For those of us who are familiar with the Final Destination franchise, this one isn’t going to add anything new. For those that aren’t, don’t feel a need to go back to the start in order to know what’s going on here. The fourth instalment of the Destination series follows the successful formula to a tee. The characters are given as much depth as a saucer of milk, and there is zero effort to add any originality to the concept. That’s not to say there isn’t any fun to be had. The death scenes, while nowhere near as spontaneous and clever as they were in at least the first two films, are still elaborate, fun and generally end badly for Death’s chosen one. The 3-D experience immerses the viewer into the action, which happens thick, bloody and often and there are some fun moments to be had also, especially the scene involving a premonition involving an accident at a cinema. A clever way to make the cinema goer squirm, although I doubt the same effect would be had at home watching it on DVD.

Once again we follow a bunch of 20 somethings scramble to survive after what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O’Bannon (Bobby Campo) has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, sending flaming debris into the stands, brutally killing his friends and causing the upper deck of the stands to collapse on him. When he comes out of this grisly nightmare Nick panics, persuading his girlfriend, Lori (Shantel Van Santen), and their friends, Janet (Haley Webb) and Hunt (Nick Zano), to leave… escaping seconds before Nick’s frightening vision becomes a terrible reality. Thinking they’ve cheated death, the group has a new lease on life, but unfortunately for Nick and Lori, it is only the beginning. As his premonitions continue and the crash survivors begin to die one-by-one in increasingly gruesome ways Nick must figure out how to cheat death once and for all before he, too, reaches his final destination.

Expect little and you wont be disappointed. It is fair to say the franchise has peaked, yet fans of the series will still get a few kicks out of this one.

4.5/10

PK (TELLYS)

Hi Movie Fans

Thanks to the kind folk at Contagious Network I had the pleasure of recently attending a IMAX 3D preview of Disney’s new 3D movie – A Christmas Carol.

The movie opens up with an old ragged man at a funeral parlour about to say good bye to his business partner of numerous years. He contemplates his partner’s demise whilst struggling to pay the funeral director – thus we meet Ebenezer Scrooge.

Jim Carey is great as Scrooge and manages to bring the role to life with his “ragged” and scrawny voice. His faithful and ever reliable clerk (Gary Oldman), is a great addition to the cast and tends to steal your heart at times, especially his son Jimmy who is the special boy in his life.

The movie is comprised of three parts, just like the classic tale – the ghosts of Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future all visit Scrooge in one night to show him the significance of Christmas, family and the season of giving and sharing.

Although at times scary and “dark”, the movie does make its point and the ghost of Christmas future is one to be wary off.  Not withstanding this, the scenes do provides some powerful images and cover issues that even the little ones would understand.

The ghost of Christmas present does steal the show (once again Jim Carey) and his  constant bellowing allows one to sense what Christmas means to those of us today and how we need to focus on the present in order for the future to take care of itself.

The power of 3D and the images coming to life really add to this movie and ensure that you are kept entertained throughout – especially the snowing scenes – you feel like reaching out and touching the snowflakes!

Overall, a wonderful and heart warming movie - 3D is an experience that you must indulge yourself in as it will add to your entertainment pleasure.

Rating:  4/5

Summary:

A classic tale told in an entertaining and powerful way that will not disappoint. Take the family, grab the popcorn, put on your 3D glasses and sit back and immerse yourself in this tale and think  about how you are going to spend Christmas this year.

Kotch

Links to Disney’s A Christmas Carol web site:

http://www.disney.com.au/disneyfilms/achristmascarol/

Trailer 1

http://www.THISIS720.com/

Trailer 2

http://wdmpi-int.rd.llnwxd.net/ACC/TrailerA/English/AXC_ATrlr_ENGLISH_High.mov

Trailer 3

http://wdmpi-int.rd.llnwxd.net/ACC/TrailerB/English/AXC_BrlrT_English_High.mov

Once again, thanks to Contagious Network for their hospitality:

http://contagiousnetwork.com.au/

G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra comes to us as one of the most expensive movies made. At a total cost of over $350 million (production and advertising), viewers would expect to be wowed. But a huge budget isn't necessary to guarantee success. District 9 was made for a reportedly poultry $30 million - but has already doubled that in sales after one week and is receiving rave reviews worldwide. G.I. Joe fills the screen with violence and special effects. The latter is very well done. I would suggest most of the $200 million production costs have gone to CGI.
 
However, in an era where excellent special effects are the norm in action films, Stephen Sommers (director) should have put some of that money into finding some decent writers. Once you peel back the special effects and the action, writers Beattie and Gordan give us a pretty unintelligent script. Usually I try to avoid giving away too much of the story, preferring to allow viewers to see it themselves. However, in the case of G.I. Joe, in a world first, I'm going to make an exception to the rule. Here comes the spoiler. Drum roll ................. A team of G.I. Joe's fight an evil business man over weapons. Oh and there's guns - lots of guns. Yep, that's about it.
 
Mission Impossible III got away with a limited story, mostly because of the greatly directed action sequences, the even better Philip Seymour Hoffman, the beautiful Michelle Monoghan ... and a guy called Tom Cruise. G.I. Joe tries to follow a similar format. Action is aplenty. Christopher Ecclestone, who re-invigorated the stale Doctor Who franchise back in 2005, is again serviceable is his role as the evil McCullen/Destro. Siena Miller fills the eye candy role of the Baroness ... but there is no charismatic fill-in for Tom Cruise. Dennis Quaid's classic demeanor is wasted as General Hawk. In fact, the rest of the cast is quite forgetful.
 
Hasbro bought us the wonderful Transformers back in 2007 (oh and a little someone called Megan Fox). In 2009, Hasbro's follow up offerings, Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, have invested largely in action, forgetting that some audience members also have a brain they don't mind using. Perhaps Sommers should give Neill Blomkamp (District 9 director) a call before shooting his next film, to see what a bit of heart and some smart directing/writing can do to a simple story ... and perhaps to save him a few hundred million dollars.
 
G.I. Joe isn't a bad film, it's just not a great one either.
 
Rating: 2.5/5

 

Thanks again to ContagiousNetwork, I attended the Australian premier screening of Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno. Bruno tells the story of an Austrian gay personality that travels to Los Angeles, willing to do anything for Hollywood stardom. He shoots a pilot TV show, experiments with his sexuality, turns to religion and like Madonna/Jolie, even gets himself an African child. This may sound like the plot of a hilarious movie, but Bruno fails to impress consistently throughout its 81min running time. One can't help but make comparisons between Bruno and Sacha's previous film, Borat. This doesn't serve Bruno too well. Whereas the foreign journalist Borat was naC/vely innocent, justifying his farcically hilarious behaviour, Bruno's Austrian celebrity is more sophisticated and doesn't sell his character's vial behaviour so well.   It seems Sacha was well aware of this, choosing crude sexually themed segments (including the talking penis and virtual felatio) to humour-shock the audience.

A big thank you to the Contagious Network team for bringing us the preview screening of the new Star Trek. JJ Abrahams' adaptation of the sci-fi epic Star Trek series is something quite new & different. Right from the outset, where we meet the trouble making Kirk, who likes to steal cars and start bar fights, we know we are in for a Star Trek unlike any of the 10 films before it. This is certainly not a Star Trek for the purists (considering their reaction to the slightly alternative Enterprise TV series).

Thanks again to the great people at contagiousnetwork,   I attended one of the premiere screenings of Terminator Salvation, the 4th instalment in the popular Terminator franchise. Do not be fooled by the cynical response this film has received in the media. The good people at rottentomatoes will have you believe that T3 was twice as good a film as Terminator Salvation. They are mistaken. Whilst Kristanna Loken sent my ticker into hyper-drive in T3, that film was more a send-off for  Governor Arnie than a serious Terminator entry. It lacked the substance and brutality of the first two films ... and by it's end, Terminators had become household figurines children play with, rather than fierce machines destined to destroy humanity. Terminator Salvation will change all that.