Rating: MMMM

Director: Drew Barrymore
Starring: Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden, Eve, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis
Running time: 111 mins
Cert: 12A

Don’t be put off by the fuschia pink UK poster, covered in the faces of smiling women – this is not The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants or any of that saccharine-soaked ‘girl power’ drivel (that in fact evokes the very opposite of female empowerment). Whip It is a kick-ass, feisty and intelligent sports movie that neatly combines multiple genre elements (pop culture comedy, family drama, teen romance) to create and warm and entertaining film that is full of what Americans call ‘attitude’.

Whip It centres around 17 year old Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page), a disillusioned misfit resident of dead-end town, Bodeen, Texas. Bliss lives her life as put-upon waitress of kitsch diner the Oinkery and dutiful daughter, reluctantly  entered into beauty pageants by her mother (Marcia Gay Harden), a straightlaced postwoman who runs the Cavendar household as a tight ship.

On a shopping trip with her mother and sister in nearby city Austin, Bliss sees a flyer advertising a roller derby match – tough, scantily clad girls on skates speeding around a track, tackling and shoving each other violently in order to score points. Accompanied by best friend Pash, Bliss goes to the match and is immediately struck by the sport and particularly the women playing it – players with tough-girl names such as ‘Smashley Simpson’ and ‘Eva Destruction’. After the match, Bliss approaches one of the ‘Hurl Scouts’, Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) who suggests that she should try out for the team as they are looking for new members. A tentative Bliss attends the trial, demonstrating a speed on skates that surprises even herself, consequently making the team and becoming a Hurl Scout by the name of ‘Babe Ruthless’.

Whip It combines sports movie, broad comedy, coming of age tale and teen flick to great effect – it is a highly engaging, entertaining and moving  film –  one of the final scenes involving Marcia Gay Harden’s mother character in particular will undoubtedly moisten a few eyes, as will a piercing moment of betrayal. Also, the early stages of Bliss’s relationship with love interest Oliver are equally charming, as are the tender swimming pool scenes, shot to great aplomb by debut director Drew Barrymore.

The script too is funny, witty, warm and clever. Barrymore’s directing is excellent, particularly the aforementioned underwater sequences, demonstrating she has considerable talent not just in the fields of acting and producing. She has a clear understanding of her characters and her scene: the rough and ready world of womens’ roller derby, the action of which is deftly handled in exciting, adrenaline fuelled scenes on the track, with Bliss and her team mates speeding around, giving and taking ‘hits’.

Whip It is great fun, despite the fact it not being exactly original. It is however, thoroughly enjoyable, with excellent little moments, and a great balance between sport and character relationships. In terms of acting, Barrymore’s cast does well. Ellen Page delivers a likeable, convincing performance as main character Bliss Cavendar, as does Kristen Wiig who is really impressive, proving she is capable not only of hilarious deadpan comedy (Knocked Up), but proving she is a credible dramatic actress. Juliette Lewis is deliciously malevolent in the villain role of ‘Iron Mavin’, and  Barrymore herself gives a hilarious cameo as knuckle-headed Hurl Scout, ‘Smashley Simpson’.  The film’s supporting characters are also played very well – feisty best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) is great, as is Bliss’s father, Earl (Daniel Stern).

All in all, Whip It is a great slice of easy-going American fun. Barrymore has not only made a hugely enjoyable film, but she has made the world of women’s roller derby accessible and interesting to a whole new audience – the heady mix of intimidating toughness, strength and machismo balanced with a female sexiness and power is thoroughly mesmerizing. And perhaps more importantly, the film bucks the girly teen movie trend in its closing act (not to give away too much) and proves that women’s lives do not centre around the wants and desires of men – they can be their own hero and go after whatever it is they wish. And who’d have thought all this from the little girl from E.T.? Get your skates on and see Whip It (if you’ll forgive the excruciating pun). Expect sales of roller skates and eyeliner to skyrocket.

Rating: MMMM

Rating: MM+

Review of black comedy-horror Jennifer’s Body, written by Oscar winning Diablo Cody, writer of 2007 indie hit Juno.

Director: Karyn Kusama
Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, J.K. Simmons, Adam Brody, Johnny Simmons, Kyle Gallner
Running time: 102 mins

Following her excellent, zippy script for Juno in 2007, great things are expected from writer Diablo Cody’s follow up effort, black comedy horror Jennifer’s Body. The result, instead of being a film balanced between edgy intelligent comedy and neat horror shocks is a mediocre film that is neither really scary nor really funny. The script lacks the energy and spark of Cody’s debut, and while there are lines that are genuinely witty these are few and far between.

The film centres on Needy (Amanda Seyfried), best friend of the Jennifer of the title (played by babe du jour Megan Fox) who comes to realise that her sometime promiscuous gal-pal is not all she seems and that she has in fact become a literal man-eater. However, the premise on which Jennifer’s demonic transformation is based is so ludicrous and laughable that it makes a mockery of the whole film – despite the film not taking itself too seriously the nature of the ‘satanic ritual’ is too far fetched to be in any way credible. There are moments of comedy in certain lines of dialogue, but there are more laughs to be had at the expense of the film itself. In terms of horror and scares, these are few and far between, with only a couple of scenes providing any atmosphere and tension. When the gore comes it is relatively tame, something of a surprise not only in light of the way the film has been marketed, but from Cody’s own love of horror films – this is certainly to the detriment of the film, as one feels there is there is potential for some great scares.

As Needy, Amanda Seyfried is a sympathetic and likeable character in a long-suffering role who is punished by Jennifer both socially and romantically. Megan Fox on the other hand is lacklustre, merely doing all that is required of her – looking sexy and attractive in skimpy outfits and baring flesh when swimming across a placid lake. She fulfils the teenage boy’s fantasy image of a sex-bomb body but adds nothing to the film in terms of acting talent. Likewise, Adam Brody (Seth Cohen from TV’s The O.C.) is neither sinister or menacing enough to be credible, but a bizarre character involved in an even more bizarre premise. However, the casting of J.K. Simmons as a class teacher is one of the film’s trump cards, adding a cool and charming element to the film’s characterisation. In interviews, Cody has explained that Jennifer is meant to be an alpha female riddled with insecurities, something the film fails to fully explore. She seems ditsy and vapid, and not nearly as scheming and manipulative as the film aims to suggest.

Jennifer’s Body tries to be an intelligent darkly comic horror but simply fails to deliver. Underwhelming stuff from a writer of Cody’s calibre.

Rating: MM+

Review of the latest film of the Harry Potter franchise, sixth film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which sees Harry and Dumbledore unite to search into Voldemort’s past in an effort to discover secrets that will lead them to destroy him.

Director: David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
Running time: 153 mins

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the second film about the boy wizard to be directed by David Yates (his first outing in the franchise being film #5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) with films #1 and #2 helmed by Chris Columbus, the third by Alfonso Cuaron and the fourth by Mike Newell. Interestingly, where the second film suffered with a lack of freshness by Columbus once more taking the reins, Half-Blood Prince also suffers.

But just where the film falls down seems on the surface hard to pinpoint. On the whole (with a few glaring exceptions) the performances are reasonably good, the production value and visual effects are faultless, the dialogue is acceptable and for those wishing to pick holes in the book-to-screen transition, there is little to criticise. Where the problem comes however, is in the film’s pace which lacks dynamism and any sense of rhythm. Some scenes concentrate heavily on the mystery surrounding the identity of the Half-Blood Prince (which Harry comes across in an old school textbook) while others neglect this part of the plot completely. Quidditch seems to feature heavily, which seems incongruous to the film’s advertised tone – the franchise getting darker as Voldemort’s power grows. It must be said that far too much of the film is given over to the pangs of teenage love and raging hormones – all of which are important elements in the source material but here take up far too many scenes.

Having said that the performances are fairly good, this is only true of the adult actors and a very small number of their younger counterparts. Daniel Radcliffe is as ever painfully hit-and-miss, with some scenes feeling cringingly awkward whereas others are fairly good (the scene involving the lucky potion Felix Felicis in particular) . In comparison, Jim Broadbent  is excellent as new Potions teacher Professor Horace Slughorn, as is Michael Gambon as the illustrious Albus Dumbledore. Rupert Grint continues to demonstrate brilliant comic timing and excellent performance skills in his reprisal of Ron Weasley. Sadly, as ever, Emma Watson struggles in her portrayal of Hermione Granger as she has done in the previous films. However, she fares better than Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) who is extremely poor – her relationship and ‘blossoming romance’ with Harry withers on screen with a complete lack of chemistry. However, the two young actors as the young Tom Riddle (at ages 11 and 16 respectively), Hero Fiennes-Tiffin and Frank Dillane are superb, with the two performances maintaining a tension between sinister and eerie and a creepy seductiveness.

Other elements of the film are also good, the visual effects in particular – the inky thoughts tipping into the Pensieve are excellent, as is the fire wielded by Dumbledore near the film’s climax. However, there is an inescapable feeling of mediocrity running more or less throughout the entire film which cannot be evaded even by the aforementioned firy adventures of Harry and Dumbledore and their consequences. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is perhaps the weakest in the canon since the excellence of film number four – and sadly the curse of keeping the same director is set to continue with Yates at the helm of the franchise’s final instalments.

Rating: MMM

Review of Twilight first published in January 2009 issue Spark*, the newspaper of Reading University Students’ Union.

Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Nikki Reed
Running time: 122 mins

Its the same old story: girl moves to new town, meets mysterious (and frightfully good-looking) boy, is fascinated by him, starts to fall in love, finds out he’s a vampire – oh no, wait. This is what Twilight essentially is, a teenage romance, where one of the couple happens to be a vampire. Seventeen year-old Bella Swan (Stewart) moves to the town of Forks, Washington to live with her father. There she meets the enigmatic Edward Cullen (Pattinson), to which there is more than meets the eye. The two share a mutual fascination with each other, however Bella soon learns that Edward is drawn to her by a deep yearning desire to drink her blood.

In the film’s characterisation of Edward, there is more of the ‘tortured soul’ of the vampire (first notably introduced on film by Neil Jordan’s Interview With the Vampire) as we see when Bella expresses her desire for Edward to turn her into a vampire (in order for them to be together), he responds by confessing his hatred for his kind, believing vampires to be “killers” and “monsters”
and wishing never to condemn Bella to a similar fate. The film deviates however, from conventional representations of vampirism by removing the hackneyed anti-vampire weapons of garlic, silver and sunlight, replacing these with “ripping them apart and burning the pieces” (this method is mentioned twice in dialogue and appears to be the only way to destroy the blood-suckers) Sunlight, the age-old bane of the vampire  has the effect of displaying Edward’s skin in all its iridescent glory and therefore bright sunny days are avoided by him and his family in order to remain inconspicuous. The scene where Bella and Edward lie on the forest floor, with Edward’s skin shining and glowing however, (despite purists’ argument that the moment remains faithful to Meyer’s novel) feels forced and artificial – the tinkling shimmering sound effects adding to the scene’s embarrassment.

Coming to Twilight with a knowledge of director Catherine Hardwicke’s previous film Thirteen, you could be forgiven for expecting a similar amount of adolescent sexual indulgence, given Twilight’s subject matter of vampirism. This is sadly absent, with the audience (as was evident from the mutterings of fellow cinema-goers) really wondering when anything of that nature was going to happen. Apparently we have to wait for further films in the franchise for anything remotely sexy to happen between Bella and Edward.

But when the films are as fun as this, I don’t mind waiting. The effects, action and wire-work are good, even if the jumping and flying around at times isn’t exactly subtle. The film’s principle stars are also very good, Stewart in particular giving depth to a role which in the hands of another actress could descend into two hours of looking nervous and tense. Luckily, her performance saves Bella from falling into the damsel-in-distress cliché. Bella is subsequently conveyed as a strong, intelligent young woman. In his early scenes, overnight heartthrob sensation Robert Pattinson (in his biggest role to date) seems to struggle, but as the film progresses he find his feet, giving a convincing performance and looking achingly gorgeous in the process – the moment where he steps out of his car (a Volvo, sadly) and puts on his Ray-Ban Wayfarers with a cheeky grin on his face is worth the ticket price alone.

Rating: MMMM