Film review: The Book of Life

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3D, animation, animation films, Channing Tatum, Day of the Dead, Diego Luna, director Jorge R Gutiérrez, entertainment, Film Review, Film review: The Book of Life, Films, Ice Cube, Jorge R Gutiérrez, Kate del Castillo, movies, Ron Perlman, The Book of Life, Zoe Saldana

The Book of Life is a quirky animation film by director Jorge R Gutiérrez, celebrating Mexican folklore and the Day of the Dead.

The story begins outside a dusty old museum with a rag-tag bunch of temperamental children showing up for a tour and delightful guide, with long hair and a sexy smile showing them a hidden doorway.

With the help of wooden puppets she begins telling the old Mexican folktale of Manolo (Diego Luna), Joaquin (Channing Tatum) and Maria (Zoe Saldana).

As children the three are the best of friends, playfully teasing each other, both boys already in love with Maria, but on the Day of the Dead the stunning La Muerta (Kate del Castillo), the ruler of the Land of the Remembered, bets Xibalba (Ron Perlman), the lord of the Land of the Forgotten, that one day gentle Manolo will marry Maria.

Xibalba champions the adventurous Joaquin and decides to stack the odds in his favour, so he cheats and gives Joaquin a mystical medal.

The children grow up, each following the path their parents envisions them too, but when Maria returns from boarding school, things change, rules are broken and death happens.

But in this charming story, death isn’t permanent, love triumphs and staying true to oneself is the biggest victory of course there is a happy ending, moral and all.

The Book of Life is an original take on a predictable tale with the colourful take on Mexican artwork adding to its appeal. The figures look like they have been carved from wood and painted in as many colours as possible, but tasteful and endearingly so.

And even if the adventure down to the land of the forgotten may be a little scary for some of the more junior viewers, the happy and huggable Candle Maker (Ice Cube) lightens the mood ensuring that darkness never prevails for long.

With it’s 3D imaging and unusual design The Book of Life is an enjoyable film for everyone in the family and a brilliant Halloween treat.

Film review: White House Down

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2012 and Independence Day, Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum, Die Hard, director Roland Emmerich, entertainment, film reviews, Films, Jamie Foxx, Joey King, John McClane, Maggie Gyllenhall, movies, reviews, Roland Emmerich, The Day after Tomorrow, White House Down

After The Day after Tomorrow, 2012 and Independence Day director Roland Emmerich has now decided it’s time to blow up the White House from within. No natural disasters or aliens needed, this time a handful of terrorists and a few corrupt politicians is all it takes. But of course there is a hero to hand to save the day.

John Cale (Channing Tatum) calls in a few favours and interviews for a job as secret service agent. Unlucky for him agent Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhall) is not only sceptical of his abilities but knows him from his not so dashing past. Trying to not disappoint more women in his life Cale takes his angry teenage daughter Emily (Joey King) on a tour of the White House and of course politics obsessed Emily bumps into the Presidant (Jamie Foxx).

As luck would have it terrorist decided it’s the perfect day for a White House takeover and bring it down. But working class hero John won’t let this stop him from finding his daughter, who got lost in the ensuing chaos, and makes his way through gun-fire and falling debris only to find the Commander in Chief in need of a rescue. From then onwards John has a two-fold mission, find his daughter and save the President.

Like most “here-to save-the-day-movies” the character of John Cale is a close copy of Bruce Willis John McClane in Die Hard, only missing a few letters to his name and wearing the obligatory sweat stained tank top. But Tatum does a good job, not only does the shirt fit his physique beautifully, his charm and good delivery of one liners give White House Down a certain amount of flair and fun, not unlike the Die Hard series.

And it seems that America is in need of a new hero, making Tatums timing perfect, after all the ususual suspects are all getting a little too old : Bruce Willis is 55, Brad Pitt 49 and Will Smith 44.  But while Tatum is the obvious star of White House Down, Foxx is a little too predictable and bland but does have some good lines. King on the other hand often steals the limelight and is one to watch in the future. And Gyhllenhall does what she always does, is pretty, a little quirky but really just the female on the sidelines.

So while White House Down doesn’t really do anything new and tells a story already told it is well written with maybe a few too many outrageous twists. The special effects are believable, but it is Tatum who upstages everything with his good looks, on screen charm and athletic bravado.

So if you like Die Hard and a bit of a on screen demolition White House Down is definitely one to watch.

stop-loss … behind the times

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back door draft, Channing Tatum, film stop-loss, Joseph Gordon Levitt, miscellaneous, Ryan Phillippe, secretary of defense robert gates, stop-loss, us military

I cuddled down to watch a film last night and ended up watching the 2008 film Stop-Loss. Although it’s a film staring Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt it was one that passed me by  when it originally came out. And somehow I never read anything or heard much about it.

The story line is quite simple, after a tour of duty in Iraq a group of veteran soldiers return back to their home town in Texas. For  best friends Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum) and Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) it is a return for good. As each of the friends try to find a way to settle back into normal life it becomes clear how the war has affect each of them.  On Kings last day of military duty his life is turned upside down when he is told he has been stop-lossed, basically his active duty of service has been involuntary extended.

I had never heard the term stop-loss before and as the film ended I sat down to research what the term meant and how it came about. I was appalled to learn that EVERY person who signs up for the military in the US signs an agreement that allows the military to extend their service involuntarily until “six months after the war ends unless the enlistment is ended sooner by the President of the United States”.

This basically means that after the eight year of duty a solider signs up for the military can just prolong their service on a whim. And they do, the figures I cam across where astonishing. Between 2001 and 2009 there where more than 145,000 soldiers said to be stop-lossed. They main reason for this was that the Bush administration evoke the stop-loss rule as they struggled to maintain troop strengths for the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Of course there has been much controversial about the stop-law order since it’s inception after the Vietnam war. In 2004 the presidential candidate John Kerry called stop-loss a “back-door draft” and in 2009 Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates acknowledged that the practice of stop-loss was “breaking the faith” with the soldiers who volunteered to serve.  However Gates had already said in 2007 that he was going to reduce the use of the stop-loss order, but didn’t as it actually climbed by 40%. Thankfully Obama did keep his promise and on June 15th 2011, Gates told a Senate subcommittee that stop-loss had indeed ended.

I know I am behind the times in this matter but it still shocked me to learn that so many had been forced to serve longer than they signed up for. And as far as I can tell although the stop-loss order has been suspended it doesn’t mean it doesn’t still exist, just that it isn’t being invoked. So forgive me for writing “behind the times”.

Stopping stop-loss, The New York Times 2009

Stop-Loss article from 2011

Film review: Magic Mike

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Alex Pettyfer, Channing Tatum, Contagion, director steven soderbergh, entertainment, Erin Brockovich, Film Review, hollywood, magic mike, Matthew McConaughey, Peter Andrews, reviews, Step Up, Steven Soderbergh

It may cost you a few singles but Magic Mike shows some of the hottest men in Hollywood take off their shirts, pants and what little they wear underneath. But this stripper film is about more than just some g-strings, great abs and gyrating hips.  Director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Contagion) may have been shooting under his pseudonym Peter Andrews but it’s not hard to miss his skill of pulling the best out of his leading actors.

Set in Tampa Florida Magic Mike tells the story of Mike (Channing Tatum), a part-time roofer who dreams of becoming a custom furniture designer while saving all the singles he earns stripping in the seedy nightclub Xquisite. A chance encounter with Adam (Alex Pettyfer) is the beginning of the end of his stripping career.

Mike takes Adam under his wing and mentor-protégé relationship develops. At first it’s all fun and games and the two hot male strippers enjoy the single life and spending the ones stuck in their underwear. But Adam’s protective older sister Brooke (Cody Horn) isn’t happy with the changes she sees in her little brother and sees Mike as the culprit when things go wrong.  But as the story progresses Mike discovers that the life he is leading isn’t the answer to his dreams and he struggles to see what and how he can change.

Tatum is perfectly cast in the role of Magic Mike and shows he hasn’t forgotten how to move since Step Up and performs acrobatic back-flips and sexy dance moves to prove it. But he is more than just a very sexy body in this movie, it is in the quite moments, particularly partnered with Horn or Pettyfer where his true ability shines through. As a producer on this film the idea behind the script came from his own personal experience as a 19-year old stripper at the beginning of his career, so maybe that is why his portrayal is so raw and real.

Pettyfer holds his own as the bashful newbie stripper, who leaves his socks on, who then succumbs to the lure of the night-life glamour.  But even at his best he can’t steal the scene away from Tatum whose charm and screen presents out shines him.

But the true star of this movie is Matthew McConaughey whose supporting role as the leathery, overly tanned club-owner and old-time stripper Dallas couldn’t be more cheesy, more greasy and more of a self parody.  Seeing him prance around in his ridiculous hats and outfits makes the film worth seeing on it’s own.

Magic Mike is hard to but into one genre as it is not a date-night film, the poor lads will never live up to the expectations given on screen, and it is not a chick-flick either as it is grittier than expected. But even though the ending is a little disappointing and one can’t help but feel let down or that the story ran out, Magic Mike is a good film with strong actors and surprising moments. And if you can look past the fact that Sonderbergh fell a little too in love with his yellow filter that taints many of the scenes and gives them a vintage feel, Magic Mike gives a little insight into a milieu most of us don’t know and isn’t afraid to be a bit controversial.