The first batch of big summer blockbusters have arrived, alongside some more thoughtful films, making for five films in today’s Film Fight for May.

First up, Iron Man 3 is the prototypical big-budget, CG-heavy, plot-light blockbuster we’ve come to expect from much of Marvel’s output (Avengers aside). This movie, however, gets ideas above its station, trying to instill more human qualities in its protagonist by giving him a young boy as a sidekick for a reasonable portion of the movie. It fails badly, as the kid is thoroughly unlikeable, Stark’s interactions with him (and many other ordinary people) are creaking and awkward, and he all but gets dropped out of the last act, making his set-up pointless. There are decent set-up pieces about The Mandarin, but the mid-film reveal is silly and he is replaced by generic baddies fighting lifeless CG battles. You’ll stop caring about anyone by the half-way mark, if you cared at all. The worst entry in the Marvel Film universe since Hulk. (See my Iron Man 3 Twitter review).

A better big budget film wasn’t far away, in the form of Star Trek: Into Darkness. It’s light-hearted, enjoyable, nonsense; the plotholes are many and consistency is low, but it’s fast and it’s fun. By the time your brain catches up, you’ll be on your way home. It’s weakest point is the relationship between Kirk and Spock. It’s sold as a strong bond, but it’s difficult to buy that after they’ve had so little screen time together, much of which they’ve spent despising each other. Ignore that, and you’ve got a decent film, but certainly not a classic. (See my Star Trek: Into Darkness Twitter review).

Matthew McConaughey continues a recent run of excellent performances (Lincoln Lawyer, Killer Joe, The Paperboy) in Mud, a movie about two young boys finding a man hiding in a swamp, and the few days that follow. While the pacing is as mired as the setting, you couldn’t ask for a better cast of character actors. They do their best to keep things moving forward, but it’s slow going. It’s worth sticking with it though. (See my Mud Twitter review).

Upstream Color is Shane Carruth’s first movie since his debut, the excellent Primer. Where that film was difficult because of the complexities of time travel being depicted as naturalistically as possible, Upstream Color is a challenge for many other reasons. It’s a beautiful mess of fast edits, dreamy music, half told moments, pieces that don’t quite fit and motivations that are far from apparent (Carruth himself has said he’s bothered by the motives of the voyeuristic sound recorder). I won’t begin to describe what this film is about. It’s involved, but worthy of the time it’ll take you to truly consider it. A classic. (See my Upstream Color Twitter review).

Finally, Dragon is a very interesting idea: it plays out as a Chinese period take on Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, swapping out the mafia for martial arts. It should’ve been good, but too much of the film is played for laughs; silly and slapstick, where it would have benefitted from being more sombre and serious. A wasted opportunity. (see my Dragon Twitter review).

The winner for May is Upstream Color, for its unique vision.

Note: Upstream Color won’t appear in UK cinemas until later this year. You can wait until then, or get a US copy imported (I got a region-free copy).

There are six films in the Film Fight for April, making it quite a busy month…

First up, Compliance is a worrying look at control, and how someone that seems like an authority figure can cause serious problems without being questioned. Based on a true story, it shows how a man posing as a police officer over the phone talks the manager of a fast food place into some highly questionable behaviour. It explores its theme well, despite overextending a few scenes to pad out the paltry runtime. The performances are reasonable, and the film manages to hold interest despite a few pacing issues. Worth seeing. (See my Compliance Twitter review).

Trance is the latest work by director, Danny Boyle. It’s a typically stylish and slick heist movie about the theft of a painting, with all the hallmarks of a Boyle movie. That includes the expected last-act twist, which is so utterly predictable and surrounded by silliness as to fall apart under its own weight. Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson were both great, but the rest of the film was hampered by the ridiculous premise. Watchable, but not a classic. (See my Trance Twitter review).

Maniac is an entirely forgettable, modern-day, B-movie slasher film. Its one gimmick, the point of view camera, starts to lose its appeal very quickly, and forces the film to rely on cliche: the killer with mother issues, obsession with (essentially) dolls, people that can’t run away or make silly choices etc. There’s nothing in this film that you haven’t seen many times before, so there’s very little reason to see it again. (See my Maniac Twitter review).

A brilliant cast, lead by Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, makes The Place Beyond The Pines a particularly bold movie. It compares the actions and decisions of three men over the course of several decades to show how blurry the line between good and bad is, how only a handful of choices and circumstance keep us from going down much darker paths. The narrative is sprawling, but never confusing, and the arguments it makes are convincing. It’s let down, in part, by a weak final act, focussing a little too much on weaker characters brought together by serendipity. A classic film that deserves to be remembered. (See my The Place Beyond The Pines Twitter review).

Spring Breakers, meanwhile, follows a handful of young girls as they head off the rails in an attempted satire of selfishness and hedonism. It attempts this by painting a dream-like, neon unreality; glitches in the cutting used to put multiple takes together, with a never ending stream of music. Sadly, it fails utterly in its goal. It comes across, for the most part, as sluggish and dull. There’s no substance here, or even a strong message, just vague ideas presented vaguely. Awful. (See my Spring Breakers Twitter review).

Finally, Olympus Has Fallen was being billed by some as a modern take on Die Hard, as the most recent Die Hard films are nothing like the original. It doesn’t live up to that, but it is a surprisingly fun, if utterly dumb, action film. There are a whole heap of big action set pieces to keep you interested (including a surprising opening sequence). These help hide the many plot holes. If you notice those, you’re paying attention to the wrong things. This is an unabashed, straight-up action film; sensible plotting be damned. Enjoyable. (See my Olympus Has Fallen Twitter review).

The winner this month is The Place Beyond the Pines, for its many excellent choices.

A slightly better showing this month than last, with 5 new films…

First up, Cloud Atlas is a sprawling, epic story by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer. It’s made up of six stories, each set in a different time period, but with the same cast members playing roles in each. The stories intertwine to various degrees, but you shouldn’t try and closely follow the logical connections: the film is much more about the thematic connections between the stories, particularly those that lead into the far future. We get some very good performances, particularly from Halle Berry and Tom Hanks who do a wide-range of characters, from the grubby and desperate to relatively heroic. This is an excellent film that is worth seeing at least once, but you’ll probably want to see it again. (See my Cloud Atlas Twitter review).

Stoker, from Park Chan-wook, is that most disappointing kind of film: one for which the trailer does an extremely good job of setting up a mood and atmosphere, which the film itself utterly fails to deliver. Most of the drama is so obviously telegraphed that you’ll see it coming from very early on, which seems to have lead the film makers to believe that they don’t then have to earn those moments. There are a number of places where characters do things that don’t emanate from themselves, but are there because the plot mandated it. This leads to some terribly stilted dialogue, and leaden scenes. All in all, there’s very little redeeming here. Dreadful. (See my Stoker Twitter review).

I’ve never felt that The Wizard of Oz really needed any more backstory, but given the number of people attempting to provide just that, I am clearly in the minority. Oz: The Great and Powerful shows how the great wizard, Oz, came to be ruler of the Emerald City. It’s a nice enough take (he was originally a con-man magician) but, being aimed at children, there’s only so much they can do with the premise. While it doesn’t stand up to the slightest bit of scrutiny, it is at least a fun film with a few decent laughs in there, though I can’t quite remember what they were now. Fun, but entirely forgettable.  (See my Oz: The Great and Powerful Twitter review).

Robot and Frank is the surprisingly sweet tale of a former cat burglar who, in his old age, gets a a helper robot. After the fairly predictable beginning (old man hates robot, old man grows to like robot), it settles down into a lovely story. At times it’s genuinely touching and sweet, and at others it’s very funny, particularly when it does something quite unexpected. The various subplots eventually pay off into a few moments that really make the film. Frank Langella is great as the lead and Susan Sarandon does fine as the love interest, but both James Marsden and Liv Tyler seemed fairly half-hearted. That aside, it’s a wonderful film. (See my Robot and Frank Twitter review).

Finally, The Paperboy is a bit of an in-cohesive mess. There are a number of ideas being progressed, from youthful arrogance, to seeking danger, to not always really knowing those who you should be close to. The setting, a baking hot summer in smalltown Florida, seems like a good boiling pot for the themes, but none of them ever really heat up and turn into the driving force of a film. We end up with a half-cooked stew of bits and pieces that don’t fit particularly well. There are some excellent performances (John Cusack is great as a slimy Floridian swamp dweller) and it captures the feel of the moment well, but there are too many structural issues for that to matter. Disappointing. (See my The Paperboy Twitter review).

A tough month to call, but I think Cloud Atlas wins due to the scope of its vision, and all the moments it does deliver well, even though there are a few that fail to work.

Yes, I know, I’m continuing a bad trend for late posts this year. February has only 3 films, after the big hitters coming out in January leaving slim pickings this month.

First up, Flight is a film about substance abuse that at times works very well, and at other times goes wide of the mark. The first act, depicting a horrific plane crash that ends miraculously, is exceptionally well done; the sound engineers using the increasingly high-pitched engine noises to great effect, as well as a few other neat little tricks. The entire section is gripping. When the film moves on to its real material, that’s when it starts to flounder. The scenes in which it deals with the main character’s alcohol abuse head on tend to work relatively well. However there are too many sections that are either very forced (most of the material with his family) or are comically over-the-top, particularly the religious messages that are, at times, so heavy-handed as to be laugh-out-loud funny. In a movie about such a serious subject, these flaws seriously detract. The entire film could’ve been a lot better. (See my Flight Twitter review).

We tend not to expect too much from animated movies aimed at children, particularly when Pixar aren’t involved, so it’s a surprise to see such a fun movie in Wreck-It Ralph. The initial hook of a videogame villain who wants his life to mean more plays out quite nicely, with a number of great cameos and spoofs of other games. From there it builds into a funny but sweet story of finding where you belong, even if you’re a bit different than everyone else. It’s not going to be a classic, but it is certainly worth seeing. (See my Wreck-It Ralph Twitter review).

Finally, Warm Bodies is a story about semi-conscious zombies who find that love can help them be better people. It’s not particularly well fleshed out (pardon the pun), much of the plot happening because it’s convenient rather than it making any kind of sense, but it is sweet at times. Okay. (see my Warm Bodies Twitter review).

The winner for February, then, is Wreck-It Ralph: a sweet animation about belonging, that manages to be funny along the way.

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