Wreck-It Ralph

www.disney.co.uk/wreck-it-ralph

If you've read my last review for Monsters, Inc. you'll know that I'm a massive sucker for Disney movies. So I knew I would see Wreck-It Ralph as soon as I saw the trailer. The fact that the movie was picked by my cinema buddy as his Birthday movie choice just made the decision to see it that much sweeter.

Wreck-It Ralph tells the story of a guy called Ralph who lives in an arcade game called Fix It Felix. Ralph's job is to wreck the building Felix manages. If you win the game, Felix fixes all of the things Ralph wrecks and it's game over for Ralph. But Ralph isn't a bad guy, not in the traditional sense of the word, and he wants to break out of his routine. He does this by jumping into another game, one that will make him a hero, but in the process he risks the lives of everyone else in Fix It Felix world, because without Ralph, they have no game.

Wreck-It Ralph, like most Disney movies, has an easy to follow premise. But it succeeds due to the finer details that only Disney think of. Although I didn't grow up in arcades, I can still appreciate the dedication that has gone into not only re-creating these games* for the movie, but also creating the lives of the characters in them. This is where Disney truly excel. 

The scene where Ralph is at 'Bad-Anon', which is basically alcoholics anonymous for bad guys, is so well thought out and executed you can't help but love every bad guy in that room. And if it doesn't make you look at bad guys in your gaming worlds differently, then nothing will. 

The voice work and animation are both superb as you would also expect, but Wreck-It Ralph's heart lies in showing us something we all want in our own lives, acceptance, and then making the characters work for it. 

Kids and adults alike will both get a lot from Ralph. Seeing it certainly didn't wreck my day. And if you get to the cinema early enough you'll also see the Oscar winning animated short film Paperman. Worth the admission alone. 7 out of 10. 

*All of the games featured in the movie are real games. Seriously. Go to You Tube, the games are on there!

Viewing Date - 8th February 2013

UK Release Date - 8th February 2013

Cast Overview:

(If you don't like knowing who the voices are DONT SCROLL DOWN! ;0)

John C Reilly ~ Ralph

Sarah Silverman ~ Vanellope

Jack McBrayer ~ Felix

Jane Lynch ~ Calhoun

Alan Tudyk ~ King Candy

Mindy Kaling ~ Taffyta Muttonfudge

Ed O'Neill ~ Mr Litwak

Director ~ Rich Moore

Writer(s) ~ Rich Moore (Story), Phil Johnston (Story and Screenplay), Jim Reardon (Story), Jennifer Lee (Screenplay)

Monsters, Inc. 3D

http://disney.go.com/monstersinc/index.html

My regular readers will know that I love Disney movies. My first cinematic memory is of seeing Bambi, and then being traumatised for life obviously. That aside, in recent years I have developed an even greater love of Disney Pixar movies. As the sister of an artist/animator I have always had an in-built appreciation for the painstaking process that goes into each frame, and I'm of the mind that Pixar's team not only pick out the best stories, but they animate them so beautifully that if you don't love them you must have a heart made of stone.

Monsters, Inc. was the first Pixar movie that I fell in love with. At that time I'd not seen Toy Story but even if I had I think Mike and Sulley would have surpassed any feelings I had for Woody and Buzz. The subsequent Pixar movies, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and even Wall.E were all wonderful but somehow the lovable monsters are always the ones I come back to. I will always remember seeing Monsters, Inc. for the first time. I was with my ex boyfriend and I cried like a baby when *spoiler alert* Boo had to go home. I still do. His reaction to my waterworks was less than understanding and made me feel ridiculous. I now refer back to my earlier statement that if you don't love them you must have a heart made of stone. It's now a requirement of any suitor that you have to have a love of Disney movies to date me.

So you can probably understand that with the impending release of Monsters University later this year, I was somewhat thrilled at the re-release of Monsters, Inc. in 3D.

For anyone who doesn't know the story, Mike and Sulley are the top team of scarers at Monsters Incorporated, the industry that makes energy for the monster world by capturing children's screams. One day Sulley finds a door, the gateway between the monster world and the human world, when the scare floor should be empty. He accidentally uncovers a plot by the second best scarer, Randall, to beat his score by kidnapping children. Meanwhile, the child Randall had planned to kidnap has escaped into the monster world. Believing children to be toxic to them, Sulley and Mike must try to find the girl and return her to the human world, whilst also putting an end to Randall's scheming ways.

Monsters, Inc. is not the most plot heavy of the Pixar movies but it's colourful and lively for kids whilst also having enough in jokes for the adults to keep them entertained. The voice actors do a fantastic job of making these characters lovable and memorable. And every time I hear the name 'Kitty' I will always well up a little bit. The animation is gorgeous, between the individual hairs that can be seen on Sulley and the expressions captured in Boo's perfect human face I can't fault the animators here one bit. It's all so well done.

If you haven't seen Monsters, Inc. I highly recommend it in 3D. And if you have, well then you know how great it is. Get down to your nearest cinema and see it again! 9.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 3rd February 2013

UK Release Date - 18th January 2013

Cast Overview:

(If you don't like knowing who the voices are DONT SCROLL DOWN! ;0)

John Goodman ~ James P "Sulley" Sullivan

Billy Crystal ~ Mike Wazowski

Mary Gibbs ~ Boo

Steve Buscemi ~ Randall Boggs

James Coburn ~ Henry J Waternoose

Jennifer Tilly ~ Celia

Bob Peterson ~ Roz

John Ratzenberger ~ The Abominable Snowman

Director(s) ~ Pete Docter, David Silverman (Co-Director) and Lee Unkrich (Co-Director)

Writer(s) ~ Pete Docter (Original Story), Jill Culton (Original Story), Jeff Pidgeon (Original Story), Ralph Eggleston (Original Story), Andrew Stanton (Screenplay), Daniel Gerson (Screenplay), Robert Baird (Additional Screenplay Material), Rhett Reese (Additional Screenplay Material) and Jonathan Roberts (Additional Screenplay Material).

Zero Dark Thirty

http://www.zerodarkthirty-movie.com/

Zero Dark Thirty was not a movie that I anticipated seeing, or wanting to see, when I first heard about it. As much as the story seemed like an interesting one  there was no particular element that drew me in. Sure, The Hurt Locker was an amazing feat but was that just down to the charisma of the leading man? This was going to be another film set in the middle east for Kathryn Bigelow and I wasn't sure she could pull this one off if I'm honest.

It wasn't until two of my best friends stepped in that I started to change my mind. One of my friends, who's based in the US, went to see the film before it was released here and raved about it. Then, in a move that surprised me and rocked my very foundations, my bff here suggested we go to see it. This is a girl more likely to cry at disney movies than I am, wanting to go see a film about Bin Laden? Well alrighty then!

For those who think this is all Zero Dark Thirty is, allow me to elaborate. The story actually centers on a group of CIA operatives who, over the course of a decade, are trying to locate Bin Laden by any means necessary. This involves some interrogation of those affiliated with him, tracking his couriers across Afghanistan and performing high level surveillance of houses they believed he occupied. All of this eventually leading to his believed location and a mission carried out by Navy SEALs to hunt him down.

In the forefront of all of this action, and I suppose this is where the story really surprises a lot of people, is a woman. Maya, played by the impeccable Jessica Chastain, starts out as a fairly reserved character, watching, listening, taking advice, all the while learning about the enemy and how best to defeat him. Over time she becomes stronger and more able to make the tough decisions than the men around her and eventually comes out victorious after 10 long years. But this is a Kathryn Bigelow movie. It's not about winning the war, it's about what the war takes from you. And this is why Kathryn Bigelow was the perfect person to take on this project. Not because it's a story with a strong female lead. We know from Bigelow's previous films that she directs men as well, if not better than, women. No, the real reason she was perfect for this film is because she is able to tell a story about the aftermath of war, as much as she capable of showing us the war itself.

A lot has been said about the torture scenes in this film but I actually found them to be quite mild. Anyone who has seen Rendition, the movie with Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, will know a hard hitting torture scene when they see one. I have long been a fan of gory horror movies but even I found some of those scenes hard to stomach. By comparison I didn't feel like the torture scenes in this movie were that bad. And they were necessary to show the evolution of Maya's character. 

I would definitely recommend seeing Zero Dark Thirty, even if it's not the type of film you would normally see. I guarantee that whatever you think you know about this film is not a true representation of what you get out of seeing it. So go see it. 8 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 2nd February 2013

UK Release Date - 11th January 2013 

Cast Overview:

Jessica Chastain ~ Maya

Jason Clarke ~ Dan

Joel Edgerton ~ Patrick

Mark Strong ~ George Wright

Jennifer Ehle ~ Jessica

Kyle Chandler ~ Joseph Bradley

Chris Pratt ~ Justin

Taylor Kinney ~ Jared

Stephen Dillane ~ National Security Advisor

Harold Perrineau ~ Jack

James Gandolfini ~ Leon Panetta

Director ~ Kathryn Bigelow

Writer ~ Mark Boal

Gangster Squad

http://gangstersquad.warnerbros.com/

Gangster Squad seemed to be a long time coming. It was initially due for release around the same time as Lawless but was postponed by the cinema shooting in Aurora as the film featured a scene involving a shoot out at a cinema. 

I'm not sure that January was the best time to release the finished film, not when cinemas at the moment seem to be full of Oscar contenders. But I guess as it's not likely to be a contender for awards it's probably as good a time as any for an old fashioned gangster film.

The film is loosely based on the story of Mob boss Mickey Cohen and how the Los Angeles police force formed a secret squad of officers who's sole purpose was to take him down.

I know several guys at my work who really loved this film, however me and my two friends I saw it with definitely found it left us less than impressed. The acting is solid and if I'm honest I do struggle to say what was wrong with the film. It just felt lacklustre, over long and repetative in places with one shoot out after another. I guess that was the whole point, this being a gangster film, but it just got boring after a while. 

The scenes depicting the family lives of the cops were a nice touch and definitely gave the characters more depth but they felt a little like fillers for the big shoot outs and that's where the film became bland and uninspired for me.

If your a fan of those involved or have a particular love of gangster films then you'll probably think this is a great way to spend 2+ hours. If not then I'd say there's not much here for you. 6 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 15th January 2013

UK Release Date - 11th January 2013

Cast Overview:

Josh Brolin ~ Sergeant John O'Mara

Ryan Gosling ~ Sergeant Jerry Wooters

Sean Penn ~ Mickey Cohen 

Emma Stone ~ Grace Faraday 

Nick Nolte ~ Bill Parker 

Anthony Mackie ~ Detective Coleman Harris

Giovanni Ribisi ~ Detective Conwell Keeler

Robert Patrick ~ Detective Max Kennard

Michael Peña ~ Detective Navidad Ramirez

Director ~ Ruben Fleischer

Writer(s) ~ Will Beall and Paul Lieberman (book)