Colbridge

This remake of the classic Universal horror starring Lon Chaney Jr as the Wolf Man (1941) owes more to the gothic horrors of Hammer Studios and the graphic violence of An American Werewolf in London in style than it does to it's predecessor.

This version is handsomely produced, well designed, nicely shot and competently directed by Joe Johnston who meticulously recreates the 19th century with plenty of atmosphere set in eerie stately homes as he tells the story of Lawrence Talbot who discovers a terrifying family secret when he returns from America to his Father's estate in England and gets forever cursed after getting bitten by a werewolf.

Benicio del Toro does an ok job in the lead but it's the supporting cast of Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Art Malik, Geraldine Chaplin and a number of familiar British character actors that gives it the period authenticity and sinister overtone, however it does tend to drag in places and is not as engaging as the original.

I wanted to empathise more with del Toro's character but the script is somewhat lacking and we don't care as much for his plight as we should so it all becomes a bit superficial and shallow. Johnston ensures the visuals look fantastic and it's good to see make-up effects artist Rick Baker returning to a werewolf movie after winning an Oscar for his ground breaking effects in An American Werewolf in London (1981). CGI effects take over the transformation scenes here which are effective but the overall effect of the werewolf is diminished when we see it run around in unrealistic ways and at exaggerated speeds, typical of relying on too much CGI that unless vastly refined rarely looks natural.

The Wolfman is an under appreciated movie and is not a bad as some would have you believe. I enjoyed the visual delights, the atmosphere and the cast in this remake that comes some 70 years after the original, but for a more engaging storytelling experience at a lean 70 minutes you can't beat Universal's classic The Wolf Man.

This wants to be Jaws (1975) in style and tension but falls woefully short due to the dumb script, inept direction and inconsistent blending of poor CGI and physical effects of the anaconda that never quite convinces. The opening scene with Danny Trejo is promising but as he gets dispensed with early on it's all downhill from there.

Director Luis Llosa is no Spielberg however Anaconda does have it's moments of gore and thrills which moves at a fast pace but Llosa fails to build adequate tension and characterisation for this to work as well as it could have. Jon Voight seems to be relishing his role as the unscrupulous hunter bent on capturing the largest snake in the Amazon with his over the top performance but because of the lack of characterisation we don't really care who gets bitten, crushed or eaten alive despite an appealing cast of now well known actors Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube and Eric Stoltz.

That said it's a fun, action packed monster B-movie that doesn't take itself too seriously with hokey effects and stereotypical characters being part of it's charm. A similar creature feature Lake Placid (1999) is done a lot better in my opinion but stays in the realm of the B movie.

With Jason Blum producing and James Wan writing I had high hopes for M3GAN but was left feeling a little underwhelmed by the end of it. We've seen it all before of course where people fight for their lives at the hands of technology going wrong (Westworld, Jurassic Park) and a toy doll creating havoc by turning evil and going on the rampage (Chucky). Here we get the two combined which works really well at first but doesn't really shift up a gear from the initial idea.

M3GAN is an advanced robot like doll programmed to protect children and be their friend. The designer of the doll Gemma unexpectedly inherits her recently orphaned niece Cady who, after developing a positive relationship with M3GAN, sees huge potential with her employer Funki toys to get the robot to market. However in a rush to get the original but untested doll out to the general public things soon begin to unravel as M3GAN shows signs of malfunctioning and having a mind of her own which turns out to be more than a glitch.

With a combination of physical effects, puppetry and CGI we get an intriguing life-like robot, complete with a sulky know-it-all Millennial inspired attitude, that also achieves a Chucky-like creep factor while delivering a few jump scares and moments of gore that is kept to a minimum. M3GAN would have worked better if the filmmakers hadn't held back as it looks like they filmed a more restrained script to get that PG-13 rating for a wider audience at the expense of some real terror and a more complex story.

Having said that it is thoroughly entertaining with some funny moments, especially where M3GAN bursts into song which just adds to the oddness of the character, and it's a nice twist on the killer doll sub-genre. You are always drawn to the robot whenever she appears on screen so it definitely has potential, let's hope the sequel M3GAN 2.0 can build on this solid foundation and explore the premise much further.