This doesn’t compare to other music films like Crazy Heart or Ray, but if you think of it as the music equivalent of what Whip It was to sports films then you will have a good time. Dakota and Kristen are almost flawless although twilight fans will be shocked to see them making out – with each other. Kudos for Joan Jett and her role as executive producer.
If something ever goes wrong, just do what Hollywood does and blame it all on the Nazis. Seriously, if Paul McGuigan’s sci-fi thriller Push is anything to go by, they’re responsible for everything. In a ridiculously overloaded voice-over, Dakota Fanning’s character explains how Nazi experiments resulted in a breed of artificially enhanced humans with paranormal abilities. No, this not an episode of Heroes, but it might as well be; there are those who can use telekinesis, ‘Movers’, those who can draw the future, ‘Watchers’, and those who can control minds, ‘Pushers’. But that’s only the beginning; there are also ‘Sniffs’, ‘Stitchers’, ‘Wipers’, ‘Shadows’ and whole range of talents. You’re going to want to bring along a pen and some paper to this one, folks.
The story of Coraline and her fantastical adventures is momentous – but not only because it’s the latest project from The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick. The film breaks a lot of milestones: at 100 minutes it’s the longest stop-motion feature ever, and the first to be shot entirely in 3D. Not to mention it’s the first venture from animation company LAIKA, and boy do they have big expectations riding on their shoulders with this one. But with the stunning visual experience that comes as we’re taken between what our heroine has and what she thinks she wants, it’s just not the animated masterpiece many were hoping for.