A Conversation with Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

I was one of the few people who actually watched Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Not by choice. When I was in my last year of primary school, our reward for doing road wardens was going down to the then-running (and then-extremely cold and incredibly gross) cinemas to watch that movie. Anyway, you're probably wondering why I'd watch a sequel, which stars my least favourite actor Dwayne Johnson. Two reasons: 1) The only decent thing out this week was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I've already seen and rewatched on Monday. I had to have a Tuesday Movie Night, and they always have to be filled with new movies. And I like to be in 'the know'. It was either this or Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. 2) When I was in Melbourne they had the premiere for it there. And I found out the day after. Seriously, I wasn't that far away from someone relatively famous like Josh Hutcherson. Instead, I think I was actually watching The Descendants. Hmpfh.

It seems a little weird that they'd make this sequel, considering I can't recall the first one ever being that successful. However, this one if pretty much just like the original: crap. Therefore making it fun material for a conversation. So hear ye go...

CHRISTOPHER: Ah, the mystery is back. I have a feeling that I should have brought my old mate Sherlock Holmes along for the ride...
JOURNEY 2: Who...is...this...Sherlock...Holmes?

C: Why are you taking a pause between every single word and pretending like you just discovered water for the first time?
J2: Because that's what everyone does for dramatic effect. It doesn't matter if the scene isn't actually that dramatic.

C: Has anyone ever told you that doing that is soooooo 1980s? 
J2: It is the year for nostalgia, isn't it?

C: That was last year.
J2: Well, it's never too late when you're Dwayne Johnson, is it?

C: If you say so. Speaking of Dwayne Johnson, he took the reins from Brendan Fraser in this one. How do you think that worked out?
J2: Pretty well. Dwayne's just the go-to guy for everything. Want him to look angry? He can do that. Want him to have a creepy smile? He can do that. Want him to wear a tutu? He. Can. Do. That. Want him to be a tooth fairy? He can indeed do that. Want him to ride some gigantic fake bees? He can do that. What can Brendan Fraser do? Wear a bit of leopard print fabric around his privates and swing from trees?

C: Never underestimate how handy it is to have that skill.
J2: Never underestimate how handy it is to be able to be a full grown, rather muscly, extremely masculine man wearing a tutu.

C: Anyway, apart from the absence of Brendan Fraser, what can we expect from you?
J2: Well, we don't go to the centre of the earth. This time we go to the...mysterious...island.

C: You really need to stop saying things so dramatically.
J2: You know it's cool. The...mysterious...island is a place of...mystery. Where...cool...things...happen. Like tiny elephants. And flying things. And various big creatures. And Michael Caine.

C: Wait...Michael Caine is in this?
J2: It would appear so. We had to get people to see me somehow. I mean, Dwayne Johnson can't wear a tutu in every movie.

C: People seem to like Josh Hutcherson after The Hunger Games. Surely that could have worked to your advantage?
J2: Maybe people only like Josh Hutcherson when he's throwing bread at people and killing them.


C: I see you have yet another sequel coming out in 2014. What could possibly be in store for that one?
J2: More...dramatic...talking. Dwayne Johnson possibly wearing a tutu. Josh Hutcherson's love interest being Jennifer Lawrence. The Hunger Games being set on the moon. Possibly an entire musical of Dwayne singing along with his ukelele. A whole range of opportunities.


C: Maybe less Luis Guizman being a stupid guy who tells stupid jokes?
J2: Maybe. We're going to shift that character along to Dwayne.


What I got:

No, This is Not Your Next Twilight.

Film: The Hunger Games
Year: 2012
Director: Gary Ross
Written by: Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, Billy Ray - based on the book 'The Hunger Games' by Suzanne Collins.
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Willow Shields, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, Woody Harrelson, Amandla Stenberg, Wes Bentley, Donald Sutherland.
Running time: 142 min.

One day, a person gets an idea to write a book. The book gets written, then it gets published. It hits the shelves, and someone picks it up. They recommend it to their friends. These friends are most likely teenagers. Then the book spreads like wildfire throughout high schools, it becomes a talking point at lunchtime. Through that success, they make a movie. That movie becomes the most anticipated thing out. Teens queue up with their wallets filled with hope that they might get into a midnight screening. The people in the movie become favourites of teen magazines, and their pictures get plastered over the walls of a young girl's bedroom.

Sound familiar?

Yes, we had this problem with Twilight. People went insane for it, but the problem was, the backlash came. Quite a few loyal fans still hold a torch for it, and that's what keeps the unprecedented phenomenon going. The Hunger Games treads the same path. Let's just say, it takes a detour from turning into mindless teen schlock and is actually a teen cause worth getting behind.

Cinema--The Kids Are All Right

or: Meeting the man who made your family happen.

One word to sum it up: Sweet.

The storyline of The Kids Are All Right is fairly simple. A lesbian married couple, Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore), have lived their lives raising their children: 18 year old Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and 15 year old Laser (Josh Hutcherson). Obviously, these two children didn't come out of thin air. In fact, the only thing that binds Joni and Laser together is the fact that they have the same sperm donor: Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Laser has always been curious about who is father was, and now that Joni has turned 18 and she's legally allowed to find out, she makes the call. Paul, an owner of an organic restaurant, decides to meet first with the kids, and then with their parents, much to their surprise. Thing is, Nic and Jules never thought they would have to come to the moment when they actually met their provider of sperm, so they don't have a plan.

To me, this was one of those zingy 'a-ha' concepts that I instantly liked. Though, without seeing the film, I came to the conclusion that this concept couldn't possibly make an entire film, as I thought it would just fizzle out. And it did. That didn't affect the quality of the film that much, though. The Kids Are All Right was a nicely structured, frequently funny portrait of a modern family. And, for once, there was a movie which didn't try to portray teenagers as airheads who just don't give a shit to actual normal people. In fact, this film succeeds in the way it makes its characters normal. It doesn't exploit them by giving them all these bells and whistles and a strange backstory. They're just very real. And I really liked that.

Where Aaron Sorkin captures 'the spirit of the times' with his look at the world of the internet in The Social Network, Lisa Chodolenko and Stuart Blumberg capture 'the spirit of the times' with a look at marriage and having your family fall out from beneath you. Nic and Jules are a very believable couple, displaying the hard times shared and the typical boredom that comes with spending years and years together. This is perfectly shown in a nice monologue from Jules: "Marriage is hard... Just two people slogging through the shit, year after year, getting older, changing. It's a fucking marathon, okay? So, sometimes, you know, you're together for so long, that you just... You stop seeing the other person. You just see weird projections of your own junk. Instead of talking to each other, you go off the rails and act grubby and make stupid choices."

What makes it even better are the restrained but nuanced performances from Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. I'm more on team Moore than Bening, and would have rather seen her in the Oscar race. I just felt that Bening's character, and her performance, was a little too bitchy. Mark Ruffalo, however, is a stand out. I genuinely liked his character, even though he was the person who essentially made the family and became the one to break the family. He just seemed like the kind of guy who just wouldn't settle until he knew he had to, and completely changed from a 'not giving a stuff' attitude to an 'I'll be there for you' attitude, which was really nice. Though Ruff probably won't get the award, its nice to see him finally get some well deserved recognition, and this is probably one of his best performances. Mia Wasikowska and a grown-up Josh Hutcherson (who looks a little too old to be my age) do fantastic work, too.

While the ending was less than satisfactory for me, I guess there wasn't really any way you could conjure up a whipper-snapper end to such a film. Much of the hype shrouding this film unfortunately tainted my opinion on it. Consequently, The Kids Are All Right is my least favourite of the Best Pic nominees, but I imagine it will have a good enough lifespan and people will go to this film as a look at the 'modern family' that shies away from stereotypes. Its smart script and fantastic actors will make sure of that.

THE VERDICT: The Kids Are All Right doesn't live up to its great concept, but there is plenty of smart scriptwriting and fantastic performances to see it through.

What I hoped for:

What I got: