A masterful, lean, and utterly gripping action-thriller. Alfonso Cuarón further proves himself to be one of the most exciting and innovative directors working today. Sandra Bullock knocks it out of the park with a long-overdue starring role worthy of her talents, and 3D reaches a new zenith in a totally mesmerising, immersive and staggeringly beautiful FX tour-de-force. It is, ultimately, popcorn. But it's Michelin three-star popcorn.
Rating: 5/5
Saturday, 16 November 2013
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Well, one saw Thor. Or rather one saw Thor Two. I don't mean one saw Thor too, as one was one for Thor Two, not two. But one once saw Thor One, so one sure saw Thor Two too... Phew.
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
Sunday, 3 November 2013
Hijacking Double-Bill: A Hijacking (Kapringen) (2012) and Captain Phillips (2013)
Pirates. Everyone loves a pirate, and 2013 has given us a generous double helping of the romantic swashbuckling... oh wait.
The first out of the gates (technically a 2012 film but making its UK debut in early 2013) was Kapringen. I missed this Danish drama on its limited theatrical release, but with Captain Phillips now in the cinemas this seemed an opportune moment to catch up and see how the two compare.
A Hijacking presents an entirely fictional, but highly convincing siege scenario, and concentrates heavily on the emotional stresses for those involved. Eschewing any temptations to sensationalism we aren't even shown the moments of the hijackers getting on board; learning of it instead, as one of the central characters in the movie does, by a hurriedly whispered message in a prosaic office setting thousands of miles away from the action. This character, Peter Ludvigsen, an executive on the board of the company that owns the hijacked vessel, is introduced to us in a scene that sets him up as a shrewd and hard-nosed businessman and tough negotiator. We believe we can see how this is going to pan out, but writer / director Tobias Lindholm is playing a canny game here, and rather than a cliché who will drive the plot along, we soon become deeply invested in this man's struggle to control and cope with the terrible responsibility he takes on as he chooses, against advice, to handle the negotiations himself.
Peter is one part of a superb three-hander. The other two are the ships' cook, Mikkel, who, as the film's principle lead at sea, becomes our entry point to the drama taking place there, and the mysterious Omar, who claims to be simply a translator and under as much threat as anyone else, but may perhaps be a whole lot more.
The occupation and negotiations drag on, weeks turn into months. The mental and physical state of those involved deteriorate, while an occasional sense of edgy truce possibly allows some tentative alliances to form or perhaps merely some more complex manipulation to take place.
Meanwhile, Tobais cuts back and forth between the wretched conditions in the bowels of the ship, and the stuffy, claustrophobic atmosphere of secretive meetings in closed rooms in the company HQ. Scenes are performed and shot with docu-drama verisimilitude, and the tension is effectively sustained throughout. A smart, believable and quietly powerful tale.
Captain Phillips arrived some months later, with all the fanfare one would expect of a Tom Hanks starring movie, based on a recent and remarkable true story that was major news in the USA. It soon becomes apparent that this movie will be a much more visceral affair, with a thrilling sequence of the hijackers boarding the gigantic container ship under Phillips' command, and later seat-gripping standoffs with the US military just two of the stand-out sequences. However, this is a Paul Greengrass joint, and by stating the above I do not mean to suggest by any means that this is an attempt to sensationalise or trivialise the truth of the events that took place off the coast of Somalia in 2009.
In the opening scenes, Greengrass takes much the same approach as he did with the stunning United 93, introducing us at the outset to two entirely alien groups of people who are preparing for journeys which will soon see their lives and fates thrown together. We are shown just enough background of the antagonists to draw us into their harsh lives without seeking to either excuse or condemn. Meanwhile we get a brief home-life snapshot of the insular, somewhat dour Phillips, a capable captain maybe, but not an easy man to get to know or like.
From the ramshackle group of hijackers soon emerges a de-facto leader, Muse, a tragically young skeleton of a man, played with stunning authority by total newcomer Barkhad Abdi. Once he bursts into the bridge and announces with focussed intent "I'm the captain now" to a stunned Hanks (who he has literally just met, Greengrass intentionally keeping the actors apart during the production till the day of filming this pivotal scene) the movie plays out largely as a two-hander between this young first-timer and the highly seasoned star. To say that Abdi easily holds his own in such illustrious company is even more of a compliment than it would already sound because this may well also be the finest performance Tom Hanks has ever delivered.
By now we are perhaps all too familiar with the easy, natural charm that Hanks exudes on and off screen, and it can perhaps be tempting to underestimate the skill of his craft. He is a past master of essaying likeable, capable, motivational leaders of men at all levels: From commanding Apollo 13, to leading a small company of soldiers in Saving Private Ryan, to simply getting the packages moved on time in Castaway. But, presumably on the basis of true accounts of the man himself and those around him. Phillips is not that sort of charismatic leader, and Hanks dials it right back. Distant, insular, sometimes a touch aggressive. Effective yes, but hardly engaging or inspiring. He does the right thing when he can, but this is no heroic portrait. Phillips is a man under phenomenal stress, terrified and just trying to cling on to self-control long enough to make it out alive. Hanks keeps an iron grip on his performance, and when, finally, the moment comes for the emotions to show, it's a desperate, almost wordless, and absolutely heartrending scene, somewhat reminiscent of the masterful sustained final shot on Bob Hoskins at the end of The Long Good Friday. Yes: That good.
So, two excellent dramas that complement each other very well without treading on each other's toes. Both are serious, believable, and very tense. But, rather like Jeff Goldblum explaining chaos theory to Laura Dern by running drops of water off the back of her hand, they take initially near identical starting points, and then follow very different paths.
A Hijacking: Rating: 4/5
Captain Phillips: Rating 4/5
The first out of the gates (technically a 2012 film but making its UK debut in early 2013) was Kapringen. I missed this Danish drama on its limited theatrical release, but with Captain Phillips now in the cinemas this seemed an opportune moment to catch up and see how the two compare.
A Hijacking presents an entirely fictional, but highly convincing siege scenario, and concentrates heavily on the emotional stresses for those involved. Eschewing any temptations to sensationalism we aren't even shown the moments of the hijackers getting on board; learning of it instead, as one of the central characters in the movie does, by a hurriedly whispered message in a prosaic office setting thousands of miles away from the action. This character, Peter Ludvigsen, an executive on the board of the company that owns the hijacked vessel, is introduced to us in a scene that sets him up as a shrewd and hard-nosed businessman and tough negotiator. We believe we can see how this is going to pan out, but writer / director Tobias Lindholm is playing a canny game here, and rather than a cliché who will drive the plot along, we soon become deeply invested in this man's struggle to control and cope with the terrible responsibility he takes on as he chooses, against advice, to handle the negotiations himself.
Peter is one part of a superb three-hander. The other two are the ships' cook, Mikkel, who, as the film's principle lead at sea, becomes our entry point to the drama taking place there, and the mysterious Omar, who claims to be simply a translator and under as much threat as anyone else, but may perhaps be a whole lot more.
The occupation and negotiations drag on, weeks turn into months. The mental and physical state of those involved deteriorate, while an occasional sense of edgy truce possibly allows some tentative alliances to form or perhaps merely some more complex manipulation to take place.
Meanwhile, Tobais cuts back and forth between the wretched conditions in the bowels of the ship, and the stuffy, claustrophobic atmosphere of secretive meetings in closed rooms in the company HQ. Scenes are performed and shot with docu-drama verisimilitude, and the tension is effectively sustained throughout. A smart, believable and quietly powerful tale.
Captain Phillips arrived some months later, with all the fanfare one would expect of a Tom Hanks starring movie, based on a recent and remarkable true story that was major news in the USA. It soon becomes apparent that this movie will be a much more visceral affair, with a thrilling sequence of the hijackers boarding the gigantic container ship under Phillips' command, and later seat-gripping standoffs with the US military just two of the stand-out sequences. However, this is a Paul Greengrass joint, and by stating the above I do not mean to suggest by any means that this is an attempt to sensationalise or trivialise the truth of the events that took place off the coast of Somalia in 2009.
In the opening scenes, Greengrass takes much the same approach as he did with the stunning United 93, introducing us at the outset to two entirely alien groups of people who are preparing for journeys which will soon see their lives and fates thrown together. We are shown just enough background of the antagonists to draw us into their harsh lives without seeking to either excuse or condemn. Meanwhile we get a brief home-life snapshot of the insular, somewhat dour Phillips, a capable captain maybe, but not an easy man to get to know or like.
From the ramshackle group of hijackers soon emerges a de-facto leader, Muse, a tragically young skeleton of a man, played with stunning authority by total newcomer Barkhad Abdi. Once he bursts into the bridge and announces with focussed intent "I'm the captain now" to a stunned Hanks (who he has literally just met, Greengrass intentionally keeping the actors apart during the production till the day of filming this pivotal scene) the movie plays out largely as a two-hander between this young first-timer and the highly seasoned star. To say that Abdi easily holds his own in such illustrious company is even more of a compliment than it would already sound because this may well also be the finest performance Tom Hanks has ever delivered.
By now we are perhaps all too familiar with the easy, natural charm that Hanks exudes on and off screen, and it can perhaps be tempting to underestimate the skill of his craft. He is a past master of essaying likeable, capable, motivational leaders of men at all levels: From commanding Apollo 13, to leading a small company of soldiers in Saving Private Ryan, to simply getting the packages moved on time in Castaway. But, presumably on the basis of true accounts of the man himself and those around him. Phillips is not that sort of charismatic leader, and Hanks dials it right back. Distant, insular, sometimes a touch aggressive. Effective yes, but hardly engaging or inspiring. He does the right thing when he can, but this is no heroic portrait. Phillips is a man under phenomenal stress, terrified and just trying to cling on to self-control long enough to make it out alive. Hanks keeps an iron grip on his performance, and when, finally, the moment comes for the emotions to show, it's a desperate, almost wordless, and absolutely heartrending scene, somewhat reminiscent of the masterful sustained final shot on Bob Hoskins at the end of The Long Good Friday. Yes: That good.
So, two excellent dramas that complement each other very well without treading on each other's toes. Both are serious, believable, and very tense. But, rather like Jeff Goldblum explaining chaos theory to Laura Dern by running drops of water off the back of her hand, they take initially near identical starting points, and then follow very different paths.
A Hijacking: Rating: 4/5
Captain Phillips: Rating 4/5
Saturday, 21 September 2013
Norwegian Wood (2010)
A fine example of how a film can portray everything that happens in the book, without portraying anything that happens in the book.
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
Sunday, 15 September 2013
Rush (2013)
Ron Howard delivers another broad slice of muscular, high-tension biographical melodrama (see previous CV entries: Apollo 13, and Frost/Nixon, both of which are touchstones for some of the thematic elements here), with the retelling of the professional rivalry between 1970s Formula One racing legends, Niki Lauda and James Hunt.
Chris Hemsworth tackles the more showy, but actually rather tricky task of essaying Hunt: A cocky, risk-taking, rock-star playboy, who could have been frankly repugnant in less skilled hands, but is handsomely (in every sense of the word) fleshed out by the God of Thunder. Meanwhile Daniel Brühl quietly stamps his authority over the drama with a disciplined take on Lauda's acerbic, neurotic Austrian. The script trowels on the stereotypes a tad thick at times, but both leads deliver, pulling off the not inconsiderable feat of making the audience root for both sides in during their battles.
Meanwhile Howard, and his DOP, the brilliant Anthony Dod Mantle, find all manner of extraordinary places to stick their cameras, wedging us into the cockpit in ways that give each race a distinct personality, as well as a tremendous vitality and urgency, and then matching this with a glorious, cacophonous sound design that places one deep inside the action.
It ain't subtle. True or not, Hunt's team of amateur Hooray-Henrys appear to have been culled from the Four Weddings understudies list, and the leads' almost comically contrary character traits are perhaps spelled out rather too frequently. But nonetheless, this tale grips like a Brabham, convincingly delivering the thrills and excitement of an era when Formula One was a perilous and free-spirited enterprise.
Rating: 4/5
Chris Hemsworth tackles the more showy, but actually rather tricky task of essaying Hunt: A cocky, risk-taking, rock-star playboy, who could have been frankly repugnant in less skilled hands, but is handsomely (in every sense of the word) fleshed out by the God of Thunder. Meanwhile Daniel Brühl quietly stamps his authority over the drama with a disciplined take on Lauda's acerbic, neurotic Austrian. The script trowels on the stereotypes a tad thick at times, but both leads deliver, pulling off the not inconsiderable feat of making the audience root for both sides in during their battles.
Meanwhile Howard, and his DOP, the brilliant Anthony Dod Mantle, find all manner of extraordinary places to stick their cameras, wedging us into the cockpit in ways that give each race a distinct personality, as well as a tremendous vitality and urgency, and then matching this with a glorious, cacophonous sound design that places one deep inside the action.
It ain't subtle. True or not, Hunt's team of amateur Hooray-Henrys appear to have been culled from the Four Weddings understudies list, and the leads' almost comically contrary character traits are perhaps spelled out rather too frequently. But nonetheless, this tale grips like a Brabham, convincingly delivering the thrills and excitement of an era when Formula One was a perilous and free-spirited enterprise.
Rating: 4/5
Friday, 23 August 2013
Elysium (2013)
Kinda like District 9, only kinda like not quite as good. Neill Blomkamp STOP WAVING THE FUCKING CAMERA AROUND!
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
Friday, 16 August 2013
Side By Side (2012)
This feature length documentary tackling the subject of
the move from film to digital in the movie world has been made with supremely
auspicious timing, arriving at what may well prove to have been the pivotal
moment in cinema history when the momentum of change tipped the balance away from
essentially a century old format and into a digital world new and uncharted.
Made even a year earlier or a year later, this may have been a very different
beast.
Presented largely as a talking heads style debate with
some of cinema's leading directors and cinematographers, Side By Side gathers
the thoughts and feelings of those, old and new to the industry, who are living
and working inside the guts of the machine and seeing their world changing irrevocably
with every passing day. It's a dry and somewhat specialised topic to be sure,
but for anyone interested in the history, future, technology and aesthetics of
cinema, I highly recommend it.
Also features host Keanu Reeves essentially sitting in a
chair and listening. I could be tempted to say it's his finest performance...
but that would be childish.
Rating: 3/5
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
The Wolverine (2013)
Hugh Jackman and Walk The Line director James Mangold make a modest... ahem... stab at rescuing The Wolverine from bloated too-many-mutants boredom with this stand-alone adventure that owes more to Clint Eastwood's man with no name than it does to the Stan Lee back-catalogue.
Logan, once again alone and wandering the wilderness, is summoned to Japan by a man from his distant past and becomes caught up in a power struggle between the dynastic family of a powerful corporation, Yakuza gangsters, and some shadowy ninjas (are there any other type?).
On the plus side, for at least two thirds of the movie this keeps The Wolverine grounded amongst real people; vulnerable, disorientated, and in grimly emotional turmoil. Hugh Jackman doesn't have to work very hard to pull this off, his powerful presence and comfortable familiarity with the role playing to the strengths of a tale that commendably cuts free of mutant hi-jinks for most of its running time, and indulges in some fairly obvious, but pleasingly underplayed culture-clash elements inherent in this setting.
It's kind of a shame then that the film takes a jarring turn into the third act, feeling duty bound to deliver some big FX silliness. The tonal wrench feels deeply uncomfortable and also leaves great gaping holes in the arcs of previously intriguing characters.
Not the disaster of his previous solo outing. There is good work in the brooding western-influenced tale and for the most part things coast along nicely on Jackman's effortless charisma. If only they could have held their storytelling nerve through to the end.
Rating: 3/5
Logan, once again alone and wandering the wilderness, is summoned to Japan by a man from his distant past and becomes caught up in a power struggle between the dynastic family of a powerful corporation, Yakuza gangsters, and some shadowy ninjas (are there any other type?).
On the plus side, for at least two thirds of the movie this keeps The Wolverine grounded amongst real people; vulnerable, disorientated, and in grimly emotional turmoil. Hugh Jackman doesn't have to work very hard to pull this off, his powerful presence and comfortable familiarity with the role playing to the strengths of a tale that commendably cuts free of mutant hi-jinks for most of its running time, and indulges in some fairly obvious, but pleasingly underplayed culture-clash elements inherent in this setting.
It's kind of a shame then that the film takes a jarring turn into the third act, feeling duty bound to deliver some big FX silliness. The tonal wrench feels deeply uncomfortable and also leaves great gaping holes in the arcs of previously intriguing characters.
Not the disaster of his previous solo outing. There is good work in the brooding western-influenced tale and for the most part things coast along nicely on Jackman's effortless charisma. If only they could have held their storytelling nerve through to the end.
Rating: 3/5
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
13 Assassins (Jûsan-nin no shikaku) (2010)
The prolific and protean Takashi Miike, having already amassed a vast and varied back-catalogue of contemporary thrillers, romance, comedy, gore, action, drama and musicals in less than two decades, sucks it up and takes on Kurosawa with this period samurai epic.
Japan, 1840s. It is an era of peace. A time of waning power and relevance of the samurai order, and the decaying final years of the ancient feudal Shogunate regime.
Lord Naritsugu, the preening and sadistic younger brother of the current shogun, carves out a swathe of terror and suffering, seemingly out of mere listless petulance. But with higher political office likely to come his way soon, and following the protest of ritual seppuku committed by a wronged clan leader; Sir Doi, a senior official in the current political order, covertly seeks out an experienced samurai to help rid the land of this cruel and dangerous presence.
From this set up, you can probably guess the rough structure of what follows. Our de-facto master samurai must assemble a small group of warriors to ensnare and take down the evil overlord, protected as he is by a small army of his own. This will involve the recruitment of some grizzled old fighters who have seen better days, some over-idealistic young students who have yet to fight a real battle, and of course, an unruly, somewhat comedic outsider who will be grudgingly admitted into the ranks against better judgement to make some unlikely but crucial contribution.
Whether it's Seven Samurai, The Dirty Dozen, or Ocean's Eleven, this is a movie in that grand tradition of the numbered, but outnumbered team of good guys taking on a big bad against the odds. What matters here is not that we can't see what's coming, but that this is a movie that takes such care and pleasure in the unfolding of the story.
Naritsugu is a truly appalling creation, grotesque in the casual disinterest he shows in the terrible violence he inflicts, like a child half-heartedly pulling wings of insects in boredom. He's a man out of time, no longer of use to a Japan at peace and soon to join the modern world. He only seems to engage with anything when the heat of battle is up, but even then, not to care over the win or loss that he and his men might achieve or suffer, but merely to have, briefly, any consequence at all.
The samurai , we gradually comprehend, are in a similar situation. The long unfolding of the first act explores the archaic ritual and routine of their antiquated order, the rich and complex intertwining of codes of honour, and conflicting loyalties, but also of nostalgic wistfulness for glory days long passed. It's a powerful and telling moment when the leader Shimada is shown (in an effort to sway his heart in horror and pity to the mission being proposed), a woman tortured to a gut-wrenching, nightmarish vision of Dantean hell, and rather than displaying anger or grief, his mouth twitches into a wry smile. He's just been shown a reason and purpose for his continued existence.
After that, it's men on a mission greatness. Plans, maps, subterfuge and misdirection, treks lost in the wilderness, and the "let's make our stand here" turn, with all the classic war movie / western / A-Team tension-ratcheting preparation that this entails. The third act battle is coming, and it's going to be something special.
A smartly constructed, character-rich adventure that segues into an object lesson in clear, dynamic battle staging that takes up at least a third of this lengthy movie and never bogs down or loses focus. Takeshi Miike, the enfant terrible of Japanese gore, and crazed seven-films-a-year auteur of chaotic zombie-musical-comedy spoofs has pooled all his considerable talents here to craft an altogether more mature work. And, if he hasn't quite equalled the perfection of Kurosawa's samurai masterpiece, he's come majestically close.
Rating: 5/5
Japan, 1840s. It is an era of peace. A time of waning power and relevance of the samurai order, and the decaying final years of the ancient feudal Shogunate regime.
Lord Naritsugu, the preening and sadistic younger brother of the current shogun, carves out a swathe of terror and suffering, seemingly out of mere listless petulance. But with higher political office likely to come his way soon, and following the protest of ritual seppuku committed by a wronged clan leader; Sir Doi, a senior official in the current political order, covertly seeks out an experienced samurai to help rid the land of this cruel and dangerous presence.
From this set up, you can probably guess the rough structure of what follows. Our de-facto master samurai must assemble a small group of warriors to ensnare and take down the evil overlord, protected as he is by a small army of his own. This will involve the recruitment of some grizzled old fighters who have seen better days, some over-idealistic young students who have yet to fight a real battle, and of course, an unruly, somewhat comedic outsider who will be grudgingly admitted into the ranks against better judgement to make some unlikely but crucial contribution.
Whether it's Seven Samurai, The Dirty Dozen, or Ocean's Eleven, this is a movie in that grand tradition of the numbered, but outnumbered team of good guys taking on a big bad against the odds. What matters here is not that we can't see what's coming, but that this is a movie that takes such care and pleasure in the unfolding of the story.
Naritsugu is a truly appalling creation, grotesque in the casual disinterest he shows in the terrible violence he inflicts, like a child half-heartedly pulling wings of insects in boredom. He's a man out of time, no longer of use to a Japan at peace and soon to join the modern world. He only seems to engage with anything when the heat of battle is up, but even then, not to care over the win or loss that he and his men might achieve or suffer, but merely to have, briefly, any consequence at all.
The samurai , we gradually comprehend, are in a similar situation. The long unfolding of the first act explores the archaic ritual and routine of their antiquated order, the rich and complex intertwining of codes of honour, and conflicting loyalties, but also of nostalgic wistfulness for glory days long passed. It's a powerful and telling moment when the leader Shimada is shown (in an effort to sway his heart in horror and pity to the mission being proposed), a woman tortured to a gut-wrenching, nightmarish vision of Dantean hell, and rather than displaying anger or grief, his mouth twitches into a wry smile. He's just been shown a reason and purpose for his continued existence.
After that, it's men on a mission greatness. Plans, maps, subterfuge and misdirection, treks lost in the wilderness, and the "let's make our stand here" turn, with all the classic war movie / western / A-Team tension-ratcheting preparation that this entails. The third act battle is coming, and it's going to be something special.
A smartly constructed, character-rich adventure that segues into an object lesson in clear, dynamic battle staging that takes up at least a third of this lengthy movie and never bogs down or loses focus. Takeshi Miike, the enfant terrible of Japanese gore, and crazed seven-films-a-year auteur of chaotic zombie-musical-comedy spoofs has pooled all his considerable talents here to craft an altogether more mature work. And, if he hasn't quite equalled the perfection of Kurosawa's samurai masterpiece, he's come majestically close.
Rating: 5/5
Thursday, 18 July 2013
Pacific Rim (2013)
Pacific Rim: a review: GIANT MONSTERS FIGHTING GIANT ROBOTS! MORE GIANT ROBOTS FIGHTING MORE GIANT MONSTERS!!!!! EVEN MORE GIANT MONSTERS, EVEN MORE GIANT ROBOTS, EVEN MORE FIGHTING!!!!!!! (something something rubbish dialogue and cheesy characters) SORRY I DIDN'T CATCH THAT, IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE FUCK-OFF GIANT ROBOTS FIGHTING THE FUCK-OFF GIANT MONSTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and that concludes my detailed academic analysis of Pacific Rim.
Rating: 4/5
Rating: 4/5
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Love Exposure (Ai no mukidashi) (2008)
A young boy named Yu, after the passing of his mother, dreams of finding his perfect "Virgin Mary". But years later, and racked with the displaced guilt being piled upon him by his failing priest father, he becomes, naturally, the leader of a martial-arts panty-shot photography gang, and his antics bring him to the attention of both a cult-leading psychotic with an abusive past, and the kick-ass girl of his dreams who falls in love with his cross-dressing alter-ego.
At this point we are about fifty minutes into the set-up of Sion Sono's epic Japanese misfit soap opera, and now the opening titles roll. This is not your traditional romance. It's overlong, undisciplined, funny - both ha-ha, and peculiar. But, almost sneaking it in under the radar, unexpectedly affecting.
As Geoffrey Rush once sagely observed of his punters' entertainment needs in Shakespeare In Love, "You see - comedy, love, and a bit with a dog", and he was nearly right. Just add Catholic guilt, cult brainwashing, terrorism, madness, bobbitting, upskirt-fu, blood-soaked chopsocky vengeance and a lot of awkward erections. Oh but leave out the dog. At four hours running time there's only so much you can fit in.
Rating: 3/5
At this point we are about fifty minutes into the set-up of Sion Sono's epic Japanese misfit soap opera, and now the opening titles roll. This is not your traditional romance. It's overlong, undisciplined, funny - both ha-ha, and peculiar. But, almost sneaking it in under the radar, unexpectedly affecting.
As Geoffrey Rush once sagely observed of his punters' entertainment needs in Shakespeare In Love, "You see - comedy, love, and a bit with a dog", and he was nearly right. Just add Catholic guilt, cult brainwashing, terrorism, madness, bobbitting, upskirt-fu, blood-soaked chopsocky vengeance and a lot of awkward erections. Oh but leave out the dog. At four hours running time there's only so much you can fit in.
Rating: 3/5
Friday, 5 July 2013
XXY (2007)
Alex is a fifteen-year old intersex teenager, living with "her" family on the remote coast of Uruguay, and dealing with the tribulations of growing up living on medication to control her sexual development, and the difficulties of forming relationships with her peers. Now, her mother has invited a friend's family to visit with an agenda involving possible sex reassignment surgery, but the surgeon friend also brings his introverted teenage son, who strikes up a bond of sorts with Alex.
Lucía Puenzo's sensitive and intelligent drama successfully holds a steady line between what could have tipped into lurid sensationalism or mawkish melodrama with understated grace. She elicits a clutch of fine and naturalistic performances from her largely inexperienced cast, most impressively from young Inés Efron in the central role of Alex, who convinces in an obviously tricky role with a totally believable and rounded character who contains elements of sullen teenager and aggressive tomboy without allowing either to define her.
From a seemingly rather esoteric set-up, Lucia's tale engages instead with the universal experiences of coming-of-age: Bullying, rejection, first love (of a sort), and the pain of feeling like an outsider, of being different... and that this is OK.
Rating: 4/5
Lucía Puenzo's sensitive and intelligent drama successfully holds a steady line between what could have tipped into lurid sensationalism or mawkish melodrama with understated grace. She elicits a clutch of fine and naturalistic performances from her largely inexperienced cast, most impressively from young Inés Efron in the central role of Alex, who convinces in an obviously tricky role with a totally believable and rounded character who contains elements of sullen teenager and aggressive tomboy without allowing either to define her.
From a seemingly rather esoteric set-up, Lucia's tale engages instead with the universal experiences of coming-of-age: Bullying, rejection, first love (of a sort), and the pain of feeling like an outsider, of being different... and that this is OK.
Rating: 4/5
Thursday, 20 June 2013
Man Of Steel (2013)
The writing and producing team behind the impressively gritty and twisted Dark Knight trilogy here tackle the long touted reboot of DC's premier be-caped hero, and then hand their dour-toned opus to the director of the daft but enjoyable "300" and barely watchable mess "Sucker Punch". About 50% of a great movie emerges somewhat dazed from the collision.
While Batman was a natural fit for a grimy, shadowy approach, Superman has always been a hero painted, literally and emotionally, in primary colours. How to give this icon some dramatic depth was always going to be a problem, a problem that the classic 1978 movie solved by the miraculously fortuitous casting of Christopher Reeve. The most likeable, heartfelt, honest-to-goodness heroic lunk that ever graced the screen. In the midst of cartoon silliness he gave his every last ounce of charm, wit and stoic integrity to the role. Making it his own for a generation to come. So much so that poor old Brandon Routh in "Superman Returns" was reduced to having to deliver a very creditable but rather distracting facsimile of Reeve's performance. Man Of Steel does not make this mistake. Gone are the bumbling doltish mannerisms of Clark Kent. Henry Cavill plays it straight and moody. Not always entirely memorably perhaps, but certainly free of unhelpful associations.
Act one is where this latest version scores most highly. Krypton is a stunningly realised world, full of beautiful organic technology. A triumph of design, and, admirably, Zach Snyder slows his frenetic camera down a touch to let us luxuriate in its majestic scale. The set-up of Kal-El's birth, and the circumstances of his departure, along with his home-world's fate and Zod's pursuit are all given a thorough reworking and feel far more effectively integrated into this origin story than in previous iterations. Top marks so far.
The quieter middle act is where this new work had perhaps the toughest act to follow. I'll make no bones about it, I consider Richard Donner's "Superman" to be about as near perfect a true comic book movie as we've ever seen. and its finest, most richly satisfying elements are those tied to Clark's childhood mid-west upbringing. The quiet moments that he shares with his adoptive parents (supported of course by John Williams' most heart-wrenching strings) and the understated loss of Glenn Ford's "Pa" bringing the realisation of the limits of his powers in the face of human frailty. Kevin Costner does fine work in the same role, and all these scenes are well handled, emotive and restrained. But somehow it still doesn't quite match up.
So, finally it's on to the inevitable smack-down. Michael Shannon's Zod is white-knuckle intense, and the action is certainly immense, but boy-oh-boy does it drag on. About twenty minutes of excess noisy destruction could have been trimmed and all of it is far, far too serious. "Man Of Steel" may be the most humourless superhero movie to date. There is but one (superb) visual gag at about the half-way mark, and by two-hours plus, my brain was aching for a wisecrack to leaven the tone.
Nonetheless, it's a mostly impressive and creditable whack at a surprisingly tough nut. Cavill acquits himself well and hopefully sets up a role to grow into. But a lighter touch next time would go a long way.
Rating: 3/5
While Batman was a natural fit for a grimy, shadowy approach, Superman has always been a hero painted, literally and emotionally, in primary colours. How to give this icon some dramatic depth was always going to be a problem, a problem that the classic 1978 movie solved by the miraculously fortuitous casting of Christopher Reeve. The most likeable, heartfelt, honest-to-goodness heroic lunk that ever graced the screen. In the midst of cartoon silliness he gave his every last ounce of charm, wit and stoic integrity to the role. Making it his own for a generation to come. So much so that poor old Brandon Routh in "Superman Returns" was reduced to having to deliver a very creditable but rather distracting facsimile of Reeve's performance. Man Of Steel does not make this mistake. Gone are the bumbling doltish mannerisms of Clark Kent. Henry Cavill plays it straight and moody. Not always entirely memorably perhaps, but certainly free of unhelpful associations.
Act one is where this latest version scores most highly. Krypton is a stunningly realised world, full of beautiful organic technology. A triumph of design, and, admirably, Zach Snyder slows his frenetic camera down a touch to let us luxuriate in its majestic scale. The set-up of Kal-El's birth, and the circumstances of his departure, along with his home-world's fate and Zod's pursuit are all given a thorough reworking and feel far more effectively integrated into this origin story than in previous iterations. Top marks so far.
The quieter middle act is where this new work had perhaps the toughest act to follow. I'll make no bones about it, I consider Richard Donner's "Superman" to be about as near perfect a true comic book movie as we've ever seen. and its finest, most richly satisfying elements are those tied to Clark's childhood mid-west upbringing. The quiet moments that he shares with his adoptive parents (supported of course by John Williams' most heart-wrenching strings) and the understated loss of Glenn Ford's "Pa" bringing the realisation of the limits of his powers in the face of human frailty. Kevin Costner does fine work in the same role, and all these scenes are well handled, emotive and restrained. But somehow it still doesn't quite match up.
So, finally it's on to the inevitable smack-down. Michael Shannon's Zod is white-knuckle intense, and the action is certainly immense, but boy-oh-boy does it drag on. About twenty minutes of excess noisy destruction could have been trimmed and all of it is far, far too serious. "Man Of Steel" may be the most humourless superhero movie to date. There is but one (superb) visual gag at about the half-way mark, and by two-hours plus, my brain was aching for a wisecrack to leaven the tone.
Nonetheless, it's a mostly impressive and creditable whack at a surprisingly tough nut. Cavill acquits himself well and hopefully sets up a role to grow into. But a lighter touch next time would go a long way.
Rating: 3/5
Monday, 27 May 2013
Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind (Kaze no tani no Naushika) (1984)
Take one from anime legend Hayao Miyazaki in laying out his trademark spiritual fantasies and captivating ecological fables. Nausicaa has plenty of charm and a beautiful design to delight the senses. However it does feel somewhat a dry run for higher achievements to come. Thematically he covered the same ground again, with greater richness and depth in Princess Mononoke. The ideas are here, and, it must be commended, were somewhat ahead of the game, cropping up again and again in later western films such as Ferngully and Avatar, as well as much of Miyazaki's subsequent work. However the storytelling and character development is clunky. Heroes are po-faced and humourless, and even though the plot is simple, I frequently had to remind myself who was doing what to who and why, as motivations are not well defined. Worth seeking out, especially for fans of studio Ghibli. But not quite the early masterpiece sometimes claimed.
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Solidly enjoyable fluff. A meaty middle act of top level banter with Robert Downey Jr. out in the cold doing the full sassy-grump and just about the most stunningly unexpected bad guy awesomeness from Sir Ben that I've seen in a comic book movie; bookended by two fairly forgettable CGI bloated animations of stuff blowing up and merchandise opportunities hitting each other. It's entirely possible that I'm missing the point here, but I think I'd truly love an Iron Man movie without any Iron Men in it. (nb: contains the second-best throwaway reference to Croydon in recent movie history).
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
Friday, 1 March 2013
The Happiness of the Katakuris (Katakuri-ke no kôfuku ) (2001)
An extended family move out to the country to run a B&B, only to find that each rare and sorely-needed guest winds up dead on their property. Naturally this prompts a series of frantic musical sing-along productions before the shovels come out.
One of Seven films made in 2001 alone by the absurdly prolific Takashi Miike (best known in the west for his more intense horror works such as the magnificent "Audition" and "Ichi The Killer"), this loose remake of Korean film "The Quiet Family" has all the rough edges and scattershot structure you'd expect of a film presumably made over a quiet weekend between projects. But for all that, it's frequently very funny, admirably off-kilter, and features quite the finest claymation soup-sprite that I've seen this year.
Should you find that "Les Miserables" simply doesn't have the epic scope and emotional punch you want in a musical, then this combination of "The Sound Of Music", "Saturday Night Fever", "Shallow Grave" and "Shaun Of The Dead" is absolutely what you've been looking for.
Rating: 3/5
One of Seven films made in 2001 alone by the absurdly prolific Takashi Miike (best known in the west for his more intense horror works such as the magnificent "Audition" and "Ichi The Killer"), this loose remake of Korean film "The Quiet Family" has all the rough edges and scattershot structure you'd expect of a film presumably made over a quiet weekend between projects. But for all that, it's frequently very funny, admirably off-kilter, and features quite the finest claymation soup-sprite that I've seen this year.
Should you find that "Les Miserables" simply doesn't have the epic scope and emotional punch you want in a musical, then this combination of "The Sound Of Music", "Saturday Night Fever", "Shallow Grave" and "Shaun Of The Dead" is absolutely what you've been looking for.
Rating: 3/5
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis' ambitious joint-undertaking to bring to the screen David Mitchell's multi-stranded, epoch-straddling tale, has produced a striking but unwieldy behemoth of a movie. Long on invention, melodrama and scale... Perhaps shorter on discipline and a clear through-line of narrative purpose.
Pulling apart the symmetrical structure of the source novel and re-integrating its six storylines in a complex but still clearly delineated collage of characters and events is one of the project's more successful elements. There is a singularity of vision at work here that belies the portmanteau directorial approach, with the Wachowskis surprisingly tackling the quietly mannered tale of a 19th century sea voyage alongside the more obvious home turf of the two future-set sci-fi sections. Meanwhile the more art-house predisposed Tom Tykwer makes a solid stab at a dirty '70s thiller as well as the more restrained tones of his delicate inter-war period love story.
The film's major talking point has been the many multi-role performances by nearly all the principle cast. It is at once one of its strongest, and yet most flawed features. Let's get one non-issue out of the way: The minor controversy stirred up around a predominantly white cast playing other races is entirely bogus. There is a clear, one might even say vital, thematic purpose (even if narratively a tad obscure) to this decision, and it should also be noted that this is equal opportunities trans-ethnicity, with Black playing Asian and Asian playing Caucasian in the mix, before we even get started on the gender and age switching. It's a logical and often entertaining device that ties the disparate threads together. However, it is also highly distracting. Some of the more extreme make-over's are frankly just not very good. Fake, stiff and sometimes am-dram silly. Surprisingly poorly executed for a film with a substantial budget and directors experienced in period work and fantasy. This, coupled with some very shoddy accents results in the viewer frequently being pulled out of the drama for a few minutes of "oh its him again, you know, what's-his-face from that other chapter". Hugo Weaving gets a particularly short stick, bouncing from pantomime Nurse Ratched, via Mr Spock eyebrows to a painted, top-hatted shamanistic apparition that will incite guffaws of disbelief from anyone familiar with The Mighty Boosh. Possibly the first time in history that a film has sequelled its own spoof.
Not surprisingly then the most affecting segments are those that allow the actors to work largely free of such novelty. Halle Berry's intrepid San Francisco reporter, Doona Bae's tragic future-world slave replicant, and perhaps most touching and subtly played, the distant, clandestine affair of a young composer and his physicist lover provide the movie with at least some of the emotional centre of gravity it needs to hold the wilder elements in place.
The joy and frustration of Cloud Atlas is that when it is good, such as in those segments above, it has to abandon the threads too swiftly, leaving you craving to be immersed more in those characters and stories. When it is bad, (Tom Hanks' geyserish gangster and buck-toothed surgeon, Post apocalyptic Mad Max juju speak, Last Of The Summer Wine antics in a Scottish bar), it just leaves one bewildered at the point of it all.
In spite of all this. There is something both endearing and admirable about the scale, bravery and vaulting ambition of Cloud Atlas. It's as entertaining as it is awkward, and as breathtaking as it is daft.
A Magnificent folly.
Rating: 3/5
Pulling apart the symmetrical structure of the source novel and re-integrating its six storylines in a complex but still clearly delineated collage of characters and events is one of the project's more successful elements. There is a singularity of vision at work here that belies the portmanteau directorial approach, with the Wachowskis surprisingly tackling the quietly mannered tale of a 19th century sea voyage alongside the more obvious home turf of the two future-set sci-fi sections. Meanwhile the more art-house predisposed Tom Tykwer makes a solid stab at a dirty '70s thiller as well as the more restrained tones of his delicate inter-war period love story.
The film's major talking point has been the many multi-role performances by nearly all the principle cast. It is at once one of its strongest, and yet most flawed features. Let's get one non-issue out of the way: The minor controversy stirred up around a predominantly white cast playing other races is entirely bogus. There is a clear, one might even say vital, thematic purpose (even if narratively a tad obscure) to this decision, and it should also be noted that this is equal opportunities trans-ethnicity, with Black playing Asian and Asian playing Caucasian in the mix, before we even get started on the gender and age switching. It's a logical and often entertaining device that ties the disparate threads together. However, it is also highly distracting. Some of the more extreme make-over's are frankly just not very good. Fake, stiff and sometimes am-dram silly. Surprisingly poorly executed for a film with a substantial budget and directors experienced in period work and fantasy. This, coupled with some very shoddy accents results in the viewer frequently being pulled out of the drama for a few minutes of "oh its him again, you know, what's-his-face from that other chapter". Hugo Weaving gets a particularly short stick, bouncing from pantomime Nurse Ratched, via Mr Spock eyebrows to a painted, top-hatted shamanistic apparition that will incite guffaws of disbelief from anyone familiar with The Mighty Boosh. Possibly the first time in history that a film has sequelled its own spoof.
Not surprisingly then the most affecting segments are those that allow the actors to work largely free of such novelty. Halle Berry's intrepid San Francisco reporter, Doona Bae's tragic future-world slave replicant, and perhaps most touching and subtly played, the distant, clandestine affair of a young composer and his physicist lover provide the movie with at least some of the emotional centre of gravity it needs to hold the wilder elements in place.
The joy and frustration of Cloud Atlas is that when it is good, such as in those segments above, it has to abandon the threads too swiftly, leaving you craving to be immersed more in those characters and stories. When it is bad, (Tom Hanks' geyserish gangster and buck-toothed surgeon, Post apocalyptic Mad Max juju speak, Last Of The Summer Wine antics in a Scottish bar), it just leaves one bewildered at the point of it all.
In spite of all this. There is something both endearing and admirable about the scale, bravery and vaulting ambition of Cloud Atlas. It's as entertaining as it is awkward, and as breathtaking as it is daft.
A Magnificent folly.
Rating: 3/5
Friday, 4 January 2013
Top Ten Of 2012
On balance then, it was a pretty good year for sitting in a darkened room I reckon. Here's my personal top ten films of 2012.
10: The Raid
Bruising Indonesian martial arts genre-flick. Minimal story, jaw-dropping moves. Just edged ahead of "Dredd" in the best cops-v-drugs-baron-run-tower-block-siege-battle movie of the year competition.
9: The Grey
"Liam Neeson: Wolf Puncher". Much more fun than "Liam Neeson: Kill Everyone In Europe part 2".
8: The Dark Knight Rises
The epic final instalment of Nolan's superior and sophisticated comic book odyssey. Complex, spectacular, just a little uninvolving.
7: Argo
Unfussy but deftly crafted thriller of CIA shenanigans during the 1980 Iranian revolution. Wisecracking script and edge-of-seat tension beautifully balanced.
6: Beasts Of The Southern Wild
A stunning, unique and uplifting tale of childhood coming-of-age in a twisted, run-down world. Bolstered by remarkable flights of fancy and an astonishing central performance from its six year old star.
5: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Overlong opening, but otherwise highly engaging first chapter in Jackson's epic Hobbit adaptation. Bags of charm, spectacle and adventure, if not yet high drama. Against all the odds it still ended sooner than I wanted or expected.
4: The Cabin In The Woods
Enormously fun meta-horror, made for film-geeks, by film-geeks. Kind of like The Truman Show... with added Zombie Redneck Torture.
3: Looper
Time travelling who's-your-daddy paradoxes ahoy. Old Bruce Willis vs. young Bruce Willis. The maths doesn't bare too much close analysis, but you'll be too entertained to care.
2: Life Of Pi
Staggeringly beautiful fable and a simple but profound meditation on the nature of faith. Will stay with you.
1: The Artist
A perfectly formed, perfectly joyous piece of sheer entertainment. A film in love with film and in love with love.
10: The Raid
Bruising Indonesian martial arts genre-flick. Minimal story, jaw-dropping moves. Just edged ahead of "Dredd" in the best cops-v-drugs-baron-run-tower-block-siege-battle movie of the year competition.
9: The Grey
"Liam Neeson: Wolf Puncher". Much more fun than "Liam Neeson: Kill Everyone In Europe part 2".
8: The Dark Knight Rises
The epic final instalment of Nolan's superior and sophisticated comic book odyssey. Complex, spectacular, just a little uninvolving.
7: Argo
Unfussy but deftly crafted thriller of CIA shenanigans during the 1980 Iranian revolution. Wisecracking script and edge-of-seat tension beautifully balanced.
6: Beasts Of The Southern Wild
A stunning, unique and uplifting tale of childhood coming-of-age in a twisted, run-down world. Bolstered by remarkable flights of fancy and an astonishing central performance from its six year old star.
5: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Overlong opening, but otherwise highly engaging first chapter in Jackson's epic Hobbit adaptation. Bags of charm, spectacle and adventure, if not yet high drama. Against all the odds it still ended sooner than I wanted or expected.
4: The Cabin In The Woods
Enormously fun meta-horror, made for film-geeks, by film-geeks. Kind of like The Truman Show... with added Zombie Redneck Torture.
3: Looper
Time travelling who's-your-daddy paradoxes ahoy. Old Bruce Willis vs. young Bruce Willis. The maths doesn't bare too much close analysis, but you'll be too entertained to care.
2: Life Of Pi
Staggeringly beautiful fable and a simple but profound meditation on the nature of faith. Will stay with you.
1: The Artist
A perfectly formed, perfectly joyous piece of sheer entertainment. A film in love with film and in love with love.
Monday, 31 December 2012
Life Of Pi (2012)
Ang Lee is a capricious talent, capable of misfiring (Hulk), but when on top form there is almost no film-maker in the world today to touch him. His masterful adaptation of one of those supposedly unfilmable (pfft) novels has overcome the obvious technical challenges with possibly the best use of 3D and most realistic CGI animation yet put on screen. Such things will, in time, be surpassed; but what won't fade with the years is the virtuosic rendition in light and form of an apparently simple fable, but one shrouded in delicate layers of humanity and spirituality.
The central adventure and survival tale, ravishingly shot and stunningly acted by newcomer Suraj Sharma, is bookended by initially innocuous scene-setting and reminiscing sequences that gently, imperceptibly, shift the meaning from the story being told, to the meaning of the telling of the story. A sublime meditation on faith and the power of belief... with a stonking great tiger.
Rating: 5/5
The central adventure and survival tale, ravishingly shot and stunningly acted by newcomer Suraj Sharma, is bookended by initially innocuous scene-setting and reminiscing sequences that gently, imperceptibly, shift the meaning from the story being told, to the meaning of the telling of the story. A sublime meditation on faith and the power of belief... with a stonking great tiger.
Rating: 5/5
Sunday, 30 December 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Baggy, never-ending goings on, going on in Bag End, give way finally to a surprisingly spritely adventure for such a behemoth of a movie. The tone (teetering between light kiddlesome adventure and LOTR darkness) takes a while to find its feet; the excellent cast however, hit the ground running. It's pleasing to see just how much care Jackson and team have put into giving the dwarves a rounded and meaty set of personalities, there's nary a hint of Time Bandits silliness that could have derailed a less respectful adaptation (something that Gimli's overtly comedic turn in Return Of The King pointed worryingly to).
The Hobbit doesn't yet engage with the same depth of emotion that made the Fellowship such an astounding achievement from the off. With the shoehorning in of much peripheral material from the Tolkien archives there may be issues with getting the right balance of looming threat and moral imperative that LOTR had running through its heart; yet these are but early days, and it will undoubtedly take the telling of the entire saga to conclude if this trilogy can measure up to the extraordinary achievements of its predecessor.
I was deeply sceptical of the move to three lengthy films being wrought from such a slim source, and while I remain to be wholly convinced, this first episode has much to enjoy; and once the languorous opening act was dispensed with, felt far tighter and more event-filled than the running time would suggest.
A gentle tale, lovingly told, and with the grimmer and bad-assier stuff still to come, there is hope of greatness yet.
Rating: 4/5
The Hobbit doesn't yet engage with the same depth of emotion that made the Fellowship such an astounding achievement from the off. With the shoehorning in of much peripheral material from the Tolkien archives there may be issues with getting the right balance of looming threat and moral imperative that LOTR had running through its heart; yet these are but early days, and it will undoubtedly take the telling of the entire saga to conclude if this trilogy can measure up to the extraordinary achievements of its predecessor.
I was deeply sceptical of the move to three lengthy films being wrought from such a slim source, and while I remain to be wholly convinced, this first episode has much to enjoy; and once the languorous opening act was dispensed with, felt far tighter and more event-filled than the running time would suggest.
A gentle tale, lovingly told, and with the grimmer and bad-assier stuff still to come, there is hope of greatness yet.
Rating: 4/5
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