Very quick 2008 reviews

Married Life

Well cast, well acted drama about (un)happily married life in 40s suburbia. The Ira Sachs penned adaptation of the John Bingham novel is a nicely paced, convincingly plotted yarn that allows the cast (Chris Cooper and Pierce Brosnan in particular) to shine. Lacking that special something to elevate it to greatness, this is nevertheless worth your time.

B

Journey to the Centre of the Earth (3D)

Whilst Beowulf gave us an exciting glimpse of a 3D future, 'Journey' simply shows us how irritating it can be when a director tries to hard to make the audience go "wow - it's 3D". Fraser, who's great in the right role, looks too much like a second string all-American quarterback who's been hitting the cheeseburgers, yet is still the least annoying screen presence in a bumbling triumverate who go looking for the mythical Jules Verne location. The whole thing is tedious and I bailed as soon as they hit the centre of the earth and I realised things were not going to be any more exciting there than they were on the particularly unexciting surface.

F

Death Race

Absurd, ludicrous - at times completely non-sensical - yet somehow a bit of a guilty pleasure, although not really since it is never quite good enough for that. I did like the cinematography and set design however, and Ian McShane is always good value these days. God only knows what Joan Allen saw in the script though - maybe her copy was written on 100 dollar bills? Statham is what he is and the plot has more holes in it that a hula hoop factory, but it actually speeds by at a fairly decent pace and is always reasonably watchable. It is directed by Paul Anderson - no not the good one - the other one. The good one is Paul Thomas Anderson. This one is Paul WS Anderson. The helpful middle name/initials is how you tell which one directed which film. That and the fact that one directs stuff like Magnolia and There Will Be Blood, and the other does stuff like Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil. Would be a bit surprising if WS's resume read Mortal Kombat 2, Soldier, Alien vs Predator, Punch Drunk Love. Maybe the WS stands for What a load of Shit? Bit unfair really though cause I *almost* enjoyed this.

D+

Modern Classics #3

" Sooner or later everyone has to take sides, if they are to remain human."

I don't keep a record of which films I've watched the most, but if I were to do so it would not surprise me one bit of Philip Noyce's The Quiet American came out on top. This is quite brilliant from start to finish - I love every single second of its 96 minute running time and a tenth, eleventh or twelfth viewing only serves to reinforce all that is exceptional with this adaptation of the short Graham Greene novel.

Noyce's film opens with Craig Armstrong's deep, aching strings playing over the opening credits. It's a soundtrack that pulls you in immediately, gripping you even before the picture has started. Noyce opens the film visually with shots of an opium pipe being lit, followed by a beautiful Vietnamese woman in a composite shot with a series of explosions. It is a such an elegant and simple way of adding a hint of foreboding that will hand over the entire picture. This sense of impending doom is further amplified by the haunting female vocal that accompanies the opening bars of Armstrong's brilliant score. The agonising, beautiful vocal gives way to Michael Caine's voice over. "I can't say what made me fall in love with Vietnam. That a woman's voice can drug you? That everything is so intense - the colours, the taste, even the rain." Noyce's challenge is filming this intensity, and making us fall in love with a place that has hypnotised the film's lead character.

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