Begin Again

For F*** Magazine

BEGIN AGAIN

Director : John Carney

Cast : Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Adam Levine, Hailee Steinfeld, Mos Def, James Corden, CeeLo Green, Catherine Keener

Genre : Drama, Romance

Opens : 3 July 2014

Rating : NC16 (Coarse Language) 

Running time: 104 mins

Lovin’ a music man ain’t always what it’s supposed to be, and that goes for the music men behind the scenes as well. In this musical romantic comedy, Mark Ruffalo plays Dan Mulligan, the down-and-out exec of music label Distressed Records, who has an estranged wife (Keener) and daughter (Steinfeld). While drowning his sorrows at a bar one night, British singer-songwriter Gretta (Knightley) catches his attention and he immediately sets about getting a hold of her so they can collaborate on a record. It turns out that Gretta’s long-time boyfriend and songwriting partner Dave Kohl (Levine) has strayed after letting stardom get to his head. Gretta tries to leave Dave behind as she, Dan, her best friend Steve (Corden) and a motley crew of session musicians embark on recording an album on the streets of New York, guerrilla-style.

            Begin Again, formerly titled Can a Song Save Your Life?, is written and directed by John Carney of Once fame. The micro-budget Irish indie flick became a cult favourite after netting a Best Original Song Oscar for Falling Slowly and was adapted into an acclaimed musical running on Broadway and the West End. Begin Again can be seen as Carney “going Hollywood”, trading in a cheap video camera for a fancy Red Digital and having Hollywood names and pop stars in the cast. While Begin Again is certainly a glossier, slicker affair, it still retains a good measure of earnestness and sweetness and is sure to appeal to fans of music movies. In what might be somewhat meta commentary, the theme of “indie vs. big record label” crops up. There’s also a rather surprising bit of anti-product placement: Dan takes a sip of Pepsi and wonders aloud “God damn, how do people drink that?!”

            Many of the elements in Begin Again can be described as “formulaic” – there’s the maverick music producer who has been reduced to an unkempt mess but who gets a second wind upon discovering an ingénue, the disapproving ex-wife and the rebellious daughter and the ingénue’s unfaithful rock star boyfriend. An early scene has a frustrated Dan tossing demo CDs out of his car window, fed up with inane pop and in search of “real music”. However, the film does possess enough self-awareness such that it doesn’t drown in a morass of clichés and that there’s a still a soul to it. Carney also has a little fun with the structure of the first half of the film, starting in medias res before rewinding to the start of that day, telling the story from Dan’s point of view – and then rewinding further and telling it from Gretta’s. There’s also a wonderfully whimsical moment of visual invention, when upon first hearing Gretta sing, Dan begins to imagine possible arrangements for the song; the piano, drums, cello and violin sitting on stage suddenly playing by themselves in his imagination.

            Mark Ruffalo is pretty much scruffy-sexy incarnate. Once again, he looks like he badly needs a shower and a shave, but perhaps that is part of his charm. He convincingly essays a man who has fallen on hard times but who clearly once had drive and inspiration, and when that returns to him he comes alive again. Keira Knightley’s role was originally intended for Scarlett Johansson – while we don’t get the Hulk and Black Widow making sweet music together, Knightley is a perfectly acceptable substitute. Her singing voice is very pleasant and she consciously avoids turning Gretta into an idealised “manic pixie dream girl” type. When she says “I’m not Judy Garland off the greyhound bus looking for stardom”, this reviewer believes her – but wants to see her make it in the music biz all the same.

            When it comes to the casting of established singers like Adam Levine and his fellow The Voice coach CeeLo Green, it’s a Catch-22 situation: on one hand, having actual musicians in your music movie gives it credibility but on the other, it can be distracting enough to pull one out of the experience. Green’s appearance in the film is more tolerable because as hip-hop star and old pal of Dan’s nicknamed Troublegum, he could well be playing himself. However, Levine is not a brilliant actor and this reviewer happens to find his high-pitched whine of a singing voice somewhat grating. We’re also 90% sure that the name “Dave Kohl” is some kind of a dig at the similarly-named Foo Fighters frontman.

            Begin Again is a great date movie because it isn’t yet another a production line rom com and it never becomes unbearably cheesy and sappy. It won’t redefine the music flick genre, but it does have its share of sweet moments. The songs, co-written by New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander with Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley, Rick Nowels and Nick Southwood, Once star Glen Hansard and Carney himself, are all very listenable if not especially memorable or catchy. And this is quite possibly the first movie to make splitter cables seem like very romantic objects.

SUMMARY: Begin Again’s formulaic elements are offset by its measured sweetness and charm.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

3 Days to Kill

For F*** Magazine

3 DAYS TO KILL

Director: McG
Cast:         Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen
Genre: Action, Thriller
Run Time: 100 mins
Opens: 6 March 2014
Rating: TBA

After playing Pa Kent in last year’s Man Of Steel, Kevin Costner is pulling daddy duty again in 3 Days To Kill. This time, he’s playing veteran CIA agent Ethan Renner, who is stricken with brain cancer that has spread to his lungs. On the brink of death, he is offered a miracle drug by fellow CIA agent Vivi (Heard) in exchange for a successful kill. The target: terrorist arms dealer Wolfgang “The Wolf” Braun (Richard Sammel). With mere months left to live, Ethan goes to Paris where his estranged daughter Zoey (Steinfeld) is living with her mother, Ethan’s ex-wife Christine (Nielsen). Having neglected his wife and daughter due to the obligations of his dangerous job, Ethan must make up for lost time, fight through the drug’s hallucinogenic side effects and stop the Wolf once and for all.

Moviegoers know what to expect from Luc Besson, who established his brand of Euro-action in the 90s and has been directing and producing such genre entries ever since. Besson co-wrote 3 Days to Kill with Adi Hasak, but directing duties were handled by McG who, suffice it to say, is not the most popular director out there. 3 Days To Kill is something of a mess but at least it doesn’t look it, cinematographer Thierry Arbogast having lensed Besson movies such as La Femme Nikita, Léon and The Fifth Element. Beautiful sunrises over Paris and seedy, neon-lit nightspots get showcased in equal measure. However, this can’t help but lend a certain ersatz quality to the film; that McG is trying his hardest to approximate that Besson look and it comes off as self-conscious. Furthermore, the premise is practically identical to that of Besson’s French TV series No Limit.




3 Days To Kill feels like two different movies hastily stitched together, in many ways coming off like an unsuccessful version of True Lies. In both films, a spy has to address domestic problems in his family life while saving the day. However, True Lies was an all-out action comedy, while 3 Days To Kill is unable to settle on a tone. It wants to be taken seriously as an action thriller and there are some fairly brutal combat sequences and a violent onscreen death or two. However, we’re also supposed to be invested in the melodramatic tale of a duty-bound father trying his hardest to reconnect with his stubborn, distant teenager. In addition to that, the film’s attempts at humour are awkward and misjudged. For example, lots of serious confrontations get interrupted by Icona Pop’s cheerful I Love It, which Zoey has chosen as her father’s cell-phone ringtone.

Costner has been trying for a comeback and appears to be after a Liam Neeson-style career renaissance – after all, Taken was also produced by Luc Besson. Costner is okay but he lacks Neeson’s intensity and just comes across as somewhat bored, at times dangerously close to phoning it in Bruce Willis-style. Steinfeld’s Zoey is a thinly-sketched bundle of “rebellious teen” clichés, right down to her petulant insistence on addressing her father by his first name. Steinfeld is certainly better than this, but the character is just annoyingly written. Heard does a lot of posturing as a femme fatale, her exaggerated appearance with that peroxide blonde do and uber-red lips making it seem as though she’s just walked off the set of Machete Kills. Also, it’s never made clear why Vivi can’t just kill the Wolf herself.



3 Days To Kill isn’t exactly a run-of-the-mill, formulaic spy action flick, but it seems it might have been better off as one. Even with a ticking-clock element built in, the film fails to muster a sense of urgency or tension. That’s because the secondary plot involving Ethan’s reconciliation with his daughter is shoved to the fore, stopping the action from gaining any proper momentum and feeling like someone’s changed the channel from a spy thriller to a sappy family drama. While the tonal dissonance isn’t quite as jarring as in Besson’s own Malavita/The Family/We’re a Nice Normal Family, it still gets in the way of what could’ve been a slick if forgettable actioner. The presence of a large family led by patriarch Jules (Eriq Ebouaney) who are squatters in Ethan’s flat is an obvious attempt to up the heart-warming quotient. Add stereotypical comic-relief side characters like limo driver Mitat (Marc Andréoni) and Italian Guido (Bruno Ricci) to the mix and 3 Days To Kill just ends up being muddled and unsatisfying.

Summary: An awkward combination of father-daughter relationship drama and espionage action thriller, 3 Days To Kill fails to hold together.

RATING: 2 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Ender's Game

For F*** Magazine

ENDER'S GAME

Director: Gavin Hood

Cast:         Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis, Nonso Anozie, Stevie Ray Dillmore, Andrea Powell, Moises Arias, Conor Carroll, Aramis Knight, Brandon Soo Hoo

Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure

Run Time: 114 mins

Opens: 7 November 2013

Rating: PG

           These days, nothing quite gets a movie studio excited like the F word – “franchise”. Hollywood honchos hanker for the next Marvel cinematic universe, the next Star Wars, Fast and Furious or Twilight. Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the sparkly vampire chronicles, has found a property with the potential for aggressive expansion: the Ender Saga or the “Enderverse”, a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card which were, well, a game-changer.

            Following an attack on earth by insectoid alien invaders known as “Formics”, a battle school is established to train the next generation of International Fleet cadets for when the Formics strike again. Ender Wiggin (Butterfield) is a particularly promising student who is earmarked by Col. Hyrum Graff (Ford) and Major Gwen Anderson (Davis) as a potential leader of earth’s military forces. Ender’s siblings, Valentine (Breslin) and Peter (Jimmy Pinchak) failed to make it through the program, so as if the pressure of the fate of the world being in his hands wasn’t enough, Ender has to cope with that. An integral part of the training is the game of the title; a kind of zero-gravity strategy-based amalgam of football and laser tag. Ender has to contend with being bullied, but finds friendship in the form of Petra Arkanian (Steinfeld), one of the few female students in battle school. Ender soon finds himself among the cream of the crop and studying under war hero Mazer Rackham (Kingsley) as the clock ticks away to the next invasion.

            The novel Ender’s Game, expanded from a short story of the same name, was published in 1985. The book and its sequel Speaker for the Dead clinched the Hugo and Nebula awards, two of the most prestigious honours in science fiction. A film adaptation has been in the works for many years, with The Phantom Menace’s Jake Lloyd considered for the title role at one point. The book is regarded as something of a modern classic and perhaps film franchises centred on young characters, like the Harry Potter movies, paved the way for this adaptation to finally get off the ground.

            The premise of using games and simulations in preparation for war proved prescient, seeing as how video game technology has been co-opted into military training over the last decade or so. The film focuses on the process of the practise and trials leading up to combat instead of the battle itself, so writer-director Gavin Hood has the responsibility of making sure certain stakes and a sense of danger are still established and that viewers will be interested in seeing the games played out instead of yelling “get to the real fighting already!” at the screen. He is somewhat successful in this regard, but the film’s pacing is uneven and jittery and there is a fair bit of exposition and backstory to get out of the way in its first half. Also, pretty much every “boot camp” or “military school” trope from the movies finds its way into Ender’s Game.

            Big-budget spectacle and sci-fi action razzle dazzle is a lot more accessible to today’s audiences than before. That’s another way of saying moviegoers have become harder to impress. Ender’s Game is not a badly-designed movie by any standard, it’s just that its world of space stations, futuristic dorm rooms, grey uniforms and termite mound-style enemy terrain carries a sense of familiarity with it and doesn’t pack quite enough punch to pull one into the world. The film’s major action sequences take place within the battle room, the balletic zero-gravity sequences well-choreographed and stunt coordinator Garrett Warren’s wire-work innovations making the scenes suitably dynamic. It’s a shame this film comes right on the heels of Gravity, which will be hard to top.

 

            Asa Butterfield is a competent lead, playing Ender not as a know-it-all whiz or an insufferable adult-kid but as a “chosen one” who just has to deal. Hailee Steinfeld is very likeable as Petra and the moments in which she and Ender train together are welcome respite from the harshness of the battle school environment. A role like Hyrum Graff is best handled by an actor of stature and who has a sci-fi pedigree and Harrison Ford certainly fits the bill. Sure, there’s a lot of the scowling and looking grumpy typical of Ford’s recent career, but he’s able to bring out some layers, the character not just an authority figure but a manipulative and canny one at that. Ben Kingsley, sporting facial Tā moko Māori tattoos, is only in this for the last section of the film and doesn’t get too much to do, but he’s good.

            Ender’s Game will give teen audiences something to chew on and it is good to see a film aimed at this demographic that isn’t pointless and inane. Sure, the tackling of issues such as ethics in war and theme of empathy vs. violence may come off as clumsy or heavy handed, but at least they were given some attention. The film’s most intriguing moments come in the form of a mind game in which Ender is represented by a mouse, faced with a giant and other allegorical obstacles – and there’s the attention-grabbing ending, too. On the whole, Gavin Hood’s take on the material is more effective than the over-the-top satire Paul Verhoeven wrought with his Starship Troopers adaptation, even if the Ender’s Game team doesn’t quite hit a home run.

SUMMARY: Certainly not the easiest story to bring to the screen, Ender’s Game presents a blend of mature themes and sci-fi action – a balancing act that mostly pays off.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

Comic Con 2013: The Celebrities

It's a well-known fact that in the span of about thirty years, the San Diego Comic Con has grown from basically a swap-meet in the basement of a hotel drawing around 500 to one of the biggest pop culture events of the calendar year, with crowds estimated at around 140 000. Comic Con has always been a great avenue for fans to meet creators, to get a photo or autograph from someone whose work you've always admired from afar. Hollywood has of course realised the potential of marketing to this crowd and it is a great that these days, movies based on comic books are doing gangbusters. It certainly wasn't always like this. The more cynical might say that it's become overly-commercialised and that the "comic" aspect of "Comic Con" isn't the focus any longer. However, there's no denying the thrill in being among the first to see exclusive footage, or to get a glimpse of a mega star in the flesh. And there's of course the infamous long, long line for Hall H, which some queue up for overnight to enter. Here are some of the celebrities who turned out this year.

Comic book artist/writer and creator of Hellboy, Mike Mignola. 

Lou Ferrigno, TV's Incredible Hulk .

From left: composers John Debney, Christopher Lennertz, music supervisor Dave Jordan and composer Marco Beltrami. They were discussing writing music for comic book films. 

Composer Bear McCreary, who is writing the music for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. You've heard his work on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead.

Jeff Wadlow, writer-director of Kick-Ass 2. 

Troy Baker and Roger Craig Smith, the voices behind the Joker and Batman respectively in the upcoming video game Batman: Arkham Origins. 

The Arkham Origins panel.

Alfonso Cuaron, director of Gravity, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men. 

Edgar Wright, director of The World's End, Shuan of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. 

Marc Webb, director of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Amazing Spider-Man and (500) Days of Summer.

THE DIVERGENT PANEL 

Veronica Roth, author of the Divergent series. 

Theo James and Shailene Woodley, stars of Divergent. 

The Divergent panel. 

Ben Lloyd-Hughes and Ben Lamb. 

Amy Newbold and Miles Teller 

Mekhi Phifer

Shailene Woodley again 

Director Neil Burger and actress Zoe Kravitz 

Maggie Q 

THE ENDER'S GAME PANEL 

Writer/director Gavin Hood cannot believe he's actually at Comic Con. "South Africa is so far away, I've never seen anything like this, guys!" he enthused. 

Ender himself, Asa Butterfield. 

Hailee Steinfeld 

The man, the legend, the Ford. 

Producer Roberto Orci 

The Ender's Game Panel, with moderator Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist 

"What the heck, you can stay on my plane." 

Get to the choppa, let off some steam, kick some ice and all that: it's Schwarzenegger! 

And John Rambo/Rocky Balboa himself. Yo Adrian! 

Christopher Lee was not at the con, but he did have a video message that preceded the preview of the documentary Necessary Evil: Super-villains of DC Comics. 

Andrea Romano, voice and casting director of the DC Animated Universe. 

Geoff Johns, comic book writer and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics.

The Necessary Evil panel.

Comic book artist Greg Capullo.

Comic book writer Scott Snyder, who recently worked on Batman with Capullo. 

Comics writer Gail Simone

The "My Secret Origin: How I Broke Into Comics" panel 

DC co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio.

CONVERSATIONS FOR A CAUSE: I, FRANKENSTEIN

Zachary Levi holding court at Nerd HQ over at Petco Park. 

The I, Frankenstein Conversations for a Cause panel. 

Yvonne Strahovski 

Aaron Eckhart, who is playing Frankenstein's Monster Adam. 

Writer Kevin Grievioux

Director Stuart Beattie 

You can see why she has no trouble at all melting geek hearts on a regular basis. Man, seeing Yvonne and Zach in the same room, I miss Chuck. 

CONVERSATIONS FOR A CAUSE: 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE

Guest moderator Alan Tudyk, of Serenity fame. 

Heartthrob Sullivan Stapleton

Also a heatthrob, Rodrigo Santoro. 

The absolutely gorgeous Eva Green. 

The 300: Rise of an Empire panel. 

Sullivan Stapleton talked a lot about his balls. 

Adorbs. 

Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity Smoak on Arrow)

Clark Gregg, Son of Coul. 

Reigning king of all geeks, Joss Whedon. 

"I'm not here for your entertainment. I'm here to make you learn and grow and laugh and cry and riot." - Joss Whedon. 

The Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox panel. 

Cary Elwes, voice of Aquaman in the film. 

Justin Chambers, voice of the Flash, and James Tucker, producer. 

Screenwriter Jim Krieg and character designer Phil Bourassa

THE HALL H MARVEL STUDIOS PANEL 

(Which I waited ten hours in line to see, missing the Warner Bros./Legendary, Lionsgate and Fox panels along the way.) 

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige.

This guy appeared out of a ball of lightning. 

The awe-inspiring Hiddles. 

Joe and Anthony Russo, directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Chris Evans (Captain America) 

Emily Van Camp (Sharon Carter) 

Anthony Mackie (The Falcon) 

Frank Grillo (Crossbones) 

Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) 

Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) 

Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) 

The cast and directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier 

Karen Gillan (Nebula) 

SURPRISE! 

James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy 

Dave Bautista (Drax) 

Chris Pratt (Star Lord) 

Zoe Saldana (Gamora) 

Benicio del Toro (The Collector)

The cast and director of Guardians of the Galaxy 

Writer/director/actor/podcaster/author Kevin Smith.

The romantics out there might like to know there was actually a proposal at his Q&A. He's agreed to eventually officiate the couple's wedding ceremony.

Anthony Ruivivar and J.B. Blanc - the voices of Batman and Alfred respectively from Beware the Batman. 

Scott Menville, Greg Cipes and Khary Payton - voices of Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg respectively in Teen Titans and Teen Titans GO! 

Cipes, Payton and Tara Strong. She plays Raven and has voice acted in everything. 

The master at work: Jim Lee drawing live. 

Sweet dreams - what a way to end Comic Con!