Tim Burton’s Latest Movie Treads Familiar, But Ultimately Boring, Territory – Dark Shadows Review

In 2010, something strange happened.  Despite being a thoroughly ordinary movie, Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland somehow managed to gross over $1billion.  That haul made it the 10^th most successful movie of all time (although there’s a good chance it will be dumped out of that list by The Avengers and maybe even Prometheus and The Dark Knight Rises later in the year), an astonishing result for a film that received a mixed critical reception.

Alice In Wonderland was the seventh movie that Tim Burton has directed that also starred Johnny Depp, and Dark Shadows becomes the eighth.  Based on a (apparently terrible) American soap opera that aired in the 60s, Dark Shadows is the story of Barnabas Collins (Depp), a boy who came to America with his father in 1752, and who grew up to become a local playboy when his father established a successful fish canning business.  But he broke the heart of a servant girl, Angelique Bouchard (played by Eva Green), who was in fact a witch, and she took her revenge by killing his parents and the girl he did love.  She then turned Barnabas into a vampire, turning the town on him and burying him alive.

When he is accidentally awoken in 1972, he returns to Collinswood, the family mansion, with the intention of restoring their business to its former glories.  But he discovers that Angelique runs the most successful business in town, and seeks revenge on her.

If you’ve seen the trailer for Dark Shadows, you’ll probably be expected a comedy.  But you’ll be sorely disappointed, because Dark Shadows is one of those films that is preceded by a trailer that has all the funny bits in it.  The film is a huge disappointment, and even worse, it is hugely dull.  I’m a big fan of Tim Burton’s work, and Edward Scissorhands is in my top 10 favorite movies list, but Dark Shadows is by a long way Burton’s worst movie.  Despite a very strong cast, it’s boring, almost entirely unfunny, and lacks the charm and unique qualities of Burton’s best work.

The look and style of the film is very much in keeping with Burton’s work, from the gothic look of Collinswood and the costumes the characters wear, to the Danny Elfman score that sounds like most Danny Elfman scores do on Burton movies, only not as good.  The film’s biggest problem is the script, with the story just lacking any real excitement or drive, plodding along to a tedious finale that is far less interesting than one with Johnny Depp as a vampire fighting Eva Green as a witch should be.  Because the script is so poor, it means that a strong cast doesn’t really get much of a chance to shine.  Depp’s Barnabas is his least memorable Burton character, and a subplot involving Helena Bonham Carter as a shrink living with the Collins family who attempts to become immortal by transfusing Baranbas’ blood into her body doesn’t really go anywhere.  Michelle Pfeiffer plays Elizabeth Collins, the family matriarch, but doesn’t get a lot to do either, while Jonny Lee Miller plays Roger Collins and only has a handful of lines.

But it’s not all doom and gloom; Eva Green is terrific (and outrageously sexy) as Angelique, and Chloe Moretz also impresses as a moody teenager.  Unfortunately, that’s about all the good things I have to say about Dark Shadows.  Burton has a busy year lined up in 2012, as he’s a producer on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, due out in June, and also has the remake of his debut short Frankenweenie to come in October, a movie which marks his return to stop-motion animation for the first time since 2005’s Corpse Bride.

Dark Shadows promised much, but fails to deliver in a disastrous fashion.  Do yourself a favour, instead of watching this, watch Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow or Batman, you’ll feel much better.

@TheGlassCase

21 Jump Street Review

21 Jump Street was a reasonably successful TV show in America during the late 1980s.  It helped launch Johnny Depp’s career (although he didn’t enjoy the attention starring in it got him, and he quit after 4 seasons), as he played an undercover cop working in high schools.  It didn’t quite get the same attention in the UK, so the movie release in this country comes without the baggage of expectation and hazy childhood memories of how good the show actually was.

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are the stars of the movie, as two dumb rookie policemen who are re-assigned after making a mess of their first arrest.  While the original show was a drama, this is very much a comedy, and one that isn’t afraid to make fun of itself.  As their captain gives Hill and Tatum a dressing down and tells them where they are being reassigned, part of his dialogue is a wink to the apparent laziness in ‘rebooting’ an 80s TV show for a new generation, and there are other similar references throughout the film.

After meeting Captain Dickson, played by Ice Cube (who may look like a stereotypical angry, black captain, but he is black, he worked very hard to become a captain, and he does sometimes get angry), they are given new identities as brothers, and sent to live with Hill’s parents.  The pair weren’t friends when they were at school, Tatum’s Greg Jenko was cool and popular, while Hill’s Morton Schmidt was an unpopular loser, but they find that their roles have been reversed in a modern day high school, and maybe it’s Morton who’s cool now.

Jenko isn’t the smartest cookie in the classroom though, and this leads to their aliases being switched when he forgets which name he is supposed to have.  The result is that Jenko is now taking the geeky classes (like AP Chemistry), while Morton does drama and athletics.  They have been sent to this particular high school to put an end to the manufacture and distribution of a new and dangerous drug being sold on campus.  While they work on doing this, they find themselves growing apart, as they experience high school for a second time, both in different ways from when they were really students.

While the plot of the movie is often predictable, and in some ways clichéd, it is consistently very funny, and Tatum and Hill both give good performances.  Tatum in particular impresses, clearly enjoying a role in an action comedy, somewhat of a departure for him.  It is in fact, the second Channing Tatum movie in a row that I’ve seen and enjoyed, following his role in Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire earlier this year.  The rest of the cast is strong too, with a collection of recognisable faces from US TV comedy, with Ellie Kemper (Erin in the American version of The Office) as a chemistry teacher, Chris Parnell (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock and Archer) as a drama teacher, and Robb Riggle (a regular in comedy show, but probably most recognisable from Step Brothers and The Other Guys) as a gym teacher.  Dave ‘Brother of James’ Franco is also good as an environmentalist who happens to deal drugs, and Brie Larson (Scott Pilgrim vs The World) is cute and likable as Molly, a girl who catches Morton’s eye.

Overall, 21 Jump Street is a lot better than you might expect.  It wisely avoids straight-faced drama, and plays for laughs, of which there are plenty.  There’s plenty of action too, and Tatum and Hill make a good partnership, both giving strong performances to carry the movie.  It’s not perfect, and the tone of the film can sometimes be a bit erratic, but it’s well worth watching.

@TheGlassCase

Life’s Too Short – Episode 2

Episode 2 of Life’s Too Short begins at a convention, with Warwick arguing with a mother when she wants a free signed photograph for her son, who has a tumour.  His day gets worse when he’s interviewed by a particularly inept local news reporter.

Unlike episode 1, this week’s episode was more focused on Warwick and his (mis)adventures.  An invitation to a wedding with a Star Wars theme (which will end badly) was followed by a job offer, giving him the chance to work with Johnny Depp.  Depp’s extended appearance felt more natural than Liam Neeson’s, even though he wants to meet Warwick because he will be playing a dwarf in a new Tim Burton movie.  Depp clearly enjoys sending himself up, explaining that because he’s a method actor; he wants to see how a dwarf lives and what he does.  This leads to Warwick standing in a toilet, with Depp wanting to know what it feels like.

The good news for Life’s Too Short is that Davis can hold his own when it comes to comedy.  The majority of the episode revolves around what he’s doing with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant appearing less than in episode 1.  But the scene in Ricky’s office, when Depp gets revenge for Gervais’ Golden Globes jokes is a highlight of the episode.  After Depp warns that ‘no-one makes fun of Tim Allen on my watch’, he runs through a series of anti-Gervais jokes including ‘Why do people take an instant dislike to Ricky Gervais? It saves time’.

Away from Ricky’s office, we find out more about Warwick’s day-to-day life.  His relationship with his new secretary, the gormless Cheryl (played by Rosamund Hanson, previously seen in This Is England and This Is England 86), looks like being one of the highlights of the series, and this week she suggests that Warwick could find work as a chimney sweep, or even try to help catch paedophiles by dressing as a little girl.

Overall, episode 2 is a big improvement over episode 1, and Warwick Davis is showing that he can handle being a leading man in a sitcom.  Time will tell if Life’s Too Short will be acclaimed in the way The Office and Extras were, but if it continues to be as funny as episode 2, it will certainly be regarded as a success.

David Dougan

The Rum Diary Review

In 1960, Hunter S. Thompson moved to Puerto Rico to work for El Sportivo, a local sports magazine.  Although the magazine folded shortly after his arrival, his time in Puerto Rico inspired him to write what would become The Rum Diary, to date his only published novel.  At the time it was written, Thompson was yet to become the infamous Gonzo journalist that he is remembered as being, and after many rejections, he abandoned it.  It was finally published in 1998, soon after the movie adaptation of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas had been released.

Terry Gilliam’s crazed movie starred Johnny Depp as ‘Raoul Duke’, but Duke was in fact Thompson himself, a pseudonym Thompson would use to insert himself into his stories without getting himself into trouble.  Before the movie went into production, Depp met Thompson and spent a great deal of time preparing himself for the role at Thompson’s Owl Farm home in Colorado.  This resulted in Depp doing a pitch perfect impersonation of Thompson in the movie, so it is no surprise that Depp wound up playing another Hunter S. Thompson surrogate, this time Paul Kemp, in the movie adaptation of The Rum Diary.

Just like the book, The Rum Diary has had a long-winded production period.  The first talks about a movie version began in 2000, and Depp signed on to play Kemp.  But it took until 2007, and two false starts before work really began on the movie.  Amber Heard and Aaron Eckhart joined the cast, and production began in early 2009.  Bruce Robinson, the man best known for writing and directing was charged with doing the same to the novel.

The movie begins shortly after Kemp’s arrival in Puerto Rico, as he wakes up with a hangover before travelling to the San Juan Star offices to meet his new boss, Edward J. Lotterman (Richard Jenkins).  There he is introduced to Bob Sala (Michael Rispoli), a fellow journalist who he will spend most of his time in Puerto Rico with.  What follows is, unfortunately, a bit of mess, both in terms of what happens in the movie, and how good (or not) it actually is as a movie.

The Rum Diary is a movie with many problems.  As a young man in his early 20s, Hunter S. Thompson arrived in Puerto Rico as a journalist yet to find his voice, and this is similar to how it feels while watching the movie.  If you’ve seen the trailer, it portrays the movie as a wild ride, with Kemp losing himself in a new country, but the plot is actually rather more slow and methodical, and Kemp is really trying to find himself.  The movie has a good cast, but most of the characters are too one-dimensional in the script, getting little time to establish what they are really like, with most of the movie focusing on Kemp and Sala getting in and out of trouble.

The basic plot involves Kemp getting involved with businessman Sanderson (Eckhart), who is looking for a journalist to report favourably on his plans to turn an un-named island paradise into a hot new tourist destination.  Although Kemp originally has reservations about it, he signs up, but things are complicated by his out of control relationship with Sala, and Sanderson’s distractingly sexy girlfriend, Chenault (Heard).  An example of the lack of character development is the attempt to portray Sanderson as a more vicious character than he appears.  He has a brief moment threatening locals who are standing nearby his private beach, as well as lecturing Kemp when he brings Sala along uninvited to visit the island.

The movie portrays Kemp as a man who finds a purpose during his time in Puerto Rico, but it is ultimately a poor adaptation of what is a very good novel.  Johnny Depp became a very close friend of Thompson’s and it’s clear that Depp wanted to do this movie as a tribute to Thompson, who died in 2006.  But it ends up being a messy and confused movie, unsure of what it really wants to be.  In some ways it’s a kind of prequel to Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, a portrait of Thompson before he knew who he was.  Thompson would become one of the most respected and influential writers of the second half of the twentieth century, but portrayed in The Rum Diary as Paul Kemp, he fails to spark the imagination.

David Dougan