FILM: The Wolverine 3D (dir: James Mangold, 2013)

"We don't all have claws."

The Wolverine is a much more focused film and story than the wayward X-Men: Origins, and as such it uses its main strength - Hugh Jackman giving 100% - to full advantage.  The opening act is a surprisingly sombre and blatant rain-soaked meditation on mortality, but once the first real action sequence kicks in (and not many funerals can boast the yakuza, parkour, martial arts and mutant action), the film mostly maintains a reasonable balance between fights and character beats.  The Japanese setting is well-used and consistently attractive, and the 3D is largely superfluous but occasionally handled creatively.  Wolverine gets a somewhat sudden and unconvincing new love interest, but the presence of Famke Janssen is very welcome and used well.  The overall style is quite mature and respectfully comic-book, apart from the daft finale that borders on Batman and Robin and Superman III.  The in--closing-credits teaser scene for the next X-Men movie serves as an apt reminder that whilst Wolverine's Japanese holiday was interesting, our appetites have been whetted for the main event to come.

FILM: The World's End (dir: Edgar Wright, 2013)

"It's about togetherness."

The World's End is a much more organic and complete viewing experience than the recent, almost sketch-based (but still very enjoyable) This Is The End, benefiting from a very tight script, even tighter direction and a cast who we have seen grow up together. The standout in this extremely strong ensemble this time is Nick Frost, in both character and action moments.  Indeed, the fight scenes are extremely well-staged (and it even obeys the 45-minutes rule, the point at which the action really kicks off) and the sci-fi elements are spot on.  There are effective nods to the earlier films, and a slew of enjoyable references  - loved the Fawlty Towers gag).  The sense of age and experience is played beautifully here, and there is genuine rage at the unfulfilled promises of life on reaching middle age.  The comedy is lovely, from the daft and deft Airplane!-style exchanges to some wonderfully-staged visual jokes.   Whilst not quite as madly off-kilter as a trilogy closer as Army Of Darkness, The World's End provides a fittingly mature and entertaining conclusion to an uniquely British collaboration.

FILM: Monsters University 3D (dir: Dan Scanlon, 2013)

"Surprise me? I doubt that very much."

 

Another long-gestating Pixar/Disney project finally settles on what initially seems like an odd premise on which to build a children's film  - a prequel set in the university years - but it works surprisingly well by staying true to the characters and building a credible friendship.  A much-younger Mikey prologue not only sets up the franchise's main premise but serves as an excellent way back into the Monsters world and ties in nicely with the first film.  The idealised college design is stunning, and the 3D depth also demonstrates a wealth of detail in numerous background characters and ideas.  The high quality of character movement convinces to the extent that the viewer's focus is more on character than cartoon, and with peerless delivery by Goodman and Crystal, the mix of sincere character beats and genuine funny moments builds effectively as the film progresses, in spite of initial concerns of the missing charm that Boo brought to the original.  Put up against Summer 2013's main animated rival - Despicable Me 2 - Monsters University comes across as the more complete and satisfying film. 

 

FILM: Pacific Rim IMAX 3D (dir: Guillermo del Toro, 2013)

"Fortune favours the brave, dude."

So, del Toro does Michael Bay with a hefty dose of his beloved Lovecraftian creatures in this pure popcorn movie that offers surprisingly little more than that.  Although Pacific Rim is a rare original property in the Summer of 2013, its many influences are clear to be seen, not just from the whole kaiju/Godzilla cycle, but also from anime to Independence Day, and from Top Gun to Thunderbirds (the latter in the wonderfully insane pilot-boarding sequences and impossibly huge hangars).  Indeed, the enormous scale of the visuals is amazingly impressive and the (IMAX) sound mix is thunderous.  The smackdowns are impressive, but the breathless attempts to inject narrative suspense about the creatures' origins and intentions and the bluntly-handled emotional backstories have little weight.  The simplistic characters are nevertheless watchable, and Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba in particular give strong and engaging performances as the younger/older protagonists, but Rinko Kikuchi as the film's only real female presence barely gets a chance to register. Pacific Rim is ultimately about giant robots beating up giant monsters, and this respect the film truly delivers spectacle and big-screen entertainment, but do not go expecting much else.

DVD: Starship Troopers Invasion (dir: Shinji Aramaki, 2012)

"How can a bug control a starship?"

Sony keep the franchise alive with this fourth 'movie', a fully-CGI mo-capped direct-to-DVD effort that is by no means the worst so far (the woeful Hero Of The Federation will still take some beating on that score) but struggles to be more than mediocre.  The spaceship designs show some pleasing detail, but character animation is more variable and at times awkward.  There is an inevitable upfront influence of the Alien series and anime on the whole visual aesthetic and story moments - the women in particular are pneumatic fetishised objects - but this entry add very little to the overall mythos, relying instead on mostly well-staged but repetitive spaceship-bound bug attacks.  Previous (now promoted) characters give some familiarity, but they are not voiced by the original actors. The DVD transfer is soft, and whilst there is clearly a degree of love and effort put into this production, it is not especially strong or memorable.

FILM: Now You See Me (dir: Louis Leterrier, 2013)

"That's very nice, very well-polished...."

This marriage of illusionists and heist movie is very entertaining.  The delivery is slick and very fast-paced, and the combination of illusions and reveals keeps the movie flowing very well.  The eclectic cast members are all extremely watchable, from the Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco all performing and delivering well in contrasting roles) to a spritely Michael Caine and the culture-clash detectives pairing of Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent.  The dialogue is engaging, the interesting and kinetic camerawork brings scenes to life, and only the open ending that smacks of sequel-baiting (which would actually be welcome) could be a little more satisfying. 

FILM: The Internship (dir: Shawn Levy, 2013)

"Here comes the Golden Snitch!"
"Who the f**k is THIS now?"

This somewhat extended Google advert (running just under two hours) starts worryingly with Vaughn and Wilson doing their usual tired and over-familiar characters and situations. Once they actually get to Google HQ and start the selection process for the titular internship and team up with a trio of familiarly-styled tech-geek outsiders ('The United Colours of Nerd') the movie becomes increasingly (and surprisingly) warm, good-natured and pleasing.  Of course it bears no relation to the real world, it is relentlessly predictable and the comedy is a little uneven, but it is buoyed up by some lovely character moments by Dylan O'Brien, Tiya Sircar and Tobit Raphael as the would-be interns, and Shawn Levy shows he certainly knows how to control the emotional/dialogue beats in a scene.  The underdogs-come-good theme is played out to its effective and crowd-pleasing conclusion, as are the unimaginative character arcs, but by the end one cannot help but feel a lot more warmly and satisfied towards this film than in the early establishing scenes.

FILM: This Is The End (dirs: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, 2013)

"It's like a sleepover!"

Apart from the moments when this gang's schoolboy obsession with drugs and masturbation jokes are eye-rollingly tiresome, This Is The End is far funnier and more entertaining than expected.  Like Shaun Of The Dead, there is an effective combination of the ease of a group of mates seemingly larking about couched in a very accurate and well-mounted genre story, and here the apocalyptic scenes are indeed well done.  The actors' skewed portrayals of themselves are very enjoyable: Michael Cera and Jonah Hill are an absolute delight, Jay Baruchel reminds us that he can be a genuinely thoughtful screen actor, and even Danny McBride is almost watchable.  The film is boosted by some well-placed cameos - not all of which are in the trailer, with one unexpected reveal proving to be a real crowd-pleaser - and some fun movie references (including Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist to great effect), and with the self-indulgence limited to a few occasions, This Is The End proves to be mostly a fast-paced, funny, simple but entertaining romp.