You got the makings of greatness in ya (Treasure Planet 2002)



 

 

100.

Treasure Planet

 

 

 

 

 

6.5/10

 

This is Disney's futuristic twist on the classic 'Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson. The story follows a young boy Jim, who comes into possession of a map when an alien ship crash lands on the dock of his mothers café. The alien tells the boy that cyborgs are after the map and to keep it safe. Cyborgs land and destroy the café whilst our new heroes narrowly escape. Once taking it to one of the local scientist, he opens the orb like map and it shows directions to Treasure Planet.

Before we know it, they have already sorted out a crew, ship and its captain ready to make the voyage through space. Whilst entering the ship we are introduced to some interesting characters that are obviously the pirates and its only a matter of time until a mutiny begins and they are in charge. Jim enters the lower deck and kitchen to be greeted by this films Long John Silver. A big fella with cyborg eye and leg rather than an eye patch and wooden leg. Instantly there's the feeling that he will be the leader as Jim starts questioning him about names and ideas that some cyborgs are looking for the map in his possession.

The ride changes and so does Jim's opinion of Silver as he sticks up for him when the other crew are making life hard on him, starting fights and actually threatening to kill him. He's not too easy though as he makes him a deck hand and gives him some of the worst jobs while on board. Silver becomes impressed with his work ethic and it isn't long until he takes a shine to the boy and its evident on screen. They eventually form a tight bond after discussing that Jim never really had his father, so now Silver feels he should step up. A song plays, but isn't sung like many other Disney films and this leads to a good old fashioned montage of Jim's early life, experiences with his father and also back to present days of him flying a small ship. This film isn't set on the sea but in space and although you'd expect space ships, they actually travel on sail ships with massive engines on the back and the smaller ships still have one mast. I may have missed something but It was a little confusing to how they have absolutely no problem with breathing in space on open decks.

After the cheery scene, everything takes a turn for the worse and a star explodes and the ship is dragged towards a black hole. Silver nearly goes over board but is saved by Jim. Sonic waves emerge, each one rocking the ship and it's Jim's job to make sure everyone is tied down for the last hits and the captain wants to use the momentum to thrust the ship out of danger. Arrow, the first mate is thrown over board by the turbulence but is tied down so hangs there until one of the more sinister pirates appears and cuts his line sending him to death. This is all blamed on Jim because it was his job. Silver does his best to raise the spirits of his new apprentice and once he goes to bed, he tells his little morph friend that he had better watch how he acts in case the crew think he's gone soft.

The next morning, Morph fancies playing about and Jim follows him into the galley and into a barrel where he stays as the pirates and Silver come below deck for a chat. Jim learns all about the mutiny and that Silver is the mastermind behind it all. He breaks Jim's heart by stating to the others that he has been lying all along with the stuff he said to Jim in order to gain his trust and stop him being suspicious. Someone shouts on deck that they have arrived at the planet and every rushes above deck. Jim slowly gets out and goes to climb the stairs until Silver comes back below, Shocked to see him, but aware that Jim must have heard the things that were said, they stand off until Jim stabs his leg hydraulics and makes a run for it. The mutiny begins and Jim, Doctor Delbert and the Captain make a run for a skiff. Morph, as usual, is playful and steals the map off Jim and runs away with it, Jim and Silver are trying to call Morph in order to get the map back. Jim manages to pick it up and jumps for the skiff which is shot and crash lands onto the planet injuring the captain.

Once the three sort themselves out, Amelia the captain asks for the map and as Jim takes it out, it turns out to me Morph in disguise, the map was still on the ship. Jim looks for a safe place for them to hide out and comes across a confused robot named B.E.N. His memory is pretty non-existent but what he does remember is that he was put there to protect the treasure after being the navigator for its owner, Flint. The trio and bucket of bolts go into hiding and soon the pirates surround the hideout and demand that Silver can have a word with Jim. Jim knowing that Silver doesn't actually know where the map is, refuses to help him out. Jim heads back to the ship with the help of B.E.N and get the real map. Jim and one of the pirates end up tussling and the anti gravity is knocked off throwing them upwards to the mast until the pirate floats into space as Jim holds onto the pirate flag.

When they get back on the surface, they hold out the map for the rest to see, only for the pirates and Silver to walk out of the shadows with the Doc and Captain tied up. Silver demands that Jim uses the map and they take the skiff, following the laser trail until it reveals a plug in the ground to insert the map ball. Jim inserts it and a portal is opened up along with a galaxy, every planet clicked on, changes the portal to that planet. Jim clicks the treasure planet icon and the centre of the planet is revealed, with everyone rushing through once they see the shiny coins. A laser trip wire is cut and soon the core begins to self destruct, Jim runs onto a ship and sees the corpse of Flint holding what seems to be part of B.E.N, his memory. Some of the pirates get lost in the molten centre and Silver himself is torn between his life long treasure dream and saving Jim. He picks the boy he's grown fond of and escapes back to the main ship with all the good characters in tow. The ship, now damaged will never make it off the planet now but Jim has an idea, aim for the portal and he'll race to it to change the planet. The usual kind of scene in these movies happens, his make shift vehicle fails, restarts and he saves the day in the nick of time.

Amelia orders the other pirates to be sent to jail as Jim sends Silver on his way only after catching him trying to leave without saying goodbye. Morph stays with Jim and Silver says how fond he is of Jim whilst chucking some gems his way to pay for his mother's café that was destroyed at the beginning. The movie ends with most people in the café celebrating, Jim walking in, in a cadet's uniform for his homecoming and walking outside to see a happy face of Silver in the clouds.

Although I have seen the Muppet's treasure island, I haven't read the book or seen the original film. It was still easy to see the similarities between those films and how they had changed certain aspects for it to be set in the future and in space. It was an ok film for a Disney that I hadn't seen and the graphics reminded me of Atlantis which was recently a first time watch for me too. When I've been watching as many Disney films recently before travelling to Disney World, Florida, it quickly became just another film that I may never watch again. But at the time, it was still enjoyable.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste (Get Out 2017)

 

  99. 

Get Out

 

8/10
 

A young African-American male gets an invite to meet his Caucasian girlfriend's family in their massive yet slightly uncomfortable estate.

We set the scene with an African-American being abducted at night whilst he's on the mobile, our music featured from the kidnapper's car sings, 'Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run' as the scene fades to black and we are already left wondering, what's going on here then? Fast forward to maybe the next day and our two main characters are in their flat, discussing whether or not the weekend away will be as good as expected, and mainly, 'Do your parents know that I'm black?' As we may have already know from the trailers from previous film viewings, this was going to be a horror and race seemed to be at the fore front of the story. As the film progresses, we are introduced to the comic relief of the film through the main male character's best friend. Although full of wit and swearing, there was actually a sense of care in his voice about the trip his best mate was taking.

Whilst making the journey we see the happy couple narrowly hit a deer which run across the road, as they wait, a policeman turns up and seems uneasy around Chris, our main male. The officer asks for his ID and that's when his girlfriend, Rose, steps in to ask questions as to why. Soon the police man buggers off with his tail between his legs, and the couple are left to continue their journey.
As we pull up to the family estate, lawns perfectly cut, not a stone out of place and very picturesque, standing in the middle of the lawn is an African American man, with a hoe in hand and dressed as the gardener. Walking up the steps they are greeted by Rose's parents as everything seems to be going well they sit in the lounge and catch up a little, we are then first introduced to the fact that her mother is a hypnotist and could help Chris with quitting smoking. The father proceeds to give a tour of the house and over compensate that he isn't racist by making remarks such as he would have voted for Obama if there was a third term. Walking into the kitchen, Chris sets his eyes on another African American house worker, this time a female and a housemaid. Again Chris made uneasy eye contact with the worker, and the father quickly rebuffs him, knowing what he is thinking. Giving an explanation that he didn't want them to loose their jobs after looking after his parents for so long.
As the visit continues, they are sat outside and again smoking becomes an issue and that the mother will quickly solve it and that Chris should let it happen. They know he has a different opinion on it but keep pushing in a creepy sort of way. In the background we see a car pull up and out pops Rose's brother, Jeremy.  He's been away practicing medicine. That's where things take a slightly twisted route.
Sitting down to a meal in the house, drinks flowing, Jeremy takes a firm interest in Chris, asking him about his interests, what sports he plays, and other quite firm questioning, even beyond his family members asking him to stop. He even wants to play fight with Chris to see how strong he is.
That night, Chris goes outside for a smoke when he suddenly sees the gardener running full sprint towards him, slightly freaked out he takes a step back as the runner takes a sharp right and heads away. As he turns he sees Georgina, the maid, looking at her own reflection in the mirror in sort of a trance state, she then corrects her hair and walks away. Walking back into the house, a light pops on and there sits the mother, calm as you like, cup of tea in hand and asks Chris to sit down. She begins to stir the cuppa as she starts questioning Chris about his history and childhood, what happened to his mother and what his intentions are for her daughter. It becomes clear that the stirring and the noise is what is hypnotising and he soon becomes paralysed, tears streaming down his face. We are taken back to a youngster sitting on his bed, watching TV and listening to the rain. As he tried to fight back, she asks him to sink into his chair, 'SINK' and soon we enter his mind as he sinks into nothingness as his consciousness leaves his body. He's falling through space and looking up at a small box which was his actual vision, not being able to fight back to his senses. Already I felt something more sinister was afoot.

The next morning Chris wakes as if it was all a dream, he checks his phone, which he then puts onto charge and tells Rose that he thinks her mum hypnotised him. Not overly shocked, he can only apologise because she knows it most likely happened. As she looks out of the window, she sees guests starting to arrive for a party they always host every year at their estate. They are mostly older, white and wealthy people who take a keen interest in Chris and again, love to point out how much they know about African Americans, one loves Tiger Woods, another stating that black guys are better in bed, some like his body, which causes him to want to slip away and as he takes a seat, he meets a blind man. He's an art dealer that Chris knows about, but also he knows of Chris's photography work and is a fan. Envious of Chris's eye for detail, he states he once tried that type of art but was pretty bad at it.
Chris goes back to the main bulk of guests and finds another black guy, around the same age, whom he tried to bond with. He's really unnatural in stance and quite stiff, kind of like the maid and the gardener, something is off with him but its hard to tell what. Mainly Chris seems to recognise the face of the guy. In order to get back to some sort of reality, Chris checks in with his mate again, and finds his phone unplugged and dead. He plugs it in and fills in Rod, his friend, with what's been going on. Rod is a little freaked out and cant help but think that these a rich white folk are brainwashing black guys into being their sex slaves! He asks for a picture of this other black dude in order to find out who he is. Rose enters and tried to calm him saying he's being paranoid in a new situation. As Chris tries to leave, Georgina is blocking his way and says sorry for the phone unplugging. When he says the words, 'I didn't mean to rat you out' she didn't understand so he explains further and she lets out a single tear saying that they all treat her like family. There was a slight jolt forward of the head as if something else was going to be said but was stopped abruptly. What was that about?! He may not have noticed but I did. He goes back downstairs to try and take the picture but forgets about the flash and starts all sorts of chaos as the guy goes from all posh, to raving made, nose bleeding, he rushes Chris screaming 'Get Out', hey, he said the title!
By this point Rose is freaking out too, asking what the hell happened, her dad explains it was a seizure to the flash, the man comes out and apologises for what happened and everyone has an awkward giggle.
Later Chris and Rose go for a walk where he explains that he recognises that guy and something is definitely weird and strange things are going on. She can't help but agree and they discuss about leaving with some sort of excuse to rid them of the trip. Back at the house, the father, Dean is holding an auction and as the camera pans out, we see him standing next to a picture of Chris. The winner of the auction is non other than the blind art dealer we had already met. A few hours later we see all the other guests returning to their cars and beginning their journey home. The departing couple walk past the parents and brother to enter the house, whilst the family are wearing devious smiles. Chris runs upstairs to pack his belongings in a panicked state, and rushes Rose to do the same. Rod calls and says that the picture he sent was of a guy they knew who had gone missing without explanation. The battery dies and Chris notices the closest door is open, as anyone would do, he pops for a look. Finding a box, he opens and it contains pictures of Rose with what looks like other boyfriends, all of who were black and there was even one of her with Georgina. Does Rose know about all these auctions? Or is she hypnotised to forget, I asked my fellow viewer sitting next to me.
As they retreat downstairs, Jeremy is standing at the front door with a lacrosse racket, spinning it eerily around, as the father walks up to the fireplace, the mother appears and Chris pleads for Rose to search for the keys in her bag. As she looks, Jeremy takes a swipe at Chris, missing, again there's a shout out for those keys. Rose in a panic still cant find them. She asks what the hell is going on and another couple of swipes miss. One final beg for those keys end with Rose calming saying that she can't give them to him, the bitch was in on it all along. Mrs Hypnosis has a chance, she grabs the spoon and clinks it against her glass, leading Chris to fall back into the dark void and he does fall back, straight to the ground like a sack of shit.
We are treated to Rod going to the police station with his theory on what is happening, only for the detectives to laugh in his face. It was a comical moment to be fair, so they can't be blamed for adding it to a serious horror. Chris wakes to find himself strapped to a chair and a small TV turns on to show a video of the family talking about immortality. He looks down to see that his nails have scratched through to the stuffing in the chair. The Tea cup comes on again and TING TING, he's out like a light. By now I'm still wondering what is actually going on here. Are they brainwashing these people for sex slaves, I don't think so but they are doing something to them. This time Chris wakes up to the art dealer on TV for a live conversation and I'm thinking they are stealing body parts, maybe he'll want his eyes? By now Ron had been on the phone to Rose and realising something was wrong, tried to record their chat. She'd tried to say that he had left two days ago in a cab acting all weird, but it soon changes when she knows that she's caught out and calls Ron out for fancying a piece of her, to which he calls her a crazy bitch and hangs up. Back to the basement and Chris is getting filled in that, in fact, Jim the art dealer will be having a brain transplant but Chris will continue in the dark void as a sort of passenger after the surgery which the man of the house will perform. Here comes that tea spoon again.
Jim is prepped for surgery whilst Jeremy is set to move an unconscious Chris to the operating table. As he turns to prep the wheel chair, Chris wasn't unconscious, he'd stuffed the cotton wool from the hole in the chair and put it in his ears to stop the effects of hypnosis, he quickly smashes Jeremy over the head a couple of times and makes a break for the door. Dean the father, calls down the hallway for his son, only to be greeted, by a now bad ass Chris, rushing at him with a deer's head taken from the wall, impaling him with the antlers. He crawls, tugging at a blanket that knocks a candle and begins a fire, over the ready and willing art dealer. Rose is shot, sitting on her bed, unawares and already picking out her next potential target, this time a college basketball player. Chris runs upstairs, to find the mother, Missy in shock that he is still standing, eyes the tea cup but Chris gets to it first and smashes it across the floor. Instead she turns at him with a knife that he manages to wrestle from her grasp and stabs her to death, is there nothing that he won't do to escape now. As the walk for the door seems an easy one, Jeremy is back, head gushing but still enough in the tank to put Chris in a choke hold. He breaks free though and finally puts an end to this freak by kicking him to death. He runs outside and gets into Jeremy's car for a quick escape. As he heads down the driveway, Georgina flies over the bonnet and his first thought is that he can't leave her like that, he has to try and save her, something he couldn't do for his mother. That thought is always the one to catch people out. She wakes up and attacks him, causing him to drive head first into a tree and now she's added to the body count.
Suddenly the back window is blown apart, here comes Rose with a gun. He's begging her to stop but she is more worried about the condition of Georgina, the vessel that his housing her Grandmother, what a family. From out of nowhere, the gardener, Walter runs and tackles Chris to the words 'Kill him grandpa' from Rose. Well now we know where he is too. Chris gets his flash out again and Walter stands with the gun and ends up blowing a hole in Rose, turns, lifts the gun and ends his own suffering. Rose is on the ground bleeding out and Chris sits over her, making sure she's not going to get back up. A police car turns up and I was thinking the worst, the copper from earlier won't stand for this shit. Instead it was Ron to the rescue. He gives his friend a look and utters nothing but, 'I told you not to go in that house!'
Brilliant, what a ride. I enjoyed this movie because it kept you interested in what was actually happening, was everyone involved and will they actually escape. The major talking point would be the cultural differences that the main character has to weave through, through a lifetime of practice with dealing with discrimination. The genre of horror has all kinds of smaller categories inside it and this one builds on societies anxieties towards the social build on skin colour. Peele has worked well on this movie and the underlying tone that a black man would be killed for the colour of his skin is a massive reminder that racism is scarier in society than any movie in the cinema because its real. As for the other aspects of genre, it showed that it didn't need to be overly gory, it didn't need to have a massive amount of jump scares, but it could make you feel uneasy for the most part and bring fear that you didn't know you had.

A Tale as Old as Time (Beauty and the Beast 2017)

 

 98.

Beauty and the Beast

 

8.5/10

A remake of the famous Disney fairy tale where a monstrous looking prince and young woman fall in love. For those who have never seen the original animation, there are only a few differences within this new version brought to life with a star studded cast. We begin with a little back story of how the beast came to be from his lavish, selfish life style, to the change brought about by a beautiful witch.

Emma Watson was cast as Belle, a young female, who has the village envious of her free will and book worm spirit of wanting to know more than what is within her small area of land. Already we see a change to the story as Belle's mother becomes a talking point as she didn't remember her before her death. Her father, who has just had a little sing song of his own, seems to want to avoid the subject but instead praises her with simple sentences.

By the time we meet Gaston, who is played by Luke Evans, we are already treated to some songs, which, although the singing is a little rough around the edges, it adds to the realism that this could be just normal civilians and not everyone has the ability to burst out with some bad ass vocals when needs be. Luke Evans plays a great role as the self loving Gaston who likes nothing better than to hold himself above everyone else and thinks he deserves Belle, the best looking girl in the village. He's followed around by his usual side kick LeFou, who, we can already tell he has a glimmer in his eye for his mentor. Knowing that there was a gay character in the movie didn't bother me in the slightest and it has bothered me since that so many people have complained about it. Worried that their children would be watching this movie and may be offended by it is wrong. Homosexuality isn't something your born with, just like racism. It's educated by family, or friends which is the wrong type of education, there was nothing in this movie remotely offensive. It actually added to the storyline in a great way, adding more humour that wasn't in the animation. With LeFou not wanting Gaston to fall in love, or his sneaky comments about the fact he already has someone who worships him, brought the audience to a chuckle.

The graphics throughout couldn't be faulted regarding the castle, furniture, backgrounds and other special effects. The one disappointment for me was that the beast wasn't as scary as what I came to know when younger. Yes I understand that they may have needed to tone it down for the younger audience, but with the added humour from him, there needed to be something more. His face was hairy, but he needed to be a little more ragged around the edges, rather than this well groomed wolf of sorts.

Most of the songs we came to know and love were present as expected, with 'Be Our Guest', always a great show piece, although I was a little gutted to see the candlestick, 'dabbing' at the ending to the song. A couple of songs were also added with the Beast having his own as he let Belle return to her father. Before this, we find out what actually happened to her mother and why her father didn't want to talk about it too much. I didn't expect that part to be as dark as I first thought, and it gave a bit more grown up aspect to the charm of the movie and Disney as a whole.

The ending brought the biggest change from the original, and although it was along the same lines, it was executed differently. There was the normal moment where the Beast dies for a few seconds until a kiss from the love saves him, but this time the witch turns up and actually brings him back to life instead. She rebuilds the rose and then carries on to revive the Beast and change him back to normal once she believes he's learnt his lesson. Everyone turns back to their normal selves, but then there is one more added part to the story. Everyone who has been living in the village, were the guests to the Prince's party when he was first cursed. When he is turned back, they also get their memories back and become the cheerful soles they once were, than the grumpy assholes that couldn't put up with Belle. The film ends with everyone having a party and dancing, we see Lefou dancing with another man who we had seen earlier, happy to be dressed in female clothes. By now we had already seen him change into some what of a good guy, helping the furniture fight for survival after finally seeing what kind of man Gaston was.

With all the scenes, songs and characters and changes, this film was a really enjoyable watch. It was interesting to see how Disney carried on with making their movies into real life adaptations and just like the Jungle Book, this didn't fail. Each person cast, was the correct call and it was good to see that they were not afraid to change things and spice it up. With some foot tapping and a bit of laughter its going to be exciting to see what movies and casting Disney picks for their next big up and coming.

Is that a monkey? (Kong: Skull Island 2017)

97.

KONG

Skull Island

 

8/10

 A team of scientists travel to explore an uncharted island in the Pacific, leading them into Kong's kingdom, where they must fight for survival and escape.

This was a completely different story to what we got given in the past King Kong films that I have seen. This is mainly down to where they are hoping to go with the storyline in the future, although, it wasn't through lack of trying to kill Kong rather than the conventional capture that we have come to expect. With not giving too much of the storyline away as spoilers, it was an interesting idea as to why Kong was on the island and how the inhabitants there, interacted with him. He was a guardian of sorts, keeping the actual evil at bay. There was no usual dual with the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but giant lizard type creatures that dwelled below the ground.

Whilst Kong takes out half of the army that was taken for, what was thought to be a routine mission, Samuel L Jackson's character takes it personal and demands that Kong be killed, turning into more of a villain as the story progresses. He was up to his usual acting tricks, where he clearly thinks that he needs to shout twice as loud as anyone else, just to be heard, even when he's the only one with any dialogue.

There were slight 'nods' to the original stories as beauty and the beast have their moments, Kong saving Brie Larson's character from drowning at the end. The scene in the past of him being chained up on stage, became him being helplessly tangled in the chains of boat anchors, until he ripped himself free. One of the other iconic moments would be as he would break the T-Rex's jaw, but this time it only became a nearly moment, which worked as it's own.

The rest of the movie was interestingly colourful at times, with the use of paint, whether it be on the villagers, or walls and there were slow motion shots of Hiddleston wielding a sword and every cut would produce purple blood filling the already green gas in the air. The film was a lot more gory than I had imagined, which was brilliant as people were ripped apart, Kong pulling the lizards insides out through their mouths and all this was complimented with some classic rock songs.

I wasn't too sure with the casting of Hiddleston thought as he blew people away as the slimey Loki role, but being a more tough guy, taking no shit, didn't really seem to impress. He wasn't convincing with a gun in his hand but his chemistry between turning into the saviour and role with Brie did actually work. 

The after credits scene was pretty important as to where they want to go next. With this movie set at the end of the war in Vietnam, there are many years to go for the story to catch up with the Godzilla film recently brought out. It was stated that Kong wasn't fully grown so I wonder how much he will grow to be able to tackle the fight with Godzilla himself.

Overall I really enjoyed this movie and really look forward to where the franchise of giant monsters will go next, with Godzilla 2 and then onto the rumoured fight! Let's hope it continues to improve and we see more Godzilla on screen than we did last time.

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f**king big television. (Trainspotting 1996)

Welcome to the blog of a guy just trying to watch as many films as time allows! In between trying to catch every release in UK cinemas during 2017, I'll be trying to watch films that have been recommended to me through friends. So far I've made it onto 97 movies which I've documented on instagram and twitter, but now its time for a blog!

My handles for the others are:
Instagram - Smiler698
Twitter - @Smiler698

My opinions are my own and so are the ratings. I look forward to your views. Enjoy!