Mark Canton

Mark Canton

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The Last Witch Hunter Review

Good

Vin Diesel makes a bid for yet another franchise with a supernatural action romp that's both deeply ridiculous and enjoyably entertaining. The premise is basically Underworld with witches, and Diesel uses his meathead charm to coast through his role as an immortal warrior. Thankfully, the crazed production design and some solid costars do most of the acting for him. And director Breck Eisner keeps the pace snappy enough to hold the audience's interest, even if we're laughing at it rather than with it.

The Last Witch Hunter


Diesel plays Kaulder, who in the 13th century killed a nefarious witch queen (Julie Engelbrecht) and was cursed with immortality. Now 800 years later, he's living the high life in Manhattan and leading the Axe and Cross to contain the world's witch population. His assistant is the 36th Dolan (Michael Caine), who has just named the 37th (Elijah Wood) when they're attacked by the mysterious Belial (Olaf Darri Olafsson). He's determined to resurrect the queen and return humanity to the dark ages. So Kaulder sets out to stop him, teaming up with helpful witch Chloe (Rose Leslie), who has some special abilities that aid them as things get increasingly crazed.

Continue reading: The Last Witch Hunter Review

Cake Review


Very Good

Jennifer Aniston delivers an Oscar-calibre performance in this rather over-worked drama, which tries to emphasise heavy-handed metaphors more than the characters themselves. But it's an involving personal odyssey thanks to Aniston's honest acting, and Daniel Barnz's sensitive direction manages to dodge most of the script's more glaring pitfalls.

Aniston plays Claire, a woman who has been in continual pain, both emotional and physical, following the car accident that claimed the life of her young son. Revelling in her bitter sarcasm, she has alienated her husband (Chris Messina), driven her physiotherapist (Mamie Gummer) to despair and so enraged her therapy leader (Felicity Huffman) that she's been thrown out of the group. The only person who patiently sticks by her side is her maid/assistant Silvana (Adriana Barazza), and she's beginning to waver. Then Nina (Anna Kendrick), a therapy-group member, commits suicide, making Claire question why she's still bothering to be alive. There has to be a spark of hope there, and she decides to stalk Nina's single-dad widower Roy (Sam Worthington) for answers.

While the premise seems to set up the usual story about two damaged souls healing each other, the story thankfully doesn't go down that tired route. Instead, Patrick Tobin's script keeps the interaction prickly and unexpected, even as it layers in so much symbolism that it becomes rather exhausting. Claire's physical scarring is clearly indicative of something deeper, as is her array of cruel defence mechanisms. Thankfully, Aniston plays these scenes with a mixture of black comedy and aching sadness that makes the character thoroughly involving and only slightly likeable. Her interaction with Barraza is the heart of the film, beautifully played because their connection remains mainly unspoken. By contrast, Worthington feels almost superfluous; he sharply matches Aniston's cynicism, but is too nice to register very strongly.

Continue reading: Cake Review

300: Rise Of An Empire Review


OK

Fans of the 2007 Spartan war romp 300 probably won't care that this spin-off is even more chaotic and much murkier to look at. It still features armies of scantily clad muscle men grunting idiotic declamatory dialogue as they charge into cartoon-style battles against all odds. No, this isn't particularly subtle filmmaking: it's loud and brutal. And good for an unintentional laugh.

At the same time as Spartan King Leonidas (a briefly glimpsed Gerard Butler) is leading his 300 men to battle against Xerses (Santoro), Greek General Themistocles (Stapleton) approaches Leonidas' wife Gorgo (Headey) for help facing Xerses vengeful military commander Artemisia (Green) on another front at sea. Themistocles' main officers are Aesyklos (Matheson) and Scyllias (Mulvey), whose son Calisto (O'Connell) secretly joins the army as they set sail for an epic ship-based battle against Artemisia's fearsome forces. And there are two more watery conflicts to come, each more outrageous than the one before, as Artemisia taunts Themistocles seductively while dispensing fiery death and destruction at every turn.

The addition of two strong women adds a bit of interest here, but the focus is still on the bare-chested men, even if only three or for of them actually emerge into proper characters. Headey's chief contribution is a rambling voiceover narration explaining everything for us, while Green's wry smirk and momentous glower let her steal every scene. By contrast, the men seem rather feeble. Stapleton is manly and commanding, but not hugely charismatic. Rising-star O'Connell barely gets two decent scenes. Santoro is hilariously grouchy eye candy. And everyone else is clearly expendable.

Continue reading: 300: Rise Of An Empire Review

Escape Plan Review


Good

You know not to expect something deep and meaningful when a movie stars Stallone and Schwarzenegger, and indeed this is pretty much what we expect: a slick thriller that's utterly preposterous but not quite stupid. But the premise has a certain idiotic charm to it, and there are just enough clever touches to keep our brains engaged.

Stallone plays brilliant security expert Breslin, whose job entails being thrown into maximum-security prisons so he can find the weakness in the system. Clearly unbothered by being beaten and brutalised by guards and inmates, Breslin is backed up by a support crew (Ryan and Jackson) and his business partner (D'Onofrio) back in the office. But now the CIA wants Breslin to check out its new top-secret enemy combatant lock-down. To do this, Breslin must go off the grid. And when he realises that the evil warden Hobbes (Caviezel) isn't playing ball, he teams up with brilliant scientist inmate Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger) to, yes, plan an escape.

As the story develops we get the feeling that the screenwriters sat around thinking of ways they could make this prison increasingly impossible to believe. Indeed, one mid-film twist is so incredible that it actually makes us admire the writers' audacity. Arthouse director Halstrom gleefully indulges in all of this silliness, keeping the imagery sharp and cool while name-checking pretty much every cliche of both prison and heist movies. There's even a bit of political context in the way a private contractor is abusing the system to profit from the War on Terror.

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Piranha 3DD Review


Terrible
After the guilty-pleasure success of 2010's Piranha 3D, the quickly slapped-together trailer for this sequel looked like just as much fun. Sadly, more time and creativity was put into that teaser than the finished movie, which is a choppy, unfunny mess.

Maddy (Panabaker) is back home in Arizona from grad school, working in the water park she owns with her breast-obsessed stepdad Chet (Koechner). But after the Lake Victoria disaster, prehistoric piranhas have migrated here, drawn to the park's chlorine. After consulting with wild-haired expert Goodman (Lloyd), Maddy tries to avert disaster with the help of deputy Kyle (Zylka) and nice-guy Barry (Bush), who are rivals for her affections. But as the summer launch party nears, Chet refuses to close the park.

Continue reading: Piranha 3DD Review

Boo Boo Stewart and Mark Canton - BooBoo Stewart and Fivel Stewart Los Angeles, California - 'Immortals 3D' Los Angeles premiere at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live Monday 7th November 2011

Boo Boo Stewart and Mark Canton

Piranha 3D Review


Very Good
A blast of black humour, much of it referring to other films, makes this riotously violent remake rather a lot of fun. And apart from the gleefully grisly 3D effects, the casting alone is a stroke of genius.

Arizona's Lake Victoria is being invaded by virtually naked young people during spring break, but teen Jake (McQueen) has to babysit his young siblings (Brooklynn Proulx and Sage Ryan) because his mother Julie (Shue) is especially busy as the town sheriff. As a sleazy filmmaker (O'Connell) hires Jake to show him the lake, Julie is investigating evidence that an underwater rift has released a school of voracious prehistoric piranhas. So not only must she get all of these drunken revellers out of the water, but she needs to make sure her kids are safe.

Continue reading: Piranha 3D Review

Get Carter (2000) Review


Weak
Forget Get Carter. Instead... get me a cup of coffee.

What the hell has happened to all good American action movies? Did I unknowingly miss a meeting somewhere? When did all of the bad-ass, kicking butt and taking names, gun-toting, crazed, vengeful characters of the 1980s -- from such films as Commando, Cobra, Predator, Raw Deal, First Blood -- suddenly turn into innocent, compassionate, sensitive, teary-eyed knuckleheads. The only place to turn these days for an honest action film is towards the East -- and I don't mean New York City.

Continue reading: Get Carter (2000) Review

Mark Canton

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Mark Canton Movies

Cake Movie Review

Cake Movie Review

Jennifer Aniston delivers an Oscar-calibre performance in this rather over-worked drama, which tries to emphasise...

300: Rise of an Empire Movie Review

300: Rise of an Empire Movie Review

Fans of the 2007 Spartan war romp 300 probably won't care that this spin-off is...

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Escape Plan Movie Review

Escape Plan Movie Review

You know not to expect something deep and meaningful when a movie stars Stallone and...

Piranha 3DD Movie Review

Piranha 3DD Movie Review

After the guilty-pleasure success of 2010's Piranha 3D, the quickly slapped-together trailer for this sequel...

Piranha 3D Movie Review

Piranha 3D Movie Review

A blast of black humour, much of it referring to other films, makes this riotously...

Get Carter (2000) Movie Review

Get Carter (2000) Movie Review

Forget Get Carter. Instead... get me a cup of coffee.What the hell has happened...

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