Movie #13 - Dark Shadows

I've never met a Tim Burton/Johnny Depp pairing I didn't like.  Until now....

Dark Shadows is a new movie based on an old US TV show from the 1960s.  The show was developed as a soap opera for housewives with a bit of a supernatural/gothic tone but was apparently much more popular than first anticipated.  A shared fondness for the show between Johnny and Tim prompted them to try a movie version.  The result is a very weird mix of melodrama, comedy and kookiness.

The film centres around the Collins family, who ran a very successful fishing business in the 18th Century but were plagued by odd events.  When Barnabis Collins spurns the affections of a servant, who turns out to be an evil witch, his lover is cursed to jump to her death and he is cursed to become a vampire.  The witch then imprisons him, until he is dug up 200 years later in 1972.  There are now only 4 remaining members of the Collins clan and the business empire and family home is crumbling.  Barnabas returns and determines to resurrect the family honour and fortune, but standing in the way is the very same witch who still wants Barnabas to rule the town by her side.  Complicating this is the reincarnation of Barnabas' true love who is now Governess to young David Collins and knows nothing of her history with Barnabas but has her own weird issues going on.

As you can see from the above, the plot is fairly layered and I haven't even mentioned all of the characters and all of the plot points.  This I think is the biggest problem of the movie.  While this would work pretty well in an ongoing TV series that could take some time to explore the characters and events, in a 2 hour film it is just too much - some things get skipped over and you don't really understand the motivations for some of the actions.  Several of the main characters have so little screen time they seem pointless even while they seem like they should have been key players.  One character disappears for quite a long time and then seems to come back just when it is convenient.

There is also not enough humour to sustain the movie, there were a few stretches where I thought it was a little dull.  There was a lot of potential for humour out of the "fish out of water" scenario of a 200 year old vampire arriving in the early 70s and discovering modern technology, but I think that all the best bits were used in the heavy advertising onslaught.  Maybe if they'd gone more in this direction than focusing on the so-called love story, they could have had something really good.  The love story is weird as the lovers spend so little time together on-screen and it seems like the main message is the importance of family and honour.

On the plus side for the movie are the fantastic gothic settings and styling, and the ever reliable Johnny Depp, who can do anything I believe.  He is really good as the very stiff and proper 18th century gentleman, with some very tricky phrases rolling off his tongue.  There is a touch of the Captain Jack in some of the facial expresssions, but isn't that what we love about Johnny?  Michelle Pfeiffer does some great work as the Collins family matriarch, but Eva Green as the witch Angelique and Bella Heathcote as Victoria Winters are merely adequte when they should be great.  Johnny Lee Miller almost fades into the background as Roger Collins and Chloe Moretz is a little bit 'off' as the teen daughter Carolyn.

I thought it was okay but a little disappointing given the cast, crew and potential in the setting.  Should've gone a bit less complicated but there are a few giggles if you are a Johnny Depp fan.

Movie #12 - The Avengers

And the geeks shall inherit the Earth! The Avengers has broken the record for highest ever box office opening weekend in the US, taking $207 million in the first 3 days.  The total box office worldwide has already exceeded $700 million, putting the movie at #44 on the highest ever box office list after only two weeks.  Where will it end up by the time it closes?  Could it rival Avatar and Titanic as the two highest grossing films ever?  I think yes, it definitely could, despite being a "comic book movie".  It's so much fun, and it has the advantage of 3D boosting the receipts.

This actually won't be a really long review.  The plot goes that Loki comes to Earth to steal the Tesseract so he can open a portal to another world where an army awaits to enslave us Earth people.  The head of S.H.I.E.L.D feels the only option is to assemble a team of superheroes to save the Earth.  Major crash and bash follows, occasionally within the team as well as against Loki and his quite fearsome army.  I'd say that you really should have seen Thor before seeing this movie (introduces Thor and Loki) whereas seeing Captain America and Iron Man 1 & 2 would be recommended but not essential.

I loved this movie and I don't want to analyse it too much, as I just really enjoyed it the whole entire time it was on and I couldn't pick a fault with it.  There was some major superhero smackdown, with some fights involved that any self-respecting comic book fan would have dreamed about ending very satisfactorily.  There are no weak links in this awesome team, but Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is especially good - maybe they've finally nailed the Hulk on screen? There are some really funny bits, mainly courtesy of Robert Downey Jr's ongoing rock star approach to Tony Stark.  The 3D is not overkilled at all so don't avoid it if you usually don't like it, and all of the effects are totally top-notch, probably the best I've seen.  I'm so glad that this is a great movie and maybe it can shake off the "comic book" tag once and for all.  Director Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly etc) has done a fantastic job at injecting real humanity into the characters and not doing any cheesy dialogue.

Five out of five stars for this - or should I give it a six for six kickass superheroes?