theOneliner.com: Handling the Truth

Greets to you peeps as you find us ready, willing and able to hit you with the lowdown on The Way Way Back, Kick-Ass 2 and Elysium. Can you handle this jelly? The only way to find out it to sit back, relax, and slip our voices into your ear-holes.

The Way Way Back is a film title in desperate need of more punctuation, but I'm willing to let that slide given the quality of the rest of the film. A coming of age tale, as Liam James' young teen lad escapes a difficult family vacation holed up in a beach-house with his supremely irritating stepfather, played by Steve Carell, by spending time at a local water park. Given a job by Sam Rockwell's park manager, playing a blindingly funny role, the new location and friends helps him find his sense of self playing into a conclusion the the home-life drama that's touching and believable. Funnier than damn-near all of the out-and-out comedies I've seen this year, The Way Way Back has become a solid contender for my film of the year. Lovely stuff.

Kick-Ass 2 has some big shoes to fill. Unfortunately it can't quite make it, but it stuffs enough paper in there that it can at least walk around in the shoes, if not run in them. That analogy didn't quite pan out, but what I'm trying to say is that in a nutshell this gets the standard issue sequel review - more of the same, but not quite as good. A hardly revolutionary plot of the ex-Red Mist looking for revenge against Kick-Ass and Hit Girl, drives us along, while introducing us to a few very funny new characters, both good and evil, while dealing with the main protagonists' senses of identity and duty. There's a few wildly misjudged moments and some of the violence on display is less Tom and Jerry, more Ted Bundy - how this wound up rated 15 I do not know - which combine to remove some of the luster from the piece, but overall Kick-Ass 2 is a solid addition to the franchise - although we hope it's the last addition.

Last to bat is Neill "Two Ells" Blomkamp's latest piece of sci-fi dystopia, Elysium. Set on a future Earth beleaguered with chronic over-population, and the attendent resource, food and space problem it brings, Matt Damon's ex-con attempt to go straight is hampered by receiving an accidental fatal dose of radiation at the robot construction factory. The only hope for his health is to hijack the identity of someone in the space station Elysium, an orbital artificial paradise where the hyper-rich live in luxurious comfort away from the pressures of Earth, with access to ludicrously advanced heath technology that can heal him. An unfortunate choice of victim leaves him a high-value target with the keys to controlling Elysium, as he stumbles into the middle of a military coup attempt. With Sharlto Copley dispatched to hunt Damon down it quickly becomes an engaging and enjoyable chase film with better than average characters, decent action scenes and pacing that rarely gives you time to stop and think about how completely nonsensical the world Elysium portrays is. Solid sci-fi fun to watch in the cinema, but do yourself a favour and think about it no further on leaving, as reflection only make it worse.

That is all for now. We'll be back sometime soon, so until then keep your nose clean and if you can't be good, be lucky.