Thursday 31 July 2008

No Country For Old Men (2007)

Boy had a heard good things about this. My colleague describes being 'literally on the edge of my seat' and went to see it twice at the cinema. It also won four Oscars. And, let's face it, the Coen's have form. I was gutted to have missed it at the cinema and was anxious to catch in on DVD as soon as possible. So will I be adding it to my collection?

I don't think my colleague is exaggerating when he describes himself in very close proximity to the edge of his seat. The first hour or so of this is almost perfect film-making, it's truly tense, dizzying, gripping stuff and the set plays are wonderfully done. I can certainly feel, too, the reasons for the desire to see it twice and enjoy the roller coaster ride again.

The problem is what happens next, after this first hour or so. Rarely, if ever, have I felt so let down, cheated even, by a film.

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Tuesday 29 July 2008

The Dark Knight


Every once in a while a film comes along that performs so well at the box office it almost defies explanation. 11 years ago Titanic (not as good as the fans say, not as bad as the naysayers protest) became something of a phenomenon and grossed almost $2 billion worldwide. Nothing has since come close, and when all is said and done it is unlikely that Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight will get anywhere near it either, but it has started like bullet, smashing records with the ease of defeating comic book henchmen. Biggest opening day in history. Biggest opening weekend of all time. Fastest film to $200, then $300. Bif, wham, kapow. This is something of a phenomenon in itself - as we speak it currently occupies the number one slot on the IMDb, unseating The Godfather as the highest ranked film. Critics have also been falling over themselves to praise it, with the few contrarians receiving abuse from ardent fans. The question therefore remains, is it any good?

Find Out

Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging

Going into this I found myself very nearly explaining to the girl at the box office why I was buying a ticket. I nearly offered an excuse to the usher that took my stub. And then when I got into a theatre half full of young teenage girls I half thought about declaring to them all why I was going to be joining them.

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Wednesday 23 July 2008

The Forbidden Kingdom


This largely unwatchable US take on a Chinese martial arts movie is notable only for the first on-screen pairing of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and only the most ardent fans of those actors need bother watching Rob Minkoff's insipid and largely unspectacular effort.

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The Lookout (2007)

This surprising and engrossing film focuses on Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who acquires a serious brain injury following a moment of beautiful madness in a sportscar. Haunted by the crash and its tragic results, Chris struggles to find his place until he meets the charismatic Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode) and his gang, including the lovely Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher). But things are not all that they seem.

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Sunday 20 July 2008

Donkey Punch

As the credits rolled on Donkey Punch, we are reliably informed that the film was based on "an original story by David Bloom", which is a bit rich since there's not a single original idea in the whole movie. Billed as a Dead Calm for the Ibiza generation, Bloom teamed up with Olly Blackburn, who also directed, to pen a script that would appeal to the 20-something crowd who might enjoy Mediterranean climes, recreational drugs and recreational sex.

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Friday 18 July 2008

Wall*E

Pixar's latest bar raising, critical ga-ga inducing, box-office smashing effort arrived in UK cinemas a little later than the US, so the glowing reviews have been making their way across the pond for the past few weeks. In fact the praise has been such that people are talking about the possibilities of Wall*E getting a nod in the Best Picture category at next year's Oscars, and not just in the Best Animated Feature slot where it is sure to win. This proves 3 things. 1. Pixar are very good at what they do. 2. It is never too early to talk about next year's Oscars. And 3. there's not much point in having a Best Animated Feature category if, when something genuinely decent comes along, a success in said category is seen as secondary to a berth on the Best Picture roster. I could go on and on about the ludicrousness of having a category where you have an approximate 1 in 12 chance of winning just by making the film, but lets focus instead on the brilliance, or lack thereof of this supposed Best Picture contender.

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Wednesday 16 July 2008

Mamma Mia!

Someone once said there are two kinds of people in the world: those that like ABBA, and those that like ABBA but won't admit it. Whether or not it is cool to like ABBA, I'll happily admit that I do and - whilst I wasn't crazy enough about them to rush and see the stage show - I had enough interest to see Mamma Mia on opening weekend. Part of the lure was seeing Pierce Brosnan singing, part of the lure was Meryl Streep, but mostly I was there to hear Voluez Vous, Knowing Me Knowing You and Waterloo in Dolby Surround. Why then was I thinking what on earth possessed me just two minutes in?

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Tuesday 8 July 2008

My Blueberry Nights (2007)


As our avid readers will know, I've been gagging for this for ages. Wong Kar Wai is probably my favorite living director, with the possible exception of Terrence Malick, and, despite certain major reservations (Jude Law; Rachel Weisz, see below), I was fascinated by how this, his first American film, would turn out.

Wong's American odyssey tells the story of broken-hearted Elisabeth (Norah Jones) who, after the failure of her relationship with the love of her life, strikes up a relationship with a sweet and charming cafe owner Jeremy (Law) before taking off on a road trip across America and meeting an assembly of motley characters along the way without ever quite leaving Jeremy behind in New York.

I can't help but feel that this could have been so much better than it is. Pretty much everything falls below, if often only just below, those impeccably high standards Wong has set for himself following his spectacular resume. Wong is without oft used cinematographer, the one and only Christopher Doyle, and it shows. The cinematography - particularly the beautiful and exotic contrasts between the sensuous blues and reds that linger like homeless raindrops in the delicate New York night - is good, but it's not great. The acting is good, but it's not great. The dialogue is good, but it's not great. The story and the narrative drive are good but neither are great. The... well, you get the idea. Take the acting - I just can't, in all honestly, swap Tony Leung, the greatest living actor, for Jude Law without accepting that something has been lost. I also cannot believe Wong cast Rachel Weisz in this and my opinion of him has gone down as a result. Weisz is a terrible actress, although she's not as bad here as she often is and I was genuinely shocked to hear she had been cast in this.

Whilst Law is categorically not Leung, he deserves credit here. He gives a subtle and measured performance as Jeremy and must take great credit for the chemistry between his character and Elisabeth which, at times, lights up the film and provides - by far - its best moments. He is, however, eclipsed by debutant Jones. Jones, who has achieved previous fame as a (forgive me Norah) MOR musician, lights up this film. She is as sweet and sensuous throughout - particularly in the excellent scenes with Law - as the bubbling and foaming blueberry pie that interposes itself occasionally on the action. She is the best thing in it and her performance is some achievement for a debut. Wong clearly has an ability to draw great performances out of non-professional actors and actresses. He does here with Jones what he did, in Chungking Express, with a fresh faced and extraordinarily charismatic Faye Wong, though the characters are as different as cheese and blueberry pie.

For me, this is a film of might have beens. The whole thing could have been great but it ends up being merely good. More should have been made of the scenes between Beth and Jeremy and a potentially interesting sideline, involving the always excellent and underrated David Strathairn, is not developed enough. The storyline involving the poker-playing, deceptive, Leslie (Natalie Portman) is unsatisfactory and very unfulfilling, especially in the film's overall context.

This is, by quite some distance, Wong's 'worst' film I've seen and the only one that doesn't earn a recommendation quality grade. That doesn't make it bad but it does, regrettably, make it a disappointment.

B

Friday 4 July 2008

MyFilmVault's Greats


Hancock

It is nice to be the contrarian once in a while. Standing up against the critical masses, sticking to your guns on why a film is a complete piece of shit when everyone is losing their head and heralding it as a masterpiece. Or speaking up for a film that has been dumped on by everyone and, not only is it not worthy of such scorn, it is actually so good it doesn't deserve anything other than wholesome praise. I find myself doing the latter in the case of the near-brilliant Hancock.

I keep reading how everyone hates this film, but then I read two rave reviews from respected critics in amongst all those negative ones so I decided to go see it. I'm thrilled I did. This is not only almost certainly going to be the best movie of the summer, it may very well end up in my top 10 for the year. I'm not going to deny it has its problems, but the quality is otherwise so good that they don't detract from the picture that Berg and co have made.

I've mentioned Peter Berg before on this site. He last directed The Kingdom, a less ambitious but well-made picture, that died a death at the box-office. That didn't stop him getting the nod in a big-budget Will Smith July 4 picture, which suggests Berg is gaining some serious clout in Hollywood. Will Smith's July 4th films could probably be directed by you or I and still make money - he is after all the biggest box office draw in the world who hasn't had a box office dud since 2001's Ali (and even that went on to score him an Oscar nomination so can hardly be called a failure. ) Clearly though the summer movie season is all about the big bucks and for Berg to helm this is a serious vote of confidence.

Smith plays the title role, who is a washed up superhero; an inarticulate, inconsiderate drunk who knows not who he is or where he came from. Far from being revered like the traditional superhero, Hancock is vilified by the citizens of Los Angeles due to the thoughtless destruction of property that accompanies every rescue or intervention he exercises. The city loses all patience with him after a latest destructive escapade and issue an arrest warrant. Despite the fact that he can fly off at any time, Hancock gives himself up and serves his sentence after taking advice from a PR consultant (Jason Bateman) whom he just happened to have rescued the day before. The PR guy's big idea is for LA to miss their superhero, ask for his help when they really need him, and for Hancock to show up after some elocution lessons, a makeover and an image branding exercise to save the day with a bit more care and politeness, thus winning over the very people that have cursed his name.

It's a great idea for a film and it is especially welcome to see a superhero film which dares not to tread the same well-worn path that pretty much every single comic book film has trampled down over the years. However the reviews have not been kind, so what have people got against it? Reading through a number of comments since I got back from seeing it, it seems people are down on the third act, complaining that the "big twist" came out of nowhere and not only that, but it caused the film to veer from light comedy to something more dramatic, which ultimately ruined the tone of the whole film. I have two issues with this. 1) Without knowing what it was going in, the "big twist" seemed to me to be very clearly signalled throughout. I don't think Peter Berg intended it as a big twist at all. And 2) The dramatic final act was pretty near-perfect in my eyes.

I really liked some of the choices towards the end, especially (spoilers in white) how Hancock and Mary's only weakness was each other. It seemed really fitting and the scene on the hospital bed when Mary recalled their past was completely convincing. You could feel their love - and yet Mary could only save Hancock by sacrificing herself and Hancock could only save her by leaving her. It was almost Shakespeare-esque and it elevated a super-hero flick above and beyond the scope of anything the genre has seen before.

All three stars are perfectly cast. I've loved Bateman ever since he did Arrested Development and whilst his range is limited, he is always very watchable and has perfect comic timing. Theron - who also appeared in AD - is also effective and looked very hot once she put on that black thing with the black eyeliner. Smith has been consistently delivering great performances for years. The all interacted brilliantly and, as mentioned in the spoiler, that scene on the hospital bed was brilliant and actually had me choked. John Powell's excellent score really hit its stride in the final third as well, and I've been listening to it since I got back from the cinema. Top quality stuff.

Sure there are some issues here and there. Some of the CGI is ropey - especially when Smith is flying at speed. There are implausibilities in the plot, but there's nothing so outrageously improbable that it would take you out of the picture, and I am the very first to complain about plot-holes, believe me. Whatever its faults, nothing even begins to explain the bizarre and pathetic 36% rating on rottentomatoes. I'm totally bewildered by it.

I would normally not hesitate to recommend a movie I was about to give an low A/high B to (I'm torn between an A- and B+) but I'm completely outnumbered so I have to be honest and say you may very well not agree with me. However, I found this to be extremely enjoyable from start to finish. The comic touches at the start, the convincing drama at the end - it all worked. I am not a lone voice rallying against the critical tide, but I am a lonely one. I really do think this is a first rate summer film. In fact scratch that, this is simply a first rate film and if Will Smith's box office numbers hold up as well as usual, then it'll be one of those rare occasions when the public, and not the critics got it right.

A-/B+

Cool Jaws Stuff


Jaws has a hold on me like no other film. I'll be watching it and investigating its sensous mythology for years. Check this out (in a minute)...

Question is....Why didn't they leave some of these shots in? Yes, the shark doesn't look great, and, yes, the great fear of Jaws lurks from the unknown and from what lies beneath, but... that aspect is best explored during the first scene and, later, at Ben Gardner's boat. Would adding these have ruined that? It's up for debate, but why the hell, at the very least, isn't some of this awesome stuff on the deleted scenes of the DVD. Or, can we expect yet another 'xyears' anniversary edition to further exploit us Jaws lovers? Yes. But, of course, I, and many others, will certainly buy it. Shame on you Spielberg, Zanuck, Brown et al. But, you are all, equally, true legends. Shit, check me out, I'm more conflicted that Anankin!

Enjoy...



http://www.jawsmoviearchives.com/deleted_scenes_main.html

Thursday 3 July 2008

MyFilmVault's Greats


One Matt will like, one I'm afraid he won't.

Grace Kelly

Michael Douglas

The Host (Gwoemul) (2006)


Can't muster up huge enthusiasm for a review of this, so it might be briefer than usual, but I'll try my best. In fact, as I suspect is often the case, if there is not much to say about a film that probably reflects its general quality.

The story? Well, it's your average tale of young love, picnicing by South Korea's Han River, on a beautiful, bright, summer's day, gazing longingly into one another's eyes, the sweet echoes of the water meandering delicately in the background, when... everyone is attacked by a kind of giant, mutant, tadpole which, as all tadpoles surely do, means serious business. The rest of the film is spent half following an excruciating family melodrama and half trapping and killing the ludicrous specimen in question.

The problem with this is that it is territory that has been very successfully ploughed before, by giant self-effacing earthworms, in 1990's brilliant Tremors, and will be again (looking at it from 2006), by a giant rampaging monster, in 2008's far brillianter, Cloverfield. I choose the two films deliberately, as The Host has neither Tremors' charm and zest for life, nor Cloverfield's spectacular originality, scope and suspense. Of course, there are notable echoes of this in Cloverfield's giant footprints and it would be churlish to deny that, but they are distant echoes at that. The Host is a film that can't decide which of the two it wants to be, a. Tongue in cheek monster rampage a la Tremors, or the equally hilarious Critters - "they have weapons", "so what?", "fuck" (genius, though possibly not if you've never seen it). Or, b., Monster rampage movie. And it hugely suffers as a result.

One particular reason it suffers is the ludicrously annoying and irritating family at the centre. I defy anyone not to want the tadpole to consume them all in one mighty tadpole gulp, particularly during one utterly hopeless, almost deranged, scene where they start fighting in a rescue shelter. All their skills are, of course, eventually combined in the final showdown, something you see coming right from the word go.

Actually, I'm realising as I write this that it deserves a much lower grade than I was originally going to give it. The tadpole emerging from the water scene for its initial rampage is very effective and enjoyable but, honestly, the rest is just frogspawn.

D

Oh dear, I've just found out there's going to be a sequel.

Wednesday 2 July 2008

MyFilmVault's Greats


This is England (2006)


As it so often does, it took me a long time to get round to seeing this. In fact, it even took terrestrial TV. This was the first vaguely interesting thing on on Film 4 for months, so I settled down a few weeks ago for a hopefully entertaining night absorbed in a supposedly excellent (for once) British film.

Sadly, as with many British films, this doesn't cut the (English) Mustard. It's not far away but ultimately suffers from that great pitfall that befalls so many films, whether English or not, the dreaded ending. This is England is a prime example of how an interesting and largely very enjoyable film can be so diminished in effectiveness and enjoyment by its ending. A great shame.

Anwyay, This is England focuses on young Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), who is taken under the wing of local hard man and petty criminal Woody and his gang. Everything goes swimmingly, and Shaun is able to forge a number of important relationships until Woody's old friend, Combo, comes out of prison. Combo (Stephen Graham) has a much nastier side to him than all the others in the gang - he is a racist with ties to the national front. As the gang splits apart, which side will Shaun take and why?

This is a powerful film. How could it not be, given the subject matter? Well, I can think of a number of films with hard-hitting subject matter that are not all that powerful. Subject-matter alone is not enough, it has to be handled well (a la American History X, to chose a relevant example) and director Shane Meadows does, largely, handle it well. One scene in particular where a genuinely terrifying Turgoose confronts a local Asian shopkeeper. It is a brilliant scene with high-impact value and represents the film at its absolute, effective, zenith. Sadly, it's all largely down hill from this great pinnacle.

Meadows is aided by some excellent performances. Turgoose is startling good and delivers the kind of powerhouse performance someone of his tender years should simply not be capable of. There is also a great balance of chemistry in his relationships with Woody, played by Joe Gilgun, the film's best and most effective performer, and the charmingly amusing Smell, beautifully drawn by the effervescent and bubbly Rosamund Hanson. Andrew Shim also delivers a subtle and neatly understated performance as Milky, the sole Afro-Carribean kid involved in the group. And Graham is suitably terrifying, disturbed and conflicted as the violent racist. Meadows deserves great credit for moulding and shaping all of these performances into a very effective, coherent and realistic whole.

It's really just the ending that lets this down, but it lets it down badly. It's rushed through, detatched and utterly fails to land the knockout blow the action had been leading to as a result, that even despite a shimmering, almost Hitchcockian, level of tension and suspense building in the last full scene. It's a great disappointment. In reality, the previous hour or so deserved a lot lot more. A real shame.

Still, this is an intruiging, watchable and well-drawn film well worth investing an evening in. Lest we forget, the violence depicted in the film's most hard hitting and demanding scenes, and the messages that connect to and create it, is still endemic on British streets. Racism is not dead. And that is a message central to the film and one each and every one of us needs to be reminded of again and again until it finally and eventually does become obsolete.

B-

Tuesday 1 July 2008

Life is Beautiful (La Vita E Bella) (1998)


WARNING: SPOILERS

This is one of the longest standing films on my review backlist, and, as I approach 30, my memory is fading so this might be briefer than usual.

The main question is how have I managed not to see this film in the 10 years since it which shot onto the world stage and made it's eccentric director and star, Roberto Benigni, a global sensation (who has subsequently disappeared from all mainstream view)? It also won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film that year, as so many 'foreign language' films centred on kids seem to do. Set in an Italian concentration camp during the latter stages of the Second World War, this now well known story tells the charming but brutally tragic tale of Guido, who uses humour to deflect the true realities of concentration camp life from his young son and who manages to convince him that the whole thing is just an elaborate game.

Benigni delivers an astonishing and memorable performance as Guido and eats up every scene with dramatic gusto and relish. This is Benigni's darling and it shows. So much passion and energy is invested in every scene, every line, every look, you become hopelessly entangled in the whole astonishing spectacle to such effect that you, too, suspend belief about the realities of concentration camp life and begin to hope and wish they will just come through this misty game. However, Benigni is clever enough not to let you forget entirely - the loss of humanity for all those involved on the other side is made particularly apparent in one scene where Guido meets an old friend, Doctor Lessing, who is on the camp staff, in the canteen. The true harrowing reality of this moment only fully hits home as the credits role and the tears flow. It's a great scene and Benigni deserves great credit for the tragic structure of the whole film and the impact of it's hardest punches (and they are hard) amid genuine moments of sweetness, light and humour. If I have spent much time on Benigni, I cannot apologise. The other performances are, of course, fully commendable and add vital layers to every sensuous thread Benigni is weaving. Nicoletta Braschi, as Guido's wife, Giorgio Cantarini, as his son, and Horst Buchholz, as Lessing, deserve particular and obvious mention. However, this is Benigni's stage, his moment and his achievement. It is his film in every sense.

I said my memory was failing. It maybe is, but there is no way a film like this cannot but linger in the confines of one's mind, no matter how dusty and cobwebbed it may be. I defy anyone not to cry as the credits role and, as I have said, the film's true impact and depth hits home, namely the scene I mention and many others besides. Particularly the moment of Guido's death. I hate spoilers but feel I cannot comment fully on this great film without commenting on this. There is no Hollywood demise, no last great, heroic, speech, no lingering sense of trauma Willem Defoe style. Guido is simply taken behind a building, quite unexpectedly, and shot off camera. Nothing, surely, can represent the true reality of facism and its horrors than this. This is how many millions lost their lives in 1940's Europe, and how they continue to lose them today in similar conditions. No speech, no words, no last shout or shriek even, just the lingering dust of silent human heroism hanging softly and delicately on the night air.

A+