FILM REVIEW: Ghostbusters (2016)

Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) once wrote a book together collating their hypotheses around the paranormal, but their lives have diverged and they're no longer speaking. Erin is approached by a man with the book she thought was lost who wants help with a resident ghost. She tracks Abby down to beg her to stop selling the book, only to find herself discovering the haunting is real, their theories are correct and someone is trying to bring a whole host of ghosts to New York. Together with Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) and their ditzy secretary Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), the Ghostbusters must fight to convince the city that ghosts are real and everyone is in danger.

I'll not dwell on the ongoing furore around the film until now because, ultimately, it falls away as soon as you watch the film, reduced to a classy punchline and closed as fast as an internet browser window. Ghostbusters counters those toxic attitudes with a relentless positivity. As with The Force Awakens, I want to bottle the feeling I get of seeing these women - in all their strength, vulnerabilities, quirks, body types, intelligence, wit and determination - up on that screen. I also want to bottle the feeling I get when I see women and girls responding to this. It's hard to explain how it feels to have heroes like these, entirely independent of men or the male gaze, but it's really, really awesome.

A huge part of that is down to the central four cast members with not a single weak link among them. Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy's chemistry is present and correct, used to power the emotional core of the film. We may not see much of their prior friendship, but Wiig and McCarthy convey enough to make their key moments land as well as sparking off of each other to regularly bring the laughter. They're the heart of the film and ground it just enough to let the wackier comedy of McKinnon or Hemsworth's dumb blonde to keep the gag rate high.

McKinnon is the particular breakout here, walking away with most of the film's most memorable lines as well as carving out a character that is always eccentric but never rings hollow. Holtzmann is zany, hilarious and also very sweet. She also works well alongside Jones' Patty, whose more forthright humour contrasts Holtzmann's flightier moments. Then there's Chris Hemsworth, gleefully playing up his blockbuster beefcake persona with Kevin, who doesn't quite know how glasses work nor is he capable of answering a phone. The scenes with all five of them together have a dysfunctional family theme to them, playing well with the film's continual positive drive.

Even when dealing with Rowan, the walking version of toxic masculinity villain of the piece, Abby tries to save him first, the four only prompted into fighting when they have no other choice. Rowan's an intriguing character, a riposte to the types that have been hammering away at keyboards and furiously clicking their mouse to downrate a film they have no intention of seeing. He's the perfect villain to contrast our heroes with; he's been bullied and uses this as his excuse for his power grab and he's resentful of everyone around him, alone in his rage.

Despite what Rowan thinks, Abby is keen to point out that they're not so different; we see these women belittled, mistreated and suppressed by those around them, whether it's a cameoing Charles Dance's stern professor, Andy Garcia's polished mayor or Patty's customers on the subway. The difference between them and Rowan is that they own it and turn it to their advantage, trying to save the world regardless of how it treats them. It might be largely a kids' film, but Ghostbusters was a pretty insightful examination of how society treats men and women differently and how they react in turn. In truth, it could have made more of this analysis; it's a hopeful message about turning adversity into strengths and successes.

There's a couple of bumps along the way; Kevin goes through a bit of a character shift without any real explanation and there are one or two jokes that linger a little too long. However, the good-natured charm of it all and the crackling chemistry of the cast powers it through to a rather spectacular climax. The final battle arrives suddenly, but it's a vibrant sequence, full of wisecracks and badass moments (Holtzmann, man) with gorgeous and creepy ghost designs. It feels fitting for everything that has gone before, one in which the four women get a chance to show off not only their skills, but their love for each other in that so much of the battle is about them working together to solve the problem.

There will always be naysayers when it comes to this film, whether it comes from a deep, abiding love of the original or, as has been largely the case, because there are women in it. The important thing, however, is how it makes women and girls watching this film feel. And it feels awesome. I can forgive the bumps for that.

- Becky

Follow @AssortedBuffery on Twitter
Or like our Facebook page

FILM REVIEW: Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers have united to continue the hunt for Loki's sceptre following the fall of SHIELD and the re-emergence of HYDRA, but a villain of Tony Stark's own making soon changes the mission for everybody. Stark is still reeling from the Battle of New York and his desire to prevent it happening again leads to him and Banner developing their Ultron programme, an artificial intelligence designed to protect the world. However, it all goes wrong, as these things so often do, and the Avengers must fight to save the human race.

The first Avengers film was nothing short of spectacle cinema, the chance to see a superhero team-up from a comic book universe for the first time on the big screen. The anticipation was huge and, in the hands of Joss Whedon, delivered on all fronts. Phase 2 of Marvel's Cinematic Universe has continued to prove the films to be a bit of a divisive affair, but has largely maintained the entertaining atmosphere of the earlier installments whilst steadily expanding the world. After that, the excitement for Avengers: Age of Ultron could have hardly been higher and thankfully, the film delivers in spades.

Given its placement towards the end of Phase 2, Age of Ultron feels very much like a mid-point for the ongoing plotlines within this universe. This isn't a flaw though as the film deftly combines wrapping up some narratives, whilst also using the central narrative to begin or continue laying foundations for future films in the series. It makes for a dizzyingly dense film, but one that never threatens to overwhelm or alienate, instead inviting more rewatches those who wish to delve further. 

In amidst the action, the character work is excellent, using their interactions in battle to fuel their relationships, throwing them into conflict or uniting them. Even the choreography of the action itself demonstrates the ongoing synergy between certain characters; Thor and Captain America team up regularly throughout, whilst the impending Iron Man/Captain America conflict is deftly forecast. That doesn't mean those characters without their own solo films have been shortchanged either.

Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner all seize on the opportunity to expand their characters, bringing a warmth into the proceedings that cements the film's emotional core. Newcomers Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, or Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, are fleshed out enough to resonate, their tragic background laid out simply and effectively. It also helps that the performances of Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson make the Maximoffs feel as if they have always been a part of this universe. Whilst Paul Bettany's Jarvis always has, it's in the Vision that the actor excels, quite possibly stealing the moment of the movie away from his more established co-stars.

The film's frenetic pace is well-maintained and doesn't allow the audience to breathe much in between the next plot development. Whilst this doesn't necessarily work against the film, it's often in the quieter scenes between battles that the film truly soars. Characters discuss their fears, argue over whose girlfriend is better and telling anecdotes designed to awe and they're all so well-drawn that you long for more of just Steve and Thor hanging out, Maria Hill mocking the uber-masculinity that surrounds her or Stark and Banner in full Science Bros mode. It's a small gripe, but also a testament to how well these characters and their worlds have been realised.

With the second biggest opening ever, the Marvel Cinematic Universe juggernaut continues to roll on. Age of Ultron may not carry the one-of-a-kind thrill that made The Avengers so adored, but it still provides a fantastic spectacle for those of us who have been waiting to see the band back together.

- Becky

Follow @AssortedBuffery on Twitter

Or like our Facebook page

FILM REVIEW: Snow White and the Huntsman

After escaping from imprisonment by Queen Ravenna, Snow White journeys into a decaying land where she realises that her destiny lies with defeating the evil queen with the help of a huntsman, a Prince and eight dwarves.

Released the same year as another Snow White tale, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman always looked like the better candidate. Moodier, darker and altogether more atmospheric than its more pantomime-y cousin, my interest was peaked early for Rupert Sanders' debut effort and I have to say, it had so much potential but fell short of delivering.

The plot is a reworking of the familiar Snow White tale although with a few added twists to keep things modern and fresh. Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is a girl famed for her beauty throughout the land and, after Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) murders her father, she is imprisoned in the tower to live out her days being watched by the Queen's creepy brother while she sleeps (a dig at Twilight perhaps? I hope so). However, after the Queen learns that Snow White is both the one who can undo the curse she has set upon the land, but also the one who can give her immortal life, Snow seizes the opportunity to escape. Although hired by the Queen to track her down and bring her back, the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) joins forces with the fugitive princess and, with the aid of her childhood friend Prince William (Sam Claflin), they seek to defeat Ravenna once and for all.

Visually, the film is stunning and Sanders, with his background in advertising, has created a rich world from the terrors of the dark forest to the sanctuary that Snow visits with the dwarves. Considerably more Middle Earth than some fairytale adaptations, the landscapes link well with the Snow White as a child of nature theme, giving the film a real earthy quality that builds well into the rest of the narrative. Charlize Theron's costumes are just fantastic and I had serious dress envy with some of the outfits that she wore, particularly near the beginning of the film. But unfortunately, even the most impressive special effects, creepy granite soldiers and beautiful foliage could not disguise that what the film was really lacking was a decent script to go along with it.


When you're told continually that a character is fiery and rebellious, you expect to see it. Admittedly, Kristen Stewart is good with what she's given, displaying a decent English accent and more facial expressions than Twilight ever allowed, the screenplay doesn't give her anything to do outside of running after Chris Hemsworth (which, as occupations go, isn't the worst) and shout a bit when given a speech. We're meant to believe that the titular characters are sparking off each other, going through the traditional adversarial banter before admitting to themselves they actually quite like each other, but it's never seen. Hemsworth is given a bit more to do and outshines his co-star considerably, showing the Huntsman's conflict whilst giving the film a much-needed sense of humour despite the slightly dodgy Scottish accent. The dwarves (eight to avoid copyright issues) also add to this with some great interplay between Hemsworth and Ian McShane and Nick Frost and Ray Winstone is the grumpier pair but even they failed to inject enough humour to rescue the po-faced affair.

I feel sorry for poor Sam Claflin too as the rebooted Prince Charming, William, who gets even less to do than Stewart; he cuts a dashing figure and displays some badass bow skills but he has all the character development of a wooden spoon. Thankfully, Charlize Theron's Ravenna gives us someone to truly get involved with, a woman torn between looking beautiful and growing old gracefully. Thankfully, she choose the former and gives a fantastic performance as a woman on the edge of both sanity and death. Snarling, shouting and emoting at all the right moments, she's easily the most memorable character in the film. Fairytales were originally morality-based, educating young girls on how to behave to get your prince (and still, insidiously, do this) so it makes sense that in our female-age-obsessed culture, we get an evil queen doing everything she can to stay young and beautiful.


Sadly, the film just doesn't build enough to warrant its bombastic, battle-fuelled climax. It feels as if there is about 20-30 minutes of the film missing, somewhere in the middle where everyone goes from being their assigned fairytale archetype to their heroic future self. Snow White herself goes from being slightly helpless maiden in the forest to experienced leader of men, giving heroic speeches and fighting off guys twice her size in the space of a scene. Her relationship with the Huntsman is frequently alluded to and Hemsworth manages to convey that he cares about her but it doesn't appear reciprocated nor built on anything seen in the formative scenes between the pair. Had the film decided to opt solely for a coming of age tale, it may have helped develop Snow White more into the fiesty heroine everyone kept describing.

Had the film had a great screenplay to go along with everything else, it could have been a truly entertaining fantasy romp. It's enjoyable enough but it's let down by a lack of development in both the characters and the plot. Sure everything looks pretty, but a glossy sheen doesn't help disguise Snow White and the Huntsman's flaws.

**

- Becky

FILM REVIEW: Avengers Assemble

When the Asgardian god of mischief, Loki, returns to Earth with his very own brand of villainy, SHIELD works to unite several superheroes into one team, the Avengers, in order to put a stop to him bringing the world to its knees.

The Avengers (I'll call it this throughout the review as it sounds less like a vendetta against furniture instructions) has been a long time coming, building across five films to form a Marvel Universe the likes of which many comic book fans had only ever dreamed of seeing on screen. Though I'm relatively new to the full extent of the Marvel mythology, I've always grown up with the cartoons, the stories and the iconic characters. The Avengers was a bit of a fantasy; something that was a good idea and would be amazing to see on the big screen but that would probably never happen. It would just be too big. Then Iron Man happened. Ever since Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) showed up in the Iron Man post-credits sting talking about the Avengers Initiative, Marvel have been building towards this moment, a film that saw several superheroes, stars in their own right, come together to form Earth's Mightiest Heroes. After an expert marketing campaign that meant the (already considerable) hype had been ramped up to the maximum, The Avengers finally hit the big screen last week. And it's fantastic.


The plot centres around your friendly neighbourhood macguffin, the Tesseract, a Cosmic Cube of pure, self-generating energy that holds the key to a lot of things for a lot of people, last seen in Captain America: The First Avenger. SHIELD (i.e. Nick Fury and Clark Gregg's Agent Phil Coulson) are currently in possession of the Cube but with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) on the move, this isn't the case for very long. Soon, Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) are brought together to try and stop Loki from destroying Earth as we know it.

First things first, director and co-writer, Joss Whedon really did have a hell of a job on his hands. Being able to juggle seven main characters, four of whom with super-powers and all with their own baggage, a villain with more angst than the average episode of Dawson's Creek and a decent plot with good action sequences then making sure that all of this makes a good film is no easy task. Thankfully, the screenplay Whedon and fellow writer Zak Penn have put together manages all of these things and more. Despite having to contend with a huge cast of major characters, every single one gets a moment in the spotlight and the cast seize each chance with both hands. Although many people are claiming that the Hulk steals the show (he is brilliant), for me, it's Tom Hiddleston's Loki who really shines in this film. As with his appearance in Thor, Hiddleston manages to create a villain that is thoroughly evil, compelling and yet still a little sympathetic. His desire to rule essentially comes from a place of low self-esteem thanks to some serious daddy issues and Thor's explanation for this is one of my highlights of the film. 


That's not to say the other actors do badly, in fact, I'd go so far as to say there wasn't really a dud performance in the film. Thanks to some classic Whedonesque one liners, the interplay between the superheroes offers each one a chance in the spotlight. Whether you want to see Thor going ten rounds with Captain America, Tony Stark verbally sparring with Bruce Banner or the Black Widow taking on the Hulk, every scene between the heroes is great to watch. Naturally with a film of this magnitude, a couple of characters are going to get a little less attention and in this case, it was Cobie Smulders' Agent Maria Hill and Renner's Hawkeye. The script does give both of them a chance to shine in their respective roles but I didn't feel like they got the same amount of development devoted to the other characters. That being said, it never felt that they were included simply to be filler, both playing an integral part in the story as the eyes and ears of the operation. Whedon is used to handling big casts of big characters with his experience on ensemble shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly and the same skill is transferred here.


As always with a superhero film of this magnitude, the action scenes were going to have to be big and bold. Thankfully the action scenes are both necessary for the story and extremely well put-together. Not once did I lose track of what was happening or who was fighting who, a welcome feeling in an action film. Every scene was entirely organic to the developing narrative, never once feeling as if it was inserted just to kickstart the plot as the pacing was also well-handled. As with the interplay between all the characters, the fight scenes between the various heroes were every bit as thrilling as they should have been. The Chitauri, the alien race employed by Loki to take over the Earth, didn't exactly live up to the fearsome reputation that had been talked up earlier in the film. As they practically had 'canon fodder' stamped on their grisly foreheads, it makes enough sense that they could be dispatched without great difficulty but they could have a little more threatening. That's a very minor criticism though as these action sequences were really all about seeing the Avengers throw down. Even with the slightly dodgy foe, the final action sequence barely let you stop for breath with all the heroes pulling their weight in one of the most epic battles in recent history. It's a testament to both the writers and the cast that these action scenes actually further both plot and character development rather than merely being mindless violence for a few minutes at a time.


The Avengers always had the potential to be something revolutionary, a film that finally realised the full grandeur that the Marvel Universe had to offer but then it could also have been a complete flop. Thankfully in the hands of Joss Whedon and a truly committed cast, it's the former, a rollercoaster ride of action, comedy and spectacle from start to finish. It took all my strength to not clap and cheer loudly at several moments during the film and, for me, that's a sign of a truly great superhero film.




*****


- Becky

FILM REVIEW: The Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods has been involved in something of a review furore over the past week with certain reviewers revealing spoilers and causing consternation for those people who want to go in and see the film cold. So I'm issuing a disclaimer straight away: This review will not contain any spoilers whatsoever, other than information that has appeared in the trailer for the film. 

Directed by Cloverfield's Drew Goddard, produced by Joss Whedon and written by both, Cabin in the Woods has been stuck on the shelf for awhile after MGM's financial difficulties. Now the film is finally with us, 18 months late but thankfully, just as fresh and as relevant. I heard about this project when it was first being produced back in 2009 and was ridiculously excited for it then. With all the anticipation for the film, mostly on my part, it could have easily become just another horror movie dud, but in the hands of genre mash-up extraordinaires Goddard and Whedon, we've got something that could be just as revolutionary as Scream was back in the 90s.

The film follows five college kids, Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Dana (Kristen Connelly), Holden (Jesse Williams), Marty (Fran Kranz) and Jules (Anna Hutchinson), off for a long weekend to Curt's cousin's cabin in the woods. On the way, we get the five meeting your stereotypical country hick (played brilliantly by Tim de Zarn) and being warned away from the cabin at the end of Tillerman Road. Instead of doing the sensible thing and turning around, the quintet of canon fodder head off to the remote location and proceed to awaken something that wants to slice and dice them one by one. But is there all there is to it? And just what do Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford) have to do with it all?

Now I can't stress enough that if you want to enjoy this film as fully as possible, it's essential to avoid all the spoilers you can. The primary reason for this is because The Cabin in the Woods is a film that demands to be viewed with very little prior knowledge and that's part of the joy of the experience; you think you know what's coming but trust me when I say you really don't.

Every twist, shock, surprise, laugh etc. comes from not being able to expect anything because you honestly have no idea what's about to happen. There were moments in the film where I jumped at something scary, laughed really hard at something funny, back to jumping, back to laughing again, all in the space of about 60 seconds of the film. It's a fantastic cinematic experience and it's really refreshing to attend a film where you haven't worked out the plot within about thirty seconds.

As you'd expect from Whedon and Goddard, the writing is brilliant, treading the fine line between horror and comedy throughout. It's a testament to both writers that, with a genre so tired and a format so familiar that the audience always knows what's coming, they inject new life into it, reminding us all why we love horror films so much in the first place. In the first half an hour, the cliches come thick and fast but the deconstruction of them comes just as quick, never once letting you forget that what you're watching is a horror film that is aware of exactly what it is.

Praise must also go to the excellent cast that were assembled for the film. The five actors portraying the college kids each fit their roles well, playing the horror archetypes that we're all used to seeing. The standout in this part of the ensemble is Fran Kranz as the stoner fool of the group, given some of the best lines in the film and stealing most scenes from the others. 

A pre-Thor Hemsworth does the supposedly dumb jock well while Connelly's virginal Dana is played with all the wide-eyed innocence you'd expect from that particular character. The best performances in the film though are Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford as the mysterious pair you see right at the beginning of the film. The chemistry between the two actors is a joy to watch and their appearances are a real highlight. 

Films that are meta in their construction often run the risk of being too clever for their own good. We've of course had the meta horror film before in Wes Craven's Scream but The Cabin in the Woods blows it away, simply because it's a lot more fun. Where it succeeds is that it has a considerable amount of love for the films it's poking fun at. The film knows it's extremely clever and self-aware, but, importantly, it doesn't take itself too seriously, making it one of the most fun films I have seen in a long time.

*****

- Becky