The Raven
Tagline: The only one who can stop a serial killer is the one who inspired him.
The influence of Edgar Allen Poe can’t be understated: his legacy pervades the horror genre, as do films about him. John Cusack plays Poe in this movie with an interesting twist. As a madman begins to commit murders inspired by Poe’s oeuvre, a Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) teams up with the writer in order to try and get inside the killer’s mind so he can be stopped from causing even more mayhem. But matters get closer to home, when Poe’s love (Alice Eve) becomes the next target.
It all sounds rather promising, which is why it’s a letdown to hear that the critics aren’t remotely moved. “Poe’s acidic wit and flair for brevity are both in perilously short supply in this torpid, rackety whodunit set in the week before the writer’s death,” slams the Daily Telegraph. “Poe was one of the most vicious, merciless critics of his age. He would not have let this get past him without skewering its shortcomings with a barbed quill,” concludes Empire. But the Guardian is almost a lone voice of support, noting that “Stephen King’s Misery and Updike’s Bech Noir spring to mind, and it’s a nice touch to give Baltimore a serial killer over a century before Dr Hannibal Lecter was employed by the Johns Hopkins Medical Centre in that city.”
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The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Tagline: It’s A Plunderful Life
Now if there’s ever a group of people seemingly critic-proof, it’s the good folk of Aardman animation. You’ve loved their Wallace and Gromit, cheered along with Chicken Run, been swept up in Flushed Away and might have even shed a tear during Arthur Christmas. Can they keep the run going with The Pirates! Band of Misfits.
The odds look in their favor. The film finds Hugh Grant (finally!) starring in his first animated role as the Pirate Captain, a not-exactly-stellar terror of the High Seas. And with his hearty crew by his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), he aims to beat his rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the highly prestigious Pirate Of The Year Award.
Reviewers can barely contain their love. “A brilliant mish-mash of styles and genres, crammed with ideas and intelligence and carried off with a sense of rebellious fun and breathtaking invention not seen since, well, The Wrong Trousers,” raves Time Out London. “After dipping its toes into pure CG animation for Arthur Christmas, Aardman integrates its feted old-school stop-motion technique with top-drawer visual effects to create the irrepressibly amusing The Pirates! Band of Misfits,” writes Variety. And the Daily Telegraph quite possibly gets to the heart of what gives Aardman movies such heart: “It doesn’t look expensive; nor does it look cheap. It just looks the way Aardman films should, which is glorious.”
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The Five-Year Engagement
Tagline: A Comedy About The Journey Between Popping The Question And Tying The Knot
One’s instant reaction to hearing the title and tagline to the latest movie from the Judd Apatow stable is to fear that it won’t be any different from the numerous movies in his increasingly lengthy back catalog. And when you find out that the director and writer/star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segal) are both along for the ride, you might also be worried that all concerned will just be calling it in.
The story follows the travails of an engaged couple (Segel and Emily Blunt) who keep getting tripped up on what turns into an epically long walk down the aisle. Critics are mixed. On the positive side, the Hollywood Reporter remarks that it’s “much more successful than Stoller’s solo outing, Get Him to the Greek,” and “will please the team’s fans while — no penises here — appealing to a more conservative crowd as well.” Time Out New York is somewhat on the fence, noting that, “Like a mug of chamomile tea spiked with a dropper of cheap vodka, Nicholas Stoller’s relationship-roller-coaster comedy has hints that something stronger and slightly edgier might lie beneath its smooth surface” But Variety isn’t quite so sure: “While Segel and Blunt make likable enough leads, the strain is visible as the filmmakers try to make comedic hay out of disconnected segments, contrived situations and tangential characters.”
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NewsFeed’s Flicks Pick: Shiver me timbers, an easy choice! The Pirates! Band of Misfits sounds like the perfect pick for the weekend.