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18 MEDIA Tuesday 13 February 2007 thefounder Film Vue Cinemas, Staines Hot Fuzz (15) Dreamgirls (12A) By Michael Keating Director – Edgar Wright Starring – Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton Run Time – 120 minutes Hot Fuzz is the story of hardboiled super cop Sergeant Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg). Intimidated by his arrest record, his superior officers (Martin Freeman, Steven Coogan, and Bill Nighy) transfer him from the busy streets of London to the sleepy village of Sandford to keep him out of the way as he’s making everyone else look bad. A big cop in a small town, Angel sees murders and conspiracies where the town police men and locals see only accidents. But with the help of his partner Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), it is not long before he discovers that not everything in Sandford is quite what it seems. Sound cliché? That’s the point. Once settled in Sandford, Hot Fuzz becomes a vehicle designed to send up every action film that has ever taken itself seriously including Point Break and Bad Boys (which are referenced several times during the course of the film). It does this brilliantly by simply taking everything from the most cliché action films and pushing it all that much further, allowing it to appear both ridiculous and amazing at the same time. The characters are fantastically exaggerated, especially Pegg’s super cop and Timothy Dalton’s over-thetop super-villain, giving them just the right tone. The action sequences are outrageous, exciting and feature a surprising degree of rough justice, most memorably in the scene where an old lady’s is on the wrong end of Pegg’s flying kick (or maybe when the pub landlord gets his head caught up in a bear trap. The dialogue ranges from obvious parody (“I threw the teddy bear at him and said ‘play times over!’ ?”), to clever Pegg-Frost exchanges. Even the music is perfectly balanced between action-scene rock songs and mock-epic slow guitar pieces. However, that’s not to say that Hot Fuzz is non-stop comic action. The first half an hour or so seems a little slow, but there’s no reason to worry; the cast are simply setting up jokes to be knocked down later on, and it is definitely worth the brief wait for the well-paced comicaction masterpiece that’s lying just around the corner. As with Shaun of the Dead, the people behind Hot Fuzz are affectionately poking fun at a genre that they clearly love, creating a film that embraces its genre’s inherent ridiculousness, and is all the better for it. 4/5 By Jonathan Dakin Director - Bill Condon Starring - Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose Run Time - 131 mins I felt excited with the thought of seeing Dreamgirls. Not only is it one of the most hotly tipped Oscar contenders of the year, the film also includes an all star line-up, has been adapted from the musical with the same name, and is said to be based on the life of Diana Ross and the Supremes, so I was set for an interesting piece of cinema. Dreamgirls starts with an explosion of glitter and melodies, as many different soulful acts sing songs to a baying audience. We wait for the moment that the struggling group The Dreams, composed of Effie (Hudson), Deena (Knowles) and Lorrell (Rose) will come out and dazzle us with their amazing voices. And dazzle they do. All three are remarkable singers, and the beginning of the film sets the scene for many more spectacular musical numbers to come. Unfortunately, this hyped up beginning is quickly lost in a sea of poor plotting, bad scripting and sometimes amateur directing. The Dreams are a struggling 60’s soul group, who grab the attention of part time talent agent Curtis Taylor (Foxx). Curtis makes a deal with the girls to be backup singers for the sleazy but talented James ‘Thunder’ Early (Murphy), until they can become stars in their own right. Slowly but surely the girls work their way up the showbiz ladder to become an established pop group, and at the same time experience love, betrayal and ultimately, empowerment. Although the plot and directing are at times sub par, all of the Competition Congratulations to last fortnight’s winner Joe Casey! actors really work hard- Murphy and Hudson both shine in their Academy Award nominated roles, Foxx makes the best out of his tired character and even Beyonce, who I wasn’t expecting to be very good, is extremely likeable. The songs are sung amazingly, and some of them are really catchy (‘Dreamgirls’, ‘One Night Only’ and ‘Listen’) but unfortunately some are very cheesy (especially the vomit inducing ‘Family’). Packed with a punch, Dreamgirls finishes well and makes up for the middle hour that wasn’t up to scratch with an emotionally feel good ending. The film is worth a watch, especially if you want to be singing the catchy tunes days after seeing it. 2.5/5 Who said the following line and where did they say it (actor, character and movie)? ‘This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time’ Prizes this time round are as follows: 1 x pair cinema tickets for Vue, Staines; 1 x ‘Beerfest’; t-shirt; 1 x ‘The Guardian’ Beanie, 1 x ‘Big Momm’s House 2’ novelty thong. Good luck! As always, answers to competitions@thefounder.co.uk (competition closes 26th February 2007).
thefounder Tuesday 13 February 2007 MEDIA 19 DVD w w w . c d - w o w . c o m / t h e f o u n d e r Angel - A (15) By Christopher Lo Director - Luc Besson Screenplay - Luc Besson Starring - Rie Rasmussen, Jamel Debbouze Run Time - 88 minutes After the tremendous critical and commercial success of Nikita, Leon and The Fifth Element, Luc Besson seems to have slipped into somewhat of a cinematic wasteland. It’s been six years since Besson last directed a movie, during which time he has spent his time producing and funding a whole host of pet projects. During this extended directorial hiatus, Besson’s legions of devotees have been drooling in anticipation of his eventual return to the director’s chair. This return has come in the form of Angel-A, a deeply personal tale of love, redemption and self-discovery. Set in Paris, Angel-A tells the story of Andre, a perpetual liar and occasional con artist. Beset with seemingly insurmountable debt and hounded by the Parisian underworld, he decides to end it all by throwing himself into the Seine. In the process of doing so, he meets Angela, a beautiful woman with no past and an inexplicable interest in Andre’s future. Their attempt to put right Andre’s life (and mind) exposes this bizarre couple to their own secrets as well as those of the world around them. Despite the supernatural mysteries that lay behind Angela’s origins (the clue’s in the name), Besson focuses on the reality of the characters’ internal struggles as well as their blossoming relationship. At Angel-A’s core is an exploration of a distinctly human issue: the importance of self-perception and the ability to respect oneself. Visually, the film has a breathtaking blackand-white aesthetic, Thierry Arbogast’s cinematography representing an unabashed love for the beauty of the Paris skyline. The leads are also perfectly cast. Debbouze’s anxious, twitchy energy proving the perfect counterfoil to Rasmussen’s breezy vitality. The fact that Rasmussen must be at least six inches taller than her co-star only helps to emphasise her otherworldliness. Angel-A represents a startling return for Luc Besson; reminiscent of his early days as a pioneer of the cinema du look style. The smoky beauty of the imagery and the irresistible charisma of the characters marks this as one of Besson’s very best. 4/5 Beerfest (18) By MIchael Dean Director - Jay Chandrasekar Starring - Jay Chandrasekar, Kevin Hefferman, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Jurgen Prochnow. The Film ‘Prepare for the ultimate chug of war’ is the tagline that adorns the front cover of the Beerfest DVD case. Straight away things do not look particularly promising. The story is about a pair of American brothers, Jan and Todd Wolfhouse, who attend Oktoberfest in the attempt to deliver the ashes of their recently deceased beer loving German grandfather (oddly a cameo from Donald Sutherland) to an appropriate resting place. While there though, they discover a secret ‘fight club’ styled beer-drinking contest in which the world’s nations come together to compete. After taking on the German champions and suffering a humiliating defeat, the brothers return to the states and assemble their own squad in the hopes of returning to win the event. It never ceases to amaze as to what Hollywood will throw money at. Beerfest’s premise has about as much complexity as something devised by a thirteen year old schoolboy, who coincidentally I can imagine are the only demographic who will be entertained by this comedy that is as flat as week old Lager. It is not particularly Beerfest’s story (or lack of) that lets it down. A film that solely revolves around irresponsible drinking could possibly be funny in the hands some decent comic talent. Here though, the ‘Broken Lizard’ team who have been responsible for ‘Super Troopers’ and ‘Club Dread’ fail to raise any real quality laughs. After one hour of the films flimsy attempts at humour, it does eventually manage to induce in it’s audience some ever so slight snigger, with some passable physical comedy, but it all feels far too little, far too late. The films downfall is not it’s continued adoration of drinking and beer, but instead lies in the overwhelming hopelessness of it’s creation. Both filming and editing are astoundingly sloppy, and the use of some decent acting talent such as ‘Das Boot’ star Jurgen Prochnow only serves to highlight the shortcomings of the regular cast. The only thing that can be said in the films favour is the fact that it doesn’t rely on gross-out humour like so many of the other equally inept comedies in this style that have preceded it. Beerfest is a film that will require a considerably large amount of the old fermented vegetable juices to enjoy. Equally as bad as it’s out come is absurd. That is, an American drinking team being the best in the world. 1/5 The Extras Two commentary tracks are provided in which the Broken Lizard boys account their experiences while making the film. Ironically these prove more amusing than the actual film its self, though that is not to say its comic gold by any means. Along with this is a collection of deleted scenes in which a whole gag that was omitted is shown and that generally seem to consist of topless woman. Also there are two short documentaries, one a Broken Lizard history of beer, and the other about a scientist who masturbates frogs. For any one who actually enjoyed the film the extras will be very welcome, but for the rest of the sane population they add very little to a film already dreadfully low on substance. 2/5
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