The Adventures Of Tintin (2011) Movie Review

Yes, the original plan was to post a few days from now. But I would be remiss if I didn't share several words regarding the newly released supergroup project based on Georges Remi (Herge)'s legendary comic strip creation, The Adventures Of Tintin. The much-awaited collaboration between Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, and featuring a script by Steven Moffat, along with Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish, offers a rip-roaring example of what is possible with three-dimensional animation technology melded properly with the very idea of bringing a comic character and his world to life. It's a seamless marriage that showcases much of what has made The Beard the cinema legend has has been for so long, and at the same time plays well with the source material that served as an inspiration for so many filmmakers of the past. It is also evidence that perhaps it was necessary for technology to reach a certain point in order to best sell certain storytelling approaches. For every time a movie fan decries a nuclear test sending a refrigerator into the sky, only to land, open and spilled out our hero unharmed as he continues to stare at a mushroom cloud a distance away, it is filmmaking such as this that can sell it, and work. Suddenly, the story takes center stage with the spectacle. Something that has often eluded fantasy film since the advent of computer generated effects. And as recently mentioned, had the story not been so well conceived, such an event would hardly be as potent..


Tintin is a young , Belgian reporter with a penchant for adventure who is again tumbling into trouble over a rare model replica of a lost at sea ship known as The Unicorn. With his semi-reliable Fox-Terrier companion, Snowy, things become ever more complicated as dangerous parties are relentless in the secrets that lie within the model. Complications which eventually lead Tintin into meeting the near-washed up drunkard ship captain Haddock(Andy Serkis), ultimately setting off a chase around the globe against the nefarious Ivan Sakharine and his gang, also intent on unlocking the secret of the Unicorn, while using the wayward helmsman as key. Also along for the ride, are geek royalty, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as the hopeless duo from Interpol, Thomson & Thompson. Straight out of three of Herge's book collections, The Crab With The Golden Claws(1941), The Secret Of The Unicorn(1945), and Red Rackham's Treasure(1945), Spielberg and company fashion a wildly entertaining cross between loving tribute, and adventure romp on par with one of the famed director's most beloved genre legacies before a certain Crystal Skull came to prominence.


Without delving any deeper into what in many ways is a simpler plot than the twists suggests, another arrow in the quiver is in just how much Spielberg and company are finally able to experiment with the motion capture technology in ways that not only drive the thrill level up by notches, but enhances the very concept of what it is to be an observer in a film. Geography and setup are key elements in delivering what are an impressive array of comedic and action sequences that deliver as much character exposition as raised hairs. The prep work must have been both liberating and punishing, as it become clear that the tools are being utilized to their fullest, even in ways that eluded James Cameron a few short years back. It's rare when we get this much direction in a film that contains as much slapstick and non-verbal action these days, and Tintin offers a textbook example in how much one can learn about characters merely by their actions. Great moments include our hero's "trusty" dog, Snowy, and his tendency to be distracted, and Captain Haddock's bumbling becoming a boon rather than an obstacle when held up near an dangling lifeboat..Perhaps the largest, most impressive example is the dizzying downhill chasing of a raven down the hills of Bagghar. It is an Indy special gone Rube Goldberg berzerk, and could only be done now. And in 3D, it is only made greater.

Again, as an honest to goodness adventure film, this is much less about nuance and character, but what is present is a bounty of wonderful performances by Jamie Bell, as a wide-eyed and likeable Tintin, and Daniel Craig(another Bond gone bad for Mr. Wright?) as Sakharine. But the biggest triumph (again) is the lovely work of Andy Serkis, who grants Haddock three dimensions that even the current CG couldn't do on its own. It's a winning role that cements the character as one of my favorites of the year. And as much of the story operates on a move, it's surprising how far an old school storytelling approach works when played perfectly straight. And seeing as how this is planned to be a series, the only misstep might have been the very end. But even at that point, the characters have proven themselves so likeable, it becomes hard to fault it when the adventure has only just begun. 2011 has ended with an unexpected bang. One that thrillingly answers some long elusive questions about approach, and challenges what we've known about adaptations. It's a welcome melange, and possibly Spielberg's best pure balls-out adventure film since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Attack The Block (2011) Review

                                

When newly relocated nurse, Sam is walking home from the train station, and into the darkened streets of Lambeth, she is faced down by a hooded gang of would-be toughs, and is mugged. And as the robbery drags on into the fireworks laden Bonfire Night, what looks to be a straight-shooting comet bursts into a car near them, breaking up the vehicle, and allowing Sam to escape. Naturally startled, and curious, the boys, led by the imposing Moses(Joe Boyega) decide to look into the damaged car in hopes of seeking loot, when what comes from out of the crater is roughly the size of a small child, and seems far from friendly. The ensuing struggle leaves Moses' face injured, and instantly leads to the entire crew cornering the little beast, and unleashing the small-town beatdown, killing it. And as the boys flaunt the creature's corpse by taking it back to their elders in block-leader Hi-Hatz, along with local drug-dealing Ron in hopes of making bank off of this unprecedented discovery, unbeknownst to any of them that their troubles run deeper than trying to impress the local kingpin. Outside, a small army of the beasts in adult form are amassing, and ready to wreak intergalactic havoc on this broken down South London council estate. But not without a fight. (with fireworks, baseball bats, swords...etc..)

Coming into this film, and witnessing it all unfold, growing up in none-too-prosperous neighborhoods came center stage. Right on to where I happen to live now. You see, from the outset there was instant identification with the world of this as someone who has experienced a mugging, and been looking to better understand the plight that leads one into a situation such as this. The divide between victim, and perpetrator can sometimes be a blurry one, when the discussion deepens. And having also grown up in areas where local kids create something of a pecking order based on who would make the best footsoldier, and the small fries just looking to be respected by anyone- parents notwithtstanding, is something of an urban reality that many are not familiar with, but is a daily one for many. And one of the many things I appreciated from the getgo from Joe Cornish's writer-directorial debut was that none of this comes off as anything less than the dystopia of contemporary life. Which only makes the more cartoonish element of an oncoming alien invasion that much more interesting. When the block is all one knows, or cares about, outsiders are likely put upon, or warded away with a glare. It is the kid life of AKIRA, only it isn't in some near-future Through The Looking Glass version of Showa-Japan.

Set in a South London projects area over the course of one fatefully haywire night, the boys we are stuck with aren't the most ideal of heroes, and would sooner take on the alien horde with mischievious glee than ever try to comprehend what exactly is happening. Along with fellow teenage punks, the prideful Dennis, would-be charmer Pest, reliable Jerome, and mama's boy Biggz, their troubles go triple bad when not only do they have to contend with the alien menace, but even the nurse they attempted to victimize this evening, as well as the ridiculous Hi-Hatz who refuses to buy into this...um....problem. Once the true threat is revealed, and our boys are forced to enlist the help of someone they had just mugged, we are in thematic territory that raises the bar for films of this ilk. The film has quite a bit for viewers to chew on regarding not only urban plight in a most unexpected place, but of what it means to live diametric lives whilst amidst economic and social pressures. Even as ATB doles out some truly exciting action & editing, granting us a peek into who the kids are, it finds the time to inform how each half lives, all bound together by how they and authority figures look at each other with fixed distance; never knowing the full story.

This is best evidenced when both the alien plot and Sam with police set out to finger the boys who recently attacked her converge. The themes of action and responsibility weave around Sam's natural instinct to make sure justice is done, and Moses' decisions which have created something of a fateful web for all around him. It isn't very long before it is made clear that within the titular Block, very few actions go without consequence, and that a lack of community is tantamount to greater despair. And it is within this clevery executed framework that Attack The Block strives for more than a special effects romp with kids as the protagonists, and with a roughly miniscule budget, goes all out in delivering the scares & laughs with just the right amount of sincerity. It embraces the dystopia of now, and makes its points without ever feeling wooden save for one tiny moment, and even then, the action kicks right back in again to remind us of the film's genre roots. It's a tricky balancing act that works not unlike the amazing soundtrack implies.

Performances are solid throughout, but the biggest revelation here is with Boyega's who's troubled Moses makes for a truly credible anti-hero, who's arc binds the film entire with a quiet, hard-bitten vulnerability that is rare for young actors. One can easily see him as the one the local little fish look up to, and yet has troubles clearly his own. And as the rest of the boys deftly deliver their individual circumstances, it is all done on a move, which is something of an astonishing achievement. With everything else happening throughout the film's short running time, we are privy to who they are, what they offer to the group, and makes for a uniquely diverse look into an urban life we rarely see in mainstream film. It is refreshingly tangible, and feels light years less put-upon than so many youth-based genre films of the past and present. Also delivering great presence is Jodie Whittaker, who's Sam is something of the film's initial identification figure. Not to mention the ever welcome presence of Nick Frost as the ever-disconnected Ron, and Luke Treadaway as the potentially smart, yet hopelessly off-the-grid, Brewis. But again, the film belongs to the kids who ground the film in ways unexpected.

So merely labeling this 90-minute ride as little more than an Edgar Wright, Nira Park produced comedy in the ranks of Shaun, or Hot Fuzz is a misnomer, and doesn't do enough justice to describe just how incredibly cool & illuminating Attack The Block is. It is as much a film that harkens back to the latter days of Spielbergism & Fred Dekker's Monster Squad, as it is its very own complex creature. A monster actioner with a brain and a heart that demands to be experienced.