29.01: TANGLED

Tangled is a film I initially had absolutely no desire to see. The name change from Rapunzel and the rather insipid trailers really turned me off. Disney was trying too hard to interest the young boys (the trailers focused on the dashing male hero of the film) and it just really didn't work. Thank goodness then for a number of positive reviews. Anyone who decries well written reviews from professional critics and argues that they are no longer relevant: go hang. Those reviews are what got me in to see this, Disney's 50th animated feature film.

And Tangled is something interesting: it ticks the classic animated Disney boxes: fairytale, beautiful princess, plucky animal companion, songs and an evil witch/mother but still somehow feels like it’s doing something new. And by “new” I don’t mean “shoe-horned pop-culture references” (a terrible trend that seems to be on the wane, thankfully). It may be the look of the film; the animation is truly beautiful, seamlessly blending the computer generated with the look and feel of the traditional cel animation. Or it may be the deep dark psychology of a child being snatched in the night and raised by a crazed, controlling mother figure.

Mandy Moore impresses as Rapunzel: the young princess, whose golden hair carries magical healing properties that disappear once it is cut. Hence why she is stolen away by Mother Gothel and kept locked away in a tower for 17 years. The relationship that has developed between these two is nothing short of creepy, with Mother Gothel often professing her love for her "daughter" and wanting to "protect" her from the outside world; you almost cannot help but think of the many recent real world examples of this kind of thing. Mother Gothel's imprisonment begins to unravel, however, when a young thief on the run from the Royal Guard and his own partner's in crime climbs the tower walls in a desperate bid for somewhere to hide. Chuck's Zachary Levi turns on the charm as the male hero of the tale, dashing thief with a heart of gold Flynn Rider. After seeing him as the bumbling Chuck for so long, it's a nice surprise to see (hear) him as a charming rogue - someone Chuck would so desperately want to be. He really gives it all in his performance, while managing to not come off as an annoyingly cocky character.

Overall, Tangled impressed me far more than I thought it would. The characters are (ahem) well drawn, and really brought to life by their voice actors. The animation is fantastic, with it really coming to beautiful life in a scene on a lake, surrounded by floating lanterns. The songs zing along (although they're not entirely memorable), with the best of them coming from a gang of cut-throats and ruffians. The whole thing is a wonderful fairytale, that could only have been told like it is by the Mouse House. Disney may no longer be the sole animation giant it used to be, but Tangled shows that they've still got some of that magic.

24.01: THE FIGHTER

When first approaching The Fighter, you can't help but think of all the boxing films that have come before; the true tales, the underdog proving himself in the ring, the hubris... films like Rocky, Raging Bull all the way through to Million Dollar Baby. How in the hell can this possibly measure up? The amazing, almost breathtaking thing is, it does.

Mark Wahlberg is the centre of the film as Micky Ward, blue collar welterweight boxer whose best years are behind him. But Ward isn't the only fighter in the film; the title could just as easily refer to his half-brother Dicky. Christian Bale nabs the showier role of Dicky Ecklund, Micky's crack addicted ex-boxer older brother. David O. Russell directs, and manages to surprise; The Fighter is something vastly different from Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees. I don't know what original director Darren Aronofsky would've done with the material, but Russell manages to bring an un-cynical eye to the tale while reigning in on the schmaltz. Much like a champion boxer, the film dances and you’re never sure where it’s going to hit you next.

Christian Bale is (deservedly) earning the lion’s share of the plaudits for his performance as Dicky Ecklund (I can’t help but wonder what the brothers make of all this...). For the first time, in a long time, he seems to be having some fun. Bale is often an intense performer; growling, losing weight and with laser intensity shooting from his eyes. It’s got him a bit of flack lately, with many critics wanting him to loosen up a little and stop shouting so damn much. And while his performance here is committed (right down to the weight loss and little bald patch), it is also loose; you get the feeling a lot of his stuff could have been improvised right there and then. Dicky Ecklund is a man who had one shining moment, and who has been dining out on that for the best part of 20 years. He's a wastoid, but a charming one and someone his brother still looks up to. I think it’s Bale's best since American Psycho.

But while Bale may be gathering all the attention, it’s the performance of Wahlberg that really holds the film together. He’s the quiet, calm centre of the family storm fighting to hold his family together, while also fighting for his sense of self. Micky Ward is a man who seems to have been used, for his entire professional life, by those that should be looking out for him: his older brother and his mother. And it takes a vicious defeat by a boxer out of his weight class, in a fight set up only so his mother and brother (manager and trainer respectively) can be paid, that he becomes fed up with this. He’s tired of being a stepping stone for other boxers; tired of being used by his family... he’s tired of losing. And Wahlberg never overplays it, never tries to show off or divert attention; he’s just there, doing a damn fine job. Wahlberg as an actor can depend a lot on the material and the director: here, he's come up aces with both. Mickey Ward doesn't have to overcome adversity, he doesn't have to overcome age (though he is getting older) - his big fight is against his family.

Filling out the cast is Melissa Leo as the boys’ controlling, big haired mother Alice and Amy Adams as Charlene Fleming, the feisty barmaid who picks Micky up and gets him to start fighting for himself. Leo is a fantastically toxic presence, weilding control over her two boys and half-dozen daughters with a steely determination. Adams comes in relatively late and thankfully isn't some all pure and amazing woman there only to support Ward. She has as many flaws as saving graces, and feels more like a real woman than these type of characters generally do.

Russell brings real heart, humour and truly brutal scenes in the ring to this tale of an underdog boxer. Nothing feels over done or overwrought. I think The Fighter can easily stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Million Dollar Baby, Raging Bull and Rocky.

20.01: THE GREEN HORNET

Not to be confused with the Green Lantern, Green
Arrow, the Green Goblin or the Incredible Hulk

The much troubled adaptation of the radio serial/Bruce Lee TV show The Green Hornet is an interesting beast of a film. It has had a much publicised struggle to get to the screen, finally making it with Seth Rogen as the titular hero, Asian pop star Jay Chou as Kato, Christoph Waltz as the villain and with Michel Gondry behind the camera. The resulting film feels very loose and shaggy, as opposed to the iron-tight Kick Ass. Not entirely surprising, as it is scripted by Rogen and Evan Goldberg: the duo behind Superbad and Pineapple Express.

Despite everything there was going against it: troubled production history, relatively obscure character, a leading man more known for his schlubby stoner characters... it actually kinda works. Not in a game-changing, blow-your-socks-off kind of way, but it does work.

Seth Rogen plays Britt Reid, the heir to a newspaper empire*, as a maladjusted man-child. He's a self-involved slacker, raised in privilege and about as far away from that other millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne as you can get. After the death of his father, he has the run of the palatial estate (although still crashing in the poolhouse). It is at this time that he first meets his father's mechanic/coffee maestro Kato. The two unlikely friends bond - not over the death of Reid Snr. and a shared desire to avenge his death. No, Reid likes Kato because Kato seems to be the only other person who thought Reid Snr. was, well, a bit of a dick. After accidentally stopping a mugging (and being taken for bad guys) they decide to team-up and fight crime. By pretending to be bad guys... What comes out of this is not the usual hero/sidekick dynamic: Kato is the man of action, the cool asskicker where Britt Reid is a clumsy loudmouth, barely managing to not knock himself out. Britt Reid is also a complete asshole, without much in the way of redemption or change - in a lot of ways he's the same self-involved and deluded idiot he is at the start. It may turn some folks off (and I certainly struggled with it), but for some reason Chou's Kato finds within him a brother.

It's this relationship between Rogen and Chou that really makes the film work. They work well together on-screen, feeding off one another and working like a classic double act. It's also a pleasure to see Christoph Waltz again - in his first role after Inglorious Basterds - here, as the big bad guy Chudnofsky. And again, he's not the typical villain. Chudnofsky is a bad guy going through a mid-life crisis, fretting over whether he's still frightening enough. And the way that Waltz plays him? Icily, scarily charming. I just can't see what Nic Cage was wanting to do with the Jamaican accent... Cameron Diaz, as great as she can be, doesn't really get given a lot to do. She seems to have been thrown in to a) provide something of a female balance and b) plot mechanics - she applies for a job as Britt Reid's temporary secretary, even though she carries degrees in journalism and criminology. Convenient!

What feels very strange is that the film doesn’t really carry any of Gondry’s typical home-made charm or visual whimsy. With its extending backgrounds the first instance of “Kato vision” comes closest, but otherwise Gondry's presence melts into the background. The Green Hornet feels earthier, more grounded than his previous films. Again, you cannot help but wonder what may have been; if Stephen Chow had stayed on as director - would his hyperkinetic action style have been brought to the fore? Or would that have been compromised?

It's a shaggy kinda film; it meanders a little and dances from comedy to brutal action to cartoon violence and thus, back to comedy again. It doesn't take itself, or it's genre, too seriously and everyone involved seems to enjoy making an atypical superhero movie. It seems to carry it's pre-production history with it, in a strange kind of way, but you can't help but kinda love it for that.

*are there really any newspaper empire's left?!