FILM: Toy Story 3

Toy Story is the film that made Pixar, the film that brought computer animation to the forefront of family entertainment and, eventually, temporarily, killed Disney's hand-drawn craft (until John Lasseter revived it himself). So to make a sequel to such a milestone in cinema history conjures an ambivalent mix of inevitability, expectation and foolhardiness. But they did anyway. And that it superceded the original was seen by many as not just lightning striking twice in the same place but that Pixar had harnessed, captured and bottled it and could now wield it to produce critical and commerical hit after hit. At least, that's the popular view. From a more personal standpoint, while Pixar have certainly produced some of the finest films of the past decade, animated or not, with Ratatouille and Wall-E particular favourites, other efforts, such as The Incredibles, Up, and Finding Nemo, have not quite matched the sum of their parts.

To then return to the holy well of Toy Story, 15 years after the original, is a startlingly bold but perhaps obvious decision, much as the decision to make the second installment was. But attitudes to these films have changed. The animation has reached a point where we no longer focus on its quality, be it hair complexity, lighting and shading or pixel counts, which is testament to just how far we have come since Woody and Buzz's debut. Now, 3D has become the issue with these films, though here it's second nature - immersive rather than intrusive, but without the show and spectacle, it all seems somewhat redundant.

Yet Pixar has always been about story, but whereas Toy Story 2 was an expansion and improvement in every possible sense, Toy Story 3 is more content to act as a retread than assert its own identity beyond signalling the sense that this is the closing chapter. The themes of growing up, moving on, abandonment and friendship all return, but with little more than a sly twist in each case to differentiate between the same themes and questions the characters long debated and seemingly resolved in Part Deux. Instead, we have to play the whole "the toys don't believe Woody", "this utopia ain't so great after all" ring-around narrative hoop-jumping we've seen all before, with some segments seemingly lifted entirely from other non-Toy Story Pixar works.

More successfully fleshed out here is Pixar's other focus of storytelling and that's character. The relationships between Woody and Buzz, between all the toys, between the toys and Andy, are all key to what make the Toy Story films a success. In Toy Story 3, it's undoubtedly impressive bringing back the characters after so long and for it to feel like a genuine continuation , as if it was always the makers' intention for the story to evolve so naturally. Not only that, but there's genuine emotion and heart throughout, with poignant asides, and subtle looks and actions, speaking volumes. If there's a more gut-wrenching climax, coupled with one of several truly exciting action sequences, in a film this year, I will be mightily impressed. Shame that the laugh rate isn't quite so high - there's a particularly hilarious call-back to part 2, but some of the running gags (Ken's "Ascot", Buzz in Spanish mode) fall at the first hurdle.

Ultimately, it's a very good, entertaining episode that's absolutely worth watching and does justice to the previous two movies, reaching a satisfying conclusion. But to replicate the great step-up from 1 to 2 here was perhaps too tall an order.

7/10

PS The short beforehand, Night & Day, is naff.

FILM: The Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans

Last time Nicolas Cage played a 'man of the law', it was in The Wicker Man. What marks that misguided remake apart from this one (or at least that's what Abel Ferrera would suggest) is that The Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans (to give its full title) is actually intentionally hilarious and genuinely brilliant. Like director Werner Herzog, I too have not seen the Harvey Keitel-starring original, but any similarities are presumably through use of the title (to which Herzog himself was opposed) and loose thematic associations. Besides, it's not something to get too hung up when what we have here is the most gleefully entertaining depiction of moral bankruptcy since Bad Santa.

Post-Katrina New Orleans, and recently decorated Lieutenant Terence McDonagh is assigned to investigate the execution-style massacre of a family of Senegalese illegal immigrants. Suffering from chronic back pain and with prescription medicine not providing quite the relief he needs, he becomes increasingly dependent on seized narcotics, which he frequently shares with prostitute girlfriend Frankie (Eva Mendes). As his mental and physical state becomes more fractured, so too does he start to lose grip on both his personal and professional lives that are becoming ever more intertwined. Will he crack before the case does? Mmmm, crack...

Yes, The Bad Lieutenant is a very bad man indeed. An anti-hero who learns from his mistakes not in a way that he won't make them again, but when he does inevitably re-offend, he'll enjoy himself more. With his hunched walk, never-changing suit and dirty mouth, McDonagh starts off unhinged and gets progressively worse, going to some jaw-dropping and hysterical lengths to solve the crime, get out of the multiple holes he digs himself into, or just to get his next fix.

Here, for the first time in a long while, it's not a case of Cage being only ever as good as the film he is in. Unlike, say, Christopher Walken, it'll never be the case that he's the best thing in a bad movie; indeed, in many instances he'll try his very best to be just as awful as the surrounding mess and embellish terrible dialogue to Razzie-baiting depths. But here, the tables are somewhat turned. Cage IS The Bad Lieutenant, and The Bad Lieutenant excels because of him. That's not to suggest that the film itself is lacklustre. Far from it, the supporting cast are uniformly excellent, and the New Orleans setting, loaded with plenty of recent social significance, presents the perfect backdrop for McDonagh's disintegration, his moments of madness shot with style, humour, and a peculiar affinity for reptiles (the natural world clearly factoring highly in Werzog's recent work). But ultimately it is Cage's barn-storming lead performance that makes the greatest impact and proves that few other actors can quite match him when he's in wild-and-crazy mode.

By skewing grittiness in favour of the absurd, The Bad Lieutentant is as footloose and fancy free anything this sodden with substance abuse and filthy language could possibly be, and is all the better for it. Freed from the burden of self-regulatory sermonising that a lesser talent than Herzog would be obliged to include, The Bad Lieutenant is a raucuous and refreshing work that is destined to become a cult classic. Just don't try it at home, kids.

9/10

The Bad Lieutenant - Port of Call: New Orleans is released in UK cinemas May 21st.

FILM: Heartless

Jamie Morgan (Jim Sturgess) is a lonely soul. Though close to his family, particularly his mother and always thinking about his deceased father, he longs for a family of his own. Blighted by extensive birthmarks, he has always found it hard to build relationships, particularly in the oppressive atmosphere of London's East End. One night it becomes clear that true evil lies beneath the surface of this 'world gone mad' and when tragic events take place, Jamie ventures deeper into London's hellish underbelly, encountering sinister overlord Papa B (Joseph Mawle).

The idea of the big city, especially during these 'uncertain times', as masking something far more disturbing is certainly an interesting premise (Hellraiser meets The Matrix, if you will) and combined with the 'hoodie horror' motif that worked to grim and upsetting effect in Eden Lake (less so in the rather silly and obvious portrayal of 'yoofs' in Harry Brown), Philip Ridley's film certainly has a rich backdrop to set the action. Moreover, while Heartless explores familiar genre ideas as madness, guilt, and society's ills incarnate, there is certainly enough going on to keep it interesting so as not to leave it feeling stale (no more creepy kids, wise beyond their years, though - almost as bad and as pointless as bleeding psychics).

Where Heartless becomes unstuck though is in its wildly shifting tone and direction. Choppy, rushed editing is partly to blame for the scattershot story-telling, but Ridley's claim that the film's bitty nature is to relfect Jamie's increasingly fractured psychological state seems more of an excuse for him to use disparate ideas he'd accumulated over the years rather than some grand film-making intention. Indeed, Ridley describes film-making as an 'explosion in reverse', where pieces of shiny shrapnel come together to form a, hopefully, cohesive whole. In this case, it didn't work.

The performances are fine, with Sturgess a believable lead, plus sound support from Noel Clarke, Clémence Poésy, and Timothy Spall on cameo duties, and it often looks the business, with some equally horrific and beautiful moments. But it too readily mixes serious drama and emotional upset with naive sentimentality and laboured sermonising, all to a frequently invasive made-for-film soundtrack. It's strange then that the film's two very best scenes are when it cuts loose and has some fun, with a couple of darkly comic sequences around the midway point, particularly the excellent Eddie Marsan's brilliant turn as 'Weapons Man'. But soon the giggles become unintentional and it all gets twisty, murky and silly again.

For a British genre film on a limited budget, Heartless certainly makes the most of its resources, with some very neat special effects and make-up, an undeniably arresting look, and a fair amount of talent on-screen. Unfortunately, it brings to mind the ambitious but abysmal Franklyn, as it too often becomes bogged down in its own po-faced ideas and convolusions - yet, it is certainly the far better film. For those willing to put up with occasional naffness and a peculiar sense of narrative flow and mood, there is still much to like within Heartless, but a whole-hearted recommendation is a hard one to make.

6/10

Heartless is released in UK cinemas May 21st, followed by a DVD/Blu-Ray/Download release on May 24th.

FILM SPECIAL: Top 20 Films of 2009

Onto the movies, but why twenty? Well, simply because there were more than ten films which were pretty much equally as good as each other. So while this list is in a sort of an order of greatness, a degree of shuffling up and down could easily take place. But let's lock it down as this for now, shall we? I' ve included mini-musings on each of the 20 - they're not overviews or summations, just thoughts that cropped up when compiling the list together.

For the point of comparison, this should cover every film released in 2009 in the UK that I saw. That way you can see those that didn't make the cut and a vague opinion on them, and why I might have omitted someone else's favourite film of the year (because I didn't actually see it). So, the pick of what was actually a very fine year for cinema.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Makes a good underdog documentary double bill with King of Kong. Hysterically funny and incredibly touching.

In The Loop
Ultimately rather depressing when you think about it. Loads of LOLs and swears though! Malcolm Tucker on a big screen = terrifying.

Drag Me To Hell
Thank you Mr. Raimi! Like the most fun Spook House ride you can think of, and as close to a new Evil Dead as you could hope for.

Moon
Sam Rockwell gives the best performances of his career. A simple story elegantly and economically told. Lovely models and miniatures too.

Thirst
The best vampire film of the year. Also, it's rare to see a film about blood-suckers that actually makes you feel quite so giddy from all the red stuff as this manages. Park Chan-Wook's best since Oldboy.

Let The Right One In
The other best vampire film of the year, it's chilling, it's creepy, it's a little bit weepy. Uncomfortable viewing in the best possible way.

The Wrestler
More than just The Meaty Mickey Show, the film itself is remarkably well directed. More nods deserved for all concerned.

District 9
The most amount of body-popping to be found on the silver screen since Electric Boogaloo 2, I was pleasantly surprised just how much of the film was focused on the aliens as much as the humans. Especially the intergalactic tag-team buddy break-in of MNU. Best film based on a video game that doesn't actually exist.

The Hurt Locker
Like the gripping finale to an action film over and over again and increasingly tense each time. Effectively a two-hour game of Russian Roulette. Sub-plots were a bit ill-fitting though.

Inglourious Basterds
Ludicrous but easily one of the most entertaining and rich pictures of the year that revels in its rollicking rambunctiousness. The best of QT's post-Jackie Brown trilogy of self-indulgence.

Star Trek
The only big summer block-buster of the year that was any good whatsoever, but it more than made up for everyone else's shortcomings by being so much fun. Like a big silly sugar-rush fireworks display, it should have been awful but was anything but (a couple of weak cast members and dafty plot notwithstanding).

Where The Wild Things Are
Best kids film of the year not really made for kids and amazing it ever got made, let alone finished. But it's great that it exists and will grow and grow as time goes on. If Max crying in the ruins of his crushed igloo doesn't get to you, you have an impenetrable soul.

Mesrine
Bit of a cheat counting them as one film, as each part definitely has a different feel and focus. If I had to pick, I do prefer the first part, if only because a rise is more fun, if not necessarily quite as deep and interesting, as a fall. Vincent Cassel makes it super-watchable (even during the nasty bits).

Fantastic Mr. Fox
The other best kids film of the year not really made for kids. And the stuff I liked the most wasn't even in the original material (the relationship between Ash and Kristofferson). I hope kids who see it now will revisit it again and again and each time find something new.

Crank: High Voltage
It's Crank TIMES 2. Or Crank SQUARED. The ante is upped in every aspect, so while it's not better than the original, it's the only possible way forward for Chev Chelios. Also, I think the guys get it just as bad as the girls when it comes to excessive nudity and violence to their person.

Slumdog Millionaire
The Little Movie That Could to most people. Another Danny Boyle film to the rest. But Danny Boyle films are always cause for some celebration. So what better way to celebrate than watch Slumdog Millionaire?

Red Cliff
Need to see the full 2 movies rather than the conjoined mish-mash cut-down released at the kinoplex. But hey! It's a good John Woo movie for a change. Actually, a great one. Big historical war epics can often leave me cold, but this is tonnes of fun, and I'll watch Tony Leung and/or Takeshi Kaneshiro in pretty much anything.

A Serious Man
Possibly their weirdest work since Barton Fink, and maybe even as upsetting as No Country For Old Men in a strange way. True moments of brilliance throughout though, and excellent performances from relatively unknown actors. Hard to find a more peculiar 'comedy'.

Up
Not Pixar's finest. Not by a long shot. And despite the set-up, ultimately disappointingly conventional and obvious. But disappointing from Pixar is usually still pretty great, and when it's at full tilt, it's stirring and magical like few others of its ilk.

Gran Torino
Like Up with less balloons. I'd like a Walt Kowalski action figure. Squeeze him and out comes a racist grumble! Comes with shotgun and can of beer, with titular vehicle sold separately.

As for future films I saw last year, if they were to be included The Road and Mother would absolutely rock into the top 10; Capitalism: A Love Story would certainly not. The Room would trump all three as well (it had it's first cinema screening in the UK this year, so I guess it counts?). Also, The Brothers Bloom would be somewhere towards the top too (if only it'd come out over here - what is the hold up?).

Other films I liked (in rough order of decreasing likeness):
Adventureland, Watchmen, The Box, Antichrist, The Good The Bad The Weird, Synecdoche, New York, Zombieland, Frost/Nixon, (500) Days of Summer, Public Enemies, Punisher: War Zone, The Hangover

These were all a bit "okay, I guess". Still, they had their moments (with most meh at the bottom):
Bruno, Coraline, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Triangle, Harry Brown, Departures, Gamer, Tokyo!, Three Miles North of Molkom..., JCVD, Religulous, G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra

The rest were all pretty bad, some very much more so than others (especially at the end), but all hard to recommend:
My Name Is Bruce, Franklyn, Resident Evil: Degeneration, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Terminator Salvation, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

And that's the lot. I know there's still quite a few to catch up on, but that's how it looks for MMIX for now. What did I miss?

MUSIC SPECIAL: Top 10 Albums of 2009

Yes, it's listy-time! It's all redundant now, as I'm sure everyone's already picked their favourite albums of 2010 already, or would rather do a little bit of noughties-navel-gazing, but so what? Here's a selection of my favourites that you were no doubt all listening to way back in 2010-1AD, and if that weren't the case, here's your chance to rectify that pronto. So, without further ado...

01: Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Sounding both very much of its time yet beautifully antiquated at the same time, Veckatimest is an album worth getting wrapped up in over and over again, and remains rewarding on each listen.

02: Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul
Okay, so technically not a 2009 release on account of it not being actually released (sort of), but if you know where to look, it is great collaboration with many a formidable special guest, particularly from David Lynch who provides vocals on two of the very best tracks.

03: The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
Like an alien distress signal captured by government scientists in the 60s and only just released into the public, it's a distorted rambling affair but as utterly captivating as ever.

04: Franz Ferdinand - Tonight
Third time out for the Franz boys, and it's another batch of fun, cool, catchy body-jittering toe-tappers. You groovy cats, you! Easy to take for granted, but really, I don't think they've yet to put a (dancing) foot wrong.

05: Handsomeboy Technique - Terrestrial Tone Cluster
The only new Japanese album I think I listened to this year! Eek! But it's a formidable follow-up to his excellent debut. Drifts off a little towards the end, but for the most part, exceptionally lovely.

06: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Ticks a lot of boxes with an emphatic YES in ways that are not immediately obvious, but instantly gripping. Kick-ass tuneage.

07: Hank Pine and Lily Fawn - North America
The long-awaited continuation of the titular characters' quest through the American gothic fairytale (via Canada), it eschews much of the story-telling in favour of consistenly high quality ditties.

08: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
The critical masterpiece of the year, there is much to savour on this album, and with every listen, it's easy to sink even deeper into the marvellous sounds contained within.

09: Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Two distinctive voices + a bunch of great tunes = stirring stuff.

10: Discovery - LP
Blippy and electronic, yet warm and sunny, it's a joyous affair that sounds like pop from the not too distant future. And the future is now, kids!

Special mention as well for Compilation of the Year which was Dark Was The Night, a magnificent snapshot of contemporary North American folky-indie with a mix of new tracks, covers and traditional standards, and all for a good cause. And because I'm great, I've created a Spotify playlist sample of the above (substituting tracks from a few of my also-rans for those unavailable), something I'm thinking of doing more regularly (yay, playlists for all). Hear it yonder.

Any more recommendations or suggestions for ones I've missed more than welcome!

FILM: Capitalism: A Love Story

The surprise film at the London Film Festival, and it was a surprise indeed. I was hoping for Where The Wild Things Are, what we got instead was Capitalism: A Love Story, the latest from Michael Moore. A film I had no plan in seeing (I liked TV Nation and Bowling for Columbine though), so that was a disappointment, but the film itself was exactly what I expected.

So, Mr. Moore sets his sights on the recent banking crisis, drawing a lot of it back to Roger & Me, Flint, Michigan and his personal life. It does indeed highlight some pretty shocking examples of dirty greedy policies in play and the central message of "big over-the-top spending = boo, power to the people = yay" is hard to quibble with. And after an exciting rip-roaring opening (the warning message from the trailer for Herschell Gordon Lewis' Blood Feast, interspersed with CCTV of bank heists to the tune of Iggy Pop's cover of "Louie Louie"), you'd expect a big boistrous barnstorm rallying against the powers that be. However, it's mainly a grab-bag selection of sob stories (difficult situations for ordinary people, sure, but enough zooming into crying eyes) and show-boating stunts and skits that are as obvious as they are unfunny. A damp smug squib then, rather than the fireworks one would expect from Moore firing on all cylinders against the government leaders and the big banks who line their pockets.

In fact, Moore really doesn't do enough to demonstrate how wrong the previous banking practices were, so we're only really left with scattershot human interest tales rather than a proper attack with cold hard facts and figures. There are answers and ideas within, and it's more mature and balanced than Farenheit 9/11, but Moore's schtick is getting old - toothless and prone to foggy thinking.

5/10

FILM: Gamer

Neveldine/Taylor strike back with their post-Crank offering of virtual-reality/evil media conglomerate/wronged death row inmate/future deathsport/mega-bucks TV show pick'n'mix plot strands that in many ways feels like Neil Marshall's Doomsday in its attempt to hark back to a certain breed of action film, but tries to do far too much all at once.

As you'd expect from the Crank boys, it looks quite spectacular (deliberately dodgy green-screening notwithstanding) and it's edited to within an inch of it's life and feels like the screen is going to overload at certain points (sometimes it does). But as you might also expect, there are plenty of absurdist tangents, surreal gags and major boobage. In a sense, it's too bizarre and peculiar to satisfy the Michael Bay crowd, but too mean-spirited and base to be fully enjoyed as a dumb but fun 'splosions flick. However, there is still much to be thankful for and its constant efforts to attach such a weird shooting style and sense of humour to what is a pretty pedestrian plot is commendable.

And if there's anything that keeps it afloat, it's the cast, though not so much in terms of their acting ability (Gerard Butler seems to just channel Russell Crowe in Gladiator and add nothing else), though Michael C. Hall is a highly entertaining and quirky super-villain, as you might expect from playing Dexter. Rather that the entire supporting cast is populated by a multitude of known faces, some in blink-or-you'll-miss-it cameos, many of them Pathology and Crank alumni (see if you can spot Efren Ramirez and Troma's Lloyd Kaufman). The highlight of these is undoubtedly Milo Ventimiglia, who in about a minute of screen time as the charmingly-monikered Rick Rape, demonstrates a gleefully sick side that you would never see in an episode of Heroes.

While it's hard to champion Gamer in quite the same unabashed fashion as Cranks One and Two, if you weren't put off by exploding breast implants in Neveldine/Taylor's last cinematic endeavour, you might be able to stomach Gamer, and, dare I say it, enjoy it.

6/10