Over at Amazing Radio, where I talk new releases with Dani Charlton every week, they are having a Movie Month to celebrate that it's awards season. You can head over and vote for who you think will win the big categories at the Oscars: Oscars Poll « Amazing Radio
‘Could this get any weirder?’
Mila Kunis asks at one point in Jupiter Ascending. With bees that recognise
royalty, hover shoes that allow the wearer to skate and surf in thin air, and
Channing Tatum wearing pointy prosthetic ears; the answer is definitely no Mila,
it probably bloody couldn’t.
Jupiter Jones (Kunis) is an
ordinary girl from Chicago, born under a night sky with the stars aligned to
spell out her destiny for future greatness. Her reality is cleaning toilets;
day in, day out like a modern day Cinderella. Out of the stars, flies her very
own Prince Charming... or perhaps that should be Prince Channing, with
Tatum playing a hunter who has been sent to Earth to find his princess. He’s a
genetically engineered ex-military hybrid; part man, part dog with gravity defying boots and a keen sense of smell. His mission is to discover
Jupiter who, unbeknownst to her, is actually an intergalactic royal heir and in
line to inherit a fortune that could decide the future of every human on Earth.
The Wachowski siblings have
never really dealt in small ideas. Their debut Bound feels light years away
from this epic space saga which eclipses even The Matrix and Cloud Atlas for
the scope of its ambition. However, Jupiter Ascending is not the masterpiece
that either The Matrix was, or that Cloud Atlas may one day be hailed as. It is
brimming with action, special effects and imagination, but is sadly lacking
when it comes to character and real emotion. This is like The Fifth Element on
steroids; if you liked Luc Besson’s vision of the galaxy, strap in for more
bonkers creatures and OTT villains than you can shake a misplaced Lightsaber
at.
Jupiter Ascending has
Hogwarts extras, Koopa Troopas from The Super Mario Bros movie, henchman dressed like gimps and plenty more crazy aliens for its down to earth heroine to
contend with. It also has Eddie Redmayne on turbo charged uber-villain duties.
As one of a trio of royal siblings that are squabbling over what to do about
the threat that Jupiter poses to them, he chews the huge and extravagantly
designed scenery to pieces. With his creepy features and strained voice, it is
a shame when he resorts to moments of SHOUTING to make sure he tips over
into pantomime.
Jupiter Ascending is a film
filled with chasing and rescuing, but the action scenes go by in a bit of a blur of special effects
and repetitiveness. Kunis gets a few chances to show her charm but spends most
of the film going from outrageous costume to costume and either clinging to
Tatum or chasing Channing (who forgets to put his shirt on for a large section
of the film) for a quick kiss. If Jupiter Ascending isn’t numbing with its
action, it’s getting bogged down with the likes of Sean Bean delivering pages
of exposition. If you just want to know what's in Tatum's genes, you might want to wait for Magic Mike XXL.
Still, if you like big
special effects driven space odysseys more like The Fifth Element than
Interstellar, then Jupiter Ascending might just be the star you’ve been
searching for.
Three brand new trailers to celebrate this festive season; Godzilla, Edge of Tomorrow and Jupiter Ascending.
Godzilla
The teaser trailer for Godzilla is finally here after a few false starts and many videos going online before being taken down and blah blah blah. Starting with a group of soldiers being dropped into a city and putting us right in the point of view of one of them, there is an unbelievable air of dread about the whole thing. We get glimpses of a fair amount of destruction, a lot of running and a decent slice of emoting, particularly from Bryan Cranston, the artist formerly known as Walter White. Godzilla only briefly emerges from the smoke but it's a hell of a lot more of the monster than we got from the Cloverfield trailer back in 2008. Enjoy!
Edge of Tomorrow
Retitled from the probably a bit better but equally baffling All You Need is Kill, Edge of Tomorrow stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. It looks a little bit Source Code, a little bit Groundhog Day but has a hell of a lot more big ass guns, big ass explosions and looks a hell of a lot of fun. The soundtrack to the trailer is suitably robotic and repetitive and I wonder if they are now going to release a new trailer to Fatboy Slim's Eat Sleep Rave Repeat but perhaps re-dub with Eat, Kill, Die, Repeat. Check out the trailer:
Jupiter Ascending
The Wachowski's don't look ready to dial down their desire for the epic anytime soon. After the critically divisive Cloud Atlas, they return with more science fiction, this time with Channing Tatum in distracting makeup and Mila Kunis looking gorgeous as ever. Not sure what is going on here but it certainly looks huge in scope, loaded with special effects and hopefully might have a few big ideas up its sleeve. Check out the trailer:
