Film 5: Fast and the Furious 5

Warning the following could contain spoilers!

Film: Fast and the Furious 5 (Fast Five, Fast & Furious 5 Rio Heist)
April 2011

Director: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

Plot: While transporting Dom Toretto (Diesel) to prison the convoy is attacked and Toretto is freed by his sister Mia (Brewster) and her boyfriend Brian O'Conner (Walker), after the breakout the 3 head for Rio, (presumable to reassess the situation or something). Teaming up with fellow car thieves to do a big job the team take cars from a train that from the others reaction seem to have more to them than meets the eye (Transformers! not really). Discovering that the on board computer in one of the cars contains a chip to the location of large amounts of cash, the team decide to steal the money so they can start a new life.

After deaths on the Train Government agent Luke Hobbs (Johnsen) and his team are sent in to capture Toretto and his accomplices.

Toretto decides with the scale of this job a team is needed recruiting from his world wide connections he soon has his team and prepares to launch the heist, but is interrupted by Hobbs who captures the group and prepares to have them extradited to the US. While moving Toretto to the airport Hobbs' team is attacked by the drug smugglers who Toretto had planned on stealing the money from, leaving only Toretto's team and Hobbs alive, with the officer wanting revenge for his men. The gang break into the police station, where the money is being held, and drag the safe through the streets of Rio, when it seems hopeless Dom tells O'Conner to run while he takes out the remaining forces chasing them. He takes out the rest of the drug smugglers and police but before driving off is confronted by Hobbs who tells him to leave the safe, Toretto agrees and takes his head start Hobbs has offered him.

Looking in the safe Hobbs finds it empty where it is reviled that it was swapped earlier by the gang. Hobbs laughs while we join Toretto joining up with O'Conner and a pregnant Mia, challenging each other to a race.

Thoughts going in: I had seen Fast and the Furious and only parts of the others so I went in knowing only that it seemed a generic action movie with a lot about cars that I didn't really think I would care about. But the main promotion for the movie had Diesel vs Johnson which was an encounter I had to see.

Review: This was just another F&F film, full of action, unnecessary car races, car thieves inexplicable being well trained in use of guns, computers and any form of vehicle that's not a car. It was fun to watch and a funny moment in the cinema when it did the traditional shot of Rio when it goes passed Christo Redentor and a woman screamed "Oh, it's Rio!" despite the movie having 'Rio Heist' in its title.

Score: C+

Says its title: No, at no point does anyone even say Fast and Furious.

Worth the DVD?: No, unless these are your sort of movies it does not stick out from any of the rest of the series, lets hope Fast 6 is more standout. 

Film 4: Winnie the Pooh

Warning the following could contain spoilers!

Film: Winnie the Pooh
April 2011

Director: Stephen J. Anderson

Starring: Vocally - John Cleese, Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson,
Singing - Zooey Deschanel

Plot: The Film is based on 3 stories from the book series linked together to make a single flowing narrative following the adventures of Pooh and friends.

Pooh wakes up and in typical fashion searches for honey only to find that he is all out (shock horror), while searching for more he discovers Eeyore, who also in a typical fashion, has lost his tail. Pooh gets all his friends to help try and find the tail but to no avail, when along comes a very British Christopher Robin who suggests a contest to find a replacement tail for Eeyore with the winner receiving a large pot of honey, they try many different things but all fail with comedic effect and Eeyore is forced to go without a tail.

Later Pooh tries to visit Chrisptoher Robin but finds he is not home and only a note left behind, Pooh being a bear obviously cant read the letter so he takes it to Owl who should have no problem reading, what with him being an owl and all. While the note actually reads "Gon out, Bizy be Back Soon" Owl messes up reading it and informs Pooh that Christopher Robin has been taken by an evil creature called the Backson! The gang try to trap the Backson while Tigger goes out to try and confront it and make Eeyore bravery by dressing up as a Backson, meanwhile Pooh falls into the trap while suffering the effects of withdrawal form honey. The rest of the Gang also fall in leaving only Piglet to rescue them, while searching for help piglet is scarred by Tigger still in his costume and runs away knocking several of the giant letters of the book into the trap which allows Pooh to make a ladder and escape.

They find Christopher Robin who explains the mistake in the letter, Pooh then proceeded to head round to Owl's where he finds that Eeyore's tail is being used as a door pull by Owl, returning it to Eeyore Christopher Robin is proud of Pooh's kindness and rewards him with a pot of honey and reminds every one that Pooh is a silly old bear.

Thoughts going in:  Disney's Winnie the Pooh had always not meant a great deal to me, i never connected with the characters apart from Eeyore and it was not part of my childhood like other bits of Disney, However I was determined to support Disney in their traditional animation efforts so I was excited to see what they would produce, I was also pleased that we would be getting this film before America when it so often happens the other way.

Review: It is as nice to view as an of Disney's traditional films, and it was good to see the links to the stories British past but the story was lacking a lot even for a children's film this wasn't for 5+ it was a movie you would take a 3-5 year old to see. I know that is where the characters are most popular but it would have been nice to see it brought up a few years to appeal to a more wider audience base.

Score: C-

Says its title: Yes, in fact Zooey Deschanel sings the song Winnie the Pooh which has the title in it a lot.

Worth the DVD?: Yes, if you have small children or aim to have a full Disney animated collection but otherwise no it is not worth it, it is very nice to look at but lacks the substance worth paying for.

Film 3: Your Highness

Warning the following uld contain spoilers!

Film: Your Highness
April 2011

Director: David Gordon Green

Starring: Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Theroux

Plot: Thadeous (McBride) is the younger son of the king he has spent his life in the shadow of his older brother Fabious (Franco), who has always succeeded at any quest given to him and has wooed the beautiful Belladonna (Deschanel) whom he intends to marry as soon as it can be arranged. Thadeous is excited at the prospect of being the best man until he over hears some knights mocking his poor track record on quest, Thadeous upon hearing this runs out of the wedding in a huff.

The wedding is crashed by the evil warlock Leezar (Theroux) who makes off with Belladonna whom he intends to impregant with a dragon when the two moons converge. Distraught Fabious enlists the help of his knights and brother in order to rescue Belladonna. The brothers learn from a pedophillic fortune teller that the only way to kill Leezar and free Belladonna is to find the fabeled sword of unicorn from within an enchanted labyrinth.

Betrayed by their fellow knights Thadeous and Fabious are captured and forced to fight against a great beast which nearly kills the brothers until they are rescued by a Isabel (Portman) a warrior seeking revenge against Leezar who killed her brothers. Joining together the group journey to the labyrinth where Thadeus retrieved the sword and slays the minotaur guarding it before it can rape Thadeus' servant. Journying to Leezar's kingdom the group kill Leezar and free Belladonna before she is impregnated and ride off home. Fabious and Belladonna are married, while Thadeous is confronted by Isabel who claims to like him but their relationship can only remain friendly until they kill the witch who has the key to her chastity belt, making Thadeous realise they need to go on another quest (thereby leaving room for a sequel unlikely to be made due to the horrible box office performance).

Thoughts going in: The last thing i had paid to see with James Franco was Pinapple Express and dear god i hated that film, i wish i could have gotten my money and more importantly my time but it will be lost to me. I did not know that the director was the same person at all but i saw the trailer and it did have some funny moments in it also it had Natalie Portman and i wasn't going to give it a miss, I should have had some suspicions when the large group of friends that would usually join me to see films all said no, but I went in anyway.

Review:  When I see funny bits in a trailer i hope for more of the same not that all of the comedy in the film could be put into the trailer yet that's what seemingly happened in this film. It was very much like Pineapple Express (which i hear some people actually liked, hear about but never see these people) but set in medieval times. It sums this film up when it cost $50 million to make and only grossed $25 million despite the relatively good amount of advertising it received. Looking for positives the cast preform their roles well enough, but once again another film that brings in Zooey Deschanel just to sing a song and be a bit strange rather than to actually act.

Score: D+, It was going to get and F but the humour in the trailer and more importantly Natalie Portman in a golden bikini brought it up.

Says its title: Yes (so at least it had that going for it)

Worth the DVD?: No, it is not worth owning in anyone's collection, However for the bit with Natalie Portman, maybe.