Room 237

Director: Rodney Ascher
Starring: Historians, writer's, Kubrick fan-boys and intellects
Certificate: 15
Run-time: 102 minutes

IN SHORT: A documentary based entirely upon conjecture and delusions. Room 237 will really test your patience.

Room 237 is a documentary that puts Stanley Kubrick's psychological-horror The Shining under heavy critical, and psychoanalytical, spotlight. Unseen historians and film scholars narrate over clips of the film with their own unique take on Kubrick's Stephen King adaptation. They believe there's a deeper subtext to The Shining and the theories and analyses range from the half-convincing to the downright absurd. The moon landings, child abuse, the Holocaust and the genocide of Native Americans are just a small smattering of theories thrown up by these bumbling conspiracy theorists. 

The daddy of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, once famously said "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" and if he saw Room 237 and its downright crazy theorems he'd likely say something like, "yo guys, this is a load of bollocks!" Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist, he spent agonizing amounts of time upon the details of his films, which is why it makes no sense for The Shining to be about the Holocaust, the moon landings AND Native Americans all at once. Kubrick was too deliberate in his method and too great a story-teller to mix up such a widely conflicting mish-mash of themes. So either way you look at it, most of these theories are wrong before they even leave the person's mouth.

Apparently that's a poster of a minotaur... A MINOTAUR?!

What's worse is that director, Rodney Ascher, doesn't disprove or prove these wild, unfounded theories. Instead he spurs these people on, letting them waffle continuously and nonsensically over the film. The interviews themselves are of really poor quality. It seems most were recorded in one single take as many of the subjects pause for long periods, 'err', 'umm' and 'ahh' and one interviewee conducts his ridiculous analysis with a screaming baby in the background! The lack of professionalism and the fact that we can't put faces to voices during the entire doc, really undermines the authority and integrity of these critics. Seeing the same piece of footage circled, manipulated and spoken over also becomes tiresome real quick.

If Room 237 is in fact a covert faux-documentary mocking the delusions of pseudo-intellectuals and the warped logic of conspiracy theorists, then it's a resounding success. Unfortunately these people are real, they've actually wasted this much time and brain matter on these bogus theories. One, extremely patronising, female critic argues that the Monarch skiing poster (in the picture above) is in fact a poster depicting a minotaur. Through flawed logic and unsound reasoning, she then starts to reveal how The Shining is actually a modern-day retelling of the minotaur story. "BUT THAT ISN'T A GODDAMN MINOTAUR!", I found myself screaming at my television screen.

"Room No 237 spells moon room". It also spells MORON, you moron!

Another favourite moment of mine comes when a guy is midway through his 'Stanley Kubrick-faked-the-moon-landings' theory. He points to the Room 237 key-fob hanging from the door and argues that this is the 'moon room' because the only two words you can make from 'Room No. 237' are moon and room. Not only is this wrong, you can, ironically, form the word MORON, but how on Earth does this prove anything anyway?! That isn't the worst example of infantile 'critical analysis' though. That award falls to a man who believes there's an 'airbrushed image of Kubrick' in the clouds in the films title sequence. When the sequence ends (and nobody has seen this phantom image) he promises to 'show us in photoshop'. He never does.

Apophenia is the phenomenon of seeing 'unmotivated connections'. Humans are particularly gifted in this ability and Ascher has found the absolute best of the best for Room 237. The stubbornness of these crazy theorists is laughable and whilst there are some pertinent observations made, they drown in the sheer stupidity of the rest. I would strongly steer Kubrickians and film-lovers away from this documentary. It won't open your eyes to new deeper meanings of The Shining. If anything it'll ruin the experience by revealing continuity errors and goofs that you'd long ignored. And as far as film analysis goes, I've seen far better on Youtube!

Star Trek Into Darkness

Director: J.J. Abrams (Super 8, Star Trek)
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana
Certificate: 12A
Run-time: 132 minutes

IN SHORT: Into Darkness is a well-made, action-heavy blockbuster that limply goes where others have gone before.

Despite its popularity and dedicated following, I was never a Star Trek fan. Growing up, I always preferred fantasy to sci-fi, Lord of the Rings over Star Wars, Hercules over Star Trek. J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot was my first voyage upon the Enterprise and I really enjoyed it. Star Trek did a seamless job of bringing the world and its characters to a wider, more accessible audience whilst also respecting the source material. With its ecclectic, youthful cast and dazzling visual effects, it struck box office gold and even gained critical acclaim. And four years later we have the sequel - Into Darkness, again directed by Mr Abrams and his team of lens flare technicians. (There are less of the annoying blue flares this time round!!)

The first Star Trek established the Trekkie-verse for new viewers who didn't know their Vulcan's from their Klingon's. It also brought together our two heroes, Captain Kirk (Pine) and Spock (Quinto) and introduced us to their side-kicks; Bones (Urban), Uhura (Saldana), Scotty (Pegg) amongst others. Time-traveling Romulans were the crew's first test but that was merely a training exercise compared to the threat awaiting them in Into Darkness. When a man named John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) detonates a series of bombs in Star Fleet's headquarters, Captain Kirk and his crew lead the manhunt, armed with a devastating set of missiles. But John Harrison isn't merely a terrorist and when Kirk learns the truth of this man's identity, everything he once knew about Star Fleet and his superiors is about to be turned on its head.

Staring contests; the true test of any potential Star Fleet Captain.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Star Trek was always about exploring new lands, making peace (or war) with strange alien races and 'boldly going where no man has gone before'. Yet, a lot of this film feels too familiar, there's very little sense of wonder. In some of the city scenes, you can pick out different alien races and androids walking around. And inside the Enterprise, snappy cut-aways reveal non-human members of the crew but for me this wasn't enough! If I'm watching science-fiction, I want to see things I've never seen before, I want to be transported to strange planets full of indigenous alien life.

There's a 15-minute opening sequence that delivers exactly what I wanted. We're dropped upon the lush tropical forests of Planet Nibiru where a volcano is erupting and in danger of wiping out the inhabitants (who look like the Engineers in Prometheus but more primitive). Kirk and co are attempting to stop the volcano from erupting, whilst warding off the Nibiru locals. This pre-title scene is gorgeously created and full of humour, verve and colour. Unfortunately, this is the only new dimension you explore in Into Darkness. The remainder of the film takes place either in Star Fleet's headquarters in a futuristic-looking London or upon the Enterprise itself, a location that was already explored in the first film.

That's not to say I didn't like Into Darkness because I was entertained by it. But with the Star Trek universe as rich as it is, I feel there were far more engaging, and interesting stories to be told. Once Benedict Cumberbatch's John Harrison is brought into custody upon the Enterprise and his back-story (and identity) is explained, the film loses all sense of intrigue and mystery, instead becoming a rather generic action film in space. The action set-pieces are fantastically realised but blowing stuff up in spectacular fashion almost seems like an audience distraction, rather than a necessity of the plot. 

Staring contests are also used to intimidate global terrorists.

Performances are perhaps the strongest weapon in the Enterprise's arsenal. The two that really stand out are Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban. Spock kicks some major arse in this film and I'd forgotten just how formidable Vulcan's were. And Urban's portrayal of the on-board Doctor 'Bones' is right on the money. Captain Kirk's misguided confidence bothers me so no matter how strong Pines' performance, I was always begrudgingly rooting for him rather than willingly. Cumberbatch's villainous turn is rather forgettable but I put that down to a lack of memorable lines. Also, Abrams employs some rather sketchy zooms and close-ups on Cumberbatch that come off more comedic than intimidating. Again, not Benedict's fault.
 
There's no doubt that Abrams is talented when handling visual effects and large scale productions (and in this respect he's perfect for Star Wars) but his handling of human emotion and dramatic scenes is less convincing. The script never made me feel for the characters mainly due to the action continuously escalating, almost suffocating the film. But also because Abrams doesn't take any real risks. This is perfectly encapsulated when a main character 'dies' in the heat of battle, only to be miraculously saved in the most telegraphed plot-twist in recent memory. When all is said and done, Into Darkness is a breezy space blockbuster that keeps this burgeoning franchise turning but won't impress sci-fi stalwarts and die-hard Trekkies.

Iron Man 3

Director: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jnr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley
Certificate: 12A
Run-time: 130 minutes

IN SHORT: Entertaining, brilliant special effects and downright hilarious. Iron Man 3 is a great start to the summer.

Although I've enjoyed Marvel's output so far, my expectations for Iron Man 3 were kept to a minimum for a number of reasons. Firstly, what more could we possibly learn about Mr Stark that we didn't know already? Secondly, Joss Whedon set such a high standard with Avengers Assemble that is almost unattainable. And lastly, it's a known fact that the third film in a franchise is a damp squib (Godfather, Spiderman 3, Alien 3). This threequel bucks that trend however. Instead of trying to go bigger and better than the Avengers, this movie operates on a more personal, emotional level. Whilst the bravado and cockiness is still there, Stark's metal is truly tested in what is a far more invasive exploration of the man behind the suit.

After battling Gods, aliens and other superheroes in the 'New York incident' (Avengers climax), Stark is facing an internal conflict as his human limitations become devastatingly clear. Unable to sleep and suffering from crippling panic attacks, he spends every waking moment creating an army of machines. Simultaneously, a Middle Eastern terrorist going by the name of the 'Mandarin' is detonating bombs and hacking into American television networks. In a live interview, Stark confronts and taunts the Mandarin which leads to the destruction of Tony's multi-million dollar home. Suddenly, Stark finds himself at war with a faceless man without his toys or vast wealth to support him. As well as this, a forgotten person from Stark's past is seeking vengeance.

This time round, Downey spends more time outside the suit than in it.

The narrative and thematic drive of this third Iron Man installment reminded me of Daniel Craig's journey in Skyfall. Without spoiling Skyfall for those that haven't seen it, at the very start of the film 007 finds himself with nothing; he ends up as an aimless drifter no longer saving the world, driving fast cars or coaxing young women into bed. Iron Man 3 is a rather similar tale of resurrection. It puts Tony Stark in a desperate, almost defeated position. After the Mandarin destroys his luxurious home, he's presumed dead by the media. In reality, he's not far off dead as he crash lands in a rural Tennessee town, his suit out of juice and his ego severely damaged.

Shane Black's script reminds us of just who Tony Stark is. He's cocksure and pigheaded but he's just as human as the rest of us. His human frailties are what keep him awake at night. How can he defend those he cares for against invincible Gods and aliens? The film also reminds us that even without his suit, Stark is a goddamn genius. Let us not forget that he built the very first suit with 'a box of scraps' in a cave! Stark combines his scientific wizardry and resourcefulness and with the help of a local kid named Harley he recharges his suit. The banter between Stark and his little protege is one of the highlights of the film, never feeling mawkish or forced.

You'll marvel at Sir Ben Kingsley's gripping 'Mandarin' performance.

Black's razor sharp script is the main attraction here and Robert Downey Jnr is the perfect vehicle as he delivers some fantastic one-liners. Previous side characters also rise to prominence in support of Tony. Female fans of the trilogy or girlfriends who've been unwillingly dragged to the theatre will be pleased to see Pepper Potts kick ass. Gwyneth Paltrow's role is far more expansive as former love interest, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) threatens to come between her and Tony. Don Cheadle, now with his own tailor-made suit called the 'Iron Patriot', is also more fleshed out. He's badass in his own right and not just a side-kick. But Sir Ben Kingsley makes the biggest impression as the Mandarin, a truly unforgettable antagonist who isn't quite as he seems.

Black also delivers some seriously explosive action, ending the film with a heart-thumping, crane-swinging climax at a dock, which could easily be the lair of a James Bond villain. Nothing is perfect though and Iron Man 3 isn't without its faults. Observant fans of the trilogy will no doubt notice inconsistencies between this film and the previous two, especially when it comes to how the arc reactor is handled. And readers of the comics have already made their voices heard over the handling of the Mandarin. But casual cinemagoers won't let these small (ish) details bother them. Overall, Iron Man 3 is a welcome addition to the Marvel universe and an exciting segue into Phase Two.