A load of horrific hooey
By Roger Moore
FILM: The Quiet Ones
CAST: Jared Harris, Sam Claflin, Olivia Cooke, Erin Richards
DIRECTION: John Pogue
Come now, not every horror film can claim to be “inspired by true events”.
The Quiet Ones is a rather old-fashioned possession story concocted by those kings of horror camp, Britain’s Hammer Films. Perhaps as a nod to its origins, it is a period piece — set in 1974 — about an Oxford professor, his overly-dedicated disciples (The Quiet Ones of the title), and British hi-tech of the day, from “negative energy” detection gear to reel-to-reel tape recorders, hand-held cinema cameras and Triumph TR6 motorcars.
It’s a load of horrific hooey, having a script gone over by the Paranormal Activity guy — which means that much, but far from all we see, is of a “found footage” variety, of the experimental treatment run by Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris, aka Moriarty to Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes and a conspiring ad mogul in Mad Men).
Poor Jane (Olivia Cooke) is locked in a room for observation, urged to sit in on seances as the professor tries to see just what demon she has conjured up in her mind that he can uncover and purge.
“You cure one patient, you cure all mankind” of mental illness, he reasons. There’s probably a Nobel Prize in this, his students Krissi (Erin Richards) and Harry (Rory Fleck-Byrne) figure.
Working-class Brian (Sam Claflin) is just an audio-visual specialist, horrified by the evidence of the supernatural he witnesses (which Coupland refuses to see as such), and mortified by what Coupland puts Jane through.
The scares here are of the sudden-jolt variety — telekinesis, pyrokinesis — always accompanied by explosively loud shrieks, slams and other noises. Harris suggests none of the over-the-top flourishes Hammer became famous for, though putting Cooke into a tub and dressing Richards in every manner of short shorts is evidence of the Hammer touch. Those Brits loved a little cheesecake with their horror. There’s plenty of blood, but little of that Hammer brio.
The dialogue is banal: “Joseph, I’m scared.”
“That means you’re ALIVE.”
And “I hope you don’t scare easily.”- MCT
Heart-touching moments
By Rick Bentley
FILM: Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return (animation)
CAST: Voices of Lea Michele, Martin Short, Hugh Dancy, Oliver Platt, Bernadette Peters
DIRECTION: Will Finn and Dan St Pierre
|
|
Lea Michele and Megan Hilty star in a feature film musical based on characters from The Wizard of Oz. It isn’t Wicked, but Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return is a fun, family feature that benefits from the pair’s strong singing voices.
This time, we’re off to see the wizard in a story based on the book, Dorothy of Oz, written 25 years ago by Roger S Baum, the great-grandson of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L Frank Baum. Dorothy’s called back to the Emerald City when the Jester (voiced by Martin Short), the brother of the Wicked Witch, uses dark magic to turn residents of Oz into marionettes. Only the good magic of Dorothy (Michele) can cut the strings on the Jester’s devilish plan.
As with the original Oz story, this film is less about the final battle and more about the journey. Dorothy meets another group of misfits who are all looking for a little redemption in their lives. Wiser (Oliver Platt) is an owl who doesn’t give a hoot about his weight. Marshal Mallow (Hugh Dancy) is torn between duty and love. Tugg (Patrick Stewart) is an ancient tree looking to prove he still has worth, A the China Princess (Hilty) needs some humility.
Although the screenplay by Adam Balsam and Randi Barnes wanders off the Yellow Brick Road of Baum’s book, it does keep to the central story about love, courage and happiness. The opening and closing scenes — that oddly move Dorothy’s days in Kansas to a more contemporary time — are a bit heavy handed, but they don’t take away from the overall strong story.
Directors Will Finn and Dan St Pierre competently present this story through computer-generated animation that falls somewhere between a Saturday morning cable cartoon show and a feature film. The most glaring problems are in scenes with human characters, whose movements always seem a little disjointed. Once the movie leaps into Oz, there’s no problem with the colourful characters there.
The film boasts an extremely strong voice cast that also includes Dan Aykroyd (Scarecrow), Jim Belushi (Lion) and Kelsey Grammer (Tin Man). The weakest voice work comes from Bernadette Peters as Glinda, whose performance is so clipped it sounds like the filmmakers had to cut up hours of recordings just to put together her lines.
Strong voices were needed — especially when dealing with the music that was mostly written by Bryan Adams. The closest the film has to a show-stopper is Even Then, written by Tift Merritt and performed by Michele, Hilty and Dancy. Their work helps the movie.
The Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return has some smart writing and heart-touching moments, making it a brave addition to a familiar franchise. — The Fresno Bee/MCT
A fantastic journey FILM: Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy
CAST: Voices of Stars: Mae Whitman, Christina Hendricks, Tom Hiddleston
DIRECTION: Peggy Holmes
Albeit geared more toward the younger age group, The Pirate Fairy has some good animation and voice work plus the story is well written.
Zarina longs to be more than just a dust-keeper fairy, but after she uses the valuable Blue Pixie Dust without permission, she is removed from her post until further notice. Feeling hurt and rejected, Zarina leaves Pixie Hollow, only to return a year later as captain of the Skull Rock pirates.
When Zarina and her swashbuckling bandits steal the vital Blue Dust, it’s up to Tinker Bell and her friends to find Zarina, and bring the blue dust back home. If they fail, the fairies of Pixie Hollow will never fly again.
As is the case with any film, success lies in the writing, directing, and performances. The Pirate Fairy does not disappoint. Produced by Pixar legend and Disney Animation Chief John Lasseter, skillfully directed by Peggy Holmes (Wayne’s World), and aided by a wonderfully written script from Jeffrey M Howard and Kate Kondell, it’s no surprise this is a solid animation flick.
The Pirate Fairy takes kids on a fun and fantastic journey with pirates and skull caves, magic, and friendship. Zarina doesn’t see herself as important, and it takes her venturing away from her home to realise her friends at the Hollow always saw her as much more than she ever saw herself.
DVDs courtesy: Saqr Entertainment Stores, Doha