s films are fairy tales far more than Disney’s are. It’s ironic these days that a fairy-tale ending is thought to be a happy ending, when most fairy tales are very, very dark”. He adds that Hanna is “not set in the real world, but a kind of mystical world just beyond rational perception. It’s a dream of adolescence — or a nightmare really”. Like any other ‘coming of age’ tale, Hanna allows us to witness the first faltering steps that a young girl has into adulthood, but ones taken from a childhood that was never innocent.

[stextbox id=”grey”]USA | 111 minutes | Director: Joe Wright | Starring: Saorise Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana

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Hanna is released in Australia on 28 July 2011 from Universal.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter @DVDBits. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits

July 26, 2011
First Look: ‘Dream House’ Trailer and Poster

Haunted house films are a staple of the horror genre, and the growing madness they engender has seen classics like The Amityville Horror, The Haunting and The Shining scare our collective socks off. Now Universal Pictures, via iTunes Trailers, has released the first look at Oscar®-nominated Jim Sheridan’s (In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot) latest film, Dream House.

The trailer looks genuinely frightening, and has a terrific cast, so let’s hope this doesn’t do what every other mainstream horror film has done in the last few years and ruin all that suspense in a lame final act. Also, is all of New England haunted? Best steer clear of that part of the US methinks.

Download the video file.

Some say that all houses have memories. For one man, his home is the place he would kill to forget. Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts and Rachel Weisz star in Dream House, a suspense thriller about a family that unknowingly moves into a home where grisly murders were committed…only to find themselves the killer’s next target. Successful publisher Will Atenton (Craig) quit a high power job in Manhattan to relocate his wife, Libby (Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her children. And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates, he’s not sure if he’s starting to see ghosts or if the tragic story is just hitting too close to home. His only clues come from Ann Paterson (Watts), a mysterious neighbor who knew those who were shot. And as Will and Ann piece together the haunting puzzle, they must find out who murdered the family in Will’s dream house before he returns to kill again.

Dream House is released on 3 November 2011 in Australia from Roadshow.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter @DVDBits and Sarah @swardplay. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits.

July 21, 2011
First Look: ‘The Thing’ trailer and poster

John Carpenter’s 1982 film The Thing is a classic of the horror genre, and now those crazy boffins at Universal Studios have unveiled a trailer for the remake/reboot/prequel to that film. Helmed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr, son of Producer Matthijs van Heijningen, this is all looking very familiar. Remakes appear to be inevitable, but why mess with gold?

From Universal:

Antarctica: an extraordinary continent of awesome beauty. It is also home to an isolated outpost where a discovery full of scientific possibility becomes a mission of survival when an alien is unearthed by a crew of international scientists. The shape-shifting creature, accidentally unleashed at this marooned colony, has the ability to turn itself into a perfect replica of any living being. It can look just like you or me, but inside, it remains inhuman. In the thriller The Thing, paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet.

Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish. The Thing serves as a prelude to John Carpenter’s classic 1982 film of the same name. Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen, the thriller is produced by Strike Entertainment’s Marc Abraham and Eric Newman (Dawn of the Dead).

For historical purposes, here’s the original 1982 trailer for comparison

The Thing is released on 13 October 2011 by Universal.

The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter @DVDBits and Sarah @swardplay. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits.

July 15, 2011