Film Review: 21 Jump Street

I've made it to late March and 21 Jump Street has to be first remake/adaptation of 2012 that I've watched. Shocking, isn't it? With the endless foreign film/comic/book adaptations that pollute Hollywood these days, you really have to count yourself lucky if you manage to catch something that's original and good, as opposed to re-makes - which tend to be regurgitated crap (and usually have nothing on the original). 21 Jump Street seems to have bypassed this rule.

The film centres around two cops, once polar opposites back in their school days but are now thick as thieves today. Problem is they have a hard time properly busting thieves along with all the other bad guys. As a result of their combined incompetence, they're sent to take part in the 21 Jump Street program - going undercover as school students to bust the supply system of a new drug that is blighting local schools.

A verbal gaffe in the principal's office results in them adopting the wrong undercover identities. Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill), the awkward outcast as a teen, is now supposed to be the cool kid. Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum), the former prom king, is now the unlikely science geek (much to his chemistry teacher's delight).

The reboot of the Police Academy franchise looks promising...

I don't imagine Hill being particularly popular at school (therefore embracing the cool kid life with arms wide open) nor do I imagine Tatum being anything but the school jock at his (hence his frustration at actually having to concentrate in class seems genuine) . It doesn't matter though because the chemistry between the two is what makes this film tick. I lamented in my review of This Means War that Chris Pine and Tom Hardy make and unlikely pair. In 21 Jump Street, Hill and Tatum are effortlessly the dynamic duo.

I do worry for Dave Franco however. Not only does he have older brother James to contend with for film roles, but it seems that already he's being typecast as the high school twat (played one in Fright Night). Maybe being a douche just comes easy to the Franco boys?

Toilet humour is abound in this film (one scene does indeed feature an actual toilet!). The film tag line itself is "The only thing getting blown tonight is their cover". Smooth. Yet the depraved humour that runs predominately throughout is the film is what makes it such a hit. I almost had tears coming out of my eyes when the undercover brothers take the drug in question, resulting in undeniably hilarious consequences.

I've not seen the original mostly because I'm currently on the right side of 30. So I can't compare. Even if I had though, I wouldn't. This is a film that represents the current generation living the social networking era, where trends last as long as Kim Kardashian's marriage. Whilst the trends of today might alieniate the majority of the population, this is a film that all of mankind can relate to - old and new.

Film Review: This Means War

Two hot guys? Check! One cute chick? Check! Annoying female friend giving advice (which should always be ignored) about your love life? Check! Why, it seems we have all the ingredients for a rom-com here!

The basic jist of this romantic action comedy is that two CIA agents end up falling head over heels in love with a girl and then make a "gentleman's agreement" to fight fair for the girl's affections.

The stupidly christened FDR (Chris Pine) is the standard club-going womanising sleaze. Tuck (Tom Hardy) is the emotionally deep one - which is odd since he's British, you would expected him to be the emotionally constipated one. And Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) - she's your typically cute, hard-working, successful gal who for some blasted reason just so happens to be very unlucky in love. Throw in some Sade and this isn't really an action-romantic-comedy, it's a straight-up rom-com.

FDR and Tuck are unsure about the penis enlargement tool they bought on the internet so decide to test out on someone else first

I remember the trailer being very choc-a-bloc of action. It was a ruse by the director McG to lure men to the cinema. There's less guns-a-blazing here and more hands-a-holding. In my screening, the film managed to be littered with giggles from various groups of girls, whilst the men remained unsurprisingly quiet. This a decent enough film for a girlie evening with friends or perhaps a date night. But for the group of dudes looking for some mad-capped action sitting behind me - I think they were a tad disappointed!

The casting is a true oddity. I think whoever was in charge of that had only one criteria - cast actors with insanely intense, bright eyes. Whilst Witherspoon is already prepped for the romcom genre, Hardy and Pine don't quite come accross as your standard comedy tag team duo. They've got the bromance down to a tee, sure, but I can't quite picture them as CIA partners. Individual lone agents, yes, but definitely not partners.

It's predictable. Did you really expect a film like this to be laden with clever plot twists? It's cheesy, clumsy but yet there's still some light-hearted entertainment. I did indeed laugh at some of the gags in this film but I couldn't tell you what they were because they're fairly unmemorable. I overlooked the perverse and voyeuristic aspects (as well as a lot of the implausibility) of the plot and took in all goofy charm simply because, in some way, it managed to work.

I can't imagine any of the actors who feature in this film looking back at this entry to their IMBD profile with much pride, but it's not something that they should be ashamed of either. They've probably done/will do much worse than this.

Film Review: The Artist

As I write this, I'm struggling to think of an introduction for a film that essentially needs little or no introduction at all. You've seen the trailers and you know that it's already scooped up awards left, right and center. But does it live up to the hype?

The film takes place two years prior to the Wall Street crash in 1929, when silent films were the standard in the industry. The numero uno actor at the time is George Valentin (played by Jean Dujardin who, to me, looks like a slightly more attractive version of Justin Theroux). Audiences adore him, his contemporaries not so much. By accident George meets Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), an aspiring actress and accomplished dancer.

George realises the silent plus black and white treatment doesn't work quite as well on other films such as Transformers 3: Dark of The Moon

One day the film studio head, Al Zimmer (John Goodman) shows a clip to George. It features George's previous co-star talking. Whilst all the other film executives are in awe, George baulks at the clip stating it's a joke and will never take off. Soon after, Al scraps the film that George was working on by telling him that from now on he's only making "talkies".

The rest of the film follows George's demise as he invests wholeheartedly into his own silent film whilst Peppy's star is on the rise. In the remainder of the film, the relationship of the characters is really put to the test as their lives put them on very separate paths.

A friend who accompanied me to see this film was very hesitant to do so, believing the whole principle of the film to be quite pretentious. I was rather apathetic to this film. Both of us worried that we would end up falling asleep to a film that had no dialogue whatsoever. In the end we were glad to have been persuaded to see such a film - it's been a long while since either of us had been so engaged by a film.

The films that I've see lately haven't really pushed my buttons. Too often I've prayed for a film to end, casually stealing a glance at my watch or almost cried at overly convoluted and nonsensical plots & scripts (yes I'm looking at you, Immortals)! With The Artist, Dujardin's eyes and Beso's smile say it all. There's no sappy or cheesy one-liners. The expressions of the cast convey and articulate far more than any vocabulary from all the languages in the world ever could.

The chemistry between Dujardin and Beso is exquisite. You can't help but yearn for these two characters to be together. And when they weren't on screen together, I couldn't help but feel a little bit heartbroken every time.

The music is a beautiful backdrop to the film. It helps carry, without overwhelming the viewer, the plot and sets the tone perfectly. In one dream-like sequence, the use of sound takes centrefold by highlighting the effect that sound and noise, made by even the most inanimate objects, has in our lives.

This film is obviously an homage by director Michel Hazanavicius to an older era of the film industry, particularly that of Hollywood's. I'm not that familiar with it, I must admit, but it makes me develop an appreciation for that era. At one point I was reminded of Singin' in the Rain (which despite the fact it's in colour, bears some similarity to The Artist) where Gene Kelly's presence and charisma shines through, much like Dujardin's. In fact, since watching this film, I've been wondering where the hell Dujardin has been my whole life?!

The Artist is my second favourite French film - sitting very tightly behind numéro un, La Haine. Coincidently both are modern films produced in black and white. Trust the French to make simplicity look so darn chic!