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Day: 9 August 2017

Review: The Emoji Movie

Written by James Gill on . Posted in Film.

Back in November 2015 when The Emoji Movie was announced, it was written off as a cheap cash grab, but few could have predicted what was to come. Like Harry Potter on his first Christmas morn at Hogwarts, we awake with surprise to find a delightful cinematic present under the tree.

Writer-director extraordinaire Tony Leondis, known for his work on direct-to-video classics such as Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch and Kronk’s New Groove took the helm for this. Whilst watching it, I would not be surprised if you drew parallels to animation greats such as Walt Disney, for they do share many similar flairs.

For example, both Leondis and Disney have an innate ability to craft a enchanting story, immersing the viewer in their fantasy world. Disney took inspiration from fairytales. Leondis’ fairytale was Toy Story, a centuries old tale that modern children couldn’t relate to anymore, so he adapted it for the 21st century toy: the emoji.

The leading role of the ‘Meh’ emoji is played by TJ Miller but his performance is eclipsed in every way by former Gavin and Stacey star James Corden who plays the ‘Hi-5’ emoji. Voice acting has never been recognised by the Academy but there will undoubtedly be some discussion behind the scenes about this topic, and there would be no better year to introduce the category than 2017.

Corden gives a nuanced and complex performance as the bandana wearing hand, provoking a deep emotional reaction the likes of which haven’t been seen since Adam Sandler’s role as both titular characters in 2011’s Jack and Jill. Thankfully, it won’t be long until we see Corden in another voice acting role as his next film, an animated adaptation of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, is right around the corner.

In the film industry, producers and studios increasingly favour established characters and stories, and original ideas such as that of Leondis’ can struggle to attain the funding needed to make. This obstacle was overcome with an ingenious idea after Leondis saw that he could receive money in advance from corporations by featuring their products, notably that Heineken paid a reported $45 million to have James Bond drink their beer in Skyfall. Therefore to raise the $50 million necessary for the budget he would just have to rewrite the script to give these corporations bang for their bucks.

Not only did this help the film turn a profit before it even hits the cinema, but we the viewers get introduced to various exciting bits of technology. Video game series Just Dance and the app Candy Crush both had ten minute segments dedicated solely to them.

Facebook, YouTube, Shazam, Dropbox, Spotify, Instagram, Yelp, Twitter and WeChat all feature too. Parents can relish the fact they don’t need to teach their children the important life lessons, like how in Candy Crush arranging three of the same colour candies together in a row eliminates them, because films like this do it for them.

Whether you 🙂 it or 🙁 it, there will certainly be a sequel, simply because any animation about small, yellow people is a sure fire hit with children. Perhaps we will get a walk-through on how to buy something on eBay or Amazon with daddy’s credit card while the XD emoji dual wields Mountain Dew branded fidget spinners. We can only wait and see.

Review: Game of Thrones – The Spoils of War

Written by Amy Wei on . Posted in Film.

Some may have felt unsure coming into this season with the loss of ‘Battle of the Bastards’ director Miguel Sapochnik. However, they had their doubts firmly crushed in a stampede of screaming Dothraki and an inferno wreaked by a scarily-well CGI’ed Drogon. Considering that final fifteen-minute battle in the Reach (arguably giving the Pelennor Fields a run for its money), it’s a staggering achievement that the rest of the episode doesn’t feel outshone.

Let’s start in the North, and work our way down. Bran’s new identity as the Three-Eyed Raven is getting a lot more interesting, as we see him struggling, in a Dr Manhattan-eque way, to interact normally with Petyr, Meera, and then Arya.

His “chaos is a ladder” line to the former is nailed by Isaac Hempstead-Wright, and visibly unnerves Littlefinger. It’s a mystery why Petyr chooses to give Catspaw to Bran, but he looks suspiciously satisfied when he sees it has been passed to Arya later on in the episode.

Arya’s return to Winterfell is heralded with the stunning House Stark score by Ramin Djawadi, and the nostalgia is ramped up by a confrontation with two guards reminiscent of a scene she had outside the Red Keep in Season 1.

The following reunion scenes with Sansa and Bran are kept earnest and realistic, heartfelt without toeing the line to cheesiness. D&D chose to retain the awkwardness that would be natural after years of separation, giving the scenes a palpable tension. It must be said, however — Bran’s wheelchair is hilarious.

It was nice to check in on Brienne and Podrick as well. I’m glad they got a couple of strong character scenes, although the fight with Arya edged on cliché. It’s one of the few questionable moments of the episode for me.

Down in Dragonstone, we are given another questionable moment: the romantic tension between Jon and Daenerys in the dragonglass cave. The forced quality of it may be down to Emilia Clarke’s generally forced performance, but I also think it was unnecessary for the writers to shoehorn in the romance so early into their alliance.

To be fair to Daenerys, she also produces the best dialogue in ‘The Spoils of War’ when she confronts Tyrion. She makes a perceptive, discomposing observation that his “master plan” was heavily impacted by an unwillingness to hurt his brother.

This weakness of Tyrion’s comes to a heartbreaking head in the Field of Fire battle in the Reach, where we find our real standout performance: Matt Shakman, the director. After helming It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and episodes of Psych and Fargo, Shakman had proved his directorial range, but not with large-scale battle sequences like this.

Man, did he deliver. (Full disclosure — I may be biased, because Jaime Lannister is my favourite character.) As the Dothraki hoard gradually approached the Lannister train, and Drogon materialised in the sky above them, my skin crawled. The next fifteen minutes are a true Game of Thrones emotional rollercoaster.

Like with the Blackwater, viewers are attached to characters on both sides of the conflict. When Bronn aims the Scorpion at Drogon, with Tyrion looking on and Jaime surrounded by fire, you can only watch in horror, not wanting any characters to be hurt, not sure who you want to win. The CGI on Drogon as he falls from the sky is far too good for television, considering they had no real-life reference when crafting the mythical creature.

The battle treated us with two absolutely breathtaking camera shots, which compete for the most impressive in the entire show. There is the long take tracking shot following Bronn as he battles his way to the Scorpion. Then, another tracking shot follows Jaime charging down Daenerys and Drogon through fire and water.

Tyrion’s less active role on the clifftop is equally stellar. He watches the carnage of the queen he serves decimating his brother’s army and his city’s food supplies. His internal conflict is communicated wordlessly by the always outstanding Peter Dinklage. When he whispers, “flee, you idiot,” to Jaime, it’s heartbreaking.

Nothing is more heartbreaking, however, than the moment the credits roll over Jaime and Bronn’s sinking bodies as Jaime’s armour weighs him down to the bottom of the Mander River. Next Sunday has never felt so far away.

 

 

Quick thoughts from a book reader:
—From the mention of the Golden Company in Cersei’s conversation with Tychos, is it too much to hope for an appearance by Aegon Targaryen? It’s probably way too late to introduce him and give him a character arc with only one season left. If D&D find a way, though, I won’t complain.

—Since Meera’s going back to the Neck, is it possible that we’ll get to see Howland Reed this season?