Week in Film: 17-23 Feb 2014

It's been a relatively quiet week as far as film viewing goes - don't you just hate when work gets in the way of your cinematic pleasure. I did however, make time to get my first viewing of The Conjuring (James Wan, 2013) . This was achieved purely under the guise of research - I am currently writing a chapter on dolls, including the creepy ones, so couldn't miss the representation of Annabelle. And let's face it, James Wan seems to have somewhat of a preoccupation with creepy dolls/puppets, so is a good place to find some good material.
It had a nice retro horror vibe about it and some creepy moments, but on the whole if you are familiar with the genre there wasn't much that would surprise you. Having said that, while not innovative, it was a fine handling of the usual suspense littered with shocks. 

Later in the week I actually managed to get to the cinema - it's been a while - to see The Lego Movie (Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, 2014). I must admit that all the trailers had left me a little cold to this and I hadn't had the intention of paying money to see it until I read a favourable review on Den of Geek. Usually in agreement with their opinions on such things I took the opportunity to tag along when some friends said they were going. And I'm so glad that I did. As I'd gathered from the trailer, not all the jokes hot the mark, but it moves at such a pace that before you don't really care. It's a film that has an enthusiasm you just can't help but be infected by. Even the what would be usually annoying song featured throughout turns into a pleasant little rare pen you find embarrassingly humming along to yourself days later. What stood out for me, however, was the curve ball that the narrative threw in in the final act. Without giving anything away, it was inspired, and while on reflection it was hinted at earlier on, it still came as a pleasant surprise. It served to twist the message of the film from the clichéd 'everyone is special' to a more pointed comment upon the way in which we interact with the world as we grow up and about the importance of not letting the perfectionist adult overshadow the creative inner child we were allborn with. It's almost a shame that it has done so well at the box office, because that inevitably means a sequel but can they recapture the magic of the first again? I'm doubtful, and wish some thing's Hollywood would leave as self contained entities to speak for themselves without diluting to the point of annoyance. But when has artistic integrity ever trumped a dollar sign?