DESPICABLE ME (2010)

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This average cartoon comedy has a few upsides to it but ultimately is not going to change your life.

I ended up watching this as many, many people had told me it was worth a look. I disagree.
Even if you are a child and will probably be entertained by this it isn’t doing anything new or innovative, it’s not even really telling an old story well.

There were very few laughs in it and that’s an indicator of something amiss in a cartoon film ostensibly aimed at kids but the marketing department clearly aimed to grab a piece of the Pixar market. The reason Pixar has done so well for so long is mainly their scripts, filled with humanity, whip-smart humour, pathos and character. Here, not so much.

Everybody does their jobs well in the voice dept and the animation is a-iight but average it is and average it will stay as long as the script isn’t up to the job in hand.
When you compare it to Wreck-It-Ralph as far as jokes/character/story etc it is way behind in quality.

I love a well told story, I don’t care what genre it is, as genre is only really there for the marketing departments and has little to do with one’s actual enjoyment of the film, so cartoon, horror, romance, war, blah, blah, blah.
It means little to me.
So I will see at a lot of different types of film from all over the world like a cinema archaeologist rummaging around in the emporium of film to hopefully discover the next exciting story. I’m not a hater. If something is not up to scratch, I will say something.

There I’ve said it; Despicable Me is really not that good. Sorry.

2.5/5

BUY IT ON BLU-RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

L’UOMO IN PIU ‘One Man Up’ (2001)

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Paolo Sorrentino’s self assured debut is ‘master in the making’ look at life in the 80’s for two celebrities who share a name.

Toni Servillo is Antonio Pisapia, a singer at the height of his fame and Andrea Renzi is also an Antonio Pisapia, a football star also at the top of his game, the film charts their parallel journeys and gives us an insight into the superficial and ultimately dangerous side of fame.

Sorrentino flourishes his film with beautiful cinematography and allows music to be a major player in his stories. This elevates him from many first timers; his artistic eye and flair for dialogue and story-telling several notches above most.

This was Toni Servillo’s sixth film (according to IMDB) and he was already an award winning theatrical actor of great merit and he went on to work with Sorrentino several times after their first cinematic pairing to great acclaim. I have yet to see Il Divo but am greatly looking forward to it having only recently seen The Consequences of Love and La Grande Bellezza and adored them both.

Servillo has that Bill Murray trait of playing world weary wonderfully well, and here we see the beginning of that aspect of him that becomes one of his great strengths as an actor.

Beautiful, tragic and insightful, this debut is one to watch.

3.7/5

BUY IT ON DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE